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cooltrainererika · 3 years

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A Star Wars Noob’s ideas for fixing the Disney sequels

Okay so just to get this out there, because it won’t leave my mind.

So I’ve been binging on SW lately and the sequels only annoy me more and more by the day. So just wanted to throw my character ideas out into the world. Focusing on characters because I like writing characters way more than plot. Hopefully if I ever actually write this thing, or even somehow pitch it to someone with the right connections to animate it with the actors as voice actors, this wouldn’t have gone viral. But since no one looks at my blog it probably won’t lol. Hopefully.

But just in case, I’ll say that this will probably contain spoilers for a story which may or may not exist by the time you read this.

I’ve deliberately been trying to avoid as much emotional spoilers and normal spoilers as I can before the sequels despite the temptation, so sorry if some stuff is a bit off. Augh I hope I can get the time to watch the full OT and PT soon. I was too tired from hiking when I watched SW4 and I now really wish my dad didn’t show me when I was half-asleep.

Rey: Rainbow of possibilities; Cynical Scavenger, Adventure-seeking Audience Surtogate Geek, or Lawful Good to the core Paladin Padawan with a personal grudge, and may be descended from a family line, maybe not, but currently most likely a Skywalker by blood. Story and other character arcs change dramatically depending on which route chosen.

Finn: Stoic soldier man learns power of friendship, finds meaning of life, causes Stormtrooper mutiny, probably becomes a Jedi and second main character and hooks up with Rey. “What‘s a joke?”. Awkward dork and stunted socially but doing his best. May instinctively find it hard to disobey orders. He may be the one wanting to find his family; but that’s dropped soon enough to focus on what’s ahead.

(Alternatively: Proud warrior guy who acts like a stereotypical North Korean soldier who finds himself outside the First Order, learns power of friendship etc. The rest is the same)

Poe Dameron: What we Japanese people call The Aniki. The funny charismatic ace pilot who keeps everyone sane, overall bro. Wholesome but a bit rough, that guy you would want to share a beer with. But within that easygoing nature burns a hotblooded, determined, dutiful streak, and an even stronger snarky streak. The one with the social skills. Loves his droid like his son though Cynical!Rey and Finn find that initially kind of stupid/strange.

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo: Appears to be yet another quietly imposing Star Wars villain with added edgelord factor, but actually a mentally unstable, borderline yandere berserker of a man crushed under the weight of a legacy, with a horrifying inferiority complex, identity issues, and an unhealthy obsession with familial honor, constantly stuck between Dark and Light. Despite his high rank, basically the First Order’s attack dog. Usually has the emotional maturity of a 16-year-old, if not younger. If anyone is, he’s the damsel in distress of this story.

Luke Skywalker: Cuddly sunshine headmaster sage doing his best, has been on many adventures before that are hidden ads to future Lucasfilm projects. May have gone to search for answers as to what is causing recent events, or is still present at the beginning. May survive at the end. He could be anywhere from kind of jaded but at his core still that sweet optimist, to Basically Uncle Iroh, to can-literally-summon-Porgs-by-whistling/Space Sage Mr. Rogers.

Han Solo: General of the Republic Armed Forces or courier who decided military life just wasn’t for him and now delivers important messages through still unstable areas of the New Republic, a war hero, and a dad doing his best. Wants to hold hope but may have at least outwardly given up on Ben, with Poe filling in the void. Has gone clean from his life of crime and still married 30+ years strong with Leia. He would be the one who is the closest to Poe if he’s still in the military and Leia is a Jedi, with Poe being seen as his likely successor. He might die at the end of 8? Maybe Hamill and Carrie would somehow talk him into sticking around past 7? He might still die in 7?

(Side note: I wish we could have seen Old Harrison Ford in a military casual coat-cape. He would have looked awesome in it. I mean no one would really complain that he plays fast and loose with the dress code if there even is one, he’s Han freakin’ Solo and he gives no f*cks.)

Leia Organa-Solo: Preferably a Jedi Knight, leader while he’s away if he’s away as well as their tactician, or senator considering her personality; maybe have basically what Colin Trevorrow planned for her (I mean… why not just use CGI at this point? They’ve done it before. I’m sure Carrie wouldn’t have wanted her swan song to be such a passive role either), with her bond with Luke being a major factor and us actually being able to see it in practice. May have outwardly given up on her son as well, but still is at the end of the day a mom doing her best. Basically a strong, smart lady like how she’s always been.

Chewbacca: How he always is, but he plays more of a role than basically the guy bussing the cast around, an active combat role definitely. Han’s second in command and maybe fellow dad. Possibly the part-time chaperone of the mess that is the new main duo. Also was Ben’s first friend, and you bet there will be drama here.

Lando Calrissian: Business mogul who probably helps the heroes out, maybe by selling them stuff and using his many connections to get information. And/or he’s basically an economic diplomat for the Republic. Has known Ben since he was a child and may have snuck him on too many joyrides without telling Leia, to her chagrin and Han’s amusement.

Grand Admiral Armitage Hux: Basically how he was in SW7. Calculating, manipulative, coldhearted, intelligent, and ruthless, the brains to Kylo’s brawn. Son of former Imperial officers, killed his own father to get where he is. Gives no f*cks, except when he goes full ham. Maybe even he goes cold and pale if Kylo starts getting angry, just to show how terrifying he can be, but I also like the idea of him being one of two people who can manipulate Kylo out of a tantrum and not end up a pile of flesh or choked to death.

Captain Phasma: How she is in supplemental material probably. A walking chrome machine of merciless death. Probably not very talkative, and probably does not take defectors lightly. She may defect at the end or not depending on how truly evil she’s portrayed to be, but I’m thinking she’s likely this cruel disciplinarian who expects complete and utter, machine-like obedience to the end, and Finn flinches at the mere mention of her, though she herself is equally as extremely loyal to the cause.

Snoke: A mysterious being, the likes of which are not of this galaxy. Probably some kind of ancient eldritch abomination who can torment vulnerable minds with an untraceable curse. Not your average Sith, and despite how it may seem it may not be connected to them at all… Or perhaps it is. Or perhaps it itself serves a larger master. It wants to use Kylo Ren for… something. Just what it is is what Luke has been trying to find out for years.

Knights of Ren: Idea borrowed from Thor Skywalker (check him out on YouTube!); possibly a military cult of Sith/Vader worshippers who see Ben as the second coming of Vader, and have aligned themselves with Snoke. Probably basically Kylo’s personal guard and troops. Or possibly directly liked to whatever otherworldly entit(ies?) Snoke is, not being of this galaxy themselves.

Anakin Skywalker: Determined grandpa doing his best for his kids, grandkid(s), and the galaxy. Doesn’t appear often, but plays a major role in the story; maybe he’s the one who led Rey to his lightsaber, and maybe he advises Luke while training Rey, or secretly follows Kylo, trying to speak to him but unable to be seen or heard by him. He’d be the one who ultimately convinces Ben to return to the light, and to, in an echo of the words Ben heard when he was being impersonated, “finish what I started”.

Rose Tico: A probably relatively new, wide-eyed young recruit in the Republic Military, and maybe seeks revenge on First Order for killing or kidnapping her sister. Not sure if she will be needed, but if there’s room for her she might be interesting. Maybe she’s one of Poe’s friends or part of his squad. She could also be the resident girly girl because there aren’t many of those here.

Vice-Admiral Amberlyn Holdo: She’s in the Aftermath books, and those seem pretty good, so she’s probably how she is there. A quirky mostly background character that is probably at most there for Han and/or Leia and Ackbar to give commands to and salute back, but most importantly she actually does her job properly, even if she’s still a bit of an odd person. Also Poe knows her and they have a way more amicable work relationship. Also give her something which actually looks like something military personnel would wear. She could even be a legitimately good tactician who comes up with off-the-wall tactics.

(Side note: I heard that she basically has the Star Wars version of Autism, and while I’d appreciate that as an Aspie myself, I’ll also have to say that Autistic people would probably be terrible military leaders due to us not being able to adjust to sudden changes well and our bad communication skills. So yeah, sorry, unless she’s recast to something like, say, a mechanic or logistics or medic or any other more Autistic-friendly job, that’s going to have to go)

Maz Kanada: …Admittedly not sure what to do with her. But she’s more likely to be an acquaintance of Lando before Han, if she doesn’t know both. In fact, Lando may be introduced early alongside her. But she would still have the important role of keeping Anakin’s saber; how she has it, either Lando found it, or basically what was cut from TFA showing that she’s indeed pretty awesome.

BB-8: BB-8 doesn’t have to change. He’s perfect as he is. Maybe what he can do should be more consistent though. Poe and him are basically Ash and Pikachu, they stick together whenever possible. If Rey or Finn need a droid to tag along and Poe isn’t in the party at the moment, R2 is right there. I once read a fanfic in which BB-8 was actually a droid Luke made for Ben and I liked the idea… though it probably would be a bit of an unnecessary detail in practice.

R2-D2 and C3P0: They’re basically business as usual. They would still have that boke-tsukkomi dynamic they had going on, sometimes with the added childlike cuteness of BB-8 in the mix. If there’s any extra time left for comic relief scenes, or if they’re sent on some kind of mission together, I can see these three messing around doing their thing (or rather, BB being childlike, cute and curious, Threepio being overly nervous, and Artoo being too old for this sh*t and/or BB’s cool uncle/older brother) being both cute and hilarious.

Also Worldbuilding stuff will be featured at the bottom

Elaboration on the “big four” of the sequel cast:

Rey: Aged 19, speaks with Daisy Ridley’s normal accent, not RP (I mean really, her accent isn’t that hard to understand). A whole rainbow of possibilities with this lady, though many don’t realize it. I might be leaning towards her being Luke’s daughter, though her being Just Rey may also be interesting, and her still being a descendant of Palpatine or the main villain could also have potential, though if Finn is a Jedi I don’t think there’s any need for her parents to be nobody. But the three main routes I can think of for her are these three: Cynical!Rey, a Rey with a backstory identical to the canon Rey from her abandonment onwards, Fangirl!Rey, a sort of estimation of a dorky female Star Wars nerd in-universe and the most lighthearted start out of the three, and Padawan!Rey, a Rey who is already Luke’s Padawan at his academy. Maybe making her starting point less crushingly bleak and Fangirl!Rey could work, but it might dilute both ideas, and that characterization might be a bit too similar to ANH Luke.

As is apparent, Cynical!Rey, is, well, cynical. She’s strong and independent, but extremely distrusting, on-edge, and not used to friendly interaction. Think Female SW4 Han Solo but even more antisocial and probably not even bothering with the bravado, and basically with Anakin’s upbringing except she doesn’t even have a loving mother like Anakin did. Fangirl!Rey was my initial idea but I’m starting to become less partial to it because of the aforementioned similarity to ANH Luke, but my idea was she’s basically Harry Potter, living with stepparents who hate her, or she’s still used as basically child labor but her conditions are nowhere near as bad as Cynical Rey’s, and she would have grown up on stories about the Rebels and the Jedi and everything else in the past movies, collecting every single bit of memorabilia she can get her hands on. If one wants to go for very lighthearted and slightly meta for SW7 this is the route. Padawan!Rey could go anywhere, but I’m thinking she would basically be our D&D Paladin; ever since Ben Solo went berserk and ran off to join the First Order, she’s become very protective of her fellow students and has a really understandable personal grudge against him. She might be the strongest pupil left after the Second Jedi Massacre, and by the end maybe she becomes the successor to headmaster of the academy. It is possible that she was found abandoned on Jakku or Luke’s doorstep, however, so the theme of growing up lonely is there, and because being a Jedi is what has given her meaning in life it means a lot to her. But while I don’t want her parentage to be revealed early if it is Luke, it does raise the massive plot hole of why this was never disclosed to her or to Ben.

And yes, I did say fellow students and academy. Wiping the new Jedi Order feels really cheap and it makes the whole hopeful Jedi Starting Anew implication that I’m 90% sure the OT ended on feel very pointless. I’d prefer them still being there, though their inclusion would be obviously way more natural in the Padawan Route. This also has tons of marketing potential for Disney, because I wanted to take IRL realism into account; what’s in it for Disney? Maybe potential to expand on other students and Luke’s academy? It could be like a smaller Jedi Hogwarts/Xavier Institute basically. Though the survivors wouldn’t be too numerous; just, like, four at most. Maybe there would be elements of an Avengers/Infinity War/Endgame-esque team movie, even if the rest are a bit out of focus.

I did think maybe the heroes would still go to Ahch-To after SW7 where Luke would have been hiding with his students researching the new threat, but maybe I could have him stay and sort of take a few cues from Harry Potter by introducing the heroes to the world of the Jedi early and giving them a break in the action as they settle in their new homes, so there’s more time to develop the padawan side characters, what the academy is like, and Luke gets to appear in SW7 as well so there can be a OT trio “reunion” (not a reunion in-universe). Though that kind of messes with other parts I want to include like Rey and Finn having to take on Kylo and getting completely whipped because he’s a rampaging madman before having to be saved by Luke. Also Rey getting kidnapped has potential for developing her trust in others, and her and Finn getting a breather moment at the Republic after the heroes and Han regroup would kind of remove a point where that could be easily slotted in the story. It would also require everything before this to be crammed in the first act.

(Newer edit 5/27/21) I also like her getting a golden double-bladed saber like many fans depict her. It’s not only awesome looking (because she only gets her own saber at the end of TROS… Why?), but it’s more toys for the moichendise! It fits her starting with a staff, it has more reach, and it would fit Cynical Rey especially for her to have a style centered around keeping as much of herself defended as possible. Watching Battlefront 2 footage has made me think about fighting styles a bit, and if she and Finn are a duo how their styles of combat might compliment each other, especially as their relationship develops (coincidentally she and Finn apparently are a very good combination in BF2). A Cynical Rey would probably contrast the most, with a fighting style based on keeping enemies away, trickery, and defense (a good choice for a blade made of light), maybe a bit wild at first but initially her goal in fighting would be to hold out until there is an opening to get the hell out, only staying to fight if she has no other option. Fangirl Rey wouldn’t really have a fighting style initially, and it’s gonna be very dependent on where her arc goes. Padawan Rey would have the most Prequel Jedi-esque, choreographed style, showing a lot of skill though not quite mastering it and with tons of openings at first. A Cynical Rey may have an uncanny skill to detect suspicious people, which would make her trusting the heroes easier, and though this ability isn’t super strong and is more “a slight gut feeling but it could be nothing” than “human lie detector” it could maybe be honed more. And while not quite wall vision like in BF2 (because wat? Where do they come up with this stuff?), maybe she’s good at detecting people’s presences too. These are very apt ambient skills for someone in her position. Meanwhile, Fangirl!Rey would have probably suspected she had the Force already, and her ambient abilities could be whatever, just rather passive abilities unless trained.

If she is Luke’s daughter though, that would open up the can of worms of who her mother is. Just making it so that she died before the events of SW7 might seem a bit… unfortunate? I kind of want Luke to have found love sometime (and seriously with how much of a bombshell young Luke was, in addition to him being such a hero, I’m shocked that he never got one. I can see why Mara Jade wanted a piece of that. *wolf whistle*), but then I’d have to figure out how to incorporate her in this already character-dense story without her having cheaply died offscreen. I might be able to think of something? I could always go digging in the dusty pile of old fan theories, I might find something good. Thor Skywalker did hint at her but his story stopped at the end of where SW8 would have. If I do name her Mara there’s probably going to be extra pressure to do something with her. …But I can’t be the only one who thinks that Daisy Ridley kind of looks like Natalie Portman. Then again I’m pretty face-blind. I guess blond hair and blue eye color genes are also recessive traits for Star Wars humans. Though it seems the height genes skipped a generation because she’s actually pretty tall for a woman at 170 cm - I’m sorry what. That’s as tall as the average Japanese man! Holy sh*t Daisy! She only looks a bit small because she’s often depicted with Kylo and Kylo makes everyone not Phasma look diminutive. I guess Ben would get it from Anakin and Han (though he’s still taller than both of them…), so maybe a taller actress would be cast as Mara (?). And despite Rey’s malnourishment in the Cynical route, this actually isn’t that implausible, because stunted growth apparently only happens if children are deprived from gestation to about 2 years of age.

And again, why wouldn’t Ben know about this? But if this isn’t the Padawan!Rey route (the hardest to incorporate Rey The Actual Skywalker into), maybe Ben took Rey’s assumed death as even more of a reason to burden himself with the entire Skywalker legacy? This would give him a reason to already care about her.

Further edits: According to the Aftermath books, Jakku was a “Lightside Nexus” planet. Maybe this has to do with her powers? (Perhaps she was kept sane by the Force speaking to her on occasion, in dreams or as she lies staring at the ceiling after a long day, showing her the loving life she used to live and unknown to her she will return to someday). Or why she was dropped there? Maybe she was supposed to be living with Lor San Tekka (the old guy Kylo kills at the beginning of TFA), but got lost one day or was kidnapped by bandits to be a scavenger because her small size would have been perfect for getting loot from small spaces? Why not take her back then? This probably is one of the biggest plot knots in the Cynical Rey Skywalker route, alongside who her mother is.

Small detail lightning round before moving on: I once read a Japanese fic, and in it she mentioned she hates alcohol because she saw how it turned people into monsters. I actually kind of liked this headcanon, and maybe a bit unexpected. Though there’s also the route of her just being too used to it, setting her apart from previous more wholesome protagonists even more. Also Daisy would have to start hitting the gym and protein shakes because I think her character design evolving from her thin build to a very athletic, Wonder Woman-esque body type would be pretty good in representing her growth as a character, and combined with her height she would be so very badass looking.

