#he has been shitty and done shitty things

[gffa]

People shouldn't be too hard on Mon!

I absolutely love and is grateful of Freed's understanding and appreciation of the Jedi, apparent in the book, apparent in the interview he'd given for the book:

"For me, the excitement of the time period here, is that I tend to think of 'Star Wars' as a setting with plenty of room for grey area stories and moral ambiguity, but there are very clear lines of good and evil as well. There's no version of 'Star Wars' in which you look at the Emperor and go, 'Well, maybe he had some good ideas.' No, the Emperor is evil. And the Jedi and Luke at their best are good. Everything else exists somewhere in there. This is a period where the remains true but no one really knows that the Emperor is evil.

"As far as the public is concerned, this guy just won the worst war in living memory. The Clone Wars were this horrendous affair and Palpatine has put an end to it. Yes, he's declared himself Emperor but he's not the embodiment of all evil. There's not even a Death Star out there. On the absolute good side, the Jedi have sort of been tarnished in recent years. War scrapes away at the shining morality of any organization."

I think Freed really understands what Lucas meant when he said "The Jedi have been corrupted by this war."

...but I still don't hold it against Mon cause she's going through hell and she spoilerspoilerspoilerspoiler in the later half of the book. I think she's fascinating, wonderful, equally valid character with equally valid viewpoints as Bail within context of their own worlds and experiences in this novel.

The editor of the book said it best:

Bail – knows the truth about Palpatine, the Empire, and the fall of the Jedi. Caught between his commitment to truth and justice at any cost, and the duty he has to the daughter he’s been entrusted to protect.

Mon Mothma – a master politician, who believes – like so many – that opposing Palpatine is part of the regular game of politics. She doesn’t yet realize, Palpatine stood up from the game board years ago, and she’s playing against shadows.

Mon and Bail are allies, but not really friends (at this time). Padme was their link, and now, she’s gone. Where does that leave them?

For Mon and Bail especially, the secrets Bail holds that he cannot reveal leaves a gulf between them. And what does it mean when they find themselves at odds with each other, over truths they cannot speak?

prev anon) I'm talking about their different mindsets and experiences and viewpoints born from those and I'm not excusing Mon's... *spoilers* anyway I hope you enjoy the rest of the book! It's so nice seeing an author like Freed, who usually writes non-force side of sw, handling the jedi with such warmth, understanding and awareness

This was such a reassuring message to get, thank you! I've been avoiding spoilers for the book as best I can, but I'm only a quarter of the way through it and I was wondering how the various themes were going to go, but Freed's interview quotes and your comments have made me glad that I'm picking up what this book is putting down, because that's exactly how I've been reading it. (And why I'm hoping to encourage more people to read it--though, I will give a warning that this book can be uncomfortably prescient about current events in a way that I wouldn't say Alexander Freed Is A Witch, but that can be very hard to read about if you're not in the headspace to deal with a lot of reflections of the dumpster fire we're currently in.) As for Mon, I hope nobody comes down on her for this, because as much as I scream, cry, throw up, etc., over Bail's scenes, in general I lean a bit more towards Mon's way of doing things, because I think her approach is her answer to the question, "But what can actually be truly achieved?" That she is looking at an incredibly shitty situation with only shitty options and asking herself what can she actually get done, what does she have a snowball's chance in hell of success with? And she knows clearing the Jedi's name at this point in time is not on the table, not when there are a million other things that might actually do tangible good for the galaxy. And I don't disagree with that! I love the Jedi more than anyone, but clearing their name isn't more important that, say, trying to stop the Wookiees from being classified as a non-sentient species! Clearing their name isn't important enough to blow all your political capital and having nothing to show for it when there are people who you can help, with a chance that will actually succeed! Bail's idealism isn't stupid, he's incredible and the galaxy needs a shining light like him, it's necessary for the bigger hope for the future, we can't make it through the dark times without bright, shining hope. So even when they don't always think positively of each other, I never get the sense that Bail and Mon don't understand that the other is doing what they think is best. They just disagree on what that is. And it makes sense! Bail knew and was friends with the Jedi! He knows the truth about Palpatine and how important all that Force shit is to what's going on here! Mon is operating with the idea that this is a political battle--and she's not entirely wrong, she's necessary to the recovery of the galaxy, too, just as Luke is necessary to save the day, so too is Leia, and I sort of see that reflected in Bail and Mon's approaches--one is focusing on the mystical and one is focusing on the political and I think both are important here. So, I have nothing but hearts for Mon Mothma and what she's trying to do for the galaxy.

