#but also villainize anakin for… also being mad and upset about this???

[indigostars]

feel like i’m kicking the hornet nest but i do think anakin was right in being angry and betrayed about obi-wan faking his death

[shrinkthisviolet]

I feel like a good chunk of people would like Lucy Kenobi because she's a well rounded female character, especially during the original trilogy when we...really don't see a lot of significant female characters, but there'd also be plenty who'd hate her because of the fact she argues with Luke- or even just general sexism because I remember so-called fans not liking Rey at all (the term Mary Sue got thrown around a lot) so they wouldn't like this female Jedi either. And you've mentioned that Lucy's pretty uncompromising when it comes to people who threaten her family, takes quite a while to forgive anyone who does even if the circumstances aren't clear cut, so she'd probably get stick for that too, be seen as heartless when she really isn't.

YESSSS absolutely—I think she’d be loved, especially since Leia is, and she has a lineage of the Force in Anakin…but she’d definitely get the Mary Sue accusations flung at her.

This would especially happen she’s more connected to the Force than Luke is—I t’s instinctual to her from early on to reach for it in small ways, due to knowing about it and what it means, whereas Luke doesn’t know such a connection exists until they’re 19. Also…sometimes people are just naturally more gifted in certain aspects of a skill—Anakin wasn’t good at meditation, Obi-Wan was—which is true for Lucy.

However, certain fans would still call her a Mary Sue for this—maybe less so, since she does struggle with lightsaber combat more than Luke does (having to retrain from saberstaff to single-bladed lightsaber is an adjustment), but like you said, Rey did get the designation thrown around a lot, even when her skills were explained 💀 so who’s to say

They might also be mad that Lucy is fully-trained before Luke and finishes his training…that’s explained too (tbh more than Rey’s sudden ability to best Luke at the end of TLJ and then take on Praetorian Guards), and there are plenty of fans who clamor for Leia to be trained as a Jedi, but…even then, I feel like Lucy being the first fully-trained Skywalker would definitely piss some fans off, even tho the reason why that happens is fully explained in the AU (as much as fans claim to like Leia, I doubt it would’ve gone over well if she’d somehow gotten fully trained during the trilogy before Luke 😂)

And yeah, her arguing with Luke would get her hated on too. How dare she argue with the main male sunshine boy character! She should never do that! If she upsets him, she’s a villain and is clearly manipulating him!

(I think I’ve seen this film before 💀)

As for your last point, YEP absolutely. Fandom doesn’t like nice female characters feeling any kind of emotion except joy, and especially not any degree of stubbornness/ruthlessness (even in defense of loved ones)—especially since, unlike Leia, this doesn’t get toned down in ROTJ (something I didn’t even notice until a Tumblr post pointed it out). It would get Lucy labeled “frigid/stuck-up” among other things

(I can think of a certain upcoming event on that note that would really make fans hate Lucy if she were canon…)

Now mind you, these things are more likely to get her hated on non-Tumblr fandom. Here, the fandom tends to be more generous towards Star Wars characters…mostly, anyway (*cough* Tumblr opinion of the Jedi is way more polarizing than it ought to be). So she’d be pretty popular here I think

how would fandom treat my OCs (any of them) if they were canon?

[winter-tospring]

Anakin is the best character, the confidence, the boldness, he's everything and only 9! Poor kid of course has dreams but he also only has his mom, and this random dude takes him away, then that council is like "yo if you're afraid because your mom's not here anymore, get over yourself kid, or you'll become evil" 💀💀💀 freaking assholes??? I don't know, maybe being a child slave and then taken away by a stranger to train as a knight away from his only family member and be told to not be afraid or to have anger in him might make him go mad a bit?? At least quite upset and traumatized?? They're just creating what they're saying he should control, off, he's just a kid. At least Qui-Gon was warm towards him and seemed understanding?? Though he did take him to literal battle and then tell him to stay put IN THE ROOM where the battle was happening. This kid is amazing. I mean, poor thing, but he's amazing. Love him with R2-D2. I wish they'd showed Darth Vader reuniting with him.

Padmé was great too, the decoy thing was fun to observe, cause I knew about it beforehand, but it still wondered sometimes if it was Natalie or Keira. I liked her persistance and that she fights when she needs too. Also her outfits slap.

Obi-Wan is the true villain of this whole story I think. He was jealous of Anakin getting Qui-Gon's attention so he eventually sliced his legs. They're already showing us his penchant for slicing people, with Darth Maul. I hated his hair, too, augh, what the hell is this padawan shit he has to go through, that's just more fuel to the fire for his villain origin story. I expected to see more of him, but I guess in the next movie. He was pretty good at sword fighting!

Qui-Gon was better though. The chillest guy so far, no matter the circumstances. He was the coolest to watch fight. I would love him if he had come and freed the slaves like Anakin knew he should do. He could have at least said he was gonna try. Did cringe at the short speeches about the force and how it would guide them and to just trust it like it's god. Ohhh, they made Anakin sound so much like Jesus, like seriously, his mom "just carried him"?? 😂😂 He is the chosen one and unique etc... The religious speak is uncomfortable if not laughable, aah

I'm looking forward to the next one and to see Anakin and Padmé team up.

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars          Escape from Kadavo

Well this is certainly a      scene change and one that doesn’t really make sense,

   I mean I thought it was a Camp of Holding for slaves

     Where they got transported to different places on the island to do     slave labor, per         hap        -s

   Now there’s apparently a lava pit under it,

            How?

  That

    -doesn’t make any sense

    Also wtf,

   Coal, metal

Since when was   refinery really this place’s MO      (Like this is really starting to feel like they got the        Mandalorian           And           This        Set         -ting        s       Switch           ed,)

      Not to say they can’t be a     coal/mining industry,  

      Just, that the setting should    reflect it,

     From we saw there was nothing to indicate this was anything but        an ar       chai          c      Soc-either

     With no flues        Or fu    -mes

     To indicate   that they were burn        Ing combustibles,

   Honestly some kind of stalactites   mine,

     Or someplace where they       dig for      “valuables,”            -like      prized st-          one for         Jew           elery-          Would          make         more        sense-       -        Anyway, I’m getting.      way too        focus        -ed          on          the        se-          tt         -        Ing-      - Again Rex is    just straight up chilling,     This is      n’t       his first rodeo with abusers,

  Ok, seriously what was up with the    Wil       -h         el          m,?

     (Like I don’t honestly see anything          steep enough to fall off)

   You could say      it was a whip but we haven’t seen any        Of       That,      Ye      t-

  I don’t get the    screaming-

  Also that   dude just attacked him out of nowhere,

  Like   could we have gone    establishment of that?

   Like,

  What was even his ber-zerk        butt-        on       there?

   Dude was doing his job

  Like if it was a faster thing you kind of have to establish that before hand      -        Also then the environment, the ma      jor      ity,       Would be working at a   breakneck speed,      With a sense of anxiety,       In the       air,

    Then,     the whip,

  He-     was?

  (Like that was just        plain - pointless

     Not even an emotional reaction

     Like that told us absolutely nothing about the setting      and character

    The mate didn’t even have a reaction

    It’s one random guy that just decided to hit      someone else-

   Like that’s not even calculated never mind       systematic,

    Also I like how Rex like yeah      I wouldn’t know anything about that,        feck’in             Jedi             -

      Also       “Effect?”

      Not really more like 

     “ Dave’s having a real rough day and I really don’t want to talk to              (In that               state)

          Like they didn’t wince.

         There was no antici             pation-

          No                  anxiety,

            Like no signs of this is had a           permanent          psychologically            damaging              affect

(Note all toxic behavior is           harmful,               The difference here is             Between                The intensity of the        in-dentation,

            It can get pretty       bad

            And enabling        tox can have serious effects                 (Pretty                   bad)

              (Requiring a lot more time   to undo)

               From;            Dave is really an    asshole,

                 To                           I am really an    asshole,

                  To                    The world is really an   asshole (And Dave is the       savior-)

   (Apologies to anyone who’s chosen name is          Dave or similar vernacular,               It’s not out of any Mala-    cian-              Just the first identi          fication I could think of,

          And tox-    ic logic is really not something you wanna enable,

         Again what the Frick?

(This is really not an   or-ganic way to      introduce        your       rules

Like, “oh yeah    speech is for-bidden,       Have a nice        day,”

 Like      you   think   dude-

Like you were pretty damn path     -etic     abu       ser-        (s)         -    (Sla       vers)       Wow,

   There was no emotions or anything     -be      cause the set up was so poor,

  W-        h      -a         t

    Again the emotion    is non existence,

  Also what the fuck     happened to Rex over there?     -      

When did he      go down?

 (Like don’t    get me wrong   I saw a flash in the corner?)

  But why       him?

   [also did the scenery just completely changed because he was on the far end of Ken-        Obi with something in between

      Some thing they were       shoveling the stuff on?

     That’s just       gone in this shot]

  [Also,           From a narra-         tive,     standpoint wouldn’t it have made more sense and been a more engaging concept,          If the guy had threat          -ene             d-            The clone          in Obi- wan’s              stead,             Seeing as of the     republic’s version of slavery,

      Rex pos          s-             ib          ly

     Reflec-         ting on the          (Other           Species?)

