#what happened on the death star

[cantsayidont]

October 1978. The first appearance of the bounty hunter Valance, who has recently made a comeback in the modern STAR WARS comics. Created by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson, Valance is a cyborg, a former Stormtrooper officer who had been grievously wounded by a Rebel air raid and who now expresses his self-loathing through a pathological hatred of Droids and automata. (His secretiveness seems merited in these stories, which indicate that cyborgs experience a high level of mistrust and social stigma. I assume this is something Goodwin extrapolated from the "We don't serve their kind" stuff in the first movie, although the degree of prejudice and outright loathing Valance faces when people know he's a cyborg isn't really borne out by later SW media.)

The next issue box is a bit misleading; THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK wasn't released until a year or so after this issue appeared. Also, the story to which the box refers (which is indeed called "The Empire Strikes!") didn't actually appear until issue #18. The issue following this one ended up being a fill-in story about Luke and Biggs prior to the events of the first movie, with art by Herb Trimpe and Al Milgrom rather than regular penciller Carmine Infantino. The delay probably had something to do with the juggling act required to produce the U.S. and UK versions of the comic — the stories that ran in the U.S. monthly color series were published more or less contemporaneously in eight-page B&W installments in the British STAR WARS WEEKLY, a logistical nightmare that necessitated the use of two distinctly different inkers and a number of fill-ins to make the math work.

[paracosm-draw]

I think grieving single father exhausted nerdy out of the dating pool awkward Anakin is my favourite flavour of Anakin

Give him a self-conscious divorced Obi-Wan who thinks his young and beautiful neighbour could never be attracted to an old guy like him and I'm hooked

[bloodybellycomb]

I cannot fix him and he will make me worse, sorry

[cogentranting]

Strange New Worlds answered the continuity issue of "if Spock and Uhura served alongside Sam Kirk for years, why didn't either of them react in TOS season 1 when Sam dies?" by saying "because neither of them could stand Sam. Next question."

[chimerahyperfix]

This loop has to be the one. Nevermind that you said it last loop, and the one before, and the one before that, and most of the ones before that. THIS was the one you'd stop the King in his tracks. You push a few of your many potions to the side to make room on your desk. None of them worked to stop him, so they were useless. He's still about twelve, fourteen? hours away, so you have enough time to make the bomb, eat and take a fat nap before you go pick a fight. Maybe this time, it'll work! It has to!

You've gotten better at making the Craft Bomb. It hasn't blown up on you before you intended to use it in... a long time. You can make it fast enough, now, for it to still be light outside! You've become silent while you work, which Mirabelle has told you is ''worrying'', but you don't see why it is. Are you really that loud? (Yes. You are.)

It's hard work. Soft light bathes your desk, your work, you. You reach out, past your potions, and grab your water bottle. Take a big swig, and

Hmm. That's not water.

How. HOW do you keep making this mistake. You look at the bottle in your hand, and sure enough, it’s one of the potions; your water bottle is shoved in the back of the collection of other containers. The taste is caustic, your throat begins to burn. You shouldn’t be this calm for having just drank something that’ll kill you in a handful of minutes, but it’s happened before. Despite the pain you don't bother trying anything. Just push the finished bomb to the side and lay your face against the wood of the table. Feel the blood start to pool in your mouth and dribbling out, staining the wood. Mirabelle, or Euphie or whoever comes in next, they can use it this loop. It's not the first time you've drank one of the many, many dangerous potions on your desk, and it's probably not the last. Maybe you'll actually clean the crabbing thing off before you work.

Whatever. You have next time. You have all the time.

Perhaps a bit too much, actually.

