#tros trailer

[angst-is-love-angst-is-life]

I will always love an outfit with a hood, so Rey’s costume in this movie is my favorite

[luke-shywalker]

Enso (the silicone ring brand) has a really cool Star Wars collection that’s on sale this week, including a Kylo Ren design (it’s the only one on clearance because my boi is garbage and nobody wants him HAHAHA) and I need a new silicone wedding band cuz it’s getting warmer and my ring finger swelled—but……wearing a ring with Kylo Ren on it…to honor the commitment I made to my husband before God and man…seems……incorrect lol

[thedetectivesteve]

Detective V-Logs #9: Star Wars Episode IX Trailer Reaction

[gffa]

Hi!  I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be because my view of the sequel trilogy lives in kind of a nebulous space, where I really like the characters and I actually like a lot of the potential of the storyline, but I dislike TFA, greatly dislike TLJ, and was actually pretty okay with TROS all things considered. I don't want to dig too deep into the negativity of my feelings but they're basically - TFA was too much of a repainting of ANH for me, the initial shine of it was through its potential, but when that didn't pay off in the other movies, the shine came off TFA, too. - TLJ was set too close to TFA, Finn's character should have been tied into the Canto Bight plot (which was exhausting as it was), as a stolen child soldier he has the most reason to hate the rich, but absolutely nothing was done with him, Luke being on that island for that long was out of character for him, Rey's entire story became wrapped up in Kylo Ren, neither of those characters had nearly enough connections with others despite having very good reasons to, like why do we not spend more time on Luke & Kylo?? and it played at being subversive but it absolutely was not, it's all been done before (and I really hated the way Force abilities worked in the movie) and killing off your main villain in the second act was a baffling decision - TROS' biggest problem is that it should have been two movies instead of one, it was a series of trailers rather than a story with breathing room, and it suffered the most from the lack of planning + the main villain being killed off in the second movie But here's why I still like The Rise of Skywalker the best:  The bones of what's there are a pretty good Star Wars story!  Yes, Rey Palpatine came out of nowhere and was very silly, but if you can't handle silly, I don't know how you can make it as a Star Wars fan, it's such a silly franchise! I'm not afraid to love a scene I laugh out loud at--and, yeah, I laughed RIGHT OUT LOUD the first time Kylo dramatically said, "You're a Palpatine."  I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes and let me tell you, I fucking LOVE that scene now. Or how the last words of any Skywalker, the last word Ben Solo/Kylo Ren ever says in the movies' franchise is, "Ow."  I am laughing RIGHT NOW, please, p l e a s e, that is so on-brand, I can't handle it, it's too funny. But I also like the basic storyline because Rey's story in TROS is her struggling with her own inner darkness, that she feels there's something dark in her soul because she's Palpatine's granddaughter.  The movie isn't saying that's true, but that Rey struggles with thinking it's true, and she has to wrestle with her dark side, just like every Jedi before her has as they're coming into their power. Anakin wrestled with his dark side and lost in Attack of the Clones and even worse in Revenge of the Sith. Luke wrestled with his dark side in the vision he sees of himself in Vader's helmet in the cave in ESB and in the climactic scene of ROTJ, where he nearly hacks his father's arm off in rage after his sister and friends are threatened.  He has to claw his way back out of that. Ezra Bridger struggles with the dark side in Rebels as he comes into his power and he has to claw his way out of it as well. Rey has to struggle with her own lure towards the dark side as she comes into her power--she rips a ship apart in the sky because she was so determined that Chewie was hers, she was so angry at Kylo that Force lightning burst out of her.  She's seeing Sith visions of herself on the wreckage of the Death Star.  This is a theme that has been there since the very beginning, that Jedi have to struggle through a temptation to the dark, and her relation to Palpatine preys on that. That's kind of why I wound up loving Ben's scene with Han as well, because that was an entirely imagined scene, but it represents that the way the Force works, you have to dig yourself out of the hole you're in, that Ben using the memory of his father, the last moments of connection he had with his mother, to pull himself out of the dark, really worked for me.  And I'm okay with his death, because this is Star Wars, people die before they should all the time. I even liked the political message of the final movie, yes, Rey vs Palpatine was the big Jedi vs Sith showdown, but the main galactic battle?  Had people showing up.  Just... people.  One of the themes I've talked a lot about, especially because The Clone Wars kind of has it as a running theme is that the average galactic citizen doesn't do jack shit about the state of the galaxy they live in.  The Rebellion had people starting to stand up, but it was an organized effort, it recruited people. TROS had just people showing up, that Leia and the Resistance had been trying to rally the cause, but ultimately it was the galactic public finally, finally saying, "We have to stand up and fight for ourselves, not depend on other people to do it."  Was it ham-fisted and not nearly as polished as it should have been?  Oh, no doubt.  But the message.  Just people showing up to fight against the First Order that was trying to bring back the Empire.  That meant a lot to me. And I loved Luke's character here, that he admitted when he was wrong, and gave us that banger line that's spot on:  "Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi."  Yes.  Yes.  FUCKING YES.  LUKE SKYWALKER AND JEDI PHILOSOPHY.  MY HEART.  Nailed it. Does this movie hang together as well as it should?  Absolutely not.  It needed a stronger writer, it needed more time than it got, and it needed better build-up.  But the bones of what was there were actually pretty good and, man, any movie that has Daisy Ridley in that white outfit with the hood where she looked practically ethereal cannot be all bad, in my opinion.

[marinersubmariner]

I finished Jedi Survivor, gotta blab about it!

SPOILER SPACE

BODE?!??!??!? I kept thinking he was gonna die, especially in the lead-up to the final Dagan fight—they gave him so many hallmarks of a tragic death that I never suspected a classic video game companion betrayal (one of my favorite things!!!)! So that twist threw me for a LOOP, not just the betrayal but then the reveal that HE WAS A JEDI TOO WHAAAATTTTTT!!??!?!?! Absolutely bananas.

