#the jedi weren't perfect but this isn't one of their flaws

[raina-at]

Yes, Luke's love for Vader saved the galaxy.

But.

Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda actually tell Luke he has to KILL Vader. They tell Luke he has to FACE him.

Because these are Luke's Jedi trials. He has to face what he fears most. He has to be tempted by the Dark side and actively choose the light for him to become a Jedi.

There's actually two conversations going on here. First, Yoda tells Luke he needs to confront Vader to be fully a Jedi, because he has to face his own fears. Yoda never tells Luke he has to kill Vader. He doesn't even imply it.

Now, Obi-Wan never tells Luke he has to kill Vader either. He says Luke has to FACE Vader. Obi-Wan does seem to think that Vader is irredeemable and must be killed to rid the universe from the empire, and of course that stems from his own guilt of failing to kill Anakin when he had the chance. Twice. Obi-Wan knows that Vader is DANGEROUS. He's a brutal killer. He slaughtered Jedi for decades, and who knows how many innocents. And Obi-Wan tried to reach Anakin and failed. So from his point of view, both the emperor and Vader must be destroyed for the empire to be defeated, and the thing is, he's not wrong. If Luke hadn't managed to turn Vader back, what would have happened? The emperor would have killed him. The end. Vader and the Emperor would have left the disintegrating Death Star and very likely the rebellion would have been lost. So Obi-Wan's point is that Luke must be prepared to kill Vader if he truly wants to defeat the empire and he can't turn him back.

Yes, Luke was sure that it was possible to turn Vader. He risked his life and would rather have died than give in to his own hatred and fear. That's his triumph.

But he could face down his fears and win over them and accept death rather than hate BECAUSE of his Jedi training. Because Yoda and Obi-Wan prepared him for what the emperor was going to do with him. They made him aware of his feelings, his anger, his fear. They showed him, in Vader, what he would become if he gave into his darkest impulses. That's what he defeated. And that's what turned Vader into Anakin again. Luke being the Jedi Anakin couldn't be. Because Anakin clung to life and love and literally slaughtered thousands of innocents because he was unable to let go of his personal desires. And Luke made the opposite choice. He'd rather die a Jedi than live a Sith. He let go. He stopped fighting, because the price he would have to pay for survival wasn't worth it.

So love, yes. But the Jedi version of love. A selfless love, not grasping at life. But understanding that sometimes you need to let everything you love go if the price of keeping it is too high. And that's the lesson Anakin never learned.

Anakin didn't do the things he did for love. He did them out of fear. He feared Padme's loss so much that he never stopped for one second to ask himself what Padme would want him to do. And when Padme was horrified at what he'd done, he almost killed her. That's not love. That's attachment. The selfish desire to have and to keep at any price.

So the point, in my opinion, isn't that the Jedi lessons about love and attachment were wrong. It's that Anakin didn't understand them, and Luke did.

I think there’s something rather strange going on with all the folks who insist that the Jedi Order in the PT was right and didn’t forbid love and Anakin should just have followed their teachings when the whole point of the prequels is that they are prequels. They come before the OT, and the OT proves the Jedi wrong. They literally do not make sense if they don’t do that.

Luke, in the original trilogy, gains his ultimate triumph, his ultimate victory, because he loved in defiance of the teachings of the old Order. He quite literally had the ghosts of the past telling him, explicitly and without ambiguity, that he has to put his love for his father aside and kill him, as is the duty of a Jedi. Luke has the weight of millennia of teachings weighing down on his shoulders, telling him they knew and know better than a young, inexperienced man barely out of his teenager years. That he should follow their teachings or be destroyed. That is an immense weight to carry, and many people would and explicitly have given in to it in-universe. What are your feelings and ideals in the face of such immense legacy, after all?

But Luke doesn’t give in.

He doesn’t bend.

He says “I may be young, and I may be new, but I believe to my heart and soul that love matters more than this legacy. Matters more than your teachings.” And he says this to the ghosts of his mentors. That is such a powerful moment and one I can’t believe George Lucas didn’t create deliberately for even a second. This young man, being told he has to kill or die trying for a system that is dead or dying itself, that couldn’t survive itself, and refusing to do so. He is the living refusing to continue the violence of a dead generation. He is the young man refusing the draft into a war the old generation started, saying “peace and love matters more than you being right.” He is the embodiment of breaking the cycle.

And the movies vindicate him.

The main villain vindicates him with his last dying breath.

Darth Vader, dying, says “You were right.” and admits he and his were wrong. The main antagonist, Luke’s nemesis, in the face of his son’s immense, defiant love, gives way and does the impossible: he comes back to the light and dies a Jedi. The very thing the old Order says was impossible.

They were wrong. They have to be. The narrative demands it, the movies don’t make sense without it.

The solution was never to continue the cycle of the old Order, or Luke would have failed there, would have failed when he said “I am a Jedi, like my father before me.” And claimed that defiant, deviant, condemned definition of being a Jedi over the one presented to him by the Grandmaster of the old Order. If the old Order was right, Luke would have to be wrong. Be wrong about love, be wrong about laying down the sword, be wrong about refusing to fight. He would have to be wrong.

But the old Order is dead, explicitly killed by a monster, in some part, of their own making. It’s members only existing as bones in the ground or ghosts speaking from beyond the grave. They did not deserve it, it should not have been inflicted on them, but the narrative is clear on this: “The old way is dead, and was dying for a long time before that. Long live the new.”

Luke is that new. Luke is the breaking of the cycle, the reforging of swords into ploughs, the extended hand. Luke says “I don’t care how much I was hurt, I refuse to hurt you back, and you don’t need to hurt me either.”

“We can end this together and choose love instead.”

And Darth Vader, killer of the Jedi, End of the Order, lays down his arms as well, and reaches back as Anakin, saying “You were right.”

It wasn’t Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Qui-Gon, or even Ahsoka who achieved the ultimate victory in the end, following the tenants of the old Order. It was Luke. Young, inexperienced Luke, who saw that the age of legacy handed to him was only history, that the sword handed to him as his life was only a tool, and that the decrees of the dead were only advice. And he took it all, said “thank you for your experience, but I’ve got it from here,” and laid it all down to instead extend an open hand towards his enemy.

