#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.

[coruscanti-arabi]

Important: This is not bad batch positive - This is how I personally think the characters should've been written in clone wars instead of the "regs" dynamic and white supremacy they had going on because a group of "desirable mutated" clones could've been a good concept to explore if Dave Filoni had employed ANY poc within the production and writing process. If you are a poc and/or have any of the disabilities mentioned (because I am unfamiliar with them and this is a simple headcanon), please feel free to add additions and improvements to more accurately represent yourselves and groups. This does not go into neurodivergencies, but as an autistic, I would also headcanon all four of them as neurodiverse in one way or another.

The clone DNA sample is running thin, the Kaminoans have been instructed to create a clone that would help end the war from the Republic Senate. This is how the "desirable mutuation" idea comes into conception.

They know the science, modifying Jango Fett's DNA with the desirable, amplified qualities instructed: Strength, Intelligence, Hunting Skills, Sharpshooting. The "how" was more difficult, with the DNA so stretched and the modifications adding extra tension, the clones needed medical attention constantly throughout the process.

This lead to the four clones of Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech. Four still very visibly Jango clones, all with Polynesian features and dark brown skin like mahogany.

The Intelligence clone - Tech - is partially blind in one eye and hard of hearing, his glasses which he created with the aid of Wrecker (because if your expertise is explosions, you excel in engineering) have a built in hearing aid. He mainly communicates in ASL (Aurebesh Sign Language), which he taught his batchmates to at the very least understand. (I also headcanon this version of Tech as autistic and has selective mutism). Tech has the darkest skin tone out of all of his batchmates, and tight coily hair. He closely resembles this specific photo of young Temuera Morrison.

The Sharpshooting clone - Crosshair - has a prosthetic, born without his right leg. He had to extra spend time in Kaminoan facilities as a child, focusing on physio and less time on the small shooting range facility where he wished to be instead. He can still struggle with his prosthetic on missions and in daily life in the bunks on Kamino. The prosthetic does match his brown skin tone in places and others it is all robotic (hidden underneath his clone uniform and armor) - It has been specifically reinforced for combat with the help of Tech and Wrecker modifying the original. I picture this photo of younger Temuera Morrison as looking closest to Crosshair.

The Strength clone - Wrecker. Unsurprising to some, his disability is hidden. Despite being the strongest clone and having an expertise in delicate weaponry & explosives, Wrecker has chronic fatigue from his mutation. The strength and stress produced too high levels of cortisol and adrenaline within his body, and it created a clone with intense strength and precision but also came with the cost of an autoimmune disorder. Wrecker is constantly fatigued, and has to rely on the supply of medicines to ease his disorder. Despite his precise hands to deal with explosives, they often shake or cramp up, and his legs often give way. On his worse days, his batchmates take care of him. (I also headcanon Wrecker as ADHD). I picture this version of younger Temuera Morrison as looking closest to him.

The Hunting Skills clone - Hunter. I sat with this one for a while and ultimately settled on the headcanon that he needs a stoma bag and has Crohn's disease. Because of this, he is irregularly thin for a clone which was how it was first investigated by the Kaminoans. He is very short compared to his batchmates too as a result of childhood Crohn's and only stands at a 5'1 compared to his batchmates and other clones who average at the original DNAs 5'7". Despite these issues, he is the best hunter of the group and his height is advantageous for reaching small spaces his batchmates cannot, especially on infiltration missions. Similar to Wrecker, he suffers with chronic fatigue as a result. Hunter also has ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) which means his diet is very limited and has to have accommodations in the clone cafeterias - On missions, his hunting skills aid this because he can always track food he is able to eat without problems. He also takes medications for easing his symptoms. I picture this version of Temuera Morrison as closest to Hunter.

As a bonus for those who wish to include Echo in these headcanons, here is how I picture him with the source being younger Temuera Morrison. He does regain more melanin overtime but at his palest, this is how I picture it.

Plus, they don't use the term "Regs" in this AU and don't believe they are superior to other clones & instead value other clones especially those like Commander Wolffe who have disabilities too, which is why they accept Echo with open arms into their Clone Force Unit, and even have 99 as the honorary first clone in their batch posthumously. They use the term "Bad Batch" as a reclamation term as that is how the Kaminoans and bounty hunters who trained them referred to them due to their disabilities & desirable mutations. And most importantly, they are anti-racist and anti-eugenics - because they are disabled brown men.

