#i've seen mandalorian and half of clone but that it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rosey100 · 2 months

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Just thought I'd draw some roses 💐

Some Rose inspired by @kazzykatt 's aus

Wanted

Brair

🩶💣🐈‍⬛🌒

I closely based on Loona from Helluva Boss and Batgirl/Barbara but with a black market father who sold her and her parakeet for "a check up" and has never been adopted once growing up. By the time she runs away at 17, Bair survives whatever is needed to steal, sells scams, everything for money to even get some fries or a small place to stay till she makeshift a shed from an abandoned train. She adapted skills and knowledge to make it where if it were making distractions or trying not to get caught by anybody, whether they were a dog fighter or police she can a brothel paunch the light bulbs out of them easy and also has some special effects from the check up let just say no one can't make this up but nobody will believe it.

Her personality is mostly cold, and she can be a bit stubborn and harsh, but she is understanding, bold, outgoing, convincent, and sociable. She is a very smart (street smart) and calculated too. Brair mainly cut off, showing her emotions or physical even her weakness in life are off limits and her feelings are merely closed off to everyone who meets her but she might well threatening people if they give off her the wrong way.

Can things get more crazy for her life(the answer is yes) on her regular " business" routes to a factory to give someone "a simple pack", but things got too fresh with that and she had to go in the place to get the money she was going for leaving the client outside while going in with his lab coat. Managin to get caught by fixing her looks and going through the vents to get to the locker. After getting the money, she stumbled into an explosive sound of glass breaking and birds chirping? Not wanting to be nosey she kept walking towards the exit and go home but curiosity had other plans, peeping in the lab she started to see two dudes trashed the whole room beyond prepare and Brair was mostly known the situation too well on why. The site of motion of the two men usually motive that she heard about and her knowledge of the is entire area suspected of starting animal testing for their products it was no surprise why two people wanted for their crimes to come in the factory to make damage and let out some animals that were almost ready to be tested on. As fate had it she was caught by the two men and she didn't have any cover up leaving her expose to a whole, got even more worse when someone caught all of them ran out to call cops but got " knocked out ".Let's just say no one knew what to do except run the fu#k out of there as fast as possible (but now without a few animals or more), and before that, a security guard came in front of her asking why she was doing in the factory hall realized she had no disguise she was about to going to the head office while the bros were almost free til the guard grab her wrist, turned around and saw them mid of escape. When he was about to alert the cops, the guy lost consciousness as Brair's teeth slowly vemon enough to tranquilize him, as all three of them ran out while throw another ball of dynamic on the roof for a distraction.

Apocalipsis

Rosa

18 ?

🦴🧫⚔️🐦‍🔥

She is the first child who came to the chew somehow at 3 y/o alive of terror and chaos. The group was not in the most likely position to even be able to look after themselves, let alone an three year old nearly covered in bl00d that is not her own( Mero almost thought of dangled her off the roof but decided to not go with it calling her Edge for awhile before changing her name 🫣) but kept her knowing the Threats outside the Tortuga so far she was kept in a room for safety measures. Rosa may have been grateful for the hospitality spake that she would leave if she had anywhere to go anyway, and that when everyone else knew things definitely changed.

Life may not be sunshine and rainbows, but she can picture a good glimpse of the life that could be. Some may think she is a defenseless wallflower jokes on them she's a beast and a wild and dangerous one at moments of disaster comes at the door, one time in particular when she was playing with some rocks and a hyena came in the room seamlessly fear wasn't coming into mind was is gruesome, by the time Mero come in to see a red splatter room and a little girl holding out a detach head in front of them bl00d covered mouth.. chewing whatever face it had (no amount was wasted that day).

Ro is pretty smart and observative even at a young age but mostly less humanly emotionally than the chew suspected that she would be growing up, though it could be the isolation and the small notion of the chew (besides Collin)tolerance of just keeping her alive. Maybe she's a small bit they had to deal with or was a bitter reminder of the past either way she knows all too well about faces, meaning that knowledge every single feature is clear to her without even a word and she can prevent any attacks from any animal even without falls through it took a lot of practice and scratches.

Xverse

Aose

👩🏽‍🎨⛓️‍💥🪆🪢

She was a new art school sophomore student who was bubbly, full of ambition ( I got inspired by Harley Quinn and characters like her)and who mightily have known she'd been followed by who came in her dorm that night. She had calls last at night, random creepy notes on her desk, dead flower buds at her door, and by then, it had gotten worse as she'd grown a bit more paranoid before the day happened

She has burd and badly missing memories about the night she was kidnapped. She's kind of has half of memories of her fighting off someone to the ground, but something hit her head, and nowadays, it was just a rain cloud painting, a broken bottle, and yellow eyes? Her mind is still in a blur due to that night and nothing else. In one incident, a test was performed in where she was injected with something, and she was in room full with endless supplies of medications. She was more concerned with what the results of the injection than whatever medicinal effects it could cause. It didn't really help when her body (she was unconscious) laying on the floor shaking when she came to half of her facial and physical form was unrecognizable and that,she looked down at her hands now in chains and hread a voice say "it was for her own good". Enraged with everything that happened, she started at whaling and screaming in on the top of her lungs. Asking what happened to deserve this? She started hitting the walls even if her hands were blooded, but they didn't, then someone came in-and-in a fit of rage. Sheet, you didn't know what happened. But for everyone else, all they saw was the dead body. At least her hands were somewhat free, but her mental state cracked, and since then, she always had a smile on her face.

The effects of the medicines mix in her did much more to a physical form, but a somewhat form, she started to become more aggressive and feisty when five stronger people have to force her to the task room, become more faster on her own two feet even if she ran on broken glass or lava, annihilated a whole steel table in minutes using one hand and her hearing is Is almost third percent of naturally hearing in a more normal human way and because of the incident she grew more tolerant any pain since.

Trottamundoss

Rosita

25?

🪷🎀❤️‍🔥🩰

For what I can say about her: she's mixed with Pinkie pie's personality, golden retriever vides, and a dash of calm blanket of 60's flower power in a large bowl and I throw it in a garden bed ( but sprinkling some thorns in the mix so) and the rest is sun baked for a while. Mostly sweet, bubbly, fun-loving, graceful, cheerful, and smiling girl with a heart of gold 💛

What I think she likes is that it's basically enjoying sunny days, music, friendly company, walks in parks, blowing bubbles, playing with the critters, dancing in the field, etc. ( Gosh, bless her, I made a fu#king deer). I also think that since she likes a big pile of wholesome, Rosita is very good at 🥁 air flying (yes believe it) where she can find a high place dropped herself off and she can just float in the air kinda like a dandelion but without the process of dying just float for long time till she finds a place to lands on

Defenseless as she is for a lot of would take their chances for the kill, but don't think she's knows her opponents will do, that why this little ray of sunshine can burn you when she exposes her bristles that gives a temporarily painful experience for anyone who came to harm her or anyone who seems to be in danger. There's something else she can bo where if she's surrounded , she could spin round liking one of those ballet moves and could just throw up thorns from all of her hair and body and we strike people down like a russian ballet dan throw loose throwing stars at the same time dancing, Also turns into a pack of flowers. FYI

Space

Rosaclipse

🪐🌠🩷🤓

Something happened... something weird happened the day she was born, a long solar eclipse happened and let just say no one survived except her a small, crying, defenseless slime baby who was just hungry and had no idea what happened(or at least that what was said), No one know what happened, whether it was a monster that came in or at a sessionation assassination or anything if for some reason, they left her alone and alive for what . Basically, with bodies who they might believe were her parents. But no one knows since no one couldn't tell since everything was covering like some weird acid. But did not come from her as a baby.. Luckily, she would be in good hands after a long time looking for a good home and have no knowledge of her past, but figured that good for her.

