Acbagel

Patali said:

Acbagel said:

Book 3: The Tribes update is released, and the film is now available for viewing. Post here or DM for the link!

Patali said:

I have a question about your book 3. I have never watched Mando Season 3, I dont intend to, I’m going to watch your cuts for the rest of the series. You put Grogu’s rescue by Luke in book 4, right? Watching that trailer, and maybe I’m wrong you can tell me, If I am looking correctly, do you move some of the Mando Season 3 Grogu content to /before/ he is captured by Gideon/rescued by Luke? Or maybe I am just confused. But if you did and it works, that would actually be a great way to salvage some of that S3 Grogu content.

Well thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my edits enough to do that! Yes, Grogu is rescued by Luke at the end of Book 4. I’ve got clips from Book of Boba interspersed throughout my saga, so if you’ve not seen that show perhaps those are the clips you are unfamiliar with? There are a few complications with using Season 3 footage early on, mostly to do with costumes/armor as it is acquired at certain points in the story. But I have just a couple of Season 3 shots in the early films, I don’t think any of it is Grogu though. If there’s a specific scene you have in mind I’ll be happy to tell you where it’s from though, I know this footage inside and out by now

I have watched Boba Fett, there was just stuff I didnt recognize in your Book 3 trailer that I assumed was Season 3. It’s been some time since I watched Season 2, I only watched it once since it released, maybe I’m just not remembering it (for example I didnt recognize that shot of the structure on the ocean blowing up)

Ah, so that structure explosion scene that you mentioned… Yes, it’s from the whole episode on Trask (the water planet), but I altered the speed/scale of the scene, the coloring grading, and custom-made the explosion soundtrack so that might be why it wasn’t as immediately recognizable.

Sounds great though. Will the links I received for the old versions be updated or do I need to get new ones?

Sometimes I lose track of DM’s and links, so if you don’t have something then just let me know. All of the updated versions are now in their own folders that give you access to the poster, trailer, and film. I paid for enough space in the drive finally so I can just reupload into the folders without needing to send new links out each time I make a version of a film.

As far as going all in on your edits, I just feel your approach with Boba, integrating his content entirely into Mandalorian and truly making them one show, is the best way to salvage that content. I wanted a full Boba show, I love that character. I actually enjoyed his 5 episodes mroe than the Mandalorian… but… It’s not happening. We got what we got. I feel your approach is the best way to save that content.

Thanks! There’s been a lot of discussion about what to do with Boba’s “modern day” BoBF storyline, and eventually, I did decide to maintain as much of it as possible. In Book 6/7 you should see more of him. Still working out all the details and I’ve created a half dozen versions of so many scenes… but I’m confident I’ll get something to work.

EddieDean said:

In movie 2 you have the “don’t touch the buttons” scene twice- once at the start and once at 80 mins in. Otherwise, it’s excellent so far. You’ve nailed the balance and transitions of the Boba and Mando content.

Thank you! That was a total oversight on my part with the moving the Sorgan landing to Book 2. I am fixing it right now, splitting the scene in half so we get the Sorgan content in the beginning and then the humor bit individually at the 80-minute mark. The fixed version should be up in the folder this evening. Glad to hear the back-and-forth pacing of Din/Boba is improved!

Book 3: The Tribes update is released, and the film is now available for viewing. Post here or DM for the link!

Patali said:

I have a question about your book 3. I have never watched Mando Season 3, I dont intend to, I’m going to watch your cuts for the rest of the series. You put Grogu’s rescue by Luke in book 4, right? Watching that trailer, and maybe I’m wrong you can tell me, If I am looking correctly, do you move some of the Mando Season 3 Grogu content to /before/ he is captured by Gideon/rescued by Luke? Or maybe I am just confused. But if you did and it works, that would actually be a great way to salvage some of that S3 Grogu content.

Well thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my edits enough to do that! Yes, Grogu is rescued by Luke at the end of Book 4. I’ve got clips from Book of Boba interspersed throughout my saga, so if you’ve not seen that show perhaps those are the clips you are unfamiliar with? There are a few complications with using Season 3 footage early on, mostly to do with costumes/armor as it is acquired at certain points in the story. But I have just a couple of Season 3 shots in the early films, I don’t think any of it is Grogu though. If there’s a specific scene you have in mind I’ll be happy to tell you where it’s from though, I know this footage inside and out by now

spiritof69 said:

I have finally finished all 5 Books: incredible work, they are now actually something I will genuinely want to re-visit again and again in the future and I look forward to doing so (I had given up with the original material as was likely never going to rewatch the original series).

They are so good in fact that I have removed all stored recordings of the original series and your edits are the ones I am keeping. The original will be unwatchable after having seen yours!

Thank you so much and if you have future links for Book 3 oniwards I would love to receive links if you can find time.

Many thanks for all your efforts,
Tim.

Wow, Tim, thanks for the review! I will keep you in the loop for all the updated releases and for the completion of the saga.

Patali said:

I know this isn’t an idea you’ll be able to implement immediately since you just did a release, but I was watching For A Few Dollars More, and it had this great opening text
“Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price.
That is why the bounty killers appeared.”

I feel like something like this, in the star wars blue text, would be awesome at the start of your first movie.

It’s a cool idea that reminds of The Clone Wars intros, but I’m not sure that would fit with the visual style I’m going for in these edits.

stevepaynter said:

Acbagel, just wanted to say I love your new poster images, they remind of the 90’s novel book covers you used to see back in the day. They look great in Plex.

For sure! That’s exactly what I was aiming for with them and so many people have asked for Plex posters that it’s been worth putting the time into. Speaking of…

Book 3 Poster, Trailer, and Changelog time!

Changelog:

• Fixed a glimpse of frog lady where she shouldn’t have been seen

deagan said:
Another thing I noticed for this part, is that Boba says “I can’t see a thing!” entering the Sarlac pit, then immediately turns on the light of their ship. This felt a bit redundant and out-of-character, wouldn’t Boba the brooding and intelligent bounty hunter just turn on the light quietly?
“OMG, it’s so dark inside of this monster rnrn, omg!” turns on flashlight

• Haha fixed this sequence up to make more sense, bugged me too after reading your comment.

• Moved Boba’s two Sarlaac scenes to be closer together so it didn’t seem like he was there for hours/days.

