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protectwoc · 4 years

Text

why all reylos are racist

y’all can go ahead and cancel me now because some of you are not going to like what i have to say and i am completely okay with that.

this recent gq interview with john boyega has incensed me. hearing all the things he went through, from disney and from “fans” and with no support from anyone… i’m livid. sometimes when i think about it for too long i start shaking, i’m so furious. and the response from the reylo fandom has infuriated me to a degree i honestly didn’t know was possible.

some of you may have seen my recent tumblr rampage. it’s reylo bullying hours here on my blog, and i’m not sorry either. one person threatened to post screenshots of my comments, which like… okay? i know what the fuck i said, it wasn’t that long ago. in fact i was going to include the screenshots in this post right here, but they blocked me before i had the chance. sorry. i’m sure somebody has them. anyway…

over the past two days in the star wars fandom we have seen something unprecedented: an outpouring of support for john boyega. both reylos and anti-reylos have joined forces to voice support for john in the wake of the gq interview (and the blm protests, let’s be real, some of y’all would not have given half a fuck if it wasn’t suddenly cool to be antiracist). and this showing of unity is one of the most rage-inducing things i’ve ever seen in a fandom (which is saying something; i have seen some shit).

reylo fandom, full offense intended, but where the fuck do you get off? you’re supporting john now? where was this support when tfa came out and you couldn’t stand the thought of him next to your white-girl-self-insert? where was it when tlj came out and your boy ryan completely sidelined him? where was it earlier this fucking year when y’all twisted a harmless joke (like yall haven’t spent years writing reylo-throne-room-sex-meta BULLSHIT) and ignored the vile racist shit coming from your own fav’s mouth? but you’re supporting him now? now that being antiracist is trendy? fuck outta here with that bullshit.

your fandom is the reason for the vast majority of the absolutely subhuman treatment john has endured over the last few years. your fandom influenced ryan (yes i know what his name is) to write tlj the way he did, you have behaved indefensibly here on tumblr.hell writing and drawing and fantasizing about all sorts of racist bullshit, and y’all have STAYED in his twitter mentions spewing hatred seven ways to sunday. but NOW, without a shred of self-reflection, you’re supporting him? now his experiences are valid?

the way that your fandom refuses to take accountability for its actions makes me see red. y’all stay on some “not all reylos” nonsense and i am SICK OF IT. i’m only gonna say this once, and i want you to hear me: you cannot be a reylo and be “antiracist”. you cannot participate in a fandom that has behaved the way yours has and say “blm, uwu acab.” you can’t. like do you think black people are dumb? that we can’t see right through you? we can.

“but rae,” i hear you whining. “you’re gonna say just because i like two characters together i’m a racist?” and of course not. that would be ludicrous. i think just because you knowingly engage and participate in a fandom that has racism encoded in its dna, you’re a racist. i think because y’all are in bed with racist harassers, racist trolls, and racist content creators, you’re a racist. that’s what the fuck i think. y’all lost the right to “it’s just a ship” me the instant you dragged john boyega into this.

here’s an example: i watched tfa about three days after it came out. i watched the first half, saw the obvious relationship set up between finn and rey, and thought, “aw, cute.” then i watched kylo and rey fight, watch him offer to teach her, and thought, “... interesting.”

when i got home i checked tumblr for finnrey content, saw the outpouring of love from black fans, all the cute fanart and fics blooming, and smiled. then, slowly, guiltily, i searched “reylo.”

BOOM. racism. the things i saw in the tag that night are tattooed on my brain. reylos rejoicing about the obvious rey/kyle pairing because “sw would never put her with that monkey finn”. calling him an “oaf”, “useless”, “bumbling”, “stupid”. reylos joking about how “when they talked about the Dark side, [they] didn’t think they meant that kind of dark.” “woke” reylos pretending to ship stormpilot in an obvious ploy to get finn away from kylo. and in between all of that, cute ship art. fun fics. talented gif makers. and nobody saying shit about the reprehensible behavior going on in their tag.

reylo is built on a foundation of racism. from that first week, racism has been woven into the fabric of your fandom, and it’s been going unchecked. and i don’t mean calling out other reylos. that’s not enough. i mean taking actual steps. y’all have been sitting in a cesspool of racism for five years, and its time for you to get the fuck out or shut the fuck up about being an “ally”. y’all need to leave this fandom.

don’t agree? here’s another story. in 2017, when i still watched supergirl (before i grew taste) i shipped karamel. for those of you who don’t know, karamel is the ship of kara zor-el (supergirl) and mon-el, her second love interest. when supergirl was moved to the cw for its second season, the decision was made to abruptly end her romance with jimmy olsen, played by mecahd brooks (a black man) and replace him with mon-el, played by chris wood, a white man, who was revealed to be, among other things, an alien slaveowner, as well as a playboy and all-around terrible person. and i shipped them. look, i’m not defending myself, but i never really bought the chemistry between jimmy and kara. even though mon-el’s introduction and the way that they carelessly disregarded kara’s feelings for jimmy made me uncomfortable, i thought the way melissa played her attraction to chris wood was more believable (and again, i’m not defending myself, but they are now married so it’s not like i was wrong). so i shipped them. simple as that, right?

well, no. not really. because the inherent racism in the way the writers wrote out her admittedly sweet romance with a black man in favor of a white slaveowner jerk kept bothering me. and finally i decided that it made me too uncomfortable to participate in. i never really reblogged any karamel fandom stuff, but i completely divorced myself from the fandom. i stopped reading karamel fic, and i switched to reblogging exclusively jimmy/kara content until the fandom died out/i stopped watching. i made a choice that real life racism is more important to me than a fucking fandom or a ship, and then i acted accordingly. simple as that.

and i’m not saying you have to stop liking the reylo dynamic. i still like the chemistry between kara and mon-el. i’ve shipped problematic ships before (bamon comes to mind) and i don’t think there’s anything wrong with that (to a point). but there’s a difference between liking a ship dynamic and engaging and contributing to a fan culture of racism. you have to stop participating in the fandom. y’all are in bed with people indistinguishable from confederate-flag-waving-all-lives-matter-touting racists and you don’t feel the need to get out of that environment? there comes a certain point where you have to decide if fandom bullshit is more important to you than fighting racism, and unfortunately, reylos have chosen wrong. that, ladies and gentlemen, is why all reylos are racist, regardless of what they say. roll credits.

except i have more to say, so i’m gonna say it. first of all, i’m not trying to hold myself up as some kind of paragon of virtue. i’m not holier-than-thou because all my ships are “woke” or whatever. chemistry is subjective, and we’re all going to be attracted to different ship dynamics, and there’s nothing wrong with that in theory. what matters is the execution. i finally had to say one day, “you know, this ship and the racist baggage it carries is actually less important to me than battling systemic racism on every level, including the fandom level”. y’all thought being antiracist was gonna be easy? that you wouldn’t have to make some actual changes, to make some actual sacrifices? sorry not sorry to disappoint. and if i, a normal-ass person with flaws and problematic thinking that i’m still dealing with and the whole ine yards, can make that decision, then other people should be required to as well.

