#compare the spoilers for TLJ to TFA and TROS

[frumfrumfroo]

Just out of curiosity, Who do you think is mainly responsible for the failure of the Sequel trilogy aka episode 9?

It seems like it's probably Bob Iger, because he would have been the one ultimately making the call not to push the release date. If it's true that Rian would have done it if they'd given him enough time and Kennedy wanted that- then you can lay an enormous amount of the blame directly at Iger's feet.

To what extent it was Kennedy's decision to bring in Colin and then Jjerrio, I don't know, but allegedly she was the one who wanted Rian to come back. So immediate responsibility might not have been hers, but she'd still be to blame for creating the situation in the first place.

Shifting away from whomsoever allowed the massive overflowing dumpster full of oily rags to become situated next to the fireworks factory back to the person who okayed soaking rags in oil in the first place, it's the fault of the LF executives for not having a thematic outline and not knowing what they were trying to say before they started. A plot outline wasn't necessary, but understanding how this was going to be part of and reaffirm the existing saga was. Rian pulled their asses out of the fire and created the illusion of competence at LF by making the ST seem like it genuinely wanted to tell a story and TFA wasn't just a soft reboot slash Disneyland Area Tour of ANH in a trenchcoat made of modern blockbuster cliches. He followed up on all the shit TFA threw at the wall like a writer and asked all the questions the LF executives never asked.

No one thought about idealism, redemption, family, compassion, etc. No one thought about the impact of making the only genuine throughline which connects the ST to the OT and PT, the only character the audience will have a preordained investment in, into an antagonist. No one thought about justifying their choice of protagonist. No one thought about the original characters as characters who needed to have arcs and emotions and comprehensible motivations. No one asked 'what did the original ending leave unsaid or unresolved?' 'How can we reiterate the same message but add something that was missing?' 'How are our new characters commenting on this existing world and what is their place in it?' That they didn't know these answers before anyone ever started writing is nothing short of irresponsible and incompetent.

It is absolutely staggering to me that a bunch of professionals didn't see this as a conversation they needed to have. It's the FIRST conversation they should have had.

But as far as tros just being a shitshow of a film without taking into account the garbage script or the fact that it destroyed SW, that's on JJ Abrams. He clearly runs his sets like a summer camp, is incompetent and unprofessional, can't make decisions, and has zero creative vision. Another director would never have been able to make a Terrio Episode IX into a good film, but they could shoot one (1) consistent movie with enough coverage to avoid cannibalising itself to create KEY SHOTS and no need to loop pivotal dialogue a month before the premiere. They could probably avoid the entire plot being leaked months ahead of release and deliver an actually finished film.

Was some of the haphazard production nightmare due to the rush and executive meddling from Disney and not really Abrams fault? Probably! But he's got a fucking track record and I'm super comfortable at this point saying his productions are unprofessional and he's very bad at many important aspects of his job.

[juuls]

More The Force Awakens (yessssss) Reylo fic recs by YOU!

Look, okay. Here's the hard truth: A lot of us wish the series was cancelled after The Force Awakens because what in the actual hell was all that nonsense that followed? Anyway, I was in the mood for TFA or TFA-like fics and my readers responded!! I received TLJ and TRoS fics that are actually quite good, so those will be in their own post, whereas the TFA lists will be like... 3 separate posts lol. Thank you everyone for contributing! This is almost entirely a crowd-sourced fic rec list from one of my other posts.

Just in time for reading season (keep an eye on @fanfic-reading-challenge for this and next year’s challenges!) and revisiting some of the best fics from or relating to one of the three sequel trilogy fiilms. There are a couple that delve into the OT and PT but are rare, and there are a few ships other than Reylo, which will be clearly marked, don’t worry!

Fics will be alphabetized by story name, and may need to be broken into a couple posts, which I’ll link together here at a later point.

The point of my fic rec requests were for that old-school, fight-me bro. proud to be a reylo feeling and the sigh we all inevitably let out. There was just something so magical about TFA stories, really….

I’m a Millennial but I’m going to say something really Boomer: I wish for the good ole’ days!! :’(

Included are classics, hidden gems, very… unique fics, some that were written post-TFA and then others that were written post-the other movies because we all just miss TFA too much, hahaha. There are also AUs that fit TFA-themes or were written in the pre-TLJ years.

TFA-related Part One | TFA-related Part Two | TLJ-related & TRoS-related Dates are posted as Y/M/D. Coloured titles are non-Reylo(or at least not just Reylo) Please ignore them rather than making a deal out of it!

***Fics recommended almost exclusively by stranger submission with a few thrown in from my bookmarks!***

Beautiful images gifted and also commissioned for me with @pandacapuccino the wonderful lady she is!

_~_

TFA-associated or post-TFA, AUs included (continued)

On Seven Planets by Mos

First day of posting: 2016-02-12

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 44,234

Chapters: 24

Summary: On opposite sides of a war and a galaxy, Rey and Kylo Ren find themselves in the same places over and over again, each wanting something from the other that neither is able to give: Rey wants to know what Kylo knows about her past and Kylo wants Rey.

Only If You Want To by Violetwilson

First day of posting: 2017-10-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 111,641

Chapters: 19

Summary: Personal security expert (and occasional under-the-table hitman) Kylo Ren has a strong feeling about the cute dive bar waitress with the strange bruises and the vicious wit. /// She's either a victim or the weirdest criminal he's ever met. Possibly both. And yeah, maybe his hands aren't the cleanest, but damn if he isn't tying to help. Now if he could only get her to put down the switchblade...

Onward To The Past by Aaveena

First day of posting: 2020-04-07

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 51,232

Chapters: 12

Summary: Just after the battle of Exegol, Ben Solo and Rey wake up in past versions of themselves a week before the Hosnian Cataclysm. With their knowledge of the future, they take it upon themselves to save the galaxy without anyone (important) dying. Time travel hi-jinx and awkward family reunions ensue!

Our Sentimental Scars by ricca_riot

First day of posting: 2015-12-22 (gee, you got in early!)

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 5,292

Chapters: 1

Summary: Once, maybe twice a year they meet and compare their strengths and scars. The final battle is coming, but it is not here yet. Set five years after TFA, all spoilers, all Reylo.

People Will Say by ReyloTrashCompactor (NextToSomething)

First day of posting: 2016-10-17

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 19,579

Chapters: 10

Summary: In a ditch effort to coax the wary members of the Resistance into accepting the prodigal son Ben Solo back into their fold, General Leia Organa requests a hefty favor from Rey. "Behind every good man is a great woman" is how the saying goes, but the man formerly known as Kylo Ren isn't good, and Rey isn't sure that any manner of hand-holding is going to change people's minds about that.

The Things We Crave by DragonWhiskers (21 fic series)

First day of posting: 2016-01-21

Ship: Reylo

Rated from mostly T to a few E.

Total series word count: 38,593

Total works: 21

Series summary: This will be a series of stories about how Kylo Ren would deal with having nearly everything he thinks he wants.

rarely so well arranged by thehobbem

First day of posting: 2020-05-04

Ship: Reylo, Knights of Ren & Rey & Kylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 33,805 (as of chapter 4)

Chapters: 4/5 (last updated 2021-04-18)

Summary: Princess Rey’s plan is to run away from an arranged marriage to the prince of Alderaan, and live her own life. Befriending the Knights of Ren, the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, was most definitely not part of the plan. /// Falling in love with their leader, Kylo Ren, even less so.

Reckless Behavior by shipatfirstsight

First day of posting: 2016-02-05

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 13,015

Chapters: 4

Summary: How about a compromise? she suggested, this time assuming a tone of innocence herself. You don’t reveal that I’m here, and I make it worth your while. /// Rey gets trapped in a meeting room on a First Order ship with Kylo Ren.

Seldom All They Seem by ambiguously

First day of posting: 2016-05-25

Ship: Reylo, background/past FinnRey and Stormpilot.

Rating: E

Total word count: 99,227

Chapters: 24

Summary: After a terrible accident, Rey wakes up to discover she doesn't remember the last five years.

Shatterpoint by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2016-02-23

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 15,977

Chapters: 5

Summary: n. 1. fault; the weak place in an opponent. 2. fracture; where the unbreakable can be broken.

She Who Would Be Queen by sasstasticmad

First day of posting: 2016-10-17

Ship: Reylo (pretty sure you realize it's mostly Reylo now lmao)

Rating: M

Total word count: 98,693

Chapters: 36

Summary: Rey is the last daughter of a once noble house, isolated and yearning for a place in the world. When she receives a letter the day after her eighteenth birthday, it seems her station and her husband have been decided for her. /// Kylo Ren is the heir to a cruel and vast empire, taken from his parents and raised from his youth to rule. He weds because it is his duty, although it seems his bride is nothing like he had ever expected. /// A historical romance AU

Sky Marked Souls by AnonymousMink

First day of posting: 2016-02-23

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 22,292

Chapters: 8

Summary: Prompted by cerulean8ullet on tumblr: 'Soulmates get blue marks on their skin wherever their other person gets physical pain.' /// Rey has long wondered whose pain she wears on her skin like blossoms - a brave pilot, a legendary smuggler, a hero? She never expects to find him on the opposite side of the battlefield. /// Ren has given up on finding the girl who paints his hands and hips sky-like, but then suddenly she's standing over him wearing his new scar. The scar she's cut with her own hand. /// They have been on a collision course since the day they were born, inexorably drawn to each other, and neither one can escape unscathed.

Suffocating in Stardust by Chibirini1

First day of posting: 2016-07-15

Ship: Reylo (a far less deserving kudos-count for an OG AWESOME FIC SO STFU AND READ IT)

Rating: M

Total word count: 166,899

Chapters: 47

Summary: Kylo Ren stops Rey from her escape after the interrogation and realizes he is the only one who can keep her imprisoned. Both refuse to give in to each other, but soon enough both are conflicted by the unexpected feelings they have for each other. As Kylo battles his pull to the light and Rey desperately tries to find what she's been looking for, the two are inexplicably drawn together regardless of the war. Slowburn Reylo; smut.

Ten Years of Rey by Articianne

First day of posting: 2016-01-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 66,973

Chapters: 11

Summary: There is a young girl on Jakku, nine years old and small, light. When Kylo Ren is sent, finally, on a mission to gather kyber crystals to make his new lightsaber, he stops on Jakku to fix his ship and comes across a girl who calls him Ben. He can’t help it that he sees inside her little blank mind and finds the small point of light lodged deep within her consciousness. “Bring her on board,” he tells the other Knights of Ren, and suddenly, he has a little girl from Jakku on his ship riding back to the First Order, a girl who has no family, a girl whom he will train himself. /// This girl is Rey.

The Descendants by WaterlilyRose

First day of posting: 2016-05-17

Ship: Reylo, background Stormpilot and Huxma.

Rating: E

Total word count: 112,354

Chapters: 30

Summary: A curse said in rage and error has haunted the Skywalker family for fifty years. The man on the throne a mystery behind a mask. /// Rey could never anticipate just what role she would play in setting them all free. /// 'You need a teacher' /// 'I need a teacher' Rey nodded. She placed her hand in his. 'But so do you.' /// A Beauty and The Beast retelling in a galaxy far far away.

The Inheritance of the Resistance by WaterlilyRose

First day of posting: 2017-05-22

Ship: Reylo, HanLeia, platonic HanRey (aka Rey & Han)

Rating: E

Total word count: 143,282

Chapters: 35

Summary: The discovery of a new unknown Duchess of the House of Kenobi brings new life to the Rebellion Court. Having lost their old Queen Leia, Rey and Han are forced into a deeply unconventional but quietly happy marriage. Having never had a family of her own, Rey sees Han as the father figure she always longed for. /// So when the disgraced Prince returns to court to make amends with his aging King, how will he take to the girl who is now effectively his stepmother? /// Medieval/Tudor Reylo.

The Little Knight by ForeverDelighted

First day of posting: 2016-01-08

Ship: BB-8 having a knife fight with Ben Solo (and some Reylo)

Rating: G

Total word count: 2,435

Chapters:

Summary: BB-8 is not a fan of Kylo Ren and especially not of the dark knights feelings for Rey. BB-8 vs Kylo Ren!

The Moon, the Sun, and the Star Inbetween by Silvershine

First day of posting: 2016-02-09

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 120,088

Chapters: 24

Summary: The Force moves in mysterious ways, and sometimes it even has its own agenda. Rey finds herself caught in a battle with fate that throws her together with Kylo Ren, binding them together in the most powerful way possible... only to have fate drop her like a hot potato. /// A broken Force Bond isn't the easiest thing to bear, especially when the one you're missing is your sworn enemy and the father of your child. /// Warning: Parenting: Skywalker Style. /// (Kind of a deconstruction of the X-made-them-do-it-to-have-a-child fics, which always seem to end once a kid is born, whereas I'm more interested in what comes AFTER the not so happily-ever-after.)

The Sluagh's Bargain by PalenDrome (nerdherderette)

First day of posting: 2017-09-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 9,890

Chapters: 1

Summary: When Finn is captured during the Wild Hunt, the villagers meet with the Spirit Master of the Sluagh Sidhe to bargain for Finn's soul.

