#(we don't talk about how i hate most of tcw)

[jewishcissiekj]

Reading Dark Disciple rn and... It's really not all that, sorry

Like, it's painfully obvious it was supposed to be a Clone Wars arc and not for the right reasons. First off, it's just how much Ventress is used solely to elevate Quinlan's character. There is almost nothing out of it for her in terms of development and growth. Quinlan's not "redeeming" her. they're just hanging out and she's everything he needs her to be, whether it's a guide to the dark side or a lover. I thought this book was about Quinlan AND Asajj, but so far it's so damn Quinlan-centric, and for what? I know she dies in the book, and if she's actually getting fridged like I anticipated, it makes it so much worse. Asajj talks about her dark past and all but other than that the book sorely lacks any pov part from her. This may just be my expectations failing to have been met, but I have a very low standard regarding Star Wars media usually, and once there's Jedi it's usually enough for me.

But I'm halfway through the book, and things can change. That being said, this feels like another adventure pushed into The Clone Wars series that can't have any impact on the prequels and therefore will be discarded and wrapped up nicely in a bow. It feels unnecessary and makes me think that maybe this story should have been discarded either way. In animation, it, at least, would feel right and have the usual quality, pacing, and overall feeling of a Clone Wars episode or arc. As a book, it just feels weird.

I still love Ventress to the death, though my opinion on Quinlan is just beginning to sour

[antianakin]

Hey, I have a question to ask, and I'm gonna ask this to a few others cause I'm not a huge Star Wars expert on this.

Ever since The Acolyte aired, the jedi have been portrayed more as space cops. But, since when were they space cops? I thought they weren't like that. Am I wrong?

They AREN'T space cops, you're entirely correct, it's Leslye Headland who is wrong.

Here's the thing you have to understand about Leslye Headland and fans like her: they will claim to their dying day that they love the Jedi while sitting there talking about how the PREQUELS Jedi specifically were awful failures who doomed themselves by being heartless assholes who failed and/or abused Anakin and helped bring about the destruction of the Republic because they were simultaneously too political and not political enough.

When the Prequels first came out, they were received... poorly... by a large chunk of the adult audience. And it became a THING to hate the Prequel trilogy for a long time. After a while, people started deciding they didn't want to hate the Prequel trilogy, but they didn't actually LIKE some of the things in the films that were different from the legends canon that had already existed for years (primarily the way the Jedi had been interpreted), and so they chose to come up with interpretations that allowed them to "like" the Prequels better. The primary one that's become so popular as to basically end up considered the actual real intended message of the films is that the Jedi had become corrupt by the time of the Prequels, they were too old-fashioned and strict and stuck in their ways (specifically in that they forbid their members to love and were beholden to the Senate) and that this allowed Palpatine to win and Anakin to be seduced to the dark side, so they're the REAL villains of the entire story and the audience is SUPPOSED to dislike them.

In fairness to these fans, there IS a theme in the Prequels of an institute that's supposed to stand for peace and goodness being corrupted into an organization that is run by fear and greed. It's just that the institution in question is the SENATE, not the Jedi. And we spend a LOT more time with main characters who are Jedi, going out and doing cool fun Jedi adventures, than we do in the Senate with any of the known Senate characters doing political things. The only Senate character who could be considered a main character in the Prequels is Padme and a LOT of her more political scenes got cut from the films in order to focus on Anakin's story instead. Even in TCW, most of Padme's "political" episodes and storylines just devolve into action adventure plots instead. So it isn't hard to understand why people focused in on the Jedi and assumed that the story was ABOUT the Jedi rather than the politicians and picked up on a theme about corruption that was very much THERE and just misapplied it. But it's still wrong.

Leslye Headland appears to be one of those fans. A LOT of Star Wars fans of a certain age tend to follow this particular headcanon. Dave Filoni is another one of them, despite his reputation as George Lucas's "padawan" and the person who understands Star Wars the best after Lucas (spoiler alert: he's not).

So what we're getting in the Acolyte is a VERY intentional critique of the Jedi becoming more political I guess, more beholden to the Senate, and therefore becoming more like "space cops" instead of... I don't know... space Knights of the Round Table maybe? I think there's this concept that the Jedi should be more free spirited like... fairy god parents wandering the galaxy just handing out random miracles to worthy people and smiting the unworthy or some shit instead of being intergalactic ambassadors for the Republic, helping to resolve conflicts with legal backing and power.

This is something that's been around for DECADES now. It's in plenty of other books and comics that have come out during and since the Prequels, it's in TLJ, it's in TOTJ and TOTE, it's in the Ahsoka show, and now it's in The Acolyte. And it's obviously floated its way around fanfiction plenty, too. It's almost impossible to avoid if you talk to any other Star Wars fans from that age group (and even honestly fans YOUNGER than that age group because a lot of the older fans basically taught their children and younger siblings to hate the Prequels or that the Prequels were about the corruption of the Jedi, or younger fans just picked it up via osmosis if they spent almost any time within fandom the way I did). But it's becoming a thing that newer shows are really hammering in as if it's real canon. Headland genuinely believes that it is and we know that to be true because she's flat out SAID THIS in an interview she gave before the show aired. She 100% believes that the point of the Prequels, George Lucas's intended message in those films, was that the Jedi were corrupt and had fallen from grace. Her show is written with this misinterpretation of the films as a foundation for how she portrays the Jedi.

And that's how you get the Jedi suddenly feeling like "space cops" when that's so very clearly not what they are in anything Lucas ever created.

[jedi-enthusiast]

My Thoughts on Episode One

Keep in mind that these are just my thoughts that I've written down as I watch the show, they may change or I may expand on them later.

"Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano-"

Bitch, she was never Knighted! She was a padawan!

I see we're already starting off strong /s

Although, I will say, I'm glad they put "the EVIL Galactic Empire" because the way some people talk about the Empire is like they're trying to make it seem like it wasn't that bad---at least this shuts those bootlickers up. So, silver linings!

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Ngl I think Dave Filoni was trying way too hard to recreate the "hallway scene" with Darth Vader in Rogue One and failed miserably.

Also, if people keep referring to Ahsoka as a "Jedi" throughout this episode, I may or may not explode.

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"The Order doesn't exist anymore."

And I am once again reliving Order 66 and crying, thanks a lot.

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"Let's just say I didn't follow 'standard Jedi protocol.'"

Given what we see of her interrogation tactics in that one TCW episode with Luminara, as well as Anakin's tactics, when not following "standard Jedi protocol" ...I'm more than a little concerned by what Ahsoka means by this. Did she torture Morgan? Did she take Morgan's mind apart like Maul did to Jesse?

C'mon Ahsoka, what did you do that wouldn't have been standard Jedi protocol?

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"They seem to have abilities like you."

Hera, you were literally basically married to a Jedi and you were also captured by Maul at some point, Kanan talked to you about this stuff and you experienced it...you know what a Sith is.

Ahsoka, you also know what a Sith is.

They're literally wielding red lightsabers in the holo.

Why are both of you acting like you don't know this?

Also, why is Hera talking like she wasn't literally at the battle of Lothal and like she also didn't know of/have beef with Thrawn?

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Once again with calling Ahsoka a Jedi.

Also, Ahsoka has always said "I am no Jedi' or said that she isn't a Jedi anytime someone has called her that since she left the Order, so why isn't she denying it now?

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LOTH CATS OH MY FUCKING GOD-

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Ok, I know Ezra's recording is supposed to be this really emotional spurring moment but like...

1. The dialogue feels so utterly flat- (so far most of the dialogue has felt that way for me tbh, it's like...none of the characters are really talking like the characters, yknow? And it all just feels so stilted, like they don't know themselves or the people around them).

And 2. Ezra wouldn't have had time to make a recording??? Him taking out Thrawn was a spur of the moment decision, they didn't know everything was gonna happen the way it did, so how exactly did he make this recording???

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FDSLKJALJHFJA IT WAS A NIGHTSISTER TEMPLE???

MORGAN IS A NIGHTSISTER???

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

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"Ahsoka Tano's former apprentice is on Lothal...you're looking for Sabine Wren."

