#sw fandom idiocy

[gch1995]

Honestly the problem with Anakin is felt guilt over the deaths of the Tuskens. If he had made jokes and burned them alive, the fandom would love him! And argue war crimes don't exist! Why the Jedi Council would even allow his marriage as long as he didn't actual love his wife or kids! *looks at Ki Adi-Mundi*

Yeah, and that is exactly why most prequel haters absolutely love TCW!Anakin Skywalker. He doesn’t act as much like a victim, and he’s not as emotionally expressive, unless it’s more “masculine” emotions like anger or hatred. He’s more comfortable in social situations, he’s more self-confident in his agency, and he’s more comfortable being in charge and being domineering. He’s more toxically masculine, and he doesn’t show nearly as much remorse for his crimes as the PT!movies and Legends! Anakin Skywalker. In other words, he’s exactly the sort of monster that Anakin learns to do a really good job at pretending to feel comfortable being in public over the next 23 years as Darth Vader, particularly after getting burned up, losing Padme, losing Obi-Wan, and getting put in that suit.

Even if it is partially his own fault, it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t have any sort of safe escape opportunities anymore, he keeps getting conditioned to be subservient to corrupt authority, so he has trouble understanding that he has personal agency, and he’s too hopeless and self-loathing to put up a fight anymore. However, the arrogance, anger, stoicism, and “greater good” mentality with which he learns to enable and perpetuate all these horrible crimes is all just a mask he wears in public to more effectively cover up his instability, his anxiety, his insecurities, and his self-loathing. In his private moments, the desire for freedom, love, guilt, sorrow, and self-hatred still bubbles to the surface.

That’s exactly why having Vader/Anakin seek Luke out in Empire Strikes Back is such a significant development that brings humanity to the character, even if he goes about seeking him out very badly. He’s complex and layered. He’s not a monster because he enjoys being one. It’s a self-loathing issue. It’s something he’s doing because he genuinely feels too terrified and uncertain to stand up to those with power of abusive authority over him.

It doesn’t mean that his crimes should be excused or that he’s wholly innocent. He still had to die to pay for his crimes at the end of Return Of the Jedi, so I don’t understand how fans can say that they were romanticized. However, I’m pretty sure George Lucas discarded the whole typical male power fantasy cartoon villain version of Darth Vader after A New Hope, and went the deeply flawed, but deeply sympathetic tragic hero/tragic villain with compromised agency route with the character after that by making him Luke Skywalker’s biological father Anakin Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back.

A number of fans have never been able to get on board with that tragic hero/tragic villain with compromised agency concept for Anakin’s/Vader’s character, even though it is something that goes all the way back to ESB. That’s why Filoni and Disney have been flattening the character’s more tragic and sympathetic conditions, circumstances, and emotionally vulnerable qualities to try to have it both ways. They can’t retcon the fact that he’s Anakin Skywalker, or completely retcon the fact that the Jedi Council and Obi-Wan helped fuck him over as an adult with their mistreatment of him because then he’d have no motivation to go dark at all, but they have made him come across as someone who’s softer traits are downplayed, someone who’s more toxically masculine in his relationship with Padme before going dark, someone who enjoys committing murder more, someone who’s less emotionally vulnerable, and someone who’s more aware they have opportunities to do better under corrupt authority, so they can appeal more to those fans who wanted for Darth Vader to be a cartoon villain all along, too.

And I know that George Lucas was show-runner of TCW (08-2020) up until 2012, and the writing for the characters and stories wasn’t all just Dave Filoni’s doing. However, the characterization changes that are “fixes” of Anakin/Vader, Obi-Wan, and Padme, are almost certainly entirely his creation, not Lucas’s original vision of the characters. After all, he openly admitted to having changed Anakin’s characterization in a commentary/interview on the DVD in TCW because he didn’t like him being “too whiny” in the prequels, so it doesn’t surprise me. He’s one of those prequel haters who didn’t like the fact that Anakin was an emotionally-driven and soft-spoken character with compromised agency.

It’s similar to how some fans in this fandom complained that Han Solo was a cooler character than Luke Skywalker in the OT because he was more compassionate, hopeful, idealistic, emotionally driven, optimistic, and kindhearted. Han was more typically domineering, macho, and self-centered. At least on the surface. However, I’m also pretty sure that the point of having him overcome his relationship issues with Leia and his friendships with Luke, Lando, and Chewie in the OT movies was to show viewers that his seemingly arrogant, aloof, cynical, distant, and pettily jealous traits didn’t stem from him being that way because he enjoyed being an asshole for shits and giggles. It stemmed from Han being afraid of being hurt in relationships. It is similar to Anakin’s arc and characterization in the movies, actually, except far less dark and tragic.

