What I love about The Disney Star Wars Acquisition

I honestly wasn’t a fan of the books or any of the EU before the Disney acquisition. It’s not that I didn’t like them, it just seemed like a daunting task to get into. I’ve loved the movies ever since I was a little kid (born in the late 80’s) but outside of the movies the franchise just seemed like it was slowly dying. After the poor reception of the prequels the entire IP seemed like it was fading away. And while I was desperately craving more Star Wars stories, I really had no idea where to start when it came to the books or comics. On top of the sheer volume of material, there didn’t really seem to be a clear cut way to enter the EU. So while I loved the movies, anything beyond that was something I just wrote off (whether consciously or subconsciously, I’m not sure).

Building a lightsaber at Galaxy’s Edge was a weirdly spiritual experience. I know it sounds lame, but it definitely brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.

Then Disney purchased the franchise. With the announcement of fresh new stories and turning (pretty much) all the old books into “Legends” this finally seemed like my opportunity to get into Star Wars books and comics. I was finally excited about Star Wars again! The opportunity to enter this world of storytelling without getting overwhelmed seemed exciting. So I read several canon books and really loved them, with the 2017 Thrawn book standing out as one of my favorites. When I wanted more stories but ran out of Canon I started to check out Legends. Youtini was especially helpful for me in figuring out which books I should check out first. Through their site I discovered the Darth Bane trilogy and was immediately hooked! Not only were the stories genuinely interesting, but the lore and world building was insanely fun. I grew to love the Sith and the stories about them. Eventually I went on to read things like Heir to the Empire and other “classics.”

When the High Republic was announced I was excited for even more Star Wars stories in an era/time I wasn’t super familiar with. When they were eventually released I was immediately hooked on those, too. The entire initiative was just so impressive to me. I loved the (extra) blends of fantasy incorporated in the series. Not only was it a ton of fun to read, but it just felt different (in a very good way) compared to other Star Wars stories. While Star Wars has always incorporated elements of fantasy, this initiative seemed to lean into that a little bit more, and I love every moment of it.

Pure joy.

I genuinely love both Legends and Canon. There are really good and really bad parts to both, though. Neither one is perfect at all, but I love living in and exploring this world that George Lucas created nearly 50 years ago. I love all the different ways this franchise and these stories have influenced people and how they in turn carry on the torch to tell new stories. From Dave Filoni to Jon Favreau to Charles Soule to Timothy Zahn, all of these people were impacted by Star Wars in some way and wanted to use their talents to tell new stories in this galaxy. George always wanted new stories to be told about new characters, and I’m glad that’s continuing to happen. For me, right now is the most fun time to be a fan. Rather than waiting and wondering if we’ll ever get new Star Wars stories like we had in the early 90’s, we know that we’ll get lots more for a long period of time. Will some of it be bad? Sure! Will some of it be great! Absolutely. Star Wars has always been like that, and I’m here for it. There are opportunities for all levels of fan to explore some truly great stories. Star Wars has always been an interconnected media project living beyond just the films. The best way to experience it is to read and watch everything. If it wasn’t for the Disney acquisition, I’m not sure if I ever would have explored “Legends” in the first place, and I’m sure glad I did.