Earlier, you used "SW is for 12 year olds" as your argument. However, even disregarding that strange foible, you're wrong. You make a variation of what might be called the "Troy Denning error": that to be mature, something must be cynical. You consistently present idealism and moral absolutism as childish, and cynicism and moral relativism as mature.
This is actually a quite juvenile attitude. Edgelordism with a few extra steps, basically.
As far as I've seen in life, idealism is childish, and pretending that the world operates on black and white morality only leaves one unprepared for the reality of all the shades of grey in this world.
Children need to be taught and prepared to survive the world they inhabit, with all it's nuances, and realize that 'black and white morality' rarely exist outside of opposing obvious evils like the Nazi's or Hamas.
I care more about preparing children to succeed and deal with the world as it is, rather than filling their heads with lies about the world, just because said lies make the adults feel good and the adults do not want to face up to the world they are raising kids in and will leave to their kids.
The fact is that your personal preference for a cynical, supposedly "realistic" take on the setting is in truth childish. It's the intellectually lazy stance that requires little from either the characters or the audience. The position Lucas took -- that of absolute morality -- requires far greater courage. It demands that you do the right thing, even when it is hard (as opposed to the easy thing, because it is "smart").
That is because I understand that people who ignore Sun Tzu's dictates and wisdom are fools who think their holy books or idealism are any match to a purely secular text on how to win conflicts.
Lucas and Filoni are good artists and story tellers, but it seems like only Zahn ever undertook an serious study of how wars actually are fought and incorporated into his writing.
And wanting realism isn't childish, nor is cynical thinking the point of it or what I'd want out of Star Wars.
The view that we must act rightly is inspiring, and rejects the moral ambivalence that guides us to easy paths which in turn lead (invariably) to dim places.
"Ask the ghosts of a trillion dead souls if honor matters; their silence is your answer."-Javik
Righteousness is no substitute for effectiveness, and Lucas does no one any favors by lying to kids about that fact.
The amount of comforting lies told to kids by people of Lucas's generation, because they don't want to face up to the realities of the world themselves a lot of times, have done massive social damage to the younger generations.
The point is that a thing changed beyond its essence is no longer itself. I can paint over the Mona Lisa, but then it is no longer the Mona Lisa. Ultimately, whatever you do, you must either stay true to thing itself... or make a new thing, separate from this thing.
Telling adult stories with political and social complexities and which doesn't portray the hero's as squeaky clean, doesn't suddenly make something 'not Star Wars'.
There can be fun stories that are entirely bleak and cynical. Cyberpunk as a genre relies on this assumption, for instance. You can even re-imagine (for instance) fairy tales in this manner. But that's what you're doing: re-imagining. Writing fanfic. And that's fine, but it's not true to the canon.
The Yuuzhan Vong would like a word about what is and is not Star Wars based on tone and 'cyncism/vs idealism'.
Shit, by your metric the fucking Rogue Squadron and Black Fleet books shouldn't be considered Star Wars properties.
That you see morally grey stuff as "serious" and moral rectitude as "unserious" is rather revealing, too.
I view the obsession with "moral greyness" as deeply unserious.
No, I want shit that doesn't pander to 12 year olds and doesn't insult the adult fans; Andor did that, and did it well.
