Star Wars Black Series

Yeah, even some otherwise super-fans I know refuse to engage with the animated stuff, and I swear that's why we ended up with a live-action Ahsoka as the capstone of Filoni's story arc instead of a new animated series. Ironically I think Ahsoka would have been even better, and probably have had a faster release schedule! if it had been animated.

I did have to get dragged kicking and screaming into Clone Wars too because I was just kind of down on the whole thing at the time but then I realized I was just being a dickhead when I saw how good it was, and how much it did to breathe life into the galaxy/franchise. I dove headlong into Rebels based on CW and these days you put anything from their animation line in front of me, I'm signing up. (Bad Batch had an artistic and thematic throughline that works brilliantly as a companion piece to Andor and I know so many Andor stans who will never watch it.)

(That being said, Clone Wars does have some if not filler, stuff that drags it out longer than the core story needs. Rebels is leaner, and then you get into things like Bad Batch/Maul/Tales of... that have not an ounce of fat on them. Learning process.)
 
I’m one who has passed on all animated Star Wars. I just don’t have the time or attention span.
 
docsilence said:
That being said, Clone Wars does have some if not filler, stuff that drags it out longer than the core story needs. Rebels is leaner, and then you get into things like Bad Batch/Maul/Tales of... that have not an ounce of fat on them. Learning process.
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Clone Wars is still only “OK” for me, but a huge part of that is that it is stuck with and within the prequels, which are utter shit.
There’s only so much “better” the outside-the-lines stories can be, because the main story is still gonna be what it is no matter what. The later stuff focused specifically on the clones and only the clones is very compelling. Maul is great BUT I do not now nor never will give a crap about Mandalor, Mandalorian politics, the Darksaber (*snerk*) and all that jazz. And Anakin Skywalker is stuck being Anakin Skywalker. There is some good Ahsoka/Jedi-focused stuff spattered in there, and it’s nice to see Darth Tyrannus actually DO THINGS. Ventless is cool. I never, EVER want to see Boba Fett as a kid/teen EVER AGAIN. Ugh.
 
Did you guys watch Clone Wars in chronological order or in the order that it aired? Because I heard that does make a difference; I watched in chronological, and it mostly held my attention, other than, like doc said, the filler stuff. I think Clone Wars having the more episodic, contained feel both helps and hinders it a bit. It can often feel a bit disjointed, especially when you go from a darker episode to something like the Jar Jar episodes or the droids episode. Whereas Rebels, for the most part, fuels an overarching narrative each season that helps it feel a bit more interwoven and gives each episode more of a clear purpose. It also helps having a smaller cast of characters to focus on, versus an ever-widen roster. As much as I love the scope of it and all the cool alien characters, it would've been nice to get more time with some of them, like Padme especially.

Both shows definitely had to "prove" themselves first, though, it feels like. The first bits of each were more "kiddy", but once they'd proven that there was an audience, and that audience was a large part older fans, then it felt like they were able to kinda lean more into the darker, more adult elements.
 
I watched chronologically, since I watched it quite late.

Re: Bad Batch: I slept on it for years, only watched it recently. It is WONDERFUL.
 
Now, see, I'm a bit less hot on Bad Batch. When it focuses on the overall narrative, it's pretty good (the last arc with Kamino and everything was pretty great) but I think there's way too many little standalone adventures and filler episodes. But to each their own!
 
joshsquash729 said:
Did you guys watch Clone Wars in chronological order or in the order that it aired? Because I heard that does make a difference; I watched in chronological, and it mostly held my attention, other than, like doc said, the filler stuff. I think Clone Wars having the more episodic, contained feel both helps and hinders it a bit. It can often feel a bit disjointed, especially when you go from a darker episode to something like the Jar Jar episodes or the droids episode. Whereas Rebels, for the most part, fuels an overarching narrative each season that helps it feel a bit more interwoven and gives each episode more of a clear purpose. It also helps having a smaller cast of characters to focus on, versus an ever-widen roster. As much as I love the scope of it and all the cool alien characters, it would've been nice to get more time with some of them, like Padme especially.

Both shows definitely had to "prove" themselves first, though, it feels like. The first bits of each were more "kiddy", but once they'd proven that there was an audience, and that audience was a large part older fans, then it felt like they were able to kinda lean more into the darker, more adult elements.
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How's this: I watched them in whatever order they were in on the DVDs :D (Except of course the newer episodes of CW when they brought it back to finish it off). Oh, physical media, how I miss you being easily obtainable
AceofKnaves said:
Re: Bad Batch: I slept on it for years, only watched it recently. It is WONDERFUL.
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I was actively put off by the character designs and that they took up space in a few episodes of CW, but I frequently now say that if you told me a BLATANT homage to Rambo would be my favorite clone, I would have said you were lying, but here we are.

