#HE CHOSE THE REBELLION AT THE END OF ANH

[river-from-alderaan]

george lucas: okay, so basically the movie starts with han and leia arguing because han has to leave.

scriptwriters: he has to leave, alright.

george lucas: yes because he still hasn't payed jabba.

scriptwriters: wait a second, doesn't this take place three years after the ending of the previous film? he hasn't had the time to pay him back?

scriptwriters: hadn't he agreed to save princess leia precisely for the money he could get? didn't he get it in the end?

george lucas: look i'm not a details person.

[mirendils]

For ask game: top 5 Luke Skywalker outfits

directly appealing to me anon thank you

luke's jedi robes best costume in all of Star Wars of all time. the all black, the single leather glove, the metal belt buckle, the high collar, the white inner lining that folds open to reveal that the light is always in him...no one will ever do it like that again

luke's bright yellow jacket look at the end of anh. ik the popular fanon is that it's han's but someone in my ask box had the idea that leia gave it to him which I love. plus paired with the black shirt and brown pants and black boots and thigh holster.

luke's Hoth look is under appreciated for real. I love the rebel uniforms of Hoth and how bundled up Luke is with his hat, scarf, goggles, and gloves. I love the tans and whites and how real it looks for a snow uniform and also an underground rebellion that's doing the best it can. I have a lot of love for the rebel's time on Hoth, as well as Luke being a snow environment for the first time and his relationship to his tauntaun and what living there was like.

luke's x-wing flight suit. is it the same as every other rebellion flight suit? yes but he wears it differently idk what to tell you. the aerospace orange and his helmet are things I always associate with it, and I love that its a uniform that he shares with his fellow rebels because he might be the chosen sword of the jedi, but he's a rebel first, and this is the cause he chose.

the dagobah/bespin fatigues. mark Hamill's arms in that movie were a gift to the lgbts and it's also very gender. I also love how it really represents luke's emotional state in esb, grey and clouded, and how it gets torn up with Luke in the bespin fight.

honorable mention goes to the poncho and bucket hat combination I love that one so much

ask me my top five!

[dalekofchaos]

Rey’s lack of motivation and stake in the Sequel Trilogy

I have a question to ask you. What are Rey’s motivations? What are her wants and goals and why is she even drawn to the conflict between The First Order and The Resistance?

Rey’s motivations in the Sequels.

Rey wants to find her parents.

Wants to bring back Luke Skywalker

Rey wants to find her place 

Wants Ben to return to the light

Has no real motivation to be on either side of the conflict, but chooses The Resistance anyway

Says she wants to kill Palpatine in cold blood, was close to giving in

Now she chose to fuck off to Tatooine and we see very little in her motivation to do....ANYTHING

Let’s compare Anakin and Luke’s motivations.

What are Anakin's motivations?

Wants to leave a life of slavery and come back and free his mother

Wants to become a Jedi and become a hero

Wants to protect Padme

Wants to save Obi-Wan

Wants to stop Dooku and end the war before it can begin

Wants to be a good master to Ahsoka

Wants to clear Ahsoka’s name

Wants to stop the war

Wants to save Padme and his children's lives at the cost of the Jedi and doing whatever it takes and becomes Darth Vader

What are Luke’s motivations?

Luke is a farm boy who dreams of leaving his mundane life.

Luke discovers that his father -unlike what his uncle told him, was a heroic Jedi Knight

Luke, is reluctant and refuses the ‘call to adventure’, but after the Empire murders his Aunt and Uncle, he decides to Join Obi-Wan on the quest.

Save the Princess

Luke is angered by Obi-Wan’s death at the hands of Darth Vader, and seeks retribution.

Destroy the Death Star and save the Rebellion

To be trained by Yoda

Save Han and Leia

Luke discovers his father, the heroic Jedi, is none other than Darth Vader. After years of training, he sets out to redeem his father and turn him back to the light.

After the redemption of his father and fall of the Empire, Luke goes on a journey to restore The Jedi Order

Compare Rey and Luke’s journeys in ANH and TFA. Rey wanders around and stuff is handed to her. Luke takes initiative and works for what he has. Let's compare ANH with TFA

Luke screws up on watching R2, then chooses to chase him down. He makes another mistake by spying on the Tusken Raiders instead of getting the hell out of dodge. This leads to him being knocked out, and rescued by Ben Kenobi.

Luke initiates the meeting with Ben Kenobi, and it happens because of his early bad decisions.

His aunt & uncle are killed, but thanks to his screw-up with R2 & the raiders, he and the droids are spared.

He chooses to follow Kenobi to Alderaan instead of staying on Tattooine.

He chooses to accept Kenobi's instruction in the ways of the Force, even though most people think it's a myth and a joke. Even though he's bad at it and doesn't seem to get any results at first.

He makes the decision that they're going to rescue Leia, potentially dooming their escape from the Death Star. This sets off a chain of events that leads to Kenobi's death.

Then he chooses to help fight the Death Star, even though he's not a member of the rebellion. He was offered a job with Han, and he could have ensured his safety by leaving with them. Instead he chose certain death.

Finally, he chooses to trust a literal voice in his head instead of the targeting computer.

Let's contrast that with Rey.

BB-8 runs into her. She tries to send him away, but relents and lets him follow her home.

She chooses not to sell him for food.

Finn wanders into camp on his own initiative.

The camp is attacked because BB-8 is there. The camp would have been attacked no matter what Rey did. The other scavenger was, I'm pretty sure, from the same camp. And if she'd sold him, BB-8 would also have still been in the camp.

She is forced to take the Millennium Falcon when the ship she wanted to use was blown up.

She chooses to go with Finn and bring BB-8 to the Rebellion Resistance.

She stumbles upon Luke's lightsaber, and runs away from it.

She accidentally runs into Kylo Ren while hiding in the forest.

He chooses to kidnap her because he senses something special about her.

After her first exposure to the Force, she learns how to use some of it, successfully, and escapes from Ren. And to her credit, escaping and trying the Force out is a choice she made, rather than something that passively happened to her.

Then she, um, is standing there when Han is killed.

She chooses to fight Kylo Ren, and beats him in her first lightsaber battle after closing her eyes and thinking about the Force.

She sort of chooses to go summon Luke back to civilization - I say sort of because it's not clear why she was picked to go over, say, Leia.