(what really irks me is that the karamel fandom wasn’t even really that bad! i definitely could have gotten away with being a karamel stan in 2017. thankfully the supercat and supercorp shippers were doing the lord’s work and bullying them into submission (don’t think i’m letting y’all off the hook either, y’all have got some racism to deal with as well but that’s an essay for another day) but like most of the racism happened at the writing level; the fandom itself wasn’t engaging in racist clownery on the regular. but like the reylos are. y’all see racist bullshit coming from your neighbor, fav fic writer, artist, gif maker, whatever, and don’t say shit? don’t feel the need to distance yourself from them? gtfoh.)

i made this argument earlier when i was on my rampage (which i’m still on btw so don’t clown in my inbox, you will get your shit rocked) but i’m going to make it again because i feel like its important to note. when i pointed out that existing in the reylo fandom while you are aware of its racism makes you complicit in that racism, a white reylo told me earlier that (paraphrasing, my memory’s not as good as it used to be and i did mention that they’d blocked me) “you don’t solve a problem like systemic racism by ignoring it. leaving the fandom would be allowing it to happen.” when i pointed out that that’s police officer rhetoric almost verbatim, she (a white reylo) admonished me (a black woman) not to compare police brutality to a “ship war.” lmao.

look, clearly y’all need a refresher on what “systemic” means. it means, quite simply, that there are systems, large and small, allow for racism to exist, and it also means that allowing for racism to exist on the small scale means expecting it on a large one. like you think police officers spring fully formed from the head with racist ideals already ingrained? no! they learn it and learn to justify it with “well just because my friend made a racist joke doesn’t make me a racist” and “just because i laughed at my friend’s using a racist term in my video game doesn’t make me a racist” and “just because my friend is a racist doesn’t mean i’m a racist” and then we have people watching their coworkers kneel on a man’s back for 8 minutes with no remorse. i’m not gonna solve police brutality by fighting reylos on tumblr, but fandom racism is real racism with consequences on our world, and i don’t tolerate ANY type of racism. and the fact that you are so willing to not just tolerate it but justify it should say something to you.

and not all reylos are like this. similar to cops, good reylos don’t last. i have seen people grow so disgusted by the racism in the reylo fandom that they publicly turned their backs on it, and those reylos i respect. you’ve heard of “the only good cop is an ex-cop” well get ready for “the only good reylo is an ex-reylo”.

(and also like far be it from me to justify a cop but one could at least say they have their livelihoods to think about (not like they couldn’t just pick a nonmurderous profession but i digress) but you reylos can’t even choose between taking a stance against the hateful and unjustified bullying of a man who had the audacity to… get a job (?)... over a ship? come on now.)

the point of all this is, for all their posturing about “being antiracist” and “fuck 12” and “support john boyega”, reylos have decided that a relationship between two fictional people is more important than all the black and brown people who are hurt by that decision and the consequences of that decision. and before y’all pull some “b-but there are POC reylos!” (stop fucking using poc as an adjective, its a noun, it stands for person of color, please use it as such) internalized racism is a thing. busting out your token “reylo of color” (see how easy that was?) is not going to change my mind. all reylos are complicit in the racism of their peers, and being complicit makes you culpable. full stop.

and that is why the public support of john boyega from the reylo fandom has me seeing red. renounce your fandom or keep that man’s name out of your mouth. anyway, this was long and ranty and entirely stream-of-consciousness and i’m refusing to edit it so it’s probably completely incomprehensible to anyone besides me but if you made it this far thanks for reading ig. all reylos are racist, blm, fuck 12, acab, stan john boyega, don’t clown in my inbox unless you’re coming to bully me for being a karamel shipper, which i deserve (or do, i couldn’t give less of a fuck). good night.

#john boyega #anti reylo #raetalks

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fr0gheart · 5 years

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filming

authors notes: i kind of set this headcanon up a different way so i hope you enjoy it. it’ll be based on different aspects of like getting to know him and like being cast and stuff. this gif has nothing to do with the hc! lol sorry and as always enjoy

anonymous said: may you pLEASE do headcanons for like, reader being a new character on ST3 and i guess somewhere during filming, reader and finn start dating.

directory

𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

so you would probs audition for a new character on season 4

i’m think will and el meet her at school

and she has no parents and she hops from shelter to shelter

pretty much looking for a place to stay

since her parents died in a mysterious fire

which turns out to be that the hawkins lab killed them

because they threatened to go public with what they were

doing with the human trials

ANYWAY lets get to casting

so you would find out about the role on instagram

and you were relatively a new actor

like you weren't big in the acting industry

so you thought why not

there’d be multiple interviews

like one in l.a. and one in vancouver

but you would land the role

the duffers would describe you as

‘ the perfect one for the role and that your a groundbreaking actress and you need to get more recognition for your talent’

and obviously it would make you so fucking happy

so yeah filming starts really soon

𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚

so at first the duffers would not want you to tell anyone

but they made the exception for your family

but no friends

they were literally about telling NO friends

so netflix would post the new casting on their twitter and instagram

people would be excited for the role

but they wouldn’t really know who you were

so when your castamates found out

they would send hellos

and looking forward to working with you texts

so you really felt welcomed in the cast

millie would make it her personal mission

to be your new best friend

and while you would appreciate it

it would be really intimidating

but you texted her a lot

and she kinda told you about life on set

and she would talk about people

especially the younger group

so you would be really excited to meet her

𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

so you would have a flight to georgia

and it would be really long and you’d

be kind of nervous

not really nervous like fucking crazy nervous

and you wouldn’t really know what to do

because auditioning wasn’t as bad as this

so you would get to set

and like immediately go to your trailer to

calm yourself down and prepare

so you would got to the first script reading

and the duffers would be like

‘ please welcome y/n to the family’

and everyone would like get up and clap for you

and go to hug you

joe’s hug was so warm

and you could tell that finn felt awkward

in the hug so you would end it really fast

because you didn't want anyone to be uncomfortable

but you would read the script and ultimately

you would fucking love it and you would be so excited for shooting

𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩

so you guys would not be friends for a while

you were still so overwhelmed meeting everyone

so you wouldn’t talk to them in the first week of shooting

but when millie invited you to get ice cream with the cast

you went because you wanted to create some strong friendships

and mostly you would just cling to caleb’s side

cause you knew him from social media

and he had reached out to you multiple times

so you guys were friends already

anyway you would get like rocky road or vanilla

or whatever no biggie

and suddenly

you would like drop your ice cream

and you would just be so sad

and finn would see

and just volunteer to buy you another one

and you’d get really like shy

and he would tell you it was no biggie

because friends do that for each other

and you would be like

‘really?’

‘ yeah of course we’re friends ‘

𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

so after finn bought your ice cream

you both got closer like instantly

you would talk to him about everything

and while you were friends

he would always make flirty jokes with you

‘ y/n even if there wasn’t gravity on earth, i would still fall for you’

and you would be like blushing

and flirting came even more

you would hang out after scenes

and before

he would invite you to calpurnia concerts

but it wasn’t a date unless you were comfortable

he would give you his sweater or sweatshirt or

really whatever you want to wear from his closet

he would want you to just watch him from the side

because fans could be pretty vicious

so you would watch from the side

and he would look so good

and after the show he would hug you

and malcolm, jack and ayla would be like

awwww so kyute uwu

𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬

so you and finn had been flirting the entire time filming

but there was two months left

until all of you went your separate ways

and finn would just want to make it official

because you guys had gotten way closer after the concert

so you and finn would be acting in the same scene

and he had let the duffers know what he was doing

so you would just be saying your characters lines

and she was like acting mean

and finn would just say

‘will you go out with me’

and you’d be shocked and you’d look at the duffers

because that wasn’t his line

and the duffers would be like

‘ well? what do you say?’

and you would be like beaming

and of course you said yes

you would just run and hug him

and the entire cast and crew would applause and it would be so magical

like the perfect day

so your relationship would be just like your friendship

but with added cuddling and occasional kisses

you would be really close

okay nobody asked but i’m gonna talk about the first kiss between you guys

so you would be in his hotel room

because he asked you to tour with him and calpurnia

and it was crazy that your parents agreed

but here you were in finns room

watching him play with his guitar

as you just sit there playing bitlife

on your phone

he walks up to you

and he strums along to the chords of my girl by the temptations

and he sings it to you

and you were fucking beaming

like you were smiling so hard

but you got up and grabbed behind his head

he put his arms on your waist

and you guys kissed and it was really nice and finn was like

‘ we should do that way more often’

