And welcome to the 100th episode of Radio Rebellion this Star Wars podcast. I am your host, I bet you're going to come and thank you as always for joining us on this great Star Wars Saturday. You saw the 100 episodes. I can't believe we're here a little bit over two years doing this show.
Many times I thought, okay, I think it's time to call it quits, but still here, grateful for everyone that has supported us in these two years. Everyone that has joined our show us, I guess, like the incredible guests that will be joining me today. Everyone on the chat, Twitter, everywhere. So thank you guys for sticking it out with us in the rebellion for the past two years.
And it's also our season four thing, after this, we'll just take a one-week break. I took a two-week break last month and it felt too long. So I take one week off, we'll come back, we'll see some five in a couple of weeks. Big surprises, big announcements on that first show.
So make sure you don't miss it. But today, it's all about the high republic phase one. It's been a while, with all supposedly composed of ourselves, shed all our tears. We're still not over it.
So before we start, let me say hi to a great panel that we have today. Two people from the followers of the first journey today, they've been here separate. We're here together. We'll see how that goes.
Rachel and Meg, are you guys doing today? How are you? Not too bad. I mean, we'll see by the end of this.
Because the emotions will be shed. And then join us for the first time from the first those spot cats, Smelldown, Jellaway. You'll see her everywhere. Ava, Chris, herself.
No, Kelly, how are you doing Laura? Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really honored to be here.
And I'm really excited to talk about this because as we were talking about online, I feel like I don't get enough opportunities to talk about the high republic. So I'm really excited to be doing it here today. And with dogs. Yeah, we have our, it's Ember.
We have our Ember down there. Yeah, high republic. Even on days, we're not talking high republic here. It always comes up.
It's one of those things in Star Wars. I just took off. We love it. We're going to be discussing it today.
How much we love it? How much we suffered? But yeah, that's what we're here. So we're having the average support when I was for Star Wars.
Yeah, we're going to. We're talking about someone that went to LaBiont. I don't know. We'll try to get over it.
But before we start, as always, if you're watching this live, thank you for joining us today. Make sure that you're subscribed to our show. You don't miss any new episodes where they drop. Especially when Star Wars celebration comes along in next month.
We're not going to be there. We're going to have a bunch of special shows. So make sure you're subscribed to me. Send your dose.
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And as always, it's still going strong. Make sure that you're supporting the Amidala initiative for equality text us. We said it before we're here for all our trans LGBTQ community, not just in Texas, everywhere in the country. I live in Florida and things here.
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So before we get into the high republic, are you guys excited for Star Wars celebration? Any of you guys going over there? Yeah, Laura? No, you're actually not coming.
Meg, you're going. I am. I couldn't afford it. And now I'm in a show on those dates.
So I really feel bad for the cast of the show I'm doing. That's going to have to talk to me after each announcement. Also, I walked into a rehearsal the other day and at least three people went, I love your wolf cat t-shirt, which is like not a reference. A ton of people get.
I'm like, my people. Turns out there's another podcaster in the cast who also podcasts about nerd things. And I'm like, cool. So I'm going to go stand with them.
Yeah, founder people. I love it. Well, honestly, what's our celebration? I'm very, very excited.
It's been such a long time that we've had to wait until the delays. I'm ready to be back among my people. Have you guys been to one before? Is this your first one, Meg?
I went to one in Chicago in 2019. That was my first. I'm really excited to be going back and I've made a lot of quote unquote for instance, then, you know, online people that I talked to all the time. It'll be really nice to see a lot of them in person and just kind of hang out with them.
And I'm like, enjoy Star Wars in person, which it's a completely different experience when you're at celebration than it is like on the Internet. So it'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, I haven't been to one yet. I always regret it not going to the one in Orlando in 2017.
I think that was before the last day that I came out. I like it's going to be, I just leave about two hours away. So I'm going to just drove and come back. I'm not going to go through the house.
I'm just going to be a pain just to get there. I get there early to get 20 pounds or whatever. So I didn't go and then I found out my next door neighbor who's always always fan. He went.
He took his family over there and then of course, shoved it in my face and I just go with him real quick. I kept thinking about going because I live in Illinois. So I could have gone to Chicago, but it turned out to be the same weekend. I was coming back from a cruise.
So everybody's at Star Wars celebration in my state and I'm on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Everybody on Twitter is talking about the trailer for Rise of Skywalker and I don't have internet that can play video. I'm like, that's harsh. All right.
This year, again, we won't be there, but most likely Lauren from the like podcast will join us on one of our special shows. She's going to be there. So this will be kind of through her will be able to celebrate a little bit with everyone over there. Star Wars news.
I guess the biggest thing this week or that most recent was finally the composer for like an always show was announced Natalie Holt from Loki and a bunch of other stuff. First woman composer for Star Wars. So very excited for that. Yay.
All right. Enough challenge. Let's talk Harry Potter, but before let's say hi to a few friends. My friend Dale is here.
How are you doing Dale? Thanks for joining us. Of course, Buck, a friend Buck O'Brien who won that challenge. That's really a challenge against Rachel and a bunch of other people.
Thank you for being here. Okay. I still love you, Buck. Great.
All right. It's out there. Brian Ward. And Brandon, Mystical Mar, hello there.
Yes. Everything is about knowing. Yeah. So thanks for being here.
He's actually there in celebration. So just look for your friends out there. It's going to be great. I'm going to hate as soon as I was texting all the pictures and I'll be, I know that person, know that person.
Next time. All right. So if you guys are ready, I'm known ready. Let's talk Star Wars and the high repop.
All right. There you are. Star Wars beacon going down in flames. Oh, man.
