#anti traviss

[mysticaltora8276]

"So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us? When do the means justify the end? Where is our society heading? What are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Master. Do you?"

Padawan Bardan Jusik to the Jedi Council

Okay break down time

1. "So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us?" They didn't. The Sith instigated that........The Jedi know this. Jusik did you just ignore history? Or for that matter the entirity of Obi-Wan's mission. Oh right she hates Obi....

2. "When do the means justify the end? Where is our society heading? What are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Master. Do you?" Funny considering later on your fine with an abuser and someone who murders civilians for expediency.........Yeah shut up Jusik.

[mysticaltora8276]

Oh, you had to bring in that woman’s work. Let’s not get into the fact that she tried to rewrite the galaxy as of the Jedi were the “elites.“ Which they weren’t and basically throughout a lot of anti-religion stuff and stuff that could be considered xenophobic, as well as racist and misogynistic, as well as worshiping the people who had previously been shown to be nothing more than war murderers, who were so bad that the Republic had to preemptively strike and glass their planet to make them stop going on murderous Crusades that dragged the entire galaxy into war. Not to mention the fact that they ended up worshiping war as the concept itself and were perfectly OK with committing various genocides…

Then this author had the absolute nerve to portray the Jedi is somehow worse than them. She kept going on and on about how they’re mean to the clones, but all she showed were clones that she personally crafted into being her main character “exemplary” father’s slaves. He literally starts a cult, and they automatically go to him with no choice whatsoever, and no discussion given the fact that the man essentially formed a cult of a personality.

As for the rest of the authors, they were OK to varying degrees. Some were bad like Traviss. Scratch that. She was probably the worst. Others were slightly incompetent like Jude Watson. Yes I read a multitude of her books, but in hindsight, I realized that a lot of the misconceptions about the Jedi order came from her. And that’s not getting into the other expanded universe authors, who decided to put their own spin on it, whether it lined up with a canon or not. So that’s kind of why I look back on the EU particularly anything written before attack of the clones just kind of rubs me wrong. It just seems like that they had a problem with a religious order and they took it out on the Jedi. Constantly saying that they were “wrong.“ Which they weren’t. At all. Again, aside from Traviss I’ll give them credit for at least portraying them as victims as opposed to Karen Traviss, who literally had one of her characters that is supposedly the morally righteous one basically say “well they deserve it.“ Piss off Karen Traviss

I really dislike it when anti-Jedi and Jedi-critical crowd uses EU books as a prove for their points. Why they’re all wrong:

a) The books were written by various people who didn’t consult George Lucas about what they’re going to write. Everyone understood SW as they did. When an original author has never claimed such art as canon and actually refused it – this is a definition of fanfiction, isn’t it? Paid, yes, but fanfiction nonetheless.

b) Most of these books were created way before PT. They didn’t know about the Jedi things what we know now. It becomes quite hypocritical – I mean, in the EU the clones were enemies, not allies, but somehow I don’t see any claims ‘but the clones are enemies! The EU says so!’. Even in Karen Traviss books not all the clones have a personality, but we all ignore it now, aren’t we? She wrote her books before the TCW, not knowing how the series would spin the story. So EU retcon works for the clones, but not for the Jedi?

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation, were only strengthened.

Mando'a, wookiepedia.

What kind of utter bullshit is this? This is impossible. Languages are in constant change, and even more so when they interact with others! That's how Spanish, Italian, French, and many others were born from Latin! How German, English and Swedish were born too!

I'm not a linguist so my knowledge of how languages work is limited, but I know this: language is in a constant state of change. I know there are words that are less than four decades old in English.

My own first language has had over a dozen words created in the past two decades. Many of them come from English, or were created for the Internet, and most of our words come from three or four different languages.

My country has many words used exclusively in certain regions. We like to joke about how difficult it is to learn our language, since so many words have multiple meanings and others only exist in limited places. There are over four regions where language is concerned, all of them with different accents and words exclusive to their respective region.

