#i liked ahsoka tbh but like it had...problems

[obimaulartfire]

My friends do NOT find it as funny as I do that Disney wants to cancel Dave Filoni's Mandoverse movie because Ahsoka did poorly.

But I think it's hilarious. Like "oh your show about your blorbo was poorly written, we are revoking your Mando Privileges" LIKE jsdhfgkasjf the INSULT!!!!

[i-hear-a-sound]

kotor and rebel fans eat well tonight 🫡

[marvelstars]

"I think," Obi-Wan said carefully, "that abstractions like peace don't mean much to him. He's loyal to people, not to principles. And he expects loyalty in return" Obi-Wan on Anakin Skywalker

Tbh while I really love a lot of passages from Stover ROTS novel this one in which Obi-Wan says that "Anakin doesn´t understand abstractions concepts like peace" is so wrong.

Anakin as a 9 year old child wanted to give "Freedom for all the slaves" if he didn´t understand freedom as an abstract concept he would have been ok with just him and his mother being free but no, he wanted to end slavery on Tatooine, even the outer rim, he just lacked the power to do it.

In the war he wasn´t fighting just to protect Padmé or Obi-Wan or Ahsoka or Rex or the Jedi Order or Palpatine, he was fighting for peace in the republic, the one thing he asked Palpatine after turning to the darkside was Will we have peace? to which Palpatine answered Yes.

As Vader he told Luke he wanted him to help him install "Order in the Galaxy" and "End this destructive conflict" which actually implies he obviously noticed the Empire had become a big part of the problem and the rebel alliance had reason for their fight, just like the republic and separatist were in his youth.

So my guess is that what Obi-Wan didn´t understand about Anakin was that Anakin was forced by the Jedi Order to compromise his real values as a member of the Order, he compromised his wish for justice and freedom for the slaves and his mother in order to learn to be a jedi, he compromised his love for Padmé and wish for a family in order to help the order fight in the clone wars, he compromised his wish for a free Tatooine in order to help Jabba´s Son, so he compromised a lot until he compromised his soul to learn how to save Padmé just like the Order keep compromising itself during the war by becoming the owners of the clone army and that was something that Anakin keep doing even as Vader.

In fact Lucas said about Windu and Palpatine duel in ROTS "Anakin´s thoughts when Windu tried to murder Palpatine was that everybody was corrupt in the end" he would not have cared much about corruption if he only was lead by his personal relationships.

I also think that despite Obi-Wan´s care for Anakin his identity of being a Jedi was always more important for him which is fine because they were his family but in the same way Anakin also had the right to defend and protect his family and not being forced to choose between them and the "good of the galaxy" or his "chosen one prohecy" the moment he no longer did this, the moment he defended his family and was congruent with his ideals, was the moment he was able to come back from the darkside and that´s not coincidence, that´s the conflict Luke talked about in ROTJ, a conflict that started the moment Anakin was forced to compromise his ideals and the safety and life or his loved ones in favor of supporting the Jedi Order.

Obi-Wan keep his alliance to the Jedi Order without compromising it for Anakin´s sake, he did his best to murder Anakin once he turned to the darkside, the only reason Anakin didn´t die was because of Palpatine and after discovering he was actually alive, he tried to make Anakin´s Son murder him so while I believe Obi-Wan cared for Anakin at some point, his turn to the darkside and his actions in Oder 66 made Obi-Wan lie to himself, telling himself Anakin was dead to be able to kill him, which made his actions to dehumanize and try to kill Anakin easier and justifiy to himself using Anakin´s own family to kill him.

This is my personal problem with Obi-Wan, he never gets in conflict like Anakin did because he believes he is always in the right, no matter who gets hurt in the middle and while that doesn´t make him a monster it did lead him to actions that can´t objetively be considered good even if they were done for a good end. he has that "Ends justifies the means mentality" the Order adopted in the late stage of the clone wars so it´s pretty ironic he believes it´s Anakin the one who has a problem with his values.

[legionofpotatoes]

All other criticisms of modern Star Wars aside, the thing that gets me the most is how every single story is being written to fit into some Avengers-level grand finale that just isn't laying a solid enough foundation to make it worth the wait. Regardless of whether the individual stories are good or bad, what makes them fall so short, imo, is that there's usually no real payoff within their own runtimes (unless you count cheap callbacks or loose promises of More, which you shouldn't)

Like, I already knew halfway through Ahsoka that we were in for a cliffhanger and it's just like...alright, guess we'll see how this ends in about 5 years? Even Mando, which had a great first season and was poised to stand on its own two feet and ride off on a rootin' tootin' bounty huntin' adventure, has ultimately become yet another dusty path on the road to the current Big Plot with an indeterminate due date. That's not deliciously addictive media, it's a dry-ass carrot on a spindly little stick, lol

Of course, this is a problem that many franchises are happily getting cozy with lately because everybody wants to have their own Infinity War / Endgame moment, but I guess it seems a bit more egregious with Star Wars because, ironically, it used to work best because it had less overall focus. Like, sure, we had concurrent movies, animated series, and games, but they were always happy to do their own things and tell their own stories with definitive conclusions. Now it all has to funnel into the Big New Plot and, man, I honestly just can't bring myself to care when it feels like an endless waiting game

I definitely need to get around to watching Visions at some point because, every time it pops up, it sounds like the lifeblood that Star Wars sorely needs atm

Yeah the setup-and-payoff a-to-b type dramatic clarity that seemed so entrenched into the very bones of cinematic grammar - up to around the emergence of streaming, wink wink nudge nudge - is sorely missed in star wars atm. sure maybe downsized writers rooms fidgeting with limited series formats instead of doing actual seasonal TV has something to do with it, but even that is probably such a small piece of the larger issue that spins all this longform storytelling bullshit ferry wheel around.

Another part is certainly chasing the MCU business model of it all like you said. Carrot on a stick is verbatim how I've often described these things myself, the endless promise of another promise of another promise instead of forming a complete thought with a beginning and an end. servicing the plot before story at all costs. another part still is reverence towards the aesthetic trappings of the source material instead of its themes, trying to nail the exact texture of tatooine's huts and dial in the perfect balance of lightsaber choreography and pay homage to a thousand iconic shots before articulating something true in the text.

And like it's an endless laundry list, this confluence of capital-I Issues both industry-scale and creatively-driven that seem to be flaying the skin off the bones of whatever star wars even "is" nowadays. no one can answer that in the context of billions of dollars made off toys and storylines centering around this one moment in fictional history about sons and fathers and empires and rebellions. so they just keep twisting in the wind filling in any gaps within that period. I don't know nonnie, it's all so bleak. ahsoka and obi wan and even mando tbh. as charming as season 1 was, it truly felt like it coasted on its incredible restraint to avoid muddying its aesthetic with cameos, and lucked into effective storytelling as a result of that utterly unintentional alchemy. that's obviously well and truly gone now as its true optics have reared head.

what star wars is by itself is such a pointless discussion, right? andor argues it's a perfectly functional heightened universe that can support incredibly nuanced and dramatically charged stories of grassroots rebellion and the bureaucratic strain of fascist regimes. visions argues it's a world beholden to the force, an endlessly mutable and elegant metaphor that can support infinite monomyths and fairy tales. both are equally fantastic at executing on their takes, despite being in diametrically opposite extremes of interpreting the source. so it's not really about that at all, why the other stuff sucks this bad.

they're just bad at the craft of it, that's really it. whether it's auteur worship or business decisions rotting that fish down, it still rots all the same. maybe the new writers' guild contracts can shift the winds a little, because I was so securely done with star wars and then the aforementioned 2 shows came and affected me. so, so profoundly that I'm back on the hook again. like a lil sucker!

