#i ship both anidala and reylo

[frumfrumfroo]

The Acolyte ship is an evil/evil dynamic, so I would argue it's not meaningfully the same thing as Reylo. But I think they are trying to pander to it a little bit, yes, completely missing the point of what made the ship attractive. He's very violent with her in a way Kylo Ren never was with Rey which I just find really sad. That was never the draw for me personally (and strangulation is a hard line for me, which is why I don't really like Anidala, even if I ship it cosmically).

But the fact that they cast someone very conventionally attractive as the bad guy is really funny. Like we're all shallow airheads who only liked Kylo Ren because he was hot.

Really?? So is it pure visuals or do people think the characters will actually push each other in a positive direction?

I do get a little disgruntled at people's 'that's all reylo is' shitposts about finding the villain hot or finding threatening/strangulation hot or whatever. I realise these are jokes mocking antis for getting so up in arms about very standard bodice ripper tropes which have been hugely popular forever and it's fine, but that's not at all what reylo is to me.

I talked a long time ago about how I'm not really a villain fucker and don't generally like that many etl pairings. Pretty much for the same reasons I don't like rival-shipping and because, like you, I'm not into the violence. It's not a deal breaker for me if there's violence between the ship before they develop a connection, obviously, but I don't find it titillating and don't want to see the violence itself portrayed as sexual. I can't stand hate as sexual tension and etl ships are very prone to that.

I'm here for the B&tB of it all, personally. To me reylo is about hope, healing, and compassion. About two lost and lonely souls truly seeing and recognising each other when no one else did and helping one another become their best, most authentic selves. They free each other from bondage and pain.

If Ben were actually a Sexy Bad Boy or DFP, I wouldn't ship it. Him not being that is the entire reason it appeals to me. If he'd seen her as a rival or resented her in the way people often write in fics, I wouldn't ship it. He never hated her and she stops hating him as soon as she realises he's not a monster, their attraction comes from a place of sympathy and curiosity on both sides not from jealousy or covetousness--that's why they're OTP. This is among the many things tros fucked up.

[sabezradinboweek]

Sabezra Dinbo Solidarity Week

Hello Rebels and The Mandalorian fans! Happy May 4th!

Ever since The Mandalorian season 3 started focusing on developing the relationship between Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze, people started to ship them! And other people started to hate on them for shipping it! Fans of Rebels who ship Sabine and Ezra for similar reasons that people ship Din and Bo, recognized the parallels immediately in both the attacks of the haters in fandom and in how both relationships are developed in canon.

So given how similar Sabezra and Dinbo are, both in how they’re treated in fandom, how they are presented in canon, and with the added potential of them being the co-power couples of the mandoverse, Luna (a Dinbo shipper who also loves Sabezra) and I, Emily (a Sabezra shipper who fell in love with Dinbo over the course of mando S3) decided it would be an awesome idea to have a joint ship week to promote solidarity and positivity between these two ships to counteract all the hate Dinbo is currently getting after the conclusion of mando S3, and all of the hate that is coming down the pike for Sabezra once Ahsoka airs in a few months.

Luna here! Every single Star Wars movie and show has had a romance in it. The prequels had Anidala, OT had HanLeia, and sequels had Reylo. Rogue One had RebelCaptain. Clone Wars had Obitine. Solo had Han/Qi'ra. Rebels had Kanera which is the best couple in Star Wars so far. I highly doubt that the Ahsoka Series and The Mandalorian will be an exception. Out of every ship, Dinbo and Sabezra have the best potential to become canon. They both currently have the most compelling dynamics in the Mandoverse. Let's celebrate them jointly because we are all in this together.

Emily here! I really love a good slow burn and seeing these two relationships develop over the course of their respective shows just really excites me and inspires me to create for them! Regardless of what happens in canon I adore these pairings and the people I’ve met through shipping them and I just want to spread that love and positivity in this fandom because it is so sorely needed nowadays with how toxic everything has become! If I’m being honest I started shipping dinbo purely out of spite because I saw haters using the same arguments for it that they use against sabezra but now that I’ve seen all of S3 in it’s entirety with all of that amazing content for dinbo I’m hooked 😂 I just think that sabezra and dinbo compliment each other so well, and I hope that we get to see these couples both go canon and team up but whether or not that happens, I’m sure fandom can provide as it always does! Like Luna said, we’re all in this together so let’s have each other’s backs and create some awesome content together!