She has been a working experience for almost anyone who's currently knows her, at most shy, fearful, very docile, but is smart,kindhearted, and free spirit. It was between trust and people in general for her. Basically, just being nervous about strangers and having to talk about her to caretakers was hard before she warmed up to them, but that aside is just a sweet, loving star hiding behind the clouds. Ro is also really smart, like her IQ sore would be higher for even university professors to quit and let her take their jobs saying fu#k it.

Ro could do more than just floating all over the place, and being a smart cookie, she actually runs super fast though not much light speed fast but it's hardly anything can catch her so that good right. Also she gives off electricity her can subtract thousands of debris and other times where if you shake her a bit she glow 100% natural light from her own body just like that nobody knew till they found her upside down on the floor just shining bright 🌟. She has been doing well at teleconesis she a little shy about showing that, but she is good at it

Wild school

Rosalie

🐺🎆🕵🏽‍♀️🏍

She's Jade from Victorious, but softer and "secretly" a sweet pea holding a "Don't try me B!cth til I have my coffee " coffee mug with a small breeze of Belle from Beauty and the Beast (but not in the whole stockholm syndrome thing ) so she can be a bookworm as well.

It is no surprise that her background is a mystery. Besides, she was just transferred to the principal's understandings, but there are times when rumors may progress in the mix is almost a theory, and Ro could never care less than a ferrell cat in the middle of fu*king traffic😑. Besides, it's not like she's there for "something else" or something magical, just some good ol' learning is all

Rosalie isn't really social, it can be on for mostly any type of gathering or parties, that she would be forced to go to but as long as you don't underestimate her or judge her for anything( She checked a whole gallop mix of Spite and cocktail mix while filling knives for darts all in the center at the same time for being call a whimp of a female and no one can't say sh!t to her without being out did 🎯 no joke ) you think on the top of your head. Her own willpower can be quite terrifying, especially when her really knows what the situation she could be in, whether it's deadly round house kick a door down closed by some bratty girls or kicking some jeck's ego down on a flirting attempt while Tempting her for a few drinks plus she can read body language real good and surprisingly excellent fighting skills.

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gffa · 3 months

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Hi :)

I'm a pretty new SW fan, not because I didn't like the movies/hadn't seen them but because I grew up thinking it was extremely nerdy and would often feel awkward trying to bring up anything related to SW.

Fortunately I've finally reached and met awesome people who love SW just like I did but I feel like I lost A LOT of important stuff and there's so much content to the saga that it's extremely overwhelming for me to even think about diving into the whole SW universe and catch up.

I've been following you for a bit and your posts are just extremely interesting to me but again, sometimes I'm a little confused about certain things and so I wanted to ask you if you had any recommendations about where to start catching up (besides the movies which I will be binge watching soon hehe)

Hi! Welcome to Star Wars fandom, I hope you're having a good time! And around here we embrace being as nerdy as possible--I mean, fandom is such a mainstream thing these days, but I still like to embrace being a nerd about things because it leads to a lot more happiness, to just be silly and having a good time with the thing that tickles our brains.

But, yes, it is pretty overwhelming when you're first arriving, I still remember when I first came back to SW several years ago, having really only watched the movies as a kid, and there was All This Stuff and it seemed impossible to ever reach the deep end of the pool, and that was before the last seven years of books, games, movies, comics, etc. came out! I will hopefully set your mind at ease with this, though: The vast, vast majority of content that Star Wars puts out isn't anything I would consider "essential". It's wonderful, fantastic stuff! But a lot of us have just been around so long that we're combing through the finer details of supplementary material, rather than those being absolute Must-Read/Watch To Get A Feel For Star Wars.

My recommendations for How To Get A Feel For Star Wars is basically, start with the animated series and the live action series, they're the second layer of foundation in the Star Wars building, all the comics and novels and such will be built on them, and in this order: - The movies, this is the foundation on which everything else will be built. - The Clone Wars, season 1-6 are part of George Lucas' story and they're pretty essential (at least in this corner of SW fandom) to understanding wtf anyone is talking about or even watching many of the live action series. (Season 7 is fine and should be watched! It's just not part of Lucas' Star Wars.) - Star Wars: Rebels, starts off light-hearted but really is one of the best developed shows and does a lot of connective work between the prequels and the original trilogy. - The Mandalorian, set 9 years after Return of the Jedi, this show just massively blew up and while each season is slightly less well-done than the previous one (imo), it's well worth watching for wtf fandom is talking about half of the time. (The Book of Boba Fett is somewhat optional in this corner of fandom, but imo worth the watch. Generally, it should go Mando s1-2 --> TBOBF --> Mando s3.) - Obi-Wan Kenobi, because this corner of fandom lost our goddamned minds about it and still haven't gotten them back. - Andor, which is a really great show and, as long as you've watched Rogue One first, you'll follow along just fine. Does some solid connecting the dots between the prequels and the originals, but not as much as Rebels did. - Jedi: Fallen Order, you can look up a "movie" version on YouTube for the story of this game, which is a really good plot, has some great new characters, has some genuinely effective cameos, and will be referenced fairly often in other materials/in fandom.

If you're not feeling overwhelmed by All The Star Wars You've Consumed, I would personally suggest going for the comics next, over any of the novels. The novels are great! But the vast majority of them are self-contained and meant to be supplementary material even more than the comics, which get to tell bigger, more connected stories. I always suggest starting with: - Star Wars 2015 by Jason Aaron + Darth Vader 2015 by Kieron Gillen, both of which are really, solidly fantastic stories about the timeframe just after A New Hope, like there are so many absolutely banger lines that came out of these comics. I won't spoil them, just know that I think these were legitimately good comics, not just legitimately good Star Wars comics. (The first six issues of each series are meant to be read concurrently, but after that, you can just pick one and read in that specific title.) - Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 2017 by Charles Soule, which is set in the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith. If Gillen's Vader keeps the mystique of the originals Unknowable Darth Vader, then Soule's Vader is more about the absolute BATSHIT DRAMA that is blending Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. This series is BANANAPANTS in the absolute best way. - Obi-Wan & Anakin 2015 by Charles Soule, which is a five-issue mini-series set between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and is both stunningly beautiful art and a solidly good plot that survives fairly serious analysis of. It's got some great worldbuilding details, but even more I like it for the look at why a young Anakin chooses to stay with the Jedi Order.

The one book I will recommend--for a list aimed at getting you caught up on what fandom is referencing--is the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, that book is quoted constantly, and I'm not sure any other SW book has ever been as good as it is.

I feel like this is the best set of reading to get you familiarized with the source material that tends to come up the most! There's lots more that's really good, but once you get through the above, you can let me know what era or characters you're most interested in or if you have a specific question about something and want to see where it comes from!

But there's one thing to address and you're kinda going to have to figure out how to approach it on your own. 😂 There is a ton of stuff in SW fandom that's ostensibly from a book or a comic, but the version in fandom often comes from those who never actually read the books/haven't read them in a long time or are just picking them up from other fic and meta.

