#there were always going to be a lot of invested Reylos who would not have preferred a white Finn

[chocolatepot]

Yep. Fandom typically adores the pathetic guy who's trying to be tough but has no idea what he's doing and has a soft heart - "oh he's an idiot I love him etc." - but everyone is very quiet about Maximus.

And this is the pattern that I see in so many fandoms: it's not that people who would have shipped two protagonists if they'd both been white switch to protagonist/(villain/antagonist/antihero who hurt them), it's that the protagonist/protagonist shippers simply don't show up.

Like ... there will always be people into the edgier ship. For some it's the norm across all of their fandoms. They want to see the hate turn into lust/love, they want to see the grumpy one get soft or the soft one get grumpy, or they want to see something really dark. That's just their taste.

But in most fandoms, this balanced out by a healthy and active protagonist/protagonist faction. While some fans actively prefer non-canon ships and celebrate this fact, the ships that seem more obviously to-be-canon or at least to be based on strong friendship typically do have big fandoms, if not the biggest fandoms. What's really notable is that when the ship that has the explicit UST/chemistry/signposting contains one character of color, this faction often just ... doesn't develop. The people who would ship them focus on a generally positive side character, or they don't ship anyone, or they don't even get invested enough to care about the show at all.

Can we talk about the fact that so many people on this app would rather ship Lucy with the guy who CUT HER FINGER OFF or HER COUSIN 🤮 rather than shipping her with her canonical black love intrest. Yikes, this happens so often and it’s so concerning.

[unexpectedreylo]

So, It Wasn't Planned After All

https://x.com/RichEisenShow/status/1734703529552699725?s=20

While Adam Driver is making the rounds to promote "Ferrari," he drops by the Rich Eisen Show and when asked about Ben Solo during the True or False segment, Adam spills the tea.

He doesn't get asked much about Star Wars so this is the first time I think he's talked about his character arc since TROS was unleashed upon us 4 years ago. And he drops the bomb that the Ben Solo thing wasn't planned from the beginning. That's right, Bendemption happened late in the game. He says that JJ Abrams told him the idea was Vader In Reverse (starts out vulnerable, ends entrenched in the dark side) and he kept that concept in mind throughout the time he filmed the ST, until they changed it with the last film. Adam has alluded to the concept of Vader In Reverse before but this is the first time he's gone into greater detail about it, including the revelation that the decision to turn Kylo from the dark side came during the third film.

This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who read the Duel of the Fates script and it explains why Ben hardly says a word during his scenes on Exegol. Abrams and Co. conceived of Kylo Ren as an evil bastard whose destiny was to get eviller; killing Han Solo was meant to be what sent him down the path of no return. Then two things happened: TLJ and Driver's commitment to humanizing Kylo Ren. People loved Kylo and Rey together (hence Reylo exploding in popularity) and they fell in love with Adam. They empathized with Kylo. So they changed course with TROS, a little. Kylo returns to the light as Ben but he is quickly dispatched once the big battle is over. I believe Ben's death was for two reasons: one, they were less invested and focused in Ben's part of the story than we were and two, there was always the intent to end the Skywalker line so Star Wars could focus on new characters. Remember, Rey essentially turned Skywalker into a title that could be transferred to anyone.

That the story changed over the course of the trilogy isn't that big a deal. There was no Chosen One prophecy until the prequels. Leia wasn't Luke's sister until Lucas wrote ROTJ. Han wasn't guaranteed to get out of carbonite because nobody was sure if Harrison Ford was going to come back. Instead of a tyrannical, ruthless bastard like Lee Pace's emperor in Apple TV's Foundation show, Kylo Ren gave us quivering lips, teary eyes, and mooning over the heroine who is supposed to be his enemy. When Rian Johnson introduced the bond between Rey and Kylo, Abrams and Terrio explained it as a dyad and made it prominent in the film. The kiss got put in because Reylo was so popular. Okay, fine.

The problem was they never should have made the Jedi Killer from early drafts Han and Leia's only child. As an old Star Wars fan who saw every film since 1977 and followed the Skywalker clan for over 40 years, I didn't want to see Anakin Skywalker's grandson end up even more evil than he was. What a huge bummer that would've been, even worse than if Rey was killed off. (For the record, I hated the whole Darth Jacen thing so much in the legends books I stopped reading them.) Abrams and Terrio probably realized it was going to be a problem returning to the idea that Ben was too evil to save; TROS already comes off as a tragic ending rather than a happy, triumphant one. And it goes against the whole message of Star Wars. So it ends up being Vader 2.0 and fans hoping Ben would survive were disappointed. I wasn't fond of the idea of exile or something as Ben's fate prior to TROS, but now I think that probably would've been the best outcome. It would've left a lot of possibilities to explore in future SW stories without having to come up with a convoluted explanation for bringing him back.

As much as they fumbled the ball, I'm glad they at least spared us Evil Kylo 4 Ever and Adam's turn as Ben was great even without anything to say besides "Ow." Adam sounded a little disappointed to me but maybe I'm just reading into it too much. In any case he has also stated in recent interviews he would be open to returning to Star Wars, so I guess we can still be hopeful even if he doesn't appear in the upcoming film. (Just don't wait 30 years, okay?)

[obi-wkenobi]

Hii, do you think you can write decent fics being a casual fan of Staw wars like me? I've seen the movies and thats about it, I went through my reylo phase without getting super invested but by complete chance I fell into the obikin rabbit hole and I've gone completely ferral. I haven't written anything in.... definitely more than 5 years and even then they were really short stories. I've always wanted to write more and I think I'd love to give it a go with obikin but I'm really self-conscious about my lack of knowledge, do you think is doable? Also, do you know of any betas or where to find one?

aaaah, welcome to the obikin fandom!!! Yes, it is absolutely doable!! Yes, Star Wars is a huge universe with a lot of lore, but I promise you that myself and a lot of the writers that I know are mostly just winging it! We all have different levels of knowledge regarding sw, for example, I don't read any of the comics and I often worry that perhaps that shows in my writing? Maybe someone will call me out on it? But then I swiftly remember that I'm providing free content and there is no criteria regarding what I must know. Write what you enjoy, and try not to worry about the technicalities.

Also, you'll find that as you fall further down the sw and obikin rabbit hole that you'll learn as you go along. When I first started writing in the universe I had no idea that 'durasteel' was a type of metal alloy, but I learned about it through reading fics and now include it in my own content.

If you're someone who would still like to be a bit more prepared then here is a useful list of Star Wars writing resources. But in no way do I think you need to know any of this before writing, I definitely didn't! Your enthusiasm and love for the characters and universe are all you need. 🥰

The Obikin server has some betas available. If you send the mods over @obikins a message they can send you a link to the server!

Happy writing, and most of all, enjoy!! 💙

[onewomancitadel]

Heya! It’s been a while. I’ve been busy with college stuff lately but when I saw your stuff re-appear on my dash I felt compelled to send an encouraging message. Your stuff has always been so very good, especially with all the analyses and deep-dives into the themes since it not only deepened my appreciation of Knightfall as a ship but for RWBY as a whole. I always felt like one of a very small number of loners in the community who seriously shipped Jaune and Cinder together, so it’s really encouraging to know someone like you can make something so grand and popular about it. Please keep up the good work, I’m really hoping you continue doing this for a long time.

On another note, I think you also mentioned a few times that you also shipped Reylo? To be honest I was always iffy about that as a ship, but when I kind of off-set the ship + characters themselves from the movies (which is helpful because I never actually watched Movie 9 b/c of how everyone harps on it), I actually think I like it as well. You mentioning it plus how so many other folk I’ve seen analyze Star Wars to help support and deepen it like you do with Knightfall really makes me feel part of a wider community, so thanks for that!

Hi, it's great to hear from you again. I hope college is going well for you! Feel free to drop by on Tumblr whenever. Thank you for your ask, I'm sorry I didn't respond yesterday, I got hit by a migraine and checked out for the rest of the night.

I'm glad my blog can be a source of support like that. (: That's the most important thing! I mean I knew of only very few blogs on Tumblr that were seriously into it, because it sort of depends what one means by 'shipping', and I am usually a canonshipper. I don't like blogs that post shortfics or scenarios or roleplaying or any of that stuff more common with R/WBY ships on Tumblr, I am generally someone who wants to discuss canon or post longer fics to AO3. I make memes because I think they're silly fun and I like having silly fun, but that's just the logical consequence of discussing things seriously, you need a bit of lighthearted stuff sometimes lol.

I would really like to keep doing this too, so thank you for saying so. Honestly, I think that were I less invested in Knightfall, I probably wouldn't bother anymore because in terms of fandom behaviour and sensibilities, I have had a lot of fucking weird comments on my fic that just speak to a lack of respect and kindness extended towards fic authors, I have had a sizeable amount of rude anons (though I do get a lot of good ones, that's why anon is still turned on) - and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much you toughen yourself up, if you look at your kudos:views ratio and compare it to other fandoms and curl up into a ball and cry because it hurts, is it worth it? Numbers shouldn't matter, but I'm only doing this because I like Jaune/Cinder that much. That much. THAT MUCH. I don't have any obligation to write or share fic otherwise.

So, er, yeah, I don't know where I'd draw the line, but for me it's the ship that matters more than anything. That's the bit I care about. I like writing my silly little fanfic. I don't really know if a 'community' exists for Knightfall as such (correction: it may well exist, but I'm very solitary); I'm not even sure if I'd call myself popular? It certainly doesn't feel like it. I guess I have pretty low self-esteem so I don't assume that I'm special or anything, but it feels like I have to - constantly try to earn my place, I suppose. I feel like I'm barely tolerated. Lol. Like I post a fic and I'm just waiting for someone to tell me, 'Oh, good enough, I suppose, but I don't like the rest,' and it really hurts. It just feels like losing. I only feel satisfaction when I'm in the middle of writing something and when I finish. This is a R/WBY fandom problem, by the way, I could be anywhere else and probably not encounter this.

That is to say, on the upside, the fact I'm still here now means I intend to keep going. I try to see silver-linings and be grateful for what I've got.

I do want to emphasise it's really nice that it makes you feel less alone and gives you more of a community space so that's really special.

On another note, I think you also mentioned a few times that you also shipped Reylo?

It's funny you mention Reylo because I veryyyyy vividly remember a Knightfall blog mentioning a fear that Knightfall would attract Reylo shippers and then I never interacted with them ever again. This is a while ago (like over two years ago lol) but it really put me off. I suppose quality over quantity of fans - there are... so many Reylos who can fabricate communities out of nothing lol - but I'll take my toys and go home in that case.

But also lol, wow, Reylo has been like my entire online identity since TFA. I only don't mention it that much because I wanted the space wizards to have fat Jedi babies together and I get sad thinking about it and because going to new fandoms being a Reylo means you have to put up with people taking you to task over Reylo. Small fry, I suppose, but again: I'll take my toys and go home.

I do think Reylo is/was the best fandom I've ever been in though, including some of the most masterful analyses I've ever read in any fandom. I can't link skysilencer since she got run off Tumblr by antis, but anything by Ohtze is a very good read, and going through corseque's Reylo tag is a very fun time as well as that one reincarnation theory - which by virtue would lead you to the Wayward Jedi, who after he went through some troubles, has actually reuploaded or unhidden all of his original Anidala/Reylo videos on YouTube - and I'm really only scratching the surface here. In fact, last night I was rereading Ohtze's the Usurper and the Holy Mother meta.

So I miss the TLJ era, what can I say. I would have to say that in terms of Reylo characterisation, because I began to lurk reading Ohtze's metas right after TFA and then rediscovered corseque's blog (I initially found hers through her wonderful Zelgan fanart lol), my perception of Reylo was a little different to some of the Dark Fuck Prince characterisation which pervaded the ship. So where you come from and what blogs you follow certainly matters and changes your perception of things.

I'm not sure about Tumblr anymore but the Reylo community is still very active on Twitter.

