#I've seen the clone wars

[icyboots]

Seeing the Argonath-esque statues in Ahsoka, I am ready for Star Wars to enter its Lord of the Rings era!

BAYLAN SKOLL IN AHSOKA 1.08: THE JEDI, THE WITCH, AND THE WARLORD

[shiqingxuanz]

the skywalker twins

[tragedy-for-sale]

Protective Obi-Wan anyone?

I was re-watching the Ryloth arc and I couldn't help but notice,

I love how Obi-Wan's arm immediately goes to block Cody, he extends his hand out and it's not in the form of a fist, it's flat, it's an attempt to block as much of Cody's chest as possible. Cody takes a full step back to, mainly to get into position to shoot. But he's preparing himself to move behind Obi-Wan, who'd need enough room to swing his lightsaber to block blaster shots.

Obi-Wan's first instinct is to protect Cody, his second is to ignite his lightsaber. Obi-Wan protects Cody before protecting himself and others. His lightsaber would give enough cover for all his men, but his body would only cover Cody's.

In the second frame, Obi-Wan puts his hand on Cody's gun first before turning off his lightsaber. Now, he does know what is about to come out of the grate before his men do, which is partially why he wants to stop Cody. Cody putting down his weapon would signal to his men that there is no danger, however, turning off his lightsaber would do the exact same thing. But he chooses to stop Cody first.

After Obi-Wan puts his hand on Cody's gun, notice how long he looks at Obi-Wan. Cody's guard is down, he doesn't keep his eye on the grate like his men do, he doesn't even try to keep his blaster aimed, also unlike his men. Cody doesn't break contact with Obi-Wan until he does, it's in that moment we understand how much Cody trusts Obi-Wan with his life.

[ventresses]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (4/?) - Quinobi

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines

[paracosm-draw]

[now-you-sound-like-a-jedi]

Okay so there's the beginnings of a debate going on in the notes of one of my posts about Satine's Mandalore. Someone arguing that her method of governance wasn't sustainable has posed the question "what would have happened if the Trade Federation tried to blockade Mandalore?" but like?? It would have been more or less the same as when the Trade Federation tried to blockade Naboo??

The Naboo weren't warriors either, all they had were a ragtag group of pilots and politicians, two Jedi and the Gungans, and the Gungans were overwhelmed and captured by the end. The Naboo blockade failed because Anakin took out the control ship and Padmé stopped Nute Gunray. And- hold on a second, who were Satine's friends again?

It doesn't even matter that the Senate wouldn't necessarily support the Jedi helping Mandalore like they did Naboo, because both Obi-Wan and Padmé demonstrated that, given the choice between obeying the Senate and helping Satine, they would choose the latter. And you know that if either of them said "hey, we're going to Mandalore to help Satine and kill some battle droids", both Anakin and Ahsoka would be like "cool, I'll get my cloak".

Let's be real here, Nute Gunray would be running home with his tail between his legs in less than forty-eight standard hours.

And also, Satine canonically carries a deactivator with her at all times and has the aim of a military marksman. She is demonstrably perfectly capable of wrecking a bunch of droids and, what's more, she has absolutely no reservations about doing so.

In conclusion? I'd like to see the Trade Federation try.

[transingthoseformers]

I feel like there's just. This underrated undercurrent of angst with aus where an older version of a character meets a younger version of themself

I've been seeing this with a lot of the new tfone aus, but we can apply this to so many other continuities >:D

[bunny7567]

I just received my first ever salary and made my first adult purchase. Money well spent I'd say.

[somestorythoughts]

Eldritch Echo

So. I haven't seen the Bad Batch and don't really intend to, but I have read some fics (please do not take that as me saying that's the same as understanding the story) and between that and my thoughts of eldritch stuff in Star Wars and a cool art piece I came across that I think was referencing something I don't have the context for, I started wondering what it'd look like if of the Bad Batch, Echo was the only eldritch/cryptid/vampire/otherwise not human one. NOT because of the Techno Union, but because of something that happened sooner OR he'd always been like that. And I might put a bit of that in my vampire clones thing but I was thinking eldritch and I ended up writing a thing. So. Enjoy:

***********

Crosshair’s willing to admit he doesn’t dislike Echo. He respects the guy’s resilience and his willingness to go with the flow, which is necessary for someone working with their team, even as he rolls his eyes at Echo’s tendency to twitch at the state of their ship and his reluctance to drop the “sir” when talking to Hunter. More than that Echo has zero qualms about sassing him if Crosshair picks a fight and it’s a lot of fun to rile him up.

