#I know it’s not anakin just trying to get attention for the og post

[oceanera12]

Got any headcanons on Obi-wan, Cody, Waxer, Boil, and the 212th?

Oh, dear Chaos where do I start?

First, I’m going to list two fanfictions I wrote which are literally the answer to this wonderful question. Here and here. But I also know not everyone wants to read such things so here’s a giant condensed list of random headcanons that are in the stories and a few bonus ones that are not.

At the beginning of the war, Cody would freak out and panic every time he lost his General because “it’s a clone’s responsibility to see their General stays alive” Obi-Wan was not happy when he found out about this

Obi-Wan has tried to get his men to call him by his name and not “General” or “sir”. It hasn’t really worked out for him

Wooley is made a captain at some point and becomes Cody’s right-hand man in the 212th

Waxer and Boil come from different batches. They met each other after their respective batchmates were wiped out, leaving both alone. Waxer needed someone to watch him and Boil needed someone to watch.

Cody and Obi-Wan often drink tea at their briefings and strategy meetings. Sometimes these meetings go late into the night and they both end up falling asleep on the floor/console.

Cody is a pillow to everyone... because reasons (read the first fic and you’ll understand)

Waxer is a prankster. Boil tries to make him stop and fails miserably.

212th pillow piles in a training room after a long hard battle or whenever the men just feel like it.

Cody is the best hand-to-hand combatant in the GAR.

Obi-Wan runs away from medical bays and will refuse medical attention until he passes out. It happens a lot and every time it happens Cody gets annoyed and prepares another lecture for when his General wakes up.

((Canonically, the 212th has no canon medic’s listed. So I went ahead and made two (technically three now that I’m thinking about it but whatever).))

Stitch- OG head medic of the 212th, a batchmate of Cody’s, can curse in 7 languages, amused by some of the General’s injuries (mainly how they happened), and loves to tease Cody about watching the General better. Patient, kind, and willing to put his foot down when someone is trying to escape (Obi-Wan). Died in a small skirmish and Cody had some depression after that.

Bacta- transferred from the 616th,  grumpy, loud, yells at his patients and will sedate them if they try and escape. Refuses to call anyone by their military title (”Kenobi, have you seen Cody?”) and hasn’t been court-martialed for it for reasons no one can figure out. Also refuses to call any clone by their number (and if they don’t have a name yet then he just calls them “kid” or “vod”). Armor has the first letter of every brother he failed to save on it (which is a secret to everyone but him. And a shiny who is blackmailing him over it). He’s killed after Order 66 because he refused to remove his armor. So the Empire shot him.

Bacta chases certain people (Waxer) around with a sedative if he catches them touching his medical equipment

Obi-Wan is secretly terrified of Bacta to a degree because he always seems to know when he’s trying to escape the med bay.

Waxer was learning Twi’lek from Obi-Wan before he died. Boil started learning after Waxer died.

The 212th was told Obi-Wan died during the Rako Hardeen incident and had their own funeral for him and spent the next few weeks going through the mourning process. When he came back they were relieved, then ticked

Obi-Wan talks in his sleep sometimes. It’s how Cody found out about Qui-Gon Jinn

Most of the time Obi-Wan goes missing and the 212th panic and look for him, usually finding him with the 501st or up a tree (it’s happened more than once, weirdly enough)

But when Cody goes missing, Obi-Wan also freaks out and when the General is obviously worried, the rest of the men panicx100. Long story short, Cody is not allowed to go missing anymore as told by his General, all of the 212th, General Skywalker, Rex, Wolfe, Commander Tano, and General Yoda himself.

Cody constantly asks how General Skywalker turned out the way he did. Then Obi-Wan makes one of his dramatic entrances/exits and he’s like, “There it is.”

Obi-Wan loses his saber more than Anakin. Cody doesn’t bring it up to anyone.

Cody and Obi-Wan are bros, in my head. Nothing more, nothing less.

Obi-Wan has been turned into a dog at some point (see the second fic)

When the 212th and the 501st get together, they have a big party. The 212th brings tea and the 501st brings fireworks. Neither are surprised the first time it happens.

After Order 66, Vader can’t stand the sight of Obi-Wan’s men so he disbands them and scatters the men. However, he keeps Cody in the 501st because he can’t let it completely go. (Meanwhile, CC-2224 is looking at Commander (whatever Appo’s # is) and can’t help but think that’s not the right man in charge of the battalion. It’s supposed to be someone blonde)

Post Order 66, Boil somehow escaped from the 212th and went to Ryloth (I think he had his chip removed by Rex later or something). He stayed there protecting Numa until his dying day (which involved getting killed by Wooley who was under the chip’s influence)

Also post-Order 66, Wooley became a purge trooper with one of those electro-staffs and was most likely killed by a certain ex-Padawan on the run (looking at you, Cal Kestis) Yay!

