Latest / Star Wars Alliance / Star Wars Zero Company & Edge of the Abyss Review CCCIII

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Star Wars Zero Company & Edge of the Abyss Review CCCIII · Star Wars Alliance

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Force will be with you.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Always. hello and welcome back to another episode of star
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: wars alliance of course i'm your host clay and with
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: me like every single week of course is katie katie
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: how you doing guys we almost almost have the exact
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: picture almost uh of course we were star wars on
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: wednesday um Guys, we have a very small news week
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: because that news is related to one of our topics,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: which is the Zero Company video game. And then, of course,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: we're going to be reviewing a brand new book that
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: is not out yet. The embargo was yesterday. It was
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: lifted yesterday. And it will be coming out in two
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: weeks on, I believe, the 15th?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: 15th.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, the 15th. And that is, of course, the reign
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of the Empire. Now, we will go into minor spoilers.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: We will just treat this as any other review where
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: we talk about some of our favorite moments, the complexity
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of the story, and things like that. But we never, ever,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: ever go too deep into spoiler territory because we always
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: want you to read it for yourself so.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: And to be fair in this you guys and this
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: may just be me i don't feel like there's a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: ton of spoilers actually here um just with how the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: book works out but again we'll get into that a
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: little bit later so yeah yeah.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Actually that that does kind of fit uh for this
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: book in particular So first off, let's go ahead and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: jump into Zero Company. Katie, you've already seen it on threads.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I cannot. I have not had a game like this
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: in so long.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Actually, you say I've seen it on threads. I have
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: actually not been on social media that much because I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: have been so busy.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Well, you, you, you liked my, you, you liked my thread.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah. You're one about the, the, I cannot stop
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: playing zero company. I have not had a game like this.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And I don't know how long where I turn off
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: the game. And before I'm even going into the next room,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I'm already thinking, Hey, when's the next time I can
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: turn this game on so I can continue the story
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and continue this game. This game is so fun.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Now, Katie, I know that you guys have attempted to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: play it together. Plans got ahead of you, and you
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: haven't been able to sit down with Matt to play it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Matt has already played. They go by cycles. So each
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: day is a cycle. Of course, that's actually how Star
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Wars tells time or whatever. He said he was on
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: cycle five. I think I'm on cycle 13 or 14. Okay.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: it's a fun game and there is like a genuine
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: story behind it. There is a, uh, like it's not
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: just like a online game where you're just playing endless, uh,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: missions and whatnot. This, there actually is a story plot
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to this game. Um, I genuinely like it so far.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: One of the reasons why I had said, Hey, make sure,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that Matt talks to every single character in the ship
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: every day that passes. Because when I noticed that one
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: of my optional missions was to talk to this person
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: or talk to this person, it actually sets up a
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: future mission. But then also, the banter that is happening
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: between you and your fellow crewmates... in your base, there
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: was a Clone Wars Easter egg. Specifically, there is a
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: in-story virus called the Shadow Virus.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: The Blue Shadow Virus?
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: The Blue Shadow Virus is Was mentioned.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Specifically it does say. Oh yeah that happened during the
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Clone Wars. Or well. Not during the Clone Wars. It
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: says a couple years ago. From what I have been. Understanding.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: From where this. Now I believe the big. Like reveal
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: of where this sits. In the timeline. Is at the end.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: But I am pretty sure. Before I even, like, get
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: to that point, I am pretty sure this leads up to, like,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Revenge of the Sith.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Revenge of the Sith. That would make sense if they
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: said a couple years ago, because Attack of the Clones
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: to Revenge of the Sith is only supposed to be, like,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: three to four years. So a couple years ago wouldn't
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: make me think, because Blue Shadow Virus... understanding is it
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: takes place very close to the beginning of the.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Clone wars yeah it's actually i i did look it
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: up after it was mentioned because as soon as it
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: was mentioned i was like that's from clone wars and
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: so i ran over to my phone and looked it
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: up it's season one of clone wars yeah.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Right but remember they don't actually like tell you that
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: like season by season is not technically chronological.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: That is true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And I know like most of the Ahsoka stuff is
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: supposed to be chronological, but you never know. So that's
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: why I said the assumption is it happens at the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: beginning of the Clone Wars.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: That's true. That's true.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Because you also don't know when the movie takes place
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: in the timeline.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Ah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. That's true. Katie,
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  Speaker 2: this has been said to be the most successful Star
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Wars game launch in 22 years.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: That is absolutely amazing.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: It's really sad then that they furloughed the team who
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: created the company or who created the game three weeks ago.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: That was one of the other topics that we're going
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: to bring up. The hope is that they'll get to
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: come back. That they get to come back. There is
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: currently an internal lawsuit happening within the company that it's
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: in hopes that, hey, we are going to come back
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: with the success of this game. They need to. The
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: company has gone out as far as to say, like,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: we are so surprised by this that we welcomed star
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: wars like for our next project if we need to
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: yeah so i think that is amazing.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: That is cool i did see that the lawsuit has
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: been postponed to 2027 um that sucks yeah it'll be
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: interesting to see if they will um get set to
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: um if they will get back on board or if
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the lawsuit is really going to determine that, because it