Yes. Try, try. So before we jump into everything, law records, I can answer first time here. And then I'll have a chance to really talk Harry Pollack with you as I have with Rachel and Meg.
And then I want to hear also from you guys. How was your experience with the Harry public from when it was first announced? This is probably luminous. We're going back in time.
We don't know a lot about it. Then we start hearing what is going to be about to now where it ended. Phase one. What was your trajectory with it?
You know, it was a slow, it was a little bit of a slow start for me. I think I didn't probably read a lot of the Jedi like a right when it came out. I remember like starting to read it and then like just getting pulled in different directions. So I was, I think I was a little bit of a late-comer relatively speaking to the public.
But once I got into it, I mean, like most things, Star Wars, I was just like, there's no medium ground. It's just like, I just went full force into it and fell head over heels in love with it right away. Especially when I restarted line of the Jedi, I mean that first chapter, the way that it just like completely sucks you into the world. And like, I don't know how to be re-that first chapter and doesn't like just immediately be like, I'm in, I'm in, I'm never saying here for this.
So when it came to phase one of everything, I was sloping into it. But then once I did, I mean, I'm not even like a big comics reader. I fell in love with the with the main comics line that as it, I mean, I think the far that we got into it, I was one of those people getting up at like the crack of dawn on Wednesday mornings because I knew that if I didn't read it, it would get spoiled and I had to be one of the first to read it. And it was just, I looked forward to it so much and I actually miss waking up on Wednesday mornings looking forward to something in that same way.
But in terms of the phase two news, I mean, where we kind of ended, because I mean, I loved everything in phase one, but I was, I'm still kind of in a weird place with the phase two of like going back and, going back in time, I get why they're doing it. I love how it kind of runs with the original trilogy, going back to the prequels that moving forward again to the, you know, I get that. But I'm not, I'm just not fully on board with it yet. And once they find, once they release the first book and I fall in love with that, I'll be all in, but I'm not there yet.
Right now, I'm just still kind of mad that we're not going to get to the CDs characters that I'm already in love with until who knows one. Yeah, I was talking, I think with all the one of my friends here from the end quote, the Star Wars about might be maybe two years, we don't know how long phase two is going to be before we go back to those characters that we fell in love with in phase one. And man, it's going to be hard away. Phase one ended and now okay, wait, at least I hear if not more, it's going to be difficult.
But I think it's going to be the same way as soon as we get that first book, it's going to be okay, we're kind of back in the world. We can relax a little bit Rachel for you, especially now because you told me a few minutes ago, you finally finished midnight horizon. The last of the quote unquote adult novels, a YA. What are your feelings and feelings around there?
How do you feel now with the completion of phase one? I feel like it's, I can see it so much more because I did the High Republic All-Rall. I actually met Charles at C2E2 and told him when he signed my copy of the Jedi that I had finished it. But I'd read Rising Storm and then I thought I was doing it all and he's like, yeah, you're doing it wrong.
But you're doing it wrong. So I read, I didn't read everything when it first came out. I read Rising Storm and Race to Crash Point Tower and then I read Light of the Jedi, Fallen Star, Mission to Disaster and then I just read all three YA levels this week and Test of Courage. Oh, I'm in place.
What are you doing? It's like a girl voice. The girl voice is all over. Well, Meg will tell you because you podcast with me, I am basically chaos incarnate.
So you know, it's pretty true to form. I'm just everywhere. But just reading like the YA levels, which I read why books anyway, but they filled in so many gaps. I think people that are just reading the adult novels are going to miss.
There's so many pieces that fell into place and I am really excited about it as a whole. I think I love how Star Wars feels. But this feels like a very complete project. It's planned out.
It's ready. I love it. Yeah, I mean, for people that just kind of push away YA, which I don't understand why, my favorite Star Wars book of all the books I read is Into the Dark. YA book, I Republic, it's just, and we'll talk about it and everything.
Just how it changed my notion of the way that Jedi that kind of see themselves inside the order and with the force with all and comic. So yeah, so why? Yeah. And even the middle grade books, I'm getting to some of those.
I tested the chorus for the first one I read and I fell in love with the High Republic right then and there. But Meg, just a little bit, also your feelings now with the end of phase one. And then your thoughts, it's like favorite Wookie Jedi, Buryaga, alive. Are we going to suffer because they killed our Wookie?
No, right? He's still alive somewhere. You know what, I don't think they would go that far. I really don't.
I mean, I know that they've really just pushed it as far as they can go at this point, but they're not, they're not that cruel. I don't think I think he's going to be all right. I think it'll take a while to find him, but I'm God, it's going to be so long to find out where he never. Well, now I'm upset.
I, you know, I start, I read all these books in order all the way through as they were coming out and it just, the fact that it just gets progressively darker, but it just hooks you consistently with every book that comes out. It's so good and so not because now we're all just in pain and we're just going to be stuck here forever. They're so good. I'll never forget the day that why the dead I came out and some Star Wars thing was trending on Twitter, which doesn't happen with books ever.
And so the fact that like so many people were talking about it and just so excited about it. And I think it's really continued to be possibly bigger than a lot of people expected because Star Wars books are still very niche thing, but so many people are discovering Star Wars or rediscovering their love of Star Wars because of these books, which I think is so great. In terms of like, face to going backwards, I really think that as soon as we meet these new characters, it's not going to matter, especially with us anymore. I think one of many things that all these writers have proven so far is that like they can instantly make us all know with every single character that they introduce us to, which is again, great and sometimes terrible.
So I think like, I really think it'll be refreshing. You know, the story that we've been following so far has been so good. And so like every at the end of every book or every comment you want to know what happens next, that's great. And it's not so great that we're not getting the continuation of that story for a while, but also I think it'll be good to meet new characters and get a different story and like follow these different lines of themes and thoughts.