The Trail Bride by SecretReyloTrash (BadOldWest)

First day of posting: 2019-01-17

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 160,823

Chapters: 47

Summary: “It might be indelicate to breach the subject of marriage at this trying time...” /// An adequate statement. The man had only been dead for three hours. /// But one must always be practical. /// “I am not so softened by sentiment in the matter as you would typically find a widow, Mr. Hux.” Rey Niima finds herself in a perilous situation when her husband dies at the start of their journey West. From the few bachelors on the trail in her party; she attaches herself to the best of her options. /// That option is the mysterious Banker Ben Solo.

The Way to Tomorrow by the-reylo-void (Anysia)

First day of posting: 2017-09-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 27,418

Chapters: 4

Summary: "I don't know," Rey murmurs. "I think home is still quite a ways off for him." --- Kylo Ren faces his sentence at the hands of the Resistance: a year of off-world solitary confinement, no communication with the outside world. /// But it's never that easy to leave old wounds behind. /// Or such deeply-forged bonds.

This Is Where We Begin by Ben_Solo_Good_Boy_Sweater_Emporium

First day of posting: 2020-06-14

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 33,657

Chapters: 12

Summary: How would Rey and Ben's lives have been different if the Force had brought them together at a much younger age? /// A re-imagined Sequel Trilogy dyad.

To the Bone by AdriannaXVI

First day of posting: 2018-10-01

Ship: Reylo (mind the tags)

Rating: E

Total word count: 68,740

Chapters: 29

Summary: Rey and her warrior women are captured by the notorious war-lord Kylo Ren. Forced from her role as leader and reduced to Ren’s whore, she does the only thing that comes naturally… she survives.

variations on a theme of you by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2017-02-23

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 24,812

Chapters: 7

Summary: "Who knows?" Luke darted a faint smile at Ben and Rey as they stewed in silence and disbelief. "The two of you might even learn to get along. Right, Leia?" /// "Like a house on fire," the General deadpanned. "Complete with screams, flames, and people running for safety." /// "Indeed." Luke's blue eyes twinkled. "There may be no survivors."

we must be killers (children of the wild ones) by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2016-12-20

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 11,573

Chapters: 1

Summary: "This ship," he declares firmly, "is a heap of junk." /// "You're a heap of junk," she retorts, hip-checking him on the way out. /// There is refuge even here, in their little games. He can't remember precisely when it started. It crept up on him like salvation, like forgiveness, like dawn seeping through.

What the Hell is Wrong with Kylo Ren? by Tuli_Azzameen

First day of posting: 2016-04-23

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 93,876

Chapters: 33

Summary: Tongue-in-cheek tour of Reylo tropes. This time, it is Kylo Ren who is taken prisoner. Rey is given the impossible task of turning this moody, homicidal creep back to the Light, all while he awkwardly attempts to lure her into darkness. Bickering, sexual tension and poor life-choices ensue.

When I Dream of You by Goodnightsammy

First day of posting: 2020-01-03

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 30,389

Chapters: 25

Summary: Rey of Jakku has been having dreams of Ben Solo for most of her life. She never expected to meet him in person, the boy she spoke to in her dreams, never expected to find her way off planet either. But when a BB-8 droid crosses her path with a map to Luke Skywalker, she finds herself doing a lot of things she never expected to. -OR- In which Rey has been talking to Ben Solo through a force bond long before he becomes Kylo Ren--and long after. He loses himself along the way, but they will always find their way back to each other.

when the west wind moves by lachesisgrimm (olga_theodora)

First day of posting: 2018-01-30

Ship: Reylo, Padme & Ben Solo

Rating: E

Total word count: 135,632

Chapters: 35

Summary: His mother smirked fondly. “Han always shoots first.” /// In which an unexpected sacrifice and a stubborn ghost set Ben Solo on a new path, and long-hidden family secrets finally come to light.

Whom Hades Seized by nightsofreylo

First day of posting: 2016-03-01

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 146,114

Chapters: 23/? (last update 2020-06-15)

Summary: Centuries after the destruction of earth, the Knights of Ren remain behind on the planet’s unlivable surface, an ancient order tasked with reaping the bodies sent to the ground from the ship that orbits above the dead planet. These solitary survivors on the underworld have become feared and hated by those who live in the skies, believed to be masked harbingers of Death…but their master, Kylo Ren, believes that one of the sky-walkers may hold the key to healing his land and bringing humanity home.

Within Monsters by AnonymousMink

First day of posting: 2016-02-17

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 132,582

Chapters: 46

Summary: This is the last place she ever thought she’d end up. /// When work dries up on Jakku, a desperate Rey enlists with Galactech-- a tech company who will hire anyone with the right skills, and work for anyone for the right price. Now trapped onboard the Finalizer, Rey is both horrified and fascinated by the dark tales she hears about the leader of the Knights of Ren and the mysterious Force he controls. /// But, when a chance encounter awakens a power within her she has never known, it may just be Kylo Ren’s fascination with her that becomes her undoing.

World Without End by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2016-09-22

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 20,933

Chapters: 9

Summary: We are one when together. We are one when parted. We will share all. We will raise warriors. - Mandalorian marriage law

Part Three and more will be compiled in the next few days; just takes a lot of time hah!

[toaarcan]

One ship exposes everything wrong with TRoS

Heaven help me, I’m back on my bullshit.

Alright, so, I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker when I watched it. I actually watched it twice, once on my own when I rushed to see it as soon as possible in order to beat spoilers, and once with my family, in what was a semi-annual new year tradition for us during those four years that a Star Wars film released.

But that doesn’t mean it was good. I enjoyed Transformers: Dark of the Moon the first time I watched it, and that movie’s still a steaming pile of shit. I was admittedly fifteen when I saw DotM, but still. 

My point is that I’m fully capable of enjoying crappy films.

But there’s one thing, one thing about TRoS that exemplifies so many of the problems with TRoS as a whole, if not everything (And by that I mean with TRoS specifically, the woeful treatment of John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran is a Whole Trilogy Problem). And it’s a ship. Specifically this ship.

The Resistance Y-Wing. I hate this ship with the fiery passion of an exploding star, and to talk about why, we need to first go back to The Last Jedi and its conspicuous lack of Y-Wings.

One of the things that I disliked most about the Sequels before TRoS put all the other problems into stark light was the lack of new ships. Instead of new vehicles, we got shinier, sleeker versions of the ships from the original trilogy. And I disliked this because it’s the opposite of what the Prequels did.

Episodes I-III don’t feature more primitive versions of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter, but instead have similar vehicles that evoke the classics while still having an identity of their own.

The ARC-170 looks kinda like an X-Wing, but it’s bigger and has more weapons and crew, and you get why the well-funded Republic can afford things like this while the scrappy Rebels can’t.

The Eta-2 is a predecessor to the TIE Fighter, but it being employed exclusively by Jedi makes a lot of sense, of course a precognitive wizard with superhuman reflexes can do well in a light, unshielded ship, while in the hands of the Empire’s military they’re just expendable swarm fighters.

But then in the Sequels, rather than evolve the ships into new forms, they just made new incarnations of the X-Wing, TIE Fighter, A-Wing, TIE Interceptor, B-Wing, and of course the Y-Wing.

Well, except for one movie: The Last Jedi.

At the outset of the film, we’re introduced to this ship.

This is the MG-100 StarFortress, AKA “That ship all the Star Wars Youtubers hate”. It’s designed to be a much heavier and bulkier version of the B-Wing Starfighter, and is even made by the same people.

From questions about how the bombs “fall” toward the Dreadnought (The answer is magnets) to claims that they’re completely useless because most of the ones in the film died so easily, these things have been put through the wringer by the fandom, and honestly they don’t deserve it? What destroyed the StarFortresses in the film wasn’t their own weaknesses, but them being deployed in too tight a formation. It was a tactical fuckup, not a problem with the ship’s design.

And given that the whole point of the battle over D’Qar is that Poe makes a tactical fuckup to kickstart his development into the new leader of the Resistance as a whole, adding another layer makes sense to me.

But we live in a post-CinemaSins world of media consumption, where every plot-point that isn’t spelled out with a flowchart and an audio commentary by the writers is actually a plothole. 

We also live in an era where Star Wars fans pine for the days of the Legends canon where everything about new ships, species, and worlds was explained in background lore and books, and are angry that the new Canon is... doing exactly the same thing?

Seriously, how much exposition and lore dumping is actually present in any of the Star Wars films? Not a whole lot. And that applies to all three eras. 

So the StarFortress’ appearance in the film and the lack of Y-Wings led to a bevy of armchair writers demanding to know why the Resistance weren’t using Y-Wings and why they were using those “Resistance Bombers” that are just ‘terrible’.

Answer? Because the Y-Wings sucked shit.

Seriously, go back to the Original Trilogy and try to keep track of the Y-Wings, and see what they actually do, and you’ll find that what they do is “Explode, mostly.”

We’re first introduced to the Y-Wings in A New Hope, and they’re supposed to be the ones performing the Trench Run while the X-Wings cover them, and to their credit, they try.

And then they all get blown up by Vader and his wingmen before they can even take a shot at the exhaust port. Well, except that one that appears with the rebel ships flying away from the Death Star.

Where the fuck were you when the X-Wings were doing the attack run?

The Y-Wings got absolutely wrecked.

Ancillary media would go on to explain that the Y-Wings were beat-up old vehicles that were no longer fit for purpose, but the Rebels had to use them anyway because they had basically no money. They’d stripped down the ships and removed a bunch of their more costly features just to make them viable, and the results of that were pretty clear.

Of course, the Y-Wings were still present in the later films. They don’t do anything in The Empire Strikes Back, but they play a role in Return of the Jedi.

Naturally, that role is mostly “Get blown up while the other ships do the important stuff”.

Despite supposedly being a fighter-bomber that was designed to do significant damage to capital ships, does the Y-Wing play a role in the destruction of the Executor? Does it fuck. Destroying the Imperial flagship’s deflector shields and the subsequent suicidal ram attack on the bridge are tasks that are both performed by the goddamn A-Wings. Y’know, the light interceptors?

The Y-Wings get shown up at their own job by the ships that are there to protect them from TIE Fighters.

Ancillary media again explains why they’re still there. While the Rebels have a newer, better fighter-bomber in the B-Wing, the B-Wing is expensive as fuck and also really difficult to fly. 

A non-centreline cockpit that rotates will do that to a ship.

Still, the B-Wing was a better bomber than the Y-Wing ever was (And the StarFortress was better than them both at that role).

All this adds up to a simple fact: There were very good reasons why the Resistance weren’t using Y-Wings. And there were even reasonable reasons to choose the StarFortress compared to the B-Wing itself, given that the Resistance are still undermanned and under-funded, especially with the New Republic getting nuked midway through The Force Awakens. It being easier to fly and having more armaments would have made it a viable choice for the Resistance.

Buuuut oops, people didn’t like the StarFortress and we can’t make the Internet angry at us again! Better put the Y-Wings back in for Episode IX, and show them destroying a Xyston-class Destroyer, that’ll make them happy!

And sure, okay, giving the Resistance a fighter/bomber is probably a good idea. And they already have New X-Wings and New A-Wings, so where’s the harm in a New Y-Wing?

Alright, alright, sure. But why the fuck does it look like this?

If this is a new ship, why is it already stripped-down like the ones in the Original Trilogy? Why doesn’t it look like the actual brand-new Y-Wings we saw in The Clone Wars? 

Now that’s more like it. Still visibly a Y-Wing, but with more of an identity of its own. 

Seriously, “Literally the same ship but without its armour pulled off” has more of a unique identity than the crowd-pleasing New Y-Wing.

And that, in and of itself, is the essence of The Rise of Skywalker.

It’s blind, empty fanservice, rushing to include as much nostalgia-pandering as possible to try and get the fanbase back on-side after The Last Jedi didn’t do what the fanboys wanted it to do.

This is a whole near- three hour movie whose only message is “Yes, Youtubers making TFA critiques longer than an entire season of TCW, we hear you, we’ll make it for you, please love us!”

And, almost entirely predictably, it was shite.

It was riddled with plotholes and none of the scenes had any time to breathe because the movie was too desperately trying to rush itself to the next crowd-pleasing scene in a desperate attempt to wank off as many disgruntled fanboys as it possibly could.

Luke with his green saber! Jedi Leia! Chewie gets a medal! Lando! Luke raises his X-Wing out of the water! The main villain is a testicle in a bathrobe again! Snork origin! Original-flavour Star Destroyers! Rose doesn’t exist! Rey had a super-special secret magical bloodline the whole time and Luke and Leia totally knew even though Luke has literally no idea who she is in Episode VIII! Luke actually was just afraid of the bad guys in Episode VII, none of that self-imposed exile for his own mistakes nonsense! Y-Wings.

I mean fuck. Disagree with Luke’s portrayal in TLJ all you like, I certainly have my issues with it, but I lay those at the feet of JJ for making Luke’s absence into one of his fucking Mystery Boxes, and then deciding that, even though last time Luke sensed Leia and Han might be in danger, he abandoned his Jedi training, hopped in an X-Wing, and flew halfway across the galaxy to try and save them, he wouldn’t do shit when the First Order pointed a star-powered System-Killer 9000 at Leia, and Han got himself killed trying to redeem Kyle Ron. Like how in fuck was Rian supposed to explain Luke’s inaction in VII?

But regardless of the problems with that Luke portrayal, at least Mark Hamill gave it his all. Hell, it might be his best performance in the Star Wars franchise!