[jyndor]

lbr star wars has had shitty writing always. it's always been messy. it's always been imperfect. the quality dip between s2 and s3 of the mandalorian is so widely discussed but it came after a real dip in quality after s1 so let's not act as if the acolyte having problems is the reason it got canceled.

the acolyte has real problems but yall still show up for equally messy projects if they are about the same characters that we have seen over and over again, and those projects have the space and room to be imperfect. I'm not saying star wars fans don't always criticize every project ever because of course we do, but the way that people spoke about the acolyte... as someone who didn't have time to watch until like last week, I expected an absolute shitshow and I got a good show with some structural issues but mainly good bones.

and yes, star wars fatigue is REAL but people showed up for the ahsoka show, for the kenobi show, for mando, for the bad batch, and even for boba fett. all of which have episodes that are as bad as anything in the acolyte, if not worse.

but andor? the most well-written, well-acted star wars anything I've ever seen??? okay so it's not about jedi and space wizards and shit, but it's extremely star wars. but okay it's meant for a more adult audience so of course it isn't going to have the numbers that mando gets. sure, fine - but when it was announced, there was so much immediate disinterest and confusion amongst alleged star wars fans who I REMEMBER loving rogue one, saying shit like "who asked for this" and "who cares about cassian" and a lot of them ate crow when the show that was aimed at the one big critique of rogue one (that the characters didn't have enough time to develop) turned out to be as good as the big prestige shows from hbo etc.

but even then who gets the most attention from fans? the white core world-coded (ie: us american and british accented) characters. meanwhile, even after delivering one of the finest performances in star wars history (and somehow maintaining a balance of being the lead actor with all of the presence required for that, and also being an excellent supporting presence when other actors have their moments to shine) people have the audacity to say diego luna, who put so much into this project, is a weak part of the show or cassian is irrelevant or whatever BITCH-

and diego luna is a white latino. us american audiences racialize all latinos as non-white or conditionally white, and ~it just so happens~ his show - which should have been a massive hit with most star wars fans tbh - had a smaller audience for a STAR WAR. and we had to beg people to just give it a shot - we had to beg people who ALLEGEDLY care about diversity and queer rep and good stories to watch it. canon queen wlw! and not a peep from the people who will ship any two women characters who look at each other for a long moment. I mean, same but COME ON???

now the acolyte is not andor, but it doesn't have to be andor - it needs to be itself. and it is! it's not perfect but why the fuck does a star war need to be perfect? star wars have never been perfect, fuck the prequels are still a mess idc what you people my age think they're Not Good. but you and I have Made Them Good because they have good bones and there is a lot there to work with.

the acolyte is WORLDS better than the phantom menace and attack of the clones in terms of writing. it has some structure issues and could have used a couple more episodes to delve more deeply into the characters' motivations. but the acting? 10000% better and you won't convince me otherwise.

you know what? I have major problems with cassian's characterization in andor. I don't think it is consistent with who cassian was written to have been as a youth in rogue one. but I'm not gonna throw in with reactionary cunts who hate the show because it has the audacity to be led by a mexican actor. when I've criticized andor, I've done it in support of andor ALWAYS. meanwhile these freak ass pro-jedi types who essentially call any critique of jedi (individual or institutionally) genocide apologia while basically denying irl genocide -

these types are so offended by a show making the most tepid observations about how jedi are people and like all people are not infallible even if they are well intentioned, but that also the dark side of the force does harm the force user, that you joined in on the reactionary bashing of a show led by a NON BINARY BLACK ACTRESS and a very, very diverse cast.

meanwhile, this is a show that probably was going to end with the dark side being a danger to everyone since imo that's clearly where they were going but now we will never know.

and the thing is that you are not to blame for lucasfilm capitalisming! I have been so busy this summer that I couldn't find the time to watch until a couple weeks ago. but lbr this fanbase shows up endlessly for white mediocrity by filoni, frankly even by lucas himself. lucasfilm has never stood up for its actors of color when they've been harassed by reactionary elements of the fandom.

you want an old republic project? good luck. good luck getting new and interesting star wars projects. it'll just be more of the same. and they'll be the same quality because lucasfilm doesn't have to put the work in when its a fandom fave - see boba fett, see obi wan. they can ride on nostalgia forever, but the numbers will continue to fall over time until there's nothing left.

[dindjarindiaries]

I think one of the reasons people were annoyed with Mando season 3, and will potentially have issues with season 4 is the....MCU-ification of it all. One of the reasons the first season and Andor work so well is you can come to them with no knowledge of the wider Star Wars universe and still enjoy them. Now though, Mando is becoming interconnected with other projects. I'm not really interested in Ahsoka, but I don't want to have to watch a whole season of a character I'm not invested in just to be able to enjoy Mando S4 properly? Likewise, including Mando and Grogu's reunion in TBOBF was a cheap move, and meant you 'had' to watch TBOBF just to understand how they were reunited. Idk, it just doesn't sit right with me, and I forsee it causing problems with S4's reception tbh.

The problem is, it can work - and it has worked before. Just look at season 2. Many people regard that as the best season, even with general audiences not knowing who Bo-Katan and Ahsoka were before their live-action debuts.

The problem with season 3 was that it made Din reactive rather than proactive. The reclamation of Mandalore was important, but rather than being the catalyst, he was the person who gave us, the audience, the eyes to watch through. It was almost like he was just sitting back and watching it all happen with the rest of us. The only time Din really feels like he has a proactive story in season 3 is in episodes 1, 2, 3, and 8.

[atinylittlepain]

YCMQ - Chapter Three

din djarin x jedi!reader

series masterlist

wordcount: 5.4K

warnings | 18+ smut, canon-typical violence, angst

a/n | i've had this chapter in my google docs for months now and finally just decided to put it out there. who knows if i'll keep writing this tbh i kinda like where this ends :)

..................................

“You didn’t tell me it was a Mandalorian you were traveling with. How curious.” With that, master Tano releases Din from the cage of her sabers, sending him stumbling forward into the ground of the scorched woods with a groan. Not exactly the greeting she was hoping for from her master. She swallows hard, slipping off her pack to reveal the child tucked inside.

“Master Tano, we have brought you the child so you may begin his training.” Ahsoka looks between her and the child, something unreadable in the subtle squint of her eyes. 

“We will see. I need to speak to you both first.” Having gotten up to stand beside her, Din goes to speak, but Ahsoka cuts him off with a wave of her hand.

“Not you, Din Djarin. Them.” She furrows her brow at her master’s words.

“But the child does not speak. Not really.” The kid coos at that, tilting his head up to look at her, and Ahsoka smiles.

“Maybe not in the sense you are thinking of. But there are other ways to communicate. Come, I will show you. But you, Din Djarin, must remain here.” Din doesn’t seem to like that one bit.

“Absolutely not. I am not going to–” She silences him with a hand pressed firmly to his chest plate, eyes pleading into the visor of his helmet.

“We’ll be fine, Din. Please, do as she says.” A crackled sigh comes through his voice modulator, but he nods as she steps away to join Ahsoka with the child. As she follows her master deeper into the scorched woods of Corvus, she feels Din’s eyes following her until they slip into a thicket of charred trees.

“You’ve grown attached to that Mandalorian.” She opens her mouth to protest, but her master silences her with a firm look.

“Do not try to deny what is so clear. It is only a problem if you let it continue, though it will be difficult to say goodbye to him after today.” Her heart sinks at her master’s words. She hadn’t considered that this would be the end of their journey together, her quest completed, his Creed fulfilled. She doesn’t have long to sink into dismay at this realization before her master is speaking again.

“There is a great deal more power, more energy, concentrated around you than when you departed.” 

“Master Tano, I have to confess something. I–”

“I know what you did, my student. Afterall, everything in this galaxy is connected.” Her mouth goes dry at her teacher’s words, but Ahsoka offers her a simple smile.

“Master, I-I lost control. I am beyond repentant for what I did.” “I know you are. What you did– you must never do again. But I do not think that will be difficult once you part ways from that Mandalorian. Once you are knighted as a Jedi.” She can’t believe the words leaving her master’s mouth.

“Do you mean to tell me I am not condemned?” Ahsoka shakes her head.

“You are not. You have completed the quest I gave you. It is time for you to walk this path, not as a student, but as a Jedi.” She feels dizzy from this news, a giddy relief sweeping through her and lightening the heaviness she has been carrying since Nevarro. 

Ahsoka motions for her to sit on an ashen tree stump, taking the kid from her arms and moving him to sit on a small boulder across from her.

“Now, I believe this little one has a story to tell you.” The kid tilts his head at her, letting out a few quiet babbles. She turns to look at her master who stands to the side of them. Ahsoka gives her a slight nod.

“Let the Force connect you. Speak with energy, not words.”  She turns her attention back to the kid, his eyes watching her intently. An inhale and an exhale to find the thread of energy connecting them.

…

Din is worried. He managed to get a bit closer to the copse of trees they’re sitting in, but Ahsoka had fixed him with a steely look before he could get any nearer, only catching a glimpse of her and the kid, seeming to just be sitting quietly, looking at each other. He had seen her in meditation a few times in the hold of the Crest, something about the stillness always unsettling to him. That’s how he feels now, unsettled. He sits down on a fallen log, his mind racing as he wonders what they could possibly be doing. 

