Welcome back to a brand new episode of The Outer Rim News Show, where Austin, Ray and Ashley talks Star Wars. In this episode we discuss our thoughts on episode 3 of Obi-Wan Kenobi and more random Star Wars talk!
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Disclaimers: all opinions are our own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in the description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the channel at no extra cost.
IDW Publishing is doing a fantastic job with their Star Wars license, providing a young audience with unique stories and and more youthful take on a galaxy far, far away. Wednesday, you will have the opportunity to purchase a new version of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back, when IDW releases their young audience take on the film in comic book format.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Graphic Novel by IDW Publishing
The book like most comic book adaptations of movies, faithfully follows the film with some of the less important scenes cut for length. My issue with all film adaptations is how quick things move from scene to scene. It doesn’t give the book time to pull you in. This book suffers from some of those same issues, but this is Star Wars so I can’t complain too much, especially when it is so beautiful to look at.
In my opinion the books strength comes in the form of its fantastic artwork. The character designs are faithful to the actors in the film, giving the art an almost caricature type feel. For instance in the image below you can look at General Rieekan and actually see actor Bruce Boa. The art takes Boa’s most prominent features (nose, brow) and exaggerates it to give it that caricature feel.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Graphic Novel by IDW Publishing
The caricature look, hits well on most characters in the book, with a couple of misses. In fact I love it so much that I feel like the artwork alone will be enough to pull in reader in, but I understand that art is very subjective. Art alone is not enough to make this a successful book.
Writer Alessandro Ferrari takes the film and does a great job slicing and dicing the story up, into a tale fit for 80 pages of sequential art. Ferrari takes great care in keeping key character moments (such as Han and Leia’s emotional argument in the hallways of Echo Base) that are important to characters arcs for the entire trilogy.
One sacrifice that had to be made was the entire first meeting between Luke and Yoda. In the film, this was a humorous first look at the Jedi Master that was secretly testing Luke from the first moment they met. Yoda’s offbeat wackiness in the film, setup a nice surprise moment for Luke, that is totally missing from the book. While it wasn’t overly important for the purpose of this adaptation, it was one of my favorite memories from the film.
The book skips over this scene entirely and instead gives us Luke standing on his sinking X-Wing fighter turning to see Yoda, and then it is off to Jedi training for him. There are several instances like this throughout the graphic novel, but it is entirely understandable why sacrifices had to be made.
Ultimately, this book is about giving young readers a chance to read about Star Wars, or introduce them to a movie that holds a special place in many people’s hearts. It is easily digestible (took me about 15 minutes to read), so a younger reader should be able to get through it in about 30 minutes or so.
This would also be a great opportunity for parents to read to their kids. The story along with the images should captivate most kids and help their imaginations run wild with excitement.
While it had to sacrifice some scenes for sake of page count, this book is an awesome take on my favorite film in the sage Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Check out all the details below, and go pick up a copy for yourself and your kids this Wednesday at your local comic shop!
In this episode of The Outer Rim News Podcast, we kick off our first review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. There is so much in this film, that we definitely couldn’t do it justice with just one episode, so expect a few over the course of the next few weeks. Join us for the Outer Rim News Podcast!
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ABOUT THE OUTER RIM NEWS PODCAST:
The Outer Rim News Podcast is Outer Rim News’ weekly podcast about all things Star Wars. Join us each week as Austin Gordy and Ashley Wilbanks take an hour or so and share their thoughts about everyone’s favorite far away galaxy. From Star Wars comics to Star Wars movies, everything is on the table for discussion. Get your weekly fix here every Friday.
It is finally here! The granddaddy of all video games of 2017, Star Wars Battlefront II. Star Wars fans and general gamers have been waiting all year, and EA has given us a little appetizer in the form of the beta release, before the main course in November.
So what has EA learned from the release of the first game two years ago? Will it pack more of a punch, giving gamers more a of a complete game than the previous release? Let’s dive in and find out!
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Beta Pros and Cons
Pros
Graphics
Like its predecessor, Star Wars Battlefront 2 delivers a knockout blow in the graphics department. Characters and environments look absolutely stunning. Whether you are running through the streets of Theed or flying above Fondor, you will feel like you are right there in the worlds that Lucasfilm has created.
I have been playing the beta on a regular Playstation 4 console, so I am going to guess that the graphics will blow your socks off on a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. Seriously, there is no complaining on a standard Playstation 4. The gameplay looks almost as good as the cinematic cut screens, and that is saying a lot!
