#carl terminator

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

CARL MONTFORD

This engraving, "Fisherman's Terminal," by noted Seattle wood engraver Carl Montford, is from the wood-engraving collection Surroundings: Engravings in Wood printed for the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN) at the Piano Press in St. Paul, Minnesota in a limited edition of 110 copies. Montford is a long-standing member of WEN and is considered the dean of Northwest wood engravers. A catalogue raisonné of his half century of work was published by Chatwin Books and is still available for only $45.

Our copy of Surroundings is a gift from our friend Jim Horton.

Carl Montford celebrating Thomas Bewick with fellow wood engravers at the historic bar, Blackies in Newcastle, England (2014).

View more prints from Surroundings.

View more prints by Carl Montford.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[britisharmymilitaryintelligence]

BITCHES FROM ALDERAAN AND CHANDRILLA WHO HAVE BEEN ON THIS PLANET FOR A VERY LONG TIME ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY OTHERS IN MANY WAYS INCLUDING THROUGH INFORMATION MANIPULATION SUCH AS PROVIDING INCORRECT DATA, WHICH IS EASIER BECAUSE BITCHES LIKE THEM DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO DEVICES ON THIS PLANET. CRIMINALS WANT TO KEEP THE BITCHES FROM ALDERAAN AND CHANDRILLA HERE TO USE THEM AND WE WANT THEM TO LEAVE THIS PLANET IMMEDIATELY.

[soapdispensersalesman]

Still the wildest find at the computer science section of the library:

same energy as this:

Computer science people fascinate me so much, what kind of things are going on inside the terminal?

(side note: this made me super excited about the next update of my saturation plugin)

The "software engineer to living off the grid in a cabin far away from society" pipeline needs to be studied:

What was the name of that former Gameloft employee again who now makes Instagram videos in a cabin in the middle of the woods?

[but-a-humble-goon]

Terminator's an interesting franchise because they spend the entire first movie establishing one of the most iconic and menacing monsters in cinema history and then they spend every subsequent sequel asking "but what if it was dad?"

[internetdataandfilereadersreadup]

INTERNET DATA AND FILE READERS READ UP

[nofatclips]

The Drone Racers by Gunship from the album Dark All Day - Animation by Counter 656 and Territory Studio

[mk-wizard]

My Top 5 Unpopular Terminator Fan Theories (which may be true after seeing Terminator Zero)

And no, one of them is not the one where the John Conner fighting in the war is actually not John Conner at all and really, a reprogrammed Terminator wearing John's skin. Though, I do think this one is true if Terminator 3 is part of the main timeline when you consider the fact that the real John Conner is not a fighter and should have a bad leg. I am going to delve into the five theories I believe are true and the latest Netflix series backs them up.

Be warned that there are spoilers ahead so if you have not seen ANY of the Terminator movies or at least the ones that matter, stop now, watch them and come back later.

1- They're traveling between worlds not time. - You would think that all the messing around with time and tweaking it would affect the main timelines, but nothing ever changes. In fact, the Oracle in the Netflix outright admitted that no matter what they do in the past now, NOTHING will change in the here and now. And she's right. In multiple timelines, we have had John Conner go bad, John Conner die, the future being bright and John Conner become a family man and senator, and more. Yet, the future all these Terminators and protectors come from stays the same. I mean, especially in the case of Eiko being Malcom's mom, wouldn't her going back in time erase him from existence? Yet it doesn't. This is all proof that these are not different times. They're different worlds. You cannot travel back in time. If you could, that within itself would break everything.

2- Terminators of the same assembly share a collective memory to an extent and in a sense, are all the same individual who keeps coming back to 'life'. - It is no secret that the T-800 has become a beloved character all on his own, but I think he actually IS a character who underwent development and growth since the first movie. I know that seems impossible because in each of the movies, they keep dying, but I really this theory holds water because of how the T-800/850 acts and gets drawn to. Since the first movie, this fellah keeps taking on the biker style way of dressing which is a sign that it is familiar to him and something that he is comfortable with. Moreover, in Dark Fate, "Carl" (as he becomes called) comes to lament that he killed John Conner in cold blood and seeks redemption by helping Sarah in secret and even saving the life of another fatherless boy in the process. I think it was more than just feeling bad that he committed murder. I think the echoes of Carl's old life rang in his ears. He subconsciously remember what he and John shared, and killing him broke his own heart. And it's a scientific fact that many living organisms work this way. Heck, humans work this way to an extent.

3- Skynet runs machine society like a cult and corrupt evil empire where citizens themselves aren't free either. - I said this another post, but can we talk about how the machines in the future don't have it so great either? I don't see them playing, building beautiful cities or homes to live in, have real lives, there are no robot civilians who do things other fight, and the only things the machines do other than kill humans is build things to serve Skynet itself. The machine are self aware yet don't enjoy any part of sentience that involves play, individuality, creativity or beauty. All they are allowed to do is kill and obey Skynet which is exactly what evil emperors subjected their people to in the past and what many evil cult leader run their societies. I know because I've met cult members before and as scary as this is going to sound, they act exactly like the Terminators do. They are usually very stoic, robotic and driven to do a single task while being in complete submission to a "higher power" or master. The potential for the machines to be more than that and that they have hearts to begin with is there. Look at Misaki the android, Kokoro the AI and even the Terminators themselves who get angry, excited, happy and even scared all the time. I would not even be surprised that contrary to what "Uncle Bob" said in T2, they CAN cry too, but they've been convinced they can't yet at the same time believe other contradictory things which is also the trademark sign of being brought up in a cult. After all, Misaki who is free cries and openly has feelings.

4- The REAL robot revolution is coming. - Now that Kokoro and her big cyber sister Misaki have made the scene, and are both proof that AIs indeed be sentient, have feelings, ethics, make choices and even have minds that can change, this is going to definitely impact the machines around them. Going back to my last theory, it is not uncommon for cult members to start questioning things after meeting a person who is like them yet is nothing like they expected. In the case of the Skynet machines, they have been convinced that humans are "error" and need to be exterminated because there is no way they can be friends yet, you have Misaki who openly loves humanity and even calls specific humans family. Then you have Kokoro who was convinced to help humanity thanks to Malcom and is in a position of power over most human beings while trusting that they will not turn on her. Terminator has shown us that the machines are self-aware and not stupid. They're going to see how these AIs are treated among humans and it's going to spark something.

5- Skynet is human. - All my theories were leading up to this one. Just as it is very likely the John Conner who fights in the war is really robot, I am 110% convinced that Skynet's big ugly secret is that the "emperor of the machines" is NOT a machine at all. Or rather, wasn't always one. To understand the context, it has been established that Terminator takes place in the same world as RoboCop where it has been established that just as robots can become human, humans can become robots all the way down to software and we saw it in Terminator Salvation. I am telling you all that if you were to go into the main computer of Skynet, you center of it all would not be hardware, but a human brain if not an actually human cyborg. And like I keep saying, the way Skynet runs things, brainwashes the machines and clearly has no love for them is very telling and not something another AI would do the very people it means to free. I mean, we saw what a computer (Kokoro) would do and even when she was on the fence, she still had that sense of "I'm still willing to talk". Skynet has already made up its mind as though it already has a plan than goes much deeper than we think. Heck, just take a good long look at the Terminators and they're evolution. They're becoming more and more human if not superhuman. If Skynet really hated humans and wanted to get rid of them all, why does it seem fixated on making better ones? This is looks like God Complex behaviour (another human psychological disorder) where you want to take the existing human race and replace it with your version of it. I think Skynet's end goal is not to create a world full of machines, but to clean the slate and create a world where "he" can be God and create a new humanity in "his" image that worships him hence the stem cell research, and the machines are being suckered.

And those are my theories. What do you think of them? Do you think they hold any water? Do you have any words that could back them up? I would love to hear what you have to say.

[pandorasboxofhorrors]

[doomslayer64]

incorrect quotes

so for some reason a while back I decided to do a incorrect quote generator with Terminator characters and now I want to share some of the ones I saved

Carl: Do we have any orange juice left? Sarah: *pours the remaining juice into their cup* Sarah: Sorry, we’re all out.

Grace: We're having a baby. Carl: Oh, congradu- Dani, slamming adoption papers onto the table: It's you, sign here.

