A character trait is later recontextualized into something bad/tragic, it's always been there, we just never paid attention

[u/RedNUGGETLORD]

Deku's self sacrifice - My Hero Academia

Initially portrayed as purely heroic, it's later shown to be extremely detrimental when he refuses any aid from his friends, abandoning them to "protect them"(of course, leaving them also puts them in danger since he can no longer be there to save them if something goes wrong

The same quality that makes him a great hero, also leads him to nearly lose everything and get EVERYONE killed(since if this tired, weakened Deku did encounter AFO/Shigaraki, he would almost certainly die and have his powers taken)

Seiya Ryuuguuin's cautiousness - Overly Cautious Hero

The whole series is about how the main character is prepared for any circumstance to an insane degree(being the highest level half-way through, perfectly predicting that an ally would betray them through ridiculous jumps in logic, etc)

It turns out that the reason for this was that in a past life(unknown to him) he was extremely easy-going and unprepared for everything, always winning due to luck and skill, however, one day he ends up losing due to not finding out about a bosses weakness, this leads to the demon king murdering his friend, eating his Goddess, and then devouring his girlfriend and the child inside of her right in front of him. The Demon King then takes over the world and basically turns it into Berserk on steroids

Erens entire character - Attack on Titan

He hates the titans not because of what they've done(though that's a part of it), but because they've stolen his freedom, so when he learns that in reality, the Marleyans are the true enemies, the ones who have taken his and everyone elses freedom away, he does exactly what he said he was going to do, just to a different enemy

Erens philosophy is that anyone that tries to take his freedom deserves to have theirs taken away, Zeke becomes a slave because he tried to take away the Eldians ability to breed, the Marleyans lose the freedom of living because they tried to take his, it's always been a core character trait, but when he becomes to antagonist of the story in the last parts, this character trait of his is front and center

[u/AdjustedJester]

there’s an incredible segment of an OSP video where they talk about how consistently characterized anakin is, always choosing to protect his loved ones at any cost, and how that desire to protect them leads him through his entire arc across all of the movies + clone wars

[u/StableSlight9168 → u/AdjustedJester]

Prequels had many issues but the underlying lore was always solid.

[u/ryry1237 → u/StableSlight9168]

The prequels may have had directing issues, but they never had greater vision over the story issues.

[u/Emmettmcglynn → u/ryry1237]

I think it's why they're so much fun to talk about. When we step away from clunky dialogue or pod racing, we get to a really compelling dual tragedy of a man and a republic being manipulated into destroying what they think they're protecting.

[u/StableSlight9168 → u/Emmettmcglynn]

Prequels were a first draft of an amazing story, they desperately needed refinement and pushback , like the o.g trilogy has, but at the core, the movies had a soul.

The sequels are the opposite, a much better made series of movies but there is no core or cohesive story throughout. They just don't have a soul.

This is why the prequels still have a fandom, get TV shows made about the stories and a very vibrant community the sequels don't have.

[u/KaiBahamut → u/StableSlight9168]

It’s also worth noting that the prequels got a lot of supplemental material- cartoons, video games books- while the sequels have nothing. I’m sure the fact they were kinda good has helped, but I think the fact they exist at all help the prequels.

[u/draketroll → u/KaiBahamut]

The problem imo is that the sequels are all flash and no substance. There's nothing really to build off of because there's nothing implied, all the lore is just dumped onto your lap pre-assembled.

[u/KaiBahamut → u/draketroll]

Or completely unexplained, like everything with Palpatine.

[u/some_random_nonsense → u/KaiBahamut]

Nah it was explained in the Travis Scott fortnight concert dummy.

[u/bretshitmanshart → u/KaiBahamut]

They explained Palaptine. They just didn't explain it to Poe which is why he says he doesn't know how he came back

[u/G00D_4_U → u/KaiBahamut]

The prequels have all of that supplemental material because the prequels allow it and the fan base desires to add onto it.

The sequels have been trying to make supplemental material and nobody is biting, nearly all of the sequels supplemental material is presented through prequel material because that's what most people are interested in.

[u/not_your_avg_blow → u/StableSlight9168]

The prequels also came out in 1999. The kids who watched it then, are the people making movies/tv now.

Give it 10 years and you're going to have a bunch of people romanticizing the Star Wars sequels.

