Bingowings said:
It's hard to get character growth and plot development without what is being called universe shrinkage.
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I really would be more wary of a set of films that went out of their way to avoid obvious connections with the prior films than worrying about universe shrinkage.
You make some very good points, and I think the main problem is that the term "universe shrinkage" is an objective-sounding term used to mask more subjective criticisms like "ridiculous coincidence that doesn't add anything to the story or character development" and "adding more depth to a story or character that I'm already sick to death of". I apologize for my part in waving the term around needlessly.
To me, it's quite likely that this PT character is a needless tie-in, tied to the prequels only for the sake of giving the prequels a nod, much like "young Greedo" was in the PT. This is independent of his value as a character, which may be significant with or without the tie-in (could some other previously-unknown character have pranced and frolicked just as effectively as young Greedo? Definitely). It's also certain that I'm sick to death of any story or character that was introduced in the prequels and don't want to see any more of that. That's a much more subjective and honest assessment than just throwing around the term universe shrinkage, so thanks Bingo for correcting me on this.