It's funny because Dagan's death felt pretty anticlimactic, and I knew the game wasn't over yet so I was like… what else is there? And I still couldn't have anticipated how OH SHIT the "what else" part could be.

Because then it's PLAYABLE CERE!!!! Which was so fun because she felt SO powerful to play as, and the whole time I was reeling about the betrayal and why am I Cere now what the fuck what the fuck what the fuccckkkkk. And then as soon as the door opened on Vader I instantly got teary-eyed because I knew exactly how that was gonna end. Of COURSE you're out-of-left-field playing as Cere for her last stand. ;___; Of COURSE they couldn't include Vader just for the player to narrowly escape again. ;___; Cere wasn't even my favorite character and she felt so distant in this game, but having her death take place amidst the destruction of the archive that she'd been building that whole time, plus HER LAST WORD BEING "TRILLA," plus BEING MURDERED BY VADER EXACTLY LIKE TRILLA... way to make it as painful as it could possibly be!!!!!! I gotta say, not only do these games make Vader VERY scary, they also make me hate him more than ever. FUCK YOOOOUUU MURDER MACHINE

I am shocked they went all-in on Cal/Merrin just because… romance in Star Wars????? Since when??? Hahahahaaaa…….. I kid, I kid, we have fun. I love them. Although my main inclination in the first game was Cal/Trilla (it was immediately after TROS and the extreme Reylo of it got to me!!) and somewhere along the way I had gotten the impression that Merrin was a lesbian (or maybe that's just the default Nightsister vibe). But truly I consider everyone in SW to be bi/pan/ace/anything but fully straight, so honestly, whatever. Related side note: I was really pleasantly surprised by the directness about how many supporting characters here were gay!

I LOVED the first kiss followed by the totally bonkers portal-jumping battle, that was such cool teamwork. And the end of the game was sooooo saaaad but thankfully they both lived and so now I'm real emo about the orphan Jedi and the orphan witch and how far they've come since she tried to kill him. 😭

Backtracking a bit I REALLY enjoyed Dagan getting dumped out of the bacta tank, getting pissed off, and IMMEDIATELY bleeding his crystal. It was very ooooohhh SHIT dude making some major life decisions here!! So cool! So dramatic! Escalated so quickly! I'm pleased that I did end up enjoying Dagan a decent amount, because going into this I was annoyed by a) not liking Cody Fern's face and b) not liking the High Republic aesthetic.

Honestly I was very ready to dislike both Dagan and Bode because I was really not happy with the previews showing they added a bunch of dudes while hiding Merrin and Cere, and Trilla being dead…… blugh. But thankfully trailers are misleading and there was plenty of Merrin. (and her surprise entrance was THRILLLINNGGGG) And the dudes were alright and they wound up dead anyway. So! …Hm.

IT WAS SO SAD. I'M SO SAD. The "Ghost Star" lullaby was so pretty and haunting and it messed me up BAD, because of course I'm not just thinking of this game I'm thinking of all my dead Star Wars friends (and obvs one ghost in particular…….. sob). There are so many. Star Wars is littered with corpses. AND IT'S SO SAD.

Cal using the dark side was craazzzyyyyyy and when the first prompt for it came on screen I was like "uh oh!!!! I don't wanna." Wild how becoming more powerful in a video game can be so fun and so upsetting at the same time. I did actually die in the final fight with Bode because I refused to tap into the dark side when prompted, lol. I was like "maybe if I don't do it something different will happen!" Haha, nope! USE THE DARK SIDE OR DIE. Which is an interesting moral quandary for Star Wars, because if the dark side is always more powerful 100% of the time, and there are certain situations where it's either fight a dark side opponent or die… what does the Force really want you to do? Stick to the light side and be defeated? Is the ultimate end goal of the Force for everything to die and become one with it? AH JEEZ

Part of me expected Tanalorr to not work out in the end, because "magical top secret planet where we can hide and be safe forever" is obviously too good to be true. But I also think every pre-OT story is always having to find an out for why these characters weren't around for the OT, so in that sense of course Tanalorr had to work out! It's the perfect loophole for this time period! It just felt like every story beat was pointing to the dream of Tanalorr being too much of a corrupting influence—Dagan lost his arm, Santari, and then his life because he refused to let go, and then Bode did the same, and I thought it would come down to Cal also facing that dark path and being forced to give up the dream, like by having to choose between Merrin and Tanalorr. In Grail quests you always have to give up the Grail! But no, now they're really gonna live in the ethereal weird forbidden promised land. FEELS CREEPY BUT OKAY

On the one hand I do kind of wish there had been more planets to explore—it felt strange for the journey to be less expansive than Fallen Order. But there was still so much to do on Koboh and they had some cool locations in there nonetheless. I'm just greedy for ~*~galactic exploration~*~! Anyway they made up for it with the strong story, because I think the plot and character work in this one were even better than Fallen Order.

I'm not sure how to piece it all together but I liked the small late-game talk of Vader and the Inquisitorius acting outside of regular Imperial command, when you're undercover and you get the scoop that there's a rivalry with the ISB and that the Jedha attack that happened was not the Jedha attack that was planned. Empire/Sith infighting, Vader vs. Tarkin and Krennic, how does stifled ISB employee Dedra Meero fit into all this, hm hm hm much to think about. Bode was a former Jedi being used by the Empire but he wasn't an Inquisitor—it was the same thing in the end but the particular type of tragedy was different. Wizards in the Empire but the Empire hates wizards, which type of leash are they gonna put you on and who's actually holding the leash?

Fav saloon regulars: TURGLE, of course I knew everybody loved Turgle, what a goober, A+, amazing frog; Caij, because apparently it's a biological imperative that all Nautolans are cool as hell; best bartender Monk; and I particularly enjoyed all the conversations with Tulakt and Moran.

