#also: apologies if this doesnt make sense. i tried to stick to a train of thought but. idk if it all came together if that makes sense

[weirdbabs]

i will say, now that ive had time to ruminate on it a little, i dont really like what the show is doing with the fireflies. we havent seen much of them, just in the boston episodes, but what little theyre giving me and how theyre portraying fedra as well is making me 😬 a leeeetle bit sus

gonna put this under cut bc it got Long

i mean. right away theres a difference in how were exposed to them in that the game gives us news clips letting us know whats happened over the 20 years, how cities have been placed under marshal law, how riots have broken out as rations hit all time lows, how the fireflies started fighting back and how their public charter calls for the return of the branches of government, how fedras started holding public executions for “alleged fireflies”. the show doesnt give us anything like that, instead shows us that little boy who they let in and test, before promising that they were going to take care of him and he was safe now only to cut to the burn cart/pit where we find his body is. sure that lets us know that theyll lie and promise to protect you only to kill you but you can argue in their favor. he was infected, theres a short incubation period and who knows when he was infected, they did it in a gentle way (seems like euthanasia), they made an effort to help him. they saw this boy faint and they brought him inside the qz. the game fedra wouldnt have let him in even if there wasnt the chance he was infected, there were issues with rations as it was.

there are changes in what were shown of fedra too, little but they add up. we dont see them pulling people out of a condemned building and shooting anyone who tries to run/resist. we dont see any evidence of people being selected for “outside work duty”, but instead see people volunteering for work in hopes for extra ration cards. we dont see the ration line that hasnt opened yet, that people have been waiting in for who knows how long bc theyre running low. dont get to hear the guy telling his friend to keep his voice down when complaining about fedra bc otherwise he might die. sure they still have their public executions for unauthorized entry/exits of the qz, sure they still hold tess in a cell overnight bc they think she might be a firefly, but theyre still shown overall in a kinder light

and then we have the introduction of the fireflies. in the show theyre holding ellie, chained to a wall, who we learned they snatched off the street. they leave her like that, come check on her once or twice a day, take notes and leave. they dont even give her a change of clothes based on the fact shes wearing what she was when she was bit. i didnt see any bucket or anything so i dont know what they were doing for her bathroom situation cause they sure as shit werent gonna let her out of their sight. when we meet ellie in the game, shes free to move about the room shes hiding in as she wishes. shes hiding there by choice, bc she specifically sought marlene out after she was bitten. she knew for about 3 weeks that she could be the cure rather than finding out the day she was being shipped off.

when it comes to meeting “the queen firefly herself”, marlene is shown in show to be strategic and cunning. shes planning on how to get her troops out of the city by causing as much chaos as possible, spread the fedra soldiers thin and hope to keep them distracted so they can hopefully sneak out unnoticed. in the game theyve been planning on leaving the city for weeks (presumably from the moment she realized ellie was immune) and they went quiet. but fedra needs a scape goat, they need someone who they can blame the problems on, someone other than themselves who the qz can hate. so theyve been picking fights, hoping to rile them up. the fireflies are in a desperate situation trying to defend themselves rather than taking a stand

and then of course you have them changing it from the fedra hunting joel, ellie, and tess down under the assumption that they were fireflies (tying into what is reiterated throughout the game: that people are just as dangerous as the infected) to a hoard of infected chasing them, and removing the fireflies helping overthrow the pittsburgh kansas city qz (who wanted them to help take the fight to other qzs, and were instead captured and hung by the citizens)

and then in episode 7 they made one of the biggest changes yet in terms of the fedra/firefly dichotomy. in the show, the mall has recently been hooked up to the power when fedra opened a new block of buildings, which allows riley to show ellie the best day of her life. she knows about whats in the mall bc shes been stationed there by the fireflies, this 16 almost 17 yr old is stationed there alone in a building that hasnt even been properly cleared.

but in the game its a completely different story. the mall didnt suddenly gain powere, its had it the entire time. riley reveals this to ellie and we learn that fedra has the ability to provide power to every part of the city, they just say that it doesnt work as a way of controlling the populace. the fireflies dont have anyone stationed there, fedra do. a soldier named winston who was there to prevent people (and infected) from sneaking into the qz, who riley and ellie were sorta friends with and who taught ellie how to ride a horse.