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬

okay press tours so fun

so so so fun

( also y/s/n means your ship name ok thanks )

so you would be paired with finn and noah

you mostly went on netflix and buzzfeed

and it was a lot of globetrotting

from place to place

but in particular interview with entertainment one

the interviewer was really rude

and she kept questioning noah

and asking stuff about feeling left out

from season one

and it would be so irritating

like so so very irritating

then the interviewer would ask

if you and finn were dating

and you would say no

and you would keep pushing

until eventually you put her in her place

‘ this interview has been so very rude, you’ve made all of us uncomfortable and we’re here to talk about the show not about our personal lives. put this in all of it, i’m sick of interviewers like you i’m done’

you walked off the set and finn and noah would stay behind like shocked

and noah would just break the silence

stream stranger things 4 on december 5

and him and finn would go to your dressing room

‘ y/n that was so badass’ noah said

and you guys just talked about the interviewer and laughed because it was

crazy that you had made a family with the cast

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shenanigans-and-imagines · 4 years

Note

This is just my curiosity getting the best of me but, I noticed you said you liked TLJ, but it felt as if RJ was pushing for Rey to have a romantic connection with Kylo Ren instead of Finn and I'm wondering how you would have written Episode IX to address Rey's connection with those two characters and the rest of the characters such as Poe and Rose?

Okay, first thing out of the way real quick. I don’t think Rian Johnson was pushing the Reylo train, at least not in the same way Abrams was.

Abrams clearly wanted Kylo Ren to become a romantic lead. His framing of the character is much more flattering than Rian Johnson.

Compare his face reveal in The Force Awakens to The Last Jedi.

Abrams gives him flattering lighting. His hair is perfectly in place. His skin is smooth and clear. Abrams even describes him as regal and princely in the commentary.

This is our first look at Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. There are bags under his eyes. His skin is rougher. His hair is drench in sweat. He’s not a regal dark prince, but a pathetic little boy.

Framing is everything. Please go back to The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson is constantly subverting these moments that with just a slight tweak one can perceived as romantic (and many Reylos have), but are just a bit awkward.

It is very easy to make Adam Driver look attractive. So, this odd costuming with the bad hair and high waist-ed pants is not the “oh no he’s hot” moment fans want it to be.

Rey’s expression isn’t arousal it’s awkward repulsion like walking in on your cousin changing.

But the most telling moment in The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson’s expectations for Reylo is everything that happens after the throne room fight.

“You’re nothing. You’re nobody, but not to me” is NOT framed as romantic by the characters, the setting, the camera work, or any other aspect of the story. The story tells us the Kylo Ren is fundamentally wrong. Rey proves that he’s wrong and ultimately rejects him.

She essentially slams the door in his face in the last shot of the movie, telling herself and the audience in so uncertain terms that she is not going to be the reason for his redemption. Kylo Ren has isolated himself if he is going to be redeemed he has to do him all on his own.

RIAN JOHNSON DID NOT INTEND FOR REY TO BE KYLO REN’S REDEMPTION!!!

Okay, now that I’ve got that rant out of the way, I can finally answer your question.

There are two ways we can handle this question. A) We take the basic beats Abrams wanted to present (Palpatine being back, Kylo Ren’s ultimate redemption etc) or B) we sake fuck Abrams and his intentions we do what we want.

If we go with option A) then Kylo Ren has to be working toward his redemption form the word go.

Palpatine has returned, maybe we add a scene just after the events of The Last Jedi. Kylo Ren returns from the battle of Crait only to find Hux waiting for him looking terrified. Kylo is surprised by this, but not nearly as surprised as the Knights of Ren escorting one of the superior generals to him.

The general then says “Supreme Leader Snoke wishes to speak to you.”

“Supreme Leader Snoke is dead,” Kylo responds.

“Never the less,” the general says.

The Knights of Ren stand tall and ignite their lighsabers.

“Supreme Leader Snoke wishes to speak to you.”

Kylo Ren knows he could probably take on the guards, but he feels something in the force; something dark, angry, and also amused.

He follows.

They enter the room to see a dark figure sitting in the throne of the Supreme Leader.

“Well done my apprentice,” a voice speaks. It sounds like Snoke, but something is wrong. Like another voice is battling just beneath the surface.

Kylo Ren approaches. The figure is indeed Snoke, but his body his slack in the chair. His eyes are blank. There is no movement in his chest.

“But it will take much more than to kill me.”

Snoke’s lips move, but nothing else, like a poorly controlled puppet.

“Who are you,” Kylo Ren asks.

The being chuckles darkly. “I am who I have always been, Master of the dark side, Master of the galaxy, and Master of Skywalker.”

Kylo Ren jerks back as the voice becomes something else, a voice he has never heard, but knows all too well: Emperor Palpatine.

The being laughs, an eerie deafening sound coming from a lifeless mouth.

“You cannot defeat me with such a simple trick,” he mocks. “I am more than a body. I am the darkness on the wall. I am the anger in your heart. I am the voice in your head. And you are mine!”

And then boom. Start of a new Star Wars.

Opening crawl: Kylo Ren has escaped The First Order which is now under the direct control of now fully revealed Palpatine. Kylo Ren is attempting to get word to the Resistance about the Emperor Palpatine’s hidden secret Sith base.

So, the first mission of the film is rescue Kylo Ren.

This is a chance for all of our characters to work together: Poe, Finn, Rey, Chewie AND Rose, because fuck you Rose is part of the squad.

During the rescue Leia sacrifices herself to save her son using the same Force projection Luke used at the end of Rise of Skywalker. This is Kylo Ren’s final come to Jesus moment where his sole motivation is now just to kill Palpatine rather than take back control of The First Order.

The Resistance gets in contact with Poe and the rest relaying Leia’s death and that Poe has now been placed as General of the Resistance. Kylo Ren tells them about the holocron and how it’s the only real plan they have to face down Palpatine, they all must then work together to get the job done.

This allows us more time with Kylo Ren being a good guy and building interesting dynamics with the other characters.

Maybe Kylo Ren is the first to really test Finn’s force abilities since we get a hint that Kylo Ren could sense him through the force during The Force Awakens.

At some point in the film Rey and Kylo Ren are disarmed when fighting some sort of monster. Finn in a moment of desperation reaches out with the force and calls Anakin’s lightsaber to him using it to defeat the monster.

Finn is getting a lightsaber in this movie, don’t @ me.

Finn and Rey then have a discussion about the force, how he felt in, and how long he had been hiding it from her. Finn tells her his own doubts of being able to use the force at all given the fact he was a Stormtrooper and he still carries misgivings about that. Rey assures him that he has always been his own person. She’s from no where too. The Force doesn’t care where you’re from. (Mutual love and support baby!)

Kylo Ren and Rey discuss their force connection and realize that while they can sense each other through the force, the connection they had in The Last Jedi was forced upon them and unnatural.

I want Rose to taser Kylo Ren’s ass as soon as he get on board the Falcon after they rescue him and will do so again at a moment’s notice.

And at the end of the film, I want Rey and Finn to be the ones to defeat Palpatine.

Rey and Finn are both nobodies from no where and they are the ones to continue the Skywalker legacy.

Not the most detailed, but that’s what I’ve got. Option B will have to be it’s own post if you want it to be.

