Was it a good idea for Disney to throw out the whole EU?

[Nealithi]

If i have to bet i doubt you have any sort of significant numbers on your side.

I may need you to clarify this response.
Do you wish me to get Disney's justification for not claiming a video game is canon?
Or the hard numbers of people that have quit specific video games due to them later declaring a certain ending that is disagreed with the 'proper' one?

Also the term 'significant' seems to indicate that I will need to vet the conclusions or they will be dismissed?

Or the hard numbers of people that have quit specific video games due to them later declaring a certain ending that is disagreed with the 'proper' one?

Just give me some speculation.

Well based upon my friends. A small number to be certain. But the lot of them (9) stopped playing SWtOR when Shadows of Revan set Revan's gender and that of the Jedi Exile. As well as the stuffed her into a fridge part. They had loved how Revanites still were not sure Revan's gender or if he was redeemed or not. Leaving the original games open so they were as you saw them was good. Setting the ending meant they walked away. Sadly that is the only solid count I have. I cannot find a chronological list of subscriptions to see if there was a fall off right after that happened. I know I was disappointed. But I was still enjoying the Inquisitor. I have not been inclined to go back as the constant item and costume drops mean far less in that game than many others. Coupled with the set in stone class starships and 'dumbing' down the customization of play have left me nostalgic for when the game launched but not now. Does that explain it well?

[Beastro]

Yes.

Primarily because I don't want to see the galaxy ravaged by Space Aztecs.

More Imperials it is then!

[sayla0079]

I'm on mixed opinion while some of the stuff it's understandable such as what happened after return of the jedi. However, they could have left in older stuff such as Tales of the Jedi which wouldn't have conflicted with canon.

[phantom000]

I'm on mixed opinion while some of the stuff it's understandable such as what happened after return of the jedi. However, they could have left in older stuff such as Tales of the Jedi which wouldn't have conflicted with canon.

Yeah they should have said something like 'if it happens before Episode I, it stays, if it happens after Jedi, its out and if it happens between those two, maybe' I think they should have pulled a reboot, kept a lot of the characters and lore just adjusted things to fit with their new direction. As a franchise SW's biggest strength is in its setting and so far the 'new EU' seems like a shadow what it used to be.

[Yukaphile]

Seriously, why the hate against Legends here? God, everyone on this thread is being so toxic. That's decades of world-building tossed aside to satisfy corporate greed. They should have done what Marvel did and tried to adapt Legends onto the big screen. They could have fixed the errors and gave us something truly epic. And I think cherry-picking "the best elements" to put in the "new canon" is arrogant to the highest degree. It treats the new canon as something inviolate and sacrosanct, when it's guilty of the very charges they leveled at Legends, namely that it's becoming a huge mess, and it's only been out for a couple years. They shouldn't have declared Legends non-canon. First off, that's a bullshit argument. Star Wars had always had levels of continuity. Look it up. It's fact. Secondly, I don't buy that adapting Legends would have been hard. It's only 25,000 pages of comics and around 200 or 300 books or so. That's not that many. With a proper creative team, you really could have sat down to hammer out ideas. If they were going to decanonize Legends, then just stop throwing Legends easter eggs into the new canon, because you're going to piss off the hardcore fans otherwise. Take Thrawn being brought back. But no Mara Jade. Just do your own thing. Don't adhere yourself to Legends at all! But that would take a certain level of imagination that's absent in modern-day Hollywood, where it's all about the bottom line and the corporatizing of the entertainment industry to make the CEOs big bucks, so they want to try to appeal to both, new fans willing to give the new canon a chance, and old-school fans whose hearts were broken when Legends was beheaded in 2014. Look at the new canon, it's being pumped out so fast, it's just... it's so obvious they're desperately trying to make money. And as someone who was furious they decanonized Legends instead of putting it into its own separate continuity with the same levels of canon it had had before, I can't help but be sickeningly amused that the new movies are doing so poorly. It's what they deserve. They ensured I would not be so inclined to give the new canon a fair shake if they're going to disregard decades of world-building. Imagine someone declaring TNG and DS9 non-canon? How would you feel? I mean, that's over ten years of world-building, gone. And it's what's happened here, and for that, I hope this new canon crashes and burns. At least maybe they'll recanonize Legends then.

