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What do you LIKE about the EU?

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As the title says, surely in the MASSIVE ammount of EU material, some of it has to appeal to you.

I like Grand Admiral Thrawn as a character. I don't care for the storylines particuarly, but the idea of this brilliant alien tactitian hidden by the Empire due to racism, and now back to kick the Rebel's behinds struck me as a real cool villain and a sharp contrast to Vader and Palpy.

I like the "Legacy" comic. A new threat, 100+ years later, where the newest Skywalker needs to get his act together and save the day is compelling to me. I dig that in a few generations what's left of the Empire isn't half bad, I like Imprial Knights as a third class of force-users, and Darth Krayt (minus his horrible ties to the stinking Yuzong Vonhg) is a threatening villain.

So... what don't you hate do you like?

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Forgive me for saying this but i like that the stories are written by someone other than Lucas.

The only Author who created a character who could hold his or her own with the film characters is Timothy Zahn and his creation Mara Jade.  It was genious to create a character that was a contrast to Luke and someone he could be played off of.  You know since Leia turned out to be his siter and ended up with Han Solo.

Thrawn was also a brilliant creation. 

Some EU stuff not so good like superweapon of the week type plots etc.  Or Prequel rehash via the legacy novels.  

Also they felt the need to make star wars less of an escapist fantasy and more dark gritty and real putting in characters dieing since Vector Prime.  Major Characters not throw away one like General madine.

Also the more Jedi and Sith there are the less cool and less mysterious they are and the more rediculous things they can do.  See the Genddy series or force unleashed, or the prequels, new clone wars cartoons.

Jedi become more run of the mill than being mythic.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I really like The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley.  Three novels written before ESB came out that really capture the "big galaxy" adventure feel and imagination that made Star Wars so great.

I also enjoy the odd bit of EU here and there just as a throwback to being a kid & making up my own adventures in a galaxy far far away.  In fact, I read that comic book where Boba Fett and Darth Vader fight recently & actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  It was corny & i certainly don't look at it as canon, but when viewing it in the light of something I might've played out with my action figures as a kid (what kid didn't have Vader & Boba Fett fight on some lazy saturday afternoon?) it was pretty fun.

I find that I mostly enjoy the odd EU story from the 70's/80's & from the Star Wars "rennaisance" of the mid 90's than most current fare.  I don't enjoy the prequels or particularly some of the mysteries that were answered/revealed that didn't live up to what I had imagined previously & so many EU stories that have come since 1999 hold no interest for me.  I moreso enjoy stories that retain some of the mystery & leave some things unanswered.  An example being some of the tidbits about the Clone Wars & the capital city on Coruscant (which i had always pronounced "core-US-can't" before TPM & still prefer) that we got in the Heir to the Empire trilogy.  There was enough information to wet your appetite & start up your imagination without giving too much away & ruining the thrill of not knowing exactly what happened & having to draw your own conclusions or piece together your own backstory based on the tidbits presented.

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Last Saturday I went to a comic book convention in Joplin, Missouri and bought the first collection volume of Star Wars Marvel comics republished by Dark Horse. Also picked up Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

Started with the comic first and am greatly enjoying it so far.

I already had SOTME on an ebook, and read a few pages, but reading a novel on the computer just will never be my thing. I prefer to have it more accessable to where I can just get it out and read in without having to deal with computer programs. Also, often when I read an ebook on the computer I get easily distracted by other things going on in the toolbar or whatever.

Ironically, probably the last ebook I read from start to finish was "The Secret History of Star Wars". That's back before it was published into an actual book.

Aaaaanyhow, I'm like the guy that posted already. I'm more interested in the vintage EU, though I'll admit I just started my trip into the EU world. The Galaxy Far, Far Away as interpreted in that era just tends to feel more exotic, open-ended, and adventurous.

If the radio shows count as EU, I love those also.

I did read Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader, which is relatively new, and enjoyed it. I guess because that's one of the few books that I know of that bothers to really delve into Vader's psyche and unique life as a cyborg. Also read most of the Revenge of the Sith novelization. It was okay, but I thought the writing style was a little iffy.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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I forgot to mention the Star Wars manga.   That was some great EU.  Yeah it was based on Lucas screenplay but not strictly canon.  The first one was the best the one that won the eisner award.  I believe just like the films every different one was done by someone else.  To me Return of the Jedi was the weakest out of all three, because of the style used on that one.