And his victory, his ultimate triumph, his vindication, was that he was proven right when his enemy reached back and became just another person. Just another person, just like him.

The Jedi did not deserve what happened to them, and they did not deserve to die. But the story is clear on this: the Jedi of old were wrong, and the Jedi of new, the Last Jedi, was right. No sword or death will ever end the rule of the sword or end the bloodshed. But love?

Love can ignite the stars.

[galactic-rhea]

The thing is,,,,abuse doesn't have anything to do with intelligence or lack of confidence, though yes, a person with low self-esteem is an easier target for abusers, however that's what not I'm talking about.

Like I'm someone who doesn't like to take part in The Discourse (tm) because this is fandom, I'm here to talk about my favorite dolls and create silly scenaries with them. And it might feel a bit egregious to talk about something as delicate and serious as abuse, grooming or domestic violence but also it's the perfect playground to explore such themes and you can learn a lot by psychologically analizing a character and do your own research on the matter so you can understand abuse better, and sometimes that way you can also have a more critical view on real life, and for some of us, also come to terms with our own lives.

That said, back to my original point, it has nothing to do with intelligence. A person that falls into a cycle of abuse doesn't make them stupid, the whole deal of predators and abusers is that they know how to play their game, they know how to manipulate. A victim's mind will always try to cope with the abuse in ways that can be hard to understand sometimes in ways that will make you say 'well, that's enabling their abuser', but is not a statement on their intelligence or lack of it, abuse dynamics are extremelly complex, and victims will go through several states such a guilt, or violent outbrusts, fear, appeasing, avoidance, sometimes all sometimes just a few. And it's because no one is the same and no one's experiences will be the same, even though there are patterns you can identify sometimes.

So when someone wants to argue against a character being too smart to fall for abuse or manipulation, it's a bit sad to me. Not necessarily malicious or dangerous, or anything, again this is fandom and fandom runs rampant with whatever takes that makes all of us grimace. But because that's not how it works, if a certain dynamic isn't abusive by your pov, then it has nothing to do with the character's intelligence. It's not about being strong, or confident; that downplays how abusive dynamics come to be.

Like for example y'know I don't think padmé and anakin were abusive, I've made several posts about it, but it's not because they are too intelligent for that.

Likewise, Anakin wasn't stupid for being groomed by Palpatine; the contrary, he was quite literally a gifted child and a genius at mechanics and was good at many things, including drawing and strategies, but he fell for Palpatine's grooming because:

a) Palpatine is an evil top tier manipulator and predator who knows how to play adults, he literally knew how to play the jedi council, what was a 9 y/o going to do about it.

And b) Anakin's trauma and unattended mental illnesses made him an easier victim for grooming; he was already used to be a thing and be a servant from the moment he learned to talk.

But even if we weren't talking about someone as deeply messed up as Anakin was already, abusers and predators always will take advantage and exploit of the weaknesses and flaws on an individual, they will adapt and change their tactic according to the victim needs, that's why anyone could become a victim, it doesn't matter if your IQ is up there on the moon.

It's not about being too "stupid" to not realize there was abuse, it's a deep, complicated and terrible ensemble of thoughts and insecurities tangling around the brain in such a way that there's no a way to blame the abuser without feeling at fault, or at the very least without feeling scared of retaliation or lost, it's a power dynamic that messes up the sense of self.

[antianakin]

Tbh I really wish they had Ahsoka address that her idealized version of Anakin isn't reality and never was. And that's a common abuse survivor thing! Literally wouldn't be difficult to put in her character. Iirc Force Vision Anakin basically said something like "you never learn" because she still is just running instead of facing the fact Anakin's fall was never about her and never her fault. There were signs certainly but scattered across a long period of time and with different people.

I wish we could get Huyang pointing out that holding onto the past and her child version of Anakin isn't healthy and honestly an ancient Jedi droid would be literally the perfect character. Not to mention her habit of running instead of facing it head on. There's this great opportunity here for the character and while I'm losing hope, if not Huyang than someone like Ezra, a character who's learned to let go. Ahsoka's biggest flaw at this point is her inability to move forward and that needs to be addressed before giving her more powers.

I was actually JUST thinking last night that it would've been SO COOL to have Huyang sort-of step in as a surrogate Master for Ahsoka to help point out the fallacies in her unhealthy coping mechanisms and way of looking at things. Like when Ahsoka says "the Jedi failed", Huyang points out that actually they didn't, or at least, if they failed then it's not their fault and CERTAINLY not because they didn't allow in enough people who weren't Force sensitive. When she pushes about Sabine, he can point out that not only would the Order not have accepted her, there's a REASON she wouldn't necessarily be happy as a Jedi and it's not healthy for either of them for Ahsoka to try to push Sabine to acquire skills she quite simply does not and cannot ever have.

And of course, with Anakin, he can be even more explicit.

One of the things they've given Huyang as a characterization in this show is the ability to be very bluntly honest sometimes. What's frustrating is that one of the few places he ISN'T is when the topic of Anakin comes up. He tells Sabine that she's a terrible Padawan, worst he's ever seen. He tells Hera that people like her because she disobeys orders when she cares about things. But when asked about Anakin, the most he says is that Anakin was "intense." That's it. It might've been interesting for Huyang to be a little less vague about Anakin and perhaps one of the ONLY people Ahsoka's ever actually told about Anakin having been Vader and so he can speak to that more candidly and honestly. He wasn't just "intense," he was a traitor. He broke his vows, he disrespected everything the Jedi stood for, he was a murderer. You could explain away his vagueness about Anakin by having Ahsoka say that she wants this to remain a secret, that she never told the Ghost crew about her master's true identity and she doesn't want them to know because of how she thinks it might change the way they look at her. So maybe he's more candid with Ahsoka herself, but when Hera asks, the best he can say is "intense."

