#i know *very* little about sw lore okay

[purgatory-of-assbutts]

I had a few thoughts about the pog soup I wanted to get down before I forgot

1. I legitimately thought she called it porg soup at first lol

2. Bo-Katan said that Mandalorians were raised on that since childhood. Does that imply that

She deliberately packed this for her rescue mission because it was a comfort food and she wanted to provide that for Din, who would have been her subject and therefore her responsibility as a ruler. Despite all she says, she does still hold some faith in All That

She packed this for herself as a way of remembering those she lost. We know that taste can be pretty powerful as far as invoking memories goes and honestly apart from her armor and castle and other legacy things, memories are all she has left of her family. This, in particular, would probably have had a more emotional callback than possessions anyway if you consider the ties and implications that sharing food has

3. Din sharing w Grogu is obviously partly bc the guy’s wrapped around Grogu’s finger. But like. They’re both foundlings and unlike what we’re seeing in his upbringing rn, we can assume that Din was brought up in a more community-based structure as part of the covert. Even before Din was ousted, they weren’t ever really part of the the tribe bc of both the bounty and the fact that Din is a beroya and would’ve lived according to that lifestyle regardless. Anyway. All I wanted to say was that Din sharing his soup with Grogu might’ve been a bit of Din wanting his child to experience something Mandalorian that he couldn’t provide, nor that he even knew about iykwim

[technoturian]

Okay, well, I watched Ahsoka.

I didn't have much investment in the plotline, as someone who DID watch Rebels but didn't enjoy it, I can't imagine how it was for people who never even watched Rebels. If you don't know or care about Ezra, Hera, Thrawn, the dathomir witches, etc, the Ahsoka show doesn't give you much reason to nor does it bother with more than a cursory explanation. Thrawn is especially a problem because they're setting him up like some SW Thanos and there was absolutely nothing about him that wasn't every other Imperial officer angling for succession. At least Gideon has his silly, narcissistic darktrooper obsession to make him stand out. Thrawn's just a chilly British guy who says "for the Empire" a lot. Groundbreaking.

Sabine was one of the few parts of Rebels that really stood out to me and they flattened her so much. Where's the artist? Where's the tech genius that was making superweapons in her early teens? How does it take until the last episode or so to talk about Mandalore? Her plot with Ahsoka happened so much off-screen that it lacked emotional punch. The only really exciting part of her storyline was when she chose to go with the enemy, and I was disappointed with how little conflict resulted from that. I loved that they went there at least, very unexpected considering Rebels' goodie-goodie "every episode must end with a heavy-handed moral lesson" thing that drove me up the wall.

As for Ahsoka herself... She felt like a generic jedi character for most of her screentime. That said, the visions of Anakin were some of the only stuff that landed emotionally for me and were definitely the highlight.

Ezra's actor did an amazing job, especially since I found Ezra to be a bit obnoxious in the cartoon and I found him so likable in Ahsoka, while still being very recognizable as the same character. The problem is the whole plot of finding him relies so heavily on the relationships and storylines built in a different show. I kept wondering how people who hadn't seen Rebels felt about this guy who has no backstory showing up with such obvious "main character" energy being put into him.

Also just an aside, wish they'd left out the contact lenses. It's not worth messing up the actors' eyelines and focus to match a cartoon character's eye color, I'm sorry but it's just not. Actually I feel like this is indicative of this whole experience: It was so important that all of the most minute details from Rebels made it in unchanged, regardless of how it hampered the show we were watching.

The only original -- at least, in that it didn't require investment in Rebels or Clone Wars -- idea this show presented that I was really invested in were the fallen jedi duo, who seemed full of potential... Until they ended up leading into a tease for the Mortis Gods, which is a plot I have less than zero interest in.

The show really just felt very flat, but in the exact opposite way The Book of Boba Fett was. TBoBF was all style and no substance, it didn't give me anything to care about. Ahsoka had a lot of substance and a lot of lore and just... a lot... happening, but it expected me to already care about it and skipped the part where it gave me a reason to.

If you're a Rebels fan you probably enjoyed it. (Maybe? I haven't really looked at reviews.) Which would make sense, because it was just a new half-season of the cartoon that inexplicably was made live action for no other reason than because these characters need to get some buy-in from the general audience before they show up in a team-up movie with the Mandalorian characters. I don't believe it makes a convincing argument for that buy-in.

PS: Also just as a KOTOR fan, the continued disrespect on the HK designation is intolerable. Justice for HK-47 and death to those personality-less pretenders.

[redrascal1]

Is making Rey a wife and mother truly demeaning to women?

Okay...I have mentioned before how I used to frequent other SW forums than the JCF, but quit.

This is one of the reasons I quit, apart from realising that I no longer have anything positive to add.

I said this post TROS on SuperHeroHype SW forums:

Lucas created the SKYWALKER saga as a family story. Which is why the ST should have been about either; Ben or.. Rey was a real Skywalker or Solo. One of the many reasons the reylo fandom took off is because they believed Rey, who it was established very firmly in TFA, longed for a family, would end up marrying a redeemed Ben Solo and become a Skywalker. Han, Luke and Leia would live on through their grandchildren. Ben would finally find peace with the one person who understood him. Rey would have the 'belonging' she craved. The dark and light sides of the Force would find balance in a 'lightsider' with some of the Dark (Rey) and a darksider with some of the Light(Ben). Feel free to ridicule folks...but it would have been a better ending than the one we got. Palpatine didn't canonically have any children because according to Lucas he was 'galactic Satan.' Evil personified. By making her his descendent they turned Rey into the AntiChrist. Which is probably why they are so eager on making her Little Miss Perfect, who is adored by everyone but too good for anyone. Hence no Ben/Rey, Finn/Rey, Poe/Rey - just BB/Rey. If DLF wanted to make a film about non Skywalkers they could have set it thousands of years into the future. Instead, they killed them all off and gave everything that was theirs to their enemy's descendent. The irony is, I read several interviews with creators who said that Ben's fate was unavoidable because of who his grandfather was. So...what does that make Rey? It just doesn't add up.

This is one of the replies I got:

Ahh yes, Rey has to marry a man to become a Skywalker. Can't be because Han and Leia treated her like an adopted daughter. And once again, blood is the important factor, not silly things like what they passed on via teaching or mentoring, or just being in their lives. And lets not forget, reducing Rey to baby factory, because that worked out so well when Lucas did it to Padme. Calling Rey the dark and Kylo the Light flies so much of what is established on screen it makes no goddamn sense to me. To place bloodlines above the choices one makes just flies in the face of all lore we have. I fully understand why the Reylo ship is popular. Shipping is fun, and it can also to weird places. I don't give a **** what you ship. But putting your ship above all else in the story is annoying.

I quit shortly afterwards.

I would just like to know if anyone else out here saw what I said as offensive as this poster obviously thought it was?

[amalthiaph]

Okay, since I'm too lazy to do the things I'm supposed to be doing right now, I'm gonna do this one.

I didn't watch The Bad Batch when it first released because I thought it's gonna be one of those boys-oriented action-adventure series. Then I found out that Episode 1 featured Depa and Caleb during Order 66, so I finally, finally decided to give it a try. Not even halfway through it, I knew, that it's gonna consume my every waking thought from then on.

The first reason is the characters. They're interesting, and while I see them as a whole unit, they still have their individualities. The next is the plot: I do think it was awesome seeing the transition from the Republic to the Empire. It's great to see that not all systems and/or planets agreed to it. It's great to see how the system changed (for example: the introduction and implementation of chain codes). It's also interesting to see the change in their military, especially from the point of view of the Clones.

Another reason is the art style. It's breathtaking. I don't need to say more.

Also, I acknowledge everyone's preferences okay, but I do not mind those 'cool down episodes' that have been sprinkled across the second season. First because every now and then, we need cool down episodes, and second, I see them as subtle easter eggs to other Star Wars media. Like that giant robot thing that dated years before the Jedi. Maybe it is a nod to The Acolyte, or we'll see more of that in that series.

And lastly, I love the part where several characters chose different paths. While this has caused a divide in the fandom, I can never hate any of them for any of their choices because it's their choice, and it's what pushes the story forward. I do hope and pray we're going to have a happy ending.

Okay, if you actually read through all that, know that I love you already. Also, I'm an artist (I really don't like calling me that). I make art for The Bad Batch and other SW media and every now and then I sprinkle a little bit of humor and trauma in them.

What I love about Tumblr (especially TBB Tumblr) is everyone. It's the people for me; we've got a writer with a PhD and their redneck neighbor who has a friend named John whose ex-wife is Asajj Ventress, there's also someone who's been on Wipeout, among other amazing individuals both artists and writers. Last night, I was convincing a friend to create a Tumblr. He didn't but he did go 120 mph on a 40. Kachow.

Fun fact: I have a friend named Chazz who claims to be a casual viewer but knows a lot more about Star Wars lore than I do. Casual my ass.

THIS WAS VERY LONG.

If I have to take the title of Most Inconsistent Imagery/Crappiest Graphic Designer on Tumblr, so be it. 😂 But there are so many new peeps I'm seeing on here, and I'd love to hear from you! So if you're interested, would you be so kind as to reblog this with some fun stuff?

What you love about The Bad Batch?

If you're an artist, writer, creator, reader, etc?

What you love engaging with on Tumblr?

Any other fun facts about yourself that might create connections with others here?

💙

[valenhell]

From the studio that brought you “I can’t find good Byler fics in the ao3 tag”, comes:

"The Definitive Byler fic rec list"

Literally no one asked for this but because I spent the majority of last year (...and 2019, and 2018...) reading byler fics and coping with life, I thought I’d make a list of some of my absolute favorites. 

The other day I was basically starving for some byler fics and the angel @magicalfairy provided me with some of her faves so I thought I’d do the same, because I love reading, and I love all of these fics and I appreciate their writers💗 And fic writers in general, come on!

- This is a mix of long works and one-shots/short stories. - Everything is mostly fluff with a tad of angst and a lot of internalized homophobia conflict.  - Every fic is completed, except for the ones I mention that they are not. - I try my best to lay out the stories in a way that I won’t spoil you the plot but also warning you of some stuff you might don’t like. Either way, all of these fics are correctly tagged by their respective authors/owners, so read at your own risk. For better understanding, in between brackets I denote Rating, Words and quantity of Chapters. - I feel like I should clarify, none of these are narrated in the singular first person. None of that “And I told him...”, no. 

Long fics

a dream always the same (T, 99k, 35 chapters) What happened in those few weeks between the Battle of Starcourt and the Byers leaving Hawkins. Literally a satisfying and very needed fill in of season three, with a good dose of Mike’s thoughts and conflict. Mike’s characterization is specially amazing in this one. The writing style is amazing and I know the author put everything into making it historically accurate, and it was really sweet. You probably read it, it’s by the amazing sevensided here on Tumblr🧡

Spring Break (T, 120k, 14/15 chapters) The slowburn of my dreams. Lots of internalized conflict and conflict with each other. Conflict within the Party (uhh kind of), conflict with Mike and Will. Byers family has moved and the kids are visiting! Chaos. Characterization is on point. Yeah, I know it’s unfinished, but the fourteenth chapter actually serves as a pretty nice ending. 

This is where it starts (M, 148.8k, 24 chapters) Aged up characters. The Party is in college and Will disappears again, but now it’s different. Mike knows he didn’t vanish from thin air, and the discovery he and the Party end up making is pretty insane. Mystery solving/fantasy/third dimension, throw in a bit of D&D and Mike realizing some shit, and you get this marvelous fic. It’s a breath of fresh air. The world building is definitely one of the elements that stands out the most, because it’s very nicely described, it sounds like a dream and it’s completely immersive. Absolute gem of a fic. 

there’s a Starman waiting in the sky (M, 30.6k, 8 chapters) Do I need to say anything? Will is out there living his best life and Mike realizes that wow, umm, maybe his best friend looks a bit too nice with that costume... and wait, is he getting horny? It’s actually really fun and sexy.

The Evening Speaks (T, 23k, 7 chapters) In where Mike is a late-night college radio host and Will is the art student that stays up till late to catch up with Wheeler on the Mic. They flirt through songs y’all, this one is really sweet. 

heads or tails? (E, 24k, 3 chapters) Aged up characters. I know most people don’t enjoy sex in fics and with specific characters but this one is insanely well written. It’s a slowburn that commits to the tension and with every word you are grasping and anticipating their next move. I think you can find the author here on Tumblr as yousaidyes🧡

The Man of Average (M, 56.7k, 5/? chapters) Aged up characters. No but you don’t understand, the writing here is absolute gourmet. The story is exciting as well, it’s super interesting. Weirdly enough, for being very aged up characters, they are well characterized but they don’t feel like teenagers. They are naturally Mike and Will. The author really captured Mike and Will’s essence. I know, it’s unfinished and it’s updated very rarely, but this is the typical fic you can’t believe someone just posted on the internet for free. I will say though, I think it’s definitely not for everyone. Read at your own risk.