[lightningbig]

rambling continued from the tags on this post

thinking about a world where the kaminoans are able to bend death. well enough that the clones become effectively immortal. even when they die they don't, really. they will gasp awake again, always, a never ending cycle of life and breath and violence. they will bleed and they will fall apart but they will knit back together with enough time. they will not succumb to any wounds, not permanently.

this not even being questioned by the clones. its all they've ever known. its how they've been raised. brothers don't die, they sleep and come back. brothers don't die, they bleed and then they get better. brothers don't die, even when they're missing limbs, even when they change in irrevocable ways. the kaminoans have created an army that cannot be bested by mortality. they've created something infinite.

the first time they know death is when one of the trainers washes up, blue and bloated and half eaten by the marine life at the bottom of the sea. they'd been punishing brothers for increasingly mundane reasons in increasingly harsh ways, so they were given a taste of their own medicine. only, trainers don't come back. trainers don't get better. trainers don't live, despite it all.

the jedi, too, are mortal things. things that can die. things that get hurt and don't always heal. things that can benefit from exploiting brothers, from putting a clone in the way of a fatal shot any day.

some of them do. its whats expected. most of them don't. the clones don't understand. brothers dont die, don't they know?

[luminous-orb]

been slowly working my way through Star Ocean 2 The Second Story R. Guess who my favorite character is (it’s Rena) (I love you Rena)

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

Crack shipping in Once upon a time:

June x Unicron

Hear me out, this crack pairing has the potential of becoming dramatic, like a Mexican soap opera or like one of those Greek mythology’s, since there would be conflict between a god and a demi-god so let’s get cooking:

In various mythologies, not just Greek, there are warnings that catching the attention of a god is considered bad luck, since Gods become extremely possessive on the objects or people they consider as theirs and will cause calamities on the interlopers or to the people they’re possessive of. June is basically his emotional support human and the envoy he depends on the most (95% of the time). In this case, Unicron spends most of his time with her and June’s presence helps eases his mind, whether their relationship is platonic or romantic, it doesn’t matter since Unicron would consider June his.

On the other hand, Unicron gave June a purpose to continue living along new “abilities” that would help her(June has become a leader/pillar of support to other neo-humans. She wouldn’t bring herself to join Jack in the afterlife since so many people depend on her). With June’s new purpose in mind and burden, Unicron ends up becoming her pillar of support from better or worse. In addition, as an envoy, she’s connected to Unicron’s anti-spark, so any emotions she feels will be transferred and vice versa.

Those emotions are going to flare when two problems (Megatron and Optimus) arrive on their doorstep.

June has plenty of reasons to despise Megatron with her entire being (I.e. destroying her life). Unicron would definitely feel and probably be affected by it.

When Megatron arrives on Earth

Unicron: *looks concerned* June, do you want me to avenge your son? I have a lightening bolt with his name on it.

June: *Sees Javier clinging to Megatron’s leg* Not yet.

Unicron: How about we make him suffer in the meantime 😈

June: … I’m listening.

In the show I wasn’t sure if June had a crush on Optimus or if it was just admiration, but if she did those feelings she once had would turn into a resentment even worse than the hate she feels for Megatron. After all the worse feeling of betrayal never comes from an enemy, but from a person you admired since you never saw it coming. The juicy drama will start once Optimus arrives on Earth. June’s resentment for Optimus would only amplify Unicron’s distaste for him.

Meanwhile, Unicron originally didn’t hate Optimus as much as Megatron. Optimus only crime at the time was being a Prime, while Megatron committed a worse crime, stealing *HIS* blood. After the cyberforming of Earth, those feelings are going to switch.

For you see, Unicron would never share anything with anyone, even with Primus, despite his brother being his equal. He would especially never share if it was with a Prime, someone he considered a lesser. So how dare this puny Prime tries to take something that doesn’t belong to him (June’s attention, thoughts, and emotions). Optimus accomplished something no other Primes have achieved, becoming someone he wants nothing more to destroy even more than his brother.

*Unicron sensing Optimus on Earth*

Immediately sends lightning, snowstorms, a hurricane, and an earthquake for good measure to make sure he’s dead in that area of the world away from civilization.

June: *Sensing immense hate and doesn’t know what going on* Unicron, is something wrong? 😰

Unicron: Nothing’s wrong, don’t worry about it 😇

I love this so much you have no idea. I’ve been struggling with figuring out where to pick up this universe, and you have handed me genius on a silver platter. My brain is swooning.

The character study I could do with this thing! Not just Unicron, but for Optimus, oh my word.

