#also for the people who are now here for star wars: the Mandalorian is literally just like the dollars trilogy and akira kurosawa

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 重啟之極海聽雷/Reunion: The Sound of the Providence/The Lost Tomb Reboot/this thing has too many names

Reunion (I'm just going to call it that) is a 2020 action drama about the most specialest little babygirl in the tomb-raiding world, his two husbands, and the cadre of assorted weirdos they pick up as they try to follow a set of directions left by a dead (?) man in the thunder.

Imagine if someone showed you the Mandalorian, and you were like, gee, that was a neat little sci-fi one-shot! because you'd never heard of Star Wars. That was basically my experience watching this show, having no idea that the Lost Tomb franchise (DMBJ) was even a thing. Turns out that not only is there a whole big continuity out there with these characters, but that Reunion takes place a few years after the main story's resolution. Don't worry, though -- Reunion doesn't spoil you for that resolution. It doesn't spoil you for much, period. Look, DMBJ has a weird relationship to endings, okay?

I have written a more thorough where-to-start guide for DMBJ as a whole, so if you want to consider other entry points, well, that information is there for your consideration. Yet it is my opinion that this is the best entry into the overall franchise, and a fun thing to watch just in general, and I'm here to make my case for both of those.

The rest of this rec will assume that you have no familiarity with the DMBJ series. That's okay; you don't need any. All you need is to trust my five reasons you should watch this.

1. Old Man Yaoi

As you begin this show, you are introduced to the Iron Triangle. That's them in the picture up there. Left to right, you have: Xiao Ge, magically tattooed immortal hottie who just got back from ten years in [scene missing]; Wu Xie, our protagonist, who's just a little guy and it's his birthday; and Wang Pangzi, the literal best.

(And yes, Wu Xie is in his 30s and Pangzi is in his 40s, which is not technically old man anything, but ... look, if you watch, you'll see why I think I'm justified in calling it that.)

They are extremely married. They are a disaster trio of disasters so disastrous that no one else should ever be subjected to their chaos. They're going to make sure lots of people are, though, don't you worry about it. Sometimes those people even deserve it.

However, because the show (tragically!!) decides that Xiao Ge has somewhere else to be like 95% of the runtime, most of the relationship you get to see is between Wu Xie and Pangzi.

I'm saying this now as an old gay nerd who just this year celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary: I have never, never felt so represented in media as I have watching Wu Xie and Pangzi interact. There's a little wake-up song they sing together near the end of the show, and it just ... it packs so much character development into thirty seconds. These boys have been living adjacent lives for so long that they've made up their own little shared songs about the mundanities of daily living. That is just what happens when you marry your best friend and then decide to get old and weird together. Ask me how I know.

Look, if you want to know whether this show is for you or not, watch to the end of the first episode, to the part where Pangzi flips over the table. If your heart is filled with joy (as it should be), keep going.

Love makes a tomb-raiding syndicate family.

2. A fun-filled action-packed romp of nonsense!

If you're familiar with Hellblazer canon, this will make sense to you: Reunion is Dangerous Habits. If you're not familiar with Hellblazer canon, try it like this: Reunion is a terrible place to start because it plays on your extant affection for a character who gains a terrible status effect almost immediately. It's a also great place to start because it throws you right in the action with measurably high stakes and gives you a reason to build that affection very quickly.

I'm also going to warn you right off the bat: The plot of this show got cut to ribbons by censors.

See, the DMBJ books, being books, are allowed to get away with supernatural shit! So you've got zombies and ghosts and curses and monsters and immortality and all your other standard ooky spooky semi-urban fantasy trappings. But the DMBJ adaptations, being live-action, are heavily regulated in their content. This is why, in the early Reunion episodes, our heroes are menaced by human-looking creatures that are actually ancient mannequins made of leather that are piloted, mecha-style, by evil clams. Because evil clams are more scientific than zombies. I guess.

So yeah, the plot of this book already had to get mangled into a more "science"-compliant shape even before it made it to filming. The real problem is that a whole lot more of it got cut after it was all filmed and put together. I have read an explanation of what the actual storyline was supposed to be, and yeah, if you know what you’re looking at, you can see (and hear) the scars where major elements got hacked out with a weed whacker.

Therefore: You cannot expect this plot to make sense.

But that's okay! You're not here for the plot to make sense! You're here to watch some characters you love run around through ridiculous and sometimes beautiful labyrinths, trying to solve puzzles you're never given enough information to understand, all in search of the resolution to a mystery that had half its guts torn out before you got to see it -- and you are here to love it. If you have ever laughed and cheered your way through a Mission: Impossible film without pausing to care too much about the plot holes it’s dodging left and right, you are in the correct frame of mind to appreciate this. Just believe that whatever engaging nonsense the show tells you is correct for the time being and go with it.

You cannot watch DMBJ and care about the laws of physics. You simply cannot.

Do not, however, let me give you the impression that the shoddy plotting is accompanied by equally shoddy performances. A major part of this show’s incredible watchability comes from how the cast is shockingly good. There are some serious heavy hitters among the actors. A major part of why this Wu Xie and Pangzi are my favorite together is the incredible chops both Zhu Yilong and Chen Minghao have, to say nothing of their real-life affection for one another. (See that scar on Wu Xie's neck? That scar is there because Zhu Yilong commits to the bit.) Effortlessly charming Mao Xiaotong turns potentially irritating wunderkind Bai Haotian into a perfect precious weirdo baby. Wu Erbai's entire second-season character arc could have been unintentionally comedic, but veteran of queer cinema Hu Jun sells even the undignified moments as relentlessly tragic. And of course Baron Chen absolutely kills it with...

3. This giant fucking loser

This is Hei Xiazi. That's not his name, but it's close enough. Allow me to do a dramatic reenactment of my watching his first scene:

[camera pans over to him]

me: Ugh, I recognize this kind of wannabe badass character design. I hate his type. He's self-important, hyper-masculine, and just a big jerk, and the show thinks he's soooo cool. Barf.

[thirty seconds later]

me: Oh no. I was so wrong. I love him forever now.

This is because he is (as indicated above) a giant fucking loser. Yes, he's a good fighter who knows lots of things. He's also a wet potato chip of a man. Sure, he can get you into a headlock, but he can also annoy you into submission, and that's honestly more fun for him. My wife has used the phrase “Vash the Stampede-coded” to describe him. My wife is not wrong.

And the kind of ridiculous thing is, being such a loser is what wraps back around to making him cool again. He's a loser because he just doesn't fucking care. His masculinity is the opposite of fragile. You tell him to wear a dress and makeup, he'll do it -- and sure, he'll complain, but only because he enjoys complaining. He has no dignity. He’s tits-out. He's gender. He's the worst and also the best.

Hei Xiazi is a major character in the other installations, to the point where he and his boyfriend (more on him later) even have their own movie. But of course, I did not know this on my first watch, so I kept expecting the show to explain his whole deal. It does not, but you don't really need it to. He sees better in the dark. He doesn't age. He's a thug for hire. There, that's all the bio you need.

One of the things that makes him great is that he is the least sexually threatening person ever. Across all the properties he's in, he spends a fair amount of time with women -- sometimes in very close quarters -- and they are perfectly safe around him. I actually wrote a whole post about it once upon a time (warning for tiny spoilers for a series that isn't this one) wherein I claim that not only Xiazi but Reunion in general is the television equivalent of the shirt that says I RESPECT WOMEN SO MUCH I DON'T HAVE SEX WITH THEM.

That said, this loser does get a sort-of romance plot here -- and honestly, I find it very cute! It's not even the only instance in this series of a bisexual guy in a long-term same-sex relationship getting a girlfriend, and I like that other one too! Look, the handle of my DMBJ sideblog is @katamaricule because I joked that Wu Xie treats polyamory like a katamari, and if you don't move fast enough, you're going to be rolled right up into his gay little cuddle puddle.

This is not a show for exclusive ships; this is a show for inclusive ships. The Jiumen Association is a polycule. You don't even have to know what the Jiumen Association is to know it's true.

4. The power of friendship

This show has a lot of characters.

I'd say the supporting cast is divided into three categories: characters who have been in previous installments, characters who have not been in previous installments, and characters who probably should have been in previous installments (or at least mentioned) but who were only created for Reunion so we have to pretend like we've known about them all along.

There is no way to tell which is which -- which is part of my argument that this series makes a good entry point to the franchise.

Take Huo Daofu. Huo Daofu is a brilliant doctor masquerading as a donut stand operator who treats Wu Xie with all the cold disdain of a man confronting the person who left him at the altar years ago. On the one hand, yes! We do know Huo Daofu from a previous series, and we've known he's both a doctor and a bitch. On the other hand, oh, we have no idea why he's like this about Wu Xie, and we probably never will. The show just treats it like it's for an excellent reason, and you know what, from what you know about Wu Xie, it probably is.

Consider also Jiang Zisuan. One of the show's principal antagonists, Jiang Zisuan turns out to be the brother of ... well, let's just say it's someone whose having a brother really should have come up before this. It has not come up. (And that's even before we get into the issue of his surname.) His stated identity as that person's brother is so bizarre that my favorite interpretation is that he isn't actually that person's brother -- all the flashbacks we see are just his delusions about a relationship he's completely invented. But there's no way you'd know how fucking weird this is on your first run.

Then there's our friendly little support himbo, Kanjian, who shows up to all occasions with two tickets to the gun show and not a thought in that beautiful head. (His name just means "vest," which is par for the course when it comes to the author's naming conventions.) He was a lot more menacing in the last series (where they kept putting sleeves on him, geez), where most of what we learned about him is that you can loan him out to other tomb-raiding families. Now he's a golden retriever with great aim and a slingshot. It's an upgrade.

The trick is, you cannot be surprised when someone shows up and the show treats them like you should know who they are, even when there's no possible way you could know who they are. I mean, for heaven's sake, Liu Sang arrives in the middle of an obvious beef with Pangzi, the origins of which are never satisfactorily explained, while also having a giant do-I-want-to-fuck-him-or-do-I-want-to-be-him crush on Xiao Ge, which is also never satisfactorily explained. Whatever, you just roll with it. He's got good hearing, a bad attitude, and questionable taste in idols. Now you're good to go.

(I should throw in a special note here that Liu Sang is many, many people's little meow meow, and not undeservedly. For a fuller explanation of why that is, please consult this other post I made.)

Part of the fun of this big cast is the adorable interactions you get. All the characters have appropriately big personalities, and the show loves letting people you wouldn’t expect bounce off one another. It’s not your typical action-hero show where nothing happens without the protagonist in the room. There are lots of exciting combinations and tons of charming dynamics! Unlikely friendships form all over the place! Enemies become allies! Allies become friends! Friends become friends with other friends! Some friends become enemies again! You'll need a scoreboard to keep up!