Have Ahsoka tell Huyang that Anakin was a good Master, and Huyang can point out that, while that may have been true at one point, it wasn't ALWAYS true. It didn't REMAIN true. He betrayed her. He tried to kill her. He refused to come back for her. Because one of the things Ahsoka was struggling with in Rebels was figuring out how to connect the Anakin she knew as a child with what she knew of Darth Vader and what caused Anakin to change so much. It might've been interesting to have Ahsoka recognize that there were pieces of Vader in the Anakin she knew, too, even if she didn't recognize it at the time. There were secrets he kept from her, moments where he could get SO ANGRY. It might've been interesting for her to discuss that terrible awful training from TOTJ and have Huyang point out just how fuck awful that kind of training truly was. Even if it was done out of a desire to protect her, that didn't actually make it okay or a valid method of training. No true Jedi would have asked that of her or done that to her, not because they were weak, but because all she would've learned from it was FEAR. And every true Jedi knows that strength doesn't only come from pain.

Ahsoka can still ultimately choose to forgive him and choose to focus on the good memories she still has of him, but she can ALSO choose to accept that he betrayed her and that he was a bad master. Anakin was both. He was someone who cared about her, and she DID learn some good lessons from him, but he also impacted her in ways that were decidedly negative. Forgiving him should require accepting BOTH. It's not even just "He did his best" although that gets us a LOT closer to the desired goal here, it's more like "He wasn't all bad."

I don't know, I think there could've been a LOT more complexity given to Anakin and Ahsoka and their relationship in this show and what we got was just... so so shallow. And to be honest, that's this show's biggest sin, just how SHALLOW all of it is. I'm not at all shocked that Filoni, who called Anakin the "greatest Jedi of all time", is choosing to portray Anakin in this way and sort-of... erase and gloss over his sins to just declare him a "good master." But it's still disappointing because there's so many really interesting ways this show could've explored Ahsoka and it chose none of them.

I think about that line from Rebels when Maul tells Obi-Wan "Look how far you've fallen" and Obi-Wan retorts, "Look what I have risen above." Because that's the core of Obi-Wan, right, he RISES ABOVE Anakin. He rises above Anakin's mistakes and failures, he rises above Anakin's betrayal, he rises above his losses and grief to become better than Anakin ever could. He doesn't let Anakin's failures become his own, he doesn't let Anakin's darkness drag him down alongside. And I feel like they're trying to go for something similar with Ahsoka here, but they just aren't reaching it. Because in order to have Ahsoka rise above, they first need to acknowledge that there's something there TO rise above.

I don't have any hope left in this show, it's made its stance clear and there's only a single episode left in this season. It's not going to suddenly decide to criticize Anakin NOW, and Ahsoka's already had her glow-up emotional climax like 2-3 episodes too early. This show is what it is at this point.

[padme-amitabha]

I read your opinions on Ahsoka and while I like her I agree, I think her fandom is making me dislike her, the final straw for me was reading takes that Ahsoka was Anakin's child more than Luke ever was because he spend more time with her than with Luke despite Anakin ALWAYS aknowledged Luke as his son, I mean remember the iconic "I'm your father" scene? And how after that he always called Luke in his mind as "my son"? Anakin may had not raised Luke, but he always loved his son, ever since Padmé told him that she was pregnant he considered his baby a blessing and the happiest moment of his life, so no wonder those feelings resurfaced when he found out that Luke lived between ANH and ESB, I mean, he came to the Light for him! His baby boy. I even read a Youtube comment saying that when Anakin said Luke before dying "Tell your sister...you were right..." now it refered to Ahsoka when those words were for Leia! Yes, we know Leia sees Bail as her father and has zero connection with Anakin, but even so, those final words were for her. Canonically Anakin saw Ahsoka as much a younger sister, he always refered Luke as his son and Leia as Luke's sister and thus, his daughter. I dislike reading how people are trying to server Anakin from his family (from Padmé to now Luke and Leia) to place Ahsoka in the picture, guys, you can have both! (sorry for the rant)

I totally get it. My issue with her character mainly started from the fact that she is shoehorned into anything that involves the skywalkers. Imagine if she was in the movies, I would think her arc would be very redundant in the PT because we are closely following the Jedi masters and council as well as politicians as they are central to the plot and conflict. The fact that she wasn't in it establishes she is an afterthought. And I think she wouldn't have been so bad if she was a character with a standalone arc and story but now she's just everywhere and I disliked her introduction as Anakin's padawan because the PT establishes Anakin is quite young and flawed and its his journey we are exploring from little Ani to Darth Vader throughout the six films. He is allowed to be an innocent kid, brooding emotional teenager and also a hero. He is the Chosen One but not once is he a Gary Stu, in fact he goes through phases that annoys other characters like Obi Wan. He isn't overpowered either because we see him suffer two huge defeats in the films. He makes mistakes and the wrong choices and can be selfish at times, and other times he tries to be a good padawan and follow the rules and sometimes he disregards them, he lets others boss him around too, he is scared but wants to be a good father and husband etc etc. you get the idea. He's not perfect and that's the point and I think Hayden nails the repressed monk persona. The only reason Ahsoka was introduced was part of "fixing" Anakin's character and to make him more fun but it seems so unbelievable the council would assign someone like Anakin with an impressionable youngling (who is strangely rebellious despite having the same upbringing as the rest?). I just don't see Anakin as being a big brother to anyone or bantering with kids when he seemed understandably awkward and reserved. Also, Ahsoka's thick plot armor and her continuously inflated significance just confirms how much of a creator's pet she was and her whole character (especially when she's interacting with Anakin) feels very fanficy and the fact that she has almost zero flaws and she takes over the roles of every other important person in Anakin's life in the original story. I try not to pay attention to Filoni's pet because it just feels like pure wish fulfillment for him at this point. We could just have more of other cool female jedi like Shaak Ti, Depa, Aayla, or Yaddle as they were preexisting characters and weren't dependent on the Skywalkers for their arc - because I doubt Ahsoka would have been popular at all if she wasn't Anakin's padawan or acting like an Anakin wannabe (and getting away with it almost always while Anakin the CO was given no special treatment). At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Ahsoka is revealed to be the new chosen one or she's some insanely overpowered demigod lol. And I mean I guess her fans like her for many reasons but she just feels like a Mary Sue to me like you know a character is doomed when a creator admits he's too attached to the character for anything drastic and openly shows favoritism. Let's be honest she is kind of a nepo baby and acts like one too in the SWU. I guess some people are just seeing her as one now but I always thought she would be a Mary Sue because even the emotional moments she has and the few hardships or "deep" moments she gets is just by interacting with the Skywalkers or just dealing with things everyone else is going through. So I don't really feel the emotional value if she tells Luke he is like her father when literally anyone else who knew him could have said that. At least characters like Boba don't rely on mentioning Anakin in everything they appear in. I don't think her arc would even be well developed if she was detached from the existing prequel characters so it's like she just reinforces the same emotions we should feel except she's supposed to be fun and badass so the audience and her fans would empathize with the events more.

