#big gun trooper gang rise up

[homemade-clones]

someone send help im too invested on this Dynamo drawing. Animating him will be way too fun

(also send help x2 i have no idea what kind of paint he would have on his armor)

[jupitermelichios]

What I’d change about Rise of Skywalker

To be clear, these are changes I’d make to the existing script, not what I would have written instead. We can all agree Sheev coming back was, at best, a bit dumb, I’m also fully aware that a lot of people disliked TLJ for a variety of reasons and wanted ros to retconn more stuff, but this is not an attempt to change any of that. I’m taking the basic structure of the movie and shifting stuff around to create something I think is tonally and thematically more in line with the overall trillogy.

Also i’m aware the extended universe is sort of canon-until-proven-otherwise at the moment but as far as i’m concered there was a DC style crisis and it’s now open season on worldbuilding elements

- Starting right at the very beginning, our opening crawl is now just about immortality being one of the secret sith powers Sheev kept hinting about in the prequels

- Our very first sequence in the movie is now a (short) montage of Sheev sending psychic messages to members of the First Order, telling them to join his secret sith club. It’s not just Kylo, this is a thing he’s just generally doing, Hux, Pryde, Kylo, random Storm Trooper number 7, they’re all getting this same message.

- Kylo buggers off to go murder Sheev, because Snoke never actually let him graduate (or whatever modern sith do) so he’s not actually a sith lord, but he’s like ah, new/old sith lord is in town, I go kill him and I get to take his title by right of conquest rule of one styley, and also take out a threat to my power base. Also in the one scene we see of him interacting with the first order it’s pretty clear he actually really fucking hates being in charge, so a mission to kill Sheev is looking super win-win

- The reason Exigor is sacred to the Sith now, the reason Palpatine’s able to communicate accross planets, and the reason he’s still alive (ish) are all the same - the planet “has a heart... oF KAIIIBURRRRRR!” (yes the line should be delivered exactly like that) that amplified force powers

- Instead of just being Ian McDermott in white facepaint, Sheev’s design draws heavily on Darth Nihilus or Darth Sion, his body is dead or maybe nonexistant depending on how gross they’re prepared to go. The point is, the answer to the question ‘how the fuck did he survive?’ should be essentially ‘he didn’t’; he’s a consiousness and a fuckton of willpower and not much else

- We establish a temple/cult in this universe that worships twin gods and are generally all about balance and shit coming in twos and they think force diads are sacred. I’m thinking someone at the temple has resistance information, and when Rey and Poe visit, Poe goes to talk to the contact while Rey meditates and sees Luke’s ghost who tells her how he and Leia came here together and about their belief system and how there are different ways of connecting to the force than just being a jedi, setting up the plot point of the diad, our theme of ‘the people we love are never really gone’, and also laying the groundwork for what’s going to be a second theme of building something new rather than repeating the mistakes of the past, by establishing the sith/jedi dichotomy isn’t the only possible path to take.

- Rose and Finn are bored and stuck on base while their friends are on this mission, so when they get a distress call from a minor First Order base they go off to investigate. They find Hux, who’s been ousted in a coup in favour of the First Order just straight up following Sheev after Kylo wondered off, who promises them information. At this base, Finn also sees some young storm trooper cadets.

- Back at the rebel base they all meet up and Hux (who they’ve taken prisoner) tells them about Sheev being back, which they didn’t know about because he’s only been speaking to bad guys.

- Leia is already dying, Rey is super upset about it and during an accidental mind share, Kylo finds out and tells her Sidious knows how to heal people by transferring life energy from one person to another. The healing thing is specifically a Sith power this go around. We get a moment pretty soon after during a mission where someone gets injured, probably Finn, and she figures out how to heal them based on the hints Kylo gave her

- Also this time Leia still isn’t a jedi but not because of a prophesy, it’s because she disagrees with their philosophy, which is going to be relevant later. We get a line to the effect that ‘Luke didn’t grow up surrounded by the legacy of the Jedi’s failings, I did’

- The weird knife thing isnt anymore, it’s just a hollicron now, and the whole bit with both Lando and Rey’s parents and the bonty hunter are removed to give us breathing room elsewhere, it’s just a more tradtional fetch quest now.

- In order to get the holicron translated, Poe’s like “you’re not going to like this, but I maybe know a guy from doing undercover missions”, and takes them to Black Sun to speak to Darth Maul, that’s right, Darth Maul is here now, and he helps them because his prosthetics are breaking down and Rose fixes them and saves his life. Also he’s pretty pissed at Sheev for getting him killed so he’s totally chill with them killing the guy.

- The Hollicron tells them that the last known map to Exigor was stored in the archives of the temple of Corisant.

- They go to the ruins of the temple, a place that is both nostaligic and also has actual character significance to kylo and ties into our theme of how the jedi and the sith are both a bit shit, and even though it makes more sense for it to have been cleaned up, it’s full of little baby skeletons from Anakin’s massacre, just for the drama of it

- Rey and Kylo fight, he taunts her again with the promise of healing Leia, but this time Rey uses their bond and her knowledge of how to talk to force ghosts to basically force Kylo’s third eye wide open so he’s hearing a hundred force ghosts all at one, stabs him while he’s distracted, heals him, and then she fucks off, leaving him to talk to the force ghost of Anakin, who tells him he’s a moron who’s falling for the same bullshit Sheev used on him

- Rey joins up with the others, but at the Rebel base Hux has managed to escape and shoots Leia (it’s dramatic and she dies saving someone but it’s not actually particularly plot relevant so imagine your own death scene of choice here), and obviously Rey feels it

- At this point the gang split up, Poe and Rose go back the the Rebels because they know they’ll be needed, Finn goes off to rescue the storm trooper kids he saw earlier (yeah I’m adding a subplot what’re you going to do about it), and Rey goes off to fight Palpatine

