#i love everything dave filoni has done until now

[sugarandice3]

I really like the Ahsoka show, but for the life of me, I can't understand why Dave Filoni decided that Sabine needed to use the Force. She was such a cool and complicated character in Rebels and the fact that they shoved some Force-sensitivity in there really bothers me. She doesn't need the Force!! In Rebels, her backstory was made to compliment Ezra's. Where Ezra lost his loving parents, Sabine still had hers, the lack of love haunting her during the series. Ezra had to learn how to fight while Sabine had to learn peace. Ezra was a Jedi and Sabine was a Mandalorian.

They were supposed to be friends despite all the differences.

Now, its less of "they trust that the other one has their back and they rely on the other's skill set to cover their own weaknesses" and its more like "they both have have the access to the same skill set but one of them can barely use it so now there's added drama of one feeling inadequate."

She didn't need the Force to be cool. She was cooler without it.

[tyllt]

Quotes (pt. 2)

Peace

I found a sliver of sun today and stood in it, squinty and content in its fleeting embrace. I never thought I'd miss you. - Josh Groban

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy? - Oscar Wilde

Summer arrived in full force. Cicadas cried from the cherry trees and in the evenings a pleasant breeze blew briefly as dusk began to arrive earlier each day. - Sukegawa Durian

I sincerely wish for you every possible joy life could bring. - Bob Ross

I'm kind of in love with everything, that's just how I am. - Anonymous

"It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday!" It takes all of my persuasive power to try to convince her that she is already here. - Liz Gilbert

And on the last day, when all his work was done, he only just discovered the sun, on the last day. - Moby

This has been going on for so long already, this unfolding. Harry doesn't know how many more ways they can find to mean something to each other. - Anonymous

I thought the earth remembered me. She took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichen and seeds. - Mary Oliver

But in the end, stories are about one person saying to another: this is the way it feels to me. Can you understand what I'm saying? Does it feel this way to you? - Kazuo Ishiguro

I have nothing to gain from kissing her. But I am no longer looking to gain anything. - John Green

Make it simple, but significant. - Don Draper

Along the lake path - bird song implied. - Anonymous

There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point? - Pam Beasley

You're writing lines about me; romantic poetry. - Halsey

I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to return. - Frida Kahlo

Womb to tomb, sweetheart. - dropdeaddream

I believe in angels, something good in everything I see. - ABBA

Part of loving the winter is submitting to it. - Anonymous

And so I fall in love just a little, oh, a little bit. Every day with someone new. - Hozier

Needle-dark December smells. She walks with wonder everywhere. - Muriel Rukeyser

In March I'll be rested, caught up and human. - Sylvia Plath

What's the winter for? To remember love. - Theodore Roethke

We call everything on the ice "love". - Viktor Nikiforov

The only difference between a flower and a weed is judgement. - Wayne Dyer

The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. - Matsuo Basho

We all have one foot in a fairytale, and the other in the abyss. - Paulo Coelho

Not to sound cosmic, but I've made plans for the next 3,000 years. Before, it was only three days at a time. - Prince

You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me. - Amie Kaufman

If we want peace, we have to be peace. Peace is a practice, not a hope. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness only real when shared. - Christopher McCandless

A sunny day in the void. - Dave Filoni

And all I want to do is fly. - Eric Whitacre

I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. - Vincent van Gogh

We don't really know where this goes, and I'm not sure we really care. - Bob Ross

I'm alive! I'm alive! I am so alive! - Aaron Tveit

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not valid, but is often true. - Anonymous

Harry looked at the leaves gently dancing in the breeze, the way Kavika had taught him to look - observing details, things he thought he already knew. - Lettered

Make the decision everyday to be happy. - Anonymous

Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home. - J.K. Rowling

Dancing is for people who are free. - Jojo Rabbit

And so, our journey comes to an end. But yours continues on. Grab hold of your dreams and make them come true. For you are the key to unlocking your own magic. Now go. Let your dreams guide you. Reach out and find your Happily Ever After. - Anonymous

We take death to reach a star. - Vincent van Gogh

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Hamlet, Hamlet

I'll be good, I'll be good. And I'll love the world like I should. - Jaymes Young

I was born free, and that I might live in freedom I chose the solitude of the fields; in the trees of the mountains I find society, the clear waters of the brooks are my mirrors, and to the trees and waters I make known my thoughts and charms. I am a fire afar off, a sword laid aside. - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

'Denied the catharsis of punishment' is an underappreciated but hugely effective narrative consequence.

Just smell the grass! The dirt! Just like I dreamt they'd be! Just feel that summer breeze, the way it's calling me. For like the first time ever, I'm completely free! I could go running and racing, and dancing and chasing, and leaping and bounding, hair flying, heart pounding, and splashing and reeling, and finally feeling - that's when my life begins! - Rapunzel

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them, and that is eternity. - Edvard Munch

[themovieblogonline]

The Bad Batch Season 2: Can Crosshair Ever Find Redemption? Should He?

Star Wars fans love a good redemption story. Hell, the original trilogy was all about the redemption of Darth Vader. And then we spent another trilogy going backward to find out just how good he initially was, thereby adding more weight to his sacrifice, leading to his eventual redemption. So with two seasons into The Bad Batch, I’m wondering if we’re headed down the same path with a former member of the Batch, Crosshair. With season 2 starting strong, creator Dave Filoni looks to be planting seeds that hint at that. But it’s still too early to tell where we are going with Crosshair’s storyline. With The Bad Batch’s Crosshair now officially the odd one out, will he ever find his way back to his brothers? I think so. Read on to find out how I think Crosshair could find redemption.  Spoiler Warning: The following will contain spoilers for The Bad Batch season 2 episode 3 titled ‘The Solitary Clone’. The Bad Batch’s Crosshair Has Done Horrible Things Before discussing if Crosshair’s redemption is forthcoming, we should probably look at what he’s done so far. In season 1 of The Bad Batch, Crosshair orders the execution of a camp full of innocent civilians while looking for Saw Gerrara. Throughout the rest of the season, he similarly kills, hurts and hunts others, including his own brothers, The Bad Batch themselves. Initially, we, as well as the Batch, think Crosshair’s actions are due to the inhibitor chip that caused all Clone Troopers to betray the Jedi in Order 66. However, we soon find out that Crosshair removed his chip early on. So his blind loyalty to the Empire isn’t a result of mindless programming through technology. But rather a choice Crosshair made. This is what made Crosshair such a good antagonist. The misdirection of the chip being thought of as the cause of his actions, only for the reveal to show that he is accountable for them, was heartbreaking. But The Bad Batch and Crosshair’s dynamic gets even worse with the revelation in the third episode of season two. The Solitary Clone Chooses His Own Actions Episode 3 of season 3 sees Crosshair team up with another popular Clone Trooper from The Clone Wars animated series, Commander Cody. Cody was another friendly clone who worked with all the Jedi for years before Order 66 made him turn against them. He returns in this episode, serving the new Empire, and carrying out missions for them. Just like Crosshair. However, when faced with a less-than-black-and-white decision, Cody takes pause. When the representative of a planet is refusing to join the Empire, because they want peace, Cody promises to hear her out, and even take her request to his superiors. However, before he can follow through, Crosshair shoots and kills her at the command of an Imperial Officer. Without hesitation, because, as Cody says earlier— ‘good soldiers follow orders’. What Bad Batch's Crosshair's Actions Mean For Clones Everywhere By the end of this episode, we see Cody struggle with Crosshair’s action, leaving him disillusioned with his service in the Empire. We then hear about how Cody is now AWOL, meaning he deserted his post, due to this questioning of the Empire’s motives and actions. What this shows us, is how the Clones aren’t evil, and that the chip didn’t make them evil, but that they know right from wrong. And when faced with the Empire’s evil ways, many Clones deserted their posts. But even more important, what this means for The Bad Batch’s Crosshair. Knowing now that despite the chip, Clone Troopers can think for themselves and choose to leave the Empire’s service, it shows Crosshair in a different light. It proves, one and for all, that everything Crosshair has done up until now, has been his choice. Not the chip. Not the brainwashing. But Crosshair alone. Which makes it much harder for any possible redemption arc. If Crosshair chose to do all the horrible things he did, despite having an alternative but quite literally choosing the Empire over his brothers, redemption’s going to be hard to come. And while the show definitely looks like they may be setting up for that. It’s going to be hard to cheer for that eventual redemption arc, knowing that Crosshair can’t justify his own actions besides a ‘following orders’ rationale. Episode 3 of The Bad Batch season 2 is now streaming on Disney+. What do you think about The Bad Batch’s Crosshair and his actions? Do you think he can ever return to his family? Or is he too far gone? Let me know in the comments below. Read the full article

[david-talks-sw]

About the supposed “dig  at Rey” in the Mandalorian finale.

So a lot of people have taken to YouTube and social media, saying that Luke’s line about “talent without training (being) nothing” is a dig at Rey “bEcAuSe ShE’s A mArY sUe who’s good at everything and never trained!!”

No.

Quick recap: The Mandalorian is created by Jon Favreau, and he develops it with Dave Filoni (who created The Clone Wars with George Lucas, invented Ahsoka Tano, and created Star Wars: Rebels), among others.

As far as Dave is concerned, Rey is no different than Ahsoka, she’s not “OP”, she’s not a “Mary Sue”. He’s all for strong, independent, female characters.

He talked about this at the National Center for Women & Information Technology, you can find his full speech here. If you want to see the extracts specifically about Rey and female character in Star Wars, you can find it here (though I’d advise just ignoring the intentionally-triggering title and seeing the video for what it is).

All the backlash he saw about Rey? He saw it for Ahsoka too.

“Oh, she’s fighting Grievous and she’s only, like 13?! That’s so OP!”

“She feels like a Mary Sue written for a prequel based fan fiction.”

“Oh, she disobeyed an order from Yularen on Ryloth?! She’s so snippy!”

“Ugh, I hate her and her stupid voice!”

“She’s always pointing out stuff other characters have missed, like she’s so perfect! She's a Mary Sue with an annoying voice and personality.”

And honestly? I remember that period. People hated Ashley Eckstein and Ahsoka, just like they hated Hayden Christensen, and most Prequel-related content.

So no, that line is not a dig at Rey. If you expect that to ever come from Dave, big chance you’ll be disappointed. He is all for Rey, as a character (as am I, tbh). There may be issues with how she’s written, but none of it is related to her being too strong, or her being good at everything. Guess what? Captain America and Goku are good at everything too.

What The Mandalorian tackles, with that line, is a debate with bigger implications than just Grogu.

We get two sides of the same debate, from both Ahsoka, and Luke.

“I cannot train him. His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears. His anger. I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us. I will not start this child down that path. Better to let his abilities fade.”

“He is strong with the Force, but talent without training is nothing. I will give my life to protect the Child… but he will not be safe until he masters his abilities.“

The subject they really subliminally tackle is:

Should Anakin Skywalker have been trained to be a Jedi?