Prompts:

Day 1: Mission/Double Date

Day 2: Training

Day 3: Family

Day 4: Celebrations

Day 5: Free Day

For more info on the prompts see this post!

For the rules, see this post!

The ship week will run from June 26-June 30 so you have two months to make your content for the two pairings!

Feel free to send an ask to this blog if you have any questions and either Luna or Emily will answer!

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Okay, y'all. Let's talk about shipping, and I'll even expose myself, fuck it, let's go:

I don't ship or like Reylo or Dramione, and yet I am a slut for Anidala and Buffy/Angel, who are easily just as Problematique when you unpack all of canon

I don't ship or like SessRin, and yet one of my favorite "love stories" of all time is low-key the most Grooming one of all: The Phantom of the Opera

I don't ship or like InuCest, Kaname/Yuki, Elsanna, let alone incest pairings as a whole, and yet one of my favorite manga of all time is Angel Sanctuary. AND I also ship Cesare/Lucrezia!! (both in the TV show The Borgias, and the manga, Cantarella)

I generally don't do cross-species/monsterfucking ships, and yet. Ancient Magus Bride exists. Beauty and the Beast exists. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I generally dislike Adult x Minor pairings, and yet CLAMP's Chobits has one of the cutest side pairings that is incredibly fucked up in the real-world setting (Ueda x Yumi; ikyk). But then again, CLAMP created another Large-Age-Gap pairing in Cardcaptor Sakura that I absolutely DESPISE (Rika x Terada ugh), and yet, in the SAME SERIES ALSO wrote one of the most Wholesome Ships Imaginable (Sakura x Syaoran) AND one of the earliest examples of an Iconic Gay Pairing (Touya x Yukito)

Hell, despite my issues with Large-Age-Gaps, I have a soft spot for Amu/Ikuto from Shugo Chara!, and Nephrite/Naru from Sailor Moon. And yet, I'm squicked the FUCK out of Snape/Harry, Snape/Hermione, etc. Nope. Not my thing

I'm also generally not a fan of the "Male Love Interest consciously/openly threatening to harm/kidnap/assault Female MC" trope and yet!! My biggest guilty pleasure is Alice in the Country of Hearts!! Not to mention several other manga/anime titles I could name!! It's a common trope that I like in some stories, and hate in others!!!!!! Shocking!!!

My point is, you can dislike certain "problematic" ships/media all you like, but don't cast stones in glass houses. We all have our Problematic Faves, peeps, whether you want to admit it or not. Just because You Like It doesn't make it morally exempt from the ones You Don't Like. Ship and let ship, don't like don't read, learn to curate your fandom experience.

And honestly? As a former Puritanical Anti, embracing my trash without needing to justify it (however tame it is by comparison to some, or weird it is to others) has been the most liberating thing in my fandom experience. Give it a try; I highly recommend.

[villainanders]

From both a then- and current- star wars enthusiast, I think a lot of it comes down to– like others have said– ppl simply hating kylo ren and resenting that the 2 moc who are supposed to be rey's closest friends were totally shunted for the rest of the trilogy in favor of a whiny genocidal white man's sob story. Which is a valid critique but the shipping thing should have been only a small part of that critique imo because finn and poe's entire storylines were shunted– to me the pressing issue is not really about shipping but more widespread and deep rooted racism within star wars media and fandom (of which reylo could be seen as a symptom but again it's one of many.)

Also, if we're going to be real about whiny genocidal white men with tragic backstories being excused in the star wars fandom... there are plenty of reylo haters and kylo haters in general who are uncritical anakin apologists & anidala shippers so. I am a kylo ren hater myself, I do personally find anakin's character fascinating & his Fall much more compelling as an arc, but please let's be serious for a minute guys 😭 you're lying if you think anakin isn't whiny and genocidal and an unhealthy partner too just because his tragic backstory & fall from grace is written better

This is a really good point ty! I think you’re very right about this and a lot of other media discourse ties back to being symptoms of a bigger problem

[unlikelyjedi]

I saw you reblogged a ship ask game so imma give you two star wars ships, anidala and reylo

OMG!!!

So, first, Anidala!!

Definitely Ship It

What made you ship it?

