#that's not a positive representation of the clones

[antianakin]

Me: TBB often represents the clones as unlikable assholes in comparison to the Bad Batch characters.

TBB fans: No they don't! Do you think HOWZER is an unlikable asshole? Hah, check and mate!

Me: Howzer's whole introduction is him being a minor antagonist who sides with the Empire against the Twi'leks right up until the very end. His latest appearance places him in opposition to Crosshair and represents him as being unreasonable in his anger while Crosshair is the victim even though Crosshair is the one who murdered people Howzer cared about and never apologizes for it or even appears remotely remorseful about the pain he caused to Howzer. So while I do not PERSONALLY find Howzer an unlikeable asshole, I don't think the show really works that hard to write him that positively and it DOES place him in opposition to the Bad Batch where they are explicitly represented as better than he is.

[askshivanulegacy]

Except they're not all wrong and they're not "paid fanfiction." They were written with Lucas' approval and they developed the Star Wars universe in a dry spell that lasted years. The only reason they're claimed to be "not canon" now is only because of the decision Disney made ... and that was after it passed out of Lucas' hands. He never claimed any such thing. So as far as Lucas is concerned, they're as canon as anything else.

And it's true that at the same time there are story points that conflict. All that means is that you get to explore how they might or might not still fit with other pieces of the universe, such as the movies, and which pieces you think make more sense.

There is no hard core "this is wrong" statement that you can apply to published material. The EU books are just as valid as anything else. The Star Wars universe is NOT just the movies, whether anyone likes it or not. It's a bad faith move to blockade off totally valid discussion points just because you want to gatekeep the fandom. The books exist, people read them and like them, and they get to talk about them, and no one is capable of undermining that. You don't get to invalidate real SW resources just because you don't like the conclusions some people make from them.

At the point that you want to keep your headcanons informed only by the movies, that is certainly a choice you can make. But in the wider fandom, people can and do use all the material available to them. And they will have different opinions. You don't have to like them, but there's also nothing you can do to wipe them out or to somehow magically trump them because you like your resources better than theirs.

If you don't want to see those points come up in discussions then don't have those discussions. Or frame the discussion properly up front, and it can be a fun little exercise to only consider the movies.

This is just how fandom works.

I really dislike it when anti-Jedi and Jedi-critical crowd uses EU books as a prove for their points. Why they’re all wrong:

a) The books were written by various people who didn’t consult George Lucas about what they’re going to write. Everyone understood SW as they did. When an original author has never claimed such art as canon and actually refused it – this is a definition of fanfiction, isn’t it? Paid, yes, but fanfiction nonetheless.

b) Most of these books were created way before PT. They didn’t know about the Jedi things what we know now. It becomes quite hypocritical – I mean, in the EU the clones were enemies, not allies, but somehow I don’t see any claims ‘but the clones are enemies! The EU says so!’. Even in Karen Traviss books not all the clones have a personality, but we all ignore it now, aren’t we? She wrote her books before the TCW, not knowing how the series would spin the story. So EU retcon works for the clones, but not for the Jedi?

[emblemxeno]

It's 5am where I am so I'm no doubt gonna regret posting meaningless whining about my favs compared to other characters when I wake up but rn who tf cares

I'm still incensed under the surface about how Byleth gets a better reception than Corrin, and how Corrin specifically is represented in a grand scheme of the FE franchise, mostly with Heroes.

"Corrin gets positions and authority when he doesn't deserve it!" then silence for Byleth when he gets a teaching position, and later either the archbishop spot or outright becomes king of an entire continent.

"Corrin's dragon powers aren't used in the plot enough!" Byleth's powers are only ever plot device fodder, are mechanically indistinct from other FE protag powers before and after him, and have terrible ludonarrative applications.

"Too many people worship Corrin!" About 70% of the cast's morality when defecting from their home (and sometimes partaking in harming it) is dictated by Byleth having enough tea parties with them, after being enrolled in a job he wasn't qualified for

"Corrin's character and personality is bad" Byleth doesn't even have one, he's just a dialogoue choice generator

"Corrin is the worst FE rep in Smash, had the worst trailer, and is representative of FE having imbalanced representation" FE has a clone/Echo fighter problem and consolidating Roy, Lucina and Chrom into Marth as alt skins a la Bowser Jr. would auto fix that controversy given the Smash community's "if I don't see it, it doesn't exist" approach to character slots; there is no universe where a trailer showcasing one of the worst villains in 3H-and the FE series as a whole-is better than even the cringiest lines in Corrin's trailer; there is more unique properties and applications just in Corrin's side special than there is in Byleth's entire kit, which was really a mish-mash of different Smash archetypes, inlcuding ones other FE characters covered. Not to mention the fucking PNG Sothis Final Smash with the embarassing lip flaps, jesus.

Every problem that Corrin is accused of having, Byleth does it worse. Every problem that Byleth gets jabbed with, eventually gets redirected back to Corrin for "starting it."

And it's seen as justified, because why? Well, 3H is a "better" game of course! After all, it's the best selling one! If it sold that much and was so well received that means it must have done everything exponentially better than Fates did! (ignore the fact that Fates was the best selling game in the series before 3H please). Why wouldn't Byleth simply be objectively, immutably better than Corrin in every metric going by this logic?

And, like always, CYL is gonna reaffirm this again for everyone. Cuz why wouldn't Byleth get so many votes last year despite him getting a great Christmas alt just the month before? He deserves it after the female version already won after all! And why wouldn't he win this year when he's guaranteed an Emblem alt in the future, and most likely to be on one of Valentine's, Children, or Wedding banners?

It made sense for the Robins to win one after the other cuz they're cool and awesome and not weak and annoying, so it makes sense for Byleth too!

Why would Corrin get this "it's his turn treatment" when he's not a good character and the female version only won because everyone knows she's just dumb fetish bait 🤪🤪🤪/s

It's just... so infuriatingly transparent. Even Male Alear isn't hit with this quite as hard tbh, because at worst he had half the votes Female Alear did, whereas M!Corrin at best had barely over a third of F!Corrin. And that only fuels my perspective on how M!Corrin, for all his alts, always feels like his presence is treated compulsory and obligated, and F!Corrin is always sold with "she's hot, who cares" in mind.

FE fans made it clear that Corrin's character was hated, so the solution became to sell the Fem one for horny whales, and have the Male one just slightly behind in numbers to keep up the illusion of fairness (while always making him inferior in gameplay).

