Star Wars Legacy: Rogue's End + Stormtroopers

Still a bit of catching up to do on Legacy. With the current four part arc on it's penultimate issue I want to get these done so I can post these at least vaguely current in the future. I have this and another stand-alone to cover, and I'm also going to carry on looking at different parts of the Sith Empire while I do so.

Story Review

The story begins during the Sith-Imperial War that shook the galaxy and brought Darth Krayt to power. On the planet Botajef the Mandalorians, hired by the Galactic Alliance, fight a brutal war against the Empire, which they are slowly losing due to the lack of GA reinforcements. Hondo Karr, confidant to Mandalore himself investigates the problem to find that Yaga Auchs, a leading Mandalorian, has betrayed them, sabotaging the communication centre on the order of his 'master'.
Karr is knocked out and wakes up to find the battle lost, Mandalore dead and Auchs leading their forces in retreat. Karr gets into stormtrooper armour to survive and Vevec, his friend, sacrifices his life to give him a convincing alibi. Karr is recruited into Joker Squad.

As we know from previous stories Karr left Joker Squad and joined Rogue Squadron. The squad prepare for their latest mission, rescuing Mon Calamari refugees in hiding on the Hutt world of Napdu. Karr and new squad leader Anj Dahl land on the planet disguised as traders. They meet up with Azzim the Hutt who is actually an ally of theirs and hatch a plan to evacuate the refugees.
Since bounty hunters know about the refugees and plan to use them to find the GA fleet Rogue Squadron go to defend the decoy freighters, drawing the attention of the hunters. All goes to plan until Tes Vevec, daughter of Karr's friend (and also his wife!) crashes the party seeking to avenge the apparent murder of her father. Eventually Karr convinces her that Auchs is a traitor and the mission is a success, but Karr leaves to restore justice to the Mandalorians.

My Two Credits

This was always a bit of a fan-pleaser as is anything involving the Mandalorians. But it was good to get a bit of insight into the Sith-Imperial war, which we haven't seen too much of. The issue was very fast-paced, almost too much so with so much to cram in, but this is fairly inevitable with one-parters. Still it accomplished what it set out to do, a daring mission for the GA, good backstory and development of one of the more interesting side characters.

There was also a triumph in Azzim, the Legacy team have created likeable and 'good' Hutt characters and not just a bunch of Jabba clones.

Map

Again my new venture thanks to the essential atlas - showing where things go on in the galaxy.





















Stormtroopers

It would be logical, I suppose, to cover the Mandalorians in conjuncture with this post, but I'm a methodical man and so I'm going to continue highlighting personalities of the Sith Empire. This post it's stormtroopers, who have been the backbone of the Empire since it's founding. While the Sith takeover has caused tensions and divisions that vast majority of the men in white are loyal to the throne, these are some of the ones who have featured so far.

Kiefer

Species: Human
Position: Lieutenant (Stormtrooper Corps)
First Appearance: Legacy #3 (Broken, part 3)






This lieutenant served Lord Krayt's forces on Bastion. Unbeknown to him, a large number of forces still loyal to Roan Fel had been secretly rotated to Bastion. When Fel arrived with his Imperial Knights to claim the world Kiefer resisted, trying to incite the stormtroopers to be loyal to the throne, but was instead shot and killed when attempting to arrest the former emperor.

Ran Harkas
Species: Human
Position: Sergeant (407th Division)
First Appearance: Legacy #4 (Noob)






Nicknamed 'Hardcase' by his men, Ran Harkas was a long-serving stormtrooper known for his demanding nature, but more for his determination to get his men trough battle alive. He was in command of 'Joker Squad' and had good relations with the lieutenant in charge of their unit. He served in the battle of Botajef, surviving against the Mandalorians and recruiting ex-Mandalorian Hondo Karr into his squad. He faced his toughest trial when ordered to Borosk to fight the 908th division who were loyal to Fel, the difficult battle made harder by their leader Darth Maleval. Despite questioning their orders he has stayed loyal to the Empire and was assigned to investigate Ossus by Darth Stryfe.

Gil Cassel
Species: Human
Position: Lieutenant (407th Division)
First Appearance: Legacy#4 (Noob)





Cassel was a leading officer in the battle of Borosk, which pitted stormtrooper against stormtrooper in a bid to stop force loyal to Fel. The lieutenant was brave and led from the front, though his option of accepting surrender drew negative attention from Darth Maleval and caused them to question their orders. Maleval ordered him to execute his own brother, an officer in the renegade forces. He refused and was executed by the Sith.

