#inspiring fun tpm

[charmwasjess]

Okay, I finally finished The Living Force, and as promised, I have thoughts. These are just my musings as a fan and a reader - if you enjoyed the book more than I did, I'm really glad! If you hated it, good for you too! Let people like things, let people not like things. <3 My feelings with this book were somewhat down the middle. I'm interested in reading it again in a couple months and seeing how I feel.

Overall: a fun, engaging read, genuinely hard to put down once the action starts going. The book isn’t afraid to be funny. SO MUCH GOOD JEDI CONTENT! Miller takes on a huge task trying to write perspectives for all twelve Council member characters and does a pretty good job bringing them to life. Mace and Depa steal the show. I had a hard time with some of the meta plot and overriding messages about the Jedi Order.

Andddddd the long version:

The entire conceit of the book comes about when Qui-Gon goes head to head with the Council, who are bogged down in committee red tape Senate paperwork disconnection, and challenges them to “help one person.” So inspired, the Jedi Council in its entirety goes to the planet Kwenn to help close down a hundreds-year-old Jedi Outpost. 

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan serve as the book’s inciting incident, our quest giver NPCs, who hang around close enough to the action to keep the readers who bought the book only for them engaged. It reminds me a little bit of a spin-off TV show where the fan favorite character from the original series shows up to boost ratings, saying their classic catch phrase while the live studio audience goes crazy. Look, Qui-Gon is Being Kind to Pathetic Lifeforms! Obi-Wan drops a “hello there” in the first scene! Oh, them!

Lest you think I’m being shitty, let me say that it was actually great to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on the eve of TPM working together well and having a blast. Both in Padawan and Master & Apprentice, they are still very much figuring out their relationship, and now it’s clearly evolved to its final magnificent form. They’re utterly corny together - I love that for them. This is the same pair that gave us “the negotiations were short” and the baffling “there’s always a bigger fish!”

I’ll talk a little bit about Sifo-Dyas because of course I will. He appears only in mentions, but so many of them, he's a huge part of the subtext of the book as he's recently left (been fired) from the Council and been killed - he's apparently on everyone's mind. I’ve posted about this before - I love the Seeker Sifo addition, and further, letting him be a rightful problem, a true pain in the Council’s ass and who ultimately got himself fired for not following the rules. Of course I have sympathy for him: this is a person who is beyond desperate to save his world and willing to try anything at this point in his life. And I think it’s worth mentioning that this is well within Cavan Scott’s characterization of him as a natural born troublemaker. I mean, he’s on screen for about two pages in Dooku: Jedi Lost before he just fucking literally steps on Yoda. Apparently, he never stopped. 

The book is oddly complimentary of him in weird places. Canon is inconsistent about Sifo-Dyas and how much his visions were impacting his judgment or even his simple ability to function. The last we heard of him in the Yoda comics, Sifo-Dyas was so routinely incapacitated by them that he was traveling with Lene full time. So it was cool to see that he had apparently gotten in control of them enough to be a super crucial member of the Council. Mace complains about Sifo’s absence and how that has directly impacted their entire ability to perceive the future, an acknowledged blind spot that comes up quite a lot in the prequel films and Clone Wars. Yoda goes on and on about how what a powerful Jedi he was.

...I don’t think the scene where the ENTIRE FUCKING Council round robin style takes potshots at Sifo-Dyas for *checks notes* rescuing some orphans was particularly successful. Of course, accuse me of bias, he’s a favorite character of mine, and it’s rough to see his colleagues - who are also his only friends and family - sitting around talking shit about him (to a bad guy no less!) for a page and a half, when he literally just got violently killed. (And they know he’s dead, at least, if not the circumstances. Killed on Felucia was the official story reported to the Council per wookiepedia.) Just tonally weird.

But really, I think what actually bothers me about that scene is the treatment of the baddie, Zalestra’s motivation as in any way legitimate, credible, or worth an apology by the narrative. Wow, the villain had a good point! To be clear, her issue with Sifo-Dyas taking her friends away to be Jedi is not that it changed her situation in any meaningful way in terms of care provided. It was a crime of omission. And these friends were so dear to her that she goes around indiscriminately killing Jedi of their exact generation? I suspect Miller liked his cool Nautolan Pirate Joker OC and wanted to give her a sympathetic excuse for why she was going around torturing and murdering Jedi (and just random people, including children) for fun, and “I got separated from my friends as a kid because of a Jedi” was the best he could do. Of course, it sets up Depa for a really beautiful line about not using other people as a canvas to paint grief on. 

The question of Attachment is a strong theme. Depa seems to be Going Through It - about attachment in particular, but also generally in the book. She’s shown relying a little too firmly on the no attachment cause in the wake of grief for a lost student. For example, she is quick to volunteer that Zalestra’s friends who were brought into the Temple together would be immediately separated so as to not form attachments - without pointing out the rest of that, that this separation would be specifically into Creche clans so they could bond with other Jedi kids and grow up in a community. Mace’s reaction to Depa’s attitudes make me suspect this is a Depa character growth thing, not something we’re supposed to take as a face value fact about the Jedi Order. Indeed, she ultimately overcomes her fears about this and decides to take a Padawan. And the final lines of the book include Qui-Gon defining for us that it isn’t attachment that’s a problem for Jedi – it’s indifference. 

Mace and Depa are the clear stars of the book. The Shatterpoint lineage vibes are immaculate. I’d read that the Living Force is supposed to set up an upcoming novel about Mace, and I am legitimately thrilled for it after reading this. Anyway, their dynamic is fantastic. Mace treats her 100% like a respected colleague, no cute Padawan infantilization tropes, even when he is put in situations like rescuing her after weeks of prolonged torture. Instead, he gives her his lightsaber to use, since hers has been taken. A really powerful and beautiful moment of support, while still recognizing her strength and agency. 

That said, if you’re looking for a deep dive into more obscure members of the Council or an EU/Legends junkie looking to see your favorite backstory pulled from the fire, this book might not be it.  With his five wives and seven daughters in old EU, Ki-Adi-Mundi might be the least likely Council Member to be the comedic butt of a bit revolving around awkwardness around women, but Miller goes for it, and there’s no mention of his family situation. 

Another odd reference, this time to current canon: the civilians the Council are working to help are mentioned as being the relocated survivors of the Protobranch disaster. It’s an ironic choice to frame the narrative of “the Jedi have been too focused on the big picture/the future at the expense of their duty to ordinary people” and then set the story in a community of people that the Jedi literally saved after getting a vision of the future disaster. The fact that it was our problem child Sifo-Dyas’s vision, and the rescue only happened after he and Lene outright defied the Council to get the gears moving is never mentioned or addressed, despite its seeming supreme relevance to the other themes in the story. 

For a time, I thought the narrative tension there between those two truths - that the Jedi should be concerned about ordinary people and living in the moment, but that this doom future is truly about to be a huge problem for the Jedi Order and the galaxy - was intentional. Having now finished the book, it doesn't seem to have actually been. Maybe someone else has a different perspective.

In truth, I didn’t understand what I kept reacting negatively to about with some of the meta themes of the book until the literal last page, John Jackson Miller’s author’s note where he says it outright. He talked about the other Star Wars books he has written over the last decade - how they all have depicted (Jedi) characters who are off on their own, away from the Order, “loners like Luke Skywalker,” and how his depiction of the Jedi Order from that perspective has been very critical. With this book, he decided that ALL Jedi couldn’t be bad, and that “Qui-Gon Jinn was the greatest symbol (of diversity of thought in the Order)” so he wanted to explore that. 

I closed the book and gently placed it in the trash can.

No, I’m kidding. Kind of. You know that I love Qui-Gon Jinn, he is my first favorite character, but this take exhausts me. That he is the magical exception to all of Jedi’s problems leading up to the prequels, and that if he were somehow not a direct product of that same Jedi Order, which encouraged him in his particular way of thinking almost to a fault, starting with Dooku.

In the final scene, with a magical twinkle in his eyes, Qui-Gon explains his own “defiance”of the Council: “I’m not insubordinate. I’m unorthodox. The insubordinate are ignored. The unorthodox are heard - grudgingly.” So the book finally resolves for us the narrative confusion in the difference between Sifo-Dyas’s bad future-fixated rulebreaking, which is shown to create villains and piss off his colleagues alike, and Qui-Gon’s good Living Force-serving unorthodoxy, which creates friends for the Order and moments of spiritual understanding for the Council. 

...Smashcut to six months later when Qui-Gon himself is outright defying the Council’s decision on Anakin and sidelining Obi-Wan because he’s convinced the Chosen One prophecy is just that important. 

Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, 6.5/10 stars, would have been 7 if I hadn’t read that asinine author’s note and gotten all mad again. 

[kyberrebel]

Things that went through my mind during The Acolyte episode 2

This new Jedi Temple needs better security. 

This OP floating Jedi dude is just kicking Mae’s ass without even doing anything. I can’t help but stan.

Off topic, but I hope we see Yaddle in this series. There’s no reason why we would, really, I just think it would be fun since she is alive during this time. Like imagine, we see a little green Jedi with big ears, unfocused in the background and we all automatically assume it’s Yoda. But then it focuses on the Jedi and BOOM, it’s Yaddle. I’d die of happiness if that happens, since she’s my favorite glup shitto character.

Yord needs to get the stick out of his ass. They have good evidence now that it’s Mae doing the killing, not Osha. So he can chill now.

Also, does Yord’s Padawan not go on every mission with him? Isn’t that standard for Masters and Padawans?

Hey, it’s Jason from The Good Place!! I forgot he was in this show! And I will proceed to only see him as Jason from The Good Place, and not whoever he is supposed to be.

IT’S CALLED A TATTOO, MASTER, YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.

I don’t know why, but Sol and Qui-Gon have similar vibes.

Of course Osha just happens to be found next to the dead Jedi’s body. 

Never mind, Yord came through!

I wonder if Mae had an influence on Osha leaving the Order is some way.

I like how Jason from TGP doesn’t actually fall for Osha pretending to be Mae. It’s such a cliche trope thing at this point for twin characters to do that. It also makes me like his character more. Too bad I can’t remember his name.

The chronologically first “I have a bad feeling about this” in Star Wars, at least on screen.

“You attack me without a weapon. Why?” Did her throwing knives not count as a weapon?

Mae’s really physical way of fighting is really cool. I think it’s inspired by martial arts more than other fighting styles in Star Wars. It also for some reason reminds me a lot like how Darth Maul fights in TPM, for some reason.

Kelnacca having an undercut is so funny to me. Like, it’s one thing for humans to have an undercut. But seeing it on someone who is completely covered in hair except for that one strip around his head looks really weird.