For example, the AgriCorps or Melida/Daan get referenced in fic and in posts all the time, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading the Jedi Apprentice series (I mean, I'm not your mom, feel free if you want to!) and often times how they're used in fic is not how they were used in the source material. Or the clones speaking Mando'a comes from the Legends books by Karen Traviss and she is a whole big can of ugly worms (both what she wrote and her IRL politics), as well as much of what she wrote was overwritten/discarded when The Clone Wars came out, but fandom likes the idea and so they put that into their fics (as they should, if they like it!). The idea of Mace using the lightsaber form of Vaapad is from Legends sources (the best source probably being the Shatterpoint novel by Matthew Stover, I'd guess?), same for his ability to see "shatterpoints" in the Force, which aren't part of Lucas' continuity or Disney's continuity, but fandom enjoys using them to flesh out Mace's character. This will get you started and, if you're looking for something more specific, feel free to ask, I enjoy these kinds of question--and don't feel you have to stick with any of the above if they're not fun for you. This is meant to be enjoyable, it's meant to have a good time, there's no wrong way to consume Star Wars media! <3

#lumi.txt #star wars #novel recs #(eh that's my tag for this kind of thing)

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tarisilmarwen · 5 months

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Title: Little Wooden Lightsaber Boy

Fandom: Star Wars Rebels

Rating: K+

Pairing/Relationships: Ezra/Sabine

Character(s): Sabine Wren, Tristan Wren, Alrich Wren, Ursa Wren, Tiber Saxon, Darth Maul, Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: Life Day at the Wren stronghold is always a big affair, and this year Sabine gets a very special present--a little wooden figure of a handsome Jedi general. Nutcracker AU.

AO3, FFNet

@sabezra-life-day-celebration

It's late, because surprise surprise I had a plot bunny bite my ankle and get Ambitious, but here is my fic for Sabezra Life Day Celebration. Hope you all enjoy!

---

Sabine loved the winter holidays.

It was one of the only times in the year the Wren Stronghold came alight with color and music, the normally dour gray halls festooned with green garlands and red ribbons, bright glowing glass orbs nestled in the branches of the enormous evergreen tree she and her extended family went out and cut down each year, hauling into the great hall with laughter and a unity of purpose. The fires stayed burning almost all night and her father piped festive songs and carols from giant speakers in his artist studio, the notes carrying down the halls and making the frozen palace alive and breathing with warmth.

She sat at one of the long tables now, a piece specially set out for the occasion, crowded between a half-dozen like it and covered with a soft, immaculately white tablecloth the color of the falling snow. Her fingers itched to draw, as she took in the twinkling splendor of the Life Day tree, glimmering yellow and violet and green and orange-gold in the corner.

It was technically a Wookie holiday, Life Day, but since the end of the Clone Wars and the victory of Coruscant, the winter celebration had spread throughout the galaxy, each planet in the Republic popping up with their own traditions and customs. Sabine had only been a toddler, but all her life she'd heard the stories—about how the Jedi Order bravely uncovered a horrible Sith plot, overthrew the Chancellor and installed a new era of peace and prosperity.

A prosperity they were heartily enjoying now, she thought, eyeing the platter of roast nerf ribs being passed down the table.

She grabbed a chunk from the platter and bit into it eagerly, the warm seasoned juices filling her mouth.

"Sabine!" her mother chided, from her spot at the head of the table, a place of prominence befitting the Countess. "Manners!"

Sabine grabbed up her napkin and wiped her chin, grinning cheekily at Ursa as the festivities carried on. Her favorite part of the night was coming up—the traditional Mandalorian dances and gift exchange. They had to entertain a few other clans this year—the stronghold was quite crowded—so she and Tristan had promised to be each other's dance partners all night, to stave off any untoward attempts to seduce either of them, any political proposals that might have been sprung on them unexpectedly.

Her brother was already reaching for her hand, urging her out onto the dance floor in the center of the Great Hall. Sabine took one last bite of succulent rib roast, then put her hand and her trust in Tristan, who led her to the center of the floor and kept close to her as the music grew louder.

"So far so good," he quipped to her, as the music played on, loud and raucous as only a Mandalorian celebration could be, bodies breaking off from the dining tables and joining them on the dance floor. "I don't think I've seen a clan head look your way yet," he continued, teasing.

Sabine rolled her eyes with long-suffering affection. "Let's try to keep it that way," she said.

She stayed close to her brother as the night and the party drew on. Her father eventually emerged from his studio, beaming brightly as he presented Tristan and Sabine and the other young clan heirs with their gifts. Sabine accepted the brightly-wrapped package eagerly.

She tore the paper, the gilded green and gold coming off the box easily under her hands. She carefully lifted the lid of the white box and set it aside, gasping as she saw the contents.

A beautifully carved and painted wooden figure lay in the tissue paper. Sabine marveled at her father's craftmanship. The figure was immaculately designed, styled to look like an armored Jedi Knight from the Clone Wars, with a smart-looking blue hauberk and tabbards, orange piping along the sides of its tunic and leggings. It had a handsome tan face and bold black dots for eyes, and the hair was a blue-lined black painted on the back of its head. It had a prominent hinged jaw, a wood piece that connected to a lever in its back. Sabine carefully lifted the figure out of its packaging and worked the lever, seeing how the device fit together.

It was a nutcracker. A decorative kitchen tool, meant to crush the hard shells of koja and areca and a bevy of other species.

Sabine breathlessly thanked her father, one arm squeezing around him while the other clung to her prize.

"He's beautiful!" she told him, gazing once again with admiration at the little carved figure.

Alrich beamed with pride, launching into a prepared explanation of his artistic process, pointing at various parts of the nutcracker and explaining them.

Sabine listened with rapt attention, the artist in her appreciative and impressed. The gift exchange done, she dismissed herself from her father's presence, sitting back down at her place at the table and just watching the party continue on, late, late into the night as the fires popped and the drinks flowed freely.

Her gaze kept straying to her nutcracker, and more than once she let her fingers feather over the fine details, the meticulously painted golden fasteners and the sweeping lines that delineated armor pieces.

She was so caught up by the workmanship that she didn't notice when her distant cousin, Tiber of Clan Saxon, darkened her shoulder, not until he snatched the wooden figure from her hands and brought it up to his face to sneer at it.

"A little old to be playing with dolls aren't you, Miss Wren?" he huffed.

Sabine's mouth soured immediately, and she made a grab for her father's present. "Give that back!" she demanded. "It's mine!"

Tiber held it away from her, at arm's length with a curdled disdain. "What is this even supposed to be?" he asked snidely.

Sabine glared icily. "It's a Jedi General," she told the older man, hotly. "Give it back."

Tiber dodged the swipe she made for it with her hand, stepping away from the table. "Poor craftsmanship to fit a poorer subject matter," he dismissed. "What paltry Clan Wren trash."

Sabine watched in horror as he dropped her gift carelessly on the ground and stomped on it with his metal-lined boot.

"Hey!" she objected in distress, diving for her nutcracker.

Tiber was already stalking off, exiting the hall with a handful of his entourage, not even paying her a spare glance behind. Sabine glowered darkly as she carefully cradled her nutcracker to her chest, brushing off the scuff marks Tiber had left in the paint.

Her heart panged in dismay as she found that she couldn't erase a couple of the scratches. They dug into the wood of the figure's cheek, two ugly lines that marred her Jedi's smiling face.

Sabine tried her best to smooth out the gouges but it was no use, and she bit her lip, holding back her emotions.

As if sensing her sorrow, her father appeared at her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Sabine?" he asked, brown eyes full of concern.

Her mouth pinched and twisted as she explained, holding out the nutcracker to him. "Look what Tiber did to your work!" she complained, eyes stinging, blinking hard.

Alrich took the wooden figure gently in his hands, making a quick scan of the damage.

After a moment he smiled.

"Oh that's not so bad," he said. From his pocket he pulled out a little white helmet, styled after the clones of the 501st, Skywalker's Fist. He slid the wooden helmet into place on the nutcracker's head. "See? He's all right," he assured her, handing it back.

Sabine took the nutcracker in her hands, begrudgingly admitting to herself that the helmet suited the little wooden figure, made it look a little more authentic and complete. She cradled the wooden man to her chest, vowing not to let it out of her sight, holding it like a precious jewel against her body.

She stayed far away from the members of Clan Saxon the rest of the night.

