#me in the sw tag in general for the first time in years... wow

[swifty-fox]

After reading all the sexy clegan asks, I would pay some good money to watch their OF 😵‍💫. I feel like this is a more polite way of saying I want to be the fly on the while while gale gets twisted into a pretzal. Or while John gets bent over the dinner table. Swifty, my dude (slides a case full of money across a table), how do you feel about an AU where two beautiful entrepreneurs take agency of their body's and their sexualities and make some good, honest money... together 😉. (I feel like I'm turning into Barry in Saltburn. I would drink the bathwater. SEND HELP. I need psychiatric care now!)

John Gamer Girl Bathwater lmao.

but!! your mind anon lmao. I got to spend a fun night with a couple aussie SW's a few years ago after a cancelled festival (not in THAT way. had a mutual acquaintance and offered to hang out with them since we all suddenly had no plans) and It was fun picking their brains about their lives. They were both primarily dancers.

John starts an only fans after graduating college with a degree in sports management. It's not that he CAN'T get a job but he's suddenly like 'fuck just because i like sports do i really wanna make this my career???' kinda lounges around a bit until the bills poke him on the shoulder. He's like hmmmmm wow if i go into the service industry i'll kill someone. I'm hot I got abs and a mustache and I'm six three I can probably do this. Starts off with a lotta POV handjobs and general thirst traps. He doe's great, its John Egan so he's just got that natural charisma and his voice is deep and shoulders broad and he's real good at dirty talking so he does custom audios for a price. Gets into the collab world on twitter and kinda shoots up in fame real quick. More of a top, bi asf like all my au's so he's kinda going across the board. He's pretty open about what his job is and the people who have a problem with it he kindly tells to fuck off

Gale starts one to put himself through his masters degree then finds out it kinda just.... makes a lot more money with a much looser schedule LOL.

He takes a long while to get good at it. He's hot as hell and has all the creepy dom top accounts all over him but he's shy and takes him a long time to figure out how to sell his content properly. He can't quite get into the cock hungry bottom bitch slut role that people wanna shove him into and it hurts him a bit. But he does manage to get a decently sized following pretty quick. King of the moaning clips, great fuckin one-on-one vidoes of him riding a toy.

John stumbles across Gale as everyone does: scrolling the porn tag on twitter looking for a lil somethin somethin. Those pretty lips wet and flushed as if they've been thoroughly used and those soulful eyes looking up at the camera as Gale hangs his head off the edge of a bed ready to be a perfect sleeve for his dick.

He wrings one out real fuckin quick, drops him a follow and a DM in that order introducing himself and asking if he's ever done a collab.

of course Gale already follows John. He thinks he's handsome but hes got no interest mixing business and pleasure (lmao just wait pookie). He's also never done a collab, never fucked another person on camera. But. but.

John is handsome.

And he knows the guy is legit and safe, has seen him ALL OVER (certified bicycle John Egan always) and knows he's had good reviews.

Gale's had many DM's asking for collabs. This is the first he accepts.

How can he not when John is in there saying "Hey man great content. Would to love maybe have you fuck me" as casual as can be.

Gale's never thought to FUCK someone on camera. Sure he likes both but like I said people want a certain image from. So that in of itself is appealing.

He agrees wholeheartedly

He puts John on his knees on a mattress and pulls his hair until his eyes water, presses him down with a hand between his shoulderblades for that perfect fuckin arch and and spanks him until John is jumping away from even a brush of his hands and whimpering, camera angled to get the perfect shot of his tear stained cheeks.

"Come on darlin," gale croons in that drawl "The people wanna see you break for them, give it all to me."

He fucks John, ass still stinging so he flinches every time Gale bottoms out but damn does he love it and damn does it make for good content.

John comes out of that session already in love.

and of course collabs usually film a bunch of content. gotta capitalize.

So after some rest and recuperation John does exactly what he's fantasized about and lays Gale over the edge of his bed and fucks his throat. Loud and wet and noisy. Spit and pre-come and tears dripping down Gales face into his hair; onto the floor. John takes a little break to rub it all over his face and tell him he makes such a good pocket pussy. Gale's gunna come just from this if Johns not careful. He doesn't have to worry though because once John goes back down his throat he reaches over and gives Gale a nice handy.

Spins him around and fucks him while he's too sensitive and screaming, half cringing away from it but also grinding back because fuck is does John know how to fuck.