I think that'll be good for us because then eventually we'll go back and who knows what we'll get after that. I think, you know, if it were to continue, that would probably be fine and we'd be all right. But I think it's good in Star Wars especially to get something different even within the same, you know, High Republic books, whatever. So I'm going to be good.
I'm excited. I'm ready. Just give me all the Star Wars book. That's fine.
We're never going to complain. With going back in time, I almost wonder, sorry, because, you know, they were giving us the idea that the High Republic is when the Jedi were at their peak. And then we find out that this is when they're starting to crumble because of the Niho attacks. But going back in time, are we going to see more of that Jedi at their peak because it's before this dark time, but it's also before they became embroiled with the Republic as much as they are.
So let's jump in before we go into, let me say, I'm sorry, friend, nobody's too many guys this year. Hi, Roberta, for your news. Thank you. I know you're still so you're behind two books, explain all the video games, Lego out there, so I was taking a lot of time from people.
So let's jump real quick to face to any hopes or face to because I was also, when they said, oh, we're going back 150 years or so, I'm like, oh man, do I really want to do this? 200 years, whatever it is. But then at the end of Midnight Horizon, we kind of understand a little bit when Yoda kind of says, oh, to be able to go forward, we have to something about the secrets of the past or something like that. Okay.
So I'm really interested to see what phase two is going to be about. Do you guys have any hopes of anything you might want to see? Like you said, Rachel, maybe we'll see that even more at their height, not so much involved with the Republic and with the politics. I don't know.
We have any hopes right now, just let's see what happens. Do you think Laura just still kind of? I'm really excited about this like very cult like group that it sounds like we're going to get in phase two. I mean, that's like just one of those really interesting phenomenon.
So I'm like, no matter what documentary you've seen about whatever cult, the next one you watch is always still super interesting. Yeah. It's like the path of the hand or something like that, whatever the name of it is that we just learned about in phase two. That's the thing that I'm most excited about.
I think I think we're going to get a lot more quarter angle story, like young quarter angle in his prime, like it's going to be really epic and really cool. But I think that like that cult phenomenon inserting that into Star Wars, like I'm pumped for that. Yeah. So I think it's Path of the Seat by Tessa Granton and Justina Ireland.
We got that great cover. That's just awesome. And that was going to be very interesting. We have another role out there.
The CFO, CFO in love with that Jedi. We have this other like this cold that doesn't want to deal with the Jedi. So that's going to be very interesting. They said it's a love story.
We all love love stories in Star Wars. And this one might just delve a little bit deeper. Those that special comic are imported and go to Blaine of our daughter. So yeah, we're going to learn more about them.
Meg, so also in Midnight Horizon at the end, there's this strange person that appears with the older just rat in all this bandages or whatever reminded me of Kai Rose from the off of a squadron trilogy. You have any idea what character this is or what we're in for? No. And that's like the best part about it is like the deeper we get into the Harry Republic even going backwards, like the more layers we uncover and we figure out like who.
Who are these people? Yeah, I finished Midnight Horizon. I was like, I don't really completely understand what's going on and I'm okay with that. Don't give me all the answers.
Let me wait. Yeah, I think the thing about like the Star Wars stories we've mostly gotten so far over the past 40, 45 years is it's all taking place like mostly within a very small area of time and the great thing about the Harry Republic is we got to go back. We're going to go back even further, which is another thing we haven't done yet. I just I'm really excited to see like how is the galaxy different and like what are these other places that we've never explored before?
I just like the Star Wars just continues to expand both in time and all the places that we're going to and I think that's good. I think that's good for everyone. I think it's good to have new things. It's expanded almost in genre from I mean, we're getting more romance.
We're getting more into the dark reminded me a lot of like, alien. And I love alien. I listen to like the alien audio books at work all the time and then scream when anybody comes up behind me. It's great.
But like that idea of you know, there's this mysterious force and I mean, and all of the adult books were just basically disaster stories, which is not our genre I'm super into. I mean, Starlight because the Titanic going down split in half, nobody can get there in time. That's sort of it. Right.
So let's take that into consideration about different genres. Laura, I'm going to jump into one of the questions we got on Twitter from our friend Alan Chin at Alan Mike and he writes, since we're getting romance elements in the upcoming book, book Path of the Seed, what other fiction genres would you like to be explored in phase two? Is there anyone that jumps to you, Laura, that you want Star Wars to kind of delve into? Cor would be fun.
Yeah. I know that's a point of interest. I think for Kevin Scott, because he's done a little bit of writing at least in like the Star Wars of interest comics before. So I feel like that would be a real easy jump for him.
I really like romance in Star Wars. So if they just did that, I would be totally fine with that. And I love all of that disaster thing that they brought into. But I think bringing some horror elements could be really obviously not going too dark because at the end of the day, Star Wars is always for kids.
But I just think that would be kind of a fun element to add. Yeah. I went the same route as I was thinking about this question is horror because like you mentioned Rachel into the dark has some of those horror things with the drink gear and the dark side idols. We don't know what's going on, but maybe going a little bit further, but not too much like you said, Laura, because they did the legends book Death Troopers, which is getting a really released now.
So maybe going a little bit deeper with horror, go back into the legend of the leveler, the nameless elder, that we know a little bit through, I mean, I rise on some of the other comics. Maybe do that and bring a little bit more horror into it. Maybe a good way to go. How about you, like any genre jumps out at you?
Definitely the horror definitely lean into the romance for me. Please, you know, these books, like they kind of touched on a lot of different genres, just like very in very shallow ways. I think like if they really just lean into a couple of those, it's really interesting when Star Wars just tries to do different things with their stories. But like romance all the way, you know, we get pieces of it, but like just go like pull in and do it.