Audio
If you love the sounds of Star Wars vehicles and just general sounds of blasters, lightsabers and droids, then this game is going to overpower your senses. EA has added true-to-life (is that even possible in a make believe world) TIE-Fighter flight sounds, X-Wing blasters, Clone trooper blasters, and even the great “Roger-Roger” from Battle Droids. It is a totally immersive experience. Add some John Williams inspired music, and you have a cherry on top of that ice cream sundae of a game!
Starfighter Battles
Starfighter battles in Star Wars Battlefront seemed a bit clunky and sort of thrown in as an afterthought. The team at EA has taken that experience, hidden it in a lock box, inside of a closet, in a house that has since been blown to smithereens. Battlefront 2 has totally redesigned the Starfighter gameplay in a great way! Yes there are some similarities to the original (and one thing that I wish they left in), but it feels totally different and more polished.
The steering controls are less tight than before, which takes a little getting used to. Familiar vehicles from the first game are given new abilities. Not only do other players pose a threat to you in space, but your environment does as well. Imperial battle stations will fire on Rebel ships, making it tougher on the Rebel Alliance players, but adding a sort of realism to the experience.
Heroes and Ships in Assaults
When EA first described the method for gaining access to a hero or special ship in combat, I questioned their thought process immediately. After playing the beta, my fears have subsided. To gain access to a hero character (Darth Maul, Rey, Han Solo, and Boba Fett are the only ones available in the beta) you have to achieve a certain score, then use those points to respawn as that character.
Every time you die in ground assaults, you can choose from one of four types of troops, or if you have enough points during that round, one of any number of ships, specialized troops, or heroes. It really makes you want to gain as many points so you can play as Darth Maul or Rey, which can be gained with 5000 points.
Star Wars Battlefront II Space Battle
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Beta Cons
Lootcrates
One thing I am not a fan of in games are lootcrates. These random drops purchased from a vendor as you make your way through the game seem almost unfair. I have felt inadequate in the game many times due to players who have spent hours upon hours racking up money to purchase lootcrates and gearing up their players.
It would be different is was buying lootcrates for one character or vehicle, but in this game you need to beef up four different types of troops, Heroes, and four different types of ships. Each troop/hero/ship has various things to increase such as three abilities, emotes and weapons. This game introduces a crafting system for the weapons. Each weapon has three different abilities as well, which you will have get crafting money (through lootcrates) to upgrade them.
Starfighter Battles
Yes, I know I said this was a positive thing, but some changes made from the first game have me frustrated. The biggest is being able to lock on to ships and shoot them. This is probably just me, but I would rather be able to lock on. The A-Wing does have a special ability that allows this, but I haven’t seen it on other ships. Plus it is a special ability that only lasts a few seconds. While this may not bother some, it is a major disappointment for me.
The Interface
The game interface needs a little work as well. Everything has a warbly holographic look to it, making it almost impossible to read anything from a distance (like me sitting on my couch looking at a 46″ TV – hey, it could just be that I am 41 and losing it as well). I know they are shooting for a Star Wars ships system interface, but something really needs to be either redesigned or just take out the holographic look before the game launches in November. Concentrate on reading something to long, and you will have to put the controller down and reach for the Advil.
Enemy Locations
One of the final issues I have is with finding enemies in ground assault maps. When playing as a clone trooper, it is tough to see B1 Battle Droids against the background of the city of Theed. They blend in really well. It almost seems like a competitive advantage for the Separatists. I don’t know that this can be fixed without compromising the integrity of the look and feel of real Star Wars though. In a game this good, it is just a minor issue anyway.
Overall
Major improvements are found across the board in at least the beta. The games comes with a single player campaign mode, which is not available in the beta. The only thing you can do in the beta is participate in a ground assault (Theed), Starfighter Assault (Above Fondor), and arcade mode (which I haven’t played).
I get the feeling that the beta was released for load testing on the network, and for minor improvements. The game certainly feels polished, aside from the horrible user interface outside of gameplay. I only experienced issues once, and that was with the starfighter assault. It might have been my Internet connection, but everything kept stuttering, making it impossible to play.
I get the feeling that EA has a major hit on their hands with this one. If you haven’t played it yet, you have until October 9th to play the beta. Or you can just wait until the full release in November.