Their entrance on Corvus had been under false pretenses, pledging to the Magistrate of Calodan that they would dispose of the Jedi who has been “plaguing” her town. Though it seemed to Din that the real plague on the city was the Magistrate herself. And then, he had almost met his Maker when Ahsoka came down on him in a whirl of saber light. What most bothered him about this wasn’t how close he came to death, but how, as Ahsoka knocked him around, she had stood by, passive and unmoving. He knows it’s presumptuous, maybe even plainly wrong, to be upset that she would side with her master over him, but he’s gotten used to her having his back, and to see so clearly where her allegiances really lie has a sadness settling heavy under his armor.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of nearing footfall, and when he looks up to see them coming toward him, he notices the strange expression across her face, but he doesn’t have long to study her when she is already speaking to him.

“We need to test Grogu’s abilities to see what he is capable of.”

“Come again?” She smiles lightly at him, glancing down at the kid in her arms.

“That’s his name. Grogu.” The kid’s head immediately whips up to look at her, eyes wide in recognition. Din tries the name out for himself, saying it quietly, and the kid turns his attention on him, letting out a questioning babble. Her laugh calms his edgy nerves and he follows them into a clearing. 

She walks a few paces away from him and Ahsoka, setting the kid - Grogu - down before returning to them. Ahsoka steps forward, presenting a small rock in the open palm of her hand to Grogu.

“Grogu, I want you to use your mind to take this rock from me. Can you do that?” The kid tilts his head at her words, his eyes squinting as he holds out his palm. 

“C’mon, kid.” He mutters it without really knowing, only realizing he spoke when she turns her head to give him a furrowed look before turning back to watch Ahsoka and Grogu. The kid seems to be struggling to do something Din saw him do not too long ago with total ease, his small hand dropping with a frustrated huff, gaze turning away from Ahsoka and onto them. Ahsoka sighs, also turning to look at them, but Din is quick to defend the kid.

“He can do it. I know he can. I saw him do it just a few days ago–” He cuts himself off, an idea quickly forming in his mind. He steps over to Ahsoka, motioning toward Grogu.

“May I?” She nods, stepping back alongside her student who has a similarly perplexed expression across her face. He turns to face Grogu, slipping something out of a side pocket of his flight suit that immediately captures the kid’s attention. 

“Kid–”

“Use his name, Din.” He looks over his shoulder at her, Ahsoka standing mutely beside her. She gives him a reassuring smile and he nods, turning back to face the kid. 

“Grogu, do you want this?” He hadn’t screwed the metal ball back into the shifter handle, having forgotten to in their haste to get to Corvus, and now he’s grateful to be holding it in his outstretched palm for the kid, who is looking very intrigued by his question.

“Well, go ahead. Take it. It’s all yours if you can take it from me.” He can tell that Grogu’s gaze is flitting between him and her, finally settling on the ball. It looks nearly effortless, his little green palm lifting and the ball quickly flitting over into it. Din can’t help the proud laugh he lets out at the sight. 

The two women step forward alongside Din, Grogu busy mouthing at the ball. Ahsoka sighs.

“It’s impressive. But I cannot train him.” Din’s stomach drops.

“What? Why not?” 

“Grogu has become attached. To you, and to her.” Din glances over to her, face slack and pale at her teacher’s words as she continues to speak.

“This kind of attachment comes with strong emotions. Emotions that corrupt a Jedi’s connection to the Force. Training Grogu would be a gamble I cannot take.” 

“Please, master Tano, there must be something we can do. He needs to continue his training.” She rests her hand on her master’s shoulder as she pleads.

“I suppose he could be taken to the temple ruins of Tython to sit amongst the seeing rocks. If there is a Jedi willing to train him, Grogu could connect with them there.” She nods at her master’s words, glancing at Din before speaking.

“Then we will go to Tython as soon as possible.” Ahsoka looks at her, unblinking.

“Not you.” Her hand falls away from her master’s arm.

“What?”

“Your quest is done, as is your time with these individuals. It is time for us to conclude your training, for you to become a Jedi.” Din wants to say something, anything, but it feels like his throat is closing, his chest crumpling. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that this would be it, the last time he would call her his– well, whatever she is, was. He tries to tamp whatever he’s feeling down as she picks up the kid and brings him over to Din, passing Grogu into his arms. She keeps her eyes distant, looking somewhere over his shoulder as she speaks.

“You’ll take care of him, right?” Din coughs harshly before speaking, afraid of the warble that might be there.

“I will. I promise.” She gives one firm nod before stepping back next to Ahsoka.

“Thank you, Din Djarin. For traveling with my student and keeping her and Grogu safe.” He nods at Ahsoka’s words.

“I was happy to.”

“Might I ask you to stay for just one more day? I have something I could use your help with.”

…

Her night is restless, the image of Din walking back to the Crest with Grogu, without her, replaying again and again in her mind. She’s bleary-eyed when they meet Din at the perimeter of the walled town, just before dawn. Her skin is prickling under his gaze. Even through his helmet, she can tell that his eyes are following her as they lay out their plan, Ahsoka departing first to take out the guards on patrol. As they wait in the treeline, she finally can’t stand it anymore, turning to him and huffing.

“What is it?” He seems surprised to have been caught staring, a stuttered breath coming through his voice modulator before he answers.

“You look– different.” Oh. She supposes that this is true. While traveling, she had gotten used to her baggy thermals and tac pants, and it had been a relief when her master handed her what had been her normal attire, dark gray wraps of fabric over a close-fitting tabard and leggings, her forearms traditionally wrapped. She hadn’t felt this free to move in ages. She squares off her shoulders to look at him.

“This is what a Jedi should wear.” His helmet tilts at her, ever so slightly.

“And is that what you are now?”

“I will be soon enough. After we take care of this business.” And after you leave, she silently adds to herself. Before either of them can say anything else, the still morning is disrupted by a harsh, resonant clanging that can only be the large gong atop the gate collapsing to the ground, the signal for them to move in and get to work.

They move quickly and quietly, freeing the prisoners that the Magistrate was keeping strung up outside her palace while Ahsoka drives the guards away, picking them off one by one. What she assumes is the Magistrate’s right hand man seems to be the only guard left, sizing up her and Din where they stand outside the gates of the Magistrate’s compound. Din turns to her, nodding to where Ahsoka had just leapt into the compound.

“Go. Help her. I’ve got this.” She glances at the quickly approaching guard before nodding to Din, bounding up over the wall to aid her master.

It feels natural, fighting alongside Ahsoka, giving the Magistrate a run for her money, even with her beskar spear. They move in sync, sabers swirling through the foggy air but she comes to a startled halt when the sound of a man’s scream resounds from just outside the compound walls. Ahsoka barely glances at her in confusion before picking up the fighting again as she leaps back over the compound wall. 

She drops down into the town square, ready to drive her sabers through whoever may be harming Din. When she sees Din standing, unhurt, over the guard who lays dead on the ground, her stomach drops at the realization of what she just did. All she can do is stare at Din, who stares right back, both of them startling when the gates to the compound open, revealing Ahsoka who proudly carries the Magistrate’s spear. 

As the citizens of the city come out into the streets to rejoice at their liberation, she’s never felt such complete despair, knowing that she is going to have to make a choice that she never wanted to face.

…

“We’re gonna leave soon, kid. You gotta settle in, ok?” Grogu has been inconsolable since Din got back to the Crest, letting out whimpering cries and trying to slip out of his bassinet. When the kid made it all the way down the ramp to the hull and back out into the woods, it finally sunk in for Din that he was searching her, crying for her. He’s trying to let his frustration at Grogu’s antics stifle the real dismay he feels, but it’s hard to ignore the startling truth that he already misses her too. 

He had been shocked that morning, seeing her in such different dress. The dress of a Jedi. And then, an ember of hope sparked up in his chest when she joined him in the courtyard, hope that maybe she was choosing him over her master. But that was a ridiculous wish, he knew it, as she stood by her master’s side and he walked away, disappearing into the mist and back to the Crest. 

Grogu seems to have finally given up, slumping down into his bassinet with a despondent whimper. Din lets out a ragged sigh as he sits down to the Crest’s control panel, beginning to chart their course to Typhon. His attention is drawn to the beeping of the ship’s radar system, showing something, or someone, moving toward the back of the Crest. He huffs, grabbing his blaster and telling Grogu to stay put as he slinks down to the hull to see what’s going on.

He steps tentatively down the ramp from the hull, peering around into the hazy forest. As if from thin air, a figure in a dark, hooded cloak appears, Din aiming his blaster at it as it comes near. He nearly drops his gun when the figure pulls back the hood of their cloak.

“You got room for one more?” He has to remember to breathe as she steps closer, toeing at the foot of the Crest’s ramp.