On the one hand:

Anakin has the potential of being the most powerful Force-user in galactic history, as the Jedi know it. It’s just a matter of time before he accidentally Force chokes someone in a fit of anger, or when submitted to extreme stress. He needs to be trained to hone his skills so he’s not a danger to himself and others.

Jedi Training would also help him get over the trauma of growing up as a slave on Tatooine, as it is aimed at keeping your emotions under control, whereas Anakin isn’t even acknowledging their existence (he pretends he’s not afraid in front of the Jedi Council, and seems to be the only person in the room to think that he should hide his fears). His hidden fears, his anger… Jedi Training would teach him to confront them.

Also, there’s a big chance the Sith are back! If they let this kid just go out into the wild, who knows, maybe the Sith Lords pick him up and make him one of their own. Better to keep the boy close.

Anakin is a good boy, raised by a loving mother, with a kind heart. If anything, he’s got the drive to do good as strong as that of any Jedi’s. Him being down-to-earth more than your average Jedi can potentially make him the best out of all of them. He could bridge the distance between the Jedi and the Senate, he could lead the Jedi into a new age. If anyone could be the next, better and improved Yoda, it’s Anakin Skywalker.

On the other hand:

Jedi training is for Jedi only. AKA, it’s perfect if you’re raised in the temple at a very young age to be a diplomat/wizard who upholds the values of the Republic, in control of your emotions and in Balance with the Force. But if you’re not? Then the strict rules of the Jedi Order will basically seem like an insurmountable (bordering on unreasonable) obstacle.

Any normal person will see these rules as attempting to turn you into a sociopath. Because if you’re a normal person, they might. For all intents and purposes, Anakin is a super-powerful normal person. If they take Anakin in, 10 years old, with the attachments he’s formed (his mother), the emotions he represses, the trauma from his upbringing - all of which, in a normal person, are totally fine and common - and try to force him in a mold he just won’t fit in, that’s just a recipe for disaster.

Of all people, Qui-Gon Jinn - Mister “I’m always right because I follow the Will of the Force and you don’t” - who is not the most forthcoming of people, as opposed to Obi-Wan, is insisting that he should train the boy. You give a chaotic Master a chaotic Padawan? That’s adding extra ingredients to the recipe for disaster.

The BEST thing to do would be Qui-Gon leaving the Order with Anakin, and raising Anakin as his surrogate son, teaching him his values, rather than training him as a Padawan and teaching him the values of the Jedi (which he’s too old for and which essentially make the Jedi the Senate’s lapdogs). But Qui-Gon’s insisting that he train him as a Jedi.

Anakin’s mind is too fragile as it is. If they add the stress of being a Jedi to that too, there’s a big chance he won’t be able to take it, and bring about the destruction of everything they are, stand for and care about.

And, to be honest? Both points are fair.

Because Anakin was both…

… the best of them…

… and their destructor.

But then, should Grogu be trained?

In my (and Luke’s) opinion? Yes.

Ahsoka’s logic makes sense… but it only applies to how things were before, back when the Jedi served the Republic as Force-sensitive diplomats/ambassadors, making decisions that impacted whole planets and their billions of inhabitants, keeping the peace through mediation, and occasionally investigating a crime.

But in Grogu’s case… things are a bit different.

The Republic is gone.

The Jedi’s mission of upholding its values seems to be gone with it.

So literally any surviving Jedi, has a new mission: just help people.

Be it Ezra & Kanan helping the Rebellion during the Dark Times.

Or Cal Kestis, saving the Force-sensitive children.

Or Ahsoka, helping the village of Calodan, after the fall of the Empire.

Or Luke, literally being a space-vagabond/Jedi archeologist for 10 years and helping out wherever and whoever he can.

The Jedi no longer have to deal with planet-sized problems, or mediations, or investigations, because the New Republic hasn’t included them in its government, seeing as they have their rangers, now.

So now, the pressure of “upholding the Republic’s values” and “going on missions which impact billions of lives” is gone.

Now, the Jedi operate at a smaller scale and just help people out. As they did, before they became Republic officials.

Sure, they still keep their emotions in control, but that’s simply for the sake of living a healthy life, rather than for the sake of objectiveness and diplomacy.

In these circumstances? It’s totally fine for Grogu to be trained, as he should be.

The line was about the fact that training Grogu to hone his skills is fine, and should be done, before he becomes a danger to everyone around him.

[legobiwan]

The Mandalorian, “The Tragedy” (S2, E6/14)

Shortest episode of the season and by far the best one.

First of all, Dave Filoni, you had better be taking notes on this episode. That is how you direct an action scene. I adored the Boba Fett sequence - he was a badass, fought with a personal style, and managed to destroy the Stormtroopers without it looking too easy and too stylized.

Good gods, I love her. Ming-Na Wen is an icon. 

Also, the (not-quite) bisection? The orange-red-black color scheme?

Reminds me a little bit of this guy:

Anyway, interesting bit here. Do you think Grogu actually wants to go with a Jedi? My bet is on “no.” Which would be attachment. But the Order is dead and buried, Luke saved the galaxy because of his attachment, Kanan wasn’t exactly unattached, and Ahsoka is a wildcard in that department. Port-Order 66 Jedi aren’t exactly a shining beacon of the “old rules” (which isn’t a bad thing, per se), so I have my doubts that Grogu will turn out to be Yoda 2.0.

This is some top-notch Mortis bullshit right here:

Which, I don’t know how I feel about yet. The “world between worlds” was (in my mind) a gigantic cop-out. Mortis itself was fine although upon closer inspection, flawed. We’ll see how this goes. 

But Din’s question at the beginning here is hilarious

Random rocks with mysterious powers in the chaparral? Yup, that’s Jedi for you.

Holy crap, I was not expecting to enjoy Boba Fett’s storyline as much as I did. I mean, they already resurrected Maul (and Ahsoka, although that’s another story). But Boba Fett? I was initially content to leave him to the sarlacc, but this was well-done. He doesn’t overpower the storyline and his presence fits in well with the exploration of Mandalorian culture. Plus, you know, the fight sequences. 

Speaking of which,  I think this fight sequence had the first original music on the second season that I can remember. Everything else to date has been (I think) a retread of Season One’s soundtrack. Now, the Season One soundtrack is spectacular and I was really looking forward to new sounds. Up until now, I had been disappointed in the unoriginality of it all, but this episode cranked it up. (Which also makes me wonder how much last-minute filler they were coming up with for the previous episodes. Because this one is leaps and bounds above the others, perhaps excepting the Frog Mother episode and most of Cobb Vanth.)

WHO ARE YOU, CODY-RESEMBLING STORMTOOPER???

Speaking of Stormtroopers, this exchange had me rolling on the floor. Very reminiscent of the TCW battledroid humor of yore:

Hooooly crap, Baby Yoda taking apart those Stormstroopers. HOLY CRAP Moff Gideon going full-evil.

Here’s my thing. I could have done without the majority of the previous episodes (or perhaps have combined them). We’re six episodes in and only now do I feel the plot is moving forward at all. (Yes, we needed Cobb Vanth to get to Tatooine and we needed Frog Lady for some needed character development.) But Bo-Katan? Ahsoka? I’m not sure what their purpose is/was. (I mean, Bo-Katan I can undersatnd in terms of Mandalorian culture. I really don’t know what the Ahsoka episode was supposed to be about, however, aside from, “hey, here’s Ahsoka fighting some random evil lady we’ll never see again but the stakes are high, believe us.”) But Moff Gideon, Fennec Shand, Cara Dune, Cobb Vanth, even Boba Fett? This is interesting to me. These characters live and breathe and aren’t bogged down with volumes of canon behind them. The Mandalorian was fun because it was new, because the characters were new, because we were watching interactions without the shadow of the Jedi. 

And Grogu is great, I love him, but in a way, he’s almost felt incidental to the plot this season up until now. I’m hoping they go in a very different direction with the Jedi/Force stuff (like, what does a not-even-half-trained do without the Order? I suppose Ezra Bridger would know. Which is a name that has been floated as a mysterious interloper at the end of this season which again...I’d have to see how they executed it but my hopes aren’t high.)

Anyway, by far the best episode of the season, great action, plot points, character development in 38 whole minutes. My only quibble is that Madno’s Beskar is starting to look like a “Get Out of Jail Free” card when it comes to blaster fire. 9/10

[shelf-care]

Get to know the writer

This ended up taking longer than I wanted to, but I'm okay with that. It's a good warm-up.

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Status: Single

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Where I’m From: Texas

Favorite Color: White, gold, forest green

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

It does a little bit of both, I save up ideas to the point that when I actually sit down to write them I become so concentrated on them that when my brain is finished I get tired, but I get excited about the project since there's progress being made.

What’s your writing kryptonite?

The blank page is a big one. Or having more than one idea for a story and trying to make it cohesive and it's just not coming together.

Do you use your real name or a pseudo?

kind of both. I have my real first name attached to my writing but I don't use my real last name because it just doesn't ring or roll off the tongue like it should.

Do you tend to write what you want, or what your readers want?

100% of the time I write what I want, only when someone requests something specific do I do what others want. (Which I'm open to).

What other writers are you friends with?

I would say I'm friends (or at the very least) mutuals with @rainydaydream-gal18 and @fizzyxcustard @fromthedeskoftheraven

Their writing can always brighten my day without a doubt.

Do you prefer to write one-shots or series?

I wish I could write engaging series, I tend to lean towards one-shots or standalone stories the most.

If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?

Writing isn't like the movies. It's a cutthroat industry and if you are passionate and want it enough, don't be afraid to take risks. It doesn't matter if people like your work if you like it that's enough.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

Probably Circe. No one talks about that book at all. It's strange to me since HBO is developing a TV series based on the book too.

What’s your writing spirit animal?

A lizard. I say that because I take everything in spurts.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I have two. I have one book that is so close to being done. The other I just have ideas here and there and I write the scenes as they come. Idk if it'll ever see the light of day, but who knows.

How many hours a day do you write? Days per week?

I try to write every day. Though it's hard when writing isn't your full-time job. on a good day, I write for about three hours. I'll do this about three days out of the week considering I have the time to commit to it.

How do you select the names of your characters?

Pinterest. Thats one of the only sites I use. I also use "Fantasy name generator" if I want something out of this world or just weird.

Are you primarily a writer? Or do you consider it a second career?

I would love nothing more than to be a writer full-time. (I'm doing my best to take on freelancing and editing for my full-time gig.) At this very moment in time, it's on the back burner and most definitely secondary.

Do you hide secrets/easter eggs in your books?

I try to, but unless it's fan fiction, I like sticking to my own world and writing.

What types of scenes are hardest for you to write?

Pain. Physical pain and parts where the character is in inhuman amounts of pain are really hard for me to write without it coming off as a William Shatner scene.