I grew up experiencing two different eras in Star Wars: before the prequels and after the prequels. That’s not to pass judgment on the prequels, but before them there was a lot of the mythos still locked away in George Lucas’ mind. Ever since the first movie, authors have been adding their own chapters to the ever-growing universe of Star Wars. My first foray into the Star Wars novels was The Truce at Bakura, and I don’t have a great recall of the story other than it took place immediately after Return of the Jedi. Throughout middle school, after The Phantom Menace was released, I jumped through a few more books, particularly the Young Jedi Knights series and Shadows of the Empire. It wasn’t until high school when I became friends with The Outer Rim News Podcast co-host Austin Gordy, that I found out just how little I knew about the Star Wars universe. He introduced me to his vast library of books and miniatures of different ships (the Sun Crusher blew my mind at the time), and to a particular villain named Thrawn. He showed me Heir to the Empire and I assumed Thrawn was the old wizard-looking man on the cover. He corrected me, pointing out the blue man to the side. I thought at the time he looks pretty cool while Austin touted him as a tactical genius in his own trilogy that many considered a trilogy of sorts to the original Star Wars trilogy. I never read the trilogy at the time, but Thrawn was one of those characters that stuck in my memory without actually ever having read the books. Cut to present day. After his introduction to the new canon in Star Wars Rebels, I decided to finally jump into the story that made him a legend. And in case you haven’t read The Last Command, SPOILERS AHEAD.
Star Wars: The Last Command Cover
I have finally finished the Thrawn Trilogy. My review will focus mainly on The Last Command, the final part of the trilogy. Heir to the Empire was a fun start to the story, with our heroes encountering a mysterious figure holding together the remnants of the Empire while causing major damage to the New Republic forces. Dark Force Rising showed us the Noghri culture and the Empire’s deceptive connection with them. In The Last Command, we see the finale of Zahn’s story starring the blue-skinned, red-eyed Grand Admiral.
For a recap, The Last Command follows the New Republic struggling to outwit the Empire’s new leader and master strategist, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Over the course of the previous two books, he managed to gain an advantage by finding a cloning facility and beating the Republic to the location of the fabled Katana fleet. By the third book, he’s making plays for territory.
What’s interesting about Thrawn that I didn’t know until I read the series was that he’s never a POV character for the reader at any point in the trilogy. Instead, author Timothy Zahn approaches the alien genius of Thrawn by showing him the same way Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would show us the erratic genius of Sherlock Holmes: by proxy with a trusted assistant. Holmes had Watson, and Thrawn had Pellaeon. Why do this? To me, it came across as a way to give him mystique. Characters gain a certain level of mystery when the audience is denied access to what they’re thinking. Like Pellaeon, we are never given more information on the Grand Admiral than he allows us to know.
He makes some serious plays against the Republic in his final book. He fools a planet into thinking he has shield-penetrating firepower. He orders a raid to abduct Leia and her newborn twins from the heart of the New Republic, which fails thanks to Mara Jade. Lastly, he attacks Coruscant from orbit by releasing multiple stealth-cloaked asteroids above their planetary shield, keeping any ships from getting in or out.
While doing this, Thrawn has also been dealing with two potential problems: Jedi Master clone Joruus C’baoth and the smugglers, namely Talon Karde. He attempts to placate the increasingly insane Jedi clone with the attempted abduction. After it fails, C’baoth (who’s been toying with power over minds) travels back to Wayland, now with its clone facility in full swing and takes over by slaughtering the ysalamiri that were supposed to depower him.
All of our heroes come together on Wayland and manage to stop and kill C’baoth, while Thrawn, watching his first battle spin out of control due to lucky timing, is stabbed in the chest by his lethal Noghri bodyguard, Ruhk.
After all this struggle between the New Republic and Thrawn, I was conflicted by how Thrawn’s demise played out. Throughout the first two books, I became increasingly agitated at how seemingly infallible Thrawn’s strategies were. The only things that seemed to get past him were improvisation (Luke’s X-Wing escape) or blind luck (Leia hiding on Honoghr). Getting to the third book made it worse toward the finale. When Thrawn predicted exactly what the New Republic was going to do leading to the final confrontation, I actually cursed out loud in annoyance. I didn’t know whether to be annoyed at the character for being so good at his job, or Timothy Zahn for making him so unbeatable. I started to guess what was going to be his downfall once I realized that he still had his bodyguard, Ruhk, and that he was still under the impression that the Noghri were completely loyal to the Empire. While I thought at first that C’baoth would be his downfall, that turned out to be only partly true.
Thrawn wasn’t beaten by planning. He was beaten by a perfect storm of bad timing, brought on partly by his own arrogance. His plan was to meet the New Republic in battle, but not to be blindsided by smugglers with their own plan. His plan on Wayland was to keep C’baoth under wraps with the Force-suppressing ysalamiri, but not to have his own men brainwashed into killing the creatures. Being stabbed by his own bodyguard never occurred to him. There was a kind of poetry to his demise, but it felt a little…lessened? Maybe that’s not the right term, but I wish there’d been slightly more to it, especially since so much of the finale with the heroes focused on C’baoth. There was just this expectation to me that in a trilogy titled The Thrawn Trilogy, there would be a more personal confrontation with the title villain.