Okay so I think AOTC Anakin is a weirdo like most people, but if you can look past that and see their clone wars/extended material/ROTS bond, it's actually very lovely and sweet. (But if I'm being for real for real, I ship it because I need them to procreate Luke and Leia 👀)

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I like that Padmé isn't a damsel in distress. She's a fully capable warrior, and when Anakin isn't being a little bitch, he's very much a wife guy!! Honestly the events of Star Wars could have been prevented if Anakin was instead the malewife he was always meant to be!!!

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Hmmm I wouldn't say I have an unpopular opinion... I ship it mostly for story reasons (needing Luke and Leia to exist) but I also find it endearing in its own right!!!

Now... Reylo.....

Don’t Ship It... Really really do not ship it....

Why don’t you ship it?

They're just not interesting??? Evil evil man and goody-two-shoes girl are drawn together because of soulmate shit or whatever. I just don't see the chemistry. Rey is doing her own thing. Kylo is doing his. I just don't think they do their own thing... together.... (for the record I love both Kylo and Rey as characters... more of a Kylux Shipper if I'm honest...)

What would have made you like it?

Nothing???

Okay, that's not completely true. Maybe if they went on a quest together or something and were forced to work together (like, unlocking sith secrets at a temple and needing two jedi to do it). Just something that isn't "boy??? girl??? MASH EM TOGETHER!!!"

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Uhhhh... I like the idea of a dyad in theory... The action scenes with them are well-choreographed and I do think they share a nice bond, but that gets ruined once it's clear the plot is trying to push them together.

[paranoid-spotlight-everest]

Alright, let's see what my ships are... (In order of how much I love them) if characters aren't both either adults or teens, I am imagining them both as such

Dsmp: Everything, really, but c!awesamdream is my fav, with dreambur and drunz tied for second

Pjo: Jasico, Reynapollo, Lukercy, Lukethan, Valdangelo, Pereyna, Pipabeth, Leo and Hazel, and Percabeth in last, it's only here bc nostalgia.

Star Wars prequels: ANIDALA, Luxsoka, Kashoka/Lartano

Star Wars OT: Vaguely like every ship? Especially Luke x a man. All of them. I'm really more into the familial/platonic relationships for the PT and OT

Sequels!: REYLO!!! Gingerpilot, Finnrose, Finnpoe

Atla: Zutara, Zukaang, Sokkla, Yuekka, Tokka, Zuki, Jetko, Kataang (they weren't bad, I just preferred their friendship+other ships), Tyzula, Jinko, and most other ships I like

My hero academia: I don't go here but I really like Bakudeku!

For other fandoms, I really just like the canon ships! (Owl House, Amphibia, etc or I just don't feel like typing the one ship I like from every media I've liked

[elthadriel]

Codex obvs, fives/echo? And uhh I'm sorry but I'm so curious, anidala? ...reylo?

Under a cut because it got long :D

Codex my beloved 😭

What made you ship it?

The Rishi episode had me shipping (Cody called Rex Old Boy and I was 👀) it but mostly in the background, then I wrote Boosting Morale for an event week. That was beginning of the end. I also made some new friends within the fandom around that time who shipped it and were writing the much delicious fic about them. From there there was no saving me and I’m obsessed.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

Can I just gesture vaguely at everything I’ve written for them?

I like that they come with built in pining. Even after they’re together they spend a lot of time apart missing each other. There’s a level of devotion that I love. These are men who aren’t allowed to have anything and took this anyway. They barely own themselves but own each other anyway. It makes me weak.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I prefer them having meet post Kamino as a rule. There’s plenty fun stuff with them meeting on Kamino, and I don’t avoid it, but it’s not my preference.

I adore Fives/echo

What made you ship it?

Canon. The last survivors of their squad, the fact even on Kamino when they didn’t get along there was enough of a connection there to seek out being moved to a different squad together

What are your favourite things about the ship?

The codependency. I want them to be unable to recognise themselves without the other as a point of comparison. Which makes it even better that somehow they both have to figure out how to. I just want you to look at them alone, and be able to see the hole the other left behind and they are desperately trying to fill. Look, canon give me a ship where they both have to mourn the other’s death, how could I say no to that?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m not a huge fan of how both of these characters are often written. Fives is energetic but he’s also incredibly smart and driven. He’s not a fuck up or a prankster. Meanwhile, I think Echo is just as much of a shithead as Fives (you think that man wasn’t loving how annoyed he made people reciting regs?) he just disguises it better.

