#and you really want to know ahsoka she's fun and important

[moinsbienquekaworu]

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

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

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

i love ✨️ sparkles ✨️ btw

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[gffa]

Ahsoka's place in SW can be a complicated thing, because I feel both things about her--I too am often frustrated by how Filoni writes her, but I too am also grateful that her character exists and isn't the "default" straight white cis dude character. (Though, I do wish she were played by someone other than RD because of All That.)

Ahsoka got so much flak when she first appeared, people hated her just for existing, for daring to take up any space in the Star Wars story, and then she swung around to being nearly put on a pedestal by a large chunk of the fandom, she was lionized pretty heavily in some corners, and I think we're now going through the further growing pains of backlash against the hype, especially because Ahsoka is in the position of often being used as a bludgeon against the Jedi.

To be honest, I don't see nearly as much criticism of Ahsoka's character as I do for other popular characters, I see far more of Obi-Wan and Anakin and Yoda, but maybe that's just the sphere of experience I have, but I see that criticism balanced out with a ton of fic, art, and positive commentary about her. And it makes me wonder if she's in that awkward spot of not quite as central to the story as the movie characters, but more important than almost any other SW character (in the sense of any one character ever being able to be more "important" than another, you know what I mean) where we haven't quite settled into a stable balance of how to approach her character.

So, she's high level enough now that she can take some people being critical of her character or even just flat-out not being kind to her, because she has so much support from the story itself and from all across the fandom, even as honestly I haven't seen much that's been notably mean to her character. Sure, I see a few posts talking about how Ahsoka is Filoni's Blorbo, but are they truly more common than the posts that are celebrating her character? Genuinely wondering, because that hasn't been my experience. (Honestly, I would say Qui-Gon fans have it worse, given that he's another of Filoni's Blorbos, just without the added bonus of actually having anything fun to counter balance it, where even the people who say he was a True Jedi don't really care about Qui-Gon, you know? There's no skits, no commentary, etc. Just a handful of fic authors who are quietly doing their own thing and being the good in the world they want to see.)

At the same time, I get what you're feeling, that it feels uncomfortable to be critical of a female character, especially one who is played by a WOC, especially in a fandom that is pretty fucking vicious towards female characters having anything to actually do in the story. That the criticism of Ahsoka's character/status as Filoni's Blorbo isn't always fair or considerate, because people are frustrated and SW fandom wears all our nerves down to the last.

I'm not really sure where I land with all of this, because I get both sides, the frustration and the affection both, and I think there needs to be space for both in fandom just because we can't police other people's reactions to stuff. It's hard to continue liking her when she's being pitted against your faves, it's hard to be kind to Jedi fans when they're frustrated because she's being used as a bludgeon against their faves, it's hard to just walk away from people ignoring that Ahsoka is really meaningful to a lot of people because she's a non-romance-focused female character coded as/played by a woman of color, it's hard not to feel like Ahsoka's such a popular character that she can take a few people on tumblr not liking her.

My best advice is to just keep loving Ahsoka in the way that you think will attract the other friends you want to have around you--like, for me, when I talk about Anakin, I often try to do so in a way that's affectionate towards him and the Jedi, how much they loved him and how much I think he loved them in returned, because that's who I want to gravitate towards in fandom, those who like both. I try to do the same with Qui-Gon now and again, when I start getting frustrated by how he's used to bludgeon the Jedi, I start going HEY GUESS WHAT I'M EMOTIONS ABOUT HOW MUCH QUI-GON LOVED HIS JEDI FAMILY and it makes me feel better! I would love to see more people do the same with Ahsoka! Prop her up by appealing to how much she loves other characters, too! Like, every time I get frustrated at the way some of fandom treats her, I remember SHE WANTED TO GO BACK TO THE JEDI, SHE LOVED THEM, and I'm like THAT IS MY GIRL I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE IS SO BRAVE TO STRUGGLE THROUGH ALL THIS AND STILL FIND THE LOVE IN HER HEART.

Or sometimes, like with Bo-Katan, I like to lean into them being a hot mess because yessssssss I love a hot mess of a lady because I am a hot mess of a lady and Felt That. I hope Ahsoka gets to be all kinds of deliciously fucked up in her series and making mistakes and learning and being interesting and working her way back to the surface from her own depths because she is SUCH a strong character and deserves to be crunchy as hell/have bite as a character, like HOW MANY YEARS did she stew in her guilt about Anakin, refusing to let it go? How long did she hold onto that fear, so much that even the Force had to smack her in the face to try to make her let it go on Lothal? GIRL, I AM CRYING FOR YOU, YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH, LET ME GET YOU SOME SOUP AND I HOPE THE FORCE-GHOSTS ALL COME BOTHER YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE EATING ENOUGH, because I love a character that has bite.

This kind of got away from me, but that's usually where I end up when trying to wrap my head around the frustration of a character's place in fandom. I get why people are frustrated with the way Filoni writes her, but also the frustration of feeling like the important representation of her character sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, that both sides have validity, and my best way out of this is to double down on loving everyone in this bar.

[majorproblems77]

Something different for you today!

So for those who dont know, I am a Star Wars fan and have been for a very long time. I follow a Star Wars AU @high-fantasy-sw by @margindoodles2407. Which is basically what if we took Star Wars and put it on the sea with magic and alchemy.

And in light of her releasing the information about the clone rings I've written something up for it. (and it is changed a little, have fun with this one margin) - If you want to know more the post is here!

In fact, I wrote this in an hour while talking to her about it a few days ago haha.

I'm sorry it turned out this way - A high-fantasy Star Wars short story

A knock at the door rose Anakin's head from his desk. His eyes were still fixed on the twin blades which now lay lifeless in front of him. These were Ahsoka's blades, the green Kyber crystal in their hilts still shining with her life force. Though their wielder was now who knows where on the high sea.

He missed her.

A knock sounded again.

He could ignore it. Drown in his sorrows. As much as Obi-Wan would not approve. As much as his teachings told him that emotion and attachment were bad. But it was persistent. How were they supposed to form bonds with their padawans but not... Not...

That knocking really was persistent.

"Who is it?" He sounded to the wind. If it was urgent they'd have called for him. Unless this was the call for him.

"It's me. Uhh. Rex. Sir." Ahh, the captain. He didn't turn to the door, his eyes remained fixed in front of him. The memories of years of trials and battles sitting on the edge of his mind.

Maybe it was important If the captain had come down himself. He paused. "You have your orders captain, please leave me be."

"With all due respect Sir. I dont think thats the best idea right now. Can i come in?" The captain's voice was persistent. The sound of glass clinking softly echoed softly through the cramped quarters. Ahsoka's quarters…

"Rex." He warned gently. He did not want to do this right now. "Please, not right now."

"Anakin." The sound of glass clinked again. "Please."

That made his eyes widen. As he turned to the door. The captain never. Never used his name. That was grounds for disciplinary. That was grounds for…. He. He wouldn't have...

He really needed a friend right now.

Damit, he hated that the captain was so insistent.

Like she was....

"Come in." He said, turning away from the door again to face the lightsabers placed carefully on the table. Through the corner of his eye, he could see the clone. He was dressed down, his eyes red and puffy as he stood in the doorway for a moment.

He'd been crying.

He was holding a small tray two small opaque glasses sat on top of it. He took a breath and entered slowly. Gently placing the tray on the table where the general was sitting.

"We. We heard. We know about the commander." The captain's voice was surprisingly steady for someone who looked like he did. Puffy cheeks stained. Cheeks fading from red. "Are... Are you okay?"

Anakin lowered his head as he gripped his hands tighter against the table. That was all the response the clone captain needed.

"You know about the chain. right?" The captain asked quietly, crouching beside him. Placing a hand, his right hand. Against the table. A sign of support. Much more than anyone at the Temple would have given him.

"I do." He said, raising his eyes slightly. Still not looking at the other man in the room. He shuffled on his feet slightly into a more comfortable position.

"Then you know about why we paint them."

He did. It was a way for them to honour the ones they'd lost. He'd only seen the chain itself once when Rex had heard about Echo. The commander was devastated and had holed himself up in his quarters for several hours.

When he'd gone to check up on him, he'd found the captain painting a chainlink blue.

"I… I want to. Paint this section here." He pointed to his right hand, in the middle of the back of his hand. "Green."

"Rex." Anakin stumbled on the name, he knew what that meant to the men of his battalion. They were a sentimental bunch, Rex most of all. Having painted the segments around his wrist the colour of his battalion a hundred times over for the men he lost and would continue to lose. The middle section of the chain had always remained the steely grey from basic training.

He'd always said he wanted to leave that for him, and later on Ahsoka. "It's the only thing we have thats ours." The captain continued to look at his gloved hand As if looking at the chain beneath it. "I wanted to get your permission to get the colour. I want it to be right."

