#anyways this and Sith are my favorite episodes this season | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tarisilmarwen · 9 months

Text

Rebels Rewatch: "A Fool's Hope"/"Family Reunion And Farewell"

*singing*

~I'm glad that you were here with me/Here at the end of all things.~

Live reaction version.

Yeah be prepared for a lot of Lord of the Rings quotes and song lyrics in this one, lol.

Hey, don't blame me, the writers were the ones who made it clear they were hopeless Tolkien nerds.

And yes I am packaging both (all three?) episodes together. This is how it was aired, this is how it was experienced, you're gonna get the full treatment.

This does mean though that I will be very stingy with the pictures. Apologies. Blame Tumblr, not me.

Anyway, we start off the finale by gathering all the disparate parties that we completed the Friendship Fetch Quests for. Rex, Kallus, Gregor, Wolffe, Hondo, Melch, and Ketsu are all Back For The Finale. Which is a trope that I absolutely love in all shapes and forms, and it's even more appropriate for this show given that Ezra's main character "superpower" is literally making friends.

The connections and bridges he built all come back to aide him, not for any selfish motives of their own or because "the enemy of my enemy", but simply because Ezra has asked them to come.

"It's for Ezra," is all Hera has to say, and Hondo is immediately, genuinely pledging, "For that boy, there is nothing I would not do."

It is... incredibly heartwarming.

And I told y'all Hondo was a romantic at heart, and genuinely misses the days when the Jedi were around. And also that in the Rebellion Era, the Jedi still represent the nobility and goodness of the past.

After the titlecard, which still has no fanfare, we get this scene:

Come, you all knew I was going to cap it. Sabine's concern is so soft, the hand she places on Ezra's shoulder and the way she asks if he's okay so gentle.

The visual similarity in this scene and two scenes prior to this are interesting. This scene is firstly visually reminiscent of the Kanan-Hera scene in the beginning of "Kindred" (inviting comparison to the main canon ship of the show), and also the Kanan-Ezra scene at the beginning of "Jedi Night" (which emphasizes again that Kanan and Sabine are the two Most Important People in Ezra's life).

Ezra sits in the exact same pose, in the exact same place, that we saw Kanan meditating at, suggesting that he is also hearing the echoes of things to come, having similar visions of the future. This is certainly supported by his dialogue, where he mentions, "Something's changed... Something's happening." and that he's had a vision of Palpatine sending Thrawn back to Lothal.

Honestly I'm surprised it took Palpatine so long, lol. Thrawn: Treason supposedly takes place over the course of... a week? And the events of "Rebel Assault" to "A World Between Worlds" can't have been more than three or four days.

(This is why I reject the official canon timeline for Rebels, Season Four's events are crammed into the space of a month or two AT BEST.)

But anyway, Palpatine is pretty pissed off about the whole Temple thing so yeah, he's sending Thrawn back to retrieve Ezra personally. This seems to be a big ol' sticking point for our favorite blue bastard because he is NOT HAPPY when he turns back up.

You can't blame him really. He'd barely left Lothal and his TIE Defender project got literally blown up, so he had to spend the budget meeting arguing for what was essentially a smoking crater, and the wager he made with Krennic et. all. ultimately went nowhere because he lost on a technicality, and then the Emperor starts questioning his loyalty because his old Ascendancy friends showed up during the shenanigans, and then Palpatine dismissed him to go clean up the mess on Lothal and fetch him back a teenager for Sith sorcery bullshit.

...He'd had a very bad week, is what I'm saying.

I got off topic there, where was I?

Oh yes, Ezra's risky gamble. Fun fact, that was the original title of the episode, "Ezra's Gamble". I assume they axed it because it would give too much away. And like I've said before, if they could have avoided showing Ryder in footage taking the Dome for the finale previews, they could have really sold his false betrayal.

Pryce does not look like she's having a good week either lol.

Ezra continues to be cryptic about things, yet another hint to us that he's gotten "insider information" from the Force, as it were, and has made plans according to multiple possible outcomes. This is just one of the reasons why he outmaneuvered Thrawn, the other major one being that there was no possible way for Thrawn to predict Ezra throwing space whales at him lol.

This interference by the Force could have been a bit of a Deus Ex Machina but I think it's pretty clear that the Force only shared what might happen and left Ezra to figure out a solution on his own.

And his solution was space whales. XD

That comes later though, after this very risky gambit with letting Ryder broadcast their location to Pryce. A lot of things could have gone wrong. Hera might not have made it back in time. Ryder could have decided to genuinely betray them. Rukh could have gotten in a lucky strike and incapacitated him.

We are apparently putting a LOT of trust in the Force today.

This action setpiece is a great one so I'll just cover a few of my favorite highlights:

All the shots that track Sabine as she jetpacks around the battlefield.

Ezra versus Rukh.

Zeb going full feral with the minigun.

And of course on the other side of things Hondo trying to count the number of times he'd been collided with pulling off this exact maneuver they're using lol. The blockade seems to have thinned from "Rebel Assault", not as many capital ships?, so maybe I was right in that Thrawn called for reinforcements to repel the attack. Still gives Ezra the highest kill count by proxy at the end of things.

Oh and once again there's a moment where someone threatens Sabine in order to force Ezra to surrender. <3 Love that.

Pryce is awfully smug until the Ghost shows up, lol. (To heroic Main Theme fanfare into the Rebel Alliance theme of course.) Someone on the writing team understood the power of a good Eucatastophe. (Tolkien term, it means "the sudden happy turn to good".)

The clones also get a leitmotif fanfare as they debark the Ghost.

And we get a lovely Force Theme as Ezra gets his most badass shot.

Hell yeah.

The wolves sequence is amazing. The dramatic chorus, the chaos, the wolves skirting the veeeeeeeeeeery boundary of what's allowed on a Y7 show lol.

You know some of the troopers got ate.

One last shoutout to Hera using the Ghost to straight up smack a gunship out of the air and now we've come to the end of the setpiece. It can be hard sometimes to fill a full episode with one action sequence but this episode pulls if off perfectly. It never feels stale or boring, there are multiple bits and moments that just work. (I've always loved the moment where Ezra lunges for Ruhk's energy staff and uses the momentum of Rukh lunging for the same to straight up yeet him off the platform.)

Ezra's completely nonphased at Hondo's slung arm shoulder hug now aww.

Moving right along into the next segment...

This soft intro with Ezra talking to his parents' picture, telling them they are the inspiration behind his actions, how he wishes they could meet his new family, how he knows what he needs to do, but he's afraid. T_T Hgn he's precious and so mature and I love him so so much.

He knows what he might have to do, guys. He knows he might never actually see Lothal again and he's still prepared to make that sacrifice if he has to.

He's SUCH a good Jedi you guys I can't.

Kallus gets a token line here about his defection which is... okay. But again, really needed more from this arc for it to have a full impact.

"We come to it at last; the great battle of our time."

One casual wolf threat later, Pryce has agreed to transmit the victory codes and our heros fly off to the capitol to pull off their boldest venture yet.

I will never ever get over this moment. Sabine so attuned to Ezra even without the Force that she can tell just by looking at him how distracted and sad and scared he is.

How Ezra so clearly wants to tell her but holds back, and substitutes instead a declaration of absolute faith and trust.

And how she sees right through that and knows Something Weird Be Up With The Boy, Yo.

But like so many other conversations between the two, things are left unfinished, the mission and circumstances taking precedence.

Love the two quipping back to Pryce tho. <3

Still a crapton of air pollution over the city. This would clear up dramatically in the climax, for a bit of a symbolic moment.

There are SO many callbacks to previous moments in the show in this sequence, I noted a couple of them in my original liveblog but I'm certain there's a few I missed.

The music cue is great too, as is the effective silence once they've taken the bridge. A little bit of musical breathing space before things get hairy again, courtesy of Rukh ambushing the others back at base and stealing a gunship.

You know? I'm not quite sure what the plan was for if they managed to destroy the Dome before Thrawn got back. Seems a little shortsighted to blow up all the fighters and equipment and your city shields. A single Star Destroyer is more than capable of leveling cities and there are several in orbit around Lothal.

This honestly lends even more credence to the idea that, Force visions aside, Ezra was largely making this up as he went and had NO idea what he was doing lol.

Indy Ploy versus Xanatos Gambit. Indy Ploy wins by virtue of there was no way the Xanatos Gambit could predict the level of crazy Ezra's ideas were.

Amazing how empty the streets are when they've been emptied of Imperials.

Thrawn arrives, per schedule, and parks right over the Dome so that can't launch, lest they create catastrophic collateral damage. Important to note, for the people who want to nitpick No Endor Holocaust scenarios, the show specifically details that the city shields put out by the Dome deflected the Star Destroyer wreckage when the purrgil came, and that the Rebels directed the Dome to explode over the bay, not the city. The Cadet Academy is also a completely different building.

I mean, sure the debris from the Dome probably isn't great for the bay's ecosystem but honestly the water was probably already super polluted from the factories, they had to clean it up anyway.

Where was I? Right, Thrawn getting to be really awesomely creepy. The placid, "Are you quite finished?" gives me chills every time. Once again let me praise the expression work on this show because Ezra's soft Oh Crap look is amazing.

The dawning horror on Sabine's face too.

And then this music cue! The tension is drawn out just long enough for us to fully appreciate the horror.

:((((((

They even give us a nice wide-shot to appreciate just how much damage just those few seconds of bombardment did.

I had a rant here originally about the dumbass headcanon that Thrawn targeted empty buildings in this sequence (that may or may not have originated from Timothy Zahn himself) but if you've been following me you already know how I feel about it. It's asinine and I won't entertain it. Moving on.

Backed into a corner, Ezra knows he has no choice but to give himself up to Thrawn. This track in the score, "Sabine Sees Ezra" perfectly captures the sorrow and drama. It starts with a strained version of Ezra's theme, that doesn't resolve, fading instead into mournful original strings. Hera's entreaties for him to stay are painful, we can't help but think of what must be in her head--she just lost Kanan, she's afraid to lose him too. But Ezra is a Jedi. He is the guardian of Lothal. So he must make the sacrifice no one else can. He can't choose to be selfish.

So while Hera and the others try to figure out a way around the problem of Thawn, Ezra goes to confront it head on, secretly signaling to Chopper, who has been entrusted with so much of this plan.

And Sabine sees him.

It's a consistent theme throughout their relationship. She sees him. She notices him. She's attuned to when he's upset. She perceives him in a way that's unique from everyone else.

And he trusts her so implicitly that he silently asks for her help here, and after a moment of agony she does it, because she trusts him too.

These two just break my heart. :(

Sabine keeps looking back at the empty spot where he had been. T_T

There's a theme here about attachment and loss again, and it comes from Sabine. Like a Jedi, she's able to let go of her fear of loss and trust Ezra, whatever happens, and is able to encourage Hera to do the same. Her theme plays out here, strongly, before giving way to an excerpt of the Main Titles theme, uniting the Rebels in their heroism.

Ezra's theme playing again here, skittish and frightened. Once again the expression work is heartbreaking. Ezra looks like he's steeling himself, holding back his fear. He's resigned to his purpose, but that doesn't mean he's enjoying it.

AND NOW WE GET MY FAVORITE HANNIBAL LECTURE/SHUT UP HANNIBAL EXCHANGE! :D

The dialogue between Thrawn and Ezra here is so good.

"You could have chosen to let your people die. However... you chose to be a Jedi." Jedi cannot help what they are, the Jedi Code is like an itch he cannot help it *sobs in Kenobi feelings*.

Thrawn pontificating about how petty things like ethics get in the way of being efficient. He picks at Ezra from several different angles in this conversation, first by deriding the moral code of the Jedi, then by pointing out that their righteousness did not save the Jedi in the end, all that's left are frightened poorly trained children--a clear dig at Ezra himself. He laments what a shame it is that the Jedi didn't apply their powers in a way he deems would have been effective, implicitly suggesting that the Jedi should have used their power to dominate and conquer--Might Makes Right, after all, if you have the means to achieve a certain end you should use it.

Ezra tanks that calmly, pointing out that the Force isn't a weapon.

So Thrawn switches tactics, now lamenting that he must destroy Lothal (no you don't you asshole you can literally just disobey orders and defect, the total genocide of Lothal is entirely within your power to prevent) and oh, isn't it such a shame about Sabine.

And that hits Ezra's berserk trigger lol.

He snaps back at Thrawn. You're a tyrant, a bully, you didn't make or earn any of this, you just took it because you could, because you think your strength makes you right.

Thrawn essentially confirms that, "Yeah, having power does make me right." before leading him down to where the Temple doors have been set up for his meeting with the Emperor. Which kind of makes me think Thrawn wanted the opportunity to dress Ezra down and soften him up for Palpatine's manipulations because he could have just had the troopers shove him into the hanger first thing.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra keeps looking around in astonishment, wide-eyed, at the sight of the Temple doors.

Palpatine cloaks himself in white like an angel of light for this final temptation, wearing the guise of a friend or kindly old grandpa. It's every bit as unsettling as it seems.

Meanwhile with the B-Squad, Mart reveals that--like Chopper--he has also been entrusted with a crucial part of Ezra's "Just in case" plan. (Theirs is an underrated friendship, fanficcers you have let me down, again, why do I have to write all the things I wanna see more of?)

That shot of the wolves running alongside and under the Ghost. *chef kiss*

I have no idea when Ezra found time to figure out a signal the purrgil would respond to but I very much want to see that scene.

