Those who disliked TLJ, are you still buying toys from it?

[Niltusk]

So I just don't get that criticism at all.

 

[DarkChocobi]

Meh the concept of "The Force is Female" and picture of Kathleen Kenndy mocking the SW male fanbase in my head all the time just...cannot swallow

Only figures from OT - PT - Clone Wars and Rouge One for me

 

[RandomHero]

I agree, only episodes I through XI for me. I got the Rey/BB-8 set because I like those two characters, but no ST figures for me. I might get the new Rey just so I can get the porgs that come with her, but it's still just Rey, so I'll continue limiting my ST figures to just her.

 

[davejames]

Meh the concept of "The Force is Female" and picture of Kathleen Kenndy mocking the SW male fanbase in my head all the time just...cannot swallow

Only figures from OT - PT - Clone Wars and Rouge One for me

The fact you see that as "mocking" is just... Ugh, never mind. I give up.

 

[SilverStar17]

Meh the concept of "The Force is Female" and picture of Kathleen Kenndy mocking the SW male fanbase in my head all the time just...cannot swallow

Only figures from OT - PT - Clone Wars and Rouge One for me

Pretty laughable indeed. After all, I had always thought the Force was male all these years.

 

[Mose Harper]

"Rogue One" did stir that magic, at times, coming the closest to the original trilogy "feelings" that I remember and cherish.

Last year I spent more money on SW stuff (models, HT figures primarily) than I have since ESB in 1980. And what I spent as a kid then was nickels and dimes compared to what I dropped last year.

And it was all due to Rogue One.

In fact, I've been on a moratorium with collecting SW stuff since exiting the theater in 1983 (I loathed Return of the Jedi...for many of the same reasons people have expressed for TLJ). No matter how much I've debased myself over the years I could always scratch and claw back some semblance of pride knowing at least I hadn't stooped to collecting SW crap anymore.

That all went out the window 'cause of RO.

And since I don't own the various fan cuts on Bd, and the SE's are all that exist legitimately- RO is the only pure SW film I can actually watch and enjoy unreservedly. I have to fast forward any time I watch SW or ESB because the amateurish SE hi-jinks in those enrages me.

 

[TonTon]

Everyone needs to search out the thread for the harmy blu rays. They’ll change your life.

 

[mrdbios]

Everyone needs to search out the thread for the harmy blu rays. They’ll change your life.

This is the truth.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Harmy's are the only way to see the OT.

 

[Travis Baumann]

I was all set to lay down some cash on figures from this as I had mostly passed on TFA (just have Rey/BB8 combo pack and the TIE pilot) but after seeing it I think I will pass entirely on anything from it. I actually don't really care for my TIE Pilot either... something about him doesn't look all that Star Wars on the shelf to me, wish I would have gone with the OT one or AT-AT pilot instead.

I have decided to complete the Bounty Hunter six instead and just ordered the last 3 (4-LOM from Popkultcha). They are all preparing to ship at the moment so in the next couple of weeks I will see that realized. A little expensive for "background characters"? You betcha, however I feel they are a better purchase than any of the "leads" in the new film. If Leia looked a little more like her I might have been tempted. Luke was sort of tempting but then I thought about it a bit more and just decided to pass on the entire film and the rest of the TFA stuff (unless I see Phasma for under a $100).

One thing that really stood out to me the second viewing was now that we have so much human diversity, the aliens seem to have taken a way back seat. Ackbar go blown out a window with maybe one word. That was General F'n Its a Trap Ackbar.

 

[TheJediQueen]

I agree the huge gap between the OT and ST is a bit jarring, and it does feel like we missed an awful lot with these characters, but I'm not sure there's a way around that.

I'm not the hugest fan of the prequels, but even they fit in much smoother - you get that there's a plan and continuity, even. Seems like the transition between prequel and original trilogy was much smoother... would you disagree?

The fact is we did jump forward quite a bit in time, so it only makes sense to me that we're encountering Han, Luke and Leia when they're each in a very different place in their lives. And personally I like the return to the more flawed and complex characters and relationships of ESB, versus the more simplistic tone and characters of the other movies.

I don't have a problem with flawed characters and complex relationships - I liked the dynamics between ESB Luke and Yoda, Han and Leia, and that Lando betrayed them in that film. I don't like when someone completely changes a character and breaks continuity. Lucas' revisionism was bad enough... Disney has taken it to a whole new level. I think Finn would be one of my favorite characters, except I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him - if they gave some back story why he left the FO to begin with, maybe it would make sense that he did, maybe he's just an opportunistic coward. I never got that sense with Han even when he was talking about leaving the Rebels. He was a pirate. But a Stormtrooper abandoning his post and then joining the Resistance - and going back and forth between leaving and staying at the first sign of any danger... that doesn't make sense without some kind of back story - even a single line - to inform the audience: how would a coward end up in the ranks of Stormtroopers to begin with? Was he threatened? We don't know.

And I really don't see the men being sadder or bigger losers than anyone else in these movies. Leia is at the lowest point of her life in TLJ with most of the Resistance destroyed, and Rey continues to be this lost, abandoned girl looking everywhere for a family to accept her and what her purpose in life is. And Han, Luke, Poe and Finn still have plenty of moments where they're presented as ultra heroic badasses who save the day. So I just don't get that criticism at all.

