#I love all star wars but rebels has a special kick to it

[is-that-sand-in-my-waffles]

Rebels? Yeah, I've heard of it. Seen it an average number of times. Thinking about it definitely doesn't make my braincells vibrate at a frequency previously unknown to man-

[classicanalyzer]

LEGO Star Wars Rebuild The Galaxy Thoughts

"Nothing makes sense, and everything's mixed up, and that's okay. Things fall apart, but maybe they can come back together better than before." Sig Greebling

Rebuild The Galaxy is my favorite out of all the D+ LEGO SW specials. I really love the connections to LEGO and SW, including the previous LEGO SW shows, especially Freemaker Adventures. Michael Kramer did an amazing job with the soundtrack, Sig's and Yesi's themes were well-composed.

Part I

"For someone who spends all his time telling stories about heroes, you have no idea how to be one. Maybe that's why you like history so much. It's over and done, but your life isn't. There's so much ahead of you if you'd just try, but you're afraid." Dev Greebling

Sig Greebling is such a cool name. I really love how he's a literal in-universe SW fan, yet someone who actually wants to be normal despite his Force sensitivity. I find it funny he's a literal Nerf herder. I do emphasize of how he wanted to avoid all the expectations if people know he's Force-sensitive.

I love the reference to Wookiees originally being a part of RotJ before being replaced with Ewoks.

Fennesa is a cool-looking world. Yesi Scala is another cool name (I get reminded of Scala Ad Caleum from KH haha). It's too bad Sig's indecisiveness and inability to step out of his comfort zone translates to his social life, even his crush. The background painting showing the sunset is so beautiful.

I really like how the Ackbar Troopers are the Clones in this universe. They must have chosen Ackbar as the main host due to his skills since he was a skilled warrior and leader, but definitely also for the memes out of universe. I also love how Phase I was used because the Kaminionans designed the Phase I suit based on aquatic species like themselves and would fit the Mon Calamari Clones.

The fighting animation and choreography for Yesi's fight against the Ackbar Troopers are so well animated. I laughed seeing that one Ackbar Trooper shooting with two blasters. I can see why Sig likes Yesi. Also ooff, Yesi lost her father in this timeline to the Empire. You can feel the bleak state of this galaxy under this Empire. At least, Yesi's desire to fly among the stars and not live in a backwater world is still there. I like how Sig also mentioned how Rancors are actually misunderstood intelligent creatures.

Double ooff, Sig's brother is now Darth Devastator "Dev". At least we finally get our first on-screen appearance of Jedi Bob!

Part II

"Being a hero is easier when you don't know the cost...Sig, the Force doesn't work that way. The dark side is loud and obvious like a big, mean Gamorrean kicking you in the head over and over. But the light side, the light side of the Force is just a whisper in the back of your mind." Bobolian Afol "Jedi Bob"

Darth Rey as Dev's apprentice feels so wrong about the intentional nature of aspects of this new universe. Jedi Bob!...or rather Bobolian Afol lmao (I also love how the markings seem a bit faded which signals his age). I love this cynical Jedi who sucks at fighting but is amazing at the Force...which is what a true Jedi should specialize in.

FREEMAKER LORE! THE FORCE BUILDERS ARE BACK! I love seeing them once again and hearing Bob recap them feels cathartic.

Ewok Bounty Hunters is one thing but bounty hunter C-3PO channeling his Triple 0 and HK-47 vibes in a Naboo Royal Cruiser with gold plating feels so right yet so wrong in the best ways possible. Yesi really has a lot of baggage with her wanting to prove herself and redeem herself for accidentally getting a rebel base captured.

Mos Eisley Marina made me die on the inside lmao. Tatooine isn't boring anymore lmao. I do love how this is a nod to how the BoBF and Legends mention Tatooine being once covered with oceans before becoming a desert world.

Like father like son indeed, however, even Anakin wouldn't go that far to cheat. I do love how Luke and Anakin use the same Podracer. Poor Max Rebo.

I love how Maul in this galaxy is much more relaxed and happy. At least, in this galaxy, Maul gets to live his life without the tragedies in his main galaxy life.

I love the implication that Nubs is well-known in the main galaxy that Sig knows about him. I'm incredibly confident that Darth Hammerhead is Rusty. Even in another universe, nobody remembers his name lmao.

That brief Duel of the Fates theme playing when Darth Jar Jar appeared was so hype and chilling. His line goes unironically hard.

Part III

"I know you can't restore a galaxy once it's gone because I tried to restore my own, and I failed. In the galaxy I'm from, things were simpler. I was a Padawan on Alistan Nor, learning the secrets of Force Building. I'd heard rumors about the Cornerstone. The more I read, the more obsessed I became. Was it possible to remake an entire galaxy? I needed to know the truth. My Masters forbid me from searching for the Cornerstone, but I wasn't exactly good at following orders. There were so many rules. I just wanted to do things my own way. I thought I could control the Cornerstone. I never thought -- When I left that temple, everything was different. My galaxy was gone, Sig. And yours had just been born." Bobolian Afol "Jedi Bob"

We truly reached the pinnacle of miniaturized Death Star tech with the Dark Falcon lmao.

Darth Jar Jar definitely isn't dead and I love what little time we had with him.

I love the lights looking like the Binary Sun and the music playing as Luke looks towards them.

I love how Palpatine in this universe is a cynic who gave up on fighting. I like that fascinating take on this alternate Palpatine. The new Jedi Council (I like the faded and scratched markings similar to Jedi Bob signals their age and tiredness of a seemingly hopeless war) is insane with Jedi Vader (I love that this is a SW Infinities comic reference, it felt cathartic to see it realized in visual media), Dooku, Cad Bane, Jannah, Lobot, IG-88(?), and even Jabba. I really love that Jannah has more to do here including her actress returning to voice her.

Greedo being the Han of this universe was so funny. He even has the Rodian ears for his Slave I Firespray ship lmao.

I love how Yesi recreates the energy in TFA when she does smth incredibly insane with Greedo's ship. Sig saying I do feels like his and Yesi's "I know" moment. And a Star Trous mention. I also feel like Yesi's point of how you fix the mistake got to Jedi Bob and got to him into revealing the truth. I love how Grevious is one of the rebels in this universe.

Alistan Nor!!! THAT'S THE FORCE BUILDER WORLD AND IT WAS MENTIONED IN FREEMAKER ADVENTURES.

Damn, this Han really became just like his mentor in the old universe. A true scoundrel.

God that twist of the old universe never coming back is gut-wrenching...especially since Jedi Bob is the only survivor of his old universe. The story of Jedi Bob is beyond tragic. One simple curiosity into the cornerstone left him the only survivor. Spending all that time alone in the Temple to make sure it doesn't happen again...only for it to happen again. I also really love how the simple galaxy is represented by 4:3 aspect ratio and all LEGO figures are the classic yellow designs.

WHEN SERVO WAS DESTROYED, I FELT MY HEART BREAKING APART. God that was heartbreaking to see, just like many heroes before him in his stories, to save his friends Sig gave himself up.

Part IV

"The tales of my galaxy. The tales of people like Dev. My Dev. I don't wanna forget them. They matter." Sig Greebling

God the intro with the sad music and Servo shutting down just hurts me in ways I cannot comprehend. The collapsing logo really showcases we're in the endgame.

I love how Yoda is voiced by his Young Jedi Adventure VA in this show. It is heartbreaking to see Ian Han hate Yoda given the very first major LEGO SW special (The Padawan Menace was one of my first non-SW movie experiences in my childhood).

Even if Dev is mentally messed up, I really like how he came around to having a brother and want to be brothers. I like how Sig realizes this is all a fantasy of a galaxy he can never restore. He fights to save this galaxy now.

I'm happy Tico got to a substantial role in this show alongside Rey. Reusing the Nobody line toward Darth Rey was pretty cruel.

The space battle was shot very well and I love the designs of the Calamari Destroyers.

Dev's breakdown was pretty disturbing to see and how he took the rage and lack of happiness in his life to put his idea of "order" and to take control of his life. Especially how he sees himself as beyond redemption and the point of no return.

The quote I used for the introduction quote is beautifully anti-nihilist.

The fight is so well choreographed and so peak, especially when the brief moment the windows were destroyed and the energy shield was activated. The fact the Nerf herder stick came back to be a major turning point in the fight against Dev is great. It was heartbreaking and I got a bit misty-eyed to see Dev ultimately decide to remain evil.

My heart repaired itself as Servo was reconstructed. The old galaxy is gone but the stories will live on. And leave it for Servo to interrupt Sig and Yesi's tender moment haha.

The ending shot with the new crew really felt like the passing of the torch between the Freemaker Adventures to Rebuild the Galaxy. I hope we get to see the Freemaker cast, especially the Freemaker family on Alistan Nor.

Also, The Landolorian and Evil Grogu has been so hyped as the sequel hook alongside Darth Rey and Tico being in charge of the Empire.

This is such a great show and I can't wait to see more LEGO SW stories set in this universe.

I love the score by Kramer who is also responsible for Ninjago’s score (alongside Jay Vincent):

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

Felony saying that everyone in the universe can access the force if they tried hard enough makes me want to deck him in his fugly face

He’s ruining all established canon in real time. Speed running the absolute destruction of continuity of the SW universe and people are still rooting for him and his blorbo self inserts like there’s no tomorrow. Literally the whole reason I no longer engage in Ashoka content is because he massacred my girl and made her so one dimensional that my Mary Sue self insert fanfics OCs I wrote when I was 14 looks well developed compared to the absolute bland “girlboss kick ass take names” personality Ashoka has right now.

There were so many opportunities for him to explore the absolute potential of angst and conflict within Ashoka in this new series, to give her character a believable story of grief loss and growth yet he threw it all away because he wanted his OC to be the specialist girl that ever lived. This series could’ve been used to explore Ashokas conflicting feelings regarding the Anakin that taught her and was a mentor to her whilst trying to connect it to the monster that killed her family and hunted her culture into almost extinction and tried to kill her, a person he confessed to love as a sister, on Malachor. It could’ve been a good send off to a great character, to have her face that the Skyguy she put on a pedestal in her mind was in actuality the worst sort of scum and have her try to come to terms that just because she can forgive him for being the genocidal maniac he was and still hold love in her heart for who he used to be and also understand why the Jedi, her family, wasn’t the reason for their own downfall.

But alas. We got another series of “the Jedi caused their own downfall!!! Anakin did nothing wrong ever and him killing all my family and everyone I’ve ever known is so not his fault!!! It’s definitely the fault of the unbending stuck in the past council!!!”. Instead of a series that could’ve made Ashoka’s “departure” (literally never going to happen with felony at the helm, he’s going to find a way to make her immortal and then show up 200 years in the future to be the protagonist of another light v dark fight since she’s his special SI) from the series tie in nicely thematically and canonically with every other Star Wars media we have, he decided that the best way to have this series go down is 1) everyone is force sensitive if they tried hard enough ig and 2) the Jedi were bad!!! Their protocols don’t work! They were mean to my little meow meow Anakin Skywalker the greatest Jedi of all times™️ therefore he got to kill them all!!!!