Anson Trask
Species: Human
Position: Stormtrooper (407th Division)
First Appearance: Legacy#4 (Noob)






Trask joined through 'continuity of service' which allowed him to join his father's unit. His first combat was the tragic battle of Borosk which forced him to fight other stormtroopers. He struggled with this until he found purpose in defending his squad. This continued when he shot and killed Darth Maleval who killed Cassel and was attacking Hondo Karr. Despite his actions he has remained in the Empire and was in the scouting mission on Ossus.

Jes Gistang
Species: Human
Position: Stormtrooper (407th Division)
First Appearance: Legacy#4 (Noob)






Gistang was recruited through the Imperial Mission on Corellia, who offered her better choices than she had on her own. She was the squad's heavy weapon specialist and closest friend of Anson Trask during the battle, helping him get settled. She was killed when a stray blaster bolt hit the power paks for her heavy weapon.

Vax Potorr
Species: Human
Position: Stormtrooper (40th Division)
First Appearance: Legacy#4 (Noob)






Potorr joined the Empire early on in the war because of his hate of the Yuuzhan Vong. Formerly an underdweller on Coruscant where the effects of the invaders are felt most strongly he found his skills worked well in the forces, he was able to trade supplies within the division to get the best gear and was nimble and good at evading danger. He served in the Battle of Botajef where he killed Vevec and later fought in the Borosk encounter. He was killed when he stepped on a mine while taking out a turret.

Well that's pretty much it - Armang and Kniffler were part of Joker Squad during the battle of Botajef and either transferred or died after the war. Orland was a new recruit to the squad, present during the search on Ossus.

As you've seen most of the corps are still human, but aliens can serve in the Stormtroopers and a few have been spotted here and there, including this guy...














Well that's it for now - expect more Legacy this month.

Stuff Transformers 2 part 2

Ok, it's been a while since part 1 now so let's roll with this huh? Here are the new Autobots introduced in the film.

Jetfire











I did like this quirky character and hid decision to switch sides to the Autobots - which seems logical. He points out that always talking about destruction and death gets dull after a while, plus I'm starting to wonder why anyone would consider being a Decepticon when the Autobots always win with significantly smaller numbers - oh well, this guy was good and morphing with Optimus was great.

Sideswipe










A fairly minor character, but nonetheless a pretty cool one with his dual swords and quote of 'Damn, I'm good!' after finishing off a Decepticon. Seems like he was brought in to replace the equally flashy Jazz who died in the first movie. He didn't have an awful lot to do, but he certainly added more than just another generic robot to the team.

Skids and Mudflap











I liked these on first viewing, but they get tiring after a while. Their takedown of Devastator was quite amusing and to see them transform from the ice-cream truck into the new vehicles was great. I don't see what else you can do with them, but they were fun characters.

Arcee










I did like the motorbike triplets as they added a good amount of variety to the Autobot team. With a lot of the robots looking the same with slightly different colour schemes. it was good to have a vivid set of robots that were a different type and also a different gender to the rest of the crew - these really hooked me into the idea of the new Autobots and NEST.

Well I think that's it, apart from the little one that fancied Megan Fox, but I think he's just as well left alone.

Back soon folks!

The New Star Wars?

I hate to say it, but there is a competitor to Star Wars for my nerdy heart's affections. While there's no question of my undying devotion to my first love, it must be said that I am drawn to a newer, shinier Sci-Fi giant these days.

It is, of course, Halo. And while Mass Effect 2 is currently vice-gripping my attention on my first play through, my time on message boards and 'pedias is roughly equally split between the other two franchises and I think that the ringworld games have the potential to be an equally powerful medium.

Note that I said potential, because the Star Wars franchise has a massive leg up on Halo. A massive expanded universe has been established since the movies first aired. It also looks set to continue and expand further with innovative titles such as Legacy leading the way. But I have to admit the current all-hardback novel series has curbed my ability to shell out on additional fiction and perhaps dulled my ardour.

Halo is going from strength to strength, with novels and short stories, successful comic lines and the recent anime series Legends all successes. If this continues it has the potential to build an equally powerful universe in addition to the games that are the main focus of the franchise.

Both franchises have achieved something very hard to do, they have both built a world larger than themselves. The original Halo game showed one battle as part of a massive war. If that wasn't enough they added a planet sized artifact which also contained a devastating alien race with the potential to destroy all life in the galaxy. All this made Halo 1 very exciting, but left you wanting more. You got it in 2 and 3 as we 'finished the fight' but we still hadn't had the full picture. Novels fleshed out the details, but also every game since has been a prequel, from Halo Wars in the early days of the Covenant war to forthcoming Reach, which is an immediate precursor to the trilogy - very satisfying prequels they are too!

