#and like I’m not saying this is Book of Boba Fett bad

[luckthebard]

Ngl I’ve spent a lot of C3 really hoping we would ever get more specific engagement with Laudna’s years alone. I’d been holding out for some explanations or character work around that in-game. And it’s…I’m gonna go with Mildly Annoying that it now feels like that got ignored/glossed over in the campaign cause they were planning to explore it in the novel. I don’t…love it, I’ll say that.

[flight0fthenavigat0r]

A Goodbye to The Bad Batch

I don’t even know what to say first. Because this is goodbye, but it is also everything but. But I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Just a couple of years ago I found my love for Star Wars. My entire life, as far back as I can remember, my dad has tried to get me into the fandom. Now, he’s not a fan the exact same way some of us are, he’d only watched the saga and the Mandalorian, funnily enough I was the one to introduce him to The Clone Wars and beyond, but it’s been a joy in his life for a very long time. I was never interested in it when I was little, but then I got a little older and Star Wars started to capture my interest.

One random weekend, I believe in 2021 or 2022, I decided that I was going to watch all nine saga movies in those forty-eight hours, and then start on my goal to watch every show and the additional movies.

This is, without a shred of doubt, one of the greatest decisions I have ever made, and one that I will never regret. I would not be the person I am had I not given Star Wars a chance.

It would sound ridiculous to anyone anywhere else, but this has become such a safe place for me that I know I can be honest.

Everyone finds that one thing that makes them happy like nothing else. A person, a hobby, a place, a fandom. Mine is the galaxy far, far away that lets me escape from my life whenever I need to.

The Star Wars fandom has its faults, and there is so much hatred.

But more than anything, there is love like no love I have ever experienced before. The love between fans and our love for these movies and shows is something I never expected to have in my life. But somehow, for some reason, it has all found a permanent place in my heart, and I couldn’t be happier.

At this time, the first season of The Bad Batch had just been released. I was branching out, watching The Clone Wars and then jumping to The Book of Boba Fett, though I’m not sure why I chose to watch everything in such a completely random order.

But then I started The Bad Batch.

I had no idea what Crosshair, Tech, Wrecker, Hunter, Echo, and Omega would come to mean to me.

I have dealt with a lot in the last few years. Nothing compared to others, but depression finds a way to wedge into your life. I love to be alone, but I don’t like to be lonely, and I have managed to isolate myself to a point of misery.

I found more comfort in The Bad Batch than anything else in my life, and I will never forget the joy The Bad Batch brought me in these last few years.

I began to write when I found Star Wars, and I was inspired to do so by The Bad Batch. Before, I had never felt so compelled by any one piece of media to add my own part of it to the world, until this. Writing has become another escape, one that gives me an outlet to continue the stories of characters left behind.

What I already knew has been reaffirmed, the lessons I have learned remain with me, and will even after this is over.

That it’s okay to feel afraid, because everyone does, and to make mistakes, provided you learn from them.

That feeling out of place for one reason or another does not make you unworthy of love, and having limitations with affection isn’t something you need to apologize for.

That being goofy, having fun, finding joy in the dark places, is just as vital a part of life as anything else, if not what we need more than anything.

That taking time for yourself, to make sure you don’t fall apart, even while taking care of others, is important.

That our worst moments can be one of two things, what consumes us, or what we grow from.

That being a young woman is not a detriment to your worth, intelligence, talent, or any other aspect of life, but is in fact what makes you strongest.

That what makes us unique and our faults are a part of who we are, but they do not define us, and we are so much more than the ideas people have of us.

My only regret is not making friends when I had the chance. I’m bad at that, opening up and putting myself out there, and I shy away from talking to new people because it makes me uncomfortable. But I wish I had been able to put that aside before it was too late and found people who love The Bad Batch the way I do to continue talking to, even after the show ends.

But to all the people who have supported me and who I have supported, thank you for being part of my Bad Batch experience.

It's very difficult to believe that this is it.

Though The Bad Batch has not been around long, it feels like it has, because as long as I have been watching Star Wars, The Bad Batch has been in its active run, and I’m so grateful I got to be here when it was.

I know that even when the credits roll for the final time, when the greater fandom forgets the show that they never really understood the way we have, I’ll be here, and hopefully, so will all of you. I think that the family brought together by The Bad Batch will endure, even if we go quiet for a while.

We’ll stick around, for the day the Batch comes back. Because I know they will.

Thank you Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch fandom, Dee Bradley Baker, Michelle Ang, the Kiners, and everybody who played a part in telling this story.

The impact The Bad Batch has had on my life has been profound, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. It’s been a wild ride, and I have enjoyed every second of it. It has been a privilege to be a part of this piece in the ever growing history that makes up Star Wars.

Goodbye, Bad Batch. Until next time.

“Change takes getting used to. You’ll see. Just give it time.”

[gffa]

Hi Lumi. This year I’ve watched The Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Tales of the Jedi and I’m watching Ahsoka as episodes are released. But I feel like I’m missing some context as to why people are wary of Filoni. What things should I know so I’m caught up, so to speak, in the fandom discussions?

Hi! That's a lot of Star Wars to watch in a year, I hope you're having fun with it all! And I will gently remind everyone that Filoni is not the be-all-end-all of Star Wars creators--Henry Gilroy was there for TCW and Rebels, too. George Lucas was holding writers' meetings years after the show started (at least into 2010!). The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are far more Jon Favreau's shows. The Bad Batch is Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbett. Resistance was developed by him, but was run by other producers. It's just that Filoni tends to get the most camera time and has become the face of Star Wars creators. That said, the issue with Filoni is kind of two-pronged, though, they overlap. 1. He's done a lot of interviews where he's said a lot of anti-Jedi things that have drifted from reasonable critiques in the beginning to eventually "Qui-Gon Jinn was the only true Jedi. [blatantly wrong citations]" This has put a lot of people off him as a creator, because we love the Jedi Order that Lucas talks about and established, which Filoni has actively contradicted over the years, despite being promoted as someone who follows Lucas' themes. And it's hard not to be aware of his interviews when watching his shows and it's hard to enjoy shows that do your faves dirty, you know? 2. His writing has become weaker over the years for a lot of us--Rebels is a show most of us love and found to be incredible. Many of us really love The Clone Wars, which he was heavily involved in/was probably the central voice after Lucas started phasing out. But his biggest story told over the course of those series--basically, the story of Mandalore's history and fall to the Empire--has been extremely thin for a lot of us. And a lot of us get frustrated at his inability to be objective when it comes to Ahsoka's character, that we love her as a character very much, but it hasn't felt like Filoni really knows what to do with her character arc and yet almost everything he writes is centered around her. His final season of The Clone Wars? Gave her the walkabout arc and the Siege of Mandalore arc, both of which often did not hold up well under scrutiny. His episode of The Book of Boba Fett? I actually really loved it, but it absolutely just stopped the pacing of that show to focus a lot on her. More on Luke, but he couldn't resist putting her in there, either. Tales of the Jedi was half devoted to Ahsoka and so much of it wasn't even about her time as a Jedi! We're frustrated because he doesn't set things up well anymore--Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?? Why wasn't that established in The Mandalorian instead of pulling out randomly in Ahsoka? Why does Sabine Wren suddenly so badly want Jedi training, when they barely even had a conversation in Rebels?? There's a lot of good that Filoni has given to Star Wars, I think he genuinely cares about the Force and what it means--he's very consistent on how it's not easy and how it takes discipline and control, that he has been consistent on how anger and fear are paths to the dark side, even his episode of TBOBF had Ahsoka saying, yeah, attachment is a path to the dark side, because the Jedi mean "attachment" in a more Buddhist-aligned way. A lot of his writing for the character of Ahsoka is actually pretty good, like I've been enjoying her being a prickly, traumatized hot mess in the show! It's just that I kind of hate all the interviews he gives and I think he's a lot less objective than a lot of fans and media coverage that would hold him up as a perfect writer/interviewee about all things Star Wars, and it all comes together to make him kind of a hot-button topic.