Thrawn from Star Wars Rebels Season 3
My opinion aside, one thing that really intrigues me about Thrawn has been his enduring popularity since his introduction. While dying at the end of his own trilogy, Thrawn had a lasting impact on the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the fandom around it. What made him so popular?
Let’s travel back to the year of his introductory novel, Heir to the Empire. It was 1991, and Return of the Jedi was nearing its tenth anniversary. There was no hint or indication that the prequel trilogy was going to exist. Timothy Zahn brought forth not just another adventure, but a new villain who leaves the New Republic at a loss. What’s more, he wasn’t another lightsaber-wielding Dark Jedi or lightning-tossing Emperor. He was a villain that relied not on the Force, but on his intellect. Star Wars hadn’t seen a formidable or imposing military villain since Tarkin, so it was primed for a return to the concept.
Zahn’s post-Return story revitalized the Star Wars brand and paved the way for many concepts that would stay with Star Wars, even after the Disney acquisition. We have Thrawn appearing in Star Wars Rebels, as well as the forthcoming introduction of Ruhk into the animated series’ fourth and final season. Even Coruscant, the famous city-planet that was featured throughout the prequels, made its first appearance in Heir to the Empire.
All in all, for me, I have mixed feelings about The Last Command and the trilogy, but its impact is undeniable. Sometimes I was ready to finish a chapter so I could take a break, while other times I was hooked into the story. I recommend it for any Star Wars fan, simply for the value it still holds to the Star Wars universe.
I was in town yesterday and decided to swing by my local Gamestop to see what was new. Little did I know that the Funko Star Wars Mystery Minis had already been released! I immediately snagged a couple of boxes just to see what all of the fuss was about. My first pull was the Mystery Minis Chewbacca figure!
I am not sure who designed this line, but the art style was perfectly chosen, as it melds together Star Wars with the classic Mystery Minis look. Like all of their Star Wars products, Funko has gone with a bobble head approach with the figures due to licensing with Lucasfilm. Typically (aside from Marvel), Mystery Minis do not have the bobblehead feature.
These figures remind me of the now defunct Disney Infinity characters, which I loved, so these really hit the spot.
Chewbacca comes with a black Star Wars base, which has a notch on that allows it to slide into place with other Star Wars bases, so that you can connect them together in all manners of displays.
Each mystery box retails for $6.99 and you get 12 boxes per case. There is no guarantee to get any one figure in a box, but Chewbacca was a 1/6 chance for the Gamestop case.
Check out the various images of the figure and packaging below!
Star Wars Mystery Minis Gamestop Exclusive Packaging (Front)
Star Wars Mystery Minis Gamestop Exclusive Packaging (side)
Star Wars Mystery Minis Gamestop Exclusive Packaging (back)
Star Wars Mystery Minis Gamestop Exclusive Packaging (side)
Star Wars Mystery Minis Gamestop Exclusive Packaging (bottom)
From a galaxy far, far away come Mystery Minis Bobble Head mini-figures based on the classic Star Wars characters. From Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia, to Darth Vader, Jawas, and Tarkin, all your favorites are here! Each stylized vinyl figure measures 2 1/2-inches tall and comes packaged in blind boxes. Collect them all! Ages 3 and up.
The Star Wars Classic Mystery Minis Bobble Head Display Case includes 12 individually packaged mini-figures.
It’s our first Rogue One Review! There is so much to discuss we couldn’t pack it in to just one episode, so this will be the first of many. If you haven’t seen the movie, then don’t listen to this yet (wait until you see it before listening) because we spoil the mess out of the movie. Join us for the Outer Rim News Podcast, episode 34!
If you like our show, please show your support by leaving us a review on iTunes or Stitcher, and tell all your friends about the podcast.
The Outer Rim News Podcast is Outer Rim News’ weekly podcast about all things Star Wars. Join us each week as Austin Gordy and Ashley Wilbanks take an hour or so and share their thoughts about everyone’s favorite far away galaxy. From Star Wars comics to Star Wars movies, everything is on the table for discussion. Get your weekly fix here every Friday.