June would definitely be a "favorite" Envoy of Unicron's, even if she isn't the strongest or particularly chaotic. Maybe she reminds him of Primus before they permanently separated and became enemies. Perhaps it's simply that her mind does contain some familiar memories to latch on to. Or maybe June does have a secret dark side that's more in line with Unicron's own spark than anyone might suspect.

Regardless that's his human now.

I think as their relationship develops, it will eventually exist in this weird limbo/cross between platonic and romantic. They'd never actually enter into a romantic entanglement, not on purpose, but there is something so intimate about sharing a mind (even partially) that certain things naturally transfer over.

Sharing each other's emotions, passing on sensations of contentment, calm, or rage to convey their own feelings or influence the others'. That in itself is so similar to a conjux sparkbond that a few more perspective individuals do mistake June as Unicron's Bride.

June doesn't particularly care. If the title that she's faintly aware of makes others more inclined to listen or pay attention to her demands, she is all for it. No confirmation nor denial. She has bigger issues to deal with.

Unicron is surprisingly pleased. There's an acknowledgment of him in the rumor. That June is his. She is not free for the taking or collection of others. Semantics mean nothing.

Possessive behavior, obviously, Unicron has issues with any Prime entering into June's space (especially one that brings emotional baggage like Optimus). However, June also finds herself having a strange level of disgust and revulsion to any Cybertronain that dabbles with Dark Energon. Megatron and Starscream are no exception.

There is something so grating about it to her. Disgraceful how Unicron is being used like nothing more than an object. She comes down harder on non-earthen users. Those not born, who have not been given that connection by circumstances beyond them but took it for themselves.

There's a distinction between the two. And if her soul sings alongside the anti-spark, a wellspring of fondness and belonging for those who have been crafted into this bloodline... well, only Unicron will know.

And he does know.

Sharing a dreamscape is a new thing. It should be offputting for both, so used to silence and standing alone, for a new consciousness to manifest within a place so private. And yet...

To touch is a new sensation, even in the first days, when his body hadn't been shut down, disconnected from him, and decaying before it was reformed into the Earth, Unicron had never felt the need or experienced something so simple. Space was a wide, vast place. His time was spent exploring, consuming, and reaching out to interact with destructive purpose. Affection is as foreign as touch is, but in the shadow of dreams, June provides both. A pat on the shoulder. Leaning into his frame. Tracing the pieces of his servos. It's innocent. Mindless.

He finds he doesn't mind it.

It's nice to have a confidant. Someone who can explain what these.... egh, feelings are when concerning Earth's spawn. An anchor in a new influx of sensations and emotions. Unicron has never been parental. Has never been confronted with life raw, unfiltered, and screaming at him. June has. As a mother with a child. As a nurse in the ER. As a leader of her people. That familiarity, what was at first a way to silence the storm of voices, becomes a translator of sorts.

June is used to a small world, a life made up of her and her son, but is not used to the concept of war. She knows of it. She can recognize violence, but she's never had to threaten it and mean it. She's spent her life preserving the welfare of others, and now she's doing the opposite. Ruining. Destroying. Killing. Not just one person but an entire civilization is marked as the enemy. It may not be all-encompassing; it may be entirely justified, but a part of her, the healer in her, is just as mournful at her part in this as she is over the kids' fate. Unicron is not a stranger to death. He is not innocent of the concept of wrath. To unmaking and betrayal and cruelty.

Unicron is not a good person. Just as June draws him out into a new side of being, hurting remade into possessive-care, so too does Unicron's apathetic dismantling draw out her protective-wrath.

They are not family. Not lovers. Not friends. Not master nor apprentice. Really, if asked to define their relationship, the answer would depend on which side is asked and what day the question is voiced. For now, they just are. Drawn together by forces beyond comprehension, a moon in a sea of asteroids all circling the same planet. June is favored, elevated, and some might call it love. Unicron is trusted, humored, indulged, and listened to as if they were equals.

June Darby is still mortal, different through that lifespan may be, and even if Unicron grows attached to the concept of having a companion, if he chooses others to replace that void or disappears into the shadows of Earth's core, there will always be a space within his mind reserved for her presence. Empty or not.

They have become entwined, he is one of two again, and Unicron would rather devour her than let her go.

