#poe's arc (have talked about Holdo a lot)

[the-force-awakens]

Saw a gif set of Poe sticking up for Holdo, and now I'm thinking about how Poe is first to notice not one, yet TWO self sacrifices in tlj

Oh yeah, I think about that a lot. So much so, that I made a gifset about it once. It's something that I think goes over people's heads, by and large, just judging from how they talk about Poe in that movie -- but the sheer fact is, the movie opens with Poe doing the exact thing that Luke does. He goes out, one man against an army to give the Resistance more time to evacuate, by offering himself up as bait.

Poe recognizes a self-sacrifice, because...he's tried it. We see him do the same thing, it just largely gets overlooked because what happens is that it doesn't work. That's the horrifying fact for Poe: he's convinced that the most he can offer the Resistance is his own noble sacrifice, and if in the meantime, he can take down a fleet killer that could kill them all later? That's even better. But instead, Poe survives - Poe survives, again, let us not forget that he's also the only one, save the First Order and BB-8, that night in the village - and instead he has to reckon with the fact that people under his command have died again, while he hasn't.

"Dead heroes, no leaders" in my perspective, tlj is by and large Poe being forced to reckon with the fact that there's more to him and more to this fight than just dying for the cause. One thing I'm noticing throughout my chronological reread of stuff that's about/features Poe heavily, is that there is this desperate need for purpose that guides him, and that purpose seems to truly be to be a soldier, a hero that can pull of last minute miracles, and if he happens to die for the right reasons at least it'll be for the right reasons, and if he gets a little adventure in between, that's even better. That elusive search for that purpose pushes him off Yavin in Free Fall, and he's still struggling to find it when he's with the Defense Fleet in Age of Resistance.

So, Poe's spent majority of his life wanting to be a soldier like his parents. In some ways, he thinks that's what he's best at. When Leia implies that she can see more in him after L'ulo's funeral in the comics, Poe is confused - he can't see that potential in himself. And then even after he understands what she's trying to tell him, in the Enshado arc, he mentions to Snap that he prefers being a pilot, and not have to make the hard calls or moral decisions that command has to - for Poe, he's more than happy to be t he person to jump into the fire and do what's necessary, even if it costs him his own life. He doesn't fear death, he doesn't even fear it in Free Fall when he's just sixteen/seventeen years old, and it's clear that he still doesn't really by the time the movies roll around.

And TFA, he was originally supposed to be the martyred hero. And he still almost is - but that sacrifice is aborted, and suddenly Poe is the survivor of that mission to Jakku. And the First Order is so much larger than any of them could have ever imagined - so he offers himself as bait, to give the Resistance some time. He could have easily died, during that initial run. He strapped experimental tech that hadn't even been tested to his X-Wing, just to give him an edge, so the Resistance could finish evacuating. He was ready and willing to die for them.

And he knows, first hand, more than anyone else in the Resistance, just how big the First Order is. He puts himself between them and the ship he was just held captive and tortured aboard for days - and decides that if nothing else, the dreadnought has to go because it's a fleet killer.

(And sure, no one in that battle went into it for the "right" reasons. Every Resistance officer in that fight wanted a fight. They've lost people, just lost their home, lost their only support - and I've no doubt that's also going through Poe's head.)

But then...Poe isn't the one to make the sacrifice. It's everyone else, and it's on his command. And he knows it was the right call to make, because the Resistance can't be killed by a fleet killer later (good thing, too, since the first order ambushes them) but...he still lost people under his command, and he has to deal with the worst weight of leadership: being the one to survive.

And then he straight up gets grounded. Like, his X-Wing is destroyed. Poe cannot be the kind of hero that he believed he was anymore - that soldier/rebel pilot to run headfirst into things. Now, he's pushed into the role that Leia normally is: the one to stay behind, and trusting an important mission to someone else. Being the person that everyone tries to come back to.

And it results in Poe becoming what Leia knew he could be all along: someone people could trust and be inspired by to follow, to fight for. When the Resistance feels that it can't trust Holdo, they trust Poe. And under the threat of total obliteration, and the knowledge that they're officially the last line of defense between the galaxy and the First Order, and almost dying several times and losing so many people he was friends with and almost losing Leia - I really do think Poe realizes he doesn't want to die, he wants to live for the Resistance, for the galaxy, and not just die for them. He knows, now, that there's more to him than a noble sacrifice, and he sure as hell doesn't want the people who died while he got to live's deaths are in vein (we see that lampshaded explicitly in tros).

Poe recognizes a self sacrifice when he sees one, because it used to be the first thing he'd think to do. But by tros, we see that he cares less about a noble sacrifice, and more about surviving -- which is the biggest hurtle he's maybe overcome, considering how little he's always feared death.

This is already a touch incoherent and rambly because I'm tired, but I think - I think the slightly tragic thing about Poe is that he wanted to be a soldier like his parents. But he got so good at it, that he ended up flying straight into being a leader - and that terrified him, because that meant that Poe had outgrown the purpose he's been seeking his entire life, and it also means that he has to carry a lot more burdens, including the burdens of when his plans go wrong. He can't be the person to die with his squadron, he gets to be the one to survive and carry their sacrifice with him.

[permian-tropos]

TIME TO GUSH ABOUT TLJ cause I was looking through screenshots and here’s a bunch of things I might not have mentioned before and a few that I have

1) Paige Tico!!!! PAIGE TICO! her entire time in the spotlight is such a perfectly crafted, perfectly tense scene

2) UM THE OPENING SPACE BATTLE IS SICK the bombers have such striking silhouettes and this is used for some amazing shots

3) PAIGE’S DEATH BEING PRESENTED AS TRAGEDY (and not being softened heavily with the promise of being part of something meaningful the way R1′s deaths are) 

4) Captain Candy Crush’s death is given gravity too and I stan this, he’s not made sympathetic and still there’s nothing triumphant about people being blown up. war is not good

5) Finn’s pod is very flattering and angelic even though his water suit is silly. he basically has a halo and no filmmaker would accidentally give a character a halo so jot that down

6) Snoke’s throne room being utilitarian AND extravagant at the same time is impressive. also I still love the way that Snoke’s real form was made to be this exaggeratedly WASPy old man with the skin texture and wrinkles and pale tufty eyebrow hair, and you know what else? the fact that the camera favors showing the undamaged side of his face. I fucking stan the fact that Johnson took another disfigured villain and played up his old caucasian grandpa looks and made his disfigurement blend into his age. Snoke is a caricature of horrid old white men, possibly the first successful caricature of whiteness in speculative fiction. he looks like Henry Kissinger

7) Kylo Ren’s bandaid has a pattern on it. we ask ourselves. why. did he get to pick out the pattern. are there multiple patterns. are they all edgy and black. I’m now completely invested in whoever decided that they would have patterned bandaids but not make them TOO fun

8) the movie is so pretty im just. the fuckign. aesthetic. all of it. the palette seems to have been taken from a thunderstorm and it’s perfect. the use of gray is a reason I happen to think people didn’t like the film. they were like what the fuck is all this gray in star wars. star wars shouldn’t be gray. but it’s so unique, it’s not the gray of lazy color grading, it’s the gray of someone who knew that the feeling of haze and uncertainty needed some gray and rolled it in like a fog. I’m going to have to post more screenshots

9) I like the fact that the puppet porgs, as opposed to the CGI porgs, are actually kinda ugly cute

10) everything mark hamill does is perfect. every line, every facial expression, every pose. every moment from luke in tlj is unbelievably iconic. alec guinness would be so jealous 

11) Luke perking up and genuinely smiling when he sees R2D2 is the purest moment I have to just 

my eyes are moist

12) the architecture and set design is so amazing too? I love this shot introducing Rose, the harsh contrast that draws your eye away from her, the way she’s fading into her corner of brownish-gray, it’s so good for evoking... idk, just how the world seems too bright and too stark and made of shapes, after someone you love dies

13) I really love how much time we spend on Ahch-To, and how none of it has any campy space action. you’d expect to see some training there, but a lot of people were clearly hoping that Luke and Rey would leave the planet. but we linger so much on the setting, a setting which wholly embodies Luke’s state of mind

14) old luke is a handsome gent. i don’t see enough people with the hots for old luke. this is a big mistake

15) this shot foreshadows Kylo Ren becoming the Supreme Leader IMO. we see him surveying the war machine, watching the instruments of death be constructed, set apart from everyone -- a glimpse into Kylo’s desire for absolute power without anything being direct. maybe he’s contemplating his isolated existence, how much he doesn’t belong in the Order. or maybe he sees an allure to all this. this is what he wants to possess. it’s probably a mixture of both

16) Rey and Luke!!!!!!! everything about how the film frames them develops their relationship!! even as Luke is testy with her, we get shots like these where they’re sharing a warm sunset light and having deep heart to hearts. 

and you know what you know what what what

the fact that Rey starts asking WHO her parents are after meeting Luke is uhh clearly suggesting that she’s wondering if maybe Luke is her dad. I love in this one shot how he’s slumped and she’s sitting up straighter, making him the vulnerable one. I love how the sunset light highlights Rey’s buns. I love that she keeps her buns for a while. I love that people have headcanoned she kept the buns so that her parents would recognize her, and she has the buns in the whole time she’s trying to get Luke to act like the hero she believes in. like she’s trying to get him to recognize her

Rey adopts Luke as her dad and it’s beautiful get out of my face

17) ye there’s a lot of dead children but also I hadn’t really thought about the fact that R2 watched this as well? and R2 was powered off for so long, until the end of TFA? R2 was traumatized and grieving too, and he’s seen this before, he remembers all the way back to when it was Anakin

18) hors!!!!!!!

19) what the SHIT is this why is this movie a fucking painting why does it keep outdoing itself in paintingness argh the way this film uses the day-night cycle is unbelievable, having Rey and Finn’s stories be connected by having the same time

THE HCKING MOON THOUGH 

20) Ok we could talk about how the cold blue moonlight of uncertainty has become the warm orange light of companionship but we can’t forget what firelight also represents re: Kylo cough burning temple nice little double meaning, is Rey making a new friend or is she being tempted, is he going to warm her or burn her

but also I haven’t thought about how fucking awkward Kylo looks!! is he sitting on that barrel?? like since he’s not there is he just sort of compositing himself into the scene? using a convenient barrel

21) see what I mean about blue being cold. blue = asceticism, red = indulgence, the two extremes 

22) Luke sinks into darkness

23) BUT HE DOES ONE THING! the thing that breaks him out of his depression. he takes the fire -- which represents the burned temple, represents Ben Solo, represents the humanity of the Dark Side -- into his own hands. we see the fire symbolizing destruction, then intimacy, then change, in such short succession

fire represents light-dark, something that is both at once. we’ll get back to this

24) you could say that balance is about making your own light in the darkness

also this is why Poe’s line about being the spark that will burn the First Order down isn’t ~too violent~ cause fire has become a symbol of change, of destruction reclaimed as something restorative, thank you very much 

25) can we talk about the fact that between this being like a coffin and the way Rey is holding the saber, this actually has the heaviest resemblance to the way medieval knights were depicted atop their sarcophagi. I don’t even know what it means but maybe it hints that Rey sees herself as a martyr and a crusader in this quest to redeem Kylo and prove her valor

26) the fact that Poe isn’t the only one who gets in on the coup. because the Resistance isn’t a real military it’s a few thousand antifas gathered from all around the galaxy and their numbers are dwindling fast. people kind of put it all on Poe but Connix and Finn and Rose and this woman and this man and this alien were part of it too, and they could have told Poe to cut it out. I like how the blonde woman seems like she’s not sure what’s going on, she’s evaluating the situation 