All that just for Byleth, a non-character, to get every excuse and love from a fandom that hated Corrin for the same issues he has. Crazy.

[angelinthefire]

Jinx and "Paint the Town Blue"

Here are they lyrics for the verses of "Paint the Town Blue", as posted on Lyric Genius.

[Verse 1] Oh, you want a villain, lemme show you how I evil Oh, you think I'm difficult, I'll show you I'm a devil Sharpshooter lethal, top of food chain like an eagle Whack-a-mole you weasels, I'm a machine, diesel Gotta crush, gotta crush (Crush you all beneath me) You bitches are my pups (You're droolin' for a squeaky) I squash you like a bug, battle-fueled, greasy Dig my nails into your peach, dead and deceased like

[Chorus]

[Verse 2] I go rogue, thorns on a rose Switch my mind up like I want it, then I don't Heads explode, my little blue clones I blow this place up, now these ashes fall like snow I'm no good, I'm rotten to the core Simulate, play with me, please, I'm bored Trigger warning, yeah, blood and gore Jump for your life, there's lava on the floor I think this is kind of interesting, because the lyrics are written for Jinx, from Jinx's POV. But Jinx isn't in the opening of the episode at all.

The segment is firmly from the POV of Zaunites. We're seeing them being boxed in by enforcers, and harassed. We see the enforcers being generally awful, to the point of harassing children. We're immediately being placed on the same side as Zaun. So that when they start fighting back, it's satisfying, we're rooting for them.

And there's clearly discontent. But it's not until there's the first splash of colour that things start happening.

And then the first splashes of blue come in, as a symbol of the inspiration that the undercity finds in Jinx. And I really like this shot of the ragdoll. How it looks like Jinx with the blue braids. And it's not a real person, it's a represenation of one. Just like how Jinx herself isn't really part of this, she's just a figure.

We don't actually see Jinx through all of this. Just representations of her. She's at the centre of it, but she's not actually there.

And Caitlyn's vision is dominated by Jinx too. Wherever rebellion is happening, wherever there's blue, it's Jinx. We haven't actually seen Jinx be part of any of this yet. But that doesn't matter, it's all Caitlyn sees.

And then we end with Isha.

We see that Isha has literally been painting the town blue. The scribbles on the screen are in the style of Jinx, but they're Isha's.

And the mural is how she sees Jinx, and how the whole city sees her. And she's deeply invested in what Jinx means as a symbol.

The lyrics to the song are about Jinx, or from Jinx's perspective, but it's not the Jinx we're seeing at this point in the show at all. Nor in the episode before this. The Jinx of the song is fully confident, embracing who she is, feeling her power, and having fun with it. And that certainly is a side to Jinx. Like in s2e2 she has a definite confidence about her, and she's having fun with the Sevika and Smeech fight. But it's still only a side of her. She was still deeply depressed, and self-destructive in the previous episode. And in this episode she's feeling more positive about her life, but she's cutting herself off from the world in general.

The Jinx in the song, in the murals, who Caitlyn is obsessing over, who the Jinxers are modeling themselves after, she's not the full Jinx, she's just an image, a doll, a poster, a painting.

[npd-characters-tournament]

Propaganda

Jimmy

Bear with me in this one, Jimmy is probably the best of the worst (hc)NPD representations if you get what I mean. As someone who has struggled with toxic impulsions in the past wishing to do damage, his writing was a big realization and reason to try and do better, just how the writer intended it to be. He sadly portrays stereotypes in that case however pwNPD can still relate to those stereotypes and thats alright. Many of his actions basically scream a desire of approval, the need to be captain and have his crew congratulate him, being useful or do anything to convince himself he's not the problem but everyone else is. In reality he can't even acknowledge his current position and the luck to be there, always wanting something better as he fails to realize that good things come with consequences. Accompanied by his paranoia, he finds his past a weakness when pointed out and considers certain interactions as attacks against him, lashing out in response. Lastly, Curly is definitely his equal person that he envies but at the same time feels is the only one worth his time and only person that could understand him.

Note: I dont expect him to win nor do I excuse him obviously, however I hope the above gives some consideration in the voting since there's so much to talk about in his personality.

---

Serial Designation J

J MY NARC QUEEN 💛💛💛 EFFECTIVE DRONES WERE CLONED MORE!!!!!!! J looks down at those who she sees as being not as skilled as her. For example, when one of her coworkers expresses doubt or remorse, she doesn't hesitate to attempt to eliminate him. She also gets a kick out of power and control, opting to monologue dramatically instead of just going in for the kill on one of her targets (which screws her over but we don't talk about it). Similarly, she's willing to forgo her morals in the name of being on the more powerful/"winning" side, or to secure her own safety at the cost of others. Oh, and no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she comes back and talks shit anyway. Which as a narc is very me-coded.

[roodles03]

Huntlow Renders - Bathing Suits

Hopefully, I'll actually make the beach date drawing this year unlike when I made the winter coat renders last winter for a "The Knee" date drawing and then never fucking made it-

Anywayyy, behold, Huntlow bathing suit designs! My gut just told me Hunter would wear a wetsuit to the beach. After I finished the drawing I realized that perhaps Hunter wears wetsuits because his scars are sensitive and he wants to avoid getting sunburnt as much as possible. Then I realized "Wow I'm projecting on Hunter again," because no joke I am the palest mf in my entire ass family. I may have dummy thick Maltese hair from my great grandfather on my dad's mom's side, but my damn mother's father's side gave me the stupid ass pale irish skin with a million fucking freckles. I will turn into a lobster at the beach and I barely tan, I literally wear long sleeve bathing suits just because of that. Just so I have to put less fucking sunblock on lmao. Hunter is cloned off a British man so I suppose he can relate to getting burnt like a lobster LMAO.

Anyway, for Willow I of course, wanted to amplify her body positivity by putting her in a bikini. Listen, Willow may be insecure about a lot, but I don't think her weight is one of them. I don't think she'd mind wearing a bikini at her weight. Seriously, she is not once made fun of for her weight. Not even by Boscha, and Boscha makes fun of her for wearing glasses at one point! Think about it, in any other piece of media, the mean girl would 100% make fun of the bullied, stereotypically "unattractive," girl for being overweight. There was no way the crew didn't ever have Boscha make fun of Willow's weight for no reason. This was a deliberate choice, and I'm all here for it.

Representation of bodies like Willow literally saves lives. It's okay to have weight on you as long as you take care of yourself and are healthy overall!

