#I LOVE THE ACOLYTE CAST SO MUCH

[allenwalkersworld]

I just watch Amandla’s ig stories speaking on the cancellation and the hate she’s been receiving. The fact that my girl had to say she wasn’t surprise about the cancellation hurts me to no end. She deserve so much better. She literally had to pull herself through while she was getting so much hate. THIS IS WHY CORPORATIONS NEEDS TO PROTECT THEIR ACTORS/ACTRESSES. She’s been getting racist hate since her Hunger Games days. Literally, fuck you racist pieces of shit (excuse me for my language). You guys hurt her and the cast for no reason just because you couldn’t stand inclusivity. Fuck y’all that said “go woke and go broke”

Please, everyone, go show her some love. Go show the cast some love. This is so disheartening to hear but I’m glad she spoke up about it. I love you Amandla so much

[solipseismic]

THE THING IS the star wars shows are almost all unequivocally Bad* but there are JUST ENOUGH exceptions** that sometimes when u see a new show coming out*** you go WELL perhaps there is hope after all. and maybe it looks cool**** :) and someone else may be thinking well sol isn't it easy for you since you are a star wars fan? and the truth of the matter is that NO. it is because i am a star wars fan that i know just how bad star wars is. and my love for star wars has a direct correlation to how much i hate its shows***** so u see actually it is very difficult for me

[water-to-drink]

You want a request? Sure, here ya go! 😀

Back when Genshin Impact first came out, a lot of folks compared it to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. (Some even thought Hoyoverse was directly copying Nintendo, if you can believe it) This little nugget of info was stored away in my head for some time, and now it's finally borne fruit!

SAGAU universe, bc ofc it is, where Creator!Reader would turn off the Genshin music and instead listen to Zelda tunes as they play! Nobody in Teyvat knows where these songs come from, but the Vision Holders who have heard them believe these melodies to be of holy origin. Something that connects them to their Creator, and is either shared to the masses or kept amongst themselves...a secret that only those blessed to be the Makers Vessels are to know.

If we're going the Imposter SAGAU route, it could be that our poor Creator is awaiting to be executed by the Genshin Cast. In an attempt to comfort themselves, they hum one of the songs that they love from the Zelda games (Zeldas Lullaby is always a favorite of mine personally) and the Acolytes overhear them. Whether this leads to more harm or to the Reader getting help, I'll leave that up to you.

Divine Melody

(Synopsis): After being transported to one of your favorite game you’re a accused of being an imposter but a melody changes the minds of Teyvat

(Tags/Warnings): Reader is treated as an imposter, reader almost dies, (if I missed anything lmk)

(Word Count): 770

(A/n): I remember that era, it was a ridiculous accusation to throw, and I hope this fulfills your expectations

A bright light shines in your face causing you to open your eyes

You find yourself in a grassy field and laying in the shade of a large tree. Odd you don’t remember falling asleep outside, this area looks pretty familiar. After a few seconds of trying to figure out where you are, you looked to see a statue

The statue looked absolutely majestic, walking to the front of it you saw that it was holding a glowing teal orb and the statue is in the likeness of Venti

The realization hit you like a ton of bricks

You’re at Windrise, you’re in Genshin

Excitement fills you and instantly began to run to Mondstadt City

Being transported to your favorite video game is supposed to be an amazing experience. Experience the world first person, interact with the characters, all that good jazz. That’s what you expected when you step foot in the city

Instead of the kind smiles you would normally see from behind your screen you were met with the people whispering amongst themselves whilst looking at you

Odd, you kept walking around the city until a knight came up to you and pointed his sword at you

“Halt, foul imposter!” The knight spat out. “How dare you come here wearing their holy presence.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just woke up like-” You were cut off by the sword coming closer to your neck

You looked around to see a crowd gathered around waiting for you, the intensity of the situation only grew and so without much hesitation you ran away from the knight and the crowd

You ran until you bumped into a person, looking up you see Kaeya

“Oh thank god! Kaeya please explain to these people that they got it all wrong, I’m not an imposter!” You pleaded

But why did he look at you with such contempt and disgust? Without a word from him he restrained you, his grip ironclad threatening to leave bruises to your arms

“I got them!” Kaeya yelled at the crowd

The mob gathered around you and bound your hands behind your back and the two knights lead you to a jail cell that had long been abandoned

Why were they treating you this way, you’ve done nothing wrong. Hopeless you curled up into ball on the floor and began to cry uncontrollably

You don’t know how long you spent crying when a knight came to get you from your dingy cell. She took you outside and you the moment you were out the sun blinded you. As you were lead through the street the people pelted rotten fruit at you

All that was going through your mind was “why”

Why are they doing all of these awful things to you, the yells of contempt was a stark contrast to the friendly smiles you’re used to seeing

As you got closer you saw the stake that you’re about to be tied to and set alight, the reality hit you and in a desperate attempt to calm your mind you begin to hum a melody that you would listen to while playing the game

You hum loudly to drown out the chants from the crowd. Strangely it comforted you, perhaps in your last moments finding solace in familiarity pushes the situation out of your mind.

You hummed loudly that someone heard you

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” A familiar voice yelled, quieting the crowd

You look up to see it was Venti who was standing before you. He gets down on his knees and looks you in the eyes

“That melody, sing it again.”