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: looks like the lawsuit is around like hiding the employee
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: dismissals and everything. So. Yeah.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. For those of you who did want to know the,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: you know, biggest successful star Wars game before this, when
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: it says 22 years ago, That was the release of
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the original Star Wars Battlefront game on PlayStation 2 and PSP.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: That's what I was thinking. It's been a long while
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: since there has been this much hype around a Star
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Wars video game. Now, I do 100% believe, like, hey, like,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Star Wars fans will always go crazy over Star Wars games.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: But for a game to have this much hype around
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: it to the point where people who don't normally call
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: themselves Star Wars fans are picking up the game. And
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: people who are just strategic gamers who are jumping into
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: the Star Wars universe going into this. I currently have
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: the metrics here for the game.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. The all-time peak of this game. So it released
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: August 27th, six days ago. It peaked three days ago
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: at 77,889 players concurrently. That's awesome.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Oh. Yeah, because when Matt told me he was getting it,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I hadn't even brought it up to him because I
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: know you had been like, oh, well, this kind of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: seems like your type of game. And I was like, oh, well,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: you know what? Maybe I'll wait until it goes on
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: sale and stuff to see. And Matt was like, no,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: this is exactly my type of game. So I'm going
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to go ahead and get it. So I was like, okay, cool.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: So the 24 hour peak currently as of September 2nd,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the 24 hour peak has been 41,000. So losing just
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: over 35,000 viewers, but currently people who are playing right now,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: as we are talking about, 33,000. So it is staying
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: somewhat consistent within like a margin. I think it's been
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: doing very, very well. It's number 38 in a daily
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: activity for just this metric here. It's number nine in
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  Speaker 2: top sellers currently right now. Number four in active wish lists.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: It currently has 89,000 followers and 12,000 reviews. So this
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: game is out there. It's like making a movement, which
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I think is really, really cool. So yeah, I'm playing
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: this thing every single day. As I showed you, my
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: daughter helped create my character. And... When she found out
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: that we can change the outfits of everybody, then everybody
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: needed to have matching uniforms. And so in this very bleak,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: steel gray ship and base that you walk around in,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: there is vibrant pink, purples, and blues all around.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, you know what?
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: It's fun. I'm not going to lie. It actually is fun. Um,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: you can change the name of all of the, most
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: of the characters, um, that you recruit into your team. Um,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I will say this. I don't know if Matt would
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: be the type of player to do this. I hope
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: that you guys are just because it does get you
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: more invested into the game. There's an option for perma
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: death with means. Once a character dies, um, that character dies.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: There is no going back. I have toggled that on.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: And currently there is zero deaths. I say zero, but
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: in the actual like tutorial of the game, there is
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: one character that you literally cannot save. It's just a
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: part of the tutorial. And it's to like, show you like, Hey,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: once a character dies, they die. And it goes so
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: far as to, at your base, there is an in-memoriam wall. Oh, wow.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So if you were to accidentally kill a whole bunch
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: of your crewmates, there would just be a giant wall
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: of in-memoriams to remind you how much you've messed up.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: But it's been really, really fun. I have not... killed
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: anyone yet.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Thankfully he does say he's had he has permadeath on.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Okay okay that'll be fun then um because as soon
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: as characters are getting really low on health you start
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: to panic you're like oh god okay it's time to
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: lock in let's make sure everybody gets out of here
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: alive um but yeah it's it's so fun um i
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: like even amberlynn like i said she has been sitting
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: on my lap And she's seeing everything that's happening. And
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: because it's keyboard and mouse that I'm playing on instead
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: of like PlayStation or Xbox.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: The keyboard is just wide open for her to press
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: any button. So I'm like, okay, if she's going to
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: do this, I have to direct her on what to do.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: So I've been telling her, okay, press T to lock on,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: press two to do this. So we're having fun together,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: which is really, really nice. That's good. It only keeps
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: her attention for like half of every battle. So then
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: she's just like, okay, I'm done, and then walks away.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, walks away. But even still, I think this
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: is something that you could easily play with somebody else.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: The story is very, very interesting. You tend to have,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: because of the type of character your character is in-game,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: you tend to have people... that are very neutral and
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: leaning on both sides of this war in star Wars.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: And every decision that you make creates those bonds or
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: dismantles them. So it's very interesting on how you get
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: to like balance everything. So it's, it's, it's really fun.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Other news on zero company. I'm trying to see if
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: there's anything else other than the furlough and everything else there.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I don't think there was. Yeah, I think that is it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Other than just me, you know, just continuously saying this
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: is an awesome game. That is basically it. So I
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: want to hear back from you, Katie.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: If you're able to catch some time with Matt to
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: listening on the story and do all that stuff.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Now that we're kind of past like the big reading section,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: we have one more book to read for the rest
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: of the year guys. Or I say one more book,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: one more new book. We're going to be talking about
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: hiding from the dark next week. That book actually came
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: out today. Um, but we were already planning on reviewing
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: reign of the empire edge of the abyss. So we'll
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: have that for you guys next week. Um, And then
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: once we kind of get past that, we are now
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: in the middle of football season, guys. Football starts this Saturday.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: So that also limits time. But I am hopeful to
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: get in there Friday with him after bedtime and see