[u/ryry1237 → u/not_your_avg_blow]

But the problem is the only few things there are to romanticize are all the meme moments and all the baffling ass pulls and nonsensical plot points. Most of the characters aren't exactly essay worthy material either, aside from being examples of how NOT to do a thing.

[u/PhoenixApok → u/not_your_avg_blow]

I get your reasoning but no.

At the time, I wished the prequels were BETTER.

Now, 6 years later, I wish the sequels DIDN'T EXIST.

[u/Ws6fiend → u/not_your_avg_blow]

I don't think you'll find people romanticizing it like the originals or the prequels though. Critical analysis of the prequels revealed things to me that I never would have thought about that.

Like the joke about the duel on mustafar where both are twirling thier blades while never connecting. It's pointed out that Anakin is attempting an attack that Obi-Wan is already positioning to block leading to both halting their positions.

The dual of fates being about the light(Qui-Gon Jinn) and dark side(Maul/Sidious) fighting over Anakin's soul. How if Qui-Gon wouldn't have died he might have properly trained Anakin vs the inexperienced Obi-Wan.

The move Anakin attempts to pull on Obi-Wan mirroring the move he successfully pulled on Maul. He even tells Anakin not to because he won't win and Anakin being arrogant enough to believe he will.

As far as I can see none of the sequel films have as layered or dense meaning behind them. That 100% could be a thing of me not being smart enough or watching them enough to catch the little details. You are right that if that is there, people will eventually decode all the little nuances.

[u/actorsAllusion → u/Ws6fiend]

There's an interesting story thread there that probably ended up in by accident that could've tied in with the eventual reveal that Rey is a Palpatine. In both The Force Awakens and during her training in The Last Jedi, Rey is shown as an incredibly aggressive fighter, almost like she's tapping into her rage to fight. And I think the suggesting that through her family she is a light side user being pulled toward the dark would be an interesting juxtaposition to Kylo Ren being a dark side user being pulled to the light.

Unfortunately, Disney really just HAD to get TRoS out by Christmas, so first draft of the script for your trilogy capstone it is!

[u/Fthebo → u/not_your_avg_blow]

Yeah the level of hate the prequels got when they released was easily equal to the hate the sequels got, it was a different kind of hate because it wasn't as tangled up with dumb political bickering, but god did star wars fans fucking hate those films

I do think you'll see a generation of people who come back around to trying to argue the sequels were good, and the prequel likers will have to sit and watch it happen just like we had to watch people retcon the prequels into the being good all along

[u/G00D_4_U → u/not_your_avg_blow]

The force awakens came out 11 years ago man and in three years rise of Skywalker will be 10 years old, people were already doing stuff with the prequels long before 2015 which is 10 years after ep3.

the prequels had a bunch of comics and the clone wars show came out 10 years after as well, people were memeing it as well in the 2000s, meanwhile the sequels aren't being memed, only 1 Tv show takes properly in the sequels time line and isn't just a continuation of prequel content and there is a handful of sequels comics.

The sequels are still undercooked and nowhere near as talked about as the prequels were in the 2000s.

People wish the prequels were better, people straight up dislike the whole plot line of the sequels, it's a completely different thing.

[u/M4f1aBunny → u/not_your_avg_blow]

So this is something I’ve said since it came out but episode 7 is essentially just episode 4 done “bigger.” The plot is more or less the same with some small differences. I mean they literally have a Death Star that’s the size of a planet and destroys multiple planets at the same time with a single shot

It’d be one thing if there were similar events alone, but the whole thing just felt like episode 4. I think the biggest thing I liked about episode 7 is that Kylo Ren’s lightsaber canonically sucks. It’s not like it’s a bad movie, it just does that thing that many sequels seem to do which is “bigger=better”

[u/StormyBlueLotus → u/not_your_avg_blow]

Nah 

[u/s0ftcustomer → u/not_your_avg_blow]

I don't think so because the Prequels had LOOOOTSS of tie-in media for people to look back on it fondly. The Clone Wars 03 and 08, both Battlefront games, 2/3 Lego games, etc. By comparison the sequels... Don't really have anything. There's Resistance and Lego TFA, but that's it.

[u/carso150 → u/not_your_avg_blow]

respectfully, nah

the prequels are already "old", force awakens came out 11 years ago, I was there for the release of both force awakens and the last jedi and while I did enjoy the first movie TLJ took out all my enjoyment from watching the sequels

if people were to romanticize them the time would be now