You kept humming the tune and the vision holders all had horrified looks on their faces, they all drop to their knees and bowed before you

“Your Grace, please forgive us for our grave mistake.” Jean said

“W-what are you talking about?” You asked confused beyond comprehension

“Your Grace, do you not realize that you are the creator of Teyvat?” Eula said

You ended the story and looked around at the faces of the children gathered around you. A story that is long behind you and now you dictate your time in teaching future generations the lesson

“What was the song you sang, your Grace?” A girl asked

“It was a song that the vessels would hear when I would pilot them, here let me hum it to you.” You began to hum the melody and as the song progressed you saw the children slowly get lulled to sleep. Finishing your tune you stood up from you chair and whispered “Goodnight, my sweet children.”

[mellowwillowy]

𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐗

Featuring: Yan! King, Yan! Puppeteer, Yan! Knight, Yan! Priest, Yan! Aristocrat CW: Violence (on 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭)

The King has always favored you among the beauties in the palace. His affection soars the moment 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠's Queen was executed for conspiring with the other acolytes to bring him down.

He has always loved you so much that he will do anything just to have you seated next to his throne. He doesn't care about the advisors' bickering. They won't be able to speak anymore after all.

"Off with your head? No no, off with your tongue."

You might think 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐏𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫 is someone heartless and manipulative no? While you are not wrong, you are not right either. Have you ever seen him playing with the puppet, making the puppet you talk and kiss him on his cheek?

He looks so adorable when doing it until you realize the puppet might actually be made of your own skin and hair.

"Ohh, I love you! Muah muah!" "Ohh, I love you too darling!"

As an honored knight, it's only natural for 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 to perform his duty earnestly, to bring down injustice, and to shield people from danger. So why would you even think that he is the person responsible for all the missing people?

All these missing people had done no wrong, and you have always been on good terms with them so you know, you know this person is not supposed to be publicly executed!

"Drop down the guillotine!"

The priest has always been a righteous man so why would you suddenly doubt 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭? He has taught you so much and this is how you are going to pay him? By doubting him?

Bent over the altar, the priest binds your hands behind your back with the rosary as he chants prayer upon you. He is not the gentle loving priest you remember anymore as he forces your head down the holy water.

"Repent, my child."

He has always been a revered man, one deserving of the respect people showered him with. So why would an ungrateful little brat like you deny his love and mocked him instead? What makes you think that it's a great idea to deny what 𝐘𝐚𝐧! 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭 wants?

His gloved hand meets your face in a strong hit. Your cheek reddens immediately as you struggle to keep your balance. You fall onto the ground with a loud thud and before you can manage to regain your composure, he kicks you right in your stomach.

"You ungrateful pet. You dare to bite the hand that feeds you?"

𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

It has been a long time since I've written for the CatboX's Casts so let me introduce them to my new guests who only know LIfE Project casts (lol).

We'll start off with the King's actor, Caelus! He ranks third in the last voting poll as brother Stefan! Erickson as the Puppeteer, he ranks fourth in the last voting poll! He also appears in a story as a crown prince and king. Noel as the Knight and Priest, he ranks first in the last voting poll!!! (MY CHILD!!!) He also appears in the same fic as Erickson.

Last but not least, our beloved XL, Marlon, plays as an aristocrat. She lost to HYC (Yan! Emperor) in the last voting poll...

[dealingdreams]

I truthfully don't think it's pointless to keep fighting for this show. So I'm going to keep talking about and and making fanvids. If only because I want to love on this show that means a lot to me and I'd like to show some love to the cast and crew. Keeping fighting loves.

Anyways thoooooo just for shits and giggles this is what I expected from season two of The Acolyte. Or I guess what I'd want from it...

Now I did think that it would narratively focus more on Qimir is season two. His backstory after all is the one we don't know and him and now Osha are trapped in the cross hairs of Vern and Plags.

I felt like it would be more fugitive style, an on the run action adventure kinda vibe. We got a little murder mystery in season one so I think leaning into different types of storytelling would be something Leslye would do.

As much as I want to see everything that happens between them I do think there would be a time jump maybe not a massive one but I don't think we would see to much of Osha's initial bit of training...but I don't think we would miss all of it so I'm thinking the jump would be like a year maybe two.

I think the relationship between them would be a slow burn so I don't think when we saw them again they'd be together together but I do think they'd be rather domestic. And as the season progresses we get more and more tension between them. I also think a little dynamic reverse where Osha is trying to dig into Qimir's past.

I don't think Plagueis would be a big active roll in season two instead this insidious presence that haunts both Osha and Qimir. I've no clue how I think that reveal would go (Plags being Qimir's master). I think a lot of it hinges on if Qimir even knew Plagueis was in the island or not. I think a lot of the chasing will be done by Vern and Mae. Whose relationship I think will also be a focal point.

For Osha I think a lot of her arc will be more personal emotional level as opposed to season one where she was just being thrust into a situation. I think her ability to use the force will be intense and growing as well.

I do think that the last episodes will have Plagueis revealed to be the true big bad. And his presence will bring all our characters together again.

[bri-the-nautilus]

Come To the Dark Side, We Have Hot Guys: A Star Wars Story

Spoilers below for S1 of Ahsoka and the first six episodes of The Acolyte.