John gripping gales hips in his big hands and telling him "Now you're not running away from me yet sweetheart haven't rode you raw yet"

They fuck a lot more. a LOT more. For the content of course. And then theyre like hey maybe we should move in together as colleagues and friends. Except??? maybe?? they start fucking off camera. And maybe they cuddle on the couch. and hold hands. and kiss and go on dates. And maybe they get married?? As colleagues of course.....or not

[thisbluespirit]

Fic Writer Tag Game

I was tagged to do this by @allegoriesinmediasres but it had already gone round Dreamwidth this last week, so I did it there.  I’ll try and c+p it over here, too!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 620 (but I've been writing a lot of short things since around 2006-7, and there might even still be a couple of the 1994-98 fic from the newsgroups up). 2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 1,476,147 (but this does include about 300,000 words of origfic for RaTs and rainbowfic that are collected into three works, so it doesn't affect the works no too much, but it does affect the wordcount.) 3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Too many to list here!  A lot.  *nods* 4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos? People, it's still Miss Marple.  Maybe one day it won't be Miss Marple, but today is not that day. (ETA: whenever i do my top AO3 fic on these memes, it’s disproportionately Miss Marple.  I am bemused.) Miss Marple: The Spirit of St Mary Mead So We Meet at Last Not Miss Marple: it's the rain that will strengthen your soul (SW Prequels) Five Times the Doctor Got in the Way of Captain Janeway (and One Time They Got Along Just Fine) (DW/ST) By the Book (Origfic) (Oh, wow, By the Book keeps moving up.  It must get recced sometimes, somewhere, mustn't it?  0_o ♥) 5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes.  Fanfic is a lot my way of being social, which is why I don't get along with the new push-button web much.  Like, kudos is fine, ok, but I just wanted to talk to people, and via fic always seems to be one of the nicest ways to do it. 6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Oh, I don't know. I like being bleak sometimes when I feel like it.  It might be the EatD one with the two Generals, but honestly there were a few in my mid-illness old bleak telly watching years, and the Level 7 one or the one from Children of the Damned might be even more so?  Or some S&S stuff, too?  I mean, I wrote S&S plane crash fic and weird drabbles.  (I blame my fandoms!  It's not my fault!  *innocent*) Also I keep doing Clara splinter fic, so I keep killing Clara and it's always sadder than I expect when I get there.  You'd think I'd learn by now, or just not kill this splinter, but, nooo, hey, how about MORE Clara splinter death, self?  /o\ Oh, no, wait: it's probably Spooks!  Spooks is also bleak and how about my tiny ficlet of death, Litany of the Fallen? Oh, actually, if I listen to people who aren't me, it's that B7 Avon/Servalan one, which I was always a bit: BUT I WROTE ONE WHERE THEY WON about it and everyone else was all THIS IS THE WORST in the comments.  Sorry? The Quality of Mercy (Is Most Definitely Strained)  (I still think the ending of Compendium is more angsty!  It has double death!) (Ok, it's me.  I like being bleak and angsty when I'm doing it.  I'm less sure when someone else is doing it at me, of course. ;-p) 7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? I honestly don't know.  I'm usually kind of gen and happy and sometimes even humorous, and keep canon's tone, and DW is fairly light most of the time. I tried searching on Happy, but I have never tagged anything as happy.  But probably it is an AAL! thing, because AAL! is happiness in b&w TV form basically.  Maybe of Of Human Bondage (or Five Times Adam and His Friends Found Themselves All Tied Up)?  But I like all the AAL! ones I wrote for Yuletide, because they were the ones where I tried to be closest to an episode, and that makes them the most fun to re-read. 8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? I have a crossover in my top 5, so yes.  I'm a DW fan; crossovers are just far too obvious a temptation when you've got a TARDIS.  What DW fic writer hasn't managed at least one once somewhere?  And I might have, um, written a lot of them.  (AO3 says 126). I did once, way back in newsnet times, when we were having a debate over what you could and couldn't cross DW over with (and I was on Team You Can Cross It With Anything You Cowards), write a DW/Rainbow drabble.  But I don't think I put that on AO3.  I think it might be on Teaspoon.   In AO3 works, I think by far the silliest is the Baldrick/Steed one, which AstroGirl said I couldn't write.  (It was an Unconventional Courtship summary, not that they randomly dared me to write Baldrick/Steed.  I mean, some of my flist totally would have done if they'd thought of it, but not in this case.) 9) Have you ever received hate on a fic? Not really.  I've had some weird comments, but the nearest I've come to hate was one of the comments that time I tried to write Swan Queen fic and it wasn't happy enough for people.  (I wrote a happy one after, but the ifrst one was set quite early, Regina was still kind of evil!) 10) Do you write smut? If so what kind? Alas, no.  Although, ish, if we count my experimental elemental shipping phase, which included The Cornfield (Silver/Steel/(Sapphire)), which is the only time anyone called any of my fic sexy.  I would totally have that comment made into a medal or something.   11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Other than the random scraping things that have gone round over the years, no. 12) Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes!  Several people have been kind enough to do this, usually into Russian, and usually (but not always!) Miss Marple. 13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, and no - in adwc days we all co-authored round robins, which were a blast and highly frustrating.  I think it'd be fun, but barring the odd bit of drabble tennis with various flisters back in the day, it's not really something that's worked out.  (I'm thinking, I could have all the ideas, they could do all the writing, I could criticise?? XD) 14) What’s your all time favorite ship? My Relationships count is very misleading here, because I think it actually is (including in terms of things written for it), Sapphire/Silver/Steel, but it's a weird thing, so sometimes I tag it platonically, and sometimes I don't necessarily tag it at all for that reason, and also I think it puts people off unnecessarily.  (But it's a Lie when I don't tag it.  All my Sapphire & Silver & Steel is inherently OT3 even if no one else can see it.) 15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? None.  I have unposted WIPs, but I do hope to finish those, and the only posted WIP is a very old one only on Teaspoon that was begun before I was ill and I can't even really say at this point that I would want to finish it. 16) What are your writing strengths? Character/dialogue, I think?  I am actually not that bad at plot, but currently I lack the stamina for long things. I like to think I can be quite funny when I'm in the mood. 17) What are your writing weaknesses? Description, action.  Argh.  Yes, let's just talk some more, okay? 18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I was going to say I would never, but actually I did!  I wrote Y Gwyll | Hinterland fic, and it wouldn't be right not to have some Welsh in that.  However, while I may be a 1/4 Welsh and know some Welsh words, I don't actually speak it, so I had to turn to Llywela who was very kind and translated the sentences I needed.  (I added the English translation in the footnote.)  This was the fic, but basically language is important in canon (ironically maybe even more so in the Eng-lang version I watched than the original Welsh), and so it was also important in the fic. So, probably if it was a canon where it was required, then I would do what I could to get help to get it right?  The good thing about the internet is that you can usually find someone, although usefully for me, I already knew someone. 19) What was the first fandom you wrote for? Doctor Who! 20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? I'm going to wimp out on this along with everyone else.  Although... if any of you have a fave fic of mine, that would be very cool to hear!  (But I don't expect anyone to.) Sometimes I'm pleased enough with the latest to feel it's that, but that's not always the case, and it isn't currently.  (No, offence, Latest Works!  I like you, it just only happens once in a while, usually when I've managed something I've wanted to do for years.)