Heartstrings (E, 82.8k, 24/? chapters) Aged up characters. By the same author of The Man of Average. A collection of memories, the road to Mike and Will’s happy ever after. And fucking hell!!!!! You’ll cry and get angry, you’ll cheer for them, then you’ll want to crash their faces together because god dammit you love each other!!! But yeah, same thing here. The writing and the way the story is laid out as a nonlinear narrative is brilliant. And I also think this is one of the best Will versions I’ve read. The author might as well be the og creator of this two characters tbh. You can find the author here as mylesimeblr🧡

Sinners behind the walls (T, 1.5k, 1/1) And because I can’t stop recommending this author, a little thing of Mike tormenting himself but also being too deeply committed to Will. 

The Red Envelope series (T/E, 167K, two completed works) Something happens that Will thought was impossible and from there, pure drama and romance. Anything by this author has the potential to become your absolute favorite fic, but this series in particular is amazing. I doubt that any of you haven’t read this, but it doesn’t hurt to put it in this list. I’m pretty sure the author is serendipitous-magic on Tumblr🧡

A New Fight series (T, 91k, two completed works, one WIP) And finally the Star Wars AU that we all needed. But this isn’t your typical “Mike is Han”, “Will is Leia” and “El is Luke”, it’s way more interesting than that, and the author has appropriated the Star Wars world like no other. I’ll admit I’m not a 100% fluent in SW lore but this is amazing to me either way. This author is also on Tumblr, tea-for-one-please🧡

- Yes, most of these are (if not all), in a way, canon compliant/canonverse/canon continuation into fanon. (In a way)

One-shots and short stories

Sundae for Two, Please (G, 4.8k) Steve being the supportive friend and older brother these kids collectively need. (not Jonathan erasure, we love him). Steve is very sweet himself, and this little cute thing through his POV is gorgeous. Yes, it’s byler.

Backstage (T, 10k, 2/2) Jonathan, you forgot to mention to Will how hot your new band’s guitarist is, dude. Now he’s hyperventilating and weirdly flirting with him in the corner. Background Stonathan because why not.

102 Peach Street (G, 3.8k) Established relationship, but not only that, they are married :’’))) PURE fluff. Extreme fluffiness. Diabetes. 

sweatshirts and bottled up feelings (T, 3.2k) Or, Mike thinks that the sweatshirt Will wears looks insanely good on him. And kitchens are for lovers. 

kiss it better (T, 16.3k) Basically one of the best character studies of a few precise moments of Mike and Will’s relationship and feelings. 

will wonders ever cease (T, 11.3k) #i ship will and happiness. Omfg what a beautiful piece of fanfic. Will centric, this kid really deserves all the good in the world.

The Calm After the Storm (T, 1.6k) Tooth rotting fluff, boyfriends in love. Boyfriends being lazy, cuddling, love words, kisses. Boys loving each other’s company... Basically, Mike and Will in their element. What more can you ask for?

neither of us ready to let go (T, 4.8k) That scene from season three, but a bit of a fix it. 

Still in love (G, 1k) Domestic, married life au fluff. Y’all, I’m a sucker for established Byler, even if I can’t find many fics with it. But this is very sweet. It takes place in 2020, but I don’t think there are any mentions of the COVID-19 crisis that I remember.

I Nver Find Out ‘Til I’m Head Over Heels (G, 12.5K) Classic 5+1 fic. If you haven’t read it, where have you been? This is your moment. In where Mike keeps inviting Will to the school dances and Will thinks it’s just a joke until he realizes it’s not. 

Before You’re Gone (T, 5.9k) Will is leaving Hawkins and Mike thinks this is a great moment for a confession. This one I discovered last friday, thank you friend @magicalfairy 💗

You’re weird Wheeler (M, 4.5k) Mike unintentionally starts a tradition of going to each other to talk about their sexual encounters just after they finish. Will keeps getting more explicit with the details he shares, and he makes his best friend interested. This one is really fun y’all.

Out-Of-Town Friends (N/R, 4.6K) It’s not rated. I haven’t re- read it but I’d say it would probably fall in a T rating. So cute!! Will has new friends and sneaks off every friday and the Party doesn’t know where he is going, so Mike decides to follow him and is surprised. 

Snowed Under (G, 1.3k) By the same author of The New Fight series. Mike is spending christmas by himself in college because a snowstorm hits Chicago and Nancy can’t drive to see him, but then he has a surprise visitor. Ahhh just a lil sweet holiday fic. Super cute. 

you love me anyway series (T, 7.1k, three completed works) Literally just the cutest thing ever. Established Byler. Will loves to take pictures and he loves taking pictures of Mike. It’s adorable. 

you wanna be friends forever (i can think of something better) (T, 9k) This one is so amazing. So. Amazing. From Will’s POV, my kid deserves the world and he gets it. 

okay not to be okay (T, 4.9k) Mike is a bit sad but then everything is okay. 

can’t hold out forever (G, 18.4k) Y’all!!!!! 5+1 sweetness. Mike has been falling in love since kindergarten. And it’s long af, you’ll enjoy it. 

even if it takes forever (G, 1.3k) College short AU, they miss each other, they love each other, they promise all to each other. It is sappy y’all.

clear as day (N/R, 18.4K, 4 chapters) It’s not rated, but I’d say it falls in the T category. Strangers to friends to lovers. And also, everyone is pretty gay; we have our dynamic trio Mike, Max and El as disaster lesbians (and gay). Will works at the library and he is also gay. Lucas and Dustin and Will are the best friends we needed. It’s very sweet and the Party is kind of formed here!

I went overboard with the one-shots, so you must have realized how much I love long one-shots and I favor them over long works lmao but they are all amazing!!! If it’s on this list, I probably read it at 2 am, sobbing in my bed. So. Hope you enjoy it☺️🧡

[hannahstarshade]

Wonderful and Strange

PART 1: Their Simple Dreams Have Become Nightmares

Oh shit we’re doing parts now. Oh okay yeah. This was an entirely different post, a little one strictly focused on Finn and what his other “versions” might be. Then the latest episode of Bittersweet dropped and I am still picking up the pieces. Here I am diving a little deeper into the lore because I hyperfixate and cannot let things go. I’ve gone over characterization and theories based on the events of Bittersweet and it’s sister series Echoes of Evalas and Shattered (formerly titled [REDACTED]). Looking at this post now, it’s more of a breakdown of what we know combined with wild speculation. So more of the same, but broader. I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be worthwhile in the end.

PART 2: He’s Watching

It’s been established that Finn is weird. He’s throwing off the vibes. He is the most flexible character in the Yuuriverse canon. While different original characters have had AUs (see Cowboy Seth and SW Alphonse) Finn shows the most range. The main point of interest is Source Finn, the storyteller, “scribe and steward, lover and friend, protagonist and antagonist.” [1] He is capable of crossing between the world of Evalas and the worlds of the Dreamers, memory manipulation, and time displacement. Through studying the portals to these dreamscapes he learned everyone’s story doesn’t end with death. They carry on in some distant plane. It is Finn’s responsibility to sooth the souls that pass on [2] and make sure the power held by those souls is not abused. Why he began this work in the first place is still unclear.

Source Finn, although not the first to premiere in audios, is considered the “blueprint” for all other Finns in the canon: the gardener, the bunny, and the barista. All of them share similarities, such as a bright personality and an affinity for magic. It’s thought that the beings that exist in the Dreamers’ worlds are those that have died and moved on from Evalas; a kind of afterlife. With that in mind, it could be concluded that these versions of Finn that live outside of Evalas should not exist. One could argue these are doppelgangers. However, doppelgangers are oftentimes depicted as harbinger of bad luck or evil twins. [3]This might be the case for Yandere Finn. However, the rest may simply be shadows of the original. Echoes perhaps. The existence of Bunny Finn is a big clue that they may have been thoughtforms all along. He is a literal plot bunny, "an idea for a story (usually used to refer to fanfic) that gnaws at the brain until written." [5]

It’s very possible these Finns were not made with intention. The existing fragments of Finn are the memories he left behind. Finn should not have been in these other worlds because he had not yet passed on. Still, he left a large enough impression. Dreamers remembered him. The worlds beyond Evalas compensated for his presence when Source Finn returned home. Residual memories of a strong enough being became autonomous thoughtforms. These echoes are real inside the Dreamers’ worlds, left to their own devices, some more concrete and tangible than others. The longer their storyline persists, the stronger they become, blissfully unaware of where they came from.

PART 3: Reality is an Illusion, the Universe is a Hologram

By the end of Bittersweet Chapter 3, we know that Finn has not the unintrusive voyeur. He had reprimanded his fellow steward before he too became a Dreamer. After his passing, Finn began to indulge. Seth recalls someone telling him about how someone can cast a spell under the right conditions. [7] After speaking with him, Alphonse remembers meeting Finn at a gas station long after his parents had passed away. [8] He may have been the driving force behind Alphonse returning to Seth one last time and saving him. There may have also been instances overlooked that could have been Source Finn instead of one of his fractals. Bunny Finn acts so confused about his situation, and doesn’t recognize he’s in his own garden. [9] Garden Finn is cryptic and poetic when describing a honeysuckle and the deeper meanings behind flowers. [10]

Things are not as they should be, and it’s not just taking a toll on Source Finn. It’s heavily insinuated that Bunny Finn found his way into Garden Finn’s world. [11] Barista Finn is nowhere to be found, with Faust being the only one who might remember he even existed. One of the Bittersweet Chapter 3 Part 11 promo tweets reads "Always the hero. Always the one to act first, ask forgiveness later. It's all perfectly clear to me, you haven't changed a bit, you're just a bit shattered these days." [12] Although the picture associated with the tweet is Alphonse, the wording seems more fitting of Finn’s situation and the shards of himself left behind in the other worlds. This feels more like a quote from Alphonse directed at Finn.

PART 4: Temporary Psychosis

Faust, Derek, Jessie, Alphonse, Seth, and BS!Listener have all been influenced by Finn in some way or another, to a point where they each have some memory of him and what he is capable of. So far the ones who are shown to have remembered the most have had near-death experiences. Alphonse was nearly done in by Derek’s goons, Seth got knocked out with a baseball bat, BS!Listener may have been the one to have been shot at the end of Chapter 3 Part 10, and Derek was stabbed repeatedly by Alphonse all those years ago. This theory does not hold much water, however, when we think of Faust and Jessie. The only thing remotely close could be Faust’s comment about a storm and waves and Faust himself being the sea while Finn is a lighthouse, which could imply an incident with drowning. [13] The title of the audio in question is “Drown It All.”

How much someone knows seems to be proximity and frequency based. Seth, and BS!Listener recall the rewritten events in the city as a dream. Seth knows someone told him about magic under the moonlight, but never puts a name to it. Alphonse has had at least two encounters with Finn. The first was long after his parents had passed, at a gas station. The second is when Finn disappeared the goons who were attaching Al and turned back the clock. Afterwards, Alphonse will get headaches from trying to remember it all. Faust has these same symptoms. He remembers Finn enough to know his proper shift at the coffee shop he frequents, and can describe small traits such as waxing poetic and needing to wear glasses. From this, we can gather that Faust knows Finn well.

Derek seems to be the one who knows or remembers the most. He’s picked up on how convenient the world seems to be for certain individuals. Alphonse was able to get a second chance after a chance meeting with BS!Listener and the town began to accept him. Seth, convicted of attempted murder, involvement in drug dealing, and who knows what else, was released on good behavior after a short period. The Bittersweet trio were seemingly able to have a picturesque Christmas after a turbulent first meeting. Derek believes this may have been orchestrated because they are special in some way, and wants to use this to shape the world in his favor. [14] He insinuates that Jessie was going to use the trio to achieve her goals and refused to explain her knowledge to them. Although it may be a torn scrap of paper, there is possibly a piece of Source Finn’s original purple and red cloak sticking out of the journal Auron found.