EddieDean said:

Now onto Book 3 (I’m doing a hasty review through with fresh eyes): I know you want to keep Gideon’s presence high throughout the series, but I’d change his appearances in this one. You have him in two main sequences in this movie - the first being the Shadow Council scene (where we learn that the Imperial Remnants are coordinated, get some good context for wider plots including Thrawn, and have Gideon declare he wants to stamp out the Mandalorians), and the second being the tracker scene and Gideon talking about catching Mando and Grogu to continue their cloning.

I think both of these need a little shift, and will try to justify why. But firstly, let me address the fact that I don’t think we need Gideon to have a strong presence in this movie. Yes it’s nice to see him, and to keep him feeling like an overhanging threat. But, so long as each movie at least escalates that threat, I think that need is satisfied. Compare now to your current Book 5, where we don’t see Grogu in the movie until the very end, which leaves us on an interesting development. I think doing the same here would be fine - you still come away from this movie on a punchy note where the Gideon plot has escalated.

So, regarding the tracker plot, I know it’s used here currently to illustrate Gideon’s will and skill to hunt Grogu down. However, the plot about capturing Grogu and his clone relevance really doesn’t continue until your Book 4. I know you’re using it to make the Imperial presence on the Mon Calamari planet more of a trap, but to be honest I don’t think that quite sells, with the dialogue we have. I also don’t think it’s necessary - from Din’s perspective his whole storyline in this movie has been to find Mandalorians, something he finally does at the end. Personal stakes for Gideon don’t add much here (especially as the Imperial resistance is quite weak), so having them as a thorn in his side which helps ingratiate him to Bo Katan’s faction is plenty.

Secondly, regarding the Shadow Council plot, I think that would work better AFTER that Mandalorian-Imperial conflict, as the triggering act behind making Gideon then declare that the Mandalorians must be stamped out. That then leaves our episode on the nice punchy finale (Thrawn reveal, escalation and all), which leaves the threat now overhanging the future movies. It’s the Mandalorians directly striking at Imperials which makes it into a vendetta for Gideon. I would also, as some have suggested, trim the lines about requisitions, as they’ll take now three movies to pay off. (Boba and team have also destroyed the Imperial base on Nevarro, including Gideon’s clones, this movie, so he’s taken a double hit onscreen, further justifying his rage at the end.)

This way, you’d have a straightforward Din-Grogu adventure as they seek Mandalorians, with issues and false leads along the way (and nearly bumping into Boba again), with their actions ending up triggering an escalation of the conflict between Mandalorians and Imperials.

Then, in your Book 4, you could introduce “I’ve placed a tracker” and that subplot just after Mando leaves the planet with that ex-Imperial warlord. We know she’s got ties to Thrawn, and thus the Shadow Council, so it’s absolutely feasible that an Imperial spy could be operating there to report back to Gideon. The dialogue there would reinforce that Gideon wants Grogu - and then he’d strike immediately, on the very next planet, where Din finally meets Boba and the Imperials show up to kidnap Grogu. Again, I think that’s neater, and keeps each movie more focused. You could cut the two elements of the tracker scene around the one of Din on the Crest trying to get Grogu to grab the ball with the force.

A final note on moving the tracker scenes to the following movie - this new suggested ordering would now make more sense of the lines about Pershing’s cloning work being lost, since in this ordering, this discussion would follow the events of Din and co destroying the final Nevarro facility (including clones) the movie prior.

• I have implemented this whole idea. To summarize, the Shadow Council scene moved near the very end of the film, tracker scene moved to Book 4.

• I have updated the “Boba Shoots Din’s bike” scene according to the feedback surrounding the prior version. The consensus was: Make Boba more clearly shoot and watch Din, add a voice line from thug “Grab the armor”, and add a Boba scene explaining why he doesn’t rush in to attack Din. See this scene demo here

• Added a Din voice line, “This is why I don’t trust repair droids,” to explain why his landing gear fails again when trying to land on Trask, indicating that Pelli’s pit droids didn’t fix it properly.

kypo said:

As far as changes go- the ending seems rapid. This type of middle film could benefit from some Act 2 screenplay maneuvers. For example, at the end it would be great to see what each of the characters is doing, perhaps over a music montage. This is a BUILDER episode- so let’s see our characters build. Brainstorming here- something like showing Grogu play with the metal ball as music builds, briefly showcase Vance peaceful in the desert, Fennec and Boba (especially Boba) on his spaceship nodding, perhaps some happy Tuskens, INTERSPERSE THE BALL SPINNING AND MANDO LOOKS AT GROGU, Bo Katan on her new ship looking stoic, Cara Dune in her town…etc. Even an evil shot of Gideon would be good to include (he is building too). End with Grogu and Mando together. This film showed SO MANY CHARACTERS so a small musical denouement of “victory poses” can show the characters as “in progress” for what is about to come in the next Book 4.

• I have created this new “montage” ending to reflect this comment.

• Additionally, there are several other minor soundtrack and video transition updates for quality.

The film release will be tomorrow but for now…

Trailer link to YouTube

Tusken Slater said:

Having watched the Clone wars this is really good haven’t been getting bored and have been engaged with every episode and no cringe dialogue. I have a suggestion if i may to improve the edit, how about using AI software to copy Temuera Morrison voice to read the intro dialogue at the beginning of every episode similar to the original star wars battlefront 2 game with the 501st journal.

I have tried multiple times to get an AI Temuera voice but I just can’t get it to resemble him at all. His voice is so unique, I’m not sure there is currently publicly available technology to replicate it well enough. If someone has found a way to do so, let me know though!

hinventon said:

Looks awesome! I’d love a link to book 3 when you’re ready. I really like the structure of book 1, here’s a couple things I noticed:

• I think the cut where Mando puts mythrol in Carbonite is a little too abrupt, I think it would be better to extend it a little bit. I like the buildup seeing Mando’s gun closet and other bounties. Gives a good sense of the character as an intro.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the film. Yeah, I’ve experimented a bit with the scene over the different versions, the main goal was to help the pacing move into the main plot quicker and avoid the potty joke/weirdness of that scene… At the end of the day, I could tinker with 100 different shots every time I open the project and at some point, I have to just move along. But, I’ve added this as a note if I ever come back to this film down the road.

• I don’t know how much you color graded these, but I feel that it’s a little too saturated and not as crisp of an image as it could be. Book 2 looks better, though.
  Overall I think it works great, can’t wait to see the new updates.

