#we lost so many clone characters throughout both series

[transfem-kirito-truther]

As a response to last ask you got I feel SAO would fundamentally change in plot if Kirito had been a girl... but whether this would have "saved" SAO or brought it more genuine interest irks me though because it's insinuating Kirito as he currently is right now is otherwise the clas8x "bad light novel character" I suppose? (A-1's anime adaptation ruined SAO's image to many more than anything, especially due mudding out Kirito's dorky yet withdrawn personality via skimming out his inner dialogue and putting more emphasis his brooding persona and badassery)

Sorry if it came venting as I enjoy Kirito a lot in both ways, but find an issue on implications of female gender -> more interesting character/main lead among feminine-looking guys on SAO's tag lately (idk,I guess people in general think Kirito currently is so bad that any fan depiction of him is always going to gain more following over them looking any deeper on what was lost in the transition to anime and finding out his real enjoyable character in the light novels, like how he has clear fetish for describing male guys in pretty romantic ways at times or just having really dorky quips to say)

This got really long now sorry about that too 😥

I haven’t been able to read the Light novels yet (😭) so I’m currently an anime only fan. I genuinely love SAO so much but I don’t think it has the best of writing? Guilty pleasure type of show except I’ve been working on the not feeling guilty part lol.

My blog is centered around the headcanon that Kirito is a trans girl. I personally think this due to her behavior throughout the series, the particularly the Phantom Bullet arc (for obvious reasons). As such, a lot of the people who follow me also have the same headcanon, and many also believe that SAO as a whole would be better if Kirito was canonically female.

Personally, I don’t think the story of SAO would really change, because for me Kirito canonically ring a girl would mean her still being trans. I think the general idea comes from the fact that one of the themes in the show is your online self often being more “real” or true to your beliefs and person than your real life self. Kirito being trans adds into this theme in a very fascinating and nuanced way.

There’s also the fact that after SAO gained popularity, many isekais were made after with the same general format, including the base for their protagonist. It’s kinda a jokey way of saying “If Kirito was a girl, we probably wouldn’t have gotten so many crappy Kirito clones throughout the years”. It’s not really anything meant to be taken seriously, at least I don’t think so lol

As I said previously, many of my followers share this belief simply because of what my blog is about. Even though I’ve explained what I think they mean, you still might be upset by it, and that’s perfectly okay! However, if that’s the case, I recommend either not interacting with or even blocking my blog. Your enjoyment of this franchise shouldn’t be hindered by other people, and that means taking the steps to make sure you curate your experience, so everyone can have fun!

Anyways, sorry for the essay lol. Transfem Kirito Truther OUT!

[maddmuses]

Re: Naruto's physique and fitness routine

Time for weird fringe meta posts from Madd again. So broadly speaking, the anime and manga both simplify most examples of physique in the Naruto series, this makes sense as both productions were subject to crunch, and the physique of many characters was rarely a matter of detail.

But y'all know I'm a tad on the weird side so I'm going to talk about it.

Among animanga it's not entirely uncommon for a MC to be the "median" physically among the cast. Not too tall, not too short, not too big, not too thing. Unless possessing a specific quality is pertinent to their character, often through the narrative, such as Sena in Eyeshield 21 or Gon in hiatusXhiatus, it's rarely deviated from.

Accordingly, most drawings of Naruto's body are never showing anything exceptional as a young adult, although the anime (and manga towards the end) did portray him as a chubby kid he had a tendency to thin out before 13. If you want to know the source of this info it is found in Naruto 538.

This means that shinobi training, or at least the kind we know Naruto to get up to based on his training menus in both pieces of media, are very cardio intensive, as well he probably simply lost the weight. Though this weight loss is more than apparent, his physique on the anime side is a bit inconsistent and undetailed. Referring to the images towards the top of this post of the senjutsu training vs. what follows here:

Basically no toning lines defining or suggesting the muscles in his abdomen, which are definitely tones per above and here

Overall this is a good reference point. Throughout Shippuden, Naruto's build is definitely thin, but developed, so wiry would probably be the shorthand. It's evident that he can achieve significant physical feats both with and without chakra, consistent with a character who does a lot of calisthenics.

Being that Naruto is 5'6" tall during the Shippuden databooks (data on further physical growth uncertain after age 16/17ish but likely) it becomes apparent that this is probably a baseline build for most shinobi who are capable at taijutsu, but not strictly specialized, with an emphases on agility. Contrary to popular fandom perception, though Naruto's actual hitting style and close-up tactics tend to not be pretty, he is agile and mostly is mobile throughout a fight, particularly when employing the use of his shadow clones. A decent example can be found in ED 15.

Though he's adaptive through it depending on his opponent, the fact is that his style is pretty "hard" with a key emphasis on moving explosively and staying within striking range of his opponent. It's why her pursues his opponent even when dodging, and really only modulates his firing range against Tenten who is armed with a bo. We know it's a hard style, particularly when fighting Lee, as it's practically identical. One could probably call this "Strong Fist lite" as he's not employing any of the inherently exhausting techniques that require him to leap and flash step distances, but it's still tiring to stay that mobile even after four brief spars.

Seeing as it's not that different from what Konohamaru uses, and Naruto has the access, it's fair to assess that this is a pretty common style of fighting in Konoha, and thus a body that's optimal to use it is consistent among characters like Naruto and Lee who have these body types (and to a degree Konohamaru who does develop a similar build in adulthood).

Overall a body type that is compact and flexible is what we can extrapolate a detailed design of Naruto to be having. Particularly, while sleight, Naruto's shoulders are on the slightly broad side compared to other men who engage in this fashion of training, inheriting a slightly wideset nature from his Uzumaki family (pictured: his ancestor) and his mother, who was frequently compared to a tomato as a girl, and has more of a pear or rectangular shape to her body. This would probably also extend to his middle too, meaning he probably wouldn't develop an "inverted triangle" but rather more trapezoidal.

Overall I'm operating under the assumption that Naruto, beyond age 15, starts to develop some serious definition, though the mass doesn't start to become impressive until 17. Beyond that point, his mass never becomes offputtingly heavy, as maintenance of a body that is quick enough to conduct his style of taijutsu is necessary. Stylistically I would compare it to real-life De Niro or Lee, rather a point somewhere between them:

So overall, I think Naruto's actual regiment/menu as an adult includes:

-Taijutsu Sparring (when he can get it) -Weighted Free-Running Cardio around Konohagakure (at least an hour on an optimal day, but most days will go for roughly 20 km/12 miles per day) -Muscle Group-Targeted Weight Lifting (Based on day but has specific days for arms, chest, back, and legs) -10x10 calisthenics (pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats) on a light day -15x10 calisthenics on a moderate day -20x10 calisthenics on a heavy day -10x100 punches on a heavy bag (still dressed like Kakashi)(Weight supplemented on leg and back days) -Meditation (15 minutes on a heavy day, 20 minutes on a moderate day, 30 minutes on a light day, 5/10/15 minutes practicing senjutsu meditation) -Practice Ninjutsu (30 minutes minimum, rounds up remaining time until training completion depending on the day)

Naruto's general training block in a day can range from 4-6 hours, though he will do 8 hours for an especially intense experience when he is a young adult and more or less doing only missions.

That's the post ig, have a good day!

[thatwitchrevan]

I must take a moment to be grateful that Rex DID survive the war, did NOT kill his Jedi, and did NOT die at Ahsoka's hand in Order 66.

And even more so that Ahsoka lived, the kid we never would've expected to survive because she was Anakin's padawan (except she didn't exist in RotS) so it would've been easy, expected, for Vader or the clones to take her out, or for her to die on Malachor, or so many other times. And it's not even that she's able to avoid danger, because she's always right there in the most dangerous situation she can be put it. But she lives, because she has Filoni-enforced plot armor is an effing badass.

These characters were created for Clone Wars and could've died in it to further demonstrate the horrors of the war, and yet..they fucking made it. Filoni could have done it to us and just this once, just in this way, we were spared. Thank fuck.

[bego447]

❤Post Explaning Maul's Death🖤

⚠❗SPOILERS Episode I, TCW and Rebels.

✨ HAPPY MAY 4 (May 4th), STAR WARS DAY TO EVERYONE! ✨

With the premiere of the 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' series getting closer, I decided to make this post to explaion the death of Darth Maul, as I have seen many people upset with the end of this character, precisely for not understanding it well or not realizing everything involved in this remarkable scene of 'Rebels'.

It's more than it seems: references and details that make it one of the most perfect Star Wars moments. Pure poetry. It is the culmination of Maul, mythical character and with one of the best arcs after his return in 'The Clone Wars', the end of the journey that began in 'Episode I: The Phantom Menace'.

I will not deepen the history of Obi-Wan and Maul as it is very long, but I will make a brief reminder:

The enmity between these 2 goes back to the mentioned Phantom Menace, when the still young Padawan cuts the Sith in half after he killed his Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Paths of revenge, hatred and enmity continue throughout The Clone Wars until 30 years later it comes to an end in Rebels season 3, episode 20: Twin Suns.

And after this context, I'll get to the point of what I want to explain here: their last confrontation.

We see that Obi-Wan really doesn't want to fight Maul and doesn't turn on his lightsaber until he mentions Luke (in an indirect way).

At first, Kenobi takes on his typical stance that we see many times (arm forward with two fingers stretched out and the one holding the sword further back).

But later, he switches to the pose of his Master Qui-Gon just before he dies (lightsaber gripped with both hands and held close to his body).

The look on Maul's face at that moment says that he knows what he has to do to defeat him, because he already killed Qui-Gon once in that same way.

Obi-Wan knows this and knows exactly what Maul is going to do, because that's how he killed his Master and Kenobi has it stuck in his mind.

The change of stance is a trap to tempt Maul, that's why Kenobi defeats him in only 3 moves, which if we look at Qui-Gon's death, they match.

His story is long. There was no need for a super long fight, we've already seen them both fight on several occasions.

They've both had years to think about that moment.

Maul wanted to kill Obi-Wan the same way he killed his master, and it cost him so much.

By his expression, Obi-Wan didn't want to kill him, but it was what he had to do to protect Luke: he is the Chosen One or at least the key to access him (Vader/Anakin).

That's why he turns on the lightsaber when Maul references that he's protecting someone (Luke). He has no other choice.

However history is repeated….

In Episode I, Obi-Wan holds Qui-Gon in his arms, his Master killed by Maul.

In The Clone Wars, he holds Satine, the love of his life, killed by Maul.

And at the end, in Rebels, we have Kenobi holding Maul in the same way.

Obi-Wan is one of the characters who suffers the most, and even though he has lost everything (his master, love, brother, his order, his lifestyle, the Republic…), he never changes and always remains true to himself and his ideals, preserving the nobility of this character.

Both Obi-Wan and Maul are characters who have suffered a lot and have lost everything throughout their lives, but their relationship, even if it was enmity, has always been present and when it finally ends after so many years, Obi-Wan closes Maul's eyes with sorrow and pain.

It is even likely that that small token of affection and compassion in his death was the kindest and most unintentional thing Maul ever had in his life, at the hands of the one who was his enemy for so long. You could almost say that Kenobi was the closest thing he had to a friend.

It also seems that Maul's obsession with Obi-Wan was more than just hatred. That enmity was a constant in his life for many, many years and the only thing that seems to give some meaning to his life in all that time. It's partially because of that that he's alive.

That's why when Maul goes to Tatooine (precisely the planet where his journey began), looking for Obi-Wan, he's ready for a confrontation. He doesn't care if he lives or dies. Anyway, if he killed Obi-Wan, what other purpose was his life going to have with the years-long struggle finished?

So that showdown between the two Force users was going to be the definitive end for Maul. Win or lose, it was the end of his journey.

Finally I have made a short video in which is more visual everything I explain in this post.

As an extra curiosity: the 1st and last time Maul and Obi-Wan face each other, Maul has a double-bladed sword, but not in between.

And that would be all. Sorry if I've gone on too long somewhere. 😅 And thank you very much for reading. 😊

Comment if you found it helpful, liked it, or if it made you think and change your mind at all. And also let me know if you want more posts like this one. 🤗

Thank you for your time! Happy May 4th Star Wars Day! And May the Force be with you, always! 💛🖤

[meggannn]

guerrilla does something interesting in HZD with aloy and her motivations and how they let her goals differ from the player's goals. most of the time when a main character's driving goals differ from the audience's, it means the writing has misfired and it feels jarring when you shine a spotlight on it. but it definitely works in HZD because guerilla knew what the player's immediate interests would be—they open their game with huge scenic shots of a pre-industrial community contrasted with these enormous robot dinosaurs! they want you to be sucked into the mystery of why things are the way they are—and they also knew going in that they had had to tie the player's interests to aloy's goals as a character (john gonzalez, the narrative director, talks about it a bit in this interview). and over time, the two start to bleed over as aloy starts to care about the old ones and we start to care more about her. i don't know if they'll continue this strategy in HFW, but they've set themselves up in a really unique situation with the contrast of aloy's focus on the present/future and the audience's interest (mostly) in the past.

i've been trying to find a way to articulate the ideas in this post for a while, and i am really tired so forgive me if this gets redundant or some sentences don't make sense lol. spoilers for HZD obv

in HZD, aloy, the motherless outcast, is largely concentrated on finding out the mystery of her origins. i mean hopefully we, the player, are also interested in that because it's a pretty unique set up (it's not possible for someone to not have a birth mother... right?), but i'm willing to bet that most of the audience was overwhelmingly more interested in figuring out what the hell happened to the old ones of this world (us) and why robots are wandering around everywhere, than we were about figuring out what happened to aloy's mom. (i'm aware that is a large assumption, but i think it's a pretty safe one considering the reactions i see when people finish the game usually mention APOLLO in some way, or ask if it's still around or there's a way to bring it back.)

for aloy, the status quo of robots-that-nobody-really-understands wandering around is just a constant of her life, and discovering her mother is her pressing issue. for us, this world's major differences between our world (why did we die off and why are robots now the dominant species on earth) are more fascinating. so guerrilla ties the micro and macro mysteries together so that we are also interested in aloy's journey about her origins: by making the story of her birth and the history of the world woven into the same narrative fabric

aloy even directly says "it (finding out info on the past) isn't why i'm here" and sylens replies sarcastically "of course, what's the whole of human history compared to the search of one girl?" it isn't until after aloy realizes she's a clone, that she doesn't have a traditional birth mother, when she faces the nora and decides to stop HADES because GAIA asked her to, in a sign of extreme maturity and character growth (imo), does her goal of helping GAIA by beating HADES now start to align with the player's goals of trying to "set the world right" (by helping GAIA by beating HADES).

it's interesting because if anything, sylens, the anti-hero and arguable deuteragonist, is the character whose goals most match up with the audience's own throughout HZD: he's the one who is seeking out the knowledge of the old ones, he's the one who mourns losing APOLLO the way we do. aloy doesn't really react to what became of APOLLO at all (when it's revealed what happened to it, her immediate response is sorrow over the alphas' deaths, the more human element compared to sylens's laser focus on info-hunting). sylens is... also a total asshole and might be an anti-villain in the upcoming games (i hope not; i hope he's more of a rogue agent than an actual villain, personally) so it will be interesting if the audience eventually starts feeling torn between aloy's goals (save the world today) and sylens's (recover what can be saved the world of the old ones)

for aloy, APOLLO's absence is not a loss because she's never known a world without the knowledge of the old ones. why does she care about expending energy to hunt for info on our music and art and politics and wars? how does shifting through datapoints about things she doesn't understand and tools/tech she doesn't have access to help the planet today? after discovering GAIA's origins and purpose, i'm sure she'd probably be interested in recovering APOLLO if there is anything left of it to recover—even she's only interested in it to honor samina/elisabet's memory and the effort of PZD—but a lot of the fandom (myself included) keeps hoping and speculating and wondering if APOLLO is still around because APOLLO is the audience, or rather, it's the last scraps of what's left of us. we have an interest in APOLLO but aloy never shows any interest in or sorrow over it besides to vaguely wonder what happened to it. her interests are in the here and now.

when the audience looks at her world, we see what we've lost, and we know APOLLO is a way to get some of it back. for aloy, she's definitely engaged and interested in the old ones' technology and wants to make sure PZD's work is continued and restored and rebuild GAIA, so if APOLLO turns out to be around i'm sure she'd be interested in it, but for now, she's got too many things going on to consider it a priority. and even if she did, it would have to come after she's taken care of the immediate threats of the other chaotic subfunctions; and she would have to justify the time and energy spent on APOLLO to the value it gives her world (a world that doesn't utilize focuses as much as PZD had hoped, and a world whose language has likely changed enough that they might not even understand what they were being told) because she'd have to do it for her world. her world is already here, the old ones' world is gone, and her world the one that needs saving, not the possibility of bringing the old ones' back

so guerrilla has set themselves up with something very interesting here imo where the protag and the audience have mostly aligned but largely separate primary interests and i'm very curious to see how these interests will keep aligning, or not, in the future. personally i think they'll make the main focus of the series discovering and befriending the subfunctions and restoring GAIA, while also wrestling with modern-day politics in an effort to start preparing contemporary groups of people for a more holistic understanding of nature and machines, with the hopes of preparing them for GAIA's return and a future where they 1. take care of the planet and 2. stop attacking machines for parts lol. and i think they'll drag out the mystery of APOLLO possibly still being around until the end (assuming there will be 3 or more games).

personally, when i look at what we've been given so far (everything could change when HFW comes out), i could go either way on if APOLLO is still actually around or not. it would be an interesting (if expected) twist, but i wouldn't want it as wish fulfillment; i wouldn't want it to be used as a cheat that suddenly means ted faro's harm can be negated, or brought back as a HEA in a way that implies knowledge will suddenly be used and spread equally or even easily. also we should consider APOLLO is now an AI of its own! it will have opinions and things and the will to act on them!

discounting the overwhelmingly difficult logistics of introducing APOLLO to a new world that has evolved without its involvement from its inception, if APOLLO comes back in the way the we, the audience, want it to, then spreading several millennia's worth of knowledge to several diverse, warring peoples is full of difficult challenges that you are now suddenly introducing; aloy + GAIA + co. would now be in charge of not only taking care of humans on this spinning ball called earth, but also educating them equally and fairly. it's a huge task to introduce on aloy's already very busy schedule! so frankly i wouldn't be surprised if they wrote APOLLO off and went with an "it sucks but we have to make the most of the world the old ones left us" angle—or, alternatively, have aloy (or sylens!) dedicate the rest of her life traveling and hunting down and/or spreading what remains of APOLLO'S knowledge?

idk! there's a lot to dissect here about what guerrilla is doing and where APOLLO fits in as both a possible ally/villain and a narrative tool to keep us interested (it is a carrot on the stick for the audience)! and i find it all very interesting!!