Speaking of Auron, after the time shift, he may have been displaced as well. The events of this timeline changed to where Auron made the effort to get the trio out of the way so he could deal with Derek personally. Additionally, although he may not have directly interacted with Finn in the series yet, he has some inkling of Finn’s tower. We could also make the argument that Faust’s barista listener may have been displaced as well. They insist they’ve always worked the same shift and don’t know of anyone who worked there whose name began with F, despite Faust’s argument to the contrary. The veil between Evalas and the other realities is crumbling. The Dreamers are waking up.

PART 5: The Owls Are Not What They Seem

One of the biggest questions that remains unanswered in the Bittersweet/Shattered/Echoes of Evalas saga is who Finn’s fellow steward is. This person was just as invested in the world of the Dreamers as Source Finn is now. They were as close as could be. Together they kept the world of Dreamers a secret from the population of Evalas, all while being scrutinized by the Lord Bishop of the realm. In the end, Finn’s fellow steward fell, and became a Dreamer in the Bittersweet world Finn watches so closely. Based on the evidence we’ve gathered, and their connections to Finn and the world of Evalas, the two most likely candidates are Faust and Auron. 

Auron and Source Finn mirror each other as far as story beats and characterization. Auron is associated with tower imagery. He has a lofty office space overlooking the city. He calls his Listener Rookie, or Rook for short, much like the tower chess piece. His stepbrother makes a comment about how out of touch he is, looking down from his ivory tower. [15] The Tower holds great significant to Finn, as that is where his work is done. And of course, there is a large painting of a tower that hangs above his desk. They each deal in indulgence, addiction, and selfishness. They both self-isolate, choosing to carry heavy burdens on their shoulders. 

When it comes to Faust, he and Finn compliment each other thematically. Both have a cosmic aesthetic; silver and gold, celestial bodies, blues, purples, and black. Both practice magic in some form. Faust reads tarot and understands auras. Finn can manipulate magic and travel through time and space. Religious iconography and theming surrounds both characters. Faust, for having a made a still unexplained “deal with the devil,” is appropriately named after Doctor Faustus. [16] He assumes the alias Judas at a Halloween party. [17] Evalas may be a theocracy, with members of the religious body such as the Lord Bishop in control. Finn cannot reveal the knowledge he’s become privy to, let alone his own father, or else the faith of may will be shaken and the order enacted will crumble. [18]

While both could fit the role, I believe in Faust slightly more than Auron. The bond Finn and his fellow steward shared was formidable. Although it’s not clear how long ago the steward died and joined the Dreamers, the way Finn mourns speaks volumes. He can’t even bring himself to disturb his old room. [19] Faust hints at how he came to the coffee shop to be comforted by Finn. When his barista Listener urges him to try to remember Finn, he can only describe him as a lighthouse, a guiding light. [20] This sounds like what Source Finn does in his tower as a “soother of souls,” not just a barista Faust saw regularly. When he can’t remember any more, he finds himself crying, as one would over the loss of someone dear to them.

However, there is another player. Finn mentions someone else. “The last person who sought to treat the Dreamers in their worlds as a source of power was stopped before he could perfect his methods.” [21] If we take the dialogue at face value, we could infer Finn is referring to Derek. Upon looking behind the curtain, Derek became power hungry and sought out the Bittersweet Trio. When time was rewound, he was silenced and put to rest. However, that doesn’t make sense with the context of Chapter 3 Part 12, when Auron stumbles upon Derek’s journal. It could be Yandere Finn, who has in past videos made references to other worlds and realities, and a “pathetic mage.” [22] But again, this doesn’t track. To our knowledge, Finn is unaware of the different versions of himself.

If Faust was Finn’s fellow steward, I would propose that Auron was their predecessor. Auron has residual memories of his past life and of Evalas. There’s that portrait of the old tower above the desk in his office. He calls himself a Dreamer very pointedly during his conversation with Jessie. [23] The description of the [REDACTED] playlist reads “Storyteller? Quaint, but I am the ink, and these are my pages.” [24] Auron is a writer, a Dreamer of Dreams. Shattered is his side of the story. This could be a message from his point of view, directed towards Finn, possessively, smugly maybe. To explore how Finn and Auron can have opposing morals and goals, look no further that the Squid Game simulation. [25] Auron is labeled Player #218, while Finn is labeled Player #199. In the Squid Game series, Sang-woo (Player #218) deceived Ali (Player #199) in order to survive and make it to the next challenge. In the YV simulation, Auron wins the final game against Finn. Although created for fun and likely the biggest reach I’ll make in any theory post here, it’s interesting it worked out like that. (Source Finn is labeled Player #001, so yeah it’s more theming than actual plot relevance. Disregard this blurb and let me have fun.)

PART 6: Three Things

Three is a magic number, as the saying goes, and can be an effective writing device. The number three is prominent in the connected Yuuriverse works. As of now, there are three connected series: Bittersweet, Shattered, and Echoes of Evalas. The Bittersweet Trio are a group of characters that are connected on emotional level, and more powerful for it. Finn, Faust, and Auron are a mysterious trio grouped together due to a possible connection to Evalas and the magics Finn experiments with. There is said to be three portals to the Dreamers realms, which is mirrored in the cape Source Finn wears. [26] And finally, there are three Finn fragments—garden, bunny, barista—that were created from the storyteller.

There is the concept of the Rule of Three. The law states that energy of any sort put out into the universe will be returned three-fold. [27] We see this in action in the story of Bittersweet. Small offers of kindness and understanding in the beginning leads to forgiveness and unbreakable bonds. It is strongly implied throughout the later episodes of Chapter 3 that the Bittersweet Trio is powerful. [28] Derek and Jessie could have used them, and Finn confirms that those in Evalas could harness their power as well. [29] The continuous cycle of love could make the trio unstoppable.

Looking more into Evalas, the concept of the afterlife and soothing the souls of the deceased brings to mind chthonic deities and the underworld in Greek mythology. Hecate the gatekeeper, Hermes the guide, Hades the king, all have a role to play in the grand scheme of things. [30] Perhaps Faust, Finn, and Auron will be revealed to have played similar roles. The Underworlds is made up of three planes: Elysium, the Asphodel Meadows, and Tartarus. [31] Elysium is meant for heroes, a paradise where all aspired to go. The Asphodel Meadows is for the normies, left to wander in grayness. Tartarus is well know for imprisonment and punishment. The three portals to the worlds of the Dreamers may parallel these locations.

PART 7: One Hundred Percent Certain That We’re Not Sure

Obviously the story isn’t over yet. Not even close. The Bittersweet trio are finally going home to deal with the aftermath of their excursion. Jessie and Seth have cut ties. Auron has found the breadcrumbs Derek was following. Charlie’s off on his own. Finn is an enigma. Faust is nowhere to be found, waiting to make his grand reappearance. There are still countless unknown variables that will reveal themselves in due time. And we’ll be waiting.

Characters and scripts written by Yuurivoice Artwork created by Jackie Eleanor Sources (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)

[mickstart]

I always loved your blog cause it is such a fun place to be and most of your f1 takes make me laugh so much! But Star Wars??? I think I am in love. I did not think other people could also obsess over Cody the way I do so really this is the best think ever. Totally made my week and now I am even more exited to see you name on my timeline!!! Not that I didn’t before hahaha but Cody and Obi-Wan are just superior Hope you have a great week💛💛

AAAHHH okay first of all that's very sweet "fun place to be" is what I strive for. Second, people supporting my fixations that are driving me up the wall and annoying everyone I know >>>>>>>>>>>.

Star Wars for years: look at our cool jedi knights look at our awesome space battles look at how cool and awesome we are Me: :/ pass Lego Star Wars: -shows me Some Little Guy who's there for one mission before being forced to murder- Me: Holy FUCK... Hello.... who is THIS and what's the lore of the universe he lives in.

Also should emphasize I haven't even started properly consuming SW media yet I just know They are going to take out my kneecaps bc my favourite ship dynamic is... Renowned Hero with special abilities and extremely loyal but ordinary second in command with an ordinary weapon who looks at them like they hung the moon but is also the rational one trying to keep their reckless self sacrificing hero from biting the dust. Also the second in command has been raised to follow orders and structure and The Hero... less so. They have pride and prejudice style slowburn and hand touches because their sense of duty comes first and they may never even get together because of either their sense of duty or the hero succumbing to their role in the narrative, but the feelings exist. It's about Loyalty it's about Trust it's about being back to back in battle. This is all my favourite ships AND they have Tragedy and Forced Betrayal so SW basically just created catnip for me.

[famouskittychild]

Cheeky Mandos - ...and we're off

(Sorry I had a terrible writer’s block in the past 6-ish weeks - I went from reading fanfiction and being inspired by other’s visions to “I’ll never be able to write anything like these and I’m useless” in a single day :( I’m getting back into the groove finally, so I’m hoping to post more soon.)

There will be 18+ content (in the coming chapters soon) so if you are a minor, please don't read further.

Also the characters will be quite open and relaxed about things like gender, attraction, sexual activities, relationships etc, so if you prefer your Din (and their partner) possessive and/or monogamous , this won’t be a good read for you!

***

This pairing is  Din Djarin x gn reader / tall reader.  I’m short (and cis and woman). There’s so many short (and female) reader stuff out there, I wanted to write for people on the other end of the “why is your height not normal” / "definitely female" spectrum. If I make mistakes or you have advice, or ideas you'd like to see, please tell me!

Word count: 4267

Summary: You’re an armourer and some shiny guy just showed up.

First full piece/chapter/course! In which people seem to catch things. Thoughts? Viruses? Dropped facts? Who knows!?? Also contains a dilettante’s attempt at space electronics and some barely-canon-reminiscent Mando world-building. Still no spiciness sorry, marinating is a long process :P

Rating: T for some mentions of heavier topics.

CW: Mentions of mandalorian history, playing somewhat loose with canon lore (as in, my SW knowledge is patchy. sorry.)

Author’s note: I tried to find more info but it seems like the mandalorian alphabet doesn’t have names for the individual letters so I used aurebesh (also I liked the little Dorn(e) meta in there). And sorry for the bad puns. They’ll keep coming.

Prologue

One - ...and we're off

***

You aren’t worried about taking a stranger on board, you’ve done that plenty of times before. You hope he’s willing to put in the effort himself, too, just as he promised at the assembly.

The stranger leaves behind his ship, saying a friend will come to pick it up together with whoever might want to join the cause. You spot him from the cockpit as he walks over with a repulsor pallet in tow. He stops for a moment when your droids surge past him, busy at their pre-flight tasks, before moving on towards the ramp.

All his baggage is a satchel at his hip and a small bag on his shoulder, and two large crates of weaponry. You put him up in the spare cabin, the one that had been Sal’ee’s, your former apprentice, before she went on to be a journeyman. He stands in the middle of the room, staring at the two cots on opposite sides of the room, the lockers, the fresher in the corner.

“All mine? Where will you sleep?”

You don’t understand the surprise in his voice.

“Over there” you show him, pointing at the cabin opposite from his. It’s much more lived in, some of the blankets and trinkets and pillows visible through it’s open door. “There’s a third cabin that I mostly use for storage but has more fold-up bunks in case I need to transport more people. That’s rare though.”

“Ohh.” He nods, then turns to look around his room again. “Okay. I thought all of these rooms were cargo space.”

You smile, and quickly think through your to-do list. You’ll have to rearrange your schedule somewhat but it’s not that big of a bother.

“Come on, I’ll show you around the ship.” Before he gets lost in its cavernous interiors, you might add - but you don’t. If his reaction to a separate cabin and his current ship - an old ARC170 - is any indication, he must be used to very cramped quarters.

***

Your trusty Brick, a beat-up YV 929, is armed to the teeth and ugly, just as you like it. The ship is a scavenged one, gutted from most of its original factory issue armaments, engines, and even wiring. It was perfect for your former master when she found it at a scrap heap: she wanted to rebuild it herself, deliberately piecemeal; panels sourced form here, engines from there, concealments added. She modified the inner workings of the engines so that the power lines could be redirected to a concealed forge.

That forge is your pride and the main reason you haven’t settled at a permanent place yourself. When your master retired from travelling, the ship passed to you, and you continued her mission of offering your knowledge and expertise to those of your people who otherwise had no access to an armourer.

…

The next standard month is spent with adjusting, both for yourself after getting used travelling alone again since Sal’ee left, and for the stranger who found himself a passenger on someone else’s ship. Apparently he used to live a very similar life to yours, with the exception that he was a hunter not a craftsman.

You travel together, share meals, research the places you are directed to. He joins in the effort that is maintaining the ship. Still - he is very taciturn at the beginning, keeping his words to the bare minimum. The first few days it feels as if you are still on your own aside of your droids. By the middle of the month, he progresses from short answers, through sharing information, to willingly starting to tell stories; but you know that chatting will never be his defining feature.