The earlier films struggle with source footage quality. Sadly, this has been something that has always held them back since I first started working on this project in 2020, and didn’t know as much about fan editing as I know now. The visual quality improves as the series continues.

stevepaynter said:

Hey Acbagel, have you considered adding the title of each Book at the beginning of each movie?

I have, and I think way early on in the project I had the standard “The Mandalorian” cards in there before I made the “The Way of Mandalore” logo during the reboot of the project. However, I don’t like the feeling of the title cards interrupting the story, it makes it feel like a TV show rather than a movie. If I were to include a title, it would be at the very beginning of the film in place of the crawl, but also I don’t think my logo looks good enough to hold its own in place of a crawl haha. It’s kind of an intriguing idea to animate the logo a little bit and add it to the top of a standard Star Wars crawl with the grey colors…? Might experiment with that one day.

Book 2 additional materials are released. I still plan to release Book 3 trailer/poster tomorrow and the updated film on Friday!

Trailer link to YouTube

(I used Photoshop to combine a couple of pieces of Disney-commissioned art for that one and am really happy with the results, looks pretty sweet!)

Links sent!

Still working on the Book 3 update, but I’ve had a few more requests from people who have never seen The Mandalorian before and my series is their first introduction to the story… I find that quite humbling and I wanted to take some time to prepare some surrounding material for my releases and organize the links/download folders a bit more.

So I have created a Trailer and Poster for Book 1, and those are immediately available to access in your previous download links in DMs as well as linked below. Book 2 material will be released tomorrow, and I hope to have the Book 3 update ready to release on Friday.

Trailer link to YouTube

All footage belongs to Disney
Soundtrack by Samuel Kim
Poster artwork by Chelsea Lowe

Links sent! I am starting work on the Book 3 update today. I will let you guys know how it goes, shouldn’t take too long as this one was pretty close to being final form already.

Darth Sadifous said:

Watched the revised Book One and Book Two over the weekend and you really have outdone yourself! The ending to Book Two is so satisfying. I can’t wait to get the rest of the revised books and to see the conclusion of season three of Mando in this series. Keep up the amazing work!

Thanks for the new feedback, Darth! I’m glad the final touches were worth it, with the time off of editing for a while, being able to review my whole series before finishing Season 3 is helping a lot to clear my vision on the final arc of the story. And then it seems like my next entry into TWoM will be from something already in movie format perhaps in 2025…? That will take care of a lot of my work for me haha

EddieDean said:

These sound really great. While I wait for this to download, I’ll ask: Did you decide to trim the ending in the couple of ways I suggested? I posted a test which skipped the false Mando-Greef conflict, and another which made Mando’s head injury much more minor to allow the ending conflict to progress quicker. Worked for me, but it’s cool if you didn’t!

I pondered and struggled with these suggestions, and I’m not sure if it was the right call, but I decided not to implement them. The Mando head injury one had conflicting suggestions from various people, some saying they wanted me to re-extend the scene, and some saying they liked it short or wanted it even shorter… I couldn’t find a consensus and have never felt strongly about it past the initial changes I’ve made, so I left it as is which was the middle-of-the-road (perhaps cowardly haha) option. As far as the Greef trim, that’s the one that I might regret leaving in? I have no doubt the pacing of Act 3 works better with your edit, and admittedly this film drags on a tad too long right now, but I couldn’t pull the trigger on cutting that segment. It’s something where if I was a director, someone above me would’ve forced those scenes out, but I’m fine with the “extended cut” release I have here. Looking back, I’m still not a fan of the overpowered force healing ability, but damn if it doesn’t make me emotional every time I see it. And I recall watching it originally when season 1 first released, and that scene had magic and stuck in my mind, so again it’s just something I didn’t have the guts to cut entirely. Great suggestion for pacing and structure, but I subjectively left it in because of good memories with it.

Updated Book 2 is released! Post here/DM for the new link. Changelog below:

• New Act 1 scene order/transitions. The back-and-forth pacing of Din and Boba’s story was an incredible challenge when I first created this idea, and one of the sticking points from the last release was trying to get some better “connective tissue” and balance between the storyline transitions. I painstakingly wrote out every scene from the last release and tried to combine the puzzles to give thematically and visually satisfying transitions. I believe it is a marked improvement over the prior film in this area. From new shot orders within scenes to scene organization to altered transition SFX and visuals, I hope this creates a more unified structure.

• Per my scene demo posted above, I have engineered a new extended scene for Din’s Sorgan landing to better pace out his content in Act 1. With new content in the landing to the nighttime scene with the locals, this will help explain how they got into the Sorgan village in the first place.

• New Cara Dune storyline. This was my biggest personal gripe with the last release, I could not figure out a cohesive way to introduce/involve Cara without the full Sorgan side quest. I tried something in the previous version, and it was functional, but still felt a bit choppy to me. I have a brand new attempt at all of her scenes on Sorgan plugged into this update which I much prefer. To summarize, it’s a bit more somber than the old chummy version where it seemed like they bonded too quickly. When I watch this version, I now see mutual respect more than buddy-buddy friends right away. As Cara tells Din he needs to leave the planet for her safety, Din understands why, and out of respect for a fellow warrior he does so. As Din prepares to leave, Cara sees how happy Grogu is and she starts to regret it all, Din tells her that he will be leaving but Grogu will be staying. She seems to accept this proposal after watching Grogu play with the children, but of course, this is before the assassination attempt on Grogu, and that prompts the whole storyline to move forward. As Din leaves the planet with Grogu, I have a new soundtrack to tie into Boba’s journey which completely changes the tone of this whole scene. I hope it tugs the heartstrings!

arabian said:

• When Mando’s ship is shot at before he heads to Tatooine, can you add some line about looking for a nearby planet? Because he mentions losing fuel and then he’s just pushing buttons, switches and then a voice says: “Mos Eisley, bay 3.” It just would make it make more sense. If that line is available.

This suggestion is added, great idea! Din now says, “We meed to make an emergency landing,” before he sublight travels to Tattooine.

• Here I go with the ending again, sorry. I think you should SW wipe from the darksaber moment with Gideon to Boba and Fennec with him saying “tribes” to the last scene you had with Mando, where we see him with his little tribe, him and Grogu. That way you end on Mando.

I have also altered the ending scene order to this as well. Another great idea! New soundtrack here as well.

