#one is powerful because he reings

[bluesdesk]

Hello people! As you might have read from my last post, I'm making a video game for university with a group of other students. We don't have to just make a game, but also make a research on what people would like to get in a new game, and opinions in general.

I made a form with some questions, it's anonymous and the only personal information we ask are age group, gender and spoken languages. I don't know how many people I will reach with this post, but it's really important, so please forgive me for adding many tags.

The form is in Italian, but I tried to translate it in English and other languages with Chrome and Edge, and they work quite well. Firefox instead makes some funny mistakes, but it's still readable. Of course, as this is a university form, I must ask you to not be a troll, thank u!

For linkeduniverse people, yes this is the same form I posted int he server there's no need to answer again!

The game we have in mind is an action-adventure (like Zelda) with some platformer elements: some boss fights look like those from Kirby or Smash Bros, and some are side scrolling fast sequences, like Sonic. You'll learn more about the idea in the form!

Thanks so much to anyone who fills it!

[cto10121]

Maybe I just feel this way because I have mixed feelings about musical Gelphie as a ship, but it seems to me that the way the musical fandom ships Gelphie reflects the ways that the musical is "the Glinda show." Personally, I can believe that Glinda might really be in love with Elphaba and not Fiyero, but I just don't see the same being true for Elphaba; her love for Fiyero and the trauma of losing him are too essential to her arc. Yet the fans insist that Fiyero is just comphet for both ladies.

*looks around nervously for the Gelphies* You said it, not me.

Seriously, you took the words out of my mouth. I’ve re-read Wicked countless times during the years, even adapted it into a movie script, so I close read it pretty carefully. Romance-wise, Elphaba’s true love was definitely Fiyero. And no, it wasn’t comp het, either in Elphaba’s character or authorial (also, accusing Gregory Maguire of out-of-character comp het is just hilarious).

Let’s put aside the fact that Elphaba went into a trauma coma when she lost him, gave birth to his son during said coma, went to the Vinkus to ask forgiveness from his wife, lived there, worked tirelessly to find out what happened to Fiyero’s whole-ass family after they were captured by the Wizard’s guards, and ran his family estate for years. Let’s put all of that aside.

Fiyero was the only one in the whole damn book even to come close to matching Elphaba intellectually and philosophically. He even manages to challenge her on some points (and honestly, imo, he did gag her at some points). He even reached a level of empathy for the Animals on his own, witnessing an act of violence. And he risked his own life to protect Elphaba, even following her in her assassination attempt to Madame Morrible. And it was thanks to his influence that Elphaba ultimately refused to hurt others in order to kill Morrible (they literally had a whole conversation about collateral damage, with Elphaba prepared to accept it and Fiyero firmly against it). When he died, it was as if a key part of Elphaba had died as well. It was in that section that she truly became the Witch.

With Glinda, Elphaba would essentially be replicating her dynamic with Nessarose as glorified handmaiden, and this at best. Also, Glinda was never that great an influence on Elphaba in the books to begin with; the whole point of that section was Elphaba’s influence on Glinda. And Glinda did not go with her after their meeting with the Wizard, and Elphaba did not offer.

Even in the musical-verse, Fiyero actively chooses Elphaba and her cause. His support is ultimately why Elphaba chooses him. With Glinda, she would have to live in her world, work with the Wizard, and turn a blind eye over the injustices of Oz. And that is something Elphaba can’t or will not compromise, as she knows it would lead her into certain danger.

[alaritheaurora]

Jimmy doodle page from a superhero au of mine

Jimmy is a hero called Omen who's power is that when he dies he can wander around as a ghost before re-entering his body

[bonefall]

So, your Clear Sky post is absolutely horrifying, but it was very needed, so thank you. What are your general thoughts on tackling his abuse for the AU? Like you've said, pretending he's a good guy is not the way to go, but are you planning on toning down *some* of the situations, just to give some of the cats a break? Clear Sky is a very realistic depiction of abusers, but that seems to come across even without victim number 25, yknow? I'm very curious about how you'd like to go about this.

My most recent big change was bringing Slash back into the fold, because I realized that it was actually a disservice to not address where DOTC's themes dip into Colonialism. It's a hard topic, and I'm still trying to work out the details, but I realized it was important.