Luke makes mistakes, and he is an active participant in his story. Rey is just kind of there, most of the time. She doesn't make mistakes, but she doesn't really do much else.

Rey has no personal stake in this war or motivations and she’s supposed to be the main protagonist.

Rey has never left Jakku before TFA and she tells Han that ”she never knew so much green existed” when they go to Maz’s castle.

In other words Rey must have had very limited knowledge of the world outside of Jakku and all she has heard from it are stories.

Rey who barely knows anything about the rest of the galaxy, to the point that she didn’t even know that forests existed what exactly is her personal stake in the current galactic conflict?

In TFA we saw The New Republic’s capital systems blown up by Starkiller Base and we never saw a reaction from Rey. We do see Finn and Han’s reactions. Also worth noting about Rey is that if she was unconscious throughout her involuntary travel to the Starkiller Base she was never actually aware of the Starkiller Base until just before Han, Finn and Chewie started planting the explosions in order to sabotage it.

Luke, while he had no personal attachments to Aldeeran did actually get to see the horrible aftermaths of it’s destruction.

But Rey was barely affected by the destruction of the Capital systems. Most characters were not as affected as they should have been in my opinion but we didn’t even get to see her have an emotional reaction to it.

This was probably the greatest genocide in Star Wars history and our main heroine is unaffected by it? Finn has a reaction to it and he’s supposedly NOT the main protagonist?

Rey really has no reason to care about the state of the galaxy. She only seems to care if people she knows are in danger.

The fact that she is supposed to be our main hero of this trilogy when she has next to no personal stakes in the well-being of the rest of the galaxy feels wrong to me.

Finn actually has stakes in this conflict since the FO took his family and childhood away from him and Poe has stakes because he actually lives in the New Republic and doesn’t want it to be under FO’s rule. Yet neither Finn nor Poe are considered the main protagonist? But oh wait, I forgot we can’t have a black or Latino man be the leading protagonist in Star Wars

The more I think about it is Rey has no goals or agency as a protagonist. She’s just whatever the plot demands her to be. Rey doesn’t actively take the initiative and make decisions, and simply react to the world around her. There is never a reason given as to why she wants to be a Jedi. Sure, she’s heard the stories about them, but she doesn’t dream to be one like Anakin, and the writers are so obsessed over her parents that they never develop any other motivation besides that. She has to be strung along the story so she can take part in it, hence she is repeatedly chased and kidnapped throughout TFA to get her to the Resistance where she decides to find Luke because she has nowhere else to go. Part of the reason she doesn’t even train with Luke is because she has no reason to, as she’s just supposed to find him. Rey joins the fight simply in reaction to learning that Luke is responsible for Ben’s fall. She’s only ever a Jedi and a member of the Resistance out of necessity- she has no where left to go and has to fight in self defense- so they try hamfist in some motives that she needs to stop herself from becoming like Palpatine but there is no tension as it’s the final act. By the end of the trilogy it’s not even clear if the Jedi Order will return because Rey never seems to want to be one and we can only assume they will return for meta reasons- because the audience knows the ST is a copypasta of the OT.

What exactly was Rey’s motivation for getting involved in the Galactic conflict before TROS? Luke was told that his father was killed by Darth Vader and later his family gets murdered by the empire so he had personal stakes to get involved in the conflict.

Anakin was a Jedi and had lived in the Republic for ten years by the time of the Clone Wars begun so he had personal reasons to get involved in the conflict.

Rey meanwhile grew up so isolated of Jakku that she had no idea forests existed and she didn’t lose anything and the FO attacked her on Jakku. In fact she wanted to return to Jakku after she had dumped BB-8 with the Resistance. Her primary motivation in TFA was to reunite with her family but the movie never establish that her family’s absence was connected to the galactic conflict in any way.

That connection isn’t established until TROS so what was her motivation until than? The Death of Han? A guy she had known for two hours? Finn? A guy she also had maybe only knew for about two hours total by the time of their hug in TLJ? Also she seemed to have completely forgotten about Finn by the time she want on a quest to redeem the guy that has far as she should have known by that point was still in a coma with his spine permanently damaged because of Kylo.

Rey’s motivation seems to either be finding her family or her dealing with her existential crisis neither had much of a connection with the galactic conflict until TROS

[thehollowprince]

If I rewrote the sequels I'd have phasma, hux and kylo be proper villains like they would awful actually so bad and no redeeming qualities just really mean villains

The villains in TLJ where pretty much sitting around and doing nothing for the majority of the film.

Oh, I feel both of these in whatever I have that passes for a soul. It's just another one of those cases of massively wasted potential.

Look, was The Force Awakens just a ripoff/modern retelling of A New Hope? Of course it was. There's a direct correlation between the story, the plot points and even the characters are almost carbon copies of their OT counterparts. But by switching it up a little (making "Luke" into a girl, having "Vadar" chose the dark instead of falling, having "Leia" be a guy) it opened up the possibility of further differences. TFA was like a "What If?" scenario and with the way it ended, while it start out the same as ANH, it hinted at diverging from the OT as the sequels progressed.

But then we got Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi, and we've been fucked ever since.

Aside from the fact Johnson just completley ignored the set-up from the previous movie, he literally just repeated some of the major plot points (Kylo chose the dark again. Finn had to be told how bad the First Order was, etc.) And then there were the so-called "villains". Like I said above, he backtracked on Kylo willingly chosing the dark side in TFA and just had him be "conflicted" again, so despite the fact that we're supposed to look af him as the villain, none of his scenes were shot that way. The entire production was spun to make you think that Kylo was the male hero in this story when his actions constantly pointed the other way. Snoke was just kind of there, making grand speeches before dying so casually. And Hux... Hux was terrifying in TFA. That whole speech on Starkiller Base was very reminiscent of the Reichstag. It was probably the most uncomfortable I've ever been in a Star Wars film, but then Johnson just made him into a joke. A screeching lunatic who is easily thrown around for laughs, and that always bugged me. The First Orded, like the Empire before it, was an allegory for the Nazis, and the fact that Johnson tried to make it seem like we shouldn't take Nazis (fictional or otherwise) seriously. Like they're just something to laugh at. And no! Nazis are not funny. They're not a joke! So putting aside the fact that it ruined Hux's validity as a villain, it also helps contribute to the BS in popular culture nowadays that "there are very fine people on both sides". And that's not even getting into his role in The Rise of Skywalker. That's why they had to being in General Pryde, because after Snoke and Kylo throwing him around like a ragdoll, and Poe just mocking him (and him falling for it), no one would believe him as a villain anymore. And Pryde just came out of nowhere, so we (or at least me personally) didn't really see him as a villain. He was just kind of another remake of Tarkin.

