The Canon & Legends Exchange

[starwarscentralized]

Canon and Legends are quite different in tone, scope, focus, and more– but what do you think each continuity could learn from the other (if they were concurrent)?

What could Legends do more of that Canon does well/frequently? And vice versa. Eager to hear thoughts

[Jaxtonian]

I think my biggest critique of canon is really not the fault of authors--my grudge is against Filoni and Abrams. I feel like authors have, by and large, done a good job of making the best of what the sequels presented them with (or have simply written stories outside the FO-Resistance mess). I think my biggest change for Canon really requires a time machine and inserting JJ Abrams into a colossal Rube Goldberg machine so someone else can make episode 7.

I'd say my biggest critique of the EU is that it had some authors who seemed to pride themselves on not reading other authors (Karen Traviss your day will come), which I have not felt in my (more limited, I'll admit) reading of Canon novels.

[OrbalinGoop]

The Canon makes a fantastic job when they develop characters and events out of the movies because there aren’t limitations!!!

The bad side of the Canon is having movies and series that are being developed or are gonna be developed and that causes the authors cannot touch certain characters, certain timelines, certain events and it’s a shame. I love the new movies and some series but I’d love to have more books and comics with the impact certain UE stories had.

Legends for years was able to make stories about the characters and post Episode VI and that was great. Even after the prequels they could still develop stories with impact and using characters like Luke, Anakin, Vader and etc.

I love the Canon because it’s so fresh and interesting (sometimes they make references to the UE), tbh sometimes I cannot stand reading UE stories of the 90s and start a canon novel or comic

[SpoonMyMeatFolds]

I think canon's biggest issue is that the EU is not the focus of Star Wars

Legends during the 90s gets the full focus of Star Wars, which i think helps it really stick

[Vikerox]

I feel like one of the big things that isn't really talked about is games.

The EU had tons of memorable games like EAW, The Force Unleashed, KOTOR (and SWTOR), the original Battlefronts, the Jedi Knight games, Republic Commando, Lego Star Wars, etc., Lucasfilms was honestly very advanced when it came to making/licensing out games. While the new Canon has some big games like the new Battlefronts, Squadrons, Outlaws, the new Podracing game, I feel like they aren't hitting the same mark. This is of course very subjective, though that most of them are AAA games certainly doesn't help.

I feel like Star Wars could really benefit from being more liberal with their license, giving it to more, smaller developers (who hopefully make the games a bit more affordable than 70€). The people who made EAW have repeatedly said that they'd love to make a new Star Wars game. Would it be good? Idk but I'd love to see it get made and I am sure there tons of very passionate and talented people out there who'd sell their soul to make their own official Star Wars games. Not all of them are going to be perfect, but it would definitely result in a lot more creative approaches to how you can experience the world of Star Wars in terms of gameplay, art style and story telling. The video game dev landscape has changed a lot since the 2000s and 2010s and I don't think clinging to AAA publishers and developers is the future.

Star Wars games to me have always been kind of dubiously canon to their own continuity and given that Lucasfilm has kind of brought the canon tiers back I don't really see needing strict oversight and strong adherence to established canon being too big of an issue.

I want more games and I want them now!