I mean, like Star Wars, but you know. Yeah, there's some romance into in the horizon. We see all those different relationships out there, which are just great. And we'll get into those as we talk a little bit more about representation in Star Wars and this face how important that is.
Rachel, you mentioned horror a little bit talking about into the dark and aliens or that any other genre that you might want to have the Harry Potter as we move forward. I would almost like to see them go into a sort of like just within horror that like supernatural or sci-fi horror, like like, like think Frankenstein because there's a lot of things that are messing with life and the force and things like that with a Nile and what what Roe has done with the loveler with keeping the path or the Marry Santacal that really kind of Frankenstein horror thing going on. And that is really horrifying to me or like the supernatural horror of the ancient legends think Dracula because I watched Joker's Dracula last Halloween and it's living red free in my head. But that idea of these different like elements of the force and of the way the galaxy works that could be leaned into different tropes.
I also I can't claim full responsibility for this thought it was in a high republic chat I'm in but they said we should release like the Harry Potter series released to the textbooks that Hogwarts uses occasionally. We need them to just release like the Jedi romances and we can talk about in the high republic. That's what we do. We just we just need like the Jedi bodice refers that we thought we could read.
Yeah, we can in some of the books I make reference that they watch in the soap operas or whatever in the holos with all these romances and stuff. That's a bit about those. So we know there's I mean Stela and Elsar and Ava we know there's something there obviously Skier and Ola. That's not just one or two pages.
Let's we want to read about them. The most relatable character in Out of the Shadows is when the doctor got put in his room because they didn't want him around anymore and he just watched movies who's like this is the only vacation I've had of years. I'm like, oh no it's a hotel watching. All right, so I was going to ask this anyway.
It came also from our friends at Inagalaxy.com, Jacob and Eli. What was the most surprising thing about the Harry Potter series one? At least for you, Rach, Megan. Sorry.
What was the most surprising thing? You know, I really just wasn't expecting like the stuff with the leveler to just like go as hard as it did. Just like again and again. Especially in the fallen star just the more like the more we kind of learned about what the leveler is or what they are.
I don't know. I just wasn't like, you know, as dark as the High Republic has gotten. I just I don't think I expected it to go that dark and then it did. I think a lot of things in the fallen star surprise me in good ways and maybe not so good ways.
Just a lot of like deaths and disappearances and then like not deaths. You know, it's I like when books surprise me. I don't want to know everything that happens. So yeah.
Yeah. How about for you Laura was there a moment that kind of stood out as something that really surprised you. Like when I saw coming when we get the I think the line is something like, you know, I'll be right behind you with something. I was like, Oh, okay.
Well, here it is. But I mean, leading up to that I just I just didn't see a coming and I was really surprised. I'm like, I just I just don't feel like I've gotten enough time with any of these characters to be losing Orla, Jurene, and losing Stell and Gios right now. And like this just it just feels too fast.
So losing some of those characters that I really, really, you know, had just kind of gotten started to like love that was a huge shock to me. I wouldn't have thought that they would be, you know, they would be quite as high of a body count by the end of phase one. Yeah. I was like that with all of us.
I have three top my top three characters in no order is Vernestra, Coma, and Orla. For sure. I only have Vernestra left. When all that told Elsa, or if I know back in one hour, confine me, I'm like, okay, thank you.
I got my teachers really. And then he dies. What I love. I shouldn't say that.
What's okay with me with her death was that at least she got we were able to see through her eyes a little bit of the leveler because for the other day that I had that at that point, they just found her bodies. We didn't know what happened with all at least we kind of saw the progression of how it hit her. The hunger, getting scared, having to go down to her knees and just facing a fetal position, seeing a shadow coming towards her. Very scary.
But at least we got to see that. We didn't get that with the other characters. At least it's not that she fought it, but at least we got a little bit more. But I think my biggest surprise was how about a book like A Taste of Courage, which is a middle grade book.
I have my daughters in middle school. I would generally say, okay, those books are in for me. I'm pretty old by this one. I don't need to read them.
But at this, yeah, reaching 42, I got to start taking my vitamins. So A Taste of Courage was the first one that I read because that all the day I got pushed back a little bit for me in the shipping. So I read A Taste of Courage first. And by the end of that book, if this was what awaits me with the other Harry Potter books, we're going to be in a wild ride because for being a kid's book, that's a lot of deep things talking about hope, losing your mentors, your dad, going to the dark side, how to explore all those.
So seeing that coming from a middle grade book really surprised me how good these authors are and just being in this store was well. So that was a great surprise for me. Meg, I think we got who hasn't said the biggest surprise, Rachel? I think my biggest surprise kind of builds off yours is how profound a lot of these books are because I feel like we know Star Wars has a lot of left, but I feel like everybody's like, oh, space wizards, please, but just even like all of these books, they have some really profound feelings about grief, about loss, about courage.
And I needed that after 2020. I love three grandparents in 2020. So going through these books and reflecting on what they have to say about loss and about grief has really helped me a lot. And I don't think I expected that in as much as I find meaning in Star Wars, I didn't expect it to be so profound and so many quotes from it that I've pulled out to use things.
I had Stalin's speech about hope on my quote board in my office for like a week and a half because that's how we must proceed with hope is really profound to me. And just how... Go ahead. Hope it is.
So just mention quotes. Let's talk about quotes. I love all my Star Wars quotes when I do my review. Second big old quotes because they're just so great.
What are some of those high republic quotes that I don't know too loud for you guys, Meg, starting with you? Oh, I wish I could remember all of them. You know, it's the quiet moments for me in these books. Like when two characters are talking to each other and they end up talking about hope or sacrifice or compassion or what it means to help people.