"Rex…"

"The others have asked too." The captain looked to the air above him. Blinking tears from his eyes. "But we didn't want to overwhelm you."

"I… Rex." He took a shaky breath. it was quite the honour for the clone captain to ask this of him. But they didn't have access to paint on the high seas. There was no green packed. Only blue.

"Rex, I dont know how the colour matching works." He turned away from the captain. "The only paint we have onboard is blue."

"Kik's told me how to match from clear." The captain tapped the jar on the left-hand side. "It won't leave anything behind. I won't even touch it."

He sat on that information for longer than he would have liked. Ahsoka had been the last person to ignite these blades. She was attuned to their very presence. To pull a colour match from them would be like she was here for just one more moment.

"Okay… Okay…"

Rex placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm sure." He turned "Just do it fast before I change my mind."

The captain picked up a brush and gently placed it into the first glass, a clear substance dripped from the brush slowly. Placing the brush near the kyber crystal in the hilt allowed the blade to shimmer for just a moment before the brush echoed its colour. Shining a bright green before he placed it back into the jar. Mixing it as the substance changed from clear to green.

"The captain picked up the jar and inspected the colour of the paint inside it. happy with his work he placed it down slowly. "Sir?"

"Yes."

"I… I want to be here. If that's okay."

His breath hitched. As the captain offered the brush to him. He took it silently as he removed the glove from his hand. The chain of brotherhood on the captain's hand stood as a still canvas as he looked down at it.

The colours on it shifted in the candlelight as the captain placed his hand on the table bedside him. Quickly passing the brush back to the captain, who placed the brush gently on the chainlinks. Passing paint across them gently.

Anakin watched silently. He'd only seen a handful of his men paint the chains that adorned their hands like this. Rex only once. When he'd lost Echo. It was a hugely important part of their mismatched culture. One of the things that made them unique in an army where you all look the same.

"Rex you dont have to do this in front of me. I know that it's important." Anakin sat upright as the captain continued to paint.

"Sir. You and the commander mean the world to me. It wouldn't be right to do this alone. Not like… not like…" A sniff gave away the captain's true feelings as he gripped the brush tighter. his hand shaking as his breath hitched.

He never thought he'd be painting this section. He never wanted to paint this section. After a few silent minutes, he placed the brush down. raising his hand to inspect the chain and the rapidly drying paint.

Pulling his wrist into his chest he gave a shaky breath. His arm trembling as he looked to the Jedi who remained in place. "For what it's worth Sir." He said, turning to the door. "I'm sorry it turned out this way."

"So am I rex. So am I."

[happy-beeeps]

Hi again :) could I request Rex X reader where reader comes back from a mission gone wrong and Anakin scolds her and then Rex sees her crying?

Hi lovie! SO sorry this took so long! I hope you love it!!! Rex is an angel as per usual and Anakin is an ass but we love him for it. TCW Anakin is one of my favorite platonic characters to characterize because he’s just so tragic in a way that makes him so fun to work with. 

Little Brothers

WC: 1k

Warnings: none! Angst and injury but it’s quick and resolved this is a hurt comfort fic!

A/N: We meet my two clone OC’s in this chapter! I’m going to expand on them later, but they’re part of the 811th battalion, led by Commander Leo (who rivals only Hunter with his mane of thick hair) and ARC Trooper Bubble (the last to pass his swim test following a traumatic incident with the pool as a cadet.)

* * *

“I just don’t know how you could be so irresponsible!” Anakin bites, anger written plainly across his face. It’s one of the things you appreciate about your friend, he seems to be the only other person in the Jedi to really let you have it when you deserve it.

And kriff, do you deserve it.

It was supposed to be a simple mission, slip into a low guarded base quickly and quietly, extract the necessary information on the munitions factory nearby, and leave. You had a small squad of your men, the 811th. It was supposed to be quick and easy, Commander Leo had made quick work of locating the central computer, and his second in command, a spirited, down for anything trooper named Bubbles, was watching your flank, along with about five other men. It was supposed to be easy.

And then you saw the hostages. Not many of them, maybe about four, and none of them eager for your help. Turns out, they were other separatists caught in a territory battle with the owners of the munitions factory, and were cautious at best about being helped by a Jedi. You and Leo restrategized and sent a smaller squad of men while you two and Bub worked to free the hostages. It wasn’t an entire failure, the separatist civilians made it home to their families which counted as a win in your book. The chaos that the 811th can bring, however, coupled with the added attention from the hostages, resulted in a firefight that gave away your squad’s position in the base and landed one of your men in the medbay. You retreated efficiently, sans plans. And so you find yourself back aboard the Resolute, arguing with Anakin.

“So you would have just let them die?” You huff back, hands firm on your hips.

“They were not on the mission. You should’ve commed for backup, it’s not like we weren’t on system.”

“Oh please, Anakin, I’ve known you long enough to know that you don’t listen to ‘suggestions,’” you draw heavy air quotations around the word, “from anyone but yourself.” 

“I would if it was important, which, in this case it wasn’t. They didn’t want our help. You should know better.”

“Master, I really think she-” Ahsoka starts, but Anakin shoots her a look that wills her into silence. She’s seen the two of you fight like this before, and she knows better than to interject.

“General, the General has a point, I can easily take responsibility-” and it’s your turn to bring a hand up in front of Leo’s face, silencing him. The two accomplices look at each other and send a look, waiting for this to escalate further.

“Stop treating me like I don’t know what I’m doing, I know what I’m doing,” You respond, shooting daggers at Anakin.

“Exactly. Which is why you should’ve known better and not endangered your men, isn’t one of them in the medbay right now?”

And there it is, the winning blow. You look at him with wide eyes and you can tell even he regrets it by the way his breathing has shifted, but he refuses to back down. 

“Don’t hold the injuries of my men over me, Skywalker, at least I don’t use my Commander as a projectile!” You shout, hands in the air as you storm out of the briefing room towards your quarters, hot tears burning down your face and making your vision blurry. You don’t even notice Rex walking past you, his eyes shifting worriedly between yourself, Anakin, and Leo.

* * *

You don’t hear the sound of the door hiss open over your own hiccups. You’ve got your back to the door and you’re furiously typing on your datapad, blowing up Bub’s comm trying to get more intel on the injured trooper. The door shuts behind you with a resounding click, and your hiccups turn to sniffles, until you see him. Rex is quick and deliberate with his movements, grabbing the datapad out of your hand and setting it down on the small desk near your bed, before pulling you up and into his chest. The sobs return, and he’s holding you so tight on a normal day you’d be punching his chest for air.

“He’s fine,” Rex murmurs into your hair, holding your cheeks between his hands and swiping away the excess tears. “I stopped and talked to Leo and Bubble, he’s fine. In fact, he’ll probably be thanking you, the 811th is going for leave next.”

You sniff in response, “I don’t like being responsible for hurting your brothers.”

Rex smooths your hair and gives you a warm smile, “You and I both know you’ve got probably the most compassion for clones of any natborn we know. You did the right thing. Leo’s got a good head on his shoulders, he knows how to care for you and his vod. He wouldn’t let you put yourselves in danger. I trust him with your life, that says enough.”

Your cheeks bloom under the sentiment. “Would you have done it?” “Sure. If the roles had been swapped the same thing probably would’ve happened.” He moves to sit down on your bed, it’s tiny so the two of you are squished against one another. “Course, I would’ve called for reinforcements, and you and the 811th would’ve been there to save our asses.”

You sigh and crane your neck to look at him. “Thanks, for always being there for me. Anakin just knows how to hit where it hurts everytime.”

He chuckles, “Cody is the same to me. It’s just how brothers are.”

“But he’s not my brother.”

“Isn’t he though? I thought you guys were younglings together.”

He’s not wrong, and you shrug. “Sure, Master Ti and Master Kenobi got along, I feel like I was always training with him. But,” you bring up a hand, “I’m older.”

“Right, so you’re just his Cody.” He sets his head down on your shoulder. “There’s always gonna be problems with your vod. But you just have to do what’s right to you.”

His words settle around you and warm your heart and your conscience, and you melt into him more. “So you think I did the right thing?”

“Yeah, like I said, we’d do the same thing,” and his voice is a whisper in your ear, “though I heard you don’t like his use of projectiles.”

You gasp, and spin towards him as best you can, voice rising “You could get hurt-”

And he cuts you off with a kiss. “As always, my verd’ika.”

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

So the Ahsoka show happened, right? It was certainly...a show of all time.

But anyways, I'm interested to know what concepts about like Ahsoka and like her character you would want to see. If there was a Ahsoka show catered to you specifically. Like what arcs, what explorations of her past, what characters that are important to her would make a return? I'm just curious to see how different people on here that are super into Star Wars stuff have like different interpretations of what they would want her character to go.