I don’t know why so many people in this fandom want for Star Wars to be this commentary on how it is “bad” for men to be emotionally driven, emotionally expressive, empathetic, and kind. I suspect it’s the fanboys. They wanted it to be this toxic male power fantasy that they could project themselves on to. However, in the movies it has always been a commentary on how being completely anti-emotional vulnerability in male characters to be more “manly” by being more arrogant, aggressive, and domineering is consistently a bad thing.

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the overall old Jedi Order learned to use toxic masculinity as a mask to cover up for their insecurities and fear of the unknown in public, and it led them to their downfall. Anakin couldn’t turn back to the light until he felt confident enough to stop trying so hard to be this apathetic, detached, and intimidating cyborg man for Sidious as his attack dog/murder slave by allowing himself to be empathetic, emotionally vulnerable, and trusting in his love for his son. Han Solo hid behind toxic masculinity to cover up his insecurities over Leia possibly liking Luke more than him, and Leia refused to be with him until he stopped acting like a dick, got over his jealousy of Luke, and respected her own decisions. Luke saved the day by healthily and confidently being emotionally vulnerable.

Most men who act toxically masculine don’t behave like that because they genuinely just enjoy being assholes for its own sake. That is rarely the case in real life. Most of them aren’t like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, who behave in those toxic ways because they genuinely believe they are God’s gift to humanity, and everyone who doesn’t want them is just crazy or jealous. More often than not, they’re like the Beast. They actually hate themselves deeply underneath the mask of toxic masculinity. They become too terrified of bearing their souls to others in relationships, and learn to use toxic masculinity to try to hold onto security and protect their hearts through acting apathetic, arrogant, domineering, entitled, and/or pushing people away as a result because they feel unworthy of love.

It doesn’t mean it should be excused, but toxic masculinity usually is something that is a learned unhealthy coping mechanism that men pick up under negative stereotypical societal expectations in their childhoods to very young adulthood in a series of toxic relationships with problematic male authority figures. These boys get taught they should act more “manly” by behaving in arrogant, domineering, entitled, powerful, and/or stoic ways to avoid being hurt, rejected, or taken advantage of in relationships with other people because . Behaving in gentle, kind, empathetic, emotionally vulnerable, open-hearted, optimistic, hopeful, merciful, patient, and remorseful in relationships throughout their lives probably got them shit on and shut down by problematic male authority figures in their lives for being “too soft,” “too girly,” “too whiny,” “too weak,” and not “manly” enough.

I’m not the biggest fan of Disney Star Wars content because it contradicts and disrespects a lot of previously established canon arcs, characterizations, and development arcs for the Skywalker family in the OT and PT movies, particularly for Luke and Anakin, who are the main characters, but there is one line from Vader (Anakin) in Rebels that I think really sums up just how damaging and desensitizing to horror that whole anti-emotional attachment and anti-emotional vulnerability conditioning that Obi-Wan, the Council, and Sidious put him through really was, and it is “Anakin Skywalker was weak, so I destroyed him.”

In other words, Anakin Skywalker was compassionate, empathetic, loving, protective, desperate for healthy emotional support and validation, desperate for love, and constantly wracked by visible guilt over the crimes he enabled and committed himself and the ones he saw enabled and committed by others without much apparent remorse in his environment.

The thing is that Vader is still Anakin underneath the horrifying mask of anger, apathy, and cruelty he’s learned so well to wear on the high of the corruptive influence of the dark side to avoid facing his intense anxiety, guilt, horror, and self-loathing over what he’s been through, what he’s become, and what he’s done. Everything that made Anakin who he was before going dark as an emotionally driven person is still in there. He just keeps getting told to stop caring and keeps telling himself to stop caring because he’s been conditioned to be a tool or weapon to corrupt authority his whole life and because letting himself acknowledge that he still has feelings of anything other than anger, brutality, impatience, and hatred buried underneath it all brings all the compassion, desperation, neediness, guilt, horror, self-hatred, and shame that so often got him taken advantage of, chastised, hurt, mocked, or shut down throughout his life by abusive, corrupt, and manipulative male authority figures throughout his life because he was “too sensitive,” “too needy,” “too weak,” and he was expected to just “man up.”

So yeah, the OT and PT Star Wars movies are not a romanticization of toxic masculinity. They are a condemnation of it. Yeah, Anakin/Vader, Obi-Wan, the overall PT Jedi Order, and Han Solo are still relatable and tragic characters who you feel a lot of sympathy for because you understand why they felt influenced to embrace those toxically masculine attitudes under toxic male authority and negative societal expectations of men, but they’re not excused for being that way either since they’re not allowed to seek atonement or redemption until they allow themselves to be more traditionally “feminine” by being openly compassionate, empathetic, emotionally vulnerable, respectful, merciful, and selfless.

