#qui gon was an awesome kind man and a great jedi

[fangirlforeversthings]

Qui gon would've been so proud to see his once so impulsive and feisty padawan a menace to his nerves, becoming the orders greatest pride.

Their most reliable jedi and litteral incarnation of the ultimate jedi. One of the most wise and powerful masters in the entire order at his time and a member of the high council, a victorious war hero and General. Respected and admired, someone the other knights and younglings go to for advice, to hear all his teachings, practics and advices from his experiences, the other masters seeking his opinion on important matters from time to time. The very first jedi to kill a sith in 1000 years. Yes the pure source of the light side of the force itself.

[theamityelf]

Aw man, PROXY (the combat training droid) really would fit so well with the DRverse. Like his introduction scene has him randomly ambush Starkiller while using the Obi-Wan training program (complete with hologram/hard-light tech to make him appear as Obi-Wan did during the Clone Wars). And they just playfully banter like "Huh, didn't even know you still had that program, PROXY", "Oh, I thought if I surprised you with an old one, I might finally kill you master". To which Stakiller's like "Lol, better luck next time buddy". The whole relationship just seems exactly like what you'd get with Nagito having a robot as his only friend.

The fact that Vader had it fitted with an Obi-Wan program (as well as a Darth Maul program that's revealed later on) is both logical and weirdly hilarious to me. Like of course he'd want to prepare his Secret Apprentice to know how to fight his old master's lightsaber style, since he's still out there at this point in time. But it's just so hilariously obsessive. Actually PROXY later takes Vader off-guard by using it on him in a heroic sacrifice to save Starkiller (he's revealed to have been rebuilt in the sequel though).

Oh! And speaking of lightsaber styles...what do you think the DR cast members would pick as their main one if they were a Jedi, Sith, or some other lightsaber wielder? I'm not sure how much you know about those, so here's a rundown just in case. The whole made-up martial arts thing is part of the lore I find so endearingly stupid in an awesome way.

Form I/Shii-Cho is the beginner's form. Pretty much every Jedi is required to learn this one first, since it's the foundation for all the others. It was made in a time when they were transitioning from metal swords to lightsabers, and so it focuses a lot on non-lethal disarmament. As well as combatting multiple opponents. It's considered a bit clumsy and unrefined compared to its successors. But a handful of specialists of the form like Kit Fisto, were known for being very fluid and hard to predict.

Form II/Makashi is the most dueling-centric. With a focus on elegant, focused, and precise strikes. It was developed in response to the need for a lightsaber-to-lightsaber form when Dark Jedi became more prevalent. And as a result it fell out of widespread use when the Sith were thought extinct. With Jedi actually having to ask permission for training in it. It's two major flaws though are that's not ideal for multiple opponents, or against loads of blasters. Count Dooku is considered to be perhaps the greatest Makashi specialist, and managed to partly iron out of its weaknesses.

Form III/Soresu opts for a "stone wall" strategy. Being developed to combat massive numbers of blaster-wielding opponents. And allow the user to deflect dozens of bolts per second. And against other lightsaber-wielding opponents, the strategy is to tire them out with an unbreakable defense and then finish things with a decisive blow. It's polarizing among the Sith, as many view it as a weakling's form. Though the smarter ones like Darth Bane had a respect for it, seeing that there were some clear advantages. Obi-Wan is the most famous specialist, and that factored into the decision to send him after General Grievous.

Form IV/Ataru is kind of like the "fragile speedster" style. Since it heavily focuses on acrobatics for quick leaping strikes. Pretty good at quickly taking down single opponents, but not so much in prolonged fights, or while fighting in enclosed spaces. Not great against blasters either. Yoda and Ahsoka are the most notable specialists for it. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were too, though the latter switched to Soresu after finding Ataru didn't work so well for him against Darth Maul.

Form V/Shien is sort of like a more aggressive branch of Soresu. With the focus going from deflecting blaster bolts to redirecting them back at the enemy. It also has a more advanced dueling-centric variant called Djem So, which was made as an answer to Makashi. Requiring a lot of physical power from the user, the aim of it is to defend and then unleash a massive counter-attack of overwhelming strikes. Although they both had expertise in all forms, it was Anakin and Luke's preferred one. With Anakin actually going all in on transitioning from Shien to Djem So after losing to Dooku the first time. Other known specialists include Plo Koon, Aayla Secura, Darth Bane, and the legendary Ulic Qel-Droma.

Form VI/Niman was created as an all-rounder form. The idea being to take all the elements from the previous 5 and merge them into a single balanced form. In practice this ultimately led to most practitioners being just average in all fields, with no real strengths. It tended to be favored by Jedi who were more devoted to diplomacy and study. HOWEVER, mastered Niman is another story entirely. As its few specialists (who dedicated at least 10 years of determined study to it) had a style that was great in all fields, and had no weaknesses. With excellent skill at combining Force-based attacks into the style. Those specialists being legendary duelists like Exar Kun, Darth Krayt, and possibly Revan.

Form VII/Juyo is the last and most controversial of them. For its extreme viciousness and the intentional use of a wielder's emotions to fuel attacks. A highly aggressive that's like a more wild and untamed Makashi. Obviously it was the style most heavily favored by the Sith, and was the primary style of Darth Maul and Starkiller (who interestingly were both voiced by Sam Witner). Among the Jedi it was borderline taboo, and sanctioned to the point that only very disciplined masters were given permission to study it. Juyo also had a special variant developed by Mace Windu called Vaapad. Which channeled both his own inner darkness and his opponent's fury through himself, and convert those into attacks. This special technique might have factored into him managing to overpower Palpatine.

And of course there's Jar'Kai, which just means dual-wielding. Technically a lot of characters have used it, though only a handful do so regularly. Those beings ones like Ahsoka, Asajj Ventress, Starkiller's clone, Revan, and Darth Krayt. Tends to overlap a bit with Niman and Ataru.

...Lol, got a bit carried away with that explanation. Anyway, I personally reckon Izuru would be a dual-wielding Niman king. As well as being one of the few people to master Vaapad. Makoto I would see as a Soresu guy. And I'd probably leans towards Hajime favoring Djem So.

Wow, yeah, I think, if we're speaking comparatively, I know nothing about Star Wars. 🤣 This is all very fascinating! And yes, Soresu definitely seems to be compatible with Makoto's whole deal. And the fighting styles for Izuru and Hajime also seem really apt.

[dswcp]

Here is an extra panel today for a statement:

I’ve noticed a pretty sad trend of irrelevant and mean-spirited comments about Mace Windu on the comic panels I share. So far, this hasn’t happened to any other character, but it has happened multiple times to Mace, even on panels where he is not at all present!

This is a pro-Mace Windu blog! He is awesome, and we stan!!! And I say this as an Anakin fangirl myself! If you don’t like the character, that is fine, and good-faith criticisms and discussion are always welcome. I don’t like Mon Mothma, but I’m not, like, weird about it. If Mace-haters keep making these kinds of comments, I may block them.

Please keep in mind the optics here. If you dislike the Black Jedi for being mean to your boy Ani, but you don’t dislike Obi-Wan nor Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson, you guys...), please, at the very least, spread the nuance around a bit. Obi-Wan kicked out Ahsoka, too.

Allow me to take this opportunity to gush about Mace, as a prequels fan who loves the Jedi almost as much as she loves dragging them. I think the biggest source of drama in the prequels is the tension between a relative outsider (Anakin) caught between the Republic/the “real world” (Padme) and the Jedi Order/the spiritual world (Obi-Wan). This is the love triangle, with Anakin in the middle. Mace is a parallel to Anakin because Mace is also caught between these two worlds; but, unlike Anakin, Mace fits. The Jedi are his family, and the Republic is his home, and Mace believes in both of them -- even so far as to stage a coup to more fully combine them.

This is what Mace represents in the story: the unity of the Republic and Jedi -- as impossible and troubling as that is. His ultimate act is to preserve the Republic with a Jedi-sanctioned assassination attempt. Palpatine took “emergency powers” to control the galaxy; but Mace is the one who faces an actual emergency, and so he MUST take over the galaxy himself (a KING!).

When Mace is killed by the combined force of Anakin and Palpatine, Mace’s death represents not only the end of both the Jedi Order and the Republic, but also the severance of what those organizations stood for -- the severance of the real world and the spiritual world. This thrilling tension -- the beauty of life, the call of the Force, the heart of the story -- is gone, leaving behind only misery and fog. At that moment, Anakin stops believing in anything, and he won’t believe again until Luke recreates Mace’s rebellion and stands up to Palpatine in RotJ.

“What have I done?!” You killed Mace Windu, my guy!!! This is the moment that breaks our hero -- not the Sand People or Temple massacres, not fighting Obi-Wan, not strangling Padme, but killing Mace Windu. Mace is, above all, belief; Darth Vader is, above all, hopelessness.

In the comics, Mace is often shown to be a deeply concerned family-man to his fellow Jedi. He is also shown to care for citizens, children, and animals. His Jedi lineage extends from his Padawan Depa Billaba to cartoon protagonists Kanan and Ezra, who keep these traditions alive (YES I want to connect Ezra’s affinity for animals to his Force-great-grandfather Mace’s defense of the Zillo Beast!). Mace is also a major character in my favorite Star Wars-y thing of all Star Wars-y things, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars.

💜also, purple lightsaber go swoosh💜

As soon as I can organize my Quinlan Vos comics, DSWCP will have a Mace Windu-themed week!

“Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu.” Marvel. February 27, 2018. Writer: Matt Owens. Penciller: Dennis Cowan. Inker: Roberto Poggi. Letterer: Joe Caramagna.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream - Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars is a franchise very near and dear to my heart. I’ve grown up watching the films and have fond memories of each of them, in particular Revenge of the Sith, which I got to see in theaters with my father. It’s a series that has introduced me to great characters, great actors, great ways to tell stories, and if nothing else the movies were always fun. I never saw a Star Wars movie I couldn’t enjoy on some level.

That all changed with this movie.

The Rise of Skywalker is a wet fart of a finale. It is a mess, it is underwhelming, it is disrespectful to the previous two films, and worst of all it’s bland. But hyperbole aside, this movie isn’t a complete and utter waste; it’s certainly not the worst film of all time or anything, or even the worst Star Wars movie. It’s just a sad case of a mixed bag where the bag skews more to the bad side than the good side.

