#even if all their interactions basically go like boba: >:( luke: :)))))

[brotherskywalker]

Thoughts on Ahsoka ep 1

Finally watched the first episode of Ahsoka. I thought I'd do a brief review of my thoughts. Bear in mind I've never seen any of the Star Wars cartoon shows, and don't plan to.

Visually, I liked it. I love how they keep leaning into the 1970s aesthetic in keeping with the original series. Other than that......

Ahsoka herself was really wooden and boring. Sabine was extraordinarily twee and annoying and stupid and I was glad she died (hopefully) at the end of the episode. Just a totally cringefest sort of character. And then there were two Sith, one of whom was a Jedi that "disappeared" during the Clone Wars, which just begs a million questions about them and Ahsoka and basically everything like...

Where were these characters during the events of the original trilogy? You're telling me Anakin's padawan was alive and well and not doing everything in her ability to help out in the Rebellion? Or if she was, she was "helping out" in a place completely removed from where Luke and Leia were? She was a Jedi (or almost one), but wasn't going to help? And she had a padawan of her own??

It just feels like the existence of all of these characters spits in the face of the original trilogy. Luke being the last Jedi was a big thing. It was important. But I guess he really wasn't because there were all of these other Jedi... I mean, obviously it's possible. Yoda and Obi-Wan were also alive and in hiding. It just feels shitty to think about Obi-Wan going, "That boy is our last hope" and Yoda being "No, there is another" referring Leia... but no, actually, there were like at least two others, maybe three...

Idk, it just doesn't sit well with me.

And if Baylan turned to the dark side during the Clone Wars where was he during the whole original trilogy? I just... I am excited about stories set between RotS and ANH, but I feel like this isn't working for me. These characters seem to popular and too powerful to have just all disappeared during the original trilogy.... and then also disappeared during the prequels?

How the hell does all of this line up with canon?

And lastly... if Sith are popping up post-RotJ why the fuck would Ahsoka not immediately contact Luke? She knows him at this point (I assume this is set after her appearance/their interactions in the Book of Boba Fett). He is one of the only other Jedi in the galaxy. He is a Big Name. He is a badass. He would be involved? It just seems so fucking weird to have all this going on and not have at least a throw away line like, "I don't want to bother Luke with this. I can handle it."

Does Ahsoka even know Anakin was Darth Vader? Ugh.

I plan to watch the rest of the show and I hope it gets better/some of this stuff is explained, but. So far, it's not sitting well with me at all.

[princess-nell]

I’m an old-ass fangirl, and in all my years of being a fan of things, I have never seen a show I was into so *completely* fumble the ball. And there are a lot of classic fuckups out there! The only time I’ve seen a franchise fuck things up quite this badly was the Star Wars movie franchise, with the sequels. I had completely dumped Star Wars and then I was convinced to watch The Mandalorian. I suppose I should have known better.

Seriously though, it’s really hard to believe that the people who put together Mando S1 & 2 went on to make TBoBF and Mando S3. However, the fuck up with TBoBF at least made sense from a business point of view — the execs recognized that Din and Grogu were responsible for the rejuvenation of SW and the successful launch of Disney+ and they were worried that nobody would watch just Boba Fett (ironic considering his bizarrely rabid fan base)so they decided to stick The Mandalorian inside another show. The parts focusing on Din and Grogu were well done, aside from the terrible deep fake Luke Skywalker. They set up all kinds of possibilities for plot and character development. S3, however, is utterly incoherent. It doesn’t even contain any really thoughtful character interactions — at least TBoBF did have some nice moments with Boba and Fennec before it bailed on trying to have a coherent plot. There’s a great show in there where Din and Bo Katan team up and work together and talk about their histories and find their new paths. Instead, we have stupid shit like Din going to explore Mandalore and getting captured by whatever weird creature that was and Bo rescuing him for some random reason and that resulting in her becoming the master of the Darksaber again in the dumbest most anticlimactic way possible. Just…what?? It’s been nearly 3 seasons and we don’t even know why the Children of the Watch are commanded, on pain of banishment, to never expose their faces to another living creature. There is so much Mandalorian history left undiscussed, and they haven’t touched on any of the character development they spent 2.5 seasons setting up for Din and Grogu. Instead, they’re burning time with stuff so pointless I’m finding it insulting to my intelligence. The best way I can explain it is that the original show was pitched to people of all ages. Kids could enjoy it, and adults could respond to the deeper meaning and emotional themes woven into the plot. Everything felt like it was set up with a lot of thought and care. This season feels like it’s just thrown together, and like the IQ of the show has dropped about 30 points. Characters just randomly lurch from A to B, dialogue is mostly stilted and unfunny, and way too much time is taken up with weird creatures, toys and settings. I mean, why were the Mandalorians living on Jurassic planet and letting themselves be picked off one by one? Because the special effects team got to create the setting and the huge creatures. A distraction, no other reason that I could see because it made no logical sense at all. They had no ships, so how did all of them get there? What would they do if they needed any kind of supplies or had any reason to quickly leave the planet? How were they surviving on a barren planet with nothing growing? There was no ecosystem that would support these huge creatures. Why were they training in a place where a huge pterodactyl thing was steadily picking off their kids, and doing nothing about it? They didn’t even post any lookouts which is the most basic step you would expect a race of stone cold badass warriors to take. Why hold baptisms where their newly inducted members would get eaten? This in a group that’s near extinction? Why did Din step into a deep dropoff without even visually scanning for depth? I mean, he’s reckless, but that’s a mistake nobody makes, let alone someone who’s survived as a lone warrior in all kinds of terrain for decades. I could go on and on. I’m all about suspending disbelief, but not when every part of the story is a thoughtless mess.

Pedro Pascal was the one who made this story work. They crafted the story and found someone who could create a connection between a masked character and a puppet. He’s really an amazing actor, whether it’s him in the suit or just his voice. And honestly, they clearly realized that because the show was heavily promoted with him as the star this season. When you just abruptly remove him from the center of the show, it becomes empty. It’s not unreasonable that fans are upset when this kind of weird bait and switch happens. I think Katee Sackhoff is a solid actress and I’d love to see Bo Katan as a fully realized costarring character, but this isn’t the way to do it. The material has just been too bad. She shouldn’t be playing second fiddle to some random characters in rubber masks and pointless celebrity cameos.

If I had to guess, Disney decided that this show should run for an infinite number of seasons and they just didn’t have a plan for that at all. This whole thing reminds me of what happened to Lost, where they wanted it to end in a few seasons and the network demanded more and the show ended up vamping for a few seasons until they demanded and received a set number of episodes in which to execute the rest of the story. Also, I’m guessing Pedro doesn’t have an infinite number of seasons on his contract. Who could blame him for wanting to go on to something better than this shitshow, TLoU showed everyone what he’s really capable of. As he was shooting TLoU they decided to see how the show could go with minimal involvement from him. As it turns out, not well. Nowadays, with so much content out there, audiences are less likely to stick around and wait for something to get better. Yes, they’ll maintain the core group of SW fans who will watch anything as long as it says SW on the label (and I used to be one of them), but they’re going to lose everyone else. And they’ll deserve it. At least we have fanfic.

I was just going to keep my mouth shut about S3 until I had more time and then I went to add a quick comment to this reblog and all of this came out.

“Din and Grogu’s story ended that’s why they’re focusing on other mandalorians now.” Haha yeah that’s false. Din’s character development was just getting started at the end of season 2. He lost his ship, he gained a sword that was hinted at becoming a conflict between him and Bo later on, he broke his creed, and he only just was then realizing how much he loved Grogu and he had to give him up. Everything about Din was different, and we didn’t get to see him navigate that in any meaningful way before the writers became cowards and undid it all instantly. We haven’t even really seen Din and Grogu have much of a relationship this season besides a few moments, nothing about them being back together or Din coming to terms with his identity with his helmet and as a father, Grogu is just there to do cute backflips or get armor that we don’t even see Din react to. Them being back together doesn’t even seem to mean anything. These two had so much story to tell and the writers just fumbled it and are now using an excuse.

[willowcrowned]

For the prompt game, BobaxLuke and the fake dating prompt? 🙂

7. Fake Relationship AU

[Prompt List]

It starts for the stupidest reason imaginable: free food.

The two of them aren't friends. They're barely friendly. They wouldn't even run in the same circles if Luke didn't pick up friends wherever he goes, which means that he obviously had to latch onto the only people Boba can stand with the sort of zeal of a desperate door to door salesman. But Luke does run in his circle, unfortunately, so Boba has to see the asshole at least once a week, meaning he also has to make the effort to be civil if he doesn’t want another outbreak of the Incident of ‘19.

Civil, however, does not mean Boba has ever, ever wanted to eat dinner with Luke alone. It’s not something he hides. It is, in fact, something he actively advertises, because he’d much rather people think he’s kind of a dick than have to spend more than thirty seconds alone with someone as blond and chirpy and downright annoying as Luke. So the fact that he is at dinner with Luke, alone, is clearly the result of deliberate scheming, as is the fact that he can’t walk out because Luke has stolen his wallet.

"I can't believe this," Boba mutters, glaring at the candles, and the person playing the piano, and the ridiculously expensive wine list that he most certainly did not want.

"It's a bit weird," Luke agrees, as if he’s not the one who stole Boba’s wallet and is keeping it out of reach.

"So help me god,” Boba grinds out, and Luke meets his eyes, unflinching.

That’s really one of the things Boba hates most about him. Despite the fact that Luke is smaller than Boba, weaker than Boba, despite the fact that he knows Boba could very easily kick his teeth in— he isn't scared. And Boba has to respect that, which just makes him hate Luke more.

Luke sighs. "They offered me a hundred bucks if you showed up and I kept you here. I think it's, like, exposure therapy for you, or something.

Boba glowers. "You do realize your dinner alone is going to cost more than that."

"Well I do now," Luke huffs.

There is a very long, very tense stalemate.

"You know," Luke says, with one of Boba's least favorite expressions on his face— the one that means he has an idea. "There's a decent chance we can get someone else to pay for us."

"No," Boba says flatly.

Luke frowns, rummaging through one of his pockets. "I swear I had one somewhere. Keys, wallet, vanilla chapstick, strawberry chapstick, knife, lipgloss— Oh, hey, I wondered where that business card went." He grins, and pulls out what he was looking for. "Ah hah!"

"No," Boba says, going cold. "Absolutely not."

Luke rolls his eyes. "It's for one night. Now pretend to be surprised."

"I'm surprised you came up with an idea this terrible."

Luke ignores him, watching for a lull in the conversations around him, and Boba starts to wonder if his wallet is really worth what he’s about to go through.

Then, almost in slow motion, like something out of a horror movie, Luke slips out of his chair, stands up fully to make people look over, and goes down on one knee.

"I know," Luke says, gentle, but loud enough that everyone within a ten foot radius can hear them, "that this isn't where either of us were expecting to be. I know we didn't plan for this, that we didn't even know how, but—

The pause lets Luke stare dramatically at him, and Boba has to appreciate how good the timing is, drawing attention to Luke's staging.

It's a striking effect, really— the low lights bouncing off Luke's hair, turning it to liquid gold. His eyes are shadowed, dark and warm, and Boba knows Luke is attractive. He has eyes. But this is— this is something straight out of a fairytale.

Which, Boba realizes, feeling a little sick, is exactly the idea. He has to give it to Luke— the man even had Boba convinced for a second.

"But," Luke continues, "I don't want to let that stop me. I can't let that stop us." He pauses again, taking a deep breath, and Boba is, once again, very impressed with the quality of Luke's acting, however nauseous it makes him. "Boba, will you marry me?"