Remember, eating disorders have an incredibly high morality rate. It's never worth it to starve yourself. Please don't do start yourself down that path because society says you must be skinny to be attractive or loved, because people like Willow exist in real like and are valued and loved for who they are, not what they look like. Because I am one of those real life people. I am overweight and wear glasses just like Willow and I still found love and are valued by my friends and family. And if you don't have those people in your life, beileve me, there are people out there that will love you and your body for who you are. You just have to let yourself find them.

That being said, any body shaming comment is an INSTANT block! No body negativity is tolerated here!

[heyclickadee]

It’s honestly kind of impressive how awful Hemlock is. He’s not like Nolan, who was awful, too, but Nolan was more representational of the idea of your typical asshat imperial than he was a person. Hemlock, though, is weirdly three-dimensional. He’s arch-evil, but he doesn’t ever feel like a cipher. He’s human, even with his limited screentime—and yet, he’s not humanized in your typical way.

Typically when someone wants to humanize a villain like that they’ll give them some kind of positive quality, or some kind of tragic backstory, or something. Make him charming. The closest we get with Hemlock is that he’s soft-spoken and polite, but it’s the politeness of a cup of tea that’s laced with arsenic. He’s intelligent and goal-oriented, but what he does with that is disgusting. He’s the only imperial character we meet who sees the clones as human enough to call them by their names—to prefer it, as far as I can tell—and every time he does I want to punch him in the face.

He’s not a cackling space wizard. Cackling space wizards are fun sometimes, at least. He’s not the walking melodrama that was Maul either (though that’s something I adore about Maul). Hemlock’s just…a guy. A horrible guy. He’s so evil in such a human way that he’s repulsive.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Clone Beans - An Informative Guide

Because I am now way too invested in this silly little idea, I've decided to create an informational guide to Clone Beans. Just so y'all have a general idea of what they are, how they exist within this alternate universe of the SW world, what the general purpose of their existence is, and all that fancy jazz...

Anyway, lets get on with it! ---

--What are Clone Beans?--

Clone Beans (or Trooper Beans as the clones prefer to refer to them) are physical manifestations of a clone's personalities and emotions.

They're essentially the Force's response to the creation of the clone army outside of what one would consider the natural order (although why exactly it would manifest like this for them and not any other one of the Kaminoan's creations, or even the Kaminoans themselves, is something of a hot debate among Jedi scholars once the existence of the Beans comes to light).

They are a little like daemons or even familiars, if you really feel the need to have something to compare them to. That said, their behavior and purpose is a little more complex than that of the daemon or familiar.

They are seldom perfect representations of their troopers, being more like exaggerations/caricatures of them, and also being capable of going outside their usual behavioral parameters to benefit their emotional and mental health (Example: Dogma's Bean has a tendency to act out as a form of vengeance against those it perceives to have slighted his trooper, because he knows Dogma would not stand up for himself due to his strict adherence to both regulations and the Perfect Soldier™ act he sticks to out of fear of being singled out as defective by his superior officers).

Troopers who are in positions of command often have Beans that act more emotionally-driven to give their troopers an outlet for feelings that they are often forced to swallow down in the name of remaining professional (Example: Fox Bean is constantly weeping/mournful, Ponds Bean is constantly exasperated/frustrated, Wolffe Bean is constantly afraid/paranoid, Bly Bean is constantly affectionate/cuddly, Gree Bean is constantly trying to sate his endless curiosity, etc...).

Another thing to note is that, while Clone Beans are directly tied to their trooper's soul/essence/force signature/whatever, they persist well after said trooper's death. Often being the only living remnant to prove that the trooper ever even existed in the first place.

Beans who have lost their troopers become incredibly despondent and apathetic to the world around them. Often laying about and refusing to partake in any activities such as eating, playing, or (sometimes) even sleeping. They are in a very long state of mourning and as such do not react to outside stimuli because they can't find enjoyment in it anymore.

It's become common practice for batchmates to look after their lost batchers's Beans. Entire battalions will also look after Lost Clone Beans if no batchmates remain to look after them.

It's been theorized that after the extensive mourning period, the Beans will bounce back and return to their former happier selves (albeit considerably less carefree and immature than they used to be), but no one has been able to confirm this yet because Clone Beans take so long to process the loss of their trooper.

Interestingly enough, the reaction a Bean has to the loss of their trooper is not too dissimilar to the reaction a trooper might have if they are separated from their Bean for extended periods of time.

Troopers who are forcefully separated from their Beans for more than a week, begin to shut down emotionally and seem to almost be running on autopilot. It almost seems like they become completely devoid of emotion or reaction to outside stimulus such as pain or the presence of food or water. They feel no hunger, thirst or tiredness, despite their bodies craving basic amenities and rest, and will essentially rot while still alive because their bodies are breaking down while they continue to function on what's essentially a mental loop.

A last thing to note is that Clone Beans seem to react rather strangely if their trooper is put through reconditioning. Because a Clone Bean is a manifestation of their trooper's personality and emotions, should a trooper be reconned successfully (Example: This follows my Reconditioning Headcanon so I recommend reading this post) their Bean will still have the trooper's former personality as its base and will now be abnormally disconnected from their trooper to the point where their absence has no real ill-effect on them.

These specific Beans are referred to as Vestiges. They are incredibly rare and also considered extremely anomalous in their behavior, as they seem to not have any sense of what is and isn't socially acceptable, playing too rough with others, breaking things for the hell of it, eating inedible objects, targeting specific individuals to take their frustrations out on (if their trooper has a dislike or disdain for a specific person, that will usually become their Bean's primary target), and even being prone to changing their shapes (sometimes in a horrific manner) to better suit their needs.

Cody's Bean is one of few known Vestiges that hasn't completely abandoned their trooper, and he's generally feared by other Beans despite not really meaning any harm (Rex Bean is especially terrified of him). He is unusual, even for a Vestige.

--What do they Eat?--

Clone Beans don't need to eat, but they enjoy doing so anyway. In fact I made an entire post to explain this! Have a read and enjoy the accompanying graphics!

I have also done a render of the 501st Clone Beans enjoying some breakfast in chaotic fashion.

--What abilities do they have?--

Some Clone Beans actually have special abilities that make them useful to have out in the field!