EddieDean said:
Another thought for Book 2. We’ve talked a lot about the overlap point between Din and Boba, around Fennec’s unconscious body. I think the ordering you have right now from Din’s perspective is absolutely right, but I’d tweak Boba’s just slightly. I’d cut from the scene of Din and Grogu flying away (the shot of the Crest from behind going off into space) to the scene of Boba discovering Fennec - but only to the point where he turns her over and sees who she is. (This works nicely with the shot of the ship leaving, since abnormally for this show, the camera doesn’t follow the ship away - it’s almost as if the direction here says “there’s more to see on Tattooine first even though Din is leaving”). Then, once Boba turns over Fennec, cut to the scene of levity in the Crest cockpit into the flight toward the wetlands planet (music works for this), and the scene of Din and Grogu seeing Cara’s fight. Then back to Tattooine for Boba and Fennec now sitting at a warm fire, and you’re back to where you were. This version of events just slightly improves the timing of scenes relative to each other, and makes a bit more logical sense to me.

This suggestion was implemented, thanks!

kypo said:

It feels like it takes a long time to reach Mando- (14 minutes). Perhaps starting the Mando in the village scene earlier could help. A good earlier segue point would be when Boba arrives at the raider camp. If we add a Mando cut here, we see a tighter similarity in Mando “Moving in” to the village, as Boba is “moving in” to the slave camp. It would also mean where your second cutaway would land is now when Mando is “fitting in” as Boba is “fitting in”- tightening the two halves of our story.

I would also love to see even a glimpse of Boba in his nighttime chains to extend the perception of time to the audience.

Both of these are now in!

I would love to get just a little more of Fennec’s droid, we jump immediately to the droid returning. It’s minor but a scene separation or slightly additional footage of its exploration might help here.

When they sneak into the bay- they are caught immediately. It seems really quick. A second or two of sneaking before this would be good to imply they have gone undetected for a bit- but I don’t know what footage you even have for this!

Added a brief scene of each of these moments, thanks!

“Kuilil do you copy” - I think the pan up would go to his body for the most efficient storytelling. We can infer Grogu is with the scouts.

Done!

Aside from those changes above, I did a bit of volume balancing across the film, new transitions throughout, a couple of new soundtracks, adjusted shot orders in scenes, etc. A step up all around, thanks so much to everyone who wrote out so many suggestions and participated in the discussion about this film, months later it was amazing to have all of that available to review and implement. You guys are the best, hope you enjoy the new version of the film! Onto Book 3 after the weekend!

Book 2 update is complete! Exporting right now, will post changelog in the morning and start sending out links tomorrow once it’s uploaded to the drive.

Kestrel said:

Great to see you back in full swing. Your Mando edits are the best I’ve seen. (Which btw I’d love to have the updated book 1 if you don’t mind sending a link my way)

And enjoy Witcher 3! What I’d give to play that for the first time again

Thanks, very kind of you! I have been getting a ton of requests for the series lately in DMs, so I really appreciate everyone online who keeps recommending them on various forums and sites. Makes this Star Wars fan happy to see others get some new enjoyment out of an awesome storyline.

spiritof69 said:

Thanks Acbagel for the links, much appreciated. I just finished watching Book 1 earlier this evening, such a better format and flow than the TV series, fantastic work! I’ll be going back over the TV series to see the changes and to give some perspective. Then onto Book 2 and onwards 😃

Again, thanks so much for all your hard work.

Glad you had fun with it! Highly recommend waiting for the Book 2 link tomorrow since it’s designed to pair with the updated Book 1 in terms of scene organization. Can’t wait to share the film tomorrow, I really think I found some great solutions for a couple hang-ups in the previous Book 2.

T-202 said:
Honestly this works pretty well, sure some of the AI is a little lifeless but I think the lines work well. It gives the story a little more room to breath and helps better explain why Mando is on the planet and how he got to the village. The only thing that weirded me out was the changing aspect ratio but that was probably just to hide something I can’t remember off screen.

The pacing is needed and some lines sound a bit better than others, but I didn’t have any music/sfx blending completed in that preview yet so it should feel much more natural in the final cut. I also didn’t fix the aspect ratios yet, this was just an idea concept draft.

kypo said:
I like this addition. The AI is pretty good here and it makes total sense for this stage of the story. This addition lets the characters breathe, and the double night scenes with Boba helps show time pass for every story thread. It sounds like the bounce back and forth will help hold tension on Boba’s narrative.

Great work, ACBAGEL!

Kypo approved, it’s locked in! I did some more touch-ups on the lines and background sound and also changed some of the AI dialogue to have a better delivery/tone, so I’m happy with the overall inclusion now.

Patali said:

Was the AI those first lines “need to do some maintenance” ?

Because if so, that sounds GOOD. I was critical of the example you were testing for the first movie (in the Werner Herzog scene), but this one really works. The fact that I was questioning it at all, you got me.

Yes, that line is all AI. Some lines in the clip sounded better than others, but there are a few that even I can barely tell which ones I created! I don’t want to use AI lines much throughout the saga, but the potential to occasionally buff up a scene is something I don’t want to pass up on.

Also a quick workload/life update. I haven’t been editing nearly as much as over the summer/fall, and I won’t go into details but I have completed the personal project that was taking up so much of my time previously. Work-related project that has nothing to do with fan edits, but I am hopeful to get back into focused editing again on Monday. The time off here also came with a very enjoyable dive into the Witcher series where I read all 8 books, all the comics, 2 games (currently playing the 3rd for the first time), etc. Man, I wish I could edit that Netflix series to be anything watchable, but holy crap that thing is an actual abomination… Anyways, The Way of Mandalore lives! I am about 33% through the update on Book 2 and plan to have that released next week. Then onward full speed. I’m excited to get into the Bad Batch at some point soon too.

I believe everyone who asked for the new version has it now, but let me know if I missed you!

I am working through the Book 2 update right now. The main task was to get more of a balance with Din scenes in Act 1, and possibly make some better “connective tissue” between the transitions and story beats with Boba. So I had the main benefit of being able to get Din’s Sorgan landing sequence in this film instead of Book 1, but I also wanted to extend that out a little more for pacing balance. I have a little mock up scene here (still unpolished in A/V editing) that helps lengthen the landing sequence rather than having Din immediately make it into the fishing village for lodging like my previous Book 2. Let me know If you think any of this works and I’ll finish it up!