With how BB!DOTC is such a MASSIVE overhaul, to properly address abuse and the ways it impacts you, ableism and its violence, and xenophobia broadly, a huge reworking of Slash belonged here too. He's one of the greatest examples of how badly WC demonizes non-Clanborn cats. I shouldn't dance around it.

That's what I need to do with Skystar.

MANY of his victims have happier endings than canon, though. Bumble is one of the most famous, bumped up into a major character and directly responsible for the formation of ThunderClan. Bright Storm is taking most of Gray Wing's roles. Birch and Alder are getting examined, with either a father who wants his kids back or Milkweed as the mate of Misty.

A lot of people will die because of him, even more will be hurt, but I see BB!DOTC as a story about victims and survivors.

Others might grab POVs here and there, but as a response to canon which I feel is Clear Sky's story told in many parts, I center this rewrite around Thunder Storm. The path of kindness he marches down, with love and with anger, and the people he helps.

So BB!Star Flower...

Previously I was playing her as ENTIRELY just manipulating Clear Sky. She was loyal to One Eye and trying to get at Skystar to bleed him dry for 8 lives to sacrifice; but connected to Thunderstar over recognizing him as a victim who deserves her idea of justice. So, she offers Thunderstar the final kill, so her father will be grateful to him and he'll get power AND the death of his abuser.

(When Thunderstar looks upon Skystar, pathetic and neutralized down to one life, he thinks about the collateral damage that will descend upon the forest if he accepts the deal. He decides that he has found the line between Justice and Justification. Of course he wants the power to make his enemies cower, protect his people, and eliminate Clear Sky so he never threatens them again; that's not the problem.

He can still do these things. He wouldn't NEED the power of a war god to do so.

But if One Eye returns, he will be endlessly hungry, ruthlessly dedicated to revenge, and set out to devour the whole forest. Everything would get worse, and even more people he loves would die. It's where his desire to destroy a monster would lead to him BECOMING one.)

Even on its face, it was previously missing an element. There's a step between "Starf decides to bring One Eye back" and "Starf offers Thunderstar the final kill" that was bare. This is the piece that was missing-- That she, herself, is trying to reach out to the only person who's ever really understood her.

But more importantly... I do feel this topic belongs here, in BB!DOTC. Abuse is a MAJOR theme. SKYSTAR is a monster already. He's harmed two wives in BB (Bright Storm and Falling Cry) and played toxic games with all three kits (Thunder Storm, Pale Sky, Tiger Sky).

And I'd avoid Star Flower being abused... why? Because it's uncomfortable to confront the pattern that Clear Sky displays? That in-canon, he tries to cut all his victims into the same ideal shape, from Storm to Thunder to Star Flower? ...it should be uncomfortable. Everything that I described in Clear Sky Is A Monster is rooted in the same desire for control, power, and punishment most abusive people share, he just happens to be a severe example.

Yes. That includes how he treats his child and romantic partners. The parallels that are drawn between Starf and Thunder are there because he wants power in the form of obedience. Starf replaces the son as a narrative award for his "growth" of not killing random people anymore for a while.

A cookie cutter is an effective tool because IT ONLY MAKES ONE SHAPE.

You know what's more uncomfortable? Reading canon!DOTC and seeing someone who hurt you reflected almost perfectly in the character the writers think did nothing wrong. Because of "good intentions" that were not there.

I will say though, just to be clear; I don't see a purpose in being more than PG-13 about serious topics for this project. I promise none of my intentions have changed. Nothing will be more graphic or gorey than canon WC-- just more intentional.

I'm keeping the sacrifice because it's dope. No one is taking this from me. Girl Moment: Killed her awful husband 8 times to count as 8 sacrifices and offered the last life to her buddy as a show of good will. How else do you make friends outside of high school

But I know now that Star Flower NEEDS to keep the canon fact she has very little agency, UNTIL that moment she snaps.

She's sacrificing one abuser to try and bring back a bigger, badder one, because in spite of everything, her father One Eye always made her feel safe. Even though he promised her off to Skystar, and expected her to be willing to die for him. She's followed every command, every order, past the death of his mortal vessel.

The first, and only, selfish choice she's ever made was in reaching out to Thunderstar to offer him the power of her father.