#the last jedi #the rise of skywalker #jj abrams #rian johnson #reylo #kylo ren #rey #finn #rose tico #poe dameron #re-write #star wars

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ocular-intercourse · 4 years

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okay @mangosandchili 14 OC questions instead of 16 cause ned picked the other two 🙏

actually.. let me split this character-wise so I won’t take 100 years

finn gets first draw always

🌲 What is the kindest thing your OC has ever done for someone? What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for them? On the flip side, what is the worst thing your OC has done to another person?

Hmm hm kindness seems like a weird concept to think about for Finn. Cause yeah, he is excessively, self-sacrificingly kind, but he can also turn that off pretty easily when the other end does not deserve it in his eyes. The kindest thing he has ever done, continues to do sometimes, absolutely misplaced, is caring for his father, not giving up on him. Back when they were still living together, when his dad was too drunk to function, he’d clean him up, clean up around him, sober him up, even after the beatings started, forgiving him over and over. The kindest thing someone did to him was probably his mom getting him out of that situation.

The worst thing he has done to somebody else.. what an absolute nightmare question for Finn hasdghj. Take your pick between not magically being able to keep Kitty alive, continuously cheating on Emily like the single greatest asshole in the world or leaving Shawn straight after he tried to kill himself… he’d probably be able to come up with some other things that seem to be true in his eyes but might not be quite as bad as he sees them.

🌳 What does your OC do when they see others upset or in pain? An upset friend? A stranger?

He helps. Stops what he is doing and runs to help the more he loves the person. He could be standing on the court of some major tournament and drop the bat to go and help one of his loved ones, you can call him in the middle of the night and be sure to count on his help. Nothing in his own personal life can be more important than helping a friend in distress, so he’ll almost always put himself second. And if he does not, for whatever reason, no matter how justified, he’ll feel guilty about it. The same goes for strangers, in a way, of course not quite as extreme. But if he’d see someone in need of help, he won’t walk past it. He’s the type of person, when you’re in public and something happens that makes everyone uncomfortable, makes them pointedly stare someplace else or walk off hurriedly, he’d be the one to step in with no regard to his personal safety. He’d be the guy trying to safe someone from getting hit with a car, or step in between fights, argue with the police, make sure a person gets home safe.. But he also thinks ahead about what he could do for people. I made a post a while back about him being the kind of person to bring homeless people warm drinks and shoes in winter. I’m not quite sure what drives him, I think it’s one part his personal experience, knowing how it feels when nobody helps, but also him feeling guilty, feeling like he is a burden and a bad person and he needs to counterweight somehow.

🌿 What is something true about your OC that they refuse to admit about themselves? Is there any reason to this besides embarrassment?

He will NOT. EVER. let people tell him he is/would be a good father. He is though, he’s been practically raising his little half-brother since he was three (he’s seven now) since his mother is.. uh.. not exactly full-time mom material. And the kid is so good, he’s great actually, smart as hell, already running circles around him, skipped some classes (actually I’m thinking about it more and more but what used to be a he when i came up with him might actually be a trans girl but we’ll see so I’m sticking with describing Bryant as him atm, that’d be something that develops in the story in the future). But if somebody tells him what a good job he did/does with Bryant Finn would shut that down immediately. And then go and cry about it. He gets really panicky about the thought of being a father, since fathers in his family have traditionally not been especially great at it. There are arguments between him and Shawn, who says that Finn worrying so much about being a good father would already make him a hell of a better father than he ever had.

🍃 Describe a regular day for your OC. What is their schedule (if they have one).

He’s developed a pretty good routine since he went pro, which helps a lot with his moods and all. He will get up early, 7-ish, go for a run, come home, make breakfast, a lot, cause he has to eat constantly to keep mass. Then it’s time for some “paperwork”, organizing stuff, calls with sponsors and partners and whoever wants something of him, photoshoots, interviews, collabs. Cooking, eating. Meeting with his trainer, training or training solo. Depending on the day picking up Bryant from school and hanging out with him/meeting his sister/mother/other friends. Cooking, eating. On every other day streaming, mostly some games, sometimes cooking, sometimes just hanging out with fans. Mania/depression will of course throw some wrenches in there but he’s been pretty good at keeping things together lately. If he’d be back with Shawn he’d also trim all the job stuff down a bunch, a lot of his excessive training atm is very much just to keep himself occupied.

🍁 What is your OC’s most traumatic experience? (If they don’t have just one traumatic experience either pick one or describe them all!)

Ha, laughing at the describe them all.. let’s not. The biggest is definitely losing Kitty. It has completely, both positively and negatively, marked his life. It made him develop his strict anti-drug stance and the focus on sticking things through to avoid hurting his family. Sometimes he thinks back to it, if Kitty would not have died, who he would have become. He’s mostly sure he’d be the one who had killed himself instead, without the trauma of losing her he would not have thought about what that would do to others as much. He’d most definitely be an addict in one way or another. He would not like himself very much. He also ABSOLUTELY hates that thought cause he can’t bare seeing anything positive in her death, he refuses to think about it that way. He’d bring her back in a heartbeat, regardless of what that would do to him. So instead he is much more focused on the fear of losing his loved ones, of somehow being responsible for it either directly or indirectly by not seeing it and not helping.

🍄 How would your OC react to the death of a friend/family member/loved one? Is there anyone they can confide in?

Oh boy how fitting. It was already the absolute worst thing to happen to him, knocked him out for quite a while, people had to babysit him constantly, he dropped out of school, it took him a lot of time and energy to resemble a human being again. If it would happen again I think he would just stop functioning. He wants to follow but promised himself not to, so he can’t, but that does not make him feel better. I think he would have to be hospitalized in some way or another, stay in a clinic for a while. Other than that Shawn and Raphael would be the ones he would confide in the most. His sister too, in a way, but with her he would be much more worried about putting all this negative shit on her.

🌾 What would your OC be like if they were evil. Or if they’re already evil what would they be like as the good guy?

Oh I’m excited about this question for some of the others lol. It’s really hard to picture Finn as an evil person. He sure likes to believe he’s an unlovable asshole but he’s really not, that’s at the core of his character. Evil Finn would have married Emily and been an asshole about it, cheating and not being safe about it. He’d be a drug dealer probably, that’s the worst thing regular Finn could imagine himself to be. He’d just be bitter and aggressive and living it out, enjoying dragging others into the muck with him.

💐 How would your OC react to somebody telling them that they love them? (+ bonus give another characters/OC name!)

Definitely depends on whether the intention is platonic or romantic. Emily and Raphael showing romantic interest would just make him sad? Melancholic? Guilty. Cause he wants to make them happy, but he can’t give them what they want, even if he loves them, he does not love them that way. Shawn telling him he loves him would just.. break a dam, he’d definitely cry and be absolutely overwhelmed and relieved. Also a little scared. Anybody else saying it would just prompt him to, uh, probably stop seeing them. Flight instinct. He is so not over what happened between him and Shawn he will run for the hills at any sign of a potential relationship.

🌷 What does your OC hate about themself? What lies about themself do they believe? On the flip side, What does your OC love about themself?

I love these questions, they were very much made for the way I write characters lol. Especially Finn, cause a lot of him is just being tortured by his brain and him knowing that, but still believing in it. He focuses on the bad things he has done, and there’s been a bunch, a lot of it definitely fueled by being bipolar, but he can’t accept that as a reason, he does not want to make excuses for his actions. So he just sees how he has hurt people in the past and deduces that he has to be an asshole. It is really hard to convince him otherwise. Even if he logically can understand that it is unlikely that people think this way about him, it’s still an underlying fear beneath everything and always some part of his motivation. So he’s weak, and a coward and selfish and a burden, unlovable. He definitely hates being impulsive and aggressive sometimes, there’s been a hundred times when he was in a fight, an unnecessary fight he couldn’t keep himself from starting, and saying things/doing things he did not mean to. He hates this fact, that he can lose control like that, it scares him.

