We'll have to agree to disagree there. I liked the Vong stuff, although he was clearly a villain. He did a lot of terrible things, and I don't think they really tried to say that the ends justified the means, just that he might have had a bit different motivation then what we thought.
Fair enough.
Well, the character in Rebels couldn't have less depth, and Zahn wrote the Rebels character, not the real Thrawn, so I definitely disagree there.
Well, if "hate reading" the book changes your mind (a la the
Ahsoka nove), I'd be curious to hear about it.
I should also point out that in no way should he be real life plausible. Its like Sherlock Holmes, him being almost supernaturally good is part of the interesting things about him. I'm not reading a book with thrawn, or a Star Wars book in general, to read some realistic, "grounded" story about space ships and wizards with laser swords.
Put it this way, canon novel Thrawn came across as Sherlock Holmes to me, while Legends Thrawn felt like he morphed into super Sherlock Holmes beyond suspension of disbelief. Make sense?
You can't step on the toes of a kiddie book.
Yeah, you could; two books covering the same things in different ways (remember, the idea is that everything fits together, regardless of how "important" it is)? Also, I'm just speculating, I've no idea why they chose to do things the way they did.
As of right now, Jyn is getting no real book about her backstory. She should be, but they're probably too busy writing a GA book about the origin of Poe Dameron's favorite brand of space toothpaste.
By the franchise's standards of what counts, it's real. (Even by your standards, it's real, given that it's a YA novel being marketed to the teenage crowd, like
Lost Stars and
Ahsoka.)
The movie has very real characterization problems, and everyone, from the director and writer on down, has to know that. But, nothing was done. Instead, two characters who need literally not one second more of story time get a book. Because why put effort into something when you can crap out a pointless book.
Problem, I doubt the people who made the movie decide what books are made. Dollars to doughnuts, they were approached after the book was set and asked to provide information/feedback/whatever then. So, considering that the people at Del Rey and their contacts at LucasFilm were probably the ones to authorized the book and they were working while the movie was still being made, it's not like anyone could've know whether a different book would've supported the movie better (besides, at the end of the day, the movie's flaws are the movie's flaws and have no bearing on the quality of the novel).
There was also a canceled prequel
Rogue One comics. While I don't believe many details have been made public, it's possible that the novel was meant to cover the past, while the comic would address the main characters (I'm just speculating, not making a statement of fact). If so, once again, that's not the fault of
Catalyst.
Also worth noting,
Catalyst has two purposes. Beyond showing us the backgrounds of the Ersos and Krennic, it also covers the history of the Death Star, which could not've been done with a story centering on the movie's leads. In fact, since the movie has the characters meeting for the first time and getting involved in the Rebellion over the course of the movie proper, I think the only thing we could've gotten like you're describing is an anthology a la
Before the Awakening. I'd also point out that the fact that Jyn and the Guardians are getting whole books devoted to their biographies does point to the Powers That Be agree with you that the characters could use more fleshing out than we got in the movie proper, even if you and them disagree on the format to tell those stories.
(Also, the novelization fixed a lot of the problems you're citing, so it has been addressed in the world of print.)
It looks just like the RO book to me, except more colorful (and with animals, obviously). 99% of DK's output is stuff like that, and the RO book isn't different.
I don't know what to tell you then. I've seen the content of both, and the
Rogue One is on the level of the other older audience-targeted reference books.
Not that it being for 12 year olds instead of 9 year olds would make it any more canon or relevant.
True. The reason it's canon and relevant is because those who made it and decide those things have ruled that it is.
Its fine to have stuff for kids, but its not canon.
Yes it is. Where are you getting your information?
There is no secret bit of information only available if you read a book for 7 year olds.
Wrong on two levels. It is canon and the books in question are targeted at older audiences than the 7-year-olds.
Anything canon in those books was from another source, it doesn't make canon.
Wrong, they are a valid canon source in their own right.
Nope. the kiddie books take their cues and canon from the big books, but don't effect the big books. That's how its always been, and rightfully so. The general audience stuff is what is important to the universe, not the stuff pushed out for kids. Even in the old EU it was only the Young Jedi Knights that ever connected, its not like, for example, those Obi-Wan Kenobi books for 5 year olds ever counted for anything.
Not how I remember it and not how things work now.
If that stuff was in junior novelizations, its non canon.
Wrong. (FIY, you're making a factual statement here, not an opinion. Said statement runs counter to what we're told, ergo, it's false. No wiggle roo,)
Anything in those books not said in the movie or in a GA book is non canon, just like every other kids book and things like novelizations. Finn's counts because YA, while awful is unfortunately canon (the real YA stuff that is, after reading Ahsoka that thing is no more YA then Tarkin, its just shorter and double spaced to look bigger for some reason).
What's the difference between an older and younger YA book? LucasFilm give them equal weight. (Also, the
Rebels Rising novel that you've been claiming can't be canon would be canon by your standards, given that it's in the same vein as the
Ahsoka novel that you're defining as canon, and certainly above the
Before the Awakening target audience.
Heck, if the normal novelization is non canon, a junior novelization is even less so, since it probably leaves things from the canon movie out.
So? Absence of certain information doesn't mean that the remaining info isn't accurate
As for the Skywalker map, that's not exactly a mystery.
But the thing is, the map doesn't directly lead to Luke's location, but something else where Luke would be. That is a difference.
But the map doesn't di Its stupid and makes no sense (you could find Luke with just the last piece if you could identify even one planet in that section), but not something that got some kind of reveal in a kiddie book.
Look at it this way. Say you're in pre-Columbus Europe and someone gives you a map of Cuba sans the coordinates. Would you be able to sail there? Same thing, the Skywalker map was a piece from a blank space in the records and they didn't have access to the rest, so they couldn't get there. The movie does explain this.
The real books don't build off the kiddie books. The YA stuff is canon, but it doesn't add things. In the new canon, it just exists to shove unimportant Twilight style stories about teen angst onto the shelves.
If the story is good in and of itself, who cares if it influences the rest of the line? And if it's just a standalone adventure that happened off to the side while other things were going on, why worry? You can skip it and not miss anything.
Ask people coming out of an average Star Wars movie showing about Rebels, and I can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority either don't know about it, or don't care.
True, I'm sure there are a lot of people who only care about the movies and none of the tie-ins.
(Also, where are getting this information that the younger part of the YA books are not canon? That doesn't mesh with anything and everything we've been getting out of the LucasFilm's office. Do you have any sources to back this up or this your theory based on something, or what? Without knowing where you're coming from on this, you're coming off as being closed-minded and ignoring the rules that the franchise is built on due to your own biases.)