That said. Echo is also really freaking weird.

Crosshair is very observant, between his eyesight, his role on the team, and his training he had to be and either something’s very off about Echo or he’s started hallucinating because he keeps seeing things that don’t make sense. Not for a reg and not for a cyborg.

He explains this the Hunter once, trying to see if he’s noticed anything, and Hunter frowns. “Can you give me an example?”

“His eyes for one.”

Hunter blinked. “What?”

“We all know what most trooper’s eyes look like. And we’ve seen some variations. But they don’t change color. I’ve seen his eyes go golden or violet, and it wasn’t the lighting.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes I’m sure what do you take me for?” Crosshair snapped. “Look. Next time we’re on a sunny planet. Take a look at his shadow. It doesn’t match him at all. I’ve seen it prowling around him like a tooka without him or a light source moving. It doesn’t look like him either. And remember that time we were sparring and he panicked and bit me? I asked Tech, the Techno Union didn’t do anything to his teeth, but I know what bitemarks look like and that was not it.”

Hunter sighed. “I’ll pay attention but-” He paused. “Huh.”

“What?”

“It might not be anything.” He replies and only knowing that he’s getting to the point keeps Crosshair from interrupting. “But remember how I told you guys that people smell like animals? They’re distinct from each other, and you know I can’t describe it cause I tried to describe you guys, but it’s not like they smell like flowers or old books or whatever people like to think they’d smell like unless they’re wearing a scent. Echo, he doesn’t smell like a trooper. I just never thought about it for some reason.”

“And what does he smell like?”

Hunter frowned as he tried to find the words. “Well. He does smell a bit like a trooper and a bit metallic. But he also smells like, what’s was the spice in that cake you liked so much? The one we found on that mission with the weird vultures?”

Crosshair hummed. That had been a really freaking good cake. “The lady said it was a cardamon cream cake. So he smells like cardamon?”

“Cardamon and lilies and wet dirt is the best way I can describe it and I know it’s not his soap cause he uses the same stuff as the rest of us. So yeah. I guess I’ll pay attention.”

Two days later Crosshair gets confirmation that something’s up in a way he did not expect.

Because walking around in the dark in the middle of the night is his job so it’s already odd to find Echo leaning against the cabinet in their ship’s tiny kitchen in the pitch dark. “You’re going to trip reg.” Crosshair says and leans over to get the lights when Echo looks up.

And twelve pairs of golden violet eyes meet Crosshair’s.

He staggers back, trips over something, falls. “Crosshair!” Echo grabs his hand, pulling him up, then scrambles for the lights as if he forgot they might be necessary and Crosshair yelps as the light hits his eyes.

He blames that and the shock for blurting out; “What the hell are you Echo?”

Echo blinks, looking hurt. “I’m a trooper. Like you all.”

“Troopers don’t have twenty-four freaking eyes.” Crosshair hissed. They aren’t there now, he’s got 2 brown eyes in the exact same shade of brown nearly every trooper has, but Crosshair knows what he saw. He knows what he’s been seeing.

Echo tilts his head. And he grins. It’s a smile Crosshair’s seen before, whenever Echo’s about to respond to his taunts with something cutting and clever, part “take that” and part inviting him to share the joke. There’s nothing off about that smile save for that it’s mirrored in Echo’s shadow, splayed against the cabinets behind him too dark for their lights.

“The Bad Batch.” Echo muses, like there’s a joke Crosshair hasn’t caught yet, and he’s never had a reason to call Echo dangerous even when he didn’t trust him, but he’s starting to feel cornered even though Echo hasn’t moved. “You think you’re the only strange ones. ‘Don’t worry Rex, we know how to handle a reg.’ Never mind that Torrent was always a little crazy, or it used to be. Never mind that I was an ARC and a damn good one, and we’re all more than competent. And I appreciate what you all did, in welcoming me into the squad, I appreciate it more than I can say, and I do really like you guys, but you are so freaking cocky. So certain you can handle anything. And to be fair you’re damn good at your job, but sometimes it’s annoying. So.” He grins that taunting grin again. “You want to know what the reg’s deal is? Figure it out.”

He leaves. His grinning shadow lingers a moment before following. Crosshair stares.