- In the temple, Leia appears to Kylo as a force ghost while he’s doing dramatic ‘i can’t go on’ kneeling pose and gives him a little pep talk and name drops the title

- Finn goes to the first order base, finds the kids, and the little ones are on board with escaping but then they run into some teenagers who actually have guns and it cuts away on a ‘will they turn him in?” cliffhanger

- Rey arrives in Sheev’s big cave thing, tries to fight him but he’s all ‘the jedi could not defeat me before, what makes you think they can now when you’re barely more than a padawan’ and force lightnings her a bit. They’re not related in this universe, he just wants to steal her lifeforce to heal himself more because she’s powerful

- Turns out that the First Order have been tracking Hux, so they know where the Rebel base is so there’s a big space battle going on, and the First Order don’t even have any fancy secret weapon but there’s a lot of them and there’s not enough Rebel ships left after TLJ. Poe’s up in the air flying even though he’s the boss now, and Rose is on the comms trying to contact allies

"This is the Rebellion, please. In the name of Leia Organa, we're calling you. Please, if there's anyone out there. For Leia Organa, for Luke Skywalker, for Amilyn Holdo, please…" and then when there's no response, in tears, she whispers, "For Rose Tico, please!"

There's a beat of silence, and then the radio crackles to life.

"Rose Tico calls for aid, and Black Sun will answer."

A moment later another, "Leia Organa calls for aid and Cloud City will answer."

and then a moment later, “The Rebellion calls for Aid and the Free Troopers will answer” and we cut to Finn in a stolen First Order ship full of the trooper cadets of all ages.

A makeshift amada joins the fight, same as in the original version, and rose and circular briad crown girl who’s also been trying to call for back up hug in celebration and have a very brief ‘oh wait maybe i’m into you’ moment

- Back on Exigor, Kylo arrives to find Rey on the floor, dying. He takes her hand and we see them as spirits, surrounded by the flickering memories of their lives, they’re seeing one another properly for the first time, and they ackoledge one another as twins via the force (personally i’d make them explicitly siblings, by force if not blood, here to carry on the proud star wars tradition of ambiguously incestuous twins, but that might not fly with disney execs in the the 21st century), and then he gives her his life force to heal her and his last words are a title drop again, mirroring what Leia said to him, because this movie is cheesy as hell

- "The power of the Jedi could have lived in you, as the power of the sith lives in me. But instead you threw it away, for what? For that pathetic little boy? He was no more a true sith than you are a true Jedi!"

"I don't need to be a Jedi. The force is with me, and I am with the force. You have the sith. I have all that was and is and will be!"

Behind her force ghosts begin to appear, but not just jedi. There is as many of the Skywalker clan as we can get (including some reused green screen footage of Carrie Fisher), and Rose's sister, and Han, and people visually implied to be Poe and Finn’s parents, and Holdo, and behind them hundreds of others. Basically if we can afford them, they’re cameoing here, alongside a load of extras. And last of all, standing beside her is Ben.They exchange a look, and then Rey strikes. Palatine tries to force lightning her but it doesn't work, and she presses her hands to his cloak, pulls the life force out if him. Thes a terrible screaming and we see glimpses of the other sith, before they dissipate and the robe falls to the ground.

And obviously the space battle also gets definitively won at the same time, this is movieland, I’m thinking Finn and Poe have to coordinate an attack that relies on Finn using the force is that vague ‘jedi’s are all amazing pilots’ way episodes 1 and 4 both used

Oh and then at the end they’re all celebrating back on the Rebel base, and Finn starts to hit on Rose and she’s like “I’m not the one you want to say that too, also you’re not my type” and smooches circular braid-crown girl who’s been in the background of all these movies with nothing to so

Finn joins Poe and Rey and they all hug in the same ambigiously-poly way they did in the original, and then Poe’s like “I’m sorry about Kylo” kind of awkward because he still hates the guy but he knows Rey doesn’t, and Rey’s like ‘I’m not, the people we love never really leave us’

and then the final scene, Rey is carrying Kylo’s lightsabre and lays Luke’s and Leia’s on the altar of the temple of the twins, and goes to ask the priests to tell her about their religion, with the implication that she’s starting to build her own new version of the jedi

(and if I was disney this would totally be the set up for a new animated series about Rey travelling around the galaxy meeting new weird alien cultures and learning about what cool force powers they have, and the knights of Ren can be the bad guys, and sometimes she’ll come and help Finn and Poe and Rose with trying to rebuild the galaxy. And then they have to take out Black Sun in season 2 and it’s all super dramatic because they were allies sort of and had cameos, and now rey and maul are forced to have super cool spider-legs lightsabre battles instead)

[n7inky-fanfics]

One Day at a Time

The destruction of the Reapers did not mean galactic peace. While the treaties Shepard had brokered during the war remain mostly intact, there is no shortage of pirates, criminals, gangs, and terroristic organizations bent on creating chaos and destruction. The Council began directing their Spectres towards overseeing and protecting reconstruction efforts and maintaining peace. Now that scientists are close to unlocking the key to repairing the mass relays, the galaxy has settled into unease. No one knows if crime will get better or worse with the relays back online. All factions are getting agitated, and more fighting is breaking out.

Sometimes, Kaidan pities the poor soul on the wrong end of Shepard's gun. More than once, he has heard all sorts of people shout something along the lines of "Oh shit, it's Shepard!" as they realized they were about to die. Shepard is a skilled soldier who dominates the battlefield with equal parts strength and grace. Fighting alongside her can be almost beautiful in an odd and violent sort of way, especially when she used her biotics. It took her almost a year of practice fighting on her military grade prosthetic leg, but she has now found that grace on the battlefield again. In the end, her skills and her career could not be taken by the Reaper War. The galaxy kept its greatest protector.

