Tyrphanax said:
Jacen said:
I thought that the Boba Fett subplot was also supremely well handled. Karen Traviss turned Fett into a flawed and scarred human being, and as a result, his character was that much more badass, even though he's in his seventies!
You get the hell out RIGHT NOW.
She made him cry. Boba Fett doesn't cry! She flew in the face of every bit of superior Boba Fett canon ever written before her, and she ruined the Mandalorians.
She took Boba and the Mandalorians and then tried to humanize them, make them into pure good guys who give shelter to their most bitter rivals, when it's always been pretty clear that they're more grey (and a dark grey at that sometimes) than white.
Boba didn't need to be humanized. That's what was cool about him. He was someone you could identify with regardless of who you were (and this is assuming you read some of the pre-Travissty EU on him). The best thing I've ever read about Boba was him talking to Leia in Jabba's palace, when Jabba gives her to him to do with as he pleases. That's when I knew Boba Fett was the best Star Wars character ever. It explains who he is without explaining who he is, if you get my meaning. That's all that ever needed to be said about him.
Now, thanks to Traviss, he's just another whiner like the PT made Vader.
Please note that you are entitled you your opinion, good Sir. I just passionately disagree with it, being a rabid Fett/Mandalorian fan.
Hmph....
Couple of things.....
I never once thought of the Mandos as "good guys" through Traviss. I saw them as pretty much amoral, at least how the Jedi define morality. From their own (Traviss-written) point of view, Mando morality is very complex, and definitely at total odds with the Jedi (and much of the rest of the galaxy.) But from within their own reality, there are good guys (adherence and responsibility to the honest, macho, plain-spoken Mandalorian culture) and bad guys (liars, wimps and traitors to the Mandalorian credo). Don't forget, Boba Fett himself, at the beginning of this novel is considered a "bad guy" by the Mandalorians themselves, even though he is Mandalore! He already had the mercenary part down pat, but what was compelling to me was his gradual embracing of Mandalorian responsibility and finally his owning of Mandalorian heritage, therefore transforming into a "good guy" (by Mando standards). Definitely still a "bad guy" to the Jedi, including Jaina Solo.
Boba Fett cried. Yes he did. A character who never cries bores me. In that situation, they are no longer a character, they are simply a force that I cannot identify with as a reader. There is no dramatic tension, in other words. In fact, when Boba finally cries, every badass thing he ever did in the Bounty Hunter trilogy, in Empire, in the Leia short story you refer to (I agree, it kicked ass)...... all of these badass things became THAT MUCH MORE BADASS, because he finally broke, and I empathized with him. When you empathize with a character, their accomplishments become that much more meaningful.