Him having a different voice than other Wookies is also nice to see. A lot of times, most Wookies sound like Chewbacca, with maybe a tiny difference. It just shows the effort the show creators are putting into Kelnacca’s character, making him have a deeper and raspier voice.

Already, the show is subverting my expectations. After Episode 1, I was predicting that Osha and Sol wouldn’t confront Mae until later in the season. I also was under the assumption that Mae was killing Jedi, knowing people who think it was Osha. I didn’t expect her not even to know her sister was alive.

It may be recency bias, but I am really loving the show so far, though I do like the first episode slightly more. I can’t wait to see where things go!

[ceruleanvermillion]

Sentient Crystal Obi-wan AU (Pinocchio Obi-wan?)

AU where Obi-Wan's soul is within a Kyber Crystal. Featuring made-up Force shenanigans, probably. Could be considered a Steven Universe-esque AU?

This is vaguely inspired by a droid!Obi-wan fic I read a while ago, which was super well done btw, totally recommend. There are 3 versions of the back story.

Obi-wan was a youngling from ye olden days of the republic (KOTOR? or close to that). Youngling Obi-wan went somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, and was caught up in a battle. Long story short he went into critical condition and his mind was unconscious/in a coma, and to save him, the old jedi sealed his soul within a kyber crystal, to heal and protect him. Featuring some lost jedi technique idk.

The jedi (Qui-gon Jinn?) found a sentient kyber crystal in Ilum. They didn't know it's sentient, only that it seems to be drawn to the Jedi. Later, as the Masters study it, Qui-gon accidentally awakens the sentient soul.

Some guy found a crystal. They don't know it's a special crystal, but it provides an energy source, so they use it to build a droid. The jedi notice and buy the droid from the guy.

So as Obi-wan's sentience within the crystal awakens, the jedi create a body for him by basically inputting the crystal inside a droid. The council was like no way at first but then actually meet him and were like okay we have to protect him. Obi-wan is now a sentient droid who can use the force, and his lightsaber blade just kinda shoots out his hand??? anyway. Qui-gon feels hesitant to take him in at first but later he changes his mind because he believes Obi-wan deserves a chance. He becomes kind of a target of dark force users because of the powerful kyber crystal. His sentience is kind of this weird open secret situation to force users in general because nobody could really put a finger over this situaion. The senate don't really get it, they just think the jedi are weird. When they go to mandalore, Satine falls for him and has a crisis lmao, then Obi Wan reveals to her his weird situation. They keep in touch, afterwards.

Events of TPM happen, they meet anakin skywalker. Padme doesn't question Obi-wan's situation. Qui-gon dies. Obi-wan takes in Anakin, and albeit the rocky start, they get along well, and Anakin kind of becomes Obi-wan's personal doctor. Sometimes Obi-wan lets Anakin do upgrades, and sometimes Anakin uses the wrong grease lmao.

AOTC and TCW. Obi-wan finds the clones, but this time he's not alone and with Shaak Ti. Rescuing Anakin and Padme involves obi-wan doing some bad disguise work. Dooku attempts to corrupt Obi-wan's crystal, and fails, but war breaks. The clones are tense around Obi-wan at first, because he is a droid. but later, he proves himself trustworthy and they accept him with open arms. Ahsoka tano is fascinated by Obi-wan.

This is what I have so far.

later, I'm not sure when this will happen, but I'm thinking Mortis arc? The gist is this: in Mortis/Force Planet, droid obi-wan malfunctions because of the force, and so his soul kinda wanders? but in the end, Obi-wan has a revelation and something happens to his kyber crystal hoists his body up via Force alone. When they leave Mortis, his droid body collapses, and when they get back, it is irreparable. at first, they consider making a new one, but for whatever reason it just wont work. Force whispering stuff to Yoda, who suggests the council + obi wan and ahsoka do group meditation together with the crystal.

They meet Obi-wan in what I can only describe as shared force zoom. But when they see him, it's not droid!Obi-wan, it's ewan mcgregor/clone wars obi wan, auburn beard and everything. Yoda has a revelation- They can separate Obi-wan's soul from the crystal which will create a new body for Obi-wan (aforementioned ewan mcgregor body) via force shenanigans. But it will take teamwork and some time.

this is what I have so far for this au. it was fun to conceptualize it, though- maybe it'll be a reality one day?

[cypanache]

This is random but have you ever thought about organizing an Obidala fic exchange? I have this serious feeling that you'd be really really good at that.

I have not. I have never actually participated in a fic exchange either. And the Obidala community is so small I’d be a little worried about sufficient participation and someone not getting their fic.

However, I did run a low pressure prompt event for Parks and Rec when that fandom was just heating up called “Hiatus Fest” (does anyone even remember hiatuses, anymore?), that I enjoyed doing a lot and might be a good structure for this community. It ran over a few weeks. We posted a relatively open-ended set of prompts a week. And the idea was just to produce something for the prompts that week.

I was thinking we could have some fun by doing prompt sets with a variety of types of prompts (themes, tropes, AUs, dialogue, etc.) each set inspired by a different section of the prequels timeline (TPM, AotC, TCW, RotS, OWK). Not that anything would have to be set there just drawing inspiration from the various obidala vibes of each. Then open it up to all types of creations: fics, ficlets, drabbles, gifsets, art, vids, mood boards, headcanons, meta, etc.

So serious question time: would anyone be interested in participating in something like that? No signups, no exchanges, no pressure. Just a few weeks of prompts. One prompt set a week. And the desire to liven up the tag, support each other, spread the love, and maybe attract some new blood. If this sounds like it something you’d be interested in doing (even if it wouldn’t be every week because any new content is still new content) drop a reply or reblog and throw your interest in the tag so I can gauge whether this would be worth it.

[englishlotusflower]

TPM is actually my unironic favourite - it has the Jedi! before things go bad! Just living their lives! It's got the best glimpse we have of the Jedi's lives without war and genocide and I have been obsessed with it since I was like 10.

Also Padme's wardrobe helps. I've been obsessed with the peace parade dress and the Mongolian inspired dress for years - and that hooded ombre robe is possibly more my favourite than the lake country dress (controversial I know, but I have scars on my back and shoulders and the mere idea of that much skin on display in that particular area makes me break out in a cold sweat)

Also the Jedi! The Temple is so pretty! It's shiny and polished in a way that deteriorates over the years because of the war which is a great design thing but also means it's at its prettiest here.

It's our first introduction to how the Jedi function! We get to see how they are taught, the Padawan braid is introduced, we get to see more variations on the Jedi robes, and we get to understand how backstage functions of the Order worked through the scenes we have with the High Council.

We also get an introduction to the pre-Empire Republic, the whole 'democracy' thing that has been a dream that the rebellion is fighting for throughout the original trilogy but we get to see it in action for the first time here! This is what they are fighting to restore and its...slow...its corrupt....it can be manipulated...its....not perfect?

But its THERE!

This is a glimpse of the world that the Rebellion was fighting to restore, and I am so normal about it.

Also the clothes are great :)

So yeah, OP is right about all the things, please rewatch TPM it's so fun, and pretty, and a glimpse at what the gffa was like before Palpatine took over.

I feel like The Phantom Menace is low on people's rewatch list. Lots of people love Revenge of the Sith and it's novelization and know it really well, but so often when I speak to people about TPM they don't remember it all that well and so much is filtered through years of fanfic. And the thing about fanfic is that being religiously adherent to canon is really quite rarely the point of fanfic, (which is good and proper). But I think it's a shame really, TPM is a very fun movie and lays so much of the groundwork. I definitely recommend it

[tpmlight]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soul_Connection4u (@soul_connection4u)

[phoenixyfriend]

Fake Sith TCW Trio

I have another fucked up time-travel AU! Who’s surprised? (Nobody.)

So like. Have you guys read that one fic where Luke and his students go back in time and pretend to be Sith Lords and are super hammy about it? (Sith Lord Swell by AMournfulHowlInTheNight)

This AU has contributions by @atagotiak, @the-lunar-system, @purronronner, @gelpenss, @creepingthroughthistidalwave, and @thisarenotarealblog.

I want TCW trio (plus Rex and Cody) to go back to several years pre-TPM and, since the Council DEFINITELY won't believe them about the Sith being back... they'll force the issue.

Anakin is weirdly excited about things and building up their backstory.

Anakin: Okay so I can definitely be a Maul type, with the unhinged ranting and manic laughter, Obi-Wan can be the whole Refined Rich Guy type like Dooku, where you can't even tell he's evil until he starts talking about getting out the eyeball scoops, maybe toss in a bit of mad science stuff? Ahsoka could play up like Ventress OR, oh oh, she can be the Light Side Child we need to PROTECT who's publicly begging us to return to the Light after our big dramatic Falls where we murdered like eighty people to save her, and-- Obi-Wan: Why are you never this enthusiastic about actual undercover missions. Ahsoka: Did you just have all this ready to go, or...? Anakin: WE COULD GET YELLOW CONTACT LENSES FOR ME.

Obi-Wan: How's my evil laugh?

Anakin going “Okay.. so if any of us need to murder someone to sell the bit it should be me, I think I could handle it the best. Why? No reason.”

Obi-Wan: I'm not sure a complete Fall could come from protecting Ahsoka, really-- Anakin: No, no, it could.

Obi-Wan: Surely you’d hold back because you realize neither of us want that for you. Anakin: Uh. Sure. Definitely.

Obi-Wan points out that none of them can channel the dark side to Prove they're Sith and Anakin just goes "Okay, give me like two seconds to stew in my negativity and--right, you can stop staring in horror, please."

Anakin rambles on that they can TOTALLY make the galaxy a better place while playing at being Sith! He's got a whole LIST of slave empires to "take over" and disassemble!

Anakin has a whole excited spiel about how EVIL soldiers and assistants are minions, in this case partly because Cody and Rex are too good at what they do to be mooks. Cody could pull off evil minion very well. Facial scar? Looks good in black? Quietly competent and sarcastic?

He also pushes for Obi-Wan to lounge in a fancy throne with a glass of wine while Anakin stalks the shadows and Ahsoka hangs out on the window ledge. The disaster lineage is dramatic, okay, Anakin’s just leaning into it, he’d appreciate it if everyone stopped looking at him like that.

Qui-Gon, surprisingly, ends up a skeptic about all of this. Everyone is freaking out about the Sith and he’s like “y’know I’m not even sure they’re darksiders.”

Some Jedi, possibly Qui-Gon for his conspiracy board, gets in a real risky situation and one of the Fake Sith saves them, but also panics and kinda drops character for a bit.

Jedi: You saved me! Why’d you do that? Anakin: I uh... just wanted the pleasure of killing you myself?