Like do people even really like her screentime in Rebels except from her fight with Anakin? And that scene's so memorable because it's with Anakin, a much more realistic and developed character. It's really Anakin who carries the scene and the emotional impact. Replace Ahsoka with any other padawan and it seems like she has no inherent value. She only seems to shine in moments she is interacting with PT era characters due to the backstory and flashbacks and the rest of the time she's just a token strong female jedi character. What is Ahsoka when she is not breaking Jedi rules constantly like she's special or getting in Anakin's business or running into other characters and reminiscing about the past? I could watch a standalone show on Anakin, Padme, Obi Wan, Qui Gon, Yoda or even Dooku just in their solo adventures because they bring a slightly new perspective to the SWU and there's some room for individuality. I could be wrong maybe they explored some of her personal ambitions than being a Jedi and making Anakin proud but I'm really not interested when her role is just so interchangeable. Even Padme has an entire movie around her (TPM) where we see more about her. Despite being Anakin's love interest, we can see how she is a main character and can carry a film without any romance with Anakin. Same with Obi-Wan. He had an entire movie solving mysteries and plots while Anakin and Padme were romancing. That's why they should be the main prequel trio because its always been two force sensitives and a non-force sensitive member. Just like Han, Padme brings a new perspective and skills in the team.

I wouldn't be too bothered about such claims as they always existed. Ahsoka is closer to Anakin than Obi Wan, Padme, Leia and now more than Luke. It's sad and funny how far Filoni will bend space and time to make room for the OC. As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't exist.

This channel has some good videos on her and I highly recommend these: part 1 and part 2

[shadowmaat]

The Jedi were evil all along!

I debated replying to the thread I saw condemning the Jedi as "rigid" and implying they weren't that different from the Sith, but I would have been the only voice of dissent and given that one of the replies was from a Red Hat Cultist veering off on a frothy anti-Obama rant, I figured it was safer to just make my own post.

Look, no one is saying the Jedi are perfect, but they sure as fuck aren't evil, either. If you're basing your entire opinion on the thoughts and experiences of one individual then your view is incredibly flawed and you should maybe think outside the narrow hole you've dug for yourself.

From what I can tell, some of the worst critics of the Jedi seem to be fans of Anakin Skywalker. Or at least a carefully curated version of Anakin who was a perpetual victim and never did anything wrong. It seems to boil down to "if the Jedi had just let Anakin be openly married to Padmè, nothing bad would have happened!" Which is... certainly a take.

The one argument I see trumpeted over and over (and over) again is that the Jedi prohibition against "attachment" is terrible and wrong and makes them no better than the Sith. This hinges almost entirely on the idea that "attachment" is the same thing as "love."

It isn't. Fans have spent decades explaining why it isn't only to have their reasoning mostly ignored in favor of the more angsty/tragic idea that the Jedi were forbidden to love. 🙄

"Attachment," IMO, can best be summed up as a literal interpretation of this ever-popular gif:

[img: Rosa from Brooklyn 99. She's holding a small yellow lab puppy as she says, "I've only had Arlo for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself."]

Anakin has, admittedly, "had" Padmè for three years instead of a day and a half, but when he thought she was going to die, he killed everyone in the Temple, then killed her, and then continued on a murderous rampage for the next 19 years or so.

"Attachment" is dangerous for anyone, but especially for someone like Anakin, who has additional powers at his command, rigorous training in how to use them, and three years experience as a war leader.

Personally, I also have questions about whether or not marriage is actually forbidden among the Jedi or if Anakin just assumed it was because "attachment." I can see it not being a common thing, and I can also understand a relationship coming under scrutiny to insure that it's a healthy form of love that won't interfere with a Jedi's ability to do their job, but it wouldn't surprise me if Anakin never looked into it because it would mean "sharing" Padmè with others.

Even if marriage wasn't allowed as a whole formal, legalized thing it doesn't mean Jedi can't form relationships. It would, as usual with the Jedi, be about balance. Can someone balance their personal relationship with their commitments to the Order? Can they set their loved one aside to do what must be done? Or will they drop everything to immediately rush to their loved one's side regardless of the risk to others?

We all know what Anakin would do; we've seen it with our own eyes.

The point is, condemning the entire Jedi Order because they didn't give Anakin everything he wanted, when he wanted it, and without question is a little bit of a stretch. Plus, all jokes about his inability to keep a secret aside, it isn't as if he ever went to them to discuss things.

"Well, he didn't think he could trust them because they hated him!" Uh, no, they decidedly didn't hate him, he just believed they did. It all hinges on his beliefs, not reality. And while you could certainly blame Palpatine for reinforcing his beliefs that the Jedi can't be trusted and that everyone hates/is jealous of him, it isn't as if Palps made that up out of thin air: he built on the seeds already within Anakin.

"That's because the Jedi-" No. Insecurities are rarely rational, and while you can argue that the Jedi "didn't do enough" to help Anakin, there are a few salient points to remember:

Anakin isn't the only Jedi in the Order; they have thousands of people to consider.

You have to know there's a problem in order to help.

The person has to be willing to accept that help in order for things to change.

The last two points also apply to those who would condemn Obi-Wan in particular. He has to KNOW a problem exists and then he has to talk his way around to try and get Anakin to accept his help. I know from personal experience just how heartbreakingly difficult it is to help a loved one when they won't admit there's a problem or they won't listen to your advice.