His armour seems to fill the spaces of the Brick’s corridors. You feel as if it’s not him who has the presence, but that set of glinting, perfectly made handwork of an armourer you already admire. Some of the pieces were sourced elsewhere, you can tell by the different shapes and designs; they seem haphazard and mismatched compared to the rest. Most of the set is the work of a single person. On those, there’s not a single uneven line, a broken curve, an edge at the wrong place. The angle of the panes of the metal, the ridges, the simplicity and elegance of them all - you have to hold yourself back from touching them, to admire them. You would give a lot to hold those pieces in your hand, to study them, to analyse them with your eyes and hands and with your tools.

You’re a master, yes. But so much knowledge was lost. So many masters gone, with their knowledge and their workshops. Apprentices became heads of Forges in the absence of the more skilled. The survivors still to this day have to piece together half-remembered lessons and forgotten details, experiment with techniques that were known before but the methods got lost as decades of civil war and occupation and murder kept eroding your heritage.

Sometimes a set of armour comes along that is just made in a way you never had an opportunity to learn. Often the person who forged them is long gone. Not the stranger’s armourer though. As far you can tell, she’s alive. Or at least was, when he last saw her. Not too long ago; though your usual method for guessing forging dates is mostly useless as it is based on the condition of the suit’s paintwork. Which he doesn’t have, so you can only guess from the small amount of scratches. You try to ask once, but whilst he’s forthcoming with general stories, he doesn’t go into details.

It’s a common theme with him. He talks about people and planets and events, and leaves out a lot - and you don’t even notice it first. Only when you try to glean information about his armour do you realize how well he fuzzes over those facts and nuances. It’s only up to the peculiarities of Basic and its use of gendered pronouns that you know his Armourer is a woman, or at least he considers them so. He doesn’t even tells you his own name, and when you ask your Elder in one of your communications, she tells you he didn’t gave it to them either. You keep introducing him as a friend, and that is the end of it for a while.

***

The visits to this first few coverts with him are… interesting. You can see him fidgeting from the corner of your eye. He always follows half a step behind and off to a side, as if not wanting to be in your way. He keeps quiet and doesn’t mix much, and around small children and droids, he is positively withdrawn. He only comes alive when he talks about his mission.

You had learned early on during your apprenticeship that keeping the helmet on is a safe bet when meeting with unfamiliar mandalorians. That led to later getting in contact with his type of believers too, despite their notorious secrecy even from the rest of the People. When you tell the stranger about that, he immediately showers you with questions, but you can’t give an answer to most of them. You never met with anyone from his particular covert, or heard of it. No name, no description seems familiar. It’s painful to watch his shoulders slump after daring to hope.

During the course of the month spent travelling, he gradually comes to be more social. He starts to stand and walk beside you. He doesn’t withdraw to the background anymore; he can actually be quite chatty if approached the right way. Droids still make him stop, though he warms up to kids in his own way. He’s good with them, at least in your opinion, though you know some would still call him aloof and distant. He isn’t a cuddler, nor does he crouch down to ask cutesy questions. He juts sits nearby them, and in that way of children having a good sense about adults, they know he’s trustworthy. They go up to him to chatter, to hand him a toy to hold, to ask him to fix a latch on their boots; than they go back to play.

He teaches you too, inadvertently at first during everyday conversations and later by his own volition, about his Way. About his Creed. It keeps throwing you off how much it differs from most that you had met before. Not even meeting briefly with people who followed the same Way as him could prepare you for the details that he does share. The degree of strictness, the loyalty, the barest bones Old Tradition beliefs and their willingness to follow them is very rare amongst the People as far as you can tell. Their devotion earns your respect.

At other times, your jaw hangs open and you can’t believe you are talking to an adult roughly around the same age as yourself, who by his own admission had spent three decades living as a follower of the Creed - not knowing about things children are thought through plays and songtime. His ignorance is so staggering, your admiration towards his unknown Armourer wavers. How could she keep so many things hidden from them? Why not talk about your own history? Your greats? Your artefacts?

About the many other who would call them vod’e, siblings?

You are an armourer, a craftsman, a person who makes a living by making things with your hand. You’re not a leader, or a scholar, or someone who decides what to tell your people. You do have a status within the community, but that is a status of service. From what the stranger says, their Armourer was a leader in every aspect: elder and lorekeeper and moral guide and more. All in one. It is something you can see developing from the old songs and histories amongst groups who take tradition more literally.

You are good at observing people, even at copying their habits to make them feel more comfortable with you, but less good at determining their underlying motives. The reason you think of him as ���the stranger” even after travelling with him is because it’s so hard to figure out what drives him. There’s a melancholy to him that overrides the more typical mandalorian fight-readiness or aggression. You see how he gazes off to the distance sometimes, turning his head to the side and freezing. How he keeps to himself when he can. But you can’t tell why. Grief? Regrets? Determination to change? Planning something greater and being preoccupied with that?

He doesn’t pick fights to test you. He spars with you when you invite him to, he helps when you ask, and often even without it. He’s polite and considerate; he keeps conversation to practicalities and interesting stories, and doesn’t bother you with anecdotes or insistent questions about trivialities or your private life. He even does the dishes.

He’s deadly boring in his reliableness.

You are used to being on your toes around people all the time. When you meet a new group, it’s all unknown people. With ones you had already visited, the problem is having to remember them. They remember you of course, the ‘wandering armourer’; and surely you remember them too.

What is worse, when people stay the same but you don’t remember them, or when they change and you just can’t place them?

He becomes a good excuse after you’ve been to several coverts together. It’s interesting to notice how your dynamics change even further once you two get into a comfortable routine. You start to retreat to your forge and tools, and let him take all the attention. And he doesn’t just talk about his mission anymore, or lets little ones play around him whilst he’s quiet. He converses with people about news, about their children, about weaponry. You have more time to focus on your work.

Sometimes, people ask you what do you think of his mission. You tell them that you will follow what your clan decides, and that’s mostly true. It is something people don’t often debate, at least.

He quickly becomes a part of your everyday life. You are content with your usually solitary travels. You know that your family, your clan and your friends wait for you at home. They message you and you can find the time that suits you to message back. You don’t miss the constant hubbub of the covert most of the time. But now that you have someone that is not a droid, someone who is your equal in every aspect, on board again, it’s not even lonely anymore.

***

“So what’s up with you and droids?” you ask one day, after you got back from a covert and are safely in hyperspace to the next destination. You tinker with your astromech’s navigational systems. Poor 2-T keeps bumping into walls and crates. Again.

The stranger looks at you and your droid, than over at Mouse who for a change isn’t zooming around at foot level.

“Bad memories.”

“Gunk sat on you?” You tease. You hope it’s just something silly and not him having some sort of snobbish organics-are-better philosophy. He is quiet, and you focus on your work. He’ll talk if he wants to, that much you know already about him.

Inside the body of your astromech, a rivet from stars knows where is stuck between two circuit boards and blocks the access to a short-circuited piece of wire.

“Kriff. Toots, this will take a while, sweetie. Can’t access that kriffing panel.” He chirps back something and you read the translation on the small display. “No, it’s not that. My hand can’t fit in that small space. Let me find those pliers… should be in that other drawer somewhere.”

You search in the chest of tools, and despite your usually good organization, you can’t find them amongst the droids’ tools where their place is.

“Let me help.” The stranger’s voice beside you makes you jump. He can be awfully quiet. “Sorry. I think I might’ve put them back into the wrong drawer. I used them the other day when I fine-tuned that scope.”

He points at another drawer, where you keep your fine electronics stuff. No wonder he mixed them up. He stands beside Tootee a bit awkwardly until you find the tool.

“Here! No problem by the way. “ You turn back to him and to the droid, than have an idea. “Do you mind a bit more help? You can say no if you don’t want to work with the droid, I’ll understand.”

He doesn’t object yet, so you go back to 2-T and show the stranger the area you’re working on. You see him lean closer in your peripheral vision.

“That’s where I need to get that burned piece of wire out and install a new one, but first, I need to get that rivet out of the way.” You point at the root of the problem, than explain your plan, pointing out each part in turn. ”If you could hold those using this, than I could get here, remove this, with that tool, than have to get those bundles out of the way too, so than that wire there could come out. Easy.”

You look up at him, and his helmet is way closer than you expected. You can almost see your reflection in that black visor as it stares back at you for a second, and you almost apologize again, when the stranger starts to speak.

“Just have to hold the wires to the casing, or pull them like…” he moves his hand in the air, showing what he means.

“Hold them to that panel, there, with the pliers, so I have room to access the rest.”

He thinks for a moment, than he starts to tug one of his gloves off.

“You don’t need to take that off, just hold the pliers” you tell him, but he shakes his head.

“No, I can fit my hand in there, I’m pretty sure. If not we can try it with the tool.”

You realize that this is the first time you see his skin. Than it occurs to you that he might very well misunderstand this whole situation. You just asked him to hang his hand inches from yours in an enclosed space; inside a droid nonetheless, just after you basically told him you noticed he has a problem with them. It would be so easy to get caught up in there, to touch his hand, and hush it up as coincidence. Especially now that he took his glove off as well. He might even think that it was a careful plan of yours: have an area to work with were your slightly larger hands don’t fit but his might.

Your fingertips already tingle from knowing you can’t make mistakes. Which means you’ll probably do. He reaches between the panels and gets to the part where you got stuck. He wiggles his fingers a bit and scrapes around.

“Ha, found some wires. Are these the ones you need out of the way?”

You peer down into the quagmire of electronics, trying to find the best angle to see everything.

“Yes, those are the ones. Just hold them like that.” You try to focus on what you are doing, but after those earlier thoughts, your hands are jittery. You somehow manage to remove the obstructing rivet, than find the burned out part and replace it without accident, the stranger patiently holding things out of your way. You direct him here and there, occasionally stumbling as it’s a lot of instructions, or at least a lot of “could you please” and “thank you”. It gets particularly awkward when you stumble over the lack of name spectacularly.

“Could you pull those the other way, so they aren't that taut, please? Thank you, you. I mean thank you.”

“Din. Din Djarin.” Your head snaps up while the rest of your body freezes. “I should have told you my name sooner, but I’m so used to not telling it… and it just became more awkward to bring it up as time passed. I apologize.”

You close your mouth that of course was hanging open in surprise, than shake your head.

“I thought at first that I missed it when you said it so I was ashamed that I didn’t remember.” That did happen before, and it was one of your greatest worries about meeting new people. “I actually asked my elder. Sent her a comm. So when she told me you went nameless, I didn’t wanted to demand it.”

He doesn't answer right away. His voice is softer when he speaks a bit later.

“Thank you. For being considerate.”

You smile and try to wave it off. Which results in your hand slipping and pawing at his, still motionless and stuck in the inside of the astromech.

“Oh shucks, I’m sorry… didn’t meant to.” You withdraw your hand quickly, and start to look for your tools to cover your mistake.

He doesn’t seem bothered, luckily. You calm down, reminding yourself not to behave like you drank one too many glasses of your cousin Ree’s home-made tihaar, and finish the repair.

“You can let those go now, I’ll finish from here. Thanks for your help.”

“You’re welcome, any time.”

He sits back on a nearby crate and watches you work for a while, ignoring Mouse zooming around the room. You’re surprised a bit: you didn't expected him to stick around. And than he starts to ask about 2-T. How long you had him, is he temperamental, can you install a vocoder on astromechs, and why not. His tone is somewhat cautious, his voice stiff, like someone asking about a dangerous predator. You remember how you asked him about his distance with droids, but don’t want to push that question. He already told you his name today.

…

By the time you finish with the rest of the repairs, clean Tootee up and tidy around your workplace, interrupted by having to leave hyperspace and land at a spaceport, it’s the middle of the night in local time. You planned to have a nap and search out the local covert just before dawn.

You go to the galley to have a bite before turning in, and the stranger - Din, you remember, although his last name is less clear - is cleaning up some dishes. There’s another bowl in the middle of the small table, covered by a plate.

“That’s for you, if you’d like to have it. Used up the last of that spice mix we got” he tells you as you enter. You sit down and stretch your legs out one side. As you take the plate off from the steaming bowl, you think about how nice it is to find warm food on the table and not having to cook your own all the time.

