MEC Troopers: My explanation

I doubt anyone on Earth cares about this subject- But I do!  This is my attempt to explain the MEC Trooper.

MEC Troopers are one of those incredibly obscure pieces of SW lore.  They only appeared in Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Elite Squadron.  As in-game classes their status as a canon organization is automatically dubious.  To add to this MECs have basically no information on them and go unreferenced outside of the Battlefront games.  Of course, I had to attempt an explanation to this mystery.
        Due to the customization system in these games we can't be too sure what their armor looked like.  The only constant in their varying appearance is something rather defining; This being their odd size.  They are noticeably larger than their counterparts.  There has been two different types of oversized Clone Troopers; The first is genetically enhanced troopers.

ARC Troopers were genetically modified humans.  They were noticeably larger and bulkier than the default Fett clone.  This modification was utilized in the Alpha class ARCs and used even more noticeably with the Null class.  However, no clones outside of special forces have been known to be genetically enhanced.  MECs appear to be infantry level so the idea of genetic modification seems unlikely.  With this knowledge it can be assumed MECs belong with the second possibility; Clones wearing exo-suits.

Exo suits have been used by Clones before, most notably the  Deep Space Zero G suit.  However, one particular unit strikes me as very similar to the MEC.  If you haven't guessed it yet, it's the Blaze Trooper.

Blaze Troopers are Clone Troopers wearing heavy exo-suits.  Blaze Troopers have the distinction of carrying large flamethrowers on their right arm.  Flamethrowers, are useless against droids, however, so I assume the weapon can be replaced with something more practical.  Anyway, these troopers are quite large and fight alongside infantry.  If I were to guess, MEC would refer to all mechanically enhanced troopers, Blaze Troopers being one mere variant.

        One fellow on Wookieepedia suggested that 'MEC' could mean 'Mechanically Enhanced Clone'.  I think this fits the idea nicely.  MEC Troopers have the potential to be an important aspect of the GAR.  Of the exo-suit wearing troopers it'd be nice to unite them all under an umbrella term.

Let's Get This Straight: Shadow Troopers

Shadow Troopers are another convoluted piece of Star Wars lore.  Also known as Shadow Stormtroopers and informally referred to as Blackhole Stormtroopers, these soldiers are the premier special forces of the Empire's Military Intelligence.  Let's get into this tricky topic.

Shadow Troopers are a very old concept.  They first appeared in the 1979 comic strip series, Gambler's World.  In this story Shadow Troopers were the personal agents of the mysterious character, Blackhole.  They were rooted deep into the Imperial areas of spycraft and surveillance.  In a few scenes they were rather competent, being some of the few troopers to actually defeat Luke and Leia (Albeit briefly.).  Their blend of special tactics and black armor would set a precedent for later elite units.

Years later a similar unit would appear in Dark Empire.  These troopers were known as Darktroopers and wore identical armor.  Were they the same?  Who's to tell?
        Crimson Empire followed Dark Empire.  Shadow Troopers made a clear appearance in this series.  In the comic a unit of these troopers are the personal guards of the current Emperor.  Despite their relocated position they are functionally identical to the Shadow Troopers of the 70's.  If anything, Crimson Empire shows that Shadow Troopers are no match for a Royal Guard.

You see this was the original interpretation of the Shadow Trooper.  Later sources would say Shadow Troopers were nothing more than the marines from Blackhole's star destroyer, given fancy armor.  I said it would get convoluted; Let's get into that!
        Long after these initial appearances the origin of Shadow Troopers would be called into question.  Behold the Clone Wars-era Shadow Trooper!

Shadow Troopers now originated during the Clone Wars.  This goes against the idea of them being former marines.  Shadow Troopers would go on to survive through the Clone Wars and the following Dark Times, making an appearance in The Force Unleashed.  

        Some people have decided to consider the two interpretations separate entities.  My rebuttal is simple; If they look like Shadow Troopers, if they act like Shadow Troopers, if they share the same spot in the ORBAT, and finally if they have the same name, they're the same freaking thing!  

        I basically explained the out-of-universe history of the group.  Now I'd like to explain what I've gathered on their in-universe history.

         Republic Intelligence was an important asset during the Clone Wars.  Special Forces was an essential part of their organization.  For the majority of the Clone Wars, Intel relied on Covert-Ops Troopers.  These troopers were lower in skill than their counterparts in the Special Operations Brigade.  By the last months of the war Director Armand Isard decided to give Intel SpecForce a rebrand.  This new unit was the iconic Shadow Troopers.
        They specialized in infiltration, espionage and target extraction to name a few.  Shadow Troopers were known for a more delicate touch which set them apart from some of their rival units.  Black was a paint job sometimes used by Republic Commandos.  This was merely a personal modification, and was unsupported by the military (With Commandos having to make do with white jetpacks!).  Shadow Troopers colors were quite official and would go on to be the standard for special forces.  These troopers had a great deal of armor and modifications available to them.

