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Guess who's writing the new Essential Guide to the Star Wars Military. A woman who knows nothing about warfare and who hates the idea of large, professional armies.

Vader help us.

I hate George Lucas for not stopping this bitch.

So she'll write a whole book about the awesome three million man clone army? What else is new?

Still, I wonder why Lucas hasn't fired her. I know he doesn't pay much attention to the EU, but she's dragging the Star Wars brand name through the mud. I wish someone would organize a boycott of this woman's crap so someone would tell Lucas to fire this fool.

Incidentally, do Travis's past antics remind anyone else of the Hillary Clinton campaign? In that she exaggerates her professional credentials, engages in defamatory attacks on her critics, and then plays the gender descrimination card.

Is it bad that this, more than anything else that has ever happened in the weird world of Star Wars fiction, THIS is the final straw that may make me say "fuck official canon, I'll only ever consider the movies + the books that don't suck"?

I was going to write something about how much this idea sucks out loud, but...


...I think I'm done with Star Wars. I have been since Revenge of the Sith closed the book. Neither the franchise, its spin-offs, nor this crap really interests me anymore. My hat is off to everyone who fights this kind of horseshit, but if Lucasfilm cares so little about quality control, why on earth should I? I'm far more interested in Lucas' The Red Tails, which is scheduled to come out next year.

My prefered response, and that of many people, is just to ignore or dismiss those aspects of the EU which strain credulity. Lucas can say its official all he wants, but when two things blatantly contradict, as so often happens, then he's just overruled himself, so its a moot point as far as I'm concerned.

Traviss's ideas with regard to her "Mandalorian/Clone army" fetish are no longer predictable, and she's basically in a minority (noone but her really writes that way, as the Clone Wars TV show is demonstrating) At this point I can't really bother to be outraged beyond a "meh, again?" because you knwo what she'll likely do. If anything I probably pity her.

Despite her obsession, she isn't that bad a writer when she isn't trying to pursue her own little agendas. The agendas however are what are the problem, and the fact noone bothers to constrain her or speak out against her about it (and those who do are suppressed.) If she could give that up or had better "inspiration" (partt of me still suspects the reason why suppression of criticism of Traviss was so intense is that many of those doing the suppressing were advising or perhaps influencing her with their own agendas.) she might improve.

Hell, I'll even point out that even amidst some of her Mandalorian fetishism, she's managed to put in some interesting stuff (The Falcon's FTL speed in Bloodlines, for example.)

Just ignore it. The rationalizations nessissary to make her stuff fit into continuity are absurd. As far as I'm concerned, her work is non-cannon. Lucas just hasn't bothered to say so yet.

Oh dear. I imagine this will expand the "three million" to other areas. Seven million Imperial Stormtroopers anyone?

I can't say I'm outraged. This kind of shit turned me off of the SW EU, starting from about a year ago. I'm well past the point of giving a crap. But it is insulting that Traviss is getting to write this kind of book (who wants to bet that her past as a "defense correspondent" will no doubt be brought up as a credential?) when her understanding of the topic is not only ignorant, but sickeningly off base.

If Traviss's journalist job gave her an understanding of the military and and how real warfare is conducted, it sure as hell doesn't show up in her SW writing. Special forces have their uses, but they are far too small in numbers and too lightly armed to fight an entire war. The heavy lifting is still done by the regular troops who make up the vast majority of the military. And in real war, even the most well-trained and uber soldier can die an "inglorious" death if he walks on top of a mine or is sniped by an insurgent. Special forces wanking is such a stupid, childish, and insulting way to describe warfare. It's what I expect from a kid or a hack author, not someone who proudly holds up her experience on the subject and makes it her niche in the SW franchise. It's supremely ironic that with the "timely, ripped from the headlines" (and cliche) bent that the SW EU has taken in recent years, comparing the Republic or the GFFA to the USA losing freedoms under Bush, that one of the biggest current events, IRAQ, is completely ignored in the way Traviss writes militaries. Am I to assume that all those US troops who died in Iraq without killing 200 insurgents each is a pussy? Traviss, your special forces wanking has no fucking place in today's world. I think Wong made a good point that at its worst, such hack entertainment can actually cause real harm by bringing up the next generation of citizens and potential leaders with dumbass fantasies about how you can win a war without suffering many losses if your troops are uber enough.

How the hell did Traviss become the "name" author in SW, who writes half the EU and continually gets the chance to redefine SW in contradiction to what Lucas portrays? She openly hates the Jedi. The Jedi who are at the core of the saga, not her fucking Mandalorians who didn't even exist until 2 years ago when she got to go all Klingon on them. So a person who hates some of the most basic concepts of SW is their "big" writer now? She openly carries on a petty feud with the fans, in the most dumbass ways possible (up to and including deranged statements that 3 million troops in a galaxy with millions of inhabited worlds comes even close to making sense). You'd think LFL would reign her in, if only to maintain a professional image. Oh wait, they have a monopoly on SW and the fanwhores will spend their money no matter what. They just don't give a shit.

If this were 10 years ago, I'd be in an uproar, but all of this information is now easily available through Wookipedia. If LFL wants to let Traviss continue to drag the novel line through the mud, then let them.

You know what the most deliciously ironic part of her ridiculous 200-1 kill ratio special forces wanking is? It's the fact that freaking action movie heroes don't have that many kills.

Courtesy of moviebodycounts.com:
Rambo in First Blood Part II: 51 kills
John Matrix in Commando: 81 kills
Topper in Hot Shots Part Deux: 103 kills (and it's intended as a parody!)

