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High Republic setting general discussion

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I got a surprise last night. I went on to youtube to find some of the videos about the High Republic setting to show my kids to get them interested in one of the books and was greeted by video after video griping and complaining about it. I watched a couple and from them it is clear that these are just the normal jokers who never seem to like anything.

But it made me wonder what the more intelligent members of this site might think.

I’m currently reading A Test of Courage to my kids, and it has a good start to it. So far I like it and find it well written, even if intended of a younger audience. But that is typical for Star Wars in my experience.

And I’m not sure the character is in this book, but they have evidently introduced a species that looks like a rock. Not the first time we’ve seen that, though in Star Wars it is a first. It actaully sent chills down my back when I saw that because it reminded me of The Stones of Blood, a Tom Baker era Doctor Who story with a group of such living rocks terrorizing rural England.

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I don’t know what it is about the High Republic, but the usual rage bait youtubers seem to have really latched onto this project to push an agenda of hatred against Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm, even though many of these same people have been enjoying stuff like Jedi Fallen Order and The Mandalorian. Videos like these which were ‘criticising’ the project before anything from it even released often use phrases like ‘woke politics’ and ‘SJW garbage’ to trick fans into thinking that diversity in storytelling is a bad thing, and to stop them from purchasing the new books and comics which they otherwise might have really liked.

I feel strongly that these kinds of videos (clickbait masquerading as valid criticism) and the toxic fans they produce are a menace to the entire fandom, and it’s worse that the High Republic project has been stunningly good so far for the majority of people and that the creatives behind it - like Charles Soule, Claudia Gray and Cavan Scott, as well as High Republic show host Krystina Arielle - deserve immense praise, let alone insults and harassment as a consequence. ‘Fans’ like these, who focus more on what they hate about star wars than what they love, make it very difficult to be a star wars fan sometimes.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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A lot of the criticism comes from the same portion of the fandom that believes there’s an executive civil war at Lucasfilm between Kennedy and Favreau/Filoni. So honestly, pure BS.

Most of the toxicity has been directed to the fact it’s the High and not the Old Republic, the so-called woke propaganda, particularly a bunch of queer characters (a pair of trans Jedi twins have been mocked the most) and things they call “unoriginal” like the character Geode (the living, sentient rock) and a starship named Vessel.

I really liked Light of the Jedi and I’m intrigued to know more about a thriving Republic and Jedi Order. The creative group behind it includes some of the best authors from the new canon (Charles Soule’s comics and Claudia Gray’s novels rank among my favorite pieces of SW media). And I can’t wait to know more about The Acolyte. Just hope the fandom menace doesn’t derail the project, it would be such a shame.

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Everyone I know who’s actually read High Republic think it’s great. At worst, just uninteresting. Nobody’s even said it’s bad. Like other people have said, it’s all just outrage culture clickbait BS. The insectoids must always remain outraged. Now that the ST has finished a few years ago, they need to come up with something else to be outraged over.

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I just finished reading Light of the Jedi.

It opened strong. I really liked the ‘natural disaster’ scenario, as it shows a different side of the Jedi rather than just the tired good guys vs bad guys story which has been done to death in Star Wars. The Jedi have new but not crazy abilities at times which is always refreshing, and the numerous small personal stories painted a compelling picture of this time period.

Unfortunately, the villains show up after the disaster and the story becomes much less compelling. What doesn’t help matters is that the villains don’t directly meet the heroes until the final few chapters of the book, so there’s basically no drama between them. It’s nowhere near bad enough to ruin the book, but following the wonderful first part is a letdown.

Overall, I’m cautiously optimistic about future stories in this period.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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I am very much enjoying this so far, and was not too sure what to expect when I first read Light Of The Jedi. To me the setting is welcome change from much of the other EU stories.
But I do wonder if a physical content release would help attract more people to The High Republic, maybe something such as a “Visions” episode, or a series of animated shorts on YouTube to introduce characters, setting, the backstory.
It would unfortunate for fans who may have an interest in THR who may go on to YouTube to have opinions colored by some of the permanently miserable, negative or “clickbaity” YouTubers.

The Acolyte is something I am looking forward to most in all the recent content announcement. But I do wonder if it would have been good to have something out and released around the same time as the books. I suppose the pandemic made this very difficult, even if there were plans or ideas for that to happen.

Soon I hope to read The Rising Storm. The comics soon after.

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I’ve read the first three novels and first few issues of the Marvel comic run. So far it is fairly good. I love a lot the overall ideas going into it and absolutely love the aesthetic of everything. As for the novels themselves I’m a little conflicted because I certainly have enjoyed the novels enough to keep going but they have been far from my favorites. (The Rising Storm was my favorite of the three so far.)

