#i love tfa they really just did shit and it went hard as fuck every time

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

TFA Cyclonus

[tulsa-town]

In Defense of Pharma

Guys I'm really tired of seeing ppl shit on Pharma solely for the incident with Ambulon. Seeing people defend Ratchet against him. Tired of people being awful to him because of things he couldn't control. People will really support the toxic ones because of the simple fact they are a popular character that everyone loves. I'm tired of pretending I like Ratchet (I adored TFA and G1 only). I don't. He's an awful guy when you look at the case with Pharma. And personally I just don't find him interesting like other characters. Ratchet fucking ruined Pharma pre-Delphi. He was this sweet guy who did his best and I strongly believe Pharma may have BPD, so that only makes what Ratchet did so much WORSE. The way Pharma attached to Ratchet reminds me of one with their FP (Favorite Person). He believed so much in Ratchet, looked up to him, considered him one of his closest friends, his FP if you will. He cared deeply about Ratchet, and it deeply affected him when he just up and fucking left without a proper goodbye. And so began a long fucking chain of him getting fucked over. Another point that gets used against him was the virus he unleashed, that wasn't his fucking fault. Tarn was pressuring him. He was stuck in an incredibly hard point. The DJD would after him if he didn't feed Tarn's addiction, he'd still be fucked even witht he fact he did it. Pharma gets stuck in the middle of nowhere with two people he doesn’t care for, and one of them is a direct target of the group blackmailing him into killing patients. There was nothing he could have done to make the situation better. And I fucking find it such BULLSHIT that First AId went to Ambulons side rather than Pharmas DESPITE THE FUCKING FACT Amublon is a ex-con, he could very well have been conspiring with Sonic and Boom. The fact Pharma got immediately blamed pisses me off. He was just doing his job, trying to keep his job, and juggle his issues with Ratchet appearing. His FP that fucking abandoned him. This is a STRONG example of how mental illness can fuck oneself over. As someone with BPD, I heavily relate to Pharma, so I am very defensive over this (no shit I'm writing a whole thing defending him). I understand his panic. His stress. The need to prove himself. A case too is with the incident of Ambulon. Yes, the way he handled the situation was awful, but think about it. He wanted to prove himself, to prove he was better than the asshole who left him behind. So how does he do it? Give a prompt to Ratchet that he KNOWS he can't fix, prove that Ratchet is not as good as he thinks he is. And as for Tryest, it's another situation of lose/lose. I didn't pay much attention to that bit of the story but I can say that Pharma was dealing with that whole 'I need to prove im better than these jerks so everyone will like me and need me' BPD mess he has going on. A person with BPD often seeks validation from others, needing FPs to love them and respect only them, which is why he usually claims himself as the best medic. He needs the validation, that boost to his fragile ego that is crumbling with every second. Plus Tyrest promised him a place in the forged only world he was planning. It made him feel valid and needed. He chased that feeling. And then Ratchet came along and started to derail his mind. Leading him to do something that ultimately painted him in a bad light. And he proved he was stronger within the Lost Light comics. Issue 4 showed him hurtingTyrest in such a fashion that not even the best medic, not even his "beloved Ratchet" (his words, not mine), could figure out how he caused so much damage. He was pissed off. He was having a split. He was damaged. I believe we should focus more on the goods of a character, the compexity of their issues, rather than honing on one specific thing that was not that big of a fucking deal. This fandom is awful with painting certain characters as awful awful people for simple issues that can be explained very easily. NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUUUUSE ME. I'm going to take a moment to nap because I am so frustrated and overstimulated and angry rn.

[threadsketchier]

I saw a post claiming Leia and Han being terrible parents to Kylo or Luke being an asshole to Rey isn't far fetched because in Legends Luke was a terrible father and Han abandoned his children after Chewies death and Leia was so consumed by her job and it makes me so sad are they right I didn't read legends

It’s an exaggeration with a grain or two of truth.  Leia was eventually Chief of State/President of the NR in Legends, and even before that she was intensely tied up as a Councilor - yeah, she was really fucking busy.  HOWEVER, that didn’t mean she had zero time for her kids.  Also, she had her adopted sister/personal assistant/handmaiden Winter as a dedicated caretaker of the children, so the kiddos always had someone stable in their young lives.  Also also, HAN SOLO WAS BASICALLY A GLORIFIED FUCKING STAY-AT-HOME DAD AND HE LOVED IT.  Even Chewie was a giant hairy uncle to those kids.  Did they get kidnapped almost every single subsequent book they were in?  OF COURSE.  But for all the wild adventures they had, it was obvious they still had a loving and very privileged life.

Yes, Han was written as fucking off for a while in grief after Chewie died.  Yeah yeah I get it, he was hurting, Chewie WAS his OG bro.  It did suck a bit that he regressed to being a smuggler similar to how we see him in TFA.  HOWEVER AGAIN, this was temporary and didn’t last very long in the overall frickin’ 19-book-long series.  It’s not like he never came back to his family.  Ultimately, Han’s human too, it’s understandable for him to crack under a loss of that magnitude for a little while.

Luke being a terrible father, LMAO.  Yeah, let’s see where he beat up and cut off his son’s hand.  ;p  I didn’t read much past the NJO series so I don’t have first-hand recollection, but the impression I get from the subsequent series is that they had periods of time where his relationship with Ben was strained, but good grief, he was far from a “terrible” father.  They eventually went on the tropey “parent/child road trip adventure” across the galaxy spewing glorious snark at each other and I think a lot of personal healing and reconciliation/understanding happened between them (because of course, manpain from the Mara fridging).  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, at no fucking point did Luke ever, EVER not love his son.  If he made mistakes, he never meant to hurt Ben in any way, and it’s fucking hard for a man deeply grieving the loss of his wife to not make some mistakes along the way.  Let’s cut him some fucking slack.

AKA, Legends also had no excuse to come up with STUPID PLOTS that required the characters to go through hell multiple times instead of actually doing more interesting shit without wrecking families, so yeah, I’m almost just as salty about that as I am toward Disney!”canon,” but YMMV.  I know folks who love Legends point out that at least the core Squad™ trio survives until the bitter end, but they lost Chewie, Anakin, and Jacen along the way and tortured the galaxy under endless brutal wars and strife for decades longer just for the sake of continuing to churn out media, so Legends is just as guilty as pissing me off as the new shit.  Bless fic for giving me what I want.

WITH THAT ALL SAID, I still would NOT use the dumpster fire of Legends as an excuse to justify Han, Leia, and Luke being shitty parents because they fucking weren’t.  They made the best of bad, bad situations and at no point were they ever callous or neglectful toward their children, the most precious treasure they had after all the pain and struggle they went through during the Galactic Civil War.

[ninasnon-sense]

I really miss having an uncomplicated love of Star Wars. It used to be so easy to just enjoy it. Since The Last Jedi though it’s just been so much harder. All the online stuff made it borderline intolerable, mostly because if you think that particular movie sucks then people assume you’re awful when actually you just wanted something different to what you got. I swear, the more exposed to the wider fandom I got the less I enjoyed being part of it.

Don’t get me wrong, the Star Wars fandom has always been fucking terrible. But I was into it as a kid pre-internet. I was 11 when Phantom Menace came out and unironically loved it and talked about it with my friends. I didn’t get online with the fandom until after The Force Awakens came out and made me feel like an overexcited kid again. Fuck, I even have Kylo’s Upsilon tattooed on my ankle. That thing was the first time I clapped eyes on a space ship and understood why people collect models of them.

I fell hard and fast for TFA and did what I’ve done with pretty much every fandom I’ve ever been in. I absolutely devoured fanfic and fanart of it, mostly on the Kylux side of the fandom because I’ve always loved villains and also because the bad guy section of fandom just tends be more calm. (Seriously, I swear the nastier the thing, the nicer the fandom.) And from the edges there was just this unpleasant bullshit that got harder and harder to ignore. Bullshit that was just so much worse than anything else I’d seen in fandom. People bitching about Rey being a good pilot, just nasty shit about Finn. Just outright misogyny and racism being piled on. In fucking Star Wars

STAR WARS! The whole point of Star Wars is that Bashing the Fash is good actually. As much as I love villains, I’m not an idiot. I know that the Space Nazis are bad, no matter how cool Vader looks, no matter how awesome force lightning is, no matter how fucking beautiful the Upsilon shuttle is in black, the Empire and the First Order are fucking awful. They’re oppressive regimes, the First Order is literally a fanatical cult. And they are meant to represent the real evils of bigotry and oppression. And fans of it were just being openly, almost proudly, fucking terrible.

Then TLJ came out and I thought it was terrible. For many reasons. And even though I could wait to see how twelve dudes in an old weed van were going to save the galaxy I couldn’t ignore that so many people were being foaming at the mouth fucking weirdos about not liking a film. Don’t get me wrong, I have hours worth of ranting about that bullshit movie clocked (we all know that the cat horse things just got shot, right? Or at best tranqued and dragged back), but holy shit some of the thing people were doing.

One thing in particular I remember that made me feel ill. One racist/misogynist went and bought a fuck tonne of Rose dolls. And cut their head off. Who the fuck does that? Fucking hell. Just, on youtube. A really long video of him decapitating doll after doll with a pair of scissors. And it was popular. People praised the fucker for it while I was wondering if this shit head was a potential serial killer. Then there was the huge harassment of pretty much any woman or POC in the movie to the point of some of them being driven off of social media.

By the time Rise of the Skywalker came out (which was awful for so many reasons but at least felt more like Star Wars to me than TLJ) I almost didn’t want to go and see it. I did, mostly out of morbid curiosity by that point. And gods, I just didn’t give a shit. TLJ pissed me off, ROTS just made me tired. And still it was surrounded by this toxic smog spewed out by a bunch of bastards that seemed to not even be familiar with the concept of not being a dick.

I almost wish I could just stop liking it, but I doubt I ever will. Rogue One was amazing. It was everything I had wanted from a Star Wars movie after TFA came out. I loved Solo mostly because of how disposable it felt. It was big, brashy, dumb as fuck and didn’t matter in the slightest, which was exactly what I needed at that time. I haven’t finished watching the Mandalorian yet, though I will. That fits better than the main movies have as well. I’m finally getting around to watching the cartoons and while I think the art style is an ugly blocky mess, it kind of fits. Star Wars is many things, but pretty has never really been one of them.

I love the setting. There’s something about that scratches an itch in my brain the way nothing else I’ve come across does, and for that reason I doubt I’ll ever really give up on it. But I also doubt it’ll ever make me feel that swoop of joy that TFA brought me again. And I’m sort of okay with that, but in the same way that I’m okay with only interacting with people that used to be my best friends once or twice a month on facebook. I still love Star Wars. I probably always will. But the type of love has changed. It’s less unfettered pure love and more “I’m glad I knew you but we’re walking different paths now”.

[captainevans]

Could you go into more detail re: your last post? I've been seeing so many reactions to what Steve did at the end of the movie and would love to hear your take on it because I'm desperate to hear from someone more level headed (and it seems like you definitely are). I've just seen a lot of people upset with/at Steve/Chris and need some reassurance lol. You can keep this private if you want or just make a separate post. Also hi, nice to meet you :)

I have been thinking about this all day, so I would be more than happy to elaborate for you! It’ll be under the cut.

It appears that the general arguments regarding Steve being out of character and not liking his ending is that he struggled for so long to put his past behind him, to find a place in the future with the family and friends he made, and by sending him back it compromised their future as well as Peggy’s and reduced her to simply a woman who stole Cap’s heart as opposed to this formidable force to be reckoned with and one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I don’t see it that way though. If anything, this is a Steve who failed and saw half of the universe snapped due to circumstances beyond his control and more importantly this is the first time we truly see Steve for the human he is, and not just the soldier out of time.

Two constant threads in Steve’s individual arc has been dealing with one never-ending battle after another and his struggle to acclimate to the times he’s in. I don’t mean in an ‘old man deals with newfangled technology’ sense, but Steve’s few years out of the ice pales in comparison to the seventy plus years it’s been for everyone else. Also keep in mind the era in which Steve comes from, because he deals with things internally or not at all (mostly not at all) and a therapy goer the man is not.

In TFA, pre-serum Steve has a myriad of health problems and is known to get into fights frequently. He’s tried several times to get enlisted; longing for that one chance to do something right, to do something good because he doesn’t like bullies and he doesn’t care where they come from. He meets Peggy and she sees the man he is way before he became Captain America. Keep in mind though that between post Project Rebirth and the crash, more time has passed than people tend to think about. Their feelings for one another have deepened, even if they’re not acted upon, which is why their final conversation over the comms is even more heartbreaking. They had something, they knew they had something, and now it was lost seemingly forever. Who could come back from that? Who honestly would want to?

The Avengers finds him a mere two weeks after the man was defrosted, in which he was learning that almost everyone he knew and loved was dead and that the Tesseract he crashed a plane to try and destroy was found and used by SHIELD to create weapons and had to push that into the back of his mind so he could fight aliens in the Battle of New York.

In TWS, he’s still struggling to find his footing between his past and and present. He visits Peggy and is happy that at least she was able to move on and have a life for herself, but every visit is melancholy and ends the same way - she slips out because of her dementia and he has to relive her finding out that he’s real and in front of her every time. I wouldn’t want to wish that experience on anyone, but do you know what that’s like to deal with a person who has that? To think you’re finally getting somewhere with someone for a moment and then the lucidness wears off and suddenly your heart is ripped out of your chest because you’re back at square one? To do that every single time you see them? Sam asking him what makes him happy breaks my heart every single time because he’s never been given the opportunity to figure that out, and once he learns that Hydra, again going with the whole “I crashed my fucking plane into the ocean and this shit is STILL happening” arc, has been entangled with SHIELD from its infancy, he knows the mission to take it down takes precedence over trying to take the time and figure that out for himself. Now, this movie is the Winter Soldier, and there’s Bucky to cover. At this point, Steve knows he doesn’t have much time with Peggy left when he uncovers the identity of The Winter Soldier. These two pillars are the last remaining ties to his past, which is why he tries so hard to try to joggle Bucky’s programming with not fighting back and the “I’m with you til the end of the line”. Steve knows he’s in there, he just had to get him out. He’s successful, and then that jump-starts the search post TWS leading into Age of Ultron and ending in Civil War.

Age of Ultron..is…well, okay it has more problems than anything else however, at this point it’s been three years since he’s been living in the future, and it would make sense that Peggy is still on his mind in Wanda’s dream sequence for him. He confirms it in Endgame for the first time by saying it aloud, but Peggy was the love of his life. It’s normal to dream about lost loves. He’s a man from that older era though, which is why we only have a stolen moment of him trying to remain stoic because he has to be a leader and appear unaffected for the sake of his team and the mission. I really wish the deleted scene where he comes out of the quintet with his coal to see the image of Captain America with the words “Fascist” above spray-painted on a building wall before he throws the helmet back inside was kept in because it shows SO MUCH without saying anything at all. This is where we see that break between who is he and what his superhero persona is supposed to represent. It’s not Captain America who makes Steve Rogers Steve Rogers, it is Steve Rogers who makes Captain America Captain America. And once again, we find him trying to make the sacrifice play if they aren’t successful and can’t get all Sokovian citizens as well as themselves out in time. Now all while this is happening, Sam is still trying to look for Bucky for Steve.

Which brings us to Civil War. Never has that line between his past and present been more apparent because it’s literally the plot to this movie. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Bucky is deprogrammed but broken and more importantly to Steve - alive- and he knows that Bucky has that blood on his hands that Hydra used and abused him into spilling and that’s why if he could just get Tony to see that with these accords the powers at be, along with every country who signs, can dangle their help for political gain like they’re puppets on strings just like he was. Do they need to be put in check? Perhaps, but not by people with an agenda. It’s a dangerous game they’d be playing with no winners which is why Steve doesn’t sign them. And during that meeting with all of them discussing this, Steve learns that Peggy dies so his stake in this fight to preserve the last tether to his past increases tenfold. He’s not just fighting for Bucky, Steve is fighting for himself. By the time he’s dropped that shield, we’re shown that Steve has lost faith in his government, he’s lost faith in his friends, and he’s lost faith in himself.

