Thanks for the kind words, guys. I think they've come along nicely. I need a new walking stick for the Cerean (that's a hobby file he's holding right now, and as much as I like it as his walking stick, I need that file back)

I have decided on a few names:

Nautolan - Pyt Sek
Isolationist political activist banished from his home long ago for attacking Republic officials he considered to be imperial occupiers of his home world. In the scuffle that resulted in his banishment, Pyt lost the use of his left eye. He refuses to patch his ghastly wounds, opting to display his scars as evidence of Republic corruption.

Cerean - Cezlu (pronounced "say-LOO") Jes
Religious leader who professes to commune directly with the Force as one would communicate with another living being. In other words, he speaks aloud to the Force and claims to get regular responses which he perceives as spoken word. Cezlu lacks any power to use the Force. He was banished from his home for alleging that leaders were too deferential to the warlords of the Republic and the equally corrupt Jedi Council.

Unknown alien - Ezo Ezu ("Ezz")
Origins unknown. Ezz speaks little of any language that Pyt or Cezlu understand, but he has been a reliable ally who seems to be very skittish of any form of authority figure. That's all Cezlu and Pyt require of him...

These exiles left their homeworlds and resolved to seek a new home on the Outer Rim where they could be free of any and all government entanglements.

Their plans brought them to the very edge of the civilized galaxy, but had they outrun the devastating reach of the Clone Wars?

Sweet! I *never* felt like the Imperial Troop Transport was much of a vehicle, but for some reason it fits with the Clone Wars look. I really like the look of this thing.

Rykrof Enloe (battle gear)

I am *floored*. Absolutely floored. This is quite possibly your coolest all 'round custom yet, CHEWIE. I don't know if it's because I'm such a fan of the series or what, but this just screams cool to me. Seems like he could pull on a helmet if he wanted, but he certainly doesn't need one. I'm trying to think of a suggestion to improve him (maybe having a helmet *available*?), but really can't think of anything that would materially improve on the custom.

Bravo, sir.

For the Trench Trooper, I really like adding the cloak here instead of the pauldron. I also appreciate that you didn't get too fancy with the deco on the clone - it looks like it's a straight weathering job on a red commander, and I like that (my beaten up red commander is honestly one of my favorite figures, and he took almost no time)

The thing I probably would change would be to lose the visor. I know it's a kick-butt accessory and all, but I don't think every Clone who could carry one would. If you want to keep it, perhaps recolor it to make it stand out a little? Right now it looks too clean - like it's minty fresh while the rest of the Clone has seen some action. That may be intentional (everything is new at some point), but I think that if you're going to keep it, it would compliment the overall figure even more to address it with some weathering or color.

The group shot of R.E. players is nice to see. I'd personally like to see you add "credits" to your chapters where we get solo shots - outside the novel context - of each of the characters as they appear in the novel. A clean, unshadowed group shot would work too - a sort of curtain call that acknowledges the inclusion of customs in the PN. Just a thought I've had for my own PN that this pic reminded me of.

Nice work as always.

Wow. Guys, I really didn't mean to precipitate a big thing here... I was just sayin'...

Now go look at my update and give me some ideas! Let's get back to business!

S_A_Longhorn -

I've already said so elsewhere, but your PN is excellent. Here are my previous comments, repeated here for the sake of discussion:

"BRAVO, S_A_Longhorn!

I really like the pacing... discovering bodies as Secura's squad moves through the zone was a nice way to move the story along, and having the fate and present condition of the bodies go from bad to worse set the stage for discovering that the worst was true. Using Secura as a channel to see into the past was another brilliant touch. It incorporated a ton of action into that chapter without making the whole chapter about action sequences.

I like how you have your squad working together and complimenting one another. I like how Bly handled Secura's breakdown by shoring up his troops and handing out orders.

I've really enjoyed your work in the past, but Chapter 10 takes the cake IMO.

Chapter 11 is also solid, but for other reasons. You've done a good job of working in Grievous in a believable way. His temper with his droid crew and his distaste for Neimoidians works well. There was one typo - "buy" instead of "but" - but otherwise the scripting is very solid.

Congrats on a very fine update. Can't wait to see more.

(As for) Ch. 12, I think you should have written the dialogue for Episode 2 and 3... your is better than what we got. I'm not real sure about Dooku and two battle droids waltzing into a Senator's apartment on Coruscant, but I'm willing to go with the flow.

You have some very nice shots of the beginning of a fight... I'll be interested to see how it ends.

Another strong chapter."

Hey, losing the occassional vote is part of the process 

On with the update!

Owen -

I think you have a valid point, but the question for me is one of time and personal investment. I see serious problems with the tone of the boards at RS with little understanding or respect for the work that is actually posted. I've always had good luck with comments on my work, so it's not even about me. It's just that I feel like (and this is going to sound so awful) the folks over there aren't worth my taking the extra time to post my stuff and to reciprocate with the kinds of comments I like to leave. I try to put some thought into comments I leave and hopefully add to the conversation, but that's not a value of that board 80% of the time. I feel like JD has that value at its core.

If I thought slapping down the NooBs would help, I'd go after 'em. Aside from the time required to do that kind of housekeeping, I don't think it will change much. I think part of the problem there is the fact that RS is a central hub for so much SW conversation, it tends to net the good with the bad. Right now you kinda have to discover JD's custom forum through interest in the hobby, so RS filters a lot of the dregs before they get here...

I don't know. My patience is just exhausted. The dioramas section, though, is still quite good.

I certainly didn't mean to lead a revolt by my initial post. It was more a courtesy to the fine folks here to let them know what was up with me...