Got a bit off topic but I’m still so mad that he had this chance to make Ashoka truly experience growth like the first 5 seasons of TCW yet he decided maintaining the badass rebel without a cause aesthetics for her was more important then good story telling.

Honestly though, my main problem with this series is that he decided that apparently everyone in the universe can be force sensitive if they “just tried hard enough”. Like your Midichlorian Count no longer matters since even if you were Force-Null you can still be special!!!!

This takes away any and all urgency in the Jedi Fallen Order games. It makes Cals journey absolutely redundant. It throws away all the tragedy contained in having inquisitors being force sensitive kids kidnapped from their parents and tortured till they give into the dark side. If all beings are able to use the force in his universe then there are no consequences to the inquisitors not finding the Holocron that holds the names to all force sensitive children in the universe. There would be no need to them to chase Cal and the Mantis Crew throughout the universe to obtain what they have. They could’ve just went down to any random level in Coruscant and take homeless Force-Null kids and train them.

Even better! It makes the entirety of the KOTOR games redundant!!!! Oh and I guess the hidden path is also redundant since everyone can be force sensitive and no one truly needs more saving from the empire over others :/ totally not like these kids that were saved by the path would’ve been taken and tortured into inquisitors, definitely not since EVERYONE is force sensitive nowadays or is it just the ones Ashoka trains herself because she’s the “living embodiment of the daughter uwu she’s so special and unique look how well she can train a non force sensitive to be force sensitive!!!”

Everyone in the Star Wars universe has Midichlorian’s in their blood. That is a fact. It is also an established fact that the amount each person has is different and is not determined nor dependent on lineage. Force-Nulls typically range in the 1000-3000 count and you need 7000 to be force sensitive and higher to be accepted into the order. (The order isn’t the end all be all of force cultures, Rouge One shows that Jedha’s force culture isn’t restricted to only force sensitives as the Guardian’s were never specified to be only a religious order of force sensitives. And high canon doesn’t depict many other force cultures but we know that there are many force cultures in the universe that co-exist with the Jedi with which the Jedi weren’t in opposition towards; literally not even the witches of Dathomir were oppositions anywhere outside of the battle fields.) You don’t need to be force sensitive to be part of a force culture (Jedha literally has pilgrims who come far and wide to make a pilgrimage to the holy site and not all of them were force sensitive), Sabine could’ve very easily been taught the tenets of the Jedi without retconning her to be force sensitive or making everyone in the universe force sensitive.

No where in either the EU or High Canon did anyone ever say that you have to be force sensitive to be a badass or to make a difference. Hera did not hold the title of the best pilot in the universe just for some rat of a man to come and say that Anakin was the best because *muh force sensitivity!!!!* Some of the most heroic and most influential (good or bad) people in the franchise are Force-Null! And that’s great! It means that the force doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else! It’s a quirk of the universe! To retcon that everyone can and is force sensitive if they tried hard enough is literally cheapening everything the franchise stands for. Andor did not literally give us an entire story about how Force-Nulls in the Galaxy makes just as much of a difference as force sensitives for felony to come out and say that “you know what??? Midichlorian’s are a scam! You get a force sensitivity! You get a force sensitivity! Everyone gets a force sensitivity!!!!”

Sabine was great as she was in rebels, why cheapen it with “oh she’s actually force sensitive all this time!!!” When we could’ve stuck with badass Force-Null Mandalorian can kick your ass five ways to Sunday with her paint bombs and blasters you force wielding asshole!!! Like why even do that felony. Do you want people to hate her??? Nvm ofc you do, you need Ashoka to be the best in every way possible even if it means ruining every other beloved character in this franchise👍

[kaycassians]

I’m really fascinated by the geometry in Andor. Like I know it’s star wars and the setting is supposed to be a long time ago in a wacky galaxy far far away so sets and objects and places look futuristic and space-y. But there’s a special kind of insistence in this show about the shape of a place and the relationship to the characters within them that makes the viewer pay attention.

For example, the imperial cog, or at least it’s outline, is all over the place. Generally, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong bc I’m just remembering this off the top of my head, the cog has a sort of octagonal shape. That shape is everywhere. It’s in every place where the empire has power. And the way the characters are often framed as though they are trapped inside of it really says something.

The first one that comes to mind is that classic Mon Mothma shot.

She’s alone, surrounded on all sides by the very thing she’s set out to destroy. No one stands with her, at least not in a way that can help her situation. She’s trapped. A grade cinematography.

But Cassian has an even bigger relationship to the cog shape than anybody in the whole series! First of all, he quite literally crawls into the imperial machine as a child on Kenari, which, is just. A lot, emotionally.

And then he doesn’t escape it for twelve years. Stuck in the empire’s grasp, trapped under fascist rule. And it’s only when the rebel mindset really starts to kick in that Cassian finally escapes it. And, low and behold, he takes an entire prison of people with him.

There are more shots that I could talk about but I haven’t had breakfast yet. But man, this show. I love it when star wars is good.

[grigori77]

So, about Rebel Moon ...

All right, seriously. I'm not going to say there aren't things WRONG with Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire, because there ARE. It's one of THE least original sci-fi movies I've seen in years, this is one of the most tropey and cliched cfilms I've come across in a good long while, and there are glaring gaps in the character development at times for several of the characters we're supposed to be rooting for which speak volumes about the fact that the choice to have two seperate versions (a PG-13 and a full-blooded R) expressly made right from the start is kind of dumb given how much has clearly been sacrified in the version we're actually getting to see right now.

HOWEVER, this is still a FAR FROM TERRIBLE film in spite of these problems. Not being original doesn't mean it's not still an EXTREMELY well done and HIGHLY rewarding viewing experience, and there's no denying this is EASILY one of the year's most visually stunning films. The world-building is FIRST RATE, TOP TIER stuff, and there's more than enough here that genuinely WORKS to convince me that it's going to be worth my time waiting for the second part in April 2024.

That being said, I don't doubt that, much like with Batman Vs Superman and Justice League before it, this will likely be FAR IMPROVED when we finally get that promised Snyder Director's Cut, and we can only hope and pray that Netflix are not so insufferable as to make us wait for THREE FUCKING MONTHS or more before finally letting us see it.

I have to admit, it DOES put me in a tough spot for my imminent Top 30 rundown for the cinematic year, given that I really DO want to give this a strong recommendation in there, but it looks far more likely that I'll wind up waiting until we get the Snyder Cut, then come back with a more educated, finalised point of view on the COMPLETE package. I guess anyone who regularly follows my rundowns should watch this space for what I ultimately decide.

But there is MORE THAN ENOUGH here to already recommend this for checking out. It's DEFINITELY NOT a masterpiece. Not yet, anyway. But there is definitely THE POSSIBILITY of it being one. It certainly has A LOT of genuinely AWESOME things going for it ...

Anthony Hopkins as the voice of a gentle, troubled pacifist ex-combat droid that's sworn a religious oath to lay down its weapons and kill no more ...

Doona Bae being emotionally wounded and conflicted kicking arse with a pair of sword which are lightsabers in all but name ...

MIchael Huisman being soft and kind and completely adorable. Just that. For the whole movie ...

Ed Skrein being just the perfect kind of fantastic boo hiss psycho arsehole of a villain that I really love to hate ...

Djimon Hounsou. That is all, just Djimon Hounsou ...

Sofie Boutella's Kora being the baddest bitch in the whole galaxy, but in a really complex and fascinating way. She's EASILY the most completely fleshed out character here, and I have NO qlualms about following her into hell after watching this. I am a total SIMP for this kind of strong woman but she really is something genuinely special ...

It's really interesting, the way that Snyder famously intended this to be first his own new chapter in the Star Wars franchise, and then when Lucasfilm rejected it he just went and made his own "original" thing with it instead. Because in the end this is actually not really very Star Wars at all, for me this is MUCH MORE like a far more big budget take on Battle Beyond the Stars with HEAVY portions of both Dune and Warhammer 40,000 mixed in. Which is actually SO MUCH BETTER if I'm honest.

Well, time will tell if the Snyder Cut REALLY delivers on the promise that this initial version hasn't QUITE lived up to yet, and then if, subsequently, Part Two: The Scargiver can stick the landing. Guess we'll find out in 2024 ...

[gffa]

FUTURE LUCASFILM PROJECTS REVEALED GET READY FOR PATTY JENKINS’ ROGUE SQUADRON FILM, AN AHSOKA TANO LIVE-ACTION SERIES, THE RETURN OF HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN AND MUCH, MUCH MORE.       Today at The Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day event, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced a staggering number of new films, series, and surprises that will expand the Star Wars galaxy like never before.

Rogue Squadron The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.       “It’s been a lifelong dream as a filmmaker to one day make a great fighter pilot film,” said Jenkins. “As the daughter of a great fighter pilot myself, some of the best memories of my life are of seeing my father’s squadron take off in their F4s every morning, and hearing and feeling the awe-inspiring power and grace. When he passed away in service to this country it ignited a burning desire to one day channel all of those emotions into one great film. When the perfect story arrived in combination with another true love of mine, the incomparable world of Star Wars, I knew I’d finally found my next film. I’m extremely honored and excited to take it on, and grateful to Lucasfilm, Disney, and the fans for extending that thrill to me.”       “Patty has established herself as one of the top directors working in the film industry today,” said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “She’s a visionary who knows how to strike the balance between action and heart, and I can’t wait to see what she does in the Star Wars galaxy.”       Lock S-foils in attack position: Rogue Squadron arrives in theaters Christmas 2023.

Untitled Taika Waititi Film       A brand-new Star Wars feature with acclaimed filmmaker and Academy Award-winner Taika Waititi is in development. “Taika’s approach to Star Wars will be fresh, unexpected, and…unique,” said Kennedy. “His enormous talent and sense of humor will ensure that audiences are in for an unforgettable ride.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi Last August at D23 Expo, Lucasfilm announced the return of Ewan McGregor in the iconic role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi for a special event series on Disney+. Officially titled Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where he faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series is directed by Deborah Chow, who helmed memorable episodes of The Mandalorian Season 1.      This will truly be a day long remembered, as it was confirmed that Hayden Christensen will be returning as Darth Vader. “This will be the rematch of the century,” Kennedy said.      “It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker,” said Christensen. “Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in store for us all. I’m excited to work with Ewan again. It feels good to be back.”

Ahsoka After making her long awaited live-action debut in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. Rangers of the New Republic Set within the timeline of The Mandalorian, this new live-action series from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.