***

The fires were low-burning embers and coals, the hall growing cold and dark, by the time the party finally wound down. Sabine bade goodnight to her family—and her nutcracker, giving it a little kiss on the helmet before stowing it safely away in one of the armor cabinets—and retired to bed.

Alone in her room, however, watching the starlight and falling snow outside, Sabine found herself too wound-up to sleep. A strange agitation kept her awake, tossing and turning long hours until she gave up and rolled out of bed.

For a while she painted, scratching her brushes on a canvas with idle consideration. Nothing really emerged from her footling, mostly just abstract ideas here and there. Biting the end of her paintbrush she decided she needed a little more inspiration.

She grabbed one of her spare sketchbooks, slid a thick brocaded robe on over her shoulders and short silken nightdress, slipped her feet into her house slippers and stole down the dark quiet hallways back to the great hall.

The room glowed with soft multicolor light from the glass orbs in the tree. There was a soothing, peaceful kind of silence to the room. Sabine liked how the glow bounced off the walls, played with the edges of the transparisteel panels of the windows.

She sat and sketched the tree for a few moments, enjoying the quiet scritch of her pencil on the paper.

Her eyes stole towards the armor cabinet in the corner. It held her mother and father's ceremonial beskar, and now it kept her nutcracker safe. Sabine felt an urge to get it out again, and didn't resist that urge. She crept to the cabinet, stepping softly even though she didn't have to, even though everyone else in the stronghold was probably asleep, grabbing the clutch and lifting it, making the hinges squeak as she opened the door.

Her father's gift was right where she left it. Sabine reached for him and sighed in awe of the craftmanship yet again, holding the wooden figure against her stomach with a tight embrace.

She walked back over to the throne on the dais at the other end of the room, sinking onto the comfortable cushion and just... letting the quiet fill her. The warm glow from the tree, the stillness, it was a better lullaby to her over-excited mind than anything else.

She found herself curling up on the long cushion, nutcracker tucked under her arm and robe draping over her feet, her breaths growing deeper...

***

She woke, groggy and confused, in the wee hours of the night, with that agitation back, along with a strange sense of unease.

Sabine blinked, squinting through the dark. The warmth of the tree wasn't reaching her anymore, and she shivered, tucking her arms inside her robe as she sat up.

As she was trying to pinpoint the cause of her apprehension, there was a scurrying of shadows in the corner of her eye.

Sabine's head whipped in that direction, her eyes straining, but she couldn't see anything.

She stepped down from the dais to the floor, glancing warily around.

Pinpricks raised on her arms, her unease growing. She still couldn't see any danger but...

Wait, where was her nutcracker?

Sabine's chest jolted with a shot of panic as she realized her father's gift wasn't with her, wasn't on the throne where she'd left it. As her head whipped around in search of it, something else alarming caught her attention.

She tilted her head back, eyes squinching in confusion.

Was the tree... bigger?

No, she realized, glancing back towards the dais and mentally measuring the height of the steps. She was smaller. And not just smaller, she was shrinking.

Alarmed, Sabine gaped up at the tree now towering above her, massive. The delicate glass baubles now looked like huge boulders, the pines as large as spears. Her chest clutched and she staggered back in disbelief, gawking about her now-giant surroundings.

"No no no no, this can't be happening," she said in a small, panicked voice. She was having some kind of horrible dream. This couldn't be real.

It felt terribly real.

As Sabine clutched arms around herself, willing herself to wake up, the scurrying shadows returned, vague shapes taking form in the darkness all around her.

She backed up, and backed up, but didn't miss how the shadows coalesced into humanoid figures. A face emerged from the darkness, malicious, skin shockingly patterned in red and black, with eerie yellow-gold eyes and a head ringed with horns like some kind of twisted crown.

Sabine's breath hitched and she stiffened, recognizing the face from old historical holos.

The face came with a snide voice.

"This is the heir to Clan Wren?" The figure she could now identify as a Zabrak shook his head condescendingly. "How disappointing. Mandalore has fallen far indeed since I ruled it."

Her teeth ground stubbornly, fear disappearing behind a glare as she put a name to the ugly face. The Usurper of Sundari, the head of Crimson Dawn, a menace and a thorn in Mandalore's side for years. What was he doing in the stronghold?

"Unshrink me and then get out of my house!" she demanded.

Maul pinned her with a malicious sneer. "No," he said, chillingly. "Tonight... I will take my revenge on all the clans that betrayed and unseated me."

Sabine would have snorted and rolled her eyes, made a smart comment about how ridiculous a notion that was given that they were both apparently a foot tall, but then Maul pulled out a wicked-looking silver hilt and ignited it in a red flash.

Her throat caught, eyes widening at the crimson lightsaber blade, humming ominously. Behind the Sith came armor-clad figures from the shadows, Mandalorian warriors arrayed with the colors of their lord, Maul's underlings. She backed up again, apprehensively, heart pounding, trying to remember how to wake herself up because surely this had to be some kind of nightmare.

Maul savored her moment of terror, raising his saber and beginning to charge for her.

Sabine braced herself to fling back—

Something leapt through the air to land in-between them, a blue-clad figure that held up its own hilt and ignited it with a burst of blazing bright green.

Her eyes widened further, a thrill and sense of awe moving through her.

It was her nutcracker, no longer still and wooden and tiny, but moving, made of flesh, and her size.

Shockingly alive.

Maul seemed only mildly perturbed by the interference, frowning in displeasure before motioning his troops forward.

"Kill the Wren heir," he ordered. "The Jedi is mine."

The Mandos rushed forward past him, surging towards her in a charge. Her nutcracker intercepted them first, green blade slashing out, striking armor and limbs. Many of them surrounded him, leveling their blasters at his helmeted head. With an elegant precision she had only seen in holos he deflected red shots off his blade, air filling with the cacophony of laserfire.

For a moment Sabine was pinned in place, frozen with horrible indecision—she had no weapons and there was no way she'd fit into her parents' beskar as she was, if she could even reach the handle for the cabinet—but then she tightened her fists and steeled her resolve. She was Mandalorian. Her very body was a weapon.

The first soldier that made it past her nutcracker's guard to attack her got his knee kicked in for his trouble. Sabine drew back her elbow and slammed it across the helmeted face, snapping his head aside.

He crumpled, and she picked up his heavy sidearm, taking aim at the other warriors, shooting them with indiscriminate desperation.

One went down, two more were distracted enough by the hits she landed that they were easy pickings for her nutcracker Jedi General's emerald blade, falling with loud pained cries as the lightsaber pierced them.

Sensing movement at her right, Sabine whipped around, firing, only to feel the blaster ripped from her hands by an unseen force.

She gasped, stumbling upright, looking up at the cruel yellow eyes of Maul as he raised his glowing red blade vindictively.

It started to fall.

Sabine flinched, but a second later a green blade blocked the red one, her nutcracker moving quickly to protect her, breathing hard inside his clone trooper helmet.

Maul's face twisted in rage and he shoved the other man off, attacking viciously, blade crashing again and again in heavy overhead blows upon her nutcracker's guard.

Sabine looked around for another weapon, but she couldn't find one—the other Mandalorians lay dead on the ground but their blasters were missing, nowhere to be found. Her Jedi was panting audibly now even across the distance, fatigue evident in his movements, slowly giving ground to the Sith Lord's onslaught.

He blocked again and again but the attack was merciless, coming harder and faster as Maul's face screwed with fury, bearing down on him.

Sabine watched with horror as her nutcracker Jedi was forced to his knees, kicked hard in the chin and sent falling to the ground. Maul crowed in victory, raising his saber for the final blow.

"No!" she cried, rushing forward, pulling one of her house slippers off and leaping at Maul's back, beaning him hard in the neck with the leather-tipped sole. "Leave him alone!"