Thunderstar's Justice is a story about a Thunder Storm at the pinnacle of his arc, how the survivors of his Clan are settling into the new normal after the carnage of The First Battle, how Skystar's arrogance brings a violent god to the Forest... and the connection Thunderstar makes with the daughter of a monster.

[crossdressingdeath]

It's kind of funny seeing people claim that Zevran's not mentioned in DAV because all the Crows are terrified of him, because like... guys, it's infinitely more likely that he's just causing problems for House Arainai as the only house we can say with any certainty he's had any interactions with, especially given when he's mentioned in Tevinter Nights Viago seems distinctly unfussed and basically dismisses him as House Arainai's embarrassment (which is definitely partially because the writers didn't want to get into potentially variable details, but they didn't have to mention him at all if that was the only reason). It makes far more sense to me to assume that he's not mentioned because we're dealing with houses Dellamorte, de Riva and Cantori and none of them have any reason to care.

[musubiki]

another fun fact: marshall can beat lime in a fight BUT only if hes buffed by mochi or another one of the top 5 witches

[tennessoui]

this has stayed in my brain for like 2 weeks: au where obi-wan gets fed up with the city council because he keeps writing them asking them to fill this pothole on his street that he hates driving around and they keep not doing it so he decides to run for city council himself on the sole platform of if he’s elected he’s going to fucking fix that fucking pothole.

and he wins because he is very charming and not a lot of people vote anyway, and he fills in his pothole and then next election cycle, he’s planning to let someone else win so he doesn’t have to be on the city council anymore because he actually hates local politics.

only there’s this asshole in university who decides to run obi-wan’s re-election campaign because he’s trying to sleep with a political science TA and he thinks she’ll be impressed if he shows an interest in local politics by doing some grassroots voting door to door work for his community service credits…..and he chooses obi-wan to support at random and very nonconsensually

so anakin skywalker becomes the bane of obi-wan kenobi’s existence. obi-wan kenobi becomes the focus of anakin’s.

(obi-wan also becomes an elected official again, mostly because of the bored housewives vote.)

(obi-wan blames this on the fact that while anakin is a very horny intense nineteen year old, he’s also surprisingly effective with his big wet eyes and his obscenely pink lips. anakin blames this on the televised debates he scheduled between obi-wan and fellow councilor maul, where obi-wan’s eyebrows are drawn and he looks furious and his shirtsleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing his very nicely defined forearms.)

(they fuck about it.)

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/762934616351031296/theres-something-ive-struggled-to-understand

I always wondered about what the anon asked as well. Care to share your reading?

I more or less agree with the OP's answer that it's about Louis not wanting to be connected to Madeleine, but I think the motivation is probably different?

My read is that episode is really about Louis trying to let Claudia go, and that he's acknowledging the complete dissolution of the family unit. After all, if Lestat and Louis' turning was a wedding, and Lestat turning Claudia was Lestat giving Louis a daughter, Louis knowing that Madeleine and Claudia are a love match in a lot of ways turns him into the father giving his daughter away on her wedding day. Turning Madeleine isn't about love for him, nor about having a child, it's about seeing his daughter as a grown woman ready to start her own family without him.

The acknowledgement of Claudia as an adult is not one he's ever genuinely made before - something s2 makes very clear with Claudia having to pose as his daughter again in wartorn Europe, Baby Lulu being the female diminutive of Louis, and then, even more tellingly, with Dreamstat explicitly referring to her as such - and while she's been pulling away all season and trying to force Louis into independence, it's been something he's pretty clearly very resentful of.

Madeleine though forces his hand, because Claudia finally choosing a companion splinters the last leg of their family unit for good. Madeleine is a stranger to him in the way many children's spouses are strangers to their in-laws, and Louis doesn't have Lestat to share the weight of that with anymore (and he doesn't have Lestat because of Claudia, which deepens the resentment). All he knows - which he discovers through turning her - is that she loves his daughter, and I take Louis trying to get the blood out of himself as a bitter and wounded sort of wedding gift.

He wants to give them their freedom, but at the same time the depression he experienced as an empty nester in New Orleans has already set in, he has to live with the fact that his attempt at a family has ended, and Armand's never been as satisfying to take things out on as Lestat was, to say nothing of the fact that he - as Assad put it - doesn't give a fuck about Claudia. At least Lestat gave a fuck, even if he usually gave the wrong sort of fucks, haha.