by making those changes in left behind, suddenly you can make the argument that fedras not that bad. sure in some places like the kansas city qz theyre terrible but in others theyre actually trying to help the people! look how they expanded the qz! they got the power up and running and suddenly places like the mall work bc of that! look at the soldier who gave the warning to joel! sure he doesnt want to lose his supplier but he didnt have to give him the warning! and inversely you can make the argument that the fireflies are just as bad. look how they left a 16/17 year old alone with bombs! look how they open fire on the streets without care of whether they hit civilians! look how they view their personnel as expendable!

it feels like theyre gearing up to be like “actually the fireflies are just as bad as fedra” and im afraid if they go that route theyll have some shit take like “fighting your oppressors using aggressive/violent tactics makes you just as bad as the oppressor” or “if the fireflies make a cure theyll use it to ensure the people are under their control” or some shit like that

[thatpinkbetch]

Hi, srry if youve answered some variation of this before, but im new to mha and ive always wondered why, if baku "hated" deku sm, did he let him call him kacchan since middle school? I would think maybe he doesnt care but i find that unlikely since hes so high strung abt everything even more if it involves deku. One of my favorite moments is when the villains attack the training camp and dekus like: theyre after kacchan! and 1-A just knew who the message was from and that it was abt bakugou.

Oh don't worry, i actually haven't answered anything like this before! I'm sure others have, but I'd like to tackle it too 😁😁

Hi! I hope you've been enjoying the series and your experience here so far!

That is absolutely a great question and i wish a LOT more people would ask themselves it... I remember when i first watched the anime and I didn't like Bakugou at all, it was still VERY notable to me that he never seemed angry at the nickname, he never snapped at it. He's been shown being irritated by many things involving Midoriya, but never once has he ever been irritated by the nickname. We've also seen in past memories that all of his friends called him Kacchan, because they were all little kids! But Midoriya was the only one to continue to call him Kacchan through middle school and high school. Obviously this signifies their shared history as childhood friends, and from Midoriya's point of view, it clearly displays that he still views Bakugou as "Kacchan;" as a cool, talented individual, someone worthy of chasing after, and of someone he wants to be close to. I also believe it shows that, while he's been critical of Bakugou's actions, he still likes him, still thinks of him as a good person. I think we can say this without doubt after Deku vs. Kacchan 2. I know that wasn't part of your question but i really wanted to talk about it too...

Now, as to why Bakugou still lets Midoriya call him Kacchan, there may be several reasons, but I've heard many say that as long as Midoriya continues to call him Kacchan, there's still hope for reconciliation. And knowing what Kacchan means symbolically, can metaphorically mean that Bakugou is still worthy of being a hero, and of redemption. Horikoshi wanted us to worry over Bakugou from the beginning, worry that he would become a villain, but in the end, Bakugou would never go down that route, and even Midoriya has known this. In fact, of course Midoriya would know this better than anyone, as he's been watching Bakugou closely his whole life.

I think what we can say for certain is that Bakugou does not deny his connection to Midoriya, or any of their past together, and that he feels no need to deny it. I think despite everything he does, all the irritation he shows toward Midoriya, he still feels that connection, and perhaps even a fondness? Because I think Bakugou has struggled a little with connecting to others. He's had friends and I'm sure it's not so black and white that he only thought of them as lackeys. But I think people have always praised him and complimented his quirk, and i think that halted his social development and his ability to recognize whether someone likes him for him, or they like him for his "superiority." The latter can be anxiety-inducing, because then what happens if you don't come out on top one time? Will you lose everyone's respect? Everyone's love? Bakugou never experienced that fear until high school, when he found people who could actually challenge his power and intellect, but i think I may have gone on too long with this tangent 😁😁