*shrug* It's not like I hated it. My expectations weren't all that high (I'm well aware of filoni's limitations. I've been rewatching tcw lately and getting whammied all over again with how lazy the world-building and characterization of secondary characters can get. + the stuff I disagree with. and yet here I am!)

It's sort of difficult to say what a show catered to me would look like because a lot of what would be fun to see can't happen- everything has to comply on a basic level with the OT and with the sequels, so... there are so many things she can't do, places she can't go, people she can't see, goals she cannot achieve. She is doomed to exist on the margins and there's just more tragedy on the horizon. And I find myself disinterested in the build up to the sequels. In general but also specifically based on what I've seen in the mandalorian and in ahsoka. It hasn't grabbed me.

I guess I would have liked a continuation of her and Rex in the early rebellion? I didn't really want the bad batch, I wanted a tcw sequels about tcw characters >: |

Even if we skipped a lot, I do like that we see her take on her own apprentice and how learning that her Master was vader affected her. Mortis was never my favorite arc of the clone wars, but it is a dangling thread and it is a way to do something with her story that takes her away from the movies narrative, and I am interested to see what the hell is going to happen there.

Ahsoka has a lot of compelling elements, story-wise. There's being Anakin's apprentice of course, with him being halfway to the dark already, and all the ways she saw the best of him, but also did not escape his shadows. There's being a wartime padawan, a casualty, coming of age in a crumbling house. There's her leaving the order, and there's her losing them... tcw leaves her in such a place, she is not allowed a single victory.

In the end I suppose what I would want for her is to be a jedi. I was thinking the other day about how unlike Anakin, who was torn between two paths, Ahsoka never really wanted to be anything else, never really wanted to do anything else.

Edit: Oh, I have to admit, if we ever got more Obi Wan, I would like to see Deborah Chow take on her and obi wan together. Their last interactions were so juicy, and while I've decided they don't leave things in a terrible place I still want moar

[skygirlstars]

1, 2, 31, 43, 46, and 48 For the Jedi Ask and Leia for all because Jedi Leia is BA 💙

yesss Jedi Leia is awesome!! fun fact this is actually my first ask ever (despite the fact that I've been on tumblr for years) so I'm very excited. thank you for all the great questions!! this got long fast, whoops?

Jedi Ask Game by @jedimasterbailey

1. How did they find their kyber crystal?

I really struggled with this question! all the kyber crystal lore is so fascinating and I want to do it justice, you know? my favorite scenario might be Leia just stumbling across her crystal seemingly by chance. in short, it's more likely her crystal found her than she found it. when we see the younglings finding their crystals in The Clone Wars, they all have to overcome some aspect of themself standing in their way. for Leia, I think that aspect would be her determination and independence. those are some of her best qualities, but too much of a good thing is still a bad thing.

once she and Luke decide it's time for her to build her own saber, she'll probably try really hard to find her crystal, doing everything she can, but she's just not having any luck. she won't ask for Luke's help or find some files about crystal locations because she wants to do it herself and prove her own capability. she goes at it logically, but she's not meditating or trying to use the Force to help her because she's stubborn as hell. she's basically at the point of giving up, so she puts it in the back of her mind while she goes off on some other mission. but in the middle of said mission, her crystal finally calls to her. (bonus points if it's in the middle of a high stakes chase cause that would be funny.) it's on some random planet she never would have thought to look and she wasn't even trying to find it in that moment.

she only finds the crystal when she stops trying to have total control over the situation. she wants to be independent, but she has to learn to make that independence coexist with sometimes letting go of her own convictions and logic and allowing the Force to guide her. there's no situation in which she can have complete agency over everything, which is the lesson she has to learn to find her crystal. but I don’t know, that’s just one idea.

2. Why did they build their lightsaber hilt the way they did?

Leia's hilt definitely resembles Obi-Wan's, which I don't doubt was intentional. one thing I love about the Obi-Wan series is the relationship between him and Leia; it's so sweet. he's not only an important person to her, but other than Luke, he's basically the only Force-user with whom she's had a positive relationship, so it makes sense that she would want to model her saber after his. hers is still unique though -- it's very polished and elegant (just like her). the color of the non-silvery metal seems to look different in every photo, but I choose to believe it's rose gold because that's just so extra in the best way possible. she's very stylish, so her lightsaber should be too, right?

31. A Jedi they look up to the most?

I already talked about him a little bit, but probably Obi-Wan. I mean, her options are pretty limited, assuming she doesn't have access to much knowledge about pre-Order 66 Jedi. a bit of a tangent, but I find it kind of funny that the Jedi Buddy™ of her parents (both bio and adoptive, actually) she knows best is Obi-Wan, because she is so much more like Ahsoka. but she probably looks up to Obi-Wan not in spite of their differences, but because of them. I imagine she admires his patience and ability to see the good in everyone, both things she (understandably) struggles with. however, they share a lot of virtues too -- compassion, strength, and a never-ending supply of sarcasm and snark -- so he likely serves as a source for inspiration in that sense as well. Leia admires Luke for similar reasons, but I'm not sure I'd say she looks up to him, since sometimes he can be a little clueless (and I say that with the utmost affection), so Obi-Wan is definitely more of a role model for her.

43. If they could talk to any deceased Jedi who would it be and why?

for all the reasons I've already discussed, she would probably want to talk to Obi-Wan. she'd spend a few minutes yelling at him, of course, and I can't say I blame her. but since I've already talked about Obi-Wan a lot, I'll suggest another.

Leia deserves to have a nice talk with a fellow Jedi girlboss, and it was hard to pick one, but I'll go with Aayla Secura. I think they would get along well. they're both very compassionate and always aim to do the right thing. they're pragmatic and strategic but also extremely loyal and caring toward the people they care about, but not to the point of it being possessive or unhealthy. Leia could probably learn more from a Jedi less similar to her, but like... she's been through it. let her just chill and have some girl talk with Aayla, especially since she essentially has no Jedi "peers," since even her brother/bestie serves as her teacher (at least in the Jedi department). it's great that people like Obi-Wan and Luke are different from her, so they can all learn from each other, but I also like the idea of her having someone she can see more eye-to-eye with. plus Aayla is just awesome and very underappreciated.

46. Your favorite headcanon about them.

okay I have several. the first is I love the theory that Leia has psychometry as a Force ability. for one thing, it's a super cool ability, but it's also a clever in-universe explanation for how Leia has memories of Padmé. of course, it could have just been some kind of Force vision, but I think psychometry would be more interesting. it also fits in well with Leia's other characteristics like her intuition, how easily she can read other people, and how she quickly forms strong emotional connections.

second, Beru would adore her and they would get along so well.

and then the last is that she's sapphic, probably bi. that's it that's the headcanon. no one can change my mind (I may or may not just be projecting). shoutout to the rarepair Sabine/Leia shippers, they get me. I'm always on that wlw Leia agenda.

48. A crack headcanon about them.

I have multiple for this one too sorry. she will vehemently deny it, but she loves a good rom-com. I'm thinking very much Nora Ephron vibes, as well as a lot of the late 90s/early 2000s classics (10 Things I Hate About You, 13 Going on 30, etc)

this one is definitely crack because I don't think she'd ever be so out of touch with reality... but she literally grew up as royalty, so it's funny to imagine her having rich kid tendencies. come on, just think about her saying that one Arrested Development line: "it's one banana, Luke, what could it cost? ten credits?" that would be hilarious.

and lastly, she and Leida Mothma have met but they hate each other's guts. Mon Mothma and Bail Organa are homies so their daughters should be too, right? nah. they grew up in basically the same circumstances, they're only about a year apart in age, their names are only different by a single letter, but they could not be more different. at 15, Leia is already her wonderful justice-seeking, politically active, rebellious, independent self. meanwhile Leida is going down the tradwife rabbithole on Reddit.

thanks again for the ask and for making the ask game! :) it was very fun!! if anyone wants to suggest another question feel free to drop it in my asks <3

[pyrrhicraven]

Can we have small scenes in where people surrounding your fics ships find out about the relationship? Like how would Splinter freak out when he realises one of his sons is dating the Shredder or how would Anakin react to Obi Wan and Dooku?

Panic swept through Yoshi as he watched the video they had uncovered of surveillance showing his son with the always bloodthirsty Saki. What was the man doing to make Raphael follow him they way that he was? What threat or blackmail could he possibly have?

And the kiss...They had kissed moments before entering the building to start a full-on fight with the Dragons. A fight that showcased how good they were together, how long had Saki been tempting Raphael right under his nose? How long had they been working together?

"Uh, Splinter?" He looked at Donatello who had pulled up the feed so that they could figure out what had occurred. He looked frightened and Yoshi could feel his own heart racing at what they had witnessed.

"We need to save Raphael. Get him away from Shredder as soon as possible." Donatello nodded but there was something off about it that had Yoshi staring at his son.