I can think of a lot of ideas that would be fun to experiment with in terms of making changes to the Jedi Order, but most of them involve adding more distance from the Senate and none of them are about catering to the specific (perceived) needs of one Jedi.

[itsblueberry13-blog]

#they failed because of the forces conspiring to cause their failure#they succeeded for as long as they possibly could have given what they were working with#you try succeeding in their shoes

By @jayofolympus

#THIS THIS THIS#some ppl just refuse to comprehend how the galaxy works istg#probably in much the same way they fail to understand the full picture of how politics works in RL#simply refusing to participate and thinking that somehow gives you the moral high ground is frankly a fallacy#no system will ever be perfect - it's flaws don't remove our moral responsibility to try to do as much good as we're capable of doing#which unfortunately more often than not means finding a way to work within the system to affect the greatest amount of good possible

By @thatobiwankenobiplace

#'the jedi were too political--'#no stop they weren't political enough#because EVERYONE should be more political#it's like that one post#'oh i don't really do politics'#'baby it doesn't matter politics is going to do you'#i get why the jedi were trying to maintain a balance#but my stance is always ALWAYS that people should pick up an edge of the fucking couch and start walking forward#we live in a world where that is more apparent than ever#politics is for EVERYONE#you can't just opt out in good conscience and go around being a vigilante#or--as is too often a suggestion--INTERVENTIONISM#'they should just go kill the hutts!'#babe you know you're arguing for interventionism in a narrative that shows there are bad consquences for that right?#people complain that the politics of the prequels aren't appreciated enough#which is true because look at what happened with mandalore#they went off on their own and were turbo fucked for it#you can bend the rules from within the system#but you can't walk away from the system if you want to actually make a difference#you don't take your ball and go home#you roll up your sleeves and try to make things better#you work to help people#and every single day of the clone wars the jedi were SAVING LIVES#they weren't invading places#they were going places the SEPARATISTS INVADED

By @gffa

#hey that's an AMAZING point about naboo#the jedi DO help even when the senate isn't doing shit - or is roadblocking them#'but why do they need to be affiliated with the senate then?'#because valorum wouldn't have asked them to go if they weren't. because the naboo wouldn't have trusted them automatically if they weren't.#because the trade federation probably would have crushed them in retaliation if they weren't#(so we know the federation is ready to use a LOT of droids to further its interests if it believe the republic won't do shit about it)#(and once it's in a position to go against the republic itself it does just that)#(ergo if the jedi hadn't been w/ the republic - and therefore the republic wouldn't have done shit abt them being attacked#- the federation wouldn't have hesitated siccing a SHITTON of droids on them for going against its interests. qed)#(in fact all the ennemies of the jedi would have - constantly. so the jedi would have always been at war instead of being able to help ppl)

By @smhalltheurlsaretaken

If instead of "keeping peace & justice in the Republic", the Jedi's task was "carrying a couch"...

About 1,000 years prior to The Phantom Menace, the Jedi see the Senate trying to get the couch off the ground and go:

Jedi: "Uh, need some help?" Senate: "Oh God, yes please...!" Jedi: "Cool, what's the plan?" Senate: "You carry the back end, we carry the front and lead the way. It'll go smoothly from here."

And for a solid millennium, this arrangement works and the couch moves forward without ever being dropped.

But by the time of the Prequels, the Senate has stopped carrying their end. Instead, they're sitting on the armrest, on their phone, online gambling or taking selfies for their InstaStories, they're having fun, talking with their buddies. They're being irresponsible and absolutely self-serving.

So the Jedi are in a situation where they have to PUSH the couch alone because if they don't, that's it, the couch is dropped.

And it's SUPER difficult, but hey, at least the couch is moving, right? Dunno for how much longer they can keep this up, though.

As this goes on, a Sith Lord sees this entire ordeal and decides to JUMP on the couch, speeding up the clock on the inevitable drop.

Then the Clone War happens, which is the equivalent of the Jedi needing to keep trying to push the couch using only ONE hand, while they use their other limbs to fight off the Separatists and get that Sith Lord off the couch.

Then Order 66 happens, the Jedi are dead and the couch is dropped.

Mission failed, "long live the Empire".

Now, this is just an analogy simplifying the events.

If we go by what George Lucas said on the Jedi's role in the Republic, there's quite a few differences between "carrying a couch" and the Jedi's ordeal.

For instance, it's not just the Jedi carrying the other end of the couch, there's also people like Bail and Padmé (otherwise the couch would've stood still a while ago).

Also, when you're helping someone carry a couch, you can just walk away if the other guy acts like a jerk. But in the case on the Jedi, they can't just walk away because they pledged themselves to the Republic. They made a vow and a system has been built around it, they can't just up and leave or say "no, fuck you Senate, we out". Because the principles of the Republic are worth upholding and the system works when the Senate isn't filled with douchebags, as shown by the fact that there was peace and prosperity up until the Prequels.

Finally, in the analogy, moving the couch only benefits the other guy, right? But in this case, the Jedi's role in the Republic actually helps everyone, which is why the Jedi joined in the first place. If they leave, they'd be abandoning the people of the Republic.

Point is, the Jedi are not meant to be seen as "the elite" or "the establishment" by the audience. They're the underdogs. They're pretty much the only ones still trying to do their jobs right and everyone around them has stopped giving a crap.

So saying "the Jedi failed" is redundant. Who wouldn't fail?

Which is why George Lucas never blames them, in his commentary about the Prequels. When he talks about what the Prequels are about, he never says it's about the Jedi's failure, he always blames:

the Senate for failing their duty to the Republic and giving it over to Palpatine with thunderous applause,

and Anakin, for failing to overcome his own personal flaws and giving in to his greed.

Sure, the Jedi are not perfect, but nobody ever said they were. Because while their failure is a plot element, it's not meant to be a focal point.

[it1776]

The Best Nintendo Switch Controller Review

The Pro Controller is fine.

I still recommend it to most people

but if you play a lot of 2D games that the D-Pad placement

just isn't gonna cut it. 8BitDo is been making

fantastic Deepak controllers for a while now.

I originally recommended the old SN30

if you wanted to play a lot of 2D games.