Sabine: "He [Ezra] knows what he's doing." Lol are you sure about that, 'bine? I think he had no clue the whole purrgil thing would work.

Palpatine is so slimy here, ugh. Acting like he did Ezra a favor by desecrating the Jedi Temple. Ezra's all ready to fling back anything ol Sheev throws at him here until Palpatine takes aim right at the heart of his greatest weakness.

Because after all this time, Ezra has never quite fully gotten over and accepted the loss of his parents. He's still at heart a lost little boy who misses his mom and dad.

The score goes almost Stravinsky-esque here, suggesting the Faustian nature of the deal Sidious is offering.

Meanwhile down in the gullet of the Dome, the Rebels are working feverishly to regain control of the the shield generator. There's some great coordination here between the teams and the control, Sabine really shines as a leader.

Word of God behind the scenes confirms Ezra is seeing THE day his parents were taken, his seventh birthday, when he could hear his mom and dad calling for him but didn't come because he was goofing off.

Hey uh, can this boy's life stop being ENDLESSLY SAD please? That'd be nice.

Love how Gregor calls for "something drastic" and Zeb immediately thinks, "Right, yeeting myself at the enemy." lol.

Gotta respect a man whose strategy is to fling himself full force at the enemy.

And the obligatory Make TCW Fans Cry Moment with Gregor here.

Palpatine keeps digging. This is your heart's desire isn't it? Don't you deserve this? All you have to do is open this one little door. He tries to keep Ezra's attention and focus on himself, even when Ezra asks what will happen to his friends if he makes this choice.

You can undo their deaths, Palpatine promises, about Ezra's parents. You can save them. I can help. It's the exact temptation he offered Anakin all those years ago.

"I have the power to give you what you want. You won't have to face this loss."

Like a devil, what he offers is a two-edged sword. What he is offering can't actually exist. Because if Ezra goes to be with his parents on the day they were arrested, how will he be able to make it here to open the door for Palpatine? Will Palpatine have to trap him in a closed loop, retrieve him from wherever he will end up in the alternate timeline, to ensure he can't fix this one fatal mistake?

See Palpatine doesn't care about breaking the timeline, he will gladly do it and rule over the ruins. But if Ezra reaches for this vision, he dooms his friends. He allows Palpatine to gain power beyond his wildest imaginings, turn himself into lord and master of time itself, a physical god.

So Ezra must deny himself, accept the loss, and let go.

And he does.

The Emperor's hologlamour flickering and failing as his rage ascends is really effectively creepy. Also HOW ABOUT THEM RETURN OF THE JEDI PARALLELS?

Years down the line, yet another pure-hearted Jedi boy will stand before the Emperor, throw his offer in his face, and tell him where to shove it. Even the dialogue mirrors Luke's.

"You're wrong. I have a family. I don't need anything from you."/"Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

"Unfortunate. Destroy him!"/"So be it, Jedi. If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed!"

Poetry. Pure poetry. <3

Ezra gets a nice little face off against the Royal Guards, with some lovely whump in the form of whatever those pikes are doing to him, but manages to weasel himself out of the situation. And then somehow fights his way all the way up to the bridge. So proud of him.

The Rebels get the shield up just in time to prevent Thrawn's full scale bombardment, Rukh frying rather dramatically in the process. Lol and ouch with how irreverent Zeb is over the comm.

So now all that's left to do is break the stalemate and remove Thrawn from the chessboard.

HELL YES.

Oh hoooo man this twist isn't even really a twist it just makes too much sense for Ezra, for his character, for the themes of the show, for how to take Thrawn out as a threat while respecting his acumen as a strategist. (Gotta throw something at him he would never suspect lol.)

The musical build-up is amazing. Dooming low bass notes, drolling percussion. The strings build up, crescendo-ing.

AND THEN THE "WRATH OF NATURE" CUE FROM "THE CALL" COMES IN WITH GLORIOUS FULL ORCHESTRA.

The Hyperspace theme comes in as well, and the purrgil proceed to utterly decimate Thrawn's fleet. By proxy this gives Ezra probably the highest kill count on the show, as the purrgil must have taken out the orbital construction stations, a good chunk of the Star Destroyers up there, and all three of the ones above the city. (Somehow Palleon survives to join the Council of Evil in Mando Season 3 lol.)

Sabine looks SO confused, ha ha.

What a great shot.

Thrawn tries to get in a final, Taking You With me speech only for Ezra to be like, "Joke's on you that was the plan all along. You're not taking me with you, I'm taking you with me."

I do love Thrawn's increasingly panicky WTF expressions as things progress.

THIS ADORABLE #MARRIED BANTER BETWEEN EZRA AND SABINE AND THEN HOW THEIR THEMES ARE TONALLY INTERMINGLED IN THIS CUE.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra's left arm hangs limp after Thrawn shoots his shoulder and the pained grimace he gives when he turns around to seal the door behind them.

He looks exhausted.

Pained grimace number two as Ezra raises his injured arm to wind up IN AN EXACT TABLEAU OF THE POSE KANAN HAD AT HIS OWN HEROIC SACRIFICE.

HELLO YES, ALSO ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOMENTS BETWEEN EZRA AND SABINE AS SHE BEGS HIM TO GET OFF THE CHIMAERA.

ALSO IT BEARS EMPHASIS BUT LOOK HOW THE GLASS SHARDS STILL WHEN EZRA RAISES HIS OTHER ARM.

EZRA IS LITERALLY HOLDING THE OXYGEN INSIDE THE BRIDGE WITH THE FORCE, WHILE HOLDING THRAWN AND THE DOOR IN PLACE, WITH AN INJURED ARM.

Ezra Bridger is the greatest shut up.

The purrgil charge up. Everything goes white. His theme bellows at full heroic volume and then...

Quiet.

Utter awed quiet.

Right, so you wanna know the other of the two times I cried at this show? Ezra's sacrifice right here. Waterworks.

"We set out to save the Shire, and it has been saved. But not for me. I have been too badly hurt. The last pages are for you, Sam."

Sabine is handed Ezra's lightsaber by Chopper, and takes up his mantle, finishing his mission and leading all the rest of them to safety as the launch the Dome and blow it. (Her journey to becoming co-protagonist is complete.)

Chopper gives us a final goodbye message from Ezra (that makes me sad again), and they soar over a triumphant freed populace.

Fade out and then...

*SOBS ABOUT THE BOOKENDS FOREVER*

Shot for shot. Shot. For. Shot. And I am UNDONE.

Lothal is free. The Empire never had a chance to retake it. Likely couldn't spare the manpower from the rest of the galaxy, first off, also replacing all those ships they had in orbit has gotta be expensive, and I suspect Palpatine just put glassing Lothal on hold until the Death Star was completed. And well... we know how that turned out lol.

The Fellowship broke, but they seem to all keep in touch, if Sabine's voiceover is any indication. Kanan's legacy lives on. Our crew found peace.

And last...

A sworn promise to find a precious friend and bring him back home.

The finale of Rebels is near perfection. With a very few quibbles here and there (the purrgil could have been just a smidgen more set up, Kallus's arc still needs to have some decent onscreen content for his redemption happy ending to be earned) it is the best Rebels has to offer.

The callbacks and bookends undo me. The music is full of wonderful dramatic cues. The animation is gorgeous. Everything comes to full completion and it is a very satisfying end.

Overall Season Thoughts:

Season Four is almost a bit nostalgic, returning to the tightly written narrative of the first season, but even more tightly tied together. None of the episodes feel wasted or superfluous. The major character death midway through is given plenty of narrative weight and time for the characters to adjust and grieve. Objectively it's probably the best season overall, none of the episodes are misses.

Even with the unanswered mysteries, the season feels solid, and a fitting conclusion to the overall Rebels saga.

---

And that was Star Wars: Rebels, the little show about a Found Family that could. It is my favorite new Star Wars content and what actually dragged me back into fandom after years away. It is heartwarming and exciting, poignant and hopeful and I'm so so glad I was taken on this journey.

Here's hoping the lost son of Lothal can make his way home soon.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #grand admiral thrawn #sabezra #rebels rewatch #liveblog #dunking on the blue bastard

37 notes · View notes

cherrybombfangirl · 11 months

Text

Omara O'Halla - OC Intro

Name (full): Omara Celestia O'Halla

Other names: 'Mara', 'Mar' (Only by Obi-Wan), General O'Halla, Master O'Halla

Fandom/Appears In: Star Wars, appears in- Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, all seasons of Clone Wars, a couple episodes of Rebels?, Kenobi series, a couple of episodes of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka series

Age: 35 (Clone Wars), 40 (Kenobi), ??? (Mandalorian/Ahsoka)

Birthdate: N/A

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Personality: the cool wine aunt, chaotic neutral, bane of the Jedi Council’s existence, mischievous, expert on malicious compliance and passive aggressiveness, loveable rogue flying by the seat of their pants, goofy little gremlin who is a chaos bringer, hates rules, loves booze and teasing Obi-Wan, rebellious troublemaker

Gender ID: Fem-presenting Nonbinary, She/They

Sexuality: Aromantic Bisexual

Hair: Dark brown, naturally curly with tight coils, usually in a messy bun

Eyes: Dark brown with gold flecks

Skin: Medium brown with gold undertones

Faceclaim: Runita Westley (live action)

Identifying Features: white splatter birthmarks on neck, small scar on right cheekbone, blaster scar on upper left abdomen

Combat skills: Force Wielding, Lightsaber Wielding (dual wields two orange lightsabers), Combat Shooting (blaster)

Supernatural abilities: Force sensitive and fully trained

Disabilities: deaf in one ear from an explosion- does have a hearing aid the Republic built for her, but it has the same drawbacks as modern hearing aids

History/Background:

Omara and Obi-Wan were inducted into Jedi Training around the same age and were in the same padawan classes- their masters also knew each other. They grew up together, and became best friends within the first year of their training. By the time they graduated to Masters they had a bond closer than any best friends or siblings in the galaxy.

Obi-Wan has always been the golden child that follows all the rules to the letter and tries to keep the peace, while Omara is the more chaotic neutral, troublemaking and rebellious one- even as middle aged jedi masters. While training at the Jedi temple as young padawans, Omara was constantly trying to bend the rules, find loopholes in the code, and sneak out. This left Obi-Wan usually trying to stop her or having to cover for her.

(The Jedi Council favored him over pretty much every one else so he could get away with murder if he wanted- even if he never did. This meant he could take the blame for whatever Omara did and not get in as much trouble and the Council will still think he’s the perfect golden child. Omara doesn’t mind this at all, since she never really wanted the Council’s approval anyway and it meant she could do whatever she wanted.)

The two did have to split up for a few years as the war pushed the Jedi to spread out, but they tried to stay in contact as much as possible. They and Obi-Wan are reunited about halfway through the first season on Clone Wars, and she gets introduced to Anakin and Ahsoka. She becomes everyone’s favorite single, chaotic wine aunt. She also meets the 501st clones, and pretty much becomes their favorite single chaotic wine aunt too. Omara never really gets a padawan of her own, rather being the fun aunt to all the padawans, and she prefers it that way.

Relationships: No living blood family, Obi-Wan (brother figure), Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker (nephew and niece figures), The 501st Clones and her squad (work children), Duchess Satine Kryze (friend), Senator Padme Amidala (friend and ally)

Aliases: Jedi Knight/Master, Galactic Republic

Additional Notes/Facts:

Aromantic bisexual, aka “Guys and girls are hot and I want to kiss both and do the sex with both but dating and marrige is eww.” She doesn’t really get Obi-Wan wanting to date Duchess Satine/Cody, but is like “meh, to each his own I guess, if you really think they’re both that hot and wanna commit to that for life be my guest-”

Because of this, she’s had a lot of sexy flings with a lot of people, but never actually had a steady relationship with anyone or even considered it. They calls them all her ‘exes’ even though they’re really not bc she never had romantic feelings for or officially dated any of them

This is also why they're not worried about the Jedi Council finding out, bc she never had any emotional/romantic attachments to them so technically they can't get after her for it

doesn’t really like being called a woman or lady, especially in a condescending tone. But being referred to as sister and or aunt by family and friends (or Mommy/good girl by sexual partners) is fine, and she loves mix-matched pronouns and titles (i.e. they’re my aunt, she’s my sibling, Auntie Uncle, etc etc)

she really likes how the title of General/Master is also gender neutral, and gets a bit of gender euphoria when someone refers to them as General O’Halla or Master O'Halla

Calls Obi-Wan “Obi” (cause she knows it annoys him) when she’s in a teasing mood (which is most of the time). He calls her “Mara” or “Mar” for short, and nobody else gets to call her that

Her favorite ‘persuasion method’ is using the Force to slowly cut off the prisoner’s blood circulation/nervous system in a certain spot (arms or legs) until they lose use of their limbs (or they talk). It’s quick, painless and effective; which is why she loves it because one, technically speaking it’s not torture- so she won’t get in trouble, and two, it works like a charm almost every time.

