TV Discussion LACWAC Member Interviews (★☆★ SpecialOpsUnit & Fives_Says_No_To_Sixes ★☆★)

Done.

 

You sure you want to hear the full story, Todd the Jedi? It's a bit of a tale...

...nah. Actually it's quite simple. My very first username I ever conceived for a forum was Shadow34, the "Shadow" part stemming from my former favorite character Shadow the Hedgehog. A few years went by and I grew tired of the name, so I set about making a new name that was both unique and represented me. Now I've always had an affinity for the color purple and as long as I can remember there's been an in-joke among my friends and I that I'm an emperor, so I simply retained the Shadow element of my username and tacked on "The" and "Emperor" to it. BAM, instant unique username.

As for my designation, you may address me as The Shadow Emperor, Shadow, ShadEmp, T.S.E., SE, Emperor, Shady Empy, or any variation of that; I don't mind so long as I know it's referring to me.

 

Can I call you Emperor Hedgehog?

 

Sure, if that's what you really want.

 

Todd the Jedi My first exposure to Star Wars came in the form of RotS, but it wasn't until TCW that I became a true fan. I watched the show religiously from beginning to end and was quite sad to see it go.

In response to your first query, it's the villains. I've always gravitated toward baddies, with Star Wars definitely having no shortage of them, of course. The best thing about it is how varied and interesting they all are. You got fallen heroes like Vader and Ventress, insane chessmasters like Palpatine and Talzin, awesome hunters like Cad Bane and Embo, and deadly effective warriors like Maul and Savage. I love everything about them, from their personalities to their backstories to their abilities, and personally I've always found their stories infinitely more captivating than those of the heroes.

 

Todd the Jedi Off the top of my head, Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Smash Bros, Metroid, Avatar/Korra, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and to a very limited extent, Mega Man. I'd say I'm most passionate about Legend of Zelda at the moment, as I'm currently engaged in replaying every game in the series I own. And as you can probably tell by my avatar, I enjoy Zelda villains just as much as Star Wars ones.

 

Todd the Jedi

Shadow was at one point both my favorite Sonic character and my all-time favorite from any franchise. As time went on I found other characters in Sonic I enjoyed more than Shadow, and later on Savage Opress took Shadow's spot as my favorite fictional character. So I guess it wasn't a change of heart so much as I found other characters I liked better.

With regards to the Sonic comics, trust me when I say that it's a very, very long story, so I'll keep it as brief as possible. A few years back a former writer from the Sonic comics by the name of Ken Penders registered copyrights on a large number of characters he had created for the book, claiming that he hadn't signed any sort of work-for-hire contract and he was thus entitled to compensation for his work being used and reprinted in the comic. Archie Comics, naturally, wasn't too pleased about this and hit him with a lawsuit. A few years went by and things continued as normal in the comic, with the disputed characters continuing to be used without problem, then all of a sudden they all vanished in one fell swoop and haven't been seen or referenced by name since, and at the moment all Archie continues to say is that there will be many massive changes to the book from here on out. Unfortunately for me I was a fan of many of the characters who became victims of the lawsuit, and as a result I renounced all ties to the comic until if and when said characters return, which IMO seems incredibly unlikely in this present climate.

But yeah, like I said, it's a long, complicated story with many twists and turns. I guess the one thing to take out of it is that my love for the Sonic franchise as a whole remains intact even though my relationship with the comics has been tarnished.

 

Todd the Jedi I live in the US and have lived in Texas, Virginia, Nebraska, and Ohio. I was born in Texas, but due to my father's job we've had to move around the country at lot with our travels ending here in Ohio.

 

Todd the Jedi I found the forums via some random Google search when it was on the temp boards, but I didn't muster the courage to join until after the site had been restored. My first impression of LACWAC was that of a welcoming, humorous, and generally civil forum, and as such I decided to stick around and hope I would be proven correct. And I obviously was, otherwise I would've left long ago.

 

Todd the Jedi

To me, Savage epitomized just about everything I want to see in a Star Wars villain. For starters, you've gotta look cool. Savage had that nailed, man, what with that finely toned boy of his coupled with the always-awesome Nightbrother tattoos and horns. Of course, a good villain also needs to be effective in battle, and Savage had that perfected to an art. Whenever I rewatch Savage's episodes I can't help but be left slack-jawed in marvel at the character's power and his killing finesse with that sweet-sounding saberstaff of his. Yeah, I know at the end of the day it's just fanservice, but it's good fanservice dammit. The guy was just a pure joy to watch and I loved every second of it.