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: how that goes. So I'll keep you posted.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Cool, cool, cool. All right. Well, with that being said, again, guys,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: we are going to be jumping into Reign of the Empire,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Edge of the Abyss. So at this point, if you
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: guys want to jump out of this episode and then
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: come back two weeks later after you have finished when
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: the book actually releases. we will remind you guys in
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that episode, two weeks from now saying, Hey, by the way,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: this book is now released. Go listen to our review.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: You can do that. Or if you would like to
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: just hear our, you know, top thoughts. And like I said,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: we are never going to spill too much of these
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: books because we do want you guys to read it
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: for yourselves.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: And Clay is also going to drop a timestamp down below.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, I will. Yes, I will.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Um, To mark when. Their view actually starts.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah so Katie. First thoughts. Spoiler free. What were you thinking.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: On this book. So I.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sad I didn't get a second read in. Because
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I really feel like. I need a second read. To
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: kind of solidify my opinion on things.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: But.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Initially. Initially. I enjoyed most of it.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Okay. I got my coffee in, by the way.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: I forgot to change my address, and I need to
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: text my mom to tell her to check the mailbox.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: My biggest issue is that for this type of novel,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: there are too many perspectives going on. that's my biggest
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: issue because I would feel like we were getting back
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to this character and then we would go to another
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: character and then we would go back and not have
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to be like okay wait where were we at with
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: them um that was what that was my biggest like
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: non-spoiler critique otherwise I The one other issue that I
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: have is kind of spoiler-ish, so we'll move that in.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: It's not really a big spoiler, but it is. Otherwise,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the writing style of it, and I
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: loved the thematic elements that Rebecca Roanhorse, the author here,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: was able to delve into the novel. I do think
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: it was... I'm interested to I'll have to judge the
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: timing of the novel releases depending on how the third
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: book kind of finishes things because where it stands I
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: like the interactions with Andor overall but I still struggle
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: with It really struggles from too many perspectives. Like, that's
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: One of the questions I kept asking myself throughout this
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: book is, okay, I think I know where this is
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: in the timeline. Wait, where is this in the timeline?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: And I think it has to do partially with... I
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: texted you, I believe it was just yesterday, when I
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: was like, hey... I don't want to spoil things for you,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: and I don't think this is a big spoiler, but
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: where are you? You said you had a couple hours
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: worth of reading. I was like, okay, that's far enough
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: into it. By, I believe, chapter 23 or 25, we
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: are already at 10 different perspectives. We are at 10
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: perspectives by chapter 25, and there is an additional two
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: or three after that. So now you have hit the
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: mark of somewhere between 12 and 13 perspectives in this story.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And I think that has been our biggest critique with
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Star Wars novels recently is too many perspectives going on. However,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I would argue it's more detrimental to this book in
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: particular because of how character driven you want these issues
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to seem. I'm going to go ahead and say Luthen
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: has a perspective in this book. And I really don't
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: think he needed a perspective in this book.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: There is two people. Luthen being one of them. And
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: then there is a perspective of a character. Oh gosh,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: what is his name? He is literally, I believe, the second...
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: to last chapter.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Finro?
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Finro. He has two chapters. One, like somewhere between 25
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: and 30. And then he has literally the second to last.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I didn't mind the second to last one. I minded
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the middle one. Where I'm like, why?
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Because.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: You're taking away from time that can be spent on
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: other characters and really developing those forefront characters. Rebecca Runhorse
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: did such a great job with Resistance Reborn and really
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: narrowing down on the individual perspectives. And I think trying
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: to tie into Andor is, and this is the problem,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: with playing too much in this 19 BBY to 0
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: BBY BBY time span is that you run into the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: problem where you have too many eggs in the sandbox
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: and you're worried that you're going to crack something.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Yes. Um, and I'll go ahead and say now is
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: the time where we can go into spoilers. Um, so I, I,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I believe we both like we're, we're pretty firm on, Hey,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: that's really the only like, huge thing that's like hey
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: this could be something of a turn off for people
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: I think for Star Wars readers it is something that
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: is kind of like a hey I'm to expect this
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: now so I don't think veteran Star Wars readers are
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: going to be bothered by this at all I think
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: they will be surprised by the number But they won't
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: be surprised at the sheer amount. You know what I'm
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: trying to say?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I think so, yeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: It's like, hey, yeah, there's going to be multiple perspectives. Okay, cool. Oh, wait,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: there's 10 perspectives? Okay. That's the feeling that I'm probably
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: going to be vibing with when people talk about this book. Now,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I will say this. Partly spoilers. Who is front and
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: center on this book?
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: One Saw Gerrera.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: One Saw Gerrera. My other problem is I don't care
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: how many people love the saying, don't judge a book
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: by its cover. Everyone judges a book by its cover. 1,000%.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I slightly agree, but also at least it's not named
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Saw Gerrera anymore. Yes. And we're expecting.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, because that is your pet peeve. We both... Katie
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: and I both have very specific pet peeves when it
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: comes to storytelling and to just narrative decisions overall. Katie's is, hey,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: if the character name is in your title and it
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: is part of the marketing, that character needs to be
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: the driving force of the book. Mine is, hey... you
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: need to tell a story in the correct order. I
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: hate non, what is it called?
