Jab’s Builds! (Whomp 'Em! Plumbers Don't Wear Ties! ToeJam & Earl!)

[Ares]

Okay, catch up time.

Han Solo and Chewbacca are perfect additions to Star Wars and iconic to the setting for a reason. Through them we get to see the "outlaw" archetype, the guys who don't work for the bad guys but aren't exactly good guys either. Han Solo is a cynic who thinks he's seen everything, and has largely resigned himself to just trying to look out for himself and Chewie. Like he told Leia, he wasn't in this for her revolution, he was in it for the money. This was showcased perfectly in his encounter with Greedo where Han shoots him under the table in a literal underhanded move, but one we can hardly blame him for since Greedo was there to waste him as well.

Han Solo is also about as "evil" as I generally prefer my player characters. Even at his worst, his most selfish, Han is still a decent person underneath all of the cynicism. He doesn't really believe int he Rebellion, but he believes in people, and people he can count on are worth risking his life for. He might leave to go his own way . . . but he'll come back to do the right thing.

Han gets a nice character arc, going from the smuggler who wouldn't put his neck out for anything but money to someone who would risk his life for his friends, and then risk his life for a cause he could believe in. You get that sense of Han being a disillusioned guy who had initially wanted something to believe in, but was burned one time too many and had resigned himself to the galaxy being cruel, unfair and the only way to survive was to look out for himself. So when he bonds with Luke and Leia, almost against his will he gets dragged into a cause he can legitimately believe in again, and becomes a hero.

Chewie likewise is brilliant, having a sidekick who is this giant bear alien with super strength, incredible mechanical skills, and a giant frickin crossbow blaster. He perfectly showcased the weird and wonderful nature of Star Wars, where the first mate of a ship could be something truly unique and alien.

I think Solo gets a bad rap, being merely "okay" as opposed to bad or good. I liked elements of it, and enjoyed it way more than any of the Sequel Trilogy, with it likely being the second best Disney Star Wars film after Rogue One. It's weakness is that it tried to cram too much of Han's backstory into a single movie, basically trying to fit every reference Han made to his past in the original trilogy into one film, which is just too much. It also fell victim to what happens so often to Conan movies, where they try to give the character this long, epic backstory when the origin for guys like Conan and Han isn't important. They're both just guys that decided to go out and grab destiny by the balls, and wound up becoming super important thanks to a combo of luck and their own abilities.

For me, a Han Solo movie should simply shown Han as an Imperial TIE pilot, working on a Star Destroyer. Chewie is being used for slave labor, which Han clearly doesn't approve of. Han decides to help Chewie escape, telling him they'll be next to a planet he can lie low at, and Han will help him get to an Escape Pod. On the way they're discovered, and the officer assumes Han has captured an escaped slave, and since Chewie has been so much trouble, decides to execute the Wookie then and there. Han has the option to just let them kill Chewie and go back to his military career . . . but instead stuns the officers present and both he and Chewie make a break for it, escaping to the planet in the pod which Chewie manages to rig in a way to not show any life signs. Han introduces himself, Chewie does likewise, and swears a life dept to Han.

Then we get the credits, and we time jump several years later, and we have just some random adventure Han had been on before his time with the Rebellion. Use the film to flesh out the galaxy, show some of the criminal elements, throw in some bounty hunters, etc. Make the Han Solo films more like the Indiana Jones movies where it was just the random adventures of Han Solo.

Little sidenote about the gear, but the extended universe tried to explain why Han and Chewie were so good at killing Stormtrooers. Chewie's bowcaster was suppose to be so powerful that you needed Wookie-level strength to use it accurately, and otherwise humans would get injured by the recoil. Chirrut Imwe's weapon in Rogue One was suppose to have the equivalent power of a bowcaster, but in order to lessen the recoil it had to be turned into a long, staff-like, single shot weapon. Likewise, Han's blaster was suppose to be an illegally modified and overpowered gun unavailable to civilians, specifically designed to blow through armor.

The Millennium Falcon is just an amazingly iconic ship, definitely THE flagship . . . well, ship of the Star Wars setting, with the X-Wing barely beaten out for second place. It's got such a unique look, being the perfect ship for a smuggler: large enough for hauling cargo and living comfortably in, but small enough to function as a starfighter. It's just so different from any other spaceship you're likely to see that it looks amazing.