“What are you– why are you–” He’s not completely sure what he wants to ask her, but she saves him from any more floundering, resting her hand on his forearm as she steps closer.

“I’ve had a change of plans. If you’ll have me, I want to join you and Grogu on your journey to Typhon.” Din clears his throat to stop himself from saying what he really wants to, that he’d have her any way she’d let him. Instead, he offers her a brisk nod.

“Another set of hands would be helpful.” Maker, that was smooth. She pays no mind to his awkward choice of words, smiling as she steps up into the hold.

Her reunion with Grogu is practically cataclysmic. Din has never heard the kid shriek so loudly as when he sees her step into the cockpit, immediately reaching for her from his bassinet. 

“I’m sorry, Grogu. Just couldn’t let you go.” Her voice is a low murmur to the kid whom she had quickly scooped up, his small hands coming to splay across her cheeks as he babbles excitedly at her. She glances up at him, and Din catches the glint of sadness in her eyes. He slowly starts to realize what her choice really means, piecing it together with what Ahsoka had said about attachment.

She has chosen them, not in tandem with her path as a Jedi, but in place of her path as a Jedi.

…

She’s not sure what she just did, her mind whirling with anxiety as she replays her last conversation with Ahsoka.

“It is your decision, and I cannot stop you. But if you choose this now, it is likely that you will never return to this path again.” 

Her hands are shaking in her lap where she’s sitting on the edge of her bunk, the smoothness of hyperspace providing no explanation for the tremor. Did she just make the biggest mistake of her life?

“He’s finally out, I guess he finds me a lot more boring than you.” She’s startled out of her mind by Din’s voice as he steps down from the ladder into the hull. She offers him the best smile she can muster, tucking her trembling hands under her thighs as he comes to sit on a crate across from her.

“So, you coming with us– does that mean–” she cuts off his hedging question with a nod.

“I have renounced the path of the Jedi to travel with you.” She certainly hadn’t expected Din to react in anger, but he seems to be, getting up with a huff as he paces the length of the hold before finally looking at her again.

“You– you shouldn’t have done that.” Her heart sinks and she starts to think that maybe this really was a mistake.

“What? Din, I did it–”

“No.”

“I did it to–”

“No. Do not tell me you did this for me– I couldn’t bear it.” That upsets her enough to get her up on her feet and in the visor of his helmet, seething at him.

“Well that’s too bad. Because I did do it for you– and for him.” Din makes a sound low in his throat, turning away from her with a bitter laugh.

“You threw away your future– I can’t let this happen. I-I’m turning the ship around.” She can’t believe him, snapping into action when he actually starts to move back toward the ladder up to the cockpit.

“Din, wait! Just– will you listen to me? Wait– stop.” She grabs him by his shoulder, her hand sliding down his arm to tangle with his as he turns back around to her. She sighs when he doesn’t move away.

“I-I couldn’t continue on the Jedi path even if I wanted to. Not with the way that I feel– it would be too dangerous to become a Jedi with these– emotions that I can’t control.” His fingers flex where they’re entangled with hers.

“What is it you feel?” 

“I feel a lot of things. Things I shouldn’t feel. For Grogu– but also for you.” A heavy silence falls after she speaks. She nearly jumps out of her skin when he brings his other hand to graze over her cheek, the warm leather of his gloves sending a shiver down her spine.

“Dral tracinya.” She knows it’s Mandoan, but she’s never heard these words before, and she furrows her brow at him. She can hear the smile in his voice when he speaks again.

“It means bright flame. That’s what you are, I think. Not a Jedi, or an apostate. Something entirely of your own making.” She untangles her hand from his, letting both her palms splay over his chest before sliding up to the edge of his helmet. His hands circle her wrists and she stills.

“Will you let me see you, please?” He doesn’t say anything, but his hands slacken and she gently slides his helmet off, carefully setting it on the cargo crates next to them before really looking at him. Those brown eyes she had been holding in her mind now gaze down at her, fluttering closed when she brings her palms to cup his face. 

When she kisses him, it occurs to her that this is something Din has probably never done with anyone else, what with the whole helmet situation. It shows, in the unsure way his hands hover at her waist, and how she has to coax him along, her lips molding to his until he melts into it. When she pulls away, his eyes are wide and impossibly dark.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” She can’t help the laugh that bubbles up at his breathless question.

“I was training to be a Jedi, not a nun.” The next kiss is more certain for them both, Din’s hands finding purchase on her waist as they move together. She can feel energy pooling, burning along her spine as Din’s lips become more insistent against hers. He’s a fast learner. She pulls away with a gasp and he chases after her to steal another smacking kiss, resting his forehead against hers afterward.  

“You need to know– I feel a great deal for you too, tracinya. I made a vow to you, and I intend to keep it.” Her smile broadens at his words as she steps out of his hold, only slightly enjoying the furrowed look that washes over his face at the new distance between them. 

She raises her palm, each small wave of her wrist pulling away another piece of Din’s armor, gently floating them down to the floor around him. When he’s left before her in just his boots and flight suit, she begins to work at the knot at her waist, her eyes never straying from his as she leaves her tunic hanging loosely over her body. 

Din makes quick work of his boots before quietly padding toward her. His bare hands ghost over the parted fabric of her tunic, and she shudders when he finally slips it off her shoulders, leaving her bare from the waist up before him. She can hear the catch of his breath as his gaze washes over her. The only sound is the low thrum of hyperspace mingling with their sharp breaths as she guides his hands to splay over her collarbones. His rough palms tentatively start to wander, ghosting over the tops of her breasts, along the dip and swell of her sides, his eyes following the path of his hands, dark and hazy. 

No longer able to stand the tease of his touch, she twines her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss that’s quite different from their first two. This is a kiss that gives everything, and demands everything in return, a low noise thrumming in Din’s chest when she licks hotly into his mouth. Her hands slip down to fumble with the zipper of his flight suit, and he quickly gets the hint, batting her fingers away to undo it enough to shrug out of the sleeves, the fabric hanging loosely around his hips. It makes her dizzy, how solid he feels under her roaming palms, warm skin scattered with silvery scars that she traces across like constellations. Din doesn’t give her much time to explore before he’s stealing her lips in a hard kiss, swallowing the gasp she lets out as his tongue finds hers. He’s a really fast learner. 

He starts to walk them back, guiding her to lay out in her bunk. It’s tight quarters, her knees brushing along the walls where she has bent them to frame his waist, and it feels like he’s everywhere as his mouth begins to wander, smearing down her neck and across her chest. She takes a sharp inhale, arcing up into his mouth when he grazes his teeth over the peak of one of her nipples, his eyes flickering up to her in clear amusement. 

“Where did you learn how to do that?” He chuckles, sitting back on his knees as his fingers fumble with the lacing of her pants.

“I was a Mandalorian, not a monk.” Her laugh dies in her throat as he roughly tugs her pants down her legs, standing back up to pull them all the way off, leaving her completely bare before him. She can practically feel the heat of his gaze as his eyes roam over every inch of her. Din absent-mindedly shrugs his flight suit the rest of the way off, his eyes not once leaving her body. It doesn’t exactly surprise her that he wasn’t wearing underwear, but her eyes still widen at the sight of his cock. He’s big, there’s no two ways about it, and dizzyingly thick, a pretty pink flush at his tip that matches the heat blooming across his chest. 

Before she can stare at him much longer, he’s kneeling back between her spread legs, palms wandering down the insides of her thighs before resting at the hitch of her hip bones. She brushes his brown mop of hair out of his eyes and he turns his head to press a kiss to the inside of her palm, shocking her with the sweetness of it.

“Will you let me touch you, tracinya?” She nods, but from the way his fingers flex into the plush of her hips, she knows he wants to hear her say it.

“Yes, Din, I want you like this, please.” He leans down, the crooked grin he kisses her with coaxing a smile out of her as well. She’s only slightly embarrassed by the gasp that leaves her when he finally swipes the rough pads of his fingers through her folds, throwing her head back when he’s quick to find her clit and trace tight circles around it.

“So wet– is this all for me?” She breathes out a raspy yes to his question, her hips canting up into his hand when he slips two fingers inside her. As a student traveling with her master, she had engaged in meaningless trysts from time to time, but nothing has ever felt like this, like her whole body is a live wire, energy coursing through her with each stroke of his fingers. 

He keeps his other forearm framing her face, hovering over her and swallowing her sighs with open-mouthed kisses as he coaxes her closer to the edge. 

“Let go for me, ner tracinya. That’s it- let me see you burn.” My flame, she knows enough Mandoan now to understand that’s what he just called her, and the thought of it is enough to send the energy pooling in her spine scattering through her body as she comes, a cry of his name the only sound she can make. 