What I think is interesting about Reylo is that very conscious Jungian storytelling was used in TLJ. So it's relevant to use as a recent reference and to demonstrate what that kind of thing can look like. I recommend wit_and_folly for her early videos on Reylo and the monomyth - more specifically, the Heroine's Journey. I think she has a lot of interesting things to say, and is one of very few video essayists I can actually stand.

There's a very specific kind of enemies-to-lovers that I'm into, and Reylo and Knightfall are the two who pretty much hit the spot. I haven't really found any other ship that hits the same mythic beats or characterisation of the baddie and hero or has the same kind of narrative stakes. So tracing the similarities is always interesting to me.

I haven't tried to preach about Knightfall, I have mostly just tried to share my thoughts on the matter, and if that makes people interested or makes them feel seen then that's all I would want. It is a bit hard sometimes though. Very few reblog my posts, I get some likes here and there and I'm thankful for that, and that's just part of a broader shift of the website - but on my end I don't really know that it stands for much?

I think that's why I'm so confused about people being offended by me or Knightfall because there is seriously no threat here. All other Jaune and Cinder ships have their own juggernaut positions in the fandom. I'm one fucking person. A... a... a onewomancitadel, if you will.

I didn't know that username would become so apt lolol.

I'm sorry to be so down in this response. Ultimately, I think being committed to an idea is the thing that matters to me, that's why I write and that's why I post on my silly little blog. There's a certain security in that as well, and I think that sincerity - sincere care for an idea, for a ship, for a fic, for a silly meme - is the bit that matters, and certainly matters the most to me, and should be able to stand on its own.

Hope you have a good weekend and good luck once again with college. <3

[writingwife-83]

My Sherlolly Self Interview 2021

Hello there! First of all, thank you to @sherlollyappreciationweek for organizing this event! I’ll do a quick intro and then get down to business and answer some questions.

I’m a wife and mom in my late 30s and live in the New England area of the USA. I’ve always loved to write fiction as a hobby, but for most of my life it was original fiction. I’ve been a BBC Sherlock fan since 2014, and that was really what introduced me to the world of fandom and fanfic. I shipped sherlolly since the very first moment they were on screen together and once I discovered the world of fanfic for them, I think it was only a matter of days or weeks until I decided I wanted to try writing for them as well. The rest is history!

I’ll put the questions under the cut since this is going to get loooong lol!

Ok so first up, @mizjoely asked- Sherlolly was your first fandom that you started writing for. How does it compare to the Reylo fandom? What are the best/worst parts of writing for each?

An interesting question lol! This is something I’ve definitely thought a lot about since, like you said, sherlolly was my first fandom and it was all I knew until I stepped over into reylo as well. To compare, I think I’ll just jump into listing the best and worst about each, because that’ll sum it up.

I’ll start with Reylo. The best part is 1- the ship itself, because I absolutely flipping love them to pieces and Idc what anyone has to say about it lol. 2- my little “fandom of three,” as Lexie and darthsydious and I tend to call it. And 3- the fan works for that pair are so incredibly varied and it opens up a heck of a lot of options for creating. I think the less there is in canon, the more opportunities for exploration among the fandom, so that’s pretty fun. As for the worst, 1- The frequent low response to fics. I get that I started creating very late, it’s an enormous fandom where you can get lost in the shuffle, and there’s also a high demand for the kind of fics that I don’t write. But no matter the reasons…it just sucks. 2- there seems to be a bit more squabbling among the shippers about details of the characters and how they’re portrayed in canon. Seems a waste of time to me when we could just be having fun enjoying the same ship. And 3- again, the ship is just so BIG lol. I absolutely prefer the small fandom experience. That said, let’s talk about sherlolly…

The best things are 1- sherlolly of course, because they’re freaking amazing and I love them. 2- the relatively small size of the fandom, particularly when it’s down to the small bunch of us who are somehow still invested nearly 5 yrs later lol. And that allows us to be so incredibly organized too! *cough* sherlollilists *cough* 😉 3- the way I was so warmly welcomed and appreciated right from the start. It didn’t matter that I started writing when we were 3 series into a 4 series show. I got feedback and validation that I never could have imagined. And 4- the way we tend to rally around negativity or someone is being mistreated. I’ve seen this ship turn negativity around in the best sort of way imo, which is by canceling it out with positivity. As for the worst things? Those are harder to come up with so…I don’t think I’ll list anything. 🥰

Next up I have a bunch of questions from @miniherodesktales and I’ll answer them divided up by the two asks- I hope it's okay if I ask several questions. 1.) What's your favourite fic that you've written? 2.) Are you a fan of the canon or is it just Sherlock for you? - I've noticed that you seem to like period fics, so wondering if you blend elements from original canon with BBC Sherlock? Plus, I'm always hoping more Sherllolians will join me in enjoying some of the older Holmes adaptations as there is a lot of fun ones out there I think people would love.

As for my fave fic, I think it might be too tough to choose just one lol. I think my top 3 would have to be I Told You So, Zephyr, and maybe also my newer one For the Best. All for their own reasons, but I’m just generally happy with how those turned out and really enjoyed the writing process.

I’m definitely a big fan of the BBC canon, yes! In fact, for close to my first year in the sherlolly fandom, I wasn’t interested in AUs at all lol. But you’re right, now I do enjoy period AUs a lot. I think it’s just a fun way to enjoy new things for the ship. Sadly, I admit I have very limited exposure to the original ACD canon. I’m not against the original canon, it’s just that for me BBC Sherlock is my Sherlock. That’s basically how I was exposed to the character. I might explore more here and there, but for the most part I enjoy BBC Sherlock and I’m kinda happy to stick to that.

And- A second ask - sorry!  1) Do you feel a need to shape your interpretations of Molly and Sherlock so that they are unique to you and differ from the show and other Sherlolly writers? Same for your Star Wars fics. 2.) Is it something that just happens naturally and not something to worry about? 3.) How do your craft your stories and plots? 4.) How important is writing to you?

This is an excellent question, and for me the answer is no. Imo, good fanfic is about the characters feeling like the characters in canon, in whatever situation they’re in. So I have no desire to create a Molly or Sherlock that is nothing like the ones we see on screen. And the same would definitely apply to my Star Wars writing. My clause to this is that people interpret characters differently. So what feels in character to me might not feel so to someone else.

It has come more naturally over time I feel, but I am still definitely very conscious of my characterization. When I write I try my best to hear the dialogue in my head and decide whether it feels believable for those characters’ canon voices. So in a way, yes it’s something I worry about. Because I’d hate to have someone read my fic and feel like they’re pulled out of the moment due to a wording or tone that doesn’t feel right.

My honest answer to how I craft my stories is that when I either get or am given an idea, I pretty much immediately consult my fandom and real life besties @thisisartbylexie and “darthsydious” and I share with them what I’m thinking and/or ask for their input. It’s rare that I concoct a fic 100% on my own. It usually involves a lot of squealing and plotting with them lol.

Writing is moderately important to me. It’s certainly not in my top list of priorities, but I also consider it a healthy hobby and creative outlet, and I think we all need something like that. When I have free time, I do think it’s a nice thing to use my time for.

@englandsgray asked- Hey hey 👋 Is there a moment or line somewhere in the canon which you think is underrated? Have you already written about it, if so? Or is it something you’re yet to explore? Thanks! Enjoy the self interview ❤️

That’s a really interesting question and I had to give it some thought! I’m going to go with the line in ASiB where Molly says of John going to visit his sister- “Sherlock was complaining- saying.” It’s not like this has never been talked about, but perhaps not quite as much as some other line. I do find it interesting because this is canon evidence that Sherlock is with Molly behind the scenes and without John present. That could be at Bart’s, but it could also be elsewhere. It’s just another little tidbit that reminds us of something that I believe Louise Brealey said after s4, which was that there’s clearly so much “off screen” between those two that we don’t get to see. I guess I haven’t explored that line specifically, so who knows, maybe someday!

And finally, I got this ask from @dlrconlicense- Are there any characters that you don't like writing or feel the most difficulty with when including them in your works? (Could be from any fandom)

Boy, this is a tough one. Tbh I feel pretty comfortable with the main characters I write at this point. But I think some characters take a little more work to write than others. John Watson, for instance. Martin Freeman is such an awesome actor, but his facial expressions are a big part of that. There’s a lot of subtle things he conveys and it’s sometimes hard to translate that perfectly into words. That’s just one example of how it can take a little extra thought to write certain characters.

Thank you so much to the four who asked me questions and I hope it was enjoyable for you guys and others to read. And to anyone who has read this far and gotten through all my ramblings, you get a really big 🍪 lol!

[skiplo-wave]

I have a hard time looking back during the early Reylo days. It really upsets me because it was clear what direction they was heading and they would pull the rug out from under our feet that way. I still believe they are working on a Rey series for multiple reasonings and I do have family that works in a certain area in Disney. There's been rumors swirling around for a while now. All those days, I feel like a lot was wasted. That part is not technically their fault, it was mine. I got so invested in it. But this is what gets me. My grandfather and I had a huge bond. We loved making nachos and watching the originals & prequels when I was a kid. Me and my siblings would joke and call him Papaw Palpatine lol. Because he looked like episode 1 Palpatine. We went to the early showing of TFA. We had so much fun. He predicted that night right after that bridal carry Rey and Kylo was going to be a thing. And we are like yeah right lol. He died in 2016, so he didn't get to see TLJ and when we seen TLJ we was baffled because of how much Reylo was in that. We knew then grandpa was right. But what's funny is he started calling me Rey right before he died. He had a Star Wars nickname for everyone else in the family but he couldn't figure out mine until TFA. So how ironic is it that we always called him Papaw Palpatine and than he gives his granddaughter the nickname Rey. Palpatine turns out to be Rey's grandfather in the end xD I think maybe that was a hint. He was trying to tell us then but because we didn't believe him about the Reylo thing at first he's like I'm just gonna leave her with a hint.

Even if Rey series were try Ive just accepted Fanon Rey as real Rey

My feral hungry daughter who’s a kenobi

My god I’m tired of Star Wars smh

[dragonrebelrose]

TROS Reaction 12-20-19. AKA my 6 page long dissertation about why I really disliked TROS.

I didn’t think it would be this bad. I truly thought there would be some gleaming moments of redeemability, but no. It’s one...giant...shit-show. What a horrible blow to the end of not only the sequel trilogy and these characters but to everything that came before. It really takes skill to mess up this badly.

A little something nice though, was the guy I sat next to. Really nice (and cute too ^-^ ) and he offered me some of his candy (Buncha Crunch! My favorite!) before the film started and then throughout the film because he said, “Well this is consolation for having to sit next to me.” Aw I couldn’t have asked for a better seat partner, I didn’t even know him! And then when the film ended he knew I didn’t take it well and I cried and shook through many moments and he offered the rest of his candy and I said, “Thanks, I think I need it.” I asked him what he thought overall and he said, “C-3P0 was pretty funny.” I said, “Yeah I agree. I actually knew everything that happened before I saw it, and I thought it was a mess.” He chuckled and said, “Me too, but I didn’t want to say anything in case you liked it.” I said, “Oh, no, I didn’t really like it. But I gotta be honest, Ben Solo didn’t deserve to die. That’s just my opinion.” I think he was surprised by that but didn’t disagree. He just kinda nodded or something and then we said goodbye and he left with his buddies, who also seemed pretty unenthused by the whole movie. Hopefully I gave him something to think about with my comment, but he was really nice and I’m glad he sat next to me.

Pessimism aside for now, I’ll start by listing the things I liked. I gotta be honest, there’s not much here.

Reylo is canon! But, in my opinion, it was handled pretty badly. Ben’s death is only the start of the problems for it, but more on that later.

C-3P0 is funny I guess. Yes he is annoying sometimes like usual, but not more so than other times.