Post 66, Cody served the empire and was eventually found by Rex, who took the chip out. Cody then had a mental breakdown and was looked after by Rex until he left the rebellion. Cody had enough fighting in his life, thank you. In an ideal world, Cody found Kenobi hiding on Tatooine and got to apologize to him.

And I’ll stop there because dang this is getting long.

[johnnyclash87]

(1/2)But what if Kix didn't know that he was smhw interacting with the past until like,a week after the mission bc he doesn't pay attention to the replies and only posts stuff to show the galaxy that the last clone troopers is on the right side,but during that week he posted stuff about things that you would need to know what happened after the Old Republic fell,a few photos(sometimes with people sometimes not),a photo showing of his new haircut that let's you see his-Kind of what was on the og

(2/2)tattoo, reference's to clone jokes, etc., stuff that not only proves that he IS Kix but also leads everyone to believe that he is stuck somewhere where that 1) is (kind of) in the middle of recuperating from an Civil War and 2) the Jedi there were all killed (except two) by the Sith's.

I hope I matched the right ones.

I can just picture him posting memes. There’s the occasional joke about everyone trying to throws Rex. He mentions something about that tatoo Jesse has that NOBODY else knows about.. Then it gets.. confusing.. He tags Rex in a photo but... he’s old and has a beard? There’s a meme about Palpatine with a photo ...and why does he look like THAT?! Then there’s the day he changes his cover photo to an old picture of Alderaan #neverforget #onewiththeforcenow... He tags himself in a photo with Rey “At Resistance Medical Facility with Rey Skywalker #lastjedi #neverforgetjedipurge” Suddenly Anakin and the Council are very interested.

[unexpectedreylo]

Mary Sue Or Not?

Having climbed aboard the Reylo ship 10-11 months ago, I’ve written quite a bit about them as a couple and about Kylo/Ben, since he is endlessly fascinating on many levels and he is the last Skywalker heir.

But it’s time to shine some light on our girl Rey, the heroine of this fairy tale/gothic romance novel collision in space.  And the first thing I want to address is whether or not it’s fair to call her a Mary Sue.

One problem we have is no one really can define what a Mary Sue is anymore; it’s become what former U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart once said about obscenity...you can’t define it but you know it when you see it.  A lot of the time in modern parlance, it’s a lazy shorthand for “a female character I don’t like.”

But “Mary Sue” did mean something once and it was very specific.  It was meant to describe an original character in fan fiction who was basically an idealized version of the author, there to suck all of the gravity of a particular universe in her direction.  Someone I knew in Star Wars prequel fandom once described a Mary Sue as a fundamental writing error.  I would add it’s the kind of error (usually) young, inexperienced writers who aren’t familiar enough with the source material tend to make.  

The OG Mary Sue from the zine Menagerie #3.

The term “Mary Sue” came from a satirical Star Trek fan fiction (“A Trekkie’s Tale”) written in the ‘70s meant to spoof these kinds of stories.  The heroine, Mary Sue, is the youngest Starfleet officer at 15.5 years old and is half-Vulcan.  Everyone falls in love with Lt. Mary Sue; of course Capt. Kirk hits on her but being a woman of virtue, she rebuffs him.  She dies a tragic death trying to save the Enterprise and is mourned by all (in the early days, Mary Sues often died tragically and heroically).   Since then Mary Sues have become more sophisticated and varied, but are often marked by their extraordinary skills, unusual but beautiful appearance, and ridiculously convoluted names (”Mary Sue” is pretty vanilla these days for a Mary Sue).  They also stubbornly refuse to die.  But the principles remain the same:  the Sue is the always the center of attention, the Sue is always a usurper, and the rules of the canonical universe/characterizations always bend or break to justify a character who really doesn’t fit into that universe at all.  For example in “A Trekkie’s Tale,” the normally stoical Mr. Spock blubbers like a baby at Mary Sue’s funeral.  In the infamous “My Immortal,” the denizens of Hogswarts are transformed into suicidal bisexual “goffs” to accommodate its Draco-humping vampire anti-heroine “Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.”   (”My Immortal” just might be the 21st century internet troll’s version of “A Trekkie’s Tale.”)