Let’s go over what I actually did enjoy first. Obviously, the score was fantastic, but I think this goes without saying; John Williams has never once screwed around, so why would he stop now? His music honestly does a lot of the heavy lifting emotion-wise, as scenes such as the supposed trinity of this trilogy’s reunion at the end would not have any sort of impact otherwise. Then we have stuff like the practical effects, which is both a blessing and a curse as they seem to be a sort of dancing bear for this trilogy. As great and lively as they make the worlds, they shouldn’t be what gets focus over story and character development… but hey, Babu Frik is great.

Speaking of characters, there are a few who were handled very well in this film. In terms of comedy, there is C-3PO and Palpatine. C-3PO is just a genuine riot here, and almost every goofy little joke he cracked gave me a genuine chuckle. He’s really at his best here. Palpatine on the other hand is just a character who is so inherently hilarious that it is physically impossible to be mad at him. Like, he’s an evil zombie wizard who spends half the film insulting Kylo Ren and then the other half cackling and shooting lightning in his big arena full of hooded weirdos while strapped to a big dialysis machine and wearing a sparkling red vest under his robe. Sheev Palpatine is pretty much the greatest character in human history, and while his role in this film is so stupid, shoehorned, and underbaked, you cannot help but crack a grin at the sheer lunacy good ol’ Sheev brings to the table. The sheer revelation that this man actually, canonically had more sex than Kylo Ren is enough to send a man into a fit of giggles.

In terms of actual character, Rey gets a solid arc marred by some incredibly poor writing choices, but overall stays solid throughout. Her interactions with Kylo Ren especially solidify her as an interesting and engaging character, and honestly the whole reveal that she’s a Palpatine is intriguing and could have added depth to her… but they managed to bungle it. And it’s an easy fix too; early on, there’s a scene where she and Kylo are playing tug-of-war with a transporter that is holding an iconic character. Rey accidentally unleashes Palpatine lightning and blows it up, seemingly killing the character inside… only for the character to inexplicably be alive two scenes later. Now, if Rey had actually killed said character by accident and spent the rest of the film struggling with her nature, it would make her ultimate showdown and rejection of Grandpa Sheev’s ideology all the more sweeter and satisfying. A moment at the end would have likewise been improved if she had simply not chosen to rename herself and instead chose to just simply be “Rey,” but gotta have that sweet, sweet branding! Still, I think Rey is remarkably done here, though not nearly as good as she was in The Last Jedi.

But the real MVP here is definitely Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. I’m just gonna say it: this guy carries the film. He has had the most remarkably consistent character arc in this new trilogy, and that concludes just as well here, though sadly in the most obvious way: with a redemption. However, it comes not from Rey, as desperate shippers had hoped, but from his parents – Leia and Han both play a part in ensuring their son’s redemption. And when he’s redeemed, the way Driver is able to convey the character of Ben Solo with just his face and body language is incredible enough to make the redeemed man feel like a totally different character than when he was Kylo Ren, and all of this is without speaking. Driver deserves every ounce of praise he gets for these films, and while I feel his arc would have been far more satisfying if it wasn’t a carbon copy of Anakin’s arc, it’s a testament to Driver’s skill that he managed to sell me such a cliché turn of events and made it work.

This is where my kindness dries up, however, as the rest of this is going to be pretty negative. The story here is just an incoherent mess; it honestly feels like an entire trilogy crammed into one film, a film divorced entirely from the other two films. The big problem with this trilogy is how there is so little cohesion between films that each film feels like a soft reset, and nowhere is that more clear than here. It doesn’t help that this film decides to cram in a bunch of stupid backspaces to everything from The Last Jedi, the most awkward and egregious being how they write off the “Holdo Maneuver” as a one in a million shot at success despite the fact that using the far more obvious “using the rebels as suicide bombers is a bit morally iffy and such a move should not be used unless we’re totally desperate” explanation would have sufficed. It honestly feels like the writers were chickening out a lot of the time and decided to try and distract us from their yellow-bellied attempts at ignoring the previous film by slapping us in the face with tons of fanservice. Sometimes it works – the voices of all the fallen Jedi in the final act was an awesome touch (I hear you Qui-Gon, Windu, and Ahsoka!) - but most of them time it is just painfully on-the-nose and groan worthy, such as when Chewbacca gets his medal. The worst offender here is Lando, who is so carelessly tossed into this mess of a plot that it feels really disrespectful to Billy Dee Williams.

Speaking of screwing over characters though, no one got it worse than Finn, Poe, and Rose. With Rose, it’s frankly just insulting they didn’t even try. It would have been so easy to redeem Rose in the eyes of the fans that didn’t like her character in The Last Jedi; if The Clone Wars can make Jar Jar a likable character, then I’m pretty sure a big budget Hollywood blockbuster can fix the issues of a poorly written character in its sequel. Instead though, this film takes the coward’s route and relegates Rose to a role less important to the plot than Babu Frik, who despite his integral role is only in one single scene. Poe is just handled as nonsensically as ever, given really dumb jokes and a forced and unneeded backstory as a spice smuggler, complete with an implied female love interest in an attempt to try and convince us the character is heterosexual.

But Finn gets it worst of all. Not only does he get a forced implied love interest (who is black, because we can’t have miscegenation in our big blockbuster films!), but he just in general gets shafted so hard. Finn being shafted has been a running theme with this trilogy. The first film set him up to be an integral, important main character, one who would even become the main character…. And then he slowly faded from relevance as the writers put him in increasingly bad plotlines, culminating with the slap in the face this movie gives us by implying but not outright stating that Finn can use the Force. There were so many interesting ways they could take Finn’s arc and they chose the route that is, quite frankly, the absolute worst. The fact that Finn got totally shafted in such a way despite being a fan favorite is all the more baffling and honestly has me wondering what the suits at Disney were thinking. If they weren’t actually minimizing a character as beloved as Finn was after The Force Awakens out of racism, what were they even trying to do? John Boyega has a right to be as angry as he is.

There’s other stuff that’s obnoxious. Leia’s scenes are all terrible and poorly executed, which comes off as really disrespectful to Carrie Fisher; the romance in this film which, as mentioned above, is totally forced, but special mention goes to the Ben/Rey kiss at the end, which while not some life-ending travesty is so utterly out of nowhere due to the lack of romantic chemistry between the two in any of these films that it’s laughable; the editing is so incoherent and terrible in places that it feels like it was done by someone on a mixture of crack and Red Bull; the complete waste that is Hux and his childish reasoning for betraying the First Order, completing the character’s change from a terrifying Nazi allegory to a complete and utter joke; the fact that the new First Order general who takes center stage gets so little development despite being a great throwback to Grand Moff Tarkin and a genuinely amazing character otherwise, with a fascinating history with Palpatine that is never explored and no meaningful interactions with the heroes; the complete and utter unexplained nature of Palpatine’s return; and just how painfully unfunny a lot of the humor in this film is. This movie just has so many problems, so many flaws, and it ends on such a completely limp and unsatisfying note that it’s honestly kind of sad.

This film… I don’t know about this film. It’s definitely not the worst Star Wars film, because it at least has some genuinely good bits to it, unlike Attack of the Clones which I can only really justify liking ironically. But that being said, this film is just so unsatisfying, and what’s more, it’s not very memorable. Not much will stick with you with this one, and if it does, it might be more of the bad things rather than the good ones, which is a shame, because I do think there’s some good stuff buried under the garbage here, but I don’t know if it’s worth sitting through this film to find. This is not the worst thing ever, I really can’t stress that enough… but it’s just not fun, engaging, or anything that will really make you feel anything meaningful, and sometimes that’s just worse.

Ultimately, this film has an incredibly uncertain audience. It’s wrapping up a trilogy in one of the biggest franchises on earth with a plotline that tries to pander to fans in a way that feels gross and condescending, leaving the film feeling like it was made for absolutely no one. If you like this, that’s fine; Star Wars is a franchise that has greatness ingrained in its DNA, to the point where I can’t say any of the films are really among the worst I’ve ever seen. But I think generally this is not going to be a film worth watching, and certainly one to skip in any future marathons of the franchise. It really is a shame… this trilogy if nothing else was full of potential to be a new take on Star Wars for a new generation. Instead, it ended up as a confusing, corporate mess. 

[fireflyfish]

battlefront matchup anon again, i'm now very excited to read the Local Force Users Anonymous meeting fic, thank you for this hilarity

Hello again, Nony! Ask and Fishy shall deliver… some of the time… when I don’t have a season to work on… or Rex to poke. 

This ask and the insanity below was inspired by this lovely gifset. 

***

Don’t Bring a Blaster to a Lightsaber Fight

A.K.A A Weekly Meetup for Local Force Users

***

Han Solo, known scoundrel, smuggler and the only person to make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs, if you rounded down, found himself in a strange place. He had somehow ended up, of course through no fault of his own, in an industrial part of… somewhere that was wrapped in blue fog and was, for reasons unknown to him, standing in a puddle, even though he was pretty sure it hadn’t rained that day.

Walking forward, Han could see that he was not alone in the mysterious blue place with incongruous puddles and machinery that looked like it would explode if you looked at it too long.

As he walked, Han could see a row of dark-robed figures lining up in front of him, a few meters away. They stood in a line like a holo boy band and Han was going to tell them that until he realized that he was standing in front of Darth Vader, the bastard who had tortured him to lure his good friend Luke into a trap. And then cut off Luke’s hand because symbolism? Who knows but it was a bad move, Anakin. A very bad move.

Sarcastic comment now dead on his lips, Han Solo pulled out his blaster and aimed it straight at Darth Vader’s heart, ignoring the fact that the last time he had tried to shoot Darth Vader it had gone over about as well as the first time he tried to win the Falcon from Lando in a game of sabaac. Although in Han’s defense Lando cheated and I suppose one could argue that secretly having the Chosen One be the Empire’s ruthless and brutal enforcer is kind of cheating too.

But we digress.

