#also they mentioned jinn in the movie and i just about died

[cursedvessels]

saw dune 2 and it was great but now all i want to do is write for shimi and i'm out of drafts for them, so i guess maybe like this and i'll send him your way??? possibly also in his newly established au !! ??

#ooc #mun posts #starter call ?? i think #maybe also meme call ?? #just a general shimi call i suppose lmbo #also they mentioned jinn in the movie and i just about died

[phoenixkaptain]

If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

This is a bit difficult for me because I am very particular about my romances. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I myself don’t really want romance, so I’ve always gravitated to two types of couples. The type who are best friends / old married couples, ie: they’re comfortable with each other and know each other well, or the type who are almost immediately rabidly obsessed with each other. Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham come to mind.

I like couples where the woman plays the masculine role and the man plays the feminine one. (Mouri Ran and Kudou Shinichi are my primary example for this, because Ran is a Karate champion who can punch throw concrete and commonly acts more as a guard for other characters than a damsel and Shinichi is melodramatic and fixates on details and has a real talent for saying rude things in a cutesy voice. They’re each other’s hero a lot, rhey save one another a lot, and I like that dynamic of theirs)

I don’t really understand attraction based on sexual interest. Like, I don’t understand wanting to date someone just for sex. I get why people want to have sex, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t understand why people would ask someone out just for sex? Like, if you just want sex, just ask for sex straight out. Why’ve you gotta date for a while? I don’t really get it.

All that being said, my favourite couples are either very boring or extremely bizarre. I admit as much.

Like, I very much enjoy Marth / Caeda from Fire Emblem. They know each other and Marth got his little circlet from her and they have some very cute interactions! On the other hand, I also ship Marth / Michalis because Michalis made an offhand comment all of once about finding Marth terrible but begrudingly respecting him and all I could think of was “slowburn, enemies-to-lovers, 250k words)

I ship a lot of things and I ship characters with multiple other characters and I ship polycules. It’s pretty rare that I find a ship I actively dislike, actually. I’m just a bit too easygoing about it all. Even if I’m uninterested in a ship, I can be convinced if there’s cute art or something.

Ah, I miss the days when people wrote essays on why they shipped characters. I know it was mostly for queer romances, but those always helped me interpret what others saw as romantic. So many of those posts were so detailed and fun to read. Even if two characters barely interacted, I loved reading someone’s essay on why they ship them. Even if characters have never interacted, I enjoyed reading essays on why they would make an interesting couple.

I know this didn’t really answer the question, but I honestly struggle with listing what ships I enjoy. There are too many of them, quite frankly, and some of them are couples that I just ship in a queerplatonic way that toes the line between platonic and romantic.

That being said, here are some of my favourite queerplatonic ships:

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. My favourite dynamic for them was in the novel Cloak of Deception. It mentioned their size difference a lot, which I really enjoy (Obi-Wan is not tiny! They just kept putting Ewan Mcgregor next to giants! He is average height, honestly) But most importantly, it portrayed their relationship as Qui-Gon getting distracted by something for a few minutes only to whip around and look around for his Padawan wildly. This man has left Obi-Wan at a gas station before. They snark at each other and are just overall very comfortable with each other and the whole thing makes me very happy, I wish there were fics based on this dynamic (aside from my own)

Qui-Gon Jinn and Luke Skywalker. These two have never met. They do not know each other. Qui-Gon dies long before Luke was born and nobody ever mentions Qui-Gon to Luke. But, and I’ve said this before, they are oddly similar and I think it would be fun to watch them hang out. They are like two tuning forks ringing in perfect harmony. They are so similar, they are a mirror to each other, and I love the idea of them bonding over plants.

Furuya Rei and Kudou Shinichi. I don’t know how to describe their dynamic. They are suspicious of each other. They trust each other with their lives. Conan can tell that Amuro (Furuya) isn’t who he says he is. Furuya can tell that Conan isn’t who he says he is. They bond over stupid things. Furuya gets stalked for his ham sandwich recipe. Conan cannot believe that this man is this stupid. I don’t know, I like their dynamic. I like Furuya taking one look at Conan and saying “what a suspicious lil guy. I’m going to feed him in hopes that he returns like a stray cat.” It is very fun to read and to write.

I suppose you could say that my favourite ships, romantic or otherwise, are ones where they will sit across from each other in comfortable silence.

And I like ones that are mutually insane. Again, Hannibal and Will. Hannibal in the Red Dragon (novel) gets so upset that Will dared to not give him his phone number and home address that he figured out Will’s home address for the sole purpose to send a serial killer to his door out of petty revenge. When Will gets stabbed in the face at the end of the book and is in the hospital, Hannibal writes him a letter that ends with “I hope you aren’t ugly now.” In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter meets the first woman he’s been able to have any contact with in literal years, and his first question is “Where’s Will Graham? If they’re going to send someone to pick my brain, they’re going to send Will Graham. Where is he?” (He is in Florida drinking beer and ignoring Crawford’s increasingly desperate phone calls)

Hope this is somewhat what you were looking for.

#ask #long post #anonymous #the inane ramblings of a madman #i never remember the characters i ship #i’m so bad with names #i forgot will’s name for a second #i have a problem

[transmalewife]

there's so much star wars media out there that has at some point or another been considered canon that I'm pretty sure it's literally mathematically impossible for a mortal human to consume all of it

people will bring obscure details from any and all of it up in order to prove their point, rarely if ever mentioning the actual title, instead saying "they think in one comic" or "I saw once"

I have been told by one of those people that wookiepedia is useless as a source

Since we cannot check, and must rely on partial accounts of individual people, we can assume that anything that can happen has canonically happened in star wars, as long as it cannot be disproven, but as established it is impossible to check yourself and the one compendium we have has been deemed useless.

however, people will also use everything from the personal life of george lucas, through other media, to actual buddhist teachings as undeniable facts about this fictional universe

It therefore follows that literally anything that has been said or done, or happened in our world, or any world that can be imagined is in fact star wars canon. I forgot where I was going with this, so I will now conclude with a non-comprehensive (as it indeed cannot ever be comrehensive) list of star wars canon facts. I will be expecting everyone whose posts i interact with to know them and have adressed them in said post.

a solid 90% of the jedi code and jedi order history as taught during the prequels is just random facts pieced together by yoda struggling to remember his preschool classes from hundreds of years before

the sith lord formerly known as darth maul owns and wears a "this is what a feminist looks like" t shirt unironically.

every anakin's padawan self insert OC exists in canon. they were not mentioned in the movies for the same reason ahsoka wasn't

Ahsoka herself was a hired actress paid by the council, allowing them to test anakin without breaking the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Unfortunately the empire did not honor republic work insurance, and just as she was about to retire the role became her life because it was too awkward to come clean. unfortunately her stylist was being paid to do product placement - this is the reason for the tube top

the clones are not actually clones. Kaminoans cannot tell humans apart and everyone else was just being polite and pretending they look the same. It's just as well the war ended when it did because the ruse was getting hard to keep up once they ran out of similar men to enlist and started trying to pass the bad batch off as clones of jango fett.

the entirety of the movie "life as a house", which i whole-heartedly discourage you from watching, happened during anakin's teenage years. Shmi Skywalker tried to do the right thing by pretending his deadbeat dad does not exists, but when the jedi order's disciplinary tactics failed they got desperate and tracked him down.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a transgender man

the queens of naboo don't actually use decoys, if the real one dies the handmaidens draw straws to see who has to take her place. Anakin is extremely face blind and did not notice he had 3 different wives over the course of one marriage. he is also the only human who believed the army was clones.

In the classic trilogy lord of the rings johnald ronald tolkien used pipe weed to describe marijuana, and not as the common misconception would tell you, tobacco.

and most importantly, qui-gon jinn does not have a driver's licence and is actively banned from operating heavy machinery on just shy of half the planets he's been on

#star wars #It's so annoying when people do that so i'm using it for good. or at least fun #feel free to add on #mine

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar's Dreamscape: The Garden of Two Lovers

@miki-13 asked "Okay I know we didn't get a lot of Oscar backstory, but I really do think that after the V8 finale, there's a new avenue to explore with Oscar. Why? Because as far as he knows, his friends, partner and love interest are dead. The people he's grown to care for over the course of V5-8 are suddenly gone. There's no way that's not gonna hurt him, even if Ozpin assures him that they're not dead. Because either way, he's been forcibly separated from them.

Heck, this could actually open up an avenue for him to talk about his own family life and why he lives with his aunt. Not to mention one of his allusions is to The Little Prince and he just arrived in a desert after leaving his Rose behind, and the whole story deals with death in general.

Actually, maybe that's how Oscar gets his semblance/ branches out with his magic! He wants to find the people he loves so badly and refuses to give up on them, that he finds a way to get the void/ communicate with them and possibly find a way to lay the groundwork for bringing them back!

Squiggles Answers:

Hey there Miki-chan. Pardon the late reply but I wanted to reserve my response to this as a new Pinehead headcanon post considering that, ironically, you and I share the same thoughts and theories about Oscar reaching out.

The idea I had is that Oscar would be able to connect to Ruby in the Other World in his dreams. Once again, I return to my old Oscar’s Dreamscape Pinehead headcanon from donkey years ago. Essentially, through his unyielding love for his rose and his deep desires to reunite with her again in some shape or form, Oscar unintentionally creates the Dreamscape.

And what the Dreamscape is is that it is this magical place that transcends reality and only exists through the shared bond between Oscar and Ruby. Picture a shallow stagnant sea that mirrors an endless sunset sky. A perfect blend of the warm embrace of the sun and the tranquil beauty of the moon that paves the path towards a small garden that sits in the middle of this mysterious magical place.

And it is in this garden where Oscar meets Ruby in his dreams and vice versa.

Remember how it was said that the Little Prince fairy-tale ended ambiguously with the reader never knowing the truth of the prince’s fate after he was poisoned by the snake and “went to sleep”.

Some iteration believed the prince to have died and gone back to his home planet in spirit to be with his rose while another interpretation described the Prince returning home only to discover that his rose had died in his absence without him present to take care of her.

Either way, the allusion is that the prince does indeed reunite with his rose but in a manner that is still tragic when you look at it. Going off of that, this is why I love the concept of Oscar connecting to Ruby in sleep with the two meeting and communicating with each other in their dreams through unknown power originated from Oscar. Only it’s NOT exactly a semblance. Nor is it exactly magic either.

One of my favourite quotes from the Lost Fable episode back in V6 is when Jinn described a power much greater than magic that caused Salem and Ozma to recognize one another in their new lives.

“…Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who stood before them…”

In the Lost Fable, Jinn made it seem as if loveis an element more powerful than even the likes of magic; as cheesy as that might sound. So if love is able to transcend life and death to cause two kindred souls to recognize each other in another life in another time time, what’s stopping it from transcending worlds to bring together another pair of kindred souls?

So as corny as this is going to sound, the hopeless romantic in me cannot help but swoon over the thought of love being what creates the Dreamscape and/or brings Ruby and Oscar together in such a place that only they can traverse.

It is a power that was born from Ruby and Oscar’s shared love for one another and desire to reunite with each other and thus it’s a power that only they share together. The Rosegarden in the Dreamscape is theirs.

In the beginning, on the first night the two reunite in their dreams, the Dreamscape was believed to be solely of Oscar’s doing but in reality, it was a special new world that belonged to both the little prince and his true rose alone.

Okay, hear me out with this one. The reason why I’m thinking the Dreamscape was believed to be Oscar’s power alone in the beginning was because when it all started, the Dreamscape mainly reacted to Oscar. On his end, let’s say…Oscar wished so desperately to see Ruby again that unbeknownst to him; the Dreamscape was forged just so Oscar could accomplish his heart’s wish---to see his rose.

Thus, Oscar is able to see Ruby in their dreams and she in turn is able to see and talk to him between worlds but only in sleep. However, that is extent of the Dreamscape through Oscar’s influence. The two can communicate but they can’t physically touch or feel one another.

Because I have this idea of Ruby and Oscar growing closer to each other than they’ve ever been before since they’re able to meet in Dreamscape. However it’s also this painful thing where despite being together in their dreams, they’re still not together when they are constantly reminded that they can’t touch each other.

Like imagine a moment where the two rosebuds are bonding in the Dreamscape, trying to come up with way to reunite together, swapping backstories and secrets about themselves with each other that they’ve never told anyone else only for one of them---mainly Oscar--- to get lost in the euphoria of the moment and attempt to reach out and touch the other person only to be painfully reminded, that they’re not truly there. They’re still separated despite how close the Dreamscape has brought them.

The only time when the Dreamscape is actually able is to make Ruby and Oscar interact physically is when that becomes Ruby’s wish.

Okay, hear me out again.

I have this scenario in my head where Oscar suffers a mental breakdown as a result of being poisoned during an encounter with Tyrian Callows. Remember how Tyrian’s venom caused Qrow to suffer and hallucinate back in V4?

Well picture something similar with Oscar where he falls into a sort of light coma as a result of being poisoned. Let’s say…as a result of the venom, Oscar is transported to the Dreamscape where ALL of his inner demons---the true feeling and fears he’s been suppressing for a long time---suddenly manifest inside this world to torment him and berate him.