As you may have figured out by now (due to how secretive the troopers were about the Beans's existence), they obviously don't start out with unique abilities. They instead developing them later on depending on specific circumstances (Example: When their troopers are promoted to ARC, Clone Beans tend to develop specializations that better suit their trooper's style out in the field. Fives Bean can sprout little claws to climb up onto high surfaces, while Echo Bean has better night-vision and sensitivity to noises). Most often than not, however, they just don't develop any at all and remain standard Beans.

List of Beans known to have unique abilities:

Cody Bean - Being a Vestige means he has a proclivity for shape-changing, and he tends to be rather... Eldritch in his approach.

Thorn Bean - Generates enough static electricity that he can be used as an improvised stun grenade/droid popper.

Trapper Bean - Camouflages with his surroundings, which makes him very helpful on recon missions. It's very normal to see him with a camera strapped onto his back.

Crys Bean - Glows in the dark. An engineer's best friend if you need an itty bitty light-source that can get in the most cramped of crevices.

Fives Bean - Retractable claws. He is an excellent climber and can act as an extra set of eyes from up above.

Echo Bean - Night-vision and a form of rudimentary echolocation. Exceptionally good at navigating in the dark.

All Medic Beans - Bacta infused saliva. They will group up and flock to troopers who have minor injuries to literally lick their wounds clean. This way their troopers only need to worry about the more seriously injured patients.

Dogma Bean - Invisibility. Supposedly his pranks/acts of vengeance have been successful because he can go invisible and not be caught in the act. However, he only developed this ability after Umbara and hasn't really used it all that much other than to be left alone...

Rex Bean - Presumed to have a teleportation ability but it's unconfirmed. Rumors started because he always seems to be in different places all at once. No one's ever really seen him do it.

Wolffe Bean - He grows fur. That's it. He literally just becomes fuzzy. You can guess why he's everyone's favourite cuddle partner.

--What do they sound like?--

Not all Clone Beans sound alike. This is because they tend to adopt different sounds as their unique forms of vocalization, depending on what noises best fit their personalities.

Oddly enough, despite the great range of "adopted dialects", they all seem to understand each other fine. Their troopers also seem to be able to understand them just fine (much to the confusion of anyone who witnesses them having a "conversation").

-List of Confirmed Bean Vocalizations-

Rex Bean - Classical Lego Clone Trooper

Jesse Bean - Video Game Sound Effects (Has a lot of variety to work with)

Kix Bean - Guinea Pig Squeaks

Hardcase Bean - Windows XP/98 Sound Effects (No one's really sure why)

Fives Bean - Kookaburra noises

Echo Bean - Copies Sounds/Mimics Words (Pitched higher)

Tup Bean - Animal Crossing Villager

Dogma Bean - Mixed Mouse Droid & Frog Calls

Cody Bean - Various Alarm Sound Effects (Sirens/Klaxon Horns/Etc, rarely vocalizes)

Waxer Bean - Squeaky Toy

Boil Bean - Whistling & Kettle Whistles (Can be painfully loud)

Crys Bean - Astromech Noises (Pitched higher)

Wooley Bean - Cartoon Sheep Sound Effects

Longshot Bean - Ion Cannon (Pitched higher)

Trapper Bean - Chameleon Hisses (Rarely vocalizes)

Gregor Bean - Tinkling of Bells (Sometimes makes a honking noise)

Wolffe Bean - Gray Wolf Calls (Pitched higher)

Boost Bean - Cayote Calls

Sinker Bean - Dingo Calls

Comet Bean - Dog Barks/Noises (Pitched higher)

Wildfire Bean - African Wild Dog Calls

Warthog Bean - Hog Calls (Pitched higher)

Fox Bean - Red Fox Calls

Thorn Bean - Mixed Thunder Claps & Electrical Sound Effects (The thunder is pitched higher)

Thire Bean - Mixed Gonk Droid & Training Droid Sound Effects

Stone Bean - Hologram Sound Effects

Hound Bean - Massiff Calls (Pitched higher)

Note: Clone Beans who have adopted another creature/construct's type of vocalization, seem to be able to communicate with them in the same way they can communicate with their troopers. This means it's not unusual to see Beans who sound like animals or non-basic speaking droids in the company of their vocal likenesses.

--What will happen to the Beans once every single clone is gone?--

Considering the fact they persist well after a clone's death, it's possible that the Beans are immortal. So, even after every single clone is gone, the Clone Beans will likely just carry on existing on their own. Perhaps spreading across the galaxy and living in newly established Bean communities of their own making (they are, after all, intelligent and resourceful creatures that do better living communally).

This is just speculation of course, but it is somewhat bittersweet that the only way the clone army as a whole gets to live freely is through their Beans, who will be the only beings to remember them after a millennia has passed...

At the very least they won't be fully forgotten to time.

[snipsnipsnippy]

Alright I’ve been pushed. Now I’m in a Satine Kryze mood. And BOY do I wanna have a chat some of y’all are not ready for.

Satine and the New Mandalorians are the true Mandalorians. Or at least, they were the popular representation of Mandalorians. First things first, I want to remind everyone that the Mandalorian history we have post Clone Wars-era is entirely told by the surviving Mandalorians, who are.. a fringe cult and a terrorist group (ie The Children of the Watch and Death Watch) and any other surviving exiles or enemies (eg Boba and you know, the Jedi). None of these people lived in mainstream Mandalorian society so how are we to believe them on what “true” mandalorian culture is when their beliefs or actions were deemed so radical they were exiled (or in the case of COTW, left on their own accord).

Now, yes, Satine’s position of pacifism is very extreme. No fighting at all ever is a pretty questionable long term survival strategy and an incredibly divisive one, but it’s literally one the mandalorian people defended and accepted and even tried to bring to the Republic. Because considering the historical and political position Mandalore has been in, it was only this extreme strategy that could save it. It literally ended generations of civil wars. It united the remaining mandalorians and built survivable, architecture for the barren world (which probably saved the planet, but that’s a different theory). But Death Watch, you know the party that meant to overthrow and kill her, will tell you that this was an erasure of mandalorian culture and ignorance of their warrior history, but that’s not the kind of warrior we ever see outside of Death Watch.

Everything in mandalorian culture points us to this much more protective survivor, rather than this vindictive sort of conqueror. Foundling culture in the Mandalorians is so profound because it’s something that is so unique to them. Other cultures do adopt nonfamilial members, yes, but Mandalorians do it so wholeheartedly and without question. There’s a baby alone in the woods? I don’t care if it’s 4,000 years old or its a race that hasn’t been discovered yet, that’s your child now. The way mandalorian clans are structured such that a foundling is immediately no different than a blood relative, whether they come from the same species or star system. Nephews or daughters or neighbors are all the same to a mandalorian (and a hot mention to mando’a for throwing out gender biases too). They are fiercely protected and fiercely loved too. Every excess that exists in mandalorian society goes to their children. To their education, their protection, the survival of the next generation was most important to a mandalorian society.

