Opinions on the Expanded Star Wars Canon Removed

[Sacred Knight]

Pretty happy overall. Mainly because I've known for a long time that if the films were to ever continue past episode VI, that there was absolutely no way that the novels would or should be incorporated there. So I knew the EU was out of canon the second Episodes VII, VIII, and IX became a reality in progress. I had been prepared for the inevitability for a long time. Admittedly though, what helped dull any possible regret I might have over the EU no longer being "official", was that for me, after the Hand of Thrawn duology ending the Bantam era of books, I thought the EU went massively downhill really fast. I didn't like the new tone and direction the New Jedi Order gave the verse. I think I read the first 4 books in that series and that was it for me. I never read a new EU novel again.

[Sinister328]

I'm a lifelong Star Wars fan who has read a lot of Expanded Universe material. For a while, I was a bit of a continuity Nazi and I got pretty irritated when The Clone Wars cartoon constantly retconned established canon. In the past couple of years I kind of stopped caring though. I also had no expectations for Disney to try to work within the constraints of the Expanded Universe. So when the announcement came that Disney was throwing out the EU I was only mildly disappointed. I was sad to see the good stuff like The Thrawn Trilogy go, but it isn't like Disney completely wiped it from existence. You can still go back and read the old Legends stuff and enjoy them as good stories. And I think anyone who was familiar with the EU knows it was pretty messy and convoluted by the end. LFL has stated that it aims to create a more cohesive continuity this time, which I'm glad to hear. To be honest, I wasn't enjoying much of the stuff coming out in the last years of the EU anyway, especially those nine-book multi-author series. Fate of the Jedi definitely did not have enough plot to fill 9 books. It should have been a trilogy at most. As far as the movies go, I think Episode 7 probably would have suffered if Abrams was forced to take all the post-Endor books and comics into account while making it. I'd rather have a good movie than one that went out of it's way not to conflict with the EU.

[Xalfrea]

Been a lifelong EU fan as well, but I'm rather mixed. I like that things are more streamlined and easier to follow now, but the old EU provided a number of great stories, and I'm bugged that they at least didn't give the EU a proper conclusion instead of ending things novel-wise on the absolutely horrid Crucible, and the comics ending on the Ania Solo story.

But that could be because, IIRC, they mention that they'll see options in bringing things back once Episode VII hits and established that new era.

[Sinister328]

I'm bugged that they at least didn't give the EU a proper conclusion instead of ending things novel-wise on the absolutely horrid Crucible

You just reminded me of why the EU kind of sucked at the end. Troy Denning. In addition to Crucible, it sounds like he was basically in charge of both the Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi series. It seems like Del Rey loved the guy, but I never thought his Star Wars books were that good.

[Xalfrea]

Yeah, makes me wonder if he'll be brought back for some of the new stuff, too. At least the new management brought back James Luceno. He's one of the better EU writers.

[Spideyparker75]

I have mixed feelings about it. Initially I was angry. I had bought and read over 100 EU books. To discover that these were no longer canon was galling. I almost didnt want to get involved with Marvel but I got sucked back in.

Not everything in the EU was great, or even good. The Crystal Star, Planet Of Twilight, Children Of The Jedi and Truce of Bakura were terrible. Likewise I wasnt a fan of the Black Fleet Crises or the Corellian Trilogy. Plus there were too may warlords with warlord Zsinji or whatever he was called being particularly annoying. After a lot of build up about taking him out all it took were two missiles from the falcon which blew up his star destroyer in the Courtship Of princess Leia.

On the plus side we had The Bane Trilogy, revan from the OR which i loved. The Heir to The Empire Trilogy was great as was the Jedi Academy Trilogy. I also loved Shadows Of The Empire and The Hand Of thrawn Duology. Im glad though that the NJO is not canon so we can have Chewie back and maybe Admiral Ackbar who died in the Unifying Force. It means that the Yuzzhan Vong is no longer canon either which is great.

I do love what Marvel are now doing though and the hope is that aftermath/shattered empire will be a lot better then the truce at bakura as a follow up to Endor.

[neonrideraryeh]

I'm happy that they kind of reset the board. There was so much complicated stuff and it would be daunting for a lot of people. It's lal much more organised now. Plus the story group are keeping a tight lid on continuity so there shouldn't be many errors. Sure it's fun to read some of the Legends sections in the wiki, but I'm not going to do that for literally every page just to understand some reference. There was also the fact that a lot of it did not need to stay so it's good that it is gone. It also gives them freedom for new stuff and not having to be beholden to some book or comic written twenty years ago. It's not like they are doing a reboot every two years, it's the first one. They've kept their movies and tv shows too so they aren't getting rid of the OT. Also Rebels is absolutely fantastic, it has made me much more into Star Wars than I was before (I liked it but I like it noticeably a lot more now). I recently read "A New Dawn" the first new canon book, it uses characters from Rebels but it's not much like the show because it's less all ages, but it's still really good stuff.
Also, any good things from the Legends stuff can still be re-introduced. A few small things already have. I would expect more to be introduced too. A lot of the writers are fans too and will bring in stuff from Legends, but they'll need permission so we'll get stuff that works and not the stuff that is better left gone. I am hoping they'll bring in more stuff to do with the Grey force users. I like the idea that there are people who use both the Light and Dark side of the force. They could be really powerful with 100% of the Force at their disposal. So keep an eye out on the new canon for any old stuff coming back.
I recently started watching The Clone Wars, because I hadn't seen it. It's actually better than I thought it would be. It's kind of surreal though seeing Anakin not being acted abysmally. Props to Matt Lanter. Also I like Ahsoka more than I thought I would too; she holds her lightsaber in a cool way.