This is not to say the show treats all its characters perfectly or equally -- one of the precious few main female characters doesn't even get a real name, for heaven's sake, and the less said about the brownface racism, the better. It is, at its heart, a dude show for dudes made in China, with all the troubling decision-making that implies. Where it does deserve credit, though, is in understanding that its supporting characters are actual people with personalities apart from their function in Wu Xie's narrative. Sometimes the show just asks "what if [random character A] and [random character B] had to interact?" and has fun considering the answer! Which is almost always a delight to watch, and sometimes even breaks your heart.

5. Amazing rewatch value!

And by this I mean the experience of watching this show is remarkably different once you have any understanding of the rest of the DMBJ universe.

For instance, there's a point where two characters are scuba-diving past some submerged coffins, and one character tells the other whose coffins they are. Working only on information Reunion has given you, you're like, oh, that's where they buried the guy who built this creepy place, that's a little weird. Once you recognize that name from other series, though, your reaction is far more, excuse me, they did WHAT to WHOSE corpses?

Or another point where a character you've already met is on a train, and there's a handsome gentleman who just happens to be riding with her. He hands her his business card! Aw, that's sweet, he seems like a nice guy! Well, no, Xie Yuchen is not nice, but he is one of our allies, and he's Hei Xiazi's boyfriend, and a lot of what he's doing hits real different when you have a fuller grasp on why he's doing it and for whom. (Honestly, a major reason to watch Reunion first is so you're not fully and appropriately upset by how your black/pink gays merely have one teeny tiny scene together.)

From the way the series treats the persistent absence of Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie's third uncle, I absolutely, 100% assumed that he was a completely new character to this installment of the series, an extremely long-lost relative that we've somehow conveniently managed to never talk about before now. So imagine my gobsmacked surprise when I went to watch a different series, set much earlier in the timeline, where the opening scene prominently features Wu Sanxing as an actual character in the present-day narrative! ...Well, sorta. Look, there's a lot of fuckery with his identity in earlier parts of the story, and fortunately you need to know none of it to understand Reunion. But when you do, it suddenly makes a lot more sense why Wu Xie talks about someone who was a major part of Wu Xie's adult life like he died when Wu Xie was nine.

AND THE FLASHBACK SCENE WHERE A-NING GETS KILLED BY THE SNAKE, AND YOU'RE LIKE, OKAY, AND THEN YOU WATCH ULTIMATE NOTE AND IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL look, I know there are kinda reasons for this, different production companies and all, but seriously, what the fuck

All of which to say is that the experience of watching Reunion the first time is, hey, this self-contained romp is a lot of fun! The experience of rewatching it after watching any of the other DMBJ installments is a transcendently wonderful head-clutching avalanche of one moment of recognition right after another.

And here's the thing: You will watch more. Reunion is a gateway drug. If you are interested enough to make it through all 62 episodes, you're going to be interested in watching more. Which is great. The English-speaking fandom needs more people. Come down into the tombs. It's great down here. We've got snakes and arguably unintentional homoeroticism. Join us. Join usssssssss

Are you ready for an aventure?

There are a couple different ways to watch the first half, but there's (weirdly) only one way to watch the second, so for both of them, I'm going to send you straight to iQiyi: Season 1 (32 episodes) and Season 2 (30 episodes).

And just so you’re ready when Reunion is done, here’s how you find the rest of the DMBJ series, in the absolutely non-chronological order in which I, personally, think you should watch them:

The Lost Tomb 2 (AsianCrush, YouTube)

Ultimate Note (iQiyi)

The Mystic Nine (iQiyi, Viki)

Sand Sea/Tomb of the Sea (Viki, WeTV, YouTube, also YouTube)

Also, there's a lot of movies and side series and other pieces that are worth seeing, and even a couple of full series I've left off the list, and you can just slot them in wherever. And maybe we'll get Tibetan Sea Flo-- IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! And someday maybe I'll actually have time to watch it! What a concept.

They're so perfect. Perfect triangle. Perfect boys.

[frustratedasatruar]

I want to talk about Mandalorians for a bit

I have long had a great deal of interest in the Mandalorians, going way back. But I've noticed that I don't have the same appreciation for them nor for the same reasons that other fans do.

So let me talk about how how I envision the Mandalorians.

The basic, root thing that I liked so much about the Mandalorians and thought was so unique, was that they are your classic SciFi/Fantasy Proud Warrior Race... who died out. Because obviously, that sort of aggressive, self-destructive behavior isn't sustainable, and a society either abandons it or collapses. Their homeworld is glass.

Remember back when Boba Fett was supposed to be the very last one?

I like that. I like the commentary in the Mandalorian-Warrior-Culture that was fundamentally hoisted by its own petard. The concept of the Battle of Galidraan has permeated fairly far into the fandom, and make no mistake; I like Galidraan as a historical event in the setting, and I like how it can play into the later decisions and characters both of Dooku and Jango Fett, who were there, and also how it can be of broader import to the factions with a relationship to the event.

But I get the sense that I am one of the few people who actually read the comic that first depicted the event; at Galidraan, Jango orders his men to attack the Jedi first. Fett lets his pre-existing prejudice against the Jedi dominate his decision making, and it gets everyone who trusted him as their leader wiped out.

The whole reason that Jango and his Jast'ade were on Galidraan in the first place was that they were hired by the Governor to put down a rebellion. You know, that same Governor who turns out to be working with Kyr'tsad, the demagolkise? That Governor. He has an ongoing insurrection against his rule.

I wonder why.

Does it perhaps seem reasonable to presume that, in this Star Wars story, these Rebels are the good guys here?

The Jast'ade wipe them out. Its just a contract for them, just a day at work. They presumably comport themselves fairly well for wartime; Vizsla is forced to... fabricate... the evidence of Mandalorians Killing Civilians that ends up getting passed on to the Galactic Senate, which speaks pretty well to the Jast'ade's ability to abide by whatever-the-setting-equivilent-Laws-of-War-are.

But they were clearly, unambiguously, literally fighting for the Bag Guy here.

To me, it always seemed kind of obvious that a key part of why the whole fiasco is so upsetting for the Jedi is that, due to trusting the (Sith Infiltrated) Senate's word, every part of this situation gets bungled.

Evil Governor commits whatever-sapient-rights-abuses (I suspect that among-other-things he is selling people into the Galactic Slave Trade) lead to the rebellion, with absolutely no response or censure from the Galactic Senate.

Rebellion starts against corrupt rule. The Jedi are not dispatched by the Senate to help overthrow the Governor, nor are they even sent to negotiate a peace. The Senate doesn't care enough to do that, presumably because its only poors and nonhumans dying.

The Governor is then able to contract an entire mercenary company, something which no doubt required a fair bit of negotiation and significant money changing hands, to come all the way to his backwater planet. He is able to direct these mercenaries to crush the entire popular rebellion.

The Senate takes so little notice of these things, that when the Governor contacts them to claim that Mandalorians are attacking his planet, the Senate in no way ties this back to the Governor's no-doubt-expensive contract with a Mandalorian mercenary company. Which, y'know. It shouldn't be hard to come to the suspicion that he's trying to break his side of the deal.

Only now are the Jedi informed of this situation, and an emergency task force needs to be mustered and dispatched on very short notice. Civilians are being massacred right now. Consequently, they are wildly under-briefed on the situation.

They show up and are directed by-the-governor towards the so-called "True Mandalorians." The Jedi get there, find a sizable and well supplied Mandalorian warparty on a planet which they-know-has-seen-pillaging-and-civilians-being-killed-by-Mandalorians (Kyr'tsad, remember).

Perhaps least important of all, is their actual encounter with the Jast'ade itself. They are, as mentioned, fired upon first and the Jast'ade do not offer surrender even as the battle quickly turns against them, instead fighting to the death. An unnecessarily large number of Jedi die in this battle, speaking to organizational failures preparing the mission, and I could certainly write an analysis comparing this to the first Battle of Geonosis and the similarly under-prepared initial Jedi response there. Ultimately, the primary problem in both cases is that there are a small number of Jedi total (low five-digits even prior to the Clone Wars) and the Republic has them assigned to way too many jobs. They cannot take their time, so they have to take risks. Risks which see higher casualty rates and mean that there are even fewer people available for the next crisis- y'know, in a couple days.

Again, scheduling concerns; the Jedi are not permitted to do their own post-operation cleanup. Consequently, Jango Fett is handed over to the crooked Governor for local trial, and is instead illegally sold into slavery. Kyr'tsad, the more extremist militant Mando faction, is able to leave totally unimpeded, as the Jedi do not learn of their involvement until later.

In terms of the ongoing Mandalorian civil war, the "moderate" traditionalists are now removed as a faction. Oops.

The Jedi have plenty of reason to be unhappy about this fiasco, and it serves as a solid radicalization-point for Dooku against the Republic. But the only thing that you can really say the Jedi did wrong was "trust the Galactic Senate," an organization they were treaty-bound to obey in either case.

[alliwantistowearcomfypants]

I'm not gonna lie, I think mandalorian should have ended at season 2. It just buttoned up so well, and the message was incredible. It was touching and sad. And then, like a month later, it didn't matter. Season 3 was so disappointing to me, and I think a big reason for that is because it lacked that simplicity the first 2 seasons had. The show was just about a damaged man finding his humanity and helping various people along the way. I know that not everyone loved the simplicity, but I think it was the best thing the show had going for it. Star Wars often suffers from stuffing so much crap in the story that it forgets to add character arcs.

The first 2 seasons are super character focused. The plot is so intertwined with Dins' character growth that it doesn't focus on the big picture. But in s3, Din barely has any growth as a character. There's stuff happening left and right, but Din doesn't really have any emotional stakes in it. Him trying to get his mandalorian status back feels hallow because we literally just watched 2 whole seasons of him breaking away from it. One of the biggest character moments for him was taking off his helmet for grogu. He's telling grogu that he matters more. That he would give it all up for him. It's so touching and feels like his character's natural progression. And then we're supposed to care when all of a sudden he wants back into the morally questionable pseudo cult he broke away from for his baby? I don't care! That plot point also resolves itself in like 3 episodes with little to no confluct, so now what. He wants to help Bo Katan. Ok. Why. No idea. He's kinda just there, watching things happen around him. There's no inner conflict or tough decisions he needs to make. His character arc is over, and you can tell the writers didn't know what to do with him.

The show is honestly focused more on bo katan than din. Which, no hate to her, but I'm not here for her. She's treated like a wronged princess, not like a deeply flawed terrorist who saw the error of her ways way too late. She literally aided in getting her planet overrun by crime leaders and sith. And the show just brushes past that. They don't even mention Satine, which could have been a great way to humanize Bo. Have her struggle with the fact that she got her sister killed. Have her wanting to restore mandalor for her sister, who died trying to protect it. It would have been so much more impactful if Bo Katan's motivation was out of guilt for getting her sister killed and planet overrun. She could have slowly opened up about her complicated relationship with her sister. She could have had an obi wan kenobi type arc. Learning the only thing she can do is move forward. Try to right her wrongs. Restore Mandalore in the name of her flawed but deeply devoted sister. I do not understand why they didn't at least touch on Bo's personal ties to the planet. She feels so one dimensional, and they could have easily made her more interesting. Or at least motivating.