What’s your biggest writing flaw?

Grammar and punctuation. Just, no matter how many times I proofread. There's always something to correct.

Do you have a specific process for writing?

I have to be completely undistracted. I have to have a hot beverage by me. (Tea, coffee, cider.) I have to have music on most of the time. But the music has to be instrumental or something I've heard a million times, or else I'll get distracted.

What’s your writing setup like?

It's simple. Either my bed next to my bookshelf so I have all my references near me or my desk where I try to pound out as much as I possibly can. There are some days you can find me at the dining table writing away in the kitchen where I can refill my coffee or get something to eat and sit right back down.

How long does it take you to finish your first draft?

Depends on the project. An article takes me maybe an afternoon after all the research and writing and fact-checking. A book takes me about a year to two years. It's kinda ridiculous.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

I'm suffering from it right now. Of course, there's such thing as writer's block! I think most of it has to do with the aforementioned "Blank page." If it's not that, it's getting in the correct headspace to actually write what you want.

Do you want to be/are you professionally published or self-published?

At the moment I want to be traditionally published so I can get my name out there, but I don't want to have to check a bunch of story boxes so I can make it. I'll probably be going the self-published route.

How would you feel if your story turned into a movie?

Like any other writer, I'd be ecstatic! But I'd be worry about how a studio would take my story and rewrite it for the screen. It can't be avoided. It's the way someone does it and how it's edited is how it matters. Also, I'd want to be involved with the scriptwriting process.

Are you a planner or a pantser? Or somewhere in between?

Oh, I'm a pantser. I've tried to have an outline for any of my projects. It just never works for me personally. I know where I want my story to go and that's about all I got.

What inspires you as a writer?

J.R.R. Tolkien, John Favreau, and Dave Filoni are my biggest inspirations. they all do so much and put their hearts into the projects. they think about the story and how it will affect people not only emotionally but mentally as well. I can only dream of making people feel something from my writing. Their narratives are always relevant and inspiring.

Are your characters based off of people you know? Yourself? Or no one at all?

I'd rather not base my characters off of people I know. There's maybe one character that I have in one of my books that was based on the worst co-worker I ever had. But that's about it.

What made you decide to write your story?

There's always been something in me to do anything in the realm of storytelling. I just didn't know it until I was about fifteen. I think I have some stories to tell. I just hope people find comfort and escape in them.

If any of you want to do this I highly recommend it. It really makes you think about who you are and why you are writing.

[katierosefun]

creator tag

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works! 

thank you @kckenobi​ and @pandora15 for the tag!! <3 so here are the works, in no particular order and also oh gee i am so sorry this got so painfully long you can tell i’m procrastinating on my final + also i just tend to run my mouth when im talking about writing asdffd

to these memories (After Darth Sidious is defeated, everything changes. Some for the better, others not so much. Mostly better though. (Or: Anakin becomes a dad. Rex rehabilitates clone troopers who no longer want to be a part of the army. Ahsoka gets a call from an old friend. And maybe Obi-Wan finds out it’s not just his enemies who don’t stay dead. Basically, everyone gets the happy ending they deserve.)

so this was my first major longform tcw fic, and i just. i have a lot of feelings about this fic, mostly nostalgia and lots of gratefulness. first of all, i think i met a lot of super cool people through this fic, and i also? just? idk, this was a major project that i kind of worked on to cope with post-tcw sadness + also just. general sadness about the world’s situation. writing this story was actually super healing for me, mostly because i just. really wanted to have something where happy endings existed. 

so this really...was an experience, and i’m so super grateful for everyone who read along. to this day, whenever i get a comment about this fic, i feel super happy because it makes me feel glad to know that there were some people who took comfort in this work, because i really wanted this fic to have that kind of effect on people. :’) 

there they are (Right before Ahsoka leaves for Mandalore, Rex distracts Bo-Katan so she could give her family a proper goodbye. (There's hugging. We just needed our trio to hug.)

i think this was one of my first tcw fics of 2020, and. i just remember impulse writing this after watching old friends not forgotten because i was just. so sad that we didn’t get an anakin and ahsoka hug or a trio hug or anything. i understand why they didn’t--like, i really, really do, but. but i think if there’s a theme i’m going through this year, it’s ‘this was sad, so i’m gonna make it happy!!!’, so...as my masterlist puts it, ‘dave filoni said no trio hug, so i said fine, i’ll do it’. 

uhhhhh, how very unusual of me, but!!! probably my working on a new original story. i’ve got the fourth draft of another story siting in the background, but. this other story idea came at me, and five outlines later, i started this story. i’m about three chapters down now, but. a snippet of the prologue: 

“Well…it’s also a rather important story,” Rosalind said. “Do you enjoy stories?”

“I want to be a writer,” I blurted, and I stopped at that. I fiddled with my mug, heat that had nothing to do with the hot chocolate or the fire rushing to my face. Silly, oversharing me—oh, what a young, lonely child I was back then. So desperate for conversation that I had grown out of practice and resorted to sharing details that the average stranger would not care for.

But then again, these were not the average strangers—although I’m sure you’ve figured that for yourself.

“Yes,” I said meekly. “I enjoy stories.”

“Well,” Dae said after some time, “it’s good that you’re a writer.”

I lifted my head, and this time, I saw Dae and Rosalind smile at each other. A softer smile, one that made me feel suddenly dreadfully, dreadfully lonely.

“You might want to write this down,” Rosalind said at last. 

And so I did. 

*and cue the actual story* i won’t say too much because adsfsdfsfd talking about my original work makes me feel awkward + also i am constantly in fear of people stealing ideas even though,,,even though i know the only person who can write this story is me, anyways, but uh. i will say that i have a plan for a five-part series that’s basically about a witch and a princess. there’s a prophecy in the background. there’s magic. there’s rivals to friends to enemies to lovers. there’s father figures + big sister figures + found family + ancient kingdoms + the real world blending with the fantasy world + uh i’ve said enough okeee bye that’s it

the moment was enough (The war ends. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan try to work things out since the last time they actually saw each other.) 

it had been a long while since i had written anything that was really just about ahsoka and obi-wan, but. i think everyone knows that i really love my grandpadawan and grandmaster duo? idk, this fic really made me feel things because i was thinking a lot about how obi-wan and ahsoka had left things. i wanted to make it pretty clear that they both clearly care about each other a lot, but like. also. there’s still some hurt there. i just had so much fun writing this, because obi-wan and ahsoka are such an underrated duo and i love them :’) 

loose stitches (The discovery and aftermath of Maul. Anakin and Ahsoka find themselves pacing in front of the Council chambers multiple times. They might have taken Obi-Wan to Dex’s. Something might have unraveled, only to be stitched back together.) 

kasey before you say anything pls know that i would talk about this fic until literally the day i die i am sorry if i am making you feel self-conscious--but anyways this was a collab with the ever-talented, ever-wonderful @kckenobi. so uh, quick story which mayhaps i might not have told anyone before, but whatever, i’m listening to evermore and therefore have no choice but to be emotional huh--this fic was like...one of the first collabs i’ve ever done? in general, collaborations were always something that made me nervous because it required lots of vulnerability and honesty, and there’s a side of me that’s very obsessed with having this image of Neat Writer Who Has Coherent Thoughts (which,,,doesn’t even exist so why was i obsessed? no idea). so that said, this collab was just. so wild + wonderful because it really was, first of all, such a cool, magical experience. there’s something so amazing and insane about passing words back and forth and like, even a screen apart, there’s something magical about like. sitting down at a laptop at the end of the day and feeling like you’re about to step into a portal where it’s just two people trying to spin a story. writing with kasey was just such a wonderful, absolutely magical experience, and i’m really glad that we got to write this story + the many more that we did. just. there’s something really personal and beautiful about writing until 1, 2, 3 am when the world’s asleep. anyways. magical. 

asdfsdfd i’m very sorry that this got so incredibly long, but!! that said, 2020 was a hard year for lots of different reasons both personally + because of *gestures at the world* but. like. i’m really, really glad that i got back to writing clone wars fic this year, because i’ve met so many wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people here, and. yeah. y’all are my serotonin suppliers, and i do refer to a lot of people here as ‘oh yeah, my friend and i were talking the other day about...’ and ‘why are you smiling?’ ‘oh, just something a friend said--’ and. yeah. i hope y’all have a wonderful, wonderful rest of the year + also a wonderful life because y’all are simply the best :’)) 

no-pressure tags: @lightasthesun @meandmyechoes @soplantyourownflowers @ilonga @sonderwalker @mytardisisparked @60sec400 and really, honestly, anyone else who wants to!!! <333 (like. i mean it. literally. just tag me and lemme scream encouragements at you.)

[plasticnightmaredoll]

I watched the season finale of “The Mandalorian” season 2 and holy shit, why are Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni giving Star Wars fans what they want??? 

Now, now, before people go hating on me, I DID enjoy the Sequel Trilogy…until “The Rise of Skywalker,” which, in my opinion, “killed the mood” and exposed the horrible work behind-the-scenes for those three movies in the worst ways possible. They could have gotten away with it and walked away with a decent trilogy had they not made literally every decision they made for TRoS. 

Anyway, moving on…

I had seriously lost hope in Star Wars after TRoS being so terrible, but “The Mandalorian” gave me good vibes and reasons to be interested in the franchise again. I wanted season 2 to end with a bang since so much has been building up – including expectations – and I wasn’t disappointed. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised in many ways with how things went.

Now, what follows are my thoughts on four key elements to this final episode so there are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. Like seriously, if you want to see the finale, DON’T READ THE FOLLOWING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE VIEWED IT. 

I’m warning you: MAJOR SPOILERS.

Before I watched the episode – before I turned on my computer even – I thought how appropriate it would be to call the season 2 finale, “The Rescue” since, well, it’s about rescuing Baby Yoda/The Child/Grogu. However, I also thought that was probably too good to be true and it would probably be called something else. 

Well, them hoes done called it, “The Rescue,” and I was quite pleased that my prediction was true.

Something I had been hoping for was Mando/Din to reveal his face to Grogu upon rescuing him as part of their happy reunion. I mean, it would be the ultimate moment for the two of them, for the little green son to finally see his bounty hunter papa’s face for the first time. 

And what do we get?

We get just that, Din showing his face to Grogu for the first time ever in a very emotional moment for the series.

But it wasn’t the moment I was expecting, and that leads to the biggest twist of all for this episode – and for the entire Mandalorian series as a whole.

So, Mando and his team are preparing to fight the Dark Trooper robots after capturing Moff Gideon and saving Grogu, and clearly, the odds are against them ass the Dark Troopers are extremely powerful. They’re like the Star Wars equivalent to the Terminator robots.

Yet, Mando and his crew are saved at the last minute by…a Jedi.

A Jedi with incredible Force abilities.

A Jedi in dark robes.

A Jedi wielding a green-bladed lightsaber.