"You saved me. Why?" "Mmmm. Jedi." [walks away]

Qui-Gon: [trying to figure out what is up with these people semi-competently (from his perspective) pretending to be Sith] Dooku: [trying to protect Qui-Gon from Sith influence]

The gang is the most successful at pretending to be Sith to Dooku. Sure, they’re not gonna punish him for something he hasn’t done, but it’s not hard to act menacing and angry around him.

(They really do have so much fun irritating the heck out of Dooku. He hasn’t Fallen yet, but they want to keep an eye out.)

At some point, future Obi-Wan definitely drops that little tidbit of "What, you didn't think the Banites were the only Sith running around did you? You... didn't even know about the Banites. How... disappointing."

They REGULARLY use Ahsoka as an excuse to be marginally less terrible. They claim that if Ahsoka pouts, they stop. ‘Soka also uses them as an excuse for why she’s a lil feral. (To be fair, that one is accurate. She was already a lil feral before but it’s not like they did anything to stop it.) Ahsoka gets her "breaking into people's offices" jollies by bugging Nute Gunray's office.

The Jedi keep trying to Rescue Ahsoka.

Rex and Cody end up in real beskar, there's a whole Thing with Mandalore and Jango and Satine.

Obi-Wan is CONSISTENTLY worried about Anakin Falling for real, which... hey, at least he knows to be worried about Anakin Falling. Step up from canon, really.

Anakin is WAY too into killing the Hutts but like. It does... technically sell the bit.

Obi-Wan: Sure, I’m not sad that they’re dead, especially because we’re not connected to the Republic, so we don’t need to worry about starting a war and all that. But. Anakin is disturbingly cheerful about this. Rex: Wasn't he a Hutt slave? Obi-Wan: Well yes, but-- Rex: I'd kill Nala Se if I could get away with it.

Cody and Rex are very supportive of Anakin's murderous intentions.

Obi-Wan does understand anger, even killing someone in anger. Like Maul (the first time at least) and D’nar and a few others. All the same, like... y’know. The level of bloodthirst from the others is a little off-putting.

At one point, Anakin accidentally addresses young Obi-Wan by name, despite never having met before, and to cover it up, he... panic-flirts. He panics, and so he flirts, with young Obi-Wan.

(He will later blame this on old Obi-Wan, because he had to pick up the habit of flirting with the enemy from somewhere.)

Anakin vaguely implies that he's a wee bit obsessed with young Obi, and that the padawan should "get used to being the target of a dark-sider's interests," because he’s scrambling for Ominous Shit and, well, future Obi-Wan was pretty frequently a fixation point for darksiders, right?

The second he gets out, he just starts screaming into a bucket while Rex pats him on the back.

For the next however many terrible months, possibly years, he has to keep up the act while having an ongoing meltdown about how That's My Dad As A Twenty-Something.

(It doesn't help that young Obi-Wan reflexively flirted back.)

Old Obi-Wan, meanwhile, is just very "you dug this hole yourself, padawan."

There is an argument at the beginning about Obi-Wan’s outfit. If he’s gonna be a Sith, he can’t just go around in beige, but he’s like “I like this and it’s comfy.” Sure, he’s changed clothes for undercover stuff, but that’s always been temporary, y’know? He likes his beige.

We have a number of options.

My first instinct? Beige linen three piece suit, like a southern lawyer. "Now I may just be a simple Outer Rim force adept--"

And, of course, you can TOTALLY make the beige sinister: he’s impersonating a Jedi! Jedi impersonation would also explain why nobody has a red saber.

“Sure is good that the Jedi don’t seem to realize most of the galaxy doesn’t know red sabers are different and bad.” “Shhhh, stop poking holes in our story where a Jedi might overhear.”

Like.... if you do enough doublethink, it works! How would a Sith hide? In plain sight. Also, it’s a GREAT way (if they were actually assholes) to try to slander the Jedi name.

(Anakin and Ahsoka still think he could stand to put a little more effort in. Add a splash of color, for pity's sake!)

Though tbh part of me is like “What if Old Obi wore, like... a split skirt suit...” Victorian womenswear inspired because he misses his robes, but he has to look Professional, and like he's MOCKING Jedi instead of BEING one, so he wears a vintage-y split skirt thing over his leggings. Ends up looking a lot like what Ventress had for a while, but Beige. I also keep wanting to put him regency menswear.

Anyway. Obi-Wan’s wardrobe aside...

Anakin builds up his Tatoo accent again. It helps him with the (mostly true) "slavery helped me fall" backstory.

Either Cody or Rex offhandedly mentions being made to serve them (the Fake Sith) and now the Jedi are somewhat concerned about brainwashing. Are these Mandos the victims here?

“No like. Literally made for this. In a lab.” This is even more horrifying. So...

On the one hand good! The Jedi should be scared about Sith! On the other hand... it makes the Jedi more determined to stop them, specifically. They keep on getting in the way, just, all the time, and they’re not investigating the actual Sith problem, which is decidedly not great since the Team doesn’t actually know who’s a real Sith right now, except Maul, and who even knows where that guy is.

Obi-Wan, at some point: Do you think we've succeeded at this ruse... a little TOO well? Anakin: I don't follow. Obi-Wan, gesturing at the truly obnoxious amount of wealth they've collected, including "trophies" of their kills: Really? Because I'm a little worried! Anakin, planning out a battle to take on Nar Shadda: ...I'm not.

"How many people do we realistically we need to take over Hutt Space? Apparently... five."

(Mostly because Anakin is ridiculously op.)

ANAKIN AND YOUNG OBI GET KIDNAPPED BY PIRATES TOGETHER. It's tradition.

Anakin: Okay, so, I need to get really angry about something to pass as a Sith... time to think about my WIFE and how I'll NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.

Since Anakin’s life never goes as planned... this does not work. Instead of getting properly angry, he makes himself sad. There are tears. There is wailing. There’s a distraught rant or two. Young Obi ends up awkwardly trying to comfort him.

“Oh no, this… Sith?? Is crying on me. What do I do???”

Later on, when the Council wants intel: "So... one of the Sith cried on me about his wife. I think she's dead? He wasn't very clear about it but it, uh... it sounded like it might have contributed to his Fall. Also the relationship was a little unhealthy? He basically worshiped the ground she walked on and kept ranting about how he would have given her the galaxy on a platinum platter of she'd only asked, but that might be new and inspired by the Dark."

One of the random Jedi is REALLY good at detecting the truth Through The Force, and asks Anakin how he Fell...

Anakin just. Tells the Tuskens story.

They don't get pinged as lying, but oh boy does old Obi have a LOT of questions for Anakin once they're in private.

There are other things happening to help sell the ruse. Some of them are necessary! Some of them are... not.

Obi-Wan: What's the best way to show we're rich and kind of evil, but like... classy about it? Anakin, immediately: I sit on the floor next to the throne, leaning against it, and you call me pet names while stroking my hair, and then when you need something killed I get to do it for you and then I go back to the floor and you thank me for the directed violence, and then you go back to Negotiations with criminals while I’m sitting there covered in blood. Obi-Wan: ...is there something you want to TELL us, or...?

"You're all going to get a glimpse of something normally kept hidden about me." "Anakin, you don't have to do that." "No, I'm gonna."

(Anakin has decided hes going to peel his kink tomato to sell this ruse, and the others are slightly uncomfortable with that.)

Anakin: Okay, I cannot keep flirting with you. Young Obi: Wait, what? But that's the best part of any time we run into you! Anakin: You look WAY too much like my Master did when I met him. Obi: O...kay? If someone looked like my master when HE was young, I'd-- Anakin: My Sith Master half-raised me. He's basically my dad. Obi: ... Anakin: What's that look for? Obi: I mean, you spend a lot of time lounging at his feet, and, like, given how much you hate slavery, I... kind of assumed it was a kink thing? Anakin, brightly: Oh no, I just have a LOT of trauma. And neuroses. Snips says they’re neuroses.

Young Obi is a little upset because he was actually getting REALLY into Flirting With The Enemy and was hoping it would go somewhere. He mopes to Qui-Gon about it. Qui-Gon isn't sure whether to be proud about Obi breaking rules, or worried over Obi-Wan falling for a Fake Sith.

(As Tia put it: "You enjoy making young Obi-Wan have a completely unrequited crush on Anakin, don’t you?")

Fortunately, one of those attractive Young Mando boys very kindly helped him tape up his ribs this one time, and has thus caught his eye...

I feel like having Cody date Young Obi would court an entirely different kind of (internet) drama because clone ages, but whatever.

Also please imagine an element of "so I'm dating the genetic identical of my boss... who's dating the man I'm a genetic identical of..."

(It's probably not actually Jangobi but man would that be funny and also stupid.)

Somehow Young Obi figures out that the "Sith Master" is a future him before he realizes that they're not actually dark. In his defense, Anakin was pretty convincing. Especially with the wife rant. It makes HIM more obsessed with Anakin, in a reversal of the implied earlier dynamic, which is all kinds of weird. Less romantic but like. Still weird.

"Future Me Scares Me" with Extra stupid. "Future Me Annoys Me." "Future Me acts like grandmaster Dooku, but more sass." "Future Me raised a really hot evil guy that refuses to bang Present Me." "Future Me might be a Sith, but I'm getting more and more convinced he's just fucking with us all." "Future Me is really rocking that beard, and I can't BELIEVE we figured out a way around the babyface."

"I’m kinda concerned about the whole evil thing, but I’m also glad that I know I’ll stay hot as I get older."

Quinlan approves of the priorities.

Also a lot of interactions with older Obi are very Anakin: [does/says something deeply unhinged] Obi-Wan: So, do you want to…. Talk about that? Maybe? Anakin: What’s there to talk about?? I’m fine, everything’s fine! Anyways how about those plans for tracking down Maul?

Anakin later, like way after the ruse is lifted, just blankly tells everyone that he did Fall, once, and Older Obi made him get therapy about it after the truth came out between the two of them a few months into the Fake Sith thing.

Where'd they find a therapist? I'm sure there's one SOMEWHERE around. Denon and Herdessa are close enough, and they've done enough "your criminal empire now belongs to me" that they can pay well. They make sure to find one that takes confidentiality real seriously.

It's all very "we need some more time to unpack all that."

Therapy helps get Anakin to figure out Sheev’s whole deal. They don't necessarily figure out he’s a Sith from it, but they figure out he’s sketchy and they need to look into that more. Obi-Wan probably already thought he was sketchy, but the whole active gaslighting campaign was a little surprising. They realize that he kinda benefited a lot from a lot of Sith plots and they still probably don’t think he’s a Sith but Obi-Wan is definitely starting to think he’s working with one.

"Okay, we're already bugging Gunray, should we bug Palpatine just to be safe?"

They get away with a lot of slicing because Anakin is a technical genius from twenty years in the future.