My biggest problem with the show is that I didn't really care. I didn't care about Bo Katan's goals or Din's. And I think the biggest reason is because the show forgot to add character moments that tied them to the things they want in a personal way. Also, Din's baptism thing was stupid. Just cut that out entirely. No one wanted that.

[starpeace]

here for the mandalorian rant ☕️

um well the first episode of the brand new season of disney+’s flagship star wars show was entirely... filler. the dialogue was incredibly bad, not even written badly but as if no-one had written it at all. entirely flat and devoid of life, in a show with a faceless protagonist whose dialogue literally has to carry all the weight. din continues to have no opinions, no emotion and nothing to say

as for the plot, what even happened in this episode? we open with the mandalorian covert ritually giving a child their helmet, but this is not explored at all, it’s only there to be interrupted with a giant monster fight for absolutely no reason, as if this show has been written by six-year-old me livening up clicking my barbies together by grabbing my toy dinosaurs. din has conversations with the armourer and bo-katan purely to rehash the information we’ve already been given, partly because half of it was in a bad show the casual audience won’t have watched. neither of these characters is doing anything.

din visits greef karga, who is now discount lando “gone respectable” but instead of having personality he’s just really into gentrification and this is presented completely uncritically. din, a character most charming for being the beaten up mercenary underdog of the galaxy, suddenly hates pirates and disorder (well, hates would imply he shows emotion—dislikes pirates and disorder? is mildly perturbed by pirates and disorder?), and pals around with high magistrates who offer him a position as a cop/landed gentry (they actually use the words “landed gentry”). there’s a couple of meaningless unfunny comic relief scenes because this is all that grogu is here for now, complete with a reference to, of all things, the rise of skywalker. in what is apparently the main plot of the episode, which is, i repeat, the first episode of the brand new season, din takes up a fetch quest to get a random droid part for an absolutely laughable reason that does nothing but completely negate a character arc from season 1 and everything we have been shown since, just reminding you that not even death will be allowed to have emotion or narrative weight, or prevent disney from dragging back onto your screen anything that will sell. he doesn’t actually do this fetch quest, btw, he just gets given it, because apparently we have to do multiple episodes of this

did i get everything? was that the whole episode? oh wait there was the fight with the pirates in space. i forgot it because there was zero tension. those pirates also earlier wanted to... have a drink in a school with greef, i guess, in a completely baffling scene? i can’t imagine there was any point to this pirate bit except to put fight scenes into this filler episode and force the visual effects people to carry the entire lumbering weight of this show. one has to assume that otherwise the pirates would have had personalities or motivations. oh, also purrgils appeared in this episode, because this is the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, and you’d better watch all the interconnected shows so all your beloved characters can eventually come together to swap lifeless quips on screen, just like you always wanted.

a droid drops a statue’s head on top of a murder droid to stop it, purely so din can say, “now that’s using your head.” if you were wondering what i meant about the dialogue.

i don’t even need to get into the politics of the story they’re telling. i don’t need to humiliate it further by comparing it to andor. it’s just bad to watch on a basic technical fundamental level, and it’s not headed anywhere better, because they will be churning out this story for cash forever with no goal or meaning, under circumstances where i cannot seriously even imagine caring about star wars anymore. hope this helps!

[david-talks-sw]

Thoughts on Tales of the Empire?

Worth noting that I do my best to look at these as short films, the same as the ones I see when I go to film festivals. So re: any "lore-breaking" elements (Grievous' design, Thrawn stuff, etc)... I don't see them as retcons, so much as just format-driven reinterpretations.

That said, the first of the Morgan episodes is okay, the rest is lackluster... which is telling, frankly.

Even with three Tales of the Empire episodes on top of what we've seen in Ahsoka and The Mandalorian, they still haven't been able to give this character more depth than "she suffered loss and now she's mean." Morgan Elsbeth is the Jiren of Star Wars, as far as I'm concerned.

The Barriss episodes were fine. I'm glad to see she finds the light in the end and goes back to being a healer (win for EU fans) and I'm glad she eventually mended bridges with Ahsoka. She's probably not dead, if you ask me.

But even here... this is someone who bombed the temple, killed innocent people, made a woman inject nanobots into her husband then choked her to death to cover her tracks AND framed her friend.

A lot of people cling to her speech in the Senate to characterize her as this Cassandra-type figure, but don't forget this moment...

I mean come on guys, she's literally smiling sadistically, here.

My point being: she's no snowflake.

Aside from the already-panned fact that taking one of the few muslim-coded characters and making them a bomber is extreeemely poor form: you made a choice in writing, now stick to it. You wanted to have Barriss be someone who feels the red blades of a known assassin "suits her"? Do it.

I have no idea where they saw the above and thought that the "I don't wanna fight you, old friend" BS in her first episode, or the "we're supposed to be better than this" rhetoric from the second episode, would track.

I can fill in the gaps, and gladly will.

My headcanon is that Luminara visited her whenever she could... and this softened Barriss' hardened heart, over time. Then one day she's sent to Kashyyk, and "don't worry Barriss, I'll be back for our daily chat"... and she doesn't. Barriss goes to sleep concerned, wakes up during Order 66.

But, as usual, that's me getting creative with it because the creatives wouldn't do so in the first place. Also, I'm pretty sure "Barriss becomes an inquisitor" is a turnout most folks expected, so no real mind-blowing beats coming from these episodes.

All in all, a 7/10 in my book (a high score despite all my bitching because my qualms are with the writing; the sound design and visuals are amazing and I think a 7 reflects that).

[slyvester101]

Red vs Blue star wars au where the Freelancers are Jedi and the Reds and Blues are Mandalorian.

There’s obviously beef between them, the Freelancers think the RVBs are aggressive, loud mouthed killers with nothing inside their heads except beskar and the RVBs think the Freelancers are high and mighty, self-righteous know-it-alls who steal kids just to make them snout nosed brats.

Tucker has a lightsaber for some reason (maybe even the darksaber if we're feeling spicy) and scares the fuck out of people since this Mandalorian is waving around an incredibly deadly lazar sword without any prior training while also fucking everyone's shit up despite not knowing what he's doing.

Wash ends up getting on the RVBs tail about it since he thinks they stole/killed for it and wants to get it back. Cue a lightsaber fight between Wash and Tucker and Wash is fuming the whole time because Tucker is somehow keeping up with him even though his form is awful and the only reason his arms haven't been cut off (by Wash or himself) is because he's wearing beskar.

Tucker is over here lowkey, angrily swooning over this Jedi who could totally beat his ass if it wasn't for all of Tucker's dirty moves (bow chicka bow wow) but is also annoyed because this Jedi is literally everywhere he goes now and you can only handle being jumped while getting groceries before it gets really old.

Maybe plot happens and some of the Freelancers realize how the Jedi are being manipulated by the Chancellor (the Director or the Chairman honestly, they're both corrupt white men), and get out of dodge before the whole Jedi Collapse happens and they go to the RVBs and are given honorary Mandalorian status in order to hide from the Empire. Maybe it's all of them, maybe only Wash and Carolina make it.

All that matters is that now the Freelancers are with the RVBs and are on the run from the Empire while also figuring out a way to take down the Chancellor. Yes, the other Freelancers freak out about Tucker's lightsaber. No, he will not give it back, this is his lightsaber thank you very much. Yes, they fight over who has the cooler armor (It's Maine, fuck you).

Yes, Wash and Tucker give each other keldabe kisses. Yes, it's as sickeningly soft as you're imagining, hands holding the backs of necks to pull them harder into their helmets and everything.

[gffa]

I was wondering if you could share your thoughts and feelings on Felonys takes over the years overall? I know a lot of people see him as this grand savior of star wars without much more to it so I wanted to hear your take on how he handles the pre-established world he writes for and the dissonance with what George Lucas established/said before

Honestly, I think a lot of Felony's appeal is that he writes a very polished story and that's appealing to audiences (no shade, I'm part of that audience!) and that he has at least given some thought to what the Force means. There are a lot of takes he has that I agree with, I still quote what he says about the characters at times, but I think he has a big central problem and that's characterization drift-slash-the inability to let go. Well, two big central problems: He also can't write/finish a narrative arc to a satisfying conclusion. I have such a hard time getting into the Mandalorian storyline because it's been told in snippets for like 10+ years now and it's never really coherently come together, it still has huge gaps in it, it doesn't have a strong narrative central theme that he sticks to, but instead told through cameos and mini-arcs in separate shows. And when you examine a lot of his work, it often doesn't hold up to scrutiny because I'm not sure he has a solid thematic throughline that's driving him--like, some of the choices he made in season 7 of TCW are baffling--Ahsoka walks right by people who need her help, then says, "In my life, when someone needs help, I help them."??? When she wants the Jedi to help Mandalore instead of Coruscant, she says the Jedi aren't helping the people who really need them, despite that Coruscant is under attack and that's where Trace and Rafa are, the characters we just spent an entire arc on?? Ahsoka and Bo-Katan want the Republic to literally invade Mandalore, this is brought up in the arc itself, and then never mentioned again because it's inconvenient and the author doesn't want to deal with the established worldbuilding?? I also don't think he knows how to end a story, like I love Ahsoka as a character, but he very much does favor her and a lot of her appearances are starting to feel like she's only there because Filoni can't resist. She just never ends, there's no conclusion to her, what's even her character arc over the course of her life after the Jedi genocide? She's obviously dealing with trauma about it and now she's looking for Ezra to find him again, but what's the character arc on a personal level? Is she still dealing with letting go of Anakin, ~30 years after it happened? Did she not put that to rest in Rebels finally? @david-talks-sw has a great post about the differences between George Lucas and Dave Filoni here, illustrating that I do think Dave misses some really key points about characters that he has personal biases against. And, you know, I'm not getting after him for that, I disagree with him and I think he's wrong about a lot of stuff that Lucas directly established, but I also think a lot of people dismiss criticism of him because, oh, he worked with George and therefore he's an extension of George! No, he's a different writer with his own strengths and weaknesses, one I think who makes very popular (often for a reason) Star Wars, but I think misses the heart a lot of times. But I also often think of that he doesn't try to see himself as the grand lord of Star Wars, either, even he himself says:

He's not the ultimate authority on Star Wars, he's just as fallible as anyone else is, and always should be. I think he made Star Wars shows that a lot of people loved, he has a very polished style, and he has given thought to the characters he loves. He just also has biases and directly conflicts with George Lucas' established story and I think that's fair to point out. Maybe you like those better, I'm not trying to talk anyone out of that, but it's still fair game for me to point out that I think he's wrong about Star Wars just as often as he's right. (And that, as time goes on and The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett became more and more of a hot mess, I grew less charitable. This is a major overview, I don't want to get too into the weeds on this, I've gone over a lot it in past meta, and it would be exhausting to dig it all up again, but basically this is why I'm on the fence about Felony. He has a lot of weaknesses as a writer and I don't find I like his strengths more than I dislike his weaknesses sometimes.)