Boba takes the ring, vowing revenge on Luke as he slides it on.

"Yes," he says, and hopes the stiffness will be interpreted as nerves and not him restraining himself from trying to strangle Luke.

There's clapping from around them, first muted, and then a little louder, and as Luke stands up, Boba suddenly becomes very aware of what comes next.

"We don't have to," Luke whispers as he steps in close.

Boba glares at him. He'd have loved to hear that before Luke decided to fake propose, but it’s a little late now for backing out. "No. Let's finish this."

Boba cups Luke’s face in one hand, applying more pressure than is strictly necessary, and guides Luke’s mouth towards his own. It’s stiff for a moment, nothing more than a press of the lips, and then Luke melts into it, opening his mouth for Boba and bringing one hand around Boba’s neck.

Luke, Boba grudgingly admits, is a very good kisser. He doesn’t let Boba take control, exactly, because Luke is incapable of letting Boba have his way even once, but lets him take initiative, at least— lets him act instead of react. Luke follows where Boba leads, and when he makes an adjustment, shifts a touch to the right and pulls Luke a little closer, Luke follows.

It is, unfortunately, one of the best kisses Boba has had in a long while, for all that it’s in the middle of a too-fancy restaurant with an audience of people who all have stock portfolios and multiple tax consultants.

When he pulls away, Luke looks dazed, and Boba doesn’t even try to quell the rush of smug satisfaction that goes through him. Suck it, Skywalker.

Luke blinks, and snorts, like he can hear what Boba is thinking, and then releases him reluctantly, turning to look at their audience like he’s noticing them for the first time. The bashful smile that creeps onto his face is fake, but Boba can see a self-satisfied look in his eye, and not for the first time, he wonders if it will ever, ever, be worth it to hang around Luke.

When the table next to them pays for their meal and sends them some expensive champagne, Boba sighs, and admits that sometimes, it is.

[kalinara]

So I saw an article whose title pissed me off so much that I felt like I had to write about it.

I haven’t even read the article.  The title alone fills me with such rage that I know trying to read it would probably cause an aneurysm,  So I’m basically going to react to said title, making this all your problem.  

So the title, paraphrased, was that Luke Skywalker’s actions in  Boba Fett means that he has failed three of his students.

I suppose it’s possible that the title is misleading and the article says something completely different.  But I’ve seen this sort of sentiment before and it pisses me off, so here we are.

Personally, I think Luke has failed exactly NONE of his students, especially the three that we’ve seen on screen.  And I’m going to elaborate on that.

1) Luke never failed Ben Solo.

I actually liked Luke’s plot in the Last Jedi.  I liked that he was dealing with his own shit.  I liked that he wasn’t infallible.  I liked that he goes through his own arc, and comes out stronger by the end.

I even, mostly, liked the reveal of his “failure”: specifically, that moment where, full of fear and forboding, he stands over his sleeping nephew with a lightsaber.  It’s a moment of terrible temptation, which Luke does not actually give into.  

Okay, look, was that experience traumatizing for Kylo?  Probably.  Did he have the right to be mad?  Yeah.  Would I have blamed him if he ran home to Han and Leia and told them his uncle just tried to (or at least contemplated trying to) kill him?  Probably not.

He doesn’t do that though.  He runs off and joins an organization of child-enslaving space fascists, assists them in multiple genocides, murders multiple unarmed old men, orders the massacre of villages, tortures people, and so on and so forth.

Basically he proves Luke’s fear and forboding were 100% correct, and Luke’s only real failure here was to the galaxy when he didn’t skewer the ADULT, TWENTY-THREE year old asshole in his sleep.

Kylo’s not a child.  His fall was his own fault.  Luke made a mistake (though again, was it really?) but Kylo didn’t have to dive into the dark side head first and with bells on.

2) Luke never failed Rey.

I love Rey.  She’s my favorite character in the Sequel Trilogy for a reason.  And when she came to Luke for training and he turned her down, that was heart-wrenching.

But it was absolutely within his rights to do.  Luke at that time was retired, in hiding, full of recrimination and self blame.  Rey isn’t entitled to his training just because she’s super powerful in the force.  That said, he does train her. 

And I would argue that he trains her in a very similar way that Yoda trained him.  (especially when we take the deleted scenes into account).  He’s not a comfortable or comforting teacher, by any means.  He pokes and provokes, he mocks her and tries her temper, he avoids easy answers.

I’d argue though that he’s exactly the kind of teacher Rey needed at this moment. 

Rey is new, green, and incredibly powerful.  Things come very easy to her.  She needs to be challenged before her arrogance puts her in serious danger.  (Unfortunately, the forced mind-link with Kylo pushes Rey into that situation before anyone is ready.  She is arrogant enough to think she can reproduce Luke’s greatest triumph without understanding why, and it slaps her in the face.)

When they meet again, after Rey’s had more than one horrible and humbling experience, Luke is a lot gentler and more supportive.  He’s a force ghost now, but as we’ve seen from Yoda, being a force ghost doesn’t make you less of an asshole troll.  Luke changed his approach because Rey needs something else now, and he gives it to her.

Rey survives to be the first new Jedi.  She survives to be a Skywalker.  That’s because of both Luke and Leia.

3) Luke ESPECIALLY did not fail Grogu.

This is the big one, of course.  But Luke never fucking failed Grogu and I will stand by that.

Look, I’ve said before that I thought there were enough odd aspects of Luke and Grogu’s interaction that I think something else is going on.  I don’t think Grogu’s choice was as straightforward as it was presented, and Luke (asshole troll of a mentor that we know he can be) might well have something else in mind.

But let’s say he doesn’t  Let’s say he means exactly what he says and Grogu really does have to choose between a life with his father and a life as a Jedi.

That’s still not an example of Luke failing Grogu.

If anything, it’s an example of Luke avoiding the mistakes of the old Jedi Order.  Because Grogu, at this stage of life, is a LOT like Anakin Skywalker.

He’s very young, for his species.  He’s very powerful.  He’s very traumatized.  He’s got a parent that he’s very attached to, one who might not be his birth parent but has still provided him with the first sense of safety and support that he’s had in decades.  

I don’t blame the Jedi for Anakin’s fall, at all, that was Anakin’s decision.  But let’s be honest here.  They were RIGHT when they told him no, initially.  Anakin is powerful, he’s brilliant, he’s incredibly talented, but he has never been emotionally suited for membership in the Jedi Order, and a life under their restrictions. 

Qui Gon Jinn was wrong.  He was deluded by the false lures of “prophecy” and “midichlorian levels.”  He was drawn in by Anakin’s power and destiny and decided that this was best accomplished by bringing this very attached, very traumatized child into the Jedi Order against everyone else’s better judgment.

Qui Gon Jinn was a good man, but his failing was pride.  And even granted that he was right, Anakin DID eventually “bring balance to the galaxy”, it was only after he helped make the imbalance like a million times worse.  The galaxy became a worse place for quite some time because of Anakin Skywalker, and they’re still feeling the effects.

Now, is Grogu quite so bad off?  It’s hard to say.  He’s younger than Anakin, maturity speaking.  We don’t know about his species’ biology, so it’s possible that the romantic/marriage restrictions wouldn’t be an issue.  (If indeed Luke wants to keep those in place.)

We do know that there were a couple of times when Grogu was alarmed enough to flirt with the dark side.  When he choked Cara for example.  Or when he thought that the robot was going to kill him in the Prisoner.  Obviously Din saved him first, but look at that gesture and the look on the baby’s face and tell me that he wasn’t TRYING for force lightning in that moment.

So, maybe it really isn’t a great idea to separate a traumatized child from a devoted, loving and protective parent.  At least not until you’re sure said child’s had a chance to recover from his horrible experience.

And the thing is, for the entirety of the Mandalorian, no one actually asks Grogu what he wants.  Din is tasked with returning Grogu with his people.  He sincerely believes that’s what’s best for the baby, and until meeting Ahsoka, he really doesn’t have a way to communicate clearly with the baby at all.  But I remember that Grogu seemed a little hesitant to send out the signal when he has the chance.  And while he does go off with Luke willingly at the end of the season, it is completely understandable that he might have changed his mind.

So Luke finally sits the poor kid down and asks him what he wants: does he want to stay here?  Or does he want to go home to his parent?  And Grogu finally gets to make his own choice.

How is that an example of Luke “failing” Grogu?

(I mean, okay, the dude COULD have brought Grogu to Tatooine himself instead of sending him with chaos robot 1.0, but I feel like that is probably not the gist of the article’s complaint.)

So anyway, Luke did not fail any of his students.  He made mistakes, sure.  But their choices are theirs.

[mintyimperiatrix]

some random headcanons about yoda’s species because i’m bored. these are all based on absolutely Nothing so idk if they go against canon

-they’re carnivores. i mean this one is basically canon anyway because of grogu’s morally questionable diet and yoda’s exclusively canine-like teeth

-i love the idea that they live in secluded villages dotted around either their own home planet or in random secluded places about the galaxy (it’d be fun if there was a smaller village somewhere on kashyyyk or maybe felucia?). the villages probably have their own little micro-culture’s, variations on their native language and unique traditions but despite this they’re all quite friendly with one another on the rare occasion two villages interact. they take really good care of the local environment too so the landscape around them is usually really pretty, or at the very least flourishing greatly

-they rarely have kids. i mean they live for nearly a millennium each so their inbuilt desire to reproduce probably isn’t that strong right? so maybe there’s like maybe. a classroom worth of kids every century? maybe a bit less? idk how stable that kind of species would be but its funny imagining one of the elders looking over a small group of baby yodas and thinking ‘ah yes, these children are our future’ whilst one tries to eat a pinecone

-mildly connected to the previous one but i think they hatch from eggs. maybe when one of them is powerful with the force they can sense it through the egg and deliver it directly to the jedi temple and it gets hatched there

-again following from the last one i think they’re all force sensitive to some small degree but rarely strong enough to be inducted as a jedi, hence why there’s only one jedi from that species roughly every half century. they’re probably skilled enough to sense emotions and maybe lift the odd few objects but beyond that they’re not too powerful because otherwise why are there only three confirmed jedi ones?

-they carry their young on their backs. yoda getting luke to give him a piggyback? yeah that’s a weird baby instinct his species have that got brought out in him somehow. he also absolutely carried yaddle about on his back when she was a baby, maybe even the other younglings if they were small enough for his back to support like younglings from even piell’s species

-when luke says in book of boba that yoda’s heart was big he Meant it. their hearts are big and beat slowly. anyone who’s felt yoda or yaddle’s pulse knows that unless you know what you’re doing you might actually think they’re dead because you’ll miss the beats entirely. this probably happened once and someone had a panic attack thinking the grand master of the council was dead when he was just having a power nap

-ok i’m not 100% sure if i like this one but maybe his race were the original jedi? the sith order spawned from a species of sith so maybe the jedi order did too and yoda is literally one of the last members of the original jedi race? again i’m not sure on this one because it could devalue yoda and kinda ruin the uniqueness of his power level if they’re all just like that but its a thought!

-i do also like the idea that yoda’s are basically force babies. this goes against all the other hcs so idk about it but there is something fun about the idea of the force just birthing one of these strange gremlin creatures every few centuries

[thewriterowl]

Owl my love, can I ask for trashy BobaDinLuke abo headcanons? <3

You most certainly can!!!

TW: Trash-pandas only, NSFW, not really dark though but may be for some so take caution!

Din is an alpha, Boba is an alpha, and Luke is a Beta. At least that's the story he gives them. With some access to some good medication and a lot of meditation, Luke is able to hide that he is an Omega really well and he just works and has fun with Boba and Din.