A Jedi with one normal hand and one robotic hand. 

Wait….

Wait………………..

Hol’ up, Sis.

When I saw this hooded Jedi demolishing Dark Troopers, I thought, “STFU I know they aren’t doing this! I KNOW they aren’t! That would be too fucking epic if they were to do it so there’s no way. No one can make this epic of a decision. It’s not possible.”

And who was this Jedi?

LUKE SKYWALKER.

THAT BADASS CHILD OF DARTH VADER, AKA ANAKIN SKYWALKER, AKA THE CHOSEN ONE, AKA ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL JEDI EVER. 

Jon and Dave actually brought Luke Skywalker into the Mandalorian to save the day. 

How fucking epic is that?

It’s a hell of a lot more epic that the half-assed “twist” that Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter in “The Rise of Skywalker.” Now, this COULD have worked, mind you, IF they had handled it properly. 

But they didn’t.

But having Luke Skywalker appear in the final episode of “The Mandalorian” season 2 was a twist that made everything that was already great even greater.

And of course, it was a younger Luke since the series takes place not long after “Return of the Jedi,” and the special effects for his face were pretty good if a little bit stiff in the mouth at times. Still, it was convincing for the most part.

Now, this is where the face reveal comes into play. Din must give his little green child permission to go with Luke to train as a Jedi because that’s what a good son does when he must leave his father’s side 😭 While saying goodbye to Grogu, Din removes his helmet so he can look his boy in the eyes for real for this final moment they have together. Din is all teary-eyed and like a dad sending his kid away to a long-distance college and is so proud but also so sad but trying to keep it together because it’s for his son’s future  😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

I’m sorry but if that wasn’t a precious scene, then I don’t know what is.

Of course, now the question is: What will the series be like without Grogu at Mando’s side? Will Jon and Dave be able to keep people interested without the cute little dude? Will the story be as compelling? Will we see Grogu again?

Time will tell.

Although, I have faith in Jon and Dave to keep doing well.

On a side note, Gideon, as charismatic as he was, wasn’t the most interesting or intimidating villain. I mean, he made more damn sense than Kyo Ren (no offense  – Adam Driver is a great actor but Kylo’s character was so sloppy in terms of writing) but he just didn’t….seem like a big threat. However, based on things presented in “The Mandalorian,” I think there’s more to Gideon and Grogu than we think. We haven’t been told the real story behind the need for Grogu’s blood–for clones? Or something? But…what does that mean? What. Does. That. Mean. Guys? That isn’t a lot to go off of, and we haven’t seen much in regards to the fruits of their labor. So, what’s the deal? And why is it that Grogu is so important to Gideon, more important than anything? If you remember season 1, where Gideon explains that Grogu is more important than anything to him, more than anyone could know. So, what is the real story here?

Something tells me we may not be done with this aspect of the story….🤔

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

The epilogue for the season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian” gave us a preview of another series on the horizon….

“The Book of Boba Fett”

Star Wars getting the love and respect it deserves … finally.

[kylermalloy]

my Thoughts on rebels

Now I don’t have any hot takes or any controversial opinions to put out here. Rebels is a simple show with a simple plot. There’s not a whole lot to analyze, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy. Sometimes all you need is a straightforward concept with lovable characters. So let me proceed to squeal about Dave Filoni’s second masterpiece, Rebels.

Spoilers abound!

Before I say anything else...

THEY HAD A BABY I haven’t stopped squealing.

Zeb Okay I’ll start with Zeb, for no particular reason. He was the only main character I hadn’t really heard about or seen much of before I started watching. In the first few scenes with him, I was afraid he’d become his stereotype—the thuggish gorilla who argues all the time, disobeys orders, messes up plans, and borderline betrays his friends. I was so pleasantly surprised when none of that happened. Maybe by virtue of being a kids’ show, these characters don’t have *edgy* or twisted nuances. Zeb is fiercely loyal. He likes smashing heads in and gets grumbly sometimes, but he’s never a hindrance. He’s not just “the muscle”; his ingenuity saves the day on more than one occasion. If anything, his nuances take him the other way—he’s incredibly sensitive and childlike in some ways. Being one of the last of his kind is a major plot point of several episodes, which brings so much depth to him and his psyche. It also informs SO MUCH on his relationship with Kallus. Speaking of...

Kallus I never, ever expected Kallus to be anything more than a season-long plot device. The fact that he stuck around and went through actual character development?? Amazing. The episode where he and Zeb are stranded together is gold. He’s got a sense of honor even as he works for the Empire, sparing the rebels as Zeb spared him. He develops a new set of ideals thanks to our heroes, and he begins to question and regret the things he’s done for the Empire—ethnic cleansing of Zeb’s Lasat people included. And that last scene of them in the epilogue? I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit shippy.

KANERA I know while the show was airing, fans were constantly asking when Kanan and Hera were going to get together. But for me, they seemed to be married from the first episode. Hera calling Kanan “love” and teasing him? Kanan constantly worrying after Hera while simultaneously believing in her ability to do...absolutely everything? Their parenting of Ezra, Sabine, Chopper, and even Zeb? Explicitly referring to them as “the kids” and themselves as “Mom and Dad”? Yeah, they’re married. And let’s not underplay their strengths as individual characters. Kanan—or Caleb—is exactly what you would expect of a Jedi whose training is only halfway complete. He’s cool and awesome, but also riddled with self-doubt and uncertainty. And Hera is the mature voice of reason this merry band of children so desperately needs—except of course when she’s the one rushing headlong into danger, whether to get a fighter prototype or to steal a family heirloom or to save a couple pilots in a suicidally risky move. She’s a perfect blend of mature reason and headstrong determination that makes a true rebel. (Wait a minute...she’s totally Katara! Maybe that’s why I love her so much.)

Now back to them as a couple! Most of the show did nothing to advance their relationship—further reinforcing my headcanon that things were always happening between them behind the scenes. Even though they became official canon in the last season, the appearance of their kid in the epilogue proves I was right—based only on what we saw, there was no time for them to make a baby. Of COURSE there were things going on behind the scenes. 😏 (I found the interview that explains exactly where Jacen came from, and I was equal parts ecstatic and freaked out.)

Did I mention THEY HAD A BABY???

Ezra So apparently there are people in the Star Wars fandom who hate Ezra? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; Star Wars fans hate everything. Except the OT. If you hate the OT you’re a heathen. I can’t really think of a solid reason why people hate Ezra, except for the fact that he seems to be a Luke Skywalker analog. He’s a poor kid with Force sensitivities who gets adopted by a Jedi and becomes a venerated leader of the Rebellion. He also finds an oddball group of friends he comes to call family but eventually bids them farewell after the death of his mentor. They’re not carbon copies, of course—Luke’s an optimistic idealist; Ezra’s a cynic. Luke whines; Ezra snarks. Luke blows up the Death Star and defeats Vader; Ezra completes a series of far more complicated missions and defeats Inquisitors and Thrawn. Again by virtue of him being the star of a tv show instead of just three feature length movies, he gets a lot more time to have his adventures. Maybe there’s some resentment over him getting more screentime than Luke? Maybe it’s because I’m just Not a Luke Skywalker stan. I like him fine, but I don’t hold him up as some perfect saintlike hero. (I didn’t have any problems with his TLJ characterization.) The people who do need to rewatch the OT they hold so dear. Luke’s a beautiful drama queen and you all should love him for that. But I’m here to talk about Ezra! Listen, this child is a disaster and a half—just like Luke, just like Anakin, just like young Obi-Wan. There is nothing to not like about him—except that he reminds you of your favorite characters but he’s not them.

Clone Wars characters I initially started watching this show solely for the characters I already knew from Clone Wars. Ahsoka Tano has been my girl ever since I started watching Clone Wars, and I didn’t even consider watching Rebels until I knew they had undone her death. (If there was just ONE character they could needlessly save via time travel, they picked the right one.) At any rate, she’s perfect in this show. She’s more grown-up, more mature, but still retains that *young and plucky* spirit. (For the record, I usually hate the *plucky* characters. Somehow, she works for me. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t really do that annoying cocky smirk thing.)

But it’s not just Ahsoka. Rex survived! I’m so glad at least one clone (two? Wolffe?) made it out of the war okay. And he’s great here. His constant snarking with Kanan reminded me so much of his banter with Anakin (and I’m sure it reminded him of that too ;-; ) His presence on Rebels isn’t strictly necessary, narratively speaking, but it’s just a nice tie-in to the world we got used to in Clone Wars. It reminds us that this world with the Empire was once the world of the Republic, and there are still clones out there—even if there’s no place for them in this new order. This of course reinforces the tragic narrative of clones as sentient beings created for nothing but combat. And again, I commend both shows for making me feel that narrative so deeply!

Hondo and Maul were two of my favorite antagonists from Clone Wars, so seeing their multiple appearances here filled me with joy. Hondo cracked me up, as usual, and Maul’s farewell was touching and heartbreaking. I almost wish he were still around! There’s still his duel with Ahsoka in season 7 of Clone Wars... 👀 Honestly what surprised me most about those two were the way they were both presented as protagonists. Hondo especially, and Maul does become an antagonist again. But it really speaks to the way all paradigms in the galaxy have shifted after the Republic became the Empire. In Clone Wars, Hondo was portrayed as an annoying hindrance to our heroes. Now with the Empire as an adversary to our main characters, Hondo is an ally. An untrustworthy one of course, mostly in it for the money, but his interests usually lie with helping our heroes, not hurting them. Besides, nothing tops his relationship with Ezra. Their first meeting had me in fits: “You lied to me?? I KNEW I liked you!” (Also I forgot to mention the running gag of Ezra introducing himself as Jabba the Hutt? Genius. And hilarious, since some people actually believe him at first)

THEY HAD A BABY!!!

Thrawn I need to see this guy again. Whether in a continuation where we learn what happened to him and Ezra, or some other moment in time where we see him younger, rising through the ranks of the Empire full of ambition and ideas. He’s quietly menacing, always confident and meticulous. He does a great job of making the rebels feel helpless in their fight, needling their pressure points and taunting them—but he never makes the conflict personal to him. He always remains detached, just a guy doing his duty. He’s just there to pick up interesting art pieces. I love the way he’s acted—always quiet, cultured, practically whispering. I didn’t know he was voiced by Lars Mikkelson until after I watched, but that was a perfect choice. I found the Inquisitors a little flat as villains (antagonists, whatever) and the other Empire ministers and governors not very threatening. Thrawn was the perfect balance (lol) between interesting and a genuine threat.

MANDALORE For all of Sabine’s merits as a character, I love her most in the Mandalorian arcs. The episode where she comes into her power and wields the darksaber is one of my favorites. She’s not a traditional stern, stoic Mandalorian character. She’s a free spirit, incredibly creative and intellectual. Yet she’s also afraid of her mind and what she could create—for years she created weapons for the Empire to feed her hubris. Maybe that’s why she mainly sticks to painting throughout the series. :) Anyway. I look forward to the follow-up detailing her adventures with Ahsoka.