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Non-linear storytelling.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Non-linear storytelling.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: This, I.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Can understand why he's in the middle of this because,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: and again, we are in spoiler territory, Saw is the
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: boogeyman in this book. He is the thing that everybody
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: is afraid of, but he is not the driving force
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: of this book.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: There really is no focal character in this one. Like,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in Mask of Fear, we had Mon Mothma, Bail, and
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: that was, and then Sujin.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: And Chimash. Like, those were our four characters. Those were
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: our four perspectives. Really, like, your main character is Mon Mothma.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: In this one. And we really thought okay. They made
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a bargain at the end of Mask of Fear. Saw's
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: in the middle on this one. So Saw is going
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to be the main character here. And that's not the case.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: There really is no true main character. You could potentially
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: argue Chimish. Is the main character in this. Which leads
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: me into my other problem with the book. You say
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: it's the fact that Saul's in the middle of the cover.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Mine is that the Gorman section of this book with
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Chimesh feels like we're repeating stuff. And you could say
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: it's because it's kind of the same vibes that the
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Imperials get involved in Andor. And they take over the protest.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: And it's a student-led protest. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You could also argue, okay, well,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Andor clearly showed that things had been happening with Gorman
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: for a very long time. And, like, the Empire had
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: been building up to things. But, yes, but couldn't you
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: have chosen a different approach to showing that?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: But that's the crazy thing. Because, like, it's almost, like,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and I don't believe Rebecca meant it in this manner.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: But when you see that there was a quote unquote
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: riot in the edge of empire, and then you go
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: as far as to, again, tell us the story and, and,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: or being there a massacre in Gorman, you are kind
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: of telling us that Gorman has not learned from its mistakes. Um,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: And I have a small problem with that. Now, again,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: planets are huge, right? They're, they, you know, the mining
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: stuff could be completely separate than everything that's going on
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: in the colleges. Like that could narratively be completely different,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: but these. Well, no.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: And I think, I think that Chimish's point there is
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to try and lead into the mining process. capabilities, like
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: give the empire a further reason to be there. Yes.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, no. That's what the, yeah. Like, but I'm
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: saying that like, because of everything that's happening at the
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: schools for it to then happen again, but for the mining,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: like it kind of shows, Oh, Gorman hasn't learned anything
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: in a very small particular way. Now, again, The Empire
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: is very large. It's very massive. It could be overwhelming
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: for Gorman. So that's why I'm saying it's not like
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: a complete spit in the face of the Gorman people
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: of having to retell the same story again. It's like, oh,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: they haven't learned. They haven't learned. like no like i
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: understand the empire is supposed to be this daunting thing
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: this is just to show like hey they're not leaving
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: they never have left like look what happened beforehand and
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: look what still ended up happening with this gorman massacre
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: like i understand that.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I think same gorman hasn't learned his lesson no i
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: just think it was like a poor choice of, like,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: where to go. Like, I would have preferred saying, like, they're, like,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Chimish's boss, like, say, like, oh, hey, like, we're thinking
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: about sending you to Gorman next. Like, leading into that
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: and not necessarily having a direct mission there because of
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: what's at risk. I think people are always going to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: protest if they have problems with the government, so I
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: don't feel like that's a... indicator of like gorman as
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: a whole um but like you do see in andor
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: where mon is trying to tell the gorman senator like
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: hey like you need to step up and say something
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and the gorman center's like no it's not the big
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: deal what are they gonna do like they're not really
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: gonna do anything um so well.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Like even the uh chesh's uh uh boss shimmy sorry
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: uh their boss was, like, a little bit more of
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: an aggressive Karn. Cyril Karn. Like, in a way, you know?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Especially at the end, where it's like, oh, well, I thought,
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: you know, doing this and doing this. It's like, oh,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: if Karn had been a little bit more, like, I guess,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: confident in a lot of the stuff that he did
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: in Andor, he would probably... be the character that we
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: read here in Edge of the Abyss. Which I do like.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: I will say this. Because I don't think anybody who's
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: an actual Star Wars fan disagrees with the idea that
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Star Wars has always been a political story because of
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: the fact that it's Star Wars. This is very relevant
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: right now. Yes. Very relevant. Yes. And I do like that.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I liked every piece of this. Now, I would, like,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: if I had the chance to talk to Rebecca, the
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: only thing I would ask her is, why use your
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: influential character of a singer and not something more modern-like? Because...
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I feel like in most recent books of Star Wars,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: I would say almost since the High Republic, Katie, correct
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: me if I'm wrong, something that we have seen more
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: and more is the mention of holodramas, of like TV.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Right, but there's not really a way to do like
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a charity holodrama thing. appearance so and you've got people
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: like olivia rodrigo right now you have uh billy.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Eilish i do i do agree no no i do
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: agree like that like a singer helps more with that
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: type of thing but i like and maybe that's her
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: answer it's like hey i needed somebody who would be able.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: To bring you know these two entities and fans to
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: an event. Like, yeah. Like, I mean, we haven't yet
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: seen the star Wars universe, you know, equivalent to a
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: comic con yet, you know, type of thing. Uh, or like,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: I was even thinking like, have we seen a rebel
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: slash empire esque influencer yet? You know, Um, no. Um,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: but the thing, the reason why I'm asking is because
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I do feel like it's kind of inevitable that eventually
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: stories will turn into those types of things. So I
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: was just curious. Okay. Like why, why the musician? And
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: I think that like, Hey, the fact that you can
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: hide propaganda inside of a song, you know, that is very,
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: very aha, you know, and it helps with the story
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: a whole lot. I really dug that. Um, which me
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: as a, like, I know it doesn't look like it,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: but I'm a huge helicopter parent. And so like seeing
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: bail and Mon reacts the way that they reacted. I'm like, Hey,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I'm right there with you. I get it. I get it. Um,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: I liked the narrative choices. I'm trying to think of
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: some of the other stuff that I was going to
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: bring up here. Oh, so somebody who is, and I'm
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: going to call you out a little bit, as squeamish,
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: how did you feel about the first chapter of this book?