Lando as a character is a nice addition to the heroes, and I loved that the Thrawn books brought Lando back as a central hero for the series. The neat bit of backstory about being a former criminal, gambler, smuggler and con-man that Han won the Falcon from gave them an instant connection, and you got the feeling that Han liked Lando but didn't really trust him when they meet up. You also feel for Lando when he reveals to have betrayed Han to the Empire, because he's clearly doing it against his will and feels terrible about it. And really, as someone who an entire city depended on, Lando really made the only choice he could at the time. We get to see Lando behind the scenes trying to make the best of a bad situation, so when Lando turns on the Empire, we believe it and cheer. Unfortunately, Leia and Chewie DIDN'T see that, so we see Lando almost get killed for his perceived betrayal.

Lando and Han have similar character arcs, only with Lando, he learned about responsibility from being in charge of other people, whereas Han learned to believe in a cause thanks to his friends. Through Lando we get to see someone who managed to become a legitimate businessman, only for the Empire to come in and push him around, showing how the Empire's tyranny doesn't stop with Rebel sympathizers. Both Han and Lando were in comfortable positions, but encountering good people fighting the Empire force them out of their comfort zones and into the roles of heroes.

sfDebris had a great line during Return of the Jedi where Lando is leading the charge against the Second Death Star. When it's revealed the Death Star's planet killer is working, Admiral Ackbar wants to retreat, but Lando refuses, confident Han will come through if they just give him enough time. "Lando Calrissian, a gambler and a con man, now makes the largest gamble of his life, choosing to bet the fate of the galaxy on his faith in his friends."

I love me some classic Star Wars, let me tell you.

Lando and Leia are the main reasons why a lot of the people screeching about representation in Star Wars always falls flat to me. The dislike for Ray and Finn had nothing to do with their gender or their race, because we'd had a strong female character from the very first film and a non-white hero since the second film. And we got more of the same in the Prequels. They weren't breaking any new ground there.

[Jabroniville]

JAR JAR BINKS
Role: The Most-Hated Character in History, Comic Relief, Bumbling Sidekick
Group Affiliations: The Gungans, The Galactic Senate
PL 5 (45)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+5)
Athletics 4 (+5)
Expertise (Politics) 6 (+6)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+4)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Evasion

Powers:
"Gungan Physiology"
Swimming 4 (8 mph) [4]
Immunity 2 (Drowning, Pressure) [2]

"Clumsy Field of Destruction" Damage 5 (Feats: Variable 2- Any Descriptor) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Uncontrolled) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Clumsy Field +5 Area (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +1, Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Reputation (Buffoon)- Jar Jar tends to screw up, break things, trip over himself, and make fun of others in an obvious way. Few can tolerate him for very long.
Responsibility (Peace on Naboo)- Jar Jar, for all his faults, is focused on peace between the peoples of Naboo.

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 4 (45)

-I think it's pretty safe to say that Jar Jar Binks is the most universally-despised character in the history of Pop Culture- imagine if the hate for Spider-Man's Clone Saga was extended to absolutely every person on Earth, and focused towards THIS guy. THAT's how hated this guy is- he's the Clone Saga of movie characters. While fandoms will always hate certain particular characters (Scrappy-Doo is a good example), none of that extends to the mainstream quite like this weird, quasi-ethnic Gungan. People got their swords out for him pretty much immediately- he had a silly name and was obviously meant to be the Pratfalling Comic Relief, which adults tend to find more tiresome than do children (who were Jar Jar's target audience). And it's too bad- the Star Wars movies got as big as they did in PART because of the young fans that loved them, and it's not like the films haven't always had comic relief in the forms of C-3PO, Chewbacca & Ewoks (who, like Jar Jar, were there for the kids). But Jar Jar? Jar Jar is the perfect example of how NOT to do it.

-Jar Jar, also created to showcase the power of CGI as the only 100% CGI major character in a Hollywood production, made a nuisance of himself immediately, and exists as living proof that George Lucas had lost touch with people. See, he wasn't just Comic Relief- a guy who occasionally gets a pratfall or says something funny- he is literally 100% JOKE, and every time he's on-screen, he's doing something buffoonish. He breaks stuff, sticks his head into electrical fields, trips and falls, and speaks in a ludicrous accent that sounds like a racial caricature of Caribbean black people, and acts like something out of a minstrel show from the '20s (something that would have been easier to blow off if the SAME MOVIE hadn't also given us a Space Jew and two Space Asians). And you CAN'T GET AWAY FROM HIM in the movie! He's just all over the place, screwing up, sticking his tongue out at characters, and being an idiot. Even the people who hated the Ewoks only have to put up with them for like twenty minutes.