So, a lot of people LOVE Filoni's work, a lot of people are frustrated by it, a lot of people are casually fine about it, a lot of people HATE Filoni's work and it can be a fun mix of any of the above or even other issues that come up. (And that's all fine! I have my views on Filoni's work, but it's fine if others hate it more than I do or love it more than I do, there's room for us all, all of it is valid.)

But I think if you want to understand some of the roots of this corner of fandom's frustration, two (admittedly long as heck) homework assignment reads would be:

- My own rebuttal to Dave's behind the scenes Mandalorian Gallery talk (this is jokingly referred to as "Davegate" because I refused to take it too seriously) - @david-talks-sw's collection of comparisons between Lucas' commentary on the Jedi and Filoni's commentary on the Jedi

This response itself is more focused on laying out the problems a lot of people have with Filoni's writing, but also honestly I still have my giant collection of Jedi source material citations that quotes his commentary, I still bring up Filoni's quotes in current meta a lot, I still talk positively about the things I enjoy from his shows, so overall there's equal amounts of both praise and criticism here. So, as short as I can make it (which isn't very, shut up, I know! XD), that's basically what people mean when they say they're wary of Filoni.

[autumnwoodsdreamer]

The Bad Batch was amazing. Truly stunning story all the way through and an epic conclusion (and an epilogue that is still prompting some tears, I’ll be honest). But I gotta say something about the red herring in the room.

I really enjoyed all the “CX-2 is Tech” theories, fics and art, and although I was extremely cautious about locking my hopes on it coming true, I couldn’t help but pick up on all those subtle cues which kept pushing you to think “there’s something more going on here.”

Usually, I’m skeptical about theories (like the masked Inquisitor in Ahsoka being Ezra—cool idea but it never could grab my belief). But I didn’t think it was a stretch to consider that CX-2 might be Tech, Winter Soldier-style: Hemlock saying the goggles were the only thing that could be salvaged when there definitely would be other stuff (the body or the rest of his armour at least)… CX-2’s particular flying style, his notable reliance on gadgets, his peculiar word choice (that “domicile” line haunts me)… the way Tech’s absence was handled in an incomplete way (as compared to, say, Kanan’s death, whereafter we had a whole episode for the characters just to mourn, and another episode to make it clear he can’t come back).

But it went nowhere.

And I can let go of the Tech Winter Soldier idea (with great difficulty) but the whole execution of those Shadow clones—only bringing them out in the very last ep—was somewhat disappointing. They were legitimately terrifying and they made for incredible opponents, especially as they seemed designed on the principle of “the Bad Batch but evil.” But, in the end, they felt rushed; just ushered in to up the stakes and produce shock value.

I am not complaining and I am definitely not hating; it was an amazing finale and everyone worked so hard on it. But I have to ask: why was one clone from the Shadows singled out for so long? Theories were bound to erupt and the clone in particular bore such an uncanny resemblance to Tech that many had to wonder if there was a connection. But there wasn’t. So: red herring.

And the thing is, it’s becoming something of a pattern.

The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian Season 3, Ahsoka… all of them were littered with red herrings: plot points and characters we believed were one thing but ultimately they weren’t that—in some cases, they weren’t anything at all and we were left wondering why they were included in the first place when they served about as much purpose as a decorative lamp (I cite: Garsa, the masked Inquisitor, even Din Djarin himself became a whole red herring).

Subverting expectations is a fantastic literary device, and some of it has been interesting, but I just… wonder why it’s become so prevalent. Rebels didn’t bait us like this, neither did Mandalorian Season 1 or Kenobi.

[burnwater13]

Boba Fett and Fennec Shand in the Firespray aiming its weapons on the Sarlacc below him. Image from the Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 4, The Gathering Storm. Calendar by DateWorks.

Grogu had heard about the Daimyo’s vendetta against the Sarlacc. He’d heard how the first thing that he and Fennec did when they got the Firespray back from Jabba’s Palace was go to it’s pit and blast the heck out of it. He’d also heard how disappointed the Daimyo was when he discovered that the Sarlacc was not in possession of his armor. His Mandalorian father’s armor. 

Once you had that last piece of data it made perfect sense. Anyone else would have just let bygones be bygones. But for a Mandalorian to ignore the imperative of reclaiming their armor? Never. Not in a million years or across a million parsecs. And if the Daimyo was anything, whether he agreed with Grogu on this point or not, he was a Mandalorian, like his father before him. 

But it was just armor. 

“Kid, that armor has saved my life more times than I can count. I’m sure that it was the same for the Daimyo. Mandalorian armor isn’t just durasteel or that useless stuff the Imperium put their troops in. It’s designed and forged to last for many generations. If you want to insult a Mandalorian tell them their armor is fake. Of course, you better be wearing your own beskar when you say that because we don’t take insults lightly.”

Grogu was used to his dad lecturing him about beskar and taking ridiculous risks to secure the stuff, like fighting a Krayt Dragon. But he still didn’t agree that it was worth the trouble. Other people targeted you because they wanted to take it. Still others thought that they had weapons that could destroy it and need examples to test their theories on. It often didn’t fit quite right because it had been passed down for generations or was just cobbled together to form a suit if you were a foundling and had no family to inherit it from. 