Midoriya has always been special to Bakugou, and this is undeniable. From the simple fact that he always obsesses over Midoriya, to how someone once pointed out that Midoriya was a pebble in the road and not an extra like the rest of their class, Midoriya is so often singled out in Bakugou's mind, that you can't deny that Bakugou sees him as special. I have made posts in the past about how Midoriya is the only one to ever show care for Bakugou's physical and emotional wellbeing, and Bakugou had trouble reconciling that with everyone else seeing him as strong enough to handle anything. I know this seems like another pointless tangent but I guess what I'm trying to say is that Bakugou has struggled understanding his feelings his whole life, mostly because his perception of the world has been warped by how people treated him the entire time. And while he couldn't make sense of Midoriya's kindness to him, he also couldn't forget it, and I'd argue that deep down, underneath all the confusion, he felt a longing for the care he's never felt elsewhere. And so that's my long-winded explanation of why Bakugou actually likes the nickname 😅😅😅

Yes, I think Horikoshi has shown his wonderful writing skills when he makes us think that Bakugou would hate to be called Kacchan by Midoriya! After everything Bakugou has done in reaction to Midoriya, him accepting the childhood nickname sticks out from the very beginning of the series, and it shows us from the start to expect more to the story between these two (which Horikoshi has been delivering over time, slowly but surely revealing more pieces of the puzzle). In the end, Bakugou does care about Midoriya, this is undeniable at this point (particularly in the manga) and Horikoshi has done a wonderful job of showing us from the beginning, very sneakily and unsuspectingly.

Can i also say? That I absolutely loved when we see Bakugou's reaction to Mandalay's message, and he immediately knows Deku was the one to prevent him from fighting 😂😂😂 that arc really showed us just how connected these two are, how impactful their history together was and still is, and that everyone around them can see it.

I'm sure manga readers wonder why i didn't talk about certain things 👀👀👀 but i wanted to take it from an anime perspective so everyone could read, especially since I don't know if you've read the manga yet, anon! I wrote basically all of this before going to work, so apologies for it being late, and apologies if it doesnt make any sense! Abdkgndkfk I tried my best!

Thank you so much for the ask, I always love getting these! I hope you have a wonderful day and continue to enjoy your experience with this series!!! 💖💖💖💖💖

[fuck-customers]

My store is a dumpster fire waiting to explode

So this story has been one that has been slowly building over the sevenish months that I have been there, so this is going to be a very very long one, I apologize in advance. TLDR at the bottom.

I'm writing this cause I saw a recent submission about a p**s****, and just... need to get this off my chest. 

So we opened this store late last year, and I was absolutely ecstatic at the time. The job had gotten me out of 45+ hours food service job which had left me emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted, and it was working with pets, so obviously it has to be great right? Well not so much.

It started out okay, I liked the people I worked with, but from the start we had issues. It was clear that there was (and is to this day) a breakdown in communication between managers and the different shifts. The people who trained me (as a shift leader who has the authority to open or close the store) were from outside, and apparently didnt do a very good or thorough job. For months after that the manager or assistant manager would say that I was doing something wrong, or forgetting to do something which I had never been shown or even told to do at all. Has this gotten better in the last seven months? No, it has not. In fact I am still not fully trained for the position I am supposed to be in, and was barely half trained for most of it. But I wasnt even the worst off, because the assistant manager at the time, N, wasnt fully trained either. 

Now that might not be a big problem during the first few months, everything is still shaking down and people are getting settled, right? Well turns, out corporate needs our store manager, Ill call her R, to manage TWO STORES, at the same time. 2 hours apart from each other. So store manager splits her time between my store, and the store two hours away which ends up in a four hour commute for her because --  guess what-- they dont even pay her for a hotel. So now the store is managed by the not fully trained assistant manager.

During those few months where R was gone, I had a rough time. Money was missing several times from drawers or safe, things weren't getting done the way they were supposed to, daily paperwork wasnt signed, and R blamed me and the other shift leader,  A, for not doing things the way they were supposed to be done. Except we were never originally told how things were supposed to be done.

Well R finally hires a manager for the other store she was helping to manage and comes back to discover that the store is in chaos. On the outside everything looked fine, but all that paperwork that hadnt been done correctly? It had built up to months worth of issues that needed to be corrected, and she was behind on everything. 