Chopper I rolled my eyes so hard when I first saw Chopper. Everything from his name to his design screamed “kiddie version of R2D2” and I was fully prepared to hate him. I don’t. He’s just like R2, in that every sentence he says sounds like it’s punctuated with about ten different swearwords. It’s hilarious seeing such a cute character being so surly and even threatening on occasions! Chopper kicks some serious butt. He even comes with a tragic backstory!

Lastly, I don’t think I’ve mentioned...

THEY HAD A BABY AND HE’S ADORABLE

[smokeybrand]

Rise of the Skywalker

This sh*t with Lucasfilm is wild to witness. I’m not really one to buy into entertainment gossip but i am emotionally invested in Star Wars. I’m an Eighties kid, man. Star Wars helped to shape our childhood growing up. Vader is one of my all-time favorite antagonists. Ahsoka has grown to rival him in my heart as a beloved character. As a cat who creates, myself, i can’t help but adore the passion and creativity i n the entire world lore around the Skywalker legend. I mean, look at everything built around those first three films. Just taking Legends into account, you have the absolutely excellent Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn trilogy. More than that, and probably one of the best game franchises ever realized, you have The Knight of the Old Republic. F*ck, dude, Revan? Nihilus? Bastila? Kreia? HK-47? This is Bioware at it’s finest, save Mass Effect 2. And then Disney cam in and f*cked it all up.

Kathleen Kennedy has been a poison to the franchise, and not because of her identity politics. Look, you can work in your ideals and messages without being so goddamn heavy-handed with it but this chick, and her “writer’s group.” can’t craft a story to save their lives. That’s the problem here. Not Rey or Finn or Poe. Not Holdo or Rose Tico. Not even Snoke. It’s how these characters were presented, it’s how the writing shaped them. I’ve written at length about how Rey was a missed opportunity and, according to the original leaked treatment, that misstep was more like an outright face-plant The Rey that was to grow throughout the Sequel trilogy, culminating in a battle between a fully realized, Jedi Knight Rey and a fully realized Sith Lord Ren, should have been the Last Jedi we got. Instead, we got what we got and it shattered the credibility of the entire franchise. Star Wars, the most successful franchise in cinematic history until the MCU came through, was on life support. Forty years of solid, narrative storytelling, ancillary material, and fan passion, squandered because the chick in charge wanted to instill everything with her identity politics, using something she had no creative credit toward, co-opting the shine of another, to secure her legacy. And she did just that; Kathleen Kennedy was the person who almost killed Star Wars. Kennedy’s legacy of failure, secure. But then, a new hope. Jon Favreau, the progenitor of the MCU, stepped forward and saved Star Wars with his show, The Mandalorian.

John Favreau is a great creator. Dude not only gave us Iron Man, but Chef, Swingers, and Elf. He gets the content but, more than anything, Favreau understands how to craft a goddamn story. He was appointed to The Mandalorian and given creative control by, at the time, CEO of Disney, Bob Iger. Favreau, in partnership with the genius pariah, Dave Filoni, architect of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Rebels, and the best f*cking character created in the modern era, Ahsoka Tano. With theses two at the helm, Mando returned to the true essence of a Star Wars tale. They created their own pocket universe, one with the evolution of the Mandalorian culture and sprinkled with shenanigans of an adorable, and marketable, Baby Yoda. That first season gave us amazing characters like Din Djaran, Cara Dune, Greef Kaga, and Moff Gideon. That first season of Mando saved the franchises and that is not an exaggeration. It felt like Star Wars. The characters were rich and developed. More than anything, the stories told were absolutely excellent. The funny thing about that? Mando isn’t expected to succeed like it did. No, everyone, including Kennedy, thought it was going to fail. She fought, tooth and nail, against what Favreu was trying to created, sabotaging him at every turn. But he was able to complete his show and the fandom received it with utmost fervor, eclipsing anything Kennedy and her idealouges every created. Then season two dropped.

I’m not going to sit her and say that the narrative for Season two was better than the first. It wasn’t. But that’s because season two of The Mandalorian was a love letter to the fans. Favreau and Filoni had a hit on their hands with Mando and, more importantly, they made Star Wars profitable again. This gave the two of them a margin of creative freedom that expanded into something truly marvelous. That second season of Mando was able to dig deep into the lore, introduce fan favorite characters like Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kreyze, reintroducing Boba Fett while giving him a bad-ass second in Fennec Shand, while expanding the universe for spin-offs and delivery a franchise altering return of a Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker! Kennedy spent her entire sequel trilogy, discrediting and marginalizing the old trilogy, typified by the complete destruction of Luke in The Last Jedi, only for Mando to overturn, redeem, and empower Luke with a two minute gauntlet of Force awesomeness that rivaled the utter dominance displayed by his father at the end of Rogue One. That tidbit about Vader? Yeah, Kennedy fought against that, too. The Mando came through and proved that fallowing Lucas’ path was the true way of the Star War and Chepek agreed. We now have this entire blueprint of shows birthed from this one season, that will build toward an Avengers-level event. Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba Fett will all culminate in a cinematic experience, most likely a theatrical film, based around Thrawn. And, more to the point, people are excited about this sh*t. People are looking forward to this sh*t. People want this sh*t. What they don’t want is more of Kennedy’s politics and bullsh*t hot-takes, masquerading as Star Wars canon. Case in point, the abject failure of The High Republic.

Before Favreau and Filoni came through and saved Star Wars, Kennedy had this entire idea for a full-on Star Wars universe, built upon token diversity and f*cking Space dinosaurs. There was a pitch meeting that showed a literal checklist and story was the third or fourth option. How the f*ck is story not the first thing on the list for an actual narrative you’re writing? Why the f*ck isn’t the Writer’s group, not putting story first, in a narrative they’re constructing by committee? That is the genesis of The High Republic. In the time that Youtube preview hit the fandom with all the force of a wet fart, Mando came through and proved no one wants that sh*t. Then season two came through and rived people want more Luke and more Lucas Star Wars, weeks before The High Republic, the jumping off point for Kennedy’s original vision for “New Star Wars” was supposed to launch. Yeah, that launch ain’t go so well. The High Republic is out, right now, and you can buy it. No one is buying it. They’re all paying for Disney+ memberships to watch Mando sh*t on everything Kennedy has done or will do. Disney announced a whole slate of Star Wars shows and material. One of which is The Acolyte, a spin-off from The High Republic tarring Brie Larson and written by Leslye Headland. The Acolyte is going to bomb for the same reasons The High Republic is bombing; No one wants to be preached to and that’s all these woke, blue hairs, want to do. I know that because they’ve told you as such.

The Force is Female. All of that sh*t with Pablo Hidalgo. The recent controversy of Justina Ireland telling people not to buy The High Republic if they don’t agree with her politics. The fact that Kathleen Kennedy has been trying to get Favreau fired for “sabotaging” her High Republic launch by redeeming Luke and galvanizing the entire fandom. The thing about this, though, is the fact that everything Kennedy has crated, is creatively bankrupt. Everything Favreau and Filoni have built with Mando, has been genuine, organic, and fun. Just to be clear, i actually like Brie Larson. I think she’s an excellent actress with very valid opinions. I think the sh*t she wants to make should be made. I don’t think she should co-opt a long running franchise with decades of lore and a ravenous fandom who are already on the outs with the current management of their beloved franchise. I can’t say i like Headland but i did adore her Netlfix show, Russian Doll. that sh*t was hilarious and dope. I don’t think her type of film making lends itself to Star Wars, however, for he same reason i don’t think Larson should have a show in the fandom either. Having opinions is fine. Installing those opinions in your writing is fine. Installing your opinions in an established property is not fine. You can do that, Back Panther was able to integrate that sh*t successfully, but they did it nuance. It didn’t get clumsy and ridiculous until the end. Kennedy’s writing group started with the awkward preaching. Those weren’t the droids yo were looking for, bro.

Ultimately, The High Republic is going to fail, as will the rest of Kennedy’s Star Wars legacy. Favreau is already working toward altering her most precious OC, Rey Palpatine. There are plans in the works to make her a Kenobi going forward, redeeming the most egregious of Darth Kennedy’s transgressions, something that wouldn’t even be necessary if they had followed the original treatments JJ left for them going forward. Rey Palpatine should have been Rey Skywalker. She should have been Luke’s daughter. She should have been trained by her pops and took that discipline into the final film where she and her cousin would have a proper reckoning. Rey should have been a proper character with an established legacy. Kennedy decided otherwise and in that hubris, she failed. She has failed, not because she is a Femanzi or has an eye toward activism or an agenda to push. Kennedy has failed because she decided to heavy-handedly force those politics down our throats with no nuance or grace, by slighting everything that came before with malicious intent, while bolstering her analogous creations with the worst kind of writing and non-existent development. Favreau succeeded by weaving a compelling tale, that mirrored the Hero’s tale which has been the bread-and-butter of a great Star Wars narrative, filled it with realized characters who became fast fan favorites, staunched in the lore that came before. He respected the genesis and built something great from it, while revering the stuff which came before. Kennedy thought she was bigger than the franchise. Favreau understands he is in service to it. That’s the difference, That’s why Mando is succeeding and The High Republic has been laid low.

[bellaire26]

why TROS ultimately fails as an ending to the saga

as a disclaimer, I actually enjoy TROS. it’s a good movie, probably an 8.5/10 in my expert opinion. it’s Star Wars’s version of a horror movie, and I mean no insult when I say that. it’s genuinely scary, Exegol being the ultimate haunted house. but I’m not here to praise the film today, unfortunately. and let me add on to my original statement- I enjoy TROS up until Ben’s death. 

I bring this all up now based on what Dave Filoni says in the new Mandalorian docuseries on Disney+, ep 2 “Legacy”.

“So George has this hopeful story, and it’s something that he’s reiterated most times I’ve seen him, you know, after we’ve been making things without him is, ‘Remember to make these stories hopeful. Remember to give that to kids because they really need it.’ And so that’s something to keep in mind.“

I was not hopeful when I saw Rey look into the sunset, sunrise whatever the hell you want to call it at the ending of TROS. I was in tears. I’m still a kid, technically and I had to watch a character that I loved so much, had fought for so much, watched him finally do what I’d hoped he would for four years do it, and die. and get no funeral, no acknowledgement. because apparently, if you do everything you can to right your wrongs and make things right and repent it’s still not enough. it will still catch up with you.

and to be honest, I think I ended up internalizing that, especially during the whole pandemic. no matter what I do, what I have control over, it can all end horribly and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I can’t have a happy ending if the universe decides I’m not worthy of one.

