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Captain Phasma novel dives deep into her brutal, apocalyptic past (and explains Ep 7)

S

sflufan

Banned
I very much agree that the novel is interesting for the inside look that it gives into the First Order and its indoctrination/operation though be warned that Phasma's story is essentially told "third-hand" and you never gain any insight into her inner thoughts/character.

Also
I'm really pleased that it appears that Cardinal survives at the end as I hope to see more of him in future media!
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
Made a cool character with awesome design and backstory, then literally threw her in the trash.


I'll have to pick this book up. Sounds interesting
 
H

Hopeford

Member
Doukou said:
This should of been Captain Phasms's scene
Click to expand...

Chmpocalypse said:
That fight should have been with Phasma. Huge missed opportunity.
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Alex_Mexico said:
If they wanted for us to care about Phasma without having to scour for EU stories no one but the hardest of harcore will ever read they should've at least swapped the TRAITOR guy for Phasma (just not end it by killing her).

Its a crime that that nameless trooper was more memorable than Phasma.
Click to expand...

I don't know. I think things worked better because the soldier was just a random guy. I would have half-expected Phasma to do what that random soldier did, but the fact that it was this randomass stormtrooper being like "FUCKING BRING IT BROSKI" made it super fun for me.

I hope against hope that he comes back later.
 
M

Mr_Antimatter

Member
IIRC, that wasn't a nameless trooper, but actual one of Finns squadmates. One of the other squadmates was the one who died at the start of the film in front of him.
 
H

Hopeford

Member
Mr_Antimatter said:
IIRC, that wasn't a nameless trooper, but actual one of Finns squadmates. One of the other squadmates was the one who died at the start of the film in front of him.
Click to expand...

I mean yeah, but that's all extra content we got from him later. In the movie, it's just this one guy who shows up and yells "TRAITOR" then goes 1-on-1 against a lightsaber. It looked *awesome.* It was my favorite moment of the movie.

Meanwhile, Phasma has this...I don't know how to explain it, just everything about her seems like a manufactured attempt at making her a fan favorite. It's like they are trying to forcibly make her a breakout character, which to me sorta makes it not really work.

It sorta felt like when the WWE tries to push someone as an underdog character, 'is what I'm trying to get at.
 
S

sphagnum

Banned
sflufan said:
I very much agree that the novel is interesting for the inside look that it gives into the First Order and its indoctrination/operation though be warned that Phasma's story is essentially told "third-hand" and you never gain any insight into her inner thoughts/character.

Also
I'm really pleased that it appears that Cardinal survives at the end as I hope to see more of him in future media!
Click to expand...

I would imagine that if
Cardinal survived he would have told the Resistance about SKB. I'm sure he would have known about it since he was Hux's bodyguard and was equal in rank to Phasma.
 
M

Mr_Antimatter

Member
Hopeford said:
I mean yeah, but that's all extra content we got from him later. In the movie, it's just this one guy who shows up and yells "TRAITOR" then goes 1-on-1 against a lightsaber. It looked *awesome.* It was my favorite moment of the movie.

Meanwhile, Phasma has this...I don't know how to explain it, just everything about her seems like a manufactured attempt at making her a fan favorite. It's like they are trying to forcibly make her a breakout character, which to me sorta makes it not really work.

It sorta felt like when the WWE tries to push someone as an underdog character, 'is what I'm trying to get at.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. They obviously bet the farm merchandise/toy wise that Phasma, Kylo, and Poe would be the breakout characters.

While poe was fun, it was Rey and Finn, you know the main characters, who stole the show.

It was a massive fark up, and it doesn't appear that they are making the same mistake again.
 
SofNasciment-

SofNasciment-

Member
I always thought their aim with Phasma is exactly what happened with the traitor-shouting dude. A character that appears little but is widely remembered. If that was the case, they failed big time.

But I'm curious, what is the explanation for her sabotage of the First Order base?
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
SofNasciment- said:
I always thought their aim with Phasma is exactly what happened with the traitor-shouting dude. A character that appears little but is widely remembered. If that was the case, they failed big time.

But I'm curious, what is the explanation for her sabotage of the First Order base?
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She doesn't give a fuck about the first order's 'mission', and likely doesn't care at all about anyone else in it. She is part of it because her entire life before the first order boiled down to 2 things: violence and survival. Almost everyone she'd ever met she had to be violent to protect and then they let her down, eventually hardening her. She shouts at another character "Your loyalty is DISGUSTING" as she is stabbing the fuck out of them, and when called a monster she does not deny it, instead saying that everyone is a monster.
 
S

Snaku

Banned
MadLaughter said:
She doesn't give a fuck about the first order's 'mission', and likely doesn't care at all about anyone else in it. She is part of it because her entire life before the first order boiled down to 2 things: violence and survival. Almost everyone she'd ever met she had to be violent to protect and then they let her down, eventually hardening her. She shouts at another character "Your loyalty is DISGUSTING" as she is stabbing the fuck out of them, and when called a monster she does not deny it, instead saying that everyone is a monster.
Click to expand...

And she murders her entire family to survive. Even murders her niece, who was training to become a FO Stormtrooper, to cover up her crimes.
 
A

aly

Member
Eh I read it and wasn't impressed. I'm just not feeling whatever they are trying to make her. Also it was mostly boring imo.
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
Snaku said:
And she murders her entire family to survive. Even murders her niece, who was training to become a FO Stormtrooper, to cover up her crimes.
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Later chapter character death spoilers about how few fucks she gives
she literally wears the extracted nutrients/essence of her dead parents as facepaint for a little bit
 
J

Jeff Albertson

Member
I think they have plans for her, based on nothing but the fact she leads stormtroopers on a march through Hollywood Studios 4 times a day at Disneyworld.

