Honestly there are so many double standards when people take aim at the new canon material, even when a lot is exactly the same as or otherwise comparable to something which happened in Legends where miraculously it gets a free pass.
Firstly Han now has the same problem as Rey in TFA and TLJ, he doesn't work to gain any of his skills, nor is there any deeper meaning behind any of his actions now.
Han's iconic blaster? Did you think he customized it and worked it himself? Nope, just a random drop off from a guy who put two parts together and tossed it to him. His iconic name? Nope, random officer joke, the Millenium Falcon modifications Han mentions in OT, nah those were always there apparently. His piloting skills, rather than being honed through years of experience he just sort of has, he's apparently always just been good at Sabacc, having Han actually learn and build off these elements while failing would give us more reason to identify with him as a character and make him more believable. In the OT Han has these skills but it was put in that he'd built them up after a lifetime of smuggling. Instead of a human with flaws that has that Solo charm built up over experiences, Han is now a Gary Stu.
*Iconic blaster: So he was given the gun by someone, big deal. But at this point (in
Solo) have any modifications actually been made to it?
*Iconic name: Actually I think I prefer this new casual aside to the rather mundane proper family name implied by Legends (with convenient confusion with another Solo family in
Courtship of Princess Leia). Han does have a family and family name (he mentions his father to Tobias), we just don't know what that is or what happened to them (are they dead or did he just run away?).
*Falcon modifications: Even in Legends a lot of these were originally made by Lando, not Han (although he may have claimed them as his in
ANH). The dorsal and ventral cannons? Lando. Hidden smuggling compartments? Lando. Even hard-wiring L3's brain into the nav-computer is comparable to the described modifications in Legends (and L3's personality fits nicely with the way the Falcon misbehaves in later films).
*Piloting skills: In
Solo Han is shown to have grown up in the backstreets of Corellia including hot-wiring and stealing speeders, which is as much of a piloting background as Luke has in ANH. Han then enrols in the Imperial Academy to escape Corellia (aka pilot training). As I recall in Legends he had much the same start, albeit going directly to piloting for the Hutt operation on Ylesia (surprise instant awesome pilot!) before even attending the Imperial Academy. Really the only major difference here is that in Legends it was Han's stated ambition to go to the Academy whereas in the new canon it was driven by circumstance, and then in Legends he was dishonourably discharged from service following the incident where he rescued Chewbacca whereas new canon has him escaping a rather messy execution (death by Wookiee) instead.
*Sabacc: Again, brought up in the backstreets of Corellia. Presumably that includes gambling? Honestly I'm more surprised people aren't upset at Lando being made into a cheat rather than being a skilled/lucky player (although I personally liked that twist too).
Lando is virtually unused in the film for the most part, other than piloting them there and his card scene he doesn't really add anything to the film and feels under utilized, his relationship with the droid is-odd to say the least-though in SW there have been characters who banged droids(well at least HRD's that mimic organics in nearly every way so it makes a bit more sense) but the SJW droid just felt out of place, it had some quips I liked(like when Lando asks if it needs anything and it says, "Equal rights?") and the idea of a droid that wants equality is kind of an interesting concept, but the problem is that when it 'frees' all the other droids and they immediately begin something resembling a riot it just makes me think-well do R2 and 3PO think they are slaves? Do ALL droids just silently SCREAM and have their own sexual needs? Was there an actual point to this other than blatant commentary on an SJW trendy issue? Also why is Lando distressed when it is shot? He can literally REPAIR it, it's a droid, grab the memory unit and put it into ANY other droid, it's not like a person.(I actually laughed when he tried pulling it back in and it broke in two-I know it was supposed to be sad and serious but frankly it was humorous)
As I wrote before I really liked L3. Sure she was written to reflect current societal issues but is that really a problem? A lot of films and TV include social commentary in one form or another, particularly including another big sci-fi franchise in Star Trek. Were there not also parallels between the OT and PT and the world in which they were each produced?
Specifically on the equal rights/freedom for droids I do recall that being covered in Legends (although I don't remember exactly where), and on the "feelings" of droids and people for their droids I think that has come across in both previous movies and other Legends material too. You've got torture and maltreatment of droids at the hands of the Jawas on Tatooine when Luke first meets R2 and C3PO and again in Jabba's Palace. You have R2 squealing when Luke tries to re-apply the restraining bolt after cleaning him in ANH, and on the human side there's the clear concern of Luke on returning to base after the DS trench run when R2 was badly damaged, and the fact that across all the rest of Legends he categorically refused to allow R2's memory to be wiped (albeit justified as "performance reasons").
The Criminal Syndicates grip makes no sense...the Empire has taken over the Galaxy and is the ultimate expression of 'Lawful Evil" yet Imperial Governors can just be executed by Syndicate members with...zero consequence? Even Black Sun at it's height couldn't do that without consequence.
Considering the sheer size of the Empire, and the amount of corruption and back-stabbing that went on even within the ranks, I don't think this is necessarily far-fetched. Don't forget that this is still an Empire in ascendance (10 years before
ANH, 9 years after
RotS). Governors and other officers were frequently bought or blackmailed by various underworld elements so killing one off surely isn't that much more of a step. And there can only be consequences if someone takes enough notice to investigate and then also finds enough evidence to finger the Syndicate.
WHY THE KRIFFING SITHSPIT NERFHERDING EMPERORS BLACK BONES DO WE NEED DARTH MAUL BACK AGAIN?!!!
What is people's obsession with him? He looked cool and was played by a kickass actor, that's IT. He has no development, zero investment and zero depth-(wait now that you mention it his popularity with the majority of people is making more sense...all style, no substance or thought required!)
We had Darth Maul light in Savage Oppress, then we got Darth Maul AGAIN, then in Rebels, now in a Film in IMPERIAL TIME? We know he dies to Kenobi, we know he has no larger effect on the galaxy, he's just mindless fanservice at this point.
Why did people have so much of an obsession for Boba Fett in Legends? He was on screen for minutes, hardly said or did anything of import and died an ignoble death inside the Sarlacc - until suddenly he didn't actually die and made a miraculous escape to have more adventures.
The fact that Maul now has those additional appearances in
TCW and
Rebels surely means he
has that character development. And technically I think
Solo takes place a few years before
Rebels, so I imagine the intention is to tie up the Crimson Dawn plot from the movie into the latter events either via a sequel or through another medium.
IMPOSSIBLE. ON TWO CHARACTERS? NOOOOOOOOOOO!