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[allronix]

🎉Happy birthday!!🎉

Thank you so much. I hope you are safe. I have been worried about you and thinking of you. Greetings, Program.

[allronix]

I have spent the last few days reading Destiny's Pawn, and it's been an absolute delight to read through! I love how you portray the Ebon Hawk crew, especially Carth! As a diehard Carth fangirl, it makes me ecstatic to see a fic written by someone who actually understands his character, I rarely see anyone do the anguished flyboy the justice he deserves. The story overall kicks ass, and I'm excited to see what comes next!

I am so glad you like it and so glad I can do our Flyboy justice. I've currently got the next chapter of Korriban outlined after YEARS of poor writer's block.

Thank you for reading and feel free to make any concrit or comments about it. I've been writing fanfic for (no bull) over 30 years, so it at least should be the best I can deliver.

[allronix]

Yeah. It's voluntary...but only to an extent.

I've posted about this before

do pro jedi people not understand systemic injustice or institutional power imbalance or -

like.

the power imbalance between the state-samctioned religious order and random parents is quite big I fear

even if the jedi in question have no malicious intentions, that power imbalance inherently exists

anyway

[allronix]

Sure you can leave…if you enjoy a short life with a target on your back, no financial or social support, no transition assistance. Just the clothing and big target on your back. Dooku had a trust fund and Anakin had a potential sugar mama. If you had neither, Force be with you because no one else will.

Go back to your family? Sure…if you know who they are, where they are. All you have is the knowledge they gave you up to the space wizards and went no contact. IRL, this kinda screws up a lot of adoptees because of the question “Did my birth parents love me and gave me up because it’s best or did they just not want me?” (Which is one of the better arguments for open adoption, so that the kid never has to ask that question.)

Plus, y'know, trained only for one job which…skills may or may not be applicable elsewhere. Acolyte bluntly addresses this. And every ex-Jedi we see that didn't have a Dooku trust fund is working some marginal, hand to mouth job. Ahsoka had to lie to get a mechanic job. Osha was working as an illegal day laborer. And that's the happier, fluffier Disney canon.

Plus the target on your back. Employers may like some of the skillset, but they won’t want to risk some pissed off crime boss bashing down their door to take shots at the new hire. Better to hire a muggle with less risk and the ex-Jedi goes back to sleeping under a bridge.

People will stay in bad situations for far less. Better the Devil you know and all that.

there's something so disingenuous about the 'but you could leave the jedi at any time' take that I can't quite put my finger on

'you can leave the jedi at any time, but you've been conditioned your whole life to see that as a failure, and we give you shit all when you leave'

[allronix]

I wish you would write a fic where...

Send me an anymous (or not) summary of the fic you wish I would write. (maybe I will write a tidbit)

[allronix]

So, couple of days late, but...Merry Christmas, I guess.

Happy new year yourself

[allronix]

Are there any Trek fanfic writers who actually wrote these? Because...these would rock.

[allronix]

Unless you're a vegan or a health nut, KFC is pretty good shit. Especially for Christmas. And doesn't a KFC order in Japan during December take a freaking wait list?

Someone told the local (japanese) janitor that it was my birthday (it isnt) and because he likes me, he got me a present.

A bucket of KFC fried chicken.

This guy looked up what black people like on the internet, went out, and got me a bucket of fried chicken. Not out of malice or racism, but because he honestly thought that it was a thoughtful gift for someone like me. His exact words were "Brown people like this. I get this for you."

I don't know how to feel.

Like d-do I tell him that this is an inappropriate gift for a black person? Or do I just accept the gift and the absolute horde of laughter from the american staff (it's been an hour and people are still laughing).

Thank god, he didnt also get me Kool-Aid and a pack of Newports.

[allronix]

Here's the top 2 stories from each of Fix The News's six categories:

1. A game-changing HIV drug was the biggest story of 2024

In what Science called the 'breakthrough of the year', researchers revealed in June that a twice-yearly drug called lenacapavir reduced HIV infections in a trial in Africa to zero—an astonishing 100% efficacy, and the closest thing to a vaccine in four decades of research. Things moved quick; by October, the maker of the drug, Gilead, had agreed to produce an affordable version for 120 resource-limited countries, and by December trials were underway for a version that could prevent infection with just a single shot per year. 'I got cold shivers. After all our years of sadness, particularly over vaccines, this truly is surreal.'

2. Another incredible year for disease elimination

Jordan became the first country to eliminate leprosy, Chad eliminated sleeping sickness, Guinea eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus, Belize, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, India achieved the WHO target for eliminating black fever, India, Viet Nam and Pakistan eliminated trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, and Brazil and Timor Leste eliminated elephantiasis.

1. The EU passed a landmark nature restoration law

When countries pass environmental legislation, it’s big news; when an entire continent mandates the protection of nature, it signals a profound shift. Under the new law, which passed on a knife-edge vote in June 2024, all 27 member states are legally required to restore at least 20% of land and sea by 2030, and degraded ecosystems by 2050. This is one of the world’s most ambitious pieces of legislation and it didn’t come easy; but the payoff will be huge - from tackling biodiversity loss and climate change to enhancing food security.

