Oooooh, now I have Comic Con envy. That cover is waaaay spiffier. And since Dawson wrote the Phasma novel and may therefor have been privy to insider Phasma info, I'm going to kick up my hoping against hope a notch or two. Aside from wanting more Phasma in my Star Wars (she could be such an awesome villain if they'd just let her cut loose!), Gwendoline Christie is a human ray of sunshine and I pretty much want ALL THE THINGS for her.

Ahhh, the Star Wars panel was pretty amazing there, I have to say. Multiple Star Wars book writers, including Dawson, Kevin Hearne, E.K. Johnston, Chuck Wendig, plus an amazing guy from ILM. They can’t say everything they know at those panels but it was so interesting.
**Because my cheeky child was with me, Delilah signed my copy of Phasma to HIM, not me!!!!

Yeah, I've watched interviews with Claudia Gray and Christie Golden, and every time they got asked a question they weren't allowed to answer, they got this half-smug, half-tortured look on their face like, "I know something you don't know! And I want to spill the beans but I caaaaaan't!" Claudia Gray is especially cute when she does this. She's a huge Star Wars nerd. (I love her so much!)

Tell your cheeky child to be careful. Getting your book autographed to HIM is sneaky dark side stuff. That's a slippery slope. ;)

I heard/read somewhere (can't remember) that Poe was originally supposed to die in Force Awakens. He wasn't supposed to make it out of that tie fighter crash or something. Now it sort of feels like they don't really know what to do with this character they saved, so we got . . . this.

I read that too, Considering how much hero worship he has of Leai, it seemed unlikely that he wouldn't know Holdo's rep at least, how easy it would have been to give him, Finn, and rose some type of delay the bad guy mission or something. And that whole bit about him and Rey introducing each other was stupid. Like that wouldn't have happened when they were both checking on Finn. There was so much I loved about Jedi. But there was so much that was like "that is bad/lazy/stupid story telling"

Yep. In the book, watching him talk himself out of trusting Holdo *in spite* of knowing her reputation and acknowledging that Leia trusts her and knowing that Leia's trust is not easily earned . . . Man, the mental gymnastics are really something. I think I get what the filmmakers were trying to do, but surely they could have done it better.

So the book makes him even more sexist? Wow.

His reasoning is along the lines of Leia trusts Holdo, but Leia trusts him too, and Holdo's methods are killing morale, so now is the time for brash heroes instead of letting cooler heads prevail. It's baffling and nonsensical, but not outright "Sit tight, little lady. Let the menfolk handle it." So I'd say the book makes him more stupid and blinded by his own ego, but not more sexist, though the result is essentially the same. (By which I mean the sexism isn't exaggerated, but it's not tempered either, and I'm not sure I'm making sense, it's early and my brain hasn't switched on yet.)

You're making sense. I liked him in FA, but I wanted him to be shot (and not stunned) in Jedi.

Ditto.

Maybe THAT’s why I wasn’t buying the fact that he survived that crash...!

I can understand why the change though. I mean, eye candy.

Kat: My impression of how The Force Awakens novelization explains how he got out alive is that it requires a whole lot of suspension of disbelief, even in a universe where we've already accepted any number of Star Wars absurdities. I am REALLY glad none of those scenes made it into the movie, even though the total lack of explanation there is glaring.

Chris: He is very, very pretty. I still want him shot, though. Just not in the face. ;)