forthelightside

[forthelightside]

I'm sure many of you are hearing about The Acolyte not being renewed. If you want to try and fight for another season, please sign the petition here

[forthelightside]

I've said it before, I'll say it again

No one hates Star Wars more than die-hard Star Wars fans.

I didn't especially love the Acolyte; I enjoyed it, but I'm not heartbroken over it's cancelation.

This cheering by selfish assholes on the Internet about "good riddance" and such are just despicable. No empathy for the people who did like I suppose, you self righteous assholes.

[forthelightside]

Ok, but I haven’t heard nearly enough people talk about how this show gave us so much insight into what made Leia Leia.

Nearly every episode, especially once they link up with the Path, gave us a crucial moment in her development into the confident, competent, snarky, compassionate, absolutely brilliant leader she would grow up to become.

She saw the evil of the Empire, experienced it first hand. But more than that, she saw sacrifice. She saw grief. She saw compassion and heroism and fear and the importance of a right cause.

She started this series as just a headstrong little girl -- typical fairy tale protagonist. And had the events of the series never occured she likely would’ve remained that, more or less.

But after -- after she is well on her way to becoming General Organa, hero of the Rebellion, leader of the Resistance, and the baddest Skywalker of them all.

[forthelightside]

Reva: Where were you when he came for us, Obi Wan?

Obi Wan: ...Lady, I was fighting a war; I was busy hunting down the nightmare machine-man who had been slaughtering my friends and family unimpeded for the last three years, trying to finally bring some Force-forsaken peace to the galaxy, only to get shot at by my own men, whom I had trusted with my life more times than I can count, and then, while I was still trying to figure out what the actual Hell was even going on and figure out a way to get back to the Temple alive, I was trying to see if there was anyone I could talk to who wouldn’t shoot me as soon as look at me! And I’m genuinely sorry that I thought my Padawan and the council could hold down Coruscant for a day without me there before they started killing each other! So don’t try to pin this on me, because I was  doing my job, and I was caught as flat-footed as you were.

Reva:...

Obi Wan: Screw you lady.

[forthelightside]

Massively unpopular opinion: The Old Republic games/novels/comics are terrible prequels to the main Star Wars, and the High Republic is much, much better.

That’s not to say that the Old Republic stories are bad. It’s just that if we’re supposed to believe this the actual past of the Skywalker Saga-timeline, it fails miserably, because it tries too hard to look like the Star Wars movies. It expects you to believe that in 25,000 years, nothing has changed in the Star Wars galaxy.

The Republic and the Jedi were exactly the same 25,000 years ago that they are at the time of the Phantom Menace. The technololgy level apparently hasn’t improved at all (it’s actually downgraded in some ways) the exact same species were living on the exact same planets in the exact same settlements with the exact same culture, and the only significant difference is there are more Sith running around.

And that completely breaks my suspension of disbelief. No matter how good Revan and the Exile’s stories were, if the world building doesn’t add up, and it absolutely doesn’t, then the story falls apart. It fails the “old” part of the “old republic.”

High Republic, by contrast, shows that things were massively different just four-hundred years ago. It actually tries to show the past, and how the galaxy developed. We see future-popular hyper-space lanes being just charted out, we see the discovery and first interactions with the Outer RIm, we see a Jedi Order and Galactic Republic who actually live up to what Obi-Wan hyped them as in A New Hope. I can actually believe this is the past.

To me, the Old Republic works better if you assume it’s an alternate continuity, the same way that a lot of the Visions shorts and the Ronin novel are in their own continuity. A seperate, alternate timeline, not the distant past of the apparently-stagnant Star Wars universe.

[forthelightside]

Obi-Wan: We shouldn’t. The Coundil has a plan.

Anakin: The Council has the collective intelligence of a pineapple.

Ahsoka: Anakin is right.

Obi-Wan: You weren’t even listening.

Ahsoka: Yes I was; I said Anakin is right.

Anakin: Yeah, but there’s like a 90% chance of me being right most of the time, so that’s not proof you were listening. That’s just a good guess.

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Luke: Thirteen-year-old me would be in awe of who I am now.

Han: Thirteen-year-old me wouldn’t think I’d get this far.

Leia: I would fight thriteen-year-old me.

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Kylo Ren: Pardon the intrusion, but-

Rey: On this moment, or just my life in general?

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Leia: I am at a loss for words!

Han: Despite being at a loss for words, Leia yelled at me for the next 45 minutes...

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Leia: Who broke it? I’m not mad. I just wanna know.

Luke:...I did, I broke it-

Leia: No. No you didn’t. Han?

Han: Don’t look at me... look at Lando.

Lando: What? I didn’t break it.

Han: Oh, really? How’d you even know it was broken then?

Lando: Because it’s sitting right in front of us, and it’s broken.

Han:...Suspicious.

Lando: No, it’s not.

Threepio: If it matters, probably not, but... Artoo was the last one to use it.

Artoo: (Angry beeping)

Threepio: Oh, really? Than what were you doing by the caf cart earlier?

Artoo: (Angrier beeping and blooping)

Luke: Ok, ok, let’s not fight, I broke it, let me pay for it Leia.

Leia: No. Who broke it?

Lando: Leia... Chewbacca’s been awfully quiet.

Chewie: RAWRGWAWGGR?

Lando: Yes really!

The whole room descends into incoherent screaming and arguing.

Leia: I broke it. It burned my hand, so I punched it. I predict that within ten minutes they’ll be at each other’s throats with war paint on their faces and a tauntaun head on a stick.

Leia: Good. It was getting a little chummy around here.

[forthelightside]

On The Proper Definition Of “Criticism”

Now, I’ve heard claims that “Anyone who criticizes the Sequels is immediately attacked as Toxic.” I’ve even been accused of doing so. If this has happened to anyone trying to have a real conversation, than I apologize profusely, but it’s not an umbrella excuse for the genuinely awful behavior of some supposed “fans.” With that in mind, I feel it’s necessary to define what is and is not a legitimate way to criticize a work.

Firstly: Criticism means “Critical thinking” as in to think logically about a story’s themes, ideas, and execution. It does not mean “Criticize” as in seek out any flaw, no matter how minor.

Secondly: Criticism in this sense is intended to better understand a work, it’s strengths and it’s flaws. It is not railing and ranting about how a new entry “ruined” a good work.

Thirdly: It is never, under any circumstances, acceptable to attack, insult, or harass a creator of a fictional work you disliked.

Fourthly: Pointing out flaws one feels a work of fiction possesses is not toxic behavior in and of itself, and shoudl not be treated in the same way, even if you don’t agree. If you attack others for having negative opinions alone, you’re only contributing to the problem, not fighting against it.

In summary: “I did not enjoy this paticular work of fiction because I felt the themes and ideas were poorly executed” is legitimate criticism, and should be resprected as such, even if you don’t agree with it, and one should not attack people for expressing such opinions. “This is the worst thing ever and it ruined my childhood forever, and the people who made it should never be allowed to work again! Why can’t they make things as good as they used to! Hollywood is evil and needs to burn!” is toxic behavior, and should be treated as such: blocked and ignored, because it not only fails to bring anything remotely substantive to the table, but drags you down to their level if you even try and reason with them.

[forthelightside]

Han: I’m just a guy with a starship! I didn’t ask for all this rebelling, and magic!