And let’s say…on the other end, in the Other World, Ruby becomes worried for Oscar’s well-being when he doesn’t make contact with her in the Dreamscape for some time. And let’s say…due to her connection with Oscar, which became stronger as a result of them bonding in the dream world, Ruby is able to sense when something is wrong with Oscar due to her having a weird feeling in her chest. Almost as if her heart was beckoning her somewhere else. To take her to the person she wanted to see who needed her help. Or something like that.

In a nutshell, Ruby is able to enter the Dreamscape on her own through her connection with Oscar. At first, Ruby mostly relied on Oscar to bring her to the Dreamscape but when Oscar was in trouble, Ruby used their link to take her there as an alternative means.

To make a long theory short, Ruby arrives in the Dreamscape to find the once magical dream world in dark chaos ---basically imagine being on the outside of a tornado.

The Dreamscape had turned into a rampant storm to reflect Oscar’s darkest inner emotions which were spiralling out of control before Ruby’s very eyes.

Remember how in Steven Universe, in the episode that debuted the “Here Comes A Thought” song, remember how Steven’s true feelings about Jasper, Bismuth and his mother started to manifest before him and Connie while they were fused as Stevonnie during training?

Picture a moment like that with Oscar in the Dreamscape where Oscar’s fears take form---at first taking on the appearance of Oscar’s old self dressed in his old farm boy attire belittling Oscar for leaving home to be among people who he didn’t fully believe trusted or even actually cared him---unearthing Oscar’s thoughts and repressed emotions from the events of V6.

Then the Dreamscape manifests Ironwood to belittle Oscar for his repressed emotions from the events of V7. Then it transforms into Salem to taunt and humiliate Oscar over his repressed trauma as a result of being her prisoner during the events of V8 and being tortured.

You get what I’m saying, right? Whatever Oscar has been repressing for so long, the Dreamscape manifests it as a being of spite to through it all back in Oscar’s face when he was most vulnerable. Finally, as Ruby enters the fray, the Dreamscape takes on a new form.

Here’s another concept to toss onto the Fake Rose table. Imagine if…the Fake Rose isn’t another silver eyed warrior or rose-themed person who takes an interest in Oscar.

What if…the Fake Rose is actually a replica of Ruby manifested by the Dreamscape to reveal Oscar’s true feelings and fears in respect to Ruby?

Assuming that you’re an ole-school Potterhead like yours truly Miki-chan, remember the last book/movie?

Remember that one scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows involving the locket? Remember how the locket made an apparition of Harry and Hermione appear before Ron to voice his jealousy and inferiority when compared to Harry especially in the eyes of Hermione who he believed loved Harry over him.

Picture something like that with a Fake Ruby Rose---Mocking Oscar over his “childish” love for his rose, as if he actually stood a chance of being with her given the Merge and any other insecurities that Oscar secretly harboured that he’d supressed for so long.

Picture that. Imagine…something like that happening so that it could ultimately lead into Ruby denouncing ever fear of Oscar’s voiced by her fake copy as this rose---the one true rose did her best to comfort her prince.

It’s a moment where Ruby words unfortunately don’t reach Oscar. Thus, Ruby tries to one way she’s always reached out to him. Through a gentle comforting touch. In that moment, Ruby wishes for Oscar to feelher there beside him.

To feel her arms wrapped around him and the warmth of the hug she dared to give him since she wanted more than anything to be able to comfort him through the storm. And for a second time, through the power of love (mixed in with just a smidge of their share magic inherited from the God of Light possibly), the Dreamscape grants Ruby’s wish and Oscar is able to feel her for the first time since they met in the dream world. To feel her arms around him as she embraced him tightly with all the love and care for him she could channel in that moment.

And just like that, all becomes calm as the storm disappeared; softening to a gentle breeze against a beautifully sunlit sky; revealing two hearts embraced; once seperated but now together at long last in the world of their own created from their shared love.

Basically picture the Dreamscape as this magical world brought to life by the love and heart’s desires of two star-crossed lovers separated by fate and lost to two realities. Thus the Dreamscape mirrors the feelings and grants the desires of these two lovers since they are the rulersof said world as its creators. Thus it is a world that is only attainable by them. A world of their own. A world of dreams to grant the wishes of two lost souls in love.

I’d love to go more in depth into this revised Dreamscapeidea of mine for the Rosegarden pair. However for the time being, this is concept that I have in mind and is all that I have to share for now. What do you think?

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #rwby rosegarden #squiggles pinehed headcanons #pinehead headcanons #rwby volume 9 theories #rwby theories

[ilonga]

Star Wars/Avatar Au

An overall summary of a “star wars characters but in the avatar universe” au that I’ve been developing (more detailed synopsis to come!):

Pretty long tbh:

In this universe, benders are somewhat rarer than in ATLA and when found, are usually taken in by Raava’s Order for training (it’s pretty much completely optional, and no “limiting contact with families” rules like in canon, although usually they do drift apart). Raava’s Order consists of benders of all four elements, as well as the Avatar, and it is tradition that after group training from a young age, a master takes a learner on who bends a different element from themselves, to expand each of their horizons and assure that their bending is not limited by certain styles ascribed to one element. Ceremonial sword fighting is also an important tradition. 

For most of their past, all four nations have been peaceful and friendly. However, as Palpatine (who’s hiding his firebending) rises to power as the Firelord, attacks by the spirits have been spreading across the world. 

Much like in Star Wars, Palpatine amasses more power (over his own nations and over the others, slowly, slowly forming an empire) and eventually places benders of Raava’s Order in charge of various battalions and armies (non benders, or the clones in this universe, but of course they’re not actually clones) to fight the spirits (he’s probably connived with Vaatu and manipulated the spirits as well) as the destruction gets worse and worse. However, as the destruction continues, tensions between benders and non benders also rise, and Palpatine manages to paint the Order as power hungry tyrants who seek to suppress the non benders as they increase their military power. On the other hand, he pushes a view of firebenders as “noble”, “selfless”, and “trustworthy”. This is achieved through subtle propaganda mostly.

Eventually, Palpatine amasses enough power for Order 66, wiping out all non-fire benders and non benders that won’t be sympathetic to the regime. He expands his regime to be global, taking over the other governments (which he’s already slowly been doing throughout the war). He uses his last vestiges of power over the spirits for this, before getting rid of the spirits entirely (to gain the trust of the people: “Look! Now that Raava’s Order is gone, the attacks have ceased.”). He also uses Anakin Skywalker, a powerful firebender who he’s been manipulating for years, to take out Shaak Ti, the current avatar and a native earthbender.

Starting immediately after, he starts to induct (brainwash) firebenders into his new army (as soon as they are discovered, no matter how young). This army helps him keep his iron fisted rule over the nations but also hunts down any benders of other elements and disposes of them. It is “led” (in Palpatine's words, but not in spirit--he sees Anakin as his tool and nothing more) by Anakin, who Palpatine rechristens “Darth Vader” to get rid of the association to the old Raava’s Order.

Luke Skywalker, born just after Shaak Ti’s death, is the next avatar. He grows up hiding his bending, just like his father before him, to avoid being hunted down by the Empire. 

Leia Skywalker (who goes by Organa), is a firebender who also grows up hiding her bending, like her father before her, so she isn’t brainwashed and inducted into Palpatine’s personal army.

Padme Amidala manages to get Luke to Owen and Beru, two old friends of Shmi’s, and Leia to Bail and Breha before being hunted down and killed by Palpatine’s lackeys, who forget to mention that she was no longer pregnant to Palpatine before Palpatine killed them to wrap up loose ends (see, he convinced Anakin that Padme had already been killed, and by the Order no less, by playing up the bender/non-bender tensions, insinuating Padme was a threat to the Order for years and years, and playing up Pong Krell and Anakin’s own traumatic childhood experience).

Eventually, the rebellion grows, and Luke and Leia both join it, along with Han, an orphaned nonbender accompained by a shirsu named Chewbacca. Luke discovers that Anakin/Vader is his father in a reverse of what happened in canon Star Wars, and Anakin, after lots of soul searching and ~big~ realizations, turns double agent and slips information to the rebellion with the code name “Blue Spirit” until eventually he has to blow his cover when Luke is captured and Palpatine orders him to kill the Avatar.

He turns on him, rather dramatically, and in true Anakin fashion gets electrocuted. A lot. He’s trying to distract Palpatine so that Luke can escape, but Luke’s like nah, goes into the avatar state, gets them both out, and saves him with avatar-state-boosted healing.

Anakin physically joins the rebellion, reunites with Obi-wan and Ahsoka, meets Leia, and helps them eventually overthrow Palpatine and the Empire once and for all.

Note that Anakin as Vader in this au is still a semi-decent person, albeit one who’s been tricked and manipulated (and brainwashed and probably tortured a lot) by Palpatine. He was rebelling against Palpatine even before meeting Luke, in subtle ways (like showing mercy, helping kids escape, all that jazz) but almost never in ways that could be traced back to him. He did it more or less subconsciously though. Anakin here is no youngling slaughterer, though he still did kill Shaak Ti and do lots of bad (TM). 

Where are our iconic characters during this story? Or, more detailed info on our darling characters 

Well:

- Anakin Skywalker is a powerful firebender, who had to hide his bending until he was ten or eleven and found by the Order to avoid incurring Watto’s (an earthbender’s) wrath

- Shmi Skywalker is a nonbender (and Anakin has a father, just one who’s probably dead before he’s born)

- Obi-wan is a waterbender, both an adept healer and an adept warrior, trained by

- Qui-gon Jinn, a carefree airbender who dies at the hands of the spirit Maul 

- Padme Amidala is a nonbender but powerful political leader in the Water Tribes who’s often involved in international affairs and has made quite a lot of enemies in her pursuits of peace and justice

- Ahsoka Tano is a spirited airbender who Anakin eventually trains and considers his younger sister

- Shaak Ti is the avatar, a wise leader and teacher of Raava’s Order, and a devout pacifist

- Yoda, Plo Koon, and Kit Fisto are waterbenders

- Mace Windu, Pong Krell (who ends up betraying his army similarly to canon), and Luminara are earth benders

- Aayla Secura and Quinlan Vos are air benders

- Count Dooku (who never fell to Palpatine’s manipulations in this au, but instead died in an early battle against the spirits), and Even Piell are firebenders

- Bail and Breha are non benders and monarchs of the earth kingdom

- Owen and Beru are non benders childhood friends of Anakin who lived in the same village as him

more detailed synopsis of each movie’s equivalent to come later!! I have a lot of thoughts about this, lol

#star wars/avatar au #star wars au #avatar au #star wars/avatar crossover #clone wars au #star wars fanfiction #my writing #star wars #clone wars #avatar the last airbender #anakin skywalker #palpatine #luke skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #leia organa #padme amidala

[leslieannefusco]

Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace The New Batman Superman Adventures

Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern chase a time-traveling villain to the past, where they team up with the greatest heroes of the Old West.

The Justice League's adventures in time take them to a futuristic Gotham City, where they join forces with that era's Batman and his super team: The Justice League Unlimited.

When the evil Trade Federation plots to take over the peaceful planet of Naboo, Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi embark on an amazing adventure to save the planet. With them on their journey is the young Queen Amidala, Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks, and the powerful Captain Panaka, who will all travel to the faraway planets of Tatooine and Coruscant in a futile attempt to save their world from Darth Sidious, leader of the Trade Federation, and Darth Maul, the strongest Dark Lord of the Sith to ever wield a lightsaber.

The evil Trade Federation, led by Nute Gunray is planning to take over the peaceful world of Naboo. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to confront the leaders. But not everything goes to plan. The two Jedi escape, and along with their new Gungan friend, Jar Jar Binks head to Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, but droids have already started to capture Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Eventually, they land on Tatooine, where they become friends with a young boy known as Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon is curious about the boy, and sees a bright future for him. The group must now find a way of getting to Coruscant and to finally solve this trade dispute, but there is someone else hiding in the shadows. Are the Sith really extinct? Is the Queen really who she says she is? And what’s so special about this young boy?

I’ve never experienced such delay in cartoons airing on TV as I have with the DC Animated shows. Ever since Superman: The Animated Series massive delays started it, it seems to have spilled over into every DC show since. Batman Beyond had it’s “Unmasked”, Justice League had it’s last half of Season 1 and almost all of Season 2 delayed for what seemed like forever, and now Justice League Unlimited it hitting every bump in the road: schedule changes, generic delays and problems with the episodes themselves, resulting in send-backs to the animation studios. “The Once and Future Thing” has been nearly every fans most anticipated story arc this season, and we’ve been waiting ever since June since the loglines were released. So was it worth the wait and agonizing speculation? Nothing ever is; fans over hype things to the point of exhaustion and by the time the episode airs everything’s been inadvertently spoiled via a careless lack of a spoiler warning. Nothing in this first part of “The Once and Future Thing” surprised me; things that would’ve excited me was the re-appearance of Jonah Hex (not seen since Batman: The Animated Series “Showdown”), Batman Beyond, Future Static and Warhawk’s appearance and the whole “Dad?!” line (I know I read somewhere that was going to happen). The Return of the Joker Jokerz gang did surprise me though, albeit if they are a bit changed (more on that later).