I'm writing this with The Acolyte most of the way through airing its first season, with episode 6 having released earlier today. Say what you will about the show, but it's really brought out a lot of the uglier sides of the Star Wars fandom. Everyone and their mother has seen videos or Reddit threads dunking on the Critical Drinker or SWT and their mouth-breathing misogynist audiences at this point, so I don't feel particularly compelled to retread that ground. Instead, I want to talk about the... other side of the fandom, the hypocrisy therein, and how we're all being played for absolute fools by the creative team at Disney Lucasfilm.

Yes, this post is about Qimir.

Now I want to say that I have no problem with villain simping/shipping. Far from it. Most of my posts on this account are me simping for Shin Hati (we'll talk more about her later) or various Soulsborne bosses. Hell, my mutuals and I have a running joke about me having a weakness for evil blonde women. While I personally am too gay for my own good and couldn't care less about men as a concept, I absolutely see the appeal of characters like Qimir and Kylo Ren. I absolutely get why people thirst over them and love making fandom content for them. I think Qimir/Osha has the potential to be a really fun ship, actually. The point I'm making here is not "simping for these characters is wrong and bad," and I want to make that crystal clear before we continue.

That said, let's talk about Qimir, and how the landscape of the show and its surrounding discourse has changed since his reveal. Again, I'm ignoring the chud sphere here, partly because their little corner of the Internet has remained remarkably stagnant since then. The podcast bros still think it's woke, fucking Shadiversity is still whining about fight choreography (which as someone who actually has done HEMA/stage combat, Shad annoys me to no end, but that's an entirely separate can of worms), and it all seems to be business as usual over there. No, the most marked changes have been on the Acolyte-positive end of the fandom space. Here's what the top posts in "hashtag TheAcolyte" on Twitter look like tonight:

You get the idea.

Again, no hate to any of these people. This is tumblr ffs, we've all engaged in a little simping for a morally dubious hot person. I love seeing fans having fun engaging with something, and again I kinda dig the Osha/Qimir ship.

Anyways, if you were around for the Acolyte-positive discourse before the Qimir reveal, and especially the show's marketing and the reponse to that, you'll have noticed a marked difference.

Fans quickly began to see The Acolyte as " the gayest Star Wars ever." Showrunner Leslye Headland is an out lesbian, and her wife was cast as Master Vernestra Rwoh. Archetypical girlboss Carrie-Anne Moss was cast as Master Indara, immediately drawing comparisons to her role in the Matrix movies. Leads Osha and Mae Aniseya are played by the nonbinary Amandla Stenberg. The lesbian witches of Brendok were talked about in press releases before the show aired. Dafne Keen (Jecki Lon) stated in an interview that she portrayed the short-haired, serious Theelin as having a crush on Osha, something that fans were picking up on in their first interactions in the premiere before Keen even gave that interview. While Headland said in a post-premiere interview that she didn't set out specifically to make "a capital Q Queer show," it's an objective fact that no Star Wars movie/show has had as much potential in that area, and fans (especially the queer community) took notice. (For what it's worth, in the same interview Headland commented that she was proud of creating something that so many queer fans identified with.)

The show came out, and Master Indara was killed off in the first sequence, which I'm honestly fine with. It was a good scene and works on a lot of levels. Headland's aforementioned interview came and went. Episode three aired. The lesbian witches turned out to be even gayer than was previously thought possible, and people ate that shit up while the Critical Drinker's brain suffered a major cascade failure. Jecki became a runaway favorite in the premiere and episode four, as did lovable himbo Yord Fandar and the wise, paternalistic Master Sol. In Acolyte-positive circles, this was basically how it went. People thought Brendok was cool, the Yord Horde became the show's biggest social media sensation, Jecki and Sol cultivated devoted followings alongside Osha and Mae, there were a wealth of different ships involving various combinations of Jecki, Yord, and the twins... you get the idea.

Then episode 5 happened.

The writing was really on the wall when the Brendok coven was abruptly wiped out. Introducting such an interesting (and queer) Force-wielding culture only to exterminate them in the same episode was certainly a choice that somebody made. But episode 5 was a shock to the system for many fans, as the show's resident Sith revealed himself and killed Jecki and Yord in some of the most brutal recent onscreen deaths in Star Wars. To be clear, I think this was a great sequence. Two beloved main characters being suddenly and gruesomely killed off was a masterfully executed shock to the system, especially after viewers were lulled into a false sense of security by all the redshirt deaths in the previous scene.

This, understandably, completely changed the landscape of the Acolyte fandom. Virtually overnight, much of the simping and shipping involving Jecki and Yord dried up, and once the dust had settled as far as the "rip blorbo, gone too soon" posts went, what remained were the usual Sol/twins offerings and a wave of Qimir hype. Which is understandable. He's a badass emo Sith boy with a cool helmet who brutally murdered fan favorite characters in front of us and has palpable tension with the female lead. Who wouldn't love... wait a minute.

This feels familiar somehow.

But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all?