Around that time she finally realizes that the problems we were having werent my or A's fault. It was the assistant manager N. Turns out, she would show up for work and just sit and do NOTHING. Basically expecting the closing people, aka me and A, to do everything that needed to be done. And the stuff that apparently only she knew how to do (because she hadnt trained me or A even though it was also something we were supposed to be doing), was getting delayed by several days. All while she left exactly when her shift was up, got there late in the mornings, and generally was just sketchy about work over all. A and I believe that that money that went missing several times was her doing as well, because after she left, it magically stopped happening.

But since R and N were friends, there was no consequence. In the end, me and A basically had to make up for all the missed work on N's side, because R refused to fire her. She wrote her up a few times, had some "discussions," but eventually N left on her own. It came out after she left that N was a compulsive liar, who had told lies to just about everyone at the store, from tiny ones to massive ones. 

So now the store had lost the (half-trained) assistant manager, and we still had to fix all of her messes. So R decides to promote A (which is good, A is a great worker and more experienced than I am) to assistant manager. At this point I was hopeful that everything would calm down and start to settle.

Surprise. That didnt happen.

Instead our store manager got PROMOTED, to a sort of district manager. So then she was only going to be at our store for TWO DAYS of the entire week. She had just made A assistant manager, so she had barely any training, even though they did some speed training for a week or two.

At this point I still wasnt even trained to take in shipments, meaning the only two people in the entire store who could process incoming freight were R and A, even though we get daily shipments. We were still trying to fix the issues and things left behind by N. It was an absolute nightmare. 

But it still gets worse. Because thats when we learned that one of our associates was leaving at the end of the month. I dont begrudge her for it, but it put a squeeze on everyone. Because despite common sense where if you lose someone you hire someone new to replace them, that didnt happen. We started with about 7 total workers, four of which were management, three of which were cashiers. We had lost one of the cashiers early on, N was gone, and R was there two days a week (most of which was her panicking about paperwork and store stuff), and we were about to lose another cashier. But still R hadnt hired anyone new. And after the one cashier left, our last remaining cashier let us know she would be leaving as well.

Of course, R panics. At that point she was down to four workers, including herself, and one of them about to leave. She finally starts the hiring procedures, but because she is so busy, it takes her WEEKS to hire anyone.

For about a month, it was basically me and A running the store. they scheduled me at 39 hours (so they wouldnt have to pay me for full time), and expected me to cover any shifts people called out, or come in early, or stay late. I was (and currently still am) the only shift leader for the store. And I am STILL not fully trained. 

About two weeks ago, R finally hires some people. One of them literally quits after two days, and then she suddenly starts hiring a bunch of people. So now we have four new people we have to train, one of which they decided after a week would be a shift leader. But because she hired all of these new people at once, she's cutting my hours to 20 hours or less. So after all my hard work, after all my sticking through, I havent gotten a raise, and instead my hours have been drastically cut, and it doesnt look like R has learned anything at all. 

I dont even think I would realize how bad it is, if it werent for the fact that R has had to beg help from other stores. And those from the other stores, would ask me questions about the store, about things that needed to be done which I couldnt answer. They looked at me in complete surprise and befuddlement, because it was simple things, basic things which I should know. But dont. 

There is honestly, so much more that I cant even begin to start going through because its such a f***** mess. I was trained how to open the store over the phone, and trained on things at most once or twice with supervision before sent off to figure it out alone.  I still have questions because I havent been fully trained after SEVEN MONTHS. I've been scheduled outside of my availability multiple times, and have covered all but two shifts I have been asked to cover, even though the ONE day I asked if someone could cover me cause I was so sick I could barely talk no one took my shift. There is so much confusion because there is no communication between shifts, I walk in after a few days completely unaware of whats happening or needs to be done. I dislike calling R whenever there are issues because she always snaps when she answers the phone and tries to get off as soon as possible and I feel like Im an inconvenience. 

So yeah, Im done. I have been for months but Ive been trying to stick it out as long as I could. But Ive put in my notice, and Im hoping to find something better. At least now I know what red flags to look for.

TLDR: Corporate keeps putting way too much on store manager, it trickles down to literally everyone and everything in the store, no one can fix it and now all but one person who opened the store are leaving.