So yeah, I think it's a sort of attempt at a resentful wedding present, in a lot of ways, to try and give her this thing without being a part of it, and a real attempt to let Claudia go as his daughter.

Little does Louis know though, Claudia's the gothic heroine of this story, and she's not ever going to get out of her father's (or step-father's) house.

[randomnameless]

Outside Byleth, who do you think the Three House Leaders would naturally pair with instead in-canon assuming all recruits are allowed? And which ships would you prefer for them if you were in control and could change the writing a little?

?

Pair as in "ship romantically" or hang out with and spend a lot of time?

Hubert already exists, even if his presence must be erased for "alone b4u" shenanigans, but I suppose that Supreme Leader might be spend a lot of time around Doro, given how she's a prime "commoner who raised above her stations thanks to her talents" token and they really seem to get along, as much as Supreme Leader can get along with people.

If the writing could change, I'd still pick Doro and have her accept that even if she might realise Supreme Leader's war is not so super awesome for everyone involved and the orphans Doro might relate to, she finally found someone she would support until the very end and is sure of her feelings, regardless of Supreme Leader's status. Sure it'd mean non-recruitable Doro, but I think it'd give her closure in some way, as in instead of trying to find a rich dude to care for her until her old days, she prefers to trust Supreme Leader, regardless of what future has in store, even if she grows old and loses her talents.

Claude is, by design, supposed to be closed off thanks to his secret, but the devs are really pushing (even in Nopes!) the idea that he and Hilda might be a thing... Dark humour would be of them having grand plans for the future and talking about warming the Almyran-Goneril relationships - while being served by captured Almyran children because none of them seem to give any fucks about those kids and it'd be a perfect "I think of the people and the future as a concept, but ignore them in my everyday life" cycle to close the Supreme Leader parallel -

In an ideal world where Claude could grow, I'd still pick Hilda and have them face, together, their own prejudices and bias and grow as persons.

As for Dimitri, tbh I don't really have a pick for a "romantic" pair - Nopes already delivered on the "be surrounded by his friends and allies and let them in even if it's small baby steps".

If I had to pick a ship though, both games push hard the "Dedue/Dimitri" ship and I really have no imagination, but I really dig the "Flayn has a one sided crush on him" thing lol, both because she loves romance but also because she could confuse her feelings of wanting to help him - since he might remind her of Seiros and we know how that ended, something Flayn is apparently aware of! - with romance.

FWIW though, in the "ship but not in romantic way", I'd tweak the writing team's arm to have him talk - on-screen - to Rhea, with either them playing an endless loop of "how are you - no you how are you" to avoid talking about themselves, or have Rhea, knowing fully well what Dimitri might be feeling, trying to encourage him to do everything she didn't do back then (but that'd imply giving more than infodumps and ominous lines to Rhea, so at this point, it'd be a straight up rewrite of the plot lol) while Dimitri sort of guesses Archbishop Rhea isn't a "mere" Archbishop but ultimately doesn't mind.

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[taylorrepdetective]

Since you like to say you’re always right, tell us what is next. You say you don’t make predictions, but you actually do, even if you don’t call them that.

Ok so I’m absolutely not always right. There have been some really big things I’ve been wrong about and a lot of small things too. And what I learned from that is to keep an open mind, and when I’m wrong about something, to figure out why I got it wrong and shift my world view in some ways to try to understand and guess better the next time. But it’s not even really about being able to guess. It’s about understanding when things happen. It is fun to be right on a guess though, when that happens.

The biggest thing I’ve learned, and luckily I learned it pretty early on in my time in this space, is that trying to figure out the timing something big will happen is absolutely a fools errand. And another thing to avoid is trying to come up with the exact, specific way Taylor (or others in her cinematic universe) will do something to get a point across. Like I can predict she will try to get a point across (set up a timeline, create a narrative, shore up a brand point) but I cannot predict exactly how or when she’ll do it. I also can predict she’ll set something up but then she never does. That’s because I think of lots of options. Some happen, some don’t. So this is the kind of thing I’m often wrong about. But I see them and always try to present them as options, not predictions. And if one of the options I think of happens, I have already spent time thinking about it, so it already makes sense to me.

I don’t know what’s next. She could drop TS11 at midnight. She could break up with Travis tomorrow, or announce her engagement next week. But I do not think any of those things is likely.