[silvertws]

"Hermit craft" and other ccs because they are cool. STAR WARS AU (I think imma do different ones depending on like Prequels, Sequels, and Present or whatever it's called yk, droids, Vader and Kylo)...? Unsure I'm just doing Vader now.

*Cries in the amount of research I'm going to have to do*

Xiuma and Mumbo -> def mechanics, ships repairing, Mumbo never drove any of his fucking ships, he would suck as a pilot, Xiuma is good at it tho!

Grian -> one of the best, if not the best pilot in the galaxy -> does bro have the force? Yuh, does he know or use it? Nuh uh also Pearl's sibling, they got separated when little.

Scar -> co-pilot of Grian, has a motored wheelchair, he's the most curious one out of the two. He is the one that tells Grian to do something and join the rebellion.

Doc ->maybe some imperial scientist of some kind???? He scares me.

Scott... You scare me but! Leader potential? Scavenging with Cleo, Scott -> the brain, Cleo -> them muscles, she's a skilled blaster fighter, possibly Mandalorian..? We're there mandalorians of that species....?????Cleo is a Togruta def.

Pearl -> definitely started off as a Padawan, sister of Grian -> = older (aka, yes the gist of "mf is too old to be trained, but his sister ain't, YOINK"), yeah he was not pleased. Pearl basic doesn't remember him, like, she knows she has a brother somewhere, but yk. Yeah so, Master dies, obviously 🙄, cause you know order 66, still debating who that should be... Uhhhhh Maybe Impulse? Yes you're dying boi. Be sad. Someone has to. So yeah, she escapes, and then I'm going to presume she's going in hiding... With another surviving Padawan... Maybe Gem, yeah. Yeah shiny duo why not. So they go into hiding, they survive by themselves, somehow, a bit of thievery never hurt anyone... Oh wait.

Anyway happiness doesn't last.

Bye bye Pearl, to get captured and become a sith you gooo.

Sorry Gem <\3 you'll see each other again.

While Pearl is "busy" turning to the Darkside and Just not having s good time, Gem joins the rebels, not revealing her past, he's lightsaber was broken during her qnd Pearl's escape after all. She does still have her Kyber cristal (green..? They focus more on defending to my knowledge, plus healing? Something like that) Pearl's used to be blue.

So yeah, Gem joins the rebels, where she does missions here and there and meets people like Tango.

Tango -> Pilot, and one of the leaders of a small squad that usually does ambushes to the Empire. (This is due to how fucking mental this guy was with EVERYTHING last season, he deserves to have a leading and planning spot)

Etho is a spy for the rebels. No questions asked. He is. Why? Don't exactly know...? He gives me spy vibes. Mf works for the Empire but is a double agent.

Joel and Lizzie have a bar where they try to keep it neutral, they don't enjoy the empire but don't want to risk loosing what they have to actively fight. They do hide rebels from time to time and share some rations. They know Tango, since he's the one who usually contacts them and also hid there a couple of times. They also know Etho since he goes there whenever he's dispatched to the planet.

Yes. The "Etho stop being obsessed with me" joke lives on.

Now... Owen. You sir. Terrify me. You're very scary as a villain but very adorable as a hero which you know what that means.

BETRAYAL.

oh this mf is playing the rebels like fools!

Nobody suspects the nice mechanic and co-pilot to be an imperial spy... Definitely didn't install a tracker on the ship AND the droid.

Grian and scar + Cleo and Scott + Etho, Gem, Owen all know each other.

Cleo and Scott do not care to join the rebellion and probably never will.

Scar convinces Grian to help.

Etho squad and Scott team have often had fights because of one stealing stuff before the other.

Joey is a pirate with Sausage, Skizz and Martyn. The often had fights with literally all of the other teams.

Ren -> imperial general.

Jimmy -> you know what..? Bounty hunter. And you may think. Jimmy..? A bounty hunter? Bro u cray cray, Nuh uh. Listen. Listen. He's not HORRIBLE at his job, he's not super great either. But he does get enough cash to survive.

Now. Who has a bounty on them..?

Literally everyone I mentioned tbh-

But for plot, and because you guys love flower husbands, I'm gonna go with Scott.

So yeah goofy bounty hunter×the one mf who keeps on slipping away.

And yes, he does go to Joel bar to complain and Joel keeps on taunting him about it.

Ok now.

We did flower husbands.

So I think it's time for the Nature wives.

Shelby is indeed a force user... Or maybe a Witch from Dathomir??? Or maybe.. ok.

Let's say.

She goes to Dathomir.

And like, I remember basically nothing about that so please don't come for me for inaccuracies.

If I remember, from Star wars fallen order (I have not played survivor yet.), the witches are dead. Except one yk, our beloved girlypop, so idk if I should do Shubble being the last one, and meeting Katherine as she crashed down on her planet. Or idk.

Also Katherine is a princess 100%

Think about her like Leia, cool, badass, and fights, I'm thinking for her to be a Mandalorian, because fighting you know. Wither that or she's just the princess of idek. My memory of the planets and systems is very limited ok? I'm very bad with names...

So yeah, maybe a bit of a black lightsaber situation could happen? Idek.

BigB and B-Dubs... I again have no idea.

I don't watch these two- they could be bounty hunters...? Merchants...???? Mercenaries....???? No clue- I mean, I have basically 0 villains planned but I don't think either of them could be an inquisitor or a general/commander of some kind- and I don't know how I wanna do the stormtroopers so... They could be Jedi masters? Maybe one died and the other didn't? Maybe they both died to protect the Padawans? Maybe they're both alive..???? Ughhhhhh ToT

I definitely need to put more villains-

But I don't wannaaaa ToT like sure, the pirate gang, sure, bounty hunter Jimmy.

But the inquisitors brooo.

Like other than Pearl idkkk

She slays so hard she doesn't need other inquisitors-

Like idek know who to make the BBEG

cause like... Scott could definitely be Vader ok. I know. I Know........ And Cleo be an inquisitor??? But I like Jimmy and Scott possible dynamic as bounty hunter×that one mf-

Likeeee arghhhhh

Ren is just too Goofy to be plays as a BBEG

Owen just has to betray someone ok? He needs the switch up.

Uhhhhhh...

Literally idek-

Do I randomly put Kier and Dev into this???

Quackity?????

Philza and Tommy could definitely be Jedi Master and young Padawan...

Like Ranboo is not giving villain.

Technoblade definitely would but, I don't want to put him in... In case I get yelled at TwT

Niki could be an inquisitor- definitely giving "the Jedi are corrupted at and so I decided to kill them all as revenge for taking away my childhood and my right of choice". So yeah.. definitely a "Padawan indoctrinated by the Darkside becomes inquisitor". Kinda like Pearl? But she didn't get tortured- it was kinda her choice sooooo. I guess I'm putting Niki in

FableSMP members???? Do I just put Fable as the BBEG????He could be more like Palpatine than Vader tho, since the manipulation and being well, powerful as fu- like, he works...Ok now I have ideas for FableSMP characters... Enderian would def be a witch of Datomir, my only issu with that is that I don't exactly know how that would work with Centross.

But. For what does work.

Wolf/Fenris??? Idk how it's written.

Used to be an imperial general, betrayed Fable. When he realized his kingdom was not safe even if he stayed with him.

Rae -> in this universe Enderian is out of the picture, like not even mentioned, sorry girly.

Rae is the child of Isla, who was the queen of whatever because again, this is just me writing down dumb ideas. So, Rae and Icarus were sent away when he was little by Isla, who wanted to keep him away from the empire's arms due to his connection to the force.

Icarus -> older sibling to Rae, has no connection to the force, (no Quixis, you're not doing shit this time >:(), when them and Rae were sent away, they didn't understand why fully. As he got older they resented Rae because they felt like if Rae didn't have a connection to the force then they'd be able to be a family. But that resentment soon moved to the force itself, the stores about the Jedis, the sith, all that chaos. They don't know exactly how to help Rae, all they can do is try to protect him from the empire. (I'm giving Rae and Icarus a good-ish relationship ok? We all need that)

Momboo and Ocie -> are sisters, both use the force and both were trained by the Jedis, needless to say they are not like 20 yo, I think imma make them around 35/40..? (Safe to say Icarus and Momboo won't have a relationship.No.)

They both survived order 66 but got separated.

Now for the angsty part.

Momboo during her travels tried to find and protect kids gifted with the force. She would then proceed to die, leaving Jamie and Uhh fuck I don't remember their name, well, her other kid ok? With one message, to find Ocie, she could help them.

Ocie did not have as much maternal instincts as her sister, but, she picked along a small child, Oscar, a child made orphan by the empire. I'm figuring out the species still. She would settle down, she thought she was away from everything, that she could heal. Then Momboos kids came, and boom, training arc for those little shits. (/Sarcastic /not mean /please I'm not serious)

Centross -> now, I know in FableSMP he's not on Fable's side but Enderian's, the problem with that is that I think that the only thing that fits Enderian is a Dathomir's witch. And I don't exactly know how that could work. Like sure, let's make her a sith, but she's supposed to be like on Fable's power level, and she's definitely not a Jedi. So. For Centross, he could 100% be an inquisitor. 100% not even questioning it. This is based upon when he was violet reaper, yes yes, I am aware he was not on Fable's side, but I believe Fable is more fit as Palpatine than Enderian, sorry girlboss. Also sorry Centross, you're not getting a redemption arc.

Origin members..?????? (Except you know who ofc)

Do I just mix up some Steve Saga like- I CAN'T DO THAT YK.

Like so many but yet arghhhhh

Idkkkkk

So many possible heroessss.

Like the only ones I KNOW could be great villains for sure are Pearl, Scott, and Owen. And Scott and Owen are the only ones who I could see as the BBEG.

But again, you know... TwT

Can't use Scott, Owen is already a traitor, unsure if he should be using the force.

And Pearl is just- s c a r y but she will have a redemption arc so yk.

Ughhhhh

Like Gem could also have villain potential but likeeeeee

®×`]?×¢{§`}~[¢÷!4(&(&(2)

I will maybe get more ideas in the future once I've done more research.

Please this is just a draft so don't come for me and the inaccuracies. I'm not even sure I'll actually bother to write an actual storyline, this is for funzies. Also the ages of characters might vary from the originals because again, this is an AU.

Also if anyone sees this and knows how to write and for some reason does anything with this, cool! :DDD it's not gonna happen, but cool!

[nocturius8015ficore]

Fanfiction #5: Trust

Nocturius: 5th Republic Commando fanfiction! Here a scene with some underrated Alpha ARCs trooper Sull and Spar!

Enjoy!