2. Deforestation in the Amazon halved in two years

Brazil’s space agency, INPE, confirmed a second consecutive year of declining deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. That means deforestation rates have roughly halved under Lula, and are now approaching all time lows. In Colombia, deforestation dropped by 36%, hitting a 23-year low. Bolivia created four new protected areas, a huge new new state park was created in Pará to protect some of the oldest and tallest tree species in the tropical Americas and a new study revealed that more of the Amazon is protected than we originally thought, with 62.4% of the rainforest now under some form of conservation management.

1. Millions more children got an education

Staggering statistics incoming: between 2000 and 2023, the number of children and adolescents not attending school fell by nearly 40%, and Eastern and Southern Africa, achieved gender parity in primary education, with 25 million more girls are enrolled in primary school today than in the early 2000s. Since 2015, an additional 110 million children have entered school worldwide, and 40 million more young people are completing secondary school.

2. We fed around a quarter of the world's kids at school

Around 480 million students are now getting fed at school, up from 319 million before the pandemic, and 104 countries have joined a global coalition to promote school meals, School feeding policies are now in place in 48 countries in Africa, and this year Nigeria announced plans to expand school meals to 20 million children by 2025, Kenya committed to expanding its program from two million to ten million children by the end of the decade, and Indonesia pledged to provide lunches to all 78 million of its students, in what will be the world's largest free school meals program.

1. Solar installations shattered all records

Global solar installations look set to reach an unprecedented 660GW in 2024, up 50% from 2023's previous record. The pace of deployment has become almost unfathomable - in 2010, it took a month to install a gigawatt, by 2016, a week, and in 2024, just 12 hours. Solar has become not just the cheapest form of new electricity in history, but the fastest-growing energy technology ever deployed, and the International Energy Agency said that the pace of deployment is now ahead of the trajectory required for net zero by 2050.  

2. Battery storage transformed the economics of renewables

Global battery storage capacity surged 76% in 2024, making investments in solar and wind energy much more attractive, and vice-versa. As with solar, the pace of change stunned even the most cynical observers. Price wars between the big Chinese manufacturers pushed battery costs to record lows, and global battery manufacturing capacity increased by 42%, setting the stage for future growth in both grid storage and electric vehicles - crucial for the clean flexibility required by a renewables-dominated electricity system. The world's first large-scale grid battery installation only went online seven years ago; by next year, global battery storage capacity will exceed that of pumped hydro.

1. Democracy proved remarkably resilient in a record year of elections

More than two billion people went to the polls this year, and democracy fared far better than most people expected, with solid voter turnout, limited election manipulation, and evidence of incumbent governments being tamed. It wasn't all good news, but Indonesia saw the world's biggest one day election, Indian voters rejected authoritarianism, South Korea's democratic institutions did the same, Bangladesh promised free and fair elections following a 'people's victory', Senegal, Sri Lanka and Botswana saw peaceful transfers of power to new leaders after decades of single party rule, and Syria saw the end of one of the world's most horrific authoritarian regimes.

2. Global leaders committed to ending violence against children

In early November, while the eyes of the world were on the US election, an event took place that may prove to be a far more consequential for humanity. Five countries pledged to end corporal punishment in all settings, two more pledged to end it in schools, and another 12, including Bangladesh and Nigeria, accepted recommendations earlier in the year to end corporal punishment of children in all settings. In total, in 2024 more than 100 countries made some kind of commitment to ending violence against children. Together, these countries are home to hundreds of millions of children, with the WHO calling the move a 'fundamental shift.'

73. Space exploration hit new milestones

NASA’s Europa Clipper began a 2.9 billion kilometre voyage to Jupiter to investigate a moon that may have conditions for life; astronomers identified an ice world with a possible atmosphere in the habitable zone; and the James Webb Telescope found the farthest known galaxy. Closer to Earth, China landed on the far side of the moon, the Polaris Dawn crew made a historic trip to orbit, and Starship moved closer to operational use – and maybe one day, to travel to Mars. 

74. Next-generation materials advanced

A mind-boggling year for material science. Artificial intelligence helped identify a solid-state electrolyte that could slash lithium use in batteries by 70%, and an Apple supplier announced a battery material that can deliver around 100 times better energy density. Researchers created an insulating synthetic sapphire material 1.25 nanometers thick, plus the world’s thinnest lens, just three atoms across. The world’s first functioning graphene-based semiconductor was unveiled (the long-awaited ‘wonder material’ may finally be coming of age!) and a team at Berkeley invented a fluffy yellow powder that could be a game changer for removing carbon from the atmosphere.

-via Fix The News, December 19, 2024

[allronix]

[allronix]

True. The EU wasn't well known outside of nerds (and being a fanfic writer with a brother in law whose house resembles the Jedi archives, I forget that a bit). I'd be remiss in saying that wasn't a pretty hefty factor.

I think part of it is that the EU started going grimdark at around the same time the PT was in development or hitting theaters, the late 1990s and 2000s. One fed into the other. As the Prequels started becoming more and more depressing, so did everything else. Legends is actually still chugging along because SWTOR is like a dinosaur who missed the invite to the meteor shower.