Of course I was thrilled when I first encountered Skoova, his little hover fishing schooner was the BEST. Just an absolutely stellar amount of funky alien dudes in this game.

The powerful heavy swings that the crossguard stance uses…… hehehehehehehehehe. Where did they get that idea I wonder!!!!!! The only thing is that I don't like how small and thin the High Republic-style quillons are, so the aesthetic isn't as satisfying and proportional as Kylo's saber. You gotta beef up those crossguards fellas!

I didn't know that there was an interim story to explain why Greez has a prosthetic arm now, so I was like "did I really forget THAT MUCH of Fallen Order?" Even I can't keep up with all these Star Wars! I liked Greez a lot in the first game (MY PLANT GUY!!!!) but I really loved him even more in this one—he seemed much softer than I remember with his devotion to Cal and their whole family unit. And his braided hair of course delighted me.

And speaking of delightful new hair: Merrin's haircut! I LOVE HER SO MUCH. They gave her so much great deadpan humor while also enhancing her emotional maturity, so not only is she still super cool she's also soft and nice when it's called for, and I'M SO GLAD SHE DIDN'T DIE.

Kata is extremely cute and I'm already dreading her looming apprenticeship and the long-term outcome of who makes it to the next generation. I'm always having to remind myself of the bigger picture that Cal is older than Luke. And I certainly can't handle the thought of old Cal or dead Cal, but when you add kids into the mix, that's where this is headed!!!!!!

I took so many goddamn screencaps I'm probably only gonna post a minuscule fraction of them, but there were so many good aesthetic things and fun details to look at. And honestly part of my excessive snapping away involved lofty notions of using things as fanart reference. I LOVED all the new hair and wardrobe options because I absolutely just used Cal for Ben Solo AU cosplay. 🤪😎🤩✌️💀 The windswept hair is so good!!!! I mean I mainly chose it to look like Ben but it also just looked really good on Cal, to the point where it's hard to see him with short hair anymore, although I really should try out some of the goofier looks. (so many facial hair options that I hate and look stupid on precious ginger babyface!!!)

I just get soooooo excited about being able to explore and take pictures inside a Star Wars thing, and play dress-up and pick hairstyles and decorate and do all that silly life sim stuff but in space! Games capture such a unique experience of discovering worldbuilding minutiae, and I love having the ability to just look at things and take in the environment at your own pace, it makes me so happy. Even the goofy LEGO game gave me that feeling. It's just so nice! I love wandering! Observing! Interacting! Running my little guys around! Having my own experience that can't be easily ruined by a shitty story!

It's made me reminisce about playable Kylo and Rey in Battlefront and how I wish you could combine them with the exploration/story/gameplay style of the Jedi games and the [nearest approximation of] post-canon Ben Solo of the LEGO game, and THAT would probably be my ideal Star War (outside of, you know, a new movie that checks off every single item on my impossible wish list hahahaaagdhagdsf). Dress them up and customize their lightsabers and their home base and their spaceship and give them a droid friend and a garden and take them on new adventures on new planets… The Dream 😭

I actually started ruminating on whether I can do screencap mashups of Battlefront character models in Survivor outfits/environments, because I can't do mods, I am just a simple photoshopper and console gamer, but I want to pretend!!!!!! The problem is I don’t really like the Battlefront faces because they all look dead in the eyes. :/ The idea I settled on is that I might do some straight-up redraws instead. (WE'LL SEE. But the fact that I'm even mentioning this should tell you how completely lost in the sauce I am.) I briefly went looking and of course people have made Ben Solo mods for Survivor, but what you really gotta do is graft Cal's customization options onto Bode's body type or else it doesn't look right. Y'KNOW?!?? Size… matters……… I'm so sorry Yoda

Anyway!!!!!! Excellent gaming experience despite being terrible at Jedi parkour! Now back to tending my garden, hunting down post-game Force echoes, and rearranging Cal's wardrobe

[mirendils]

small list of things tros got right

rey skywalker

rey skywalker yellow lightsaber

trio hug

force sensitive finn

leia lightsaber

finn shooting hux in the leg

the trailer music

jannah & lando

kylo dying

[virtie333]

11 (Damerey)& 24(Can you answer for both Poe and Rey?)

Thank you for the asks!

11. What's your favourite piece of fanart for [ship]?

Always my favorite, though several of her Damerey are almost as amazing.

I also love this...

And of course Tripple B!

I fell in love with this one shortly after finding it on-line (uncredited), only to find and befriend the artist through Discord. Now I am proud to share it with credit! (Did you really expect me to choose just one?)

24. What's your favourite thing about [character]?

Rey: The thing I love most about Rey is that she has remained a truly good person, despite the way she grew up and had to live on Jakku. There are still some 'fans' out there saying the trilogy would have been 'better' if Rey had become the evil she saw herself as in TROS, but I am so very grateful the writers stayed true to the character they introduced in TFA.

Poe: I guess I can say kind of the same thing about him, though his upbringing wasn't quite as stark as hers. He has always been surrounded by good people to look up to, so his kindness and positivity is something I'm sure he's always had. Even his behavior in TLJ was due to him trying to do the right thing for the people he cared about.

And that, ladies and germs, is why I ship Damerey.

Okay, I'm going to bed. But if I have more asks in the morning, I won't be upset!

[shrinkthisviolet]

☕️ While The Last Jedi was objectively terrible, they definitely made things worse by trying to retcon things in its' sequel. Either stick to your guns or don't make such drastic decisions in the first damn place.

Oh absolutely. TLJ is very flawed as a movie, but if TROS had stuck with that direction, I could at least respect the vision. But Lucasfilm was clearly so insecure by the negative reaction (gee, I wonder why that happened, geniuses 💀) that they overcorrected.

They changed Luke to be closer to how he should’ve been as a mentor...this is incoherent given that there's no reason for him acting as callous as he did last movie, and also no reason for him suddenly changing again. Luke has never been a mercurial character, so why is he now??