And just like that, "the gayest Star Wars" is all about the (straight) sexual tension between an edgy, murderous Sith boy and a light-side girl plagued by dark thoughts whose friends said boy just killed. This is all eerily similar to how the Sequel Trilogy focused on Rey and Kylo while abruptly dropping Finn and Poe's character arcs. Even the fandom discourse is the same. I mean Reylo was so ubiquitous back in the day that it became a derogatory catch-all for good girl/evil boy shipping. Multiple authors now have either gotten their initial start/fame writing Reylo fics, or straight up published legally distinct Reylo fiction after the fashion of Netflix's After. You had the occasional person piping up to say "hey they kind of just left Finn and Poe hanging after TFA, it would've been cool if they got together but at the very least don't relegate them to being side characters/comic relief in separate story threads," and that was it. The same thing is going on with The Acolyte now, only the sequel trilogy wasn't marketed on the strength of being a queer story by a queer creative team. The Acolyte is, which makes it all the more baffling that by the midway point of the first season, all the gays have been buried and the show seems to be heading straight for Reylo 2: High Republic Boogaloo. And the fans are eating it up.

As an interesting aside, I think it's an interesting exercise to contrast the Kylo/Qimir pattern with the broader fandom's treatment of Shin Hati (told you we'd circle back to that), and the ship between her and Sabine Wren. On paper, Shin is very similar to Kylo and Qimir. Villain? Check. Edgy-looking armor? Totes. Emotionally damaged/stunted in some way? Sure looks like it. Tension with the heroine? You betcha. If anything, the only major difference is that Shin isn't as evil as the others. Compare her actions in Ahsoka (clearing out part of a light cruiser with Baylan and making repeated attempts on Sabine's life) to Kylo (oversees multiple war crimes, kills his fan-favorite dad) or Qimir (orchestrates the murders of several Jedi before brutally executing two fan-favorite characters). She's definitely bad, but I struggle to see her as on par with Qimir, let alone fucking Kylo, in terms of evilness.

Which makes it all the more interesting to me that the Shin/Sabine ship has received so much more mainstream skepticism/criticism than the Osha/Qimir or Rey/Kylo ships. "They have no chemistry!" "She's an evil murderer!" "She's a blank slate!" "Sabine is taken!" I may be a touch biased, but from where I sit a large part of the fandom, even the ostensibly progressive side, seems to look down upon Shin/Sabine shippers while swooning for heterosexual variants with far more evil villains.

This isn't a monolith, and I can't stress that enough. I'm not trying to start shit here. Villain shipping is awesome. We support women's wrongs in this house. You do see the occasional person decrying Reylo or Osha/Qimir as toxic, which I think is fairly unnecessary. Like yeah, maybe it's a toxic dynamic, but these are fictional characters. For these specific characters, part of the crowd appeal is the toxic badboy side of things. I don't think we should really spend much energy attacking any fictional ship (between adults, mind you) as toxic, which is why it puzzles me that an as-yet-unconfirmed lesbian ship in a niche show receives such a large proportion of this sort of criticism compared to the canon relationship between two main characters of a blockbuster trilogy.

At the end of the day, this whole affair has been rather sobering for me on both Disney Lucasfilm and the Star Wars fandom. For all the support the Shin/Sabine ship has received from Ahsoka cast members Ivanna Sakhno (Shin), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine), Eman Esfandi (Ezra Bridger, the other character people like to ship with Sabine), and Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka), I'm rather sour on the prospects of it becoming canon. The sequel trilogy dropped the ball on what many saw as a promising chance for an MLM romance between Finn and Poe in favor of trotting out the "why do good girls like bad boys" dynamic, and The Acolyte, "the gay show" overseen by a lesbian, has seemingly shifted to center a similar dynamic after killing off most of its prospects for a queer relationship among the main cast. Simply put, I think that Disney as an international company based in the frighteningly divided United States is reluctant to commit to anything beyond lipservice in terms of LGBT representation in their movies/shows, which again doesn't leave me feeling optimistic about WolfWren's canon potential. And the fandom takes the bait. People love the damaged evil badboy/good girl dynamic, and when the queer fandom suggests the possibility of a queer ship taking center stage in a show with no other extant relationships, even the more progressive side of the fandom tends to either ignore it or actively push back on its basis in reality until Disney Lucasfilm inevitably puts the kibosh on it. The amount of times I've heard people dismiss WolfWren for the same reasons they now like Osha/Qimir and liked Reylo (before that ship was fleshed out/canonicalized, anyway) is ridiculous, but at the end of the day you kinda feel stupid for expecting anything else. Again, I think Qimir is a cool character and I'm as much of a sucker for villain romances as the next girlie, but seeing how easily the fandom lets dangling heterosexual carrots lead it away from Disney Lucasfilm's broken promises of queer rep is a sobering ordeal.

[honey-intherock]

So a lot of you have probably seen it already, but there's a petition to save The Acolyte

Realistically, I don't have high expectations - hope for the best! But, you know. lol

But even if nothing comes of it, I like it as a gesture to the cast and crew, to show them how much the show was loved.