Anidala

I wasn’t sure how to answer this one. I guess I ship it in the sense of I always write with the assumption they’re together, and don’t really ship either of them with anyone else because I don’t think their characters really work without the other. But, on the other hand, I would never write it, would never look it out, and just don’t really care one way or the other 😂

Fuck it, I decided to do a mix from both.

What made you ship it?

I think Anakin’s obsessive love of Padme is so central to everything that happens to him. It’s his primary driving motivator and that’s compelling. And we’re repeatedly told that Padme is a good person and smart, but she gets into a relationship with Anakin, which is objectively a stupid idea considering, and he admits to slaughtering a village to her and she isn’t repulsed. I think Padme making exceptions to her morals when it’s for the benefit of herself says so much about her.

What would have made you like it?

I find the prequels very hard to watch. I don’t even find them enjoyable in a “this is so bad” kind of way. I just think they’re bad. And then Anakin’s characterisation in tcw is just all over the place and feels super different from what we see in the movies. So probably, better canon and probably if I was just more interested in the characters in general.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I hate any implication that Anakin mind ticked Padme or that she felt pressured into a relationship with him. She knew what she was doing and I think it flattens her character into something very boring to pretend she didn’t. Let her justify this man’s viciousness while considering herself just a good and kind person. It’s fun.

Reylo

Why don’t you ship it?

Mostly because I like Finn/Rey way more. Also, while I’m normally here for enemies to lovers, canon was so inconstant with what they were doing with them it was hard to get meaningfully compelled.

What would have made you like it?

I think canon being better and knowing what it wanted to do with them.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

There’s a lot of tropes there that I like. Enemies to Lovers I mentioned, and I often like some unhealthy toxicity in my ships.

[redrascal1]

Am I the only person saddened by how, in addition to 'toxic', reylo is also seen as racist?

The attitude of the harpies on the JCF doesn't bother me...they are, as a former member quietly told me, peculiar people. But I've also seen on the Medium website, reylo referred to as a 'white supremacist' ship. Even Kylux, a crack ship, was referred to as such!

There has, over the years since the sequel trilogy was released, been a gradual belief that Rey and Finn were meant to be a romantic couple, and that 'reylo' is taking away from Finn his rightful role as leading man. Alan Dean Foster stated this was the case, and that DLF 'scuppered' it (although why he chose to wait until post TROS is beyond me). Okay, fine....but I doubt very much they 'scuppered' it because of Kylo or reylo.

Post TFA Daisy Ridley said that Finn and Rey were meant to be friends. Just 'friends', nothing more. Reylos noticed the incredible chemistry between Rey and Kylo, but so did Rian Johnson. And so did the critics, who said the interaction between the two characters dominated TLJ.

Critics, folks, professionals with years of movie watching experience. Not starry eyed fans.

But what upsets me is that the people who have these particular views are themselves being pretty cruel...to Loan Tran.

They seem to think that only Rey is 'good enough' to be Finn's girlfriend. Not Loan. Rose Tico isn't the main protagonist, therefore not 'important' enough to be Finn's love. This is an incredibly spiteful point of view. And can in itself be seen as racist as Loan is of course, Asian. Supremely ironic....TLJ gave them an inter racial love story yet they wouldn't accept it as neither of the couple....were white.

I know as a middle aged woman, that things change. Times change. SW is not the same now as it was when I fell in love with it. And of course, people are now 'more aware', thanks to campaigns by #metoo and #blm. But I really wish that they wouldn't see 'abuse' where it doesn't exist....and the same with racism.

We reylos 'shipped' it purely because we liked the characters for who they were...not because of their ethnicity. It is grossly unfair to label us as white supremacists, especially as many of us are POC. As I've said before that is a serious accusation, and people shouldn't be pointing this finger, especially purely because they are mad their man 'didn't get the girl.'

At the end of the day, no one got Rey. There wasn't really a 'leading man.' Rey 'didn't need a boyfriend.' As SW always had a romantic subplot, from Anidala to Han/Leia and the doomed Obi Wan/ Satine, I thought this was both sad and somewhat....cold. It took away the heart from the saga.