But Grogu’s biggest problem with Mandalorian armor was that it allowed them all to hide behind it. Din Djarin only took off his helmet when he absolutely had to and he was still paranoid about letting anyone see his face. It wasn’t a bad face and Grogu thought it was silly to hide it.

“Buddy, I don’t cover my face because I’m not handsome enough. I cover my face because the Creed requires it. It is an ancient rule that was designed to protect Mandalorian’s during the battles they fought using their personal attack ships. Mandalorians must always be ready for battle. The songs of old are a good reminder of why this is important.”

Grogu was unimpressed with his dad’s argument. Neither Boba Fett nor Bo-Katan Kryze covered their faces when they weren’t actually fighting. Apparently the Creed allowed for that. Why couldn’t he see his dad’s brown eyes every once in a while? Even Migs Mayfeld had seen them.

“Buddy, there were extenuating circumstances with Mayfeld. And the Daimyo no longer follows the Creed and Bo-Katan is the Mand’alor and changed the Creed as it relates to the people who follow her version of it. I did not swear myself to that tradition. I must follow the rules I agreed to follow. One day you will choose and you will follow those rules. And there is no need for you to roll your eyes.”

Grogu wished he’d been wearing a beskar helmet then or even one made of Cortosis. He hated being lectured about his facial expressions by a person who never shared them with anyone due to his convenient adherence to a rapidly fading version of the rules for the Children of the Watch. 

“Grogu, I can understand what you’re signing and I don’t appreciate the sarcasm. I know you think it’s easy for me to give up something that I’ve known and done for the majority of my life, but it isn’t. Just like Daimyo Fett didn’t want to give up his armor, I am not ready to give up the rules that protected me, much like the rest of my armor does. Have you given up all the rules that the Jedi taught you?”

Dank Farrik! Din Djarin would have to pull that out of his beskar helmet! Of course Grogu hadn’t given up everything he’d learned as a Jedi. He meditated even though he didn’t like it. He was kind and thoughtful to strangers. He didn’t use the Force to straighten the blanket on his hammock. He didn’t use the Force on his dad to trick him into thinking he hadn’t used the Force to do his chores. 

On the other hand, he spent the vast majority of his time with Mandalorians, bounty hunters, and people with unsavory reputations, which Jedi younglings had been warned about almost every day. He didn’t always wish people “May the Force be with you” because they thought it was odd and that was just the Sand people he chatted with. He didn’t clean his plate at meal times if the meal happened to be made up of ration packs. And he really wished he could give up the drab garb that Jedi younglings were compelled to wear to reinforce their humility. Well, one does want a hint of color.

“Grogu, when I am ready to make that change you will be the very person I tell. I promise you that. Now, just say ‘ahh’. I need you open your mouth a little wider. I don’t understand how you managed to get that rock stuck in your teeth.”

Grogu did as his dad suggested and would have told him that someone had left little frog shaped pebbles around their cabin. It was a mean trick and that’s what had reminded him of the Sarlacc. You had to be careful about the things you were willing to put in your mouth.

[froody]

The Star Wars fandom is fucking hilarious because every time a new piece of media comes out, there is a large percentage of people who will be like “This shit was so bad that it ruined Star Wars. Forever.” The prequels, the sequels, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett. It’s like they’ve forgotten that fundamentally Star Wars sucks ass (saying that as a fan) the plot lines are weak, the directing is weak, the world building can be fairly lazy at times, hell, the characters’ names are often silly. I’m not saying you can’t have a negative opinion about the franchise but they never fail with this bullshit. It’s been 24 years. Actually, it’s probably been longer than that, I’m sure when the holiday special came out in 1978, there were some dweebs who said “Star Wars is ruined forever now.” and turned off their TV sets. SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS LOWERRRRRR.

[oenimo]

In honour of the Ahsoka show coming out, I’m coming out of my internet/Tumblr hiatus to write out my feelings, the feelings that caused the hiatus in the first place.

I love Ahsoka as a character. I love Clone Wars.

I love Star Wars Rebels

I want Ezra to come home. To see Hera again. To see Sabine again. Zeb. Chopper. Kallus. Rex.

I want him to meet Jacen

I loved the Mandalorian

I loved the Bad Batch (whitewashing not included)

I loved Book of Boba Fett

But I am terrified of the Ahsoka show

I am terrified at what they are going to do to the characters I love with all my heart. I am terrified of what they are going to do to Sabine. To Ezra. To Hera. To Chopper.

I am terrified they are going to erase Zeb. Terrified they’ll erase the meagre progress we got in the finale, of Kallus and Zeb on Lira San together.

I am terrified that Thrawn is going to be a villain.

“But he is a villain?” I hear you ask. “He was a villain in Rebels? He was the big bad for season 3 and 4?”

He was.

And that’s half the reason I’m scared.

Because I read the books.

Before I read the Thrawn books, Rebels was my favourite piece of Star Wars content/media I’d ever consumed (and I have consumed a metric fuckton of Star Wars). But the two new Thrawn book series beat it out. The new canon ones (Disney canon, if you want to call it that).

I love these books so much that I couldn’t consume any more Star Wars media after them. The live action shows, I could see the hints flooding in, and I have barely a shred of hope left that they won’t take my beloved books and destroy them. By which I mean, destroy Thrawn. This is why I’m so so scared of the Ahsoka show. I retreated from every bit of Star Wars fandom because I just couldn’t handle it.

The Thrawn books set up a beautiful narrative for the time skip in rebels. The hints from both the original trilogy (of Thrawn books) and the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy wove into the beginnings of an amazing explanation for where Ezra might’ve been during the gap, and did so while exploring Thrawn's character in a way that made me love him. And if you’ve only watched Rebels, you’ll believe me when I say that before reading the books I hated him. Before I read the books I couldn’t imagine liking him. And then I read them. And now the main reason that I am so so so distrustful and scared of the Ahsoka show is that I can see contradictory hints in the trailers, hints at the themes and stories that are going to be explored in the show, and they are all hints pointing towards making Thrawn who he was in the pre-Disney canon, in the old Thrawn novels. In those, he was exactly what you likely think of him as—ruthless, evil, heartless. However you want to describe it. But the newer books (written by the same guy who created Thrawn in the first place, I’d like you to know) changed that. They made him an infinitely more nuanced character, gave him a story that is so much more interesting than an evil dictator. But the trailers for the Ahsoka show make reference to the old books. The set up of the show is making Thrawn out to be the big bad. And when I heard “Heir to the Empire” (the title of one of the old Thrawn books, in which he is exactly that, and is his usual Legends canon nightmareish evil self) I pretty much lost all hope.

Theoretically, all this should’ve been assuaged by the fact that the new Thrawn books are canon. Not Legends canon, they are current canon.