Lando Everyone’s favorite scoundrel Lando Calrissian will return in a brand-new event series for Disney+. Justin Simien, creator of the critically-acclaimed Dear White People and a huge Star Wars fan, is developing the story.

Andor  Andor, a tense nail-biting spy thriller created by Tony Gilroy, is set to arrive on Disney+ in 2022. Diego Luna, reprising the role of rebel spy Cassian Andor from Rogue One, will be joined by a fantastic new cast that includes Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Production kicked off three weeks ago in London.

The Acolyte Leslye Headland, Emmy Award-nominated creator of the mind-bending series Russian Doll, brings a new Star Wars series to Disney+ with The Acolyte. The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.      The animated series will arrive exclusively on Disney+.

Star Wars: Visions Presenting all-new, creative takes on the galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: Visions will be a series of animated short films celebrating Star Wars through the lens of the world’s best anime creators. The anthology collection will bring 10 fantastic visions from several of the leading Japanese anime studios, offering a fresh and diverse cultural perspective to Star Wars.

A Droid Story As Lucasfilm continues to develop new stories, the intersection of animation and visual effects offers new opportunities to explore. Lucasfilm Animation will be teaming up with Lucasfilm’s visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic, to develop a special Star Wars adventure for Disney+, A Droid Story. This epic journey will introduce us to a new hero, guided by legendary duo R2-D2 and C-3PO.

[revenge-of-the-shit]

I'm not sure whether you've been asked about this before, but what are your opinions about Rogue One and its Asian representation, especially on the Holy City, Chirrut, Baze and Bodhi (let's not forget Pakistan *is* part of Asia, so is the Middle East technically). I know the movie has problems in regards to its depiction of Jedha and Saw's partisans (*ahem* Iraq *ahem* terrorists *ahem*) but I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Take all the time you need to answer this humble question.

Hey! Sorry for taking so long - I had many thoughts on this and wanted to be able to answer this properly.

Chirrut

IMO, Chirrut suffers from a similar problem to Shang-Chi, which is: do you seriously have to make the Chinese character a kung fu master? In this case, he takes it a step FURTHER by being portrayed as a literal zen warrior monk. Like, damn, way to lean into the stereotype.

That being said: the martial arts are objectively cool and I was extremely delighted to see Donnie Yen using East Asian martial art forms while kicking the asses of stormtroopers.

On top of that, he does go beyond the stereotype. Chirrut isn't a one-dimensional wisdom-spouting stereotype. He's sassy, he has no problem with wielding an insanely overpowered bowcaster, and he plays a crucial part in the fall of the Death Star by being the only one able to reach the master switch. Without him, the rebellion would have fallen.

So: Yes, he fell into some stereotypes. But ultimately, I loved Chirrut. He's one of my favorite characters.

Baze

Loved him. I rarely get to see large Chinese men with a massive gun kicking ass in a way that doesn't involve martial arts. I loved his gruffness, I loved his small shows of affection (the way he interacts with Chirrut, the way he calls Jyn "little sister" ;-;).

I think Baze was done really, really well. He served as a wonderful foil to Chirrut and it was beautiful to see the two of them interacting on-screen.

Bodhi

I will preface this by saying that I can't speak as well to South Asian representation as I can to East Asian rep. If there are any other South Asian fans who'd like to speak on this, please do so! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I loved Bodhi. In him, I saw an ordinary man who achieved great things simply because he was following his convictions. Bodhi was a regular pilot - he had no special Force abilities, he wasn't born to a rich family, he was no chosen one - he just was. In spite it all, it was because of him and his bravery that the Rebellion even stood a chance at finding the death star plans.

He was a very sweet - and dare I say it, relatable - character. As much as I adore Baze and Chirrut, I am no warrior myself. But Bodhi - he's just a regular man trying his best, and he shows audiences that you don't have to be special from birth to do something that can save the lives of many. As a character, I thought he was wonderfully done, and it was very nice to see that this film included not one, not two, but THREE beautifully complex Asian protagonists who were all crucial to the fall of the Empire.

Saw's Partisans

I have so many problems with this, especially in light of Star Wars Rebels. I think the problems are best exemplified during a conversation between Mon Mothma and Saw in one of the S4(?) episodes of Rebels, where she argues for "kinder and more moral" methods while Saw argues for more direct and violent methods.

It literally can't get more direct than that. Framing Mon Mothma as the "kind and reasonable" one while Saw is the "angry and violent one" - this absolutely reeks of white feminism mixed in with dashes of racism.

This article also explains my thoughts well regarding Rogue One:

The most prominent freedom fighters in Rogue One are Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker, and his followers, disparaged by the overwhelmingly white Rebel Alliance leadership as “extremists” whose actions are actually detrimental to the Rebellion as a whole. Gerrera and his followers maintain a base on the moon of Jedha, which is pronounced exactly like “Jeddah,” the city in Saudi Arabia. To drive the point home, Gerrera’s soldiers wear face and head coverings that resemble Orientalist 19th-century European paintings of Middle Eastern life. In short, the pretend Arab extremists from Jeddah (sorry, “Jedha”) led by a black man are doing revolution wrong…

…except they’re not.

The organisation that disparages Gerrera’s faction as “extremists” is, largely, the same organisation that’s unwilling to fight when the existence of the Death Star is revealed. Rogue One‘s heroes of colour must take up Gerrera’s struggle, extreme as some might perceive it to be, in order to take any real steps toward saving the galaxy and advancing the cause of revolution. Isn’t there something wrong when a so-called revolutionary group backs down once it discovers a weapon built to enable oppression on a heretofore unseen scale? You’d think so. I’d think so, too. But according to a distressing number of real-life “liberal” voices, we shouldn’t fight; we should meet them halfway, go low when they go high, and employ other tactics that at best won’t work and at worst will allow innocent people to be killed. By portraying moderation as an enabler of fascism, Rogue One emphasises the ideological flaws in such false liberalism.

Disney in general has an uncanny ability to take characters of colour and to either (1) push them away into irrelevance or (2) to frame them as well-intentioned people with terrible methods. This is just one of those cases.

[passionesolja]

My Rewrite of Reva from the Obi Wan Kenobi Show

If there’s one thing I despise, it’s a weak villain. I can’t stand an ambitionless villain (unless it’s for a narrative purpose). I love villains. I think they’re the cornerstone of a series —any series.

I don’t mind an angry villain. Sometimes it’s fun to watch a villain who just wants to watch the world burn for kicks. I don’t need a redeemable villain.

Reva is not a strong villain. She’s an cardboard cutdown who’s angry. She’s basically an henchmen who they’re trying to make the main villain before Vader. Which is pathetic.

We have six episodes of Kenobi in total. We should know what Reva is about and that she’s a real threat from the jump. Time is not to be wasted in such a short series

She should NOT be some gateway to Vader. She should be the MAIN antagonist or they shouldn’t even have made her and just put it Vader vs Kenobi.

Now, this isn’t me hating on Reva. I want a strong female WoC evil as fuck villain. If you’re going to lake an antagonist make an ANTAGONIST. No weak shit.

These are my potential rewrites of this character. Because Reva deserved better

Change her personality

Thus far, she has no personality. I’m sorry but it’s true. She’s just angry and defiant but that defiance has no purpose. Hell, it’s not even like they’re spinning it as she’s a Rebel Without a Cause. Which is fine. However, I do find it iffy that they’re side lining her like this. They’re giving her the Finn treatment. Here are some potential changes I would make.

Sith Scholar/Kreia-esque figure

Make her someone who’s extremely intelligent and maybe a maverick as far as the whole “Lightside and darkside divide” shit goes. She was a Jedi in her youth, now she’s a dark side user.

They could easily make her someone who thinks labels like “light and dark” are stupid and that power is power. Maybe she wants power to prevent herself from being in a vulnerable and helpless position.

Maybe she’s like “the Jedi were defenseless so they got wiped out and I lost everyone” but also like “I don’t see a reason for the light and dark to be so polarized. Lightning is lightning and force push is force push I don’t limit my potential”

Hell, you make her willingly join the inquisitors just to learn Darkside methods as well lightside methods.

If Darth Vader is dark, and Kenobi is light, Reva could be the one who wants it all. This would make her a foil to both Vader and Kenobi’s worldviews and set her in her own special lane.

Politician Inquisitor

Maybe she wants to be a Grand Inquisitor and Moff.

Maybe she wants to be in the position Sidious is in as galactic emperor.

She could easily be a character with a knowledge of the Force, but also someone with political ambitions.

She understands what all the sides want and she can game them in her favor to move to her own will. Like she’s willing to work with opponents to fulfill her own ends

Now, maybe it doesn’t have to be like Sidious’ shtick of “power for powers sake”.

Hell, maybe she’s like “I want to do what Sidious did and infiltrate the empire to be the first Jedi Galactic Emperor” however, her moral compass is grayed or dark because she’s willing to put ethics to the side for the greater good.

We’ve never had a character in Star Wars who was like “no I want to overthrow Sidious and rule then be a Jedi while doing it” this would also clash with a lot of worldviews and conceptions. It would make her stand out as her own entity and character.

Old Republic Mentality styled Sith

She could be someone with the ambition to say “I think Vader is garbage and I’m better so I want to he the emperor’s enforcer instead”

She doesn’t have to even know Sidious is a Sith Lord, she just wants to be his right hand because she knows she’s better than him. Now is she in reality? Who cares she knows she is and she’ll prove it.

So she could have this idea of “I get Vader and Kenobi in the same place and kill them both then I return to the Emperor with my worth proven”

This would put her as competition to Vader and fuck with his own psyche because he knows “oh shit I know that sith are ruthless”

She wouldn’t have to reveal this to Kenobi, hell, she could work with Kenobi and manipulate him into her getting into the position she wants him in.

She could play on his emotions of her being a Jedi youngling who survived Order 66, and so he’s less likely to doubt her even though the audience understands this is a plot.

Then, she gets Vader and Kenobi where she wants them. Hell, she could orchestrate them to even meet up and fight so that one kills the other and her job is made easier.

This would show that she’s a tactician 

Vader’s Secret Apprentice

She could be a starkiller type character. No, not as emotionally scarred or emotionally muted but someone who Vader sees potential in.

Maybe the the whole Inquisitor thing is a front so that Sidious doesn’t grow suspicious.

The two are both in on it. Reva willingly joins Vader in his schemes because she wants the power that Vader possesses.

You could even make there be an underlying tension between Reva and Vader because both of them understand the possibilities of the other switching up and trying to fuck the other one over.

Maybe Vader is paranoid after a few years of training Reva because he understands the vulnerable place he’s in because she could either rat him out to sidious (and take his place potentially) or maybe she’s paranoid that Vader will rat on her to save his own skin if it ever gets to that point.