 In TRoS, he shows up in a bad wig, waves a middle finger at TLJ, and ascends to his final form as a Lightsaber Delivery Boy, because apparently all you need to kill a Sith who literally clawed his way back from death is two lightsabers. Haunting Kyle Ron? Nope. Providing guidance as a ghost? Not really.

And y’know what the kicker is? It didn’t fucking work. Lucasfilm and Disney fucking gutted this trilogy, sliced out the integrity, surgically removed the soul of Episode IX in a desperate effort to make the Internet’s most unpleasable fanbase happy, and it didn’t work. They still hate it! Now they just concoct hour-long videos about how much they would’ve preferred to have the Trevorrow script (Which is admittedly much better, albeit still with it’s far share of giant flaws), which was probably thrown out because it wasn’t fanservicey enough!

The Rise of Skywalker is an awful film. It’s a loose collection of nostalgia-baiting moments, roughly stapled together around the skeleton of a plot that was never properly developed. It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster of a movie, but, and I say this with full offense, the Victor Frankenstein in this tragic story isn’t Lucasfilm or Disney or Kathleen Kennedy or Rian Johnson, or even JJ Abrams. It’s you, Star Wars Fandom. It is your monster. 

[thetragedyofprinceben]

reylo in TROS: a long meta

SPOILERS AHEAD

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH REY AND BEN (1st/2nd acts)

We start the movie with a very different Kylo we left in The Last Jedi. Mostly because we see a lot of Vader in him. His relationship towards Rey is possessive and intense. He WANTS Rey whether she wants it or not. His whole persona reminded me of anakin in ROTS. (“the jedi turned against me, DON’T YOU TURN AGAINST ME). He’s demanding to high hell. This change is because:

1. Ben felt betrayed obviously after tlj, especially because HE KNOWS she wanted to join him.

2. Ben doubling down on the dark side because of this betrayal- if soft boi Kylo didn’t work, then the only option is demanding aggressive Kylo.

3. Such intense negative feelings from tlj are what drive people deeper in the dark side so seeing more Vader then Ben is expected.

Kylo is pissed and hurting. but he’s deep in love. You think he only wanted to grab that necklace? He’s angry but subconsciously is like ‘damn i really wish i could pull this girl into my arms and kiss her’ but he can’t- so he grabs her necklace instead. A move that is both childish, but sexually charged. Think the phantom ripping off Christine’s necklace in POTO. Kylo is peak phantom in these moments. He feels very much in control of his sexuality, compared to TFA when he was drooling on Rey and in TLJ when he was ‘accidentally’ shirtless.

Where’s Rey at? Rey is very clearly running away from her desires. She’s heartbroken that she couldn’t run off with her soulmate, but we see she’s upset that he regressed (‘serving a new master’). So our heroine is heartbroken, disappointed, but still loves her dark prince. Her anger at all of her conflict (not to mention the palpatine hoopla she has to deal with) comes out the most in her fights between ren. Remember, fights between Rey and Kylo are basically fights between themselves because of the soul stuff (I’ll get to that later). And Rey also attacks Kylo first. She’s defending herself against her own desires. it’s only when Rey heals kylo, she truly confronts that side to her- her desire to want to be with Kylo. Then she runs off because she’s scared to that staying with Kylo might cause the dark union she saw in her vision.

Both of them are obviously hurting so much, they trade hurtful blows to each other in the forcebond scene like to exes after a break up.

That’s roughly where our two stupid lovers are at in TROS. The real turning point of the way they view each other is the Death Star fight. As i said, Rey confronts her desire while healing kylo. The start of the healing that will take place throughout the course of the film between them. Rey is almost apologising to Kylo for obviously hurting him by denying her feelings but reasserts that Kylo is not worthy of her love. Ben is.

And Kylo is shocked. This is pretty funny to be honest. Ben Solo, a person he has called weak, has hidden away, thought he had killed, was the one Rey wanted? He’s still intensely in love with her, but we see the aggression and possession slip away completely- he lets her run off with his ship! He knows she has feelings for him. but Kylo can’t resurrect ben solo alone. Fittingly his parents help him out in one of the most beautiful scenes of the saga.

BEFORE I GET TO THE THIRD ACT WE NEED TO TALK SYMBOLISM, SOULS AND DYADS. STAY WITH ME

It is revealed that Rey and Ben are dyads in the force. one soul in two bodies. they are the other halves to each other. on an instinctual and spiritual basis, they WANT to come together, to join and be whole. but also, they ARE each other. That’s why they know each other before TFA, they recognise their soul in the other. And just meeting each other and being in each other’s minds ‘awakens’ this bond explicitly. Now that souls have met, they aren’t going to go to far away. Cue force Skype.

Personally, I believe the force created this dyad to make sure that there is balance. The dyad is made once Rey is born and by this time Ben has probably been groomed by palp for a while. the force recognises this and splits the soul of ben and placing it in someone so firmly placed in the light, tethering him to the light. but also Rey has a tether to the dark. B A L A N C E. Even though palp corrupted ben, it was only ever one half, the promise and potential of ben to come back to the light was forever there once Rey was born.

But also on another level, the force is finally bringing balance between the Jedi and the Sith. It wasn’t a fluke that the descendent of the most powerful Sith Lord was linked to a Skywalker (a family emblematic of the Jedi). The bond also ensures that healing can finally take place between these two factions as these two souls will need to inevitably join at one point.

So to recap, for my sanity, Rey and Ben share the same soul, spiritually they are the same person. The dyad represents balance by placing on half of the soul on the dark side, one of the light. one with the descendent of most powerful jedi, one with the descendent of the most powerful Sith. The two halves will forever be seeking union, meaning these two halves will also be seeking balance- most importantly- IN THE LIGHT.

Balance isn’t grey jedi. Balance is balance on the light side- ALWAYS. Which is why it’s when Ben Solo has been groomed by the dark side, the dyad connection, tethers him to the LIGHT. Rey’s own tether to the dark through Ben so more of an acknowledgement that powerful light means powerful darkness. Darkness will always be there, and it’s important not to lose track of it. But this tether is primarily there to maintain balance and save Ben from the dark- a clear path to the light.

AND WE SEE THIS STRAIGHT IN TFA. As soon as Kylo meets the other half of his soul he doesn’t want to part with it. There’s also a romantic bond, one of the most powerful bonds in the universe as seen throughout the saga. She’s compassionate, a selfless, powerful, not to mention beautiful. But outside of looks, Rey is an attractive person to Ben trait wise. But what underpins this, is her light which she is positively brimming with. I mean...her names REY. Ben is attracted to that light and all the traits that go along with being so firm in the light. I believe whole heartedly that even if the dyad connection didn’t exist, Ben wouldn’t be able to resist himself when it comes to rey.

And this is what explains the delayed reciprocation of feelings between Rey and Ben. Ben is infatuated with the light in rey almost immediately. Add the dyad connection and BOOM. Rey, also has this similar attraction to the light outside the dyad. As soon as she she’s a sliver of ben solo in the hut scene (Ben Solo who is a literal angel on the light side) she falls in love with him. Remember the light is compassion, warmth, life, selflessness. Imagine feeling a surge of all of these things by just glimpsing at a person’s future? But THIS IS ONLY WITH BEN. And of course ben is always inside Kylo so all that intense eye f*cking? I believe Ben is literally getting lost in her light, while Rey is literally searching for the Ben Solo within Kylo and trying to grab on to him, she can sense him in there. Important to note that as soon as she sees Ben in the hut, she wants to touch his face, hair, (cough lips cough).

LASTLY. The poetry of the last Skywalker and the last Palpatine falling in love and being bonded can not be ignored. There is intense trauma between these two bloodlines and between these two bloodlines AND THE ENTIRE GALAXY. Ben and Rey are healing that trauma with love, not hate, in turn healing the galaxy (until another nuisance appears of course).

BACK TO TROS.

So angel Ben Solo is the literal embodiment of light in this final act. He is motivated by love ONLY. THAT SCREAMS SKYWALKER. Is there any wonder why rey fell in love with him after catching a glimpse in TLJ? Most beautifully, he saves his love from falling to the dark. once Ben Solo is reborn, both souls are in the light, now they just need to joined.

Rey seeing her soulmate as the angel of the light she always saw glimpses of...CHEFS KISS. she’s completely in love and he’s there to save her,,,just ugh that scene is so beautiful and the emotions and expressions speak for themselves to be honest. Never more strongly have they wanted to be joined (soul wise and physically) since the throne room scene.

Before ben gets thrown into the pit *sign* Palp tells us, that the connection is LIFE ITSELF. so when I say the balance, the connection is healing, this is what I mean. Them coming together literally means bringing new life into the galaxy, healing old wounds.

So anyway Ben gets thrown in the pit.

This pissed off people (including myself) because GOSH DARN IT I WANT TO SEE AN EPIC PALP V REY AND BEN FIGHT. but I’m forcing myself to look at this scene symbolically. the masculine and the feminine is united within rey (something Palpatine has never faced), the masculine being half of Ben’s soul and the feminine being herself. Not to mention how Rey is coded as padme so much. It’s like Padme is getting the killing blow towards a man she that broke her whole family. I like this culminating in rey declaring herself as a Jedi finally. she wanted to know her place in ‘all of this’ and she is literally standing in the place of thousands of generation of jedi. Pretty awesome.

Ben being there would have been preferable for a multitude of reasons, but there’s a lot of meta you can grab onto to enjoy this scene. a particularly like the masculine/fem joined in defeating palp.

I also love that it’s a Palpatine that destroys a palpatine. He was so sure of his power and of himself as this grand Sith Lord, and it’s his own power, through his granddaughter, united with generations of JEDI that causes his downfall.

Rey is defeating her own toxic dark almost, just like Ben Solo killing Kylo. TO CLARIFY, not the DARK SIDE. the dark side is needed for balance, but the unnatural and destructive dark that Palp created through manipulating the force which would have long lasting consequences if not dealt with.

(FINAL STRETCH. IS ANYONE STILL HERE?)

SO REY DIES.

Expected. you know why? BALANCE. the sith and the jedi both die. the joint trauma between the sith and jedi is destroyed.

So what’s happening with the dyad connection now she’s dead? There’s many theories and explanations. Personally I believe the connection caused an open  wound. Ben Solo felt this. This wound is what makes the other half of a dyad die if one of the soulmates die. They literally lose the will to live because half of their soul is dead. Ben solo would rather die that live on without Rey.

So he feels the gaping wound and decides he needs to sacrifice himself to save rey. He transfers his life to Rey. NOW it’s debatable whether or not his soul also gets transferred.

I’m not quite certain. If he gives his soul, then the balance IS Rey in the end and Ben is one with the force. Cosmic force to be specific. Whether he can come back from the cosmic force because Rey literally carries his soul within her- she can drag him back maybe. If his soul isn’t transferred, it just means that the balance ISN’T rey alone, but when Ben passes to the cosmic force the connection they share is still alive, Rey in the living force and Ben in the cosmic force. Balance. And the connection means that Rey can possibly drag Ben back into the world of the living.

Both two scenarios exist if you believe Ben went to the word between worlds instead (with the help of leia) which is why he isn’t a force ghost.

BUT ANYWHO.

Ben using pure, unbound love revives Rey. He finishes what his grandfather couldn’t and what the jedi wouldn’t allow. His life force is what makes this godlike move possible, but also just the purity of intentions. so while Anakin is coded as Jesus, a literal child of the force, his intentions are wayward, not just love, but possession and power. Ben is fully ready to sacrifice his life for Rey with no strings attached. By doing this he also could be considered the chosen one as much as anakin, bringing balance to the force by making sure the union and connection of the soul continues.

Rey awakes in the arms of her angel. ben is staring at Rey as if trying to memorise all of her face before he passes. He smiles because he can’t believe what he did, and that she’s alive and that she loves him as much as he does her. And while Rey is staring at Ben in pure bliss, there’s such an openness to her expression. She doesn’t have to search for the Ben hidden in kylo’s eyes. Ben is right before her.

Rey goes in with the kiss. It’s hesitant, but ben, forever her support system, meets it with enthusiasm as if to say ‘don’t be afraid, i feel it too’. this long embrace is so beautiful, especially because it comes after the literal marriage between Rey and ben.

Rey takes ben’s hand finally. She accepts his proposal. They are touching. They kiss. Their souls are literally together and joined for the first time since the hand touch scene. And it’s beautiful.

Ben Solo’s final smile is to Rey and then he lets go completely, passing. Rey still clutching the hand he proposed to her with. She’s obviously going to be distraught and grief stricken (despite the direction and writing leaving that out). But there must be a sense of ben within her now, something she might only recognise later on when her emotions aren’t so intense.

Obviously this ending has some Romeo and Juliet connotations that im not mad about.

DID I WANT BEN SOLO TO LIVE PHYSICALLY WITH REY AT THE END OF THIS MOVIE? yes HELL YES. And it’s a absolute tragedy that both are separate, without the companionship and family they both craved for throughout the whole trilogy.

...but jj didn’t tell that story. so let’s look at the one he did tell.

I believe that if Ben didn’t sacrifice himself, the cycle of darkness and trauma would have continued because he wouldn’t have fulfilled anakin’s last wish. he had to save Rey, the feminine which had been killed ever since Shmi. In the end both the masculine and feminine survive through Rey or through the dyad connection between the living and cosmic force.

Was ben’s fate sealed after he committed patricide? from a meta perspective? Possibly. The writers don’t know how to write redeemed characters having HEAs. BUT within the actual story? NOPE.