[lightlavenders]

Time for my Entrapdak rant (a.k.a. why Hordak was better for her than literally anyone else, a.k.a. I’m not bias I swear)

as I read through Entrapta/Hordak/princess gang discourse on this site I started to realise the reason why I loved Entrapdak so much in the first place, and I will now talk about that here (some of these points are stolen from better posts). ALSO no matter how much I shit on other characters just know this isn’t an attack of any of them. This is gonna be VERY ENTRAPTA FOCUSED.

OK SO we get introduced to Entrapta pretty early in season 1 and we get to learn a lot about her. It also quickly becomes clear that she’s neurodivergent - something confirmed to be intentional by many of the creators. Entrapta has a passion for technology, science and inventing, and (same as the previous princesses) the best friend squad decide they need her in the alliance so she can build them weapons (whICH SHE NEVER ACTUALLY DOES i think BUT THATS NOT THE POINT). 

Throughout the episode though, the squad (mostly Glimmer bc she’s the one who gets to closely interact with Entrapta the most... Adora being completely out of it and Bow with the kitchen staff) seems to slowly run out of patience for her - Glimmer very obviously puts up a front of tolerance despite her frustration. This is unlike the other episodes, where all the princesses get along in the end and become best friends oh boy! So... we have our only neurodivergent character so far who isn’t really welcomed into the group the same way as the others... and her autistic behaviour is only tolerated because they need her... okay, maybe that’ll change later.

Or not? When Entrapta joins the others on the quest to save Glimmer, she is constantly infantilised by the others and not taken seriously. She runs off to study Horde tech and actually helps rescue Sea Hawk, two very helpful things, but Perfuma talks down to her like a child and PUTS HER ON A LEASH? SHE’S 30!!! SHE WAS TRYING TO HELP! And no one tells Sea Hawk off for getting lost and alerting Scorpia to their presence, which wasn’t helpful at all. Then later, Mermista says she’ll keep an eye on her “in case she decides to befriend any more robots” like okay... she isn’t a child, and she didn’t run off because she wanted to play with robots or something?

Okay, so, Entrapta is left behind, which I won’t blame them for because it definitely looked like she died (they get over it pretty quickly but I digress), and she comes across Catra. Okay! Here’s a chance for Entrapta to make a true friend, right? Or not, because Entrapta and Catra’s friendship is built entirely on manipulation. At least Scorpia was sincere. 

Here Entrapta is again, in a position where she’s being used for her skills and in a we’re-sort-of-friends-but-I-only-tolerate-you-because-you’re-useful situation, with Scorpia probably being her only true friend at the moment. She starts helping out the horde, because they actually let her do what she wants and at the very least don’t treat her like a child. Then, she stumbles into Hordak’s lab.

I’m gonna say this now because I’ll get murdered if I don’t - Hordak is a bad guy. He does bad guy stuff. But so does Entrapta sometimes (I’ll talk about that later) so good morals don’t need to play into their relationship I think. It’s about how they treat each other.

At first, Hordak is very defensive and angry towards Entrapta, as he would be to anyone coming in to his lab without permission and discovering his secret portal project. But then she fixes said portal and he immediately sees her as an intellectual equal. Again, Entrapta has had to prove herself to someone by making herself useful, but it actually goes further. ALSO can I say how Hordak is the ONLY person who interacts directly with Entrapta who doesn’t treat her like a child or emotionally manipulate her, with the exception of Wrong Hordak, Emily, and Imp of all characters... Even Scorpia is guilty of this later.

So, Entrapta and Hordak start working together, and Entrapta is obviously very excited to have someone treat her as an equal (they’re lab partners!!). On top of that, Hordak is also happy to have someone he can actually trust. Catra and Scorpia at separate times both remark on how Entrapta spends all of her time with him now, and who can fucking blame her when he’s the only one that has literally spent all this time growing close to her and understanding her as a person, not just using her, not just tolerating her, not talking down to her constantly. Hordak opens up his trauma to Entrapta and she responds by opening up a bit in return, literally saying that she doesn’t fit in and that Catra doesn’t even talk to her anymore. They are obviously comfortable around each other, and if Hordak was manipulating her, then why was he so distraught when she was taken away? Why did he CRY??? Why did he consider giving up on his life’s purpose and abandoning what is essentially his god for her???

Anyway, stuff happens, and Entrapta shows that she isn’t the irresponsible child everyone thinks she is by agreeing to shut off the portal. But of course, Catra betrays her and sends her away. To die. How nice. Catra tells Hordak that Entrapta betrayed him, and instead of flipping out and turning all Hal Stewart incel “if I can’t have you no one can” he just gets sad... and then later all he really wants is to see her again, even if it is on the battlefield. I’m not sure what he would’ve done so we can’t say for sure, but I seriously doubt he wanted to hurt her.

sidenote - I’m not gonna blame Scorpia for letting Catra doing this, Scorpia had her own shit going on and was essentially trapped in an abusive relationship and she also later makes up for letting Entrapta down by getting her rescued

SO then the best friend squad go to save her from Beast Island, and she’s literally completely given up. Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because it seems like every friend she’s ever had has abandoned her, scolded her, or outright zapped her unconscious and sent her to die in a monster filled island? But the squad save her and affirm to her that they didn’t give up on her and that they’re still her friends. Actions speak louder than words, guys, but okay, cool! To Bow and Adora’s credit, they were the least patronising and mean out of anyone... so, that’s something. Anyway! Affirmations! Some respect from her friends! I hope this lasts... 

It didn’t! Season 5, Entrapta goes along with the others to help find out where Glimmer is. Here is where I quickly have to say something - Entrapta does indeed make some ‘evil’ and stupid decisions sometimes - hacking the black garnet, building robots that attack her old friends, walking out absentmindedly in front of a robot and compromising her team. Some of these things can be explained by her neurodivergence, but do not always justify it. That being said. Entrapta is not evil, she is not stupid, and her “weirdness” does not give her friends the excuse to treat her like a child. 

Here’s where it gets bad!! Perfuma puts Entrapta on a leash AGAIN!!!!!! WHAT? Writers? Wyd?? Not only this, but the others talk about her behind her back, and then scold her without any consideration for how she, as a neurodivergent person, was interpreting the situation. They could’ve explained their feelings to her in a calm way, instead of shunning her and expecting her to pick up on their cues, then exploding at her when they didn’t. THEN THEY CALL HER A BAD FRIEND.... and I feel hypocrisy in this chili’s tonight... and then Scorpia... doesn’t say anything? Girl help. Ik we can’t totally blame her since she was new to the squad and probably didn’t wanna get kicked out or yelled at like with Catra, but please... that is your friend...say something. also why did mermista need to pull her hair and then later say “you’re still a weirdo” like what. why do people ship them? because mermista cried when entrapta ‘died’? Okay??

I think Entrapta actually goes through some character development after this which is pretty cool - she outwardly expresses her concern for Glimmer, which is affirming to her friends the squad, and later at the end of the series, intentionally keeps herself focused during the most high stakes moment instead of running off. I’m not qualified to talk about if these traits, which could be considered traits of autistic people, deserve to be treated as flaws to be fixed, that’s a whole other bag of worms, but yay character development.

Finally, at the end, Hordak properly reunites with Entrapta and he decides to rebel against his creator and his purpose to save her life, showing that Entrapta, and their connection, is his priority now. And once Adora saves Hordak from Prime (thanks Adora), the two finally reunite in a spinning hug - that is literally the most physical contact either of them have had with anyone, how could anyone not believe in their connection and mutual trust???

Mermista gives us one last jab, an understandable one considering Hordak was conquering their planet for years on end, but still - “so, are we all just like, okay with this?” yes girl, we are. He’s literally the only one who ever treated her with real respect and love, the only one who ever prioritised her.

I know some people are gonna be like “just ship her with wrong Hordak” and if you really like that... go ahead I guess? But do we need to force a clone who just got control of his own mind into a relationship, or a girl who is very much in love with someone else into a relationship with one of her friends? You can do what you want though, it’s literally fine, I’m the one who just spent over 1500 words talking about why a 30 year old science woman should go out with an alien warlord.

In conclusion - Hordak and Entrapta deserve each other, because Entrapta deserves someone who treats her right, and I love her.

[djarrex]

Countermeasures || 3

Anomaly

Fives x ofc!reader

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Rating: 18+ only

Word Count: 5.7k

chapter summary: Agreeing to help Fives proves to be both good and bad.

warnings: canon character death, a sprinkle of fluff (Fives can be soft but we all know he’s quite the opposite in the right contexts 😉), a dash of sexual tension, a dollop of groping, tons of inappropriate thoughts - lordy lord get some cold water splashed on them

note: I broke away from including Fives’ POV in this chapter. It may come back in the future, idk yet. This is the first real series I’ve written and I’m extremely grateful for the pals I’ve met on here who reblog and like my work <3 Tbh I’m having a ton of fun writing this because not only does it give me an excuse to watch the conspiracy arc a bunch of times for the details but I also get to write about Renna and Fives and I love them both and I just want them to fuck already.

***

This was crazy. How did you of all people end up in a situation such as this.

By “this”, you were referring to the strong embrace you were trapped in - the ARC trooper you’re shamefully crushing on being the captor.

No, you definitely were not complaining. 

After agreeing to help him, Fives you pulled into his body, his strong arms finding their way around your back holding you steady. Large palms nearly covered the expanse of your back, the heat from his skin burning holes right through your outer layers and into your flesh. Your face was practically smushed into his broad chest, your arms dangling awkwardly at your sides. The weight of Fives’ chin was pressing into your scalp. So many thoughts were swimming in your head as Fives held you as tight as he could without hurting you. 

He was... hugging you. To be completely honest, you thought the two of you would fuck - or at least do something along those lines - before he hugged you. It was the energy he possessed that led you to that conclusion, but you were proven wrong. 

You didn’t fight it - you knew how much it meant to him. These clones - these soldiers - were covered in plastoid from head to toe all day every day throughout their unfortunately short lives, and you figured they must be at least somewhat touch-starved. The way Fives held you was different than you thought he was capable of. You weren’t naïve; you knew the clones took off their armor at certain points, and hey, you knew that they even would have sex in their short spurts of time off. You read reports on clones who had contracted STD’s from their adventurous endeavors and were sent here to be treated. Even though they were created in a lab for the sole purpose of fighting in this ridiculous war, they were still men.

You wanted to keep up some at least some semblance of professionalism - to not touch Fives back, because quite honestly your body wanted more - but your heart started aching, and your body acted against your brain as your arms returned the embrace. 

Fives was thick. The clones as a whole aren’t huge men; they aren’t fed nearly enough - that much you knew - and are relatively slim with a very low percentage of body fat compared to all the muscle they were designed to have. They’re not that much taller than you, either. However, you’ve never held a clone before. Fives’ back was like a bag of ropes; hard, thick, and you felt every single muscle so beautifully poking out of his skin even through the tunic. You allowed your hands to splay out over his back - to really feel him. You were completely lost in this moment, but you heard it - barely noticeable, but you heard it - Fives inhaled quietly through his nose, taking in your hair’s scent. You knew deep down that he didn’t mean for you to notice him smelling your hair, so you didn’t mention it. Butterflies flapped around in your stomach - then the butterflies quickly floated away and that feeling was exchanged with pure lust; the fire in your belly burning hot with desire. 

You don’t know how long you held each other, but you needed to break away from him and get back to the matters at hand. You agreed to help him, and that’s what you’ll do. Maybe he’ll be so thankful for your help he’ll “hug” you again later.

“You do you have a plan, right, mister ARC trooper?” Breaking away from his embrace, you tried to shake your mind clear of any thoughts that didn’t include Tup.

“Of course I have a plan!” Fives’ tone suggested he was attempting to play off what had just happened, and it was cute. He walked over to the darkened window and kept his back turned to you. Perhaps he was trying to clear his thoughts as well. You wouldn’t know, but Fives was barely breathing in through his nose so that your scent lingered in his nostrils for as long as possible.

“Care to share?” You called to him, and Fives paused for a few moments before responding.

“Are you able to access all the equipment without the supervision of the long-necks?” He finally turned around, his brows raised. You blinked at him, just a little dumbfounded and slightly offended.

“Yes, Fives. Maker, I know how to work the kriffing equipment. I don’t need a babysitter.” You rolled your eyes then squinted them at him, crossing your arms to your chest with a huff.

“That’s not what I meant,” Fives chuckled as he approached you once again and placed a hand on your shoulder. “I meant, are you going to get in trouble if you’re working alone in there?” His gaze bore into you, making you feel slightly uneasy. Yeah, you knew how to work everything, of course. But this was all new territory for you; working - unauthorized – on a patient who wasn’t yours, performing an atomic brain scan unsupervised, breaking protocol…

“I- I’m not actually sure. I’ve never been explicitly told to not touch anything without them being there? I think it will be okay. It’s just that- that Dr. Nala Se said no to the scan. I don’t think she’ll like that I went behind her back and did it anyway. Although��� I want to try everything in my power to save your friend.”

“Right. Then let’s get to it.”

“I’m sorry - let’s? You’re coming too? That doesn’t seem like a good-”

“It’ll be fine,” Fives quickly interjected. His confident tone faded with the next part: “Please. I want to be there - be there for Tup.” There they were again, those puppy dog eyes that get you every time. You doubt Fives even knows he’s doing it, but he had to catch on by now because you basically have never said no to him in the few short days you’ve known him. Your attraction to him made you break over and over again; this time was no different.

“Okay, fine. But you need to stay hidden.”

“I’m ‘Mr. ARC Trooper’, remember? I’ve been trained in the arts of being sneaky.” Wiggling his fingers and brows at you with a cheeky grin, you laughed and punched him in the shoulder. His grin only grew.

“Yeah whatever. Just follow me.”

You were the first to exit Fives’ room, peeking your head just outside the door to get a feel of the surrounding area. No guards in sight at the moment, so now was the perfect time to go.

“Quickly,” you stepped outside the room, motioning with your hand for Fives to follow. It didn’t take long to get next door, of course.

You pressed the controls on the panel and the door whisked opened; you shooed Fives in first. As soon as he entered, two guards came around the corner. You obviously didn’t want to look like you were doing something you weren’t supposed to, so you put on your best smile and nodded to the oncoming troopers. They nodded back and turned at the next corridor that led away from Tup’s room.

You stood there for a moment, just outside the room - thinking. You were obviously crazy, no doubt about that. You were breaking protocol, and basically risking your internship and everything you had worked for up to this point for Fives (and Tup). It was the right thing to do, right? Your insane crush on the ARC trooper aside, you were going through with all of this because it was the right thing to do. It definitely wasn’t right that the Kaminoans wanted to kill Tup off without entertaining more options and trying other procedures. It all seemed very… weird. As doctors, wouldn’t they want to try every possible way to find a solution without skipping over it all and just killing him? Although, why waste more time and resources when the “obvious” solution was to terminate him and find the answers through an autopsy? Maybe you should give it more time – Shaak Ti could be back soon with the Jedi Council’s backing. Maybe it wasn’t too late to back out – to turn around and coax Fives back into his room before you were both caught.

The moment was over when Fives’ hand reached out to grab your wrist, unceremoniously pulling you into the room. You nearly tripped as he yanked you inside, a murmured “hey!” subconsciously rolled off your tongue at the rough pull.

“Sorry, Renna.” He shut the door behind you, giving you an apologetic smile. “Did- did I hurt you? Sometimes I forget my own strength... I’m not used to manhandling pretty and delicate things.” Okay, let’s push that comment aside and table it for later on when you’re alone in your quarters.

Fives reached out to examine your wrist but you flapped your hands at him, “Really, I’m okay. Seriously.” You weren’t lying - it didn’t hurt. If you told him the absolute truth, you would tell him how you wished he’d manhandle you in other ways.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Knowing how quickly you had to work for this entire plan to play out smoothly, you immediately made your way over to the controls and started tapping away. You turned your head to check on Fives – to see how he was planning on participating – and he was just frozen in place standing over Tup’s cot. Tup was still unconscious; his chest rising and falling rapidly in his comatose, shut eyelids flickering back and forth.

“Fives, push him over there.” You pointed at the scanner on the other side of the room with your back still turned as you tapped away at the screens, prepping the equipment. With one last tap of the screen, the scanner descended from the ceiling and Fives pushed Tup’s cot into it.

Tup’s chest rose and fell at an alarming rate, compelling you to consider - again - about turning back and aborting this plan altogether.

Fives came around the other side of the scanner where you watched the infrared picture of Tup’s brain from display screen, snapping you out of the thought.

“The scan’s almost complete.”

Fives moved in front of you and leaned closer to the screen, you shuffled to the side to give him to space. Your eyes unglued from the screen for just a moment to watch Fives; he was desperate. The look in his eyes told you that much, and his stance wasn’t as strong and sure as it always seemed to default to.