27) you know what I stan? I continue to stan aspects of how Snoke is portrayed. I stan the fact that he gets all close up in Rey’s face and grabs her cheek and it kind of mirrors the way Kylo gets in her personal space in TFA but even less so than in TFA, Rey is not framed in the way girls often are when they’re restrained and in distress. when she’s being tortured, we’re not given any tantalizing views of her body. Snoke floating her around the room has her stiff and awkward, and the close-up of her screaming in pain puts the camera behind her head so we see this from her POV, we’re not voyeuristically staring at her, we’re experiencing this indignity with her

28) Kylo Ren killing Snoke has the exact same light on his face as when he killed Han Solo. this is very very interesting

here I am in my corner of Kylo having twisted affection for Snoke as well

29) I wish I could ship this more cause I don’t need all this talk of fairy tale weddings and force pregnancies when here they are slicing up lobster boys with laser swords

30) oh but this is where he makes Rey look sad and thats where!!! you know hes gonna have to pay!!! basically everything about the scene where Kylo tears Rey’s heart out and stomps on it and then asks her to be grateful is extremely well done and it did its intended job of making me Big Mad At Kylo 

also look the fire is back its Symbolic

31) you know what I can’t show in this post? the FUCKING SOUND THAT COMES AFTER THE HYPERSPEED RAM. that sound is the most glorious sound I’ve heard come out of a movie. it’s like a massive metal whale’s death scream. Star Wars has always run on sound design but literally that sound (along with the scene it’s attached to) outdoes everything that has come before it holy wow

32) Finn WHACKING Phasma. he didn’t use a lightsaber in this film, but he uses the baton he picked up the same way he used the lightsaber, and it even glows blue for good measure. and we can’t forget that this movie shows a boy holding a broom like a lightsaber, and Rey practicing saberplay with her staff, so -- objects that are not lightsabers symbolizing lightsabers is a thing 

33) I didn’t think about the fact that the Supreme Leader’s throne room is designed to display a view of the outside, or be cloaked in red. possibly it could display anything it pleases. this is great fun for imagining First Order characters making it display things they want to see, like beautiful vistas, or holofilms. possibly it can recreate whole scenes, like a Star Trek holodeck

34) I don’t have to talk about how Leia is framed by the dawn on Crait do I? we already got the picture when it comes to the day-night cycle and how beautiful it is

35) BABY 8 I can’t believe this droid gets belly scritches and nuzzles from Poe

36) fucking love when Kylo finally snaps and starts throwing petty tantrums again at the end of the film like he holds back his brattiness for 12 hours and then here comes the screaming and foot stamping and flailing

I have thrown too many temper tantrums in my life to not want to see one on the big screen in its full glory. no one has pushed him to the point where he’s just ugly crying on the floor, spewing snot and tearing at his hair

I got vicarious pleasure out of Poe’s outburst on the bridge too. people being angry and not being in the right. it’s something I need for catharsis

37) miniaturized Death Star technology aka BIGGEST LIGHTSABER. Kylo stop compensating

but AU where a ginormous person uses the cannon as an actual saber

38) I’VE TALKED ABOUT HOW FINN’S MOMENT IS IN MY TOP TWO FEELS MOMENTS (top one is the hyperslice) but basically if you don’t think he was affected by seeing the slave kids on Canto Bight, what do you think he’s so angry about here, what do you think has him in a blinding rage?

why do movies have to spell everything out for people in exhaustive detail? the only new thing Finn gets from his experience with Rose, is seeing how the First Order isn’t this isolated enclave of evil. the most powerful people in the galaxy have been supporting it all along. he stops trying to run away because he realizes there is nowhere he can run that won’t have injustice. and he’s seen villagers being massacred, he’s seen the Order attack people he cares about, he’s been personally threatened and had one-on-one duels, but on his trip with Rose he sees children being beaten into submission with electric whips

can’t believe people think Finn wasn’t affected by that when it’s the one thing motivating his character growth

every time he sees civilians getting hurt -- children and families -- he sees himself and the family he’ll never know in them, and is so overwhelmed that he does something brash and radical and self-endangering every time, and his arc is about learning to live with that anger. he runs away from feeling and his angst is so beautiful

and I’m still in the camp of Finn having had a Zuko-like arc when he was a teenager because that boiling frustration at not being able to express his natural empathy is what drove Zuko to angst so hard

FINN IS THE SOLIDARITY KING! HE CARES SO FUCKING MUCH 

39) fire. Luke facing his demons involves him walking through a gate of flame, out of the darkness, into the light

I will say that this is also very Buddhist imagery -- the flaming sword symbolizes wisdom, which cuts through the veil of illusion, specifically the illusion of duality

“Mañjuśrī is depicted as a male bodhisattva wielding a flaming sword in his right hand, representing the realization of transcendent wisdom which cuts down ignorance and duality”

and of course fire being the bridge between light and dark has come up before in the film. the veil is visibly burning here, Luke having fully reclaimed the image of fire, which was earlier in the film held by Kylo Ren 

I mean. just. YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

40) something about this shot is extra special. everything that’s going on on the salt flats is like on this higher dimension, this spiritual plane 

41) for a moment it looks like Luke and the First Order are standing against Kylo. gives you a glimpse into Kylo’s state of mind. is the Order his weapon, or his enemy? it’s both, and he’s absolutely terrified of it

also I’ve talked about how Palpatine’s Contingency plan is about getting revenge on his Empire because he hates its power as much as he revels in it, and he dedicates a good deal of time plotting ways to kill it, because he needs to prove that he is more powerful than it

being the Emperor or Supreme Leader carries with it the distinct horror of knowing that you can never be more powerful than the thing that has empowered you

42) 

43) Luke achieving 100% maximum Buddhist allegory

44) the slope of the floor is the slope of the opening crawl of a Star Wars film 

all right that’s all folks

[toriasimmons]

Here’s a ship meme that my wife @incomprehensiblelentils​ tagged me in!

1. First ship

I’m honestly not sure. I liked things like Jasmine/Aladdin and Simba/Nala, but I didn’t spend that long thinking about them outside the context of their films or, in Jasmine and Aladdin’s case, their roles in my Barbie games (I had Barbies of them). I don’t remember loving Jo/Laurie in Little Women, but I liked it better than Laurie/Amy and Jo/Bhaer. Does that count? I wasn’t romance-focused as a kid.

2. First OTP

Oh, easy. It’s Bobby and Rogue in X2 specifically. I’ve talked about this before, but I genuinely did love them. I still think they’re really cute, but they also read more like two queer teens who either don’t know that about themselves or are trying to hide it and they’re really more just good buddies who think they’re supposed to be sexually active but it’s kind of awkward but they’re trying their hardest to be normal and then ten years from now they’ll both be out (Bobby as gay per canon, Rogue as bi because honestly that girl ain’t straight) and it’ll be a good laugh.

3. Current favorite ship

I’m gonna say Han/Gisele from the Fast Furiouses. It’s definitely one of my newest ships, but we honestly decided to cosplay it the same weekend we first watched the films featuring said romance, so that counts. And they’re a glorious bisexual power couple even if canon hasn’t said so.

4. Your ship since the first minute

This is a good time to talk about some of my beloved m/f pairs: Topher and Bennett from Dollhouse and Eric and Nora from True Blood. I liked both male characters from the get-go; I even liked Eric and Sookie together, though not in an endgame way really. But Bennett is perfect for Topher (awkward nerd love) and Nora is perfect for Eric (also a bisexual power couple, with added polyamory and supernatural woo-woo) and I honestly don’t think there was a time I didn’t ship them. Of course, I also ship Bennett/Caroline and Nora/Salome, but I know that for reasons those things could not be, and anyway Eric and Nora are poly so they can have as many partners as they want, they’ll just always also be there for each other as well.

5. Ship(s) you wish had been endgame

I mean, shipping Skimmons and Cartinelli has been a group effort with Megan since day 1. Literally. We were texting during the first episode of SHIELD going “oh this seems gay” and then we latched onto it. We technically shipped Skimmons, and related ourselves to Skimmons, before we were even dating. Bananas. Cartinelli also should have happened, for sure, and not just because Peggy’s Endgame ending was a mess. (Likewise Steve’s. I like them both a lot as characters, and I like them as a couple, even, but I don’t think they should have gone back to each other because their whole arcs were about moving on, and also Steve had two boyfriends waiting for him in the future, c’mon buddy.)

6. Ship you wish was canon

Finn/Rey in Star Wars would have been nice. (Ideally Poe/Finn/Rey/Rose/Jessika/Kaydel/Jannah/etc., but I’d be comfortable just assuming that.) And on that note, I’d love it if Leia/Holdo or Leia/Evaan from the comics were also canonized. And Padme/Sabe. Have you guys read the Padme novels? They’re just peak Sapphism. Sabe is even canonically bi/pan! Oh, and Helena/Dinah in the DCEU. They’re great and I love them.

I would also have been content with most combinations of women on Game of Thrones. Sansa/Margaery, Margaery/Brienne, Catelyn/Brienne. Dany/Doreah and/or Dany/Yara (more on this in a minute), Dany/Missandei even though I do also love Missandei/Grey Worm (por que no los dos), anything with the Sand Snakes that wasn’t incestuous. Hell, if Ellaria/Yara had actually been more than a fleeting background beat I would have been a little happier. Or, gods forbid, if they actually bothered to show Nym being bi in the show!

OH, and Jess/Trish. See notes.

7. Ship that most of the fandom hates but you love

Idfk. Most things I ship probably make someone mad because most of them are gay (and like, some Eric/Sookie people don’t understand polyamory so they’re mean to Nora). I’d say I have more ships that most people just don’t know about because I make them up than ones that they hate.

8. You don’t even watch the show, but you ship it

Oh, Brainy and Nia on Supergirl! I like them a lot from what I’ve seen in gifs. I guess maybe also Mulan/Aurora of OUAT, because while I watched the first season of that show and a little bit of the last out of context, I didn’t watch the stuff with them but I like the idea.

9. Ship you wish had a different storyline

Pam and Tara on True Blood. I mean, most of the characters on True Blood. Nora shouldn’t have died, Sookie shouldn’t have married a faceless guy, Jessica shouldn’t have married Hoyt, Willa should have gotten to do anything, Adilyn shouldn’t have dated her stepbrother, Luna shouldn’t have died and then gotten replaced by Nicole, but Pam and Tara as a couple were great at first! (At first meaning season five.) It was like a cross between enemies-to-lovers and accidentally-tied-together, but then Pam actually helped Tara better than most people could by giving her opportunities to shine and take power over the people who’d hurt her, and Tara made Pam have more feelings, and then season six happened and all the Sapphic content just vanished, and then Tara died, and Pam’s emotional development just disappeared. I’m still seething about it.

Also, to go back several years, Dany/Doreah. This should have been my first hint that B&W were going to create unnecessary misogyny and grossness. Doreah should have survived the Red Waste in order to survive the rest of the story. She and Dany should have grown together and loved each other and not dealt with betrayal and grown together. And/or Dany and Yara should have actually gotten together.

10. Favorite ship(s) that’s endgame

Karolina/Nico!!!! At least in the TV show, they are together at the end and in like an “I will always find you” way and that’s great. Gert/Chase are also great. Priya/Tony from Dollhouse, also, for similar reasons. I suggested all of those to Megan because I also have opinions about them. Oh, and Joanie/Jane of Deadwood fame! Gosh, I love them.

Shrug. I tag you if you want to do this.

[morethanonepage]

Writer asks: 19, 20, 21?