Finn: Probably around 23? Infamous for lost potential, so his backstory is the same. However, I’m thinking that due to his dehumanizing upbringing, he’s a bit robotic and pretty stoic initially, a total opposite to Poe. He doesn’t understand jokes or sarcasm, and now that he’s completely left the life he’s always known, he feels pretty lost. He would basically act like a male Rei Ayanami, though I was going more for Drax at first. Alternatively, he’s a proud warrior type, imagine a stereotypical North Korean/Prussian soldier. He’d be a bit more emotional and probably less cartoonish here (I mean I have compared Star Wars to anime but full-on anime tropes in live action probably looks super corny), and he’s a massive hardass who also doesn’t get sarcasm or jokes and fanatical and would have thought of his fellow soldiers as a collective as his band of brothers and comrades, collectively serving the FO like a smoothly running machine. My initial thought was that after a life of war crimes and the influence a certain pilot whose cell he was guarding who gave him his name, and maybe witnessing the death of a comrade, he had defected from the FO, but I started thinking it would be plausible if he defected from the FO probably by accident. Highly likely to be the second protagonist, if not POV character, and if so I think it’s logical that it’s Finnrey that becomes the canon ship here. In the Padawan!Rey route, he’s the newcomer protagonist, not Rey. If they’re shipped, or even as friends, they may bond over their dehumanizing, harsh backgrounds and the feeling of being lost in the world. Also he likely starts a mutiny. Like it was such an obvious plot point but they never use it for some bizarre reason. It’s like the DM didn’t read his character sheet at all. Actually one didn’t and the other kept forgetting it in the third campaign.

There’s two ways I think his arc could go; first would be a focus mainly on his search for identity and becoming his own person. Second, his guilt about having done the First Order’s bidding for so long. Probably a combination of the two, though I’m not sure how to address them both. He also wants to see his colleagues free from slavery. But I am sure about I’d that he’d have to overcome his conditioning, learning to regain his humanity.

Especially if Rey is a Skywalker and he becomes a Jedi, he’d be the one who the movie makes a point about being from nowhere. He has no idea who his parents are, but it would not even matter in the end, it’s what he makes of his life from here on out. And if he and Rey end up together, which is extremely likely in this scenario, he not only finds his family in the figurative sense with the other Jedi and his new friends plus girlfriend, but in the literal sense as well, going from nameless Stormtrooper FN-2187, to just Finn the ex-Stormtrooper, to Finn the Padawan and then Jedi Knight, to finally, Finn Skywalker, Jedi Knight; maybe the last movie ends with one of them proposing to the other, with SW8 having previously ended with the climactic big damn kiss that cemented that they are a thing now. (Cue Luke jokingly asking when he’s getting grandchildren and How It Should Have Ended!Anakin squeeing over him getting great-grandchildren lol) His name would have this real symbolic value to it with how it changes as he goes from nobody to somebody. Not to mention “Finn Skywalker” is just a freakin’ awesome name. If they make up the leading duo, he and Rey may have some kind of inherent connection, or they progress into two parts of the same whole, even attaining something like a Dyad.

I thought an interesting thing to do if Rey is a Skywalker, and this is Cynical Rey, is a twist on the expected pattern by making him the one who sees the good in Kylo, not Rey. Because while Rey might be his cousin, she’s also a very distrustful person who couldn’t afford to think deeply about people act the way they do when she was growing up and fighting to survive. Meanwhile, Finn knows Kylo, and he also knows what it’s like to be determined to be a killing machine from a very young age, and if he has to forgive himself, or if he’s able to see the light, that Kylo deserves a chance as well. It would be the ultimate show of kindness from him, to show him forgiving the man who works so loyally under the same organization that enslaved him. I can also see Kylo being angry at himself for being unable to sense the Force-Sensitive in their midst.

Maybe he was born on a “Lightside nexus” planet too so that it makes sense that he can keep up with other characters? Presuming he’s in his early 20s, I don’t think him being raised by the Order since he was a baby is that plausible, so maybe he was already an orphan? I can see the First Order spinning their Stormtrooper program kidnapping street orphans as “rehabilitating” them, which combined with good old Victorian style citizen apathy to street children allows them to get away with it. But if he was, say, around 6 years old when he was taken away, it would make sense why he was able to break out of his programming. Perhaps Poe showing him friendship awoke the humanity long dormant in him. But on the other hand, the younger, adolescent soldiers may be beyond saving, and I can see that being absolutely heartbreaking.

I can see his fighting style with a saber being direct, forceful, and pragmatic, but unlike Rey the emphasis would be on engaging and keeping up the fight, and be very disciplined, calculated, and controlled in contrast to Cynical Rey. At least he’d attempt it while he gets used to the properties of a lightsaber, before there would probably be a lot of awkwardness as John is directed to swing this weightless prop blade with a weighted hilt like he would a club or sword. If he isn’t a Force Sensitive, he’s a good sniper just like in BF2, in fact this would be his primary combat ability, though still able to hold his own in melee combat. Though even as a Jedi he’d probably still use a gun as a sidearm, and his good aim would also translate to him being very good at spotting openings and spotting danger from a distance, as well as enhanced ability to dodge.

Poe Dameron: Age 29 (?). A total bro. I’ve kind of come to think of him as this embodiment of the good, wholesome side of traditional masculinity. I can best describe him as the guy you expect to think of when you think of the guy who takes the boys to the bar for beers on the house and hosts Super Bowl night (for the Americans out there). Basically just that big bro/cool uncle everyone likes. I think he’s the least changed from how he is in SW7; he’s a laid-back pilot with no special powers, and while he’s probably the most static and admittedly flat character (and unfortunately more minor than the other two) he has tons of charisma and optimism to compensate, though being the one who keeps everyone sane definitely helps. Not to mention his piloting skills; which, note, are never eclipsed by Rey, because that’s dumb. His skills are a bit more downplayed here, but he’s still extremely good, especially for his age. Despite being the pilot he’s the most down-to-earth, and may be the only one of the big four with any social skills, even if he’s a bit dorky, especially regarding BB-8.

Son of Rebel pilots, graduated top of his class in the Republic Flight Academy, and his background is squeaky clean, no drug trading involved, though he spent a lot of his adolescence and his adulthood in the Academy or in the military, just like in pre-TROS supplementary material. He’s the main source of jokes and wisecracks out of the trio in all but the most dorky of Fangirl!Rey routes probably, teaching Cynical!Rey and Finn what it’s like to smile and laugh. He still has a close relationship with Leia and Han; possibly closer to the latter due to the latter being a pilot and likely still a General. Not sure about him keeping his rank because him starting and staying at the top might mesh awkwardly with the rest of the trio, but maybe he’s still a Commander; whichever makes his inclusion in the main cast most plausible. Due to an adorable Pixiv comic I found he may have been inspired to become a pilot by Luke or Han. I’d like to think that he breaks the hotshot pilot cliché a bit by not being too overly arrogant, immediately setting himself apart from Han by being a wholesome guy there for his buddies from the start, even if he is fond of wisecracking and snarkiness (probably from hanging around Han and Leia), and inside that laid-back personality lies a hotblooded, passionate, unwavering core. Like, he’s not exactly hotheaded like a Latin stereotype (*ahem*), but he’s got this more subtle, but still apparent, underlying fiery hotbloodedness to him, something that especially makes itself apparent in high-stress situations and when it comes to his loved ones. He’d also be Rey and Finn’s mentor of sorts in stuff that doesn’t involve the Force, being their role model for what a functional member of society is. He may make some self-depreciating jokes about being “normal”, but I think mostly he’ll take it in stride. Though I can see him and Han having a chat about this in a more quiet scene.

Ironically, out of the trio he could maybe be said to be the most suited to be a Jedi personality-wise, despite the fact that he has no Force Sensitivity whatsoever; he goes with the flow, he isn’t troubled, he’s happy with the simple pleasures in life, he’s just a good, genuine guy who does good things, passionate but not obsessive, and he’s forgiving, willing to give even an enemy soldier a chance, appealing to the humanity in him. The last one is particularly Luke-like, don’t you think? Oh, to elaborate on the escape; I still like the idea of him giving Finn his name (though another idea I love is a fallen friend giving Finn his name, that would change stuff around a lot from what I am thinking at this moment). I also think that perhaps supplemental material or some flashbacks, or even an animated short could be made showing just how Poe broke Finn’s programming; by showing him genuine kindness, because somehow, despite his lack of Force Sensitivity, he saw that FN-2187 could be talked out of his programming if he was constantly nice to him, befriending him, starting up casual chatter with him, and after a while the trooper starts opening up to this pilot. …Yeah, Luke-like indeed. Though since there is the plot hole of why Finn could be convinced in mere days and why he’s the only one guarding such a high-profile prisoner, a more realistic idea may be that they talk to each other this way a few times, then Poe escapes and Finn goes after him before they both crash on Jakku and have to work together, with Poe immediately being friendly with Finn and later Rey, to his (and her) confusion. (I can just imagine Poe being all chipper and trying to engage Finn in conversation, or telling him “Good job, sport!” after they fight off bandits or something, and Finn just is all deadpan and “We are enemies, we have no reason to fraternize” and I find that kind of cute).

He may ultimately be the most static of the main cast, but I can see him having a huge impact in more subtle ways; like maybe Rey and Finn think of what Poe might do in a given situation in their training, and he could be the catalyst behind why Finn thinks that Kylo can be redeemed, just like how Poe was able to light another way when it felt like there was only one path for him. He also definitely wouldn’t be the type to be so reckless with his men like he was in TLJ, if he’s still a Commander; he cares about his men a lot, and in fact they may be the reason why he tends to act like an older brother. I can imagine a pretty poignant scene with Finn where Finn sees Poe by himself and BB-8 paying respects to his fallen comrades by this handmade cenotaph, as he sets some flowers down and pours a drink to them, and Finn once again is able to see how different the culture outside the First Order is, as he would have never been mourned like that if he died on the battlefield, nor can he imagine he ever would have done so himself. Or maybe Rey is there too, because if this is Cynical Rey she’s only known a life where people exploited each other. Maybe other characters like Jessika (who he’s already close to I think? Did she show up in the movies though?) or Rose would have the opportunity to be more than background characters by being part of his crew, and we’d get some charming scenes about the bond he has with his squadron.

Again, admittedly he’d be the least deep character out of the big four, with his feelings not being explored nearly as much. But he probably doesn’t really hide his feelings much anyway. For any supplementary shorts involving him, they would be mainly lighter stories about his relationship with the OT cast and their families and his friendship with BB-8 and his crew, or action-y ones about missions he’s gone on; as opposed to, say, Finn, which would show his life as an expendable trooper who knew nothing but war, Cynical!Rey and her crushing loneliness and growing disillusionment to the world as she struggles to survive, or Padawan!Rey and her anguish and grappling with the Dark Side in the aftermath of the Jedi Massacre.

I can also imagine him being this adorable Shipper On Deck for Finnrey lol. Just looking at his two friends, all proud, maybe even tearing up like “*sniff* I’m not crying Buddy, you’re crying!” when the inevitable big kiss scene happens. I can also imagine him being the one to tell Finn that “Hey Finn, what you’re feeling is love!”…And then he has to spend hours trying to explain what love even is to him lol. He always has his friends’ back after all. Again, he’s most likely the one guy who isn’t completely socially inept among these dorks. I’ve also had the potential idea that he could maybe be a good cook, and he’d be the one who introduces Rey and Finn to actually good food. Some fics I’ve noticed tend to show him cooking stuff probably for that reason. It’s just kind of cute, and it sets a good example if despite his traditionally masculine, salt-of-the-earth character, he likes some less “manly” stuff like such and sees no shame in it.

He may sacrifice himself in a blaze of glory towards the end, especially because quite frankly he may lose his plot relevance as the story goes on, though it would definitely be way more respectful than a lot of deaths were treated in the sequels. But I also want him to stick around because I want to imagine him being all proud of Rey and Finn after they propose to each other and giddily planning their wedding, and I feel he could have some very good interactions with Ben to build on for any spinoffs taking place after the trilogy. Speaking of…

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo: AKA Yet Another Ball Of Lost Potential: Anti-Villain Addition. This is gonna be a doozy, so strap in. He was probably the most developed character here but that just makes his lost potential stick out even more, so I have so much to say about him.

About 27 probably. While people complain about it, I actually like him being a manchild. It makes him a bit unique in this series. It’s kind of like Vader if he didn’t get stuck in that suit and kept acting like Anakin. In fact, that could make him even more terrifying if that feeds into how destructive he can be; at first he seems like your typical intimidating SW villain, not even that bad a leader with a seemingly calm if tense, imposing air, but it eventually becomes clear he’s this terrifying, volatile berserker who can throw some of the most destructive tantrums ever, and is ultimately a pathetic, broken, pitiful shell of a man. …He just happens to be a very powerful shell of a man. Maybe if he becomes emotional or angry enough, he can unleash powerful shockwaves that basically blow up everything around him, or cause mini Force Storms, or cause any number of unpredictable effects. Though he’s not quite constantly raging either; these berserk states are indeed triggered by anger, but I’m thinking that they are also basically weaponized panic attacks, there’s a sense that it’s also a self-defense mechanism that he lapses into when emotions overwhelm him or when he otherwise feels threatened (though whether it’s necessarily involuntary all the time I’m not so sure; but while he’d definitely want to be able to trigger them voluntarily, there will always be some sense that he doesn’t have full control over it). Also a lot of his rage is directed inwards as well, much like with his grandfather. I thought that maybe his unpredictability in these rages would be the key to his destructiveness, though I can see how someone who is out of control would also pose a problem, no matter how powerful; so maybe this is when he becomes the most focused, becoming locked onto the elimination of the perceived threat at all costs, and/or he can be controlled by his Master more directly like some kind of attack animal.

Luke’s first padawan, or at least after Leia or Grogu (I might make him show up as Luke’s first knighted pupil and allude to this, providing more exposition on Kylo, and being one of the Jedi who help fight in the final battle as the Skywalkers go on to take on the final boss (and Grogu’s name being revealed would be a massive hype moment in The Mandalorian)). Due to his storied family, plus the name of his uncle and grandfather’s own master, he had heavy expectations on his (at the time) small shoulders from an early age. However, he had long been tormented by the Dark Side due to an untraceable curse placed upon him by Snoke, and probably a pre-existing anxious personality. The expectations placed on him, or maybe perhaps just self-imposed expectations, only worsened his turmoil, resulting in a festering mess of self-hatred, extreme perfectionism, and an obsession with familial honor and obsessive attachment to his family, especially Luke, that is a nasty combination of hero-worship and the abovementioned complexes and may border on almost incestuous.

There’s three ways for his backstory to go; “Underachiever Ben”, where Ben is either mediocre as a Jedi or still good but outperformed by others, or “Elsa Ben”, where he’s basically like Elsa from Frozen, possessing an extreme amount of power but barely able to control it, possibly due to Snoke’s curse, and a sort of middle ground, where Ben was super strong and a quick learner, but the dark side in him made Luke feel mixed about Ben’s increasing power, which Ben sensed. If the former, Ben becomes increasingly frustrated at himself for being such a “failure”. If “Elsa Ben”, there’s that, and also the added pain of him growing up terrified of himself and able to sense the terror he causes to those around him, so he was taken in by Luke so hopefully Luke could figure something out; he could have been destructive from the start, or maybe he started to become increasingly destructive despite his training. If the middle ground route, he takes Luke’s mixed emotions to mean that he doesn’t think he’s good enough. How severe Snoke’s curse would have been I’m not fully sure on; he could have voices in his head and nightmares keeping him up for days, chipping away at his sanity, tempting him to accept the darkness, or it may have just been an amplifying of his already unstable emotions. They could have even started as the latter and escalated to the former. But I’m thinking that to best explain his behavior I’m leaning towards the Elsa route. Eventually, his nightmares morphed into repeated visits by Darth Vader, his grandfather, who told him about the truth of his lineage and how he became Vader, slandering everything and everyone he ever admired or loved, telling him of his “true” destiny, and how he should give up and embrace it; unable to hear the real Anakin’s ghost screaming at him to not repeat his mistake. This extended campaign of mental torment stunted his emotional growth in many aspects, and at times he may seem to regress even more. Maybe other padawans were afraid of him because of this dark side presence, avoiding him, and/or were jealous of him because of his lineage and relation to Luke. He often felt entitled to be Luke’s right hand, getting jealous at other students and taking any reprimanding, no matter how gentle, extremely personally. Luke would have needed to struggle between not seeming to be biased towards his nephew and giving him the attention he needed, especially because Ben would feel like Han and Leia abandoned him because they weren’t able to help him, but considering how attached he is to Luke this would hurt him. So when Luke went to speak to him one night, or rushed in sensing an overwhelming dark side presence in his room, and was suddenly attacked by Snoke with a vision of what his nephew would become and making him go into fighting mode for a split second, drawing his weapon to protect Ben, and/or earlier admitted in anguish that he had no idea what was tormenting him despite his efforts, the straw broke the pedestal and he resigned himself to his “destiny”. Ironically he’s just exchanging one sky-high ideal for another, but he’s too emotionally immature to realize this, nor does he fully realize the fact that Snoke merely sees him as a malleable, gullible means to an end. Yet he still feels that pesky pull to the light, and he becomes increasingly frustrated with himself that even as a Dark side user, he still can’t be “perfect” or “worth” anything, not even able to sink himself into the darkness and finally rid himself of his pain. For all the privilege and power he has, or because of it, he always feels worthless.

Basically I want to break him down and make his pitifulness obvious, but that’s what makes him sympathetic. He’s nowhere as far gone as Vader, even if he wants to be, kind of like a reverse Jekyll and Hyde situation where the Hyde is dominant but Jekyll hangs on, so to speak? Maybe? Is that the right analogy? Or I guess it is kind of like Anakin but sort of not, but he’s rapidly going down the same route of hurting his family like his grandfather.