I also wish like the star wars adaptation by Barreta there was no special edition stuff in there.

You know whats good out there now is the Legacy comics and the Kotor comics.  But if you did not read them starting with issue 0 you would be lost in terms of plot, they are not like a serial that you can pick up a random issue that is a standalone and each part has an arc to it.

The cover art for the Clone Wars comic is usualy very good.  Too bad i can't say the same for the interior art which is also good but not as good.  The weakest links are the dialogue and plot just like the movie or cartoon series.  You can only hear Artooie or Skyguy so many times.  So the first time was not funny so they figure by the 100th time you will be rolling on the floor laughing right, wrong.  Oh by the way this is the adult comic line and not the junior graphic novel one.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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skyjedi2005 said:

I forgot to mention the Star Wars manga.   That was some great EU.  Yeah it was based on Lucas screenplay but not strictly canon.  The first one was the best the one that won the eisner award.  I believe just like the films every different one was done by someone else.  To me Return of the Jedi was the weakest out of all three, because of the style used on that one.

I also wish like the star wars adaptation by Barreta there was no special edition stuff in there.

You know whats good out there now is the Legacy comics and the Kotor comics.  But if you did not read them starting with issue 0 you would be lost in terms of plot, they are not like a serial that you can pick up a random issue that is a standalone and each part has an arc to it.

The cover art for the Clone Wars comic is usualy very good.  Too bad i can't say the same for the interior art which is also good but not as good.  The weakest links are the dialogue and plot just like the movie or cartoon series.

Are you talking about the one that features Vader's secret apprentice Tao? I read about that on Wookieepedia and hunted down the torrent, but it's not finished downloading yet.

 

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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No the comic with Vaders secret apprentice is the force unleashed based on the videogame.  The one i am talking about features his Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano during the clone wars when he trains her in the ways of the force.  Based on the Cartoon Network series.

and by Manga i mean japanese comic, too bad it was flopped as a mirror image by Dark Horse Comics.  I have spent years trying to find the Media works japan release. 

They adapted everything but Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. in terms of the six star wars films.  Phantom Menace by Asamiya was very bizarre however almost like a cartoon rather than an anime or manga.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I'm not talking about Starkiller or Ahsoka. Tao was Vader's secret apprentice in a Star Wars manga that was released well before any stories on Starkiller or Ahsoka were.

It's detailed on Wookieepedia:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tao

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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i love the series books they have, and like to read the stories that expand my mind beyond the star wars universe. the republic commando series has been my favorite.

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What EU I've read, I've really enjoyed.  I first read the Zahn trilogy about 12 years ago and loved it.  About half a year ago, I got into EU again and read Splinter and the first four books of the X-Wing series and loved them all.

I haven't read Vector Prime, but I used to think it was a cool idea to kill off Anakin Solo.  Then I found out it was just because the prequels were starting, and they didn't want two characters named Anakin.  And another one bites the dust because of that selfish little bastard...

EDIT:  Whoops, Vector Prime is where Chewbacca dies, right?  Well, at any rate, I still haven't read it.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Some EU was good, some did not interest me much. But I must admit that when I first read the Zahn trilogy it was the only time that I really felt like "watching" great Star Wars movies. I need to read this again!

Shadow of the Empire was not a bad idea from Lucas, but the new character vilain (can't remember his name) did not work for me.

The manga was cool indeed! and Dark Empire comics was (in Jack Loyd's voice) very, VERY cool.

Other than that there's good things, but these are the one that come in mind first.

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I like the Lando and Han books that were before the EU actually existed.  I liked the facts that you could have several adventures and NOT run into the Empire or any of the other main characters.  It's a big galaxy, and I think the books showed that people didn't have to be "Imperial" or "Rebel".  They could choose to be neutral and just try to live their lives.

I like the Thrawn books, if only for Thrawn (for all the reasons TheBoost gave).

I especially like the "Tales from" books, especially "Empire" and "New Republic".  The Star Wars Universe is too big to focus just on the Skywalkers, Solos, and Wedge.  The short stories in those showed other sides to the war, other opinions on what was going on.

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress

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Some time I'd like a thread about what we don't like in the EU. That would be fun. I'd get to go on about all the annoying Boba Fett worship that goes on in the EU.