And I don't see them as antagonists here, I see them as two people who look at each other with the understanding that there is deep love and compassion for people in the other, that they want this other person on their side not just for political alliances but because they care, and maybe they want to scream in frustration that the other person can't see what they see, but I don't feel for a second that this is going to end with them anything other than them as friends. Their scene in Rogue One implies she knows about Bail knowing a living Jedi, if not directly knowing about Obi-Wan Kenobi, which isn't something he would tell just anyone. I'm hoping for the same with Saw, there's going to be conflict about their approaches, and I love that that's clearly a theme/why these three characters were chosen as the pillars of this book, that each of them are shown to have their reasons why and that each of them serve a purpose. I scream/cry/throw up more about the Jedi because that's the most fun for me, but I am enthralled with Mon's chapters just as much, the political tightrope she's on, and I would encourage people to read for those aspects just as much as I would encourage them for crying about the Jedi. ANYWAY, EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK FOR YOURSELF, I'm having fun with the snippets I'm posting, but the book is so much more than those things! It's one of the best SW for rounding out the characters and filling in the transitions between the movies and TV shows, but in a way that keeps the tension and emotional gut-punches despite that we know where it's going. ALSO, MON MOTHMA AND BAIL ORGANA ARE THE BEST, I'M WILLING TO FIGHT THE INTERNET OVER THIS

[uraniumbones]

oh God oh fuck oh God

I didn't know he was wearing his father's clothes. omfg he loves his family so much. Just like that post about all the changes he made to be a good guardian for the twins and then they almost decided to run away. This is just another example of that. He wears his dad's clothes and when his brother sent him that post card saying "please come" he went, and when he fucked up and lost his brother he spent the next thirty years trying to get him back dealing in machinery and mystical forces he does not understand. He loves his family so much even when they don't love him. He loves his family so much and he wants someone to love him too :((( HE'S BEEN ALONE FOR SO LONG why didn't anyone go to Mr mystery's mystery aged birthday party? I'm fucking shrieking at the top of my lungs. In one of the episode's commentary tracks (land before swine?) there's a story Stan tells about how Ford made a kissing robot to learn how to kiss correctly and the only way to turn it off was to kiss it good. And it went off in class and Ford had to kiss the disembodied head in front of everyone to get the siren to stop and then he says "HAHAHAHAHAH hahahaha HAAAHAHAHA..... he was still more popular than me". And is that hilarious? Yes. Is it also heartbreaking? Yes. for fucks sake someone just care about him. This isn't the story of an unpopular nerd brother and a popular street smart brother. This is the story of a golden boy and a black sheep. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[rhymeswithumbrella]

you know what really pisses me off? so many people acting like he is the worst person out there and no one will miss him. A LOT of people are grieving now and missing him including people that these people supposedly follow and care about. liam was not the supervillain people wanted him to be. he was messed up and did messed up things likely because of what happened to him. this conversation deserves so much more nuance than people are giving it. and maybe it’s too early to have this conversation now but it’s helping me process and grieve so i’m really writing this for me. people are complex and doing bad things doesn’t make you a bad person or someone worthy of death without being given the chance to make things right. and another thing, it is SO hypocritical to make fun of him and look down on him like he’s the ultimate Bad Guy meanwhile i bet every single person you have ever admired in the spotlight has likely also done bad things or at least things you wouldn’t be proud of. fame is an illness and it can cause people to harm others because they were hurt themselves. human beings are a culmination of everything that they’ve been through and everything they’ve done. he is not only the bad things he’s done and it’s okay and normal to grieve him as a whole person, because he was one.