[mandaloriangf]

okay so. because im a loser with no life and i got some positive comments on my little tlj fix it snippets, here’s an overall plot of what tlj could’ve been.

things to keep in mind: 

this is just one of many plot lines in my head. im mostly basing it off of what happens in the movie as a way to show how easy it could be fixed

im not including any parentage theories or ships. just the basic ideas.

this is gonna be long lol

also holdo and dj no longer exist

here we go!

we start out in a similar fashion. the resistance had some time after the destruction of starkiller base to regroup but now that the first order knows where they are, they know they need to leave. we see them gathering their things when the first order dreadnought arrives with some other ships. its lead by hux, who is on thin ice after losing starkiller base. he believes he’ll earn good standing with snoke if he destroys the resistance once and for all by himself, though without their base the first order is in shambles and completely disorganized. 

we see poe with finn, who is recovering from his injury like in the film. he is unconscious and poe is reluctant to leave him, but he’s reassured that finn will be alright and transported to safety. poe and the other pilots get in their ships and go out to fight the dreadnought.

while most of the flee its destroyed, the dreadnought is harder and they bring in the bombers. it seems fruitless and leia orders them to retreat to fight another day. poe agrees, but then disobeys orders after everyone is safe in order to finish what they started and he is joined by paige. they’re able to destroy the dreadnought, but hux escapes. also paige doesn’t die, and is instead a y-wing pilot. 

poe is reunited with the resistance after they hyperspace to safety. (there is also no fuel plot line.) leia doesnt slap him or demote him, though she does talk sternly with him. they both give their sides - poe knew the dreadnought needed to be taken down so that they could deliever another major blow to the first order, but he didn’t want to put others at risk for it. leia tells him he can’t save everyone and he’s too important to the resistance to put himself at risk like that. she softens and tells him he’s too important to her. this calms him and we see a touching mother/son moment between them. she tells him they’re moving to a new base, which is the old rebel base on crait. poe returns to finn’s side.

we switch the first order. hux is aboard the supremecy where kylo and the other knights of ren are training in snoke’s presence. snoke takes this opportunity to humiliate hux, though he doesn’t kill him, saying the FO still has use for him. we see tension between hux and kylo, the latter being favored by snoke. snoke tells them they need to regroup and make new plans. he laments that he feels a disturbance in the force. 

we cut to rey and luke. she’s handing him the lightsaber. he’s shocked and confused and doesnt take it. instead he asks “who are you?” rey is flustered and gives her name, telling him she’s from the resistance and he needs to come back and help. he walks past her and she follows him, rambling on about kylo ren and why they need the jedi to return. he goes to the falcon and stands in front of it. 

he goes into it, yelling for han. rey is unable to stop him and tell him the truth, though he knows it deep down. we get a nice reunion with him and artoo and him and chewie. when he cant find han he finally listens to rey, who tells him what happened, getting choked up in the process. luke blames himself and retreats back to his village, where he has been taking care of the porgs, giving them some much needed relevance to the film. 

rey tells him that the lightsaber called to her and she’s afraid. she doesn’t know much about the force or the jedi other than legends. she wants to know more so she can better understand herself. luke tells her no, though he is not harsh and cruel. he’s sad and grief-stricken, telling her that he’ll just fail her too. she insists he wont, but he leaves her and she retreats to the falcon to talk with chewie. at night stares out at the sky, wondering out loud how finn is. 

back to the resistance. finn wakes up, but its normal and natural. he’s out of the bacta suit, because he’s healing well. poe is asleep by his bedside. he gets up, but is in pain and poe wakes up. they go over what finn missed and he is impatient to get up and get going, though poe tells him he needs to take it easy. poe says he’ll go find someone to help and in the meantime, finn reunites with bb8, who shows him the video of rey kissing him. they’re interrupted by leia, who talks to finn and offers him a place in the resistance and compliments/thanks him for his bravery. he’s unsure, still reeling from everything that happened, but says he’ll stick around. 

they arrive on crait, where they are greeted by lando, who has been supervising this base. at first he’s excited to see leia, but notices her saddened expression and all she says is “han.” lando knows and they embrace. he tells her they’ll have a memorial when everything is set up.