From researching a bit, his proposed behavior seems pretty close to the symptoms of BPD, which is actually pretty fitting because I was thinking Luke’s philosophy on the Force would be influenced by a more modern understanding of psychology, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy actually seems pretty in tune with what I understand to be how the Light Side of the Force works (I mean it even has basis in religious meditation…). Perhaps a mystical version of DBT was one of the things Luke was studying in exile. Though obviously it isn’t exactly BPD; portraying an actual, named mental illness not only has way too much baggage behind it, but it breaks immersion. And with him a lot of it will be the influence of the curse, though I think I would rather him have a personality that made him vulnerable to it from the start, so the curse had something to latch onto.

Going with the “Elsa Ben” scenario, his “real” personality is anxious and even a bit shy. While I like the idea of him being cheerful when he was very little, the shyness always being there is also a characterization I like. Combined with his lumbering physique from his teenage years onwards, this made him a kid who gave off an impression of being extremely dorky (an act that would probably be very natural for Adam Driver to pull off lol) and/or withdrawn and aloof, the latter of which may have made some other padawans think he thought highly of himself and start to resent him. Unlike Anakin he’d be probably a dutiful student, almost creepily obedient, probably actively distancing himself from rebellious behavior, though his way of speaking isn’t exactly super formal either because of the influence of the adults around him. In his obsessions lies a genuine love, even if twisted, of his “favorite person” so to speak. He was also a genuinely sweet kid who wanted to please these special people in his life. He could be said to be actually really selfless in a weird way, because ultimately he values familial honor and being “good enough” for whatever higher purpose more than he values himself. TROS implied some sassiness with that Han-like shrug, and while I can maybe see some of Han rubbing off on him like that, that might be something that started from him trying to copy his parents’ air of confidence, and another coping mechanism. He might, like Vader, have a 501st legion 2.0 which Phasma is in charge of and Finn is part of, and show a more nicer side to them. Perhaps he opened up one or two times to Finn specifically; I can see this image of him venting to him while Finn stands still like how someone might vent to their dog, not really expecting Finn to be listening (also sarcasm might help Kylo obscure his true anguish from Finn, because FO troopers don’t understand sarcasm probably).

He will be redeemed at the end… and live. Even if not necessarily paired with Rey. I’m neutral on Reylo (though admittedly I have a weak spot for pairs involving a strong woman and a troubled guy, so it’s kind of growing on me), but I really think this ship, or even centering the story strongly around a platonic relationship between these two, could have worked if it was built up strongly (Though if I were to go this route Finn would have to be established as a secondary character from the start, with Rey as the definitive main character, to focus on this). But either way, he’s definitely going to have to face the consequences of what he’s done, make up for his atrocities at least somewhat, and think about what he truly wants to do from now on. I can imagine him quietly reading stories to younglings as Rey, Finn, and Luke train some other pupils outside, or thanklessly working behind the scenes in other ways. For his haters out there, I could make the pill easier to swallow not just by making the reasons for his fall and how he was slowly and meticulously gaslit more clear, but also making him not as awful. Yes, he’s extremely destructive, but he could show more reluctance, or pause after his berserker rages, staring at the destruction he’s caused as the weight of what he’s done sinks in. He’d of course resent that he still has mercy left in him though. I don’t think that there will be a Starkiller Base, but even if there was he might argue with Hux a bit over whether it’s really necessary, until Hux sneers at him for having mercy, saying that Vader never hesitated when blowing up Alderaan, and Kylo reluctantly backs off.

…Actually, what about making him and Rey cousins? On one hand, if Rey is a Skywalker by blood, a direct daughter of the Master himself no less, Ben is now suddenly freed from carrying the weight of the family legacy on his own. On the other hand… He basically loses the thing he has spent his entire life building his identity around; since his fall would have partially been because of his obsession with Luke, he may become jealous and extremely resentful of her, and/or take this as even more reason for Luke to not “need” him anymore. Or perhaps, he pulls a reverse of “I sense the conflict in you” with her, wanting to “save” her from embracing the Light and wanting her to embrace the “true” Skywalker destiny with him. He could even be overjoyed that he could have someone else alongside him to carry on the legacy with; in this scenario he could have an unhealthy obsession with her that might also start crossing into “are you sure this isn’t incest?” territory. Yeah it’s a “join me and we can rule together” scenario again, but it would be done differently. Or perhaps it’s a mix of some of those. Exploring that and how he chooses to take it could be extremely interesting. Maybe it’s resolved when Anakin tells him to “finish what he started”… not just by saving the galaxy, but by also living the rest of his life loving his family not as an ideal, but as family, like Anakin wasn’t allowed to. And platonic Reylo sounds nice too. Though that’s going to make all that shipping fanart so awkward lol. Well it’s not as if Star Wars shippers haven’t been cockblocked by incest before (though his obsession with family and extremely questionable mental state would probably make such shippers go nuts anyway…).

And going off of Poe being close to his parents, while the main interactions with Kylo from the heroes would be Rey, Finn if he’s the second protagonist, Luke, and his parents, I can see potential for an interesting dynamic and some interesting conversations between them too. Much like how he might react to Rey being Luke’s daughter, I can see him being jealous of Poe and resenting him for being his “replacement”, but after his redemption I can see potential for seeing the start of a friendship between them in epilogue comics, novels, or a mini-series. It would be pretty in-character for my version of Poe to want to help rehabilitate his sort-of stepbrother. Also I now have the adorable mental image of Ben quietly helping Poe (and maybe the rest of his squad) decorate and arrange Rey and Finn’s wedding, or the two surprising Finn with a very elaborate bachelor party, though I’m not sure if those exist in this universe. And because of a certain Inside Llewyn Davis scene I’m also imagining Poe getting Ben to sing with him and BB-8. It’s adorable.

Also if both Rey and Finn are the main heroes, he might have some kind of link with both of them, and the main duo would both contrast him in their own way (lonely scavenger who no one expected anything of and nameless trooper who defected from the First Order vs. someone who grew up in greatness but seemingly threw it away and chose to be in the First Order; and much like Kylo Finn in particular has been manipulated from childhood to do heinous things, so he may sympathize with his situation). Maybe he’s the missing piece needed for both him and the leading duo to reach their full potential, or the main duo are the last piece needed to finally break Snoke’s curse on him, or something. Or it could simply just be Finn showing his growth and strength of character by understanding and forgiving Kylo, despite him now understanding just how badly the First Order treated him, which makes Rey (who, again, might start as this super cynical scavenger or may have seen Kylo go berserk and massacre her friends and betray her Master) come around to the idea. In this scenario it may actually be even more important to emphasize that Rey and Finn are two making up a whole, so as not to bog stuff down. It’s possible to ship Finnrey and want Kylo to have a better ending, what a shock!

Maybe Rey and Kylo could switch places, and he comes back to the light in SW8, which is an idea I’ve seen floated and is something that would make the story truly unique. He would seem like basically a less stable Vader 2.0 at the start, but over SW8 he could be seen breaking more and more out of his own terrible mindset, coming to a head in a cathartic realization that bring him back into the arms of his beloved family. It would also add an interesting dynamic that he and Finn have to be equals now. But that may mean that Rey would have to be killed off and I’m not so sure about that.

Though speaking of her, since in all these scenarios a common thread is that she understandably doesn’t like him, it would be a bit of a twist if Finn sees the good in him but Rey, if she’s a Skywalker, his cousin, doesn’t.

And to bring up Poe again, I also really like the idea of them having been childhood friends and thus knowing each other before the events of SW7; after all, they’re around similar age, it isn’t that far-fetched to think that former Rebel families would be still pretty close to each other, and I’ve seen some adorable fanfics with the concept. It also adds connection between them and adds even more tragedy, even if this relationship may have to be elaborated more in supplementary material due to time. I can definitely Poe speaking like an old friend to Kylo and constantly calling him “Ben”, to his irritation. The abovementioned feeling of being replaced could be what caused Ben to suddenly break off the friendship. And making the main cast kind of tight-knit like this might also help make the cast easier to manage.

Granted, there is the possibility of killing him off, though. I heard that one of the initial ideas for TFA was apparently that Kylo would be a reverse Vader, falling deeper and deeper into the Dark Side as the trilogy goes on. In fact, this may have been where Kylo killing Han may have been leading to. This actually sounded like a super cool idea, but considering the backstory I laid out I thought it would be way too bittersweet for the concluding movie of the saga, and if one were to say Kylo basically has BPD… That might lead to some unfortunate implications. I mean nothing is stopping me from not using the Elsa backstory, and if I didn’t use it maybe this route would be pretty viable, but I’m kind of starting to get attached to it.

—

Other characters:

Hux: I’ve never really been a villain person. I mean I liked sympathetic villains, yeah (but even then I preferred anti-heroes for a while; I’m talking like nothing beyond N from Pokémon levels of “evil”), but straight-up villains I just have merely seen as obstacles. Like back in my Smash fic days I was often like “Eh… They’re there… Because they want to take over the world I guess?”. It’s why I’m having trouble with Snoke probably lol. But for some reason Hux interests me. If I take a guess it’s probably because of the potential he had as an actual foil to Kylo in his own faction. He had so much potential as a villain, and in having this tense dynamic play out. In fact he does seem to have been set up that way in SW7. But yeah, I imagine him as one coldhearted bastard. His backstory, though not elaborated on in the movies, would be much like TFA supplementary material set him up; he’d still have killed his father, but while yes, Brendol was abusive and strict, Armitage didn’t kill him completely because he was a young man who wanted to break free from his strict father, but also genuinely because he knew doing so would be good for his standing. Unlike Kylo when he (most likely) kills Han, he doesn’t regret killing Brendol at all. While he might have a tragic backstory kind of explaining his behavior, it doesn’t bother him at all, while Kylo, who considering what happened to him and how he’s literally under a curse you’d think would have a much steeper fall into unabashed evil, is constantly conflicted. It’s a very Sith Lord-like backstory funnily enough… In fact I’m pretty sure that Palpatine had a backstory very similar to this with his parents.

He’s a very logical, analytical, brutally pragmatic person, and he looks upon Kylo’s emotional state with condescension. I’m increasingly starting to like the idea that he’s somehow able to talk Kylo down, while still being hardly nice. Perhaps he preys upon Kylo’s constant need for approval from others, even if he doesn’t like the person in question (this may also be why Kylo reacts so strongly to Finn escaping as well, in fact. He genuinely cares about people’s loyalty, even from literal no-name soldiers). Though I can’t decide whether he’s this deceptively charming snake or basically an evil Spock. I also can’t decide between him being in this constant state of “Why do I have to babysit this manchild” or giving absolutely no visible f*cks around Kylo no matter what happens, or even straight-up trolling him often, toying with his emotions because it amuses him; preferably two or a bit of all somehow? I can see him using having met Vader as a child to mock Kylo for how much of a pale, childish imitation he is, or reminding Kylo of how much better he is as a leader objectively; perhaps that’s what he holds over Kylo’s head. Or him explaining to Kylo how he was raised by less than stellar parenting and tried so hard to live up to his strict father too… So he brutally murdered Brendol in cold blood (possibly with Phasma’s help), became a better admiral than he ever was, and got over it “Like an adult. Unlike you.”. They’d be in this constant state of delicate, tense equality; Kylo can easily overpower Hux if he pisses him off a bit too much, but Hux is able to walk that fine edge seemingly without much effort.

But when he realizes whatever grand cosmic plot he and the entire First Order has been participating in this whole time is when, ironically, there would probably be a really dramatic villainous breakdown from him. It’s kind of a Zuko and Azula situation with Kylo and Hux perhaps? Or is this Hux more a mix of Azula and Zhao’s roles rather?

——

Worldbuilding stuff: Since I’m more a character person, there isn’t much here, but because the worldbuilding was another issue in the movies I’ll also be adding these.

The New Republic isn’t nuked in the first movie. In fact it stays there for the duration of the trilogy and the hero faction is now its armed forces, not The Resistance (Also that name makes no sense. Seriously. At least name them The Peacekeeper Corps or Vigilantes or something, or since they’re basically Leia’s personal military maybe the Organa Free Army or Organa Corps or something of that sort. No wonder people mistakenly call them The Rebels sometimes. It’s a similar setup to Chrom’s Shepherds in Fire Emblem Awakening, albeit with a better relationship with the kingdom; it would be downright strange if the Shepherds called themselves The Resistance despite literally existing with the queen’s permission, and it still is here. Hell, Leia’s Shepherds is a better name). There would be elaboration on the political stuff going on behind the scenes, and if Leia isn’t a Jedi that’s her plotline probably, though a big part of me wants her to be part of the action instead of being stuck on the homeworld.

Meanwhile, The First Order is made up of Imperial Remnants and people and planets who were unsatisfied with the democratic but still new and fragile New Republic. Basically think White Russians if the Soviets weren’t also awful. It happens a lot in history. While it may have some mining planets in its orbit (not literally, you know what I mean) so it can plausibly refurbish anything Kylo wrecks with his tantrums, Starkiller Base is probably a bit much, and a lot of their equipment might be old Imperial or Rebel stuff, or stolen from the New Republic, with new stuff being produced but not in overly high quantity. Some of the equipment deemed less important might even be kind of crappy due to how old they are. They’d probably be at most an equally powerful faction to the Republic, if not smaller than them, seeming more like a terrorist cell. I don’t have much of an idea why Snoke would want to be involved in it yet though.

But while the First Order might be smaller, the New Republic is hindered by it just now finally gaining its footing, and the military previously only having been used for peacekeeping and sniping stray Imperial remnants. Because it’s peacetime, it might have been kept pretty small, and also the military academies are literally not even 30 years old at this point, so new that it’s possible Poe, despite his youth, was one of the earliest graduates; one of the military’s most high-ranking officers is literally a scoundrel with no formal training - even if he is good at his job - it isn’t exactly a well-oiled machine, though its less rigid, casual structure also does benefit it in some aspects. Also the FO can easily use Kylo as intimidation, and its upper staff is nothing if not driven and motivated as well as ruthless. They may engage in more underhanded actions like sabotage and suicide bombers, or rely on small elite units like the Knights of Ren or small companies of troopers, to poke holes in the enemy just as much as open combat. And maybe if all else fails Snoke causes something really bad to happen seemingly out of nowhere.

While I do think that making the baddies an Empire 2.0 is an… uncreative decision, I want to keep Finn’s backstory, plus it fits Kylo’s story too so blah, I kind of have to keep it. Plus I want to do Phasma and Hux justice. Maybe Snoke or whatever it serves turns into a giant Eldritch abomination and have no use for the FO anymore. And again, reactionary forces are a thing that have existed throughout early modern history. But as already mentioned, due to the nature of the First Order’s existence, maybe the Stormtroopers aren’t kidnapped, but they were orphans picked off the streets, and/or some more dedicated Imperial parents gave them their children? I had the idea that Troopers like Finn are “Junior Troopers”, the child slave type, while older members, “Senior Troopers”, would be legit Imperial revanchists and former troopers. Maybe there’s a separate company of Juniors who think they’re cool by fighting for the First Order, but generally Juniors would be the lowest on the social rung, though some might make it into higher positions, and don’t know any other life than what they have now. Though I also like the idea that Finn was part of an elite unit directly connected to Kylo Ren like the 501st, so he has a reason to be particularly hurt by his betrayal (but that could throw a wrench in the whole Finn was a faceless cog in the machine thing). They’re pretty Prussian in command structure; officers work under mission-tactics, but the rank-and-file are machine-like in their discipline, more than even some actual droids. The Republic’s forces also probably engage in mission-tactics a lot, except how far it is acceptable goes way further down the chain of command, so stuff like the Holdo situation doesn’t happen. If that situation were to happen when mission-tactics were to be expected Poe’s independent action would be seen as reasonable. This would have potential for very interesting battles and tactics, though I’d need a lot of help with those because I’m the furthest thing from a tactician you can find (but even I can tell the bomber scene from TLJ was dumb, which should say something).

I kind of realized that it’s possible that the four OT legacy characters may end up basically representing four major aspects of the New Republic; the Jedi (Luke), law and justice (Leia, if she’s a senator), the military (Han, if he’s a general), and economics (Lando). I think some worldbuilding into how the republic functions should be explored through these characters as they move the story forward, except for the Jedi since they’re obviously a central focus, and Luke might very well be introduced after them, and the military will also get focus for obvious reasons, and Poe exists. The information definitely needs to be conveyed as efficiently and organically as possible through the story, because there’s two, likely three, equally important main characters and an unholy amount of secondary characters who aren’t exactly minor.

May write more later idk. I need to be doing other stuff…

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years

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What I thought about We Bare Bears: The Movie

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. Today, I'm going to do one-fourth of what I do best by talking about We Bare Bears: The Movie. Now, if you're a member of the cartoon community, odds are you've heard of We Bare Bears. It might not be as well-remembered as shows like Adventure Time or Steven Universe. But We Bare Bears has gained its own following through its charm and simplicity. So much so, that the series got it's very own movie, acting as the series finale to the beloved show. And to honor that milestone, I thought I'd share my thoughts by listing the things I liked and disliked about the film. Keep in mind, this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen the film yet (even though it’s been out for more than a week). Because I'll be spoiling the heck out of the movie by listing plot details, characters, and little touches that I think are worth mentioning. With that out of the way, let's dive on in with-

WHAT I LIKED

The Baby Bears meeting: To me, this was the first indicator that the movie was going to be the end. The Baby Bears meeting always felt like a moment saved for the series finale to me. Because answering the question of whether, or not, the Baby Bears find a home isn't something we need an answer to. But learning about how they met? Now that is something I'm sure most fans were curious about. And in true Baby Bears style, it's big and epic while still being downright adorable. Not to mention that Grizz's line at the end of how not looking alike is the best part about being brothers is not only sweet, but it also sells the main moral of the movie. If I had to nitpick, a part of me wonders how their separate journeys got them all in that one spot. But that's just another question that doesn't really require an answer, so I'm alright with not receiving one. Besides, that's what fan-fiction is for. GET ON IT WRITERS!