And it's like things like that. I wish I had more specifics at the moment. I don't. But it's those moments where the author takes you by the hand and then like remember this book is very dark but also hope.
Yeah. Laura, do you have any thoughts on your head? There was one in Light of the Jedi that I really liked just because it gave me sort of Arya in Game of Thrones vibes. It's when Lauden asked Belle, why has the Force called us to fight today and Belle replies for light and light?
And it's just got that what we say to the God of death not today. I just loved the feeling that was behind that. It's like it really kind of drew me into the book even more and especially to Lauden and Belle as characters who at this point now I'm just I love Belle so much and I feel for that character so much which is just one of the millions of reasons why I need Bury to be alive. But that was one of my favorite ones.
But there's one of my favorite moments in all of the High Republic is this sort of flirtation that Avar Chris has with the dark side and in the comics run and she's I think she's talking to Lorna Dee and she said if this is a long one stay with me, I made a promise long ago a covenant anyone who could hear my voice. I said I would be a beacon in the darkness and that we could protect those who were afraid and you made me a liar. And I loved that entire part of the comics and for me that whole section didn't last long enough. I needed more of just that.
But that I mean that just that sort of small section right there like really stuck with me. So that was one of my favorites. I've famously said on this podcast many times I haven't got into the comics and I've got in flag about that for some more guests. One of the things I really had about is not being able to follow the Avar Chris story line because I love her so much in that of the Jedi and then in the books she's kind of been just in the background just for one or two and then just doing her things trying to track down your nadis.
So I do miss that part. Rachel you mentioned the hope quote from Stylan. Do you have any other one that stands out for you before I read about five? I just grabbed it.
The one that just spoken to me recently was from Midnight Horizon which I asked you to find for me. The acting isn't about pretending to be somebody else. It's finding somebody else inside you and using that little start to become someone else. In my real life when I'm not on StreamYard I do a lot of theater and that has been helping me this week because I'm preparing for a show.
And also just for the pure value that this became in the Star Wars book the quote that says acts come up plural. It's not plural. It's waking up without his hands. It's the funniest thing I have ever read in my life.
And it's so fresh. Just made it into Star Wars book acts plural. Yeah. Which comes into that comment from my friend Robito that says if this there we go.
Biggest surprise for him is Jedi sex. I didn't think they would go there but not complain about it. It happens they know the masters know that Patat wants the knights they do their things. I mean things are get serious.
I just separate them. You're going to do your mission and you'll forget about it. Look I'm just saying that Mark Thompson made the choice to give both Elzar and Stella very deep sexy voices. He did that voice and I'm not mad about it.
Yeah. But then Marchion has said well oh, Marchion, Ro, which is kind of doesn't make you. Oh, okay. I could fix him.
Yeah. I mean you're not the only one. There's alone they've been done the Marchion holds out there. I've had on my show.
They all love their blue. He's not a villain. He knows what he's doing. So I won't get into it.
But talking about quotes and then again talk about Tessa's courage being a middle grade book. But this quote is when I kind of okay they're doing something special here and it's very nice to start talking to skier after they are safe from this moon they're talking about in retouching the dog side and I don't know what's going to happen with him. He already went to the dog side and then skier goes the force is not so simple and neither are the emotions of living creatures. Most Jedi have felt the temptation of the dog side.
It is only natural. But we resist it. It is a deliberate path to the dog not a series of bad days. Being a Jedi is about choosing the light over and over again, which is very similar to Master and Apprentice when Qui Gons says I choose the light because it is the light, not because I'm going to be winning some musical game or something like that.
So seeing that again in a book geared to 10 and 12 year olds I'm like yes 100% this is Star Wars and it could help some Jedi 150 years from now that's going to be feeling a little bit sad and angry. He needed someone to give him that speech and unfortunately he didn't. But I'll do one last one, I'll have three from into the dog. I'll just grab one if I can find it real quick and it's why I fell in love with Comak and Ola when they talk about emotions and losing someone that they grow close to and all the kind of tells them I'll just forget about it.
The one with the force we should be happy and then Comak is talking when they think that I forgot the name of the character he died in the station. He says the dog nest is as much a part of the force as they like. The other things he can be by second of all so neatly as though the primal living energy of all existence were a thing to be sliced and served. Just another thing that the force is not yeah, 150% light, 50% dark and that's it.
There's nuances about it. And another one I don't have it here so just so we can move on. It's talking about losing deaths right then when they think he died in the Amaxing station. He basically says everything that the force that they like teachers about letting go and then this young man dies on mourn.
We can't mourn him because the Jedi already tells us not to and he's like make zero sense. We grow attached to each other so it makes sense that we have some time to mourn them. But the Jedi all in that doesn't allow us. So that's when I started changing my views of what the Jedi are going through and those really stuck with me.
Ah, so yeah, great quotes. But you mentioned Martian, Ro. So let's talk a little bit about that villain, the big villain out there, the Nihio. Laura, when the Nihio were describing Project Luminos, we first heard about it, they said we're getting some villains out there with everything in Star Wars.
What scares the Jedi and all that? What were your feelings for your thoughts on Martian Ro when he was searching for those that now as an organization, a pyramid scheme as I call them? And then to where we are now as he's in control basically of the galaxy with his level of his and everything. What do you think of Martian Ro?
Is he wrong? Is he a villain or no? He makes sense a little bit. Well, my first exposure to Martian Ro, and unfortunately I do refer to him as Martian, I know Martian on Mark Yown, but I started with audio books.