"What if...What if Raph doesn't want to be saved? Wha...What if they're together, like. Like that." That was not possible at all, Saki was manipulating Raphael. He had no doubt about that, because why would Saki want any of his sons that way other than to use them and then when he was done throw them away.

"They aren't. Saki is incapable of any good emotions."

STARWARS ANAKIN ALERT 😂 The fun thing about this is I did an Ahsoka reaction in my fic 'Reflections' lol Mind it was a quick thing because Anakin was on his way sooo I guess they got caught by him instead? lol

Anakin felt like lava was boiling under his skin as he found Dooku leaning over Obi-Wan, their lips pressed together. Anakin wasn't about to wait and ask the former Jedi what the hell he was doing. Using force push he caught Dooku off guard, flinging the man into a wall, Obi-Wan letting out a shout. "Anakin!" He pushed his friend behind him, Anakin had to protect Obi-Wan from the Sith who dared touch him! Snarling he watched Dooku manage to sit up, blood dribbling down his face from his nose.

"Anakin stop please, your calling on the dark side." He growled and half turned to Obi-Wan keeping Dooku enough in his sight that if the man made one wrong move he would be able to react in time.

"He was hurting you!" Obi-Wan let out a hissing breath and then glanced at Dooku who shrugged helplessly. As if he had any answers!

"Anakin he wasn't hurting me." Anakin frowned because if Dooku wasn't hurting Obi-Wan...Obi-Wan was allowing the kiss?

"I don't understand." Dooku chuckled and Anakin snarled at him but Obi-Wan was suddenly in his face, a warm hand cupping his jaw.

"Yan and I are together Anakin, we've been for quite some time now. He wasn't hurting me and you need to calm down. Find your center please Anakin." Anakin spluttered, together? As in?

"You're romantically involved with the enemy?" He asks doubt and fear clinging to his heart.

"Not actually the enemy," Dooku said gruffly pulling himself up so he was on his feet. But, what did that even mean?

"Anakin this is important, you can't tell anyone, not your wife and certainly not the chancellor." That was a really big deal Obi-Wan had asked before not to tell people things-wait. Anakins mind blanked for a moment.

"I think you broke him love," Dooku said and Obi-Wan laughed.

"He wasn't expecting me to know about Padme I guess." Dooku snorted at Obi-Wan's amused comment.

"She-how? I mean what is going on here? I. I'm so confused right now." Obi-Wan yawned and moved towards Dooku.

"I've been bidding my time skywalker, pretending to be a Sith apprentice but really I'm a shadow."

[burnwater13]

How many times did Grogu have to explain to Ahsoka Tano that “size matters not”? Hadn’t Master Yoda said that to her enough? Grogu suspected that some lessons were harder to learn than others. This must be one of them. 

Well, if some one wanted to learn what lurked in his mind, he wasn’t going to disappoint. Would you?

Grogu had learned that no matter how many stormtroopers fired a weapon, the chances of them hitting what they were aiming at was as close to zero as you could get while still leaving them a chance. A teeny, tiny, itty, bitty chance. 

Grogu had learned that you could never tell who was going to hurt you and who was going to help you. Some folks had seemed so nice, but they had gladly turned him over to the Imps, while other folks who had no reason to trust him, protected him from those same Imps. 

When you lose the people you love the loss doesn’t go away, but the pain subsides over time. That is, until someone comes along to check on you and puts their big thumb right into the middle of that wound to check and see if you still say ouch. Say ouch really loud. Not to demonstrate how you feel, but as a warning to not go sticking your body parts into other people’s pain. 

If someone offers you food, take it as long as it doesn’t smell bad. No matter what it is. Even if its veggies. (Yup, even veggies.) Because the people who offered it were being kind and it’s not kind on your part to look at it and gag and claim the stuff is poison, no matter how many veggies it’s made from. 

Helping people is always a good thing to do, but ask if they need help first. Grogu had learned the hard way that some people don’t want help because they want to do the thing no matter how hard it is and how time consuming and how silly, because you could heal them really quickly and it was a good thing to get moving. Eventually, the Mandalorian gave Grogu permission to always heal him, deal with fire, and interact with critters, large and small. 

Flying a starship is a lot of fun and all starships should be redesigned to be more accessible for small people like Grogu and Kuiil and the Frog Lady, and Peli. Just because they aren’t huge and tall, like Mandalorians, doesn’t mean they don’t find starships really cool. 

Speaking of starships… if you are going to eat a lot of something, you probably don’t want to fly loop-d-loops because, well… it’s better not to say. It just gets messy and anyone raised at the Jedi Temple knows that messy in not a light side behavior (except Ian). 

Grogu thought about Ian and his other friends as he was considering this whole list of things he learned since he left the Jedi Temple. He supposed that most important thing of all was that you could always have more friends and even people who don’t start out as your friends may become your friend over time. 

Greef Karga hadn’t been Grogu’s friend when they first met. Nope, not at all. He was just a bounty to be returned to the Client. But eventually, the high magistrate came around and he was one of Grogu’s best friends now. Same thing for Cara Dune. On the other hand, Peli Motto was a great friend right away and Grogu had been grateful for that as well as for the pit droids. They were also great. 

Finally, Grogu had also learned that people had a lot of different beliefs and it was best to let them believe them as long as they didn’t hurt you or anyone else. If they hurt other people, like Sith or Imps, you really had to take a hard look at that belief and then ask the Armorer why she thought it was remotely reasonable that Din Djarin continue to wear that stupid helmet and not show Grogu his face! After all, Din was his dad and they both had brown eyes and he thought that everyone should notice the familial resemblance. Just saying.

He supposed that Ahsoka might have been thinking of other things, but those were the important ones, in no particular order.

[marinersubmariner]

Ahsoka series thoughts

I wasn’t going to post this because most of the recent Star Wars stuff gets worse upon reflection and it bums me out. Plus it’s all been said better elsewhere and the last thing the internet needs is more Star Wars complaining. But I also like reacting to what is basically the only fandom thing I ever think about on an ongoing basis! And I type it all out to myself anyway! So here you go. More Star Wars complaining. Bon appetit

I actually overall had a pretty good time watching this show, because there’s a deeply-ingrained part of me that simply likes hanging out in the SW universe. I AM, in fact, just here for the vibes. 😔✌️ Unfortunately that doesn’t tend to carry over into long-term affection for the Disney+ shows themselves, and the only series I find myself still caring about and thinking fondly of when it’s not immediately in front of my face is Andor (every part of that show but especially Luthen’s speech and the whole mood of that scene and how I felt watching it is STILL in my head.) Star Wars would be so good if it was good, etc.

On a visual level, for a Volume show it didn’t look too terrible for the most part. What it lacked in dynamic lighting or convincing realism it often made up for in atmosphere, and they did a better job on some of the larger environments. At least until the finale, which devolved into a bunch of plain rooms. I thought Seatos looked nice, that was my favorite new location—the moody red forest and the map hologram on the cliffside were really appealing. (side note: I had to google what that planet was called because it takes me a while to learn new places when they don’t put the names on the screen, and in my head I was picturing it spelled like C-DOS. GLaDOS’s cousin.)

I was REALLY thrown by Sabine training as a Jedi because it came out of nowhere and I don’t see how it fits her character, but I am otherwise generally a fan of the “anyone can be a Jedi” thesis. I know it’s controversial because by now it’s been very established that space wizardry is a highly selective genetic trait, and of course surprise superpowers aren’t as fun or special if just anybody can do it… but going all the way back to the OT I always felt like Luke’s journey had more of an everyman quality to it, that he chose to follow that path and he trained and he learned to tap into the Force. Some people are born to be better at it, some people are way too strong with it and have to learn to control it, but theoretically anyone can do it. The Force connects ALL living things, so it makes sense to me that anyone should have the ability to access it, even if that only manifests in faint or subliminal ways (“I have a bad feeling about this,” that old theory).

I’m just not convinced they should have gone this route for Sabine! Her relationship with Ahsoka still doesn’t make sense to me, they didn’t flesh it out at all and I can’t track it from what we saw in Rebels. And it also disappoints me that she did ultimately work out how to use superpowers because I enjoy the dynamic of non-Force sensitives who are nonetheless very narratively important, even when you mix them in with the magic users who tend to suck up all the story weight. I like it when the magic is a little more rare and unique and hidden (particularly in the OT and ST eras!), and as much as I love space wizardry, that mythic element seems to work a little better at movie scale than at tv scale.

So I’m kind of a big hypocrite when I say anyone can use the Force when I also still want it to be special and exclusive, lol. I guess logically I like Force usage to be all-inclusive (or at least have that potential) but narratively I like it to be rare. ???? IT’S CONDITIONAL, OKAY. I contain multitudes.