But after how they changed Kanan’s backstory in Bad Batch, contradicting canon comics in favour of their new audiovisual show, I can’t expect much respect for written canon vs audiovisual canon. They’ve already disregarded their books once, why wouldn’t they do it again?

And let’s loop back around to that “but Thrawn was a big bad villain in the Rebels show”, because that ties right in.

Most of us love Dave Filoni. Clone Wars kicked ass. Rebels is amazing. I said it before—it’s my second favourite Star Wars media ever.

However.

Dave Filoni is also involved in the whole changes that happened with Jacen. He did the Bad Batch.

He also did Rebels, and specifically, also chose to make Thrawn the way he was in Rebels.

Compared to how Thrawn is in the new books, written by Timothy Zahn (again, the guy who made Thrawn in the first place), I’d take Zahn Thrawn over Filoni Thrawn any day. Because as I said, he is way more nuanced and complex in the books.

Villain and antagonist are two very different things. A villain is bad. A villain is cruel, and wrong. An antagonist is an opposing force. An opposing force against the protagonist. The protagonist doesn’t have to be a hero. The protagonist is simply the person we are following the story of, the one we hear the side of.

In Rebels, Thrawn is presented as antagonist and villain. He is countering the rebels efforts, doing things they don’t condone. The Empire is the true overarching villain of Rebels, and he is the face of the empire (once the inquisitors are done away with, and Kallus has defected). He and Pryce are the Empire. (Maul’s also an antagonist, but this isn’t about him.)

In the books, Thrawn is the (main) protagonist. He’s not really a hero, not in any usual meaning of the word, but he’s a protagonist.

The other main protagonist for the first book is Eli Vanto. An imperial officer who’s a hick from Wild Space, he’s about as low on the food chain as you could get.

For the first while, the Thrawn books don’t really have a distinct villain. The antagonists are, as could be expected for a book centred on imperial officers, sympathetic, or just plain unimportant enough to really count. Pirates. Smugglers.

And then comes Nightswan.

Nightswan is not a villain—He’s an antagonist. But he’s not a hero either. He’s not even really a rebel, not in with the rebellion, or his own sect like Saw Guerrera. He’s just swindling and fighting because he doesn’t like the empire, but he’s not overly concerned with results. A bit, but not much.

Pryce is a protagonist of the first Thrawn book. She is also, simultaneously, a villain. We watch her turn from a cunning and conniving 30-something, to a cunning, conniving, ruthless 50-something with a body count and a former best friend she turned in, making her rot in prison (because she joined a rebellion after seeing how Pryce was treated by her superiors!).

The last of the conflicts in the first Thrawn book is not a person vs person conflict. It is a person vs society. The last antagonist is the Empire. Or, specifically, the Empire’s xenophobia.

Thrawn is treated like crap by more than half of the people he works with. Eli, hick extraordinaire, the lowest member of the food chain, is not the lowest. Thrawn is. The only thing worse than being a hick from the ass end of nowhere is being an alien from the ass end of nowhere. At every turn, there are enemies watching for Thrawn and Eli to slip up, so they can be sent packing. The only reason they don’t, the only reason they survive, is a combination of one (1) influential non-xenophobic friend (who’s a remnant of the Republic, funnily enough (love you, Yularen)), plain competency at military matters, and a lot of tiptoeing around and making concessions.

“When can we push without being kicked out or killed”. “When do we have to give ground in order to stay in the fleet, and have the chance to do better in the long run”. More often than not, for two people such as themselves, they have to give ground. Eli, and Thrawn, spend a lot of their time in the books having ethical dilemmas and crises of conscious. It’s subtler from Thrawn, but it’s there.

Tell me that’s not more interesting than another black and white imperial villain. Tell me that doesn’t make more sense than a black and white imperial villain when said villain is an alien.

I also… don’t like Lars Mikklesen, heh. I don’t have anything against him, not really, but the problem stems from how he doesn’t help counter what I’m seeing in the trailer(s). Lars Mikkelsen was, indeed, Thrawn’s voice actor in Rebels. However, it’s Dave Filoni’s Thrawn (Rebels Thrawn) that I’m worried about. As we’ve said, Thrawn in Rebels occupies a very black and white villain role, this cold as ice ruthless and cruel and creepy villain, but then they (Disney! Literally Disney! Literally canon!) expanded on him, changing his backstory and history and present to be something way more interesting, way more complicated and nuanced and sympathetic and tbh, not a villain so much as a misguided hero. 

That’s the Thrawn I want! That’s the Thrawn I read six books of! That’s the Thrawn that makes a fascinating counter to Ezra’s reckless idealism! But they are hinting at all the wrong hints, and the fact that they keep pulling from Rebels is one part of those hints. Ahsoka snarling in Mando asking for where “Grand Admiral Thrawn” is, is another. “Heir to the empire” is another, and that’s the really, really, really damning one. Anyway, yeah, Lars is not the problem, but he’s another person involved who doesn’t have any exposure to Book Thrawn, so he does nothing to reassure. Also, in the pettier reasons I’m eh on him, lmao, he’s… kinda old for how I think Thrawn should look since we’ve experienced that Chiss seem to age extremely gracefully, and also just generally his face isn’t right, and also… I know he was the first voice but I really like Mark Thompson (the voice actor for the audiobooks) way better, lol.

Other than Thrawn, the trailer(s) worries me that they’re going to pull force-sensitive Sabine out of their asses. There’s no reason to make her force-sensitive, she could use Ezra’s lightsaber without it, and work with Ahsoka without being her padawan (remember how Ahsoka left the Jedi order also?? And refused to train Grogu? Her randomly turning around to train Sabine (who shouldn’t be force sensitive anyway) doesn’t even fit in with their own canon!)

Ahem.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you’ve read the Thrawn books, or if you haven’t but are curious and don’t care about spoilers, this is what I think should’ve/should happen with Ezra, Thrawn, and all the post-rebels pre-rebels epilogue/pre-Ahsoka time.

[fanfoolishness]

Rewatching Chapter 18 of The Mandalorian, “The Mines of Mandalore”, and blabbering away incoherently!

Ooh, we got the Ship o haj Mandalorians theme in the recap! That song fucking slaps.

Peli didn’t replace her tooth, and I love it

Oh Peli, never change your Jawa-loving ways

“No complaints” = HIGH praise from this guy

She’s so proud of him!

Grogu is GOING TO TALK THIS SEASON, he is! Peli called it

Not only is R5 scared of going to Mandalore, so is the gonk droid in the background who slowly is backing away during this conversation

Din: “let’s go on an adventure!” Grogu: “dad there are fireworks RIGHT HERE”

I love absolutely everything about Din explaining Mandalore to Grogu. Admitting he’s never been there either? My freaking heart. “Our people”? Crying forever

Man people really do need to give R5 a rest, he’s doing what he can okay

I love the spookiness of Mandalore and the tense music. The whole place is unsettling, from the glassed surface to the bad weather to the deserted feels

I like that the helmet does have pressurization capability! Stuff I had headcanoned as being correct is coming to life.