He’s in Infinity War for six minutes and forty five seconds is screen time so there’s not much content wise to go on, but when we see Steve he is clearly not the man he was and you can tell something is broken inside him, but it’s not explored until Endgame.

I’m just going to focus on Steve’s arc in Endgame because while I really liked most of it, Thor and Natasha deserved better than that so here we go. If you have not watched Endgame, don’t go any further.

Between waking up and immediately having to fight post defrosting and uncovering the truth about SHIELD using the Tesseract to make weapons, Hydra being an entangled part of shield, the events of Civil War, and by the time we see him in Infinity War he’s a shell of whatever former self he was trying to grasp at straws with, and it wasn’t until we had this film that we actually see to what extent that was.

Endgame opens three weeks after the snap, in a time where they’re still desperately clinging to hope with trying to find a way to reverse things. Carol saves Tony and Nebula while he’s on the very brink of death in the Benatar, and tensions between the Steve and Tony are at an all time high. They lost. Everyone. They’re the Avengers, how could they lose?

Time jumps five years. Tony is living on a lake and has a young daughter with Pepper, and Steve has now taken over for Sam in leading group therapy meetings. Joe Russo’s character says he went on a date the night before and that his date cried before the salad and he cried after the dessert and there was nothing they could truly talk about because what could you talk about if half of the universe, including people you knew and loved, vanished in an instant and where you’re borderline living in some version of Lord of the Flies? He offers words of comfort, but he and half the people in that session don’t fully believe them. He lost the love of his life in ‘45 and woke up seventy years later and he hasn’t had a single moment of rest to do so. It weighs on him, on all of them. Natasha is at Avengers HQ still trying to find ways to help, and because of the nature of their work and who they are as individuals they can’t truly move on, him especially. But seeing Tony with his daughter I think was a catalyst of sorts for Steve, even if it didn’t fully register for him at first. One of the themes through Age of Ultron was this notion of “home”, and being an Avenger was something they all pretty much had to put first. Tony got his family, he got his home, and for someone who thought that the man who went into the ice seventy years couldn’t have that himself, there came a small burst of a what if. What if he could have that as well? If it happened for Tony…

Seeing Peggy in 1970, seeing his photo on her desk…that did something to him as well. After all those years, he’s still on her mind just seemingly as much as she’s on his. He gets that moment of seeing her again, and that longing was heartbreaking. Just one more look before he had to go back - something just for him because the mission came first, it always comes first, and he didn’t want to screw anything up so he buries it like he does everything else. Steve’s an intelligent little shit though and we’ll come back to that later.

Now here’s where I also need for you to keep in mind the conversation Banner had with the Ancient One in 2012. The Ancient One is hesitant on giving him the Infinity Stone because it will disrupt the pre-determined timeline, but Banner explains that the past is cemented in time and forever exists to allow for a subject to jump through time. Reality is experiential for individuals, meaning a person’s perception of time is linear, regardless of how they jump around the timeline. In layman’s terms, you travel to the past, that past becomes your future and your former present becomes the past which then cant be changed by the new future.

We’ve always known Steve is worthy of wielding Mjolnir so let’s just skip to the ending now shall we?

At the end, Steve goes alone to return the stones to their proper place in time, but also has become well versed in time travel for someone who’s not Banner or Tony. He sees this as a chance to have something that’s been unattainable to him for so long - to live the life Tony wanted for him. To be happy. To not have to fight for once in his life. So he goes to the right place in while in the quantum realm as to not disrupt the main timeline, and that’s when he doesn’t return we see that he’s become an old man finally at peace, handing Captain America’s shield over to Sam, who more than deserves the mantle, not exactly telling him that he got his happy ending with Peggy, choosing to keep it to himself and yet smiling wistfully all the same.

He never changed anything about Peggy’s future either. SHIELD clearly still exists, and do some people honestly think he wouldn’t give her the choice? If he didn’t think there was a strong enough of a chance or had she turned him down someway he would have respected her and returned to the main present timeline. Nothing changed about that, it was just an alternative path. By going back, Peggy’s life without Steve still exists and that Peggy who gets her reunion with Steve now represents a branch timeline.

I get not everyone liked the ending, I do, but to be fair, just because they didn’t like Steve’s ending because it doesn’t fit what they wanted doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fitting end for Steve. He can rest now. Finally.

[smuthuttpodcast]

Fetch is iconic because to read Fetch is to suffer. I say that with the warmest regards to Tam. It's an example of the medium as both a challenging, cathartic, and escapist one.

Name/Handle/Alias

@secretreylo SecretReyloTrash

About how long would you say you’ve been rooting for Reylo?

When it comes to smut I tend to go two directions: "Shipping" it or a hypothetical "They'd Be Hot Together". I've been on that TBHT train since TFA, but not contributing and only casual browsing of smut because that's what TBHT is for. Spring of 2018 was when the mediation of how to realistically get these two together, the meta aspect of shipping, really started to appeal to me because of stories I was reading ("Lilies" by diasterisms was my first Soft Ben and I loved him) and I gave writing it a try with Perfumed in Obsession, a story that is 100% mediation of opposing viewpoints. I fell very far, very fast into it.

What did you think of the way Rise of Skywalker handled Rey and Kylo’s relationship?

Really gross. TLJ was a very sensitive text. It's not about physical force; it's about persuasion. Understandable viewpoints, where they both offer so much of themselves and it still doesn't work, and that's really heartbreaking and compelling. TROS felt like it had taken several steps back. Kylo was more of a bullying, negging presence when before he'd respected Rey's power and autonomy before, he just had hopes about what she'd do with it. now he's controlling. He withheld crucial information about her trauma, which is deeply wrong. He was a generic villain and Rey was physically fighting her way out. Their ending wasn't given space to breathe or feel like something was happening, and then he drops dead in her arms. A lot of simpering was done on the filmmakers part about what he deserved by Rey doesn't get anything she deserved. Their only interactions before the Exegol Disaster are only focused on drudging up pain and hostility, so there's no moment where they "see" each other that matches TLJ. The final battle there is some grasping at recognition, but it's really imbalanced towards Ben's redemption, Rey being rewarded for essentially waiting out his bad boy phase, and nothing to address her anger and grief and darkness. It tipped the scales way out of Rey's favor, and she's an important character!

Do you think the film understood why you, and other people, felt like Rey and Kylo had something together? Did it get their chemistry?

No, it really felt like the conversations between them were missing the point. Negging, withholding, leveraging. These were two flawed but honest people (at least with each other) who had a lot of circumstantial baggage that kept them apart. Ironically a lot of the "hero" and "villain" posturing gets stripped away and they are shown as their truest selves through the bond. Finn never sees this side of Rey. Snoke never saw this side of Ben. It's a relationship that mattered because it was so nuanced that way. TROS Rey being stalked by Kylo in his Supreme Leader Helmet seems antithetic to the sincerity of the relationship. It's telling that one of Rey's lines is a generic, cliche whisper of "No": it falls horribly flat because a conversation can't just be "Yes." "No." "Yes." "No." I constantly bring up TLJ in my answers because it's what solidified my love for this ship, but their conversations that Rain wrote were a compelling back-and-forth that filled in their arguments with detail that made the arguments appealing. What about the handling of Kylo’s redemption? Was it something you had to think through in your stories?Here's the thing. I wanted Bendemption to be painstaking, bittersweet and maybe not even completed in full by the ending (but explicitly in the works). Here's where the mythology of TROS gets really wonky, and why I think fans are so upset: If Ben was mentally infiltrated and groomed by the most powerful Sith Lord in the Galaxy for 9 movies, can we actually have a nuanced conversation about what he deserves? No. We all just want to wrap a shock blanket around him and let him have a nap, which, fun fact, is the actual ending of the Exegol Metlife Stadium Battle. My point here is that TROS took his accountability, his toxicity, and his choices and rendered them meaningless. It is way too extreme. What does he have to atone for if Palpatine ruined the lives of every Skywalker so thoroughly that he never stood a chance? I adore the self-sabotage of his character. I adore that he is his own antagonist. I adore that he faces consequences for his toxicity and that his love for someone leaves the ball in his court to Fix His Shit for the potential of his own goodness. But you take a situation and make it so tragic where he was so weaponized and powerless that I'm actually impressed he only killed Han. I liked when his actions actually had weight. I adore him for how his emotions compromise his happiness and how damaging it is that he doesn't deal with them because I see so many parts of myself. Step one or writing Redemption was always facing those emotions. I love writing Ben throwing himself at his father's, his mother's, and Rey's feet and just letting these repressed emotions out, and their capacity for forgiveness sheltering this change. It didn't need to be completed by TROS but it needed to be started. 

What did you think of where Rey landed at the end? There had been a lot of excitement around Star Wars having a female protagonist. Do you think she lived up to the promise of her character?

Rey's ending devastated me. It was a period of active mourning that went way beyond Ben's death for me. You know when you pick one phrase when you cry and just fixate on it? "She's alone" was mine. For days. That was all I asked for from this series. For Rey to find her home. Rey was stripped of so much, and most insulting was the fucking Skywalkers playing keep away with her own backstory until it was convenient for them made it seem like they were the actual villains. Why did she have to go in ignorant? Why did we retcon a girl coming from a shitty family and excelling despite that? Symbolically, now she as a character is most alike to Shmi, and that makes bile rise in my mouth. A single woman on Tatooine, dressed in her Virgin Whites, waiting for the Force to decide what to do with her? Smhi. It's Shmi. Here to immaculate concept some more important sacred Skywalkers. Because if she's a Skywalker, there's gotta be more, or what was the point? Thanks, I hate it.

There’s criticism of the movie that argues it’s akin to “fan fiction” and that is has too much fan service. As fans and fan-fiction writers, how do you react to that?

No; it's too corporate. Fanfiction has a love for the source that constitutes the FREE effort to write for it. I think the comparison to fan fiction labors under the assumption that fan fiction is lazy and bad: when the most popular stories that do incorporate high levels of drama earn them through painstakingly hard work. Fetch is iconic because to read Fetch is to suffer. I say that with the warmest regards to Tam. It's an example of the medium as both a challenging, cathartic, and escapist one. It had very real feelings and a happy ending that was earned in a trial by fire. TROS instead was pure studio interference. It was trying to please *everyone* instead of someone earnestly saying "this is what I love." There is no joy. Just cynicism and punishing people who were sincere. I can't validate its need for me to love it. It's desperate and sad. 

Are you still writing any Star Wars fanfic? Tell us about it! (Don't forget your Ao3 handle!)

Yep. I will be updating my newest story "The Witch and The Holocron" every Saturday. It is the closest I will get to a Miyazaki Movie. I'm still on my WIPs: Soldiers in Petticoats is due soon, Virtue Rewarded requires an extensive amount of time but it's in progress, I really want to pre-write my Romanov Imposter AU before posting but I'm excited for it. I'll be around. We all know how bad I am with WIPs but I'm still enjoying writing. We'll just pretend TROS never happened. 

Thank you Secretreylotrash! you can find their writing here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadOldWest/pseuds/SecretReyloTrash

[kyloreyorgana]

STAR WARS 9 ! TROS SPOILERS !

In case this is not obvious enough, this post will contain SPOILERS for the last Star Wars movie, which I’m just now coming home from. These are my first thoughts. I have tried to tag as best I could so that people who mute the tags don’t see my post. Do not proceed f you don’t want to read any spoilers.

You have been warned. Long (and I mean LONG) post ahead.

First of all, I’m happy to be back y’all! Just with TLJ, I come from months (or has it been years already ?) of inactivity to jump right back into the fandom, as obsessed as I was back when I came home from TFA. Which is funny because at the time TFA came out, I had lost all interest in Star Wars and heard so many critics from people who’d seen it and said it was horrible and that Disney basically sold the franchise to the devil that I didn’t even want to see it, to keep the good memories closer to my heart. One night, one month after its theatrical release, I thought “aw fuck I might as well see it, at least for Carrie, Mark and Harrisson” so I went to the cheap theater that was near my home... I had zero expectation, and really I think it’s the reason why I loved the movie so much. I didn’t chose to ship Reylo, this ship whacked me like Harley Quinn’s oversized hammer with the Hades and Persephone aesthetics. When I came out, completely mesmerized with what I had just seen, I jumped on Tumblr as soon as I got home, and I ended up creating this blog just days later. I wanted more and more, fics, metas, fanarts, headcannons, theories, cracks, I could never get enough. For TLJ and TROS, I had lost most interest in the fanfics and the fandom (because as much as I love the movies and some people in the fandom, most of it can eat shit as far as I’m concerned). I heard so many critics of TROS already, I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. But I loved it. Only Star Wars can make me go from utterly uninterested to “Wow I can’t wait to see this new Star Wars in theater, what a time to be alive”, to a stage of total obsession that lasts for months. And that is the reason why I don’t give two shits about anyone disliking the movies. It’s sad you didn’t like them, but it made me feel the same way I felt right back when I was a child watching the original movies with my father. It feels like home. And that is the best thing I could ask for.

Like in TLJ, I cried as soon as I heard the first note of the opening. The last Skywalker story, the last time I ever see my Space Mommy on the big screen...

I know the Reylo community is about to be nuts. The whole movie, like TLJ before it, is basically a series of things we’ve already done in fics and theories. I am 100% positive I have read a fic where Rey and Ren try to hold back a ship with the Force and Rey ends up involuntarily shooting lightning. Whichever one of you did it is probably going to have a stroke in the theater. I nearly did.

And really, I wish I could see the look on the Antis’ faces when they see the movie. I’m sure it is a sight to behold. I wanted to scream “TAKE THAT, BITCHES” more than once. As in TLJ.

My biggest fear was what they would do with Leia. I knew Disney said they wouldn’t use CGI and chose to stick with the scenes Carrie had already shot, and I was afraid it wouldn’t honor Leia’s legacy. Well I... have mixed feelings. While the way they used Carrie’s scenes and made it look like she really is here is to be lauded, it sometimes feels like Leia had nothing interesting to say but they tried to put her in a dialogue anyway, because she needed to be seen doing (or rather, saying) something in the Resistance. And about her death... I still can’t put my finger on what exactly I didn’t like about it but I felt like something was missing. Watching the scene, at first I didn’t know if she was having a heart attack or if she stabbed herself or chose to give up her life because she somehow felt it was the moment, I’m still not sure just why she did what she did. I wish they put something more to motivate her decision and explain what exactly she does. I don’t know, a flashback of Leia holding baby Ben, a little more dialogue, something. Not just Leia suddenly getting up and going to bed whispering her son’s name. 

I knew I was going to be disappointed. Among all the celebrities’ deaths, Carrie’s is the one that affected me the most, and believe me I was a wreck when Bowie passed. I miss her, I think about her every single day. And Leia deserved more, much more. When I saw TFA, part of the reason why I loved the movie was that, even though it pained my heart that Han and Leia’s son turned out this way, I thought they would make it right. I spent hours imagining a scene in the 9th movie where Ren would defeat Rey (incapacitate her the Skywalker style cutting her hand or something) and approach to give the killing blow, and Leia would enter the scene, pick up Rey’s lightsaber, look her son dead in the eye and say “Over my dead body, son”. Because Leia would never give up without a fight, even with her son. And she would get her son back, and her story arc would have been completed. I would have paid good money to see this. 

Episode 9 was supposed to be Leia’s movie, just like ep. 7 was Han’s and ep. 8 was Luke’s. When Carrie died, I knew it would be compromised and it broke my heart, because Leia deserved better. She lost everything. Her parents, her planet, her father, her husband, her son, her brother, the Rebellion, the Resistance, everything. She fought all the way, all her life even faced with the worst odds she never gave up hope, she inspired hundreds of people to keep fighting for what is right, and she would never have a satisfactory ending. What a fucking heartbreak. She didn’t even get to see Lando. Leia deserved more. Every little girl in this world who grew up with her as a role model deserved more. But c’est la vie, as we say in French... My only solace is that I know fanfics and fanarts are going to make me feel a little better about it.

Of course I cried every time I saw her on screen, and especially when they honored her body, as we all honored Carrie when she passed away. This was one of the many fanservice moments, and surely the one I liked the most, although there was some concurrence (more to it later).

