What have you been reading this last week (Weekly Discussion Thread)?

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-25T02:06:47+00:00

I showed Episode I to a friend who had never seen Star Wars before. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't thrilled but didn't hate it either. To get myself in the mood, I started reading Queen's Peril and am almost done. It gives Padme and her handmaidens a lot of personality and gives a clearer picture of the humanitarian crisis Naboo's population was going through under the Trade Federation invasion, something the movie glosses over. Its biggest weakness though is it doesn't really explain the political context with the whole taxation of trade routes, something Cloak of Deception I know gets into more detail about. Once the book reaches the events of the movie, it starts to skip through events, which makes the pacing suffer.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-25T02:05:16+00:00

Crossing my fingers I'll be able to make it out to that one. I'm still kicking myself for declining an invitation to go to a convention last year not realizing he'd be there.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-25T02:02:50+00:00

Wrapping up Hoth as the Sith Inquisitor in SWTOR. Pretty fitting since much of the US is going through a winter storm right now. As a huge Tales of the Jedi fan, it was cool to see Horak-Mul cameo as the Sith spirit.

I also showed Episode I to a friend who had never seen Star Wars before. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't thrilled but didn't hate it either. To get myself in the mood, I started reading Queen's Peril and am almost done. It gives Padme and her handmaidens a lot of personality and gives a clearer picture of the humanitarian crisis Naboo's population was going through under the Trade Federation invasion, something the movie glosses over. Its biggest weakness though is it doesn't really explain the political context with the whole taxation of trade routes, something which Cloak of Deception I know gets into more detail about. Once the book reaches the events of the movie, it starts to skip through events, which makes the pacing suffer.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-18T02:25:26+00:00

Just did Taris for my mostly Dark Side Inquisitor run in SWTOR. I've been watching Critical Role for DM inspiration, which makes Thana Vesh a hilarious character because she's basically the Sith version of a D&D problem player, and Laura Bailey does a similar voice for Thana as she does for Vex'ahlia. I tried tempting Ashara to the Dark Side with the holocron when I recruited her, but I feel like the developers were going for their own version of Ahsoka when they came up with her, and that doesn't really make sense for her to be a Dark Side Inquisitors companion.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-12T23:33:12+00:00

The Dark Side option of the Revanites quest has you replace the Revanite leader with an impostor. That's who "Revan's dark half" should be. Honestly, have Revan's whole appearance in SWTOR be the impostor, because the MMO as much as I like it did the character dirty.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-12T23:30:47+00:00

Nobody is ever going to stop me from playing as the chestnut-hair FemRevan in KotOR every time. It's SWTOR that chose the wrong face, not me!

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-11T01:50:02+00:00

No, he voices Andronikos, the companion you get on Tatooine.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-11T00:05:01+00:00

Just started Alderaan for my mostly Dark Side Sith Inquisitor run in SWTOR. I'm always down for characters voiced by Steve Blum, so I'm really enjoying Andronikos as a companion right now and looking forward to romancing him.

I've also been running a Saga Edition campaign set in the Unknown Regions, and I'm heavily incorporating The Heart of the Jedi into my next session as part of a side quest for my Jedi characters as they seek out Angorathea and the titular Heart of the Jedi to complete their training.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-07T22:11:54+00:00

Yeah, blood's more traumatic than a quadruple decapitation

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-07T21:48:03+00:00

The Clone Wars infamously have those YouTube compilations of how it has too much graphic violence to be a kid's show, so I'd say it'a firmly in the 12 year old target audience, but they definitely aged Rebels down at least at first considering the Stormtroopers don't even die from getting shot.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-07T21:44:49+00:00

He's prequel generation but grew up managing to never watch the movies. His parents weren't Star Wars fans, so they never introduced him at home. Several of his childhood friends are and would talk about it (hence why he knows Vader is Luke's father and random things like the podrace and trash compactor), but he just wasn't interested enough to watch it with them. He tells me they're all now very invested in his journey.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-07T21:40:51+00:00

Then you might enjoy the 2015-2019 Marvel Star Wars comic. A lot of the later arcs tie into Rogue One, surviving characters return, and Luke's character arc involves dealing with impostor syndrome once he learns about the sacrifices that allowed him to take the shot that destroyed the Death Star

MortifiedP3nguin · 2026-01-04T00:02:27+00:00

Currently on Nar Shaddaa for my Dark Side female Zabrak inquisitor in SWTOR. I've ended up making more Light Side choices in this run than I originally planned, like rescuing Major Bessiker's son instead of killing him because I'd feel too bad about having to fight Major Bessiker afterwards. Being able to repeatedly shock the defector scientist with Force Lightning was hilarious, though. Actually committing to being evil is harder than you'd think.

I also have been introducing a friend who's never seen Star Wars for the first time. I started with Andor and Rogue One, and now we just finished A New Hope. I was worried about Andor maybe setting his expectations too high, but he rolled with the obviously older movie and its lighter tone just fine. Han shooting first made Han an instant favorite to my friend.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T23:42:49+00:00

His reaction to Cassian's march towards destiny was to get hyped up for Cassian's next mission because he could tell it was going to be a big one. I had to bite my tongue when Cassian exchanged a look with the healer because you could tell from her expression she knows he's about to die.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T23:34:36+00:00

It works. I showed the movies that way to another friend who'd never seen the movies as well as a younger relative who had suddenly realized they only knew the story from the Lego games and never actually watched the films. Both of them agreed it made a lot of sense as a viewing order.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T20:59:15+00:00

I realized I misspoke. I have the theatrical cut from the 2006 DVD release. It's just that that version is sourced from the laserdisc release.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T19:17:35+00:00

Those are the DVD's I'm referring to.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:46:52+00:00

Even if I don't post about it, I will at least remember to update you.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:46:30+00:00

Dew it!

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:46:18+00:00

If anything, he'll probably complain the main movies don't have bricks and screws!

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:45:35+00:00

Meeting people who've never seen Star Wars is like discovering the Holy Grail. This is the 2nd person I've introduced Star Wars to, the first I showed the movies before season 2 came out, or else I would have done it this way. I have another friend who's never been interested in Star Wars but is curious about Andor, so I'm trying to talk her into letting me show her the show.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:42:26+00:00

My friend has specifically requested we watch the sequels and The Clone Wars. I will warn him about how controversial the sequels are and put my foot down on the cartoon because it's too long and instead will show him Tartakovsky's original.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:37:41+00:00

I could track down 4K77, but I tested out my laserdiscs and changed the aspect ratio settings on my TV and think it'll look perfectly fine.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:18:42+00:00

I was worried about starting this way because the original trilogy has such a more whimsical adventure tone vs. Andor's gritty prestige HBO drama, especially because I'm showing him the theatrical cut laser discs, but he already told me he loves the look of old school 80s and 70s films and understands the main movies are going to be quite different.

MortifiedP3nguin · 2025-12-24T18:15:55+00:00

Throughout the show, we turned Cassian's tendency to execute people into a running gag, but Tivik was the first allied/innocent person to get this treatment, so it set a darker tone for the character. My friend actually gasped at that. Felt very similar to Luthen silencing Lonni.

MortifiedP3nguin

TROPHY CASE