Its biggest flaw was it's ergonomics, making it hard to play

3D games with its thumb sticks.

They fixed that with the release of the SN30 Pro+

a near-perfect controller that quickly became

my favorite controller for the Switch.

I used it so much that I ran it into the ground

and had to buy a new one recently. Almost two years later,

they finally released an updated version,

simply called the 8BitDo Pro 2.

Thank God that name was starting to be a mouthful.

This version adds a lot

to the already fantastic Pro Controller alternative.

If you are on the fence about getting one before,

this one will for sure give you

a couple of pretty good reasons to reconsider.

(upbeat music)

This video is sponsored by Aspyr, the guys who brought you,

the Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy Switch ports

are now bringing you Star Wars Republic Commando.

It's finally on Nintendo Switch

and PlayStation 4 for just 1499.

Check it out at the link in the description below.

Whoa! Whoa! Come on, dude.

Chaos has erupted throughout the galaxy.

As leader of an elite squad of Republic Commandos,

your mission is to infiltrate, dominate,

and ultimately annihilate the enemy. You will play as Boss,

leader of the special ops unit Delta Squad

together with Fixer, Scorch and Sev

working together as a team

instinctively, intelligently, instantly. You guys all right.

I was here first and then you guys just came.

Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies

from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries, all right.

To the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.

This game was originally released in 2005

and I think is a crucial part of Star Wars history.

I love this era of Star Wars games and I love that Aspyr

is putting some games from this era on the Switch.

So again, you can try it for yourself for just 1499

at the link in the description below.

(water bubbling)

Sorry anybody got a USB-C charger.

(water bubbling).

So if you're new here

the biggest reason why I recommend this controller

is because of the D-pad. It's perfectly clicky.

It feels almost exactly like an original S.N.E.S controller

but you know, newer obviously. But it also has

all of the makings of a great modern controller.

It's thumb sticks feel almost exactly

like a DualShock 4 thumb sticks, making this a great option

for 3D games if you need something that could do both.

Here's something I often forget to mention.

It comes with a rechargeable battery, but it can be removed

and replaced with two double A's if you're in a bind,

something Microsoft should take note of.

It also has great motion controls and rumble.

The only thing that it's missing

that the Nintendo Pro Controller has is NFC.

But at the significantly lower price point,

are you really gonna be missing NFC that much?

The original SN30 Pro+ was and still is $45.

This new one bumps the price up to $50,

which is still a reasonable price

and some harsh competition for Nintendo's $70 controller.

It also works on Switch, Windows, Mac, Android,

and Raspberry Pi via Bluetooth, which is great

if you wanna play emulators or 2D games via Steam.

It's an all-around great controller

and I haven't even mentioned any of the new features yet.

Everything that I've said is also available

on the older $45 model.

The Pro 2 Sports 2 assignable back buttons.

This is a very welcome addition

and something I wish more controllers included.

My only gripe here is that

they're a little too easy to press. They're very large.

It's very difficult to grip the controller

without touching these buttons with your middle fingers.

In an intense game of Mario Maker

I accidentally press these buttons many times.

Luckily, by default they're assigned to nothing.

So pressing them did nothing at all.

You can assign functions to these buttons

using the brand new 8BitDo companion app.

In fact, you can remap all of the buttons

using the companion app.

And there are three different assignable profiles

that you can swap between on the fly.

Technically there's four because

there's just a baseline default one which is great

for when you don't wanna accidentally hit the back buttons.

Pressing this button right here switches between the modes.

There's off one, two and three.

In addition to remapping the buttons,

this software also allows you to fix the sticks dead zones.

It's also supposed to let you fix the trigger sensitivity,

but I couldn't figure out how to do that in the app.

I can only figure out how to do that on the desktop version.

But I like having my trigger sensitivity set really high

so they're like hair triggers because almost no Switch games

registered trigger sensitivity anyway.

Upon further review it seems that they disabled

the trigger sensitivity tab for the Switch.

So they got rid of trigger sensitivity

entirely for the Switch which is weird

'cause there are games that could still use it.

But if you go to Android or DInput or whatever,

it shows the trigger sensitivity, which is very strange.

You can also adjust vibration levels and of course,

macros, which go great with the new additional back buttons.

Previously, I used to assign macros to the share button.

Now I don't have to, unfortunately, the macro functionality

still, isn't very intuitive. You have to program it yourself

in the app, one button at a time. You can set the timings

between button presses but that's way harder to do

than just inputting a macro yourself on the controller

and having it record your inputs.

Something I've seen in a few other devices lately.

I hope that 8BitDo can eventually update

the Ultimate software and the Pro 2's firmware

to have this sort of functionality.

Because right now the macro function is pretty much

all only useful for like fighting games.

They did add the ability

to use thumb stick inputs for macros.

So if you have more patience than me

you can figure out some macros for Smash Brothers.

What might be more useful is assigning a turbo button

which is useful for many games, namely Animal Crossing.

I have a whole video on that if you're interested.

The old Pro+ had a turbo function but with this new Pro 2,

it might be worth it to assign one of the back buttons

to enable the turbo function. You can also have

the other back button assigned to hold.

So it will hold down a button forever.

So you can breeze through long menus or something.

Another useful feature that was recently added.

You can set the left stick to be swapped with the D-pad.

This is useful for games like Link's Awakening,

which should have D-pad support, but it doesn't.

There's also an option

to swap the right stick with the triggers.

I think that's some fighting games.

But my favorite part about this new mobile app

is that it allows you to change your settings on the fly.

You don't have to disconnect it from your Switch at all.

You can have it connected to your Switch

and the app at the same time.

This is something that you could not do

with the previous desktop app. This is huge for figuring out

the timing of macros or finding out the right button mapping

for yourself and immediately trying it out in the field.

One of my least favorite things

about wireless controllers like this

is connecting it to the Switch.

I often find myself just (indistinct) the button

till it finally comes up.

This controller alleviates some of that pain

by adding a mode switch on the back.

On the previous Pro+ you had to hold Start and Y

to enter switch mode. Windows, Android, and iOS,

all had different corresponding face buttons.