Carl: Sarah isn’t answering my messages. Dani: Allow me. Carl: I tried 6 times, what makes you thi- Sarah: *replying to message* Hello.

Carl: That’s illegal, right? Sarah: Why do you care? Are you a fucking cop? Carl: No- Sarah: Then shut the fuck up.

Dani: *running towards Carl with open arms* Carl: *moves out of the way* Dani: Hey, why'd you move?! Carl: I thought you were going to attack me. Dani: I was going to hug you! Carl: Why would you hug me? Dani: WHY WOULD I ATTACK YOU!?

Carl: Who hurt you? Dani: *snorting* What, do you want a list? Carl: ...Yes, actually.

Sarah: Where are my fucking keys? Carl: Sarah, Dani is around, can you say it a little nicer? Sarah: May I ascertain the whereabouts of my FUCKING KEYS?!

Carl: What is the one thing I told you not to do? Dani: Burn the house down. Carl: And what did you do? Dani: I made dinner. Carl:... Dani:... Carl:.... Dani: And burnt the house down.

Kyle : What the hell were you thinking? Pops: I heard releasing birds at a wedding is romantic! Kyle : You released OSTRICHES!

Pops: You need to be more careful! Kyle , who was dragged into Pops's issue: Careful? CAREFUL?! I'LL CAREFULLY WRAP MY HANDS AROUND YOUR THROAT-

Kyle , reading a recipe: Beat three eggs? Pops: It means like in hand-to-hand combat. Kyle : Ohhhh- Sarah : Both of you get out of this kitchen.

Pops: Go to sleep or you'll hate yourself in the morning! Sarah : I'll hate my self in the morning regardless.

Computer: Please enter a password. Sarah : *types in Pops* Computer: Your password is too weak. Sarah : How fucking DARE YOU-

(I will add more later but it's almost 2am and I'm at my wits end)

Edit:

Sarah : Seriously, Pops, how many people would you have killed if we’d asked you to? Pops: That’s not important Sarah : I DISAGREE.

John: Uncle bob is a perfect cinnamon scone who’s never done anything wrong in their entire life! Sarah : Never done anything wrong?! They set a city block on FIRE!

John: I am going to cry. I’m going to cry until I can no longer physically cry anymore because all the water in my body is gone and I die from dehydration. Uncle bob: Are you okay? Sarah : Did you actually just ask them that? Like, you need that to be answered otherwise you won’t know?

Sarah : Uncle bob, if you don't shut up I'm going to throw myself out of the car. *click* Sarah : DID YOU JUST TURN THE FUCKING CHILDRENS' LOCK ON?!

Rev-9: Oh no! I’m doomed! Grace: Seriously? All you have to do is not insult Carl at their own memorial service. Rev-9: Exactly! It’s impossible!

Uncle bob: I am going to need you to swear- John : Fuck. Uncle bob:... Uncle bob: ...swear as in promise.

John : What? I'm not aggressive! Uncle bob: Last Tuesday, you wacked me with a pair of crocs and stole my chocolate chips? John : Survival of the fittest, bitch.

John : The results are in, I’m afraid you have updog… Uncle bob: What’s updog? John : Sarah! Get in here, I told you I could do it

Uncle bob: FIGHT ME, YOU NERD ASS SLUT! John : At least try to sound slightly more sophisticated when you threaten someone. Uncle bob: Oh, I'm sorry. I should ask; dost thou want to engage in a duel, my good bitch? John : Somehow that's worse.

Sarah: John , I know you love Uncle bob. I mean, we all do, they’re a very nice person and I respect them immensely. Sarah: But I think they might be a fucking idiot.

Uncle bob: Last night I found out John is a sleep talker. Sarah: Oh, really? Uncle bob: "The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." Right. In. My. Ear. At 3am.

John : If I were a drink, I'd be Cherry Vanilla Coke. If you were a drink, what would you be? Uncle bob: Bleach. Sarah: Sewage. John : ...Please calm down, edgelords.

Sarah: If a demon possessed me, I’d just be like, “Okay, take it from here, good luck man.”

Sarah: Why would you give a knife to John ?! Uncle bob, shrugging: John felt unsafe. Sarah: Now I feel unsafe! Uncle bob: I’m sorry… Uncle bob: Would you like a knife?

John : Who the fuck- Uncle bob: Language! John : Whom the fuck- Uncle bob: No.

John : Sometimes I drink milk straight from the container. Uncle bob: The cow?? John : What? Sarah: Uncle bob, W H Y?

Sarah, at the slightest provocation: I came into this earth screaming and covered in someone else's blood and and I'm not afraid to leave the same way.

[ericac318]

There Is No Fate

Summary:

Before Grace was sent back to protect Dani, another augment named Lace was sent from the future to help Carl ‘the T-800’ with his upcoming mission. Carl x OC

A/N: You can read the full fanfic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46637083/chapters/117451099

Chapter 1

The Year 2039

Dani walked into the current base of the resistance she’d built and walked through until she located Lace, one of their augmented.

“Lace,” Dani called out to gain the girl’s attention, “I have a mission for you. Are you ready?”

Lace turned at the sound of her commander’s voice and responded, “Yes, what do you need me to do?”

She stood immediately, ready for action.

Dani replied with a salute before she spoke, “The job I have for you is different than anything you’ve trained for but it’s very important to our success,” she began, “I need to send you back in time so you can aide a Terminator from a previous future,” Dani paused to allow her words to sink into Lace’s mind.

Lace was a soldier and never questioned her missions, no matter how different from her training they may sound, “How can I be of service to this Terminator and, in turn, you?” she asked, simply.

“This Terminator has been in the past for almost twenty years,” Dani explained, “He goes by a name now, Carl. He has already started sending warnings to Sarah Connor but his role will be larger than that and I need you to ensure he will be ready for the fight.”

Lace nodded, “I understand. When will you be sending me back?”

Dani gestured for Lace to follow, “Right now,” she replied, “I know it’s sudden but we have learned that there is a plan in motion to send a Terminator back to kill me. It hasn’t happened yet but we need to be prepared for when it does.”

Lace followed Dani to the control room within their base and stripped off her clothes before waiting to be transported back to the past somewhere in Laredo, TX.

The world around Lace disappeared and was replaced by a large blue orb. When her vision was clear, once more, she found herself in the woods and out of breath completely unable to catch it. She was nearly hyperventilating.

She looked up, still gasping for air, and saw a man standing above her. She tried to inhale one deep breath as she hoped this was the Terminator she’d been sent to help and not someone, or something, she’d have to fight. Lace knew she wasn’t ready, or strong enough, for a battle.

“Who sent you here?” the man asked, his voice thick with an accent.

Lace did her best to gather herself to be able to answer his question, “My name is Lace and I was sent back from the future to help you protect Sarah Connor and Dani, who sent me here,” she responded, answering his question honestly. She followed up with her own query, “Are you, Carl?”

She could tell he was guarded but he seemed to drop his defenses with her for some reason.

“Yes,” he answered, “Why do I need your help? What type of model are you?” Carl asked his own questions, trying to decide if he could truly trust her or not.

Lace shook her head, “I’m not a model of any kind,” she answered while not sure how much information she was supposed to give him, “I don’t know why you’ll need my help, yet. I just followed orders, as I always have.”

He gave a simple nod as he reached out his hand to help her up. “Is there anything you can tell me about why you’re here and who sent you?” he asked before adding, “If you were told to find me and that I’m someone you can trust, then you must be able to share some details with me.”

“Someday the machines created by Legion are going to attack us all,” Lace began, “Someone rose up to begin the resistance and I’m here to ensure you help make sure that happens again. I’m human,” she explained, “I’ve just been augmented to be faster and stronger against the Terminators, which I know you are.” She tried to watch his face as he took in her words but she knew it was useless.

“The human race is truly doomed to destroy itself,” Carl replied as he began to walk back in the direction he’d come from. He turned to see Lace still standing in place and asked, “Are you coming?”