The original Shadow Troopers wore a special variant of the standard armor.  This particular suit was laced with durasteel fibers.  This made their armor much stronger than the regular kit and also gave them a greyish appearance.  Sometime after the beginning of the Rebellion Shadow Troopers received an upgrade.  This new armor was made with a stygian triprismatic polymer, which itself was a harder form of duraplast (The material Clone Commandos were known for using.).  Besides the obvious durability it provided, it also enhanced the trooper's stealth and provided them the infamous black appearance.  This stealth boost was itself aiding the Shadow Troopers most famous gadget, the Cloaking Device.  Indeed they were known for their ability to rapidly turn invisible.  

        Shadow Troopers were Intel agents through-and-through as well as being stormtroopers.  They were known to carry Spyeye Drones with them and had the clearance to divert local spies and security streams to their operation.  Shadow Troopers reported directly to the Director of Intelligence, originally Armand Isard.  They were one of the more mysterious units in Intelligence and were sometimes paired with Inquisitors.  When Isard was removed from his position, a mysterious agent named Blackhole became the Acting Director.  During Blackhole's breif reign the organization was put to great use, nearly capturing Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.  It was during this series of counter-terrorism operations that the troopers earned their nickname, Blackhole Troopers.  

Shadow Troopers survived until the end of the original Empire, at least.  In those last days they served as the personal unit of Sovereign Protector-turned-Emperor, Carnor Jax.  A squad was known to accompany him as personal guards.  Unfortunately all of these troopers and Jax himself were assassinated by rogue Royal Guardsmen, Kir Kanos.  This act crumbled the Empire and, shortly after, the organization ceased to exist.  

Later the Empire would be revived, though it is unknown if Shadow Troopers ever made it into the New Empire.  Black-armored special forces were still the standard, so their legacy lived on, at least.

LITREP: Lando

I had heard good things about Marvel's 'Lando' miniseries and I was bored so I decided to pick it up.

-NON SPOILER SEGMENT-

So first off the art wasn't that great.  I love the art of Legacy Volume 2, and Lando's art is quite similar, but it lacks the stylish coloring and is generally worse in every way.  The story was pretty good honestly.  I have a buncha nitpicks, but overall it worked rather well.  Lando was Lando, but the book featured several new characters who were decent.  The best character in my opinion was Lobot.  I didn't expect to see him, but he was quite terrific.  The story is rather short, but it succeeds within the time it's given.  

        I'd give it a 7/10; It was mostly good, and while it didn't quite appeal to me I can see why people would like it.

-SPOILER SEGMENT-

Now I get to complain, since most of my complaints are spoilery.  

        So it seems Disney is progressive in so many ways.  However when it comes to Imperials you'd think these characters came from the seventies.  Disney just can't seem to write an Imperial character who isn't a defector or a mustache-twirler.  Alas Timothy Zahn wasn't just ahead of his time- He was ahead of this time too, apparently.  There is a Moff who appears in this comic; Morally interesting Moffs are an endangered species.  Turns out this Moff was just another villainous type.  [sigh]

        Lobot was great.  His original backstory was he was a criminal who was turned into an organic computer as punishment for his crimes.  I honestly prefered this depiction.  His "death" was really quite touching.  It reminded me a lot of Kane Starkiller's sacrifice.  It must be said, however, that the idea of a cybernetic implant that is such a detriment to the user was very stupid.  Who designed that thing?

        Korin was literally just Professor Gryphomarn.  The panther twins offered nothing really.  They turned evil because they look scary, I guess.  You see I've never been a fan of the Dark Side being an external force of corruption.  I've always prefered internal darkness.  Seeing two otherwise good individuals suddenly possessed was jarring and weird.  

        Channath Cha was interesting.  At first she seemed like another boring Boba Fett clone, but the twist where she was Lando's former lover and helped them escape was great and surprising.  What bugged me was that the Emperor would even use a bounty hunter.  Why not use special forces, a Sovereign Protector or a Hand?  Palpatine commanded the entire Empire; There is no reason he would ever need the service of bounty hunters.

Anyway I thought the book was objectively good.  Didn't really appeal to me, but it was still okay.

LITREP: Jedi Search by Kevin J Anderson

-NON SPOILER SEGMENT-

Having just finished the Thrawn Trilogy I had high expectations for Jedi Search.  The trilogy by Timothy Zahn was great in many aspects and set an automatic watermark for future stories.  So, does Jedi Search compare?  I say no, it doesn't.  