poe and finn work together to move equipment and whatnot and poe introduces finn to paige and rose. rose is still a mechanic and she’s in awe of finn and what he did. while paige and poe go off with the other pilots, finn helps out rose, who rambles quite a bit, but she’s sweet and has a lot of respect for the resistance and what they’re doing. it’s common knowledge that finn is a defected stormtrooper and he is greatly respected for this. 

we get a memorial for han. it’s touching and beautiful and we get a chance to see leia grieve. finn gets approached by lando, and they discuss finn seeing han die. lando becomes somewhat of a mentor figure to him, like han could’ve been. at the end lando and leia announce they have to start making new plans now that the new republic has been destroyed. leia makes a holovid to announce that the resistance is still going strong and wont bow to the first order. 

back to the FO. we see interactions between kylo and the knights of ren that gives them more personality. kylo is pulled aside by snoke and they discuss that luke skywalker has been found. kylo is anxious to go kill him, but snoke tells him he will get his chance in time. we get an argument between kylo and hux to more establish the tension between them. 

back on ahch-to, rey goes on a walk around the island. she meets more creatures and loving looks out at the water. luke spots her and he’s reminded of himself. he asks her where she’s from and she says jakku. he tells her about growing up on tattooine and they bond over living on sand planets. luke sees himself in her and changes his mind, telling her that he’ll train her. she’s surprised, similar to when han was offering her a job. she’s excited to start and luke lightens up a bit. 

they begin to train, which is done mostly through montages. we get longer bits here and there. its not exactly what she expected. shes anxious to learn the force, but instead luke has her do physical training. she runs up and down and around the island. he teaches her to meditate. she’s impatient and luke can sense it. this is intercut with the resistance as they set up the base, narration from luke over the scenes as he talks about the force. we end with a lesson where rey starts to make some rocks float. she’s excited and proud and we start to see the father/daughter bond start to form. 

back at the resistance they have discovered that the FO has moved their base of operations to the supremacy. in a briefing leia tells them, including poe, finn, and lando, that spies died getting them that information. she also tells them they’ve sent word to old allies, but everyone is too frightened to join, even with the destruction of starkiller base. without the new republic, it seems all hope is lost. 

finn says they need to destroy the supremacy and that he knows how to get them on board and where to go. they discuss plans, deciding that finn and poe will sneak on board and take it down from the inside. however, in order to do this they need somehow who can figure out how things work. finn smiles and says he knows someone. cut to them asking rose for her help. she excitedly agrees, though she’s a bit overwhelmed. they depart from crait, with leia telling them, “may the force be with you.”

on ahch-to rey is mediating and luke compliments her, telling her about his own training and how he technically never finished it. she asks him what kyo was like as an apprentice. luke doesn’t want to answer and tries to change the subject. rey says she can sense something about luke that she doesnt quite understand and she starts bombarding him with questions. this upsets him and he leaves for his hut. rey joins him and they apologize to one another. luke tells her he’s full of guilt and regret and she tells him that the past is in the past and that the galaxy needs him now, but he tells her he’ll fail just like he did before. he asks her more about the resistance and she tells him about finn and she talks about han and leia and poe and everyone else she met. her voice fades as the camera zooms out.

the next day rey is doing her regular training when luke brings her to a cliff. he has her look down - there’s his trusted x-wing. he tells her he put it in the water to stop himself from leaving and that he’s cut himself off from the force. he tells her to lift it. she’s unable to and this leaves her frustrated and angry. she asks him more questions but he refuses to answer, leaving her even more upset, though this time luke remains calm, understanding where her feelings are coming from. she leaves and he reaches toward the ship out of curiosity. it starts to move. 

the gang arrives at the supremacy and they are allowed on board. they get disguises and discuss their plans. its not known to the rest of the FO that finn defected, so when others see him in the uniform, they think he got promoted. this unfortunately makes the gang separate, with finn being swept away from poe and rose who continue with the mission. finn comes face to face with phasma, who greets him as FN-2187.