Another thing I didn’t like is what they did to Poe’s character. Many people disliked TLJ because of it, which they attributed to a political agenda of hate on men. This is so ridiculous and has already been debated enough that I won’t get into it. I did like the evolution of his character in TLJ, because for me it was an interesting character development as well as a good message: wartime is not only about barging in fights head first, shoot first think later, as is, let’s be honest, everything Anakin ever does. At one point, the narrative of the reckless hero who saves the day when a situation seems impossible and everyone begs him not to do it gets old. Sometimes in war, you have to think ahead, to plot, and yes, listen to what your allies have to say. And it actually was a good critic of toxic masculinity. Could the conflict between Poe and Holdo have been avoided with minimally sane conversation ? YES. But the message was here (as were Holdo’s hair and dress and WOW gurl) and I thought that was it, and Poe would evolve into a wiser person.

But this Poe is, at least in the first half of the movie, not very likable. Hear me, I never really liked Han Solo (never been into macho men) but I really loved Poe in TFA because he was genuinely nice and brave. Here, he’s bitter and annoying. I told myself that he was jealous of Rey because he heard of Finn’s crush on her and he wanted to keep Finn all for himself, which I know is just a crack headcannon, but hey, anything to make it better I guess.

Of course, I’ll never forgive Disney for not making FinnPoe a thing, when even Oscar Isaac ships them hard. And trying to make Poe flirt with the other girl (whose name I even forgot and whose face we didn’t even see, now tell me again how Star Wars has been corrupted by feminists... sigh)  Speaking of, it is me or did two women kiss at the end ? 

I liked the new droid, it reminded me of my puppy. But at the end, it was just another fanservice moment, it didn’t really do anything useful onscreen apart from being cute and funny.

When Rey was finally revealed to be a Palpatine as I hoped, I giggled like a wee girl. Watching TFA, I begged the old gods and the new that they wouldn’t make her another Skywalker, because it would’ve spoiled the Star Wars spirit for me. The whole franchise, in my opinion, is a story about fighting for what you believe is right, no matter who you or your parents are or where you come from. Even though Luke and Leia’s ended up being Vader’s children, they weren’t the only meaningful characters. Anakin was basically a Space Jesus and went from a total nobody to the Chosen One. I didn’t want Rey to be a Skywalker because it would mean that your importance would only ever lay in your bloodline, and that is depressing and totally against the spirit of the Rebellion/Resistance: no matter who you are, you can fight for what is right. For this reason, I wished for Rey to be either a real nobody or Palpatine’s granddaughter, which is also why I liked the fact that Han and Leia’s son turned out bad, even though it made me sad for them (Leia didn’t deserve this). No matter your bloodline, you can always make things right, or fuck up badly if you let yourself be taken away. And, of course, the reveal that Rey and Kylo Ren are two sides of the same coin (aka one of the many times where I picture us Reylos screaming CALLED IT in our seats) was exactly what I hoped for, a beautiful balance. I didn’t share Palpatine’s implication that a Palpatine and a Skywalker are meant to work together, though. That is not how I choose to interpret this duality. That is not what they end up doing, anyway.

Speaking of that old pal Patine, seeing the trailers I feared I would feel nauseated that they chose to reanimate the Big Old Villain, just like they reanimated the Even Bigger Death Star in TFA (how lazy can you be ?). But I enjoyed it. What saved it was Palpatine’s will to be killed by Rey to perpetuate the Sith rite of passage. I don’t even care if it’s cannon or not. I was afraid they would recreate Vader’s dilemma in ROTJ with Rey, but I liked the choices she made. And the throne scene worked for me. Like the rest of the movie it was flawed, for instance we don’t even get an explanation on how he survived. Just like we don’t even get what Finn wanted to tell Rey, even though it was emphasized several times. Was it a love declaration ? What happened to the rushed romance with Rose in TLJ ? (What happened to Rose, actually). While we’re at it, why did Palpatine want Ren to kill Rey ? So many questions. So many flaws.

And, of course I cannot comment this film without mentioning my sweet star-crossed lovers, Rey and Ben. First, I’m really eager to see your reactions. We did it, Reylos! Years of hate and slander and we were right all along. Let’s rejoice.

I like Rey’s evolution. For the moment, I don’t feel like I have too much to say about it (which is fine because this post is way too long already). I like the way she handles her emotions, I like her choices and her character evolution. 

And Ben. Oh, sweet Ben. Although I think the part where he gets his old mask fixed wasn’t necessary, I kinda like what they did with him as well. I must say though that I liked his hair in TFA better.  Oh boy, I loved Kylo Ren but I absolutely adore Ben Solo. And I think the way the movie depicts him even surpasses some fics. The moment when Rey gives him the lightsaber and he gets up and does the Han shrug  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I almost lost my mind. This ties with the hommage to Leia’s body as my favorite fanservice moment.

And their relationship... Look, I know I wet my pants really enjoyed myself in TLJ when they held hands, but that scene felt rushed even for me who ships them with the force of a thousand suns. Like many things in TLJ (and, as I said, also in TROS) it felt like things I had already seen in fanfics, but in the fics I enjoyed the most Rey had tried to kill him at least 5 mores times before even agreeing to have a one-on-one conversation with him. Their romance in TLJ felt like it was hormone-driven, but I get Johnson couldn’t really do a slow burn in 2 hours. When Leia died and they both felt it in the Force, I could feel that Rey wanted to touch him, to confort him, to grieve with him. I’m glad she didn’t. It wasn’t time. And I really like that she told him she wanted to hold Ben’s hand, not his. And Ben, the Dork Knight, finally realized that if he wanted The Girl, he shouldn’t, you know, threaten her and chase her but get back to the Light Side like she begged him multiple times. Because he really isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, this is apparently what makes him choose to tip over. That or the fact she saved his life. I was still frustrated by Leia’s death so I don’t know if I’m not entirely convinced because it happened just after, I’d have to watch it again. I liked Han’s moment, though.

And in my opinion, Rey and Ren’s fight on the wreck of the Death Star is as good as Anakin and Obi-Wan’s. My Reylo heart will always have a special place for their couple fight in TLJ (aka the best non-sex sex scene in cinema, don’t @ me) but I also liked this fight in light of their relation. Surprisingly, it reminded me more of their fight at the end of TFA, when we see Ren holding his blows and Rey barging in. I thought it was endearing.

The end. Oh my god, the end. I can’t wait to see the first gifs and I really really can’t wait for the HD gifs, because oh boy, I now only live for Ben Solo’s smile. That’s it, I found my will to live, my depression is cured. And the way he handles Rey’s body with the utmost care (while Finn apparently watches it and does or says nothing). And that kiss... And the SMILE. And the KISS. 

Oh, dear gods. Oh dear.

I can’t wait for the first fics in which Ben doesn’t die and they live happily ever after on Tatooine or Naboo or wherever they damn want. Or the fics where he is indeed dead and they still share a beautiful relationship (if Force Ghost Luke could get his X-Wing out of the water, I’m eager to imagine what Ben would do with his Force dick, tongue and fingers. Forgive me, it’s getting late and I’m still flustered thinking of their kiss)

And the fact that she declares herself a Skywalker ? I know a lot of people are disappointed in this, but apart from the fact that she completely deserves the title in my opinion when she inherited the will of both Luke and Leia, which is reason enough, she is absolutely married to Ben and deserves her place in that family. Also, it’s again a beautiful way to remind you that bloodlines don’t matter as much as what we choose to do with our lives. And while I’m glad they showed Leia’s Force ghost (I would’ve been really mad if they didn’t) I’m super frustrated they didn’t show Ben’s. What am I to believe, that he gave his life for her, became one with the Force and vanished into litteral nothingness for him to never be seen again ? Like hell I don’t. Again, counting on the fics and arts to right this wrong.

The movie sure has its flaws, and I still have many unanswered questions, like what the fuck is the badge Maz gives Chewie, or how Rey does her lightsaber staff at the end, and I wish they explained some things better. I wasn’t sure if the saber Leia wanted Rey to have was hers or her mother’s. Most of those questions will be answered by bigger geeks than me in this fandom, so I really can’t wait to read from y’all.

I know a whole lot of people are going to hate the movie. The antis, the gatekeeping trve fans (already I’ve seen people say that those who enjoyed the movies are not Real Star Wars Fans and welp, we’re going to see a lot of shit). The manbabies who genuinely believe in a feminist takeover and see equality as a direct threat. I’m specifically happy they will be disappointed while I got the privilege of enjoying Star Wars as much as I did. It’s not my fault, or Disney’s fault even, that they turned out to be on the Empire’s side. And the day has not come when I defend a megacorporation. 

Leia was the first SJW. The Resistance lives on. People will always fight against evil, like it or not. I know the world is a shitty place and we don’t have much hope nowadays for things to get better, and Star Wars has always motivated me to keep going and stick to my values and my convictions. I felt chills several times in the movie, like at the end where everyone comes to fight, and now I’m more willing to keep fighting than ever. For Leia.

Godspeed, Rebels! 

[mrmallardsmobileposts]

My Star Wars Shipping Hot Takes

THERE WILL BE UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SEQUEL TRILOGY IN THIS POST

TAG "#TRoS Spoilers" IF YOU WANT TO WIPE THIS POST FROM YOUR DASH COMPLETELY

THIS HAS BEEN MY SPOILER WARNING, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ABOUT STAR WARS SPOILERS

Finn/Rey should have been endgame, or at least brought up by Finn instead of the BS non-committal "I've got something to tell you" line they play with for the rest of the movie. Bring it into text and acknowledge it fully instead of using it for a few cheap gags and leaving it hanging.

They had great chemistry in TFA. They bonded really easily and got along really well, it seemed like Finn was chatting her up a little at times and by the end of the movie they're incredibly close. Finn puts his life on the line and gets fucked up by a lightsaber to defend her. John Boyega and Daisy Ridley played off each other really well, they had really good chemistry. I really ship it.

The only hitch, imo, is the total lack of screentime they have together in TLJ. Finn's plot just kinda went nowhere and he got a rehash of his "running away" arc in TFA, and I think the Rose Tico kiss was really lame and forced. While I can appreciate their eventual reunion, and within the scope of the movie it's not unreasonable for them to not meet again until the end, I really don't dig how much time they spend apart in TLJ from a shipping perspective and I don't think the Finn/Rose pairing is very good.

To address the elephant in the room, I'm not the most positive person about Rose Tico, but I'm chill with her and I think her character would have been fine with better material than she had in TLJ. Not trying to chud things up, here. The most extreme thing I have to say about Rose Tico, within the scope of this post I'm making, is that I didn't think the actors had that much chemistry to justify a romance, the kiss was goofy with the laser going off behind them, and while I don't disagree that Kelly Marie Tran got screwed over in TRoS, I'm ultimately glad that her and Finn are good buddies in that movie instead of partners. I'm not saying her reduced role is fine, just saying I'm glad that this pairing doesn't seem to be canon. I'm glad they're still close, though. Finn is definitely the heart of the group, pulling everyone together.

The thing about Finn/Rey in TRoS is that while the chemistry isn't there on the same level as TFA - partially due to the hatchet-job editing of the first half where people are barely able to vocalise a single coherent thought before the plot ushers them along to the next point - I felt like it still existed for a while. They teased it with the "I've got something I need to tell you" line from Finn, and then they never bring it up again. Like what the fuck, wrap up the plot point instead of dragging it out for the most painful humor of the movie and failing to resolve it.

This brings me into the Reylo portion of my post.

While I don't ship it, I refuse to hate Reylo. I've got a great write-up of my Reylo opinion on my main blog which explains why, if you search for "reylo". Basic point is that a lot of the initial backlash was predicated on assumptions that people were adamant would be proven true in the next movies, and those assumptions turned out to not be the case 4 years later in 2019, so I refuse to treat it like the pariah it was in 2015 for those reasons.

I'll admit that I really enjoyed the ending with Ben Solo. Adam Driver sells the difference between Ben Solo and Kylo Ren so well, and while I understand that he did a lot of bad shit and wiped out planets and committed space genocide and stuff - Darth Vader also committed space genocide and killed hundreds of people, and his body count continues to rise in supplemental materials. And yet he was redeemed by Luke, and was able to return as a force ghost despite the genocides and mass murders he committed as Darth Vader. There is a precedent for people redeeming themselves just before they die in the Star Wars universe, even when they do some really heinous shit. As such, I am not against this happening for Kylo Ren. Star Wars is just that kind of series, for better or worse.

My opinion of Reylo is that it's kind of like fanfic mode a lot of the time. It got really wacky in TLJ, and it got way more pronounced in TRoS. That's not necessarily a detriment, but it was what it was. I don't buy Kylo Ren and Rey as romantic interests necessarily, especially when I think their relationship is really, really odd and reminiscent of fanfiction cliches, but there's enough subtext for people to read into it and I don't really care if people like it or not.

If Reylo is the endgame ship, then that's fine. I don't necessarily like it, even as I acknowledge that problematic ships will always have their audience. A ship can be used as a force for good, as long as it isn't being used to actively promote abusive tendencies or like really gross shit.

Some ships are off limits, straight up. Reylo is dicey, but I don't think it's worse than a lot of villain shipping is - there's been room for edgy villain shipping before, and I think Reylo occupies that space now and has every right to. As long as people aren't encouraging people to engage in abusive practices through their storywriting, or pushing alt-right talking points and fucked up things like that through their writing, Reylo has enough wiggle room to be a perfectly ordinary pairing in the fanfiction community.

Saying that, though - here's why I prefer Finn/Rey.

He's a close, friendly and positive force in Rey's life, they shared the start of their journeys and they helped each other grow into the heroes they became. Poe spent most of TFA missing in action, and he only meets Rey at the end of the movie. Rey and Finn spend the bulk of their character moments together, and it's the character development from these interactions - spurred along by Han and Chewie, of course - that fuels their ascent into hero figures at the end of the movie.

Why don't I like Reylo more? Because the Kylo Ren stuff seemed like essential backstory stuff, whereas Finn and Rey's characters naturally got along like a house on fire. Kylo Ren also spends most of the time getting rain on his gloves through inter-force touching in a bunch of weird, forced, fanfic-tier scenes, whereas Finn and Rey hug and celebrate and bond through conversation, not trite, rigid backstory.

I can buy Rey kissing Ben Solo at the end of TRoS. I can buy her feeling love for Ben Solo, and finding it frustrating that she can't break through Kylo Ren to get to him. Fuck, in that ending scene where Kylo is explicitly Ben Solo again, Rey and Ben have actual, honest to god chemistry, and it's cute as fuck. But that moment took a lot of catching up to get to, and before her and Kylo showed any hint of affection together, Finn was her comrade in arms, someone who shared her victories and helped to further her growth, and vice versa.

Reylo has a pretty solid conclusion, I will certainly give it that. But I feel like the Reylo conclusion is steeped in that classic "I can redeem the bad guy through love" trope like the original Star Wars, except with a romantic angle this time. Ben's redemption didn't have to be with a kiss - it could still happen without the romance angle, but the romance is added in to distinguish it from the other Star Wars examples.

Ultimately, I think having Ben's redemption spurred by romantic love is broke, whereas Rey finding a buddy in Finn, having their ups and downs together, shielding each other from harm and becoming close through mutual shared experiences and proximity is woke.

What about Finn/Poe? Ship it if you want, it's all good. I understand why this ship was initially so popular, and while I don't ship it, I'm not the shipping police and I get the premise behind it. Poe/CrimeGirl? This was shoehorned tf in, but if you think it's neato, it's neato. Poe/Rey? I think they would make a terrible couple, but whatever. Poe/Finn/Rey? Everyone wins. Add Kylo Ren anywhere into the mix and you can have yourself a party, depending on your stance on the character. Make any of the characters gay, bi, pan, ace - literally whatever, outside of a few significant parameters just about every ship is valid. I'm not a hard-ass, shipping is fun and outside of some really bad shit I'm generally down for people having a good time. I just like Finn/Rey the most.

Also, Maz Kanata is really neat and I hope she gets more screen time. If her lifespan makes it squicky to ship her with the younger characters, that's your business and I understand and respect that, but frankly I would write a romance story about Maz Kanata falling in love in a heartbeat - I just don't know who. I've written Doctor Who fanfic where a 2000 year old alien woman dates a 21 year old policewoman from Sheffield, so as long as the right boundaries are respected, I think a Maz Kanata story could be pretty fun and non-problematic like with a Doctor Who story.