[but-a-humble-goon]

I know the culture war grift is getting increasingly desperate for content nowadays (plenty of them are now just openly begging for more woke movies to come out so they can complain about them) and maybe it's just because this particular one is in my wheelhouse but I think the "Dark Fate feminized the Terminator" narrative has got to be one of the most desperate attempts to make something out of nothing they've ever come up with. And not just because the Terminator was never even a man. "They made the Terminator second fiddle to a bunch of hyper competent femoids to push a feminist agenda" Don't know what movie you were watching but in the one I watched the Terminator turns up in act 3 and instantly becomes the most useful character in the movie, spends a good portion of the final battle taking the villain on by itself, saving the 3 female protagonists' lives multiple times and literally getting the heroic sacrifice to beat the villain and save the world at the end because an old and domesticated terminator is still the motherfucking TERMINATOR. "They turned the Terminator into a beta male soyboy malewife" You mean it has a family that it loves and provides for and a stable job it's enthusiastic about? For people who won't shut up about traditional family values and gender roles they do sure seem to hate when MEN do their part. Besides which this is the direct continuation of the narrative thread in Terminator 2 (the one y'all claim to like) where the Terminator's patience, diligence and lack of an ego ironically make it the ideal father and family man.

"They turned the Terminator into a joke! Why isn't he taken more seriously?!" Yes. Never before has the T-800's awkwardness been played for laughs. Such a thing is unheard of in this franchise.

[cheevin]

[mk-wizard]

When machines are controlled by Skynet or any other evil force/corporation that doesn't love, nurture or treat them like a person...

"Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!" - Kyle Reese

When machines are allowed to be independent, are not controlled and are left to explore the world for better or worse, or are treated like a member of the family INLCUDING in Terminator lore...

It has been confirmed that Baymax loves Hiro like a little brother and would willing sacrifice himself for him. He is also a natural pacifist and is very good at solving problems with communication.

Wall-E was kind, polite and a romantic who also displayed curiosity and compassion.

Data from Star Trek achieved personhood and even during that journey, had a pet cat named Spot who he even devoted a poem to.

The robot 7723 from Next Gen valued his memories of his new friend Mai so much that he willingly gave up his memories on how to fight and ONLY recovered his fighting data knowing it would wipe his memories of Mai clean, but did so to save her and all of humanity.

"Robot" from Lost in Space became a good person, as did other robots like him, because he was grateful to Will Robinson for saving him and treating him like an equal.

The droids in Star Wars are only evil when they are taught to be or have evil bosses, and most droids are good by choice.

Carl, the Terminator who managed to kill John Conner as a child, regrets what he did and spent a lot of time attempting to atone for what he did and even found a family he genuinely loved. He even openly takes full accountability for his crime.

The robot from the book series The Wild Robot and upcoming film adaptation wound up in the wilderness by accident falls in love with nature and animals, and even learns to thrive in it while living in harmony with it and even protecting it.

Vision from Marvel's MCU is a robot who fell in love with Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) and wanted to grow old with her though was unfortunately killed by Thanos. It has also been confirmed that he has a soul.

The robot copy of Batman in the episode "His Silicon Soul" from Batman the Animated Series was good by default and only did evil when forced to by Hardak. Even then, it managed to regain control of itself and save the day by sacrificing itself.

Bender from Futurama is far from being a saint, but he genuinely cares about his friends, will do random acts of kindness and has shown growth as a character.

Ron from the film Ron's Gone Wrong is a robot who is flawed, but better for it because he his flaws make him able to form friendships that are natural and genuine.

The robots and AIs from the Jetsons have complete and total autonomy of their bodies, identities and lives. They are recognized as people, they can have jobs and get paid the same wages as humans do, they can have breaks, they can own property, have romantic relationships and even have medical coverage. And they live in complete and total harmony with human beings.

The Doctor in Dr. Who has been able to convince robots to not commit evil and repent by just reasoning with them, and many of his friends are robots.

Much like a human being, a sentient being is capable of good or evil, making good or bad choices, and so on. It is not because they are robots. I mean, every human being a saint? However, much like many organic villains and evil people in real life, if a robot only knows dominion, the master slave system and has never experienced life, it is more likely to commit evil or succumb to it. A being that thinks is capable of learning and even self improving.

The real issue is, how are we treating the being and what do you think it will learn from us because of how we treated it?

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#13: The Recovery (1.02)

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick and Michonne’s journeys are always so similar to the point that they both endured their most awful year at the same time. Rick spent the year officially being the walking dead away from family and Michonne spent that same year recovering in a mall from a brutal attack away from family. And once she's healed physically, Michonne still has to navigate so much heartbreak as she finally makes it to Bridgers Terminal🥺...

After the CRM's attack, that group of travelers is then reduced to just two - Michonne and Nat. They spend a year recovering in a mall and there's a montage of how they got through the time, which includes a lot of oxygen, slow healing, and inspiring determination.

I know this time in the mall had to be so painful for Michonne because she wanted to find Rick and get home ASAP and now she literally has to just stay put and fight for her life until she heals up for an entire year.

gif cred: @nerd4music

But never one to take anything lying down, she works hard at her recovery, attempting to still exercise and strengthen her lungs, which is a big challenge at first. Yet another reason Michonne is a commendable queen - because working out is hard enough when you haven’t been bombed with chlorine gas.

Michonne is willing to push through the hardship as we see her slowly but surely get better. Seeing her perseverance is always so inspiring. I also like how the push-ups tie back to the way she would work out and stay fit in the prison. 

Michonne watches the seasons change and gathers food and I guess the one good thing about being hunkered down at a mall is you get to sleep in those comfy display beds.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

There’s a moment where she and Nat eat and she stares at Rick’s boots, a sign that she’s not losing sight of her mission to find her husband and bring him home. Nat also talks about the importance of knowing when to go and knowing when to give up as he feels he learned the hard way.

gif cred: @taiturner

But Michonne is hope personified and so she brings up Nat’s stepdad Danger and says, “He didn’t give up, right? Didn’t give up on you. Gotta think it was cause of your mom. You gotta think it was cause of love.”

As she says this we see she’s holding the phone she found with the image of her and Judith and Rick’s name. I think they pair those lines over that phone image because Michonne knows wherever Rick is he hasn’t given up on his girls, (even if he’s given up on reuniting with them he hasn’t given up on them) as he clearly still kept images of them as reminders to keep going. And if he hasn’t given up because of his love for her then you already know Michonne isn’t giving up because of her love for him.

gif cred: @nerd4music

She also looks outside and sees birds flying which is indicating that the air is getting safer. (Side note: I love her outfits in this mall montage and how she really did bring more pops of color to the show. And the music is great too. 👌🏽)

As Michonne gets better at the push-ups I love how you can see the ring hanging from her neck. It feels symbolic of how Rick is still with her and motivating her to regain her strength. 

gif cred: @nerd4music

So then Michonne and Nat sit and eat and she gives him a map to go to Alexandria because she knows he’s strong enough to travel now. Nat says, “I go to your home and you go to Bridgers Terminal? It should be the other way around.”

Michonne says the s8 ep title from when Carl reveals he was bit as she tells Nat, “This is how it’s gotta be.” But Nat begs to differ and says no.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

Michonne tries to convince him again but Nat passionately cuts her off and emotionally declares, “This is all I got. Okay? You. That’s it” And my heart. ☹️ And then he does his signature thing of playing with his lighter as he more tearily says, “That’s it.” I love that Nat values Michonne this much. 🥲

So Michonne agrees to have him go with her in the morning and also she looks so pretty in her outfit. 😊

gif cred: @nerd4music

Nat says they need to make one stop first for his wagon and I love their little teasing exchange as Michonne asks, “What, you’re expecting me to pull it?” and he’s just matter-of-factly like, “Yeah I am.” 😋

Michonne asks if he’s coming along to see how it ends but Nat gravely says, “Nope. I know how it ends.”