Which brings us to Phasma... I wanted to like Phasma, and some part of me does. Or, more appropriately, I liked her potential (like most of the sequel characters). We're supposed to believe she's this big badass, but her defeat in TFA was comical, and while she did reappear (with no explanation) in TLJ, despite Starkiller Base blowing up, she was barely there. Her fight scene with Finn was amazing and I liked the underscore of Finn fighting back against his brainwashing and conditioning... but again, that was what he did in TFA when he fought Kylo. And in the end, she was taken down by a single hit to the head, only to fall to her death. I much prefer the deleted/alternate scene of her fight with Finn aboard the Supremacy, because it had the elements of the stormtrooper rebellion we all wanted but never got. Plus, he killed her with a big gun instead of her just dying because of circumstances.

And that's a big problem with the sequels, too. Disney doesn't allow their heroes to fully defeat their villains. I don't recall a single instance of Finn, Rey or Poe ever actually killing one of the villains trying to murder them and take over the galaxy. Phasma died by falling to her death. Hux was killed by Pryde, who died because he refused to abandon ship. Kylo died because of his "sacrifice". Snoke was killed by Kylo. Aside from the faceless stormtroopers and TIE fighters, our heroes don't get any major hits in.

At the end of the day, I'd say that was one of the biggest problems of these sequels. Well... aside from their lack of cohesion and direction and the repeat of the Empire vs. Rebellion storyline, but that's a different matter for another time. The villains in these movies didn't feel like villains. We didn't see any big moments of villainy, with the exception of something we got in another movie (destruction of the planets). And because our villains were so lacklustre, our heroes didn't get to feel like heroes. We didn't get to see them struggle the way Luke, Leia and Han did. And it led to discussions about how useless our heroes were, because they didn't get to do anything, or talks about how overpowered Rey was (I loathe the term Mary-Sue and i saw it too much in regards to that character).

[a-nerd-obsessed]

Yet Another Long, Unnecessary, and Obvious Star Wars Trailer Breakdown (Read: Fangirl Blathering) that Literally No One Asked For

Yup. I’m doing it again.

(My other breakdown for the first trailer is here.)

So this time we start with Rey in training mode. Apparently, she’s following Obi-Wan’s training regimen by using that remote that Finn found on the Falcon in TFA and the helmet with the blast shield that Luke used in ANH. 

But something happened to call her away, which is why she drops everything (except the lightsaber, thank goodness) and starts running through the jungle. I assume she’s headed back to the Resistance base of operations, which we see more of later in the trailer. 

Is it too much to assume this might be Endor’s forest moon? That would connect with the Death Star wreckage and how they end up on the Death Star.

Then we’re on the Death Star, with Rey jumping across a chasm, one that I believe is the same where the Emperor fell to his “death” in ROTJ. Behind her you can see the turbolift where Luke and Vader arrived before approaching the Emperor, which would mean she’s looking towards his throne.

Finn’s been giving the voice over thus far, speaking about how “the Force brought us together.” The shot we get of him looks to be from the planet where the Knights of Ren will be making an appearance, along with the chase scene from the first trailer, and the ultra-awesome TIE Fighter FlipTM.

What’s he looking at? No idea. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if he’s looking at Kylo’s TIE Whisper with Rey riding on the back and he’s just like... wtf?

More running Rey... presumably a continuation of the previous shot

And we get more Lando!!! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what they have in store for Lando’s part in this film. Again, we haven’t got much of anything, but based on the way this scene is set up, it looks like he just showed up at the Resistance’s base. Everyone knows who he is, of course, and they all turn out to see the old Rebellion hero.

We’re not alone

From Poe’s voice over and the visual we see here, I think Lando’s going to bring something to the Resistance - a game changer. I mean, besides himself.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Lando Calrissian = the best part of the Solo movie. And let’s be real, I’ll take any more Lando content I can get.

And then we see Rose, looking tired and burnt out. Behind her, Connix doesn’t look much better. Also, shit’s going down in the background. It looks like the base is being attacked and they’re having to evacuate. 

But wow, I really hope that we get more of Rose’s character arc. Along with Finn and Poe, they’re the ones who grew the most in TLJ. Rose didn’t have a lot of confidence at the start of the last movie, but she became stronger by the end. And of course it’ll be interesting to see how they choose to proceed with her and Finn’s relationship.

And then it’s my boys!!!

Good people will fight if we lead them

I don’t know if this is a line Poe actually says in the movie, but I like that they chose him to say it. He’s been learning this whole time how to be a leader and I think we’re going to see that growth come to fruition here. Not that he can’t do a bunch of crazy stuff or get in trouble (because goshdarnit I freaking love that) but he’ll be more aware of the consequences for the people he’s leading.

Also, what are they looking at? Maybe it’s Rey busting out of the jungle because she knows they’re in trouble. I’m not 100% sure this is connected to the earlier bits with the base getting attacked but the guys in the background look like they’re trying to get outta there ASAP. 

The next shot appears to be some sort of Resistance transport taking off... or landing... or crashing. Still I feel like the theme is we gotta go.. 

AND THEN WE GET THIS

People keep telling me they know me...

...no one does

But I do

*SIMULTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS AND ACHIEVES NIRVANA*

This. Is everything.

Like, who needs the movie?

Just kidding. I do. Desperately.

But guys, this is exactly it: they are the only ones who know what the other person is going through, understand where they’ve come from, and seen where they’re going. 

This is going to sound cliché and dramatic af, but their fates are intertwined. They are going to bring balance to the Force. Like, that’s fact at this point. Don’t @ me.

Next we see TIE fighters coming up on this icy island, which appears to be free-floating? I don’t know if it’s orbiting a planet or if it’s by itself in space, but it’s not a reflection over water like I thought the first time I saw the trailer. 