And so my first exposure to him was Mark Thompson's voice in the audio book, which is an unusual choice, but one that I really like and one that I really appreciate. I kind of get why some people are like, a little weirded out by it because it's just works for me. And I think it works really well for the character. And I still, I like how we're not totally sure exactly what his motivation really is.
I mean, he's like, I feel like at first he was kind of like, we just want to do whatever we want, whenever we want to, we don't want the Republican away. And now he's like, I'm going to rule the galaxy. And I'm like, that was a huge leap. That was a big jump.
And so the way that I kind of think of him is sort of like the joker in Batman, but less chaotic. I mean, he's definitely got that like just wants to watch the world burn vibe, but there's just, there's more order to it. So that's kind of what I actually never thought about the Nihilism Pyramid Scheme. And I really like that analogy.
So probably. Yeah, when they started talking about, well, we have the strikes and the clouds and the tempers. And if you do this, recruit people to your, and then you grow, I mean, I've been on those interviews. I've been on two, I think, different interviews.
And then I still describing their, I mean, this is a premise. I get out of here. Yeah. I was this close.
We've done all calls before. I was this close. So when I started reading that, no, no, this is a premise. Let's get out of there.
So, Marcia, I prefer Markey on Rogue as the first way I heard it. So I'll stick with Markey on. So that's a Markey on Rogue. Is he doing good for the galaxy destroying all the Jedi?
The Jedi shouldn't be allowed to be around or what's going on with him? I think that he is in a very strange place because with a lot of villains, we say that in their minds, they're doing the right thing. I think he knows exactly how much death he's causing and it's going to revenge, not to, you know, oh, I'm doing the galaxy of service. He wants to rule, but I'm not sure if he's not also right in some of the beliefs, but this isn't the right way to do it.
Like I get like, there's some colonial vibes in the Republic that I'm like, not really chill with, but also I'm like, we should probably not burn down the entire galaxy. And I just, I love that. I, you know, might be in slightly in love with him, but that's my problem. My coworkers are like, yeah, no, the man has red flags and for Rachel, that's like putting a red flag in front of a bull.
I'm like, shut up. But yeah, this, the end of fallen star being where he's given that speech to the galaxy and being the perfect villain because now he's monologuing. It's a bond. He has them at his mercy and now he's going to talk about it.
I watched all 24 James Bond movies and quarantine this. It's the bill perfectly. But even when you have his inner monologue at the same time of what he's saying, but he says, you know, I should bring them in. I should say this galaxy is ours, but instead he goes for it.
This galaxy is mine. And it's no longer about what the Nihil can do. It's about what Roe can do and what Roe wants to do. And it's very fascinating.
And I wanted I of the storm to be like three issues longer because I just want to be, I feel like his mind is a very interesting place to be. Like, public team, he's playing like everybody else has played trackers in this man's playing like four chess games at a time. Yeah. So Marki and Roe for me do like a 180 from that of the Jedi the first and like 250 pages.
I'm like, yeah, okay, I get it. They're my role. They're so pirates. I doesn't seem new to me.
But by the end of that of the Jedi, when he takes Logan and we kind of find out a little bit of what his deal is, he hates the Jedi for some reason. Okay, this is getting interesting. But by the end, then all fallen stars like, okay, at least for myself, like you said, Laura, he kind of started with, oh, we're just gonna take what we want destroy what we don't like. But by the end of that of the Jedi, or fallen star, he's like, I don't care about the Nihil.
I said, everyone else else to do something else is just me and my joints out here and my little secretary. And he just wants to destroy the Jedi. It's like, they did something to my family and we learned a little bit about it in the storm. But he kind of went off rails that I don't care about being a tempest runner and what you guys are doing on the path.
I just want to take revenge for the Jedi for whatever reason. Please get in there. Meg, what do you think is his ultimate goal? Is he really want to rule the galaxy?
Just kind of get off the outer ring. This is for us to do what we want. Is it just vengeance against the Jedi? What do you think is playing it?
I really think he just wants to see how far he can go. Just to me, he seems like someone who started off as, you know, I'm here. We want to do whatever we want. Let's just do the thing and, you know, knowing he's in our way.
And now he's kind of like, oh, I have power. I have influence. I can do something with this. I can do something with this quest to destroy the Jedi or whatever he's doing.
We're still not really sure. But now I think he's kind of like, I have these plans. I made these plans. They worked out the way that I wanted them to in the end.
How much farther can I push this? So I think he's really, he's done terrible, terrible things. And I think we're only seeing like the beginning of that, which is just a really interesting villain to me because sometimes you get the feeling that he knows exactly what he's doing and he has everything planned out and he's aware of everything. And then you get those moments where you're like, del see though.
And that's just, I like that because, you know, traditional Star Wars though, and sometimes you don't get any backstory or you get very little and they're, you don't start just evil to be evil. And sometimes you have the Darth Vader to have this whole backstory of, you know, this is what happened and this is why I'm the way that I am and I'm going to come back with Mark on or Marjianic save. But he's never going to say it the right way if there is one. You know, we don't know.
And maybe that's a good thing. Maybe he's just really going to surprise us. Yes. So as one, like I said, I haven't kept up with the comics.
I don't know where Lorna is at right now. Last week. Sorry? Yeah, we don't know either.
Yeah, she's a mystery at this point. Right, which is perfect then for my question because Tempest Runner, when we got that audio book, which just changed my mind completely on the character and I fell in love with Lorna Dee as a lot of people have also with Mark on with Lorna, but I fell in love with Lorna Dee in that book. And so she's the one that killed his father and she seems to be the one that was to kind of move up these naive structures. Are we going to get that confrontation, Laura, between Lorna Dee and Mark on some points?