If you guys want to comment you can!

@tragicfantasy-girl

@mynameisanakin

@ohgodmyeyes

@kaelinaloveslomaris

@allronix

[anghraine]

do you have any dearly beloved mutuals who in turn have a tumblr friend who is so insipid, stupid, irritating, insufferable, or unpleasant, and altogether unlike anything your mutual values or enjoys, that you just cannot fathom why on earth your mutual gives them the time of day -- but you hold off on tearing apart that friend's unbearable, mind-meltingly awful posts, on account of your beloved mutual's feelings?

Oh, absolutely.

[lehdenlaulu]

The r3ylos are mad that Rey referred to Kyle torturing her as, you know, torture in the comics.

What... what do they think it was? Some light, pleasant interrogation? Consensual BDSM?

It was an interesting scene certainly, but sheesh.

[draganchitsa]

honestly am i surprised that tumblr is spreading unsourced falsehoods just because it just fucking wants to?

nope

[warlordgab]

Nami analysis: Luffy will definitely become the Pirate King

This was originally meant to be a collection of a few Nami character moments to defend her from the trend of hate against her. But, a friend of mine got me to make an actual analysis about her given the recent manga developments. It's mostly about some aspects of Nami's growth throughout the series.

Let's start with one memorable scene from Skypiea...

...when Nami kept panicking, Luffy told her she shouldn't stop acting so pathetic for she's a companion of the future Pirate King.

Here, Luffy makes a connection between their success and the certainty of his dream. As in Nami shouldn't fear because Luffy being the future Pirate King means they'll always succeed at the end.

After Luffy gets BFR'd, Nami makes this her earnest belief. Instead of submitting to Enel in fear, or playing along with his plan to ensure her survival, she draws enough courage to take a firm stand...

...and face Enel on her own.

There's even a subtle symbolism in both scene. When Luffy is giving Nami the reason why she shouldn't panic, he gave Nami his treasured hat. And when Nami is about to finally challenge Enel, she grips Luffy's hat. (Oda is an amazing writer!!!)

It's subtle, but you can see Nami drawing courage from Luffy, his values, and his dream, to challenge a monster she had no way of beating

Oda decided to continue Nami's character growth in the movie he wrote, Strong World.

After realizing Shiki (and his army of mutated animals) headed towards East Blue, which included the hometown where her sister and other loved ones lived in, her first response was looking for Luffy...

...instead of panicking like she did in Skypiea, she sought the person that could reassure her everything would be all right. We went from symbolism to something a little bit more straightforward.

Even when Shiki defeated the East Blue team, Nami managed to keep her cool, so she could mess the plans of a legendary pirate who could easily crush her. Even when was caught and left to die, she didn't give up and proved she was willing to die to protect her hometown.

Huge displays of selflessness and actual courage. However, it's interesting to see that, as character moments, they were built upon her growth in Skypiea and Arlong Park. Why can we say that?

In Arlong Park she realized there are burdens, and even emotional luggage, she couldn't carry on her own so she had to rely on others to keep going. In Skypiea, she drew the strength needed to face overwhelming odds from Luffy.

Now, Luffy described Nami as their vanguard against Shiki, which indicates he knew that Nami was trying to fight Shiki's army from the inside. But, she never planned to carry this burden on her own. Luffy instilled in her the belief that being the companion of the future Pirate King means they'll suceed regardless of the setbacks they may suffer. At the end of the movie, we get the twist that Nami not only believes in Luffy...

...she gets embarrassed about the recorded proof of her faith in her captain when she realized Luffy didn't hear it. Arlong Park and Skypiea laid the groundwork for her belief, while Strong World solidified it.

Also, it’s worth noting her stand against Shiki is reminiscent of the brave attitude displayed by Silk (Nami’s earliest prototype) from One Piece’s first pilot: Romance Dawn V.1

A girl who was more than willing to fight in order to protect her hometown and her loved ones regardless of the foe. Was that intentional on Oda’s part? Who knows...

Now, how did Nami character change post-timeskip?

If we stick to the manga, everything they've been through so far had strengthened her faith and trust in Luffy and his dream. We can see it in the Wholecake arc...

... when facing Cracker, Nami declares with absolute confidence that the fact Luffy is the future Pirate King is pretty much the guarantee of their victory. Not everyone invokes a NLF when talking about Luffy.

So, when Sanji goes as far as brutalizing Luffy, and trash-talking his dream, Nami's response was... 

...which makes a lot of sense given how her confidence on the future, and part of her growth as a person, are tied to Luffy's dream.

The disrespect Sanji was forced to show now can be used as a contrast given recent developments; when Nami was in a life-or-death situation, scared and helpless before an enemy she couldn't beat on her own, she was offered a way out: disavow Luffy's dream of becoming the Pirate King...