Languages and cultures don't exist in a vacuum, they are formed thanks to experiences and changes communities go through. Interacting with people from different backgrounds is how Ancient Greek philosophy was born! And that philosophy has shaped the whole Western world!

Nuclear family, despite being seen as the norm, is less than a century old. America's (the continent, America is a continent, US is the country) independance happened in recent memory as far as history is concerned, less than two centuries ago (the movement started in the early 19th cetury, but its main points were the 1870's and the 1890's, and it finished in 1898 when Spain's last two colonies gained their independance). The French Revolution that completely altered Europe's governments happened just a little over two hundred years ago, in 1789. World War II started eighty five years ago, and Hitler rose to power ten years before that. My country has been a democracy for less than fifty years, my parents are older than my country's democracy. The cold war finished in the fucking late 1980's. The "schools" in Canada that were used to forcibly convert/assimilate First Nation children were active until the last one closed in the 1990's.

This is just a very small glance at what has happened in the west (which I'm more familiar with, since I'm western) in the past two centuries.

If we have changed so much in just two hundred years, it's impossible that Mandalorians have remained the exact same in five, fucking, thousand.

And the most stupid for the end:

Nation: a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.

If Mandalorians don't have a planet to call their own, they are not a nation.

[mandalorianhistorian]

expanded universe mando females vs Disney Mando females a short post on actual diverse women vs lazily written my thoughts

(little reminder EU mando culture was written by a women and disneys and clone wars was written by a man)

what makes a mandalorian women in the expanded universe

calling A mandalorian woman, weak or small, is a huge insult to them, so start running if you can. Mandalorian women come in all kinds of ways, human, alien, any shape, height, etc., but for them, strength, honor, and loyalty are of the utmost regard. Mandalorian women do the same as their fellow men, equal in all parts of Mandalorian life. Women of the Manda can raise children adopted or born by themselves or with a partner. Mando women do look after their home wherever the nomads may travel next and raise their kids, but that responsibility isn't just for women; their partner must always help, regardless of species or sex. Mandalorian women are feared by many, especially by their own brothers. Mandalorian men are not scared by many things, but Mandalorian women terrify them Deeply. Mandalorian women in Mando society and culture are the same as the men. We have many moments in the books, games, and comics with amazing women. There are too many to name, but the most known would be Shae Vizla, Mirta gev, Rav Bralor, Parja Bralor. The stories that have these women are amazingly written by many authors but mainly Karen traviss.

why the Disney mandalorian women are not the same as EU mando women

the mandalorian women of Disney do not have the same values or honor as the EU mandalorians instead they seem to have a system that has royalty and hierarchy which was never present in the EU and lets not forget Disney seems to have death watch and the pacifists as the main vocal point when in the EU we have many different groups but Disney mandao women seem to have no value of equality and work. When we do see them they seem angry bitter hostile and just nasty to mandalorian men and the main one we have seen the most is bo katan and by god that women is not fit to be a mandalorian apparently shes the princess which is like how on earth do nomads go to that but that's a topic for another day but it seems Disney has also forgotten alien mandalorian women we see quit a few in the expanded universe. it really just baffles me how terrible their female mandos are. Mandalorian culture has been diverse, and they took it 50 steps back in modern Disney star wars.

difference in Armour non gendered and gendered

The armor in Mandalorian culture is shaped in many ways, but men and women do not have a certain design fixated on them in the expanded universe; they can share the same look or wear any design armor shape, Kama cloak jetpack with their armor, or any other add-on they want for themselves.

expanded universe Armour

the armor of the EU Yes, there is way more in SWTOR, so many helmets and gear, but men and women both wear them; there is no special so-called lady armor for female Mandalorians.

Disney Armour

For Disney Mandalorian women, they seem to all have the same helmet design; however, it is only seen on female Mandalorians putting on a gendered look, which is utterly silly for this culture.

thanks for reading :3 this is just my view as i grew up with Karen traviss writing and work so seeing it destroyed just makes me sad so these are just my quick thoughts.