He sees that Reva is wanting more than what Vader can offer, Vader sees himself as younger man in her and is terrified because he knows what he did to the Jedi to get that.

He knows if he turned on his master after ten years, that Reva could—and would—do the same to him.

So he’s having to come to terms with his own actions and he potentially at the receiving end of it this time via Reva.

They could still go after Kenobi, it could still be there thing, but it would add an dynamic of intrigue to the story and characters.

Near the end it could be Reva vs Vader vs Kenobi but Reva and Vader have to have a subtle war with each other because Sidious would get on both they heads at once.

Importance of Motivations

Motivations are PARAMOUNT to stories. So far, we don’t know what the fuck Reva wants. There’s no reason to be scared of—or even respect—Reva and that fucking sad.

I want Reva to be a menacing force of evil, past jedi heritage or not. I want her to someone that everyone in the audience understand the motives for and respects—agrees with her or not.

That’s important.

To me, they’re just using Reva to lead Kenobi to Vader so she’s no different than a henchmen goon. Which on its own is fine (you can have side villains who are incredible and threatening to the protag) but they also want her to be an narratively important character.

You can’t have both.

I want Reva to be a memorable and stand out villain.

I want her to be someone who we say two to three years from now “wow she was so cool and unique compared to other villain’s in the series”

I want her to be her own person and be fleshed out as much as possible for these six episodes.

Sadly, her just being angry and whatever for the fuck of it is flopping and everyone sees it.

Reva deserves to be up there with all the other great Star Wars villains. Imo

[sheepfulsheepyardinspace]

Do you have any Star Wars fanfic recommendations, or have a link to someone else's list? I really wanna veg out.

oh my god, DO I. this may have been the best ask in the world. i’m not really sure what u want a feel for, so i threw together some of my favorite longfics for maximum veg time from the ot/pt and links for swr and swtcw recs. they’re pretty much all luke-anakin/vader centric, since that’s kinda my bread and butter.

let’s start with frodogenic, who wrote the first longfic i ever read in sw and might be one of the funniest authors ever. they once reviewed my fanfic & i nearly cried from joy. anyway. 

The Father, 284k+, complete. “Ten years after ROTS, tormenting nightmares of his unborn child drive Darth Vader to extraordinary measures with unexpectedly drastic consequences. Clearly, experience has taught Darth Vader nothing...” 

this is my og star wars fic and boy oh boy is it amazing. i will never get over this. i don’t want to spoil anything but when i say the final chapters are great? i mean they’re legendary. sometimes i still think about them & wish upon a star that i could be such a great writer. vader’s amazing, han is spectacular, and the ocs are fantastic.

Far More Than Rubies, 70k+, complete. “Nine years after AOTC, tragedy revisits the Lars Homestead. Little Luke Skywalker is suddenly plunged into chaos as the rebel movements discover a secret military project that may make a crucial difference in the war with the Empire.”

the spiritual twin of The Father, FMTR takes a look at padmé’s character and relationship with both luke and anakin/vader that’s hard to beat. it’s darker and heavier than The Father, but it hits those same sweet, sweet emotional beats while raising the age-old question: if padmé had lived, what would she have done?

The Family Tree, 12k, complete. “In which Luke Skywalker is stranded in a tree waiting for a flash flood to recede. Too bad he's got company...”

okay, i admit, this isn’t a longfic, but it is a longshot, and it’s amazing. the imagery and description always blow me away, and the interaction (canon-compliant) between luke and vader just [chef’s kiss] get me. vader’s in full, glorious form, and it makes it all the harder when luke wrestles with the knowledge that vader is his father.

Sibling Revelry, 25k, complete. “After Bespin and before Endor, Darth Vader is shocked to discover that Luke and Leia are twins. He's even more shocked when Imperial Intelligence reports that Organa and Skywalker are, erm, a tad closer than previously suspected.”

this is complete crack and humor in the best way possible. it’s crack treated entirely seriously, and you will be in stitches, i promise. no matter how many times i’ve read this i break down.

KittandChips (@kittandchips) writes what i can only describe as food for the soul. the luke-vader interaction is insanely amazing, the world building of daily imperial life and imperial governance is amazing, and vader just has a special je ne sais quoi that u must read to understand––tragic, funny, and so, so fatherly. they’re currently rewriting the Force Bond Series to fit in with newer canon, so i will joyously binge reread the entire again (including the new Force Bond: Mustafar Weekend).

Force Bond 1: Orphan, 47k, complete. “After Owen and Beru are killed by a mysterious stranger, young Luke ends up as an orphan on Coruscant. It's a race against time as Obi-Wan struggles to find Luke before Vader realizes the boy is his son.”

Orphan kicks off the series, which tracks vader and luke’s relationship through the perils of luke’s teenagerhood while growing up under the eye of the emperor and imperial court. it’s filled with slow growth, struggle and misunderstandings as darth vader tries to single parent, and pay off in every installment. the entire series clocks in around 777k+ and is the most joyful, fulfilling reading you’ll ever have. promise.

darth-nickels (@darth--nickels) writes darker, twistier, and terribly, terribly heartwrenching aus. they’ve got a whole host, but let me introduce to my two favorites. also, check out their faux-academia on vader. it’s amazing and i love it, but i admit i am an academia hoe.

Dooku Captured, Pt 2, 16k, complete. “Dooku is taken alive onboard the Invisible Hand, and Sidious' web is torn. The Sith Lord wonders if death might have been preferable to clumsy interrogation by Anakin Skywalker.”

Dooku Captured is a longshot au told from Dooku’s pov which takes the beginning of ROTS and throws it on its head. it’s a fascinating outside perspective of anakin and obi-wan’s relationship and such and interesting examination of dooku’s psyche and especially his complex relationship with the jedi order, qui-gon, yoda, and palpatine. i cannot rec this one enough.

Black Mirror, 90k, incomplete. “The Ghost crew returns to the Lothal when they hear the Empire is investigating the Jedi Temple there. They learn Vader is alone and decide to take him out-- but what they find could change the course of Galactic history.”

Black Mirror diverges into swr territory, but make no mistake: this is entirely an examination of vader and, later, obi-wan as well as ahsoka. luke makes his appearance later in the game, and boy oh boy will you love luke’s portrayal is a microcosm of luke and vader’s relationship within canon. heed the tags, though.

jerseydevious ( @jerseydevious ) is, first and foremost, one of my favorite people on earth. secondly, though, she’s an amazing writer with a deep understanding of vader’s character and psyche, a flair for beautiful depictions, and the true ability to wring every emotion out of your body.

Two and a Half Men (with a baby), 13k, incomplete. “After a long day of bargaining with Hutts and attempting to ignore his past, Darth Vader is nearing the end of his rope. When he discovers his two-year-old son, it's the straw that breaks the semi-rational Sith Lord's back; in a rash act worthy of the Skywalker name, he scoops his son into his arms, steals a shuttle from his own fleet, and punches in random hyperspace coordinates to a destination on the other side of the galaxy. Unfortunately, father and son are not the only ones on the ship.”

Two and a Half Men will stick with you, dude. like no other. i promise. it’s a whirlwind ride with obi-wan, vader, and piett and as funny as it is heartbreaking. it touches on some heavy issues and doesn’t shy away from looking at the damage done to vader––again, heed the tags.

Helioseismology, 4k, complete. “Luke gets shot down on a supply run and caught in an ice storm. It's extremely lucky that his father followed him there.“

i’ll admit. im completely biased about this one because it was a birthday gift to me and i am sucker for litcherally anything when jd puts pen to paper, but believe me when i say you will be awed by the depth and tangled relationships between these luke and vader that jersey can illustrate in a stroke of the paintbrush. im love. always.

izzythehutt ( @izzythehutt ) i am blown away by the intricate dialogue and characterization, always. and the latin puns? im sold. im also a sucker for latin puns, but that’s a story for a different time.

In Loco Pirates, 34k, complete. “A down-on-his-luck Hondo Ohnaka manages to capture the unicorn of all bounties--Luke Skywalker, which sends Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, on a painfully familiar trip to the planet Florrum to collect his prize. The failed negotiations leave Vader in the awkward position of being stuck in a besieged pirate bunker, trying to balance keeping his wayward child safe (and in his custody) with controlling the tongue of a loose-lipped pirate who--to the surprise of no one--has a bad habit of telling 'amusing' anecdotes from the Clone Wars.”

hondo, aka the best character of swtcw, is brought to life just as vividly on paper as on screen. his entire personality brings luke and vader’s difficulties in a sort of incredulous light, which makes it as funny as it is vulnerable and tragic. the sequel, Palpatine Ad Portas, brings piett into the spotlight, and oh man do his interactions with palpatine and vader bring u all the uncomfortable vibes. relish in it.

sparklight ( @littlesparklight ) man. lemme introduce u to an amazing prolific and detailed writer. i will never get over the series they’ve written & neither will u.

Where Our Intrepid Hero Doesn’t Get Away, 122k, incomplete. “One-shots surrounding either AU situations of canon/legends works where Luke would normally have gotten away (or Vader is simply inserted into the action to come pick his child up) but in these instances doesn't, or completely new scenarios of the same. There are no deep ruminations on consequences of the situations here, just our awful Sith dad picking his son up when he'd rather not be.”

exactly what it says on the tin. u know those glorious moments of fanfic where luke’s gotten captured and ur on pins and needles, waiting for vader to show up in a moment of dark glory? here’s the moment. here’s all the moments.

Space Race, 122k, incomplete. “Owen gives in to Luke's wish to attend the Imperial Academy and Obi-Wan is too late to avert it, though he's not too late to make sure Luke leaves Arkanis before Vader can gets his hands on him. Luke spends over a month running around the galaxy before his father gets him, and from there...”

this story relishes in chase and boy is it fun. it will keep you on the edge of your seat and it’s an amazing ride.

The Suns of Tatooine, 85k, complete. “Luke ends up on a moon swamped in dark side energy after a mission goes wrong, then his father appears... and then they go on a bit of a learning experience. This could've been the only thing that would come of getting through a Sith complex with his father, but thanks to going to free Han earlier than the gang did otherwise, more revelations are had. Will that change anything?”

this series is a thoughtful, contemplative piece examining the nature of the force and the relationship the skywalkers have with tatooine. the descriptions are beautiful, the inventiveness is amazing, and you’ll be thinking about it for long afterwards.

an additional few…

Between Flight and Longing; 34k, complete. “Luke Skywalker and Han Solo journey to the planet Balen'ar on a desperate mission and find more than they'd bargained for.”

a classic and it is for a reason. the interaction between han, luke, and vader is so spectacular and the slow trudge of going through the forest with your greatest enemy and best friend is something hilarious. the end is bittersweet and fantastic.