Grogu really is talking a lot more with more sentence like structure. What is his first word gonna be???

Din is struggling even worse with the Darksaber than he was in Book of Boba Fett. Why? I love it. I am so excited to see what the narrative tells us about it! It’s interesting because the Armorer said he couldn’t use it while his mind was conflicted… yet Din probably thinks his mind is as clear as it’s been a long time. He’s on a mission to redeem himself in the mines. He has Grogu back with him once more. What could he be conflicted about now? (Unless he’s secretly got a religious crisis brewing in his head in which case I am HERE. FOR. THAT.)

CRAB

POISON CRAB

Does it just eat Mandalorians? Is it a former Mandalorian who could only survive the glassing in this giant droid carapace, like a Mandalorian Big Daddy?

Grogu’s going to be an ace pilot some day, isn’t he?? <3

Poor Bo. Fell asleep in her throne room again. Her blanket looks cozy though.

Bo about to march out there like “get the FUCK off my lawn” and then being very surprised

Poor Bo again, having to see the ruin of her planet :( why does this keep happening to Star Wars women! Leia, Cara, Bo…. I’m loving her so far this season. She does bitter and wounded so well!

I love that Bo is actually building Grogu up! Telling him he’s good with the Force <3 <3 <3

Damn Bo, look at these mad skills!

First person to call Din Grogu’s dad? Now he just needs to do it himself!

Bo has serious Darksaber skilllllllz, will she be his teacher this season?

I also love that this season they have finally leaned into Din having a name. Will it ever be as recognizable as Boba Fett or Han Solo to the casual fan? I’m not sure, but I’m happy they’re doing it. It would start to get pretty weird, I guess, to have everyone call him Mando in a season with 100 Mandalorians.

“Your kid” <3 Aww complimenting Grogu.

Getting serious Deep Road vibes here and I love it.

No pog soup? There’s something important here and I’m not sure either of them realizes it. Maybe Din realizes he really was raised strangely when he thinks about it. Maybe Bo realizes Din isn't just weird, he's genuinely missing a lot of vital information/it was deliberately kept from him.

The way Din was overwhelmed with emotion hearing about Bo-Katan’s father’s sacrifice. Don’t get any ideas, Din.

Interpretative sign, hell yeah!

Din is so reverent. Even Bo-Katan’s like, “shit, dude’s going through it.”

Mythosaur tried to eat him, right? How else could he have sank that quickly?

Mythosauuuuuuuurrrrr!!!! So cool and just the perfect amount of mystery!

BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Awww man, Joseph Shirley took over the score from Ludwig Goransson? It says musical themes by Goransson, but score by Shirley, in the credits. Joseph Shirley did Book of Boba Fett and while I liked some of those songs a lot (Faster Than a Fauthier is a delight) I could do with out all the “Boba FETT!!!” choruses. Hoping this does not bode ill, I loved the first 2 seasons’ score so much and listen to it regularly.

Very excited for next week now! And genuinely having no idea what’s next since Din skipped the side quests and went straight to advancing the story.

[dindjarindiaries]

I agree with you wholeheartedly that I miss when the Mandalorian fandom was a little more together and friendly, but I just have to say… The negativity after every episode makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with me for enjoying most of them. There are some problems, sure, but I still think it’s entertaining and fun 90% of the time. I think people forget that this is just a space western, and yes, of course it has a huge name to live up to, but honestly I’d rather it be a little goofy and silly because a lot of times, Star Wars is so dark that we can use a little ray of sunshine. (This is not to insult any other show—Andor was brilliant, one of the best out there, and even The Book Of Boba Fett has some amazing moments!)

It’s just hard to go through the Mandalorian tag on Wednesday mornings and not feel really sad and hurt that being happy and having fun with the story we’re getting feels like the wrong response.

(Thank you so much for your positivity on it, though. I, and I’m sure many others, are very grateful for it!)

Firstly, your feelings are valid! They happen to somewhat coincide with my own as well. I’ve enjoyed every episode thoroughly, and it’s hard to see negativity surrounding it. But I can see where they’re coming from and they’re entitled to those feelings, too. As long as no one’s trying to make you and I feel bad for what we enjoy, we can all celebrate the things that make us happy and we can consider the things that maybe upset us!

The beauty of fandom is the diversity in everything. That’s something to be celebrated! If everyone thought the same, it wouldn’t be too exciting, would it?

[jedi-qui-gon]

Mental health and Comfort Characters

It was difficult to post this, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to...but we all need to pay more attention to mental health.

Here’s a very important video my cousin made, about art and mental health-

Mental health and the arts. I get pretty vulnerable in this one. Probably too vulnerable, but I think this is an important topic we… | Instagram

It really stuck with me.

As an artist – one who writes - I have my mental health struggles. Sometimes I feel like my works are average, never ‘good’ or great’. And sometimes I feel like I’m not improving, that my writings will never reach the levels of the writers who’ve created and published Star Wars novels like E. K. Johnston (writer of the Ahsoka novel) and Claudia Gray (writer of Master & Apprentice). But I know it’s just the mental health issues talking, I just gotta keep practicing!

My cousin does therapy. Though for me, since I’m deaf/hard of hearing and struggle to understand people I don’t know well and often strangers don’t understand me, therapy for mental health the ‘standard way’ just seemed too daunting. But my cousin shared a link more recently for deaf and hard of hearing accessible mental healthcare that’s chat based. Hope to give it a try soon!

And recent events in past months haven’t helped my mental health at all.

I was away on vacation with my mom and my grandma in January of this year to Texas. It started off good but things went awry towards the end and my grandma’s health took a downturn. But thankfully she improved and we were able to go home.

On the 29th of January, I had worked on notes for my therapist for when I do the mental health therapy. It got too much to finish in one day, brought up old painful memories, triggered and upset me. But it is needed for the therapist but didn't want to push myself too hard, it’s not something I need to finish just yet.

If that had been all I would have been back to writing and posting by now, but sadly my grandma passed away on February 6th …still recovering. I was so upset I hadn’t posted any fanfics since then.

Related to my mental health, there’s something called ‘comfort characters’ and here’s what my Bing Search said -

“A comfort character is a fictional character from a film, TV show, book, or video game that someone thinks of in times of distress, to help them feel better. A comfort character can make the person feel comfortable and safe, because they relate to them, look up to them, or feel like they have a special bond with them. A comfort character can also provide a sense of security and order in a chaotic world.”