The Bears Running Through the City: I'm sure some people are tired of the cliche of having characters run through the city because they're late for something. But to me, I think that type of thing works for a series finale. It offers one last glance at familiar environments, but familiar characters as well. Not only do you get to see the people who love the Bears the most, but you even see the Human Bros in the background as the Bears run. This scene also sets up the conflict of the film as the Bears accidentally wreak havoc to get to where they're going. Even more so than usual. Plus, the scene serves as an excuse to hear the extended version of the theme song. And personally, I just love it when a series finale finds a way to incorporate the theme in a way that's better than the opening.

The Bears Complaint File: This was another indicator that the movie was going to be the end of the series. Usually, when a show like We Bare Bears finally acknowledges consequences to a character's actions, it's safe to say that the end is nigh. Because this presents the idea that the characters are close to being the straw that broke the camel's back. Which is something you can never do twice.

The Bears Viral Video: There are going to be people out there who'll find the Bears' video of outdated memes cringy. And to those people, I say: "THAT'S THE FRICKEN POINT GENIUSES!" Seriously, the characters themselves point out how what they're doing is going to be cringy, so it's safe to say that it was very much the intention from the writers. Besides, We Bare Bears always had scenes, and entire episodes, that acknowledged modern trends. And unlike other shows and movies, We Bare Bears doesn't use memes to stay fresh and hip with the kids. Instead, the show-and movie for that matter-uses trends to tell a story that will be timeless. Albeit dated in a few years. The only complaint I'll accept is that you didn't find their video funny, which can be valid. As for me, yeah, I chuckled. Speaking of-

The Comedy: We Bare Bears might not be the funniest show I've seen, but it still gets a chuckle out of me from time to time. It works with an absurd sense of humor, which is either your thing or it isn't. As for the jokes in the movie, most of them work pretty well, and the ones that don't aren't too bad. Personally, my favorite scene is when the Bears slowly drive away from Wildlife Control. The fact that that plan worked was so absurd, I could not help but laugh.

The Blackout: This was the straw that I mentioned earlier. The Bears have finally crossed a line that turns several people against them. In fact, it's very reminiscent of Ed Edd and Eddy's Big Picture Show, where the characters are forced to leave after doing something unforgivable. Although, there's one thing that We Bare Bears: The Movie does better than Big Picture Show. In Big Picture Show, fans never really saw what the Eds did that was so horrid. We were just told that it was so bad that our trio had to leave everything behind. Never seeing the answer always bothered me as a kid because I was always curious about how their last scam was somehow their worst. This is why it's nice that we actually get to see what the Bears did that was so unforgivable in We Bare Bears: The Movie.

Agent Trout: At some point, if you found Trout to be the most unlikeable piece of trash that he is, then you found the writers' possible intention. Trout acts as the movie's main antagonist, and on top of that, a character you're not supposed to like. And granted, there have been movie antagonists that are pure evil, but audiences can't help but love them anyway. But personally, I feel like making Trout a likable antagonist would have spoiled the point of the film. The movie's message, which I'll get into later, is about how being strange is ok, and that anyone can fit into society. Because society changes and people become accepting of these changes, every day. Trout is meant to represent the type of people who refuse the idea of change. He is a character who believes everything should operate as nature intended, which in this film's case, having bears reside in their natural habitats. And I honestly think Trout does his part as an antagonist really well. He's easy to hate for all the right reasons, and it's satisfying to see him get his coupons. It's also even better that we don't know his motivations to be so cruel to the Bears. Because there are real-life people out there who share Trout's mindset, with zero reasons behind why. Plus, his design is really great, being devoid of color and drawn with sharp edges in comparison to the bright and smooth looking characters. It helps him stand out from most characters in the show, while also making less overly threatening that the hunter in "Yuri and Ice Bear."

Officer Murphy: As far as I know, Officer Murphy was never really that big of a character. In fact, I don't even remember if the show mentioned his name until this movie. So to some fans, it might come off as a surprise that Murphy is given such an enormous role in this movie. Regardless, the position Murphy has is a great one. He is meant to represent the positive type of law enforcement. The officers who don't punish people due to who they are or what they look like. Instead, Officer Murphy is an officer who upholds the law to protect others. Take note of the fact that Murphy never wanted to physically or emotionally hurt the Bears. He understood that the Bears crossed the line and needed to be punished, but never to the extremes that Trout took. Speaking of Trout, Murphy acts as a great comedic sidekick for the antagonist. There's this nice running joke where Trout shoves random food in Murphy's mouth when Murphy makes an unwanted comment. And said running joke also leads to a great payoff in the movie's final act. So while I'm surprised at Murphy's inclusion, I gotta say that I really appreciate it.

Mystery Machine Cameo: I'm the biggest Scooby-Doo fan you'll ever meet, so believe when I say that seeing the iconic van just made me giddy.

Pizza Rat: I'll be the first to admit that Pizza Rat was a scumbag for betraying the Bears. But gosh darn it he was hilarious. I'm not kidding, whenever Pizza Rat showed up, he got funnier and funnier with each scene. Especially with his hatred of the rat with Spaghetti.

Grizz’s Nightmare: There are two things I really like about this scene. The first is that Grizz's nightmare is easily the creepiest the show has gotten. Seriously, something tells me that Trout's face being on the death train is going to be in kids' nightmares for weeks. The second is that there is some outstanding visual symbolism in this scene. It shows how Grizz is under a lot of stress for carrying the weight of protecting his brothers at all costs. Not only is that the best symbolism the show has ever used, but the scene gives the perfect insight into Grizz as a character. It's rare that we ever get to see the serious side of him, so I appreciate this one last glimpse into his personality.

That Epic Car Chase: If I'm being honest, there were not that many scenes that showed this movie being anything else than an extended episode. But this scene, however, was the most cinematic that We Bare Bears have ever been. The quality animation and cinematography help make the scene action-packed and surprisingly tense at times. Like I genuinely felt worried for my favorite trio of weirdos. There's not much I can say about this scene other than it was pretty impressive as well as awesome.

The Bears’ Plan Fails: It's weird saying that I like this, but I do. The movie could have gone down the same route as The Simpsons Movie by having the plan work for the sake of a joke. But no. We Bare Bears: The Movie actually employs logic and says, "you can't move to a new country, without a passport." And I can't help but give kudos to a movie that doesn't allow a simple solution.

The Third Act Break Up: Ah yes, the one cliche scene that makes audiences go "Really? We're doing this song and dance again?" Now, here's my defense: When it comes to something made for kids, you gotta be more forgiving of cliches. Odds are, some children watched this movie, and this will be their first third act break up. So you can't really fault the film for wanting to use a popular cliche. Granted, you could wish to have your kids watch something original, but that's a request that gets harder to do with each day. Besides, some cliches, like the third act break up, aren't bad unless they're done correctly. And I honestly think the movie uses the cliche just fine. The tension between Grizz and Panda has been built up throughout the film, so one final blow-out was bound to happen. Plus, the Bears don't really break up, but rather argue. If Panda had walked off dramatically, after saying "we're not brothers," then I would consider it a break up. Instead, it comes across as characters saying things they don't mean due to the heat of the moment.

Trout’s Bear Sanctuary: This was depressing but in a good way. The colors being swapped out from the show's usual bright pastels to dull and gray? That perfectly explains how dire the situation is without outwardly stating it. And yeah, I got a little misty eyed when watching this scene.

Grizz Talking to Baby Grizz: Another scene that I thought would be endgame would be having the grown-up Bears meeting the Baby Bears. I always dismissed this idea because I kept reminding myself of how it was impossible. I mean, how can you make characters meet a younger version of themselves? Turns out, the answer to that question was to have the younger version of a character act as a conscience. And yeah, this scene was pretty sweet and charming. And once again, my eyes started to get all misty. The tears didn't fight hard enough to get out, but they still fought pretty hard. Also, was it just me, or did it sound like Baby Grizz's voice actor was beginning to hit puberty?

The Bears Cheering for Grizz: I'm not the only one who thought it sounded like the bears were chanting/roaring Grizz's name, right? Because that's what I heard during this scene. Also, this scene was pretty epic, while doing its job to get me hyped up for what happens next.

The Moral: I've touched upon this moral earlier, and I want to make it clear how important it is. Some people feel as though they don't fit in anywhere, mostly because law enforcement has a history of punishing those that don't. But as Grizz says: "Nature adapts." The same goes for society. More and more people are fitting into groups that make them feel welcome. And those groups become more accepted with each passing year. Now to be fair, there are scum bags like Trout, who seek to punish people who are different. But again, there are still good souls like Murphy that attempt to do the morally correct thing no matter who/what you are. And I have to give kudos to We Bare Bears: The Movie for showing the brighter side of things. Because let's face it, we all could use something positive as of late. And I'm sure there are going to be people out there who'll call this movie 'preachy' and 'overly optimistic.' To those people, I would like to once again point out that this is a kid's film. Yes, kids are smarter than we give them credit for. But that doesn't mean you should give the harsh truth about how hard issues won't have simple solutions. They at least have until their teen years before that happens. Besides, look at the ending shot of bears normally fitting in with the rest of society. If you can see that and not love the symbolism being represented, then this film clearly is not for you.

WHAT I DISLIKED

It’s More of an Extended Episode Rather Than a Movie: Before I explain, I want to make it very clear that this is mostly a nitpick. Like I said before, there weren't many scenes that made this movie feel like, well, a movie. The animation never seemed better in comparison to the show, there weren't that many cinematic scenes, and the story didn't feel all that epic either. I honestly feel like the bears went on grander adventures than the one they went on here. Like the first time they became wanted criminals in "Captain Craboo." Yeah, remember that episode? It was emotional, intense, and actually kind of epic at times. And that episode was a half-hour long! The movie was an hour and eight minutes, and it still couldn't outdo the quality of "Captain Craboo." I know that I'm being a little harsh. But when I see "the movie" attached at the end of a show's title, I expect something grander and more epic than the original show. And yeah, We Bare Bears: The Movie is good for an extended episode, but not for what I consider for a movie.

What Supporting Cast?: Here's where looking at the movie as a series finale becomes an issue. This is the last time we'll see ALL of the characters from the show. So giving no proper goodbye from the supporting cast, who have all been significant people in the Bears' lives, feels wrong. The best-or rather worst-example of how wrong this is would be Nom-Nom. This was a character who was on the road towards redemption. So to have his last appearance show that he's the same jerk as he started is disappointing. The worst part is that the movie had the right idea with Charlie's scene. He helps the Bears one last time and says he's happy to do it for all the times they helped him. It's a touching moment and honestly feels like a proper goodbye to his character. And I can't help but see ways that the movie could have included the rest of the supporting cast. Have Ranger Tabes join Murphy and Trout due to her being a bear expert. Have Nom-Nom stand up for the bears at the Internet Animal rave. Have Chloe literally do anything other than stand and watch her best friends in the world be in danger! I understand that the Bears are the main characters who deserve most of the closure. But that doesn't mean other characters should be left in the dust because of it.

Panda’s Kind of Annoying: Cards on the table, I'm not the biggest fan of Panda. I don't think he's the worst character or even a bad one. But to me, he always came across as so whiney and annoying, and he's somehow worse in the movie. I get that he's a straight man who's meant to be the voice of reason, but there's a way to make a character like that entertaining. Some amazing straight men are specific iterations of Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Velma from Scooby-Doo. Those are characters that know how to be the calm of the crazy storm that their fellow cast. They offer witty comments and charismatic one-liners that prove they could also hold off on their own at times. Panda never really did that for me in neither the show nor the movie. He has his entertaining moments for sure, but most of them get overshadowed by his weaker ones. So while I don't exactly hate Panda, I can't really say I love him.

Ice Bear Does Next to Nothing: I'm not the only one who thinks Ice Bear was underutilized, right? In fact, We Bare Bears: The Movie is also similar to Ed Edd and Eddy's Big Picture Show in how to write its main trio. Both films pay more attention to the relationship between the leader and the straight man, where the comic relief is there for jokes and to give the occasional contribution. However, it's easy to forgive with Ed, because his character has little to offer other than being a loveable doofus. But Ice Bear? He has so much personality, so much backstory, and so much more to his character that you could make an entire movie just about him. Plus, going back to the fact that the film is a series finale, this is not a proper conclusion to his character. Sure, it's nice to see the Bears be accepted for who they are, but what about all that stuff with Yuri? Are you seriously telling me that the show wouldn't do anything with the fact that Ice Bear fell in love with Yuri's daughter?! I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I really wish the movie had something more in store for Ice Bear.

On The Road Song: Out of all the good qualities that We Bare Bears have, having good music isn't one of them. The few songs that the show has are not bad by no means but aren't really songs I would find myself listening to on repeat. The same goes for "Road Trip Song." It's perfectly fine, but nothing more than mediocre. Plus, weirdly, it's the only song in the movie. I mean, if you're gonna introduce something like a musical number, at least go all out with making a musical. I'm not saying the film should have been like Steven Universe: The Movie in terms of a soundtrack, but at least have two or three more songs. As is, it just feels like a weird detour on the road to Canada.

The Bears Survive Falling Off a Cliff:...That’s it. Just the ludicrousy of the fact that the Bears survive a fall like that. When you think about it, it removes a lot of the tension when you they could survive huge feats like that too.

Overall, We Bare Bears: The Movie gets a well earned B+ for me. When you judge it as a movie AND as a series finale, it loses a lot of points. But when you look at it as an extended episode? You get something that has a great moral, an outstanding antagonist, and a nicely put together story. Like the original show, I'm probably not going to remember it in about ten years down the line. As for the here and now, I'm glad I took the time to watch something so much more than BEARable.

(Now if only we got that Amazing World of Gumball movie. GET ON IT CARTOON NETWORK!)

#we bare bears #we bare bears: the movie #review #what i thought about

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theparanormalperiodical · 5 years

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Is Stephen King's IT Based On A True Story? The 7 Real Life Stories of Evil Clowns

With autumn just around the corner, that can only mean one thing: Halloween season is finally upon us!

But you can snort your pumpkin spices and layer your scarves all you want. There’s only one thing I am in anticipation for this autumn.

It’s the horror flicks.

Every October, a chaotic mix of horror films hit the cinemas, leaving us paranormal fanatics spoilt for choice.

But only when you cut out the rushed screen time plays that were written purely to coincide with the most wonderful time of the year, that is.

I’m not here to talk about crap, however.

I’m not here to bitch about clunky jumpscares, and the movies with more holes in a plot than in your prep school tights (“Mum, they’re fine!”).

I’m here to talk about IT Chapter 2.

The IT sequel – alongside Stephen King’s other horror hits – is set to complete one of the cinema phenomenons of this decade, and its influence on pop culture is just one echo of the incredible story the movies tell.

If you’ve been trapped in the sewers with Pennywise for the last 27 years, let alone the Clown Craze that’s followed us in and out of cinemas, here’s a quick rundown of the book/film:

A rag-tag group of misfits start noticing odd patterns in their small town. Namely, kids start to go missing. And this tends to happen roughly every 30 years, just like clockwork. Cue some freaky shenanigans evoked by an evil entity who is represented by an image of a clown/whatever you fear, and here we are.

Now, the book/films sits on this 27-years rule. It’s set between when they were young, and when they were several decades older and once again face It.

We last see It half kinda dying (but if there’s a sequel y’all know that’s BS) in the midst of the 1980s. And the new film brings us screeching back to the phenomenon that is once again haunting Derry.

Like I said – and as you will well remember – when the last flick came out, there was a Clown Craze. There was this cultural obsession, even a criminal wave using clown masks and attire to scare the innocent bypassers. Viral videos were scored with Pennywise-esque thumbnails.

(I’m pretty sure I even went a club night that was clown themed…)

So, it got me thinking: have evil clowns ever actually existed? Has anything ever emulated the character that titled one of Stephen King’s most famous books?

Unfortunately – in more than one case – the answer is yes.

Why does the answer have to be ‘yes’.

In today’s edition of the Paranormal Periodical we are going to be discussing why we all hate clowns, the cases of actual evil clowns, and urban legends that echo these cases.

Let’s get spooky.

Why are we so afraid of clowns?

I’m pretty sure that no one in the history of ever has liked clowns. In fact, that’s actually a key part of the book.

Pennywise supposedly thinks children love clowns, and that it will entice them so he can take them away for his feeding purposes.

And believe it or not, Stephen King wasn’t the first guy to write an evil clown into literature.

Clourophobia – or the fear of clowns – is a common phobia, and has been played upon since the 19th century by the king of horror himself, Edgar Allan Poe.

And only a decade before King published It in the 1970s, several mock comic books hit the stores with ‘Evil Clown’ blaring across the cover. ‘Frenchy the Clown’ as he was known might not be the malovalent entity that is core to King’s novel, but he does echo the dark themes we pick so easily out with clowns.

Even academics have outlined our unease when it comes to these supposedly comical figures.

The University of Sheffield did a study which confirmed this universal fear of clowns today.

In particular, they deduced that children don’t like clowns as they are unknowable. The thick layers of makeup, the potential threat that could be disguised by jokes and silly clothing.

And why wouldn’t they be?

*Ok, this has nothing to do with like spooky shit but can I just air my thoughts right why and how do clowns exist now like surely we teach kids not to talk to strangers who act weird and you don’t know and that’s literally the purpose of clowns and like yall can say I’m a trigger libtard whatever but a lot of the basis to clown makeup must be based on blackface look at the lips and the hair or even trying to mock disabled people by how they act*

Even academic figures lie Wolfgang M. Zucker take this point further. Zucker claims there are strong similarities between clown figures and the cultural depiction of demons and other terrifying creatures.