D-O is freaking adorable. Out of everything good I’ve listed I have no qualms with this one. His manner is cute, his speaking is very funny, and his actions are just precious.

Babu Frik is very cute too, just perfect! Lovely little puppet! Don’t know why he was shoehorned in at the end battle but whatever. We never saw him again.

Maz is a puppet now? Okay, cool. Wish that would’ve been the case since the beginning. You had the technology JJ.

The music is good, when it’s given its own time to shine and be noticed. I feel like I barely noticed it was there because sound effects just drowned it out. Really wasted, but still good nonetheless.

Leia’s death and how it affected Ben. Wow. This was the first moment I truly cried. This was handled very well by Adam Driver, and then Maz saying “Goodbye, Princess.” Ouch, that got me.

Ben talking to the memory of his father! This is something I did not know was in the movie and boy am I glad I wasn’t spoiled for it! THIS is where the really hard tears and sobbing came. I was literally shaking and shivering trying to keep it in so as not to disturb everyone else. This. Part. Was. Perfect. Ben looks at him like he wants to say “I love you,” and Han says out loud “I know.” *crazy screaming and crying* Out of all the things they got wrong for Ben in this film, THIS they got right!

Ben Solo is the Solo boy we always wanted. Running in with a t-shirt, gun slinging, blasting opponents without even looking. THIS is a true son of Solo! But of course they give him no lines except “Ow.” THAT was a bad idea.

And that’s it. Yes those are the only things I even remotely liked, but I have to be honest, each one of these has some kind of problem attached to it which sours the real enjoyment.

On to what I disliked. Strap in lads, this is going to be a long ride.

1. The pacing. OH. MY. GOSH. SLOW. THE. FUCK. DOWN. For fucks sake I couldn’t even process what the hell was happening before we were on to the next thing! This was the biggest problem with the movie, BY FAR. Yes I know the story is terrible, we’ll get to that, but the pacing just completely took me out of the movie. I couldn’t feel invested in anything because it was all in one ear and out the other like ten-fold!

And this is part of the issue I have with how Reylo was handled. It. Felt. So. Rushed. And. Unfinished. There weren’t enough scenes with them and the scenes we did get were so fast and then over with that it felt like no progress was being made at all! It felt, for lack of a better word, unearned. And I know, that’s not really the case since they’ve had plenty of build-up in the last 2 films, but there wasn’t enough time with them spent NOT fighting and hating each other and opposing each other. Yes, I know, Kylo kept trying to get Rey to take his hand, but it doesn’t feel genuine because even Kylo feels out of character, and Rey too, big time. Now this isn’t the actor’s faults, they did what they could with the shitty story they were given, so I put all this blame at JJ’s desk.

In any case the overall film pacing was too fast, too much, too soon, too many things onscreen, too many things happening at once, not enough character, not enough motivation, not enough letting scenes breathe and just play out naturally. Everything felt forced for the sake of the “plot.” Oh we gotta get this thing, and then that thing, to get this thing, so we can defeat these guys! LET. US. BREATHE.

2. The story. My gosh, they couldn’t have picked a worse storyline to follow. Everything truly felt like it was written by a fanboy who wanted to retcon everything in TLJ, even down to the dialogue. Everyone keeps saying to Rey “You’re a Palpatine.” But it sounds SO strange, like nobody says things like this. I get it, it’s a space fantasy, they talk weird mumbo jumbo but it just sounds like a fanboy ghost wrote this. Like we gotta have everyone know now she’s a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! Palpatine heir! All bow down to the Palpatine! Give me a break.

3. Yeah, let’s talk about Palps. The old raisin himself. You know, I never really liked ROTS, but Palps was always a great thing about it. He was sinister, diabolical, he had a plan and knew what to do with it. But this Palps. *le heavy sigh* What a waste this was. For one thing, the lightning effects that lights up his face is really annoying, even for someone who doesn’t get seizures, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those who do, I’m so sorry. And like, he has this whole legion of Sith followers? The fuck? Where the hell were these guys before? I’m sure they existed BEFORE the last Sith Lord died, right?

I digress. I have a question though: why does he want Rey so much? Why didn’t he try to get his son to take over? Wouldn’t that have been easier? Also, WHO DID HE FUCK TO GET A SON?? HOW DID HIS SON GET AWAY FROM HIM?? WHY DID HIS SON APPARENTLY TURN TO THE LIGHT?? THERE’S TOO MANY QUESTIONS HERE AND NO GOOD EXPLANATIONS. AND NO DISNEY, I DON’T WANT A 10-PART COMIC ON THIS. GO FUCK YOURSELVES.

The only interesting thing about Palps in this film is that his face gets melted off like a Raiders of the Lost Ark knock-off. He better not be coming back. Ever again.

4. And hey, while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about Rey’s parents. So apparently they’re both good people. *le sigh* But what kind of good people leave their daughter alone on a harsh and unforgiving planet with a blubber guy? And don’t tell me they didn’t know he was an abusive asshole, they LIVED on Jakku, they HAD to have known him, ESPECIALLY if they truly were junk traders, they would have DEALT with him. Oh, and apparently the “I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise” line is changed up a bit and given to her father after all. No. Screw that. That line was meant for Ben, I don’t care how petty this sounds, this is terrible. So yeah, fuck Rey’s parents, I don’t care how “good” you try to make their intentions, they’re badly shoehorned in and they screw up anyway. Next.

5. Ben’s story and his fate. So yeah, obviously I hate that Ben died, but more than that I hate how his story was handled here. It was so rushed, it didn’t feel as natural as it should have. It needed time to BREATHE. A lot of time! And I feel like they really shafted Kylo/Ben’s story off to the side to give more time to the hereby named GoldenTrio. (You know who I mean...we’ll get to them.) It really seemed like JJ didn’t even care about Ben’s fate anymore, and just kind of put it in as an afterthought. His death scene? Not even given a fucking minute to process because WE GOT TO PARTAY. All in all, his whole story is so terribly sad that I don’t even know if I can watch TFA or TLJ anymore, knowing how it ends.

6. The GoldenTrio. Oh for fucks sake, JJ, you should have killed Poe off when you had the chance, because now the story is all about THEM. Boom! They’re literally front and center in the movie. I don’t even think Reylo gets as much screen time as them. I mean really, Ben’s death scene and Rey’s grieving gets 1.5 minutes, tops. GoldenTrio reunion and threesome hugging? 5 fucking minutes of nothing but them hugging. I’m not even exaggerating. (Okay maybe I am, but it’s given more focus and time to “breathe” than Ben Solo’s fucking death. I’m getting a headache remembering it.)

Hey, remember in ESB and ROTJ where the trio got split up and had their own story lines and own purposes to fulfill without each other hanging around (apart from Han and Leia because their story lines are interconnected)? Yeah, I miss that too.

Also, Rey keeps wandering off being “pulled” to something, and every...single...time, Finn is like “Rey, wait! Poe we gotta get her! rEy CoMe BaCk!!” This happens at least 5 times, pretty consecutively too. It gets old real fast. Boy do I miss the days of TLJ where people got to be away from each other to discover new things without interference.

Which leads me to another point: They tried to shove FinnRey in here while shitting on FinnRose quite literally. What. A. Slap. To. The. Face. This is horrible treatment, and I hope Kelly will never do another interview for Lucasfilm again. She doesn’t deserve this.

7. The Ending™. Wow. What a way to show that your characters haven’t progressed at all by showing them in the same environment that they started in. Let’s do an overview: Rey starts out alone on a desert planet and meets a droid that isn’t hers. Rey ends up alone on a desert planet with a droid that still isn’t hers. PROGRESSION 101!! *slaps forehead* I mean, don’t even get me started on the fact that Ben isn’t there with her and that literally one half of her soul is gone (how is she not in agony right now??), but then to add more salt to the wound she’s just like “oh yeah I must be the rightful successor to the Skywalker name, even tho I’m a Palps...makes sense to me!” Fuck off. You don’t deserve that title after hating Luke for not doing what you wanted him to do and for hating Ben for most of this movie too.

Can we also acknowledge that this is THE ABSOLUTE WORST POSSIBLE WAY TO END A 40 YEAR SAGA AND FAMILY LEGACY? So, Palps had a kid who had a kid. This kid is then deemed a-okay by the family that was affected most by Palps and they welcome her like the sunshine child she is, yet shun their own offspring for being damaged goods because he was being manipulated by said Palps. Okay, it’s official now, everyone’s an asshole...except Ben. He seemed to be the only one to understand his faults and right his wrongs and not be an idiot. Then the kid who was abused and manipulated is killed because “reasons” or “problematic” or whatever and the offspring of Palps lives while the family that Palps manipulated is ultimately gone forever because it’s last descendant wanted to save the offspring of Palps out of the goodness of his heart. Now the offspring of Palps doesn’t even give a flipping thank you and steals their name. wHaT a SaTiSfYiNg EnDiNg!!! Someone gag me.

8. Luke’s X-Wing being raised out of the water and it’s in perfect working condition. What. The. Fuck. I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this completely undermines Luke’s arc in TLJ. That X-Wing was sunk and dead to show that he had no desire to return to the outside world. He was staying on the island. For good. And he buried that thing in water to make sure he couldn’t use it ever again, but it was still visible to him to remind him of his conviction if ever he questioned it. But no. That thing is a-okay and ready to fly. No need for parts, there’s no rust or any sea salt corrosion, ready to go skipper! This was just added for easy call-backs to ESB but boy this had absolutely 0 weight to it. I literally yawned or looked at my watch around this part thinking “oh my gosh isn’t it over yet?” Pretty much sums up my entire experience.

9. Rose got shafted to appease the fanboys. This one needs no further explanation or analysis, it just sucks and has no real reason to exist.

10. Luke was barely in it and offered not that great advice. Poor Mark. His performance really peaked with TLJ and never went back up.

11. Rey is suddenly the Avatar now? You can now talk to all previous Jedi’s who existed? What buffoonery is this? Oh, but Ben doesn’t get a single. fucking. word. from Anakin, the man he looked up to. I’m so tired right now. What’s left?

12. The message changed from “it doesn’t matter if you’re a nobody, you’re a somebody to me” to “you’re a somebody with a bad bloodline, but that doesn’t define you (except when it totally does)”. That sort of message would be fine if it had been the message since TFA, but it wasn’t. The message since TFA was “I’m a nobody, but I can become a somebody regardless of my lineage or my childhood.” Why change the message in the 11th hour? To appease fanboys. Literally anything that makes no sense in this movie can be attributed to fanboys. There’s so much contradiction and hypocrisy in this film from both the narrative and the characters that it’s insulting.

13. Hux was utterly shafted too. What a waste of a well built up and conniving little bastard who in the end gets shot for shock value and laughs. It’s like what TLJ did but way worse because he’s actually killed. Hux as the spy? Just no.

14. Jannah was kind of wasted too, not enough screen time. I get her and Finn kind of bonding over being ex-stormtroopers, but it’s not really delved into. Also the whole “nature vs. machinery” thing kinda briefly shows up at the big battle and feels unearned too, because there was nothing before in this movie or others to suggest there was a war between the two.

15. Poe is treated more as the heir to Leia than Ben is. Poe gets to fly the falcon and gets to wreck it up (dishonoring who it belonged to before), gets to be by Leia’s deathbed, etc. Not earned at all.

16. The pointlessness of random cameos or thrown in references. Not a single person in my theater noticed John Williams as the bartender, nobody pointed out or said anything about any reference from previous movies, it was silent.

17. What the hell was even the point of the whole “Dark Rey” vision? Oh, she shows her scary pointy teeth ala Bilbo style. No thank you.

18. Why the hell does it feel like these characters aren’t the characters from TFA and TLJ? They feel so different and it’s noticeable.

19. Finn is Force sensitive. Literally tacked on like nobody wouldn’t notice. We noticed JJ. We notice everything.

20. Rey and Kylo/Ben fighting for way too much of the film and their interactions. Not enough caring or understanding, not enough longing looks, it feels like their romance was almost cut from the film entirely.