Your focus made way back to the screen. “Everything… appears to be normal.” Just as you said that the screen starting beeping; a red dot was blinking, pinpointing an anomaly in Tup’s brain.

“W- wait a second.” You softly pushed Fives out of the way and read the results displayed on the screen.

“What? What is it, Ren?” Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of his little nickname for you, but there were more important things currently at hand. You can freak out about the way he says your name like that later.

“It looks like Tup has developed a tumor.” Your fingers started tapping away yet again. You’ve never seen a tumor in clones before. To be fair, you had never worked with clones like this before, but you’ve seen more than enough of their files to know that a tumor wasn’t exactly something that could just appear in a clone.

“A tumor? Is that even possible?”

“I’ve never seen anything like this in clones. Not in any of the files.” You ceased tapping, turning around to face Fives. His hand raked through his hair, a pure look of confusion and worry on his face.

“Then… what is it?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ll need to do a biopsy to be sure.” With a nod, you offered a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay, Fives. We’ll get this straightened out, and you and Tup will be off this stormy planet and back to your brothers in no time.” You weren’t sure you even believed your words.

“You’re gonna take it out of him?” Before you could answer, Fives whacked the tools all over the ground with one graceless hand movement. Your eyes widened as he bent down to grab at the mess. “Do you, uh, think anyone heard that?”

You raised your brow at him, and with a sarcastic tone, “The probability is high, yes.” You sighed. “You need to hide.”

Smacking his hands away as he continued to pick up the mess, you hissed, “Fives, hide.”

“I think it came from this room.” You both shot up; you ran over and pushed Tup out of the tube and started to power it down at the controls as Fives took cover under Tup’s floating cot. Interesting that an ARC Trooper chose that as a hiding place.

The door whisked opened. Nala Se stood at the entrance, looking around. Her bug-eyes landed right on you, then glanced over to Tup.

“Hello, Doctor.” Your tone was astonishingly calm despite the absolute terror currently running through your system.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She entered through the threshold and made her way over to Tup, assessing his condition with a scowl.

“I was only trying to save the patient,” You informed her, keeping your tone calm and professional. You were ignored, however. Apparently, Fives was not so great at cleaning up his messes, because one leftover syringe sat on the ground right below the Kaminoan’s heels. She reached down to grab it, and your heart started racing. You blurted out, “Doctor, I found something unusual in the scan. It appears to be a tumor… I think you should take a look-”

“You performed a second scan without my authorization?” Nala Se stood upright; the forgotten syringe grasped in her three slender fingers. How did she not see Fives down there? Uh oh… where did he go?

Your heart rate slowed. “Apologies, Doctor. I was only trying to-”

“Perhaps I made the mistake in assuming you’d be ready to work with the clones.” Nala Se turned around to shut off the remaining equipment; machines began powering off as they whirled back in place and Tup’s cot moved back to where it was before you started. One of the larger machines floated away, leaving Fives completely exposed. Ah, so that’s where he went. Your eyes widened as you looked between Fives’ shocked expression and Nala Se, who was still turned around and tapping at the controls. As much as you dreaded pressing further on, you needed to buy Fives enough time to make an escape back to his own room.

“But- but the tumor, Doctor. It seems to be blocking neuro-impulses from communicating with the brain. I think we should scan the rest of the clones to see if this is a problem with their base genetic model or a mutation with the current models.” The machines were all now back in place; you scanned the room with your eyes, hoping to not catch a glimpse of Fives.

“There is no tumor. Your scan is incorrect.” Nala Se departed the control panel, ambling over to the other side of the room. You really hope Fives had fled by now. Might as well keep on pressing, though. It did interest you that the Kaminoan doctor was so avidly trying to disregard what you were saying about a tumor. That was a thread you figured you should follow.

“But-”

“This clone clearly has a virus that remains undetected, but I will find the cause once he’s terminated.” You followed Nala Se until she reached Tup’s cot, her back turned to the exit. “Now leave. I’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

“Yes, Doctor.” You turned on your heels and walked out the already open door. You turned your head to watch Nala Se; she was still standing over Tup, but you were unsure of what she was doing. Something really didn’t seem right with this. You nearly crashed into Fives in the hall as you departed Tup’s room.

“I can’t believe they’re going to kill Tup!” Fives shouted in disbelief after you both had made your way back into his room and shut the door. Fives shoved the empty cot to the other side of the room, clearly frustrated.

“I know. I’m sorry, Fives.” All you could offer was a sincere apology. It didn’t seem like a great idea at present to bring up how you thought the entire ordeal with Nala Se seemed fishy.

“We were not created to be disposed of this way!” He slammed his fists on the cot, an action that seemed to be fueled by rage, but his eyes told a different story.

“Just- just think of it this way… Tup is sacrificing himself so that other clones like him can survive. Isn’t that something you said he’d want?” You went to reach for him - to offer a gentle reassuring touch - but he backed away.

“There aren’t others like him!” His raised voice prompted you to take a few steps back. You weren’t scared of him, but you understood they he may need some space right now. Maybe it would be best if you retreated to your quarters and called it a day. After all, Nala Se basically sealed your fate by undoubtedly reassigning you to the archives. It probably wasn’t appropriate that you been seen in Fives’ room anymore. Your own selfishness kept you there, though.

“I’m sorry, Ren. I don’t mean to take this out on you, I just-” You allowed yourself to take a few steps towards him. “Tup doesn’t have to die - you found a tumor. I’m sure that’s the cause of all this. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But… how can we proceed? Dr. Nala Se basically reassigned me to the archives. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be here with you anymore. I could get dismissed, sure, but I have no idea what would happen to you.”

“Do the biopsy. I’m sure what you find will prove Tup doesn’t have to die. Your findings would bump you up in the ‘ranks’ I’m sure, and they would have no reason to send you back to filing paperwork.” A beat. “As for me… I’ll be fine.” You both knew that was a lie. You’ve seen what the Kaminoans have done to “defective” clones. It’s all in the files. It’s inhumane. There was no way you’d let that happen to Fives.

“I’m not so sure…. Dr. Nala Se doesn’t believe-”

“We’re not going to Nala Se with whatever you find. We’ll go to General Shaak Ti. She helped me once as a cadet and I know she values the life of a clone.” Now that, that was the truth.

“Fives… I’d be disobeying direct orders.” At this point, you didn’t care what happened to you if you were to go through with this. Fives was who you were concerned with. Not because of a hopeless crush, but because of his status of patient and you sincerely cared about him.

“Yep, and for the second time today,” He jested. Not funny. You scoffed. “Ren…” There they are, yet again - the puppy dog eyes. Those, paired with how he said your name. You’d break for sure. “Will you help me? Please.”

***

“Hurry!” Fives was hunched over the control panel with you, basically micromanaging you even though he had no idea what it was you were doing.

“Fives, you’re going to have to not rush me. I’m not a droid. Give me a kriffing minute.” Your fingers tapped frantically at the screen, hitting button after button until -

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert. All nonessential personnel report to a safe room for lockdown.”

You stood up straight and grinned over at Fives, who looked a little shocked.

“What did you do?” The alert played over again on the intercom.

“I made it so that the security scanners picked up an intruder in section C-6. We need to hurry, though. I doubt it’ll take them long before they realize it’s a false alarm.”

“They taught you how to hack a security mainframe at the fancy medical academy you attended on Coruscant?”

You rolled your eyes at him, hands on your hips. “Is that really important right now?” Fives chuckled and shook his head. Grabbing his wrist, you stretched your head to look outside the door. “They have guards stationed just outside. How are we going to get over there?” You turned towards Fives, who was pulling away from you and looking up at the ceiling. You followed his gaze, and you knew exactly what he was thinking. “The vents?” You sounded a little shocked, but it really was the only safe way out of there. He tilted his head down to look at you, a smile on his face. You snorted.

“Here, I’ll climb up first and then pull you up.” Your looked over at the door again, making sure you weren’t about to get absolutely busted, and grabbed his dangling hands.

You shook your head with a smirk. “You know, I’m starting to wish I had stayed in the archives,” you jested, as Fives hoisted you up and into the vent with him.

You never realized just how creepy it was up in these vents. To be fair, there wasn’t one moment that you would’ve pictured yourself crawling through them, but here you were. It was dark, every movement you made echoed, and it was freezing cold. You – for some reason – were leading the way, crawling through the cold durasteel tunnel. Fives was silent; he wasn’t making any comments, not cracking any jokes, not even expressing his concern for Tup. It dawned on you: he was totally checking out your ass. You had shed your long lab coat before he pulled you up, knowing that it would be harder to crawl with it tugging under your knees. Fives hadn’t yet seen you without it on… and you knew how good your ass looked in the leggings you wore. With a slight chuckle to yourself, you stopped crawling for a moment and looked over your shoulder to glance at him to the best of your ability.

“Fives, are you staring at my ass?” You tried to not let your giddiness get in the way of your accusatory whispering, but you found yourself muffling laughter. He didn’t reply right away – probably trying to think up a comeback or a way to wiggle himself out of the subject.

“Fuck yeah I am,” he murmured back, sounding as cocky as ever. You bit your lip and shook your head, resuming the crawl towards the oncoming exit vent. “I don’t exactly have anything else to look at from back here, you know. I got quite a nice view, so, no complaints.” Your face heated up at his smug comment, resisting the urge to shake your ass for him – to really give him a good view. Now was not the time.

You crawled past the vent so Fives could hop down first; he plopped onto the floor, graceful and stealthy as ever, before standing directly under the vent with his arms held out.

“Common, I’ll catch you.” It really wasn’t a long way down; you’d land just fine, though probably not as gracefully as he did.

“Uh, okay…” You lowered your legs out from the ceiling, keeping your grip on the cool metal for a moment while you steadied yourself. “Fives, I think I got it. I can just hop down like th-” Your grip from the ceiling slipped, sending you down and nearly hitting the floor in the worst way possible, when strong arms found their way under your ass and back.

Fives just saved you from breaking a bone or two, and all you could do was blink up at him as his hand slightly squeezed the plushy part of your ass, the other hand gripped tightly on your waist. Maybe he thought you wouldn’t notice the way he was savoring holding you like that, but you did. And you liked it.

“Nice to look at and feels nice, too.” Fives grinned at you before setting you down on your feet. He definitely shouldn’t be talking about how your ass looks and feels right now with his friend lying nearly dead on the cot barely an arm’s length away - but, is he was open to making comments such as those during these unsure times, you’d reciprocate. A boost of confidence surged through you.

“Glad you like it, trooper. Maybe some time you can see and feel it without these in the way,” you pulled at your leggings, looking him straight in the eyes with a smirk. Seeing Fives’ expression was well worth making the comment.

“Don’t say things you can’t follow up on, Renna.” His shocked expression quickly flipped to dark, catching you completely off guard and making you gulp. Your entire body felt as if it was on fire as tiny fireworks danced in your gut. There was absolutely no way you’d be able to follow up on your innuendo-filled comment unless you found each other in another life under different circumstances. You needed to shake it out of your system.

Firing up the laser drill, you looked over at Fives and studied his worried expression. He looked so soft, so concerned – it tugged at your heart harder than you cared to admit. His focus remained on Tup until the sound of the drill made him look up.

Your hands were slightly shaking. You felt it, but it didn’t appear to be noticeable. You had never performed a biopsy on a real, living, breathing lifeform before. Everything you had done during your schooling was on the deceased or on medical dummies. You were nervous, but this wasn’t about you. You finally had the chance to save a life. You needed to pull it together.

“Renna, are you okay?” Fives’ voice nearly came out as a whisper. You looked up at his eyes; he was studying you, deeply.  

You took a deep breath and nodded with a slow exhale. You turned your attention back to the drill, grabbing Tup’s head and positioning it to where you needed.

“You might want to look away at this part.”

***

You did it. A successful biopsy. Feeling a bead of sweat threatening to fall from your hairline, you wiped it away with your arm and looked up at Fives who still had his eyes squeezed shut.

“Is it done?” The absent sound of the drill encouraged him to open his eyes. You held up the tumor, encased in a transparent casing. You handed it to Fives; he studied it closely, bringing it up to his face with a sigh. The moment was over when the door whisked open.

“What have you done?” Dr. Nala Se came into the room; Fives didn’t appear frightened, but you sure as fuck were.

“We saved my friend’s life.” Fives whipped around to face the “long-neck” - as he calls them - holding up the tumor in an accusing manner towards her, “This tumor is the cause of his illness.” She reached out and tried to grab the encased organic matter, but Fives maintained a hard grip as they fought for it.

“Give me that!” Nala Se looked angrier than you had ever seen her. You ran up to them, trying to stop something before it started.

“You can’t be trusted.” Fives reached down to Tup’s cot with his free hand, grabbing a mysterious syringe, and held it up in a threatening manner. You reached your hands up to stop him, but Shaak Ti’s sudden arrival did the job for you.

“Stand down, trooper.” She stood at the doorway with her hand outstretched. Jedi didn’t need to hold a weapon; you knew what they could do with just one outstretched hand in the blink of an eye. You’ve never seen it in action, but you’ve heard stories.

Fives dropped the hand holding the syringe but kept hold of the tumor with his other. “I have evidence. It’s right here!” He sounded desperate. This looked way too bad. You were caught right in the middle of it all, too.

“I’m free…” A weak voice croaked from the cot, making all the heads in the room turn in the same direction. Tup. Fives let go of the tumor and whipped his body around to face his friend, crouching down next to Tup and leaned in close.

“Tup?”

“The mission… free.”

“What is he saying?” Shaak Ti entered through the threshold, a few guards flowing in from behind her with their blasters aimed at Fives.

“Brother, what mission?” It was apparent that Fives was trying to understand what was coming from Tup’s mouth, and could not care less that his own kind were holding weapons to him. It had been the first time anyone had heard Tup speak words that didn’t sound like “kill” and “Jedi” since his arrival.  

“You… you know the one. The- the mission, the one in our dreams…” Fives’ wide eyes scanned over his friend, searching for a clue, for anything. “…that never ends.”

You were frozen in your spot, taking in Tup’s bewildering words. You watched Fives’ expression as he frantically tried to decipher what Tup was murmuring. You glanced up from them, seeing the guards' buckets turn to look back and forth at each other. The mission - the one from their dreams?

“Oh, brother…” Tup’s hand lifted to the best of its ability; Fives grabbed it with his own and squeezed. This moment was so raw, so emotional, so real. You never would have thought…

“This is the end. Forget the mission.” Tup was fading away. You could hear it in his voice, and you knew that Fives knew what was coming. It looked as though Fives was holding back tears – trying to keep his composure. “Oh, the nightmare. I’m… free.” With that, Tup was gone.

You scanned the room. Shaak Ti bowed her head, hand over her heart. The other clones lowered their weapons down to their sides, heads bowing. Nala Se, however, remined the same. Her expression never changed. Heartless Kaminoans.

Fives was shaking his friend’s body, begging him to come back. “I thought I saved him…” You didn’t know what to do now. Tup was gone, and it was your fault. He was alive until you removed the tumor. Fives was in pain – mourning for his brother because of you. You took a few steps back, and leaned against the counter, your fingers combing through your scalp. Not only did you disobey direct orders twice today, but you also killed the very first lifeform you did a biopsy on, and to top that off, the patient you killed was important - a brother - to someone you deeply cared about.

***

Fives was placed under arrest just shorty after. Tup’s body wasn’t even cold yet.

You stood there in silence; Fives locked eyes with yours as he was almost forcefully escorted out of the room by the surrounding guards. It was clear that both of you were trying to communicate with the other using only your eyes, but no distinct message was coming across. You wanted to tell him you were so sorry for everything, and that you’d miss him, that you’d never forget him and Tup, and that meeting him changed your view of the clones entirely. But, there were no final goodbyes, no condolences given. Fives would be taken away, and you would be dismissed. You’ll miss Fives with all your heart, but you won’t miss Kamino.

General Shaak Ti followed behind the guards, leaving you in the macabre room with Dr. Nala Se and Tup’s lifeless body. It was silent for a moment before Nala Se looked over to you, shaking her head in disbelief. You were in big trouble.

“Miss Renna,” the long-neck approached slowly, closing the gap between where you were hunched forward over the counter resting on your elbows and where she was covering Tup’s body with a sheet. “I can not condone this type of behavior from an intern. I have no choice but to reassign you to your previous duties in the archives indefinitely.” You were not at all surprised. You nodded slowly, still not looking up at her. You felt numb. Only three days into real field experience, and you fucked up royally. You didn’t need to help Fives, resulting you in ending up in whatever this is. It was interesting that you weren’t dismissed like you’d assume you would be – just reassigned. The thing with Dr. Nala Se acting weird when Tup’s tumor came into play still was on the front of your mind; perhaps you would be able to look into these matters during your long, boring hours in the archives.

Finally looking up at Nala Se, “What… what is going to happen to my patient?” The words nearly came out choked as you tried to hide your worry for Fives. You needed to keep up the front – the professionality of it – so no suspicion would arise. She was scrolling through a datapad, clutching the tumor in her three fingers. The tumor. You tried to study it from afar - what it looked like, the coloring, how the cells neighbored inside it. It looked... dead. Depleted. You snapped your eyes away and over at the dead trooper, whose body was now completely covered by a thin sheet, when Nala Se spoke again.

“Do not worry about ARC-5555. It will be taken care of, so we can put this matter behind us. Just be thankful I didn’t dismiss you, Miss Renna. You are too valuable to replace with some other eager intern.”

Valuable? ‘It’? Taken care of?

