Oftentimes, when I hear discussions about possible antagonists for Star Wars after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, the same four villainous factions tend to get tossed around. Without fail, someone will always mention them. They are:
Some iteration of the Galactic Empire.
The Grysk Hegemony
Abeloth
The Yuuzhan Vong
The first three of these, I do not have a serious problem with. Are they the most creative? Perhaps they are not, but I do not hate them by any means. I think a good story could be written using them. But the Yuuzhan Vong? Not so much.
You might be wondering what my problem with them is, and that is understandable. “How are they really that much different from the Grysk?”, you might ask. Well, to put it simply, the Yuuzhan Vong are one-dimensional edgelords. Just look at the guy in the image. There is not a single part of his body that is not covered in dangerous and impractical edges and spikes. But of course, the real “edginess” of the Vong is in their personalities. When a species literally has a religion dedicated to pain, you know they are just trying way too hard to seem “hardcore”.
But is all of this “edginess” an inherently bad thing? In the context of Star Wars, yes. Yes it is. Back in the 1970s when George Lucas first created Star Wars, he wanted to create an accessible movie that people of all ages and backgrounds could enjoy. He also gave the franchise an idealistic element, where even a farm boy from Tatooine can make a difference in the wider galaxy. The Yuuzhan Vong are essentially trying to be the antithesis of everything George Lucas wanted Star Wars to be. An entire species of violent, pain-worshipping nihilists is not accessible, idealistic, or even remotely respectful to what Star Wars is. They don’t even work on an aesthetic level, with all the spikes, organic technology, and force-deadness.
The Vong fit into Star Wars about as much as The Batman Who Laughs or Sonic.EXE would. So when I see people clamoring for a Vong Invasion storyline in Canon, I cannot help but be disappointed in the state of the fan base. The only reason I can think of as for why some people want them back is a mixture of ignorance about what they actually are, and extreme disenfranchisement with the Sequel Trilogy.