I won’t tag anyone, because I know lots of people also did this on Dreamwidth, but it’s always VERY cool to see people’s answers to these things and memes are for stealing.

[pacificwanderer]

Question! So I’ve noticed that you and a lot of others have been saying stuff about the months leading up to TLJ. I wasn’t into Star Wars at that time, so I was just wondering, what was it like? Was there a lot of content being released, was there a lot of crazy speculation and such? Was there a lot of reylo content in promos and pictures and such?

Hey Nonnie,

And for anyone who’s reading who remembers, this is going to be long, and I’m going to miss things (I’m certain I missed some gates) because I’m just going from memory and old posts from when I wasn’t as militant about tagging (hah), so feel free to chime in if you have any other memories. Also, this took forever to compile lol.

Unofficially, we had shots from Ireland (2016) and second-hand gossip from locals about Daisy, Mark, and Adam filming in Ireland (and lots of people screeching about how the only reason KR would be with those two would be so they could team up and murder them).

But then the conversation started to shift, and we got info that wasn’t from the reylo fandom regarding their “interesting relationship,” though we were always there, saying the exact same thing.

This podcast and breakdown in the comments from May 2016 really highlights when things started to shift for our space kids (and confirmed a lot about what people had been theorizing/writing meta about, etc). We weren’t pulling things out of our asses and we were not wrong for seeing what we were seeing. It’s also a really great snapshot of what the discussion on Tumblr was like back then. Lots of great minds and fun times, as far as I am concerned.

“But I mean like, right now, Rey’s story is kinda weird too. It’s like I don’t know where my mum lives, I wish my mum and dad would come get me on Jakku, oh, I’ve got the force? Oh Luke Skywalker, he’s here? Wow. And then, so, at some point, Kylo Ren and Rey gotta have something more going down. I don’t know if it’s romance, if it’s complete hatred, if it’s you know, but, erm…I know, we can’t talk about it, there’s certain things we’ve heard – and it’s not romance, it’s not romance, but there’s certain things that we’ve heard recently about what’s going down and what Rey, how Rey feels –“

“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that.”

And then there was a very long wait for 2017, when things started to shift even more.

It was pretty much radio silence concerning Kylo Ren (officially) right up until the second trailer (the first only showed him for a split second). Boxartgate happened earlier in the year. (February) when the marketing started to come out for TLJ and Kylo wasn’t on any of it (nevermind that only his mask was on the TFA packaging, but when you’re grasping at straws for reasons why the “Skywalker of the trilogy” isn’t important... I guess you’ll take what you can get).The Reylo fandom guessed (correctly) that he was basically a walking spoiler (which other sections of the fandom guessed, incorrectly, that he was irrelevant to the story and that’s why he wasn’t showing up much N O P E). 

SW Celebration happened in April 2016, and that trailer, combined with the super, SUPER amazing poster dropped:

Oh and Eric Maell’s super Reylo-tastic, officially licensed SWC poster that was available for sale at SWC (yeah, we all lost it here too). The whole thread is funny and read through to where Eric’s signature pops up on the poster.

And then we collectively lost our damn minds when the trailer dropped in October. If you’d like a trip, head into my archive and look for like October 2017 and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what that looked like lol.