---

Title: Trust

Fandom: Star Wars Republic Commando books by Karen Traviss

Characters: Bardan Jusik, Fi Skirata, Sull and Spar

Rating: Family-friendly ** Fairly accessible to people who don’t know RepComm **

Topic: Friendship, loyalty

Pitch: The atmosphere is thick in the route from Mandalore to Coruscant as the two Alpha Arcs troopers are traveling with former Jedi Bardan Jusik...

---

Fews minutes after the Aggressor starfighter jumped in hyperdrive, Bardan Jusik, a former Jedi now a full-time Mandalorian warrior, was in command. He let out a brief sigh after making sure everything was safely on autopilot and let his legs rest on the co-pilot seat.

Jusik still felt not entirely sure about letting Fi coming with them on Coruscant but the lad was eager to get into new challenges.

Something about the Core planet preoccupied him too. The problem with the Force though, was that things were mostly feelings and not actual intel he could build something on.

He also felt burning eyes on the back of his head. Deserter Alpha ARC trooper Sull didn’t trust him. He knew though that he would do nothing against him. Not with Fi around watching his six and surely not now he knew that Kal Skirata was actively working to find a cure for aging clones. Jusik finally positioned himself as if he was about to take a nap, but discreetly entered in meditation state. Even out of the Order, Force’s skills were best kept sharp. In a little common room, Fi, Sull and Spar, another Alpha ARC deserter were in dead silence. Fi was usually the one to break a heavy mood but he had a lot on his mind already. Plus, talking fluently was still a complicated matter. He didn’t want to look diminished in front of the two Alpha ARCs, but since Fi punched Sull in the face two months ago, no one would ever think that. Surprisingly, Sull was the one who broke the ice.

‘’So… That’s true. You really are supposed to be dead. I sliced into the GAR’s medical reports. Things looked seriously bad. No tricks. How did you make it through?

‘’ Officially discharged dead, yeah. ‘’

Contrary to before his injury, Fi’s thoughts were running faster than his mouth, he wanted to express how he felt the GAR treated him like garbage. GAR-bage was actually a funny pun, but the tone didn’t feel right to say it out loud at the moment.

‘’ I got help from my vode and the girls. ‘Couldn’t do it alone. Being nice to people, having friends pay off, you know? ’’

‘’ Di’kut…’’

‘’Drop it.’’ said Spar, a hand on his shoulder. ‘’He is right though, it’s time for us to learn to stand together, the Mando way.’’

‘’…With that shabla Jetii…’’ Sull muttered.

‘’ I thought we agreed he is my vod. Our vod. You better change that attitude. Him and Parja are the ones who put me back on my feet. Bard’ika literally quit the Order to nurse me for a big fat month ‘’

‘’… A month you said? ’’

‘’ More than that, but a month daily, multiple hours on my side. Fixing my brain cell by cell or something. I don't remember the early days. Ordo and A’den were there. We are a year and a half later and he was still doing his magic tricks on me the other day. Burning itself doing it. ‘’

Fi paused and looked at his friend in the pilot seat. He was able to say complete sentences when he concentrated enough but felt a bit mentally exhausted. Shab, his body was about fine now but there was still a lot of stuff to get right.

‘’ It’s not like the legends then, is it? Healing an open wound, laying-on-of-hands style in a few minutes with the power of love and friendship or some osik. ‘’ said Sull, one eyebrow left.

‘’ He basically gave you one of his metaphysical kidneys? ’’ add Spar, looking in the direction of the cockpit.

Jusik stretched his arms and did an almost theatrical yawn before joining the conversation.

‘’ More like part of my metaphysical liver, it will regrow over time. Time is what I have P for Plenty as Kal’buir would say. I can’t buy the sins of the Order, but I can share some of my privileges with you. Might have get few gray hairs doing it, but I don’t regret it in the slightest and would I do it again if needed. I was prepared to do it for the rest of my life, actually. Fi recovery is a little miracle even by Jedi standards.

‘’ I wouldn't be there without you. ‘’ said Fi, his chin down and suddenly very emotional. ’’ Parja… She gave me so much hope, she filled the void in my life. She was way more than a nurse. I’m so glad we are married now. ‘’

‘’ You did a lot of the work by yourself too, look at those arms! ‘’ Jusik wink at him as he pressed his shoulder vigorously, who was not quite as large as the two other clones.

They all laughed while Fi, with a sad smile, wiped the corner of his eyes discreetly.

‘’ Congrats by the way. ‘’ said Spar cheerfully. ‘’Did you choose a godfather for the future kid you’ll get?

The mood was definitely lighter. Fi looked at Bardan who was making a jug of caf for everyone.

‘’ Mando'ade doesn’t have godfather traditions. We are Aliit, we care for each other, but I know who I trust and would do anything for.’’ Fi slowly lifted his mug and salute his non-clone brother.

[roboknight-prime]

(This is my first post on here😅)

i wanted to get this off of my chest about

The Drama between Sabezra and Wolfwren Shippers...

So i have been hearing a lot of drama going on with the Star Wars Community between the Shippers of Sabezra and this so-called "Wolfwren," which i really don't get? Because Shin Hati, who is an amazing character, doesn't have a name of "wolf" but people say that Baylon (R.I.P Ray Stevenson) found her during Order 66 and trained her to be not a Jedi nor a sith but something else? My guess is a Grey Jedi term. who both used the power of light and dark sides of the Force. Then, somehow, it gotten worse because the actors shared some Shinxsabine art? Even though they're just using them to promote the Ahsoka Series, and i know that the actors like this "wolfwren" (in my opinion... it's a stupid ship name, and I'm sorry about that, but i fully respect it just... workshop the name) And there are two characters that have the name of wolf. Such as Clone Commander Wolffe and Mandalorian Nite Owl Axe Wolves.

But Shin doesn't have that, but people have been saying that Baylon is like a Wolf and Shin is a Cub wolf, which is.... odd. But literally, tho. Even people who shipped Miles and Gwen they even called them GhostFlower.

Which i totally get!

Because Miles listen to the music Sunflower, and Gwen is literally a ghost to all the Peter Parkers who have lost their Gwens in their Dimensions.

But wolfwren? I don't get it at all.

But back to the point of all this "drama" between shippers and these so-called "ship wars"

But people can ship whoever they want they are going to be people who will disagree on stuff no matter what. That's what literally makes us humans. But fighting over fictional characters and sending threats to the artist is not ok, and your choices will always have consequences. I am going to say the cold-hearted truth.

Dave Filoni won't have the These characters get together in Ahsoka season 2 because we all must learn by now that Dave Filoni always has a character die in the series. I didn't care what reaction Ezra and Sabine were going to have when Wren found Bridger. And they hugged for the very first time. That made me happy, and i was happy that Ezra was found.

But it is also up to Dave Filoni and the Writers to decide that. And knowing Dave Filoni, he is not going to do that. Because we know that he's gonna write the story for season 2 on his own again, like how he did with Ahsoka Season 1, and we all know that Sabine isn't planning to get into a relationship because she's a rebel (not the hero type crap) the rebel type where she ditches school and causes chaos to annoy the police crap. Plus She's so Mandalorian. And let's also not forget that Force-sensitive warriors and Mandalorians were once Ancient enemies until Jedi Knight Revan got involved in the fight, but that's a story for another time.

It is also not ok to force someone into shipping that similar fictional characters. We all have a right and a choice to ship what characters they want to ship.

And i am going to give everyone a reminder about Ezra and Sabine. Read this VERY!! Carefully!

They are not related. i get it that they have a Platonic Relationship. Some of you can see them as Siblings while others just see them as high school dorks/best friends/friends to lovers and all of that crap. Which i totally respect, and it's your own opinion and your choice.

And fighting over Fictional Characters getting together is not worth it, and let me remind you all that both ships will never happen. And i am sorry to both Sabezra and Wolfwren shippers... mostly to The Sabezra group since i ship Ezra and Sabine for a long time since Rebels came out. But never mind that.

And sorry for saying this as well..

It is also stupid of people to fight over fictional characters that aren't real!! This whole ship wars is useless and an excuse to make more drama to the Star Wars Community.

Star Wars is for everyone!

And then, really, people are getting pissed off about the actors posting the wolfwren art instead of the Sabezra artwork. And also supporting it. (No disrespect to the actors tho they did amazing playing as the Characters in the series) Come back into reality the only reason why they did that so they can piss off people in the community and also promote the series/making money about it. That's what actors do. Everything is about the money nowadays and money talks. But let's also not forget that they are under contract as well. And I can not say a lot of things about the series. And they didn't credit the artist that made them because the Star Wars Characters aren't owned by us. But the official account of Ahsoka did they don't care if its a ship. All they see is just big dollar signs of those characters.

I'm gonna say this again to remind you all again. But it's gonna be in big words.

"IT IS OK TO SHIP WHOEVER YOU WANT TO SHIP, BUT THEY'RE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO WILL HAVE THEIR OWN OPINIONS AND HATRED TO THE CHARACTERS."

I HAVE SPOKEN!

[roninreverie]

Why Ahsoka's Thrawn isn't actually the real Thrawn

A theory by me, which I am going to be so annoying about for the foreseeable future, so let me just try to get most of it out of my system right here and now. 😅

---

So we all know by now that Thrawn is revving up to be the BIG BAD for the live action Star Wars series tying The Mandalorian into Ahsoka and working off of the Rebels finale.

I also remember hearing old rumors that they were going to be pulling a lot from legends lore for this show, and that Timothy Zahn was not really involved at all with the show itself. (Feel free to update me otherwise though.)

Now, the fact that they're calling him the "Heir to the Empire" in the teaser trailer is already a pretty decent confirmation that the legends lore nods are in full swing. So this raises red flags for Thrawn's character, who, as we know from the newer novels, has a bit more motivation to him than his legends counterpart, and while the two are not wholly dissimilar, there have been a few important updates to his character since the early 90's.

Not to mention, I've heard a lot of people saying "If Zahn isn't involved, it wouldn't really BE Thrawn, right?"

EXACTLY!

I have a very strong gut feeling that this Thrawn isn't actually going to be the Mitth'raw'nuruodo that we expect him to be, and here's why:

Evidence #1: The Beskar Spear

In Chapter 13 of Mando, we're introduced to Morgan Elsbeth who was apparently working so closely with Thrawn that Ahsoka Tano shows up to battle her and demand information on his wearabouts.

Do you really believe Grand Admiral Thrawn would think very highly of a woman who had tarnished the artistic craftsmanship and history of Mandalorian armor just to forge it into a spear?

Lest we forget how upset he got at Captain Slavin just for badmouthing Hera's kalikori in Rebels?

But Thrawn is a big-picture kind of guy, so swallowing his opinions on the dismissal to the value of art isn't necessarily out of character for him, and I'm not sure if they ever specified it was Elsbeth who had done the re-forging in the first place.

Moving on!