Who are you kind of, I'm kind of team Lorna Dee. What do you think that might go? I mean, I'd like to think that we'll get that confrontation at some point between the two of them. I think it's probably inevitable.
But I think with her, her character for me, especially when you put Tempest Runner into the equation was just a little bit inconsistent. I feel like we got such a great backstory for her and I really kind of thought, oh, she's going to be the one that turns in kind of a totally different direction. And the character that we're getting in the comments in the books is not that it's just a totally different story that's happening in the Tempest Runner. And so I'm a little bit unsure kind of where I am with her.
But I think we're coming back and sort of getting the continuation of maybe some of those characters that we left off with in Tempest Runner, I imagine some will come back and we'll hopefully get to see more of that play out. Meg, any thoughts on Lona Dee coming back and facing Markey on? Do you feel the same way as Laura that her, the way she's been presented in Tempest Runner and the comics kind of clash a little bit? A little bit.
But I also feel like I really want to see her comeback. She has this showdown with Markey on and then she just kind of takes over after that and it's like she's the villain now. I don't know if they're going to do that, but I really would like that because the fact that we have seen a little bit of inconsistent, we got this great story in Tempest Runner and then she's just kind of all over the place everywhere else. I kind of want to see that come back and it kind of all comes together and makes a little bit more sense as to why that might be.
She wasn't like my favorite character until Tempest Runner because of that and in Tempest Runner like after that, she became a character like I really cared about, but like beyond that we haven't gotten a ton of like we don't know really what's going on. So I really would like her story to come back around at some point and we kind of everything comes full circle because yeah. Yeah, I hope we get more with her. All the other Tempest runners, they don't know what they're doing.
Half of them are dead already. They've been replaced by four times. At least she knows a little bit. I mean she named her ship after herself, so you got to give her props for that.
Rachel, are you like Meg, you think she's just going to take down Markey on? She's going to say, tell me how to pronounce your name and then kill him. First of all, my thoughts on Lorna Dee are I love her and I turn into that. I think it's an arrested development meme that just is good for her every time she goes to the camera.
I'm good for her. I appreciate that. I'm sorry, you made me betray my family because I thought I thought you loved me. I'm going to kill you now.
And I'm like, you know what? Haven't we all had that? We all have our balla. I love her.
Tempest Runner made me love her more. Finishing out of the shadows, realizing how much she's working against some of the Nighill and Lorna Dee is, I think even as I haven't fully read the comics, I've just put people have filled me in on snippets as we've gone. I'm not even sure if we're a character portrayal is so much super inconsistent as we're seeing how she is internally versus how she is to others because that can be two different people very much. But Lorna Dee is out for one person and it is Lorna Dee and don't forget it.
And that's my new quote forever. But no, I want to see her in front row. I want to see her take over and I want her to be like, look at me, I'm the villain now. Sorry, I'm talking to memes today.
I've had a lot of caffeine today. But yeah, I can't wait to see where Lorna Dee goes from here and even what if she doesn't confront Rowan splits off and now the Jedi have two big problems and they're not at the time they thought they were connected that if they took out Lorna they take out the eye of the eye of the eye of the eye and when they're out to they find out there's this other eye and then she gets away and they're like, well now we have a few problems. Yeah, when I was really in the falling star and I just, yeah, hey, I got her. I'm here and then yeah, it blows up and I, oh crap, she's just gonna get away and obviously that's apparently what happens.
But I love the end to falling star because Mark Young Rose says, I'm done hiding. I'm gonna use the Republic's own signal to send my message. You've been chasing a ghost basically. This is my galaxy.
So it's gonna be, again, wait a minute or two years or whatever to see what happens with it. But very interesting to see how everything's gonna change now from falling star from the Jedi, the Republics and now the Nighillos also cause maybe the alternate Mark Young for keeping them away from everything that's going on. So we'll see maybe there's a power struggle on both sides. One thing you have to say about the Nighill and their heads and their villains, they all apparently took drama classes because they both very, very, like even on Star Wars medics, which are very dramatic, but they're all like gotta flare for the dramatic, like we're gonna wear masks and be really, really dramatic about it.
We're gonna have a pre-planned speech ready for the moment the star like we can fall. It's gonna be like, do you think he's gonna always draft one draft two? Okay. Did he have his secretary?
Like did she go through it and annotate it for him? I mean, but I don't know why I just put in my head because we talked about the Jedi have relationships and then we have Mark and Ro hooking up with Senator Gira Starros and he's like, dude, everyone in the galaxy, yes, because Star Wars are little. And everyone in the galaxy kind of falls for Mark and it's not just us, it's in world people or there's something about this guy, this Megalomania crowd there. So I'm gonna give him props for that, I guess.
So many reason cold leaders have groupies, I think. I pretty sure it's like, I mean in our universe, like serial killers have groupies, like I think that's the phenomenon. Yeah. And for some reason, colds have come into play three times in today's conversation.
So changing a little bit and now talking about representation Star Wars, basically or mostly Midnight Horizon with the Nihosha over there and not just in Star Wars, but we mentioned a little bit at the beginning of the show talking about the Amidala Initiative and how important it is to have those voices out there, bring more representation, diverse representation in Star Wars, not just in the page on the screen, but behind the scenes, writing these books, writing movies, directing all that stuff. So getting to read these in Star Wars in such a way that just for myself as a straight white Hispanic man, just really mean that horizon that story between Eitor and Kate Cantam-Saya, non-binary Jedi, took my heart because it's an amazing love story. It doesn't matter if it's my story, it's just so beautifully written. And then we have two others with Kras and I forgot the name of the character that she's also in love with.