I still have a really hard time connecting to live-action Ahsoka and I don’t think she seems enough like her animated counterpart for me to feel emotionally invested in her. It’s just a lot of Rosario Dawson doing a Knowing Smirk and posing with lightsabers. It was especially stark in comparison to Ariana Greenblatt’s younger version, who seemed EXACTLY like animated Ahsoka—which admittedly is not a fair comparison because she was literally playing the animated version, but she got the voice and mannerisms down so well.

Really all the animated characters seem so thin, and while I did like Sabine and I warmed up to Hera, forcing this all into live-action has the two-fold effect of not being enough for people who are familiar with the cartoons (because we don’t need the Cliff’s Notes versions of their characters, we know them and their story, and this just seems like cosplay versions of them clunkily recapping us on how they know each other) but ALSO not being enough for general audiences who haven’t seen the cartoons (because who the hell are these thinly drawn characters referencing a bunch of backstories and events we’ve never seen??). It’s like, yes, I recognize them from the cartoons! But that recognition alone is not enough to carry an entire series! Whereas if they’d just gone ahead and made a sequel cartoon they could’ve actually made a plot and it wouldn’t feel like they spent all this time on what only amounted to setup for something else.

I DID, however, feel like Ezra was the most successful translation from animation to live-action—I loved him a lot and he felt most like his actual character to me. (well. him and Chopper. lol) I understand why they gave him a beard but I hope he ditches it, then he’d be perfect. I can’t even wish for them to do away with the colored contact lenses because I know they won’t, but obviously those are awful across the board. It’s so distracting for everyone to have dead doll eyes, but apparently cosplay accuracy is more important than staying out of the uncanny valley. “We have to literally give them these goofy-ass cartoon eye colors! Otherwise twitter will riot!!!”

I just do not understand why they would make this show with its entire main cast from the cartoons, that is a direct sequel to the cartoons… not a cartoon. (I mean, from a cynical standpoint I get it—they have a ready-made premise and characters to continue churning out live-action Star Wars Content™ in lieu of actually making any more movies. But I don’t LIKE it.) People who know the characters are distracted trying to do the mental gymnastics required to align new voices/faces/mannerisms/personalities with what they already know, and people who don’t know the characters are totally lacking any of the context that would allow them to care and not be bewildered.

They throw Thrawn’s name around soooo much before he shows up, they make such a huge fucking deal about Thrawn, and we’ve never seen Thrawn in live-action before so it has absolutely no meaning to anyone coming into this cold. Even for me, watching it as someone who knows who Thrawn is, it feels completely stupid to treat it like something that has so much weight in the universe when within this story he has never existed before now. You say a name ominously and this is supposed to matter? Why? Who cares? You’ve never even shown this guy. It feels like I’ve missed something even when I’ve watched everything there is to watch. There are ways to build suspense around an unseen character, but just saying their name a bunch without showing why anybody should care or where all this talk came from in the first place is not it. They’re not connecting these dots, and certainly not in a way that makes for a compelling viewing experience. None of these stories stand on their own anymore, it’s like it’s all just references piled on top of references. They’re so busy talking about past events and setting up future events that they’re not really bothering with current on-screen events.

I did think Thrawn’s intro scene had some pretty cool gravitas, but here’s where I admit that I don’t care about Thrawn. 😬 Now, GRANTED, I’ve only read the Thrawn trilogy and watched Rebels, so I don’t have any exposure to his other appearances in the current EU. But he irritated me SOOOO MUUUUUCH in the original books that I’ve never wanted to seek out more. He’s a stream of deus ex machina gotcha moments, “I’m always ten steps ahead of the heroes because reasons,” and I never found it interesting, it was always just annoying. “I study art so I know everything forever” uggghh shut up. But! At least that guy was competent! This version of a brilliant strategic mastermind written by dummies is even worse. He’s not intimidating at all.

And I mean, a good way to maybe get me to care about Thrawn would have been anything approaching fandom’s invented odd couple adventures for Thrawn and Ezra post-Rebels, but instead the implication here is that they have done absolutely nothing and have not interacted at all throughout their entire exile. Complete stasis for both of them. Like, I hate the vague tell-don’t-show of the Sabine and Ahsoka stuff, but it’s doubly boring to not even have the suggestion of anything happening in that intervening time period. What a transparently lazy way to shuffle Ezra and Thrawn off the board for the OT just to zip them back and pick up where they left off to fill in some dead space before the sequels.

That first shot of Enoch’s weird FACE HELMET was so bizarre I was really excited—the combination of gold and an unsettling molded face mask reminded me of Death Stranding, so for a second I was like omg weird Kojima Star Wars, holy shit. But it was really only one weird visual that wore off quickly. Just another different action figure, nevermind. And then I learned he was AMOS FROM THE EXPANSE so I just wanted him to take the mask off. Classic mask guys: I know you’re hot underneath there!!!!!!

I was enormously frustrated with the finale because, while I had decently enjoyed the journey, it really made it clear how futile it had all been and it wasn’t fun enough to overlook the emptiness. Ahsoka and Sabine facilitated the one thing they were trying to prevent and they’re fine with it. It was one long “To Be Continued” and like. I dunno. It would have been nice for a tv series to have SOMETHING within its scope that was being built to.

I liked Baylan and Shin a lot (new characters we’ve never seen before??!?!? who have cool outfits and cool vibes??!???!? LOVE IT) but toward the end I started to get irritated that we had no idea what Baylan was really up to and I assumed we would find out in the finale. Haha NOPE!! The lack of resolution makes it an even bigger bummer that Ray Stevenson is gone and they’ll have to recast to continue. From a logistical standpoint it just seems so odd and unbalanced that the season started with them and then by the end they only merit a few seconds of silent check-in without ever clarifying their reason for being in the story in the first place. (Obviously I see they’re bringing Mortis into this somehow [completely unclear to non-cartoon viewers!!!], but. What ABOUT it???? SHOW YOUR WORK)

Seeing the World Between Worlds was cool and I enjoyed the resultant Ben Solo clowning. :) (I also was comforted by seeing people excited about that, because my initial gut reaction was to be ANXIOUS AS HELL about them using up things I want for Ben on other characters. Noooo you should be saving that for my boy!!!! Please don’t chip away at my delusional hopes for the future, I need those to survive!!!!!!!) But the more Anakin’s corpse gets dragged out and bandied about the less sense it makes that they didn’t bother to use him in the sequels. You know, the conclusion to the saga about his family. The place where it would have made the MOST sense to use him. Nah. Anakin Skywalker throughout his entire life and afterlife: “Fuck them kids.”

I do think it’s cute to see Clone Wars-era Anakin and I’m glad we’ve progressed to a time where people appreciate Hayden. But I am also personally in dangerous territory of being like “I’ve had enough of this dude.” Between this and Obi-Wan suddenly Anakin is all over the place… while being markedly absent from the part of the story that features his legacy dooming all of his descendants. I don’t wanna be a person who holds a grudge against a fictional character for choices made by the writers, but I do find myself feeling more like “piss off, ghost!” because of TROS. If you’re gonna be an absentee father then GET OUTTA HERE!

Too bad Marrok was a nothingburger and went out like a total punk, because he looked so much like a Star Wars version of Rinzler I was losing my mind. Tron AU 4ever

Huyang was great, David Tennant has an excellent droid voice. And of course I loved the talk about Kanan 😭 But I’m bummed that lightsaber construction—!!!!!! one of my personally monumental longtime wishes for live-action Star Wars!!!!!—got rushed out in such an anticlimactic way on a mediocre tv series. Sigh. Glossed right over it just to cram another lightsaber in there for some bad action scenes. I actually liked Ezra only using the Force and Sabine only using a lightsaber so they had like a tag team “two halves of one Jedi” thing going on.

The zombie stormtroopers and their loud undead moaning were so stupid. I believed what the internet was theorizing, that all those troopers were dead to begin with, but I guess not? (I was really expecting that reveal in the previous episode with the group that got wiped out in the outdoor battle.) They were scarier and cooler as quiet automatons. The Spirit Halloween shambling zombie garbage really ruined it.

I was pretty intrigued by the whole “other galaxy” premise and the ancient artifacts/magic. I love the Zeffo aesthetic, and I love the Nightsisters so seeing the Great Mothers was really cool. But Peridea was such a dull environment it wasn’t as awe-inspiring as it seemed like it should have been. I did like the giant monuments and whale bones, and the crab guys were cute, but otherwise… not a lot going on. I know the universe is a big place and most of it is more likely to be dead and empty than not, but also. It’s a fantasy. And I wanna see COOL ALIEN STUFF and WEIRD ENVIRONMENTS.

I enjoyed the duels between Sabine and Shin—the first one on Lothal was particularly cool because as it was happening it dawned on me that, holy shit, is this the first time we’ve ever seen a live-action lightsaber duel between two women?!?! And I had to scan my memory banks to be sure. Sometimes… you spend so long in a dude-centric universe and become so desensitized to it… you can’t even tell when you’ve reached the light. 🤧 So anyway that was fun!! They also had some real copycat Reylo moments that made me laugh. (Shin threw Sabine into a tree!!!!1!1!)