This occurs ~6 minutes into the film after Boba is dragged away by the Tuskens for the first time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1saXqaYV0VQfxkviqTs54D2g6yheM_2IF/view?usp=sharing

Updates are completed on Book 1 and the film is exported. I decided not to go with any additional AI voice lines as I couldn’t get anything to feel natural. I have some placed in later films that I think work much better. Onto Book 2 now! Going through some older posts to find the consensus on a few scene changes.

hinventon said:

Simple poster I made with the end card logo to use on my plex server:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nvUpNH5TRzNDl68yLW2IGu2Wc2iUmY9z/view?usp=drivesdk

Excited for the next updates!

Love it! Movie posters are something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Would love to be able to release a unique one for each film for all the Plex users out there.

Patali said:

Acbagel said:
Yes, I agree on that. Tough to replicate gruffness in an AI voice model… I’m trying out some different effects to see if I can make it work. Din actually loses a lot of the gruff sound in his tone as the seasons go on, but early on it’s definitely present.

So, I’ve been watching your first movie and I’ll post notes later (been sick this weekend so I couldnt do it in one sitting, Im gonna start it over and watch in one sitting later this week).

But I will say, for this particular scene, it’s a cool experiment that I think could be useful elsewhere, but for this scene it’s totally unnecessary. How in your current version Din just says nothing… It’s fine. There’s nothing to fix so I think it would only be detrimental in this particular case.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah maybe it isn’t needed. Was trying to get in that “thesis line” that Kypo talked about, but maybe it isn’t necessary. I think Din comes across as the lone wolf warrior without needing to actually state it. I think I’ll render the update and ship as is!

Patali said:

EddieDean said:

Heck yeah! Bagel’s back, baby! Love those final tweaks to movie 1. Lock 'em in! As someone commented on your AI voice line, I agree that it could be a touch rougher, but it does work.

I left the comment on the yotube channel, and yeah that is the only thing I feel is lacking is the gruffness, and it just moves a little fast. The first line sounds good but the second line when he is getting up, something about the line and its diction, combined with that shot of him getting up, just isnt working for me. But still I like the idea of incorporating AI for Din, since him wearing the helmet makes it such a ripe opportunity.

Yes, I agree on that. Tough to replicate gruffness in an AI voice model… I’m trying out some different effects to see if I can make it work. Din actually loses a lot of the gruff sound in his tone as the seasons go on, but early on it’s definitely present.

bagel, can I get links to your mando movies? I am interested in checking them out

Sent!

Well well well… I have mastered the father of 3 life. Baby is now 3 months old and sleeping great, and so am I! I’ve missed working on my edits. I’ve done sporadic editing on random scenes in Book 6 here and there, but nothing substantial on getting it all together. Time off always helps bring fresh perspective too. Since I still have a lot of work on the next film, I wanted to go back and drop the final releases of some of the previous films that didn’t have too much left to do, as well as start to respond to some of Kypo’s incredible reviews that have been posted.

Starting with Book 1:

There weren’t too many fixes/updates to make on this one that I’m tracking.

1. Make a snappier cut from Blue Guy Bounty “warm or cold” line to the ship flying overhead cantina. Thanks, EddieDean for this suggestion.
2. Move Kuiil rebuilding the IG-11 scene between Mando getting his new armor and going back to see Greef. Thanks, Arabian for this suggestion. It works well here I think for the reasons you mentioned, and also because as we see the cuirass being forged, I now fade that shot into the destruction at the mercenary camp which fits great thematically.
3. Added in Greef’s surviving blaster shot scene after Din enters hyperspace with Grogu. This was something I overlooked in the last version, just forgot to include it and it felt weird later on in the series when we suddenly see Greef is alive.
4. Change the ending to conclude at the Grogu ball–>hyperspace, saving the village entrance for Book 2.
5. The soundtrack when Din walks around Nevarro and finds Grogu’s carrier in the trash wasn’t working to convey what I intended. I was hoping it would point to Din’s emptiness in his absence from Grogu, but it didn’t seem to communicate that. It was too sweet sounding for the moment, especially coming right after the mess Din just goes through on the prisoner job. Here is a new soundtrack test, think it works better? https://youtu.be/eJOmByfJcpQ

And then I have one more test scene below in response to one of Kypo’s comments.

kypo said:

Hey! I want to introduce myself and share some of my feedback. I have written multiple screenplays, and I’ve worked on small productions for stunt acting. I am certainly no expert so take all of my feedback for what it is- my enthusiastic SUGGESTIONS to help you improve your awesome project. All of my notes come from a fellow big Star Wars fan who loves and appreciates your edits!!

I have never checked out your edits as I am a big fan of S1 and S2 of Mandalorian and felt that I personally do not NEED a shorter edit. Then Boba Fett came out. Then S3. Then Kenobi (thanks PixelJoker!). This led me to your edits, and the way you assembled the story requires that I watch ALL of them. So I will watch all of them and give my input as a fellow film enthusiast. Not all of my notes will be actionable, but sharing is the least I can do!

Thanks again for writing these for the films! I am taking advantage of all your time to improve upon my releases.

BOOK 1 EDIT

One of the things that makes movies FEEL like movies is a THEME LINE in the early parts of the movie. It’s one of those classic screenplay rules that belong in the first 5 pages of a script. It operates like a thesis in an essay- what statement of belief will be challenged by our hero’s experience? This is a tough thing to accomplish as the shows you are working with do not necessarily give great lines to an overall plot structure (They are building a short episode, not a full film). In Book 1, a theme line would happen around his talk with Greef Karga. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really deliver a line that works. Then our protagonist receives the “quest” from THE CLIENT. No thesis. Then the Armorer, but here it’s very late in the story… and while she offers wisdom the lines are geared at exposition, not giving theme to our movie. I am not sure how to improve it as you’ve only got what you got. Perhaps a new V.O. with the Armorer stating Book 1’s thesis more clearly when she accepts his payment- but I don’t know how feasible this option is. Or perhaps a new MANDO line to The Client stating his intent to always travel alone.

I definitely agree that a thematic thesis line would serve Act 1 very well! I have been experimenting with AI voicelines the past couple months and have a pretty good Din model made. Do you all think this line fits well here and sounds right? https://youtu.be/srQCZc-4AIY

The Fight scene edits = A+
I can see these fight scenes are punchier, shorter, quicker, and have less chaff getting shot by good characters to help raise the stakes. Fewer misses at the good guys. More tension is kept. Great work here!