In case this post wasn't clear enough, this is very anti The Bad Batch show and the racist, pro-eugenics writings they have within the source material. This is a complete rework of the four bad batchers seen within clone wars season 7. I am not Polynesian or have experience with majority of the disabilities within my headcanons here, so all improvements and additions by those minority groups are heavily encouraged. Fanworkings of these headcanons are also perfectly welcome, provided there is no whitewashing of the characters or erasure of their heritage and disabilities within the work. These headcanons are my own and if you do any fan works with them, I would love to see it, as I am going to be treating my headcanon Bad Batch and canon Bad Batch as two separate entities as majority of the characterisation heavily differs from canon - and it is what representation we deserved to have.

I will repeat, this headcanon is NOTHING to do with the bad batch show and canon characterisations of the bad batch seen in clone wars. If you support Filoni's writings of the characters, this post is not for you. This is also to illustrate how easily Filoni could have wrote good representation with the concept and actively chose not to. If you do engage with this headcanon set, make sure you are openly uplifting voices and movements from poc about this show, an example being the unwhitewashtbb movement.

[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?

[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.

[verdantmeadows]

Sun Wukong is fat!

Hi all! One detail I noticed about the Season 4 special that made me incredibly happy is this: Sun Wukong has gained weight. He is fat, and hasn't always been fat. One of my favorite tropes is weight gain as a form of healing. If you didn't notice this, let me show you what I mean. There aren't that many images that need to be used, but if I need to include more, I will.

Since all characters are generally a bit rectangular because they're LEGO, you can see how Wukong's waist is defined through his lighter fur, creating a very much hourglass figure. He has no lines underneath his chest to indicate muscle or fat there.

However here, you can clearly see that the light color covers ALL of his stomach now, and all of his chest. This is done because now that the light fur pushes "out", it stops creating the hourglass figure to show that he's gained weight. His upper arms are also definitely larger than before.

The lines underneath his chest are also very clearly from fat. They are curved, which is not how pectorals are stylized in LEGO Monkie Kid.

And since that yeah, these don't make it THAT obvious, it's more obvious here.

His stomach rolls over itself more than it does for skinny people in his posture. Usually, you'd have to be more slouched over for that to happen as a skinny person, but he's laying down. And if you look closely at his chest, it's very visibly rounded and caused by fat.

And finally, it's INCREDIBLY obvious here. If you weren't sure he was fat, you really can't deny it with this one.

His chest is round. His stomach is sticking out and very round. Sun Wukong is fat. He wasn't always fat, but he's fat now.

I leave this post by saying this: please don't draw Sun Wukong in present day as skinny or muscular. He is fat. Fatness as a neutral or positive thing is incredibly underrepresented. It is an important part of someone's body type, and it shouldn't be erased. LEGO Monkie Kid already has issues with fatphobia (MK's delivery clone), so characters like Sun Wukong and Pigsy are great steps in positive representation of fatness.

If you're still not sure, think about this. If you wouldn't draw Pigsy as skinny or muscular, why would you draw Sun Wukong that way?

Now, I implore all of you to celebrate that Sun Wukong is fat! Make fanart about it! Make fanfic about it! Whatever it is you like! And if you don't make fan content, just celebrate it and how this is a wonderful thing for fat people.

[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!!

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

I mean, by "writers" you mean George Lucas himself because Palpatine is primarily a character created by Lucas.

The short answer is no, I don't, I think Palpatine is exactly what he needs to be.

The long answer is that I don't tend to see Palpatine as a CHARACTER very often and more as a symbolic representation of a lot of the themes in this story. One of the major themes in Star Wars is the choice between selfishness and selflessness and we see this through Anakin's story, Luke's story, and the story of the Republic as a whole. Temptation towards selfishness IS powerful, that's sort-of the whole point in many ways. It's powerful because it's easy, it's instant gratification, it feels good right up until it doesn't. So Palpatine is powerful more because of what he represents than anything more practical.

