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#there was literally no point for the reylo kiss either like
galactixmlm · 3 years
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So the writers had the balls to make reylo canon but couldnt even make finpoe canon and instead make fin forever pine after rey and poe pine after some chick that he "had history" with who doesnt reciprocate
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black-rose-writings · 3 years
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Reading Siege and Storm because I hate myself
To begin, I’d like to state that this is my first read-through and I only have vague idea of the plot I’ve gathered from fanfics and tumblr posts.
Long post ahead
Chapter 1
So... at first I was like - huh, this isn’t as bad as I thought, but the moment Alina gets introspective, it all goes to hell.
Like, she’s being physically made sick by not using her powers, which is making her feel useless - like, she says, pretty much verbatim: “The only thing I was ever good at was being a Sun Summoner and I’m not that anymore.”
I’m gonna beat those paragraphs over the head of anyone, who says Alina got a good ending.
I’ve also noticed just how often the like “I pushed that thought away” is used and more often than not, it’s used on thoughts that should probably not be pushed away.
Ah, yes, here he comes, my boy Darkles, being the dramatic bitch he always is. We get it, you’re the hot villain, tempting the good and pure heroine away from being good and pure.
And I’m just now realizing how many times in this chapter has Alina lamented their lack of privacy. We have to ensure the reader doesn’t hink she’s *gasp* sleeping with Mal.
Chapter 2
What?
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Alina is tripping balls while being put under by a Heartrender, got it.
Darkling is being the voice of reason, but I’m getting the distinct feeling it won’t last.
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Ivan gets one point, because Alina is in fact a traitor, but he’s also being a cunt, so it doesn’t really count.
Alina at Sturmhond: Do you even care about Ravka?
Me at Alina: Do you?
Chapter 3
“Mermaids are not real”. I’m pretty sure they are in the Grishaverse.
My boy Darkles is still making sense, but Alina is dedicated to being against him just for the hell of it, it seems.
Did this bitch just throw a tantrum, because he told her, what we can assume is the truth? Okay. Like, I get that she’s at best 18, but still. Not exactly the type of protagonist whose head I like being in.
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And in that moment, dozens of smut fics were born.
Chapter 4
Wow, that was quick.
Aaand. What had just happened?
Chapter 5
Sturmhond is a funny bitch, I’ll give him that.
And this entire conversation, it seems like Mal’s entire purpose is to stand behind Alina threateningly and repeat what she said, lol.
I’d like to remind Alina (and LB) that a king in an absolutist monarchy (which is what Ravka appears to be) is very much a tyrant. Don’t make it sound like Ravka didn’t have a tyrant before. And at the very least, my boy Darkles seems pretty competent.
A man calling himself a Storm Dog likes dogs. No shit.
Chapter 6
I hate Mal. Dude, this is your girlfriend, maybe like... listen to her? Don’t bludgeon her with the one other guy she was kinda-sorta with, when you are a well known manwhore?
I don’t know man, I don’t like him.
Everyone: You can’t have more than one amplifier, it’s dangerous.
Alina: Haha, sparkles go brrrr
Chapter 7
In other news, pirates are funny.
Holy shit, they have a plane.
That was... a lot. And we’re crossing the Fold again, yay.
Chapter 8
You feel bad for the Volcra but not for the people you’ve left for dead in the Fold last time? Okay.
Baby Volcra. Am I supposed to say “ew” or “aww”? If I tried doing both at the same time, it would probably sound like one.
Jesus fucking Christ this book is a ride.
Did Alina really just have an “oh no, he’s hot?” moment? *sighs*
Puppy boy has a title longer than Daenerys, jesus.
Alina, my dear, you could have waited for a bit before doing that. There’s like thirty soldier with guns around you and you’ve just punched a prince.
Then again, you’ve never been smart, have you?
Chapter 9
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For once, I completely agree with him. I know you two have lost your one shared braincell on that first crossing of the Fold but still, that was very dumb of you, Alina.
I’m starting to get why people were calling Nikolai “Darkling light”. Definitelly seems appropriate.
Mal, calm the fuck down, that was the least romantic proposal I’ve ever heard and you know it.
You two didn’t even let Alina get a word in for the last page. What right do you have to her, Mal, huh? Nikolai is making sense and you’re being an idiot.
What’s your deal Mal? What the fuck do you want?
And why in the hell are you the endgame love interest?
That’s an awful lot of guilt-tripping you’re doing there, Mal. No need to be pissy about it.
Chapter 10
The bones thing is definitelly yikes.
Saints, Mal, are you on your period or something? Alina doesn’t belong to you. Alina can make her own choices. Get a grip.
“You think I’m like the Darkling?” Yes. The Darkling isn’t all bad. You’re at war. No need to get your panties in a twist over a few fingers.
Oh, look, Alina has a cult now, nice.
Chapter 11
Your “dad” is a rapist, Nikolai. Quite possibly a pedo. He got exactly what he deserved.
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I’d go for the second option. Especially after that stunt. Jesus, you could have asked her beforehand.
At least Darkles had the decency to make out with her in private.
Also like... why is every single person in this series so far an asshole?
Chapter 12
We meet the King again, unfortunately.
Alina gets Darkles’s old job.
This should be a total disaster, but let’s see where it goes anyway.
Chapter 13
Alina’s nuts, yay.
(I know they have a Force-bond-thingy. I also know they did it before Reylo did.)
Chapter 14
Oh boy, Alina’s not doing as bad as I thought.
For the 100th time in this book, I wish I had Nikolai’s confidence. Though it is getting a bit too much.
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Puppy boy is dropping some truth bombs. Nice.
But he doesn’t realize that my boy Darkles has very good reasons to not align with Fjerdans - a) they think he’s a demon and b) they want Grisha dead.
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I’m not gonna say she was, but like... the monarchy is very much corrupt.
Oh, boy, Baghra. This one’s gonna go well.
Yep, Baghra’s as pleasant as ever.
So... Baghra’s plan in book 1 really had been to just have Alina run away and hope for the best? Jesus Christ, lady. I’m not saying she deserved to have her eyes taken away, but she is definitelly a trash person and I’m not surprised her son turned out the way he did.
Also, I’m fairly certain that Baghra is literally slowly killing herself - that the reason she looks so old and frail is because she’s started to supress her power and it’s literally killing her, because, you know, she’s bonkers old.
Chapter 15
Nerd Alina > Self-pitying Alina
Also, I’m just saying, Alina comments on Zoya being attractive a whole lot - I get that she’s meant to be insecure, but I’m interpreting it as her being gay, because I need some happiness in my life, okay?
Just kill the sleazy old Rasputin-wanna-be. There’s plenty of them to go around in this series.
Chapter 16
Vasily takes after his father in creep factor.
Why not the Darkling being courted by a horny prince? Be a bit creative.
Chapter 17
Nikolai has big ADHD energy and I love him for it. Fits right in with the heavily autism-coded Fabricators.
*sighs at heteronormativity again*
*sighs at improper gendering of titles*
Date night with Mal. This is gonna be a disaster, isn’t it?
Chapter 18
Fun night of cultural appropriation, yay.
I hate cultists.
LET. ALINA. GO. FERAL. Please.
You two are going to give me a headache, I swear.
Darkles cockblocking Alina. And Malice threw a tantrum. Nice.
Chapter 19
You’re way too harsh on Genya, Alina.
Horny Alina rights.
They have a laser, now. Cool. Or, well, enormously hot.
Mal is being a drunk a-hole. Great. When does he become likable? Does he ever?
Banter between Mal and Alina? Kinda weird, always somehow comes back to either of them being insecure.
Banter between Alina and Nikolai? I’m all for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a Darklina trash, but like... Nikolai is fun. I could see him and Alina having an arranged political marriage and ending up falling in love years into it, that’s all I’m saying.
Chapter 20
Just let this one go, Alina, please. You two are not working out. Please, end it with him. You’ll both probably be happier. (I’m saying this with the full knowledge that Malina is endgame).
Jesus Alina, get your shit together. You have every right to be mad, because you two didn’t actually break up, you didn’t kiss Nikolai and also, I don’t like Mal.
Sooo... when is Alina going to realize her manchild of a boyfriend is an amplifier?
Chapter 21
Alina has the horny sickness, lol.
Jesus Christ, girl, I don’t want to read your vaguely suicidal thoughts.
Mal, you fucking idiot.
Alina, stop defending Mal.
Chapter 22
Alina has a logical thought? Impossible.
Finally, some action.
Chapter 23
Oh, boi, this is going great.
Oh, boi, Alina’s having another martyr moment.
And, we’re done.
Finally.
That was a ride. Nothing really happens for like ten chapters and then everything happens in one and a half.
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itspileofgoodthings · 4 years
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HI HELLO
Welcome to another installment of “Maria over-analyzes gifs and reylo micro-expressions” because over-analyzing, reylo, and micro-expressions are LITERALLY my favorite things on the planet. This over-analyzing is incredibly intense and microscopic so consider yourself warned. Let me invite you to not be weirded out though and just go with it! Life is short.
(I’d say this is the fault of quarantine and our fraught climate but it’s not. I’m always like this.)
Let us begin with this moment.
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How. HOW. Is there this much happening in a gif?? Only because of these two amazing actors. What a blissful moment.
First of all there is Daisy’s smile—beautifully coinciding with her saying his name, like the smile and the name HAVE to go together. It’s such an open smile and it feels both full of an understated certainty—she says his name with such certainty—and such soft surprise. She! Is! So! Happy! Here! In a way she never demanded or saw coming!!
Secondly, her hand against his face. It’s hesitant and tentative and a little questioning and so incredibly gentle. She’s trying to process that he’s here, asking if it’s really him, if—after all this time—it means what she thinks it means. (IT DOES. KILL ME.)
Then there’s the expression on her face when the camera is on his face. Obviously you can’t see it full on but you can see her look down, like she can’t quite hold his gaze completely but then you can see her smile again when she looks back up. Rey...........doesn’t smile that often and here she literally can’t stop smiling. She can’t hold his gaze but she also can’t stop smiling. I love it.
Now moving on to his face. I can’t believe the way his face transforms between the moment when she’s not touching his face and the moment she is. His face absolutely alters at her touch, the previous intense love and concern suddenly suffused with happiness. If Rey rarely smiles, Ben has never up to this point looked happy AT ALL. And this moment is the moment when it really starts to wash over him like a wave. It’s still a little bit disbelieving—I feel like you can see him asking his own “is this real”—but he’s also welcoming in the moment and the happiness with his whole soul. It is. A lot. It is. SO MUCH. AHHHHHHH. I NEED A MINUTE OR SEVEN HOURS.
Also like, not to get overly detailed or weird about this—too late! It’s why I’m here!—but I love the way his eyes sort of rove over her face. It’s a look that we always have when we’re looking at something we love as intensely as we can, trying to take in every detail, trying to remember it. It’s a moment that has such hunger in it and I don’t mean just sexual desire. I mean I don’t not mean i guess, but it’s the purest, highest form of it. This moment shows you what that desire is in its purest form. And what it is is just. LOVE. Body and soul. Desire for the whole person. It’s the way it SHOULD be. I weep.
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OKAY SO!! Rey can’t stop smiling here either!! And also looks down again!!! I just need to point that out!!!!! (Also I’ve read a lot of people say that they think she’s saying something here which maybe? That kind of makes sense! But I also think that she could really just be smiling and also trying to sort of deal with The Way He Is Looking At Her!!!!!!)
I love his expression here. It goes from the most peaceful tenderness—seriously Kinda wish I could freeze frame the very first second of this gif because he looks sooooo contented—to a SERIOUS face journey that I can only describe as love and intense worry??!?!? Like he’s definitely asking a question here and I actually don’t think it’s “can I kiss you?” as much as a cross between “are you sure you’re alright” and “do you know how much I love you?? do you know what you mean to me??” It is a LOT to handle, friends. A LOT.
Also wanna point out that these Two Looks are bridged by an almost smile??? He still hasn’t fully smiled but there’s a smile in the in-between moment of these two expressions that is a smile of friendship, almost, like he’s saying “can you believe we’re here and NOT trying to kill each other” and this might be a stretch—I say, on the post about analyzing facial expressions—it’s a little wry, in true solo fashion. His father’s son, indeed.
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This is basically an extension of the same moment on his part so I will merely add that if I had to point out a different meaning in his expression from the last gif it would be that this one has maybe a touch more of fear, just that question that’s still on his mind that’s asking if he is actually good enough. (Love how the smile keeps trying to break through though.)
Now I Must point out three things happening with Rey!!
1) she looks down AGAIN! And yes I know that’s a pretty normal thing and that people don’t maintain unbroken eye contact all the time but also HE IS!! And it’s just cute that she’s still !! like!!! Trying to deal!!! Imagine being looked at like that. Can’t relate but seems both Fun and like A Lot To Deal With.
2) her hand is increasingly steadier against his face, not as floating, not as questioning as it was, more thoughtful, more clearly possessive
3) the smile is gone and that’s because she is Thinking About Kissing Him
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Et voila!
Obviously Rey’s face is the Big Player Here. It is a beautiful moment of hesitance but not, I would like to point out, one where she’s asking “do I want to do this” but almost a practical hesitance, a kind of steeling herself moment, a “I’ve never done this/I have some tactical decisions to make” kind of moment. There IS still a touch of “do I want to do this” of course, and I love thinking about how this is an extension of her whole long arc of running from romance and running from him, that comes down to this tiny beat of hesitance but mostly this is a moment of gathering resolution and courage. ALSO now that I think about it she too has a moment like his that’s like “can’t believe I’m really doing this, who would have thought” in that flicker of a smile that crosses her face. This is Some quality acting. And THE BALANCE IT IMPLIES. AHHH.
Other things to note. Obviously it’s so important that 1) he stays so still until he’s fully certain she’s chosen it and 2) he rises to meet her kiss before it’s even fully there. I just. It means a lot to me on a character level and I WILL cry if I think about it and also i feel overwhelmed and shy about this moment and do not want to cheapen it with words so we are going to speed on to the next moment but not before I say that I love this kiss because it is, on the whole, quick and simple and decisive and understated. It’s a beautiful contrast to their whole journey up to this point, which is very long and lingering and slow in terms of gazes and Moments. This is just So Simple and Pure and Certain and it happens fast. Some movies (actors) would have overplayed the hesitance or newness of it but they don’t. Because they do know and love each other. And this IS right and I love that and I cry.
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Skipping ahead to this moment because there are no faces to analyze (and gosh darn I have to give them some privacy and just let SOME moments be just theirs)
I love: Rey’s sigh of relief, her breathing out moment that breaks the kiss, her hand now firmly against his face, and also just literally how cute and young Daisy looks from the back. AHHHHHH. So pure.
Ben’s face here—man. It gets me. To be honest I think this is the saddest his face looks in the whole sequence. This IS a moment of sadness for him and I think you can see it. It is very pure though, detached from anger or any kind of selfishness. It is, as I have said many times, a moment of almost-teenaged starry-eyed softness and it is sad. It is almost thoughtful, a moment that is one of Taking In what just happened and what it means. And at the same time that I think this moment is teenaged—he looks SO young here—I also think you can kind of see a window into the man he is and also the husband he would have been as he got older and spent a lifetime with her. Yeah it’s okay. You can cry about that loss. I’m crying tbh. And maybe finally processing some of the grief of him losing the fullness of a human life. It IS a loss and a real one that he didn’t get to live for and even more importantly with her, that this is his first and last kiss with her and not the first of many. I think we can see that on his face here, see it in his eyes in this moment.
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But here we are. (I’m going to start “backwards” and keeping going with Ben first bc it makes sense.) Ben in both true Solo fashion and true Ben fashion, doesn’t mourn long. Delight, full delight, that’s been brimming under the surface this entire scene but hasn’t quite broken through yet, breaks through here. It’s—look, poets have written about moments like these. If I were a poet, I’d write a sonnet on this moment but I’m not so let me flail about for a second anyway. It breaks over him like a wave and this moment isn’t just a smile, it’s a LAUGH. And it’s transformative. Chelsea (northgalis on Twitter I believe) wrote a stunning meta on this moment and what it means for him in terms of his whole journey, talking about how this is the moment where the spell breaks and the mask Ben has been wearing on his face fully shatters and we see The Boy he should have been and GOT TO BE here in all his beautiful, joyous glory. She broke the curse here; all suffering and tortured anxiety falls away in this moment.
And it is boyish!! When I first watched this moment I was crying so hard I couldn’t breathe struck by how boyish he looks here! It isn’t what I expected; it took me by such beautiful surprise and I suppose it’s why in the end his death hurt me so much less than I thought it would. Because his story Is so deeply that of a boy and this is the Fullness of that, a moment he had that does make up for everything, for every kind of suffering. To me, a moment CAN recompense for a lifetime of sorrow. To me that is the secret of joy and of love. But now’s not the time for a meta on that—that’s part of an essay i need to write later and also I know it’s not why everyone is here.
Let’s get back to analyzing on a more technical level! Back to his smile.
I love the way Adam chose to play it. There is no danger of it being “cringey” because of the way he plays it—and on paper this really could have been. It’s the most Han-like moment to me. That almost reckless, almost cheeky, good-hearted joy. It’s a very skillfully played moment, just on a technical level. It’s High Difficulty and he pulls. It. Off. Is my point.
And Rey’s face. (Yes we’re still talking about the above gif. Let me add it again so you don’t have to scroll up.)
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Rey’s face here is PERFECT TO ME. Truly a top five Rey/Daisy Ridley face moment for me. I love that her smile fades as his grows. I know some people found it odd or upsetting but I love it. They always hold each other in balance and this is no exception. She settles back into herself in this moment. She is so relieved that she kissed him and that it went okay, she’s relieved that her Arc of struggling against him over and!!!! in the beautiful give-and-take they never fail to display I think this is HER moment of processing loss. She looks at him with such tenderness here. Rey is not tender like Ben is; she certainly does not show it on her face in the same bleeding-heart, utterly open way he does. She’s so much quieter about it. But this breath of relief? This moment of grave stillness? That’s Rey saying that he is fully hers now. I love it so much.
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And finally—my header. The Best Moment???? The BEST moment!! You can see the laugh even more here. His face is ALL LINES IN THIS MOMENT. Smile line, eye crinkles—I just can’t. He’s just utterly blissful here. I want to say he is grateful but that would feel like he was trying to be and he’s not!! There is no processing here, or trying. It has all sunk in—romance, Rey, the kiss, what this all means—and this is his response. Only joy. Nothing but joy. A life of pain and hurt and this is where he ends up. Yeah you better believe I’m crying!!!
Also let me point out. Rey does NOT break the gaze here—and Ben does. The BALANCE. Always the balance. KILL ME. What I love about this moment is that it IS Rey’s moment “to look at him and love him” and let those moments be the same thing. (cc: match) She is looking at him here Unflinchingly with none of her earlier shyness or embarrassment and how right it is that we don’t get to see it. Rey, always private, always quiet, has always loved Ben where we can’t quite see it, in the deepest, most private corners of her heart. But he can feel it and he can see it and that’s really all that matters in the end.