“I am thankful, Doctor. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” You were motioned to exit the room; as you walked by Nala Se, you caught one last glance at the tumor, attempting to burn the image of it in your brain and commit it to memory. There was something about the tumor – something that prompted strange behavior from the Kaminoans – and you needed to figure out what that something was.

***

tags: @bvcketfvcker​ @deewithani​ @chromia7567 ​ @cyaniderainfall

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STAR WARS TOP TEN CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS (PART 3)

7) PADME AMIDALA

Usually when characters are "TOO GOOD" they end up being unrealistic and unlikable. NOT HER! A queen by election, an uncompromising senator, a great speaker, a true defender of democracy, a politician that fights in the front lines if necessary and definitely the one true fashionista of the Galaxy. Padme, both in stile and principals, reflects all the good and opulence of the High Republic, an age of stability, greatness and awareness in which debate was a preferable weapon to actual weapons even though she had no problems handling a blaster. Even though we are presented with many great politicians throughout the series no one is quite as resourceful or capable as her. Not even the great Bail Organa. She manages to gain and hold the respect of most senators, even her rivals, despite her young age; she brokers seemingly impossible negotiations, at one point almost bringing the Clone Wars at an end via a peace treaty with the Separatist Alliance; with a single speech she stops the production of new clone batches saving the Republic from bankruptcy. And yet, despite all this wisdom and capacity her greatest asset is her pure and kind heart. It's truly heartbreaking that she of all people found herself in such a painful and controversial relationship. Her love for Anakin is ultimately her downfall as she realizes too late how far gone he is. If anyone ever died of heartbreak is her. It seems a contradiction that someone so strong could abandon herself to sadness in such a manner and yet this single weakness makes her all the more precious, pure and beautiful. With her death all the goodness of that age is burried too leaving the Galaxy colder, dimmer and scarier.

8) HERA SYNDULLA & SABINE WREN

While the entire Specter crew is worthy of the spot, I want to celebrate its queens. I already called Ashoka Togruta pride, but for a species whose females are usually objectified and reduced to cantina dancers, Hera really elevates Twi'leks to the next level. Daughter of a famous and respected leader, Hera inherits that leadership and creates her own rag-tag team to guide the Galaxy towards insurgency against the Empire. It's always a brave decision to stand up against power and tyranny but to do so when one doesn't even know if they're alone in that effort is a titanic feat. Hera leaded the Spectres before the rebel alliance was even formed and had a pivotal role in their operations both as a strategist and an A class pilot. Acting as the mother of the crew she is one of the main reasons the other characters of her team remained alive and bloomed to their full potential. If it wasn't for her, Ezra Bridger wouldn't have joined the fray. Also, she manages to make Han Solo admit that the Ghost is better than the Falcon. Can one blame Kanan for falling head over heels in love with her? And Sabine, well...she is proof that one can be level-headed and hot-headed at the same time. A sassy, trigger-happy, genius, teen Mandalorian with a talent for street art. If you don't love her for this alone then it's definitely all her colors and wicked style that are gonna knock it out of the park. Not only does she change hair-cut and dye each season of "Star Wars: Rebels" she gives her armour a different paint-job too! While Din Djarin's armour is probably the most beautiful and impressive structure and defence wise, Sabine turned hers into a proper masterpiece. Her artistic merits are so good that even art expert Grand Admiral Thrawn wants to collect some of her works. At one point, she wields the dark sabre and manages to unite Mandalorian clans against the Empire's puppet leader. The fact that she had been accepted as a leader by her people but still decided to take a step back and pass the power to older and wiser Bo-katan Kryze is truly a point in her favour. Unforgettable is her relationship with Ezra, built on camaraderie, mutual trust and frienship. Wherever Ezra has ended up Sabine will keep searching for him until he is safely back home.

9) CAPTAIN REX AND THE 501

The prequel trilogy doesn't really tell us much about the clones and what happened during the years of their faithful service to the Republic before the tragic events of order 66 unfold. Thank goodness a lot of additional material got that covered! (Anyone watching the Bad Batch?!) All clones should be celebrated and mourned but no clone captured the heart more that Cpt./Commander Rex along with all the 501st. legion. The faithful and elite group of soldiers led by Anakin Skywalker and Ashoka has proven itself both in and out of the battlefield. Not only did this squad survive the treacherous General Krell, they managed to win the battle he was actively trying to sabotage, get a full confession out of him and imprison him. Not only this, it was one of the squad members, Fives, that almost uncovered the full plot against the Jedi order designed by Chancellor Palpatine. While all clones regarded each other as brothers there was a special bond that tied the men of this group and its leaders. Rex went to extensive lengths to retrieve his lost companion Echo, a move that Anakin supported; Fives ran to Rex and Anakin to reveal his discoveries and had they all not been interrupted, even in his frenzied state, the two seemed willing to listen to his side of the story. There was a solid complicity and trust between Anakin and his men to the point that he revealed to Rex his secret relationship with Padme (Something he didn't openly speak of even with Obi-Wan and Ashoka) and told him of her pregnancy. In exchange, Rex always trusted his general even when he got them all in the most dangerous and unorthodox situations, looking up to him and regarding him as the best of the Jedi even years after the war had ended (when complimenting Kanan's skills he purposefully underlines that he's still not as good as Skywalker). But the most heartwarming instance of all is when Rex and the 501 greet Ashoka, banished from the Jedi order and the military, with painted helmets to remind of her markings still referring to her as Commander. Rex goes always above and beyond his duty, aiding Ashoka and the rebellion years after being dismissed from service. Even as an old timer, he proves that the new Stormtroopers have nothing on him and that he is truly the ultimate soldier and friend. I only wish he could have met Luke, considering he was one of the very few who knew Anakin was expecting a child and he never realised that Anakin hadn't died at the end of the war but had become Darth Vader.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Ranking the Winx Club Finales

I recently finished my rewatch (and first watch of a season and a half) of Winx Club and wrote out my thoughts on all of it. However, to send off a year that was in experience a lot like watching this series - meaning, generally frustrating and downright disappointing whenever I got excited over a thing with a few highlights that actually stuck the landing - and to get out any remaining feelings over the series, I have decided to rank the finales from least to most favorite. I just have a lot of rage to spare over season 8′s finale and needed an excuse to do so. Plus, I am being thematic here goddammit! Here we go:

8. Season 8

Yeah, I really spoiled that already. To sum it up:

But let me elaborate. Like I already said, this finale enraged the living fuck out of me. I just cannot comprehend whatever possessed them to write a finale so, so... excruciatingly devastating... to a season that started out with a lot of promise and had some extremely solid decisions (except for the art style, which is just NOT IT). This finale is an absolute disaster in every way. First, there is a new plot point introduced mere minutes before the finale and it is never tied into the overall narrative of the season which doesn’t do it any favors, especially after the two halves of the season already have trouble connecting together into one overarching story. The reason they brought in the creatures from the Dark Dimension was to distract Valtor while Winx make their attempt at stealing the stars which could have very well been a role filled by Arken confronting Valtor in an opportunity to clear up all the muddy details around their partnership and bring together the two halves of the season. The Winx’ plan had potential that was completely wasted by their own interruption instead of seeing each girl (provided Layla was playing Icy, Stella - Darcy and Musa/Tecna - Stormy) doing her best to pretend to be the Trix she’s posing as to give the Trix the due role they should have had in this finale. Instead, we get an Icy that is a complete opposite of the character we’ve known her to be for seven seasons all for the sake of a wish she doesn’t even get fulfilled despite her decision to help. Her motivation is a direct contradiction to the original plan of the Trix and disrespects her character from all previous instances of her being on the show for absolutely no reason as she is left with nothing in the end and the whole backstory they invented for her out of nowhere and couldn’t fit in any way with anything previously known about her was in vain because it was never resolved. Winx essentially manage to defeat Valtor once they wish for their own power-up and are gifted powers they haven’t really earned only to be pronounced great heroes who even get their own constellation in the sky. Come again? There was no narrative tension in this episode, no big climax to resolve what is supposedly the biggest threat in the universe at the moment, and no actual emotional conclusion to the season. It can’t even be called a messy wrap when so many threads were left hanging in there. A true disaster on every front.

7. Season 6

Even if you count both 6x25 and 6x26 as the finale of season 6, the structure is still lacking big time. Acheron who is the main drive of the entire season is defeated before the end of 6x25 and the Trix who are the other main villains were also more or less neutralized at that point to leave absolutely no stakes for the last episode so they had to pull some bullshit to fill it. The Winx are useless for the entire episode, including Bloom whose battle with the Trix is an absolute joke. Like, they can’t even think of syncing their attacks so that she can’t protect herself from all three of them with her ridiculously small shield and Bloom couldn’t even bother to actually buy herself enough time to leave the Legendarium. The only saving grace of that fight is the little emotional moment it causes for Bloom but that was also not really set up at any point of the season so it was just out of the blue. Selina changing her affiliations permanently even after the imminent threat for her life was neutralized made about as much sense as her turning evil in the first place and the fact that they needed her to lock the Legendarium made everything 1000% shittier because of how convenient it was that she just decided to turn good again without any justification for her course of actions. That coupled with the lack of consequences for any of her actions (she nearly killed Flora for heaven’s sake and no one even brought that up?) plus the dreadful info dump monologue they gave her just brought the whole thing down. The wrap-up of the season was also underwhelming after they had an entire episode that was mainly free of villains in order to close the other storylines... but, of course, there were no other storylines. Pretty disastrous.

6. Season 7

Just like in season 6, Winx were pretty useless here as they really didn’t do all that much for the plot. Luckily, the fact that the Trix were brought in allowed for the villains to have a battle that was more intriguing and provided some action as for a finale. The other key elements of the season (fairy animals, Trix, wild magic, Kalshara and Brafilius and the time travel) were actually woven together pretty well to make for a pretty satisfying finish to a season that really lacked any solid plot. The mini worlds and the Tynix transformation did not have use in the last episode but that wasn’t too catastrophic. There was actually a pretty emotional moment between the fairy animals and Winx that would have been even better if their relationships had been better developed throughout the season... You’d really think that since fairy animals were the main point of the season and there was no solid plot to account for, they would have taken the time to pay attention to Winx bonding with their fairy animals but nah. I am still impressed with how touching their goodbye was given the fact that they didn’t really have all that much time to actually become close so bonus points for that. The very last scene is a little generic but what else to expect from a season that has sung all its songs already (thank god that there were no musical numbers in this because I have a feeling it would have been even worse)?

5. Season 5

Season 5 could at least pat itself on the back for dealing with the main villain of the season even if there were a couple iffy things about the whole deal. I’m taking away consistency points for a) the fact that the Throne was supposed to be activated with the seals from the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, yet suddenly stealing a random Sirenix would do, b) Tritannus being defeated by simply having his trident taken away even though he literally grew in body mass implying that the power of the Emperor’s Throne had seeped inside of him (also confirmed by Mystery of the Abyss) and c) the mutants inexplicably turning back into people once Tritannus lost his powers even though they never turned back during his times of relapsing back into a human thanks to running out of pollution. His defeat was just ridiculously easy and Bloom got to do it even though Layla was the one with the personal connection to Tritannus and the one most directly impacted by his actions as her family fell prey to him. Instead of getting to shine in a season that focused heavily not just on her home world but on the environment from which her powers come, she got benched in favor of Bloom getting to do everything again with only mild assist from Layla’s cousin. They should have kept it in the family and left Layla and Nereus deal with Tritannus. The Trix were blasted out of the narrative extremely conveniently and the rest of Winx were saved twice by the mutants just turning their back on them instead of destroying them right then and there and then being turned back into their original form as well. There wasn’t the usual teamwork of the whole Winx unit which I am still salty about despite being sick of all the time they reached for convergence in that season. Theredor fighting alongside Winx (different from his own daughter) was a nice touch but the king and queen of Andros coming off as so helpless (and apparently the only people in the castle unless you admit that everyone else drowned) was frustrating. Where was the Andros army? We only got Tressa, Roy, four of Winx and a handful of mermaids. Is that the whole population of the Heart of All Oceans? Additionally, the finale left no time for any emotional resolution of the season’s events, especially considering the big deal that Daphne’s revival was. Instead they opted for a musical number at the end. Not the best form.

4. Season 3

Season 3 had a finale and then another finale. Granted, better than season 6 that had a finale and then filler but there was not a lot of glory to the ending of a story with such a strong opening and emotional moments that send you bursting into tears. The spell of the four elements was pretty decent in its first appearance in 3x25 but the way Valtor lost it all was a real let down after the climatic confrontations between him and the Winx girls throughout the rest of the season. His return was more or less a desperate last attempt at personal revenge against Winx as his goal was mostly out of reach at this point. The spell of the elements was brought down in both its use to create clones of Winx’ boyfriends and in its power as it was much easier to undo in its reappearance. The saving graces of this season’s finale are the couple emotional moments sprinkled through both 3x25 and 3x26. Bloom’s willingness to sacrifice herself for her friends and the world was the thread that the finale hangs on as she is mostly the one resolving the whole conflict which was a bit dissatisfying after the emotional damage Valtor inflicted on all of them directly or indirectly. There is a few moments left to recover from the emotional intensity of their battles against Valtor but nothing that really addresses the seriousness of the trauma they had to survive because of him. The Trix didn’t even get to have a last stand of their own in either of the last two episodes despite the position in which they started the season but that was more or less unnecessary anyway since we’d already seen they can’t hold their ground against Enchantix Winx even with a boost from Valtor. Overall, the finale is pretty weak, especially as a follow-up of the dynamic and strong experiences that the season put them all through. It was the first finale that was confined to a single episode (or rather two separate battles spanning over an episode to end the season) and there wasn’t enough tension building in the confined storyline an episode told.

3. Season 4

The season 4 finale is overall a solid conclusion that delivers both a final battle with the Wizards and enough time left to address all the other storylines left unfinished. The final battle was pretty short but there was enough intensity in the previous couple episodes to have covered the action demand that the season had already set up and it also provided the opportunity to have Winx come back together as a team after Layla split up. Not only that, but Nebula and Roxy also get to play their part while the Wizards make their last desperate attempt to regain the upper hand. It’s pretty climatic for something that length that also left about 15 minutes of the episode still to fill. Everything that had to do with the closure of the Earth fairies storyline was emotional beyond belief and gave more depth to all of them and Layla’s decision to join them. Winx had to face all of the separate responsibilities they have on their shoulders and find a way to balance them all so that they can pursue their dreams. There was a plethora of emotional moments and a deserved spotlight shined on Layla’s situation and how she’s dealing with it, plus the others’ feelings. It was a really touching finale and also an inspiring one to see Winx stand behind their dreams while still balancing their responsibilities. It seemed to achieve the initial goal of the season to have them adapting to the adult life they were shifting into.

2. Season 2

I’m gonna be honest, I had a very hard time deciding whether this would be number one or two because the season 2 finale had a lot more character moments that were very moving. It really corresponds to the season since it was more character driven than the first one and the finale suited that. However, ultimately I decided that it would take silver because of a couple minor things that bring it down. To get that out of the way, the second portal to Realix that led Winx there was imo a copout that destroyed pretty much all of the tension that the entire season spent building around the search for the Codex. It just felt so wrong for there to be another way to enter that dimension and to me it was a big disappointment. Especially since the key to activating the copy of the Codex was the color riddle that was a ridiculous panicked attempt on the writers’ part to show that Stella isn’t useless and has what to give the team but it only made her look worse in my eyes. Also, minor gripe for the fact that there wasn’t that much of a final battle since everything ended with a single convergence. Of course, there were several battles across the episode between different sides that made for good action and tension and there was magic involved in more ways than simply the convergence in order to defeat Darkar but it was still a bit of a letdown to never truly see him put his everything in battle. And the fact that Griffin and Faragonda held him off for as long as they did on their own actually hurt his credibility as a threat as well. But hey, on the plus side, remember when the teachers actually helped and did not leave the fate of the whole universe in the hands of 16-year-olds? Good times! The MegaTrix and her? their? battle with Darkar was epic. 20/10 on that concept alone, plus it really brought a great feeling of vindication after the number Darkar did on them and felt so satisfying even if they were also part of the villain team of the season. They were portrayed as three-dimensional and weren’t cast out of the narrative without care just because they were villains and that was actually probably the most solid moment that the Trix have ever had on the show (just minor gripe for the fact that they were supposed to be trapped in Realix when the dimension was sealed forever but they were later somehow brought out of there which was never explained). Sky’s speech to Bloom was actually a pretty emotional moment and the payoff from it felt earned and allowed for Bloom’s victory against the darkness to feel natural and in place. It was probably one of their best moments as a couple. Plus, the cute little interactions that we got during the celebration party to send off the season on its merry way made for a great finale. (And a shoutout to the Musa x Riven scenes both in 2x25 and 2x26 because that was some good shit and some cute shit and it was exactly what we deserved).

1. Season 1

Season 1 reigns supreme with its finale. There is just no other finale that can rise to the level of the first one that was built for about one third of the season so that the last episode could dive right into the action without wasting time on setup. This is also the only place where we truly and fully get to see each of the Winx and the Trix (well, minus Layla who hasn’t been introduced yet) showcase their powers but especially Bloom and Icy. It is the longest battle we have seen and it builds a lot of tension on top of what was already there to leave you on the edge of your seat. The exploration of magic in this episode makes it so iconic and such a great watch even on the 300th time. There isn’t really much more to say than simply “It is epic”. What makes it even better though is the fact that there is enough time left in the episode to wrap up everything else and not in a rushed way. The battleground is extended to the locations that have already suffered the previous battles to show the full extension of the action and to setup the wrap-up that comes at the end. They even find the time to let some of the minor characters have distinct and touching moments as well and thus expand the universe of Winx further than just the main characters. Speaking off, they all get their moments, too, and the Specialists aren’t left out of that (you will never catch me not fangirling over Sky and Riven fighting back to back). The finale also doesn’t forget about the overarching story about Bloom’s origin which is commendable considering the constant lack of consistency the show suffers. This is really the only finale that isn’t lacking in any of the departments and manages to provide a truly fascinating story that keeps you entertained and in suspense while at the same time does not discard the emotional payoff or the logical continuation of events. It just excels in every way.