You have to be ambitious to pull this off and maintain it. With spin-off novels and also comics now commonplace on bookshelves it's hard for a franchise's 'expanded universe' to stick out. I have to admit I was initially sceptical of the novels because of this, but the wide-ranging Halo universe made getting my hands on one inevitable so I could explore more of the war with the Covenant and the tragic upbringing of the Spartans. This was also triggered by the purchase of The Halo Encyclopedia - and I think that is a benchmark, does your universe have enough in it to fill an encyclopedia?

Are there other competitors - yes, of course, but none have quite hit the same bar...yet! Gears of War has a rich and gritty setting with a host of gruesome enemies and a desperate war being fought, but it doesn't have the added element of the wider backstory that Halo does with the Forerunners and the Flood. Mass Effect does possess an equally powerful story and universe with their very similar Protheans and the Reaper threat and a truly diverse range of planets and species.

The only problem this franchise has at the moment is it's too well done. The story has been perfectly designed to be told in the RPG medium and while there have been some decent novels I can't really imagine a movie or anything other than the excellent game series - but I'm willing to be proven wrong!

So what does the future hold for Halo? It has the potential to go from strength to strength, the final game by original developer Bungie, Reach, is out soon - we will have to see how the franchise fares without them but I'm confident in the new 343 industries team to take it to new heights.

Heroes: The Recruit

The current series has finished in America, but it's still mid-run over here in t' U.K. so some Heroes content is inevitable. There are still ongoing comics on the official website, though other content seems to have died down a bit with the finale. I'd still recommend getting into the comics and iStories, but this post is to get you caught up on the 'webisodes'

If you're not sure webisodes are short episodes released on the web that give extra content about a TV show. This third series is entitles 'The Recruit' and is the first to feature a major character from the show, namely Angela Petrelli. It follows shortly after the creation of the power giving serum in Volume 3: Villains and what happens to Rachel Mills a recruit ready to test the serum.

I can't embed so I'll just have to give you web links. This was kind of a bridge between volumes but it's still worth a look I'd say.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 (this link only works in the US so I've included a link to the wiki summary for UK users HERE)

Part 5








And that's it, but there are a few more webisodes I can share with you so stay tuned and all that.

SF at the movies - February '10

Reasonably within the constraints of the eponymous month here are the Science-Fictionally themed cinema releases available this month.

Astro Boy
Released 05/02/10









Based on the highly successful kids TV series this is a movie about a robot kid in a futuristic world. It's a kids film, but probably a good kids film, but I think I'll be giving it a miss somehow. Being a robot means he has to find acceptance with his 'father' who made him and after a big adventure he defeats evil, gets swallowed by a whale and becomes a real boy...or is that something else?

The Battle for Terra

Released 12/02/10









Another film for the young 'uns, also available in 3D. The film is about an alien world plunged into crisis when humanity, fleeing war and ecological disaster arrive at their world and begin aggressively settling it. The peaceful aliens are plunged into war until one of them makes friends with a human. This is a traditional 3D movie with stuff popping out of the screen in front of you etc.

And that's it, so there is Sci-Fi for you this month, if you're a child that is!!

For grownups there is 'The Crazies' a horror flick which may have some Sci-Fi to it. It seems to be more of a supernatural month with The Wolfman and Soloman Kane sure to appeal to many SF enthusiasts. We'll see what March brings.

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 25

A bit later than I'd planned, but hopefully this might have given my American friends a chance to catch up on Who and this won't be spoilerific for them. David Tennant's time as the Doctor came to an end with a two part special aired over Christmas and New Year. I did enjoy the specials, though they were a little overly dragged out towards the end - for more commentary check out the podcast boys in the sidebar.

But we're her for some aliens and what with the Master running rampage and the Time Lords mucking about it's slim pickings on the new species front it seems.

Vinvocci











These guys were ok if a little contrived. They added a fun little element to the show with their spaceship and laser turrets and shimmers. Their access to technology made them interesting, though it was a little unclear why they should be carting such powerful technology around with them. I found them to be a bit of a contradiction as the Doctor seems to have no idea who they are other than they look like a Zocci from 'Voyage of the Damned' yet later on talks with authority about the properties of Vinvocci glass, odd huh? Oh well, they weren't great, but weren't bad either.