-Jar Jar bombed HARD, and was easily the most-hated part of Episode I- maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if this hadn't been the first real Star Wars movie since ROTJ came out in the early '80s. But to have ALL that hype, ALL that importance, and ALL that attention... and then to reveal THIS dipshit? Fans freaked the hell out, and "Jar Jar Sucks!" became a worldwide cry- he became the most-hated part of a movie that also featured Young Anakin "YIPPIEEEEE!" Skywalker as a major character. Lucas himself just completely couldn't figure out what was going on, acting like people wanted everyone to be The Terminator and that they hated childlike things (even saying that the movies were always MEANT for children), but South Park made a pretty good argument- nobody likes something that is 100% pratfalls & goofy speech patterns. It's irritating, especially when important stuff is going on- Shakespeare knew to shuffle these guys out of scene before things got too serious (it's why in Frozen both Sven & Olaf disappear right when Anna's about to freeze solid). This was something that only a 3-year old could enjoy, and here he was mucking up this movie that everyone had been waiting for for YEARS.

-Lucas, to his credit, didn't make TOO much of a stink, and instead buried the character (lesser creators have responded by pushing hated characters HARDER, often having other characters voice these characters' qualities). He's only in a tiny bit of the remaining two Prequels, and he's also responsible for some of the rise of the Empire, so he "gets his" in a metafictional sense.

-Jar Jar Binks is pretty useless (he only beats some Combat Droids by accident), and is a giant coward, but has a sturdy-ish Gungan physiology.

[Ares]

Han and Lando are also a nice comparison in their basic respective skillsets as "scoundrels", showing how you can take that sort of archetype and play it in different ways. I've said it before, but the novel "Scoundrels" by Timothy Zahn is a great showcase of how to run a crime story in Star Wars, and showcases the difference between Han and Lando.

Both men are clever, but Han's skill comes from planning things out, being brave under fire, and being one of the best shots and pilots in the galaxy. I'd say Han, Luke and Wedge are likely similar in piloting skill, and the only one that might surpass them would be Vader. Han isn't really the best when it comes to bluffing, as shown when he tried to talk his way out during the rescue of Princess Leia aboard the first Death Star. "Everything's fine here . . . we're fine . . . how are you?" But he's good at pulling risky maneuvers like flying into an asteroid field, and he's very clever and cunning, like with that escape plan that almost got them away from the Empire scott free . . . if Boba Fett hadn't been just as clever and figured out his plan.

Lando, by contrast, is more of a "face man" archetype. He's an incredibly smooth talker, able gambler and liar, as shown by the way he had Han and Leia completely fooled until Vader made his presence known. Lando is an exceptional pilot and a great shot, but in a criminal scheme, Lando would be the guy doing all of the Bluffing and Fast Talking to get them out of trouble, while Han would be planning an escape and be the one figuring out how to shoot his way out of the scenario.

The Scoundrels novel basically plays that dynamic off to a "t", and it's an incredibly fun read.

[Ares]

Boba Fett is interesting in that he initially got a lot of fan love for being this awesome and mysterious bounty hunter that the extended universe basically turned into the love child of Batman and Iron Man. Then he got a lot of counter fan backlash from people who felt he was overhyped, who got by entirely on his look, and that he was ultimately a jobber with a cool outfit whose fan love vastly outweighed anything he'd actually done.

Me, I love Boba Fett. The look definitely helps, but while he was on screen he did quite a bit to kind of justify his badass cred. Of the bounty hunters, Vader has to single him out for "No disintegrations", which implies Fett's lethality. When three Star Destroyers, a group of Bounty Hunters and Darth Vader himself can't figure out where the Falcon has gone, it's Boba Fett that instantly figures out where they are, figures out where they're going, and gets the Empire there ahead of them. Fett is actually able to talk back to Vader and sass him in the film where Vader is best known for killing anyone who so much as annoys him. Fett then later is shown to pick up on R2 being up to something, and manages to do a decent job of fighting against Luke for their brief skirmish. He loses a weapon but manages to tie Luke up, and it's only because one of Jabba's goons shot him in the back (likely damaging his jetpack) that Luke gets free and Boba is knocked down. And then when Fett gets up and starts tracking Luke with a wrist-mounted blaster, Han's Luck comes into play and he nails the damaged jetpack, sending Fett flying away.