Obi-Wan hates this ^^^

The bickering usually starts as passive agressive and petty comments, but if they go on long enough without being interrupted Obi-Wan and Omara will start acting more like little kids as they fight (even stick their tongues out at each other)

Angsty: Omara wasn't there during the events of A New Hope, she left a few years after the events of Kenobi to find Ahsoka and make sure she was ok- even though she wasn't there she felt when Obi-Wan died through the Force and she knew and it broke her because after everything and all the friends the lost in the war he was gone

going off that, in her old age Omara can see and talk to Force ghosts without them projecting- Ahsoka isn't sure if Omara can actually see them or if it's Omara's attempt to cope with the loss of her brother

the cool single aunt that all the kids love and all the parents lowkey hate

Fanfic: Song of O'Halla (coming soon)

4 notes · View notes

archduke42 · 2 years

Text

Barriss Offee in “Queen’s Hope”

Ok, In case you don’t know (and may not necessarily care), I am a 51 year White CIS Gender Barriss Offee fanatic, I had to investigate the Queen's Hope novel. I walked into the local book store and pretty much skipped through pages until I could find the 2-3 pages where Sabe talked to Master Depa Billaba and then Barriss Offee.

I had, at one time, been rather excited when EK Johnston tried to hint on Twitter that there might be an appearance by Barriss in Queen's Hope. I took this to be an exciting sign. I’ve been an irrational fan since 2005, and I am constantly alert for Barriss moments in any medium, so I had high hopes.

My opinion of how this character is treated within the book, even as a temporary cameo, is not much. Maybe it's that I grew up in an era that was more about grand adventure of things. It's a YA novel, and not meant for fans like me. I shouldn't expect "Beowulff", Greek Mthology quests or that these characters could be going on an adventure like an episode of the A-Team (Though EK Johnston could really improve things if she watched a few of those and applied more frequent chases and gun fights. But that's just me). I’m an old 80s nerd, so I’m cut from a different cloth when it comes to star Wars.

There is some PTSD hinted at in her character as Sabe talks to her, which I can appreciate since war should be traumatizing to a degree, but Johnston treats her like a lost child with no sense of direction without Luminara. One can sympathize with her plight, but they play up the whole "I don't want to fight, war is nasty" vibe. Multiple times. I get it, they want to start her in a dark place to move her into a darker place, but that is not the vibe from season 2, so a lot of this feels like a contrived justification of the plot twist in Season 5

I think the thing that bristles the most is how there is none of the inner confidence or determination that Barriss had shown in Season 2 of TCW (or even in Medstar novels). Barriss keeps looking to Depa for some kind of leadership in this scene, and I, being suspicious, take it as EK's nod to Filoni who seems to make sure his favorite characters glow as fonts of wisdom when they are present. That is no disrespect intended to fans of Depa Billaba, nor Plo Koon.

If you're a fan of Depa and Plo, that is perfectly fine. It's just that these two characters get a lion's share of favoritism, LucasArts will always remind us of Filoni’s favorites. They even have Sabe insinuate that at least the Jedi have Ahsoka to break rules and be a rebel. They don’t mention Ahsoka, but it feels like another dig and I get this impression LucasArts seems to have no interest in the Mirialan Jedi. They kind of get a raw deal when it comes to any kind of Presentation (Luminara in particular) The only mention of Luminara is in how Barriss feels lost without her Master to guide her.

I get it, though. This scene has to build on connecting to Season 5 and has some foreshadowing. I will be curious for the Barriss Offee story part of "Stories of Jedi and Sith" coming out in June, but it's a YA novel as well, and I am beginning to simply accept the fact that Barriss is just going to be led down this path of a diminished, dark despairing character rather than one from Season 2 who had determination and strong will, and had to have learned more lessons in three years of war besides "Jedi Bad".

After a while, I get really tired of everyone constantly repeating “Barriss was right about things but about wrong about bla bla bla” over and over.

There’s got to be more layers to this character other than the same old “Jedi bad” stuff.

No offence meant to make anyone angry. If you enjoyed the novel, that is good. I'm just reviewing the 2-3 Barriss pages that I was curious about. I’m old and cantankerous and probably outdated in my views of how these characters should be treated. Anyway, that’s my two cents

#barriss offee #Barriss #Star Wars #Queen's Hope #EK Johnston

15 notes · View notes

bethanyeliseart · 3 years

Text

Time for more after midnight Merlin ramblings!! I'm really just writing this because I need to get these thoughts down. I just got to The Disir episode in my Merlin rewatch and boy oh boy does this one cause a strong urge to cry in absolute frustration more so than the finale(not that the finale doesn't make me want to sob into a lake). It's not that it's a bad episode, it's probably one of my favorites in terms of writing (so this might also be me pointing out things I really liked) like how Revenge of the Sith is my favorite star wars movie but it also makes me want scream into my pillow.

Basically it's Merlin and Arthur's decisions, mainly Merlin. I know Arthur has always been arrogant but c'mon man, disrespecting the Disir's sacred place !! While he jokes about Merlin's worries, he usually comes around and sees how serious he is about something this important. That one might actually be because of iffy writing. They tend to wash away any character development Arthur gets, in regard to magic, a few episodes after he gets that development. But anyways, his insolence is what leads to Mordred being hurt, thus leading to Merlin's big dilemma.

Now onto Merlin which is the number one reason I was frustrated. Obviously he screwed up in telling Arthur not to bow to the Old Religion, since the Disir let Mordred live anyway. I do understand why he did it, but as a watcher you obviously shout at the TV all the things they could've done or taken into consideration. All he's been hearing about the moment he stepped into Camelot was how there is this big destiny he's apart of to protect Arthur, so that magic and peace can be brought back to the kingdoms. And Mordred has been made to look like the biggest threat to Arthur. For him it really doesn't get any clearer than a straightforward vision from a seer. But in opposition, Gaius said the future is always changing and there's no clear path. Which yes! And Kilgharrah was the president of the get rid of Mordred club since he was a child. Poor Merlin is pulled in so many directions because he knows Arthur is so fond of Mordred and you can even see that Merlin was beginning to like him at the start of the ep! The little moment of them paying their respects to the sorcerer and talking about their magic! It makes me so emo. Obviously Merlin is devastated about telling Arthur that there can be no magic in Camelot, but the way I think we're meant to see it is that he's hoping that sentiment will be temporary for Arthur. Because no Mordred, Arthur doesn't die, Arthur gets to bring back the magic. (God, Merlin and his relation with his magic and other magic users is entirely something else I could get into, but I won't for now) But aghh that also can just lead to Arthur's further disdain for magic. Like after Uther kicks the bucket due to magic, Arthur states that all magic is evil. So Merlin, you should've taken that into consideration, Mordred's death would be Uther's 2.0 !! The end of the ep makes it clear that had Merlin told Arthur to bow down, Mordred living would be for the better this time. Arthur would welcome magic into the kingdom and maybe Mordred would've told Kara of the good his King had done, she wouldn't die, and Mordred wouldn't seek revenge on Arthur.

Anyways that's just me being like any other person getting frustrated over what if scenarios. While I like to think oh how wonderful it could've been if Merlin had thought this through and given Mordred the benefit of the doubt, I don't think it makes sense in this storyline if he did. To me this story has always been a tragedy so it was never going to have the happiest of endings. Like he told Gaius, he'd grown up, well more accurately he's been traumatized by what happened with Morgana. So after more than 5? years of seeing the constant threats to Arthur, Merlin's not going to take any chances. I'm not an expert in literature, but I think Merlin has a negative character arc and I love that the later seasons highlight it. Props to Colin Morgan for the scene when he's literally tearing up over having to tell Arthur there can be no magic. I freaking love the parallel to s1 the beginning of the end ep, Merlin being emotionally distraught over the decision to help Arthur save Mordred or not both times, but this time it ends with him choosing no.

Honestly I like season 5 because there's so much at stake and I love when things like fate start to come together. But what makes me mad is that we didn't get another season when the plot really requires it. The first way another season could've gone is Arthur doesn't die in s5 and he and Merlin bring peace to the kingdom, fulfilling their destiny (personally I think Arthur would still have to die at the end of s6 at Mordred's hand but the end credits could be him rising idk!). Second is the last season could be Arthur rising again, but not as far as the 21st century. Personally I would love to see Gwen ruling Camelot with Merlin as her advisor, and then halfway through the season there would be an intense challenge and Arthur would rise again. Basically it was rushed which we all know.

It's late so these thoughts are very messy and contradicting. But one of the reasons I love this show is because it makes me think so much about the characters and their decisions! (also I'm a sucker for tragic heroes) Feel free to add your thoughts and opinions below on the Disir episode or just Merlin in general!

#the disir #bbc merlin #but ya i went into this show knowing arthur's fate so i always saw it as a tragedy #I think Merlin loved and needed to protect Arthur so much that he forgot to consider the consequences got camelot as a whole #arthur pendragon #merlin #mordred #so many thoughts they could change when i wake up

26 notes · View notes

keelifallen · 3 years

Note

Hello there! I saw and LOVED your Jedi Night art, it destroyed me emotionally, good job!!

Can I ask who your favorite SWR character was? And your favorite episodes? I get really excited to meet new people who love SWR, don't mind me!

Ok so first off, I LOVE to talk nerd, and second, can I be your best friend? You seem so nice🥺

So…. Question one:

Favorite Star Wars character?

Uggg that’s painful. I’ll divide it up

Movie trilogys:

So in the prequels I’d say obi wan.

The original definitely Darth Vader.

Sequels, Poe dameron.

Singles:

I love all the characters in rogue one, and I’m not gonna try to dig thru that mess 😅

And in Han Solo, Donald Glover played his part as Lando incredibly well, so probably him.

Shows:

Clone wars

So this was SUCH a good, and in depth show. It really showed the characters in a light that the movies could not.

Anakin was shown to do the wrong things for the right reasons. (The ends justify the means sorta stuff) and his fall from the light which was tragic, but KiNdA understandable? I really liked his character arc, even though it destroyed me🥲

Now Ashoka, is a lean, mean, girl power, fighting machine. Great character arc as well. (You wanna know what? Just assume that applies to all the characters I bring up) what I really like about her, is kinda finding herself. She was kept in the jedi order, and it was her whole life. Something that would be painful to walk away from. She kinda struggled through out the whole show with finding her balance. It’s important to apply that to our own situation I guess?

Obi wan, now I’m gonna have to keep my self from going on too long about him. Love him. I think he is what the Jedi all ought to be. He wasn’t so emotional stuffed, but he had a balance of emotions. Kinda like like control your emotions, lest they control you. (Looking at you Anakin) he went through his life, which was an incredible tragic one, with his head heals high. He could have easily turned to the dark side. His master died, Satine died, the Jedi order fell along with his friends. His brother turned against him, and died by his hand. That’s a rollercoaster life right there. And when faced with the question, he said that it takes strength to resist the dark side, which makes him stronger than those who don’t. That’s an important life lesson lol.

And there’s Rex. Simply put, he’s a good ol’ boi

Bad batch

I feel like this show hasn’t developed enough for me to say, but I do like echo, and wrecker a lot 😌

Mandalorian

For the mandalorian, obviously mando. He’s a great father, and ✨not✨ lone wolf. He Took care of his kid, and gave him up when he didn’t want to. Because that’s what he thought was best.

Rebels

Now rebels is a much better show that I was expecting. I love the family dynamic, it really captured that aspect well.

Ezra. He was an amusing bratty child in the first season, and I love him. At times I still wanted to smack him…. but I like the fact that he was faced many opportunities to turn bad, and didn’t. He dabbled a little perhaps, but he’s the type of person who has to try things out for himself, And learn lessons the hard way. As he got older he really matured, and he went from a small bean to a big bean.

Of course, I love Kanan. (I love all space dads. And adoptive dads) he was a beautiful and wonderful human being. And I’m so mad that Dave killed him off 😤😤 anyway, I like the fact that he was the first to admit that he didn’t know he was doing. Instead of acting like he was just teaching Ezra, he said they were both learning from each other.

Thrawn… for reasons

Favorite episodes, and arcs?

Rebels

I loved the bit, with the Sith temple. Ashoka finally meeting Vader, love it. So much drama. Introduction to maul, and just total legitness.

And the ending. As depressing as it was, seeing the conclusion it really makes me look forward to the Ashoka show. Although will be like almost 30, And he’d’ve missed out on so much😭

Clone wars

Oh there’s so many good ones. I love the episodes focusing on Ventress. It was an unexpected journey, and darth maul was somewhat involved as well.

Obviously Umbara. This one was exceedingly painful, but it really got the point across about the injustice and individuality of the clones. I know casual Star Wars watchers tend to skim over this a bit. super powerful.

The Mortis arc, was super epic, with great visuals, symbolism. And when Anakin found out he would become Vader I almost died

While I’m talking about clones, The order arc with the inhibitor chips was stupid good. And sad as well. (I apparently really like the emotionally devastating bits and pieces)

The one with Yodas trials was a really good one. I didn’t pay good attention the first time around. Just so u know yoda has never been one of my favorite characters. But I liked him a little better after this arc. It shows us his deepest fears, and it was really nice seeing so much foreshadowing.

Asoka leaving the order was super emotional and help put things in motion

And of course the siege mandalore. The final conclusion to the clone wars, in the beginning of the empire.

Anyways sorry for the long post, I’m sure this isn’t what you asked for but what can I say 🤷‍♀️ my life’s been hijacked by Star Wars. Dave this is your fault🔫

#sorry for the long post #also I totally read this as sw and not swr #so that’s awkward lol #ask box #not art

11 notes · View notes

justalitlecreacher · 3 years

Text

Ok as much as I hate the events of the Rako Hardeen arc in Clone Wars and deeply wish that the council/Obi-Wan had at the very least told Anakin and Ahsoka what they were planning, I feel like the arc represents a very important turning point in Anakin’s fall and actually shows an important bit of character growth from Attack of the Clones.