Qui-Gon Jinn and Ahsoka Tano, both from Star Wars, are surely my comfort characters.

Qui-Gon Jinn used to be my favorite, first got into Star Wars via the Prequel Trilogy long ago.

Back then, I was such a fan of Qui-Gon I had ‘Jedi Qui-Gon’ as my Fanfiction.net username, Xbox gamertag, and used a picture of him as my profile pics on the sites I had accounts on. And have recently changed my usernames on the sites I felt like doing so to ‘Jedi Qui-Gon since he’s still my second favorite in Star Wars.

It’s safe to say he helped me through the last year of High School back in 2011-2012. It got so bad I considered dropping out but hung in there. One saving grace came out of that which was my high school graduation party my family had. I had requested a cake, a Star Wars Qui-Gon Jinn cake and loved it!

More recently, in the new 20’s and onward, Ahsoka Tano became my favorite Star Wars character, Qui-Gon became second place. Ahsoka is my profile pics for most of the sites I have accounts on.

At first I had just liked her. But after the Ahsoka novel, Star Wars Rebels, Season 7 of Star Wars the Clone Wars, and her appearance in The Mandalorian; she became my favorite. And loved her appearances in The Book of Boba Fett and her show too!

And a reason I’m happy for that, her content, Star Wars, and more Qui-Gon content as well is because I used to be a fan of Harry Potter, written by JK R*wl*ng. When she revealed her ugly hateful self and dove into the abyss of evil, I felt betrayed. And that did not help my mental health at all.

To help deal with the hurt jumped in Star Wars more, and Ahsoka Tano. I feel Ahsoka would have some...choice words directed at the sleemo…especially for tricking children…

[justanotherjawa]

the book of boba fett is,, most certainly A Show That Exists. I’m not Not enjoying it, I can’t say it’s Bad, but I can’t say the opposite either.

it’s just these flashbacks bro. on paper I like it but dude. I feel like I’VE been in the deserts of Tattooine for four years please get me OUT of here

I just finished episode 4 so I’m now to the point where the actual Good and Interesting things happen (to my knowledge at least, I don’t have full spoilers) so idk. maybe my opinion will change but rn it simply a show I am watching that I will not touch again

the worst part is I’m watching this SOLELY to know what the canon is so I can pick and choose which parts to keep for fanfic 💀

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay, @laurelindorenan and @catkin-morgs were interested in my Star Wars thoughts, so here ya go. No particular order, just gonna ramble. Idk what all to discuss exactly, so this will be pretty broad-strokes.  

I am an Original Trilogy girl at heart and I do maintain that all three are actual masterpieces. All other Star Wars media, good bad or otherwise, is secondary in my book. Not an unusual opinion or anything, but maybe a little out of step with a lot of folks my age. I didn’t actually even see the prequel trilogy until the runup to The Force Awakens. 

And I just. I can’t even articulate the fondness and joy and giddy love that I have for those first three movies. For Luke, Leia, and Han. The whole supporting cast. The sound of Darth Vader’s breathing. Wookiee noises. Lightsabers and blasters and the jump to hyperspace. The sets! Hoth and the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon and Cloud City and -- and-- they’re so immersive and tangible and lived in and it always feel likes I could just step into them. The music!

I adore every single solitary thing about the romance between Leia and Han, which was probably the first love story I ever encountered that fully captivated my heart. It’s not just the bickering, it’s the fact that they change each other! They’re fire and steel together, but also Han learns to stay and to care because he loves Leia and Leia steps away from the rebellion to go after Han. He’s blind and frightened and he asks “who’s there” and she replies, “someone who loves you.” 

The themes of family tragedy and legacy and love and REDEMPTION! Han coming back to the Death Star and Lando the rebellion general and “I’ve got to save you!”/”You already have.” Luke, Luke the boy who throws aside his weapon and says “I am a Jedi like my father before me.” Who risks everything on the foolish, stupid hope that his father can be rescued from the Dark and he’s right. 

Thanks heavily to the influence of my dad, I’m an old fogey Star Wars fan who vehemently rejects the special editions. I alluded to the fact that I switched over to the despecialized edition to show my roommate the original Han/Greedo scene, subtitles be damned. I plan to do the same with the ending of Return of the Jedi. Idk, maybe that’s a little too rigid of me, but I can’t help it. I’m my father’s daughter. 

My personal ranking of the current cannon:

The good stuff, in order of preference: Jedi Empire, ANH (tentatively- my favorite OT movie is the one I've watched most recently), Clone Wars season 7, rest of Clone Wars, The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2.

Revenge of the Sith is compelling in spite of itself, but I can't quite bring myself to call it good. I’m ehhh on Rogue One and Obi-Wan. I have a complicated relationship with The Last Jedi.

I actively dislike Solo, Attack of the Clones, The Force Awakens, Phantom Menace, and The Rise of Skywalker (UGH), in ascending order of badness.

Haven’t seen Andor, Book of Boba Fett, or any of Rebels apart from like, 4 episodes. Waiting to watch Mandalorian s3 with my Dad over Christmas.

I also read a whole bunch of the old EU books as a kid and while the quality is highly variable, I still have very fond memories of quite a lot of it. I fully maintain that the sequel trilogy should have pulled from the New Jedi Order series. I miss Jaina Solo.

The prequels are. Um. They’re less than the sum of their parts. The opening to Revenge of the Sith is straight fire and you know I love me a good doomed romance and I swear I could get high on “This is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause.” But like. Sigh. They’re not good movies, guys. I know a lot of people my age will defend these movies, but I just. No. Y’all are nuts. The older crowd is right, the prequels are, in fact, bad, but hey, at least they gave us Clone Wars. 

On the other hand, the sequel trilogy is just a blot on the series. In a vacuum, I do rather like The Last Jedi as a movie, particularly the last hour, but in the context of the original films it's terribly unfair and cruel to Luke. It had some great themes and striking visuals, though. I never much liked The Force Awakens once the initial high wore off because it was super bland and not nearly interesting enough to distract me from the fact that it broke up Han and Leia!! Like what the heck. And of course The Rise of Skywalker is utter garbage. 

I wish Disney would stop it with all the new Content(tm), or at least slow down. It's just too much.

idk what else to say. I reblog Star Wars stuff on my other blog sometimes, but ironically (because it’s the biggest franchise in the world basically), Star Wars is really personal to me. I’m always, always, always gonna connect it with my dad.

[apollo-gate]

Hi buddy! Athena here, how are you and how's the writing going? What called you to writing in the first place?

😁 Hi Athena. It good to have you here. (Love the name. Never got to say that before.)