So here’s the closest thing you’ll ever get to me making a specific, timed prediction, because to me it seems quite clear:

What I do think is likely is that her jet will go to KC, ✅she’ll go to the game on Sunday✅, and her jet will then leave KC sometime between next Tuesday✅ and next Thursday. Why? Because it’s a home game, and she likes to go to home games and get the exposure and publicity that comes with that. She is working really hard at becoming an icon in KC, seem like her relationship is very serious for those who want to believe it’s serious, and she wants to shore up that relationship by spending time with him, his family, and his friends (also KC icons - the Mahomes mostly.)✅ All of this is so important to the story she’s creating. However, she won’t stay long ✅because that’s been her pattern. She also seems to be establishing that she also has her own busy, fabulous life✅ (she’s bejeweled and he lets her be✅) and when he’s busy with his football week (generally Tuesday-Sunday) he doesn’t have much time for her and she has her own life.✅This gives her the opposite option of the relationship being very serious. In other words it gives her an easy out for it to end. And Wednesday is her birthday. So she’ll either stay till Tuesday ✅and we’ll see or hear about birthday celebrations Sunday night/Monday, ✅then she’ll head out for further birthday celebrations with her other friends and family✅, or her jet will stay through her birthday, solidifying the seriousness of the relationship. But she will leave KC.✅ And then she’ll probably go to the game on Dec 17 in Boston✅. Why? Because it is a short hop from NYC, she has a huge fanbase there✅ and can expand it and shore it up, the patriots are bad so a win is likely✅, but they are a very popular team, so viewership (publicity) will be high✅. After that? Well she’s likely to spend more time in NYC✅/Nashville. Then she will probably go to the Christmas Day game in KC✅. This is a huge opportunity to “take the relationship to the next level” by spending the holidays together ✅, something the public absolutely loves to see and will further fuel the “engaged by the end of the year, after the Super Bowl at the latest” fire. Hopefully we’ll get something reputation-related for new years❌, so the extra publicity will help with that. Additionally all of this corresponds with the Eras film being released to streaming, another huge money making opportunity for her, and her attendance is an ad for the film.

After the new year, there will be some huge games with high viewership. They will be playing for playoff seeding. Then they almost assuredly will be in the playoffs✅. She will go to those games✅, which have even higher viewership, and will give her more free marketing for reputation and eras movie and anything else we don’t know about. After that, it will depend on how deep they go into the playoffs. They are no longer favored to be in the Super Bowl, but it is still a strong possibility✅. We all now know she can fly across the world after a concert to attend an event (she flew to the US during her time in SA, planned to a second time but couldn’t because of the events in Rio, and flew to London for 24 hrs for bey). The precedent has been set for her to fly from Tokyo to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. ✅There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl (outside of the World Cup final, if you’re thinking internationally.) The free marketing potential there is something that would be very hard for her to pass up. And if Travis isn’t playing, Jason’s team might be, and they can go together to support him. Imagine the potential of travlor in a suite together with mama and papa kelce cheering on a retiring Jason❌✅ . And even if neither of them are in the game, they could still all go together and stand in a suite as a big happy family in front of an audience of 115 million Americans. Why wouldn’t she do this?✅

Will all that happen for sure? Of course not. But you can see the logic, right? Will there be other things that happen that I haven’t thought of? Most likely.✅ I don’t actually have a crystal ball. What kinds of things could derail this? Well there’s always the possibility of the black swan, but a more likely scenario is they lose again against a team they should beat✅ and/or Travis has another bad game✅. There is a real danger of people turning on her as a distraction ✅and I think they have their fingers on the pulse of this very closely. As long as KC keeps winning, and there’s a good chance they will win the rest of their games, all will be smooth❌✅.