I assume this is gonna be explained later, so I'm attempting to hold in my judgement---but since when did Jedi start taking non-Force-sensitive apprentices?

Kanan taught Sabine how to use the Darksaber so she wouldn't hurt herself and so that she would let go of her fear/anger/pain so she could face her family---so why in the world was Ahsoka teaching her, and since when is taking a Force-null as an apprentice a thing?

I'm just so confused.

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"There is nothing easy about being a Jedi."

AHSOKA HAS SAID REPEATEDLY THAT SHE IS NOT A JEDI, WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM????

Also, again, since when can Force-nulls become Jedi?

I'm assuming that they're taking the "Sabine is Force-sensitive" route for this, even though it's very weird considering she never showed signs of it in Rebels, but I still feel like they should've already revealed that if that's the case---because right now it's just confusing.

If they don't go that route then I genuinely already hate the route this is going as far as Jedi stuff goes.

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"Anakin never got to finish my training. Before the end of the Clone Wars, I walked away from him...and the Jedi."

*long sigh* not this bullshit again.

Ahsoka he literally helped Palpatine commit genocide against the fucking Jedi---that was probably a bigger factor in you not finishing your training than you deciding to take some time to figure yourself out. Seek therapy, please.

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I'm gonna be honest, this lightsaber battle between Sabine and the apprentice is...so disappointing.

To be fair, though, I've been disappointed by every lightsaber duel since everything set in the Prequel era---nothing can really live up to those duels.

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Since when can people live through getting stabbed with a lightsaber, without drawing on the Dark Side?

Sabine should be fucking dead, like Qui-Gon was in TPM.

And before anyone says- "oh it's the end of the episode, you don't know if she's still alive" -yes I do, because I already know she's in episode 2.

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My thoughts on episode 2 will probably either go up tomorrow night or sometime this weekend, I don't know yet because I'll be moving into my dorm tomorrow.

Already though I can safely say: my expectations were literally in the ground and I'm already disappointed.

[gffa]

Lumi, question, because I trust your judgement a lot and I'm weighting the headcanon for myself.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely do you think it could be that actual canon Anakin is a bit of a prude that finds premarital sex scandalous?

Doing my best to be completely honest and as objective as I can:  This occupies a nebulous space in my head, re: Narrative Intention vs What I Think Works For The Character Honestly And Truly. Do I think demi!Anakin who's a prude about premarital sex is the Actual Fax Intended Reading that Lucas had in mind when he wrote the prequels?  I wouldn't put money on that bet. But do I think it makes sense for the character, when I'm talking about them seriously?  That I don't just say it for a silly, fun joke, but that I could write serious fic about it, that I see it as a serious part of the character?  I am ready to die on that hill. For me, Anakin Skywalker never seems interested in anyone outside of the people he loves, he never really flirts with anyone (he tries to pretend he does once in TCW, when he says he's popular with women, but he's talking to Obi-Wan at the time and we never see him actually flirt with friends or enemies), and he never moves on from them.  Once that guy is in love with someone, he is in love with them forever, even if he's willing to kill them, even if he hates them, it's because it's coming from the source of his love for them. We could complicate this by talking about the way Anakin treats Padme is often paralleled (not intentionally, but with a fair amount of frequency) with the way he treats Obi-Wan, but even looking solely at the way Anakin is in his relationship with Padme, he's not gravitating to anyone outside of that marriage.  Even Padme has occasional moments, like with Clovis.  Or she talks about Palo, showing she had interest outside of that relationship once upon a time.  Anakin is just laser-focused on the one relationship, in contrast. Now, a big chunk of that is tied up in Anakin's possessiveness and greed for those he loves, but I can see a very easy, natural step from that hyper-emotional investment in those specific people to being demi, that he's only interested in someone once he's fallen in love with them, that the two aren't separable in his mind. I see Anakin as someone who tends to idealize people, he thinks the sun rises and sets on those he loves, even when he's mad at them or thinks they betrayed him, I see part of that as coming from a place of, "You were supposed to be perfect!  You were supposed to comfort me!  You were supposed to love me perfectly!" which I can see extending to his views on sex in a relationship, that he idealizes the process of falling in love with someone, that his feelings for them are special and grand and epic, that he has the most feelings ever, so naturally sex should be part of that.  Sex should be between people who love each other, sex should be only with people you have these big, uncontrollable feelings for. Sex should mean EVERYTHING to you, just like his feelings for someone should mean EVERYTHING to them. That's how Anakin approaches his feelings, his relationships with people he loves, and I think with sex, too. So, I don't think its precisely premarital sex that Anakin takes issue with (though, it's fun to joke about it) but the concept of a relationship without intense, all-consuming love.  Sex without being eaten alive by your love for that person is contrary to how he himself approaches relationships. I make jokes about how he would rain psychic scorn on anyone in the entire Jedi Temple who was getting their dick wet without being ~in love~, because I think it's funny and because I think you could rile him up to be prickly about it, but that ultimately I think he would just make a, "Ugh, gross." comment to himself about it and mentally block it out, because he's not actually that confrontational when it doesn't involve himself.  Does he have strong opinions about it?  Yes.  Does he get up in others' business about it?  Not unless prompted by something else going on with the situation. Ultimately, though, yeah, I do seriously think that Anakin views sex and love as being inseparable and it'd be weird and gross to fuck someone without loving them, even if he intellectually understands that other people feel differently and are apparently just fine with being weird about it.

[clonewarsarchives]

Matt Lanter & James Arnold Taylor at Star Wars Celebration 2023 Day 2

livestream timestamp: 02:54:50-03:07:10

What is a quote from the show that's less quotable but more haunting, because it was difficult to get out in the moment?

ML: Well, it's not difficult to get out necessarily, but Anakin says something like, and it may not be verbatim, but something like "I realize, more than you know, I realize what it's like, wanting to leave the Order." [note: "I understand, more than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order." final words to Ahsoka in 5.20 The Wrong Jedi] and that says so much to me. It's something that we never really see Anakin kind of voiced that, he's sort of handcuffed, he felt chained, and he sort of voiced that to Ahsoka. It was such an intimate moment, I love that moment.

JAT: [Obi-wan voice] "It takes strength to resist the Dark Side. Only the weak embrace it." [5.16 The Lawless] That episode was haunting for me. We would get the scripts when we walked into the room. I did not know - spoiler alert! I think at Star Wars Celebration it's okay to say - In Season 5, Satine, I did not know what was gonna happen. So... when Obi-wan says "Satine..." under his breath, those are little ad-libs, those are moments that would just happen because it was heart-wrenching to be there and to be a part of that. Those moments are haunting, because I also think Obi-wan is a true believer. He wanted to see if he could save Darth Maul. He really believed there was a chance, with Ventress or with any of these people that he could maybe, save them. Or any of these people [points to Matt] "You were my brother!"

ML: "I hate you!"

JAT:  "Get over it." [laughs]

full recap:

How have years of experience working with both George Lucas & Dave Filoni changed your perspective on Star Wars?

ML: every time we go in recording, Dave would sit there and talk half an hour at least. It's amazing we got work done. He would sit there and talk about Star Wars, where the character were, and share storytelling which he learnt from George. It's a pretty cool moment

JAT: It was those moments where we were recording an episode, and he's through the glass and he's on the phone, and then he hangs up the phone, he says, "OK George just said..." and I'm like "Wait a second, George George?" "Yes." It was so great to watch that, see what he's taken from the Master and made so wonderfully now with everything he's doing.

ML: I feel like I've learnt a lot about character, from Dave.

JAT: and Sketch! He's a great artist. Dave would sketch characters as we're going, so he would draw little Ahsokas for Ashley and things and give them to her. Now she's gotta hold on to them, they're worth a fortune for now I'm sure.

Fave moment making TCW?

ML: some of my fave are moments like this! we're all on stage, we're celebrating TCW and Star Wars in general, travelling with these guys, be up at the ranch. Truthfully, seeing the joy it brings on people's faces, people come up to us and just talk about - "it was my childhood" or some traumatic event but TCW got them through. Those are the little meaningful things that you don't forget. So along with enjoying it, it brings people thorugh tough times. Those are the really, really cool things to hear.