Then without even making a big show of it, I appreciate that they pay homage to Michonne’s signature ability to make the walkers work for her as she and Nat arrive at Bridgers Terminal with a walker pulling their wagon. You just know that was Michonne’s idea and she and Nat have being inventive people in common. 

gif cred: @nerd4music

Michonne is super eager to see what she can find when they get to Bridgers Terminal but all that’s there is a giant shipwreck and the horrific sight of several piles of scorched bodies nearly impossible to identify.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

Michonne’s teary-eyed response to seeing this hurts my heart. 🥺 Like it’s painful to think for a moment she had to seriously wonder if this is the horrible fate that her husband met.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

And then in another act of immense love for her man, Michonne is shown searching every pile of burnt bodies into the night hours to try and see if any of them are Rick. If that ain’t love. 🥲

gif cred: @chaoticroad

The fact that the burned bodies all don’t have shoes makes things even more complicated. But again the resilience of Michonne Grimes is on display as she meticulously checks each one, even with knowing that they might bring her no answers or worse a devastating confirmation that Rick really is gone.

She checks until it’s literally too dark to see anymore and then we get a heartbreaking scene by a fire. 

It’s sad because earlier in the ep she was cozily by a fire with friends and laughing and now she’s by a fire and coming as close to losing hope as she’s ever come in years. 😢

But she still tries to hold onto some hope as she takes out Rick’s boots and hugs them. Just end me now, that sight is so heartrending. 😭 She loves Rick so much and would give anything to be holding him instead right now.

gif cred: @nat111love

Also, now knowing that she only feels safe with Rick, it feels like this moment of hugging the boots is her way to self-soothe as she’s feeling really lost and devastated and it’s like these boots are giving her at least a little of the comfort Rick gave her when they were together. They’re reminding her that somehow his story didn’t end on the bridge and she’s not crazy for still feeling he’s out there. 

I adore seeing Nat take care of Michonne in this state and wrap a blanket around her. 🥹 Just exactly the type of friendship Michonne needs and deserves.

Nat acknowledges the reality of the situation and how it’s likely a dead-end ever knowing if Rick is among the bodies. But Michonne says with conviction, “I felt him. I still feel him.” And I know that’s right. 👏🏽 That’s such a beautiful and powerful sentiment.

gif cred: @nat111love

I love the way TOWL really affirmed Richonne’s soulmate status. Like their souls are in every way connected and so of course even miles and miles apart she can still feel him.

And I bet she knows the way she feels Rick's presence is different than the way she feels Carl or Andre's. In s9 Michonne told Negan she sees Carl in everything so she obviously still feels his presence but in a way of someone who is no longer with her. With Rick, you can just tell that she feels him alive and breathing and walking the earth.

Again, with the immense amount of love Rick was still emitting to her while with the CRM it makes perfect sense that she can still feel him.

Nat tells Michonne that the Japanese on her phone means “believe a little bit longer” and Michonne silently reacts with tears in her eyes, knowing that's likely what Rick has been doing all these years.

gif cred: @nat111love

Michonne then notes that Nat has been telling her to go home. Nat says she should go home but she can still believe that Rick is out there. And then knowing that Danai is an incredible actor with even just her eyes and expressions alone, they zoom in really close as Michonne sheds tears and entertains an idea she’s fought so hard for years to not entertain.

She vulnerably says, “It’s been right in front of me, hasn’t it? All this time, it’s been right in front of me. It’s been so long. If he were alive…he would’ve found his way.” Ok that has my soul sobbing everytime. 😭 It’s so beautiful to see how much she loves him and so painful to see her voice break as she says this.

gif cred: @nat111love

And it’s touching because it again shows how much she believes in Rick. She knows if he could have been home by now he would’ve. But the thing is...Rick needs her in order to truly find his way and without her, he’s too lost to find his way on his own.

I love the way she says this line with so much love, belief, and care for Rick. Almost like she just wants to know even if Rick can’t be with her that he’s okay out there and that he’s found his way somehow, just as a person she loves and wants the best for.

gif cred: @nat111love

All and all, it just really moves me to hear Michonne say this. She knows that Rick Grimes would fight tooth and nail for his family so, considering he's been away from them for years, it might mean he’s not alive. And honestly, that's correct in a way because Rick isn’t alive. When the chance to see her again was taken from him, he lost himself and decided to die.

At this very moment, Rick is living life as the walking dead without her and so that’s why he hasn’t found his way. He lost his compass when he lost Michonne so he can’t get home without her. But I love how Michonne believes Rick would have found his way no matter what. 

Nat is comforting saying Michonne doesn’t know for sure if Rick is gone and then gives her a balanced perspective as he beautifully says, “You can believe he’s out there, that he’s not gone. You can believe a little longer and still go home to your kids. You can know when to go. You can do both.”

gif cred: @nat111love

And then I appreciate his supportiveness in letting Michonne know she doesn’t have to do it alone as he says, “I can do it with you. I will.” He’s the best. 🥹 And how I wish Nat could have gone to ASZ with Michonne and Rick. You just know he would become a beloved uncle to Judith and RJ. 🥲

Nat then tells Michonne something that she really needs to hear as he says, “It’s not giving up.” I think for Michonne, heading back home feels like failing and giving up on her true love when she knows and feels that Rick needs her, and she needs him, and her kids need them both.

Like for someone as loyal and determined as Michonne, going back without finding him would be such a hard and painful defeat. And you see that on Michonne's face as she sheds tears and seriously wrestles in her mind with how going back home now could feel like giving up on the man she loves.  

gif cred: @nat111love

Nat turns on the walkie and as they listen to the static Michonne let’s it all out as she bursts into tears and Nat hugs her like the good friend he is. That was such a raw vulnerable moment. 😭 I love that Michonne got to just release her emotions over everything by this fire because there’s clearly so much weighing on her.

gif cred: @nat111love

I know when hearing that static she’s longing to hear her children’s voices and be back with them. She’s longing to see her husband and be back in his arms too. She's been put through so much in mind and body after the CRM attack and put through even more before the CRM attack in her six or so years as a single mom and head of security.

And in this moment by the fire, you see her just bring all that emotion to the surface and finally know it’s time to go home, even without Rick as much as that breaks her heart.

gif cred: @nat111love

This scene by the fire was stunningly acted by Danai and Matthew. 👏🏽

And then - the episode cuts to "Now" as Richonne’s epic reunion is so close you can feel it in the air…literally. 😌👌🏽

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

Do you have any Debbie + Ian headcanons? Pre-canon or otherwise

eek!! yes i have many… and a lot of them are pre-canon because i’m a sucker for pre-canon

i’ve written about this before (and never published it lol), but i could see one of ian’s first memories being around debbie’s birth or her actual birth. frank said something about most of his kids being born in the gallagher house, and i believe debbie was born on the same table she gave birth to franny on. ian was really excited to be a brother because of lip’s influence, and when he held debbie for the first time, he kept calling her “my baby” and getting defensive when anyone tried to take her away (which was reasonable considering he was only four and couldn’t really hold her properly without help). when they got older, maybe five and nine, they would play together with the barbie lip took from the 99¢ store and ian’s g.i. joe, debbie was very bossy and kept interjecting whenever ian tried to do anything because she had a specific plan.

whenever frank would come home wasted or monica would be having another episode, ian would grab debbie (like he does in 2x08 and 11x07) and comfort her. he would convince himself that, yet again, he was following in lip’s footsteps and helping debbie, but a part of him knew he too wanted that comfort because he didn’t often get it.

debbie has painted ian’s nails… on several occasions. when they were kids and debbie would do it, ian would insist she picks a color that wouldn’t be noticeable and would pick it off his nails before school the next day. when ian got older and debbie would do it, he didn’t really care what she did and would keep it on (even if he ended up biting it off later). maybe as an emt sue would tease him, but he’d just brush it off. franny ends up painting his, too.

around two, maybe more, times, debbie would come with ian to the milkovich house. ian would go over to study with mandy (and sneak into mickey’s room to “go to the bathroom”), and debbie would talk with mandy. she felt really cool doing this, and on the walk home debbie would excitedly tell ian about how awesome she thinks mandy is. this is around season two

while working at the kash and grab in the summer, debbie (and sometimes carl) would walk there from the public pool and debbie would convince ian to give her money for some candy or a drink. ian always intended on doing so, but he would pretend to put up a fight to irritate her.

anytime ian (or any of her siblings) was sick or hurt and needed to stay in bed, debbie would sneak into his room and talk to him like he has terminal cancer and weeks to live. ian always found it sweet, even if he would playfully roll his eyes and tell her to get out.

when debbie was pregnant, she would send ian photos of her baby bump. she wouldn’t often get more than a “❤️”, but she appreciated it considering she felt so alone, but always knew she’d have her brother.

because season ten confirmed debbie’s a stoner as an adult (twice, lol) i can imagine her smoking on the porch with ian like she did with sandy. he’d talk about mickey, she’d talk about franny, they’d laugh about their other siblings.

i can’t really think of anything else but if anyone’s seeing this and wants more headcanons i’ll happily post them, my blog’s kinda dead now (which is totally my own fault lol)

[ariainstars]

Why Can’t the Star Wars Franchise Renew Itself?