Maul grunted, taken aback by her assault, and the hard heel whacked solidly against his back and head as she slammed the slipper into him, beating at him desperately with all her strength.

A hand like a steel timber caught her chest and pushed her back, sent her stumbling but not falling. Sabine looked up defiantly into the red-rimmed yellow eyes that boiled with anger at her.

Those eyes turned away as the hum of the green saber vibrated from behind. Maul angled to address the threat, red saber lifted but... stiffened. The yellow Sith eyes went wide as he and Sabine realized where the emerald blade had stuck.

Dead center in the Zabrak's chest. A fatal, killing blow.

Her nutcracker pushed the blade in slightly deeper, eliciting a dying gasp from Maul, who dropped his saber and clutched at the Jedi's own, expression in disbelief and shock as the other man twisted him around, away from Sabine, his body speared on the tip of the green blade as her nutcracker crouched protectively in front of her.

The Sith slid off the blade with a dying gasp, crumpling into a heap on the ground. He stilled, and moved no more.

The green blade extinguished.

The heavily-breathing figure stayed curled in his crouch for a long time, long enough that Sabine began to worry if he was injured, but then he straightened, drawing her immediate attention.

Sabine watched, heart still rapidly thumping, as her nutcracker rose up, hands reaching softly for the edges of his clone trooper helmet.

The helmet was slipped off, gently, revealing soft blue-tinted dark hair. The boy—for it was unmistakably a boy now, young, about her age—seemed to contemplate and study his own helmet for several seconds.

Then, he tucked the helmet under his arm and turned towards her.

Sabine started, her heart and throat catching.

Oh. Oh he was cute.

Boyish, lazy half-smile, tanned skin the color of warm amber, shockingly electric blue eyes that she found absolutely mesmerizing.

Sabine swallowed, feeling at a loss for words.

Her nutcracker spoke, instead.

"Thanks," he said, dipping his head respectfully, in gratitude. "You saved my life. I couldn't have beaten him without your help."

"It was nothing," she heard herself saying in a daze, the words floating around her. "Couldn't let my favorite Life Day present get shanked by an actual demon."

His smile widened, teeth bright white against his darker skin and she almost melted. Sabine shook herself, chiding herself for being so overtaken by a pretty face, and slowly approached him.

The closing proximity still made her heart thud, painful in her chest. She willed herself to be calm as she reached him. Her hand drifted up towards his cheek, touching twin thin red scars that mirrored the scratches Tiber had inflicted upon her nutcracker, what seemed like a distant eternity ago.

"Sorry about those," she muttered. "Tiber was a jerk."

He shrugged, nonchalantly. "Happens when you're stuck in a twelve inch wooden body," he dismissed. Blue eyes sparkling, he held his hand out to her. "Hey, you wanna get away tonight?"

"Get away?" she repeated, absently, still entranced by his face and smile and shining eyes.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Come with me. I want you to meet my folks."

Head reeling, Sabine found herself nonetheless placing her hand in his. "Moving a little fast, aren't we?" she said. Her body pulsed with electricity, with adrenaline, with a thrilling exhilaration she couldn't put a name to or define. "I don't even know your name..." she trailed.

"It's Ezra," he offered up, so very casually, as he began to lead her into a white snowy mist that had suddenly appeared around them. "Ezra Bridger."

"Sabine," she told him, blushing as she stared at their entwined hands. "My name's Sabine."

***

The white twinkling snow-covered wonderland he led her out the door into couldn't have been Krownest, she determined. The trees had never sparkled so brightly, the sun had never been so warm and yellow. There had never been such a rainbow of color glittering in the depths of the snow.

There had certainly never been any green-skinned Twi'leks with glimmering translucent wings living in the woods around the stronghold, and yet that was exactly who met them now, bare green arms reaching for Ezra's face like a fretful mother's, worried green eyes searching him.

"Are you hurt?" she asked anxiously, and for the first time he let Sabine's hand fall, reached to embrace the woman and reassure her.

"I'm all right, Hera," he said. "Sabine here protected me."

The woman—fairy?—turned to Sabine, who pushed her bangs out of her face self-consciously, feeling awkward.

A warm smile lit the woman's expression.

"Thank you," she said. "We owe you a debt of gratitude."

Sabine shrugged, making a noncommittal sound. There were other beings starting to crowd around her, aliens of every kind, all sporting the same kind of shimmering frost-covered wings the Twi'lek woman had. She was clearly their leader, and she clapped her hands to call for attention.

"Everyone, everyone!" she addressed. "Let's not overwhelm her." The warm smile turned on Sabine again, as Hera extended a hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Would you like to join us for the Life Day feast?" she asked. "It's the least we can do to thank you."

Sabine's mind was still reeling, still convinced she was half-dreaming, but she nodded mutely, gawping, trying to take everything in. There was a man hovering by Hera's shoulder, teal-eyed and broad-shouldered, and he nodded at her in acknowledgement and respect as Ezra led her past him.

Her nutcracker brought her to a brightly-lit clearing, where dozens of beings milled about, dancing, singing. It didn't seem like they were on Krownest anymore, at least not from the gray-green moss-covered walls of stone, rising up all around her.

What followed next was the most wonderful dream. A festive party was conducted before her eyes, full of more color and life than she'd ever seen. Hera and her partner—a man she learned was called Kanan—asked her a million questions she couldn't keep up with, made Ezra recount the story of how she had bravely saved him a dozen times. Spectators to the story ooh-ed and aah-ed appreciatively at the the appropriate dramatic places. Ezra himself stayed by her side the whole time, hand clutched tight around hers.

Sabine's heart stuttered and stammered. She traced the edges of Ezra's face with her eyes, watched every small movement of his face as he rambled amiably with the others, greeted each party guest with a smile and a joke to set them at ease. A longing tugged at her chest, painful in how much she wanted this, wanted to stay with him in this wonderful, magical, inexplicable moment of surreal joy and light.

He seemed to sense her troubled heart, looking over at her in concern.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

Sabine felt a shudder run through her whole body, felt herself gripping tighter to his hand.

"I just..." she said, trailing off with a dry throat, suddenly fearful. "I don't want this to end."

His reassuring smile lit up the depths of her heart, filled her with a giddy rush. "I'm not going anywhere, Sabine," he promised. "I'll stay right here."

Her chest clenched, eyes stung as she held back tears.

The celebration wound down, the brightly diverse figures slowly ceding space to Hera and Kanan, who danced intimately in the center of the floor, entwined in a way that made Sabine jealous. When the music ended, there was a certain finality to it, and Sabine felt herself already missing the music and light of the party, so different from how her family had conducted it, but beautiful and wonderful all the same.

Ezra pulled her up from their seats and guided her onto the back of a leathery-hided creature, helping her into a gilded seat strapped upon it. The creature bellowed, low and mellow, filling Sabine with a giddy high of adrenaline.

"I don't want this to end," she said again, thrilling as Ezra came to sit beside her on the purrgil.

His smile was thinner now, bittersweet. "You have to wake up, Sabine," he told her. "You can't stay here."

"Will I see you again?" she asked anxiously, clinging to him like he would slip away if she let go.

A small nod, so slight and imperceptible she almost missed it. "Trust in the Force," he whispered, and then the purrgil was lifting off, the snow-covered ground was falling away below them and her eyes were filled with twinkling blue stars in a winter sky.

Giddy, she felt a rush of speed press against her front, blue glowing hyperspace filling her eyes, hurtling her forward into the cosmos, into a warm ether that felt like home.

***

Sabine stirred stiffly, blinking her eyes open at the white morning light that was falling into her face.

Confused, she took in the quiet great hall. The tree in the corner was normal-sized, the tables were all still there, cleared off and pushed to the sides like they had been when she'd stolen down there.