Anyway that's my Hot Takes post

byeeeeee

[jackkearns]

Okay so. Long rant/rambling about TRoS. Spoilers below, you’ve been warned. Posting this on a side blog and reblogging it so it won’t be “uncut” on mobile dashes.

The first... Fifteen minutes of ROS was... Too fast. There was a LOT going on that had no explanation.

Light speed skipping. That made no sense and was a little over the top. An icy outpost with contacts with no names getting information through unmentioned communication lines. Conversation with this Unnamed character that insinuated he was important, especially since we later see his HEAD in Kylo's grasp. Or was it a Knight of Ren, idk bc things went that fast.

LOVED the interaction between Rey Finn and Poe. They argued like a married trio though the whole movie and it was amazing. There was also a LOT of jealousy from Poe every time Finn tried mentioning his feelings for Rey. (Seriously, Poe was more concerned about cosmetic damage to BB8 than he was about the Falcon LITERALLY BEING ON FIRE and I just. Oh, Poe.) The group hug at the end just sealed the OT3 for me, end of story.

There was Force healing and I was excited to see that. Then... It got overused to the point of being a deus ex machina.

The Unknown Regions were mentioned and the path to the Sith world was full of solar storms and black holes and electrical flares and there was no mention of how canonly, that path was mapped by Thrawn, but OKAY,THAT'S FINE.

I was honestly scared to death when Hux was all "I'm the mole," because I was afraid they were making him run like a coward, but no, thankfully, he was being a Petty shit trying to sabotage Ren which is so ic for him.

His death, just a point blank, off handed shot to the chest and him sprawling on the deck of the Finaliser and being completely shrugged off was.... Disappointing. Very disappointing. His character had been played up as this ruthless, cruel and calculating battle tactician and he was made a joke in tlj and RoS. He was a fascist asshole and despite what people say, it wasn't Kylo who destroyed worlds and killed all those people, it was Hux, and it completely undermined how dangerous people like him ARE and I felt his death should have had more substance to address what he'd done and who he was.  

He's a villain, a war criminal, and he should have had more weight, been held accountable, idk, it was just utterly dismissive and HONESTLY I feel bad for Domnhall. Now I know why he didn't want to do any press at all about RoS. You could tell he really enjoyed playing Hux in TFA and I bet that kind of stung.

ANYWAY.

Leia’s death just... it felt detached? There was little to no build up to her death, and then she was just... gone. It didn’t really affect me until I saw Chewie’s reaction, and then it felt like I’d been punched in the GUT and couldn’t breathe for a hot minute.

Was REALLY amused Rey just took Kylo’s ship and bailed. “Thanks for the battle, taking your shit and leaving you here.”

When I heard Han say “Hey kid,” I felt my heart break a little bit, and that moment of Kylo saying the same line to Han- and ACTUALLY THROWING HIS SABER AWAY....

Which brings me to Daisy and Adam’s acting????? JUST?????

The DIFFERENCE in their faces when playing Rey Palpatine/Kylo Ren, and Just Rey/Ben Solo was INCREDIBLE. Their posture, their expressions, the set of their faces, the way they held themselves, was AMAZING. Daisy’s face went so HARD and COLD like a diamond, and Adam’s went so SOFT and OPEN and it was INCREDIBLE, AUGH

I am mad Rose was sidegated. Mad that there wasn’t more to Jannah. Mad that there wasn’t more of the Ghost or even a VOICE cameo of Hera.

LUKE LIFTING THE XWING OUT OF THE WATER MADE ME CRY.

I AM SO MAD AND UPSET OVER SNAP’S DEATH. WEDGE WAS THERE, MY FLYBOY WAS THERE AND HE HEARD HIS STEPSON DIE OVER THE COMMS AND I CANNOT FATHOM WHAT THAT MUST HAVE DONE TO HIM AND I AM STILL UPSET OVER IT.

Force Sensitive Finn. I love it, I knew it, so happy it’s canon, now I need a million fics of Rey helping him train and building a lightsaber with him.

I am not even touching the fuckery that was Sheev having a secret love child because the connotations are not pleasant.

I don’t understand why he didn’t possess Rey after she killed him, maybe it was because she had a Mass Cameo Moment with All the Jedi and reflected his lightning back him and made his powers Null and Void?

The lightning was cool af, even if it was More Extra than Necessary.

The Snoke Jar didn’t explain what Snoke was, who the template was- was it Sheev? Was it a random person? Hell, it could have been Ezra for all we know. It also didn’t explain why he was so easy for Kylo to kill.

Also, how did Hux keep hiding shit from Kylo? How did Kylo hide his plans from Sheev? Why is it the mind reading is very situational? I get Kylo maybe being able to shield his thoughts, but Hux? For three movies straight? And only his Petty Ass Behaviour getting him caught by Pryde and not Kylo? JJ/RIAN EXPLAIN.

The Star Destroyers/Sith Destroyers were pornographic. I said it. The scene with the fleet rising gave me a boner, y’all know I have a Thing for Star Destroyers, and there was a whole gorram ATMOSPHERE FULL OF THEM.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO A HAPPY POINT.

FINALLY. FINALLY. SHIP PHYSICS WERE ACCOUNTED FOR IN THIS MOVIE.

Ren brings the Finaliser into atmo and there are effects felt on the ground from the ship. The Falcon gets too close to the Finaliser and it affects the troopers in the hangar bay.

THE STAR DESTROYERS WERE AFFECTED BY BEING IN ATMO AND NEEDED TIME TO BRING UP THEIR SHIELDS.

I SORT of was all “...what” at their lack of navigation, but THEN AGAIN- when your viewport is full of nothing but the ships above, beside, in front and behind you, yeah, you need some synchronised navigation going on from a command ship.

(Am I STILL mad about the Star Destroyer above a city having no effect, but a Lambda taking off shot people all over the walkways in Rogue One? YES, YES I AM, ROGUE ONE SAID “FUCK SHIP PHYSICS, WE DO WHAT WE WANT, INCLUDING JUMPING TO HYPERSPACE WHILE STILL IN ATMO, LET ALONE THE GRAV SHADOW OF A PLANET” AUGH FUCK YOU)

The line “That’s not a Navy, that’s people.” So good. So. GOOD.

The scene with The Not Navy- GOOD. SO GOOD. (Though it’s like... how did Lando get ALL THOSE PEOPLE when LEIA didn’t?? RUDE)

BEN SHOOTING HIS BLASTER BLINDLY BEHIND HIM LIKE HAN MADE ME SQUEAK, I NEEDED THAT AND NOW I JUST WANT A MILLION AU FICS OF BEN AS A FORCE SENSITIVE SMUGGLER AUGH.

The Rey/Ben(Kylo? I think he was Ben at this point?) kiss was uh. I didn’t like it. And not because I don’t ship Reylo? (Because I HONESTLY do NOT mind Rey/Ben Solo- it’s Rey/Kylo Ren that I’m eeeeehhh about) but because it was generally just... awkward and Ben just “Aight, I’ma fade out” right after just made it more awkward??? IDEK.

All in all, I didn’t think it was BAD. It was an okay Star Wars movie. It is NOT my favourite- but it was not BAD.

It just felt like it was rushed, that some crucial content was cut in order to keep the plot goingandgoingcan’tstopgoing, and it honestly felt like the three movies was a passive aggressive pissing match between JJ and Rian.

LOT of amazing parts, a LOT of wtf parts, a LOT of disjointed plot points. Enjoyed it, but much could be done/handled better to have made it a more poignant ending to the saga.

[fandomsallaroundme]

As someone who really likes Tony as a character in his various incarnations, as well as a being huge Stony shipper, the current state of the Marvel fandom due to this special breed of MCU Tony stans is killing me. It's like their life's mission is to downplay the contributions of every other character (except maybe Peter) to make their fav look the best. They sure love reducing Steve Rogers to the "pretty white guy who did nothing", which frankly couldn't be further from the truth. (1)

Of course when called outon their shit, (and the fact that they all conveniently ignore that Tony never called Steve either when he had the chance to), they fall back on the "WhY caN'T yOu TaKE a JoKE!!1!" excuse. It's honestly exhausting to have your love for a character being slowly drained out of you because the most popular version of that character has a million toxic stans who somehow don't understand that the other Avengers may mean just as much to other people as Tony does to them. (2)

I found your blog because I pretty much had it with being disrespectful towards the other Avengers as some sort of weird ass defense for Tony, which the character doesn’t need. IMO if you can't build your fav up without tearing other characters down and then trying to play it off as a joke, you're doing it wrong. I don't understand why they can't let Tony be an actual flawed (but incredibly interesting) character,as that is what drew me to him in the first place. (3)

I also have to stop myeyes from rolling into another dimension when they try and make "bad childhoods" into a competition, but then conveniently forget that Nat was literally brainwashed into being an assassin from a young age, and Steve grewup in poverty with an alcoholic father, sick mother, a list of illnesses longer than my shopping list while WWII raged on in the background. Like they're trying

to claim Tony had it the hardest?? Compared to these other characters????

What????? (4)

Honestly, that makes me

feel like these “stans” don't know shit about Tony at all, because that's

something the character himself wouldn't even THINK of saying, in both the MCU

and the comics/cartoons. I just want my pre-MCU Civil War Marvel fandom back so

I can go into the tag without seeing all this shitty content. Anyways, sorry

for the rant, had to deal with some of those toxic stans today and came here to

get a breath of fresh air. (5)

 Sorry if my reply is a bit later than expected, I had to get home from work and then I had to lay out all your asks chronologically and read them all at once because reading them chunk by chunk was whacking my ADHD brain out lmao

Anyway, first of all: hi! It’s super nice to meet another Marvel fan who actually likes the team instead of just one character in particular! So glad to have you aboard this actual garbage dump that is my blog! Welcome! And don’t worry about ranting, lord knows I do it all the time yet somehow people still think I’m worth following. :D

Second, god do I know where you’re coming from. The Marvel fandom used to be such an open and inviting place, full of some of the best people I could ever hope to meet. I was a huge fan since 2011 when Thor and Captain America TFA came, but I didn’t really join the “fandom” itself until… maybe early 2014?? Around the time Winter Soldier came out. I remember the fandom coming together and just sobbing over this beautiful movie, coming up with hundreds of fics and headcanons for how Tony and the other Avengers could help rehabilitate Bucky and help Steve get his friend back. There were whole discussions and wishes for a very long and very important talk between the entire group as friends, for Tony to learn the truth and choose to forgive Bucky for his parent’s deaths because he never chose to kill them, would never choose to do so of his own free will, and for the team to come together, stronger than ever because they understood each other’s pain.

I haven’t seen hide nor hair of such AUs since 2016.

Civil War was the worst possible decision the Marvel execs made. They should never have tried to adapt the storyline into a movie, or they shouldn’t have done it so haphazardly while also still trying to resolve the issues from TWS. Dividing the fandom on who is Right and who is Wrong was a fucking mistake, because instead of thinking critically about the moral implications of what signing or abstaining from the Accords means, the fandom has devolved into claiming the side that their favorite characters are on is automatically “Right” and then trying to build a defense around their character in particular instead of what they are actually fighting for.

I’m very sorry your enjoyment of Tony’s character has faded because of people who cannot admit their faves’ faults. Tony is actually a rather interesting and complicated character, and although I cannot say whether or not I could ever love him the way I used to way back in the 2012-2013 era of Marvel, I could at least, ya know, tolerate him, or just be neutral to him.

But I have to Hate Him, because the toxic, overwhelming majority of his stans have targeted, degraded, and trashed all the other Avengers so thoroughly I can no longer see what I ever liked about Tony in the first place.

Yes, Tony suffered. Yes, his childhood was hard. Yes, Steve shouldn’t have lied to him.

But he hasn’t suffered the most out of the entire Avengers team (Natasha), he didn’t grow up chronically ill (Steve) or in poverty and orphaned (Wanda). Howard not loving him was awful, but he still did have a wonderful father figure in Edwin Jarvis, and his mother loved and cared for him.

Steve lying to him seems to be, like, the biggest evidence his stans have that he should have hated the Avengers, or, it’s the reason they like to give for hating the others because “everyone turned against him!!  He deserved better friends!!!” No??? Steve lying to him was wrong, but him trying to kill Bucky was no less wrong (it was, in fact, about 100x worse because, ya know, murder), and after all of that it was completely within Tony’s power to move forward and try to rebuild his friendships.

The cellphone was Steve’s olive branch; it was Tony’s choice not to take it until the world was literally ending around them. The others were completely within their right to avoid/hate Tony for him locking them up in a remote prison without a trial or even a hope of release before Steve freed them. A lot of Tony’s choices are ultimately the worst things that came back to bite the Avengers in the ass; Ultron, not calling Steve, not turning the donut ship back to Earth after Ebony Maw was dead, the Sokovia Accords, etc.

(Aw geez, I kind of went on my own rant there, lol)

I desperately wish for the days where the fandom didn’t know about Civil War, when the team was the Team and they all lived together and kicked a lot of HYDRA ass together and then went out to do the occasional solo mission that was part of their own trilogies and everything was good and everyone could actually forgive each other for small things instead of instantly turning on each other because someone’s favorite character did something rude to another.

But, seeing as that’s not likely to be happening anytime soon, I invite you to enjoy my blog and engage in more rants with me in the future if you so wish. It’s nice to meet you. :)

[iabsolutelyresentthiswebsite]

The Romantic Relationship Development Rebuttal

I received this comment (below) on my post for the second installment of my “Fundamental Misunderstanding of Rian Johnson” webseries and comments are not long enough for what I need to say.

Them: “I think you mistaken that the relationships in TLJ are meant to be explicitly romantic? You basically have a bunch of broken people just trying to connect to one another as they try to figure themselves out/their places (in the often flawed ways people do), which is much more realistic in an imperfect/war torn world than romantic love is. The OT and PT directly romanticizes these unhealthy relationships in Anidala and Han/Leia, but they both fail for lack of substance. On the other hand everything in TLJ is pretty subtle, tho Kylo and Rey have and spark more substantial development in each other than either Anidala and Han/Leia in the OT/PT. Is it romantic? Who knows. Affection doesn’t always have to be. What matters is that these characters and their relationships become the catalyst for growth, romantically or otherwise. Besides this, Rose’s character is there to give a voice to the rebels (in and outside the mobilized resistance) and their motivations. Perhaps the reason it was shown this way will be clearer in IX, as XIII clarified much of XII. TLJ and what Johnson was trying to do seemed pretty clear to me but I understand we all have diff opinions. Anyway, Happy V-Day!“ 

Because of their respectfulness, I have declined to include their name, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are so wrong on almost everything. Including the episode numbers... (BTW, I electively ignored the comments until someone slid in and agreed with them. This is the only reason I am replying now.)

Never did I say in that video that the relationships were intended to be explicitly romantic. The problem is, nowhere in The Last Jedi, was it ever even implied it was supposed to be something else. I understand the whole “imperfect people trying to find imperfect ways to make sense of things”. I like that concept. I do. But even on that front, both FinnRose and most especially Reylo fail on every account.

Finn and Rose don’t play on each other well, don’t challenge each other in any logical manner, and nor do they find any kind of solace or understanding that the commenter is referring to in one another. Finn is an escaped Stormtrooper, who is extremely conflicted, scared, but brave, however doesn’t know his place outside of the fact he feels semi-indebted to both Poe and Rey for saving him in different ways. Rose’s purpose is still unclear outside of the whole forced romance arc. She is a useless character, aside from the fact the whole purposeless excursion on Canto Bight that should have been between Poe and Finn led to Finn voluntarily aligning himself with the Resistance. But I truly believe, without Canto Bight, that whole alignment arc could have and should have been done much better and more convincingly. Rose’s character did nothing to serve to give the rebels of voice, so I don’t know what you’re talking about. We know that the rebels come from everywhere and have their own reasons for joining and exploring that would have been great and even hearing the little bit of Rose’s backstory was...fine, I guess, but it does not change the fact she handicapped the entire plot- rather, lack thereof. It’s never been necessary to have a poorly-designed side character’s motivations explored in a poorly-constructed environment completely being forced by the plot in a main canon movie. That is exactly what the books are designed to do. Cover information that is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things so that it gives backstory on people we didn’t really think twice about. We saw Rose’s sister die for the Resistance and that was pretty powerful, but we didn’t even seen Rose really grieve over her sister, except lashing out at Finn, whom she was just fawning over. Like...I’m sorry, she was written so badly. She is a detriment to the plot, to the necessary relationship developments, and even to herself. 