Today, they are both back on Mars, of all places, fighting a remnant of Cerberus that is attempting to steal more data from the archives. If intel is correct, their goal is to find weapons they can use "for the betterment of humanity", which is their way of saying anti-alien terrorism. Kaidan does have to admit that some part of him enjoys taking down pieces of Cerberus. After all the horrible things he's seen them do, including all that they have put Shepard through, he's glad to eliminate every last cell in the galaxy. It's a worthy career goal.

As the smoke clears, Shepard begins checking the bodies for data pads, hoping to find anything to indicate how many of them are at the archives and what their exact plans are. After all, if this was just an outdoor lookout team, there's bound to be more already inside. She freezes as she reads one of the data pads. Kaidan can barely see her face through her helmet, but her reaction to the data pad can't be good. "Shepard, what is it?"

She clears her throat and says calmly "It's not pertinent to the mission. Let's move on." She drops the data pad and continues towards the entrance. Kaidan trusts Shepard, but curiosity gets the better of him and he glances down at the data pad as he passes by. It currently displays the owner's profile. He can see an image that he guesses matches the body they found it on and a name. "Andrew Mason".

As they enter the archive, they happily find a distinct lack of civilian and scientist casualties. This time, intel learned of the plan early and decided to evacuate the scientists and ship in more soldiers. Unfortunately, Cerberus still puts up a good fight and many of the Alliance soldiers were injured or killed before the Spectres arrived (travel between systems takes more time now that the relays are gone). Shepard hops on to the nearest terminal and accesses the system logs. "Ah, here it is. Someone opened an archive five minutes ago. We can take the tram there."

"Perfect. Maybe this time we'll make it through without getting shot at." Immediately after making the joke, Kaidan winces at the realization that bringing up their last mission on Mars might not be a good idea. Sure, they've worked everything out, but it still could be a touchy subject. He was pretty cruel to her last time, before he almost died in front of her.

"Doubtful." Shepard laughs lightly as they board the tram.

They ride quietly for a moment before Kaidan asks "So, will I get to know who Andrew Mason is?"

"Maybe later. Now's not the time."

"Fair." Kaidan says. He smiles at her, hoping she can see it through the helmet. His is much more open and visually blocks less of the face. Shepard's preferred gear usually allows less visibility, but it also has fewer structural weak points. He noticed a change in her treatment of her armor not too long after he got back on the Normandy, but he's never said anything. Without asking, he already knows why Shepard chooses armor with the most reinforced environment system, and why she carefully and almost obsessively maintains it. He would, too, in her shoes.

He refocuses himself on the task at hand as they begin approaching their destination. They've almost made it when a Cerberus soldier begins firing at the car. They both take cover behind the wall and the dance begins yet again. As the car docks, Shepard throws up a barrier and runs out, shooting at several men in a row as she charges to cover. Kaidan focuses on the heavy trooper slowly approaching from a distance and Reaves. Together, they feed off each other's energy. The can move in sync, watching each other's sixes and supporting each other throughout the entire battle. Before long, the docking zone falls silent as the battle ends.

They take turns clearing doors until they finally get to the archive. They take cover on either side of the door. He opens it carefully, and Shepard immediately swings around to cover him with her pistol. The immediate entryway is surprisingly empty. Shepard gestures for him to follow, then slowly and quietly moves inside the room until they reach a sharp turn. She takes cover against the wall and peers around the corner, gun at the ready. As soon as she does, she is thrown backwards by a large biotic force. Her gun fires before she even hits the wall. Kaidan swings around and unleashes a singularity that pulls the target into the air. Shepard fires again, making several headshots that eventually pierce the armor and hit their mark.

"Thanks for the cover, Alenko." She says, her smile coming through in the sound of her voice. She pats him on the back and pushes further into the room, where the target had been collecting data onto a drive. She plugs the data into her omnitool and runs it through analysis softwares. Liara would be able to tell them more, but it appears that intel was correct. They had been here for advanced weapons blueprints. Shepard begins forwarding the information back to the Normandy, then turns to head back to the LZ. Kaidan follows her.

Getting back to the Normandy and conferencing with Admiral Hackett is no big deal. After the verbal debriefing, they retire to her cabin to write their mission reports. Kaidan's ship, the SSV London (named for the Battle of London that ended the Reaper War), is still getting it's final touches before he'll be able to take it out on a shakedown run, so he rode along with Shepard for this mission and their last several. As they settle into the couch with their tea and data pads, he can't help but smile. This is a good life, one he hadn't expected to attain. Every day, sometimes several times a day, he still finds himself thankful that they had found Shepard after the Crucible. When the Alliance had formally declared her missing in action, with the caveat that she was most likely dead, Kaidan refused to lay down and wait for them to declare her death. He contacted Hackett with an emergency QEC on the Normandy and told him that until they found a body, Shepard was to be considered alive and in need of assistance. They all owed that to her. Seeing her here and now, living her life with him, is something he is grateful for every day.

As Kaidan is putting the final touches on his report, Shepard sets her data pad on the table and walks to her shower, stripping off articles of clothing as she goes. He fumbles over the keyboard, leaving a line of text that reads "ghdhshgdg" as he watches her go. Knowing that he's watching, she calls "finish your report first, and then you can join me." He deletes the line of typos, hurriedly wraps up the report, and follows her for an enjoyable interlude.

Their activities eventually end with them cuddling in her bed. She lay with her head resting gently on his chest, her hand absentmindedly rubbing circles on through his chest hair. He has one arm around her back and gently brushing strokes down her upper arm. He can feel her back subtly rise and fall with her breath. They lay this way for a while before he feels a slight dampness on his chest, where her head is. "Hazel, are you okay?" he asks, looking down at her. Her face is buried in him. She stifles a sob, and he feels the shift in her breathing as she forces herself to cry silently. He wraps his arms around her tighter. "Sweetheart, whatever it is, I've got you." Slowly, she pulls herself back and looks at him. He reaches up to her and gently wipes the tears from her cheeks. She pulls herself into a sitting position against the headboard, and he follows so that they are sitting side by side.