Tl;Dr: The Rako Hardeen arc is my favorite and least favorite arc in all of Clone Wars because while it puts Anakin through unnecessary pain it also gives a lot of insight into why he may have fallen in Revenge of the Sith and shows some important character growth

Ok; the most important part of this post/analysis (I think) is to remember how close Anakin and Obi-Wan are. Anakin was placed in Obi-Wan’s care at the age of 9 and from then on Obi-Wan practically raised him. In Attack of the Clones we see Anakin refer to Obi-Wan as the closest thing he has to a father not once, but twice, and one of those two times was directly to Obi-Wan.”OBI-WAN: Why do I think you are going to be the death of me?! ANAKIN: Don't say that Master... You're the closest thing I have to a father... I love you. I don't want to cause you pain.”(Attack of the Clones) and later to Padmé “...He's [Obi-Wan] like my father,...”. This is especially important because when Anakin leaves his mother to become a Jedi in The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan is literally the only friendly/familiar face in the Temple. Plus in the comics (disclaimer: I have not read all the comics just bits and pieces) we get a glimpse of Anakin training with the other padawans and it’s made clear that at least some of them don’t like Anakin at all. One padawan even refers to him as “just a slave” when shit talking him during training.(which like super fucked up; they def should’ve gotten in trouble cause that don’t seem very Jedi of them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Anyway; we’ve established Anakin and Obi-Wan’s bond. So let’s turn our attention towards someone who deserved so much better; Shmi Skywalker. Her death in Attack of the Clones was the first major turning point in Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. There is really no excuse for Anakin’s actions after Shmi’s death; he goes to a very dark place, and likely taps into the dark side of the force during the massacre of the Tusken Raiders. But that’s not what we’re talking about rn so back on track.

I bring Shmi’s death up to say that while Anakin was tracking down Obi-Wan’s “murderer” I didn’t fully realize that Obi-Wan had disguised himself as Hardeen and I was genuinely worried that Anakin was about to unalive an innocent man. I really believe that the only thing that stopped Anakin from trying (and maybe succeeding) to kill Obi/Rako was like he said: he knew that Obi-Wan wouldn’t have wanted him to. This is important because the last time Anakin lost a family member he brutally murdered an entire village of Tusken Raiders, children included, and I think it’s safe to say that Shmi “the biggest problem in the universe is nobody helps each other” Skywalker would not have wanted that. I’ve finally arrived at one of my main points; this arc shows a crucial bit of character growth by showing an Anakin that is capable of thinking his actions through and not just reacting out of anger even after the loss of one of the most important people in his life; something he was previously shown incapable of when his anger and grief blind him. This turns this arc into an sort of midway point on Anakin’s fall; he’s clearly tempted to give into his anger and pain again, but he is able to resist this time. A younger Anakin may have killed “Hardeen” then and there.

This scene really contrasts with Anakin’s actions in Revenge of the Sith in a way im not sure how i feel about yet. On one hand it has potential to make Anakin’s actions in Revenge of the Sith feel too out of character. We just saw Anakin able to see past his own emotions in the wake of the death of a loved one so what makes this different? On the other hand this arc can be used to show just how desperate Anakin is to not have to feel that way ever again. It’s also good for showing how much influence Palpatine has had on Anakin in the space between this arc and Revenge of the Sith. As for why Anakin may be unable to think past his own feelings in Revenge of the Sith when he appeared perfectly capable in the arc, a likely reason is that there really wasn't anything Anakin thought he could do for Obi-Wan anymore because he believed him to be dead, but with Padmé, Anakin knew she could be saved if he could just get her the proper care. But his fear of being exiled from the Jedi Order, and his increasing lack of faith in the council led him to believe that he had no choice other than to trust in Palpatine. And no hate to Yoda but im sure when Anakin did try to reach out (even as vaguely as he did) Yoda’s response of “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” didn't appear to be very helpful (especially considering that he is well aware that listening to Ahsoka’s visions and responding appropriately saved Padmé’s life (not sure if Anakin knows about that though)). These three episodes show pretty well how/why Anakin may have felt that he had nowhere to turn but Palpatine.

These groups of episodes actually show negative character growth (is that the right term?) in Anakin. He goes from commiting mass murder rated E for everyone to understanding that his loved ones would not want him to seek revenge in this way, but then he backslides into this lightsaber is rated E for everyone by Revenge of the Sith. Logically he should know that Padmé would never have wanted him to do what he did; he has to know what he’s doing is wrong, but he’s incapable of seeing another way out because he cannot handle even the thought of losing Padmé. He’s too desperate to not lose her, and so sure that there’s no other option that he manages to convince himself that he needs to do this for her. I find this entire arc really interesting but unless i want to be here all day the most i can do here is point out that it exists and that it peaks in the Rako Hardeen arc. Surprisingly i do have a life outside of writing long posts, and i lack the time and energy to analyze all of Clone Wars and write about every event that led to Darth Vader (there are so many). On top of that i actually haven’t seen all of Clone Wars; just the episodes most important to understanding Anakin’s fall.

Onto my next point, we just talked about the growth Anakin showed in this episode; now onto why i believe that this arc was instrumental in Anakin’s fall. (Disclaimer: I do not think that removing this arc alone could have saved Anakin, but i do believe it would have helped a good bit). I’ve already touched on Anakin and Obi-Wan’s bond so im not gonna do that again.

Ive said it before and i will say it again; it was super fucked up of Obi-Wan and everyone else on the Council to use Anakin’s (and Ahsoka’s) reactions Obi-Wan’s “death” for their own gain. It was super manipulative and they absolutely knew what they were doing. Obi-Wan even explicitly says, “Keeping Anakin on the outside was critical. Everyone knows how close we are. It was his reaction that sold the sniper. I'm sure of it.”(Deception season 2 episode 15). He knows just how devastated Anakin would be by his death, and he uses like Anakin and his mental and emotional well-being mean nothing to him (I know this isn’t true but its probably not hard to believe that someone doesn't care about your feelings when they’ve just tricked you into thinking they’ve died for their own gain). The Council really proves time and time again that they do not care about Anakin’s (or maybe anyone’s; Anakin was far from the only one close to Obi-Wan left unaware of his deception) mental or emotional wellbeing, but tbh i think this is the worst example of how callous the Council can be. And on top of all of that it was Obi-Wan who decided to keep Anakin in the dark Obi-Wan who should have known better; if we assume that Anakin is at least 20 in Clone Wars; Obi-Wan has known Anakin for at least 10 years, and has practically raised him from the age of 9, and yet somehow, somehow he had this idea and didn't see a single thing wrong with it. (And they really picked the worst possible person for this; like yea let’s trick the most unstable Jedi we have into thinking his closest friend/ father figure was murdered)

This arc’s main purpose (IMO) is to really show the beginnings of Anakin losing faith in the Jedi and putting more and more faith in Palpatine. Anakin trusted Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan betrayed that trust. Beyond that Palpatine is able to make Anakin begin to doubt how much the Council is telling him if they didnt tell him something as crucial as this. We even see Anakin parroting Palpatine’s “concerns” of the council not telling Anakin the full truth the Obi-Wan and the end of the arc. This arc is instrumental is establishing Anakin’s loss of faith in the council and shows how much he trusts Palpatine and sees him as a real friend.

Anyway I’m sure I had more I wanted to touch onand if I remember I will definitely edit this post but for the now I just wanna say. A) I love Obi-Wan a lot; this arc just really was not it. I do not understand how he thought this was in any way acceptable but I do still really like him. B) i fully understand that Anakin’s actions are his own and he does take a share of the blame for his own fall.

#what am i doing?#anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #rako hardeen #star wars #clone wars #deception arc #clone wars deception #long post #ramble #im so sorry except im not #i hesitate to use the word hyperfixation but not a day has gone by that i havent thougt of Anakin Skywalker at least once #in so long #i have a problem

23 notes · View notes

brynnmclean · 2 years

Note

Hi! For your end-of-year TTRPG thing: 6 and 29!

6. As a player, most beloved NPC your GM created?

I already answered this one over here, but I'll think of a different answer now...

This is a tough question to answer, actually, because a lot of the games I played this year were collaborative or GM-less (For the Queen and variants like in the list of For the Drama, The Land Whispers, This Discord Has Ghosts In It, Fall of Magic, etc.).

And then the ones that did have GMs (barring Unfamiliar, which I mentioned here and picked my fave NPC) were heists (we played Boy Problems and a session of Neon & Chrome, both hacks of Lasers & Feelings) so were way more PC group centric.

Hey, okay, I came up with these questions which means I can find wiggle room with them, right? So I'm in a long-term Star Wars Saga Edition (so WotC D&D 3.5e kinda based) campaign set in the Old Republic era and I'm a zabrak ship mechanic (though I specialized in swoop bikes!). We started off in Lower City Taris and then eventually allied with a Jedi who helped us get off the planet when Mandalorians attacked. I liked this guy, gut instinct to trust him, which was saying something since my PC had really recently been betrayed by someone they loved. Anyway, we made it off planet and got to Coruscant and this Jedi NPC I already liked so much wound up being Revan himself. Does this count as someone my GM created? Maybe! The backstory was new and fun and then the reveal that my guy was Revan before he went Sith???? I loved that, I really really did. He's still my favorite of the NPCs in that campaign. Last session I got made fun of for having a crush and the banter between my crewmates and I was delightful.

29. If you watch/listen to Actual Plays, what is your favorite for this year?

Okay, I'm trying to remember when I subscribed to Dropout and started consuming Dimension 20 shows... Ah, looks like my college gaming group started all getting through Fantasy High first in February 2021, so it was all this year for me. There's a special place in my heart for Fantasy High: Sophomore Year (a few of those episodes are on Youtube). The character development that everyone went through in this second campaign with those first season characters was incredible. Adaine and her sister in particular break my damn heart. What a spectacular campaign.

Bonus answer: the most recent Actual Play I caught up on was Dungeons & Daddies (not a BDSM podcast) and I love that it feels like a group of friends that consistently make each other howl with laughter and oops!!!! We have all suddenly Caught Feelings. I love games that start out with goofs galore and then you get to the later episodes and you're crying over Ron fucking Stampler. Just... damn. It's good stuff.

[end of the year TTRPG questions]

#anonymous #replies #thanks for asking!#ttrpg asks #end of the year ask memes

2 notes · View notes

duhragonball · 3 years

Note

For the Ask Game: Son Goku

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: Goku is the main character in Dragon Ball Z, an anime that I have enjoyed tremendously for over 20 years. He kicks aliens really fast and hard, and he eats wolves and bugs and clouds, and he’s very cool and good.

That may sound kind of basic, maybe even borderline sarcastic, but I’m not sure how else to put it. I’ve gotten so used to liking Goku that it’s hard to articulate why.

Like, okay, you know that one episode during the Cell Games, where he’s gonna pick apples from his favorite apple tree? And he does the special karate punch that makes the apples all fall out of the branches without really hurting the tree? In the dub, he says to the tree “Ready for one more round, old timer?” Or something like that, and then after he hits it, he’s like “See? That didn’t hurt a bit.” I’m not getting the lines right, but you get the idea. That’s some choice Goku right there. He’s friends with that tree!

Why I don’t: hE gAvE mOrO a SeNzU bEaN-- ha ha just kidding, but can you imagine not liking Goku? Because of something he did in some horseshit fancomic that doesn’t even count?

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of guff from people about Goku showing mercy to his enemies. This is humorous to me, because I’d bet you dollars to donuts that they’re fans of Vegeta and/or Piccolo, and that only happened because Goku decided to have mercy on their stank asses. “Well I like Vegeta because he kills people.” He only gets to do that because Goku allowed him to live. Best Green Dad doesn’t happen without Goku, period, end of sentence, new paragraph.

I’m not a lore expert like that guy on Twitter who only watched DBZ Abridged, but here’s some cool trivia for you: Cell could have self-destructed and destroyed the Earth at any time. It literally does not matter that Goku gave Cell a senzu bean before Gohan fought him, because Cell would have done the same thing no matter who beat him or how. If Gohan had wiped him out quickly, that nucleus would have survived and regenerated, and he would come back even stronger. The senzu bean just delayed the inevitable outcome, and not even by that much, because Cell wasn’t that worn out in the first place. The whole thing with the senzu bean was Goku playing headgames with Cell and no one seems to understand that but me.

But what about Moro, you ask? Hey, come here.

Closer. No, closer.

Listen to me. I love you, okay? But the Dragon Ball Super manga isn’t canon. Hating Goku over something he did in Super is like hating Superman for something he did in a Mad Magazine bit.

“Blargle blargle he doesn’t kiss his wife bad father, tournament of power--” I super mega don’t care about any of these ice cold takes. Every day I go on YouTube and it recommends me the dirt worst Star Wars commentary videos. “Maybe the SITH were actually the GOOD GUYS and the JEDI were the BAD GUYS! Huh? Did I just BLOW your MIND? Be sure to like and subscribe!” Every dope with a keyboard seems to think they can flip the script and pretend they’re some kind of genius. “Thanos was right!” “Magneto was right!” “Dr. Doom was right!” “Antifa are the real fascists when you stop and think about it!” “Masks and vaccines are bullshit, COVID-19 is a hoax, but if it were real, maybe it’s the good guy in this situation!”