The reasons they're so good at Taking Over Hutt Space: 1. They know parts of the future. 2. They have superpowers and FAR less reason to not use them, now that their actions aren't going to reflect on the Republic. 3. They have Cody and Rex, who are two of the greatest military minds in the galaxy, and know EXACTLY how to wage a war that covers a solid third of the galaxy, starting from a position of relative weakness. 4. Anakin's charisma is scary high, and his knowledge of slave culture means they gain a lot of trust from the people they free, and they just... keep acquiring volunteers for the army they didn't plan to have. Obi-Wan doesn't know what to do. He thinks they might have started a cult?

In his defense, Dooku sort of started a cult, and Komari got kidnapped by a cult, brainwashed into joining it properly, and then took it over as head figure of said cult. It's practically tradition!

Comics Vader is the central figure of like three different cults, it was really just inevitable.

Anakin: Aw, don't worry master, it's not a cult, it's a revolution! Ahsoka: They're worshiping him, though. Anakin: ...it's still a revolution! Just... with some misunderstandings.

Also, if they got wind of people trying to keep people from being able to leave and other culty stuff like that, they’d probably put a stop to it pretty damn quick.

Names! Time for names. As per usual, it's easiest to keep track of Obi-Wan's alternate Older Self by just calling him Ben.

Darth Ben.

Ahsoka: You should be Darth Boring. Obi-Wan: I can still make you run laps, you know.

Anakin: The Force is telling me to call myself Darth Vader. Obi-Wan: ...why? Anakin: I dunno, but it sounds cool, I'll run with it.

Someone: Ben has all the answers; we shouldn’t question him, ever. Ben: One time I lost a planet, and a five-year-old found it for me.

More options: Going with the "evil word with the prefix 'in' chopped off" that we get with Sidious and Vader: Darth Surrectus (as in insurrection) Just random Latin words: Darth Temporus (time) Darth Commenticius (fake)

Anyway, back to Nonsense:

Maul goes after young Obi early, because the Fake Sith are really invested in this one random Padawan (Sidious is saying he might be a cousin of the false Sith Master? They do look similar enough) so someone needs to investigate. Naturally, Anakin shows up with some wild screeching to fight Maul, and when someone questions why he got involved it gets very "Kenobi is MINE!" and like. Okay. So.

Anakin means it in a very Sith "to toy with" and "to torture" way, or the ‘my chosen opponent!’ way, just the same kind of Obsession as Maul had with Obi-Wan in the original timeline. Unfortunately, Anakin’s a weird-ass person who flirts with Young Obi against his own better judgement, so there's some awkward "Like... your boyfriend?" from young Obi. Anakin just screeches in SOME emotion that nobody wants to interpret, and couldn't even if they wanted to, and starts whacking away at Maul again.

(Anakin hasn't explained the "you look exactly like my dad, sorry, it's just too weird" thing yet, and he is HAVING MANY REGRETS.)

There's definitely at least one instance where a person asks Anakin if he's planning on dating That One Jedi Twink, or at least banging out the tension. At that point in time, Anakin doesn't actually know who the fuck they're talking about, because "Obi-Wan + Twink = Does Not Compute" for dear, dense Ani, and instead he just ends up ranting about how he is LOYAL TO THE MEMORY OF HIS LATE WIFE, how DARE anyone so much as INSINUATE that he would TARNISH HER PERFECT MEMORY and UNWAVERING KINDNESS and WHOLESOME BEING, and the person who asked doesn't end up lightsabered but they do end up with a LOT to tell whoever they're reporting to.

Young Obi-Wan definitely hears Anakin mutter the phrase “something to discuss with my therapist later” a few times, and he’s a little bewildered because darksiders definitely don’t seem like the type of people to go to therapy. They’re the type of people to need therapy, sure, but not the type to go to therapy.

I think it would be very fun for Young Obi to continue sighing over Anakin (who's pretending to be fine with it and even flirting back because he's in too deep to stop and hasn't worked up the courage to explain the elephant in the room) while Anakin is covered in grease and infodumping while having a slightly manic hyperfocus on engine repairs while the two of them Somehow got stranded together in the middle of bumfuck nowhere (it's Plagueis's doing, he finds the interactions between THESE two in particular to be the most informative regarding the fake Sith).

Anakin, at some point while stranded with young Obi-Wan, and having actually started unpacking some stuff in therapy, though he’s def still got a ways to go: I’m pretty sure Ben cares about me. He acts like he cares, like he’ll do stuff like put extra blankets in my quarters in the spaceship because I get cold real easily or track down those droid parts I need for a project and he always has my back in a fight but y’know it’d be nice to hear him say he loves me once in a while. Especially because we kinda had a rough start and idk I don’t think he wanted me around at first.

And uh. Obi-Wan definitely relates to that a bit too much, y’know?

I want to say that Young Obi ends up mentioning All That to one of the clones or Ahsoka later, because they seem probably invested in Anakin's well-being, even if Ben is, well, a Sith, so Obi-Wan's a little worried the man's affection really is fake, but at least Ahsoka...

(Ironic, given what Anakin's actual eventual Sith would-be-Master was like.)

Young Obi mentions Anakin’s most recent rant to Ahsoka, and she just goes "Wait, is that why Skyguy likes to sit by the throne and get called pet names?" "Uh... I don't... know... but it sounds like all of you have a LOT to unpack there, Miss Apprentice."

Later on: "Master Kenobi, you need to tell Skyguy you love him 'cause apparently he's been having a lot of emotions about you not telling him you care and he's been talking to mini-you about it whenever they get stuck together and--"

Young Obi-Wan is just constantly the "Now we don't have time to unpack all of that" John Mulaney gif. Anakin in particular is a mess, and young Obi-Wan slowly goes from "I want to date that" to "I want to study that" about him.

Obi-Wan gets stuck somewhere with Ben, tries to small talk, gets on the topic of Vader, and spills the drama. He gets an awkward “Thank you for bringing that to my attention.”

It’s followed by a fairly frustrated “I try, but Anakin refuses to communicate his needs to me, and it feels like I’m always falling short.”

At least one member of the group is in therapy, probably all of them, but they’re still using young Obi as a sounding board for all this stuff. On the bright side, this is probably good for impressing the importance of good communication on Obi-Wan.

Good for Obi-Wan! And... whatever Padawan he eventually has.

As for baby Anakin, who is approximately age four, I want to go with "Anakin decides to be his own uncle, and Shmi just rolls with it because fuck it, she’s not a slave anymore, and a Fake Sith is a solid defense against anyone trying to re-enslave them."

[This is a backstory I've had them use before (see here and here).]

Seeing Big Ani and Little Ani in the same space might be what finally pings the "oh shit, that's future me" thing for Obi-Wan... you know, if he’s ever allowed close enough to see Little Ani in the first place.

Little Ani stays with the fake-Sith and is sorta jointly trained by all of them, and young Obi-Wan teaches little 'Soka at the Temple. Ani and 'Soka still end up friends somehow, but it is fairly different.

Every time little Ani addresses Old Obi as "Dad," it's just like ten kinds of awkward. The one time someone tried to explain that Ben wasn't his new dad, Shmi glared them down. She is of the opinion that, all the gods be damned, Ani deserves to refer to the most mature man in his life, who raised another him in another timeline already, as a father.

Ani doesn't NEED a father, Shmi herself is more than enough, but he does deserve to have this if he wants it.

An alternative conclusion to the time travel is uh. So the Mandalorians are genetically identical (give or take a hair gene) and really resemble Jango Fett, though whether anyone notices that is up in the air. Then the three ‘Sith’ (two fake Sith and their morality chain tag-along) have three younger, identical copies show up….

It could be really weird cloning shenanigans. Now, it makes no sense that they’d make clones, and stagger their production like that, and leave them as babies on various planets for Jedi to find. IDK what reasons Obi-Wan would come up with for that, but it’s a fun little detour before he gets to time travel.

There's a really painful moment (for the audience, who know about canon Vader) where someone tries to convince Ahsoka to leave the Sith and she's just like "no way, they'd never hurt me!” Then she clarifies that “someone has to keep them from doing stupid Sith shit whenever they get bored, you know?"

A bunch of Jedi probably think she’s delusional, but the few that have seen her get into trouble that is legitimately too much for her, which isn't often, have then seen Anakin show up like the devil himself to save her, and it's like. Oh. This is why she isn't scared of them hurting her.

We’ve discussed how Anakin does get concerningly in character with the fake Sith thing. However, Anakin and Ahsoka are, just once in a while, surprised by how Ben gets sometimes when playing the bad guy.

After all, he stabbed a dude with a fork and threatened to eat him during his time as Hardeen…

He has the same dramatic streak as all the rest of the lineage. He can be vindictive and creepy and scary as fuck.

HOWEVER:

Obi-Wan: I know I'm supposed to be playing at evil right now, but how do we feel about me making that evil a little... fruity? Ahsoka: Fruity, master? Anakin, who knows where this is going: [buries face in hands] Obi-Wan: You know, the... [limp wrist] Ahsoka: ... Obi-Wan: I mean, I'm already bisexual and well-groomed, I can play it up.

What’s the point of being evil if you can’t be flamboyant?

Anyway, I had to put in a lot of thought for what to do with Rex and Cody, because there's a solid place for them in terms of strategy, but it doesn't do much to give them independent narrative arcs, and 'young Obi-Wan has a crush' isn't much of an arc, you know?

So, basic info first: Cody, Rex, and Anakin all hold the rank of General in this AU because, like... who else is gonna. Ahsoka remains a commander because everyone declares her Baby, and also to keep up the "I'm a morality chain" ruse.

Cody maintains a very stern and unyielding public persona, but the second they're behind closed doors, he's roughhousing with his little brother.

Rex has some fun pretending to be a sadist whenever he and Anakin have to team up, because hamming it up as an evil bastard in front of Jedi is actually really fun... but usually, he's a competent fucking professional.

Because here's the thing: someone has to be.

They both kind of hate the army they've gotten, because these people don't even have proper trigger discipline, let alone any actual discipline.

This army? Tragic. They hate it. Give them the clones.

They have to be drill sergeants for months before they have anything worth sending onto the field.

I think that might be how/when they end up reaching out to Jango. Like, the first inroad is absolutely "we're your clones from the future and you were a Shit Dad so you owe us," but then they actually talk him around into letting the Fake Sith hire him. He brings along all the Mandalorians he can get to answer his calls, and on suggestion from Those Mando Twins, joins the army Ben doesn't even want.

Darth Boring doesn't want an army! Unfortunately, Cody thinks that's stupid as hell, and is overruling Ben so they can actually work on this 'cleaning up the galaxy of slavery' thing with actual resources.

Cody and Rex are super competent, and it shows in their horrified disdain for the state of their troops.

Rex: Fucking natborns. Anyone who isn't in the know: What's a natborn? Rex: [leaves without answering] People: WHAT'S A NATBORN???