She leans her head on his shoulder and quietly says "You asked about Andrew Mason?"

"Yeah. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I knew him... from before the Alliance." she ends the sentence at barely a whisper. Her shoulders tense and she looks down at the floor. "He was one of the younger kids in the Reds before I left." He gently reaches for her hand and takes it in his as she continues. "I heard he'd gotten out, that he'd joined the Alliance some time after my death. I had hoped he'd do well and go far, but it didn't work that way. I checked his records when we got back to the ship. His team got ambushed by some pirates about seven months before the Reapers invaded. He was discharged honorably for medical reasons, for PTSD. I guess that's when Cerberus got to him."

"Hazel, I'm so sorry." he says.

"The hell of it is that I can see myself in that kid. In what he came from, in his escape. What if I somehow influenced his decision to leave like that? How many kids joined after hearing fantastical stories about my life, only to be swooped up by Cerberus when the Alliance didn't live up to their expectations or to die in battle before they got the chance to reconsider?"

"Hey, stop that. It's not your fault, Hazel."

"How many people died because of me? Will continue to die because of me? Because I failed?" Her voice cracks and she lets out a shuddering breath.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Backup. Failed at what?"

"I couldn't save them all. I can never save them all."

"Hazel, stop. Look at me." He gently places his hand under her chin and guides her to look at him. "You are not responsible for every person in the galaxy. You've spent far too much of your life fighting galactic wars practically on your own. Enough is enough. We stopped the Reapers. Now, we just do what we can to make things a little better. One day at a time, okay?"

She nods and he pulls her into a tight embrace. "One day at a time." She sniffles.

[hail-the-supreme-leader-kylo-ren]

TROS TRAILER BREAKDOWN

Here’s a collection of thoughts/things I noticed in the Rise of Skywalker trailer.

We open with Rey ‘Jedi’ training, with the helmet and droid thingo which is a callback to Luke’s training with Obi-Wan: “Stretch out with your feelings!”. But since she’s dropped the helmet, looks like she’s surpassed what Obi-Wan taught Luke, or the training droid has gone crazy. 

This visually parallels the Force cracking the ground between Kylo and Rey on Starkiller Base at the end of TFA. Also Rey has the ‘red string of fate’ tied around her right-hand (which we also saw in the teaser, see below), so this is likely the same sequence of ‘Jedi’ training with Leia in the forest. ALSO related to the ‘string of fate’, there’s a damn rope there in shot running across the valley.

Cool shot, it brings to mind when we were first introduced to Rey, scavenging a Star Destroyer on Jakku in TFA. I’m certain this is the Death Star ruins, because she does have her bag on her, which we know she brings with her to the ruins from the teaser footage (see below), and that also explains why she’s wet! 

[Those last 2 shots are from the first teaser trailer] Note: Rey, Poe and Finn all have bags, and Poe has an injured his arm and has wrapped his scarf around the wound. 

Poe is making a speech to the Resistance, and note he has his left arm injury properly bandaged now (the wrappings are white).

Here’s a shot of the Resistance in a ship or hanger, and they look under attack as blaster fire shoots in the background. Most Resistance folks are running away, but (Dominic Monaghan), Connix, and Rose aren’t retreating but looking on at something horrible unfolding. Rose keeps moving towards what’s upsetting her (probs Finn being hurt less be honest), and it kind of looks like Dominic is calling “Rose” to get her attention and convince her to retreat to safety like everyone else. Also note that the orbaks riders are already there with the Resistance.

Here’s Finn, Poe, and Chewy and it looks like they’re in the same forest that Rey’s training in, so this is probably the Resistance’s new “headquarters/base”. Note that Poe has his injured arm wrapped up in his neck scarf he wore on Pasaana, so he hasn’t given his Resistance speech yet, and both Poe and Finn have their saddle bags.  

She is one angry bean! Also, note no bag. 

Kylo/Ben’s Darcy moment. #imdead

He looks SO sad and serious approaching her. 

He flips his lightsaber up and over slowly, so that the ‘blade’ is facing away from Rey, which to me looks like a “I don’t want to fight you” move. 

I have no idea what this iceberg floating in space is, but its visually EPIC. Note there’s some kind of ‘factory’ on the top left hand part, that is producing steam from lots of pipes. And there’s also some form of ~buildings~ underneath it too with steam also, but on the underside of the berg the structures are made up of cube forms. Is this perhaps where Palpatine’s headquarters is, secretly hidden in the Outer Rim?

Here is Palpatine’s throne, which has the newly created ‘Sith’ symbol on the back of the chair. Also note that there is blue flashing lightning happening in the background of this scene. 

Here are an Imperial Star Destroyer powering up and rising from the icy cold water. Is this on the ice-berg?? This explains where the Imperial fleet came from that we saw in the teaser trailer. There is also blue flashing lightning happening in the background of this too.

I don’t read/view any other SW materials besides the films, so I don’t recognise any these ships except the Falcon but this is obviously the Resistance’s fleet ready and assembled to fight Palpatine’s Imperial Fleet/The First Order.

This is Rey in her bloat/ship going on solo to the Death Star ruins.

Note Rey’s look of concern/disbelief in the background, at what Babu Frik is doing to C-3PO’s memories/system. 

That looks like a droid or person in shiny armour on the right, that captures BB-8′s and Dio’s attention in Babu Frik’s workshop. 

So the gang is in Babu Frik’s workshop all wearing big ass jackets, and Zorii Bliss is there so this obviously take’s place on Kijimi. And Poe is still wearing his scarf, which likely means that they haven’t visited Pasaana yet and he hasn’t been injured yet. 