Well, this is my analysis on the finales of Winx Club. What started out as a bitch fest actually left on on a positive and uplifting note to make for a great ending to a harsh year. Let’s see what beginnings 2021 will bring! ;)

[cruelfeline]

I'm rather new to the fandom but I had a thought/theory I'd like your opinion on regarding Hordak's 'defect'/illness as I think its never specified in canon what it is (correct me if I'm wrong). What if his defect is simply something he perceived about his past that is not real, similar to his perception that he was a top general to Prime. It was something he made up to explain events to himself, and that any illness that he displays by the show is simply the result of a manufactured (1/4)

being that was forced to survive in an environment that it was now designed to live in for 20 or so years. I think this might be the case for a couple of reasons, first I can definitely see Prime send defects to the front line, however in season 5 Hordak isn't simply shipped away to a front line somewhere. He is sent to Etheria but not for long and not what I would argue as the front line considering there are actual battles going on the planet and he's not like in the occupied territory (2/4)

most likely to see battle. And two despite how far he has 'fallen' in Primes eyes, Prime takes the time and resources to remold him rather than just dispose of him, and Hordak seems just as physically capable as his brothers after this. And if Prime was able to repair Hordak's 'defect' easily enough that he would keep him around rather than send him out to die in battle as Hordak had been showed to assume earlier, then perhaps Hordak never had any defect or illness to begin with. He only (3/4)

told himself that after he got separated from the galactic horde because why else would Prime send him away, why else would he even have been in a situation to be separated, he would think he must deserve it, that there had been something wrong with him and its his fault for what happened to him, and not the truth that he just happened to be the cog in the machine that fell out because there was a portal and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sorry for the long ask lol.(4/4)

So, this is definitely an idea that’s been floating around the fandom: this concept that Hordak never actually had a physical defect, and that the illness we see is one caused by environmental factors on Etheria.

There’s nothing specifically wrong with this headcanon, and if it’s one that people enjoy, then by all means: indulge! However, it’s not one that I personally subscribe to, for a few reasons.

The first of these reasons is largely meta-based. Removing Hordak’s in-born physical defect removes a huge part of his character arc and a significant aspect of why he means so much to so many people, especially those people who identify with him in terms of physical disability. His arc is very much based on disability and how it affects him, on feelings of physical inadequacy connected to an illness that he cannot control coupled with a “family” and “society” that condemns him for that illness. Removing this aspect of him greatly diminishes the meaning of “imperfection is beautiful” and the lesson that he learns throughout the series.

If there was never any actual defect, if he was never really looked upon by Prime as “inadequate,” then what he learns about failure and having worth as he is, physical problems and all, becomes somewhat meaningless. If the defect never existed, then... the conflict is kind of gone, isn’t it? I mean, in that scenario, it would still be awful to be sent to the front lines to die, but the reason behind it, the thing about Hordak that so deeply hurts him, would be gone. The sort of igniting spark of his entire story would be gone, and with it, a major aspect of his character.

I also think that Hordak sort of rationalizing a position of importance in Prime’s cult is believable, simply because I feel like it happens in real cults. With real victims. Victims who think that, rather than being abused, they are participating in something important and meaningful. Victims who think that their abusers have special love for them (something that we likely see in that clone Prime caresses, in S5E5, actually). But I think it’s less believable that Hordak just “made up” an entire physical illness; I do think that that existed prior to Etheria. Removing it just seems... very odd to me. Especially removing it without coming out and addressing the fact.

The removal would also take away some of the sense of evil surrounding Prime: prioritizing his brothers based on physical ability, rejecting those with defects, is a horrific thing. Take that away, and Prime is still evil, but a certain emotional aspect of it is removed. Which, again, lessens the story, in my opinion.

Now, in terms of in-universe logic regarding why Hordak remains with Prime in season five: in my opinion, this has to do with memory access. 

While Prime is conquering Etheria, he wishes to maintain access to any relevant memories and information about it. Hordak is the only one with those memories. And, as we learn when Prime accesses one of his previous bodies, these memories cannot be uploaded into a server, or put on a thumb drive. They require a mind and body to exist. Therefore, Prime simply (temporarily) fixes Hordak up enough to make him pretty and functional and keeps him around as a memory bank. With this logic, there is a high chance that, once Etheria fell, Hordak would have lost his Healthy Maintenance privileges and been sent back to the front lines, but until that happened, he was useful.

This actually provides another facet to the disability narrative Hordak’s character explores: it’s not so much that Prime can’t maintain Hordak in something of a healthy state. It’s that he doesn’t think it’s worth it. It’s that it perhaps takes more resources, so why bother? Why bother tending to Hordak and giving him the extra care he needs, when Prime can just stick another, healthier clone in his place?

It’s the sort of awful question that, I think, we see asked every day in the real world: why bother making something accessible to someone with some form of disability when they can just be replaced by someone without that disability? Why put in the effort? The answer, of course, is because they’re people who deserve to live comfortable, fulfilling lives by virtue of being people, but for Prime, that’s not a concern. The concern is ease of use. The concern is not “wasting” resources. The concern is never how Hordak might feel, either physically or emotionally.

So that, to me, is how Hordak works in season five: he is useful despite his physical issues, and so he temporarily gets the maintenance he needs because of that use. And, thankfully, we never have to see Hordak lose that usefulness, because Prime dies before he can take Etheria. Small miracles and all.

Anyway! I hope that’s helpful? Obviously, one can headcanon whatever they want. But I think the most common interpretation of this in the fandom, at least the part I frequent, is that Hordak does have an actual physical defect that requires special care. Taking that away just lessens the impact of so much of his story arc, and it lessens a good portion of the representation he offers to many members of the fandom.

Oh, and a quick addition: it can also be both! It can be a natural defect that is made worse by Etheria’s environment! I’ve seen that done, too.

[nitewrighter]

Hiya mun! Can you write like little character bio blurbs for your fankids? Im not sure if you've wrote some already before but if not could you please? :D

I’ve written a short masterpost of who’s who’s kid here but as far as like... bios go...

I’m limiting this to the main continuity because we are practicing Self Care.

Watchpoint Kids

Rei is Mercy and Genji’s daughter, and the first kid on the Watchpoint. Despite her parents’ desire to try and raise her as protected and peacefully as possible, Rei grasped from an early age how much Overwatch’s conflict was affecting her life. She idolized Hanzo from a young age and wanted very much to be a ninja like her father and uncle. Genji and Hanzo obviously had a lot of misgivings about continuing the Shimada skills and traditions, and with them their violence, but in the end they relented and started training Rei as a means to keep her occupied, teach her to defend herself, and to try and direct Shimada ninja arts into a force for good. Rei grew up on the watchpoint alongside Marti, Rajeev, and Samir. Under Genji and Hanzo’s tutelage, Rei became a very competent ninja, even incorporating her Mercy’s Valkyrie wings into her movement and combat. Eventually Rei became frustrated with how slow her training was going and broke into Shimada castle one night looking for answers, but Genji and Hanzo were able to intercept her and convince her to come home before the Shimada clan became really aware of her existence. Years passed and eventually Rei joined Marti’s strike team, going on several minor missions before, at age 18, she was kidnapped by Talon, an incident that ended up catalyzing Aedan’s defection from Talon, but Rei lost her dragon after being killed by Moira and subsequently revived by Aedan. Rei then spent two years away from the Watchpoint as a stuntwoman for the Sentai series “Midori Rider” in Hollywood, all the while struggling with the pain of losing her dragon, and trying to get it back. She eventually did get it back during a confrontation with the Reaper76 Clone Andrea in Shirakami-Sanchi.

Marti is Widow and Sombra’s kid--she actually refers to Widow and Sombra as her “aunties” rather than her parents because she still remembers her biological mother. Marti’s story actually begins well before she’s born, during Sombra’s days in Los Muertos. Sombra’s best friend in Los Muertos was a woman named Soledad, who was romantically involved with Jacinto, a ruthless enforcer for the gang. When Soledad found out she was pregnant, she became disillusioned with Los Muertos and enlisted Sombra’s help in disappearing from the gang to assure a safer life for her unborn child. Sombra was able to secure a new place to live and identity for her, and Soledad named Sombra as Martina’s godmother when she was born. Six years later, however, Talon began opening communications with Los Muertos, and Jacinto, now a leader within Los Muertos, was more than happy to hear them out. Talon was desperate to kill Sombra after her defection, and managed to track Soledad down and alert Jacinto and Los Muertos to her location. Talon initially planned to just use Soledad and Marti to draw Sombra out of hiding, but now that Sombra was involved with Overwatch, the situation rapidly escalated and ended with both Soledad and Jacinto dead. Sombra and Widow adopted Marti, and Marti came to live with them at the Watchpoint. The other kids instantly latched onto her, and while Marti was wary at first and a bit lonely being the oldest, warmed up to them... and got kind of good at bossing them around. Like Genji and Mercy, Sombra and Widow had no intention of letting Marti be affected by the fight between Talon and Overwatch ever again after her loss and traumatizing experience, but Marti’s grief fueled her desire to take Talon down. Always a tinkerer, Marti was playing around with various electrical gadgets from a young age, but eventually used what minor hacking skills she had picked up from Sombra to access Overwatch’s old records. She learned as much as she could about the old Overwatch, and even cribbed information from Sombra’s own work on her eye conspiracy to try and find out as much about the fight between the two organizations as possible. Not wanting Widow and Sombra to worry about her, she kept tinkering with robotics, but now she started bothering Jack Morrison to tell her about the old days. At first Jack was rightfully stubborn and insisting that “This wasn’t her fight” and “he didn’t have time for this” but through sheer force of Sombra-level persistence, Marti managed to cow him into taking her under his wing... and, okay, yeah, he was kind of fond of her at that point. She almost reminded him of Reyes, sometimes. Marti engineered her own full-body grappling harness system based on Widowmaker’s rappel hook, ended up picking up hand-to-hand combat skills from self defense lessons from Widowmaker and sparring with Rei, and all the while used Sombra’s intel and Jack’s experience to gain an uncanny perspective on the scale of the fight. Eventually she told Widowmaker and Sombra that she wanted to fight as well, and while they weren’t happy about it, they understood how invested Marti was in the fight (oh they chewed Jack the hell out for it, though). Marti went on collaborative missions with adults in mentor-like roles as well as a few solo missions before being selected as the leader of the “junior strike team.” The fight would be pretty simple and straightforward if she didn’t have a weird romantic rivalry with Seye Ogundimu.

Rajeev and Samir are twins born to Pharah and Symmetra via IVF. Pharah carried them, and their sperm donor is a Pakistani Olympic Rower, engineer, and philanthropist named Kader Hiraj (Sombra may have hacked the sperm bank to give Pharah and Symmetra an edge, haha). They were born in the orca at 45,000 feet. To their credit, Pharah and Symmetra were able to raise their twins to be a bit more ‘protected’ than Rei and Marti, however, Rajeev impressed on Grandpa Reinhardt and Auntie Brigitte from a young age and loved the idea of glorious battle. Samir, the more quiet of the two, took after Grandma Ana and also became very interested in the applications of Hard-light, which Symmetra was more than happy to share because she saw it as a chance for Hard-light to be about creation rather than control as it had been with Vishkar. Ana and Pharah had a lot of mixed feelings on teaching the boys combat--they made a point of teaching them self defense, and Ana even taught Samir marksmanship (More as a target practice hobby than a combat application). Still, as with the other kids, when you grow up on a Watchpoint, it’s hard not to see the fight affecting virtually every adult around you. Eventually, with help from Marti, they learned more about where Symmetra’s past with Vishkar, and, learned that a lot of Symmetra’s architectural work was actually still in Vishkar’s clutches. At age 16, largely on Samir’s goading, they broke in to a Vishkar office in Oasis to get their mother’s blueprints back, leading to a confrontation with Sanjay Korpal and a Vishkar agent named Akasha. They managed to escape with the blueprints, but Rajeev lost his eye in the fight. Samir blamed himself, and Marti ended up taking Samir under her wing. Marti soon found that Samir’s perspective was invaluable, and he ended up as her unofficial “Right hand Man.” Rajeev eventually got a cool gold-irised prosthetic eye, and both got Wadjet tattoos as a gesture of “Yeah. We’re in this fight, too.” 

Jaime was born to Turkish-Basque parents in Pamplona, but was orphaned in a Null Sector attack at the age of 7. With so many state resources going to trying to just remain stable in the face of Talon and Null Sector attacks, the Spanish government resorted depending on the private sector for many child welfare services and Jaime was given to the custody of a Vishkar Corporation-owned orphanage. Throughout his time in the orphanage, his Vishkar guardians criticized him as “Resourceful but resistant,” “Contrarian to the point of self-destructive,” and “A little shit who needs to learn his place.” Jaime actually had numerous escape attempts over the course of his 5 years in the orphanage. His first attempt he tried to bring five other kids with him, but one of them snitched. The second attempt he whittled down his fellow escapees to two others, except one of them twisted their ankle as they were running out, and the three of them got caught trying to carry him out with them (a part of Jaime still wonders if they would have made it out if they left him). Then there was just one other... but it turned out Vishkar had treated them with extensive conditioning with the express purpose of making them betray Jaime and teaching Jaime “You are completely alone” in the hopes that that would discourage further escape attempts and traumatize him into submission. It did not. It just pissed him off and isolated him. With all of his escape attempts, he was getting better at free-running, at climbing, at breaking in, at picking locks, at pickpocketing keycards, at disabling security cameras---every time Vishkar caught him he got a little better. Two years and 9 escape attempts later, Jaime finally made it out, homeless, angry, and alone, but free. He hopped several freighters, and used the agility and cunning he had learned in his escape attempts to scavenge, steal, and stow-away his way all over the Atlantic and the mediterranean for the next two years. He had only been in Gibraltar for about two weeks when he stole a schoolgirl’s backpack and she and her friend chased him down like a fucking madwoman. It had been the first time in 2 years someone had managed to keep up with him. McCree and Hanzo were able to intercept them, basically looked at him and were like “Oh shit, you’re 14 and starving.” It started out with the offer of food, a shower, and a place to sleep back at the watchpoint, and McCree’s word that Jaime could leave the second he wanted to...and it ended up with McCree and Hanzo pretty much adopting him. When Jaime found out that Overwatch was fighting Vishkar, he wanted to join the fight as well, but quickly ended up butting heads with McCree over the issue. McCree just didn’t want to end up as “someone else’s Reyes” and wanted Jaime to stay out of the fight. In the end, Jaime ended up spending 6 months in the southwest with McCree’s godmother Willow “Billie” Quintero. Incidentally during this time, Jaime met Ashe and ended up learning a lot from her, so basically McCree’s plan for Jaime to “not end up like me” kind of went out the window. But Jaime returned to the watchpoint, significantly cleaned up, now way more cowboy-ish, and still just as stubbornly willing to fight as ever. The other kids were happy to have him on the team.

Talon Kids

Seye Ogundimu was the product of an amicable but complicated marriage of Doomfist to successful Ogundimu Prosthetics shareholder Tujuka Tejuosho. Raised largely by his mother for the first few years of his life, he was only a few months old when Doomfist broke out of prison with Talon’s help. Seye himself grew up in luxury and privilege, attending the finest schools, proving himself both a brilliant student and incomparable athlete, and being groomed to take over Ogundimu Prosthetics once he came of age. Still at the back of his mind, the fear of irrelevance loomed. Every time he turned on the news, the name of his father was on everyone’s lips. To his credit, Doomfist did try to be a good father to him, and while he didn’t exactly pressure Seye to be like him, it was one of those situations where context was everything. Doomfist didn’t need to pressure Seye to be like him... the effect Doomfist had on people, the power he had, was something Seye wanted, too. The only other option, as the son of Doomfist, was humiliation and oblivion. But Seye knew he couldn���t just try to be a carbon copy of his father, and his father was also a product of their company’s own cybernetics. Seye thus decided to throw himself into engineering, and eventually developed his own pair of high-tech graviton gauntlets (nicknamed “The Twofists” by Aedan). Once he finished with his schooling, he kind of just... strolled into the main Talon board room like “Ready to take my seat at the table!” and Doomfist was just like “Oh, you think you have a seat at the table?” And Seye was just like “...uh...” and Doomfist basically made Seye start from Talon’s bottom ranks and pretty much claw his way up. It turned out for the best though, with his ambition, Seye gained the experience needed to lead strike teams, formed alliances and gained loyalty of grunts, enforcers, assassins, snipers, and heavies, and got plenty of combat experience. Still, doubt sometimes itches at the back of his mind.

Faustine was the daughter of two major money launderers for Talon, who died under suspicious circumstances. She was adopted by Maximilien. Afflicted by a rare bacterial infection at a young age, Faustine had nerve damage all over her body and was bound to a wheelchair for the first 13 years of her life. Still, her brain was unaffected, and she proved herself a mathematical, financial, and strategic prodigy. In Talon’s “Private” sector, she served first as an intern, then as a secretary to Maximilien, helping oversee much of Talon’s finances. Frustrated with the limits of her body, Faustine enlisted the help of Ogundimu prosthetics to undergo an experimental procedure outfitting her entire body with “neuroprosthetics.” Not only could she now walk, run, and, to a limited extent fight, but she could interface with virtually any technology. By her own ambition she soon proved herself an invaluable asset in the field of corporate espionage. Almost as if to make up for her previous lack of mobility, she also gained a passion for cars, and got into amateur, then professional racing. Both her neuroprosthetics and the logos slapped all over her racing suit are a veritable billboard for Talon’s many shell companies, and Faustine herself displays a particular ruthlessness both on the racetrack and in the boardroom that, despite her more diminutive phsyicality, makes her no less a threat than any other of her Talon compatriots.