The Sith Who Brought Life Day, 13k, complete. “An Imperial officer loses a bet and has to get Darth Vader a present for Life Day.”

somewhere between terrifying and dull, this fic presents a canon-compliant look at the hunt for luke and the grinding wheels of the empire. the oc is amazing and it echoes in true star wars spirit: sometimes it’s just some dude who can change the galaxy.

Quintessence, 5k, complete. ‘“Well, Master, I think I’ve found the one positive aspect of this situation.” “Which is?” “The Temple won’t have to pay the costs for our funeral pyres.”’

pure hilarity and shenanigans abound in pre-aotc obi-wan and anakin hijink goodness. lemme tell u––u will deeply sympathize with mace windu afterwards. additionally, check out the rest of the author’s oneshots! they’re deeply thoughtful and the interactions the author writes between obi-wan and anakin are always gold.

some extras & shameless self-promotion

here’s a full list of recommendations for star wars rebels fanfic in case this is what you’re looking for (remember when this used to be a swr blog, lmao)

i’ve also written sw fanfic, both swr and luke-vader centric. drop by and tell me if it’s any good!

[calebdumes]

not me thinking about hera syndulla visiting shara bay after the war and also maybe turning it into a kanera thing unintentially. 

couldn’t be me.

fandom: star wars rebels (post series)

rating: n/r

word count: 1.3k

 ~

It was strange being back on Yavin IV after all these years. Hera hadn’t returned since the rebellion had fled to the safety of Hoth’s icy walls. And after the war ended, she returned to Lothal - the only place that felt like home these days. But it was nice to return to the lush, green planet and see the round orange ball of Yavin Prime hanging overhead. Jacen certainly loved to see it. 

He leaned forward in the co-pilot’s seat, his teal eyes wide with wonder. Kanan’s eyes, she thought. Hera swung around the crumbling ruins of the Massassi temple before directing the Ghost towards the small settlement to the south and bringing her ship down on the rough patch of grass beside a familiar home. 

Two figures stood by the makeshift landing field, one bouncing up and down with excitement, while the other stood with a hand raised to her face to block out the sun.  

“Look mama!” Jacen squealed, rising to his knees. “It’s Poe!”

“I see him love.” she responded, shutting down the engines. 

“Can I go see him?”

“Just wait, I’ll go with you.” The rumble of the Ghost slowly faded as Hera flipped a switch to lower the ramp. She waved to Shara from the cockpit before picking her son up and placing him on her shoulders. His little arms circled her neck, holding tightly as she climbed down the ladder into the hold. The second her feet hit the durasteel he was scrambling down to rush after his friend. 

“You made it here in good time! I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow!” Shara Bey called as Hera descended the ramp. Her long dark hair was tied back in a loose braid over her shoulder. 

Hera chuckled, watching her son’s green head disappear into the garden along with Poe, the younger boy chasing after his heels. “Traveling’s a lot easier these days without the Empire around.”

Shara stepped forward and wrapped Hera up in a hug. “It’s good to see you General.”

“Likewise Lieutenant.” She hugged back. Hera had lost count how many times she had told her old friend that there was no need to stand on formalities now that was war was over, but some times, old habits never died.

“I see you left the rest of the crew behind?” 

“Ezra had a Jedi thing with Skywalker and Sabine is on Mandalore. I don’t think Zeb was up for a round with these two.” She waved her hand at the boys who were weaving through the Koyo trees, laughing. 

At six and four respectively, their children were the definition of rambunctious. They seemed to always be in motion; Hera found herself wondering more than once if Jacen would ever run out of energy. Watching them run through the vines, she didn’t think so. 

Shara’s brow pinched. “Is he feeling alright?”

“He is.” Hera said with a nod. “Just old age.” They walked up the path to the garden, the warm air curling around Hera’s lekku, carrying with it the light fragrance of the orchids tucked around the ranch house. “Kez isn’t here?”

“He got called away.” Shara said with a roll of her eyes. “He’ll be back don’t worry. You too can get back to your pointless argument.”

“Hey, that’s his fault for siding with Solo. He brought it on himself.”

Shara chuckled, sitting down in a woven chair on the back porch. Hera followed suit, kicking off her boots and making herself at home. 

Hera met the young pilot on Hoth and quickly found that they had more in common then their love of flying. Shara had just returned to the front after giving birth to her son Poe and having gone through the same adjustment two years before, Hera made it her mission to supply Shara with the same support her crew gave her. 

She had met many brilliant young pilots and rebels during the war but Shara Bey was something special. 

They sat out on the porch and caught up, swapping stories about their latest adventures. At one time it would have been war stories but these days it was more mundane, like their last trip to the market. It was funny, how much their lives had changed. 

“Poe sure has grown since I last saw him.” Hera noted. The boys were now busy digging around the roots of the trees dotting the property line looking for Leviathan grubs. 

“Yeah he has.” Shara said proudly. “I’ve started taking him up in my A Wing a few months ago.”

“And?”

Shara smiled brightly. “Like a natural. He’ll be up there in his own ship before I know it.” She paused looking at boys thoughtfully. “You said Ezra was with Skywalker. Is he going to recruit Jacen?”

Hera shrugged. “I know Ezra wants him to go, he hardly gets to see him these days; he’s so busy helping Luke. But I’d like to keep him home a little while longer. I’ll send him off until he’s older.”

“Didn’t the Jedi use to take kids when they were really little to train them?” Shara asked looking over at Hera as if she was an expert on all things Jedi. She supposed in this situation she probably was.  

“I think so but Ezra was about fifteen when he started learning and Luke was even older than that.” Hera said. “I think they want to do things differently this time around. Hoping to avoid the mistakes of the past.”

“Smart kids.” Shara chuckled. 

Hera smiled in agreement.  

They talked until the sun was a band of light on the tree studded horizon, the moon a bright orb against Yavin Prime. Jacen had fallen asleep in her arms, his pants covered in mud and his cheeks ruddy from a day out in the bright sun. Shara had her arms full of her own son sleeping peacefully. Around them, the orchids glowed. 

“I know you don’t talk about him much, but Jacen’s father was a Jedi of Old wasn’t he?”

Hera blinked at the sudden question, her quiet peace upended. It didn’t hurt to talk about Kanan anymore, not like it had in the beginning. Before she couldn’t even mention his name without falling into a pit of despair. But she owed Jacen the truth about his father, about the man he was. When she spoke of Kanan now, it was with a fond sadness, a dull ache that would never go away. 

Jacen loved it when she told the story about how they met or when Ezra went on a tangent about Kanan’s training antics. And every day, little by little, she could see more of Kanan reflected in her son. He was there in his spirit, the wildness in his eyes, the gentleness of his heart. Hera combed her fingers though Jacen’s thick green hair and smiled. “He was.”

Shara hummed and rolled one of Poe’s little toes between her fingers. “The last mission I ran with Luke he gave me that tree.” she pointed out to the edge of their property where a single tree stood out from all the rest. Its wide truck was gnarled and seemed to glow in the fast approaching darkness. “He said it was a Force tree, part of the Great Tree that used to be in at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.”

“That explains what Jacen likes it so much.” Hera said with a snort. 

“You should check it out before you leave.” Shara suggested, shifting Poe in her arms and standing. She curled Poe up to her chest and placed a gentle hand on Hera’s shoulder. “I’m glad you made it out here Syndulla.” she said, her brown eyes warm.

Hera covered Shara’s tan hand with her green one and smiled. “Me too Bey, me too.”

~

After Jacen was tucked away in bed and the Dameron/Bey house was quiet, Hera snuck back out into the garden, he bare feet silent on the mossy ground. She crept over to the tree Shara had pointed out earlier and placed a hand on the rough bark. 

Warmth tingled up her arm, wrapping around her chest, the air around her humming with a melodic sound. Hera sighed. 

“Hello love.”

[agentnico]

The Mandalorian - Season 2 (2020) Review

People are all going crazy wondering when the PS5 will finally come back to stock, and I’m here like “when are Hasbro releasing that Mando helmet?”. What, I’m no geek, I simply want to walk around in my helmet saying “this is the way” to random strangers, okay? Nothing weird or geeky about that. Nothing at all.

Plot: Bounty hunter is on a search through the galaxy to return The Child (who happens to have an uncanny resemblance to a certain Yoda, only it’s an adorable baby!!) to his kind - the Jedi.

Recently the father of my lovely never-gonna-stop-gushing-about-her girlfriend has allowed me to take advantage of his Disney+ account, so I immediately went and watched all of The Mandalorian series following such rave reviews from both critics and fans of the Star Wars franchise. Okay, that’s a lie, upon gaining access to Disney+ my immediate course of action was to binge through all of Phineas and Ferb because that show is amazing and Perry the Platypus is a badass and what, I’m allowed to like a kids show, its called nostalgia!! Anyway, following that, I did go and watch The Mandalorian...well, I did after also rewatching some Marvel films and checking out other things that Disney+ had to offer first and yes, okay, I didn’t immediately watch The Mandalorian, and when I finally did get to it I took my sweet butt-cheek time with it, but here we are, I finished it, so let’s talk about it now before I move onto WandaVision that’s coming out soon!

Easily put, The Mandalorian is the best thing to come out from the Star Wars franchise since Disney acquired the rights to Lucasfilm. Yes, the new trilogy is divisive and many can argue that it’s both good and bad, but in reality let’s face it - Disney botched those films completely by not having a clear cut plan and as such making up things as they went along and the result is a mess with so many plot holes it actually makes Tenet make sense! Okay, not true, I still don’t get what in the heavens Tenet was about, look, Christopher Nolan is a cool guy and I’ll happily have a coffee with him on some random Saturday morning one day in the future at his villa overseeing his million dollar Warner Bros fortune as we discuss his antics on Interstellar and acting like I know just as much about science and astronomy as he does, but when it comes to Tenet, I have no clue what was going on! So I take it back, at least the new Star Wars trilogy makes more sense than Tenet, but is good? Not really. And The Rise of Skywalker is prime example of that, as it emphasised how disorganised the writing and ideas for these new films have been, by forcing in Palpatine for the sake of it and also Rey and Kylo having a very very VERY awkward smooch at the end of the movie, which I guess meant they became girlfriend and boyfriend momentarily before Kylo went and snuffed it. What a way to get out of a relationship! But I digress, my point is that the new trilogy overall is a mess, even though there are good parts to those films respectively.

With The Mandalorian Disney took a different approach, by stepping away from the main Skywalker plot-line, and simply making a show that happens to be set in the same universe as the films, but that tells its own self contained story, however still with enough fan service and cameos to make the show feel like it is Star Wars. The first season I enjoyed overall, though I did feel like it dragged a bit and there were a few episodes were you could tell were filler and the writers were wasting a bit of time to fill up the episode count for the season. Now in season 2, that’s where things really picked up!