On the flipside, he is somewhat narcissistic. If he does not hate himself for a second he considers himself to be pretty damn great. He prides himself on the way he takes care of other people. On how far he’s come, both mentally and professionally. He knows he’s a good musician, a good cook. He’s the kind of person that would refuse to work with others in a group project cause he knows he’s insufferable and would not be happy with other people’s work affecting his evaluation. He can’t watch other people do things he would do a different way without wanting to step in and correct them. But all of that ego is just a balloon that pops pretty quickly and he’s back to believing he’s the worst at everything.

🥀 What is something your OC blames themselves for and is it really their fault? Does it keep them up at night and is there any lingering trauma?

I like how these questions are all just building up on one another. He blames himself for not seeing how miserable Kitty had been, for having her persuade him to travel without her when he kinda knew he should probably worry about her, for not somehow having been able to, I don’t know, just know what was going to happen and act differently, or just generally for not being enough of a good force in her life for her to cling on to. That’s all just doubling down when Shawn tries to kill himself and he once again feels like it was his personal failure. Not being good enough or attentive enough, probably even being part of the reason why. There’s a whole lot of trauma there. Of course none of it is true. Kitty knew exactly how attentive Finn had been to her, it’s the reason she made sure he was away when she went through with it. The same goes for Shawn, where the reason was exactly the opposite of killing themselves because Finn was not enough, but rather because Finn was too much, too good, and they would just be bad for him if they would stay alive. Finn can’t see that angle, at all, if he did he would not accept it. It keeps him up in his worst nights. If/when he gets back together with Shawn it would be a major fear for him, Shawn having a relapse, Shawn dying of an overdose, intentional or not, Shawn getting to such a low point again without him realizing or being able to do anything about it. I imagine he would sometimes get a bit hysteric about stuff, if he does not know what Shawn is currently doing or something seems off, he is really good at working himself up into a frenzy about small stuff that feeds into his worst fears.

🌺 In what situation would your OC be pushed to commit an act of violence? Would they go as far to kill someone if they had to? How would this affect them and their relationships with others?

Well he’s certainly been in a bunch of fights, cause he’s provocative, he’s great at making people lose it, sometimes intentional sometimes not. He’s also not good at not reacting to provocation himself. Racism certainly feeds into that a lot. He’s had some manic phases where he was very much looking for fights. I think he would be able to kill someone, but only in the moment and only if it’s to protect himself or somebody else. He would not deal with it all too well, it would haunt him. He would think about that person having a life, a family, loved ones of their own. He would think about putting an end to somebody’s consciousness, that last fading moment, it’s all over, because of him, and he can’t take that back. I feel like the people around him would never be able to punish him for it as much as he would do himself. If he would have killed for Shawn’s sake, he, Shawn, would probably struggle a bit with accepting what has happened, because of him, what Finn had to do, because of him. He would be angry for a while, directed at Finn and himself. Finn would not be able to handle that very well, he can’t bare the thought of being hated be Shawn, he is so scared of being seen as bad, even though part of him has himself convinced that people see him this way anyways. He’s just scared of confirming what he already suspects.

🌸 What would your OC do if they were given god-like powers or the ability to change anything about the world for a whole day?

I think Finn would have a lot of problems with that timeframe. Cause there is not a lot of things god-like powers are worth of that would make sense for such a short amount of time. He would think about ending hunger and homelessness, discrimination, racism, the entire system, he would bring Kitty back, he would want to make everything okay.. but only for a day?? And then go back to square one? We would rather not change anything than have something great for a second only for it to be taken away again. So it would all be about creating a nice experience with the people he loves, allowing them all to do something they have wanted to do their whole lives.

🌼 Describe one of your OC’s worst nightmares.

Oh I think I mentioned them all already. Family members and close friends dying, or other terrible things happening to them. Alternatively finding out that everybody hates him and he’s hurt all the people he loves without realizing it, that they all think he and his moods are a burden and they’d all be happier without him.

🌻 What advice would your OC give to their younger self? What advice does your OC need now?

Don’t try to stick to how you think things are supposed to be as much versus doing what you actually want to do. Don’t bend and break yourself to fit some sort of premade mold that society created for you. He has done a lot of hurtful things to himself and others only cause he tried to play by the rules. He dated Emily for much longer, trying to present himself as straight, than he should have, experimenting on the side and hurting her that way. He excused his father’s behavior way too much, being the filial son he’s supposed to be, cause it’s family and family sticks together and forgives. He’s hated himself so much for his illness, trying to force it away instead of accepting that it’s there and acting accordingly to get a better grip on it. He still hasn’t outed himself to his father or the world, since he became somewhat famous, because he’s really insecure about it changing the way people will look at him. That’s probably what he could use good advice on these days. He knows, somewhere, that he should out himself, that it is a fantastic thing to do, in his position, to work towards change. He’s just not quite ready to pay the price and he feels awfully guilty about it. Someone should tell him about all the people he could be representing, but also about how much living his life without hiding anything will free him.

#mangosandchili #ocs #finn #he sounds way more unhappy than he actually is these days!!!#tho it's always kinda one harsh blow away from falling apart sooo #long post

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kylo-but-not-to-me-ren · 4 years

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Thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker

Just a disclaimer that this post contains TROS spoilers

Hi there, it’s me again sharing my views on the latest Star Wars as a Reylo, fan and former film student (the latter may show at some point but it’s mostly a fan view).

I had pretty high expectations for this movie and I was not not happy leaving the screening, but I had some things that I thought would go down differently so here’s what I think.

Rey

I really like how organic Rey and Kylo’s connection and intimacy is portrayed in The Last Jedi, and J.J. expanded a bit on that which I think it’s very nice (and apparently they can teleport things via ForceSkype now which is an interesting take but I understand the reasoning).

One thing that I didn’t really like is that Rey is a Palpatine. I’ve seen one theory on this and it makes sense now, yet I was a great supporter of the theory that Rey was really a nobody, that she came from nothing like Kylo said. She could’ve been just like Anakin who didn’t have either Jedi nor Sith ancestors.

On a more positive note, Rey’s conflict with herself is an ongoing theme in this trilogy and I believe it was really well developed and has come to a satisfying conclusion. I felt like she was a bit lost in the beginning and I thought it was going to be an issue later on but thankfully it got better before it was too late.

Also Rey is so goddamn powerful and strong with the Force I love her so much.

When Rey and Kylo are battling in the old Death Star and she stabs him with his own lightsaber but then she feels Leia’s gone and immediately realises what she has done and without second thought she kneels to heal Ben crying. My heart exploded I felt so many things at once I can’t explain.

“I wanted to take your hand. Ben’s hand.” hsdcsgfyufgyufgeryfcgeif i died.

The ForceSkype teleporting feature I ALMOST FAINTED BECAUSE I GENUINELY THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO KILL BEN INSTEAD OF PAPLS WHEN THEY EXCHANGED LOOKS I WAS SO RELIEVED AND HAPPY WHEN SHE GAVE HIM ANI’S BLUE LIGHTSABER.

DARK REY WITH HER DOUBLE RED LIGHTSABER.

THAT YELLOW LIGHTSABER. I WANT IT. NOW.