Where was I? “The Once and Future Thing” starts off with our first look at Future Gotham since Static Shock’s “Future Shock” crossover, bringing an already exciting mood to the episode (Batman Beyond is one of my all-time favorites, so I may be biased); we then meet the mastermind behind the episode, Chronos (“David Clinton” for those who are picky since “Chronos” was never directly named in the episode, aside from a quick throwaway comment on his suit). After a humorous scene with his verbally abusive wife, we’re thrown into present where he’s attempting to steal Batman’s utility belt from the Watchtower. The first odd thing in the episode occurs here: if an “intruder” alarm is sounded on the Watchtower, a supposedly impregnable fortress, wouldn’t more than just three heroes run to investigate? Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman bolt right as the alarm sounds, while everyone else in the surrounding lunch room just sits and gabs away. I realize that’s probably an unavoidable hole due to only wanting Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to be the time travelers, but it’s still a bit odd, none the less. Before you sit down to watch this episode, you have to keep in mind that not all things are going to make sense; it’s time travel and that always manages to screw something up. We have mechanical Pterodactyls and Raptors with Cowboys riding on their back, robots dressed up as Old West Gun Slingers and a main villain who had a six-pistol gun. If you want to make sense of that…be my guest, but it’s really best just to sit and enjoy it as it plays out. Granted, you could justify everything that happened since Tobias just kept jumping into the future and hijacking this stuff back, but…dinosaurs? I don’t see the purpose for those, unless he wanted to scare people into doing his dirty work (ten foot robots and massive guns would do that for me anyway); regardless, they were fun to see, even if they were completely random. Heroes in the episode included El Diablo, Bat Lash, Sheriff Ohiyesa Smith and the aforementioned Jonah Hex. They were all great to see in animated form and I couldn’t help but laugh every time El Diablo talked, as his voice actor (Nestor Carbonell) played “Batmanuel” in the live-action The Tick! series (I think I’m one of few who loved that show). Jonah Hex was awesome to see again and Bat Lash was fun to watch as well.

The Wild West portions had their fare share of camp to them, but they were a fun little romp. Bruce refusing to carry a gun and then using his utility belt as a “Go on, I dare you” type move the cowboys used when reaching for their guns, Diana taking her time in deflecting the bullets (“These are the biggest, slowest bullets I’ve ever seen”) and John’s “Green Lantern” Ghost looked like something pulled from a Scooby Doo episode, were fun to watch. There were some nice character moments in this one, but honestly, I think we’re all just waiting for the second part. Speaking of the second part, we got a nice little teaser end to the episode. Landing in the future after chasing Chronos again, the League come up against the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; descending immediately is the Future Static, Batman Beyond and Warhawk. Static appears much older than his “Future Shock” appearance and Batman seems to have lost the red on the interior of his wings, but Warhawk remains the same. The episode ends with the clinching “Dad?!” from Warhawk as he looks at Green Lantern, who then looks like he just saw Future Shayera in the shower. It was a great ending and created a session of out loud “I gotta wait a week to see the conclusion!?” cursing. Perhaps the most debated part of this ending was the reappearance of the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; Bonk died on-screen (in both versions of the film, though one more graphic than the other) in the movie, while everyone else seemed to simply get taken away by the cops. One other thing to point out is Woof’s mechanical arms; definitely not on the original model and Chucko’s new look (different color shirt and is now carrying some sort of round object, similar to Ghoul’s pumpkin bucket), all suggest that the gang may be different. If they aren’t, I refuse to believe that one of the story writers of Return of the Joker and producers of Justice League Unlimited simply glazed over Bonk’s death or forgot; the gangs there for a reason that will have to wait for another week to find out. It’s sort of sad that all of the work that was put into the first twenty plus minutes of this episode are overshadowed by the ten second closer, but it’s to be expected. People have been hungry for more Batman Beyond and now that we’ve got him again, it’s gonna be hard to let go.

That was, bar-none, the most mind-twisting and blowing DCAU episode I’ve seen. It’s not that it was “crazy” or “kooky” or all together “spooky,” but trying to get everything straight with the Matrix code flying across the bat-computer screen and Bruce spouting off stuff about the “space time continuum”…just…ouchie. Confusing nature aside (and that will pass upon a few more viewings, I’m sure), this episode was pretty much what I expected it to be; not in plot points and twists, but just in that we’d get a fun romp through future Gotham City. I’ll be damned if it didn’t seem like time flew while watching it this though; commercial breaks came as soon as they ended and I had a goofy grin on my face the entire time, seeing the Jokerz back and Terry cracking one liners again…it was really was one of the biggest fan-moments I’ve had while watching Unlimited. The story itself, as previously mentioned, was quite the confusing experience. The first time I watched it I was just entertained by everything; by the second time I finally got a grasp on why Hal Jordan was appearing (other than to make everyone’s eyes bug out) and why everyone started to disappear. In the end, this trip to the future also ended up being an “alternate” trip to the future, as in the end everything was switched back to normal, albeit with Batman and Green Lantern only remembering what went on and Chronos stuck in a constant loop with his wife’s abusive language constantly recycling. D.R. Movie Co. threw in some new effects on the future Batman’s jet boots; instead of dissipating right away, they left swirly trails; though you only saw this once it was a great bit of animation. The city looked as dark and futuristic as ever and the Jokerz new designs were great as well. Chucko on a rolling ball, Bonk with a massive mallet, multiplying Dee Dee’s, a mechanical arm-enhanced Woof and a spinning saw blade on Ghoul. Anyone who didn’t get flash backs to Batman Beyond’s “April Moon” episode must’ve been delirious; then again, Chronos said he traveled into the future to get those upgrades, so either the doctor in “April Moon” didn’t exist yet or…ah hell I’m getting confused again. Regardless, it makes me long for more of Batman Beyond…but I’m sure I’ve said that enough by now.

Static was enjoyable as well; I never was one to watch the show much, sans the special appearances of other DCAU heroes, but an adult Static is definitely who I prefer. He’s got the wit of Flash and the strength of John Stewart and it was great to see the two interact as “old friends.” Warhawk’s “I’m shocked! Shocked! Well not that shocked…” revelation that he is Shayera and John’s kid and that they may have even gotten married (“Stewart” is his last name; he was named “Rex” after Green Lantern’s childhood friend, Rex Mason / Metamorpho) was nice to see extended upon. Even if we didn’t get much (due to the three Batman’s interrupting) else out of the two, it was fun to see where things progressed (and the look that John gives Shayera at the end of the show). The undisputed and best moment of the episode, however, was the scene with Bruce/Batman/Batman—we get the wise and old Wayne saying hello to his younger self and them both telling Terry to shut up in which Terry emits a “What’d they used to call it? Stereo?” quip. It was the things endless fan fictions are made of where the past meets future… I enjoyed this episode much more than part one; animation was awesome, music fit well with every scene and the characters were all handled nicely, even if there was an over abundance of them. Some may trash McDuffie’s writing, but I’ve enjoyed nearly everything he’s written on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and this was certainly no exception.

Create sci-fi characters with this dress-up game inspired by the Star Wars movies, mostly the original trilogy with Luke, Leia and Han, and also with many items inspired by Padme, Anakin and Obi-wan. There are four themes in the game to approximate outfits from the show, and create new ones: Jedi martial artist, rebel, queen or princess, and slave. Complete her look with weapons, other types of accessories, body customization and a wide hair section. Also, to make the weapons brighter and the image altogether more dramatic, you can play around with the darkness setting!

This game inspired by the Star Wars saga lets you dress up a male counterpart to the original Sci-fi Warrior! Although the woman has more diverse clothes and some alien features, the man is more narrowly focused on the clothing style of Jedi and Siths (and restricted to humans). The religion of the Jedi, and this is reflected in their fashion style, is itself inspired by the Eastern martial arts and monastic orders such as the Shaolin monks, which combine a deep commitment to a spiritual path with the lifelong study of self-defense. While Jedi and Siths alike are warriors trained in combat, the difference between them is their power source: while Siths align with forces of destruction, and derive power from intense emotions especially anger and hatred, the Jedi curb their emotions and do not feel hatred for their enemy. The genius of this philosophy is that it holds the key to ending the cycle of violence: self-defense against an enemy who is not hated.

#Star Of The Universe

[oceanera12]

Star wars

I mean... look at more than half my Tumblr page?

But in all seriousness, I love Star Wars so much. As a kid, I loved watching The Empire Strikes Back because I liked the “robot dogs” and was always sad when they died. (Looking back, I think I was also fascinated with the whole “I’m your father” thing). Funnily enough, my family isn’t really into fictional worlds and such so I wasn’t a huge Star Wars fan (and I wasn’t allowed to watch the Prequel trilogy until I was older for reasons-- mainly the last one was PG-13) and didn’t look back into it until I was about eleven.

I was at a neighbors house and they turned on the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and suddenly I’m watching some little girl named Ahsoka and apparently the guy who turns into Darth Vader rescue Jabba the Hutt’s son. It wasn’t “amazing” but it got my interest back and here I am.

“Star Wars” is such a huge concept and I’d love to give my opinion on everything (comics, tv shows, movies, fanfiction, the fandom itself, etc) but for the sake of keeping my sanity (and length), I’ll just talk about the movies.

The OG

The Original Trilogy is still my favorite, mostly from nostalgia and just the sheer fun of it all. The story was simple, the characters were interesting, and I loved their interactions with one another. Already mentioned was my love for The Empire Strikes Back. Close behind was Return of the Jedi because I loved Luke’s green saber (I miss the green sabers in the films and want them back, seriously) and his duel with Vader. 

Prequels *sighs*

Confession time: I actually like The Phantom Menace. It’s not my favorite Star Wars movie ever, but I liked it mainly because of Qui-Gon Jinn and young Obi-Wan. Ewan is the only reason I’ll even watch Attack of the Clones (other than the clones) and I’ve only seen it once (and actually skipped most of the Anakin and Padme flirting scenes). Also... Never seen number III of Star Wars. I know, I know, “How have you not seen what is considered the best prequel movie in the trilogy???” Simply put: I wasn’t allowed to watch it as a kid and then when I grew up I didn’t want to see Anakin turn to the Dark Side. I’ll watch it someday, it’s just not on my immediate to-do list.

*deep breath* I DON’T MIND THE SEQUEL TRILOGY. THERE I SAID IT.

Do I think they are the best movies ever? No. Do I think they are the worst movies ever? Heck to the no! If someone came up to me and asked if I’d rather watch Percy Jackson #1 or the Last Jedi, I’d pick the Last Jedi without hesitation. The Force Awakens was a good movie and I’ll never forget the feeling I had walking out of the theater after it. I didn’t LOVE the sequels, but I didn’t HATE them either. To me, they’re just kind of... there. They’re part of the canon, I’ve accepted it and moved on because I’m more done with the Skywalker Saga then anything else. (Give me some KOTOR, DANG IT)

SPIN-OFFS

Rogue One is my favorite modern-day Star Wars film, no questions asked. Which is kind of weird because I don’t actually like Jinn or Cassian as characters. No joke. I’m actually annoyed they are making a tv show about the characters because WE DON’T NEED ANY MORE SKYWALKER TIMELINE STUFF. Move on, Disney!

I loved Solo. Go watch it you cowards, they did a good job. It felt like Star Wars, it felt like Han, I had no trouble believing that the actors were their characters. My only complaint is we aren’t getting a sequel to it because everyone decided to boycott it. (Also the ending... with that stupid Sith... UGH, CAN MAUL STAY DEAD NOW? PLEASE?)

Thanks for asking, anon! If you want more Star Wars talk, send a single “subject” and I can dissect it a little more.

#asks #anonymous asks #star wars #all of the star wars #or just the movies #Star Wars Original Trilogy #star wars prequels #star wars sequels #star wars stand alones #rogue one #solo

[theparanormalperiodical]

The REAL Story Behind A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), And The 11 Demonic Entities Which Are Most Definitely Causing Your Sleep Paralysis

In 1981, The New York Times reported on something rather unusual that was occurring in southeast Asian communities in America. A couple of years later in 1987, The LA Times would pick up on the same, strange story:

In the late 1970s, 130 people died in their sleep.

No cause was pinpointed.

No symptoms were reported.

All they knew was that healthy, young men were crying out in their sleep as if having a nightmare, and then never waking up.

A copy of this edition would fall into the hands of a horror director Wes Craven, and their findings would inspire one of the most iconic horror slashers that is still haunting our nightmares:

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

But the thing is, this isn’t the first time a link between our dreams - or rather, our nightmares - and the paranormal has been forged. A number of demons, spirits, and entities are said to be hiding in the dark corners of your bedroom and waiting for you to drift into an eternal slumber.

There’s reality in Freddy Krueger’s dream world.

First, let’s talk about this era-defining slasher movie.

1984 is mainly known for one thing: it titled the fictional tale of a dark, twisted dystopian novel penned by George Orwell. But in the actual year, we stumbled into a dark, twisted movie.

A movie that would change the genre forever, and spat out the very first slasher.

Through seven films we follow a simple yet traumatising premise: teenagers have nightmares of a mysterious and yet grotesque figure that attempts to kill them - and sometimes succeed. If they die in the dream, they die in real life.

As the films and even a TV series continue, we discover more about the mysterious figure, Freddy Krueger, and his past, and explore the possibilities of the dream world in which he operates.

‘Couple jokes cracked by the murderous villain and a few million dollars in the bag for Wes Craven later, and we arrive at one of the biggest horror film franchises still haunting those that grew up in the ass-end of the 20th century.

What’s the film based on, again?