Her nutcracker was by her side, underneath her arm.

Feeling a great sinking disappointment, Sabine sat up, a groaning sigh escaping her.

"Oh don't tell me it was all just a dream..." she moaned, holding up her nutcracker. His black dot eyes stared back at her, painted smile still and friendly.

Sabine pressed her lips tight, heart and mood drooping, trying to remember every second of her time with Ezra. His warm easy nature, bright smile, handsome face, eyes blue as hyperspace, how quickly he laughed and how wonderful it sounded when he did.

Great. He'd ruined her for other men and he wasn't even real.

Dismally, Sabine gathered herself up, picking up her sketchbook and starting to head for her bedroom.

Voices from the entrance hall caught her attention, as she was moving through the passage. Her mother and father, talking in a low voice to someone standing just inside the door.

"Last night, you said?" Ursa was saying, sounding concerned.

"Yes Countess, we believe he used Dathomirian Nightsister magick to conduct his attack," replied the visitor.

Wait a minute... that was Kanan's voice.

Breath hitched, Sabine crept closer to the entrance hall, now fully alert and tuned into the conversation. She peeked around the corner, spying her parents and a pair of strangers in brown robes. She only see Kanan—and yes it was him—through the gap left by her parents' backs. She couldn't see her father's face but from his troubled tone she knew he was frowning, brows wrinkled.

"Several of the clan heirs mentioned having nightmares last night," Alrich said. Sabine slipped into the room, walking up behind her father, pulse rapid, trying to peek around him. "You're saying that was actually part of a psychic assault?" he asked.

"It was," Kanan confirmed, nodding gravely. "My padawan and I did our best to minimize the damage and protect your minds."

She had a view of the other visitor now, and her eyes slid off Kanan to him as Kanan spoke.

She forgot how to breathe, her chest swelling, head tingling.

Soft dark hair, thin padawan braid tucked in behind his right ear. Mesmerizing blue eyes that met hers across the way, pinching with concern. Amber skin, marred by two twin scars across his left cheek.

Sabine reeled. She felt light, lighter than air. Her nutcracker Jedi stood there before her, real and breathtaking. Surely he felt her elation, for the corners of his mouth twitched, confirming her recognition, that he knew she knew he was the one who had come to her rescue, held her hand, taken her on a such wonderful starlit journey.

Dropping her sketchbook and Ezra's miniature wooden replica she rushed forward, flinging herself into him, crashing her lips against his and kissing hard.

He yelped in surprise, jolting, and Ursa gave a scandalized and embarrassed, "Sabine!" behind her.

---

Sabine: *meets cute Jedi boy, immediately causes political incident*

How did Alrich manage to style his nutcracker almost exactly like Ezra? IDK, weird Force stuff or something, we're coasting mostly on Vibes here don't look at me for a logical explanation lol.

Thanks for reading!

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #sabezra #sabezralifeday2023 #prompt fics #fanfiction

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ooops-i-arted · 9 months

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Separate of feelings on tcw and its unending array of spinoffs (though honestly, day by day I find myself sliding closer to your attitude about them) I do think filoni and favreau's treatment of the Star Wars/Disney brand is worthy of an academic paper. Specifically looking at how allergic to consistency it all (including the sequels) is. Because again, regardless of feeling, I think there are some really wacky choices being put to screen that often contradict itself in ways that actively antagonises and alienates its audience. Because say what you will about the prequels, but at least they had a clear vision throughout. Personally I think they were the last time SW had any sort of clear vision but that might just be me being bitter about Din's treatment in s3... :P

Yeah, anyway, stopping before I get rambly-er...It was just something that sorta stuck me as I was backreading some of your clone wars critical posts.

The underlying problem imo is that Disney wants money, not a consistent story. George Lucas of course wanted to make money, I'm sure, but he had a consistent story and he stuck to his guns throughout. People hated the prequels when they came out, but George Lucas stuck to his overall story even if he tweaked things (like reducing Jar Jar's screen time). The sequel trilogy makes it abundantly clear that Disney changed things as soon as there was any sort of backlash and they risked losing money - Finn CLEARLY being Force-sensitive but shafted by the story and never allowed to be a Jedi with Incel Poster Boy Kylo Ren given all the attention instead makes it very clear that's what happened.

It's more than that with Filoni - at this point I think some of my students have more consistent storylines in their play than he does in his paid work! He drops anything like a hot potato when something more interesting to him comes along. I've been saying this since Rebels season 2 finale - half of your ensemble cast doesn't even feature in the season finale and the rest are shoved aside so your OC and Darth Vader can have a rematch that's meaningless to anyone that hasn't seen TCW instead?? That's fucking bad writing. It's a pattern that continued. TCW had a message of just because the clones look the same doesn't mean they aren't individuals with value - wait, no, we have the individualistic, specialier (whiter) Bad Batch butt in during season 7. Din and Grogu have a heartfelt separation that's for Grogu's benefit? Nope, he's back with Din in the next show. Boba Fett getting some good character development and becoming a leader? Nah, back to the Mandalorian. (I love Din, but again: fucking bad writing. Temuera Morrison has every right to be salty as fuck.) Din having the potential to be come the leader the Mandalorians need and can respect and follow? Nah, just hand the sword to Girlboss Barbie Bo even though she's lost it and we've done this arc already what, three times? Actually no, never mind the Darksaber, let's break it! Anyone wanna take a bet that it's gonna be reforged in Season 4?

#he's like a seven year old playing with barbies i s2g #i can't believe i write stuff i work hard on for FREE and he gets paid probably way more than my teachers salary to write complete schlock #anti filoni #anti tcw #asks #just prime

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mwolf0epsilon · 2 years

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requesting all your bitter thoughts on popular ships if you’re comfortable 👀

Well I'm probably already gonna get crucified by a lot of people in this fandom for pointing out what ships I find uncomfortable, so why not?

I'll talk about my beef about the fandom depiction of those four ships specifically, because they're the ones riling me up the most whenever I go into the tags.

---

Dinluke

I usually don't go anywhere near Mandalorian content (mostly because I haven't watched the show and would like to one day do so at my own pace instead of being pressured into doing so), so finding this ship in tags it doesn't belong to irks me to no end.

I've seen a few bits and pieces that aren't bad, but 90% of the content I've stumbled upon is written or drawn very out of character to the point I'm not sure I'm seeing the characters that are supposedly being depicted.

Trope-heavy fics where Din is aggressive or possessive over Luke are in bad taste, and I hate that a majority of people seems to like this unhealthy and somewhat racist dynamic.

They just honestly don't have any chemistry from what I can tell and the only commonality between them is that they were trying to be there for Grogu in their own way. And then Luke shrugged his shoulders and sent the kid off on his own into an active turf war. That's it.

Bobadin

The fetishisation is strong in this one. Anyone with a twitter account can see what I mean.

It started out as a fairly respectable ship and then it descended into 'fic writing for clout' territory.

You can tell when the author or artist doesn't care much for the characters themselves or their history, and are just putting them in situations where they can be nasty for no reason other than 'this will get me views'.

I have seen some skin crawling content online that really shouldn't have ever spilled out of anyone's brain to ever see the light of day, and no I will not put myself through explaining someone else's weird S&M fetish.

Foxiyo

Gateway ship. It's like Rexsoka, but with a vague cover of legality behind it, because supposedly Riyo Chuchi is a consenting adult.

The most prevalent dynamics depicting this ship are often disrespectful towards Fox and other clones (sometimes infantilising, other times hypersexualising), plus Riyo is written in a way that makes her seem less like an adult and more like a naive child.

Major red flags on this one.

Codywan

A ship that works if written well and respectfully, which is tragically not the case for 99% of times.