Also maybe that “I am all the Jedi” line is a nudge to Avengers: Endgame? (*cof* hi Disney *cof*)

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

Next up is ma boi Kylo Ben, who has been my favourite character this whole trilogy and hell Adam Driver portrayed him so wonderfully. In TLJ he grew so much as a character, not only as a villain but a person who went through a lot, has an abusive master and is constantly being haunted by the guilt of killing his father.

To start this off, I want to talk about those first scenes. OH MY GOD KYLO TAKING ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN THE FOREST IN SLOW MOTION AND HIS SOLO JOURNEY TO EXEGOL. After that I got mad at Palps when one of his first lines was “I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head” because it means Ben has been manipulated his whole life and didn’t really have a choice other than turn to the dark side.

Kylo’s arc is by far my favourite and in my (completely biased) opinion the best written one. When he’s introduced in TFA, he’s a promise of a new Vader but he’s not quite there yet. Kylo has conflict inside him, a spark of light still, and to put out that spark once and for all he’s instructed by his master to kill Han Solo, but as we’ve seen it has “split his spirit to the bone”, to quote Snoke.

Later on in TLJ when the ForceSkype starts we begin to see more of Kylo’s vulnerable side, specially when Rey is talking to him in the hut. Kylo takes his fcking glove off to take Rey’s hand and that’s when Reylo became canon and you can’t change my mind.

Fast forward to TROS, Kylo is already the Supreme Leader and he’s as strong as Rey (but most likely more skilled because he had extensive training while Rey had only a few lessons and read some books?) and they are Force Dyads which makes them absurdly powerful together.

One thing I noticed is that every time Rey and Kylo claim to have seen the future both of them are always on the same side, either Dark or Light, but always together. They’ve never mentioned a future where they are apart and/or on different sides. *all the Reylo feels*

Then when both are battling in the old Death Star and Rey stabs him but heals him shortly after and Ben is ready to let Kylo Ren die to become Ben Solo again is brilliant. And that dialog with Han made me shed a tear or two. (a random side note is that I got a tiny bit upset when he threw his lightsaber away because his lightsaber is so cool and I just got one myself but I absolutely understand the need to get rid of it).

I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN MY BABY BEN SOLO BURST INTO PALPATINE’S CHAMBERS (?) WITH ONLY A BLASTER AND LOOKED SO GOOD. Also I almost cried when he took the blue saber and beat the shit out of the Knights of Ren.

LITERALLY THE RISE OF SKYWALKER.

BEN HUGGING REY’S BODY RIGHT BEFORE RESURRECTING HER.

“Ben”

THE KISS. THAT SMILE.

BEN SOLO DESERVED BETTER.

And yes, I believe Ben Solo isn’t truly dead and Rey can help him come back and they can live happily like they deserve to be.

Thank you Adam Driver for being the highlight of this movie (and dare I say, trilogy) and bless us with amazing acting.

Poe Dameron

I love Poe, he’s great and I loved that they gave him more screen time and I get they were trying to build another trio like in the OT but maybe making Poe, who was already a great pilot like Han also be a former (spice) smuggler is a bit much? We could use new characters and it’s okay if you wanna recycle the idea but please don’t make them identical.

Another very important point is why do you need to make up a female love interest for Poe when there’s clearly one already? During the whole movie I felt a sexual tension between Finn and Poe just not to have them together in the end, I was very disappointed. MAKE STORMPILOT CANON YOU COWARDS.

Finn

To be honest, Finn is not one of my favourite characters and I believe it’s mostly due to poor writing. Finn is a great character and had so much potential being a deserter of the First Order but his arc wasn’t so well developed in the trilogy as a whole and one of the arcs I least enjoyed in TLJ was Finn and Rose’s adventure in Canto Bight. It all felt like a distraction even though they were doing something seemingly important but failed at the end.

In TROS, Finn finds a group of other Stormtrooper deserters and I thought maybe it’d push his storyline forward but not so much. I was a bit disappointed but there were also lots of other things happening that I didn’t pay much attention to Finn, one of the reasons being that I already didn’t care much about him before so now it was kind of meh.

I said it before and I’ll say it again, MAKE STORMPILOT CANON.

A positive thing on Finn is that now they explored how Finn is Force-sensitive and now he finally realised he doesn’t need to run away and is willing to fight.

Rose Tico

As I’ve mentioned before, her arc with Finn wasn’t my favourite in TLJ but that’s okay because you can’t make everyone happy all the time, yet I saw many people complaining about her character and even Kelly was attacked that she left social media. And now there were so many complaints that they decided to basically ignore Rose and she’s in like three scenes.

I don’t think they even gave a plausible explanation why Rose couldn’t come along with Finn, Poe and Rey other than the fans didn’t like her character and they were trying to recreate the original trio.

General Hux

Well, to be honest I was almost certain he would die at some point but killing him off like that? He deserved a bit of dignity. But his scenes were funny, which I’m not sure if it’s good or bad because he’s a First Order general so... he’s supposed to be more serious, I guess?

As weird as it is, I kinda get his motives for being the spy, to see Kylo Ren fall so he could ascend to the Supreme Leader position, but things didn’t work out but at least we got a bit of that Kylux tension, right? *sigh*

Knights of Ren

One of my great disappointments of this movie.

They didn’t say a word, were only referred as murderers (not sure about the word exactly but it was something like that), had a couple of fight scenes and died. I wish they made an appearance in TLJ but they were only mentioned in Rey’s vision and Snoke mentioned them once but that was it.

They had some really impressive costumes and weapons, though.

Overall a great movie, lots of nostalgia, would recommend.

So there it is, my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker after watching it for the first time. Please feel free to share your thoughts as well and let’s talk :)

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 4 years

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If you truly are the master of unpopular opinions, then I challenge you to name ten of them. Across any fandom you like.

Oh snap. Well, I certainly wouldn’t say I’m the master. A lot of my ships are pretty popular ones, for example. I think it’s mostly that a number the fandoms I follow feel like their stories have gotten bad recently, but I mostly disagree. I’ll try to tag each discussed fandom and character!

1: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is amazing. It’s the best movie in the new trilogy. I love Luke’s character arc, even the flashback moment that everyone hates. I really liked Rey being nobody (R.I.P.) and Rose was a great addition to the story. People unironically say she’s worse than Jar Jar Binks and I just don’t get it. How are they in any way comparable? Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Star Wars - I’m a Reylo shipper who also loves Finn and Stormpilot. Yes, we do exist. I’ve also made my peace with Rise of Skywalker. It’s a terrible movie...when you watch it as a sequel to existing Star Wars. But watch it as a standalone film? It’s pretty damn good.

2: Pokemon: Looker is one of the worst characters in the entire franchise. I feel such visceral, most likely irrational hatred for him. First of all, I don’t like it when the police are utilized in pokemon whatsoever, because they don’t really fit in this world, but Looker...when he’s not being creepy as hell, he’s just absurdly annoying, and forces himself into your life. I just want him to go away. Black and White are two of my favorite titles, but I still remember yelling “Get out of my house!” when he turned up in the post-game. As much as Sword and Shield have problems, I was overjoyed when I finished the game and realized that he hadn’t appeared.

3: Avatar: There is a certain moment in Legend of Korra, Season 2. I’m not going to spoil it, but it was a moment that broke everyone’s hearts and changed the game forever. Yeah...if you know, you know. People hated this twist. They felt like it ruined the series. Suffice it to say, I disagree entirely. Sure, that moment completely broke me as well, but I don’t think it was bad writing. I think it was incredibly bold and powerful. I appreciate that moment and how the characters had to move forward with that having happened. I felt like it was drama done very well.