And    contrasted with them,

   On how much    Obi-Wan views him as a possession,

   (Or his reaction to the people under him getting hot          ,and why)

   Allo-      wing for more heart, 

     “I’m            sorry,”

        “No              Wors              e-               Than               The            Kamino               -ins,”

       Rex’s         Sub             Cat;

        Seeing the people he was trained (and order-ed) to protect              Harm                 -ed                   -                    Much like the people (under him) were harmed during the Kamooin.   s-

  Groom          -ing,                  ?]

      Any      -way,  

    Again,     and what was the emotion?       -         M-aster

  Rex must be like,         Kar-           ma

     If he’s   not,

    [Never mind      he isn’t asleep      just one frame     made it look weird?]

   Ai-       gh -t

  Oh yeah seriously check up on that one guy instead of you know the person under the command,

    Also;       

 What The fuck?

    IS THAT GOOGLY EYES?

    What the feck,

     What is with that       expression-

     What is with that              facial-

   (Seriously someone tell me what      emotions this is supposed to por-     tray!

    What?

    Also yeah 

  they completely waltz.       -ed     past the ab-        us         -er.        Be-         Ing        -         Con-          fron         ted-              by         the       Con-        Seq-        Uen        Ce        (s)          Of       their      actions,

  It’s not pointed out that Obi-Wan totally caused this by (not)-    listen-ing,        To dude’s        initiative      to stay out of it

(Or, what he did to Cody        Rex,       and basically         all the clones,)

(And what could’ve been a good moral about negative effects of “Pos-       itive  over-       invo        lv           e-       Ment-            )

   so I am slightly big mad

         Not com-   -pletely

          But I’m      get-ting          th-ere

   Drinking         my        slightly       bitter       ju-ice-

   Gett    -ing         pr-etty          salty

     Which is odd since I normally don’t criticize      aesthetic differences

              Like                    This-       -

   The problem is it isn’t the aesthetic       that I have a problem with,        (You want to have a Obi-Wan show more compassion to the slave of similar generation then to Rex?

    (That’s per-fect-ly fine and could even show how he values his job and  Mission over someone he is actually wound-        ed-)

     However that’s not it-

        (It doesn’t             even do that)

   My problem with it is that it shows no        emotion

   No emphasis

   No moral

   It’s - empty               -          Watching this scene,     there is absolutely nothing I get out of it,

       Also wow that was a        quick turnaround,

Like seriously     it generally takes longer      for that kind of behavior to be indented,

  This is literally the only Jedi       he’s seen be there

       One time

         This is barely scraping        logic,          And            even             then,                not              really            requiring-              pre-knowledge                  of the emotions               and general plot               (before                       hand)

   I know that I should feel bad for the        slave because         slav-ery is a bad thing           And any real person would be          pretty upset it/             Suffer for the toxic environment,

         Note; it’s not from the               medium

         I didn’t gain that                 knowledge             from the medium

(In which the chara-       cters      actions and emotions,         Make me        conclude,       “oh wow,         slavery is a real         bad thing!”

   No the characters are wooden puppets          with no emotion,

          Going from;                Point a to point B

      Nothing to connect them              (No preamble)

         No emotions

         No motive(s)

       ‘why is Obi-Wan doing what he’s doing?’

         ‘I don’t know’

                    (And I honestly don’t think the wr-     iters did either)

       And no damn interest

        Barely scraping        logic..

   ‘Why is Obi-wan      doing what he’s doing,’

     ‘Because he has the rescue the slaves,’

    ‘ why does he have to rescue the slaves,?’

      ‘ because you have to rescue slaves,’

        It’s literally circular

   Rely- ing completely on the cookie   cu-    tter,

    Resulting in it being as flat as a cookie when      rolled over by a rolling pin,

         Where                It             should;                Be;

    “ why does Obi-Wan want to rescue the slaves?”

        “Because of his dedication to his moral compass/ because of his dedication to his generation/ non-      clone- ena         blers,/      (Whatever        you want           to put            there)

           (Hey that was almost emotion from   ,Rex)

         (We’re      2:29      Min      Ut        es        In,        And I’m already        salty about the episode refusal to be         fun,

     -

   That’s nice        exposition      *Palpatine*.       Sidious,

     Tra-        dition           (S);

    Mill-

  That’s literally all I      -heard-

      -(I assume they’re saying             “millions,”)

         Which would actually be neat if we got to see some you know human soldiers on the Darkside to counterbalance the whole do you know clone troopers, contrasting the dark side’ s more ethical but none the less toxic practices,

    To the light side’s-          Gen Break-

      De-       fiance?

   (I think you mean that other Zygerian’s death because we have literally not seen the queen act even remotely rebellious,

   Yeah she      con-     templates possibly free-        ing them,

   But we haven’t seen her openly communicate with either of these 2 to inform them

   And she still wants to keep     Anakin,

  So she at least     has one Jedi,

   With the others possibly be blamed on a       -prison break-

      And literally nothing that we’ve seen       com-municating the concept of open - rebel-      lion

   Or any of the connection between      her    and the separatist,

   Again seriously        how am I     supposed to feel about that             (Also the one person that gives even the slightest bit of emotion and it’s the villain,)

    Like I’m surprise’d       Dooku’s surprised by that

   (Er-)

    O-k

   Whe-lp 

   (Also, now there         are flues).           (Don’t recall        seeing them                last time,)

        Or just sticks with gold          on them

 (I am very        con-        fused,)

This seems pretty different

And totally safe

  (Also wasn’t the castle       blue?)

  But I’m not against it because it could work with the       symbolism of wild,       Or just.          Wor      -k                 (I know I’m being way too hop-   - eful but I try,

      Re-        hash-

     Easy-

   So why is there no other emotion 

   And why do you look like a         caveman,

    (Eyebrows    constantly furr-        Ow-        ed)

    Also what was with the      pro-nunciation and        emotion?

    Bare,

   Also literally no     one else is paying attention to that guy?        ?

‘ he also doesn’t   cause me to have any emotions’

  Like seriously I know that it’s a cat person but you still have to show some sentient emotion here

   If there’s no emotion,        there’s no risk,

   (Part of   sent- ience)

   Att-        end,

   Again that’s not the cha-    llenge I think they were trying to make it out to be;              (Un-accountabili-          ty)    Aka         What it would work best as;

          Remix;

    “ I’ll would never turn away from a challenge,” Anakin said snarkily,

      The queen se-           duct              iv             el-              y

          Taking his light saber,                -                that works better;

           -                   Ser-iously                       -                       Um-                       No,  

(Last time someone fall from a height that      high, they died,)

   (You have to play by        your       own      rules,             )

    Wha-

    Also again wh        -at-

   Sky -walker

  When          ?-

   -

   Would be nice if you ever         feckin showed it,

       (Seriously the concept of Obi-Wan having to come to terms at least temporary that his Over-involvement has      hurt people is an interesting concept,”

     Also bullshit      that you know that

      (Pretty)

   (You’re all enabled and you haven’t spent any time around     Obi-Wan)

   (That’s a stupid plan            and the animation really doesn’t help,)

       Zy-ger

       Perm     -     R-       i-,

Oh yeah so no reserves,     about using the term,             “master”      After this     schism            ?            -         Y-eah           -         How?           -           W-at

 [The emotions are off the roof and I have no idea 

    with the scale of escalation

   W-at]

   Lesh          -       Li- fe

    You did-            n’t?             -              Emo            tion-

        ?

      Wh-at?

      Who        called-        the       guards?

   Seriously if this is such a constantly abusive (tox) relationship than how do they not know,

     (Unless the previous guards got killed and these          are the         newbies,)

    Because you don’t act like it all don’t have any of the characteristics generally associated with constantly rein-forc       -ed toxicity,         Show-       ed no emotion including     (anxiety and anticipation)         In that previous           fight,

 As well as no negative    con-    seq-    uen      ce          s for your behavior             -               Even now your voice is just     “ oh I’m     dyi-ng-            -,’.                 .        

Meep,

 [Something        happened 

   not a Tumblr refresh,

       Gist;

  There’s absolutely no emotion in the scene and the fact that she just dies after that being the threat is just kind of cheap,

  [and the fact that she had absolutely no expression            (Or emotion)     during that entire fight                  Not showing any of the general signs             -               Just no)

    And that expression is a weird way way to end

   The scene.       not the movie that still going,          (Un-fortunate-         ly)

   Uh, why             Off to you obviously evil factory,       land,”

    Kick,

   Hey     isn’t it that minor antagonist    that hasn’t showed up since the last episode?       . . .       Why?         . . .       And he included       the clone        why?

    (Oh yeah I want the      Jedi Knight         Obi-Wan          Kenobi,          And especially the to my knowledge           (default)             clone.

       -  

       And Rex who is honestly a lot more intimidating,

  K-i

  [Again this is supposed really be about.     Ken-obi but I’m really focusing on     Rex,]

    Wh-        at-        -

   How?!

    They were on a        bug?

    I-

   Ok-

  Sorry my memory     gave out for a moment at the whole     Anakin durp face thing         -       -

 W-h

  W-

Wood

   Again, how is he supposed to do that?

    -       Ter-         -        I-l

   Sl-av          es

   So Ahsoka goes to rescue the slaves while An-a      kin,    stays here and carves a hole,

   En-ough

   No emotion!

   Oh,     I thought he meant         Ah         -soka         -          Oh so yeah let’s bring a warship into what seems to have been         intended as a stealth mission,

      Screw                    Fitt              Ing                Re                Action-

And-

   W-

      .