Again I’m assuming it’s that same icy, mountainous city we saw in the first trailer where our Resistance heroes are going to meet up with Zori Bliss (who we also see later for the first time live!) And it seems they’re going to be rousted from here as well as the jungle planet where their base was located - the First Order is closing in.

Long have I waited...

Okay, Palps. We get it. Your throne is super menacing. We know you’re all creepy and evil. Let’s just hope that Rey and Kylo kill him for good this time. Although as Luke says, no ones ever really gone... so yeah.

This Star Destroyer is breaking out of the ice somewhere - so maybe Palpatine pulled a Steve Rogers and went into deep freeze for a few decades?

(And yeah I’m pretty sure it’s ice, people, not water - I’ve watched it in slo-mo SEVERAL TIMES OKAY)

*insert March of the Resistance*

The Millennium Falcon!!!

You know what I might miss the most about the saga ending? This old ship. Okay, not really, but it is very near and dear to my heart.

Ok, pause for a second with me. Can you imagine this: 

Versus this?!?

Like, HELL YES. This is the ultimate showdown, baby! BRING IT ON!

I like how the Resistance’s side is a bunch of random ships as compared to the First Order. I’d like to think that this is an Avengers: Endgame style battle where literally EVERYONE shows up, even if they’re not in the Resistance. They just know that Palpatine/First Order is the ultimate evil that needs to be taken down at all cost and risk to self.

Anyway...

...and now your coming together...

Interesting that they chose to impose Palpatine’s words over both our classic heroes together in the Falcon and over Rey and Kylo “fighting.” I say “fighting” because are they really opponents? Really? Not in this story. Obviously they’re not yet on the same page, but their relationship been a rollercoaster thus far and I feel like we’ve got some abrupt twists still to come.

Something goes boom. No idea what, but with a Star Destroyer lurking in the background, something sinister is afoot.

Poe to the rescue!! Is there someone else in there? I can’t see for sure, but he’s headed to the Death Star, where we know Kylo and Rey end up at some point. 

Then they give us this HEART-WRENCHING SCENE of C-3PO saying goodbye to his friends?!?! Like, what does this mean? Without context, we can’t be sure, but it sounds like he’s going away - permanently. I never expected it - which is great for plot - but I don’t know what to think about this.

Also could be a total red herring. He could be risking his life and he’s saying goodbye just in case. Or he’s getting a reboot - maybe he knows too much, or maybe forgot something when his memory was wiped in ROTS and he needs to remember. I literally have no idea, but even D-0 looks concerned. (I love him already)

Also note Zori Bliss in the left corner of this shot! I cannot WAIT to know what her role is going to be in this story. And we can tell they’re where they first meet up with her in the snowy city because they’re all wearing thick insulated gear. So I feel like this would be earlier in the film...?

CHEWIE!!!

This guy’s gone through so much. Please just give us Ben Solo redeemed just for his sake.

Chewie’s had so much practice running through corridors taking out stormtroopers. Hopefully this is the last time...

UGH MY HEART.

Every time.

Now with more footage of the Resistance’s jungle base and their evacuation... why are they hugging here? Is Leia staying behind? Are they splitting up? Rey has clearly become close to Leia, which I’m thrilled by. I’m curious to see how they play this. 

We don’t see much of Pasaana in this trailer, but we do find out who threw up that smokescreen for our Resistance friends during the chase sequence. BB-8 is a trouble-maker. Honestly he’s worse than Poe, but he doesn’t get the proper fear he’s due because he’s just so gosh darn adorable. And with everyone encouraging him, he’s not liable to get better.

Of course we can’t have Lando in this movie without having him pilot the Falcon. I kind of love that even though it’s Han’s ship (sorry Lando) everyone has some kind of connection to this old freighter. Again, I love the Falcon.

Then we see a Y-wing taking on a Star Destroyer, with more in the background. Part of that epic showdown?

Finn has joined with Jannah, another new (female!) character that I can’t wait to meet. They’re mounted on charging orbaks, which are from Pasaana. Does the final showdown take place in the sky above the desert planet? Is this part of the emergence of that Star Destroyer from the ice?

Cut back to the Death Star wreckage, where Kylo and Rey are facing off - note Kylo’s saber isn’t lit. Rey doesn’t trust him for obvious reasons (cough, cough, failed proposal in the throne room).

My gut instinct says they didn’t know the other was coming here. But something drew them both here - maybe this is Palpatine’s influence bringing them together.

Or is this a Force bond vision? Is the bond still a player in this chapter?

Back to the outside - Finn runs up and calls Rey’s name, probably interrupting their duel. As much as I’d like it, I feel like the alignment of Kylo and Rey’s objectives doesn’t happen until Pasaana - and yeah I’m kind of putting the events of Pasaana after the Death Star. Do I have solid evidence for this? Nope. Just my current interpretation of the absolute lack of plot we can get from the footage we have so far. 

That said, I have no idea where this shattering of the Dark Side artifact would fit in. But yes they’re working together here. They’re very clearly attacking the ugly black thing (it looks a lot like Vader’s mask again) and not each other based on their stance and movement. 

Also, theory time: 

We’ve seen dark Rey in the previous trailer. She seems very rigid and emotionless - like a vision, perhaps, not a flesh-and-blood Darksider.

IWe also see this shot of Rey at the end of the trailer:

She’s also pretty emotionless, and the background is out of focus. This could be from another segment of Kylo’s (or Rey’s?) vision. With them shattering the Dark artifact together... could it be them breaking free of the trance? We never see this location in any of the other footage. This could be a part of the vision, too.

Back to the trailer sequence: We see more of the Resistance heroes and that (final?) battle. This just points out that they’re in some kind of atmosphere if Finn and Co. are running along the outside of a Star Destroyer. 

Back on the Death Star: Kylo’s intense gaze that communicates so much. 

We can’t see what he sees, but it’s like every other time he looks at Rey - he knows what he wants. It liquidizes my mind every time. 

And then OMG JUST DIE ALREADY PALPATINE. NOBODY LIKES YOU.

Kylo better figure out whatever is keeping him from helping Rey out and get his butt over there. Only together can they do this.

The Force will be with you

Always

Interesting how they give us almost no plot that we had already, huh? And I like it that way. 