It’s so damn good, I just watched it again and it STILL brings tears to my eyes. Avoid the comment section LOL. 

And then came the: “It’S NOT KYLO’S HAND, IT’S HU//X’S FI//NN’S LU//KE’S ANYONE BUT KYLO REACHING OUT TO HER.” SNOKE ISn’T TALKING ABOUT KYLO. (handgate)

As if we, a collective group of Adam stans, WOULD EVER mistake his hand for another. GET GOOD, Anne.

HE’S NOT LOOKING AT REY. HE’S LOOKING AT.... fill in the blank. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA No. We know what he looks like when he looks at Rey. 

Like, I didn’t spend 2 fucking years staring at screen shots like a maniac to NOT be able to see things for what they really are. I mean, the look he gives her when she pulls that saber from the ground on Starkiller? I WISH I could find a gif because it’s classic, “Holy shit, I think I’m in love, but I’m pretty sure she wants to murder me.” HAH Oh Enemies to Lovers, you’re such a riot.

But up until that point there was NOTHING. I’m pretty sure box gate happened somewhere in there, but then the marketing really started getting going and we got fed so fucking well it was almost too much because we’d had so little to go on up until that point that it was just like, “Is this real life? Am I making too much of this? Or are they really playing up the Kylo Ren/Rey angle in this marketing?”

October 31, 2017, we got this GREAT article from V where Adam interviewed Daisy.

AD Is there an aspect of working on Star Wars—it could be anything from the light saber battles, the travel, the catering, to getting to see me every day and do my hair—that was your favorite part?

DR I don’t know if I’ve ever properly thought about it. I love coming into the makeup trailer—everyone is there, you say good morning, and you get a little cuddle from people...I just really liked being part of something where you’re one of a whole. When filming, you’re always part of a thing. Becoming besties with you was the best thing.

AD That’s a lie, but we will make sure that’s printed.

DR [laughs]

The whole interview is really sweet and a really lovely read. Also, got some really adorable fanart of Rey doing Kylo’s hair around that time, which was super awesome.

There was some drama about Rian saying there’s “no romance in EPIX” which obviously wasn’t the case and he was misquoted anyways. Which is a good reminder not to freak the fuck out over everything, just because it seems like it’s going one way (or someone’s pushing their own thoughts and opinions onto paper in an interview). At any rate, Rian’s a big ole Romantic, so we know how it all goes in TLJ. (Romancegate)

This article talking about “the fallen son” and whether Kylo could be redeemed came out in Nov 2017 (which was LOL considering how much of the general fandom had convinced themselves this movie would be about Rey hunting down and murdering Kylo), which had this super quote from Rian:

“But I don’t think it’s very interesting if the whole story is just ‘Will Kylo get his comeuppance?’ He’s a more complicated character than that and I think he deserves a more complicated story than that. I don’t see the point of trying to get behind his mask and learn more about him if all we’re going to learn is ‘Yeah, he’s just an evil bad guy that needs to be killed.’” -Rian Johnson  

This amazing character flowchart that was marketed in Korea to show the relationships in Star Wars (it’s official, and if you’re at all familiar with kdrama’s, you’ll probably understand why half of the fandom lost their shit lol).

This post/podcast from the starwarsconnection also has a pretty great breakdown of what was going on at the time and also shows some of the kid’s toys (specifically, the Reylo dolls that were sold as a set, though there are a FEW sets of Reylo figures, this one was specifically marketed to girls as a part of the Forces of Destiny series, which I really miss).

I’m sure there’s more, but basically the movie came out and the rest is history haha. This article talking about how horny TLJ is still makes me laugh.

1. Kylo Ren takes his shirt offLike I wasn’t going to start with this? Adam Driver as Kylo Ren gamely serves up the most Star Wars beefcake since Luke went sleeveless on Dagobah, and even Rey is rattled. She forgot to force-knock before barging in on the dude, and here’s Kylo Ren alone in his room, stripped to the waist, boasting sweaty pecs that look like he sliced Alderaan in half and glued the remainders to his chest. It’s a lot! Finally, even people who don’t subscribe to HBO can wonder, “Shit, am I attracted to Adam Driver?”

2. Kylo and Rey’s whole thingMany weirdos shipped these two characters after The Force Awakens, and now I kinda get it. Kylo and Rey never make out, but they still share The Last Jedi’s sexiest scenes as well as a telepathic connection fostered by sinister voyeur Snoke, the galaxy’s mightiest cuck. And how about that moment where Kylo kills his mentor — it’s always hot when a space goth murders a lazy magician — and then flips sides with Rey to kill off a straggling crew of ruby-red stormtroopers? If watching seven seasons of Buffy has taught me anything, it’s that there is no sex sign more unequivocal than teaming up with your sworn enemy to throw stage punches.

LOL. So yeah, have fun, don’t stress, and it’ll all be fine. Cheers!