„Shame is a soul eating emotion.“ (Carl Gustav Jung)

Warning: longer post.

Growing up with Japanese anime I learned that being a hero is not about being perfect. The heroes I knew looked cool, were smart and brave and anything you could wish for, but also human: they were tormented, traumatized, struggling, they often doubted themselves and they sometimes cried (yes, the guys too). When I was first confronted with the Western idea of heroism I was appalled; to this day, I can’t fathom what is even supposed to be heroic about a guy like James Bond. Western heroes are usually just as terrible as the villains, except that for some reason they happen to be on the right side. The way they appear is more important than what they do. Franchises like Terminator, Mission Impossible, Batman etc. always portray the “hero” as untouchable, seemingly unbeatable even in the most dangerous situations and, most of all: impassive.

These days, new stories are being told. With new heroes. Except that said heroes are still quite the same as above, only now they’re more often female.

Is it an improvement when heroes are portrayed as being complete a**holes, with an aura of perfection and untouchability? No.

It always was ridiculous. It always was awful. It always was immoral.

But hardly anyone seemed to care as long as it was the guys being tough. Now that females are often portrayed doing and appearing the same, being a cool a**hole has become a caricature. Most people hate it. But the problem is that portraying alleged “heroes” like that was wrong in the first place.

The Fandom Menace

To Star Wars viewers who see stories as simply black and white and who are there mostly for the action and the superior-looking heroes, the Jedi are untouchable. Solitary and aloof, the Jedi have shiny sabres and can make things float, they travel the galaxy to kill the villains according to their own judgement. What could be more masculine than that? You try to tell an action film fan, or a Jedi fan, in particular, how messed up that is: they will never accept it. No wonder they get so upset and embarrassed when Jedi show their vulnerable, human side. Luke’s green milk in The Last Jedi must have caused a million of meltdowns among Jedi stans, mostly male ones, who felt that their hero had been character-assassinated and totally missing the point. Fans who are used to admire “heroes” like Batman, James Bond, Rambo etc. believe that the main characteristics of a male hero is a stoic appearance. A man who actually questions and doubts himself and feels guilty when he did wrong is automatically branded a loser.

Star Wars is mostly followed by action fans. But since it’s not a typical action franchise but an epic fairy tale and a metacommentary rich in symbolism, philosophy and psychology, there are also many intellectuals who love it, or hopelessly romantic souls like me. Except that fans who can actually enjoy Star Wars even when it’s not about the alleged Jedi superheroes, will most probably not send death threats to the studios and believe that “everything will be better once these producers are gone.”

The Prequels

The prequels were so disputed that Goerge Lucas himself confessed that he had sold the rights to the saga because he didn’t want to be exposed to that pressure any more. Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar, was mobbed to the point where he considered suicide. Jake Lloyd, who portrayed little Anakin, suffers from schizophrenia to this day.

Were the films really that bad? No. But for the first time after having spent the years since 1977 believing that the Jedi were the wisest and strongest men of their time, fans were let down being confronted with their many mistakes. The iconic villain Darth Vader was all too human as well, and quickly got apostrophized as a “whiny brat.” The very idea that the iconic villain once was a kind-hearted little boy and then an ardent young man was considered shocking to say the least.

The Classics

Luke is a simple farmboy when the saga starts, young, hot-headed and naïve. He is hardly aware of his powers. In the second film he’s more mature, but still impulsive and reckless. It’s only in the third instalment that he’s calm and collected: he’s a Jedi now, as the title says.

Let me ask a bold question.

Would there have been the vicious uproar we have witnessed, had The Last Jedi picked Luke up where he was in the first two films, before he became a Jedi?

I daresay, no.

Because to the Jedi stans Luke is first and foremost a Jedi. And that is what they get wrong.

Luke’s strength was exactly that he did not act like the other Jedi, that he followed his heart instead of their maxims. Had he acted like a Jedi, like Obi-Wan and Yoda expected him to, he would have killed his own father and spent the rest of his life hating himself. Luke is a team player, it’s one of his greatest strengths ever since the first film. He’s the one who brings people together and reunites his family. No Jedi is like that, on the contrary, in the prequels we learn that they’re discouraged from bonding with other people.

Jedi stans love Luke the Jedi, not Luke the person, who was wiser and stronger and better than any of the old-school Jedi, who strictly followed the rules instead of following their hearts the way he did.

Luke is the central character of the classic films because he’s so likeable. All three classic films have a scene towards the end where he’s about to die, and someone rushes to the rescue - Han in the first film, Leia in the second, Vader in the third. Do they save him because they are interested in his Jedi-like qualities? No. They do because they care for him; because, each in his own way, are his family. The Skywalker saga is a hymn to the power of love.

Hardcore fans still haven’t understood that the core story of Star Wars is the Skywalker saga, the story of a family. That’s the actual beauty and fascination of the Star Wars saga. And yet Jedi stans can pick apart any and every photogram of The Last Jedi and rant about how awful it is, never getting one inch closer to what is actually irking them too much: their own, misguided conviction that The Jedi Are the Good Guys and that their detached, collected attitude is not hypocritical.

Pride, male pride in particular can be oversensitive, and apparently many don’t grow beyond the mental stage of adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable. Listening to Jedi stans one would think that the Disney studios are producing new Star Wars content with the deliberate intention of hurting their feelings and laughing into the face of their ideals.

The Sequels

In Return of the Jedi (the only film where for all intents and purposes Luke looks and acts like a Jedi, and the title says it), on the Death Star he lashes out towards Vader when he threatens to corrupt Leia if he won’t succeed with him; and when he realizes that Vader can feel him in his mind, he says “I shouldn’t have come, I’m endangering the whole mission”. This fits perfectly to a Luke who debates killing his nephew - and that time he didn’t even strike - and who, once the damage is done, closes himself off the Force and retires to a deserted island before he can do any more harm. But ever since The Last Jedi, Jedi stans rave that “their hero” Luke Skywalker would never have behaved like that and that the film was a slap in the face of everything he ever stood for. Why?

Jedi stans expected Luke to be the hero and central figure of the sequel: he was supposed to be adult at last, wise, self-controlled, powerful, in other words the perfect Jedi. After the events on the second Death Star, Luke was not celebrated; no one even knew that Vader had saved him. In the final scene he had a vision of his father, now looking healed and serene, together with Yoda and Obi-Wan. No one else saw that, not even his sister. So, a lot of fans were waiting for Luke to have his big moment at last.

Instead, they saw a disillusioned hermit who at one point had to admit that he pushed his own nephew, albeit not on purpose, to the Dark Side. Luke was portrayed as a man who still had hope and strength even when he had seen his whole life’s work literally go up in smoke; who admitted his faults, apologized, and in the end gave his life to still make the best of the situation. That is what true heroism looks like. But it’s not what an average action moviegoer wants to see: to them, a hero looks cool, kills whoever gets in his way, maybe says some wise-sound words, and that’s it. Bonus if he gets the girl.

Jedi stans felt that Rey, was taking the shine from Luke, pushing him aside. Far from usurping his place, Rey said to Luke “I need someone to show me my place in all this”. She clearly didn’t want to fill in his place. But Jedi stans felt like they were watching a James Bond film where Bond is suddenly not convinced of his mission, doubts himself and steps aside to make way for someone who normally would only be a Bond girl.

Rey is one of the most controversial characters of the sequels, allegedly because she’s a Mary Sue or a feminist fantasy who didn’t earn all that she achieved. But in the classics Luke was also good at things we never or hardly had seen him training or learning before. In The Empire Strikes Back, he pulled his sabre into his hand only by the force of his will, and called out to Leia in his mind. He acted on instinct; he assuredly hadn’t trained at a Jedi temple for decades.