But if I'm going to TAKE a more practical look at it, then I'd say that the reason the Jedi beat the Sith Empire back in the day is because the Sith are all selfish people who don't know how to work together even against a common enemy and they constantly undermined and betrayed each other in a way the Jedi just did not. So there's just never enough of them combined to truly hold back the Jedi's forces. But Palpatine doesn't ever face them head on, he is the result of a thousand years of planning and laying low and so instead of trying to use real force to take out the Jedi, he uses a more poisonous method that removes a lot of their support from the inside. He learns politics, he gets himself into a position of power, he gets himself all the right allies, he starts corrupting the galaxy itself by encouraging the selfishness in the Senate (which causes most of the "clouding" of the Force, it is never Sidious alone, it's the galaxy becoming darker AS A WHOLE because of his machinations but also because of the choices people are making everywhere), and he is able to then start a war that he can use his power to shove the Jedi in the front of which starts causing a lot of them to die and scatters them across the galaxy inside the trap that is the clone army. Palpatine sees the mistakes made by his predecessors and very intentionally DOESN'T MAKE THE SAME ONES. He gets smarter and uses different methods to take the Jedi out from within the system they created to FIX the galaxy.

So if we go back to the thematic thing, Palpatine is powerful because the choices of a lot of people around him BOLSTER him enough to make him powerful. He is powerful because a lot of people are choosing to be selfish and cruel and greedy. He's not powerful all on his own, we see that when he goes up against Mace. He CAN be beaten by the Jedi, and fairly easily, if he has to rely on force alone. But he knows better than to rely on that and so he never does. Palpatine is a poison in the galaxy just by EXISTING, that's what causes the Force to be more clouded and unbalanced, and it's why Mace recognizes that he's too dangerous to be left alive. This is what the Sith ARE, by their very nature. It's why the Jedi dedicate themselves to eradicating the Sith and everything the Sith represent. There can be no fixing the galaxy or finding balance so long as the Sith remain.

Now, if we look at what the SEQUELS did with Palpatine, then yeah, sure, Palpatine is too powerful because now he's surviving getting thrown down a reactor hatch in a space station that got blown up somehow (which isn't like... UNUSUAL in Star Wars, Maul does something very similar and I hate it just as much as I do this variety of it) and then manages to like suck Force energy out of a Force dyad in order to make himself more... corporeal? I have no idea. But he also then makes the big "I am all the Sith" claim which was HILARIOUS to me when I rewatched the film recently because this might be the first time in galactic history that the Sith have all collectively worked together like that at all. Like HOW is he "all the Sith", what does that MEAN, how does it give him more power, and why does he even NEED IT? It's weird, it's stupid, he should be dead and we all know it, so by the time of the Sequels yes, he's too powerful, but in the Prequels and Original trilogies? No, he's fine, he's exactly as powerful as he needs to be to get across the narrative themes he helps represent.

[pinkverbena]

「➤ F&H 1946: Pav's extra story - some enemies (drawings and concepts) + interactions between two idiots.

Three months of work, it's not much, i would have liked to illustrated more, but was fun at least...

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[ content - archive ]

//CAUTION!: Violence, mutilation, mentions of torture, abuse, certain signs of trauma, Funger experience, labor exploitation and others.

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ACT 1 > Kaiser's cult

■ An alternate version of the Bremen Elite Trooper, it seems that is infected with...huh, a parasite?, or maybe it is a parasite that took over the body, also have a yellow cloth around, funny.

■ This woman of unknown origin is said to have been a spy for Bremen in the past, or rather, there are several clones of her corpse spread throughout the neighborhood, with old glory, an artificial human. Willing to expand and return those years of conquest, but for now she must meddle in the life of a certain man who has taken the existence of her Lord and any ally who frustrates the cult's plans. Hoping for some miserable miracle of resurgence, which are useless attempts. Arrogant, if you lose against her, she will force you to enter the golden calf and then burn you with it, slowly until your flesh and bones are destroyed, including other torture techniques. If she is defeated, will melt, being expelled from her own skin as a last reaction, only being a mass of withering flesh.

■ And in his absence, they have created his figure to comfort themselves in days of glory, taking advantage of the commotion of the Bremen masses to boost false hope and supposed influence left by the charismatic individual. Using the support of the citizens, they rejoice in the political chaos and find the culprit of the Kaiser's fall. All of them with the power offered by the army, the experiments and contacts, in a matter of time they had to flee from the sight of the Empire, it seems that the remaining authorities are looking for them for treason. Although they continue to use some militia suits, weapons and others.