Wes Craven has stated that the movie was inspired by those that had survived the Killing Fields in Cambodia. The Killing Fields are a number of sites where more than a million people were killed in what is now labelled the Cambodian genocide.

During the rule of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1975-79, anyone who was suspected of a connection with former or foreign governments was to be arrested and executed. The exact number of those that were executed has been disputed, but Yale has indicated through analysis of mass grave sites that at least 1,386,734 people had died at the hands of the Khmer Regime.  

One Cambodian family successfully fled the brutal regime in the 70s, but their son had already been traumatised.

The child would stay awake for days for fear that something in his nightmares would chase him and eventually kill him. He finally fell asleep one night, but would cry out into the middle of the night one last time.

By the time his family got to him, he was dead.

This experience was placed within a wider phenomenon occurring throughout southeast Asian communities, a phenomenon that has actually been established in the medical world: it’s called Sudden Arrthymic Death Syndrome.

Most common among young men (average age of 33) who were seemingly healthy, they would simply cry out in the middle of the night randomly, and then they would die. It was later discovered that this wasn’t an unexplained phenomenon; they were suffering from undiscovered medical problems including a slightly large heart and other defects.

This rare syndrome was first noted in the Hmong refugees in North America in 1977, and is most often associated with southeast Asian immigrants to the US and Canada.

What’s really interesting, though, isn’t the medical proof that you can indeed die in a nightmare. It’s the paranormal link to SADS, as it is also known.

Medical journals have already outlined the link between the victims of this syndrome and their cultural beliefs in the spiritual world. This was first suggested in regards to the Hmong population: 

Hmong cultural beliefs traced back this phenomena to nocturnal pressing spirit attacks.

To the Hmong people of Laos, dab tsuam - a spirit which takes the form of a jealous woman - sits on one’s chest and suffocates you in the middle of the night. And it turns out each culture right across the globe has their own negative spirit or entity that supposedly causes what we now call sleep paralysis.

The Hmong belief developed in the 1970s and 1980s, however, to take into account the political context. When the syndrome began a timely outbreak in this period, many were unable to worship properly as a result of the guerrilla war against the Laos government. By failing to worship properly, whether they were incorrectly performing rituals or failing to carry out sacrifices, the ancestor or village spirits would not protect them.

This claim is not impossible to make: many still confuse sleep paralysis from which you are awake but unable to move or make any noise with paranormal activity. This is become typically one witnesses strange, shadowy figures or terrifying entities near them and feels suffocating pressure on their chest at the same time.

That being said, a link to the supernatural has been present throughout history. And maybe, just maybe, there is something going bump in the night.

It’s time to talk about the 10 other terrifying sleep paralysis demons that are probably haunting you in your sleep.

Without summarising the entirety of human history, it’s safe to say that before science could explain natural phenomena, gods, spirits, and demons were used to make sense of the world.

Before we knew what sleep paralysis was, we pinned it on the paranormal.

Most often entities or spirits would be considered to be causing such an affliction. Even the term ‘nightmare’ can be traced back to a mare, a Norse spirit that would crush people’s chest in the dead of the night and cause traumatic nightmares for the victim.

According to folklore, the mare was believed to ride horses, leaving them exhausted and covered in sweat - a symptom associated with night terrors and nightmares. Mare would also tangle their hair, another symptom of thrashing around in one’s sleep, I guess - but this can be related to the Polish plait phenomenon (a hair disease from which one’s hair becomes matted).

Mares are also associated with witches when they would take on the form of animals. Their spirits would effectively leave their bodies, enter the animals they would possess, and leave them in a trance.

Scandinavia, Germany, and Poland are the most popular champions of mares and have their own takes on the typically dishevelled creature. In fact, some of them bear a similarity far too close to Krueger.

And the mares aren’t alone.

#2 - Kana tevoro, Fiji

Feeling the weight of a jealous old woman sitting on your chest is by no means a pleasant experience. Being eaten by a demon, or kana tevoro, is far worse.

Fijians believe the spirit of a recently deceased relative takes the form of this demon who returns to their living relative to impart important information or complete unfinished business.

Although the idea of being eaten by an evil entity sounds like something you’d much rather not experience, those sleeping near you should say “kania, kania” (“eat, eat”) in order to prolong the possession. It’ll give the relatives a chance to talk to you and explain why they have returned.

When the person being eaten awakens, they should curse or chase away the spirit to end the terrible experience. Simply tell them to go away, and you will be free from their midnight snack.

#3 - Phi Am, Thailand

Thailand is also home to demons seeking a feast in the dead of the night.

Sleep paralysis in this part of Asia is caused by the ghost Phi Am (‘phi’ is the word for ‘ghost’ in Thai), a spirit that is known to cause bruising, a tell-tale symptom of violent spirit or demonic attacks.

Phi Am sits on your chest while you are asleep, and often causes troubled nightmares and uncomfortable sleep. Some even claim this Phi can kill you in your sleep.

#4 - Dip-non, Tibet

In Tibetan culture, the phenomenon of sleep paralysis goes by the name ‘dip-non’. Roughly translated from Tibetan, this means that one is oppressed or struck by a shadow, referring to a ‘spiritual pollution’.

Despite little being mentioned on the web, it sounds like this refers to an individual’s depression or spiritual emptiness, and thus means something far more personal than paranormal.

#5 - A collection of evil beings, Pakistan

Pakistan gives their take on the Old Hag far more backstory than other nations. Sleep paralysis on this part of the planet is considered to be an encounter with one of three things: jinns, demons, or Satan.

(Take your pick, I guess.)

It is supposedly caused by black magic that is performed by enemies or those that are jealous and wish to cause harm to the victim. To protect against this, Pakistani culture dictates several measures for defending against evil supernatural beings.

This includes wearing Ta’wiz, an amulet to ward off an evil eye, performing exorcisms, and blessing haunted houses with specific Muslim practices.

There is no specific Old Hag sitting on the chests of innocents in Pakistan; instead, any ol’ negative spirit or entity will do the trick.

#6 - Jinn and/or a nameless African Queen, Egypt

Out of all cultural groups, Egyptians are probably the most terrified of sleep paralysis. A huge number of studies and investigations have even attempted to explain the high incidences of such troubled sleep.

Unfortunately, the information on the beast they believe to be haunting them is limited.

You have two options: there’s the evil African Queen who might be Lilith, a female demon belonging to Jewish mythology, or it’s just jinn.

Evil jinn typically bear the blame for sleep paralysis as a result of the strong religious traditions still present within the country. According to Islamic mythology, jinn are genies and this is not the only time they have been blamed for a bad nights sleep.

#7 - Dukak, Ethiopia

‘Dukak’ - that is, ‘depression’ - is sleep paralysis that is caused by an evil spirit possessing one in their sleep. But this possession might be associated more with khat, a stimulant which can cause excitement or euphoria.

By quitting khat, users experience hallucinations which are punishments from dukak, a personification of the depression as a result of the withdrawal. The dukak takes pleasure in extreme forms of punishment aside from sleep paralysis, including forcing someone to swallow a bag of gravel, or being put in a bottle and the bottle being shaken violently.

Don’t do drugs, kids.

#8 - Haddiela, Malta

The entity halting this island nation in their sleep is Haddiela. They take the form of a stereotypical Old Hag that spends the evening lounging on your ribcage. To get rid of them simply place some silverware under your pillow.

Interestingly enough, Haddiela is married to Hares who is considered to be an entity similar to a poltergeist.

#9 - Women executed in the Salem witch trials, USA

It’s peculiar.

No, really, this one is weird.

Each country has folklore that can be followed back to the darkest depths of history. And most of the spirits, demons, entities, and jinn mentioned in this article can be traced back just as far. But the sleep paralysis experienced by those in America during the Salem witch trials was actually pinned on the witches on trial.

Jon Loudner was one of the first to experience this, and gave his encounter as evidence in the trial of Bridget Bishop, the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in the trials.

Loudner claimed something of her likeness attacked him in the middle of the night and made attempts to suffocate him in a manner similar to other sleep paralysis entities.

“… I going well to bed, about the dead of the night felt a great weight upon my breast, and awakening, looked, and it being bright moonlight, did clearly see Bridget Bishop, or her likeness, sitting upon my stomach. And putting my arms off of the bed to free myself from that great oppression, she presently laid hold of my throat and almost choked me. And I had no strength or power in my hands to resist or help myself. And in this condition she held me to almost day.”

Yeah, you gonna want to rethink that Sunday morning lie in.

Liked this article? Love the paranormal? Go on and tap follow to read a new article about the supernatural every weekend and hear a new ghost story everyday.

Oh, you can’t wait to get your hands on more real evidence and experiences of the paranormal? Then you need to head over to the People’s Paranormal Archive, the online collection of real stories of the supernatural.

#wes craven #wes craven new nightmare #nightmare on elm street #a nightmare on elm street #a nightmare on elm street 1984 #a nightmare on elm street 2010 #robert englund #heather langenkamp #based on a true story #freddy krueger #freddy krueger based on a true story #nightmare on elm street true story #horror movies #horror #slashers #slasher movies #paranormal #supernatural #sleep paralysis #nightmares #paranormal activity #demons #spirits #mares #jinn #night terrors #real ghost stories #ghost stories #the conjuring

[my-keys]

A Rise of Skywalker Rant

Okay so I feel like enough time has passed that I can talk about RoS without worrying about spoiling it for anyone who cares, and I have also had a lot of time to think about it. If you haven’t seen it, haven’t been spoiled, AND care about spoilers, I commend you; now get to scrolling.

Let’s start with Finn’s Force sensitivity. The time for Jedi Finn was two movies ago. You wasted your chance, Abrams. At this point you should’ve just made him use the Force, not... have him tell Rey that he needs to say something to her, but not like, in a romantic way, but totally be misconstrued that way... Like, come on. Who are you fooling? And let’s touch on the other stormtroopers who defected while we’re in the space. 

See, when I saw The Force Awakens, my theory was that the First Order abducted Force sensitive children, suppressed that Force sensitivity, and indoctrinated them. When Finn decided he wasn’t going to kill civilians on Jakku, it looked like he was snapping out of something, like he was in a trance. So the idea was that with Finn coming back into, I don’t know, “the view of the Force” I kinda want to call it, it would start a chain reaction within the stormtrooper ranks. I really liked this idea, and it made sense from like a “keep your enemies close” perspective, but clearly this isn’t what happened and Finn and Jannah (who was also obviously Force sensitive, but we never really see much of the other former troopers so we never know if that’s also the case for them) were a fluke.

Big picture implications from TLJ: I said I didn’t like them when I first saw it and... they amounted to nothing. As of RoS, the Resistance is just... fine? I guess? Like, they almost got obliterated in TLJ and now it’s like it never happened. And they explain it away with “Snap and Jessika Pava went to grab the rest of the Resistance during TLJ,” like, no, you said this was everyone. Why did “the rest of the Resistance” not come during the climax of Last Jedi? What happened?

Rose deserved better. Fuck the Star Wars fandom. That is all.

Now, for my main deal: Sheev. Motherfucking. Palpatine. Until Rise of Skywalker, the main Star Wars Saga movies have been about Anakin Skywalker, but here, the focus is violently shifted away from Anakin and now the most important character in the franchise is Palpatine. And that bothers me because the underlying implication for this franchise is selling to you is not that good can in fact triumph over evil if you just keep fighting but that evil cannot truly be defeated. It doesn’t matter that in the end the good guys win, because Palpatine fucking died in Return of the Jedi. And now he’s just here. Because “the Dark Side of the Force is a pathway yadda yadda yadda.” So do we know for certain that he’s gone for good? Fuck no. “But Mike, Palpatine came back in the Legends continuity too,” yeah but guess what? All those times he came back were contingency plans, just-in-cases. This? This was the plan all along, with the fucking wreckage of the, I’d like to point out, second Death Star (a “contingency plan”), lining up with this Ancient Sith Dagger™, the implication is that Palpatine knew that the Rebel Alliance would destroy the first Death Star, that Vader would survive its destruction, he knew that they would destroy the second Death Star, and Vader would betray and kill him there,and then he knew that the wreckage of the throne room would end up on another of Endor’s moons, positioned just so, that his granddaughter and his apprentice’s grandson would be connected through the Force, and that they would come to Exegol to destroy him together and that he would drain them of their combined life force there. And now we’re supposed to believe that this isn’t just another part of the Plan™? That Palpatine’s scheme doesn’t run deeper than this? Call me in 30 years when Disney releases Star Wars Episode X: Return of Palpatine, starring Tom Holland with Ian McDiarmid’s CGI face superimposed onto his shoulders.

But enough about the Plan™, I have more problems with this whole Palpatine situation. Let’s get back to Anakin, shall we? Let’s break it down: Anakin Skywalker; born a slave on Tatooine to Watto. Or, sold by the Zygerrians to Watto, whatever. At age 9 he is “freed” by Jedi Master Qui-gon Jinn. Free to become a Jedi, which is to say, a slave. Age 23, he again trades one master for another and devotes himself to Palpatine. “Yes, Master” is all he has ever known. He has decided he will never taste freedom. He is merely a tool, at this point, after his duel with Obi-Wan, a broken one. As soon as his master finds a suitable replacement, he will be disposed of. And then, at the height of his resignation, he discovers he has a son, and he knows that this is his replacement. His son refuses to join the Emperor, to take Vader’s place, and Vader watches as his master brings his son inches from death. At age 45, for the first time in his life, Anakin Skywalker says “no” and finally tastes freedom, sacrificing his life for his son’s. Literally, Vader’s sacrifice is important: it means the good guys win, which is nice. But more importantly, Vader’s sacrifice is a figurative victory. By destroying Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker, a slave for his entire life, finally breaks the chains that have defined him. However, with Rise of Skywalker, Anakin was merely playing into Palpatine’s hand the entire time, so the chains are not broken at all, and Anakin sacrificed himself for nothing in the end.