Moreover, to boldly claim that it wasn’t intended to be explicitly romantic is objectively wrong. This is Disney we’re talking about. To them, love solves everything and for the things it doesn’t solve, it excuses. Rose kissed Finn because they wanted us to see them together romantically, but they gave Rose no personality and therefore, she and Finn have no chemistry. A kiss on the lips is a universal symbol of romantic love and as someone who was very mildly interested in a potential friendship between the two, that even I saw that kiss as romantic 100% of the way (btws, that was the only thing that lead me to that conclusion cinematically), it really says something. Also, cinematically speaking, the moment they kissed, an explosion went off, which is very clearly indicative of the romantic aspect I am so confidently asserting was intended to be in The Last Jedi between these two. They tried to make us see the “spark” by literally showing us them, but failed because of everything else wrong with their dynamic. 

Moreover, I explicitly do not see Reylo as romantic at all. They are completely 100% at opposite ends of the spectrum and cannot reconcile at this point. A Reylo endgame is completely asinine with what Rian Johnson did to them, which has always been fine by me. I don’t like/respect/enjoy a Reylo endgame as a narrative concept because it does not make logical sense based on their characters and interactions. It would have been asinine after JJ’s first installment, too. Reylo simply cannot happen, logically-speaking. As TFA began to explain, TLJ solidified that Reylo is DOA- Dead On Arrival. 

But the problem is, Rian Johnson basically said he ships Reylo, so we know that’s what he was trying to do. He said he played with the idea of them actually making out  in The Last Jedi. That is proof enough he fundamentally misunderstands romantic relationship development, but also fundamentally misunderstands these characters he’s writing! He did not and continues to not understand their real dynamic, which I really don’t get. It’s not that hard. 

Again, I concede that how someone might see the whole “imperfect people/imperfect places” thing. It makes more sense than what Rian tried to have happen. Rey and Kylo having this Force bond, which would have been fine under different circumstances, is a thing I was totally down for. Loved the concept. It made sense after what The Force Awakens established their relationship to clearly be, but now...suddenly that is thrown out the window for a shallow, Dues Ex Machina, self-fulfilling prophecy-esque plot device initiated by a person who simply is not powerful enough to make this thing happen. So is the Force-bond genuine or fabricated? No one will ever know. 

Kylo is very broken, although clearly not nearly as broken as we were lead to believe considering Rian decided to have him throw his redemption away in favor of the lies and power his now-deceased master promised him in his youth. Kylo knows what he’s doing now. And Rey, completely stripped of her personality, is unrealistically believing every single thing Kylo Ren has to say without consulting Luke Skywalker about anything. I’ve already spoken about how OOC Luke was, so we are not going there right now. Rey, based on her characterization in TFA, would not have done that, especially considering Kylo had just murdered his father in front of her and knew that his father meant something to her. He did it as much for himself as he did to hurt her intentionally. If they were supposed to be “imperfect people finding meaning in imperfect ways”, Kylo would have actually gotten something beneficial out of it, much like Rey. Instead, we have Kylo Ren’s arc assassination and Rey being completely and utterly betrayed by Kylo Ren with no good reason and now the Rebellion is pretty much up shit’s creek without Han, Luke, or Leia. Maybe Rey learned a lesson that she wasn’t supposed to trust Kylo Ren, but why did she in the first place? She literally detested him all of about 18 hours prior. Maybe Kylo Ren learned that people cared about him, but Leia literally telepathically sensed her son and sent him good vibes and Han put his life in jeopardy for his son. He knew that, too. 

Moreover and very quickly, Anidala wasn’t really all that unhealthy until Anakin became obsessed with protecting Padme. It was weird to us because Padme was 14 when Anakin was 9 and they got married when he was like 19 and she was 24. But like, it was what it was until Palpatine really started trying to turn Anakin’s heart by playing on his fears of losing Padme. And at really no point in time was Han and Leia’s relationship unhealthy. They fought a lot because they were denying the sexual tension that did exist between them and their personalities were both fairly dominant, so testing the waters was necessary. Couples fight all the time and their bickering really lead to them being able to see each other for who they truly are. Neither relationship was what you assert it was. 

I will say, again and a-fucking-gain, nothing in this movie should have logically happened and what happened actually is illogical from the very concept to the way it was executed. Rian Johnson wanted us to see failure, but unfortunately for this franchise, the failure we saw was this God-awful movie. 

But like you said, we all have differing opinions. Happy Valentine’s Day.

[timeisacephalopod]

4, 6, 9, 10, 12: Rhodey and Bucky, 15, 16, 21, 23, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 37, 43, 46, 50, 54: Tony

You know that meme where the white woman is looking at the math overlaying the picture in confusion? That was me when I got this ask because instead of reading the fucking questions on the ask meme I put up I decided ‘Rhodey and Bucky’ were some other thing? Long story short I’m a moron lmao.

4- Favorite actress

Tbh I don’t pay much attention to the actresses and thus I almost missed out of saying Tessa Thompson like some kind of savage. I appreciate how hard she worked to try and make Valkyrie bisexual and also her character was basically the only thing I liked about Thor: Ragnarok (controversial opinion, I know).

6- Favorite quote

“Trust my rage” from Thor The Dark World. This line is so visceral and poetic. Like shit son, the rest of the movie was eh, but that line? Fucking amazing, and Hiddleston’s delivery of it is top tier bois.

9- BROTP

Pepper and Tony. I’ve never seen the romance between them, and in my opinion it was there because it seems movies are fucking incapable of not having a romance subplot (no hate to pepperony shippers either, everyone likes what they like and the entire point of fic is to circumvent canon anyways). But as a friendship pairing these two are excellent- they’re a great team, they understand each other on a fundamental level, and their friendship dynamic is interesting. Also, to me, I think their relationship is more compelling without the romance.

10- How did I discovered Marvel?

I’ve mentioned this in other asks but I had a friend make me watch Avengers and I didn’t like it lmao. I only gave it another show two years later and started from the beginning with CA:TFA and then I got into it. I’m not sure what changed or why I took to it later, especially when I found the later half of TFA to be kind of boring (I love Skinny!Steve ok) but it happened and when WS came out I saw it in theaters. From then I was hooked.

12- Make me choose between two characters: Rhodey and Bucky

Damn, I’d rather not have to choose, you suck! But, for the sake of the ask, Rhodey. As a character he’s better constructed, has his own story and motivation outside Tony, he’s funny, and while he has his moments (that I mostly blame on shit writing) he’s a great friend. I honestly wish that we could get a whole movie about him doing things but I did hear some rumors not long ago about Marvel looking into making Iron Man 4 an Ironheart movie and the only thing that would make that better is if Rhodey were her mentor (I literally wrote a story about this once).

Anyways, although I write Bucky a lot more than I do Rhodey I do prefer his character in a more fundamental way simply because he’s more fleshed out. Plus I love male friendships that are actually good and James Rhodey Rhodes is the God Tier of friends. The man spent 3 fucking months combing the desert for his disaster friend and that’s some damn dedication. Especially when you know people must have gotten real damn annoyed with him using resources and shit. But that action alone tells you everything you need to know about him and none of it is bad. I love Rhodey, seriously.

15- Top 5 ships

Tony/T’Challa

Tony/ Bucky

Tony/ Stephen

Tony/Rhodey

And, because I feel compelled to put a ship that doesn’t have Tony in it Steve/Howard

Honorable Mentions: Tony/ Peter Q

16- Top 5 villains

THANOS

Erik Killmonger

Loki

Justin Hammer (he’s just so absurd)

Ghost (from Ant Man and The Wasp)

Seriously, this was hard because Marvel’s villains are shit. They’re all the same one dimensional ‘they’re evil’ type characters.

21- Dream crossover

Basically any urban fantasy world I loved in my teens and the MCU. I’ve written a Vampire Academy/ MCU crossover but I’d love to write a House of Night crossover (I hate the characters in HoN, but love the world ok don’t judge), and a Shadowhunters crossover. I’ve seen some cool stuff with Teen Wolf being crossed over too though.

23- Most layered character

Tony fucking easily. His arcs are always the most compelling (or close to it), he’s had the most character development, and his trauma plays out so beautifully on screen. I’d argue Steve is a close second post WS, but the MCU will never let his character play out the development he’s gotten because they’ll never let Steve be less than perfect, which pisses me off. Otherwise his transition from a solider who wants to do right by his country to a cynical man who doesn’t know how to process the new world he’s been tossed into or how to handle a situation in which the morally correct solution isn’t abundantly obvious would be a compelling watch. But its been consistently proven that Steve will never get a real realization of his new characterization because ~~perfection~~.

27- Favorite moment

Shiiiit. That’s a lot of material and because I have a bad memory I’m going to go with ‘don’t call us plucky, we don’t know what it means’ because that was hilarious lmao.

29- Saddest moment

Shit boi, probs a toss up between Peter P’s death and Bucky’s. Peter’s is obvious but Bucky fucking dusting in front of the dude who spent so long trying to find him again in an effort to feel, even if its just for a moment, like he’s home again? Sad af. I felt awful for Steve there.

30- Most beautiful scene

Pretty much all of Black Panther is a visual treat, but I’m especially fond of T’Challa in the dream world with his father. That scene was so beautiful, and all the colors? Amazing. Only Guardians of the Galaxy even compares visually and even then Wakanda’s beauty has something else to offer that space doesn’t.

32- Actor/Actress I’d like to be cast by Marvel

As mentioned above I pay literally zero attention to actors- its a personal choice not to spend time being a voyeur into other people’s lives and treat them like commodities to consume because I loath celebrity culture (and this isn’t a slam to anyone who enjoys it, its more a slam to people who over engage in it- ie people who care enough to send death threats or paps basically). Anyways that’s an opinion you didn’t ask for, but because of that personal opinion I have no real cast choice lmao.

35- Most boring plotline?

I love Thor but all his movies. The first movie had good personal growth but eh. The second was an ok movie but forgettable (aside from my fav line from Loki in it), and unpopular opinion I hated Thor Ragarok. I mean it was funny. That’s all the good I have to say about it really. Though I have no idea why every comedy writers room is not leaping at a chance to get Taikia on their staff because the man is a comedic genius and that’s honestly being impolite to his comedy skill. Still, as much as I like Thor I didn’t really love any of his movies and all his villains were so fucking boring, even Loki wasn’t that interesting till Avengers. Poor Thor, MCU did him dirty :(

37- Most well done character death

Peter P. I give this to him over Bucky because apparently most of that scene was improv? I cried over my spider son ok. There’s someone who was in that theater with me who heard me sob out ‘my spider son’ and went home to tell people about it. That shit was heartbreaking. Second runner up goes to T’Challa but I didn’t think it was well done, I just thought it was sad as shit for Okoye and I love her so it was upsetting to see her lose her king :(

43- Characters I wish they’ve met

I don’t understand the question :( I think it’s supposed to be ‘characters you wish would met’ but all my wishes were granted in IW. Tony and Stephen met and so did Tony and Quill. I shipped Tony with both characters before they’d interacted on screen so it was nice to see :) Rhodey and Quill would be a fucking hoot together though, throw in Okoye and Valkyrie and you’ve got a bunch of drunk overpowered people telling war stories or, in Quill’s case, stories about that time he stole some shit.

46- What characters outside of the Mcu I’d like to see in a Marvel movie?

Ironheart, but I heard rumors they might do a movie with her. I think it’d be fun to have Riri in screen, especially since Peter is around her age. I’d also love to see a Young Avengers movie or a Kamala Khan/ Ms. Marvel movie though apparently there’s rumors of that too.

50- Characters that deserved better

Tony, Bucky, and Steve but all for different reasons. Steve deserves his fall from grace and not because I think he should suffer, but because keeping him on his pedestal means he’ll never be able to fully process his trauma and move on. Allow him to fall, allow him to know he isn’t perfect, then allow him to know that that’s ok, he doesn’t need to be, he just needs to do the best he can and then allow him a proper chance to move on.

Bucky because he deserves to be a character outside of Steve and, to a much smaller extent, Tony. Let the man have a movie about self actualization after trauma, let him figure out he isn’t Steve Roger’s best friend anymore (and that Steve isn’t really Steve anymore) and that that’s ok, they can both accept themselves as they exist now and still be friends. Let him develop hobbies outside of Steve, have him bond with Rhodey, he needs a good friend. Shit, let him bond with Sam too. Give me a buddy movie where Sam lowkey therapies Bucky into being a fuckin person again and Bucky finds some way to repay him. He can go beat up Scott for that time he kicked Sam’s ass lol.

And Tony because the MCU makes fuckin everything his fault, even stuff that only somewhat involves him. They drive him to an absolute breaking point and then have the characters get pissed that he broke? The only one that I found acceptable was Pepper and that’s mostly because I understand why she’d be freaked out both by Tony’s obsessive behavior and by nearly being eaten by one of his suits. She had her own shit she was dealing with post Mandarin so her I understand. Everyone else though? Mostly makes no sense. Why are you surprised that a person snaps when they’re pushed to the limit? That’s how people work lmao but that’s also because the writers make an active, and completely senseless, choice to have the characters react like Tony’s mental health problems are a choice he made and now he has to suffer because he has PTSD or some shit. Idk, but AoU was the worst for it, and, to a lesser extend IM3 but I refuse to believe Rhodey would really tell Tony to get over himself after a panic attack- the man is emotionally intelligent ok, IM3 did Rhodey dirty.

54- 5 things I love most about: Tony

Tony’s sheer level of wonder at the world around him- the look on his face in IM2 when he rediscovers that element perfectly encapsulates how he feels about learning and moving forward. (Flipside is that sometimes he has trouble staying in the present and that causes problems).

The way he tries no matter how badly he fails. Bih, if my random tests on a rock nearly ended the world I’d out and out throw myself off a cliff. Instead he accepts his part in it (and more) and chooses to try and make the best of it. He’s done that from the moment he got snatched by terrorists in Afghanistan. That in itself is basically a superpower.

His humor. I, too, hide my emotional distress under jokes so I can relate to being a lil bit of an asshole to hide how I feel. (Flipside: people don’t think he takes stuff seriously- hence Steve in the Avengers).

His mental health problems. Ok this one is weird, but I can appreciate that someone drew up a hero that isn’t based in perfection, but who tries to get there anyways. But the dude has problems, a lot of problems, and they aren’t always pretty. But they are complicated and it is compelling to watch.

The way he builds relationships. Its unconventional- Rhodey is probably the only person he’s super close to that he met in a normal way. Happy and Pepper were both people that worked for him and instead of just being their boss he took the time to learn about them and get to know them on a personal level. Obviously he ended up engaged to Pepper, but a guy who knows what his driver’s favorite show is and why he likes it is a good dude. He’d be nice to wait staff in restaurants.

[looselucy]

It was me who asked you about your top 10 favorite moments from TFA. I have been waiting since then to ask you this question...What's your top 10 (or more) favorite moments from Butterfly Boy? Thank you for all the amazing stories. Thank you for all the hard work. Thank you for charing. Thank you for putting your heart and soul into this. Thank you for being you. You are a queen Lucy! ❤️

OKAY, YOU’RE A FUCKING LEGEND, THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH FOR THIS!!!!!!!! I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!!!!In no particular order,My top eleven (woops) Butterfly Boy moments….