Nice! Love to hear it. I probably spent more time fixing combat sequences than anything else in these films haha.

Small suggestion- perhaps after the Warm or Cold line you can cut to carbonite in the face blast. Could be a shorter/punchier scene to jump straight to the ship.

Yep! Was recommended by some others as well and I have it updated as indicated above. A quicker cut right to one good exterior of the ship flying so we can actually see what the Razorcrest looks like and that’s it now. No more journey across the ice lake.

Overall, I am very impressed. The problem to me personally is this cuts from the show when its at it’s best. Later Books in this series will have the advantage of cutting garbage (Looking at you, S3!). This book has the disadvantage of cutting relatively successful material. Much harder to do!! (And I am very impressed at what you created here!)
This gives me a LOT of hope for these next chapters and I cannot wait to review them.

Thank you for the kind words! I believe this is the shortest movie in my saga, and also the one I cut the least from which is interesting… Ends right at 2 hours now, but I think the pacing worked out so I’m happy with that.

I think I’m also going to try and run the film through Topaz to see if that helps with the lower-quality footage at all. So if I can get feedback on the two scenes above, I will probably have this re-released by tomorrow evening!

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions Kypo! I’m really looking forward to being able to go through it all with the earlier films.

I’ve spent some time going through Book 5 again and trying to plan for 6. I have so many options for reorganizing the story, but I haven’t found one that feels right yet. I am, at this point, seeing if I can get the full Boba Tatooine story in Book 6 and interweave it with Plazir-15 (the not-terrible parts). For some reason, I just really do not enjoy the placement of Boba’s storyline in Book 5. After Din and Grogu separate, I really like the solo Din journey, but I don’t want to lose Boba as a character so I’m still experimenting.

That said, the experimenting has been slow the last few weeks. I recently had Baby #3 and was in the so-tired-I-can’t-think phase again so the editing has been sporadic. It’s been getting better though and I’ll get back to a good schedule soon.

Honestly, I’m thinking about finishing up Books 1-4 with the final updates first too, maybe help give me some inspiration for the final arc of the story after reviewing the earlier films again.

EddieDean said:

You’re the absolute MVP buddy ❤️

No you!

vranir said:

I think someone in this thread (or in another) also proposed keeping the modern Boba Fett stuff intact but moving it to a spot in between the first and second halves of Mando s3. That also seems to have potential in my view. It would slow down the return to Mandalore and also involve contacting the various groups/types of Mandalorians to “unite the tribes.”

The problem is that there is barely any context for Din joining Boba. In BoBF it’s basically, “I have nothing to do rn so why not”. And then there is actually no final scene with Din and Boba. Not one frame where they say goodbye or anything, it’s just battle scenes and then poof Din is in space with Grogu. Sadly, there’s not much to work with on the fan edit side here. I used some AI voice generation for my short ~20 minute edit of Tatooine which would have worked well enough, but expanding this all into a cohesive film in the middle of S3 doesn’t work well. If we want the full Boba story here, Din needs to help because he is purposeless without Grogu. I can’t make that main AI lines about such a different placement of this story.

kypo said:

Also- Have you ever considered adding other fanedit material- like this salvaged Jango Fett scene from Attack of the Clones? Could be a good way to “add” to some of these flashback scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gbh08F061A&ab_channel=vanilla

Kypo, first gotta say, absolutely killer reviews. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I’ll get back to responding to them in detail when I can. As far as the flashback, is there a certain place you’d recommend that? I believe all my Boba memory scenes are in Book 2, are you suggesting putting this clip somewhere in there?

RogueLeader said:

Speaking of which, Acbagel, if there are any other spots where you have caught yourself saying, “Man, it would be great if we had a line here to explain this”, feel free to reach out because I’d be more than happy to generate some lines for you. I had already been wanting to remake Luke’s dialogue in Mando and BOBF to make it sound more natural and like Mark Hamill. It would be a good opportunity to alter his lines to fit your interpretation of the character, if you felt this version of Luke shouldn’t follow the “attachments” rule, for example. Just let me know!

Yes, that will definitely come in handy. I’ve just recently begun experimenting with ElevenLabs myself, but I’ve heard the lines from Ascendent, and some of them are truly amazing! When we finalize a couple lines here I’ll DM you and see if you have any good models for those voices yet.

beachedwhale said:

Is there still an active link for the current day bobf V2 film I have heard circling around? I would love to check it out, I think these edits are amazing and I will continue to follow these posts with great interest!

You’re looking for the old Book 5 from last year (before Mando Season 3 was released and I decided to change the story around Grogu)? If so, yes, DM me and I’ll send that to you.

Darth Muffy said:

Also Acbagel I made a simple project of BoBF series here to fix making Boba back to being a bad ass again. I never got around to refining it after the inital v1 but maybe you could take some ideas from it for this quality project your doing here. Example Boba being a bad ass in battle and not keep taking dirt naps which sounds like you’ve already fixed but it shows we’re on the same page of Bobas Book 😉 : https://vimeo.com/721775369

Nice! I scrolled through some of the changes there and it looks like we have a similar vision for Boba. Are there any changes that were not in my film that you had ideas for me to add?

Thanks for all the posts, everyone! I’ll be able to edit some more later this week so I’ll keep making progress and updates on Books 5-7 whenever I can.

PsyGemini said:

Isn’t it better to wait for the final season next year before going deep with the editing?

Maybe…? But I think I can get the majority of it done now and then do a smaller update after Season 3 if it affects anything in my first few films. There are big events in Season 2 that will make Season 3 probably not contain anything that would alter my Season 1 films so I’m not too worried. I still want to get this done for people who want to watch Season 3 live without needing to sift through some slow episodes that might deter them from experiencing the core story.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I’m currently trying to put together a cut based on Eddie’s post. My original Book 5 in 2022 was received very well so I’m going to try to merge the ideas in that film with some of the new ideas we’ve all come up with in 2023 to try to get the best of both worlds here. I really like the order of events I created in the recent release, but it doesn’t work with a full Tatooine storyline for one movie. I am intrigued by Eddie’s idea to have Din be excommunicated and cut all immediate mentions of his atonement. Then we can experience a full 1.5 movies of this lonely journey he goes on, and further extend the separation of Din and Grogu. Also, as a callback to Book 2, I do still like the idea of us seeing Din and Boba go on parallel journeys. That would fit all in with my initial goals here with The Way of Mandalore. Having him hit rock bottom after seeing Grogu in the distance and not being able to be with him would give him a good motivation to head to his clan and plead for a path to atonement and belonging.