My final, final, final thought is that I love her hand against his face here, gently proprietary, I believe I once called it. It is her way of treasuring him, memorizing his smile and this moment forever and it also says “Reader, he’s mine. I married him.”
And between the first gif in this set and the last, she did.
Thanks for reading!
*credit to @benandreykissed​ for the beautiful gifs! 
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dalekofchaos · 3 years
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How Disney/Lucasfilm failed Finn and John Boyega
A rant about my continued frustration on how Lucasfilm/Disney failed Finn and John Boyega
John Boyega’s Finn was setup as the male lead and co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy. That’s not an opinion, that’s not a headcanon, that’s a literally fact. He was set up to be equal with Rey & Kylo’s foil and we all know why that changed.
John Boyega was cast as the male and co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy by JJ Abrams, who had to fight for John Boyega to be cast against the preferred (White) casting choices.
Originally Finn(Sam in the original treatment) was white
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Majority from Okiro’s twitter thread exposing Lucasfilm’s hypocrisy when it comes to representation and black history
JJ Abrams told Finn he was the new star of Star Wars
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In The Force Awakens. Finn was a Stormtrooper who defected. After witnessing the death of his friend Slip and seeing the innocents being killed, Finn made the decision to save Poe Dameron and leave The First Order. Finn only wanted to leave The FIrst Order and run away. But after meeting Poe and later Rey, Finn began to care for more than himself. Finn was mentored by Han Solo. For once, he had a father figure and a positive role model as opposed to people like Hux and Phasma. He learned to care for Rey and even love her. After Starkiller Base destroyed the Hosnian System, Finn realized running was pointless and knew he had to fight. Then Kylo Ren took Rey. Finn went to The Resistance using his time on Starkiller Base to shut down the shield generator and plant the explosives on the thermal oscillator. Finn’s main focus was rescuing Rey. After Kylo force pushes Rey into a tree, Finn faces Kylo Ren. Finn learns to overcome his fears of The First Order and faces the symbolic evil that was Kylo Ren. Although Finn does not win, he puts up a good fight and was put in a coma for daring to defy Kylo. Then they bait and switched us with Rey. I’ll let you read my rant on that.
Finn was the co-protagonist of The Force Awakens, this is evident of Finn’s actions saving everyone. Finn is the very reason why the Resistance is even alive. Finn breaks his life-long brainwashing, informs Rey and Han about the importance of BB-8 and helps out in getting BB-8 to the resistance and provides vital information that lead to the destruction of STB and gets nearly killed while helping to achieve this. If it were not for Finn saving Poe, BB-8 would’ve been scrapped for parts and Rey never would’ve left Jakku. The map would either be destroyed or be in the hands of The First Order. Starkiller Base would’ve destroyed D’Qar and Ach-To. He is the reason why Poe is still alive. He is the reason why BB-8 isn’t parts and Rey left Jakku. Because of leaving Jakku, this is the sole reason why Han and Chewie were able to find the Falcon. And he is the reason why The Resistance was able to find out about Starkiller Base’s weakness. he Helps out in sabotaging STB so that Poe, the very pilot he saved in the beginning can deliver the finishing blow to Starkiller Base and destroy it completely.
There are some missed opportunity in TFA, believe me I know as I feel JJ squandered the theme of Stormtroopers rising up against their oppressors and that crack about Finn being a janitor was so tone deaf and unnecessary. 
Don’t believe me that Finn was meant to be the co-protagonist of the Sequels? Look at the marketing?
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Also. Just look at the hopeful optimism and representation FInn brought to black people.
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Then the racist boycotting happened. The boycott was groups of bigots who wanted the ST to be boycotted. What was the response from Lucasfilm? Zero defense of John Boyega, but their actions were transparent when they shrunk Finn on the TFA poster for fucking China’s sake, kept him off the TLJ teaser poster, and small on the official poster
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I’ll let what Rian Johnson chose to do with Finn speak for itself. John Boyega has every right to hate what Rian did with his character.
By giving into the boycott and doing their best to erase and sideline John Boyega, Lucasfilm proved they would always cater to mob law if the mob was big enough. Do I have proof of this boycott against John Boyega? Yes, I do.
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Also, popular Reylo blogger Jenny Nicholson’s racism against John Boyega
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Reminder that Jenny Nicholson blocked a whole fuckton of Black people who even gently criticized her about how she went after John Boyega
Did Lucasfilm after The Force Awakens try to support their Black lead in any way? No. In fact, they began to erase him harder than ever to the point Fans started a hashtag #WhereIsFinn because it was getting so bad. But Bryan Young, a Lucasfilm writer, sure loved to hate on Finn
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Lucasfilm was so racist, the very concept of a Black man and a white woman getting together sent them into such a frenzy Lucasfilm had to have it removed from any EU material just to make sure they kept it nice and bigot friendly. Also it’s worth noting that Alan Dean Foster was ordered by Lucasfilm/Disney to scrap any hints of Finnrey romance from the TFA novel as he believed that was the direction of the Sequels’ romance and coincidentally they did next to nothing with and we know it was racially motivated. "I expected to see that developed further in Episode VIII [The Last Jedi]," Foster said. "And zero happened with it. And we all know why zero happened with it — and there's no need to go into it in-depth — but that's, sadly, just the way things are."
It wasn’t JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan or Chris Terrio who were against Finnrey. It was Disney and Lucasfilm and RIan Johnson was more than happy to separate Rey and Finn 99% of the movie(he said and did enough things to prove that he didn’t want the two characters even near each other)
Then John spoke about his frustration with how he was treated
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People have tried to twist the narrative or put words in Boyega's mouths, but his GQ interview paints the picture rather clearly. He was sidelined due to his race after The Force Awakens when The Last Jedi came around with a "reordered character hierarchy" Lucasfilm's order btw
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It resulted in Rey and Kylo Ren being featured prominently in both TLJ and TROS. It also resulted in Reylo being canon. Lucasfilm killed the Sequel trilogy, cause they couldn’t bare the thought of a black man in the leading role and a interracial relationship. 
If you look at TFA, you’ll realize that Finn was built up to becoming a Jedi, Kylo’s foil and Rey’s equal. Because TLJ happened, Finn’s role was reduced to a side character and JJ could not make him as prominent as he originally wanted to. EIther studio interference or TLJ screwed everything up so bad that he had to work on it slowly and just hope that Disney + would have something for Finn.
At the start of the trilogy, we all thought people of color would have a prominent role in the new trilogy, there was a potential for the first interracial relationship in Star Wars and there was a potential for the first LGBT relationship in Star Wars. But no, it’s clear that both TLJ and TROS gave us the impression that only white people can be Jedi and only white people can have epic romances and save the galaxy, people of color can only have secondary roles. And the blink and you miss it kiss? Only white women, not two men of color who clearly love each other.
Finn’s best scenes were deleted. 
Finn and the villager. it really shows why Finn chose to leave. Finn’s reasoning for leaving the First Order had nothing to do with being against violence, but a moral confliction of not wanting to hurt defenseless people. This villager wasn’t a soldier, wasn’t trying to hurt him. She was just a woman with her baby. This wasn’t war, this was murder, and Finn refused to be a murderer.
TLJ alternate opening. Opens with Finn waking up. Small change, but it would show that Finn is still a prominent character.
BB-8 shows Finn Rey’s last moment with him. BB-8 tries to cheer Finn up, but to no avail until he shows him a recording of Rey from the end of The Force Awakens - the scene she says goodbye to an unconscious Finn and kisses him on the forehead before leaving to find Luke Skywalker.
Poe gives back his sewn up jacket to Finn. In this deleted scene, Poe fills in the gaps and tries to assuage Finn about his concerns, including Finn's mixed feelings about his relationship with the Resistance. Poe then gives back the jacket that was once his and became Finn's in The Force Awakens, showing Finn that he sewed it up. This scene doesn't necessarily push forward any plot development, but should've remained as great a moment between Finn and Poe. The two characters established a wonderful chemistry and bond in The Force Awakens, and with Finn off on Canto Bight for much of The Last Jedi, fans didn't get to see as much of their relationship as expected. It's nice to see that chemistry and bond again. Finn's question about winning is also interesting in highlighting the constant uphill battle of the Resistance. Even destroying the Starkiller Base, Rey defeating Kylo Ren, and blowing up a Dreadnought can still put the Resistance in the position of fleeing. 
The elevator scene between Finn and an old Stormtrooper friend.  A Stormtrooper voiced by Tom Hardy recognizes Finn and starts talking to him. Finn starts to draw his gun, thinking the Stormtrooper has recognized him as a traitor, but it turns out the Stormtrooper is just surprised to see that FN-2187 has become an officer. The scene may go on for a bit too long, but ultimately it should've stayed in. The scene in the elevator does a great job playing with the audience's emotions, as they're unsure whether the tension will rise to the breaking point of a fight or evolve into a humorous moment. It also shows Finn using restraint by not killing a fellow Stormtrooper, unlike the other two movies.
Phasma’s alternate and BETTER death scene. WHY WAS THIS CUT????? No seriously, WHY WAS THIS FUCKING CUT????? I will never understand why this was deleted. Finn calls her out about her betrayal of lowering the shields and when this information is revealed, the Stormtroopers near her look suspicious and it looks as if they are going to turn on her. Phasma like the ultimate survivalist she is kills them with no hesitation. Finn cuts her hand off and blasts her into the abyss, giving Phasma a more deserving and better send off. Seriously, this is way better than their actual confrontation.  What I really like about this scene is its direct connection to The Force Awakens plot point and that it acknowledges Phasma's survivalist attitude which was introduced into her novel. The Phasma novel and comic portrayed her not as a First Order loyalist, but as a ruthless warrior who did whatever it took to survive. She even went so far as hunting down and doing away with those within the First Order who had knowledge of what she did at the Starkiller Base lest the truth get out. Phasma was always about self-preservation, she wasn't about preserving the First Order, but that never comes across in The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi. It only comes across in this deleted scene where Phasma chooses to end her own Stormtroopers to save herself.
Something else that bothers me. Finn’s treatment in the expanded universe. Have you ever noticed that Poe and Kylo got all the big expanded universe material and Finn is always shoved into the background or not there at all? Even worse, every form of media portrays Finn as Poe's bumbling sidekick, which is even more apparent in TROS. They were more interested in having Poe and Finn being the Abbott and Costello of the ST instead of letting Finn going from Stormtrooper to Jedi and lead a Stormtrooper Rebellion.
In the journey to TROS, Finn is not featured in ANY of the novels or graphic novels for the Journey to TROS. When he was, he was used as Poe’s sidekick and not featured anywhere with Rey. Before the release of the movie, he is not featured whatsoever in any shape or form in marketing. We get to see him in two teasers but he says nothing. His new outfit looks awesome. Finn could’ve been used to rise as a Jedi with Rey and essentially be the Skywalkers that Rise and face Kylo and Palpatine together. If not that, Finn could’ve caused a Stormtrooper Rebellion that burns The First Order from the inside out. Instead of any of that, it Finn was given nothing for this movie. He doesn’t even get to face Kylo Ren, their rivalry as foils was completely dropped. That is sad and heartbreaking.
Seriously, there is no novelizations or comics that expand on Finn’s time in The First Order. Sure, there is Before The Awakening. But consider this. Finn was their best Stormtrooper, so good that Hux considered him Captain material.
There is so much potential with Finn in the Expanded Universe. Apply all the posts I’ve linked and more.
The Poe Dameron comics were not about Poe’s life, they were about his personality, skills, character, and the Resistance. So I ask, why can’t/couldn’t the same have been done with Finn pre TFA? A comic series exploring his character while world building the First Order.
There is so much to tell. You could start with Finn vividly remembering his family and how he was abducted and recruited for the FN Corps.
You could even show the ruthlessness of The First Order by showing initiation for the FN Corps is only granted by forcing the children to kill each other in a Hunger Games/Battle Royale to see who the strongest and who deserves to be welcomed to the First Order. This would be in separate groups of the children who are abducted to determine who gets to be put in the FN Corps. We could see Phasma returning to the room, only to see a young Finn covered in blood and dried up tears. Phasma will only say “Welcome to The First Order, FN-2187.”
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how Finn, a brainwashed soldier broke free of his mental conditioning, learned the truth of the FO yet still tried to be a good soldier. It could flesh out his relationship with the squad he led, as well as Phasma and Hux.
It could’ve also showcased the brotherhood and friendship Finn had with  FN-2199 (“Nines”), FN-2000 (“Zeroes”), and FN-2003 (“Slip”).
The biggest thing it could do is finally show Finn’s skills as a soldier, his brains, while giving so much needed world building First Order. We could also finally show what it’s like as a FO stormtrooper from a sympathetic POV.
Through the avenue of a Finn comic series you could also flesh out Hux, Phasma, Nines, Zeroes, Slip, and even characters like Kylo and Snoke. It doesn’t have to cover spoilers, just make the one note more dimensional while giving Finn so overdue respectful content
It could end with everyone asking Finn “what was the moment you decided to leave” which then we would see the TFA deleted scene of Finn in the village 
It could end on Finn saying "I was raised to do one thing, I used to think I’ve got nothing to fight for, but now I have something worth fighting for.“
And afterwards. You could show Finn and Jannah working together to liberating the other Stormtroopers. The first person they rescue? Zeroes, FInn’s last surviving Squad Member and together they awaken and liberate their brothers and sisters and all the while Finn rises up and becomes a Jedi!
For those wondering what about Finn in TROS? I’ll let this video do all the talking
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I’d also like to point out. Finnrey WAS going to happen in TROS. Here’s confirmation by Jedipaxis, the main reddit leaker, who was right about everything before the films release, confirmed that Finn’s “i never told you” line was supposed to have some payoff and it was going to end with finn and rey holding hands. could this pic have been of the alternate ending? then reshoots happened and we got the Reylo kiss
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I’m convinced that John Boyega was told by the higher ups to say Finn was meant to say he was “Force Sensitive” no one who is about to die would “always want to tell you” they were force sensitive. 
Hell, even in the original Episode IX by Colin Trevorrow. Duel Of Fates. Finn was given the shaft again. For some unknown reason, Rey is paired with Poe, a character who barely interacts with Rey at all. Finn was given another sidequest to do. The only brightside for Finn is he participates in retaking Corruscant and a Stormtrooper Rebellion near the end. 
Finn, who was once held in prominence as the co-protagonist alongside Rey. Was erased from how prominent he once was and reduced to a sidecharacter due to China and fanbacklash that there was going to be a black lead in Star Wars. Disney caved in to the racist backlash and caved into China’s racist demands. 
Finn deserved to be a main character alongside Rey, while Kylo Ren is their villain. He deserved a good character development, a great arc, an interesting backstory. he had the potential to become one of the most epic star wars characters. TLJ and TROS was an insult for him and he deserved better. nobody will EVER change my mind.
Finn should’ve been a Stormtrooper turned Jedi who embraced the light, while Kylo Ren who was the Skywalker who rejected the light and embraced the dark. Rey should’ve been Luke’s daughter, while Finn is the Jedi who builds himself up from being a Stormtrooper from nowhere to Jedi and together Rey and Finn stop Kylo Ren and bring down The First Order and rebuild The Jedi!
Finn should have been a Stormtrooper turned Jedi.  It doesn’t matter that you think it tells a better story for him to not be a Jedi. “Finn being a hero who is not a Jedi is important.” Poe and Rose are great examples of ordinary heroes coming from nowhere. Rey was supposed to be a jedi related to Skywalker or Kenobi legacy while Finn was the perfect “nobody from nowhere” that becomes a Jedi. And honestly, Black kids deserved to see themselves in the Black Jedi and black kids deserved to see themselves as one of the three protagonists of the trilogy.
Finn got no last name No theme Was sidelined in the trilogy Had his scenes cut Mocked by Lucasfilm employees Racially harassed by bigots and media outlets Disney used while staying silent and then Disney has the nerve to say they “stand” with John Boyega during the BLM movement and celebrated Finn during black history month despite squandering him....
Finn deserved better, period!
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reallybadfeeling · 3 years
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A Very Smutty FanFic Rec List 2021 - 1st Trimester
So, I promised I would do this back in January and here we are, me exposing all of my kinks preferences... OH BOI! Fair warning: most of these fics have warnings that you should pay attention to (like I said, all of the kinks). I tried to put here the most important ones, but be sure to check out the complete list on each fic. Other than that, enjoy the smoking hot smut!
Star Wars Sequels
-caught in the headlights by jeeno2 Rey/Ben Solo - 7.501 words - Rating E - Workplace Sex, D/s undertones
I started January with a weird fixation with Rey and Ben having voyeuristic tendencies. I was actually searching for something different (you’ll get to that later), and I ended up on the “sex in the office” tag. If I had to mention what is good with this one, I would say Ben being slightly dominant and having a fixation with Rey’s tits (which, when does he not?). Also, the build up is just as good as the actual dirty part.
-you look good on your knees by mandosslut Rey/Kylo Ren - 6.476 words - Rating E - D/s undertones, voyeurism, exhibitionism, throne sex
I mentioned this with the previous fic, but originally I was searching for the tag throne sex. I’m a sucker for that kind of voyeuristic/exhibitionism tag. Not a lot of fic with the thrones sex specifically tho. It's just my luck that there were a couple of very good ones. Like, this fic. If you're searching something that isn’t too focused on the build up and just gets to the good bit, this is it.
-Wet and Wild by ladyofreylo Rey/Ben Solo - 5.221 words - Rating E - Sex Worker, Workplace Sex, Daddy Kink
What can I say, you guys? I spiraled into the office sex tag after failing to find thrones sex. The title truly says it all! This fic also leans into the "getting caught doing dirty stuff where you are not supposed to" and it's just *chef kiss*. A healthy dose of good old daddy kink just ties a pretty bow and makes this perfection.
-Lockdown by someonesbeenhere Rey/Ben Solo - 4.980 words - Rating E - Phone Sex, Voyeurism, Mutual Masturbation
Yet again, the title pretty much is a HUGE warning that there’s mentions of the pandemic (and no, I didn't read this when I was sick with the ‘rona; I actually wouldn't read this again after being sick myself, so you have been warned). ANYWAY, I think the build up is what I liked about this fic, and the ending is cute as fuck. Also, the smut in the middle is hot.
Star Wars Prequels
-The Red Right Hand by Himoskywalker Obi-Wan/Anakin - 5.679 words - Rating E - Sith AU, Public Sex, Humiliation, Exhibitionism, (TW: Unhealty Relationships/Possessive behavior)
SO. Remember how I was obsessed with throne sex? And voyeurism/exhibitionism? A month after I thought I was over it, while for something with both Anakin and Obi-Wan as Sith I landed on this. And this proved that throne sex is not something I am into only for Reylo fics! Let me tell you, this was so good that the only thing that might have made it better, was a sequel. Maybe with mentions of how Rex treated Anakin after THAT. (I did NOT start to ship Rex/Anakin because of this fic that doesn’t even mention said ship. NOT AT ALL!)