Aedan was engineered by Moira in an amnio-tank. Part of his reason for existence was not only Moira securing her own genetic legacy in the world, but also proving that you could make a stable embryo with nanite-based biology. In essence, while Reaper was falling apart, Moira wanted to know if being nanite-based was actually biologically sustainable on a growing organism... if it could exist, in a sense, “naturally.” There were five attempts before him, and all self-destructed in their first few weeks of gestation, thus making him “Subject Six.” Artificially aged to 10 years old and flushed out of the amniotank, Aedan had been implanted with false memories and brainwashing tech giving him an entire childhood and a staggering intelligence. He and Moira actually had a wonderful rapport together, they were really on each others’ wavelength. He didn’t figure out he was a clone until 4 years in and it did severely affect his trust in her. He understood, to an extent, that Moira did it so she wouldn’t just drop him headlong into an existential crisis, and in its own way, the brainwashing did give him enough of a sense of self to really develop. Still, to cope, he threw himself more into science, interning at Oasis’s labs. At age 17 he met a girl named Rei, not even knowing at the time that she was the daughter of Angela Ziegler and a target of Talon. As soon as he realized who she was, she bolted. He wouldn’t see her again until Talon kidnapped her. Repulsed at the concept of Rei becoming either brainwashed or a constantly-dissected lab experiment, Aedan helped her escape, though in the process he was forced to defect from Talon. Both were harrowed by the experience, but eventually Aedan found his place on Overwatch’s team. 

Andrea, like Aedan, was made in an amnio-tank. She was not only meant to be a more ‘martial’ application of nanites, but Talon wanted to replicate the SEP serum as well, and the only still-living source for that was Jack Morrison. So, Andrea was formed from an X chromosome from Reyes and an X chromosome from Jack Morrison so that they could have a subject with both nanites and SEP serum... there were many failed attempts, and Andrea’s project was titled “Subject 19.” Andrea wasn’t given a childhood while she was being artificially aged, rather, they crammed as much martial knowledge into her as possible. As a result, her personality is very... uh, “Terminator.” While Reyes was warned that her ultimate loyalty was to Talon, and while he was furious that his and Jack’s DNA had been used to create an entire fucking person without either of their consent, he did feel a protectiveness towards her. One of Andrea’s first missions with Talon was assassinating Aedan after his defection, but the mission failed, and even worse, Rei somehow ended up getting her dragon back in the process. So now Andrea’s pissed, and she has no intention of failing again.

 Like Jaime, Akasha was one of thousands of orphans taken under Vishkar’s wing, but she took to Vishkar’s vision like a duck to water. While not able to make the massive constructs most hard-light architechs are known for, she demonstrated an uncanny ability to make smaller constructs really really fast. This paired with a high athletic potential from a young age, slotted her in an experimental program for more martial applications of hard-light. She was equipped with a ‘Projector sword’ capable of making a hard-light blade and functioning as a translocator, but she disappeared after a fight with the Amari twins went awry and her translocator sword was destroyed. It’s not sure if she’s alive or dead, (Schrodinger’s Akasha...) but last time someone got caught in a teleporter incident like this, it was Tracer in the Slipstream. So if she ever comes back, she’s going to need a chronal accelerator, and she is going to be pissed.

[aion-rsa]

Star Wars Books: A Guide to Canon Novels in Chronological Order

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Star Wars has a rich history of tie-in stories, from somber explorations of space politics to weird, goofy adventure. Disney’s revamped canon has been in place for almost ten years, since 2012. The first novel in the new canon, 2014’s A New Dawn, realigned the books with what Lucasfilm would eventually do with the Sequel Trilogy under the new ownership.

If you want to read the canon books in chronological order, where do you start? And where do they fit with regards to the movies? This list includes both adult and YA novels, and does not include audio dramas, direct movie adaptations, or middle grade books. Reading all of the books in chronological order is a big endeavor, especially since more come out every year. Whether you want to start at the beginning or jump around depending on what era you care about, here’s our guide to what’s what…

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Star Wars Books: Before the Prequels

If you’re starting to read in order, The High Republic series is first up. This ongoing series is set about 200 years before anything else. Since the Sith haven’t yet risen to power, it’s an opportunity to show the Jedi at their heyday and the Republic free of corruption. Start with Light of the Jedi, the kickoff, but this series is meant to be able to be read in any order.

Next, two books set up the characters in the Prequel trilogy: Master & Apprentice follows Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, detailing Jedi philosophy and where Qui-Gon and others try to sway or bend it. Queen’s Peril shows how Padmé met her handmaidens and shaped them into the spies and warriors seen in the next movie …

Star Wars Books: The Prequel Era

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Continuing Padmé’s adventures, Queen’s Shadow shows the teenage queen’s transition to galactic senator. It answers some questions about how the galaxy’s politics work and shows the very beginnings of the Rebellion.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

The Rogue One prequel Catalyst sets up some of the major players in the formation of the Death Star project, forming a backdrop for the movie with author James Luceno’s typical knack for pulling together disparate parts of canon into a consistent whole.

The Thrawn Ascendancy series (two books currently with a third on the way), takes place mostly in the far-off Chiss empire. While mostly a vehicle for Sherlock Holmes-style mysteries in the type of space war that made Grand Admiral Thrawn a famous Legends character, these books also connect to what some major human characters were doing during the Clone Wars.

Dark Disciple is an artifact of the period where it seemed The Clone Wars would never come back to the screen. Based on unused scripts for the TV show, it follows the fate of dark Force user Asajj Ventress.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

After the fall of the Jedi, the galaxy becomes a harsher place. Dominated by evil characters like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, it’s time for stories of the Empire like Lords of the Sith. Vader’s right-hand man gets his own backstory in Tarkin.

But all is not lost: the novel Ahsoka follows the former Jedi into the very early days of the Rebellion as she makes new friendships and works to save a world from destruction. Street kids Han and Qi’Ra start their respective journeys through the galactic criminal underworld in Most Wanted. It’s a direct prequel to …

Solo: A Star Wars Story

As the dark reign of the Empire continues, the good guys try to piece what’s left of their alliance together. A New Dawn, a prequel to the Star Wars Rebels animated series, shows how Jedi-in-hiding Kanan Jarrus met Rebel pilot and spy Hera Syndulla. They’ll both be major players in this era and beyond outside the movies. This book also introduces Rae Sloane, an Imperial commander who is at the center of many of the developments that lead from the Empire to the First Order in the Sequel Trilogy. Two heroes of the Rebellion, Jyn Erso and Princess Leia, get YA backstories in Rebel Rising and Leia: Princess of Alderaan respectively.

One of the most well-regarded books in this era is Lost Stars, which spans the galactic civil war and follows completely original characters. A star-crossed love story, it starts before the Original Trilogy and continues beyond the end.

Another book that spans this era is Battlefront: Twilight Company. Despite ostensibly being a tie-in to the Battlefront (2015) video game, this book also follows standalone characters in a motley infantry unit throughout the war.

The new canon Thrawn series also picks up here, with the first, titular novel Thrawn showing the alien strategist meeting the Empire and showing his tactical skill while also furthering his own plans. Thrawn: Alliances sends him on an adventure with Darth Vader offering flashbacks to Anakin Skywalker, and Thrawn: Treason pits him against an alien menace in the time of the construction of the first Death Star.

Rogue One

Episode IV: A New Hope

Many of the books in this era span multiple movies, so we’ve erred on the side of Wookieepedia and luted the books by where they start. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad follows Imperial commando Iden Versio and her team — also the main characters of the Battlefront II (2017) video game campaign — through Imperial action and some changes of heart.

A relatively little-known title, Heir to the Jedi follows Luke Skywalker as he tries to piece together what it means to be a Jedi. Published in 2015, it’s one of the earlier books in the Disney reboot.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The era between the Original and Sequel trilogies is perhaps the richest when it comes to books filling in the gaps between the movies. With about 30 years in between, there’s plenty of time. And the books have the chance to answer some major questions: How did the galaxy fare with the former Rebellion, now a New Republic, at its head? And why did that New Republic become ripe for attack from a relatively unknown threat in the First Order?

The Aftermath series maps this era out, establishing that Emperor Palpatine initiated the Operation Cinder mass destruction plan after the moment of his death. Detailing some of the political struggles on both the New Republic and Imperial sides, it continues Rae Sloane’s story and establishes some hints as to what the First Order grew from. The Battle of Jakku is a key moment in this era, marking the formal victory of the New Republic over the remnants of the Empire.

The Alphabet Squadron series is military fiction set in the New Republic, using the concepts set up in Aftermath as a backdrop for a much smaller scale story. Former Imperial Yrica Quell and Hera try, and sometimes fail, to keep a volatile band of pilots together against an elite Imperial squadron.

Read more

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What Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron and Shadow Fall’s Yrica Quell Reveals About the Empire

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A tie-in to Solo, the novel Last Shot bounces between this era and the Imperial era to show Han Solo and Lando Calrissian’s clash against a criminal with some dangerous tech.

The young adult adventure Poe Dameron: Free Fall fills in the backstory of the titular character, including explaining how he met the drug runners from The Rise of Skywalker.

Bloodline is another major pushpin in the timeline, exploring Leia Organa’s role in the New Republic senate and how dissent there paved the way for the First Order. A brief appearance of a very young Ben Solo is also a point of distinction.

The Mad Max-inspired adult novel Phasma explains why the First Order enforcer is so ruthless.

Episode VII: The Force Awakens

One of several tie-ins created around the opening of the Disney Parks, Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire throws readers into the conflict between the Resistance (a splinter group of the New Republic, now all that’s left of it) and the Imperial-derived First Order.

Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Resistance Reborn explains where some of the pilots making up The Rise of Skywalker‘s climatic battle came from, but it’s also a sort of capstone on the post-Original Trilogy era of books, pulling on a lot of story threads from Bloodline. Leia, Rey, Poe, Finn, and Rose search for allies in the brief period between the two final films.

A Crash of Fate is another Galaxy’s Edge tie-in, this one a teen romance set in and around the park’s in-universe setting.

Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

None of the books have ventured past Episode IX yet. Right now, Star Wars publishing is focusing on expanding the High Republic and the era between the Original and Sequel trilogies, including a mysterious upcoming novel about The Mandalorian. With the new canon here to stay, there’s surely a lot more to come.

The post Star Wars Books: A Guide to Canon Novels in Chronological Order appeared first on Den of Geek.

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THE YEAR IN FIGHTING GAMES: 1993

As the original release of Street Fighter II turns 30 this year, we are taking a look at the landscape of fighting games between 1991 and 2021 on a year by year basis!

This week, Shaun Eddleston takes a look at 1993…

1993 was arguably the year that truly saw which directions the fighting game genre was heading in.

Street Fighter II had been out for 2 years by this point, with a couple of great updates under its belt to keep things feeling fresh and exciting, and Mortal Kombat smashed its way into the scene with its digitised graphics and bloody violence making it the “cool kid” on the scene. It seemed like most games were now trying to play catchup with the bigger games, or genuinely trying to innovate and do something different.

Here’s a look at 10 games from 1993 to see what went down…

SEGA’s first ever foray into the world of 2D fighting games arrived in the form of Eternal Champions. Based around nine fighters from various points in history fighting to reclaim their souls after meeting untimely deaths, its crystal clear that Eternal Champions attempted to ride the coattails of pretty much every other successful fighting game that came before it.

While credit can be given for the game being launched on a console rather than in arcades (a rather unusual release strategy during this time!), the game’s look came across as a choppier, poorly executed version of both Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury. The characters themselves range from a 1920s detective, a prehistoric caveman and a ninja to a wizard, a cybersoldier and *reads notes*… a martial arts-trained scientist who’s also a vampire?!

Perhaps more famously, Eternal Champions was known better for the incredibly gory stage fatalities that could be pulled off. Obviously taking inspiration from Mortal Kombat and trying its best to outdo the violence, from characters being impaled on top of the Washington monument, being chewed up by dinosaurs or being burned alive at the stake to a painfully long and boring trap that sees the defeated opponent dropping through several sets of blades/axes/knives, becoming more dismembered as it goes along.

Some of the horrific violence is so over the top that its genuinely funny, so it’s a shame that the game itself is a bit of an underwhelming experience.

While 1992’s Fatal Fury 2 was a solid release in its own right, many fans were left disappointed by the omission of a number of the original game’s characters. Fatal Fury Special fixed this in a big way, bringing back characters such as Duck King, Tung Fu Rue and the original baddie, Geese Howard, while also tuning up the game’s combo system and introducing a faster game speed for good measure.

The game also featured a secret character in the form of Ryo Sakazaki, the protagonist of the Art Of Fighting series. This crossover between the franchises was a popular choice from SNK (and a no-brainer, considering both of the games series exist in the same universe story-wise), so much so that it inspired them to push development of The King Of Fighters ‘94 in 1994.

We’ll talk more about that next week though…

Thanks to the ongoing success of Street Fighter II, there were countless titles throughout the 90’s that tried to imitate all kinds of stuff from the game in an attempt to get in on that sweet, sweet arcade money. A shining example of this was Fighter’s History, which is one of (if not THE) biggest copycat fighting game of the era. Everything here feels like a retread of Capcom’s biggest game, but nowhere near as satisfying.

The game sees eight international fighters travel across the world to compete in a tournament and see who is deemed the “best fighter”. Sound familiar?

Everything from the colour of the health bars and sound of the blocking hit effects felt like they were directly lifted from Street Fighter II, so much so that Capcom actually tried to sue the game’s developer for shamelessly ripping them off.

Somehow, Capcom lost the case, and Fighter’s History went on to get a sequel!

1992’s Mortal Kombat was a smash hit in arcades and on home consoles, showing a completely different style to the cartoonish fighting games being developed at the time. Fan were left clamouring for more violence, more characters and more special moves, and man, did the sequel delive on these demands (and then some!).

Mortal Kombat II is fondly remembered as one of the absolute best games in the MK franchise, as it boasted improved graphics, more fatalities and more secrets to be discovered. The game was also eager to show to everyone how it didn’t take itself too seriously either, with the addition of “FRIENDSHIP” and “BABALITY” moves, which saw fighters do the polar opposite of the infamous fatalities, or simply turn the opponent into a baby, respectively.

Midway did an excellent job of improving every aspect of the first game, and proved to everyone that the success of the franchise’s first entry was no fluke.

This is also the game where, as a kid, I personally found out why Mortal Kombat was so controversial. Thanks to the first Mortal Kombat’s heavily censored Super Nintendo port, which saw all the fatalities removed and the blood switched with sweat, Mortal Kombat II had much more of an impact on me.

Not content with already creating a handful of standout fighting game franchises by this point, SNK’s latest entry in the genre was a different kind of beast altogether.

Instead of the turbocharged, high intensity action that we were used to in most fighting games of this era, Samurai Shodown slowed things down considerably, matching the vibe of many of the old samurai movies it took inspiration from.

That’s not to say that it isn’t intense, quite the opposite really. The slower pace is accompanied by much higher damage from attacks, multiplying the high risk/high reward factor immensely. When all it takes is just one or two quick attacks to get bodied by an opponent, the need to strategise instead of mindlessly button-mashing is essential.

The game was also one of the best looking 2D fighting games at the time as well, with vibrant backgrounds, great character design and flourishes of bloody violence whenever a particularly nasty final blow hits.

Professional wrestling was HUGE in the 90’s, and the goofy, theatrical nature of the sport lent itself well to the world of video games.

Capcom’s wrestling game is an interesting on, as it not only featured a cast of mostly original characters, but the game fits canonically into the shared universe of Street Fighter and Final Fight too.

Final Fight’s musclebound mayor Mike Haggar is a playable character, and several wrestlers in the game have direct ties to fighters in Capcom’s most popular series (Guile has a brother?!)!

While the sequel, Ring Of Destruction, played more like a traditional 2D Versus fighting game, Saturday Night Slam Masters is a more traditional arcade experience that allows up to 4 players to play in a match simultaneously.

It’s loud, silly and over the top fun. Ya know, like wrestling is!

The juggernaut of the genre that was Street Fighter II got yet another update in 1993, and this was a massive one.

Four brand new fighters joined the roster - Cammy, Fei Long, T, Hawk and Dee Jay - which now meant that the game’s roster was double that of the 1991 release, the character selection screen got a graphical overhaul, players could choose from 8 different colour palettes for their fighter, the voiceover work was improved on and the entire game was tweaked and rebalanced.

Super Street Fighter II also introduced “Tournament Mode”, which only available in arcades when four Super Street Fighter II arcade cabinets were connected together. The home console versions of the game also included tournaments as a separate game mode.

This fighter based on everyone’s favourite sewer-dwelling, pizza eating reptiles is a particularly interesting one, as the experience players got was completely dependent on which version they were playing.

First of all, the NES version. Konami’s final NES game (in the US and Europe at least) and one of the only fighting games for the system that saw a release during the 90s boom of the genre, this scaled-back version didn’t even see a release in Japan. In the single-player Story mode, players choose one of the four turtles as they hold a contest amongst themselves to see who is fit to take on Shredder's challenge. After defeating the first 3 opponents, the player proceeds to fight Casey Jones and then Hothead before the final battle with the Shredder.

Then we had the SNES version, which was also known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles V: Tournament Fighters (in an attempt to continue the success of the arcade beat-’em-ups) and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Warriors. This version uses a similar premise to the NES version in that a fighting tournament is announced, only this time Shredder is a part of the tournament, so the mean, green party machines enter in an attempt to stop him.