“Thank you.” You pull the bowl close and take the spoon that he put beside it. You swirl the soup - it looks very good: clear broth with lots of veggies and other fillers in it - and gather your thoughts. “So ummm… I want to ask something before it gets awkward again.“

He finishes piling the bowls and cups and sits down on the seat opposite. You blurt the question out before you might change your mind.

“What was your name again? Din, that was clear, but the rest… sorry but it sounded something like “jarring”?”

He chuckles, and it’s a clear sound even with a vocoder, no snort or sigh to distort it.

“It’s Djarin. Dorn-jenth-aurek-resh-isk-nern. Djarin.” You nod, a bit embarrassed, and he continues. “Don’t worry, you aren't the first to ask. Probably not the last either.”

“Thanks for being patient. I’m not the best with names, to be honest.”

He tilts his head.

“Is that why you are always so focused when someone introduces themselves? I can ask them to repeat their names for me too if you want to, than both of us can try to remember them.”

You blink at him.

“That’d be…” Unnecessary, and don’t bother, and it’s not your job, you think - but stop yourself. That would actually help. No shame in accepting it. ”That would be nice. Thanks.” You are good at a few things, like making things with your own two hands. Not gaping when something surprises you, or remembering faces or names, any names, not just people? Nah.

You tuck into your soup, and the two of you sit in companionable silence. You wander if Djarin sits there because he wants to, or if he’s waiting for more questions from you. You asked a lot from him during the last few hours, and he was really kind with all his help and telling you his name and not being bothered when you misremembered it.

You are halfway done with your meal when he stirs. He leans forward with his lower arms on the table, and takes a deep breath. You wonder what his question will be - you commit to answer whatever it might be. He deserves that after today.

“So you asked earlier about me and… droids, right?”

Your hand with the spoon stops in the air. You weren’t expecting this question, at all.

“Yes…” You want to say he didn’t have to answer. But you already told him that. You’re sure he remembers that too - since he brought the topic up again. “Yes, I did.”

He shuffles on his seat a bit, and looks out to the side like he sometimes does. You lower your spoon and eat, letting him gather his thoughts.

“When I was a kid… I don’t know how old you were then, but during the war. The Clone wars.” You nod, understanding what he’s getting at, and he continues. “We were… the place I lived came under attack. Some separatist battle droids. Mandalorians saved me.”

You swallow your soup. That was the shortest possible description of someone having their entire life and probably everyone they knew ripped away from them and finding a new way of life for the decades to come.

“I’m sorry” you say, because really, what else is there to say. He nods, and gazes off again. Than he shrugs his shoulders, as if he wants to shake the weight of the past from them.

He gets up, and walks around the table on his way out. He stops beside you for a moment and hesitates, and you almost turn towards him to ask what he needs when you feel him squeeze your shoulder. Than he straightens and steps away.

It’s warm where he squeezed it, and you remember how long ago it was that someone touched you.

You need to talk to your friends asap, and hug at least some of them. He turns back from the door.

“Get some sleep before dawn, all right? Have to be sharp to remember all those new names.” You don’t see him wink but you’d bet he does behind his visor. You scrunch your nose at him and pout before smiling, and he dips out of the galley.

Your hand is still hovering in the air, holding the spoon, while you listen to his footsteps getting more distant as he walks down the corridor to his cabin.

It’s just your luck that you don’t need your wits the next place. It’s only two people with the same, simple name and you met both of them before.

[whumpbby]

I finished typing and now I feel I have to preface it with a: this is all a monologue about Jedi and Force and Lucas’ inability to show the good story he wants to tell - just a warning. This is in no way meant to contradict the other post with that quote floating around or argue against it - just my own rambling coming to a conclusion I keep struggling with when it comes to SW universe and the ways it makes no sense to me and how I feel deep in my bones that Lucas is a crap storyteller.

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I don’t know why, but for all the interesting concepts Lucas talks about, Anakin’s fall never sat well with me. In time I came to the conclusion I would respond better if the Jedi culture surrounding it wasn’t so contradictory to itself.

And if he wasn’t so heavily leaning on the concept of the ‘pure love’ that is unconditional and undemanding and ‘unselfish’. Tldr: that love does not exist outside of poetry and romance dramas and imagination. Like every other emotion humans feel, love is conditional.

Take the first trilogy - I got that. The Jedi were largely missing and there was not much lore-wise, but the vibe it gave was measured and peaceful and mindful, and all the things that stood against the Empire - that represented the Dark Side in a very concise way. It wasn’t too nuanced, so we could buy it in this very simple ‘princes kidnapped b ya dragon’ story. This is as good as Lucas gets.

But then the prequels happened and Jedi became this weird, extremely specific, but conflicting idea. They are not supposed to take sides in politics - except when they do. They are not supposed to kill - except when they do, with freaking relish. They are not supposed to love or hate or allow emotions dictate their ways - oh, except when they do. And they can have sex - just not sex with someone they want to settle down with (oh boy, is that a signifier of a story written by a guy or what?). All seems to be ‘except when they do, as long as it can be adequately justified to make them look good’.

And I do have an issue with the idea of ‘Anakin was too old to join, he was already attached to his mother’ which is, when you think about it, is insane. Learning to control your emotions and letting go of your wants, Buddhist way, fine.

Aiming to train children to not be attached to their parents? What? How young a child has to be for that attachment forms? How is a meditation and repeating mantras going to help a 5-year old who is missing their mom at the temple? How do you even expect to train a child out of missing their mom??? How is it NOT better to get an older child that can reason above the instinctual and hardwired need for their mother? 

But let’s say Anakin’s attachment to his mother was ‘selfish’ from the beginning - but, that’s the thing, was it? Was it really? They were slaves and she was his only family, okay, obviously that made his attachment stronger and more layered than, say, a normal middle-class Coruscanti kid who could love their mom without constant fear that any day they can be separated forever by someone who didn’t give a shit. In that sense, yes, Anakin was desperately attached to his mom and afraid of loosing her - there was fear in him. Right, I’m there with you, Yoda.

But the movies show us that the way Jedi seem to approach these hard subjects is by not approaching them at all - oh, well, we can’t take him in. He had a difficult childhood and there are issues attached, get him out of here.

In a galaxy full of races and issues and the Force being tied to any and all creatures in any and all circumstances - this was the hard line Jedi were drawing. In essence, either only accepting kids young enough to not remember their parents (and I see absolutely no issues whatsoever that could happen here, nope) or with childhoods perfect enough not to have any issues whatsoever. Anyone else? Adults that discovered Force when they were older? Kids like Anakin with hard childhoods? Creatures that were either culturally or chemically wired differently enough that the tight reins Jedi held over their emotions weren’t possible for them? Nope. Go away. You are a bad person in the making.

If you spend a moment contemplating, you will realise this is such a white privileged guy way to think about it. And if you stick your head into the microwave for a couple seconds, you can almost understand how Lucas thought this is something profound and mystical.

No that I think about it... I always thought Sith were freaking clowns - their philosophy makes no sense, their ‘rule of two’ is hilarious, everything about them is just so badly designed and thought out, and who would ever decide to join of that creepy cult of their own volition? It made no sense!

But, as an answer to the egalitarian and contradictory ways of the Jedi - Sith make all the sense to exist. And let’s forget about the Light and Dark (that I don’t believe exist above the ways of personal emotional expression that in time trains the Force around a person in certain ways - like a person can train their brain in and out of anxiety ofr example), but focusing strictly on philosophy - yeah, being a Sith makes sense when any other way is barred form someone by no fault of their own. And barred with an excuse they are a bad seed anyway. 

“You fear/hate/desire hence you can’t access the Force with us” = “Well fuck you, then, I will access the Force in my own way, using these exact emotions!”

Like, Sith are clowns, but Jedi suck in their own very special way and their fall was just waiting to happen.

I get a strange feeling that Lucas created Jedi as a class of a warrior monk in DnD and then scrambled to create their enemies out of the simplest contradictions. Light-dark. Love-Hate. Peace-Fear. Etc. But because Jedi were so simple - once they started to gain popularity and he had to expand their lore and layer on the philosophy, he hit a wall. Or rather, the bottom of the kiddy pool. Because a ‘warrior monk’ is not an a ‘good’ class, but he wanted them to be mostly warriors, but also a force of good in the galaxy, because Star Wars is the same simple story repeated again and again with a new set of characters (regardless of how much fake politics is thrown in to obscure that fact) so this whole universe is basically built on giving Jedi reasons to fight and kill, and adequately justifying them. And then the Dark Side had to catch up by being more ridiculously evil at every turn - accidentally unmasking the way Jedi philosophy falls apart under closer scrutiny.

So like, to make a full circle, the one thing the prequels did well was to show Anakin’s fall (and I am not gonna argue, it was effective and he is a villain of this story) but they also presented - I think against the creator’s intention - why it was pretty much inevitable. Not because Palpatine was there to whisper poison, or because Force itself strived for ‘balance’ (even though the latter is a hilarious idea I love to contemplate) - but because Jedi, as presented in the movies-media around them, as a philosophy and way of life is inherently contradictory and unsustainable from the point of being a, well, a breathing, thinking being.  The ‘selfish love’ argument would work so much better if it wasn’t presented with an example of a kid who was born a slave and the people who saw it as a strike against his character, and did very little to address the specific issues that could arise from that before it was too late. 

Would it fucking kill them to let go of their strict training routine and ensure that his specific emotional needs were met? That Shimi was, I don’t know, NOT A SLAVE. They seem to interfere into politics just fine when need arises - but not when it’s a sandy planet in the ass-end of the universe no one cares about. Then no, we can’t liberate one slave. That would be acting in self-interest - not in the interest of not allowing one of the strongest members of out order to fall into the ruin we have forseen form the beginning. 

It would work better is if Anakin’s ‘selfishness’ was presented as his inability to let Padme leave him for someone else/just leave him - not to be unwilling to let her die.  

Think about it for a moment - he wasn’t presented with the idea of Padme leaving him. With the idea of his mother not loving him anymore. He was firmly and, form his point of view, believably, presented with the idea of both of them DYING. Which actually happened to his mom, solidifying the fear in his mind.

Yes, he was not meant to go on a rampage and kill the ones who killed Shimi - but wasn’t he? The Jedi are not against killing. Only killing in self-interest I guess - when self-interest is not one’s life and their political affiliation or their ‘job’ at hand, that is. Revenge is a no-no, but a military retaliation is a yes-go. Can’t kill anyone who wronged me - but I can kill those who wronged a person who gives me orders. How does that work within a Jedi doctrine? 

How, in good conscience, can you present this scenario, George, and then try to spin it into this big philosophical bullcrap about unselfish love????  Jedi murdered people over political squabbles - but I guess that’s okay because they weren’t invested??? And that’s better?!?!? George! What the fuck! You are such a bloke my head hurts!

In case of Anakin, Jedi were essentially Elsa’s parents. I pretty much despise Elsa and the film she crawled out of, and I personally don’t like Anakin as a character either, so this is not stanning in any way, but their issues scream ‘I was raised by well-meaning idiots’ and shows the level of botched storytelling I just can’t reconcile.

Which, you know what? 

Luke, who spent years studying Jedi ways and taking them into himself? 

I can believe than this Luke would try to kill his nephew at the barest whiff of the Dark Premonition instead of helping him manage his motions in a somewhat healthy way - that seems to be exactly what a real Jedi would do, after all. 

[simplystefanie-rae]

God there’s so much I want to say about the wandavision finale I’m not even sure where to start.

Well I guess first I’ll start with just how SHOCKED I genuinely am that Vision is, for all intents and purposes, alive (unless he destroyed himself, but we didn’t see it and that would be rude AF). He’s not our Vision right now but they left a door wide open for him to come back at any point, and to that I tip a hundred hats to them. I had a bit of a post set aside that I was in the middle of writing up about Vision’s character and how I felt he would be wasted if they killed him off for good now (even if this undermined the theme of the show to a degree), and I never got the chance to finish it before the finale, and fuck I’m glad I didn’t now, since it turns out I didn’t need it lol. 

Hex! Vision mid season started questioning who he was, and as I was thinking he was definitely a goner I thought it was a shame because this arc of the android character questioning their identity and sense of self was what I wanted for Vision from the beginning. This Vision had his closure in that regard, but as he was purely an extension of Wanda it wasn’t really to the true Vision’s characters’ benefit. White Vision’s appearance gave me hope but I still figured Hex! Vision would kill him so Wanda wouldn’t have to do it, but instead they have a philosophical discussion and his memories get unlocked. Now what I’m really hoping for is a long journey (could not even begin to guess what project would give the room for this) of Vision re-discovering his humanity. He has all these memories, but maybe not the emotions to go along with it? I wish they were just a little more clear on that before he just took off and we didn’t see him again.