-Avarice and Innocence Series by LittleLynn Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan - 233.525 words - Rating E - Some gore and graphic violence, D/s, hint of dubious consent, and a bunch of other things
Seriously giving a complete disclaimer on tags with this one is kind of impossible. It’s just too long! (Like Qui-Gon’s dong! Too much? Okay, Imma stop there.) I mentioned those that might be big no-nos to be safe, but everything else is mentioned at the start of each chapter. The fic starts with a couple of chapters setting the mood and the universe, but after those, most of the story is focused on Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan banging anytime and anywhere. So even if it’s a long one, it can absolutely be read in bits and pieces when you are in the mood for some nasty stuff. I mean, it literally took me more than a month to finish the main story, and not because it isn't good. It's just that you can easily pick it back up each time you have that "not in the mood for that much banging" feeling that makes you want to take a pause from it. The plot isn’t complicated, you don't need to remember details, but you still want to know how things get from point A to point B, so it's not boring either. I know it's kind of strange to suggest a long for what is basically a list of PWPs, but I assure you that in this specific case, it makes perfect sense for this fic to be here. And if you are not that much into the idea of reading porn with plot (kinda), I would still suggest reading the one-shots related to the main fic! I have yet to read the last 2, but the ones I read are just as good and I honestly think knowing what happens in the main story is not necessary to enjoy them.
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2ndblogg · 3 years
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Hey! Just read your hot take on novel!wangxian and I absolutely agree. I'm gonna have to say here that I believe it boils down to the fetishization of homosexual men in a lot of the fandom culture that surrounds mlm shipping, as you said it's a space for a lot of women to experiment with their desires and whatnot, but I think therein lies the breaking points between reading novel!wangxian as a good, healthy relationship vs. reading it as a very flawed and toxic one. As an LGBT person, reading the way the author dealt with their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable, it just really feels like something that is written by someone who is more invested in using her queer characters for satisfying her and her reader's own pleasure than a well-built, strong relationship between two characters. Not to take away from the novel in some other aspects, I believe that novel!wwx is a much better, much more nuanced character than what he is in cql, but when it comes to wangxian, I think the intentions are very different for each of them. To each their own, I guess, but I do find it very troubling that some people in the fandom have a really hard time admitting that novel wangxian is not even remotely healthy.
Absolutely.
And can I just say how glad it makes me to see that not everyone is praising this book for it’s lgbt representation...
But I guess that’s also why I just occasionally feel the need to scream my frustrations into the void or try to make sense of the novel.
And why I try to be understanding and accepting of people’s opinion of the novel and not take it ‘personally’ (in the sense of sitting there thinking “holy shit this is how they view ME, this is what they think of ME” etc).
I was in fandoms back when they were really a place dominated by straight (homophobic) women and realism or lgbt representation wasn’t on anyone’s mind (and the occasional dude butting in to say that’s not how sex works or bottoming is experienced was ignored or told to get out). I experienced this change to fandoms being more of a lgbt space, of people becoming aware that media can shape your views of groups of people, of people becoming aware of their fetishizing of fictional gays vs. their prejudice against real life lgbt people etc.
And tbh MXTX just writes like one of those, she writes wangxian like everyone wrote their gay relationships around 2005 and earlier; clear power imbalance, clear roles and attributes that are divided into ‘manly’ and ‘feminine’, certain physical attributes (like the female self insert character aka the bottom being pretty and slight and weaker and shorter), men/the penetrating partner can’t really be raped so anything the woman/bottom tries isn’t really ‘bad’, the male love interest is forceful and self centered but ONLY because he’s so in love and since he’s emotionally stunted he has to express that through sex, men/tops NEED sex and it’s rude/mean to deny them that, the girl/bottom isn’t THAT horny or in charge of their own sexuality but wants to please their partner and what they really get out of it is the emotional aspect, decisions need to be made for them because the dude/top just knows better, the girl/bottom is childish and flirty and the guy/top suffers through it until he finally snaps and shows the girl/bottom who'sboss etc etc. (honestly homophobia and misogyny is so tightly knit in this kind of fiction, if it wasn’t so frustrating it would be very interesting).
Tbh I disagree with novel!wwx being more nuanced (despite a lot of ppl whose opinions I really respect also feeling this way), because I simply cannot seperate him from the wangxian relationship. All I see are tropes and stereotypes applied to make him ‘work’ in the context of the wangxian relationship instead of an actual personality...
To me, in CQL WWX is clearly the main character and you love his interactions with LWJ and want more of them and value them, wheras in the novel most of the time WWX plays second fiddle even when a scene should technically be about him and LWJ’s presence is incredibly suffocating, because he’s always being controlling or at the very least influencing WWX.
I also don’t feel like WWX has much of a character arc/growth. We’re essentially told he had one but the only thing that really actually changes is him hating himself a bit more and letting LWJ smash..., and I guess: he’s less independent than ever, he’s more isolated that ever...
I’ve called novel!wangxian a relationship between an abuser and his victim, because you can find evidence of that in the text. Not because I think the author wanted to portray an unhealthy gay relationship. Like you said, she was fetishizing and wrote for a similar crowd. But to me that ‘realization’ helped...I still don’t see how people can call it a masterpiece but I can at least understand hyping something you like up...
And like, badly written gay relationship or not; gay/straight,man/women, I see how people can find it hot. Exploring your sexuality through fictional characters isn’t necessarily a strictly straight girl phenomena. I probably have read fic that was exactly like this, I can’t judge anyone for it. But no one prints out the last PWP they read and goes, “this is ideal lgbt representation and nothing will ever be this good, the fact that it includes rape makes it so realistic” like????
(Is that part or an effect of the woke and purety culture? you can’t say ‘i like this book but it has flaws’ or ‘i’ve enjoyed this but it’s not up the feminism or lgbt acceptance that i preach/live’ so you have to pretend it’s flawless?)
And like, I do think novel!wangxian is a nightmare when it comes to lgbt representation and I do believe this is largely due to a cishet woman writing about gay men and fetishizing them (the fact that a lot of peoples arguments why novel!wangxian ‘is better’ boils down to ‘there’s kissing and sex’ is also pretty telling). And I am frightend and worried by some peoples response to it.
But is it really fair to see it as just that? It’s a problem sure, but that same thing happens in straight media (which I am admittedly not well versed in). Stephanie Meyer didn’t set out to write Edward Cullen to be a creep and non of the teenage girls that went crazy over him viewed it as such...Reylo fans (aside from some of them proclaiming Finn to be the real villain and saying it’s racist and misogynistic to not find Kylo Ren hot) found a way to view him threatening her as romantic and sexy, Loki fans that didn’t ship him with Thor usually fell into the camp of “he would be a perfect boyfriend” or “what if this OFC was his slave and he raped her everyday <3″... like ignoring/glorifying/romanticizing behaviours or exploring what kinks you might have through the safety of fictional characters and fictional settings isn’t JUST happening when it comes to ‘the gays’...
And not just specifically in fandom spaces either, a lot of ‘romantic’ movies include inappropriate touching, the boy/guy knowing better than the girl what she wants etc. And I absolutely do believe that that’s something that normalized these things for a lot of young girls and guys (I don’t want to get into this too much, I’ve really seen a change in the past few years, but before that it was pretty common for young boys to believe they need to keep pursuing and pressuring a girl that has said no, girls truly thought boys could die of blue balls, girls thought it was their duty as good girlfriends to let their boyfriends fuck them even when they weren’t in the mood, that they couldn’t talk about what they want in bed or what they don’t find enjoyable because ‘sex is for boys and girls get a relationship in exchange’ etc.).
And in much the same way movies have only relatively recently begun being called out for that, it’s also still pretty recently that they’re being called out for having their one queer coded character be a pedophile and a murder or whatever...Like, society as a whole becoming aware of these issues.
But do authors that publish their work with a specific target audience in mind have a responsibility to think about the effect it might have on them? (And I can already hear loud screams of ‘no way, it’s not your fault if your audience isn’t smart enough to understand that this bad thing is bad’, but I actually do believe in a way they do. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t write whatever you want, just maybe take a look at HOW you bring your point across. (We do KNOW people are influenced by what propaganda they’re consistantly fed. I mean, you wouldn’t write a pro-drugs childrens book...) )
What if the author isn’t aware of their bias and prejudices? Or their target audience isn’t their actual audience?
And do we, society and media, judge female and male authors differently when it comes to romance and sex in fiction? (The answer is yes btw) But also, where do we draw the line at calling something ‘badly written’ and calling it toxic? Can it be both? As I’ve said before, a lot of people claim that only the physical intimacy scenes of novel!wangxian are bad, because they’re badly written and OOC, some say the book as amazingly written and only the wangxian relationship is bad because the author doesn’t know how to write gay men. In my ‘hot take’ I essentially said that’s not necessarily bad writing so much as it’s simply an (okay, unintentional) toxic relationship. And would this relationship still come across as toxic (or badly written, whichever you want) if we didn’t know the author to be a cishet woman? Or if a gay man had written it? (my personal, eloquent answer for this is: yes, but differently.)
Which was really all just a rambly way to get to my point of: it’s not just fetishizing of gay men, it’s also the homophobia and self-inserting in a safe situation.
You can literally replace WWX in the novel with a female character and it wouldn’t change a thing. The author takes such an effort into building up this power imbalance in every aspect of their life that if WWX were a heroine nothing would change in this (sexist/ancient society) setting.
(And clearly this is something that appeals to people if you look at the amount of female!WWX fics...)
Not even the sex scenes. There are maybe two allusions in all of them combined that WWX might also have a dick but like, you can’t be sure and it sure as hell doesn’t need stimulation.
(and again, that could be written as a kink...but it’s just not.)
CQL is a gay love story. MDZS at it’s core is none of that.
But I also very much agree with your ‘to each their own’, like here I am criticizing and trying to find explanations and whatever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter why someone might like (or write) a book like this, I vastly prefer CQL!wangxian but people have their own reasons for not doing so.
The ‘problem’ really only lies in, as you said, people not being able to accept that it’s not a healthy relationship. Or claiming it to be perfect lgbt rep.
And because my brain can’t shut up today:
I also can’t stop thinking that the way some people ‘glorify’ the book as due to their age and ‘inexperience’.
When I was a pretty young kid and got into fanfiction, there was nothing but completely OOC!whump to be found in the first two fandoms I was in. And I loved it. It was YEARS later that I thought I might like to read something with the characters being...in character. What I’m trying to say, in different stages and phases of your life you might enjoy different things, for different reasons...and obviously, in that moment, you won’t think about ‘what appeals to me here/should this appeal to me/etc’.
I don’t mean inexperience as ‘sexual inexperience’ here, though of course that could be part of it, but also like, inexperience with this genre (is this the first book like this you read, or did you just read 50 in a row that all had the same unhealthy vibes?), with lgbt people and issues (do you know any lgbt people or is your only image of them either the cute boy you can’t have and don’t want to see with another girl or grown men in full kink gear in front of children during CSD? and also: do you think ‘i like this’ and that’s the end of it or do you notice how many people idolize this objectively unhealthy relationship and won’t allow critique on it...)  
I...just wanted to say thanks really.
I just can’t stop rambling apparently and I know I mostly just repeated what you said or what I already said but in longer... I just really do feel very strongly about novel!wangxian and the perception of them and have actually at times felt very personally...worried/affected, by people’s acceptance and love of them and I just... have to try and make sense of it...
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ainomica · 3 years
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I always laugh my ass off when people call Kylo an incel. Those are the ones that hate and want Kylo/Reylo-stans to suffer and die, exactly the kind of fantasies an incel has. So, who's the incel here?
Self awareness is not their strongest suite anyway otherwise why would they insist they are protecting women and children and then defend and ignore a r*pist among them  constantly? its not even like that one time, someone or the other always pops up who is  always hiding the very skeleton they claim they want to prevent hypothetically for real people. You would think after so many years something would get in their thick skull ?
Those people just threw like darts whatever incendiary word they could find about a bad man ( the key word is “man”) and stuck it to Kylo -- he is a r*pist, he inc*l, he is sch**l shooter, he is inc*st freak, he is a kidn*pper. You name it and they have said it. Notice all these accusations are one of the most heinous crimes you could imagine western people could think of for a guy to do in pop culture( especially the whole sch**l shooter part) . So it doesn’t matter if Kylo indeed is all of this, they would make it all up and more because that gives they attention from normies who don’t know any better and doubles up as that self justification they need to pump themselves for the day! psyche themselves to send another death threat or r*pe threat or even real CP to a real person just rambling about Rey and Kylo kissing in her tiny blog. 
People have this dumb idea that bullies are brainless , open mouthed morons who are 10 times average size physically and mentally pushing people around or a skinny rich jerk with set repertoire of insults reigning in some school community or some Starbucks totting blondie . Reality is that the bully could literally anybody. Even the “i am just an average dork uwu” posters on tumblr who think them being victims of bullying means they couldn’t possibly perpetuate it to another. 
I don’t even need to nor do i think even rylos need to go on detailed plot related arguments on why their perception of Kylo is wrong and tot out the “look he looked at her with heart eyes when she cut his face open! uwuwuw” ( can we not do that??) line . It doesn’t matter. They don’t care. If they did they won’t be shipping funnrey either ( the guy who was like “f*ck Rey’s choices she is coming where i am going and i am running from where she wants to be” . Its misguided and he didn’t mean no harm but its effed up when you think about it) . They won’t be calling me inc*st shipper back in May either when i was relentlessly and racially  attacked by them for calling out their precious celebrity .Heck! i won’t be racially attacked. Period.
They are just bunch of hypocrites and there is no point in engaging in their logic level and pretend they are in good faith won’t hurt you if they get your perspective. It was never about getting anyone. This is just another excuse to be a f*cking turd and have power trip out of their miserable life. 
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ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years
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Signed, Sealed, Delivered (3/6)
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)
Note: I am truly hoping that if you are reading this, you are enjoying this. I have had so much fun writing this story. 
Read below or on AO3
The next morning Ben is surprised when he sees Snoke walking across the lobby and he looks… almost happy? His steps are less heavy than usual and there's an almost air of satisfaction that is coming off of him that is contagious. 
"Good morning, sir," Ben says while he stands from his desk. "Your three o'clock got pushed back to four, so I was able to get you into the massage place you mentioned at 2."
Snoke smiles. An honest to God smile. Ben tries to keep his face from showing his shock as he tries to figure out if he's ever seen Snoke smile before. It's a little off putting. 
"That's great." Snoke responds. The smile is gone from his face, but he almost sounds appreciative. "You should sit in on the four. We are covering some materials that'll be important for you to have a concept of once you move on."
Ben stares at him, and despite his best efforts he's not sure that his mouth doesn't open just a little bit at what Snoke is offering. This is everything Ben has been waiting for. A step toward the light at the end of the tunnel. 
"Of course." Ben gives a quick nod at the end of his sentence.
"Would you mind running down the street and grabbing me some lunch and some coffee?" Snoke walks past Ben's desk, pausing just before he goes into his office and adds, "Please."
Ben turns around to look at Snoke, blinking a few times before answering. "Of course, sir. I'll go now."
Ben smiles to himself as he heads toward the elevator. He hesitates with his finger hovering just over the down button, before he moves his hand up to press the up button instead. 
He almost hates the smug smile on Rey's face he can perfectly imagine when he tells her that her plan worked.
Almost. 
***
Rey hums along with the song playing softly in the background. Amilyn's calendar is surprisingly blank, besides an early morning meeting that she has already finished. Rey's already placed an order for her lunch to be delivered at 11:45 am exactly. Amilyn smiled at Rey when Rey let her know. 
Amilyn brought up Snoke and went on and on about him when she first got to work. It is amazing. The way Amilyn can't stop smiling. Her happiness appears to be giving her an energetic boost as she goes from office to office and checking on everyone's projects.
Rey is working on a layout for a proposal for an environment company. It's easy enough work and much better than taking notes during a meeting, or running around trying to keep up with Amilyn's fitness instructor's new goals. She's even had time to read through a few articles that a few old friends from college had sent her over the last few months.
It was nice. Even if it reminds Rey that she hasn't written anything since college.
"I was right," Ben's voice surprises Rey as she looks over at him from her computer.
Ben looks far too smug and happy, placing his elbows down against her desk as he bends down. 
"You were right about what?" Rey asks, turning her head to the side and taking him in. "The decision to wear that tie with that jacket? Cause," Rey makes a tsking sound, "I'm not so sure about that."
She's lying. The black suit Ben is wearing looks pretty amazing with the dark navy tie. It's a little unfair actually, how good Ben manages to look every time she sees him. 
His eyes narrow and the glare with the small pout is utterly endearing and adorable. Maybe Kaydel has a point. Maybe there's more than a chance she has feelings for him.
Not that she needs to be thinking about that now. Or ever.
"Tell me what you were right about? I can't imagine that happens often," Rey teases, saving the document she's working on before closing out of it. "Did the lemon electricity science project get first place?"
"The science fair isn't for another few weeks. I actually still need to start the poster boards for it," Ben shakes his head. "This conversation is not going how I planned."
Rey grins. "You planned the conversation?"
"Did you get an extra ounce of feisty in your coffee this morning?" Ben's lips twist up in half a smile. "Or do you just enjoy messing with me?"
"Maybe a little bit of both." Rey shrugs. "So, tell me what you were right about."
"The plan worked." Ben stands back up, stretching his arms over his head. "Snoke asked me to go get him coffee. And he said please, Rey. Please. I didn't know Snoke was aware that the word please even existed."
"That's so great, Ben." Rey grins. "However, I'm a little unclear on how you were right in this situation. If I remember correctly, you had a bad feeling about this. So I think the words you are looking for might be more along the lines of 'you were right, Rey, and I'll never doubt your supreme intelligence ever again.'"
Ben rolls his eyes, chuckling. "Want to take a break and go get the coffee with me? I'd love the company."
Rey nods, standing from her chair. "That sounds perfect. I stayed up way too late with Kay last night looking at venues for her engagement party."
They start walking toward the elevator, Rey smiles at the receptionist by the front entrance to the office and lets her know that she is taking a quick break, but to call her if Amilyn needs anything.
Not that Rey thinks she will. She can see Amilyn leaning over one of the graphic designer's shoulders, staring intently on whatever is on the screen. 
Rey could get used to days like this.
The sun is bright and high in the sky. Rey stills for a moment, tilting her head up and letting the warmth settle over her. There's a light breeze, but it feels nice. 
Rey feels Ben's hand brush against hers, pulling her out of her haze. She opens her eyes and looks at him, a blush spreading over her face as he toys with her fingers with his. Finally, he grabs onto her hand. 