Ben was redeemed as soon as he killed Kylo. his sacrifice had nothing to do with redemption. it was just a pure love sacrifice.

Anyway the death of Ben Solo while tragic, means that all of the Skywalkers seem to be united in the cosmic force. All of them together finally. And in peace.

AGAIN, yes Ben Solo should have survived and had twins with Rey on Naboo, but this is what JJ decided to do instead.

Rey being a Skywalker...Hmmmm hated it at first. ABSOLUTELY HATED IT. But looking back at reylo in TROS and them basically being married at the end, means

Rey is a Skywalker. It’s nice that she’s honouring everything skywalkers stood for as well by taking the name- love. Also Palp was probably spinning in his grave that his only descendent is now a Skywalker lol.

Would Rey Solo be better? It would have been less cringe for sure and more fitting as it was the Solos Rey had her connections with, not really the Skywalkers. But Ben did end up accepting his light side skywalker background so... I personally would have preferred Rey Solo but i can just about live with Rey Skywalker if it’s through the marriage of Ben.

No one can convince me that the final shot of Rey standing alone on tatooine is satisfying. Maybe from a fan service angle, but for rey’s personal journey? HELL NO. But it is what it is. At least she still has that connection with Ben. Ben not being a force ghost at the end is a hopeful for reylos, including myself, he want him to come back physically so that Rey can have her HEA. Even if it’s off screen.

THANKS FOR READING IF YOUR STILL HERE. and if all this meta didn’t satisfy you, remember there’s always fanfiction x

[textualdeviance]

[S]he clearly meant a lot to Finn, and Finn meant a lot to him, so Rey mattered.

-Poe’s thoughts, “Resistance Reborn"  

I saw TROS again today, and I finally have a few minutes, so I can do the next installment in my trio-character posts. (Though this may also meander into some general commentary, too.) So let’s talk about Poe! (spoilers ahoy!)

(See also: Rey and Finn)

As I noted with the previous post: Each of these three heroes goes on their own journey: Rey’s is centered on coming to terms with who she is and where she fits into the Force (she literally fights her own dark side!) Finn’s is acknowledging his own Force sensitivity and coming to terms with his past as a child stolen by the First Order and forced to be a soldier.

Poe, however, is a different egg. For one, he’s a lot older than the other two (Oscar is 13 years older than Daisy and John.) His roots are also very different: Born to legendary Rebellion soldiers (he learned how to fly on his mother’s A-wing) who weren’t around much when he was young, he was cared for primarily by his grandfather. He lost his mother when he was only 8. It’s likely that loss is what made him initially disdain military service as a teen and become a spice runner instead. Ultimately, he got his head back on right and as the First Order began to grow, he joined the Resistance, leaving his spice runner friends in the lurch (which is basically why Zorii is pissed off at him when he shows back up.)

The fact that he hadn’t talked about that part of his past with Finn or Rey makes it seem likely he was embarrassed about it. (Really, we all do ill-considered stuff when we’re teens that we’d rather forget!) But I think being around those two made him realize that, all things considered, his childhood and youth was normal compared to theirs. A brief period of teenage lawbreaking is nothing when you’re confronted with people who had suffered such horrible abuse. Undoubtedly, his caretaking instincts kicked in, first with Finn and then with Rey. It’s that last bit that we see unfold in TROS. 

I think it’s pretty clear that Poe most definitely had a thing for Finn from the moment they met. If one wants to read it as a big-brother vibe rather than romantic, fair enough, but whatever the particular flavor, Poe decides right away that this man is important to him. But just as Poe felt it was his duty to take care of Finn, Finn felt the same about Rey. Pretty much the entire second half of TFA is Finn realizing he screwed up by trying to leave on Takodana and wanting to rescue Rey instead. 

Rey, for her part, also has strong feelings about Finn. She gets very upset when she thinks he’s abandoning her–just like everyone else has–so when they reunite on Starkiller Base, and she realizes he came back for her, she’s sold. After having waited in vain for years for her family to return for her, finally someone did. Though they’re separated for much of TLJ, that bond continues, and through Finn, Poe finally starts understanding how important she is. There’s the moment, for instance, when Finn and Rose are about to head off for Canto Bight when Finn hands over the beacon to Poe. Their hands meet in a tender touch, and it feels like the first time that Poe feels the depth of Finn’s dedication to Rey, and starts thinking like he does in the quote above: Though he’s barely met her (in the couple of days before she heads to Ahch-To; their “meeting” at the end of TLJ is a continuity error) he knows that if the man he loves so much has such strong feelings for this young woman, maybe there’s something there he should think about, too: He’s going to protect that beacon with his life. Seeing how brilliant she was with the Falcon during the battle on Crait, plus finally getting to see how much Force power she has also makes a dent; you can see it on his face at the moment they (re)meet.

Still, there’s some frustration on both their parts as they’re trying to figure out how they all fit together, and we see a bit of that in the opening of TROS: Their bickering about the damage to BB-8 and the Falcon is only partly about the droid and the ship. I think the subtext is that they’re both trying to decide if the other is responsible enough to take care of Finn. Ostensibly, Poe is irritated at her because he wants her on the front lines instead of chasing her nightmares, but it’s also pretty clear he wants her there because things don’t feel complete without her: His goal is keeping Finn happy, and Finn simply isn’t happy without her around. Solution: Go with her on her goose chase, even if it means he’s going to feel like a third wheel. (Which he does; he may not understand initially that they’re developing a Force-sensitive bond, but he knows he’s feeling left out.)

Over the course of their adventures together, however, this changes. The more time he spends around Rey, the more he understands how Finn feels. He’s not just trying to like her because Finn does. He’s falling for her, too. The casual flirting he does with Zorii is about making sure they’ve mended their fences. He doesn’t really expect her to return it. After all, she was a few years older than him when they were running together, and he knows she probably still sees him as a teenage dork. The expression on his face when they finally see Rey at the end tells the story: He’s all in. He’s resolved his own unfinished business and he’s fully ready to love them. Both of them. When we get that final trio hug, that bond is finally cemented. That’s why it’s so very powerful when he takes her hand: It’s the body-language equivalent of closing a circle, or, really, connecting the last side of the triangle. He doesn’t just trust her with his droid (though he clearly does, since he lets her take his little buddy to Tattooine), and he doesn’t just trust her with Finn, either. He trusts her with his own heart, too.

[achingforthestars]

some things i liked and did not like about the rise of skywalker ***spoilers***

now having seen it and having had the time to sit and talk and collect my thoughts, i have a list of the things i didn’t enjoy and, amongst all this negativity, the things i did. 

contains spoilers of course!

things i did not enjoy:

finding out about palpatine off-screen

so stupid! this was one of the things i disliked the most because of what a cheap, lazy writing choice it was. i wanted to see the characters have to put it together, have to work for it and then when facing palpatine, have it be on their terms instead of his? instead we get him announcing his presence and kylo meeting him in the first 3 minutes. 

treatment of characters

i made a post about this. just so much wrong, so many deserved better, most of all rose, rey and ben. a lot of the characters were treated as afterthoughts. 

implied finn having feelings for rey

dumb. overdone. tired.

knights of ren

felt cheap and underused. learned nothing about them, it was something i was waiting 3 movies for and the final chance to show them was wasted. 

the resistance is back to perfect! 

i understand that this was due to the timeskip, which i guess was necessary, but i felt that it was kind of cheap to not show any sort of struggle. a year has passed and BAM they’re right where they were in TFA. the losses faced in TLJ very much felt erased. 

the pacing

awful. just awful. things felt too rushed or too slow pretty much through the entire movie. 

the visuals

much less well-done than TLJ. the use of colour and light was much weaker in my opinion, the locations more generic, and the imagery lacking. that said, palpatine’s lair was so fittingly creepy, and the reylo moment on kijimi/kylo’s ship with the black and white juxtaposition - those were nice. 

irrelevant or convenient plot elements

zorii bliss was not a necessary character. chewie was conveniently on another transport. d-0, while super cute and funny, was also just a deus ex machina. hux being a spy - could have been entirely removed but oh, finn and poe need to get off the ship somehow. rey’s return to ahch-to was rushed, her interactions with luke could have been on any other planet. she did not need to pilot luke’s x-wing specifically but they forced it. lando - lando was basically a consolation prize for chewie with little relevance. pryde literally could have been replaced with hux and made for a more interesting narrative. 

snoke clones

what the fuck was that?

the fleet

somehow the entirety of the fleet was magically stored, 100% operational and with fully functioning crew, under the crust of some random planet? and every single one of those ships has planet-destroying capabilities? 

the other “fleet”

where the fuck were these allies in TLJ, huh? i get that it’s the last stand and maybe more people showed up because of that but damn. 

leia’s absence was felt

i understand this was not in the control of the creators but truly, i felt like there was a gaping hole where leia should have been. 

the Trio

i enjoyed their banter but it felt inconsistent through the movie. rey and poe didn’t get along one minute, the next they’re fine. if this had been introduced and pushed in previous films, it would have made more sense and felt less hollow. as it stands, it felt like a forced attempt to call back the OT vibes that just fell flat.

rey palpatine

ugh. let’s reduce strength to a bloodline and in the process ignore what was set up in the last movie. yay! also, palpatine fucked someone at some point and that is utterly disgusting. 

rey skywalker

felt forced. she did not need to take the skywalker name.

kylo’s transition to ben.

before anyone jumps on me, i want to clarify that specifically i am referring to the speed of his transition from ruthless supreme leader to full on ben. i loved his redemption, i just wish i could have seen him do it more gradually and with a bit more struggle? he just goes from “i will find you rey and turn you dark like me” to “i am ben solo” so quickly that i found it a bit jarring? 

palpatine’s constantly changing plans. 

kill rey, no wait, take the throne rey, no wait, let me kill you both and take the throne myself. pick one you crusty fuck. 

force dyad

honestly why establish it if you’re going to ignore it in about 2 seconds?

inadequate expression of star wars main themes

the ideas of hope, of redemption, of love and of family - all central to star wars, and none properly delivered on. 

ben’s death. 

heartbreaking. he deserved love and happiness and a life. that’s all i can say about that. however, in a transition to things i liked: if he had to die, i’m really pleased that it was with an act of love. he chose to make a sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, for his soulmate. i don’t like that he had to die, but i can find peace in the way it happened - on his terms, on the light side, in the arms of the woman he loved.

things i did enjoy (a lot actually):

babu frik

was so fucking funny. that is all. 

c-3po.

also surprisingly funny for a droid i’m usually annoyed by?

jannah

i surprisingly really loved her character. i thought she might be an addition like zorii bliss, but i enjoyed naomi ackie’s acting a lot. she felt much more genuine. however i do think there was a missed opportunity in working on her and finn’s shared background as ex-stromtroopers.

force healing abilities

i thought were super cool! i really liked healing the serpent, it was a nice subversion of the expectation to be trapped and outrunning a monster through a labyrinth of corridors. loved how when rey healed kylo, she healed his scar too. just also it’s always nice to see new things being done with the force.

force fighting. 

it was lovely to see force techniques being used in the lightsaber battles (as compared, for instance, to the throne room fight of TLJ); and also to see force-aided physical feats like jumps that don’t look like naruto-style ninja backflips. definitely felt more real.

poe’s moment in the x-wing

taking in the damage and destruction all around him. i felt the weight he was feeling in that moment.

rey picking herself off the ground

after palpatine drains her and kylo’s life force. i loved her moment of peace and centering, gathering the strength to do what comes next. while i didn’t love the voices of the previous jedi, it made for a lovely sequence of “i’m not done with you yet” and showcases her strength.

the moment with ben and han

gorgeous scene echoing han and ben’s last interaction in TFA. just an amazing callback with such different emotion and the final turning of ben back to the light. i really loved this bit.

adam driver’s acting performance in general.

absolutely the best, the most amazing, performance of the film. if nothing else, the switch from kylo to ben, despite having zero dialogue, should speak for itself. he managed to convey a completely different personality through his mannerisms, physicality and visuals alone. oh, and the death/ressurrection scene! the absolute desperation with which he crawls to the woman he loves. the infinite depth of emotion adam manages to transmit through only his eyes and his facial expressiveness. he deserves an oscar nomination for this in my opinion. 

reylo kiss

i don’t even need to explain this. the smile. the pure happiness, the tender touch, the moment of just love and joy and letting themselves be together, finally. i could not have asked for more of a beautiful first kiss. we’re ignoring what comes after. 

overall impression

tros fell flat. i lived for ben’s redemption and reylo, but this was not enough to make up for the mistreatment of most of the characters, the poorly coordinated and frankly rushed structure, and most importantly, the failure to deliver on its themes of family and hope. i felt like it tried to do too much and achieved too little. 

[fangirling97]

TROS SPOILERS

I just want to know WHO? Who made the decisions for this movie. Was it J.J.? Chris Terrio? Kathleen Kennedy? Bob Iger? Who had the power here and who decided to take the most hopeful, beautiful story arc in the history of redemption arcs and end it with a very unsatisfying and disrespectful death?

It truly never seriously crossed my mind that Ben Solo would die in this film. I had faith in the creators to know that it would be the worst idea ever. Clearly I was wrong.