It really breaks my heart because it’s only now that I’ve given thought to that, after being selfishly pondering my own pain after Ben’s death. What do the little kids that looked up to Ben Solo, who saw him go from a bad guy to a good guy, a prince running in to save the woman he loved? who dies at the end, after doing whatever it took to repent for what he’d done? that if you do something wrong, there is nothing you can do to fix it? is that honestly what JJ and CT thought was the best way to end the saga? on a note where all of the Skywalkers are dead and a woman who can either have the man she loves or be a strong character? to look on into the same place we all started, now seeming to have really gone nowhere at all? 

this is why TROS fails. not necessarily as a Star Wars film, but as an ending to the saga itself. it fails to give hope and overall a happy ending. not just that good prevails over evil, but that we go somewhere new, that we are not stuck looking to the horizon. that our journey’s go somewhere, that we get out of our small towns and go find happiness. that our pasts don’t weigh us down, that we can be forgiven. that we can forgive ourselves. that there is hope if we look for it that things are going to get better, that it won’t be this way forever. that I won’t be stuck in my god forsaken house until the end of days. 

this is what Episode IX should have given us and instead it shit all over what Star Wars originally stood for, which was hope.

RotS. We see Owen and Beru holding Luke, looking into the sunset for the hopeful future we know we will see, even after the immense tragedy we just watched. TCW. a newly formed Darth Vader finds the lightsaber of his lost apprentice, seemingly confirming her death. he takes it with him, a reminder of his care and love for her, showing that Anakin Skywalker isn’t really gone. Rebels. the war is over, but Ezra is not gone, and Sabine and Ahsoka are going to find him. (Kanan’s death was even hopeful and cathartic- he died saving those he loved, came back to guide his apprentice one last time, showing that he’d never leave him. this is incomparable to Ben’s death as Kanan was given a proper sendoff and his death moved the story forward because Ezra needed to step up. Ben’s death in TROS hurts the overall message and plot) RotJ. the war is won, everyone is together, and Anakin Skywalker has been redeemed and finally has been able to let go of the people he loves selflessly and his suffering has ended. 

TROS? I don’t even think I have to explain at this point. but we end up right where we begin, a place the original protagonist so desperately wanted to leave. (seriously who the hell thought that was a good idea. gross.)

in spirit of my whole point, I sincerely believe that Dave Filoni said this in response to TROS. he obviously had no creative control, and I imagine wants to do something about it. he arguably saved the once hated prequels before, and can easily do it again. maybe that means an animated TV show, or now with his Mandalorian experience, a live action with a returning cast. that’s best case scenario, but either way one to hope for. because Rey’s story is definitely not over, and I believe that Ben’s is intertwined in that, and the ending to the saga that it deserves.

[pumpkin-lith]

Clone Wars Saved...ish

What the hell did I just watch ?

Let’s start by saying that 1) spoilers alert, not necessarily coherent but definitely there, I’ll put on a read more, but unspoiled mobile users, just in case it fails, scroll by and 2) @norcumii had warned me. And yet I didn’t quite expect that because, how could more clones ever be bad !

Oh boy.

Thanks to @shadow-spires for being my emotional support watchbuddy. I needed it more than I thought I would and we’re only three episodes in.

Some context : I’ve watched... only a few episodes of the show before, despite probably being able to give you the plot of all 6 seasons and quote lines and scenes, thanks tumblr and my own love for clones. And I hadn’t really looked at the bad batch half-rendered episodes because I still had trouble with the graphics of the actually finished show, so...

But I was ready for this, for feels, for finding Echo again and, finally, get 66 and murdered by Dave Filoni. Set up a meeting time to watch some eps with shadowspires, fun when there is a twelve hours diff between us and here we go.

Let me tell you, there was a lot of yelling in all caps in the chat side bar...

Trying to keep mostly in order of the episodes :

- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO KIX’S HAIR ? Why ? Why hair and no more tattoo ??? Is this supposed to be red corsair continuity ? But then WHY IS HE HERE AND NOT ALREADY ABDUCTED ? Is this merch reasons ?

- Two seconds in and WOW I hate the Bad Batch. And this does NOT get better. I’m really tired of the Muscle is Dumb trope, Tech is like a human C3PO which urgh but fine but then KEEP CONSTANT (this is going to be a major point of my yelling), if Hunter says you chatter all the time THEN DO but no, we won’t here a single random fact ever again for three episodes, and Crosshairs chats and snarks a LOT for someone ‘not talkative’. 

- Regs. FUCKING REGS, urgh, I hated that word the INSTANT it was said. Canon isn’t as heavily into the Vode An fanon loves, but WOW fuck that. Strike team or not, you’re not supermen, you have to rely on intel, be supplied, you’re not a bunch of mercenaries, you’re a MILITARY STRIKE TEAM, you must interact with regs a lot so it means you’re a bunch of condescending assholes ALL THE TIME.

-Also fuck 1) that team’s dynamics and 2) the “two teams do not get along” trope, fuck it with a SHOVEL.  1) You’re a Commando Team. In an army three years deep into war. You’re comrades and probably have save each other asses hundred of times. So why can’t you behave ? And I know people do not always get along, or even best friends sometimes irk each other, but, look, consistency, if you think you’re with lesser people because regs (can you tell I’m not over that either), you present a united front and you don’t bitch at your teammates in front of them. 2) YOU ARE MILITARY. Trained for 10+ years, there’s DISCIPLINE there, even a maverick strike team, when Cody is down, you OBEY THE SECOND IN COMMAND. I don’t care if you have a better plan, you TELL the officer, you don’t just tell him to shut up and watch. AND YOU DON’T GET AT EACH OTHER’S THROATS.

-Did I mention I hate everything about Dumb Violent Muscles unable to control himself or follow a plan ?

-Of course the one time we could see Cody in charge, he’s hurt and useless.

-WHY. IS. THE MEDIC. GOSSIPING. INSTEAD OF KEEPING WATCH OVER THE WOUNDED BROTHER ???

AND WHY DOES HE HAVE HAIR DAMMIT

-The tactics Mess out of order :  Why is nobody blowing stuff up, a group able to single handedly take on 100+ droids is getting pushed back by thirty later on, why not trap the outpost to blow up the incoming droids, the analytical droid cannot comprehend why the clones would leave the outpost while in full view of the cyber center and it has to be pointed out to him, WHY DID NOBODY TRAP THE FUCKING OUTPOST TO BLOW, why does the tech guy LITERALLY NAMED TECH doesn’t hide/erase what they did to the computer, why if he didn’t have time DIDN’T HE BLOW UP THE COMPUTER. 

-And for a plot point being “droids analyzes our tactics so we always have to change them”, it means that no one ever attacked a front door and drew all the droids there for a second team to sneak by the back door. Somehow.

Ep2 & 3 :

- Why is “this may or may not be Echo” matters on a tactical PoV ? I get the emotional one, of course, but having the Bad Batch question it at the beginning and later on starting a fight over it has no other reason than to go for another round of We Do Not Get Along Trope. The Seps have either a PoW or an Algorhythm allowing them to win battle, no matter what it is, you have to go and rescue/take it. WHY ARE YOU ARGUING.

- I know this is the funny part of ‘Anakin and Padmé are the less subtle ever’ and it was funny (I didn’t hate ALL of the episodes, see ?), but why is she explaining to Anakin why he fights three years into the war other than reminding the public, this is the LEAST EFFECTIVE PLAN ever to hide from Obi-Wan with Rex obviously standing guard.

-Not a critic, just fucking amused : if someone isn’t aware that Padmé and Anakin are a thing, there is a lot of subtext to thing Anakin and Rex have a hidden fling. I don’t even ship it and I could see it x)

- Tell Padmé I say hello. TELL PADME I SAY HELLO. Obi-Wan fucking KNOWS, maybe not the whole “married and pregnant” but hellooooo that was blantant cue that he’s aware they’re together, at the very least so very close friends that they sneak private calls during a siege if Anakin is really dense, we have ONSCREEN PROOF that Obi-Wan SAID OUT LOUD something about it and it makes Anakin thinking Obi-Wan doesn’t know and couldn’t understand in RotS even STUPIDER. Good job Anakin.

- This Galaxy has the most efficient Google Translate ever. Either it’s a known language of the planet you’re going to, and then by doing research amidst the prep to go to the planet everyone or at least Rex as Captain would put the translator to the spoken languages there on his helmet, or it’s an unknown one and yet with two sentences, Tech’s tech (urgh) is able to translate and analyses it well enough to speak it back to them. Wow. 

- WHY. IS. THE. JEDI. NOT. USING. THE. FORCE. You’ve worked with Echo before but there’s no mention or even trying to feel him, fine, better have another fight of whether or not he’s truly here, two droids manage to get the drop on you, two droids manage to get the drop on you AND SOMEHOW AREN’T IMMEDIATELY BISECTED, Two droids manage to get the drop on you, survive, AND GIVE YOU ENOUGH TROUBLE YOU NEED SOMEONE TO SHOOT ONE TO GET OUT OF IT. 

- Echo, my poor baby TnT I knew this was going to hurt, and it does, it does so much. 

-And we’re RIGHT BACK to full on rage rather fast. We go from “he’s so weak he can’t walk, he doesn’t remember anything after the Citadel, he’s so out of it he doesn’t know where he is and ‘notices’ Rex being here two or three times” to “He can walk, he can be yeeted into a vent, he can tightpole walk, he can shoot while standing, he knows the whole base’s blueprints and also all the Separatist’s database.” in like. Five minutes. CONSITENCY FOR FUCK’S SAKE. Why is no one carrying him, why don’t we even get a fucking HUG ?

-Why was everyone yeeted by Dumb Muscles WHEN WE HAVE A JEDI HERE. WHY STILL NO FORCE ??? Clone-yeeting is like Anakin’s favorite pastime, he should have thought of it FIRST, My Moment Has Come.

- Oh FUCK NO. WHY did you even GO BACK TO THE NATIVES’ VILLAGE ? You got dragons, you fly back to your ship that wasn’t damaged in anyway, you evac fast and clean, DONE ! Why go back ? Anakin even says that the Techno Union will strike for helping them BUT UNTIL YOU WENT BACK THEY DIDN’T KNOW THE NATIVES HELPED YOU ! They had no problems until now ! DON’T INVOLVE CIVILIANS ! If they had gone with the plot point of having the natives pick a side and be the ones to save them from that pole by flying to get them, then yes, totally, stay and help and defend them against the retaliation massacre ! But since they didin’t, do NOT go there and draw to them a retaliation massacre.

-FUCK that speech. Sorry Rex, but FUCK THAT. Again, civilians. You are supposed to be the GOOD GUYS trying to STOP THE WAR, not draw innocents into it when it could be avoided. AND THEN LEAVE WHEN YOU JUST TOOK DOWN ONE ATTACK AND THE TECHNO UNION WILL SURELY COME WIPE OUT THAT VILLAGE FOR HELPING YOU AND THERE’LL BE NO JEDI TO SAVE THE DAY.

-Why is everyone suddenly dumb.