This...is not the Kaiser, but a representation of him, created based on a skinless corpse of someone who suffered a cruel fate, during the nights and midnights of the events, quite peculiar things tend to happen, some of these are the processions during these hours and throughout the neighborhood, the figure being carried by some followers.

■ He will proudly get his hands dirty for the just cause of expanding the Kaiser's influence, even if he must start from this desolate neighborhood with his other comrades. A man who shows disdain and jealousy towards Pav for reaching the ranks faster in the past, he who longed to serve at the Kaiser's side and his blind vision of hunger for power drove him to do the impossible to reach the rank of lieutenant and use the army as the power of Bremen to his advantage, even though he was certainly clumsy with weapons at first and his hostile and even manic personality, he was able to achieve his goal when Pav left the rank of lieutenant and escaped. Sadly even if he couldn't be at the Kaiser's side, at least longs to be able to ruin Pav's existence even more.

''You're a coward, Yudin!, ran away, but you won't escape from me!...do you know how much it cost me to get to this position?, and you came as if nothing happened!, i had to destroy a lot of lives as much as you!, shed blood!, i longed for Kaiser to look at me!''

''Our ambitions and talents are different, but they led us to the Kaiser, the difference is that i would never have stabbed him in the back, people of Voronya like you should be dead, i would have liked to know that you would not survive...with your family''

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The lieutenant is an expert with swords and knives, and does not tend to use his firearms frequently in attacks. He tends to kick and try to cut off the body parts.

Suffers the fate of becoming an unrecognizable creature due to the effects of being exposed outside for too long in days and due to his mental/emotional imbalance.

''SO YOU WANT TO PUNCH A HOLE IN ME WITH YOUR STUPID BULLETS?, YOU WANT TO?, COME ON, COME ON, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN''

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Will break walls, chase you through hallways and do everything to catch you, is more aggressive than his human form, wanting to tear you apart and rip your head off, taller, although his back is not noticeable has more muscle mass and in other places, looks stronger, although does not have arms, the strength comes from legs. Uses the extensions of ropes/threads of flesh as whips, usually makes strange sounds that can be detected with the radio and be careful when passing by.

He must be attacked first by the eyes of the extensions and then by the missing limbs.

■ They shout: ''Hail king, hail king!, our lord!, give us back our lord!'', are more insistent, like the Wheel of Fortune they go round and round, these can be shot in several parts. In reality some of them were not even followers, they were just people who were used as test subjects. Their eyelids are sewn with wire and they spill a liquid of melted gold, spinning on a three-sided bone.

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ACT 2 > Office building

■ They have been abused in different ways by the Moth Boss in the past. They can be found in various parts of the office building, it seems that can be recruited.

■ This man does not have a face, the bag being the only thing that adhered to his skin. Prior to the events, Seimei helped him buy the necessary things for his baby (although they were not that close), his wife was a jealous and abusive woman, even if her husband did not have enough money for the support and the constant mistreatment of the boss. So overwhelmed that now he carries on his back the heads of his wife and the giant head of his baby, which float like balloons, communicating telepathically with this man. When Pav and Seimei defeat the Moth Boss, he thanks them, then dies with an agonizing scene when his wife's head starts insulting him. In an alternate event, Pav or Seimei can kill him with one blow, he is quite harmless.

■ Tend to alarm their other companions, and are able to talk like a radio announcer. Faithful to the Moth Boss, they will do everything possible to get in the way, and are more dangerous if they come in groups. In the past, these were the bootlickers of Seimei's boss, hiding the secret that he was abused by this man. They walk erratically and seem to still retain their memories, showing hatred and a superiority complex towards Seimei. Has a variation, like climbing plants.

■ In the past he was Seimei's boss, the main culprit of the suffering of most of the workers, a perverted exploiter obsessed with using them as tools and lining the pockets of the authorities. He has had Pav's neighbor under threat for a long time, even after being found dismembered in a strange ritual circle, he has returned with a new transformation, among tumors and the dust of the basement.