“C’mon,” Ben says, tugging on her hand. “Snoke’s going to wonder what is taking me so long if we don’t get going.”
“Right,” Rey laughs nervously, falling into step behind him. “Don’t want to ruin the first good mood you’ve ever seen.”
They spend the rest of the walk in relative silence. Ben doesn’t let go of Rey’s hand. Rey doesn’t try to pull away either. His hand is warm and she enjoys the way the warmth seeps into her skin. 
He still doesn't let go of her hand when they walk into the coffee shop. Or when they are standing in line. Ben rattles off Snoke's order and his own with ease.  He squeezes her hand when he adds her own tea order at the end. 
Something inside of her flutters as she listens to him order her favorite drink. She's not sure if it's because they've been spending so much time together trying to come up with a plan that would work, or if it's because he is paying attention to her.  But she likes the way it makes her feel. 
The longer she holds his hand, the more she smiles. It's getting harder for her to deny that maybe Kaydel is right. Which is not great. 
Kaydel is the most insufferable when she is right.
Ben lets go of her hand to go grab the drinks from the counter after his name is called. He holds out her cup when he walks back over for her to take. Rey takes a small sip, savoring the taste and the warmth of the drink. 
Rey tries not to think about how much she misses the feeling of his hand on the way back. 
***
It’s just past five and Ben is already at his apartment, looking through the cabinets to see what seasoning he has available to him. He isn’t sure the last time he was home early enough to actually make dinner. It feels nice, moving around the kitchen and seasoning chicken and making something.
The door opens and Poe walks in, he stares at Ben, his mouth opening and closing a few times. Poe tilts his head to the side, and walks back out the door, closing it behind him. Ben blinks, wondering what the fuck Poe is doing when the door opens back up, and Poe walks back in.
“You realize that it isn’t even six and you are home right?” Poe asks, closing the door. 
“Yes, I am aware of that.” Ben laughs, sprinkling some thyme over the chicken on the stove. “Snoke left the office early, so I took off.”
“Snoke left early?” Poe asks in disbelief. “Again? What is going on?”
Ben flips the chicken, seasoning the other side. “Rey and I may have come up with a plan to guarantee some extra free time. And it appears to be working.”
“Rey?” Poe walks into the kitchen, leaning against the counter behind Ben. “The girl whose dinner you stole?”
Ben rolls his eyes. “I didn’t steal her dinner. I paid for the dinner. I was like a knight in shining armor if you really think about it.”
“No,” Poe responds, shaking his head. “You were definitely not the good guy in that story. You literally asked her to pay you back with interest. I’m surprised she ever talked to you again.”
“Yeah,” Ben concedes. “I am too.”
Ben puts a lid over the pan with the chicken and walks to the refrigerator to pull out the broccoli to start steaming it. “Anyways,” he says as he starts to season the vegetable, “She came up with this plan to get our bosses together. We figured if they were busy with each other, we’d be able to have more time out of the office.”
“Wait,” Poe stops him, holding his hand up in the air. “You guys set your bosses up?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow,” Poe blinks a few times, dropping his hand back down. “I guess I didn’t see that coming. Okay. Continue.”
“I mean, there isn’t much more to the story. The first attempt… was bad. The second one worked. And so far it has led to me having time to go out for drinks with Rey, spend some time with my parents, and make my roommate dinner.”
Ben shrugs, tossing the broccoli into the steamer. “Not so bad, really.”
“You are the worst story teller,” Poe complains. “I feel like you are leaving out some juicy details with that four second retelling.”
“There’s not much to tell. We got them to kiss on the kiss cam at a Yankees’ game and they hit it off.”
“You went out for drinks with Rey?” Poe asks, raising his eyebrows. “When’s the last time you went out for drinks with a girl?”
Ben ignores Poe’s question. “Rey thinks we probably need to keep tabs on Snoke and Amilyn, her boss, to make sure things stay good between them. That seems weird to me though? I mean, we got them talking, shouldn’t we let them take it over from here?”
“Absolutely not,” Poe quickly answers. “Listen to Rey. She sounds much, much smarter than you. Speaking of which, tell me more about how you went out for drinks with her and explain why you keep blushing whenever I say her name.”
Ben sighs. “You’re worse than my mom, Poe, and that is really saying something.”
“You know I take being in the company of Leia Organa-Solo to be a compliment,” Poe reminds Ben. “Now tell me about Rey before I call your mom to get the details from her.”
Ben goes back to cooking, flipping the chicken around and checking the temperature. “Dinner’s almost done.”
“Great,” Poe moves toward the fridge and grabs two beers before walking over to the small dining room table that barely fits in the apartment. “You can tell me all about Rey while we eat.”
Ben shakes his head, turning the burner off. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” Poe asks, moving around Ben to grab plates and silverware. “You’re pretty dense when it comes to these things.”
“Why am I friends with you?”
Poe laughs, slapping Ben on his shoulder. “Because I put up with your bullshit and bad attitude.”
“Ah,” Ben answers, with a quick nod. “That is probably true.” 
They don’t say anything for a few minutes, while Ben finishes the food and piles it onto the plates that Poe left on the counter for him. 
Ben waits for Poe to ask more questions, or really to say anything as they start eating. Poe, however, is frustratingly silent as he just looks at Ben and waits for him to start talking. 
“Rey is…” Ben finally begins, pausing as he tries to think of the words to describe Rey. “She’s great. Actually. She’s smart and fun. She has this whole personality that is just… I don’t know. I like her.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Poe laughs, his smile wide as he looks at Ben. “Does she know that?”
“Maybe?” Ben answers with a shrug. “It’s a weird situation. We are working together to get our bosses to let us have more free time. Neither of us really have time for anything more. You know that’s why I don’t date. I need to focus on being a good assistant so Snoke will recommend me for a higher position.”
“I hate when you do that,” Poe scoffs. “Act like Snoke is the be all and end all to you going somewhere in your life. You know that’s not the case. I know that’s not the case. So don’t even go there with me.”
Ben uses his fork to move some broccoli around on his plate. He does know exactly how Poe feels about him refusing to use his family and their connections in his work life. It’s been a fairly sore spot in their friendship. 
It’s definitely not an argument he wants to have now, not when this is the first time he’s had time to hang out with Poe that wasn’t at 2 am when they both should be sleeping.
“What about you?” Ben asks, changing the subject. “How’s your dating life lately? I feel like I’ve seen the same guy sneaking out of here a few times in the last few weeks.”
“Finn.” Poe says, a small smile on his face. “His name is Finn. We’ve been seeing each other a little while now.”
“How long is a little while?”
“Two months,” Poe answers, looking down at his plate. “We’ve been seeing each other for two months.”
“That’s like… a record for you?” Ben teases, enjoying the way Poe blushes and rolls his eyes in response. “You must really like him.”
“I do.” Poe’s smile grows as he shakes his head. “I really do.”
“You should have him over,” Ben says. “At a normal time. I’d love to meet him.”
“Sure,” Poe agrees. “Let me know when Rey is free. We can have them both over.”
Ben glares at Poe. “I hate you.”
Poe lifts his hands up to hold over his heart, his face twisting in fake hurt. “That stings, Ben, it really does.”
“Shut up,” Ben tosses a napkin at Poe, laughing as it bounces off of him.
“I’m serious though,” Poe says after a moment. “Bring Rey around. I’d like to meet her.”
“Mom wants me to bring her to her birthday lunch.”
“I think that’s a terrific idea.”
“Of course you do,” Ben stands up, grabbing his plate and Poe’s and takes them over to the sink. “I’ll think about it.
***
“Rey!” Amilyn yells from her desk.
Rey looks up from her computer to see Amilyn slamming her office phone back down onto the receiver. “My phone isn’t working.”
Rey squints, picking up her phone and pressing the button for Amilyn’s extension. She can hear the beep in Amilyn’s office as it connects them. 
“The phone seems to be working fine, Ami--”
“It isn’t working, Rey.” Amilyn interrupts her, and Rey can see how irritated she is when she stands up from her desk and starts pacing around her desk. 
“Right,” Rey answers, trying to figure out what is going on. “I’ll figure it out.”
“You better,” Amilyn responds, throwing her hands up. “I’m going to my meeting, I want my phone working by the time I get back.”
Rey watches as Amilyn leaves her office and heads to the elevator. Rey waits a moment before getting up from her desk and going into Amilyn’s office. She lifts up the phone and, sure enough, there is a dial tone and everything seems to be fine.
Rey isn’t sure why Amilyn is freaking out about her phone… unless.
Of course.
It’s been about three days since the game. Amilyn hasn’t said anything else about Snoke. She’s waiting for him to call her. And he hasn’t.
This is exactly why Rey had told Ben that they couldn’t leave it up to Amilyn and Snoke to do things by themselves. They needed assistance. If they were good at nurturing relationships and taking the time away from work to do so, neither she or Ben would likely be in the positions they are in. 
Rey goes back to her desk, grabs her cell phone and calls Ben. 
“Houston, we have a problem,” Rey says when Ben answers his phone. “Snoke hasn’t called Amilyn and she is losing her shit.”
“Why doesn’t she just call him?” Ben asks.
Rey rolls her eyes, impatiently tapping her fingers against her desk.
“Because she’s busy running one of the best media firms in all of New York?” Rey answers, cringing slightly at how defensive she sounds. 
“You say that as if Snoke isn’t just as busy with his company?” Ben responds. “Just have Amilyn call him.”
“He needs to call her,” Rey starts to explain. “As old school as it may be, I think Amilyn wants him to call her first. To be the one reaching out first and expressing his continued interest in her.”
“Okay,” Ben sighs, and Rey can perfectly envision the way he would look as he tries to come up with a plan. “We can make this work. Just, I’ll get Snoke on hold, and you get Amilyn on hold, and we can just make them think that the other one initiated the call.” 
“That’s… that’s a good plan actually,” Rey smiles to herself. “About time you contribute something more than negativity to this situation.”
“When works for Amilyn for the call?” Ben asks. 
Rey pulls up her schedule. “She’s just going into a meeting. But she could do a call at 2, or at 4. Maybe 7, but I’d like to get a call in earlier than later.”
“Snoke can do 2. I’ll place the call to you then.”
“Perfect,” Rey claps her hands together. “And send flowers. Make it seem like Snoke is really putting in some effort here. Amilyn loves gardenias. Nothing too showy.”
“Fine,” Ben answers. “Anything else?” 
“Yeah,” Rey says quickly and with a little bit more sarcasm than she intends. “Next time I say something really smart like let’s not leave the next steps up to our bosses, maybe listen to me.”
Ben huffs and Rey grins at the sound. Teasing Ben is a little too fun.
***
The phone call works great. Ben’s actually a little more than just pleased with how well his plan works. Snoke got a much needed ego boost by thinking that Amilyn reached out first and, according to Rey, Amilyn loved the flowers and the fact that Snoke called her first.
Rey was right, not that Ben is planning on letting her know that, they are going to have to continue intervening and making sure that Amilyn and Snoke stay on the same page. 
The phone call works well enough that Snoke and Amilyn agree to dinner. Rey offers to make reservations at Amilyn’s favorite restaurant. Ben tells Snoke the name so he can suggest it to Amilyn as the place to go. It’s an easy process to follow and Ben can easily picture how it’s going to work in the future. As long as he and Rey keep talking and making the plans for them, it’s hard to imagine that they’ll run into too many hiccups. Besides, any issues that do arise, they’ll be the first to hear about them and will be able to course correct and get things on the right path again.
There’s also the added benefit that for all of this to work, Ben is going to have to keep seeing and talking to Rey. 
Snoke tells Ben that he can head out for the night when he leaves for dinner. Ben texts Rey, rolling his eyes as she responds with a bunch of emojis and he can’t quite decipher what exactly they are all supposed to indicate. He understands enough to believe that she is also off of work.
He debates calling her, asking her if she wants to go out. So that they can plan how things should proceed from here.  Rey beats him to it though, stepping out of the elevator just before he is about to call.
“I know this was all my idea,” Rey starts, her voice loud, as she walks over to her desk, “But I’m not going to lie, I’m a little surprised at how well this is working.”
“I’m a little surprised that you are admitting that,” Ben teases, standing up and meeting Rey in the middle of the room. “Doesn’t quite fit the always right persona of yours.”
“You hardly know me, Ben Solo,” Rey shrugs. There’s a small smile on her face and her eyes are bright and Ben is trying not to be distracted by how pretty she looks. “I am very capable of admitting when I’m wrong. It just doesn’t happen very often.”
Ben laughs, shaking his head. “I was thinking we should grab dinner?”
It sounds like he’s asking her out on a date, he realizes after he asks the question. Rey’s eyes widen a bit, and Ben can’t quite tell if they widen in a good way or a bad way. And he probably shouldn’t have stopped talking after asking her, and gone on to explain that he thinks it’d be a good idea for them to come up with a game plan for the next few weeks and what the plan is going to look like between them to keep things going smoothly between Snoke and Amilyn.
He can feel the words on the tip of his tongue about to spill out in an embarrassing fashion to cover up the original intent of his question, when finally, Rey answers.
 “Yeah,” Rey nods, smiling at him. “I’d love to get dinner with you.”
***
It is almost unsettling to Rey how easy she finds being around Ben and opening up to him. It’s nice, eating dinner with him and teasing him as he opens up about his family and how he teases her about the stress of planning Kaydel’s engagement party. 
She tells him about her childhood and what it was like in foster care and how she spent most of college in the library trying to keep her grades up for her scholarship, or at her different jobs to pay for what her scholarship didn’t cover. 
She likes the way he listens, he doesn’t interrupt and he asks just the right amount of questions to keep her talking and the conversation somehow doesn’t lag between them at all. But even when they are silent, when they are more focused on eating, it’s comfortable. Rey doesn’t feel like she needs to fill the silence to keep him interested in her.
She thinks that maybe this is a date. 
She likes the idea of it being a date.
“So Kaydel’s engagement party is the same day as my mom’s birthday lunch,” Ben says as he pushes his plate to the side of the table. “Which means we are going to need to guarantee an entire Saturday free from work.”
“And part of Sunday.” Rey adds. “At least for me. I can’t go into work at 8 am on a Sunday with the hangover I know I am going to have that morning.”
Ben laughs. “Okay, so an entire Saturday and half off Sunday. How are we going to do that?”
Rey stirs her drink, tilting her head as she tries to come up with a plan. “There’s no way that both of them will stay away from the office for a whole weekend unless they aren’t actually in the city.’
“So we need to get them out of the city for the weekend.”
Rey nods. “A romantic trip away. We have six weeks before the parties, that’s plenty of time to get them to a romantic trip stage.”
“What are we going to do in the meantime?” Ben wonders. “I was thinking maybe we take turns setting up their dates? And if there are any problems, we should be able to do what we did today again. Just coordinate and figure out the best way to get them back on the same page.”
“Exactly,” Rey agrees, gathering the last bit of food on her plate before setting the empty plate on top of Ben’s. “I think that as long as we keep coordinating what they do, and where they go, and keeping our ears open for any complaints, this is going to work perfectly.”
“Dessert?” The waiter asks as he walks over to their table, holding up a smaller menu. He sets the menu down in front of Rey. 
“Always,” Rey answers, grabbing the menu and reading through the options. 
“I’ll give you guys a few minutes to look over the options.” He grabs the plates from the edge of the table and walks away.
“What do you think Ben?” Rey asks, as she reads the menu. “Cheesecake? Chocolate mousse cake? Fried ice cream with caramel?”
Ben scrunches his nose. “All of those options sound like more sugar than I have in a week.”
Rey rolls her eyes. “C’mon, live a little with me here. We’ll split something. Then it’s only half the sugar. Besides, maybe a little extra sugar will sweeten you up.”
Ben tilts his head down and Rey can tell that he is trying to hide the blush that is spreading over his face. It pushes his hair away from his ears though, and Rey grins as she can see them redden. 
Rey hands him the menu. “I’ll eat pretty much anything. So you pick.”
Ben studies the menu. Rey isn’t shy about watching Ben as he decides what to order. He’s cute when he concentrates, she decides. The way his eyebrows knit together in concentration, as if deciding what dessert to order is actually a big decision that warrants such efforts. 
“I’m thinking cheesecake,” Ben finally says, setting the menu down in front of him. “Unless there was something else you really wanted?”
“I like cheesecake,” Rey answers. 
“I think it’s sweet that you’re so close to your parents,” Rey says after they order the dessert. “They really seem to care about you.”
“They drive me crazy,” Ben says, shaking his head. “I told them about how we went out the other day after the game, and my mom started playing 20 questions to get more information about you.”
“Kaydel did the same thing with you when we were walking home that night,” Rey laughs. “I’m pretty sure she has probably found out everything about you that is available on the internet since I wasn’t answering her questions thoroughly enough according to her.”
“My mom has probably already called Poe and asked him to do the internet stalking for her,” Ben admits. “Poe had a lot of questions about you too. He already wants to meet you.”
Rey debates telling him about how Kaydel wants her to invite him to the engagement party. It’s six weeks away, asking him now seems like a big step. Especially when she’s still not completely sure what is going on between them. 
But he told his parents about her. And his roommate. He holds her hand when they are walking. And she hasn’t been able to get that kiss from the game out of her head. 
She decides that it’s worth the risk to at least bring it up.
“Kaydel wants me to bring you to the engagement party,” Rey says, taking a drink as she waits for Ben to respond.
He chuckles. 
Which isn’t exactly the reaction Rey was hoping for, if she’s being honest with herself. 
She tries to keep the disappointment off of her face.
“Don’t worry,” Rey starts, quickly trying to get gloss over the conversation. “I told her you’d probably be too busy, since it’s your mom’s birthday and everything.”
It annoys Rey how Ben seems to pick up on her discomfort, he places his hand over hers on the table.
“I’m only laughing because my mom wants you to go to go with me to her lunch,” Ben smiles reassuringly at her. “I’m pretty sure if Poe did a good enough job on his internet stalking that you’ll probably get your own invitation email soon. My mom really doesn’t understand boundaries. Almost ever.”
“I’d love to go,” Rey says hopefully. “If you’d like me to that is?”
“I would.” Ben’s grin is large and contagious. Rey holds his stare and her smile grows the longer they look at each other. “I’d love to go with you to Kaydel’s engagement party too. As long as you want me to?”
“I do,” Rey bites her bottom lip and finally looks away from Ben for a second. “It’s a date.”
***
The next few weeks pass quickly. Ben meets Rey every morning for coffee and they go over how things are going with Amilyn and Snoke. They decide early on to alternate who plans their next date, that way they are both contributing and making sure that they are choosing things that will make both Amilyn and Snoke happy.
It’s easily the best five weeks Ben has experienced in the time he has worked for Snoke. He gets off most days at a reasonable time. Snoke yells less and is just, in general, less of an asshole. 