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Which kind of Snowballs everything... To start with. It is the... Massacre....
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Of.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: The... Of the event that was taking place on a planet. Like,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna go in... I'm just gonna say that.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: So it's not like the direct first chapter... Of.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Correct, correct. Like, cause... Oh, well, no, no, no. There
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: is a... There's the prologue... With... Yeah, I guess. With, uh...
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: What's her name?
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Um.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: nancree nancree at the library and then it immediately jumps
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: into that.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: You're right you're right i was counting the prologue as
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the first chapter um sorry guys oh um i really
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: didn't think it was that big of deal um with
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: like how descriptive it got But then also, because I've
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: just been sick and I read this in the last week,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: two weeks, it might have just kind of glossed over
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: my head. That's why, again, I need a second read
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: when I'm a little more clear-headed.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: I would say, when you are a little bit more clear-headed,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: do that second read. Because I will say this, and
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: for people who are a little bit squeamish, just beware.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: There is a mention of Saw Gerrera seeing brain matter
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: all over somebody.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: All these other things.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: But it also might have been just because I can't
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: picture things in my head.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: That is also true. Because for me, watching this as
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: an actual movie, I'm just seeing all four of these
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: characters having these giant... Yeah. And mowing down hundreds of
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: people in one room. Yeah.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: See, I'm like, okay, they just killed a bunch of people. Like,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and that also goes hand in hand with the scan
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: reading is like, that's how I summarize chapters is.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Like, okay, this happened. This happened. Like, yeah, you don't
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: get into the heavy, heavy details. That's very true.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: It kind of, surprised me um and not that like
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: because like for for me with saw guerrera being this
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: like ghost of a man in this story it was
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: very interesting because every single time he shows up in
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: this book he is for one reminiscent about his about
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: his sister which is his main motivator moving forward after
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: the clone wars by the way you know the fact
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: that like he's the one that messed up his sister
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: is now dead he doesn't get to live this life
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: of happy go lucky because of the war so now
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: he feels like hey everybody has to suffer um And
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: that really, really hits, I think, near the end of
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: this book when he talks to another character that, you know,
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: shows up in the middle or at the very, not
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: very beginning, but it's a character that he reconnects with.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: But at the end, he like kind of goes back
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: on his first thoughts of the book, which is like, yeah,
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: this was all about, you know, my sister and, you know,
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: The story, the whole thing comes up about, hey, can
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: people fight for themselves in this thing called a Star Wars?
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Or do they have to fight for everybody for the
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: greater good? Yeah. And it can get complicated. um that
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: being you know a small part here um because i
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: do have to ask you the one question that i
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: think this character had to ask themselves now you being
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: a mother would because she was pregnant i'll just say
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: that she was pregnant yeah had to make a decision
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: hey am I going to follow orders to get drawn
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: into all of this again? Or am I just going
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: to say, no, I got out. I'm going to stay
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: out and I'm going to fight for my family. Katie,
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: what have you, what, what would you have done?
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: It was definitely a hard decision. Cause you think about
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: it like the whole way along. And I, I really
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: think it's like, I would pick my family over going
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: back like at the end of the day. Like, uh,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: I will say it is a, it's a rough decision
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: that she.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: Has to make. It is a messed up way that
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: any character like Saw or even in real life will
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: use the hardship of literally everybody to say that you
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: are selfish. Like, how can you put the responsibility of
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: the entire galaxy on one person? You know?
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: And... Like....
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Everybody likes to think, like, oh, this is the way
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: I would do it.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: But....
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: I think Rebecca does a really good job of portraying
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that struggle with the character. And it's a returning character from...
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: mask of fear. But I really like the struggle that
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: she plays out there and like, okay, am I going
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: to sacrifice my husband, my family, and go for this
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: aspect when I've drawn my husband into these things already
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and portraying that struggle and really bringing it to a
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: close at the end. She did an incredible.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Job with that. Yes, I think she did very well.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: It was awesome. Now, I will get into this part
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: because I don't think we got an answer for it
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: unless I completely missed it. Did we find out who...
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: And I'll just leave it very ominous for the rest
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: of the people to finally read it. Did we find
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: out who poisoned everybody?
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, it was very clearly Luthen and Clea.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, I thought so. I thought so.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Because that is the one thing in Luthen's chapter with
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Clea is he tells her, like, how is Gorman going?