(I'm assuming that the word smush is harder to parse in Basic.)

I think young Obi-Wan's new crush on Cody should also be unrequited. Cody's just like... bemused. Very "Okay, then, that sure is an Affection you've decided on."

Cody and Anakin both: Sorry, it’d just be too weird. Obi-Wan: Why would it be too weird? Cody and Anakin: Reasons.

Rex has to deal with the "whyyyyy" from both his brother and his (former?) General.

Young Obi-Wan just likes cute boys that fight good! Is that so wrong???

Ahsoka: So since we're not officially Jedi anymore-- Obi-Wan: We're still Je-- Ahsoka: Can we date? Can I date now? I want to date someone before we go back to the Code. It's a classic life experience for most teenage girls, and I want to Have That Experience before we're back at the Temple. Obi-Wan: You're not... you can date, Ahsoka, that's not actually banned by the Code. I mean, you'd have to keep it casual, but-- Ahsoka: I CAN DATE!!!

(Great priorities, Ahsoka.)

An idea I'm toying with is that one of the clones ends up Legally Engaged to Satine for political reasons, and young Obi-Wan is just like ???? because not only can he not date the hot boys, but one of said hot boys has become Mr. Steal Yo Girl.

Young Obi-Wan is suffering, and Quinlan is the worst friend ever because Quinlan is laughing at him.

There is obviously the question of

"How would Satine ever end up agreeing to that, given what their public personas are like and all that? She puts duty ahead of personal feelings but all indications are that it’s a terrible decision both ways." (as stated by Tia)

Which, yes, I forgot to actually say that I was imagining Jango had declared "those twins" his heirs after telling people they were his younger* cousins. Because reasons.

* Jango is about 27 when they land in the past, and I’m going to say the accelerated aging ended after hitting physically twenty because no, I don’t want to deal with that. As far as anyone knows, Cody and Rex are about five years younger than Jango. They’re less than year apart, which isn’t very visible, and most people assume they’re identical twins (except Rex’s hair), and that Cody just looks slightly older because of the scar.

Darth Boring had convinced Satine that the way to keeping Mandalore peaceful was to work with Jango (because Darth Boring, which is not his actual title but it is what Ahsoka insists on calling him in private, has a vested interest in keeping Mandalore and all interested parties calm), and he... maybe accidentally set up a political marriage between her and one of the clones.

It wasn't on purpose! Satine never married in his timeline, okay, he didn't expect her to ever get married here, either! He didn't even suggest it! This just happened!

(I want to say that Cody would be more competent at having a political marriage? But IDK.)

Do I do the Satine thing? It has potential, but also it's a bit of a cop-out. Do I have Cody be a diplomatic representative for their pseudo-Sith empire? He could be, but I think he'd hate it. Do I have Rex date one the Chaos Entities (Anakin or Ahsoka), or is that too repetitive with my other works? THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH GOING ON.

Part of me wants Quinlan to get a crush on Cody, and the crush gets bigger specifically in response to the fact that Cody refuses to take him seriously and/or just doesn't give him the time of day.

Based on their one interaction in TCW, they probably let get along ok. Cody maybe likes him back, buuuuuuut internally he's just a little "you were tolerable at almost-forty; early twenties you is obnoxious."

Just imagine the absolutely puppyish attempts at gaining approval and Impressing The Hot Mando General. Quinlan keeps having vague daydreams of seducing someone to the side of the Light. He really leans into the bodice ripper fantasies of saving someone evil with the power of love! (And also the power of really good sex.)

Bant looks at Quin and Obi and wants to throw them both into the nearest pond because they're idiots, but on this topic they are the same flavor of idiot. She considers calling up Reeft and Garen to help her knock some sense into them.

Quinlan: Can I volunteer to go undercover to the Sith? The Council: No. Quinlan: ...what if I-- The Council: No.

Tholme tries to get Qui-Gon to commiserate over their Padawans getting obsessed with Hot Sith Boys, but Qui-Gon just finds the whole thing funny. He knows from the chats he has with Ben that Anakin feels so completely, utterly, incredibly awkward about all of this.

(Ben continues to hold to "Anakin brought this on himself.")

(Ben also “kidnaps” Qui-Gon a lot.)

Also, hey, at least Quinlan isn’t actually into hot Sith boys! He’s into hot Sith minions which is... probably a step up. At least Cody’s not a Sith himself!

It's a step in some direction but Tholme has no idea which one.

(Quinlan sees Cody in dress uniform once and just keeps the mental image for Ages. It’s in his dreams. Sometimes said dreams overflow to Tholme via Force Mind Magic and Quinlan wakes up to someone smacking his face with a pillow.)

Arguably, Quin's also a lot more romantic about his crush than Obi-Wan is, in this case. Quinlan: I want to save him... Obi-Wan: Hey, hey, cute boy. Look at me. Let’s bang.

Cody: There are currently two future Jedi generals having some form of absurd romantic fixation in my direction. I don't know how to feel about this. Rex: Bed them. Cody: ...I'm not saying that's not eventually an option, but one of them is the younger Kenobi, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Rex: Pat him on the head like a tooka and then bed his friend, it'll be funny.

I think the Quinlan thing and also general exasperation of leading an absolutely useless army can function pretty solidly as the basis for Cody, but I have another idea for Rex now.

Komari is currently brainwashed in a cult, yes? So.

I keep bouncing around back and forth on what to do with Rex, but part of me suddenly really likes the idea of, after Team Fake Sith finds and dissolves the cult (as one does), and takes Komari into custody (because she's dangerous and deeply unwell), Rex kind of ends up her touchstone to being a decent person. He’s not a morality chain, and it’s not really a redeemed-through-love thing, just This Is A Solid Dude who doesn't pity her or thinks she's irredeemable (however you choose to define such a thing), but actually relates to the kind of conditions living like that can involve, and just kind of...

I don’t know. I think Rex's arc in this AU could be very heavily grounded in something to the effect of "You're not the worst darksider I've met. You're not the only person who was in a cult. You're not even the only former Jedi I know that's committed awful, horrible crimes. My question is just this: What are you going to do moving forward?"

Later Anakin: Wait, who do we know that was in a cult? Rex: What did you think Kamino was?

(Rex isn't as chill as he'd like her to think, but he's trying, and she's fairly reliant on the Force to understand emotions, and is currently in nullifying cuffs, so he can bluff.)

Komari needs someone solid and dependable to rely on for at least conversation, and I think Rex needs to feel needed.

I’m not sure if it’d be romance or friendship, but I think there's a solid basis to work with, potentially.

Per Tia:

One thing about Rex and shipping is like. If you want to do Rexwalker again that's fine, but if you're worried about repetitiveness but still want to like. Ship him in a non-political-convenience way. Rexsoka here actually would be different than your other stuff.

I'm trying to figure out if I can make it work because Ahsoka thematically fits very much into a little sister shaped hole here? She feels younger than in other works, despite not actually being younger than she is in, say, Commander Buir. In those other fics, she has some time alone to function and prove herself independently of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

I usually pluck Ahsoka out at sixteen if I'm pulling her from TCW, so she's got most of her competence but hasn't gotten quite all the trauma yet. Commander Buir, in particular, also has baby-shaped Anakin for contrast.

That said, I can see a decent source of narrative conflict in her wanting to experiment with romance and all that, and Anakin trying to tell her she's too young.

A year into this whole time-travel mess, she wants to give the dating thing a shot, and it spirals into "You were only two years older than me when you got married!"

I think I could build a plot out of Ahsoka wanting to do these things, and Anakin as an audience insert not quite processing that she's old enough to make these decisions. If she's choosing to date Rex, whose age works out as being close to hers when one takes into account Kamino fuckery, and whom she trusts absolutely, it’s arguably extra weird for Anakin to be upset with it.

"Senator Amidala was five years older than you, and you married her when you were nineteen and had only really known her for a week! I can go on a date with a guy we both know is one of the most trustworthy people alive if I want, Skyguy!"

I can definitely see Ahsoka getting annoyed with Anakin being overbearing and controlling at some point before that unrelated to romance, too. It’s not exactly a new fault of his.

My god, just imagine someone snidely asking Anakin "where's your little shadow?" and Anakin, being Himself and also a Fake Sith, has an emotional breakdown about how Ahsoka yelled at him for micromanaging her and not trusting her to make her own decisions in life and so she got herself a multi-month solo mission from Ben that Anakin isn't allowed to know any details about, and--

It's another one of those "oh, you have PROBLEMS problems with your mental health" incidents for the Jedi to add to the file, because Anakin having emotionally charged rants about his issues at seemingly terrible times is how they get a lot of information.

Some of the rants are planned.

Many of them, actually.

They want the Jedi to know these things.

Just, well. Anakin.

He really is a little Like That.

On that note, I'm low-key imagining that Anakin gets put on mood stabilizers by the therapist in this context, and he's doing good! He's handling his issues! He's--been captured with Obi-Wan the Younger again and his medication was confiscated.

Anakin is... not great. He's a little out of practice managing his unmedicated self, and when adding withdrawal symptoms onto that... poor Anakin.

(Poor Obi-Wan.)

I think it would be best if Anakin makes a bunch of ominous blustery comments at their captors about how they won't like what's coming to them if they take his belongings (AKA the fanny pack that has his backup pills), and then Obi-Wan just gets to watch Anakin get more and more erratic, because like. Yes, Anakin is using the Force to compensate, but unfortunately he's mostly cut off, and the stress of the situation is pushing him away from depression and into the beginnings of a manic episode.

Anakin is aware of his issues to the point where he's mostly managing, and he keeps asking Obi-Wan "would it make sense for me to [slightly deranged, very impulsive action]," and Obi-Wan realizes he's being the morality sounding board for the Hot Sith because ??? reasons?????

Eventually, Anakin does flop back in bed and dramatically throws his arm over his eyes, and says he needs his meds back, he's absolutely going to lose it, and Obi-Wan tentatively asks what kind of medication. There are levels to worry about. Mild allergy medication is one thing, but heart medication that needs to be taken every four hours is another, you know? He wants to know how much panic is appropriate.

Anakin lets him know that it's Psychiatric In Nature. Obi-Wan suddenly realizes that he really, really, really doesn't want to know what a properly erratic, unmedicated Anakin is like.

(An unmedicated Anakin really isn't nearly as bad as Obi-Wan fears. Anakin's been dealing with this for a while, and knows what his issues are and some of how to deal with them. He'd need to be running on no sleep and higher levels of stress, or to have been drugged with something meant to increase his aggression, to really lose his shit and do something worthy of Vader. RotS levels of stress and sleep deprivation is required to pull RotS levels of manic paranoid delusion.)

