Aliens of the Empire (Part 2 now up)

Well no, far from it, actually. I just wanted to share what the approvals process can be like.

He's a Palpasexual, Wayland Smithers fans might say. (Sorry, couldn't help myself).

Best,
Abel

 

Kind of unfortunate that a richly mythological name choice thematically suited to her role had to be couched in George Lucas's taste for an HBO soap opera. Though this once again speaks to your special skill of telling a superficially good story to the editors while secretly telling a mind-blowing one to everyone else. ;-)

 

Fair enough. I just figured that no one else has ever referenced a Wolverton Missions oddity...

Plus, he has a cape. Surely that's memorable in Star Wars.

 

Or can't we go a step further, connecting this to the Sith fetish for self-denial and "sacrifice", and say, everybody and anything that wasn't Sidious...?

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I always had the strangest idea that Palpatine started a bit like Mussolini to begin with as Senator/Chancellor Palpatine. The very act of being forced to reign in his darker impulses as a Sith Lord for secrecy's sake managed to keep some level of "humanity" to the man even if he was still an abyssmally wicked Machiavellian schemer.

When he was Emperor, there was nothing to stop him and it didn't bring the pleasure he desired. So he degenerated into a greater mire of loathing and petty dominance games.

 

I'm not sure what everyone's thinking, but Palpatine was well known for double meanings and straight out lying. Think. He said Darth Plagieus had come up with a way to cheat death. If he had, he'd still be alive, yes? That was PALPS desire (which lured Anakin over). He lied to Anakin on any number of occasions, lied to the Jedi, lied to the senate, lied to the people of the republic, hell, he probably lied to himself to keep in practice. And let's not forget Outbound Flight, where he gets Thrawn involved by LYING to both him and Jorus C'Baoth. All palps ever did was lie.

 

this is the eu. palps came back. he did cheat death. the rest...... he was a politician. of course he lied.

 

Could be a matter of style. Rich often infuses his Star Wars work with a pulpy irreverence. Then again, you could chalk up the logic hole to the fact that we wrote Suprema's backstory three times! You can actually see the prevoius two versions in Suprema's introduction as "rumors," with slight exaggeration.

In the first go, it was originally Suprema, not Triclops, who was a failed experiment of Hoole and Gog. After the Triclops idea came up, we scratched that version and went for making him a Ssi-ruuk slaver. LFL eighty-sixed that, and Rich finally struck upon the Ampotem Za background.

Yes, I think there's definitely some of that, and the excuse should seem shaky.

Totally within your rights, QG.

I never throw anything away. In fact, I'm amassing quite a bit of rejected material. Sometimes these things are just a matter of timing, and future opportunities to recyle always pop up.

Exactly. How many times must a man be a victim of an LFL-licensee losing its license, before he can call himself a man?

 

42 times?

 

You were right. Tell your sister.

I think 37 is okay, since he did go through regular shock therapy.

Baby steps ... especially with the Glove of Darth Vader.

Actually, only the characters's inclusion in the project was rejected (this go around), not the backgrounds we came up with. So we're gonna hold onto those. Sorry your worshipfulness.

Wow. Yes, many of those were considered by us for inclusion. Peronally, I didn't want to retread characters I'd already covered. In fact, Desaan, who ended up in the Dark Forces Saga, had originally been written for this project.

We stuck mostly with characters that were clearly part of Palpatine's Galactic Empire (i.e. no Empire of the Hand) but part of Aliens in the Empire will include some loose affiliates.

I can shed this much light: approvals was aware of what we were trying to insinuate with Niobi and Triclops. In fact, the original manuscript actually mentioned precisely what you just did QG, namely, that Palpatine's genetic material was used in the process. But that's a big bomb to drop, and LFL didn't want to commit to that. Not yet, anyway.

I wouldn't look at it that way. The shortest distance between two points in Star Wars isn't hyperspace, it's George Lucas' stamp of approval.

Gah! I hate having my own pompous writings quoted to me (true though they may be).

Glad you approve, j.

What, building an entire article around Wolverton's wacky Iron Knights in Missions #14 wasn't enough?

THE CAPE ... of course! This changes everything!

Cheers,
Abel

 

A Ssi-Ruuk slaver? Too bad that backstory got axed because I can really see the connection between Ivpikkis' demeanor and Suprema's. Suprema is just so damn..."refined". Anything that makes Suprema more elitist and xenophobic (somewhat like the Ssi-Ruuk) is awesome by me. For the record, Suprema has some of the best lines in all of Marvel.