But... maybe as a nearly old woman whose opinions are considered dated these days, I don't know what I'm on about. Maybe I'm the one 'in the wrong' who thought a story about a broken, abused young man and a lonely, abandoned young girl finding what they needed in each other ....is inappropriate in today's culture. Whatever.

I guess I am finally too old for my one time favourite franchise.

[kittenfangirl20]

Each time I look up Anidala, I get this blog who is a Reylo anti as a suggested blog even though I have blocked this blog. I want to look up Anidala content that doesn’t hate on Reylo, is that too much to ask? I don’t care about the anti Obikin part because that ship has creepy grooming implications.

[captainimfangirling]

Anyone ship both Reylo and Anidala or am I the only one? 

[galactic-empire-incorrect-quotes]

Road trip question: do you have any SW ships? Also, I formally request one (1) headcanon for each of the following imps: Veers, Piett, Needa, Motti, and Jerjerrod.

SHIPS:

I definitely ship Veers/Piett. I know that there are a ton of other Imperial ships out there, and I like most of them, but not as much as I love Veers/Piett. (That said, I think that all the Darth Vader ships are just crack ships.)

If you mean Star Wars as a whole, there are only two ships that I feel strongly about, and the rest I don’t really care.

Poe/Finn: Wonderful, iconic, gay, beautiful, and any other positive adjective you can think of. If this were a sequel trilogy blog you would never hear the end of this ship, but I try to stay in my original trilogy lane.

Reylo: Burn in hell. Words cannot describe how much I hate this ship. I hate this as much as I hate Dramione, and that’s saying something.

As for the others:

Leia/Han: I like it fine, but I think their breakup was realistic. They loved each other but were very very different people.

Anidala: I don’t think they were toxic or abusive, but neither Anakin nor Padmé were raised in environments that create emotionally well adjusted people, which was bad for their relationship.

So, those are really all my thoughts on ships.

HEADCANONS:

Veers: Veers is a very patriotic and upstanding citizen. Back when he joined the military, it was still during the rule of the Old Republic. Though the Clone Army and the Jedi took care of 95% of personnel needs, he believed it was his duty as a citizen to serve the Republic, and later, the Empire. He has two kids, a son and a daughter, both of whom joined the Imperial military at his urging. (His daughter is a decorated TIE pilot, and his son is an infantry soldier who would rather not be an infantry soldier.) Veers believes that the most honorable thing a person can do for their country is to sacrifice their life in battle, which leads to a lot of dramatic speeches his soldiers have to suffer through. They rank these speeches by categories of Drama, Pretentiousness, Graphic Violence, and Delusions of Grandeur.

Piett: Piett is not married, nor does he have any kids. (That’s mostly because he’s too busy to date and too responsible to knock anyone up.) He has two nephews and three nieces, but he doesn’t see them often. It’s not because he hates spending time with them, it’s because he hates spending time with his siblings. Sometimes he thinks he might like to be a parent, but then he remembers that his life is stressful enough already.

Before Piett was officially the admiral, he was the de facto admiral. Ozzel was too busy arguing with other commanders and using too much vacation time to actually do his job, so Piett did it. The only reason Ozzel made it as far as he did is that Piett did all his paperwork. Being the admiral may make him more likely to get killed by Darth Vader, but at least he doesn’t have to be both the captain and the admiral at once.

Needa: Needa’s crew has an unusually large amount of respect and admiration for him. The Empire goes through captains fast enough that officers don’t usually get attached to each other, and most commanders are snobby and unapproachable. However, when he first became the captain of the Executor, he made an effort to get to know the people on the ship, especially those working on the bridge with him. Needa took full responsibility for losing the Millennium Falcon instead of throwing some technician under the bus, which most other people wouldn’t have done. When he got killed by Darth Vader, they held a brief impromptu funeral service for him.

Motti: Motti is very arrogant because he’s used to being the best. Back when he was growing up in the Outer Rim, someone of his origin had very low chances of making it into a high ranking military position. Motti was the only kid his age who was good enough to get a spot in the Imperial Navy, so he developed a superiority complex pretty early on. He’s never quite adjusted to the fact that he is no longer the smartest person in the room.

Jerjerrod: Jerjerrod originally just wanted to be an engineer, but family pressure and weird promotions from Vader’s homicidal tendencies put him in administration and management. I think he was a lot more involved in the actual engineering, problem solving, innovative parts of designing the new Death Star. After the war with the Rebels ended, he had planned to start an academy for Imperial engineers.

