History YMMV / RepublicCommandoSeries

* MisBlamed: Whatever the series' faults, the [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 3 million clone troopers number]] wasn't one of them. That blame lies at the feet of Creator/RASalvatore's ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' {{novelization}}, movie-level canon which interpreted Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su's line, "200,000 units are ready, with a million more well on the way," as meaning 200,000 ''clones'' rather than a more sensible 200,000 ''military units''. Karen Traviss and others had no choice but to use it because, at the time, movie canon overrode EU novels.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: the sounds of LAAT/i gunships to the commandos. There's a sound clip here (from 5:19) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBivZBxAF0Q
** The Mandalorian marching song ''Vode An''

* MarySueTopia: How many view Karen Traviss' Mandalorians

*** Skirata reflects on this in ''Order 66'' and calls his motley crew his "syndicate." He thinks what they are doing is completely justified because they are saving millions of lives. He may be right, he may be wrong.
*** [[FridgeBrilliance That is the entire point of the Republic Commando series.]] These are not Jedi seen through the eyes of Jedi, or Jedi seen through the eyes of normal civilians and the like; these are Jedi seen through the eyes of the '''MANDOLORIANS'''. Traviss' books are a viewpoint of how the Mandalorians see the Jedi Order, and those raised by Mandalorians.

* BrokenBase: Caused mainly by Traviss's [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternate character interpretations]] of the Jedi and Mandalorians.

*** This would, however, have contradicted LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor, as that book depicted the same ruler, decades later, as an optimistic idealist.

* MisBlamed: Whatever the series' faults ([[FlameBait not going there]]), the [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 3 million clone troopers number]] wasn't one of them. That blame lies at the feet of Creator/RASalvatore's ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' {{novelization}}, movie-level canon which interpreted Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su's line, "200,000 units are ready, with a million more well on the way," as meaning 200,000 ''clones'' rather than a more sensible 200,000 ''military units''. Karen Traviss and others had no choice but to use it because, at the time, movie canon overrode EU novels.

* MisBlamed: Whatever the series' faults ([[FlameBait not going there]]), the [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 3 million clone troopers number]] wasn't one of them. That blame lies at the feet of Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' {{novelization}}, movie-level canon which interpreted Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su's line, "200,000 units are ready, with a million more well on the way," as meaning 200,000 ''clones'' rather than a more sensible 200,000 ''military units''. Karen Traviss and others had no choice but to use it because, at the time, movie canon overrode EU novels.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The very controversial one of the Jedi Order. The Jedi Knights have severed themselves from their families and made use of a slave army in order to protect a Republic that's obviously not worth protecting. As a result, they're individuals who deserve nothing but scorn and derision.
** Amusingly, fans have a similiar view of the Mandalorians, treating them as essentially psychotic killers under the control of a VillainProtagonist.
*** ... which is a perfectly valid interpretation. Much as the attitudes of the Mandalorian POV characters might obscure it, Traviss shows them doing plenty of nasty things.

*** [[FridgeBrilliance That is the entire point of the Republic Commando series.]] These are not Jedi seen through the eyes of Jedi, or Jedi seen through the eyes of normal civilians and the like; these are Jedi seen through the eyes of the '''MANDOLORIANS'''. Traviss' books are a viewpoint of how the Mandalorians see the Jedi Order, and those raised by Mandalorians.

* TheWoobie: Etain pulls this off surprisingly well. [[spoiler: Right up until she dies trying to save clones who would have killed her had she realized what was going on.]]Actually, all of the clone troopers pull this off to some degree, especially Atin, who blames himself for his squads' death. [[{{Wangst}} He's the only survivor of his squad TWICE.]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Mostly an out of universe version. The storyline takes place during the same time period as the Mandalorian Protectors are supposed to be rampaging through the galaxy, even launching an attack on the clone's homeworld of Kamino. Do we get to see some more Mandalorian versus clone action? Nope. Do we even get a cursory run-through of the campaign? Nope. And by the last books, our protagonists are regularly teaming up with the last survivors of the Protectors without any tension about the whole "attacking our little brothers," or "wiping out almost everyone we fought alongside."