Only he stops having fun after a while when his heart and stomach flutters over them. They are very handsome with great personalities and so strong and were the most perfect of Alphas. Even with all his suppressants and meditation, he is finding his instincts basically sobbing at him to present to them and plead to be bred. But Luke had never really had much interaction with his own instincts before or being an Omega. He knows it isn't always good for them...Omegas were growing rare to just happen upon. Most were married off early, used as political trade, sold, or locked away where only the most elite could get their hands on (supposedly Omega harems could be common on wealthy planets). And it would be awkward to bring it up now! If he brought it up they'd know it would be because he had feelings for them and there was no way two perfect alphas like Din and Boba would ever want him.

So, he hides it. It's better that way.

Then something happens, because of course it does. There is a fight and though they all come out unscathed, Luke's suppressants do not. Now he is in a panic and he calls Leia up. He can't miss more than three days or his body will have gotten rid of most all the chemicals and he'd be hit with the worse pseudo-heat imaginable (he should know, it happened when he was on Dagobah and he did not want to experience that ever again; luckily Yoda had been very sympathetic and given him calming techniques to help with the pain and agony of feeling empty with no alpha who wanted him)

She can't get him any for another week. Maybe two.

Shit.

Well, Boba and Din were at least his friends...they deserved to know so they don't come looking for him after he locks himself up somewhere in the palace. So he approaches them, aware that he is already starting to smell different and that the heat is coming on fast but they still have their helmets on so it's all good! They're gonna be impassive or dismissive or something like that anyway.

He was not expecting them to move as one and drag him to one of their bedrooms and throw him on the bed. Nor for them to remove their armor and begin to scent him. He is pinned to the bed with an alpha on each side of his neck, buried up close, and then when they find the proof of his Omega scent and then it is like they snap.

Without knowing, Luke had won the two over and they were head over heels for him and had been planning on mating with him soon but had put it on hold for the moment and well...now they discover Luke really was made for them--there was no way they were going to wait and let anyone else sweep in to steal what belonged to them.

They get to ripping his clothes off and making all sorts of filthy promises of getting him filled up soon. He'll be carrying their baby in no time.

They certainly get some new daily habits in for their lives.

Every morning, Luke gets filled up by one or both from both ends and roughly (like this, thank you mysterious anon who linked this to me, Link for sure looks like Luke and their whole profile is nothing but this very, VERY nsfw stuff (be warned other trash pandas)) and then is plugged until the next round.

He was marked by them the first night. each side of his neck carrying their bite and on the same side of their bites he had their symbol tattooed on his upper arm.

Luke is used as a throne ornament daily and pampered senseless. Whoever is on the throne (for whatever planet they're ruling) Luke is either on his knees by them or on a lap. Many times he is on cock warming duty.

He is pushed into different corners of the palace often so one of his alphas can have their way with him.

They give him swats on his ass often. Even Din really enjoys it too. Luke has the most perfect backside there is.

They get him a collar.

Luke can sometimes have a hard time walking he has been fucked so mercilessly and has a rather bloated tummy and he feels like he may be actually sloshing when he walks.

[livesoffcoco]

yes my friends get paragraphs from me about this idea but now everyone else will! 

So the events of Return of the Jedi happen (of course Vader is Vaderkin because i said so. also he survives, again because i said so lol). Palps uses his lightning on Luke and once Vader kills Palps, he runs over to his son and finds that Luke has been blinded (think that blind owl named Zeus. that’s what Luke’s eyes look like). Vader of course feels horrid because he feels as though he might as well have been the one to blind Luke.

So of course he is obsessive in protecting Luke, even if Luke is basically Toph and can take care of himself well. Luke gets frustrated with his father at some point and ends up running away and somehow ends up on Mandalor and catches the eye of the new Mand’alor himself 👀. Soon enough, Luke is well within Din’s inner circle (Din plans on marrying him, and doesn’t really care if Luke is the new Emperor’s son) and is teaching Grogu. 

At some point, Luke goes to Tatooine because of this festival of lights he always went to growing up and because of this new ruler of Tatooine, its even safer to go. When Luke gets there, he finds out this new ruler that is doing much better than Jabba is actually Boba Fett!

At first Boba is hesitant to interact with Luke but he finds out about Luke’s situation and they grow closer.

During the festival, in the new capitals square on Tatooine, Boba is watching Luke from the side and just is smiling as he watches Luke dance with some kids and others that he knew growing up on Tatooine. 

With the floating lanterns (yes like the ones from Tangled because I was watching it and it was getting me emotional) reflecting off of Luke’s eyes and his hair, Boba has that moment. 

Oh

And all of a sudden, Luke has the new Emperor, the new Mand’alor, and the new ruler of Tatooine all wrapped around his little finger. 

[thymewayster]

I...did not like the Mandalorian season 2 finale.

Or rather, I liked many moments but not the last two minutes.

***SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY***

Love Luke, his entire scene is incredibly awesome and I love seeing him, BUT like...he didn’t even introduce himself. He literally waltzed in, took Din’s son, and left without even telling Din, you know, HIS NAME or WHERE TO FIND HIM AND GROGU.

Also it was kind of a bit too deus ex machina for me. Maybe if he’d come midway through the battle of taking the ship instead of at the end

How did Luke even know where to go to find Grogu? Wouldn’t he have gone to Tython?

Din and Grogu got like, no interaction once Din saved him. Like Din defeats Gideon, and then cut to him carrying Grogu / escorting Gideon. You’re not going to show us Din and the baby finally reuniting??? They made such a huge deal about the little ball surviving and Din didn’t even give it to him??? WHY would you not have had at least a 30-second scene with Gideon handcuffed outside the cell while Din goes in, frees the baby, maybe takes off the helmet, has an emotional hug or SOMETHING, and gives the baby back the ball??

That would have been a better place for the face reveal honestly

You’re telling me that Din has now lost his covert, his ship, all his worldly possessions, and his track record of not taking off his helmet and he doesn’t even get to keep the baby??

Have we gotten any indication that Grogu actually wants to be a jedi? Because like, it’s already established how attached he is to Din, and he didn’t seem to want to stay with Ahsoka. He was reluctant to even do force-related things until Din was involved (anyone else remember him tossing aside the rock Ahsoka passed him??) But now he’s just like, cool, I know I just barely reunited with my father but now I’ve decided I’d rather go off with this jedi?

Din promised he would get Grogu out of here and he didn’t even leave the ship with Grogu

What was the point of capturing Pershing? Like is he still chilling on the Slave I or

Good things:

A+ spear vs lightsaber battle, very satisfying, wish he’d killed Gideon but I get that Cara wanted him alive and he’s okay with Bo Katan getting the killing blow

Din. Wielding. the Darksaber.

I actually think the conflict of Din vs Bo Katan regarding the darksaber has a lot of interesting potential (although why Bo Katan won’t take it as a gift now when that’s exactly what happened in Rebels is beyond me. Maybe she’s trying to make up for her failure from last time??)

I love that Din is basically Mandalor, but he is just. Not Interested.

R2D2 and Grogu interaction: Adorable

Boba Fett and Fennec Shand taking over the Tatooine crime scene: Excellent, you love to see it. (Although...is Boba replacing Din as the main character? Because I am NOT A FAN OF THAT.)

Boba Fett vs Koska Reeves

I actually loved all the Mandalorian interactions at the start. 

Assuming season 3 is setting up a lot of darksaber/Mandalore conflict, and I am super into that, but like...I am so confused what they are doing now for season 3

Boba Fett:

While I would have loved to see him interact with Luke, I think it’s hilarious he’s the only one not there. Whatever happened to guaranteeing the child’s safety? He just kind of peaced out. I guess he came back later to pick them up?

Flat-out cheered when I saw Fett sit on the crime throne

But like again...is season 3 all about Boba now?? Because listen, I love Boba Fett, but like...I like Din more.

Listen, I had seen the movies but I only vaguely cared about Star Wars. Then I saw the first three episodes of the Mandalorian, and I was HOOKED and then I sunk deep into the shows and auxiliary Star Wars stuff. And the idea that Din is effectively sidelined now makes me just kind of...lose interest in the entire franchise.

Basically, the only way I could find any satisfaction in any of this is if season 3 has Din pick up Grogu from Luke before the theme song even plays. Grogu’s learned how to control his powers a bit better, and now he can help protect his dad while they go out on bounty hunting missions, or possibly helping Bo Katan retake Mandalore, or possibly fighting against Bo Katan for control of Mandalore. (And by that I mean, Bo Katan just constantly following Din, trying to duel him for the Darksaber. Meanwhile Din is just constantly like, I didn’t ask for this, please stop trying to kill me.)

[jacketpotatoo]

Star Wars: Visions - Review

First off, if you haven’t seen it and if you’re even a casual fan of Star Wars - go watch it. If you know nothing about Star Wars and like anime - also go watch it. It’s only 9 episodes of self contained stories with each episode being 12-20 mins and animated in a different style by a different studio. The voice acting (both jap and English) is really impressive too.

Overall, I loved it. I love the little vignettes into different places and characters in the Star Wars universe and I think it’s an extremely clever way to explore and take advantage of its expansive world. The stories and characters were mostly well done and man the different styles and the animation was gorgeous. It’s bursting with creativity.

Quick episode reviews (spoilers):

Episode 1 (The Duel) - the style was so cool and reminded me of moving manga panels with the grayscale and the hatching. The sith reveal was awesome but I would have like more backstory/information because there was not much characterisation, making the fight less tense than it could have been. Wasn’t too invested in this story/world either

Episode 2 (Tatooine Rhapsody) - fun, liked the music and this felt the most anime of all of the episodes if that makes sense. Felt like a cute fluffy filler episode and I liked jabba and boba fett jamming out but it’s ultimately pretty forgettable

Episode 3 (The Twins) - STUDIO TRIGGER!! The animation in this one was mind bogglingly good - I loved the atmosphere of each frame and the lineless style on the stormtroopers was just great. Balances humour and heart well and plays out like many typical shounen anime (which was cool to see in Star Wars). I liked the characters, wouldn’t mind seeing more of this world at all

Episode 4 (The Village Bride) - One of my personal favourites. This one had my favourite art style (the lineless background art mmm) and I really liked the lore of the planet, as well as the dynamic of the mcs and how they interacted with the people of the planet. It sucked me in and got me emotionally invested in such a short amount of time. The mc was my favourite one of all the episodes? I think. She was pretty and her saber sword was epic.

Episode 5 (The Ninth Jedi) - My favourite one! It’s also the only one that’s about 20 mins iirc and it takes full advantage of that longer runtime. I love the switch in perspectives of the mcs as well as the framing of intrigue and distrust and hope held by the characters. Really liked the characters and that reveal that all except one of the Jedi were Sith was just so cool

Episode 6 (TO-B1) - Cute but I personally did not care for it. The concept of a droid that can wield the force is cool but To-B1 felt like a younger, less whiny rehash of Luke Skywalker.

Episode 7 (The Elder) - Another favourite. I really liked the mentor-student dynamic of the mcs and Dan’s wish to see the world and then the grimness of him being basically helpless against the elder was great. Good pacing and epic fight, you feel the speed and the weight of the old man’s hits. Also, lightsaber battles in rain >>>

Episode 8 (Lop and Ocho) - Also a bit of a miss for me. It had potential and I liked the passing of the family mantle from the father to Lop, but I think this could have benefitted greatly from another 6 mins or so to really establish that family bond (esp between the sisters) before tearing it apart.