[kyberled]

As an OC blog, did you have any characters in mind while creating your character you took inspiration from? (from the burntout meme)

Easy Meme for a Burnt Out Mun

Yes and no. See, I originally didn’t intend to create Braig as a character at all. In fact, he was Rodi’s idea. Way back in the day, my main blog was over at @asiifisms​. Rodi, at the time, had a bunch of muse for her Obi-Wan, @highgrcund​. We had our boys chatting in a thread, and they got on well enough, and we got to talking. Rodi suggested an AU where K/H Braig was Obi-Wan’s padawan, and, well. 

At first, he started as just an AU. But then we decided to make him younger to fit the AU, and that changed him a bit; then we got to talking about upbringing, and that changed him a bit. Then we talked about his education, and that changed him a bit. And then he started interacting with more people, and I got more into the SW lore and universe, understood more about the Order, and more and more people ended up falling in love with him and he just– Basically, a lot of things happened to change him from that AU. So I made him his own side-blog, and then his own full blog, and now, the only things that are the same are his name and I guess his scarf? And the scar he gets across his face. 

I originally considered changing his name, once I finally realised that he was nothing like my King/do/m H/eart/s boy. His new name was going to be Bréan (Pronounced BREY-on), but I never went through with it. So many people already had custom tags with his name in it, and we had so many nicknames made (Braigimus, Braiggo, Braigos, Braiglet, etc), and shipnames (Braigsoka, mainly; We could’ve made Bréba, probably, but I’m not sure it looks quite as nice as Braiba) that wouldn’t have worked, and so many reasons I never went through with it. (Sidenote: I recently started listening to the broadway OST of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Claude Frollo has a brother named Jéan, pronounced almost the exact same as Bréan, and let me tell you, that threw me for a loop.) After I decided I didn’t want to change his name, I thought to myself that I still really liked how ‘Bréan’ sounded, especially if you paired it with Braig - Braig andBréan. For a time, I debated giving Braig a Force-Sensitive identical twin brother, with whom he got up to shenanigans with, before Bré left the Order, fell to the dark, became a Sith, and one inevitably had to kill the other, because I’m awful. After that, I decided that Bré would be a non-Force-Sensitive twin of Braig who still lived with either their father or their mother. Then I made him older, since I thought that would be a fun dynamic, then I made him look less like Braig, I kept him as Braig’s moral opposite but in different ways, threw him in the exact opposite living conditions (a slum in the Outer Rim vs. the Jedi Temple on Coruscant), renamed him to Karvan, and made him Braig’s half-brother by a different father. They don’t know each other exists, and don’t have any reason to think they’re related, when/if they ever meet. 

So his name stayed the same. He loses his scarf when he’s about 16, but has it before that. His scar’s… Mostly the same, except he only has the one visible one, and his goes down past his jaw onto his neck, while KH Braig’s doesn’t, and the origins are from two very different events. But, I feel like I can’t possibly discredit the influence my trash son had on this sweet boy, and how - I’m not sure this counts - he was the inspiration for Braig in the early stages of his development. Sort of. 

A lot of Braig’s ‘mannerisms’ have been inspired by Obi-Wan: His love of tea, his penchant for proper etiquette and manners, the way he tries to straighten his appearance out and avoid looking too scruffy, and the way he strokes his chin (an invisible beard) when he’s very deep in thought. A lot of this comes from how Rodi and I wrote him as being raised largely by Obi-Dad since day one; Papa had a lot of influence on his boy, in-canon and out, so it makes sense to me that he’d pick up on things dad did. Honestly, a lot of this wasn’t intentional, but rather something that happened over the course of our writing together, so I suppose that counts. 

Braig’s hairstyle, as he gets older, was inspired by Qui-Gon, but you already know that. Rodi honest to god messaged me in the middle of a skype chat saying she’d been thinking about how Braig would look with a Qui-Bun and attached this sketch:

And I was SOLD. Absolutely, 100% sold. 

(If you can’t tell by now, whenever I say Rodi has 50% custody over Braig, it’s not as much of a joke as you’d think. He wouldn’t be who he is without her. [Neither would I, but that’s beside the point.] Hell, he wouldn’t even exist. She’s the one who even got me watching TCW in the first place.)

(Rodi probably has just as much if not more influence on this boy’s appearance than the original K/H character did.)

I don’t remember if it was my or Rodi’s idea to make him a Force-Healer; I just know it came up in a chat we were having. And I know making him a doctor changed how I envisioned him, but making him a Force-Doctor even more so. Because he had to be someone who the Force would… Choose, for lack of a better word, to be a healer. Especially once I did more reading into healing - he had to be someone who could and would focus enough, who had the patience to do the necessary meditation, and so on and so forth. So I think that had something to do with it all, too. 

He’s indigenous because some nice anon suggested it ages back, after asking me about his real-life race and me answering I hadn’t decided. (My K/H boy is latinx.) Heidi, wherever she ran off to, suggested Booboo Stewart as a faceclaim, and we all know how perfect he turned out to be. So that wasn’t really inspiration, either. It just happened.