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

BFTC isn’t really a case of terrible characterization for Jason so much as it was a terrible case of victim blaming. Like yeah, some of the things Jason did were a bit extreme compared to his “better” appearances, but that’s nothing new and pretty much true of many stories that aren’t utrh or lost days. The bad parts are are also definitely exaggerated by fans.

The story isn’t centered on Jason. Of course every other character’s description of Jason would be knee-jerk dismissive and misunderstanding, since (again) the intention was to make Jason out to be the cartoony bad guy villain. But if you look past the layers of grime they added, the bare bones of his characterization are not entirely incorrect. It’s a biased story in which their intended criticisms of Jason’s morals often fell short, so to compensate they deliberately cranked up his motivations to be more extreme and unrealistic (but one which, nonetheless got Jason’s overall thoughts and goals relatively consistent with stories that portrayed him accurately).

Yes, him shooting Damian was out of character, but granted we’re all in agreement that it was a true case of “bad writing decision”, I don’t think it’s hard to look past. The only other bit people probably complain about (which felt iffy at worst) was him being “a bit enthusiastic” at times in trying to convince Dick to become another lethal Batman (you can just as easily say Jason wouldn’t have been personally invested enough to have acted in the way he did). I don’t care though because he was probably doing it for shits and giggles, and it was funny watching him push their buttons on his spare time while being excellent at his job. Same old ‘none of them deny that he’s effective, they just can’t get behind the killing’ conflict.

Looking past the fact that Jason still had a valid point, the “he’s the bad guy” plot falls apart for other obvious reasons, which happen in the 3rd issue. It’s kind of hard to focus on how much of a bitch Jason’s being when the other characters are written in an infinitely more problematic way (which ends up happening in most “hate Jason” stories). Not only did they heavily imply Jason is a victim of SA, but the way Dick/the batfamily treats Jason about this is … horrible. Arguing that this was a case of character assassination for Bruce and Dick would be more realistic than using this story to claim Jason is a Bad Person™.

Even though Bruce does have a bad track record with his perspective on victims of SA.

Hey. Maybe listen to the living person begging you to turn it off.

Geez. I wonder why he never felt safe enough to confide in Bruce or any of the rest of them. Implying that enduring what he did made him “broken beyond repair”, that he needs to be “fixed”, and saying verbatim, “you are my greatest failure”, not “I failed you greatly”. Then deciding on behalf of Jason that a bunch of people who weren’t involved in what happened to him should all know about this so they can decide what should be done. And everyone agrees with this garbage. Unbelievable.

Aka, any sort of healing he may have tried to accomplish was ruined by you lot. When exactly am I supposed to see that Jason was evil all along.

The story collapses in on itself in the third issue because where Dick is supposed to be at his prime within the arc, he just sort of rambles about how Jason was a shitty victim and then awkwardly shifts to talking about personal growth and coming to accept his own heroic destiny.

I do resent this, but not because “Jason sucks here”. Jason’s “bad portrayal” pales in comparison to the problematic mindsets given to the other characters (namely Dick) which were framed as good-natured intentions and “tough love”. As for people who describe this as “vilifying Jason to prop up Dick” … I don’t really know what to make of that.

[asmodeusamaryllis]

MARIA HAS A SISTER?!??

[asterbats]

i think for the shitty scorpion family, their entire dynamic is definitely toxic (heh) but also neither dusk nor bruno is an inherently terrible person? its just that they’re a) horrible together longterm as they are and b) people who should not have had kids.

[itsoktopretenditshalloween]