How   did that change the fact that they have the button that can kill all the    slaves,

    (It didn’t)

Obi-won just apparently stopped giving a       fr-ick         -

  Ray-

   Well then they were impossible to   take out,

 F-a         -           S-l

   But only the         Tyger-ian        (Apologies for any misspelling          I mean Ahsoka’s            kind,)

      “He           -at,”

        “Cut,”

         Ge-n-

         Rex did more than Obi-wan,

          Also yeah     completely forgot about that,

        Also he said               kill,

         [Not further         im-prison,”         ]

       Rex had some      rage-

      Also you’d think that be Obi-Wan       considering how much he’s gotten       ,screwed with         This entire          ,time              -           Wh,at 

      Wh            -y              -

          -

Wh        -y          -     H-ere         -               How is Rex still fighting      guys?         -       Also thanks a lot Obi-Wan      you useless      piece of shit,

   [Again, would         n’t it make           sense?            .)

      W-ell

      -           You just came into a door        just hop them - over-                                -                             Lan      d-

                      Wait,                            How did you just get in, there                     though,

                     .                        Co-                    vert                          -                            ?

O-Kay,     new character,

 W-h

 -

(Also oh no they gave      plo another fleet  

      Great      )

     Ser-iously,   what     where are these guys coming from?        ,     You’ve literally been allowed this dude to heck around the entire time while Rex did all the hard work

La-me,

 Also seriously where was all that                    -  ,coming from-                     -                Wh    at-

Where   was the   emotion?       -      Hey that had no meaning, symbolism      or emotion behind it -       whatsoever,

    I

    ?

       A-i

         -            W-h              -             -           -            Whelp, was completely boring

    Covenants of a good,                  fun story;  

       - Set;  Excessive in instances that don’t directly affect the story’s           up,    cohesivity

       -Tone; Is appropriate

       -Emotions; And appropriate, and consistent and manage to keep a consistent tone,

             (Un-nessary,                        Typically switch-ed for a        more logical tone,                        In works of                      non-fiction,

                  Though may be in both,                        So long as note                        is given,)

        This            film            (Movie      -      Gets absolutely none of it right except the basics for a         good story

      It’s        co -         hesive-          But damn           boring         and empty,

Story         -      Re-write.          -            (I needed something fun after watching that       boring documentary,)

     So let’s       get into it,            -                   (May          feature            episode             -overlap)

   Obi-Wan emerges from the carrier,              With R           -ex,

    (Obi-Wan possibly sub- con-ciously           mov              -ing                  In              Fron                 -t                        Of                    Rex-)

         [Or              Cody]

             The                  minor              antagonist                welcome(s)                 them;                   Obi-wan trading some banter with him                      -                     It                being part of a plan to get captured,

              Unfortunately somethings went ar-ray and instead of              Cody being the back up plan; he got taken with him

               The minor antagonist                                   -               quickly cuts the chatter                                 -                                     By having the guard                               (S-                         bring Cody forward, introducing him as                                                           Obi-Wan’s                                                               Slave

           Giving a veiled threat of                “ would be a shame if something happened to such a                    ,pretty specimen,”

                  Obi-Wan getting   def-ensive,

                      The atag,      Com   menting,       “ Pretty protective,           Of your toy,            Aren’t              You,”

      Before         having           them thrown            somewhere,

         Next time,        we see them they’re getting e-           scor-            ted-             for gem            Min-            Ing,

         (Possibly some black humor from the vil               -ains-                about how people                 will pay,                     “An arm                  or leg

*Pos-sibly        yours,

                For                      the                      stuff,’           

            On the way there one of the guards notices Rex    (Cody)’s                                                                                     ey-ing the place.                                                                                          warning him                                                                                          That,                                                                                           ‘He’s                                                                                        not                                                                                 the only                                                                                     one                                                                                    under                                                                                 ob                                                                            -servation)

                                                                             Possibly                                                                               causing                                                                              a wincing                                                                            or anxious                                                                           reaction                                                                             from                                                                             them                                                                                  .   (I would generally  encourage flashbacks to be        able to - show the emotion          em-          ot            ion,)

      (Under-stand               what is going inside their            head,)

         But for now            I’ll stick           with           the example            given by the show         which is no flashbacks,     The      guard        making        it clear what will happen

Shock-     -Ing-

  The clone       (Eith          er)           Ha-ving       a bad reaction         to this,

     Knee       jerkingly      reaching            out,

     The guard       grabbing him         and         holding him    back -            -           Forced into a      distressing circumstance of         fa            il           -in            g-         The           Miss-         -ion             -

                                                                                             Those two are                                                                                     pretty much out of the action                                                                                for the rest of the episode being                                                                   stuck

                                                  Obi-Wan can’t do anything without hurting Cody                                                       Cody can’t do anything without hurting                                                                         the slaves                                                                               -                                                                              Most of their part is                                                                               contrasting                                                                            the condition,

Most of the     action is with      Ahsoka,        Who talks down that  dweeb         (Maybe someone near-er          to her age)                     And they go break      Obi-Wan out so he can back up, Anakin

    In the Dooku fight,

               The most consistent and                       clear char-                        -acter                          Being                              Q                             -ueen,                              Being a     slaver-

   If         it’s         Ana-       Kin,

          Anakin having to begrudgingly put up with this        slaver’s nonsense

         Be-grudgingly

      - Her talking about how life is slavery     and him just not...

          Then                  Dooku                 Shows                      Up,

   (The whole transition between the mine scene and the Anakin- slaver scene,        Being a cut from the sparks in a mine           To the jewel on her finger              With extra focus       being put on the jewels,

        Possibly all done with all of them              Zy-              gar-ian                (Or of all        the planets that         she’s taking people from-  

      Zygarian            Heir               loom)

          A black stone          (in the middle of her chest)               By a pendant                 (Generally                   implied to be by                 Count Dooku)

    Toxic        court-ing           implied,

              Count Dooku                   announces                a surprise visit,

               The Queen is pleased                    but nervous                       (Hands                         behind -back)

                  “I-”

              Putting        a wine glass down behind it,

                     Dooku is immediately aggressive

        The queen            offering                Anakin as a consolation prize

       As the youngest and newest to the-ir possible              rank,

        Dook-u snark                  Ing,

          Dooku threaten                -ing  to kill

          The queen having issue with that whole main characterization being the collector of rare things

          (Possibly a reflect-                Ion  about the no speaking rule)

             More likely Dooku dismissing her con-           cerns just saying that he can always get her a new one,

            “The Queen possibly wincing at a raised hand                  - if we want to go for indications of                  physical tox-’

          Poss-ibly a conversation about why she put up with           him

        “He treats me well”

        Focus on the necklace and pendent to             - contrast with the choking necklace-

          Possibly a poison               Sub-line

                -                     If you want                    to go there,                       -                    But focusing on Ahsoka,              they broke those guys out,

                 Ahsoka finding a heartbroken                         Jedi,                       Explaining that their res       -pect     ive  clone friend,        Has given up on them

   Ahsoka finding that person,

   Who manages to explain that he can’t        move either-

    To be cut off by the guards      who has really had enough of         every-      thing-

   Decided - screw it if pain isn’t going to make you stop and then might as well put them in a life or death situation,

    Add-ing time on the clock         (Or at least a new var-         iable-)

   Ahsoka possibly     does a whole speech thing          (Since seriously         we’ve seen none of her involvement or even care about         her own         spe-cies)          Via dem            on-          Strat           Ion-

      (Very likely leading to a            riot situation,)

     As they didn’t plan on the           Tagroatians (?)             Rebell              ing due to                crush                  -ed                 spirits,

     That happens                  -           Those two re-         unite and go to fi-ght                Dooku

        (I never.       really cared for the        Zy-            ger-             Ian           queen,)

         If she lives in then,    she’s grateful for them driving off Dooku,          Allows them to get off with the slaves,

      (Necklace might have information            might not,)

   *Honestly I felt it made more sense for        Anakin to be the one in the mine;             The Zy-          garian queen, and Obi         -Wan hav-          ing boomer ban             -ter,              With Obi-Wan a lot more           aware of that stuff,               (Show-ing               worldliness       by identifying the stones)             While Anakin compares       the circumstance to the one that he used to live in,              And the one he enabled Rex living in,           While Ahsoka,    could team up with a          Zy-ger-Ian round              her age,               Possibly some conversations about           enabling-           May-be Ahsoka talking about getting a clone         command of her own-            (If we want the clone commanders to be a constantly          featured theme                here)               Boomer                 Bait,               Busting Anakin out of the            mine,                Obi-Wan getting hidden behind a             cur-tain,                     And going to heck over Dooku,                   (Slaves recovered-)

           Both the Zy-                Gar-                  Ian-                    (And a flirtatious                promise to return                      By                       Obi-wan, )                       [contrast                        Mandalorian]                    Gets                         Free-                        Dom-                        -                         End-                         -

[kylo-but-not-to-me-ren]

Thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker

Just a disclaimer that this post contains TROS spoilers 

Hi there, it’s me again sharing my views on the latest Star Wars as a Reylo, fan and former film student (the latter may show at some point but it’s mostly a fan view). 

I had pretty high expectations for this movie and I was not not happy leaving the screening, but I had some things that I thought would go down differently so here’s what I think. 

Rey

I really like how organic Rey and Kylo’s connection and intimacy is portrayed in The Last Jedi, and J.J. expanded a bit on that which I think it’s very nice (and apparently they can teleport things via ForceSkype now which is an interesting take but I understand the reasoning). 