Fett is much like Wedge in that the EU was the perfect place to expand on him and give stories that justified the fan love his presence, look and few accomplishments gave him. There's a reason why Mandalorians in general became so popular, and why the best Disney Star Wars thing out has been a show featuring them.

Jabba is another way to showcase how fun and crazy Star Wars is. Here, the most dangerous crime boss in the Outer Rim territories is a literal giant slug creature who keeps a 16 foot tall giant man eating monster in his palace solely to get rid of people that annoy him. It's awesome.

The Rancor and the Sarlacc are nice little hearkens back to the old pulps where you'd see the heroes threatened by strange, alien giant monsters. They made for interesting threats and set pieces, and gave Star Wars a more awesome feel because of it. I

I've spoken at length about Ewoks before, and how I never had a problem with them. Yeah, they're small, cute and fuzzy. And like chimpanzees, they're stronger than their size would suggest and have been shown to be absolute nightmares in combat. I easiest way I find to get around the cute factor is to picture them as an army of Dwarven Rangers operating in a forest they know like the back of their hand.

[Ares]

Oh Jar Jar Binks. Basically THE reason the Phantom Menace gets the hate it does. And it basically all does boil down to the fact that he was completely useless in the original films. Compare him with, say, 3PO, who had moments of humor but was also incredibly useful and vital to the success of Rebels at times. Jar Jar's biggest help was providing a link to the Gungan civilization, which wound up helping in the final battle of Naboo. I feel bad for the actor who got a lot of hate, a lot of it coming from people talking about what an offensive sterotype he portrayed.

To Lucas's credit, when he realized the hate for Jar Jar, he dialed back the character's appearance, made him less of a bumbling doofus, and had him trying to be a decent senator. To my mind, that did a lot to diffuse some of the hate towards the character, when continuing to push him would have just made the fans angrier. Unfortunately, it resulted in C3PO doing much of the same comedy schtick in Attack of the Clones, which was just as annoying.

And to the Clone Wars animated series credit, it actually did the impossible: They made Jar Jar tolerable. And not just tolerable . . . actually kind of entertaining. They figured out that having a useless comic relief character would get old, so they actually had Jar Jar showcase some usefulness and cleverness. They gave him legit character development, with his time as a Senator forcing him to be braver and more clever, partially because he realized that people considered him a fool and would underestimate him. So he used those perceptions to his advantage and got away with a lot. It's classic Shakespear where the fool is the guy who really knows what's going on, yet is underestimated by everyone else. If THIS was the character we'd gotten the first time around, Jar Jar wouldn't be the most hated pre-Disney Star Wars character.

[Ares]

Something Disney did to try and get younger fans into Star Wars (something I appreciate) was the Galaxy of Adventure animated clips. Usually less than 2 minutes, they were animated clips of the pre-Disney Star Wars setting, and were generally pretty good (the cringy Leia episode notwithstanding).

Some of the better examples, IMO:

01) Jedi vs the Sith
02) Luke Skywalker - Deathstar Run
03) Luke Skywalker - The Wampa Cave
04) Luke vs Vader - Cloud City
05) Luke vs an Imperial Walker
06) Introducing Han Solo
07) Han Solo Returns for his Friends
08) Return of the Jedi - Sail Barge Rescue
09) Darth Vader - Hoth Invasion
10) Darth Vader - Power of the Dark Side

Someone actually stitched several of them together to make a pretty cool anime opening, complete with the first Fullmetal Alchemist intro song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMyysowOjA

[Curbludgeon]

Phantom Menace was the last Star Wars product I had seen until The Mandalorian, which likely colors my perspective. I would disagree with the above stated notion that hatred of Jar Jar can be boiled down to uselessness. While I found the character's bumbling pratfalls to be a fairly hack way to keep the kids engaged, the series up to that point struck me as filled with similar lazy writing. My dislike for the character was almost entirely predicated on the accent. When added to the other stereotypes in spaaace the film dredged up, the series shot past any pretense of homage to adventure serials, through pastiche, and straight to not understanding which parts of the genre one should ape and which should be put aside. It would be akin to a staging of E.R. Burroughs' Barsoom novels focusing on John Carter owning slaves instead of just alluding to it via every other character interaction. The comedian Dan Telfer has a pretty good bit on Binks.

Re: Boba Fett: The recent TV show spends some time talking bout how the beskar armor to which Mandalorians have access is nigh-miraculously resistant to lightsabers. A skim of Wookiepedia seems to back that up, but I'm not in a position to know. If it were, how might one best reflect that in M&M? Would it be ranks of Impervious limited to only lightsabers, or maybe a partial Immunity to some kind of Lightsaber descriptor?