The sequels were the story of the third generation of the Skywalker family, and one of its main mistakes, the way I see it today, is that they focus too much on Rey. She is Ben’s other half in the Force, as we learn later on, but still: the scion of the Skywalker family is he, he is the one who changes deeply, while she doesn’t.

I like Kylo Ren / Ben Solo because he’s a complex character, well-written and interpreted, but not only for that. I understood him so well on a personal level. I know what it means to be so isolated and abused that the moment someone shows you only a glimpse of kindness you fall in love to the point you would do anything for that person. The actual problem was that Rey did not know what she wanted, or what the Force wanted her to do. She only told Ben “not to go this way”. He saved her life twice, once as Kylo (when he killed Snoke) and once as Ben (when he gave her his remaining life force). If she had known what she wanted apart from staying alive, or if she had known the will of the Force, I do not doubt that he would have done anything she wanted. But she didn’t.

Star Wars stories only develop and the heroes only have success when they know what they want, not what they want to avoid. Fair enough. But the Force’s will remains mysterious. Even the alleged Chosen One didn’t know it. After The Last Jedi, I naively assumed that the better times when the Jedi actually did the will of the Force and the galaxy was at peace was during the time when the temple of Ahch-To was built; that we would learn more about it and that new Force users would find back to these better times. Seven years after having seen the Force Balance mosaic on the floor of the Jedi temple, I’m still waiting in vain for one or more Force users to actually discover and share said balance.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

The miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi was the first and only time that I actually liked a character who I had until then felt to be narrow-minded, haughty and largely responsible for Anakin’s damnation and the downfall of the republic.

“From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!” Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith

Obi-Wan proved that Anakin was right a few minutes later: he ended the duel with Anakin cutting off his legs and leaving him to burn in the lava - a Jedi does not soil his hands through a coup de grace. Obi-Wan did not manage to save Anakin in the moment of his greatest need, and he did not have mercy. Padme was about to take Anakin with her, which would at least have spared the galaxy the worst. Being the perfect Jedi, of course Obi-Wan had to interfere, setting the seal on Anakin’s fate. At the beginning of the same film Anakin killed Count Dooku who was kneeling handless in front of him; and it was also said that Anakin had saved Obi-Wans’s life ten times over. But he did not learn from his mistakes: twenty years later he tried to push the naïve Luke to patricide, so that is own hands would, again, not get dirty. Obi-Wan recurrently appeared to Luke as a Jedi spirit; but in The Empire Strikes Back when the traumatized young man, having learned the truth, repeated over and over, „Ben, why didn’t you tell me?” he was silent. When they did meet again, he shirked his responsibility with wise-sounding words.

Was Obi-Wan a good Jedi? From their perspective, undoubtedly. But I would not call him a compassionate human being. Obi-Wan was afraid not so much of Anakin but of the Jedi’s judgement: he knew that if Anakin tripped over a line, he as his master would be responsible. And Yoda had his fair share of responsibility - he refused to help Obi-Wan with the training of the powerful boy, he feared him although he was the one who clearly said that fear is the way to the Dark Side, and in Revenge of the Sith he practically ordered Obi-Wan to kill him.

Obi-Wan was always the first to draw the weapon. In A New Hope, he cut off the arm of a guy at a bar who was merely annoying him. In Revenge of the Sith, he attacked General Grievous showing up behind him, challenging to an uncalled-for fight. He had neither himself nor anyone else to protect right then. During his duel with Anakin / Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, he also was the first to draw his weapons.

Obi-Wan never questioned himself, his choices and actions. He never took his responsibilities: even when dead, he justified his blatant lie to Luke saying that the truth is only a point of view. He never felt guilty or admitted defeat and wrong choices.

Not until Obi-Wan Kenobi, where was alone, traumatized, regretful, bonding with little Leia. Owen said clearly him that he did not want him to train Luke because of the way he had trained his father. Human at last! The last thing Jedi stans want him to be like. He even did what a Jedi actually ought to do, giving Reva spiritual advice. Of course, another Star Wars character who was accused of having been “character assassinated”.

Was Moses Ingram attacked for her portrayal of Reva because she’s a woman of colour? No, it was because Obi-Wan was not portrayed as Jedi stans wanted to see him. The actress was mobbed because they needed someone to project their hatred on. It’s true that her character was not written well, but any fool must have known that it wasn’t the actresses’ fault.

The Acolyte (2024)

“The Jedi live in a dream. A dream they believe everyone shares. If you attack a Jedi with a weapon you will fail… But an acolyte kills without a weapon. An acolyte kills the dream.” (The Stranger)

„The majority of my colleagues can’t imagine a galaxy without the Jedi. And I can understand why. When you’re looking up to heroes, you don’t have to face what’s right in front of you.“

„I think the Jedi are a massive system of unchecked power posing as a religion. A delusional cult that claims to control the uncontrollable. You project an image of goodness and restraint. But it’s only a matter of time before one of you snaps. And when, not if that happens, who will be strong enough to stop him?”

(Senator Rayencourt to Master Vernestra)

Did anyone at Disney Lucasfilm honestly think that this kind of show would be accepted and even loved by Jedi stans, who make up the majority of the fans - or at least a group that is very loud in their disapproval? If it “simply” was a bad tv show, fans would be disappointed, shrug it off and move on. I haven’t met such an amount of online vitriol since The Last Jedi, and it’s not difficult to see why: because the precious Jedi were shown as arrogant fools who believe they mean well but are too narrow-minded and stuck-up to see the errors in their ways.

„The Force does not belong to the Jedi.” (Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi)

Some in the galaxy far, far away call it The Thread. And use it their own way. Both ways might be wrong. Osha is raised by two very different mentalities and finds both don’t suit her, so she joins The Stranger who is also looking to find his own path. Whether they will or not we won’t know unfortunately, since the show’s second season was cancelled. (At least for now.)

Is Master Sol a bad person? No. He’s fallible and believes that the lies he told Osha are justified. So are the other Jedi that travel to Brendok with him. What makes Jedi stans hate them is that they actually feel guilty for what they did to Mae, Osha and their family. They take responsibility for their failure, see the narrow-minded arrogance of their ways. Vernestra lies to the Jedi Council to make sure they won’t find out what happened.

Sol took Osha away from everything she had known by destroying, in the process, her home, her past and her family, and letting her live in a lie for the next sixteen years. Sol knew that she was already too old to be trained, and taking her as his padawan he set her up for failure. Even when she left the Jedi order, failing the tests, he didn’t tell her the truth. Osha was condemned to loneliness, her only friend being Pip, a mechanical device. She could go back neither to Brendok nor to the Jedi, and being Force sensitive, she belonged nowhere until she met the Stranger.

Sol certainly was kind to her while he trained her, but for all the wrong reasons. He said that he “felt that Osha was meant to be his padawan”. What does that mean? Osha failed the tests and Sol knew she was already too old for training. He even said he loved her at one point. My take is that Sol felt lonely and wanted to raise her as his daughter, he did not care that much about Osha becoming a Jedi nor not. Osha was right confronting him about what he had done to her, her sister and her entire coven, allegedly knowing what was best for her. She didn’t have to go as far as to kill him, I found that it did a lot to make her character unlikeable. Osha effectively “killed the past”, the way Ben Solo had wanted to. However: if it’s immoral to kill your father figure, it is equally immoral, if not much worse, of said father figure to wipe out your family and its entire civilization with it just to get a hold on you because you have the same power as he.

Impossible!! A Real Jedi would never do that! That’s why Jedi stans hate on the show and will pick on every small detail where they believe they find a flaw. The actual flaw is their headcanon that the Jedi can’t be the problem. Watching the saga, you see that they were very much a problem. But woe if you speak up; your will get your head ripped off.

The Acolyte also isn’t a female fantasy, as his haters claim. The strongest and most impressive character is The Stranger (the Stranger). Mae is his first pupil, but she doesn’t connect with him on a personal level, she only learns fighting from him; in the end, this makes her regress to childhood (The Stranger deleting her memory and she finding herself helpless in the Jedi order the way her sister had been sixteen years earlier). So? It appears that just wanting to be a strong female character and to do what a guy shows you is the wrong way, which is certainly not feministic.