They cut to this shot, bit this is not Babu Frik’s workshop, this is likely at the Resistance base as you can see the Resistance members in the background are in their beige uniforms, and those rebels/resistance green map/screens are visible too. 

Same with this shot, it’s not the same scene as the workshop. Poe isn’t wearing his scarf and jacket.

Finn, Poe and Chewie are on board a First Order ship. Note the lighting panels look very similar to the ones in the Empire magazine photo of Kylo in the FO hanger (see below). Poe does not have an injured arm, and both him and Poe have their saddle bags on. 

On Pasaana, during the speeder chase, BB-8 cuts into a cylinder of something that leaks yellow dangerous stuff. Also I think Chewie is in the background, so BB-8 is on his speeder.

Rey is then seen throwing it at the following Storm Troopers that are trailing her on another speeder, and the two Jet Troopers in the air. 

Meanwhile on the other speeder, Finn C-3PO and Poe seem to be having a successful time against the Troopers. Note Poe is wearing his scarf, Finn has his saddle bag on, and C-3PO seems okay he’s cheering like Finn.

This ship that is shooting at the First Order X-Wings and Star Destroyer looks very much like the Resistance Y-Wing seen in the lego that has the characters of Poe and Zorii, so one of them could be piloting this. 

Here we see an epic shot of BB-8, Finn, and Jannah leading her people on their orbaks on the side of ... a Star Destroyer?? Note the blue lightning happening in the background and the Imperial Fleet in the sky behind them. 

This is the Emperor’s throne room in the Death Star ruins, so this happens likely before their watery fight outside. Rey still looks pretty angry, with her saber lit, but Kylo/Ben is giving super patient vibes with no saber lit. HE WANTS TO SORT THIS SHIT OUT.

Here’s Finn, with Jannah behind him on the similar Death Star ruins we’ve seen Rey and Kylo fighting on. Looks like Finn is yelling “REY!!!!”, maybe he’s watching their fight ensue. Or maybe she’s being captured again, mirroring TFA. He’s still got his bag on.

Here’s Rey and Kylo destroying (on purpose or accident?) the stand that holds the charred Vader mask. Note Rey has a dagger in her left hand, and it looks to me like Kylo is reaching out with the force for the Vader mask with his left hand. Are the fighting over it, or both wanting to destroy it?

Here Finn and Poe and C-3PO all look very serious, Poe has his gun out. We can assume this is Pasaana because of he’s wearing his scarf, and the cave’s colour/texture looks very much like the rocky formations of Pasaana (see below). The blue light cast over Finn on the left is likely coming from Rey’s lightsaber. This looks to be from the same scene as the image that was shown at D23 (see below). Also Rey, Finn, and Poe all have their bags on them!

Here we get a true sense of how big this epic last star “war” really is. Again there’s more blue lightning in the background. (I don’t understand the science behind how the resistance members are breathing right now, maybe the ships are very low and still within a planet’s atmosphere?) Also I’m not a ship guru, but are they riding on a FO ship? What ever ship it is, it seems to be an ally ship, as not in the same formation as Palps’ Imperial fleet. 

Cue more trademark Palpatine blue lightning flashes. Ben looks SO cut up. He’s also very dirty which reminds me of this D23 photo of him (see below) where he also looks pretty miserable. He definitely looks like he’s stepping up to face something epic (probably Palpatine or Dark Rey) to help save Rey/the day.

Then we get Rey facing Palpatine, and he seems to be in an apparatus that is keeping him alive/helping him hover/stand/whatever he’s doing while he’s intimidating her. She looks so smol. There’s some runes carved on the floor. Also, there’s more blue lightning happening.

Then lastly, we get this shot of Rey, with more blue lightning action. This shot is a little eerie, with the lightsaber reflecting in her iris making her look almost like an AI robot. But then faintly she smiles and it seems genuine.

[thecomicsnexus]

EXCALIBUR #1-2 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1988 BY CHRIS CLAREMONT, ALAN DAVIS, PAUL NEARY AND GLYNIS OLIVER

SYNOPSIS (FROM MARVEL DATABASE)

In a deserted factory complex near Loch Daemon in the Scottish Highlands, Tweedledope plays around with a small metallic gadget. He fills it with various stuff such as beans, trash and metal and misuses it as a cocktail shaker. When his eyes fall on a wanted poster of the Crazy Gang, he suddenly looses interest in his toy and throws it away. The metallic object opens its eyes and comes to live - it is Widget.

In the meanwhile, Excalibur and the police encounter a hostage situation in London. While Dai Thomas is reluctant to send in young girls like Kitty Pryde or Rachel Summers, Captain Britain reassures him that Excalibur will handle the situation. In the meantime, Kitty and Rachel talk to police officer Ray Mulholland on the rooftop of the building, impressing him with their mutant powers.

The two women then phase through the roof to check out the hostage situation while Mulholland is attacked by a warwolf who kills him and strips him from his skin.

Kitty and Rachel move into a storage room adjacent to the larger room where some hostage-takers hold about 20 people as hostages. Kitty phases her face through the wall, telepathically reporting details about the layout of the room. Suddenly, Rachel suffers a seizure and looses her consciousness - exactly in the same moment as Ray Mulholland gets killed by the warwolf. Her scream alarms the hostage-takers and they search the storage room for any intruders, discovering the unconscious body of Rachel and dragging her into the main room. Kitty utilizes a white blanket to dress up as a ghost and phases through the main room ceiling, howling and threatening the confused hostage-takers. One of the men shoots at her with a pump gun but doesn't hit her due to her phased status.