My least and most favorite part of the Magnus archives is how by the end of the series pretty much everyone Jon meets kind of hates him?? I hate it because my kneejerk reaction is to go "this 28 year old guy got manipulated into doing all of this shit, he's made all of two actual decisions this whole time and both of them were decisions along the lines of "do this or die" or "do this or someone you love will die", like why would all of these people be so resentful to him and him alone when all he's done is be lied to and be bad at communication??" But then the other part of me goes "well yeah, of course he's gonna become the fucking scapegoat!!! Everyone's fucking scared out of their mind and it's easy to look at the person who's technically (literally barely, strictly in name, if that) in charge of one thing and project everything that's going wrong onto him!!! Of course everyone despite having the same urge to figure things out and ruining their own lives in the process of following it is gonna go "oh THAT GUY!!! He fucking consciously chose this, he must have known. He had to have known this is how it would go for me he had to have chosen. This had to have happened because someone wanted it to. It wasn't me making a mistake. It wasn't him accidentally steering me in the wrong direction because he truly did not know better, and he's, again, dog shit when it comes to people skills, it had to happen for a reason" humans are pattern seekers and we LOVE having narrative in our lives, and it's super easy and fun to blame all of our problems on one person, because then we can pretend that everything would be fixed if they disappeared. And of course that person became Jon, because the real big bad guy didn't actually talk to most of the cast very often, and they couldn't kill him without dying. Of course they picked the random guy they kind of knew who was always kind of an asshole. Who else is there to be mad at that would feel it?? Who else is there that would apologize to you for what's happened??? Who else is there that you know can feel guilty even if it's not as guilty as you think he should feel????

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

late Carlo and Moretti (during vinci-moretti war) are like Luca and Clemente to me. Moretti will never raise his hand on Carlo but! will he drive him into guilt in ways that are not direct? insult him in passing? convince Carlo that he's doing everything wrong, when in fact it's the opposite? of course such a painful kick to Carlo's ego, it's unfair, he doesn't deserve it. and it's not a father-son relationship, it's a professional relationship and he can't say anything back & defense himself in any way maybe Moretti's more favorable to Eddie in this period because he's more blindly loyal and Carlo feels he's about to explode

[spacebell]

que que????

[kr-cube]

med looking less wasteful this tournament than he did the entire year is a good thing, especially now that we are getting closer to uso

[firstroseofspring]

thinking pondering to me john torres is like. what if u met a woman. with confidence and dignity and a strong moral backbone. you meet and she makes a distinct impression with her honesty and her frankness and she seems like she's always sure of what she wants and what she needs and she's so different from anyone else you know and thats exciting and she's exciting and she likes you specifically you. and you don't think much of you but it feels good to be liked by someone like that. you love her of course. you marry her. of course!

[blorboresidue]

ah and now I'm having a mental breakdown over losing a tack. ain't that just the way

[fagoutboy]

the more ive sat and thought about it the more dissatisfied i am with that doctor who finale

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been having a rough few days, but I’ve been feeling a bit better so I decided to make some lil thingies for some spiraling upwards kitties :3

[eggsnatcheskneecaps]

.

[ampheenix]

Death Note au for BSD?? yes please >:))

Younger Dazai as Light- Odasaku died a year ago, robbing his life of any colour it had, and he puts on a bubbly facade around his classmates and friends (the ADA) but in reality struggles to feel anything. One day he comes across the death note, and is stunned as he realizes its powers.

Oda had told him before he died to ‘be on the side that saves people’ (same as canon) and Dazai realises that the death note is his chance to fix the world, becoming Kira to get rid of criminals who (in his mind) killed his best friend.

(An older, less immature Dazai like in the series might have made a different choice, but in this au he’s more like 15-yr-old PM Dazai- except still traumatized from Oda)

Mori as Ryuk, who explains the power of the shinigami to him, amused with Dazai's decision to kill criminals using the notebook (He'd look even more terrifying than Ryuk as a shinigami tbh, less monstrous and more human-like but that makes him all the more eerie).

Akutagawa as Misa, holder of the second death note and puts Kira up on a pedestal, revering him for murdering the criminal who killed his family. Dazai uses him to further his goals, feeling nothing towards him although the younger boy borderline worships him (pretty similar to canon).

Chuuya as L, along with the rest of the PM as the police force. In this au Chuuya still has a hot temper but it’s more of a controlled, and efficient rage- he might be amiable in company but as soon as the door slams shut he’s gritting his teeth, kicking his chair back as he takes his anger out on a new case.

(At first I thought Chuuya as L might not fit due to the differences in intelligence, but really Chuuya is far smarter than he lets on- he's a tad gullible though)

Kouyou as Watari, who discovered 8-year-old Chuuya and brought him to an orphanage for intellectually gifted children (Wammy’s House), and being the most intelligent he became almost like an uncrowned king. Aka a parallel with the king of the sheep, if you will.)