Also I am not even thinking beyond February. I have one interesting thought about it, but it’s just too speculative to even mention here. But as we move through the next two months, I’ll get clues to be able to guess at what will happen after she goes back on tour after the Super Bowl✅. And if I’m wrong about all of this, which I may very well be because she is notoriously unpredictable sometimes, I will simply take it as a learning opportunity to understand her better.✅

[tourneyofashvara]

funniest part about an upcoming election is all of the jobs the council has been putting off suddenly getting done, like we've not had passing place signs on our road for like twenty years and they're falling over themselves to put them up and trim the verges for the first time in five years and clearing the bus stop for the first time since it was put in and it's like maybe if you got your thumb out a bit more often i'd be more inclined to vote for you

[sapphire-weapon]

More things I didn’t discover until my 10th playthrough:

When Ashley wakes up at the beginning of chapter 14

you know like

when Leon is sitting on the floor at her bedside, and he’s winded and his vision is blurring and he’s actively planning his suicide and probably wondering at what point he should actually pull the trigger so that he does it before he turns, and he’s very likely just hoping and praying that Ada will actually come through for him post-mortem and get Ashley home in his stead

yeah so like when she wakes up during that

and Leon’s name is the first thing out of her mouth? She doesn’t just say his name. She also puts a hand on his shoulder

and that’s when he perks up and gets up and his symptoms suddenly all vanish and I want to fuckgin throw up now that I’ve noticed it.

I’ve talked before about how Ashley is Leon’s anchor to reality, but that is actually literally true in this instance. When Leon sat down and flipped his gun around and pulled the slide back, he was checking to make sure that a round was chambered. Then he takes a deep, steadying breath.

This happens just after his suppressant wore off, and there was no way for him to know when Ashley was going to wake up. It could’ve been hours. And by then, it would’ve been too late for him.

He was checking for a round in the chamber so that he could use it on himself if it came down to it.

Canonically, this isn’t the first time he's considered suicide. In RE6, he admits that he considered it (”a few times, actually”) while still in Raccoon City, and also just after escaping. So, when he’s sitting there at Ashley’s bedside, he isn’t considering suicide with a “I hope it doesn’t come to this” mentality -- it’s more of a “It was probably always going to end like this anyway” one.

And I can say that with confidence because it’s the closest he ever gets to actually turning (prior to his hallucinations at the very end of chapter 15) -- and it seems to be entirely self-inflicted. On some level, mentally, he’s already given up.

But then it’s her touch and her voice that clears his vision, steadies his breathing, chases away the pain and weakness that caused him to sit in the first place, and even brings a smile to his face. Suddenly, he’s fine. And he doesn’t have another fit like that again, outside of Saddler deliberately causing one.

And I just

I think about that in tandem with how bad his mental health gets later in the series -- how dark his depression gets in some canon installments, how profoundly his trauma manifests, and how he tries to self-medicate with liquor until it turns into a problem that just gets worse and worse and worse as the years go by.

And I just have to wonder if he’d have ever gotten that bad if he hadn’t walked away from Ashley at some nebulous point after RE4.

[b-else-writes]

The Jedi Are the Elite, Not the Underdogs in the Prequels

I cannot believe i had to read with my own two eyes a take that the Jedi in the Star Wars Prequels occupy some of the lowest rungs in society because something something "they're meant to be Buddhist monks!!" and "it's based off the Hidden Fortress and the Jedi are the two peasants!!!" - what an utterly brain-dead take that fundamentally misunderstands how the Jedi are actually portrayed in the story, fundamentally misunderstands which characters from Hidden Fortress Lucas was grafting onto which character, and fundamentally misunderstands what story the Prequels were (badly) trying to tell.

So first, at the absolute most basic level, the two peasant characters in Hidden Fortress (which Lucas pulled most from for A New Hope and Phantom Menace) correspond, in Lucas' own words, to C3PO and R2D2 in the A New Hope, and Anakin and Jar Jar in Phantom Menace, NOT any of the Jedi characters. Obi-Wan, the only explicit Jedi in ANH, was inspired by Toshiro Mifune's character, who is, guess what, nobility (as men/samurai of a general status usually were in that time period). Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in TPM occupy that same role as well. It is Anakin (and Jar-Jar, who was expelled from his own society and an outcast) who occupies the lowest rung in society, because he's a literal slave and it's that very fact that drives the entire plot. Yes, Anakin is Force-Sensitive, but he isn't a Jedi in TPM, and he is always narratively positioned as being "not one of them" throughout the story (more on this in a minute).

Which brings us to point two - how are the Jedi actually portrayed in the Prequels? It's an old hat to be like "they're the Space cops" but, well, they are the Space Cops. The Jedi are part of the bureaucratic systems of the Galactic Republic. They can speak directly to the Chancellor and offer advice, they are dispatched to quell unrest in the Republic's name. Visually, they are designed to convey power and prestige based on Western cultural cues (large buildings with European facades, marble, white/beige clothes that are sweeping and regal, rare genetic magical powers, and of course, swords).