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ACT 3 > Noisy neighbors

■ The gossiping wife even with her transformation, can be a nuisance, she will force you to eat the food she cooks for you (unless you kill her) she does not seem to have twisted intentions, or who knows, her mind has not been well after the effects, when entering her home, she follows you everywhere from behind until you sit on the dining room chair, she insists with various questions to make the conversation more pleasant (never mention her appearance), she will get violent if you do not eat the dish offers you. The woman call her husband and go up the stairs of the house, Seimei insists that they can escape now through the kitchen or find a way to hide. It is possible to destroy her hunchbacked spine, her weak point or shoot her from behind.

■ The husband is dead, only his head remains, on a silver platter, what now inhabits it is a parasite that makes sounds similar to the Xenomorph and enters the mouths of humans to hatch inside and cause a slow, painful death, until burst into blood and flesh. One way to kill the parasite is with fire, other methods are a mystery.

■ Neighbor and police ghouls, can be recruited, they are scattered throughout the neighborhood, inside abandoned buildings, others near or inside the police station.

■ They were once neighbors, affected by the curious influence, behave like snails, melted and slimy flesh, if touch them, you get infected. As a defense mechanism, expel acid with mucus.

■ A mix of leech and plant, it is a type of enemy of the park area, a neighbor in the past, there are several like this. It can cause extra damage by its teeth and the part of the human face must be weakened, then the main entrance of its other mouth. It is divided into those with flowers and others with poisonous plants. The parts can be used for medical purposes.

■ Venus flytrap style, it is more wrinkled, with certain parts of a tumor, it can control corpses and they walk slowly until catch the next victim, and tear off their skin.

-Fun fact: There is another enemy that i hadn't illustrated, but it was a carnivorous plant shaped like a jar and other plants (poisonous) would grow inside the organs of some neighbors that are affected.

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*ૢ✧ Interaction between two idiots - Category: Worst neighbors

"Remember these words, Seimei, i told you that if we were to get out of here, you should at least put the bullet in that fucking maniac"

"What the hell are you talking about when my idiot boss now has the face of an insect?"

''Former boss, but he won't be saved from being a former imbecile''

''Wearing nice shoes melts your brain''

''Look at your own first, soldier''

''Stop your delusions, old man, the office is already a war zone...''

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Honestly, i wasn't going to come back to this account because i felt like i didn't do well enough for this, i was motivated by the support that some had given in my posts, thank you very much!, i don't consider myself an artist so, only go more for the written part.

[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.

[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.

[itsniquol]

Animes That Fans Are Still Waiting To See Sequels For

With the recent premiere of the second season of Clone High through HBO’s Max streaming service and Netflix’s second season of the reboot of Bastard!; long suffering fans are finally getting more of the animated shows that they have spent over ten years waiting for. Hopefully streaming services will continue to listen to the people and start doing more reboots and sequels to what fans want to see. Here’s a list of seven other anime shows that anime fans are still waiting to see:

School Rumble

School Rumble is the anime adaptation of the Slice of Life, Romantic-Comedy manga of the same name by Jin Kobayashi. This over 20 episode animated series follows the ditzy but lovable, Tenma Tsukamoto, and the former delinquent who loves her, Kenji Harima. This show was brilliantly written with amazing comedic moments surrounding the typical misunderstandings and awkward moments among teenagers, along with personal revelations. School Rumble was definitely a show that would delight many within the Shoujo or Shonen fan-base, however the ending of the series seemed unfinished and left much to be desired.

Ouran Host Club

Take Hana Kimi and mash it together with Boys Over Flowers, and you get Ouran Host Club. Based off of the 2002-2010 manga by Bisco Hatori, the genderbending reverse harem anime continues to have a dedicated fan base still aching for more episodes. This anime follows the gender non-conforming Haruhi Fujioka who attends a prestigious private school on scholarship, and is forced to pay back a debt working as a host club member. Despite being a comedy this show has compelling character arcs and emotional moments, with positive LGBT+ representation. Since the anime concluded before the manga’s completion there’s definitely still plenty of story to tell and this show could easily follow in the footsteps of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Hellsing Ultimate.