[Ares]

Beskar is resistant to lightsabers, but not completely immune to it. Beskar is basically highly resistant to everything, as blaster shots deflect off of it without damaging it, while lightsabers would basically take repeated hits or extended pressure to cut through it. That could possibly be done as Damage Immunity - Energy Weapons Half Effect or having high levels of Impervious.

[catsi563]

Something Disney did to try and get younger fans into Star Wars (something I appreciate) was the Galaxy of Adventure animated clips. Usually less than 2 minutes, they were animated clips of the pre-Disney Star Wars setting, and were generally pretty good (the cringy Leia episode notwithstanding).

Some of the better examples, IMO:

01) Jedi vs the Sith
02) Luke Skywalker - Deathstar Run
03) Luke Skywalker - The Wampa Cave
04) Luke vs Vader - Cloud City
05) Luke vs an Imperial Walker
06) Introducing Han Solo
07) Han Solo Returns for his Friends
08) Return of the Jedi - Sail Barge Rescue
09) Darth Vader - Hoth Invasion
10) Darth Vader - Power of the Dark Side

Someone actually stitched several of them together to make a pretty cool anime opening, complete with the first Fullmetal Alchemist intro song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMyysowOjA

that's not the only one heres a couple more

Star Wars the Anime Opening 1 [A New Hope] - (Raise Your Flag) By: Man With A Mission

Star Wars - Anime Opening 3 (Return of the Jedi Arc) | "Brave Shine" - Aimer (Fate/stay night OP)

Star Wars Anime Opening - (Naruto Shippuden Opening 16)

[slade the sniper]

As far as Jar Jar goes...I hate him, my wife hates him...but my kids really like him. For all the people who like Ewoks, I think you would have liked Jar Jar if you were a kid when you first saw him.

I think it really comes down to when you see the movies. My kids love the prequels. I am much less enamored, but then I like one movie per trilogy, so...yeah.

Any chance you will do the non-canon Sith Jar Jar as a joke?

-STS

[FuzzyBoots]

There is also the persistent rumor, partly fueled by the guy who did the voice-work and motion capture for Jar-Jar Binks, that they originally intended his foolery to be a cover for his own motivations (sometimes referred to as the "Darth Jar-Jar" theory, which also makes use of how his tendency to succeed almost by accident fits really well for someone operating via the Force), this plan scuttled because of how hated he is. The only remaining bit from that is a deleted scene where Palpatine explains some of his more evil plans and Jar Jar agrees to do his bidding. Personally, I think that runs a little too closely to the "Artoo is the mastermind spy of the Rebellion" theory, and is arguably also a good case of how people in the EU would blow up the importance of background characters.

Incidentally, he did get an epilogue in one of the Disney canon EU books where he's largely penniless and forgotten, but trying to entertain young children in a town square by pratfalling into a fountain, because he can at least spread a little joy in the world to counteract his failures in the Senate.

[Ares]

I think there's a line between "the guy who is less foolish than he appears" and "is actually the Star Wars version of Othello's Iago with Force Powers". I'm also not really a fan of the more mean-spirited things people have set up for Jar Jar, like the idea of him being penniless, or murdered or frozen in carbonite or anything similar. The Clone Wars guys showed that the issues with Jar Jar was largely one of execution, and that with his more annoying things dialed down he's perfectly tolerable.

He's just an overall good-natured guy who means well and is simultaneously clumsy and lucky. You tone down the constant pratfalls and silly comedy and he works fine.

Comparing Jar Jar to the Ewoks doesn't seem apt, since for however cute they might have looked, the Ewoks were actually effective warriors and threats, not sources of endless physical comedy. Hell, they drive home the kind of sacrifice the Ewoks are making when they show one Ewok mourning over the body of a dead friend.

[Jabroniville]

WATTO
Role: Space Jew
Group Affiliations: None
PL 0 (19), PL 3 (19) Defenses
STRENGTH -1 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Deception 4 (+3)
Expertise (Business) 5 (+4)
Insight 2 (+4)
Technology 4 (+5)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Toydarian Physiology"
Immunity 2 (Mind Control) [2]
Flight 1 (Flaws: Hovering, Winged) [0.5]

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +1, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Watto is a shop owner known for being a skinflint, and being
Disabled (Mangled Leg)- Watto suffered an injury in a long-ago war, and can't really walk. Since he hovers all the time, this is a minor thing.