Then there’s the fact that he sees Rey every day. They get coffee. Ben brings Rey lunch when she mentions that Amilyn has her working lunch meetings for a week. She tells him about the different things she and Kaydel have planned for the engagement party, and how Kaydel has already sent Rey dresses to look at for the wedding.
Rey sends some of them to Ben. Rey complains about a few, and how she’s pretty sure Kaydel is joking and sending her some of the ugliest dresses possible. Ben tells her that he has a hard time believing she could look bad in anything.
Ben tries to keep his hope down that maybe Rey will ask if he wants to go to the wedding with her. He hopes she does. 
At some point, Ben knows that he needs to ask Rey what exactly they are doing. Neither of them bring it up. But Ben knows that they are working toward something and that they probably should talk about what it is exactly.
He’s thinking about doing it today. He and Rey are supposed to go to dinner since they scheduled Amilyn and Snoke to go to a play last week.
Then they have a few days that are going to consist of long hours and hard work because Snoke and Amilyn are going to be gone from Friday to Monday. Ben still can’t fully believe that it is really happening. It’s the longest amount of time either of them have had off. 
Ben isn’t prepared for the mess that he walks into when he gets to the office. He can see the receptionist packing her things into a box, tears streaming down her face. Ben is about to ask her what happened when he can hear Snoke yelling across the office, he can’t quite make out the words, but it is clear that he is not happy. Ben hurries to Snoke’s office, he pauses by his desk when he sees Snoke’s son’s science project in pieces and scattered across the floor.
Fuck.
Ben doesn’t knock on the door, he knows that Snoke wouldn’t be able to hear him over his own voice. 
Ben tries not to flinch at the sound of a chair hitting the window. 
“Where the fuck have you been,” Snoke asks, turning from the window to glare at Ben. “I’ve been here for over an hour and you’ve just been what, taking a leisurely stroll through the city?”
Ben debates pointing out that Snoke had said last night that he wouldn’t be in until at least ten, and that it’s only eight now, but then Snoke picks the chair up and tosses it at the window again. 
He decides to start by apologizing instead.
“I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” Ben knows he needs to figure out what is going on so he can try to problem solve how to get Snoke to calm down. “I had you scheduled out since you had dinner with Amilyn--”
“Yeah,” Snoke interrupts with a huff. “I had dinner with Amilyn last night and she tried to make a complete fool out of me.”
Ben tries to keep from panicking. This cannot happen. Amilyn and Snoke’s relationship cannot implode three days before the weekend he and Rey need off. 
The universe can’t be that cruel.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean--”
“Are you trying to tell me I am wrong?” Snoke’s stare is hard and cold and Ben wishes he could be anywhere but here. 
“Of course not.” Ben answers without missing a beat. “I would never do that.”
“Damn straight,” Snoke mutters under his breath. “This is probably for the best anyway. I’ve been spending too much time away from work. It’ll be good to get refocused. I’m going to start making some calls. You’ll need to come in this weekend.”
“Absolutely,” Ben says, rubbing his lips together. “I’ll let everyone else know.”
Ben walks out of Snoke’s office, carefully shutting the door before quickly making his way to his desk and calling Rey.
“Code red,” Ben says in a panic as soon as Rey answers her phone, not bothering with any greeting, hoping that she understands the urgency from the tone of his voice. “Code red. Code shit.”
***
Rey pulls her phone away from her ear as Ben keeps yelling out the same two words, a variation of either code red or code shit. She’s not sure what is going on, but it clearly is not good. She presses her phone back to her ear and tilts her head to hold it against her shoulder as she picks up the pile of mail that is in the mail room and walks to the elevator.
“What are you talking about, Ben?” She asks while pressing the button to call the elevator a few times. “What happened?”
“I got to work and Snoke was already here.” Ben sounds a little breathless in his response. “He threw his chair at the window twice, Rey. He said Amilyn made a fool out of him last night. What happened?”
Rey steps into the elevator and her stomach flutters with nerves. “I don’t know. I haven't been in the office yet, I’m on my way up now.”
Bem doesn’t say anything else and the silence does nothing to quell Rey’s growing anxiety as the elevator slowly goes up. There’s a small ding when the elevator gets to her floor.
“He cancelled this weekend,” Ben blurts out when Rey steps off the elevator. Rey falters, her closing for just a second. She drops the mail off at the front desk and gives the man behind the desk a small smile before walking away.
“What do you mean he cancelled the weekend?” Rey panics. “He cannot cancel this weekend.”
“We have to figure out what happened last night and fix it.” Ben says, ignoring Rey’s question. 
“Where did they go?” Rey sets her coffee down on her desk and turns on her computer. “It was your turn to set up the date.”
“No it wasn’t,” Ben argues, his tone defensive and grating. “It was yours.”
Rey sits down, tilting her head back against her chair as she shuts her eyes. Ben didn’t plan the date. Which means that Snoke or Amilyn made the plans by themselves.
“It was absolutely your turn, Ben,” Rey sighs, rubbing her finger into her temple. “I did sushi on Tuesday. I can’t believe you forgot.”
“Fuck,” Ben mutters apologetically, “I forgot.”
Rey can hear Snoke yelling in the background and she winces. This is not good. This is absolutely not good. 
“How are we going to fix--”
“Rey!” Amilyn’s voice is clear and deadly as it sounds across the office.
Rey sits up straight, opening her eyes and watching as Amilyn storms across the hall over to her desk.
She hangs up on Ben, placing her phone down on her desk and quickly standing up.
“Change in plans,” Amilyn barks out when she gets closer to Rey, she doesn’t bother stopping, but Rey follows her toward her office. “I won’t be leaving town this weekend. I think it’s the perfect time to pull together the layout and design for Empire’s new website. You’ll need to start figuring out the scheduling. I want it all sorted by the time I get back from yoga.”
“Absolutely,” Rey nods, hovering in the doorway of Amilyn’s office. “Did something happen? I know you were really looking forward to this weekend.”
The glare Amilyn gives Rey sends chills down Rey’s spine.
“I am not talking about this with you,” Amilyn says coldly. “Now go do your job.”
Rey sucks in a sharp breath while taking a step back and letting the door close as she turns around.
Fucked.
They are completely and totally fucked. 
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gale-gentlepenguin · 4 years
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Gale Reviews: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
(Spoilers below for those who haven't seen it)
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(ART DONE BY @knightsweeties​. COMMISSION HER. She does good work)
The premise is that Emperor Palpatine is alive and Kylo Ren finds him on the apparent Sith cult planet.
The old Sith is basically looks like an undead zombie barely alive by either the Dark side of the force, cloning, or what ever. I like to think Palpatine survived by Dark side force magic because its like the evil opposite of force ghosts, keeping his body which should be dead alive via force.
The first 20 minutes is a massive info dump where JJ Abrams does what he can to retcon The last Jedi and some of the force awakens. To be honest, the first 20 minutes are the worst parts of the movie, but it is still better then the entirety of The Last Jedi.
I like that they explain that Leia trained to be a Jedi. Makes that scene in The last Jedi make a bunch more sense. Her reasoning for not pursuing it further was because she had a vision that her lightsaber would be used in the death of her son, so yea. Makes sense.
Speaking of Leia, Her actress, Carrie Fisher, is gone. So they had to sort of splice old sound clips to bring her into the film and those scenes she is in and has lines... yea its creepy and weird. I get they had to work with what they had, so I won't harp on this too long.
Rey gets some shine in this movie. I think her character was phenomenal and I liked the fact that she was Palpatine’s granddaughter, a nice way to retcon that s*** in the last movie and EXPLAINS WHY SHE IS SO F***ING STRONG! Luke was also just as strong, but his dad was DARTH VADER! Like it never made much sense that she didn't have anyone relevant to the force.
Kylo Ren and Rey’s psychic Light saber force battles are awesome and I love how their force bond was so strong it literally affected the world around them.
I also really like Rey utilizing Force healing powers and ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP! The originally most useless Jedi power actually used amazing.
I am not gonna beat around the bush, Finn did almost nothing in this movie. All he did was say people’s names. He did have one scene with that other ex-storm trooper, but honestly he really didn't do much. He did help out in the final battle with the star destroyers, but aside from that... meh
Poe, He did a bit more, but he was also kind of useless until the near end. At least he flew the ship. Also he and Finn are co-generals. They also tried to give Poe a love interest, but it felt a bit forced in.
Landò Calrizian makes a great cameo.
C3PO had hilarious scenes and I love it. 
The film did have a good amount of Comedy.
The action scenes aside from the few lightsaber fights Rey and Kylo had, and the force clash between Palpatine and Rey were a tiny bit lacking. 
Kylo ren going back to being Ben Solo and going to help Rey was a great thing for character development. 
A LOT of people were angry about the kiss,
AND EVEN MORE about Ben solo dying.
I am honestly meh on the whole thing. I wasn't surprised they kissed and I wasn't surprised he died.
It does kind of suck he died, but parallels to Vader turning good.
I liked that Rey now is a Skywalker, more by bond then by blood and that is a cool take away.
Okay, and the part at the end that caused some backlash with the two lesbians kissing that happens for a split second at the end. It felt shoehorned in, like Disney was trying to get the LGBT points on that. It doesn't add or remove from the movie and I think people are annoyed that this scene is just a clear grab at brownie points then something that could have establish more. I am meh on it, but I was also Meh on the Reylo kiss, so there is that. 
_________________________________--
Overall, I would say it has flaws but it isn't Awful. It is the text book definition of making the best of the bad situation.
It is also the movie that felt the most like the original trilogy. It seemed to be trying to fix what it broke.
Does it save the the sequels? Not really but it almost succeeded.
Was it the best out of the three movies? Yea.
It is like JJ showed us a taste of what the series could of been if The Last Jedi’s director didn't F*** up everything he had been setting up.
It really could have been better, and I am sad because the movie shows it could have done SO MUCH MORE.
I would give it a 6 out of 10.
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unexpectedreylo · 4 years
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Here It Is:  My Spoilerific Review/Post Mortem of TROS
When I saw The Last Jedi two years ago, the movie haunted me for days, for weeks, for months.  It inspired the imagination, dragging me into the world of Reylo and reassuring whatever reservations I had about the post-Lucas sequel trilogy.
The Rise of Skywalker haunts me too but more in a “Demon House” kind of way.  It fires up the imagination, but more in the sense that it keeps you up at night thinking of all of the ways it could’ve been better.
This isn’t to say I hate the movie.  I don’t.  It’s not even entirely or mostly bad which is what makes it extra frustrating.  You can laugh your way through a total disaster like “Cats” or “The Room” but a movie with plenty of promise and of talent behind it that makes some bad decisions is tragic.  Especially since this is the closing chapter to a trilogy and the saga itself.
You can see there are bones for what could’ve been a really good, maybe even great movie.  One of my favorite parts was the opener where Kylo Ren literally descends into hell/the underworld to confront the devil for no other reason than he didn’t even want Satan above him, a man who serves no gods or devils.   (That right there is a classic Byronic hero.)  Exogol is a great haunted house/spooky setting.  The revelation that it was Palpatine manipulating him all along was a shocker and makes Ben’s story that much more poignant.  I also really liked the contrast with Rey’s introduction, a beautiful shot of her in the verdant forest floating among rocks as she’s meditating.  She is Persephone in her element (which makes the ending all that more baffling but don’t worry, I’m getting to that).
This sets the stage for the revelation that the two are part of an intriguing concept, a Force dyad, kind of a Star Wars version of soulmates maybe even twin flames.  The two just had to acknowledge the feelings between them, reunite, and take out the Sith trash while Rey finally confronts her own dark side.   I don’t mind the latter concept at all because with the trilogy’s thickest plot armor, I think it’s valuable to put her in some peril and to have her better understand Kylo/Ben.
Abrams also wanted to recapture the feel of 1980s blockbusters like the Indiana Jones films or The Goonies, both made by his old mentor Steven Spielberg.  That’s most palpable when the Space Scoops Troop, er “trio,” falls into quicksand and pokes around an underground cave looking for one of the film’s many MacGuffins.  Abrams does good set pieces and powers them along with snappy dialogue.  Like TFA, it’s peppered with some genuinely funny scenes.
If nothing else, you can’t blame the cast for any of the film’s problems.  Everyone does the best they can with what they’re given and the long-standing chemistry between various pairs (Adam and Daisy, John and Oscar, Adam and Harrison Ford for example) do a lot to serve their scenes.  I think Oscar’s best scene was when he confesses to Leia lying in state that he doesn’t know if he can be the leader the Resistance needs.  It’s an honest, human moment.  Daisy continues to infuse Rey with her natural luminance.  I particularly liked the few quiet moments she has, such as meeting the children on Pasaana or healing the snake.  It shows her compassion and foreshadows healing Ben.
Daisy does pretty well with what she is given about struggling with her dark side.  (Remember, she didn’t write her own screenplay.)  Maybe it’s unpopular to say this but I kind of liked her brief turn as “Dark Rey.”  I have no doubt had she turned dark she would be pretty scary.  Her desire for revenge and fear of her own nature--driven by genetics or not--were intriguing concepts and I thought she tried to make the most of it in her performance.
Ah Adam Driver.  God bless that man.  He brings his considerable A-game 100% of the time no matter what and it shows.  He could sell sand on Tatooine.  I have no idea why they put the mask back on him other than a marketing department decision as I suspected, but taking it off when he’s making his appeal to Rey before she leaps out to the Falcon carries a gravity few people can pull off.  His reconciliation with Han was one of the film’s highlights.  For once the repetitive nature of the script actually worked in TROS’s favor, as Kylo retraces his steps in that fateful scene from TFA and finds a way to clear his conscience.  I also think this was originally meant to help the audience forgive him, especially since right after this he renounces the dark side.  Which makes later choices baffling, which I’ll get to.  Driver’s shiniest shining moment though is when he is once again Ben Solo.  Deprived of dialogue for the rest of the film other than “ow,” he nevertheless manages to convey a different personality that is very much Han Solo’s son.  His fight scene is right out of a 1970s martial arts movie, imbued with determination and sass.  I want to see a trilogy about THAT guy.
The Reylo scenes are, well, until it goes south, wonderful.  Some of us would’ve  preferred a lot less fighting but I see it as mostly Rey trying to deny herself and Kylo not being sure if he really wants Rey to turn to the dark side.  (On that note, I wish we’d seen Rey’s vision of sharing a throne with Kylo rather than just hear her talk about it.)   As I predicted, the turning point of the relationship came after the lightsaber battle on the Death Star wreckage.  I find it interesting that Kylo hesitates to kill Rey--partially because of his mother’s influence--and it’s she who could’ve killed him.  She immediately recognizes the dark side was turning her into something she didn’t want to be and nearly costs her the man that deep down she loves.  She heals him completely and along with her confession that she would’ve taken Ben’s hand, his soul is nearly healed by the power of love alone.  Which makes the film’s later choices baffling.  If you think about it, Ben’s turn is even more dramatic than Vader’s.  Vader chose his son over the Emperor at the last minute, some inkling of his light still there shining through at the right moment under duress.  Ben flat out rejects the dark side of his own volition.  That is pretty powerful.  Which makes the ending far more painful.
Rey and Ben’s one big romantic moment was tender and sweet and that was a pretty good kiss.  We finally get to see Ben’s big toothy grin.  Even though we all hate it, Driver did an amazing job conveying first his sorrow over Rey, then his relief, his joy, his love, and finally his strength leaving him.
Visually, the film looks great.  I think J.J. did an even better job shooting this film than TFA.  Adding to the visuals is the fabulous art direction.  They hired supervising art director Paul Inglis immediately after his previous flick Blade Runner 2049 came out, and that decision paid off.  This leaves the film with a number of beautifully-rendered scenes, whether it’s the haunted house scary underworld beneath Exogol, Kylo Ren’s starkly white quarters, the landscapes of Pasaana, the stormy seas around the Death Star II’s wreckage, the shot of Rey hesitating in the Star Destroyer’s hangar before leaping out to the Falcon, or Rey meditating among the floating rocks during her introduction.
I liked D-O and Babu Frick.  I even liked the lady who complimented Kylo’s helmet.  
Where do I start having problems?  The first time I saw the movie the scenes with Leia didn’t bother me but the second time I saw it, it was far more apparent they wrote around the bits of footage they had left.  It was a valiant effort to make Carrie Fisher part of the last film she never had the chance to perform in but it didn’t feel organic.  Since Leia dies during the movie anyway, I don’t know why having her pass away offscreen in between TLJ and TROS is less merciful to the audience than having her body lie beneath a sheet for half the film.  No wonder Billie Lourd skipped the premiere of this flick.  I couldn’t take it if it were my mother either.
On my second viewing, the Resistance base scenes started to get on my nerves.  Maybe it’s because I got tired of looking at the same group of like 10 people over and over.  Maybe I was annoyed that the only purpose of those scenes was to earnestly spout exposition.  Now, exposition is important.  I’m surprised Abrams, notorious for not bothering with it even if it’s necessary, even did this much.  But there was something about George Lucas’s Rebel base scenes that made these people look and act like guerrilla soldiers.  Maybe it was Lucas’s experience shooting films with Navy guys as a student, or his documentary style.  Abrams’s Resistance behave more like college students and activists than soldiers.  
But TROS’s biggest problems lie in its breakneck pacing and its writing.  Parts that should’ve had greater emotional resonance don’t because it moves along too fast.  I would’ve sacrificed one of the set pieces/action scenes or chuck one of the pointless new characters for the sake of deepening the relationship between Kylo and Rey or showing us more Ben Solo.
Some of the characterizations seemed off.  I know a lot of fans are deeply unhappy Rose Tico didn’t get to do much but I was surprised to see her in it even to the degree she was there.  What gets me about the whole Rose thing was her relationship with Finn is totally forgotten FOR NO REASON.  Really, why drop it?  There was no narrative purpose for doing so!  
General Hux is totally wasted in this film, reduced to little more than a cameo.  Sure it might be a surprising twist that “I am the spy!!!” (LOL) but his reasons for it are totally OOC.  He might despise Kylo Ren but to the point of helping the Resistance?  This is the guy who cheerfully blew up the Hosnian Prime system and wanted to blow up more.  He’s evil, a psychopath, a true believer in the First Order.  He might give the Resistance a tip that would result in embarrassing Kylo Rey and use that to start a coup against him but just helping the Resistance out of petulance and spite?  Nah.
Poe tries in this film to be a combination of rogue and deadly earnest idealist, but you generally don’t find those two qualities in the same person.  One second he’s talking about smuggling space dope, the next second he’s saying stuff like “Good people will fight if we lead them!”
Finn, God love him, is reduced to largely running around yelling, “Reeeey!” and eagerly trying to tell Rey something but the film never really got around to what it was.  It wasn’t until a Q&A session that Abrams revealed Finn was trying to tell Rey he was Force sensitive (something that should’ve been developed over the course of the trilogy).  Abrams had time to show us a random lesbian kiss for representation points, but no time for Finn to tell Rey he was Force sensitive?  Huh?