That will indeed mean I need to dig into Book 5 again as I have to completely restructure what I just released. But I don’t see any other way to include BoBF here in its full form. I could release an ~80-minute standalone movie of Boba like some people were requesting with Dr. Pershing’s story, but that has never been my intent for this project. I want a saga of 2-2.5 hour movies in this New Republic time period told from the perspective of Mandalorians. At the end of the day, this isn’t my first foray into massive plot structuring for my films haha. I do believe each time I’ve done this, they have been individually improved to a great degree, as well as created a more cohesive movie saga.

I am still quite torn on Boba not appearing in Books 6/7 in any real manner. Yes, I can get him some easter egg appearances on Mandalore but this new order does leave him out from the main plot thread. I may try and preserve some scenes from BoBF that I can add to Book 7. However, at some point, we will get additional Mandalorian content whether that comes in the form of the Filoni movie or Season 4 first, or maybe even Ahsoka/Skeleton Crew crossover and I’m sure they’ll explain where Boba was and perhaps I can plug that into my saga down the road. Such a missed opportunity to not bring him into Mandalore in season 3, but I can only work with what I have today.

Daiyus said:

I was in many ways hoping you’d expand into the Ashoka content so that we could watch a refined New Republic era with all the various major plotlines intact, melded together in chronological order. Of course, this was entirely wishful thinking on my part and no expectation is implied.

It’s looking like Ahsoka can be turned into a 1-2 movie experience. I believe it is intended to run chronologically concurrent with Mando S3 content? I’ll get to Ahsoka one day, especially if there happen to be any crossovers with Mando. When this site was down I started playing with the first couple of episodes. Combat is much better than other shows, but man even there we’re getting lightsabers flip-flopping directions between cuts and other goofs. Baylan’s hallway scene was very sloppy, but it will be fixed one day!

pableve said:

Regarding your Book 6 plans.
I belive it would be better to make 2 books out of your plan. So the Book 6 would be pretty muvh what you have in act 1 but with all the usable 70 min of Book of Boba fett footage and then have it intersect with Bo katan training Mandalorians.

And then have Book 7 be what you have planed in act 2 and act 3 of your current Book 6 plan.

I think that would be better and insted of having 1 nearly 3h film you end up with 2 films around 1h 40min.

I have a hard rule of thumb that a Star Wars movie MUST be at least 2 hours. No George Lucas film was under that and I won’t go under it either. I should be able to make three 2+hour movies with the new proposed order.

Again, thanks for all the replies. It’s going to take a while to make this all happen. I’m ~30 minutes into the new Book 5 structure, trying to combine two movies into one and save some scenes for future movies etc. Lots of scene and soundtrack juggling to do but at least I have all of the individual scenes edited how I want them (for the most part, which the new order some scenes will need to change) so the hardest work is done. No more frame by frame combat analysis needed, at least until Book 7…

And I will get back to the final updates on Books 1-4!

EddieDean said:

How much of BoBF would that preserve, doing it the way you currently suggest, Acbagel? I don’t think we should be losing too much of the good present-day BoBF content just to mitigate the structural issues with Mando season 3.

My proposed order would use ~20 minutes from BoBF “current” day. That would be Din’s trip to see Cobb, a couple minutes of planning for the battle, and then a trimmed version of the battle itself. No Cad Bane, no Boba focused scenes, really only using scenes that are exclusively Din or ones where Din and Boba are together (which is only the final battle). The purpose is only to show that Din has been doing his part in trying to unite the Mandalorians together, not to give the typical view of how Boba gained respect on Tatooine. Also to show why Boba isn’t heavily involved in the retaking of Mandalore.

Buuuuut… maybe there’s a less radical ordering here, where you can get both the most out of the Boba story AND extend out the time that Mando and Grogu were apart, which I know is a (sensible) priority for you. So how about something closer to the ordering of the original release, but just using your Book 5 edits to keep Din and Grogu apart for longer:

I like a lot of what you proposed in that message, but it doesn’t address the main reason that I am leaning toward shortening Boba’s solo Tatooine scenes. That being that he is completely absent from Mando S3 and after so much screen time in your proposed Book 5, he is then 100% absent from books 6-7. I am trying to tie him into the main narrative rather than giving him a side story on Tatooine that doesn’t drive the overall theme of my saga.

vranir said:

What you gain by putting Boba Fett in book 6 is that you draw out the whole thing about contacting and building alliances with other Mandalorians. In the vanilla version it’s far too quick and simple. While hanging out with Fett who doesn’t go to Mandalore isn’t actually accomplishing anything, it can give the illusion of connection to the main plot.

Yes, this is exactly what I was going for with this idea. However, I do intend to make it more than just an illusion by also including Boba & Slave 1 in the final space battle as suggested as well as adding him into the final “celebration” clip on Mandalore. He won’t have a large role in this film, but it won’t feel like he was written out of the story for no reason like S3.

EddieDean said:

Agreed, but it gives you fewer narrative challenges to work around. I’m all for radical changes, and Acbagel has always delivered great solutions, but BoBF’s ending works nicely as a third act finale and narrative peak. That might be diminished if it’s cut to fit into a larger narrative about alliances, especially as his earlier appearance in the movie then wouldn’t be delivered upon by, say, a suprise appearance in the movie’s finale which might now be expected.

I’ll restructure the Tatooine battle to be very fast-paced and opening-esque, and I will also include Boba again later on in the film to pay off his early appearance and connection to the overall plot.

Sent to all, and thanks for posting feedback! I’m out of state until Thursday, but I have some ideas working for Book 6. I’ll lay them out below.

DarthMeme said:

Another fantastic edit by Acbagel! Book 5 worked so brilliantly; the removal of Grogu was done really well, I love that you managed to keep the Babu Frik aliens trying to repair IG scene, the action all worked great, having the space dogfight with the pirates near Tatooine was a great placement.
It just works so much better when we have Din be away from Grogu for longer, can’t wait to see how you’ll approach Book of Boba & the rest of the Mando S3 content.