We don’t see Hux or the Knights of Ren at all - which is a significant omission.

I have an idea of the sequence of what I think is going to happen, but honestly I’m probably all wrong. Still I trust them to finish the saga in a satisfying way. 

What are your thoughts on the trailer?

[atheistj]

I notice Solo isn’t doing so well at the box office. So in an effort to kick a franchise while it’s down, I figured I’d talk about my main issue with the new Star Wars movies. Now I’m sure this has been addressed already, though for the most part, I see people have issues primarily with The Last Jedi, but my issues extend to The Force Awakens as well. So here we go.

I’ve realized recently that my biggest problem with the new Star Wars movies is the lack of progress. TFA basically hit the reset button and put the galaxy back in the exact same position it was in during A New Hope. I am never going to understand why they did that. I doing that, they chose to make the original trio, and the original rebellion, utter failures. Leia failed to rebuild the Republic. Luke failed to begin the Jedi Order anew. Han reverted back to the no good scoundrel he was in ANH. I just think it was a poor decision to do that to the original heroes.

I know a lot of people disagree with me about that, and believe that the new trilogy is trying to tell us that even our greatest heroes can be failures but it just matters that they keep on fighting and all that jazz. That’s fine. People can feel that way. I just don’t agree. I also think it was just a boring decision for the galaxy to be in the same position it’s been in since the end of Episode 3. We just had Episode 8 and we’ve had no progress? I would have preferred to see this new trilogy show the New Republic and Luke’s Jedi Order. That would have been fresh and interesting, and we could have seen new threats against the Republic and the Order without it just being the Empire 2.0. Keeping the same antagonist was again, boring. I know Lucasfilm wanted to continue to sell Stormtrooper action figures but I’m tired of seeing the same villain and for the galaxy to never move forward. It makes the actions of the rebellion in the original trilogy as well as in Rogue One seem pointless. All those rebels have died so the galaxy could see a better day, but there is no better day according to this new trilogy. Things always just go back to the way they were. The rebels won at the end of Episode 6. I would have liked to see that victory last.

I think I first realized this was a problem when I wondered about how Episode 9 would end. I thought “So the Resistance will defeat the First Order and start a new Republic, Rey will defeat Kylo Ren and start a new and better Jedi Order.” And I realized that that’s exactly how Episode 6 ended. Episode 6 ended with the rebels defeating the Empire and Luke defeating the Emperor and saving Vader. Episode 9, logically, has to end with the defeat of the First Order, and they would presumably start the Republic again. The Jedi have to continue as well so Rey is gonna restart that too. But why do we need to see this again when we already got that ending with Episode 6? It’s just a rehash and it’s boring.

So at the end of the day, I’m tired of seeing the galaxy in the exact same state it’s been in for the last five movies. I want progress. I want the New Republic to start and for the Jedi Order to be restored and be better than it was before. That’s what I wanted from this new trilogy, and it’s a shame that they chose not to do that and instead hit the reset button for the sake of nostalgia and with little regard to the damage it was doing to the original characters.

[spectres-fulcrum]

My mind had two tracks when it fell quiet yesterday:

One: not counting Obi-Wan cause he sacrifices himself, Han is the only main human who doesn’t lose someone vital in ANH. He kinda has the least to fight for at Yavin and so no wonder he turns his back on it all and yeah, he comes back, but he’s still trying to leave in ESB. He doesn’t have much to lose in a high stakes game like an intergalactic civil war. Nerfherder.

Meanwhile, Luke had Owen and Beru and then Ben to motivate him to find the rebellion. Leia lost her parents and Alderaan. But we know now from the EU that Tarkin loved and lost TK-421 and I know Lucas wrote him as overconfident but with all that-I can’t help but wonder if Tarkin was compromised by grief when he chose to stay on the Death Star when Bast said the rebels had a fighting chance. Because if he died, then he didn’t have to live without the lover he was planning his life with. And it cost the Empire so much. Yularen, Motti, other military minds. All the positions that didn’t need to be filled were vacated in a split second. And Vader. For as relatively… calm as we see him on the Death Star, he’s not in ESB. He’s lost Tarkin. The only one that respected him. The one who kept him on a leash. The one he trusted to kill him, end his suffering. And alone, we see Vader as we know him. Choking people, barbed wire and poison ivy. At the helm of the Executor, a call back to Tarkin’s own Star Destroyer, the Executrix.

A New Hope is quietly about loss, about those losses being reasons to fight. And it’s human that both sides lost dearly, because even Tarkin and Vader were human. Han is… the lucky one, which is why he could walk away. He had no reason to fight. And maybe that’s why even in tfa he goes back to who he was when we first met him-it was him in carbonite, Chewie and the twins were always fine. He hardly got the consequences in his personal life until he lost his son, and he was far too old to change(not counting Solo which I’ve seen once. In theaters). While everyone else, it was a back and forth of losses in ANH. A quiet keeping score. It makes Leia in rebel command vs Tarkin on the overbridge seem so much more... charged.

Two: Plateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateupplateup Steaksteaksteaksteaksteaksteaksteaksteksteaksteak

It was quite funny I was either sad deep ANH meta or I want to play this video game I'm now obsessed with. It's a fun time management restaurant game that I've seen streamers play and I love it so much it's right up my ally. I find myself laughing and being miffed but okay when I fail.

I'm up to Eriadu Stek VI for my steak restaurants(I like steaks the best, and yes, it's stek because that's how my favorite streamer says it). I for some odd reason name my pizza places Garel Slices???? Idk why Garel but pizza seems Garel-ish.