21. Oh yeah, Rey floating at the beginning? Looked stupid as hell. And the “Be with me” line? I thought maybe, just maybe, she meant Ben, but no. She’s trying to reach “her past selves” like the fucking Avatar and she’s even floating rocks around like Aang did. Ugh.

22. Anything else? Oh yeah, this movie sucks completely and wholly...FOR NOT GIVING ONE FUCKING LINE OF DIALOGUE TO BEN SOLO AFTER HE HAD BEEN REDEEMED. HOW HEARTLESS CAN YOU BE THAT YOU LET HIM DIE WITHOUT SAYING ONE FINAL THING?!?! DAMN J.J. YOU’RE STUPID.

And that’s it. Kudos if you read the whole thing. I ramble a lot.

[alinaastarkov]

Honestly, like ... it's funny cause I actually liked Sophie before Season 8 aired, because I wasn't paying that much attention to her and her behavior outside the show, you know? Other than Emilia and Kit's interviews I wasn't really following the any of the actors outside of the show. But after the finale aired and everything exploded and fell to pieces, it was like a magnifying glass was put on all of them for me. And then I saw the shit Sophie had been saying for YEARS. (1/?)

Like how it wouldn't be fair if Daenerys got the iron throne because she had dragons, that Daenerys couldn't have EvErYtHiNg - as if she was personally affronted that Daenerys was so popular. And it was the same with Arya! She was constantly saying Sansa was the best character (and like, ok, a lot of actors probably say that about their characters, fine), but also going on about how 'smart' Sansa was and complaining that she wasn't as popular as other female characters (2/?) because she didn't 'act like a man'. 

Thank you so much for this long ask! To keep things organised, I am roughly going to answer this in sections.

I agree with you. I did not pay much attention to any of the cast really, and I’m still not hugely bothered about them. GOT is done and I rarely get invested in cast members. It’s characters I’m interested in. But I remember randomly coming across bts footage of the Jon/Arya hug from season 1, and I just fell in love with those two actors in particular, and I happened to see an interview with Emilia and adored her too. And that’s when I happened to see more of this cast and understand what they were like. But with the final season, and seeing pretty much everyone’s reactions that ranged from forced awkward laughter to straight up saying it sucked, it became incredibly obvious when any single person reacted positively. Even former cast members were saying it sucked, and celebrities not even involved were dragging it, so Sophie’s words on this topic (which I will touch on in a second) were put under a microscope, and subsequently everything she had said before was too. Her hatred for Dany was definitely fed to her by D&D, but there was definitely a jealousy about how other characters and actors were more popular than her. But her comments about female characters in general were so toxic.

I was even annoyed for a hot minute with Maisie too, because of all the shit she and Sophie said about Daenerys while promoting S8 (calling her power-hungry and saying she was worse than Cersei). BUT THEN. I noticed exactly what you said in an earlier post about Maisie going along with WHATEVER Sophie said. And when I re-watched those interviews it was always SOPHIE saying those shitty things, and Maisie just agreeing. (3/?) I even saw the interview you mentioned where Maisie kept changing her answers to match Sophie's. They're friendship comes off as really uneven and toxic, tbh, cause it felt like Sophie was CONSTANTLY running roughshod over Maisie.

Yeah, Maisie’s attitude initially seems off as well, especially with regard to Daenerys. But as you said, she never says this sort of thing in solo interviews, or interviews with other actors. It’s such a shame that there are so few without Sophie, so we rarely get to see what she’s like on her own. It would be one thing I suppose if Maisie gave similar answers to Sophie without much prompting, but she always has one answer, then Sophie speaks, and she changes it based on what she says. That really clearly shows you she is amending her behaviour to fit in with Sophie, which is not good. It does feel so uneven and I’ve had friendships like that and it took a while for me to cut them out. Once I did I felt much better. We obviously don’t know the ins and outs of their relationship, but it does feel very similar.

Sophie's also made uncomfortable comments dealing with racism in the past, she claims to be an advocate for mental health but then behaves abominably towards her castmates (4/?) (making insensitive comments about Kit's drinking during an interview, saying shit about Daenerys when she knows how much that could affect Emilia, etc.), the way she said she "loved" Sansa's rape scene because of how twisted it was, all that in addition to how she defended the show's final season (with it's STRONG xenophobic, isolationist undertones) even though she didn't even watch the last 2-3 episodes (5/?) - how she seemed so smug and happy about the (tone-deaf) ending, even seemed to be celebrating it when it was brought up in interviews (talk about not being able to read the room - seriously, everybody else seemed to realize it, and kept their mouths shut after the required promo period) - her history of sicking her fans on people who disliked Sansa/said anything negative about her on social media even when they didn't @ her (6/?) 

Her comments about race and mental health always made me uncomfortable too. I was sympathetic to her struggle with mental health, but then she invalidates everyone else’s struggles and it just made me dislike her even more. You can’t be an advocate for mental health and then say stuff like that about other people. Those two things do not go together. You could see when she said that stuff about Kit’s drinking that, though the audience laughed, everyone in the cast including Kit gave awkward smiles and giggles to cover how uncomfortable they were because they didn’t want to make a scene. And the way she talks about other characters is disrespectful. These characters mean a lot to the people who play them, and she does not react well when people give the same back to her. It reminds of John Boyega and his comments about Reylo and Ben Solo especially, knowing how much his castmates, Adam and Daisy in particular, love the character and how much he means to them, and he went ahead and said those things anyway, fuelling his fans to be cruel to other fans. It’s not as bad as Sophie perhaps, but it’s just poor form when these people are supposed to be professional. Sophie’s comments about Sansa’s rape scene came straight from D&D’s mouth, but she has to be at least a little self-aware about how that sounds and how gross it is, especially when she loves it because of how gross it was. You don’t see Emilia defending Drogo, do you?

Her reaction to the ending was so telling because it was the single positive opinion in a sea of negativity. Everyone else, including people no longer in the show and celebrities who were never involved, hated it and called it out to varying degrees (there was still contracts to fulfill) for how tone-deaf and nonsensical it was, and there was the table-read were everyone was devastated, but Sophie was grinning the entire time. She liked the show because her character won in the end. Sophie is not a writer, and it’s obvious when she praises the writing of this show (and criticises others which had far fewer problems than this). She did not care how nonsensical and crass the rest of the show was, as long as her character ended up on top, and then went out of her way to criticise people who hated it. Other actors have done the same, but on top of everything else it’s not a good look. And don’t even get me started on her behaviour on social media. It’s gross and not something we can blame on someone else.

after all that, everything about her just reeks of this 'woe-is-me I'm so oppressed white feminist' bs. It makes it impossible for me to like her now. Like, I think I'm only 1-2 years older than her, I don't come from nearly as much privilege as she does, and she has all the resources in the world to be educating herself and improving herself but...I don't see anything resembling that kind of growth in her. (7/7)

Yeah I can only agree. I’m five years younger than her and you would never catch me acting the way she does. She’s 24, she’s an adult, and obviously early fame and the producers affected her, but at some point we can’t keep absolving her of blame. She could be educating herself and alleviating her own ignorance, but it seems like she’s just doubling down. Maisie has had the same troubling influence from an earlier age, and she is younger, but she is not acting this way. I’m not hugely into following actors’ lives as I said, but when this was brought to my attention it rubbed me the wrong way. I am perfectly fine to ignore her as best I can, but I don’t have to like her. You don’t have to like celebrities if they’re not great people, and I don’t like her. And I’m glad the show is over so her castmates can go on to bigger and better things and leave that toxic environment the show created behind.

[frumfrumfroo]

What are your favorite movies and TV shows outside of SW? I’m looking for new things to watch since SW was so disappointing

My tastes are pretty eclectic, so I will stick to just things that are either similar to sw or are in the reylo-esque romance wheelhouse and have happy endings:

Chuck. It is a goofy, light-hearted action-adventure show with extremely endearing characters and a very prominent central romance (seriously, heavy romance and there is a lot of payoff for it, you will be FED- it's kind of slow burn but also shockingly NOT slow burn, they are deep into it pretty much immediately). The main couple is the classic Stoic Badass gradually softened by an innocent they have to protect who is a liability in battle but full of the Power of Heart. Chuck is The Heart btw. He is of that vanishingly rare male Beauty (of B&tB) type. He's incredibly generous and open, Sarah is prickly and closed-off. It is Quality. Very much a gender-swap of your typical cliche anime couple lol. I would recommend stopping at the mid-season finale in season 4, because it's downhill from there. The beginning of season 3 is very rough, but it's definitely worth it to stay for the back half, imo. There are several great endings to choose from before things go to shit, so we don't need to talk about the finale. Probably the most tonally similar to SW thing possible without being high/space fantasy. More humour, more silly, but definitely has a spiritual kinship. Has the best THE BEST 'secret revealed' scenes I have ever seen in anything. If you're into that and were hoping for that in ep IX, you need to watch Chuck.

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940 romance/drama film. You've Got Mail is a remake of it. Jimmy Stewart being profoundly adorable, Frank Morgan (aka the Wizard of Oz), various amusing side characters, and an absolutely deathless double blind 'secretly in love with the workplace nemesis' plot that can and probably has been a great reylo AU.

Mirromask. Fantasy/coming-of-age film. Touted as a 'spiritual successor' to Labyrinth by the filmmakers (one of whom is Neil Gaiman) and let me tell you, that is extremely apt. Beautiful, magical, laden with symbolism and Mask Discourse, and has a great ship. I quote it regularly.

Speaking of which, I'm sure you've seen Labyrinth? If you haven't seen Labyrinth, drop everything and watch Labyrinth.

Legend (the Ridley Scott director's cut, not the theatrical cut). Sumptuous fairy tale, runs on proper fairy tale logic, stunning to look at and overall captivating. Tim Curry. Tim Curry as a lonely tragic lord of darkness who tries to seduce the heroine and has drippingly overwrought monologues.

Howl's Moving Castle. Fairy tale adventure/romance film. Beautifully animated, has the ending you want.

The Silence of the Lambs. Thriller/drama film. Actual masterpiece. Use it as a gateway drug to read the books and rejoice that Clannibal is canon and it is spectacular. Just SotL and Hannibal, you don't need to read the other two. Stan Clarice Starling and revel in that ending. Most triumphant 'villain'/heroine ship of all time (he is not technically a villain but for shorthand's sake).

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Terry Gilliam 1988 fantasy/adventure film. THE TRIUMPH OF IDEALISM OVER CYNICS I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW HEALING IT WAS TO WATCH AFTER THE TROS BULLSHIT HIT. Jonathan Pryce's spiritual villain is basically Chris Terrio and it is cathartic to see imagination and sentiment conquer him.

Sabrina. 1995 romance film. Modern fairy tale with Harrison Ford. Rejecting what you thought you wanted all your life for the thing you actually need, growing up but still believing in magic, beautiful character development across all the leads. Could be (and is irrc) a fantastic reylo AU.

The Scarlet Pimpernel. 1934 adventure film. High romance, secret identities, play-acting, people who aren't at all what they appear to be, falling in love with your own spouse, Big Heroism, guile and wit and audacity. It makes me do little kicks like a happy baby. This is one of the 3-5 films constantly tied for my favourite film of all time. There is a good quality rip free on youtube. Watch it and fall in love with Leslie Howard (this is possibly my favourite acting performance of all time).

Oh, related note. Pygmalion 1938 or My Fair Lady. (The musical is based on this film and borrows from it heavily, including its much more romantic ending compared to the original play.)

The Mummy. 1999 action/adventure/romance film. Very tonally similar to sw. A fucking great time, A+ characters.

EVER AFTER. 1998 romance film. The flawless and perfect and best ever Cinderella adaptation. This is the most satisfying film in history, maybe, the ending is so good it is amazing it exists. Also, it has Richard O'Brien being slimy. Huge selling point. Grapples with identity and stewardship, is brilliant.