Now this next point is less of a big deal for me, but still frustrating nonetheless. Rey being Palpatine’s granddaughter. Okay, I’ll buy it, I don’t give a shit but I’ll buy it. But being Palpatine’s granddaughter making her more predisposed to the Dark Side? No, fuck no, that’s stupid. If you think that’s how the Force works, you’re an idiot, I’m sorry. The Dark Side of the Force is about giving in to your fear, anger, etc. It’s not about... who your granddad is, like what? This is nonsense, it’s stupid, I don’t have one good thing to say about it, it’s just shitty writing, Palpatine was a bad angle and the entire trilogy suffers for it.

Now I mentioned big picture implications from TLJ earlier on and I’d like to close off by talking about one that I didn’t even consider until after I saw RoS. At the end of the Last Jedi, Hux is comic relief and Snoke and Phasma are dead, so we’re left with only Kylo Ren as a major villain going forward, and I think that’s where this whole trilogy falls apart. I don’t necessarily think that redeeming him was the right choice, but I definitely don’t think he has what it takes to be the Big Bad™. Hux, had he been left with some semblance of dignity, would have been my choice for the main villain of this story, and, since Star Wars has always tended to be an allegory for our political climate, keeping the focus on the neo-nazis would have been a good shout. But instead, we got... Palpatine

#star wars #rant #cw long post

[quicksiluers]

Ok, under the read more I’m gonna do my general thoughts for rise of skywalker...there’s a lot here folks. spoilers beware~~

oh boy...where so we begin with this

it is clear, and this movie makes it even more obvious, that LF or whoever is running the movies over there had no set plan for this new trilogy. There is no through-line with these movies like the other 2 trilogies had. With the OT, it was “Empire vs. Rebellion, Jedi vs. Sith, Father vs. Son” with other points sprinkled in. But these were the main points. With the prequels, it was “The story of Anakin Skywalker and how his fall brought along the rise of the empire and destruction of the sith” now it may not have been executed well in cases (the ideas are there, the execution in some of the movies is not) but that is your core idea. 

What are the points in this new trilogy? What is new about these movies that we haven’t seen before from the other two? I’m not saying it’s bad to have recognizable things in the new movies, of course not. But there needs to be a purpose. Where have we progressed in this galaxy with these movies? The galaxy is back to exactly how it was after return of the jedi. Where is the progression? 

That is my biggest problem with the movie, it has so much going on in it. It tries to shove in two movies into one movie. It ignores the last jedi completely basically aside from a few things. And even though I don’t like TLJ that much (having just rewatched it recently, it just doesn’t work for me), you can’t just...ignore it outright like this movie and expect the trilogy to feel like it flows. Cause it doesn’t. 

Nothing is thought out. The ideas they have are presented and then left to the wayside. There are so many different plot elements that have potential that go NOWHERE and you wonder why it was brought up in the first place. 

Anyway, points about the movie

this is the poe, rey, finn dynamic i wish we got to see more of. it’s not developed enough and i just like see all these actors together. you can tell they are having a good time and the potential for these relationships is interesting. but again, it’s stuffed into one movie, so there is only so much they can do and it’s a bummer. 

i liked the new characters we got, it’s too late and i’m too lazy to look up the names, but again....this is the 3rd movie of the trilogy. Why are we introducing them now when we should be focusing on our main characters? None the less, they are really cool and have potential in maybe a book or comic

“you’re a palpatine” i’ve never snorted so badly in my LIFE. y’all...and when they kept bringing it up, I couldn’t help but shake my head. Again, another thing not set up and just shoved in last minute. 

I’m gonna be straight with ya, I don’t love kylo/ben. not a fav of mine. but even i could see homeboy was almost given NOTHING to do in this movie. and then you know, he turns good and then gets shoved DOWN A HOLE AND LIVES?? which makes....i mean, everyone in these movies gets shoved down a hole and lives. Anyway and then he saves Rey and they kiss (which yeah it’s a no from me but w/e I try to ignore shipping things) and then he just DIES AND DISAPPEARS. and Rey has nOoOOoOO reaction to it. Like what lol I mean...again, this movie moves at such a pace that it just doesn’t sit with these things

Ok so the jedi voices, I am for sure I heard Anakin (hayden i heard you sweetie and i love you), Mace W, Yoda, Luke, I think I heard Obi-Wan?? But I have to listen again cause it didn’t sound like Ewan....but it could have been maybe a mix of him and Alec?? Someone mentioned you could hear Ahsoka, I didn’t catch that but hey. BUT MY BOY QUI-GON JINN MADE IT. Which just makes me hopefully that they can bring him back for the Kenobi show because I need it like a lifeline right now

A w/e thing but I felt like the lightsaber fights were...kinda meh? I mean, there were about...2 or 3 of them but they just seemed so generic. I know people rag of the prequels for them being too “scripted” but you felt those fights. Nothing in these new movies has matched up to the darth maul, obi-wan/anakin, or luke/vader fight. Maybe the one in the snow for TFA, but other than that. There’s no consequences to these fights. In the Darth Maul fight, Qui-Gon is killed, Darth Maul gets chopped in half (and then goes on later to basically be the biggest thorn in Obi-Wan’s side) and Obi-Wan swears to Qui-Gon that he will train Anakin. Huge stuff! In the Anakin/Obi-Wan fight, you’ve got brother vs. brother and in the end Anakin gets burned alive and lost multiple parts of his body and Obi-Wan walks devastated and also just assuming Anakin will die...but he’ll then go on to be one of the biggest threats in the galaxy. And with the Luke/Vader fight, Luke loses his hand and learns the truth about his father and it throws him. And in their second fight, Luke is almost taken over by anger but stops and proclaims he would never join the dark side. And then Vader saves him. What do any of these fights do in this movie? Rey stabs Kylo but then she just...heals him and then flies away. It doesn’t help that they try to intercut it with Leia here, but I understand why this was a struggle with the movie due to Carrie’s unfortunate passing. 

The movie did have some nice shots, I’m trying not to be so negative about this thing....but I just don’t know. It probably doesn’t help that we just had another FANTASTIC deborah chow episode of the mandalorian and that was far more enjoyable to me than this. In the last 5 minutes alone of episode 7 of mando, I felt more emotions there then any time in this movie. 

Anyway, that’s really all I have to say on the subject. Check it out for yourselves and make up your mind. As for me, I’m good with the Disney+ content we have right now. Mando is finishing up, we get clone wars in the early quarter of next year and Kenobi begins to film next year....and we’ll be getting a 2nd season of Mando sometime! And with those things, I’m happy with it

#my ramblings #tros spoilers #rise of skywalker spoilers #i mean....i just don't know guys #i try to be pretty positive on here #but i just had to vent some stuff out

[thinkingaboutrwby]

RWBY Theory: Nicholas Schnee (Weiss’ grandfather) was an incarnation of Ozma

Feel free to disagree with me, but I have the sneaking suspicion that Nicholas Schnee, Weiss’ maternal grandfather and the founder of Schnee Dust Company may have been on of Ozma’s incarnations.  I don’t have a lot of information to go off of, but from what I do know about Nicholas Schnee, there’s a good amount of compelling evidence to back up my theory.

Let’s start at the basics shall we?  Who was Nicholas Schnee?  Well the following information is paraphrased from The World of Remnant: The Schnee Dust Company so its all canon.

Nicholas Schnee was born right after the Great War in Remnant ended.  He attended Atlas Academy, and using his own meager inheritance and knowledge he discovered new Dust mines in Atlas and founded the Schnee Dust Company.  The Dust Company stabilized Atlas (formerly Mantle’s) economy, which had been damaged as Mantle’s natural resources had been depleted from war and over-consumption.  Originally the Schnee Dust Company, was reputable and trustworthy (unlike it is in the present).  Schnee personally ran mining expeditions, and workers rights were cared for.  Working in the mines, however, caused Schnee some health issues.  As a result, he died of health complications, and his son-in-law, (that buttface) Jacques Schnee managed to convice Nicholas to let him inherit the company.

So why was Ozma Jacques Schnee?

Well, logically, Jacques impact on the culture, military, and politics of Remnant seemed to REALLY support Ozma’s task for humanity and his personally added on goal of defeating Salem.  The Schnee Dust Company, firstly, creates political and social peace.  How?  Well, Remnant’s Great War is vaguely reminiscent of World War I in the sense that it started as a relatively minor dispute (in our world the Serbian rebels assainating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, and for Remnant the conflict between Vale and Mantle over colonizing the Vytal Islands) and turning to a full scale global war.  If we take that similarity and extend it to Remnant, Remnant should have had a World War I and a World War II to match, but why didn’t it?  The answer is: Ozma.  Canonicaly, we know he was involved in fair political peacemaking strategies as the King of Vale (Woodrow Wilson-ing things up in Remnant), but that fails to address other issues that could create conflict in the future. Economics is one of the main creators of conflict, and as a result of the war (as I mentioned earlier) Mantle had depleted its few resources.  Finding the Schnee Dust Company strengthened political ties between Atlas and the rest of Remnant.  Globalization is one of the best ways to maintain stability.  So, the Schnee Dust Company united mankind.  How else did it aid Ozma’s mission?  Well, Dust is ancient magic left over from before the Gods left Remnant, and it aids fighting against Grimm.  So, basically, he equipped hunters and huntresses across Remnant to better fight Grimm hence getting rid of Salem’s force and better protecting the relics in the Huntsmen Academies.

I admit this seems a bit loose.  It COULD be a coincidence with just the above analysis, but there’s more canon information to analyze for this theory.  In Volume 6 Chapter 3, we see some of Ozma’s incarnations as Jinn tells his story.  The last one shown, the one who learns that he cannot defeat Salem.  Here’s his picture:

So, to me he looks like a business man.  Oz is rocking a stache, a suit and tie...  Sure that’s pretty generic, but when we think of business-y people, who do we think of?  The Schnee Dust Company.  Additionally, we know this incarnation exists between the King of Vale and Ozpin.  Why?  Well, the relic appears to be locked up safe.  The relic had to be pretty secure, which means it was likely in the school vault in Mistral (I’m willing to debate this point, however).  The guy also looks like he could bare a family resemblance to Weiss.  He’s got palish skin and light blue eyes, a traits of the Schnee family.  Nicholas’ name also sort of fits the Oz name scheme as the “Oz” sound is present in the last syllable of Nicholas.

Additionally, Ozma’s realization of Salem’s immortality sits well with some logic about Nicholas Schnee’s characterization.  At the end of his life, the businessman suffered from illness and made the poor decision to let Jacques succeed him in leading the company.  Well, what if Nicholas wasn’t debilitated by illness but a crisis in hope?  If Nicholas was an incarnation of Ozma, he would be stricken and extremely distracted by Jinn’s revelation about Salem.  This could have Nicholas to act rashly.  He could have overworked himself in the mines, falling ill, and with his mind on Salem, given Jacques control of the company.

(Edit: An issue with the point that the businessman is Ozma as Nicholas Schnee was brought up by harpo-groucho in the comments.  Essentially, I forgot Ozma had all the relics as King of Vale.  So, the business man probably isn’t Nicholas Schnee.  However, this doesn’t necessarily mean Ozma wasn’t Nicholas Schnee, mainly that the incarnation we were shown wasn’t.  Thank you harpo-groucho for the clarification!)

There’s also some evidence linking Ozma to Nicholas Schnee outside of the story of RWBY.  It lies in who Nicholas is based on: Saint Nicholas - or Santa Claus as Santa Claus.

At the basis of the figure of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas (it doesn’t matter which one), is the concept of gift giving.  Santa Claus gives gifts to children.  Nicholas Schnee gave the gift of dust tor Remnant.  Ozma protects the Gods’ gifts and gave the maidens his own magical gifts.  However. there are more uncanny connections to Ozma and Good Ol’ Saint Nicholas.

Saint Nicholas was actually a bishop in what is now modern day Turkey.  In the Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of a bunch of things including sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers.  He’s essentially a jack of all trades; he’s taken up a lot of roles, like Ozma.  Saint Nicholas is also known to have performed many miracles, earning him the title “The Wonderworker” (the Wizard of Oz, or Ozpin is also regarded as “wonderful” in the movie).  The most famous story about Saint Nicholas is of when he gifted three sisters with bags of gold as their family was poor and unable to pay their dowries.  Ozma also gifted a group of four sisters canonically in the Story of the Four Maidens.  As a bishop, Nicholas also carried a staff, kind of like Ozma’s staff or Ozpin’s cane.