[gffa]

Your perspective on Vernestra was spot on to me. But what is wild is that that's Leslie's wife?? Like. She purposely made the character colder and CAST HER WIFE. (and let her have the hera makeup treatment of green paint bath)

Oh, I did not know Leslye Headland and Rebecca Henderson were married, that is WILD that she would cast her as Vernestra and then write her that way! I mean, not that wild that someone would cast their wife in a fun role, but it does surprise me that she chose to write Vernestra as colder than I would say she comes across as in the books. Like, yeah, of course the character is ~100 years older now, she's an adult now, she's got more responsibilities now, and maybe there will be an ending to the Nihil storyline that will explain her change, but it does feel a little wild to me that this cameo character your wife is playing wouldn't be written as a little more fun to play. Though, let's wait until Vernestra gets to use her lightsaber whip, I bet that was be AWESOME to play.

Honestly, I don't really mind that Vernestra is written as she is--aside from making me wonder how much Headland has read of the books, I have no idea if she's read just a few or all of them, not to mention I'm sure the writing for this show was written LONG before several of the later books came out--I like that a Jedi you know we're meant to like is written as a bit more formal and reserved and wanting to plan things carefully, rather than immediately act. I've liked that The Acolyte doesn't feel the need to make every Jedi "perfect", that Yord can have a stick up his ass but we still love him, Vernestra can be colder than we expect but she still cares deeply and is a wonderful person, like, yes, let Jedi just be characters! I'm enjoying that so much! Plus, I like that it kind of makes her feel like a spiritual successor/precursor to Mace Windu, the other purple saber wielder we know. He's reserved and can appear as cold to those who don't know him, but if you pay attention, you can see how deeply he cares about people, how honorable he is, how good he is. I bet they would have gotten along great, I would love to see Mace and Vernestra having tea, if she lived that long.

[cosmicluci]

So, if anyone sees this post, yes it’s awful that the Acolyte is cancelled. But here’s a couple things:

The cancellation wasn’t communicated officially. It was just some source that communicated with Deadline, from what I saw. There is at least for now nothing on official Disney or Star Wars accounts, or comments from Leslye or the cast

There is a hashtag going around Twitter (#RenewTheAcolyte) that’s been gaining traction. If enough people ask for it, it could work. It wouldn’t be the first time a cancelled show with queer characters got renewed after being cancelled. Even if it gets insufficient episodes (not that S1 had enough) like Owl House did, a chance to wrap up the story would be nice.

On that note…do tweet about it. We all know tumblr is nicer, but Twitter, as shit as it is, still gets more attention. Dust off unused accounts or make a new one if need be. The more people the better.

Yes, it’s a long shot, but all we can do is try, and make it clear that there is a devoted audience for this show. For now, as much as they’re very much emboldened and active, the hate mob no longer has a running show to complain about. This is an opportunity for people who like and love it to speak up.

[eggdrawsthings]

After The Acolyte, the number of live-action Star Wars villains with Filipino actors also seems higher than that of heroes with Filipino actors, and the villains in question (Quimir and Morgan Elsbeth) each have several more appearances than the hero (Stoke from Sorgan).

However, because of how much Lucasfilm loves to milk Star Wars villains, I actually couldn't tell whether or not to consider this an unfortunate statistic (although it could make one long even harder for Din to visit that village on Sorgan again).

the thing is, im open with seeing POC playing the villain role as long as it a well-written character and not playing into the harmful racist stereotypes stuff. However, it's not the case here with Sol, and Qimir as well imo. Also, we never had an East Asian Jedi Master before, and being part of the main cast at that. So I was desperately clinging to him but they ruined him in the end.

I'll never forgive them for ruining Rose and Paige Tico also, my only crumbs of Viet rep and they just yeeted both of them into the void o(-(

[tremendouskoalachild]

what we know: The Acolyte was pitched sometime in early 2020. The Rise of Skywalker had just ended the movie saga. The Mandalorian, which kicked off disney+, had just finished its first season with great audience response. Lucasfilm was reorienting itself to streaming. Rayne Roberts loved the pitch, got Kathleen Kennedy who also loved it, and the show was greenlit.

the show premiered in summer 2024, after a generous marketing campaign (including a clip shown with The Phantom Menace rerelease, an original Victoria Monét song, and plenty of trailers and tv spots). multiple pieces of tie-in media were announced both before and during the show's airing (an Acolyte comic issue, a Kelnacca comic issue, a visual guide, an art reference book, two novels featurig show characters).

the high republic multimedia project (THR), in advanced development when the show was pitched and published continuously from early 2021, greatly influenced the show's development. the costuming is largely based on the look of THR, the show makes plenty of lore references, and includes a main character from the books in its main cast. THR material coming out in summer 2024 has "a century before The Acolyte" prominently on the cover, the upcoming show tie-ins are largely written by THR authors, and often feature other THR characters.

the show was expensive, with a long production period and a great focus on the technical aspects - building large elaborate sets, filming on location in Madeira, detailed stunt sequences with a lot of actor involvement, plenty of attention given to costumes, make-up and creature design. the cast included many high-profile actors. everything suggests the show had full confidence of lucasfilm.

what i'm gonna speculate: lucasfilm was playing the long game with this show, or hoping to. cancelling the show this early was unexpected.

in 2019 star wars was quite literally centered on the original trilogy. the seven decades or so around the OT contained all currently canon star wars media, even as the franchise was spoken of as one with 25,000 years of history. the following years would plug up even more empty spots on the timeline, with the projects often overlapping. this gave the writers much less creative freedom, which was the whole point of decanonizing all pre-2014 media aside from films and shows. over time, fans started clamoring for onscreen content set outside of the known eras, and there were more and more voices in and outside of the fandom exhausted with fanservice (the glup shitto phenomenon).