Fruits Basket. drama/romance anime. I haven't watched the new version yet, but it's following the manga so I know the story. The original anime didn't do the whole plot (because they caught up with the source material) but it's wonderful and I still recommend it. The central ship is (spoiler.........) a B&tB type where we eventually discover the main love interest both feels like a figurative monster and turns into a literal monster. He has an incredible speech about his relationship with people's fear, it makes me weep. I called the endgame from the first episode and always thought it was obvious, but there is a red herring love triangle dynamic. It's really not annoying, though, because it is a red herring. (I hate love triangles)

I am Dragon. Russian monster romance film. Beautiful, simple fable with a really great heroine.

Jane Eyre. 1943 Gothic Romance film. It's Jane Eyre, byronic hero x sensible heroine love story with much atmosphere and Gothic drama. I stan this version because I am an Orson Welles fangirl and I'm also not convinced it can be improved upon. Elizabeth Taylor's film debut btw.

Hellboy. 2004 action/adventure/romance film. Defying destiny, reconciling identity, monster romance. The complete package and a great time. Tonally similar to SW and probably thematically closest to it out of this whole list. Don't watch the sequel.

Beauty and the Beast 1987 tv series. Exactly what it says on the tin. Deals with the classic B&tB themes, but in a different way. He's not cursed and will never transform into an ordinary man. The first season is very episodic and 'case of the week', but the second season gets more into character drama. It's dated, but if you give it a chance you can get past some of the cheese factor and it's really a unique experience. Its concerns are SO atypical that it feels like something fandom would make rather than a mainstream network show. It was so massively, insanely popular with women at the time that a record of Vincent (the beast) reading poetry topped the album charts. Also Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Stop at season two. Point of interest: George RR Martin wrote for this show.

Stargate (the movie not the series) sci-fi fantasy about a nerdy guy who accidentally a hero.

Possession. 2009... mystery/supernatural/romance. Okay. This is a whole thing. Lee Pace and Sarah Michelle Gellar. It's based on a Korean film I've never been able to find for some reason, but being Hollywood they ruined the romanticism and nuance of the original in the theatrical cut to make a shitty punative ending. However. If you buy it on dvd and go to the alternate ending (which follows the original story) with around 20 minutes left (scene after Lee Pace's character wakes from a bad dream-go to deleted scenes and select the alternate ending), you will get a very, very interesting character study/thriller/redemption about sincerity within deception, compassion, and a major question about second chances with a positive answer. It's kind of dark and kind of astonishingly idealistic at the same time. The heroine makes a very powerful choice, twice over. It's fascinating. If you're into the conflicted and uncertain period in reylo, the part where he is most ambiguous, and you wanted more of that and much darker shades to it, you might be really into this. Also, it should be noted, there is a MASSIVE height difference and they show it off. The film is flawed (and the seams show on the Hollywood rewrite) but idk, it's fascinating. Shocking to me that they even got to shoot the original ending. It is pretty balls to the wall with its themes on forgiveness.

I would recommend getting into kdramas because there is a wealth of female-gaze tropey amazing content, but always check the ending before getting invested. My all-time fave is the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, but it's not sw related at all lmao. It has a happy ending with all the elements you'd want, but it's not satisfying in execution, so that's it's major flaw and I find that pretty common with kdramas. One that is maybe more relevant is My Love from Another Star, which has a hero who is a little bit like Ben in personality. The heroine isn't my favourite, though. It does have a decent ending.

Oh yeah- brain fart. Kurosawa films and classic westerns were both very influential on SW. Or you can combine both and watch The Magnificent Seven.

[unexpectedreylo]

What Happened To TROS

There’s a show I watch on occasion called “Autopsy:  The Last Hours Of...” featuring a medical examiner going over celebrity autopsy reports and explaining why the celeb died.  (It’s on Reelz, in case you’re as morbid as I am.)

Many Reylos have gone over every statement uttered about the film and analyzed every bit of footage to see just what heck was going on with this movie.  Based on what’s come out in the press I was about to pitch my own autopsy theories.  But every day more comes out about TROS!  Chris Terrio digging his hole deeper, Colin Trevorrow’s alleged “script” leaking on Reddit!  As of writing, South Korea got the Art of TROS book first so images have been leaking all over the place.  

Here are my takeaways at this point:

Problem #1:  J.J. Abrams’s brand of filmmaking.  Abrams is really good at fast-paced, fun-filled spectacle.  He is also good at not explaining things, at interrupting every conversation with action/danger, and at forced, unearned moments that are more about winking at the audience than advancing the story/developing the characters.  Case in point:  Kirk and Spock acting out the Spock death scene from “Wrath of Khan” in “Into Darkness,” only with Kirk about to croak (he doesn’t).  The movie did nothing to set them up as close friends.  They were still sniping at each other the whole movie.  So it’s unsurprising TROS also had all of those elements.

Problem #2:  There was no plan.  What’s come out since the film’s release seems to emphasize that they really had no clue how to wrap this thing up because nobody had a clue who these characters were or what their story means beyond Chris Terrio’s curious obsession with Luke and Leia.  The audience attributed meaning based on what we got in TFA and TLJ but it seems like hardly anyone behind the scenes had any idea what that meaning was.  They threw away George Lucas’s road map and decided to just keep driving until they got somewhere.  

Problem #3:  There was no time.  When I was a kid, I’d see t.v. ads for Paul Masson wine starring the late Orson Welles.  The ads’ tag line was always, “We will sell no wine before its time.”  Bob Iger’s philosophy is “FTS, give me that movie yesterday!”  He announced a new trilogy to start in May 2015 at the end of October 2012.  That was less than three years.  Recall that it took months to find a director and they ended up junking Michael Arndt’s screenplay, with J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan having to do a quickie re-write in late 2013-early 2014.  Abrams was casting the film at the same time.  He asked for more time but all Iger would do is move the release date to December 2015 because he’d promised shareholders it would be out that year.  I felt that TFA seemed a little rushed and this explains why.  J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio were officially running the show as of September 2017.  Originally TROS was scheduled for May 2019 but again Abrams asked for more time and the film was bumped back to December 2019.  Still, that’s only two years and two months.  Twenty six months to figure out how to end a trilogy, end a nine-part series, and work around the unexpected death of one of its stars.  Oh and do all of this while you hadn’t given Star Wars a thought in years along with a screenwriter whose knowledge is pretty wonky.  Is it any wonder why the script sometimes felt like it was written at the last minute by college students pulling an all-nighter on speed?  By comparison, George Lucas started writing the OT in 1973, three years before he shot ANH and four years before release.  He started writing the PT in 1994, three years before he shot TPM and five years before it was released.  Star Wars wasn’t based on a novel or a comic book.  The whole saga had to be cooked up from scratch.  It required more time and more thought.

Problem #4:  They didn’t get the best closer.  After TFA, Abrams didn’t worry about the long game for the trilogy because the original plan was to be one and done.  He never had to think about Rey and Co. ever again...until Colin Trevorrow got the hook in June 2017.  I don’t know if Kathleen Kennedy had anyone else in mind or not.  But I am certain Abrams was either Iger’s or Walt Disney Motion Pictures head Alan Horn’s idea.  Why him even if he admitted he’s not a good closer?  It’s simple:  TFA made $2 billion.  With no plan, limited time, and a few years of not thinking Star Wars at all, he had to quickly wrap up a series, something by his own admission he’s not very good at.

Problem #5:  Too many disruptions.  George Lucas somehow managed to survive changing directors for each of the OT, having to let Gary Kurtz go, and the end of his marriage to Marcia Lucas, who just happened to also be the films’ editor.  The ST had to contend with Michael Arndt, Colin Trevorrow, etc. getting fired and someone else having to step in and work from scratch.  Rian Johnson seemed to be the only one able to get through production unscathed, only to get his film retconned because of the internet peanut gallery.  Carrie Fisher unexpectedly died, forcing everyone to rack their brains on how they were going to finish this without her.

Problem #6:  They were totally out of touch with what audiences liked about the ST.   Before the arrival of Baby Yoda, Kylo Ren was the most searched Star Wars character.  Yes, even more than any of the OT characters.  While lots of people love Rey, they loved Kylo just as much if not a tiny bit more.  He was the one descended from the legends of our youth:  Han Solo and Princess Leia, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.  It also helped that a highly-talented, charismatic actor played him.  I think audiences were rooting for him but didn’t expect him to die.  Even people I know who otherwise really liked or loved TROS thought they shouldn’t have killed him off.

Reylo was also the gas in the ST’s tank, not only as a romantic duo but as physical representation of the push and pull of the Force itself.  Their interplay makes each character more interesting and make the story overall more interesting (I had little to no investment in the Resistance vs. First Order brouhaha).  

A logical person would’ve milked this for all its worth but instead they killed off their most interesting character and half of the most interesting relationship in the trilogy.  They left their heroine alone in the desert.  Had Ben Solo and Rey killed off the Emperor together and survived, and the movie ended with the two of them walking off into the sunset, TROS would have sailed past $1 billion and counting weeks ago.

[friendlyneighborhoodamara]

Star Wars Movies Ranked (Best to Worst)

It’s been a while since I’ve seen all the movies, so I’m going off memory.

(Also, if you’re upset about the prequels’ low scores, allow me to elaborate: the prequels honestly have the best story ideas of any SW movie, it’s just those ideas are executed poorly.)

(Also, I know that there was 0 consistency to the length of each mini-review.)

1. The Force Awakens (2015): I adore this movie. Almost everything is perfect. The protagonists are all likable and surprisingly layered and interesting, Kylo Ren (pre-TRoS) is the best movie villain, the old characters play roles in this story that make sense and aren’t just here to be pandering, the effects and lighting are beautiful, the action scenes are fast, hard-hitting and exciting (that lightsaber duel in the wintry forest is my third favorite duel in the series!!). This movie ... it’s a masterpiece.

This would have gotten a perfect score if they leaned into the First Order as the alt-right to the Empire’s Nazi Germany angle, because I feel they’re too strong here. Maybe limit their power so they can only destroy cities instead of galaxies? Also replace the laser on Starkiller Base with fleets of MASSIVE Rathtars, because that’s cooler. Otherwise ... this film is wonderful.

Go watch it. That’s not a request.

- Score: A

2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Shorten the Hoth sequence and this film is basically perfect. I feel sorry for any poor soul named Luke who was subjected to jokes about their name, though.

- Score: A-

3. Return of the Jedi (1983): The Jabba sequence is fun, if a bit long, don’t @ me. Every thing else is great. The effects have gotten way better and we get to see the fruits of Luke’s training and maturation as a Jedi.

- Score: B+

4. A New Hope (1977): This movie always gets me in a good mood. I love how it feels less like a summer blockbuster action movie and more like a light-hearted fantasy movie; less MCU and more Wizard of Oz. While the story is one of the most naked attempts to ape on Joseph Campbell I’ve ever seen, it remains entertaining more than forty years later. Special effects are a sight to behold too.

- Score: B 

5. The Last Jedi (2017): 

Rian Johnson gets way too much flack for this movie. He did his best to make a subversive, audacious take on a Star Wars movie, and it was - for the most part - a success. 

Of the three main plots, Rey’s story is the best, obviously. It’s fascinating to watch her develop as a Jedi, to discover Kylo Ren’s past, and to see how Luke has changed since Return of the Jedi. That being said, Finn and Rey’s adventure to deactivate the tracking device is still good (yes, I’m serious) and did develop Finn’s character arc further from TFA. Poe’s plot may have been a bust, but hey, you win some, you lose some. 

Plus, we get the same great score and effects from last time! Still needs Poe x Finn.