I didn’t mean to go off on a rant here, but the whole point of Goku is that he’s a pretty cool guy, and the hero of his particular adventure, and you see all these people trying to outsmart that somehow, like it’s not the premise of the character. It’s like all those fan theories about how every show is really one character having a coma dream in the hospital. It’s fake-deep, like when Will Smith’s kid goes on the internet and says something like “Water isn’t wet when you stop and think about it.”

I’m not saying everyone has to like Goku, but I don’t get the hate-boner people have for him. I don’t like cole slaw, it’s soggy and insipid and I don’t understand it, but I don’t go around trying to convince people it’s not made out of cabbage.

Anyway, Goku’s awesome.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): It’s hard to choose, but DBZ #248 always fucks me up. I looked it up in my liveblog archive to get the episode number right, and the first line of that post: This one always fucks me up.

Moving on.

Favorite season/movie: In Dragon Ball terms, I guess this refers to the sagas, so I’ll go with Cell Games. Goku goes into the battle with this flawed, touch-and-go plan, and it works. He defeats perfection with imperfection, and it’s glorious.

Favorite line: “What I represent can never be destroyed,” is one of the most metal lines ever uttered, anywhere. It’s a threat and a moral lesson all in one.

Favorite outfit: Two answers for this one.

Shu’s outfit in the Fortuneteller Baba Saga was awesome. I used to wear yellow T-shirts to work, so when I put on my blue labcoat I would see myself in the restroom mirror and think: yeaaaaahhhhhh.

I’m also big into Goku’s look during the Cell Games, classic orange outfit, blue shirt, with the Super Saiyan form ready to go. That may sound obvious, since this is kind of Goku’s default look, but it takes a while to get all of this together. For me, it was a big deal to see Goku in action as a Super Saiyan in his standard fighting gear, because the whole time he was SSJ on Namek his shirt was ruined. Against Gero and 19 he was sick, but starting with the Cell Games, we get him fresh as a daisy, and it’s worth the wait. Harder to stealth cosplay, though.

OTP: Gochi. Come on. I don’t even care that much about ships, but they’re adorable on the show, and the internet backlash against Gochi only intensifies my defiance.

Brotp: I wrote a fanfic with Goku and Yamcha just joyriding in the desert, and that seemed pretty awesome, so maybe we need more of that.

I dunno, maybe I’m giving this to Bulma. They don’t get a ton of screen time together after a certain point in the show, but the bond between them is this really sublime thing. In the same fanfic, I wrote Bulma and Goku interacting, and that was just a pleasure to write.

Head Canon: I think Goku being an alien orphan matters more to him than he lets on. Early on, he knew he had parents but he didn’t know why they left him in the woods. Pretty much every interaction he has with the outside world is about him being different. Then he finds out he’s a Saiyan and all the Saiyans hate him for being weak and sentimental and so on. He can kick all their asses, but that doesn’t make him any less of an outcast.

I think becoming a Super Saiyan is a bigger deal to him than he lets on. That moment kind of serves as this unspoken proof that there’s more to being a “true” Saiyan than Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz ever knew. That maybe, if his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granny could see him, she might approve.

Unpopular opinion:

Yukio Ebisawa is underrated.

A wish: I always wanted to see Goku style on Broly ‘93. It seemed unfair to me that they kept bringing Broly back, and even teased a rematch with Goku in Movie 11, only to not deliver on it. I wanted Goku to turn Super Saiyan 2 and Broly’d be all “oh noes!” and Goku would look at him and be all “Yeah. What now, bitch? That green shit won’t cut it anymore.”

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: I think my darkest fear about the Dragon Ball franchise is that it’ll get bastardized like Superman, where some giant multimedia corporation owns it, has no idea how to tell new stories with it, and refuses to let it lapse into the public domain. I have no idea how public domain works in Japan, but “Disney Toei’s Dragon Ball KH” doesn’t sit well with me. Hopefully I’ll be dead by the time that happens.

Like, Rise of Skywalker wasn’t that bad. But it did lead me to worry that they really have no idea how to make Star Wars work. They got it right enough, but the part where Rose is going to stay and guard the base or whatever, it just made me realize they’re only guessing, and they just happen to guess right often enough to succeed. And it’s not like you can jump over to some other studio and see how they handle a Star Wars movie.

5 words to best describe them: Ain’t nothin’ to fuck with.

My nickname for them: Geeko. Ha ha, just kidding.

#dragon ball #ask duhragonball #goku #son goku #jcogginsa

19 notes · View notes

leslieannefusco · 3 years

Text

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

3 notes · View notes

innocent-until-proven-geeky · 4 years

Note

for the character thing; cody, obi wan, and ur oc pova (is that how you spell it?)

YEAHYEAHYEAH (also that is how you spell it) I see we’re doing the whole family and I LOVE it.

I was in the middle of answering this and then I went to find my favorite episodes and Tumblr ate whatever I was working on sooooo I start over.

Cody

Why I like them: Sass. Fandom’s interpretation as Ultimate Big Brother (behind Alpha-17, of course). Mysterious scar. And he’s pretty.

Why I don’t: Honestly? The fact that the clones are slave soldiers, and the fact that fandom tends to give racially biased interpretations of the clones (I’m guilty of this too). Nothing to do with Cody himself, honestly, which isn’t to say he’s perfect or anything, I find him to be rough around the edges but who wouldn’t be in his shoes?

Favorite episode: s1e16 The Hidden Enemy. This one is probably on my top 5 list even without Cody. But guys. GUYS. “Hey there, Slick. Gun’s empty.” WHAT COULD BE MORE ICONIC?

Favorite film: Okay technically these questions were “episode/scene if a movie” and “season/movie” but because he’s in both I’m gonna have to go with a film for this one. Revenge of the Sith. Listen, I can’t watch ROTS without crying but damn if I don’t love Cody in it anyway. The lightsaber scene will ALWAYS get me. (Season 1 gets an honorable mention.)

Favorite line: Uh. Well. Okay so. “Hey there, Slick. Gun’s empty.” *holds up mag* LISTEN GUYS I LOVE THAT ONE. Although he also gets points for “I’m putting you in charge of this one.” I don’t know if season 1 just has a lot of iconic Cody lines, or if it’s because I’ve been watching that season in Spanish lately.

Favorite outfit: ... his armor? No actually though, I love his Phase II armor. Phase I is cool but Phase II has the cool ventilators. And how can I not make fun of his antenna?

OTP: Codywan. Ideally in a post-war fix-it or semi-fix-it where there isn’t a huge power imbalance, but I’ve been known to read Codywan stuff that takes place during the war, especially before I was as cognizant of the power imbalance as I am now.

BroTP: Cody and Rex. I’m sure y’all saw that one coming. I mean it’s CODY and REX, I’m pretty sure that’s everyone’s BroTP!

Headcanon: So this might be a good time to mention that I headcanon everyone everywhere as autistic. Everyone is autistic. Cody is autistic. Okay actually though, I headcanon that Cody has a great deal of anxiety. He handles it well, and he has a support system, but given his entire life, and the fact that he’s a Marshal Commander, and further more the headcanon we collectively have that Obi-Wan insists on promoting Cody to get out of paperwork because Cody deserves it, he’s probably anxious. And man, same.

Unpopular opinion: Do I have one? Tbh I don’t know how to determine whether an opinion about a character is unpopular. How do we define unpopular? Do we mean just like, not commonly known or shared? Because if so, I once again raise for your consideration: everyone is autistic, therefore Cody is autistic.

A wish: For Disney to retcon Order 66. Barring that, for the Bad Batch show to give him a happy ending involving the removal of his chip and the opportunity to live happily ever after with Obi-Wan on Tatooine. (Is the Bad Batch show going to be live-action like Kenobi? Because PLEASE give me Temuera Morrison playing Cody in both.)

An oh-gosh-please-don’t-ever-happen: Don’t laugh. Order 66. Listen I KNOW it’s canon but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!

5 words to best describe them: Salty. Snarky. Protective. Competent. Thoughtful.

My nickname for them: honestly, just Codes or Kote. Not much to get out of Cody, really.

Obi-Wan:

Why I like them: HE’S PRETTY. And sassy. There’s a pattern here.

Why I don’t: I don’t think there’s ever a time in canon that he acknowledges all the issues with the clones’ existence. He does in fanon, which I can appreciate, but canonically he’s like, “ah yes, we bought 3.2 million humans. We’ll just stick them in this war I guess.” Also frankly he’s a bit oblivious, bordering on daft, especially considering he’s the Negotiator, I mean he KEPT HIS LAST NAME when he went into hiding. I still love him though.

Favorite scene: That deleted “good girl, Boga” scene, which just hits different when you’ve read Master & Apprentice and know how much he loves varactyls. I don’t care that it’s deleted. It’s my favorite. (Plus you’ll probably like this better than my favorite episode, which is the Kadavo episode.)

Favorite film: Attack of the Clones. Listen listen listen, he has a lot of good moments in TCW, but hands down it’s AOTC.

Favorite line: Eheheheheheh. Eheheheheheheh. Eheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh. “Hello there!”

Favorite outfit: Was gonna make a comment about Jedi robes but then I remembered his stolen Mandalorian armor in The Lawless and *swoons* that’s one pretty outfit.

OTP: ... also Codywan. Again, ideally in an AU with less of a power imbalance, I mean it doesn’t matter how much he promotes Cody, canonically he’s still a Jedi and Cody is still a slave and I just don’t love that but I live for Codywan. Domestic Codywan? *chef’s kiss*

BroTP: probably Obi-Wan and Anakin. Maybe Obi and Padmé? Idk I have Thoughts about Anakin, he’s a problem child, but not much can top the agony in “You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!” (I like whump, okay?) Also just. Can you imagine the Negotiator just being buds with Senator Amidala? Helping each other with domestic disputes and speeches? Working on a Clone Rights Bill? Yeah. Can it be a broT3? What if we just don’t have Anakin and Padmé dating? It’s such an unhealthy relationship. That’s it, broT3 is Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan.

Headcanon: ACE!OBI ACE!OBI ACE!OBI!!!!!! Also,,, autistic!Obi. I know I know, but actually genuinely @fromryloth-tocorellia has some pretty good autistic!Obi-Wan stuff, including Obi-Wan being semi-verbal, low-verbal, and non-verbal. Autistic characters is a hill I will die on, and Obi-Wan is a character I happen to enjoy projecting on (oops). Plus, if I headcanon Cody and Obi-Wan as autistic, then the entire Ibonek family is autistic, and I love that.

Unpopular opinion: The only reason Obi-Wan “left Anakin to die” was because there was nothing he could safely do to help. When I was taking first aid classes, one of the first things they told us was that, unless there is no danger to yourself, you do not help. You wait for actual first responders to show up. If Obi-Wan had tried to help Anakin, either Anakin would have killed him or Obi-Wan would also have been severely burned. And if he had stayed, he may have been caught by Palpatine. Is it sad that he left? Absolutely. Heartbreaking. I don’t think it was a GOOD decision. But he didn’t just leave him to die; there was no other safe option. There were no good decisions here. I have a lot of thoughts about this, I have half-written essays on Discord about it, feel free to ask further questions.

A wish: For Qui-Gon’s dying words to be retconned. I know I wrote that post about how his dying words were full of trust in Obi-Wan and I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean Obi-Wan realized that, or that they were a good choice.

An oh-gosh-please-don’t-ever-happen: For the Kenobi show to be sad. It’s not allowed. Obi-Wan can have one fight, and that’s it, he is happy as a clam on Tatooine because he DESERVES GOODNESS DAMNIT.

5 words to best describe them: Kind. Soft. Warm. Compassionate. Daft.

My nickname for them: Obi

Pova:

What I like about them: They’re my OC and I can do whatever I want with them!

What I don’t: They’re my OC and I’m in charge of them.

(Okay actually though:)

What I like about them: Nonverbal. Pink. Perpetually grumpy.

What I don’t: perpetually grumpy. Seriously how did that happen? Why did I do that? Why is the only time they AREN’T grumpy around Rex or when shopping with Obi-Wan?

Favorite scene: The adoption scene in “Observations on the Nature of Cody Ibonek”.

Favorite work: Probably “Observations”. It’s the first one that’s entirely from Pova’s point of view.

Favorite line: “He was making fun of my stimming. I was already having a bad day. I punched him. It’s whatever.” POVA NO. (Pova yes.)

Favorite outfit: Uh. Haven’t given it much thought yet? Haven’t done many character designs, although fromryloth-tocorellia did one for me and it’s my icon at @ver-writes-things if you want to check that out? Also my Halloween costume is gonna be a super basic cosplay of them and I’ll probably post that.

OTP: None. First of all, the oldest I’ve written them so far is 14. Second, I don’t have any other characters their age yet. Maybe the six kids from the Gathering episode survived? But even then I probably wouldn’t ship it. And I mean, not every character needs a romantic ship.

BroTP: Either Pova and Rex or Pova and Luke. Rex is like big brother/cool uncle, and Luke is like little brother. As of right now, though, definitely Rex, as I haven’t written much of anything with Luke.

Headcanon: I don’t have any because all my headcanons about this character are CANON! Man I love having OCs.