They wrote Rose out completely. I just...*sighs* I've heard she was more prominent in early versions of the story (this video shows some concept art from one of the official books that talks about some of the early story ideas), and as the plot changed, so did her presence...but it's very telling that her plotline got cut.

Same for Finn, by the way—apparently he and Rose shared a plotline initially. And now, he's reduced to comic relief. Well, at least they're keeping him consistent with TLJ, which also didn't care about him 💀

And of course...Poe. Who could forget what they did to Poe. Making a Latino character a Spice Runner (spice being drugs in Star Wars) is...a choice. Also...wow, he had a girlfriend before? Wowww

(I'm not gonna get in the weeds about conspiracies but uh...Oscar Isaac's words about Disney not liking him and John Boyega playing up the Finnpoe flirting do come to mind.)

They even retconned Rey! Now, granted, I didn't love the idea of her not being related to anyone (it makes the payoffs in TFA feel cheap—they were very clearly setting her up as a Skywalker/Solo even as early as the trailers), but I had at least gotten used to it by the time TROS released. But then they made it worse! For no reason!

And Kylo *sighs* TLJ firmly shut the door on Rey/Kylo, a choice i was cheering about...and then TROS decided to have Kylo die for Rey*...and then they kiss??

I just...*sighs* at least if they'd made them cousins or siblings, alluded to them having a past where they loved each other and knew each other so well, I could understand why Rey would feel any affection towards him (not romance ofc—that angle was a bad idea with the movies being as they are, especially given that time he tortured her and they never even talked about it later). But as it stands?? Nope. They even try to retcon this as a "gratitude kiss" in the novelization. I just can't even.

*clumsily paralleling him to Vader, but this fails because Rey and Kylo's relationship is not nearly as strong as Vader and Luke's was, especially since Kylo literally rejected her offer of redemption last time and also she closed the door on him! And also, Kylo has never had compelling/interesting motivations for turning to the Dark Side, nor did he ever have the gravitas Vader did. It's all just...ugh

The Palpatine stuff...well, we all know that's terrible. It's not like they even needed to bring him back, even after killing Snoke (DOTF had him present as holograms, with Kylo as the Final Boss)...but hey, if they wanted to redeem Kylo, they needed a big bad to contrast him with. But the whole thing was a giant mess from start to finish. You can even see in some scenes how tired the actors are. And I don’t blame them…watching the movie itself was exhausting.

send me “☕️” and a topic, and I’ll talk about it!

[narcopharmacist]

Here is a series of The Rise of Skywalker One Shots by Ever_So_Reylo I'm currently reading.

I'm at part 2, entitled A thousand, and I'm giggling and kicking my feet 😂😂❤️❤️. This part was released after TROS trailer came out.

[moosegbt]

could you please make a post on your star wars vhs as well?

Absolutely, it’s gonna be a longer one since I’m making box art and editing all 10 non-VHS movies:

- Episode VII TFA

- Episode VIII TLJ

- Episode IX TRoS

- The Clone Wars (2008)

- Rogue One

- Solo

- The Holiday Special

- Kenobi (the Patterson cut)

I’m actually already finished with the Holiday Special box art and edit! It was already in 4:3, so no need to pan and scan. All I needed was to add proper credits and trailers at the beginning. I’ll make a separate dedicated post to this at a later point.

I have not yet spoke to Kai Patterson (the creator of the Kenobi Patterson Cut), but for those who don’t know he edited all of Kenobi into one, extremely well paced, movie. I personally loved the show how it was, but the Patterson cut is phenomenal and it really shows that it should have remained a movie as initially intended.

Here is a link with more information about the Patterson cut: https://www.kaipattersonfilms.com/kenobi

The reason I am not doing the Caravan of Courage or the Battle for Endor is because shockingly they already had a VHS release. They are the only two tapes missing from my real Star Wars VHS set.

I would also love to make a VHS box set of Mando and the Clone Wars. Star Trek Insurrection has a cool metallic tape sleeve, so ideally I would want to use that for Mando (but that’s probably super hard to come by).

I think it would be really funny to sell a “complete Star Wars VHS box set” on eBay, just for the buyer to get overwhelmed with shock when they realize How complete it really is.

[quillsmora]

Hopefully it's okay to ask you a question because I'm wondering do you know why Gamora hasn't been included in the vol 3 merch? I ran across some stuff a while ago and when she wasn't included I assumed it was just a one off incident. But I just ran across some other merch and she's still absent. So I'm not sure if they are waiting for the movie to create merch for her or what

Firstly, it's always okay to ask me questions about this stuff! I love talking about film marketing (I did study this stuff for 2 years after all). Always feel free to send me asks about anything!

As for your question here's my honest answer: I'm not entirely sure. There are a few logical conclusions though.

Spoilers. Historically the first wave of MCU merch is very clean when it comes to the events of the movie, only featuring characters we know will be in it and vague aesthetics that align with the plot. So far the main advertisements and merch for Vol 3 have featured the Guardians in their comic-accurate group suits, which we haven't seen Gamora in. She might end up getting that suit in the movie, but we have no idea and that would be a major spoiler, so it's easier to leave her out of cereal box promotions and toy box art to keep that unified aesthetic.

Along the same lines as spoilers but deserving of their own point is the LEGO sets. LEGO sets are 50/50 when it comes to being accurate to the events of the movie because again, spoilers. The Endgame sets they released to go along with the movie had absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot because sets get leaked so often and Disney didn't want the plot of their biggest superhero movie ever to be ruined. The Wakanda Forever and Multiverse of Madness sets were also pretty vague if I remember correctly. It's easiest to leave Gamora out of sets like the Guardians HQ or the Bowie because while she might actually be in those scenes, we won't know until the movie comes out (we can assume she'll be on the Bowie at one point based on that shot of her pulling out a knife but it's not official). Since the LEGO sets and toy lines release weeks before the movies, it's again easier to exclude Gamora from these first waves of merch.