- Score: B-

6. Revenge of the Sith (2005): 

Best musical score and best memes of any film in the franchise. That has to mean something. But in all seriousness, this is the best of the Star Wars prequels (and the only one of that trio that I’d call a good movie). The acting, while not amazing, is a step up from the previous prequels (even if the effects have taken a nosedive). 

Similarly, the story is more interesting, although far from perfect, because Lucas made the wise decision to focus more on Anakin’s character struggle than any other aspect. You could honestly skip both of the previous films. 

Also Ewan McGregor is hawt.

- Score: C

7. Rogue One (2016): Eh. S’alright. I like the darker edge to the story, the action scenes are some of the best in the franchise, and the music is good despite not being John Williams, but the characters (sans Jyn Erso, K-20 and Director Krennic, they’re a blast) are pretty bland, in part due to the staid acting. Great effects, though.

My advice is to skip to the awesome fight scene at the end.

- Score: C-

8. The Phantom Menace (1999): This movie is bad but I love watching it (especially with friends!) anyways. The acting is the worst in the series, bar none. The storyline isn’t necessarily complicated, but because of the bland acting, it’s hard to get invested in these characters. 

For example, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn acts with as little gravitas or energy as Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, yet Qui-Gon is supposed to be more unorthodox and rebellious than his more conservative apprentice. The bungling of that specific dynamic is especially disappointing because it’s rare for mainstream films to have a “Maverick Master, Serious Student” duo. 

Furthermore, there’s a lot of telling and not showing: we get holographic reports of Naboo officials saying “The death toll is catastrophic”, but we never see any civilians die or get rounded up. It sucks your interest away. That being said, we got the best lightsaber fight in the series, Jake Lloyd as Anakin is the most precious bean, and Ewan McGregor as one of the hottest man to exist.

- Score: D+

9. The Rise of Skywalker (2019): This movie was actually mediocre at worst, I just hate Reylo. Also Palpatine coming back makes about as much sense as Bardock surviving the explosion of Planet Vegeta and ending up in the past.

Also needs Poe x Finn.

- Score: D+

10. Solo (2018): Boring as tar. 

- Score: D-

11. Attack of the Clones (2002): Not even the memes were good. Also the lightsaber duel against Count Dooku is awful. CGI is awful. All other criticisms from The Phantom Menace apply here

Ewan McGregor isn’t even hot, he has like weird long hair and it’s gross.

- Score: F-

[rex-shadao]

The Failure of Rey Nobody

I haven’t done a Star Wars analysis or review in a long time.  But with the recent release of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker and the subsequent details being revealed, I feel it’s a good time to go over what happened in TROS and how it affects the rest of the saga.  Oh, there’s a lot to go over, but I’ll stick with one particular topic that I have an ax to grind on ever since the post-TFA release...

The topic of Rey’s parents and heritage.

As I’ve stated before, this is going to involve MAJOR spoilers from TROS, so please don’t continue reading if you don't want to be spoiled. Let’s begin, shall we?

So it turns out that Rey is actually related to someone important in the Saga.  While parents were nobodies just as Kylo Ren said, her grandfather is not.  And no, it’s not Obi-Wan Kenobi.  It’s Sheev Palpatine.

That’s right. Emperor Sheev Palpatine of the FIRST Galactic Empire aka Darth Sidious aka the BIG BAD of Prequel and Original Trilogies... is the grandfather of Rey.  And here I thought Harry Potter and the Cursed Child revelation was dumb but at least there I can understand how Lord Voldemort could have a child since he at least has a fanatical lover known as Bellatrix Lestrange.  But Palpatine is never shown to have any mistress, not in the films or expanded media.  And his characterization indicates that old Sheev only cares about power and immortality.  Why does he need to produce heirs when he has a powerful Darth Vader and his more powerful offsprings, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, to groom for the throne?  That is if he ever wants to give that up.

Regardless of that fact (that’s for another topic), the fact that Rey is revealed to be a Palpatine completely undermines the argument that Rey Random/Nobody advocates preached for the last three years or so.  That making Rey a nobody with unremarkable parents would send a stronger message for the audience and kids.  That making her a Skywalker would somehow imply that you could only be a hero and a Jedi if you came from Force royalty bloodline.  And that revealing that Rey is unrelated to anybody is a “great” subversion of the Luke, I Am Your Father trope.

I don’t know about you, but having Rey be related to the Lucifer of the Force, the most evil man in the galaxy, and the mastermind behind the Empire and the First Order, that is anything but a nobody.  It’s pretty much making her a Skywalker except with none of the actual Skywalker relationship benefits like good family members (Luke, Leia, and Padme) and a dynamic with Kylo Ren that isn’t Reylo.  Oh, I can see all of those TLJ defenders being pissed off about TROS retconning the Rey Nobody reveal and blaming JJ Abrams for “caving” to the angry fans... but honestly, this was inevitable.

Rey Nobody was doomed from the beginning.

Why? Because it offers no real narrative after the revelation.  It’s a meta-subversion that went after a short-gain that wasn’t needed to begin with.  Here are several reasons:

1) The idea of a Nobody becoming a hero or a Jedi is not new in Star Wars.

If you only see the films on a surface and don’t pay attention to the EU material, you’ll be left with the impression that the Skywalker family are the only people who have the Force due to their ancestor, Anakin, being literally born from the Force in a virgin birth.  But if you think about it for a moment, you would know that the Skywalkers were an exception to the rule.  Jedi were celibate and they were not supposed to have families.  How Force-sensitive people were found were dependent on luck, and Anakin himself came from a lowly position of a slave in a backwater planet of the Outer Rim.

So by default, potential Jedi always came from random people scattered across the galaxy.  Their parents were almost always muggles, and there’s no great mystery about them beyond what happened to them.  And for a Jedi, their story path lies ahead, not behind unless there is something about the past that they should know.

Story-wise, the default explanation for Rey’s origins is that of any Jedi.  She’s a nobody born to a bunch of nobodies and lives on a backwater planet with a greater future ahead of her.  The idea that is somehow a revolutionary concept in Star Wars is almost laughable.  It’s the same as making a big surprising revelation that Mulan is a woman in an army where every other soldier else are women as well.  People can accept Rey Nobody from the beginning like every other Star Wars character introduced in the Saga.  It’s only when you imply there’s more to the character than meets the eye...

2) The Mystery Box Hype

The Mystery Box is designed for one thing only.  To make you generate hype and investment into something that has very little to show.  It’s a great ploy to draw in an audience and see where you can take the story that would please the most people.  But the Mystery Box has a critical weakness.  Sooner or later, people would want to know what’s in the box, and they have spent money and time for that box.  The last thing they want to hear is that they paid for an empty box.

This is the undiscussed part of the Mystery Box factor.  People would rave about how Steven Spielberg created suspense and true terror by not showing the shark when it attacked people in the film.  But what they don’t talk about is that Spielberg nearly destroyed himself and his production trying to get good footage of the shark in its full glory.  Spielberg knew that the audience wouldn’t forgive him if he never showed them the actual shark that he hyped up from the beginning.

This was a critical flaw in Rey’s Mystery Box heritage.  As stated before, Rey started off in the film as a nobody.  That was no mystery.  So to imply that there is something hidden from the audience, something that vague enough for Han and Maz to get lingering shots about her identity, creates higher expectations.  It’s not necessarily about her parents but rather her role in the story.  All of the Skywalker Saga visions, Anakin’s Lightsaber, Luke being her destination, etc.  They seem to hint that Rey is important to the Skywalker family, whatever that reason may be, and it’s something that no other Force-sensitive person could do except her.  Of course, the big reveal in TFA is that she is Force-sensitive (as if that is surprising) but TFA didn’t clear up on Rey’s parents.  No faces, no names, nothing.  They are still a mystery that needed to be resolved despite what Maz Kanata states otherwise to Rey.  So we have two mysteries regarding Rey: Her connection to the Skywalkers and the starship leaving Rey on Jakku.

These two mysteries could be connected but not necessarily so.  But they had to be addressed in some way or some form.

And did TLJ address these two mysteries?  No.  It didn’t.  The best answer for the Skywalker connection is Snoke’s “The darkness rises and the light to meet it,” implying that Rey was destined to rise and combat the evil that is Kylo Ren.  Which is a generic answer that doesn’t explain why it has to be her and not someone else (remember, she didn’t choose to be the hero when those TFA visions happen).  The other mystery, her parents, is a non-answer.  Instead of revealing why the starship left Rey, TLJ focuses on the identity of the parents and reveals them to be filthy, deceased junk traders who sold their daughter for money.  It is clearly a meta-message to say that Rey has no place in the story and that she must forge her own path as Rey Nobody... except it answers nothing.  

It’s the same status quo that Rey was in from the very beginning of TFA.  She’s a nobody who would become the next Jedi hero and her parents are unimportant for the story.  Most reveals like Darth Vader being Luke’s father or that Bucky killed Stark’s parents are effective because they move the plot further and gives us something to look forward to as we wait for the sequel to answer the questions from the reveal (like how would Luke face his father, how would Cap and Iron Man repair their relationship, etc.).  But with Rey’s mysteries being revealed as something we would already be accustomed to, there is nothing for the audience to wonder for the next film.  Why should we care about the ship in the flashback if it’s just Rey’s parents selling Rey off for drinking money?  Why should we care about Rey’s connection with the Skywalker Family if she is not part of their story?

3) Meta-Narrative over In-Universe Reason

If you hadn’t noticed already, I’ve made a big emphasis on how Rey is assumed to be a Nobody at the beginning of TFA.  That is no mistake.  Because in-universe, Rey has no reason to believe that her parents or heritage were anything special.  She doesn’t believe that she is a Skywalker or a Palpatine.  She’s just an orphan lost in a world that has abandoned her.  She would be glad to find a new purpose in her life and resolve her parental abandonment issues.  This is Rey’s character at the end of TLJ.  It hasn’t changed since the end of TFA.  She learned nothing about herself except the confirmation that her parents were indeed nobodies.  Despite what Rian Johnson may say, that is not the worst thing Rey would hear as an answer.

Luke was content with his father being just a spice freighter navigator, and he was delighted to hear that his father was really a powerful Jedi Knight.  The answer that broke his spirit wasn’t Anakin was “a filthy junk trader” who gave him away to Uncle Owen; it was learning that Darth Vader, the evil man that he hated for killing his father and Obi-Wan, was his father Anakin.  To be related to an evil mass murderer who now wants you to join him and take over the galaxy together can traumatize any orphan who longed for a family, including Rey.

But Rey Nobody doesn’t offer that emotional narrative.  Rey Nobody was the starting status quo of TFA and TLJ offered nothing for Rey’s character beyond a “romance” with her archenemy.  The mysteries surrounding Rey have been answered with the starting status quo in an attempt to send in a meta-message that was unneeded from the beginning.  In short, Rey Nobody renders Rey to be a static character as everything about her was already answered in TFA.

Now compare that with Rey Palpatine.

Rey Palpatine, as dumb as it sounds, actually raises the stakes for her.  She is now related to the most evil man in the galaxy, and that evil man wants her to join him (or inherit the throne).  Rey must confront her grandfather and is now faced with the prospect that she would turn to the Dark Side because of her Palpatine blood as well as the moral dilemma of getting the family she wanted at the cost of knowing they are part of the most hated lineage in the galaxy.  There is tension, there is a personal conflict badly needed for her after TLJ...

And all of this could have been done with Rey Skywalker.  Rey Skywalker would have a lot more personal stakes, tensions, and weight considering how the films are billed as the Skywalker Saga.  It would have been perfect.  Instead, we get Rey Nobody... which didn’t offer JJ Abrams the conflict he needs for her in Episode IX thanks to the last two episodes playing around Mystery Boxes, so he retconned Rey as a Palpatine instead.  A Morton’s Fork at work, congratulations!

If you wanted Rey Nobody, you should have started her as Rey Nobody and then build up her character to make us care instead of surrounding her in mysteries that may not be satisfied.