[mysticaltora8276]

I found a quote for the Republic commando series where Scout the Jedi youngling who is well-known getting the wrestling matches. Who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty is suddenly appalled that the Star Wars equivalent of soccer might have……female players….Traviss get OUT!

[mysticaltora8276]

But Skirata exploits the Nulls mental illness for his own gain so yes it is ableism.

— Is “psycho” a slur? —

My easiest answer to this question: ASK IF A REAL PERSON IS OKAY TO BE CALLED A PSYCHO. If not, then you are not calling the person with ASPD, BPD, or any other PD a psycho.

Listen to the people with personality disorders, not the people who claim they are allys so they call everything ableist that can hurt our pretty sensitive disabled heart. There is a chance that someone is made the label their own. And someone is not okay with it. No, you don't make a fucking a poll where everyone can vote, and even the neighbours cat can puke on the reblog button. YOU TALK TO A REAL PERSON, YOU ASK. End of story.

Personality disorders and especially Antisocial Personality Disorder are often associated to “being a psycho”.

And you especially met with this term in RepComm while reading.

“EWWWW REPCOMM AND KAREN TRAVISS AND KAL SKIRATA IS FUCKIGN ABLEIST DON’T READ IT OR YOU’LL BECOME ABLEIST YOURSE-“

When I mention TODAY to someone that I have personality disorder, people are being like: okay and you are eating that with fork or spoon?

You call out ableism because you heard it somewhere that being called a psycho is ableist, and calling out ableism gives you browney points on tumblr.

“Psycho” is not a slur. Sometimes not even the self-diagnosed psyhopaths know about the existence of the term of ASPD (that's how personality disorders are not in every speech!!!), they just now that something is wrong, because they always hit walls around people. Psycho or sociopath was the closest that you could name this condition in the early 2000's.

Nulls being called a psycho is not Kal Skirata’s elaborate trick to enslave the nulls or whatever the fuck anti-kal people comes up with. People with pd-s are mostly self-aware. Being always fucking self-aware is why we know that we don’t fit in.

Someone with personality disorder is extremely important to be self-aware, that's why name-erasing, mental-health erasing cause more harm. You don't say shit like to a pd that "you are completely normal, there is nothing wrong with you, carry on" because the next time we actually do something mentally ill™, you will be the first to call us "fucking psychos".

(yeah. I know. so much we, and them, and us, like I'm one with ASPD too, I'm trying to figure if I have more personality disorder than BPD, and probably have.)

In this age where everything is within reach via internet, people truly forget that media is accessible written by different generations, and when I see younger people engaging with the Republic Commando series TODAY in 2024 with today’s tumblr sensitivity standards, I think: vod. Are you aware that the first book came out in 2004, TWENTY YEARS AGO? The accessibility to everything is great but it totally messes up the ability to see TIME CONTEXT. And this time blindness can truly mess up communication between different generations too, causing rifts and we end up invalidating other’s experiences if we are not careful.

“But there were more progressive books even before 2004” - Probably. Only we didn’t have an entire library of progressive labels of genders, sexuality, phobias and MENTAL ILLNESSES AND CONDITIONS.

Not in everyday speech. If no one talks about it, you won't know the concept. You don't know how to ask questions aside from "what's wrong with me?"

WATCH OUT! SLURS INCOMING!!!!

In the early 2000’s and before if your teachers hated you, your parents weren’t educated (or just didn’t care), or your parents themselves never got proper treatment for their neurodivergency, there is chance that YOU ALSO didn’t have a chance to get a proper diagnosis for different types of neurodivergency as a child.

children with dyscalculia were called lazy.

children with dyslexia were called retards who can't even read.

children who were fine playing alone were the weird ones.

autistic people? You mean rain man? Or those braindead retards shitting themselves and throwing fits and should have been euthanized if their parents had any love for them? Oh no you are not autistic, stop being oversensitive to noises and shit and people bullying you for your special interests is not bullying, they are just trying to involve you sweetheart.

ADHD? Problem children with behavior issues.

Antisocial Personality Disorder? Psychos. Problem children. HOOLIGANS. DEVIANTS.