Vinvocci were an advanced race related to the diminutive red Zocci. They boasted incredible technology, including a device able to heal and maintain the population of an entire planet. Other technology included 'shimmers' a technology overlaying their bodies with a human image. Scientists from their race became involved in a conflict on Earth when one of their devices was used by the Master for domination of the planet. They very much dislike being likened to cacti, deeming this 'racist'.

And that's it for now - see you when Matt Smith kicks things off in a few months!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Stuff

Ok this is where I've sometimes had a bit of a debate on issue a game raises or what it tells us about culture. I can't think of anything in particular to discuss based on this game and I can't say I was incredibly insightful in my previous discussions, though with topical games like Darksiders out there's plenty of room for debate still.

But as this part of the established Star Wars franchise I'll just take some time to comment on what it has added to the existing continuity.

Starkiller












This game gave us a new character in Starkiller, or Galen Marek, or The Secret Apprentice. Trained in hiding by Darth Vader with the purpose of helping him take control from the Emperor he is able to use the force to cause incredible damage. Vader is always in the background, manipulating the character's actions. The fun of playing the character is the ability to combine force powers such as push, grip and lightning in devastating combinations, with force repulse, which sends a shockwave out blasting all enemies from nearby, a highlight.

New Jedi

Rahm Kota










This Jedi Master survived the Clone Wars because he didn't trust the clones, instead building his own army. He is one of the first agents of rebellion, using his forces to strike at the new Empire. The General has an impressive set of force skills and is a great lightsaber combatant. The apprentice is sent to kill him to prove his power, he defeats him, but Kota survives to become the apprentice's new master and to unite the Emperor's enemies into the formal Rebel Alliance.

Kazdan Paratus








This Jedi is not only deadly - he's insane! Tormented by guilt at abandoning the Jedi Temple he fled to the junk world of Raxus Prime and replicated the Jedi Temple and the Jedi Council from junk and fought to protect it. He combined his powerful use of force grip with his interest in mechanics to create force-animated droids that assembled themselves from junk and defended his territory from scavengers. He moves about on a custom-built walking frame that enables him to climb walls, rapidly eveade enemies and manipulate his long-handled lightsaber to great effect. He was defeated by the secret apprentice.

Maris Brood










Apprentice to Shaak Ti before she fell at Starkiller's hand, Maris faced dark times on the world of Felucia. After Shaak died she lost her way and gave in to the dark side for fear of Vader, corrupting the locals with her darkness. Despite being an apprentice, she had an impressive set of force skills, using the force to render herself invisible while making dashing movements around an opponent, she could also summon and control a bull rancor. She is perhaps best known for her lightsabers, with a 'tonfa' grip, known as guard shotos.









Shaak Ti also makes a reappearance, and Kento Marek, the apprentice's father is also part of the game, appearing in the first level and later as a force ghost.

New Vehicles

Rogue Shadow







The Rogue Shadow is your personal transport, as Juno Eclipse, your pilot and love interest drops you off and picks you up from your missions, very similar to Jan Ors and Kyle from the Dark Forces series. The ship is quick and nimble, equipped for stealth rather than combat with a fully functional cloaking device. The ship is a great way of getting you in and out of target locations undetected.

AT-CT










This is a variant on the classic 'walker' vehicle seen commonly in Star Wars. This 'Construction' vehicle uses controlled tractor beams to move large objects about with ease. It can use this ability to hurl large objects at attackers, equivalent to the power of a Jedi. In the game there is also the AT-KT, essentially a beefed up version of the normal walker.

Imperial Dropship






This makes only minor appearances in the story, but it is a new design of ship for bringing troops and materiel to a planet.

Droids

PROXY







This is an advanced prototype serving the apprentice. The droid contains advanced holographic emitters allowing it to impersonate anyone of humanoid shape. It used this to infiltrate and also to give visual representations of targets during briefings. Darth Vader also used this to communicate 'directly' with the apprentice. Proxy is also fully trained in lightsaber combat and tests the apprentice regularly with surprise attacks.

Aliens

Felucian








Previously mentioned, but I think this game is their first appearance. The Felucians are a sentient and force-sensitive fungal life form hailing from the planet of Felucia. All are good hand-to-hand combatants and utilise the local life-forms, including rancors to their advantage. They have different forms, with chieftains towering over members and shamans able to summon and enhance groups of the warriors. The race turned to the dark side after Shaak Ti, who was their leader, died - it is unknown what happened to them afterwards.

There were also some new stormtrooper variants, but I think maybe this post has gone on long enough - comment if you want more!!