Total: Abilities: 6 / Skills: 15--7.5 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 2.5 / Defenses: 3 (19)

-Of all the problems with the Prequels, perhaps the most-bizarre and inexplicable was their use of RACIAL STEREOTYPES amongst the aliens. Like... I can believe that they came up with some character traits for Jar Binks, and innocently added more and more things until they accidentally came up with someone who acts like a black stereotype from the 1940s. Stuff happens, and you can't always see your own creation from an outside point of view. It's entirely possible, though unlikely (he was a student of film history) that Lucas didn't even recognize the "Shufflin' Incompetent Black Guy" character type he'd created. I could buy that the Trade Federation guys had slit pupils, Asian accents, inscrutable natures, and other stuff added separately, making them just seem like Asian stereotypes. I can even buy that they added a ton of ugly traits and personality quirks to Watto until OH CRAP- they just made themselves a huge stereotype. Stuff happens. But ALL THREE? Like, what the HELL, Lucas??

-So here we have Watto- a short, hunched, hook-nosed, greedy, covetous skinflint with a VERY specific Ethnic-sounding accent. In short, they made a Space Jew. And the backlash was prominent enough that actual Anti-Defamation groups criticized the character. It even appears on his Wikipedia page! And the most bizarre things is... I can't believe they managed to make THREE ETHNIC STEREOTYPES in the same film, completely by accident. SOMEbody must have known what was happening. Did Lucas do it on purpose? I find it hard to believe he dislikes Jews, or that anyone involved in a Hollywood production would think it was cool to make fun of them (Hollywood being... you know). But he's HILARIOUSLY-stereotypical. He's practically a living embodiment of the way Europeans used to make fun of Jews back before that was declared to be "not cool, bro". He's almost like Futurama's Dr. Zoidberg (who, importantly, was created BY Jews specifically to mock one type of person common in their folk tales- the "Schnorrer" archetype of the cheapskate mooch).

-In any case, Watto wasn't really a well-rounded character anyways. He's a junk shop owner who owns Shmi Skywalker and her son Anakin as slaves, and refuses to simply give them up to the Jedi. As his species is conveniently-immune to the Jedi Mind Trick (not that it's ever worked on a named character, ever), they have to formulate the big Podrace Victory in order to by Anakin's freedom (Watto refuses to give up Shmi as well- "NO race is worth TWO slaves!"). Despite being a cheap slave-owner, Watto isn't depicted as being especially unkind, and even seems fond of his property. He's not much of a character physically or mentally.

[FuzzyBoots]

I think there's a line between "the guy who is less foolish than he appears" and "is actually the Star Wars version of Othello's Iago with Force Powers". I'm also not really a fan of the more mean-spirited things people have set up for Jar Jar, like the idea of him being penniless, or murdered or frozen in carbonite or anything similar. The Clone Wars guys showed that the issues with Jar Jar was largely one of execution, and that with his more annoying things dialed down he's perfectly tolerable.

He's just an overall good-natured guy who means well and is simultaneously clumsy and lucky. You tone down the constant pratfalls and silly comedy and he works fine.

He did survive the Empire taking over. From a Mashable article about Star Wars Aftermath: Empire's End:

The conclusion of a trilogy, mostly set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, Empire's End contains plenty of rewards for long-term fans. One of these is an interlude set on the planet of Naboo. A refugee boy named Mapo encounters a Gungan performing for kids on the streets, clowning around in a fountain twice a day while being studiously avoided by the grown-ups.

"Meesa Jar Jar," says the clown when Mapo introduces himself. The clown distracts the orphan from his own sadness by popping his eyes and bulging his cheeks, but is hiding a sadness of his own.

"Jar Jar makin some uh-oh mistakens," the Gungan says, explaining why he isn't wanted anywhere either. "Desa hisen Naboo tink I help the uh-oh Empire." He stares into the distance, suggesting he knows more than he's saying.

GIven how severely people were dealt with for collaboration with our own historical evil empires... this is a degree of relative kindness, just shunning him. And there is a nice parallel to how he's still entertaining the children, and being shunned by adults, much as he was in the prequels by the respective fans.

[L-Space]

Yea, still can't stand Jar Jar. Even if the "Darth Jar Jar" is true (which I don't believe) then it really wasn't handled well. I did like his cameo in Star Wars Aftermath books. Jar Jar is seen on Naboo entertaining a bunch of kids, but all the adults hate/despise him because he's the one who gave Palpatine emergency powers. It reflected real world feelings for him fairly well.