Sounds familiar? No? Then I am truly happy for you.

People like to use this quote to prove that the Nulls didn’t have mental illnesses, it’s just Kal who spread the rumors about them, and the Nulls weren’t more than your ordinary bad behaving children. Because Vau is an outsider, therefore more reliable and objective narrator about the Nulls and because fuckkalskirataingeneral. Yeah. Sure. But we are talking about Walon Vau.

Walon “my father beat the living shit out of me as a child but I turned out fine” Vau.

These kind of abused people In real life with the exact same mentality tell you that you don’t have a problem, you are just oversensitive. You don’t need therapy, you just have to man up. Don’t take pills because pills are for pussies. YOU DON’T HAVE MENTAL ILLNESS, YOU ARE JUST A BAD CHILD. Generational trauma is fucking shit and affects everybody.

Walon Vau alone deserves a separate post about his non-existent mental health. And Sev, now that he was mentioned here. Sev is especially heartbreaking, seeing how Nulls as psychos are treated, and how Sev as a psycho is treated in the books.

This blurb is born from the thought that the Nulls are having Antisocial Personality Disorder and I’ve come to this conclusion because they are constantly called psychos, the most common label people used for this kind of behavior patterns they show throughout the series.

ASPD or Antisocial Personality Disorder and the usage of this name is encouraged in scientific circles because the symptoms and traits of psychopathy can’t be measured objectively anymore. Psychopathy is a neurological/hormonal condition, but no longer its own sickness, because other non-related disorders, diseases and illnesses can mimic the symptoms of psychopathy for eg.: DEMENTIA.

If you ever wonder how can a 80 years old person who never showed any sign of aggression before just go and brutally kill their neighbor for a sole treebranch hanging over the fence and littering the garden with leaves, there is a chance that something is not alright in the brain anymore.

Emotions developed healthy with healthy self-restraints and and self-control will not let you do socially unacceptable things like killing to solve problems, just because your brain tells you: BASH THEIR FUCKING SKULL WITH A ROCK.

Every emotional response are hormones and neurotransmitters in work. Brain is responsible to give the appropriate response to each situation we are facing. If you have hormonal problems, or neurological conditions, different brain structure than a neurotypical people, there is a chance, that these responses are not working as they are intended, you will have different or more extreme emotional responses to things, or not having at all.

So that is why we don’t use the terms of psychopath today as an individual sickness, because PSYCHOPATHY ITSELF IS A SYMPTOM of various conditions! People with psychopathy, the “psychos” are usually on the spectrum of ASPD.

So again, repeat after me like I'm Dora the explorer who put you on gunpoint:

ASK IF A REAL PERSON WITH ASPD IS OKAY WITH BEING CALLED A PSYCHO. IF NOT, YOU DON'T CALL THE PERSON PSYCHO. END OF STORY.

[lieutenant-teach]

Trying Karen Traviss 'Republic Commando' (critical)

I’ve read loads of criticism on Karen Traviss ‘Republic Commando’ books. Despite being weaponized with knowledge of her treatment of Jedi and Mandalorians, decided to read anyway, because clones! Though I’m in the camps of ‘anti-Mandoclones’ and ‘pro-jedi’, and from my previous reading experience I know my whole being protests when I see even an ounce of Jedi-criticism both in books and fics, I still thought – maybe, at least the plot will be interesting? And clones!

Well… I lasted about 10 pages (was reading from an e-book, so it’s hard to tell) of the first novel of the series, ‘Hard contact’.

I’d even ignore anti-Jedi stuff that starts from the very beginning – as if I would believe the Jedi would treat the clones as ‘created for war, so they must be used for war’.

First thing that started to turn me off – the treatment of common clones, ‘regs’. The main characters immediately began to smell disgustingly like The Bad Batch. They have special training, they see each other as ‘family’ – unlike these regular clones! They are even treated poorly by the ‘regs’, poor things! :(

The second – the language. A lot of Mando’a words that are referenced in the end of the book. Thanks to fics, I know several terms, but in next books I scrolled through – whole incomprehensible dialogues in Mando’a! Seriously?! 1st, technically uncomfortable, 2nd – disrespect to the readers.