[skywvlked]

1-5

(1. What is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? Why did you come up with it?)

i think i actively focus on his struggle with the dark side more than canon does (at least so far, eyezooms at the tlj promo material,) along with all his conflict around obi-wan and yoda lying to him and the revelations about vader and his survivor’s guilt over the death star and losing his family and biggs and - idk, i generally deviate in the sense that i give weight to heavy emotional shit that tends to get brushed over in the OT, where independent character consequences are practically unaddressed compared to the grander scale of the conflict. i feel like i kind of write OT luke more like he’s a character in rogue one, in a way.

i don’t think this is a direct answer to the question, so.. other than that, headcanoning him as primarily attracted to men is a big difference, i guess? his long standing love for biggs and his brief crush on han do especially impact how i write him around anh, so i guess that’s that. and i came up with it because……. star wars is gay, all of it

(2. Do you have any controversial headcanons that go against what is generally accepted by the fandom? Do you incorporate this into writing your muse or keep it to yourself?)

i very firmly headcanon that he never married after the OT, and specifically that he’d basically never have biological kids because he’d never want to run the risk of bringing another child into the world and leaving them orphaned. if he was going to have kids, he would adopt war orphans or kids out of slavery, not have a biological child at a point where there’s any chance his family could be in danger (and when would they not? he’s luke fucking skywalker.) and he’d certainly never have a child and then abandon them alone in slavery, especially not when the same damn planet had a village full of people he knew and trusted who would have been much more suited to taking care of his child if he absolutely had to send them away for their safety like ten years before the main threat to him happened. not naming any names here.

another thing that’s unpopular, if not controversial, is that i really stand by the mortis trilogy as important with regards to the skywalker family legacy. when it’s explicitly stated in that ep that anakin was meant to become the father, and he goes onto have a twin son and daughter… look, i can’t not see that as meaningful.

and yeah, i do incorporate both of these a lot. the former especially is really key to how i read luke’s character.

(3. What is something that was never addressed at all in the canon material that you have independently developed for your muse?)

his injuries after rotj and how that affects him is entirely my own creation! i researched and wrote up everything myself based on absolutely nothing in canon because sith lightning is… kind of consistently portrayed as not actually having any lasting effects and that pisses me off, so i decided to put hours into properly researching lightning injuries to figure out how luke might’ve been affected. the ways that it would mirror anakin’s injuries on mustafar added to it the more i worked on the concept, and it’s ended up being a really prominent feature in luke’s state of mind as of the end of rotj.

also, recently i’ve got his affair with brennan vega (who’s an original character himself lmao) but i haven’t written out much of that development on here yet and need to do more of that. i think part of me is holding out that i’ll somehow get a star wars novel published and can make this canon but disney are cowards and won’t give us mlm luke

(4. Have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?)

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

(5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?)

i’d like to go more into his childhood and adolescence on tatooine and his culture generally. i’d love to have him interacting with other tatooinian/amavikka people within the alliance (though i don’t know any other rpers who write in fialleril’s ‘verse, which is a shame because OH MY GOD) or have a chance to share his culture with leia, and this is something that i generally want to do but listen: luke definitely went back to tatooine and freed all the slaves that remained (after leia killed jabba and toppled the first domino of the hutt slave trade) in anakin’s name. i want to write that stuff so bad.

ALSO: just more alliance stuff in general! i’d really like to have more opportunity to develop luke’s place within the alliance as a military outside of his own personal arc. i always bring this up but i want to deal with his more questionable (terrible) military choices and the fact that despite his talent as a fighter and as a leader he STRUGGLES to work as a single part of a large unit where the group comes before the individual. luke is not a particularly selfish person at his core, but he’s not exclusively selfless either, and choices like his decision to desert under fire to go off to dagobah for an indefinite period of time without so much as telling anyone he’s alive come from the fact that he’s in an environment that he was never trained for. he’s not like cassian, for example, who grew up in the rebellion; luke never really learned how to be a soldier. AND I WANT TO DEVELOP THIS MORE IF THAT RANT DIDN’T MAKE THAT CLEAR

[lj-writes]

Star Wars Episode VII: Second impressions and the art of the mythological remix

I remember being so disappointed on my first viewing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I mean, the movie starts with a battle sequence in which a brave, gorgeous, and snarky operative of an antifascist resistance sends crucial information away with a cute astrometrics droid. An overly dramatic masked villain captures and tortures the operative and sends minions to look for the droid. Unbeknownst to him, a Force-sensitive desert kid comes into possession of the droid and escapes the planet with it, getting the help of an old wise man along the way and flying on the Millennium Falcon.

Also: The space fascists slaughter millions and millions of people with their planet-destroying superweapon, and another Force-sensitive member of our protagonist’s merry band is deeply shaken when he senses these tragic deaths. The superweapon then threatens the base of the rebellion and the overdramatic masked villain kills the old wise guy in the weapons base, earning the enmity of our protagonist.

The superweapon, thankfully, has a crucial weakness that the rebel forces attack in a desperate last-ditch operation. The superweapon is destroyed when Rebel pilots bomb the hell out of said weakness in a thrilling flight sequence with scarce minutes to spare. This sets up our protagonist to train in the use of the Force with a reclusive old Master to bring down the space Nazis and restore the Jedi Order.

What movie am I even describing here? The Force Awakens felt like a rehash of A New Hope, coasting on the success of the original trilogy with better special effects in a cynically risk-adverse move. It was vastly more expensive as Starkiller Base dwarfed the Death Star, I thought, but fell short much as Kylo Ren was an inferior tribute act to Darth Vader.

It took exposure to fandom and rethinking my original premise to slowly bring me around. With this second viewing I have a better idea of what TFA was trying to achieve and the ways it succeeded, not only financially but in terms of storytelling and commentary.

My assumption, going into the theater, was that TFA was going to tell a new and original story as a continuation of the original trilogy, much as the prequels told a new story that extended the mythology back in time. Where the prequels failed I was hoping the sequels would succeed.

Instead, I now realize, the creative team is taking an entirely different approach with the sequel trilogy. Rather than continue the saga with a whole new story it seems they are deliberately remixing and retelling the original trilogy with a more modern execution--more tightly-written character arcs with psychological depth, a more in-depth look at the implications of the worldbuilding, better diversity, and so on.

TFA gives new audiences, decades later, an experience of the mythical sweep of the original trilogy while also providing both homage and critical commentary. It’s moviemaking in an age of remix and fandom culture, but also part of an older tradition of storytelling that predates obsession with originality and authorship. This is mythological storytelling in the tradition of Arthurian myth and the Norse sagas, where you innovate within the framework of the familiar and reuse old elements to tell new stories.

What’s more, I think in a way the new trilogy could only make these innovations successfully because they chose to recycle so much of the OT’s greatest hits. The prequels had plenty of new plots, new worldbuilding, and updated social commentary, but never reached the high notes of the OT. To be sure the prequels were just badly written and badly directed in a lot of ways, but even if they were better movies the prequels would have been simply good political fantasy in space and not the mythological experience that characterizes Star Wars. Mythological storytelling requires a delicate balance of old and new, and by leaning toward the new the prequels became mere movies (whether good or bad) and not new installments of a mythology.