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

i mean there’s the size different thing(tm)

there’s also -- i have what i think is a very obvious & repetitive arc structure to a lot of my one shots, where the denouement is the POV character feeling a lot of feelings but playing them off with a ~joke, and then their love interest responding to the joke but also lowkey getting the ~subtext. i mean generally speaking that is all of my writing -- internal confessions of love of the oh, shit variety + steadfast refusal to speak about those feelings out lout + general tacit understanding of those feelings anyway. my ultimate relationship fantasy LMFAO.)

trope i can’t get enough of is obviously ‘friends to fwb to ~something more’

also obviously i’m obsessed w fingers running through dark hair and it’s like. ok we get it shut up about the dark silky hair alreadyyyy. it’s like patently obvious (i think) that i DON’T find blond hair attractive bc i like. never bring it up when i’m in the other POV

it’s also -- i imagine -- really annoying how often i talk about people going to sleep/being tired but again: THESE ARE MY FANTASIES. i’m 33 years old and haven’t had a good night’s sleep since 1999.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

ooof it feels like forever since i’ve written anything so it’s hard to think of something off the top of my head, but i was always really smug about how, in Washington Square, Finn’s stormtrooper helmet was represented by Finn’s sunglasses. Bc I thought it was a clever ~interpretation (given that it served the same function of hiding his eyes/keeping him somewhat anonymous while ALSO being something in the movie inspiration/something famous people actually do.) in general i did a lot of work with adapting a 90s straight romance w/ an American actor and an English bookshop owner to a 2010s queer romance w/ an English actor and an American bookshop owner. like i MADE AN EFFORT. so many fusion AUs like this just like -- drop the characters in and give them the original movie dialogue and it’s like no!!! that’s not the point of this!!! anyway i’m (as always) disappointed in myself that i didn’t end up writing the sequel to that fic -- i’m into the ~movie industry drama~ of the whole thing and i had Ideas(tm) on how to incorporate Holdo as Poe’s white feminist NEMESIS but alas. when will my self-confidence return from the war etc.

also i’m like -- really hopeful that people get that a lot of my writing has unreliable narrator POVs. like esp when i write john constantine, 90% of his internal dialogue is either him consciously or unconsciously lying to himself and the rest is like, just being a dick. 

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

porn

jk my stuff is too character dependent for porn. 

i mean sometimes my stuff is OOC wish fulfillment just for me, but also, a lot of the times i TRY to write things that could conceivably happen IN CANON and also like. should have.

also in general i write the kind of queer romcoms (where the queer part is IMPORTANT but not THE most important thing) that i wish actually existed more. like w/ good budgets and actors and everything. 

i mean that’s ultimately the point of fanfic i guess. making the conent you want to see in the world.

[felagund-fiollaigean]

Sorry, I guess I'm not done talking about star wars.

Here's why Poe's character arc in tlj fell flat.

I still love Poe as a character, I just think he could have been written better. And much like Zuko's redemption arc is the gold standard to which all other redemption arcs are held to, Ahsoka Tano's growth in leadership is the gold standard to which every other star wars character must be held to, so yeah. I'm bringing up s01e19 of the clone wars.

In Storm Over Ryloth, Ahsoka is leading a squadron of fighters for the very first time. But the separatists had laid a trap for them and they became grossly outnumbered. Both Admiral Yularen and Anakin ordered her to pull back, but she stubbornly pushed onward regardless. By the time she finally retreated, she had lost all but two of her pilots, The Redeemer was destroyed, and Admiral Yularen was severely injured.

She fucked up. And it had disasterous consequences. And she is visibly torn up by what happened. She mourns the loss of her pilots, sorrowfully apologizes to Admiral Yularen, and when Anakin thrusts the responsibility for breaking the blockade of Ryloth into her hands again, she expressed doubts that she's qualified to handle it.

It turns out okay though, cause she pulls herself together and ends up coming up with and confidently executing a plan to break the blockade with only one star-destroyer left.

Now, on paper, Poe's situation in tlj is very similar. He's in command of a bunch of ships, ignores orders to retreat, and sacrifices all of their bomber crews and a lot of starfighter pilots to destroy the first order ship when their primary goal was to simply escape. He is demoted for this. And has the audacity to argue with Leia about this. Even when they're about to announce Leia's replacement, he assumes it will be him, even though he was just demoted.

Now are these fine and good character flaws for a person to have? Sure. Is it reasonable for him to have doubts or concerns about Holdo's leadership style? Of course. But he doesn't seem affected by any of this. He continues to assume he's right.

Btw, I'm not here to talk about Holdo. Whether or not she was justified to not tell anyone the plan, I honestly don't give a shit. The point is twice so far, Poe has ignored direct orders from a commanding officer. I don't care what your convictions are or how strong your personality is. That's not a good look, especially when you're wrong about it. And he gets people hurt.

My point to all this is, at the end in the caves on Crait, there's this bit where Leia looks to him to lead the resistance forward, and he accepts the challenge, but there wasn't anything in his actions to suggest he actually learned his lesson, or was capable of acting with a level head, or apologized to anybody. When he woke up on the transport he was like "huh, well whadya know." There was nothing like a "gee, I'm really sorry I doubted two venerated and experienced resistance leaders who vastly outrank me and went so far to commit mutiny because our admiral doesn't like me."

Okay, maybe that last bit is a little bit exaggerated. You get the gist though. Character development should be a sandwich. Bread, which is demonstration of problematic behaviors, followed by Fixings, which is where the problematic behaviors have bad consequences and the character sees where they need to improve and begins to change, and finally bread again, which is the character demonstrating different and improved behavior.

One piece of bread with a fancy toothpick stuck in isn’t a sandwich.

Everyone seemed to move on like it was no big deal, and that's why I maintain that in that moment, Poe was more of a Mary Sue than Rey will ever be.

The last jedi wasn't the worst star wars movie by any means, I don't hate this movie. I love it enough that I want to take the time to find the problems and think about how they could have been better. This bugged me cause I like Poe and wanted him to have a more satisfying character arc. Idk, feel free to come at me if you want to.

[lessattitudemorealtitude]

A TLJ Take

So I got to thinking about TLJ last night while I couldn’t sleep. For those who don’t know, I’m not a fan. My main qualms were:

1) They introduced new characters when they should have focused on the already established ones

2) The pacing. So far the entirety of the Sequel story has taken place over, like, three days. Maybe a week at the most. 

There were a lot of details and stuff that bugged me but these are really the main two. 

But I realized last night, that there was a simple way to make TLJ a lot better and more coherent: Poe and Finn should have basically switched places. 

One of the reasons I don’t like Rose and Holdo as characters is because it felt like their development was happening at the expense of Poe and Finn’s characters developing. Rose felt like they were just trying to shoe-horn in a sympathetic ‘every day’ person by having her give commentary in situations that felt completely forced. Holdo was framed to be a ‘bad guy’ in order to have Poe screw up (and I hate that she’s framed as a ‘good leader’ even though a good leader would have known that talking to someone like Poe in such a condescending manner wasn’t going to inspire confidence in him). 

(Actually, I still think Holdo was wholly unnecessary for the film. Everything she did, Leia should have done. It would have been way more impactful).

Anyway, back to my hot take: Poe should have been the one who ended up going on a crazy adventure with Rose. Why? Well one, her sister died on a reckless mission that he led. Instead of developing Rose instead of Finn, they could have had Rose and Poe develop together as she faces someone who is ostensibly on her side but is arguably the reason her only family is gone. Poe could have faced the direct consequences of his rash actions and have had a serious coming down moment. He’s always been in the fight (just like his parents) so this is just life for him, but Rose didn't grow up the way he did. THAT would have been a way more interesting way to develop both characters imo.

Well then what is Finn doing? I think Finn should have gone right into trying to find Rey. He makes it to Achto and Rey tells him what’s going on with Luke and Kylo Ren. Finn I think would have made a good addition to this arc. He is basically the person Rey trusts most at this point. She’s known him the longest and they’ve been through the most together (given the tiny timeline). While she might not listen to Luke telling Rey Ben Solo is irredeemable, she might be more willing to listen to Finn who I imagine would be a source of reason. 

You can even still have Rey going off to face Kylo Ren, Finn joining her (or just going back to the Resistance ship to help out, hoping Rey knows what she’s doing). 

It’s not a perfect rewrite by far. But gosh darn it, I think they missed a golden opportunity with Poe and Rose. 

[jadejedi]

So You Hate The Last Jedi

Part One- Theme   Part Two- Luke    Part Three- Rey     Part Four- Finn

Part One- Intro and Themes

So, you hated The Last Jedi. I know that this is a hot take in most corners of the Star Wars fandom here at tumblr.com, but The Last Jedi is my second favorite Star Wars movie of all time, easily, behind Empire. I know a LOT of people disagree with me, especially among hard-core Star Wars fans, and I understand. I really do. I actually hated The Last Jedi when it first came out. I hated it for a good year or so, until I heard some convincing arguments that made me want to rewatch it, and after that viewing, I appreciated it more. And honestly, the more I rewatched it, the more I loved it. 

I realize that this movie is more than two years old at this point, but I still see a lot of hate for it here, and that makes me sad :( So, I wanted to talk about it. 

I know that the sequel trilogy isn’t super popular with most prequel fans, but I hope that if you are a prequel trilogy fan, you will hear me out, because I personally find a lot of closure for the saga as a whole, especially the prequel trilogy, in The Last Jedi, and think it does a lot to tie the saga together. 

And If you’re a fan of The Force Awakens, but hated TLJ, I hope you’ll hear me out because I was you, for a long time. I couldn’t even think of this movie without my blood boiling. But now I see it as a great continuation of the characters that we first fell in love with TFA. 

Okay, let’s strap in. 

While there are perfectly valid reasons to dislike and criticize TLJ, such as the pacing, for example, I do take some issue with a lot of the criticisms I see of this movie.

 Some of these things have been covered to varying extents by the videos that convinced me to do a rewatch, and some I haven’t really seen discussed, so I want to just write out some of my thoughts. This could honestly be a really, really long post, so instead I’m going to split it up into five parts. 

A couple of things before I start: 

First off: here are the videos that originally made me reevaluate my opinion: 

Shaun’s “A Defense of The Last Jedi”

Jenny Nicholson’s “Top Ten Worst Reasons You Hated The Last Jedi”

And this one, which I only watched recently, but also adds to the discussion:

Just Write’s “The Last Jedi and the 7 Basic Questions of Narrative Drama”

And secondly: 

I am not going to defend every single criticism I’ve ever seen levied against this movie, because honestly, I don’t care. If you didn’t like this movie because of the choreography of the Throne Room fight scene, or because you think the Holdo manuver is stupid, or you’re mad that Snoke wasn’t Darth Plagueis, then I don’t think I will be able to change your mind. 

Here are the main criticisms I want to deal with: 

1. Luke’s character was treated horribly. Luke would never try and kill his nephew, not when it was his love that saved and redeemed his father. Having him run off and hide on a deserted planet, cut off from the Force, and drinking green milk from an alien sea cow is a disservice to his character. 

2. It’s stupid that Rey’s parents are nobodies (I’m going to pretend that TRoS doesn’t exist because it clearly doesn’t reflect Johnson’s intentions, therefore isn’t relevant to my argument). She should be a ______ (Skywalker, Kenobi, reincarnated Anakin, Palpatine, etc). 

3. Finn’s character arc was pointless, the whole Canto Bight storyline was useless because it didn’t accomplish anything and why was he stuck with Rose the whole movie and split up from Rey/Poe?? Also, his character arc is literally just a rehash from TFA????

4. Why did the movie portray Poe as a too cocky flyboy? Why didn’t Holdo just tell him the plan? 

I’m not going to discuss Kylo Ren, because I think Shaun and Jenny’s videos both do a great job of discussing this and I have nothing to add. Same thing for anyone who thinks that Rey is a Mary Sue. It has been discussed at length by many people, and does not need to be echoed by myself.

With that out of the way, we can get into the first topic: theme.

In order to properly address these criticisms, we first need to have a discussion of the themes of The Last Jedi. Most of these questions listed above can be answered by the theme, which is all but stated outright several times, first by Finn, and then by Yoda. 