Writing Obi-wan as the perfect man with a savior complex that can do no wrong, while Cody is just his basic trophy husband with no personality or skills is... Yikes...

Lets not even talk about all the fetish stuff that goes unchecked half the time. I have seen too much that honest to god rubs me the wrong way.

They say sparsity of actual good content should make it worth more, but in this case I feel like the less good Codywan stuff there is, the more badly written content crops up to fill the void...

#Eps Talks About:#Fan Favourite Ship Opinions #The issues with fetishisation and other such ship content problems #mentions of rexsoka #mentions of foxiyo #It's not just on tumblr either I've seen stuff that I find appalling in other platforms and it's becoming a problem #patchmates

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loopy777 · 3 months

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So from a comercial perspective, do you think either of the two "likely"(it would not shock me if the Rey movie geta canned down the road like so many other SW projects) star wars movies are likely to be successes?

No doubt the sequel to rise of skywalker is Dead on arrival, but I think the mandalorian movie might be able to.

Honestly i was shocked when Ahsoka(which i wasn't a particular big fan of) wasn't a smash hit with viewers just looking at the numbers. I guess apathy really has set in at this point.

But what do you, a guy who actually likes disney star wars think? Can the mandalorian movie beat the overall apathy, or will it be a bomb?

Well, let's all note that I'm terrible at predicting commercial success. I wouldn't have expected that keeping Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield out of the advertising would have resulted in the highest grossing Spider-Man movie of all time.

But I think both of these Star Wars movies have the chance of succeeding.

However, I think the Rey movie is a big gamble. The character and actress were well-received initially, and I honestly don't have a solid idea of how much of a failure 'Rise of Skywalker' was as far as general audiences go. Yeah, it didn't make the money that was expected of it and less than the previous sequel movies, but it still was an overall success financially. And the prequels demonstrated the phenomenon where the movies are accepted blindly by kids who grow up to tout them as artistic tour de forces. By the time this movie comes out, the 12-year-olds who ate up the loudness of RoS might be college students looking to reclaim something from their childhood.

On the other hand, RoS has become the face of Disney's hubris (even though 'Solo: ASWS' is more emblematic of the bland, sloppily written stuff we're getting these days and it came out first) and the cultural narrative around it casts it as an inarguable disaster. (I agree with that narrative, as a reminder. I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen.) And even before it's come out, this new Rey movie is landing in the crosshairs of the bigot-fueled culture wars stuff that's dominating youtube and utterly exhausting the sane half of the fandom. It's possible most people who might otherwise be enthusiastic will just not want to think about the movie with that kind of cloud around it.

So there's potential there for great gain, but also potential for great loss. Perhaps it will average out, a middling success that no one talks about afterward, the Star Wars equivalent of Ant-Man 2.

But there's no doubt in my mind that the Mando movie is going to be a big hit unless something goes very wrong (although I doubt that Grogu's name will still be in the final version of the title). People love Baby Yoda. They always have and they always will. It doesn't matter that Mando Season 3 got a mixed reaction; the main dynamic of the title characters is still beloved, the series provides a perfect formula for a blockbuster movie (specifically: pick a Kurosawa movie and remake it in space -- my vote is for 'Yojimbo'/'A Fistful of Dollars,' but 'The Hidden Fortress' would be a hilarious pick), and Pedro Pascal is currently pretty popular. This movie is as close to a guaranteed hit as is possible in movie-making.

My overall perspective is that people aren't tired of or apathetic to Star Wars. They're just bored of the typical Disney+ formula of a weakly-scripted miniseries that requires 200 hours of TV-watching homework in order to understand it and is mainly relying on a mix of nostalgia and good-for-TV special effects to sell itself. That reaction is hitting Marvel as well- and entertainment in general, given the performance of the entire movie industry this year. The initial success of 'The Mandalorian' is proof of that: when it was an episodic Space Western with a cute sidekick, people loved it, but when it tried to do real narrative stuff and positioned itself as a partial sequel to Clone Wars and Rebels, people cooled on it. And its big successful start was amidst both Solo and RoS underwhelming, so it bucked that trend very easily.

Basically, I see people proving themselves as discerning. They have their tastes and peculiarities, but it's becoming less and less about the brand. Even good actor performances aren't enough to save them if the actor has nothing solid to do.

I just wish I knew what brought this on!

Because 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' is a weakly-scripted mess of a movie that coasts on brand-recognition and gives great actors nothing much to do besides play the hits. And people loved that!

Basically, I might just know nothing.

It would be nice if these movies are good, though.

#thekingofwinterblog

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rebelsofshield · 1 year

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Favorite moment in each Star Wars movie?

I've been loving these questions lately! Not sure if you're all the same anon or multiple folks, but regardless, I really appreciate them.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

I mean, how can it not be the Duel of the Fates? The music! The ridiculous but fun as hell acrobatic choreography! The drama! I love the Prequel Trilogy when it feels the most operatic and that's definitely the case here.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Attack of the Clone is my least favorite live action Star Wars film. I think it has some great ideas, but it was rough in 2002 and visually it looks uglier with each passing year. That being said, I still find the arena battle on Geonosis to be fun as hell. There's just something special about throwing these Jedi, droids, flying termite people, giant alien monsters, Mandalorian bounty hunters, and eventually drop ships of clone troopers up against each other in a dusty coliseum that scratches a very special fantasy action itch.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Ian McDiarmid's delightfully evil performance in Revenge of the Sith is one of my favorite things in all of Star Wars and his triumphant speech that fully transforms the Republic into the fascist Galactic Empire is incredible. Add in John Williams's tragic choral score and Padme Amidala's tearful admittance of democracy's defeat at the hands of authoritarianism and you have movie magic and what might be my favorite moment from the Prequel Trilogy.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

I have the least opinions about Solo: A Star Wars Story of any Star Wars film. It's a solidly fine film that does little to impress or offend for most of its run time. The one area where I really feel the movie spark to life though is the first meeting between Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian and Alden Ehnrenreich's Han Solo over a game of Sabacc. Both actors bring such a fun spark to these characters that feels original but still connected to the long shadow of their original counterparts. It's also the best directed sequence in the film and maybe the only moment that leans into the space crime comedy that Solo seemed desperate to achieve.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This is maybe an odd choice, but I love the first scene of Rogue One. I find most of this spin off film to be a little bit impersonal and sterile until we get to the big explosive (and admittedly fun) finale, but the opening confrontation between Orson Krennic and Galen Erso is really great. Gareth Edwards shoots it all with a grounded naturalism that feels tense and eerie in a way Star Wars films rarely are and Madds Mikkelson and Ben Mendehlson have such strong, dramatic chemistry. It's a moment that communicates so much about the relationship between these two men with so little and is really the storytelling high point of the film.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

It's honestly a testament to how great the last half hour of A New Hope is that despite the fact that I've seen this movie likely more than any other movie in existence, I still find myself on the edge of my seat. Even thinking about the final stretch of Luke flying his X-Wing down the Empire's trench while Vader gains ever closer and closer still gives me chills. I cannot imagine the cheers that must have erupted in theaters across the world in the summer of 1977 when Han makes his surprise last minute rescue. It's just incredible film making on every level and I don't know if it'll ever be surpassed.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Picking a favorite moment in The Empire Strikes Back is such a hard task, but I keep finding myself going back to the brilliant confrontation between Luke and Vader in Cloud City. Not only is it a beautifully shot and choreographed lightsaber duel, but it contains some of the most influential and emotionally devastating character beats in the saga. It's another instance of absolutely peak Star Wars.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Even with the beyond silly "NO!" dubbed over in the recent releases of Return of the Jedi, Vader's final rejection of Palpatine to rescue his son is still one of the moments of saga that can move me to tears despite having seen it dozens of times. There's just such incredible catharsis in this final reconciliation between father and son and it closes the best arc of the Original Trilogy off in such satisfying faction.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