Anyway, the Kotor and Legacy comics are good. Liam Neeson's performance in TPM is good (the PT is EU by any proper standard). The old Marvel comics have a place in my heart. Despite the odd giant rabbit, they were much more true to the Star wars spirit than the later EU stuff.

Oh yeah, one thing I hate in the EU is this whole crap that the imperials have a perspective worth paying attention to and that they're kind of altruistic and principled and care about the citiizens of the empire. That keeps popping up in the EU. Total revisionist crap. Star Wars is not supposed to be Battlestar Galactica. The bad guys are the bad guys. They even have the rebels doing suicide attacks on civilians. Wtf? I hate it when the EU does some revisionist take on some classic Star Wars thing. And the EU is sometimes even worse than Lucas in making the Jedi into idiots. It's the EU that came up with the Jedi code saying "There is no emotion" and "there is no passion".

I hate how Brian Daley does the character of Han. He makes him more ruthless than he was in the films. Like Han wanting to leave the others behind on the Death Star. The radio dramas have plenty annoying bullshit stuffed into the story (not just about Han). And I'm including Daley's portrayal of Han in the Han books too. I think the life debt thing started off there too and some people have pointed out how that doesn't work well.

Most of the EU I'm a bit suspicious of. The 90s onwards EU was founded on a revisionist take on Star Wars. It doesn't seem terribly real to me.

Bringing the Emperor back to life was annoying. He should have stayed dead and it stretched plausibilty. Once you start resurrecting characters you lose something.

Tales of the Jedi had a good storyline but the execution wasn't all that great.

The Republic comics did some ok stuff, but the bulshittiness of the prequel era brings them down.

Zahn's trilogy books were ok.

Boba Fett should have stayed dead. In fact, he did stay dead -the EU's resurrection of him is just a pack of lies. Stupid overrated wanker.

Shadows of the Empire really pissed me off.

The Yuzhaan Pong invasion was a stupid idea.

They keep churning out all these endless books. Endless "novels" and "Essential Guides" which aren't essential and cross sections and worlds of and all that. Not to mention a multi volume encylopedia. It looks very money-grubbing.

There's this one shot comic called A Valentine Story or something like that which has really good character portrayal of Han and Leia, with good interaction. It's in the Heart of the Rebellion trade paperback. Most EU is not terribly good at getting the film characters well.

 

 

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If we are counting games, I enjoyed just about every Star Wars game Lucasarts put out until 1999.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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I don't know why so many disliked Xizor as a villain. I did read a few chapters of Shadows of the Empire, and thought he was cool.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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One thing I have always liked about the EU, was being able to revisit the SW galaxy. For someone as obsessed with SW as I was during my childhood and up into my teens, three movies just wasn't enough. It was great to get to revisit the SW galaxy, to read further adventures of Luke and his friends. And even more fun for me, was seeing the galaxy from other perspectives, not just "Rebel vs Empire" from the films. Another great thing about the EU, is you can take it or leave it. There is such a massive amount of it, you inevitably end up with a lot of crap getting mixed in. In fact I'd say the vast majority of it is crap, but you don't have the read the parts you don't care for.

I have to agree, it is lame when they bring characters back from the dead. I hated Dark Empire and the clone Emperors. Of course, the idea of it is perfectly reasonable, when you consider the ability to clone exists. I suppose you can say that the only thing less likely than Palpatine making clones of himself, would be Palpatine not making clones of himself. Still, as a principal, I am against reviving main villians. Takes away from having killed them in the first place, and really cheapens the story.

Boba Fett's resurrection is less irksome to me,since we never actually see him die. The guy does have a jet pack on after all, if he falls into a pit, why the hell wouldn't he try to blast his way out? He also has a blaster and spiked boots, and who knows what other tools on him. Threepio clearly explained that it is a slow death.

 

I actually enjoyed books like Tales of the Bounty Hunters and  Tales from Mos Eisly. I know a lot of fans absolutely loathe things like this, because it takes every background character and gives them a name and a back story. To each their own, but it is actually kind of fun to read about what the four eyed fuzzy white guy and the short mouse alien were doing a few weeks before showing up in the Cantina the day Luke's aunt and uncle died. Most people say, "Why, what is the point? It is ridiculous!" well, I say, "Why not?" Personally, I'd rather read the adventures of the weird Werewolf guy and his small place in the vast universe, than constantly reread the storys of a handful of larger than life characters who are constantly saving the universe from impending doom. Honestly, most of these "tales of" stories are pretty worthless, unentertaining crap, but a few of them are enjoyable and lets you see the vast galaxy from the perspective of your average joe, as it were.