While Vader waited next to what Han could only assume was the Emperor, flanked by some old dude posing dramatically and a guy who looked he got an awesome buy-one-get-one deal at a tattoo shop, three other people strode up towards Han. One was an attractive young woman in a quilted vest with brown hair and a lightsaber as well as a handsome gentleman with hair that could only be described as “swooshy” in white armor and his own lightsaber.

Han Solo was starting to worry that he had somehow ended up in some kind of strange Jedi street fight when his best friend Luke showed up, swinging around his new green lightsaber like he actually knew what he was doing.

Which he did. Right?

“Kid,” Han hissed to Luke, trying to keep a level and intimidating gaze as the face off continued. “Who are these people?”

Luke shrugged a little in his defensive stance. “Besides Vader and the Emperor, I’m not really sure.”

“Who are you people?” the young woman next to Han asked, looking like she was ready to go toe to toe with some seriously bad motherkriffers who probably had at least 150 years of experience on her and her awesome looking vest. She also, inexplicably, had a crisp Coruscanti accent that has never been explained to either Han or the author’s knowledge.

“I’m Luke Skywalker and this is my friend, Han Solo,” Luke said as the villians continued to stand there, looking evil, foreboding and black. These guys really liked black and red.

“You’re Han Solo?” the girl to Han’s right gasped in shocked delight. “You’re alive?!”

“Am I not supposed to be?” Han asked in reply, looking over at Luke very confused. “Is this more of your hokey Force religion, Luke?”

“Skywalker, did you say?” the really disarmingly-attractive man in the white armor asked, peering all the way around to frown at Luke. “Did I hear you correctly? Your name is Luke Skywalker?”

“Yes, that’s my name. Do I know you?” Luke replied.

“My name is Rey and… well… the last time I saw you, you were… a lot older and…” Rey frowned, still talking to Han, and looked away, as if carrying a heavy burden before cheering up. “But this is wonderful! You’re alive! The Force is amazing! I have to tell General Organa!”

“You wouldn’t happen to be related to someone named Anakin Skywalker, would you?” asked the ginger haired man with the armor and sexy accent.

“Leia is a general?” Han gaped, confused.

“That’s my father,” Luke said, also confused because there are a lot of people talking at the same time and it’s getting hard to keep track of them. “Why? Do you know him?”

“Yes, she’s leading the resistance against the First Order,” Rey explained with a stars in her eyes as she beheld her hero in his younger, sexier form. Poor girl. Your author hopes she never watches Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade because that has ruined your author for all other Harrison Ford movies.

“Know him? He’s my former padawan,” the man at the end of the line up of heroes said with a charming, toothy smile and a jaunty laugh. “I don’t know where he is at this moment but once I take care of this, I’m going to go find him and save him from whatever nonsense he’s gotten himself into.”

***

Meanwhile, a few meters away.

Darth Vader grit his teeth and vowed vengeance against the young, handsome, charming, attractive– had he always been that sexy in armor?– Obi-Wan Kenobi talking to his son like he didn’t even know that he, the fallen Anakin Skywalker, was right there. He was right there and Obi-Wan wasn’t even paying attention to him. The utter gall of that man!

How dare Obi-Wan show up now, looking so… so… hot and young and beautiful? And wasn’t he supposed to be dead? Vader was pretty sure he had killed Obi-Wan and immediately regretted it but that’s how Anakin rolls, gentle readers on the Death Star.

“Allow me to rid this galaxy of Kenobi’s infuriating presence once and for all, my master,” Vader rumbled in that terrifying voice that sounded nothing like his real voice but that’s okay because we have that traumatizing Rebels episode for that particular heartbreak.

“No,” Count Dooku intoned, his ominous voice rumbling through the area like thunder because his best buddy Gandalf helpfully volunteered to do the sound effects for this battle. “I will be the one to bring Kenobi to the Dark Side once and for all. He could be a powerful ally and it’s what Qui-Gon would have wanted.”

“If anyone is going to kill KENOBAEAUGUHGHA it is going to be me!” Maul snarled and paced around because that’s what he does when he’s being evil. He snarls, paces and says KENOBAEAUGUHGHA over and over again. Honestly, it gets kind of weird after a while.

Palpatine just covered his face with his hand and muttered to himself. “I should have killed that sexy ginger myself.”

***

“Padawan? What’s a padawan?” Luke asked because, again, he had like a weeks worth of training in the Jedi arts and the author is pretty sure Yoda had more important things to do than to go into the naming nomenclature of the Jedi order. “Wait… Obi-Wan? Are you Obi-Wan Kenobi?!”

Obi-Wan gave Luke that charming, sexy grin of his and nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luke. And you two as well, Han and Rey.”

“Uh… Hi,” Han said, waving his hand a little as Rey peered around him to gasp at Luke.

“Luke Skywalker?!” Rey almost squealed with delight because let’s be honest here, Gareth Pugh Couture Jumpsuit Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker is PEAK Luke. “I have your lightsaber! I need you to teach me how to be a Jedi!”

Han Solo took a step back while the lightsaber wielding crazies, as a wise man once called them, talked to and over each other. Or rather, while Rey and Luke tried to have a three-way conversation that Obi-Wan was occasionally roped into when someone needed to be gently corrected as to how the Force and the Jedi Order worked.

“No, we don’t mind control people like that, Rey.”

“Luke, that is nothing like what a defensive Soresu stance should look like. Who taught you that?”

“Yes, I agree, that lightsaber sounds most immature and poorly built. Who did you say made it? Kylie Ren?”

Han, being the clever and observant type, noticed that the Dark Side users, that was what Luke called them, were all glaring over at Obi-Wan and since Han wasn’t in the mood to get stabbed or lose a hand like Luke, he decided to interrupt the impromptu Light Side pow-wow. “Hey… so… Vader, I know, and I’m pretty sure that guy in the hooded robe is Emperor Palpatine but does anybody know what’s up with Grampa and Pointy over there? Are they a part of your Fist Order, Rey?”

“It’s First Order, not Fist Order and, no, I’ve never seen them before,” Rey said, frowning. “Although I have heard of Darth Vader, mostly in passing. He died on the second Death Star over Endor. Him and the Emperor.”

“There’s another Death Star?” Han and Luke groaned at the same time. And a third one too but the author did not have time to go into all of that.

“Gramps and Pointy,” Obi-Wan explained, enjoying a good chuckle at Maul’s expense like we all should, pointing to each man in turn. “Are Sith Lords. Count Dooku was my master’s master, a fallen Jedi who now goes by the name of Darth Tyranus. He tried to recruit me to the Dark Side and cut off my padawan’s arm. And Pointy is Darth Maul, who murdered my master. I cut him in half and kicked him down a plasma shaft but apparently he shook that off somehow.”

Luke gaped in horror. “You cut him in HALF and he LIVED?”

“Next time I’ll aim for his neck,” Obi-Wan shrugged.

“KENOBAEAUGUHGHA!” Maul bellowed from a few meters away where the Sith Lords were standing in place because authorial intent is stronger than the Dark Side. “At last I will have my revenge!”

“Fool,” Dooku bellowed with a dramatic flourish of his cape. “You are but a mad dog, a tool my master used to bring himself to power. Kenobi will be a great ally to the Sith once turned.”

“Silence!” Vader said in that lovely James Earl Jones bass, clenching his fist as if he could squeeze the life out of Obi-Wan like he did to Admiral Ozzel, Captain Needa and others who out of an abundance of tact the author will not name. “I am going to be the one to finally destroy Obi-Wan Kenobi and then the Jedi Order’s failures will be complete.”

Luke and Rey exchanged a glance and turned to Obi-Wan, horrified at the narrative arc of his life.

Obi-Wan sighed. “Oh, is it Tuesday again?”

Emperor Palpatine muttered to himself under his breath. “You had one job, Commander Cody. Just one! But, no! You couldn’t even do that right! Why did I even order a Clone Army? They spent most of their time getting cool-looking tattoos and painting their armor! Hell! Captain Rex was more concerned about getting airtime and being cast in Return of the Jedi than carrying out my master plan!”

Now Han Solo, for all the grief the author has given him in this story that has gone on longer than they wanted, is a smart man. One does not smuggle spice, coaxium, or whatever in the age of the Empire unless one is clever and quick on his feet and Han Solo is pretty quick on his feet.

Especially when running away from a bunch of stormtroopers on the Death Star. The author thinks he might have broken a record or something in that scene.

Anyway, Han Solo realized that a few things about the situation he found himself it.

Number one, he didn’t want to fight Vader and get his blaster stolen again.

Number two, everyone at the informal Force Users of Star Wars meetup seemed oddly obsessed with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Number three, there was a way out of this if he just played his cards right. And as Han would tell you, he is very good at cards.

Clearing his throat, Han Solo announced in a loud voice that just barely managed to pierce the din of Force users talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi. “None of you love Obi-Wan Kenobi as much as I do.”

“What?!” Vader barked, looking around for the person who dared to lay claim to the mantle of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Number One Fan and Nemesis. “Who said that?”

“Just his biggest fan,” Han Solo said again, smirking at Vader. “I even got an official certificate from the Jedi Order in here somewhere.”

“You do not!” Vader protested angrily. “I made them stop giving those out after they tried to give Ahsoka one!”

“What?!” Obi-Wan gaped, stunned. “What official certificate?”

“Nonsense! Kenobi is my life’s goal! My mission and obsession! I am his greatest fan!” Maul snarled, shoving his way forward into the crowd that was slowly starting to form not so much around Obi-Wan but more like in front of him, so that his adoring crowd could all show off how much they loved him and were willing to kill everyone in the galaxy to prove it. Because that’s healthy.

Well, Palpatine just wanted to kill Obi-Wan once and for all but even he had to admit the man was nice on the eyes.

“Maybe that’s why Commander Cody missed,” Palpatine muttered in an aside as he tried to hobble around the bickering crowd.

“Kenobi is my grandpadawan!” Dooku insisted, refusing to let the younger Sith steal away his prize. “If anyone has that right, it should be me!”

“Listen, I didn’t want to have to throw my weight around like this but I am the main character of this story,” Luke insisted, almost elbowing Maul in the face as he tried to get a word in. “And Obi-Wan did spend eighteen years on Tatooine AND I am a Skywalker so if anybody is going to be Obi-Wan’s biggest fan, I think it should be me.”