JAT: I would wholeheartedly agree with what Matt says. It's a life-changing experience to be a part of it. I saw Star Wars- I'm the old man in the room now- I saw Star Wars when I was 7yo in a driving movie theater and it changed my life, never thought one day I get to be old Obi-wan. Now I think I'm one of the only peole, if not the only person here, that was actually in the first Clone Wars. So you see those 20 years, Clone Wars 20 [logos], that's because the micro series of Clone Wars, and I was Obi-wan in that, and that was the first time I got to play Obi-wan.

What are you most proud of as your part of the legacy for these characters, that are just larger than life in the Star Wars galaxy?

ML: I think that in TCW, we got to see Anakin a little different than we did in the films. George and Dave wanted to take the Clone Wars time to sort of expand the character of Anakin and make him a hero that we really really loved, so when he falls, and becomes Darth Vader, I feel like it's that much more sad. It's so much more tragic because you rooted for this guy, you cared for him and it also adds more to his story as to why he turned: the loss of Ahsoka, which is something we didn't know about. All of that, it's been such a joy to just add to that character, making him so much more rich than he already was.

JAT: Yeah, I totally agreed. Hayden and Matt complemented so much on this character of Anakin Skywalker and they bring so much to it. I'm honoured to work with this guy on a regular basis, he's an amazing actor, a wonderful friend. We live near each other, he actually lives on a hill now, just so he can say "I have the high ground! [Matt echoes]" It's not fair!

ML: It's true, "I have the high ground."

JAT: And I would say for me, bringing the sass to Obi-wan Kenobi has been the funnest. Yes, I love that too.

What is a quote from the show that's less quotable but more haunting, because it was difficult to get out in the moment?

ML: Well, it's not difficult to get out necessarily, but Anakin says something like, and it may not be verbatim, but something like "I realize, more than you know, I realize what it's like, wanting to leave the Order." [note: "I understand, more than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order." final words to Ahsoka in 5.20 The Wrong Jedi] and that says so much to me. It's something that we never really see Anakin kind of voiced that, he's sort of handcuffed, he felt chained, and he sort of voiced that to Ahsoka. It was such an intimate moment, I love that moment.

JAT: [Obi-wan voice] "It takes strength to resist the Dark Side. Only the weak embrace it." [5.16 The Lawless] That episode was haunting for me. We would get the scripts when we walked into the room. I did not know - spoiler alert! I think at Star Wars Celebration it's okay to say - In Season 5, Satine, I did not know what was gonna happen. So... when Obi-wan says "Satine..." under his breath, those are little ad-libs, those are moments that would just happen because it was heart-wrenching to be there and to be a part of that. Those moments are haunting, because I also think Obi-wan is a true believer. He wanted to see if he could save Darth Maul. He really believed there was a chance, with Ventress or with any of these people that he could maybe, save them. Or any of these people [points to Matt] "You were my brother!"

ML: "I hate you!"

JAT:  "Get over it." [laughs]

Anything you want to say to people who has been with TCW/these stories/your characters from the start?

JAT: Thank you all. You all saved Clone Wars. All of you. [stands up] [ML: Yeah, absolutely.] You all saved Clone Wars. We love you. We truly love you and thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

ML: You guys embrace The Clone Wars, and now we've got 7 spectacular seasons of Star Wars content that just adds to the saga, and makes it so much more rich. To be a part of that and feel the love from you guys, the warmth, it's pretty amazing. It's great to celebrate TCW on its anniversary and Star Wars in general. It's amazing to be here.

[host reminiscing SDCC 10th anniversary panel]

JAT: We never thought that it would come back, truly. None of us did. So it was truly fantastic to see that panel. The explosion from everybody there was fantastic.

How emotional was it for you to come back and step into those roles again?

ML: For me, people ask me this all the time, "What was it like to come back?", but I feel like I never really put Anakin down. We were always doing video games, special little projects here and there. And also honestly, Anakin is a part of me. We've been doing now for 15... 17...

JAT: 17 years, because we started 2 years prior to it coming out.

ML: So I mean, I had a Star Wars wedding. Shoutout to my wife, if you're watching back in the States. It's a part of me now, and it's always has been, so I never really let it go. But it was great to come back and be in the booth with these guys, for sure.

JAT: We were in the same studio that we recorded originally, so it was very magical. I remember the last time we did was Ashley and myself, and Dee, and Matt. And Dave goes, "We got it the first time, let's just do it again because it's fun to watch you guys," so we did it like 2 or 3 more times, and that was the energy of it. 'Cause we're really just a family. We truly are a family and we just love being a part of it all.

[toxictrannyfreak]

Please go into more detail about the Fulcrum Barriss thing.

Oh, anon, I have been waiting for this. You're going to get way more than you wanted.

Basically, my idea for Fulcrum!Barriss came from 2 things: 1, I really don't like Ahsoka in Rebels. She kinda sucks there tbh. One of Rebel's main themes is that of redemption, of finding your way back to the right path and helping, and Ahsoka doesn't really fit. She could fit, if they'd done things different and had her and Kanan have parallel character arcs where they both help each other find the Jedi path again, but instead she's a very flat character that never does anything that interesting. Sure, she's supposedly organizing the Rebellion from the shadows, but the only time she's ever significant in her own right in Rebels is when she's beating people up. She's presented as kind of a perfect Light Side saint kind of thing (think of the Gandalf-looking outfit she has in the endcard, and the exhausting amounts of Morai and Daughter imagery we get with her, without them ever once acknowledging that she was possessed by the Son) which really gives us nothing to go with the whole redemption theme. It's boring. There are some good things--I love most of Twilight of the Apprentice, for example, but it's pretty clear that the whole Vader and Ahsoka thing shouldn't have been in Rebels, since it has almost no connection to the actual main characters and the plot.

The second thing was that I wanted to explore Barriss's character post-Order 66 in a way that is respectful to her actual character while still mostly canon-compliant (Because while I hate the Wrong Jedi Arc for what it did to Barriss and fully believe that it never should have happened, a story following Barriss with everything in the Wrong Jedi staying the same is really interesting) and, well, obviously having Barriss be a rebel makes sense (do not talk to me about Inquisitor!Barriss, I hate it). Barriss also has a ton that she feels she has to atone for with the context of the Wrong Jedi Arc, and, as a young Jedi who did Fall a little bit, she can offer a lot to Ezra as a teacher, like helping him understand why he can't use the Dark Side to stop The Empire.

tl;dr: Ahsoka's boring in Rebels, and she really shouldn't have been there anyway, but Barriss is fascinating post-TCW and, as a former Jedi who was briefly taken in by the Dark Side and betrayed the Order, is pretty damn perfect with the themes of Rebels, and had a very unique perspective that would've been really valuable for Ezra's arc.

Rant over, @antianakin has some very good post on Ahsoka if you want to check that out, on to the next rant!

Barriss works as Fulcrum, too. In The Wrong Jedi (I hate it, but like, I am using Canon here, I know it's terrible and character assassination for the sake of shock value and racism), we see how skilled she can be at subterfuge and lying and hiding in plain sight. She's very good at knowing exactly how to manipulate Ahsoka into making herself look as guilty as possible while keeping herself very innocent-looking. I could definitely see a fully grown Barriss with 15 years of experience using those skills to fight the Empire and direct a rebellion from the shadows.

Narratively, it makes a lot of sense for Barriss to work as a quiet director of rebel activity in the Outer Rim. She isn't a super-powerful Force user that can easily beat a bunch of Inquisitors (I'll talk about my problems with how weak the Inquisitors were later) and hold back Darth Vader. She needs to stay quiet, but she also needs to help, and working with those who have been the most disenfranchised and hurt by the Empire to bring it down serves as a good parallel to the Wrong Jedi Arc, where she was one of the most disenfranchised and hurt by the war (a teenage soldier whose people are dying around her, and no one in power cares) redirecting that in the wrong way, lashing out and hurting people, and now she's helping people react in a positive way and do things right.