The game’s actual story mode was different though, as the turtles must rescue April O'Neil and Splinter from Shredder's clutches. The Turtles must travel across the US in their Turtle Blimp, defeating other fighters and collecting information. Only the four of them can be playable whereas the other characters (as well as a rad looking turtle clone) are the opponents. This version had a bigger roster (12 fighters from the TMNT universe), featured super meters, and the game’s turbo mode at its highest setting was much faster than Street Fighter II Turbo’s was!

And finally, the SEGA Mega Drive version, which has a single player mode that features the turtles and their allies traveling to various planets in Dimension X, fighting against clones of themselves, as they seek to rescue Splinter from Krang. After defeating the eight clones, the player travel to the final three stages to fight against a Triceraton, Krang's Android, and Karai. The game has a two player mode, as well as a practice mode in which the player faces the computer in a 1-round match, and a "Tournament" where the player must defeat 88 opponents with one life gauge.

Cowabunga!

The first fighting game to use 3D graphics truly felt “next-gen” at the time, and had it not been released, then we likely wouldn’t have ever got consoles such as the SEGA Saturn or the original PlayStation either.

It wasn’t just the games impressive visuals and sound that were unique either, as the game focused on more “realistic” moves based in actual combat sports and martial arts as opposed to the cartoonish and OTT antics seen in many 2D games of the era. The game didn’t have any real “story” to it either, just a fighting tournament to show off the graphics and smooth gameplay.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Virtua Fighter was unlike any fighting game that came before it, and is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest technical achievements of that era.

ADK’s World Heroes also got a sequel this year, and saw improvements across the board.

With more fighters to choose from (six new characters joined the roster), more moves to execute, and more stages to fight in, World Heroes 2 simply offered much more variety than the first game.

One of the most interesting additions to the game was the option to choose an entirely new lifebar setting. When switched on, the regular health gauges at the top of the screen are transformed into a single bar that both players now share. This lifebar will go back and forth as players inflict damage on each other, tug-of-war style, and a KO occurs when one side of the bar is completely depleted!

So, there we have it.

1993 was truly the year where the fighting game genre started to expand past your standard “SFII Clone” fare. Street Fighter II continued to make headlines with its huge update, Mortal Kombat II once again set the bar for how violent fighting titles should be handled and Virtua Fighter’s massively impressive leap into the third dimension helped to give players a glimpse at the future of not only fighting games, but video games as a whole!

Next week, we’ll be taking a look at 1994: a year that birthed several more fighting game franchises!

Did we miss anything from 1993 that’s worth mentioning?

Let us know in the comments below!

[she-toadmask]

I’m kind of in a mood suddenly so below the cut there will be me just talking about fanfics I have read or am reading and why I like fanfic and stuff because I need to just

Fanfiction fucking rocks the basic part before all the stuff about it as the story just...it’s so easy to access and there’s so much and it’s just all there on the internet I don’t have to find a physical book

And on AO3 (where 90% of good currently-updating fic is afaik) there is TAGGING where you will know what you’re getting into (unless the author suddenly adds a sex scene and only then updates the tags but at least they give a warning at the start of the chapter but it doesn’t bother me as much as it did a couple years ago as long as I know it’s coming I know it’s a tool and it has its uses) with character drama and deaths and all that jazz not to mention how Ash being a badass has a specific tag and just other random things having tags that are important parts of the story

Like there are multiple fics I have found (not all of them are living fics sadly) of writing Ash’s journey in the beginning differently, like there was one I saw once that I kind of forgot to keep reading where he went to Sinnoh (and was still rivals with Paul and I think their ship tag was there?) and it said it was following game plot and then there’s one that I definitely don’t have open anymore because it didn’t update for some amount of time where he had a Joltik and then a Ferroseed and it’s really cool and a different one that’s still living and it’s called Pity of the World and Jesse + James (who is genderfluid in this fic) + Meowth are good people and stuff and just steal abused Pokemon and they run into Ash and they all end up being travel buddies and Ash understands Pokemon (not literally of course that’s not this fic) and also just knows what James’ gender is before they say anything and also in one chapter Zapdos is in Gringy City and says something about friendship being for mortals or something??? idk we’ll see and then there’s a different fic that I was reading and lost when switching devices and Ash was raised by Pokemon and literally can speak Pokemon and it was really neat but I haven’t tried to find where I left off because I’m too lazy for that tbh but it is still updating it’s Symbiosis or Symbiotic or something like that

Most things involving Ash that aren’t shippy or weird like that (ok there are some I’m not interested in but whapdfajaldjakjdf) end up being really cool because he’s a fucking legendary magnet which can either be played for laughs or deadly serious or just not be part of the fic if it isn’t relevant and so many fics use Aura it’s really cool (including Pity of the World I think he mega evolves Pidgeot (who evolves before leaving) when he fights Sabrina who does not have a doll in this fic) and there are different ways they do it and the thing I was mentioning about his connection with Pokemon like maybe it’s just a bit more than normal or it’s just yes he is everything and I kinda skipped out on gens 6 and 7 of the anime but I get enough to understand what they mean in chat fics and when referring to it in other fics it’s really cool

I think I mentioned Creepypasta and how there were two Harry Potter Creepypasta fics, one that was one and was slow to update if it wasn’t dead and one that was on the fourth one actually I was wrong about what number it was I think and updates every two weeks the first one is more lighthearted/written by a younger person like Slendy is a character and Harry x a lot of the ‘pastas I guess and it takes place starting before 4th year and the beginning is kinda meh with some weird dialogue and absurd levels of Dumbledore Ron and Hermione bashing but it does call out some of the other legitimate problems like how the lake trial in the tournament just kidnaps people which is very big because it was Ben who was kidnapped so big yikes there and honestly it’s not what you want to read if you want something really high-quality and serious like not that it doesn’t take itself seriously but it feels closer to something I would have read when I was in middle school than most of the Sanders Sides fics I read (just using that as comparison because the vast majority of that is well-written stuff). Then the other one!!!! For one it has a much more realistic/developed take on the Creepypastas’ existence like how the stories are how they exist with Slenderman being a cosmic horror being thing more than a character with character which is always really cool and Jeff kidnaps Harry as a baby (he is Boy when he is with the Creepypasta and Harry when at Hogwarts and there’s some really cool stuff about how they’re different) and, having lived with murderers, Harry gives zero fucks about things and kills Fluffy in the first book long before other stuff happens, Quirrel tries to use him to get the stone but gets annihilated at the mirror because family and then Voldemort is just a giant white snake for the rest of the series so far and also because he sucks Lockhart tries to exorcise Harry because Harry is fucking nuts and it’s great and also Harry is a Hufflepuff and there is probably more Gryffindor bashing than is necessary and pretty much all the adults get bashed for sucking (like in book 3 the boggart stuff is called out for being hella dangerous for them also Harry can’t cast the Patronus charm make of that what you will idk what) though Harry does make for quite the conversation topic among the teachers, Harry x Neville is the main ship and Neville eventually gets resorted into Hufflepuff because the Gryffindors are being massive dicks to him, also Harry flirts with Draco because Harry gives no fucks and it’s great (also both books give Luna lots of love, like the young one she’s a Seer like from Madame Macabre’s old webcomic that’s dead as it gets and the long one she’s just a good character and shit) and Harry makes these books to spread Slenderman’s legend throughout Britain/the Wizarding World and Draco may have gotten one and survived???? but now Neville has one during the summer months (and also through feeding Fanged Geraniums or whatever live stuff and blood instead of bonemeal he is creating Audrey II and straight-up says something about having to call it Harry Jr. but that’s probably just a little joke and isn’t going to stay beyond this but it’s just fun because Little Shop of Horrors slaps) and I have big fear about him doing the stuff and getting hurt and Harry/Boy conflict will be scary

There’s this other fic I found when trying to find good fics involving Ash and it’s kinda weird and seems to be written by a younger author but we’ll see where things go, like Harry got transported by Celebi to the world of Pokemon and Giovanni is Silver and Ash’s dad and they live with him and also Harry does too and he’s in a wheelchair and also is really smart and I wish we had gotten to spend a bit longer seeing their dynamics before when Harry is 14 the Goblet of Fire somehow spits his name out and Celebi helps with getting Harry (and also the other three because of course) safely there without dying because dimensional travel is hard and Celebi is friend and Luna gets to be important here too I think she’s shown up as a named student and guided them to a room and seems to know things about the castle and that’s kinda all there is so far there’s a bit more but it’s not got a lot yet I hope the author keeps going it’s a weird idea but I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes

Oh I forgot to talk about it but there’s this whump Ash fic that was being written under one title but it got dropped and now it’s being rewritten with the same concept but under a new title and going about a lot of things a different way it’s just the same starting premise and the fic is Helpless and Ash almost dies multiple times and there’s this theme of adults failing him and also Gary fucks a thing up and Ash needs support and therapy (a good number of fics have Ash needing therapy but given the shit he’s been through that is not surprising especially from my limited knowledge of Kalos holy shit Lysandre was doing some mad shit) and it’s just good but it is a lot of hospital and Ash being hurt and almost dying so be warned if that isn’t a safe read for you

The reason I don’t just outright block explicit anymore despite the horrors of trying to find safe Pokemon fic on AO3 amidst the consensual porn, incest porn, pokephilia porn, etc., is I randomly decided to try and find some Sonic fanfic on AO3 because a couple people on YouTube have been doing Sonic story stuff (Sonic What If has some good stuff that’s just... what-if scenarios and then there’s Sonic Rewritten which takes a game’s plot and then redoes it but good like the Deadly Six having personalities or Sonic 06 not having maybe bestiality or Generations being more than ‘oh past and present stages now have nostalgia’ and Robotnik and Eggman are significantly different people in that one and it’s really cool) and I thought maybe I would find some good stuff on AO3 (which I have but nothing that I want to ramble about specifically though there was one fic where Eggman does Tails clone and then his original body dies so he’s stuck looking like Tails and it’s kinda wild) and I found a fic that was marked explicit because torture and violence (honestly it wasn’t that bad) and I like it and don’t want to miss something that I might like by accidentally blocking it and now when I try to find Pokemon fic I have to see Leon x Hop and Pokemon x human smut.

There’s one Sanders Sides fic that I was reading and I don’t remember the name nor do I know if it’s updating I think I lost it but it started from the beginning of the series with the Dark Sides being a platonic poly family and when they weren’t in the episode they were talking about it/the Light Sides and it’s honestly really really good and the author just decided to have Deceit’s name be Janus and it was amazing when it turned out that was his real name it was just great but IDK if the fic has been abandoned, I think I lost it in the shift, but it was really good (but sympathetic dark sides and unsympathetic patton and roman and logan for a bit so do be warned if those aren’t comfortable for you)

Oh yeah I remembered another fic I can talk about there was this one Creepypasta fic and it’s completed and it is a Jeff x Reader but it kind of just stops being about the romance after a certain point and just goes way off the rails. It starts like ‘oh this will be a normal x reader with mansion and Slendy is dad and Zalgo is probably evil’ and then NOPE SLENDERMAN HAS BEEN RAISING FAMILIES THAT LOVE HIM TO TURN THEM INTO CRYSTALS TO MAKE HIM MORE POWERFUL AND ZALGO IS AGAINST THAT and it just is great like I never see Zalgo being good, like Slenderman being evil or whatever is plenty common (especially in the innumerable ARG fics I don’t read because I don’t have the attention span to learn what the fuck the source is) but never in tandem with Zalgo being anything but chaotic evil n shit it’s wild and it’s great and also Slenderman’s parents have faces I guess idk that was weird also there is one smut chapter but like the author said you can skip the smut and I did and didn’t feel like I missed any plot stuff so if that’s a no for you just keep an eye out for the author’s warning. It is by a younger writer, as demonstrated by its daily updates while it was being written, tiny chapters, and some general writing style stuff common to younger writers, but honestly I just love it for being something so wildly different, under the guise of a typical x Reader fic.

Speaking of ship stuff and Creepypasta the trilogy of Sans x Creepypasta fics are amazing. The writer definitely improves over time, the beginning of the first book kind of has the weird ‘then I knew I was in love’ stuff from a couple of the pastas (then again I’m ace and demiro so starting romance is just generally weird) but it is just a really good series. Sans ends up with seven kids in the third book and, while everyone else in the Undertale cast is bashed in the first two, Papyrus does seem to get some redemption in the third, so there is that. Also Murderer Sans is a fantastic tag, Gaster made a deal with Zalgo to create the skelebros and Sans is more demon than Papyrus by a lot and Zalgo is trying to kidnap Sans and Sans’ children so he has his family together to destroy the world and wander free and it’s wild and also Chara and Flowey show up and also LJ being an angel is mentioned and relevant to the plot for a bit so that’s neat and I don’t know all the details of how it ends because I lost it when I shifted and didn’t want to find where I was but it’s a great fic (albeit with a few things I can argue on) and the author has also been writing other Sans x Creepypasta stuff but I haven’t read it because idk

I really wish I had a good Minecraft fanfic to gush about but I really don’t it’s hard to find Minecraft fic that isn’t tuber-based, either Dream and friends (which occasionally I find a good one but so much is either Dream SMP which I have no interest in getting into, involves people I don’t know from Dream SMP, or just is shippy or straight-up doesn’t have a premise I’m interested in) or Hermitcraft (I fell behind so I have no idea what’s happening anymore) (but also like Mianite and Aphmau stuff but not as much as used to, but now Dream rules all so), and it just sucks. Like if some of it was Team Crafted fic I would be on board like hell yeah give me that nostalgia juice but it’s so much shit I just don’t know. I love the idea of Minecraft fanfic because there are so many options for the world and you can either make your own characters and you probably have to but then there’s just if you use Steve Alex Herobrine or Notch how they are written depends on the author and I live for that shit it’s a big part of why I read Creepypasta fic it’s because I like when there are different ways characters can be done (not unsympathetic or sympathetic like Patton so much like straight-up different characters) like Herobrine and Notch are the big ones like good vs evil, involved vs not, serious vs comedic, there are so many different ways to play them and I’m so disappointed AO3 doesn’t have much of it and so much of it is just Dream stuff and it usually just isn’t what I’m after in a fic.

The only other fics coming to mind right now are two wildly different fics involving Springtrap x Reader, one of them is being transferred from Wattpad for copy reasons, complete with tiny-ass chapters and that language that’s just so middle-school in the best way possible (like William and Springtrap are different consciousnesses and they way the author describes their struggle at one point is just so similar to a stupid thing I did and I have so much affection for it) and the other is legitimately really really good and the reader-insert has recently found out that Springtrap is William Afton and has murdered many children and they are currently dying multiple times to help his victims pass on because they can see ghosts and it’s actually really good and I have no idea where things are going, reader has currently met up with Michael Afton, currently all purple and dead and stuff, and has learned about remnant (weird-ass shit from modern FNAF lore) and it’s getting wild. I feel like there are two types of FNAF fic, ones in the style of FNAF 3/4 and earlier and ones from maybe 4 onward. Like ones where the lore was basically ‘bad man committed murder against children and they’re possessing the animatronics and that’s why they’re trying to kill you’ and then 4 starts having some more expansive lore ish and then after that it just goes everywhere with remnant and scooping and even more locations and also the books matter probably??? There is this one fic involving Glitchtrap that hasn’t updated in a bit and it’s fun, I like the idea of Glitchtrap and really wish I could read more fic just centered around FNAF VR. Then again, BEN was always one of my favorites and after I stopped being absolutely terrified of Herobrine I really liked his possibilities, maybe I just like the story utility and possible execution of characters with wide-ranging powers over technology and affecting the real world outside of it, IDK.

Ok I’m out of ramble energy, and also topics unless I go more in-depth about specific character options, but my energy is gone so I think that’s the end of it. I typed 3,000 words about fanfictions I’m reading and probably could have talked more about some of them if I wanted. This is my new hyperfixation. I guess. At least I know I have one, it’s reassuring to know for some reason, like for a while I missed how much Pokemon was my life in elementary school and Minecraft was in sixth grade, like it was nice just having something to focus on, though maybe that’s just the college and depression talking.

That was good, I’m glad I did that. Y’all are loved.

If you seriously read this entire thing... Wow. I really appreciate you digitally listening to me talking about random fanfic shit that I like. You’re really really cool.

[battlekidx2]

Star Wars the Clone Wars (2008) Thoughts and Review

With season 7 of the clone wars fast approaching I decided to give the series a second shot. The first time I started watching star wars the clone wars I dropped it. I am so glad I gave it a second chance. I watched it chronologically this time around which made a significant difference in the experience. The first time I watched it the show felt incredibly disjointed with characters who had died much earlier suddenly getting introduction episodes and the timeline was all over the place with closing episodes for arcs happening before opening ones. I couldn’t understand why so many people liked this show that was so all over the place, but now that it’s been a few years and there are many lists on how to watch it chronologically returning for the show seemed like a must. This is a truly great cartoon with amazing writing, animation, and characters. It’s a deeply tragic tale where the heroes don’t win every battle. You know the outcome and yet you can’t help but be enthralled by everything that happens. The show becomes steeped in grey the longer it moves along and decidedly doesn’t deal with the absolutes of black and white, light and dark. This show managed to blow me away even though I came in having heard all the praises that were thrown its way. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn’t watched this show go out and start right now.

Animation:

There was a rather large jump in animation quality in season 4. That’s not to say the animation before wasn’t impressive just that it became even better. The character animation is where it was most noticeable. I wasn’t a big fan of Count Dooku or Chancellor Palpatine’s character models at the start, but after the animation bump they were much better. From the clothes, to the hair, to the facial expressions. The character models for everyone were much better. The hair moved now! All jokes aside the clone wars seems to have an endless well of finances for the animation. There were so many different planets and character models utilized throughout the show’s run that there’s no other way they could pull it off. (It was rather famously financed by George Lucas) Considering the last season was released in 2013 I can easily say the animation still looks better than a lot of shows today. I had heard that the animation was good, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how good.