And the main reason that made me delete all these books – it’s written boringly. Plain boringly. I guess it’s just her journalist-influenced style, but still – one more reason not to read her.

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: No Prisoners

So…

I burned out on the RepComm series. I do want to return to it and dissect it as best I can, but I was feeling incandescent rage after reading a two to three sentence paragraph, so I decided to take a break. Hopefully, I’ll be able to restart (I haven’t even gotten to the parts I know I’m going to have Thoughts on), but I need to do something else first.

That’s where No Prisoners comes in. Another book written by Traviss, and, while not as infamous as the RepComm series, is still one I haven’t heard great things about. Why not take a look at it? Who knows, there might be something of value in it.

Look, I can hope. I’m not expecting much, but maybe this won’t make me as angry as Republic Commando does.

[phoenixyfriend]

Is Karin Travis the reason I keep seeing people who think that the Clones had any attachment to Mandalorian culture?

Uhhh, possibly? I think most Mando'a comes from her Republic Commando books, at least.

[mysticaltora8276]

“I didn’t realize they had names.” What the hell are you talking about kid? They had names because of the Jedi Order.

““they don’t know what life is like.” What the hell? Who the hell says that aside from mouthpieces that this author thinks is OK to express her opinions through.

“All they know is war so they’re probably perfectly happy.” no Jedi no matter the rank would be saying this. This is something an uninformed civilian would say or separatist.

“I’m glad they don’t suffer.” Again no Jedi order person talks like this. And I’m sorry everybody has to suffer through this and sufferably stupid quote.

Traviss! Get your grimy fingers out of these Padawans!

She writes every Jedi like this btw

[mysticaltora8276]

Want a clone deserter done right? Howser, Rex, Cody and the Bad Batch are an excellent example of clone deserters done right. They choose what they wanted to do and quite a few of them fought against the Empire and then did what they liked…not indoctrination into a cult.

So in conclusion not the Nulls

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: No Prisoners, Chapter One

Hi, Rex. I’d be more enthusiastic, but I know who’s writing you, so I’m mostly just apprehensive.

(I’ve gotten my hands on PDFs of the books, which is very nice. Lots of new options.)

You know, if Traviss stuck exclusively to the clones instead of constantly embellishing her Mandalorian OCs and bashing the Jedi, I feel like we’d all be happier.

Please appreciate Traviss writing something I actually like. It’s so rare that I feel I must point it out every time.

Oh, I’ve heard of this scene. Excuse me while I brace myself.

Somewhere, Alpha-17 is growling, “I did not fucking raise you to think like that.”

…

Pardon me for a moment.

Okay. Okay. I’m calm. I’m fine. I’m calm.

Firstly, why is Pellaeon acting like Kal Skirata? Described as paternal, condescending, sexist… Traviss really can’t keep her OCs out of every single thing she writes.

Connected to that, thanks for ruining the character of a reasonably well-liked individual. When Pellaeon showed up in the Thrawn Trilogy, he was very much a military man, straightforward, and decent enough for someone working for the Empire. He was intended as the Watson to Thrawn’s Holmes, and his entire personality was very Watson-like. Now? He’s Traviss’s watered-down version of her most(in)famous Star Wars character and I hate it.

Secondly, I would be less angry if there was just one thing missing from that little excerpt. Can you guess?

“We do not expose flesh in this ship, not only because it’s unbecoming, undisciplined, and distracting, but because a ship is a dangerous place.”

Distracting.

She’s fourteen years old. Why, exactly, Not!Pellaeon, are you insisting a young girl cover up like that? If it was just “The ship is dangerous, please cover up,” I’d be annoyed by the way it’s done, but I could at least understand the reason. Traviss, what the hell were you thinking when you wrote this?