Season 2 still suffers from a couple of episodes that are obvious filler, and in those episodes you sit slightly frustrated as you await the story to actually make any kind of sufficient progression, however for the most part season 2 is an absolute joy for any Star Wars fan to watch. Central to this of course is the performance of Pedro Pascal as the titular character himself, and taking into account you don’t see his face for the most part, though this season they did really try to accommodate Pascal by showing off his dashing handsome Prince Charming face a bit too often even though it went against what the Mandalorian code stood for. But nevertheless, for the most part you don’t see his face, and so it comes to both great directing and Pascal’s superb voice work to make the Mandalorian character show so much emotion without actually seeing the emotion. In this season we get to see him become even more of a father figure to Baby Yoda, and their relationship is at the heart of this show, so much so that I kept wanting to hear Cat Stevens at the end of each episode! To be honest, it is indeed the well written characters that make this show work. Giancarlo Esposito is really menacing as Moff Gideon whilst still sticking to his signature soft-spoken tone, however I do also wish they made his villain feel more powerful. It never really proves too major of a challenge to beat him, so I wish the writers allowed the character to have more power in a way to fit in with Esposito’s performance. Gina Carano (regardless of her controversial social media presence) works really well as the Rebel side-kick to Mando and as a character in the series is quite empowering for women. There are also special appearances from characters from other Star Wars shows/films that make surprising appearances in this season (that will lead into their own spin-offs naturally) and everyone is extremely well cast! 

From a technical aspect the show looks great, and we need to talk about Ludwig Goransson’s music score! The show never really uses the original John Williams’ tunes, yet Goransson manages to make his soundtrack feel both really different yet still befit to the Star Wars lore, with the addition of a cowboy western tang to it. I’d also suggest looking up the behind-the-scenes featurette to how Goransson scored the show, as it’s really cool to see all the random equipment and instruments he used to create such unique sounds.

Also, I typically do not spoil and films or TV shows in my reviews, so I won’t here either, but by holy Moses I wish I could tell you about the season finale! It’s every Star Wars fan’s wet dream! I just imagine when THAT moment happened in the finale the entire Star Wars fan base pissed their pants in orgasmic unison, and I’m sure it made quite a mess, but that again that’s not the point, the point is that the finale is epic. From the cameos to the action to a certain very emotional goodbye, it felt so wholesome and was so fitting to what this season was building up towards. However the ending does make me question where the writers are planning to take this series next season seeing as how this one ended, but nevertheless that’s a talk for another time. All I have to say is that though The Mandalorian is not perfect and has its rough edges, it is still really pretty darn awesome and is easily the best thing to come out of Star Wars in a long while This is, indeed, the way!

Overall score: 7/10

[legobiwan]

Alright people, I am finally caught up with the Mandalorian Season 2. My reaction thus far:

(spoilers ahoy)

So far, this season doesn’t seem to have a strong direction. It’s mostly Din getting sent from sidequest to sidequest featuring “this week’s special guest stars(s).” I realize that this is all supposed to be building up to something, but I hope the payoff is worth it. 

I love Cobb Vanth. This is probably because I love Timothy Olyphant. I dearly hope he returns and gets a bit more material to work with before the end of the season. Kind of annoying that we had to go back to Tatooine again, but Star Wars just can’t seem to kick its legacy characters (which is something I’ll get into later).

Speaking of Tatooine...while I loved the introduction of the idea of the moisture farmers and the Sandpeople working together, we never really...saw any of it happening? Show, don’t tell, as the old adage goes. While there wasn’t time for a treatment of Tatooine’s complicated social issues as was done in the Kenobi novel, the whole concept seemed pretty perfunctory as a way for Mando to blow up a krayt dragon.

(and I had to laugh, whatever “prize” organ the Sandperson found was 100% one of those bouncy balls you’d find in Ralph’s or Von’s or something at the beach sale bucket for $4.99. Along those lines, the effects - both practical and VFX - have not been anywhere near as high quality this season.)

Frog episode. Fun! It was one of my favorite episodes even though it accomplished very little in terms of pushing the narrative forward. Funny characterization of baby Yoda (I kept expecting him to go full-on Yoshi with those spiders), great introduction of the Frog species, and the spiders were pretty cool.

Bo-Katan episode. A PORT CITY! Something DIFFERENT! Finally!

Mando seems to suffer from power creep and relapse which is a persistent issue in Star Wars in general (see the Ahsoka episode for more discussion revolving around that). He blew up the krayt dragon almost single-handedly, fought off all those spiders, and yet was pretty taken down by the Mon Calamari pirate gang. 

I had no issue with Bo-Katan showing up, and I think her reference to Mando being in a religious cult is fascinating and I would like to know a lot more about that. (Also interesting in how it can also be an oblique reference to the Jedi who were considered, by some, to also be an esoteric religious cult.)

So because of this, does Mando seriously not know who Bo-Katan is? I’m guessing all that history was erased, even something as simple as the fact that Bo-Katan was the sister of a Mandalorian ruler.

And funny enough, I feel kind of bad for her. She wants that Darksaber, wants to rule Mandalore and it feels like she has been fighting the same fight with the same words since we were introduced to her in TCW. I don’t know if that was the intended effect (likely not), but she strikes me as a character almost stuck in her own narrative, unable to move on. Although I do appreciate that she still seems rather morally grey here, which is a nice change of pace from characters who masquerade as morally grey (read: Mando and clan) but who are really coded as the “good guys” (fighting - again - against the “bad guys”.)

(Which gets me into a whole other discussion in that I find that only the Prequels and TCW really delve into that uncertain area where the good guys - even the Jedi - are not 100% good. And that the Legends material really dug at the fracture while the new material - books, movies, shows - tends to shy away from moral complexity. It’s frustrating, as the ambiguity is what is so appealing about the whole damn thing.)

So if the Frog Couple’s children were the last of their kind, was Baby Yoda about to perpetuate a genocide because he was hungry? Because, that’s honestly pretty damn funny.

Oh, the New Republic isn’t learning from the Old Republic. Much like Russia, you never try to invade and control the Outer Rim. It just ends up in tears.

Okay, the macaron scene was pretty damn funny and wholly superfluous and petty use of the Force that I could see...wait for it...Obi-wan perpetuating in his youth. 

So. Clones. M-blood. Shadows of Jen Zanna Arbor and Plageius’s experiments. Plus Gideon looking on at his Death Trooper clones who look a bit like Vader. Is Gideon trying to create a Force-sensitive army that can be controlled via these suits in TIE Fighters that look A LOT like Thrawn’s defenders? Does Gideon know about the Chiss Navigators and is this how he got the idea? Because that would tie some things together. 

Alright. Ahsoka’s episode. Sigh...

Dave Filoni needs to let go. I love Ahsoka, she’s a fantastic character, but at this point, she sucks the oxygen out the room for any other storyline. I never liked the way she was brought back in Rebels, I thought her existence on that other plane after the battle of Malachor was a perfect ending for her. 

(I’m not going to get into the costuming too much. It didn’t work. Disney has enough money to do effects, I don’t why they couldn’t have touched this up just a hair while keeping with the “gritty realism” aesthetic of this show. The whole thing was rather jarring.)

And the thing is, she’s taken on Vader, has come back from the dead twice, has defeated Maul and then suddenly this weird Magistrate Lady is giving her issues? Like, I get getting older and not being as on top of your game but if Ben Kenobi of the desert could take down Maul in three slashes, you would thing Ahsoka wouldn’t be having these issues.

Along those lines, that fight sequence was painful to watch. I’m 1000% certain Filoni was referencing either some Western or Kurosawa flick which I am too film-illiterate to know offhand, but it just...didn’t work. Especially seeing as the VFX wasn’t strong enough to support the questionable choreography/blocking. 

I have no issue with Ahsoka coming to terms with the Jedi at an older age, that’s what happens. You have to drop at least some of your grudges. And I don’t even mind Mando and Grogu meeting up with a Jedi like this. But I wish it had been a different Jedi or maybe one we hadn’t even known before. 

And that’s the thing. Star Wars gets so bogged down in its legacy characters (see: the Sequels) that it gets in its own narrative way. (And ironically enough, most of these “legacy” characters are from the much-maligned Prequel-era). Look at the popularity of Rebels, of Fallen Order, of the Thrawn books (and ELI VANTO, ahem). There’s so much room to expand and play with new themes, new ideas rather than fall back on this “good rebels” vs. “evil empire” with the “very good Jedi” helping mystically along the way. Give me more religious cults, more conspiracy theories, more politics and taxation and trade routes. That’s what made the Prequels so great. I’m hoping this Moff Gideon storyline will go off in an interesting direction as will Mando’s culty background but we’ll see.

So...five episodes into the season I give it a 6/10 so far. We’ll see how it all goes. 

[darkside-skyguy]

I want to talk about Agent Kallus for a sec and how his arc on Rebels proves that the idea that Ben Solo would not have been allowed to join the rebellion, that he would have been tried for war crimes, and that he would have never been accepted after all the things he’s done is utter bullshit.

(spoilers for Star Wars: Rebels ahead)

Okay, I mean, first of all, just look at Kallus:

With his stupid beard he looks like a smug little evil bitch and he is. He wields a bo-rifle, a weapon that was chiefly used by the Honor Guard of Lasun, and which he should not be wielding, but he does because he helped the Empire wipe out the Lasat people on Lira San. An entire people, nearly brought to extinction, and he had a hand in doing it. In the first episode of Rebels, he kicks a stormtrooper to his death for making a joke and giving him the tiniest bit of sass. He spends most of his time hunting down the Ghost team but ultimately fails to capture and/or kill them. Bottom line: he is not a good dude. 

But then, after a year of chasing the Ghost and the Spectres around the Galaxy, he fails at an attempt to trap them on Geonosis and ends up trapped on its frozen moon with Zeb, one of the last Lasats. There they have to work together to keep from freezing and to not get eaten by monsters until someone comes to rescue them. With his leg broken, Kallus has to rely almost completely on Zeb to save him. While Zeb easily could have left him behind or killed him, Zeb brings him to safety and even offers to take him onboard the Ghost when the Spectres come to the rescue. Kallus ultimately refuses, and decides to wait for the Empire to come pick him up. That, though, is ultimately his turning point, though we don’t know that yet. Kallus and Zeb part as unlikely allies for a time, and they each go their separate ways. 