Alarmed by the shot, Captain Britain, who waited on the outside, decides to storm the building. Rachel, suddenly awakened, releases the Phoenix and disarms the hostage takers, rendering them unconscious by smashing them against a wall. When Captain Britain enters the scene, Kitty and Rachel already dealt with the situation. Merchant Banker Nigel Frobisher approaches Rachel and offers her to "express his gratitude more privately" - an offer which disgusts Rachel. She is still confused about her seizure and tells her teammates that she felt a despairing psychic scream of a person who seems to be entirely erased from existence without even leaving a mind trace.

Back in Merlin Mews, Rachel feels the same sensation again when Jacko Petrie is killed and skinned by a warwolf disguised as police officer Ray Mulholland.

One night later in Merlin Mews, Kitty mourns over the pictures of the X-Men and her friend Doug Ramsey who are supposed to be dead after the Mutant Massacre. She remembers some of the fiercest enemies she and the X-Men opposed over the years and is interrupted by Captain Britain who tries to cheer her up. He invites her to join her on a trip into town, but she refuses because she is working on a secret device she calls the "Doppelgänger Module".

On the west coast of England, Meggan and Nightcrawler fly to Brian Braddock's lighthouse. Meggan suggests that Excalibur could use it as a secret Headquarter and shows Nighcrawler around in a kind of sightseeing tour. He is impressed by the location. While Meggan makes some tea in the kitchen, he encounters a strange vision in a storage room where he is attacked by alien species. In the nick of time, he teleports out of the room and back into the kitchen, but when he wants to show Meggan what he just saw, the storage room is empty.

In London, Rachel accompanies Captain Britain to Fraser's Bank at Thameside where she is approached by Nigel Frobisher again. She is distracted by a telepathic message from Meggan and Kurt, announcing that they will return to London tonight, and Frasier uses this moment to touch her. Rachel pushes him away with her Phoenix power, watched by an amused Captain Britain. He is startled by the entrance of a blonde woman he immediately recognizes as Courtney Ross, his former girlfriend, who is now the vice president of the bank. They sit down and talk about old times.

In Merlin Mews, Kitty finishes her Doppelgänger Module which will allow her to mask herself as Phoenix by sending out her unique energy pattern. She dresses as Phoenix as well, somewhat uncomfortable with the skintight suit and the high heels, and moves out into the streets of London, planning to draw the warwolves' attention. The warwolves want to capture Phoenix in order to take her back to Mojo, so she hopes they will be lured to her. Meggan and Nightcrawler return to the Mansion, not aware of her departure. Nightcrawler is taking a bath and startled by Meggan who fixed him a mug of hot chocolade.

Returning from the bath, Nightcrawler discovers Kitty's invention in Captain Britains lab. He is immediately alarmed and telephatically calls Rachel, who is currently visiting the Shakespeare Company in London. She leaves the theater and starts searching for Kitty who just met police officer Mulholland and some companions. Mulholland mistakes her for Rachel Summers and he and his companions reveal that they are warwolves. Kitty phases when the first warwolf strikes her, but then her powers get scrambled and she cannot phase back from solid state. The warwolves capture her and drag her away. Phoenix, Meggan, Captain Britain and Nightcrawler appear at the scene, but they cannot stop the warwolves from abducting Kitty. Together they decide that they must rescue her teammate before the enemies turn her into a warwolf.

In a deserted factory complex near Loch Daemon in the Scottish Highlands, Colin McCay plays "tag" with Widget. The boy is hiding from Vixen who payed a lot of money to get the orphaned boy into custody. Vixen's armed troopers search the facility and try to lure the hungry boy with Fish'n Chips. Eventually, they surround the child, but before capturing him, Widget opens a dimensional portal and Colin happily disappears. The soldiers return to Vixen with empty hands.

In the meanwhile, in the London Underground, the Warwolves appear at Hob's End Station, together with the captured Kitty Pryde. They steal some more skins, push a woman onto the rails and disappear into a dark tunnel. The woman's life is threatened by an approaching underground railway, but Captain Britain manages to save her in the nick of time while Rachel stops the train with her telekinetic powers. The civilians celebrate the super heroes, but when Nightcrawler appears at the scene, they get afraid and panic because of his demonic appearance. Eventually, the police enters the station and tries to sort things out. Captain Britan demands that the police officers inform Scotland Yard special agent Dai Thomas, who will vouch for Excalibur. Excalibur is inhibited from following the warwolves into the tunnels until the situation is sorted out. Nightcrawler notices that one police officer shows a very odd behavior - he is smiling to himself and seems to be very amused. The mutant secretly follows him into a tunnel. There he is ambushed by the policeman who turns out to be a warwolf. Nightcrawler is captured and taken into their secret underground headquarter.

In the meantime, Kitty Pryde's kidnappers reach the headquarter. Some warwolves are waiting for new skins and are provided with the latest stolen bodies. One warwolf tries to steal Kitty's skin, but after finishing the procedure, only the skintight Rachel suit is left - no sign of Kitty's body. The other warwolves mock their colleague who becomes quite depressed about the fact that he is the only one without a proper human skin. In the same moment as Kitty's life is at stake, Rachel Summers feels her pain due to their PSI link. She changes into her Phoenix form, leaves the subway station by tearing a big hole into the ceiling, and flies away. The police demands that Captain Britain will pay for the destruction of public property.

In Fraser's Bank, Thamesside, Nigel Frobisher is amusing himself with his secretary when he sees the Phoenix in the sky. He immediately looses his interest in the woman and decides that he and Phoenix are meant for each other. Courtney Ross, who is sitting in her office, reflects about her time with Brian Braddock while watching the Phoenix rising.