The historically bad representation of Gamora on merch already. Outside of figures like Funko Pops and Marvel Legends, it's always been nearly impossible to find officially licensed merch of just Gamora, especially cute good looking merch. This has also been an issue with most of the MCU's female heroes but it's definitely gotten better these past few years. Unfortunately due to Gamora's role in Vol 3 being pretty secretive, that positive change doesn't get to apply to her this first wave.

So basically TL;DR, don't stress about this too much. We're still 2 months out from the movie's release and a month away from promo and press starting. Yes, it sucks that so far Gamora isn't being featured in anything outside of posters and trailers, and yes it's valid to be upset and frustrated with that. But remember that there's still a whole other wave of merch to come after the movie's release, and Zoe Saldaña is still second-billed. She and Chris Pratt were the last two (humans) to wrap the movie. James Gunn wouldn't have brought Gamora back if he didn't want to. If you're still feeling uneasy or worried (which I totally get!) @enigma731 has some great posts about why Gamora will be fine.

Sorry this is so damn long, I kinda got carried away lol. But yeah I do wish there was at least like a Funko Pop or something and find it ridiculous that Kraglin of all people is getting more merch than the female lead, but I'm personally not getting too worried right now because we still have two months until the movie. It's not looking completely terrible right now. (Trust me, I was a Star Wars sequels stan during 2019 TROS press. That movie's plot was leaked via an official German Burger King ad. If it ever gets that bad for Vol 3 you will definitely hear about it from me lol).

[falllpoutboy]

what do you think would be the best way for them to announce johns return if he comes back? Some say he isn’t since he isn’t on the stage today with daisy but like imagine if it becomes like a well kept secret and we just hear whispers and rumors and then when they drop the first trailer he gets a big reveal like palpatine did in tros trailer (granted I could never wait that long I bet this movie will take YEARS) like the world sw lovers and haters would be tuning in and more!! so rather than him coming on the celebration stage idk like if he returns I genuinely want him to have the biggest and best reveal

omg a sdcc reveal with john onstage in hall H with daisy and the rest of the cast would so fucking epic!!!

i need the haters to go die like yall are not doing this shit again no ma’am

[geoffreytoday]

Star Wars and Me, and You, and Ourobor-Us... Once more

Time marches on, as it always does. When last I visited this ouroboros, It had been almost two and a half years since the release of The Rise of Skywalker. That dark event is now over four years in our past.

There have been quite a few new productions since then. The most recent, The Acolyte, has just wrapped up. Time then, I think, to revisit the franchise and reassess. Where do things stand now? What's changed? Let's find out.

As always, I am including all Canon Star Wars movies and shows that I am familiar with on this list, and of course a number of classics that have been excised from the canon as well. As before, and as it ever shall be, I have not watched Resistance :p

The opinions expressed on this list are solely my own and should in no way be considered authoritative*. Your mileage may very, and my opinions are in no way meant to reflect poorly on your own. Different strokes/different folks.

Ranked in order from Worst to Best:

Number 31!

Attack of the Clones.

AotC has reclaimed its throne, and is once again securely seated on the bottom spot of this list. It isn’t only one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made, it might be one of the worst movies ever made too.

"What about The Room? What about Manos: The Hands of Fate?"

Here’s the thing: Those were never going to be good movies. They had nothing going for them. AotC is a Star Wars movie, made by the creator of Star Wars, with essentially an unlimited budget. It's one of the worst movies ever made because it should never have been allowed to be this bad.

Number 30!

Revenge of the Sith.

Marginally better than AotC, with more naturally delivered dialogue and acting, RotS is probably the easiest of the prequels to digest. However, it beats out The Phantom Menace on the lame-o-meter because it does the most lasting damage to the Saga.

The monumental mishandling of Anakin’s fall to the dark side, the betrayal of Padme’s character, and the sheer laziness of the writing all come together to make a truly disappointing entry in the Star Wars saga.

Number 29!

The Phantom Menace

TPM is a pointless movie. The story is bland and uninteresting, the performances and writing are wooden and dull, and the way the Jedi Order is depicted just makes me sad. If you can honestly tell me this is what you had thought the Jedi would be like before the prequels were made, well... I don’t have a good way to end that sentence. You could skip TPM entirely and it would not impact the rest of the series.

Number 28!

The Rise of Skylwaker.

TRoS is a mess. For a movie that is nearly two and a half hours long, hardly anything happens. The pace of the movie is ludicrously too fast. It legitimately feels like an attempt to obfuscate the lack of coherent narrative. The hope seems to be that if we zip past all of this stuff fast enough, no one will notice the utter lack of substance or sense.

The film does not live up to the final trailer, nor does it deliver on the potential of The Last Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker feels like it was generated by AI. It lacks any legitimate understanding of the material, and instead relies on remixes of familiar imagery and scenarios to pacify the audience.

Number 27!

The Star Wars Holiday Special

The holiday special is bizarre beyond reckoning. I love it, but there is no doubt that it is a truly ludicrous thing. I watch it two or three times a year around Xmas time. It’s like The Room, but for Star Wars fans.

Number 26!

The Great Heep - Star Wars: Droids – The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO

This is an hour long special that takes place within the timeline of the Droids animated series. It’s an odd thing. Distinctly kiddy-er than the rest of the Droids animated series, it’s most interesting feature is that it was written by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who also has story credits on a number of other Droids episodes.

Number 25!

Ewoks

This is an animated series about, you guessed it, Ewoks. It’s cute. It follows the adventures of Wicket and his friends on the forest moon of Endor. The series, if it is to be fit into the chronology, takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It lasted for 2 seasons and is a perfectly inoffensive addition to the Star Wars universe. Not truly worth seeking out unless you are an absolute die hard fan, and even then you’re likely to think it’s worth passing over.

Number 24!

