#star wars a bit

[kitewithfish]

Wednesday Reading Meme - Nov 16 2022

What I've Read

Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir by Jeremy Barlow - A comic book that covers some plot that didn't make it into the end of the Clone Wars cartoon. I'm glad to have read this stuff, I think it would have been nice to see in the Solo movies that got killed by virtue of not being very good, I found the comic books heavy on plot and low on character moments. 

Ocean’s Echoby Everina Maxwell - A queer sci-fi romance between a very messy and charismatic aristocrat and a deeply intelligent solider with actual morals (something this military system tries to discourage). They fight crime! Aka, stop a military coup, discover the propaganda behind their understanding of a  past war, work for the good of some second-class citizens, and also fall in love a bit. I really enjoyed this - it's got a lot of plot and lots of chances to see both main characters reveal their core character traits in high tension situations. Many many chances for the main couple to be wildly into how competent their partner is. (I personally read one of the main couple as potentially autistic, but it's not explicit on the page bc scifi.)   I kind of adore how they play with the soulbond/psychic link element, dealing with all the ways it could be awful while allowing the characters to avoid it and form a connection on their own terms. I think this would actually be a great book for someone who does not like pyschic bonds at all in their fiction, weirdly enough! Maxwell does great books for couples who are stuck together through circumstances and come out triumphant on the other side with a deep appreciation for their partner's qualities as a person. 

What I'm Reading

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - "Hard" sci-fi in the sense that we're paying a lot of attention to quantum computers and their potential for murder!  Book club book that I think is actually interesting - I think now that I find the exploration of what sex and gender might be like in the future to be a bit cis-centric. (A large number of space-based people have longevity treatments that involve sex organ modification such that many, many of the characters can both inseminate someone else and become pregnant -the author does not seem to be interested in what that would mean for gender in space or on Earth?) I suspect there is a romance in here building but it's hard to pin down. Definitely one of those books where some readers will bounce off the main character "making stupid/bad choices."

To Seek and Find- Tamryn Eradani - This used to be Destiel fanfic and I cannot tell you how well it reads as a non-fandom book, because I'm definitely reading it as a fandom book. Kinky and cozy! Might technically be a novella and I will probably opt to purchase the next few books in the series. 

What I'll Read Next 

Library books in the house:

Maul: Lockdown - Joe Schreiber

The Whale Rider -Witi Ihimaera

Tiger's Daughter - K Arsenault Rivera

Riot Baby - Rochi Onyeuchi

The Silence of the Wilting Skin - Tlotlo Tsamaase

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

Recently purchased and need to read: NK Jemisin's The World We Make, Frey Marske's A Restless Truth, California Bones, the Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison, Raven Song by IA Ashcroft, Kraken's Sacrifice by Katee Robert, Even Though I Know the End by CL Polk 

Own but reminding myself - Penric's Demon! Get on that! Fansplaining podcast just described it as Venom-the-movie but in the middle ages, good god, ride that like you stole it. 

[allskywalkerswhine]

in fics where luke gets plopped into the prequels i want every jedi within ten metres of him to think hes the weirdest jedi theyve ever seen. he has negative lightsaber form. he doesnt know what a kata is. he handstands when he meditates. his solution to sith is to try and have a chat. hes a political radical who keeps suggesting revolution. you ask him what the jedi code is and he says "kindness and compassion and helping those in need :) ". you ask how he used the force like that and he says some shit about how you are a luminous being limited only by your mind. the councils authority is just a suggestion. he is somehow the new favourite of both qui gon and yoda

[secretly-a-trekkie]

on the run

[mroddmod]

one of the very few to show the batch kindness back on kamino

[eggdrawsthings]

a duet in a galaxy far, far away

[eso-terrors]

Hunter hasn’t gotten a proper break since the squad left Kamino the first time… I feel like he takes care of everyone but forgets about himself, typical eldest sibling in crisis mode :((

[ominouspuff]

Fwoom (intimidatingly)

[zaana]

Rampart is not having a good time

[jedi-starbird]

Qui-Gon: Remember padawan, what's rule number one?

Obi-Wan: Deny. Deny. Deny.

Qui-Gon: Ah no, the other one.

Obi-Wan: No matter what, commit to the bit.