Two stories in the Tales of the Jedi that particularly stood out to me were the stories of Boba Fett and IG-88. I liked how the writer made Fett into a sort of Rorschach (now that most people here knows who that is) like character, with a strong sense of justice and who feels he has the right to bring judgment and violent death on those he finds unjust, only he does it for money, refusing to take jobs on people he finds inocent or not worthy of such a punishment, and taking great joy in eliminating the true scum of the galaxy. The first chapter describes Fett as an ugly young man, a soldier in the military, now in prison for having murdered his commanding officer, when ask if he regrets it, he replies with a very stern "no" because the guy deserved death. Makes Fett to be kind of a psychotic, but I liked that spin on his character.

The story of IG-88 was a lot of fun to. Very Terminatoresque as the books starts off with he becomming selfaware, and killing the people who were building him. He makes a lot of copies of himself, and they all work together in plotting galactic domination. A few of the copies are sent out to do bounty hunting, can't remember exactly why. Eventually in the story, IG-88 plants his conciousness into the Death Star II, and now has essentially become the DSII and is waiting for the Empire to wipe out the Rebels and get them out of the way, before he himself defeats the weakened Empire and makes his first move in conquering the galaxy. Unfortunately, against all odds the Rebels win, and ruin the poor guys plans. What a bunch of tripe! Right? Sure it is, but it is a lot of fun to read too! I certainly don't watch ROTJ thinking, "IG-88 has completely taken over the DSII's computer systems by this time" no, I don't consider any of it as a real part of the story at all, but it is very amusing, and that is what it is all about anyway.

 

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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C3PX said:

Two stories in the Tales of the Jedi that particularly stood out to me were the stories of Boba Fett and IG-88. I liked how the writer made Fett into a sort of Rorschach (now that most people here knows who that is) like character, with a strong sense of justice and who feels he has the right to bring judgment and violent death on those he finds unjust, only he does it for money, refusing to take jobs on people he finds inocent or not worthy of such a punishment, and taking great joy in eliminating the true scum of the galaxy. The first chapter describes Fett as an ugly young man, a soldier in the military, now in prison for having murdered his commanding officer, when ask if he regrets it, he replies with a very stern "no" because the guy deserved death. Makes Fett to be kind of a psychotic, but I liked that spin on his character.

Boba Fett revisionism really annoys the fuck out of me. As far as I'm concerned, Boba Fett is just bounty hunter scum. Evil creep who got offed in ROTJ.

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Vaderisnothayden said:

Some time I'd like a thread about what we don't like in the EU. That would be fun. I'd get to go on about all the annoying Boba Fett worship that goes on in the EU.

What would be the purpose of such a thread? Even in this thread, 4/5 of your post is about what you don't like. 

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Nothing after 1982. About everything before that (minus the Holiday Special) was pretty cool.

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I think 'Han Solo and the Lost Legacy' is great. The villain with the mustache who wanted to outdraw Han Solo was just epic.

I also think the writing on the TIE Fighter games were great. The stories were compelling, and the 'secret missions' that got you into the Secret Order of the Empire were usually more fun than the regular missions.

A few of the PT era novels were also a lot of fun. "Approaching Storm" and "Labrynth of Evil" both stand out in my mind. "Shatterpoint" was weird but good, even though I usually don't care for too much esoteric philosophy in my Star Wars.

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I like the "main" marvel stories once it got going. Brian Daley's Han books too. I also quite liked Dark Empire and the Heir to the Empire trilogy even though that was way too damn long. I have a feeling the novels got padded out (as opposed to Daley and Splinter of the Mind's eye) merely to appear more like "grown up" novels in the airport bookstore. After Dark Empire and Zahn it really just felt like a factory churning out stuff and it was a chore to keep up with, so I bailed. If Dark Horse would just do a simple monthly book continuing after Dark Empire, with a good permanent writer and artist, I would buy it. The marvels did a good job with "minor" adventures, which is how it should be, these constant earth-shattering crises every month just becomes hilarious.