[shewholovestoread]

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

I’ve been sitting on this for a while. I saw the film on Friday and I’ve spent the days since trying to come to terms with what I saw. While there was a healthy dose of skepticism especially after the mess that was GoT Season 8, I was still hopeful that Star Wars couldn’t possibly go that route, there was no way. I’m sad to say that while I did not hate the film, I didn’t quite love it either.

First the good, there were more than a few parts of the film that I loved. I loved that we saw Leia training to be a Jedi, I loved that she had her own lightsaber. I loved Rey and Ben together, each trying to reach the other. I loved that there was an internal conflict within her, something she had to actively work on. I loved that Ben returned to the light and both of his parents were involved. I loved that we got Reylo, something that quite of us had already predicted. I loved that Finn was Force Sensitive. But that’s about it.

There are massive plot holes in the film that are simply not addressed. How had Palpatine survived all those years? Was Palpatine always planned to be the final big bad? Because I don’t see it. The set-up came too late with little to no time for a satisfying resolve. Whichever way you look at it, it would have always felt too rushed. Where was the build-up? You needed at least 2 films to do the whole thing justice, especially with the way the film was planned. You don’t introduce a villain that big and then bump him off in 1 film.

I was unhappy that they made Rey a Palpatine. One of the best aspects of TLJ was that she was a nobody. She was a regular person, like everyone else. She didn’t come from an über powerful family. That was a novel idea, it broke from the old Star Wars tradition where everyone is linked to the Skywalkers in some capacity or another. Her struggle with the Dark Side could have still been a key component without connecting her to a Palpatine.

Where do I even start with Finn and Poe? They were relegated to the background and their entire arc was fairly messy. They served a purpose but there was no emotional payoff. The entire Resistance plot felt undercooked.

There were too many new characters for a film that was serving as the finale for a franchise roughly 40 years in the making. This should have been about wrapping up the story, not adding new elements that you didn’t have any time for. Having said that, I did like Zorii and Jannah. I liked that there were Storm-troopers who had rebelled against their training.

Then there was Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. Full disclosure, I’ve liked his character from the beginning and I loved the way Driver played him. All that unchecked rage at odds with the vulnerability of a lost and lonely boy. His fate seemed especially cruel. We learn in TROS that he was manipulated by Palpaltine from the very beginning, since he was in Leia’s womb. His own parents didn’t understand him, his uncle/mentor tried to kill him. He finally broke away from all that negativity only to die at the end? That seems harsh. What’s the message here? Ben Solo deserved to live a life of peace. The one silver lining is that he died protecting the woman he loved. It was a choice he made.

It is also not surprising that JJ and Terio killed him off. TROS plot, in a lot of ways, feels like a check-list and it shows. They tried to put in a little something for everyone from the fanboys to the shippers (so long as they were not Finn-Poe) They had to redeem Kylo Ren, that was always gonna happen but they also probably feared backlash from the majority fan-base. They probably figured that that would appease both Kylo haters and those who saw Bendemption in the cards.

But this is Star Wars and no one ever really dies. If Ahsoka Tano can be brought back from the dead then so can Ben. It’s even more likely in his case because he and Rey share a soul, they’re literally soul mates and that kind of bond doesn’t just disappear. I’m hoping and praying that there are canon books in the works where we see this happen. If not, there’s always Fanfiction.

The end with Rey taking the Skywalker name seems even more disingenuous. You’re going back to the legacy family, implying that the name makes her special. She was Rey and that was enough. She survived on Jakku for years, relying only on her wits and resilience. There was no Force there to help her out, no Jedi masters. Rey is enough, she did not need to take on another name. And while we’re on the subject, if anything, it would have made more sense for to take on the Solo name. She was close to Leia, Han and Ben. Luke wasn’t exactly nice to her when she trained with him, they weren’t close. Why the hell would she take on that name?

TROS would have been Carrie Fisher’s film and I will forever be heartbroken that we never got to see it what that could have been.

The Last Jedi was a revolutionary Star Wars in so many ways from the narrative arc to the cinematography, it felt new. TROS went back to the formulaic way of the earlier films and it was poorer for it.

I did not hate Star Wars, I can’t, there’s too much emotional investment for that. But this film fell woefully short on many fronts and that is deeply disappointing.

To Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and the entire cast, I want to end by saying a heartfelt thank you. In your own way, you made these films special and that will always remain.

[crmediagal]

I Have A Lot of Thoughts...

Okay. I just got back from seeing TROS. Bearing in mind that I already knew the main spoilers involving my precious boy, Ben Solo, and my beloved ship Reylo, I still have So. Many. Questions. And a flippin’ series of disappointments to whinge about, so get ready.

!!! WARNING: #TROS SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

Lets start with the main and, for me, most important factors: Reylo and Ben Solo

At the end of the day, if Reylo wasn’t ever intended to be end game, I could have lived with that. I’ve shipped whatever the heck I wanna ship and written those ships in fandoms I’ve loved for years, regardless of their basis (or more often, not) in the canonverse. I’d have survived if there was no kiss at the end.

Back in early 2016, when people were still speculating that Ben and Rey were related, I was writing them as lovers and doting parents, so, erm, again, for me, the ship wasn’t contingent upon them becoming canon in order to hold legitimacy/meaning. It shouldn’t for anyone, really. Ship whatever you wanna ship, guys! Love them regardless of screen time or lack thereof!

That being said, I will cherish That Moment™ forever when the Reylo shippers got a glimpse of what this incredible coupling could have been. And in the actual canon material, no less. That’s more than I'd have ever expected to receive and, frankly, was enough for me to be satisfied.

HOWEVER.

I was fully invested in this trilogy from start to finish for Ben Solo.  And that is where I've been most letdown, disheartened, and pained.

At the off, sure, Kylo Ren made for an interesting archetype “villain” in TFA, but the moment we learned of his true identity, the Bad Boy™ appeal, for me, melted away. I fell in love with the tortured young man who had never really had the freedom of choice; who had the burden of war heroes for parents and a royal bloodline that traced back to Vader; who was abandoned by his family and left to navigate the enormity of his powers and abilities on his own. I was taken with Ben Solo’s troubled, many-layered complexity and this character took on a whole new meaning for me after TFA.

Like so many other Ben Redemptionists, I desperately wanted to see Ben Solo free of the torture he’d suffered all his life. And that life wasn’t long in years, unlike Anakin’s. By the end of Anakin’s life, he was more machine than man and middle-aged.

All the more reason that I needed to see Ben redeemed in this story...and allowed to walk freely in the sun. 

SW is built on forgiveness and redemption, after all, so why would they not bring Ben Solo back to the Light and take him where Anakin’s story never could go? The groundwork was laid in two films and reiterated in countless interview quotes the creators dropped on us for four effin’ years. Disney and the creators seemed as invested in Ben Solo’s redemption arc as the fans were, so I wasn’t too worried about seeing it come full circle. 

Hooooo boy. #MyBigFatMistakeThatIWillNeverMakeAgain

Ben Solo’s redemption, while earned in the last few minutes of TROS, was horribly cheapened when the creators decided to ‘play it safe’ by making him sacrifice himself. It wasn’t romantic and tragic, as I’m sure JJ and the creators were aiming for, but, rather, a Grade F example of very poor, very subpar writing. We got to see Ben for a few moments as himself whilst much of his storyline and importance in TROS was cruelly (and, it would seem, very purposely) reduced in the last film, too, when such plot for his character was supposed to be centre stage.

Less time devoted to Ben’s arc and then killing him off sends so many terrible messages, particularly for kids. You’d think Disney would understand that better than most.

Death is not hopeful. Redemption in the form of a young man, who was barely given the chance to live in Light and Love, dying as soon as his true self was realised isn’t hope. It’s been done before in this saga, as it has in many others, so it just makes the whole play-by-play defeatist and devastating. And after 40+ years of Skywalkers and Solos suffering in this universe, haven’t we ALL had enough of that, JJ? Disney?

They made Rey a Palpatine--a ‘surprise’ that had me actually laughing in the cinema and asking myself nervously, ‘Is this a joke?’--who takes the name of Skywalker to renounce her own bloodline but in the end, JJ, Disney, and the creators still sent us the same damnable, harrowing message: that Palpatine won.

#YIKES. That isn’t hope either, JJ! Disney! ABORT ABORT ABORT!

I thought JJ and the creators would be bolder than this PG-level crap. I thought Ben’s journey would be a true reversal of Vader’s, just as the director himself quoted not too long ago, and what did we get instead? Dusty old tropes and the sour takeaway that redemption will always come at a price rather than at its simplest, most exceptional form: the beauty of a second chance. 

In the end, Ben Solo’s never to know freedom from Darkness? He's never to have the opportunity to make right of his wrongs by living in the Light? He's never to grow old? Instead, he’s to die a too-young death in the hands of a woman who actually loves and cares about the role he has to play in this whole saga; perhaps, the only one who cares at that point?

That’s cruel, JJ. Disney. And, again, utterly hopeless.

Hell, Ben’s not even one of the Force Ghosts Rey sees in the last scene of the movie! (A convenient loophole, yes, and the flicker of an opportunity to, perhaps, bring him back but it’s a wildly overlooked mistake if that wasn’t intended by the creators...and I don’t think it was intentional to make him Not There™.)

I don’t get this saga anymore. I failed to grasp the overall message of Hope in TROS. At all. I’m beyond disappointed at the assassination of Ben’s character to give others, who shall remain nameless, more screen time and a beefier storyline which was, frankly, always quite thin to begin with. I feel like I’ve been cheated on...and it hurts so badly to be so letdown by something you’ve loved and supported for so long.

And some other ridiculous absurdities in TROS while we’re still here:

Why was this film ALL about Rey’s lineage, a direction that seemed to come out of nowhere when it was already established in TLJ that her background wasn’t important or crucial to her part in the story? She came from nowhere, so why did this become a central thing?

I’ll admit that I never really cared whether Rey was a Skywalker or a Kenobi or had any given name. I rather enjoyed the idea that she had built herself up from nothing. That was an empowering message, in fact, and a strong one, I think. It was certainly leaps and bounds better than the, ‘HA! GOTCHA! SHE’S PALPATINE’S GRANDDAUGHTER!’ reveal that was laid onto us way too thick in the Final Act.

Ew. Gross. No thanks. I hate it. Take it back. It’s a passe trick to try and pull on the audience at the last minute.

One of many more examples of poor writing by the creators, I suppose. 

Also, since when is Finn a Force sensitive? Did I miss something in TFA or TLJ that suggested he possessed that gift? No? Ah. More lousy writing.

Additionally, why does Finn spend the entire movie running after Rey? Why was his romantic storyline with Rose completely dropped and nonexistent in TROS?

It’s almost as if JJ and the creators were giving TLJ director, Rian Johnson, the middle finger throughout the entire finale that was this garbage of a movie. Nice work in undoing all the innovative things Rian brought to the saga, JJ. TROS is even worse™ than the Prequels...and THAT’s saying something.

Why did all the voices of Jedis past speak to Rey but never the helpless Ben Solo who had Palpatine raping his ear from the time he was a baby? It seems sketchy and unfair?

Again, lots of TROS makes little sense. It felt like an entirely separate movie to me--separate from the rest of the saga--and doesn’t wrap 40+ years of this series up all too nicely. It’s anything but. It’s confusing, heartbreaking, and leaves one without much hope.

So...we come to the end of my ramblings and wailings:

Ben Solo was the most interesting, convoluted, and beautifully crafted character from this new trilogy and a true redemption would have served the legacy upon which the SW saga is built--Hope™--so much better, including but not limited to its utilisation in making Han’s death carry meaning. Because his son would have not only returned to the Light but gotten to Live™ and experience it fully.

What a remarkably hopeful ending that would have been...

Instead, we got garbage writing and the redundant SW tropes.