Ahsoka, on the other hand (I'm assuming you came from the Fulcrum!Bariss and Inquisitor!Ahsoka post) is honestly a much more interesting character as an Inquisitor than she's really ever been in canon, and honestly, it’s confusingly well foreshadowed for something that never happens. In the Mortis Arc (aka the most symbolic arc of TCW that EXPLICITLY TELLS YOU THE FUTURE OF THE CHARACTERS), Ahsoka is very much associated with the Dark Side. She's kidnapped by the Son, she sees a vision (all of the other characters have visions that are pretty clearly true) of herself in the future, telling her that Anakin will corrupt her if she can't let go of him, and lo and behold, what is the 1 thing that Ahsoka is never able to do? LET GO OF ANAKIN. She is literally possessed by the embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force. 30 years later in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka is still unable to let go of Anakin even after he’s been dead for years, after she faced him and recognised him, after there’s nothing left of the Anakin she knew, she can only see Anakin in Grogu. She is haunted by Anakin, she is attached to Anakin, Anakin defines her. Think of how tragic that would be with Inquisitor Ahsoka, who was forced to the Dark Side, who was manipulated and tortured and abused (tbf TotJ kinda makes it seem that Anakin was already borderline abusive to Ahsoka). Imagine the amount of pain and anger and unresolved trauma in her, all inextricably tied to Anakin, to Vader, to her Master. She loves him in the same horrifying, twisted way that he loves her and that brings them both so much pain, plunging them deeper and deeper into that downward spiral.

And then there’s the relationship the two of them would have with each other--Barriss who fell first, but was given the support she needed to pull herself out (obviously Luminara and the Jedi helped her, come on, there’s no way that if she lived they wouldn’t have helped her and pushed for her to be given back to the Jedi) who was able to find the Light again and use her experiences to help other people and make amends, but especially the fact that Barriss Fell of her own accord. There were other factors, but no one forced Barriss to Fall. The Inquisitors were tortured and mutilated and abused until they became everything they hated, and then they were forced to serve the very people who murdered their people. None of that is voluntary, even if they’ve been manipulated into thinking that it was deserved, or for the best, or made them stronger. A Fallen Ahsoka confronting a redeemed Barriss, a horrible mirror image of what happened to them in the Wrong Jedi Arc so long ago. That’s powerful and painful and it works, it fits with the themes of Rebels really well, and it doesn’t mess with the power scaling the way Vader does.

Now allow me to elaborate on this au. So, Order 66 happens, and Barriss is in Republic prison, one that’s probably guarded and maintained by clones (she wouldn’t be an immediate target, ‘cause she’s not a Jedi, and she’s probably wanted for the Inquisitorius anyway). At this point, Ahsoka has separated from Rex and only knows of one Jedi in the entire galaxy that’s probably still alive--Barriss, who she knows won’t be an immediate target, Barriss, who, despite everything, is still her friend. Barriss who will die soon. Ahsoka goes back to Coruscant and breaks Barriss out of prison.

Except the Empire knew that someone would come for her, and after Jesse never reported back, they knew Ahsoka was out there. Barriss manages to escape, but Ahsoka doesn’t. (This is, like, the angstiest possible version of this au, I could also do a version where Barriss just escapes, but I like pain, so.) Barriss thinks they’d kill her—the Inquisitorius program won’t become official for months yet, not until the last of her people have been tortured into everything she once thought the Jedi had become—so she makes sure Ahsoka’s sacrifice isn’t in vain, and she runs. She hides out in the Outer Rim, and she makes Ahsoka proud.

She sees the pain and suffering and misery caused by the war and the Empire, and she is a Jedi. She cannot help what she is. She builds a rebellion, piece by piece and step by step, hidden in the shadows, agonizingly crawling towards something better. She wakes up every day, and she fights, building networks of people and information and hope. She fights to restore the Republic that failed her, and the Order she failed, and she hopes that one day it will be enough. Enough to finally be redeemed, enough to go to trial once more and face punishment for her crimes. (Death. It was always going to be death, but the Jedi managed to postpone her trial until after the war, but the war never ended. The war was to destroy the Republic, and she refuses to stop fighting for civilization. She hears about Ahsoka, eventually, and she sees it as just one more sin she must carry.)

And then she meets Ezra. He is young, and scared, and angry, but he is bright in the Force and he wants to become a Jedi more than anything. She has stayed in the shadows for so long, but this young, brilliant boy and his Master, a fellow Padawan that she remembers from so long ago, they need her, and she goes. She brings everything she has, all to save these last Jedi and being the galaxy some hope. They burn a Star Destroyer, and broadcast a message of hope. It’s finally coming together.

She teaches Ezra what she can, and she and Kanan cling to each other. They hadn’t thought there was anyone else left, all 10,000 lights snuffed out by Order 66 or the Inquisitorius save for them. They meditate and train and try to find their way back to the Jedi path, for the child they’re trying so hard to save.

Eventually, the Empire comes for them. Inquisitor Ahsoka Tano, Grand Inquisitor of the Imperial Order of the Inquisitorius (I had a lot of fun figuring out how many times I could fit Inquisitor in there), second only to Darth Vader, finds them on Malachor. She brings a bunch of other Inquisitors with her (and they’re actually, like threatening bad guys this time, come on) and they have a big fight (idk if I want to keep Maul here, bc well I do like him in Rebels, he's just another example of Filoni forcing in legacy characters where they don't fit) in, like, the middle of the episode Barriss and Ahsoka have a really really angsty 1v1 duel (everyone else is trying to fight normally while ignoring the bitter exes biting each other's heads off in the background). Darth Vader does not show up.

I haven't thought much past Season 2, to be honest, but I do have some vague ideas:

Kallus (who actually has a redemption arc, not 1 episode where they retcon everything about him) definitely has a very strained relationship with the Inquisitors bc he’s several gallons deep in the Empire-propaganda koolaid and he doesn’t trust force sensitives, he thinks that they take jobs away from the ISB, who could do the much better, and, while he’ll never admit it, he does have a moral compass and feels like sending highly trained super-evil Force wizards that can bring down entire buildings with their minds is a bit much for a teenage boy

For seasons 3 and 4 I’d want to do something with the Zare Leonis/Project Harvester plot they set up in season 1 and then like. Never mentioned again outside of a niche book series. Smth about what the Empire actually does to force-sensitive kids

No Thrawn. Fucking hate Thrawn in Rebels bc he is yet another example of Felony jamming in cameo characters where they don’t belong. Why was Thrawn, fucking Grand Admiral of the Empire, the guy that (in Legends bc he wasn’t in canon pre-Rebels) nearly manages to bring back the Empire and destroy the New Republic basically by himself, in the show about a small group of misfit rebels desperately trying to build the early Rebellion? Thrawn managed to nearly bring down the Rebellion at its peak, when it had already destroyed the damn Empire! (For that matter, why is Tarkin in Rebels? Why is Vader in Rebels? Why is Emperor goddamn Palpatine. in. Rebels??? There is a thing called power scaling, felony, and it is very important!)

Instead of Thrawn being the main villain of seasons 3-4 of Rebels, I’d have Inquisitor Ahsoka be the main villain of season 3 and her redemption arc would be parallel with Kallus’s (bc he actually has one here) and they’d both get out of the Empire in the Season 3 finale. The villain of Season 4 would be Pryce, and the focus would be on her and the Empire’s greed destroying Lothal, which I think would go really well with the Zare storyline of Project Harvester that I mentioned above. The show would end about the same as it does in canon, though idk exactly how Ezra would get into the Unknown Regions without Thrawn.

So this has turned from Fulcrum Barriss into a full on rewrite of everything I didn’t like about Rebels, huh? Sorry anon, I warned you.

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Oh my god the Mandalorian s3 decisions being a push to make Bo Katan more marketable for women makes so much sense.