Rachel telepathically reports to Captain Britain and Meggan that Nightcrawler was attacked. The two leave the subway station and run into the tunnel in order to find the secret headquarter of the warwolves. In the headquarter, the warwolf who just tried to skin Kitty Pryde, shows a very odd behavior. Another warwolf, carrying the captured Nightcrawler on his back, enters the headquarter and offers him to take the mutant's body instead. The skinless warwolf is disgusted by Wagner's appearance, but his companions force him to take the body without complaint. While trying to suck out Nightcrawler's life, the warwolf suddenly starts beating his comrades and then begins to grow long hair. Soon all warwolves begin to melee with each other while Nightcrawler uses this situation for an escape attempt. He is captured by one of the warwolves, but then Captain Britain and Meggan enter the headquarter and save him from being skinned. Together they defeat all warwolves and capture the one with the long hair who shows a strong resemblance to Kitty. Meggan is confused because her scent is a mix of warwolf and Kitty, but suddenly two human hands open the warwolves mouth from the inside and Kitty Pryde fights her way out of the alien's body. She phased into her opponents body when he tried to kill and skin her while Rachel helped her to keep her conciousness cohesive. From the inside Kitty could control the warwolves' actions and used him to fight the other warwolves.

Excalibur is clueless about what to do with the captured warwolves - they are aliens and can't be arrested or put on trial. Eventually, Exalibur donates the Warwolves to the London Zoo.

REVIEW

While X-Men spin-offs were a plague in the nineties, it is easy to forget they started well. New Mutants, Excalibur and X-Factor were very different from each other.

In this case, we start right were the special left. We get new long arcs and new short ones. The Warwolves look humanoid. I think putting them in a zoo is not a good idea (they could easily escape and blend in).

Apart from that, some story elements are dragging, I assume for good reasons, but make the pace slower. If you are a new reader, there are plenty of support characters that were introduced before the series, and even main ones, that you may not know about. So I don’t think it is new-reader-friendly. I do think that despite that, the story can be understood.

The art looks amazing, it’s classic Davis + Neary.

I give the story a score of 7.

[politicalstash]