The story not only contradicts the previous films--I wonder if Abrams even saw his own movie TFA much less anything else besides the OT--it contradicts itself throughout.  Palpatine’s return is never really explained and his motives with Rey keep changing.  MacGuffins are added on top of MacGuffins with side missions thrown in.  Chewbacca is blown up then he’s miraculously alive on another transport we didn’t see.  Abrams and Chris Terrio didn’t just add to Rey’s origins, they blatantly spackled over it and TLJ’s overall message.  Discovering one is of evil origins is a gothic storytelling trope but really, it should’ve been developed since the first film so it doesn’t feel like whiplash from something else.  Everyone keeps telling Rey don’t be afraid of who you really are, but Rey ultimately does nothing but run from who she really is.  With each reversal, retcon, or contradiction in the film, it leaves a mess.  We’re supposed to believe Rey was better off sold to Unkar Plutt than be with her not-so-bad parents?   Who the bloody hell had sex with Darth Sidious?  You mean to tell me Luke and Leia knew all along Rey was a Palpatine but they never bothered to say anything and somehow they had more confidence in her than in their own flesh and blood?  Oh while we’re at it, I noticed the second time I saw the movie they straight up gave away Ben’s death before it happened!  WTF?  “Leia saw her son’s death at the end of her Jedi path.”  It seems like Luke and Leia were resigned to Ben’s fate as some horrible destiny that couldn’t be changed but Rey was still an open book to them.  That’s so stupid and really fellow OT fans, how does this respect our childhood faves?  Han comes off as the only decent person in this thing.
Rey and Ben taking on the Emperor was a great applause moment, the dyad unified against the ultimate evil.  For the most part it was fantastic...until The Yeetening.  Two things annoy me about the remainder of the conflict against Palpatine.  One, Rey and Ben should have destroyed Palpatine together.  If Rey could do it on her own then what the hell did she need Ben for?  He could’ve sat out the rest of the movie at Starbucks and remained alive while Rey killed Palps on her own.  There’s no point to their combined power because it wasn't necessary.  Two, while poor redeemed I-turned-back-to-the-light Ben was crawling up the pit with no help from anyone, every good guy we ever knew of in Star Wars, even from the cartoons, is giving a voice over pep talk to Rey.  (It seems cheap too since we don’t see the characters.  Avengers Endgame did this kind of thing far better.)  How about if the pep talk was given to the BOTH of them?  That Anakin Skywalker, the man Ben had idolized, had time to say “wakey-wakey” to his tormentor’s granddaughter and not his own grandson is appalling.  The third thing is while Darth Vader defeated Palpatine with the love for his son and his long-gone wife, Rey defeats Palpatine simply with power.  Rey and Ben’s love for each other could’ve been the force that defeats the Sith once and for all but for some reason it doesn’t occur to Abrams and Terrio.
I could’ve forgiven most of this--the jar of Snickles and all--had they got the resolution right.  But they didn’t.
ROTJ and ROTS’s endings were masterful.  ROTJ gives you an idea of what trajectory our heroes were likely to follow:  Han and Leia were going to end up together, Luke was going to bring forth the next generation of Jedi.  ROTS sets up Obi-Wan on Tatooine, Yoda on Dagobah, Leia on Alderaan, Luke on Tatooine, Darth Vader on a Star Destroyer, and poor Padmé on her way to Star Wars Heaven.  I have no idea what happens to Finn.  Maybe he’ll train with Rey.  Maybe he’ll go to college.  Maybe he’ll backpack through Europe.  I have no idea.  His story just stops.  Same deal with Poe.  Aside from getting shot down by Zorii, what’s he going to do?  The film gives zero indication.  It goes from the Free Hugs session to Rey squatting at the old Lars homestead.
The biggest crimes though occur to Ben and Rey.  Ben’s death sucked all of the air out of the film.  Yes, it’s beautiful that Ben loved Rey so much and so selflessly he was willing to surrender his life for hers.     It’s beautiful that it never mattered to Ben who Rey was, whether it was “nobody” in the last movie or the granddaughter of his tormentor/enemy in this one.  Had the Palpatine concept been there all along, there would’ve been something sweet about healing the rift originating in the prequels.  But I wanted Ben to live.  I wanted for once for someone to address the issue of atonement but Terrio and Abrams were too lazy to bother.   If The Grinch could be redeemed AND find atonement with those he wronged in a 30 minute Christmas special with commercials, then why not Ben Solo in a 150-minute movie?  
I could have lived with a sacrifice arc though had it been handled correctly.  But they flubbed it big time.  The sacrifice isn’t honored at all.  He just dies, he vanishes as Leia’s body vanishes, and he’s “never to be seen again.” Or mentioned.  Rey barely reacts on camera.  It’s as though reviving Ben from certain death, choosing good over evil, making a valiant attempt to save his girlfriend armed only with a blaster, and giving his life for hers weren’t valued by anyone.  The movie didn’t give a damn.  When Vader died in ROTJ, he at least had final words with Luke who then burns Vader’s remains on a pyre.  We see Anakin restored to his true self join the Force Ghost crew at the end of the movie.  We got none of this with Ben.
It’s also the most frustrating and disappointing disruption of a romantic arc since 1980′s “Somewhere In Time.”  In that film, Christopher Reeve travels back to 1912 and finds true love with Jane Seymour.  Everything is going great and Reeve’s character has made the choice to stay in that time and marry Seymour.  Then he pulls out a 1979 penny and is sent “back to the future” as Seymour screams.  At least that film though had the decency to reunite the love birds in the afterlife.  Which might explain why the movie still has a cult following to this day.  Tragic love stories always make sure there’s some kind of catharsis for the audience.  Rose takes Jack’s name, lives her life as he asked her to do for him, tells his story, and reunites with him when she dies.  Romeo and Juliet are united in death and the healing of their respective houses begins.  Even Padmé got a state funeral and had the legacy of her children.  There was no such catharsis for Rey and Ben.
Rey ends up right where she started:  alone and in the desert.  She got the Dorothy ending, there’s no place like home.  But the difference is Dorothy is a child not yet ready for the big scary world and the answers to her problems weren’t out there but right where she was.  Rey is a grown woman.  She should’ve been treated like one.  Instead she is deprived of her lover/soulmate and while such a separation should have been painful, it doesn’t even register.  She has a “found family” but they’re not there with her.  She’s in a home others tried to escape from, haunted by ghosts instead of being among those she loves.  Taking the Skywalker name seems tacked on, as though they realized if the name is to live on somebody needed to take it.  Why not then just have made her Han and Leia’s or Luke’s daughter in the first place?  It’s worse when you remember it’s a Palpatine who’s usurping the name.  Or when you realize she’s still hiding who she is.  
Here’s what would’ve been better.  Rey tells the Resistance about the pure selflessness of the Skywalkers and she wants that to be the core value of the new Jedi going forward, where every new student was going to learn their story.  Then we see her anywhere but Tatooine, happy and surrounded by students of all ages.  Maybe Finn training too.  She sees the approving Force ghosts of Leia, Luke, and Anakin.  Then Ben, clearly a different entity, materializes beside her.
Or something, anything other than what we got.
It’s as though they kept making story decisions without giving any thought at all to their implications.  They tried to do too much while being lazy about it.  They went for expedience--copy pasting ROTJ when convenient--over meaning.
The ending accomplishes what no other Star Wars film has done to me in 42 years of being a fan...it broke my heart and fulfilled my worst suspicions about where the ST was going to end up, largely due to its deflating ending and terrible denouement.  It leaves for me and many other fans a big gaping open wound, not closure.  
Ultimately the sequel trilogy’s biggest flaw is that there clearly was no plan.  What we got was a billion dollar game of exquisite cadaver with no real design for characters, their arcs, the story, or even what message these films are supposed to have.  Every decision was based on the director’s own ideas along with corporate meddling.  So we get conflicting ideas and blatant spackling over what the last director didn’t like. Was Kylo Ren meant to be a guy we love to hate or a lost boy we want to come home?   Was Rey a heroine we can all aspire to be or a lost princess of darkness?  What the hell was the point of Finn or Poe?  What does this add to the saga overall aside from more stuff?  Who are these films even for, old OT fans or young fans?  I believe it’s this lack of a plan that has generated so much confusion and bitter internet wars among fandom.  
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scav-eng-er · 4 years
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So..my thoughts on TROS
Spoilers. duh.
So..being on here, I obviously dove HEAD FIRST into the spoilers and seeing what I saw, i. was. pissed. The kiss kept me literally on cloud FUCKING 9 for a good 30 min until I went farther in and saw the fall of one of the most beloved, developed and interesting characters in the sequel trilogy. So going into the  theater, I was already angry and disappointed in the writers, JJ and anyone who thought this was how the Skywalker saga should have ended.
Then, while watching, I began to understand some (and I mean VERY FEW) things as to why they went the way they did. 
Rey Palpatine
I fucking rolled my eyes when I heard this, like I thought this was such a poor and cheap move that they made Rey related to Palpatine. I was like “she is supposed to be the image of hope and light for the new age of jedi and future generations.” Then watching the movie, I noticed that she was always so headstrong, and sometimes reckless with her emotions, her power and trying to keep a level head. Even in TFA and TLJ, Rey would would jump right in the fight cause she was so passionate. There was that passion, which could be perceived as dark that pushed her to whatever she did. And then the inner struggle with accepting her family and realizing “holy shit, am i evil?” But the fight and her saying “I am all the jedi” sounds like (at least to me) “I am who I choose to be.” Her little vision of Dark Rey was also an indicator of what she could be should she choose to go down that path. She may be a palpatine by blood, but you can’t choose your family and they don’t define you. Even if she was a nobody, or a scavenger, with pauper parents, she can choose who she truly calls family.
So do I mind that Rey is a Palpatine? Not anymore, because I think her character can inspire others who had a dark background like her, and remind them that your family will never define you, only you can.
Even with the decisions of the writers for the way she ends up on Tatooine (basically another desert) with BB8, just like how we were introduced to her (which I didn’t like. she literally ends where she began), I will always love Rey. I knew she would never turn dark, but knowing that she has that darkness, like all of us (cause literally no one is a saint), she has control over it and chooses to be light. 
Reylo is C A N O N.
FUCK. YES. I WAITED FOR FIVE FUCKING YEARS FOR THIS. This relationship and dynamic of these two incredibly strong characters is something I have been following for so long and will continue to do so when I rot in my grave. The chemistry between the characters and actors is so passionate to the point where I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. 
I see Ben and Rey and of course I think balance. Since seeing them fight in TFA and have this almost 50/50 chance of who would win, I fucking lost it when I saw how equal they are. They are so yin and yang it hurts. Rey is the light (yang) with that hint of darkness (when shes reckless, too passionate, her family) while Ben is (yin) with all that darkness with that spark of light (because he’s a fuckin’ solo lets be honest, it was always something that he struggled to push down).
They are literally the power couple of the century. I freaking love that they fight together and Rey has shown signs of being stronger than Ben. And does he feel insulted? Or upset because a nobody/girl/scavenger could potentially beat him? No. He is so in love with her power and passion that he wants to help her control it. When she blew up the ship? He was fucking BLOWN AWAY, like as if his heart eyes couldn’t get any bigger. 
And Rey just knows. She always tried to pull Ben out of the dark, and never wanted to give up on him. She stabs Kylo? The Supreme Leader and the reason so many are suffering all over the galaxy? She fucking heals him and in a moment of despair and sadness of both of them losing Leia, she tells him that she wanted to “Ben’s hand.” I think she told him this in hopes that he was still in there. With their vulnerability presented to one another, she took a chance that finally opened his heart with the death of his mother and talk with his father (cried so hard btw).
Finally, when we see Ben after their fight on the Death Star his scar is gone. Rey healed his scar, a symbol that was very Kylo. He tosses his saber, gets rid of his layers of (brooding) clothing and goes after his girl. Nuff said.
The Death of Ben Solo
I am struggling to write this. I could not. Believe. They did this. Not just to the fans, but to Adam. This is the only thing I couldn’t understand in the film. It WORKED. SO. WELL. We all literally knew something dramatic was going to happen, but it was either the kiss or Ben being redeemed (and still fucking living). I cried for two days when I saw what happened and then again in the theater. I brought a pair of sunglasses in a dark theater so I could wear them on my way out so no one saw me like jfc. Ben didn’t deserve that, Rey didn’t deserve that. The poor boy was practically swept into a world of darkness and abuse and never had a chance to break through until this girl, this “nobody” came into his life and helped nudge him back. I was actually glad Rey wasn’t 100% the reason he changed, like his dad, his mom - the ones who have been with him from the beginning - knew him and deep down, knew what he would do. The only who had to finally accept it was him. And he did when he went diving back to help Rey and defeat Palpatine. He definitely knew that he would be punished for the crimes and probably live a lifetime in jail, but I would’ve accepted that more than a (rather poorly given) death.
And I understand he did it for Rey. I do... kind of. But with an entire world/galaxy at your fingers, to write whatever you want to about the force (including this healing technique?), you’re telling me that he had to give all of his life to her? Couldn’t Leias sacrifice bring him back? I just think it was a cheap move. I can’t imagine how upset Adam must’ve been when he realized Ben’s fate. He thought of Ben as the “bad guy who think he’s the good guy.” He did such a good job of getting into the characters head that it probably felt like a piece of him died as well. He, and Daisy, I think didn’t want that to be the last we saw of Ben Solo. Also, shitty death..just poof gone. She didn’t cry, didn’t mourn. Her other half, literally 50% of her soul...gone. Rey will feel this wound in her that will never heal and that pain will always remind her of him, with his arms around her, the kiss, the first, real and true smile of Ben Solo before he fell. 
I’ll probably add more to this or something but that’s all I can get out right now, I’m still raw and recovering. I’ll post more stories in the future cause I have so many, but now, enjoy the holidays and sleep peacefully knowing that Rey and Ben love each other. 
xoxo my reylo fam
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legobiwan · 4 years
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Just got home from The Rise of Skywalker. No pithy intro, I’m just going to jump right in and it’s going to be a LONG rant here so buckle up, my friends, and be sure to read below the cut. SPOILERS AHOY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Okay, so yes, the first third of the movie went at a blistering, nearly nonsensical pace. JJ  really had to cram a whole watermelon’s worth of exposition into a...well, you know, there was a lot to take in. This movie had to do so much telling instead of showing because it was such a departure (and middle finger to TLJ) from what came before. 
The thing was, the first third was also the most interesting part of the movie. I actually wish the whole trilogy had started with all of the Sith nonsense. (Actually, I wish they had started with Kylo absolutely wrecking shit like he did and then the Palpatine scene. People would have made all the wrong assumptions and it would have been glorious to unravel it over three films.) There is a strong history of Sith artifacts in both Nu-Canon and Legends, and it wouldn’t have been out of place, considering what we know now, to have made Rey, Poe, and Finn’s quest for these artifacts the start of the new trilogy, and then told the rest of the story in a non-linear timeline. Probably too experimental for a Star Wars reboot, but it would have grabbed attention and everyone like creepy Sith shit. 
Frankly, I would have dropped zombie-robot Palpatine at the very start of the trilogy, as well. It’s bonkers but I don’t hate the Rey Palpatine thing and they could have spent the rest fo the movies explaining this weird-ass lineage and how it relates to Kylo, Snoke, etc. and then have built back to the final confrontaion on Exegol. 
Leia. Trained. Rey. I so so so so so wished we had been able to get more of this. This, in my mind, is what it should have been all along. I liked TLJ (okay, so shoot me) but Master Leia is a whole other level of awesome. If I had to rewrite Luke and Leia’s roles, it would have went something like this:
Luke was searching for Sith artifacts. Luke was becoming disillusioned by what he was learning of the Jedi through “The Sacred Texts.” WHO DOES THAT SOUND LIKE? Hmmmm, I wonder....
Could you imagine Luke started to go a little Dooku in this respect, and so instead of fucking off the Ach-To because he had a feeling that was more “gravy than of grave” about Ben Solo’s dark sidedness, he fucked off to Ach-To - or even better - gave up training in order to keep himself from going down a darker path. 
And so instead, Leia is getting involved with training (and probably also governing at the same time because she would be an overachiever like that.)
Enter Ben Solo, who is Force sensitive, strong, being trained by his mother and occasionally his uncle, who is not totally plugged into the light side at the moment, which can rub off on Ben. Meanwhile, Han is maybe not the best father (he wants to be, he tries, but it all comes out wrong. I’ve been watching a lot of Psych lately, so I’m thinking of a dynamic similar to Henry and Shawn, but a little more dramatic.)
Of course, Palpatine is seeing all of this behind the scenes, he’s fostering ill will and discontent through the scattered remains of the Empire, sending Snoke clones out to be almost pseudo-religious/cult figures in the wake of the economic and social devastation left by the Empire’s fall and the floundering new government. Extremism, in pockets, rises. Extremism which preys on discontent, which preys of the desire for family, for belonging. 
Enter again Ben Solo, who has been pitted against the other strongest trainee, Rey (insert whatever last name you want. She knows it’s not her real name, she knows she was an orphan on Jakku, but she was brought by Luke to be trained). Ben is pissed how she and Leia bond, has been talking to his uncle, and perhaps encountered a Snoke clone on the way. 
Rey, on the other hand, is no one but wants to be someone, and that manifests in weird ways during her training. Perhaps she leaves at some point, perhaps not. But the seeds of her being Palpatine’s bloodline are laid within her. She wants to seek that belonging Ben has.
Okay, but getting away from my personal rewrites of the sequels, Star Wars is about family and lineage, both blood and found. There was so much potential to play on this throughout the trilogy with the Skywalkers, with Rey’s relation to Palps that if they had just planned the damn thing, it could have been brilliant. 
Moving ...(for now)
I felt so bad for Oscar Isaac. I felt like I watched his soul slowly depart his body over almost 3 hours. That man was not a happy camper and it came out in his performance. 
Power levels. Here’s the thing, guys. Magic needs to have consequences. Sure, you can cast a spell, but what does that take from you? You can use the Force, but to what degree? How much? Even Anakin exhausted himself at some points, and he was (allegedly, according to one Qui-gon Jinn), the Chosen One. It’s the first law of thermodynamics - energy can neither be created nor destroyed - and the Force is literally the energy of every life thing in the galaxy. You take the energy, use it towards something else, it has to drain from somewhere. This is what bugged the hell out of me with Rey’s Force Healing abilities (an ability that doesn’t thrill me to begin with as it’s so easy to overuse). Kylo keels from resurrecting the dead (and yeah, he was pretty beat up already), but Rey barely seems to breathe a beat harder. Once you start ignoring the consequences for magic, you end up like a shitty video game, and one of the criticisms I’ve leveled at the movie is that it feels like a montage of Battlefront and I can’t say that’s totally off point.