Episode 9 (Akakiri) - Really really liked the art style for this one and I thought the mc was really interesting. I quite liked the allusion of his history with the girl and his migraine-attack things were really cool. Well not for him, but visually. I liked that ending of him turning to the dark side to save her as well - grim and raw and just super well done. I’d love to know what happened to him

Ranking:

5,7,4,9,3,1,8,2,6

[crispyjenkins]

I... I felt I was all alone being uninterested in kid fics so I'm very happy to see it's not just me. (Sorry I'm going to rant for a bit) It's probably linked to the fact that I personally don't want kids but sometimes... I just want to see people able to be happy without children? Even if they don't dislike kids or anything! And sometimes it straight up makes me uncomfortable to see kid fics for this exact reason. (Also it depends on the fandom but SW is definitely one where I generally dislike kid fics, which I think wasn't improved by all the Luke-as-Rey's-father thing)

HI I'M HERE TO VALIDATE YOU

and i have a whole fecking lot of feelings about this topic in particular, this is gonna get a little wordy, but i've tried to organise it somewhat

First: i don't want kids. i'm fairly to extremely confident i'll never want kids. partly because I do not have the mental/physical capacity to devote the time and energy and emotion that children deserve and need. someone on tumblr said it ages ago, "if I don't WANT a kid, if i'm just indifferent, im not going to have a fucking kid until i actively want one", because children are sentient beings and not cute things to make you happy or feel more put together.

Okay, second: i very rarely see parenting written well (and i don't mean about perfect or unproblematic parents), i would even go so far as to call it trivialising. or maybe just completely unrealistic? it's either all honeymoon-period schmoop (which is not necessarily a bad thing) or it's hardly even about the kids and at that point, well, what's the point? especially if the kid is an oc, they can't just. exist on the sidelines of their parents life.

Third: if the kid is a canon character, their entire personality gets nerfed into one or two traits and are shoehorned to fit the narrative the author is trying to tell. this is a complicated issue because i sincerely believe in fun for the sake of fun and interacting with your fandom however you want, but i also just. kids deserve better?

Fourth: on that subject, i most often see the child in question be an oc. again, they're given one or two traits, but are then just a prop for whatever plot is happening to the actual ship. maybe i'm missing something, but i don't understand why you wouldn't use a canon character in the first place? very few fandoms don't already have paternal/maternal/parental relationships to play around with, ESPECIALLY if the author has already made it an au!! i'm not going to pretend a big reason i don't seek out kid fic isn't because they're almost always modern aus, which i already don't like. maybe this one is more petty, but i think kid characters deserve more time and attention put into them as characters, and tbh i've never once seen it done with an oc kid.

Fifth: if it's about adoption, i only EVER see babies (esp in modern aus). the implication that kids aren't adoptable past a certain age is horrendously damaging and i'm so uncomfortable with it that this is another reason i don't seek these stories out.

if it ISN'T adoption, then it's either a) cis mpreg, which is so incredibly transphobic and weirdly fetishising and blehhhhh, or b) transmasculine mpreg which i've. literally never seen written by a trans person so like... aight.

Sixth: the parents are out of character. i've talked a little about woobification before, about the hyperfeminising of one half of the ship and the hypermasculating of the other to fit the mother/father binary that is also inherently transphobic. the characters are sort of just replaced with an honestly hurtful binary rooted in systematic misogyny at the complete sacrifice of their entire personality, and it’s honestly exhausting as both a trans person and a romantically queer person.

before getting into prequel star wars stuff, specifically with mando ships, i don't think i even once read a kid fic where the parents felt plausible and in character, especially if it’s put into a modern au, and i've been reading fanfiction for a decade.

Seventh: i really don't know how to word this part without airing out my own trauma, but back to the trivialising bit, the way authors tend to write this honeymoon-phase type of parenting makes me feel really gross? maybe that's petty or very specifically personal, but the way kids are only in scenes to prop the parents' storyline hits a little too close to home. i'm the third child and the middle child, and that so many "takes" on parenting implicitly hold up the notion of kids only being worth mentioning/caring about/developing is when it's important or relevant to the parents. i dunno, kids deserve better than that.

Eighth: okay finally bringing this back to star wars. i blacklist any parenting anything from any ships from the Original Trilogy. for the prequels, I exclusively read adoption-based stuff, partly because I don't really have any cishet ships i read specifically about, but also because that means the rest is mpreg.

now, i've been positively spoiled by Mando and/or Jedi ships and their culturally important adoption. like i get to read stuff where the parents feel in character? and aren't one dimensional binary caricatures? and the kids are treated as characters and not plot props? AND they're usually older than ten?? to be fair, there are ships i still don't read kid fic for, CodyWan for example, for many reasons i actually haven't covered here, and Boba and Anakin are given the most justice as adopted kids (that i've seen; fingers crossed for more ahsoka and twins content) so there's a massive disparity in representation (which is a star wars-wide issue) but this is also the first time i've even wanted to write child characters.

your bit about characters being happy and having fulfilling lifelong relationships without kids is so incredibly important to me, because it feels exactly the same as an ace person constantly being told i'm missing out. so i'm also wary of fixits centered around parenting, or even "adopting the clones" themes because it's. there's so many more facets to family than parent and child, and i dunno. this is the second time i've written all this and i haven't slept yet so i don't even know if I'm making sense anymore so just basically

i feel you, anon. i'm exhausted by having to blacklist or exclude so many tags just to find content that doesn't make me uncomfortable, and i'm so so so happy to be in the prequels corner of the fandom, because i'm also seeing this problem improving as i watch it. so i have hope, but right now, keep kid fic as far away from me as possible.

(you are correct, the luke and rey dynamic was bullshit and has set us back a lot, though maybe not as much as the fandom's frankly horrifying reaction to kylo ren and blaming all his faults on leia, but that's another topic entirely)

i'll also add that i'm fucking terrible with kids, and reading how they're treated by authors upsets me greatly

[ultrahpfan5blog]

My thoughts on the Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2

The Mandalorian was yet again another show which I was late to catch up on. I had been meaning to for a while but just kept forgetting. I will admit, I was a little skeptical whether I would like the show. While I enjoy all the movies on some level or another, I am not exactly a big Star Wars guy. My experience with Star Wars is predominantly with the Skywalker saga and the two standalone movies, Solo and Rogue One, which are pretty tied into stories and characters from the Skywalker saga. I have not read any of the books or watched Clone Wars or Rebels or any other animated material apart from maybe a random episode or two. So I really didn't know if this show would entertain me. After finishing both seasons, I will say I was wrong for the most part. The show is fun, but I will also say that its not a complete home run for me and I can imagine its a lot more appealing to those who are more deeply invested in Star Wars lore.

It took me a couple of episodes to really get into the show. Initially, it was a bit tough for me to get invested, which is doubly hard with a main character whose face we don't get to see. Chapter 3 is where I started to enjoy the show on an action/adventure spectacle level and you also start to get attached to the bond between the Mandalorian and baby Yoda or Grogu as we find out in season 2. There is no doubt that the strength of this show lies in parent/child relationship between the Mandalorian and Grogu. Grogu is almost impossibly cute and I have to give credit to whomever designed the puppet and its movements because that was done perfectly. Because he is so adorable, its easy for us to connect with the Mandalorian's protective instinct and therefore develop a connection with him. Also, the scale and scope of the show is impressive. We get different environments, big fight set pieces, and lots of different creatures, all movie quality or at least close to movie quality. The only wonky SFX moment is Luke's appearance at the end of season 2. Initially its impressive, but the blank expression on his face makes the CGI more noticeable especially given the scene pans between Pedro Pascal's face and Hamill's CGI face and there is distinct difference.

The show is pretty thin on plot. There is not much to it. Season 1 is the Mandalorian going from place to place to protect Grogu from hunters until he encounters Moss Gideon by season end, and season 2 is the Mandalorian going from place to place to find the Jedi so that he can return Grogu to them while he is pursued by Gideon. There's not really much else to the show so far. Its basically all about individual adventures he has each episode and the characters he meets with and interacts with. There is a bit of repetitiveness to it that does get a bit tiring. But mostly the show is able to give enough interesting characters and big action set pieces to feel fairly involved. Where the show gets into a bit of problem for me is in season 2 where it takes the audience's knowledge for granted. Season 1 feels like its own thing for the most part. It doesn't feel like you need to know anything or anyone else from the Star Wars universe other than what is introduced. Not completely the case with season 2. I accept that this is a "me" problem, but I was lost when they introduced Ahsoka Tano until I later read who she was. For an outsider, that episode reads like a pure spinoff setup because nothing happens in the episode from the perspective of the Mandalorian. I don't know who Thrax is so I have no idea what Ahsoka is hunting. Mando goes looking for a Jedi, and then he is pointed to yet another location where he might find a Jedi. Also, I felt lost regarding Bo-Katan, whose pursuit for Gideon and the dark saber is an important part, but unless you know who Bo-Katan is from prior source material, you do feel a bit lost as I was until I read up who she was. Nothing against Rosario Dawson and Katie Sackhoff. Both are excellent but the show clearly expects that the audience already knows and cares about these characters. Boba Fett I knew from the movies, although I admit I have always found that character's popularity rather funny since he's really not a particularly big part of the OT. How he survives being eaten alive is still a big mystery to me, but not one that bothers me too much.

The performances are all solid. Pedro Pascal only shows his face 3 times across 2 seasons, but he certainly nails the goodbye scene with Grogu. He does a lot of emoting through his voice even though he is supposed to be this badass warrior. You feel the softening of his voice when he is interacting with Grogu or a few of his friends. It was lovely to see carl Weathers again. He has always had a very likable presence. Gina Carano is pretty good as Cara Dune. Min-Na Wen is always welcome in her couple of appearances. Despite my disconnect with the characters, Rosario Dawson and Katie Sackhoff are excellent in their roles. Giancarlo Esposito is excellent as he always is as Moss Gideon. Timothy Olyphant shows up for an episode. Michael Biehn is also in an episode. Billy Burke shows up for a couple of episodes and does a nice job, particularly in the season 2 episode. Nobody here is winning any emmys but all the actors are doing a strong job.

In the end, the first 2 seasons are enjoyable but not necessary a show that I have loved. Good but not great seems appropriate. I'm sure more hardcore Star Wars fans would get a lot more out of it. What the show does have is heart and the central relationship between Mando and Grogu really works. Which also makes me wonder what the show will be moving forward. I think it was a bold, but correct move, to seemingly end the story of Grogu. There is only so long you can do Mando carrying around Grogu from place to place. But what is the Mandalorian going to do now. I assume this will connect with Bo-Katan and the fight to restore the planet of Mandalore and the complication that arises since Mando is the owner of the Dark Saber by defeating Gideon. I guess we will see when it comes out. Overall, the show is about a 7.5/10.

[captaingondolin]

those are too many wips. 

here’s a list with brief summaries, and then you can tell me what to finish first because i am suffering from big time choice paralysis. anon is on. ask away.

ace Obi-Wan vague idea: what it says on the tin. it was going to involve teen Obi-Wan, friendship with Quinlan and Luminara. in which Obi-Wan is interested in sex... in theory. academically. he’s his suave, charming self, and will experiment for the hell of it. (i was slightly uncomfortable with the premise of, basically, a fic about an asexual character all about... well, sex. but i wanted to work some shit out and what better way than overprojecting over fictional characters?)

Anakin in lingerie: just polishing up an old tumblr post. modern AU.