Unpopular opinion: to quote Paige Layle on TikTok: “Stop using the term low functioning autistics when you really mean that they’re just nonverbal. And nonverbal autistics still have a lot to say, they just have a hard time talking.” Basically, I’m certain that as this AU gains traction, Pova’s gonna start getting flak from readers for being nonverbal. It hasn’t happened yet, and maybe I’m just being pessimistic, but just in case someone needs the reminder: No. Stop now. Pova’s autistic. And nonverbal. And not a savant (man I fucking hate that trope). But they are a capable Jedi and, with Cody and Obi, developed a very functional sign language comprised of Jedi hand signals, trade sign language (like from episode 5 of the Mandalorian, that the Tuskens use?), and ARC signals. There will be NO functioning labels on this AU, and Pova has and will continue to have PLENTY to say. If you have a problem you know where the door is.

A wish: For everyone to love my kiddo as much as I do!

An oh-gosh-please-don’t-ever-happen: Listen Pova is gonna have a good and happy life. There is trauma and there is bullying and there is heartache but they are going to live a good life with two AMAZING dads. So there is no “don’t ever happen” because it won’t.

5 words to best describe them: Sneaky. Quiet. Excitable. Compassionate. Snarky.

My nickname for them: Kiddo or my kiddo.

#star wars #the clone wars #obi-wan kenobi #commander cody #OC Pova #Pova Ibonek

11 notes · View notes

joracalltrise · 4 years

Text

I’ve fallen in love with the 7th season of the Clone Wars, but in the same time this season… disappointed me so much. Do you, guys, feel the same? Or are you fully satisfied?

I warn you, that I’m going to more or less skip the good things and get to the bad things – not because I’m a complaining person, but because I believe a lot of people have already listed all positives about the last episode and season 7 in general (especially <url> www.gffa.tumblr.com </url> – dude, I really love your blog!), so me talking about the things I had loved in the latest season, would be… repeating what other people have already said.

I think we all (or most of us) agree, that the 7th Season was totally amazing, if not THE BEST season of the Clone Wars. We got that clear? Okay, now let’s get to the “buts”.

1. Not enough episodes

I’ll sound a bit whiny here, but… I really don’t get it, why couldn’t we get full 20 episodes for the Final Season of the Clone Wars. Or even more than 20. Maybe there are people in Disney, who are smarter than me, and they know the answer to that question, but STILL… if Star Wars is such a good brand, why not making more of the Clone Wars?

Of course, there are also advantages of producing only 12 episodes.

The whole season feels more like a movie than a TV series. Or, rather – like three movies. Instead of “small stories” we were given three solid Arcs, which are very smoothly connected to each other. That’s a good thing. It’s not the same case as “the Legend of Korra”, where 12 episodes would give us a feeling of an enormous pacing.

BUT. Because I was given only 12 episodes, I got to miss some of my favorite characters.

2. Lack of some important characters

We didn’t see Dooku in the last season the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Grievous in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Ventress in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We BARELY saw Obi-Wan (sniff! sniff!) – poor guy got some bigger scenes only in “Good friends not forgotten” and “Phantom Apprentice”. And some short (but really good) lines in “An unfinished business”.

Padme got ONE scene (one that confirms, that Anakin is, in fact, blind, since he didn’t comment on her baby bump).

Now, someone would roll their eyes and say – yeeeeaaaah, but Dooku, Grievous, Obi-Wan and Padme got PLENTY of TV time in the Revenge of the Sith, duh! If you want more of them, just watch RoTs, again. Okay, I agree, but… that was the whole point of me watching the Clone Wars. I liked it so much, because prequel trilogy was not enough for me. I wanted MORE of my favorite characters. What’s wrong with that?

And what about Ventress? She was supposed to have such a great Arc with Quinlan Vos!

Than brings us to the next case…

3. Abandoned and Non-existing Arcs

Utapau Arc… oh, I’m NEVER gonna forgive them for Utapau Arc!

I believe it was actually the best Arc in the Clone Wars. I’ve watched those unfinished episodes sooo many times, and they have brought me more joy than ANY full-fledged episodes. So many good moments in those episodes!

So much of Obi-Wan and Anakin dynamics (I’m sorry, Ahsoka fans, but no matter how much Felloni and Co will try to persuade me otherwise, OBI-WAN is a Jedi who has the closest relationship with Anakin, NOT Ahsoka. Quarrel, if you like, but that’s how I feel, sorry).

Anakin interacting with animals (outrageous, cute and absolutely beautiful).

Anakin’s great plan “ups, I’ve fallen asleep… ah, no, it was my plan from the beginning!”

Scorpion creature playing with Anakin’s lightsaber, and Anakin killing the creature “by accident”.

And FINALLY two best moments:

“Awww, got yourself captured again, Old Man?” (I’ll NEVER get tired of Anakin calling Obi-Wan “old man”, okay?”

And Obi-Wan merrily waving to Grievous, when he and Anakin escape with the cristal.

Ventress and Quinlan Arc – even if they didn’t follow a comic, they could have made an amazing Arc out of this.

Small Padme Arc? Like… how she was dealing with her pregnancy, while working for the Senate? Anything? Pretty please?

Some Arc involving Ayala Secura or Kit Fisto or Ki Adi Mundi or Plo Koon – just to say goodbye to those characters before Order 66? By the way, it’s kind of weird, Ahsoka didn’t think or talk about Plo Koon even a little bit, during the WHOLE season. That’s the disadvantage of having only 12 episodes, yup!

The last Padawan Arc aka Caleb Dume turning into Kanan Jarrus Arc aka One of my biggest disappointments for the last season. Why… WHY they didn’t do it?! The trailer gave me soooo muuuch hope! I really, REALLY wanted to see Kanan interacting with Depa and the Clones. Yes, I know, comics and stuff, but comics is not TV, and I love watching my favorite characters with nice soundtrack and great voice actors and everything. R.I.P. my expectations for Caleb Dume’s Arc in Clone Wars… sniff sniff!

Of course, there’s more, but those are the ones that come to my mind firsts.

4. Ahsoka’s character in this last season

Now, let’s talk about the character who got the most of the TV time in the whole season (if not the whole series).

Ahsoka’s greatest fans will probably get angry at me, but I’m still gonna say this. Not because I dislike Ahsoka, because I DO like her, and I think she’s an amazing character. Actually, before I start throwing my “accusations”, I’ll say some nice things about Ahsoka, so that you know I’m not trying to be mean here.

What Ahsoka did in the 7th season, can be mostly explained by her young age. She’s clearly at the rebel stage, she’s got through some really awful experiences (getting accused of treason, when you’re INNOCENT can really leave someone pretty shaken up, I think we all agree), and before Martez Sisters Arc for the first time in her life she was really, really ALONE.

Also, we all know that Ahsoka will be more mature in Rebels. It kind of makes sense, that you need to become an angry and proud teenager first, before you become an experienced and charismatic leader.

BUT, even knowing that, I’m really annoyed at Ahsoka after the last season. I’ve liked her during all 5 seasons of the Clone Wars, she was one of my favorite characters, but after season 7, she really got on my nerves. And honestly? I’m starting to think, it wasn’t even her fault. Maybe it was just the Clone Wars creators turning her into to some sort of… agenda? Using her to prove something? About the whole Jedi Order, maybe? Or about Anakin?

But, anyway, to the point…

Ahsoka’s actions in season 7 basically resulted in three groups of fans.

Group Number One (that’s NOT me) – people who started to think Ahsoka is some sort of saint, the only good (ex) Jedi in the rotten Order, the very best person, and oh, if only other Jedi could act like her, then maybe nothing bad will happen. And, oh, Obi-Wan and the rest Council sitters could REALLY learn from this amazing woman!

Group Number Two (that’s me) – people rising an eyebrow to Ahsoka’s behavior and being slightly annoyed at her.

Group Number Three (I don’t know who’s there, but there are some people) – people hating Ahsoka, getting really angry at her for acting the way she acted, and also blaming her for not using her knowledge about Sidious wanting to make Anakin his apprentice.

Who’s right? Maybe no one? Maybe partly everyone? I don’t know, so I’ll just proceed to explain my own subjective point of view.

I’ve already said some things about Ahsoka in this post:

<url> https://joracalltrise.tumblr.com/post/615743227991031809/ahsoka-versus-obi-wan-where-did-that-even-come </url>

I’m going to say more, but it’ll be much shorter.

What I disliked about Ahsoka most in the latest season was the fact, that she wanted to have a cookie and eat the cookie and she started to lecture people smarter and more experienced than her how to do their job.

Let’s start with the first one, by looking into Ahsoka’s particular words and actions. So…

She doesn’t want to be a Jedi, but she wants Republic to support her actions (siege of Mandalore) and let her participate in important Jedi-only discussions (Mace Windu talk). Kind of like some Brexit supporters, don’t you think? “Let’s leave the EU, but let’s keep all the privileges of the country belonging to the EU, because we are so smart, we deserve it and that’s it”. Oh, come on! You either leave of not – make up your mind, Ahsoka (Britain could, so why can’t you?).

She wants Anakin and Obi-Wan to help her but she doesn’t want to ASK them nicely and try a little bit to act like a person asking for help. She just expects them to agree, because they… what? Owe her? Owe her WHAT? Not supporting her ENOUGH, when she was accused (let me remind you: Obi-Wan sided with Ahsoka during Council meeting, and Anakin was litteraly running around Coruscant to prove his Padawan’s innocence)?

Her being angry about Anakin and Obi-Wan choosing Coruscant over Mandalore – I’m not even commenting that, because I’m tired of talking about it. But I’ll add just one more thing here – did it occur to anyone that Trace and Rafa are still on Coruscant, when Coruscant is attacked? What a great friendship you have formed, Ahsoka! Not even a single worry about whether or not your new friends will be in danger? But wait, they don’t need you, cause people in Mandalore need you more. Cool (sorry about the sarcasm, guys, but I couldn’t resist).

And now, the second thing.

If you want to change some huge organization, especially one like a Jedi Order, the best way to do it, is from the inside. Qui-Gon Jinn was like no other Jedi, and he was probably tempted to leave, but he chose to stay, and his presence benefited the Order in many many ways! He didn’t really change the Jedi – died before he could – but there was a chance. Perhaps Anakin could have changed the Jedi, had he not turned to the dark side? I think he would! Maybe, if he would mature even more (although, in Clone Wars he matured A LOT – look at the “Old friends not forgotten” episode) and join the Council a bit later, when the time was right… just imagine it! The Jedi Code hasn’t ALWAYS forbidden marriages and love. The Order could have come back to its old ways. Good thing, stuff like fanfiction exists ;)

But anyway, coming back to Ahsoka. If you LEAVE an organization, and then you start lecturing its members about morality and choices, it’s kind of obvious, they won’t take you seriously. And yeah, I fully support Obi-Wan’s statement “but Ahsoka is no longer a part of the Republic Military”, and I totally agree with Mace calling her “a citizen”. It’s all about Ahsoka wanting to keep and wanting to eat at the same time. What she wanted in the final season, basically, is doing all the good things she remember doing in the Order (helping people selflessly, supporting friends), but without having to deal with difficult (but necessary) things (like making difficult choices and dealing with consequences, duty versus emotion, all of this so called “playing politics”, etcetera). It’s like wanting to have a pet, but leaving all the problems – going to the vet, curing the animal, when it’s sick, maybe even making the decision of “putting a friend to a sleep” to keep it from suffering – to somebody else. Do you get, what I mean?

And before I leave the poor girl alone, I have one more thing to add.

I don’t like making Ahsoka “another Rey”.

Strong female characters are very much needed in the popculture. I’m a girl too, so I understand. But, for Force’s sake, don’t upgrade somebody’s skills ex-machina!

Okay, fine, they’ve made Rey a Force prodigy because she’s *********’s granddaughter and apparently she was already good in martial arts before she has left Jakku. Some people like that. I don’t. I prefer an actual skill development instead of sudden skills upgrage.

But Ahsoka didn’t held a lightsaber for a long time, and first time she grabs her new pair, she becomes a one person machine. I wouldn’t say it makes me particularly upset, because it was nice to watch. But it DID disturbed me. And I couldn’t help the feeling, that canon was a bit shifted to match Ashoka fan’s expectations.

The canon got me used to the fact, that Star Wars strongest prequel fighters were Yoda, Palpie, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace, Dooku and Maul. I might have forgotten someone, but you get my point, right? Experienced and adult fighters, whose skills are logical and earned. Actually, I think that Ahsoka from Rebels fits that group as well.

I repeat it – Ahsoka FROM REBELS!

In Rebels she’s an adult and she’s got plenty of time to hone both her Force and lightsaber skills.

I’m not saying, I’m hating her fighting like a pro with Mandalorians and Maul. I repeat it - It WAS nice to watch. I’m just not buying it.

Like I’m not buying some other things.

5. Lack of logic (especially in Martez Arc)

It’s not a big fault, actually. We get plenty of those in pop culture shows. It gives us a lot of room for “How It Should Have Ended” videos ;)

But, seeeriiouslyyy…

Ahsoka using the Force right and left in the Martez Arc, while Rafa and Trace don’t notice A THING… are they deaf and blind, or something?

Is Anakin blind as well? Does he REALLY not notice Padme’s baby bump? Was he too busy’s with his wife’s beautiful eyes, or what?

And – AGAIN! – Ahsoka grabing Maul’s ship with the Force. Since when grabing a (MOVING) ship with the Force became a canonical skill of anyone other than Yoda (or maybe Palpatine)? No, wait, even Palpie and Yoda didn’t grab a MOVIG ship. Why Anakin and Obi-Wan couldn’t Force grab Dooku’s ship, when he was escaping Naboo? There were TWO of them, for Force’s sake, and one of them was the Forcedamn Chosen One! Why couldn’t they? Oh, wait, I know! Because it was BEFORE “The Rise of Skywalker”. In THAT movie Forcegrabing the ships became a canonical skill, especially for prodigical women loved by the audience (again – sorry about the sarcasm, guys). As a woman who used to train martial arts for YEARS, I’d like female protagonists to actually LEARN their super skills, before they use them. Okay?