He’s as cuddly as he is because adults showered him in affection when he was a baby and I guess nobody ever stopped. It started out just with Obi-Dad, of course, but has since spread to Shaak, Eeth, Yaddle, Mace, Depa, Quin, A’sh, and so many more. So nobody ever weaned him off the cuddle bug, so now he snuggles everyone he’s comfortable with. 

I don’t know where his love of flowers came from; I guess that just happened. I do know that he got his journal, which is now his most precious belonging, from Obidad, in another skype chat with Rodi. I know he can heal without the Force, using either ‘standard’ or herbal/natural medicines, because Cad and Hora taught him. I know he can play holochess because of Obi-Dad and Mama Ti, and cards because of Xann and the folks at Aruk’s bar, and he’s learning how to cheat at cards from Quin, because of course he is. I don’t know why he likes stars so much, but I know Obi-Wan takes him stargazing, sometimes. He likes getting his hair brushed out because Obi-Dad and Boba and Cody do it for him and it’s relaxing. He knows Vapaad because Mace decided to teach him, Tusken from A’sharad, Chaulis because of Nihrik and Reyvahl, and Mando’a from Bes’laar and Wolffe and Cody and Boba and Satine. I don’t know why he likes reading so much or why he so desperately wants to be published in the Archives, but I know Jocasta has encouraged that greatly. He likes lullabies because of Shaak and Obi, hot chocolate especially because of Shaak and also Hora, and operates under the assumption that he can get away with murder because apparently it’s true. 

To make one (1) soft boy, it takes a village, not a Batman. 

Honestly, a lot of his growth and development has come from interacting with all my partners on this blog, and I couldn’t be more thankful. You’ve all helped bring him to life and develop this intricate canon and flesh him out and just, wow.

But enough of that.

The biggest inspiration for Braig? My dojo. I’ve been training in various martial arts for fifteen-plus years now, and we’ve always been harsh on our traditionalism. We actually had the oldest living student of Yagi Meitoku visit us not so very long ago who’d been training for sixty years (Not sixty years old, he has been training for sixty years), and he said, of all the schools he’s been to, ours had the most similar energy to Meitoku Daisensei’s, so that was really cool for us; Our grandmaster of kung fu (who’s also grandmaster of the Shaolin Fist in Asia) has said that our school has kept our forms closest to the patterns/ways he first taught it decades ago, which is also really cool for a few reasons. We’re HUGE on maintaining tradition, right down to the way we take our jackets off (that’s right, you can take your jacket off wrong). It’s pretty obvious that the Jedi are heavily, HEAVILY influenced by East-Asian ideals. So I thought it only make sense that I put dojo culture into this kid. The self-imposed perfectionism over his forms and kata, the dedication he has to his tasks, the way he tries to present himself to the general public, how he handles and treats weapons, how he rarely if EVER crosses his arms, how he fixes his posture, the playfighting he does with his close friends, hell, even how he stands when idle (a loose approximation of ‘parade rest’) all comes directly from my dojo. His philosophies are MASSIVELY dojo oriented. Even the fact that he just wants to keep people safe comes from something my Hanshi told us years and years ago at a Ni Nen Keiko that really stuck with me for some reason: “The strong must serve the weak, not the other way around.” That is a MAJOR influence for how Braig views the world and his role in it. So if you talk to him about philosophies, or ask him for an Aesop’s-Fables-esque story, he’s probably gonna say something I picked up over at the dojo. 

I teach there, too, I teach tiny children and pre-teens. So a lot of baby Braig’s ways of expressing himself comes from them, they’re how I understand tiny children operate and thus are my references for writing a tiny child. That, and my brothers (also dojo rats like me). 

Honestly, I think that’s why I never lose muse for Braig. I go to the dojo at least three times a week, every week (perhaps two on weeks when we’re closed for long weekends), and every time I’m there, if he’s been fading, this boy comes right back, because that’s him. This is going to sound majorly cliche, and it’s not really a character, but he’s been inspired by the dojo spirit, and it’s constantly being renewed, so, so is he. 

So, tl;dr, he’s not really inspired by any specific characters, as far as his OOC creation goes. Or maybe he’s been inspired by a bunch of them. Depends on how you read it. But I’d say he was inspired more by lessons, and philosophies, and interactions with the many people who have come together to shape him and his life into what it is, now. 

Oh, and, of course, the light of my life and my best friend, @ectochoir / Rodi.

Blame her, not me.

[cassatine]

Okay so! THE LAST JEDI. I wanted to do a coherent post and all but hings happened so. Spoilers ahead. Like a lot of spoilers. I recommend not reading if you haven’t seen the movie. No really don’t. 

The [tl:dr]: I loved it! I’m also glad I saw it twice. First viewing felt like a weird mix of things I’d expected (including things I expected two years ago and had started thinking would Not Happen) but the way it all worked together was a punch to the gut. Also I cried a lot, which is not great for visibility. Second viewing was more enjoyable. There’s something very smoke and mirror to the story; it plays with expectations and then turns things on their head. It’s a very clever movie, tho it’s definitely got its flaws. I hardly felt the two hours and a half, could actually have done with a longer runtime because some things moved really fast. It’s also very funny, when it’s not breaking your heart and stepping repeatedly on it. In a (mostly) good way. 