And of course, we have seen and more than that relationship growing from a younger perspective. So how important representation is in Star Wars just now? I mean, what we look like, what we sound like, but just so we love out there. So for you guys to start with you, seeing this now out there is now just, yeah, it's a little two second clip in the movie or on an interview that someone said something.
It's there. How did this make you feel, not just for yourself, but just for the general public out there? How this might help more people kind of be comfortable with themselves? I love it.
I am a queer woman. I came out at 27. So I would have loved to have young adult books with these themes. Maybe I would have figured my life out a lot sooner.
But also realizing that a lot of it is in the young adult books and in these younger books and these younger characters. But also just the fact that it is very normal in universe. Nobody has problems with anyone's pronouns. Nobody seems to think it's weird when Sylvester E's ex-girlfriend shows up and he's like, oh my God, she's into women.
They're like, oh my God, you're exes here and it's kind of weird. But nobody has a problem. I mean, I guess in a galaxy where you have a bunch of species, then this is not the weirdest that's happened recently. But it's just the fact that it's so normal and ingrained.
The first time I met Cansum and they're just using them pronouns. And it's just the fact that I went right by it and then came back and went, wait, this is now in Star Wars. This just happens. And how nonchalant it just rolled right in.
It just really made me love it. And also Midnight Horizon, the fact that Zine and Lula can tell each other how they feel. I feel that on a spiritual level of being unable to flirt with women. But it's just been great and I loved it and I cried all through Midnight Horizon because of it.
Yeah. How about for you make the importance not just, I guess how Star Wars at least in the literally world, expanding its horizon, not just with the stories and some of the people that bring an in to write these stories. How important do you think this is and how do you connect to some of these stories? It's, we always want to say that Star Wars is for everyone.
It's for everyone who has something in Star Wars that they can enjoy. And you know, you said earlier, like, you know, you love this story even though it wasn't yours. And it's great for people to be able to read something. They're like, oh, this is a great love story.
I love this. But then there are the people who are seeing themselves or seeing the love story they could have or will have represented in a book and they're like, oh, this is my story. Look at this without cool this is. And to be able to have like, you know, different people approach these stories and get something different out of it, it's just beautiful to me.
And, you know, publishing is one of the arms of Star Wars that is doing probably the best job at this point of representation, not just, you know, the thing itself but the people making it. And I'm not going to have that because how else are you going to get these stories if you just keep having the same kind of people to do the work over and over again. We talk about diversity. The whole point of that is to get different perspectives on everything.
I mean, how do you do that? You recruit different people who have different backgrounds, different experiences so that they can write these stories and tell these stories. And it's not, you know, it's not hard. People like to make it seem so complicated, but it's really not just like there are so many that everyone out there is just different.
And you know, being able to have these writers who can tell these stories and accurately represent you know, so many readers that are out there who have not had this before, especially in Star Wars. And it's important, the fact that it's happening is just we need to keep shouting that out so it keeps happening. So for Laura, how was this experience for you and also do you? I mean, we all hope, but do you think we're going to hopefully start seeing this in other medium for Star Wars or TV shows or in the movies?
I would like to think so. I mean, I think, you know, there's just been, it's been a lot of heteronormative relationships on screen in Star Wars. And I think that with something like Midnight Horizon the way it didn't feel forced, you know, having these diverse characters, it felt very, very natural and very normal in the fact that nobody struggled with anybody's pronouns was just, it was just a different experience. And the fact that, you know, there are so many people, I think Star Wars fans that haven't gotten to see themselves represented on screen, if we can at least get it in the books, that's a start.
If we can start here and we can build on it, that's a start. I wish it was farther ahead in our on-screen meeting they were getting in Star Wars, but it's not, and at least where we are, you know, in a good place, I think, with some of these publishing initiatives. And it's been a really, it's been a really fun opportunity, I think, reading these stories by different people. I mean, especially right now I'm reading the advanced copy of Mike Chen's Star Wars Brotherhood and seeing some of these characters, like through his eyes, has been such an amazing privilege.
And so getting to see, you know, all of that sort of, I think, going on in the High Republic has made it even better than it could have ever been. And I think that we're all really lucky to be in the position that we're in and have the group of authors that we have in the High Republic. And then, you know, the fact that it's expanding in phase two, there's, you know, only good that can come of it. Yeah.
So I was a bit jealous of you with your able Chris, but now even more jealous because you've been able to read that book a couple of weeks before we all get a hands on. Very excited for my brother by Mike Chen. And yeah, that's one of the great things of having different diverse voices out there. Look at at least Star Wars visions, this animated show or series from the Japanese side and how they relate to Star Wars, kind of bringing it back.
So hopefully it starts getting out there. And some of the hires that they have for the Aqua Light, for example, and now we can always show having the Rachelle be the director of the whole team, plus being a female composer with Natalie Holt. So hopefully we start getting more diversity out there and we start seeing all these different points of views because I did four of us here, I have different views of why we relate to Star Wars, I will love about it. We can expand out there, bring other voices and so far so good.
Even all of a rock out there, Geo that saves everyone, don't mess with her in. Probably a gray, leave that finish alone. Geo, I love you. Two characters we are not allowed to mess with are Geoed and if anybody hurts Ember.
No, no. It's all over. Yeah, man, if I'm not even going to say if you have to choose, I'm not going to put you there. I don't want to answer, so I want to worry about Geoed and Ember.
They're what they plot are what they call just, they'll be fine. Yeah, by the end of phase three, I don't want to know. I just want to be under the impression that Ember is still alive somewhere in this equal trilogy. I'm fine with that.
I'm sorry. And they just live for centuries. It's just out there living the life in El Frona. He's just fine.
Porta Angel, making some special soup. He's fine. Yep. I'm going to live forever.