I accept you really don't see it, so I just ask this - what do you think Mark Hamill was referring to when he said Luke in TLJ wasn't his Luke? Mark Hamill is still Mark Hamill, just decades older now... I get that people can change, but to sarcastically give up on his nephew??? He wasn't irreverent in the original trilogy, that's part of his character... and his irreverence in TLJ - while funny - is out of character for him, or at the very least we need something more than Kylo being turned to explain it - some heart-wrenching flash-backs would have been in order if you really have to change a character that drastically. The primary difference between Luke in OT and ST is this: Luke has lost hope and given up. This is the same Luke who's father was that galaxy's Hitler and never gave up on Anakin Skywalker despite that. This is the same Luke who confronted the Empire despite all odds on more than one occasion - and now we're supposed to believe that he just gave up because his nephew turned on him? I don't buy it, too drastic a change, it changes his character - who he is on a fundamental level. That's a different thing than someone changing as a person over time and experience; for him to change that much, he would have to experience something more painful than the death of his Aunt and Uncle who raised him, more traumatic than facing two death stars, an evil Emperor, finding out his own father was this Hitler-like monster responsible for galaxy-wide atrocities. He manages to hold it together, but then when Ben becomes Kylo he looses it and retreats?

It seems to me they changed Luke's nature, and not for the better. I have an easier time believing Han left Leia than Luke ever giving up on family. It seems to me that the men are always apologizing in this new trilogy, and the women are portrayed as survivors... when they all could be so much more. Leia was stronger in the OT, even though some people say she was just set decoration or weak (I don't see that at all, I don't understand how someone can say that about her. She was a strong female character and still a vulnerable woman too... but you don't mess with her or she's pull a blaster out!)

 

[davejames]

Kylo wasn't just another student though, he was Han and Leia's son who was not only lost to the Dark Side but became a vicious, murdering psychopath on the level of Vader. So I can understand how that would have hit Luke a whole lot harder, especially since he always struck me as a rather sensitive type in the OT. And it's not like he never got down on himself before either ("You want the impossible", "I can't go on alone").

And then of course once he shuts himself off from the Force it's easy to understand how he would lose track of everything, become more cynical about the Jedi, and get accustomed to living a simpler and more solitary life on a quiet island. And Hamill's amazing performance sold me on all that completely.

 

[Captain Clown]

Everyone needs to search out the thread for the harmy blu rays. They’ll change your life.

 

[TheJediQueen]

Kylo wasn't just another student though, he was Han and Leia's son who was not only lost to the Dark Side but became a vicious, murdering psychopath on the level of Vader. So I can understand how that would have hit Luke a whole lot harder, especially since he always struck me as a rather sensitive type in the OT. And it's not like he never got down on himself before either ("You want the impossible", "I can't go on alone").

And then of course once he shuts himself off from the Force it's easy to understand how he would lose track of everything, become more cynical about the Jedi, and get accustomed to living a simpler and more solitary life on a quiet island. And Hamill's amazing performance sold me on all that completely.

That was my point - Kylo was family, so Luke would never just sarcastically give up. Don't confuse being sensitive with being weak (he also showed resoluteness in Jedi to face Vader and try to save Anakin - and this took place AFTER ESB, he was still training in Empire and was being challenged). He never gave up on his father, and he would feel more responsible for his nephew who Luke himself was training, so that would make him even less likely to give up (based on his character), not more. And being sensitive to the Force, I don't see him being able to simply shut it out like that and become a hermit... no, not based on Ben Solo turning. Something more would have to happen to make his character turn so drastically.

I think rather than becoming cynical about the Jedi, he would simply have tried to be a better Jedi himself, that seems more like him - to give hope by doing his best to embody the ideals he believes in and instill them into his students. Sure, he would question where he went wrong with Ben Solo, but considering finding out his own dad was a space Hitler, he'd be able to weather it. Hamill did the best he could with the script he had - it was his job to sell it, that's what he was paid for... but he still said it wasn't his Luke, and he plays the character.

 

[davejames]

Yes that was his initial and natural reaction, but he also said many times that he came to appreciate Rian's take on the character, and agreed that Luke becoming just another benevolent Obi-Wan wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.

 

[Ce Ilhuicamina]

At the very least he could have used a bit of the Obi Wan tendecy of maiming his foes and leaving them to their fate.

On Topic: Still not buying anything TLJ related.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Thankfully it doesn't look like HT is peddling much from TLJ.

Tanked so bad in China they must have refused to make anything beyond what was already PO'd. But we did get early arrival Tarkin instead. Win!

 

[DarthRusty]

The only thing I've gotten, or will get, are these. & they're fan made, so no money to Disney



Although I would also consider this

 

[RandomHero]

Yes that was his initial and natural reaction, but he also said many times that he came to appreciate Rian's take on the character, and agreed that Luke becoming just another benevolent Obi-Wan wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.

You don't actually think Mark just changed his mind on his own, without Disney telling him to shut up, do you?

 

[Craig Walker]

^ Exactly.