The more or less good:

Starting with that assault on the Dreadnought and Paige Tico’s death, the Resistance plot went where SW rarely does. Poe learning to look at the big picture and the sad economics of war and resistance, the bleeding out of Resistance forces, the unsurprising reveal that god guys and bad guys buy their military hardware from the the same sources, it’s a relentless onslaught. The New Republic is a non-entity, the First Order has weapons aplenty, and the stage is set for a new Empire to be born and a new Rebellion to rise, and it’s all very tragic, but it’s a Star Wars, so of course the good guys live to fight another day light the spark at the end, a source of inspiration for every child escaped from a Dickens novel across the GFFA

Finn and Rose’s plot was lovely - Rose was altogether amazing, and her line about fighting to protect what you love rather than destroy what you hate is... a tad cheesy i guess but in the best of ways. I love that she wants to protect her sister’s memory and that it’s freeing the farthiers that makes the Canto Bight events worth it (i mean they’ll probably be caught again in less than a week because that’s the way of the world, but attagirl!), and that “I saved you, dummy” line. That one reviewer that called her the heart of the movie was pretty much right. 

Luke throwing the saber behind him. Mark Hamill was nothing short of great, but this moment was so very understated and yet so defining, so meaningful. also: Rey’s reaction. 

Actually everything to do with Luke was pretty great. His backstory was kept sparse, but he’s basically following in his master’s footsteps by exiling himself on a nowhere planet after a massive fuck-up, very poetic. Being a Skywalker he’s got to take it one step further drama-wise, with the whole *the Jedi will die with me* thing. Vanity!, screams ghost Yoda. 

I love that it’s fundamentally a movie about failure, and what you do after. Luke’s failure of Ben looms large, and behind it there’s the Jedi Order’s failure but he’s not the only one. Poe fails at being a leader. Finn and Rose’s mission fails. Rey fails to turn Kylo, who kind of fails as a general rule. He failed and was failed by Luke, and he kind of failed Snoke as an apprentice, from a certain point of view. All the Resistance’s plans fail. Snoke fails and die. Chewie fails at keeping porgs away. It’s a debacle left and right, and then the 3D-marionette-Yoda gives us deep words of deeper wisdom than even Rose’s, reminding us that in every failure there’s a lesson. When it doesn’t kill you or you’re not a casualty for someone else’s lesson at least hahahaha. 

The Jedi Order’s founding texts and Yoda’s “page-turners they are not” yes thank you 

Snoke and his playing up Kylo and Hux against each other. From the moment he humiliated Hux publicly to his final words, Snoke is skin-crawling awful, moreso than in TFA. There’s not one moment I don’t want to point to and go “eeeeew” about, srsly.

Chewie eating a porg. I feel so validated. 

Kylo’s epic love story with bad choices. Attaboy. 

Force Bond. CAN YOU PUT ON A COWL SOMETHING thanks for this most cliché scene straight out of a romance novel I AM LIVING!!! fucking hell. On a similar note, Rey and Kylo’s handsex. fingertips sex? whatever, it was just wow, tag ur metaphorical porn star wars, please. also: Luke’s reaction. 

Vice-Admiral Holdo is the lady of my heart and if she had to die I guess her death scene was a crowning moment of awesome at least. I wonder if the discourse will now feature fights about “if it was that easy they’d have done it with the Death Stars” and “why didn’t they.” Not looking forward to that. Not looking forward any of the discourse. At all.

The Rey parentage reveal. The scenes on Ahch-to with the dark side spot calling to her and the vision were some of my favourites, and well, Rey Random’s always been my horse, so! Very satisfying. I’m kind of wary at this point, and not sure how much trust I can put in Kylo’s words tbh, but I’m choosing to believe. 

THE THRONE ROOM FIGHT WITH THE LOBSTERGUARDS??? The beginning with Rey and Kylo back to back was EVERYTHING and the whole thing was just perfect G O D

And then the Kylo/Luke fight happened and wow 

RENPEROR i mean - this is the one thing i wanted and had stopped believing in and i got it, he turned against Snoke in yet another crowning moment of awesome (HIS REAL ENEMY!!) and made Hux go long live the supreme leader - at which point i started to pity Hux. He’s having a no good, very bad, terrible day and he suffers so much it’s all kinds of amazing. Anyway, by the end of TLJ, Kylo’s more sympathetic than he was in TFA imo (for general audiences) and graduating to big bad. I kind of expected one or the other, but both at once? 

Something in me is disappointed at the Force plot - I wanted weird eldritch Force shit, and I guess I got some on Ahch-to, but nothing to do with Snoke. As much as I like pretty much everything, including how Snoke’s death subverted expectations and changed the game, I kind of miss the road(s) not taken. 