Even something like beskar, their very armor, was prized for protection, not for offensives. There’s a whole lecture on how beskar came to be metal of choice, but it boils down to being, guess what?, the best defense against lightsabers. And we see Mandalorians come out with the best armor design in like literally all of Star Wars armors ever. I’m not joking. It’s made for visibility, for protection, for comfort, and for not dying. Their identity is their armor. Its value and its design is sacred to each clan because it is forged from their history and painted with its battles.

So working back to Satine, who was raised learning all of this history, learning the ways of her warrior people and seeing the culture stray from what was once a people built for surviving and then watching it kill them, watching it tear apart her family and her home, and for a year, it even tore her away from her identity. She stands up to this massive swath of the deadliest fuckers in the galaxy, and she says “no.” She doesn’t raise a sword. She doesn’t point a blaster. She knows how. She was the fucking mandalorian princess. Clan Kryze was deeply respected. Her father died a hero to these people, and for her to stand up without using force or weapons takes a shit load of courage and some uniquely mandalorian stupidity. All to save their future, their culture, and their children. She said “kill me if you wish but spare the kids” and at the time, she can’t be any more than 20 because timelines are rough. She’s probably still just an orphaned teenager herself. This is the wake up call that broke the Mandalorian Civil Wars.

This is the Most Mandalorian stunt a mandalorian has ever mandalorian-ed since Tarre Vizsla himself told off the fucking Jedi.

She’s the savior of her culture, and Death Watch burned it all down because they wanted to kill, not protect. Satine was more a mandalorian than most of the Mandalorians we see. More mandalorian than her sister will ever be, and Bo won’t even speak her name.

[celestial-specter]

Here I am again, for more in-depth analysis of The Bad Batch!!

Here you go, @skellymom :))

Aftermath’s battle simulation: How one scene reintroduces us to Clone Force 99, and possibly foreshadows later events in the series.

(Part 2)

As the simulation begins, Hunter orders Crosshair to ‘take the towers.’ Crosshair is thus the first to split off from the rest of the group, quickly climbing one of the towers. As I discussed in part 1, the higher levels in this scene represent the empire. To explain this idea further in reference to the towers themselves, in literature, towers have been used to represent strength, success, and power - all things which Crosshair personally craves. With all this in mind, this movement provides an early indication of Crosshair’s upcoming departure to climb the ranks of the empire. The climb itself is treacherous with no equipment, but Crosshair manages it with ease, quickly reaching the top level - just as he manages to rise to the level of Commander of his new imperial squad.

Once in position, Crosshair makes quick work of shooting and disabling the four towers. I have thought through several interpretations of what these four towers could represent, but my two personal favorites are:

The towers are a representation of Crosshair’s relationships with his four brothers; his disabling attack on each tower shows the severance of his ties to each brother.

The towers have a much more literal meaning, representing the four members of his own imperial squad that Crosshair later kills on this same training ground.

Meanwhile, at Hunter’s order, the rest of the squad push further into the training ground, leaving Crosshair behind on the tower.

When the battle seems to be taking ‘too long,’ Wrecker charges in alone to take down the droids, unconcerned about the danger to himself. Tech does briefly reach out to stop him, but then does not seem to be worried for his brother either, rolling his eyes as he watches from behind the barrier. While we do not see the reactions of the others during this moment, I assume they also were largely passive towards Wrecker’s antics. To me, this carefree attitude is similar in tone to the first few episodes of the series, in which the batch remain largely unaware of the danger they are in from the empire, and Wrecker begins exhibiting symptoms of his inhibitor chip activating. They remain unaware of this huge risk until the episode Battle Scars, in which Rex reveals the truth about the chips.

The composition of the shot in which Wrecker asks Tarkin for more droids to battle is also interesting - Wrecker is naturally larger than the rest of his squad due to his strength-based enhancements, and most shots we see of him are composed to enhance his size (e.g. placing him beside much smaller characters such as Omega). As far as I am aware, this is the only shot we have seen which purposely makes Wrecker look physically small - the height from which Tarkin is viewing him at does most of the work, but this is furthered by none of his brothers being beside him for comparison.

Tarkin himself is not a man of physically imposing stature - this is made obvious when the audience sees him beside the Kaminoans. So, the framing of this shot, with Tarkin appearing to be much bigger than Wrecker, makes the usually giant clone appear almost… doll like.

This shot, as seen below, could be interpreted simply as Tarkin looking down on all clones, viewing them as unworthy of service in the new empire. While I agree this is definitely relevant, I believe it is only a piece of a larger problem. Even in the time of the Republic, many nat-born officers viewed clones simply as cannon-fodder - as in, they were created and thus, expected, to die for their army. But, as we saw in The Clone Wars, many Jedi formed close bonds with their clone battalions, and were instrumental in the clones forming their own identities outside of their lives as soldiers.

Now, with the Jedi order destroyed, imperial officers such as Tarkin, and later Hemlock, are free to treat clones as they wish; simply as toys to be played with for their own entertainment, and to be discarded as soon as they are no longer useful.

When Tarkin then orders the use of live rounds, Wrecker encounters a force even stronger than himself, which the audience can see takes him by surprise. This definitively foreshadows the activation of Wrecker’s inhibitor chip - as the ‘muscle’ of the team, it is likely rare he ever encountered an opponent he couldn’t fight off before, and yet both here, and on Bracca, he was caught off guard and suffered as a result.

When Wrecker is shot by the droid in his right shoulder and flung to the ground, it is Tech who puts himself at risk to move from behind the barrier and drag Wrecker out of danger. This mirrors how he is the first member of the squad and the most at risk of physical harm when Wrecker’s chip first activates. Interestingly, Wrecker is shot in the exact same place that Crosshair later shoots him in during their standoff in the hangar. As Wrecker would be viewed by many as the heart of the squad, having him end up injured in both of these scenarios is a good way to highlight that these moments are strong emotional turning points for the batch and their story.