Qui-Gon, handing Obi-Wan a fake mustache and a harpoon: Exactly! Now let's go.

[ddeck]

part 2 out of 2 for an art trade with @ominouspuff with Cody and Boba hanging out post war

thanks so much this was so much fun<3

[stealingpotatoes]

Skywalkers Apart AU thought of Cal being teen Leia’s celebrity crush but instead of boyband posters or magazine pages like irl it’s his wanted posters.

They finally meet Cal and Cal barely notices her because holy kriff he’s talking to Anakin fucking Skywalker

LOL that's fun but if you change one letter in the name, it's even MORE fun

(commission info // tip jar!)

[hmura-hmara]

“You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister…you were right.”

[bikananjarrus]

can i just say it felt so fucking GOOD to have good, well-executed, fast-paced (!!) lightsaber fight choreography. the fights were exciting! each character had their own distinct style that matched their abilities and size! they were fast!!!!!! hands down the best saber fights we’ve seen in live-action sw in a long time.

[secretly-a-trekkie]

"Oh good show, sir. For a moment, I was afraid you'd had a rational thought"

[bibxrbie]

"Luke Skywalker isn’t like the old Jedi. He saves Vader with his attachments!”

Wrong!

Luke Skywalker, at the end of Return of the Jedi, after his confrontation with the Emperor drags Darth Vader through the destructing Death Star. He’s desperate, knuckles white under the heavy weight of his father’s body, a little boy dragging his dad to safety. He sets Vader down for a moment, to catch his breath or maybe to get a better grip. He goes to grab Vader again, but Vader, uncomfortable and in pain, asks Luke to take off the mask. He wants to see Luke through his eyes instead of the eyes Palpatine built for him. Luke refuses, says that removing the mask is a sure way for Vader to die. Luke doesn’t want Vader dead, he wants Vader alive. Not to hold him accountable for his many evil acts, but for the same reason why Luke Skywalker can’t kill Darth Vader; Vader is his father and Luke loves him.

And yet, after a moment, Luke removes Vader’s mask. He doesn’t want to, he hesitates, but he removes the mask with enough slowness to allow Vader to take it back. In that moment, Luke sets aside his desire for Vader in his life, sets aside his desire to see him live, and sets aside his entire mission, the reason he was even on the Death Star in the place. In his compassion for his father, Luke stays with Vader until he dies. It is this moment where we see him be the best damn Jedi he can be. I’d even argue that this moment is the greatest example of non-attached love we see. Because Luke lets Vader go! He lets his father die, and in some ways, by removing the mask, he too kills Vader, he stays with him until his last moment, gives him the kindness of granting his last wish and finally chooses Vader.

And Luke doesn’t have to do this. If Luke Skywalker’s love for his father was an attachment, he would ignore Vader and continue dragging him to the escape pod, put his desire for a father as his central focus and ignore Vader’s wants and discomfort. Maybe he would even save him. But he doesn’t. Instead, he watches as Vader dies.

He builds a Jedi burial for his father and watches it burn the remnants of Vader and Anakin Skywalker away. He mourns Vader, he mourns what they could’ve had as father and son, considers what ifs and maybe-if-I-did-this. Vader/ Anakin is released from his mortal body, from his ‘crude matter’ and Luke lets him go. He says one final goodbye to Anakin. Then, he joins Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, and the rest of the Rebels and celebrates their victory. He lives in the present and celebrates what he has instead of what he lost.

Luke Skywalker is THE Jedi. Everything about Luke Skywalker serves as the foundational cornerstone of the Jedi, everything about the Jedi as a culture and philosophy is reflected in his character. Luke’s desire for the New Jedi Order isn’t to throw away the values of the old Order, but to vitalise them, breathe life back into dying lungs, and rebuild a path that people set out on their way to destroy. (Yes, his Order is different from the Old, but that’s because it has to be. He doesn’t have the resources or the safety of the Old Order.) The philosophies of the Jedi are difficult and they aren’t for everyone, and like the perfect Jedi that Luke is, he struggles and stumbles and sometimes he even rejects it. But, no matter how far he falls, it is a way of life he chooses again and again and again. It is a way of life that welcomes him back each time

[ahhrenata]

the screencaps that inspired these doodles