Star Wars: Droids – The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO

This series follows our favourite mechanical odd couple in the period between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. Like Ewoks, it’s pretty cute. I loved it as a child. It holds some nostalgia for me, and it has a certain charm, but like the other animated efforts of the 80′s, it’s not terribly noteworthy. Certainly there are some interesting parallels between Kea Moll and Rey, and it can't be a coincidence that one of the villains is named Kybo Ren :p

For the hardcore fan only, more here to enjoy than Ewoks, but still pretty forgettable.

Number 23!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Movie)

A mediocre entry in the Clone Wars animated series. It should never have been released to theatres. It’s not bad per se, it’s just several episodes of the series cobbled together into a single film. They weren’t the best episodes of the series.

Number 22!

Ewoks: Caravan of Courage

A made for TV movie that came out in the years following Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty silly and the acting is mostly awful. Still, this movie has more charm than all of the prequels put together. I can’t truly recommend it to anyone who isn’t a die hard fan, but if listening to Burl Ives narrate a Star Wars story is the kind of oddity that piques your interest, this has that.

Number 21!

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

Somehow, this movie is even more ludicrous than the original, which is probably why I like it. It’s much more fun than the first attempt, and it stars Wilford Brimley! That’s weird enough to be worth the price of admission right there. Some fun creature effects and a surprisingly dark opening make this one kind of worthwhile.

Number 20!

Star Wars Rebels

I truly wanted to love Rebels, but I don’t. It has a lot going for it: Excellent designs, great villains, terrific ideas, but the problem is execution. The writing on Rebels is a mixed bag. When it's good, it's very good. It's just not good as consistently as you'd want. A frustrating series that had the potential to be so much better.

Number 19!

The Bad Batch

A sequel to The Clone Wars, following a squad of "defective" clone troopers after the fall of the republic. I've never been much of a fan of the clones or the clone wars, so this series did very little for me. Like Clone Wars and Rebels, the writing feels uninspired and contrived. Episodes stop rather than ending, and it leans heavily on standard storytelling tropes we've seen countless times in Star Wars at this point. If you dig the clone wars, you'll probably enjoy this series, it just wasn't for me.

Number 18!

Star Wars: Clone Wars

Clone Wars was a micro-series commissioned by George Lucas to fill the gap between AotC and RotS. It is slightly cooler than the CG animated series that would follow years later. On the down side, Anakin is pretty much terrible like he is in the films, so that’s a major strike against it. It would almost beat out the full animated series on the strength of the Mace Windu short, but shitty Anakin is too great a hurdle to overcome.

Number 17!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Series)

TCW did an admirable job of trying to salvage the ruined foundations the prequels gave us, turning them into something marginally workable. They made Anakin a nuanced and actually likeable character. They made the friendship of Anakin and Obi-Wan feel believable and warm. Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be done with the dumpster fire of the prequels.

Number 16!

The Book of Boba Fett

Not as well written or thought out as The Mandalorian, but still relatively fun. The series would have benefited from considerably more clarity regarding the timeline of its events. It definitely divides fans of Boba Fett. Personally, I think Boba Fett was ruined back in AotC, so I'm not really invested anymore.

Number 15!

Rogue One.

Rogue One is pretty. It is also an endless parade of continuity errors and fan service, stretched over a thread-bare plot. The movie needed at least 3 more drafts before it was ready to film. It’s okay, but it’s not great.

My personal head-canon is that Rogue One is an in-universe propaganda film made by the rebel alliance to sway people to their cause. Viewed through that lens, all the cheesy moments, musical cues, continuity and plot inconsistencies all make sense. It saves the movie for me.

Number 14!

The Acolyte

I was hopeful for this one. I've been curious about the High Republic era, so getting a show set there was quite appealing to me. IN the end, it's okay, not great, but not bad either. I was surprised and disappointed in the portrayal of the Jedi. I've never been happy with what the prequels did to the Jedi, and I was bummed out that somehow the High Republic Jedi are even worse.

This is supposed to be the golden age of the Jedi, before their fall, but you'd never know it based on how truly awful most of the Jedi are. Normally I'm all about stripping away copaganda from cop shows, and the Jedi of The Acolyte are very much the ACAB portrayal of the Jedi order, but that's not what I come to Star Wars for. Star Wars is fantasy, and I'm here to see noble Jedi knights fighting the good fight against the forces of darkness.

I'm also not a fan of the force being transformed into standard fantasy magic. The night sisters, force witches, the mortis gods, and all that bullshit is absolutely not what I want from my Star Wars. It's been cropping up more and more frequently though, much to my great disappointment. The Acolyte is probably the least offensive version of that I've encountered (up until episode 7 that is), so that's a small plus, but I'm still not a fan.

Number 13!

Solo

Nonstop fun from beginning to end. Alden is perfect as a young Han Solo. He may not look like Harrison, but he looks like Han, if that makes sense. Unlike Rogue One, the fan service in Solo is rooted in the characters and feels natural. Now I just need a Calrissian movie and I’ll be all set.

Number 12!

Ahsoka

Ahsoka is pretty mid. Visually impressive, the writing is unfortunately shallow and uninspired. It's reasonably entertaining, but it's nothing special. A more accurate title for the series would have been Sabine.

Number 11!

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Kenobi is decent enough. It does some interesting world building. The actress playing a young Leia Organa is terrific, and it's always a joy to see Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan. The series failings are largely a matter of padding. This was originally meant to be a movie, but after the box office disappointment of Solo, it was retooled to be a streaming series, to its detriment.

Number 10!

Star Wars Visions

A series of animated vignettes from famous anime directors. Visually impressive, very stylish, and more often concerned with being fun and interesting over being strictly adherent to canon. I fully approve of that approach. Worth checking out if you're a fan of anime, or animation in general.

Number 9!