Kamisama Kiss

Having an original air date of 2012 this anime is based off the 25 volume long manga series by Julietta Suzuki of the same name. This show followed the recently homeless Tomoe who becomes a minor deity and gets a handsome yet short tempered fox yokai for a servant. This show had a nice concept with many lovable characters in the Supernatural genre with Romantic-Comedic elements to the story. Despite having two seasons, the story’s ending didn’t feel complete and hopefully one day fans can get more.

Utena: Revolutionary Girl

For so many people this 1997 anime was an introduction to the world of anime and manga and is highly regarded for its art style, and LGBT+ and Feminist themes. The anime is based off of the manga written by Chiho Saito of the Magical Girl, Action, and Fantasy genres. This story follows Utena Tenjou, a new girl at school who becomes involved in a secret European-style duel competition for “The Rose Bride.” The bride in question is a quiet and mysterious girl named Anthy Himemiya who is often treated more as a prop and less as a person. Utena fights frequently to defend Anthy yet is sadly betrayed by someone she considered a good friend. The anime ends with Anthy going out to search for Utena but we never know what happens after the fact. Even the anime film adaptation ends with no clear resolution so a reboot or a sequel series to settle people’s questions would be a great form of closure to the old fans while catching the interest of the new ones.

Mermaid Forest

After the success of Inuyasha, Ranma ½, and Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi has no shortage of fans who would check out anything with her name attached. Back in the early 2000s there was an anime adaptation of her 1994 manga of the same name. In this anime the show’s two leads, Yuta and Mana, have been given immortality after consuming mermaid flesh which arguably the better of the two possible side effects. For the better part of the series the anime follows these two around during their travels until they run into another, much older immortal, who has developed an amoral personality. Towards the end we never know the fate of the older immortal nor discover if there is any possibility to reverse the side effects of the mermaid flesh. The anime just sorta of ends, so a sequel or reboot would be greatly appreciated.

Nightwalker: The Midnighter Detective

Anime fans who also enjoyed the Buffyverse spin-off Angel could easily adore the original 13 episode show. This late 90s horror-mystery anime follows the bishonen male lead, Shido Tatsuhiko, who fights to protect those from the harm or influence of terrible using vampiric abilities. One of the key figures to his past is the vampire Lord Cain who has semi-obsession with Shido and refuses to accept that he is no longer the killer he used to be and tries to get Shido to come back to him. The last episode ends with Shido experiencing the trauma of having to put down his teenage secretary, Riho Yamazaki, and being kissed by Cain who declares his love for Shido once more before fading away into darkness. This ending would’ve been fantastic as a season one finale but as a show one there just feels like so much that could be told.  

Descendants of Darkness

Based on the still on-going manga Yami no Matsuei, or Descendants of Darkness, this 2000 anime adaption is an excellent blend of mystery, dark fantasy, and supernatural with an extra helping of yaoi. The show’s lead is Asato Tsuzuki, a human turned shinigami who solves cases for the Spirit World alongside the recently murdered turned shinigami Hisoka Kurosaki. This anime did a marvelous job at keeping viewers guessing with different mysteries and entertained with action sequences. The artwork is magnificent as well. At the end of the show Hisoka pulls Asato out of a deep depression and they fight off the show’s overarching villain before concluding. However, since the manga has yet to officially end there’s still room to continue the story and there are many who would be eager to watch.  

[mdhwrites]

I love Raine, but I hated them as Eda’s love interest. Everything about their relationship felt forced to me, including how much Eda is supposed to love them. I wish they could’ve been introduced earlier possibly and with a more coherent/integrated role.

(But then I wonder if it’s just because they’re a non-binary character and I like the representation. Because without that aspect, the character honestly felt so useless and random.)

Maybe this is just a gripe I have with toh romance in general but like we’re supposed to believe Eda, who is considered King’s mom, would be putting him in danger with the collector just to stare at Raine?? Like come on. The romance in this show is so cringey to me.