Anakin in makeup obianidala: again from an old post with subskywalker. but i wanted to give it a structure

Ani5dala FIX IT: OH MAN I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS. i have tons of notes and no energy to proceed. in which Fox has a plan to keep Fives alive, Fives has a plan to keep the Republic alive - but Anakin is being a butt and Fives needs Pamé’s help. (probably Anakin and Fives were together before? + anidala open relationship, i was thinking, but idk yet)

AWOL Cody: oh boy, i started plotting this for my pod-together 2018 project with litra. in which Obi-Wan is declared KIA, but there is NO BODY and also suspicious footage/Ahsoka saw something and Cody is NOT having it so he goes on a solo mission to save him. codywan.

Darkness is but a passing thing: same as above, it was supposed to be written in 2018, good grief. post rots, sort of time-travellish, i’m not saying more bc most of the plot was litra’s and idk if she wants to share.

Detonate: translation into english of my italian obikin smut, which i promised ages ago.

enemies to colleagues to lovers codywan: this, but with a proper outline this is now being Properly Plotted. there are mindmaps. and a Scrivener file.

Jedi OC: from a prompt from last year’s rarepair exchange: Male Jedi Who Accidentally Keeps Causing Property Damage/Male Owner of Said Property (words written: 0, but the idea was funny)

Laurea traduzione: eng translation of my italian modern au obikin

Leia using the Force: a messy messy file with more than one idea in, actually. i wasn’t sure wether to go with child or teen Leia (post Princess of Alderaan plot) but then i got distracted with making Leia and Kaeden meet. Ahsoka/Kaeden.

million: from a fic exchange request in which someone said they’d read “a million words” of Bly and Aayla being disgustingly in love. just that. with a side of codywan (the irony of Bly being all like “ugh, THOSE TWO” fuelled the first few hundred words).

obianidala with nb Anakin: wait, isn’t this kinda related to the Anakin in makeup one? my plotbunnies are a mess. maybe from this or this post.

ObiBail Empire Era AND OR others: frankly. a disaster mess probably inspired by the beginning of Til the casket drops and Wild Space.

ObiBail obianidala Breha super poly dinner: this post, but in fic form

ObiBailRex: this one is funny. i found the first few sentences handwritten in a notebook and i have no memory of where i wanted to go from there, but damn, i liked those. Obi-Wan forces Cody to take some leave, and Cody forces Rex to play babysitter to his General and his Senator friend. shenanigans ensue.

storms: ahahah, another fic pending since..... uuuh...... the clone wars exchange from, again, 2018? (how much shit did i sign up for that summer? i was in the midst of moving!! why am i like this). sorry perspicacia, if you’re even still around. preparing for that fic was how i got in to obi/rex tho? and it still doesn’t have a plot.

unhinged Obi-Wan vs Grievous: this, but with a plot. if i can find the plot. why is plotting so hard? no plotting, only cool scenes. (sith/fallen!obi getting the 212th to follow him and go rogue?? maybe?) see “enemies to colleagues to lovers” above

when the numbers get to zero: a Rex/Padmé i love a lot but that, as usual with ALL my damn fic, has no structure. inspired by the blue shadow virus eps. (i posted a snippet ages ago - oh wait, here’s another one)

now onto the folders!

keep verse

untitled about other Clones finding out, and the consequences. “It’s Bly who finds out first through the GAR grapevine. Cody was supposed to be dead - and suddenly he wasn’t.”

Pilots (ot era)

Oblivious Pilots - The entire Rogue Squadron is made of oblivious disasters. They share one braincell, and Nawara is the only one who’s actually using it. 

Dark Imperial AU - Luke is raised by Vader. but when he meets Wedge and Tycho...

Skystrike Academy AU - Luke is raised by Owen, Beru... and Obi-Wan. And he signs up to train as TIE pilot as part of a Resistance plan

WedgeTycho - the tiniest spark of an idea. Alderanian philosophy, Tycho being pretentious, sad, grieving, and in need of a hug.

SitS - A Light from the Shadows

SitS stands for “the Sith in the Senate”, the working title for this epic I’ve been plotting since 2018 that might never see the light because I went “I want a well-adjusted, non traumatised Obi-Wan!”, build a whole new canon around that ......and then got bored of it, obviously, since I love to see Obes suffer. but there were tons of things I liked and maybe I should rework it somehow? (it was supposed to be obikin. then obianidala. then i think i got distracted and got Cody to flirt with Obi-Wan. who knows at this point. what if I throw in Jango)

soft now verse

parts 2.1 and 2.2 are there and almost ready and filled with clones feels (yes, this was a fix it obianidala fluff, but CLONES)

Space Dads Extraordinaire

Hope in Unexpected Places pt 2 and maybe 3 or maybe that’s a separate story? I have feelings about smol Boba interacting with Obi-Wan and learning to trust him, but don’t know how to handle them. There should also be the bit where they find Jango’s pet strill, which I promised to Lulu like a year ago.

the life and opinions

this is a cursed title, i started a fic with a similar title in another fandom almost 15 years ago and never finished it. it was supposed to be a biography of Rex and his rise through the ranks and into an AU where the vode have their own governing body. a shitton of Rex and Cody brotherly feels but maybe also ship? why can’t i pick a dynamic

Thrawn

browser history - Thranto moments told through Eli’s holonet searches

your silence is my favourite word - Emperor Eli angsty smut

new rules - Emperor Eli AU, but make it reasonably happy

see me like this - Emperor Eli AU, angst cranked up to the max

bb Thrawn - Thranto AU in which Thrawn is a weird child, the Chiss have some more contact with humans and Eli & Thrawn meet as kids

forgotten words - Thrawn growing up in the Empire, raised by Palpatine. 

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions

It has. It has been a while since I actually did one of these, hasn’t it…

(As a note, I try not to discuss too much…everything IRL right now here (or on my personal blog, though to a lesser extent), mostly because I want this tumblr to be a relatively happy place? …or, at least, the unhappy stuff should be Purely Fictional. So that’s…pretty much the extent of what I’ll say about Stuff here.)

But…yeah, real life has definitely been an Everything Is Happening So Much sort of deal for the past couple months, but stuff has actually been Happening, writing-wise, and a Coming Attractions post seemed in order! As usual, behind the cut is stuff I’ve been working on recently and/or plan to work on over the next month.

Also, I have set up a Discord server (https://discord.gg/puYnXDE) for my writing--basically intended to be an extension/more interactive version of this blog. Feel free to stop by and say hi!

Precipice:

I’m waaaaaaay behind where I want to be, lol. Uh, but I’m hoping to get the last couple chapters of Arc 7 out this month? And then we’ll see what I want to do about Arc 7.5 and Arc 8. Basically, 7.5 is going to be more episodic/self-contained, with a chapter or two for certain Relevant Events that take place between Arc 7 and Arc 8. Mostly to do with Rebels characters (the one I have mostly planned out, if not quite Written yet, involves Kallus and Lavinia meeting just before he’s assigned to Lothal; but then I need to figure out some stuff for Kanan and Ezra, and how to make sure Zeb’s still in position to give Alex the wakeup call he needs…) plus there’s a Sith Apprentice whose entire tenure is covered by this timeskip, lol…

Anyway, I’m still going back and forth on whether to post Arc 7.5 stuff first or post it alongside Arc 8 and/or 9, but we’ll see what gets written.

Other SW Stuff:

I posted a handful of oneshots over the last couple weeks! Written in connection with a prompt game on the SWBB Discord server. The prompts were “Character A kills Character B”, for which I wrote Hera and Thrawn and Zeb and Kallus; and “Character A saves Character B”, for which I wrote Boba Fett and Luke, Han and Hera, and Rex and Ventress. There will probably be more of these in the future, tagged with #discord prompt ficlets. This week’s prompt is poetry, and it has been a million years since I’ve written any so Who Knows if I’ll actually do it, but hey, it’s possible!

Also, my SWBB project for this year, for we are a woven thread; find the strand is up on AO3. ObiAniDala, AU from ROTS; the three of them are separated in the aftermath of Order 66; Obi-Wan runs into Ahsoka, Padme has Sabe and the twins, Anakin meets Caleb Dume; angst with a happy ending.

In other news, I have some work I need/want to get done on our faces like a mirror, and I’m doing a Summer Fic Exchange that I need to actually…figure out what I’m doing and write XD Plus, I’m considering participating in VarykiNovember/Anidala big bang, but haven’t fully committed to signing up yet. In part because time commitments/other stuff I want to work on, in part because I don’t generally do a lot of pairing-focused stuff? My SWBB project mentioned above aside, lol. But even that’s at least as much about the three focal platonic relationships as it is about the OT3? Anyway. Uh, also half the plots I’m coming up with I either don’t think I could finish, don’t think could make for a long enough fic, or would turn into Obianidala instead which is Not The Point, lol. Anyway, we’ll see.

(some Discussions in the past couple days on the SWBB server have made me start wondering if I should maybe start poking at/figuring out what I’ll do for next year now, lol…even though I think I picked the plot for this year’s project later than either of the other two and yet it ended up being the longest by like 20k???? who knows who knows…I might use OFLAM for this?? But I’m not sure.)

Other Stuff:

I did write one original fiction thing this past month! And am hoping/planning to write At Least one more in June!

I also want to finish All Outstanding Prompts from a couple memes I did--one on tumblr like…in January…and one on Dreamwidth back in April. I have…one prompt from the tumblr one, and seven from DW, so We’ll See.

I also really should get back on track with updating my origfic archives, shouldn’t I…

…I think that about sums it up right now? I mean, there’s some noodly bits in my brain because the ATLA fandom has risen from the ashes thanks to Netflix, plus BSG is waking up a little bit so possibly something more will come in one of those universes? But nothing concrete planned as of right now.

What about you guys, what are you working on?

[dnmeinster]

Why The Last Jedi Fails

I've debated whether it would be worth spending time writing this, as I know there are many critical takes out there about The Last Jedi.  But I figure it's time to gather up all my critiques and criticisms of Star Wars Episode 8 and put them into one (hopefully) coherent post.  Warning: I will be praising some parts of this film.

After I saw The Last Jedi opening night, my immediate reaction was that I loved it.  It is a beautifully shot film with some great scenes.  My initial trepidations were ones I've come to accept: Rey's parents are nobodies and Snoke was killed off without a backstory.  However, in the hours after watching, my critical brain turned back on and started to dissect every other bit of the film.  After seeing it a second time, the problems became more apparent.

Let's start with the film's greatest problem and a huge missed opportunity: Canto Bight.  Everything surrounding this whole plot point and locale is misguided from the minute it's mentioned.  It starts by wasting Maz Kanata, a potentially interesting character who is given little more than a cameo to send Finn and Rose off to the casino world.  Even worse, Maz's short amount of screen time includes a dig at the prequels, when she dismisses any notion that they'd be interested in her union dispute.  Here, we get some insight into how this film will approach politics in the Star Wars galaxy.  But director Rian Johnson misdiagnoses what was wrong with the prequels.  Space politics can be interesting!  See:  Star Wars Bloodline.  Johnson's decision to shy away from it compounds the problems when they actually get to Canto Bight.

It all goes wrong from the moment they land.  Literally.  Finn and Rose "park" their ship in a spot they're not supposed to.  Then they enter the casino, in what is apparently an homage to the cantina but on a grander scale.  This diverse set of gamblers are apparently war profiteers, as is briefly mentioned.  But their only interaction with any of them is when they are approached and arrested for parking illegally.  Seriously.

In prison, they encounter DJ, who will eventually join them on their mission to disable the First Order's tracker.  But first, they have to go back to the casino area and release enslaved creatures so they can trample and maim these profiteers we are told are bad.  This is a very long sequence that ends with Finn saying how glad he was to hurt them.  Huh?  Hurt these people you don't know and haven't spoken to?