Members if campground dvd selection on one shelf lol

Movies 3 pack- Dodgeball, Me,Myself and Irene, There's Something About Mary 4 pack- Mo'Nique I Coulda Been Your Cellmate, Katt Williams 9 Lives, Bruce Almighty Losin It, Tony Roberts Wired 5 pack- Edge of Darkness, Conspiracy Theory, We Were Soliders, Payback 4 pack- Robocop, The Terminator, Red Dawn, Road House. 4 pack- Miami Vice, Jarhead, The Kingdom, Ray 4 pack- Casino, Carlito's Way, Mobsters, Carlito's Way Rise to Power 4 pack- GoodFellas, The Departed, The Aviator, Mean Streets 3 pack- BraveHeart, Gladiator, Hercules 8 pack- Knockout, Valley of Angels, Bloodrayne, Lords of the Street, American Breakdown, Garrison, Extracted, After The Dark 8 pack- The Code, On The Edge, Dead Heist, King Of The Adventure, Way of War, Sacrifice, Elephant White, Act of Vengeance 4 pack- Office Space, Mrs. Doubtfire, My Cousin Vinny, Super Troopers, 4 pack- Midnight Cowboy, The Usual Suspects, Thelma and Louise, Platoon 3 pack- Patriot Games, Eagle Eye, Echelon Conspiracy 4 pack- The A-Team, A Good Day To Die Hard, Unstoppable, Man on Fire 4 pack- Trouble with the Curve, Gran Torino, J. Edgar, Invictus 2 pack- Little Man, White Chicks 4 pack- Which Way Is Up, Brewster's Millions, Carwash, Bustin' Loose 4 pack- Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison 2 pack- The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider 5 pack- Trading Places, Dream Girls, 48 HRS, The Golden Child, Another 48 HRS 3 pack- Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine 3 pack- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Austin Powers In GoldMember 3 pack- Revenge Of The Nerds, Revenge Of The Nerds ll, Revenge Of The Nerds lll 3 pack- Legion, Priest, Gabriel 3 pack- Animal House, Dazed And Confused, Fast Times At Ridgemont High 4 pack- Me, Myself, And Irene, Super Troopers, The Girl Next Door, Grandma's Boy 2 pack- P.S. I Love You, The Lake House 2 pack- Kevin Hart Laugh At My Pain, Kevin Hart Seriously Funny 4 pack- Act of Valor, Limitless, Machine Gun Preacher, Paranoia 3 pack- Gamer, The Next Three Days, Setup Forest Gump Special Collector's Edition Pablo Escobar The ATV Movie Destroyer Librium World Surf Inspiration 3x Hypnotic Ocean Journey Accepted Ace Ventura Pet Detective Ace Ventura When Nature Calls Anger Management Alex Cross All About Steve Gabriel Iglesias Aloha Fluffy Anchorman Aviator Alien Outpost 2x A Knights Tale American Hustle Armageddon Armored The A Team Alice in Wonderland Avengers AVP Alien vs. Predators AVP Requiem Bad Boys Bad Teacher Barber Shop 2: Back in Business Batman Begins Battleship Beastly Because I Said So Bedtime Stories Benchwarmers 3 pack- Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop ll, Beverly Hills Cop lll The Big Lebowski Collector's Edition Big Top Pee Wee Biker Boys Bill Cosby... Far from finished Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure Little Black Book 4 pack- Blade, Blade ll, Blade: Trinity, Blade: House of Chthon Blades of Glory The Blind Side Blow Bowfinger Blue Collar Comedy Tour The Body Guard The Boondock Saints ll: Saints All Day The Bounty Hunter The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Ultimatum Boys Don't Cry Braveheart Brian Regan Standing Up Bad Words Brother Grimm Bride Wars Bruce Almighty Blast The Bucket List Camp Rock 2 Captain America: The Winter Solider Captain America: The First Avenger Cars 3x Click 3x Chuck and Larry Center Stage Charlotte's Web Coach Carter Cliffhanger Cold Mountain Collateral Con Air Casper Catch and Release The Condemned Coraline Couples Retreat Cowboys and Aliens Coyote Ugly Crank Chicken Little Crank 2: High Voltage Crazy Beautiful The Crucible Dance Flick Dane Cook Vicious Circle The Dark Knight Rises Dark Shadows Platinum Comedy Series Dave Chappelle Dawn Of The Dead Dear John Death Race 3: Inferno Death Race 2 Definitely, Maybe Descent 2 The Dilemma Dirty Dancing Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights Django Unchained Dolphin Tale Doom Doomsday The Davinci Dead in Tombstone Dodgeball Domino Due Date Double Jeopardy DrillBit Taylor Finding Dory Drumline End Of Days The Dukes of Hazzard Easy A Envy Eragon Escape Eternal Sunshine Everybody's Fine The Expendables The Expendables 2 Facing the Giants The Family 2x Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Fight Club Fire With Fire 50 First Dates 2 pack- Footloose, Flash Dance Forrest Gump Free Willy Freedom Writers Friday the 13th From Hell 2x Four Brothers Four Christmases Fun With Dick And Jane Gabriel Iglesias Stand-Up Revolution Green Lantern The Gambler George Carlin: It's Bad For Ya And Life Is Worth Losin Get Hard Grease: Rockin Rydell Edition Get Rich or Die Tryin' Ghost Ghostbusters Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Ghost Rider 2x G.I. 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Joe: Retaliation Gladiator GoodFellas 13 Going On 30 Goldmember A Good Day To Die Hard The Goonies 3x The Green Mile Gridiron Gang How The Grinch Stole Christmas Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn 2x Hancock The Hangover The Hangover Part ll Hansel and Gretel Harold and Kumar: Go To White Castle Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets The Heat Hellboy Hellboy ll: The Golden Army Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy High School Musical 2 High School Musical 3 3x Hitch Hitman Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 2x The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Hulk The Incredible Hulk The Hurt Locker Identity Thief The Illusionist Immortals Inception Independence Day Inglorious Basterds Insurgent The Internship Into The Blue Invincible Idle Hands I, Robot Iron Man The Island Jack Frost Jack Reacher Jeff Dunham Spark Of Insanity Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special Jeff Dunham Minding The Monsters Jennifer's Body Johnson Family Vacation Joyful Noise Jumper Just Go With It Just Married Just Like Heaven From Justin To Kelly Katt Williams: Pimpadelic Killer Eliter Killers 2x King Kong Kingsman: The Secret Service Kingdom of Heaven Knockaround Guys Kung Fu Hustle Kiss The Girls Kung Fu Panda Ladies 49 Land Of The Dead The Last Castle The Last Dragon The Last Stand Looper Legally Blonde 2 Lemony Snicket's: A Series Of Unfortunate Events Let's Go To Prison Liar Liar The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Life Of Pi The Longest Yard Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers 2x Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring Lost In Space 2x Man On Fire Madea's Big Happy Family Madea's Witness Protection Madea Goes To Jail Madea's Family Reunion 3x Matrix Reloaded Maggie The Magnificent 7 Martian Child Max Mad Max Major Payne 2 pack- MIB, MIB II Mario Bros MIB Michael Clayton Michael Jackson: History: The King Of Pop Mr Deeds Mask Meet The Fockers Meet The Parents Men Of Honor Michael Jackson Number Ones Michael Jackson Mr 3000 Mrs Doubtfire Miss Congeniality Mortdecai Monster Monster's Bail Monster-In-Law The Monuments Men 2 pack- Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat Annihilation My Super Ex Girlfriend Napoleon Dynamite National Treasure Neighbors 2x Never Back Down My Baby's Daddy Never Been Kissed The Nice Guy Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb Night at the Museum Margaret Cho: Notorious C.H.O The Notebook The Nut Job O'Brother, Where Art Thou? 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I Love You Pulp Fiction Mo'Nique Phat Girlz 2 pack- The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy The Pursuit of Happyness Real Steel Redline Rush Hour 2 Red 2 Remember the Titans 3 pack- Pitch Black, The Chronicles Of Riddick, The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury Rise of the Planet of the Apes Robin Hood Prince of Thieves The Rock Rocky ll Rocky Balboa Ron White A Little Unprofessional The Rookie Rounders The Rum Diary Saving Private Ryan Sabotage 2x The Sandlot School of Rock The Shawshank Redemption Snitch Scott Pilgrim Silent House Shaun of the Dead Sherlock Holmes She's the Man Step Up Revolution Snow White and The Huntsman The Social Network She's all that Soul plane Scooby Doo Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Shallow Hall Son in Law Song One Sorority Row Spider-Man 2x Spider-Man 2 3x Spider-Man 3 Space Jam Spy Stand and Deliver Starship Troopers Star Wars: The Force Awakens Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Stuck on You Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street Taken Taken 2 Taken 3 This is 40 The Ringer The Croods Thor Tomb Raider The Time Machine The Time Traveler's Wife Toneloc T.V. 2 Tombstone Total Recall The Exorcist Trading Places Training Day Transformers Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Transformers: Dark of the Moon The Bucket List The Eye Transformers Beginners Troy Directors Cut Two for the Money The Man From U.N.C.L.E True Grit UFC: Best of 2012 Unforgiven Unknown Uptown Girls Unfinished Business Van Helsing The Vow Warm Bodies The Wedding Date The Wedding Planner The Wedding Singer A Walk to Remember Walking Tall Wanted The Waterboy War Dogs We Bought a Zoo Where the Wild Things Are Kevin Hart What Now While You Were Sleeping White Chicks The Whole Nine Yards Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit Wild Card Wild Hogs Wings of Life The World's End World War ll X-Men Origins: Wolverine The Last Stand 40 Year Old Virgin Zombieland Zookeeper Zoolander 2 Guns 8 Mile