... However, even when facing certain death, having no other way to defend herself or run away, Nami couldn't lie about Luffy becoming the Pirate King, not even to say her life. In the japanese version she answers: "Luffy will become the Pirate King... definitely"

We've seen Nami lying to weasel her way out of danger, but this time, she's literally incapable of lying about the fact Luffy will reach his goal. From her perspective that's a truth you simply cannot deny or reject under any circumstances.

That's an outstanding display of loyalty, but the overall theme connecting this moment to previous showings is "faith."

From Skypiea, she was told being a companion of the Pirate King ensured success, in Strong World, she was embarrassed to admit how strong was her faith and trust in Luffy. Post-timeskip, we now see her shouting it confidently to the enermy, and now she believes in Luffy so much, that not even facing death can make her say otherwise. That's how you develop a character!

I know I left out the Drum arc, Water 7, Shabaody, Fishman Island, Punk Hazard (Bellemere would be proud), Dressrosa, and Zou... but, it would take months and a kilometric post to cover hundreds of chapters worth of development. I only covered the essentials.

If you want more, check out the author's works; the manga and the Film series (SW, Z, and GOLD).

Point is, Nami is a great character who truly deserves to be described as “queenly,” not only because Oda said so, but also for her progression during this long-running story

BONUS:

Finally, I’m going to address an ugly trend in the west. Nami had been getting a lot of hate as of recent years. Even highly influential figures within the fandom tend to put down Nami. Many belittle her character, and they even compare her to other series’ characters that get treated as “chew toys” by their respective fandoms.

Why so much hate for Nami’s character?

Short answer: she has been dealt a bad hand

First, her role in the story and the crew puts her at odds with fans of characters they usually hype as greater figures of authority and power within the strawhat group. She commands too much authority, and that make fans pretty insecure about their favorite character’s position.

Along with this factor, there’s the fact she’s the most “human” in a crew (and a world) filled with superhuman people. Haters probably feel that someone so normal shouldn’t have so much agency. Specially when compared to other women

Speaking of which, that’s another reason why Nami gets so much hate. Her role as a heroine, and her superior navigation skills, makes her an incredibly important character to this story. And that makes the fans hyping other females see her a threat to their favorites’ position, like some sort of competion.

Which leads me to the other point people hate her: Nami’s relationship with Luffy. She’s closer to Luffy than many other women, which include more powerful and overhyped girls, and yes I said girls, because there’s more than one powerful female characters getting that hype

Last factor I’m going to mention is the pettiest of all: the way she responds to other characters. You probably realized that she reacted quite well to Inuarashi’s and Tonoyasu’s compliments, right? Well, thing is many fans want her to respond in a similar manner to their favorite character(s). Problem is that she doesn’t...

She’s a fiery woman with a lot of agency that doesn’t fall for flirting nor physical aesthetics, while challenging the main characters’ decisions, and/or questioning their idiocy. Meanwhile, there are physically stronger women who are far more submissive and/or subservient...

Overall, she’s on a bad position in the west.

Regardless of what haters feel or think, Nami is an amazing character that deserves as much love as she gets in Japan (probably even more). So, screw the morons trying put her down and/or failing to understand her worth. She’s the “queen,” and people should bow

[lehdenlaulu]

I’m also fairly sure the kissy bits were added in the reshoots after some executive pressure, shall we say. That’s not JJ’s style at all. JJ’s body of work proves he's infinitely more capable and feminist writer than Rian Johnson will ever be even if he takes his head out of his ass and realizes he’s not actually a genius.

Also, JJ should never write again because... he didn’t give Kylo a happy ending? Great logic there. That r*ylo kool-aid is potent, it seems.

Game of Thrones writers were like “let’s have this woman be killed by her lover as they kiss” and Star Wars writers were like “let’s have this woman be saved and kissed by her abuser” and this is why men need to literally never write again

[space-blue]

anon is foolish and forgot to specify previous ask was mostly about arcane content, avert thy eyes from my idiocy

Ahaha! It's alright! Man, I remember the night after I finished binging Act I and II and went prowling the Silco tag. There was precious little, and that one Silco/Reader author was begging writers for more.

So I was like "aww, gn reader is always fun to write, let's do a little quick thing for this writer" and I did! I wrote most of it on my phone in bed at 5am.

Honestly I thought that was it. Wrote a little follow up the next day, since I had to wait for the finale anyway. I had no plans to ever enter that fandom. It was nano. I was busy writing all this SW content and my own OG work...

And then the finale dropped and I...

If I were a reasonable person with a grip on my muse and my hobbies, and an actual life, you wouldn't be getting nearly that much unhinged Arcane content from me. This show possessed me hard enough that any other century, my flatmate would have called an exorcist for me by now.