I’ve been doing my utmost to seek positivity. The fact is this movie has some of my favorite moments in the history of Star Wars. I genuinely fall in love with Ben Solo and the brilliant mannerisms and attitude he exudes every time I think about him. I thought I loved Kylo Ren...it’s nothing compared to Ben Solo.

The kiss is beautiful. Their faces kill me every time. I’ve never seen such pure joy and love like that.

The scene with Han and Ben genuinely makes me tear up every time I think about it and I full-on sobbed in the theater when I saw it. It’s everything I didn’t know I needed from this relationship and it only cements my love for these two characters deeper in my heart.

So much of this movie is even better than how I saw it in my head...so why do I feel physically ill when I think about it?

Ultimately I could forgive a whole lot. I can forgive the messy pacing. The lack of meaningful dialogue and the fact that we still have no idea how Palpatine is alive and that no one seems as concerned as they really should be...seriously, why is NO ONE like deeply shocked and concerned??

What I can’t forgive is the lack of respect to the characters and the previous movies.

Rey Palpatine: (I’ll get to Ben Solo, believe me) I remember hearing this theory ages ago and thinking well that’s never going to happen. Don’t I feel stupid? Well....no I don’t, cause really it never should have. Everyone has said it and I whole-heartedly agree that Rey Nobody is what we needed for this trilogy. Frankly, it makes me like her more that way. This story could have gone exactly the same way without her being related to the grossest and most evil man in the galaxy (please go listen to What the Force-Dark Union). There is literally no reason to make these characters related at all except to give Rey a family she has NO connection to at all. I’ve loved the way that each main character (Rey, Kylo/Ben, and Finn) have had to grapple with their personal histories and find a way to accept and move past them in this trilogy. Yet Rey doesn’t...at all. We are repeatedly told throughout this movie that you make your own family and that it doesn’t matter where you come from you are your own person...so WHY relate her (clumsily and without ANY foreshadowing or reasoning at all) to a truly despicable being that has no real effect on the person she is. It’s not unbelievable that every person has a fight between light and dark inside. They don’t have to be related to a villain to make sure we all get that.

Finn: I really don’t understand this character at all in this movie. Firstly, is there even an arc. I’ve seen it twice now and I really can’t see one. The only semi-interesting aspect is that he’s force-sensitive which I didn’t really want. Not because I don’t like Finn but he’s already an interesting and dynamic character without it. Finn being Force sensitive does not make him better in any meaningful way. If that’s really the direction you wanted to take him in then it should have at least been hinted at in TFA. And really? Really? We had to have the weird little secret through the whole movie? I honestly didn’t even notice that his force sensitivity may have been the thing he wanted to tell Rey through the movie (mostly because the movie is too busy for this tiny little piece). I don’t understand where the weird tension between Finn and Poe cane from and while I don’t mind the idea it felt like it came and went way too quickly and all the sudden it’s all grand cause the end battle is coming? And everyone has said it but I agree, I really think Rose made Finn a better character and apparently she’s just gone in this movie with NO addressing of their chemistry and romantic plot in TLJ...at all. It’s just weird and uncomfortable.

Luke: I have never been the biggest Luke fan but I was genuinely excited to see him in this movie. Though the Han scene is spectacular, I really wanted a little more from Luke and Ben. I really wanted Luke’s words in the first trailer to be to both Rey and Ben if not just to Ben himself. It felt important to have Ben face his uncle once again and be able to forgive (somewhat) and move on from that pain and betrayal. Instead, all Luke was used for was to call out Rian Johnson and deliver some very strange exposition that tbh I don’t even remember. The fact that our beloved hero’s scene in the final Skywalker movie is utterly unremarkable is a shame and I have to keep reminding myself it’s even in the movie. It doesn’t make sense for Luke and Leia to know Rey’s lineage and literally never say a word. Luke nearly killed Ben Solo for having darkness inside of him but Rey is the descendent of the most evil man in the galaxy (and a personal tormenter of the Skywalker family) and he just is totally cool with it...no.

Ben: This is really what hurts the most. I could forgive a lot (even Rey Palpatine though it will always be stupid) if Ben Solo had been able to live. The truth is I was enjoying the movie for the whole time until the moment when my favorite character of all time, the epitome of all that is Star Wars to me, died. Without any moment to mourn him. Stepping back, I can see the tragic beauty in this moment. He sacrificed himself to save the light and love of his life. And he’s happy to do it. He knows he can’t live without her. The problem is, Ben Solo has faced his tragedy already. Isn’t that the point? Isn’t that why he’s humanized so early in TFA. I have always loved Vader’s story and I do believe it was the right move to have him sacrifice himself for his son. But Vader was a monster and nothing more until the end of the RotJ. Kylo is nearly immediately humanized in making him the son of Leia and Han. In showing his face to the scavenger girl so quickly. Then pretty much the entirety of TLJ. It’s all showing his humanity. We should have all known (and many did) that redemption and the pull to the light is inevitable for Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren was never going to make it out of this trilogy but I sure believed Ben Solo would. I am in awe with the performance of Adam Driver in the third act of this movie (well actually all of it, but you know what I mean). Ben is completely different from Kylo Ren in almost every aspect. So many people have complained that Ben never actually has dialogue outside of the very endearing “ow”. I’ll be honest it makes me so sad and I definitely wanted to see some from him but I didn’t actually notice the lack of words the first time because of how much Adam is able to convey with every movement and facial expression. I knew exactly who this character was and I have never loved a character so much in my life. In these moments you can see every pain, betrayal, and weight is lifted from him. Ben is finally free of his pain. And now he can be the man he was always meant to be and it is staggeringly beautiful. And then he is thrown into a pit. Not allowed to fight the being that has tortured his family for the entirety of the saga. And is killed without a moment to grieve for us or for the love of his life. And I can’t get over it. I can’t see the logic in it. What’s the point? What’s the message here? Life sucks and then you die? THATS NOT STAR WARS!!!! Star Wars has always been tragic but there is always hope! Look at RotS. That is the saddest movie in Star Wars (till now) and it ends with the twins carrying the hope of the galaxy and their mother. Uncle Lars and Aunt Beru look into the sunset with hope as Obi Wan looks on knowing that if anyone can save the galaxy it’s going to be Luke Skywalker. Even if Obi Wan doesn’t believe that Anakin can be saved Luke is still worth everything to keep safe. In ESB Han Solo is frozen in carbonate, Luke is the son of the monstrous Vader, and the Empire is winning. Yet in the end Luke and Leia stand side-by-side, determined to make it all better. There is always hope in Star Wars yet I am left utterly hopeless by this movie. The only thing keeping me afloat is the idea that Ben Solo May live on due to the fact that we don’t see him at all in the end of HIS FAMILYS SAGA! (More on that in a moment). For the last four years Kylo Ren/Ben Solo has represented potential and hope. And now he’s dead. I can’t get over that. I hope Lucasfilm and Disney understand what he means to us and finds a way to bring him back. I don’t know what Adam Diver believed he was going to be completing but I can’t imagine this was the way it was supposed to be. Not when he loves this character as much as we do.

The Skywalkers: this is mostly a continuation but I had some specific things I wanted to address here. This is the Skywalker saga. I can say without a doubt this is my favorite fictional family ever. I love the drama and the angst and the importance they hold. I have never doubted that the sequel trilogy would hold up to that because Ben Solo (Skywalker) existed. Yet they are completely sidelined in this movie. I love Rey so so much but to introduce the idea of a Force Dyad with ultimate power in the Force and the to throw the Skywalker half off a cliff so that the two Palpatines can duke it out for the fate of the Skywalker Saga is just awful. I truly believe that Ben should have killed Palpatine (to stop Rey from being possessed by her creepy grandpa) and to be able to complete Anakins story. We even learn that Palpatine has haunted Ben in the same way he’s haunted Anakin (which is totally glossed over by the way, cause why is that important, right?) and yet Ben does nothing against Palpatine in the final fight. How does this make sense? I said all along I wanted an Anakin cameo in this movie and I was truly happy to hear Hayden’s voice in this movie but if Ben and Rey are dyads and representations of balance in the Force then why is she the Jedi that needs to rise? Shouldn’t they BOTH be that? The fact that this movie ends with no living Skywalkers is just bad and it hurts. I cannot understand the need for the Skywalker line to end just cause the saga is ending. Let Ben Solo and Rey have babies for goodness sake! And to be honest I don’t feel any emotion except disappointment and frustration at the whole Rey Skywalker line. She’s not a Skywalker, or if she is then she shouldn’t be alone. Loneliness has never been good in Star Wars. And yeah Luke and Leia show up as Force ghosts but that’s not real companionship and neither is BB-8. Rey is not meant to be alone and neither is Ben. Or do the most touching lines in TLJ mean absolutely nothing at this point. Now I can only hold on to Luke’s line, “no one is ever really gone.”

This ended up way longer than I meant it to but turns out I needed to get some of my feelings out. I’m frustrated at my inability to feel satisfied by all of the truly wonderful moments in this movie (Reylo is real and Ben is here once again). There are so many other things I thought too. Why does Rey decide to go into exile on Ach-To when she spent the whole last movie explaining why it doesn’t work to Luke? (Well it’s cause obviously TLJ isn’t important, that’s why everything was retconned,right? Except JJ said he didn’t do that...weird.) Why is it that Rey showed the Resistance how to get to Exegol when I personally think it would have been cooler and more meaningful to have the signal coming from a rogue tie fighter flown by Ben Solo? (Think about it. Han tells Ben to help the thing his mother lived for, the Resistance, he knows how to get there and it would have been a far more interesting moment then just having Finn tell us all what Rey means when we kinda figured it out for ourselves, thanks). Why didn’t Ben fly the Falcon at all in total acceptance of his true identity?

But ultimately these are the most important things I felt coming out of TROS. I fully expected this movie to be my favorite of the trilogy if not my favorite of them all. I’ve always like the Star Wars finales the most. RotS is my favorite of all of the SW movies with RotJ close behind. Really though, this isn’t a Star Wars finale it’s just dressed up as one. I hope there will be more things to come and I look forward to the future of Star Wars (with binary sunsets in the middle distance, of course). And I hope this isn’t really the end of Ben Solo, my hero.

Now to catch up on Clone Wars because Star Wars is where I go when I’m feeling down. Even if I’m feeling down about Star Wars.

[gotgifsandmusings]

Now that the Skywalker Saga is over (until Disney dicides to introduce us another Death Star) can you come up with a ranking yet? I know Solo is the worst for you (which is quite a feat since you really hate the prequels) and I think you've said before Empire is your favorite. I have to say, I prefer the prequels over the sequels. I won't ignore the prequels's issues but I felt more invested in their overarching story. They had purpose, something the sequels failed to, imo. TLJ is a gem, though.

I have a tough time engaging with the prequels at all to be completely honest. They’re joyless slogs other than Attack of the Clones, which is just purely hilarious in all the ways it wasn’t supposed to be. I get where people come from with it, because it had a single story that it tried to tell, and it just told it badly. But even that story itself was colored by Lucas’s weird sexism (a woman is canonically what tempted Anakin to the dark side), and a complete lack of imagination about how to actually expand in this universe (all jedi have to be trained by wearing a blast-shield down and blocking attacks from a pokey ball as example prime). Plus people didn’t talk like people, and we were gifted racist caricature aliens.

Even the “it depicted the rise of fascism so it’s good and relevant” argument falls 100% flat for me, since it’s not like it armed us in any particular way to recognized signs or to fight. Evil space wizard was evil, and the lethargic “peacekeepers” all took their stupid pills to allow the plot to advance.

Very light TROS spoilers ahead so I’ll put a “read more” here.

I really, really liked what the sequels set up and deconstructed, and the destabilization that TLJ introduced that also made the franchise feel relevant. TFA was a safe soft reboot in a lot of ways, but one I’ll never begrudge because of the new cast, and because a palate cleanser totally was needed after the prequels. Then TLJ tapped into all the potential that was there, in imperfect ways, yes, but in a way where I’ll always defend its core.

With TROS…this wasn’t what the movie could have or should have been at all. I knew that from the second Disney told us they’d never ever recast Carrie Fischer, even more when the title was unveiled, possibly the most when they brought out Ian McDiarmid, and the early reviews that bemoaned Rose getting shoved to the site, and made it clear this was a movie to give people their Star Wars back.

That said, sitting in the theater already armed with every spoiler, I actually enjoyed the experience of watching it far more than I thought I could. But it was a momentary thing. I can’t imagine seeking it out to rewatch, and the implications of this being the note they chose to end it on is just…it’s rotten and cowardly. It’s like I’m mad it at way more in this philosophical way than how I felt sitting there, if that makes sense.

But my god I hate how fucking dynastical it became.

So it’s very hard for me to directly compare the Sequel Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy as wholes against each other, because I still have this feeling about TROS that it’s disconnected. I don’t think it cheapens TLJ, but it frustrates. It’s also still a better movie than any of the prequels, and I’ll happily argue that. But I think the fact that it could frustrate and let me down is more of a mark of my engagement with the ST, than say…Revenge of the Sith, where I went in just happy it was finally ending.

So yeah, here’s my hot-take ranking, and yes…every single movie in this franchise has unfortunate implications in places, plot holes, silly contrivances, and issues. 

