The Jedi Exile Revealed!

The Expanded Universe is populated with many characters that have engrossed fans. From the brilliant Grand Admiral Thrawn to the rouge Jedi Quinlan Vos. Some of the most notable examples are those of customizable characters featured in video games, as is the case with characters such as Kyle Katarn and Darth Revan.

With the two Knights Of The Old Republic titles, players are given the choice of determining the character's name, gender, profession, light side-dark side alignment and appearance. The main character from the first title, Darth Revan has been slightly fleshed out, with a back story developed primarily through source books and the KOTOR comic series. Revan has also been given a canonical gender of male; something we see often in the Star Wars EU with both Jaden Korr and Revan being identified as such.

Recently a large amount of details have been revealed about the Jedi Exile, the main protagonist from the second Knights of the Old Republic game. We know from previous sources that the Jedi Exile is canonically female. Thanks to the Star Wars Miniature game, the Jedi Academy booster pack to be precise, we now get a look at the Exile. (Picture at top of post). In addition, the miniature has red-brown hair, wields a cyan hued lightsaber and is wearing a typical Jedi robe with a white tunic.

Though the picture found on the Exile's card doesn't appear to share a resemblance with any of the female portraits available on Knights of the Old Republic II, It's still nice to have a basis for the character's appearance.

Not to mention the fact that somebody out there is bound to create a computer for the game

that looks like the miniature!

Insider 114 Reveals Titles Of Next Two TCW Episodes!

Hitting shelves and entering mailboxes is the latest issue of the Official Star Wars magazine #114.

Inside among various layers of interviews and Q&A segments can be found the titles of the next two Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes, both of which will be broad casted back-to-back on January 1st.

The first episode title given, coming in at number 2.9 is "Grievous Intrigue". Written by Ben Edlund who is most notable for his work on the cult classic television show Firefly as well as work in The Tick, Supernatural and Angel, this episode's summary is as follows; After an ly encounter with a prominent member of the Jedi Council, the Jedi resolve to stop General Grievous once and for all.

This summary rose a question for me; who is the Jedi Council member? At the end of the latest episode, 2.8 "Brain Invaders", a short preview was given for a future episode, which I can only assume is Grievous Intrigue. In the preview a Zabrak Jedi can be seen on a Venator-class Star Destroyer bridge. This Jedi is very similar to Eeth Koth in appearance, but past Expanded Universe sources (Inside the Worlds Of Attack Of The Clones) have stated that he perished in the fighting on Geonosis. Agen Kolar, is alive and well, but does not bear a resemblance to the Jedi seen in the preview nearly as much as Eeth Koth does. Will TCW push aside another bit of EU lore with this next episode? Personally I wouldn't mind either way, but we'll just have to wait and see...

The next episode title given is #2.10 "The Deserter". Written by Carl Ellsworth, the writer of the yet to be released movie remake of Red Dawn, theis episode's summary is as follows; Obi-Wan Kenobi leads a squadron of clone troopers as the search for Grievous intensifies, but who is the mysterious Cut Lawquane?

Be sure to watch The Clone Wars on Friday, January 1st when these questions will be answered! And don't forget to visit http://www.titanmagazines.com/ to sign up for Star Wars Insider magazine!

Leave it to me to write up a blogpost about three paragraphes in a magazine. :)

The Force Unleashed II announced!

It's official, a continuation of the smash hit Star Wars title The Force Unleashed will be released sometime in 2010.

First announced at this year's Spike TV Video Game Awards, TFU II will, like it's prequel, take place during the 19 year timeline between the two movies Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Episode IV: A New Hope.

The trailer shown at the VGAs can be seen here at the game's official website. http://www.unleashed2010.com/.

More info on this story as it develops.

TCW Review: Weapons Factory

The second episode of a four part arc, Weapons Factory is another solid installment in The Clone Wars' ever expanding arsenal of episodes.


Beginning with the cookie, 'No gift is more precious than trust', Weapons Factory quickly establishes tension between Anakin and young Ahsoka due to Ahsoka believing that Anakin finds her capabilities lacking. However, Anakin's intentions are misinterpretted by Ahsoka. Anakin wants to guarantee Ahsoka's safety, Ahsoka views his attempts to protect her as doubts of her abilities. The foreshadowing in this regard to Revenge Of The Sith was quite straightforward, but was done very well.

In an attempt to destroy Poggle the Lesser's new droid factory, Anakin and Ahsoka are joined by fellow Jedi duo, Luminara Unduli and her Padawan Barriss Offee. An interesting and dynamic relationship is shown between these four characters. Anakin is familiar with both Luminara and Barriss, as we see in his saying that "It's good to see both of you again." This mentioning is a probable reference to the events of, Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster, the prequel to Attack Of The Clones. In the novel Anakin and Obi-Wan collaborate with Luminara and Barriss to resolve a border dispute on strategically important Ansion; this story is also referenced in Attack Of The Clones.

Anakin's role in the novel was as a Padawan, so it was interesting to see him interact with Luminara as colleagues rather then there master-apprentice relationship that we saw in Approaching Storm. Throughout Weapons Factory, Ahsoka and Barriss where also on edge, though there relationship could still be seen as friendly.