The Mandalorian

A solid show with a lot going for it. It plays things pretty safe, but I don’t mind playing it safe so long as the product is good, and this one is for the most part. Season 1 is good, Season 2 is better. Season 3 is a disappointment and fails to maintain that trajectory.

Number 8!

Tales of the Jedi

A six episode anthology series that follows a few characters from pre-clone wars through till establishment of the rebel alliance. This series is a little looser than the Tales of the Empire series which came after in its narrative structure, jumping around more and involving more characters. Still, it's a very solid effort. Nothing in it quite lives up to the last episode of Tales of the Empire, but it's still pretty good.

Number 7!

Tales of the Empire

A six episode anthology series following the stories of two characters. The first three episode follow Morgan Elsbeth, the second three follow Baris Ofee. I have never been a fan of the night sisters, or the inclusion of standard fantasy style magic into Star Wars, so those first three episodes weren't really for me. They're fine, just not to my tastes. The Barriss Offee storyline is considerably better, and the final episode is terrific, exactly the kind of stuff I'd like to see more of in Star Wars.

Number 6!

Return of the Jedi.

Gasp! One of the sacred Original Trilogy NOT in the top 3?!?! “Blasphemy!”

Listen, I sincerely love RotJ. If you had asked me when I was 8 which was my favourite Star Wars movie, it would have been Jedi without me even thinking about it. But then I grew up, I learned about storytelling, pacing, editing, production design, and a million other things that, sadly, lowered RotJ in my esteem. It's still great, it's just not the greatest.

Number 5!

Andor

Wow, now this is some quality Star Wars content. Atmosphere, drama, sharp writing, and great performances. This is the level of quality all Star Wars content should be aspiring to. Considerably better than the movie it's technically a prequel to. A story of rebellion and political intrigue, cool stuff.

Number 4!

The Force Awakens.

I love TFA. Where RotJ’s reuse of tropes from Star Wars felt clumsy, lazy, and too soon, TFA’s homages to the themes and beats of the original trilogy work beautifully. The whole film feels simultaneously familiar and fresh. It’s not without it’s flaws, but none of the missteps can diminish the joy it brought me.

Number 3!

The Last Jedi

TLJ is a movie that took a while for me to warm up to. I was initially torn: I loved a lot of it, I disliked many other things. I liked the movie, but I wasn’t as in love with it like I had been with TFA. My experience since has been that the more I watch TLJ, the more I like it. I love that I never knew what was coming next. This movie constantly surprised me, which I loved. And that final act… Wow! Luke Skywalker is forever my hero.

Number 2!

Star Wars

Star Wars is a terrific movie. Some have called it a perfect movie, and it’s hard for me to disagree with them. The only thing preventing Star Wars from taking the number one slot on my list is that, for me personally, the pacing drags in a few places. Star Wars was the first of its kind though. This movie literally changed everything. The impact of Star Wars can not be overstated.

Number 1!

The Empire Strikes Back. I’m sure I’m surprising precisely no one when I add my name to the impossibly long list of people who think ESB is the best movie in the Saga. This is what I call a perfect movie. ESB is Star Wars firing on all cylinders.

And once more we've reached the end of the line. Some new stuff, a few shuffles, but not dramatically different than the previous update.

As always, future adjustments to come as needed.

*except, of course, that I'm right.

[marinersubmariner]

Reyyyyyy

TL;DR I can’t believe Star Wars made me sad about getting new Star Wars

Even though I’m no different from everybody else wanting Star Wars to break free of the endless prequels/callbacks/rehashed time periods that it’s mired in, the truly unfortunate thing about TROS is that it was so painful and left me perpetually trying to repair and reconcile it in my imagination with a litany of demented headcanons that now anything moving beyond that time period is... also going to be painful. Continuation will only make it more real and irreversible. They’re not going to focus on the things that have become so important to me to fix, because the official story is something that they can’t and won’t acknowledge as being broken. There is a fundamental, irreparable disconnect in what, to them, is the canon and what, to me, is a mistake.

I wish I could say they can’t hurt me anymore, but they can. They can hurt me even worse now because I’m still bleeding out in a ditch from the last time.

I really do try to focus on things I like (and there is a lot of silly and bad Star Wars that I like!) and not get bogged down by bitterness and negativity, so it really bums me out that it’s so hard to feel excited about this. Over the past few years it has been increasingly depressing to dwell on a special interest without new content as fandom activity diminishes by the day. Nothing compares to the excitement of not knowing what will happen next, seeing a new trailer, anticipating New Stuff. But on the other hand the dormancy feels... safe? Relaxed? I mean, there’s no time pressure of current events or new things on the way, I know all the material I have to work with, and beyond that I can just make up whatever shit I want! I may be sad but I’m free! WELL NOT ANYMORE.

As with all overused buzzwords I really hate fandom’s use of the word “feral” these days, but annoyingly that’s the best word for this type of thing. I used to be a domesticated canon fan, but canon ended and I was released into the wild and forced to fend for myself, and now if canon ever tries to adopt me again I’m going to be hissing and biting and clawing and refusing to eat whatever they try to feed me because I developed my own way to survive. :(

I think a big part of why some people hated TLJ so much is that they were committed to the headcanons they invented after TFA and they had a very specific idea of what they wanted to happen. Being super invested in your own fanfic ideas kills your ability to let other people tell the story. And while of course everyone has thoughts about where a story might go, I wasn’t so invested after TFA that there were things I NEEDED to see. By the time TLJ rolled around I only abstractly cared about what happened next and my interest was entirely as a gen fan. So I loved TLJ! Just being along for the ride is so fun! It’s chill! Head empty!

Even pre-TROS, while my investment skyrocketed after TLJ and I had a specific wishlist, I didn’t have an unreasonable wishlist (I THOUGHT). I didn’t game it out with detailed theories or reading fanfic or anything, it just seemed like there were pretty obvious things they needed to do to wrap things up in a satisfying way. So the disappointment came into play, but more in the sense of “uh this does not align with some very basic expectations that had been set by the previous 8 movies.”