The overhead lights of the bunk flicker as she rides out her high and Din’s eyes dart around in worry, pulling away only for her to tug him back down as she laughs around a kiss.

“Was that– was that you?” She grins, her fingers grazing up and down his shoulder blades.

“That was you– what you did to me.” His lips part, wonder a clear wash across his face and she can’t help but laugh again. He chases after the sound with a hard kiss, both of them sighing when the heat of his cock settles along the softness of her thigh.

“Let me have you, Din. I want you just like this.” He fists the base of himself, hissing as he draws his tip through her heat.

“You have me– however you want me– I’m all yours.” She digs her nails into his shoulders when he finally presses into her, her eyes scrunching shut at the stretching ache that singes pleasure into her bones. When his hips finally fit with hers, he groans, his forehead pressing down into her sternum as she draws her ankles to twine around his low back. She presses a kiss into his damp hair, coaxing him to look up at her.

“Move for me, Din. Let me feel you.” She didn’t think she’d ever hear a Mandalorian whimper, but that’s the exact sound he seems to make, low and broken in the back of his throat, as he pulls his hips back only to roll into her again, finding the push and pull of it amidst their shared sighs and gasps.

The lights begin to flicker again as she feels the flames of pleasure building, preening into Din’s thrusts as his mouth smears over whatever skin he can reach. 

“Need to feel you, tracinya. Come for me, please.” His hand skates down to rest warm over her stomach, fingers finding her clit in a lazy swirl that has her clenching hard around him. She whines out his name and he shushes her, murmuring lowly in her ear.

“Just like that– so beautiful– perfect– perfect for me– let go– that’s it–” He eases her into this high with his gentle coaxing, but the pleasure burns bright and hard once it hits, her nails digging into his shoulders as she lets out a gasping cry. One of the lights bursts, fine shards raining down on them as Din pulls out of her spasming cunt with a harsh groan, hovering over her as he finishes with a few weak thrusts into his hand, his warmth painting her stomach. 

He slumps over her, both of them heaving in a tangle of sweat and pleasure as they try to steady their breathing. She finds one of his hands with her own, twining their fingers together. Din squeezes her hand, pressing a kiss to the juncture of her neck before lifting himself up to look at her.

“That thing with the lights– does that– normally happen?” She sputters out a laugh at his obviously earnest question, bringing her other hand to trace his nose, the arc of his brow, the curve of his lips. Her own map of him on her fingertips.

“I have never experienced anything like that. Does that answer your question?” He seems to like her response, a smile threatening the crook of his lips as he gazes at her. She arches her neck and he seems to get the hint, dipping down to press a chaste kiss to her lips before he slumps over to the side, his arms still lazily draped over her, their legs still tangled. She lets out a long sigh, her eyes not leaving his.

“We should probably get cleaned up. The kid somehow always ends up in my bunk at night and I’d really rather he didn’t find us like this.” Din huffs at that, pressing his face into the inside of her bicep.

“Just a few more moments like this, please.” She hums, musing that his words hold more meanings than just one. Just a few more moments like this, without the worry of whether Grogu will be able to continue his training, without the worry of Moff Gideon potentially still searching for them, without the worry of what this all means, this new path they have just gone hurtling down. Just a few more moments in which all that matters is the way her fingers are trailing through his hair and the way his lips keep grazing over the slope of her shoulder. Just a few more moments of sweetness before they return to reality. 

“Alright, Din. Only a little bit longer, though.”

“Whatever you say, ner tracinya.”

[demon----dean]

Get to know me tag game

Guys, I was super busy all day, so I got tagged by several of you before I could answer. 😅 I really appreciate it @ineffable-snowman @briliantlymad @wibzenadarksiderwithasoftheart @ineffableobikin @somethingsteff @veloursdor @tideswept

Way to make a demon feel popular here. 🥰

3 ships: I am pretty much a monogamous Obikin shipper at the moment, but I also wrote a A.J (Takers)/Roman Sionis (Birds of Prey) a bit earlier this year.

first ever ship: Proper brainrot began with Sam/Dean from Supernatural

last song:

4. last movie: Fast X (queer-coded Jason Momoa, over the top car chases and action? Plot that looks like it was written by a five-year-old? Sign me up, baby!)

5. currently reading: Wild Space by Karen Miller again because apparently I like

As for fic -- I just finished Rebel with a Cause by toque and enjoyed it

6. currently watching: Ahsoka, also freshly done with The Foundation season 2

7. currently consuming: Ten in the evening coffee break. Had a really long day, and I am running on fumes tbh.

8. currently craving: More tattoos. I have had problems with the skin on my arms and therefore been waiting to get sleeves for years, finally at a point where it looks promising, IF I find someone who is willing to do it despite the scarring and find the money AND get time off work. 😅 Still optimistic, though.

tag 9 people you want to know better: Uhh, it seems most people have already participated and of course no pressure tags, but if you haven't done it yet, then I'd love to hear from @fleetstreetfatality @kingdomvel @howlbrooklyn @fishnamedsushi @sinfulskywalker

[toxictrannyfreak]

Please go into more detail about the Fulcrum Barriss thing.

Oh, anon, I have been waiting for this. You're going to get way more than you wanted.

Basically, my idea for Fulcrum!Barriss came from 2 things: 1, I really don't like Ahsoka in Rebels. She kinda sucks there tbh. One of Rebel's main themes is that of redemption, of finding your way back to the right path and helping, and Ahsoka doesn't really fit. She could fit, if they'd done things different and had her and Kanan have parallel character arcs where they both help each other find the Jedi path again, but instead she's a very flat character that never does anything that interesting. Sure, she's supposedly organizing the Rebellion from the shadows, but the only time she's ever significant in her own right in Rebels is when she's beating people up. She's presented as kind of a perfect Light Side saint kind of thing (think of the Gandalf-looking outfit she has in the endcard, and the exhausting amounts of Morai and Daughter imagery we get with her, without them ever once acknowledging that she was possessed by the Son) which really gives us nothing to go with the whole redemption theme. It's boring. There are some good things--I love most of Twilight of the Apprentice, for example, but it's pretty clear that the whole Vader and Ahsoka thing shouldn't have been in Rebels, since it has almost no connection to the actual main characters and the plot.

The second thing was that I wanted to explore Barriss's character post-Order 66 in a way that is respectful to her actual character while still mostly canon-compliant (Because while I hate the Wrong Jedi Arc for what it did to Barriss and fully believe that it never should have happened, a story following Barriss with everything in the Wrong Jedi staying the same is really interesting) and, well, obviously having Barriss be a rebel makes sense (do not talk to me about Inquisitor!Barriss, I hate it). Barriss also has a ton that she feels she has to atone for with the context of the Wrong Jedi Arc, and, as a young Jedi who did Fall a little bit, she can offer a lot to Ezra as a teacher, like helping him understand why he can't use the Dark Side to stop The Empire.

tl;dr: Ahsoka's boring in Rebels, and she really shouldn't have been there anyway, but Barriss is fascinating post-TCW and, as a former Jedi who was briefly taken in by the Dark Side and betrayed the Order, is pretty damn perfect with the themes of Rebels, and had a very unique perspective that would've been really valuable for Ezra's arc.

Rant over, @antianakin has some very good post on Ahsoka if you want to check that out, on to the next rant!

Barriss works as Fulcrum, too. In The Wrong Jedi (I hate it, but like, I am using Canon here, I know it's terrible and character assassination for the sake of shock value and racism), we see how skilled she can be at subterfuge and lying and hiding in plain sight. She's very good at knowing exactly how to manipulate Ahsoka into making herself look as guilty as possible while keeping herself very innocent-looking. I could definitely see a fully grown Barriss with 15 years of experience using those skills to fight the Empire and direct a rebellion from the shadows.

Narratively, it makes a lot of sense for Barriss to work as a quiet director of rebel activity in the Outer Rim. She isn't a super-powerful Force user that can easily beat a bunch of Inquisitors (I'll talk about my problems with how weak the Inquisitors were later) and hold back Darth Vader. She needs to stay quiet, but she also needs to help, and working with those who have been the most disenfranchised and hurt by the Empire to bring it down serves as a good parallel to the Wrong Jedi Arc, where she was one of the most disenfranchised and hurt by the war (a teenage soldier whose people are dying around her, and no one in power cares) redirecting that in the wrong way, lashing out and hurting people, and now she's helping people react in a positive way and do things right.