The Last Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

A New Hope

The Force Awakens

Return of the Jedi

Rise of Skywalker

Rogue One

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Phantom Menace

Solo

[eirenare]

I’ve been kind of freaking out since these pages of “The Rise of Kylo Ren” #2 got revealed last night

[Reasons + some very very crazy theorizing/speculation for TROKR/TROS under the “read more”. Pleasepleaseplease don’t judge me too hard, I just love mindbending shit and I usually overanalyze a lot so yeah, this happened in my brain. ALSO, below there’ll be SPOILERS of: TROS (I talk about a specific described rating), TROKR, TFA novelizations, TLJ non-junior novelization.]

At first my mind didn’t go “crazy thoughts” mode, I was just looking at the way the hair of “Mr. Hottie McHotHot” (aka the previous leader of the Knights of Ren) peeked out of his helmet because that’s something I love to see in helmeted characters—and then it hit me

Of all the choices of hair (or hairless) you can do, specially in Star Wars, of all of them, you go and pick up, for the previous leader of the Knights of Ren... the same kind of hair that Ben has when he’s grown up: curly, short to the same degree, and black (in fact it seems it’s the same color used for Ben’s hair, if you take a good look at younger Ben in these pages)

But that’s not the only thing that leaves my brain uneasy, no... “Mr. Hottie McHotHot” and Ben seem to be mirroring each other’s pose

Like, look at that:

Honestly, it’s either a coincidence, a parallel made on purpose between both leaders, or there’s more to it

So yeah, we have a guy with a mask (remember what Adam Driver said just recently about masks? Something along the lines that masks always have an use? About what one may be hiding behind it?) that has a hair that’s super similar to Ben’s grown-up hair, mirroring his pose—right

It only gets better when you realize there’s something red wrapped around his left wrist. Doesn’t that feel familiar...? Oh, and, the reason why his body looks like that? He’s “burned all over his body” (words from Charles Soule himself on Twitter in response of a fan)...

... and there’s this rating, from the BBFC webpage, that says:

“Fights with fantastical weapons include impalements and brief sight of blood and injury. A character's face is melted by fantastical energy.”

Which, in Star Wars language, means: someone gets zapped by Force lightning—badly. Unless Palpatine regained a younger body or something similar, I can only see either Rey or Ben suffering this—and with all the parallels overall, and seeing the authors of the comic talking about how Anakin and Ben have them going on, yeah, I go with Ben

... What if we’re getting some time-traveling-fuckery?

Remember that, not too long ago, in “Star Wars: Rebels” the World Between Worlds debuted... and Palpatine had apparently been wanting to get a hold on it for some time. Not to mention that the TLJ non-junior novelization has a very interesting chapter where we see some things through Snoke’s perspective, and he not only talks about visions but also mentions timelines... and the TLJ non-junior novelization starts, precisely, with a “what if” scenario of Luke’s life in the form of a dream

So, what if that previous leader of the Knights of Ren is another Ben (going to call him Alterben from now on in this post), and something went awfully wrong in his timeline (Dark Rey perhaps? Palpatine undefeated? ... Rey died?) and he reached to this one to make things as right as they can go... or end younger Ben’s whole career before it even starts

We know that this leader of the KoR is gone later on, that Ben takes on the role, and the KoR are... suspiciously “hidden”, regarding information and media? Still we know some things, though (and some of them suspicious), so let’s do a recap (blessed be the Wookieepedia):

- names: secret (except for Trudgen, now)

- birthplaces: secret

- called “the seven lights” in one of the Star Wars books, with the name standing above their concept art (I don’t remember now which book, but I think it was the TFA artbook one)

- loyal only to Ben Solo (well... Kylo Ren—who knows if they would keep being loyal if he changed name and started doing things different) for some reason

- their designs, all of them, are literally based on rejected Kylo Ren concepts

- “they have some sort of code, which they were flexible in following: living life the way they wanted, taking what the galaxy gave them and consuming what the dark side send them”

- “Force-users like their leader, the Knights of Ren had the power of the dark side but weren’t as powerful as the Jedi or Sith. Their fighting skills and martial prowess are without equal”

- they didn’t put them in the TLJ movie because “there was no room for them”, since the movie was already full, and they mentioned they could have been used in place of Snoke’s Praetorian Guards but that “it would have been a waste because all the guards had to die and Kylo’s connection to the Knights would’ve added unwanted complications to the scene”

- Vanity Fair, back in may 2019, described them as “masked warriors with specialized weaponry who add an element of chaos to the war between the Resistance and the First Order”, and compared how they looked to the characters from Mad Max

- in TFA’s Director commentary, J.J. Abrams noted that they do have a backstory, but that details have not been shared

- “while fleshing out the Knights of Ren for “Star Wars: the Rise of Kylo Ren”, Charles Soule took inspiration from motorcycle gangs, classic Westerns and Samurai tales to dramatize some of the lore behind the Knights”

So, after reading this: it’s clear there’s something more going on with the KoR

What surprises me the most is the loyalty—only to Ben/Kylo. And then, of course, the cryptic “the seven lights” text... But, focusing on loyalty: let’s go for a moment with the idea that their leader in the comic is really Alterben—wouldn’t it make sense, then, that if Ben defeated him leader at some point, they would follow him? Had it been anyone else maybe they would retaliate, but it would be literally their leader except younger and with less shit going on around him

To add this—oh, the irony. Ben wanted to be like Vader... Alterben is literally “burned all over his body” and taking on a mask that pretty much looks necessary, in this case—and if he had lost Rey in that alternate universe, either to the dark side or to death, it would make it all the more tragic and paralleling to Anakin and Padmé

Also, remember the scene where Ben proclaims to Han Solo that he had “killed his son”? ... Well. Another trauma to add if Alterben was a real thing, that is, because Ben would’ve ... literally killed himself...

Maybe Alterben told him of Rey. Something not too clear, perhaps, and that’s why in the novelization Ben’s all like “it is you” when she gets the legacy lightsaber to answer to her? ... Maybe the vision we saw in TFA was not from the future, but from an alternate timeline (although it’s proved and canon that visions fromt he Force can be super tricky, even Snoke remarks that in the TLJ non-junior novelization)

To finish this crazy post, in words of Ben Solo himself: “let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be”—except, in that sense, if this “Alterben theory” wasn’t too crazy and it happened, it would be literally

[hyperbolicpurple]

collected tros thoughts

I assume everyone who still wants to avoid spoilers has the appropriate tags filtered...

Several parts of the movie, especially toward the beginning, are very much a jumble in terms of tone and pace especially. You can definitely tell the movie went through a bunch of different versions/scripts/directors AND that they were trying to please a lot of different contingents in the audience: Force-sensitive Finn, R/eylo, Bendemption, Bendeath, big trio presence, ending with Rey Skywalker. Say what you will about TLJ, but I do think it felt like one person’s singular and coherent vision. I do think TROS smoothed out toward the climax, where you have the two main conflicts (Rey vs. Palpatine and the Resistance vs. the FO fleet) connect in both setting and theme.

The plot of most of the movie was essentially finding a bunch of different heretofore unknown significant objects, which is kind of a terrible plot for such a climactic movie, honestly. Especially when those significant objects are just maps to other places! Infinity War had plots about collecting macguffins too, but A) they were powerful objects that were intrinsically connected to the main plot and B) they were set up to be important well in advance. (I am not saying IW was actually good, to be clear.) Some of the macguffins in TROS COULD have been actually significant, especially that Sith knife that posed an opportunity for Rey to be tempted by the Dark Side, but that didn’t happen.

In a bunch of ways this movie can be compared to ROTJ (it has several direct callbacks), and it comes up short in almost all of them. ROTJ had a sense of urgency, direction, and high stakes that TROS just lacks. The only “death” is the fakeout about Chewbacca, which was unnecessary and ultimately meaningless. It was supposed to be a moment for Rey to contemplate her potential for the Dark Side, but it was handled all wrong for that. For one thing, once Chewbacca is found to be alive, Rey grins, angst forgotten, and that’s the end of that, I guess. Who cares if there were other innocents aboard that transport she destroyed? Not Rey and not TROS!

Speaking of Rey and Dark Rey, I don’t think Rey Palpatine is an intrinsically bad idea, but after the first two movies it didn’t make sense, and the way they did it was really frustrating. Rey had plenty of angst and Dark Side temptation from being abandoned by her parents--making her parents heroic and her struggle with the Dark Side basically genetic really sucked as a writing choice. I hate that mechanistic approach to people being good and evil, it’s so lazy and reductive. I was reminded of when, in The Raven Cycle books, the driving desire of the main character Blue to leave Henrietta and see the world is eventually attributed to................ her dad being a tree spirit, because trees reach for the sky. OK. Maybe instead characters could be kind of like people with relatable human psychology?

Relatedly, Finn’s discovery of other FO defectors was a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s cool that Finn wasn’t the only one. On the other, it’s never really explained why some defected and others didn’t, except the “feeling” of the Force. I was struck by how weirdly Calvinistic this was. I think a lot of people misunderstand and thus misuse the term “Calvinistic” (mostly to describe stories in which characters are essentially good or evil, which is definitely not a Calvinistic approach to character at all, and also to refer to predestination, which is related to Calvinism but doesn’t really encompass it fully)--but the way the Force was portrayed for Finn and other defectors was weirdly real-deal Calvinistic, minus the actual Christian elements. In a Calvinistic worldview, everyone is equally, hopelessly tainted by sin, but God in his infinite wisdom has elected some for salvation and others for damnation not according to their own characters but to play out a cosmic drama in which he ultimately wins in order to further his glory. So some defectors being chosen to be saved (and unnamed and innumerable other brainwashed child soldiers, I guess, not to be so touched) by the Force in order for the Light Side to win is just bizarre and even disturbing. Force sensitivity doesn’t really explain that. Also, as a side note, it seemed like at some point someone was going to address the fact that they were fighting a brainwashed child soldier army and then they just... didn’t.

I know a big portion of the Finn fandom was upset with TLJ but TROS was far worse and sidelined him way more. Who cares about Force sensitivity? Couldn’t they have done something with his actual character? And Rose, poor Rose....

I know that a big part of R/eylo fandom is upset (along with ALL the other factions of the fandom, lol) but honestly this movie was THE R/eyloest. More Force bond visions, her running him through and then saving him, that charming scene where Ben’s running to her and Palpatine all Han-like, the moment where she transfers one of the lightsabers to Ben (clearly meant to be delightful and it was!), when Palpatine drew a new life force from their bond and it was ~as strong as life itself~ or whatever he actually said, the kiss obviously, Ben bringing her back to life.... I can’t believe I’m going to have R/eylo feelings in 2020 but here we are!

I went in pretty spoiled, but even if I hadn’t I was fully expecting Ben to die, so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It’s not that I’m not bored and frustrated by Redemption Equals Death, I just didn’t expect anything different.

I will say I was generally not emotionally affected at all by TROS--not sure how much that is related to having been spoiled, to the quality of the movie itself (though I did cry at the live-action Power Rangers a few years ago--twice!), or to having cried my eyes out at Little Women yesterday. (I’ve become a horrible movie-crier the last couple of years. I even cried during that ad where the kids are using a tablet to present a tribute to their dead grandma. It’s so bad it’s humiliating to see movies with other people.)

I was glad we got a callback to Ben and Han’s scene in TFA and that it was tender and full of forgiveness. Also that we did get Leia reaching out to Ben before passing.

The final scene on Tattoine was pretty bizarre. The choice to take the Skywalker name was weird and distasteful, and Ben should have appeared as a Force Ghost for sure.

[zdbztumble]

Spoiler-free thoughts on Episode IX

Had to sleep on this before writing anything up in detail.

I’ve always liked Star Wars, but except for that time when the Special Editions and Episode I made a splash at just the right moment in my childhood, I’ve been a casual fan. So casual, in fact, that it wasn’t until towards the end of high school/beginning of college that I started to realize that Episode I was such a pariah among fans, or that Return of the Jedi was the least-celebrated of the OT. And it was only in the immediate run-up to The Rise of Skywalker that I noticed the size of the group that didn’t care for The Last Jedi. Even now, I’ve largely stayed away from that mess - mostly because I have no interest in getting into it, but also because I decided after the first trailer for TRoS that I wanted to avoid any spoilers. It’s rare for me to dodge them, or have the willpower to resist them, but I did manage to go into the theatre last night with a blank slate - not a single expectation, not a single idea of what I was going to see.

And I liked it!

I also liked The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I liked TLJ more, and seeing the chances it took made me feel a little disappointed in TFA in hindsight, but I thought both were perfectly fine movies. And that’s about how I felt watching TRoS. If you’d asked me beforehand what the idea follow-up to TLJ would be, the movie we got isn’t what I would’ve imagined. But it was a thrill to watch in the theater, and as an experience, I had a wonderful time.

Then, after getting home, I read a few of the reviews.

I may have gone in spoiler-free, but I hadn’t been able to avoid some of the headlines. I knew the film wasn’t exactly lauded by the critics, particularly those that liked TLJ. Watching the film, I could see why that might be, but I didn’t dwell on any specifics for long; I did have a movie to pay attention to, after all. But I read a few, and they were certainly food for thought. To make a long story short, and to keep this spoiler-free, the gist of the complaints is: TRoS is a massive course “correction,” a sad retreat into nostalgia and fanservice, abandoning huge swaths of TLJ’s potential and set-up for the sake of appeasing a vocal and toxic minority of fanboys.