But, well, Star Wars suddenly canonizing new amazing skills after years is a material for a different article.

And, like I said, it’s really not that big of a deal. The Clone Wars were still amazing and enjoyable to watch – especially the newest season.

Besides, well, I can’t get what I want all the time, right? Felloni and Co had to CHOOSE, whom they want to make happiest, and they’ve chosen Ahsoka’s fans. I don’t blame them. Maybe they’ll choose my preferences next ;) One can always hope, right?

Conclusions?

Yeah, I think that’s all I have to say about the newest season. And I repeat – once again – that in spite all this complaining, I really loved that season. And I loved reading about other people’s opinions about it. May the Force be with us all!

Thank you for reading this long, looong post!

If anyone’s up to the discussion, feel free to contact me.

6 notes · View notes

sirloozelite · 4 years

Text

SirLoozElite’s Star Wars Hunger Games: S3E7 - Guys! Stop! He’s already dead!

Time for episode 7. Last one before that day that people celebrate for some reason. Don’t expect an Ep tomorrow as I am busy being abducted by family I’m afraid. Still let’s have a long way now to celebrate. Here we go!

Night 7 on Episode 7. Perfect timing. XD

Good on ya Rau. Wise to keep warm at night.

Holy crap guys! That was pretty mean of you. R.I.P Poggle the Lesser. Uh oh @swgoji2001... looks like you lost another Separatist leader. Your chances are dwindling my friend.

A truce with a bounty hunter? Risky business Filoni.

Another truce? Careful there Rex. Sith Lords can’t be trusted.

Well... kriff! That’s not good. R.I.P HK-47. Sorry @swgoji2001, guess this really isn’t your episode today huh? That’s two people you’ve lost in the span of 30 seconds.

Team Rebel is having a mixed bag night it seems. Hope they hold on.

Day dawns again. How’s everyone doing?

Welp... looks like Dengar is having a good morning. Not so much Snoke though. Guess Dengar was trying to ‘subvert expectations’ or some crap like that. XD R.I.P Supreme Leader Snoke.

Must be hungry.

At least Chewie is doing ok. I hope nothing bad happens to our favorite Wookiee.

Yoda! How did you not notice that!?!

Night falls again. Brace yourself people.

Really Chewie? The guy is dead now! Time to call it quits on this joke.

LUKE! NO! THAT’S EVEN WORSE DUDE!!!

Kylo is enjoying the peace for once in his life it seems.

I’d almost forgotten Windu was in this. He’s been suspiciously quiet.

Poor Revan. :(

Day again. Nearly at the end of the episode.

Clone chasing Clone? Is Rex angry at Fives for what happened at the start of this season or something?

Chewie is running away from the necrophiliac it seems. Probably a good idea. XD

More sparing of lives it seems. I don’t know how wise that is. Also, what is it with people begging Finn to put them out of their misery. Is he an expert at killing someone like that or something?

Anyways, end of episode, I promise. Let’s look at the stats before we go though.

The victims are dwindling, but no district has been fully exterminated just yet, and everyone is still in play who bet. I wonder who will win in the end.

Hope you all enjoy your whatever you celebrate, if you even do.

Till next time friends. :)

#hunger games simulator #star wars #star wars rebels #the clone wars

18 notes · View notes

littlebitwriter · 4 years

Text

12 DAYS OF STAR WARS: AN ORIGINAL FANBOY-DRIVEN BLOG SERIES “EPISODE 7: SOME OF MY FAVORITE STAR WARS EU CHARACTERS”

Here is a list not ranked of some of my favorite characters in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Both canon and non-canon. *Specifically not gigantically main characters in the mainline saga films and ones who often have extensive material in tie-in media.*

GRAND ADMIRAL THRAWN

In terms of comparing Star Wars characters to archetypes, Grand Admiral Thrawn is the evil Sherlock Holmes of the Star Wars galaxy. The smartest, most tactical, perhaps the most shocking Star Wars villain is Grand Admiral Thrawn. A character with a unique philosophy and battle strategy. He looks at the art of a civilization or planet in the beginning of Heir To The Empire where he can tell/figure out something about that civilization/species through their art which is fascinating. He is a unique, evenly tempered character and listens to what people have to say if they have good ideas. Thrawn is a character who is evil who also has control of his emotions. He isn’t like Kylo Ren who flips out on his macbook pro or is like “Fire Everything!” Thrawn is ultimately the antithesis of that. He is the antithesis to Darth Vader and The Emperor in terms of their philosophy which is perhaps scarier and his philosophy is ‘don’t let your emotions consume you’ and is as level-headed as Darth Vader and is very much all about power. He is an incredibly unique character and villain unlike any other in Star Wars lore. There is so much rich Thrawn material out there, from the various novels by Timothy Zahn such as the original Thrawn Trilogy: Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising & The Last Command. As well as the Modern Thrawn Trilogy (set before the events of his appearance in Star Wars Rebels) Thrawn, Alliances and Treason. As well as many, many others I have not mentioned.

MARA JADE

She is a great character who starts from a very interesting place in Heir To The Empire who started out as a Force-sensitive Imperial assassin who is easily next to Thrawn, both are the best characters Timothy Zahn created in the Star Wars EU lore. She much like a lot of characters I will be talking about, are all truly authentic Star Wars characters. They all have the makings of a great iconic Star Wars character who went on an exciting redemptive journey across the EU from being an Imperial assassin who Palpatine wanted to kill Luke Skywalker to eventually become the wife of Luke Skywalker and mother of Ben Skywalker as a Jedi master. There was a lot that happened to her with the Yuuzhan Vong but everything about that outside of Mara Jade gives me a gigantic headache. Anyway she is a great character who should be integrated into the new canon and should be established to have been married to Luke. (In my personal headcanon Luke was married to Mara Jade in the gap between ROTJ and TFA) She just has one of the best character arcs in all of Star Wars and is a phenomenal character.

QUINLAN VOS

One of my favorite characters in the Expanded Universe is Quinlan Vos who has stories in the comics that came out during the time of The Clone Wars comics of the early aughts written by John Ostrander. The story of him really goes across The Clone Wars. He is an incredible character who is ultimately an exploration of the ideas of the Dark Side and the Light Side and the temptation of the Dark Side and he kind of rides that line between the two. He is very much a rogue Jedi and kind of goes with the dark and dabbles towards it but ultimately is a good guy. His story in the Clone Wars from Ostrander is very pivotal to his character. Also Dark Disciple is another Quinlan Vos story that is in canon that is based on unused scripts of the modern Clone Wars episodes and that is as well a good Quinlan Vos story with his unique relationship with Asajj Ventress.

CADE SKYWALKER

The main character of perhaps the best Star Wars things next to The Original Trilogy which is John Ostrander and Jaan Dursuma’s Legacy. He ultimately much like Quinlan Vos is an extremely fascinating character. He is a bounty hunter who has all but rejected his Jedi teachings and he does Death Sticks. He really dances on the line between Dark Side and Light Side in such an interesting way where there are things he does for good but he’s using Dark Side powers and bringing people back from the dead which is quote Palpatine in Revenge of The Sith “Unnatural…” He is a unique conflicted character and he is very much one of my favorite characters in Star Wars lore. He is very much like Quinlan Vos the archetypal John Ostrander dark Jedi character in a good way.

BOBA FETT

I love Boba Fett. He’s got a bad reputation now especially with a show about a super competent Mandalorian who is ‘The Mandalorian’ who is clearly not Boba Fett because of a thing that he does at the end of the pilot episode that Boba Fett would never do. Boba Fett ultimately unknown to the general mainstream public truly is not just a bum/incompetant clone/bounty hunter that ended up in Sarlacc Pit. He was once a and almost had a solo-novel written by Karen Traviss (A great Star Wars writer who wrote many great books such as The Republic Commando series, also has an obsession with Mandalorians) However in-canon as of now, Boba Fett died in Sarlacc Pit and ultimately the badass Boba Fett pre-1999 EU is now alive and well in The Mandalorian.

DARTH MAUL

One of the boldest creative decisions in all of Star Wars was in the fourth season of the modern Clone Wars TV Show which was a moment I remember seeing on television for the first time which is… The Return of Darth Maul. This led to what I call the “Maul Resurgence” where after I watched that story arc in television I was obsessed with Maul and had a connection to Maul outside of the double-bladed lightsaber and the spiky horns I was fascinated by his rivalry, connection and hatred of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I read the novel by Michael Reaves that was a prequel to Phantom Menace which was Shadow Hunter. Which established his backstory as being raised by Palpatine and was inflicted with Sith tattoos and was originally a Zabrak (which changed due to The Clone Wars he is now a…Dathomir. He is ultimately an assassin told he’s a Sith, not really a proper Dark Force user, he was a mad dog on Palpatine’s leash that became used everywhere. He is very much the prequel’s Boba Fett where he looks super cool and most of the public doesn't know he survived after his initial cheap death where they got a comeback and more development. In The Clone Wars He spent years in shame and squalor and when he gets power back and gains composure you see he learned the lessons Sidious/Palpatine taught him and that’s what makes his duel with him, Oppress and Sidious/Palpatine so impressive is that you can make the argument that Maul was legitimately a threat to Sidious. He is capable of being a thrilling and terrifying threat. As a Maul fan My favorite scene in Solo: A Star Wars Story is when you learn he is the head of the criminal organization of Crimson Dawn and the idea of him being a crime lord is genius. His story is ultimately perfectly wrapped up in Rebels in perhaps my favorite and in my opinion the most epic lightsaber fight in all of Star Wars which is his last battle with Kenobi. It’s an old-school epic samurai fight with such ambience and power and perfectly ends Maul story and captures the evolution of Obi-Wan and Maul’s relationship.

THE CHILD

The social media phenomenon himself gets what he / she deserves and is perhaps my favorite youngling in Star Wars lore (sorry, no disrespect to characters like Ashoka). It may seem like I’m hopping on the bandwagon but I really am not, outside of Yoda and Yaddle I believe, there is one other character who is of the same species who fans often mention and even casual or non fans mention a lot who is The Child. There is ultimately I think going to be a solid reason as to why he is such a phenomenon. Much like these other characters this is something about The Child that is distinctive and unique in that all of these characters are wholly their own and go on their own journeys and I’m sure The Child will be one of them. He is young for his species only fifty years old and has a long, long life ahead of him in a galaxy far, far away…

-LilBitWriter (12/19/19)

#star wars #fictional characters #expanded universe #favorite #comic books #movies #television #novels

7 notes · View notes

bidrums · 6 years

Text

Something about episode 4 that bothered me that I really need to get off my chest

So @strangesurvivals has really good posts about this that honestly made me realize that was exactly what bothered me and they are very put-together posts, so if you want something that’s not as rambling as mine, go check it out. Check it out regardless of what I put on here, because it’s a great blog and they deserve love and attention.

Here’s what rubbed me the wrong way: the stupid Warlock school subplot and the concept of the Alpha.

In a post I made with my general thoughts on the episode, I mentioned that I thought it was interesting about the concept of Supreme vs Alpha but followed it with saying I wasn’t about to start discourse.

Well, I retract that statement and am going to start discourse.

I’ll probably be crucified for saying that Coven wasn’t my favorite season, but it wasn’t. I love the concept and absolutely adore the characters and agree that the season kicked some serious ass, but I couldn’t really jam with the plot. I don’t know why, since I’ve watched and read very similar things, but I just couldn’t really get into it. Sorry. Even though it wasn’t my favorite season, I definitely screamed when they appeared and loved all the scenes they were in. Because they're characters that I love and actresses that I love, and I knew that would up the stakes more than they were already upped.

And then the plot happened.

I make fun of the fact that it started out like Harry Potter with Michael being recruited, but then Ryan took the Chosen One concept a bit too far and decided to call it the Alpha. And I just, no. Just no. No, don’t do that. Don’t do that to Michael. He’s already the Antichrist. That’s more than enough of a role to fill, and he doesn't need some Harry Potter/Star Wars magic Chosen One that’s destined to defeat the Ultimate Evil (TM) on top of being the Antichrist. It’s unnecessary and it took away from that subplot for me. It felt lazy, it felt forced, it felt contradictory, it just lessened the impact of the Antichrist plot and Michael’s harnessing of his powers. At least, the way Ryan did it. I’ll get back to that.

So Michael Potter Skywalker is taken to a magic school to develop his Amazing Magic Powers because something happens that tells The Powers That Be that he’s Super Powerful- more than any of them. Only one of those Authorities is suspicious and hesitant to take this person is because he can smell Big Trouble because This Kid Ain’t Right. But everyone laughs off Cheyanne Yoda Jackson because holy fuck he pulled some Exorcist shit then curled up in a ball crying on the floor he must be The One With The Ultimate Power (TM) we must take this emotionally unstable child in and harness his magic because absolutely nothing will go wrong with taking him in and teaching him to control his crazy strong magic that manifests himself in murder. Cheyanne Yoda Jackson is just being paranoid, he only impaled a guy with multiple knives and blew a guys head up. He may have Much Anger In Him and acts in a way that looks like he’s Demon Possessed, but have you seen his Midichlorian count? We have to bring him in because he might be able to destroy the Sith and bring Balance to the Force and finally dismantle the ever-present fear of Voldemort’s Reign of Terror! Stop being a spoilsport and train him like the rest of us, it’ll be fine! Oh, and we won’t help him adjust to his power gradually in order to make up for the years of training he lost in order to give him the same foundation everyone else has and the skills and trust of the System to not be reigned by his unstable emotions and Much Anger In Him. Nah, throw him in the deep end headfirst, he’ll be fine. In fact, we’ll raise our expectations and push him harder than everyone else and tell him his Destiny from the beginning so he has all this pressure on him. There’s no way he’ll lash out and have a sense of entitlement.