One thing that I didn’t really like is that Rey is a Palpatine. I’ve seen one theory on this and it makes sense now, yet I was a great supporter of the theory that Rey was really a nobody, that she came from nothing like Kylo said. She could’ve been just like Anakin who didn’t have either Jedi nor Sith ancestors. 

On a more positive note, Rey’s conflict with herself is an ongoing theme in this trilogy and I believe it was really well developed and has come to a satisfying conclusion. I felt like she was a bit lost in the beginning and I thought it was going to be an issue later on but thankfully it got better before it was too late. 

Also Rey is so goddamn powerful and strong with the Force I love her so much.

When Rey and Kylo are battling in the old Death Star and she stabs him with his own lightsaber but then she feels Leia’s gone and immediately realises what she has done and without second thought she kneels to heal Ben crying. My heart exploded I felt so many things at once I can’t explain. 

“I wanted to take your hand. Ben’s hand.” hsdcsgfyufgyufgeryfcgeif i died. 

The ForceSkype teleporting feature I ALMOST FAINTED BECAUSE I GENUINELY THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO KILL BEN INSTEAD OF PAPLS WHEN THEY EXCHANGED LOOKS I WAS SO RELIEVED AND HAPPY WHEN SHE GAVE HIM ANI’S BLUE LIGHTSABER. 

DARK REY WITH HER DOUBLE RED LIGHTSABER. 

THAT YELLOW LIGHTSABER. I WANT IT. NOW. 

Also maybe that “I am all the Jedi” line is a nudge to Avengers: Endgame? (*cof* hi Disney *cof*) 

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo 

Next up is ma boi Kylo Ben, who has been my favourite character this whole trilogy and hell Adam Driver portrayed him so wonderfully. In TLJ he grew so much as a character, not only as a villain but a person who went through a lot, has an abusive master and is constantly being haunted by the guilt of killing his father. 

To start this off, I want to talk about those first scenes. OH MY GOD KYLO TAKING ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN THE FOREST IN SLOW MOTION AND HIS SOLO JOURNEY TO EXEGOL. After that I got mad at Palps when one of his first lines was “I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head” because it means Ben has been manipulated his whole life and didn’t really have a choice other than turn to the dark side. 

Kylo’s arc is by far my favourite and in my (completely biased) opinion the best written one. When he’s introduced in TFA, he’s a promise of a new Vader but he’s not quite there yet. Kylo has conflict inside him, a spark of light still, and to put out that spark once and for all he’s instructed by his master to kill Han Solo, but as we’ve seen it has “split his spirit to the bone”, to quote Snoke. 

Later on in TLJ when the ForceSkype starts we begin to see more of Kylo’s vulnerable side, specially when Rey is talking to him in the hut. Kylo takes his fcking glove off to take Rey’s hand and that’s when Reylo became canon and you can’t change my mind. 

Fast forward to TROS, Kylo is already the Supreme Leader and he’s as strong as Rey (but most likely more skilled because he had extensive training while Rey had only a few lessons and read some books?) and they are Force Dyads which makes them absurdly powerful together. 

One thing I noticed is that every time Rey and Kylo claim to have seen the future both of them are always on the same side, either Dark or Light, but always together. They’ve never mentioned a future where they are apart and/or on different sides. *all the Reylo feels*

Then when both are battling in the old Death Star and Rey stabs him but heals him shortly after and Ben is ready to let Kylo Ren die to become Ben Solo again is brilliant. And that dialog with Han made me shed a tear or two. (a random side note is that I got a tiny bit upset when he threw his lightsaber away because his lightsaber is so cool and I just got one myself but I absolutely understand the need to get rid of it). 

I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN MY BABY BEN SOLO BURST INTO PALPATINE’S CHAMBERS (?) WITH ONLY A BLASTER AND LOOKED SO GOOD. Also I almost cried when he took the blue saber and beat the shit out of the Knights of Ren. 

LITERALLY THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. 

BEN HUGGING REY’S BODY RIGHT BEFORE RESURRECTING HER. 

“Ben”

THE KISS. THAT SMILE.

BEN SOLO DESERVED BETTER. 

And yes, I believe Ben Solo isn’t truly dead and Rey can help him come back and they can live happily like they deserve to be. 

Thank you Adam Driver for being the highlight of this movie (and dare I say, trilogy) and bless us with amazing acting. 

Poe Dameron 

I love Poe, he’s great and I loved that they gave him more screen time and I get they were trying to build another trio like in the OT but maybe making Poe, who was already a great pilot like Han also be a former (spice) smuggler is a bit much? We could use new characters and it’s okay if you wanna recycle the idea but please don’t make them identical. 

Another very important point is why do you need to make up a female love interest for Poe when there’s clearly one already? During the whole movie I felt a sexual tension between Finn and Poe just not to have them together in the end, I was very disappointed. MAKE STORMPILOT CANON YOU COWARDS. 

Finn 

To be honest, Finn is not one of my favourite characters and I believe it’s mostly due to poor writing. Finn is a great character and had so much potential being a deserter of the First Order but his arc wasn’t so well developed in the trilogy as a whole and one of the arcs I least enjoyed in TLJ was Finn and Rose’s adventure in Canto Bight. It all felt like a distraction even though they were doing something seemingly important but failed at the end. 

In TROS, Finn finds a group of other Stormtrooper deserters and I thought maybe it’d push his storyline forward but not so much. I was a bit disappointed but there were also lots of other things happening that I didn’t pay much attention to Finn, one of the reasons being that I already didn’t care much about him before so now it was kind of meh. 

I said it before and I’ll say it again, MAKE STORMPILOT CANON. 

A positive thing on Finn is that now they explored how Finn is Force-sensitive and now he finally realised he doesn’t need to run away and is willing to fight. 

Rose Tico

As I’ve mentioned before, her arc with Finn wasn’t my favourite in TLJ but that’s okay because you can’t make everyone happy all the time, yet I saw many people complaining about her character and even Kelly was attacked that she left social media. And now there were so many complaints that they decided to basically ignore Rose and she’s in like three scenes. 

I don’t think they even gave a plausible explanation why Rose couldn’t come along with Finn, Poe and Rey other than the fans didn’t like her character and they were trying to recreate the original trio. 

General Hux

Well, to be honest I was almost certain he would die at some point but killing him off like that? He deserved a bit of dignity. But his scenes were funny, which I’m not sure if it’s good or bad because he’s a First Order general so... he’s supposed to be more serious, I guess? 

As weird as it is, I kinda get his motives for being the spy, to see Kylo Ren fall so he could ascend to the Supreme Leader position, but things didn’t work out but at least we got a bit of that Kylux tension, right? *sigh* 

Knights of Ren 

One of my great disappointments of this movie.

They didn’t say a word, were only referred as murderers (not sure about the word exactly but it was something like that), had a couple of fight scenes and died. I wish they made an appearance in TLJ but they were only mentioned in Rey’s vision and Snoke mentioned them once but that was it.

They had some really impressive costumes and weapons, though. 

Overall a great movie, lots of nostalgia, would recommend.

So there it is, my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker after watching it for the first time. Please feel free to share your thoughts as well and let’s talk :)

[jadejedi]

So You Hate The Last Jedi

Part One- Theme   Part Two- Luke    Part Three- Rey     Part Four- Finn

Part One- Intro and Themes

So, you hated The Last Jedi. I know that this is a hot take in most corners of the Star Wars fandom here at tumblr.com, but The Last Jedi is my second favorite Star Wars movie of all time, easily, behind Empire. I know a LOT of people disagree with me, especially among hard-core Star Wars fans, and I understand. I really do. I actually hated The Last Jedi when it first came out. I hated it for a good year or so, until I heard some convincing arguments that made me want to rewatch it, and after that viewing, I appreciated it more. And honestly, the more I rewatched it, the more I loved it. 

I realize that this movie is more than two years old at this point, but I still see a lot of hate for it here, and that makes me sad :( So, I wanted to talk about it. 

I know that the sequel trilogy isn’t super popular with most prequel fans, but I hope that if you are a prequel trilogy fan, you will hear me out, because I personally find a lot of closure for the saga as a whole, especially the prequel trilogy, in The Last Jedi, and think it does a lot to tie the saga together. 

And If you’re a fan of The Force Awakens, but hated TLJ, I hope you’ll hear me out because I was you, for a long time. I couldn’t even think of this movie without my blood boiling. But now I see it as a great continuation of the characters that we first fell in love with TFA. 

Okay, let’s strap in. 

While there are perfectly valid reasons to dislike and criticize TLJ, such as the pacing, for example, I do take some issue with a lot of the criticisms I see of this movie.

 Some of these things have been covered to varying extents by the videos that convinced me to do a rewatch, and some I haven’t really seen discussed, so I want to just write out some of my thoughts. This could honestly be a really, really long post, so instead I’m going to split it up into five parts. 

A couple of things before I start: 

First off: here are the videos that originally made me reevaluate my opinion: 

Shaun’s “A Defense of The Last Jedi”

Jenny Nicholson’s “Top Ten Worst Reasons You Hated The Last Jedi”

And this one, which I only watched recently, but also adds to the discussion:

Just Write’s “The Last Jedi and the 7 Basic Questions of Narrative Drama”

And secondly: 

I am not going to defend every single criticism I’ve ever seen levied against this movie, because honestly, I don’t care. If you didn’t like this movie because of the choreography of the Throne Room fight scene, or because you think the Holdo manuver is stupid, or you’re mad that Snoke wasn’t Darth Plagueis, then I don’t think I will be able to change your mind. 