After the Canto Bight chase scene (a scene I admit is a ‘fill up your popcorn’ scene), Finn states, in response to Rose telling him that they’re trapped, “It was worth it, though. To tear up that town, make ‘em hurt.”

And when Yoda’s Force Ghost appears to Luke, he says, “Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, mm, but weakness, folly, failure, also, yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher failure is.”

These are basically the two most important lines of the movie. If you get anything from The Last Jedi, it should be these two lines, as they summarize the theme. I would say the theme of TLJ can best be summed up as, “Failure is not always a bad thing; through failure we can learn from our mistakes, and there is hope that can be taken from that.”

That is why the movie’s main villain and our protagonist’s main antagonist, Kylo Ren, says something along the lines of ‘let go of the past’. He doesn’t learn from his mistakes. As Shaun says in his video, he kills his father in The Force Awakens and is emotionally crippled because of it, but then in The Last Jedi, he fails because he once again tries to kill his other main father figure, rather than learning from his mistakes. 

And that is why Canto Bight exists. Or at least one of the two main reasons. Canto Bight doesn’t do a lot for the plot, but it does a ton for the theme. The whole point is that good things can come out of failure, that sometimes it is the things you learn along the way that are important. 

Why does Luke try to kill Ben? Because of the theme. Now, that doesn’t mean it was a good decision for his character, I’m leaving that for part two, but that is why. And why Poe is so cocky, and why Rey believes that she can turn Kylo, even when all evidence points otherwise. 

While this theme of failure is the main theme of The Last Jedi, it is not the only theme. I would say that there are two smaller, yet still significant ideas running through this movie. The first is one that reeeeeaaaaaallllllllly pisses off some of the more dudebro elements of the fandom, specifically the idea of how men listen to women. 

In The Last Jedi, there are three main male hero characters, Finn, Poe, and Luke, and all three of them have conflicts that involve disagreeing with a woman. Now, first of all, I am NOT saying that these three male characters are sexist, or that Rian Johnson thinks that they are, or even wrote them to be. To me, this message wasn’t so much for the characters, as for the audience. He didn’t write three men being wrong about a woman to say, “hey look Finn, Poe, and Luke are all bad and sexist’, he wrote them this way to say, especially to the very dudebros who took offense to some parts of this movie, “hey, look, sometimes women will challenge you. It’s up to you to listen to them and take them seriously.” And hey, love that for us. 

While a large part of the Star Wars Fandom is some amount of progressive, a very vocal part of the fanbase is decidedly not. I appreciate, in fact that Rian Johnson was able to put in this message *without* making Finn, Poe, and Luke look sexist, as I like to think sexism is fairly rare in the world of Star Wars. The reason that these characters disagreed with Rey or Holdo or Rose wasn’t because they are women, but the reason that some male fans are so upset about it is. I think just seeing these male characters learn important, valuable lessons from these female characters is really great, and really not what I would have expected from this movie.

The second smaller, yet still important, idea running throughout this movie, dealing with a collective dark history, is one I will deal with more later.

[textualdeviance]

"The Force brought me here. It brought me to Rey, to Poe."- Finn, TROS

John Boyega is currently giving no fucks whatsoever on Twitter, which is glorious. Good timing for the third and final part of my trio-character profiles: Finn!

(See also: Rey and Poe)

Let’s face it: Finn is very easy to love. He’s basically an adorable, lost puppy you want to take home and cuddle forever. It takes someone incredibly pure of heart to go through what he did and still come out of it with not only a functional moral compass, but a sense that he has a duty to care for the people around him. He does have a short time where he’s more concerned with self-preservation than helping the Resistance (which he thinks is doomed), but once he gets past that, he’s all in, as exemplified by his attempt at a kamikaze run on Crait. 

And it’s that arc–getting past the trauma of his childhood to become a hero–that makes Finn such a compelling character.

How many people could be put through something as awful as Stormtrooper training from childhood and yet come out of it with as much inherent honor as a dedicated Boy Scout? Even with a little nudge here and there from the Force in the right direction (interesting, isn’t it, that he had that inexplicable urge to desert the First Order when he was on the same planet as the Force’s latest Chosen One), he still had to be a good person to begin with. 

As a side note: Honestly, I have to say how eyeroll-inducing it is when some hardcore Kyle stans talk about how tragic his life was, like he’s the only person in this story who’s ever suffered. I mean come the gibbering fuck on. Ben may have had Palpatine in his head from birth, but at least he had a loving family that tried their best to keep him safe and happy. Rey got left in the care of Unkar Plutt when she was about six. Can you imagine the horrors she had to go through? Can you imagine how alone she felt? She was literally starving and just trying to stay alive. And Finn was stolen from his family before he was even old enough to remember his birth name (check the trooper-database picture of him that comes up in TFA: He’s little more than a toddler.) What the hell do you think the First Order does to the kids it steals and turns into mindless killing machines? What do you think it did to the kids who for one reason or another didn’t take to that training? 

But I digress. The point is that Finn and Rey didn’t have Ben’s advantages and also had plenty of things pushing them to darkness (literally, in Rey’s case) but they still embraced the light��and the light in each other–anyway. They bonded quickly in large part because they both had such horrible childhoods, even though they didn’t know that about each other at first. These are some deeply, deeply scarred people who undoubtedly have extreme problems with trust and being vulnerable enough to love. Neither of them really know who they are when the story starts. They just know, thanks to the Force, that there’s something more–something good–they should be doing. And they’re also both drawn to Poe–Finn before Rey, of course–because he’s a caretaker and protector: Someone who proves over the course of the story that he won’t abandon them.

Both Finn and Rey have no clue whatsoever how normal adult relationships work when they first enter this story. Finn apparently has some understanding of the concept, since he asks her whether she has a boyfriend, but it’s very likely neither one of them has had any romantic relationships at all before they meet. They’re both technically adults, with adult brain development and judgment (though obviously some of that is colored by trauma), but when it comes to love? They’re lost. What they do know, within the first few minutes after they’re safe aboard the Falcon, is that they like each other a lot, and that bond continues to grow throughout the story. Finn of course also had strong feelings for Poe–the man who helped him leave the First Order and, believing in his humanity, gave him his real name–and he’s broken hearted when he thinks Poe has died in the TIE crash on Jakku. Taking his jacket is partly a disguise move, but also, he wants to hold on to something from the first person who treated him with true kindness. When Finn finally gets back to the base after the attack on Takodana, where does he go first? To see if his suspicions were correct about who was piloting that black-and-orange X-wing. He could have gone with Han, but if there’s a slight chance that his rescuer is still alive, he wants to know. Once he confirms that–their mutual delight at this is so lovely–the very next thing he does is tell Poe about Rey. That’s another adorable-puppy moment, I think: “Yay! You’re alive! I love you! Let me tell you all about this other person I love, too! You rescued me. Can you help me rescue her, too?”

The next several parts of Finn’s story come down to trying to maintain that instinctive connection he has with Rey, while also realizing Poe loves him, too. That last bit isn’t exactly easy, though. Finn is very focused on his own feelings. Having never really been loved before, he doesn’t easily recognize it in other people. Kindness, sure, but love? Eh. What he does know is how he feels about others, and most of that is initially focused on Rey. Only when Poe tells him (in a deleted TLJ scene) that she survived the battle on Starkiller and is safely on her way to her new mission does he relax at all. He’s also oblivious at that moment to what it means that Poe took the time to repair and return the jacket (I admit to some amusement at Poe’s slight crankiness at Finn not getting the hint about that.) All of that is quickly derailed, however, when the ship is attacked. Finn’s right there to take care of Poe when the hangar gets blown up, and shortly after, he picks up Rey’s beacon when it slips from Leia’s hand. Then (in another deleted scene) he goes to sit for a while to figure out what to do. BB-8 helpfully shows him a recording he made of Rey saying goodbye while he was convalescing, and that seems to push his decision to leave. Poe’s relatively safe, if worried about Leia and annoyed with Holdo, the cruiser is staying ahead of the FO ships for the time being, and Finn wants to go make sure Rey stays away from the front lines. Meeting Rose, of course, puts a wrench in that plan, but they make another one, he hands Poe wthe beacon (showing an incredible depth of trust there), and he’s off. 

In the middle of all the stuff with Canto Bight, Rose develops her own crush on Finn, which he’s once again oblivious to until that surprise kiss during the battle of Crait. When he finally sees Rey again, at the end of TLJ, he falls into her arms like that’s where he’s supposed to be. Between TLJ and TROS, Finn and Rose apparently resolve their potential relationship issues, but then we start getting some slight tension between Poe and Rey. 

Poe, of course, is still in love with Finn, and Finn’s in love with Rey, even if he insists to Poe (in Resistance Reborn) that they’re just friends–same as with Rose. She loves him back, and cares for Poe, too, but she’s still trying to deal with her own demons, and doesn’t have the mental and emotional bandwidth to deal with that stuff. All she wants to know is that Poe will take care of her BFF while she’s off. Poe, being rather more mature and experienced, figures out the solution: Go with her! And that’s where we see things starting to coalesce as they all finish the last steps of their personal journeys. 

By the time the story ends, Finn and the two people he loves the most have all come out of their trials by fire changed in very good ways: Rey has faced her darkness and defeated it. Poe has faced his own fears of failure and inadequacy and become a powerful, confident leader. And Finn has faced the people who stole his childhood and played a huge role in cutting them down.  

Most importantly, all three of them have found in each other what they’ve been missing their whole lives: Home.  

[mrmallardsmobileposts]

How I Think The Star Wars Sequels Should Have Happened: Another MrMallard Nerd Moment

(MAJOR SPOILERS)

The Force Awakens:

fine jumping on point. Not perfect, but honestly a return to form in regards to making Star Wars movies fun again. Keep TFA as-is, warts and all - the trick is paying this movie off by the end.

The Last Jedi:

Less faux-Guardians of the Galaxy humor. That's not to say "no humor", I honestly thought Luke Skywalker had the best jokes of the movie, but less "your mother" and less "Finn wakes up from a coma and drips IV fluid everywhere, Wakka Wakka!". The former is corny, the latter is undignified and actively cheapens character development from the prior movie.

Cut the stampeding race-beasts, because it reeks of Disney's "fuck you we're Disney" money, but keep Canto Bight as a whole. The alien designs are charming - it's a nice moment of fanservice, along with the Jizz music. It also serves as a nice character-building exercise for Rose and Finn.

Ultimately, I think it might have been a better idea to kill off Leia in this movie considering Carrie Fisher's passing. I don't dislike her in this movie, and I honestly enjoyed the scene of her in space - my first thought was "holy fuck she can use the force!!" - but I think it would have been better for her to pass on in this movie, both logistically and for her character. That, or they should have scaled back her cobbled together Frankenstein-performance of CGI, cut lines and recontextualised footage in TRoS. Either/or.

Keep the mutiny plot with Poe, but something has to be done with how they treat the secret plan. The resolution to the mutiny plot was the thing that bothered me the most with TLJ, but it's pretty much the only thing for Poe to do in the movie and it adds conflict to the main story I guess. Making the Holdo/Poe seem a little less personal might help? idk. honestly a lot of this storyline felt forced.

Don't try and resolve Rey's backstory in this movie. Keep it as a running mystery. I understand that they were trying to go for a clever subversion in this movie, but it just added another stupid thing that TRoS bad to address and it honestly kinda ruins the trilogy.

Honestly, either cut Crait entirely and make it the beginning of the next movie - bc the movie's already two hours long and it feels like the final battle stretches the movie out beyond its natural ending point - or shorten it a bit and make it a bit more functional. It looks cool, but at that point it's like tacking an extra mile onto a marathon.