And then decides that a glass of water isn’t gonna cut it and goes for the stash of moonshine.

[redbean-nom]

tactical droid vs clone culture

I was thinking about how General Kalani is one of the only droids with an actual (non-serial number-related) name, and I looked up the super tactical droid wookiepedia page:

and huh! of the four known ST droids, three of them have obviously individual names, and given that their serials would be ST-something, Aut-0 is probably a name too!

(Aut-0's name also seems to demonstrate that he has some sort of sense of humor, and Kraken's paint is suspiciously kraken-looking.)

a bit of further delving found pictures for Kalani, Kraken, and Aut-0 (Linwodo doesn't seem to appear in any visual media).

not only do they all have individual names, they also seem to have unique paint!

now, basic tactical droids do have some distinguishing symbols, but these tend to be simple central lines or logos - just enough to be distinguished.

since ST droids are pretty easily distinguishable from tactical droids (and there'd only really be one on the battlefield anyways), and none of their units have anything similar design-wise, we can conclude that the ST droids' paint is an individual choice.

I doubt Dooku would be busy painting and naming his tactical droids either, so they most likely named and painted each other and themselves...

...much like a certain other batch of beings-not-formally-recognized-as-sentient.

[ravinoforre]

the second of my Pokemon Colosseum anniversary fanzine submissions. I've always found Colosseum and Star Wars have a lot in common aesthetically (and thematically to an extent), so this is based on one of the original 1977 Star Wars posters.

This game means a hell of a lot to me. Fixating on this, and its sequel, have gotten me through some rough times as a teen and young adult.

May the Orre by with you.

[thedirtiwalkoniswet]

If you have this type of face your fate in hollywood is doomed. You will be cast as the loser

[ventresses]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (13/?)

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines

[thesmollestnerd]

BAD BATCH NATION:

No matter what happens to our favorite characters, no matter what we like/dislike. What we're not gonna do is be shitty/harassing/mean/unkind to the showrunners, the VAs, the production team, or other people in the fandom. You can feel big feels about S3 but make sure you express those feelings in a way that does not cause harm to others. People are allowed to react differently than you, do not tell them how they should feel. Go forth, make art, write fic, participate in dialogue, squee to your heart's content. Just be a good person.

[eriexplosion]

I talk mostly about how the Jedi failed the clones when discussing their Issues but I think a lot too about the Martez sisters.

There was a populated landing platform right in the path of the ship, but the Jedi steered it clear of that, right into the portal wall. And on the other side of that wall was our home.

Mom and Dad saw it coming. They got Rafa and I out. But they weren't so lucky.

The Jedi didn't even capture Ziro. The "distraction" of the ship helped him get away.

No one can blame the Jedi for this in good faith, it's a horrifying situation to be faced with. Let a lot of people die or save them and put other people at risk. A no win choice, made in a split second to save as many people as possible.

But it's not that which seems to be at the heart of their issue with the Jedi. It's the response when it was all over.

Afterward, the Jedi came back, and one of them came over to me. I'll never forget it. She was beautiful, dark robes contrasting against her light green skin. Penetrating eyes.

She looked at me, and you know what she said?

She said, "I had to make a choice, but not to worry, the Force will be with you". That's it. Then she was off.

And Trace and I were left without parents, without a home, just left there to find our way in their system.

And that's where you see the way that the Jedi can be cruel, where the order fails the people it's supposed to protect. The order has enough resources to at least offer these two a place to live, support, something for these teens that were orphaned by their actions.

Instead, though, they get a single platitude and nothing else.

The hard choice was made. There was no possibility for a deathless ending. The Jedi aren't responsible for being put in that situation. They are responsible though for how they respond to the aftermath. And I think it's pretty clear here that they totally fucking botched it.

There's no reason to leave these girls entirely on their own, they have a whole temple they could let them stay at. Trace and Rafa could easily have been provided for! But we never see anyone without high force sensitivity in the Temple. It's just not considered as an option. So they were left completely abandoned. The good intentions of the individual Jedi didn't help offset that institutional neglect and damage, and what was meant as a kind reassurance instead becomes salt in a wound.

This is what I want to dig into more with the Jedi. How everyone can want to do good, can want to help people, but institutional stagnation can still hold them back from it.

And that's just an example on how they impact others, don't even get me started on the damage we can see when it comes to separating younglings from their families.