The Acolyte was set in a whole new era, as far as onscreen content goes, and its only legacy character was from children's and YA books most viewers wouldn't be familiar with. it was specifically introduced as a show you wouldn't need any homework for. it had actors prominent in entirely different contexts (Matrix. sitcom. Squid Game. YA. superhero movies. independent films. relationship dramas.) and the cast was pretty international.

the show had a lot specifically for established fans - you could say it was the most wide-reaching in its star wars references, incorporating elements from every trilogy, the animated shows, canon books, oldschool legends lore, video games. but i believe it was mostly meant to attract people who were not previously fans, and especially target demographics that were underrepresented in the fandom. draw in international audiences, young people who were around for other star wars properties but they never caught their interest, women who either weren't in the fandom or felt pushed away by the reaction to The Last Jedi.

lucasfilm execs definitely weren't planning for viewing numbers comparable to Obi-Wan Kenobi, or even Ahsoka, since those are characters people are already invested in. i think lucasfilm expected the show's audience to grow over a longer period, since plenty of people might check it out because it seems cool and they like an actor in it, and hopefully stick around to watch other star wars and become new fans of the franchise. the audience would get a chance to establish itself through new viewers watching it outside the couple weeks when it aired originally - it's a streaming platform, after all - and the show would have a solid fandom for its second season (which they were clearly planning to make).

these new fans would keep disney+ in order to check out other star wars shows and film, and keep buying star wars stuff over the hiatus. even if they were only into The Acolyte and their interest never expanded beyond that, there were many merchandising products and tie-in materials coming out. the comics and books would have connections to THR, hopefully getting an influx of readers before the initiative finishes next year and boosting sales of already published works. the THR readers who weren't interested in the show originally would see all their favorite authors writing stuff for it and check it out, too.

but then someone higher up decided to cancel it a month after airing so no i guess

[allenwalkersworld]

Disney, seriously, FUCK YOU!!! Oooh, y’all got me over here seething!

[staranon95]

getting really pissy at all the Star Wars cancellations lately

at least we'll have Andor season 2 and i'll watch that Mandalorian movie in some way or another but i'm honestly so tired of all the execs at Disney basically abandoning all their Star Wars shows lately

it's like after the first ep of every new show they release, they immediately give up on it due to right wing bigots on twitter. the worst crowd ever

Book of Boba Fett had so much going for it and there was potential there to make it a well rounded show with teasing out parts of Boba's past while also giving him a future

the Kenobi series was a good interlude and i loved that they brought Ewan and Hayden back to continue their characters. i liked that the focus was on Leia and her relationship with Obi-Wan. sucks that they cut Cody out of it though. we deserved old bickering husbands in the desert

while i didn't watch Ashoka, i know so many people had fun with it who had watched the original Rebels series and enjoyed it as the continuation and adaptation of their series. they should have been given a chance to continue them

Acolyte was a breath of fresh air because it was actually the writers trying something new beyond characters we're already well familiar with

even Mandalorian season 3 had some good moments but you can feel the meddling of execs all over these properties

from bringing Grogu back too soon because they need their cash cow back front and centre and taking time away from Boba's story shows how little faith the Star Wars team has in their own ability to tell fulfilling stories

that and they abandon the people of colour, women, and children in their casts when they're being attacked by trolls online

this is an inherently unsustainable way to manage this franchise and they desperately need to figure their shit out if they want to survive

[jreads]

if the acolyte gets cancelled i will be taking that shit personally. finally, after almost half a century of us feeding off of nerdy boy scraps (which were delicious by the way), we get something made with a different gaze in mind and it was fantastic. not everyone got it, BECAUSE IT WASN’T FOR EVERYONE. But the tension, the fight scenes, the character design, all of it was so much more deserving than the reaction it got. i loved reading leslye headland’s and the cast’s interviews because they saw what we were looking for and they understood it and they crafted something with such love and care and said HERE. and the guys are yelling so loud that i feel like they can’t hear us saying that we loved it. idk this feels so serious to me. the acolyte getting cancelled reads like disney really only cares about one demographic of their fanbase, and it will be the one that spits on them and disrespects them time after time. please let us have this thing thank you

[acapelladitty]

`♡° kinktober 2024! ---

☆ kink: Painplay

☆ pairing: White Mask Varre/Mohg

☆ summary: Summoned to meet with his lord, Varre loses himself in bloodied worship.

kinktober '24 ☆ main masterlist ☆ ao3

Even before the pureblood medal flashed fresh heat across his chest, Varre swore he could feel the desires of his lord thrumming through his veins as though anticipating his call. His most recent lambkin, the pale tarnished with the dark eyes, had made some decent headway into their journey to lordship, having slain the vile Godrick and taken another great rune from the Carian Queen as she holed away in the safety of Raya Lucaria. He had hope for this one, their determination burning fiercely from their gaze in both of their encounters.

Time would tell.