Speaking of subverted expectations - I think I need (more) sleep and another viewing or two or three to decide how much I actually like it all, but expectations were masterfully subverted. Who Snoke is doesn’t matter because he’s dead, Kylo is still conflicted, Rey kind of became a Jedi but wow does she flirt with the dark side, and Rey Skywalker was found dead and butchered in Miami. The Resistance ends up in tatters, Luke is busy with self-exile and never technically leaves Ahch-to

REY STOLE THE BOOKS oh my girl lbr i would have too

Luke’s final projection act and how beautifully set up it was and his reunion with Leia. Insert river of tears. 

The more or less bad and the stuff that made me sad:

Yoda looked fugly. I can’t not say it. 

I loved Amilyn, and her death was a crowning moment of awesome, but also, a woman died so a man could learn a lesson

on a similar note, a species (nick)named the Caretakers made up of feminine aliens engaged in (mostly) feminine-coded activities 

DJ was rather underwhelming as a character

Rey went really fast from murderous snake monster to ~touching Kylo’s hand - timeline wise, all this happens in huh less... than... 18... hours?? though Ahch-to is like, a vergence, which means time passes differently there, it’s just never made explicit, and it’s still less than 18 hours for Kylo Ben - head hurts - in any case just one more force convo laden with tension could have helped

*Everything* happened really fast tbh. There were a lot of twists and turns, and as I said it’s very clever, but sometimes at the expanse of character growth? it’s a bit bumpier a road

FUCKING INTENDED BOOK BURNING WHAT IS IT WITH YOU STAR WARS WEREN’T THE JEDI ARCHIVES ENOUGH??

RENPEROR yeah it’s both in the good AND the bad because: i wanted it, i wanted it dearly, but also: what. no really, what. 

noooooo rey don’t close the door on kylo don’t nooooo

Okay that’s not much on the bad and there’s things i’m undecided on but that’s long enough. 

[susandsnell]

least fave character: star wars

You know this is so tough because I love everyone in Star Wars???? Like even the most unsympathetic of the villains  who you’re supposed to dislike - I love to hate them, I love to analyze them, I love to watch them. Like yes, you have your iconic baddies like your Emperors and your Mauls and your Vaders and your Kylo Rens, but Tarkin is deliciously dastardly, Count Dooku is wonderfully hammy (and in love with General Grievous don’t deny it), even Phasma and Hux are super interesting. Even aliens like Jabba and Yoda, who are both awful for different reasons, I think are so well designed, and whatever moral issues you have with their characters, it kinda just blows me away that these were fully functional Jim Henson puppets (originally, anyway) and not for one second does the audience doubt that they’re real. 

(Wow, coco, someone asked you a question and all you can do is gush.)

I guess for now I’m going to have to go with Master Vrook from the Knights of the Old Republic games (is this a cheat? it’s still part of the franchise!) because no one else in the movies invokes in me that kind of white-hot rage, because by space, he is the absolute embodiment of everything wrong with the Jedi Order taken to its logical conclusion. He uses an already faulty system in the worst ways possible, and is a perfect example of how you can adhere perfectly to a particular code of rules and be deeply unethical. The Revan memory thing? That’s not just unethical, that’s possibly a war crime. His interactions with Juhani from the first game and the Jedi Exile from the second game are nothing short of abusive, with a side-helping of discrimination against the Cathar species in Juhani’s case and downright quasi-murderous in the Exile’s case. And I do mean abusive, because he has been in a sense one of the legal guardians of both these young people since their early years, and he emotionally terrorizes them before kicking them out in the cold if they displease him, blaming them for his mistreatment. Given Bastila’s plot and character arc, it can be argued that he likely had some terrible influence on her, too, contributing to her fall. She certainly communicates with him a few times in-game, so it can be reasonably inferred that he’s likely one of the Masters pressuring her - and one of the ones whose behaviour and interpretation of the Code are contributing to her heavy disillusionment. (I swear, Bastila is such a fascinating hybrid of Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee and a few other characters, although technically her arc was written a decade before Bariss’.) 

Even pre-canon, he’s a douche. Vrook’s isolationist policy in the Mando wars chillingly hearkens to real-life foreign policy ethics (and I know this is a thorny parallel to make in the SW fandom because apparently thinking a space bad guy has a cool laser sword and a well-written character makes you a Nazi apologist/Trump Supporting bigoted meanie, to which I respond can you gentiles please let me enjoy my space nonsense in peace), wherein he’s perfectly happy for the Jedi to intervene in military matters when it is convenient for them and where they stand to gain or lose something personally (any of the sidequests you take, the Star Forge, protecting them from Malak, etc.), but when it comes to the Mandalorian wars, he’s happy to sit by and allow conquests and genocide to prevail because it’s not the Jedi’s problem. Beyond this, he seeks to punish anyone who tries to intervene, and history proves him wrong! Revan and their followers saved countless alien species, planets, and the galaxy! And what does he do in the face of this? 

That’s right. Double down, and scapegoat a traumatized teenager in a trial that greatly resembles kangaroo court.

Fuck you, Vrook. 

(Tagging @mylordshesacactus because I know you’re already here for Vrook salt.)