You expect me to remember all those.

There was also no indication

what mode you were currently in.

Now it's as easy as just flipping the switch.

You have Nintendo Switch, Apple DInput and XInput.

XInput is for Windows and Android.

DInput is for like old. I don't know it's

just probably don't worry about it. Other than all that

the only other real difference is it's enhanced grip

which is really just a textured back

similar to the textured back

of the new DualSense controller.

Other than that, this controller feels exactly the same

as the old SN30 Pro+ controller.

Switching between the two reveals that the face buttons

feel more responsive on the newer one.

Maybe it's because it's newer

and I used the shit out of my old one.

It's hard to tell.

- Oh no. - Hit the button, dude.

I think this controller.

(upbeat game music)

You know, I'll try, I'll try the top ones.

The buttons, the build quality, everything feels the same.

The Pro 2 comes in gray, black and GB edition.

I pre-ordered myself the Game Boy looking one

so I'll be getting that one when it eventually comes out.

But 8BitDo sent me their gray edition one, which looks like

it's attempting to resemble a PlayStation 1 controller.

It's an okay design. The A, B, X, Y buttons

colored like PlayStation buttons is like unsettling.

It's like a sin. The strongest design that they have

is definitely the Game Boy looking at one.

8BitDo used to have controllers that looked almost exactly

like Super Nintendo and N.E.S controllers,

but I'm sure they strayed away from that

so that they weren't bullied by Nintendo's lawyers.

It's also probably why they don't have

a Super Nintendo looking one at all anymore.

But I mean, the feel of the controller

is more important than anything else. And for 2D games,

there's nothing better than this,

until you find your Lord and Savior keyboard keys baby.

So if you haven't yet picked yourself up a 8BitDo controller

now might be the time to make the jump.

$5 extra for the back buttons,

the updated Ultimate software, the mode switch,

the custom profiles that can switch on the fly.

Yeah, I'd say it's worth it to get this version

over the original or Pro. Now is it worth upgrading to

if you already have an original SN30 Pro+.

That I'm not sure about.

Maybe if yours is starting to feel like shitty.

I know mine started to feel like

a little unresponsive, I guess.

I don't know how to describe it other than

it just got shitty and then I had to buy a new one.

But if you're perfectly content with your original SN30 Pro+

then it's probably not worth dropping an extra $50

on a brand new controller. It's like 90% the same controller

and about 10% new hotness. Or maybe I'm sure

you could find a way to justify it.

Maybe you could teach your grandma how to do Kaizo Mario.

What do you guys think about the brand new 8BitDo Pro 2?

It's a lot easier to say at this time.

Is this gonna make you finally make the jump

into getting an 8BitDo controller? Or it's something that

you would consider upgrading to from the original?

I don't think you really need to

unless like yours got like old crappy.

If you have a Nintendo Switch Pro controller already,

and you find yourself playing way more 2D games

this might be worth getting in addition to.

I mean it's like a second,

you get a second player with it to.

Leave in the comments below, add me on Twitter

and all this social media garbage.

As always we have new videos here all the time,

at least once a week.

This week, I think you're getting two, lucky you.

And we got streams over on twitch.tv/wulffden

where we can hang out and chat with each other

about stuff like this. Look at that.

Make sure you turn on notifications for all of that stuff

so you know, when we go live

'cause you can't rely on YouTube or Twitch to tell you.

But of course the most important thing right now

is just subscribe. Thank you.

I appreciate you for wanting to watch these videos.

And share this video with a friend.

A friend who maybe hasn't gotten

one of these controllers yet and it's still stuck

with the freaking regular role Pro controller.

Or maybe they're using the freaking split Joy-Cons

like a real, degenerate.

(gentle music)

Thank you. Have a good week.

[antianakin]

I don't dislike the idea that Ahsoka GROWS from her more bratty stage, it would be terrible if she didn't, but I don't personally believe they gave her more flaws to replace the ones she grew out of, and the ones that exist are never truly written as though they are actual flaws or they're just simply out of character.

By season 4, she is regularly calmer and wiser than her own Master is (given her Master is Anakin "baby killer" Skywalker, this doesn't seem like much of a high bar, but he's still the adult in the situation and is meant to be teaching her, so I'm counting it). By comparison with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in TPM, Obi-Wan is regularly shown to still occasionally be wrong and needing guidance or just making mistakes due to Qui-Gon being a bit older and more experienced. This is part of his arc in that film. Ahsoka does not have that in the later seasons of TCW, there isn't an updated flaw for her to overcome.

I didn't hate it while I was watching it, primarily because I didn't know her character well enough to critique it much and I was paying more attention to other characters at first, but after watching Ahsoka in so much more stuff now from The Mandalorian to Rebels to Tales of the Jedi, patterns are starting to emerge. I point out her behavior in TCW seasons 4-7 because it feels like the beginning of an emerging pattern for her character. While it feels more acceptable in TCW because it's sort-of surrounded by so much other stuff happening and she's often overshadowed by larger characters anyway, when viewed as part of a larger whole, it starts to feel a little more frustrating.

I might be more willing to overlook Ahsoka's more "perfect" behavior in TCW if her character in Rebels hadn't been treated like a messiah, if she hadn't clearly been used to put down the entire rest of the Jedi Order in TOTJ, if she weren't practically lifted up as an angel or wise Master akin to Yoda and Obi-Wan in The Mandalorian and TBOBF. If they'd let her grow since then as she aged rather than having her stay exactly the way she was in later seasons of TCW, this wouldn't feel like such a long-running issue.

Unpopular opinion: I think Ahsoka is at her best and most interesting in the first two seasons of TCW and has only gotten progressively less nuanced as the years have gone by.

Ahsoka in TCW intentionally has flaws. They're pointed out more than once, there's ENTIRE EPISODES dedicated to Ahsoka having to fix her mistakes or being punished for disobeying orders or having to learn how to be better after she messes up and hurts people. Ahsoka has to keep learning lessons from Tera Sinube, and Aayla, and Luminara, and Padme, and Yoda.