“TATOOINE?!” Vader exploded. “You were on Tatooine all this time?! You made my poor, sexy master waste away on Tatooine?!”

“Excuse me, Lord Vader,” Palpatine interjected. “But I am your master, remember?’

“Yeah, yeah, whatever Sheev,” Vader muttered, rolling his eyes behind his mask. “Listen, Luke, son, kid, I know you’re new to this whole ‘Jedi business’ but let me straighten you out. As Obi-Wan Kenobi’s former padawan learner, I get first dibs on him, okay? Me, not you, not Grumpy Grandpa over here and definitely not Rage-Face Robo-Legs over here.”

“But you’re a Sith Lord!”

“Does that look like it’s stopping any of the rest of Obi-Wan’s fanboys? Hell! I bet even Palpatine has a few sexy pictures of his from the Clone Wars.”

“I knew I never should have told you about my secret thirst tumblr, Vader!”

“See what I mean?”

While this heated battle of words, fannish desire and single minded obsession devotion continued on apace, Han Solo took his opportunity to make his escape. He was going to try to get Luke’s attention but it was clear that Luke had fallen under the sway of Kenobi and wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. Rey also looked like she wanted to elbow her way into the squabble of McQueen black robes and knee high Chanel boots but Han reached out to stop her. “C’mon, kid, we’re getting out of here.”

“But we can’t just leave them!” Rey insisted in that way that reminded Han of Leia but also Luke. He wondered if perhaps Rey was related to them somehow because it seemed like everyone was related to a Skywalker these days but quickly forgot it in the heat of the moment.

“They’ll be fine,” Han insisted, seeing a break in the blue fog encircling the nonsense he found himself in. “Besides, what are we going to do against four bad guys with lightsabers?”

Rey opened her mouth to insist that she had somehow managed to download Kylo Ren’s ability to wield a lightsaber but then she realized she would have to explain Kylo Ren to Han Solo and she just didn’t have the heart to tell him about that because your author is STILL salty about that, gentle reader. STILL SALTY. “All right let’s go. Obi-Wan? We’re leaving. Are you coming with us?”

Obi-Wan was leaning against a pile of old rubble, watching the Luke and the Sith Lords squabble over him. He looked over at Rey and Han, waving them off. “Oh, no, thank you, my dear. I’m quite used to this by now. I’m sure Ahsoka and Captain Rex will be along in a minute to pick me and Luke up. You two go on and may the Force be with you both.”

Rey looked at Han Solo, who shrugged, and with that they both ran for the fog.

“That isn’t even your real voice, Skywalker! How can you truly do credit to the name of KENOBAEAUGUHGHA if you have to rely on James Earl Jones to sound intimidating?”

“What are you even saying? That sounds nothing like my grandpadawan’s name! It must be said with deep, solemn and regretful feeling. You have to project. Like this. Kenobi.”

“Why are all my apprentices obsessed with this Kenobi? He’s not even that attractive. Now Qui-Gon Jinn? That was a man!”

Obi-Wan groaned and buried his face in his hands.

Yup, this was just another Tuesday.

[nonbinarysasquatch]

The Last Jedi thoughts

Man… it’s been awhile since I’ve gone to the movies and seen a movie so dense and complex that I knew it was going to take multiple rewatches to absorb everything.

And make no mistake: in terms of characterization this is arguably the most complex Star Wars film. It’s certainly the most dense. That doesn’t necessarily = to THE BEST Star Wars film but it’s certainly not a simple one. Things aren’t cut and dry here. Every single character is portrayed as complicated and flawed. Well, maybe aside from Hux who is still the same douchey pathetic Nazi he was in TFA…

There’s really far too much that happened in this film to get all of my thoughts into a single review. It was a long fucking movie that was very eventful. Like when you compare with TFA… it’s just ridiculous how jam packed with character beats and development. And that’s not gonna be everyone’s cup of tea.

What else isn’t gonna be everyone’s cup of tea? Well, if you’re the sort who thinks everyone is either perfect cinnamon rolls or PROBLEMATIC then you are probably gonna hate this film. Much like ESB allowed Luke to make a supreme failure in facing Vader too early and not completing his training with Yoda, the characters fuck up a lot in this movie even though they have their hearts in the right places (I do have some minor quibbles with Finn but I’ll get to that.)

If you don’t like complex, flawed characters you’re probably gonna fucking hate this movie. Poe fucks up. He’s not totally wrong though in the choices he makes. It’s COMPLICATED. And I love that shit. But hey, a lot of you are gonna hate that shit. You don’t like characters fucking up and you don’t like them being assholes sometime. But me? I love it. It’s great. Give me complicated characters over big, flawless heroes any day.

Finn is a slight exception. I love pretty much every character’s role in this movie but Finn. I don’t HATE what they did with Finn in this movie but I do feel like his decision to cut and run doesn’t make a ton of sense with his TFA characterization. And he did kind of just end up once again getting dragged along the ride and being Rose’s sidekick. But he did get to kill Phasma so that was something. But I do hope he gets be more of a hero in Episode 9 than he was here. And OH GOD I just realised that Finn wanting to take off may be a subtle parallel with Han in ESB. Granted, motivations are different but this film handles all the ESB parallels with much greater subtlety than TFA (and my god there are SO MANY ESB parallels in this goddamn movie and I’m sure I’ll notice more on rewatches.)

A big part of why I’m slightly OK with Finn’s story in this is that I LOVED Rose’s story and just Rose in general was one of the best things about this movie. And even though I hate “hey, I just met you we’re in love now plots” I actually thought the romance was subtle and not done terribly. It ain’t Stormpilot but I was never naive enough to think they’d make that canon.

Poe was amazing in this movie. FLAWED but amazing. And we got so much more of him than TFA (where he was actually MIA for most of the movie.) I’m looking forward to seeing him as the probable leader of the Resistance in Episode 9.

I loved Admiral Holdo (who is definitely Leia’s ex-girlfriend.) I loved that she didn’t end up just a villain and that there was this thing where like… both the young and old characters had wisdom and things they were right and wrong about. It was complex and that’s just… far more what life is like. I’m a bit iffy on whether her sacrifice makes much sense mechanically but I’ll allow it.

LEIA. Carrie Fisher was so fucking good in this movie. I’m so bummed we’ll never get to see what role she would’ve got to do in Episode 9. The effect of her using the force to save herself wasn’t 100% convincing but it was still a powerful moment. I’m so glad she and Luke got to have a reunion.

I… never thought I’d say this but I think this film succeeded in making Kylo Ren more interesting and complex. And I love that they did that BUT doubled down on him being THE WORST. Oh, I still don’t care about this shithead and want him to get what’s coming to him. A lot of how I feel about him in this film will be affected by what they do with him in Episode 9. I know that with Carrie dead his arc is gonna be left feeling a bit broken. I know that he’ll still probably get a redemption but as long as he dies for that redemption I’m probably cool. Granted, that will mean no more Skywalkers but at this point I’m accepting that this story has become about more than the Skywalker family.

Rey. Rey was awesome in this movie. Parallels to Luke in ESB are the most obvious of the parallels here but in this case the dynamic is a bit different. For one thing Rey is just… not as much of a wet mop as Luke in ESB. She’s fierce and isn’t taking no for an answer. She doesn’t whine about how hard things are. I mean to be fair, that’s just because she’s a bigger badass than Luke in ESB. I was anticipating Rey to be a random so that wasn’t much of a surprise though I DO think there’s still wiggle room. While, I don’t think Kylo was lying to her (though it’s also believable that he might’ve been) even if he wasn’t there’s always the possibility that she may have been adopted and Kylo didn’t see that far back into her past. But I’m more than OK if she is just a random.

Luke. I sort of want to be an asshole and go I told you so re: Rey needing to restore Luke’s faith in the Jedi. But I won’t. But I love Luke in this film. Yeah, they could’ve given us badass noble Luke but instead we get flawed, complicated Luke. I love the multiple POVs of him confronting Ben in his sleep and having that momentary urge to strike him down. I thought the writing for Luke’s monologue over that final version was fantastic. Just A+ on managing to preserve what is great about Luke and allowing him to be a flawed character.

YODA. I didn’t expect to see Yoda. That looked like a puppet? Or else clever CGI meant to look like a puppet. But that was neat. And another obvious ESB parallel (with Obi-Wan.) And uh… apparently force ghosts can become pretty powerful. Which finally makes Obi-Wan’s boast to Vader in ANH make sense. Actually it also helps make the big deal ROTS made about Yoda learning from Qui-Gon about maintaining your identity after death even better.

I’m sure my thoughts on this film will evolve on rewatches but I feel like just talking about it makes me like it more and more. It speaks to how dense and jam packed this film was that there’s tons of other things I keep forgetting to mention. 

And I know there will be lots of fandom meta that will recontextualise and examine things. But I feel pretty damn great about this film. I don’t have the same feeling I had coming out of TFA but that was a one time thing. I definitely enjoyed it more than Rogue One (which I enjoyed but felt had a weak first half.) Aside from being too long and some issues with Finn’s role in the film… I think everything else the film did was pretty amazing and somehow managed to parallel the fuck out of ESB without copying it directly.

[gffa]

This week I decided to do something a little different–video recs instead of fic recs! Which will return next week, but today I wanted to cry over STAR WARS videos for awhile and, sure, there’s some absolutely hilarious vids or really exciting, awesome vids, too! But there’s also a bunch of them that totally put tears in my eyes because why are you like this, Star Wars? Long post under the cut!  (Categories:  Humor, The Sads, Shipper, Meta, Awesome, Serious Fanvids) (Last updated:  2017.06.28) STAR WARS - HUMOR VIDS:

✦ Fuck This Shit, sequel trilogy   I thought, okay, I’m going to rewatch this one to write a quick rec, I’m not going to laugh this time. I STILL BURST OUT LAUGHING, even knowing it was coming. ✦ Firework, sequel trilogy/cast    I laugh every single time I watch this video, this is it, this is me as a Star Wars fan. It’s one of those that takes a serious moment and puts a fun song over it and the result is magic. ✦ Turn Down For What, prequel trilogy    I will rewatch Satine’s epic speech with dramatic background music every time. ✦ Palpatine Shooting Stars + Shooting Star, prequel trilogy, original trilogy, sequel trilogy    I love this song more and more every time I see these videos, they’re hilarious. It’s kind of the epitome of meme culture but goddamn if it doesn’t make me genuinely laugh. ✦ BLOCKED, prequel trilogy    Never has this been so accurate. 