4: Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling is...not the worst person to ever exist? Not even close? I’m not nearly the staunch defender of her that I used to be, as it has recently come to light that she’s kind of transphobic. Which breaks my heart, and I hope she learns better. However, literally...all the other complaints against her don’t make any sense? I feel like I’m going to get messages about this one, but I’m happy to respectfully counter-argue the reasons people have for hating her. As much as she can be problematic...she still gave us this universe. And as much as I love the Potter fandom...we can also be a bit entitled. EDIT: She has gotten far worse since this was posted and any desire to give her a second chance has since shriveled away.

5: Timeless. Garcia Flynn has always been my favorite character, and the fan-made Seasons 3 and 4 have made something of a Lucy x Flynn shipper out of me. However, I also don’t hate Wyatt. I actually love and enjoy his character....yes, we do exist. I’m gonna say it over and over again: Wyatt deserved better. Sure, he didn’t treat Lucy very well in Season 2. Considering how his worlds were colliding in ways no one could have predicted, I think we can acknowledge that he was wrong, and move on from it. If nothing else, he shouldn’t still be on the hook for it by Season 4. But...no. I guess he is. (Sigh)

6: Undertale: Asgore is not a terrible person. This is one of the weirdest takes I’ve seen, but people hate Asgore. More than just acknowledging that he’s flawed, they despise him. To the point where they write in head-canons that he groomed Undyne into being a child soldier, or that Toriel was forced into an arranged marriage and didn’t love him....the canon clearly defies both of these ideas. And I get it, he’s killed children before. His cowardice meant he couldn’t fully commit to saving his people. Fair enough. But he’s not evil. No one in Undertale is, that’s kinda the point. Also, you might think I’m an Asgoriel shipper, but no. Definitely not. I’m an Asgore fan, and I prefer Soriel. Yes, we do exist.

7: She-Ra: I’ve talked about this before, but even though I agree that Catra and Glimmer are interesting foils of each other....I don’t understand the idea that Catra opening the Portal and Glimmer activating the Heart of Etheria are somehow supposed to be comparable, or draw parallels between the two of them. Glimmer genuinely thought she was doing the right thing, that she would defeat the Horde and save everyone. She was misguided, but her motivations were selfless. Catra...was furious at Adora and just wanted to stick it to her. When Entrapta tries to warn Catra of the danger, she sends Entrapta to her presumable death. Catra’s motivation wasn’t noble. It was spite. Then, at the end of it all...she blamed Adora. Glimmer took responsibility for her mistake. To be clear, I’m not Anti-Catra at all. I’m just a very dedicated Glimmer stan.

8: Game of Thrones. I thought Season 8 was okay. The very ending, with the Grand Council? Absolute garbage. Do not talk to me about King “Bran” or the pointless exile of Jon. But everything before that? Even the destruction of King’s Landing? I was fine with it. Mostly because I kinda saw the warnings signs long before Dany got to Westeros. Was Season 8 amazing? No, Season 7 was better, but I still liked 8. Side note, because I just have to keep this recurring line alive - I’m a Sansa stan who will defend everything she ever does, including her betrayal of Jon, but I’m also a Jonerys shipper. Yeah...we do exist.

9: Doctor Who: I love the twist introduced in “The Timeless Children.” It blew my mind and it changes everything. I don’t think it ruins the canon at all, I think it reinvents it into something mysterious and intriguing. The rest of the episode? Eh...I love the Master, but other than that...Most people tend to think that this episode was at least better than “Hell Bent” barring the twist. I...feel the opposite. At least in Hell Bent, the timelords acknowledged that the Doctor was behaving out of character. At least that was the point. In this episode, using the death particle on Gallifrey with no moral debate about it...Doctor, you had a seven season character arc about why doing that was wrong. (Side note, Day of the Doctor is my favorite episode, so I am not happy the Gallifrey is gone again.) Even so, it has to be said - The Jodie era has been amazing. I will never understand why people don’t like it.

10: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse: Oh boy, it’s an unpopular opinion to even like this game, and I love it. Most people agree that the story is weak and cliche compared to the original. I disagree. It’s more like a different style. Yes, this game is very “anime” whereas the original felt more like a bible story. But this game has that rag-tag team of misfits who form a found family, and I just live for that trope. Speaking of the characters, my favorite is Asahi. I know people hate her, but I found her to be incredibly endearing, and she had an amazing character arc. Right up there with Hallelujah and Gaston. Nozomi, on the other hand....(deep inhale) let me know if you want to hear my rant about her...

#Harry Potter #Star Wars #J.K. Rowling #Timeless #Garcia Flynn #Wyatt Logan #Doctor Who #She-Ra #SPOP Catra #SPOP Glimmer #Asgore #Undertale #Game of Thrones #The Last Jedi #Legend of Korra #Shin Megami Tensei IV #Pokemon

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benthelastskywalker · 4 years

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Romance in The Sequel Trilogy (And Why It Was Always Going to be Reylo)

(Warning: Long post ahead!)

Despite the claims that have popped up in recent years that “romance doesn’t belong in Star Wars,” romance has always been a big part of the saga. Han and Leia’s romance was a big part of the original trilogy and Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side in the prequels came from his love for Padme. In Rogue One, it was Lyra’s love for her husband and her desire to keep him out of the Empires hands that forced her to act as she did and ultimately ended in her death. Jyn and Cassian clearly develop feelings for each other across the course of the film, even if those feelings are never spoken aloud. And in Solo, it is Han’s love for Qi’Ra and his desire to get back to her that drives the plot. So, of course a romance in the sequel trilogy is expected.

But expected from where? In the previous two trilogies, the lead romance comes from inside the main trio of characters; the lone woman in the group falls for one of the two men. So, it is hardly surprising that after the release of The Force Awakens a good number of fans expected Rey and Finn to end up in a romantic relationship and why some would have even been happy to see Rey end up with Poe. But with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo? That seemed to be out of the question and those of us who shipped it were called “delusional.” In their minds, saying Rey would fall for Kylo/Ben would be like saying Leia would have fallen for Vader (if he hadn’t turned out to be her father) or Padme would have fallen for Darth Maul.

Yet, all the three movies in the sequel trilogy show us exactly why a romantic relationship between Rey and the two men of the trio would not work and why exactly she does fall for Ben Solo.

Let’s start with Finn. As others have already pointed out, Finn constantly treats Rey like she needs his protection. That it is his sworn duty to keep her safe. We see this very early one right after they first meet and he keeps grabbing her hand and Rey keeps protesting. He then spends a majority of the movie, trying to run from the First Order and it isn’t until Rey gets taken captive that he joins forces with the Resistance, BUT (and this is made pretty clear in The Last Jedi) that he only does so to rescue Rey and not because he truly wants to join their cause.

And speaking of TLJ, he spends 90% of that movie doing what he does simply to keep Rey safe and not because he wants to join or help the Resistance. It’s not until the end of the movie that he truly commits. Yet even after that, he spends a good portion of The Rise of Skywalker screaming her name and even going to rush after her during her last lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren.

Now, it’s not a bad thing to want to protect someone you care about (in fact it is expected), but Finn seems to view Rey as a damsel in distress, someone who cannot defend or protect herself and who needs him to protect her. And that is what many of us find off putting.

Contrast that with Kylo/Ben who knows exactly how powerful Rey is and is in awe of it. The way he looks at her when she uses the Force to grab the legacy lightsaber in TFA. Kylo doesn’t view her as a damsel in distress and never does he treat her as one. He treats her as his equal in the Force (which is fitting since they turn out to be a Dyad), someone who can defend and protect herself. The only times that he comes to Rey’s protection is when she truly needs it. When Snoke want him to kill her and then on Exegol when she is facing off against Palpatine and is terrified.The times Rey truly needed someone there, Kylo/Ben was there for her.