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: And then he says, I have another job for you
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: after Gorman.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: After Gorman. See, I thought so because we find out
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: that she was on Gorman. But for that last mission
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: that kind of goes haywire and goes south, she's not there.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: And I do think they chose to try and leave
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: it up to be ambiguous. Because Clea is never really
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: described on the page in any of her identities. And
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: so the assistant is left up to interpretation. And I
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: said the assistant, I probably shouldn't have said that, but
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: like her job that she takes over is like, okay,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: there's no descriptions here. It's just, oh, I'm new. Like, yeah.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I, I will, especially, you know, and or
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: season two, the way that she is able to go
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: through that entire hospital without being like almost not being seen.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Because we do see eventually that she is.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the point. Of how Rebecca chooses
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: to not describe her. Is to give you that same. Illusion.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: On the page.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. How did you. At the very end of this book.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Like.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: Because my thing is. Is. When it comes to. Not only.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: trilogy of books, but a trilogy of books that is
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: in a greater universe that already has an established timeline.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: This book should get us from A to C, because
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: this is B. Uh-huh. But B should be just as
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: important as A and C, getting us to where we
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: need to go in the main timeline. I felt that
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: this book... all the way up until the concert felt that, Hey,
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: I see where things are going. And then the concert happened.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: And for me, it dipped a little bit, but I
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: feel like, and this may have like, I know that like,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: as a character as important as Mon Mothma, like you
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: have to give her, her moments, but I do feel
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: like it kind of was convoluted in her overall, like, Hey,
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: I have to be a step back, but I have
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: to stay firm on a lot of things. There's a
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: conversation that happens near the end of the book that
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: may have been too, like, badass boss bitch of mon
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: mothma to be there like i liked it i was
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: like hey there you go but then i was like
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: wait a second this would put a target on her
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: back too much i feel like how did you feel
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: I think she already knows that there's a target on
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: her back so she's choosing her battles wisely Where, and
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: that was like the whole reason with the conflict with
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Lita and Perrin is she's like, well, I don't want
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: to have this battle with people about going to a concert.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: I was going to leave Perrin out of this because
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: I don't like that, man. I don't like that, man. I,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: don't get me started on that chapter. Yeah. I was
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: so mad. Okay. I understand. Hey, for all of you
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: that are married and understand that there is sometimes just
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: random conflicts within marriage, especially when you have kids, don't
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: be parent. Okay. Because my God, man, i want to
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: just punch that man so hard in his face and
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: then for him to like leave like so like up
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: in arms you said enough probably for him to go
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: cheat you know uh yeah on mine And then the
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: very next time you see him, he's hanging out with
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: everybody on Canto Bight. He's drinking. He's talking about his,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: you know, his most recent purchase of a speeder.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: His $ 800, 000 speeder.
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: That Bale did end up saying, like... Bale didn't say
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: it to him, but Bale was thinking, dude, you got gypped.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: You paid way too much for that speeder. Which I'm like, ha, Perrin. But, like, guys.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: If you learn anything from this book, it's don't be
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: a parent. I hate it. Even the ISB in the Empire,
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: they're one step below parent in this book. Yeah.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: Now, don't get me wrong. Mon has problems in this
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: book as a mother. And very clearly, Lita was not planned.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: We learned that in Mask of Fear. And don't you remember,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: in Mask of Fear, I said, In our review of that,
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: I was like, that very ending chapter, like, she got pregnant.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: I said that in that chapter, and that's what happened. Oh.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: Well, and, like, for me, like, it's... I read these
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: chapters in a very different light. Now, when we read freaking...
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: uh what is it uh uh mask of fear mask
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: of fear how long ago was that that was was
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: that a year ago 2024 i think it was 2024
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: almost two years ago yeah i was a i was
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: a completely different parent the reason being Amberlynn was... I'm sorry.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: It was February of last year.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, February of last year. Okay. Even then, Amberlynn, I
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: don't think, was very cognizant and didn't have a full
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: conscience back then compared to now. and like the growth
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: that me and Abby have had as parents, because you
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: have Mon's daughter, Lydia, right?
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. She, with Mon, there was a relationship of, hey,
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: you're around, but are you really around? You're here, but
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: you're not really here. And then you have Bail Organa
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: with Leia. And Leia is like a splitting image of Bail,
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: like through and through. And then they are both kind
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: of confronted with that at the party.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, no. mon's gonna judge herself so
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: much yikes um which i mean hey let's look at
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: it by the end of this whole thing they're working
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: together as rebels anyway so i think it's fine right
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: but like in those moments it's just like because mon
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: does inevitably like hey how can Lydia have her cake
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: and eat it too, as well as me doing the
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: exact same. Yeah. She wants there to be a win
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: on both sides. Whereas Perrin, fucking Perrin, wants it to be, hey,
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: how can I piss off Mon and be the better Perrin?
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: And not the better parent. It's the, hey, how can
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: I be the cool parent? You know? Yeah. Also, real quick,
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: we just got a comment from Angie23. I can't play
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: Star Wars Zero Company because it's not on PS4, only PS5.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: That sucks. I did not know that it was only
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: going to be on new gen consoles.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: That sucks.
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: Because they just shut down the PS3. They just shut
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: down the PS3 store. And so I figured it was
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: only going to be New Gen. Because Fallen Order Jedi
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Survivor was not PS4 as well.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: I would say this, Angie. If there's a possibility... I
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: don't know if you only have one console, that being
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: a PS4. or if you have multiple consoles, like maybe
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: a Switch or a Switch 2, I'm willing to bet
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: that there is a possibility with because of how hyped
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: this game is, it is going to get a Switch
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: 2 port. So I understand that literally yesterday, September 1st,
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: the console of the Switch 2 went up in price, unfortunately.
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: But I'm willing to bet this will go into... switch
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: nintendo uh very very soon i say very soon i
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: oh you have one console that sucks um i.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: Was playing it on p on the uh pc.
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: I i chose to buy it on pc and the
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: reason why that is is currently my playstation is turned
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: off not logged in or anything else i decided to
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: go in on the playstation blackout with everybody Technically, that
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: blackout ended on the 31st. I'm keeping it off for
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: as long as I possibly can. The video games that
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: I desperately want to play are not until next year.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: The other stuff that I do want to play on PlayStation,
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: I can wait. And, you know, I have a digital-only PlayStation,
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: but I... do understand the right of owning consoles and
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: owning games and physical games. So I want to do
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: my part in helping that. Angie also says, well, at
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: least I have some, I have my SpongeBob game. I
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: can't have more. I can have more fun with that. Well,
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: that's good. That's good. And I will say this with PS4. I,
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: you know, there is still again, the digital market, you know,
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: people are kind of wishy-washy on it and stuff like that.