I started reading Star Wars fan fiction 26 years ago and every now and then, I’d run into a Mary Sue.  More often than not, she was Force-sensitive and was usually paired with Luke.  In older zines, particularly ones pre-TESB, I’d see the kind often paired with Han Solo that I’d called “Spacer Sues.”  About 20 years ago I wrote a fic spoofing Star Wars-style Mary Sues called “Hello Jedi Sue.”  In the story the main character Sue was sucked up into a tornado and sent into the GFFA.  She had a higher midichlorian count than even Anakin and immediately upon meeting Luke, he realizes she is destined for him.  Over the course of the story, she leads Rogue Squadron to victory against a stray Sith Lord who turns up out of nowhere (she’d never flown an X-wing before), she pilots the Falcon through an asteroid field after Han suffers a heart attack, and of course she trains to be a Jedi.  Leia is kind of chilly to her at first but comes around and gives her a ring that once belonged to Queen Amidala, the only memento she has left of her birth mother.  Some apprentice gets jealous of her and pushes her off the top of the temple to her death.  Leia declares it a worse tragedy than Alderaan.  Everyone’s crying and stuff but Sue uses her Force superpowers to resurrect herself.  She and Luke marry and she immediately gets pregnant.  Obi-Wan’s ghost appears to tell the happy couple she is his granddaughter and Qui-Gon’s great-granddaughter (don’t ask).  

So you might say TFA raised my eyebrows because some of it reminded me of “Hello Jedi Sue.”  Before everyone hits the unfollow button, I DO NOT think that Rey is a Mary Sue.

I’ll break it down like this.  In order for a character to be a Mary Sue, the character must do most if not all of the following:

Be an idealized version of the author.

Be the center of attention, even in situations where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate.

Bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in.

Possesses highly unusual but beautiful looks and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills.

Be irresistible, especially sexually irresistible, to everyone.

Usurp the roles played by canon characters and their importance.

So, let’s go over that list with Rey in mind.

1.  Is she an idealized version of J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Lawrence Kasdan, or George Lucas (who created Rey’s progenitor “Kira”)?

Uhh, I doubt it.  It’s not just that Rey is obviously not of the same sex, but she doesn’t seem to exhibit anything that reminds me of these men in real life.  Sure she’s packed with girl power but so what?  So are Lara Croft, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Padme Amidala, Xena, Leia Organa, Black Widow, Wonder Woman, that dragon chick from Game Of Thrones, Ahsoka, etc..  

2.  Is she the center of attention, even where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate?

She’s the main hero(ine) of this trilogy and the avatar for the audience but she serves the same function that Luke Skywalker did in the OT or Anakin Skywalker did in the PT.  So of course the story is going to focus on her.  But if she was genuinely a Mary Sue, she would be doing everything of importance in the film to the point of making everyone else useless.  They could be sitting by the sidelines having a beer while she’s basically running the movie.  

3.  Does she bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in?

This is one point where I think a lot of the contention lies.  She gets accused a lot of being “overpowered.”  Well, what does that mean?  The way I see the narrative shaping up after two films, she is obviously very powerful in the Force but TLJ makes it clear her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  I think the movies are hinting she and Kylo/Ben are something new and unique, a creation of the Cosmic Force in its post Anakin-balanced state.  I hope we get more of an explanation of this because I think it would go a long way to reassure people.  

On that note, another common complaint is that Rey takes on skills rapidly with minimal training.  I admit, I felt this was a problem the first time I saw TFA.  I couldn’t understand why for instance she was able to use the Jedi mind trick so quickly without any training.  By contrast, Luke wasn’t able to use the mind trick until ROTJ.  I couldn’t understand why she was able to defeat someone trained in the Force in a lightsaber duel, regardless of his mental state or injury.  It took until I saw TLJ and saw some comments from one of the story groupers that I understood she’d basically downloaded Kylo’s skills when he entered her mind and she’d entered his.  Now I get it.  But this is one criticism I still have of TFA; it didn’t make that clear enough to the audience.  There’s a reason why George Lucas spent time letting you know Luke was a good bush pilot on Tatooine who could shoot womp rats in his T-16 or Anakin could win a pod race...it’s so that when they fly out to blow up something at the end of the movie, you’re able to understand why they can do that.  Sometimes you do have to make movies so that the common idiot can figure it out!

Now a critic might argue that Rey Matrixing her way to Jedi skills is lazy.  Maybe the filmmakers wanted to make sure they had a protagonist able to get into the mix early on because there weren’t enough Force-sensitive characters around who could’ve taken on Kylo.  But then again, did we really see the OT or PT spend a lot of time on training?  Luke fought Darth Vader after about 25 minutes of training in TESB and we never saw Anakin train at all; 10 years had passed between TPM and AOTC and by the latter film, he was able to do all kinds of cool stuff.  And TLJ makes it clear that while Rey had the skills, she still needed direction and instruction.  She thought the Force just controlled people and made things float!