Even more than when I saw the film, I can see their point. One particular reversal is especially egregious, and became more so to me once I was out of the theater and could really think about it. And I’ve had a general disappointment with the sequel trilogy since the beginning, when TFA decided that its design, themes, and villains would be so indebted to the OT. But that may be why I’m not more bothered by TRoS - I already had my (pretty mild, honestly) reaction to the nostalgia crutch a long time ago with this trilogy. TRoS, in its last act, actually taps into the type of villain and conflict I thought the Sequel Trilogy should’ve had all along.

And some of the more specific charges against TRoS, I just can’t get behind. Complaints that the banter between the heroic trio are forced, that there’s a lack of character arcs, or that this or that actor did terribly, don’t hold up IMO. Those calling it the worst of all the Star Wars films probably haven’t seen Attack of the Clones recently. Whether it’s performance, dialogue, direction, or design, TRoS is a much more successful movie than Episode II (though I will throw that film one bone - I think John Williams did better work on it, and all the PT, than the ST. Which isn’t to say that I think his scores for the new films are bad; except for Rey’s theme, the ST just hasn’t yielded any instantly recognizable, memorable leitmotifs. I suspect that’s a decision encouraged, if not by the directors, than by the executives; there seems to be an allergy to that kind of scoring in recent years, which is a huge shame.)

If you’re going to compare TRoS to another film in this series, the most apt is Return of the Jedi, another film that may have neglected all the potential offered to it by its predecessor and made a disappointing retreat into the familiar on certain plot points, but was still very well-produced and an enjoyable movie. TRoS is, in kind and degree, more guilty of both those issues than RotJ. But I think its high points are even higher than that film’s - they certainly felt that way in the theater. And, as the ending of its own trilogy, and the Skywalker Saga, TRoS’s final moments make for a spectacular finish. So all and all, I’m still quite happy with it.

[where-is-my-mind-tho]

Guys I actually  kinda enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker

mini review/first impresions, spoilers will be highlited ;)

although my expectations were kinda low after ep. 8... I’m not gonna say TLJ was total garbage but for me certainly worst of this new trilogy. Compared to ep. 7 which I really liked. TLJ kills alot of new ideas from the previous movie and  has really weird plot and out of all these new movies feels the least like a Star Wars movie... 

I might actually write a little something about ep 7 - 9 later (like what was awesome and what I liked...) bcs when I see all the hate this new trilogy is getting it breaks my heart... I get it that It’s totally different from what we expected as fans but every movie has something epic and I really don’t wanna trash on Star Wars... bcs It’s well Star Wars and I used to love it soo much as a kid. and I still do

so back to ep. IX

I went to premier on 18th and I have to say there were like 3 girls + 1 man dressed as a Jedi :D (not that thats important) lmao and the cinema was like 75% full :D I expected more ppl tbh. But that probably depends on where u live... luckily the cinema aired the version with EN + subtitles first and I was super happy about that.

I gotta admit that I briefly read through the leaks on reddit (yes they are true) so I kinda expected the ending but I still wanted to see for myself and I was not entirely disappointed and there were bunch of scenes that blew my mind. The movie Is filled with so much action .... It would be enough for two movies and It was hell of a ride. All the scenes with Leia look awesome except for one (1) you gonna know when u see... they must have used CGI for that but It’s not a complete disaster.... As usual the trio is absolutely gorgeous... you gonna get more Rey-Poe interactions which are mostly fights but fun to watch. Sadly Finn has almost no development whatsoever and that’s a shame he was very interesting new addition to SW universe.

the saber battles are epic and probably one of my most favorite thing in TROS. also there’s bunch of new worlds and also red troopers... who are kinda just there. 

! spoilers ahead !

now we all know for some time that Palpatine is back but I did not expect him to be shown so early in the movie. It basically opens with scene with Kylo going to Sheev who tells him to kill Rey. IMHO kinda rushed start. Also the revelation that Rey is Palpatine felt kinda funny :D and the story of her parents was NOT what I had expected but thats not a bad thing... Better than what Kylo said about them in ep.8. And now Im gettting to the problem of this movie.

 Ep 7. was great. It introduced new characters and kickstarted the trilogy but then we have ep. 8 which totaly trashed and ruined the direction which was set in TFA and now JJ tried to tie it togheter and in feels so rushed and messy like Disney did not plan this entirely. I had a feeling that they put Palpatine there only bcs Snoke was killed so unexpectedly and they did not have the BIG BAD. Although the whole move is filled with nostalgia trust me when the movie ends you don’t have the feeling of closure. It does not conclude the 9 movie saga... It barely felt like an ending for this trilogy. 

Now to some positive stuff

Adam Driver and his acting is the best thing that could happen to Star Wars. This person has an incredible emotional range. Those who watch his work will agree with me. I’m forever thankful for Disney and JJ for casting him, making him well known and gave him the opportunity to show some raw emotions on screen. He deserves all the awards in the world. 

That being said I can’t shake the feeling that we were robed. His portrayal of Ben Solo is absolutely incredible even though he almost does not speak and It’s a great shame that we won’t be able to see this character more. When Ben appears on Exegol it’s a totally different person even the style of his walk changes. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be if Kylo turned at the end of ep 8... the whole RISE of Skywalker could have been filled with sarcastic sassy remarks aka Han and Leia style... NOT to mention Ben’s super hot outfit which contains baggy tshirt and black pants... yes that’s it... hottest character and outfit since Loki and his leather armor in 2012 Avengers.... 

I mean look at him....

And than we have the final scene with him and Rey... Ikd what to say about that I’m still processing that smile™. I should say I was never a true Reylo bcs I had the feeling it would be a relationship based on manipulation an abuse BUT I was not totally against REYBEN which is basically canon at the end. As I said I don’t know what to think of it yet...

In conclusion the real tragedy of this story is the fact that Ben dies :( totally useless death imho. So the ending is actually bittersweet and not what u expect when go see a movie that should end the 40y.o. saga. That being said and done my opinion is mostly positive and ep. 9 is for me actually the best from Disney trilogy followed by ep. 7 and ep. 8 being the worst. 

Theres like sithton ;) of other stuff that I did not mention bcs the post would be like 100 miles long soo maybe in another post. Now id like to know what do you think? Have u seen it yet? Which ep is the best/worst? Which part of the movie did u like?

Sorry for the repost of the last gif and pic the are not mine also bless the person who made them

Sorry for typos or grammar I’m still SHOOK

[superkitty21]

So, The Rise of Skywalker was a thing

I laughed, I cried, I sighed in disappointment, but somehow, despite everything, I liked it. (Major fucking spoilers for the whole movie btw)

Okay, I don't know where to start so I'm gonna talk about the Palpatine thing. This film feels like the writers went in and tried to "fix" alleged plot holes in the previous films. As someone who loved TLJ, Rey being no one special was something I found engaging about that film. The Star Wars franchise is really obsessed with legacy and blood and heritage (especially that of your male line) and Rey being nobody was a refreshing break from having to justify your character as a protagonist by proving them to be the special. I'm really annoyed that Rey couldn't just be Rey she HAD to be someone special, the granddaughter of someone IMPORTANT to 'explain' her talent and skill with the force and to justify her role as protagonist of this franchise.

On top of this, revealing Palpatine to be the master manipulator of this whole conflict felt so cheap to me. TLJ completely shifted the status quo and took the Star Wars franchise to places we haven't seen before. So returning to the plot line of "we must defeat the evil Sith" betrays the ending of TLJ. I was excited to see where this franchise was going next after the explosive ending of TLJ and finding out that we were just going to rehash plot beats from 40 years ago was more than a little disappointing.

The sequel trilogy has been a balancing act between pulling on our nostalgia strings and telling a new story and The Rise of Skywalker, in returning to Palpatine as the villain and making Rey his granddaughter, tipped the scales of this trilogy to boring rehash and it all feels like such wasted potential.

The romantic subplots in this one were... messy (to say the least). It felt very clear to me that the writers didn't know where they were going with Finn's romantic arc at all throughout this series. I'd like to start by saying RIP to Finn/Rose shippers because the writers utterly dismissed Finn and Rose's ENTIRE relationship. It's not even acknowledged that these two even know each other outside of the context of co-workers. The complete sidelining of Rose in this story is almost shameful. I can only assume this was done in response to the massive harassment campaigns targeted at Kelly Marie Tran post-TLJ. Not only was caving to the racist trolls and removing Rose from the story disrespectful to Rose's character, but it also made Finn's romantic arc so incohesive. They brought back the Finnrey dynamic from The Force Awakens, but then never developed on Finn and Rey's relationship in any meaningful way. It seemed as if they were going to make the stormtrooper defector, Jannah, a love interest but then never really went there either (thank god). It was messy and unfocused and I had no idea where they were going with any of it, and it turns out they didn't either.

They also decided to give Poe a love interest. out of nowhere. in the last film of this trilogy. Pour one out for Stormpilot shippers because that ship sank harder than the titanic. In trying to fully assert Poe Dameron's heterosexuality they felt the need to add a completely irrelevant and frankly out of place romantic subplot for Poe. Did doing this add to the story in any way? No. Did it add anything to Poe's characterization? No. So I have to assume its there to make sure everyone in the audience knows that Finn and Poe could never, in any way, shape, or form, under any context, ever, EVER be in a romantic relationship despite their obvious chemistry. Legit, the scenes with Poe and Zorii in Kijimi felt like an ad for a Poe Dameron tie-in prequel novel.

Kylo's redemption arc isn't the best I've seen. I'm generally not one for redemption arcs being motivated by external factors (ie your mother dying) rather than an internal realization and growth. There is an argument to be made that Kylo has been explicitly shown in struggling with the light the whole trilogy, but I still would have liked more lead up to his eventual switch and for the choice to be more his own rather than compelled by his mother's death and his girlfriend giving him puppy dog eyes.

Absolution through sacrifice is also a big pet peeve of mine, but somehow it worked for me in this one. It's probably because Ren's redemption is really isolated to his relationship to his family and Rey. Given that his most egregious actions were to his immediate family I wouldn't could it as a flaw in the film and it certainly made it easier to buy in to arc. And I never got the feeling that TROS never fully absolved Kylo of his crimes against the galaxy. Similarly to how despite his final sacrifice, Darth Vader is still seen as evil by the wider galaxy, I get the sense that Kylo Ren despite his heel turn will be in a similar position. I won't begrudge anyone who thinks his shift to the light feels to sudden, or that his motivations felt a bit weak, or those who generally just can't buy it, but it worked or me. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Now's probably a good time to mention that I'm a massive fucking Reylo and ate every scene of Kylo and Rey up like it was candy. I get why some people don't like this ship and I think if you're not on board with these two by the end of the film the ending to Ren's story won't be very satisfying. Given that I already loved these two's relationship that Ren's ultimate sacrifice got me straight in the feels and that contributed to my ultimate satisfaction with the film.

Okay, That's everything I wanted to be analytical about. Now here are just some random, unrendered thoughts.

*I absolutely adored the main trio in this movie. Their dynamic was fun and they all clicked so well together and made me what a whole nother trilogy about these three precious beans. Imma be reading a LOT of jedistormpilot fics after this because that unit was fantastic.

*I'm a bit peeved that they fake out 'killed' C-3PO cause his final goodbye was actually really touching. Bringing him back undercut what I thought was a really touching farewell.

*I don't think I've gushed enough about how much I adored all of the force bond stuff that happened in this movie because that shit was beautiful. I could not get enough of the Reylo force battles. Their final scene was *chef''s kiss* and I'll be rewatching it as much as I do the praetorian guard fight.

*Shout out to this film for remembering force sensitive Finn was a thing. I respect that.

*RIP Hux. I know I'm one of the 7 people who actually care, but I'm upset that he was given such a minor role and killed off by nameless first order general guy. Like he couldn't have even be killed by Kylo. smh

*The new droid was super cute. 10/10. Would buy a lifesize plush of that guy.

*This movie made me imagine Sheev Palpatine impregnating someone and I can never forgive it for that.

*The Knights of Ren were so unintentionally comedic to me. I genuinely burst out laughing every time I saw them because they were these back goons with these silly weapons that did basically nothing. I feel bad for anyone who was hyped to see them cause they were so inconsequential. The porgs in TLJ had more characterization than they did. One of the best moments in this whole movie was when a random stormtrooper that saw them and simply said "squad goals". I almost fucking died. That stormtrooper and Cait Salt-Licker are absolute legends.

*This may be the least visually interesting movies in the sequel trilogy. Don't get me wrong there is some gorgeous cinematography and shot composition in this movie. Every single scene with Palpatine was amazing and gave me chills, but it did feel like there were less jaw dropping stunning scenes in this one compared to The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. No one moment really sticks out to me as much as say, the Holdo maneuver did in TLJ or the forest lightsaber fight in TFA.

I don't think this movie will be well loved by many people. People who've hated the sequels thus far may be won over by the return of Palpatine, but I don't think it's enough to win over the detractors. I think people who genuinely liked the direction these films seemed to be taking after The Last Jedi will be disappointed in how this one plays out. There was a lot to love about The Rise of Skywalker, but there was also a lot of missed potential.

[jangoandtheclones]

some little thoughts on tros

(spoilers, for who hasn’t seen it)

(also these are my opinions and i am not stating anything in a “i am right about everything” sort of way, nor will i argue or get mad at anyone who thinks differently or was perfectly happy with how the movie turned out) (let’s just be nice to one another and discuss things peacefully, it’s fine if we don’t agree on everything but we’re all in this fandom together, you know?)