I’m doing well but haven’t been able to write like I normally can but I’m still writing. Had to take a few days to relax after I helped my mom move. So I got a few short stories written but that’s me just trying other methods.

What got me in to writing🤔.

That can be quite a few different reasons. I’d say one reason is when I was in junior high. I hit a point where I had no one who could understand me. The way I speak can almost always be misunderstood so I struggled growing up and the fact of hiding what I liked and disliked. (Especially how I wanted to look.) So I took an interest in books anything I could read I’d try it.

So I wrote short stories here and there. I can’t say the amount I wrote for Azula from Avatar. (Woman deserved better ✊) I also tried a few others as well. I think a few persona characters as well but that was a long time ago.

Than I went through the period of just reading rather than writing.

One of the first series I read was about a group of teenagers with powers and I believe it was connected with the Greek gods. I’m not sure of the title but I would read it on the bus to and from school. (Got in trouble once for reading instead of doing class work. Although I did do the class work just wanted to read it.)

Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish it as the library didn’t have the others.

Than another was the Star Wars Boba Fett series. I’ll be honest as a Star Wars fan this was totally worth it. I read all of them. I even check them out twice.

But I will say it was my senior year in high school I wrote something from start to finish. I guess you could say the thing that made me say I want to write more seriously.

One day I was in class I had nothing to do because my teacher didn’t have much for us so I wanted to watch a show on my phone (I had earbuds that day🤷‍♀️) but nothing was matching what I wanted to see so start to write.

It was a simple story of a Princess who wanted to make amends for her past. She being the demon who did a lot of bad things. Then I added drama like the man she brutally maimed comes back with an army. She has to flee to get help and in doing so she has to face the woman she not only loved but also took her powers away.(it was my senior project. And my teacher loved it.)

Since I did write in on notebook paper I did have to go pick it up after a week. She suggested I could become better and I should pursue it in college. I took her advice and while it’s not my main course or degree I’m taking my classes.

Thanks for the questions Athena. (I welcome them anytime. Might just drop one myself)

And a bear hug to you 🤗

Have a great day or night. If it’s night get sleep we all need it for our brains sake. 😁

[bunnywan]

tag game to better know you

Send this to people you’d like to know better!

triple tagged by @bladling @lilredghost @renlyslittlerose <3

What book are you currently reading? the beauty myth by naomi wolf. i tried keeping notes in the margins but noticed i was putting a post it on every single page.

What’s your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? i literally canot remember any movie i saw in theaters other than jordan peeles nope. which was great.

What do you usually wear? tiny skirt. the rest varies.

How tall are you? 5'6″

What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? im obviously a scorpio and i share a bday with CHLOE FUCKING SEVIGNY!!!!! 

Do you go by your name or a nick-name? half the time i get madison, half the time i get madi/mads. my dad calls me “bratison”.

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? im in college trying my fuckin best to be

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one? im far too complex and divine and sexy for that.

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at? good at: writing. bad at: eating.

Dogs or cats? dogs dogs dogs

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what’s your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year? from my fics, like what i like is my favorite, cus i like my own dirty prose in it or whatever. but honestly, my favorite part of writing is talking about it with my writer friends (looking at u sadie <3)

What’s something you would like to create content for? im loyal to obi-wan. u will not catch me creating anything for anyone/anything that isn’t him.

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with? the dude who plays charles in the new season of the crown. i’m so ashamed.

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? boba fett show

What’s a hidden talent of yours? drinking an absurd amount and not being hungover

Are you religious? sometimes when my mom asks me why i dont shave my legs i say “cus this is how god made me.” so, well. 

What’s something you wish to have at this moment? hokkaido oolong milk tea.

so many people have done this so i am singularly and specifically tagging @zaecula (who i always picture using tumblr on like an old computer with dial up sounds… for some reason)

[burnwater13]

Boba Fett instructing the Sandpeople on the direction of travel as they go after spice runners. The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 2, The Tribes of Tatooine. Calendar from DataWorks.

“Ready? Set? GO!”

At least that’s what Grogu thought was going on when Daimyo Fett described the situation, that got all the Sandpeople to line up on the speeder bikes that way. 

“Ready, set go? No, young one, that is not what I was saying to them. But I see your point. When the Clones were training on Kamino, they held many foot races and that is how they would start. I was telling them the direction and what to expect. We were going after spice runners. Those scum have always been a problem on Tatooine.”

“Boss, that may be true but the spice trade paid for a lot of the amenities here, including that bacta tank you’re so fond of.”

Grogu didn’t really know why that mattered. After all, the Jedi built almost all of their temples on top of old Sith temples. Just because something was bad didn’t mean everything to do with it was bad, or did it? Grogu wasn’t sure. 

He decided to ask his dad, who had just entered the room, with the Majordomo following him, talking a klick a minute while some how managing to sputter and sound apologetic.

“Hey, Fett. Your … uh… man here, says I can’t park the N1 in the forecourt. I’m willing to move it, but to where? I don’t want anyone taking pot shots at it.”

“Is this true?” Daimyo Fett aimed his question at Majordomo who was already bowing and trying to look small and unassuming. 

Grogu giggled at that. There was no way for a man that tall with lekku that long to look small or unassuming. 

“Remember Boss, I have that work crew coming in to do some improvements. No way are we letting anyone access to facility the same way we did when we retrieved your ship.”

“What are doing? Adding a pit trap and spikes?” 

Grogu tried not to laugh as he watched Fennec physically bristle at his dad’s suggestion and turn to the Majordomo and scold him for blabbing.

“Fennec, there’s no reason to use language like that in front of the child. He looks up to you, you know.”

Grogu smiled at the Daimyo. That was a nice sentiment but completely unnecessary. He liked Fennec just the way she was.

“He has to look up at everyone, Boss. Listen, Tin Man, just park your ship behind the rancor yard. We don’t have any bantha right now, so you won’t have to share it.”

Grogu was about to scold Fennec for the short joke, when he heard the rest of what she said. The bantha were gone? Where were they? When were they coming back? Why were they gone?!

“Now, now, young one. Don’t worry about the bantha. The tribe that you and your dad befriended near Freetown asked if they could add the few head we had here to their breeding program. We had two females and they could use them to help add to the over all population of banthas. After they have been bred they will be coming back here.”

“Won’t that be nice? Baby critters that are as big as a speeder when they’re born. But that won’t be for months. In the mean time that’s where you can…”

Grogu didn’t hear anything else Fennec said. The prospect of having baby banthas at the palace was almost overwhelming. He loved baby critters. They were so sweet and smelled so good and maybe, if he was very lucky he could have one of them imprint on him and he’d be able to ride it without having his dad tag along all the time. That would be so great. He could see himself making his way from Freetown to Mos Espa the way the Sandpeople had traveled for millennia. 