And sometimes the audience misses things, especially if they only see a movie once.  For instance, the first time I saw TFA I was baffled why Rey was able to pilot the Falcon.  It seemed like Little Miss Desert Scavenger just hopped into the cockpit and away she went, whereas if I just got on a spaceship for the first time ever, I’d crash that mo-fo pretty quickly.  Then when I saw the film again some time later, the dialogue makes it clear she IS able to pilot.  She never left Jakku not because she couldn’t leave but because she was still waiting for her loser parents to come back.

4.  Is she irresistible to everyone?

Mary Sues always get a reaction out of every canon character and that reaction is a strong one.  It’s always fierce devotion, instant BFFs forever, undying passionate and true love, boiling-over lust, or pure loathing and hatred (that of course turns into the opposite or the hater is toast).  There’s never indifference, or relationships that take time to build, or first impressions that turn out to be wrong, etc..  And it’s always instantaneous.  

Most of the good guys like Rey but is any of it different from how characters took to Luke in the OT or Anakin in the PT?  Not really.  The only thing that stands out is Leia running over to hug the girl she’s known for part of a movie over Chewbacca but even Abrams admitted he’d goofed.  And one instance does not a Mary Sue make.

The only characters who have more intense feelings for Rey are Kylo and Finn and in both cases, those feelings are complicated.  

5.  Does she have a highly unusual but beautiful appearance and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills?

Note the lack of rainbow hair and silver eyes.

Daisy Ridley is a beautiful young woman but as Rey, it seems like if anything they’re shooting for more of a natural, earthy beauty that befits her character.  There’s nothing unusual about how she looks or how she dresses.  She looks like she would almost fade into the crowd if you didn’t know who or what she was.  Mary Sues on the other hand ALWAYS have to be noticed for their looks.

As for Rey’s skills, this is another thing people criticize.  But in the Star Wars universe, being a Force-user isn’t alone an indication of Mary Sue-dom.  Now if Rey was more powerful than anyone else ever, even Anakin Skywalker, that would be a Mary Sue issue.  But the films make it clear that she isn’t more powerful than everyone; her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  Her only advantage comes from being the more morally correct character in the story.

Her other skills are explained in the films and are nothing unusual in the Star Wars universe.  She’s a good pilot but not such an ace everyone’s saying she’s better than Wedge Antilles, Poe Dameron, and Luke Skywalker combined.  She’s a grease monkey but that comes from years of scavenging.  Her talents aren’t just dropping out of the ether.  

A Mary Sue would be the most powerful Force user ever, the greatest pilot of all time, someone who could teach space aeronautics at MIT at the age of 20, have an IQ higher than Einstein’s, be the greatest and most ingenious hacker, a better leader than Leia, a better shot than Annie Oakley even while drunk, cook like Julia Child, have sex like a porn star, have a singing voice like an angel, and is all-around the best at everything that needs to be done at any given time, ALL OF THE TIME. That’s not quite what we’re getting with Rey.

6..  Does she usurp roles played by canon characters and their importance?

This is another area of heated contention and it depends on what you believe are the filmmakers’ intentions.  Are they setting Rey up to be the “real” Chosen One, essentially changing Lucas’s story?  Are they setting up the Skywalkers as unworthy so Rey has to basically take their place as the “gods” end their cursed line?

Believe it or not, I was really worried this was exactly what Disney was going to do.  Now, I don’t think this is the case.  If anything, Rey is there in part to save the Skywalker line and legacy, not to end it or steal it for herself.  But I suspect there are a lot of fans who still think this is where they are going in IX, so of course they’re going to resent Rey.

I came to the conclusion after seeing TLJ that while Rey is important and the lead character, she’s not the center of gravity in the story.  Kylo Ren is.  Pay attention; nearly everything that’s happening in the films is in some way because of him or related to him.  It’s harder to believe she’s some random OC who broke into the Star Wars saga to suck the attention away from the Skywalkers once you realize this.

All of these said, there’s one more reason why Rey is not a Mary Sue.

Canon characters by definition cannot be Mary Sues!

It drives me nuts that people call canon characters Mary Sues.  The whole point of a Mary Sue is someone who doesn’t really fit in with a universe so the universe is fit around her.  Bella Swan may be a lot of things but she’s not a Mary Sue.  (Now if you wrote a Twilight OC who pushes out Bella, gets Edward to fall in love with her, and gets Edward to give up his vampire ways and become a Christian, THAT’s a Mary Sue.)  Now, some fans won’t accept anything Disney produced as canon but this is what we’ve got and it’s all we’re getting.    

I don’t know who did this--I found it on Know Your Meme--but it’s a decent guide.