...I sound like Fanboy right now, don't I.

As for Savage's character arc...loved it. I liked his origin story and his role in the Nightsisters trilogy, but the best part was when he rescued and teamed up with his bro Maul, truly outgrowing the "Maul clone" label once and for all. Those two worked so well together and got along so well, it was just so awesome, even moreso than when Savage was killing dozens of Jedi in his lonesome. And then for Savage to go out to Darth Sidious of all characters? Truly the best way for him to go, I have to say. Now yeah, I'd by lying if I wasn't just a little disappointed in how quickly Savage's story was abandoned in favor of Maul's, but his role as his brother's apprentice worked just as well in the end, and it certainly helped to flesh out Maul's character to boot.

So yeah. Love the character, love his story, love how he brought out the best in his little bro. Long live Randy Opress. You shall be missed. By me, at least.

 

Todd the Jedi

In order: Season 4, Season 3, Season 5, Season 2, Season 1, the movie.

Season 4 was just beyond amazing. I loved every single episode, even Shadow Warrior and the droid duology. My faves were Umbara and the Maul/Ventress arc. I also really don't get why most people don't like the Mon Calamari arc. :/

Season 3 did well for the most part, the first half could have been better but it wasn't exactly terrible either as I'm into politics. Loved the second half. Would definitely be lower on my list if not for Savage's introduction and the incredible season finale.

Season 5...y'know, I'm a little torn on this one. It was pretty hit-and-miss. On the one hand I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Shadow Conspiracy arc (though it really should've been six episodes as opposed to four), but on the other I couldn't tolerate the droid and Onderon arcs. So I'll put this one in the middle, if only for how awesome Maul and Savage were in this one.

Season 2 stands out in my mind due to the various awesome bounty hunter arcs. This one got me loving Cad Bane and Aurra Sing and had a number of other decent stories such as Zillo Beast. Wasn't too fond of the return to Geonosis, though, and didn't enjoy several eps like Lightsaber Lost and that stupid Clovis one.

Season 1...eh. It was so long ago, animation wasn't too great, and there really weren't any villain-centric episodes for me to sink my teeth into, but it was a good season overall. The only stories that I really liked were Malevolence and Hostage Crisis, but some of the others like Ryloth and Jedi Cash weren't that good.

The movie, I'll be honest, I liked it for the most part. But it really pales in comparison to the rest of the series.

 

Todd the Jedi

I'll make you a top ten list. Number one is obviously Savage, so I'll go up to eleven.

2. Cad Bane
3. Maul
4. Talzin
5. Aurra Sing
6. Hondo
7. Ahsoka
8. Kul Teska
9. Krell
10. Ventress
11. Rex

 

@The Shadow Emperor

1) If you're the shadow Emperor, who is the de jure Emperor?

2) Who would win in a fight between Savage Oppress, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and Michael Savage?

 

@Todd the Jedi Ok...I'll list two things I'd change and two that I enjoyed and would keep.

For starters, more episodes starring good guys other than the Big Three. Seeing nothing but eps starring Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka got tiresome by Season Five. Jedi like Luminara, Kit Fisto, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura, and especially Barriss didn't get the focus they should've gotten over the course of the show. Also, as far as clones were concerned, poor Cody really didn't get the love he deserved despite being a major player in RotS.

More effort put into fleshing out the boring mustache-twirling villains Dooku and Grievous (both of whom I like, don't get me wrong, but neither were very compelling to me outside of the Ventress arc). We should've gotten more episodes with them as the focus. We got some very cool stories with side villains like Maul and Ventress that made the two more popular than ever, so why couldn't we get a few that delved into Dooku and Grievous' backstories as well.

Okay, now on to things I like. First of all, bounty hunters--Filoni and crew did great with these guys. There were so many amazing fan-favorites born out of this show like Cad Bane, Embo, Aurra Sing and Sugi, and it was cool to spend so much time on such an underappreciated part of Star Wars lore.

The focus on the villains was great as well, although as I said before not all of them got the attention they deserved. The Cad Bane and Boba Fett-related episodes were all just incredible, as were the Ventress/Maul/Savage ones. I loved that the show took upon itself the task of spending quality time with the franchise's baddies, something the films just didn't have any time to do.

@Narutakikun

1. Imperator Ix, a little known-character who helped inspire my username.

2. Hmm...well, I don't know who this "Savage Oppress" is, so I'll have to go with good ol' Randy.