The entire Canto Bight subplot lacks any depth.  It's completely superficial, and maybe that would've worked if they didn't spend so much of the movie there.  But it ends up being a whole lot of time wasted on what amounts to finding a way to get DJ with Finn and Rose.  This could've been so much better.

HOW TO IMPROVE CANTO BIGHT

Honestly, this should've been caught when someone was reading Johnson's drafts, because we're basically stuck with a chunk a TLJ that degrades it while simultaneously expanding its running time.  But it could've been fixed, starting with Maz.

 Instead of having Maz phone in her appearance, they should have met her on Canto Bight.  Right there, we lose one prequel crack and give Lupita a slightly larger role.  While there, they interact with these profiteers, engaging in a moral debate about the First Order vs. the Resistance, while finding out how the conflict is viewed through the galaxy.  Were there a lot of systems missing the Empire?  How do they feel about the New Republic's destruction?  Eventually, that moral debate is what leads to fisticuffs and their subsequent imprisonment, as opposed to a parking ticket.

Johnson doesn't touch on any of this in TLJ.  His take on the morality of the conflict is restricted to two lines involving DJ.  First: 

DJ: Good guys, bad guys, made-up words. Let's see who formerly owned this gorgeous hunk-uh. Ah, this guy was an arms dealer. Made his bank selling weapons to the bad guys. (Hologram shows a tie fighter.) Oh... And the good. (Hologram shows an x-wing.) Finn, let me learn you something big. It's all a machine, partner. Live free, don't join.

And second, when DJ betrays them:   

DJ: They blow you up today, you can blow them up tomorrow. It's just business. 

Finn: You're wrong. 

DJ: Maybe.

This is the extent Johnson is willing to go when it comes to morality in the Star Wars universe, and it's just not enough.  Either dig in or don't mention it.  Short changing it is a disservice, but that's exactly what happens.

If the entire Canto Bight sequence was redone, it would not only be a better Star Wars movie, but a better movie in general.  It doesn't have to be exactly as I think it should be, but it needs vast improvements.  If Disney were to ever special edition the sequels, then Canto Bight should be singled out.  And yes, I do think they should special edition them, along with the prequels.  But that's for another time.

MOVING ON

The second greatest issue of The Last Jedi is how immensely it fails at being a sequel to The Force Awakens.  I am undoubtedly biased when it comes to discussing TFA because JJ Abrams is one of my favorite directors and I absolutely loved his take on Star Wars.  Now, one of JJ's favorite things to do is to approach plots as mystery boxes, whose contents are slowly revealed over the course of a TV series or movie.  And don't say he didn't have any clue as to where TFA was going, as he had an outline prepared for the sequel, and an idea for who Rey's parents were.  Along comes Rian Johnson, who, instead of opening that mystery box, takes a hammer to it.

So much of what is hinted at, left unsolved, or teased in TFA is either ignored, brushed aside, or poorly answered in TLJ.  This is a problem.  TLJ is supposed to be a direct sequel, not a spin-off or an unplanned continuation.  When Yoda suggests there's another hope in Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi provides an answer to who that is.  Imagine if it didn't.  Well, I suppose you don't have to cause this basically happens with TLJ.

There was a lot of set up in TFA, but Johnson used TLJ to tear all of that up instead of building on it.  Rey's lineage, strongly hinted to be significant through multiple scenes in TFA, is made to be meaningless in TLJ.  Maz Kanata teased having a story about how she came to possess Anakin's lightsaber, but that's ignored in TLJ.  Snoke is treated like a disposable villain, even though he somehow managed to stitch the Empire back together and tempt Ben Solo to the dark side.  The Knights of Ren are mentioned in an offhand comment in TFA and are completely missing in TLJ.  I could go on.

Okay, I will.  Why would Luke leave a map for his friends to find him in TFA if he went to Ahch-To to die?  And why did Luke leave it with Lor San Tekka?  (Johnson's answer:  stfu, Luke is emo now.)

The Last Jedi also feels like a smaller movie.  There are two new locations introduced: Canto Bight and Crait.  It revisits Ahch-To from TFA, and the rest takes place on ships.  This is not necessarily a problem, except it fails to show both the dominance of the First Order and the scope of their battle with the Republic/Resistance.  Star Wars is a big universe.  Shouldn't it feel that way?

And then there's issues with some of the returning characters.  Finn is tied down in the wasteful Canto Bight plot that doesn't do much for him.  Leia spends most of the movie in a coma.  Ackbar is murdered for no reason and with even less fanfare.  Poe gets an expanded role, though somehow it doesn't lead to much character growth.

And I can't forget Phasma.  A character with so much potential yet given such short shrift in both TFA and TLJ.  She feels tacked on in this film, when she could've been given a meatier role given how underwhelming all of Johnson's original characters are.  Which brings me to...

THE NEWBIES

The Empire Strikes Back introduced us to Yoda, Lando, and Boba Fett.  The only memorable addition to The Last Jedi are the porgs.

Johnson gives us three new characters in TLJ:  Admiral Holdo, DJ, and Rose.  There isn't that much to say about them, because, well, they're not very memorable and they're certainly not iconic.  Holdo is a one note character meant to serve as the adversary to Poe.  Her entire role consists of antagonizing him and withholding information.  She's much more interesting in Claudia Grey's novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan.

I've already mentioned the role DJ plays during Benicio del Toro's criminally tiny amount of screen time, so that leaves Rose.  She's...okay?  Sticking her on Canto Bight certainly doesn't help her.  The most memorable thing she does is interrupt Finn's suicide run and plant a kiss on him, both of which come from almost nowhere.

It really feels like these characters are underdeveloped and the actors are wasted in the roles, and that's a shame.  But then, that's the story of the prequels as well.  It's just that it was less surprising when George Lucas was doing it.

THE WORST MOMENT IN THE LAST JEDI

Luke Skywalker is far from the Luke we remember in RotJ.  At least until the end of the film, when he leaves Ahch-To, joins Leia and the Resistance, and takes on Kylo Ren and the First Order on his own.

Except he didn't really leave Ahch-To, it's a Force projection, and the stress of creating it kills him.  What?

Han Solo's death makes sense given his son's role in TFA.  Luke Skywalker dies because Rian Johnson chose to kill him.  There is not a single reason plot-wise for Luke to die in this movie.  The Sequel Trilogy should not be about killing off a member of the original trio in each film.  And it didn't have to be.  What were they thinking?

When Carrie Fisher passed away, and it became clear Leia was not going to be in Episode 9, that should have convinced the powers that be to change the last three minutes of the film and allow Luke to live.  Yes, he can return as a Force ghost, but that's not the same.  They would've only had to cut Luke's disappearance and a line from Rey and BAM, Luke's still alive for Episode 9.

His meaningless and arbitrary death ruins this film.  (And after they spent a whole film trying to find him, no less.)

THE GOOD

Now that I've rattled off some of the major flaws I perceived in TLJ, let me list some of the good.

The Yoda Scene:  Easily the best moment of the film.

Luke tossing the lightsaber:  A hilarious and unexpected moment before there were too many "hilarious" and unexpected moments.

Hux:  The one minor TFA character Johnson does an excellent job with.  He may be my favorite character in the film.

Rey and Ren:  The development of their relationship is the strongest element of TLJ.

The Caretakers:  See Damon Lindelof's Instagram.

The Porgs: Adorable pests/wookie-fodder.

Luke flashbacks:  We needed more of these.

Artoo: BB-8 is stealing his thunder, but he can still get in a cheap shot.

Threepio: He's also in this film.

Praetorian Guards: That's some good lightsaberin'.

The Cinematography:  Seriously, this movie is gorgeous.

It feels like a Star Wars movie (minus one ridiculous ironing scene).

FAILURE

Yoda tells Luke how failure is the greatest teacher, laying out one of the themes of this film.  The other, a quote played over numerous TLJ trailers, is "Let the past die.  Kill it, if you have to."  Let's explore.

Weeks before Max Landis disappeared from Twitter following sexual harassment allegations, he described how every character in this movie fails:

REY - Turn Kylo - Fails KYLO - Turn Rey - Fails FINN - Turn off tracker - Fails POE - Save Revel Fleet - Fails SNOKE - Kill Rey - Fails LUKE - Train Rey - Fails HUX - Usurp power - Fails LEIA - Escape - Mostly Fails ROSE TICO - Turn of tracker - Fails HOLDO - Evacuate to Planet Secretly - Fails

That's a lot of failure.  Ironically, you can add one more:

RIAN JOHNSON - Make a great Star Wars film - Fails

But this theme is not why TLJ doesn't work.  It's the other one that drags it down.  The whole idea to let the past die.  If this was Episode 9, and Disney was about to start fresh with a new series of Star Wars films, perhaps it would work.  But this is the middle chapter.  The past, especially TFA, should not be killed.  It should define the entire Sequel Trilogy.

After all, this is a culmination of everything in the OT and PT.  The First Order is born from the Empire.  The Resistance is born from the Rebellion (and then turned back into the Rebellion?  Guess you can't let the entire past die, huh?)  Most of the characters come from other movies.  This is their last time to shine.

Johnson subverts expectations too many times in TLJ.  It works at first, with Luke tossing the lightsaber, but by the end, it has become trite.  Rey's parents are nobodies.  Snoke's dead.  Luke's dead.  The entire Resistance can fit on the Millennium Falcon.  (And Kylo Ren’s awesome mask is wrecked.) He's killed the past without building anything for the future.  That's left to JJ in the single remaining film in the trilogy.  Come on!

The Last Jedi is so polarizing because there’s so much to nitpick, whereas The Force Awakens mainly had only one general complaint leveled against it (it was too much like A New Hope).  One fan may be okay with Leia's Mary Poppins scene, while also despising how Luke became a cranky hermit.  Each potential negative has to be overlooked to come out of it with a positive view, but it’s a lot easier to focus and harp on the negatives.  And that's what's happened online, and, yes, in this post.  Also, killing off Luke for no reason was dumb.

Before I go, I want to mention how overrated Looper was.  Interesting concept, but it falls apart at the farm.  And they gave that director a Star Wars film, while taking one away from the guys who did the Jump Street movies and The Lego Movie.  Sigh.

If JJ sticks the landing with Episode 9 and churns out a terrific film, perhaps TLJ can be viewed in a new light.  And opinions do change over the years.  But even though Revenge of the Sith was pretty good, no one looks back fondly at the prequel trilogy.

[hansoloschubbybrother]

My Opinion On The Last Jedi...For What It’s Worth

Having just watched The Last Jedi again and having seen way too many YouTube videos from people who hated the movie, I just had to write down my thoughts on it because I disagree with so many of the things that people hated about it.

It wasn’t perfect but, on the whole, I still think it is a great movie, mostly because of the choices made regarding the story arcs for the main characters.

But before I get into that though, I’m going to confirm some of the things where I can agree with the haters.  Firstly, Mary Poppins Leia.  It’s a nice idea that, by being blown into space, Leia’s survival instinct kicks in and enables her to use the force in a way she hadn’t before but I thought it looked awful and by just not having her blown into space in the first place would have been better.  The moment with Kylo Ren deciding not to shoot would have been more poignant and instead of Holdo being needed, Leia could have remained in charge and Admiiral Ackbar could have been the one to sacrifice himself by using light speed to obliterate the First Order fleet, giving him the noble death such a character deserved.

Just on that whole using light speed as a weapon thing, I’ve listened to people using it as another reason to put down the film, saying that if it was a plausible weapon it would have been used already so having it in TLJ doesn’t make sense.  Rian Johnson or someone had a cool idea that looked great in the movie and if other people involved in previous movies had thought of the idea then I’m sure they would have used it too.  It was a great moment in the film and people need to stop trying to find reasons to dislike the movie that aren’t there.