Kallus then begins to question his beliefs. He begins to question his blind allegiance to the Empire. Unbeknownst to Ghost squad, and the audience, he becomes a secret spy and feeds the rebels information about the Empire through the codename Fulcrum. Reader, let me tell you, when it was finally revealed that Kallus of the dumb beard was Fulcrum, I about jumped out of my seat. Wait, really, what?! But even though it was an amazing twist, it made perfect sense. We saw him seriously start to turn on that frozen moon with Zeb. We saw his heart wasn’t really in his Imperial business since then. When Sabine infiltrates the Imperial academy to extract Wedge and a few other cadets disillusioned with the Empire, Kallus helps Sabine escape. He tells her to give his regards to Zeb and to tell him that they were even now. So when Kallus finally reveals to Ezra and Kanan that he is, in fact, Fulcrum, it was a surprise but not a shock. And it was one of those amazing character developments that makes Star Wars so special. 

Because hearts can be turned. There is still good in everyone. No one is really gone. It’s never too late. 

Kallus stays with the Empire and continues to stay in communication with the Rebels. Ezra is sent in to extract him at some point, but Kallus feels he can do more good from the inside. When he’s finally found out by Grand Admiral Thrawn, he escapes with the Ghost team and joins the rebellion fully. I mean, look at him now:

He’s got the long rebel hair! The unkempt beard! The looser, less restricting clothing! He’s thriving now. And you know what struck me most about his entrance into the Rebellion? No one berates him for his past actions. No one questions his loyalty. No one fights him, or tells him he doesn’t belong. And certainly no one tries him for war crimes. They’re happy he’s there. They’re happy he’s changed and grown and felt remorse for all the terrible stuff he’s done. I mean, think about it: this guy tried to kill all the members of the Ghost team multiple times. He spent a year hunting them. And they forgive him. It’s easy, really. Because that’s what the Rebellion is built on: hope. Hope that the galaxy and the people in it can change and grow and become better than they were before. Agent Kallus embodies that hope perfectly. 

And that’s why I cannot and will not believe that Ben Solo would not have been allowed to join the Resistance if he chose. If he had lived at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, of course he would have been welcomed into their ranks. If he had joined at the beginning or in the middle of TROS, even, he would have been welcomed. At any point, had Ben shown a desire to change, to be better than he had been yesterday, he would have been allowed and encouraged to do so. Sure, a lot of people would probably have mistrusted him at first. He would have been expected to prove his loyalty, as Kallus had by working as Fulcrum. But no one would have refused him a place in the Resistance. No one would have told him he didn’t belong there. Because if the Resistance turned away people who genuinely wanted to help, to improve, to grow, then what would be the point? Isn’t that their goal? To make the galaxy a better, safer place? And what is the galaxy but a community of people all struggling to find their way, to navigate its perils and its hopes, its good and its evil? The Resistance is about saving what they love, not fighting what they hate. To turn Ben away would have been in direct opposition to everything they stand for. 

And that’s why it’s so sad that Ben never had his chance to join the Resistance. That he never got to come home, and find out how wrong he was in thinking that it was too late, that he was a monster, that he would never be loved the way he longed to be. He would have been allowed to do good again. It’s an absolute tragedy that he never got the chance. 

[dswcp]

Happy Clone Wars Friday!

It’s Villain Appreciation Week! Every villain this week gets 4 panels to show off their tragic arc, dark goofs, and/or raging aesthetic! Today, bow down to...

...the master of reaction panels...

MAUL, NÉE DARTH!!!

Maul, of course, was made for The Phantom Menace, and he reaches peak characterization in Rebels, but he is above all a creature of The Clone Wars. It was only fitting that the show end with a confrontation between its chief creation (Ahsoka) and its chief adoption (Maul).

He has long been a special favorite of mine, my most frequent cosplay and a habitual muse when I’m writing and thinking about Star Wars. Friends pay me in Maul memes, and if you’re selling a Maul print at a con, I’ll probably buy it. (I think the most common question I ask artists is, “Do you have any Darth Mauls?”)

I’m not alone in singling out the guy. I have heard a lot of fans call him “the reason I fell back in love with Star Wars,” “the only good thing in the prequels,” “my gay demon dad,” and other assorted honors. We Maul fans get plenty of attention with fanservice, merch, and a frankly ludicrous serving of character development and narrative importance. We even have a playfully impossible goal to rally around: Solo 2: The Fall of Maul: A Star Wars Story.

He began as a demonic interpretation of Iain McCaig’s fear of clowns, emerged from death as a gimmicky spider cyborg, and somehow became a self-made, revolutionary intellectual in the vein of Jolee Bindo and Kreia. He sees beyond the binary of “Sith” and “Jedi” to what’s really important, and is only held back by a catalog of tragic character flaws and his really mean dad.

Maul gets to be Sith and not-Sith, whole and half, rich and poor, partnered and lonely, wrong and right. Ever is he smart, self-assured, damaged, and beautiful. Never is he happy or free, not until the very end.

By this point, he has as much range as Anakin -- if not morally, then socially and physically. Maul is like Anakin with more brains and less chances.

Though he is essentially flawless on screen, on paper he is often disappointing. Most comic and book depictions of Maul that I’ve read are kinda boring and repetitive. One exception is Cullen Bunn’s 5-issue 2017 series, blandly titled “Darth Maul.” It’s fun and cool and emotional, and Luke Ross’ art style kicks ass. A good Maul, like a good Loki or Magneto, will win you over with his charisma and sympathetic motives, then do something really horrible. A great trick is to pair him with a vulnerable foil, like Ezra or Ahsoka or, in this comic’s case, Eldra Kaitis. He’s at his best when he shows his heart.

“The Sith Hunters” from 2012 is another good Maul comic, mostly for filling in some plot holes in the cartoon with theatrical panache.

I’ve yet to find any comic set during Maul’s reign as the crime lord of Crimson Dawn. Hire me, Disney. Use my knowledge, I beg you.

***

"The Phantom Menace” storyboard by Benton Jew. Drawn sometime in the 90s (the book doesn’t say when!). I found it in “Storyboards: The Prequel Trilogy,” published in 2013.

"Tales 24: Marked.” Dark Horse. July 13, 2005. (I found it in the collection “Tales Volume 6,” which you shouldn’t buy for “Marked” but you should for “Marooned,” “Nomad,” and the KotOR comics.) Writer: Rob Williams. Penciller: Cully Hamner. Letterer: Michael Heisler. Colorist: Will Glass.

"Darth Maul -- Death Sentence.” Dark Horse. July 25, 2012. Writer: Tom Taylor. Penciller: Bruno Redondo. Letterer: Michael Heisler. Colorist: Michael Atiyeh.

"Darth Maul,” Issue 5. Marvel. July 19, 2017. Writer: Cullen Bunn. Penciller: Luke Ross. Colorist: Nolan Woodard.

[ponett]

i was finally able to see the bad star war that everyone said was bad. as it turns out, it was bad. here’s a read more post with my thoughts on it so that i don’t spam my twitter with spoiler tweets

for a baseline: i like the original trilogy, but i don’t think any of those movies are perfect. i think the prequels had some good ideas but i were mostly terrible. i love the clone wars (both versions) and rebels. while i admit that tfa was extremely similar to a new hope, i thought it was executed great and had a wonderful new cast that showed a ton of promise. i liked rogue one, although i found its first act really sloppy. and i have some quibbles about tlj, but it had an incredibly strong vision and actual themes, and i’d consider it my favorite in the series

i’m exactly the kind of person who was always going to hate the rise of skywalker, because it’s basically a bad fanfic written by someone who didn’t like tlj and wanted to “fix” the story. like that bizarre story treatment jenny nicholson read for this movie. the bad one. it was like that

it wasn’t all bad i guess. here are the small things i liked:

some of the new environments were cool. there was cool imagery and practical effects work

i appreciated that the moon of endor where the death star wreckage was wasn’t just the one with the ewoks, and thought the vibe there was cool

zorii bliss’s armor was really cool

the image of the fleet of star destroyers all lined up was striking

i liked that the ghost showed up for the final battle

i liked that ahsoka was one of the jedi voices rey heard, even though that kind of implies that ahsoka is, uh... dead?

while extremely fucking trite and dumb, i’ll admit the closing scene on tatooine got me. yeah, rey has no real connection to this place and it’s just a nostalgic throwback, but i’m a sucker for full circle endings like that

uh. that’s about it

this movie kicks off in the middle of an action scene and just kind of keeps jumping to new setpieces nonstop until it’s over. new characters and locations get introduced and then moved past in the blink of an eye. there’s no time to let any of it sink in. it feels like abrams crammed two movies worth of shit into this one to make up for the the fact that some people didn’t like tlj, and as a result none of it resonates. i just felt so empty throughout most of the film. events were happening on screen and none of it mattered

thoughts about individual elements:

LEIA

putting the scenes with the recycled footage of carrie fisher at the beginning of the film completely took me out of it. it was so obvious that she wasn’t really responding to what was being said, and the conversations had just been built around the limited leia lines they could use

the dialogue scenes with leia felt like a space ghost interview

C-3PO

was in this movie a lot for some reason? i guess abrams wanted to make up for how little c-3po there was in the last two movies. they tried to have that emotional moment where his memory is wiped, but then they just turned his memory loss into a big joke?? and then he got most of his memories back anyway

in general, the movie is afraid to let the audience be uncomfortable for long. 3po’s memory loss. the supposed deaths of chewbacca and babu frik, that sort of thing. you’re not allowed to be sad. after tlj so effectively built tension throughout the film and really pushed the heroes to the brink, this is a disappointment

LANDO

is here because he needed to show up, and because it’s a throwback to have him pilot the falcon again. he’s just kind of there with little to do and no arc