Deathly white faces, the freakish features.

This is what makes Pennywise the Dancing Clown such a standout character.

And it’s also what makes the following real-life stories of evil clowns quite so distressing.

Here are the 7 cases of Evil Clowns that you have to hear about:

This might be the Paranormal Periodical, but there is nothing supernatural here. And its probably the lack of ghost-based legend that makes these evil clowns so like Stephen king’s iconic character.

And we start with probably the most horrific case: John Wayne Gacy, aka Pogo or Patches the Clown.

From 1972 to 1978, John Wayne Gacy murdered, tortured, and raped over 30 underage and young adult men. Most of the bodies were buried around his home, and some were even disposed in a nearby river.

He even made plans to fill the crawlspace in his home – where he had crammed over 20 corpses – with concrete and essentially make a new mass grave on top of it.

This twisted and depressing tale carries further into the innocent image his community impressed upon him.

Gacy frequently performed as his clown alter-egos at local parties, charity events, and at children’s hospitals. Even outside of this, he met a First Lady, was active in politics, and was even awarded the title of Precinct Captain for his services to the community.

And if all this wasn’t terrible enough, the reasoning behind his clowning days further darken his tale:

Gacy claims his clown alter-ego allowed him to regress into his childhood which was fraught with emotional and physical abused from his father.

And so, the ‘Killer Clown’ label has been bestowed upon this case.

Interested in hearing more? Check out the full story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

Our next evil clown doesn’t stray too far from the predatory behaviour of John Wayne Gacy.

The man behind Klutzo The Clown – A. Paul Carlock – was charged with the possession of child pornography and of child molestation back in 2007.

Like Gacy, he was a force within the community, working as a police officer and a volunteer for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters scheme. It was even noted when he was alive that he had a fondness for children.

In fact, he was categorised as a ‘Christian clown’ before the accusations were brought to light.

He was hired as a police officer in 1973, yet they only found evidence (pictures on his laptop when he returned from an overseas trip) in 2007.

Upon finding the evidence of his predatory and paedophilic behaviour, he immediately began to show signs of illness, dying 39 days after his arrest. And its for this reason that his case is seen in a different light to mine.

The disgusting details tend to be overlooked as his death brought in a lawsuit regarding whether he was neglected and mistreated after his arrest.

Following on from this, we have Martin Evanick.

His clown alter ego, Vlad, certainly expressed a killer-clown vibe synonymous with Pennywise, but it seems his intentions didn’t actually stray to far from the character he sought to emulate.

This metal-band drummer pleaded guilty in 2013 to creating child pornography. He was also found prior to this to be a child molester and rapist.

Another clown to fit the bill of evil is actually a relatively recent case.

Back in 1990, a woman opened the door to a clown who promptly handed her balloons and a floral gift.

The clown then proceeded to shoot her, leaving her for dead.

For 27 years, there was no answer for this bizarre and deadly attack.

Well, until now, that is. Sheila Keen was charged with first-degree murder. She married the husband of the victim, and the later developed DNA evidence provided the key to the case.

Unfortunately, evil clowns don’t always act alone.

And it’s these next cases that vouch for this.

Across many countries in the last few years we have witnessed random groups of people dressed as clowns or donning clown masks who chase, harass, and even attack innocent people seemingly in broad daylight.

One of the most documented cases of this is actually from France. Back in 2014, the French were apparently terrorised by a group of clowns who physically attacked anyone who just so happened to get in their way.

One of these clowns was arrested for beating a pedestrian with an iron bar whilst clad in a clown costume.

A student even had a severe cut to his hand whilst defending themselves from a clown wielding a axe, and Schoolchildren were eve chased down the street by a clown following close behind with a chainsaw.

Shit bro.

But it was only in 2016 that the phenomenon was fully realised.

The 2016 Clown Sightings – which even feature on Wikipedia, now – summarise the frequent reports of people disguised as evil clowns.

However, as this is evidently a broad case, we cannot pinpoint the extent or nature of the ‘evil’.

For some it appears a practical joke, possibly even playing on the build up to the 2017 release of IT.

But the original cases have actually been traced back to 2013, from which a creepy clown was spotted in Northhampton. It was eventually found out to have been created by filmmakers to drive up traffic and fame for their Facebook page. In fact, they used the ‘sightings’ to evoke the fame they sought.

From scary clown pranks littering Youtube, to urban legends feeding on upvotes from Reddit, it appears it has not been grouped as an ‘evil’ or ‘criminal’ set of occurrences.

Even on October 25, news outlets in the US reported on threats of a potential ‘purge-like’ event carried out by clowns on Halloween. The only attack resembling this – which I assume was merely a hoax – was an attack carried out by 20 people in clown masks on a family in Florida.

No arrests were made.

There were many cases in the UK, but these only amounted to petty crimes, threats, and scaring people passing by.

But the widespread nature of it certainly confirms it as a phenomenon. 80 percent of US states witnessed this phenomenon, and the Wikipedia page is crawling with country-by-country listings of ‘killer-clown’ cases.

Do you remember the Clown Craze?

And do you have a personal tale to share about any creepy ass clowns?

Make sure you let me know!

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is6621 · 6 years

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Social Media and Its Immediate Positive Impacts

With more consumers becoming disillusioned with social media and taking actions such as deactivating their Facebook accounts it is a pity to see such a wonderful service be misused. Facebook and other social media services in their most original form are simply ways to share authentic experiences and connect with other users. It is not intended for the deception, manipulation, and a violation of personal space. The dark corners of these platforms have become safe-havens and hotbeds for the bigots, misogynists, racists, and terrorists around the world. And with Facebook recently appearing before Congress, many of its users have felt unsettled about their data privacy with the app and have become vulnerable prey for predatory marketers and advertisers. Whether it is professional football players being catfished like Manti Teo, or a young student committing suicide because of bullying, it seems harder and harder to find the positive forces that live and breath in the social media realm.

The “Fake News” scare has just hyperbolized the disheartened feeling of consumers as Facebook and Twitter have become breeding grounds for phony reporting and journalism(https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-blames-fake-news-media-for-hateful-after-cnn-bomb-scare-2018-10). Just recently, with a wave of migrants fleeing the violence and oppression of central America in countries like El Salvador and Honduras, a series of photos depicting injured law enforcement at the hands of said migrants went viral(https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/10/24/us/ap-not-real-news-Mexico-migrant-photos.html) . There is nothing suggesting that these migrants are violent or dangerous people, but that has not stopped others from fabricating these false news stories and allegations.

When a negative agenda is the one being propagated, or one’s intentions are evil, social media takes on a grotesque form. But when these platforms fall into the right hands and are used for the right reasons, they can be a tremendous source of positive social impact and change. This blog post will focus on the ways that Facebook, Twitter, and other apps alike have used their influence to band peaceful protestors together, expose criminals, and fundraise for individual and political initiatives faster than ever imaginable half a century ago.

The trend I am proposing is very evident in contemporary American society. I was personally invited to a local political activist page for my town in New Jersey. The intent of this post was to raise awareness about the voting record of our current congressional legislator and urge Short Hills residents to not vote for Leonard Lance. People are able to share and disseminate information with a click and call protests in a moments notice. For example, the criminal justice system within the United States boasts higher per capita incarcerations than Russia and China, comprising 5% of the worlds population and housing 25% of its prisoners(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/30/does-the-united-states-really-have-five-percent-of-worlds-population-and-one-quarter-of-the-worlds-prisoners/?utm_term=.0dabfef24453) . With racist laws and police brutality contributing to the problem, individuals used the deaths of minorities like Eric Gardner to launch the Black Lives Matter movement or BLM. It has become a topic of discussion almost unavoidable as NFL players like Colin Kaepernick was on national television taking a knee during the national anthem.

Petitions are signed online to get initiatives started and put pressure on authorities for immediate action like in the case of rapper Meek Mill (https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-meek-mill-is-justice-for-all-join-the-campaign). In the past, it would take months and be strenuous for social movements to be organized on a large scale and carried through effectively. But as we have seen with the Womens Marches this past year, social media is without a doubt the new center of activism and public protest(https://wtop.com/social-media/2018/06/todays-protests-many-voices-social-media-not-1-leader/).

Although social media has clearly displayed its effectiveness in gathering people and power in a central place, it has also allowed people to make the change from behind their keyboards without going to Washington DC for a protest or even leaving the comfort of their home. Politically, Susan Collins has felt the pressure of from social media as a Facebook fundraiser has raised over $1 Million to fund her opponent in the upcoming election if she votes to approve Brett Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court Justice(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/12/activists-raised-million-defeat-susan-collins-if-she-votes-kavanaugh-she-says-its-bribery/?utm_term=.f18d964ff03b) . Gofundme is a website that allows people to donate to independent charitable causes. I know a college classmate who has used it to raise money to help pay for her tuition, but many other websites like crowd pack or Facebook serve the same function. Back to the immigrants coming to the US from South of the Border, a couple wanted to help and started a facebook fundraiser with an original goal of $15,000: to date, it has raised $15 million(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/06/19/these-parents-hoped-to-raise-1500-for-separated-families-then-their-facebook-fundraiser-went-viral/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2747f38f413a) . GoFundMe alone raises $650 Million a year to combat the rising costs of healthcare and tole these prices take on individuals and families in America(https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolynmcclanahan/2018/08/13/using-gofundme-to-attack-health-care-costs/#2074eb292859) . Although social media does not look that great right now, it will be very interesting how it will keep changing the nature of charity and social activism in the US for the better.

#is6621

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mdwatchestv · 6 years

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The Magicians 3x02: Kittenicide

How great was this animated sequence!!!

So you all know that I love the Magicians very much. In fact I love it so much I force my tired spindly fingers to write and gif it week after week. And I know this may come as a shock to many of you, but no one pays me to do this. Not even the SyFy network, not even Tumblr, not even Hale Appleman's representation. But this week some of my all-consuming love evaporated. I got an ish, bish. For the second time in Magician's history we have seen the horrific murder of a cat. First we were subjected to the inside-outting of Kacey Rohl's beloved cat, and NOW they have exploded a kitten. EXPLODED IT. What's the deal guys? What is it with the magical cat violence? Or is this supposed to turn us against certain characters? In that case it is most assuredly working. I clung to my own kitten during this episode and whispered "I hate Alice" quietly to her throughout.

The face of evil

But now that we have settled that and firmly established that we all hate Alice now, let's get on with the rest of the plot. This episode established two Quest Action Teams who set out on missions of vital importance regarding the restoration of magic. In the land of Fillory our brave King Eliot sets sail in a conscious sea-farring vessel that is...wait for it...bigger on the inside. His trusty companions include the maybe-not-so-stable Fen, the silent but deadly Bingo, and most surprising of all, his possible teenage daughter (!!!). That is right my friends, the Fairy Queen, who stole Fen's unborn child (leaving her with a log), has suddenly produced her and that girl is grown! Now I would have accepted this plot development with nary a blink, but I do also appreciate the cliche shout-out of that particular device. Sadly the always subversive (recall how she brought a gun to a wand fight so many years ago?) Queen Margo Bambi must stay behind, and it's a mega-bummer to see her separated from her partner-in-crime.

Surprise daughter!

Anyway our motley crew sets sail on their noble quest to collect back taxes (public mission) and find keys (private mission). Eliot comes to an island where he immediately plants his flag and then, with the help of his maybe-daughter, exposes the local leader to be a fraud. This leads to the elder ruler's untimely death at the hands of his own people, and Eliot's acquisition of the first quest key! Yay! But wait - Eliot essentially turned a whole island community into colonized murderers largely on the word of a girl who is essentially a fairy spy. Could she truly be his daughter? Perhaps yes, even likely so, but I don't think this victory is as cut and dry as it looks. After all this episode is called heroes and morons and on the Magicians magic always comes with a price. Or wait...is that another show?

Back on Earth while Alice is engaging in kittenicide, Julia and Q are hunting down any signs of magic. They find a good ole viral vid of an asshole bear terrorizing a hedge witch bar. Clues abound. What is a bear related to? Russia, I guess. What is also an asshole? Men. Who is a Russian man that hoarded magic batteries like an ornery dragon? Mayakovsky. This is A+ problem solving. J and Q recruit Kady to help track down the mystery woman seen at the bar with Mayakovsky, assuming that she must be in possession of a magic battery. The scooby gang follows the magic tracks from a children's hospital, to a Central Park orgy, and finally to a rooftop suicide attempt! The magic-possessor in question is revealed to be Professor Lipson who, bereft at the loss of magic, stole one Mayakovsky's batteries in order to bring a little joy to the world before topping herself. Isn’t that nice.

Q is able to rescue her from the ledge, but the battery is lost in the process. However there is a late in the game twist- while Professor Lipson was the espouser of joy, she was NOT the bear transformer. That honor fell to Mayakovsky's gross child bride who once made Quentin transform into Mayakovsky and bang her. I try not to think too hard about that episode. But J and Q solve this riddle too late, perhaps distracted (and rightfully so) by Alice's It Follows storyline featuring the aforementioned exploding kitten. Regardless, Kady breaks off and gets to the magic battery first, snagging it to try and save her boo Penny.

All seems well (as well as it can be) until Quentin decides to read his story book in an alley and gets possessed by the It Follows demon hunting Alice! Classic Quentin. Will he be restored? Will Penny be saved? Is this fairy teen Eliot and Fen's child? Do I ever want to see Alice again? (No, she is a cat murderer.) Make sure to watch the new episode tonight because it apparently takes me a full week to write these.

XO, MD

#the magicians #magicians #magicians syfy #jason ralph #quentin coldwater #hale appleman #eliot waugh #kittenicide #magicians gifs #martha writes #tv record #tv reviews #tv gifs #syfy #julia #stella maeve #fen #brittany curran #mayakovsky

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news-sein · 4 years

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hekate1308 · 7 years

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Ad Astra Per Aspera

I swear I haven’t forgotten about Destiel, and like I said, my DCBB is definitely coming, I have just been going through Crowley/Drowley feelings - for obvious reasons - so here, have a Drowley ABO AU with politician!Crowley and artist!Dean.

Enjoy!

The last place Sam Winchester expected to find his long-estranged brother was a John Oliver segment.

And yet that was precisely what happened that Sunday Night.

The theme of the week was omega rights, so naturally he and Sarah had decided to watch.

But Sam was not fated to take in much of the program, since only five minutes in, in a throwaway gag nevertheless, he saw Dean.

John Oliver was talking about “hope” states, where it was just possible that a more liberal Governor might be elected during the next term.

“And then there’s Kansas, where Fergus Crowley might – mind, I’m only saying this now just in case I can later say “I told you so” – actually take back the state from the Republicans in the upcoming elections.”

As an omega rights lawyer, Sam had of course heard about the Democrat after he’d decided to make them his signature issue. At the same time, he’d been a little suspicious, since not only had he never shown an interest before, but his contacts within the party had told him he had a certain ruthless reputation – and that he’d only become a Democrat to spite his mother.

“Of course he’s interested in omega rights, and not just because of politics – his whole mating story looks like the before and after pictures matchmaking services use to promote themselves. Do you happen to look like the weird uncle who’ll inevitably turn evil and betray everyone at the Democratic National Convention?”

A picture of Crowley dated 2007 appeared; Sam had to admit he looked out of place and decidedly moody amongst his own party members.

“Get mated and have a kid, it’ll fix it”.

Another picture, this one dated 2013, showed up. This time, Crowley was bouncing a baby up and down, looking decidedly happier and more accessible at the same time; as a matter of fact, he seemed to be conversing with Naomi Tapping, a well known pro-choice activist.

“Do you have problems with your kid?”

A picture of Crowley and what Sam assumed to be his then teenage son (he remembered vaguely that he’d been conceived during a one night stand and been brought up by his mother) arguing, this one taken in 2009. They couldn’t have looked less like family if they tried.

“Find a mate and you can bond over how cute their new siblings are”.

2017, Crowley and his son in a coffee shop. The son was holding an adorable toddler while Crowley was giving a bottle to the baby in his arms; there were smiles on both their face. It practically screamed “happy family”.

“Do you abhor these charity events you have to visit?”

Crowley sitting at a concert, 2010, an incredibly bored expression on his face.

“Let the arrow of love strike you. Congratulations. Every night is date night”.

2017: again, a concert, but Crowley was not sitting alone.

And that was how Sam learned what had become of his brother. Because that man, holding Crowley’s hand and being looked at adoringly by his mate, giving him a happy grin in return, was definitely the brother he’d walked away from when he had got into Stanford, and who’d been on his mind more and more often as the years passed.

“Sam?” Sarah asked, obviously concerned.

“It’s Dean” Sam forced out while John Oliver continued his segment, oblivious to what he had done.

“What?”

“Fergus Crowley’s mate... It’s Dean, Sarah.”

“Are you sure?” she asked him gently.

He could only nod.

In the following days, he did all the research he could.

Dean Crowley – he’d taken his mate’s last name, so that’s why the Google searches he’d started in recent years had led to nothing – was a sculptor already pretty well-known in Kansas who was slowly gaining fame outside of his home state.

The few articles Sam could find about how he’d come to be Dean Crowley all pointed to Crowley’s own interviews as sources, so he decided to simply watch them.

First, he found an old one from 2009. Since they’d met in early 2011, he was about to click away, but then he became curious about the man his brother was mated to.

He didn’t like what he saw one bit.

Crowley was by no means rude, but much too smooth; exactly the kind of career politician Sam had always feared he was. He thought of Dean as he had left him, passionate, deeply loyal to his loved ones, quick to laugh and anger. Could he ever...

But it had been so long...