Also, why is Ahsoka just going along with this? This is the girl who was talking back to Mace Windu and the rest of the Jedi Council. Now she’s just rolling over? Traviss, you didn’t bother to watch a single fucking episode of the show, did you?

I already know the answer to that question.

Rex, your older brother-father combo is extremely disappointed in you. Alpha-17 is going to put you through your paces the next time he sees you.

Anyway, that’s that. There’s some other stuff about Pellaeon’s ex spying on possible Separatists, but there really wasn’t anything interesting in it, and that scene took it out of me.

First impression? I’m not impressed. Pellaeon and Rex have both been turned into assholes and Ahsoka’s OOC. Traviss, you’re hired by Disney to write for them. It’s one thing when fanfic is out of character, but you were brought on professionally. Your editor should have checked for their personalities and for continuity. You should have read and watched the media the characters you’re using come from. I mean, you didn’t watch the damn movies when you were hired to write for the franchise, so I’m not surprised, but still.

[toaarcan]

Hi, hey there, did you know that the whole "Jedi can deflect blasters so Mandalorians used solid-shot weapons to kill them because blocking a bullet with a lightsaber just results in molten metal spraying the Jedi" meme is actually bullshit?

Like, first thing you have to know about that lore is that it was written by Karen Traviss. Traviss is fairly infamous for writing a shitton of military wank and really hating the Jedi, portraying them as cruel, cold, fascist idiots, who are much, much lamer than the cool Mandalorians, who are badass military types and definitely haven't carried out multiple genocides in the past (they have). She was also known for not exactly playing ball with other writers, and ultimately ragequit the franchise when TCW started to include Mandalorians and portrayed them differently. This was not a detail that basically any other writer in anything Star Wars ever actually backs up.

And like, here's the thing... this exists.

That's a Jedi using the Force to deflect bullets with her bare hand.

This is Tutaminis. And/or Force Deflection, it's not really clear whether they're the same thing or not. It's a pretty standard Force ability that a bunch of characters have demonstrated. Obi-Wan blocks both bullets and a flamethrower with it in the 03 Clone Wars microseries. It's how Yoda catches and redirects Force Lightning during his duels with Dooku in Attack of the Clones and Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. It's how Vader absorbs Han's shots with his hand in The Empire Strikes Back.

It's also evident from the amount of times that the Mandalorians fight the Jedi with normal blasters instead of breaking out their "anti-Jedi" weapons for their ancient enemies. And the fact that the Mandalorians lost their wars against the Jedi.

If solid-shot guns/slugthrowers were the amazing anti-Jedi weapons that totally always worked against Jedi, then we'd see a lot more slugthrowers and a lot fewer Jedi. We see the CIS' Droid armies fight against the Jedi for three years, we see the Clones being designed from the get-go to kill the Jedi at the end of the war and being highly successful at it, we see the Empire hunting Jedi for the next 19 years and the rest of the Galactic Civil War after that, and y'know what they have in common? None of them use slugthrowers. They all just keep using blasters.

The answer to "How to kill a Jedi" equation has traditionally been depicted as "Use more blasters than they can actually physically deflect."

There's also the detail that Jedi are precognitive space wizards who can move with superhuman speed. If you're actually in range to shoot one with a gun, they'll sense you, evade or block with the Force, close the gap before you can chamber the next round, and revoke your Hand Privileges.

Even the "You'll kill them with a spray of molten metal from the melted bullet!" thing doesn't actually track with what we see on-screen. At the climax of Revenge of the Sith, we see Obi-Wan and Vader fight in the middle of an active volcano. They get splashed with showers of lava a couple of times, and at the end of the fight, both of their clothes are scorched and burned from the embers. Obi-Wan continues to wear his charred robes throughout the rest of the movie. And he's fine. No lava burns. Neither of them actually gets hurt by the lava until Obi-Wan cuts Vader's limbs off and he can no longer move or protect himself, and even then, Vader survives getting burned to a crisp by being really fucking mad about it.

So yeah, it's nonsense. A dumb "Hurr, Jedi are so lame and my unproblematic genocidal warrior race could totally kill them super-easy" take written by Star Wars' own version of Ken Penders.