✦ Fireball, prequel trilgy    The only video to successfully make me not have the sads while watching the ROTS duel. It’s also amazingly well edited and just incredibly fun. ✦ Real Housewives of Vine, prequel trilogy    All three versions are beautiful. ✦ Imperial March Replacement: One and Two, original trilogy    The Imperial March replaced with various songs and it gets funnier with every one of these I see. “Hello Bitches” is a personal favorite, it works so much better than it possibly should. ✦ Rogue One Hallway Scene Replacement: One, Two, Three, Four, and Five,    Not mentioning which songs are on which vid because sometimes the surprise is half the fun. But they are ALL HILARIOUS. ✦ If Chewbacca Had a Human Voice, original trilogy    IT FITS SO WELL BUT ALSO I LAUGHED REALLY HARD. ✦ We’re Number One, prequel trilogy    Vader’s path to the side of evil! It’s hilarious every time I watch it, but also, MAN, THAT SONG IS CATCHY. ✦ I Gotta Go My Own Way, prequel trilogy    ….but that pretty much is exactly what happened. ✦ I have no idea what I’m doing- , prequel trilogy    A collection of short videos (5 to 20 seconds at most), some music vids, some lip synching, all hilarious. The Parks and Rec one at the beginning gets me every time, it’s too accurate. ✦ Star Wars/Parks and Rec, original trilogy    Luke and Leia replaced by Jean-Ralphio and Mona Lisa from Parks and Rec and it’s AMAZING. ✦ My Heart Will Go On, prequel trilogy    The music in the Mustafar duel ending replaced with My Heart Will Go On. I still want to cry, but at least I’m laughing while I’m crying. ✦ How It Should Have Ended: The Phantom Menace / Attack of the Clones / Revenge of the Sith, prequel trilogy    Sometimes HISHE videos have to ignore the plot reasons certain things happen, so you do have to roll with that instead of wanting to point out the logic of what happened in canon, but I shut that part of my brain off and found that I really enjoyed each of these, that by the halfway point they’d picked up steam and I laughed out loud at least once per video. They do have a great sense of humor and it’s not mean-spirited at all, I had a great time with these. (Qui-Gon���s funeral had me in stitches.) STAR WARS - THE SADS VIDS: ✦ Obi-Wan Remembers The Truth, prequel trilogy/original trilogy    [Also on YouTube] This is, bar none, my favorite video in this genre. Obi-Wan’s conversation with Luke in ANH, with that sad music, interspersed with clips from the prequels. It’s gorgeous and utterly wrecks me every time. ✦ Ain’t No Grave, prequel trilogy    Beautifully edited and sad and haunting. The use of clips interspersed with the heavy song really has a good impact. ✦ Control, prequel trilogy    Another beautifully edited fanvid that has heavy, sad themes about Anakin Skywalker. Like, it’s just pure pain in a really lovely way. ✦ Krwlng, prequel trilogy    And like I wasn’t sad enough about Anakin Skywalker, NOW HAVE SOME MORE SAD FEELINGS, with more really beautiful editing. ✦ Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith - Modern Trailer, prequel trilogy    This is a really excellent remixed trailer that looks fantastic and would hold up today even! It got across so much of the emotion of what happened, there was a real weight and impact to it, and it was beautifully edited. There’s also modern trailers for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, but my favorite is the ROTS one. ✦ Bad Blood, prequel trilogy    I really love the editing of this one, the colors and effects look really gorgeous and the clips are chosen well, but also OH SHIT SO MANY FEELINGS, it’s really, really well done. ✦ See You Again, obi-wan & anakin    I got a little teary-eyed by the end of this one, it did a wonderful job at showing the sheer scope of their relationship, it really made me feel the weight of just how long they waited to see each other again. By the time the OT stuff started showing up in the vid, I was just laying on my bed in a pool of feelings. ✦ The Chosen One, prequel trilogy, anakin    Combined with the sads from the previous video, this one had me actually wiping tears from the corner of my eyes because I love Anakin Skywalker as a character so much, he inspires so many feelings in me, and this beautifully edited video that shows the tragedy of his entire life, from young child to his death, really, really well. One of my favorites of my vid trawling. ✦ When the violence causes silence , prequel trilogy, anakin    Another sad Anakin vid with some very nicely chosen clips and editing, that combine to really make me feel the tragedy of his character, how unstable and angry he was, how sad I am for his character. /has feelings again ✦ 7 years, prequel trilogy, anakin    I’m on a roll with Sadakin vids apparently and this one made me feel so many feelings all over again, for the sheer scope of sadness that is Anakin’s life. There’s especially some great use of TPM Anakin, too. ;__; ✦ Fight Inside, prequel trilogy, anakin    I’m not usually a fan of songs in this vein, but I thought this video did really well with it, how much of a storm Anakin’s entire character was and the clips/song reflected that. ✦ You’re the Chosen One ; I’m a Jedi like my father before me,    Prequels footage plus original trilogy footage, to show the connections and parallels and story of Anakin and Luke, very nicely done and gave me a whole lot of feelings while it was at it. ✦ Before The Dark Times, prequel trilogy, original trilogy    Another video where prequels footage is interspersed with Obi-Wan’s conversations with Luke about the past and it gave me so many sad feelings exactly as it was supposed to. ✦ The animal he has become, prequel trilogy, original trilogy    This video is all about how out of control of himself Anakin is (and Vader as well, to a degree), that he’s helpless against the tide of his own fall, and he’s a raging storm of feelings as it all comes crashing down. ✦ Hurt, prequel trilogy, original trilogy    A Vader vid set to Johnny Cash’s Hurt is entirely appropriate, there are some really great clip choices that gave me feelings, and made me sad for Anakin Skywalker all over again. Everything I could have asked for from this vid! ✦ Shout, prequel trilogy, original trilogy, rogue one    Another Vader video that’s half montage and half music vid, yet all feelings, as it shows the journey of his life, the things that have come back around again, and how much tragedy there is for everyone here. The ending of the vid is especially well done as it reaches the climax and there’s just so much here to these characters. ✦ Brothers, prequel trilogy, original trilogy    A beautifully edited video summary of Obi-Wan and Anakin, starting with Old Ben’s conversation with Luke to flashing back to the past, to their fight on Mustafar and the sheer amount of tragedy between two people who loved each other. Ugh, feelings. STAR WARS - SHIPPER VIDS: ✦ I FOUND LOVE, obi-wan/anakin fantasy au    Plus bonus graphic! I would watch this movie and it would be beautiful. ✦ take your time, obi-wan/anakin, modern au    Modern AU vids for something like Star Wars can be tricky, but I really liked this one, it’s another movie I would totally watch. ✦ They’re a team. They’re the team. , obi-wan & anakin    Okay, maybe not precisely shippy, but definitely about the sheer weight of shit they’ve gone through together and it’s gorgeous, I had so many feelings over this. Perfect choice of song, it even works great as an action vid, and I’d have watched an hour of this, for real. ✦ t o x i c, obi-wan/anakin    The song is a slower version of the one you’re thinking of and this was a nice shipper vid set to it! ✦ beautiful crime, obi-wan/anakin    I’m a sucker for sad vids about these two and the way this one looks is really beautiful. ✦ Tessellate, obi-wan & anakin    Another really beautifully edited video with a collection of clips that will break your heart all over again. ✦ a thing that swallows you, sith!obi-wan/anakin    Holy hell, this video had some great moments and really captured the feeling of Sith!Obi-Wan seducing Anakin, like I could watch this and believe he was absolutely going to take that young man to bed and fuck him senseless. It was a really solidly good vid and appealed to my id like whoa. ✦ the devil within, dark!obi-wan&anakin    This one strides the line between Obi-Wan&Anakin vs Obikin, but it works either way, and it’s a nicely edited video about the sheer depth of how deeply they get under each others’ skin, how intertwined they are, and the heavy weight of that. ✦ bang bang, obi-wan/anakin    Okay, this one was just fun! “You need a good boy to blow your mind.” indeed. ✦ Brothers (Carry Me), obi-wan & anakin    Not precisely a shipper vid, but it’s all about their friendship and the tragic weight of it and it had some really solid editing and pacing to go along with it. STAR WARS - META VIDS: ✦ How the prequel trilogy mirrored and rhymed the original, original trilogy/prequel trilogy    This is an absolutely beautiful video that shows the mirroring themes and the sheer amount of thought and care that went into them. ✦ Star Wars Limbs Removed, original trilogy/prequel trilogy    Who’s removed the most limbs via lightsaber in the course of Star Wars? It’s exactly who you think it is. I laugh like a maniac every time the buzzer sounds, too. ✦ Everything Great About Star Wars, prequel trilogy/rogue one/sequel trilogy    [The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, The Force Awakens] I don’t 100% agree with everything here, but the sheer amount of enthusiasm for the movies is incredibly infectious, it’s so great to see something that’s just absolutely having fun and pointing out awesomethings. STAR WARS - AWESOME VIDS: ✦ Guardians of the Galaxy Style: Prequel Trilogy / Rogue One / Original Trilogy / The Clone Wars, prequel trilogy/rogue one    The Rogue One version is super fun and very well edited, and the Clone Wars one is amazing fun and reminds me of why I love it so much, it’s the perfect kind of trailer that showcases how great the show really can be. But, holy shit, the prequel one is the best, the comedic timing is fantastic, it has a great sense of humor, it picked great choices, the character intros are amazing, and I cackled right out loud at least twice! Super, super fun remixed trailers! ✦ star wars - timelines, prequel trilogy/original trilogy/sequel trilogy    A really beautiful editing job to show visual echoes and reflections in all three trilogies! ✦ “The Big Bang” animated scene, prequel trilogy    This is a brief fan animated clip (only seven seconds) but it’s pure joy as Obi-Wan is so annoyed and the conversation looks super neat animated! ✦ Rogue One spliced with A New Hope, rogue one & original trilogy    This is a really awesome look at smoothing the transition between the two movies, I loved it! ✦ Eye of the Tiger, prequels trilogy & original trilogy    This is an older video, so it’s not quite as polished or bright as some newer ones, but it was sheer fun and had a great selection of clips and a good pace to it, so I had a good time watching the entire thing! ✦ OBI-WAN, prequel trilogy, original trilogy    A very nicely edited Obi-Wan Kenobi fan trailer that, as always, gave me a lot of feelings about just how much Obi-Wan has been through, the sheer scope of his life. STAR WARS - SERIOUS VIDS: ✦ Straight to Hell,    I’m not usually into b&w vids, but this one has some really pretty splashes of color and the editing was really good, so I wound up enjoying it a lot! ✦ heaven, prequels trilogy, sequel trilogy    A short (less than a minute, sadly) but beautifully edited video paralleling Anakin and Kylo, with some really vibrant colors and excellently chosen clips. It’s a gorgeous watch. ✦ Star Wars: The Last Sith - Darth Vader Trailer (Fan Trailer), prequels trilogy, original trilogy    A fan-made trailer for a theoretical Darth Vader movie, using footage from various sources to show the scope and story of Vader, it’s a really cool video!