Also, don't shoehorn a failed heroic sacrifice with Finn imo. That, or give him more screentime and character development to build up to that moment. Post-TFA, he's really half-baked, and I honestly think he should have been more of a focal character next to Rey. The heroic sacrifice felt like it came out of nowhere, and by thwarting it and adding the Rose Tico scene, it felt like a waste of time even having it in there. It comes and goes with no fanfare.

Honestly, I would have preferred if Luke stayed alive at the end of the movie. I think his death was a movie too soon. Saying that, I think they nailed his death in this movie - if they were gonna kill him off, I think they did it right. Also, don't kill off Snoke. It's a cool scene, but it fucks up the next movie.

Re: Rose Tico - she's not my favorite part of the movie, but I don't actively hate her and I think the response to her character that Kelly Marie Tran had to face was absolutely disgusting. I think her plotline with Finn was a little underbaked, and that scene at the end where she prevents his heroic sacrifice just kinda sidelines them both. I think making her a navigator would have helped her character in TLJ and TRoS.

In short: trim a few excessive CGI scenes, cut a few cornball jokes out, play around with the characterisation and tone of the mutiny plot, dignify Finn's character instead of reducing him to a rehashed coward, comedic relief character and pointless failed Rebel martyr, and maybe keep Luke Skywalker alive at the end. Bring the movie in at around 2 hours max.

Keep Luke Skywalker as-is, bc his character is a highlight of TLJ.

The Rise of Skywalker:

Kill off Luke Skywalker in this movie. Seriously, just cut and paste his death at the end of TLJ into this movie. Work him into a reduced role when Rey junks her ship, like the force projection messed him up and he doesn't have much longer to live, and have him help her when she returns to his island planet instead of adding a phoned-in Force Ghost appearance. Maybe have her there when he passes?

Reduce Leia's role in this movie instead of stitching together a Frankenstein's Monster of a performance. Not to be morbid by that reference - it's just that everything she says feels so stilted and wrong, like you can definitely tell they've thrown all the scraps they have left into her character in this movie. It doesn't feel natural or respectful for her character to spit out non-sequiters for the characters to respond to in an equally unnatural sort of way.

Honestly? Canonise Fey/Rinn, however you want to portmanteau Rey and Finn's ship name. If you give Finn more of a character arc in TLJ instead of side-lining him, and establish that he and Rey are particularly close - which they are IMO - and then pay off that "I have something to tell you" beat with a confession of love. This isn't a stab against Reylo, though I've certainly had words to say about Reylo, I just think Finn/Rey is a more wholesome ship and I prefer this dynamic to the fuckin dark side/light side paradigm of Reylo. I Just don't care for it. Kylo Ren's conflicted nature doesn't have to resolve in romance. Gimme Rey/Finn.

Snoke gets offed by Palpatine. There's no breeding vat for Snokes, but if the movie wants to suggest that he's still just a puppet or a creation, that's fine. That, or build Snoke up as the bad guy, and either follow through on that or have Palpatine be a twist halfway through the movie.

Maybe make Palpatine a Sith Ghost? They do exist to some degree. Or have him stuck in some other limbo that requires him to hijack Rey. Anything is better than that "if I do this you do this, but then I'll do this so you would have to do this, but really I'm going to do this so either way my entire plan was completely unnecessary lmao" clusterfuck where he's a living corpse impaled on a robot arm.

Cut out the macguffins, or make them feel less inconsequential. Okay, so the dagger storyline involves rebooting C3PO. It has stakes and gravitas to a degree. Cool - keep that. What the fuck is up with the wayfinders though? Why are there only two? Why do they need to be so convoluted?

Maybe have Maz Kanata talk about Luke's lightsaber, and/or have her involved in finding a way to Palpatine. It would pay off her appearance in TFA and explain her importance to Luke.

By making Rose Tico a great navigator in TLJ, her role on the team can be expanded in TRoS and she can do like star charts and stuff for all the different worlds they're going to - she can come along instead of being fucked over by JJ Abrams in this movie. She can even help with Maz Kanata's wayfinding plan. In short - make her a part of the team.

Honestly, fuck the Knights of Ren right off. They're a waste of time. That, or set them up in TLJ - hell, have one of them on Canto Bight and another one on Snoke's ship. Maybe even retcon Phasma into being a Knight of Ren. Anything but bringing them back as a mook squad in this movie, with no weight or character.

Honestly? Show Palpatine surviving the Death Star crash. The retcon is all the more painful for being completely and utterly unexplained. Doesn't matter if you have to touch the source material to do it, CG in a force shield as Palpatine falls through fire and have him hobble to a life support pod that takes him to where he is in TRoS. Literally anything is better than "Somehow, Palpatine returned".

Either cut the healing powers, or leave them in sans Reylo kiss.

In short: reduce Leia's role instead of using cut content and a CGI puppet to stitch together a performance, leave Luke alive until this movie, kill Snoke in this movie OR have him be the big bad, make Finn/Rey a thing over Reylo - again, no hate, I just prefer this pairing over Reylo - write more details about Palpatine's survival, either put some Knights of Ren into TLJ or don't have them at all, get rid of the Wayfinder macguffins and/or work Maz Kanata and "master navigator" Rose Tico into a plot to find Palpatine.

At the end of the day, there should have been a planning committee for the Star Wars story, not for the merchandise. You can see from how the sequel trilogy crammed out merchandise that Disney was clearly asking for marketable merch, but the story is a trainwreck - there was a Star Wars committee, just not where the property needed one.

The sequel trilogy was a worthwhile experiment imo - it didn't pay off, but it was worth doing just to see if it was possible. But even then, I would prefer three decent movies over a couple of experimental trainwrecks retroactively ruining one decent movie.

This post was mostly trying to work with what the movies already have, though by TRoS you really do have to start overhauling shit to make it work. In my eyes, the longest that these movies should run is two hours - any more than that is a slog, especially when the movie feels like it takes two hours. The Last Jedi felt like two and a half hours. The Rise of Skywalker felt like a two hour movie crammed into 80 minutes, despite the fact it was longer than 2 hours. The best way to make these movies more watchable is to make them shorter - cut out superfluous money shot scenes like the Canto Bight chase, have more efficient scenes to balance out the stylish scenes. The sequel trilogy is short on efficiency imo, and without a movie where it feels like progress is being made, the style doesn't work.

So tweak some things to make each movie more efficient.

[burnouts3s3]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously. I enjoyed all 5 Michael Bay Transformers films, for crying out loud.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Ticket Price: Will Vary Theater to Theater How much I paid: Nothing. A friend took me to a screening. Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action. Running time: 142 minutes (2 Hours and 22 Minutes) 3-D: Yes, but I didn’t see it in 3-D. Post-Credits Sequences: None. My Personal Biases: I’ve watched all of the main Star Wars films. I’m mixed on the Phantom Menace. I actually like Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I like the Original Trilogy. I’m okay on The Force Awakens. I actually really like Rogue One. I do not actively dislike the Last Jedi. I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars Cartoons past Rebels. I have not seen Solo or the Mandalorian. Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 are among my favorite games. I had a subscription to the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. I haven’t played Jedi Fallen Order. I have not read any of the Star Wars books. Did you read the leaks online: Yes. Are the leaks close to the theatrical release?: Pretty much, though a subplot about Lando Calrissian’s long lost daughter seems to have been removed. Wait, is Rose Tico in this?: Yes, but she’s basically a background character. She hangs around the Resistance base delivering exposition with Leia. Is Admiral Holdo in this?:  Not that I saw. I heard people say she’s a voiceover Force Ghost but the ghosts’s voices overlap so much, I couldn’t tell one voice from the other. My Verdict: After all that’s said and done, it feels like the sequel trilogy doesn’t add up to the sum of its individual parts. It feels as though Abrams and Johnson’s visions for Star Wars have vastly differed and without someone such as producer Kevin Feige to oversee the plotline, it sort of feels like a mess. Still, I had fun. (Warning: SPOILERS ahead!) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

Ever since Disney acquired LucasFilms, there’s been a curiousity that Disney would make the new Star Wars films better than the prequel trilogy of George Lucas’ vision. After the divisive reaction between fans and critics over The Last Jedi, what will returning director J.J. Abrams do?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Haters and Fans, HK units and Meatbags, this is a review of Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker.

One year after the Battle of Crait, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith Wayfinder device and travels to the planet Exegol. He discovers a physically impaired Palpatine, who reveals he created Snoke as a puppet to control the First Order and lure Kylo to the dark side. Palpatine unveils a secret armada of Star Destroyers and tells Kylo to find Rey, who is continuing her Jedi training under General Leia Organa. Meanwhile, Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca retrieve information on Kylo's discovery originating from a First Order mole. After learning that Palpatine has returned, Rey discovers notes on a Sith artifact in the Jedi texts Luke Skywalker left behind. Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8, and C-3PO leave for Passanna to seek a contact Luke knew, while R2-D2 stays behind with Leia.

Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber duels are nothing compared to the dueling tones and continuities’ of Rian Johnson’s revisionist take and J.J. Abrams overwhelming need to pay tribute to the Original Trilogy.

It feels especially after the mixed reception from the Last Jedi, Rise of the Skywalker is the film they made to appease everyone, even going so far as to contradict the last movie. I have an easier time believing Ant-man and the Guardians of the Galaxy belong in the same cinematic franchise than The Last Jedi and Rise of the Skywalker.

I’m going to spoil the film so I’ll give my verdict and explain how I felt after the cut. If you don’t want to be spoiled, look away now!

Verdict:

Matinee and turn your brain off.

LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK BEFORE I SPOIL THE FILM.

-Rey is Palpatine’s Granddaughter. Kylo continues his rant from The Last Jedi and explains her parents became nobodies BECAUSE they were Palpatine’s children and gave everything up to make sure Rey was kept away from him.

-Rey, Finn and Poe go along a journey to find Palpatine and kill him once and for all before he destroys the galaxy, such as finding Sith Daggers and erasing C-3P0’s memory to find the coordinates.

-Rey and Kylo Ren have a fight on a sunken portion of the Death Star and Rey kills Kylo Ren in a fight. Kylo Ren was distracted because Leia “used the last of her powers” to redeem Kylo Ren, thus giving Rey the opportunity to stab him. Rey heals Kylo Ren and steals his ship to go back to the planet in the Last Jedi. She does this because she’s afraid of becoming a Palpatine. Leia dies because of this (probably to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher). Poe becomes the new general of the Resistance.

-Force Ghost Luke talks to Rey while a vision of Han (it’s unclear if he’s a Force Ghost or just a vision in Kylo Ren’s head because he isn’t blue and transparent like Luke) and Han redeems him. (I’m guessing and, this is pure speculation from my part, that the scene originally had Leia come back as a Force Ghost, as in she would be the one to succeed in redeeming Kylo Ren where Luke and Han failed, but Carrie Fisher sadly passed away before the scene could be photographed.)

-Palpatine unleashes a fleet of Star Destroyers, each equipped with leftover pieces of the Death Star, meaning each Star Destroyer has the capability of destroying a planet. (Can we please have something besides the Death Star to be the final weapons? There’s been a plethora of other doomsday weapons we could use, we don’t need to keep going back to this one. Hell, SWTOR came up with a bunch of doomsday weapons.). The Resistance goes in one final battle to stop him.

-Rey confronts Palpatine and Palpatine attempts to taunt her to killing him, risking her friends dying to the fleet. If she does so, “all of the Sith” spirits will transfer into her. A redeemed Ben Solo comes in to save her. Using their Force Bond, Rey sneaks a Lightsaber to Ben while she uses another one to deflect Palpatine’s Lightning.

-Ben and Rey both confront Palpatine but Palpatine uses the Force to extract the Bond from them and let him power up his Sith Lightning so it’s capable of shooting up to the sky and destroying Resistance ships.