rey goes on a walk to clear her head. she’s drawn to a structure and enters it, finding it to be ruins of some kind. she finds some books and opens them and as she starts to read she’s startled by a voice. she turns around to see a young man that appears to be a ghost. she asks him who he is and how he got there, but he doesn’t answer, instead telling her about the jedi and how they were failures. their conversation is interrupted by luke who tells rey that’s his father. rey is shocked that she just spoke with darth vader himself. he finally holds the lightsaber for the first time and lets out a long breath. he sits her down and tells her the origin of kylo ren. 

we see this story with luke’s narration. young ben solo is dropped off at luke’s school by leia and han, who believe this is good for him. ben is excited because he loves his uncle and can’t wait to learn the ways of the force. its good for a while, though ben has a hard time getting along with the other students. they are somewhat intimidated by him being luke’s nephew. as he gets older he starts to grow resentful. his parents come to visit often, but they still get busy every now and then. luke devotes his time to all the students rather than just focus on one. ben, who has been used to having everyones attention his whole life, starts to feel isolated. then comes snoke’s voice in his head. he starts to tell ben that there’s no one that can understand him and that he’s better than all of them. at first he doesn’t listen, but snoke picks up on all of ben’s insecurities and manipulates him through it. 

luke, of course, takes notice. ben completely isolates himself and luke does everything he can to talk to him. he contacts leia and han and lets them know that something is up. he feels a dark presence inside of ben, but he believes anyone can be saved. eventually ben picks up a group of friends and luke is happy about that, but by the time he realizes whats really happening, its too late. ben goes missing, as do all his friends. when they return, they destroy the school and kill all the remaining students. this all happens when luke is off world and he returns to find everything on fire. he goes looking for survivors, only to find burned bodies instead. kylo remains there to face luke and takes off his mask so that luke knows who he is. after believing that he killed luke in the destruction, kylo leaves.

luke is devastated and guilt-ridden. he decides he must leave and find answers of what to do next. he tells leia and han what happened and that he’s going away for a while. leia tells him that they can fix it together, but he doesn’t believe her. he travels with artoo for a while, looking for the first jedi temple. when he finds it, he makes a map with two pieces, giving one to artoo and one to lor san tekka so that if the galaxy needs him, they can find him. however, during his time on ahch-to, he discovers there are no answers and sometimes people are just bad, which is something he refuses to believe. 

at the end of the story, rey has no sympathy for kylo and says he needs to die. luke is taken aback, telling her that kylo can still be saved. she argues with him, telling him that kylo killed han, almost killed finn, tried to kill her - and thats just the tip of the iceberg. she desires to kill him for what hes done and knows that the galaxy wont be safe until he is. luke tells her that theres more at play than just kylo, but she wont listen. knowing that luke would just stop her, she leaves on the falcon with chewie, though artoo stays behind. on the ship we get a scene where rey changes her hair and clothes. its meant to represent the change in her from the scavenger on jakku to the budding jedi. 

back on the supremacy, phasma and finn have a tense conversation as she pretends he really has gotten a promotion in order to keep the other stormtroopers from contemplating rebellion, though they make subtle jabs at one another. he is mostly trying to keep her busy to give poe and rose some time. we see them doing their job (i honestly dont have anything specific in mind lol just something that’ll make the ship explode from within). 

we also see kylo complete his training. snoke is proud of him (in a weird snoke like way). he tells him he’ll be put to the test again soon, sensing rey’s imminent arrival. he also senses something on the ship and kylo does too (finn is force sensitive). 

rey, determined to kill kylo using her training, allows herself to be taken prisoner. she’s brought before snoke and kylo. as this is going on we see everything else going on, poe and rose, finn and phasma. finn eventually goes fuck it and starts telling the other stormtroopers the truth. phasma sold them out and if it weren’t for her, starkiller base would still be operational. she tells them its all lies, but finn gives a riveting speech. we can see the stormtroopers becoming conflicted. however they dont turn, instead bringing finn before snoke next to rey. they ask each other how they are and emphasis is put on how his back still hurts him. he spots kylo and is ready to kill him too. 