Standout Arcs:

Landing at point rain - This is the episode that really hooked me and made me think this show was something special. There were losses and the plan didn’t go the way our characters wanted. Obi Wan was struck out of the sky and put out of commission because of his injuries. The large scale battles and 3 separate storylines following the 3 generals were all juggles very well and, while not the morally nuanced storytelling that the Clone Wars became known for, it was still a well made war episode that showed the grueling nature of it and what was the start of what was to come. 

Padawan Lost arc - This arc made me realize how much I loved Ahsoka. Not saying I didn’t like her before just that I hadn’t realized how much I had grown to love her character. These episodes did a good job of showing Ahsoka’s growth and how capable she was without her lightsaber, master, or army. The intercutting of the discovery of the other taken padawans that were never searched for with the council telling Anakin not to look for Ahsoka, but to trust in the force shows the disconnect that the Jedi council was beginning to have even with its own order. It shows that their rules against connection was, in a way, pushing them away from the light. This was the beginnings of showing how the order has lost its way. I found myself worrying over Ahsoka and her well being. I wanted her to succeed and come out the other side with the other “prey”. Which was an excellent juxtaposition to the council. Ahsoka lets her attachments help her protect the other prisoners and they get to escape because they act as a unit disproving the council’s decisions on connections. It’s fascinating that an arc that seemed at first to be disconnected to the main theme of the series became intertwined with it. I really like how the clone wars can turn your expectations on its head.

The Umbara Arc - What can I say about this arc that hasn’t already been said. Wow, just wow. This arc is incredible and showcases everything that makes the clone wars great. The animation in this four episode arc is phenomenal and some of the best 3D animation I’ve seen put on TV. The clone wars excels at showing large scale fights and this is no different. It was a marvel to look at. There were so many dark themes that were within this arc. The clones having to come to grips with the corruption of their leader and their own ability to choose despite how horrible the choices they are left with are. The revelation that they were shooting on their own troops in “Carnage on Krell” was harrowing and my shock mirrored that of the clone troopers themselves. The betrayal and hurt that all the troopers were feeling was clear as day and the realization at what they had to do to Krell, a leader they were programmed to trust, not only foreshadowed order 66 but also showed that casualties of war aren’t just people but also beliefs and worldview. The growth that the clones, especially Rex and Fives, underwent was amazing. These two became some of my favorite star wars characters with this arc. Fives with his staunch beliefs that he and all clones should stick to what they believe to be right and Rex with his realization that his loyalty and programming were misplaced, that everything that he believed and fought for may have been a lie and corrupt all along. We’ve seen the senate treating the clones like objects and products, but to see the reality of it on the battlefield was a different experience entirely. When they took Umbara it didn’t feel like a victory for the clones or to me. It felt hollow and saddening. We know how this all ends and having the clones humanized in such a way makes everything that happens later all the more hard hitting. This arc was truly great and it alone makes watching the clone wars worth it.

I also really like how it was a reversal of order 66 with the jedi general betraying his clones. It showed that clones banding together can take down even a prepared jedi, alibi an overconfident one. The conflicting emotions that the clones go through when disobeying their orders opens nuance to order 66 and their possible refusal to carry it out. The struggle of going against their programming is at the focus of this arc. The eventual retcon of this struggle by having the control chips in their brain is simultaneously something I don’t like and something I think makes sense. I don’t like it because it removes the implications and possibility to disobey the order on the clone’s end, but it also would be poor planning on Palpatine’s part to let everything hinge on the clones obeying their programming and not question it. The chips also lead to some of my favorite episodes with fives discovering order 66. This doesn’t effect my love of this arc I just wanted to voice my opinion on this point.

Darth Maul Ascendant arc and the Lawless - This arc was phenomenal. I don’t know what to say. I loved just about everything about this arc. From Darth Maul and his revenge against Obi Wan to the fall of Mandalore by its own hands. This arc was beautifully tragic. Nothing went right in this arc for anyone. Obi Wan couldn’t save Satine, Bo Katan couldn’t save Mandalore, Maul couldn’t save his brother or himself. The most popular shot from the episode “The Lawless”:

Perfectly encapsulates how futile and (once again) tragic this episode is. Obi Wan is just a silhouette against the backdrop of explosions and fighting. He’s so insignificant and small. He can’t win. He can’t save Mandalore. No matter how hard he tried. He’s just one person in the middle of this mandalorian civil war. This entire arc is filled with shots and scenes that are like this one, beautiful to look at and yet portraying immense tragedy. And I think this juxtaposition was intentional. You can’t take your eyes away despite all the horrible things happening before you. I think these episodes were some of the best animated content I have ever consumed. There are quite a few clone wars arcs that make me feel this way, but I think this is my favorite or at the very least contains my favorite episode in “The Lawless”. It is easily something I will never forget.

Ahsoka on Trial - This arc is masterful in how it juxtaposes Ahsoka and Anakin’s journey’s. Both have to deal with their disillusionment with the jedi order and the perceived lack of trust the order places in them. With the ending shot (shown below) of Anakin and Ahsoka foreshadowing through lighting the path their choices will bring them down. Ahsoka has a lit up sky behind her while Anakin has the looming, dark jedi temple behind him. Ahsoka continues down the stairs into the light having turned her back on the growing darkness within the jedi order and tentatively towards a path we cannot see but has at least some brightness and hope. While Anakin is stuck going back to an order he doesn’t have faith in feeling like he has failed his task in protecting Ahsoka. This arc is what the show felt like it was culminating towards with Ahsoka. We knew something was going to happen that would take her out of Anakin’s life before the events of Revenge of the Sith, but the way this played out was better than I could have imagined. I couldn’t help getting emotional over Anakin and Ahsoka parting ways and knowing how Anakin’s story plays out just added to my sadness over it all. There is also a very interesting parallel between Ahsoka and Ventress. They are both force wielders that were betrayed by the order that they followed and seeing their interactions after all this time was fascinating. I also couldn’t truly argue with Barriss when she voiced her reason for attacking the jedi temple. We’ve seen through all our main characters the shortcomings of the jedi and the corruption within the senate that the jedi work with. What Anakin says in Revenge of the Sith “From my point of view the jedi are evil” suddenly makes so much more sense after watching this series and especially this arc. This managed to add so much to the prequel trilogy, at least in my opinion.

Fives and Order 66 - I can’t believe the show decided to show someone actually discovering the truth behind order 66. I was rooting for fives throughout this entire arc and was shocked and sad to see he died so close to getting out the truth (despite knowing that he wouldn’t succeed). I had grown very attached to fives with all the episodes he was a part of and liked how his sense of duty was to doing what was right and saving as many lives as he could showing how despite the clones being programmed they all had different interpretations of their programming. This arc showed how capable the chancellor was at covering his tracks. He had a hand in every event that transpired during this series and yet has everyone fooled in one way or another. No one really knows the truth about him. After the episode “Orders” I had to pause the show, sit back, and let what had just happened sink in (like with many other episodes). How could this show tell storylines that I knew were doomed to end only one way and yet still completely emotionally invest me? And I think that question is just a testament to how good this series really is and how good this arc is. 

I will say that easily the weakest episodes to me were the ones focusing on the droids such as R2D2 and C3PO. I like them as support characters, but their spotlight episodes were a slog to get through and I probably won’t rewatch any of them. The good news is that these are far and few between, but there is an arc with them in season 5 that I’m not too fond of especially since the rest of season 5 was phenomenal. There were also a few senate based episodes I struggled through, but most of them I was interested by because of how you could see the corruption and how the senate themselves had begun to see the war as a chance to profit and saw the clone troopers as disposable, easily renewable weapons. It was at times fascinating.

Characters:

Ahsoka - I love Ahsoka Tano. I’ve heard that she wasn’t well received upon her introduction. I’m not entirely sure why because I didn’t have a problem with her in the clone wars movie. She wasn’t my favorite, but she had a lot of room to grow and I wanted to see what they would do with her. The very premise of Anakin having a padawan is fascinating to me because while we know what she isn’t around for revenge of the sith we don’t know why. Is she killed? Does something drastic happen that removes her from the story? Does she stay a jedi or fall to the sith? These were all possibilities and thoughts that I had when I started watching the clone wars. I made sure to stay away from spoilers because I like it when I get to watch something unfold. Ahsoka’s arc is fantastic. We get to see her transform into an idealistic, overconfident youngling to a calm and confident jedi. She, like Obi Wan and Anakin, goes through trials and sees her faith is the Jedi order shaken. The disillusionment and what paths it takes them all on is really interesting. Unlike Obi Wan who still wields and believes is the light side or Anakin who wields and falls to the dark Ahsoka becomes something in the middle, not light or dark. They all portray the different paths that their disillusionment can take. Ahsoka’s decision to become something in the middle echoes the sentiment that you should not deal in absolutes, which is a message within the series. Ahsoka’s decision to leave the Jedi order and forge her own path is what I feel the story was always culminating towards with her. This is why I’m excited for Ahsoka vs Darth Maul in season 7. They are both former apprentices that were betrayed by the order that they had sworn their loyalty towards, but while Maul focuses on vengeance and continues down the path of the dark side, Ahsoka focuses on the future and taking her own path separate from the light or dark. They are perfect opposites to one another in how they dealt with their similar situations. Ahsoka is the perfect example of the idea that the power doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it. She chooses to still do what she knows is right despite not wielding the dark side. I’m really happy that she survived the series and the empire’s reign. I can’t wait to see what they do next with her.

Obi Wan Kenobi - I really liked what they did with him in this series. We got to see how his emotions did clash with his rigid adherence to the jedi code. His most telling moments were in his greatest failures. Even in the darkest times he didn’t lose hope. He continued to believe that a better future was possible in spite of all of his loss. And I think that is admirable. Because we are so often given characters that are either overly idealistic or overly pessimistic and I can understand both of these archetypes, but Obi Wan has seen the worst of people and lost so much and yet he still maintains hope and I think that is powerful. It may also be because I am a huge fan of Obi Wan. But his hope also has its downsides even within the show because it extended to his belief in the jedi order and their code. It prevented him from being with the one he loved and creates a divide between him and Anakin where they can’t really see eye to eye. The dynamic between him and Anakin is amazing and made my rewatch of Revenge of the Sith and their battle within the film so much more heartbreaking. Obi Wan is a character that has to do something and help where he can, much like Anakin, but where Anakin is brash and reckless Obi wan is calm and diplomatic. They are set up as amazing foils to one another. I just love how much this show fleshed out Obi Wan’s character and showed more to him than the movies got to. This show did a fantastic job with Obi Wan and made his transformation from who he is in the prequels to who he is in the original trilogy make much more sense. (I highly recommend SUPER FRAME’s review of this show. I really agree with his thoughts on Obi Wan in this show)

Anakin - Anakin is a character that unlike Obi Wan I wasn’t the biggest fan of coming into this series. I didn’t hate him, but I much preferred his Darth Vader counterpart. This series changes this and I now like Anakin much more and find his fall to the dark side to be just as fascinating as his life as Darth Vader. We get to see that he really does want to save everyone and how his attachment and possessiveness lead to him doing horrible things even from the very beginning to protect those he cares about. His protectiveness becomes closer and closer to possessiveness as the series progresses. This is most noticeable after Ahsoka leaves the order and Padme decides to work with Clovis. Anakin is controlling and demands/orders her to not work with Clovis. He tries to take away her choice in the matter. This is eerily close to who he is in revenge of the sith even if it is just for a moment before it gets shoved back down. All of these moments (once again) make his turn in Revenge of the Sith very believable because it’s clear that he can be capable of the things he does in that film and onwards. He was always teetering on the edge and he just needed a push to start his descent. The tragedy of Anakin Skywalker actually became a tragedy.

This entire show seems to be a story of disillusionment, of loss, of tragedy. What starts out to seem like a tale of triumph and valor is revealed to be a facade for the bleak reality that is war. Even the “good guys” have lost their way. Time and time again we see the council and senate make decisions that aren’t what would be considered the right thing to do. The senate looks at clones like products. Disposable, reorderable weapons to wage a war that they themselves are safe from as long as they stay on Coruscant. The Jedi order has lost their way. They are no longer peacekeepers, but weapons and warriors that perpetuate war by siding with the republic. They can’t help planets like Mandalore because they side with the republic, planets that tear themselves apart and are their own worst enemy. They are supposed to help the people and the further into the war they get the less people they can protect and the more people that die. The clone wars is known to be a tragic tale where neither side wins and both were manipulated. This show perfectly captures the tragedy. I couldn’t help, but understand Barriss’ scorning remarks about the Jedi Order by the end of the series while still sympathizing with Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi Wan’s desperate attempts to do what is right in spite of their terrible circumstances.

There is too much about the show that I want to talk about and this could probably continue for much longer, but I can’t endlessly add to this if I want to get it out before season 7 airs. There were some fantastic arcs like the mortis arc that I didn’t talk about and that’s because I wasn’t sure where to start with them. I would like to maybe later come back once I find the words and talk about them. I found this show got better with almost every season with season 5 being the best, especially since almost every episode was in the correct order. There were many highs within the series and it managed to expand a lot on the Star wars world, characters, and mythos. I liked how they brought Maul back and what they did with Ventress. Maul was something that easily could have gone wrong and Ventress is a character they easily could have just written off or killed. These are two risks that I felt paid off and there were many more. It took risks and managed to effectively comment on the justification and morality of war. It has arcs I find to be some of the best I’ve seen in animation and left me awestruck. I cannot wait for the 7th season. I’m so glad this show is getting the opportunity it deserves to end properly and tie up its loose ends. I will watch the episodes as they drop and I hope everyone who reads this will as well.

(I apologize if some of this seems jumbled. I think I may have a concussion so writing this was a bit more difficult that it should have been) 

[masterthespianduchovny]

I honestly think people focus more on what Scully lost because we “experienced” it in real time with her. We witnessed her abduction, watched her process the fact that she had cancer, watched her fight that, and then found out that she was barren around the same time. 

So, it feels like Scully was the only one to lose anything, where as Mulder lost nothing.

Especially considering that most of the online presence and metas about the X-Files and characters are written by women, it makes even more sense why many focus on Scully.

But, this isn’t about who has suffered more, but rather, an exploration as to why Scully’s pain and trauma is focused on more.

Scully’s violations were more physical than emotional, where as Mulder’s violations were more emotional than physical outside of Samantha.

Even then, many overlook, despite actively talking about it, how Samantha’s abduction shaped Mulder’s life. 

Mulder was consumed with his sister’s abduction for almost 30 years. It shaped the person he became both directly and indirectly. It influenced most of his professional career paths. It affected his relationships or the lack thereof. 

Mulder had unaddressed trauma and he processed this through sarcasm, self deprecation, deflection. etc. He was paranoid, but eager to trust. Hurt easily, but loyal. A maverick at times, but damned good at his job.

We meet Mulder, post Samantha’s abduction, so the trauma that molded him is the only version we’ve ever known of him. Because even pre hypnosis Mulder is still a traumatized Mulder.

This is a Mulder who has only ever had himself since he was a pre teen. Let me repeat that: PRE TEEN. He’s never been an untraumaized adult. He’s been traumatized far longer than he hasn’t been.

We meet this guy when he was 30-31, he’s already settled into the person he is. And the thing is: he’s not noticeably “damaged”. He know his sister was abducted and he’s laser focused on finding answers/finding her, but Mulder doesn’t drink (not really and we’ve rarely seen him drink. The times we have were extreme circumstances), doesn't do drugs, doesn’t gamble, isn’t maladjusted and pushes back when he feels mistreated, etc. We saw him as zany and idiosyncratic, but “damaged”? Many treat his trauma as past tense and not in a perpetual state of present tense.

Then, we get to after Scully was fatefully assigned to Mulder.

And this is not to take agency from Scully in anyway, BUT it’s what happened: Scully was taken to punish Mulder for getting too close to the truth. Scully was given cancer to hurt Mulder. CSM flirted with giving Mulder the cure if he joined him. Mulder’s father was killed so he couldn’t tell Mulder the truth. The way they exploited Samantha, her function in the conspiracy a la clones and shit, to get emotional rises of Mulder or manipulate him to do certain things. The overall way they manipulated Mulder to push whatever agenda they had at the moment.

They essentially committed psychological warfare on Mulder throughout the series and because Mulder is obsessive and compartmentalizes everything, his trauma isn’t obvious unless it’s something like “I don’t believe in aliens anymore.”

For fans, it’s easier to process things we can see and tear apart. It’s something we can hold because it’s solid and heavy. With Mulder’s trauma and the violations committed against him, that’s much harder to unpack, especially because Mulder can function in the real world.

But, functioning and being emotionally heathy and having emotionally healthy relationship are separate things.

This doesn’t even address the entirety of what happened to Mulder OR even touches on his own abduction.

Like I said, I’m not trying to pit two bad bitches against each other, but I am examining why one character’s trauma gets talked about more than the other. This may also explain why and how people react to Mulder and Scully's behaviors towards each other in certain situations, such as fans getting upset when Mulder isn’t supportive enough or being mad about Scully’s skepticism. 

There’s a reason why there are very few occasions where Mulder and Scully are legitimately upset at each other and, others, where it’s just a disagreement even if there is passion behind it.

Man, and it just hit me again that Mulder, by the end of S7, didn’t have any living family left. It was just him. Within five years, he lost both of his parents and found out his sister was mercy killed after being experimented on. You know, after a serial killer tried to bait him into thinking he killed his sister years prior.

Both Mulder and Scully were dealt tragic hands. :(

@karinanic