-Palpatine throws Ben over a Ravine and states “And so the Last of the Skywalkers Falls”.

-Palpatine shoots Lightning at Rey but Rey deflects the Lightning to Palpatine. Palpatine states “I am all of the Sith” to which Rey replies “And I am All of the Jedi”. She successfully kills Palpatine but it causes her to die as well, allowing the Resistance to defeat the Star Destroyer armada and save the galaxy.

-Ben climbs up the Ravine and sees a Dead Rey. Using the technique Rey used to heal him, he successfully brings Rey back to life. They share a kiss on the lips but then he dies.

-The Resistance meets up on a jungle planet and everyone hugs each other. Moz gives Chewbacca a medal. (I liked that part). Rey, Finn and Poe all hug each other.

-In the final scene, Rey returns to the burned Lars residence and buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. She draws out her own lightsaber which has an orange / yellow hue. A stranger passes by and asks her name. Rey, after seeing the Force Ghosts of Luke and Leia in the distance, answers, “Rey Skywalker”, adopting the name of her masters. She and BB-8 walk off to the twin sunsets of Tatooine and the film ends.

Obviously, there’s a lot to go over so I’ll just post my thoughts.

I don’t dislike Rey, but she feels too much like a series of reveals. I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, but the living embodiment of J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box, where in there’s always some sort of twist to her character. I don’t even mind the reveal that she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter and the final climax of the film is her rejecting her biological family in favor of her new family. It’s too bad that the other protagonists, Finn and Poe, don’t have much to do because their individual arcs wrapped up in the Last Jedi. Sure, there’s lipservice to the idea that Poe will be the new General following in Leia’s footsteps and Finn is still around because, as a former First Order soldier, he knows his way around ships, but they feel really perfunctory while Rey gets the spotlight.

I realize the reason I dislike the idea of Leia being Force Sensitive isn’t so much the Retcons to continuity but moreso the idea that she’s an accomplished General because she had Force Sensitivity as opposed to being just a capable woman. It’s inadvertently stating “This woman is awesome because she had space magic” as opposed to “this woman is awesome because she didn’t need Space Magic to get the job done”. It’s funny; producer Kathleen Kennedy was trying make the vision of a Female Jedi cool (which I can totally believe she’s genuine in that vision), but in doing so, it makes non-Force users such as Finn and Poe seem useless. To me, personally, I would have preferred (not demanded but preferred) that both Ben and Rey defeat Palpatine together and they both inherit the Skywalker surname. It feels like Rian Johnson was setting up parallel storylines of Ben and Rey to join together to be the new Jedi order but for whatever reason, they killed off Ben. They want to set up that Luke and Leia were a Force-sensitive Duo, but they don’t do the same for Rey and Ben?  Maybe, this should have been “Rise of the Skywalkers” instead of “Rise of the Skywalker”.

Apparently Finn skipped that part of Stormtrooper orientation about Jet Packs.

Apparently, you can also plug in ancient Sith Holocrons to your ship and it will still be legible for Future Generations. Always forward thinking those ancient Sith Lords.

CAVEAT: You know what’s weird? For all talk about continuity and lore and fanservice, the one franchise I do think accomplishes what the new Star Wars trilogy was trying to do is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is also a Disney owned subsidiary AND promotes an inclusive globalist message). I realize the strength of the MCU comes from the fact they can do prequels, sequels and side stories in the universe and develop individual characters and do ensemble pieces since all the character work is in the other movies.

Meanwhile, Rise of the Skywalker is overstuffed with giving each of the characters screentime, dealing with the continuity and paying homage to the original movies.

However I feel about Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, Rose and BB-8, it just doesn’t seem to mesh together as seamlessly as Groot meeting Steve Rogers.

Does that feel weird to anyone else?

In a film franchise that gave us Midichlorians, Pod Racing, Jar Jar, the Clones, and Boss Nass, it doesn’t really surprise me that the silly stuff here is going to be added among those. The effects are handsome looking, the score is awesome and I’ll probably bring my family to a screening just to spend the Holidays together, but it didn’t really come together for me.

I don’t need a retcon. I don’t need an extended cut. I won’t sign a petition asking for LucasFilms to rewrite the movie. And I don’t think people that genuinely enjoyed this movie are paid shills (which clearly doesn’t work since this film has a Rotten Critic score on Rotten Tomatoes).

To me, this silly movie is just as canon as Anakin Skywalker being a snot nosed 9 year old who said cheesy lines about angels to older women. And I’ll buy the Rifftrax track for this film so I can rewatch it again with the commentary.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just some anonymous jerk on the internet.

[galacticwildfire]

Yesss, that scene in Freefall where Poe wants to kill Sotin is one that's never talked about but should be. It's probably the one scene from the book that's stuck with me the most, and one of the reasons I love freefall is seeing him grappling so much with his own morality. My biggest take away with Poe's character from that book is the fact he does have it in him to be ruthless enough to do what has to be done, especially in the heat of the moment, but in his heart he knows it has to be for the right cause which leads beautifully into his character in Before The Awakening.

There's a lot of parallels in freefall with other media that stick with me, like Poe damn near nearly breaking his hand after that fight with Zorii. Then in the comics he's taking out his frustration physically much to BB-8's distress when it's that dark and he's that paranoid he can't even trust L'ulo, who's been with him his entire life, which honestly I'd consider his lowest point pre TFA. I've always found it an interesting part of his character that his anger presents so strongly to the point he has to find a physical outlet for it whether it's vocally or to the point of actually hurting himself.

I've also noticed it nearly always comes out when he's in a position where he can't trust the people closest to him, such as the arc with Oddy and then at different parts with Zorii, since he values those relationships and that trust so strongly. Also when he can't change a situation that's out of his control such as the arc with Holdo (i have so many issues with holdo straight up dismissing Poe despite being Leia's right hand man, the man who was literally in charge of an entire fighter wing of the resistance for years) and then again with the trafficking in Freefall. It tears him apart inside to the point he has to take action and it shows when he faces Sotin and Terex in the aftermath.

Thinking about what a sweet, kind, silly and gentle hearted person Poe is until you piss him off and once that switch is flipped, he's a force to be reckoned with

Oh, did you mean? my most favorite? facet? of his character? that makes me lose my marbles? and also happens to be maybe my favorite character trope of all time? that? Okay I hope you were expecting an infodump because what-ho! that's what's happening, I have come prepared and with receipts, let's fucking go on how Poe Dameron is a goddamned force of nature and how the galaxy should be really fucking thankful his loyalty is first and foremost to the Resistance and to the Light, because if it wasn't...well, I'd dread to think, but it wouldn't be good for anyone else.

The fun thing for me, is that it has always been a part of Poe's character, right from The Force Awakens -- it's subtle, but it's there, hidden between the sassy quips in the face in danger and the professionality of Commander Dameron; little fleeting moments that tell you that Poe Dameron is not someone to be trifled with at all, including one of his very first scenes:

I'm 90% certain that Poe's gaze actually lands first on Tekka's body here, before lifting it up to glare at Ren - and that's more than just a defiant glare, that's a look of loathing. Which fits, considering that I do believe the Force Awakens novelization confirms that Poe rushes in without thinking, and acts on sheer anger/rage when he goes to shoot Ren after Ren kills Tekka.

(More lengthy thoughts under the cut, I was not kidding, I saved a dozen images for this).

And that look is far from the only moment in TFA that clearly goes "oh. yeah, Poe can be scary when he wants to be", there's this frankly delightful moment during the trench run when Poe sees a fellow pilot perish while covering him:

and then moments later, when Poe flies into the heart of Starkiller to destroy the oscillator, we get this shot:

that's far more than just determination/focus, he's angry. and he has every goddamned right to be - he was just held captive and tortured for (??) days, and this monstrosity just destroyed an entire fucking planetary system, and the very Republic that Poe has spent his entire adult life believing the inherent values of, that he thought could genuinely improve. Never mind the detail that Poe probably likely spent time on the Hosnian System, if he didn't live there temporarily during his time in the Defense Fleet.

But these shots makes it clear where the comic gets the idea from that the First Order might, y'know, actually be. A little bit terrified of Poe Dameron:

He's a serious threat, and ruthless when it comes to the First Order. People joke a lot about Poe being reckless, but I don't see a lot of recognition for the fact that he can be ruthless - he sees point b and dives straight at it, and he's absolutely relentless in his determination to take the First Order down.

The quickest possible way to enrage Poe is inaction or injustice. We see this clearly in the Last Jedi, when he believes Holdo is essentially leading them to their deaths and has thrown the Resistance away:

but we also see it as far back as Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka:

This conversation carries on for a page or so more, I think, with Poe arguing against the New Republic's decision to not act or investigate further (it's also what prompts him into going rogue to investigate on his own, which leads Leia into recruiting him for the Resistance).

And we've even seen it in material as recent as Free Fall, which means this is a character trait Poe has had his entire life:

(these do not paint my girl in a great light but like she's fucked up okay!! and being groomed into taking her mother's place it's fine, it's fine, she's my fucked up little blorbo)

anyway. so this is Poe when he's, probably about 16? 16 going on 17 here, and this is probably the angriest he's ever been considering how shocked he is about the chill in his own voice (which if you were ever curious why I say Poe's anger runs cold, it's because of this scene right here). He's so enraged by the injustice being carried out by Sotin, that he's genuinely - for the first time in the book - considering actually killing someone. And he gets into a screaming match about what the right decision is with Zorii.

(he also gets to punch Sotin later, by the way, if you even care. It's glorious. I love my favorite character who decides murder is okay if said murder is in question a guy who deals in the slave trade)

But also.

My favorite instance of this, ever, which rewrote my fucking goddamned brainchemistry in 2017 when I read it and made me have to step away from my computer and honest to god pace the length of my house to walk it off, is his confrontation with Terex in issue #13 of the Poe comics.

Because you know what?

This entire fucking exchange is personal, and almost/pretty much outright vindictive? Like at this point, Poe has solidly won this round - Terex has finally been defeated, and all Poe has to do is hand him over to the First Order. He knows, in doing so, Terex will likely be killed, and after who knows how long of Terex's bullshit meaning Poe couldn't trust his squadron, and the fact that L'ulo just died - well, Poe's not real broken up about it, which is fun in itself.

But then he asks Malarus if he can have a moment with Terex before he hands him over and Poe....uses that moment to gloat.

And y'all know me i don't use words like that for Poe but like. he kind of does? he asks a moment alone with terex specifically so that he can taunt Terex that he won, that Terex didn't beat him, and that in trying to take Poe down, Terex cost himself everything (a fact Poe happily rubs in his face), and even adds that "and when I give you to the First Order, I bet they'll take the rest."

So like. Yeah.

Poe knew full well they'd likely kill him, and spends the next few issues full heartedly believing that Terex was dead. And he taunts Terex with it here in this moment. It is TRULY glorious and honestly had 17 year old me's little head spinning because it was such a subversion of what I thought Poe would do -- but he did! He didn't try to figure out a way to spare Terex's life, and he used his final moments with Terex to make sure Terex knew that Poe was fully aware of what the choice he was making meant.

It's fucking DELICIOUS.

And I also love this panel from earlier into the issue:

Because again, it's a great illustration of how Poe can come off cold because of the art choices Phil Noto made here: look at the jacket. It's zipped up all the way to Poe's neck (a rarity for Poe), and just generally gives him this very closed off, cold appearance because he's at his wit's end in this issue, and he is angry about the circumstances Terex has forced him into.

So...yeah. Poe Dameron is a sweet, compassionate, silly guy who makes the worst fucking puns you've ever heard this side of the galaxy. He loves his droid, wears his mother's wedding ring with the intent to give it to the right partner someday, and loves all of his friends full heartedly and is generally the most tactile, affectionate person you will ever meet. He's pretty much everyone's best friend, because he has that kind of charisma and ability to make anyone feel like they're the most important person in the galaxy.