Next up is some of the humour.  Whilst I enjoyed some it, overall it felt a little out of place in a good Star Wars movie and harked back more to the prequels.  It may have been an attempt to appeal to children, but I felt the same way about Luke milking that animal and going fishing and the way BB-8 is used. In the original trilogy, R2-D2 would never actually ride a AT-ST, he may have found a way to control something by interfacing with a computer terminal but not actually driven something himself. This step toward children’s comedy was just one of the reasons I mostly disliked the prequel trilogy and wasn’t necessary here either.  The original trilogy didn’t have that and it didn’t stop those films from becoming an obsession for most children at the time.

My final gripe about TLJ is the over arching story of the slow chase.  Not only does it seem silly that the First Order would need to wait to destroy them, it created the need for the whole Canto Bight scene.  I enjoyed Finn and Rose’s scenes when they were on Snoke’s ship and I also enjoyed DJ as a character, but they needed to find a better way to make that all play out.  I really enjoyed the film’s opening battle with the dreadnought and the end battle on Crait but the story they created to get them from one place to the next was very underwhelming.

In spite of these issues, I still really enjoyed the film and that was mostly because of how they developed the story of each of the main characters.  On the whole, I thought they got this spot on and is generally where I seem to differ hugely from many of the online posting star wars fanbase.

I will leave Luke until last as I think his treatment in the film is what has caused the most hate from the fanbase, not least from Mark Hamill himself.  Instead, I’ll start with Rey as she is probably the character where there is the most common ground.  Undoubtedly for me, Rey is far too much of a Mary Sue.  As the central character of this new trilogy, this is not great film making.  If they needed her to have these abilities/skills from the get go, they shouldn’t have made her an orphaned desert girl at the start.  The journey they needed her to make was too far, too soon.  I know they are trying to explain how this is possible by saying that she basically downloaded Kylo Ren’s skills but it’s not very believable.  This said, I don’t actually believe that TLJ is what makes her a Mary Sue.  This problem is one created by TFA.  In TLJ, she doesn’t actually advance her skills set a great deal, other than to move a bunch of rocks, which is Jedi Training 1.1. Therefore, this is not a problem with TLJ, it’s the knock on effect from a big failure with TFA…which is not the last time I’ll say that.

We then have the issue of Rey’s parents, the source of much speculation between the two films.  I mentioned in a post I wrote after the film came out that I’m glad that her parents are nobodies.  Star Wars is a vast galaxy, why does she have to be some blood relative of an existing character.  It would be difficult to realistically explain that she is a relative of one of the key characters from the original trilogy and very unimaginative.  It is far better that her heritage broadens the Star Wars landscape, not enclose it furthermore.  For those that wanted her to be a Kenobi or a Solo or whatever, there is always the possibility that Kylo was lying.  Rian Johnson did, after all, include the mysterious but unresolved scene with Rey and the mirror thing on Ahch-To.  So for me, it was a positive that Rey’s parents were nobodies.

Finally for Rey, there is her connection with Kylo Ren, which brings me to another aside.  Many people are up in arms that Rian Johnson would use the force in a way that they have never seen before but for me this is just ridiculous.  It’s a sci-fi fantasy film.  If you can extend your disbelief in the originals then why not now?  The Jedi’s are supposed to have kept peace for thousands of years and we have only followed a handful for a few years but somehow we have seen the force used to its fullest extent.  Come on now.  You wouldn’t have worried about this as a child, so why now?  It’s totally not important and totally possible.

Anyway, back to Rey and Kylo.  For me, their connection is the most interesting arc of the new trilogy and using the force as a way to further develop this relationship was an important reason as to why I enjoyed the film.  Without that, they would not get the chance to interact as frequently as they do, thus removing important character development.  Many people, have said that it is not realistic that they would feel some kind of connection after knowing each other for such a short space of time but I see it completely differently.  Maybe it’s linked to personal experiences when it comes to relationships but, to me, it is perfectly plausible that two people with so much in common and who both share the same insecurities would feel an immediate connection.  They are in the same position as each other just on different sides of the force.  It’s natural to feel drawn to someone who is going through a similar experience to yourself, so that you don’t feel alone and for support.  For me, their relationship is an intriguing way to consider the force and how idea of light and dark sides exist.

This leads us nicely onto Kylo Ren.  Many people disliked the fact that in TFA he was basically a power brat.  For me, I was immediately drawn to this idea that we are seeing the proper development of the main bad guy.  His journey in this trilogy is much more what I was hoping to see for Anakin’s journey in the prequel trilogy.  Unfortunately, in the prequels, we a got a few brattish comments and then he basically became a full on bad guy after a short conversation with Palpatine/Sidious.  Kylo Ren’s character development is far more considered than Anakin’s.  He is a powerful brat but, especially because Adam Driver is as good an actor as Hayden Christensen is bad, you can understand why. You can also see that has not completely turned to the dark side, that it isn’t a switch.  This is developed even further in TLJ and, as I said before, I have enjoyed his development and how his character has mirrored Rey.  Kylo Ren has become my second favourite character in the Star Wars universe after his father.  I enjoyed how he first appears to be a Darth Vader clone, evening looking up to his Grandfather, but then falls way short.  I enjoyed the line TLJ when Snoke reminds him of this and tells him to remove his helmet.  I suppose some people don’t want to see their bad guy go through some dark coming of age story but I think it makes it much more interesting.

It is the same reason why I thoroughly enjoyed that Rian Johnson just killed off Snoke.  No back story, no big bad, just everything opposite to what people might have been expecting.  For me he was Sidious 2.0.  A powerful bad guy who we thought was going to be defeated at the end of the third film. To me he was unoriginal and another reason why TFA was described as a love letter to the original trilogy.  He felt very “Star Wars” but that was it.  People felt short changed after Snoke’s back story was ignored and became insignificant but thought it was exactly the right decision.  He played his part and moved aside for Kylo Ren to become the main bad guy for the second half of the trilogy.  On the subject of his back story, I just don’t get this obsession with needing to know everything about every character’s back story.  We never got that in the original trilogy.  We didn’t get told a single thing about Darth Sidious.  He was just the powerful bad guy that ruled the Empire.  We didn’t need to know more and we didn’t care.  That we got to learn more via the prequel films was great but it wasn’t a vital part of the story that was missing from the original films. This is the same with a whole host of other characters from Jabba, Boba Fett, Lando and even Han and Chewie.  Why do people now suggest that the new films lack characterisation or some shit because we don’t know the back story of every character?  It’s just not necessary.

Poe was another character whose story arc has been criticised.  When I first watch TLJ, I also thought that having Leia and Holdo hold back their plan from him seemed like a stupid decision but this felt more and more reasonable with each watch.  In order to avoid him being just another boring hero pilot character that destroys lots of enemy ships and always survives, Rian Johnson clearly wanted him to have some kind of journey to help develop his character.  It makes total sense to me that a hero pilot would have an ego that is too big and gets in the way of strong leadership decisions, so Rian Johnson develops this through the film, from Poe unnecessarily sacrificing lives and ships to destroy the dreadnought at the start, to his demotion and subsequent exclusion from leadership decision and then redemption at the end by choosing to pull the Resistance fighters back when they’re being picked off easily on Crait.  I can’t help but think that having two women leaders decide not to let the male hero pilot in on the plan goes against male sensibilities in this situation.  He’s the hero, the man and, in all previous eras, would be the one who knows what the right thing to do is.  The truth is, that if it were two male leaders and a female hero pilot who was denied knowledge of the plan, we probably wouldn’t bat an eye-lid.  Is it feminist politics unnecessarily introduced to Star Wars?  I don’t think so.  It’s not forced down our throats, just used to help develop what could easily become a boring character.

The final character I’ll focus on before Luke is Finn.  As mentioned before, I enjoyed his scenes on Snoke’s ship with Rose and Captain Phasma but really didn’t like how they got him there.  It’s a shame that it made his character seem marginalised.  The only part I did enjoy was how DJ made him question his defection from the First Order and whether there is a good or a bad side in war.  This is quite deep stuff for a Star Wars film and quite political but I liked that they asked these questions and it seemed fitting that Finn’s character be the one to contemplate these ideas.  Again, it’s a shame they couldn’t have found a better way to do it, that made him more integral to the story.

Finally, we come to Luke. More than anything else, it’s people’s comments about Luke that get me shouting at my screen.  Maybe it is because I was never drawn to Luke as my favourite character as a child but, for some reason, I just don’t see things the same way as all the haters.  For me, Luke’s story through TLJ needed to follow on from what we were told in TFA, in a manner that is both realistic to how you might think someone would react having been through that experience and also realistic to how Luke, the character, would react.

So, what were we told in TFA?  We learnt that Luke is in hiding and has cut himself off completely from his family and friends as a result of the part he played in the failure of his Jedi Academy and turning his nephew into Kylo Ren.

This leads me to the first of the things that annoy me about some of the arguments laid at the door of TLJ and Rian Johnson.  People claim that Luke would never abandon his friends and cowardly hide away and cut himself off from everything.  This idea is played out in TLJ but this story was clearly set in motion in TFA.  If people can’t believe Luke would act in this way then be angry at JJ Abrams because it was his idea.  Rian Johnson continued Luke’s story from this situation because it’s the only place he could have started from.

Next is to decide whether Luke’s reaction to what has happened is a realistic way for someone to respond.  This is obviously subjective but his failings have led to the creation of a potential new Sith Lord, the death of many young fledgling Jedis, the estrangement of his nephew from his family and the break up of his sister’s marriage to his best friend.  This is quite a heavy burden bare, considering this is on top of how someone would naturally feel after failing so badly.  Imagine someone is revered as a hero around the galaxy, a new Jedi Knight to help bring peace.  Your self-esteem would be sky high.  You would be pretty happy with how your life is panning out. It is clearly absolutely plausible that someone could react to what happened the way Luke does in TLJ.  If people were happy to believe Luke’s set up in TFA, then they have to accept that someone could react the way Luke does. I believe that this is a far more likely way that someone would react than to remain positive and not question your beliefs and the part they played in what happened.

Therefore the question is whether Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and hero of the galaxy, would react this way.  Clearly many fans and Mark Hamill say he wouldn’t.  I just don’t see how they can come to this conclusion based on his actions in the original trilogy.  The main argument I hear is that he was a great Jedi who saw the good in Darth Vader and defeated Sidious.  This just doesn’t stack up I’m afraid.  How do we know Luke is a great Jedi?  He was only taught by Yoda for a little while and clearly never finished his training. In fact, choosing to be so loyal to his friends was against his Jedi training.  Additionally, he beat Darth Vader, not by being a great Jedi but by turning to the dark side and using anger to fuel his fight with him.  Vader threatened Leia and he threw anything Jedi out the window and got plain mad.  This made him a hero but certainly not some grand Jedi.  Then we come to Sidious.  Luke didn’t defeat Sidious at all.  Seeing the good in Vader pulled him back from killing his father but he was about to be killed by Sidious.  It was Vader/Anakin who killed Sidious.  So, Luke was a hero, a bastian of hope but he was not some infallible human or a Jedi dedicated to their code.  If anything, he was the first grey Jedi.  For me, the fact that he felt so strongly for his family and friends is a reason why he would have reacted the way he did when he caused it all to go to shit.