Leia: I can see he's also a man of modest tastes. I mean, a life-sized hologram of Darth Vader? Most Imperial lackeys settle for a simple wall painting.
Suprema: Perhaps, my dear. But I am far from your average lackey. I am the Suprema, Chieftain of the entire Mandalorian slave colony, but you, fair princess--may call me master! Would you like a chair?

Ahhh, Fire. I like Fire in a human. It sizzles so nicely when squelched!

Ah, Princess, plucky to the last. How festive. Perhaps my dear, I shall keep you for myself...

You are a man of delusions, Dala. Potentially--deadly delusions!

I just noticed this, (which is pretty sad by the way) but Handley also did the University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series which was so full of continuity connections that it rivaled The History of the Mandalorians (no offense Abel ). So...would it be over the top to suggest that we'll get further Nagai references?

One thing that was curious about that article was who exactly General Kruskob Tiltanka was supposed to be. All the other Nagai mentioned had counterparts within their respective WEG sourcebook or Marvel comic book, but not this guy. My only thought was that it had to be one of the unnamed Nagai from Star Wars 102: School Spirit. But was it the first Nagai giving orders or the large Nagai near the end that was killed by Luke?

 

I can shed this much light: approvals was aware of what we were trying to insinuate with Niobi and Triclops. In fact, the original manuscript actually mentioned precisely what you just did QG, namely, that Palpatine's genetic material was used in the process. But that's a big bomb to drop, and LFL didn't want to commit to that. Not yet, anyway.




Darn LFL and their conservative nature on GoDV....

 

I believe what you're looking for is "all beings are inferior, but some are more inferior than others."

 

Conceded, Monsieur Ewok.

Right. I like having all these versions as possibilities, as the interpretations of the characters just become richer and richer. That's why, of all the novels LFL ever cancelled, only the new of not going forward with the Darth Plagueis book ever put a grin on my face. I prefer my Palpatines inscrutable.

Right? In the end, though, it probably was a better move to nix it. For me, the biggest problem was that if he was a Ssi-ruu, then in Truce at Bakura why doesn't Leia say, "Hey! Those guys look like the Suprema!" So it was a good call, I think, and, like the Plagueis novel, LFL deserves to get credit for that, IMO.

Yes, we had filtered the xenophobic and cowardly aspects of the Suprema through the Ssi-ruuvi species traits.

Right on point. It's this kind of writing that so endeared me to the Marvels. What fun those comics are.

Okay, I'll give Rich History of the Mandos, but not Evil Never Dies. Yes, that was an extraordinarily well-written piece, and made me feel Star Wars publishing had taken a turn. Really, the Marvels had never gotten much respect up until that point.

I'm not sure if this series will have them. I did just make a very oblique Nagai ref in another project, however.

Hmm. I'll see if I can get Rich in here.

It might have been a double-whammy in this case. As exemplified by the Plagueis novel example, the stance on Palpatine in gene

 

Part II is up.

I have one thing to say.

TREMAYNE!

 

More importantly we finally have a fix for why Kharys was under the impression Darth Vader and the "one who bears your lightsaber" were two different Jedi...

Nice work, Abel.

 

So Sk'ar is a Kaleesh. Awesome.

Even better, it sounds like Thrawn wipes out the Kaleesh because he fails to understand their art. A reference to something Thrawn mentioned in TTT, right?

And maybe something else?

 

lol... Thrawn gets confounded by the Grievster.

 

Wait, we have the planet that he destroyed because he failed to understand their art? Awesome. It's Kalee? Even cooler. It all comes back to a stray Lit post? ^100

 

There was always a planet he destroyed because of not comprehending their art... it was one of his bigger melodramatic eye-rollers back in TTT.

 

No, there was a planet he destroyed and he didn't understand their art. No link between the two was explicitly established until this article.

 

This is awesome!!!


Nice return of Fyyar and, of course, Halagad.

Interesting species choice for Sk'ar. Ironic too -- so many years earlier people were begging for a picture of a Kaleesh without the mask, and here's one who's been staring us in the face since the 80's.

 

True.

Still, eye-roller.

 

Fyarr, Tremayne, and Hethrir.

A sinister triumvirate of incompetency.

Should have hired Pelly just in case they needed to retreat sometime. Since he's the expert.