The creative team of TFA, on the other hand, chose to err on the side of repetition, stealing liberally and blatantly so that their innovations would be palatable to a nostalgic audience. It helps that TFA is, by and large, a good movie that tells a coherent and emotionally satisfying story, but the choice between being an original movie and the remix of old mythologies came before its quality as a movie.

Within this comfortable framework that was thrilling to some and stale to others, the creators were able to ask pointed questions about this world and even beloved characters. How does a Stormtrooper’s death, a dime-a-dozen happening in the OT, affect those around them? What does life look like when you live on the edges of an intergalactic economy with no property or support system? Was the ending of The Return of the Jedi really a lasting triumph? (To be sure the now-decimated Extended Universe has answered this question in the negative for decades.) Are the mythical heroes of the original trilogy that mythical? How would they deal with unthinkable mistake, loss, and regret? Is the case really closed on the Skywalker legacy as one of heroism, familial love, and redemption?

From these questions emerge truly enjoyable new characters and also new dimensions for old (in more than one sense) characters. TFA is both a repetition and continuation of ANH, following in the original trilogy in time while picking up the world and character implications that the original dropped. Since the effort of following the well-trod and well-known plot is minimal, the audiences are free to focus on the characters and their emotional journeys. It’s a very different experience from the prequels’ badly executed modernist storytelling, and is both newer and older in technique.

It’s hard to say whether the delicate balance of the familiar and the novel will hold for the remainder of the trilogy, or even whether it actually worked for the first installment. I’ve warmed to these choices since my first viewing, but I can see how others might not. If the later movies learn the wrong lessons from TFA they could still fall into the trap of staleness. It’s the quality of insightful commentary and fresh creation brought to the settled mythology of the original trilogy that will decide the quality of future movies. I would judge TFA, at least, to be a success on the terms it has set.

[counterspelling]

I had a reason to catch up on Rebels so

1) Kanan

I saw some (justifiably, now) angry posts about this a while ago but the fact that Ezra and Kanan probably have had to die all along (I don’t even like this show and I still cried, also man Disney really hates couples, huh?) has been my problem with the show from the beginning and one of the reasons I never liked it, because I think the concept is wrong. There IS no good way for this show to end. The EU established the Jedi Order as having 100,000 years of history and instead of choosing literally ANY OTHER POINT in time... they instead chose to base a tv show around two jedi during the only 19 year period where there should be a jedi moratorium. And then they compounded that problem by having them meet Leia. And Mon Mothma. And Wedge. And Lando. And join the Rebellion. And run missions. And get famous within it. Luke is supposed to represent a new hope. For the Jedi, for the Rebellion, for the Republic, it’s supposed to be amazing and awe-inspiring that we’re seeing someone use the Force again. The jedi are supposed to by mystical and mysterious and fantastical because no one has seen one in 19 years. And even then, they were famous, but most people never actually MET one. But now they’ve all already experienced that. It fucks up Luke’s legacy. Oh, this farm boy showed up with a lightsaber? We already saw two dudes do that, they were with the Rebellion for a few years. Luke is A NEW HOPE and Rebels just completely fucks that up. Setting up a show so that the only two ways for to end it and not fuck up canon even more is for them to die or to exile themselves, is to me a pretty shitty way to set up a plot. And if Ezra manages to live, that makes it even worse than Yoda and Obi-wan, who at least get involved during the four years from ANH to ROTJ. Now, Ezra’s either gonna die like Kanan or else he and Ahsoka have to get stuck on a technology-less planet for the next five years to be discovered afterward.

2) AHSOKA!!!!!

I mean Rebels has continually failed to do her justice but at least we know she’ll be around for the series finale somehow. But really the time travel thing... as much as I love time travel aus in Star Wars fic, the only time I can remember it in canon is when Caedeus used it to basically torture/convince Tahiri to fall by continually showing her Anakin’s death. Which is a whole other fucking issue because everything they did with Tahiri post-NJO is pretty gross (Anakin was not the love of her life, SHE WAS 14, he could have BECOME the love of her life if they had the chance to grow up together, and of course she’s gonna mourn him but jfc I’m so bitter they just wrote her off as never being able to move past it also using men as the motivation for women uuuuuuuuuugh stop) but the whole point of that storyline was that they could WATCH Anakin die over and over again but not change anything. You couldn’t actually alter anything. But this, pulling Ahsoka out of time so that she just lost however long it’s been, ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY changing the past.... I always hated the Mortis arc because I don’t care for the way it changes the Force mythos, so ugh. But I mean if they’re gonna use time travel for anything at least it was making sure Ahsoka lives.

[dalekofchaos]

Few simple changes that I think could've saved Solo A Star Wars Story as a movie

Just a few things I think could’ve improved Solo

Anthony Ingruber plays Han Solo.  He looks like Harrison Ford, he talks like Harrison Ford, and he even played a young Harrison Ford in the film Age of Adaline. Anthony Ingruber had even audition for the role of Han Solo and the fact he didn’t get it for a guy who had so much trouble, they needed to bring in an acting coach. Alden was so unconvincing as Han it was laughable. Anthony Ingruber was the perfect person to play Han and he should’ve been Han Solo. If Anthony played Han, it could’ve been as great as Donald’s take on Lando. 

Han Solo picks his own name. Han is a rebel without a cause. He doesn’t care where he came from, so a random Imperial Officer should not be given Solo his last name. This is Han’s story, he should tell the officer that he’s Han Solo. Han not calling himself Solo was a really bad sign.

No L3-37, Qi’Ra and no Maul. Qi’Ra derailed Han as a character(I’ll explain more later), L3 really served no purpose and her being inserted into the Falcon is both fridging and takes away from Han making the Kessel Run and Maul served no purpose to be in a movie about Han Solo when Han does not believe in the Jedi or the force

Replace Qi'Ra with Sana Starros. Danai Gurira plays Sana

Focus more on Han Solo as a character. The problem I had with the movie is it focuses on everyone but Han and was just showing how he gets his things

Keep in the Imperial Cadet deleted scene in. It shows Han is a good pilot, that Han wanted to do the right thing while his time in service, but the Empire cares more about equipment than lives. In a sense, Han begins as optimistic and happy before and during his time with the Imperials, and then when we meet him after he's been an Imperial for a while, he's thoroughly beaten down by it and that's what turned him into the cynical bastard we saw at the start of New Hope.