I’m aware that this theory isn’t perfect.  Like, why didn’t Weiss recognize her grandfather in Jinn’s vision.  Well, I guess that can be explained as maybe she saw pictures of her grandfather when he was older or in paintings which could be unreliable.  (Edit: marithlizard also mentioned that Ozma would consider Weiss as his grandaughter.  I can see that argument, but I would like the point out that Ozma has been reincarnating for thousands of years and has probably learned to better move on from one life to another.  He may have an internal struggle over considering Weiss his granddaughter, but this is Ozpin we’re talking about.  He’s REALLY good at keeping stuff hidden.  I guess Jinn would have brought it up when Ruby asked her question, but also I don’t think Ozpin was hellbent on hiding he was related to Weiss compared to the other things he was hiding like Salem, the relics, magic, etc.  Thank you for your point though marithlizard!  It was fun to think about!)   This is a small flaw in the grander scheme of things, however.  I for one, am pretty confident in this theory (80% sure).  However, if it never gets discussed in RWBY I’ll just keep it as headcanon in my brain.

Bye!  Please feel free to reply with your thoughts on this theory or reblog if you find this sufficiently interesting to debate about.

#rwby #rwby theory #weiss schnee #rwby ozpin #ozpin #rwby ozma #ozma #schnee dust company #rwby volume 6 #rwby volume 7

[shadowsong26x]

EPIX/Rise of Skywalker Reaction Post

So, I got back from seeing EPIX this morning, and I figured I should get all my thoughts down!

Everything spoilery is behind a cut, and this post is also tagged with the spoiler tags I’ve listed here. If you want me to add any additional tags, let me know and I will to this and any future EPIX posts.

Okay, so, before I really get into this, I should mention two relevant contextual things that probably strongly impacted my feelings on this movie.

I’m not super-invested in the sequel trilogy. I love (most of) the characters, I’m not really into the story that’s being told with them.

Given where TLJ left us, I went into the theatre expecting something between A Trainwreck with Some Delightful Moments and A Delightful Trainwreck. Basically, it was going to be a Hot Mess and I knew it, but I was pretty sure there was going to be something to love, even if the film as a whole didn’t delight me (which, honestly, is even where I stand with TLJ, which remains my least favorite film of the series). And, you know what? I got exactly that. A Sometimes-Delightful Trainwreck. I’d say it’s even towards the upper end of that Delightfulness scale.

All right, moving on to actual thoughts. I’m trying to focus on the positive here, mostly because I did overall enjoy this movie, but I also had some Problems with it.

I’m gonna talk about Kylo Ren first, mostly because I want to get this out of the way. I will say that--when I first saw TFA, I thought I could be interested in this character. I thought they were gonna maybe go the burnt-out gifted kid route with him, which would be hella interesting to explore for the child of Heroes like Han and Leia, and the Legacy he had to live up to. Obviously, they didn’t, and while the direction they went is certainly topical, it’s not super engaging, at least to me. I know it is to some people, and far be it from me to harsh anyone’s squee, but he basically doesn’t do anything for me. I personally don’t find him particularly interesting or intimidating.

Basically, I don’t particularly care about Kylo Ren. (I don’t know if I’m quite at the point where, as my roommate puts it, I aggressively Do Not Care, but the Not Caring is definitely a thing.)

Anyway, that disclaimer aside--his arc was okay, I guess? I mean...I think my general feelings on the subject are not that it felt phoned-in, exactly, but that it was mostly there because the writers thought it should be there, rather than it flowing organically from the character(s) involved. It also felt rushed, but that goes back to a problem with the movie as a whole that I will get into later in this post. But, given that, the actual beats that were involved in said arc I thought were effectively done. The bit with Han in the wreckage, in particular, was nice.

As for that Kiss though.

...I mean. I’m actually kind of pleased that the end of the film left the romantic threads dangling? It gave me plenty of OT3 feels (though I felt like, especially in the first third or so, the film was leaning more towards Rey/Poe and Finn/Rose, but there was some later stuff that seemed to hint at the full OT3 with a question mark on where Rose stands.)

But I do have a problem with the fact that the only on-screen kiss between Major Characters was between Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. That being said, I can backfill/justify it in that...you know how some people headcanon that Luke’s initial crush on Leia was some sort of “There is a Connection Here that I Cannot Name and it’s probably supposed to be Romantic given our ages and genders and presumed lack of other relationship so let’s go with that?” Between something like that and the fact that he just gave up his life for her in a very literal way (side note: the Force has always been New Powers as the Plot Demands; but the healing thing was a) if not actually in a canon novel at least strongly implied and b) ALL OVER fanon so even if I had a problem with Random Force Powers suddenly occurring I wouldn’t have an issue with this one; the Force Diad thing was ~handwave plot device~ sure fine whatever). ...anyway, given all of that, I can backfill it to a way where I don’t hate it (i.e., if he’d lived, I don’t think it would’ve been followed up on very much/they would’ve settled into a non-romantic relationship of some kind, whatever that might’ve been). Except that it’s the only one, which kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Then again, he did immediately die, so...yeah, I can live with this. I don’t like it, and I don’t think I ever will like it, but I don’t hate it either and it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Most of the other problems I have with this film come down to structure and pacing. In that, thanks to where TLJ left us, this move had to do so much to bring the story to any kind of cohesive end, and not enough time to do it in. Trying to squeeze too much plot into too small a space.

(I actually had the same problem with ROTS initially--although that was more due to the PT having pacing issues as its Primary Narrative Flaw; TPM was way too slow; AOTC actually had good internal pacing but couldn’t quite make up for it; and then ROTS was as a consequence of that really rushed. Meanwhile, with the ST, I feel like the writers are relying on “it’s all there in the manual” a little too much, so not really...trying as hard, if that makes sense? To make it all connect within the film, I mean, as opposed to depending on people going into other/outside/supplemental material to connect the dots (still not as bad as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie on that front, but it’s still Bad; and, like, all film versions of novels leave some stuff out, just look at the LOTR films; but POA left out a key plot point and that--is a rant for another post. Back to EPIX). It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deleted scenes come out, or if it’ll grow on me in future watchings. Not that it’ll ever become a favorite, I don’t think, but it might improve in my eyes.)

Anyway, basically, a lot of this felt rushed or like...introduced but not really addressed/wrapped up in any kind of satisfactory fashion? Kylo Ren’s arc in particular, as I’ve mentioned before, plus the Threepio stuff felt rushed and non-consequential, and also with Rey’s arc to an extent (it...again, all the beats worked for me/I thought it was fairly effective, but it really needed two movies to pay off as well as it could have). ...I mean, there are more plot threads I could probably mention here, but those are the three that stuck out the most.

Also, this movie needed More Rose :( I LOVE HER and she was barely here!!!!!

Another thing I would’ve liked to see is...okay, I really liked the Overlapping Voices bit, but it would’ve been nice to have more Presence from the ghosts? Like...there’s a bit at the end of season 1 of Sailor Moon where she’s in the Final Battle, the other four have died (or just been left behind, if you’re watching the English dub), and their ghosts show up and place their hands on hers and lend her their strength? A visual cue like that would’ve been great and helped the arc feel more complete. Especially since Palpatine had all of his predecessors/Sith ghosts backing him in a more visible fashion. But, then again, that’s a Personal Taste thing and while it would’ve, IMO, made that moment better, not having it doesn’t make it worse, if that makes sense?

(Also, the credits moved too fast for me to track, but I definitely saw Qui-Gon Jinn listed, though I don’t recall hearing him, and I definitely recognized Anakin/Hayden Christensen and Mace/Samuel L. Jackson and Obi-Wan/Ewan McGreggor (and Alec Guinness I’m pretty sure?) and obvs. Yoda/Frank Oz when actually listening, but I couldn’t identify the other voices--anyone have the full list? Was Ahsoka and/or Kanan and/or Ezra involved, or was it restricted to movie-only Jedi?)

But...yeah. Apart from the Kiss being very ....:/ for me, most of my identifiable problems with the film is stuff like this.

I think the other thing I want to talk about in detail is the Rey Palpatine reveal.

So, up until this movie, I was actually in my corner flying my tiny but determined Rey Kenobi flag, and the more I think about it, the more I like Rey Palpatine for some of the same reasons? Like...I don’t remember everything I’d thought through about Rey Kenobi, but it had to do with the cyclical nature of Star Wars, and bringing it back where it started--and we get that with Rey Palpatine, in a nice arc, healing some of the damage her grandfather did, both to this family and to the galaxy as a whole.

That being said--those of you who know me and my fic projects know I’ve been writing a child (daughter) for Palpatine for quite some time now, and I have no intention of stopping, lol. Am I going to take this/Lavinia’s (presumably) half-brother into account in future projects? ...probably not. But I am looking forward to/hoping we get a novel or something about him and Rey’s mother. Because that is actually a story I’m interested in--why canon!Palpatine chose to have a kid, and how said kid managed to break away and got to this point. [...y’know, I actually think Rey Kenobi’s background/thread of descent would be less interesting to me? Since I subscribe to the idea that a) Korkie Kryze is Obi-Wan’s biological son; and b) Obi-Wan had many Friends With Benefits throughout the galaxy and figuring out exactly which one Rey descends from carries less weight for me.]

...okay, I think that’s all the Detaily Bits I want to get into, so here are some bullet points of things that really stuck out to me, in no particular order:

Bawled like a baby re: everything involving Carrie Fisher. Just...yeah. Miss you Space Mommy.

LANDO! I loved his entrance, I loved him adopting Jannah at the end, I loved all of it.

Chewie’s fake-out death was also actually pretty good/well-handled. I mean. First Boom happens and I’m like DDDDDDD: but then I remember how people reacted to his death in Legends and I’m like would they really do it and then DELIGHT.

HUX. Okay. I never really cared about this dude before, and honestly I still don’t really care about this dude but at the same time, those of you who know me know I have a Thing for double-agents and defectors and I LOVE THIS WHOLE ENTIRE PLOT THREAD. I LOVE THIS SHITHEAD TURNING TRAITOR FOR THE MOST VENAL REASONS AND STILL BEING A BAD GUY/EVIL/AN UNREPENTANT JACKASS. THIS WAS PERFECT.

(Also Finn shooting him in the leg instead of the arm as requested was DELIGHTFUL)

SPEAKING OF DELIGHTFUL gotta love Zombie Skeev Palpatine Unliving His Best Afterlife. Was he as Delightful as he is in ROTS or ROTJ? No. Did I still enjoy every minute of his scenery-chewing nonsense? You bet your ass. So happy, Ian McDiarmid looked like he was having tons of fun and honestly what more could I have asked for?

The whole scene on Ahch-To was just *chef’s kiss.* Use of Yoda’s theme with the rising X-Wing, Luke being snarky and kind and beautiful, him emerging from the fire with the saber...just loved it.

LEIA HAD JEDI TRAINING AND HER OWN LIGHTSABER. BB!MARK HAMILL AND BB!CARRIE FISHER’S FACES.

LEIA TRAINING REY. REY CALLING HER ‘MASTER.’

USING THE BOND TO ARM KYLO REN okay like I said I have Mixed Feelings about the arc as a whole but that moment was SO COOL.

Poe’s ex-girlfriend was pretty great, ngl.

JANNAH AND EX-STORMTROOPERS YESSSSSSSS

HINTS OF/SHREDS OF EVIDENCE FOR FORCE-SENSITIVE FINN GIVE THEM TO ME NOW.

D-0 was pretty cute!

All of the Badass Finn.

Also that MOMENT where Finn runs up to Poe like “I NEED TO TELL YOU A THING” and Poe is all “I NEED YOU TO FIGHT WITH ME” and Finn just interrupts himself to thank Poe and they have that “General” “General” moment and it’s SO CUTE I’m love it.

The entire thing at the Lars farm at the end. Just. Burying the lightsabers, seeing the twins’ ghosts, claiming the Skywalker name, Rey having her own saber now. This movie was a Hot Mess but it definitely ended on a high note.

...that’s pretty much what I have for right now. I will probably have more thoughts after discussing it with other people/seeing it again (because I will be seeing it again). But overall...do I like it? Well, it’s Star Wars, which I love and which frankly always has some Super Dumb and/or Frustrating Stuff, and the things I disliked weren’t bad enough to Ruin It for me, so yes, I liked it. Is it my favorite Star Wars/good for a Star Wars movie? ...not really, no. It did have some gorgeous moments, but it doesn’t really hang together. Like the rest of the ST, it relies way too much on It’s All There In The Manual and, between that and the fact that TLJ didn’t do the work necessary to set it up, the movie felt rushed and a little bit...I don’t want to say hollow, maybe shallow is a better word? I mean, I know this is Star Wars and It’s Not That Deep (but the ground is soft and I’m ready to dig or however the quote goes), but this felt particularly shallow even for Star Wars. Like...cotton candy, fairly good/tasty but a little bit prone to melting away and with very little substance holding it together. On that level, I’d actually probably rank it around Solo (which, let me say, I really like)--so, better than TLJ, but still A Hot Mess of a movie. But I enjoyed myself, and I think overall my feelings are middling-to-positive on it. Even if...honestly, even like less than four hours after the movie ending, I’m already forgetting like half the plot points...? Like I said. Cotton Candy.

What did/do you guys think?