Here are the main criticisms I want to deal with: 

1. Luke’s character was treated horribly. Luke would never try and kill his nephew, not when it was his love that saved and redeemed his father. Having him run off and hide on a deserted planet, cut off from the Force, and drinking green milk from an alien sea cow is a disservice to his character. 

2. It’s stupid that Rey’s parents are nobodies (I’m going to pretend that TRoS doesn’t exist because it clearly doesn’t reflect Johnson’s intentions, therefore isn’t relevant to my argument). She should be a ______ (Skywalker, Kenobi, reincarnated Anakin, Palpatine, etc). 

3. Finn’s character arc was pointless, the whole Canto Bight storyline was useless because it didn’t accomplish anything and why was he stuck with Rose the whole movie and split up from Rey/Poe?? Also, his character arc is literally just a rehash from TFA????

4. Why did the movie portray Poe as a too cocky flyboy? Why didn’t Holdo just tell him the plan? 

I’m not going to discuss Kylo Ren, because I think Shaun and Jenny’s videos both do a great job of discussing this and I have nothing to add. Same thing for anyone who thinks that Rey is a Mary Sue. It has been discussed at length by many people, and does not need to be echoed by myself.

With that out of the way, we can get into the first topic: theme.

In order to properly address these criticisms, we first need to have a discussion of the themes of The Last Jedi. Most of these questions listed above can be answered by the theme, which is all but stated outright several times, first by Finn, and then by Yoda. 

After the Canto Bight chase scene (a scene I admit is a ‘fill up your popcorn’ scene), Finn states, in response to Rose telling him that they’re trapped, “It was worth it, though. To tear up that town, make ‘em hurt.”

And when Yoda’s Force Ghost appears to Luke, he says, “Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, mm, but weakness, folly, failure, also, yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher failure is.”

These are basically the two most important lines of the movie. If you get anything from The Last Jedi, it should be these two lines, as they summarize the theme. I would say the theme of TLJ can best be summed up as, “Failure is not always a bad thing; through failure we can learn from our mistakes, and there is hope that can be taken from that.”

That is why the movie’s main villain and our protagonist’s main antagonist, Kylo Ren, says something along the lines of ‘let go of the past’. He doesn’t learn from his mistakes. As Shaun says in his video, he kills his father in The Force Awakens and is emotionally crippled because of it, but then in The Last Jedi, he fails because he once again tries to kill his other main father figure, rather than learning from his mistakes. 

And that is why Canto Bight exists. Or at least one of the two main reasons. Canto Bight doesn’t do a lot for the plot, but it does a ton for the theme. The whole point is that good things can come out of failure, that sometimes it is the things you learn along the way that are important. 

Why does Luke try to kill Ben? Because of the theme. Now, that doesn’t mean it was a good decision for his character, I’m leaving that for part two, but that is why. And why Poe is so cocky, and why Rey believes that she can turn Kylo, even when all evidence points otherwise. 

While this theme of failure is the main theme of The Last Jedi, it is not the only theme. I would say that there are two smaller, yet still significant ideas running through this movie. The first is one that reeeeeaaaaaallllllllly pisses off some of the more dudebro elements of the fandom, specifically the idea of how men listen to women. 

In The Last Jedi, there are three main male hero characters, Finn, Poe, and Luke, and all three of them have conflicts that involve disagreeing with a woman. Now, first of all, I am NOT saying that these three male characters are sexist, or that Rian Johnson thinks that they are, or even wrote them to be. To me, this message wasn’t so much for the characters, as for the audience. He didn’t write three men being wrong about a woman to say, “hey look Finn, Poe, and Luke are all bad and sexist’, he wrote them this way to say, especially to the very dudebros who took offense to some parts of this movie, “hey, look, sometimes women will challenge you. It’s up to you to listen to them and take them seriously.” And hey, love that for us. 

While a large part of the Star Wars Fandom is some amount of progressive, a very vocal part of the fanbase is decidedly not. I appreciate, in fact that Rian Johnson was able to put in this message *without* making Finn, Poe, and Luke look sexist, as I like to think sexism is fairly rare in the world of Star Wars. The reason that these characters disagreed with Rey or Holdo or Rose wasn’t because they are women, but the reason that some male fans are so upset about it is. I think just seeing these male characters learn important, valuable lessons from these female characters is really great, and really not what I would have expected from this movie.

The second smaller, yet still important, idea running throughout this movie, dealing with a collective dark history, is one I will deal with more later.

[hamliet]

I've never seen Game of Thrones but I've heard a lot about it and apparently many people are upset with the ending. Something about Targaryen becoming a villain at the last second for no apparent reason? Idk, could you explain what's going on? I heard it's based off a book series. Does the show stray from the original plot or stay loyal to it?

*starts sobbing* SPARE YOURSELF

Honestly I’d sum it up like how @mercyandmagic summed it up: image Harry Potter wins the Battle of Hogwarts, but in the very moment he wins, he snaps and the Voldemort horcrux inside him suddenly takes over the rest of his soul and he murders almost everyone and Ginny has to put him down at Hermione and Ron’s urging.

That’s what happened. It was a tone-deaf plot twist in this day and age, misogynistic, ableist, and racist in its execution, and it was poorly written as well--like, there was no foreshadowing for this twist of events.

The thing about the books is that they aren’t completed. We are 5/7 books through. The creator told the showrunners the bare bones of the ending (who lives/dies/gets the throne), so I’m hoping this isn’t his endgame exactly. Others speculate it might not be (for example, the main ship--Jon and Dany--might still have one killing the other, but it might be more in a sacrifice than in a “put the mad dog down” scenario like the show gave us. Still hate it, but not “burn it all down”).

We know they cut some characters from the books whom at first I assumed the fact that they were cut meant that they were extra fat, and... well I am now hoping that’s wrong because combining their arcs with the characters we have left would explain a lot about it being shit. 

So, the primary defense I’m seeing of Dany Villain is that she’s a tragic heroine, and her descent just wasn’t written properly. I’d agree that it’s not written well, but I’d also argue that in both the books and in the show, Dany is not presented as a tragic heroine at all, but as a hero on a gritty version of the hero’s journey–just like Jon--but one of the cut characters is indeed a tragic heroine. 

The thing about tragedies is that you have to manage expectations and clearly show that your tragic hero is doomed from the very early on–ie you have to show them making steadily worse and worse decisions (see: Eren Jaeger in SnK), if not directly tell your audience at the very beginning that this is a tragic story (ie see Greek choruses and Shakespeare, the prequels from Star Wars because everyone knows Anakin is Vader–plus I’d argue Anakin’s arc only works because we know he comes back to the light in the end–Kaneki Ken in the first Tokyo Ghoul, etc).

We don’t have that with Dany or with Jon, and we’re 5/7 through the books which is, frankly, too late. If they intended to show Dany as a tragic heroine they needed to start foreshadowing that in, oh, book 3/season 4-5 at the latest, and show divergence from Jon Snow’s arc instead of increasing parallels. But they haven’t, which gives me hope at least that the book’s ending plays out a little bit more like Dany burning a city as the “abyss/underworld” part of her hero’s journey (which she is on, and so is Jon) and then redeeming herself in the end fighting a greater enemy.

A hero’s journey includes a step in which the hero confronts the darkness, the shadow. For Jon, it’s a cold death and the fact that winter is coming. For Dany, it’s her father and her heritage’s legacy of fire and blood. The end of Book 5, the last book published, pretty clearly showed both of them falling to the abyss (well, teetering on the edge, and it’s going to get worse before they’re both reborn). But the important thing is that it’s not the end of their journey.

Audiences don’t like reversing on set up/undoing structure. To make Dany a tragic heroine is to go against the structure of her arc in both show and book. That’s why people don’t like it, even if the books makes it seem more believable.

You know who is set up as a tragic heroine destined to descend and die because of her flaws in the books, whose arc has almost certainly been combined with Dany’s in some sense in the show?

Arianne Martell. (and another character known as f!Aegon)

The show pretty clearly merged Jon’s (main hero’s) arc with f!Aegon’s, even giving him his name (in a nonsensical way. In the books, f!Aegon believes he is Aegon Targaryen, Jon’s brother, though he really isn’t as Aegon is dead; in the show, Jon’s dad apparently named… both his sons Aegon. Mmkay). Characters who are  the mastermindsbehind the Aegon plot, supporting him over f!Aegon, take Jon’s side against Dany in the show. Similarly, the show is merging Dany with Arianne, retconning her as letting her demons overtake her in the end, when that is just not Dany’s arc’s set up at all, in the books or in the show.  

In the books, Arianne is incredibly ambitious, and especially resents her brother and his quest for power. Like Margaery (another tragic character), Arianne seeks power and is intelligent and manipulative in her quest for it. But Margaery’s fatal mistake is that in seeking power and prestige, she’s become more a pawn than anything else for a villain (Cersei). She chose to play with lions, and she’ll be torn apart; that’s not surprising. Arianne, as her chapters hint, is going to almost certainly marry f!Aegon, playing with fire, and die burning for it.  

Arianne’s grasping for her own power is never portrayed as cruel or stupid like the main human villain (Cersei); on the contrary, we empathize with a girl who truly cares about her people, but resents her father’s preferential treatment towards her brother. That’s the difference between Arianne and Cersei: Arianne cares. She is not cruel. But her pride is still going to get her killed.