[mysticaltora8276]

Skirata they did ask. And in Legends some left the Order as Jedi as conscientious objectors and the Order respected that. Some left the Order all together and again that was respected. In canon they didn’t even get that chance to form a splinter group due to the freaking Senate. And what’s this about dissing freaking children?! Piss. Off. Skirata.

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Chapter 4

"Mereel was on Kamino. If Zey was heard to mutter that the Nulls were Skirata's private army, he wasn't entirely wrong."

You say that like it's a good thing.

"'I never said good-bye to the lads who didn't come back, that's all. I lost nine out of my batch.'

'But the last time you saw them, you left them feeling confident, respected, and loved. That's enough for any buir to achieve.'"

*narrows eyes* *with a remarkable amount of spite* I fucking doubt that calling them "wet-droids" made them feel loved. Just because you're constantly licking daddy's boots doesn't mean everyone else does.

Okay, that was going a little far. But everyone talking about this asshole like he's the ideal parent makes me want to throw something across the room. Hard. And repeatedly.

"'Have you met Sergeant Kal yet?'

'No.' Kal was always there for Darman, somewhere, even at times like this when she wanted to say so much to him.'

'Darman beamed, clearly delighted. 'Oh, you'll like him, General. You'll really like him.'

Etain certainly hoped so. And if she didn't, then she'd try, for Darman's sake."

*beaming smile* I'll just list things off, shall I?

"Even at times like this when she wanted to say so much to him." Etain, I want to say so much to him as well. It isn't what you want to say, though. It's a bit more...profane.

"You'll really like him." I've been getting a look into this man's mind for the past few chapters. I don't fucking like him. I actually prefer Walon Vau, since he's at least open about the fact that he's an asshole.

"And if she didn't, then she'd try, for Darman's sake." I could not try. It would end in an attempted strangulation.

"Vau was settled in one of the deeply upholstered hide chairs with the strill draped across his lap on its back, all six of its legs flopping in an undignified sprawl while he scratched its belly. Its huge fanged mouth was slack, tongue lolling, and a long skein of drool hung almost to the floor. Its body was a meter long, lengthened by a whip of a tail covered in more loose skin.

The strill was still prettier than Vau, though. The man had a long square-jawed face that was all bone and frown lines, and graying hair cut brutally short. Faces rarely lied about the soul within."

MIRD!!

PRECIOUS BABY!!

Oh, yeah, and its human servant. Great to see him too.

Who is the most adorable little killing machine?! It's you~

Mird, My Beloved: 1

"'The Jedi Council is pretty adept at turning blind eyes,' Skirata said. 'For an organization that knew it was taking on an army with an assassination capability, you do send out conflicting signals to simple soldiers like me.'

Vau was watching like a man being mildly amused by a holovid. The strill yawned with a thin, high-pitched whine."

Mird, My Beloved: 2

*sourly* I'm glad someone is amused by this.

"'We didn't even know we had an army until a year ago.'

'Maybe, but the fact that you're sitting here now with a general's rank means you've accepted responsibility for it. You could have objected, collectively or individually. You could have asked questions. But no. You picked up the blaster you found on the floor and you just fired it to defend yourself. Expedience ambushes you in the end.'"

*in the most fake nice way imaginable* Fuck. You.

Lemme just break this down a little...

"You could have objected, collectively or individually."

They did.

"You could have asked questions."

They did.

The problem isn't that the Jedi didn't try to find a way to object or that they didn't try to investigate. The problem is that the Separatists were actively attacking, the Senate wanted a war, and Palpatine had manipulated everything so they had no other choice. They took the role of Generals and Commanders because they felt that it was the best way to prevent excessive casualties and lessen suffering.

But, no. It's all the Jedi's fault. It isn't that they're a group that was not and never has been intended for a military position who have just been forced into this role. It isn't that they're trying to keep to their principles in the middle of a situation they are not meant for. It isn't that the chaos of the war made it so that trying to object or figure out what the hell was going on impossible.