He shook his head.

On to the next interview.

This one was from about six months after they’d met.

And immediately, he was struck by the difference.

Crowley actually smiled and joked a little with the omega reporter, made sure she was comfortable with an alpha in such an enclosed space, and when asked about his private life just replied, “It is all very satisfactory”.

It reminded Sam a little of when he had first met Sarah.

Then, around the one-year-mark something must have gone wrong, because in one piece, Crowley looked as if he hadn’t slept in several days, all but bit the reporter’s head off when he asked whether he had any plans to be mated, and was generally angrier and more impolite than he had been before they met.

That apparently hadn’t lasted long though. In fact, just a few weeks later, Crowley had once and for all embarked on that transformation that was slowly making him the darling of Kansas voters, being more relaxed, open, and happier than he’d ever appeared before; and it wasn’t long before Dean began to accompany him at events, causing a small uproar in the state when people realized that yes, against their expectations Crowley was in fact courting a male omega.

They mated soon enough, Crowley announcing the fact at an interview as if he’d just won the most important election of his life.

The children soon followed; the elder one, a girl, was about four now, the baby only six months.

When Dean had presented as an omega, the doctor had told Dad it was unlikely he’d ever be able to bear children. Sam knew he’d always wanted them. He must have been ecstatic.

John Oliver had definitely been right about the pictures, too. He didn’t found a single one of them in which Crowley didn’t look absolutely smitten and Dean radiantly happy.

He then followed their twitter accounts and spent the next two weeks stalking his brother’s life from the sideline.

From a publicity standpoint, they were pretty clever. Neither revealing too much nor too little, and always careful to keep their children as much out of the limelight as possible.

But there was still enough for the gossip-thirsty public to fawn over.

For example, one day, Crowley had tweeted “Surprising the mate. Just knew he’d love this”.

It was a first edition of Slaughterhouse-Five that must have cost some money.

Dean had almost immediately retweeted it, commenting “Not much of a surprise now, peaches. Looks awesome, but you really shouldn’t spend all that hard-earned money on me ;)”.

To which Crowley’s reply had been another retweet: “And here I thought you were too busy with your masterpieces for your show next week to be on your phone all the time”.

“What can I say? I miss my mate. Mary and Bobby say hi to their Papa, by the way”.

The whole thread had gone viral, with such comments as “Omg look at these cuties #goals”, “Did you notice that not only is Kurt Vonnegut often called an “alpha author” but he also didn’t ask him why he wasn’t looking after their children? #WhatRealEqualityLooksLike”, and “Seriously, I can’t. Where can I buy a Fergus Crowley? #ForeverAloneBecauseTheyRuinedMeForAnyoneElse”.

Of course there were the usual negative reactions, but they were far outnumbered.

Then there was an incident that had taken place only two months prior, when an “alpha rights” activist had attacked Crowley with a knife; the alpha had taken him down together with his body guards, but had afterwards loosened his tie slightly. Normally, he was impeccably dressed, so that this had been the first time the public had seen his neck properly.

“Confirmed: Fergus Crowley believes in equality, wears bite mark” the caption of the picture read.

Sam had Sarah’s too, but way too few Alphas bothered to, claiming that it was quite enough to claim the omegas themselves.

Of course this had gone viral too, and Sam was beginning to ask himself how he’d ever managed not to see these things.

“Ashahdgjhasgfjhgf would you believe it #TrueLove” one tweeted, another “Can someone please tell me how to get your mate to accept the bite #ComeOnItsBeenTwoYears” and someone else “Please tell me there are pictures of Dean coming to get him after that #IHaveAMightyNeed.”

Of course there were, and Dean had shown up with both of their children, clearly upset; even Sam admitted that the photo of Dean and Crowley lying in each other’s arms and scenting each other to calm down was touching.

“You know, you could always just call Dean. His studio has a phone number” Sarah talked him after several agitated weeks.

“I –“ he stopped.

She was right.

What was the worst that could happen?

As it turned out, all his fears of Dean being opposed to seeing him again after all these years were unfounded. On the contrary.

The very next weekend found Dean, his mate and their children knocking on Sam’s and Sarah’s door.

“Sammy” he said, drawing him in his arms, Crowley having the good sense of introducing himself to Sarah while keeping an eye on the kids.

“Dean”.

This of course was not the brother who, at twenty-two, had told him he was betraying his family by going to California without him or Dad; by the time their father had drunk himself to death five years later, Dean too had been gone from Lawrence, and no one had been able to tell Sam where he was.

“Didn’t expect you to call... but I’m gadl you did.”

“Me too”.

With that, Dean introduced his mate and his children.

“Sam Winchester. I have heard a lot about you”.

“Mostly good things, I hope” he said carefully. If Crowley looking at Dean in pictures had been telling, Crowley looking at Dean in real life was even more so. It seemed like he was about to burst into song at any given moment.

Sam came to know him better on Sunday; Saturday of course was entirely giving up to catching up with Dean as well as he could; and even though he found much to regret at having lost contact with him for almost two decades, the happiness Dean displayed at his life, mate and children, was more than enough to make up for it.

He got to know Crowley better the next day, when they took the kids to the beach.

They talked about their work and the bill Crowley hoped he would eventually be able to introduce, getting rid of the strict unnecessary rules that had been placed on abortion clinics.

“You weren’t always this outspoken about omega rights” Sam eventually began, careful not to anger him.

“No”.

Crowley looked over to where his mate and children were playing – or rather, his mate and his older child, while Sarah was holding the baby.

His face lit up.

“No, but things have somewhat changed since then”.

“Dean said you met at one of his shows”.

He also mentioned he noticed Crowley because the alpha followed him around the whole evening and he didn’t appreciate his posturing.

Crowley snorted.

“Yes. And by God was I an idiot about it then. Thank God Dean taught me better ways”.

He really was a clever politician, but he was also deeply in love with his brother.

And that was enough for Sam.

“You know” he admitted to Dean shortly before they left, “I never would have pictured you as a Governor’s mate”.

“Not saying anything about Governor yet, Sammy” he answered, his eyes sparkling. “But really, I don’t mind. We can make the world a better place together. Common goals are important in any relationship.”

“So when will I be the brother of the First Gentleman?”

“Let’s call that one a long term goal”.

“Long term” in this case meant that eight years later Sam, Sarah and their children stood proudly next to Dean and his family at Crowley’s inauguration.

#my writings #drowley #politician!crowley #artist!dean #estranged!sam #john oliver #it all makes sense in context #alpha!crowley #omega!dean #past mpreg #lis hearts comedians

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preciousmetals0 · 4 years

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Tangled Market Morgans; Therapy in the Lap of Luxury

Tangled Market Morgans; Therapy in the Lap of Luxury:

A Tale of 2 Morgans

It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.

We’re living in both an age of wisdom and an age of foolishness. And while this weekend’s coronavirus news helped lift expectations for the spring of hope … we’re likely headed toward a winter of despair.

Dickens? On a Monday? I’m not ready for this…

Markets around the globe rallied today on news that the COVID-19 curve is flattening. Italy and Spain both reported lower deaths and infections for consecutive days. Germany put plans in place to lift quarantine. Even the U.S. reported a slowdown in the growth of new coronavirus cases.

But today’s market truly boils down to two lines of thought: “the worst is over” and “the worst is yet to come.” Thus, began the tale of two Morgans…

Taking up the banner of optimism, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson proclaimed that “the worst is behind us.” Wilson clarified that he’s talking about investors, not COVID-19 infections:

With the forced liquidation of assets in the past month largely behind us, unprecedented and unbridled monetary and fiscal intervention led by the U.S. and the most attractive valuation we have seen since 2011, we stick to our recent view that the worst is behind us for this cyclical bear market that began two years ago, not last month.

Meanwhile, waving the flag of pessimism (or realism … I prefer realism), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon warned of a “bad recession” and a financial crisis like 2008:

We don’t know exactly what the future will hold — but at a minimum, we assume that it will include a bad recession combined with some kind of financial stress similar to the global financial crisis of 2008. Our bank cannot be immune to the effects of this kind of stress.

Dimon went on to note that JPMorgan considers suspending its dividend amid an “extremely adverse” dive in the U.S. economy.

The Takeaway:

One must conclude that if JPMorgan — the biggest bank in the U.S. — is vulnerable, then all banks are potentially vulnerable. In layman’s terms … that’s bad.

But one also can’t deny the U.S. government’s “unprecedented and unbridled monetary and fiscal intervention” in the market. Again, in layman’s terms … that’s good.

To paraphrase Charles Dickens once more, some of our noisiest authorities insist on being received in the superlative degree, whether good or evil, merely for the sake of comparison.

The Cliffs Notes version: Financial talking heads are loud and extreme right now. Why? Mostly so they can be heard.

So, what’s a regular Joe investor supposed to do here?

I mean, we have bulls to the left of us … bears to the right. Luckily, Great Stuff is stuck in the middle with you.

And that’s right where we’ll stay: in medias res, on hold, waiting for Godot, if you will.

It just takes some time … in the middle of the ride, but everything (everything) will be just fine.

Great Stuff believes that the core of your investment holdings should remain in safe haven investments, such as gold, bonds and currencies.

However, with another giant influx of cash sloshing around the market, now is also an opportune time to take baby steps with picking up or adding to long-term holdings … aka those well-run companies we keep talking about.

Just keep your investment forays in moderation. The U.S. economy is headed for a recession, and who knows how Wall Street will react when it is finally forced to confront this truth.

(Not sure where to start in the meantime? Click here ASAP!)

Good: Better Than Luxury

While it doesn’t have “rich Corinthian leather,” analysts still bet that Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) will outperform its luxury peers.

This morning, Jefferies upgraded TSLA from hold to buy, citing better demand for electric vehicles in a post-crisis world. Analyst Philippe Houchois said that he expects a full-year sales growth of 27% for Tesla, above the Wall Street average of a 20% growth.

However, Houchois did cut his price target from $800 to $650 to bring expectations in line with current market conditions.

Baird analyst Ben Kallo was more realistic with Tesla. He reiterated his hold rating but forecast 22% sales growth for Tesla. “We do think TSLA could fare better than luxury peers, with new products/geographies driving growth,” Kallo said in a note to clients.

Both analysts appear to hedge their optimism in light of COVID-19’s unknown impact on Tesla sales.

Similarly, while the price is certainly right for Tesla, Great Stuff isn’t ready to turn full bull again just yet. We’ve gotta see those pandemic sales figures first.

Better: Peat and Repeat Walk Into a Bar…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A biotech company announces a new COVID-19 test that’s faster and easier than before. The FDA approves it, and the stock rallies big.

You could run that story every day until this pandemic is over, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Today’s latest testing candidate is Co-Diagnostics Inc. (Nasdaq: CODX). The company just received emergency use authorization for its Logix Smart COVID-19 test, making the test immediately available for purchase.

Co-Diagnostics says that the test’s lower cost should help hospitals and labs process more tests and save money, while still offering high-quality care to patients.

If you were one of the lucky few already invested in CODX shares, bully for you! Instead, if you’re like pretty much every other investor who discovered CODX today after its 25% rally, now is not the time to chase this stock.

In fact, if CODX follows the same trajectory as practically every other stock following a COVID-19 test approval, now would probably be the time to short CODX or buy puts on the stock … at least over the short term.

Best: A Triple-Negative Win

Finally, we have a biotech story that doesn’t involve the coronavirus. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Immunomedics Inc. (Nasdaq: IMMU) just halted a phase 3 confirmatory study on its breast cancer drug due to “compelling evidence of efficacy.” In other words, the drug worked so well during the study that everyone agreed that there was no need to continue testing.

The drug, sacituzumab govitecan (gesundheit!), was developed to treat triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This form of breast cancer, which affects young people, African Americans and Hispanics disproportionately, does not respond to traditional hormone therapy. As such, chemotherapy is typically the only available treatment.

With Immunomedics’ compelling phase 3 results, those suffering from TNBC now have another, more appealing option in the pipeline.

For the company, that means a revolutionary treatment in an estimated $6.12 billion market.

IMMU soared more than 95% on the news, after pulling back slightly due to profit taking. If you’re looking to invest in IMMU, wait a bit for the stock to consolidate on today’s news. The phase 3 data promises strong earnings growth for the company — or, more likely, a takeover bid down the road.

But someday, we’ll emerge from our homes and start to get the economy back on track. And the beginning of the mother of all financial bubbles will be upon us…

— Ian King, Automatic Fortunes

No, this isn’t a trader’s rendition of The Stand. (Quick, someone find Stu Redman!) Today’s Quote of the Week comes courtesy of Ian King’s latest article: “The Biggest Bubble Ever.”

We all know that the coronavirus situation in the U.S. will get much worse before it gets better. President Trump even warned us of this fact over the weekend.

But COVID-19 isn’t forever. And, when it ends, we’ll have all of that stimulus floating around in the market to deal with. As Banyan Hill expert Ian King points out, this stimulus just kicked off the “mother of all financial bubbles.”

Interest rates are at zero, and the Fed prints money like there’s no tomorrow. Well, the Fed calls it “quantitative easing” and not printing money … but potato, potahto.

All this money has to go somewhere, and the vast majority of it will land squarely in the stock market. It’s why Morgan Stanley (remember those guys from earlier?) believes we’re past the worst in the stock market.

I’m not convinced of Morgan Stanley’s timing, but I am convinced that Ian King is right. We will see a massive rally in the market once the threat of COVID-19 passes.

Until then, keep your powder dry and be prepared to dive into the next bull market.

Great Stuff: On Bulls, Bursting Bubbles and You

Typical bulls … one bull market ends, and they’re already planning the next.

There are two sides to this shebang, dear reader. You could just as easily say: “Typical bears … we’re already feeling one crash, and now you tell me there’s another in the works?!”

Oh, my sweet summer child, Great Stuff has been reporting on the coming credit crisis since, say, last September?

Now, just as Ian King says: “The issue in the credit markets is the same issue that’s playing out in the stock markets. No one has any clue how bad the pandemic will be or how long it will last.”

No one knows how long either predicament will last … but one thing’s for certain: We’ll get through it all.

Now, when Ian King isn’t laying down the law on what’s fishy in the credit markets … he’s headfirst in researching the front lines of growing market trends. Yes, even when the world’s gone topsy-turvy … Ian King knows the right tipping-point trends will outlive viral markets.

Self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, 5G — these trends aren’t just down and out forever.

Here’s my point: If you’re sitting this market out, I can’t convince you otherwise. I completely understand that.

However, if you’re venturing to the front lines and staking your claim in the next bull market…

If you’re buying when everyone is selling…

And with the “mother of all financial bubbles” hanging overhead…

You need a guide.

Ian King’s research in Automatic Fortunes could be perfect for you. (I mean, the guy started trading mortgage bonds on Wall Street at 21. Where else can you find a guide like that?!)

Click here to learn more!

Don’t forget, you can always check Great Stuff out on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, be Great!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

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goldira01 · 4 years

Link

A Tale of 2 Morgans

It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.

Dickens? On a Monday? I’m not ready for this…

But today’s market truly boils down to two lines of thought: “the worst is over” and “the worst is yet to come.” Thus, began the tale of two Morgans…

Meanwhile, waving the flag of pessimism (or realism … I prefer realism), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon warned of a “bad recession” and a financial crisis like 2008:

Dimon went on to note that JPMorgan considers suspending its dividend amid an “extremely adverse” dive in the U.S. economy.

The Takeaway:

One must conclude that if JPMorgan — the biggest bank in the U.S. — is vulnerable, then all banks are potentially vulnerable. In layman’s terms … that’s bad.

But one also can’t deny the U.S. government’s “unprecedented and unbridled monetary and fiscal intervention” in the market. Again, in layman’s terms … that’s good.

To paraphrase Charles Dickens once more, some of our noisiest authorities insist on being received in the superlative degree, whether good or evil, merely for the sake of comparison.

The Cliffs Notes version: Financial talking heads are loud and extreme right now. Why? Mostly so they can be heard.

So, what’s a regular Joe investor supposed to do here?

I mean, we have bulls to the left of us … bears to the right. Luckily, Great Stuff is stuck in the middle with you.

And that’s right where we’ll stay: in medias res, on hold, waiting for Godot, if you will.

It just takes some time … in the middle of the ride, but everything (everything) will be just fine.

Great Stuff believes that the core of your investment holdings should remain in safe haven investments, such as gold, bonds and currencies.

Just keep your investment forays in moderation. The U.S. economy is headed for a recession, and who knows how Wall Street will react when it is finally forced to confront this truth.

(Not sure where to start in the meantime? Click here ASAP!)

Good: Better Than Luxury

While it doesn’t have “rich Corinthian leather,” analysts still bet that Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) will outperform its luxury peers.

However, Houchois did cut his price target from $800 to $650 to bring expectations in line with current market conditions.

Both analysts appear to hedge their optimism in light of COVID-19’s unknown impact on Tesla sales.

Similarly, while the price is certainly right for Tesla, Great Stuff isn’t ready to turn full bull again just yet. We’ve gotta see those pandemic sales figures first.

Better: Peat and Repeat Walk Into a Bar…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A biotech company announces a new COVID-19 test that’s faster and easier than before. The FDA approves it, and the stock rallies big.

Co-Diagnostics says that the test’s lower cost should help hospitals and labs process more tests and save money, while still offering high-quality care to patients.

Best: A Triple-Negative Win

Finally, we have a biotech story that doesn’t involve the coronavirus. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

With Immunomedics’ compelling phase 3 results, those suffering from TNBC now have another, more appealing option in the pipeline.

For the company, that means a revolutionary treatment in an estimated $6.12 billion market.