But Poe Dameron is also the man that the First Order seems genuinely intimidated/afraid of. He's the man that destroyed Starkiller base, and toppled the most powerful crime syndicate in the galaxy when he was just 17 years old. He is not someone you ever, ever want to piss off, because for all his warmth and love, Poe has an anger that runs cold, and when he hates something - it's just like when he loves something, he doesn't go half-way.

General Organa isn't the only Resistance general that can be absolutely terrifying in her own right as much as she can be gentle and loving. It's just that Leia's the only one anyone ever notices, because...well, Poe's silly and funny and usually kind of easy going.

And the fact that people underestimate him is what makes him that much more dangerous.

[superkitty21]

So, The Rise of Skywalker was a thing

I laughed, I cried, I sighed in disappointment, but somehow, despite everything, I liked it. (Major fucking spoilers for the whole movie btw)

Okay, I don't know where to start so I'm gonna talk about the Palpatine thing. This film feels like the writers went in and tried to "fix" alleged plot holes in the previous films. As someone who loved TLJ, Rey being no one special was something I found engaging about that film. The Star Wars franchise is really obsessed with legacy and blood and heritage (especially that of your male line) and Rey being nobody was a refreshing break from having to justify your character as a protagonist by proving them to be the special. I'm really annoyed that Rey couldn't just be Rey she HAD to be someone special, the granddaughter of someone IMPORTANT to 'explain' her talent and skill with the force and to justify her role as protagonist of this franchise.

On top of this, revealing Palpatine to be the master manipulator of this whole conflict felt so cheap to me. TLJ completely shifted the status quo and took the Star Wars franchise to places we haven't seen before. So returning to the plot line of "we must defeat the evil Sith" betrays the ending of TLJ. I was excited to see where this franchise was going next after the explosive ending of TLJ and finding out that we were just going to rehash plot beats from 40 years ago was more than a little disappointing.

The sequel trilogy has been a balancing act between pulling on our nostalgia strings and telling a new story and The Rise of Skywalker, in returning to Palpatine as the villain and making Rey his granddaughter, tipped the scales of this trilogy to boring rehash and it all feels like such wasted potential.

The romantic subplots in this one were... messy (to say the least). It felt very clear to me that the writers didn't know where they were going with Finn's romantic arc at all throughout this series. I'd like to start by saying RIP to Finn/Rose shippers because the writers utterly dismissed Finn and Rose's ENTIRE relationship. It's not even acknowledged that these two even know each other outside of the context of co-workers. The complete sidelining of Rose in this story is almost shameful. I can only assume this was done in response to the massive harassment campaigns targeted at Kelly Marie Tran post-TLJ. Not only was caving to the racist trolls and removing Rose from the story disrespectful to Rose's character, but it also made Finn's romantic arc so incohesive. They brought back the Finnrey dynamic from The Force Awakens, but then never developed on Finn and Rey's relationship in any meaningful way. It seemed as if they were going to make the stormtrooper defector, Jannah, a love interest but then never really went there either (thank god). It was messy and unfocused and I had no idea where they were going with any of it, and it turns out they didn't either.

They also decided to give Poe a love interest. out of nowhere. in the last film of this trilogy. Pour one out for Stormpilot shippers because that ship sank harder than the titanic. In trying to fully assert Poe Dameron's heterosexuality they felt the need to add a completely irrelevant and frankly out of place romantic subplot for Poe. Did doing this add to the story in any way? No. Did it add anything to Poe's characterization? No. So I have to assume its there to make sure everyone in the audience knows that Finn and Poe could never, in any way, shape, or form, under any context, ever, EVER be in a romantic relationship despite their obvious chemistry. Legit, the scenes with Poe and Zorii in Kijimi felt like an ad for a Poe Dameron tie-in prequel novel.

Kylo's redemption arc isn't the best I've seen. I'm generally not one for redemption arcs being motivated by external factors (ie your mother dying) rather than an internal realization and growth. There is an argument to be made that Kylo has been explicitly shown in struggling with the light the whole trilogy, but I still would have liked more lead up to his eventual switch and for the choice to be more his own rather than compelled by his mother's death and his girlfriend giving him puppy dog eyes.

Absolution through sacrifice is also a big pet peeve of mine, but somehow it worked for me in this one. It's probably because Ren's redemption is really isolated to his relationship to his family and Rey. Given that his most egregious actions were to his immediate family I wouldn't could it as a flaw in the film and it certainly made it easier to buy in to arc. And I never got the feeling that TROS never fully absolved Kylo of his crimes against the galaxy. Similarly to how despite his final sacrifice, Darth Vader is still seen as evil by the wider galaxy, I get the sense that Kylo Ren despite his heel turn will be in a similar position. I won't begrudge anyone who thinks his shift to the light feels to sudden, or that his motivations felt a bit weak, or those who generally just can't buy it, but it worked or me. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Now's probably a good time to mention that I'm a massive fucking Reylo and ate every scene of Kylo and Rey up like it was candy. I get why some people don't like this ship and I think if you're not on board with these two by the end of the film the ending to Ren's story won't be very satisfying. Given that I already loved these two's relationship that Ren's ultimate sacrifice got me straight in the feels and that contributed to my ultimate satisfaction with the film.

Okay, That's everything I wanted to be analytical about. Now here are just some random, unrendered thoughts.

*I absolutely adored the main trio in this movie. Their dynamic was fun and they all clicked so well together and made me what a whole nother trilogy about these three precious beans. Imma be reading a LOT of jedistormpilot fics after this because that unit was fantastic.

*I'm a bit peeved that they fake out 'killed' C-3PO cause his final goodbye was actually really touching. Bringing him back undercut what I thought was a really touching farewell.

*I don't think I've gushed enough about how much I adored all of the force bond stuff that happened in this movie because that shit was beautiful. I could not get enough of the Reylo force battles. Their final scene was *chef''s kiss* and I'll be rewatching it as much as I do the praetorian guard fight.

*Shout out to this film for remembering force sensitive Finn was a thing. I respect that.

*RIP Hux. I know I'm one of the 7 people who actually care, but I'm upset that he was given such a minor role and killed off by nameless first order general guy. Like he couldn't have even be killed by Kylo. smh

*The new droid was super cute. 10/10. Would buy a lifesize plush of that guy.

*This movie made me imagine Sheev Palpatine impregnating someone and I can never forgive it for that.

*The Knights of Ren were so unintentionally comedic to me. I genuinely burst out laughing every time I saw them because they were these back goons with these silly weapons that did basically nothing. I feel bad for anyone who was hyped to see them cause they were so inconsequential. The porgs in TLJ had more characterization than they did. One of the best moments in this whole movie was when a random stormtrooper that saw them and simply said "squad goals". I almost fucking died. That stormtrooper and Cait Salt-Licker are absolute legends.

*This may be the least visually interesting movies in the sequel trilogy. Don't get me wrong there is some gorgeous cinematography and shot composition in this movie. Every single scene with Palpatine was amazing and gave me chills, but it did feel like there were less jaw dropping stunning scenes in this one compared to The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. No one moment really sticks out to me as much as say, the Holdo maneuver did in TLJ or the forest lightsaber fight in TFA.

I don't think this movie will be well loved by many people. People who've hated the sequels thus far may be won over by the return of Palpatine, but I don't think it's enough to win over the detractors. I think people who genuinely liked the direction these films seemed to be taking after The Last Jedi will be disappointed in how this one plays out. There was a lot to love about The Rise of Skywalker, but there was also a lot of missed potential.

[coasterchild]

once again, twitter got me all riled up thinking about Star Wars, so for mostly my own peace of mind here are:

The character arcs we DESERVED in TRoS

-Rey 

Learning to shoulder the burden, like Luke before her, of being the One True Savior of the Galaxy. People depend on her, they expect her to be a Hero and a Jedi and beyond failure. Leia tries to keep her grounded, but she pushes herself too hard. (this is where I'd throw Ahsoka in to help her achieve balance) (maybe a cameo from luke force ghost later on. "How did you do this, Luke. How did you do this alone?" "I was never alone. And neither are you.") She has a breakthrough when she's fighting something herself, a big monster or too many first order troops or a handful of tie fighters or whatever. She tells everyone to go, get to safety, she'll hold them off. 

Poe, Rose, and some assortment of droids do as they're told, disappearing around a corner. 

Rey is repelling blaster bolts or slicing tentacles (of course it has tentacles) or whatever, and she's nearly overwhelmed when she feels a hand on her shoulder. It's Finn, he looks terrified, and just as another attack approaches, a shockwave of a Force push emanates in a radius around them. Rey: "How did you do that?!" Finn: "I don't know!!" and they both take off running. Finn (there's some indication that he's a natural at sensing things in the Force) can detect where attacks will be coming, and uses it to make their escape clean. Poe, Rose & co swoop in just in time with a stolen imperial shuttle. (they had no intention of leaving her behind either)

There’s perhaps a poignant scene with Kylo where he makes some comment about her facing him alone. And she’s like “I’m not alone, and you don’t have to be either.”

With new found confidence, she faces off with the big bad. (I'm assuming still Palpatine here, but I'm VERY open to other options.) Redeemed Ben is there, fights happen, it basically goes down as it does in the movie (minus the Rey Palpatine nonsense), but now “I am every Jedi” is about the fact that she’s not alone, not ever. She has the power to defeat ol’ sheev because of those who came before her, the people who fight with her now, and her own strength of will to see it through. 

(also Finn’s voice is in the every Jedi thing, because he can feel her reaching out, asking for help without realizing it)

-Finn

Having committed himself to the Resistance after the events of TLJ, Finn is finally starting to feel comfortable in his role. His cause is just, there are people here who love him (rey and poe and rose!!), and he’s GOOD at what he does. 

Some plot device or another takes their merry band to a planet that has just managed to fight off the First Order presence plaguing them. They learn it was when the inhabitants were informed there would be another “Harvest”, which we eventually learn means officers backed by troopers with, just, so many blasters, go into homes and take children, usually infants and toddlers, as recruits. This planet has been a target before, and this time, they refused. At great cost. 

Anyway, yadda yadda yadda: WE MEET FINN’S PARENTS. Maybe he has a little sister?? Maybe she shows signs of having……… THE FORCE.. (Finn: when was the last Harvest? Mysterious parental figure: oh I’d say around [exactly when Finn was taken]) (Maybe he’s a SECRET PRINCE???) Anyway…

It’s a lot to take in, he has some heart-to-hearts with people, eventually they have to move on for plot reasons, but Finn has a home to go back to now. He never thought he’d have that.

And Finn is going through all kinds of emotional growth because GUESS WHAT in the final battle (don’t worry Jannah’s still there and they ride in on space horsies because that was great.), Finn (with Rose’s help!!) gains access to the Final Order inter-ship communication system and broadcasts a message offering amnesty and safe harbor for any trooper who stands down. Who stops taking life in defense of control and fear and starts living for the sake of Hope.

 Then, when Poe and the other pilots think they're beat, one of the star destroyers turns on the others. And then another. And it's not the whole fleet, but a few mutinied ships just might be enough to buy them the time they need…

Maybe there’s a dramatic pause where Poe is like “we’re outgunned. We can’t do anything all alone out here.” And Finn, noticing a SD turning its cannon at another, “Poe… I don’t think we’re alone.” Explosion! Cheers!! This is the legacy of FN-2187

-Poe

Poe!!! So he’s been given more authority in the Resistance, and he’s learned from TLJ. He’s still daring and wisecracking and undeniably poe, but with Leia’s guidance and Holdo’s example he’s become more measured, more thoughtful in planning his missions. And the success rate of the Resistance has improved because of it.