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Evidence #2 Legends Lore and Fake Thrawns

There have been many versions of Thrawn since his creation in Zahn’s original trilogy/duology series, but did you know that there have also been multiple Thrawns existing in the Star Wars Legends universe?

I won't go into too much detail, but considering the Empire tried to keep Thrawn at arms reach up until he earned his Admiral status, and then some… they had quite a few backup plans to make sure the Chiss stuck around even after his “supposed” death.

Between Moff Vilim Disra hiring a con-artist actor named Flim, to fake the role and trick the galaxy... or the literal clone(s) who were set on backup timers and programmed with all of Thrawn's memories just in case of the Admiral’s untimely demise... it’s not as wild an assumption as you might think that there could be a few faux Thrawn’s roaming about in new canon. 

And we have been getting a lot of interesting nods to clones lately in the Bad Batch, especially concerning Mount Tantiss and the planet Wayland/Weyland.

Just some food for thought.

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Evidence #3: Thrawn’s Death and Continuity

Though Legends and Canon Thrawn do have some similarities and ways to tie together their two universes, there have been updates to his story that cannot be ignored in the new canon, such as his inevitable death.

In legends, Thrawn was killed at the hands of his own Noghri bodyguard, Rukh, who was formally loyal to the Chiss until he learned that Thrawn had not been helping with the ecological disasters of his home planet as he'd promised, but instead had been purposefully keeping them present so that the Noghri people would remain indebted to the Empire. Discovering Thrawn's lies, Rukh stabs him through the chest in the ever-popular “it was so artistically done” scene, thus ending the deceitful Grand Admiral’s life in the old trilogy. 

Unfortunately for the latest iteration of Rukh, Garazeb Orrelios made sure that his new canon self's death was probably not the sort he would be able to get back up and brush off in a surprising twist down the road. 

This left the new-canon Thrawn without an assassin destined to carry out his death, and what many newer fans hoped would mean some sort of redemption arc, given the changes to the character since his reintroduction in Rebels.

I think it can also be stated that the newer version of Thrawn is a bit "kinder" for lack of a better word than his legend's self. Not enough to negate his antagonistic nature in Rebels of course, but maybe just not to the sinister degree as his past counterpart.

---

So in closing, I am going to be watching and taking notes, excited to see where this new "Thrawn" in the Ahsoka series, Mando, and heck... maybe even Bad Batch-- will play out.

I am going to be constantly thinking he's a fake until absolutely proven otherwise, hoping that the Thrawn I've spent all these years building up in my head is off saving the Chiss-Ascendancy with Ezra Bridger and Eli Vanto... and getting something of a redemption arc now that he's apart from the Empire.

Newer Thrawn never struck me as an irredeemable villain, especially in the novels, but I guess that's up to time to tell for sure?

I'm not going to let this theory ruin my expectations for the show and the character, of course, but I'll be super hype if this is the direction they've chosen to go with him.

Thanks for reading, if you did, and feel free to keep the discussion going in the replies/reblogs if you have anything to add!

[plotweasels]

This Crossover is Because Black-Footed Cats (Because Smol Apex Predator! Grogu Thoughts)

OK! I am only fandom-osmosis aware of The Mandalorian. I was at one point more familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy, bounced off hard on the prequel trilogy, and had a "not angry, just disappointed" for the sequel trilogy. I have however been reading So Many Damn Mandalorian Fanfics, (somehow ended up reading them after hopping from "I don't go here" Accidental Warlord series in the Witcher fandom, to Accidental Verd'alor to "well found family and Single Dad Adventures is my jam" and descended upon The Mandalorian fanfic.)

So, that explains at least part of this trainwreck. The next section of the rabbit hole is random headcanoning about Grogu's species based on various headcanons found in the previous fics. And also, some meta post I vaguely remember about Yoda picking Dagobah to live in because he was naturally suited to it/is a smol apex predator. (This is why the title references black-footed cats.) This led me to the speculation that Yoda's species comes from a "hell world."

(Extreme environmental conditions, and lots of megafauna resulting in sentients strong in the Force because they're being predated on by the megafauna who may also be strong in the force. Note: yes I'm aware we can't assume all of Yoda's species is strong in the Force. However we do know his species is either rare or super good at hiding because three examples in universe.)

Now! Because of all the found family vibes and Din Djarin being a Good Dad fanfics, I immediately latch onto another series with Found Family and Good Daddish aspects. This would be Martha Well's Books of the Raksura. And also, the setting, the Three Worlds. (The "worlds" refers to the three major environments the various sophont species in that world come from: ground, sea, sky.) It's also pretty much a hell-world, with not only megafauna but also megaflora. (trees the size of mountains that have their own smaller forests growing on them for example. And so many predators. So. Many. ) The core of the crossover here, is that Yoda's species is native to The Three Worlds.

2 Ways to do the crossover:

One: I had a very vague idea of there being some kind of cultural field trip thing Grogu is expected to go on and Din Djarin ends up assisting with the trip! Because some of these planets are pretty dangerous! This turns out to especially be the case with Grogu's homeworld! This is a silly idea, but I just want Din Djarin and Moon to do the equivalent of talking about their kids, okay?

Two: Slightly less vague idea is that apparently there was a bit in the series where Grogu tries to send out a call for a teacher. And there are some fics where Time-space travel happens instead. In this example, Grogu decides "find your people" (paraphrase) to literally be his people, so he goes to the Three Worlds, dragging Din along with. This is fine! (It is not fine.) The tiny bit of plot that's attached itself involves baby Fell trying to join up with Consolation's Flight and getting themselves into hot water, and Din rescuing them because Kids. And they end up going to the Reaches and eventually finding Grogu's people.

[hira492]

Look. That episode Mando episode.

Man, i´m not even angry, i´m just disappointed , cause I KNOW how good this show can be. Specially this season that´s, supposedly, gonna revolve around what it means to be a Mandalorian and Mandalore's history 

Din is such an interesting, compeling and complex character and he could be so much more if only THEY- JUST. LET. HIM.

They are completely misunderstanding what´s what drove people to Mando at first. Yes, it´s cute to see this bounty hunter begrudgingly take care of a jedi baby BUT the show is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT! It was about dissecting this misterious and closed off character who´s being through so much, it was seeing how all that trauma that he has - that made him separate himself from everything and everyone - was what ultimately helped him connect with Grogu. It´s lovely to see him open up little by little knowing he shouldn't, knowing that a goodbye is imminent. It was complex, it had layers. 

And Grogu. I know everyone jokes about how he was just made to sell toys and i thought so as well before starting the show a few years back. I used to really hate him and all the fuss everyone was making around him being a cute baby, but when i finally watched the show, i sat captivated and saw it was so much more. He´s more than just cute baby, he is a survivor ,just like Din, and has lived through so many things. His story is so interesting and he could be much more than a “marketable sw mascot”, but again, THEY ARE NOT ALLOWING THEM THAT!

It´s so frustrating watching this first episode and see both our main characters being reduced to “cute baby” and “dad”. They feel as they have no agency. And damn my brain for making me think this, but i felt, watching this episode, as i felt watching the last Jurassic World movie. Everyone is a diluted version of their character, everyone moves and does whatever the plot and script needs them to do without any explanation or reason to why or HOW they did it and everything just moves SO FUCKING FAST for no reason.

The first 3 episodes of the 1st season were such bangers cause they were the total opposite of this one. They were paced so well, letting viewers experience events along the characters, they made an amazing use of Show not tell (cof cof what do you mean Grogu was away from Din for around a year, Favreau cof cof), they introduced a conflict in a natural and organic way, and most importantly, they trusted the audience to understand what was happening without having a character explain it as we were a bunch of idiots or smth. 

Think about that scene in the 3rd episode when Din decides to take Grogu back from the imperials. We, as an audience, understand (without seeing the guy´s face) what´s going on in his mind in that moment; the doubt, the regret, the decision, everything just through body language, well done cinematography and music. We didn´t need Din or someone else going “you felt bad so you went back for him”, no, we just understood, and the show trusted us to understand that, to come to our own conclussions and understanding of the scene and motivations of the characters. AND WE HAD JUST MET THE GUY.

The difference here from last episode is that they gave us something to work with and, watching the episodes, you understand Din´s final decision.

Now we just don´t know what the hell Din´s thinking, and not because of a mystery or to build tension, it just feels as if Din is a weird NPC that moves the story forward and is there only to show us cool action scenes, cameos and Mandalore lore, without relating to anything. He feels as if he´s just not thinking at all, not as being stupid, but just as if he literally had no mind of his own, no opinions,no feelings, no nothing. And Grogu is just..there, i guess. Being cute and that´s all. 

Also, not as important as the narrative and script issues i had with the episode but, when i first watched The Mandalorian - begrudgingly, i must add, as i actually hated star wars but a friend of mine kept insisting that i gave it a try - i was amazed at how detailed the effects were, how everything felt alive and lived in. I remember rewatching again and again the scene where Din lands the Razor Crest in Arvala 7 and just admire the detail of the dust and water moving with the ship´s power, the way everything felt so real. Everything in the 1st and 2nd season ( i have my issues with the effects in season 2 as well but they´re still okay, imo) felt alive, real. And wow, what a downgrade this episode was.

For a show with a ridiculous budget it´s not showing at all. The kid helmet at the start looked like a toy (i can let it slide cause it´s literally brand new so you could argue there´s no reason for it to not look all shiny and clean), the alligator was okay, i guess, but didn´t feel nearly as real as the  Krayt Dragon from S2, and the rest...to be honest, not surprised at all. I kept getting thrown off by the straight up green screen feel of the Greef vs Random Pirates scene (Also an unnecessary scene, tbh, felt like an escuse for a “cool star wars space battle ™” ). The Mandalorian castle was cool, tho, i guess.

I´m not dissing the people who worked in the show´s Visual Effects at all, btw. I know they can do amazing things, cause they have, i´m sure it was more of a direction and studio issue.

It surprised me how Mando´s episode in TBOBF felt much more interesting, well paced, compelling and true to Din´s character than this episode. 

I know it might be way too early to judge the season as we only have this 1st episode but it´s not looking too good, Mando nation.

I want to be clear, I´m not saying everything sucked, either. I´m just frustrated cause this is my favourite show, it means a lot to me and i just want it to be as good as i know it can be.

[darlin-djarin]

I love how you discuss the Mandalorian in terms of how much of the fandom views its culture from a very western point of view. That so much of what they see as odd, or bad, or restrictive or not important goes against so much of what makes it a rich culture.

Like the early show went out of its way ti portray Tuskens as real people with their own language, both spoken and sign language that deserve respect. And how its rare people treat them like the locals, and not animals. Which speaks so much about how Mandalorians view outdated cultures and people.

How part of Mandalorian culture was created around Temuera Morrison's own even back in Attack of the Clones. Beacuse it mattered to them that Mandalorians are a real people with real beliefs that make them stand out.

And its nice to see someone so vocally defend that postion against a lot of the very western modern points of view that both judge it and the writing thats changed to erase those aspects.