[legobiwan]

Hi! 4, 17, and 23 for your ask. Or whatever you like.

4) what headcanon will you defend to the death?

Hee hee hee, I have several! Mostly, I definitely think Obi-wan struggles with the dark side and keeps this struggle under wraps. You can see little hints of it here and there in TCW and some of the novelizations. He’s so powerful and he really keeps himself under control and if the man actually let go like that he would be terrifying. I love it. Also, that Obi-wan’s mullet of awesome in AoTC was a way of trying to conjure up Qui-gon and that Obes mastered both Jar’Kai and Makashi in reaction to Maul and Geonosis, respectively. I honestly would love to see Obi-wan doing Makashi, I think he would be elegant as hell. 

Dooku. Oh my favorite Sith. I truly believe that Dooku doesn’t *love* this dark side business but sees it as the only way to fix something that it broken. I do think that at first, he thought he could defeat Sidious (with Obi-wan’s help, perhaps) but as he fell further into the dark, he lost that inner core and the ideals that he once held (I kind of see this playing out in season 6 of TCW). Also, he respects the hell out of Obi-wan and in another universe they would be sipping fancy whiskey together, playing chess, and going to the ballet. They are *so* similar in so many ways. 

Finally, the cantina musicians. I think there is at least one of them that was in the bar in AoTC that had to flee Coruscant, take a crappy gig in that Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine, and 20 YEARS LATER HERE COMES THAT JEDI AGAIN CHOPPING OFF LIMBS, they are not *paid* enough for this and they have just seen enough weird Jedi throughout their entire performance career but why is it always Kenobi? One day I’d love to do a series of one-shots from the musicians’ pov in the movies and shows. Ha!

17) what is your favorite line?

I have yet to not laugh hearing that line and I can’t tell you how many times I have watched that episode. 

23) what’s your favorite star wars musical piece or theme?

Oooooh, here’s my wheelhouse! There’s *a lot* of great music in Star Wars. I love the music from Empire Strikes Back when Han, Leia, and Threepio are being chased into the asteroid field. Of course, Duel of the Fates is EPIC and a lot of fun to blast in your car rolling down the highway with the windows open. I also really like celebration music from the end of Phantom Menace. The way the TCW handled the score during Satine’s death during the “Lawless” was amazing and sad and terrible and I don’t even want to include a link…poor Obi-wan (their joint leitmotif was really well done). Finally, Kevin Kiner KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK this past season on Rebels. I was *really* impressed with the soundtrack, from Thrawn’s creepy organ theme, to the spectral-ish music from one of the episodes that I can’t find right now. But my absolute favorite was the music during the Kenobi-Maul confrontation on Tatooine. GOOD GOOD STUFF. 

[ramajmedia]

10 Coolest Star Wars Characters, Ranked By Their Feats

The Star Wars universe is a place full of smugglers, gamblers, bounty hunters, space-monks, and their broody evil counterparts. It's safe to say that it can be a dangerous place with all those kinds of people around, but somehow, the films and the TV shows make them all look cool.

Heck, sometimes even the morally evil ones all draped in black brandishing red glowy things look more interesting than the goodie-two-shoes types. Of course, there are also those on the good side of the Force who are no pushovers and have their own style. They don't only look formidable but have also done their share of incredible feats in the universe. Here are 10 of those unforgettable characters around half of which probably deserve their own spin-off.

RELATED: Star Wars: The 10 Most Hated Jedi

10 DARTH MAUL

For a character with no dialog, Darth Maul makes a pretty big impression on the viewers. Granted, when you look like a demon from Insidious, you don't really have to say a lot for your enemies to get the message. Darth Maul was Darth Sidious' apprentice and that Sith Lord is usually picky with his lieutenants.

This makes you think of Maul's potential and aptitude for the Dark Side for him to be chosen by Sidious. Well, he did defeat and kill Qui-Gon Jin in single and fair combat, not many can do that to an accomplished Jedi Master. Even after Obi-Wan Kenobi seemingly killed him, Maul managed to survive and went on to grow old (at least old enough to face old man 'Ben' Kenobi again).

9 HAN SOLO

Han Solo has had a long journey ever since he was born and it was breathtaking, to say the least. He was an orphan who became a street rat who then became a soldier before finally becoming a smuggler... and then turning to a Galactic hero afterward who was also instrumental in the Empire's downfall. It's safe to say that the life Han lived was the most fulfilling of all the characters in Star Wars.

His experiences have also made him one of the most clever scoundrels in the galaxy-- of course, he had to be, especially in the company of creatures like Jabba the Hutt and his cutthroat thugs. Han's the most memorable smuggler ever when it comes to pop culture.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Times Jedi Showed Sith Characteristics

8 MACE WINDU

Most members of the Jedi Council are usually judgy irritating stuck-up old men who were primarily responsible for turning Anakin to the Dark Side. Then, there's Mace Windu, the best Jedi ever when it comes lightsaber combat. He's even better than Yoda in lightsaber-- the purple saber color should be indicative of that enough.

In any case, managing to nearly defeat Darth Sidious single-handedly is no small achievement. Not to mention channeling the Dark Side of the Force while restraining yourself just so you could have your own lightsaber fighting style is a feat no other Jedi could have done.

7 COUNT DOOKU

Maul might have been the swaggier apprentice to Sidious, but Tyranus was the more successful one. We also know him as Count Dooku, played by none other than the late and great Christopher Lee. Under Sidious' instructions, it was Dooku himself who raised a threat big enough for the Jedi to push back with an army of their own.

In this regard, Dooku himself has proven that he is capable of such impressive leadership for the Droid Separatist army. Let's not forget that he wiped the floor with an Anakin and Obi-Wan duo (the first encounter) and even managed to defend himself against Master Yoda. Anakin still did get his revenge on Dooku; oh well, twice the pride, double the fall.

RELATED: Star Wars: The 10 Worst Things The Empire Has Ever Done

6 THE FETTS

Seeing as Boba Fett is a direct and untampered replica of Jango Fett, let's assume both are the same person. Boba Fett is the more memorable character between the two and for good reason. He was one of the few people in the Empire who can talk back to Darth Vader with an attitude. Also, it was Vader himself who hired Boba to capture one of the slickest smugglers ever, Han Solo.

Meanwhile, Jango Fett is no slouch, he even has better achievements than his "son". Jango made for the perfect template for the clone army; the Republic (or even the Sith) basically owe him a lot. Jango himself also gave Kenobi a hard fight and competitively stood against Mace Windu. It's too bad his legacy went down the drain (or the Sarlacc pit) without dignity.

5 LEIA ORGANA

Trade Star Wars' sci-fi setting for a fantasy one and Leia Organa would still be a princess who still needs rescuing, except she wouldn't be a gun-toting and independent princess, so her being in Star Wars is one of the best things ever. This right here is a princess who probably didn't even need rescuing (probably because it's her father who kidnapped her, but whatever).

To this day, Leia remains Carrie Fisher's best role; she became one of the flag bearers for the women of sci-fi. Even in her wizened state in the newest trilogy, she's still a general of the Resistance who's also Force-sensitive.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Ways The Rise Of Skywalker Can Give Leia A Fitting Send-Off

4 LUKE SKYWALKER

Like his best friend Han Solo, Luke started off humbly on some backwater moisture farm in the desert planet of Tatooine. Little did he know, he was going to save the Galaxy and become a Jedi Master. That's one heck of a promotion from his small beginnings as a farm boy. Of course, Luke was destined for this, but the way he handled it deserves more than a pat on the back from this dad... oh wait.

Anyway, bringing balance back to the Force was not something you do without the risk of dying. Luke did with no small cost; he lost his arm and his father in doing so. Sadly, he ruined the Force again once he became old after trying to kill his nephew; he did some awesome stuff afterward with the Force projection, though.

3 YODA

Being a 900-year-old Grandmaster of the Jedi Order is probably the hardest job ever in the Galaxy. Yoda, however, surprisingly did it without much stress and somewhat successfully... for a time. There was even a moment of peace within the Jedi Order with their perceived absence of the Sith, and this happened under Yoda's rule.

Despite losing to the Sith and the most meme-able Sith Lord ever and becoming tiny Shrek in a swamp, Yoda's reputation remains big as ever. Without him, Luke would never have been able to defeat the Sith and bring back balance to the Force. Besides, ever seen Yoda with a lightsaber? He's adorab-- er, unstoppable!

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Hysterical Palpatine Memes That Are Too Funny

2 OBI-WAN KENOBI

General Kenobi! We're betting you came in this list with the intention of seeing Obi-Wan Kenobi-- the famed General Kenobi who led the Clone Wars into victory after victory. Well, here he is, bask in his radiant meme-able glory and know that we're getting more of him in Disney's TV show.

There's no doubting Kenobi's accolades in all Star Wars films. He defeated Darth Maul; unearthed the Clone Army; taught Anakin much, and then defeated his rogue pupil. Afterward, he went on to tutor Luke and became instrumental in bringing back balance to the Force.