[Deledrius]

Given how haphazard and kitchen-sink the EU was, I can't blame Disney for throwing it out and starting over.

What's idiotic is that since then, they've allowed the people working on the canon properties to arbitrarily and capriciously reintroduce characters and concepts out of that Legends pile based on their personal whims and obsessions, bringing back in some of the truly stupid parts of the EU and in the end gaining no consistency or control over the franchise's narrative or setting.

Disney threw the baby out with the bathwater, but some writers missed the bathwater enough that they've now managed to recover it. Worst of all possible strategies if you ask me.

[Yukaphile]

I just want Legends back is all. And yeah, Legends was inconsistent. So what? So's a lot of other franchises. At least it had a lot of heart and a lot of passion to it. You could sense fans were working on this, similar to DS9. Matt Stover and James Luceno were easily the best Legends authors. And it really upsets me that stuff like the Bane trilogy is no longer canon, the KOTOR games are no longer canon (though they plan a remake, God help us all), the New Jedi Order series is no longer, and just tons of good quality work, like the Jedi Apprentice series. I'd take the worst Legends material over the best canon material any day.

[Admiral X]

Just got done reading through the Hand of Thrawn Duology. Good stuff. Too bad it was tossed out like so much garbage. Hell, Zahn's version of the Clone Wars sounded way more interesting than what we got. And his Thrawn stuff definitely could have been made into much better sequel movies than what we've gotten so far.

[Karha of Honor]

I just want Legends back is all. And yeah, Legends was inconsistent. So what? So's a lot of other franchises. At least it had a lot of heart and a lot of passion to it. You could sense fans were working on this, similar to DS9. Matt Stover and James Luceno were easily the best Legends authors. And it really upsets me that stuff like the Bane trilogy is no longer canon, the KOTOR games are no longer canon (though they plan a remake, God help us all), the New Jedi Order series is no longer, and just tons of good quality work, like the Jedi Apprentice series. I'd take the worst Legends material over the best canon material any day.

The Last Jedi, everything is not better than Rogue One, come on. I hate Disney Star wars just as much as the next guy but there were some stinkers in the EU.

Given how haphazard and kitchen-sink the EU was, I can't blame Disney for throwing it out and starting over.

What's idiotic is that since then, they've allowed the people working on the canon properties to arbitrarily and capriciously reintroduce characters and concepts out of that Legends pile based on their personal whims and obsessions, bringing back in some of the truly stupid parts of the EU and in the end gaining no consistency or control over the franchise's narrative or setting.

Disney threw the baby out with the bathwater, but some writers missed the bathwater enough that they've now managed to recover it. Worst of all possible strategies if you ask me.

That kitchen sink had video games that were recognizable brands that were thrown out for no reason. This is not 1999.Video games do matter.

[Yukaphile]

What I dislike is the world-building. There was a very clear timeline set down in Legends, that's now been destroyed, with the exception of the Clone Wars, but then, that cartoon was meant to be non-canon, so... yeah. That's really when it started. Can't they just make Legends a separate timeline? Some might claim it's a mess, but it is a very distinct timeline that stretches for thousands of years. We get to see the history of a whole galaxy unfold. And I miss that.

@Deledrius What are you calling the stupid parts of Legends they are bringing back? I mean... it really strikes me as them being control freaks. "I" get to decide what's canon or not. Not the whole Legends timeline, no, no, no, no. Just... some of it. I got the control, bitches, and you don't! Stuff like beings "dead to the Force" pretty much guarantees the Yuuzhan Vong will never return, and I just HATE that. It's pretty much confirmed they've set their vision on something very narrow, the old classical type of "Rebels vs. Imperials" action/adventure conflict set down way back in the original trilogy, and they don't want to deviate from that out of pure nostalgia and because of course, everyone hates the prequels. Ugh...