snoke gives his villainous monologue, greatly implying he’s darth plagueis. he orders for kylo to kill them both. rey starts trying to appeal to any humanity left in kylo as a last resort. she tells him all the things luke told her, which shocks him. he attempts to read her mind and sees flashes of things - how luke became her teacher, how anakin spoke to her. he becomes angered and the two duel. in the chaos, finn tries to help, but rey tells him to get to safety. he refuses, but then explosions rock the ship. we cut to poe and rose, who have started the destruction of the ship. rey tells finn to go again and that she’ll be alright. finn reluctantly leaves, telling her they’ll see each other again. 

rey and kylo fight while snoke watches with curiosity. kylo taunts rey which only makes her angrier. they’re both full of rage toward one another. on another part of the ship, finn has run into phasma. she’s surrounded by other stormtroopers. finn is ready to fight her, but makes one final attempt at convincing them to defect. she makes the first move and as they fight, blaster shots hit her armor. the stormtrooper uprising begins. 

poe and rose fight their way back to the hanger where they wait for finn. phasma is forced to retreat. finn helps the other stormtroopers get to safety, telling them to follow him, poe, and rose to escape. 

back with snoke, rey and kylo continue to fight. rey bests him and she has anakin’s lighsaber at his throat. however, she is unable to kill him. she remembers everything luke told her, how the dark side is the easiest. its not about fighting off the dark side, its about having a balance. she is allowed to be angry, but she can’t let that be her only defining trait. however, because she fails to kill him, snoke does it instead. she’s in shock, and watches as snoke takes over kylo’s body, leaving the old vessel behind. he orders for hux to escape and in the meantime, rey runs, knowing she can’t fight him on her own. 

in the hanger, finn refuses to leave without rey and poe and rose agree. when she finally arrives, they get off the supremacy together as a team. they arrive back on crait with the defecting stormtroopers, but they are quickly followed by the first order. everyone gets reunited. poe gives a speech to the pilots as they are about to go to the speeders, telling them that their lives are all too important and that theyre just holding off the FO until everyone can escape. he looks at leia as he says this, acknowledging their conversation at the beginning. 

poe goes out with the others, including paige while rey and finn go in the falcon. rose stays behind and helps the others escape. the battle soon turns fruitless. theres an epic slow motion scene, showing how it feels like theyre all going to fail. intercut with these scenes is luke back on the cliff, looking down at the x-wing. he reaches out, and pulls it back up and onto land. we don’t see him get in, but we know he will. 

poe orders them to pull back and this time he goes with them. many lives have been lost. theyre unable to take off without the FO shooting them down. no one answers the call for reinforcements. poe looks out with his binoculars one last time. he sees an x-wing in the distance. snoke, who is on the surface with them in kylo’s body, is informed of an incoming ship, but he knows exactly who it is. 

we see luke in the cockpit and he converses with artoo. leia watches with an expression of relief. he attacks the FO head on and the resistance lets the rest of the galaxy know that luke skywalker is back and he’s ready to fight. this encourages the others - the pilots, the defected stormtroopers, and those that choose to come to the resistance’s aide (who we see listening to the distress call and making the decision to help) - to go back out and fight. while they are unable to stop the FO, they provide a distraction so that the others can escape. 

the FO is left on crait while the resistance reunites on a new ship. we get a better reunion between luke and leia. they hug and luke apologizes for leaving, but tells her he’s ready to fight. he also reunites with lando. 

meanwhile rey and finn get a proper chance to talk. they hug and he flinches when her hand touches his back and she apologizes. she meets rose, who is also excited to meet her, and along with poe the four of them talk amongst themselves. rey spots luke and goes to speak with him. she tells him what happened and the conflict she felt and luke tells her he understands and that perhaps kylo was beyond saving. he tells her not to dwell on it right now and he looks over her shoulder to see where finn, rose, and poe all wait for her. she glances over and smiles, happy to be with her found family. she tries to hand him the lightsaber again, but he curls her fingers around it. “its yours,” he says. 

the ending shows our quartet together with their battle scars, their bruises. the resistance took a huge blow and snoke is even more powerful than ever, but through their love for one another leaves us knowing that no matter how dark it gets, hope is always there. 

so yeah. thats just one option. it doesnt cover everything and im probably forgetting a lot of stuff that i might add on with later, but honestly? this movie should’ve been so easy to write. rian johnson retire bitch.