Now, who are The-Sith-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that oppress the poor, defenseless Warlocks? The rest of humanity? That was in Coven, and it would be interesting to have a Magneto-type background that ties into his disgust at humanity and proves his “evil motherfuckers” point. Is it the Humans? It’s not? Who is it?

The Witches, of course! Those Nasty, Horrible Women who use their Superior Woman Magic to press the poor defenseless Warlocks who just want to Be Equals and not be molotov cocktailed after those Stupid Women didn’t have the foresight to the potential consequences of trying to foster good relations with the Muggle World and being open about their Mutant status because they’re Mutants, and they’re Proud! We need an Alpha Male to save us from the Uterus! A Level Four! The Manliest Man in all of Manhood who will put those women in their place and take them down from their High and Mighty Egos. In Coven they had thinly-veiled metaphors for racism by having European vs Voodoo magic fights that tried to make us see that the Poor White Girls are just Misunderstood and Blissfully Ignorant that the Voodoo Community is just as Powerful and Valid as the rest of them! And they still have that in Apocalypse, but now they also have Gender Inequality in it, too! But like, not showing the tired, traditional Oppressed Women narrative that a lot of feminists tell. No, it’s the Refreshing alternate view that maybe, there are areas of life where Men are not on top? And that’s bad for them? It’s daring and bold and no one has ever proposed this idea ever! I’m so creative and revolutionary!!!

The Supreme title was interesting to me because there’s always the Head Witch or something like that. But Ryan gave her the title of Supreme, because the one to master all fundamental areas of magic has Supreme Magic that is more powerful. Which makes sense and is pretty refreshing to me, because it felt like an acknowledgement while over-glorifying the title. Because Supreme also sounds like a threat and a title everyone would fight over, so whoever has that title has to constantly watch her back because other people will try to take that for themselves. The title was forged in blood, and it’s a constant reminder of that. And the show does a great job showing how hard and how dangerous that title is. It shows work, it shows strength, it shows earning the title.

That is the complete opposite of the Alpha role. Level Four. Honestly I hate the fact that they rank the students with 4 levels because it’s honestly unhealthy competition in my opinion. But we’re focusing on the Alpha. It’s a stupid concept, it’s a stupid plot device, it’s a stupid mentality, it’s a stupid rank, it’s a stupid title. “But you’re a Christian, isn’t that hypocritical of you because you’re okay with calling God the Alpha?” Actually, that’s not His full title. The full title is the Alpha and the Omega- which is FUCKING GREEK FOR THE BEGINNING AND THE END AND IS A PRETTY ACCURATE TITLE FOR THE FUCKING CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE AND DON’T BRING MY RELIGION INTO THIS I AM NOT GOING TO SAY THAT AGAIN

Anyways, the Alpha thing and why it’s hella problematic. Its real-life counterpart is a hideous mentality that really messed-up men have that leads to entitlement issues that lead to violence- usually against women whose bodies they feel they are owed and believe that their superior “Alpha Male” status demands. Just, it doesn’t matter if that’s what he was imagining- which I doubt given the context- or not, the fictional Alpha Male trope and the real-word damage the Alpha Male mentality causes make this fictional title undesirable and uncomfortable. It also doesn’t imply the hard work that the Supreme title does. Like I referenced in my sarcastic rant, it’s why people hated the Midichlorian thing in Star Wars. I actually asked my dad if they were mad because it wasn’t referenced in the original trilogy. He said, and I paraphrase, “Partly. It’s the implications of them not mentioning it in the original trilogy that we have a problem with. When it first came out, the Force was something that everyone had and that some people were more in tune with than others. But it was in everyone, so everyone with the right training could become a Jedi. You might not be as powerful as the other Jedi, but you can be a Jedi or at the very worst, someone with cool Force abilities that can use the Force. Just not at the level of the Jedi. That was awesome because me and everyone else was saying, “I could be a Jedi! I could learn how to master the Force! Then Episode 1 came out and it said, nah, you can’t. It’s twitch muscles. You have it, or you don’t. Your DNA determines wether or not you can actually use the Force. Everyone has the Force, but you can’t be trained to tap into that power. It was like a slap in the face to the people who spent decades with the fantasy of training to be a Jedi. Since you haven’t had the time gap between movies, it’s less of an issue. But to us, it hurts a lot.” And that’s exactly what the Alpha does. It’s not that Michael is powerful and gradually shows the potential to be the Alpha then proves himself to be able to survive the grueling process to earn that status. It’s just that they see that he’s powerful (which I have no idea how impressive that footage is since we don’t have a great example of how weak everyone else’s magic is in comparison, imo) and assume that because he’s super powerful he’s The One. It just wasn’t as compelling to me as finding out about the Supreme. And yes, the witches do inherently have more magic and yes, the Supreme inherently has more magic, but it’s still like the Jedi. Not everyone is Force-Sensitive, so not everyone can be a Jedi; by extension, not all the Jedi can have the highest rank and there are many nuances and strengths of the people’s Force abilities. That’s something that I thought was interesting in Coven and was a bit disappointed that they didn’t play around with it more, but that’s not what this is about. I’m just showing how the Warlocks could have a similar Nuance even with their ranking system and could’ve had more of a parallel with the Witches.

But they didn’t.

Instead Ryan decided to have some weird social commentary about how women could be as bad as men and whenever they have some area where they’re better than men, they abuse that area and twist the narrative to make themselves the victims; in these areas, the men are now the ones who have to fight tooth and claw to get equal treatment. This is the standard “Women can be just as bad as men given the opportunity!” narrative that hurts legitimate activism to get men the same treatment in areas such as domestic abuse, where the statistics of male victims and the numbers of how they receive justice for it are much different than for women. There was a social study where two actors pretended to be a couple having an argument in public that gets violent, with one partner starting to get more and more physical and the other partner getting more and more in danger of being seriously hurt. When the woman was the victim, people rushed to her aid and got in between them and called him out on his behavior. When the man was the victim, a significantly less number of people did that, and most people laughed it off as the male being “whipped”- or, not filling the male role in the relationship. The power balance is suddenly funny when the woman has more power over the women. Now, I’m not going to go into that discourse, and you have my word on that. Domestic abuse is a horrific epidemic that both men and women face, and statistically women are the victims much more than men. But that doesn’t mean that when men are abused, it’s not that bad as when women are. And so when activist groups push for more awareness of this epidemic and trying to change the narrative of what domestic abuse looks like, we should listen and treat it seriously. But when narratives like the Witch oppression of the Warlocks being used to bring attention to “reverse sexism”- which is bullshit, btw- it lessons actual legit activism and make both activism for male issues and activism for female issues seem less important. Less serious. They become more of a joke and people overreacting than things of actual importance. And it’s just bad writing. There are way better ways to have a Warlock vs Witch narrative that Michael is involved in. Way better ways. Way better ways than “oppressed men might have someone who can overthrow the oppressive women because he’s more powerful and men might be able to reclaim their position of power”.

Honestly, I was mostly annoyed by this is that not only was Ryan- consciously or no- even doing it, but he was doing it where the men were just being whiny and had no real argument. They gloated at Cordelia and tried to provoke her by dangling Michael as “The One (TM) who would overthrow the Witches’ power over them” in front of her to try to get her angry. They act like her refusing to put him through the Seven Wonders is proof that she’s scared of being overthrown. Because cowards act like that. And that when she uses Misty and Queenie as examples of how she isn’t all powerful like they believe and to give examples of how dangerous the world of magic is and how just recklessly going forward can land them in trouble, they just scoff like she’s not really worthy of being the All Powerful and can you believe this chick? She walks around like she owns the place but she can’t even save one of her own kind from being perpetually held in Limbo for eternity with possibly thousands of other souls being held captive and suffering unimaginable things. Some Supreme. She can’t possibly think that’s a good reason to not do the test of the Seven Wonders.

Just- it’s really bad. It’s not a good way to even make this lazy writing a passable attempt. Cordelia telling them about how she tried to save Queenie once she found out she was dead in order- this is what I interpreted from that sequence- to help her pass on or come back to life was a great way to show her character. She’s empathetic, she’s protective, she actually cares about the people she’s supposed to be the authority over. And her regret over not being able to save Queenie hurts because she was supposed to watch over her and be able to protect her from something like that, but she couldn’t. And she is heartbroken because people she loves and cares about are casualties of a dangerous world and she’s helpless to stop those casualties. And when she refuses to let Michael do the Seven Wonders, it’s because she doesn’t want an innocent party that is being put on a pedestal to get killed. She fucking says that she doesn’t want to risk him dying and the fuckwads act like that’s a pathetic excuse!!!!! That was so infuriating for me because it was treated like Cordelia was being unreasonable by the characters and Ryan. I mean, in Coven the Seven Wonders was constantly hammered in as dangerous at every level, and as the stakes are raised, the more it’s hammered in, and the more people get hurt. There are actual consequences, and Cordelia witnessed it from the beginning to the end. So she knows that there’s an 87% chance that Michael will die, and she doesn’t want someone else to die in the process that killed her friends. And she gets more and more angry about people talking over her and ignoring all of her very solid arguments against this until she has no choice other than to give into their provocations and get angry, having to firmly shutting it down and ending it before someone gets hurt and when she gets questioned again, she snaps one of the greatest lines in the season and the show: “BECAUSE I’M THE FUCKING SUPREME!” And the men just look at each other like, “I fucking knew this bitch was too scared of being usurped to agree to our very reasonable proposal to take a vulnerable youngster who’s only just started to control his powerful and unstable magic and force him to go through a dangerous test he has a high chance of dying from just to soothe our wounded egos that we’re grooming several impressionable young men to emulate, women are so unreasonable” and I wanted to punch everyone in the face.

So the thing I mentioned waaaaay earlier in this super-long post: the way Ryan was doing this lessened Michael’s character was done really badly. Here’s an idea on how to go through a less-sexist conflict between the two covens that actually makes him more powerful:

Michael is powerful- more powerful than they’ve seen. Cheyanne Yoda Jackson still gets to be suspicious, and they are inclined to agree. After some debate, everyone except Warlock Yoda agrees that it’s probably powerful, unstable magic that is being handled by a teen with anger issues and an obvious propensity for violence. They can teach him to handle the magic and maybe to control his emotions. Everything’s the same until they do their tests. It’s still after a month or two, but this time it’s after he’s had time to adjust and had some basic rudimentary training that everyone has when they first start. They explain that everyone is evaluated at the beginning to get a feel for their magic, and Michael already seems to have some control of his powers. Not much, but it’s impressive considering how insane they are. They start with the mirror. He does it, and they share shocked glances. That’s something that a lot of people have trouble with after years of training. So they hesitantly do the teleporting. Flawless passing, more shock. Then they ask him to waterbed snow, and they have their happy moment before they almost freeze to death. They see how freaked out Michael is and tell him that he has super strong magic and when you push yourself like he did, it’ll get a bit out of hand. Just be more careful and they’ll talk about where to put him then get back to him, okay? Then they talk about how freaky it is that he can do this with little training, Magic Yoda is suspicious, they shoot him down with a lot of irony because Antichrist. Then one of them suggests that maybe, just maybe, they might be seeing a Male Supreme. Use the phrase, “Male Supreme”. It’s less stupid and worrying. There’s banter about how there hasn’t been a male version, it’s only been a woman, you know how many powerful Warlocks have died trying to do the Seven Wonders, he can barely control snow, you think he can come back from the dead? But then they agree and call the Council.

Most of the Warlocks’ bitterness towards the Witches stems from two places: 1) Fiona was a bitch and took her Supreme status to exert absolute control of the Council and 2) Cordelia just announced the existence of Mutants Witches and Warlocks without consulting the Council, a decision that they feel should have been unanimous. So there’s some banter about the Seven Wonders and Michael and she doesn’t want to hurt him because of how many powerful Witches and Warlocks have died and he sounds like he’s emotionally and magically unstable and he most likely will die. It also makes more sense for them to be snarky at her because of the above two reasons, and they can invoke Fiona’s name which will make those of us who are familiar with Coven squeal at the mention of Fiona and remember that yeah, that sounds in character, as well as having Cordelia react to the implication that she’s being the same sort of Supreme her mother was. Like, that has waaaaayyyyy less sexism and provides a great conflict between the two schools. It also has a less cliche Chosen One story arc shoved into Michael’s already-established “I’m the Antichrist” story arc and still shows just how powerful and scary he is.

Again, that’s my idea on how it could’ve been better. I just hate that the potential badassery of rivals schools was ignored to have Ryan Murphy pretend to be revolutionary and critical and thinking outside of the box when he’s really condoning a dangerous and sexist narrative that puts characters that are both potentially awesome and badass and established to be awesome and badass into weak storylines that destroy a lot of great character arcs and characteristics of everyone.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

2 notes · View notes