Average clone trooper in Traviss' GAR: 200 kills?

Coiler wrote:You know what the most deliciously ironic part of her ridiculous 200-1 kill ratio special forces wanking is? It's the fact that freaking action movie heroes don't have that many kills.

Courtesy of moviebodycounts.com:
Rambo in First Blood Part II: 51 kills
John Matrix in Commando: 81 kills
Topper in Hot Shots Part Deux: 103 kills (and it's intended as a parody!)

Average clone trooper in Traviss' GAR: 200 kills?

Cleric John Preston in Equllibrium: 118 Kills. That's the highest single count of a character in 1 movie but Blade has more over 3 films.

Sure about that Chewie? I got:

Top Characters wrote:150 Ogami Itto (Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell)
141 Smith (Shoot 'Em Up)
118 John Preston (Equilibrium)
103 Topper Harley (Hot Shots! Part Deux)
96 Tetsuo (Akira)

Ah well. Just glad I stuck to the movies, ICS books and Thrawn .

Ah well. Just glad I stuck to the movies, ICS books and Thrawn .

I would personally add Dark Lord and also KOTOR. But yes, its better to ignore most of it.

Well at least we can have a consistent continuity in that she can assign terrible numbers to militaries all throughout the SW timeline. I think this one will be the final nail in the coffin for my interest in Star Wars.

The Vortex Empire wrote:I hate George Lucas for not stopping this bitch.

How much money do you suppose she makes for George Lucas in a given year? Tally that up and you'll understand why she's not going anywhere.

SancheztheWhaler wrote:

The Vortex Empire wrote:I hate George Lucas for not stopping this bitch.

How much money do you suppose she makes for George Lucas in a given year? Tally that up and you'll understand why she's not going anywhere.

I just wish he actually cared about the quality of his creation. The bastard's been corrupted by cash.

*shrugs* Most of the stuff since NJO started is badly written fan fiction, anyway. It's no big deal, except for idiot flame-baiters.

Darth Yoshi wrote:*shrugs* Most of the stuff since NJO started is badly written fan fiction, anyway. It's no big deal, except for idiot flame-baiters.

Everything since, and including, Darksaber has been bad fan fiction.

Connor MacLeod wrote:Traviss's ideas with regard to her "Mandalorian/Clone army" fetish are no longer predictable, and she's basically in a minority (noone but her really writes that way, as the Clone Wars TV show is demonstrating) At this point I can't really bother to be outraged beyond a "meh, again?" because you knwo what she'll likely do. If anything I probably pity her.

Despite her obsession, she isn't that bad a writer when she isn't trying to pursue her own little agendas. The agendas however are what are the problem, and the fact noone bothers to constrain her or speak out against her about it (and those who do are suppressed.) If she could give that up or had better "inspiration" (partt of me still suspects the reason why suppression of criticism of Traviss was so intense is that many of those doing the suppressing were advising or perhaps influencing her with their own agendas.) she might improve.

Hell, I'll even point out that even amidst some of her Mandalorian fetishism, she's managed to put in some interesting stuff (The Falcon's FTL speed in Bloodlines, for example.)

I would not call Traviss a "good writer" in any case; her storytelling style is rather bland, and her characters are either Mary Sues or impersonal. That she occasionally includes interesting technical tidbits does not mean that her style as such is good; average, at best.

Jim Raynor wrote:How the hell did Traviss become the "name" author in SW, who writes half the EU and continually gets the chance to redefine SW in contradiction to what Lucas portrays? She openly hates the Jedi. The Jedi who are at the core of the saga, not her fucking Mandalorians who didn't even exist until 2 years ago when she got to go all Klingon on them. So a person who hates some of the most basic concepts of SW is their "big" writer now? She openly carries on a petty feud with the fans, in the most dumbass ways possible (up to and including deranged statements that 3 million troops in a galaxy with millions of inhabited worlds comes even close to making sense). You'd think LFL would reign her in, if only to maintain a professional image. Oh wait, they have a monopoly on SW and the fanwhores will spend their money no matter what. They just don't give a shit.

Your pardon, but not "the fans". Just a dozen Talifans out on the fringe. . .

Teleros wrote:Sure about that Chewie? I got:

Top Characters wrote:150 Ogami Itto (Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell)
141 Smith (Shoot 'Em Up)
118 John Preston (Equilibrium)
103 Topper Harley (Hot Shots! Part Deux)
96 Tetsuo (Akira)

Ah well. Just glad I stuck to the movies, ICS books and Thrawn .

How come Tetsuo just got 96? I mean, after he turned into a grotesque abomination against nature, he ended up collapsing into a black hole and destroying all of Super New Neo Tokyo.

I wonder if the Jedi themselves had 200:1 droid kill ratios.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How come Tetsuo just got 96? I mean, after he turned into a grotesque abomination against nature, he ended up collapsing into a black hole and destroying all of Super New Neo Tokyo.

That site only counts kills seen directly. For example, Luke Skywalker only got credited with killing Tarkin from his destruction of the Death Star; even the superlaser technicians seen seconds before the explosion are listed as "implied" kills.

I liked those 'Essential Guides'... why are they are letting their least competent writer write one? About the subject she knows almost nothing about?

I think Wong made a good point that at its worst, such hack entertainment can actually cause real harm by bringing up the next generation of citizens and potential leaders with dumbass fantasies about how you can win a war without suffering many losses if your troops are uber enough.

Well... you can, sorta, depending on your definition of 'many'. Or even none, if your army consists of say, Space Marines, and the enemy are, for instance, retarded toddlers with sticks (not even pointy sticks), and you get lucky.