Comments | equustel: Oh, Facebook. Oh, fandom.

equustel

Oh, Facebook. Oh, fandom.

Jun 01, 2009 13:52

Because I am kind of fixated For the hell of it, I ran a search on Facebook for Galen Marek (Starkiller) pages/groups. Hey! LJ's comms are failing me for once (what gives?), so I am desperate.

And the comments... oh... they are so lolarious that even the *facepalm* doesn't hurt too much. I simply must share!

( Never change, Star Wars fanboys. Never change. )

hilarity, fandom, star wars, gaming, force unleashed

Comments 6

gega_cai June 1 2009, 21:40:51 UTC

Starkiller was the d00d that Luke meets up with in town on Tatooine, right? Or was that some other guy..or was Starkiller the name of Luke in the beginning but Lucas punked out and went PG like he did with so much of Star Wars?

No offense true fans, ahem, but I only know of and love Ben and what's his name from the EU. EU tries too hard, I think lol

equustel June 1 2009, 22:10:07 UTC

Actually, Starkiller is Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice, a character created for The Force Unleashed, which is a videogame (with innumerable novel/graphic novel tie-ins) that came out last fall. (I flail about it in this post.) He's basically a Jedi's son that Vader took in and trained to someday kill the Emperor. But things go awry and Starkiller eventually decides "you Empire peeps smell, screw you" and starts the Rebel Alliance. It's all dramatic and awesome and surprisingly respectful of canon.

I never got far enough in the EU to meet Ben! But I know other people who love him (pretty icon, btw). Yeah, sometimes the books try just a bit too hard to be kewl and fail at being Star Wars.

gega_cai June 1 2009, 22:49:32 UTC

Ah, okay. I see what they did thar

I knew Starkiller had been used in Star Wars previously and had to quickly google: Luke Skywalker was originally Luke Starkiller in the first few drafts of the film. Lucas changed the name to Skywalker during production because Starkiller seemed too menancing for a hero's name.

http://starwarz.com/starkiller/scripts.htm

The guy Luke met was Biggs Darklighter --samsonite, I was way off!

equustel June 1 2009, 23:06:13 UTC

Awww BIGGS. I totes remember him! Luke's best buddy!

And yeah, I forgot to mention that you are absolutely correct about Starkiller being an oooold Star Wars name, that's only recently been put to some official use. I like the nod.

vaarna June 2 2009, 08:55:25 UTC

Whoa... that's kinda... deluded. o.O

Haven't personally played the game myself, but I did pick up a comic about him once. Personally I can't stand these new age Star Wars characters like Starkiller and Mara Jade. It's like they're all cooler and more powerful than the old school characters. Sigh, back in the day no one would dare to even suggest anyone could defeat Vader...

But it is great that the EU exists. I rather enjoyed the books when I was a kid. Until the weaker books started pouring in. :(

equustel June 2 2009, 15:36:53 UTC

Believe me, I feel you. I can't stand the "new age" EU characters either. I've always felt like the EU drains all of SW's mythic qualities and turns it into generic science fiction.

And in concept, Starkiller is essentially another Mara Jade - one of those "they were secretly a part of the Emperor/Vader's inner circle YOU JUST DIDN'T KNOW" characters. Unoriginal, for sure.

But I ended up loving him, and that's mostly due to Sam Witwer's performance; instead of playing him as a bland badass, he actually gives him a personality, and a good dose of naivete - he acts like someone should if they've been raised by Vader since childhood. Socially inept, unbalanced worldview... not evil through and through because he's grown up knowing nothing else, so he's never had to choose it like Vader and the Emperor do. He's kind of earnest in all the right ways. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Yes, he's way too powerful, but I forgive that on the basis of the fact that this is a videogame entitled The Force Unleashed: over-the-top Force ( ... )