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The very controversial one of the Jedi Order. Basically, the Jedi Knights have severed themselves from their families and made use of a slave army in order to protect a Republic that's obviously not worth protecting. As a result, they're individuals who deserve nothing but scorn and derision.

* BrokenBase: Oh so very much.Caused mainly by Traviss' [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternate character interpretations]] of the Jedi and Mandalorians.
* CompleteMonster: The Kaminoans.

** Somewhat justified. Sadly Traviss rage-quit when she was just about to subject her own creation to some very well deserved scrutiny. There was much foreshadowing in ''501st'' that even the "safe harbor" on Mandalore (the planet) may not come free and without attachments. Mand'alore (the ruler) is just as political as the rest of the galaxy and would use the clones for his own "patriotic" purposes.

* ScrewYouElves: Traviss's irrational hate of Jedi is astounding. It gets to the point that if your a Jedi and aren't openly critical of using the clones as a slave army then your a fool and not worth the time of the 'oh so proud' Mandalorians
** ...not so irrational to others. The Jedi order did some *very* questionable things in the name of doing the *right* thing and Traviss is the first author to truly ponder these. The savage treatment of FanFavorite, DesignatedHero Jedi has lead to a BrokenBase.
*** Untrue, The Cestus Deception by Steven Barnes came out almost four months prior covering many of the same bases as the Republic Commando series (including Clone humanity and the morality of the GAR) without being anywhere near as divisive despite the fact Alpha-98/Nate was as much a protagonist as Obi-Wan.
** It all depends on point of view. To the Mandalorians themselves, who have strong familial bonds, the nature of the Jedi taking children away from their families, and raising them to live without strong emotional attachments would be abhorrent to the Mandalorians. To be perfectly honest, Traviss' writing could easily be depicted as simply the Mandalorian viewpoint of the Jedi Order.
*** There is also Pong Krell from Star Wars: the Clone Wars. Retroactively, he is EVERYTHING that Karen Traviss depicted Jedi as being from the Mandalorian viewpoint: an arrogant individual that [[GeneralRipper treated Clone troopers as]] CannonFodder, and no better than droids... Only for us to find that he was EvilAllAlong, sabotaging the battle on purpose. The (non-mandalorian) clone troopers get praised for mutinying against him in ''The Carnage of Krell'' by the ''real'' Jedi. The Krell arc of TheCloneWars seems to have been written as a response to these criticisms.

* UnfortunateImplications: Lampshaded as a TakeThat to the rest of the ''StarWars'' universe. The fandom was not pleased.
** Also, neither were the other EU authors, since they weren't too concerned with Traviss not being included in writing the FateOfTheJedi series and the subtle TakeThat moments against Mandalorians in said series.
** [[BlatantLies Subtle?]]

** When the Jedi are on the receiving end of unbalanced criticism... never mind, no one has that much booze.

* FanHater: Traviss is a notorious one of these towards the Jedi.
* MartyStu: Skirata. He is a father to his men and all of them love him. He is their patriarchal role model and he can do no wrong. He will do anything and everything to ensure his boys get the life that was taken away from them. [[spoiler: Skirata even lets Darman beat the crap out of him for not telling him about Kad.]]

* TheWoobie: Etain pulls this off surprisingly well. [[spoiler: Right up until she dies trying to save clones who would have killed her had she realized what was going on.]]Actually, all of the clone troopers pull this off to some degree, especially Atin, who blames himself for his squads' death. [[{{Wangst}} He's the only survivor of his squad TWICE.]]

** The Jedi are this as well in these books.

* MartyStu: Skirata. He is a father to his men and all of them love him. He is their patriarchal role model and he can do no wrong. He will do anything and everything to ensure his boys get the life that was taken away from them. [[spoiler: Skirata even lets Darman beat the crap out of him for not telling him about Kad.]] Also, his crazy schemes never fail. ''Ever.''