Disney may be its own canon and rather glad it is, but they only pretend not to sneak a ton of the old "Legends canon" in the back door, with the writers of Disney canon HEAVILY influenced by it . I can totally see that they took elements from Jacen Solo to whip up Kylo Ren. They ported in Thrawn. There's a bit of Jaina Solo in Rey's design. The writers for TLJ and The Acolyte (two of the most depressing Disney entries) cite a particular piece of EU, that being KOTOR 2.

I know you haven't played those games, but...well, KOTOR 2 was written by a guy with a philosophy degree he likes to take out of the frame and wave around. And KOTOR 2 is quite bleak. You wake up on a space station full of corpses and things go downhill from there. EVERY character archetype gets turned on its head at some point. But it is an elaborate and thoughtful examination of the morality and setting of Star Wars that it's become "required reading."

You also have aspects of The Mandalorian and Bad Batch that take inspiration from Republic Commando and other entries from Karen Traviss. Traviss was...controversial (to put it mildly) but she leaned in hard to the screwed up aspects of the Clone Troopers, the Jedi attachment policies, and the crooked parts of the Republic to "can't unsee it" levels. She's pretty easy to hate with her occasional wild takes and complete lack of tact, but you also can't talk Mandos or Clone Troopers without mentioning her.

Y'know how Watchmen came out in the mid 80s and changed the game on comic books? The next decade was trying to reply to Watchmen, either by going Gritty McGrimdark on their costumed heroes or trying to debunk the cynical conclusions Watchmen came to regarding costumed heroes.

Star Wars is still kinda stuck in trying to rebuild from its grimdark era that was in place during the Disney buyout. Disney may be trying to make its own canon, but the writers are all very steeped in that 90s and 00s depressing output.

Star Wars isn't a tragedy. Only the Prequels are. Disney (and most of tumblr it seems) may think all of Star Wars is supposed percieved in a sad or tragic manner, but it's not. Return of the Jedi is triumphant, redemptive, and uplifiting. It's the fairytale ending that bookends the greek tragedy. The combination of fall and then redemption of the human soul is the entire point.

Anakin is a tragic character, but the Skywalker saga itself NOT meant to be tragic, neither in its tone nor its actual outcome.

[allronix]

[allronix]

Fandom Problem #6859:

"Ramin Karimloo is too pale to be Iranian!" "Rami Malek is too pale to be Egyptian!" "Beren Saat is too pale to be Turkish!" I am begging you imbeciles to get it into your tiny brains: many people from the Middle East & North Africa ARE PALE! NATURALLY! I've seen people accuse them and other MENA actors of lightening their skin artificially, of being white people pretending to be non-white, of being whitewashed by racist photographers...

[allronix]

[allronix]

Sci-fi shows nowadays are dramatic and realistic. Give me the artistic lighting, give me awkward fight scenes, let aliens wear drag queen level eyeshadows, convince me that the same decoration in every episode is a different planet, make a whole Alice in Wonderland subplot just because you found a big bunny costume in the garage, let the space pirates wear pirate costumes, dress the dog in the secondhand unicorn costume and say it’s an alien species, give me the most angsty episode I’ve seen right after the episode about some moving mama rock, give me the bROMANCE, give me HONOR, LOYALTY, DIGNITY, and some cool unrealistic but beautiful spaceships, give me flip phones as the coolest device ever, give me dramatic zoom-ins, give me thoughtful stares in the distance with dramatic music. Then we’ll talk.

[allronix]

Fandom Problem #6837:

We need a word for takes that are so progressive they're regressive. Tumblr is crawling with them, from "gay men choose to be gay because they're so misogynistic they can't stand being attracted to women" to "female genital mutilation is good actually because it's part of non-white cultures and trying to stop it is imperialism".

[allronix]

I honestly think that it is because of the EU. No sooner than credits rolled on ROTJ, they had the Remnant to deal with (with Thrawn and Palpatine coming back), and then the Vong. Then Jacen goes nuts. By the time we roll into ST Legacy, Cade (last of the Skywalkers) is smoking dope to deafen his Force connection.

Go backwards and it isn't any better. Legions of Lettow lead to the Hyperspace War. Then Exar Kun. Then the Mandalorian War. Then Jedi Civil War (Revan), then the "dark war" where no one gives a damn about Light or Dark because the galaxy has been on fire for 50 years straight.

Bit of a reprieve but then here comes Vitiate and his Sith. And that is going to last a few decades. Followed by a thousand years of war until Kaan and Bane. Then Bane is a dick, wipes out the Sith and starts schemes that end with Palpatine...

So endless cycles of war with no real point or resolution. Just a lot of burning planets and dead people. That much is a hard perception to shake

Star Wars isn't a tragedy. Only the Prequels are. Disney (and most of tumblr it seems) may think all of Star Wars is supposed percieved in a sad or tragic manner, but it's not. Return of the Jedi is triumphant, redemptive, and uplifiting. It's the fairytale ending that bookends the greek tragedy. The combination of fall and then redemption of the human soul is the entire point.

Anakin is a tragic character, but the Skywalker saga itself NOT meant to be tragic, neither in its tone nor its actual outcome.