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's the only way people can play certain games.
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: Whenever the Jedi Academy games go on sale on PlayStation,
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: they normally do for super, super cheap. I would pick
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: it up. They're super fun.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: And I would also double check on the speed rate,
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: the pod racing game that's coming out this year in October.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: I think pod racing will be Is.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: It going to be on PS4 either?
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think so.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: No!
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: I don't think they're putting any games on PS4 now.
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: That is so, so depressing.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Because that's why I said I'm going to have to
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: get the pod racing game on Xbox because Matt has
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: the new gen Xbox. Steam Galactic Racer.
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: And I'm looking it up right now I think the
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: consoles that it'll be on are down below maybe no
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: PS5 Xbox Steam and the Epic Store that's so annoying
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: guys we can't leave these people behind I think that's
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: so stupid that's shitty that sucks yeah yeah But Katie,
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: anything else that you wanted to add? Any of those
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: perspectives that you kind of wanted to say? Because I
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: will say this. I do think you are correct. Because
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: when you say, oh, there's not a genuine main character
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: in this book. Yeah. Prominently in Mask of Fear, Mon
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: and Bail were the for sure highlight I think the
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: most you see of one character is, and correct me
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: if I say their name wrong, Shesh?
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Chimish.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: Chimish. Chimish. Chimish is the only character I feel like
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: I read more of than anybody else. Yeah.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like Chimish is the main character here. Like,
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: if you're going to call anybody a main character- And
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: I'm totally fine with calling Chimish the main character of
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: this story if that's what the goal with this trilogy
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: ends up being. I will say I enjoyed Chimish's story
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: in this probably the most because, and I'm not going
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: to say where the story ends up with them, but
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: I loved seeing the transition that they take.
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, it is the most compelling story.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: in this book um because there's there's a lot that's
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: happening in this book there's gorman there's anto and he's
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: like fin like he anto is a character that is
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: just really really obsessed of being the next saul guerrero
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: i feel like like he he says like oh i
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: want to help the rest of the galaxy you know
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: fight the empire and everything else but the way he
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: really acts when everybody else is around, it's so selfish.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: And it's so like me, me, me, me, me. And
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: then he tries to be a hard ass and it's
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: just unconvincing whatsoever. Saucy is right through him. Every single
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: time he talks to her.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: I laughed so hard.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: And then bail and Mon, like you, you only get
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: them so much. Like they're just highlights in this book.
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: They're just like, Oh, boom, boom, boom. The stuff on
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: Gorman is, shimmus was the character that was there in
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: gorman it's where i felt like okay like what's happening
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: next like what's gonna happen after this like and the
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: reason why i say it's the most compelling i think
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: it's the most emotion that we see in this book
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: um and i don't know i just i just felt
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: like that is where that's what i wanted to follow
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: like every single time their chapters ended i was like
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: man i wanted a little bit more.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: Of that 100 agree now the last question that i
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: have for you is so the next book in this
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: trilogy the final book is called uh from the ashes
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: and it's by fran wilde and this will be fran
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: wilde's first book for star wars she uh wrote in
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: the uh revenge uh return of the jedi uh from
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: a certain point of view uh sorry guys uh what
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: time period do you think we will end up in?
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: Because I'm thinking, I'm thinking that this is actually going
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: to be post Return of the Jedi.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Obviously, we would not get Bail's perspective in that. We
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: would also not get Saw's. But you could still have
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: potential for Maude You have the potential for Leia. You
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: have the potential for Leta. And you also potentially have
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: the potential for Temesh. And because it's from the ashes,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: and I know this was all about Reign of the Empire,
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: but with how they had to play in the sandbox
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: with where Andor is in this, do you really.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: See you have.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: Rebels you have andor you have rogue one.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: It's getting really tight it's getting really really tight i
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: don't i think.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: And even if you wanted to go past a new
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: hope and say okay we're going after a new hope
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: but before return of the jedi you still have all
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: the comics that you have to play with in that
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: and we know that the books respect the comics Or
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: at least attempt to.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: Attempt to, yeah.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: So, I feel like the best bet is from the
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: ashes and the rebuilding and what it took because... Yeah.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: Like, a part of me... A part of me wants
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: this and doesn't want this. But a part of me feels...
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: Brum the Ashes could be in Andor Season 3.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: What do you mean in Andor Season 3?