“Buddy, before you take your flight of fancy to Coruscant and back, I’m gonna remind you that all bantha are the property of the Sandpeople and they need daily care. We don’t spend enough time here for you to be adopted by one.”

Grogu sighed and sat down abruptly. His dad had really popped the bubble that had been forming all around the idea of being a bantha baby minder. Dank Farrik.

“Tell me, Din Djarin, how did you know that’s what he was thinking?”

Daimyo Fett asked quietly, just not quietly enough.

“He was holding his hands in the air and moving them like he was holding the reins of their rig. I could also tell that he was muttering something like ‘forward’ over and over. He does the same thing whenever people talk about that rancor of yours.”

“He’s just practicing for the first time he rides a Mythosaur. Lucky for you two he’s going to be a benevolent Mand’alor.”

Grogu could hear Fennec’s laughter, but strangely his dad and the Daimyo were both silent. He wondered what that meant.

[noddytheornithopod]

This week's episode of the Mandalorian was... really weird. And not in the fun way. The "episode ended and my primary feeling is complete and utter confusion" way. 

Not even sure where to start, because the episode felt really messy to me. I guess I'll try and go through it all from start to finish... assuming the episode's weirdness doesn't cause tangents.

Alright, so the intro was actually cool. The Mon Cala Quarren romance was kinda goofy and hard to take seriously, but I do like the idea behind it. The intro of Axe Woves and what those Mandos were up to was a cool set up. So cool, the episode is gonna be about Bo-Katan trying to get them back on their side again, right? It seems that way... but then Jack Black and Rizzo show up and the whole episode goes on a massive tangent. I know The Mandalorian often does the whole side quest thing, but either I'm getting tired of it, or the messiness of this season's overarching story meant I have even less patience for it, teasing the interesting conflict relevant to the big picture only to divert elsewhere. 

Also... Jack Black and Rizzo, wasn't a fan. Between this and getting Christopher Lloyd, it's like Favreau had the idea for the main conflict but it didn't fill up enough pages so he filled the middle, now majority, with celebrity cameos to compensate. I don't usually mind goofy characters, but IDK here it felt so paper thin, and it doesn't help that I couldn't really tell what they were trying to do with that part of the story.

So like... okay, this planet is allegedly a direct democracy. It kinda looks idealised and utopian with the scenery and set design, but the characters are goofy in a way it feels like it was trying to mock them? The whole "we're a direct democracy but we're also monarchs" thing is so confusing to me. Like... I feel like it's trying to say something, but I don't know what? Are they trying to say direct democracy is utopian and unrealistic, typical liberal "communism is unrealistic" shit?

Thing is, episode didn't really seem to be about that. If it was my salty libcom ass wouldn't be amused but at least it would've been coherent. Instead we're focusing on malfunctioning droids or something.

So like, I'm expecting some twist to this. They investigate and meet the ugnaughts. They look more proletarian to the opulence of the main city, so I was like "oh so is this like a slave/exploited workforce?" ...apparently not! The ugnaughts are chill, and the droid problem is something else. Din talking to them based on experience was cool at least?

So the runaway B2 and the droid bar being called "The Resistor" got me thinking... is this like a droid uprising thing? The droids aren't actually malfunctioning and they're instead demanding equal rights while the organics live like bougies? Also apparently not! The droids are chill and are apparently just concerned about why some of them are going crazy. This seemed like it might've been this suppposedly utopian society having to reckon with the automation they use being sentient, but nope!

At least seeing Din's old prejudices was something, like he still has to actively make an effort to not be a dick to droids, IG-11 was just one droid, and these weren't any droids, but Separatist droids.

Okay so the culprit is... Christopher Lloyd, who's apparently an old Separatist who sees Dooku as some visionary and wants revolution or something? Honestly, this was so rushed and underdeveloped I'm not even sure I fully understand what happened. So it seems like his motives were because the Duchess  married the Duke of this planet who was ex-Imperial but reformed through the Amnesty program. Not a bad concept at least, but with all the other shit going on it doesn't feel as developed as it should be? 

Oh yeah, Grogu is also there and Lizzo loves him. Remind me why we were in such a hurry to reunite him and Din in a DIFFERENT SHOW again? He better have a major moment in the finale or I'm calling bullshit on the decisions made for Book of Boba Fett.

Din feels like just a sidekick but at least the droid stuff TRIED to do something with him. With the big picture stuff though he doesn't have much presence.

Bo-Katan and Axe Woves facing off was cool I guess, oh yeah finally back to the story I actually wanted to see. Bo even repeated the declaration Maul did in the Clone Wars. Guess it works for taking control of any Mando group?

Bo beats Axe, even as Axe says if she wants to lead so much she should fight Din. But then Din makes this loophole that because he was captured by the creepy cyborg on Mandalore and Bo-Katan then defeated it and was even using the darksabre to do it, she can now take it? IDK, I just find it funny that a ridiculous logic train fans went down ended up becoming a real loophole Din used to make everyone convinced Bo-Katan could now wield the sabre. 

Honestly, the most interesting part of that scene was that Axe is apparently a Mando blood supremacist, lol. Taking off helmets is for dumb religious zealots, but racial purity good, only those born from Mandalorian families are Mandalorian! Not a bad idea, but it kinda feels like nobody is really challenging these traditions. Din gets welcomed back into helmet gang. Axe accepts Bo because she actually gets the darksabre. They're still finding ways to follow their traditions instead of genuinely evolving.

At least Bo-Katan felt like she was finally doing shit again instead of being all sowwy Awmower I will keep my hewmet on. We still got here in a messy way but oh well. Din I guess contributed to the conflict resolution at least?

So yeah... very confused episode. Has a neat base idea, but instead of actually making an effort to explore that core to the fullest, we go on some weird tangent that feels poorly thought out thematically and is being covered with celebrity guest stars.

Anyway, Rick Famuyiwa better deliver on these last two episodes, because this might be the first time I'm actually starting to feel worried about a Star Wars project's story trajectory. At least Rise of Skywalker knew what it wanted to do even if it had issues getting there. Dave Filoni is also co-writing next week, so IDK either we get some deep cut lore or backstory or we finally see the anticipated Sabine Wren join the Mandos fighting to take back Mandalore (and knowing Filoni Ahsoka will be there too lol). Anyway, these last two episodes... you have a lot to live up to, PLEASE stick the landing.

At least I have Bad Batch to watch even if they still need to fix their goddamn whitewashing issue, but at least that story is pretty good and... oh, yeah, no more Bad Batch until at minimum next year. This is all the Star Wars airing now. Fuck.