Thank you DarthMeme. The pirate dogfight scene is one that I’ve received 50/50 feedback on. I think it’s cool in concept, but there is something a little odd about it as some have posted. Does anyone have any better ideas on alternative placement or do you think it can just be cut altogether?

honestabe said:

Book 5 was a masterpiece much like your other work. It was hard to notice Grogu missing with the VFX work that was done. You clearly had to put forth quite a monumental effort to get that done. Excellent work. You can really feel quite the time lapse going through the various battles with imperials, pirates, and the adventure into Mandalore. This is a must see for everyone.

The heavy restructuring of the saga by and large flowed rather smoothly.

Wonderful, indeed this was my most ambitious project ever. From the massive plot restructuring to dozens of hours masking Grogu out, the changes are quite radical and I’m glad that it can provide a new watching experience for those of us who weren’t too fond of the original Season 3 or even those who were but just want a fresh journey with it. The major goals of the edit were accomplished and it provides a vastly different viewing experience than the Disney version.

There a few minor issues that may be addressed in a future cleanup, but not really major:

• I thought it was a bit awkward for the New Republic pilots to stop Din for flying next to a commercial ship after he flew back down to Tatooine and back up.

I may be able to change this. I can probably come up with a different reason for him getting pulled over.

==> It may be best to have the flyover moved over to the moment where he leaves Tatooine. You can jump straight to the pirates while he is testing the ship.

• I liked having the pirate space fight outside Tatooine. However, I thought it was a bit strange that they would be there all the way from Nevarro without any explanation considering that is where it originally took place.

==> Would it be possible to quickly slip in some dialogue such as, “We have been tracking you.” One of the pirates can mention that to briefly explain how they knew Din was on Tatooine.

I addressed this scene above, but this is a good idea that might salvage it. Anyone else in favor of this or have different ideas?

• As we approach the ending, the volume of the soundtrack noticeably increased to a point where it became very difficult to hear a few words of dialogue between Ahsoka and Luke.

Thanks, made a note and will address it in the final update.

I know there are still some comments regarding Books 1-4 in the thread that I haven’t responded to yet, so I have those marked to come back to. But for now, I want to cast a vision for Book 6.

Here’s what footage I have left to work with:

• BoBF “current day” scenes. ~70 minutes of footage that I consider to be good enough to be usable
• Plazir-15 episode
• Rockworld Raptor episode
• Dr. Pershing episode
• 2-episode ending of retaking Mandalore
• BoBF E06 Luke/Grogu scenes, ~10 minutes

Book 5 ends with Bo-Katan being assigned to unite the clans, and Din still wrestling with being away from Grogu but being restored as a Mandalorian and able to help his clan. So we end with the two of them apart, but the blind setup for Book 6 is reuniting the clans to retake Mandalore and presumably some additional Grogu content. So this is the general structure I have right now:

Act 1

1. Grogu/Luke trainng
2. Din goes to Tatooine to try and get Boba to join the retaking of Mandalore. I use somewhat of a cold open with the Tatooine battle and a few AI voice lines here to explain the context
3. Bo-Katan is meanwhile training the clan on Rockworld and living the Mandalorian lifestyle by hunting the raptor (edited to remove Din and the abducted child). This is OG Mandalorian shit, warrior v beast as Bo-Katan is given new respect in her role.
4. I have merged the Raptor fight and Din’s alligator kill arrival from S03E01 for a seamless bridge. This brings our protagonists back together from their individual journeys between films.

Act 2

1. Dr. Pershing begins his journey as we slowly learn that Gideon lives
2. Grogu/Luke completes training and Grogu is given a decision about his future
3. Plazir-15 but cut everything to do with the side quest, straight into the Mando content
4. We set the scene for retaking Mandalore, but right before we fly out, Din makes one more visit to Grogu where they finally reunite (on academy world)

Act 3

1. Retaking Mandalore, this flows pretty smoothly as one final sequence.

Indeed, this does conclude The Way of Mandalore (for now, until Season 4?) in Book 6. It gives me ~2 hours 45 minutes of a movie. Thoughts?

yoshif8tures said:

Any further updates on this?

Not yet! It’s #1 priority after finishing The Way of Mandalore though.

Thanks T-202! Glad you enjoyed.

I have uploaded a version with some fixes so if you’re coming back with a broken link just DM me and I’ll get you the new one.

Book 5: The Apostate is officially released!

Well that was unfortunate timing! Site goes down almost immediately before I finished my edit haha. I found some of you on Reddit and IFDB to send the film to over the weekend still, but please make a new comment here if you have not received the edit yet and would like it. The final changelog is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TIVp5tQY9WxxnOe8iRXvG5t4P6vTi1ZCbb8CnxwB_9Q/edit?usp=sharing

Please post some reviews and feedback on book 5 after you watch. It was a massive project so I’m sure some thing slipped through.

Delpheas said:

I’m interested to see how Book 5 plays out and what you give us for Book 6. The stills of removed Grogu are great and I think Grogu and Djarin reuniting later also helps sell the passage of time and give some indication that he wasn’t training for like a few weeks before he left.

Storyboarding Book 6 right now! I’m jostling a few different structures around with the series of events so I’ll start writing on that tomorrow.

If he is going to help Djarin in the fight against Gideon that also feels like a much stronger place to show off his training than BoBF.

Yes, I am leaning toward this idea currently. Definitely thinking an end of Book 6 reunion where we first see his new powers on Mandalore in Book 7.

stevepaynter said:

Hey Acbagel,

Any plans on doing anything with Ashoka series once all episode have been released?

Well while this site was down and I couldn’t access my Book 6 notes, I did indeed start playing around with certain scenes in Ahsoka… I still really want to work on The Bad Batch so I’ve not decided officially on anything but yes there are some editing notes I’ve been taking on Ahsoka that I think would help the individual episodes, but I want to wait for the whole season before trying to cast any vision for it

Greetings!

I live! Lots of stuff happened in my life got busy too much work had another baby blah blah blah sorry sorry sorry.

Anyways. The Way of Mandalore. I’m back at it! Book 5 was so close to being finished before and I promise I’m right there on the precipice. I got some good work on my review done yesterday, and the film is clocking in at 2 hrs 20 minutes and I’m at the 1 hr 25 minute mark on my review. I will have one final mini-changelog to post here because I am making a few alterations based on having fresh eyes on it during the time away. I’m going to do everything I can to have it out this weekend. It really is that close!

Thank you so much to everyone still posting feedback in the meantime. I will definitely go through all of it as soon as I get Book 5 out.