[lonestarss]

#boothill as the ballad of jane doe fuck. fuck oh my god.

there's just one lingering fear / oh, my soul, is it here? / or is it rotting somewhere with my head? (...) oh, no soul, and no name / and no story, what a shame / cruel existence was only a sham (...) i hear the anguish of the street / (a choir never complete) / and like an old forgotten tune / a song that no one knows / forgot how it goes (...) and i'm askin', "why, lord?" / if this is how i die, lord / why be left with no family and no friends? (...) when silence falls, does no one care? / (does anyone care?) (...) like john, i'll be, eternally / a forgotten name, some lost refrain / just jane

brb gonna go kill myself!

[not-a-fucking-mermaid]

Still thinking about crash course cosmology podcast with Katie Mack and John Green where they said that we’re not only star stuff we are also big bag stuff and we are not separate from the universe, we’re of the universe

[scarlettjskipper]

HSR: Spoilers for Penacony's Trailblazer Mission 2.1!

God, the WAY Sunday yelled at Gallagher at end, demanding to know why he killed Robin broke my heart. I wanted to pat his back and hold his hand, dear Lord.

I can't imagine the agony he must be going through. He's reunited with his sister after literal years, only for her to be murdered, then the people who adopted them both force him to pretend that she's alive, try to stop him from looking into her death and who caused it.

AND THAT LIGHTCONE OH MY GOD THAT LIGHTCONE The fact that he kept it securely... After all this time... He looked so young and happy, too. Oh, my heart.

There's a lot of questionable things going on with him (just like everyone else in Penacony) but my heart really goes out to him. He's one of the people who has, arguably, been having the worst times.

[delphiniumjoy]

"Even when the air is scarce and the walls are closing in," Samuel is with his friends and sister. It might all be over, but they've done great things. They were just getting started, but it can still be enough. They launched the satellite. They did the things he'd only ever dreamed of, and even if it's getting hard to breathe, they're together in the end.

"I won't die. I will always exist." Rose is vanishing. She's stuck, alone in a ship. Rose is afraid. The little bit of air she has left is quickly being pushed out by the massive ocean. Rose is alone.

Samuel dies alone. In a ship. He still feels like he's just getting started, but it has to be enough. His friends can still do great things because they're not with him in the end. So he will die. The air will be pushed out and the walls will close in. But he will always exist. In their hearts, in their minds, in the echoes.

[wantonlywindswept]

arla escapes DW ficbit

bit of a slower story than i've been writing of late; will see how far it goes. i don't think of arla as a super popular character in SW? tho that might just be bc her character is so obscure.

but she's basically free real estate imo and i am RUNNING with it

--

Arla spends two weeks in a shitty flophouse on an even shittier planet in the Outer Rim, jumping at every sound outside her door and pulling her blaster on shadows, before she realizes that she might actually have gotten away.

She gouged all three tracking chips from beneath her skin before her escape attempt. The ship she was given for her last assignment will have reached its final destination by now, set on a collision course with a star halfway across the galaxy. The droid that removed the explosive implant at the back of her neck auto-wiped its records, and she scoured her armor clean of bugs and paint in a single-minded frenzy that left her hands caked in blue and black.

It was the first job she was allowed in the Core, after years of faking loyalty and swallowing her pride and fury in order to rise in Death Watch's ranks. They previously hadn't trusted her not to disappear into the massive populaces found on Core worlds, where anonymity was the norm and people had enough that they could afford to be kind to strangers, instead of scrabbling desperately for their own survival. Tracking implants, on-board ship cameras, regular comm check-ins: they held tight to her leash with their grubby little fingers even as they finally allowed her to stray.

They were smart not to trust her--but not smart enough to keep her from disappearing. 

If they haven't found her yet, it's likely they won't find her at all.

When that fact finally sets in, Arla curls up in a corner of the room and wastes a couple hours on a hysterical, weeping breakdown, because why the fuck not?

She's free.

[youngpettyqueen]

interesting and absolutely devastating thing in Fallen Heroes so far is the emphasis placed on Julian's execution being what drives the characters who know about it- Odo, Quark, and Sisko- to seek justice and/or not give in to despair

[orithereticent]

Am I funny yet?