1. When Pippa is sick and Harry helps her throw up (the moment)

I fell backwards and settled between his legs, my head lolled back on hisshoulder, completely gone. I became surprisingly comfortable and calm againsthis frame, snuggling against him and loving the warmth of his body.I could tell he wasn’t expecting that. He was probably waiting for me to tellhim to leave, but instead I set up camp between his legs and let my eyesclose, feeling his chest heavily lift and drop between my shoulder-blades, atranquil beat and rhythm that helped keep me content.“I’m threw up.” I hiccupped the nonsense.“Yeah.” He mumbled somewhat uncomfortably.He leant forward, with as little movement as he possibly could, and flushed thetoilet, before moving back so I would remain comfortable against him, my head heavy,my stomach still churning.I let my breathing fall in time with his as we silently sat on my bathroomfloor together, Harry’s head hovering over my shoulder.Next, I threw up in my mouth, the tiniest amount, andgulped it all back down before I was fully aware of what I was doing.“I threw up in my mouth.” I told him.“C’mon, Pip-Squeak, you need to get it all up.” His cheek brushed against mine.“Only if you call me Pippa.” I demanded.“I… I can’t. Wouldn’t feel right.” He chuckled lowly, his breath hitting myneck, erupting a rash of goose-bumps.“Call me Pippa, and I’ll throw up in the toilet. Call me Pip-Squeak, and I’llthrow up in your hair.”“Is that a threat?” I could feel his dimples on my cheek.”Yes.”“Okay. C’mon, Pippa. Get your head in the toilet.”

2. When Harry tells her the meaning behind his butterfly tattoo.

“I remember thinking… I was free.” He spoke quietly, his lips just an inch frommine. “I’d finally escaped… the pain I went through. I was… getting this newlife, where I was safe, finally! And…that butterfly represented that for me. Even as a kid, I knew. I just felt thisreally strong connection to this butterfly as soon as I got in the room. I hadto keep it, I just had to! So… that’s it really. It meant a lot to me, so itmade sense that ten years after I started living with them, when I turnedeighteen, that I should get it tattooed. It was my present that year. Bencried. Through happiness, I think.”

3. At the party, when he tells her he wants to kiss her but then doesn’t.

“The first time I saw you I wanted to kiss you.” He began. “Then I got to knowyou and I wanted to punch you. Then I got to know you, and I wanted to kiss you again.”Harry had a nice voice. I’m not sure if I noticed that simply because of thethings he was saying, or if maybe all my senses were completely heightened.I said the only thing that made sense to me then.“So kiss me.”Suddenly, that smirk I knew all too well wasn’t frustrating, or tedious, or ascompletely infuriating as it had once been. It was gorgeous, tempting. His lipswere pink and I loved seeing them stretch into that familiar shape.I took a deep breath in, preparing myself, before he spoke.“No.”

4. When Harry tells her what Songbird means to him.

“When we were driving back,” He went on. “Obviously we were listening toFleetwood Mac-”“Obviously.”“Yeah.” He brushed his thumb under my eye. “And I skipped Songbird.”I lowered my brows, stroking the tips of my fingers down his sides, watching ashe gently exhaled, like telling me that alone was a weight from his shoulders.“What?” I puzzled. “Why?”“It’s my favourite love song of all time. I remember listening to it over theyears… and thinking about how scaredI was… to feel that strongly for someone. How I’d never be able to listen tothat song the same way again. We were just… talking about moving into thishouse and… I just remember thinking, shit,I can’t listen to this song. I couldn’t! Because… I just knew it wouldn’tsound the same. I knew you’d changed the song for me, and… I wasn’t ready. I… Istill don’t know if I am. I haven’t listened to it since.”

5. The shower scene.

It stayed that way for a while. My eyes could just about make out that Harry’shand was buried deep into the front of his jeans, and the first noise he madewhilst he was in there was so sexual and raw, it took every single ounce ofstrength I had not to moan out loud.I grabbed at my breast, tipping my head backwards, and I knew that would tiphim over the edge.“Fuck.” He grunted. “I can’t… Fuck.”He practically ran out of there, and I was once again in the shower-room alone,left feeling so satisfied about what had just happened between us.I breathed out heavily, pressing my back against the tiles and staring up tothe ceiling, only now realising I was panting, finally touching myself softly, fuelledby the knowledge that Harry was in his room doing exactly the same thing, because of me.

6. Mutual masturbation.

“I touch myself. You make me… I just… I can’t help it. When you’re on my mindand I’m alone… I can’t fucking help myself.”I watched as he moved his hand down to his jeans, and he started palming overhis bulge, breathing heavy, even that touch relieving him, eyes closing softlyand slowly for a moment before they pulled upwards again, staring at meintently.“Please.” I whispered desperately, closing my eyes, unable to watch.“Do you think of me?” He groaned, clicking open the button of his jeans withtwo fingers. “When you touch yourself?”I let out a gentle moan from deep within my chest, only now noticing my handwas laying on the inside of my thigh, my print toying with the skin just beforemy shorts, watching as he slid his hand into his tight jeans with greatdifficulty, eliciting a tight groan as soon as he made skin on skin contactwith himself.“Yes.” I sighed painfully, moving my hand upwards. “I… I do.”“Show me.” He breathed deeply.

7. Kev & Ben.

“Of course she is! Of course, come on in. Pippa, was it?”“Yeah, hi.” I mumbled sweetly as we both stepped inside, Harry shrugging offhis coat and draping it on the hangers next to the stairs. “Nice to meet you!”“You too!” Harry’s dad grinned.A couple of seconds later, another man sloped out of the one door at the backof the long, thin corridor, giving me a big smile as he did.“Pip, this is my… other dad.” Harry hushed.“Oh… Oh.”Of all the things I was expecting to be greeted with when I met Harry’s family,honestly, that scenario hadn’t crossed my mind. Not once.

8. WHEN HE MISSED FLEETWOOD MAC FOR HER!

“I just thought this was more important.” He huffed.“Well it’s not Harry! I just… I don’tunderstand. I feel so fucking frustratedright now! I just want to know why the hellyou-”“BECAUSE I DON’T FUCKING DESERVE YOU!” He screamed.I stumbled backwards, startled, my heart race increasing and beating like crazyagainst my chest as he tried once again to compose himself, but he was clearlyagitated.“What?” I gasped. “I don’t deserve your kindness, Pip. I wake up every single morning thinking about how I don’t deserve the wayyou’ve been with me after what I did to you. So fuck the gig, I don’t care!What I care about, is trying my fucking best to make things up to you. I’mtrying to make things right, because all I can think about is how I don’tfucking deserve you, okay?”

9. His tent was never leaking in.

“Mornin’.” Zayn greeted. “How come you’re in Pippa’s tent?”We both stood upright and stretched in the morning, and I was grateful to hearhow innocent Zayn’s question seemed to be. He didn’t sound suspicious at all.“My tent started raining in last night,” Harry shrugged casually. “So I kippedwith Pip.”

“That’s weird.” Zayn mulled. “We just checked in yourtent and it’s bone dry.”Suddenly Harry was choking over his words and stumbling over himself a littlebit just trying to think of a reply.It hit me then, that his tent had never leaked.Harry had used that as an excuse to climb into my tent with me.

10. Harry’s god awful reaction when Pippa says she loves him.

“I’m… I’m in love with you.” I admitted again. “And… it hurts me… to seeyou with her. It… It makes me sad.” “You can’t be in love with me.” He was so quiet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you, because Ididn’t want to put you in this position but… I can’t help it. I can’t keep itin anymore. I’m sorry.” I had been edging my way closer to him without even realising, taking thesesteady steps in the subconscious hope that he would realise he felt the sameway, and the gap between us would be practically miniature if he wanted toclose it.But he furthered from me, edging closer to his room. “No.” He shuddered. “No, this isn’t right.” “Harry-”“No, this is not what’s supposed tohappen.”

11. When Harry finally tells her he’s in love with her.

He went quiet, and as he moved closer to me, I moved backwards. I was totallybreathless, disordered by the closeness we were sharing, because it had beenmonths since his face was this close to mine, since I had been able to studythe exact placement of the brown flickers through his green eyes.He was quiet for so long, then just before he spoke, he placed his hand on mycheek, stroking his thumb under my eye.“I am in love with you, Pippa. I have been in love with you for longer thanI’ve even liked you. I… I remember the exactmoment I fell in love with you.” “No you’re not.” I gasped, no idea what else to say.“Last November. I hadn’t even lived with you a month. Me and Zayn… We wentdrinking, and then we got back and you started drinking with us. You-you dranktoo much and you threw up. I walked into your room and… and I found you likethat and… I helped you. I sat on your bathroom floor with you, and helped youthrow up. You were barely dressed, slumped between my legs… sitting against melike you belonged there. You wereabsolutely fucked, but you were still so witty. You were so funny and so sharp…How could I not fall in love with you?”

[these-are-the-first-steps]

An objective, uninfluenced review and discussion of TLJ after just leaving the theatre- mileage may vary

THIS SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW IS UNDER A CUT. IF YOU SEE A TON OF TEXT AND NO CUT, SCROLL LIKE HELL. 

OK, so, some initial take-aways:

-This was a really busy movie

-I feel like they crammed three films into one and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

-This did not have the standard feel of a star wars film and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

-Too much comedy. Sorry. It was a bit much and ruined the mood in a lot of places imo.

-Holy shit, that was the hottest, most sexualized hands-touching I have ever seen in my life

-My life literally flashed before my eyes when Finn went to kamikaze. They had him get so close to the end, and that tear— jesus fuck I genuinely thought that was going to be the end and I was a mess. God bless you, Rose.

-My life literally flashed before my eyes when Leia was ejected from the ship- they had me going thinking this was how she was gonna go. The force flying was hokey as shit, but you know what? Fuck it. Carrie Fisher can cheat death and fly- it's fucking canon now. Deal with it.

-The music did not blow me away on TLJ as it did in TFA. Most likely because the movie was so damn busy.

-Too many climaxes. Yes, there is such a thing. I was worn out by the end of this film and there was no real catharsis at all because of it.

-I don't know how the fuck they're going to do 9 without Carrie after that ending. Well…I do have one idea, but I kinda hate it.

The Meat:

The scroll this film was interesting, in that its last sentence broke the mold of previous star wars crawls- that was my clue right off the bat that this would not be following the standard 'feel', for lack of a better word, of star wars films. Honestly, I don't expect the off-shoot movies like 'Rogue One' to follow whatever standard 1-7 do, but like I expect it from the main series, and like I said at the beginning, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it yet. At the moment I'm a little disappointed that it deviated so much, but we got so many juicy tidbits and moments to have and to hold that that's kind of outweighing the minor point of format. So, I'll be seeing the film a few more times in various formats before coming to a hard conclusion on this.

Anyway…

HAHA POE GOT SLAPPED! THE SLAP HAPPENED! And it was pretty underwhelming honestly. And then out of nowhere Leia's all charm and kindness again? That really made the whole moment meaningless to me. Like she was never mad enough to slap him to begin with, so why? The moment was ruined by Leia's sharp U-turn and that sucked. They had a real opportunity to bring home just how severe and serious Leia's despair over so much loss has been, but the really watered it down every time, usually with comedy.

There was too much comedy in this film. I get maybe they were trying to lighten it up for the kiddos, but they did it in alllll the wrong places. It really botched the mood of the film repeatedly. The timing was just terrible. I mean right off the bat- sure, Poe's exchange with Hux was hilarious, but man it did not need to be in there. At least not first thing in the film when you're trying to set the tone. What a waste on all ends. That part really frustrated me.

I'm surprised at how soon Kylo bashed his helmet to pieces. That was really soon. Sadly the shock of it just wasn't there for me since I'd seen the trailers, but whatever. It was still a great moment done by Adam exceptionally well.

Mark Hamill was A+++ in this film. Everything about him was great. Absolutely stellar. While TLJ was mass confusion, Luke Skywalker stayed consistent and made linear sense throughout- the only exception being the very end. Why….why did he die again? I'm seriously confused? He looked pained, and I kept waiting for the camera to pan down to explain what was going on- did he actually have a giant saber hole in him from Ben or something? But no- he just flounders on a rock for a bit and then kicks it. I still just do not understand. I don't understand it at all. Also, Rian promised us some big compelling monologue from Luke that would be oscar-worthy and it wasn't there. Where was the monologue? Three sentences strung together do not a monologue make. Sorry, kids. I think Mark did a stellar job, as I said, and they've put him up for an oscar nom, but honestly….I don't think it was oscar-worthy simply because there wasn't enough there due to the over-taxed storyline, and if he does get one, it's gonna be earned out of sentiment more than anything, which….I mean, an oscar is an oscar, but still. You know? Also, we had stills and BTS footage of Luke down in that dark side hole with Rey and we never saw that. I hope Rian releases his director's cut so we get those scenes back- otherwise there's a good chance we'll get them in the novel or something.

Canto Bight was super unnecessary. What an unnecessary, overly-busy, budget-draining side romp. Maz was unnecessary. The whole 'let's get the codes' thing was unnecessary, although Benicio del Toro stole the fucking show with his character- that dude was great, and we'll definitely be seeing him again in 9. He's clearly going to be the side-character replacement for Phasma (RIP gurl). Canto Bight achieved only two things: 1. The FinnRose romance. 2. The stable kids, or at least one of them, has the force. Yep! That kid at the end- when he reaches for the broom, the broom jumps into his fucking hand, y'all. That kid has the force. The force is clearly back with a vengeance in the young babies of the galaxy. And that was it. I feel like they could have achieved both those things in better, more meaningful ways. But no, they wanted to do a casino(?) bit that will likely never be heard of again except in extended merchandising because fuck disney's money-grubbing ways. Oh, I DID like DJ's 'Rogue One' call-back reminder about how literally both sides of this war suck and everyone's trash, especially the warlords growing fat off the profits in the middle. I appreciated that bit. It was also a nice social commentary for a young audience that will hopefully stick with them. It was a cool moment that del Toro played beautifully.

Two words: PORG BABIES. Also, is Chewie vegetarian now? xD I don't think a whole colony of porgs should have come along in the falcon- that was a bit much. Again, comedy in places it didn't need to be. Whatever. Moving on.

Laura Dern's character dying was a waste, but you know what? That move she did was fucking brutal. It was amazing. It reminded me of 'Farscape' 's wormhole-popping maneuver immediately, plus extreme bonus damage. Just a beautiful sight.

Rose was great- Kelly Marie Tran knocked that shit out of the park. Laughs, tears, she ran the fucking gamut. I know we were all expecting more from her character's sister, but I guess it was the necessary setup to give her the impetus to go take risks. No complaints at all about Rose- I thought she was lovely.

Wow did Poe get a lot of screen time. He got a lot of screen time. I feel like Poe maybe learned some shit, but I honestly don't feel like Finn learned a whole lot which was disappointing. Even on Canto Bight he was like 'No, we're not doing this! Stop enjoying it!' Growth for him would be to start letting loose a bit, and he just doesn't. I also feel like we were deprived of a closing moment with him at the end of the film- we just get the tender moment with him and Rose, which was sweet, but it felt unfinished. I felt like Finn was more along for the ride in this film than actively moving it, and again I think that's the fault of this film being too damn busy and there not being enough time for things to go smoothly, linearly, and in ways that flowed naturally. There just wasn't time for it, clearly, and so character development suffered- unless you're Poe. Because damn Poe got a lot of screen time.

I felt like we should have spent more time on the salt planet. That felt like another over-done thing that, while the location was necessary, was it necessary to make it so busy? As I write this, I think I'm starting to realize that the backdrops are what have really distracted from the story. The backdrops haven't aided the story at all- they've just severely diverted attention from what's important- i.e. the struggles both literal and emotional happening to our characters. The casino was a riotous mess, visually stunning but constantly pulling my attention away from what was going on. The salt planet had tons of unique features but it didn't serve any purpose to the film. None of these backdrops serviced the story, and I think that's a HUGE problem. With an already busy, intricate web of storylines to keep up with, having all these non-contributing, busy-in-their-own-right backdrops just made it even harder to keep up and stay focused on what was going on. You don't leave the theatre feeling like all the threads came together in the end. You leave the theatre going "Well that was cool…but I feel like I've missed something", because you probably have. Here: YOUR BACKDROP SHOULD NOT BE COMPETING WITH YOUR STORY. Ok, I said it.