Tia asked:

How long does it take the Jedi in general to catch on to how like. They have opportunities. But these Sith never seem to harm any Jedi. And it’s not just like, the past timeline parts of the disaster lineage. They probably get opportunities to hurt other Jedi. Ones that are less skilled at saber work. And more importantly ones that they don’t seem weirdly interested in."

I'm not sure, really. The Jedi don't spend as much time in the Outer Rim as they could, and that's where the Team operates, so actually running into them by accident is unlikely for anyone other than Shadows.

Fortunately, it's really easy to toy with Shadows with the excuse of "I want to see how long it takes before you Fall with us."

I do want like... okay. Here’s the mental image:

Qui-Gon calls them out on being Fake Sith pretty quickly, so Ben just sort of eyes him, dramatically, and orders out "Leave us" to all non-team people. The threat of torture is implied but not stated. He gestures with wine to keep in character. He definitely makes sure Young Obi-Wan is ushered out, so it's just five time travelers, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Ahsoka's immortal force birb.

"...so, what's the reason for the farce, Obi-Wan?" "How in all the hells did you figure it out so quickly?"

(Qui-Gon cheated a bit. He could feel the broken training bond that was never properly severed due to Traumatic Death Of A Master on Ben's end)

Ben didn't realize he'd feel it! Young Obi-Wan can't feel his older self or a training bond with Anakin or Ahsoka, so why could Qui-Gon?

IDK if there would be anything on the level of crying and hugging it out, but I think it would be very funny if, every time young Obi and Anakin are getting captured by pirates or something, Ben and Qui-Gon are just having a nice afternoon tea and checking their watches to see if their respective walking bundles of neuroses are done with their adventure yet.

The Council is So Done, because Qui-Gon continues to insist that they're Not That Bad, but every time anyone other than Qui-Gon brings up the friendship, Ben laughs and makes a comment about how absolutely gullible Master Jinn is.

Obi-Wan is skeptical of his own experiences with Anakin, at least, if only because he's skeptical about Anakin's everything.

"I don't know if Vader is telling me the truth. I don't know if he's telling himself the truth. I don't think he's a great source of information even when he thinks he's being honest."

Anakin could tell Obi-Wan the full and complete truth, and Obi-Wan would worriedly put a hand to his forehead and start doing tests for hallucinations and paranoid delusions. In his defense, this is a very reasonable assumption to make with an individual like Anakin. It's just also not accurate, this time. I don’t know if Anakin hallucinates in canon without a weird inciting incident like Force Nonsense or getting drugged by the enemy, but paranoid delusion is pretty much all of RotS.

"I’m your time-traveling padawan who’s pretending to be a Sith to catch some other Sith who’re going to start a galactic civil war and those Mandalorians you like are from a clone army based on a template of Jango Fett made to serve the Jedi (because that’s totally something he’d sign up for), and one of the Sith is your grandmaster but he doesn’t seem to have fallen yet, it’s probably fine," is hard to believe.

Honestly, even if he seemed stable before saying that, which he doesn’t, it’s all real far fetched. There's a lot going on and Obi-Wan wouldn't even begin to believe it without evidence.

I've had it in my head that he and Bant and Quinlan have been gossiping about the mess for months if not years about these idiots, and at one point it became common knowledge that Ben was a Kenobi, and Bant convinced them (since the two were among the most likely in the entire Order to encounter the Fake Sith) to get a DNA sample, probably hair or blood since that's easiest so they can figure out HOW these two are related, if they are, and then there's a whole big thing.

Bant: No, no, this must be contaminated, it's coming up as Obi-Wan! Are you sure you didn't accidentally grab some of your own hairs? I know it's a little long for most of your hair, but the braid-- Quinlan: Wait, they keep claiming stuff about cloning, right? Maybe someone's a clone? Check for artificial telomeres! Bant: ...okay, so, there aren't any artificial telomeres, but the ones from apparently-Ben are... a lot shorter... um... I don't know what to do with this. It's like I have two samples from the same person, twenty years apart. Quinlan: Obi-Wan, what's that face? Why are you-- Obi-Wan: Vader told me he was a time-traveler. I thought it was the fever talking, but...

That’s how he finds out that Ben is future-him before finding out about how he’s not evil!

"Master Jinn... I think... I think the Sith controlling the Outer Rim is me from the future." "Oh, you finally figured it out?" "I AM HAVING A CRISIS HERE."

Obi-Wan, after a few hours of dazed realization, runs screaming to Quinlan and Bant like 'GUYS GUYS THIS EXPLAINS WHY VADER KEPT SAYING IT WAS WEIRD AND THAT I LOOK LIKE HIS MASTER AND THAT IT WOULD BE LIKE DATING HIS DAD.'

You know, the important stuff.

I think Qui-Gon tells him that Ben isn't evil because, like, That Sure Is A Crisis Obi-Wan's Having. He could hold off for shits and giggles, sure, but Obi-Wan’s on the edge of something Really Concerning, mentally. Best help calm him down on at least one or two things.

Obi-Wan’s maybe still a little skeptical until he confronts them over it. Because their Sith act was real good and also like. Maybe Qui-Gon just wants to believe the best of his Padawan, y’know?

Quinlan runs into Ben before Obi-Wan does, after this whole mess, and gets to observe as money changes hands and people act like sore winners about bets made for When Does Obi-Wan Figure It Out.

Anakin was saying 'soon' because he really didn't think the fever-fueled rant would be discounted as easily as it was.

Cody was of the opinion that it would take at least a few more years since they're actually pretty damn good at this whole schtick.

Quinlan: Wow, he's... going to be really disappointed that you have such a low opinion of his intelligence. Cody, gesturing at Ben: Experience. Darth Ben: ಠ_ಠ

Cody just rattles off some of the Extremely Stupid Shit that Ben's done in their time working together.

Rex cheerily offers up "You didn't even realize General Skywalker was married, sir! And they weren't subtle!" "I knew they were together, I just didn--" "Everyone knew they were together, sir. Everyone."

(Rex had the lowest opinion of their deductive capabilities. He claims it would have taken until Baby Ahsoka showed up at the Jedi Temple.)

-Once Obi-Wan accepts that they're decent people after all- Obi-Wan: Wow, Anakin, you're real good at acting unhinged! Anakin: Haha. Yeah. Thanks?

[cinematicsstuff]

[Amazing Obikin art by @dtrvdtrv on Tumblr]

When I started watching Star Wars, Obikin as a romantic couple didn't cross my mind. Maybe, as when watching the latest gossip about Hollywood couples, I didn't dig any further than the canon version.

Today, with hindsight, I understand we can interpret their relationship differently. Its fanbase is also so fun to read and inspiring that I can only end up adhering to the idea.💞

~

Is it, as many people say, a problematic ship ?

At the risk of sounding strange, for me, not really.

Why?

1. Obikin is not incestuous.

Obiwan and Anakin aren't brothers. They don't share the same blood, and Obiwan has never adopted Anakin.

They are LIKE brothers.

The difference seems small to you, but it's fundamental. Two people can describe themselves as "brothers" because they're very close without wanting, for various reasons, to be labelled as friends, or lovers.

2. Their age cap isn't a problem.

I haven't seen anyone shipping Obikin with Anakin as a kid. It's obvious the version that is shipped is beginning from Attacks of the Clones.

[Same for Anakin and Padme, no one ships Padme with TPM's version of Anakin. I will write on Anidala very soon because I also love them.]

More, I've never been bothered by couples with big age gap. As long as the two lovers are adults, I don't see where the problem is.

Rather than the age, people should rather focus on the atmosphere surrounding a pair : are they happy together... or not ? Do one bring something positive to the other... or not ?

~

Don't get me wrong, I understand you may think it's groundless to see something more than a fraternal or platonic relationship between these two characters. Everyone is free to interpret their bond as they wish.

I'm just quite perplexed by those who attack this fictional ship because it would be "dangerous" or "problematic".

Because it's not.

[demon----dean]

Febuwhump 2022 masterlist

It is done! I can’t believe it. 28 prompts filled.

Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi stories Rated G and T

The best laid plans

Rolereversal AU -- Padawan!Obi-Wan is Anakin’s student. While they are out on a mission his master gets captured and Obi-Wan is supposed to return to the Jedi temple to get reinforcements, but decides to stay and help instead.

Trial on Ilum

Caves of Ilum show young padawan Anakin his potential future as Darth Vader. He fights the vision but it drains his energy, leaving him unconcious and helpless in the cold.

Carry you home

Zyggerian queen dies before she can tell Anakin where Obi-Wan is being held so it takes him much longer to find and rescue him.

Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi (Obikin) stories rated M

The helping hand of a Sith

Anakin was raised as Qui-Gon’s padawan and runs into sith!Obi-Wan during the Clone wars.

Alarm for Anakin Himmelreisender

Modern AU inspired by waaay too much Long Way series Ewan and a German cop drama Alarm für Cobra 11.

From the darkness comes a dragon

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat I tried to find the sound But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness, So darkness I became

Self-preservation? That kriffin idiot has none

During the Clone wars Obi-Wan has a run-in with Maul and returns heavily beaten.

The Jedi and the tabby

In this AU Anakin and his mother were sold before TPM and therefore never met Qui-Gon so Obi-Wan is all alone after his master is killed. Sent on a rescue mission in a mad scientist laboratory, knight Kenobi meets a boy who has been given feline DNA.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Another Long Way inspired motorcycle au you say? While yes. This one of two best friends (with benefits) who go on a round the world ride. Unlucky for them, when they are as far away from civilisation as possible Obi-Wan gets injured and Anakin has to patch him up.

Eternity awaits

Ben Kenobi married Anakin Skywalker, the love of his life, and became Ben Skywalker. When his husband dies unexpectedly Ben is not sure he can survive the grief.

A pain that won't leave

After the first battle of Genosis, Anakin is struggling to adjust to his new life with a prosthetic limb and a pain that won't leave.

Out of luck

Obi-Wan just wanted to have a relaxed evening of drinking and dancing. When a stranger manages to spike his drink things quickly turn sour for him.

Waiting for tomorrow

In a battle above Umbara Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi has the chanche to kill the dark monster known as Darth Vader, but instead decides to show him mercy.

In this AU, being raised as a sith, Anakin is fighting on the side of the separatists during the Clone Wars.

Impossible crossroads

Obi-Wan is due to leave for Utapau, but he is doubting leaving Anakin alone on Coruscant. The council has made up their minds and forbids him to delay any longer.

Chains not yet broken

Jedi padawan Anakin is captured by a sith.

What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger

He turned away in disgust and swallowed.

General Kenobi.

What a joke. What a cruel joke. His men looked up to him, he was supposed to lead them. But if the only place he was leading them was to their senseless death then how could he deserve their respect and loyalty?

Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi (Obikin) stories rated E

Broken and discarded

Obi-Wan goes to take out his trash but runs into a kid obviously in trouble.

Into The Void

Dead Dove: Do Not Eat Mustafar goes differently, with Obi-Wan deciding to save Anakin instead of leaving him to die.

And the hate you've seen would become your tomb

Anakin is suffering a delirium.

@febuwhump​ Thank you so much for hosting this! It was a challenge and a lot of fun. (And maybe some tears and late night breakdowns but who remembers them. ;))

[helbertinelli]

PadMay Day Seventeen: Friendship

Many things will change when we reach the capital, Ani, but my caring for you will remain.

What I love the most about Padme’s relationship with Anakin is that they started out as friends. In TPM, Anakin was probably Padme’s only friend. Of course, she had the handmaidens and other people who were hired to serve her, but Anakin was her only friend who wasn’t hired to be with her. The two of them instantly connected and Anakin showed Padme, both in TPM and AOTC, that she can let go and have fun. And Padme was always supportive of Anakin and she always cared for him.

I think in TPM, she’s the only one concerned about Anakin’s well-being and doesn’t really want him to do the race. Then in AOTC, she supports him when he needs to go back to Tatooine. They understand each other really well and they always cared about one another even before developing romantic feelings for each other (well in Padme’s case, because for Anakin it was love at first sight). And most importantly, when they’re together, they let go of the politician persona and the Jedi persona and they’re just Padme ad Anakin and they can let their walls down.

They have a really beautiful friendship and because of how strong their friendship is, their feelings develop into something more and they become a couple.

Here’s a few moments with them that I think are really cute:

TPM:

Anakin asks Padme if she wants to see the droid he’s building and Padme says yes and then he takes her hand and takes her to C-3PO and you can see Padme smiling as she follows him.

There’s a moment in Queen Amidala’s Episode I Journal when Padme feels the japor snippet on her skin when she’s talking to the Gungans and that inspires her to reveal she is the Queen.

The scene at the end when they all celebrate and Padme looks over at Anakin and then he gives her this half-smirk and Padme smiles. To be honest, everytime Padme smiles in SW, it’s because of Anakin. It’s very sweet.

AOTC:

In the novelization, when put together a plan to bait the assassin sent after Padme.

When they frolic around in the meadow on Naboo and Anakin is riding the shaak and Padme smiles and laughs at how goofy Anakin is. Then after he falls off, he and Padme roll around in the grass, laughing.

During the dinner (in the novelization), Anakin keeps messing with Padme’s food and makes her laugh about it. Also him telling her about “aggressive negotiations“ which she finds hilarious. And then later on on Geonosis, when Padme says makes a mention to aggressive negotiations and she makes Anakin laugh.

There’s a lot more that I could be listing, but anyway, I think Anakin gets overlooked as her friend (and Padme as his) because their relationship becomes romantic pretty soon after they meet again.

Anakin is Padme’s closest friend and she is his closest friend and they both bring out the best in each other and they allow each other to be carefree when they’re together, even before they become a couple. I love how they became instant friends in TPM and then when they meet again in AOTC, their friendship is still there even if they haven’t seen each other for ten years.

[tpmt4tpm]

Not everyone. Not this socioeconomic geopolitical news nerd or #ThomHartmann @FreeSpeech.org. We know/knew about that.

But but but What Is Mind/Mine to do⁉️ #orderfollower #bystander #differencemaker Who knows⁉️ Who knew⁉️ #nonsensicaltpm Thankfully, best made plans of mice & men go awry. ✌🏾 #lovehavemercy ... We shall 👀 huh 🤔 To be continued. Absurd #hilariousnesstpm. #funnynotfunny

Realist realest reality show I know. The USA for all intent & purposes, the largest corporation in the world, aka corporate plantation. It’s an illusion surrounded by & within an illusion #asiseeit. The Democracy Experiment. #democracygame creating #amoreperfectunion with liberty & justice for all. Obviously, a work in progress. #trusttheprocess

Where do we go from here⁉️ It’s your our future #GenXYZ. 🗽

#peaceoneday #questioneverything #selfreflect #longgame #bystanderawareness2020 #conspiracywonderer #truthtelling #inquiringminds #sad4theusa #pasttothefuture #takeawaystpm #mentalhealth #expressyourself #faith #freedom #humanity #wethepeople #observe 🔥💕🐉

Yeah. IF Only they would simply honor Jesus Words Only we would/could/should have Peace & Freedom. U think⁉️

[giggles-and-freckles]

i don't know if any of you are familiar with the concept of 'enneagram types.' if you're not, you can check it out here. lots of fun stuff to click around and read about if you're interested in what this even is. but i've been thinking about it in reference to some of our fave sw pals and have decided to do some character study via enneagram. first up: anakin skywalker in all his angsty glory.

Anakin Skywalker

Eight--The Challenger

Basic fear: of being hurt or controlled by others

Basic desire: to protect themselves and their loved ones

Anakin is an eight. Everything for him comes down to power and control. I believe his childhood as a slave is what really impacts this. He lived his entire childhood under the control of another and wanting to get out. Then, he found that freedom and essentially came under the control of something else (this is not to say that the Jedi Order actually functions as a slaver...but I think Anakin perceives it as that on several occasions). After the fall of the Republic, he becomes a slave to Sidious and the Dark Side. I would argue that the only time Anakin is every truly free is in his death, when he makes the completely independent decision to kill the Emperor. That dialogue between Luke and Ani is really telling, in my opinion.

“I’ll not leave you here. I’ve got to save you.”

“You already have, Luke.”

Because that’s all Anakin ever wants, really. He wants to be saved. And he never quite understands that only he can save himself. This power complex is very aligned with an eight. He so desperately wants control...but so easily falls into bondage over and over again.

Eights commonly have a childhood trauma or Moment that “flips a switch” for them. It takes their innocence once and for all and replaces it with a hardness that wasn’t there before. I think a lot of arguments can be made for this. Perhaps it was some unseen moment offscreen prior to The Phantom Menace. Maybe he watched a fellow slave die. Maybe he watched his mother suffer in some tangible way. Maybe it happened between TPM and Attack of the Clones. But for the sake of this analysis, I’ll use the Tusken Raiders as the Moment. We see it affect him in all the ways one of these “loss of innocence” moments for an eight normally does. It’s a game-changer. In canon, it’s Anakin’s first touch of darkness. In the real world, it’s him dealing with insurmountable pain and suffering. Interestingly, we see that this “loss of innocence” directly counters the basic desire of an Eight, as well. Protecting self and loved ones. He fails to do that. He watches the one he loves the MOST die in his arms. Which--for an eight--is the ultimate form of pain. To lose a loved one feels like personal failure. You LET them die. You LET them suffer You could have SAVED them. But you failed. We see Anakin deal with this onslaught of emotions and then...we see him take action.

Eights are a part of the gut triad. This means before they think with their head or feel with their heart, they act with their gut. Their impulse. I don’t think anyone would dare to make the argument that Anakin leads with his head (sorry buddy...but you are Himbo Certified), but I can see arguments for Heart. My only real counter here is that the two greatly influence each other. And we see him ACT in tandem with his feelings. He doesn’t just sit in his emotions and mope. I’ll continue to use the Tusken incident. Immediately, without any hesitation, he acts on his anger. Anger is not a primary emotion, it’s secondary. I’m not in Anakin Skywalker’s head, but as an eight...I feel like I almost see where he’s coming from, even in his worst moments. Doesn’t mean I agree or that I would partake. But I understand (and it hurts me). I see so much fear for him. Fear that he’s not as strong as he wants to be, fear that he wouldn’t be able to protect other loved ones if something like this happened again, fear that he’s weak when it really matters. Like when the time comes to protecting loved ones. That’s why everything spirals so fast with Padmé. He immediately gets put into that fear mindset. That “weak” feeling of “I can’t do it, I can’t save her��..but I have to.” That conversation between the two of them on Mustafar is evident of this. “Love can’t save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that.” Because that’s what it comes down to for Anakin. His worth lies on his ability to save himself and the people he loves. That’s why his perception of love becomes very selfish. He begins to care about the act of salvation more than the person them self.

One of my favourite moments is the classic “this is where the fun begins.” It’s such a silly quick moment but it’s so revealing of Anakin’s character. Eights feel adrenaline like no other number. Their vitality is completely based in their ability to turn their raw energy into something GOOD. For example, doing dangerous dives and spinning (because it really is a good trick) for the sake of the Republic. It gives Anakin a sense of “YES! See how good I am? See how I’m using my aggression and strength for good?” Especially important for someone who has committed atrocities and inspired destruction. To turn around and use that energy and skill for good? That’s invaluable. I think that’s a reason Anakin fails to see the hypocrisy of the Republic.

“What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?”

“I don’t believe that. And you’re sounding like a separatist.”

When Padmé merely questions the point of the war he so immediately snaps back and makes it a personal betrayal. He’s so quick to turn down the slight implication that he’s fighting for the wrong side. Eights are all about sides. All about choosing. Anakin can’t begin to consider that maybe his Side isn’t so altruistic. It would crumble at his very core. This is where the Challenger (the moniker of an eight) comes in. They love to challenge the world around them but absolutely cannot handle when someone else is challenging it in contrast to them. Well...an unhealthy eight anyway. Healthy eights see the importance of contrasting beliefs and the power of refining conversations.

Eights want to ‘leave their mark’ on the world.

“I’m not the Jedi I should be. I want more. And I know I shouldn’t.”

This plays into the ‘deadly sin’ of an eight. Lust. This isn’t explicitly sexual (though I guess it can be, at times). It’s more of a desire for MORE. A need for more. It’s all about that power and control. An eight never quite feels satiated...at least not in their unhealthy state. Which Anakin invariably is in. An eight is always seeking things to satisfy them. Through people and power.They’re not concerned with the actual accomplishment, in the societal standard. Before Anakin is granted a seat on the council, we never see him express a desire to even have it. It seems like that’s completely a Palpatine thing. I can’t help but put myself in Obi-Wan’s shoes there. Seeing Anakin’s overreaction and wondering where it’s coming from. Because Anakin has never seemed like he wants to be on the council. Quite the opposite in fact. His tantrum about being denied the rank of master is really evident of the stake Palpatine has already dug into Anakin’s mind. Ann eight’s desire is personal. They don’t care if they have the top title or the most power from the POV of the world. They worry about their own standards. Which is difficult because we never quite manage to meet our own standards and end up in a lot of disappointment. Anakin holds himself to a hard standard. Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Ahsoka all seem to recognise that in him.

“But be patient, Anakin. It won’t be long before the COuncil makes you a Jedi Master.”

“To be angry is to be human.”

“Maybe, but I have to sort this out on my own. Without the Council and without you.”