After TROS is where it got ugly, and I suddenly CARED about SHIPPING because they made me like it and ruined it AT THE SAME TIME so my need to fix it became so strong that there’s now a whole separate fanon ecosystem that has taken up residence in my brain. They left us high and dry with an inert ending and no hope, the door slammed shut on any interesting new path for the future. Of course fans are gonna try to circumvent that any way they can.

So now that they’ve confirmed new post-sequel material is coming... haha I’m in danger. It’s so scary. I’m sweating. I’m panicking. They’re never gonna do what I want because what I want is crazy. I am guaranteed disappointment from every angle, on all fronts, no matter which way it comes from it is coming for me. Even if they DID do exactly what I want (they won’t), that would still be disappointing because reality never lives up to expectations. It’s a no-win scenario.

I can’t be a breezy gen fan anymore. I have an agenda. The fun is over. I’m too attached to the infinite possibilities of my imaginary scenarios and I don’t want them to be obliterated by grim reality. I’m gonna lose it. I’ve already lost it. TROS + pandemic times broke me so completely that there’s no going back. I’m done for.

Even setting aside [DEAD CHARACTER] factors, the most basic metric is that it’s going to be hard for me to accept any new story with Rey when I still can’t hear or read “Rey Skywalker” without cringing out of my body. There’s no way around it, they’re not gonna undo it, they really saddled us with that embarrassment for the rest of time, tainting everything that follows. All future story has to be built on an unstable foundation because there are things in TROS that truly can’t be undone (“we knew you were a Palpatine the whole time lol”). And I’m especially wary now that the franchise seems pretty dedicated to getting worse as it expands. TROS felt like such a betrayal, and so much of the live-action tv output since then has been mediocre to bad, I’ve lost the trust I had in 2019.

I have so many issues with just the suggestion of Rey alone rebuilding the Jedi, because the thing I actually wanted out of the sequels was Rey, Finn, and Ben as the founders of a new Jedi Order—which, you know, obviously didn’t happen. Of course we don’t know anything at this point (like if this movie will even really get made at all) so there’s no way of knowing if other characters will return (Rose Rose Rose Rose), but even throwing it out there as “yeah just Rey by herself! only Rey! alone, like she was always meant to be!” is maddening. I will be shocked if John Boyega ever comes back to play Finn since he seems pretty definitively done with it, and even on the off chance that Ben gets acknowledged he’ll still be dead, and it all makes me so sad that there was such an enormous opportunity of having this next generation established in their own trilogy actually become a team and usher in a new era together and instead it’s just. Rey, alone.

And the fact that NOW they’re like “oh right maybe we should’ve done something with the whole Jedi thing when we were wrapping up the saga”… oh my god. Yeah no shit!!!!!

I guess I still have a while longer to desperately cling to my deluded hope that they’ll do something good that I want. There’s a bunch of dyad cosmic weirdness just sitting there undefined and unexplored, FOR EXAMPLE, and if nothing else I have gotten soooo good at clowning. I’m going to clown until it’s absolutely not possible to clown anymore, and even then I’ll probably still clown.

For now I have to try and ensconce myself in the tiniest bubble of my positivity that I love Rey! And I’m so excited to see her! And for her to get NEW OUTFITS and NEW HAIRSTYLES!!! And USE HER OWN LIGHTSABER!!!!

(and she bangs a ghost.)

haha who said that

[awisetoad]

also I maintain that the greatest tragedy of the sequels is that we never received a true reprise of the greatest bop John Williams has ever composed for this universe: duel of the fates.

tbh force theme is a close second, but def doesn't slap as hard as duel of the fates. the fact that it was used in trailer and then DID NOT SHOW UP in TROS is an unforgivable tragedy.

[shrinkthisviolet]

Rian clearly can tell a good story, but TLJ doesn’t work as a continuation. I wonder if he could’ve told a great story disconnected from Skywalkers if he either had the reigns of the whole trilogy, or if they just had more of a plan (switching directors between movies means they needed a solid plan from the getgo, with very little room for change, unlike the OT and PT which had a single director).

Like don’t get me wrong, I liked a couple of the things TLJ did—I liked the idea of Luke making mistakes and that staying with him, but the mistake should not have been literal child (nephew, at that!!) murder; it really should’ve been something like Luke having too much faith in Ben and paying the price for it when Ben turned and murdered everyone in the Temple…hence why Luke is jaded and aloof now (if he blames himself for Kylo’s fall, why would he say Kylo’s power should’ve scared him more?). It would’ve been such a logical progression from ROTJ imo: how does someone incredibly compassionate and I-won’t-give-up-on-you end up so cold? By having his compassion betrayed! Because sometimes, you can’t save everyone. Literally just that one change would’ve…not fixed Luke’s character, but at least improved him. It would’ve been cohesive, even if I didn’t agree with it.

Also, the Rey Nobody twist was actually interesting, even if it didn’t jive with how obviously TFA was setting up Rey Skywalker from the trailers onward. If they’d stuck with that in TROS instead of horribly backpedaling, maybe it wouldn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth…because the twist just seems like a waste of time since it was a) a manipulation by Kylo and b) an interesting idea dropped for an even worse idea than the original setup in TFA. There’s a reason I mostly write Rey Skywalker these days 😂

Which again comes back around to “they had no plan even tho they knew they’d be switching directors between movies.” Which doomed these movies from the start, but especially once Rían took the reins and apparently didn’t get enough guidance to know what not to break.

The one thing that does stump me though is how much better his progressive messaging works in Knives Out and Glass Onion than in TLJ (it felt more natural in the first two, but more heavy-handed in the third. In TLJ, it felt more like he was checking boxes, not weaving it naturally into a story). A mystery for the ages, I guess.

Rian Johnson, writer and director of Star Wars: the Last Jedi (derogatory)

Rian Johnson, writer and director of Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (affectionate)