Snoke made some comments about Hux that were interesting and then promptly never talked about again. Why's that? Because there was no time. Pity. Anyway, the bit about him being easily manipulated because of his personal issues was great, and I was hoping we'd get to see more of that struggle with Hux, more of that fatal flaw at play- his daddy issues, insecurities about acceptance, etc., but it never came. Instead Hux was wasted on comedic moments. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Once again, unnecessary comedy fucking ruins the mood of this film.

Snoke's demise was shocking but also anti-climactic. They pulled all the power from him in one fell swoop and took this amazingly built-up character, this character that had SUCH cool potential, and Rian just threw it in the trash. I'm pretty disappointed. Actually, I'm really disappointed. No wonder Pablo was so disinterested in Snoke questions- Snoke was made ultimately irrelevant as a character. While the psychological effects of Snoke will continue to be a MAJOR issue, killing him was wasted potential, and now Ben’s lifelong struggle with this creature has been belittled and minimized because of it. That is terrible.

So now we get to the juicy bits- Rey and Ben.

We didn't get to see Rey hardly at all in this film. That….fucking sucked. Poe got more screen time than Rey. Fuck you, Poe. I'm pissed off about this. The only moving, worthwhile moments Rey had were opposite Ben. And boy did Daisy and Adam make the most of very limited screen time. Force Bond ahoy, y'all! We called it and it exists! However, it was really crazy abrupt. There was no lead-up of voices, of the connection establishing itself. One tiny teaser of it would have been enough, but no- suddenly it's just THERE, and the music and sound cuts, and if you weren't us and expecting this kind of force bond communication we've all been writing about prolifically for two years, I'm sure you were like "What the fuck- this is out of left field", because it was. Story-wise, it was. And that's disappointing. You want to see something you love executed well, and while you love and I love the connection, it wasn't executed well. It could have been done better. Again, any kind of hinted lead-up- since it was a surprise for both of them, maybe like a whisper of his voice calling to her in surprise? Or something. Instead we get them both right away, which was a bit blunt. I think it could have used with a bit of finessing. Oh well.

From a story analysis standpoint, I think Snoke's claim that he personally established the connection between them is bullshit. I think he was talking out of his ass, frankly. I think him claiming he forged the bond was back-peddling to try and continue to related all roads back to himself because while he certainly played the all-powerful omnipotence card, he clearly knew he wasn't and worked actively to maintain his illusion to keep Ben in check. But it was all a farce, as we could see, and even Ben knew where all the cracks in Snoke's observational skills were. He didn't really have 24/7 Ben TV. When Ben played him like a goddamn fiddle with that sneak attack, Ben showed that he could cloak and twist his intent in front of Snoke's face all day if he's focused enough, and felt he had enough purpose. He certainly did feel Ben becoming resolved alright. He felt him begin to prepare his saber. But how limited he was in what he could see! How limited, whereas Rey on the other hand….oh, he and Rey have something so much more than Snoke's clearly tenuous hold. Ben was only under the yoke as much as he wanted to be, and that realization is very much a doubled-edged sword. On the one hand, it meant he could find the strength to break free when he found a new purpose in Rey. But on the other, it also means he could have peaced out whenever he wanted and taken the FO with him but clearly he chose not to, which is awful and frustrating. But you know? When you wake up to your uncle looking like he's about to kill you in your goddamned sleep after you've spent years arguing against that sort of thing with the voices insisting your uncle will actually kill you, and suddenly the voices are right and your world is fucking shattered? When the voices become the only viable option in your life? I can get that. I may not agree with it, but I get it. And that's plenty.

Also, can we talk about the story of the school's destruction? So Kylo DID leave with some of the students. Let's make an educated guess and say they are the other Knights of Ren. Nice predicting, y'all. I'm sure they'll become major players in 9 as Kylo attempts to step into his role as supreme leader- while Snoke had the red guard, Kylo will have his knights. Cool. Very cool.

To back-track a little, I enjoyed the force chats between Rey and Ben a lot. I feel like more of them happened that we weren't shown. Even as Rey was recounting her brush with the dark side cave, you can tell she'd already been telling the story for a long while and he'd spent a long while listening. But again, with little finessing with all this, for those not expecting reylo the care they begin to have for each other seems really abrupt. Sorry, general audience- I wish it could have been better, too. But let's take what we can get, shall we? Kylo debases himself in front of Rey- admits he's a monster and then cries about it. I love it. Then he gives her the answer she wants in the form of advice, which was a fantastic bit of writing. After that, she inexplicably mellows out to him quite a bit and there's storytime in the stone house, the exceptionally warm lighting, as their hands achingly, hesitatingly touch- an insane amount of effortlessness in making yourself physical in a force-induced manifestation that, for Ben and Rey, resulted in the sexiest finger-touching I've ever seen, and for Luke became such a strain that it killed him. Powerful in the force are these two, indeed. I can't get over how warm that lighting was- literal love by firelight. And then….and then Rey cried it felt so good. And so did Ben. And when Rey recounts what she saw of his future in the elevator when their hands touched, she does this sweet look down at his chest before looking back with care into his face…I was feeling it so hard, man. That is a loving gesture. *I* have acted that way with someone I love. That's a tic that only belongs to lovers, not friends. What kind of 'solid' future did she see for him? With that kind of tic, it makes me wonder if she hadn't seen herself in it, too. Goddammit, ben! Get your shit together, boy!

Rey's lack of social skills, however, really fucking botched things between them, too. Surely there had to be a better way to reason with him than pulling out a goddamned saber. Bad move, sweetheart. And in one fell swoop you broke that man's heart. Everything after Rey's rejection was just bleeding-heart Kylo vomiting his emotions all over the place. I mean he was seriously torn up about it. And what about Rey running off? How come we didn't get that scene? Did she just straight-up split? Or did she stop for a moment to look at Kylo's unconscious, likely peaceful, face? I'm mad we didn't get to see it because it would have said a lot- instead once Rey rejoins the resistance, we get a TON more relationship-dodging. A TON of dodging. Because you know what? The relationship is there, man. Finn's got his gal, and Rey looks on acceptingly at this turn of events. Kylo and Rey have experienced a lot of emotional stuff together at this point- he's the only one that shares her secret about her parents. But you'd never know anything at all had happened to her at the end of the film. It's just business as usual. And that's really weird to me. That's not character growth. A bit of longing there, for what Rey almost, almost, let herself have with Kylo reflected in Finn and Rose's moment, but no- just plain old start-of-tfa Rey apparently. I mean….Rey didn't even ask him about his scar. He never brought up his scar. Was that a scene that got cut? Because how do you avoid that conversation? How do you avoid that? OH! The fight scene- and where she rolls her back onto his back to fight the red guard I WAS LIVING! It was so good, and they kept checking on each other during the fight. I loved it.

I've just been reminded of the shirtless scene- it didn't come off naturally, but I get that they're trying to establish that the bond is manifesting at 'inconvenient' moments, ok whatever. And then Rey goes and spoils the moment with more unnecessary comedy schtick which rolled off Adam beautifully- thank you, Adam. She totally checked him out, though. Maybe she was reliving that moment a little in the elevator when she looked down at his chest. Makes me wonder again just what exactly she saw in his future. I'm here for it.

Why did Rey fucking sail to the FO in a coffin? That made no sense. Although it was cute that Ben came to pick her up like "Hi." but then "Here are some shackles. Sorrynotsorry." I love how she was clearly expecting something else but NOPE.

Also, Rey really does come from nothing, although I don't fucking know how her parents can be in a potter's field in Jakku when Rey last saw them sail off into space. Sounds like hasty writing after being fed up with fans to me. Although Adam rattled it all off beautifully. And I love how Ben loves her regardless of it all. I loved the whole "You knew this the whole time so who cares because I don't? PS: come be my empress, it'll be great." Adam did so well in this film, but I can't help but think, like every fucking thing else, that his screen time was radically choked and that there's TONS more on the cutting room floor that give his acting more of the credit it's due and that flesh out so many more things to help them make more sense. Ugh.

In conclusion. I liked it. I cried when Leia's old holo projection played. I cried like a bitch. But I didn't leave the film feeling like my mind was blown like it'd been with TFA. I don't know if it's because I just felt overwhelmed in more of a bad way than good due to how busy everything was or if it's because I've been analyzing stuff for two years. It's probably a bit of both. Because I avoided the spoilers like the plague, you know? So everything was still new and a surprise, and while I think the film was a total trip that I'd recommend, TFA just felt cleaner, more impactful, and left enough space for all its characters to fully realize themselves instead of the cram-fest that this movie is. And most importantly, TLJ didn't leave enough space for John Williams to create any stand-out moments like in TFA- "The Starkiller" is a piece that gave me fucking goosebumps and that, to this day, will be one of my favorite moments in movie history. To choose a quiet dirge piece for a moment of bloody chaos was absolutely brilliant and shook me to the core, but there was no time for a moment like that in this film and that really bums me out. I was hoping for another moving experience like that.

Reylo's a thing now, but the kids have a lot of work to do on their relationship, because Kylo's in full spurned-lover mode and he's not handling it well. He's now a kid who's been handed all the power in the universe, and if Rey thinks that's not going to backfire, especially with their direct phone line to each other, she's got another thing coming. She's going to have her hands full trying to talk that boy down, and any next encounter between them is going to be incredibly tense and fraught with emotion. He finally outrightly pleaded with her to be with him. And that fucking means something. And Rey's not dimwitted enough not to see that. She knows the implications. She saw his good-ending future, remember- one that, as she recalled it, her eyes drifted to his chest in a very, very affectionate move that was well played by Daisy. In fact, I was so focused on Daisy's performance in that moment that I missed Kylo's reaction so when I see the film again, I'll have to remember to focus on him next time.

And Leia….Carrie was right that 9 was supposed to be Leia's film. I mean…that ending makes it indisputable. How do you work through that? Especially with Luke copping out? Essentially my prediction for what's going to happen is this: Lots, and lots, of Ghost Uncle Luke times. It's the only option they have. Luke's gonna come back, haunt the shit out of Ben and give him terrible girl advice, and then visit Rey and try to teach her some more. It's the only option they have, really. Mark thought he was finally done, but then Carrie just had to go and die- isn't that just typical. I also love how Billie plays such a bigger role in this film. Her performance was great, too, and there were moments where she really sounded like a young Leia that had me tearing up. I love them all so much.

So that's all I got for this initial objective general review of The Last Jedi. I plan to see this film at least once more in standard 2D (my preferred mode), and also in 4DX because why would you not want to be on Star Wars: The Ride for 2.5 hours? It's worth the ticket price. Plus seeing these films in 3D adds a whole new perspective to things, I discovered after seeing 3D TFA. So I'm open to that, too. I had a lot of technical complaints with this film, but otherwise I like the direction it went in, it was a direction I anticipated (minus snoke being wasted as a character- that still sucks), and I'd say as a shipper we got a good 75% of what we wanted. As a shipper, I'd say full steam ahead for the good boat Reylo and I look forward to a hopefully grittier, more distraught atmosphere to really bring shit home in 9. JJ Abrams gave us a very, very solid, coherent story for 7, and I look forward to having that back again for the grand finale. These characters deserve coherency. I love Rian, but he tried to cram too much in too small a space and lot really suffered for it- this was a problem Rogue One had that I hoped wouldn't repeat itself, but here we are. But even Rogue One navigated its complicated story better than TLJ did, I think. I don't know. Again, I need to see this film a few more times before I can really throw the gavel down. But now that this objective review is out, I'm happy to go back to putting my shipper glasses on and appreciating what we do have: Hot hand touches, shirtless Ben Solo, Rey saying 'Ben', Ben saying 'Rey', both of them crying over each other, both of them ogling each other, and the category of Emperor Ren fiction absolutely fucking exploding (and laughing maniacally that my own 'Exigence in force majeure' is now fucking canon-compliant can you believe this shit what is life).

Ok- enjoy the film, friends! TATFS out. PS: Oh yeah, haha, the jedi books were saved- ok. Also, I would love to get my hands on a director’s cut and all the deleted scenes so that I could try my hand at cutting my own version of this film- eliminate or better time 90% of the comedic bits and create a film that’s really darkly compelling and profound. Ok, I’m really gone this time bye.

[resistancepilotfinn]

lengthy spoiler-y tlj thoughts that can be summarized thusly - i didn’t love it, or even really like it, but i didn’t HATE it either and if you added up all the things i loved and added up all the things i didn’t like, the things i loved would outnumber what i didn’t like. it’s just what i didn’t like was so much worse than what i liked was good, if that makes sense.

things i loved

the opening with poe on space speaker phone with hux was so funny and perfectly in character (”yes i’m on hold for general hux” “can he not hear me??” “tell him the general has a very important message...about his mother.”)

i knew paige would probably die to motivate rose into action because that’s a trope that itself refuses to die, but i’m glad she got to go out as a big damn hero taking out an entire dreadnought singlehandedly.

everything involving bb-8 was so much fun and him in that walker was so completely ridiculous i couldn’t help but love it.

i’ve seen people complaining about it, but most of the humor actually worked for me. there were some really notable exceptions that i’ll get to though (much like the rest of the movie, the bad stuff is just so much worse than the good stuff is good).

i loved that even though they were apart for the whole movie, finn and rey’s relationship was still central to their characters (when they were allowed to be their characters at least). finn asking about her and always making sure someone had the beacon and kept it safe so she could find them. rey thinking about him on the island and asking chewie to tell him something for her if she didn’t make it. their hug at the end. all great. these little moments were when the film had the most heart and it’s really a shame that rian kept them apart for the whole thing.

the parts where rey was, y’know, actually rey were awesome. like her following luke around and refusing to leave him alone or when she literally reaches out and luke messes with her with that plant and tells her its the force and she’s like “really????” i wish we could’ve gotten more stuff like that from them. the running gag of her fucking shit up on the island and the fish bird nuns getting pissed about it was also fun. and i loved her in the falcon on crait with her little “woo! i like this!” mirroring finn in tfa. there was also a really cute blink and you miss it bit with rain dripping off the falcon and her splashing her hand in it with a little smile. her reunion with bb-8 was adorable and i liked that they included the little meeting between her and poe that was cut from tfa. her final conversation with leia would’ve worked better if she’d had more of a connection with luke but it was still nice to see two women having a conversation about restoring hope and the resistance (would’ve been nice if rose were there too and not on the verge of death).

rey literally closing the door in kylo’s face 

leia using the force to FLOAT THROUGH SPACE. yeah it was cheesy and more than a little unbelievable but goddamn what a beautiful image. i’m gonna make it my desktop background the second there’s an hd leak

in the few moments she wasn’t completely ooc, rey’s interactions with kylo were kinda interesting. i actually liked the part where she was telling him she didn’t understand how he could grow up in a loving family and turn out to be a fucking murderer and kill his father. and also how annoyed she was getting with their little mind-skype sessions. i wish we could have had more of that and less of...whatever the rest of it was. i even liked their joint fight against the praetorian guards tbh.

“finn? naked? leaking bag? did you fry a circuit or something?”

“don’t you have a towel or something to put on??” a mood.

“you were always scum.” “rebel scum.”

when he was actually in character, finn was badass like always. i liked that he knew just as much as rose did regarding tech. his fight with phasma was also great, even though it was way too short. his entire arc was kind of redundant of tfa but it was really touching to see him ready to sacrifice himself for a cause because he believed in it and not just for a person even though i was terrified they might actually kill him off and i’m incredibly grateful they didn’t. he’s such a good man i love him so much.

i want one of the secret rebel logo rings

almost everything that came out of leia’s mouth was so emotional considering carrie’s gone. as was her reunion with luke(ish). the whole “is anyone ever really gone” thing really hit me hard, as did the whole “how can we keep going?” “we have everything we need” bit with rey.

even though i had some issues with her actual story, i loved holdo. laura dern was fantastic. her final conversation with leia was so good, especially when they stumbled awkwardly over saying “may the force be with you.” it was so heartwarming to see laura dern getting to say that line after hearing her tell stories of being such a big fan throughout the press tour. you could really feel the love from her (which was nice because you couldn’t really feel it from anyone else this time and i don’t blame them at all). 

i LOVED seeing billie lourde get to do more and i really hope she gets to step into an even bigger role in 9.

i love poe dameron and his ride or die attitude toward the resistance. i know some people had problems with his story and i did to a degree, mostly from other characters, but i also thought it worked to develop him a bit and make him more three dimensional. which i think was the intent for all the characters, it just really only worked for him.

i loved seeing so many women in leadership roles in the resistance. i’ll be interested in seeing the dialogue/gender breakdown. 

the porgs were perfect and amazing and did nothing wrong ever in their lives

the vulptices were perfect and amazing and did nothing wrong ever in their lives and deserve every bit the merchandising extravaganza the porgs received 

yoda finally admitting the jedi were kinda fucked up and needed to start fresh so he blew up the force tree himself when luke hesitated. also i laughed really hard at “page turners they were not” re: the jedi texts

also “we are what they grow beyond” was a great line that this movie did not deserve

luke’s reunion with artoo was everything i wanted it to be except it wasn’t nearly long enough. seeing the old recording of leia from anh made me so emotional even though i agree with luke that it was a cheap shot (i laughed so hard at that line) but i don’t care.