[Sinister328]

Plus there were too may warlords with warlord Zsinji or whatever he was called being particularly annoying.

I liked Zsinjj in the X-Wing novels.

[resipsaloquitur]

Been a lifelong EU fan as well, but I'm rather mixed. I like that things are more streamlined and easier to follow now, but the old EU provided a number of great stories, and I'm bugged that they at least didn't give the EU a proper conclusion instead of ending things novel-wise on the absolutely horrid Crucible, and the comics ending on the Ania Solo story.

But that could be because, IIRC, they mention that they'll see options in bringing things back once Episode VII hits and established that new era.

At least with the Ania stuff, we got an ending. Maybe not a great ending since the writers had 3 issues to wrap up everything, but an ending. We were still left with what will be forever unanswered questions: who was Ben Skywalker's wife? How were they related to Cade, Kol, and Nat? Was Jaina Solo to ancestor of the Fel dynasty? (Probably, but never outright stated.) How was Ania related to everybody? What happened to Allana Solo? What debt did AG-37 owe to Han Solo?

I will say that one problem that was dodged was that we avoided two timelines, with the novels going one way and ignoring the Legacy comics. Apparently Denning didn't like being locked into the future of the Legacy comics, so Del Rey kept the novels moderately vague. (You'll note that when Darth Krayt finally appeared in the novels, he wasn't named. It was heavily hinted to be him, but it gave Del Rey an "out" if they wanted him to be a different character.) The novels were starting to stagnate in not wanting to go too far into the future, because realistically they'd eventually have had to kill Luke, Han, and Leia, and apparently the Lucas folks didn't want that.

[robreedwrites]

Mixed feelings. Outside of games, my experience with the EU was largely limited to Zahn's Empire trilogy, and Shadows of the Empire (the novel), all of which I enjoyed tremendously. I'm okay with the new canon as the films would have been trapped by the novels of the EU and we would have had the official canon mix and match, but until Shadows of the Empire is directly and irrevocably contradicted by the films, I can't help but hold it as canon in my mind.

[DurararaFTW]

Sad that Tales of the Jedi and KOTOR characters are no longer canon, that they didn't find room for the existence of Thrawn and Mara Jade in the new 'verse and that Filoni's disagreeable take on things now has domineering role in the new canon.

[resipsaloquitur]

Oddball question: I'm surprised at how many people's responses basically indicate that they've read the EU novels but not the comics. This seems to be common at a certain large Star Wars discussion forum elsewhere on the internet. What's up with that? Del Rey's stuff was influential, but their output was typically only a few novels per year. At least with Dark Horse, you had stories being told month-to-month on a consistent basis.

Hell, when everyone got excited for Marvel's Episode-IV era rebooted comics, I was like "...Dark Horse just did this 2 years ago." And even Brian Wood's 2013 series was kind of weird, given that Dark Horse had an Episode IV era series back in 2002: Empire, which went about 40 issues, and then relaunched as Rebellion for another 15 issues or so.

I guess my question is why people who love Star Wars and the EU only seemed to partake in the novels, but not the comics? It's not like Dark Horse didn't put out a good product.

[Vegeta]

I guess my question is why people who love Star Wars and the EU only seemed to partake in the novels, but not the comics? It's not like Dark Horse didn't put out a good product.

For some, mileage varies, a lot of the Dark Horse comics didn't appeal to me. I'm interested in the core (non-prequel) cast, and a lot of the books like "Tales of the Jedi" and "Rogue Squadron" focused on brand new creations and side characters like Wedge, who I personally don't get all the love for. Dark Empire was ok, but than it got really ridiculous fast with the sequels (DE2 and Empire's End.) The Emperor was practically unkillable, and had access to dozens of over the top super weapons he simply spirited away for a rainy day, rendering the ending to Return of the Jedi practically meaningless.

I did like the adaptations such as Heir to the Empire, and Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and some of the non-canon things like "Infinities" and "Tag and Bink" were a lot of fun. But overall I wasn't too keen on much of the output.

[bigstupidjellyfish]

I'm not sure why Old Republic had to go. Fix that and I'll be a happy camper.

[resipsaloquitur]

For some, mileage varies, a lot of the Dark Horse comics didn't appeal to me. I'm interested in the core (non-prequel) cast, and a lot of the books like "Tales of the Jedi" and "Rogue Squadron" focused on brand new creations and side characters like Wedge, who I personally don't get all the love for. Dark Empire was ok, but than it got really ridiculous fast with the sequels (DE2 and Empire's End.) The Emperor was practically unkillable, and had access to dozens of over the top super weapons he simply spirited away for a rainy day, rendering the ending to Return of the Jedi practically meaningless.

I did like the adaptations such as Heir to the Empire, and Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and some of the non-canon things like "Infinities" and "Tag and Bink" were a lot of fun. But overall I wasn't too keen on much of the output.

But then it's weird that everyone focuses on Dark Empire as if that's the only OT-era stuff Dark Horse published. They had lots of little series about Luke and the crew up until the early 2000s. Granted, some weren't great ("Vader's Quest" was lacking), but they had some other stuff like Union (Luke's wedding to Mara) or Chewbacca (commemorating Chewie's death through the eyes of his friends). Still, in 2002 DH launched Empire/Rebellion which was 6 years' worth of OT-era stuff. Not all of it was great, but there were some moderately decent stories about Luke, including one where he visited a world suffering from one of Anakin's botched missions 20 years before, and another where Luke met an old friend who joined the empire ("Tank," who had only been name dropped in Episode IV and we knew nothing else about).