People have also suggested that Luke would never think, even for a second, about killing his nephew. Again, I just don’t have this picture of Luke as all things light and good.  He is not so squeaky clean that when faced with the prospect of a new Sidious or Vader and acknowledging that he is not able to control him, that, for a second, he wouldn’t think that right thing to do is kill him.  Everyone has thoughts they shouldn’t have for just a split second.  Again, why is Luke any different?

It seems to me that people who loved Luke in the originals can’t face the idea that he is somehow a flawed human being and a flawed Jedi.  This character that they idolised as a child is actually a human and not some unrealistic hero type.  For me, it gave Luke something interesting to contribute to this trilogy.  Did people who hated it just want Johnson to forget what was set up for him in TFA, something he is criticised for in other areas, and suddenly have Luke forget all about why he was where he was?  Was he supposed to return to the Luke from the original trilogy just because some girl he doesn’t know turns up with his old lightsabre?  That would have been bad film making in my eyes, not good.

Another criticism is that he died a coward.  I just don’t see it that way.  Was it cowardly to hide away? Possibly but, as mentioned, this wasn’t Rian Johnson’s fault and also not an unrealistic way for him to react to what happened. Having been put in this position, you then want Luke to redeem himself and I thought he did that.  As the film progressed, he slowly became his old self. First he saw Chewie, then the falcon and news of Han’s death, he then agreed to help Rey a bit, then he saw R2-D2 who played him Leia’s recording for Obi-Wan and finally Yoda’s force ghost helped him come around.  There was a progression to his arc and, in the end, his actions were both brave and saved the day.  He would have known that using the force to project his image for all that time would lead to his death but that it was necessary to save the rebellion.  His death gave hope, renewed the idea of Luke the idolised hero, and then echoed the death of both Obi-Wan and Yoda, so was more than fitting, especially with the twin suns setting.  I thought it was a great way for him to “die” and not at all cowardly.  He will almost certainly be back as force ghost in IX as well.

As before, anyone moaning that force projection has never been done by a Jedi in any other material, needs to open up their imagination a little.  Also, if Luke is supposed to be such an amazing Jedi then surely he could find ways to use the force that others before him hadn’t.

My final point about Luke, and of this ridiculously long essay about a film, relates to how people have criticised the idea that Luke could ever feel that the Jedi order needed to end, the idea that an order that kept peace for thousands of years could ever need to move on or evolve.  I can’t believe people even say this without thinking about our own history. Religion, the British Empire, slavery, etc have all been institutions used over 100s of years to keep peace and maintain the powerful but there always comes a time when life and people learn and move forward.  They find better ways to live.  The Jedi might have kept peace for 1000s of years but in the recent past, and Luke’s understanding, they have not kept the peace, they have only been one side of a conflict.  Luke would be absolutely right to reflect on his Jedi beliefs and could easily be correct in his new found stance that the Jedi need to end.  He comes round again at the end of the film, when he corrects Kylo that he is not the last Jedi, but in my eyes his questioning of the Jedi order is not only right but interesting and made for a great film.

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on The Last Jedi (spoilers under the “keep reading” line)

I originally wanted to just make a small list of things I liked and did not like about this movie, but I’ve come to realize my feelings are a bit more complicated than I expected. I don’t hate it, nor do I think it is the worst film in the series; however, I am baffled by the arguments that it’s somehow a clever deconstruction of the Hollywood blockbuster formula or finding new ground for SW. If anything, I found it an aimless, poorly paced retread of familiar tropes and ideas with only a few interesting elements to save it from being mediocre.

I’ll start with what I considered all-around good: the acting is excellent across the board. Every actor is game, doing their best and even elevating the material at times. It was a bittersweet experience to see the late Carrie Fisher here and even with her limited screen-time, she brings a great deal of dignity and spunk to the princess/general we know and love. Mark Hamill gives one of his best performances as Luke, communicating worlds of pain and regret with his eyes alone. While he isn’t one of the greatest actors of all time outside of the voice-acting world, he is incredibly effective here. Thankfully, Oscar Isaac gets more to do this time around. And everyone else is on the whole fine, even great at times. I was also impressed with the visuals and editing, which are often breathtaking, especially on the big screen. The casino planet was pretty rad too; I can so see the rich and powerful hanging out in such a place. And—everything else is extremely mixed for me.

This movie reminds me of Attack of the Clones in that it is all over the place tonally. I am all for genre hybrids or movies that can touch on several emotional shades at once, but it is a hard thing to do and this movie isn’t up to that. One minute it’s dead serious and in the grand epic mode, then the next we’re dealing with broad comedy more appropriate for a Marvel film. That juxtaposition felt awkward in the prequels and it feels awkward here.

For all the critics’ talk of this movie breaking new ground, I remained frustrated by the same old rehash of lines and themes from the OT. There’s still the good versus evil, the empire chasing rebels Everything is also rushed beyond belief, which seems like a weird conclusion to draw about a 2 ½ hour movie. Rose is barely developed, despite her potential to be a great character (her romantic feelings for Finn are woefully half-baked; I would say the only thing that even makes you believe she was into him was her slight bout of hero worship in her initial scene with him). Finn doesn’t evolve beyond what he was in TFA. Rey doesn’t change, despite the challenges posed to her ideas about the Force by both Luke and Kylo. Her training with Luke, if you can even call it that, is basically nothing, even less than the crash course Luke got from Yoda in Empire. We’re led to believe Luke has some great development, but that’s yet another thing that has little payoff.

Overall, I am torn on Luke Skywalker’s characterization. On one hand, I believe he would become disillusioned with the Jedi after he lost his nephew to the Dark Side—however, do I believe he would stay on that island after hearing one of his oldest friends was MURDERED by the former student he feels he failed? I’m sorry, I don’t. I know people change as they get older and I know enough cranky old people to see how life can beat you down and make you emotionally exhausted. But the thing about Luke is that he’s stubborn and contrarian; when Yoda and Obi-wan told him to give up on Vader (a Sith who committed WAY worse sins on a much grander scale than Kylo-Ren ever did), he went with his hunch that his father could be redeemed, even though he had only his gut instinct as evidence to go on. I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t try to right the wrong he did to his nephew. Him retreating from the conflict feels as false as the strong-minded and very active Padme losing the will to live at the end of Revenge of the Sith. His death sits even less well with me, since I feel the character had more to do and should have been more active in trying to aid the Resistance and train Rey.

Kylo-Ren is more interesting this time around, more conflicted and morally ambiguous. His temptation to turn to the Light mixed with his savagery is great. His interactions with Rey, which are simultaneously uneasy and charged with sexual tension, are fascinating. And yet, like so much else in this movie, it all goes nowhere. I still have no clue why Kylo is drawn to the Dark Side. With Anakin, it was an outgrowth of growing up as a powerless slave and losing those he loved to war and violence, which makes it clear why the idea of a fascist dictatorship would appeal to him. For Palpatine, it was because he was a greedy psychopath. But Kylo? I have no idea what he feels he’s getting on an emotional level from the Dark Side. What do Snoke and the Dark Side promise him that makes turning evil so tempting? He didn’t hate his parents, however lacking he felt they were. Luke was hard on him, though we learn that’s because the kid was already turning to the Dark Side. So where does it all originate? I have no clue and I think, yeah, it’s not unreasonable for me to understand what motivates one of the major villains of this new trilogy. Because otherwise, it is hard for me to be fully invested in him as a character.

In fact, the whole First Order are just disappointing villains, a second-rate empire. I have no idea how they were able to come to power, not only because it’s never brought up in either this film or TFA, but because these guys are about as competent as the Three Stooges. Hux is a punchline subjected to “yo mamma” jokes and proving himself utterly useless time and again. Phasma is pretty much like Boba Fett: she looks cool and fights well, only to get killed off without ceremony. Snoke is a dumber Voldemort, built up as this clever, evil genius only to be proven even worse at underestimating his employees and enemies than Palpatine! I was never a fan of the character to begin with, finding him bland, but here, he just shows up, cackles evilly, then dies in a rather comical manner. How did he come to power? It has to be more than just his powers; even Palpatine was a politician and he preyed on the Clone Wars’ devastation to convince people to make him Emperor. But Snoke? Nothing.

The pacing was also a huge issue for me. Now, I normally dig slow pacing—but this was excruciating, probably because I felt like the story was going nowhere much of the time. Finn and Rose are wasted, given nothing but a McGuffin side-quest. Every time we cut to them, I just lost so much interest. As for the political “subtext” (if you can call an explicitly socio-political monologue subtext) in the Finn and Rose sub-story, I’ll just say I agree with critic Tim Brayton on the matter:

And this plotline feeds right into the absolutely unforgivably terrible subplot, which is the adventures of Finn (John Boyega) the cowardly ex-storm trooper, and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), the class-conscious engineer, who go on a fetch quest that is every bit as pointless as the whole matter of the military nonsense, only even worse, because it hinges on terrible comedy, bad CGI, and a spectacularly horrible moment when Johnson stops the film in its tracks to provide a ruthlessly on-the-nose lesson about economic inequality and the military-industrial complex, and I hate this all the more for the film's message in this moment being one I passionately agree with - if something has to be artless and awful, better that it not take down a cause I hold dear as part of the collateral damage. And it really is awful; the worst thing in the movie, despite the best intentions of various film critics to defend it (I am sorry, but "has politics I like" is not all it takes to make a movie good. If all you want is for a film to spit your ideology back at you, and it doesn't matter if this is done with any grace or artistry at all, congratulations: you are a Stalinist. I like politics in movies - I love politics in movies - but not every political filmmaker is Sergei Eisenstein, and they should damn well not be treated like they are).

I have no problem with this political/social angle being there; hell, I love the idea of the Rose character and the theme of inspiring the downtrodden (the idea of legends and the power of storytelling really appealed to me, and I loved that last scene with the kids re-enacting the OT story in the stables), but like so much else they feel underwritten and clumsily implemented. It doesn’t help that this side plot feels oddly disconnected from everything else and is far less interesting than Poe or Rey’s stories. And once again, I feel like it accomplished nothing whatsoever, much like the majority of this story.

Now, people might argue the main theme of this movie is about failure and how we must learn from it, thus making this side-plot appropriate. The thing is, I don’t think anyone besides Poe learned much of anything from their mistakes or failures, let alone Finn and Rose. According to writer/director Rian Johnson, one of the big inspirations for this film was the 1964 classic Three Outlaw Samurai, a movie in which the titular heroes become disillusioned with the samurai code and the corruption of the culture in which they live. Concepts such as honor and loyalty become muddied. TLJ is clearly trying to weave a similar theme, with Kylo, Luke, and Ghost!Yoda calling for a new age in which the Jedi and Sith are no more. The problem? Kylo still embraces much of the Sith ideology as much as he claims he’s let go of it (okay, yeah, Abrams claimed he wasn’t a Sith, but that seems more like an in-name only affair given the dynamic between Kylo and Snoke), and Luke, for all his “the Jedi gotta go” lip service, ends his life by triumphantly claiming, “I will not be the last Jedi,” implying he’s passing the torch to Rey. So much for questioning the past.

At the end of the day, the movie left me frustrated and hollow. I’m not very excited to see where they take the story next, because it’s clear they’re going with same-old, same-old, only with vague motivations and no sense of direction. I don’t get what the big point of this new trilogy is. The OT is at its heart about Luke coming of age as a Jedi Knight and redeeming his father. The PT is a tragedy about the fall of both a man and a democracy. The sequels though? I have no clue. I don’t think they go far enough in their attempts to challenge our ideas about the Force or the Jedi, or good and evil. It’s the same old rebels versus tyrants fight, only this time around the villains are more inept than usual and the good guys, for all their failures, don’t appear to learn much of anything.