Ahsoka, on the other hand (I'm assuming you came from the Fulcrum!Bariss and Inquisitor!Ahsoka post) is honestly a much more interesting character as an Inquisitor than she's really ever been in canon, and honestly, it’s confusingly well foreshadowed for something that never happens. In the Mortis Arc (aka the most symbolic arc of TCW that EXPLICITLY TELLS YOU THE FUTURE OF THE CHARACTERS), Ahsoka is very much associated with the Dark Side. She's kidnapped by the Son, she sees a vision (all of the other characters have visions that are pretty clearly true) of herself in the future, telling her that Anakin will corrupt her if she can't let go of him, and lo and behold, what is the 1 thing that Ahsoka is never able to do? LET GO OF ANAKIN. She is literally possessed by the embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force. 30 years later in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka is still unable to let go of Anakin even after he’s been dead for years, after she faced him and recognised him, after there’s nothing left of the Anakin she knew, she can only see Anakin in Grogu. She is haunted by Anakin, she is attached to Anakin, Anakin defines her. Think of how tragic that would be with Inquisitor Ahsoka, who was forced to the Dark Side, who was manipulated and tortured and abused (tbf TotJ kinda makes it seem that Anakin was already borderline abusive to Ahsoka). Imagine the amount of pain and anger and unresolved trauma in her, all inextricably tied to Anakin, to Vader, to her Master. She loves him in the same horrifying, twisted way that he loves her and that brings them both so much pain, plunging them deeper and deeper into that downward spiral.

And then there’s the relationship the two of them would have with each other--Barriss who fell first, but was given the support she needed to pull herself out (obviously Luminara and the Jedi helped her, come on, there’s no way that if she lived they wouldn’t have helped her and pushed for her to be given back to the Jedi) who was able to find the Light again and use her experiences to help other people and make amends, but especially the fact that Barriss Fell of her own accord. There were other factors, but no one forced Barriss to Fall. The Inquisitors were tortured and mutilated and abused until they became everything they hated, and then they were forced to serve the very people who murdered their people. None of that is voluntary, even if they’ve been manipulated into thinking that it was deserved, or for the best, or made them stronger. A Fallen Ahsoka confronting a redeemed Barriss, a horrible mirror image of what happened to them in the Wrong Jedi Arc so long ago. That’s powerful and painful and it works, it fits with the themes of Rebels really well, and it doesn’t mess with the power scaling the way Vader does.

Now allow me to elaborate on this au. So, Order 66 happens, and Barriss is in Republic prison, one that’s probably guarded and maintained by clones (she wouldn’t be an immediate target, ‘cause she’s not a Jedi, and she’s probably wanted for the Inquisitorius anyway). At this point, Ahsoka has separated from Rex and only knows of one Jedi in the entire galaxy that’s probably still alive--Barriss, who she knows won’t be an immediate target, Barriss, who, despite everything, is still her friend. Barriss who will die soon. Ahsoka goes back to Coruscant and breaks Barriss out of prison.

Except the Empire knew that someone would come for her, and after Jesse never reported back, they knew Ahsoka was out there. Barriss manages to escape, but Ahsoka doesn’t. (This is, like, the angstiest possible version of this au, I could also do a version where Barriss just escapes, but I like pain, so.) Barriss thinks they’d kill her—the Inquisitorius program won’t become official for months yet, not until the last of her people have been tortured into everything she once thought the Jedi had become—so she makes sure Ahsoka’s sacrifice isn’t in vain, and she runs. She hides out in the Outer Rim, and she makes Ahsoka proud.

She sees the pain and suffering and misery caused by the war and the Empire, and she is a Jedi. She cannot help what she is. She builds a rebellion, piece by piece and step by step, hidden in the shadows, agonizingly crawling towards something better. She wakes up every day, and she fights, building networks of people and information and hope. She fights to restore the Republic that failed her, and the Order she failed, and she hopes that one day it will be enough. Enough to finally be redeemed, enough to go to trial once more and face punishment for her crimes. (Death. It was always going to be death, but the Jedi managed to postpone her trial until after the war, but the war never ended. The war was to destroy the Republic, and she refuses to stop fighting for civilization. She hears about Ahsoka, eventually, and she sees it as just one more sin she must carry.)

And then she meets Ezra. He is young, and scared, and angry, but he is bright in the Force and he wants to become a Jedi more than anything. She has stayed in the shadows for so long, but this young, brilliant boy and his Master, a fellow Padawan that she remembers from so long ago, they need her, and she goes. She brings everything she has, all to save these last Jedi and being the galaxy some hope. They burn a Star Destroyer, and broadcast a message of hope. It’s finally coming together.

She teaches Ezra what she can, and she and Kanan cling to each other. They hadn’t thought there was anyone else left, all 10,000 lights snuffed out by Order 66 or the Inquisitorius save for them. They meditate and train and try to find their way back to the Jedi path, for the child they’re trying so hard to save.

Eventually, the Empire comes for them. Inquisitor Ahsoka Tano, Grand Inquisitor of the Imperial Order of the Inquisitorius (I had a lot of fun figuring out how many times I could fit Inquisitor in there), second only to Darth Vader, finds them on Malachor. She brings a bunch of other Inquisitors with her (and they’re actually, like threatening bad guys this time, come on) and they have a big fight (idk if I want to keep Maul here, bc well I do like him in Rebels, he's just another example of Filoni forcing in legacy characters where they don't fit) in, like, the middle of the episode Barriss and Ahsoka have a really really angsty 1v1 duel (everyone else is trying to fight normally while ignoring the bitter exes biting each other's heads off in the background). Darth Vader does not show up.

I haven't thought much past Season 2, to be honest, but I do have some vague ideas:

Kallus (who actually has a redemption arc, not 1 episode where they retcon everything about him) definitely has a very strained relationship with the Inquisitors bc he’s several gallons deep in the Empire-propaganda koolaid and he doesn’t trust force sensitives, he thinks that they take jobs away from the ISB, who could do the much better, and, while he’ll never admit it, he does have a moral compass and feels like sending highly trained super-evil Force wizards that can bring down entire buildings with their minds is a bit much for a teenage boy

For seasons 3 and 4 I’d want to do something with the Zare Leonis/Project Harvester plot they set up in season 1 and then like. Never mentioned again outside of a niche book series. Smth about what the Empire actually does to force-sensitive kids

No Thrawn. Fucking hate Thrawn in Rebels bc he is yet another example of Felony jamming in cameo characters where they don’t belong. Why was Thrawn, fucking Grand Admiral of the Empire, the guy that (in Legends bc he wasn’t in canon pre-Rebels) nearly manages to bring back the Empire and destroy the New Republic basically by himself, in the show about a small group of misfit rebels desperately trying to build the early Rebellion? Thrawn managed to nearly bring down the Rebellion at its peak, when it had already destroyed the damn Empire! (For that matter, why is Tarkin in Rebels? Why is Vader in Rebels? Why is Emperor goddamn Palpatine. in. Rebels??? There is a thing called power scaling, felony, and it is very important!)

Instead of Thrawn being the main villain of seasons 3-4 of Rebels, I’d have Inquisitor Ahsoka be the main villain of season 3 and her redemption arc would be parallel with Kallus’s (bc he actually has one here) and they’d both get out of the Empire in the Season 3 finale. The villain of Season 4 would be Pryce, and the focus would be on her and the Empire’s greed destroying Lothal, which I think would go really well with the Zare storyline of Project Harvester that I mentioned above. The show would end about the same as it does in canon, though idk exactly how Ezra would get into the Unknown Regions without Thrawn.

So this has turned from Fulcrum Barriss into a full on rewrite of everything I didn’t like about Rebels, huh? Sorry anon, I warned you.

[ooops-i-arted]

I don't care to follow this show closely, but people in tags have been talking about it for weeks. Not surprising that the Ahsoka/Anakin reunion turned out disappointing and devoid of emotional depth, because what did I expect from Filoni and Disney Star Wars after all?

At this point, I just have to ask .... does Filoni know that he's supposed to be writing characters? Like people with personalities? Relationships between people with shared history? Dialogue that sounds natural coming from an individual with a functioning brain? Because we have characters like the live action Ghost Crew who are described as stilted and don't even act like they are close. We have Ahsoka and Luke scenes that feel hollow and tacked on, ("so much like your father" girl explain how something Luke said made you come to that conclusion or was it just for fans to get nostalgic about clone wars?). The last time Anakin and Ahsoka met, he tried to fucking kill her and we would think there would be more of a reaction from this. But no, the focus is on battle scenes and snarky clone wars skits.