Ben Solo deserved better. JJ and the creators absolutely wasted his potential in this story and I’ll be forever crestfallen..and retreating more and more into my own Ben Redemption fics because to hell with this elementary-level bullsh*t.

Han Solo deserved for his son’s part in his demise to not be utterly pointless at the end because, hey ho, guess what? YOUR SON DIED ANYWAY?!

Leia Organa deserved to not only see her son redeemed but to have that emotional reunion many of us were craving. She had already lost so much, but I guess JJ and the creators decided to just...serve the general more pain in the end. Wow. Rude. Such disrespect. Carrie Fisher wouldn’t have stood for it.

And Rey... My gawd, she deserved better, too. She should never been tied to Palpatine in order to make her seem more important. That grossly underserved her character.

She also should have had her other half. The yang to her yin. The only other person in the entire ruddy galaxy who understood her: Ben. She deserved to not be left alone at the end of TROS, just as she had started in TFA.

I’m going to go work on my WIP Reylo fic now and try to forget TROS entirely.

[weirdconnections]

On Finn, Poe and Rey(lo) - TROS aftermath

I’m writing this post because I’m a Reylo shipper and I’m tired of receiving hate from the Stormpilot/Finnrey shippers who say Reylos don’t care about Poe and Finn.

I’m gonna be 100% honest and tell you that I didn’t even ship reylo until after TLJ. My first ship for this new trilogy was Stormpilot and I was completely sold on it from The Force Awakens. And I also believed prior to watching TFA that Finn would be the new generation Jedi of this trilogy and the protagonist of this story.

I was not disappointed to learn that Rey was the new Jedi because I loved the idea of finally exploring a female Jedi, but I was kinda disappointed to learn that Finn had no apparent connections to the force.

This being said, the one thing I love about TROS is that they made Finn force sensitive canon, which is something TFA clearly set up and in The Last Jedi we didn’t get a chance to explore it much.

With that in mind, TLJ surprised me a lot, and even though Reylo was the surprise I loved the most, I hated how they made Rose Finn’s love interest as a way o putting Stormpilot on a grave once and for all. In spite of this, TLJ helped establish some great character arcs for Finn and Poe which defined their objectives and goals for the next movie.

Going into TROS I was totally sold on Reylo but I was still longing for Stormpilot. Even though I knew that Disney would not make it canon or even hint at a romantic relationship between the two,  I still had hopes that this would be a satisfying movie in terms of exploring the trio’s relationship, and that it would be interesting to see their dynamic now that Finn had a concrete purpose on the narrative which diverged totally from what we thought he had before. He was no longer in the game to either help Poe or Rey, he was in it for himself and he truly believed the rebellion’s cause.

I was excited to see the trio’s relationship grow and to see how profound their bond was now that over a year had passed after the events of TLJ. This was something that disappointed me a lot in TROS.  The first scene between the three of them is very good example on how this movie failed completely at making us invested in their friendship. Rey cannot stand Poe’s imperative and impulsive decisions and Finn is simply stuck in the middle because he had nowhere else to be.

Finn doesn’t have any agency in this movie, his sole purpose is to go along with everything Poe and Rey say. The scene where Poe makes him general is great but also makes me angry that Finn is only promoted when Poe has no one else to turn to. And here’s where I think JJ failed the most with these characters:

The Last Jedi established that Poe could be a great leader If he only put his mind into strategy instead of impulsiveness and if he allowed others to share their ideas for a better solution instead of following his own gut and blowing stuff up just because.

Finn on the other hand learned that war is a double edged sword and you can’t fight something without the purpose of saving what you love because then you are not better than the bad guys and you are simply participating in a system designed to exploit and inflict suffering on others, justified by whatever side you’re on.

Both of these characters had massive potential in becoming great heroes, alongside Rey, who finally becomes a powerful Jedi and who is now ready to fight for the Resistance. Finn should have been Poe’s voice of reason, advising him on battles and thinking of ways to enlist rebel Stormtroopers such as him to improve the Resistance’s numbers in the process. 

Honestly, I loved Jannah but I felt that she should have appeared much earlier in the story and that Finn should have been the one to introduce her and the other Stormtrooper defectors. A whole year passed and what had Finn been up to? Oh yeah, he was stuck in the middle of Poe and Rey’s childish spats.

As for Poe I believe this character was simply badly written and he could have filled the same purpose on TROS without treating Rey like rebellious child who wants to play with magic instead of picking up a gun. Not to mention and they could have had a great friendship, since Poe was basically Leia’s second in command and I do not believe for a second she wouldn’t have explained to him how important was Rey’s training and how they could have strategized the Resistance moves way better with that in mind.

The scene where Rey tells them she knows how to find Exegol could have been 10x better if Poe had given us an indication of having had previous conversations with Rey about the Jedi and how they always helped in saving the f*cking Galaxy from evil. So he would throw in a “May the force be with us” line and you would know that these characters not only grew closer during the year that passed but that they also understand and respect each other. And the scene where Poe wants to leave Rey behind would not have existed at all because both Poe and Finn would have been shouting her name, worried for their friend’s safety going up against Kylo Ren, and the only reason he’d wanna leave would be because Finn (as the voice of reason) would have told him reluctantly that they had no other choice but to trust she would be able to handle herself, so they could go back to base. It would have given the scene a lot more emotional weight. And it would have prevented Finn from seeming like a lost puppy by shouting Rey’s name whenever he had the chance to. 

So yeah I ship both Reylo and Stormpilot. I respect Finnrey. 

I think TROS was very dissatisfying in terms of how they handled Finn and Poe’s characters. 

Finn deserved so much better as a character that was set up to be one of the main protagonists. He simply was not written this way at all. It feels like they simply didn’t care enough to give him a relevant plot within the movie which is infuriating because it would have been goddamn easy to link him with Jannah. And if they were going to rub in our faces that Stormpilot could never ever happen might as well have given him a love subplot with her, and I would have been fine with it because at least it would have given his character more depth. Not to mention the great stormtrooper desertor’s cause that he could have been the leader of.

As for Poe, I would have loved to see him care more about Rey and to have more understanding of how the Jedi always influenced the previous and current wars. Leia was sister to Luke Skywalker, the myth, the legend. You cannot tell me Poe would not have been interested in knowing more about the force with blatant evidence to confirm that the Dark Side always represented the oppressive regime the Resistance/Light Side fought against.   It would have been great to see this as a part of their strategy not only because Rey was the one with the secret Jedi texts that led them to Exegol but because he also had faith in the force and learned to trust in it and much as in his X-wing canons. This would have made Leia so proud because it was exactly was she was trying to teach him in the previous movie.

That’s my take on the trio and TROS, guys.

 Let me know your own thoughts!

[krawalito]

This post is not spoiler free. Its tagged but I don’t really give a shit anymore. I was spoiled and I am actually happy about it. my thoughts on Tros.

My fellow reylos. So here is my last post before I’ll come back tomorrow. I have another 6 hrs before I see the movie. But before I do I need to release some of my thoughts.

 I think I will find some scenes in this movie i am going to enjoy. I am not going to hate all of it. In general I am a very positive person so I think it wont kill me.

BUT here comes the big BUT. What the hell is wrong with American scripts/movies/shows? (this has nothing to do with American people but with the American film industry. Don’t get me wrong). What is this subvert expectations? What is this bittersweet shit NO ONE really wants to see? Did they not learn from their mistakes? I used to say you cannot compare SW with GOT but I was wrong. The premise yes is different, but the outcome of storytelling is still the same.

I loved GOT with all my heart. It was cruel at most times but still I had some hope that in the end everything will come to conclusion and it will not leave me totally frustrated. I didn’t expect an HEA at all but something better than the last season. I was about buying merch, I was about buying all the seasons, but I ended up buying NOTHING. This show literally doesn’t exist for me anymore. I erased it completely bc they screwed it up. Let’s face it they did. And I was not the only one boycotting everything post season 8. HBO lost revenue. Every company selling merch lost revenue. They did. And still we see the same storytelling style yet again.

What’s wrong with happy endings? Why do all of these big Hollywood companies think we want this cruelty? I don’t. and from what I read, listen and see the majority of people don’t. especially women. I am so sick that they use us, tease us but in the end, they don’t give us what we deserve. I am sick of it. The point of diving into fantasy is to forget about the world around you. The world alone is tough enough and I don’t want to be haunted by that when I watch fiction. That’s the whole point of fiction.

SW is about HOPE, always was, always should have been. JJ obviously missed the point. HE DID!

NO ONE wanted Rey to end up where she started. NO ONE. NO ONE wanted the most popular character to die like this. if you kill him then c’mon bring him at least back as a force ghost, bc that leaves a door open and it gives people hope. What the hell is wrong with JJ? Reys ending is the most ridiculous end of all times. And don’t get me started with Leia. Leia never had any luck in her entire life. And this is how it all ends for her? Not reuniting with her son? nope with whatever rey is to her. I have no words for that. this is bad storytelling. Period. There is nothing to debate about. It leaves me without any emotion.

I loved the idea of rey being nobody (if the leaks are true and she is a palpatine). That would have been the most beautiful message to all the young girls (and boys) out there that no matter where you come from you can become whomever you want to, and you can end up being strong and loved. But nope. She falls in love, she never finds her belonging bc ben is gone and ends up where she started with a fucking droid, on a dead planet. What message is that? Girl whatever you do in your life you end up unhappy and alone and some dudes who are not related to you say goodbye in a sunset. Praise the lord.

Ben Solo dies. For love. Which is a grand gesture right there and it makes his redemption arc for the GA plausible. BUT not for SW fans. And the fanbase is huge. He was the last skywalker. He was a victim. He was abused. He was the hero after all. And they fucking kill him. If you kill him JJ, make him a fucking force ghost so he can be with his family. What message do they deliver here? That no matter what you do, no matter what happens in your life.. if you are a victim and you do something bad you have to sacrifice yourself in order to get redemption. WTF how am I supposed to tell my kids that the story is just plain dumb? I am (I posted that on my blog) a teenager of abuse and I could see so much of myself in Ben Solo. Its breaking my heart.

And what about the rest? NOT important. Finn? Who? Rose? Who? Poe? Who?

So, what is the conclusion of this story? That the Dark side always wins. Palpatine wins again. That’s it that the story. Anything that came before the Sequels is pointless now. Sorry to say that but it is actually. And the only reason is because they leave us without any hope. That’s the key to SW.

 And please don’t tell me its fiction, calm down its not real. Yes, that is true, and my life goes on and I will survive it but its 42 years (for me a bit less) of a story that accompanied families and friends. Fiction has an impact on you whether you like it or not. I read books which I still think about because they touched me so deeply. Same applies to movies. MEDIA in general is important and has a huge impact on any of us. It influences young children and teenagers quite a lot actually.

So what do I learn from that disappointment? A lot. I will, and I am very serious about it, never invest so much energy on something that I do not know the end of ever again. I will not invest my money on anything SW unless its fan made. I want to know upfront if my expectations are met or not. I am 39, I grew up with Happy endings. I am not prepared for this new era of evil storytellers and I don’t want to ever get used to it.

 I want us Anti or not anti, reysky or reyfinn, reypoe, stormpilot (whatever the shipnames are.. I lost track lol) to express our feelings and let them know that we are not happy with it bc if we don’t nothing is ever going to change. We have a voice and we should use it. Use twitter, use insta, use FB, use change.org to start a petition if you feel the need to. Don’t be afraid we all feel it too.

 Last but not least… we Reylos were right all along. Reylo is canon. And that’s the tea. The last one until the movie comes out on dvd and I can see your beautiful gifs. This fandom brought so many talented people together like I have never seen before. Never forget without us there is no them. So use this power.

 Before I forget. Rian Johnson is a genius. The TLJ is a beautiful movie.

 This is my pre-watch Tros Post and I will make another afterwards but after all the spoilers now I am pretty much convinced that its all true. It won’t change my opinion on the story telling, that remains a shit show but it might change my view on the details.