Which I suppose can lead to the rest of my review/observations. Under a cut because this got long.

I think the episode really could have benefitted from just 20 more minutes to let it all have a chance to breathe. A few more minutes for Wanda and Agatha’s fight, a few more for the Visions, a few more for Wanda’s reaction to nearly getting killed by white Vision, a few more for Monica...like it was all good things, but it needed more. I feel like there WANTED to be more but it was cut for run time, but why such a short run time in the first place? I never complained about the episode length until now.

Mostly I think I just wanted more lore on the Scarlet Witch, and Wanda coming to terms with what that meant. Honestly okay, I say we needed just 20 more minutes, but maybe it could have benefited from another 20 of Agatha giving Wanda her own little walkabout through the history of witches and what it means to be a witch to give Wanda some space to accept that hey, she’s a fucking witch, and now she realizes she has a lot more power than she thought and it’s this huge responsibility she needs to get a handle on. We see her accept this mantle and identity, but not really why. 

I guess Wanda has been struggling to come to terms with her powers for years now, what’s one more thing added on top of that. But that combined with her accepting all the loss in her life, there had to be a neater way to tie the two things together. All the ingredients are THERE they probably just needed to be written by the writer of episode 8. At least I’m assuming it’s a different writer, since 8 was basically perfect and this one not so much. 

I’m assuming we’ll see more of what it means to be the SW in Doctor Strange. I worry a little but how far they’re going to push Wanda into morally grey territory. I think it’s clear at this point her being just a straight up hero is off the table, at least for now. She hurt way too many people, she knows this, and I think is accepting it in a way that, while she’s not going to go out of her way to do bad shit, probably thinks she’s incapable of being a hero so what’s the point in trying. She might be more self serving, if that end credits clip is anything to go by. 

Maybe? Honestly that could go so many ways. She did say to Monica that she wanted to understand her powers, presumably because she doesn’t want to be this being that destroys the whole world, but I would thinking studying from a book called the Darkhold wouldn’t be the way to go. But then again that’s the book that is written about her and she has no other source to go to other than Agatha, who she doesn’t trust with good reasoning, so I guess there was no other option for her. Urgh, what a mess lol. I’ll talk more about Wanda’s potential future in another post though, it’s so much to get into. 

Other observations/thoughts: Monica in general. I’m going back and forth on whether or not she was truly underused or if the smallest glance of her powers was an appropriate tease of better things to come for her. Because while I wanted a cool ass fight scene with her, at the same time I think she deserves her own platform to have this moment of payoff so we can really just enjoy it for HER and not have to also focus on Wanda’s character arc as well. So while I was disappointed we didn’t see a more kickass moment from her, I’m excited for more, and for her to really shine on her own. We got a great introduction to her character and why she’s a hero, I’d like to see the true culmination of this in Captain Marvel 2 or whatever other project she may be in first.

Evan Peters just being Ralph is the funniest fucking thing in the world to me and honestly is what I deserve after so many people just hopping on board this show just to see a character that has very little to do with Wanda to begin with. At the end of the day, this story was about Wanda’s grief, Vision’s identity, and to a much smaller extent Monica’s origin story, not this huge introduction to X-men like everyone kept trying to force it to be, and thank god for that. While the finale didn’t hold up as much as the rest of the show, it was so successful because it was an intimate character study and Marvel needs to realize it can do more of that. Episode 8 was the best of it for a reason. 

I have some more small criticisms, like my confusion over how Wanda’s powers are actually suppose to work (why did Monica’s clothes not change from it’s 70s hex form, is it because the hex was still up, and now that it’s down they changed back? Why are Wanda’s powers regulated to being inside a barrier but then she can just control/change Agatha back into Agnes and presumably keep that going when the hex gets taken down?), is Agnes/Agatha just suppose to continue to live in Westview when all the people there knows she’s not suppose to be there? That’s so dark, to be constantly reminded of this awful thing that happened, but at the same time that just seems like sloppy writing and that the writer didn’t actually think through how that was suppose to work. We don’t know if the residents know who exactly she is, just that she wasn’t there before the hex, so I honestly don’t know what they would make of her. And while Wanda is definitely more morally grey now (Agatha even said this was cruel) I don’t think she would force this constant reminder on the people that she just took the hex down for. I’ll just chalk it up to sloppiness.

I also am conflicted on Agatha in general. On one hand, I wish she had a better motive then wanting more magic for more powers sake, but on the other she’s such an unapologetically bad bitch I have to respect it. I did like the beat of her being scared of Wanda’s power and suggesting that there are things even she fears, though it sure was arrogant of her to think she could handle this power she’s also terrified of. But anyway I’m glad she’s not dead, I want her to be more fleshed out. Maybe some point down the road Wanda says fuck it and releases her so she can teach her. It can be the morally grey witch + evil witch reluctant friendship/tutelage we deserve.

I’ll talk about Vision and Wanda’s scene at the end in other post since that’s gonna be a lot more positive. Lizzie and Paul are so fucking good together, they really sold the emotion of the ending even if I was questioning things. 

Oh also, Marvel, can we PUH-LEASE give Wanda her brown hair back??? The red is killing me. That post credits scene should have had her brown roots showing to give me peace of mind that theyre not gonna keep it like this!!! Also style the curly hair better for Doctor Strange please. Not a fan of the weird waves it had going. 

[beck-a-leck]

💻 + 🖊 !

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

Yeah, sometimes. Depending on what I'm writing about I'll do some research, but oftentimes when I do that I get lost in the googles and forget to go back to writing. Anytime I go to Wookiepedia to look up star wars stuff I always get caught up clicking to random links to skim the surface of the very deep and often contradictory pool of sw lore. Other times to make my life easier I'll just shrug and go "it's fanfic. Nobody will be thinking this hard about this tiny detail I'm worrying over"

Other times though, when it's something I'm already interested in or have knowledge about and I just need to go a little deeper, I'll do it. Most recently I can think of doing a pretty deep dive into spinning yarn from sheeps wool, which lead to preparing wool for spinning, which lead to shearing sheep and other wooly animals, which lead to watching a video of someone growing flax and turning it into linen thread using all old fashioned methods because, you know, yarn bending. All of which is going to probably be condensed into one or two sentences, maybe a paragraph in Earth and Rebirth.

🖊 Post a snippet of a WIP

Okay, so, I'm on my phone and my computer is about 300 miles away and I don't actually have any WIPs in my notepad currently. If you ask again tomorrow, I can actually post one once I get home. But uh... I guess i can share a not quite snippet, but more of an Idea I Wrote Down Before I Forgot It.

So here's one that will hopefully, eventually go into the future of My Old Friend (it's the longest bit I've got lmao):

"You have my apprentice and I want him back."

"Oh, for the love of- this again!" Had Anakin been holding anything she didn't mind losing, she would have thrown it at the zabrak. Instead she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Get a dog, you idiot!"

Maul paused, looking at her with great confusion as that was not the response he expected. His saber blade dipped an inch. "What?"

"You don't want an apprentice!" Anakin continued, gesturing at Ahsoka and Grogu, "Apprentices are the worst!"

"Hey!" Ahsoka protested.

But Anakin was on a roll, ticking off points on her fingers. "I mean it! They never listen to anything you say. They talk back. They'll pretend to follow orders and then just do whatever the fuck they feel like instead. That one-" Anakin pointed at Ahsoka "-froze herself in carbonite to stow away on a mission to an Impenetrable Anti-Jedi Prison when I explicitly told her not to! And don't even get me started on the other one!" Anakin pointed to Grogu. "He's not even speaking yet and he's disobedient. And let's not even get into what I did as an apprentice!" Anakin gestured to herself. "I look back now and realize the fact that Obi-Wan didn't trade me in for a much better behaved rabbit was a damn miracle." She gestured back to Maul. "And all that is without the added benefit of being Sith apprentices, who will see it as their sole purpose in life to eventually Kill You when they get annoyed enough. Why would you invite that upon yourself?" Anakin punctuated every word of her next statement with a clap of her hands, "You. Don't. Want. An. Apprentice."

"I want-" Maul began, but Anakin cut him off once more.

"No, you want a dog. Really you do. You want something that will be unfailingly loyal, listen to all your commands, and love you unconditionally, and also won't even once dream of killing you in your sleep. And when I say get a dog, I actually mean a dog. Don't just adopt any pet, because if you get a cat you'll be dead within the week. Your asshole energies won't vibe. Get yourself a puppy and train it to obey your every command and you will never want for an apprentice again. I promise."

[jedi-order-apologist]

Hello there! Could you maybe put together small SW novels recommendation list? You reference books often and I assume you can suggest a few good ones that shed light/give more insight into the Jedi culture. Thank you for your blog and have a good day 💗

Thank you! I hope you have a good day too.

I actually haven’t read that many Star Wars books, all things considered - there are a lot, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the prequel era stuff, let alone the rest of the franchise. I only recently started getting into the books, and there’s probably a lot more really good ones out there that I just haven’t had the chance to get to yet.

What I could do is go through what I have read and give my opinions on those. So far, in no particular order, I’ve read:

- The novelizations for the prequels and some of the original novelizations for the OT. More on my thoughts on those here (and specifically for the ROTS novelization here), but in summary: TPM novelization is a bit weak, AOTC novelization is decent and really helped sell the romance to me in a way the film fell flat for me, ROTS novelization is nothing short of phenomenal, ROTJ novelization is also pretty good, I don’t remember the ESB novelization enough to say anything on it, and I never read the ANH (or technically just Star Wars) novelization. I’d say they’re worth checking out at least once.

- Shatterpoint. I really like this one, it deals a lot with Mace struggling with the dark side, and it captures the idea of falling to the dark side as something rooted in defeatism, which really resonates with my interpretation. There’s quite a bit of discussion of Jedi philosophy and why they do and believe the things they do (or at least how Mace Windu sees it) - I’ve cited it before in my meta because I think it lays out pretty well why they resist the dark side. It also deals a lot with the costs of war - especially psychologically. There’s also a decent element of Jedi as family through the father-daughter relationship of Mace and Depa. On top of all of that, it’s very well written (same author as the ROTS novelization). I strongly recommend this one, though be warned that it is a very heavy, brutal book - oh, it’s not completely bleak, and it has it’s moments of humor, but it is not a happy story. It ends in victory, both in the immediate situation, and with Mace coming to terms with some of what he’d been struggling with, but I wouldn’t call it a happy ending, more that…well, as Mace says, he’s the last one standing.

- Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. I read this one most recently, and I made a long post on why I absolutely loved it. It’s not perfect but I think it’s the best portrayal of the Jedi in the books that I’ve come across so far - this book really goes hard on the “Jedi as family” idea, which I love, and there are really good conversations on (and inspiring examples of resisting) the dark side, and working through but not giving into grief. Everyone should read this book, it shows the Jedi as an inspiring people with so much tenacity and compassion, doing their best. And it eviscerates every bit of nonsense about the Jedi (and especially Yoda) being “emotionless” or “loveless”- it’s full of amazing passages that are absolutely perfect responses to these notions, direct refutations of them even (as well as refutations about the idea of the dark side having any kind of merit at all) because they get slung around in the story by a lot of the characters. If I could only pick one Star Wars book to suggest someone read, it would be this one, absolutely.

- Kenobi. Do you like Westerns and a sad Obi-Wan with a chronic hero syndrome that doesn’t help him with the whole ‘staying under the radar’ thing? If yes, you will probably like this book. It doesn’t really get much into Jedi culture, since…well, they’re dead, and most of the book is written from an outside perspective, not Obi-Wan’s. I think that was a good choice, because while he’s understandably going to be very sad during this time (it takes place during his very early days on Tatooine), constant exposure to that, in my opinion, would overdo it and wear out the audience. So the outside perspective of how sad and weird he is, where the characters don’t understand the context behind his behavior, but the audience does, works really well. I have some issues with it - for instance, while it’s kind of hilarious how much everyone wants to jump his bones in this book, I do wish that they’d kept the chemistry between Obi-Wan and Annileen strictly platonic (and the language around romance in this book rubs me the wrong way). And how people find out his last name is a bit contrived. But it’s a decent read that I’d recommend.