Distinctive culture and beliefs are what make a fictional world feel full, and by writing out or ignoring aspects of that you lose its sense of unique identity.

Its just refreshing to see someone routinely point out those aspects and call out both show writing and fandom behavior that comes off as disrespectful. So thank you 💜

YES YES YES YES YES THIS EXACTLYYY THANK YOU

i think my biggest pet peeve with the fandom is that it’s so westernized and it holds such a lens on western/american culture that it completely disregards the incorporation of so many other cultures involved. it’s really frustrating how the show is catered so much towards the western fandom that they disregard the other cultural implications it includes. i’ve seen so many fandom takes that paint anything “out of the ordinary” as something weird or wrong, and that’s just simply not true. there are so many factors when it comes to this show and i hate how the fandom marks it off as something negative when we could all instead view it in a way that could really benefit a lot of people.

about the tuskens- i think it’s WONDERFUL how we got to take a closer look at them. we learn that they are the indigenous people of tatooine and that they shouldn’t be dehumanized or treated as “savages” (😕 literally wtf guys) because we FINALLY got that different perspective on them. when we first see tuskens in ANH, we see them as bad people who attack others, but the mandalorian and the book of boba fett shows us that that wasn’t just the case and that there’s a lot more context we could’ve explored. it also gave a lot of indigenous representation too!! i’m indigenous and i definitely felt seen and more understood as i related to the tuskens for what they stood for and what they did. and also seeing sign language representation!!! i’ve learned sign language since i was little and seeing the tuskens use sign language on screen was such a wake up call to me because it felt so normal, yk?? it felt like “wow this makes a lot of sense” and i have SO many thoughts over tusken sign language. i made another post about it so i won’t bore you all again with it here but i still think we should explore more with this type of culture!! i LOVED seeing the tuskens and their culture in tbobf and i truly deeply resonate a lot with them.

and yes temuera morrisons impact on bringing so much of his own culture into mandalorian culture is so important and i wish people could understand how much of an influence temuera is on star wars. polynesian culture has so much to explore and the parallels it shares with mandalorian culture is so interesting. i truly desperately believe temuera deserves so much better than what he’s getting from disney star wars right now.

i will FOREVER be vocal about the westernization that the writers always push on star wars. we could have SO much more and i will forever speak up about it until it gets fixed. the whitewashing can and SHOULD be judged so the world can improve as a more diverse and inclusive space for everyone. and i’m not trying to push this “cringe” shit on everyone but i truly believe the world can be a better place if others could be given the spotlight that aren’t often handed to them. seeing mostly white cishet abled writers be in control of everything is so disheartening and it doesn’t feel like we can get proper representation anywhere at this point.

thank you so much for pointing these things out!! i hardly see anyone in the fandom openly talking about these things and it’s sickening to see how much the fandom disregards the beautiful and rich cultures that could be incorporated into the thought process and instead mark it off as something weird or wrong. if no one is going to say it, then i most definitely will.

thank you so much ❤️❤️

[moinsbienquekaworu]

i'm sorry for spamming your inbox please tell me to stop if i'm bothering you--

what even is the whole official star wars stuff. like except from the... nine? main movies that i all watched many times (i mean... "many" is for the first 6 but whatever), there is uhh rogue one? and solo right? i don't think i watched it. but like. there are shows too right? i never heard of those except that there is so much star wars lore that probably comes from ✨️ somewhere ✨️ (i hope). so what do i need to watch?? is there an order?? is there like. idek. things i have to know before diving into this? i feel like if you try to go away from the 6 (9) main movies you're immediatly going to get lost in the most crazy shit ever and never return from it and i'm ✨️ scared ✨️ and ✨️ lost ✨️ and ✨️ need help ✨️

also i spent the whole day reading kylux fics, like that's literally all i did, i'm way too prone to addictions it's scary (i'm glad the exams are behind me lol)

i love ✨️ sparkles ✨️ btw

One of us one of us ONE OF US!!!! I got you!!! Comme quoi it pays to be insane about stuff you like online. Anyway. Never worry about bothering me I am mentally ill about things on here for people to come up to me and say hi me too. I rewrote this a few times but it shoouuld be somewhat coherent.

Okay first there is objectively too much SW stuff for a normal person coming in right now with stuff to do during the day to go through in its entirety. The main stuff are the 6/9 main movies, which you've seen so you're good on that... and now I'm going to establish the concept of canon vs legends. If you've heard people talk about the extended universe/univers étendu, that's the old name of legends, but basically they're two different timelines. Canon is the 9 main movies, the The Clone Wars stuff, and everything serious Disney has done since they bought the franchise: Rogue One and Solo, and the TV shows Rebels, The Bad Batch, The Mandalorian (& The Book of Boba Fett), Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor. This is the timeline you're familiar with, but it's recent. Before this became the accepted canon, the 'official' 'true' version of events, there was just the extended universe/legends stuff, basically authorised fancy published fanfic, and sometimes one of the concepts created in those books/comics/games/role-playing games was made canon by being included in the more official, Lucas-made stuff, or was considered canon by the fanbase because most people were aware of the thing and liked it (like Mara Jade, Luke's wife in the legends timeline, who doesn't exist in canon). Basically if Lucas/Disney made it OR it's super popular it's canon otherwise it's just kind of fanfic that's tolerated as long as it doesn't contradict the canon stuff. I hope that was clear enough lol

So there's the main movies, and after that the most popular movies & shows are The Clone Wars (2008). There was a Clone Wars 2D series in 2003 but we're talking about the 2008 3D film and the following TV series here (though Anakin's design is funky in 2003 CW, but it shows different events because it's a legends series not a canon one). The movie is set at the start of the Clone Wars, a little after episode 2, and it introduces one of the most famous SW characters that's not even mentioned in any of the movies. Ahsoka Tano is Anakin's Padawan, she's a cool looking alien, chatty, she's like 5 years younger than him, and she starts out cringey but the general consensus on her is everyone likes her (that's because her creator, Dave Filoni, was in charge of most of the series, and you can tell he really played favourites with his OCs, and since she's not really a Mary Sue she's just extremely cool). If you're interested in the Prequels era you have to be aware of her at minima. You've probably seen art of her, her design is super cool. Ahsoka appears in TCW, but also in Rebels, the Mandalorian & Book of Boba Fett, and she's going to get her own series this year.

The thing with TCW is the first like, 3 seasons are generally "lighthearted" fluff about Jedi life and the war and the clones (as lighthearted as you get during a war, let's say it doesn't feel Super Serious because you know they all make it), but seasons 4 and 5 are closer to the end of the war and get more serious episodes, and then seasons 6 and 7 I haven't seen yet but they're I presume even less lighthearted and even more plotty. There was also a huge gap in when the seasons came out, which explains the tone differences, notably for S7 which is kind of not about the war anymore but just about Ahsoka and what she does after the Empire's rise I think? I'll give you detailed episodes but at least the episodes people recommend watching are the stuff with (Darth) Maul (you're into men so there's a good chance you will be into him - I'm ace and I regularly experience the closest thing I can to sexual attraction when I see him on screen because they animated him in a very...... in a Way that is. yeah), and then probably the 2/3/4 episode arcs that tell a coherent story (Rako Hardeen, Umbara, Zygerria, the Clovis stuff, the baby Padawans on Illum, 99, the Ahsoka stuff at the end of S5, etc). Personally I think the movie might be worth it to establish the characters, it's not super good but at least that way you have an idea of who's who. Once again I'll give you a list with all the details later, but I'm assuming you're not going to want to watch the like, hundred episodes when a good part of that is 'Ahsoka looses her lightaber and learns an Important Lesson about Patience retrieving it', 'R2 & 3PO go on an errand for three episodes' or 'droids are incompetently looking for a mcguffin for four episodes'. There's like an episode that explains why Chewie and Yoda know each other I think too, so that's neat if you're interested. The short answer is that Yoda fought on Kashyyyk during the war and that's Chewie's planet. I'll bury it here but if you want a good website to watch stuff, r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH has lists of sites that work (I recommend watching/reading SW stuff in english personally)

You mentioned Rogue One and Solo in your ask so I'll talk about these too: Rogue One is generally thought to be really good (at least in my circles?), it's set right before ep4, the characters are good, and generally it's a recommended watch. Personally I liked it, though not as much as other people seemed to, but the central romance is neat, and I cried at the end (and everyone liked Chirrut, for good reasons). Solo is kind of less good, but one of the main characters gave me adult movie Remus vibes in a way, it has a Maul appearance at the end for the people who watched TCW, and it gives unnecessary backstory for Han. Also Donald Glover looks good.

The Mandalorian is I think a pretty good entry point to the universe, at least seasons 1-2, because the main character doesn't know anything about the lore of the universe, so the show explains who's who what's what and all that. That said season three came out a few months ago and I haven't seen that so I don't know how badly they fucked it up, but they already pulled a shitty one on the audience by having like three crucial extremely plot relevant episodes of the show after the climax of S2 happen in another show, The Book of Boba Fett, instead of putting them in S3, so. Yeah. The other animated shows I haven't watched yet, Rebels is apparently really good but in universe it's set after TCW so I want to finish TCW before I get started there (it's been like a year or two since I started TCW, I'm slow), and The Bad Batch get much more mixed reviews so eh, you can see about that one later, it's less important in the general story of the world anyway. Andor was apparently a masterpiece but I can't say cause I haven't seen it. Visions also is a thing, haven't seen it but it's like, anime loosely set in the SW universe? It looks cool. If you're interested in Padawan stuff, there's Tales of the Jedi, which didn't make a lot of waves I think but has episodes focusing on Qui-Gon and episodes focusing on Ahsoka.

I'm going to give it its own paragraph cause in the Obikin sphere (which I am in obviously) this show was a divine miracle but the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, though it got shat on by other fans for being too silly or something, was to me really good. I feel like it really goes in depth with the Anakin-Obi-Wan relationship, and I remember every time an episode dropped my dash would be full of gifs of new interactions and new lines of dialogue of them being absolutely insane about each other canonically for real. It was wild, it was great, it was a fantastic high. It's 6x 1h, so I think it's fairly watchable compared to all the other longer stuff. It's more about the personal relationship between them, as people, but that's inevitably linked to the Master-Padawan relationship too (there's a good scene of them just before the war sparring at the Temple in episode... 4 if memory serves me right).