1 DARTH VADER

No one could have predicted that a 7-foot tall wheezing man in black with a Nazi-inspired helmet would go on to become one of the most liked villains ever, but here we are. Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, is an oddly likable antagonist. Beneath that evil machine facade is a tortured soul who has also done many great things.

Alongside those great things are also evil ones... like wiping out the Jedi Order to the last child and making Darth Sidious the Emperor. Thankfully, Vader redeemed himself by destroying the Emperor and technically bringing balance to the Force as well as freeing people from the Empire's grasp. Even Yoda and Obi-Wan couldn't do that.

NEXT: Star Wars: 10 Characters Underused Throughout The Whole Series

source https://screenrant.com/star-wars-characters-ranked-by-feats/

[inkognito97]

Fem!Obi-Wan AU

@ po-prostu-fangirl

Here is your second part!^^

Part 1 can be found here

When Qui-Gon Jinn had taken on a female Padawan all those years ago, he had mentally prepared himself for all kinds of things. Explaining to her the concept of sex, the functions of her body and the differences to his own, as well as the every prominent puberty and boy topic. Force, he had even asked Tahl – that had been the most embarrassing days of his life – for advice. In the end, it had not done him much good. One, his Padawan had already been educated and prepared for everything. Two, Obi-Wan had NEVER been anything like it was written in the books, she had never been especially bad tempered during her teenage years and Qui-Gon had never really had problems with her. Three, all his reading and all the private sessions he had with Tahl, had NOT prepared him for the case of his Padawan getting pregnant, ever, especially not by the Force. The last was what the Council in addition to the healers had come up with as an explanation. Granted, it was as good an explanation as any. But Qui-Gon still refused to believe that his dear girl was indeed the carrier of the so called Chosen One. He refused, he wouldn’t allow Obi-Wan to be treated this way, he would not.

 “Master?” a small voice brought him out of his half drowsy state.

“Mmh, what is it Obi-Wan?” he replied sleepily.

He heard the shuffling of her bare feet on the carpet of his bedroom, a clear sign of her nervousness. “Can I stay with you tonight?” She asked this most nights now, every since she had begun to show. He didn’t mind though, as long as his poor Padawan was happy. Also, he guessed that the need for contact was some kind of craving on her part.

“Of course, princess,” this was his newest nickname for her. Perhaps it were the awakened father feelings that he had developed for her, ever since the news of her pregnancy had come out. Or perhaps it was just the Force prodding him to watch more closely over her.

He scurried to the side of his bed and listened to the silent footsteps on his carpet. The long haired Jedi Master felt the mattress next to him shift and a second later, a warm body pressed against his. He instinctively turned and wrapped his arms around her form. It seemed to calm her.

A moment of silence passed between the two Jedi. Qui-Gon was almost on the edge of falling asleep again, when his Padawan spoke up. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he could still make out every word, she spoke.

“I'm an annoying burden, am I?” the female said, disturbing the silence. “What? Why are you saying this, little one?” Where in the name of the Force had that thought come from? “Because I am not acting like a Jedi… with my need of constant attention,” a pause, “I am never going to be a Knight.” He could feel the slight tremor in her shoulders, followed by a sniff and silent sobs. Qui-Gon sighed inwardly. The constant changes of emotions were getting to him too. “Sshhh, there is no need for that, because you are a strong and brave and beautiful woman. Do you know why I know this?” Obi-Wan shook her head and sniffed. She slightly tilted her head to look over her shoulder. He sent her an encouraging and loving smile. “I know this to be true, because otherwise the Force would not have entrusted you with this child. You are something very special and you are very dear to me.” A watery smile appeared on the Padawan's features and the Master mentally exhaled in relief. He was never good with dealing with distraught people, especially women. “Beautiful?” she asked shyly. “You have the brightest presence in the Force, you posses a pure heart and I honestly dread the day that I find myself unable to defend you against all the masses of admirers,” he chuckled at the last part. “I wonder, if you will still say that in seven months,” she trailed off. “I'm sure I will. I KNOW I will.” A comfortable silence settled between the two when the young Padawan suddenly took his hand and guided it to her swollen stomach. Qui-Gon, who had no idea what this was all about, remained silent, even when his hand made contact with warm skin. “Can you feel it?” she asked. He hummed and concentrated for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. She laughed, “No, with the Force.” “Ah,” he hid his embarrassment. Then Qui-Gon reached out with the Force and he sent a tiny wave through his Padawan's stomach. The Master was surprised at the small bright echo he received. “Force sensitive before it has a gender,” she whispered.  “It's incredible,” Obi-Wan was not quite sure, if her Master had even heard her, too focused was he on the life growing inside of her. It didn't bother her though, his joy and awe resonated in the Force and her mood became better as well. He truly was a Master of the Living Force, it was natural for him to be at awe at the development of new life.

She closed her eyes, intending to go back to sleep, but not before saying, “You are going to be an awesome grandfather, I can feel it.”

She didn’t get to know if he was shocked or humbled by her words, because the next instant, her exhaustion had already claimed her and she fell into a peaceful slumber, this time, not disturbed by nightmares.

Obi-Wan was glad when she spotted her friends upon entering the crowded dining hall. She briefly nodded at her Master, before going to them and seating herself at the table they had claimed. As soon as she sat, a tablet full of food was shoved her way.

“There you are Obi, we were wondering if something had happened,” Bant greeted her ginger haired friend. The female Mon-Calamari and Obi-Wan were best friends since the first day they met in crèche.

“Yeah,” Garen was also one of Obi-Wan’s closest friends, “You weren’t in morning classes.”

“I had an appointment with the healers,” answered the ginger haired Padawan around a mouth full of salad.

“With your Master?” Siri Tachi, a blonde human Padawan asked. She was sitting across from Obi-Wan and right between Garen and Reeft, the latter was very busy with eating everything that he could get his hands on.

“Yes,” she replied hesitantly after swallowing her bite. Siri’s tone did not bode well with her.

Obi-Wan’s friends exchanged glances and a silent conversation was held between them. For a moment, the pregnant Padawan felt like she was left out on something.

“Obi,” the tone in Siri’s voice made it clear that she did not actually wanted to talk about whatever was coming next. Siri took a deep breath, “You know you can talk with us about EVERYTHING, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” she had no idea where this was going.

“Obi, the truth is,” Bant hesitated, “we are worrying, because you so often have to visit the healers. Also, you don’t join our partying anymore and we haven’t seen you sparring and training for a while now. We are worried that… that your Master might be involved somehow.”

Horror overcame the ginger haired Jedi. “How can you say that?” she was scandalized. Her Master loved her, if he didn’t, he would have thrown her away by now. They were talking about the man, who was giving up his freedom – something he craved and something that was deeply anchored in his very nature – to be there for her.

“Well,” this time it was Garen, “You have to admit that it IS kind of suspicious.”

She vehemently shook her head, not believing her friends could think so little of Qui-Gon. “No, you’ve got it all wrong. My Master is not responsible, not at all. He is helping me.”

“But you admit that there IS something wrong,” Obi-Wan silently cursed the blonde female sitting across from her.

Obi-Wan suddenly felt uncomfortable, but a gentle and questioning nudge over the bond she shared with her Master, reassured and comforted her in an odd way. She calmed down again and sent him a quick smile over her shoulder. He nodded and returned the smile, before turning back to his conversation. When she turned back to her friends, she found four pairs of eyes resting on her, Reeft’s included.

“Please Obi, you have to tell us, what is wrong,” begged Bant.

Obi-Wan escaped a suffering sigh. She had asked Qui-Gon, if she should reveal her pregnancy to her friends. Her Master had told her that only the truth will build up a friendship, while lies will break it. She knew what to do, she just wished it wasn’t so hard.

“There is nothing wrong per say, it’s just…” her friends were all looking at her with curiosity and great expectations, almost as if she would reveal that she was going to die soon. “well, I am… pregnant,” she shrugged helplessly.

A moment nothing happened, the table’s occupants were completely silent. Then, all hell broke loose. “What?” Bant exclaimed, her eyes were wide like plates.

“You’ve got to be joking,” was Siri’s opinion.

Garen was the worst, “Wait wait wait, are you actually telling me that YOU of all people had unprotected sex?”

“Garen!” both Siri and Bant exclaimed, the former even hit his arm, hard.

Obi-Wan was sure that her face had to be completely red from embarrassment and she wished that they were somewhere else and not in the crowded dining all, even though no one was really paying their table any attention.

“What?” Garen asked in confusion, “It was just a question.”

“Matter of fact,” Obi-Wan cut in, before it could turn into a full argument, “I didn’t.” She received three pairs of incredulous eyes for that, the one pair that was not looking at her, belonged to Reeft, who was staring intently at his meal.

“You DO know that it is not possible what you are just saying,” Siri asked hesitantly. “I thought so too,” her face turned an even darker shade of red, “the healers say the child was conceived by the Force.” She desperately wanted to run away right now, this was all getting too much.

It looked as if her friends wanted to say more, but what happened next, stopped them. Reeft had suddenly just stood up. He had taken Obi-Wan’s empty plate and replaced it with his own. It startled all four of them. Reeft was usually the one, who asked if his friends were going to eat everything on their plates. Giving away his own meal on his own free will nevertheless, was a miracle.

“Reeft?” Obi-Wan asked.

He had seated himself again, “You need to eat, you will need it.” Tears were forming in the ginger haired female’s eyes. It was great to be cared for and it was great that Reeft just accepted her condition, just like this.

“Thank you Reeft,” from the look in his eyes, he knew that she meant much more than just the food. “But I am not hungry.”

“Are you sure?” he sounded skeptic.

“Yes,” she laughed.

“Alright,” he shrugged and took his plate again, instantly digging into the food on it. Obi-Wan’s laughter was joined by her other friends.

“Congratulations then,” Bant said, “but… won’t it interfere with your training?”

Obi-Wan was about to answer, but she felt an all too familiar Force presence behind her. A moment later to large hands came to rest in her shoulder and she felt her Master against her back.

“Is everything alright?” the Master’s deep voice asked.