FINN, POE, AND ROSE

before the movie came out, i had low expectations. all i really wanted was to get one last fun adventure with the new characters. when i started to hear about the spoilers, my expectations sank even lower. but maybe i would still get this

nah! rose gets like two minutes of screentime because redditors hated her, and finn and poe are barely even characters. they don’t have arcs in this film, they’re just sidekicks on rey’s journey

finn really hurts. prior to tfa’s release, finn was framed as the new star. this was, of course, a bait and switch, as rey was really the new jedi. (finn apparently IS force sensitive according to this one, but hey! we can only have one big jedi hero, so like leia before him, i guess we’ve gotta wait for some EU novel to give finn a lightsaber)

but finn was still a central character in the last two films, and he had so much potential. he was a stormtrooper who defected! that’s something new! that’s interesting! it complicates the black and white morality of the series. but no. that’s been all but abandoned at this point

many have complained about how tfa establishes that basically all the stormtroopers are people who were kidnapped as children and brainwashed by the first order... but then they still have no qualms about gleefully killing them. in the first two movies i was like “yeah, it sucks that they have to kill those guys, but if it’s to prevent genocide, it’s understandable. that’s just war. maybe they’ll touch on it in the last movie.” so in this one, they kept reminding the audience that the stormtroopers were enslaved as children. jannah is even introduced as another stormtrooper who defected like finn. but then... it goes nowhere. finn doesn’t get any first order troops to defect. they don’t care about the other stormtroopers. how many hundreds of thousands of enslaved soldiers did they kill when they blew up those star destroyers

it was nice to see finn and poe take the charge as leaders in the end, but it also feels like they didn’t take the lessons from tlj to heart. the whole point of that story was that one-in-a-million shot heroic suicide missions aren’t worth it, and that they’re more useful to the resistance alive than they are as martyrs. but then in the climax of this film they take like 30 ships to go fight a fleet of a hundred fucking star destroyers

on the subject of that final battle: i thought that the ending of tlj was so powerful. the resistance was decimated, but they still had hope, because they knew there were others out there who could help. people like rey, or the broom boy, who came from nothing but had good hearts. in this one, though, they say that apparently nobody responded to the leia’s call for help in the entire year since the last film. everyone only shows up during the climax after lando’s like “no, but for real guys, we need help”

and i did think that that sequence was cool. and i did like seeing the ghost among the ships. it was fun. the message that fascists like the first order rule by making people feel isolated, and that they’re defeated by realizing that good people are never alone? that was good. i thought that was a strong message. but it’s such a minor footnote on a movie that’s so bad in so many other ways

oh and they made the latino dude a drug dealer. okay. thanks for that

KYLO REN

i hate that they redeemed kylo and i hate the way they did it

yes, him being coerced to turn to the dark side by snoke (who was apparently just a puppet controlled by palpatine all along (UGH)) as a kid was tragic. but that doesn’t excuse his actions. kylo was given infinite second chances throughout the trilogy, and every time he responded with violence. he killed so many people himself, and willingly took part in a fascist regime that killed billions. yes, his story is sad, but he’s not some poor little boy, he’s thirty fucking years old and he vents his trauma by slaughtering innocent people

literally the entire main trio of the original trilogy died because of this asshole. han tried to talk to him in the first movie, and got stabbed and dropped into a pit. luke died astral projecting to face him in tlj. and now leia just kind of arbitrarily died to flip the switch in his brain from bad to good from across the galaxy. it’s literally as simple as that. he doesn’t have a personal journey here. he just stops being evil because his mom made him through the force

like, again. all those enslaved stormtrooper grunts who had been brainwashed since they were kids? gunned down. but giving kylo endless second chances is the most important thing in the world

and then they end the movie by having this creepy abusive stalker genocidal asshole sadboy kiss rey, retroactively framing their dynamic as a romantic one. just, gross as hell. even in this one, for most of the film, all he does is threaten rey and boss her around

i dunno. i thought the first order were interesting as antagonists. yeah, they were just the empire 2.0. but i thought it was appropriate! the idea was that just because palpatine was dead and gone didn’t mean that fascism was gone. there were still hateful people who wanted to rule the galaxy via genocide. like how we still have nazis in the 21st century. except, oops! palpatine was actually alive and pulling the strings the entire time, so now that theme’s out the window. we just have to kill him again FOR REAL this time and now the galaxy will actually be safe

people wondered where the first order would go after snoke died in tlj. but it was so obvious to me? kylo was in charge. kylo was always the most interesting bad guy. just let him call the shots and be the final adversary. but no. that wasn’t good enough. we had to bring back palpatine as the jrpg final boss to have an epic conclusion

REY

oh, poor rey. youtube critics got mad that a girl could be a strong jedi without being related to some other powerful force user from the old movies, so now she’s stuck being a palpatine forever

i will admit, the protagonist of the new movies being related to palpatine but still being a good person in spite of her heritage... that could have been something. but it’s so clearly not what they had in mind from the start, and it spits in the face of the last movie’s themes. it turns out greatness CAN’T come from anywhere. it has to come from one of these select few Special Bloodlines

oh! and this ALSO reframes rey’s parents abandoning her and selling her into slavery as an act of kindness, because they had to hide her from her spooky evil grandpa. so THAT’S fun. (edit: OH! and luke and leia knew about rey the whole time!!! and didn’t go out and look for her!!!!)

it’s just. it’s so bad what they did to rey. i don’t know if i even have much to elaborate on there, everyone’s already said how stupid it is

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overall, i still wouldn’t say it’s the WORST star wars movie. it’s more watchable than the phantom menace, that’s for damn sure. the actors put in effort. the sets and practical effects are nice. it’s just so... empty

tros possibly feels the closest to how i imagined the new trilogy would be when it was first announced, but in a bad way. a movie built entirely on established ideas of What Star Wars Is with nothing new to bring to the table. it’s like a bad eu novel. just recycled imagery, cameos from characters we already know, palpatine coming back from the dead, that sort of thing. it’s a movie made by committee to appease reddit. it’s nothing

now i gotta use that free trial of disney plus to watch the mandalorian and wash the taste out of my mouth i guess

[adamrevi3ws]

Jedi: Fallen Order

When I finished playing DOOM, I told myself that the next game I would play wouldn’t be one that pissed me off. Unfortunately, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order did not live up to those expectations.

While the source of my frustration with DOOM was mainly growing pains with its intense gameplay and action, Fallen Order mainly drew ire from me due to its unfinished and unpolished nature. Its publisher, EA, is in the same club as Ubisoft, Bethesda, and apparently now CD Projekt Red, often releasing games as broken glitchy messes when they first come out to meet quick deadlines. I’ve seen and heard how unplayable this game was at launch, and while it isn’t as bad as it was then, it still has enough subtle mistakes to ruin my gameplay experience. The main source of this and my frustration, in general, was the extremely finicky and unresponsive controls, particularly found in its two main selling points: platforming (and plot but I’ll talk about that later) directly lifted, if not plagiarized from the Uncharted games, and Dark Souls-esque combat gameplay. Nothing really lines up or “clicks” when it really needs to. Regarding the platforming, it feels like it takes a miracle to properly grab onto something and takes a thousand tries for a jump to work. When the double jump gets introduced, it really only works when the game, in its divine ignorance, feels the whim to let it work. A lot of reviewers complained about the difficult and unwieldy ice slide sequences in the game, and while I had my fair share of annoyance on a very specific ice slide, I think it’s just a symptom of a much larger problem. The combat shares this similar “the game only works when it wants to” problem. You don’t always dodge or block right when you want it to, but I think its biggest problem is healing. Instead of pressing a button and having part of your health restored, pressing said button instead “calls” your robot companion, which needs to do a special little animation and THEN you get healed, which takes a long 15 seconds. Not only does this waste a good amount of time in a game where time is absurdly precious in its hardcore combat, but every other time I tried calling the damn robot it straight up ignored me. I don’t know if this is a glitch, or it needs a cooldown period, or you can’t heal while being hit by an enemy, but it made the fights a lot more unnecessarily grating than they already are. Speaking of straight up screw you moments from the game, whenever I hit the “target” button in close combat with multiple enemies, it’d always target the farthest away enemy, for no reason. All of this is a shame because these main gameplay components are actually quite fun when they aren’t broken? A lot of the level design allows for really fast and exhilarating platforming that is absurdly fun when it syncs up, but that’s only, like half of the time. The combat can be enjoyable too, allowing for some great lightsaber duel boss fights, which can feel pretty cinematic when the combat actually works.

Outside of gameplay, the game’s unfinished nature shows itself a lot in its cutscenes. Its graphics just straight up dip and fail to fully render for 90% of these moments, often also feeling extremely choppy and cutting off a bit too soon. There was even one time an enemy was supposed to show up in a cutscene to initiate a boss fight but they just weren’t there and it was quite confusing because it felt like the main character was speaking to an empty wall. Around the middle of the game, both cutscenes and gameplay sequences would just freeze, and this is probably the first game I’ve played in a while to straight up crash on my PS4. If the developers took an extra, idk six months to actually fix this game a bit more I’d rate it a lot higher than I am now. I was actually warned about the game’s poor performance before playing, with a friend mentioning its horrible load times, but I didn’t know it’d be this bad. As my unopened copy of the infamous Cyberpunk 2077 waits on my mantlepiece for the developers to actually make it a playable game months after its release, I fear it may have the same fate as Fallen Order, still being quite a bit buggy and annoying over a year after its messy launch.

With its buggy and incohesive gameplay in mind, Jedi: Fallen Order’s strongest element is its plot. To my surprise, this is much less of a Star Wars game and more a game that just happens to be set in the Star Wars universe. Taking place between episodes 3 and 4, I kind of expected it to be an epic quest detailing the rise of the rebel alliance, but instead, I got a more generic treasure hunt storyline heavily reminiscent of the Uncharted series. Although this sounds quite disappointing, the game’s plot still soars in its great character arcs and setpieces interspersed the vague framework of its less-than-original overall plot. Combine these great individual moments with an absolutely bombastic ending and it almost makes trudging through the glitchy gameplay worth it. This is elevated by some great voice acting performances, particularly from Cameron Monaghan, who gives a movie star performance to the main character, even in a lot of moments where he doesn’t have much to work with. The setting is also a high point. Disney’s milking of Star Wars has led to a variety of media set between episodes 3 and 4, this game feels particularly special because it is more focused on the aftermath of Episode 3 rather than the buildup to Episode 4, which I think the rest of the media in this era is focused on. It’s clear that there are so many parts of the game that the studio put a lot of love in, ranging from the plot, to the memorable soundtrack (Mongolian throat singing, anyone?), to even the hilarious enemy dialogue, I just wish they put this amount of effort to make the game fully playable.

The one elephant in the room regarding this game that I haven’t mentioned so far is the game’s worlds/levels themselves. They aren’t annoyingly unpolished like the gameplay but aren’t really a labor of love either. Instead what we get is an admittedly gorgeous maze of areas within a few planets, constantly getting more twisty and confusing as you go on. It may visually resemble an open world, but it is very much a series of paths that make you go “hmmmm, should I go back to that other branching path to see if there are any healing upgrades or character customization options I can collect?” There’s nothing wrong about this MetroidVania style format, but frankly it’s not my type. A lot of the areas look visually similar so it’s quite easy to get lost, and despite each planet’s map being absurdly big, there’s no way to actually fast travel between areas, just between planets. Finally, the incentive to go back and explore isn’t particularly convincing, where the healing upgrades are a bit too well concealed and the character customization options are like, absurdly mid. This is the one time I actually wished an EA game had its own in-game currency so I could buy something cooler than “the same damn poncho you’re wearing except a slightly less boring color combination.” Come on, man! The one good thing I’ll say about the overall game world is that the in-game map highlights which paths you haven’t explored yet, making it much easier to get on track. While the game’s maze-like level style isn’t necessarily my thing, I think if the developers tried to make it a bit more interesting a lot of people would get a kick out of it.

Jedi: Fallen Order is a game that finally made me understand my college professors that went a bit too hard on my grammar mistakes when grading papers. The central content and ideas this game presents have a lot of potential, but they’re heavily weighed down by an infinite number of fixable mistakes. I give this game a 6.7 out of 10 stars.