(Though of COURSE he's a Rambo homage, because Rambo was about how shitty we treat our veterans when we don't need them anymore, and the Bad Batch is about soldiers thrown away like garbage and their battle for an ounce of dignity. But also give me all the broken, aging, tired, flawed men just trying to find something worth having lived for. Hunter and Baylan Skoll and Master Sol and Brader Lawson and half the cast of Andor, etc., Star Wars is a treasure trove of my favorite type of protagonist these days.)
 
Just got back from Mando & Grogu and was surprised how untoyetic it was.

The TBS figs we got were all from the Cold Open (ha). The ActionVerse stuff is the first half of the movie. The only figure from Act 3 we have is Sigourney.

Really surprised no Anzellans have made it out yet. But aside from Embo (was his name ever said in the movie? I hate when movies don't bother to give names to their players - same with Zeb for waayyyy too long - my companion had no idea what his name was) Rotta and Zeb, there are hardly any other speaking characters. Imperial Warlord is as generic as his name and Coyne only a little less generic. None of the droids made any impact, Embo was never even seen in good light once. None of the pilots made any impact whatsoever (hello director pilots... again).

And not one character ever moved or spoke with any urgency whatsoever, or had any energy, that made them memorable enough for my shelf. And I want Sigourney in fatigues, not the flightsuit.
 
I’m curious 50 year old plus fans, did you watch everything from day one? Not that doing this puts you in some special category of fan. I’m just curious. Mainly I have seen most everything Star Wars and read a good deal when it came out. I still find myself excited like a kid in a toy store when new Star Wars media is released. Even Accolyte which I didn’t really enjoy I watched as it released. I’ve seen some Star Wars Academy the kids show. In the days of the Clone Wars movie and the show both 2D and 3D my kids were in the age bracket to watch the show with me. It was an event. Watching the shows as they premiered. I think it has just stuck with me. Shoot I remember watching the cartoons like Ewoks and Droids and the live action Ewoks movies. Seeing the Star Wars characters on the Muppets. I’m fuzzy on if I watched the Christmas special when it came out or years later. I have always been drawn to this story and universe since my dad took me as a 4-5 year old kid in London to see the film. I feel I’m kind of odd especially hearing you guys discuss going back to see things and sometimes reluctantly. I will say the one Star Wars thing I didn’t experience as it was coming out was the games. I was not a gamer. I played Atari and NES but the computer and console games didn’t have the same appeal as cartoons and films. Yes there were many times these different productions have had both hot and cold reactions out of me. But not enough to discourage me from watching.

Thwipp!
 
I’m 48, and rabidly consumed every single piece of Star Wars stuff, including Ewok movies, books, specials, etc. up until 1999. My reticence was a direct result of the prequels, which astounded me with how terrible they were. They didn’t break my fandom, but it got close.
Those movies are just . . . wretched.
 
Somehow I ended up watching Rebels first then CW. Well, I watched the first season of CW (more background noise than really watching) then I dropped off for whatever reason. After Rebels, I restarted CW from the beginning, and in the correct order, and I think I enjoyed CW more thanks to the various connective tissue with Rebels.

I also watched all of the CW animatic, unreleased episodes, including Bad Batch, so I was a bit disappointed when CW used up episodes in Season 7 to tell the same story. I didn’t find Bad Batch as a concept to be interesting enough to support its own show, but I was wrong. It was a bit uneven at times, but overall I very much enjoyed it. The relationships between the characters is what really made it work for me.

I watched a few episodes of Resistance, but I just couldn’t get into it.
 
AceofKnaves said:
I’m 48, and rabidly consumed every single piece of Star Wars stuff, including Ewok movies, books, specials, etc. up until 1999. My reticence was a direct result of the prequels, which astounded me with how terrible they were. They didn’t break my fandom, but it got close.
Those movies are just . . . wretched.
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Also 48, but big moments for me before 1999 were things like Dark Empire, Rebel Assault 2: Hidden Empire, and Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, those last two were video games with actual new footage filmed for a Star Wars thing!
 
Yeah I went through the “disdain” for Star Wars moments. Of all the PT I’ve watched Revenge of Sith much much less than AOTC and that way less than PM. I definitely had times I crapped on the prequels. But age changes things. But even in that I happily watched other stuff. Last Jedi almost turned off my love. Now I can appreciate some things they did. Not that I have any desire to watch again. But Sequels are what they are.

But as an action figure collector I still want Nute Gunrey, Wat Tambor, Poggle, Galactic Marine, Tarpals, Crimson Corsair Sidon Ithano, etc… The dislike doesn’t dissuade desire for collectible figures. Yes I want Nien Nunb more. But one day it’ll happen for Black Series.

Looking forward to seeing what they decided to produce for Embo. Want dog but pretty sure that won’t happen. I still want the Snowtrooper without that face mask flap. I’d take some of the tribal looking droids. Nay just get Action Verse to scratch the itch.

Thwipp!
 
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