I have quite a few SW fans who've jumped ship with me actually, I'm lucky... I've pulled a few underwater willingly. Like I've turned into a kelpie and I'll take any unsuspecting person to sink and drown into the dark waters of Arcane.

And hey, when you do take the time, if you really go on a madness binge of my Arcane works, I WILL make you read some SW because of that one Sith Silco AU lol

I wonder if I should do a Hannibal AU as well... just to crossover all of my fandoms. No I'll finish the regency one first. *sob*

[emeraldsiren19]

Open letter to Star Wars fandom post-Tros

The insanity of the SW fandom has truly peaked. And people wonder why outsiders don't touch them with a fifty foot pole. 

There are not enough expletives (btw 'kriff' doesn't exist in the GFFA but that's a topic for another day) in the English language for the disgrace, mockery, idiocy and so on that has permeated what could be an otherwise great fandom. I have been a SW fan my whole life and will continue to be forever, but there are hills I will die on.

All of this "JJ ruined SW forever and Terrio is a saint, etc!?!" bullshit combined with "oh don't pick on poor Daisy..no one told her anything about her character" makes the folks who regurgitate the drivel appear to have their hostility set in the wrong place. No one can possibly believe what they are preaching to be fact.

Everything is clearly mapped out as it happened and nothing is cryptic. It would smash you into the pavement like a bus for how blatant it is. Obviously people believe what they want but presenting lies as law does no one any favors.

JJ.didn't.write.shit. Repeat it out loud as many times as necessary. Everyone and their dog in Hollywood knows that. How he and Terrio are not blacklisted for their extensive career bombs when anyone else wouldn't get away with it remains a mystery. Everyone knows he stole writing credit from lots of people. That's just from SW without the rest of his 'filmography'. Don't ever him credit for being *anything* other than having sand for brains. If you think he's the fucking mastermind behind anything, he's got you exactly where he wants you, wrapped around his finger. That's how hacks operate. He is responsible for the shit editing job of TROS where the editing crew was threatened with their jobs if it was not done in a certain way under a certain unrealistic time crunch. That is why TROS was so choppy and nonsensical, not taking into consideration Terrio's very explicit hate for anything in the franchise not related to Luke or Rey. He is responsible for forcing Adam Driver to do ADR dialogue in his own fucking closet out of sheer vindication. 

There is hypocrisy and disrespect to levels that it's impossible to recover from. DLF went out of its way, above and beyond even, with gaslighting and erasure to destroy the entire franchise in one film. In December, people said they were done with SW because DLF had crushed them and they would never recover but they would still love it.

Funny how that took a spin in the opposite direction since people hate it with a white hot passion. Only SW fandom would choose to not abandon something they hate in favor of unhealthy hatred.  'Fans' directing their anger toward boycotting the entire franchise instead of ignoring the bad film as any other franchise does. It is done with such vocal energy that it has become the popular vote and anyone who doesn't agree with the hate is an outcast. Essentially becoming the angry antis that they claim to hate in the same breath.

And don't even start on the utter bullshit of Rey's parentage. The latest conspiracy theory, advocated by DR herself, would have you believe that she has equal sand for brains and doesn't know shit about her own character, and that Rey Nobody of Jakku was nothing more than Resistance propaganda and never existed. That TFA and TLJ are figments of our imagination and the highly respected Rian Johnson is not only a slave driver but a hack who knows nothing. He knows a hell of a lot more than Terrio and JJ combined. If you seriously believe that Daisy knows nothing about her own character when every other actor knows more than the writers, you're equally conned. Daisy didn't pay attention or didn't care because that meant working, which she bitched about she shouldn't have to do. Like JB, she wants to be seen as the poor abused victim. 

When TFA and TLJ were at the forefront, no one had any issues whatsoever with Rey of Jakku being related to no one. Rian even said as much. But he and George Lucas who created the franchise know nothing. Neither does Lawrence Kasdan and his cowriter Michael Arndt. Lucas explicitly said during PT filming that Palpatine had no offspring, and people who aren't even involved in the fandom know that the Dark Side tells you anything you want to hear. Why the bloody fuck anyone with functioning braincells would take anything that TROS claims to be true as gospel fact "because it's onscreen which makes it true". 

It fucking cancelled 9 previous films and people choose to accept with open arms the same literal pile of shit they said destroyed them over the 9 films that have almost no flaws by comparison. Cancel out any love, family, fairytales, hope, because a shit for brains writer (Terrio) chose to annihilate them to become the tale of St Luke and the Virgin Rey. 

Why? What is the logic or purpose behind the Stockholm Syndrome which DLF initiated that TROS is Gospel Law, everything else is heresy and Rey Nobody never existed? 