- Jedi Apprentice (series). I’d recommend this with the caveat that you have to go into it keeping in mind that it’s written for younger readers. Which absolutely does NOT mean it’s all fluff and sunshine and rainbows, very far from it (I call this series “Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Collection of Childhood Trauma” for some very good reasons, and the fact that he tries to sacrifice himself to suicide-bomb a door open with the slave collar wrapped around his neck before he even gets taken on as a padawan is just one of them), but there’s a lot of stuff that…doesn’t feel like it was explored fully to an adult reader’s satisfaction. It has a lot of the usual kind of fridge logic that often comes into play with kids’ media, and while it was written to be favorable towards the Jedi, that fridge stuff gets taken by fandom as reasons to criticize the Jedi quite often. More on that here.

- Cloak of Deception. This one’s…okay? It does spend quite a bit of time with the Jedi, but it feels pretty surface level. Luceno’s strength is in the fantasy space politics; for whatever reason his character interactions always fall flat for me, though I’m not sure if I can articulate why they’re so unsatisfying to me outside of a handful of good moments. But if you’re looking for a look into the politics leading up to TPM (or at least, Legends take on it), this is (one of) the books to look at. I say one of because I actually read Darth Plagueis first, and there is a bit of overlap.

- The Approaching Storm. This is the lead-in book to AOTC. It does a decent job with a look at the Jedi, I think, with a few snags (Barriss straight-up heals brain damage/mental illness to the point of complete personality changes, which seems way outside Jedi abilities to me, and there’s a bit of “maybe we shouldn’t take people from their families” angle instead of the Jedi as family angle). Also for some reason it refers to Barriss and Luminara as humans. And while the book tells us a lot about how important it is that the Jedi negotiate this conflict, most of their actual obstacles are getting places, with the negotiation itself getting glossed over. But it was a decent read, I think.

- Labyrinth of Evil. This is another Luceno book, this time for leading up to ROTS. The character interactions worked a little better here - or at least they had more of their moments - Anakin basically going “Marriage what marriage I don’t see a marriage” in front of Obi-Wan was pretty damn funny…and everyone knows the “infinite sadness” line that follows off of that. I’ll be curious as to what the current continuity gives us for what set off the invasion of Coruscant, because this (as part of Legends) gave us a pretty good reason for it. I’d recommend it, again, for the examination of the political situation, and there’s some decent action in here too. There’s a few insights into the Jedi but it’s hit or miss whether I agree with them, and they’re not the focus.

- Darth Plagueis. This one’s probably the best of Luceno’s books (that I’ve read), but it’s not Jedi-friendly. Most of that’s because, well…it’s from the Sith’s perspective, so they’re not going to be very pro-Jedi. I’m mostly okay with that because a lot of their criticism of the Jedi is very clearly coming from an obviously bad faith position (”the Jedi let the Republic decay” the Sith say as they devour a man’s heart and talk about how the Sith need to make all the problems of the Republic worse), although there’s one scene at the end that I really don’t like because it appears to really claim that the Jedi would’ve told Anakin to never talk about his mother, which doesn’t match up with, well, AOTC, for one thing, or just my impression of them in general. But what this book does do well is a look at how the Sith influenced the political situation, and a lot of midichlorian lore (seriously, this book feels like a middle finger to prequel hate - “oh you thought the fantasy space politics were boring? You thought midichlorians were stupid? Here’s why you’re wrong”). Luceno’s way of doing character interactions actually serves this book really well, because the Sith are able to be written as the focus characters without making them sympathetic in the least. If you’re looking to get invested in characters, probably not the book for you, but if you’re looking for fantasy space politics, it’s pretty good.

- Rogue Planet. This one has a good interpretation of the Jedi, I think, though you do have to contend with the “written before AOTC” issue of authors not realizing that Jedi weren’t supposed to get married and have children. But I liked the look at how they handled discipline - Anakin gets in trouble, and he’s brought before the Council, and the whole process is about questioning him to get him to realize and admit what he did wrong, not punishment. They then make the decision to redirect his energy into something productive by sending him and Obi-Wan on a mission. Also, Anakin sees a Jedi therapist at the end of this book, so it’s a good one to throw back at anyone who claims that the Jedi never helped him or that the Jedi don’t do therapy. But…plot-wise…it’s a little weak, mostly in that not much is resolved because it’s mostly setting up for stuff that won’t pay off until much, much further down the line (as in, whenever the Yuuzhan-Vong show up). The ship-growing thing was cool though.

- Wild Space. If you’re looking for a ridiculously dramatic Obi-Wan whump fic that’s one step away from sticking Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Bail in a foursome, this is the book for you. If you’re looking for things like accurate characterization, an interpretation of the Jedi consistent with the films, believable interpersonal communication, or an actual plot…you will be sorely disappointed by this book.

- Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth. This is the sequel to Wild Space. It has a second part, Clone Wars Gambit: Siege, which I have not been able to bring myself to read, which probably tells you all you need to know about my thoughts on the first one, though you can read more about them here. In short, I strongly do not recommend this book at all, and find it to be pretty terrible characterization (even though it’s played for sympathy) of the Jedi and especially Obi-Wan. Wild Space at least has absurdity going for it. Stealth does not.

And that’s it! That’s all I’ve read so far. I’m sure not everyone will agree with my opinions, but in terms of my personal recommendations/non-recommendations, this is what I have.

[dealingdreams]

Okay TROS thoughts...here we go. I’m putting them all below the cut in case somehow you’ve avoided spoilers

so general thoughts...i didnt hate it nearly as much as i thought i would so thats pleasant but im gonna break it down more

things i liked:

Adam Driver.  just Adam. Fucking. Driver my dudes. This is like a backhanded compliment because JJ is so fucking lucky Adam was cast because the emotional depth of the film rested literally all on his shoulders for me. I only felt the weight if he was acting in a scene. 

I’ll admit im biased but I did adore the interaction between Finn and Poe. Their bickering amused me and the tenderness between them was wonderful...I think Oscar played Poe a bit jealous as well which i liked.

the Reylo scenes to me where beautiful. Ben never lied to her, she tried to deny it but she knew he never did. I loved that he was kinda guiding her, protecting her, loving her, and antagonizing her all at once. I loved how soft their kiss was, their smiles are literally the light of my life. Rey’s face when she healed him. Ben just staring at her as she tells him she did want to take his hand...just chef’s kiss

I loved the saber fights. Ben’s fight at the beginning was hot as fuck...and his fight as newly redeemed Ben Solo was even hotter somehow.

 I enjoyed the fight scenes between ben and rey! how often ben just let her walk away, and despite that one scene which i will mention below...i like i even tho rey was rather aggressive idk...it didnt really feel like she was trying to hurt him much either? i just think they had a lot of chances to kill each other and didnt take it...so i like that

i knew she was looking at ben in that clip i knew it...she only makes that soft face at him

I always enjoy stupid ass C3PO jokes for some dumbass reason

Han and Ben’s scene was heartbreaking and beautiful. Again tho JJ is fucking lucky to cast Adam cause recycling dialogue from TFA wouldnt have worked at all had Adam not been so fucking amazing

the save chewie hall blaster scene was fun 

i liked how fucking dramatic children ben and rey were with that damn ship lol...no im gonna force pull it...no im gonna...what dorks

while i didnt like the entire way the force bond was used i did enjoy seeing it still strong and growing

confirming canon soulmate reylo was a highlight

ben’s hair looked bomb

finn’s outfit was cool

Jannah was beautiful (please correct me if i misspell her name)

dark rey was glorious tho 

that new little droid is literally me so i adore it

that sith cave thing was really fucking cool looking 

the visuals of the film were most of the time stunning 

sooooo...now to what i didn’t like:

I think this first one is the most obvious for those who know me but...Ben’s death just feels so utterly useless to me. especially when they gave him a metaphorical death earlier in the film. i feel extremely hurt and betrayed. Disney has gone out of their way to make us sympathize with Ben Solo. They’ve revealed more and more of his past...how alone he was, the abuse he suffered from snoke and palpatine. just fuck...they just kill him...the moment he realizes he’s free and loved they end his life....literally WHAT THE FUCK. it’s a chicken shit way out of a redemption arc honestly. Not letting u just breath after his death was also so horrible. We barely got to see Rey mourn, we got a split second of it then it jumped to another scene...another second of her looking sadly at her sabor to have the moment interrupted 

tag on to above but...they didnt have him as a force ghost cause Disney is intentionally keeping where he is ambiguous so they can sell more shit which pisses me off so much

thats not how the force works

there couldnt have been that many sith could there??? cause like there can only be 2 at one time....fucking rule of 2 so how the hell were there that many

palps being like...see i actually want you to kill me...is ridiculous

rey palpatine is the most idiotic thing i have ever heard. Rey being a no one from no where was such an amazing thing. Just anyone can be strong in the force...you dont need royal blood to make you worth something....then they just retcon that??? the fuck I MEAN THE FUCK. 

Finn does nothing but worry about Rey the whole film. I know folks dont like his storyline in TLJ and while i understand that and do think it could have been written better i still adore it because Finn grew. He grew from just caring about a small group of people to caring about an idea to caring about something bigger than him. I didnt see any growth in his character in this film. His heroics were beautiful to see and I enjoyed seeing his heart but that was John’s acting more than the writing it think. 

sidelining rose was fucking disgusting 

the trio felt forced to me

the leia scenes didnt work for me honestly and they mostly just made me sad

bringing in lando now felt weird 

ive wanted force sensitive finn for a while but didnt feel right

why the fuck have finn want to tell rey something but never do...ugh i hate storytelling like that

they never explained how palps is back...he just is

rey stabbing ben felt odd to me. i loved the moment when she healed him, and i know technically her anger and darkside was coming out and she acted on instinct...nevermind that even before leia called out to him ben coudnt follow thru with the killing blow. 

....i’m sure i’ll think of more as i get angrier 

anyways over all...id be lying if moments didnt make me laugh or smile...if i didn’t feel a sense of nostalgia and enjoyment for 80% of this movie. The thing is that even with so much of it being enjoyable to me it still felt void. An action movie, with new characters, a confusing plot and very minimal emotional depth.

The emotion hinged soooo much on Adam or me. The biggest reason for that aside from that fact that Ben Solo is one of my all time favorite characters, is that the things Rey is dealing with in the film are directly related to her being a palpatine...and i HATE THAT. Like straight up wanna fling it into the sun. 

Rey never needed to be related to a force royal bloodline. She should have been allowed to remain strong because she was just strong. Kylo’s equal in every way, not because she was the granddaughter of a sith which btw you can’t inherit force powers. Retconing something so touching and unique from TLJ was just...fucking idiotic. All to please the loud but small misogynistic fandom that thought a woman couldnt be that strong on her own so she must be related to someone

The biggest thing....tho is killing Ben. it felt so unnecessary and just...i feel so betrayed. The interviews leading up to the film got my hopes up that i was worried for nothing. I always thought they’d kill him, because cinema seems to not know what to do with characters has tragic as him without just killing him in the end. we already got a redemption = death plotline in this franchise...why couldnt we get a redemption = life instead??? My friend who doesnt even like sw that much...tros was actually the 2nd sw fim she’s ever seen...thought it was unnecessary as well and agrees with me a lot about my feelings despite not having the same intense emotional attachment to him as me. She for a moment thought they’d be together at the end but nope. Its just...pointless to me now, the sacrifices han, luke, and leia made to reach Ben are for nothing. Their deaths...pointless...Ben means so fucking much to me. I’ve never felt such an intense emotional bond with a character before so im just hurting so fucking much right now.

Rey taking the name Skywalker isnt hopeful or cute its a slap in the face honestly...and it’s just weird! 

The last Skywalker died loved and held by the woman he loved and that is beautiful to me. He died happy and a hero thats a balm at least...but to not let him be the one to kill palpatine...after everything EVERYTHING he put him and his family thru was another just fuck...i wanted justice for him and he just got thrown away

Ultimately...Ben and Rey are soulmates and their force bond was severed. Palpatine didnt take that from them because he couldnt have...again not how the force works....but JJ used that bond to be a battery???? the fuck...but ultimately hes forcing Rey to live the rest of her days with a gaping wound in her soul. a wound unable to be filled and will be with her for the rest of her life...thats so fucking tragic to me. you give rey someone who is her equal, who understands her, and you take him from her and force her to be alone for the rest of her life?? and we are supposed to not see that as a tragedy? Her being fineishness at the end of the film seemed like direction from either the writing or in the moment, but just further proves he didnt bother to even understand the lore he was using. Force bonds were considered i quess legends in the current SW canon but Rian brought it back...so it’s back. and well

  "A bond between two living beings is not something easily broken. It is not a choice… it is like breaking a feeling. Like turning away from the Force. To break a bond, your feelings would have to change, or one of you would have to die—but even then, the bond wouldn't go away, it would simply… it would simply be empty, a wound."―Master Zez-Kai Ell[src]

and .... the only way to break it was to turn away from the Force, as Surik did on Malachor V. So basically it all came down to creating a wound in the Force”

sooo yeah...im pissed i’d give this movie a 1 1/2 out of 5 

thank you for those who have read my rantings! I hope at least some of this made sense

[techouspeaks]

A Review of: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Well first establish, I never watched the old series so I’m not going to compare the two series together. With that being said, I am very aware of the He-Man series since I grew up with the 2002 series, though that doesn’t make me an expert, I do understand the lore and what that series is about.