I’ve been watching the flames of season 3 for afar wondering what possibly possessed them to sideline the wildly popular duo of Din and Grogu in favor of this Bo Katan stuff, aside from the obvious future content advertisement… it’s because it’s popular with women…

Like it’s a known pattern that corporations hate when something they’ve created aimed at men is disproportionately popular with women because they strive to keep a very distinct line between Boy things and Girl things. Anything Star Wars is for men, except the acceptable Girl Things like Leia and Padme and Asoka. But then the Mandalorian became wildly popular with women and they can’t just cancel a cash cow like the Mandalorian without milking everything they can from it so they’re like “well let’s bring in Bo Katan she’s for the Women now start making the toys”

I am so late to this but that meant time to simmer and seethe over Disney's decisions before and lately, and things I've read over the years about how corporations market to their target audiences, and how little things have changed.

I saw rumors and theories that KKKennedy (y'all sorry I keep calling her that but iykyk) meddled a LOT with The Mandalorian and Jon even threatened to quit, but at the end of the day the Mouse House has the final say and we're stuck with their decisions. I really don't know how the final numbers will look, how it'll affect their merch sales, and what it means for the future seasons of The Mandalorian. Maybe the hard pivot to redeem Bo-Katan for the bajillionth time will be the new cash cow or the canary in the coal mine (for The Mandalorian; I'm sure Ahsoka will be a hit no matter what). Maybe they gambled right or they've lost too many viewers who wanted Din and Grogu to be the heart and soul and center of this particular show. It's called The Mandalorian after all. If they want to claim that it could be any Mandalorian who's The Mandalorian of these season, then maybe Season 2 should've followed a different Mandalorian and established this before scamming us with Season 3. They were already trying that with TBOBF before having Din and Grogu steal the show.

But now that I've seen those rumors and theories, I could not fucking stop thinking about what happened when the ST was rolling out and when Rogue 1 and Solo came out. I could not stop thinking about the casting choices for Rey, Jyn, and Qi'ra, could not stop thinking about how white and brunette they were. I could not stop thinking about KKKennedy and others talking about how they wanted to bring more female fans to Star Wars, acting like Star Wars was exclusively a male space, which, what a fucking insult. I could not forget pictures of her wearing "The Force is Female" shirts and pushing this message so fucking hard that it would keep showing up in critical reviews of TLJ/TROS/ST as proof that Disney didn't know what it was doing.

Rey, Jyn, and Qi'ra were lucky to not have the kind of long history that Bo-Katan already had in the gffa by the time she made her live-action debut. It didn't take much to google her involvement in TCW and Rebels, and see what she'd done. I've seen commenters say she redeemed herself in Rebels by rallying the Mandalorians but are you sure about that? Are we still having trouble with writing redemption arcs after the fucking horrible one Disney put Kylo Ren through to the detriment of every other character not named Rey?

I wouldn't have minded Bo-Katan having greater involvement in Season 3 if she didn't basically take charge of not just the COTW but also the entire show. Watch out for the new merch of her with the Darksaber now. Probably the most we'll get out of Din is whatever happens to him in the season finale because Disney gotta make more money, amirite? Grogu got a new accessory so that Disney can sell new versions of him, so why not Din?

I truly envy the poeple who are having a good time or don't need to have these thoughts constantly in their heads while watching. I didn't have a good time and I can never turn those thoughts off. I don't have the luxury so I'm never shutting up about this.

ftr I unfollowed Okiro after the billionth time he called Din, Grogu, and Bo-Katan "Clan of Three". what the fuck had she done to earn equal footing?

[elismor]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

@cacodaemonia tagged me for this one and I've never actually looked at my AO3 stats, so this should be interesting (for me, anyway)...

How many works do you have on ao3? 119, which is kind of...something when you consider that I only started writing fic again in 2022

What’s your total ao3 word count? 101, 481. Yeeps.

What fandoms do you write for? Most of those words are for The Clone Wars, but there are some other SW shows/movies in there too. I'm 100% Star Wars these days. But there are also works from Stargate, Firefly, Supernatural, and a couple of others.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Pillow Talk

Forty Winks

Intensive Care

Whiskey Tango...Foxtrot?!

Crime and Punishment

The first four were all part of Codywan Sleep Bingo 2023, the last one was for 501st Bingo 2023

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do! I always respond to thank those who left me a comment at the very least and will try to answer questions or react to something specific if they have called it out. Fandom is about interaction.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I suppose that depends on how one defines angst. Intensive Care ends with both Cody and Obi-Wan gravely wounded in bacta tanks. But None of Us Perfect ends with an OFC giving Anakin advice that will ultimately fail because...you know...Vader. So one of them is what I would maybe call "modern angst" in that fandom seems to have more specific definitions of it now but the other seems like a somewhat happy ending when we all know it's really not and never could be.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Honestly? I have no idea. These days, I tend to only write happy/fluffy sort of stuff, so most of them end well. Strictly Ballroom is about Waxer and Boil's first kiss and it's pretty sweet and happy, I think.

Do you get hate on fics? To date? No. Will I eventually? Probably? I dunno. I'm pretty small potatoes in the fic world....I don't have the kind of spotlight that draws hate.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, I suppose that I do. 98% of it is clonesex, but there is a side of het in there with Thire and an OFC because when I started writing smut, I needed to do it with the kind of sex I am familiar with.

Do you write crossovers? I have written one crossover in my life. It is not on AO3.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I am aware of, no.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, but it was a million years ago in a fandom far, far away.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? This question gives ME angst. I am not a shipper by nature and I've never had an OTP. In TCW, I very much enjoy Rex/Cody and it probably edges out my fondness of Codywan a little.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have about 15K written as a sequel to None of Us Perfect and I really would like to finish it because I started it when the Kenobi series aired as a sort of tribute to my friend Alex, who passed away before she could see it. I'm also just really fond of that OFC and would like to tell more of her story. But it's such a personal project that gets me deep in my feels, so it can be hard to work on.

What are your writing strengths? If the comments are to be believed, I'm somewhat funny? I do think I can turn a decent phrase from time to time, too.

What are your writing weaknesses? I used to write in past tense and, back then, I think I was pretty good at action, but now that I'm in present tense, I don't think that's true anymore. I struggle with it not reading staccato (he did this, then he did that, then this happened), so I actually tend to avoid it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I tried it once with that crossover mentioned above, but did it phonetically because I wanted the readers to have a sense of how it sounded instead of just looking at words in a language they didn't speak. I don't think I would do it again aside from a word here or there as needed.

First fandom you wrote for? Highlander: The Series

Favorite fic you’ve written? I have a very soft spot for the second HL fic I wrote, which is probably still online somewhere, but I'm not going to try to link to it because it's under my real name (because that's how we rolled in 1997). Here and now, under the cover of usernames, it's probably A Brighter Star than You.

Thanks for the tag, caco! That was more fun than I thought it might be. I'm going to open tag this because I feel like I have been hitting the usual suspects pretty hard with the writing game tags lately. If you see it and want to play, please do so and tag me back so I can see your answers! And, because caco is a genius and did this first, here's a list of the questions for you to cut and paste:

How many works do you have on ao3?

What’s your total ao3 word count?

What fandoms do you write for?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Do you get hate on fics?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Do you write crossovers?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

First fandom you wrote for?

Favorite fic you’ve written?

[ooops-i-arted]

despite my issues with the show, i don't mind its visuals... at least most of the time. when filoni actually gives a damn and puts in the effort, it can turn out decent looking. but it does piss me off when i see the cheap looking costumes for hera and sabine and how underwhelming their adaptation is. i'm also not sold on the writing and directing for these characters. the weird jedi training subplot for sabine makes no sense and seems to only exist so ahsoka can have a student. why didn't filoni just create a new character then? the search for ezra should have been about the rebels characters and their relationships, but they need to take a backseat to this dull interpretation of ahsoka because they were thrown into her story.

why did filoni even bother having sabine, hera and ezra here unless he knew how popular they were already in the fandom and needed to give people more reasons to watch the show about his favorite oc? like did he feel that ahsoka and a cast of new characters were not enough to carry her own show, so now rebels are included just to be carelessly handled? its really disappointing.

even for ahsoka herself, i don't think the show did a good job of handling her own arc or internal conflict. the "lesson" from her reunion with anakin did not feel satisfying or earned given the lack of build up.