-Fuck that “good old days” bullshit. I’m sure there were good times, but your good old days are three years of war and losses. Gimme “now everything will be alright”, because for once someone survived, for once the future is looking hopeful, give me them hoping that it’ll be okay and then gut me with the sheer irony of it all because I know 66 is looming. AND FUCKING HUG HIM DAMMIT, he was almost catatonic thirty minutes ago, at least HELP HIM into the ship rather than leave him standing here alone.

-And no mention of Fives, of course. Idk it may be in episode 4, it BETTER be in Episode 4, otherwise this is “it be like the good old days, yay, btw Fives’ dead”.

I am SO ready for the damn Bad Batch arc to be over and hoping the actual original content is way better. I wished they had scrapped that disaster of an idea full of bad clichés. You want a strike team to go with Rex ? I’ve got a strike team for you : Jesse is an ARC, Kix is both a medic and seen many times with a rifle (AND THE COOLEST HAIRCUT, get us Bly there and give him a tracking speciality with the many ‘primitive’ planets he was on, and we have Aayla for the muscle. That would be badass.

[marcussour]

BTW, since it’s been already a week and since I guess it’s no longer a spoiler, I think it’s finally time to talk about Ahsoka and why her appearance in The Mandalorian was so disappointing.

First, a visual thing. This is how Ahsoka looks like in Star Wars Rebels (a show set 10 years before the events of The Mandalorian), where we last saw her:

And this is how she looks in The Mandalorian:

Even when taking into account the stylization that animation provides, the whole thing with her montrals (the togruta’s “horns”) is there to show the age and growth of the character. Ahsoka’s 41 y/o during The Mandalorian, which is older than what Shaak Ti was during Episode 3, and Shaak Ti looked like this:

Now, I understand that there’s a whole practicality reason behind the “shortening” of the montrals (apparently it had to do with confort and it’s appearance during action scenes), so you can kinda overlook it, but it still feels weird that Ahsoka in her early 40′s looked younger than when she was in her 30′s in Rebels.

Besides, if Disney has the money to digitally erase the “jeans dude” that they overlooked in the background of a scene 2 episodes ago, I’m pretty sure they could have fixed Ahsoka’s montrals during post-production so they looked better.

But beyond the whole appearance (which, like I said, can somewhat be overlooked), my biggest issues where related to the casting and characterization.

Starting by the casting, I know that Rosario Dawson was always the dreamed fan casting. Heck, it was even an option that I liked a couple of years ago, but all that changed the moment the transphobia allegations appeared and that many people kinda overlooked.

With independence of the rumors before this season regarding her apperance and casting, I was shocked to the mere idea that one of my favourite characters was going to be played by someone who had that cloud over them with allegations of physical and psychological violence related to transphobia.

Now, the fact that the person who made the allegations withdrew 18 of the 20 charges (without settlement), including all of those that are related to transphobic violence, changes the panorama somewhat, but the shroud of doubts will always remain (especially when we’re talking about accusations directed to a celebrity who happens to be dating an US senator) and that was always going to affect my reaction towards the episode.

Especially knowing that the social media vocal fan casting was the main reason why Dawson’s was given the role according to Dave Filoni. Because I guess people always assumed that Ashley Eckstein couldn’t play the character in live action, which I think is silly because look at this:

That’s Ashley cosplaying as Ahsoka and doing a magnificent job about it. If she could achieve this with only (expensive I asume) cosplay, imagine what LucasFilm could’ve done with the budget they have for the show. 

Especially because you not only prevent the issues regarding the casting, but also because Ashley’s already inside the mind of the character having played it for 12 years; and also because her voice for the character is really special.

Even if she was Anakin’s padawan, in a way she’s also like the daughter or little sister of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme. She’s learned and absorbed things from the 3 of them and her voice, especially in Rebels, reflects that. There’s a calm born from experience, and a special type of solemnity and gravitas, and there’s this hint of pride and arrogance (like Maul’s told her during their fight during the siege of Mandalore in Clone Wars).

And, with exception of the scenes where Ahsoka was testing Grogu Baby Yoda and helping Din connect with him, I never felt that in any other part of the episode. And that’s something that goes hand in hand with the characterization problems.

Sure, the show gives you the idea that she’s been for quite some time trying to liberate Corvus, and you can understand that they did things the way they did during their introduction to awe the audience (especially the one that never saw the animated shows), but it’s hard to reconcile her introduction with the Ahsoka we knew beforehand.

In fact, to me the “real” Ahsoka doesn’t appear until the scene where Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth threatens her with the amount of innocent people she’s going to kill in case Ahsoka kept opposing her. Because that’s Ahsoka to me, the one that puts the safety and well being of others above her own all the time. The Ahsoka that, even when she was in dire danger during order 66, never stopped caring and thinking about the wellbeing of the clones that, beyond being her subordinates, she saw them as her brothers. That’s her character’s essence, and while we saw some of it, it just wasn’t enough.

The other big problem I think with her characterization is her refusal to train Baby Yoda considering his attachment towards Mando and how that can end badly, because she saw it first hand with regards to Anakin (yes, it was one heck of a scene I’ll admit, but in the great context it feels weird).

Obviously there’s a practic reason why they won’t do it (of course the show is not going to get rid of Baby Yoda), but it feels weird when Ahsoka is supposedly in the middle of the search for Ezra and Thrawn (I know that there’s been some talk or rumors of a retcon where the Rebels epilogue, that happened before the events of the Mandalorian, is supposedly going to be placed further down the line, in order to have a new show where Ahsoka and Sabine are looking for Ezra, but that hasn’t been confirmed). 

Yes, I know that it was part of Baby Yoda’s journey and whether he ends up on the light or dark side, but the whole talk about attachment feels like something the padawan Ahsoka from the first seasons of Clone Wars would say, not the Ahsoka that left the jedi order, that saw how the rest of the galaxy lived and thought of the jedi, and that knew that, despite Palpatine’s work, the jedi had a lot to blame regarding being architects of their own demise. There are plenty of similarities between Ahsoka’s and Luke’s thoughts in The Last Jedi, in regards of the jedi and the conceptual failures in their reasoning before order 66.

So to see Ahsoka in The Mandalorian being so “binary” in her way of thinking, so black and white, so “jedi”, felt like a regression of her character development. Of course, something could’ve happened to her after Ezra saved her through the World between Worlds, and then after the Rebels epilogue, but until we don’t know for sure, it felt like a step back for her growth, especially considering how many people where introduced to her through The Mandalorian, it’s kinda of a disservice to the character (here’s hoping that enough people check Clone Wars and Rebels to see the real character journey that she went through).

So, that’s it. I’ve been wanting to write this down for days. Because even though the episode was really good, there were enough reasons and things that made it impossible for me to enjoy it as much as I would’ve like in other circumstances. Yes, there were some things that I’ve been able to rationalize and understand after the episode aired, but I’m never getting my first impression back. 

Ahsoka is one of my favourite characters of everything (I’m pretty sure that, if it weren’t for the childhood nostalgia regarding having seen the OT when I was a child -and being obsessed with SW ever since- she would probably be above Luke in my list of favourite characters), and Clone Wars was a really important show for me (after Empire Strikes Back, is my favourite Star Wars anything).

And I can’t just conform or be happy with her appearance in this episode. The whole “just being there” is not enough, especially when you see how characters like Bo-Katan, Cobb Vanth or Boba Fett were all given their due and well portrayed in a great light, but you can’t say the same about a character that’s more important, and who sadly had this whole cloud surrounding it since the first casting rumours appeared.

Ahsoka is a character that represents the best of Star Wars, so it’s sad to see that her appearance and portrayal not only was dissapointing, but it ended up hurting so many people in the LGBTQA+ community, and especially in the trans community, many of whom are Star Wars fans that have the same passion and love for Ahsoka. And like I said the other day, the trans community concerns must be front and center and must be listened by everyone.

[starwarshyperdrive]

I’m concerned about the Star Wars canon

I’ve always been a huge Star Wars fan but didn't follow the old EU (extended universe) because it was too convoluted and well.. a bunch of gobbledygook (granted there were some good bits in it, who doesn’t love the Thrawn trilogy even though he is pretty much a different character now), so I actually welcomed the new canon. Start over with a clean slate and make sure everything is connected, makes sense and feels Star Warsy. So far the story group has done a decent job, even though there were some questionable bits and pieces. As hardcore Star Wars fan and apologist I can force myself to get behind a lot of things and I was cool with the Bendu somehow, but the Clone Wars Mortis arc, as well as space whales and the world between worlds really rubbed me the wrong way. A lot of people are celebrating Dave Filoni as savior of the true Star Wars spirit and he is certainly an inspired artist and nice guy but I once again have to wonder whether or not some of the comic bookish stuff REALLY fits the Star Wars universe. Yeah I know ‘it’s a huge universe bla bla’ but do we really have to accept everything?

Someone recently described hardcore fans (such as myself) as a ‘cult’ and Star Wars Celebration to a religious ceremony and if I’m being honest and self-reflective I can’t really argue against it, but that’s also why you always need to check yourself and not just ‘swallow’ everything without questioning it. Keep a critical eye. Things like time travel and other super hero stuff ( I haven’t seen any of the recent Marvel or DC movies) have no place in Star Wars. Of course Star Wars is for everyone, but does that then also mean we need a Star Wars romcom, a Star Wars coming of age movie ..or ..?  I don’t know..porn? Leave that to fan fiction. 

Star Wars was always more about mythology, some sort of buddhist Excalibur and I am seriously concerned that at some point the ‘people in charge’ will forget that and it will become a shallow bubble gum entertainment focus on ‘what is selling at the moment’. A good example are - again - all the super hero movies picking up on trends. I don’t want a Thor Ragnarok Star Wars movie with a Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. Don’t make everything the same. Keep Star Wars unique. Keep ‘that Star Wars tone’.

‘XY doesn’t UNDERSTAND Star Wars’ is an overused and abused phrase and in so many ways pointless as there are many facets to Star Wars especially now that we have generations of fans who grew up with the prequels, the Clone Wars, Rebels or even Resistance - I should point out that I actually liked Resistance because it’s not tempering with the mythology - but the lore has been laid out in the original trilogy and everything needs to acknowledge that. We cannot have some Terminator-franchise kind of disaster a la ‘Ezra traveled back in time and actually was there with Yoda on Dagobah’ or what not. 

