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I know, for myself, one of several reasons I latched onto OFMD in a way I didn’t with other queer texts is because of the combination of a textual queer love story that hits all the romance/comedy beats AS WELL AS the sense of joy that permeates the show. That is still unusual in media and especially mainstream media, enough that many of us missed some of the movement of the love story because we’d seen it before without it being followed through.

I don’t think there is a single queer person who is not affected by the way media has represented us and the stories that are offered about us. It took OFMD to get me to actually embrace and acknowledge my queerness, in large part because it didn’t shy away from telling a story that has been told over and over about cishet couples. It is simple, in a lot of ways, and that in itself makes it surprising and moving and profound, because it brought home how these kinds of stories could ALWAYS be told. It is revolutionary in treating queerness as human experience, not some other, secondary category of humanity.

It’s why I don’t want to accept subtext anymore, and why I won’t hear arguments about how crumbs of representation are a good step forward. I want the quiet revolution of queer stories being treated as human ones.

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Reference sheet for Ed’s tattoos. I *think* I got all the placements right

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Y’all.

The point of the Clone Wars flashback in the Ahsoka series was partially fan service. Yes. But, those of you that are mad that Obi-Wan and Cody and Waxer and Boil and Mace Windu and Ursa Wren and Gar Saxon and Maul and Bo-Katan Kryze and Rook Cast weren’t in it missed the whole goddamned point of the flashback, so let me explain:

Everyone has bitched tirelessly about Ahsoka being stoic and reserved and “not like herself” (I will die on the “she’s in her forties…leave my baby girl alone… she’s tired, sore and premenopausal…” hill, still…)

Ultimately, she’s been “out of character” because she was carrying all of the Anakin trauma around like a two hundred pound weight on her shoulders. She blamed herself, and she feared who she was so much so that she was unwilling to get close to others and spread the wisdom that the years have afforded her…something a Jedi just does. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Enter this sequence… the moment she FINALLY lets go of the Anakin guilt/ hang ups.

I knew something like this was coming. Some moment that changed her back to the more recognizable Ahsoka. The one that embraced her friends. The one that was willing to share the lessons that she learned with others. The one that would have loved to have a padawan of her own. The one that wasn’t always running away, being flaky.

This was it. And, there were two big takeaways from the moment.

1.) Anakin was always Vader, and Vader was always Anakin… and she had nothing to do with that. Her leaving the order played literally no role. It wasn’t on her. It never was. He was already teetering on that line way before she entered his life. I mean, he slaughtered an entire village of Tuskens down to the last woman and child. He said and did questionable shit to Ahsoka herself too throughout their time together. Was he like a brother to her? Sure. Was he borderline abusive at times? Also, yes. Regardless, her eyes were opened in that first battle…where he basically told her to fight or die. Fair, under the circumstances… still, Ahsoka was trained to be a Jedi, not a murderer. Anakin relished in it. She didn’t really, especially when it came to losing her own men in battle. The clones were her friends, her brothers. Anakin didn’t seem to give a shit about the clones. Unsurprising.

2.) She realized that it wasn’t just Anakin’s legacy that she would carry on. She has her own legacy. It doesn’t have to be one of death and destruction. Is Ahsoka a lot like Anakin? Yes. She’s impulsive, hot-headed, stubborn, emotional, and intense, but that’s not all. Ahsoka is caring, patient, understanding, and loving in a compassionate sense. She’s grown wise, strong and sage. Anakin isn’t the only part of her line and that legacy… Obi-Wan is a part. Qui-Gon is a part. Yoda is a part. Ahsoka is a little bit of all of them. It made her realize that she’s so much more than just a warrior. She’s a great Jedi like the ones that came before her. Inevitably, she has a choice. She can choose not to serve the dark, despite it being part of that legacy, and she can pass on what she has learned without fear.

The moment was about just that. It wasn’t meant to actually be an episode of The Clone Wars. The flashback served a very specific purpose as laid out above. There are 133 episodes of The Clone Wars if you want to watch a Clone Wars episode with all the characters of the Clone Wars. This moment was about Ahsoka overcoming her guilt and fear caused by Anakin becoming what he became so that Ahsoka could actually embrace who she is. Specifically.