The Purrgil were nice. :) I also liked that the Peridea boneyard had some brief glimpses of SPACE SHRIMP?? I did wonder as we were getting such an up-close look at Purrgil baleen if they actually ate space krill, and welp, I guess so. Just some regular whales in space. Star Wars was jealous that everybody’s favorite Star Trek is the one with the whales.

The “bokken Jedi” phrase Baylan introduced here is interesting to me because it’s nice to have something to describe a concept that I LOVE: the late-stage kids informally trained in the wild who have no idea what they’re doing. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed thinking about in terms of the sequels (see: one of my old meta observations that I’m most proud of!). The one thing I don’t love about it is more just straight-up copying Japanese words and concepts—just because Star Wars started that way doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it. :/

One unequivocally good thing I will say about this series is that I LOVED the music. The end credits in particular were awesome, I watched that all the way through every time.

The only things the finale left me looking forward to were Dathomir and whatever the fuck weird Force mythology they’re gonna get into, but I’m not exactly holding my breath about any of it. It’s not like they can make any sort of seismic shift since obviously the sequels still happen. ……Unless they break the Force so hard that they go full alternate universe………….. or they break it several years down the road right when Rey is born and actually cause the dyad to form… oh god

[charmwasjess]

ask and you shall receive! :)

may i ask what are your opinions on the original trilogy? on luke and leia? and do you watch the disney star wars shows like the mandalorian?

YAY!! I'll survive this day of rain and meetings somehow. Thank you!!

I'm tremendously sentimental about the OT. As a strange, stifled child, it was the first "grown up" movie I was allowed to watch at my cool uncle's house - certainly my first exposure to magic or fantasy media. So I have a lot of emotion and nostalgia tied up in it; it stamped itself onto my soft little brain and heart. Leia was always especially important to me: I had genuinely never seen a female character act like her in my sheltered religious upbringing. She was fierce, FUNNY?!, strong, soft, and hot?! (My tiny bisexual heart beating twice as fast at the Slave Leia outfit. And then she fucking chokes the slug out with a chain?!) I didn't even know women could be all those things at once. It was freeing. That makes me somewhat limited on critical analysis because I loved it with childlike fervor and that has persisted. I loved Han; I still laugh sycophantically at all his lines. I thought Luke was a little whiny, but I wanted him to win! I am still terrified of Vader.

And really, TPM came out very soon after my first exposure to the OT, but something always made the PT feel like it was "mine," (to break, to play with, to rewrite, to wiggle around) whereas the OT was this complete magical story I shouldn't edit. Which is why I still write Dooku stuff, but not Leia fics, even though she's My Girl. I am.... picking and choosing Disney+ series stuff. I'm psyched (terrified) for Acolyte. I love Kenobi with all my heart; it was a love letter to the prequel idiot in me. Mando kind of whiffed for me, but I'm still watching/keeping up with it; I'm actually not quite sure why I didn't connect with it because it seems to be generally accepted as good TV. (Possible theory: I think fundamentally Jedi stories are my favorite stories in Star Wars, which has plenty of room for many other stories than just Jedi ones, but I still have my favorite.) Andor ruined me in a fantastic way. I didn't watch Ahsoka, but I did skip around and watch the Hayden scenes because I'm only human. I also really want to see the Wolf girl kiss the other one.

So yeah, they're not all my cup of tea, but I do really like some of it!

Thank you again - this was so so fun!

[warsamongthestars]

You might be wondering why I have such a fit about TBB (and still do!--its a raging coal fire that hasn't stopped since S2 finale, and just kinda, reignites. Alot. )

[ And if you're not wondering, well I'm talking to myself anyway. I'm typing into the magic box with the funny pictures made of light and there's nobody I'm actually on conversing with in my compooter room anyway. ]

[ so i might as well continue to talk to myself, like the mad media person in all the tv shows, and maybe, one of the incorporeal beings of the magic picture box gets either entertained or pissed off enough. either way, screaming into the void ]

Let's talk about story impact.

I'mma say that a story has a beginning, middle and end. It has talking things called characters, and a general story structure called plot. the fiction it exists in called a fictional world building. the beats it writes to called pacing, and its quickening or slowing often matches the scene it wants (like a heart beat).

THat's the sum story.

What the fuck am I on about again with TBB.

Well, imagine that you have the Story sum above, and there's multiple now. Like, hundreds to thousands, all running on a specific world build, sharing the character of the story, as well as the story of the characters. Created all over the course of decades.

Repetition with positive results is going to have favorable impact. Effort given into a creative work is going to be recognized, even if you don't really like the work.

That's the sum logic.

So what the fuck am I on about again with TBB.

Well, let's take an actual example so that I'm not off topic.

Darth Vader is a very significant character to Star Wars. Star Wars is the story and series of stories that have had decades of work. Its a Space Western Opera (because Sci-Fi generally requires actual thought based Sciences attached--thus the magic in space bits aren't Sci-Fi; you're free to add that thoughtfulness though ).

And Darth Vader was one of the characters repeatedly used, and given significance due to in-story reactions and in-story information, as well as unique costuming, and taking 3 actors to do.

Mixing that with consistent character writing that develops as we learn of the character, and whom we additionally watch develop as the story around him changes; with dashes of world-building used also consistently, mixed with high end emotional-cues by the Music performed...

Creates a character that is very important to the series. Enough so, that to see him, is to immediately think "Star Wars".

And Star Wars is culturally historical. More so than the things it was based off of (and potentially ripped from), such as Dune, Valerian, and Metropolis--the only thing that survived that ripping was the Fist Full of Dollars Trilogy.

And its had Decades. As in, your Grand'rents intimately know Star Wars too. Its painted unironically on things, instead of being made fun of for being a Dune Rip Off but with DnD Magic.

But gods damn it, what does this have to do with THE BAD BATCH?

Well have you ever heard of a Fanfic OC?

You know the ones. The super special awesome totally original donut steel characters that a fan writer of a series will make up, in order to either experience the world or save the day or something.

( I know its more complicated than that, I'll get there )

The point is, is that a character in a well known series that spans decades, requires build up so that even the most stubborn of the audience accepts it.

A series that's big enough and large enough and expansive enough, requires itself to turn its characters into mini stories themselves. Because a big world is complicated, and gets complicated as it grows.

Example-- Ahsoka Tano required 3 years before she became intimately accepted as Anakin Motherfucking Skywalker's apprentice.

Because that kind of position is the donut-steel OC position. She wasn't in the films thus she didn't have an impact on Vader.

( I would even make the argument that Prequel Anakin still doesn't make that huge of an impact on Star Wars Vader. )

( Much the prequels ran into the same "donut steel" argument. )

A different example-- Captain Rex.

Captain Rex did not run into the same issues. Why? Because he slotted with a known position that was needed to complete the Clone Wars parts of the Prequel Sagas. After all, there was Commander Cody for Obi-Wan, there was Commander Bly for Aayla, and so on.

Captain Rex had the backing of the concept of the Clone Wars behind him, which does include from the Original Trilogy, as that's where the concept came from first.

As a character, he had to be a little nuts in order to keep up with Anakin, and a little on the hard order side, in order to live up additionally to Vader.

There was years of build up, and he was expected.

[ Its almost as if you have to know your audience and the history behind a story, to make impact--and that if you're coming in out of the blue, you need more prep and build up, in order to have the same amount of impact ]

[ And once that impact is given, we can flow with the story, and even retroactively enjoy the parts it took to make impact. ]

[ Adopt a new story teller's telling, into a story told by someone else, to make a better story ]

BUT WHAT ABOUT--

Ah ah ah, Don't worry. Build up and Impact, remember?

So, what is exactly my issue with the TBB series.

Its that these mother fuckers had 4 episodes in less than 1 month before their series.

The Bad Batch series is a series of high impact with low reaction. Good music, good animation, set in a known world--but the characters themselves do not have the build up to have impact on anything.

The series itself should have been giving them that build up, and instead, it actually stripped them on impact they initially had.

On a character sheet, the Bad Batch as characters are good. I give them positive review as a "let's go hog wild on the clone concept" They are the limit you can push the star wars clone wars concept before you have to pull back and say "You just wanted you add your fanfic into Star Wars, didn't you?"

( Just as the Prequels made Anakin out to be the limit of the Jedi, rather than just OG Vader's "I turned evil fuck you". )

A long adventure to learn about these characters, just as we learned about Ahsoka and by extension, Rex, would've been required to allow the build up to have the impact that they were clearly introduced to have.

Cos they have a strong introduction... through the eyes of someone else.

We have a series that put them through strafes, when we really didn't know anything about the characters. Even in their TCWs Arc, there wasn't enough about them from their POV that we could summarize a character that would last a series like theirs.