I can tell you right now without any doubt that Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew are both rolling in their graves at the utter hurricane of disrespect and mockery that has swept over the franchise. George Lucas is likely regretting his choice to sell LF to Disney after the atrocity of TROS. Why are people giving the antis/fanboys whom they claim to abhor as much power as they have? 

That's not even touching any widely publicized offscreen drama involving the actors. Adam made the wise decision to cut all ties. DR and Reylos were harassed by JB. They probably don't recall boycotting him as a result. Kelly Tran was harassed by fanboys and thrown under the bus by JB and JJ. In addition, neither JB nor DR can find work after their stunts (she trashed Adam and Rian at a full cast press conference for making her actually work during TLJ). Now he's hoping people will conveniently forget what an ass he was to everyone. Interesting how Adam, Kelly, and the rest of the cast are having zero issues finding work. 

In a nutshell, Rey may not be my favorite character by a long shot. Kylo deserved better. The Force thought they belonged together. But NO ONE (actor or character) deserved the fucking lazy bullshit copout story that was given to them by hack 'writer' Terrio and 'I can't finish any story' director JJ. Carrie was a script doctor and would have beaten the shit out of Terrio. The extent of her revenge on JJ would be haunting him but he isn't even worth that much effort. 

People have forgotten that or they don't care anymore. At which point move on. But that doesn't give someone license to trash an entire fandom with blatant lies out of spite as retribution. Don't create conspiracy theories that experts (the writers of TFA/TLJ and actors) have explicitly said are the opposite. 

[frumfrumfroo]

There is a tiny part of me that sees the humor in this because for two years it seemed like the main anxiety point in the Reylo fandom was whether or not they would make Reylo explicitly romantic (there were other major anxieties obvs but it seemed like Explicit Reylo came up the most) and in the end it turned out that, No no, it wasn’t explicit Reylo that we had to worry about, it was EVERYTHING ELSE

You’re right, imo, I think I got the most asks about ambiguous-platonic worries. We can laugh, bitterly. Personally, I honestly never doubted for a moment we’d get explicit romance. My worry was that it would be badly done, end badly, and/or they would completely fuck up the themes. Which they did, just much, much worse than I could have anticipated.

I would worry about Ben and his arc not being done any justice, I worried they would write Rey as a generic action hero and not a sw protagonist, but I really thought the stakes were way too high for them to unceremoniously kill him off and I never thought they would treat their heroine this poorly. I never thought they’d take this kind of steaming dump on the entire mythos. I thought greed and basic business sense precluded that level of idiocy.

[caddy-crystal-queen]

So once again, the idiocy of fandoms continues to annoy me...

Yeah this is gonna become a trend on this blog I guess. I'm just sick and tired of this bs. This entitlement, this senseless rage over something that literally does not exist. So which fandom has inspired my ire this time? Surprisingly, not game of thrones. But a fandom with just about the same fucking problems.

Star Wars fans, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?

Dont get me wrong, I love star wars, but I love it in my own way and it doesnt consume my life. I love the characters, the stories, and the potential it has/had. I love the clone wars, I loved Rebels. I love the books. I love the movies, for the most part. Hell I even created my own race within the SW universe.

But dear fucking lord are you all entitled as fuck! Like what the fuck is wrong with everyone? Just because you're a "die hard fan" of something doesnt make you entitled to make demands of the filmmakers, actors, and writers! I know, we're part of what makes them famous but we are not the deciding factor. Ever since the last jedi came out everyone has been uppity and preachy in everyone's faces (if it matters, I liked the Last Jedi, and yes, I do ship Reylo, sue me) about how the series is going bad and this and that shouldnt be happening, Rey's parents should be this person or that one, or kylo ren deserves to die or hes a victim who's done nothing wrong...

I. Am. Sick. Of it.

All of you, shut up. The only thing you're entitled to is your opinion and that's perfectly fine. Any further than that and you're stepping on a thin line. I've seen so called "fans" call for the blacklisting of JJ Abrams just because of how The Rise of Skywalker ended. I've seen people make horrible assumptions about him based on his filmmaking and the supposed message his movies send. I've literally seen people call for this mans blood just because you didnt get the fucking ending YOU FELT ENTITLED TO!

"Well kylo ren was an abuse victim and he didnt do anything wrong! He deserved better! We fans deserved better!".

Dude...you are calling for the blood of a man who's crime was literally DOING HIS JOB! If the abuse of a fictional character pisses you off this much, first off please get some help. Second off, why not focus that anger on, well, gee, I dont know, how about real living victims of abuse?! I'm pretty sure there would be fewer victims of abuse in the world!