But someday, we’ll emerge from our homes and start to get the economy back on track. And the beginning of the mother of all financial bubbles will be upon us…

— Ian King, Automatic Fortunes

No, this isn’t a trader’s rendition of The Stand. (Quick, someone find Stu Redman!) Today’s Quote of the Week comes courtesy of Ian King’s latest article: “The Biggest Bubble Ever.”

We all know that the coronavirus situation in the U.S. will get much worse before it gets better. President Trump even warned us of this fact over the weekend.

Interest rates are at zero, and the Fed prints money like there’s no tomorrow. Well, the Fed calls it “quantitative easing” and not printing money … but potato, potahto.

I’m not convinced of Morgan Stanley’s timing, but I am convinced that Ian King is right. We will see a massive rally in the market once the threat of COVID-19 passes.

Until then, keep your powder dry and be prepared to dive into the next bull market.

Great Stuff: On Bulls, Bursting Bubbles and You

Typical bulls … one bull market ends, and they’re already planning the next.

There are two sides to this shebang, dear reader. You could just as easily say: “Typical bears … we’re already feeling one crash, and now you tell me there’s another in the works?!”

Oh, my sweet summer child, Great Stuff has been reporting on the coming credit crisis since, say, last September?

No one knows how long either predicament will last … but one thing’s for certain: We’ll get through it all.

Self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, 5G — these trends aren’t just down and out forever.

Here’s my point: If you’re sitting this market out, I can’t convince you otherwise. I completely understand that.

However, if you’re venturing to the front lines and staking your claim in the next bull market…

If you’re buying when everyone is selling…

And with the “mother of all financial bubbles” hanging overhead…

You need a guide.

Ian King’s research in Automatic Fortunes could be perfect for you. (I mean, the guy started trading mortgage bonds on Wall Street at 21. Where else can you find a guide like that?!)

Click here to learn more!

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Until next time, be Great!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

#Timor Invest

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filmssssss · 7 years

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Post R- Creative Investigation-Collated Questions

Major points from my Primary and Secondary sources:

Rings:

1. ‘The movie never bothers to explain’.

2. ’The most frustrating element of Rings right out of the gate is the way the movie keeps starting and stopping, introducing a somewhat compelling avenue for a sequel, then abandoning it for something else until this thing essentially becomes a remake of the first flick’.

3. ‘All that being said, Spanish filmmaker F. Javier Gutierrez (Before The Fall) does at least make it all look pretty. He’s knows exactly how to replicate the stylised dread that defines the aesthetic of these movies, and at least stages a few decent scares’.

4. ’ In Rings there is a waffling attempt at explaining the evil potency of the videotape, now transferred to a digital computer file, with some reference to quantum physics, but basically’.

5. 'The original premise finds that it has nowhere to go, except, appropriately enough, round and round in ever decreasing circles’.

6. ;Ringu, the celebrated Japanese horror movie that started it all, was released in 1998 (The Ring, the not-too-bad American remake, came out four years later). We should remember that in the dark ages of the nineties, VHS tapes and creepy death-threat calls through landlines were not as yet, a form of ancient technology’.

10 Cloverfield Lane:

1. “It’s a scarier movie than the first film, and it couldn’t be more different. It’s not called Cloverfield 2 for a reason’.

2. ‘Cloverfield did it with the first movie, releasing a trailer for a film no one had heard of, and we thought if we can do that again on this one, it would be a fun way to get people interested. It’s a movie that’s worth the attention’.

3. ‘I’ve never seen John Goodman playing a character as weird as this. He’s terrifying’.

4. ‘There is a new monster in this movie. It isn’t the Cloverfield monster that you know’.

5. “ J.J Abrams was explaining recently how he is no great fan of what he called ‘Jump scares’: Those moments in horror films that rely purely on surprise and what is just out of view, to make you leap out of your seat.

6. “ Most tantalising about the film, which Paramount will release on Friday, March 11, was its title, which marked it as a pseudo-sequel to ‘Cloverfield’, the hit 2008 horror movie, also produced by Mr Abrams, which was similarly dropped on unsuspecting viewers.

7. “ What connects ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ to the first ‘Cloverfield’, its creators say, is not necessarily characters or plot but tone and feeling- a desire to take the familiar elements of genre movies and reinvent them for contemporary audiences.

Case 39:

1. ‘The movie resorts to the most obvious of emotional connections (aww, she’s going to fill that convenient hole in her life) and it really wants us to believe that a social worker would adopt one of her cases’.

2. 'Enter woeful CGI hornets and lousy green screen work, fake scares and loud noises, shotgun suicides and car chases, and everything else* that the TV spot is trying to sell you**’.

3. ‘Who are omniscient and all powerful, except when they’re not.

4. ‘His overly familiar, wholly unoriginal would-be psychological thriller provokes few reactions outside of boredom and — in, sadly, too few moments — derisive laughter’.

5. ’Because, yup, nice sweet adorable Lily is Satan incarnate, and it doesn’t take long for Zellweger to start catching on’.

6. ‘The Satanic power comes and goes as convenient, but mostly it serves as an excuse to allow Lily to do whatever screenwriter Ray Wright (The Crazies) believes will advance his poor pretense of a plot, which features, as a highlight, people behaving in deeply stupid ways even when they know what they’re up against’.

Paramount:

1. “Local film production companies of the 1910’s merged or disappeared as Hollywood emerge’.

2. ‘ Block-booking, which forced exhibitors to buy multiple films packaged together from the numerous companies that had exclusive agreements with Paramount’.

3. ‘It’s a small detail, this filmstrip/border design, a sort of rough draft of Paramount working out, in public, its identity and image as a major distributor and, eventually, studio’.

4 ‘ Needless to say, this risked becoming a messy business for the studio and the production companies if it went to trial and revealed some of the dirty side of the industry’.

5. ‘Paramount and Red Granite, who have other on-going legal issues with the Department of Justice over the alleged ill-gotten finances via Malaysia, are represented by Seth Pierce of L.A’s Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP. & Knupp LLP’.

6. ‘ With what’s left, the settlement is to cover the approximately 393 class members “who provided parking production assistant services” on any production from Paramount and the other defendants’.

Body Language in Film:

1. ‘The correct facial gestures can make or break an actor’.

2. ‘Use purposeful gazing and eye contact to your advantage’.

3. ‘Body language plays a critical factor in whether or not you will land the job’.

4. ‘Michael Argyle: Bodily Communication (1988, (1975)) describes the study of body language as guided by social psychology. Like Birdwhistell, he considers body language (non-verbal communication) a communicative phenomenon. He states that, bodily communication encompasses the following: kinesics, proxemics, prosodics and other appearances (such as clothes, make up, accessories etc.)

5. ’ The first example is from Danish Television News. It illustrates how exaggerated body expression is uncalled for in the context of TV news. The second example is from a film comedy where exaggerated body expression is in accordance with genre norms’.

6. ‘The goals of the forthcoming research consist of describing how body expressions are used in the moving image, and detecting and describing the different contexts, which have an important influence on how body expressions are comprehended’.

Genre/Themes: Horror and Psychological Thriller:

1. ‘People go to horror films because they want to be frightened or they wouldn’t do it twice. You choose your entertainment because you want it to affect you’.

2. 'Negative feelings created by horror movies actually intensify the positive feelings when the hero triumphs in the end. But what about movies where the hero doesn’t triumph? And even in some small studies have show that people’s enjoyment was actually higher during the scary parts of a horror film than it was after’.

3. ’ “Studies by [researchers such as Zillman have shown that there is a significant correlation between people who are accepting of norm-violating behaviours and interest in horror movies. But that doesn’t explain why some viewers respond positively when the norm violators such as the sexual promiscuous teenage couple, the criminal, the adulterer – are punished and killed by the movie monster’.

Zillman’s Theory

'In other words, excitation-transfer theory is based on the assumption that excitation responses are, for the most part, ambiguous and are differentiated only by what emotions the brain assigns to them. As Zillmann (2006) stated, “Residual excitation from essentially any excited emotional reaction is capable of intensifying any other excited emotional reaction. The degree of intensification depends, of course, on the magnitude of residues prevailing at the time” (p. 223). Hence, excitation transfer theory helps to explain the fickleness of emotional arousal (i.e., how it is possible for fear to be transferred into relief, anger into delight, etc.), and how the reaction to one stimulus can intensify the reaction to another’.

4. 'Cultural historian David Skal has argued that horror films are simply reflect our societal fears. As Hess notes:

“Looking at the history of horror you have mutant monsters rising in 50s from our fear of the nuclear bogeyman, Zombies in the 60s with Vietnam, Nightmare on Elm Street as a mistrust in authority figures stemming from the Watergate scandals and Zombies again in the 2000s as a reflection of viral pandemic fears. But for as many horror cycles that fit the theory, there are many that don’t. And horror films work on a universal level crossing national boundaries while still working in different cultures.“

5. ‘“Some of these kids got terrified and started to cry in the middle of the take, and then I realised, ‘Holy shit. What am I doing? … This is horrible.’”

6. ‘Director Victor Salva was imprisoned for sexual misconduct with his 12-year-old star while making Clownhouse, a horror about – you guessed it – scary clowns terrorising children’.

7. ‘Endangered children are one of society’s prime fears, and many a modern horror centres on either scared kids or scary kids – ideally both (see Annabelle: Creation)’.

0 notes

humanitypolitics-blog · 7 years

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The NRA

In case you haven’t heard, the NRA posted an ad that went viral a few weeks ago. You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/NRA/videos/1605896562755373/

In the ad, Dana Loesch, a radio host and television host at The Blaze, starts out by using the word “they” to describe some unified force that controls the media, Hollywood, Obama, and schools. She never says who “they” are, but depending on what part of the ad you’re watching, it’s probably either the “antifa” or all liberals in general, who obviously aren’t the same people. I’ve never heard the phrase “assassinate the real news,” but it sounds like a really dramatic way of saying that “they” are… lying? Just saying stuff she doesn’t agree with? She then goes on to say that this “makes” “them” (same they?) SCREAM racism, sexism, etc., and protest, as if it’s really evil to be critical of anything or generally exercise your first amendment rights. She says it’s these same people smashing windows, burning cars etc., and that “they” use the police stepping in to keep that from happening as an excuse for their outrage. I’d say we’re getting into a much narrower group of liberal extremists at this point, except that if it’s still the same “they,” she’s also hinting at the idea that any time anyone ever claimed they saw police brutality, it was when police were trying to get a riot under control. Basically, she’s generalizing in order to inflate the severity of the modern political climate, in order to, you guessed it, scare people into buying NRA memberships and guns. She then makes the logical jump to all of this somehow threatening our country and our “freedom,” and that the only way to save those things is to fight the “violence of lies” with the “Clenched. Fist. of Truth.” Again, really dramatic way of describing… intelligent debate? Telling people the truth? Then she says that she is the National Rifle Association and that she is freedom’s safest place.

And here is my takeaway: First, to address her last statement: Even if the NRA were the second amendment itself (it isn’t), it wouldn’t be the “freedom’s safest place” that Loesch is talking about. Unless her own statement “The clinched fist of truth” (“clinched” is the wrong word but used in the subtitles of the ad) is referring to… physically punching? shooting? truth into people, it is referring to telling the actual truth, which would be the first amendment, which is funny, considering the beginning of the ad.

And next, to address how we actually got to the point that the NRA is telling you to join up with them and buy guns to fight “lies”: As you can probably already tell from the ad, the NRA is not a non-partisan defender of your liberties. However, if you want proof of their partisanship, you can take a look at the recipients of their PAC, the “Political Victory Fund.” https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00053553 99% of the politicians donated to are Republican, which is probably why the ad is railing against a lot of liberal ideals. You could argue that the Republican party has taken a firm stance on protecting the “right to bear arms” and that the Democratic party has taken a firm stance on gun control. You would be right – American politics in general are extremely partisan. You could defend their heavily-leaning Republican support based on this phenomenon. You would still be right. Of course, the fact that you would be right is the entire problem. In order to function, the NRA has become a Republican organization, stretching beyond the 2nd Amendment to include the ENTIRE REPUBLICAN AGENDA, as can be seen in the ad, and can also be seen in their silence during and after the entire Philando Castile debacle, at least until Loesch was called out on live television and forced to talk about it, at which point she basically just blamed Castile for getting himself shot by not following proper protocol. Philando Castile is black, and he was shot by a police officer. The Republican Party is pro-police, and anti-Black Lives Matter, so the NRA is too, hence the silence, and the ad. But the NRA does not support conservative ideals simply because it is all about the 2nd Amendment. As always, there is also money involved. The NRA is a non-profit organization, but its top members and spokespeople are highly compensated, as can be seen in the 990s they file with the IRS, the most recent being from 2015. http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/530/530116130/530116130_201512_990O.pdf On page 20, it shows that Wayne Lapierre, the NRA’s CEO and vice president, who blamed violent movies for shootings, called for armed guards in schools, and made the famous statement “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” after the Sandy Hook shooting, was paid over five million dollars in 2015 alone. Chris W. Cox, the executive director, made over one million, and each of the NRA’s eight other leaders was paid between $272,576 and $577,723. The money to pay these people and keep the NRA going comes from a lot of sources, some of which create some pretty obvious conflicts of interest. In 2013, Business Insider published an article http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-industry-funds-nra-2013-1 detailing the places where NRA money comes from, including gun sales, advertising, and the NRA Ring of Freedom program, in which corporations can directly contribute to the NRA, and many gun manufacturers do, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year. https://www.nraringoffreedom.com/guide-to-giving/ways-to-donate/corporate-partners/ The remaining, less than 50%, of the NRA’s income is from membership dues.

The article also points out a few of the reasons the gun industry would want to fund the NRA so heavily, including that the NRA is a lobbying arm for the industry, and that the NRA is a buffer for criticism of the gun industry every time some crazy gets a hold of a gun and kills a bunch of people, which it does an excellent job of doing. I mean, for starters, this article isn’t about Glock or Bushmaster, is it? It might also explain the overabundance of drama in Dana Loesch’s ad: people are so busy being scandalized by it, they’re distracted from paying attention to the actual manufacturers of guns.

But back to the lobbying arm: The NRA has a lot of power in America because it spends a lot of money. In 2014, Frontline published an infographic showing that the NRA spends more money on campaign contributions and lobbying than all gun control groups combined. It even spends more than all other gun RIGHTS groups combined. In 2014 alone, the NRA spent over 31 million dollars on campaign support and lobbying. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-loaded-is-the-gun-lobby/ So while the NRA is not the same thing as the Second Amendment, it does practically have a monopoly on the representation and interpretation of it.

This brings us to a place I foresee us revisiting numerous times as I cover a variety of issues: Citizens United. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#Subsequent_developments In Citizens United vs. the FEC, “The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) on January 21, 2010 that freedom of speech prohibits government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.” In other words, it is entirely legal for companies to donate limitless sums of money to candidates they would like to see elected. These candidates will enjoy better advertising, more air time, and more expansive coverage on major news sites. In exchange, these politicians, once elected, would be beholden to the companies that gave them money, and would pass laws that would benefit those companies. This would ensure the same campaign budget in the future, not only for the candidates donated to, but future candidates in the same party. In the case of the NRA, it receives millions of dollars from gun manufacturers, and donates millions of dollars to Republican candidates, who then are elected. They loosen gun laws, thus allowing for the sale of more guns, which benefits gun manufacturers.

The fact that this system causes politicians to represent corporations instead of the American people is evident from the numbers. In a recent Gallup poll, http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx 86% of respondents stated that they support “universal background checks for all gun purchases in the U.S. using a centralized database across all 50 states”, despite the fact that roughly 39% of respondents owned guns and only 55% of them thought that gun laws aren’t strict enough (probably because the phrase “strict” is a little vague in this context). In addition, 75% of them believe that the government should “increase criminal penalties for people who pass the required background check but who buy a gun for someone who has not passed a background check,” 56% of them would vote to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban, and 67% of them would vote to illegalize the sale of armor piercing bullets to civilians.

In another national poll conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1300512?query=featured_home&.)=& 76.3% of all people surveyed said that law enforcement should be allowed five business days to complete a background check (the law currently only allows three days before the gun sale is allowed by default). Of gun owners specifically, 67% supported the measure, and even 47.1% of NRA members supported it as well. In the same NEJM poll, 60.9% of NRA members supported “Increased federal funding to states to improve reporting of people prohibited by law from having a gun to the background-check system,” and larger percentages of gun owners in general and non-gun owners supported the same measure.

The American people share these beliefs for good reason: the background check system needs more funding and/or more time in order to work properly. For example, failure to properly complete a background check allowed Dylann Roof to purchase a gun and kill nine churchgoers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/10/dylann-roof-gun-fbi-background-check-failed-charleston-shooting

Despite the majority of the population being supportive of these myriad ways of expanding firearm background check systems, the NRA “opposes expanding firearm background check systems,” https://www.nraila.org/issues/background-checks-nics/ first mentioning due process, but never backing up how expanding background checks would harm due process, and also stating all the ways in which background checks don’t work, glossing over the concept that background check systems could probably work better if they were… expanded.

This would explain why many of the laws that should be in place to ensure that guns don’t fall into the right hands either aren’t in place at all or aren’t effective. The FBI and local government need either the money, the time, or both to conduct background checks before selling firearms to criminals and the criminally insane. However, the politicians who should be passing laws to allow for these things are paid not to pass those laws by the NRA, who is paid by the gun industry.