Seeing that his brothers are now in active danger, Crosshair begins to shoot the new droids firing live rounds, still in his position atop the tower. When the droids then turn their attention on him, the shots they fire damage the tower Crosshair is standing upon. He abandons his post, hanging precariously over the edge of the tower for a moment before sliding down to the ground level. These moments could reference Crosshair realization that the empire does not care about any of the clones, leading to his decision to shoot Lieutenant Nolan, thus abandoning his imperial service and falling back to the very same low societal level that he began with, and that his brothers still occupy.

Once back on the ground, Crosshair returns to Echo and Hunter, but they immediately must move behind a barrier to avoid being shot. Pinned down, Crosshair’s sarcastic commentary during this moment shows he is beginning to lose faith in their ability to complete the simulation successfully. Echo comments that their training blasters are useless against the new droids- each member of the team is already aware of this fact, yet Echo being the one to vocalize it shows he likely accepts new information faster than the rest of his brothers (a notable progression in Echo’s character development since his first appearance in The Clone Wars). As such, Echo is the first member of the team to recognize the breadth and power of the new empire, and the consequences it will have for the clones. He is also the first to begin actively fighting against it by joining Rex’s clone rebellion.

[starshifter]

Notes for chp3 of Face the Blackened Sky

-

My friend who gave me the beautiful sunset descriptor also called me out on always writing about suicidal fuckers in this chap… He’s not wrong. I do tend to find depressed chars the most relatable and interesting… I’m sure this says nothing about me as a person :sweat-smile:

Not me sneaking a little buddhism reference into my hoyoverse fic… (hungry ghosts honestly are a fantastic representation of blade imo)

My summary of the first half of the chapter: Blade, a stubborn idiot: dh said he wanted to help me, but surely this was just him being polite Dan Heng, also a stubborn idiot: I would die for you Blade: yes, he definitely doesn’t really care. Well, fine, I can ignore him too Dan Heng: …

Blade is very dramatic. As you do

Pair of touch-starved idiots, the both of them

I have NO idea if Cloudhymn can be used for anything other than water based “magic,” but I’m kind of using it as a catch-all for Vidyadhara abilities/technology, so I’m saying it could be used to create solid illusions. I am basing this on basically nothing except I honestly can’t explain Dan Heng’s transformation otherwise. How does he just…change outfits like that?? Explain!!!

I still don’t have a good answer to what happened to Dan Heng’s bracer when he changed forms. Did he hide it with cloudhymn?? Because he was worried about the few things he had gained on being exiled becoming lost to him?? Is the one we see on him not the real one? We just don’t know. (this bothers me immensely btw. He clearly still wears it cause Blade can track him so??? Where did it go when he switched forms????) My only conclusion is that he’s wearing it as Imbibitor Lunae, but hiding it from sight with his cloudhymn to protect it because he considers it precious without fully understanding why, kind of like he does with Cloud Piercer. It’s like bracer-ception up in here. He’s wearing it, but hidden in his already hidden form, but has a copy of it visible in his usual form. I’m honestly getting a headache. Let’s just put it down to the weird Vidyadhara magic it clearly is. The delves are their work too, so it’s probably like that on a small scale. Fucking advanced ass dragon tech looking like magic.

Wow. Look at Dan Heng go. He was put in a supportive and positive environment for like two years(what the fuck is his timeline?) and now he’s going to drag his ex-husband up with him. Good for him.

You can pry my found family Stellaron Hunters from my cold, dead hands because there is no other way I will ever relinquish my grip.

Ok I didn’t want to add this to my notes earlier cause I just know it would change people’s reading experience, but I don’t actually think Dan Heng’s eyes are jade at all. They’re way too blue and not nearly green enough. No, I just really wanted it emphasized that Blade sees them as something akin to precious stones, with all the implications that those carry. …at least for broke bitches like myself, who has never held an jade in my life, only seen them on other people. Ymmv and all… Changing it to the sea once they figured things out was to emphasize that he still found them overwhelming, but now they were something he could touch and be encompassed by. The sea is their ultimate home for most life forms, and it’s Imbibitor Lunae’s seat of power, so it felt really fitting to have Blade give life another try there. He still wants to die, he still has chronic pain, but he’s more content to wait and enjoy the little moments he can before he gets to finally rest. (someone let peepaw take a nap-- is shot)

Also my original idea had Blade getting stabbed back when the teams were getting separated, but then I switched it to Firefly. Blade can’t hog all the angsty injuries. Keep some for the people (or weird not!rei clones or whatever) >:/

Honestly, the fragmentum creatures here were difficult. This is absolutely a civilization that has laser guns and shit, hence me giving them those weird ice missile launchers, but if they all had guns then what would these idiots carrying around fucking swords and bats and spears and ZERO armor do in a fight?? So the fragmentum just…doesn’t use guns. It’s anti-NRA. Okay? Okay.

Fuck realistic stellar orbits. The “moons” appear and disappear as I say they should. (to be honest, having days of no “moon” would make sense considering they’re on the dark side of the second to last planet in the system, so there’s only one planet further out than them, and their several day orbits would mean it’s only visible sometimes. Honestly, I probably have it visible too much. RIP realism)

…All my readers are aware that Yingxing contains the character for star and Yinyue-jun uses moon, right? Like, no one is lost on why I keep making Blade look up at the sky? Awesome. And don’t even get me started on all the uses of the “moon” being red (everyone say thank you Trappist system). There are so many fucking layers here. A right old literary onion

Why does this mountain have so many paths along cliff faces? Because I loosely based the native species on mountain goats, next question.

Blade, sweetheart, my favorite idiot, dipshit of the highest degree, this is why he’s falling for you again. Even when you’re mad at him, you’re taking care of him.

Not me throwing an “I do” in as reference to their past marriage

Also, I want to throw in that I think it’s dumb to say that your romantic partner isn’t a friend, but whatever. It’s a common part of language, so I’ll take the moment of angst and run with it

Okay, more thoughts on how Dan Heng’s different forms work: he isn’t going to just lose all his clothes if someone knocks him unconscious. It takes cloudhymn to unmake them as much as it took cloudhymn to make them. They do, however, serve as a sort of “shield,” allowing him to absorb an otherwise deadly injury. (this is what I’m telling myself at least to explain the whole stabbing incident. Like what the fuck was that???)

Dan Heng: kisses blade Blade: blade.exe has stopped working Did you know that they weren’t supposed to kiss until the last chapter (which was originally five before it got way too long…)? These bastards were too impatient for that though. Throwing my plans out the window, rude. Oh well. I also switched something I’d planned to have in this chapter to the last one, so equivalent exchange and what not

I firmly believe that for all that Dan Heng is the “rational” one who thinks things through, he is also stupidly impulsive.