The books as I recall have always, always portrayed the Others (White Walkers) as the primary threat, not the game of thrones. People who get involved in the game of thrones–it doesn’t end well. The thing about Dany, though, is that she sees herself as a revolutionary. “Break the wheel” isn’t in the books (yet), but it’s a pretty good character moment for her that rings true. But this sets up Dany’s primary conflict: does she want to be like her father or not? Throughout the books, she hasn’t wanted to be. But she can’t have her cake and eat it to. If she goes for the throne–symbolic of her family and her father and those ghosts, as it’s always been portrayed as corrupting–she will indeed probably become more like her father. To be unlike her father, she’d probably have to not play the game of thrones anymore at all, and the Others are like… RIGHT THERE to provide this motivation for her.

But the show said “fuck it she’s her dad let me show you a snap two episodes after she saved the world from the Others who after being the primary threat for 7.5 seasons are now an afterthought and defeated after a single day because we gotta go with Bitches Be CrayCray as a plotline”

Man, I remember being disappointed the show cut Arianne and f!Aegon, but honestly it wasn’t until this season that I’ve been realizing how wrong my thinking that “they must have just been fat that could be cut” might have been. I shouldn’t have trusted D&D, that they knew what they were doing. They did not.

Or this might all be wrong and Jon and Dany are just doomed to be victims of bad writing in any case. *shrugs* Who knows if we’ll ever get those last two books (there’s been an 8+ year gap from the last one) so. Yeah.

That is probably way too long and complicated. I am sorry. I needed to vent lol. Also, the Dany and Arianne and f!Aegon theory is not mine--other meta writers for the books have written about it, but I find it convincing and honestly it gives me hope; see here.

[mintelsa]

A More Organized Reaction to “The Rise of Skywalker”

My first reaction to this film is indifferent. I liked a lot of things about this movie, and I didn’t like a lot of things too. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I agree with those who liked the movie. I mean, I love the prequels and people hate those lol. Alright let’s dissect this thing.

Let’s go in chronological order. Oh, If you haven’t seen the film, please don’t spoil yourself. You’ll never get the full experience if you know whats coming. The movie begins with Kylo searching for the way finder(?) to reach Palpatine’s voice thingie. This was the first issue I had with the movie. I understand drawing connections to the OT, but bringing back Palpatine was really lazy writing. Kylo Ren was set up in TFA and TLJ as the villain of this trilogy, the antagonist to Rey’s protagonist. The villain should’ve remained Kylo. Bringing in Palpatine was just weird, but I also understand why they did it. He was the ultimate villain for the entire saga, i get it.

Sheev tells Ben that he’s been the voice of Vader and Snoke all along and Ben just... takes it? This was psychological manipulation, he probably should’ve had a bigger reaction to it (especially because he’s Anakin’s grandson aka Dramatic Skywalker genes). JJ completely disregards the significance of Ben smashing his helmet in TLJ by having him remake it, setting the character even farther back when he should’ve stayed in conflict. 

A problem I’ve had with the entire sequel trilogy has been Rey’s weirdly strong connection to the Force. I really enjoyed the idea of her being a nobody from nowhere, re-establishing the idea that anybody can be a hero, that anybody can be a Jedi. So I was able to look past her super strong abilities for that reason. But now with her parentage revealed, I don’t like how strong she was just because of her bloodline. But for some reason, in this movie she’s not that good anymore? 

I really liked Leia being her Master, that was a super cool plot point although it was kinda forced. 

R2D2 was in like three scenes and I’m not happy about it but C3PO was so pure and amazing I loved it. 

Jannah was cool but bruh stop introducing new female characters when you’re just gonna disregard the old ones aka Rose. 

Lando was fuckin awesome

Ben’s initial switch from the Dark Side was well written in my opinion. For so long it felt like his character was being suffocated by this change that was so inevitable that when it did happen, it was like he could breath. Or maybe it was my relief lol. He saw that even though he was horrible to Rey, she still couldn’t let him die, that there was still someone who believed in him. His conversation with Han was so heartbreaking, Adam did such a good job my god. 

I loved the new trio Poe, Finn and Rey having adventures it really felt like the OT and that final shot of them hugging was really reminiscent of the OT. Chewwie collapsing after Leia’s death had me in tears. 

The emotional beats in this movie were completely effective. I’ve seen a lot of people mad at the Reylo kiss but for me, it seemed inevitable. These two characters had gone through so much together, they obviously cared for each other immensely, they knew each other better than themselves. Unlike a lot of heterosexual ships that just happen because Romance, the moment they shared together was powerful. Rey was seeing him for the first time, seeing who she always knew was inside him. Ben was also finally seeing her as the woman who saved him, who always believed and wouldn’t let him go. 

But then he dies. Kylo Ren was set up to be a parallel of Anakin’s journey, except this time he wasn’t too late. And yet, as he was redeemed and his arc completed, he died. Anakin’s sacrifice was for nothing, Ben’s character was essentially for nothing like what did he actually achieve? Ben could’ve helped Rey and the Resistance start anew. Ben knew the issues with the Republic and wouldn’t let it happen again and Rey could help him discover a government without violence. The point of the PT was to show that the Jedi Order wasn’t necessarily the legendary thing it used to be. Rey and Ben are indifferent towards the Jedi Code as was Luke and Anakin. They could resurrect a more effective, flexible Jedi Order that could truly protect the galaxy. 

I’m just pretty upset at the decisions made in this movie. It feels as though it was more written for fanservice rather than a logical ending. The movie left me wondering, what was the point of Anakin and Ben? To show that evil doesn’t always have to be truly evil? That even though you redeem yourself you still fuckin die? I’m sorry I’m just still upset Ben died. 

So welp that’s about it. Gonna go refresh ao3 so i can read the fixit fics haha

[theprocrastinatingalien]

Battle of Star Wars - Batch#3 Heats (featuring Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Darth Maul & Darth Vader)

Well, as I run this Battle of Star Wars, I somehow managed to not post on Star Wars Day!  That was silly, wasn't it?!

Or maybe I'm just in shock.  Shock at how Batch 2 went.  Han Solo got knocked out, and now we have Kylo Ren joining Princess Leia in the VIP lounge as we start our search for a champion in Batch#3.

16 more characters raise their heads and prep themselves for you to whittle them down to one victor.

This one is a biggie too, some big names coming up against each other early!  Let's see...

LUKE SKYWALKER

Our first hero.  The first STAR WARS trilogy was very much about Luke Skywalker, as played by Mark Hamill.  We saw him trained up under Obi-Wan Kenobi, then trained up further by master Yoda before he took on his own father - Darth Vader.  Hamill returned for the new films, and THE LAST JEDI saw Luke die - much to the upset of many fans.  Personally, I didn't mind it.  Do you think he'll be a blue force ghost in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER?

CASSIAN ANDOR

In ROGUE ONE, Jyn Erso found herself in league with the likes of Cassian Andor, a pesky rebel against the Empire.  Diego Luna is expected to reprise his role in a sky thriller for Disney's streaming channel.

CHEWBACCA

Alas, just a couple of days ago Peter Mayhew died. Just before Star Wars Day.  Mayhew played Chewbacca, everyone's favourite Wookiee, since A NEW HOPE.  Chewie was Han Solo's co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon, and continues on in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, now played by Joonas Suotama.

PALPATINE

Aka The Emperor. Aka Darth Sidious.  He was the shadow lurking behind Anakin's transformation to Darth Vader. Ian McDiarmid  played the role (properly) from RETURN OF THE JEDI, in all the prequel movies, and is set to return - somehow - in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER.

OBI-WAN KENOBI

Old Ben, as we first meet him in A NEW HOPE (played by Alec Guiness), is the one that sets Luke on his way to being a Jedi.  From THE PHANTOM MENACE, Ewan McGregor played the role, as we watched him rise from young Padawan, to Jedi master himself.

ORSON KRENNIC

Ben Mendelsohn played this villain, working for the Empire, that went after Galen Erso in ROGUE ONE. He was in charge of Advanced Weapons... aka the Death Star.

GALEN ERSO

Jyn Erso's father, and also the creator of … the Death Star.  A good man, pressed into villainy. He was played by Mads Mikkelsen in ROGUE ONE.

JANGO FETT

Jango was the man from which all the clones in ATTACK OF THE CLONES came from.  He kept one back for himself, to raise as his son - Boba Fett.   Jango Fett was played by Temuera Morrison.

QUI-GON JINN

Liam Neeson has played Zues (who is essentially God), Aslan (who is a Lion, but essentially God), R'as Al Ghul - the guy that trained Batman, and here... Qui-Gon Jinn... the guy who trains Obi-Wan Kenobi... and (almost) Anakin Skywalker.  Saldy, Qui-Gon didn't make it out of THE PHANTOM MENACE.

VAL

Can't say too much about Val, other than she's the love interest of Tobias Beckett, and they're both thieves - that a young Han Solo gets caught up with.  Val was played by Thandie Newton in SOLO.

MAZ KANATA

Lupita Nyong'o played Maz, a friend of Han Solo in THE FORCE AWAKENS, She's over 1000 years old and used to be a smuggler.  When we met her, she was looking after Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, and attempts to give it to Rey.

MON MOTHMA

A leader of the Rebel Alliance, she later becomes Chancellor of the New Republic following the fall of The Empire.  Initially played by Caroline Blakiston (RETURN OF THE JEDI) and then Genevieve O'Reilly (REVENGE OF THE SITH and ROGUE ONE).