The animation in The Clone Wars has clearly come a long way. Both the amount of characters onscreen at any given time along with the vast amounts of detail put into everything from facial expressions to dust settling on the floor in the Geonosians tunnels, are great examples of this show's progression. In several scenes, the movement of the clones was reminiscent of the first Battle of Geonosis in Attack Of The Clones; with the soldiers holding there blaster rifles at hip level and simply walking at a slow pace.

The super tanks, which have not yet been given an explicit name, seemed like a mix between the Trade Federation MTTs and the Rebel artillery vehicle seen in Empire At War, the MPTL-2a. They added a sense of dread and malice that we don't normally see conveyed by the Separatist's constant use of comical Battle Droids.

Overall this was a good episode. It was great to see the story mostly centered around Ahsoka, instead of having her as the sassy secondary-character that occasionally gets an interesting scene to herself.

The cookie however could have easily been changed to something pertaining to Anakin's disability to let his loved ones go, a plot line that was begun in the theatrical film and clearly still persists in the form of Ahsoka and Anakin's relationship.

Weapons Factory garners a 3.5/5.

Review of TCW: Republic Heroes

The Clone Wars has continued to be the main focus of Star Wars as of late. With a reasonably new television show, a toy line, video games, comics and tie-in novels such as Wild Space and No Prisoners ting the attention of Star Wars junkies. Not to mention the countless megabytes of online material from episode guides and web comics, to online video commentary for each episode; all of which can be found at http://www.starwars.com/.

However, there are people who are disappointed with the direction that Star Wars has taken since the prequels were released and even more so now with TCW. I for one, am not one of those people. I love Star Wars. I love every spin-off and tie-in. Therefore I love TCW. And if I couldn't have been more clear, TCW rocks!!!

Bear in mind that I purchased this game for the Nintendo Wii platform. The Clone Wars Republic Heroes is a third person shooter coming in at around $50. Available on all platforms, developed by Krome Studios and when compared to its predecessors, a major leap forward in terms of game play. When I say predecessors I'm referring to the two previous games spawned by Krome Studios, TCW: Lightsaber Duels, and The Force Unleashed, both developed for the Wii. Republic Heroes delivers what it's younger siblings lacked; a well designed engine, fun co-op playability, and in the case of Lightsaber Duels a compelling story.

The game play is solely story mode, with drop in, drop out co-op as an added bonus. Players can choose from either Jedi or clone troopers with a variety of different characters and locales. Though the backdrop changes from planet to planet, the repetitive feeling of swinging from pole to pole, however fun at first, ultimately takes away from the game's overall appeal.

The vast amount of interchangeable characters adds a bit to the fun, allowing you to choose between many of the Jedi featured in the first season of TCW and many of the clone troopers, along with a handful of newer clones such as ARF trooper Boomer, Sergeant Kano, and Private Switch, a clone trooper bred for technical duties and given the nickname 'soft shell' due to the fact that he wears no armor. Examples of this kind of clone can be found in the background of several episodes such as Children of the Force where they can be seen getting smacked by Cad Bane before he takes off in a V-19 Torrent.

With all these new clones, one must beg the question; will any of them appear in season two of TCW? After all there portraits do look like they have been created specifically for the show and the game is supposed to be set inbetween the two seasons.

Republic Heroes spans four different locations, two of which are recognizable to fans of both TCW and the larger Expanded Universe. The story begins on Ryloth, in the city of Resdin, one of the cities mentioned being made into an example by the Separatists in Liberty on Ryloth. Next we see Juma 9, a space station formerly used for mining and now converted into a Republic military outpost. Alzoc III, the home planet of the Talz species who were highlighted in a similar planet in TCW episode Trespass, is featured next. Finally we see the planet Behpour, located in the Chommell Sector, the same sector inhabited by Naboo. I really would have enjoyed seeing more diverse locations, but that can be owed to my ultimate fanboy hope that one day they'll have named all the planets seen in the original Clone Wars micro-series.

Speaking of which, nods to the original show can be found twice in Republic Heroes. The first example are the, Chameleon droids, first featured in Clone Wars Chapter 14, who are seen several times in-game. The second nod comes in the form of dialogue between Kit Fisto and Mace Windu. Upon clearing a room of battle droid foes, Fisto can be heard saying to Mace, "Perhaps the stories are true; that you managed to defeat an entire droid army by yourself". This bit of banter, which had me grinning in fanboyish glee, is a reference to Mace Windu's appearence in Clone Wars Chapter 12, where he single-handedly, and rather comically, obliterated a separatist super-weapon and army.

The dialogue, an increasing hot topic for disgruntled fans is not much different than that of the first season of TCW. You can expect snippy comebacks from Ahsoka and annoying Battle Droid banter. Though I must say that some genuine laughs came in the form of none other than Cad Bane, who makes occasional appearances later on as a rival to the main antagonist of the game, Kul Teska.

All in all The Clone Wars Republic Heroes is a decent game, not comparable to the likes of previous Star Wars titles such as KOTOR or Dark Forces II, but still a fun play for TCW fans. And certainly better than this... http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Pit_Droids

I apologize for the length of this first entry. You can look forward to shorter entries such as a reviews of the Star Wars horror novel troopers and The Clone Wars episodes.