By now it’s common knowledge that - despite what they say - there has been no overall plan for the sequel trilogy, which is quite concerning and feeding into my concerns that it’s all downhill from here (after The Rise of Skywalker and the Mandalorian or course). I know a lot of people who vehemently defended The Last Jedi when it came out, mostly as a reaction to all the stupid hate it got for the wrong reasons and I am one of them myself, but most of them are admitting now that there is something off about the movie. It is written into a corner and not picking up on the clues given in The Force Awakens. It has some amazing scenes and I will keep defending it, but there are some scenes that just don’t feel right and leave a bad aftertaste. I frequently rewatch all the movies and besides Attack of the Clones it’s the only one where I think ‘Now I have to endure THAT bit again’. I go to a lot of Q&A and it’s interesting to see how people who have worked on the movie feel the same. Even if you 100% loved it and it’s your favorite movie ever, let’s be honest - the humor is completely out of place. Fart jokes in The Phantom Menace > Your Mom jokes. And it’s just too long. Of course we all want MORE Star Wars, but where does it end. Would you go and see a 6h movie? If you are a good filmmaker you should be able to say what you want to say in the same about of time as the other movies. But that’s just my personal 2 cents. It just felt like someone who was hellbent on doing his own thing for the sake of doing his own thing and not for the sake of the story. Don’t get me wrong. It was a great idea to (spoiler alert) kill off Snoke that casually, so the movie has redeeming qualities that save it for me. Then again, as a Star Wars fan I WANT to like it. I still watched it 13 times or so. I was in the room for the trailer reveal at SWCO. I want to take ownership and be part of the hardcore fan community, but they shouldn't bank too much on it. I still want a good movie. I’m not gonna be meek and mild about something contradicting the core mythology. Ryan Johnson is allegedly still doing his trilogy and then there is the Benioff and Weiss trilogy. They didn’t exactly do a great job wrapping up Game of Thrones and left fans in awe about how the show ended and have not really proven that they can handle a franchise well either. Will all off them have free rein and just go to town on a Star Wars story as they please? Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd?!

I trust JJ Abrams to do the right thing and I hope my trust is not misplaced. I think the allegations of The Force Awakens being a A New Hope reboot are misplaced as there are also a lot of similarities to The Phantom Menace, so.. if you’re a fan you know what comes next.. ‘it rhymes, it’s like poetry’. So it makes sense. So I think ‘he gets it’..

My main concern in the new canon overall. I made an effort to get all the publications of the new canon, but the books and comics already started to get weird again. Star Wars always had a slight alien but yet familiar vibe and some stories feature people smoking cigars, drinking coffee in the morning and doing other stuff never depicted in Star Wars before. How long until someone gets a Star Wars burger at Star Wars McDonalds or orders Star Wars pizza while watching Star Wars HoloNetflix. I’m sorry. That’s ridiculous. It’s not automatically Star Wars just because you use Star Wars terminology like death sticks or Nerf steaks. Watch the movies and make an effort.

 And now the novelizations of the movies are apparently not considered ‘hard canon’ anymore because the authors didn’t know the direction the next movies are going, so the clues and hints may be completely useless. So why do I force myself through some really not very good books then (others are great, no generalization here)? That’s quite alarming. Wasn’t the entire reason they got a story group to avoid that? What’s with all the loose ends?  That's also why I think they will shy away from using canon characters in the movies (for the most part). Its easier to have a self contained canon universe where you can introduce Purge Troopers in a comic and then have them in a video game. I once read an interview with one of the Star Wars authors who invented a character and then got told ‘give him that name / make him this person’ instead of having this particular character in mind from the start. This is how you lose consistency. I’m well aware that over hundreds and thousands of years that’s EXACTLY how ancient history was written, which is why there are flood legends all over the world and why Jesus and Mithras are pretty much the same person, but they DID NOT HAVE A STORY GROUP and ancient mythology hasn’t been written over a course of a few years.

At the same time it’s interesting how there seem to be purists who are very determined to bring that original Star Wars vibe back. Like Jon Favreau with The Mandalorian. And like I said earlier about Resistance. Its so much easier to do that if you stay away from the mythology. It’s really tricky and so much could go wrong. The stuff introduced in Rogue One like Guardians of the Whills and the temple of Kyber is a perfect example how it’s done. Some of the stuff in the Clone Wars and Rebels is the complete opposite, so I’m really curious to see how Dave Filonis involvement in The Mandalorian pans out. He is really great with stuff like Mandalorians, Clones and I even came to accept Ashoka after reading the book and seeing her all grown up as Fulcrum, but I’m very skeptical when it comes to his ‘mystical side of the force’ interpretations.

In conclusion I know that I sound like a preacher and George Lucas repeatedly stated it’s ‘just for 10 year old kids’ but tell that to all the dead Bothans.

Please just don’t ruin Star Wars.

[barbiejedi]

unpopular starwars opinion time

putting it behind a cut because you don’t tag your hate and you don’t spew it at people who don’t want to see it

p. sure I’m the only person on the planet who actively avoids/dislikes/does my very best to will out of existence the dave filoni cartoons?

like i know people love them and fans lose their shit over ahsoka and I absolutely salute ashley eckstein for being a saint for Her Universe and all

but i just... any and every time I am reminded of the filoni cartoons i just get like... uuuuugggghhhh

because remember back when legends was a thing and we had different levels of canon? like the movies Were The Top but all of our beloved books and games and comics and stuff were all on the same level of “reality” where they were all equally “real” and important and whatever you consumed you were pretty sure mattered? like yeah if The Great Ewok Inventor did something in the movies that fucked over the EU we just... spackled it and moved on

but like the filoni stuff

it was non-movie stuff

and ~somehow~

through the magic of... not being a book or a comic or a game, I guess

it got to be ~real~ like the movies did and not down in the nebulousness with the rest of us

ngl I’m still fuckin mad about that

probs gonna die mad about it

but like

I wish

I wish that the cartoons weren’t on the level with the movies

I wish they were down with us in purgatory

at least until Disney reset everything

after the reset then you can use the story group to redefine canon and make it all shiny and new again and nobody has to be in purgatory anymore

but of course

of course the filoni cartoons got to piggyback over to the new stuff like the movies did

because they’re ~realer~ than everything else

just

fuck the filoni cartoons for being allowed to be ~real~

I wanted to like Rebels b/c there was a twi’lek who was a pilot! but it was the ahsoka show again! and now they’re doing another season of Clone Wars! just... can we not/??

whatever. at least the mandalorian looks good (another twi’lek! and she’s got a knife!!) and there’s gonna be Kenobi and I don’t think Ahsoka ever showed up on Resistance so maybe I’ll watch that with Zoey

but like

I just want the filoni cartoons to have been left behind with the rest of everything in legends so it would stop bleeding into every other part of star wars. i hate being reminded that they exist

ok done with the hate now. just needed to vent my spleen and didn’t know where else to do it.

[talkingstarwars]

Let's talk about Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker. Jedi, son, pilot, rebel- now, he's a hermit living on space Hawaii. Exiled, tortured by guilt, we last left our hero moping, literally with nothing to say. Until now. If you're like me, you've watched The Last Jedi trailer north of 40 times. Upon initial viewing, you were left with your jaw hanging open at the line "I only know one truth; the Jedi must end." Then you rewatched it multiple times trying to see if you missed something. (And you've had the time to do so because there is a 99% that you weren't at Star Wars Celebration. I feel your pain.) What does this mean for Luke? What does this mean for Rey? What doe this mean for the future of the Jedi Order? First off, I don't think people should be freaking out as much as they had been at the prospect of the Jedi "ending". Why? Because they won't be. Luke has seen some serious shit. His aunt and uncle were killed, and he saw their burned bodies in front of him. He lost many of his good friends in the fight against the Empire. Both of his mentors died right before his eyes. He found out his dad was a space Nazi. He turned his dad back to the Light side, and subsequently lost him (because, you know, he died.) Then, to make matters worse, he rebuilt the entire Jedi order up from scratch only to have it destroyed by his psychopathic nephew. The same nephew that would later kill Han Solo. So yeah, I guess you could say that the nephew was just icing on the cake. Everything he rebuilt; gone, at the hands of his kin. I guess you could say Luke is a little bummed out right now. Let's think about it for a second; Luke has spent all this time studying the Jedi. He's smart enough to realize the fact that it didn't really work...ever. In all honesty, most of the Jedi in the prequels are the WORST. They sat on their butts all day while occasionally sending Obi Wan and Anakin out to do shit! They couldn't see the darkness growing right under their noses. (Whoa, the Sith we've been looking for is the creepy old guy who happens to know a bunch of Sith legends, has everything fabricated a little too perfectly, and all of the magical space wizards sense something off about him? WOW, WHAT A TWIST! Seriously, if you haven't done any of the "homework" like watching the animated TV show The Clone Wars or read anything on that time period, you'd think the Jedi are seriously horrible at their job, for the most part.) After all, it was partially the strict rules of the Jedi that drove Anakin to the dark. The whole "forbidden to love" rule is BS and Luke knows it; it was love that saved Leia on Bespin, Han at Jabba's palace, and it was love that brought Vader back to the Light. In fact, love- sometimes even romantic love- is integral to being a Jedi. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The advantage of Luke building his own Jedi Order is that he doesn't have to adopt the rules or practices of the old Jedi. But even then, of course, he still lost everything. Ben Solo fell to the Dark Side. So, in Luke's eyes, there must have been something inherently wrong with his system as well. Luke blamed himself for the fall of his nephew, when it wasn't really all his fault. We don't have enough information to analyze the fall of Ben Solo and his transformation into Kylo Ren, but what we do know is that there are plenty of people to blame and Luke isn't the /main/ cause. Still, Luke feels responsible. So, if we see through Luke's eyes; the idea and practice of the Jedi Order always fails. Why continue it if, even when it changes, it all goes up in flames? Now we come to Rey. She's gotten to her hero. He's standing on a rocky ledge (saying nothing) and all of a sudden, when he finally does start to speak, he doesn't want to make you a Jedi. Not exactly the encounter she was hoping for. We know from the trailer that Luke does begin to train Rey. But...how? The most popular theory is that he's teaching more of the "Grey Jedi" path. Maybe, but the director of the film (Rian Johnson) said there was no such thing as a Grey Jedi? Which contradicts the fact that there are canon "Grey Jedi" like Qui Gon and Ashoka (who will get her own live action solo film directed by Dave Filoni, I'm calling it now.) That theory is all well and good, and is backed up by the appearance of what is believed to be the grey Jedi symbol. I can see Rey fitting that ideology. However, I think that a more obvious conclusion can be drawn. That line about the Jedi needing to end comes along very early in the film, after another one of Rey's force visions but before she gets any sort of training. The vision (which is hinted at in the trailer) convinces her that the path of the Jedi is right for her even though it might be tough, but it's the only way to beat the First Order. However, she of course needs Luke's help to take 'em down. So, she convinces Luke that it's time for the Jedi to make a glorious comeback (again) and that it's not time for the Jedi to end. They are the last Jedi (plural), for now.... And, you know, what's more marketable than a Jedi? Why the heck would Lucasfilm/Disney want to change that? The Jedi aren't going away; they may be changing some more, but they aren't leaving. So, those are my ramblings. I love the teaser trailer. I'm excited for December. I'm sure another trailer will come along and make me change my theories all together, but hey, it's more Star Wars!