The hatred this project is receiving is unhinged, which goes for a lot of new Star Wars. Its totally understandable that certain ideas and choices may not be for everyone which is fine of course, but the absolute sheer rage people have on online circles is a bit much. (I would argue for naysayers to reconsider on Geode, the way he’s written is quite funny.)

Move along, move along.

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Are many of these hate filled YouTubers or on social media actually reading the High Republic book and comics, or are they just trashing them because of “reasons”? Are they still trashing on it, or has the rage and quest for “I will super hate this for clicks” dwindles?

Are there any good balanced YouTubers out there that are doing reviews for the High Republic books and comics? I quite like Star Wars Explained, but he can be focused on the more positive aspects of things, rather than providing a balance, or talking more in detail about the more negative aspects.
 

I was put off this High Republic project, and most of the new canon literature, by what Lucasfilm did in making the old EU/“Legends”. To me it was denigrating fans, their experiences, love and commitment, and no small money spent on the “multimedia projects” going back to 1996: such as Shadows Of The Empire, original Clone Wars (2003-07), and The Force Unleashed. As well as the regular EU novels and comics.

I also don’t like the way the series and films since 2014 often pick and choose from the EU/Legends for their content and storylines, but often without crediting the EU authors or creatives. This gives the impression to anyone unfamiliar with the EU that it is the likes of Filoni or Favreau, or the film’s writers that are coming up with these “new” ideas or stories themselves, and not the creatives who originally came up with them. That seems just “wrong” to me.

But, with The Acolyte series coming out soon, that great looking game, and possible more High Republic content coming to the screen, I thought it time to try and give this new High Republic era project a go. And my wallet will take another beating! Dammit Star Wars!
 

I’ll think I’ll stick to the main novel books for now. Start with “Light Of The Jedi” and hopefully work my way through. Do the short stories and comics after if the main books have held my interest.

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

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Emre1601 said:

Are many of these hate filled YouTubers or on social media actually reading the High Republic book and comics, or are they just trashing them because of “reasons”? Are they still trashing on it, or has the rage and quest for “I will super hate this for clicks” dwindles?

Are there any good balanced YouTubers out there that are doing reviews for the High Republic books and comics? I quite like Star Wars Explained, but he can be focused on the more positive aspects of things, rather than providing a balance, or talking more in detail about the more negative aspects.

If there is money to be made then there’ll still likely be “clicks-for-hate”. The YouTube profit algorithm will see to that.

I do think some of the more agenda filled channels do say anything, even things they don’t actually believe in themselves, just for those clicks, money and appeasing their own fan bases.

But I hope that has changed or subsided a little. Especially for this High Republic era. It does make you wonder just how many of these easily offended and angry YouTubers have actually read The High Republic.

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Marooned Biker Scout said:

Emre1601 said:

Are many of these hate filled YouTubers or on social media actually reading the High Republic book and comics, or are they just trashing them because of “reasons”? Are they still trashing on it, or has the rage and quest for “I will super hate this for clicks” dwindles?

Are there any good balanced YouTubers out there that are doing reviews for the High Republic books and comics? I quite like Star Wars Explained, but he can be focused on the more positive aspects of things, rather than providing a balance, or talking more in detail about the more negative aspects.

If there is money to be made then there’ll still likely be “clicks-for-hate”. The YouTube profit algorithm will see to that.

Are there still plenty of those type of toxic channels around? I was always hoping they’d die out, were a fad, or people would see through the repeated hate of it all. Thankfully I’ve managed to keep my YouTube page clear from those sort of channels.

I do think some of the more agenda filled channels do say anything, even things they don’t actually believe in themselves, just for those clicks, money and appeasing their own fan bases.

I think some of the Sequel hater channels started out being mixed or okay with them, until they saw the dollar signs in hating on it? That infamous Kathleen Kennedy hating channel started out with a video on how he liked TLJ, until his fans told him otherwise.

But I hope that has changed or subsided a little. Especially for this High Republic era. It does make you wonder just how many of these easily offended and angry YouTubers have actually read The High Republic.

I’d wager only a handful likely have actually read them. I’d imagine a number of them copying and pasting from more indepth articles, with quotes and buzzwords.
 

If anyone does know of some balanced YouTube channels that cover The High Republic please post them in here. I’d like to take a look at them, or that also cover any other Legends/EU/canon print material.

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I haven’t read any of these books, but the concept at least seems interesting. This seems to be the first attempt to write Star Wars stories that don’t either (1) rely on known characters from the mainline movies or (2) center around the eternal Jedi/Sith struggle in some way.