(also this is all over the place and just rambling, i apologise)

Overall I had an enjoyable time watching TROS. I did have a few problems here and there, but there were things I liked.

I was actually very interested in the Palpatine revelation, and I thought the scenes between him and Rey (and Ben when he finally showed up) were very cool.

I could also get behind a Kylo Ren/Ben Solo redemption arc, and even though there are probably other ways they could have gone about doing it, I’m not terribly unhappy with how they did it. I actually really liked that scene between him and Han, mirroring the scene in TFA where he kills him, I thought it was nice and I’m a sucker for cinematic parallels (I have no idea if that’s the right term, if it is not I would appreciate it if someone corrected me). I also got big-time Han Solo vibes off Ben when he ran in to fight people with A SINGLE BLASTER. And that little shrug when Rey Force-teleports the lightsaber to him was fun, idk. I was always pretty interested in the character, I’m not too unhappy with how he turned out, buuuuuuut...

...while I can imagine the kiss at the end being maybe a “oh my god thank you for saving me” thing rather than a “I love you romantically let’s get married” sort of thing if I really try to look at it that way, it still feels quite forced to me. I always saw Kylo’s behaviour toward Rey in the previous two movies as more manipulative to try and gain a powerful ally he had a Force connection with, rather than attempts at gaining her affections or whatever. Heck, I even considered desperation at the thought of gaining an ally that could help him get away from Snoke and rule the galaxy (I haven’t watched TLJ recently, this may have been exactly what he said he wanted, so if that is the case, nevermind!). Basically, I just never at any point could see Kylo actually liking Rey, and I especially could never see Rey liking him. I could see Rey feeling pity, maybe, as he’s clearly tormented and brainwashed by Snoke (or Palpatine, as this movie revealed), but romance? I’ve seen people compare Kylo/Ben many times to Mr. Darcy (you know, Pride & Prejudice) and I feel like people often miss out on the fact that Darcy didn’t torture Elizabeth for information, nor did he kill her friends, nor was he known previously for mass murder, you know?

Also, Poe Dameron’s suddenly revealed past as a spice-runner? I only have two of the Poe Dameron comics (which I thought were canon material?) and I was wondering if this was ever brought up in later issues? The spice-runner thing seems to come out of nowhere and just felt really out of place to me, I didn’t really like it. It didn’t feel like it fit his established character, I felt like they were trying to turn him into a new character and it didn’t feel right to me, I couldn’t get into it. I wasn’t too happy with the way Poe was treated in TLJ, but in TROS I just felt uncomfortable with how his character was handled.

I liked Poe’s funny moments (”I KNEW IT!” is still echoing in my ears and shall continue to do so for many weeks to come), but the spice-runner thing... I just don’t get why this was added. Any of his knowledge on “shady” things didn’t seem weird to me at all for a character who regularly goes on dangerous missions, sometimes secretly, I honestly don’t feel like “oh yeah he was a space drug dealer” does anything to explain how he can basically hotwire a starfighter or whatever. I’m curious to hear what other people thought of his characterisation in this film, I’m open to having my mind changed, but I am genuinely not happy with this at the moment. Also, the addition of a possible former flame was unexpected to me too (though I will admit, his little flirty look at the end followed by her shaking her head “no” was kind of funny). 

Finn deserved better, as usual... I like the thought of him meeting other former stormtroopers, he got a “It’s not just me!” moment and I thought that was awesome (and the thought of Lando taking these poor kids out to find out where they’re from warms my heart so much). And oh my goodness, Force-sensitive Finn is something I have been waiting for and expecting since the beginning... But I feel like there is so much more he could have been doing, he’s such a good character and I feel like he isn’t given enough to work with.

Honestly, would love to see Finn as a Jedi one day, that shot of John Boyega on Starkiller Base with Luke’s lightsaber in The Force Awakens is still one of my favourite moments in this trilogy.

I liked Rose Tico and I wish she had more to do in this film. She got more hate than she deserved in TLJ and Kelly Marie Tran is a diamond.

Finally, I like the idea of Hux being so frustrated with having to answer to a highly unstable space wizard with a laser sword, and trying to help out the opposing side simply to spite him. BUT, I feel it could have been handled differently? Maybe his character could be a little smarter about it? I feel like he had the right space villain motivation, but he was kinda stupid about it, and the movie kinda threw this revelation at us and then ended it almost immediately. Idk, I don’t know too much about Hux except for that his first name is Armitage and he’s an evil Bill Weasley, maybe it was perfectly in character.

Overall, I had a fun time. I would have liked a few things to have been different, even if I’m not sure how I personally would have changed them right now, but overall I don’t regret having seen the movie.

If you read, feel free to disagree with anything (or even everything!), but please don’t get mad at me and please explain or argue your points in a civil manner, I see too many people argue and insult each other over what they liked and didn’t like in these movies.

Also, thanks for reading! ♡

[dgcatanisiri]

So, some assorted still-pre-TRoS thoughts on Star Wars as a whole, or at least the sequel trilogy, colored by some of the spoilers I’ve come across. So I’m going to talk behind a tag because of that influence.

Let’s acknowledge something right off the bat. The Sequel Trilogy was screwed over from the start, and particularly this movie itself. The trilogy in general was screwed by the fact that no one in charge seemed to think giving it narrative cohesion mattered, and if it weren’t for Colin Trevorrow leaving production and JJ Abrams returning, it would have less than it does. Like, say what you will about TLJ, but it IS a tonal and story clash with the movies that surround it. Even if you want to argue that TRoS was written to refute “the best aspects” of it (which... well, there’s a debate for another time), the fact of the matter is, given the disparity of TFA and TLJ, there was NEVER a satisfactory conclusion to be made here, because these movies clashed so much. 

I mean, compare this to the previous trilogies. The original trilogy was written and produced with no idea if there’d be another movie, so each was self-contained enough that while having launching points for following movies, could be seen as a finale in their own right. The prequel trilogy was written knowing they were getting a trilogy, and so was framed almost more as a three act play (I mean, my big criticism of the trilogy is that, effectively, TPM is more of a prologue and so AotC’s basically has to be Acts One and Two, but... There’s an attempt, is what I’m getting at). The sequel trilogy? Written almost entirely on the fly, with at least one writer saying about plot threads he abandoned that “they didn’t fit the story [he] was telling.” Which... I’m sorry, you were hired to write Part 2 of a story, not part 1, your JOB is to make them fit. If you can’t or won’t, maybe this wasn’t the story you should be telling. 

The other thing that screwed them was Carrie Fisher’s passing. Because her part in TRoS has to accommodate preexisting footage of her. Especially factoring in the fact that this had been meant to be her big focus film, I think that really hurt TRoS’s intended narrative, whatever it may have been. When one of your stars dies before you’ve gotten out of the scripting stage, and the character is so iconically linked to this performer that a recast is nigh-impossible, that screws things up massively. 

Which, y’know, rock and a hard place, TLJ had already finished filming when she passed, and it would have seemed in bad taste to reedit it to have her pass there (to say nothing of the impossibility of reshooting anything to give her a new focus and shift Luke and Leia’s passing around in the story beats). But now Leia never gets her real moment because you have to make do with the footage that was already there. I get the problem here.

So all of that really put this movie in an impossible position from the start. Featuring a character who is outliving her actor, the fact that going in, no one involved had any idea what would be this story’s plot until literally the moment they sat down to write it...

As for certain plot elements... Uh, yeah, I’m honestly content with the idea that Rey DOES have an important heritage and lineage. Because that’s what TFA built up, that she was being called because of her bloodline. You know why it doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t “come from nothing” and all that? FINN. Finn is the character who came from nothing. Finn is the character who is building himself up from nothing. This character began his life on screen as a number - FN-2187. Finn was even a very clear mirror to Kylo Ren, being everything he wasn’t. 

That’s why TLJ reducing him to a “comedic” C-plot has always bothered me, if anything, there was a far, far stronger narrative in Ren trying to make Rey his opposite, but Finn always standing in the way. Finn is everything that Ren is not, and he should have gotten the chance to stand against him in specific. But TLJ treated him like a vestigial limb it couldn’t hack off, just look at how many Finn scenes were cut from that movie.

So yeah, the “retcon” of Rey’s lineage being important (which... there’s no way that Ren even KNEW the truth of her family, TLJ pretty much explicitly takes place days after TFA, there’s no way he could uncover this in that time frame, HE IS MANIPULATING HER in that scene in TLJ)? Doesn’t bother me. Now, it bothers me that this doesn’t get played up by people, the fact that the villain is actively trying to manipulate the female lead to his side by tearing down her self-image, and it bothers me that people don’t actually acknowledge that fact, or give Finn the time of day he deserves on this one. 

(Also, I saw a point brought up once about how “what abandoned child would just give up their search for their birth parents with a “they didn’t care” and a shrug, making Rey’s easy acceptance of being “no one” really not ring true - whether or not they were “no one” to the greater galaxy, they were someone to HER.)

Based on TFA, I even see what could have been a core thread, of the subject of “no matter your heritage, no matter your lineage, no matter the expectations, you are the result of your choices.” Because that’s what that movie showed me with the characters - Rey choosing to let go Jakku and trust Finn, Finn choosing to defy the First Order, Poe choosing to trust this stormtrooper he had no right to... Hell, I can even extend this into TLJ, in that it shows that Ren chose the dark over the light, power over protection, and even Rose’s attempt to sacrifice herself for Finn. It may be half-baked there, but it exists.

But the thing for me? Given that more time in this trilogy has been set with these characters separated more often than together, I’m not sure how well that’s going to gel together in the final analysis - it’s the kind of lesson that’s seen by way of having these characters interact, show their advancement as a result of their choices, the choices they have made together. I don’t know yet if TRoS’s going to amend this. I’ll see.

Like, I’m not here to speak to the quality of TRoS. Like I said, I have yet to see it at the time of this writing. Just... This movie was never in a position to be all that people were putting on it.

I’ve got other thoughts I can detail later, but this was something that I needed to get out now.

[gerses]

The Rise of Skywalker quick thoughs (spoilers)

I just came from the movie and will need to digest it for some time but here are my initial thoughs:

Positives:

* Definitely can't call this movie boring. So much going on.

* Rey finally gets the development she needs. If in TFA she is fairly generic heroine and TLJ sidelines her in favor of Kylo, TROS is finally all about her conflict. Ridley does good job.

* Finally the crew stays together... even if Rey keeps wandering away. I enjoyed their interractions, although Poe was too combative here for my taste. Felt like he's stuck in the negative light he was shown in TLJ.

* Kylo's development feels natural despite how quickly it ultimately happens. I could believe his turn.

* Good moments of humor. Liked the little alien that wipes C-3PO and the new cute droid.

* Nice visuals and a great sense of epic scale. Sure, some of the stuff would be ridiculously over-the-top in any other movie, but hey, it's Star Wars. I loved the crowd of worshippers around Palpatine, the sense of something old and huge going on there.

* "Dad." "I know." Perfect moment and without question best and most meaningful call back in the movie.

Negatives:

* So much going on. It feels like it should've been an entire trilogy in itself and I actually think I would've preferred that. Everything about Palpatine, Final Order and Rey's past comes out of nowhere. I've been convinced since TLJ that ST was not planned from the start and TROS basically confirms that. Would've been so easy to hint that there is someone pulling Snoke's strings before his death. Actually Palpatine's message mentioned in the opening crawl should've been a cliffhanger at the end of TLJ. Or better, end of TFA so the plot wouldn't be so crammed. All these sudden revelations make the movie feel shallow and disconnected from any grand narrative. They also highlight how much TLJ fails to move the plot forward.

* Too much fanservice and nostalgia bait. Feels like almost every scene has some eastern egg. We get it, this is not the first Star Wars movie.

* Zorii Bliss was pointless character and her relationship with Poe felt extremely forced (like Rose but lot worse) and gives me no-homo vibes knowing how popular Finnpoe is. Everything she does could've been done by Lando or Jannah.

* Maybe I'm stupid but I didn't understand what happened to the First Order. Were all their troops on the Exegol? Why - did Palps want them all attending his suicide party? They seemed to have heavy presence in the galaxy already, Finn or Poe even saying there will be patrols in that backwater desert party. Hard to imagine the fight is truly over. And why did people suddenly join the Resistance now, when the odds are much worse than in TLJ?

* I'm not a Reylo shipper, but was disappointed that Kylo Ben dies. I get that it's his sacrifice but it feels anticlimatic compared to Vader's turn because we see him return to his old self for longer and then it's all (almost literally) tossed away. And the death-kiss-death sequence just felt weird.

* Similarly , I'm not very invested in the OT characters or the saga's legacy or whatever, but even then realizing that the whole OT trio is dead, the entire Organa-Solo family... damn. Poor Chewie, no amount of therapy will help with that. In fact, the end felt emotionally confused to me, like it's meant to be a happy ending but it doesn't feel like it after all the loss and then Rey ends up.. alone in the desert, again.

* Ultimately, the biggest flaw of the Sequel Trilogy is that we end up where we started. The evil empire is defeated by the ragtag rebel crew , again. Republic is saved, again. Palpatine dead, again. Still no Jedi and no Sith. The fate of the Jedi legacy again in the hands of a gifted orphan on a desert planet. Back to square one. Emotionally the movie felt a bit shallow to me, but I didn't hate it and I excpect my thoughts to get more nuanced with time.