And the costume is awesome
 
SofNasciment-

SofNasciment-

Member
MadLaughter said:
She doesn't give a fuck about the first order's 'mission', and likely doesn't care at all about anyone else in it. She is part of it because her entire life before the first order boiled down to 2 things: violence and survival. Almost everyone she'd ever met she had to be violent to protect and then they let her down, eventually hardening her. She shouts at another character "Your loyalty is DISGUSTING" as she is stabbing the fuck out of them, and when called a monster she does not deny it, instead saying that everyone is a monster.
Click to expand...

So basically for her survival > anything? That's an interesting explanation actually.
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
SofNasciment- said:
So basically for her survival > anything? That's an interesting explanation actually.
Click to expand...

Its that, but there's something else that must keep her from taking some cash and just retiring to an easy life somewhere. I think that she has only ever known violence, violence has always worked for her. She comes from so little that I think anytime she sees something better than she has she knows it's going to be hers, one way or another. It's represented by the envy that's implied the first time she sees a storm trooper. She's like a hermit crab upgrading shells if that hermit crab liked to behead the other crabs.
 
SofNasciment-

SofNasciment-

Member
MadLaughter said:
Its that, but there's something else that must keep her from taking some cash and just retiring to an easy life somewhere. I think that she has only ever known violence, violence has always worked for her. She comes from so little that I think anytime she sees something better than she has she knows it's going to be hers, one way or another. It's represented by the envy that's implied the first time she sees a storm trooper. She's like a hermit crab upgrading shells if that hermit crab liked to behead the other crabs.
Click to expand...

Gratitude for the answers, dude.
 
G

golem

Member
Thanks OP, fell off the new Star Wars fiction reading wagon for a bit since most of it turned out damn bland but this sounds good.
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
For me the implications and end results were the highlight, and I thought it was a cool character study with a neat framing device. I listened to the audiobook which might have smoothed over less exciting parts? It has pretty good production values, too.
 
A

a916

Member
I came into this thread... went to Amazon to order... thought about it for a second... then grabbed the new Claudia Grey book, Leia, Princess of Alderaan.

Will have to grab this as well from the sounds of it.
 
C

CS_Dan

Member
sphagnum said:
I would imagine that if
Cardinal survived he would have told the Resistance about SKB. I'm sure he would have known about it since he was Hux's bodyguard and was equal in rank to Phasma.
Click to expand...
Cardinal was
kept mainly to training up kids by the sounds of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was kept out of the loop about SKB, especially once Phasma stole his thunder.
 
U

Unit 33

Member
CS_Dan said:
Cardinal was
kept mainly to training up kids by the sounds of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was kept out of the loop about SKB, especially once Phasma stole his thunder.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it seemed like he was kept out of any decision making, and his own limited role in teaching the youngest 'recruits' had slipped drastically since Phasma arrived.
Hux Junior said that Cardinal was pretty much a moron, and it says a lot that he had only recently become suspicious about Hux Senior's obviously suspicious death.
I think he mentions that he pretty much spends his entire time on that one Star Destroyer too.
 
C

CS_Dan

Member
Unit 33 said:
Yeah, it seemed like he was kept out of any decision making, and his own limited role in teaching the youngest 'recruits' had slipped drastically since Phasma arrived.
Hux Junior said that Cardinal was pretty much a moron, and it says a lot that he had only recently become suspicious about Hux Senior's obviously suspicious death.
I think he mentions that he pretty much spends his entire time on that one Star Destroyer too.
Click to expand...
I wonder if we'll see him in Filoni's next project. Seems to fit the same role as Kallus in Rebels.
 
U

Unit 33

Member
CS_Dan said:
I wonder if we'll see him in Filoni's next project. Seems to fit the same role as Kallus in Rebels.
Click to expand...
I have been thinking along a similar line, since a lot of the new canon books have introduced characters whose stories are as of yet unfinished, like Hazram Namir from Twilight Company... or folks from Aftermath
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
I'm not going to read the whole thread until I'm done with the book. I'm 9 chapters in and it's decent so far. The 3rd-person account of Phasma's past creates a certain distance from her character. Up to chapter 10 there's only been one clear example of how ruthless she is. We can infer how she thinks and feels but it's not explored in depth.

The torture is lightweight stuff compared to my favorite Star Wars book, Traitor. That's perfectly fine for the character dynamics at play, though, while the book is aiming to establish Phasma's origin story.

I hope this gets darker and more personal soon.

Haloid1177 said:
If I remember correctly they did a casting change last minute and that's why her screen time is so limited. I have faith she'll be used correctly in TLJ.
Click to expand...
I sure hope so. I'd like to see the casting pay off. Gwendoline Christie is perfect for the role.
 
S

sphagnum

Banned
CS_Dan said:
Cardinal was
kept mainly to training up kids by the sounds of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was kept out of the loop about SKB, especially once Phasma stole his thunder.
Click to expand...

He was in charge of all training prior to Phasma arriving though.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
This book is maybe the oddest entry into EITHER version of the EU I think I've read. It just doesn't feel like a Star Wars book at all.

I like that.
 
S

sphagnum

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
This book is maybe the oddest entry into EITHER version of the EU I think I've read. It just doesn't feel like a Star Wars book at all.

I like that.
Click to expand...

The Crystal Star.

edit: In terms of it as literature, as a book itself though, I think you might be right. It's very distinct.
 
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