The defense I've seen is that the Jedi do not have power because they aren't in charge and have to answer to the Chancellor/Republic, but this is like saying, "the military doesn't have power because it has to answer to the President/Prime Minister", it's nonsensical. While the Jedi are referred to as monks and practice a veneer of vague Hollywood Buddhist beliefs, in practice, they operate like Samurai (because again, that was what Lucas was drawing from), who again, held high prestige and power in society. They are not the scrappy underdogs or the downtrodden poor. And they are certainly not slaves.

And that's where the fundamental thing comes in of what story were the Prequels trying to tell? Fundamentally, Anakin's fall is a story about the elites in society taking a child who is at the very bottom (a slave) and raising him up onto their level, while simultaneously having nothing but contempt for him, and then systematically failing him at every turn until he decides that the only solution is that the system is completely broken and we should do Fascism (for the record i'm not saying the Prequels tell this story well, and handle it with the subtlety of a brick to the face like Anakin quite literally paraphrases George Bush). Because the Prequels were written in the late 90s-early 2000s by an American man and are a blunt commentary on the elites in the USA failing and sliding into unnecessary war and growing fascism. It's a story about the fall of a society. And for this entire morality tale of Lucas' to work, it would mean that the Jedi are the Elite as well.

And they are - they're shown to be ineffectual and not very smart and their powers have grown weak and they can't see what's directly in front of them! They have become entrenched into the corrupt system. It matters that it is Anakin who occupies the lowest rung in society and not the Jedi, and that is why he is never one of them and what drives the entire story of his fall (for the record (2), this isn't saying Anakin was RIGHT to become fascist).

I think a lot of people try to twist this because they desperately want to love the Jedi (which you can) but can't reconcile that narratively they're portrayed as having messed-up very very badly and that the entire system that they were part of didn't work and shouldn't have been done that way (#maybe Jacen was onto something before he did Space Fascism 2.0), so they try to say that no, no, no, it's the Jedi who are the scrappy underdogs. But to do that is to just completely misunderstand and misrepresent what is actually being presented.

[tenwhiteandalusians]

pertaining to the idea of tenax’s band of strays i do think it’s touching that the kids are the ones who saved him and waited outside the door to make sure he’s okay. for all tenax claims to be harsh and cruel it’s a fine indicator of his character that the kids won’t rest without him and are there every time he’s in danger.

[musubiki]

Hey I was looking thru the coco tag and remembered the comic abt Taffy trying to buy a potion from the Merchant to "cure his problem" but it ended up not being anything (as far as Taffy knows anyway). The Merchant said it was an "unbonding potion," but did it have any 'effect' in general, or was he truly just bs-ing Taffy? I'd almost think the latter if we didn't already know that the Merchant—shifty and strange as he is—does indeed sell reliable items (albeit with a rather cunning monopoly). So I was wondering if it meant something else that Taffy needing to "unbond" from.......like maybe.......a curse.....? Perhaps 🤣

he actually wasnt bs-ing taffy!!!!

for context: one of the merchants favorite lines (to the point that lime makes fun of him about it) is "I'm not a doctor" (sometimes with a "Or a therapist" added in if the issue sounds psychological) !! and what he means is basically this: the merchant, though he probably knows what's wrong with you, wont TELL you what's wrong with you to sell the accurate treatment. you have to go to him and say "I think it might be [thing]" and he goes "Okay! I have something that fixes [thing]!"

i believe the idea behind it is that if he tells you whats' wrong with you and then sells you the thing that fixes it, he makes less money than if he DOESN'T tell you and you have to keep coming back trying a bunch of different things via trial and error

so in taffys case, he waited for taffy to say "I think I need an unbonding potion" so he could say "Okay! Here's an unbonding potion!" even though he knew already what was going on (LOL). so the potion was legit!! Its just that taffy wasnt under any kind of bonding spell so nothing happened!!

the curse in him is a lot more complex to get rid of than a simple unbonding potion. im still working on the lore surrounding true "curses", but its either that only the main 5 can put curses, or only the main 5 can remove them, its a special and powerful kind of magic that you cant just go to your average witch to get one done and removed