You can't tell me there's a character arc or achetype that TBB didn't invent in order to impose upon characters that do little and aren't allowed to grow from it--or was taken as a side-character role in name any Star Trek episode.

The TBB's high impact story is the going from the Prequel Saga into THe Original Trilogy, from the point of view of the Clone Wars. Its a singificant connecting element of watching the Republic become the Empire. The "Dark Times" as Obiwan "Ben" Kenobi put it, in 1977's Star Wars.

The BBs themselves only had 4 episodes, and they were already pushing disbelief, as they were the limit of the Clone Wars "Clone" Concept, stretched to the last possible point (Cos anywhere beyond that, and we'd be getting into Super Hero territory), and introduced in the Final Season--so all impact they could've had, was already gone from the start because there was no time.

The only way that the current TBB series would've impacted as its era demands, after decades of Star Wars, would be to give it to either Commander Cody (Who was in the Films) or Captain Rex, who was the main Clone of the Clone Wars.

And the only way that the the Bad Batch as characters, could've possibly survived that high impact, is if they had those years behind them--and they don't, they had less than 1 month.

So the Bad Batch as Characters require their own series that lacks high plot impact, in order to survive as characters...

And the Bad Batch show, as a High IMpact Show, requires actual impactul characters to run.

... Do you see the issue now? Or at least one of them?

( I would have gladly accepted a slow paced Bad Batch show that allowed the Bad Batch characters growth, that's what I wanted out of them--I wanted to get to know them. )

( But the current TBB show does not allow that. Story writers can say all the shit they want, but let me remind, if it was important--it'd be in the story itself, it'd be apart of the build up and impact. )

( And there is no impact, and no build up. If I were to put Hunter right next to Vader, he would mean fuck all. )

( And that's one reason I'm so fucking mad about all this. )

[engagemythrusters]

Ahsoka ep 2 now!

Low hopes ngl. Anyway hope we see my lil snow pea Jacen

I Hope Mr Turkeyleg is okay… I know Sabine will be bc she’s got more in the trailer but I love that loth kitty

She okay 🥰

Ooo her boots

Two galaxies? Damn expanding it WAY far

Hey wait do you think that this relates to Jedi Survibor? That path? Look okay I just fucking love those games and I want them to tie more into canon

Oooo pretty planet

Oo ruins

Granpa really do got shoulders

PURRFIL NOISES?! Oh no that’s just the music

Oh the loth kitties that pop up! I love when they do that always <3

Oh… does she have psychometry??? Since fhckin when?

YAY MR TURKEYLEG IS OKQY!!! I love you mr Turkeyleg

Do you think the white lothcat is still out there? What about Dume?

Mr Turkeyleg such a good guard kitty 🥰

Hera so proud of her daughter

Sabine you’re such a smartiepants I love you sm

Hera is not ready to watch another person she loves explode

Hera is SO proud of sabine always. God she’s so good

Sabine always was Hera’s girl. Like. God I am. I love their dynamic it’s my favourite.

Night sister magic hellyeah

Fod this means they def made Sabine force sensitive didntw they. I fucjing HATE that so fucking much.

Yknow I’m kinda annoyed they wanna expand to another galaxy. It’s supposed to be just one galaxy. Far far away.

How does this puzzle know that anyway

Does this just. Is this just the path the purrgil always take?? I’m so confused how this puzzle would fucking know that!

This makes no sense!!

I really like Shin. She’s an interesting character. Always watching. Always calculating. Still learning. She’s gonna be so fun I can tell

T-6 shuttle ❤️🤍

PHANTOM

ITS THE FUCKIN PHANTOM

Hey so wait does Jacen just fucking go to boarding school or some shit. Where IS he?!

Hera I love u <3

CHOPPER

The gasp I gusp AGAIN

CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER

His bwaps are different >:(

STILL BETTER THAN NOTHING THO I LOVE YOU CHOPPER MWUAH MY HORRIBLE DROID

Wow what a capitalistic response to loyalty. Jesus. I hate Disney.

Hera: be nice to my daughter or else

She just really cares about Sabine and wants the best for her and just. Hhh. It’s the most important dynamic to me.

Bacta patch!!

joint custody lightsaber xoxo

Hey do you think I can make fire with popsicle sticks

Nope.

OH THANK GOD NO DORCE SENSITIVITH

OH MY GOD

I’ve never been so relieved in my life

Oh my god thank GOD thank for

Oh my god

Okay. Woo. Deep breath in and out.

Hey can we get a Kanan mentions

Please

Hera: bitch please I didn’t sacrifice everything for things to be classified to me

Damn

INQUISITOR

Who r u

CHOPPERRRRR

my most evil droid <3 I love u

THATS NOT HOW AHSOKA HOLDS HER SABERS

What the fuck?!

She’s a backward holder

0/10 that pisses me off so much.

Chopper >:)

Very interested in this inquisitor. Desperate to know who they will be

Chopper always so ready to kill everyone in sight. Love that motherfucker.

HES SO SASSY

i am so happy to see him again

Hey is it weird that I want this to be Kanan

Like. Inquisitor Kanan would be so cool.

Came back wrong n evil

Yeah okay I know he’s dead n they’ll keep him that way but god I liked it

Yay chopper!

Hehe oh my god

Hiii mr turkeyleg

HER ARMOUR YAY

Oh she painted a purrgil on it 😭

She toned down her art tho it’s so simple now. She must’ve gone thru a dark time after Kanan and Ezra.

HAIR CUT TIME

the mirroring of kanans scene… god it cuts me deep

Okay but also. that’s not how you cut hair

T-6 shuttle 🥰

HHHHHHHH ITS THAT SCENE

It’s the tap scene 😭

Wrong time of day.

Also ahsoka isn’t in white and she doesn’t have the cool stick

Where’s the cool stick

0/10

I liked that stick.

God I miss Kanan so so much.

I do like that sabine did get to train more (now that I know she’s not force sensitive) bc that means she can spar with ezra when he gets back. Sibling activities. Roughhousing until hera comes n yells at them.

Not sure I like this big ship

I am so curious about that inquisitor

I do enjoy the end credit designs. Very Lothal.

Okay see y’all for the next ep next week

[jedimasterbailey]

For the ask game!

Curious about ✍️🚀💕💭💛

Aaaa it is an honor getting an ask from you! 🥰

✍️- what is your ideal writing setup?

I prefer to write at home either on my couch in the living room or on my bed with a good iced coffee or chai latte listening to music that matches the tone of whatever it is I’m working on. I typically write when I’m alone as I am easily distracted and not able to focus as much if there are other people or things going on around me. Cloudy rainy days are a huge plus, the cozier the setup the better 👌🏻

🚀- do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

Depends on the story. For my longer novel like pieces I do a rough outline of what the beginning, middle, and end will be and then I’ll do outlines of each chapter. But for my one shots, the idea will just pop into my head and I just run with it without an outline.

💕- what is your favorite fic you’ve written?

By far The Padawans. It was truly a huge undertaking and a labor of love that I’ll never regret. Not only is it the fic that has really put me on the map (even though I was no expecting it to get so popular at all), but it is a story I’m so proud of because it hits so many writing milestones for me. That story is rich with so many loveable characters and each of their arcs were so satisfying to do especially Barriss’s redemption arc which is no easy task at all. Ahsoka and Barriss’s love story is very believable and genuine which is loosely inspired by my own relationship with my now wife @devondeal. Furthermore, the story is so reminiscent of the many classic Star Wars stories we know and love and I was able to put closure on many things canon will not like Barriss’s redemption, her reunion with Luminara, etc. I will always and forever be proud of it.

💭- what inspires you and your writing?

When it comes to Barrissoka @devondeal is my muse because she really is the Ahsoka to my Barriss so a lot of my ideas come from what we encounter in our day to day lives but I just make it relevant to Star Wars. But besides that, I write because it geninuely makes me happy and I want to make other people happy with my stories so that really drives me to get creative.

💛- what is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

Be patient with yourself and don’t feel bad for having writer’s block or not being able to produce as much as you like. Life is hard and it can get busy or sometimes your mind is too cluttered by other things or your body just needs rest and that’s perfectly okay. I’ve had to remind myself many times that when the time is right, inspiration will strike and the story will fall into place but it’s all too important to take care of yourself first. Readers are patient and I’m always personally willing to wait for new amazing content so I have to remind myself that the people reading my stories probably feel the same. Always remember why you write, it shouldn’t be a job, it should remain a passion no matter how long it may take to produce something.

Link to Original Ask Game Questions

[ooops-i-arted]

@auditect said: Is she the one you compared to Ahsoka (at least in an earlier incarnation)?