The Sabine thing confuses me completely, because if Sabine ever wanted to be a Jedi, why wouldn't she talk to Kanan or Ezra about it? Didn't she train with the Darksaber, so she'd have a chance to ask? If Ahsoka HAS to have an apprentice to continue her ~legacy~ or whatever, why not Ezra? He's still fairly young and could probably benefit from more training. Jacen Syndulla is RIGHT THERE and if he has latent Force powers, he probably should start learning to control them. Or (and this makes me want to vomit for the record) why not unite the storylines like Feloni clearly wants to do and have her train Grogu? Which will then be another stupid iT's pOeTrY iT rHymEs moment since Yoda trained Dooku & Obi-Wan so it comes full circle by another member of his species joining the sKyWaLkEr LiNeAgE. (Sorry to those of your in the fandom who enjoy it, I hate that stupid lineage thing. It just feels like forcing biological structure when the Jedi are very Found Family-coded and don't need to follow it.)

Honestly I think the answer is Filoni Thought It Was Cool. Anakin is the coolest, so he gets to be Ahsoka's teacher and have a flashback. It's cool to show off Hayden Christensen even though Kenobi did it first. It's cool when Gandalf is "reborn" as The White so Ahsoka does it too. Master & apprentice relationships are cool, Ahsoka needs to be Cool and have her own apprentice, shove the nearest character at her and make it a girl character so we can get Feminist Points. Just like Boba and Mando S3 got derailed by Filoni getting distracted by the newest, shiniest TCW character he could shove in. Because it'd be Cool.

[hypnified]

why are people even sending you hate? you're always so cool, and fun to interact with and you've always been sweet to everyone too. you never had to show us your ocs, but you graced us with them. storm shooting erix isn't even a bad thing, storm chose life or death, it shows that storm is willing to do what it takes, he's so empathetic. he shot his own brother to save another life, i get it people may not like that he shot another clone but people need to get a grip and leave blue alone. i'm not even a mutual of blue, i've been lucky enough to interact with them! i love the character it gives storm, talk about the trust issues they have, talk about those messy arcs, post that art, we need to know more about your beloved clone boys. post those thoughts, those headcanons, those blurbs, those interactions, those incorrect quotes, i want people to write fics on your ocs, i want angst and fluff if your boys, i want to know how bear reacts to fives and thorns death. screw the hate anons

Anon, you're gonna kill me :((

Well, basically last night I received an anon asking why storm didn't execute order 66, which really wasn't a big deal it was harmless. Until I mentioned that he shot Erix, i wanted to get it out before I slept. I knew after posting it there was gonna be some negative responses. But I didn't think too much of it. Of course, when I woke up I clearly underestimated the fact that people weren't going to like it. My ocs have received hate in the past, so at first I wasn't too bothered by it. But after I deleted the post, I had some more hate anons, I won't give them the time of day by answering them.

I try to be as easy to interact with as possible, but I know that it's always the case. I'm nice to everyone because they deserve it, I don't expect any of it in return. If I'm making someone happy then I'm doing something right.

I had briefly spoken about some of my clones on a-streakofblue so it wasn't too big of a deal, but those posts aren't worth looking at. I wasn't even that comfortable talking about them on there, but I finally said fuck it let's ramble about my ocs. It mainly took seeing my friends and mutuals rambling about their ocs for me to roll with it. I started off with my Bear headcanon post, and I just continued from there. Everyone has been welcoming of my little guys which was great!

"storm has no empathy." Storm is one of my most loving ocs, he's incredibly empathetic. I get it not everyone will agree with his actions or that I'm coming to his defense. He was literally made as a comfort oc for tcw s7 finale, Storm was never supposed to be anything serious. He originally wasn't apart of my clone project to begin with until I made Irais, they were apart of a battalion that I had made until I scrapped it. Irais was forgotten about, and Storm was made into a 501st oc.

It's still up for debate if I'll change it, I might make it so he only stuns Erix I don't know. But I'm not gonna recycle Storm just because of some hate anons.

The post about Erix's trust issues is just sitting in my drafts I may or may not post it. I'm gonna have to think about it before I post about those arcs, because I genuinely don't want a repeat of today. I will eventually get back into oc content only if people still wanna hear about them. People's opinions matter to me a lot.

I'm not sure who you are anon, but I'm glad you like interacting with me. But, I'm really sorry for this.

All in all, I'm still not sure how to react, ironically I've stated my opinions on hate anons multiple times but yet again here we are. I hope this clears things up.

[morganas-pendragons]

I Will Always Go To War To Defend ROTS Against Gen X: Here’s Why

Sounds like a stupid title, right? Well. Since Kenobi aired, my father - A Gen Xer - has repeatedly said that it’s the best Star Wars content to release since the OT back in 80’s.

He hates the prequels. Like REALLY hates the prequels.

My 20 year old brother and I have this discussion with him frequently: The prequels are the backbone to making the OT make sense, and remain some of the best piece of Star Wars media beloved by the generation it’s meant for.

And yes, I’m specifically talking about Revenge of the Sith.

My dad has claimed for years that it was ruined by cheesy dialogue (the high ground vs low ground scene is one he mentions every single time we have this convo) as well as having less then adequate saber duels. I repeatedly inform him that Hayden and Ewan have, to date, the most iconic and probably the MOST difficult saber duel in the entire franchise.

He also says there’s a lot of plot holes. I, being the only one in my family who has consumed nearly every piece of major Star Wars media, agree with him. But all of those plot holes are filled by two things in particular. The book, and The Clone Wars.

The Revenge of the Sith novelization has got to be the best novel I’ve read of all of the Star Wars novels in my library. It’s art in word form.

Case in point, a few of my favorite quotes from it:

"The rain will come, and the seeds will sprout, for the dark is the soil in which they grow, and it is the clouds above them, and it waits behind the star that gives them light. The dark's patience is infinite. Eventually, even stars burn out."

“This is Obi-Wan Kenobi: A phenomenal pilot who doesn’t like to fly. A devastating warrior who’d rather not fight. A negotiator without peer who frankly prefers to sit alone in a quiet cave and meditate.” 

And it makes the movie so much more poignant.

His biggest argument, however, is that Hayden Christensen was such a bad actor that it ruined it for him. I thus returned to inform him of how badly Hayden was harassed after the creation of ROTS and how hated the prequels were until the people who they were made for came of age and learned to appreciate them.

My best friend and I just had this conversation the other day: You really cannot enjoy Star Wars as a whole without consuming all of the available media. Yes, I too was skeptical of cartoons as someone in their early twenties, but TCW is not written for a child audience. It just happens to be animated with a mature story that fills in all the questions you inevitably have for the time between Episode 2 and 3.

The one thing that the shows do is add more depth that's not given in the movies. Depth through development of interpersonal character relationships (Anakin and Ahsoka from TCW clear into Twilight of the Apprentice) (Rex and Ahsoka) (Obi-Wan and Anakin) and enough of character development for those we know so little about - KANAN JARRUS - to make their inevitable deaths absolutely devastating.

That's what the shows succeed at. The movies, not so much.

I go on to tell my father that The Clone Wars (and begrudingly, Rebels..) fills in a lot of the questions he ends up having about plot holes and unanswered things during Episode 3. Like why Padme died, how Anakin ''fell so fast', etc.

He gets the same answer every single time.

"Your child's brain is a useless well of Star Wars knowledge obtained through the means of researching for fan fiction and now contains most answers to all Star Wars related questions you may have. No, Revenge of the Sith is not a bad movie, they just don't give you a satisfactory amount of information through the general story for you to be okay with watching it without complaining."

So, yeah. Gen Z, fight for your ROTS rights because that movie is phenomenal and needs to be defended against people who have only watched 9 movies and remain oblivious to the truth: You need to watch all Star Wars media to really grasp the overall story.