Now we have a happy, more well-rounded, Gandalf-like Ahsoka that has slayed her Balrog. Now we get to see her be the Jedi she has always been inside. Now we will see her be there for her friends. Now we will see her mentor and share her wisdom and teach the ways of the ones that came before her without fear.

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Ahsoka on Choosing (and Fighting) to Live, and why it matters that Anakin was the one to complete this lesson

Ahsoka has been playing the neutral game for a while now. Don’t engage, it at all possible. Avoid conviction , which Anakin points out that she lacks. Anakin tells Ahsoka that her training isn’t yet complete. There’s still a last lesson for her, and it’s one that transforms her in the end.

That message? Fight.

This is not about merely physical survival. This is about spiritual survival, the survival of who Ahsoka is in the Light.

It’s exactly the lesson Anakin had to learn for himself. He had to learn to fight for the Light inside him; he had to fight Vader to find himself again and protect the core of who he is. He couldn’t teach her that before, all that time ago. He didn’t know. He could teach her to be a soldier, yes, but as Ahsoka knows and as we found out in this episode, her training from him wasn’t complete. Because he had only recently learned t he final lesson himself, which he is now in the World Between Worlds to teach her. He tells her:

He knows it’s already within her, but she resists the message. Ahsoka lives through the past once again, and Anakin is trying to show her how she wasn’t just fighting to live in a physical sense, she was fighting to save her self in the spiritual sense, her soul in the Light side of the Force. She fought to save herself when she left the Jedi Order. She fought for what she believed was right in the siege of Mandalore.

But in one thing, Ahsoka has remained neutral, avoiding a solid conviction. She won’t fight Anakin, she won’t take that step.

But that’s not what Anakin wants. In the same way that Luke initially didn’t want to fight his father and eventually had to in order to protect what is good and true inside of himself, Ahsoka has to choose that, too. Anakin had to learn that and choose to live himself, too. Luke and Anakin have gone before her; it is Ashoka’s turn now. Anakin pushes her.

Ahsoka walks right up to the edge. She engages in the struggle, as she is meant to. She touches the Dark side, and she chooses to back away from it. She chooses to fight for the Light inside her. She chooses to live.

It’s exactly what Anakin wanted her to learn. His reaction is interesting, because he appears almost sad for a moment.

But I think it’s because he’s shocked at how comparatively easy it was for Ahsoka to resist the Dark side, in contrast to himself. He realizes she’s so much stronger on that front than he ever was. He’s surprised, ashamed of himself perhaps, but ultimately proud of her. “There’s hope for you yet,” he tells Ahsoka.

This experience changes Ahsoka forever and from this she becomes Ahsoka the White.

Ahsoka has found balance now. She learns that in the struggle to hold on to the Light inside of her, she has to take a stand in the end. It’s what Luke learned, it’s what Anakin finally learned, and Ahsoka has finally found that hope, too. Anakin wasn’t able to finish her training all that time ago because he didn’t know the lesson yet; now that he does, he has returned to her in the World Between Worlds to finish her training. He brought balance yet again, and Ahsoka has found peace with her past. She was never “just a soldier,” she was always so much more. Anakin brought her hope, and now its Ahsoka’s turn to carry the flame.

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“Our Blackbeard is a legend, a lover, a fighter, a tactical genius, a poetic soul, and quite possibly insane.”

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Taken from us too soon 😭 Help #SaveOFMD by contacting AppleTV, Prime, and Netflix to #AdoptOurCrew

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Ed Teach + nape 👀

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

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We're joined to one another. Intertwined. [pic source]

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OFMD mobile wallpaper from the new set stills

We were given a gift today from LK Creative - had to do my usual round of mobile wallpaper crops. Currently sporting the very excellent Roach shot as my lock screen.

Google Drive link for higher resolution wallpaper files.

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OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

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Taika Waititi as Edward Teach | Blackbeard in OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

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OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH (2022 - ) I 2.07

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People have your face tattooed on their body?'

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Potential 06x02 spoiler? Slightly suggestive content too

I know this season has ✨issues✨ but I still had a great time.

Had to get the Gentlebeard wormies out of my system before getting back to work 😭 I'm so soft

(Ed gets the twink treatment, sorry I don't make the rules)

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new official poster for OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH season two coming October 5th on Max!!

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Well done, my brave knight. Now... off with your head.

THE GREEN KNIGHT 2021 dir. David Lowery