You all bitch piss and moan about the death of an abused fictional character, yet you didnt mind abusing the poor kid who played Anakin in the Phantom Menace! You have no room whatsoever to talk, Star Wars Fandom, not a single damn one of you do! You also had no issue with nearly driving the poor man who played jar jar binks to suicide! Fuck off, and stop the hypocrisy you dumb bastards! You're no fucking better than the director you claim to hate so goddamn much!

When TROS came out, it was like all the kylo ren fangirls were talking about being forced to watch A Serbian Film or something. Dear fucking god...I'm a reylo but you guys just need to shut up! It is NOT that serious! It's a fucking movie! Again, maybe you can focus that anger on real problems and real victims, rather than becoming the abusers you claim to hate so much!

But no let's just waste all our time effort and energy on a fictional character right?

Stop being entitled, stop calling for the deaths of JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. Stop assuming they're bad parents based on their writing/filmmaking. Stop treating fictional characters like they're real, because newsflash, they arent! The world is going to shit and we need people to be angry, but we need them to be angry at the right things and the right people. Not on people who were simply doing their jobs and committing to their passions, but real life abusers! All abusers!

All of you get your heads out of your asses and start turning your ire towards people who fucking deserve it! Thank you!

[greyjedireylo]

I cannot wait for the next Lucasfilm enemies-to-lovers ship to come into existence. And let's be real, we all know there WILL be more 'people on opposite sides who should bang' dynamics somewhere in the trillion new books, shows, comics, and movies that they are making. Hopefully by then the fandom will have gotten used to the existence of these ships in the Star Wars universe, and we won't have such idiocy from antis prevailing again on a mass scale.

MY FRIEND, THEY ALREADY EXIST. lucasfilm has been slipping enemies-to-lovers ships into extended canon left and right since TFA came out, RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES:

Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos from Dark Disciple (she’s a dark side Force user who used to be Dooku’s apprentice and he’s a Jedi)

Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell from Lost Stars (they both go to the Imperial Academy but he later joins the rebellion–this one’s more like friends to lovers to enemy-lovers)

Alexsandr Kallus and Zeb Orrelios from Rebels (Kallus is an Imperial operative who participated in the genocide of Zeb’s [who’s a Rebel] people–enemies to allies to friends to heavily implied lovers)

Imanuel Doza and his unnamed wife from Resistance (this is all offscreen/preceding the timeline of the show but he was an Imperial captain who defected around the Battle of Endor and she was a Rebel pilot and they have a daughter together)

Magna Tolvan and Chelli Lona Aphra from the Aphra comics (an Imperial officer trying to chase down a criminal archaelogist but they end up like-LIKING each other)

Vi Moradi and Cardinal from the Phasma novel (this isn’t romantically canon yet but she’s a Resistance spy and he’s a First Order stormtrooper captain who interrogates her, and she ends up escaping, saving his life, and taking him with her after a bunch of shit goes down between him and Phasma and Hux)

LONG STORY SHORT, the enemies-to-lovers trope is Peak Star WarsTM and reylo is in excellent company and is really only groundbreaking in that it’s the first one depicted in the films themselves. but yes, I completely agree that I think there will be many succeeding them as well–nothing fits an epic space opera like star-crossed lovers :’)

(shoutout to @smols-darklighter who helped me compile this list and who fills in the gaps in my SW knowledge with her encyclopedic extended canon knowledge ❤️)

[lehdenlaulu]

Fandom wank is really fandom wank, isn’t it? With Poe and/or Damerey fans just having fun and enjoying Poe’s smokin’ new look, suddenly, people are coming out of the woodwork. I get some would be fonder of one character, but why can’t they just root/ship without slagging other characters off? One of the most peevish things is this rant about how unimportant he is bec he’s a minor character in TFA. Like, his growing importance doesn’t lessen the importance of another character you love :(

Aggressive shippers/fans like the loudest and craziest of the r*ylo/Kylo fandom are never content to just like their own ship/fave in peace. They want total dominance. They want to win. They want their (usually male) fave to be the top dog and anyone who threatens that usually imaginary position has to be torn down.

And they know Poe is, basically by default because he’s played by Oscar, a huge threat. So of course they’re trying to make themselves feel better by pretending he’s unimportant, or the real villain, or whatever. I mean, they’re still bringing up that “but originally Poe was supposed to die!” thing. Yeah. Sure. Originally Han was also a green alien with gills and Luke was a girl. That’s how much early script drafts matter.

(They also very conveniently like to ignore the not-even-subtextually romantic damerey Meet Cute Rian had cut from TFA because of course they do.)

[venator-signum]

yay lets goooooo

1. music

2. geeking out over new hcs/ideas about my fandoms (specifically sw)

3. my friends (and their idiocy i love them)

4. my family!!!