YODA

Luke Skywalker was expecting something different when he was to meet with this great Jedi Master. A fan favourite, the little green guy has switched between puppet to CGI and back again, but always voiced by Frank Oz.

DARTH MAUL

Played by Ray Park, and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz in THE PHANTOM MENACE, Darth Maul was the one responsible for killing Qui-Gon, before Obi-Wan cut him in half.  It was a bit of surprise when it turned out Maul was the figure head behind Crimson Dawn in SOLO.

PADME AMIDALA

When we first meet her she's a Queen, but things change and the becomes a senator. She also falls in love with young Jedi Anakin Skywalker. She dies during childbirth of their twin children - Luke and Leia.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

When we first meet him in A NEW HOPE, we only know him as Darth Vader, the big evil across the galaxy. It is revealed in THE EMPIRE STRIKES back that he is Luke's father,and during the  prequel trilogy we get his back story as the young innocent Anakin is seduced by the dark side.

There we have it, your 16 Batch#3 candidates.  Only 8 of them can advance to the next round, and there are some tricky pairings.  Head over to twitter, follow procrastinalien, and vote for your favourites.

You've got three days.  Go!

[padawanlost]

That excerpt with Vader/Anakin and Leia is somewhat hard to read and certainly stings, but I think people, especially those who call themselves "villain fans" or are fans of Anakin like myself have to accept & realize that the way Leia reacts is allowed and completely within these characters rights. Victims have a right to NOT forgive their abusers/enemies as well as to choose to never want to see the people who hurt them so much again. It isn't petty or holding a grudge, it's a valid stance.

Is thateven a thing? I don’t usually get involved in Leia discourse but I’ve neverseen anyone claim it was unfair for Leia to be mad at Darth Vader. What I’veseen is people being upset with Disney’s canon for not giving Leia a betterlife. In the original canon Leia is rightfully pissed at Vader for everythinghe did to her and the galaxy but eventually let go of her pain for her own sakeand move on. She gets to point where she can forgive and does forgive him.

It seem Disney’sLeia never got to that point, which is also completely understandable even thoughI personally don’t like it (for plot reasons). Hereis the thing,  in a world where negativeemotions can affect your sense of right and wrong and heroism is defined byyour ability to let go of your own self and focus on the greater good, it makessense for the original canon to have Leia eventually deal with her issues andlet go of her pain because the alternative would mean Leia would have to facesome dark consequences.

Just likeLuke, Leia had every right in the world to hate Vader for all eternity. It’d be a completely understandable andrelatable choice. And no one should blame them for it. however, that’s not themessage SW is sells, especially in the OT. In that universe, letting go of thebad emotions and the harm they do to you is the way to a good life. That’s theLuke Skywalker way. Not forgiving, not letting go it’s the wrong way. TheAnakin Skywalker way. Look, we can’t look at this as perfect example for reallife. These characters live in a world where magic exists and “bad emotions”make you evil. So, for a thematically consistent narrative, Leia should eventuallylet go of her pain or she end up closer to the dark side.

Just to beclear, this has NOTHING to do with Anakin. It’s Leia’s decisions and it’s aboutHER well being. She does it for herself, same as Luke. They both eventuallyforgive Vader because it’s who THEY are. Because they are wise enough to knowthe anger and hate will only hurt them. So they do it for themselves. This isnot about Anakin deserving forgiveness (or not). It’s about Leia, accepting herbiological “legacy” and dealing with that whichever way she can.

“I have wondered, in the past, why you choseto name him after your father?” [Leia] sighed. “My father, Anakin Skywalker—not Darth Vader—turned against the Emperorand was the agent of his death. He atoned for the evil he had done—perhaps notall of it in the eyes of some, but he prevented future evil being wrought bythe Emperor. Part of me wanted to name my son for him to redeem the name. Atleast, that is what I told myself.” “You have come to think differently on itnow?” Leia looked up at him. “You Caamasi are fortunate in that you can sharememories between you. I have no clearmemories of Anakin Skywalker—and my memories of Darth Vader are still the stuffof nightmares. I know that I contain part of Anakin in me, and I think it isthe good parts of him that came through in Luke and me. But, I also know thedarker parts of him are there, or could be there. In naming my youngest son forhim, I was putting an innocence behind that name. All the things I saw inAnakin, I could imagine having come from his grandfather, through me.” “You sought to purge your fears of DarthVader and what you inherited of him by looking at Anakin as being what yourfather could have been and perhaps once was?” She nodded. “Does that makeany sense?” “It does, very much. Countlessare the parents who, because they were disappointed in their own parents, vowto bring their children up right. Perhaps you are trying to prove to yourselfthat under different circumstances your father never would have become DarthVader.” [Michael A. Stackpole. Onslaught: Dark Tide I

Leiaeventually lets go of her disdain for Anakin because that kind of level ofanger is unsuitable. You end up hurting yourself or others, especiallyin the star wars universe.

Leia’s angerand pain are more than valid, they are justified. But she also has the right toa happy ending, something she would never get (in the GFFA) as long as refusedto let go of those feelings. It’s not all that different than Anakin’ssituation. He was deeply hurt by slavery, he held on to that pain, anger – thatwere completely justified – and all the darkness it caused and it led him to avery cruel and sad life. Leia doesn’t follow that path. She chooses not to. Notbecause Anakin deserves to be forgiveness but because SHE deserves a chance athappiness and in the SW universe, angry force-sensitive don’t lead good lives.

Despite allthe darkness, the message behind SW is actually a hopeful one. People will hurtyou, badly. And you have every right in the world to feel that pain for as longas can or want. But the path to peace and happiness has little room for hate, pain andsuffering and that’s why these characters have to let go, because if we don’t we will endup hurting ourselves and everyone around you.

[yoyo-inspace]

Bit of a rant coming up, but I had to get it out of my system.

The thing is, we don’t get to decide how and why a character is relatable, and if that character should be relatable. Sure, we might question someone’s judgement if they literally say “I relate to this character because I too like to murder people”, but that’s as far as it goes.

Why this sudden need to police which characters are allowed to be relatable or not? Which characters are allowed to be complex (and complex characters are always going to be relatable)?

Who makes the rules on which characters we’re allowed to relate with?

So you’re not allowed to like/relate to Kylo Ren, or write him as a complex character that we can feel empathy for. Okay, let’s use that as a baseline. What does that mean?

Are we allowed to relate to Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker? Because tumblr take way less issue with Vader than with Kylo, even though Vader if we’re going by sheer number has done more terrible things. And if you’re doing the First Order = Modern Day fascism comparision, then the Empire isn’t free of that either. Vader redeems himself, yes, but are we allowed to relate to him then? Or before, when he’s Anakin? Are people not allowed to relate to Rae Sloane, a queer woman who fought her way up from the bottom to carve a place for herself and bring stability so that some people might have what she never had - just because she’s part of the Empire?

Are we allowed to relate to any villain? How about in Harry Potter? Voldemort’s movement can pretty clearly be connected to a whole bunch of modern issues and oppression and -isms. Bellatrix, Narcissa, Tom Riddle, Regulus, Snape, Draco, Pansy - are we allowed to like these characters? Engage with them in a fun, fandom way? Relate to some of them? Or does that mean that we automatically condone their actions?

Magneto is someone who kills many innocent people, and argues for the death of more. But does that mean that people who relate to Magneto and part of his story are doing the same? Are they literally supervillains? Are they arguing for mutant superiority? I mean, yes, Magneto went through the holocaust, and will 100% beat a nazi to a pulp. But he’s also not meant to be the poster boy for moral goodness. That doesn’t mean that people can’t relate to him. 

The entire argument starts to fall apart the moment you bring up anti-heroes or anti-villains, or characters that don’t end up in neat little boxes labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Take Black Sails. Am I allowed to relate to James Flint, who burned and destroyed an entire town filled with innocent people? Jack Rackham? Eleanor Guthrie? John Silver? Max? Many of them fighting against an unjust society that has oppressed or hurt them - and yet some of them do terrible things in the process. None of the characters in that show have completely spotless records. We’re allowed to relate to them - because none of them are villains and none of them are heroes. They’re just people. 

If you say “You shouldn’t be allowed to write Kylo Ren as relatable or think he’s relatable because that makes you a fascist” then you need to be prepared to apply that argument to everything, and to draw it to its conclusion. You can’t just apply it to one character and then let it be. Because what you say means something outside of that specific character and specific fandom. Because if you say that, you cannot apply it to just one. Apply it then, across the board, or it holds no weight.

Doesn’t mean you can’t hate characters, or never relate to them. But others might.

We must be allowed to write characters, good and bad, that are first and foremost people. Characters you can relate to, in part or as a whole. Characters you can draw something from.

Short tangent. There’s a really long-running Swedish comic series, called Bamse - The Strongest Bear in the World. Except Bamse isn’t just the strongest bear in the world, he’s also the kindest. He might stop the bad guys, and tell them off, but he’ll always try to be kind, first and foremost. Because “Nobody gets better from being beaten". There’s a character in Bamse, called Vargen (”The Wolf”. He’s, surprisingly, a wolf), who for most of the comics early days was just a straight up villain. He was a thief, someone with a “World Record in Evil” and he’d even try to harm or kill Bamse a couple of times. But then one day, Bamse allowed him to join him and his friends. If he promised to be kind, and not do bad things anymore. Turned out that Vargen was very lonely, and he really liked hanging out with Bamse and his friends. Now, Vargen is still struggling, constantly, to not fall back into his bad habits of being bad, and he doesn’t always succeed. But he tries. It also doesn’t mean that he didn’t have to apologize for all the bad stuff he did, or that Bamse and his friends can’t be mad at him when he messes up. The important thing was that even when he messed up, he apologized, and tried to do better. 