“Yes Master,” she leaned against him, thanks to the bench she was sitting on, it was possible in the first place. Qui-Gon allowed it with a gentle smile. Obi-Wan turned back to her friends, “I will talk to you later,” she vowed.

Only when she had received nods from her four comrades, did the pregnant female stand up. She followed her slightly overprotective – it caused a warm feeling to emerge in her chest – Master out and back to their quarters. She may not be able to run through her usual workouts, but that didn’t stop her to learn other aspects of the Force. The Living Force was quite interesting too, if you understood it and Qui-Gon was a patient teacher. Also, reading on the caretaking and birthing of children, could be considered study on the Living Force as well.

[theabominableblogger]

Rewatching the Mortis Arc in TCW

I wish the narrator can narrate my life as enthusiastic as that.

WORN OUT FROM SOCCER!  COLLEGE FRESHMAN THEABOMINABLEBLOGGER TRUDGES BACK HOME FROM SOCCER PRACTICE, YEARNING FOR A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP AT LAST!

The animation jump from S2 to S3 though...

It’s the floating Hallejuah Mountains!

OBI WAN, STOP CHECKING OUT THE LIGHT SIDE OF THE FORCE!  God!

The pronoun game!  I love the pronoun game!  *stares into imaginary camera like I’m on the office*

Yeah, you’re gonna have Anakin wait ON THE SIDE OF A CLIFF FACE!

*whispers*  It’s Sam Effing Witwer

[”Sith?  Yes and no.”] HE IS BOTH!  MWAHAHAHA!

OK, the glowing trees are straight out of the planet Pandora from “Avatar”

Man, I wish I can get up that fancy.

Oh, the statues are the Son and the Daughter- Oooohhhhh!!!!

LIAM NEESON!!!

Fun Fact:  he won an Emmy for this.  For a freaking cameo.  Do not diss Liam Neeson on my blog.

He has no pillow!

Pernilla August!

I’m kinda iffy about the idea that Anakin is the child of the Force.  I mean while it helps show that he’s the Chosen One, it just doesn’t roll with me.  Maybe his dad was Darth Plagueis- I mean, the dude was rumored to have so much power that he could control the midichlorians to create life.

Ahsoka clearly does not end up looking like that in Rebels.

What is it with old, wise men stroking their beards in thought in this franchise?

God, I hate the trope of choosing between ones close to you.

This scene is awesome.

KNEEEEL BEFORE ZOOOODDDDDD!!!

Dude, you’re clearly NOT dying.  *not yet*

Dude, he’s not being selfish!

The “planet” Mortis kind of looks like a holocron temple from Rebels...

I’m beside myself [and myself, and myself, and-]

There’s the Sam Witwer tell.  You can always tell it’s Sam Witwer when he says “friend.”  He likes to drag the r a lot.

Fun Fact: Sam Witwer said that he included aspects of other Sith voices in the Son’s voice.  Super interesting to listen for.

“It was a GIANT TOWER!  Of course I saw it!”

Sam Witwer agaaaiinnnnn....

“The chains, the chains are the easy part.  It’s what goes on in here that’s hard.”  God I love that freaking line.

I’m gonna be making a separate post of favorite lines in TCW sometime in the future.

That’s Maul.  That’s just straight up Maul.

Yes, let’s leave your dying, elderly father alone asleep.  Great plan.

That’s in Rebels!

That’s a big knife...

It’s the Star Wars version of Barad-dur!

I just realized that the Fulcrum symbol came from the markings on Ahsoka’s forehead.

HE’S TWIDDLING HIS THUMBS!

“He was just... so selfish.  And and was talking too long to die so- I’ve decided to move along.”  Another line to add to my list of favorites.

Great idea Obi-Wan!  Let’s say out loud WHAT IT’S [the knife] SUPPOSED TO DO!

Aaah the music!

Wait, did they just recycle the Wampa noise?

[The Father throws his kids out the window]  Talk about grounding your kids.  Literally.

I love how in the episode before, the Daughter’s like “Don’t touch me, Skywalker!” but here, she’s totally cool with Obi-Wan helping her out.

Narmy No!

[Son yells after accidentally stabbing Daughter] That’s straight up Anakin yelling “Why?”

Man, Ahsoka’s got bad evil cataracts.

I still think the convor bird thing at the end of “Twilight of the Apprentice” in Rebels is the Daughter just following Ahsoka around.

Yay!  More Anakin and Ahsoka hugging!

Why yes, let’s bury your daughter with the weapon she was killed by.  That sounds like a grand idea.

Man, the Force is full of dicks.

Yay Qui-Gon!

*starts singing*  QUI GON YOU’VE GOT TO LET ME KNOW/ SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO NOW?

Mustafar....

The Son has the same body shape of Anakin.  Just sayin’.  Turns out, in order to be a Sith, you just gotta be tall and lanky.

Well I’m screwed.

I never noticed the other Jedi and Padme being Force-choked in the background before!

That’s straight up Maul.  Seriously.

Son:  So tell me, Chosen One, what do you think of this [gestures to Mustafar-like surrounding?  Anakin:  I’d hate to be here.

Dude, what eyeshadow is Anakin using? 

Why didn’t we have this Anakin in Revenge of the Sith?

Oh, I love this version of the Imperial March.

I get the feeling that Anakin gets kidnapped/in trouble a lot and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have to team up all the time to rescue him.

God I love Matt Lanter’s Anakin.

“You [Sister] were the only one I truly loved!”  That sounds like Anakin a lot. 

Apparently, this is labeled as “Getting Crap Past the Radar” on TVTropes.  Because of subtext.

*sing songs* Glowy eyeesss...

Anakin is gonna have back problems for days...

Suicide!  On screen!  Yeah, for the freaking second time in this show! (first time in “The Mandalore Plot” in S2)  It happens again in the Zygerria arc in S4 too!  Jesus!

What is it with Sam Witwer characters in Star Wars dying in people’s arms?

The Force theme!

The ending of this is just like “Everyone dies!  Cue the fireworks!”

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of December 19th, 2018

Best of this Week: Darth Vader #25 - Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Daniele Orlandini, David Curiel, Dono Sanchez-Almara and Erick Arciniega

Everyone remembers the claim that The Emperor made to a young Anakin Skywalker, “He [Plagueis] had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.” This helped to turn Anakin even further to the dark side as he wanted to save the life of his wife, Padme.

This last arc of the Darth Vader series has been about Vader utilizing the powerful Dark Side energy of the planet Mustafar in an attempt to resurrect the spirit of his dead wife. He finds a sith artifact known as the Mask of Momin and constructs a castle that could open a doorway into some kind of Dark Side realm. The mask retained some sort of spiritual essence of Momin who took many hosts to help Vader make the gateway before betraying Vader, trying to kill him for what he saw as an abuse of the Dark Side for petty reasons. Vader kills him and enters the gateway himself. Vader kills him and enters the gateway himself.

This issue starts with the spirit of Vader leaving his body and going on a journey through his own history. From childhood before Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan came to find him, to his partnership with Ahsoka Tano and finally to when he began killing Jedi. He finally gets to the “spirit” of Padme and discovers that there is truly no happiness meant for those that follow the dark path and that it will always end in death as he is engulfed in blue light coming from a silhouetted figure with a lightsaber. Vader wakes, spirit likely returning to his body, and destroys most of the castle, having resigned himself to his destiny.

This was a great end for the Darth Vader series and I certainly hope that the five-issue Dark Visions series lives up to the quality that Charles Soule, Camuncoli and the other artists on this book have set the bar to. High recommend!

As always, the art stole the issue. The decision to have Vader appear as a figure composed of red and black swirls with no features except for orange slits for eyes, his missing limbs appearing white and his lightsabers appearing as black with a red glow around them was fantastic. His appearance set against the roaring fires of the Dark Side realm, made him stand out more and the backgrounds felt vast and ominous.

The fight scene that takes place towards the end was pretty awesome as well; Vader having to contend with all of the Jedi blood that he has spilled and not hesitating to do it again was amazing. Every kill felt heavier and heavier knowing that it only further pushed him towards darkness, especially as lines from The Last Jedi appeared every other panel, telling Vader to “let the past die - Kill it if you have to.” And while I have a less than favorable opinion of what it’s used for in the movie, it’s worth it here as this what Vader has been working towards since the Jedi were in his way.

-----------------------------------------

Runner Up: Marvel Knights #4 - Vita Ayala, Donny Cates, Joshua Cassara and Matt Milla

Black Panther was one of the first Marvel Knights series and one of the most successful runs of the character. It brought the Panther back from obscurity and kept him in the minds of fans for years to come, some of it serving as the basis for parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Everett Ross and Killmonger’s personality. Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira elevated Black Panther and it’s nice to be reminded of that.

Not only does the issue feel like the old Marvel Knights Panther, it also pulls from the Black Panther: Man Without Fear arc, taking T’Challa out of Wakanda and into the Urban streets of New York.

The issue begins with Black Panther and Reed Richards discussing the device that made people forget about the existence of The Sentry and how it would be best hidden in Wakanda, but before T’Challa can drive away with the device with the Dora Milaje, his car is hit by a truck with Fisk written on its side. T’Challa then wakes up from the flashback, having lost his memory and spends the rest of the issue thinking about the man he was in the past, not being able to identify who he is.

He helps a number of people throughout the issue, stopping a young black kid from being accosted by the police (Likely Miles Morales as indicated by the spiderweb decal on his backpack); feeding people at a shelter - indicated as Marc, who claims to hear a voice telling him to stop someone, Captain Rogers, who wears a ball cap with a certain logo on it and a blue shirt with a white star and Sam who quips about birds listening to him when he talks. He later stops a man from assaulting a punk who cat called his sister and this ends with T’Challa getting arrested by the police after he defends the man by fighting the police.

I liked this aspect of the book with T’Challa defending people against the law that would destroy them and being helpful to the community that accepted him. Even better when he’s offered a deal by a black lawyer by the name of Ben Donovan, Marvel Netflix fans rejoice, and Donovan reveals himself to be a lawyer for PROFIT, claiming that no one that T’Challa knows could afford his help. This awakens his memories in pieces and he goes out to dispense justice to Donovan in mock up Panther gear only to see the real Supervillain plans unfolding. It was pretty good and worth checking out the rest of the event for.