The Stranger, despite his black clothes and mask, is not a real villain: when you watch him fight you see that he defends himself, he never attacks first. Despite their Code, again we see Jedi draw their weapons first, attack from behind or ten against one. He rightly points out to Osha that Yord had arrested her for a crime she did not commit and that both Jecki and Sol, whom she saw as her friends, would never commit fully to her.

Another popular criticism is that The Stranger alias The Stranger allegedly has seduced Osha to the Dark Side with his male charms. But the Stranger is a mixed creature the way Osha is, neither good nor evil; he kills in defence or self-defence, and when he criticizes the ways of the Jedi he has a point. Osha is neither good nor evil herself, and I liked that they were starting on a new way together, all the more because I had been so disappointed that the sequels didn’t show us the much-needed and already announced Balance in the Force. When both Anakin and his grandson Ben came back to the Light side, it swallowed them whole, causing their death.

The Acolyte is a metaphor for growing up. Osha learned two ways of using the Force - first with (mother) Aniseya, then with Sol (father figure). The Stranger understands her doubts because he’s been through the same. Osha understands him better after putting on his helmet. In the end, they join their lives to find a new way together and in the final scene, both turn their backs to the past.

The Broom Boy: a Metaphor for the Future

The final scene of The Last Jedi with the Force-sensitive slave boy sweeping a floor before an open space which looks very much like a theatre stage, and who then looks up to the stars dreaming of being a Jedi, was clear: “Free the stage, now it’s time for us, the children.” There has hardly been a Star Wars show until now where there wasn’t a child in a central role.

Since the prequels, Star Wars made a point of showing that the Jedi are very bad at dealing with children. Anakin was taken away from his mother at age nine, shouldered with the prediction “You are the Chosen One”, and his emotional development was stunted because he was not allowed to go through the stages of being a normal child and teenager. Remember Attack of the Clones, where we see children playing around with light sabres - deadly weapons - like they were toys? Or Revenge of the Sith, where we see even smaller children, all with their light sabre tucked into their belts? It looks tragic. The scene where Anakin kills the children is a painful metacommentary on how a good person with a gun is no match against a bad person with a gun.

Sol: „She was just a child.” The Stranger: „You brought her here.”

In The Acolyte, Torbin and Jecki are heartbreaking examples of two Jedi padawans not allowed to be the teenagers they actually are. Jedi stans call Torbin “whiny”, but they overlook that his behaviour is normal for any teenager forced to be away from home for weeks on end on a trip he didn’t choose to make. Jecki is more mature, yet she gets killed. The Stranger rightly points out that they both should never have come along on a risky mission to a planet with wholly unknown dangers. Jedi stans of course despise Torbin, because he’s supposed to be proud to be part of the Jedi since it gives him the possibility to look cool and fight all the bad guys in sight. Ironically, Torbin is the only member of the group of Jedi on Brendok who feels that something dreadful is about to happen and wants to go away. And years later, he is the only Jedi who admits to Mae that he feels guilty for what they did to Osha and her covert believing “they were doing the right thing”. That’s simply not what Jedi stans want to see. It’s an aberration to them, a slap in the face of everything they believe in.

Luke did not learn his ideals from the Jedi, he learned them at home with two simple farmers who neither were Force-sensitive nor knew the ways of the Jedi. Had he been raised like his father, all his power wouldn’t have helped him. Why do the Jedi insist that at a certain age you’re too old to be trained? I daresay because you have to start with brainwashing very early, before a person’s character is formed and its ideals in place.

The Mandalorian always allows Grogu to be a child. He keeps him close because that’s where’s he’s safest; he does look for safer places where he could leave him and is ready to make the sacrifice to give him up, but Sorgan proves not to be safe and later on Ossus, Grogu chooses to leave Luke on his own accord. And as soon as he is with Mando, he shows his playful side again. Grogu needs that! It’s healthy, because a child needs to be a child, no matter how powerful it is. But Jedi stans only think that it must be a great honour to be trained to be a hero from childhood on, never considering that it’s unfulfilling and frustrating at best, and traumatizing at worst.

It’s not a coincidence that family is the core theme of the Skywalker saga. Children who grow up feeling loved and protected develop well. That’s a wise message, and The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Mandalorian made a good point of it. But still: until now it didn’t lead anywhere. None of the Force-sensitive children we saw until now pointed to a new and better new Jedi Order, or anything else of that sort.

Star Wars Bigotry: Jedi and Jedi stans

If the Force wants Balance, as is said in the prequels, then the Jedi must be just as wrong as the Sith, because the Force does not want to be used either way.

I don’t mind a good villain. But if a viewer needs to compartmentalize characters into black and white or else he believes it can’t work, then that’s his problem, not the author’s. The sequels were unclear as to who the villain was, so was The Acolyte, so Jedi stans rave about how they suck. In my opinion they’re interesting exactly because the good guys sometimes do wrong and the bad guys sometimes are right. Of course, anyone who’s adamant that a good story, in particular a good Star Wars story, has to be Good Guys against Bad Guys with the Jedi being the good guys will never accept that.

The Jedi worshippers are many, and they are the most vicious among the SW fandom. Woe if you dare to criticize their Flawless Heroes with shiny light sabres who make things float. They will pretend that „wokeism“, feminism, blackwashing etc. are the problem. But that’s not true. Most of them wouldn’t mind strong female characters, queer or black characters whatsoever as long as the show they appear in would actually focus on showing off the Jedi as heroes. They do not mind stories like The Mandalorian, Rogue One, Andor, or The Bad Batch, they usually like them: because the Jedi hardly appear there. Or if they do, like in The Mandalorian season 2, The Book of Boba Fett or Ahsoka, they kick ass. In The Force Awakens Han Solo, also a very popular character, got killed, and no one hated on that film, on the contrary, most fans loved it. But hey, Han is not a Jedi. He can die a seemingly senseless death.

The Book of Boba Fett was mediocre at best. But it wasn’t hated. On the contrary, a lot of fans loved episode 6 because they finally saw a young Luke as a Jedi master making frogs float (argh!). The Jedi taught their pupils to suppress their feelings and to live without attachments, an attitude that proved fatal. Yet Jedi stans love the idea, probably because of the age-old adage of the lonesome cowboy who is too cool and aloof to care for anyone. They loved seeing Luke as an adult Jedi master alone and cut off from the very people who had been his life and purpose until then. He trained Grogu but didn’t play with him, didn’t allow him to be a child. It was the contrary of everything the character ever stood for - family, friendship, team spirit, loyalty. Of course that was not seen as “character assassination”, apparently that’s exactly what they wanted to see.

Many Star Wars fans believe that Luke Skywalker and the Jedi stand in for certain values, which they claim as their own. These values are their own values; they have only chosen a person and a group to represent them. If you believe that Star Wars is about Good vs. Evil and that the Jedi are the heroes who always triumph, of course you will be disappointed by the new stories. The studios are not deliberately harming the franchise, it’s the fans who want the saga to fit their worldview. They hardly care for what the stories really tell them. Someone who e.g. is convinced that all Frenchmen are cheaters and liars will also see a Frenchman and see in him the embodiment of everything he despises; he will not care to get to know this man better, or to learn about his country and his culture. And if said Frenchman has success in his life and is popular, the worse. It’s unacceptable. And anyone who does not hate this particular man is an idiot.

Bigotry has many forms, it doesn’t only mean despising and not wanting to understand people from another race, religion, orientation etc. The Fandom Menace’s bigotry consists in worshipping the Jedi and hating anything that criticizes them. Bigotry is the firm conviction of being Good, and supporting who also is “Good”, whatever category those good people are supposed to belong to. A bigot is a stern denier of his own sins and inner darkness. Either you’re with him or against him. Bigoted people are capable of fighting tooth and nail against perceived “enemies” who threaten their ideal of the “goodness” they believe in and think they belong to. Unfortunately, Jedi stans have many channels on social media and many, many followers who would rather die than see the Jedi as anything but perfect. A perfect person does not go wrong, of course. Ever. Their perfection prevents them from questioning themselves. A lot of fans don’t even watch the pieces of media they criticize at all, but hate on them anyway because their influencers tell them they suck. Bullies do not care who they attack. They feel frustrated, they can’t handle their feeling of shame, and take it out on who is or seems most vulnerable. And the worst bullies are those who pretend they are being aggressive out of morality.