But the flash of heat startled him regardless and his bloodstained fingers flew to the medal as he concentrated on allowing himself to heed the summons, any other thoughts obliterated by the promise of a direct audience with Lord Mohg. The sensation of travel never grew any less disorientating with time and the charms places upon the medals thrust him into darkness for an endless moment before the void dissolved into the familiar sight of Lord Mohg’s chamber.

"Varre."

"My Lord." Dropping to his knees, Varre took sight of his lord. The dark robed which engulfed Mohg’s body were as ornate and fine as ever and the red stitching and patterns that flowed across the fabric were the finest which the nameless masks could source across the lands between. "I hope this evening finds you well."

"Sweet Miquella stirred thrice across our slumber,” Mohg growled, his excitement palatable as he leaned forward from his dark throne. “The blood is taking root and our dynasty comes swifter every day."

Heart alighting with joy at the news, Varre allowed all his excitement to break through his tone, "Joyous news, my lord! The nameless whitefaces have been diligent in their work these recent weeks and my chosen tarnished is hard at work."

“May their journey be blessed with blood.” Showcasing his sharp teeth at the prospect of a new champion, the news was clearly pleasing to his lord and Varre felt his heart skip a beat at the display. He had made his lord happy with his choice and that pride swelled within him until his chest felt fit to burst.

“Your work is as impeccable as always, my surgeon,” praise came easily to Mohg and he shared his pride in his disciples without hesitation. “It is also joyous as I called you here for celebration, Varre. I wish you to allow us to embrace in the loving shadow of the formless mother."

Barely concealing a moan as his greatest hope was brought to reality, Varre tilted his upper body into a thankful bow as every inch of his body began to shake. It had been a time since he had shared in pleasures with his lord, the development of their dynasty having taken precedence over more delightful activities, and he had missed the ecstatic horror of their union.

Stripping away his stained clothing with trembling fingers, the digits shaking so much that he could barely wrap them around the fabric, Varre exposed himself to his god with a familiar shame; his scarred frame never feeling good enough to display before one so powerful.

Only his mask remained, the emotionless porcelain hiding all but his eyes which blazed their open desire and adoration.

Mohg, comfortable in his throne and clearly unwilling to move, beckoned him forward with a curled claw and Varre pulled himself forward on unsteady feet – his cock already half hard and bobbing against his groin with every step. The red sky hung overhead, casting the open area with a tinted light and Varre’s breath hitched as he arrived at his lord and accepted his outstretched hand.

With a demigods strength, Mohg snatched Varre to his lap – allowing his most precious surgeon and acolyte to spread his knees wide while occupying his wide thighs. From here, Varre could feel the harsh tent of his lord’s love, still buried beneath the layers of dark robe which obscured it, and he pressed his ass against the bulge, as desperate to please as ever.

“The formless mother demands sacrifice for her love,” Mogh purred and his words stoked the heady mixture of arousal and anxiety which sat heavily in Varre’s chest at the thought of the bloodletting to come. His time as a war surgeon, faced daily with the horrors of war until such sights lost all meaning, had robbed him of much and in its place had bloomed a love of sensation which sold pleasure as pain and pain as its own sick pleasure.

A firm hand came to rest across his back and Varre leaned into the touch. The tips of four razor-sharp claws teased at his skin, the points almost like needles as they breached his flesh and drew fresh droplets of blood which trickled free unhindered. A sensation which drew a full bodied shudder from Varre and he pressed into Mohg’s chest, his lord accepting the touch with muttered praises.

“My most loyal surgeon, tamer of the bloodflame.”

Mogh drew his claws across his back with a grunt and Varre forced back a scream as he felt the skin give way like paper. Scores of lines, some faded and white with age and some still holding the pinkness of new injury, littered his back already and these new clawed marks only add to the canvas of his devotion.

The scent of copper was strong, Varre's dripping blood poisoning the air like a fresh bloom of flowers - the metallic smell so strong that it felt almost cloying inside his throat as he inhaled it deeply, his cock bucking in response as it remained painfully untouched.

His scent.

His blood.

His devotion.

Laid bare for all to see.

Stirred into a mild frenzy by his actions, Mohg’s other hand dropped amongst his robes and pulled free his cock with a smooth motion.

Standing to attention in the space between them as Varre remained panting on his lap, the difference in their members was almost comical. His omen cock longer and thicker than any man’s, the heft of the shaft was ridged and pitted with the very base of it hosting a small omen horn, the point of which was thankfully pointing away from the tip. A lividly dark colour, the slightest hint of pearly pre-cum wept from the slit of his cock as his hand stroked along the length with a few lazy pumps.

Fear and love making his head spin, not to mention the continued blood loss, Varre couldn’t help his hands as they dropped to his lord’s cock and gripped at it with reverence – using his fingers to map out every single ridge and textured inch as Mohg reclined and allowed him to fulfil his wishes.

Bringing his lord to a full hardness, his own cock matching in its reduced splendour, Varre groaned like a whore as his lord growled out his approval and used his claws to shift their positions, lifting Varre enough to allow him to line his cock up with his fluttering hole.

No preparation. No delicate expansions. Just raw, blooded love in the way that their shared god demanded.