#star wars spoilers #sw spoilers #epix spoilers #episode ix spoilers #spoilers #star wars epix #star wars episode ix #epix

[cienie-isengardu]

MK 11 story

Since  there are already MK11 storymode / cutscenes out on net, of course I couldn’t help myself and watch. For now, this is more like chaotic rambling than any serious meta, but I really need to get all the emotions out so, beware spoilers:

Things I like and/or wish were more exploited

RACISM/SPECIESISM IN OUTWORLD what always was a big part of storyline but rarely were talked or pointed out. We see this with Tarkatans, who were always treated as animals / slaves / beneath the Edenians or other Outworld cultures. I liked how Kitana and Jade (who in MK9 called/treated Baraka like dog) changed - or at least started changing that. The fact princess Kitana and Baraka worked against Shao Kahn reminds me one of old MK comics, what only adds points of awesomess.

Also, I freaking love how MK11 gives Outworld cultures so much details. Tarkatans (among them females too), people of Kotal with their masks and painting and all. SO GREAT! Oh, and the people watching fight in arena, cheering all the bloodness and not giving any fuck who will win and become the new khan XDDDD

Scenery. Everyone is So Beautiful. Also, nice to see old arenas, including Shang Tsung’s Island :3

KUAI LIANG AND HANZO HASASHI’S TEAMWORK :3 :3 :3 I just can’t! I love it so much. The way they work in sync with each other and their banters, SO BEAUTIFUL ;3 Also, people’s reaction at seeing them / hearing about them on good terms. So much fun! My favorite little things is their meeting before mission to destroy Cyber Lin Kuei and Sub-Zero making sure Hanzo is looking in right direction to see entrance he is actually talking about XD

ALSO, KUAI LIANG AND CYRAX. Cyrax once again breaks my heart :( Please, someone let him have his human body again! I wish there was younger, human version of Cyrax then, if just to see the epic scream match between him and Cyber Sektor XDDD Once again, Cyber Cyrax proved he never should be in command of C.I. Project; give him a free will for like few seconds, and he will be willing to blow up all cyborgs including himself :(

I’m gonna tell more about Sektor, Noob and Frost while rambling about things that irked me more or less, but let me tell you this: I start think my meta about Sektor and Bi-Han’s relationship may be actually valid thing. Also, all of them are right now the trio of black sheeps of Lin Kuei which makes this little scene

quite... heartwarming? Taking care of each other - even if just for pragmatic reasons - hits me hard cause no one really care now for Frost, Sektor and to some degree, Noob (Kuai cares, sure, but in story mode he says they share the same blood but are not brothers) :(

OLDER JOHNNY! God, I love this version of his character :3 Also, the way he deals with his younger self :D :D :D :D

Generally, I liked very much all the interaction between younger and older selfs and all family feelings :3 This reminds me MK movie (1995)’s quote, how Mortal Kombat is not about death but about life and hell yeah, MK11 brings a lot good emotions.

Wonder what happened to Erron, to change so much from his younger reckless(?) self to more calm, loyal(?) to Kotal self. Even Johnny pointed something along the lines.

For once Raiden does not fuck up stuff and his relationship with Liu Kang ends on good terms. Nice.

Kung Lao’s remarks! Haha, I missed his sense of humor. Shame there was no Jinn to share sarcastic humor...

The talk about Cassie kickings Shinnok’s ass cause she has some magic in her while Jax/Jacqui needed to use magic item to beat godness makes me wonder how Jacqui is doing, the normal mortal between all those fighters with special powers (Cassie & Johnny and their magic, Takeda & Kenshi with reading minds and so one). I wish we could see more about this.

Here are things that irked me more or less.

The inconsistency between games.

I know, messed up timlines and all, but for example, Sektor as Grandmaster and his supposed crimes. Destroying Shirai Ryu & having deal with Quan Chi wasn’t Cyber Sektor doing, but his father, the Grandmaster from Sub-Zero Mythologies. I don’t like how Sektor is now blamed for stuff he wasn’t in position(?) to do back then. He is messed up evil, but please stop making him a scapegoat for everything that went wrong with original Lin Kuei >_<

Wasn’t Jax already out of military in MKX?

I’m not sure about Kotal’s backstory too, the supposed Shao’s betrayal and being given to Shang Tsung, as “ laboratory rat”. I’m pretty sure MKX gave different story, in which he was Kahn’s loyal general once who simply put Outworld’s good over serving Mileena.

Also, the thing that pisses me off for good is the whole Jax’s wife died so he can’t deal with grief and/or wish Jacqui did not serve as soldier so he is working (for some time) for Kronika. Eh. I’m so dissappointed with this one. Killing older!Sonya does not help the feeling but frankly, why not use Sonya’s death as motivation and have two combined tragedies/family dramas into one, since Briggs and Blade-Cage are one big family? I mean, Kronika was talking about Jax’s fear that something bad will happen to Jacqui on duty which makes sense, because this connect the game to previous one and all. But it makes me sad there is little connection to Sonya’s death. Okay, maybe I need to rewatch the cutscenes to get better perspective about this plot.

MK11 in my opinion also lack the great friendship between Cassie and Jacqui seen in previous game. I get it, really, there is so many stuff happening and both girls have family crisis to deal with and all, but there is something off about their relationship and that upsets me a lot :(

The treatment of Noob Saibot, Sektor and Frost. The first two were in game solely to be beat down while the way everyone give up on Frost so fast makes me really sad. I’m supposed to believe that Kuai wish to redeem his brother (in Sub-Zero’s ending) but does not think twice about Frost? His precious student? Not to mention that once again Frost plays the villain. I wish there was second Frost to stand up with her mentor against Cyber Lin Kuei/Kronnika. Or at something that could judge how much her claims is delusion and how much truth. Did Kuai really failed her so much? :(

Also, where the hell is Smoke and Sindel? The dead queen at least was mentioned by Kitana and Shao Kahn and, if I remember correctly, wraith Jade. While there is no mention of Smoke??? :( Okay, there is, but in intro. Thanks Noob, for once you were uselful XD

Frankly, the lack of Takeda is also something I wish was changed. His presence would add a lot weight to discussion between Scorpions, what makes Shirai Ruy. The younger version felt those new students of grandmaster Hasashi aren’t worth (cause no real blood ties to original clan members) while Hanzo disagree. Takeda, as an example of great skills and loyalty to clan/Hanzo could be nice addition. Lack of Jin upsets me too :( And Syzoth :( :(

And this is really minor thing but why the hell Noob Saibot would tell Jacqui and young!Jax his former name? Like, fine, Jax knew, but why he didn’t just call himself Sub-Zero? What would made much more sense.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat 11 spoilers #my rants #i lack of sleep because of mk 11 now #didn't except to see storymode on net so early #so of course once i found it by accident i needed to watch it and now rant #seriously i have so much things to think about when it comes to lin keui #especially the trio of black sheeps #and now sektor and bi han is all i can think

[gffa]

I'm honestly a bit P.O'd at Disney that out of all the interesting bits of Legends Jedi worldbuilding they decided to keep 'by the way Yoda's eats his stick and gets high'. I get it's hilarious, don't get me wrong, but... ah here we go again, some species *cough* non-humanoid ones *cough* are ~primitive~ and get high on bark for pain relief even when some of the galaxy's best medical resources are at their disposal. It also used to be Legends canon that [1/2]

the Jedi had skilled enough Healers that some Civilians who would have died otherwise were granted access to the Temple medbay for treatment. Noope, Grandpa was high all along! Technology is bad, fire is scary, Thomas Edison was a witch etc. I’m sorry, I’m not upset at you at all, just really annoyed at Disney for playing things like the canonically most Force-powerful being in the galaxy’s physical health for laughs. As an autistic person, I’m tired of ‘odd’ characters being written like that.

I can’t speak on behalf ‘odd’ characters and the connection to autism, so hopefully this doesn’t come across like I’m trying to step into that arena or step on your toes!  All I can comment on is the way it came across to me and the content of the way it’s put together!  And this is a good chance to talk about what “canon” is, as that’s been on my mind for a bit again.- In the back of the book, it has a disclaimer (which I didn’t think to look for until now, admittedly):

So, I don’t think you can count on something that only appears in a guide book (instead of in an actual story), it’s nebulous at BEST.  This is also contrasted against how, if you read the pages, they are very pro-Yoda, there’s a lot of talk about how he’s the wisest and best Jedi just about ever, how he’s incredibly valued.  This wasn’t about HA HA THE LITTLE ALIEN ONE IS WEIRD AND DUMB, but instead I think it was meant more of a “this is part of Yoda’s spiritual connection to the Force”, because it’s contrasted against how good the book thinks Yoda is.At the same time, I think this is a good jumping off point to talk about Legends and what “canon” versus “never was canon” mean and why it’s not a bad thing or even why “canon” doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily good. George Lucas had mentioned several times that he didn’t really read the novels and other Legends stuff, it was never canon to his Star Wars world.  We’ve seen him take in elements from the comics or what have you, but he was never, ever beholden to them.  Dave Filoni also had this to say:

A lot of people tend to take this as a value judgement, that “canon” is the only worthwhile measuring stick, but it’s really not.  Some Legends stuff was absolute crap and was Bad At Star Wars, some of it was absolutely amazing and nothing of the Disney canon has ever reached those beautiful heights again.  But it’s not canon, and what does that mean?  It means it doesn’t have to be taken into account by other authors.This is why Legends was never canon, because George did not have to take those things into consideration.  For example, that bullshit idea of the Jedi kicking initiates out when they were 13 was explicitly contradicted by The Clone Wars, when Ahsoka was 14 and was considered way young, like potentially not even old enough at all, when Caleb was 13 and was considered even more way young.  There was a (NON-CANON AS WELL, but the point is that there was room for it) TCW-based Legends book that had a 17 year old Initiate who was still totally able to be a Padawan and it wasn’t like they were panicking about aging out.  George did not have to take that into account.In contrast, I remember hearing that George once said that he disliked those magnaguard staffs, that nothing should be able to stop a lightsaber, it made them less cool, but, well, he’d put it in the movie, so now he had to live with it.  That’s what canon is–he had to take it into consideration because it was canon, even if he didn’t think the value of it was very high.So when I read something like “Ha ha! Yoda chewed on his gimer stick to get high!” (and, honestly, it doesn’t actually say that, it just said that it’s a substance that helps him meditate and, honestly, anything could help him meditate, PLAIN TEA probably helps him meditate!), in a book that already says it uses Legends info, I’m not inclined to think that it’s 100% hardcore being recanonized.  It’s not in a story somewhere, it’s from someone who was trying to fill up a book full of little details and interesting things, from someone who was probably deeply steeped in Legends stuff and so reached for that automatically.And it’s contrasted against how we see the Jedi, who are a blend of spiritual and technological.  They balance aspects that are mystical, they balance things that would get them in touch with the Force, with how Yoda goes around on a hoverchair in AOTC or how they wield super advanced plasma chainsaws.  They balance their trips to a magical cave on an ice planet with the star ships they pilot.  They balance wanting to be as close to the natural eddies and paths of the Force with how they have very advanced technology.  We see Yoda in the Jedi Halls of Healing during TCW, we see him absolutely getting advanced care of the GFFA, when Rig Nema is taking care of him.  (And, frankly, I don’t recall any instance of him chewing on the cane in the canon, so I’m further not inclined to take it as hardcore canon, more like “I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets referenced at some point, but that it’s one detail among many.”!)I don’t think it has to be one or the other, it’s like how anyone is–sometimes you use advanced things, sometimes you use more simple things! It’s like how I could take a more advanced medication for some things, but sometimes I grab a handful of berries that will achieve the same effect, like lowering blood sugar or providing antioxidants!  (And the stuff about Yoda getting high to deal with the Jinn/Kenobi/Skywalker lineage is just more of our LEGO Star Wars-style humor, which isn’t meant to be taken seriously, even if it does occasionally veer into taken-seriously territory with things like how Yoda’s old and probably in a lot of pain, like older people are.)

#yoda #canon #legends #depabillabaa #i really don't want this to come across as trying to step on your toes or anything! #i'm just trying to explain how it came across to me #especially since i was pulling that part out of bigger context because i didn't want to quote the entire thing XD #i'm sorry that you're going through this though and i can see where you're coming from as a greater trend in media especially!!