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C3PX said:

One thing I have always liked about the EU, was being able to revisit the SW galaxy. For someone as obsessed with SW as I was during my childhood and up into my teens, three movies just wasn't enough. It was great to get to revisit the SW galaxy, to read further adventures of Luke and his friends. And even more fun for me, was seeing the galaxy from other perspectives, not just "Rebel vs Empire" from the films. Another great thing about the EU, is you can take it or leave it. There is such a massive amount of it, you inevitably end up with a lot of crap getting mixed in. In fact I'd say the vast majority of it is crap, but you don't have the read the parts you don't care for.

I have to agree, it is lame when they bring characters back from the dead. I hated Dark Empire and the clone Emperors. Of course, the idea of it is perfectly reasonable, when you consider the ability to clone exists. I suppose you can say that the only thing less likely than Palpatine making clones of himself, would be Palpatine not making clones of himself. Still, as a principal, I am against reviving main villians. Takes away from having killed them in the first place, and really cheapens the story.

Boba Fett's resurrection is less irksome to me,since we never actually see him die. The guy does have a jet pack on after all, if he falls into a pit, why the hell wouldn't he try to blast his way out? He also has a blaster and spiked boots, and who knows what other tools on him. Threepio clearly explained that it is a slow death.

 

I actually enjoyed books like Tales of the Bounty Hunters and  Tales from Mos Eisly. I know a lot of fans absolutely loathe things like this, because it takes every background character and gives them a name and a back story. To each their own, but it is actually kind of fun to read about what the four eyed fuzzy white guy and the short mouse alien were doing a few weeks before showing up in the Cantina the day Luke's aunt and uncle died. Most people say, "Why, what is the point? It is ridiculous!" well, I say, "Why not?" Personally, I'd rather read the adventures of the weird Werewolf guy and his small place in the vast universe, than constantly reread the storys of a handful of larger than life characters who are constantly saving the universe from impending doom. Honestly, most of these "tales of" stories are pretty worthless, unentertaining crap, but a few of them are enjoyable and lets you see the vast galaxy from the perspective of your average joe, as it were.

Two stories in the Tales of the Jedi that particularly stood out to me were the stories of Boba Fett and IG-88. I liked how the writer made Fett into a sort of Rorschach (now that most people here knows who that is) like character, with a strong sense of justice and who feels he has the right to bring judgment and violent death on those he finds unjust, only he does it for money, refusing to take jobs on people he finds inocent or not worthy of such a punishment, and taking great joy in eliminating the true scum of the galaxy. The first chapter describes Fett as an ugly young man, a soldier in the military, now in prison for having murdered his commanding officer, when ask if he regrets it, he replies with a very stern "no" because the guy deserved death. Makes Fett to be kind of a psychotic, but I liked that spin on his character.

The story of IG-88 was a lot of fun to. Very Terminatoresque as the books starts off with he becomming selfaware, and killing the people who were building him. He makes a lot of copies of himself, and they all work together in plotting galactic domination. A few of the copies are sent out to do bounty hunting, can't remember exactly why. Eventually in the story, IG-88 plants his conciousness into the Death Star II, and now has essentially become the DSII and is waiting for the Empire to wipe out the Rebels and get them out of the way, before he himself defeats the weakened Empire and makes his first move in conquering the galaxy. Unfortunately, against all odds the Rebels win, and ruin the poor guys plans. What a bunch of tripe! Right? Sure it is, but it is a lot of fun to read too! I certainly don't watch ROTJ thinking, "IG-88 has completely taken over the DSII's computer systems by this time" no, I don't consider any of it as a real part of the story at all, but it is very amusing, and that is what it is all about anyway.

 

 

 u basically just sumarized what i was thinking. i couldn't stop after episode III. there were so many gaps and i wanted to know what went on after Jedi. BTW, the tales of novels rock. i couldn't put them down, except for jabbas palace and mos esily cantina.

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TheBoost said:
Vaderisnothayden said:

Some time I'd like a thread about what we don't like in the EU. That would be fun. I'd get to go on about all the annoying Boba Fett worship that goes on in the EU.

What would be the purpose of such a thread? Even in this thread, 4/5 of your post is about what you don't like. 

Jeez, what's the purpose of this thread? There's as much reason to discuss what we don't like as discuss what we do like.

 

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Most Star Wars fans have grown very cynical and jaded. That results in an almost constant harsh critiquing of all things Star Wars except for the OOT. There's so much negativity. A thread centering around the positive is actually refreshing.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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Most Star Wars fans are over on TFN gushing. Some "negativity" is refreshing.