“SACRED island watch your language.”

poe in his x-wing blowing stuff up

resistance pilot tallie and her little salute before getting blown up

rose removing the saddle from the big-eared space horse and saying that would make getting caught worth it. as a big ol animal lover myself, that was when i connected with her the most even though it was cheesy as hell.

luke skywalker and his astral projection. that whole bit was amazing. LOVED when he emerged from that cloud and dusted off his perfectly clean cloak. this scene, the scene with leia, the bit where he messed with rey, and the scene with artoo were the only times he really felt like luke skywalker and i thoroughly enjoyed them all.

i am actually surprisingly okay with the ending of luke skywalker’s story (mostly because i feel like it’s not really an ending) but...

things i did not like

it just didn’t feel earned in the context of this movie.

while the increased number of women in important roles was great, there’s no reason they almost all had to be white except rose. there’s also no reason almost all of them had to die. it was especially gross to see so many woc on screen only to have them die a second later with little or no dialogue. also not a fan of rose ending the film unconscious and on the brink of death.

speaking of rose, that kiss with finn at the end was super awkward and came out of nowhere. there was no indication anywhere in their plot that she was developing feelings for him outside of a little hero worship at the beginning. it also made her big heroic moment about him and not her coming into her own as her own hero (something she unfortunately shares with rey which i’ll get to in a bit). also did not like how they had her zap him at the beginning either. did not like it at all. 

in fact i did not like how they used finn as a punching bag in general. i know john’s great at physical comedy and an instance or two would’ve been fine-ish but the stuff they did to him went way too far, especially since so much of it was straight up physical abuse meant to be “funny,” like “haha look at this black man stumbling around and getting zapped and hurt in really exaggerated ways.” it was gross. i also HATED how they had hux slap him. do they not know how that looked??? a white nazi stand-in slapping a black man on his knees in front of him???? no one took five seconds to be like “hey rian this is a terrible idea”? or did someone actually try to explain to him how racist this was and he just didn’t care? 

for that matter, i also hated when leia shot poe and how it was played for laughs as well. there was far too much abuse against poc being played for laughs. this is something people have to deal with every day in real life and it isn’t fuckin funny to sit in a theater and see it treated like a joke. i just saw someone say how when finn fell in the stable there was a pile of shit near him which i didn’t even notice and what the actual hell and fuck rian?

speaking of finn, i was willing to give the actual movie a shot before i made my own comments about him being sidelined in the movie and in the marketing because it kind of seemed like they were keeping the resistance story under wraps and marketing is bullshit 90% of the time anyway but...his and rose’s plotline really felt like such an afterthought. i mean overall i liked well enough if you remove all the gross shit and i love finn and i grew to like rose a lot, but there is absolutely no reason they couldn’t have included more of it in the marketing or even treated it with one iota of respect in the actual film.

actually one of my biggest complaints is that both finn AND rey felt like afterthoughts in their own story. finn was on this random side quest that ultimately didn’t matter anyway since they failed because benicio del toro benicio del toro’d them and rey was literally only there to service kylo’s story in a really ooc way. i get that snoke was the one behind their connection and that he was manipulating the way rey interpreted everything but it just didn’t work for me because there’s no reason to believe snoke is that all powerful and tfa set rey up to have a strong mind that can withstand that stuff so that entire aspect of the story just did not work so it makes rey act out of character. even if he was just manipulating and using her naive hopefulness and faith in people, that should have been, y’know, addressed. i’m pretty sure what we were supposed to get was not only kylo growing to fully embrace his role as a villain, but finn and rey paralleling this journey and fully embracing their roles as heroes. and we got the kylo part....but finn was just given the same exact character arc as tfa instead of having that arc expanded upon and rey was....there. 

everyone calling kylo a “boy” or “child” - HE’S A THIRTY YEAR OLD MAN

continued criminal under-use of gwendoline christie and lupita nyong’o

rey’s parentage stuff was so anticlimactic. i could so easily have gotten behind rey being a nobody from nowhere that comes from nothing stepping into the role of a legendary hero if had been handled even remotely well but it wasn’t. it was all about kylo and ended up just being about him manipulating her so he could go through his own character arc. the scene in the cave should have been about rey confronting the reality that her parents were garbage and she was responsible for her own self and she’s turned out great despite the deck being stacked against her not about kylo still having good in him or whatever the fuck, which again, i know that was snoke planting those seeds and kylo manipulating her but since they were never actually addressed...just like during that last confrontation with kylo, it should have been about rey coming to terms with everything, including the painful realization that having blind faith and hope in people doesn’t always work out (luke even says “this isn’t going to go the way you think”!!) but that entire thread was just left hanging.

speaking of hanging threads, wtf happened with the students kylo vanished with??? are they the knights of ren? where were they during this mess? why were these students never mentioned again???? what’s going on????

there are SO MANY inconsistencies with tfa that i can’t believe disney actually pays for a story group and apparently refuses to let them actually do their job. like, how are rey’s parents dead on jakku if we see them taking off in a ship and rey crying out for them to come back (fwiw i think kylo was lying at least a little about her parents - i’m not convinced they were just drunks who sold her off especially since she’s never actually been a slave). why were the knights of ren at the massacre in rey’s vision but apparently not in tlj’s version of the events??? why does leia suddenly know her son is already gone when she just sent han to bring him home because she still felt good in him two days ago???? why were luke and rey on the verge of tears upon seeing each other on that island only to have like ONE positive interaction and no real relationship to speak of??????

the ending with those kids in canto bight was stupid. this is the first star wars movie that didn’t end on a skywalker in some way and i hated it.

NO ONE SAID “I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS”

things i never want to think about again

shirtless kylo

monster tiddy milk

it’s interesting because i have friends that both really liked tlj and friends that completely and utterly hated it, and friends like me that just....don’t know what to think. basically i think i feel like the movie had its moments but it was so bogged down by racist and misogynist bullshit that it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm needed to watch it again and enjoy all those moments i enjoyed. i guess the question is if someone handed you a bag full of shit and told you that there was a handful of gold nuggets mixed in with it, would you sift through the shit to get to them or just be comfortable with the knowledge that they’re in there and wait two years hoping you get a bag with just the gold nuggets in it?

[novelconcepts]

The Last Jedi was far from a perfect movie; the pacing was questionable, and a lot of it just didn't line up with TFA. That said, I actually really enjoyed it for what it is. My highlights under the cut:

REY!:

Literally everything about Rey. I love her Jedi training costume, I love her being dressed in gray shades, I love her boots. I love her training on her own when Luke refuses. I love the fact that she's still using her staff, and I love that she isn't afraid of the lightsaber--but that she doesn't hold it like most Jedi. She holds it like a girl who's learned to fight with a staff first. I love it. 

Rey's Murder Face (™). I love that she is so consistently brutal, that she's all gritted teeth and furious stalk. The grace in her fight scenes is nothing like what we’ve come to expect from a lightsaber; it’s what you’d expect from a cornered tiger. I fucking adore that she has a totally different fighting style

Really, this whole breakdown could be (and is) a love letter to Rey. Rey is my Absolute Fave, and while I spent a lot of the first watch-through nervous for what they'd do with her, it all played out well in the end.

Rey coming at Kylo Ren with so much malice. Rey, even so, trying to see both sides of a miserable story. Rey pulling a whole-ass Luke Skywalker in her "there is still good in him, I sense it, I can help him back"--and Rey, faced with a power-hungry boy who does not want to be saved, who only wants to burn the world down, slamming the door in his face.  

Because, see, this is what I wanted. No romance, none of that "she can save him and erase his terrible decisions" narrative, but a compassionate Rey--a Rey who, like Finn, did not grow up with friendship or love or family in her life, and still craves these things, and still gives these things freely. A Rey who could have grown up into a shuttered, broken human being, and chooses forgiveness first. Chooses the benefit of the doubt. Chooses faith in the best possible option...

...but is not so naive as to think she ought to stick around for a man who slaps down her offer for help. Rey sees his classic abuse tactics--telling her she is nobody, that nobody cares except for him--and walks away, and when he tries to get at her again, she closes that door tight. Rey is a compassionate soul...but it is not her job to save a man who does not want to be better. This is exactly what I would have hoped for her character.

Also, how much do I love that she sees Finn with Rose and does not narrow her eyes in anger, does not seem to view Rose as a threat. Her body language is soft. She is, despite all the gray space in her, soft. 

Poe!:

His jacket. I want Poe's new jacket so bad. 

Poe being a hotheaded idiot. Switching off the comms to keep doing what he perceives to be the right thing? SUCH a Leia move! How could she even be pissed? 

(Because she's got so many of those moves under her belt, and she knows better these days, that's why. Leia don't take no shit. Not from Poe. Not from the Void of Space. Not from nobody.)

Poe learning how to be a hero. Learning that heroes are not all sassing the bad guys and blowing shit up. Learning that your X-Wing is super cool, dude, but maybe the true measure of a hero--and a leader--is knowing how to sit back and listen and make the hard choices with no glory whatsoever. 

Luke!:

Speaking of taking no shit: Luke "Theater Is My Middle Name" Skywalker, looking at that lightsaber and just pitching it over his shoulder. Luke "Drama School Has Nothing On Me” Skywalker just going about his old-ass business of fishing and farming and leaping around this island like Rey isn't there. 

Luke, who admittedly had two less-than-stellar teachers, and manages to hold-my-beer them both. Luke. How do you manage these things, you beautiful grumpy bastard.

Luke's sassy half-assed attempts at teaching. Rey's Fight-Club determination. They are so perfectly matched for each other. I'm sorry we never got him leaping onto her back and forcing her to climb vines, but I guess you can't have everything.

Rey's Murder-Sunshine butting up against Luke's Former Innocence-Turned-Grizzled Guilt is just so...satisfying to me somehow. I know Mark Hamill wasn't thrilled with the road these movies put Luke on, but frankly, it works for me.

Also soft: Luke interacting with his sister after so long, after so much guilt and shame and running away. Luke and Leia, a bond stronger than all the distance in the galaxy. I loved that little moment between them.

As much as I loved Luke's entire third-act charade. His outfit, his not even bothering with the illusion of his green lightsaber--and why would he? Ben Solo saw that saber as a murder weapon--his perfect hair. His little wink, his sassy one-liners, his whole demeanor. I don't love losing Luke, but I do think the way he went out was clean. It was Ben Kenobi. It was Yoda. It was Classic Jedi of the highest order.

(And Yoda was a great little touch. I wasn't...a hundred percent sure about the puppet they used, but it was worlds better than the prequels!Yoda. And I always enjoy him sassily smacking Luke upside the head. Never gets old.)

Leia!:

I don’t have a ton to say about Leia--not because I didn’t love her, but because seeing her onscreen, larger than life and so, so wonderful, hurt my heart. Knowing that the finale was going to belong to Leia, knowing that she was going to have the light shining on her in the end, carves out such a loss. Leia was the first powerful woman I got to see on-screen. Carrie was incredible. I was so glad to see her in this movie, and I am so terribly sad we will not be seeing her again.

But: Force-user Leia? So here for it. So fucking here for it. Anti-mutiny Leia? So here for it. Leia telling Poe to get his head out of his ass? Give me more. 

And we’re all in agreement that she had a thing with Holdo, right? Right? ‘Cuz. Yes. 

(I also really loved Holdo, and I wish we could have seen more of her. Laura Dern is always a delight.)

Finn!:

Finn still trying to run away--but for a totally selfless reason this time. Finn waking up and thinking of literally nothing but Rey for the longest time. Finn, who has only just figured out what friendship and family and love are, and is holding on for dear life. 

In related news: how much do I love that every major character who runs across Finn—Poe, Rey, Rose--immediately wants to protect him with everything they have. This kid who was stolen from his family and brainwashed into Stormtrooper life is so loved by everyone he meets. My heart.

Finn and Phasma! Lowkey showdown of the movie. Him being so goddamn proud of being Rebel Scum after all the running of TFA is just so perfect.

Rose!:

Rose fits in so beautifully with the new kids. She's so clever, and has such a big heart. Her not even hesitating to hand over the last piece of her sister if it meant saving everyone. I mean. Really. Rose, you are a glorious delight. 

Not to mention the tongue-tied good cheer followed immediately by tazing the hero you were just so excited to meet. Talk about mood.

Domhnall Gleeson:

Not Hux; I don't particularly care for Hux in all his one-dimensional glory, although I do love how not-having-it he was about Kylo Ren announcing himself the new leader of the First Order. That moment where he's 100% ready to shoot him? Glorious. But other than that, I just love the way Domhnall carries the character. He manages to be so different than I expect.  

Honorable mention to that classic banter with Poe over the speaker system. Simple comedy is perfection sometimes.

Misc thoughts:

An unpopular opinion, I'm sure: I like that Snoke was taken out. I like that Kylo Ren rose to hold the mantle of Worst Dude in the Galaxy. I like that we got a character who, like Vader, was a boy to whom Bad Things Happened--and who decided to respond in the worst possible way.  

To me, everything about this movie was rooted in choice, in the power of choosing your path. Rey chooses to look into the dark, but still lean light. Finn and Poe choose to risk everything for the chance to save the Resistance. Rose chooses to give up her last tie to her sister for a cause she believes in. And Kylo? Kylo chooses to forsake Ben Solo. Kylo chooses the path of murder. The path of absolute darkness. Kylo looks redemption full in the face and raises his middle finger at it. He chooses not to be Anakin Skywalker--who overthrew his master to save his son--but to be his own man. Which is not to say he is a good man. He actively chooses not to be a good man. It makes him a very human villain. There is no universe in which a unilaterally evil character is more interesting than one with layers.

I like that this movie recognizes that moral grayscale is where the world exists. The Jedi failed because they pretended they were above human darkness. Rey represents genuine balance. I appreciate this about her. I appreciate that they let her do exactly what Luke did in Empire: go into the cave. Face your darkness. But, unlike Luke, Rey hasn't learned to fear her darkness. She simply uses it like a tool, and sets it back on the shelf until it's needed  again. She does not shy from a fight, but she does not recklessly murder, either. She is the middle ground.

Another possibly unpopular opinion: I like the idea that Rey comes from no special legacy. Now, it's very true that Kylo may have been lying to her about this, trying to coax her to his side; his playbook is full of abusive tactics, and this is a classic one. Personally, I like the idea that the Force was so desperate for finally achieving balance after all those ridiculous Skywalkers failed in the journey, and just went, "Fuck it. I'm making my own." Rey: Daughter of the Fed-Up Force.

That said, if he was telling the truth, and she did come from people who truly are not part  of the bigger story, people who really do not care about her...doesn't that make Rey being a strong, self-sufficient, incredibly big-hearted human so much more impressive? Rey did not come from parents who loved her, like Ben Solo did. She did not grow up with a Jedi Master uncle believing in her. She did not come from a long line of power and legacy. Rey was self-taught in every way. Rey was alone. Rey made dolls and scrounged helmets and learned to be a whole person all by herself. She's an excellent example of how you do not need a bloodline or a legacy to be an interesting, powerful person.

Chewie with the Porgs. Okay, listen. Listen. I know they're everywhere right now. I knoweveryone burned out on Porgs. But look: Chewbacca in the aftermath of his lifelong best friend dying, adopting these little bird creatures like a widower adopting a therapy animal to offset his grief? I am not made of stone, people.