In conclusion...

WHY DON'T YOU ASK JEDI WHAT THEY FEEL ABOUT THE SITUATION AND WHAT THEY DID? THEY'D TALK TO YOU. THEY'RE NICE, REASONABLE PEOPLE. I"M SURE THAT YOU'D LEARN A LOT MORE IF YOU HAD AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION INSTEAD OF RANTING ABOUT A GROUP OF PEOPLE YOU BARELY KNOW.

Jedi-Bashing: 7

"'Oh no, I'm just a civilian now,' Vau said. The strill rumbled. Vau, apparently distracted, fondled its ghastly, stinking head, his slightly narrowed eyes revealing a doting affection that he never seemed to spare for any other living creature."

I'm going to make this clear right now: I like Vau considerably more than Skirata. 80% of that affection comes from Mird.

Mird, My Beloved: 3

"'How far is too far, Kal? Can you answer that? How far did you go?' Vau called after him. 'I made that boy a warrior. Without me, he wouldn't be alive today.'

With him, Ordo thought, Atin very nearly wasn't."

Vau's training methods are a discussion for another time.

(I still prefer him to Skirata. Like I said, Vau's open about the fact that he's a bastard, unlike some people.)

"It was delightful to see the mix of armor -- yellow-striped commanders and pilots, plain white troopers, and the motley mix of commando colors -- drawn together in one ancient Mandalorian ritual, every face the same.

Etain felt adrift, excluded.

She had never truly felt this degree of bond with her Jedi clan. The connection in the Force was there, yes, but....no, the real strength here was attachment, passion, identity, meaning."

Attachment is not love. Attachment is not a good thing. Passion is not a good thing for a Jedi. I am explaining this in small words for the author's benefit.

Also, nice shit you just took on the Jedi's Youngling Clans.

(Don't fucking insult the Jedi Younglings. They're adorable and have done nothing wrong, ever.)

Given the fixation on (relatively nuclear and standard by sci-fi standards) families in this series, this really feels like a jab at the "fact" that *extremely mocking voice* ThE JedI DOn'T HAve FaMilIEs.

Jedi-Bashing: 9

That's it. I'm exhausted by this series' bullshit and it's only been one chapter. Thankfully, I have a vacation coming up where I can ignore these books and concentrate on actually good Star Wars content. Once I'm done decompressing, I'll be ranting about this again.

Jedi-Bashing: 9

Mando-Shilling: 1

It's a Man's World: 1

Shut the Fuck Up, Kal: 1

Deltas, Move Out: 4

Mird, My Beloved: 3

Is This The Bad Batch?: 2

Main Post

[mysticaltora8276]

Yeah, I know another republic commando rant. In other news water is wet. But something I was thinking about recently, and I just realized that one time I was having an argument with a person who tried to play off the use of “psycho“ as not a slur because that was “just what we were called back in the day and you know what that was OK back in the day.” Then I proceeded to ask them and say basically that supposedly was OK back in the day. Does that mean that we can use other insults that were OK back in the day that we have since decided we’re awful things to call people? That person didn’t really have an answer to that and proceeded to block me, which kind of told me that they didn’t have an argument back.

[lieutenant-teach]

I really dislike it when anti-Jedi and Jedi-critical crowd uses EU books as a prove for their points. Why they’re all wrong:

a) The books were written by various people who didn’t consult George Lucas about what they’re going to write. Everyone understood SW as they did. When an original author has never claimed such art as canon and actually refused it – this is a definition of fanfiction, isn’t it? Paid, yes, but fanfiction nonetheless.

b) Most of these books were created way before PT. They didn’t know about the Jedi things what we know now. It becomes quite hypocritical – I mean, in the EU the clones were enemies, not allies, but somehow I don’t see any claims ‘but the clones are enemies! The EU says so!’. Even in Karen Traviss books not all the clones have a personality, but we all ignore it now, aren’t we? She wrote her books before the TCW, not knowing how the series would spin the story. So EU retcon works for the clones, but not for the Jedi?