The Story of the Lost Saga
It all began with a couple of LEGO Minifigures, my Mom's old digital camera, and a little bit of creativity. At 15 years old the thing that captured Star Wars for me was the Clone Wars animated TV series. Watching these identical souls that were bred for war transform throughout the series was something so profound. We watch them every moment from fighting with their brothers and battling alongside their Jedi Master. Even I knew what was bound to happen, I had seen Revenge of The Sith years prior. Order 66 is one of the darkest moments in Star Wars and even today I get chills watching it all transpire. You desperately want Anakin to come to his sense, you watch helplessly as your favorite clones turn on their Jedi, and then its over and a new Empire rises from the turmoil. On January 23. 2011 I posted a tiny story title "Order 66 Stories" on the old LEGO enthusiast site MOCpages. Born from the desire to emulate one of my favorite moments in Star Wars, but with a twist from the perspective of totally different heroes. Characters like the Jedi Padawan Carth or Jedi Master Stark. The Lost Saga was their story, and maybe it still is if I ever get around to finishing it. This page here is an opportunity to take a look back at how I made my personal LEGO comic in a universe far, far away . . .
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I was pretty excited and humbled back when I released the Lost Saga on MOCpages and it was one of the more popular posts for the day. Made me feel like at least there is somebody out there who is enjoying my story.
Jedi Master Ranulph Stark
Jedi Master Stark was everything I wanted in a hero. He was always calm and collected regardless of the situation. He never faulted when things looked there bleakest. A lot this concept art here gives him a more smuggler look and that was because I was toying with the idea of a roguish character. Instead, this design started to more illustrate him in a more Empire controlled galaxy as a rogue Jedi doing all he can to survive capture.
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Here you can see what I envisioned as a much younger Stark. I always wanted there to be a mythical quality to him. Something that I think is best emulated by characters like Qui-Gon, Old Ben, and Luke in their respective trilogies. Not much of his backstory is explored in the series but you can see here that he is training on Naboo. That is the planet he was born on. I wanted it to tie his origins into Palpatine in a way that was fitting. Maybe they would have brushed shoulders once or twice but thought nothing of each other.
This image here was titled "Forest" and it came from a time where I was toying with concepts of how to continue past then ending of the first comic run. I had originally intended for Stark to go on this otherworldly quest and finds his own "Dagobah Forest Tunnel" moment on the far reaches of know space.
Here is some old design for the craft that would have taken Stark out into the Unknown Regions. It had two seats to accommodate a companion to go on this quest with him if I had desired it. The guns and seats rotated and I thought it was a cool feature but it was pretty primitive in some of its design. It was mostly based around the cockpit piece that I had acquired and never found a real use for it.
This shot is leftover form what would have been a prologue or one-shot comic that would lead to the second run of the story. Stark would have gone on this adventure and disappeared from the known galaxy into a little after Empire Strikes Back. He would have lost his mind on this ancient frozen moon, and a group of Rebels searching for a new base after the defeat at Hoth would stumble upon Stark on this world. He would not be aware of any of his actions and would stalk the troopers killing them one by one but leaving enough time for a distress message to get off-world. This then would have lead to Stark's former Clone Commander Froze being sent in with the second wave and finding a way to calm the old man.
Clone Commander Froze
My first designs for Froze came out of a lack of skill customizing Clone troopers and the desire to make my lead clone standout. The concept for a Clone of a Jedi becoming a trooper was an idea I liked from the scrapped Star Wars Battlefront III (later they used the story in Elite Squadrons). That was not the first plan I had for Froze's destiny but it was one that I came to thing would give a lot of opportunities to grow with it.
You can see that later on when I was able to restart the series following the MOCpages server crash I was able to put to use some newly acquired custom LEGO parts. Though I didn't get to use them as much as I would have liked in the Clone Wars era Blaze and Froze had some designs that I thought stood out a lot more than in the original. I won't go into too much detail about Blaze but there was a whole cut episode around him. I have all the files and may get around to posting into some capacity but it really didn't do anything for the main story at hand. Blaze's importance to the overall planned story cannot be understated however he would have been a more central role as the plot continued.
Carth
When I first envisioned Carth I knew I wanted him to be something else. I wanted someone whose fall to the dark side was not quiet but thunderous with tons of bodies in his wake. The genesis for this idea came from playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic on a dark side play through and the options you can do with such malice towards every living thing in your way is chilling. At the end of the day this story is about a Master and an Apprentice. Stark's story is just as much as Carth's story.
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Carth's story is just a one-way path straight to pain. Throughout the story, I wanted to explore new ways that he could inflict pain but most importantly what that would cost him. For every action, he took I wanted him to physically lose more and more humanity in his design. I wanted all the character he came into contact with the fear him a dread the energy that he would put off in the room.
This comes from a story that for the most part is abandoned were Carth would have found a way to amass power and then an army. Returning to the galaxy to claim it for himself long after the defeat of Sidious and Vader post Return of the Jedi. Whatever the story, Carth is always the one who is striving to gain as much power as he can regardless of the cost.
Abandoned Concepts
Thank for all of your support over the years and to all those who continue to come back to read again.
This Lost Saga will be complete...one day.