But by the time you hit around season 4, Ahsoka starts being PERFECT. She is suddenly FLAWLESS as far as the narrative seems to see it. Even if she's doing the wrong thing, you're supposed to recognize that she is doing it for the right reasons. She's constantly level-headed, wise, and often treated as though she's practically an adult Jedi by the other Jedi around her despite having been young to be a Padawan at all and with only 2 years of training tops. It's no wonder so many people were so ready to believe that the Jedi were ready to Knight her at the end of the Wrong Jedi arc, Ahsoka's being written as though she's suddenly 25 years old with a decade of training, similar to how we see Obi-Wan acting in TPM instead of the barely trained child she should still be.

And then you hit Rebels and she's literally making entrances BATHED IN LIGHT LIKE AN ANGEL, incapable of being beaten by anyone except Darth Vader himself, she's got lightsabers of PURE WHITE LIGHT, and the other two Jedi characters treat her like a Master. And then she dies, walks off into the shadows, and comes back swathed in white robes and with a white staff, haloed in light like a wise shaman of some kind.

At least Din manages to push back against her choices in The Mandalorian, it's probably the first time we've seen Ahsoka have an opinion that someone else disagreed with and that the narrative explicitly treats as WRONG, forcing her to reconsider and make a different decision.

But by The Book of Boba Fett, she's schooling Din now, back to being the wise shaman who knows everything and can do no wrong.

In Tales of the Jedi, Ahsoka is practically perfection incarnate: more skilled than any other Jedi, more compassionate and connected to the galaxy than anyone else, someone who tamed and rode on the back of an apex predator before she could walk.

I want Ahsoka to have FLAWS again, I want the narrative to let her be WRONG and reap the consequences of that, I want to see Ahsoka LEARN SOMETHING again, I want to see her GROW as a character for the first time in over a decade.

[antianakin]

There is so much happening in this comment it's almost funny.

Setting aside the obvious difference of opinion we are going to have about whether "Vader" is a separate person from Anakin somehow (he's not), I'm struggling to figure out why it is you think Anakin is choking his wife if it isn't... jealousy.

Like it's pretty contextually obvious that he chokes her on Mustafar because he's jealous. He sees Obi-Wan, asks Padme if she won't stand with him because of Obi-Wan, and Padme starts backing up scared and saying "no" and Anakin chokes her. They may have deleted some of the subplot about Anakin thinking that Padme and Obi-Wan were having an affair together, but the remnants of it CAN still be found, and this scene is one of them.

And even if it WEREN'T jealousy, like... I'm not sure what the point even is of saying that the problems in their marriage came from Anakin being jealous. Like yeah, sure, that's a likely suspect for some of the major problems we see them have in episodes with Clovis, or Padme trying to focus on her job over Anakin at all. Anakin nearly beats a man to death with his bare hands against Padme's objections and explicitly tells her that she "doesn't get a say" about whether Clovis lives or dies because having to see it is, effectively, his punishment for her. And Anakin is not "Vader" in that scene. He's definitely still Anakin. So how could you possibly brush aside that one? His jealousy leads him to literal murderous rage, and that's PURE ANAKIN.

Also you're REALLY simplifying the problems in this marriage. It's not just that Anakin's jealous. They have problems in their marriage because they're lying to themselves and each other, they're refusing to commit to either each other OR their careers and therefore are half-assing both which causes anxiety and guilt and jealousy in both of them, they're both particularly selfish and greedy about this relationship and are clinging to a beautiful idealized version of each other that doesn't exist, and continue to ignore all of the problems and red flags that do come up. Most obviously in the films, we see Padme choose to pretend that she didn't just hear Anakin say that he supported a dictatorship, she chooses to tell herself that he's just making fun of her. Anakin goes along with the excuse she hands him because he's apparently smart enough to figure out that she won't be happy if he doesn't. They both choose to lie. The same thing happens after Clovis dies. Every time they have an argument, they don't really ever discuss and resolve the issue, they just ignore it. Because this relationship isn't truly meant to be real, it's meant to be perfect, and it can't be perfect if it has flaws and real people have flaws so they have to pretend the other person is somehow this flawless perfect being in order to keep their flawless perfect marriage.

Right up until Padme can't do that anymore because Anakin's flaws because SUPER DUPER REAL for her and she can't just ignore it this time. The Tuskens she could ignore, it's not really a problem she has to fix or face every day. Clovis is dead and gone and Anakin did try to save him in the end and he seemed sorry, so, she can ignore that because the problem seems to have gone away I guess. But the Empire rising? The Jedi being genocided? That's something she's going to have to face every single day. That one's REAL and can't just be ignored into non-existence. That breaks her bubble of romance and she can't come up with a good enough lie for it.

The problems in their marriage are that they shouldn't have fucking gotten married ever at all and every good moment between them is a lie anyway. Their entire relationship is a mess of lies layered upon lies. There's no way it wasn't going to fall apart EVENTUALLY somehow, even if Anakin DIDN'T commit multiple genocides.

I find it honestly hilarious how many fix-it fics end with Anidala in a happy white picket fence relationship.

Like what part of their entire toxic ass relationship makes people think that all Anidala needed to work was just Anakin leaving the Jedi?

The man literally chokes her when she turns on him after he commits genocide, nearly killing her and their unborn child(ren). No relationship that ends in that was exactly stable to begin with.

Anidala in a happy fix-it au are just going to get messier and messier until they ultimately destroy each other trying to pretend nothing's wrong.

And everyone in their lives will probably STILL get caught in the crossfire, it just may not end in a full-on genocide this time.

I need more happy fix-it fics where Anakin and Padme are just absolutely miserable in the background trying to keep a failing marriage going while juggling twins and both Anakin and Padme have had to leave their careers behind in order to try to have this family that only Padme really wanted anyway. And like literally everyone knows that this relationship is a sinking ship, the only people who refuse to admit it are Anakin and Padme themselves.

I just want them absolutely miserable, I need them to have to admit at some point that the entire relationship was a fucking mistake from the get-go and then neither of them ever want to see each other ever again or they might literally kill each other.

I recognize this might go against the whole concept of a happy fix-it, but I feel like it falls under the fix-it half of the trope, even if it's not that happy.