Oh my bad, Filoni's target demographic is people weeping over the next cameo and something he poached from Legends. He can probably make something look like a flashy video game cutscene. But more effort is put into showing off choreography and making Ahsoka look like the bland, stoic and bestest OC ever, rather than writing something truly meaningful and it's really obvious.

The problem imo is that the fandom has acted like Filoni shits gold for so long Disney/Filoni has no incentive to improve. Every piece of nostalgia-laden schlock Filoni squeezes out of his butthole is treated as a masterpiece by the majority of the fandom. They have zero incentive to keep making fresh, original things like Mandalorian season 1 or Andor (haven't watched that yet, going by word of mouth) when low-effect TCW fanfiction makes the loudest Star Wars fans cream their pants.

Honestly I think the Ahsoka show is just Filoni playing with his dolls with all the high-end special effects at his disposal and still couldn't make Hera look halfway decent. Tbh I feel a bit bad for all the voice actors and animators who first brought these characters to life and gave them soul now being tossed aside for the new shiny live action versions, just because there's this idea that animation is less prestigious/for kids. Like I'm no fan of Ashley Eckleswhatever but there is no doubt she is dedicated to Ahsoka and the fans and I've heard tons of lovely things about her. Not to mention the Legends authors getting ripped off and no credit for their ideas. (Don't even get me started on Hayden Christensen. Okay, obviously I don't presume to know how he feels, hey if he's happy with this good for him and I 100% support him. But if I starred in the prequels and had my performance constantly mocked and maligned for years, finally returned to Kenobi and had tons of fans now cheering and praising me for an emotional reunion with the character & actor that were the heart of RotS..... I wouldn't exactly be thrilled to lick the orange butthole of some guy's fanfic OC next.)

(Also also I hate the TCW designs. In the 2D Clone Wars Anakin does not wear any armor, which imo much better shows how reckless and borderline arrogant he is about his abilities.)

[femurs-vectivus]

---incoherent ramble about new star wars media and critiques and what i think about it -----

Tbh i thought during andor, ahsoka and kenobi the YouTube situation was already bad, but by now listening to star wars critiques and podcasts has become so predictable that it is just plain funny.

I get that people are sharing their personal analysis and opinions, but at this point you can make a predictive bingo card out of flaws every single YouTuber is going to come up with for every new episode and you'd get like 80% correct as a star wars viewer with a little above average knowledge.

This isn't necessarily because "the show is bad and see, everyone agrees on it".

It's because millions of viewers means millions of slightly differing views, opinions and expectations, every one only vaguely thought out because people usually don't write and produce every detail of a show in their own head before they watch it., they just know what they want it to be like, what feelings they want it to evoke.

but everyone gets the same show that can show the narrative in only one way with a predetermined set of scenes and visuals a few people agreed on beforehand.

This HAS TO lead to details that don't entirely agree with you.

Note: that DON'T ENTIRELY AGREE WITH YOU.

But if you go into something with a bar raised higher than heaven because you have idolized previous media in your head and in the community, of course every single detail that doesnt reach that bar becomes a massive problem.

If you watched something without the goal to actively find bad things and noticed some of these dissonances by yourself, you normally do so mostly unconsciously and linger only on some of them. You are also aware that you are watching something someone else made for a wider audience that isn't a perfect carbon copy of the vision in your head.

But if you then open YouTube and find 100 videos telling you they had noticed this detail too and explaining to you why exactly this is a major problem affecting the entire show and therefore the writers failed and the show is ruined, you'll naturally gravitate towards this opinion because it DOES present itself as an objective and reasonable explanation. It doesn't know it's actually still a subjective one.

Most reasonable people have agreed by now that the problem of the star wars community is that it has raised the bar for its future media so high it can't be reached anymore because no man can build a tower as high as the one in a dreamers head.

The real problem with this is that people don't realise how unatainable their demands are for someone who makes ONE show for all and not one for every person on earth.

As soon as some peoples expectations are met they will be immediately villyfied by everyone for who that wasn't the case, as we've seen happen perfectly during the sequels phase.

-

On a side note, what I've seen in some older (meaning age) star wars fans that really annoys me. Them not realising that their interpretations are subjective and can be turned on their head most of the time.

Combined with a sense of superiority because of their age and them having a quite well established quite vocal YouTube base with some public credibility because of it.

Can lead to them totally discrediting younger new star wars fans simply because they never grew up with the same pieces of media as them and therefore "don't understand them as i do".

Yeah no shit Sherlock, that's the entire problem, you're stuck in the past and because the past is rock solid you can carve yourself whatever throne you want out of it and then judge the still forming present and future from it and occasionally throw stones without acknowledging the distance and circumstances that may have lead to this present, or the fact that your reality was once formed the exact same way.

Media creation evolves on and nothing will ever come back. Get a life.

-

As usual, unhappiness unites.

When i watch critiques that came out right after an episode aired, i mainly notice this:

Many negative points of critique can be turned on their head and be interpreted positively as well, and without any more "reaching" for arguments than it takes for the negative interpretations.

Many irrational character actions have a totally reasonable explanation (sigh really not all. Really not.). Many narrative choices are really just that: choices because the story has to go SOME way and there are just as many reasons for it to go THAT way as there are reasons against it.

But because it isn't giving you the unobtainable feeling you are chasing and you want to keep your old media on a pedestral you can't see that and immediately start to back up your negative feeling with a reasonable analysis to then frame that as fact.

These negative analysises are very persuasive because as previously stated, everyone experiences dissonances while consuming media and more importantly every single aspect of a piece of media can be interpreted and criticized differently by different people.

There is a reason we write a million class tests on book interpretations.

And there is also a reason why 90% of the class will write the same interpretation.

Because people decided before that this is probably what the author meant, there's an official blueprint interpretation you read before, specific passages have been discussed in class regarding this interpretation. It's the easy, save and analytically sound way to go during the test.

But the 10% that don't do this interpretation most of the time pick an almost exactly opposing analysis.

Because as with all aspects of human life there are always two sides to the same coin.

In some cases the coin falls definitely on one side, but even then there are people who see it differently.

When someone creates something for an audience they craft their own coin and roll it in the arena of public judgement in hopes that their audience is looking forward to it and will form an opinion on it from a relatively unbiased starting point.

But if enough people are already determined to flip the coin on one side from the beginning they will and from then on everyone who comes into contact with it will see the the side that's up first.

Human opinions get subconsciously influenced heavily by two things: the first contact with someone elses opinion on something and whoever screams the loudest.

I forgot where I was going with those flowery metaphors but anyway. Hoes are staying mad and can't be argued with on a reasonable level.

[marvelstars]

I usually like to talk about star wars in general and I don´t like to demonize any character be it one of my faves or not but tbh some fan takes really make me mad, takes like:

"Ahsoka wasn´t being fair in her judgment of the Order"

I am like "The Jedi Council, Obi-Wan and Plo Koon included" sentenced her to face a military trial that most definitely was going to end in her execution.

Again, a 16 year old whose only support/family/people she knew in her life abandoned her to be executed by the goverment she fought for three years as a child soldier.

Sorry but considering this, any take she has on the Order, the obvious love she still has for Jedi´s ways, people and life but also the criticism is completely valid on her part and she should say it, in fact I believe she was quite calm in her reaction considering all of that.

Same with her warm dedication to Anakin´s memory as her "older brother" you know given he was the ONLY ONE who thought about getting her a lawyer and solve the mystery to keep her from being executed by their own government, he was her master and treated her like actual family and didn´t break his links with her after the Order expelled her on circunstancial evidence or thought she was wrong for leaving after all of that like Obi-Wan did.

There´s Jedi unreasonable hate and there is reasonable, based in the story criticism and this is part of it.

Another fandom take that really gets on my nerves is:

Anakin was a child problem for loving his Mom, his Mom was like a Jedi and understood she had to "let go of him"

I am like: Shmi was a literal slave whose only way to keep Anakin from sharing the same fate as her was to give him up to a bunch of strangers, Shmi didn´t know anything about the Jedi but knew being free was better for Anakin than being a slave.

Anakin loving his mother and missing her isn´t attachment, it´s normal for a 9 year old to miss his mother, he also had a right to be mad with the republic for allowing slavery out of convenience and with the Jedi for supporting the republic on this instance because it wasn´t jedi bussines.

"Anakin was an incompetent leader"

Anakin was one of the best Jedi leaders out there in the clone wars, that´s why He and Obi-Wan got the harder missions dealing with Grievous, who killed a lot of Jedi or Count Dooku who also killed Jedi.

He got the moniker "hero without fear" out of the sheer victories he got for the republic and the many planets he helped free from separatist attacks, he also established training for what would become the first cells of the rebel alliance.