Change the Battle of Mimban to Battle Of Kashyyyk. Reason? This is where Han would save Chewie. I always loved the Legends take where Han's superiors wanted Chewie dead, but instead Han saves Chewie. So here, we would soon realize that the Empire is here to beat down a Wookie Rebellion. Han is tasked by his superior officer to kill the captured Chewnacca. Han chooses to save Chewie and stuns his superior officer. Han and Chewie flee the planet and that's when Beckett's crew picks up Han and Chewie

Han is mentored by Beckett and it makes him the callous and cold smuggler we know him to be in A New Hope. Their relationship is similar to Fast Eddie and Vincent in Color Of Money

With no Qi’Ra, Beckett’s connection to Vos would introduce us to Lando

Focus more on Han and Lando’s friendship. Show us why Han and Lando have a strong friendship, show don’t tell. Have Han and Lando being smugglers in arms. And finally Lando would not leave he would patch himself up and return to help Han in the end. We really needed to see why Han sees so much reverence in his friendship to Lando in ESB. What we got from Solo makes Lando’s betrayal unsurprising. We needed to see why Lando was willing to sacrifice an old friendship to save Bespin from the Imperials, the emotional weight of Han and Lando’s friendship wasn’t there in the movie, it needed to be there so their friendship should’ve been one of the core elements of the movie.

Make Dryden Vos more of a legit threatening villain. Paul Bettany used to play really fucking evil gangster characters and that’s what I was hoping Dryden was going to be playing, but he was barely there. Make him cruel, and a clear danger. Prior to the meeting, show him execute an underling for insubordination and have him say “sorry for the mess”  and show us that Beckett is in a horrible debt that he can’t seem to get out of, a mirror of Han and Jabba’s relationship in the future

The heist would be to steal Coaxium from a complex security vault on Kessel

Han and Sana would get “married” as a pretense for the big heist, while Lando and Chewie make the big score. 

Han would make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs on his own. Han needed to make the Kessel Run on his own. Having a droid being part of why he made the Kessel Run takes away the great feat that Han made and brags about in ANH. It shows he’s a great pilot and has what it takes. That’s kinda what we needed to see.

Beckett sells everyone out to Vos as per canon

When Vos has Han at his mercy, Lando comes to make the save and they kill Vos together

Han shoots Beckett first. But not because it was right or because of the money. Because Han saw it coming. Han learned everything from Beckett. Beckett would say “I would’ve done the same thing, kid.” and Han would say “I had a great teacher.” There needed a slight moral conundrum. Han respects Beckett and has learned a lot from him, but also knows that he absolutely can not be trusted and will inevitably kill Han without a care in the world if it means Beckett gets a better deal.

Han would only give Enfys Nest the Coaxium in exchange for a reward. So Enfys would give Han, Lando, Sana and Chewie enough stolen money the Marauders acquired throughout the years to be the perfect reward. Enfys asks Han to join the Rebellion, but Han makes it clear he’s in it for the money

The movie would end with Han and Lando playing Sabacc for the Falcon, maybe tweak it a little so it’s both a dice and card game, so that way Han uses the Dice we would see in TLJ to win the Falcon. This way it makes way more sense as to why Leia and Ben would feel emotional over the dice. It’s the lucky Dice that won the Falcon, it brought Han and Leia together and it’s something worth Ben feeling emotional about instead of Han’s jilted ex lover’s dice 

Han should end the film leaving him as a guy who is mostly only going to get involved in capers due to the money. So that we can still make sense of the scene in ANH in which he takes the money and leaves (on Yavin) but only afterwards has a strike of conscience and returns to help Luke.

Solo wasn’t really a bad movie, I think it is a fun movie with great potential. The problem is they focused more on the future and not in the now, a movie about Han Solo does not focus on Han Solo and it’s not necessary at all and the story is very forgettable, and it really is just a cash grab. There is nothing remarkable about the movie and the only two characters who stand out as 100% only enjoyable to me are Enfys Nest and Lando. The rest of the characters just feel like unnecessary adds or barley passable imitations. So these are ways I would change Solo to make it a great movie

They made the movie about everything BUT Han Solo and their attempts to make Han a good man just betrays the character we knew in A New Hope. The reason why I chose to cut out Qi'Ra is because Han Solo having a love interest in my opinion was a pretty poor choice. Han Solo was always implied to be a loner before Leia came into his life. His name is SOLO. Han is a criminal smuggler, if anything he would've been sleeping around like Captain Kirk, especially Han in his 20's. Hell, in a deleted scene for ANH, Han basically has a small fling in the Cantina. As a matter of fact, showing that he was this intimate with someone before Leia takes a little bit of the mystique away from their relationship in later movies. I also felt like Han and Leia worked because they were the only ones who would get under each other's skins, but with here, Han and Qi'ra are just kind of in a relationship at the beginning and it's like "oh we don't even know these people" seeing him so deeply affected over another woman makes Han Solo comes across as a little bit more vulnerable than the Han we met in A New Hope.

Also why even have Qi'Ra when it's established that Han already had a wife in canon? Kathleen Kennedy sure does love her white Brunnettes doesn't she?

As for Maul. Does it need saying? Maul died in Rebels and bringing him back was pointless since mainstream audiences do not know that he survived. Also Han does not believe in the force and believes a blaster is superior to a Lightsaber

This whole movie shows a far more human Han, he's shown to be somewhat empathetic and sympathetic of others. He gives too much of a damn, there's a time or two in Solo where Han chooses to do what's right as opposed to what's right for him, he does jobs without looking for a real reward and that's just not Han Solo. In this movie it's clear that Han has a moral compass, whereas in the original trilogy, he was a lot more morally ambiguous and it was through Luke and Leia's influence and place in life that he began to become good. In A New Hope he had to constantly be reassured that he was going to be preciously rewarded. This completely destroys Han's arc in the original trilogy as this movie implies that Han was always a good guy.