****The Official NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Dan Wallace Thread****

I haven't gotten the book yet, becuase I dont have a car to go to the bookstore to feed my star wars habit, I mean support you, Dan. My Mom is too lazy/busy to take me, so I will have to wait. From what I have seen and heard it is excellent, but I have one question. Why was there no picture or big bio on Tenel Ka? She has been a big part of NJO, but I guess you wrote this before she made the big appearence.

 

Dan,

I'm obviously a huge Mara Jade fan...

I was wondering why nothing about her trip to Belsavis was mentioned, or some of her other missions as Emperor's Hand. Also, why wasn't "Handoff" mentioned, or had it been written yet?

And thanks for clearing up the name confusion we'd had in the comics and previous reference books!

-Mazz

PS Why didn't Shada have an entry?

 

Not every small story about every character can be written in, I don't think. I noticed that with more than just Mara.

 

I just thought of an interesting oddity while reading Vergere's entry.

Does anyone remember the Mighty Max cartoon? There was a wise little sage named Virgil. He was a fowl with these droopy "mustache-whiskers" and he wore a cool robe.

Virgil - Vergere ???

Now, there's probably no correlation here, but I just thought that was interesting thing.


On a side note, I have some thoughts on Tsavong Lah's art. I'm clipping this from my entry at the UNJOH forums.

I really didn't like the Tsavong Lah picture in the New EG to Characters - one of the few I didn't. Sutfin was quite off on this interpretation. First off, Vong heads do slope, but they don't look like Cereans. That was way too extreme. The hair was wrong as well. It should be swept back like a samuri. The face was fairly accurate in terms of the jaw and facial bones. The cape was bad, Lah's is a shimmering red with a scattering of other colors. The larval scales were missing completely, as was the radank claw. The vuasa claw was there, but it was the wrong color (should have been black). The worst part was the tsaisi. It was way too long, not to mention the fact that it was in no way snake like. It looked like an infidel force pike.

I was hoping for a more intimidating pose, with Lah in a battle stance, twirling his tsaisi. He should have been facing the viewer. Well I'm done with my rant.... for now.

 

Did anyone notice the minor booboo in Talon Karrde's entry? It says he met Celina Marniss (Mara Jade) six and a half years after Endor, but that would place their meeting after the Thrawn trilogy. I think Mr. Wallace was referring to a post-Yavin date instead, but I felt I should bring this up.

 

Haven't posted here yet, but I thought I'd throw in my praise. The new Essential Guide rocks. While I haven't read the AOTC stuff, I read probably half of all the rest of it. I loved it all, and having Bria Tharen included was a months long dream. I was so disappointed when she wasn't in the Official SW Encyclopedia that came out *after* all 3 of the Han Solo trilogy books. And to top it off, she looks great! I also liked just about all the drawings. Much better than the ones in the Essential Chronogly (and not just because they are in color). They are so good I've made several icons from them. EU Icons

Comments: Isolder looks like a sub I had in my Color Theory class for 1/2 of spring semester (he was actually good lookinig, in a rougish kind of way, but Isolder just looks... goofy) and Kyp looks like the guy that plays on TVs Hercules. I wish there would've been enteries on either Sabé or all the TPM handmaidens (like the JC or Podracers enteries) but ah well.

I can't wait to go through the entire book, once I've seen Attack of the Clones.

~*~Bria

 

There were quite a few key characters missing, though:

Kirtan Loor
Mirax Terrik
Qwi Xux
Moff Jerjerrod
Wes Janson
Derek Klivian
Iella Wessiri

And probably quite a few more I can't think of at the moment. They could have easily made this a 200-character book, though.

 

Wasn't Wes supposed to be in the book? I could've sworn I read that somewhere...

 

Yes entries for wes and poggle the lesser, they are in the insider I hear though...

Anyone care to make scans of those two entries from insider?

 

Weren't the ones in the Insider a preview of the bok? Meaning they were included? That's what I thought... ?

~*~Bria

 

well, well after reading the article on tos after the release of NEGTC, it seems to imply that the insider articles were exclusives to insider to show what the book would be like. But they were just that exclusives, .

 

Yeah, you're right. They are exclusives. I was mixing up Wes (in the Insider) with Gavin (in the book). I just checked.

Anyway, if someone can't do it sooner, I can scan them next week at school. I unfortunately do not have a scanner at home and I'm don't have classes tomorrow or Monday which is good since I need to finish up finals that'll be due right after Celebration II.

~*~Bria

 

What?! Characters like Jerec and Dash Rendar are in it and Tahiri and Tenel Ka are not?! Who is responsible for this mess?




Is there at least something about Tahiri in Anakin's part?

 

Dan, in the TOS Databanks, the Fetts are 1.83 meters tall and in your new book they are 1.78. What is the meaning of this?!? Is this a difference between helmeted and unhelmeted or did someone make a MAJOR mistake?!?

 

Mastadge...

Here is the reason for the discrepency.

...

Oh, and if you want to give away some super-secret-LFL spoiler, you should also ask if the Stormtrooper height should also be 1.83m or 1.78m?

 

Yes, yes. Funniest. Article. Ever.

 

Obviously, they lied about their height to someone.

 

I figured it out. Due to random mutation, BF was 5 cms shorter than JF. But people assumed that they were exactly the same height. Some measured BF and assumed his was the height for both of them, and some measured JF and assumed his was the height for both of them.

 

?

 

If I was the Emperor, I'd kill the whole lot of them - his Imperial troops.

His techs can't measure the lengths of his ships right. They leave gaping holes in the defenses of his most powerful weapons. His troops lie to him about their heights. His second-in-command tries cutting deals with his son to stab the Emperor in the back. His troops are always exiting hyperspace too early, warning the Rebels of their arrival.

Geez, no wonder the poor guy looks so old. It's not the dark side, it's the stress of dealing with so many problems. He was probably glad when Vader tossed him down the shaft - he got a vacation from all of that for a while.

 

Lol, poor, poor Palpatine...

 

Tahiri has a brief bio in the back of the book, if I recall right.

 

In what I thought to be an interesting (and disturbing) note, there is absolutely no mention of Ganner Rhysode at all in this book, not even in the appendix. I guess this means he's officially in EU Limbo now, huh ?


Either way, this cant be good for Ganner.


Im surprised nobody pointed this out before I did.

 

I heard that. Im sure him and Wurth have more use in the GFFA than Ben right now

 

I agree, RF, but that damn Skywalker name always opens doors, even if it is for an infant.