He wasn´t just a competent leader, he was a brilliant general, recognized by his enemies and friends alike.

"The clones are not a slave army"

The Clones were purchased with republic credits by a Jedi Master, that makes both the Republic and the Jedi Order their owners, this is canon in Attack of the Clones and in the Clone wars.

They dont get a salary because they are merchandise, property of the republic and the Jedi Order.

The Jedi Order didn´t know about the purchase but the fact they didn´t say anything post fact about the clones being slaves doesn´t give them a good look as "peace keepers to the galaxy" they were more, in this instance, supporters of the status quo.

And no, nothing of this makes valid Order 66, the Jedi Order didn´t deserve to be anhiliated for all of this but the Jedi Order definitely were a flawed organization made up of people with virtues and flaws who unfortunately supported blindly a corrupt system. The Republic was the mother of the Empire after all.

I feel like sharing some of my problems with fandom takes, rant over :)

[rexscanonwife]

I was watching the clone wars arc where those Padawan enter that ice cave to find their kyber crystals and construct their lightsabers (my first time watching it too btw my bff made me skip it on first watch 😂) and y'know the whole challenge to finding their crystals being unique to their personal problems and shortcomings got me thinking about what Brea's would have been! And for that matter, Kepler's!

It's fun to think about, and I think as a Padawan things sort of came easily to Brea, particularly relating to the Force. She didn't always take it seriously because she didn't think she had to work very hard, so I think her lesson would have been that she can't rely on natural talent alone. We all know what it's like to get mad when we're not immediately good at something 😂😂 to learn not to get discouraged as soon as things get hard and needing to work for something and implement taught SKILLS would be a good way to earn a crystal I think!

Kepler is a little more complicated, being that he STRUGGLES his way through the Padawan training and tbh isn't sure he wants to be one at ALL. In fact the thing he struggles most with is using the Force, at least the moving things with your mind part. I think his lack of confidence and his unwillingness to continue would be challenged, he'd be given a situation where he couldn't just give up or walk away, and he'd have to muster everything he had to use the Force and get his crystal. Maybe save someone? A fellow Padawan? (In my mind it's Ahsoka and she might get the TINIEST smidgen of respect for him but they still have a long way to go to becoming friends 😭)

[firefly-fez]

*After the rise of the Empire*

Obi Wan: Forgive me, Master Qui Gon, I have failed you. I have failed. I have failed everyone I ever loved. Satine, Ahsoka, they were right in the end, and Anakin, oh, Anakin...I’m so sorry, I couldn’t save you. Everything is lost and it is all my fault

Ahsoka: The Jedi are gone, and I’m all that’s left. I have to use the Force to do good, I have to save whatever younglings I can...but I can’t escape the guilt. I didn’t deserve to survive. I was only civillian advisor, dealing with half the clones as any other Jedi...If I had stayed, it would’ve been twice as many. I would have been overpowered, cut down with the rest. I only survived because I left... How do I even have the right to pass on a legacy I have forsaken?

Cody: I’ve done unspeakable things, in the name of the Empire. I betrayed my Jedi, my friend...I’m so sorry, General Kenobi.I’ve fought in countless battles and forced to carry out orders I’ll never be able to live with...I can’t go on anymore, not like this

Rex: All my life, I thought I was born to serve the Republic, the Jedi...so many of my brothers sacrificed because we all believed it was true...but it wasn’t. All this time...the true purpose of the war... to raise us up as killers to betray our dearest friends, to destroy the very Republic I had sworn my life to...Everything I ever believed in was a lie

Meanwhile, The Bad Batch: Sounds like a you problem tbh

[crim-bat]

Not to say that the Jedi are blameless, they're not but only in as much as any other system that "allowed" Palpatine to come to power (most of their issues were being out of touch, their fault, and being manipulated by Palpatine), in Anakins fall but a big part of his fall wasn't so much the jedi not helping him so much as him actively breaking the rules and also being really bad about asking for help.

Obi Wan says he'd be expelled from the order over Padme, which probably helped that along, but he also definitely knew most of what was going on in the Clone wars.

The jedi didn't want to train him because he was a ball of fear and trauma. And this is an assumption on my part but coupling that with the chosen one potential was probably giving them all some red flags.

Mace Windu at worst is kind of a hard-ass. But every time he reprimanded Anakin it was because Anakin did something incredibly arrogant or boneheaded. And he doesn't trust Anakin specifically around palpatine. And he was right. Because he probably saw what was going on and commented on it most vocally from what we see in the movies. "Take a seat, Young Skywalker" is also an incredibly measured response given the outrage and hissy fit Anakin had in the council chambers. Other than that Mace Windu is actually a very even-handed with him. All things considered.

And when Anakin went to Yoda for advice on the dreams he was having and the visions of Padme dying, he didn't give specific information. He just said that someone he knows is dying. He gave generic information so he got generic help.

All of this not really helped by the fact that Anakin did have some messed up training given to ahsoka. Knocking out a child/ teenager for an hour per few minutes of training is not only hilariously impractical but swerved hard into potential abuse territory.

Did I aren't blameless but I would say that they probably deserve some of the least amount of blame given all available information. People sympathize with the Anakin because he's the main character, or one of the main characters. But Mace Windu is almost always right and is only wrong because he's surrounded by Mavericks you have the power of plot and main character on their side.

And a lot of Anakin's problems stem not only from over 10 years of constant grooming from an evil space wizard driving a wedge between him and his support which was mostly successful barring Obi Wan who needed to be off world for him to pull that off but also Anakin's own trauma not being addressed which I think the jedi didn't actively ignore so much as they lacked the tools to handle (he came in late with a lot of trauma (slavery/missing his mother) which the jedi likely had little experience with on both sides).

At most the Jedi were out of touch with the rest of the Galaxy and lacked the tools to really help Anakin the way he needed to be helped. But even then, Palpatine is the one who made Anakin the way he was and more blame should be placed on that wrinkly asshole than the jedi order tbh

[its-captain-sir]

u reblogged it from me so 📓 star wars 👁️👁️

oh god there's honestly so many hakfhakdhsks I have been thinking at lot about my old fantasy au though lately so let's talk about that one!

Plot-wise it was supposed to follow Obi-wan, a jedi knight-wizard (jedi in this au are more ronin-like, united by the order but functionally traveling peacekeepers who offer up their services) who's been doing Bad ever since his fellow knight (Anakin) fell under the control of a dark wizard/demon (Palpatine). There was a big fight, forests were burned, squires and animal companions (Ahsoka and R2) were lost, and Obi-wan's entire life basically fell apart. Whoops!

None of that is actually Covered in the fic however cause this story would have focused on him running across Mandalore on his travels and encountering the king and his seven sons (Jango and the clones!), all bearing a curse that so far no one has been able to break. As far as they can tell, it was placed on them by dark wizard who was angry at Jango and hoped to weaken Mandalore, and now each of the sons are bound by a thread only they can see and tugs on it compel them to follow it to its owner or, as they learn later on, can even be used to control them. Upon learning that Obi-wan is skilled with magic (the force basically) and curses in particular, they enlist his help to try to break it before it's too late.

While that's the overarching plot point, lots of other stuff happens in the meantime! Like Ahsoka actually being alive and finding a place for herself in Mandalore as a close friend of Rex! Weird family dinners between all the Fetts that Obi-wan gets included in! Boba being the seventh son of a seventh son and maybe having just a Little more magic of his own than he should and making it everyone else's problem! Angsty moments where an attempt at breaking the curse fails and Cody and Rex are forced to turn against their loved ones! I'm not even scratching the surface here, I had BIG plans for this au.

Eventually it would have culminated with them purposely following the threads to their end and confronting the dark wizard who, surprise! is the same guy that corrupted Anakin (who is still under his control btw). There'd be a pretty large battle between the Fett family + Obi-wan and Ahsoka and Palpatine and Anakin + Palpatine's summoned constructs (the equivalent of battle droids), and tbh I don't think I ever completely got around to deciding what all happens here, but it does end with Cody killing Palpatine, Anakin being released to return to his friends and life, the curse on the Fetts finally broken, and everyone getting rides on a dragon as they all enter a free life from this point on (did I mention I made R2 a dragon? yeah I made him a dragon)

And there you have it I guess! There's honestly a lot more world building and plot points I could have gone into cause I reallyyyyy planned all those kinds of things out when I worked on this more consistently, that stuff was so much fun for me to try to figure out how to translate over from star wars to full fantasy, but this is the basics of it! Now I just sit here and hope that maybe it will actually be a real fic one day hakfhakdjsk