I am fully prepared to get jossed hardcore by canon in a future update. I originally tried to write this fic with Blade just not having the memories, but it didn’t really work and also contradicted canon so… Here we are. Honestly though, we have way too many sus things going on around the Sedition and I think we’ve been straight up lied to in some places. It’s still the info I have to work with and I do like the Bailu=Baiheng theory. So I might as well write it now while I still can lol

Like many, I am assuming Bibi’s little catalyst is the Orb of Abysm mentioned like….once. In a single little note. I could easily be wrong since we know almost nothing about what it is

Honestly, all the Stellaron Hunters are such selfish bitches. Except Firefly, somewhat, but she enjoys arson for fun so…

[lieutenant-teach]

I don’t understand people shitting on ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ and ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. Loved both series. I found them quite exciting – both were interesting (rewatched recently), lovely character development, good acting. I don’t even have a lot of qualms with the plots. Yes, probably pacing should’ve been better, but in general – very positive impression from both series. Unlike from ‘Ahsoka’ when absolutely fine characters from previous projects become unlikable as people (looking at Ahsoka ‘attachments are ok and Jedi kinda suck, only I’m perfect’ Tano and Sabine ‘fuck everything and everyone – I nullify Ezra’s sacrifice, and also I act like an insolent moody teenager at my 30s’ Wren), and as a whole, I found ‘Ahsoka’ boring. ‘The Acolyte’ – notorious for disjointed actions, flip-flopping motivations and shitting on previously established almost 45-year-old canon.

‘OWK’ features authentic Star Wars atmosphere. It was captivating to follow Obi-Wan’s change, same as Reva’s and Leia’s. I was touched by the moment with Darth Vader’s broken mask when we see Anakin’s face peeking out of it and his voice teetering on edge of Anakin’s natural and Vader’s mechanical, showing that we shouldn’t distinguish these two (as Disney loves now) – they’re one. Almost shed a tear at Jedi symbol scribblings on walls – representation that for lots of common citizens Jedi are still a symbol of hope (that, as we know, will come). Owen and Beru, Bail and Breha – caring and loving parents for their respective nephew and daughter. Obi-Wan coming back from his depression and finding hope again, relieving his heart of burden of smth that wasn’t his fault. Agrh, lovely.

‘TBOBF’ shares Star-Wars’y Tatooinian atmosphere with ‘OWK’ – except episodes of ‘The Mandalorian’. Frankly, I felt put off by a sudden change in color scheme – from warm sandy to cold metallic (ep.5-6). I really think the creatives should have focused on Boba alone – tell more about his relationships with his new associates and with the town citizens, could’ve touched slavery problem (if he did anything with it, I’d love if he did), how he holds his business. Also instead of following Mando (who has his own series!!!) I’d enjoy talking more about Boba’s past, his relationship with his father’s legacy and how he feels about leaving it behind, if he identifies himself as a Mandalorian or a Tusken or his own thing, how he feels about his clone ancestry… Lots of interesting themes to explore. I loved his character development, I adore that he’s not depicted as this heartless hunter from the books. Also he should’ve been given more agency in his ruling (the bigger part is done by Fennec). But still – I rewatch his episodes with pleasure.

[martiya]

EXCERPT ONE: HOW THEY CAME TO BE

entry for @kirbyoctournament

One peaceful Tuesday, on a starry night, a boy heads to his bed after a very stressful day at night school. Exhausted, he crawls into his bedsheets without even changing his clothes, and rapidly falls asleep. Very few ticks later, he awakens in what seems to be the human representation of the inner area of a wormhole. He also wakes to what seems to be an abnormal mix of both extremely negative and positive thoughts. This deviant behavior of the brain wouldn’t be considered usual. But it didn’t really matter, for he probably was not even in his own reality anymore. Two instants later, he starts feeling as though various different-sized sharp objects were ripping a vertical line on his body… Yet, he removes his clothes while groaning in excruciating pain only to find nothing out of the ordinary on his body. Not even a scratch. As he lays there, staring at the somehow visually appealing walls of the wormhole’s throat, he hears a very loud “PLLKKKCCHHHH!”. He screams in visible agony. He knows that feeling is too realistic to be a dream… “It can’t be real, can it?!” mutters the little kid as his body is being ripped vertically in half. He then blacks out. The mysterious force finally manages to rip the entire body in half… BUT… Instead of the two halves drifting away and eventually disintegrating like a normal person’s, one half becomes this ball of blinding light, and the other turns into this ball of… dark matter? Then, as if this scene wasn’t already confusing enough, two star shaped portals appear. Just after the two spheres start to take shape, each disappears into one portal. The portals then close, leaving only the distant echo of an ear-piercing scream… 

EXCERPT 1.1: POSITIVITY

After quite the episode, the ball of light enters the portal at the left face of the wormhole’s throat. The scenery, wouldn’t you say it’s gorgeous? Filled with beautiful cumuli of stars here and there, some black holes over there, star-shaped planets over here… You would marvel at the variety of spacey objects lying around. The sphere of light then travels to one unnamed planet at the time. As it starts taking shape, two pointy cat-like ears start to form. They would remind any Nintendo player of something… A certain character. The sphere starts taking the shape of that character, with his exact clothes and glowing eyes, or so it seems… When finally revealed, the character looks almost identical to Mahoroa, a famously known character for his adorable appearance and wicked personality. What sets this particular character apart from his video-game counterpart is his clothes and eyes. The yellow of both the eyes and hood is replaced with a fluorescent green, while the blue part is replaced by a dark, yet vivid purple. Mahoroa is known as well for having a gear pattern sewn on the inner part of his hood. This particular clone (?) however, has a spike pattern with an uneven number of spikes, rumored to symbolize the incident that took place a few moments before. Aside from that, he seamlessly resembles his video-game counterpart. But… Where did the other half go…?

EXCERPT 1.1.1: ANGEL

This somewhat mysterious character usually presents himself as Nitiya, though his actual name is unknown to all. The denizens of this equally unusual universe are aware of his spine-chilling past, however. Residents of this universe have described him as “a powerful, adorable angel with seemingly zero negativity present inside his mind.” And, residents are always genuine when talking about his positive attitude, because it shows. Nitiya has the same voice as Mahoroa, yet a very different mindset. Nitiya doesn’t seek power. Nitiya is a truly honest being. Nitiya does everything to help those in need, one way or the other. Nitiya hasn’t shown a frown, or expressed any signs of negativity in his mind. Nitiya is always positive. Whenever his past comes up while he’s around, he always says the same thing:

“Oh! The past is just a crumpling memory, trying to haunt us, trying to slow us down. Even if my past may not match my present, who cares? What matters is the present, always!”