It’s like how Luz reunites with everyone after defeating Belos and immediately shares a hug and kiss with Amity before her mom. 😑 like this is her mom who is seeing her for the first time after this whole nightmare and she didn’t even know if she’d be okay. I feel like she should’ve rushed to her and then Amity could’ve stepped in after. I guess honestly I’m just annoyed by the overemphasis on romantic partners in the show tbh. Could just be a personal problem

So there's a lot I can say about romance on this blog (romance writer has a lot to say on romance, shocking) and especially in regards to the genres TOH is in, both positively and mostly negatively. The thing I REALLY want to point out though is the dog shit treatment of Raine and how it truly emphasizes the fundamental problem of not just romantic relationships but ALL relationships in TOH. See, when Raine is introduced, we don't get a lot about their character. We understand that they are the caution to Eda's brashness and that while their caution is obvious, them having stage fright is actually a great way for Eda to have a way of breaking them out of their shell. Something her enthusiasm, especially as a child, could be useful.

And then we gets Falls and Follies where their stage fright is... Still their main character trait. And then we get Them's the Breaks Kid.

And suddenly, Raine isn't Raine. Now yes, kids can change as they grow up but stage fright is a fairly unique malady. It's not specifically social anxiety and it's not a phobia. It's genuinely about stepping on stage and freezing. That terror of performance. My drama director in High School said that she'd helped a lot of kids with it and the right course of actions were always repetition and exposure. That usually the lines came so naturally and their base confidence was so high that a successful dress rehearsal would make sure they didn't freeze come opening night.

It is something that fades with experience. And in Falls and Follies, Raine might still be the level head to Eda's rowdy behavior, but in the worst way. They're not the nervous kid who overthinks things and needs to be reminded to breathe but instead the smart, grade A kid who is so popular and so above everyone that they're bored by all the 'normies'. Edalyn is interesting in that she stands out, as well as being the strongest. Their is never even a hint of fear or nervousness in them.

This comes to its worst part in the moment that is supposed to tell everyone the two are destined for each other. The moment that the fandom was supposed to immortalize like the major Lumity moments. The moment Eda tries to bean Raine with a ball and Raine, unlike Lilith, catches it not just easily but with flair.

Or in other words, catches it just like Eda would. The moment that I think a lot of people, myself included, started realizing that Raine was just a love interest, just like Amity and then Willow for Hunter, instead of anything even resembling a character. After all, they spend this entire episode showing that they are a clone to Eda. Period.

It actually gets worse as the motivation to protect their loved ones is also an Eda one and they both do it in the same way by just trying not to include them and put distance between them. Their methods, ideologies, etc. like that are literally lock step with one another, just like Amity changes hers to be and Hunter ends up becoming like alongside Willow and Luz. A lot of people point this at as growth for the characters but I still argue that dissolving your own personality for your partner is not a good thing.

And do you want to know how much the writers KNEW Them's the Breaks was a mistake? Just a blatantly wrong choice to make? Well, see, Falls and Follies eventually came out with a second version of the episode with annotations. Little tidbits about the show and lore of the universe. I don't know really any of those tidbits except one, and that this WAS released after Falls and Follies.

"Raine developed stage fright during a production of the Isles version of Romeo and Juliet that they performed with Eda."

That's not word for word, I'm not looking this up for that, but that is what it summarized to. Or, in other words, they went back and had to retcon in stage fright for Raine. Stage fright they developed WITH the person who's dynamic with them should be to bring them out of their shell with.

The worst part? They probably don't see the contradiction. They instead likely went "We made a plothole in Them's the Breaks. What can we do this for shipping fodder?" And then someone else shouted, "MAKE IT SO RAINE GOT STAGE FRIGHT BECAUSE OF A PLAY THAT MADE THEM KISS EDA!"

Now no, that's not explicitly stated but besides just being lazy and referencing Romeo and Juliet (they did have a special name for it), that's the main reason I can imagine for that play causing that specific reaction. After all, Raine had performed for large crowds before. Even done things against the rules and off script in front of crowds and against a FUCKING COVEN HEAD. What could have possibly caused them to gain stage fright from a fucking play?

And if this sort of inconsistency was in a piece of fanfic or a person's personal webcomic and they just admitted to wanting the cute shipping moments, like Yoko Taro saying 2B is a beautiful woman because he likes pretty girls in his games, I would be more okay with it. In a show that is touted as so progressive, having such perfect representation, some of the best romances in television history, etc. etc...

Well, my response is that I guess there's a reason so many straight people have to deal with bland, inconsistent love interests if that's what nonbinaries and lesbians want too.

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