But I don’t quite know what to make of the High Republic yet, based off the descriptions/summaries I’ve read. The setting and backstory sounds vaguely “Star Trek” inspired, e.g. focusing more on exploration, space travel being more difficult and slow, weird sentient plant beings (I think?) as villains, etc. And of course, a sentient rock is the most Star Trek thing ever. The descriptions I’ve read and some of the imagery I’ve seen reminded me a bit of the original Star Trek movies (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II, III, etc.) with the Jedi instead of Starfleet. But that was just my impression - I haven’t actually read any of these books yet, so I am probably way off. Regardless, it sounds very interesting.

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I am a little surprised there hasn’t been more on-screen content for the High Republic, be it some episodes in ‘Visions’ or in ‘Tales Of The Jedi’, or as other have suggested on here, its own ‘Galaxy of Adventures’ style animated series?

So far, it is ‘The Acolyte’ series, and ‘Eclipse’ game, both still to be released. And the ‘Young Jedi Adventures’ animated series for younger children. Which is a bit lacking overall, for promoting awareness and interest for such a promising and vast publishing project.
 

 
Talking of Young Jedi Adventures, it is not for me, and obviously aimed at young children or pre-schoolers, but may also appeal to some core High Republic readers and fans?:
 

 
Young Jedi Adventures | Official Trailer - at the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures First Full Episode! | S1 E1 | Pt.1 - at the official Disney Jnr YouTube channel
 

official site: https://ondisneyplus.disney.com/show/star-wars-young-jedi-adventures
wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Young_Jedi_Adventures (with episode guide)
wookieepedia: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Young_Jedi_Adventures

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” - George Lucas

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Caston said:

I am a little surprised there hasn’t been more on-screen content for the High Republic, be it some episodes in ‘Visions’ or in ‘Tales Of The Jedi’, or as other have suggested on here, its own ‘Galaxy of Adventures’ style animated series?

So far, it is ‘The Acolyte’ series, and ‘Eclipse’ game, both still to be released. And the ‘Young Jedi Adventures’ animated series for younger children. Which is a bit lacking overall, for promoting awareness and interest for such a promising and vast publishing project.

I think many fans are surprised there hasn’t been more content, considering the content we got for other similar projects like Shadows of the Empire, Clone Wars (2002-07), and The Force Unleashed. And this does seem a larger project than those previous EU “multimedia” releases.

I sometimes read on here that some people think modern Lucasfilm do “the bare minimum” with their releases, when compared to older Lucasfilm from up to mid to late 1990’s, and then noticeably less QA and effort in their releases, probably the last quality project being the TFU EU release, (2007-10)? Maybe there is something to that? Or a budget thing or organisational thing?
 

Anyway, what is probably important for the core readers for The High Republic is the quality of the reading material, and it appears to have been well liked and received so far by many fans (outside the usual “everything in Star Wars is ruined and it is KK’s fault” toxic fan groups).

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

Formerly Emre1601 - computer hard drives are brittle too!

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Thanks Emre. The Acolyte is something I am looking forward too, more so as it appears to be a real set & location series than one using the Volume. Like Andor under Gilroy, Acolyte under Headland should have some meat and substance to it, and not just “cool lines” and needless fan service from other related shows.

 

For anyone interested in some video reviews on The High Republic; balanced, insightful, non-toxic & yet critical when needed:
 

Star Wars Explained: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1E873sPZ0PNdG_HOJ5fnRLBSmWzcpi0p (playlist)

Youtini: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hFiYZipSNA (many THR videos o from many different readers and critics)

Starrapter: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzEW4LILZJTOhFNXOLghOhG1uxxvxPiBV (playlist) + Art of THR book review

Star Wars On High: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwQv_UID5sUoL2eIfzSaTlhqgCy8KFPNe (playlist + also does comic reviews)

Star Wars Lads: Phase I playlist (with tier reviews) : Phase II playlist (with clear explanations + also THR comics reviews)

Jonathan Koan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qL3yx5OsJM (+ a few other THR raking videos)

Star Wars Corner: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7CQghG6SRE (1 review)

Weird Pigeon Productions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQViXj6U67A (1 review)

Sean Chandler Talks About: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMD3_l_KygI (1 review; LOTJ)

Star Wars official THR YouTube channel playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL148kCvXk8pDExsot7ytrDO3ZRttxFuxH
 

Many of the above video channels also review other Star Wars and sci-fi books, novels, comics, films, and TV.

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” - George Lucas