But now that he gives himself time to breathe, time to THINK, Poe finds dealing with the losses they do suffer harder and harder to bear. We get some juicy background stuff about his mom, about how his father took the news of her death, and how he wanted, more than anything, to live up to her. (none of the spice running backstory happens. If Zorri exists she’s actually given some kriffing THOUGHT as a character and not just a prop to affirm Poe’s alleged heterosexuality)

I’m not 100% sure how this one plays out. There’s definitely a Leia pep talk in there somewhere. She tells him that Shara would be so proud of him. EMOTIONS.

Ooh, there could be some good Lando moments too (especially to pick up the slack regarding obvious limitations with Carrie’s part). He knows what it’s like to make impossible decisions because you’re responsible for people. 

“Responsibility is heavy, and it might always feel like someone else is more qualified or more capable or more prepared to face it, but remember: One of the most capable people I’ve ever met tells me you’re the right one for the job. The only one she trusts to get it done. And when Leia Organa says she needs you, you do what you can, son. You do what you can, and when you make a mistake, you go back and you fix it. Getting hung up on anything else will drag you down, and I have it on good authority that you were meant to be in the sky, General Dameron.” 

-Rose is kind of our audience surrogate for Finn’s journey. She has to grapple with the fact that most if not all of the stormtroopers they face are never actually given a choice in what they fight for, and what that might mean for their tactics. She helps him realize that learning where he comes from doesn’t replace who he’s made himself into, it only adds to it. 

After the war, she oversees efforts to rebuild planets like Finn’s, to help them recover from the effects of First order occupation. Maybe Chewie goes with her!!

Finn Rey and Poe live happily ever after in Finn’s palace home, and maybe every so often people--sometimes parents with a young child exhibiting certain gifts, sometimes a teenager who can’t explain why rocks tend to float when they get excited about something, and all kinds of other folks, young and old--come knocking, saying they want to learn the ways of the Skywalker. 

[dedkake]

So. Here’s something about me. I’ve seen the Star Wars movies more times than I can count. I love them. Star Wars is part of my fandom life on the internet and part of my life IRL. BUT. TLJ happened. I saw TLJ once or twice in theaters, and that’s it.

I know there’s been a lot of meta on TLJ over the past few years, but I watched it again last night because my mom asked me--to prepare for tros. And now I have enough emotional distance to finally say things about it. feel free to ignore, as most of it is complaining.

Problems:

1. Pacing -- what the hell. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

2. Holdo and Leia’s lesson for Poe. WHAT THE HELL. His problem, that he says out loud, multiple times, is that he just wants to KNOW what the plan is. Not that he wants to take over or change things. He literally just wants reassurance that they’re not all gonna die because they’re in a terrible situation and the leader he knows and trusts is in a coma--so can this new leader do something to show his team some respect and earn trust. Holdo is played off as SUCH A LEADER AND HERO but she’s NOT. Part of being a leader is yes, being able to see a solution and go for it even when the people around you don’t see it yet. But it’s also super important to give your team a vision for where you’re taking them. Inspire them into action, don’t just assume they’ll do whatever you say--definitely don’t do that right off the bat. And you need to recognize different personalities on your team and work with them all. Poe’s personality and problems are swept under the rug by Leia and Holdo with a smirk and a laugh, even though they are legitimate (like, tell me we have a plan not to die). They know he’s the type of guy to rush in and save the day and take over, so why not work with that instead of yelling at him and talking down to him and kicking him off the bridge??????? Seems like you’re setting yourself up for failure, ladies.

3. Kylo Ren is irredeemable -- which is a terrible message for star wars. The entire franchise is set up around the fact that Vader is redeemable. He went to the dark side because he wanted to save people and felt restricted by the Jedi Order. He wasn’t a bad person. Luke was able to convince him of that again. COOL. AMAZING. But now Kylo has done so much crap that one movie to redeem him would be like a slap to the face. He hasn’t earned it. We know nothing about his struggle, really, besides that one time he mistakenly thought Luke was gonna kill him so he killed a bunch of kids at his school and ran off to join an evil army that he learned about by secretly communicating with its leader (and isn’t THAT a heavy-handed message). That’s not enough for a redemption arc. It won’t be enough. And that SUCKS. 

4. Luke’s entire story. It’s just not Luke. I hate it.

5. Romantic love being used like That. Where did it come from? I’m sorry, according to this movie they’ve known each other for a handful of HOURS. Why does she have to kiss him in order to show the message of saving what you love??? Why is romance the best way to show that??????????? Also, she’s been working off her sister’s sacrifice the entire movie (yknow, a few HOURS) and that sacrifice was not romantically charged. Why does Rose’s have to be??????????? Maybe this is just a complaint of my aroace self, but it just came out of the blue and doesn’t jive with any of the other stories being told?

6. I still really honestly do not understand the first order. Its structure? Its purpose? How it came to be??? Like. I’m sure there’s lots of places I could go to get that info, but it’s not clear in the arc of the movies alone, so that’s not good enough.

7. The heavy-handed lesson on war profiteering. This was just not subtle at all. There was no nuance and it didn’t fit in with the other stories being told. Like. How hard would it be to weave this into the larger story in a more meaningful way?????????????? Example: They actually go work with this code breaker and in the course of working with him, find out that he knows so much about First Order tech because he helps (present tense!) design it. He’s in it for the money from both sides. Or, what if they needed a part for one of their own ships, not a code for First Order stuff, and they go to find their supplier and learn THEN about the money made from war and the fact that people profit off both sides??????? Idk man. Do better.

8. The heavy-handedness of all the lessons in this movie. What the hell? Protect what you love. Save lives instead of being a hero. Hope needs to be there even when you can’t see the light. Destroy stuff in order to start over fresh and strong. People make money off wars, the good side and the bad. Rich people are evil because they take advantage of kids and animals. What the hell? Why did we need to be slapped in the face with lines about all of this? Multiple times??? Are we just done building stories that teach us things through actions rather than words? It’s just all so shallow. Let me see these problems during this movie, let the characters see what happens when you don’t do those things, when you don’t recognize them--and then let them change because of it. Bad things happened to all the characters (still most mad about profiteering) and then someone just told them what they should learn from it, before the characters or the audience even had time to process what had happened.

9. The idea that rebellions need to be almost completely destroyed to start over. The idea that anything that isn’t working correctly needs to be completely destroyed in order to be fixed (Jedi order and resistance). I’m sorry. That’s not as hopeful as you think. I get cleansing fire stories. I do. They have their place. But on this scale? To wipe out hundreds or thousands of people in the resistance to finally get to a point where it can work?? This would make sense if the resistance was full of corruption, but that’s not shown AT ALL. Or it cold make sense if this was tied into the story of war profiteering, and all the parts of the rebellion that were being capitalized on were destroyed (i mean, they were, but that wasn’t shown--the people were shown). At least with the Jedi Order, they showed us that there was corruption and hubris and that things needed to be balanced out. What’s the balance found between a corrupt government killing all the people resisting it??????????? Don’t put these two stories on the same plane please. Terrible message, sorry.

10. The fact that Rey has like 0 training. It’s been pretty heavily laid on us in the entire Star Wars franchise that training is important and takes a long time. Even Luke trains for multiple movies in the original trilogy, and it’s seen as pretty hasty training. I understand that there’s a critique of the way the Jedi do things but -- is the lesson we really want to go with that anyone can wield this power untrained and without study????? Education, training, experience--those are all very important in gaining self-control and wisdom.

Things i liked and had not realized or forgotten:

1. The lesson that the way to defeat evil is to love and protect is cool. More than cool. It’s a great lesson. I have NO IDEA why it needs to be so heavy handed, either. And again, stop with the romantic love being the epitome of that.

2. Yoda’s force ghost convincing Luke to get his butt into gear and move on from protecting/living in the past. Luke was stuck, and Yoda was so Yoda to get him out of being stuck and it was lovely. Although, I’m not sure what’s served by not including a scene of Rey taking the books. Why did she do it? What was she thinking? Was it a hard choice for her? Was it Yoda and not Rey????

3. We need a legend. From the first moment of this story Rey is trying to become like what she thinks Luke is--the guy who saw good in everyone including Vader and defeated the Empire because of it. Which is AWESOME. What a cool idea, people trying to live up to their heroes to defeat evil empires. GREAT. Frustration again: after this movie, I don’t want her to succeed with Kylo. Which SUCKS because it’s my favorite thing about Star Wars. (can you get more iconic than throwing away your light saber in the middle of your final battle and saying that you’re not gonna fight anymore???????)

4. I just love Rey, Finn, and Poe. They are so GOOD. All of them.Every time they’re on screen, I’m so HAPPY.

[benperorsolo]

The closest comparison these idiots draw between SW and other SJW "stuff" seems to be actors of color and females in leading roles but they seem to conveniently forget when they talk about it is while the actors in these shows apparently got the part because of their skin color John B at least got the job because he was best actor for the part, his part was open to any man of any race. If Holdo was a man would they be as vocal? What about gender swapped Poe and Holdo or what that be different?

Mmm basically. I think absolutely, if Poe and Holdo were gender swapped, or if they had both been men or both been women, this would not have garnered the discourse it has. I remember once asking a group of all-male friends what they thought of TLJ –they all consider themselves SW fans, and a couple of them read/played with EU material extensively– and they complained a lot about the Poe/Holdo arc. I asked why, and they said they thought it was ridiculous because ‘why didn’t Holdo just tell Poe what she was doing.’ I pointed out that he had just been demoted for getting half their people killed on an unauthorized mission and also that she was his superior with no obligation to share that information to an underling, and they agreed that that was true, but they still felt that they disliked the arc. The ridiculous thing to me is that the actual bones of this arc –Poe makes a reckless decision that gets people killed because he won’t respect authority; Poe feels he is entitled to authority and is denied; Poe learns that he is not the End All Be All and that he has to defer to others sometimes– is a totally reasonable arc for Poe to have. People are bringing gender into this like it has something to do with it, and I also find that frustrating because it perpetuates the stereotype that Men Are Generic, Women Are Special– that Holdo’s role in the story has to be somehow related to her gender and not the fact that she is a superior officer and Poe is not and Poe is there in the story to learn to defer to others and not believe he knows best all the time.

[frumfrumfroo]

Do you have any thoughts on what might be coming up for Poe or Rose from a narrative standpoint? I see lots of Reylos assuming that Poe, because of the line "We're the spark that will light the fire that will burn the FO down" being adapted from Holdo's more restorative line, might be more driven in IX and create problems for Rey if she wants to work with Ben or if she sees the other side. And I don't know about that, I don't think they would do that kind of conflict this late in the game

I don’t think it’s going to be that kind of operation. Like, the fanfic scenarios where there’s time for lots of talking and arguing and addressing the abstract idea of ‘working with’ Ben are not very likely to go down on screen. Things will happen quickly, decisively with big tableau moments of emotional overhaul and the characters will adjust rapidly to whatever the new status quo becomes. That’s just the nature of these films. There’s no other side, there’s just her personal investment in Ben and longing for him to get it together- from which I’d expect, at most, the same kind of ‘I have to face him alone’ type stuff we saw with Luke and Vader. But that’s assuming the plot even allows for that kind of set up, which seems maybe an unwarranted assumption at this point. The Resistance will likely have a diverging and complementary arc which will segue back into the Force plot towards the climax, Rey probably won’t be with them for a big chunk of that.

Depending on where we pick up their relationship, I expect FinnRose to either have some final resolution to still work out (the fact that she is unconscious at the end of TLJ leaves the possibility open we’ll get further buildup to a fully acknowledged mutual understanding in the post-life or death-confession uncertainty/awkwardness) or to have some new minor conflict as an established couple which pertains to F/nn’s arc.