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: The Phantom Menace

Star wars. A movie made in 1977 by George Lucas. Through the use of classic archetypes and "The Hero`s Journey" he created a story that was not only popular the day it premiered but has remained so for years. With two sequels and clever merchandising (where the real money from the movie is made) money is one thing he hasn`t had to worry about (at least not much) for years. But wait.When Star wars first came out it said that it was "chapter 4" despite it being the first one in the series! Did we miss something? No. George Lucas just decided not to release them chronologically. The missing chapters would most likely be made when Lucas felt that special effects had improved enough to live up to his vision, since one of the things the first three movies were known for was the visual spectacles.Then came the day, the remaining three movies were getting made. The masses flocked to the cinemas in excitement and... reactions were mixed. Some hated it, some loved it, some, like me, thought: "It was OK I guess..." When George Lucas made the original trilogy he was not as powerful as he is today. Limitations in special effects and budget forced him to be creative and work around those limitations. He relied a bit too much on how cool CGI would make it look and the fact that people would see it because it was frickin` Star wars. Even If you overlook how hyped it was, many have agreed that The Phantom Menace has several noticable flaws. I think several of us have had ideas on how to improve this. So here are some of my thoughts on how it could have been done. SPOILERS there are here Jar Jar Binks I would keep Jar Jar because I don`t think there`s anything wrong with a little comic relief. C3PO and R2D2 filled that function in the original trilogy after all. The diffrence is that they did it well. I would change Jar Jar`s voce from sounding "Roger Rabbity" to John Leguizamo-ish, and he could have an accent, just without the "yoosa" and "meesa" stuff. (Note that I didn`t say John Leguizamo, but someone sounding kinda that way. And I`m not talking about his Sid the Sloth voice) Instead of being clumsy and goofy he would be a competent scout and lookout who`s just not used to fighting. Which means that he can`t be bannished from the gungan city for being too clumsy. Instead Boss Nass would insist on him following the two Jedis out because: "You lead them in here, so you lead them out" and he would chose to continue to follow them because he believes it`s the right thing to do. The comedy that would come from Jar Jar would be fish-out-of-water humor, since he`s an amphibian on a desert planet. To summarise: He would still be kinda funny, but not because he`s a clumsy idiot. Midichlorians Instead of finding out Anakin`s potential by meassuring his "midichlorian level" with science, Qui Gon Jinn could find it out by "sensing the force". He could close his eyes and we could see what he sees: even if everything is black, people, animals and other stuff are still visible as siluettes thanks to the Force flowing around them. But it flows even stronger around Anakin. Qui Gonn asks Obi Wan to sense the Force too and he sees what Qui Gonn saw. They both agree that he has potential and they bring him along. Anakin It`s popular to pick on Jake Lloyd (his performance could have been better) but at least half of the blame can be placed on George Lucas. The character could have been written better. Anakin should have been a kid who tries to do the best of the lot that life has given him but still, deep down, resent that he and his mother are at the lowest step of the ladder and don`t have any actual freedom, and it frustrates him. He should have been played by an actor able to handle that inner struggle. Preferably a slightly older actor. (Not necessarily older or as old as Padme, just a little older than Jake Lloyd was at that time.) The Droid army You know the Droids that went "Roger Roger" and looked like they were half robot, half spaghetti? They could have looked and been more threatening. They could also have been a bit more intelligent. I think there were a couple of robot soldiers in AotC and/or RotS that had a better design. C3PO Sure, it`s fun to see characters that you remember, but beyond that C3PO had no other function (well, maybe a little bit as a comic relief). Personally I`d save his "first" appearence for Attack of the Clones. R2D2 Personally I found it a bit odd that R2D2 got the hero`s treatment after he fixed the ship when they had to escape the planet. Partly because I don`t really see big royalties being that sentimental (Or maybe the correct word is empathic?) with the robotic servants. Also because in A new Hope they were sold as slaves by the jawas and Luke and his folks had no problem with it. (And yes, I know. Some time had passed and on some planets the rights of robots probably hadn`t progressed as far as they had on others but still.) Remember that in A new Hope C3PO said: "nobody worries about upsetting a droid." meaning that most people don`t think about droids feelings, or think that they even have any. How I would do it: After the crew are relieved that they got away and R2D2 returns back into the shuttle Padmè could read his number and say: "`R2...D2.`Is that your name... or... number? I don`t know if this means anything to you but... Thank you for saving us."And R2 could beep in response. Overuse of CGI and green screen Not against CGI but Personally I would have used it a little less than Lucas did. I think it would help the actors if they`d had more physical sets. The stilted dialogue Should have been less stilty. Someone better at writing dialogue should have handled this bit for Lucas. The Droid Army`s defeatSure, it was kinda funny, but was it right to put something that funny in such a climactic scene? Since Anakin (in this hypothetic example at least) is a little bit older than Jake Lloyd was the time, I wouldn`t have anything against if he took that ship that he flew away in and flew it over the droid army and fired on them, giving the gungans a big enough advantage to win the battle. (I think it`s a little impractical for them all to be completely dependent on one single power source and to be defeated that easily.) You may wonder what changes I would have suggested for AotC or RotS. Well, in my opinion the sequels got better, they were more similar to the Star Wars movies that I know and love. I found less things that bothered me and it`s harder for me to pinpoint all the stuff that I would have changed. Not to say that there are none. But since there aren`t as many there`s no point in giving them their own individual lists. So I`ll just add them to this one. Things that both AotC and RotS have in common with PM:Overuse of CGI and green screen and stilted dialogue. And also

Anakin Skywalker Hayden Christensen should have taken acting lesson or have been replaced by another actor. But like I said with Jake Lloyd: half of it is George Lucas`s fault. He should have put more effort into the characters. And Hayden had some good moments in RotS. Attack of the Clones Anakin lamenting after he returns home after burying his mom after killing the Tusken raiders I think his speech should have focused on how he`s used to be able to fix and repair things, but he can`t repair this and it makes him feel powerless. And yes, he did mention it briefly in that scene, I just think it should have been something his monologue could have focused more on.The "I don`t like sand" speechHe could have said something like: that he prefered being on Naboo, because even if Tattoine was his childhood home it still had some bad memories for him. (Being a slave with no rights and stuff like that.) I guess you can file this in the stilted dialogue-category. Revenge of the Sith Padmè`s death

Appearantly she died because she lost the will to live. While it is possible for a person`s emotional/mental state to lenghten or shorten their life it just feels a little melodramatic. (Or maybe forced is the right word? No pun intended if you find that punny.) Couldn`t it have been a combination of her being distressed and Anakin accidentally almost Force-choking her to death? The cheesy love dialogue Remember this? Anakin Skywalker: "You are so... beautiful." Padmé: "It's only because I'm so in love." Anakin Skywalker: "No, it's because I'm so in love with you." Padmé: "So love has blinded you?" Anakin Skywalker: [laughs] "Well, that's not exactly what I meant." Padmé: "But it's probably true." I would have cut this dialogue and just have them have a quiet, romantic scene together that lasted for a few seconds. Show, don`t tell. I guess that falls under the same dialogue-category as Attack of the Clones. There may be more things that could have been changed in the sequels but I only focused on the ones that I could pinpoint and that I could come up with ideas on how to improve. It`s called constructive criticism after all. It`s popular and easy to complain about and hate George Lucas, and while his latest contributions to cinema have been a bit lacking, he has good qualities for a film maker. The man knows how to build worlds, has a good eye for the visual and he`s an entrepreneur, he created his own visual effects company and came up with new effects instead of waitng for someone else to create them. The problem is that he focused too much on these elements and didn`t spend enough time on the others. "A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."George Lucas himself. And that`s it for me. Take care and may the force be with you.

#star wars #phantom menace #editorial #constructive #criticism #81scorp

[ramajmedia]

Star Wars: The Biggest Twist From Every Movie | ScreenRant

The release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is edging closer, and fans can’t wait to see what JJ Abrams and Disney have in store for them this Christmas. One thing that is to be expected, though, are several twists and turns throughout the course of the blockbuster. The whole franchise has continually left its viewers stunned over the course of the previous 10 Star Wars outings over the past 40 years.

With that in mind, we now take a look at the biggest twist from every Skywalker movie, as well as Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Most Crucial Luke Skywalker Moments (So Far)

10 The Phantom Menace: Two Shocking Deaths

Prior to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, everybody had high expectations. They thought Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn would become a big figure, while villain Darth Maul was expected to follow in the footsteps of Darth Vader by being the big bad guy across the trilogy.

However, neither of those things happened. There were audible gasps within the theatre when Qui-Gon met his end at the hands of Maul during their showdown on Naboo, and everybody was shocked for a second time when the Sith Lord died following a confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi. He would, though, go on to be resurrected further down the line.

9 Attack Of The Clones: Yoda Fighting

When Star Wars: Attack of the Clones released in 2002, fans were enthused about seeing more of Yoda. The strange little green Jedi was made popular during the original trilogy where time alone on the planet of Dagobah appeared to mess up his brain. He was somewhat marginalized in The Phantom Menace with Mace Windu instead coming across as the leader of the Jedi Council.

But the second prequel movie had fans shocked when Yoda engaged Count Dooku in lightsaber combat. It comes out of the blue with the Jedi moving at astonishing speed and performing a series of acrobatic movements as he wields his weapon. As twists go, it was a controversial one, with not everybody being so happy at seeing Yoda in action.

8 Revenge Of The Sith: Anakin Skywalker Killing Younglings

Everybody knew that Revenge of the Sith would be the Star Wars movie where we finally see Anakin Skywalker transform into Darth Vader. As a result, very few twists were expected. But one of the biggest—and most horrifying—is when the fallen Jedi Knight travels to the Jedi Temple and eliminates all of the younglings hiding there.

Even for Vader, this was a big moment. One where he totally and utterly crossed the line. Thankfully you don’t see all of the action, with the massacre instead happening off-screen. But that doesn’t make it any less surprising or shocking.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Characters Underused Throughout The Whole Series

7 Solo: Darth Maul Is Crimson Dawn Leader

As mentioned above, fans were convinced they’d seen the last of Darth Maul when he fell down the chute on Naboo during The Phantom Menace. However, Lucasfilm admitted to regretting that decision by bringing him back for the animated TV series The Clone Wars and again in Star Wars Rebels. He made a sensational return to the big screen when Solo released in 2018.

It’s completely unexpected, but it went down a treat with fans. It emerges that Qi’Ra, the mysterious lover of Han Solo, is in league with the former Sith Lord. Maul heads criminal organization Crimson Dawn and his appearance means he may appear in other movies or TV shows further down the line.

6 Rogue One: Everybody Dies

Rogue One ranks among the finest Star Wars movies ever released with the blockbuster performing surprisingly well considering its plot, on the surface at least, seemed straightforward. A bunch of Rebels stealing the Death Star plans meant it was inevitable some would die before the end, particularly given the ruthlessness of the Galactic Empire.

But what was surprising, especially for a Disney movie, was that everybody died. Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Chirrut, Baze Malbus, and K2SO are all the focal points of the movie, but all five die before the end. This left fans shocked and also showed Disney was willing to go to such measures if it means producing a brilliant, impactful movie.

RELATED: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker D23 Footage: 10 Fan Theories For What Might Happen Next

5 A New Hope: Ben Kenobi Dying

It seems crazy to think that, once upon a time, Star Wars was just the one movie rather than an entire franchise. The series kicked off back in 1977 when A New Hope released to the world, and it immediately became a huge hit. It’s biggest surprise, though, was the death of Ben Kenobi.

Fans today are lucky enough to know loads about Kenobi due to the prequels, but, at the time, his character was full of mystery and intrigue. We knew he and Darth Vader had a past but we expected answers. Instead, the Jedi Knight allows himself to be killed on the Death Star. Thankfully, though, the decision to release two sequels to A New Hope meant fans were finally given the answers they needed.

4 The Empire Strikes Back: I Am Your Father

Never mind just Star Wars, the revelation that Darth Vader was actually Luke Skywalker’s father in The Empire Strikes Back ranks among arguably the biggest twists in cinema history. Period.

By the time the second movie of the franchise released, people were sucked in and invested. Everybody was left gasping when George Lucas decided to have Vader to confess to Luke the truth about his family shortly after the former Tatooine farmboy had lost their dual on Cloud City. Lucas wanted it to be impactful, so he even hid the revelation from members of the cast, and that made it all the more surprising as a result.

3 Return Of The Jedi: Darth Vader Changes Sides

We very nearly went with Luke Skywalker learning that Leia Organa was his sister as the biggest twist of Return Of The Jedi. However, we’ve ultimately gone for the moment where Darth Vader, the big evil bad guy of the entire franchise, suddenly has a change of heart and turns on master Emperor Palpatine on the second Death Star.

Palpatine is in full evil mode as he electrocutes Luke Skywalker following his failure to turn to the dark side. But Vader, feeling remorse for the first time in years and unable to allow his son to be subjected to such treatment, ends up throwing the Emperor to his seeming doom. It’s Anakin Skywalker’s moment of redemption and also the moment Luke showed himself to be the biggest hero in the galaxy.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Most Crucial Leia Organa Moments (So Far)

2 The Force Awakens: Kylo Ren Kills Han Solo

Despite Darth Vader’s sacrifice at the end of Return of the Jedi, the galaxy is once again in a state of flux 30 years on. The Force Awakens introduces the character of Kylo Ren who, it emerges, is the son of Rebel Alliance heroes Han Solo and Leia Organa. Yet, while he’s determined to be like grandfather Darth Vader, he’s different in the sense that he’s emotional and far more conflicted.

It looks as if Kylo Ren is about to become Ben Solo once again when he and his father have an emotional exchange on Starkiller Base. But viewers are left reeling when the son murders the father, driving a lightsaber through his heart and allowing Han’s corpse to disappear. Nobody expected one of the heroes of the original trilogy to die so early into the sequel trilogy.

1 The Last Jedi: You’re Nothing

Prior to the release of The Last Jedi in 2017, fans had spent months theorizing on the identity of Rey’s parents. It was important. She was ultra-powerful with the Force, the Skywalker lightsaber called to her, Han Solo’s behavior towards her suggested he knew something and Kylo Ren’s ‘what girl’ comment also hinted she was somebody with a bigger place in the story than she knew.

However, every single theory was blown away when Kylo told Rey her parents were drunkards from Jakku who sold her for drinking money. So controversial was that decision that Star Wars now faces a fight to get fans into theatres for The Rise of Skywalker. JJ Abrams has hinted there’s more to Rey’s parentage, suggesting there’s another twist in store.

NEXT: Rise of Skywalker: 10 Theories About Rey's Parents

source https://screenrant.com/star-wars-movies-biggest-twists/

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