r/saltierthancrait

To preface, I don’t dislike everything they’ve done. Just like a lot of others, I think Rogue One, Andor, Rebels, and the first 2 seasons of Mando are pretty good. I really dislike the Sequel Trilogy though.

My main issue with Disney and how they handled Star Wars is that I feel like they gave a giant middle finger to the fans who had been following it up until Disney’s purchase. I understand they wanted to make SW more palatable to newcomers, but they could’ve done that without disregarding 30 years of media beloved by countless fans. Their official reasoning was to prevent confusion, which doesn’t make much sense considering they still produce and sell tons of EU stuff, just rebranded as Legends. I don’t see why they couldn’t have at least allowed these writers to wrap up their stories. On top of that, their own books/comics/shows/movies contradict each other quite often. So it’s still just as confusing.

They even canceled The Clone Wars of all things, the only bit of visual media SW fans who grew up during the 2010s really had. The Clone Wars was supposed to continue for multiple more seasons after Season 6, and a huge amount of that material had already been written, storyboarded, animated, and even voice acted before the show was canceled. Instead, years later, we got a short consolation Season 7 that only covered a fraction of the stories that were originally planned.

It’s just really frustrating because Disney didn’t just release new SW content. They took the version of SW that we had grown up with and replaced it with stuff no one really asked for. They swooped in one day, took all the shit we loved, and told us to shut up and be glad we were even getting new shit.

For background, I’m in my early 20s now, born while the prequels were being released. The only SW being released as I grew up was The Clone Wars, EU books/comics, and a few games. That was SW for my generation growing up. To quote George Lucas, “Star Wars is for 12 year olds.” When TFA released, I was around 11/12, along with my friends. We were all SW nerds who couldn’t wait to see our first SW movie in theaters.

To everyone who says, “The kids that grew up with the sequels will show their love for them once they’re older, just like it happened with the prequels”: a lot of those kids, like me, are older now, and at least for me, my point still stands. The sequels have aged like milk. As time goes on, the lack of an overall plan becomes more and more obvious, and it's impossible to overlook.

I really don't want to come off as too negative. We all know the Star Wars community doesn't need any more of that. I just really want to get other people's opinion on this, especially other people around my age.

Just to be clear, I dislike Disney SW based on what was taken from us and the quality of what we were given in return. It has nothing to do with the race/identity/politics/etc of the people involved in the creation of these stories. Especially the actors, who SW fans seem to love targeting so much, smfh. Hate that I even need to include that, I just don’t want to get lumped in with "that" group of Disney SW haters.

I think everyone knows by now that Filoni has essentially taken over Star Wars. The actual real Star Wars, the one led by the films and beloved characters from Luke, Leia, Han, etc., to Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, etc., is long gone. It's merely a background afterthought in the modern Filoni playground that is Disney Star Wars, where his characters rule. Ahsoka basically appears in 90% of media and has far more importance nowadays than Luke (when was the last time Luke did anything of real importance again?) or even Anakin. Filoni's other OCs are slowly replacing existing characters, like Din Djarin replacing Boba Fett or the Bad Batch replacing Delta Squad. And I always wondered why Disney fans ate it up.

Just yesterday, I was arguing with someone over the inhibitor chip question. And, despite me repeatedly asserting the fact that basic evidence proves that Lucas never considered the idea from 2005 to 2014 that Order 66 was brainwashing, that TCW retconned it, and that assuming that people (including people talking to Lucas on the daily) got Revenge of the Sith wrong for nine years while Lucas had some "master plan" was absurd, my opponent was unable to conceive the idea that Order 66 was brainwashing, and he mentioned the idea that the chips "replaced their personalities" which I found absurd because the clones didn't have their TCW personalities until 2008. And today, I stumbled across a post on the base Star Wars subreddit where Ahsoka and Anakin were portrayed in the whole Mortis Arc thing as the father and daughter (curiously Starkiller was portrayed as the son), which I was baffled by because while they don't fit the roles from the show, it seems absurd to put Ahsoka and Starkiller of all people over, you know, Leia and Luke. Well, it made me realize something.

How many people who defend Filoni nowadays grew up with TCW and are unable to consider any other media without it? Imagine a TCW fan who watched the actual films years later. Remember, Filoni did a remarkable job sidelining Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the other characters to just about make TCW center on Ahsoka and the clones. To this individual, Ahsoka is basically THE main character of Star Wars. She's the one who participates in 99% of TCW arcs, and she has a bunch of her own. TCW portrays the galaxy revolving around her; her expulsion is what drives Anakin to the dark, while Padmé is little more than a side character. Now, this fan goes to watch the actual films. He is unable to separate the films from TCW. Hence come the assumptions like Order 66 not working without the chips (because to this man, it's impossible for the clones NOT to be like they were in TCW), and when he sees Anakin's fall, he is so dissociated from what the movie is telling him that he ties it to Ahsoka. "Ahsoka is basically Anakin's little sister or daughter. Who's this Padmé gal? She was in that one Rush Clovis arc, I guess. Why doesn't she dump Anakin?" And, eventually, the dissociation reaches a point where the films become secondary to the show. The Star Wars story isn't about the Skywalkers; it's about Ahsoka and the clones, and the Skywalkers are secondary characters. Remember, nostalgia is one hell of a drug, and these people are addicted to it.

So in comes Disney Star Wars. Filoni, having full control even really as far back as under KK, fully commits to Star Wars being his playground and only makes the actual Star Wars characters appear to try to bring back older fans, though they won't budge. When Disney screws up the sequels, pretty much the entire older Star Wars fandom leaves and becomes distant, no longer really participating in the modern fandom. Who remains? The people who grew up with Dave Filoni's works, those who are being pleased by Filoni following his shenanigans. To these people, the fact that Luke Skywalker hasn't had any real presence since TLJ (and that's TLJ, so calling that "Luke" is questionable) isn't a big deal because Luke Skywalker is a nobody, some random guy from the films. The protagonists are Ashoka and Rex and Ezra and Sabine. Darth Vader is just some guy who appears to be scary sometimes, and Anakin can only be his TCW jocky self. Remember all the hype around Ahsoka and Vader fighting in Rebels? People who grew up with the films or EU couldn't care; it was people who grew up with TCW who saw that as incredible and way better than anything else.

I know this is probably an obvious conclusion to most, but I just needed to get this out there. I now understand WHY Filoni has the massive fanbase he does. Likewise, I'm saddened these people aren't willing to look at the films without TCW or read the EU and not make judgements about it.