Put it short, I’m just going to judge it as is and I’ll try to be a bit brief about it. So, I guess I should explain the complaints I and most people have with this series. First the animation. Yeah...it’s pretty bad. I mean for a Dreamworks project I actually did expect much better. Considering that a lot of Dreamworks stuff in terms of animation wise, is soo good! Like Voltron being the best but shoot, even Kulipari, Dreamworks Dragons, ect, they have really great animation and this is She-Ra! An 80s fan favorite and one that would clearly sell because at this time of age, the whole girl power is like through the roof! They could have put more time into the animation. I mean, keep the art style. Art style is fine but the over all animation and how characters move is poor. Not terrible but you can tell it’s very rushed. They put more effort into the transformation scene than the rest...

And don’t tell me poor budget or lack of time...I’ve seen personal projects done by small studios, and people doing it by themselves through their homes that done better job at animating. Yes, animation is hard and it takes time but it’s worth the effort put in and there’s no excuse of a professional team cutting slack. Shoot, even the Disney sequels have better animation than this and they’re done from the animation teams that were just starting out.

Granted, the art isn’t totally bad. I prefer this over the butter bean style that Cartoon Network, for whatever reason decides to not give up on. I will say the character designs look like human beings than beans and in some parts when the animation decides to be good, it does show. The character designs and background art is good. It’s very creative. The animation and the movements just need to be amped up more.

Don’t tell me it’s because it’s a “kids show, it doesn’t have to look good.” Here’s a good example of a kid’s show with quality

Again those are shows that are done today that clearly had more effort put into the animation. Dreamworks has done the same with other shows, they could have done so with She-Ra. Again not the art style that’s the problem. It’s just how choppy the animation is.

Another thing that I have issues with is the pacing especially in the development with the characters. All the characters develop way too fast in my opinion, at least in some moments. Some moments with certain characters are developed fine, like Glimmer’s development. Her’s I actually thought was handle rather well, others especially Catra’s was handled either forcefully or rushed. Characters aren’t given enough time to take in the moment and breath a bit. Everything is rushed.

Speaking of Catra and her relationship with Adora, that was especially rushed. When we first meet the two, I didn’t even believe they were friends. If we had gotten to know Catra and Adora from the beginning more and have Catra actually feel something other than being bitterness at Adora, I would have felt something from their relationship, which sadly I didn’t. Even when we get to the arc of learning about Catra’s past with Adora, the relationship again feels rushed and clunky. Though I will admit, the pacing does get a little better towards the climax, but we had to deal with rushed pacing through out the whole season.

I get there are 13 episodes. You know what? Voltron had that much episodes, even less than that sometimes and each character developed well pace. Yes, some seasons had to have characters have their own arcs and it took a season for some to develop but that’s just it. The team behind Voltron knew that’s what it takes sometimes to make a well paced and very well told story and characters. We at least got to know quite a bit of characters and yes, sadly some don’t get a back story, but shoot, we got more backstory on those characters than we do the princesses besides Glimmer, Adora, shoot, we dunno much about Bow even and he’s one of the main characters. He’s the main bestie of the crew! Where’s his backstory and proper development? Least we had some kind of back story about Lance, Hunk and even Coran and those are the characters sadly we didn’t get too much back story, but they were developed enough for me to care about them deeply. 

That and a lot of the story is very predicable sadly. When Shadow Weaver attacked Adora when they were vacationing, I knew exactly what was going to happen. She’s going make Adora freak out and make her friends believe they hate her because she’s destroying everything, but Adora will realize SW’s plan, stand up against her and make everything right again. Some episodes had surprisingly good moments like the episode that introduces Entrapa. That episode was pretty good, though, I again I could predict a bit of it, except for the ending.

Bitch and moan, bitch and moan, what do I at least like about the series? Well, the characters are really good. I know I said that after bitching about the development but the characters as they are, are pretty memorable and likable, though, I can tell with the boys there was some SJW interfering. 

You know masculine men aren’t all bad? Not every masculine dude is a dick. It doesn’t hurt to have at least one masculine man. Just saying but as I say this, I will admit even when with that, the boys are still rather competent. They do hold their own and have some heart to em, especially Bow, who is one of my favorite characters and I like Mermista, Entrapa though a bit too out there to be even real, maybe anyway,  I still like her character and design. Also her butler is so adorable! I wish he had more screen time!

The villains, except for Hordak are decent, I love Scorpia being one of the best. I wanted to hug her she’s so awesome. Hordak is a snooze fest. I mean there isn’t anything about him other than he has a weird baby spy for some reason, which actually makes it all the more creepy...Is that like his son or something?

Catra is okay...I mean the actress who plays her is pretty good in doing her crying scenes. She does act like a teen would when upset and trying to figure out things, but again, her development is so clunky and again, I didn’t care for what was going to happen to her and her relationship with Adora. Again, if she had shown more sympathy to her friend from the beginning, I would have shown more concern for her and cared about their friendship. As is, they don’t act like best friends. They acted more like just classmates with how rushed the development is. 

Adora herself is pretty likeable and I did want to see what happens to her. Though again, some of her development is a bit rushed. At least in say Winx Club, Bloom got more time to develop but with there being 13 episodes, I could give this a slip. 

The music is amazing though! I loved the score for this series! It reminded me of some 80s background music with the guitar and the synthesizer! That is awesome! The only thing that wasn’t so awesome was the theme song...It’s mediocre but the rest of the score was awesome. In fact, half the time I thought the score was too good for this series man! 

Another thing I did enjoy was the episodes that did lead up to the 13th episode. That’s when the development did start slowing down a bit and we had time to at least care about the characters a little bit more and how they feel about each other. The animation even got a bit more decent towards the end. Like where was that in the beginning? Though the climax...Yeah I will admit, was pretty weak. Compared to others including from not so big animation studios, the climax could have been a bit more original. I’ve seen this climax done hundreds of times. I even have this sort of climax in one of my written novels but I at least put it well paced. As is, it’s not the worst I’ve seen, but definitely expected a better climax for a season.

I really tried to open my mind for this series and as is, it’s not the worst by far. I can tell a lot of heart went into this. The art style is fine but the animation can be very bad at times. The characters are great and memorable, but very rushed in development and a bit too SJW appeal to some, thus making them a bit dated once the SJW fad wears off and people move onto the next trend. Some episodes towards the climax are decent but the climax I felt could have been more original, if anything throw in a few twists to make an already seen premise be a bit more fresh. The music is awesome and some designs are cool. 

As is it’s not terrible but I’m gonna have to rate She-Ra an average 5 out of 10 star rating. I do recommend you watch it to see if you like it or have kids that would like to see some nice characters and action scenes as well as rather easy to follow story. It’s by no means a bad series, I just think there are shows that did better what She Ra was trying to do. I will see what Season 2 will bring and see if it will be better than Season 1 so there’s a silver lining. I will continue to watch this series. Not great but not awful.

5 Stars

Level: Good!

[ionfusionpunk]

U, V, X?

(From This Post)

Absolutely! Thank you for the ask, Nonnie! (Really, thank you for indulging me, haha. I wouldn’t be having quite so much fun here on tumblr if you guys didn’t enable me lmao). 

U: Okay, so I’m gonna try and do a writer from each fandom I really enjoy. For Naruto, one of my absolute favorite fic writers is Yeetingmeselfintosun. They only have one real fic on AO3, but they do such an amazing job with it. The characterizations, action scenes, metaphors, pacing - it’s all excellently done. 

I think my next choice will have to be BootsnHats over on FFNet for The Musketeers fandom. Their characterizations for Athos especially are simply inspired, and the stories are engaging in the most delightful ways. 

My final pic... Oof. That’s hard. Many of the best fic writers I’ve ever encountered have all written for the Star Wars fandom, and there’s - there’s a lot. It’s not even really fair to choose just one? (If you guys would like a more comprehensive list of my favorite authors, just send me an ask; you can even have me narrow it down to certain fandoms (Naruto, SW, Musketeers, TMNT, Voltron, LOTR, and the Hobbit are my most-read fandoms)). I think... I’ll have to go with ShaeTiann on FFNet. The sheer amount of lore included in their fics, the characterizations, the worldbuilding, the plot, the character development - *chef’s kiss*. There are few things I enjoy more than rereading their For the Right Price series. 

V: Hm, a companion piece to any out there not my own? That’s really hard. I have a tendency to be something of a fic elitist: I will only finish reading a story if I genuinely enjoy it. This also means that I will not keep it around if I don’t think it worth my time (which sounds harsh, but I think you know what I mean). 

That being said, I’ve had plenty of my own prequel and sequel ideas for the Powers ‘Verse. It’s also for BBC’s The Musketeers, but it’s also a very good AU where the main characters all have a power of some sort. You’d have to read all the entries in the series to really get what I mean, but there’s a lot of opportunity for continuations and beginnings and even AUs of the og AU there. I even have permission to write for the series if I’d like (as long as the og writer approves of the fic itself), but I haven’t actually written anything yet because, well, it’s a little daunting to write for a series I already consider perfect lol.

 X: Hah! This is easy, and I will give you five answers: Pidge (Voltron), Leo (TMNT), Dartagnan (Musketeers), Umino Iruka (Naruto), and Obi-Wan Kenobi (SW). I have started (but not finished/posted) several fics about just that for each of those characters. Fun times :) 

Again, thank you so much for the ask, Nonnie! <3 

[reylosource]

Hi, I'm the "three younger brothers" anon from a while ago. I'm a little ticked off with them. Whenever I mention Rey, they'll scoff at it (especially the 19 year old. he can't stand her, or Kylo for that matter). Star Wars is the end-all of all nerdy things to them. They are connoisseurs of the old EU, they have 2 huge totes of toys, Legos, costumes, etc. I'm not sure if they think Rey is a Mary Sue. I know they never thought much about Padme'. They make me feel like a fake big-time SW fan.

HI anon! Whew I’m really sorry this sat in here for so long, once I spiraled and then went into hiding, I was scared of the inbox. But I braved it to answer some of these.

I’m sorry your brothers are making you feel like their kind of SW fan is the only kind of fan. It’s not true - you don’t have to have all the merch, or an encyclopedic knowledge of Legends. Those things are all just for show, to show others how much you love Star Wars.

But really, being a fan of Star Wars is pretty simple - like the theme, the lore, the universe, the characters (even some of them?) - you’re a fan! And let me tell you, just the fact that you’re following star wars news/blogs (of any kind, even THE DIRTY SHIPPER KIND ;) means you like it a lot.

For bizarre, man-culture reasons, it has become the in-thing to not like Rey and think Kylo is a wimp. It’s really bizarre to me, but not surprising. I’m not one to spout off about sexism, but that’s really (imo) what it is - maybe they don’t realize it, it’s definitely subtle, but the fact of the matter is:

Rey in TFA had an almost exact same story/etc. as Luke did in ANH, but because she’s a woman, they subconsciously held her to higher standards (lol wtf she can fly? wtf she can just suddenly fight with a lightsaber - ignoring that they showed her fighting skills with the staff before this - wtf she can just MIND TRICK ALREADY?) - all things that Luke did similarly easily in ANH. But because she’s a woman, again the higher standards (and they’ll say a lot of it is because they didn’t want TFA to be a copy of ANH - and it wasn’t, she’s her own character, but if you boil everything you don’t like down to the above, then they themselves have proven they don’t care about it and thus that’s an invalid argument).

Kylo showed weakness by having compassion, emotional outbursts, and losing fights (~and these are dirty women things and totally not like Vader at all no - of course they disregard the fact that Anakin was very much like that before the turn. In fact, they ignore that Darth Vader was even Anakin to begin with TBH).

Anyway, I went on a rant I’m sorry - and this isn’t to say that your brothers are being deliberately mean or exclusive with you - but just an effort to make you feel better.

You’re not a fake big-time fan, your love for SW is just as real as theirs, but for maybe very different reasons. And that’s okay.