*** Which was fine when Traviss was writing from Mandalorian and Mandalorian-trained Clone Troopers perspectives, except quite often she was guilty of having non-Mandalorian characters agree with or hold perspectives they absolutely shouldn't. Etain and Bardan were practically written so Traviss would have Jedi who agree with her incorrect assertions regarding the Order and its practices. In the twenty-plus thousand years the Jedi Order has been in existence it has always required parental permission to take children for Jedi training, and yet Etain, a trained Jedi, breaks down in the belief the Order will steal her child from her.
family, and having heard what happened with her parents, it actually makes sense that she would react in such a manner.

**** Etain and and Bardan are '''only two Jedi''' out of '''thousands of Jedi'''. You can't expect every Jedi to be the same as the others. Hell, look at Pong Krell in Star Wars: the Clone Wars; he '''embodies EVERY CRITICISM''' made in Traviss' novels about how the Jedi treat the clones from the viewpoint of the Mandalorians, and he is a canon figure no less. In regards to Etain's reaction, it was stated by her brother that her parents were fired from the Jedi Temple so she would not have any interactions with them. Having grown close to the Mandalorian-raised Clone Commandos who value family, and having heard what happened with her parents, it actually makes sense that she would react in such a manner.

** When the Jedi are on the receiving end of unbalanced criticism

*** [[FridgeBrilliance That is the entire point of the Republic Commando series.]] These are not Jedi seen through the eyes of Jedi, or Jedi seen through the eyes of normal civilians and the like; these are Jedi seen through the eyes of the '''MANDOLORIANS'''. Traviss' books are a viewpoint of how the Mandolorians see the Jedi Order, and those raised by Mandolorians.

*** This troper respectfully disagrees with this interpretation. While some Jedi demonstrate concern and even affection for the men under their command, by and large there is an appalling lack of concern for the current and future welfare of the clones by Jedi and non-clone commanders alike. The series tries to drive home the danger of having a mass-produced, faceless, ''disposable'' army that ensures that civilians will not have to dirty their hands with war. This issue is addressed, not only in the Republic Commando series, but in the MedStar duology and the Revenge of the Sith novelization, where it is mentioned that Palpatine deliberately engineered the Clone Wars to be a proxy war where the majority of civilians would not be affected by the war (as in not being forced to contribute to it in any meaningful way), but which forced the Jedi to over-extend and bleed themselves, ultimately setting them up for Order 66. Basically, while the Jedi are not Complete Monsters, they have practically abandoned their mandate to serve ALL life, regardless of origin, and are (I think) rightfully called out on it.

*** This troper respectfully disagrees with this interpretation. While some Jedi demonstrate concern and even affection for the men under their command, by and large there is an appalling lack of concern for the current and future welfare of the clones by Jedi and non-clone commanders alike. The series tries to drive home the danger of having a mass-produced, faceless, ''disposable'' army that ensures that civilians will not have to dirty their hands with war. This issue is addressed, not only in the Republic Commando series, but in the MedStar duology and the Revenge of the Sith novelization, where it is mentioned that Palpatine deliberately engineered the Clone Wars to be a proxy war where the majority of civilians would not be affected by the war (as in not being forced to contribute to it in any meaningful way), but which forced the Jedi to over-extend and bleed themselves, ultimately setting them up for Order 66.

*** It is interesting to note that Traviss' main point of rebuttal against Jedi fanboys' accusations of Jedi-hate is the allegation that rabid defense of the Jedi equates to racism in the real world. That is, the Jedi use clone soldiers for the purpose intended and thus see the lives of clones as less valuable than non-clones. This effectively makes them racist. Therefore, anyone who defends, in the real world, the Jedi in their use of clone soldiers has latent racist tendencies and is potentially a Nazi (her words, not mine). However, she undermines her credibility by investing much of her time and creative energy writing about clone soldiers that refer to naturally conceived beings as 'mongrels' (on several occasions, they cite their specially engineered genome, i.e. their race', as the reason for their superiority) as well as a culture (Mandalorian) that uses the same word for foreigner and, quite tellingly, traitor. She also spends a lot of time trying to convince us that a people of mercenaries is the most noble in the galaxy, conveniently overlooking the past Mandalorian alliances with the Sith who are a people entirely dedicated to destruction and power.