No matter how much you dislike it : )

[jewishcissiekj]

Ok so obviously I think about Asajj a lot but I usually don't fully explain or visualize it. So no time like the present to start doing that

Here are things about Asajj, starting with my personal design and concept of her and why it's like that (most of these are sketches to put my thoughts somewhere so don't expect anything refined or clean):

First off, that girl is a cryptid. Weirdo. I love giving her all-black eyes/white pupils because it fits her, and eyebrows whatsoever (unless I'm in the mood for that). This is mainly sticking to the earlier Dermoty Power designs for Episode II and the way he draws her later on. The pointy ears are because she's a cat to me and she had those in Hyperspace Stories #5. Also!!!! I hate the Clone Wars retconning her to be Dathomorian and a NIghtsister and that whole backstory with my entire heart. Story-wise I prefer sticking to the Legends stories in the early 00s' comics (specifically Star Wars: Republic #60). So Rattatak (her Legends home planet) and her original origin story are very near and dear to my heart. This is important. (btw I'm mostly not OCfying her I'm just mixing up some of her versions. mostly.)

Next up: tattoos and marks! made up too much lore for that but here's a bit: I mixed and matched her Legends and canon designs, and changed their meanings because they have fuckass actual meanings. the two things that kinda look like her eyebrows are from TCW and I took them and made them into her family tattoos. In MY mind, those are passed through generations in Rattataki families (by the mother) and those two are the Ventress tatts from the Ventress family. Other than that we have (in the left pic) the 12 (did not draw 12 but there are 12, 6 on each side) tattoos from her Legends design. Their actual explanation is that she got one for each of Ky's killers she murdered. But that's weird so instead for my ver they're mourning tattoos that she got after Ky's death. The things under her eyes are a whole ass mess but they're called decay marks and they're loosely based on concept art and they're basically darker the older/darker sider she gets.

(she has another arm I'm just bad at drawing it) Wanted to draw my interpretation of this outfit with my face design for her but I was not working with the cover as a reference so there's a lot missing. For this one I think it's just the outfit she wears in her later Padawan years on Rattatak, or in my AUs as a padawan in general.

they are a mess but some of my layouts and doodles for her outfits: 1) her on-panel Padawan outfit which is basically just a tank top and cargo pants. wanted to draw it so here we are

2) her ugly ass outfit as a daughter of warlords! girl I know you're like a child but what are you wearing

3) Personal Jedi Robes design but it's just the previous Padawan design with sleeves and more little changes

(can you tell I enjoy drawing her face like that) these are more AU-oriented 4) Inquisitor Asajj design because I thought it'd be cool idk what she'd doing with the Empire tho 5)Temple guard design but I hate their outfits so it doesn't look good 6) just put her TCW Jedi General robes things. go off girl (I have 3 AUs in my head that fit that premise let's move on)

Put them together just because. The drawings have nothing to do with each other 7) This one's story is so complex. But it's basically just a design for Jedi Asajj post-Order 66. Might develop work on it more but I love the way it looks

And the other one: If you followed any of my disarrayed Asajj thoughts lately you might have seen my concept of Mon Mothma/Asajj as a ship. They won't leave my mind so I'm trying to figure out how to draw Mon and that one's something of a design for a younger Senator Mon, for their first meeting or smth idk

OK! just put together some thoughts now that I have visual aid for them. great thanks for coming to my TED talk I will continue talking about Asajj but now I can show you shit instead of just writing words woooohhhh

[antianakin]

Had a thought, I think what's bothering a lot of people about recent Force stuff is that Filoni/new shows are treating the Force like a "soft magic" system. As in it's flexible to whatever the plot is and the few rules can change. Vs the more solid "hard magic" system the original stuff operates on. Only certain people have it, there's established things it can do, and it's main point of flexibility is that if you don't think you can do a thing with the Force, you can't.

Like movies/clone wars/even Rebels establishes that having the Force is an innate thing and while non Force users can "hear" the Force (various other practices we see like Chirrut) they can't utilize it. That there's certain abilities are things everyone has and more rare abilities exist but don't seem to be learned (at least not easily). I'm even willing to say Force Healing works in the og system set up in that it's a rare ability and it takes energy. You can't bring someone back from the brink of death without killing yourself or someone else.

But things like Sabine suddenly able to use the Force or Ahsoka able to use abilities out of nowhere and established to be innate and rare basically throws the hard rules out and gives it a confusing inconsistency that just makes it unenjoyable.

I think the problem is, in part, that canon itself treats the Force as both soft AND hard, depending on what aspect you're talking about, because Star Wars runs on Rule of Cool sort-of above and beyond anything else sometimes. For example, the Force Ghosts. Even within the original trilogy, the implications about how the Ghosts work seems to change from ANH to ROTJ, and then you get into the prequels and TCW and the sequels and now the Mandoverse and the Ghosts are just... wackier and wackier every time. There are NO RULES for the Force Ghosts beyond that the person ghosting should be definitively dead, not a Sith when they died, and they should look bluish. Like that's... really it. Beyond that, everyone seems to do whatever the fuck they want with it and they always have, even Lucas himself.

And then you have other things that seem to have remained fairly static this entire time even if they went unsaid, like who is capable of wielding the Force and who isn't, whether it's something you're born with or just something some people can learn easier than others. Up until the Ahsoka show, everybody seemed to agree on this one, so even though it's never been outright stated in canon that you HAVE to be born with the ability to wield the Force or you'll never be able to, it's just a generally accepted part of the worldbuilding and one that a LOT of the character narratives sort-of rely on. BUT, because it's never been outright stated and OTHER elements of the Force and how it's used can be pretty "soft magic", I suppose it's not shocking that eventually someone would try to switch this one up. It's infuriating and it's bad writing just because what little we DO know about it is so important to how these storylines go, but it's not shocking.

It's not like I hate "soft magic" systems in general, but in a lot of those stories, how the magic WORKS isn't actually important to the story being told most of the time. Like in Lord of the Rings, how Gandalf can do magic is completely irrelevant to the themes and messages sent through the story of Frodo and the Ring and the Fellowship. It doesn't MATTER.

But in Star Wars, the way the Force works is baked into the themes and messages of the whole ass story. What darkness is, where it comes from, what balance means and how it can be achieved, all of this is VITAL to the story being told throughout the first six films. And so a lot of the little stuff that gets added to the overall "how the Force works" stuff (psychometry, midichlorians, etc) should all sort-of work within those overall themes already set up. Midichlorians are important because Anakin is DEMONSTRABLY super powerful, more than anybody else in history, and it DOESN'T MATTER. He's literally MEASURABLY more powerful than anybody else and he still fails to do anything he actually wants to do. His power makes it so that his choices change the fate of an entire galaxy, but they're also completely useless in any way that actually matters to him. The fact that they can measure his power helps that message get across. Psychometry takes a lot of the stuff about how the Force allows you to dial into the emotions of other people and just takes it up an extra notch to really hammer home some of those themes about control over your own power and being connected to the world around you.

So Star Wars, in many ways, DOES have a "soft" magic system, it always has, but the things that are changed or added to it SHOULD generally still fit within the overall themes and messages that Star Wars has set up prior to this. Sabine being Force sensitive randomly very explicitly goes AGAINST all of these themes and messages and that's why it sucks. Changing the system so that literally ANYBODY could have the Force if they just worked hard enough at it (and having Sabine gain her ability to wield it only when she FEELS the most emotions as opposed to when she CONTROLS her emotions the best) completely fucks up a lot of the narratives for other characters. What makes Luke so special if literally ANYBODY could have just learned to do what he did, but apparently they just weren't trying hard enough? If Ahsoka felt this way this entire time why wasn't she training up TONS of people in the Rebellion to utilize the Force, why was she HOBBLING the Rebellion by keeping this from them? It's just... SO so stupid in so many ways. Why does Filoni seem to think that fans want the space wizards to be LESS special? It's ridiculous and it's insulting.

I think that at this point we're also just VERY tired of Filoni's blatant favoritism for his own characters and the ways he very intentionally will bash other characters in order to lift up his own faves, and quite honestly THAT'S what pisses me off the most about the Ahsoka show. Sabine and Ahsoka can't be special on their own, they HAVE to call the prequels Jedi failures because they were elitist in order to make Sabine and Ahsoka seem like they're so much better and more enlightened than those OTHER Jedi. And that honestly just stinks of a lack of imagination on Filoni's part. If he can't figure out how to make these characters feel special without tearing down other characters in this franchise to do it, then maybe he's just not that good of a fucking writer to begin with.