5. reading a new book

okay @fearthenightfury @higher-further-faster-bb @succoallimone @screechingheroangelfreaks @spacergirl66 @elephant-bubble @shruikan-12344 @demigods-with-lightsabers @loonylunalovegood97 @kissmyromanticquote​

Pass the happy!🌻🌈 When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last ten people in your notifications.

1) My family

2) My friends

3) My classmates

4) My writing

5) My artwork

@bitronic @shruikan-12344 @flyawaybluebirdie @brekkie-e @justalittlepickle @venator-signum @chipotlechuu @arya-durin-51 @reversedthoughts @padme--amygdala

[badsithnocookie]

responding-not-responding to a post on jedi-criticism and an inability to find good, critical blogs in the sw fandom that don’t use being x-critical as a crutch/excuse to indulge in apologia for their preferred faction

(see also: the ds+ crowd and their insistence on strawmanning the jedi into christianised puritans in order to prop up their ooc au of the sith)

which like. is something i get. and sympathise with. i know that i’m not very critical of the republic or the jedi on this blog, and it honestly doesn’t come as much surprise that chunks of the ds+ or imp fandom clique think i’m a pub blogger. which... well, reading comprehension is not generally their strong suit anyway. but i digress.

the problem is that a lot of what i write is reaction to or pushback from stupidity i see on tumblr, as i don’t lurk in many other fandom spots, and - i gotta be honest - i focus alost entirely on tor and its era, so cinematic-era fandom idiocy mostly passes me by. and, as i have mentioned previously, there is a lot of idiotic both sith and imperial apologia, and equally idiotic republic/jedi strawmanning, here on tumbls.

(the other half of it is that imperial storylines generally push my muse’s buttons more than republic ones, and what few republic ones do push my buttons tend to be things i either don’t feel i have the energy and/or chops to do justice - namely, political drama - or stuff i am quite certain would get maybe 1 note from a spambot, and let’s be honest - i’m an artist, and like all artists, i crave feedback like i crave oxygen. all artists are the same. creating the art feels good, sure, but creating art that gets a lot of feedback and exposure, versus creating art that gets very little? one of these things feels significantly better than the other. so if you like a thing, support it! comment on it! reblog it!)

like. i don’t doubt for a second there is plenty of stupid tor-era pub and jedi stanning (actual stanning, not strawmanning by so-called critics). i just don’t see it (lucky me), which is why i don’t feel such a constant need to pushback against it.

it doesn’t help, i guess, that pushing back against strawmanning of the jedi usually means i’m writing stuff that comes across as apologetic rather than critical, which for a supposedly critical blog is less than ideal. but again, this is a hobby. it’s fun, or supposed to be. but i can understand why that would give people the idea this blog is pro-jedi. which... it’s not, not anymore than it’s pro-sith. (well. a little more than it’s pro-sith, if only because the sith are toxic masculinity writ large, but again, i’m digressing)

anyway my point is i guess that this is why this blog has the content and biases that it does. i’d love to have the time and spoons to actively include more critical meta (there is so much to dig into with the portrayal of the jedi and their relationship with the republic. so. much.) but. time, spoons.

[lehdenlaulu]

@msjynerso replied to your post: Omg, that Rey x Poe x Kylo love triangle thing....

R*ylos are making it more clear that they hate Rey and Poe with every single day that passes. She slammed the Falcon’s door right in his face, idk what would be more symbolic for breaking the (force) bond that Rey and Kylo had than that! And right after that, she meets Poe and is all pretty and smiling. Rey is never looking back an is done thinking about Kylo! (We’re really gonna have to go through 2 years of that kind of bullshit before IX, ugh)

*sigh* You think they're going to give up now that they basically got one of their fanfics in canon and all kinds of bullshit articles keep validating them? They think Poe is a false lead, an obstacle to overcome on the way to True Love. Which... whatever. To thine own self be true and all that. 

But I just wish they’d have the decency to not troll the damerey tags or fill the notes of damerey posts with r*ylo scenarios in which Poe is just some boytoy who exists to make Kyle jealous.

[lehdenlaulu]

I really ‘love’ it how in the sequel trilogy so far there is literally no existing canonical, textual romance, yet the two main ships are both like ‘[my ship] are soulmates and practically married already, and everyone who disagrees is a delusional anti and/or a dirty heretic!’.

And naturally also think the people involved in the production are either obviously on their side or Satan themselves (or at least misguided or lying for whatever reason) whenever they say anything at all that could be in any way interpreted as support for one of the ships (or I guess more accurately, for the male characters involved).

This is all so stereotypical it would be hilarious if it wasn’t so aggravating. Because if you want to be involved in the fandom at all, you can’t escape it without blocking like... 75% of the fandom.