Nope! That would be my other Baby's First Jedi OC, Lia Skye. I'm not 100% sure which character I made first, but my earliest Derran stuff in my Jedi notebook is dated 2002 and there's no Lia til 2005, although I know I made her earlier because she was part of Baby's First Novel, which was my own version of Star Wars Episode III because I couldn't wait til it was released lol. Derran's fics were short ones inspired by the Jedi Apprentice series (though I also wrote those for Lia too).

Lia was like Ahsoka because:

Apprentice to an Important Canon Character (Obi-Wan, because 1. even at 12 I knew Anakin had no business being around kids 2. Obi-Wan was my favorite so I wanted to write my OC with him)

The Important Canon Character spends WAY more time worrying about the OC than his friend/brother of 10 years

In fact in my Star Wars Episode III Version Anakin's Dark Side turn takes place completely offscreen and way more time is spent on Lia and Obi-Wan helping Padme hide her twins lmao

Losing the OC is 10 times more devastating than anything in canon or the relationship with the friend/brother (Lia is Anakin's first Order 66 victim)

Lia was TOTALLY SPESHUL AND AWESOME and had multiple lightsaber colors and even her eye color changed at some point because of Force Bullshit I Made Up. Also she had the same hair color and similar eye color as me but that was toooootally a coincidence lol and so was her age being only a few years older than mine. In general even her appearance was Speshul and Yooneek

However even at 11-12 I put my Jedi OC in Jedi robes and not a tube top or cocktail dress looking thing (that one's on Lucas not Felony tho)

Lia was an AMAZING COMBATANT for her age and also had special awesome visions that no one took seriously but were Very Important. She was also able to fight characters that should have been way above her skill level (like Count Dooku and she puts up a good fight before Anakin killed her). After her death she appeared as a Force ghost too. Obi-Wan also kept her lightsaber To Remember Her By

Lia regularly broke the rules but was always Justified and Right in the end and the Council either let it slide or even agreed she was ultimately right (although I never villainized them in by writing, it was just Lia was Too Amazing For Them To Truly Understand. I was a teenager in full No One Understaaaaaands Me mode, what can I say.)

All my favorite Jedi liked her and thought she was cool (Felony has Plo Koon, I had Obi-Wan and Yoda and Aayla.)

To contrast, Derran's only real Speshul trait was having the same hair/eye color as me (toooootally a coincidence I convinced myself at that age), she was a more balanced, albeit amateur character.

That said writing Lia was a huge escape after dealing with school & peers' crap all day and I don't regret it. It was mental and emotional self-care and it was fun. I still have all that bad fic and I still love it; even if I don't consider it "good" anymore, it made me the writer I am today and there are still things I look at and I'm like, that's a good idea I can execute better now, or I really like that turn of phrasing, so on. It made me a better writer and Lia has a special place in my heart. Nowadays she exists as my Jedi Knight in SWTOR, Skye Lir.

Drawing of Lia Skye from 2005 & in-game screenshot of Skye Lir from 2016. And to bring it around full-circle, in SWTOR Skye was Derran's Padawan. :)

Writing overpowered maybe-a-self-insert OC is self-care. But if I'm paying money to a company owning a massive franchise, it's not unreasonable for me to expect better quality writing than a depressed anxious amateur preteen writer desperately suppressing her own queerness and filtering the asexuality she doesn't understand through Jedi fanfic lmao. Or to put it another way, if a friend just getting into baking makes me a cake, I will support her efforts regardless of the quality of the final result, but if I buy from a popular well-known bakery I'm gonna damn well expect a good cake.

[vodika-vibes]

(I know! Talk about trauma! I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought the tube top on Ahsoka was stupid! You can tell no women were involved in that decision! Anyone who’s ever tried to wear anything strapless knows it’s a pain to keep it in place! I’m convinced she would have to always use the force just to keep her top up)

I like how we always reach a good, open stopping point! As always, well done, my dear! You got me in the feels through this whole thing! 👏👏🫶 Beautiful! Brilliant!!

Poor Grain! Who wouldn’t care about this poor sweet baby! As much as I love Grain, the other boys need a turn in this scenario, too.

Next up is Go….

[Go: Accepts medical attention when offered. Eyes sharp, constantly watching the medic, especially if they're not a vod. Preparing for the inevitable betrayal, preparing to defend his vod.]

I try to focus on cleaning up the nasty gash on Go’s arm. I feel his intense stare carefully watching me. “Go, you’re staring.” I sigh and halt what I’m doing to look at him. “I know you don’t trust me and I know you don’t really like me… but you’re making me nervous here. I feel like you’re trying to stare a hole into my head.” I’m intimidated by him but try to not let it show. I frown and look back down at his arm and gently continue to clean his wound. “I’m sorry if this hurts… I’m trying to be as gentle as I can. You’ve lost a lot of blood and this will need stitches before I can put any bacta on it.”

-💋 anon

I just assumed that she had taped her shirt to her body, so she didn't have to focus on keeping her shirt up as well as everything else. It bothered me that no one took one look at this child and asked "where's your armor?". And Grain is soft and sweet, when he wants to be. Go is a little less so.

And now fun facts about Go! He's about 6'7", and is built like a brick house. Solid, broad, and absolutely terrifying if he puts his mind to it. Big men are scary and he can and will use that to his advantage.

Go scowls as your words, "You're right. I don't." Doesn't trust you, at least. Whether or not he likes or dislikes you isn't important. Not when his brothers are sprawled on beds in various states of injured, and the only medic was a volunteer. A civilian volunteer. Though he did suppose that making you nervous wouldn't help the situation at all.

He continues his intense staring, though he does drop his gaze to the wound on his arm, "Just stitch it up and wrap it. Don't worry about bacta. Save it for someone who needs it more." He lifts his gaze again, "I'm not going to hurt you unless you do something stupid."

[flythesail]

Yep I saw so much of that after the finale! For certain, at least some of the "Amandla can't act" was just racism. (I mean the instagram comments were horrible.) But there was also quite a number of people who seemed to genuinely not understand Osha either when she killed Sol or in her decision to join Qimir. Like you said, in their minds anger would be bold and loud. But I bet a lot of women watching would find her silence/seriousness on the outside with anger boiling beneath more relatable. That is what makes the acolyte important. It's an opportunity to connect with someone you might not "see" yourself as. Yet it's still star wars for everyone. That's the beauty of media but a lot of people are just not willing to interact with a character that isn't a carbon copy of themselves, despite the presence of so many universal themes. Family being a big one.

And agreed, the development of Osha and Mae was subtle and fantastically done. To me, that's the appeal of the show - it's really as deep as you want it to be. I can sit here and say, yeah the lightsaber fights were so fun and it was cool to see Osha turn evil. But I could also sit here and write a whole essay on themes of belonging/acceptance or the nuance of good and evil lol. The material is there and in some cases people do refuse to interact with it on a critical level - or beyond what's spoon fed - and that's where you get some of those odd takes where it's like, were you watching the story being told or the one you expected from *your* perspective?

As for ahsoka, I'm not all that opinionated on it but I will say I think it's another example of DLF digging themselves into a deeper hole. From the trend toward turning anything animated into live action, to the fact that it's just not... something you could watch without context (you'd at least need to watch rebels and the clones wars and maybeeee mando too). Yet they could also see it as a safe bet in that they're drawing on the nostalgia of other shows and relying on an existing fan base.

But! I also just read s2 of of ahsoka is being written to work as an ending because s3 isn't guaranteed. And it's just so odd because what is going on at DLF that they can't commit to anything anymore? The acolyte is a particularly crazy case because it's a new era and could have jumpstarted the next decade of content. We know there were talks of a writers room, a LOT of tie-in material for s1, and they were looking for s2 directors before they called it all off. So to hear ahsoka is up in the air too, it just has to be a mess behind closed doors. Even tying up mando with a movie is weird imo after the shakiness of s3.

Which just makes this all so frustrating as a fan. It's star wars and they have disney money. They could make shows or movies about literally anything. Instead, they throw away anything new and recycle the rest.

Okay last thing for now! But I did start rewatching the other day, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people dropped the acolyte after episode 1 and 2 because they're slower. Yet I'm not sure... what you can do about that other than stick with it. Because more exciting episodes like 5 and 8 or even 6 won't be exciting without that intro. You can't start the show with everyone on khofar. And even when andor first premiered, remember what the #1 critique was??? It. Starts. Too. Slow. But now two years later, no one is saying that. Most people are looking back on andor like it's the best thing star wars has done. A lot of this probably is because of the streaming model. It creates a pressure to like a show from the very first second and to watch it as quickly as possible. (Idea being the quicker you like it, the quicker you finish, the quicker you move on to another show so these companies can sell you on the Next Big Thing.) It's just capitalism! But that means we also don't get to take our time with art as much because where's the profit in savoring. With the acolyte, people would have come around too, especially as the hate it got died down. But by canceling it so early on, you give people no reason to. It's like creating proof for a problem you created.