Then it's going to be mostly legends stuff, and at that level you just need to pick a direction and dig a little. Off the top of my head, here are different niches I've seen people be into/pists of where you might want to look: there's the old Jedi Apprentice books, aimed at a younger audience, that talk about Obi-Wan's padawanship, though they've been made explicitly non-canon by the recent Padawan book by Kiersten White (which was apparently good, and featured the one line where Obi-Wan says he wouldn't mind kissing any of his friend group but wouldn't want to do anything else, which prompted homophobes to explode and The Gays to celebrate even if we knew), or for more Qui-Gon-Obi-Wan stuff, there's the Master & Apprentice book; there's people who are way way into the clones, but that has more of a Marauders fandom vibe because individual clones don't get that much screentime, so you can see people whose fave is the equivalent of Dorcas Meadowes and who just make their own stuff up in their corner; there's the Mandalorians fans, which I personally cannot stand the majority of because most of the legends Mando stuff (that might have been made non-canon by S3 of the Mandalorian?) was written by Karen Traviss, a woman whom I personally do Not vibe with (come back for the rant later if you're interested), but that's a possibility too, you do you; there's the novelisations of the movies, though the only one that I hear about is the ep3 novelisation by Stover which is a really great piece of literature... and also very homoerotic with the Anakin-Obi-Wan relationship; there's the Aftermath trilogy which makes the transition between ep6 and ep7 and explains how we went from no Empire to the First Order, with cool characters (ie Sinjir whom I love and who is canonically if subtly gay); if you're curious about legends stuff and you want to know who Mara Jade and Thrawn are (if you've never heard their names before they're really popular, Thrawn appears in Rebels as well, he's cool and part of a popular ship in the wider fandom) you'll want to read Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (also introduced the name Coruscant for the capital!). Obviously I am Highly Biased, this is stuff I know off the top of my head, but it should let you explore some different eras and characters. Heir to the Empire (& the rest of the books in that series) is definitely a classic in terms of legends stuff though, if you want to check out the fan favourites.

For comics I don't really read those so you'd have better luck either looking at rec lists online or just wandering around Wookieepedia until you find something that looks cool, but if you just want to read a quick thing, the Age of Star Wars series is neat. It's a series split in the three trilogies eras, and in each era it focuses on 4 heroes and 4 villains. Age of Republic has issues for Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin & Padmé + Maul, Jango, Dooku & Grievous; Age of Rebellion for Leia, Han, Lando & Luke + Tarkin, Boba, Jabba & Vader; Age of Resistance for Finn, Poe, Rose & Rey + Phasma, Hux, Snoke & Kylo. If any of those interest you, you can find them on comics websites (like for example a website that would let you read comic online. for example. cough cough. I'm so subtle.) What I would NOT recommend are the Rise of Kylo Ren comics, they're just... I didn't like the artstyle, I didn't like the way it told the story of Kylo falling to the dark side, I really didn't like the careless way it both makes Kylo's relationship with Snoke worse but also doesn't address it at all, it was a big miss for me, Kylux fanfics do it better. If you're curious it's not a long read though. Can't help you more with comics, I haven't gone there much.

In general if you find a character/planet/species/group/etc that interests you specifically, you can go on Wookieepedia and go down to the appearances section, where you can see all the places that thing appears/is mentioned, in I believe in-universe chronological order.

I don't think canon does a lot of explaining the magic if you will, if it does I don't know where. You can try looking in a specific species' tag on here to check out what other people think of their biology maybe, but yeah I don't really know otherwise. In general canon does a lot of 'that guy's a spider. don't ask. shut up he's a spider that walks on his legs and that's it. no lore no culture no nothing he looks cool and evil. bam. we're killing him next episode anyway' but there are also 'little diagrams of the different parts of a lightsaber' moments (I know there's a drawing in the The Jedi Path book somewhere of the anatomy of Obi-Wan's saber). Good luck with that, I wouldn't know where to find it.

If you have questions you can look at @/gffa's sidebar to check out questions they've answered/what they rec, or ask them directly. They're The ressource for SW stuff in my mind, because they're pretty thorough when they answer I feel like. Once again, Obikin bias, be warned, but maybe they'll know where there's some more scientific stuff? They certainly read more than me haha.

I think that's all, I'm going to write down a non-exhaustive but very long list of TCW episodes I think are neat, with a summary behind to help you quickly decide if it's your jam or not. The order is arbitrary, it's half order of importance half chronological, but there's nothing specific from seasons 6-7, because I haven't seen them yet. (the format is episode number x season number, just in case)

Undoubtedly, the Maul stuff: that's the events of ep 5x16, which rest on eps 1, 14 & 15x5 (the start of the plotline that leads to the events), which themselves rest on eps 19-20-21-22x4 (who are the characters that are important and what are they doing here), but also on eps 12-13-14x2 (who are the other characters and what are they doing here), and on the other episodes where Ventress appears, but you can ignore her, just know that the bald lady with the red lightsabers is Dooku's apprentice early on before they part ways (but she's still a bad guy afterwards)

Random stuff that isn't too heavy: 6-7x1, Anakin looses R2 and goes looking for him; 11-12x1, which has some fun Anakin-Obi-Wan-Dooku banter AND Hondo (everyone likes Hondo); 17-18x1 which have the threat of death hanging over the main characters because of an evil scientist and some cool alien designs; (19-)20-21x1, the Ryloth arc where you can see clones being nice and the Jedi being cool, plus Twi'leks (I put the first episode of the arc in parentheses because it's not necessary to watch it to get the idea of what's going on); 8x2 which is the last part of a 5-ep storyline about mind-controlling brain worms, I recommend it because you'll probably like the interactions between Ahsoka and her friend Bariss + Bariss gets relevant waaay later; 16x2 which has the spider guy I mentioned that I like a lot and a bit at the start where I honest to god thought for a split second Obi-Wan and Anakin were going to kiss; 9x3, it follows 22x1 but you can go in kinda blind, it's just a little buckwild with its characters and I think you'll like Quinlan (if you do he appears more in some books & comics, and he's in fanfics a lot because he and Obi-Wan have a fun dynamic)

The Clovis stuff: Rush Clovis is an ex friend of Padmé that Anakin is really jealous of, he appears in 4x2 (and comes back in 5-6-7x6) and if you want to see Anakin behave like a jealous shit that's a good episode.

The Zillo Beast arc! 18-19x2, includes a big beastie, Palpatine being evil and kicking a dog (the beastie) to prove it, and Anakin's disability being visible. I give it here because it's often a trope in fics to have Palpatine killed by the Zillo Beast but it's not plot significant.

Clones stuff if you're interested: 5x1, with the first appearance of a group of clones that come back later; 10x2, it's part two of a plotline but the interesting clone stuff is mostly just in part two, in it there's an exploration of the clones outside of war (which they have literally been designed and created for); 1-2x3, introduce 99 who's neat and are mostly focused on clones

Padawan Lost arc: 21-22x3, Ahsoka being hunted for sport (literally), she kicks ass, and Chewie + another character I like show up in ep22

the Umbara arc: 7-8-9-10x4, a Jedi General is a real asshole to the clones we like, it's a little heavier and you can feel the transition from lighthearted start of the war stuff to the more depressing stuff that comes afterwards

the Zygerria arc: 11-12-13x4, the arc in which Obi-Wan gets hit & injured every episode I think, with cool designs because there's more Togruta and they look cool (warning though the Zygerrians are slavers, they enslave people). There's a cool moment at the end for Rex if you end up liking him (he's Anakin & Ahsoka's clone captain and one of the most important clones)

the Rako Hardeen arc: 15-16-17-18x4, more Obi-Wan violence! it's one of the arcs Obikin tumblr doesn't shut up about because basically Obi-Wan fakes his death and doesn't tell Anakin. It could have been better but it's trying something for sure

the Onderon stuff: 2-3-4-5x5, it's Ahsoka dealing with Romance (a little bit, the character she has Romance stuff with is already established from earlier seasons but you don't need to know him, just know he has a history with Ahsoka and he used to be a Separatist, ie on the wrong side) and I think you could like Steela & Saw Gerrera? Saw appears in Rogue One later on, but he's from TCW. The arc is about helping him, his sister and their people regain control of their planet.

the younglings: 6-7-8-9x5, little Jedi kiddos who go on their first big adventure to get their lightsaber crystal and then have to fight to come back home. They're really cute, the droid is voiced by David Tennant, and you can see Hondo in the last episode I think.

and finally, the arc you also gotta watch because it explains why Ahsoka isn't mentioned in ep3 when she was Anakin's Padawan and this boy gets attached way too fast: 17-18-19-20x5, which begins with Ahsoka and Anakin investigating a bombing in the Jedi Temple and ends with Ahsoka leaving. I put off watching it for so long because it's sad :(((

probably also the rest of the seasons, but you'll have to look at Wookieepedia descriptions to see if something sounds interesting (if I were you I'd focus on the Ahsoka stuff later on, apparently she does some cool interesting stuff). Wookieepedia has pages for every season and every episode with short & detailed summaries.

That'll be all, congrats on reading all that, ask me about stuff if you want I love never shutting up about this, I have discord if you want to chat, please give me impressions if you do end up watching/reading anything. Good luck with this monstrosity of a list lol.

[ylojgtr]

for the record, i did enjoy the first 2 episodes of ahsoka, but i can't help but feel like there's an overwhelming sense of "disney" to the whole thing, just that feeling that some things are a little underbaked, not everything holds the weight or tension you expect it to or they seem to want, like some things don't feel entirely satisfying in the way they're paced and/or presented

for instance, i felt the scene where sabine is decoding the map at the tower to be so unsatisfying, like she literally just turned the sides of the sphere to match up, which is like, the exact same thing ahsoka did in the temple when she got the map in the first place? i was really hoping for a more enthralling discovery to pave the path forward, but instead we got another "eureka moment"

ive kinda noticed this in the mandalorian too, especially in s3, like with the one episode they spend following dr pershing on coruscant and you really hope for it to lead somewhere interesting with his character arc...but it just. barely comes up again. or how the darksaber is built up so much, like "ooh is it going to be used as a symbol to reunite mandalore" or smth, only for it to get broken in a kinda anticlimactic final battle...even if that was meant to be some sort of power symbolism of the empire taking over local cultures or something i just personally find it very by-the-books and like they're almost making it up as they go along, or overall just that the endings are anticlimactic. and that goes for obi wan too, such as revas entire arc

now i blame this on disney but i honestly have no idea whose fault it is, or if it's any single factors fault. there are many other common factors between the 3 shows here, but it does undeniably come in the age of disney, and ill take any chance to blame the big corporation for producing cheap shit (cause honestly, it probably is, and if it's not, im happy to cut the writers/directors/actors/crew/every other non-millionaire person some slack)

but i guess what i really want is to have some fun in the series and have it feel unique and not like another bland product. it's a show for people who love clone wars AND rebels, who enjoy the wildly different aspects of each of the shows for what they are. and i really hope ahsoka grows into a unique identity too, not just another mandalorian/bobf/obi-wan. (i should point out i do love the mandalorian too, especially its first season, specifically for feeling so unique and different from other star wars stories at the time. it sucks it's become a sort of template for other star wars media) and we know it is very possible to do so, even based off existing characters and character arcs, because andor exists and it is perfect in every way ❤️

also please let ahsoka have some joy in her life, i want to see her be fun again too and i get she's not really there at this point in her story but please let her have some peace not just another stoic jedi 😭