       That's not to say it's terrible.  The book is okay.  I'd even say the climax was very good.  Still, that doesn't save the rest of the book.  Throughout the first two thirds I was incredibly bored.  Several plots would go absolutely nowhere while the main plot was stagnant.  The book introduces few new characters; Of them I only really liked one.
        I feel most of the book could have easily been cut out.  It accomplishes little and seems to merely set up more interesting stories.  Would I recommend it?  Eh, I'm split on it.  On one hand, most of the book is tedious.  However the ending kind of payed off for me.  

         Regardless of quality it does seem like important lore.  If you're really interested in progressing through the books like me, it wouldn't hurt to pick this one up.  It's short and has enough fun.  If you're really interested in Luke's Jedi Order then I'd highly recommend it for that reason alone.  

        Anyway, I'd give it a 6.5/10.  Despite procrastination it gets the job done in the end.  It may appeal to some, but might not be so much fun for others.  If you're just a casual fan, this book may seem like a waste of time.  However, if you're like me it will be interesting as it does contain some important plot points in the overall timeline.  

-SPOILER SEGMENT- 

        As I said earlier, many plots go nowhere.  Lando's plot in the beginning ends with nothing, only to be brought back in the end for a relatively pointless scene.  Luke's adventure will have future relevance, but within the book, it has nothing to do with the main story.  He finds two Jedi candidates and then leaves them behind for the rest of the book to join the real story.  Han and Chewie are really the center of the story, though their plot is extremely slow until they escape Kessel.  The diplomatic talks with the Caridans was a dead end, and so on.
        Back to the Caridans, how would assaulting the Chief of State not be an act of war?  The delegation just seems to leave without consequence.  How was Carida independent in the first place?  You'd think a stronghold allying itself with the Empire would be an immediate target.
        I guess it personally bothered me that there were no Imperials besides the Caridans until over halfway through the book.  In Heir To The Empire you meet Thrawn and his fleet immediately.  Part of the reason Jedi Search was so boring was because there was no clear villain for the majority of the book.
        Alas, Natasi Daala, the main villain, was really nothing interesting.  She was the most cliched evil Imperial I've seen in awhile.  You would think that after Thrawn there would be more interesting villains, but Daala was the same boring, authoritarian mustache-twirler we've seen so many times.  Also the idea of Tarkin being in a relationship with a cadet was extremely disturbing to say the least.
        I didn't find Kyp Durron really interesting at all.  I understand he was trained in Jedi powers, but how was he able to fly ships so well?  Even Han was a bit confused by the Sun Crusher's controls, but Kyp somehow handled it fine.  Remember, he lived in the spice mines since he was eight.  I highly doubt an eight year-old would receive pilot training anywhere.
        On a positive note I really liked Qwi Xux.  She was easily my favorite part of the book.  Blue Imperials are the best Imperials, apparently.  Her story was very similar to Finn's in The Force Awakens; I'll compare the two in my next article.
        The Maw was a very cool concept.  I hope to see it in the later books.  I liked how the researchers were lied to about the products they were designing.  It proves that Imperials are often good people who wouldn't just blow up a planet.

        The Sun Crusher was another cool idea.  Endless Imperial WMDs is a bit annoying but at least this one brings something new to the table.  The Sun Crusher does seem to go against the Imperial Military Doctrine; From Tarkin to Palpatine it was all about projecting force.  The Sun Crusher seems more like something Thrawn would commission.  Something to ponder I guess.  

        Moruth Doole was disturbing.  To balance this out he was also an idiot.  A shame he never dies in the book.

        One thing that kind of bugged me was how Lando sent Tymmo back to his imprisonment.  I just kind of expect the heroes to make moral choices, though this one seemed rather cruel to me.  Even worse Lando gets rich from this injustice. 

        Speaking of bugs, the scene in the mines with the spiders was really well-done and terrifying.  Han being able to see all the heated objects but the spiders being cold, and thus invisible was truly smart.  

        Daala's original strategy was a bit dubious; Even the Alliance Core Fleet had more mass.  Still, after losing the Sun Crusher the admiral should have really formed a new plan; Joining forces with the Pentastar Alignment, perhaps.  Regardless, 3 destroyers is absolutely insufficient for a guerilla campaign.

        As I stressed prior the finale was really great.  The heroes escaping with Qwi was really exciting.  The final confrontation above Kessel neatly wrapped things up.  Plus seeing Han and Chewie reunited with everyone else was quite touching.  

Anyway, I thought the book was okay.  Definitely not one of the better books I've read.  I sure hope the next book is more exciting!