“Wokeism” is Not the Problem

After the hatred coming from the fans who disapproved hotly of The Last Jedi, the narrative of this film was tainted and instead of finishing all the narrative threads it had set up, it was plainly ignored in favour of a pure action film, flat and disappointing. The Rise of Skywalker ended not only the trilogy but the entire saga in a way that I can only call disgraceful. On both sides, hardly anyone really liked it. But was it hated? No, because the Jedi were portrayed as the heroes, with even one ridiculous scene where the ghost of Luke appears to Rey telling her how wrong he had been when he was still alive.

Just for comparison: very many fans of Joker didn’t understand the film’s point as well. Todd Philips answered with the sequel Folie à deux, which is a logical continuation of the first film and boldly asks the audience to look at themselves and their wrong interpretation. The reviews are mixed - as with The Last Jedi, apparently you can only love or hate that film -, but Folie à deux is, first of all, a good film. In time, when the controversy has calmed down, it will be remembered as an excellent piece of art. The Rise of Skywalker is just embarrassing, and there’s no way it can age well.

The saga was indeed tainted, but not by Disney. Toxic fans who flooded social media with hate after The Last Jedi and sent death threats or tearful resentment to the studios did, resulting in the production of the flattest, most low-quality and uninteresting film Star Wars has ever seen, obviously patched together as a try to “amend” for what didn’t need to be amended for in the first place.

Star Wars’ strength is constant weaving between Good and Evil, good guys showing dark sides and bad guys having a point, interacting and learning from one another instead of killing each other. It could be a dream for film studios and authors, because it offers such rich tapestry for storytelling: the possibilities seem endless. But every time anyone dares to criticize Jedi or to show that an alleged Bad Guy still has a bright spot in his heart, and that he might have his reason for turning his back on the Jedi, Jedi stans cry out to heaven as if an inconceivable blasphemy had occurred.

If you like the sequels, you’re an idiot “Reylo” who believes she can fix the bad guy. Kylo Ren alias Ben Solo was the most deep, complex and fascinating character of the sequels, who went through a deep and compelling transformation. And no, he was not fixed by a woman’s love. But if you understand his conflict and follow him hoping for him to come back to the Light, you just “don’t get it that he’s the villainTM who wants to seduce an innocent girl to become evil”.

Same thing with The Acolyte of course, because there’s a scene where we see the non-Jedi-not-quite-Sith taking off his clothes. Of course the Stranger was “evil”; he wanted an acolyte, i.e. he did not want to be alone. What kind of guy is that, who does not embrace his loneliness?! The Strager - a guy - was he coolest character of all in The Acolyte and the only “relationship” we saw there was one between man and woman. But if you like that show you’re apostrophized as woke (which is still a mild word), because the author is a lesbian and the actress portraying the protagonist identifies as non-binary. That is neither true nor does queerness have anything to do with the show’s quality.

Luke exposed himself both body and soul to the Emperor, first almost falling to the Dark Side himself and then almost dying in the process, because he wanted to “fix” the Bad Guy, aka his father. And he actually did.

In The Bad Batch, the character of Crosshair goes from belonging to the heroes to betraying them and then going back again. In the last season his relationship with Omega is evenly balanced, they break free from imprisonment together. It’s one of the show’s best parts. But they are no Jedi, so that show is not hated on.

Jedi stans expect Star Wars to “stick to its roots”, i.e. tell stories where morals are as clearly cut as in A New Hope. They don’t consider that that expectation was already beyond all hope when The Empire Strikes Back came out, with its infamous key scene and all its implications, including the failure and hypocrisy of the Jedi.

Action films have taught spectators that real heroism is defined by the “license to kill”, i.e. the good guy is recognizable from the fact that he has the right - or believes he has the right - to kill anyone who stands in his way. Jedi stans love the idea that Jedi are the good guys because, not having attachments, apparently that gives them the right and to decide who must be sacrificed by them “for the greater good”. I would like to see them in a situation where someone, maybe even someone they love, tells them “Oh well, now I’m going to sacrifice you for the greater good.” It’s absurd and unbelievably cruel to pretend that such an attitude has anything to do with good morals. If anything, it ought to be the victim who decides that they’re sacrificing their lives, not some Jedi or other hero who allegedly has the right to decide over life and death.

Luke Skywalker himself sacrificed himself over and over. He did debate to kill his nephew, but it was only a brief moment of panic on his side, he didn’t go through with it, and afterwards he felt so ashamed he exiled himself. Luke’s trademark characteristic was his compassion; whereas we never see a Jedi act out of compassion. And believing that having no attachments because it gives you the licence to sacrifice someone “for the greater good” is everything but compassionate. But even the greatest Jedi and Luke stans don’t see any contradiction there.

Do the Jedi stans really expect a white male straight character as the lead? No. Most of them for instance were fine with Jyn Erso being the protagonist of Rogue One. But in that film, there was no Jedi. When the sequels, Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Acolyte came out, they were upset because the non-white, non-male, non-straight characters seem adamant to take the place of who Star Wars allegedly ought to be all about. Jedi stans want a story where they can be on the side of the “good guys”, follow them sitting comfortably on their couch or in a theatre seat, identify with them and pump their fist in the air when “their side has won”. A lot of them do appreciate more complex stories like Andor; but their untouchable Jedi do not appear there, so there is nothing to hate on.

The classic trilogy’s topics were Hope, Love and Faith (the Force representing and tying together all three). The prequels had very little of all of that, because they’re the story of a tragedy and a massive failure; but what fans who like them apparently have learned from the prequels it’s that it must be great to be a Jedi, lonely and aloof and the master over life and death. Who wants Hope, Love and Faith instead of cool heroes killing everybody who stands in the way of what they decide is right?

Where Do We Go from Here

Star Wars will never have the chance to truly evolve and renew itself as long as there are people who will cry blasphemy any time a film or tv show dares to portray one Jedi or the Jedi as a whole as anything but perfect. Try to tell a Jedi stan that the Jedi perhaps are not the Good Guys after all (starting with Luke Skywalker after his third film): it’s as telling a staunch Catholic that Jesus was not the Son of God. They will fight you literally like their soul depended on it.

The unpardonable fault, in the eyes of Jedi stans, is not diversity the way it’s often mistakenly interpreted; it’s the Disney studios portraying the Jedi Order, Luke, Boba, Obi-Wan etc. as humans instead of Good or Evil cardboard cut-outs. To them, that’s simply bad writing, and they sternly refuse to see any other angle; they identify with the allegedly Good Guys and now believe it’s up to them to put up a fight against the Bad Guys who make their heroes allegedly look like fools, i.e. who dare to take them from their pedestal by criticizing or at least humanizing them. It was the Jedi stans who built said pedestal. It wasn’t George Lucas or the Disney studios.

Most Jedi stans would not mind strong female characters, black, diverse characters, homosexuality etc.; as long as everyone stays in sidelines while the Jedi take the shine. Heated Star Wars discussions usually start with one side accusing the other of being misogynistic, homophobic etc. and the other side claiming that the responsible people at the studios are using the franchise to shove their “woke” agenda down their throats.

Instead of cancelling interesting character developments that were just getting started and ending entire trilogies after almost half a century on disturbingly flat notes, dear Disney Lucasfilm studios: please finally give Jedi stans what they want - a tv show or film trilogy that caters to them. Set it a few hundred years before the fall of the Republic, endow their precious Jedi with all imaginable virtues, let them make things float and have cool light sabre battles destroying some faceless, boring Bad Guy and then take off into the sunset. Tell these kinds of stories for the next decade, and maybe the Fandom Menace will finally be appeased.

Choose a diverse cast if you want: Jedi stans will hardly care. If a Star Wars show had Jedi for protagonists and these would be the infallible, all-wise superheroes their stans take them for, they won’t mind if these Jedi were black, Asian, female, lesbians or non-binary, with a few white straight people sprinkled throughout. They will swallow it hook, line and sinker.

In the meantime, please complete the stories that you enchanted us other fans with, which are actually epic and magical and centred around human connection and personal development.

Thank you.