[t4tadrienette]

ask game: Star Wars, Supernatural and Percy Jackson

i did not just scroll to your latest posts for these picks, nah ah /s

This was a big boy

Okay so Star Wars is such a general so I guess I'll divide in movies and shows.

Star Wars prequels + The Clone Wars

•favorite male character: Anakin Skywalker

•favorite female character: Ahsoka Tano

•least favorite character: Krell

•prettiest character: Anakin

•funniest character: C3PO

•favorite season: season 5

•favorite movie: Revenge of the Sith

•favorite romantic ship: Anidala

•favorite family ship: since there's no like blood related family I'll just put both family ship and friend ship together so Anakin and Ahsoka and Anakin and Obi Wan

•favorite friend ship:

•worst ship: I guess all the clone×clone ships and also like clones for any Jedi

Rebels

•favorite male character: Ezra Bridger

•favorite female character: Sabine Wren

•least favorite character: Gar Saxon

•prettiest character: Sabine Wren

•funniest character: Ezra Bridger

•favorite season: season 4

•favorite episode: Twilight of the apprentice

•favorite romantic ship: Hera and Kanan

•favorite family ship: the ghost crew

•favorite friend ship: Ezra and Sabine

•worst ship: no idea

Original trilogy

•favorite male character: Luke Skywalker

•favorite female character: Leia Organa

•least favorite character: -

•prettiest character: Leia

•funniest character: Han Solo

•favorite movie: Return of the Jedi

•favorite romantic ship: -

•favorite family ship: well Luke and Leia

•favorite friend ship: the trio and Chewbacca

•worst ship: -

The Mandalorian

•favorite male character: Din Djarin

•favorite female character: -

•least favorite character: -

•prettiest character: -

•funniest character: -

•favorite season: season 1

•favorite episode: can't decide

•favorite romantic ship: -

•favorite family ship: Din and Grogu

•favorite friend ship: -

•worst ship: -

Sequels

•favorite male character: Poe Dameron

•favorite female character: Rey

•least favorite character: Kylo Ren

•prettiest character: Rey

•funniest character: Poe

•favorite movie: The Force Awakens

•favorite romantic ship: FinnPoe

•favorite family ship: any of the main original trio plus the main trio of the sequels

•favorite friend ship: I'd say the trio, but we got very little of their friendship

•worst ship: Reylo

Supernatural

•favorite male character: Castiel

•favorite female character: Charlie Bradbury

•least favorite character: Chuck

•prettiest character: Billie

•funniest character: Castiel

•favorite season: 11/12

•favorite episode: Lily Sunder has some regrets

•favorite romantic ship: Destiel

•favorite family ship: Castiel and Jack

•favorite friend ship: Dean and Charlie

•worst ship: -

Percy Jackson

•favorite male character: Percy Jackson

•favorite female character: Annabeth Chase

•least favorite character: -

•prettiest character: -

•funniest character: Percy

•favorite book: The Last Olympian

•favorite romantic ship: Percabeth

•favorite family ship: -

•favorite friend ship: the trio

•worst ship: -

[coffeekoe]

Just gonna rant.. i’m so tired of people complaining about anidalas (padme and anakin) age difference when their age gap is perfectly legal and consensual when a shit ton of other popular star wars ships aren’t. Y’all really be out here complaining that 5 years is so problematic when reylo is 10 years and obikin is A FUCKING 16 YEAR GAP. 

When Anakin and Padme started dating Anakin was 19 and Padme was 24, they were both consenting adults who had been fond of each other years before. I really don’t understand how some people can have such a problem with a 5 year age gap but not bat an eye at a 16 year gap... i’m just so tired.

(Also yes, Ahsoka and Anakins age gap is also 5 years but the GIANT difference is that the entire time ahsoka knew anakin she was a minor and he was an adult. That never happened with anidala, they knew each other when they were kids and then were reunited as adults. Also ahsoka literally refers to anakin as her older brother. Y’all just need to not.)