These encouragements are so unique because they ground Anakin in a very human way. They hit at his insecurities and remind him it’s okay. He doesn’t have to be all-powerful or perfect. Which they know he needs to hear because he can’t quite recognise these truths on his own. He needs the emotional coddling. Unfortunately, in these moments their words aren’t enough. Each of these conversations is characterised by impending sadness.

Eights are seen as the bravest people. I think this aligns well with what we know of Anakin. He has little to no hesitation when putting his life on the line. He volunteers for the most dangerous missions. Doesn’t bat an eye at horrific scenes. He’s willing to do the hardest and scariest things. He’s brave. He’s determined. When talking about Ahsoka, he says “no one has her kind of determination” to which Plo Koon immediately responds, “Except for you.” But this is such an interesting part of an eight to me because I believe eights are actually the most fearful of any number. Because what they fear is fear itself. They are so horrified at the prospect of being afraid it becomes almost dangerous. They will do whatever they can to mask that fear. Which is what puts a lot of eights into that anger reactionary position. A sort of ‘people can’t know I’m scared if I’m the one scaring others’ sort of mentality. The bravado, the courage–it’s all a facade to hide the fear that eights very uniquely do not feel qualified to experience on even the micro-level. It leads many eights to become dictatorial in the way they love others (which isn’t really love at all in the end). Pushes eights to commit atrocities in word or deed all for what they consider to be the ‘greater good.’ They push and prod at the lines a normal person knows not to cross. Not only do they cross them–they plow through them, hoping that it causes enough of a scene to distract from the fact that they’re just like everyone else. In fact, they’re even more vulnerable because no one has taught them how to exist in a state of need. No one has showed them how to ask for and accept help. Instead, they bottle it all up over long periods of times, releasing small bits in dramatic bursts of energy...until that line is crossed and all bets are off.

The goal of a healthy eight is to find a way to channel the aggression and drive into being the ultimate helper and advocate. Unfortunately, Anakin doesn’t get to this until the very end of his life. His fears guide him down a path of darkness. And we see him mask that fear with anger and hatred over and over again. That’s the way of the Dark Side so it’s no wonder it was so appealing to someone who had already been doing that without proper teachings. Anakin Skywalker had the potential to be one of the greatest forces for good in the galaxy. And for a split second at the end of his life, we see him do just that. It’s all the moments before, though; when he chose fear and anger and lust over and over again. Shoving strength and bravery into the vacancies of emotional competency. Until it all became too much.

[knightotoc]

Prequels Discourse by Layer

Crust: Normies & Haters vs All Prequels Fans

Topics: Jar Jar; George Lucas and authorial intent; “It’s cool to like them now;” nostalgia; memes; Hayden’s acting; CGI vs practical effects; the Bush years; cringe; racism and sexism in the movies; bullying of prequels actors and younger fans Topics from Deeper into the Crust: the originals vs the prequels; the 70s/80s fandom vs the 00s fandom; “RotS is good but the other two suck;” “The podrace/Darth Maul/Ewan’s acting is the only good thing about them;” conversion from hating them to liking them; any other opinion changes over the past 20 years; the value of dramatic irony within tragedy; “Is it fun to be sad?”

Mantle: Gatekeeping and Fragmentation

Topics: all prequels-related Fandom Menace bullshit; the EU; Disney (“Do they hate the prequels?”); the sequels vs the prequels; the new canon vs the EU; the old fandom vs the post-TFA fandom; racism and sexism in the fandom Topics from Deeper into the Mantle: “The Clone Wars cartoon and/or KotOR are better than the prequel movies;” all other comparisons of prequels-inspired spinoffs; Ahsoka; Revan; Dave Filoni

Outer Core: Intrafandom Queasiness

Topics: all pro-Jedi vs anti-Jedi discourse; the clones’ slavery; Order 66 by brainwashing vs Order 66 by chips; racism and sexism in the cartoon; religion discourse; shipping discourse; Ray Park; Rosario Dawson Topics from Deeper into the Outer Core: anything else anyone has to say about Obi-Wan specifically

Inner Core: Oh Anakin, We’re Really in It Now

Topics: Dark Horse comics vs Marvel comics; the prequels vs the High Republic; Genndy Tartakovsky; deleted scenes and unused content; Matthew Stover; Jude Watson; Karen Traviss; KotOR deepdives; Chris Avellone; racism and sexism in the video games, novels, and comics; Kreia Topics from Deeper into the Inner Core: anything from the 90s besides TPM

[tpmt4tpm]

Boomer here & 👁️ agree with you.

I know that time is but my own perception & feeling, & that what seems to me a long time Is only a moment in the Great All. 

- Ursula Gestefeld 

#patriarchybegone #lovehavemercy

Good Day Everyone. 

The #WorldSummit2020 experience with Tony, Dean & you All has been Amazing & total Awesomeness. I Am taking uncomfortable imperfect massive action, one day at a time. I'm not yet ready to show up on camera, however, I #justlove to write. So here I #amwriterwriting. 

So you'll know, I'm a news junkie, internet explorer & activist grandma. Having fun #inspiringfuntpm. Enjoying Infinite Intelligence Internet Information Source #IIIIStpm #democracygame

I am a Huge Fan of words 🆒 signs👌 symbols 🕉️ & music 🎶🎼🎵 As a #grandmaoftech #just4fun I occasionally run FB ads to see how it works & what shows up. We usually see either predominantly male or female reach on any given ad run. This was the First one that showed significant mutual interest. This was run 4/6-4/13, 2020. 

So you'll know, I'm a news junkie, internet explorer & activist grandma. Having fun #inspiringfun. WHOSE CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT THAT AD SAYS⁉️ IF So, drop a like or comment. 

Filed under ‘Things I wish I could explain to my Boomer relatives’.

[ekjohnston]

The Queen’s Shadow Dress Post

FINALLY. Sorry this took a while. Dragon Age is a lot of fun. *coughs*

Anyhoodle, the moment I was asked to write a book about Padmé, I knew it was going to be outfit-heavy. The joke that she’s wearing a different dress in every scene is almost true, after all (in TPM, for example, she recycles two outfits, both of them “mourning” dresses). My thing was...I don’t really know that much about clothes? Like, I appreciate beauty and I understand work-and-art, but I didn’t really get it.

Fortunately, I was surrounded by people who did. Interacting with cosplayers and fan-fashion bloggers has literally changed my outlook on life. I started to understand not just how outfits worked, but why, and that was really, really cool. I was able to combine this with my own historical knowledge (like, for example, women’s dresses stopped having pockets because there was concern over what impressionable young girls might hide there), and come up with a working wardrobe for Padmé and her handmaidens that was functional and freaking gorgeous.

(massive hat tip to Trisha Biggar, obviously, who got all of this started. i hope I get to meet her someday. her work in the prequels is just THE BEST EVER.)

Here is, as far as I can tell, every outfit in Queen’s Shadow. Purple is Padmé, Yellow is Sabé, Blue is Handmaiden, and Green is Other (mostly Bail, it turns out!). We’re going to hit the highlights.

Padmé On Alderaan

We’re not really going in order here, friends.

Anyway, I wanted her look on Alderaan to be entirely different. We’ve seen her “pretty, informal” dresses in AotC (she actually HAS to wear the Lake Dress at the beginning of the book, because it’s the fanciest thing they packed for the trip), and I wanted to give her something that was not work but still...On Display, if that makes sense?

So I went full Disney Princess. Literally. Her dress for Alderaan is essentially the live action Cinderella dress, but in purple and with a higher neckline.

There is literally nothing about that dress I don’t love with my whole heart. It’s so good people thought it was a special effect, but it’s really skill and hard work and great posture and A++++++++ fabric choice. I think Padmé can pull it off.

The Big Speech

Padmé gives a few speeches in Queen’s Shadow, but they’re mostly to people who already agree with her. When she has to address the Senate for the first time, she dresses for a fight. The first motion to help Bromlarch failed, and she is not going to let that planet fall to the Trade Federation.

Her dress for this is inspired by the dress Tanya Apuya designed for the the 2018 Her Universe Fashion Show at SDCC...the Godzilla, Queen of the Monsters look.

The colours are different and she’s wearing flats, and her make-up is more subtle, but Padmé is in it to win it in this scene, and this dress absolutely took my breath away. THE SMOCKING. THE JACKET. THE SHAPES AND ATTITUDE. I love it.

SERIOUSLY. I think public speaking is terrifying, but if you gave me that jacket, I might be able to make it work.

The Party Dress

This is the dress Padmé wears knowing Sabé will wear it too, and they are dressed to kill. I mean, like, emotionally. This is the dress that shows off Naboo skill in sewing and design, the dress where every part is designed to attract attention and freaking keep it. And so for inspiration I selected the most amazing piece of art I’ve ever seen anyone move around in: Cynthia Kirkland’s “Couture of Water” dress from the same fashion show.

You could have cut glass on those edges and folds, my friends. I got to see it up close, and it was AMAZING. I changed the colours (obviously), and gave her sleeves and a more structured hairstyle.

This bodice/stomacher, I’m telling you. It was jaw-dropping. For Padmé it’s all dark, dark red, but it shines when the light hits it, and the redder parts come through, along with the gold beaded collar (to replace the scallops at the neckline and hold the sleeves to her shoulders). They don’t want anyone at that party to look at her quickly, and no one is going to.

Those are the three main looks from the book. If you have any requests (for Padmé or for someone else), send them as a DM (with a page number), and I’ll see what I can do.

[padawanlost]

Hey! So I got a hold of Kurosawa’s “Hidden Fortress”, which was said to be GL’s inspiration for ANH and TPM, right? Story wise, it’s basically TPM in feudal Japan. But there was a really fun detail in the movie. The princess disguised herself as a peasant, but she can’t hide her high-born aristocratic accent. So the general protecting her advises her to pretend to be a mute and warns her to never talk in front of others. Can you imagine eloquent Padme having to pretend to be mute? Lol.

Yeah,George talked a lot about Hidden Fortress and Kurosawa’s influence on his workin general. and, nope, Padmé would never accept that. She can’t even dress likea peasant, let alone behave like one lol I mean, remember her “refugee” outfit?LOL  

This got methinking about how delusional she must have been to believe for even a secondthat Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn bought that Padmé, the servant, was a actually aservant? What kind of a humble servant talks to a JEDI MASTER like THAT? Lookat how Teckla behaved and then compare that to how Padmé, the servant, behave. Padméhas no idea how to even pretend to be a commoner. She doesn’t understands thatthe difference between the rich and the poor are also socio/culturaldifferences which is why she would never understand why her chosen “disguises”were never enough.

TBH, this is one of fav things about the character. The contraction. How Padmé is so caring and political aware but also completely blinded by her privileged upbringing.