JEDI HUNTERS. Ochi. I will bet my right liver we’re going to hear something about this on The Mandalorian. 
So I know a lot of people wanted to see Rey Kenobi, but there was one piece of glaring evidence in the film why that would never be. (Aside from Kylo just announcing it to Rey.) She has a lightsaber, but she still ends up using a blaster. So uncivilized.
Speaking of The Mandalorian - Stormtroopers with Mando jetpacks. Hmmm.....
I loved techno-Sheev hooked up to all the equipment just floating. That was creepy as hell and played with the whole cloning and extension of life that was such a large part of the Darth Plagueis novel (which I still consider to be canon, higher powers be damned). Also, Palpy’s glowup with the wardrobe was hilarious. 
Dark!Rey was hot. There, I said it.
Let’s talk about romance. Or the lack thereof. Or the shoehorned thereof.
Poor Rose got shafted in this film with no explanation. I didn’t buy that whole thing in TLJ, but god damn anyway. (Finn also got shafted, for different reasons, which I will talk about later.)
If they were going to romance, just let it have been Finn and Poe, Finn and Rey, or fuck it, even a trio. 
I mean, I could have bought Reylo if it had been presented better. (With context. Adam Driver is an amazing actor, another thing I’ll talk about later.)
The Reylo kiss though - my theater laughed. No joke.
Of course, this was the same theater that thought Lando was trying to mack on Jannah at the end, so who knows what we were all thinking in there. (On that note, Lando was hilarious because no matter what, he was just having a grand ‘ol time in the movie. I like to think he got a medical spice card in his retirement years and was just enjoying anything that came his way, be it Wookiees, Jedi, starships, wars, whatever.)
While the Reylo kiss didn’t hit the mark the space lesbian background kiss got cheers, so there was some hope for my fellow theater-goers.
Did anyone pick up on Threepio saying the Senate made the bill that would render him incapable of translating the Sith language? No doubt that was a Palpatine move from TCW era. 
What is up with these movies and desert/jungle planets? Ugh. Thank everyone for Kijimi, at least that was interesting. 
New characters I loved: Babu Frik and DO. 
Finn’s Force sensitivity. Yes, I totally buy it. I wanted more. I wanted more fucking context of a Stormtrooper who would have known nothing of the Jedi getting these feelings and then bailing from the First Order (or, if I were writing the movies, bailing from the remnants of the Empire/Snokes weird military cults.) Totally underutilized character development. 
We. Were. Robbed. of Good!Ben. Adam Driver is so phenomenal. Form the little we saw of redeemed Ben, he is the perfect mix of his parents, from the “Ow” to the eyebrow wagging, the swagger, the smirks...I LOVED good!Ben. I wanted so much more good!Ben. What a transformation.
Speaking of which - the scene between Kylo/Ben and Han was terrific. I wish we had had more context for why everything went south, but it was so good and the type of family dynamic we really needed more of. 
The Knights of Ren looked awesome in this film? They needed to be like the Black Order of Star Wars, and they were getting to it, but not quite there. Gods, they could have been the enforcers of Snoke’s cults (Palpy’s puppet cults) that could terrorize far more than a normal, brainwashed Stormtrooper, who was only useful as cannon fodder (I mean, if we look at the history of the clone army to the Stormtroopers, it would be terribly fitting.)
That ship tug-of-war was DUMB. (See my rant about magic and consequences). But, if Rey was going to shoot lightening Palpy-style and blow up a ship, Chewie should have died. I’m sorry, that’s terrible, I love him, but there needed to be consequences for actions and throughout the film, there were either no consequences or random consequences that were a narrative convenience rather than developed into the plot/characterization/worldbuilding. 
Here’s the thing with the ST - there is so much potential. There are some awesome ideas. But they wanted to play if safe with JJ by rebooting the OT, Rian was too far out for them, there was no cohesive storytelling, and so we get these little glimpses into what could have been amidst a shitstorm of trailers for Battlefront 17. 
we could have had it allll....
Final rating: 4/10
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soloredeemed · 4 years
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Reylo drabble: moving in together and getting used to cohabitating
Thank you for the prompt! I thought this was really cute. It’s a modern day AU. Also, for all of you waiting for me to fill your prompts, I’m working on them! I promise! 😊 If anyone else wants to send me drabble prompts, feel free! I’m always accepting them, even if it might take me a while to get around to it. 
In which Ben is very neat and Rey is very not. 
-Drabble Under the Cut-
When Rey finally, finally moved into Ben’s apartment after a long year of convincing, it wasn’t because of anything Ben said. No, her landlord raised the rent on her place to an amount where it literally didn’t make sense for her to stay there anyways, especially when she already had a drawer at Ben’s place and the open offer to come by anytime. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the raise in rent, Ben wasn’t sure she would actually have agreed to move in at all, and he hadn’t been sure why until a week into the ordeal.
Rey always woke up earlier than Ben, as she often had to get to work at Rebel Corp before anyone else. As his mother’s PA, she had to get the coffee orders, pick up the dry cleaning, and print the meeting packets before the rest of the staff had even arrived. He wasn’t that surprised when he rolled over that Wednesday to an empty bed, figuring she must have slipped out sometime around five to get an early start at the office. He was surprised when he slid out from under the covers only for his feet to be met with the small pile of clothes by her side of the bed. Ben blinked, pausing for a moment, as he tried to figure out if she was just in a hurry to leave that morning, or if the pile had been steadily growing over the course of the week, and he had just yet to notice it. He counted at least three pairs of underwear. Well that answered his question. Ben grimaced, gingerly lifting his foot from the pile and placing it instead on the clean hardwood. His eyes shifted from the pile on the floor to the empty hamper sitting only a few feet away. Was it really that difficult to just—put them in there?
Ben wasn’t a neat freak, not really, but he liked things orderly. Everything in his apartment had a place. He made sure countertops were wiped down regularly, and he had the carpet torn out when he bought the place and replaced with dark slats of hardwood simply because it was easier to clean. It wasn’t like he couldn’t stand a little bit of dirt—he just didn’t like things messy. Rey’s clothes pile was definitely messy.
When Ben arrived at work a little after eight, he walked up to Rey’s desk and bent down to snake a hand around her waist before kissing her on the cheek.
“Hey,” he said, and she turned to look up at him.
“Hmm?”
“Did you, uh—there’s a hamper in my room for dirty clothes, you know that, right?” Ben stumbled awkwardly, not really sure how to address the situation properly. It had been a long time since he lived with anyone—and most of his college roommates hadn’t really been an issue. Except Rey wasn’t his roommate, she was his girlfriend, and that made confronting her a lot more difficult.
“Of course,” Rey mumbled, still focused on whatever memo she was reading from her computer screen.
“Oh, okay—” he trailed off, a little confused as of how to continue, “well it’s just—I saw you had a pile of clothes building up at the side of your bed and just wanted to let you know, you’re welcome to put your stuff in with mine.”
“Sure,” she smiled.
Ben thought the problem would be solved after that.
Except two days later, there was a new pile of clothes on the floor, and Rey hadn’t rinsed out the blender after making smoothies that morning before work.
“I’ll get to it when I get off tonight,” Rey had told him when he mentioned it from his seat at the kitchen island, waiving the concern a way with a swipe of her free hand, the other clutched around her glass.
“But then the sides get all crusty—and it’s easier if you just,” Ben had started. His voice cut off when he saw how her eyes narrowed.
“Ben, I said I’d get to it,” Rey huffed, picking up her bag from the floor and swinging it over her shoulder, “I don’t have time now—I’m gonna be late.”
Ben swallowed the protest in his mouth. As soon as the door closed behind her, he rinsed out the blender and put her clothes in the hamper.
When Rey got home that night, she wasn’t happy to see what he’d done.
“Ben! I told you I would do it. You’re not my mother, you don’t need to do my dishes for me!” Rey had grumbled as she let down her hair and headed back toward the bedroom, “or my laundry for that matter!” She called back to him after noticing the empty space where her pile used to be.
“I know, I know,” Ben sighed, swiping a large hand through his hair, “it’s just—well I would prefer if things were clean, and I didn’t mind doing it so I just—”
“I know I’m messy Ben,” Rey said quietly, stepping back into the living room and looking up at him with soft eyes, “it’s one of the reasons I was afraid of moving in with you. Because you have this big nice place and it’s always so clean and I’m kind of like a tornado when it comes right on down to it. It’s all so beautiful and I didn’t want to break it.”
“Hey—” Ben breathed, pulling her close into his chest, “I don’t mind that you’re messy. I really don’t, I just—”
“Mind the mess?” Rey asked softly.
“Yeah,” he chuckled, the sound warm and low, “yeah I mind the mess. But I don’t mind doing your dishes or picking up your clothes. So don’t—don’t think that me doing that is some sort of attack on who you are. I love who you are, and I love having you close, and if that means rinsing out the blender for the rest of my life, then so be it.”
“I would have done it,” Rey pointed out, nose still pressed into the space under his collar bone.
“I know you would have. I think that’s why I don’t mind so much either—because I know you’ll do it if I ask,” Ben told her.
“Why do you have to be so stupidly perfect?” Rey questioned, pulling back so she could look him in the eyes.
“You know that’s not true,” Ben laughed, but he swept her up off of her feet into a bridal carry anyways, “I need a mess like you to help me loosen up.”
She flashed him a blinding grin from his arms, her little freckled nose scrunching up with happiness. Living with Rey was going to be so much better than he had ever dreamed.
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Thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker
Just a disclaimer that this post contains TROS spoilers 
Hi there, it’s me again sharing my views on the latest Star Wars as a Reylo, fan and former film student (the latter may show at some point but it’s mostly a fan view). 
I had pretty high expectations for this movie and I was not not happy leaving the screening, but I had some things that I thought would go down differently so here’s what I think. 
Rey
I really like how organic Rey and Kylo’s connection and intimacy is portrayed in The Last Jedi, and J.J. expanded a bit on that which I think it’s very nice (and apparently they can teleport things via ForceSkype now which is an interesting take but I understand the reasoning). 
One thing that I didn’t really like is that Rey is a Palpatine. I’ve seen one theory on this and it makes sense now, yet I was a great supporter of the theory that Rey was really a nobody, that she came from nothing like Kylo said. She could’ve been just like Anakin who didn’t have either Jedi nor Sith ancestors. 
On a more positive note, Rey’s conflict with herself is an ongoing theme in this trilogy and I believe it was really well developed and has come to a satisfying conclusion. I felt like she was a bit lost in the beginning and I thought it was going to be an issue later on but thankfully it got better before it was too late. 
Also Rey is so goddamn powerful and strong with the Force I love her so much.
When Rey and Kylo are battling in the old Death Star and she stabs him with his own lightsaber but then she feels Leia’s gone and immediately realises what she has done and without second thought she kneels to heal Ben crying. My heart exploded I felt so many things at once I can’t explain. 
“I wanted to take your hand. Ben’s hand.” hsdcsgfyufgyufgeryfcgeif i died. 
The ForceSkype teleporting feature I ALMOST FAINTED BECAUSE I GENUINELY THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO KILL BEN INSTEAD OF PAPLS WHEN THEY EXCHANGED LOOKS I WAS SO RELIEVED AND HAPPY WHEN SHE GAVE HIM ANI’S BLUE LIGHTSABER. 
DARK REY WITH HER DOUBLE RED LIGHTSABER. 
THAT YELLOW LIGHTSABER. I WANT IT. NOW. 
Also maybe that “I am all the Jedi” line is a nudge to Avengers: Endgame? (*cof* hi Disney *cof*) 
Kylo Ren/Ben Solo 
Next up is ma boi Kylo Ben, who has been my favourite character this whole trilogy and hell Adam Driver portrayed him so wonderfully. In TLJ he grew so much as a character, not only as a villain but a person who went through a lot, has an abusive master and is constantly being haunted by the guilt of killing his father. 
To start this off, I want to talk about those first scenes. OH MY GOD KYLO TAKING ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN THE FOREST IN SLOW MOTION AND HIS SOLO JOURNEY TO EXEGOL. After that I got mad at Palps when one of his first lines was “I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head” because it means Ben has been manipulated his whole life and didn’t really have a choice other than turn to the dark side. 
Kylo’s arc is by far my favourite and in my (completely biased) opinion the best written one. When he’s introduced in TFA, he’s a promise of a new Vader but he’s not quite there yet. Kylo has conflict inside him, a spark of light still, and to put out that spark once and for all he’s instructed by his master to kill Han Solo, but as we’ve seen it has “split his spirit to the bone”, to quote Snoke. 
Later on in TLJ when the ForceSkype starts we begin to see more of Kylo’s vulnerable side, specially when Rey is talking to him in the hut. Kylo takes his fcking glove off to take Rey’s hand and that’s when Reylo became canon and you can’t change my mind. 
Fast forward to TROS, Kylo is already the Supreme Leader and he’s as strong as Rey (but most likely more skilled because he had extensive training while Rey had only a few lessons and read some books?) and they are Force Dyads which makes them absurdly powerful together. 
One thing I noticed is that every time Rey and Kylo claim to have seen the future both of them are always on the same side, either Dark or Light, but always together. They’ve never mentioned a future where they are apart and/or on different sides. *all the Reylo feels*
Then when both are battling in the old Death Star and Rey stabs him but heals him shortly after and Ben is ready to let Kylo Ren die to become Ben Solo again is brilliant. And that dialog with Han made me shed a tear or two. (a random side note is that I got a tiny bit upset when he threw his lightsaber away because his lightsaber is so cool and I just got one myself but I absolutely understand the need to get rid of it). 
I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN MY BABY BEN SOLO BURST INTO PALPATINE’S CHAMBERS (?) WITH ONLY A BLASTER AND LOOKED SO GOOD. Also I almost cried when he took the blue saber and beat the shit out of the Knights of Ren. 
LITERALLY THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. 
BEN HUGGING REY’S BODY RIGHT BEFORE RESURRECTING HER. 
“Ben”
THE KISS. THAT SMILE.
BEN SOLO DESERVED BETTER. 
And yes, I believe Ben Solo isn’t truly dead and Rey can help him come back and they can live happily like they deserve to be. 
Thank you Adam Driver for being the highlight of this movie (and dare I say, trilogy) and bless us with amazing acting. 
Poe Dameron 
I love Poe, he’s great and I loved that they gave him more screen time and I get they were trying to build another trio like in the OT but maybe making Poe, who was already a great pilot like Han also be a former (spice) smuggler is a bit much? We could use new characters and it’s okay if you wanna recycle the idea but please don’t make them identical. 
Another very important point is why do you need to make up a female love interest for Poe when there’s clearly one already? During the whole movie I felt a sexual tension between Finn and Poe just not to have them together in the end, I was very disappointed. MAKE STORMPILOT CANON YOU COWARDS. 
Finn 
To be honest, Finn is not one of my favourite characters and I believe it’s mostly due to poor writing. Finn is a great character and had so much potential being a deserter of the First Order but his arc wasn’t so well developed in the trilogy as a whole and one of the arcs I least enjoyed in TLJ was Finn and Rose’s adventure in Canto Bight. It all felt like a distraction even though they were doing something seemingly important but failed at the end. 
In TROS, Finn finds a group of other Stormtrooper deserters and I thought maybe it’d push his storyline forward but not so much. I was a bit disappointed but there were also lots of other things happening that I didn’t pay much attention to Finn, one of the reasons being that I already didn’t care much about him before so now it was kind of meh. 
I said it before and I’ll say it again, MAKE STORMPILOT CANON. 
A positive thing on Finn is that now they explored how Finn is Force-sensitive and now he finally realised he doesn’t need to run away and is willing to fight. 
Rose Tico
As I’ve mentioned before, her arc with Finn wasn’t my favourite in TLJ but that’s okay because you can’t make everyone happy all the time, yet I saw many people complaining about her character and even Kelly was attacked that she left social media. And now there were so many complaints that they decided to basically ignore Rose and she’s in like three scenes. 
I don’t think they even gave a plausible explanation why Rose couldn’t come along with Finn, Poe and Rey other than the fans didn’t like her character and they were trying to recreate the original trio. 
General Hux
Well, to be honest I was almost certain he would die at some point but killing him off like that? He deserved a bit of dignity. But his scenes were funny, which I’m not sure if it’s good or bad because he’s a First Order general so... he’s supposed to be more serious, I guess? 
As weird as it is, I kinda get his motives for being the spy, to see Kylo Ren fall so he could ascend to the Supreme Leader position, but things didn’t work out but at least we got a bit of that Kylux tension, right? *sigh* 
Knights of Ren 
One of my great disappointments of this movie.
They didn’t say a word, were only referred as murderers (not sure about the word exactly but it was something like that), had a couple of fight scenes and died. I wish they made an appearance in TLJ but they were only mentioned in Rey’s vision and Snoke mentioned them once but that was it.
They had some really impressive costumes and weapons, though. 
Overall a great movie, lots of nostalgia, would recommend.
So there it is, my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker after watching it for the first time. Please feel free to share your thoughts as well and let’s talk :)
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smirkingsolo · 4 years
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Orpheus: A Reylo Story (Chapter 1: Ash and Memory)
The World Between Worlds Reylo Fix it fic you’ve been craving since TROS ripped out your still beating heart and crushed it to death.
Canon-compliant, universe-plausible, multi-chapter
Please read the Prologue first; it will literally not make any sense if you don’t!
Prologue can be found here or over on my AO3 (Rinnagirl) at https://archiveofourown.org/works/21984730/chapters/52460923
Your comments, likes, reblogs, kudos, etc. mean the absolute world to me!
Chapter 1: Ash and Memory
For what feels like the hundredth time, Rey ignites Leia’s saber. Its blue beam casts the surrounding woods in an unearthly glow. The effect is immediate. A sound like a distant scream of frustration echoes in her mind, pounding against the walls of her skull like some caged creature desperate to break free. She drops the saber, hands shooting to clutch at her throbbing head, clamping down over her ringing ears. When the saber hits the ground, de-igniting, the silence is just as immediate.
Two months.
It has been two months since Exegol. Two months since she has been able to use the saber, either saber. Though it had meant the triumphant return of her staff, the inability to use the only sabers she had was becoming incredibly inconvenient. She could tell she was already losing some of her skill and coordination with single-bladed weapons after two full months of being unable to even ignite the sabers, let alone train with them, without the horrible screams. Some days she vowed to ignore it and train anyway.
That never lasted long.
Even when there was no screaming, the alternative was not much better. It was either a desperate, trapped scream or a chorus of voices so loud they drowned out her every thought with their incessant chatter.
She glares at the saber resting oh so innocently on the forest floor. They are on Takodana at the moment, a place Rey would normally have enjoyed visiting. Poe and Finn were meeting with Maz to discuss what Rey usually referred to as “CC (co-comander) business.” In the months after the Battle of Exegol, the group of former Resistance fighters had kept busy. More than enough small pockets of First Order loyalists and even the odd scattered Sith cultist groups still stirred up enough trouble here and there to keep them on the alert.