[padme-amitabha]

I honestly believe that most of the hate for Anidala is because Padmé is older than Anakin. If it was the other way around, no one would complain about it being “abusive” (see: the many, many, many ppl shipping Reylo as proof)

That is so true. A lot of Obikin and Anisoka shippers try to justify their ship by saying “so what Anakin met his future wife as a kid”. Firstly, it was purely platonic from Padme’s side in TPM and she was only 14 in TPM. Obi-Wan was 25 in TPM. It’s not the same bruh. Ahsoka is 14 when Anakin is 21/22. Anakin and Padme are both kids in TPM (it’s the same as the childhood friends trope only with Padme being a few years older than Anakin) and I fucking hate all the pedo jokes about Padme when Obikin makes Obi-Wan an actual pedophile and abuser. Same with Reylo it’s suddenly more acceptable when the man is at least ten years older than the girl. That’s some double standards right there.

And then the equally terrible “Padme is like Anakin’s mom” accusations. Well, no he doesn’t view her as his mom. But Anakin calls Obi-Wan his father twice in AOTC and y’all still ship that so...

[benthelastskywalker]

My Reylo Story

As some of you may or may not already know, I didn’t start off as a Reylo when TFA came out. Instead it was a journey and I wanted to share my story with you.

First, however, I think it’s important to explain where I was coming from both as a shipper and as a Star Wars fan pre-TFA. I first became aware of shipping in 2009/2010, or at least what it meant. I guess I could say I’d been a shipper long before that, I just wasn’t aware of it as a thing until then. But here’s the thing, I didn’t ship based solely on chemistry. To me shipping was more than just about whether or not a certain dynamic interested me. It was about wanting the characters to be happy in that relationship. So for me, how the characters treated each other was a pretty big deal.

So because of that, I had a hard time when I saw people shipping pairings that I viewed as “toxic.” If one character is being mistreated or flat out abused by another, how could they be happy? While I can honestly say I never sent anyone hate for shipping those things, I did post plenty of “anti” posts about those ships (tagged correctly, though) and followed anti blogs. 

Onto my history with SW. I grew up on Star Wars. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. My parents both saw A New Hope in theaters as teens when it came out and both became fans. After they met and got married, they showed the movies to my three sisters and me from an early age. I don’t even remember the first time I watched the original trilogy because I was so young. There was never pre-SW time in my life. It’s something that has always been a part of my life. The legacy characters are life long friends.

The prequels came out when I was between nine and fifteen. And overall, I was not impressed. I liked the first movie well enough, but the dialogue in the other two made them almost impossible to watch and the love story between Anakin and Padme did nothing for me. It wasn’t until I was older and getting into shipping culture that I realize why. It was just not a healthy relationship and one I couldn’t support. While I acknowledged the prequels as canon, I basically grew to ignore them and focus on the original trilogy.

When I was in college, I had to take a speech class. One lesson was on story telling where the teacher stressed the golden rule of story telling: “Show, don’t tell.” The example she used was of a selfish child. “Don’t just say ‘he’s selfish’,” she said. “Show him acting selfishly.”

Sometime after that, I was rewatching the original trilogy. I got to the part when Luke goes to confront Vader on Endor and Luke tells him, “I fell the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.” I had a  light bulb moment of, “Wait, what? What conflict? We never saw any conflict!” Luke mentioning the conflict within Vader was the first clue that were was one. I realized then that Vader’s redemption had no real build up across the three movies. It all takes place in the third act of the final film. It wasn’t a journey. It was a spur of the moment turn. And it bothered me. “Show. Don’t tell.” That’s the rule. And Lucas told us.

So then TFA came out and we got Kylo Ren. And they actually showed us his inner conflict and I loved it! I loved the character. He was instantly my favorite. I kept thinking “This is what they should have done with Vader!” Not even him killing Han, which I was totally devastated about, could make me dislike Kylo. 

Yet, I wasn’t looking for the romance in the story. Because of this and because of what I’ve already said about my shipping history, it did not cross my mind at all that Reylo would be a thing. Not even an inkling. So if you had asked me right after I watched TFA for the first time who I thought Rey would fall in love with, I would have said Finn. Not because I shipped it, but because I just didn’t see another candidate.

It was only when I got home from the theater and got onto tumblr and started seeing posts about Reylo that I realized it was even a thing. I was shocked! As much as loved Kylo Ren, I didn’t get how anyone could ship him with Rey. He had kidnapped her and mind probed her after all. 