With only his own offered blood as lubricant, Varre screamed as the blunted tip of his lord’s cock breached his unprepared hole. Fearing he may pass out from the pain as his body was stretched beyond its limits, the ache made him feel nauseous as dark spots danced in the corner of his vision. His shock so great, he found himself unable to vocalise his pains as the pleasures of their encounter were utterly overshadowed by the agony of entry.

His lord, clearly enjoying the tightness which strangled his cock, held him in place as though he were little more than a puppet and a thick, pink tongue slipped free of Mohg’s mouth to lick a sordid line across Varre’s neck – tasting the sweat there and humming with consideration at how laced with pain and fear it was.

The claws which held him in place tightened and Varre found himself being pulled lower onto the cock which was splitting him in two. Every bump and curve of his lords monstrous cock felt amplified and the searing pain which burned him from the inside out told him of the damage which it was not doubt wrecking on his soft, human body.

But, despite it all, there was still some pleasure and Varre clung to it as his throat cried itself raw – every fresh inch which stretched him out a fresh, euphoric hell.

“Why do you writhe so much, my surgeon?” Mohg asked, his rumbled tones knowing full well how much his lover suffered for his love. How willing he was to sacrifice his body again and again in service of their god.

“It’s agony, my-my lord. I’ll being torn apart.”

“You bear it well,” a clawed hand stroked along Varre’s back, almost soothingly as the claws themselves stayed their violence. The skin there, still torn from Mohg’s earlier cuts, still wept their blood and the tickle of the rolling droplets only added another layer of sensation to Varre’s fried mind.

Every thrust feeling like it was hollowing him out and ripping his very insides free with each pull, Varre attempted to meet Mohg's thrusts with his own as he attempted to focus on the pleasure which his lords cock afforded him as it brutally punished that sweet spot within him that had him seeing stars. Bile sat low in his throat, adoration and agony making his movements sloppy as he gazed into the dark abyss of Mohg’s expression; the one good eye, the eye not taken by the wild growth of his omen horns, burned into him with an unyielding intensity.

His body brought his lord pleasure and that was a pride which made his chest ache as he felt every inch of his lord’s inhumane cock using his flesh, the tell-tale twitch of the length impaling him telling him that Mohg was near his release as his bestial growls reached a growing urgency.

With a snarl that shook Varre’s very body, Mohg wrapped his thick hands around his waist, pinning his arms to his upper body as he pulled Varre down on his cock and forced him to feel every inch of his length. A pulsing heat soon filled him, his lords release filling him like a vessel as his thick thighs tensed and his claws punctured the frail skin of Varre’s arms. Bottomed out, the ache which hollowed Varre’s insides and pushed vomit into his throat reached a new high and his throat felt raw from the constant howling of sensation which tore free of it.

Varre came with a retching sob and his release sputtered weakly from his bobbing cock – the sensation of his lords scorching hot seed flooding his ruined hole proving too much for him to endure.

Blood, coppery and intense in its scent, flooded his senses and he could taste his own due to his sharp teeth biting down on his lip. His release felt unending, every nerve in his body fried from the sadistic mixture of pain and pleasure which rolled through his senses as his steady blood loss only served to increase the pulsing pressure in his head.

Despite it all, or perhaps because of it, Varre’s eyes were wide yet dulled as they locked once again with Mohg and he used what little strength remained in his bones to push as much of the devotion which consumed him into his gaze as darkness touched at the edges of his consciousness and he fell into willing oblivion until his lord had seen fit to heal the mess he had made of his beloved surgeon.

[rubyroulette]

Give the Acolyte another chance!

Look, I know many people absolutely hate the new Star Wars content, such as the new trilogy and the Acolyte. Before y'all go into the comments section raging, at least read the whole post.

I criticize Disney's take on Star Wars as much as the next guy. One thing that has gotten a TON of hate recently is The Acolyte. I believe, however, that though it has some major flaws regarding pacing and the writing especially in the beginning, everyone is focusing on that rather than some of the amazing aspects of the show. The same goes for lots of the new movies, but that's a whole different essay.

I won't go into all the reasons why I like the Acolyte because that will take hours, so I'll summarize it. This will contain major spoilers!!

First off, I think this show did a masterful job of creating a diverse, complex cast of characters. I think Sol especially was done really well, being portrayed as someone compassionate, kind, and intelligent, yet deeply flawed, selfish at times, and human. What I love most about the Acolyte is that they really conveyed that things aren't all black and white. My definite favorite character in this series was Qimir for obvious reasons. Ridiculous hotness aside, his character was actually amazing.

Visually, the series was also gorgeous! The lightsaber battles, the scenery, the costumes..just amazing.

I understand the criticism for the show though, because at times the scenes felt flat and unnatural. On its own, the Acolyte probably would have been praised, but because it doesn't feel like a true Star Wars movie it's been absolutely demolished by the fandom.

I strongly think that the Acolyte has some serious potential for a great series if it were to fix some of the concerns fans have. It really does have some great things going for it! Please at least consider giving it a chance.

To all the people who hate it, please respect others' opinions and let people like things. By the way, I'm only talking to the people who genuinely dislike it for its content, not those who are angry because of the diversity. I do NOT respect hate like that. You can state your opinion, but PLEASE be respectful.

Sorry that this post is running super long!

If you wish to show your support for The Acolyte, please consider signing this petition!