He also quite enjoys demonstrating his abilities, some believe he may be even more powerful than Mahoroa himself.

^ appearance for those wondering, creds to my wonderful suleiman for the art!!

[scarlet--wiccan]

I've seen some Scarlet Witch #10 spoilers

and somehow, Amaranth's is connected to Wanda's family so... It will be problematic considering her Roma too since it's the only heritage that she is linked to?

That's not a bad question, but I'm not sure why it needed a massive gap in the text. You don't need to worry about spoiling me, and I will tag the post appropriately or schedule it out a few days if I'm worried about spoiling my followers.

Amaranth's conception was inspired by one of Wanda's ancestors reviving the Witchcraft goddess, but there's no direct, material connection between her and the Maximoff family. If the unnamed Scarlet Witch in this issue was Natalya, or if Wanda'd had a more pronounced response to this revelation, Amaranth could have easily fit into the esoteric chosen-family thing that Wanda's got going on right now. Alternatively, Orlando could have followed the precedent set by many clones and artificial/supernatural life forms in the Marvel canon, and stated that the other Scarlet Witch's memory served as a "template," lending a human identity and background to her otherwise supernatural origin. This would not be without complications, of course-- navigating Romani identity is complicated and it's a risky thing for outsiders to stuck their foot into. This would be even weirder than Billy and Tommy's deal.

This isn't a perfect comparison, but Amaranth is in a somewhat similar position to America Chavez, specifically in Young Avengers, before her background was further developed. America was born in a magical world where, as far as we know, human racial and cultural identities don't apply, but she'd spent most of her life on Earthnand her identity was largely predicated on her adopted families and communities. But America came with specific, intentional coding, and we're told that she was taken in by people who look and sound like her, which gives us some sense of what her upbringing and identity in the Parallel might have been like. Regardless of whether or not she's "good" representation, it's clear that America is meant to be seen as Afro-Latina, and the reader understands how she, in-universe, would arrive at that identity.

Amaranth, on the other hand, arrives on Earth with no memories, and she lacks any clear or obvious coding. To be blunt, she's ambiguously beige, which can be a problem unto itself. Regardless, her adoption was not motivated by any particular sense of kinship or familiarity, and her dad, as far as I can tell, is white. She also popped up as an adolescent and has only actually been around for a few years. So, in-universe, there's nothing that would really contribute to the formation of a specific cultural or racial identity, besides, again, being raised by a white guy. Reading between the lines, I assume this is part of what Amaranth is looking for as she seeks the truth about who she is, and where she came from. Unfortunately, the truth was never going to satisfy this particular question.

And, again, racial coding is an incredibly nuanced subject, but I just want to reiterate that there's no way to "look" Romani and I don't think that you could accomplish what was done with America for a Romani character, based on looks alone, without being unintentionally racist. And I say that with the caveat that America's deal was deeply imperfect as well.

[slaket-and-sprash]

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately with Mario Kart 9 on the horizon, is how it's kinda fucked that there's like no darker skin human charecters in the Mario series, and specifically playable ones in sports, kart and party games.

Like I think we all have a desire to play as characters like us in video games, and there's not really any options for POC specifically for Mario spinoffs, which are meant to be aimed towards everyone.

Hell including more women in Mario spinoffs has been a priority, with inclusions like Honey Queen or Pauline since these games are for everyone. Hell I used to hate Pink Gold Peach and Baby Rosalina before learning they were added for inclusion purposes (it is kinda shitty that they need to add a metal clone of a character and a character who literally breaks continuity in order to have a semi- positive gender ratio but still)

Hell and there's not a lot of black or brown humans in Mario proper, off the top of my head there's Daisy pre-whitewashing, 18-volt, Jimmy P. (Jimmy T's cousin who only appears in WarioWare Smooth Moves), Mr. Sparkles (a side character from WarioWare Gold), the Toads in dry dry outpost from Paper Mario 64, the unnamed Toad Waitress from Paper Mario the thousand Year Door, and like one of the Camelot humans in Mario Golf. Which tbh is a pathetic list.

And to be fair Mario doesn't pride itself on its human characters, with most characters being an anthro animal or an original fantasy creature. Which like ..yeah everyone regardless of race could relate to a non human character....but it's kinda shitty to point at a non human character and go "there's your representation" and the miis are kinda...a bandaid solution? Like "oh we have representation just play as your self insert"

I'm not saying that the Mario series is racist (however stealing all of Daisy's Melanin doesn't help) all I'm saying is that it should have more diverse human characters to truly appeal to everyone.

Honestly I think the best case scenario should be creating a variety of new human characters each with their own distinct personalities (basically the humans from Mario Golf but expanded upon) letting you choose the skin tone of the Toads (alongside their cap and vest color) and maybe the next 3D Mario could introduce a few more human characters? Just a thought

[solreads]

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart - Review

Title: These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart

Author: Izzy Wasserstein

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Audience: Adult

Format: Novella

Representation: Trans woman POV character

  Trans side characters

Summary: Dora, a trans woman and security consultant, returns to the anarchist commune she cut ties with years ago to investigate her ex-girlfriend’s murder. In doing so, she stirs up the argument that led to her departure before — what security measures are acceptable to keep the community safe? What freedoms can be curtailed for the sake of the community?

At the same time, she deals with attacks from clones of her pre-transition self whose mysterious origins and purpose may hold the key to discovering why her former community is under attack. When she captures one of these clones, they join her in the investigation and begin to explore their own identity beyond what they were created for. 

Reflections: More than the mystery itself, what stood out and made this book enjoyable was the exploration of how self-identity is impacted by experience and the friction between freedom and security. These themes are hashed out through the protagonist’s relationships with her former community and the clone sent to kill her.

The clone — designated Blue — and Dora’s messy relationship and complicated feelings towards each other, as well as Blue’s growth as a character, were some of the best parts of the novel. The combination of seeing themselves in each other (positively and negatively) and as different people on different journeys to understanding themselves was insightful and showing this with a trans character added to it. 

Warnings: Depictions of transphobia, misgendering, and deadnaming.

Notes on Rep: MC identifies on-page as a transgender woman.