But the thing is, I wasn’t angry so much as I was just confused. So I did something that I will never regret. I reached out to Reylos and I asked them what they saw in the ship. And their answers surprised me. They pointed out how Rey had fought back in the mind probe scene, showing that Rey wasn’t just a helpless victim. They pointed out the differences between how he treated Rey in that scene and how he had treated Poe when he was been mind probing him earlier. They also said it had the potential to the reverse Anidala (which intrigued me). They also pointed out (and I think this was the biggest misconception regarding Reylo and Reylos at the time) was that they didn’t actually want Kylo and Rey to get together right then, that they both had growing and maturing to do and they acknowledged that it wouldn’t be healthy for them to be together as they were at the end of TFA. And they explained all this nicely, without any hint of judgment or rudeness for someone who didn’t get their ship.

After that I went to see TFA a second time. This time I tried to see what they saw. I started to get it, but I still couldn’t bring myself to ship it. Shortly after that, I saw a post where someone said something about Ben being manipulated by Snoke since infancy. I reached out to that person and was like, “Where are you getting that from?”

“Oh, that was in the TFA novelization.”

So, I got a hold of the novelization and read it. Sure enough I learned that Ben had indeed been manipulated since infancy and that really changed pretty much everything about how I viewed him. I had loved the character before, but now I really began to sympathize with him. 

But the novelization did more than that. It made me realize that Reylo might just be something that wasn’t just in the shippers’ head, because the subtext...oh my word, the Reylo subtext was all there. And the novel made it quite clear that Finn and Rey were just friends, nothing more. So that was the last time I ever thought FinnRey might happen.

While I didn’t consider myself a Reylo at that point, I continued to keep up with all of the Reylo theories that were floating around. It helped that one of my mutuals was going through the exact same thing too and were we able to talk about it together.

Then TLJ came out. Oh, boy. I find myself smiling whenever Kylo and Rey talked and going, “This! This is what the shippers predicated!” I came out of that movie, so happy. I was disappointed that he had returned to the light right then, but I never doubted he would eventually get his redemption.

It was only in the months leading up to the release of TROS that I finally admitted to myself that I was a Reylo and it’s something that I’ve never regretted, nor while I ever. Despite the disappointment that TROS turned out to be, I still love the ship, I love the characters, and I love my fellow shippers.

Becoming a Reylo has certainly changed my view on shipping too and while there are still those ships that make me cringe, I’ve learned just to ignore them.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from this experience, is not to turn away from people with differing opinions, but to actually talk and listen. This goes beyond shipping. This applies to every aspect of life. 

And now I’m curious to hear your Reylo story.

[perrydowning]

Hey Perry, I don't know who to blame, but I feel like the people behind the Sequels were waaay too invested in "strong female character" arc and very much afraid of romance, like they were trying to win the new fans and at the same time calm down the stupid old nerds whoose were "okay" with Leia 'cause they idolize Han Solo and "hey, she's hot" and also only accepted the cliche Anidala scenes for "its how it is, we need Luke and Leia to be born"--- well, in the end, it was kind of a mess. (1/2)

TROS, which is supposed to be the "epilogue" of the saga.. they throw at us so many ships!(I'm mean both romantically & literally) the whole angry Rey at Kylo all the time because of.. what again? They never really talk, right?& Finn trying to tell her something while she argues with Poe HanLeia style but clearly Oscar(poor guy!)giving looks at John and- and- and Rose in the background (!!!) I just.. so many wasted oportunites. I just... I don't blame people being confused with the Reylo kiss. (2/2)

---

Hey there, Anon. I totally hear you. Though, I am personally completely certain who to blame: cowardly white men. 

See, based on concept art and the direction of the first two films in the sequel trilogy, I think that they had intended Reylo to be the backbone of the trilogy. But they wussed out. The sexist nerdbro fanbase made such a fuss after TLJ that the Powers That Be backed off from reverse Anidala. The minute you start writing for other people is the minute your work becomes shit. 

TRoS was just an utter mess and you’re completely right that the kiss was confusing. They didn’t actually redeem Ben Solo in any real way--it was all smoke and mirrors without any, I dunno, character growth?

I’ve written myself into a corner many a time, I get how it could happen. In a fic. In the last film in one of the most profound modern myths of our time? There’s simply no excuse. 

Either way, Jar Jar Abrams is either a complete hack or an utter coward. 

Anyway, I’m not sure if I addressed your thoughts properly, but I’m grateful you shared them.

<3