So while I'm not PERSONALLY a fan of the way the Force is often very "soft" in the way it's written, that doesn't make it bad in and of itself, but Filoni (and the Mandoverse in general, but mostly Filoni) feels like he's actively flipping the bird at prior accepted assumptions about the worldbuilding and the way those things really helped build the NARRATIVE just because he wants to insist that HIS characters are NOT IRRELEVANT and are in fact more important and cooler than everybody else. When I consume a Star Wars story, I'm EXPECTING something about how it's better to accept and acknowledge your own darkness so you can let it go and control it rather than letting it control you. I'm EXPECTING something about being selfless and compassionate over being selfish and greedy. I'm EXPECTING something about how destiny exists but it isn't everything and your choices still MATTER (both good and bad). And that's just... not what Filoni gave me. The things he changed DON'T suit the narrative of Star Wars, regardless of whether the Force is a soft magic system or not.

[sandwrrm]

i don't have any bo hcs myself (at least not yet) and i enjoy your hcs!! someone i used to follow on twt portrayed her as a traumatized person who would be a good person if not for everything that happened. and i always kind of rocked with it bc i haven't seen tcw (i have seen rebels) but i like your take on her better. i think it makes more sense with mando culture as well. Mandalorians are nothing if not Absolutely Completely Committed to their understanding of the creed. so while yes Bo went through some fucked up shit that def affected her I can't see her being any other way

Omg thank you!! Seriously this means so much to me and makes me so happy ^^

But yes I totally agree, I'm glad that was your takeaway from my headcanons because that's exactly how I view her background and who she is as a person, and I wasn't sure if I fully communicated what I was trying to say!

I feel like she's definitely a case where maybe tragic things happened to her that messed her up/contributed to the path she ended up on, but not in the sense that she was a victim of circumstance completely at the mercy of outside forces. (I feel like I bitch about this constantly but that characterization of her just doesn't interest me.) I feel like she absolutely chose/voluntarily carried out most of the negative or destructive views she held or acts she committed.

I headcanon her situation as being a case of how a fairly privileged person can end up radicalized into an extreme ideology based on their reaction to mostly perceived/exaggerated slights or oppression, and through being socially isolated except for seeking out interaction only w. other people who share their extreme views, as we see often on the internet today.

Not that (imo in my headcanons) the newmandos did nothing wrong or were entirely on the right side of history, but my point being their wrongs were probably so much worse to someone with a reactionary worldview. Also I HC for Bo specifically a lot of her hate was initially rooted in dysfunction with her sister, a lot of which is tbh vindictive and one-sided on her side towards Satine.

All in all yes, my reading of her is a person who experienced traumas that contributed to, but didn't cause, her to turn to extremist nationalism or to generally be hostile, low-empathy, prejudiced, machiavellian etc etc. It's just her personality and who she is. And if you have spent five seconds on my blog you know I absolutely mean all of those things affectionately because she's so interesting to me and the fact that she's kind of a bastard is what makes her interesting imo!!

Anyway thanks again for the ask and I'm glad you enjoyed my headcanons, believe me I'm always happy to talk about them lol

[drydak]

anyone want to read my stream of consciousness about the bad batch....no....ok

ok so the thing about tbb is that it is almost something i could really like except there's like a million things holding it back. the introduction in tcw where they established that they hate 'regs' because they were looked down on and then never did anything with that, which is crazy because clones in the sw universe are very explicitly not in any position of privilege. they show them getting idk. bullied? on kamino? but the most we get about solidarity between the bad batch and the other clones is the mayday episode. frustrating!!!! the way that the clones features in general in animation are whitewashed is frustrating enough but then they bring in a group of 'elite' clones who are also ostracized and then make two of them just look like white guys and another (because he died and was re-animated) just completely pale. and are we dealing with the fact that echo used to be a 'reg' but due to his death doesn't feel like he fits in anymore are we talking about that. no ok. also we are in the final season and omega and echo are like the only ones that want to rescue the clones that are being experimented on.

also the way the plot has been going is driving me bonkerssss okay so first of all did anybody actually get some sort of clarity about how the chips worked from what they did because i sure didn't!! can we get some consistency!!! crosshair's stint being an imperial also doesn't feel like it's really been explained. ok you gave your loyalty to the wrong people why did you do that in the first place when every other bb member did not. i guess there had to be some interpersonal conflict before they could just face up to the bigger one (and there's only so much they can do there due to established canon) but way too many of crosshair's actions in the early seasons feels inexcusable!! and at the same time i loved the episode with mayday but at what costttt like we've already seen him get orders to kill civilians and go okay we're doing this and when the people he's in charge of don't want to he does it anyways. maybe it has been too long since i watched it but there's too many pieces that don't feel like they mesh into a full 'character redemption'. and i like crosshair like half the time which is why it's so frustrating.

speaking of plot threads. there are two episodes left. where is cody? i know i'm a bit biased because he is one of my favorite characters but there was sooo much in the solitary clone episode that felt like it was hinting at 'cody is testing the waters to see if crosshair will defect with him' and then he doesn't get the response he was hoping for so he leaves by himself. 'it appears he's gone awol' ok cool will we ever see him again? is there a larger role he's fit into? it feels like the episode with rex and his clones would have been a good opportunity to see him again (maybe slightly messy so just like a mention? at least? considering i'm convinced crosshair is the only one like in the universe who knows he's defected?). one episode and that's it no mention again what are we doing here. especially with rampart back (who i have a side beef with - yeah they all hate him and are using him but part of me feels like they're trying to do a bit of a kallus with him which i do not want because it is not earned storytelling wise. if he dies whatever if he betrays them i'll be annoyed) who was also there telling crosshair that cody left like......hi.

maybe this is just my frustration with how much recent star wars is doing to shore up the 'somehow palpatine has returned' plotline but there are other stories i wish the bad batch was telling and i am just not getting that. and maybe i'll be happier if it turns out that they announce another clone project but as it stands it feels like they're sort of wrapping up anything they would do with them? which is making me crazy because there's sooo much untapped potential that not even the clone wars touched because half the time it was going 'this is the anakin and ahsoka show and the clones die a lot'. (which is a very uncharitable take of a show i enjoy a lot i just have had enough of anakin forever and ahsoka is a character i love but would love more if every time we got a chance to dive into a specific culture it ended up just being her story....which is my way to say that i wish totj was about The Jedi and not Dooku and Ahsoka. SORRY)

what was i saying. um. anyways i really want to like them and a lot of the time i do and maybe i am just being more of a hater because i have felt largely unfulfilled by this show in general but. oh i just remembered i can't believe everyone is so sad about tech dying because i don't know if they really earned that sadness for me. and i am a big fan of both characters remaining dead and characters coming back from the grave but i think people are going to be disappointed when it turns out that tech did actually die and CX-2 is a clone with all of the bad batch traits mixed together (just my theory which is also probably wrong). anyways i think the most emotionally impacted i was was during the solitary clone AND at the end of the episode with mayday.

also the underutilization of characters is like a consistent problem echo will disappear with a throwaway line for multiple episodes at a time and will show back up to deliver a ship and be with them again and then separate. they have barely devoted any time to him. he has not gotten to change and grow. he has gotten to go on side missions with rex that we don't see to rescue his brothers which is something that i think would be important to show because echo's introduction to the bad batch is being saved from the enemy by his brothers!!! but he is there so that they can use his skills and then he leaves. i really hope they've been taking him off screen because they plan on doing something else with him otherwise it just feels. lazy.

none of this is cohesive. sorry. i am maybe also representing some of these things more extremely than i actually feel about them. i am not the only opinion in the universe. i am just deeply unsatisfied by this final season and it is getting dire

[themoonking]

sorry not sorry but if you were ever a prequel hater i'm gatekeeping you from being a prequel lover now that it's popular to do so. you don't get to shit on the prequels for no reason only to turn around and be a prequel stannie (ESPECIALLY a hayden christensen stannie) now that kenobi is the hot new star wars thing. obikins don’t touch my post, i am also gatekeeping you <3