Rey, honestly, hasn’t a clue what Maz and her friends are meeting about this time. She’s sure Finn told her, maybe no more than two hours ago on the ship, but like so much in the last two months, it just slips right off as soon as she hears it. She is distracted, and now, thanks to her lovely situation with the sabers, incredibly frustrated.
She picks up the saber, turning it over in her hands like she used to do with the scrap parts she looted from the ships crashed in the Jakku desert. Leia’s saber, like Luke’s, was a marvel. She never grew tired of the schhwizz that accompanied an igniting lightsaber. But the Skywalker sabers still feel distant in many ways, like they are still being borrowed even though they had both technically been left to her. You need to make one of your own, she thinks, not for the first time. But how?
She sighs, tucking Leia’s saber into her belt and settling into her meditative position. The Force hums around her, coming alive in her new attentiveness. She feels the grass growing and the brush of the wind across her skin as it stirs fly-aways loose from her buns. The solid earth presses upwards towards her and she can feel herself lifting up off it, her diving off point into a sea of feeling. A sense of pure calm washes her bones in sunset warmth. She concentrates. Be with me. Be with me. Be with me.
She reaches out, stretching towards the memories and souls of the past Jedi, their experiences hovering at the edge of her consciousness like her own forgotten thoughts. There is a sense of understanding, of surety, and she chases after it, the fingered tendrils of her mind reaching further, tracking the feeling. She catches up to the memory, brushing against it like one might brush the hair from a lover’s eyes.
She sucks in a breath. It’s him.
In her mind’s eye is a young Ben Solo, white padawan robes and all, eyes closed in focused meditation. Before him float the pieces of an unfinished lightsaber, twisting and hovering, held in place only by his concentration. She feels an understanding of what he is doing seeping into her own mind. Then the scene begins to flicker, the once defined shape of Ben Solo blinking in and out of form, alternating with another, smaller figure. It’s her. Her vision leaps rapidly between the two of them, both somehow occupying the same space and position. As she watches, the two begin to blur together before settling on the image of Ben once more, his eyes snapping suddenly open, wide and dark.
He is looking at her.
She feels a jolt; a once familiar tug in her gut overtakes her. It’s been two months since she last felt this feeling. The feeling of him. The feeling of connecting to him across lightyears of space rocks and stardust. The feeling of their Force bond comes alive inside her and she aches. She knows it is impossible to connect with a memory, for it to acknowledge her in return, but Ben’s eyes are focused, looking past the hovering lightsaber pieces and trained on her.
“REY,” Finn's voice collides with her like a blaster bolt, ripping through her vision of Ben and snapping her meditative state in half, dropping her unceremoniously to the dirt. She is breathless and disgruntled when Finn reaches her and she has half a mind to smack him with her staff.
Times like this almost make her wish for the solitude of Jakku again. They’ve been hovering over her these past two months, Finn and Poe. Moments of peace and quiet are rare. She knows they mean well, appreciates what they are trying to do for her. But it has been difficult to grieve with them around. There is something more personal about her grief over the loss of Ben Solo, something they would not understand. It wasn’t like losing Leia. It was like losing part of her own soul. He still felt close to her in some strange way that she couldn’t quite identify, but still, it wasn’t the same.
She hadn’t known what he was to her when she lost him, hadn’t had the time to even try to work it out. Their relationship up until that point had been complicated to say the least. So much so that she hadn’t even known how to explain herself when she returned from Exegol a shell shocked mess. They had attributed it to her encounter with Palpatine, to the revelation of her bloodline, to the loss of Leia. She had told them what she could in the simplest of terms. Told them that Ben Solo had had a change of heart after all, had come to help her fight Palpatine, had saved her life. Finn had pressed her about it, about the life saving bit in particular, almost as if he knew that she had died completely. She waved it off, claiming that he took a blow meant for her and died of the wound. She still wasn’t entirely sure why she lied to him, but something about the intimacy of that memory felt too precious to share with someone who still only knew him as the hated Kylo Ren.
There was only one person with whom she had shared the full account of the events on Exegol. She hadn’t expected the conversation, hadn’t expected to share so much, but Lando Calrissian was quite charming. There was an ease about him that seeped into her and knocked loose her secrets.
So few were the people left who had known Ben Solo before he was Kylo Ren. She had asked him with as much nonchalance as she could manage what Ben had been like as a child. Lando had studied her for a few moments before answering. But then he had launched into a tale of the time he’d presented young Ben Solo with a blaster with which he’d accidentally blown a hole through the wall of a visiting diplomat’s chambers.
Lando had caught her not long after that conversation in the back of the Falcon, tears in her eyes and a small lockbox open in her lap that contained a plain black shirt with a hole burned through it and a familiar blaster. He asked her how she had come to acquire Ben Solo’s blaster and from there the truth had tumbled forth.
He had listened patiently, placing a comforting hand on top of hers on the blaster when it came to the difficult parts. A gesture that reminded her of Leia. She had even told him about the kiss. He didn’t press or ask her to explain, he only nodded, a knowing look in his eye.
“Some people are never really gone, Rey. Especially the ones we love.”
*****************************************************************************************************
When they reach the ship Rey gathers Finn and Poe to her.
“There’s somewhere I need to go.”
Both Finn and Poe nod, but she can tell they aren’t really hearing her. Both are eyeing a precariously placed BB-8 on the roof of the Falcon, his tiny blowtorch ignited in an attempt to reseal a crack that Poe had undoubtably caused.
She gives them each a light tap on the head with the end of her staff and they refocus their attention on her.
“I need to go to Dagobah. Alone.”
*****************************************************************************************************
“Ben, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Ben rolls his eyes, shooting his mother a look of thinly veiled annoyance.
“Yes, mother. I’ve flown plenty of interdimensional ghost crafts before.”
Leia presses her lips together; a tiny, wry smile threatens to slip through.
Ben wonders if she can tell he is doing none of the steering. It isn’t that he couldn’t fly the Falcon if he wanted to, but this Falcon has a mind of its own and a clear destination that Ben cannot discern. He can’t even see through the front windows for the blue blur of lightspeed until they land, as if the ship has shifted from lightspeed to landed without need for transition. Then it’s nothing but sand.
Kriffing, World Between Worlds rules.
Before Ben can push the release on the door, Leia clears her throat. He only half turns.
“Yes?”
“I don’t quite know how this world works, but I wonder if perhaps we ought to dress a little more inconspicuously. We still don’t know if or how we will appear to others.”
He notes now that she has already changed into a spare set of clothes, ones she stored in a compartment long ago, still right where she left them, even in this strange dimension. Ben glances down at himself. All black. Perhaps she is right, it is a bit dark side for what appears to be a hot desert planet.
She offers a bundle to him and he heads off to change. He snorts derisively when he opens the bundle. It is clear that these were once his father’s clothes. They practically scream “scoundrel smuggler,” but there is no sense in disagreeing with an insistent Leia Organa, even in an alternate dimension. She turns away from him quickly when he emerges, concealing a small smile and a few tears, and he knows he must look exactly like Han. Though he elects to keep his own black pants and boots, the loose white shirt and lightweight vest are better suited for the environment, necessary even. At least, that’s what he tells himself. He knows the low slung blaster belt and holster are nowhere near as necessary, but he straps them on anyway. May as well.
The nearest village is eerily familiar, at least to Ben. The longer they linger, the more he remembers, and he truly wishes he didn’t. They are on Jakku in the village of Tuanul. The village is largely empty with the exception of a few marauding scavengers who seem entirely unable to see them. Leia calls out to one, even moving to touch the man’s shoulder, but there is no response. Her hand passes through him, a blurry mirage-trail of her movement following behind it. They are smoke and ash here, a match to the ruins of the settlement.
Ben is staring at one of the burned out structures when Leia returns to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Ben?”
“I did this.” His voice is no more than a choked whisper.
The air around them begins to stir, a sluggish tornado of trailing ash forming images as the remaining scavengers move off into the desert, unaware of anything more than a light breeze.
The images solidify, Ben’s memory set around them now in a frozen rendition of the past. The villagers cower in a huddled mass in the center of the village. Ben can see himself, as Kylo Ren, strike down Lor San Tekka. No mercy, no pause, no regret. They watch as he gives the stormtroopers the order to execute the remaining villagers, and he looks away, unable to bear witness to the terror in their expressions. The terror you caused, murderer.
He feels sick, an overwhelming urge to vomit pits his gut. What does it matter if you could live again? Do you even deserve to? More than any one of these innocent people you sentenced to death?
He stumbles away from the scene, finally collapsing to his knees in front of the memory-figure of Kylo Ren. His tears fall, mingling with the ash. Black raindrops in the sand. He’d thrown away his saber, but knows he can’t throw away his past actions so easily. He’d told the memory of Han Solo that he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to do what he needed to; Han had assured him that he did. So he had. He had thrown away his prized saber. He had given his life for another. But this? What more of himself had he to offer? He was a ghost in the world now, not even a body or soul to give. Was there even anything he could offer that could atone for these sins if he returned to life?
Leia’s hand is on his shoulder again, warm and firm, offering a light squeeze of reassurance. He turns towards her, arms wrapping around her legs, his face pressing into her stomach like he is a little boy again, ashamed and afraid.
She strokes his hair, bringing her other arm around as she bends to hold him.
“Mother...” His voice breaks. “I don’t know how to undo the past. I don’t deserve to live again, not after all of this.”
“Ben.” He never understood how his mother managed to sound both gentle and stern all at once, but there it is, the tone she would use on him when he was a child. He holds her tighter.
“Ben, there is so much you must unlearn if you are to live in the world again.” She cups his chin in her hand, tilting his face up to look at her. “But you have taken the hardest step. The first step is always the most difficult, but it matters. It means something that you made the choice to walk away from this life. I won’t lie to you, my son, you have done many things that are worth regretting. I know you did so much out of anger, out of fear, loneliness, sorrow...”
Leia’s voice shakes; she tightens her hold on him.
“So much done out of the pain that we... that I was supposed to protect you from.” Her tears flow freely now. “And I am so sorry, Ben. I am sorry we ever made you feel like you were less important to us, like you were unloved or unwanted or abandoned. Your father and I loved you and still do. And I want nothing more than to see you live a life of happiness and belonging. Oh Ben, what you have done doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you will do. If you return to life, you need only live a life of deliberate, intentional love. Choose to take care of others. Choose to be compassionate, protective, kind. You earn the life you live by making the lives of others worth living. There is still time, Ben. It is never too late to love others, to care for them.”
She slides to the ground, kneeling before her son, placing both hands on his face.
“I sense great love in you, Ben. I always have, but now more than ever.”
With that he folds into her, clinging to her with abandon, a lost child found again. They stay like that for a time, the years of emotions ebbing away gently, leaving them both peaceful and renewed.
When they stand again, the memory-figure of Kylo Ren has dissolved into ash once more, scattered in the desert wind.
The pair once again move about the frozen memory, observing as parts of it begin to dissolve. Ben pauses in front of a lone Stormtrooper. A bloody handprint stains the trooper’s mask.
“What happened to the stormtrooper? FN-2187. The one who defected...is he...is he happy?”
Leia smiles, nodding. “Yes, he’s quite happy now. He’s found a home. It is my understanding that he is now co-general with Poe Dameron who you might recognize.” She gestures towards a memory-figure frozen in the act of being dragged towards the First Order ship by two half-dissolved Stormtroopers.
She smiles at him affectionately. “Yes, Finn is in good hands.”
Ben nods, extending a hand towards FN-2187...Finn, resting it on his shoulder.
“I am glad.”
*****************************************************************************************************
Lightyears away Finn jolts in his seat, a vision passing before his eyes, the mug in his hand splattering caf onto Poe who lets out an indignant shriek.
“Kriff, Finn! What was that about?!”
But Finn barely hears him. His hand resting on his shoulder where he had just felt the presence of a hand, not quite touching but close enough to sense. Not just any hand. The hand of Kylo Ren. Through new to his Force-sensitivity Finn recognized the Force signature immediately.
“Finn, Finn? Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Poe is standing now, hovering near Finn, wide eyes creased with lines of concern.
“I...I think I did.”
Poe cocks one eyebrow at him, but doesn’t scoff.
“What did you see?”
“Leia and Kylo Ren. They’re somewhere. Not quite alive, but definitely not dead. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like he almost touched me.” He gestures to his shoulder. “Dead people can’t do that, Poe, not even through the Force! Look, I know it sounds crazy but—” Poe slides his hand to cover the spot on Finn’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze, effectively cutting off Finn’s babbling. He looks Finn straight in the eye.
“I believe you.”
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paddala · 4 years
Text
so i saw tros again
i decided to take notes while i watched so here ya go
*spoilers ahead*
opening sequence is great, it really sets up the film, we don't know what's in store but they give us some ideas. not sure i loved seeing palpatine or even palps being alive, would have been cooler if he was some kind of poltergeist-y sith demon, also, kylo was on mustafar? we ain't gonna talk about that? ok
skipping to rey and leia, first, i hate the leia scenes, they seem creepy and overdone and not genuine, anyway, why didn't rose go with the trio to pasana? why don't we see more of rose? why am i screaming? aaaaand more creepy leia speaking vaguely to rey
now KOR and kylo fixing his helmet *eyeroll* and now the first order finding out about a SPY!!!!! how utterly stupid and it's literally a plot line from a fANFIC!!!! WHY
the trio on pasana, rey looking at the children longingly always kills me, bc she ends up alone without ben, when the only thing she wanted was a family, this is BAD LUV!!!! "i don't have one yet (a family), i'm just rey," that's what she should have said
rey and kylo first force bond, LOVE IT
lando i guess? i mean i get it but i don't at the same time, i love lando tho so i'm not complaining
i don't really hate anything about pasana, just wish rose was there with them, feels weird and wrong, that's my only complaint
WHAT WAS THE REASON OF FINN WANTING TO TELL REY SOMETHING BEFORE THEY "DIED" WHAT WAS THE REASON!!!!!!! THEY NEVER ACTUALLY TOUCH ON IT AGAIN
ok i love poe and finn bantering, but we didn't get one ounce of real finnpoe interaction
how does 3p0 have more lines than rose? it makes my brain hurt
why didn't we get more of KOR? like? what the fuck?
rey senses kylo, she said "everyone shut the fuck up im thinking"
chewie getting captured makes so sense to me but yeah
why didnt the trio just leave? why didn't rey just tell them that kylo was coming and that they needed to gtfo? when does this film start making sense? chewie wouldn't have been captured!!!!
rey trying to pull back the ship should have been like foreshadowing to us finding out that rey actually killed her parents, but no, she ends up being related to palpatine? make it make sense pls
i love zorii but i could care less about her and poe's romantic history
rey in kylos bedroom, LOVE THAT
JODIE COMER AS REYS MOM IS KINDA PERFECT BUT REYS PARENTS ARE SUPPOSE TO BE SHITTY SO IDK HOW TO FEEL
the way they made hux the spy......the way i hate it so much, hux should have been our other main bad guy, the way hux only wanted to be a spy to destroy kylo, FUCKING PETTY AND STUPIDDDD
rey sweetie i'm so sorry
this scene could have been so powerful if kylo said "rey we aren't so different, i know you killed your parents, the darkness is already in you, just take my hand" BITCH WTF I SHOULD HAVE WROTE THIS MOVIE BUT ANYWAY!!!!
"everybody thinks that they know me, no one does" or "i killed my parents, its been haunting me ever since" SHE HAS DARKNESS JUST LIKE BEN!!!!! THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A SERVE BUT JJ IS A FUCKING CLOWN AND COWARD
i loved jannah, would have love to see her with rose, but jj is a fucking idiot
finn not being able to let rey do things on her own is SUUUUPER annoying and why i kinda hate his character in this film, it's a year later, ITS CALLED CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT LUV!!!!!
the dark!rey with sharp teeth sends me, what the fuck is dis hunny
"the dark side is in our nature" loved this, if only she wasn't a palpatine and actually killed her parents, THE FLAVOR
ok rey and kylo fighting, i get it, leia calling out to her son bc he's "going to kill her" when that's not what he wants, he's deflecting all her strikes, wtf? rey implailing kylo mAKES NO SENSE!? SHE DOESNT WANNA KILL HIM EITHER? WHY DID SHE DO THAT!? she should have accidentally grazed his arm, then forced healed, wtf is this movie, i ask again (ok i did some digging on this scene and someone said that rey is metaphorically killing kylo ren, which yes i love this, but it still erks me)
rey, i guess metaphorically, redeemed kylo, he's ben now, she gave him life force, he should have lived after he brought back rey, AGAIN WTF (i'm so stupid you guys know this lol)
han and ben......IT MAKES ME SAD BUT HAPPY!! i loved this scene so much, he really looks like ben solo here, he's so confused but he knows that kylo is over with, he's ben now, rey gave him the light he needed, WTFFFHSJDJSKDKJS.... "dad...." "i know" HI IM CRYIBG LSKSKSKSKKS
DOMHNALL GLEESON SWEETIE IM SO SORRY THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU DESERVED YOUR CHARACTER WAS FANTASTIC THEY DID YOU SO DIRTY #justiceforhux
rey chucking the legacy saber into a fire and luke catching it saying hey wtf you can't do that that's so fucked up as if he didn't toss that mf over his shoulder in tlj, oh man jj really said fuck rian johnson, also leias lightsaber should have been bens, IMO
luke's x-wing just magically coming out of fucking nowhere? didn't he scrap the ship while on ach-to? hm...RIIIIIIIIGHT
chewie dead? nope. c3po memory wiped? nope. ben solo dead? yeah fuck that guy
at this point i've lost interest, i'm waiting for the reylo kiss
p*lps calling rey her granddaughter, i'm literally gonna barfffff
BEEEEEEEEEEEEN MY BABY BOOOOOYYYYY OHHH IM SUFFERING
i love him i love him i love him omfg he's so powerful and sexy, literally came to save rey without a lightsaber i love this MAN
The Shrug™
A DYAD IN THE FORCE, THEIR LIFE FORCE BOND, HELLO!!!???? AND BEN STILL DIES AND REY ENDS UP ALONE!? I CANT
ben being thrown like that by p*lp, i've never hated a villain more in my life
idk like i kinda hate that all the jedi from the past came to rey, when ben was RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE.
oh my fucking god i hate disney "i am all the sith" "and i am all the jedi"…"i am inevitable" "and i am iron man" CAN YOU COME UP WITH SOMETHING ELSE
finn sensing rey dying through the force, i want to die
ben.....crawling to rey....fuck it hurts to bad
he's been through hell hes so scared and sad i hate jj so much
the kiss......cinematic masterpiece, should have ended there, but here we are
again. REY SWEETIE IM SO SORRY, her lightsaber is cool tho
"im rey....rey skywalker" NOT YOU
YUP WORSE STAR WARS MOVIE EVER
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