What can be said of The Force Awakens? Obviously it is one of the most anticipated movies of the year if not the decade, but I think that the excitement has been tempered for most fans, myself included. Despite the fact that the weight of the entire Disney movie making machine lay behind this movie, doubts lingered in my mind. Of course I knew the movie would be made competently, the machine that stamped out the Marvel franchise doesn’t create flawed products. But what worried me most going into the film was that the machine had worked all too well. That the film would be well built, but that it would lack that something extra, that same something that is clearly present in the original trilogy yet is somehow undefinable. I feared a soulless product as opposed to a film with heart, or worse a simple action plot lacking in substance. Fortunately my fears were allayed.
Kylo Ren
The Force Awakens is a well crafted film with excellent sound design, cinematography, and a refined script, while also taking some risks with creative decisions that surprised me in the best way possible. In terms of visual style the film certainly resembles the original trilogy, however, does not use it as a crutch. Instead, it seems, the creators used the visual framework of the previous films and built on it, using it to remind us that we are in the same universe, but that it is a changed, evolved. I found the use of imagery from the previous installments not subtle, but rather finessed. Throughout the film are pieces of the old, scattered in the background reminding us that this is a universe built atop the one we know both thematically and within the story itself. Additionally, sound design is superb. Auditory cues for wielding the force expanded on those used previously, but were also used in unprecedented new ways. The use of sound effects to create mood and tension helped craft a believable world and trigger responses in the audience. The film took the maxim “show, not tell” to heart, a principal sorely lacking in the prequel trilogy.
The script was definitely one of the strongest elements in making Star Wars:The Force Awakens work. It was tight, polished, and seamless and provided a plot that was not overly ambitious nor simplistic. It moved along without interruption offering well spaced action sequences yet didn’t cut short subtle moments of character development. This combined with the direction of JJ Abrams resulted in a well paced movie with consistent tone yet superbly timed moments of levity. In addition character interactions felt natural and it is imminently clear who the good guys are, who bad guys are and who is motivated by what. There is no ambiguity as to what is happening in each scene. This isn’t to say there is no depth though. The amount of time devoted to developing the villain impressed me greatly. He is not simply a bad man in a mask but instead a character with depth, with motivations, and with conflict. Never before have we seen a villain like this in the Star Wars universe. The detail given to each of the protagonists is refreshing as well. Each have their own quirks and personalty traits so its fun to see them interact with one another. There are several moments that stand out in bringing Finn (John Boyega) to life with wit and idiosyncrasies, namely those involving Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Rey (Daisy Ridley). Even Chewbacca gets some extra character development that we haven’t seen before.
Despite this there are some minor qualms I have with the film and some of the decisions made. Carrie Fisher’s performance I found difficult to suspend my disbelief for. She doesn’t seem like the princess Leia we know or even like she belongs in the universe. I’m not sure if this is entirely her fault or if the writers simply weren’t sure how to develop an older Leia. Additionally, Domnal Gleeson’s performance as General Hux of the First Order is very over-the-top and “hammy”. I’m fairly certain that this was an
BB-8
intentional decision by Abrams, but it didn’t vibe with me. It really contrasts with the Imperial officers of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi who are calm, collected professionals, not over zealous creeps. Those episodes gave me the feeling that the Imperial Navy was a real organization, a giant space bureaucracy, whereas the First Order officers seem more like excited kids playing bad guys than actual officers in a military organization. I also really disliked how much BB-8 was personified. It seemed completely contrary to the dynamic set up in the original Trilogy where droids are machines and characters only interact with them in a sort of gruff or ironic way. Think of when Luke first meets R2-D2 and laughs at himself as he says “hello” to a droid. Instead BB-8 is treated like a living thing with emotions. This, to me, wreaks of producers at Disney interfering with the movie making process, but I suppose I’ll never know for sure where this decision was made. There is evidence of the studio meddling elsewhere as well. For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it, but the final sequence seemed out of place to me, like an addendum that would go after the final credits or the introduction of the next film even. I think I understand why they decided to include it, but it doesn’t seem justified within the story to me.
Overall though the film was great, by any standard. I even believe it has earned its place in the Star Wars saga. The writers definitely had some tough choices to make in terms of balancing old with new in the film and I believe they did the best job striking that balance that any one could reasonably expect. Of course, there will be those who think they relied too heavily on the originals, but the decisions made helped reinforce a visually and thematically consistent universe, while still bringing original ideas. I have no reservations in welcoming the characters and events into the universe I have loved since childhood. It avoided the pitfalls of the prequel trilogy and built on the successes of the originals. More importantly though, it was not merely a well made movie technically, but it had heart and depth to it. You are made to care about the characters, you want to get to know them. The viewer is emotionally invested in the events taking place on screen culminating in a truly emotional experience. It is a far cry from the dry, emotionless events of the prequel trilogy. I am thoroughly impressed and will start the count down to the next one today.