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: We know that... Oh my gosh. I literally just saw.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: Diego Luna, Tony Gilroy, Adriana Arjona.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, Adriana's character. With their son. The one thing that
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: we said we didn't want.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: Like, I could see... Like, there being... Like, Leia would
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: then take the reign of what would have been Bale's
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: part of the story. Like, and it, you know, going
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: back and being like, you know, Mon could be that
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: character that keeps telling Leia, like, oh, but your father, oh,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: but your father, oh, but your father, and, like, have
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: a story of Leia trying to find herself in the
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: rebellion as more than just, like, the survivor of Alderaan
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: and the daughter of Bail Organa.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: So, you would think, post A New Hope, but before
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Return of the Jedi.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: Yes. Um... I would say right there. And again, it's
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 2: still very, very tight with not just one comic run,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: but several comic runs with that of even like Dr.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: Aphra and all of the other miniseries that took place
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: between A New Hope and Empire. I could see it
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: playing there. But the... title within itself from the ashes
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: does make sense that we could see this as a
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: like so would it be pre or post mando.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: Pre um i think it would probably lead into mando
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: potentially Because, and I know you haven't read Alphabet Squadron,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: but you have Operation Cinder. We have read the Aftermath series.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: So you have all those post-Palpatine death aliens that Palpatine
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: put in place that you could play with. But then
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: also with the Empire's squad going into the Outer Rim.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: or the Unknown Regions, excuse me, and going to Exegol,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: you could also play with that as far as having
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: a villain character in here and just kind of play
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: with it from both angles. So from the ashes, the
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: New Republic, but also from the ashes, the Final Empire.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: And do it that way.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: That's true well oh yeah yeah i mean well because
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: i'm i'm saying like the the first order it would
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: have to be like so if if it's if it's
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: that then it would have to be what what book
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: it would have to be oh no no that's too
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: far that's too far i was like legacy no no
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 2: what's the book that we read before legacy In the timeline.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: I feel like.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: Before Legacy?
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, no, no. The. Oh, my gosh. The romance book.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: Oh. Eyes Like Stars.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: So it would be pre Eyes Like Stars.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because Eyes Like Stars is Force Awakens.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: Before Force Awakens. Yeah. I would not say it's that far.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: Not that far?
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say it's between Mando and Return of
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: the Jedi. As like, hey, things like this is like,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: literally the ashes just happened. And now you're building the
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: New Republic. And we have Empire people who are headed
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: out for the final order. The first order.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay. Yeah, because we did, of course, in other comics,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: very much see that there's even generals and colonels that
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: are saying like, hey, I'm going to be the new
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: emperor type of ordeal. So we could definitely see something
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say it would be, just to give
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: you an idea, I think it would be after book
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: three of the Aftermath trilogy because it's Alphabet Squadron Aftermath
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: Last Shot. So I would think it would be between
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: Aftermath and Last Shot. Okay. Yeah.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: Hmm. Interesting. Now... I have the book right here. I
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: am going to open to the timeline.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: So.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: Aftermath, Last Shot. See, the one thing that I wish,
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: because a part of me feels like they did this
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: in Legends, but I may be wrong. I need this,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: but with actual years next to each book. Because currently,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: Last Shot... Aftermath and Last Shot would be what year?
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: So, Aftermath, you're looking at, like, five ABY. Five, six ABY.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: Aftermath is, like, honestly, it's Mandalorian type of thing.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: Wait a second. Was I supposed to say that?
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so Aftermath Empire's End is 5 ABY.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: So I may have spoiled your plans or your prediction. Okay.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: So Reign of the Empire from the Ashes. Because I
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: was seeing who was reading it and everything. I went
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: to the Wikipedia. Okay. Chronology timeline from the Ashes is...
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: between six bby and one bby.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: That's the guess there is no confirmation on where it
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: actually takes.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 2: Place okay there is no confirmation cool.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: Okay last shot is 780 y so it's the two-year
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: mark so.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: It's so lash lash shot 780 And what was, uh, aftermath?
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Aftermath was, uh, five.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: So it's a two year difference. Yeah. So from the
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: ashes of, let me look. yeah, when it says between
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: six BBY to one BBY, it's just a guess. There's no, um,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: and I, cause I was reading, uh, my not manners
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: review of the, um, of edge of the abyss, which
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: by the way, guys, if you're looking for that for
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: a written review, uh, my not manner rates, uh, Ryan
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: writes great reviews. Um, and he had written on there that, uh,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: From the Ashes does not have a confirmed time slot.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: I think that works out kind of perfectly. Because there
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: is then... Like, even if... Like, there is a... Like,
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: if you look at... What is it? Shadow of the Sith?
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: It would be next after that. There's a pretty big
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 2: gap between Last Shot and Shadow of the Sith. Yeah.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 2: There's free reign there, but I think there needs to
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: be heavy establishment stuff. So I think it does make
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: sense to stay within what you're saying. I think so.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: But I think that's all, guys.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We were able to keep this under an hour 30,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: which is nice. But yeah, some of you are listening
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: to this, you know, the day of the third. And
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: some of you are listening to this on the 16th,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: you know, or after. So if you guys have any questions, concerns,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: any theories about when you think from the ashes is
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: going to be, timeline wise, uh, let us know. Um,
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: of course you can always find me at fanboyclay on
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: Instagram and or threads. That's kind of where I've been
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: hanging my hat lately. So go check me out there. Uh,
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 2: and of course you can always find me over at
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: Ranger Alliance. We're going to have a new episode this
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: upcoming Monday. So make sure to check that out as well. Uh,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: and then, uh, Yeah, I think that is it for
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: my side of things. Katie, what about you?
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: Y'all, you can find me on most social media platforms.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: It's at Slice of Katie. The show is on Instagram
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: and threads. It's at Star Wars Alliance. It's about the
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: Eighth of Wars. Very important. Don't forget it. You can
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: also put that username in front of at gmail.com. And
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: shoot us an email. So with that, guys, I want
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: to wish everyone a great day or night, whatever time
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: of day you are listening or watching. And we will
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: see y'all next time. May the force be with you.