I always related a little bit with Vargen. 

And that’s not because I’ve ever stolen anything, or tried to kill anyone, or lived in the woods, or been friends with pirates and robbers. It’s because I also mess up, and do bad stuff sometimes. And then it’s good to remember that as long as you do your best not to let it happen again, then maybe you’re not a bad person. 

That also doesn’t imply that I or the story group implied that theft or attempted murder was right or okay. 

I get that people are upset at the state of the world right now, and there’s some horrible, disgusting shit going on out there. But writing Kylo Ren as a complex, relatable character is not going to make anyone a fascist. Then the issue lies somewhere else. Writing a story in which the people on both sides aren’t good or bad but simply people who do good and bad things is not a bad message to send. And it’s not a message Star Wars hasn’t sent before, Darth Vader being the prime example. 

Rian Johnson isn’t telling you that you should relate to a fascist. He’s saying that there are good and bad parts of most characters that someone out there could relate to. And that empathy is one of the things that most writers try to invoke in their audiences - because why else would we stay engaged?

[listoriented]

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

bAUderlands: straya

Where/When/Why: Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel is the first of the series that I didn’t run through with friends at launch. Instead, I got it during a steam sale in July last year for US$16.50 as part of a finish-your-Borderlands-collection package/bundle, with an eye to playing it when I got to it. Apparently I bought Rocket League at the same time? Momentous.

What/Who: It’s in the title, hey - a Borderlands game set between Borderlands 1 and 2. I’m struggling to think of other game and movie franchises that have done this, which perhaps why there isn’t a better descriptive term for it. The newish Baldur’s Gate expansion maybe? Rogue One? Anyway, instead of being set on Pandora - the fictional frontier planet where the previous two games were set - Pre-Sequel is set on Pandora’s moon, Elpis.

Elpis is a noticeably Australian place; it’s inhabited by Australian NPCs and full of parodies of Australian animals and stories (the main characters are all still American though - don’t worry). This is probably because the game was made by the 2k Australia branch [official site], based in Canberra, and so apparently it just kind of happened that way. The Pre-Sequel came out in October 2014. Sadly, 2k Australia shut their doors in 2015, which means there’s no AAA games development happening here for the time being.

Time Spent: 23 hours.

Completed: Yep, finally - we managed one. 19 of 63 achievements ticked. Oh that’s not a lot, hey. Oh well.

Notes: We had a pretty good time. That should probably be the main takeaway. The day after we finished it, Lauren said that she missed playing it. The mindless shooting, looting and questing loop of Borderlands 2 is well repped again here. The flow of it is quietly addictive.

We found the going a bit tough for a while, though, there at the beginning. We spent a lot of time hunting for mission waypoints through the larger moonscape areas of the game, which are not intuitive to travel around in vehicles (lots of dead ends, crevices, mountains, barriers), and awful to travel around on foot (too many things that want to kill you and/or distract you). A few times we went to bed mad at each other after having our patience stretched thin (**n.b. it should be added that while we did often end up playing this in the last hour or two before bed over the past few weeks, this game, like the other Borderlands games, is not something that actually benefits from being played while tired, despite this seeming like the natural state to play it in). One particular semi-optional mission for urchin NPC Pickle nearly drove us to the brink with its arduous navigational requirements.

The quaint fugue that Borderlands draws you into can be a hindrance too: if you don’t pay attention you can be tricked into fighting scores of creeps that could easily be avoided, and which don’t offer much in the way of endorphin release or in-game reward. The next time you come past they’ll all have respawned anyway, making the intervening grind feel particularly pernicious. Things improved immensely once we had more fast travel unlocked, and as we got better at paying attention to who we were meant to be fighting. 

Pre-Sequel also has a couple of particular gameplay gimmicks. At first we were like “???”, but we came around to them. The game is set, as mentioned, on Pandora’s moon, Elpis, which being a moon has low gravity. As such, you can jump higher and further. Because the moon surface lacks breathable atmosphere, you carry oxygen tanks, referred to forever as “Oz kits” because Australia lololololol. These deplete when you’re out in the open (which you are for maybe half the game), causing you to lose health, but we found after the first half hour it’s something you only have to be slightly mindful of, so far as annoying gameplay factors go. More importantly, you can use these “Oz kits” to boost mid-air to reach far-off platforms. It’s pretty good! Any excuse to be able to jump a long way is an acceptable one: thanks, videogames.

The Australiana accents/jokes/parodies that pervade the game are, like, pretty cool...I think? I enjoyed the ironic Australia-for-market shtick tempered by its necessarily cringeworthy over-the-topness. Cliches and stereotypes can be funny too, sometimes. I’m also aware how rare representations of anything Australian are in games, good or bad, particularly home-grown ones; a feeling which is enhanced by knowing this was made by a studio arm that no longer exists. O’, state of thy industry. It’s not that I’m at all patriotic, and the construction of this nation and its cultural identity is as problematic as any other post-colonial state, and there are issues which this game, with its frontier-Western representations of “Australianness”, attempts to avoid altogether, leaving the giant wombat very much in the room. On the other hand is the essence of the game and its uncritical light entertainment sheen, a series of good-enough jokes that beg not to be looked at directly in the eye, the fact that this is what it is, the last of its kind, no more big-budget gaming in Australia or about Australia (no Forza Horizon 3 I’m not talking to you), no Australia at all; and that’s upsetting too. Lauren and I both particularly enjoyed the foul-mouthed shotgun, Boganella, who somehow never stopped making us laugh, and who I kept equipped all the way to the end. I certainly didn’t expect to get that much mileage out of it. 

Lauren played as Athena the gladiator, while I played as Nisha the lawbringer. Neither of us particularly liked the special abilities of our characters. I found the auto-aim of Nisha’s “Showdown” a bit glitchy, with it sometimes locking on outside the enemy’s hitbox. We made do anyway without relying on them too much. Neither of us had played the DLC the Athena appears in, and I hadn’t remembered Nisha from Borderlands 2, so while playing we were unaware of these character’s other roles in the series. 

One thing I did find surprising was how ‘epic’ the Pre-Sequel became in the final act. It almost seemed like it was speaking out of turn, I mean…it’s called “The Pre-Sequel”. That’s a title that screams incidental and unimportant if there ever was one. “This game is just setting the scene for the more important game that was worthy of a real number in its title”, is what it suggests. And for the most part as you play it, it feels that way too. You’re playing on the moon, for instance (and everyone knows moons rate lower than planets on the astronomical bodies ladder). And you’re helping the bad guy! Surely, none of what you do here should be as big, important or ‘epic’ as in the numbered Borderlands titles.

But then, as you approach the finish line, you find yourself fighting multiple boss battles (“surely this is it” I said, erroneously, each time), delving into a massive cavernous space with funky, brilliant colours, into a galaxy-esque background, fighting the forerunner guardians, while the stakes seem to go up and up. The ending is basically prophesy-esque, all bigger picture feels. It’s an odd match.

This is mirrored by the length of the game. We played for 23 hours, which was longer than my playthrough of Borderlands 2. Again, I find this surprising, not least because it also feels smaller at first, with the player limited to the same few compact (if difficult to navigate) areas for quite a while. I’d initially figured it for a 15 hour romp, maybe. This isn’t a complaint necessarily - the game was enjoyable enough for the most part to justify the time spent in it - it just seems structurally unsound to me that a “pre-sequel” should be as big or bigger than the game it’s foregrounding. 

As for the story itself and how it goes about setting up the Borderlands 2 plot, it seems... well I guess it seems cohesive enough, not having recalled many details about Borderlands 1 & 2. You’re basically helping Jack, arch-villain of Borderlands 2, but he’s not evil yet - maybe. He just wants to stop the moon being destroyed by a group called The Lost Legion, while perhaps finding a vault and turning a profit for Hyperion in the process. You watch him do his Anakin Skywalker -> Darth Vader transformation as the game progresses, but because the protagonist vault hunters themselves are morally suspect, they/you don’t seem to mind too much. It's an unusual situation, to be playing the bad-guy, and it’s handled pretty effectively by the writers, if you take this game in a vacuum. That being said, it's also kind of...contradictory, if we do consider background events of Borderlands 2, where Jack’s evilness is established as being a more endemic, long-term thing. Whether the whole coheres depends on what you think/who you listen to, but I've enjoyed reading some forum-posted opinions on the matter anyway. 

And so: This brings us to the end of our Borderlands sojourn. We finally finished one - hooray! Promises well kept. Paradoxically, finishing the Pre-Sequel took less time than it took to pass on Borderlands 2. All up, to sift, avoid and play through these three games has taken nearly the entire winter, which is...sub-optimal. My wish is to be done with the B’s by the end of the year. The letter grows stale; I yearn for a fresh beginning. As of now we've got fifteen games to go. Four months. Hmm.   Addendum: My multi-talented friend Caro started a Tinyletter. It doesn’t have much to do with games but I’ve been enjoying it very much. Consider signing up! It will cost you nothing except your time. 

up next is Botanicula