I wholeheartedly think that the first thirty minutes or so of The Force Awakens are absolutely masterful filmmaking and arguably the best work of JJ Abrams's directorial career. While the opening battle sequence does a wonderful job of introducing some of the movie's cast, it's really Rey's mostly wordless introduction that felt instantly spellbinding and still wows me to this day. In several gorgeous minutes we learn so much about this lonely woman who scavengers to survive in the wreckage of classic franchise iconography (one of the Sequel Trilogy's many beautifully meta moments) and John Williams's crafts what is easily one of the best Star Wars themes of all time with a tinkling of wonder and mystery.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Like The Empire Strikes Back, picking a single moment that's my favorite in The Last Jedi is incredibly difficult. While there are undeniably rough patches, The Last Jedi has an abundance of absolutely iconic Star Wars scenes. I mean: Paige Tico's sacrifice; the throne room confrontation with Kylo, Rey, and Snoke; Luke and Yoda's discussion about the meaning of the legacy of the Jedi; the Holdo maneuver, Leia and Luke's reunion, the ending shot of Broom Boy. There's so many beats that I find myself wowed by over half a decade after the movie first premiered. But, my favorite has to be Kylo and Luke's Kurosawa inspired duel on the salt plains of Crait. I love the tense, minimalist choreography and stellar performances by Adam Driver and Mark Hamill, but I love the ending reveal the most. It completes Luke's wonderfully complex character arc in truly beautiful fashion.

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

It's absolutely the Force Flash Duel. Little competition. Yes, this movie is a mess and it fails to meet imost of its emotional, thematic, or mythological goals, but I think the evolution of Rey and Kylo's connection in the Force expanding into a confrontation that literally spills across space and time is such a smart and inventive idea and to me it feels like the most creatively successful moment in the film. Also it's the only time in the whole trilogy that we see Kylo duel with his mask on? Which feels important even if I'm not sure why.

#Star Wars #asks #ask box #anons #anonymous #commentary #review #reviews

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purityandbeans · 1 year

Text

okay,, but.

1) lore/worldbuilding:

this is The reason i watch the mandalorian. I've seen most of the star wars movies, i watched a Small amount of the clone wars, but the Meat of the General Star Wars lore i'm consuming Is in fact from the mandalorian. And what can i say? it's there. It delivers. There sure fuckin are these pterodactyl-lookin dragon-things on this random unnamed desert planet. (is it named? fuck if i know). but more importantly, this sure is the way this group of people Interacts. There are habits and patterns they weave through in their day to day that are foreign to me, there are traditions they hold to and yeah, they may be impractical. They may even highlight Roadblocks that prevent their society from Functioning like the one i live in. If i could not cook someone a meal and see them enjoy it, i Would in fact scream. So much. There's a lot of worldbuilding and lore dumping in the mandalorian. Shallow, matter-of-fact things such as "hey yeah, there's at least one mythosaur on mandalore" to more inference-based things, such as "hey yeah when you're petitioning the covert, it is your turn to speak when you hold the armorer's hammer". Long story short, it's there. It delivers. It is the main attraction for me, and by God does it deliver.

2) cinematography

now i'm gonna be frank - i know Nothing about filming shit. Nothing. What i do know about is making shit up based on Vibes so you sound like you have a point. The camerawork in the mandalorian Definitely exists. It is There and it gets the story across and i have Some issues with it - but it's more pacing and probably belongs in category 3) writing, except i already know that that shit's gonna be long and i Don't want to exacerbate it more than i have to. There is too much combat per episode in season 3 than there strictly Needs to be. I get that mandalorians fight, i get that like. So much of their culture is built around that and that so long ago in the sith wars or whatever they invaded the rest of the galaxy and there were crusades and it was a Whole Thing. But (and i know it wasn't) it *feels* like either half of each episode is eaten by "oh we gots to fight, here is how we go fight, here is the fight" with various "surprise, fight time!"s sprinkled in. It just gets to be gratuitous and unnecessary and yeah, it may be the only relevant to the story thing happening in the lives of the mandalorian(s) at the time - but there are ways *around* that. My personal favorite is, if your character isn't by themselves telling a compelling story, you can shift the pov to a new character and show how the otherwise predictable plot affects them - and shift back later. They kind of do a similar thing by interspersing a second, loosely related plot with the first - but they're too loosely related and it feels jarring to swap back and forth. They're two completely different worlds, two completely different stories, they exist independently from one another and it leaves us with a kind of mystery getting chopped up by all the mandalorian action and stuff that would be Otherwise dropped to tell a concise narrative - were the show not originally about it. so we'll use that to segue into...

3) writing

the writing in the third season of the Mandalorian isn't about anything. Yet. Ok, it's about Din Djarin going to mandalore and finding a new home for his covert and in the case of bo katan it's about finding purpose - but that arc has pretty much sailed and we're back to square one with "what is the moral". In season one, the large takeaway i got was "no matter your lot in life, you can still function with a moral compass". In season two, it was about finding purpose in family. Season three is about... mandalorians. There is no consistent moral or theme to tie things together. There is no emotional pull or weight, there is nothing to invest us emotionally beyond "hey look, grogu does cute flip and Paz is a dad." and "damn i sure hope these mandalorians don't die in their next fight."

Because of this dearth of a theme, and to have some emotional investment in the story, the story has a second main plot. I don't want to call it a side plot, because it takes a Significant amount of runtime and only Loosely relates to the main plot involving the mandalorian covert. But it has this second main plot in which a Friend of moff gideon's is slowly fucking with shit and doing spy things in the new republic's requisitions office, and it's a compelling story. I very much enjoy how the main character of it is someone we see through many side characters' eyes - it paints them as distant and cold and calculating and is the Perfect setup for some behind the scenes villain shit and i am Here for it. We got to see her get close to someone she Knew could easily become a threat and then essentially kill him to protect her own back. Was both good writing and good characterization.

And especially with the end of the latest episode being "hey, mandalorians abducted moff gideon" - I can see how the two plots fit together down the road. But it's a Real fuckin stretch right now, and as i mentioned before - it's Very jarring.

What else is jarring is dialogue choices. Every episode has one or two lines that have stood out to me as "inorganic" and by god this last was no exception. In the aforementioned scene the episode ends on, the last line (or pretty close to) is something along the lines of "Do you mean that mandalorians took moff gideon?" in response to "hey there's beskar embedded in the fucking wall of this dead in the water prisoner shuttle". Now, there are two problems with this. First, yes. It's beskar. The episode gives no reason to doubt that that's the material. Mandalorians - to my limited knowlesge - are the only group of peoples that Use beskar. If a serious question is to be asked here, it shouldn't be "is it mandalorians?" because, yes. Beskar means mandalorians. That's a stupid question. If you need a question in the script, you could ask "are you sure it's beskar", because beskar is very rare and finding a shard of beskar in some random space shuttle would be Very Odd Indeed and Maybe cause to double check your readings. And if you need to spell it out to your audience that "hey, this means mandalorians took moff gideon", don't frame it as a question, it is demeaning. Have the person say "ah, must be mandalorians then" or something - treating it as a Logical Conclusion rather than a theory to field. Second, if over the equivalent of a phone call there is reason enough to doubt that mandalorians left beskar in the wall, don't ask if it's mandalorians. It's not a logical conclusion. It's juet bad.

4) conclusion

when season 3 picks up, i will be very excited. If it picks up. Which it might not. If it doesn't i will cry. But i don't know where i'm going with this, i think ibjust wanted to gut it a bit because it could be better.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorion spoilers #the mandalorian season 3 #star wars #mandalorian #writing criticism

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