So, once again, coming back to Dana Loesch’s video – if you ask me, the video is meant to scare people, which benefits the gun industry. A few Republicans and conservatives are likely to believe Loesch’s diatribe and buy NRA membership and guns, but some Democrats and liberals are also likely to be convinced that people on the right share her views, and will also be frightened into buying their own guns. Both sides are aware of the fact that the criminal background check system is flawed, due to being torpedoed by the NRA, of course, and will be frightened into buying guns to defend themselves from the criminals that are able to bypass the background check system and obtain their own guns. The gun industry supports the NRA through a variety of means, so any purchase of a gun will either directly or indirectly support the NRA, in addition to, of course, directly supporting the gun industry. I’ll most likely come back to the issue of guns and highlight all of the ways in which gun ownership in dangerous neighborhoods is an arms race, but for now, I think it’s safe to conclude that it does, in fact, benefit gun makers to have criminals with guns. To paraphrase Lapierre, the more bad guys there are with guns, the more good guys there will need to be with guns. And the more of anyone who has a gun, the more money Lapierre makes – hand over clenched fist of truth.

#NRA #FireArms #Hand Over Clenched Fist of Truth #Guns #National Rifle Association #Citizens United #CitizensUnited #Money #Politics #Lobbying #Corruption #American Government

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oldguardaudio · 7 years

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Rush Limbaugh, please explain why the Leftist are so Hysterical when it comes to a Health Care Bill

rush obama shadow government against trump at HoaxAndChange.com

Rush USA Flag at HoaxAndChange.com

rush-limbaugh @ Old Guard Audio

Leftist Hysteria Over the GOP Health Care Bill Is Rooted in Need to Preserve Obama Legacy

May 8, 2017

RUSH: There is hysteria across this country, and across the pond in Europe. There’s just hysteria everywhere you look, and a lot of it is rooted in a panicked, hysterical need on the left to protect the legacy of Barack Hussein Obama. Pretty much everything of the Obama administration is being pared away — or trying to. The severe efforts. Obamacare, the first stage of the repeal has taken place, and the panic that has ensued over this… Are you aware — and I tried to mention this. I warned people over the weekend that this was coming. They looked at me like I’m nuts.

I said, “Are you aware — and, if you’re not, you had better be prepared to hear starting very soon — that the Republican health care bill that passed the House of Representatives now treats the cause of rape as a preexisting condition in order to deny rape victims and the victims of sexual abuse health insurance?” When I tell you that, does that make any sense to you? I mentioned this to the people at dinner one night this weekend, and they looked at me like, “What are you talking about?” And I didn’t blame ’em. It sounds like… I know it sounds nonsensible.

You have a bunch of hysterical leftists, hysterical leftist women that are running around… This story has now gone viral. There are versions of it in the Washington Post. It started in, I think, New York Magazine with a woman writing that the Republicans want to deny everybody with preexisting conditions any insurance. That’s lie number one. And now they’re trying to deny rape victims and sexual abuse victims health insurance on the basis… None of this is true! It is literally… I mean, it’s worse than made up. It’s worse than lies.

This is insane hysteria. It’s literally made up for the Drive-By Media to pick this up and run with it. And literally what they’re claiming is that the cause of rape — whatever that is, the circumstances that led to rape and the rape itself — then equal a preexisting condition. And the cause could be post-traumatic stress disorder, any number of things, and these evil Republicans want to deny the victims of rape and sexual abuse health insurance on the basis that it’s a preexisting condition.

Never mind the fact that the Republicans are bending over backwards to include preexisting conditions in virtually everything. But, as is often the case, here’s a premise that’s put out. It’s kind of like the global warming premise was put out there. And what do we do? We validate the premise by accepting it and trying to reject it intellectually and logically. There are already pieces saying, “This is not right. This is wrong,” with intellectual reasons why.

And I’ll share it all with you as the program unfolds. Rather than just say, “You’re insane!” Rather than just say, “You’re a lunatic!” Rather than just say, “This is absurd!” and laugh at it and move on, no! “We must tackle it intellectually.” Like climate change. There’s no science in climate change. What do we do? We developed our own science answers to it, and it all ends up deep in the weeds. Nobody can keep track of it and they don’t care to because all of this is emotion based, not issue or intellectual-reason based.

So it just… Listen to it a second time. Does it make any sense to you? How could anybody even think this way? What do you have to be doing after the Republicans passed their health care bill to start thinking, “Well, you know, that bill has rape victims listed as victims of preexisting conditions, and, therefore, the Republicans want to deny them health care!” How…? How do you even think this?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me show you some of this hysteria. You ready? “Bette Midler…” Song stylist extraordinaire, Bette Midler: “GOP Are Homegrown Assads, Gassing Their Own with the Health Care Bill.” I’m not making this up. When the House passed Obamacare replacement bill — the American Health Care Act, whatever it is — last Thursday, Bette Midler tweeted that the Republican Party was “gassing their own people” by repealing Obamacare. So the homegrown Assads in the Freedom Caucus want employers to not have to offer health care to employees, are like gassing their own people.

Here’s another headline: “Health Act Repeal Could Threaten U.S. Job Engine.” (repeats) “Health Act Repeal Could Threaten U.S. Job Engine”? You know, have you seen the news that the Republicans have committed suicide with this health care repeal? Well, not so fast on that. Let me present an alternative today as the program unfolds. But I genuinely want to deal with something here. This hysteria over the Republican health care bill is grotesque, and it is nothing more than the media’s desperate attempt to keep Obama’s key domestic achievement alive, at all costs.

If you didn’t know any better, you would think Obamacare the most beloved piece of federal legislation ever, that it had a 100% approval rating, that everybody was happy with it, that nobody was suffering from it, and the Republicans have come along and want people to die. The Republicans want to kill people. The Republicans want to deny rape victims access to insurance because rape and the cause of it equals a preexisting condition. The truth about Obamacare is it’s killing jobs; it’s killing the U.S. economy.

And as long as Obamacare is in force, I don’t see how our economy can ever grow beyond 3%, with the federal government owning one-sixth of the U.S. economy and making a mess of it, with premiums skyrocketing beyond any hope of people being able to pay for it. And, of course, all of this is a direct route to single payer. Now you have Obama’s big supporters like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Charlie Munger all out now supporting single payer after the Republican health care passes the House.

You notice it’s these very wealthy people out there pushing for single payer? They know they will never have to enroll in that eventuality, with the government running health care. They’ll never have to be governed by it. So it’s easy to gain points and political favor by talking socialism and government taking care of everybody when they’re never gonna have to suffer the consequences. It’s typical of what they do.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So the Republicans are slowly but surely wiping the Obama presidency off the map, and if you don’t necessarily agree with they’re being successful with that, you have to admit that there is an effort underway to do just that. And if you don’t find it within the halls of Capitol Hill and the Congress in the House and the Senate, you do find it at the White House. There is a serious effort to wipe the Obama presidency off the map, and the big signature claim to Obama’s presidency is Obamacare, and the first step has been taken.

This has caused Obama now to show up in public and to try to tamper with this effort — which was predicted. He’s now claiming that it’s a courageous thing to have done Obamacare, and we must muster courage to stop what the Republicans are trying to do. Democrats of all stripes have rejected and continue to reject Trump as president. But more than that, they are apoplectic over the prospect of a diminished Obama legacy. Obama’s just applied for certification and tax status of his future Obama presidential library.

And, by the way, he has attempted to set it up the same way the Clintons set up the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, which became the Clinton Global Initiative. The whole Clinton operation began as the president’s Library and Massage Parlor thing in Little Rock, and everything about it grew from that well beyond the limits of the law in terms of what you can do raising money, spending money, tax consequences. Obama’s model is almost identical to what the Clintons did except Obama’s not gonna spend six years in the transition from the presidential library to the vacuum cleaner that the Clinton Foundation became in accepting foreign contributions for who knows whatever.

Obama’s in the process of setting up the same thing. And of course the presidential library is the first thing, and that’s where all the great achievements are and all the presidential papers signaling the great work and the brilliance — and here come those rascally Republicans right on the day and the month that Obama’s establishing his library, trying to wipe out his signature achievement! So they’re apoplectic about this. They’re apoplectic over the prospect of a diminished Obama legacy.

And make no mistake. You know, if Trump unwinds Obama’s Iran deal, we’re gonna hear how the world is coming to a quick and bloody end. It’s gonna be the same list of catastrophes. “People are gonna die! People are gonna get murdered! People are gonna get sick.” It’s a never-ending litany that really comes under the umbrella, “Republicans are killing people! Republicans are starving children!” And it’s gotten to the point now that it’s lunacy. There’s an effort to wipe the Obama presidency off the map. This has triggered a metastasizing rage.

Democrats are saying, “Who in their right mind wouldn’t resist change to Obamacare?” Well, it’s exploding right before our very eyes. Even the Drive-By Media can’t avoid reporting that. The end of Obamacare, folks, is bigger than the bill itself. It represents a rejection bigger than the voter rejection of Hillary Clinton. If Obamacare is repealed, if Obama’s name is taken off whatever is substituted for it… If it becomes Trumpcare, Ryancare, I don’t care what it becomes.

If it happens because Obama has been taken out of it and enough of his signature legislation has been repealed and replaced with something else, that is gonna cause a new wave of hysteria and panic. And I think what’s happening out there in many sectors is the left is coming to grips with the prospect… This isn’t guaranteed by any stretch, but they are coming to grips with the prospect — of reality crashing into the Obama presidency. They are horrified at the thought, literally horrified at the thought that the Obama legacy could unravel and be untangled.

If you listen to the left’s predictions of what sounds like a Republican-triggered genocide, you’d think we’re all fetuses in a Planned Parenthood waiting room! This is the way they’re trying to characterize all of this. Let me come back to this story that, folks, it defies common-sense understanding. New York Magazine. “Early Thursday morning, New York Magazine published an online item which claimed that ‘rape is a pre-existing condition‘ under the health care bill which [Republicans] passed in the House.” Sarah Spellings: “In Trump’s America, Rape Is a Preexisting Condition.”

Now, listen to this: “An amendment in the GOP health-care-reform bill will allow states to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, including sexual assault. Pre-Obamacare rape survivors who sought treatment for their injuries could be denied health care later on. Under Obamacare, preexisting conditions were guaranteed to receive coverage — among them, sexual assault. The American Health Care Act is going to change that. The new MacArthur-Meadows Amendment will allow states to discriminate based on medical history, reportedly without addressing the subsequent high cost of health care for millions of Americans.

“In addition to rape, postpartum depression, cesarean sections, and surviving domestic violence are all considered preexisting conditions. Companies can also deny coverage for gynecological services and mammograms.” How many of you are under the impression that in the Republican health care bill, preexisting conditions have been wiped out? In other words, how many of you are aware that they had to add $8 billion to an already existing $130 billion fund to cover preexisting conditions? The Republicans bent over backwards keep preexisting conditions in, because they were afraid of stories just like this!

Although they didn’t anticipate preexisting conditions that are rape and abuse related. So that original story runs, and then the next day in the Washington Post, a column: “I Was Raped. Thanks to Republicans, I Could Be Denied Insurance for Surviving — Surviving sexual assault is already expensive. Now it could be even worse.” This is by Carly Mee “a staff attorney at SurvJustice, where she provides direct legal representation to survivors of sexual violence in civil, campus and criminal systems.”

“When I learned that the most recent version of the American Health Care Act allows insurers to classify rape as a preexisting condition (and thus puts survivors at risk for increased costs and denial of coverage), my initial inclination was to pull out a calculator.” Can I…? Before refuting this factually, there is something here that it needs to be pointed out, and it is this. What is really at the bottom of all of this is an abject fear of having to pay for your own stuff in life. That’s what this really, really comes down to.

Not just in this specific case here, but it boils down to this idea that when it comes down to health care, “I shouldn’t have to pay for anything! I shouldn’t have to pay a dime for anything, no matter what happens to me if it requires any kind of medical attention, somebody else should pay for it.” I’m just here to tell you that if that maintains, there will never be any reform of health care and there will never be any return to 4% economic growth in this country. Because as long as people end up paying every dime of their disposable income for health insurance premiums, well, you can say good-bye to rising tides lifting all boats.

If there isn’t some modification to this idea that when it comes to health care, you pay nothing… How silly is it when you look at how high the cost of premiums is and how high the deductibles are? But when it comes to out of pocket, people do not want… These people on the left, at any rate, do not think they should have to pay for a thing. So now they’re running around trying to classify every activity that they consider to be suffering or whatever as a preexisting condition so that they can say that the Republicans want to deny them health coverage. Now, the claim — substantively — is wrong. But it pains me to even have to go there to refute this, because it accepts their stupid, fool premise.

But I’m gonna do it, just to make sure I dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s.

And that is coming up.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: One of the headlines or narratives of this whole story that the Republican health care act eliminates preexisting condition coverage for rape victims and sexual assault victims. “White Men Made Rape a Preexisting Condition.” (interruption) No, it’s all over. It depends on where you go. Daily Kos, didn’t matter what blog you choose. This is “White Men Made Rape a Preexisting Condition.” Now, wait just a second. Now, wait just a second on this. First of all, I thought everybody wanted everything to be a preexisting condition. What, did I miss something here? Everybody wants everything to be a preexisting condition because that way you can’t be denied insurance, right?

So what are these people afraid of? Well, if rape is a preexisting condition, these people are trying to tell everybody else the Republicans want to eliminate preexisting condition coverage, and they’re focusing on rape as the issue because that’s a hot-button issue for young leftist Millennial women. But it’s all bogus! The whole thing is bogus. A woman named Elizabeth Brown in Reason took this on substantively and illustrated how none of this is true. She said, “The latest less-than-truthful meme about Republicans’ American Health Care Act (AHCA), passed by the U.S. House on Thursday, is that it makes rape a ‘preexisting condition’ for health-insurance purposes.

“According to a host of women’s publications and an army of outraged tweeters, sexual assault and domestic abuse survivors could soon be forced to disclose their attacks to insurance companies, which could subsequently deny them health-insurance coverage because of it.” The theme here is the insurance companies are mean-spirited and evil, that if they can get out of covering you, they will! And if they can say that you’ve got a preexisting condition then they don’t have to cover you! And so what they want you to do is have to report that you’ve been raped and been sexually assaulted so they can deny you coverage!

This is what’s going around out there. Except “None of this is true. Like, not even a little bit” of this is true, and I ought not even have to say that it’s not true. It ought to be an automatic conclusion that whoever’s running around saying this is gone. They’re literally out of their minds. “And the fact it’s not just being shared by shady social-media activists and their unwitting dupes but by ostensibly-legitimate media outlets [like New York Magazine and the Washington Post] is another sad indictment of press standards these days,” says Elizabeth Nolan Brown.

“Nothing in the new Republican health care bill specifically addresses sexual assault or domestic violence whatsoever. What it does say is that states can apply for waivers that will allow insurance companies, under certain limited circumstances, to charge higher premiums to people based on their personal medical histories — that’s it.” Zip, zero, nada! That is it. And the reason for this is to lower premiums. Premiums are out of control, and if you want to know how the Republicans can win big politically with this, it’s very simple.

If they end up passing something like what the House passed, if the Senate doesn’t butcher this — and the odds of that are pretty big. The Senate’s gonna butcher it. I mean, listening to Susan Collins, it’s not a good sign. But if… Just to play “if.” If this bill actually went to Trump’s desk in similar form, insurance premiums would fall dramatically. If that were to happen, why, my friends, that’s the only thing people will notice about the health care bill is that it finally has been made cheaper and is more affordable and that the Republicans did it.

That is the upside about which I spoke in the first half hour of the program. So okay, here’s your question. So what if states are allowed to raise rates for rape survivors? Okay. Well, this same woman, Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote that in the 1980s. Some companies considered domestic abuse a condition for denying care. But — are you ready for the numbers here? “By 2009, however, all but eight U.S. states had passed laws directly prohibiting the practice, and as of July 2014, all but six states had. Even if Obamacare is replaced by the [this Republican bill] tomorrow, insurers in 44 states will still be barred by law from considering domestic and sexual abuse a preexisting condition.”

This narrative that is running around the mainstream media that has co-opted a bunch of don’t-know-any-better Twitterites is a 100%, purposeful lie. In 44 states, there are already laws on the books which prevent exactly what is being promoted and threatened here in the Washington Post and in New York Magazine! This is just one example, a microcosm of how much full-fledged BS and outright lies are circulating as mainstream news about everything!

The French election, the Trump presidency, the Russian tampering with the election and all. There are so many lies and so much BS circulating as mainstream news, that it establishes my new theory that it is the media running the show for progressivism and liberalism, and that the Democrat Party is simply that entity which implements it legislatively and votes on it in Congress. But the actual intellectual energy and movement for all of this progressivism, all of these lies, all this hysteria is, in fact, the mainstream media.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: What I said was — and, by the way, you know, Snerdley has a caller up there who disagrees with me. Do you know how I’m looking forward to that? Folks, I don’t know if it’s like this with you, but nobody ever disagrees with me. I don’t want them to say, “Yep, that’s right. Yep.” I mean, some people try to point out some things I’ve missed, but no. I never have anybody disagree with me. You know how not fun that is? So I’m ecstatic. We have somebody up there who disagrees. It’s about the French election, but at least it’s somebody who disagrees with me.

Greetings, and welcome back. Great to have you here. Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882. What I said was, if you listen to the Democrats and the left’s predictions of what sounds like a Republican-triggered genocide, you’d think that we’re all fetuses in a Planned Parenthood waiting room. That’s what I said. I had some people ask, “What did you say about fetuses and Planned Parenthood?” That’s what I said. It was part… Everything that the Republicans do is gonna kill people. If you listen to the left, there is a Republican genocide underway, as though we’re all fetuses in a Planned Parenthood waiting room.

I think it’s a great analogy. But I admit, the brilliance might have been obscured because I rolled through that so quickly as part of another point that I was making, which is this gross and grotesque hysteria that has greeted to the House Republican health care bill.

Rush Limbaugh, please explain why the Leftist are so Hysterical when it comes to a Health Care Bill Rush Limbaugh, please explain why the Leftist are so Hysterical when it comes to a Health Care Bill…

#ObamaCare

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