Now, there is another issue I’ve only recently came to have with the idea of a romance between Finn and Rey and that is an issue of honesty. The first time Finn and Rey meet, he flat out lies to her and tells her that he is a part of the Resistance. It is a lie that he maintains until it becomes clear that Rey wants him to stand and fight after the First Order instead of running away. He only comes clean because he realizes that it is the only way to keep her safe, to convince her to go with him. Yes, Rey doesn’t hold the lie against him and readily accepts the truth and him for who he is, but it doesn’t change the fact that Finn was dishonest and would have kept up lying for who knows how long if circumstances hadn’t forced him to reveal the truth.

Kylo/Ben on the other hand, never lied to Rey. He was always open and honest with her, even when he knew the truth isn’t what she wanted to hear. And it would have been so easy for him to lie and tell her what she wanted to hear. Remember when she asked him why he hated his father? He could have so easily lied in that moment. He could have made up some story about how awful a person Han was and to get Rey to sympathize with him. But he doesn’t. He honestly tells her that he didn’t hate Han. Yes, he changes the subject around to her own parents when she wants to know why he killed Han if he didn’t hate him, but avoiding a topic one would rather not discuss is not the same as lying.

I can already hear antis screaming, “But he lied to her about her parentage in TLJ!” So let’s get this out of the way. When Rian Johnson wrote that scene in TLJ, Kylo was being honest with her because that was what he (Rian) intended to be the truth, that her parents really where nobodies. It’s not his fault JJ came back and retconned it. I actually posted about this before. So, because of this, I’m choosing to view it as he was telling her the truth about her parents in TLJ and that is the hill I will die on.

Okay, so what about Poe? Rey and Poe don’t even meet until the end of the second movie of the trilogy (yes, I know they meet at the end of the TFA novelization, but since most people don’t read the novels, I’m going with them not meeting until the end of TLJ). By the end of the second movie of the original trilogy, Han and Leia have already kissed (twice!) and Leia has told Han she loved him. By the end of the second movie of the prequel trilogy, Anakin and Padme are married. If Poe and Rey were ever intended to be canon, The Rise of Skywalker would have had to do a lot to build up the romance between them, but it did nothing of the kind. The first scene we get of the two of them together has them yelling at each other. After that, they seem to just tolerate each other, they certainly never act like two characters falling in love.

But Reylo has been building up since TFA. Even before the characters ever meet. After Rey’s force vision and she’s talking to Maz and Maz says “The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead.” Rey (incorrectly) assumes Maz is talking about Luke. Now here’s where it gets interesting. I recently stubbled across a video where the audio following that moment is enhanced. After Maz says “take the saber”, you can here Rey’s voice whispering the words “It’s Ben,” showing that Ben is the belonging Rey seeks. And this before she ever lays eyes on him.

JJ has always called Kylo “half of the protagonist with Rey.” Protagnist. Not antagonist. And certainly not “villain.” Neither Adam Driver nor JJ Abrams have ever called Kylo/Ben the villain of the trilogy. Instead he’s the leading man. The character we’re all meant to route for and hope to see redeemed. He was always going to be the one Rey fell for.

#reylo #reylo meta #star wars #kylo ren #ben solo #rey

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jammyjess · 4 years

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Hey friends!

I found King Falls AM at a time in my life where I felt scared, hopeless and alone. I didn’t want to be here at all, and I thought for the most part I’d never be happy again. I’m still most of those things, but every day in King Falls makes that a little easier to be okay with. I thought long and hard about what I could manage for this, but most of all, I just wanted to say thank you. So. Here goes.

Thank you for Sammy Stevens, who is my favourite kind of character. He’s sassy and pretty and humble and full of love.Thank you for his cynicism and snark, but also for his ability to push aside his own beliefs and ideas and wants when it matters. Also, for letting him Suplex Grisham, because that was pretty neat! Thank you for the way he relates to the people around him, but especially to Lily. For a character who makes mistakes and actually tries to learn from them - he doesn’t always get it right, but he tries, and that’s so important. He’s made me laugh, he’s made me cry, he’s made me want to scream. I adore his backstory, it means more to me than I can say, but also thank you for the way you handled the events around 75. It was so meaningful. I love him with everything I have, which is why it hurts me to thank you for his pain, which is so unbelievably relatable to my own. For my own hurt that comes out of his mouth. The kind of hurt that transcends circumstances. I was in a dark place before this show, and parts of me are still there, but watching Sammy grow, and change and heal has meant everything to me. It gives me hope for better days. For Sammy, and for me too. Thank you for giving him the courage to stick around, and for giving him hope. Thank you for Benny Arnold. Who I can’t write about coherently without bursting into tears. He’s messy and flawed and just absolutely gorgeous. Seeing him grow through the years has been an absolute joy, but most of all, I love his ability to remain untainted by the horrors he’s been through. He’s still got the same heart, and it’s the best heart there is. I love his passion, his hope, his resilience. His belief in everybody around him. He remains unapologetically himself through everything, and I adore him. He is The Good, and I’m so glad we have him. Noah brings such complexity to him too, and I can listen a thousand times to a single episode and continue to feel all the things.

Thank you for Emily. For making a strong, intelligent, badass women who’s also soft and desirable and loving. For letting her write her own story and for letting her be more than a prize to be won. She’s so good natured and considerate and thoughtful, and even in her worst moments she never loses that. Every moment she appears is wonderful and Jess KILLS IT every time! I’ve especially enjoyed phase two Emily, as her relationships with other characters become more integral to the story. Thank you for speaking out against the Frickards of the world through her, because it hurts and it’s hard but it’s so important. Using your audience for good means so much. Thank you for the thoughtfulness and care with which you consistently apply to sensitive subjects. For day-to-day happiness, for happy places and for months of quiet kindness without ever being asked.

Thank you for Jack Wright. For the reminder to choose love (even when it’s hard. Maybe especially when it’s hard.) For the reminder that we’re all worthy of love, in all its forms. The affirmation that nobody corners the market on sadness, but also that we don’t always have to go it alone. That grief is universal, and that’s not always a bad thing. For quiet moments of humanity in the midst of absolute tragedy. For vulnerability, for heartbreak and moving forward together. For forgiveness and acceptance, and humility.

Thank you for Dwayne Libbydale, who’s a special kind of chaos. I am again lost for words, but I love him, I love him, I love him.

Thank you for Pete Escobar Ed Edwards Yardboy Myers and his funyuns and disdain and snark (even if me saying I love him means he’ll never listen to this show again.) Thank you for PHENOMENAL journalist Lily Wright, who is an absolute delight! She feels like the personification of grief, loss and trauma, but at the same time so, so real. Her reluctant acceptance of King Falls as home is beautiful, and I hope she gets ALL THE HUGS really soon. She’s not afraid to speak her mind, even if it means alienating the people she loves. Her shaky vulnerability with Sammy, Ben and Emily is so good, and I’m so excited to see where the future of Lily Wright lays. King Falls Chronicles was some KILLER story telling, and Candace was the icing on the cake. The acting chemistry she has with everybody is absolutely on point. I’m so glad we get to keep Lily. That she’s found home. Thank you for #DeputyDead. His unwavering optimism and willingness to see the good in everything and everybody is absolutely wonderful.

Thank you for Debbie and RoboTim, who I still believe in, despite all evidence pointing to ‘don’t do that.’ Thank you for Maggie Masterson, an Actual Icon. And for our Man’s Man’s Man and his lil Kingsie Bab. For Regan who is a sweetheart and Chet who I hate to love.

Thank you for villains that fill me with white hot rage. Who’s actions are explained, but never excused. For Frickards and Gundersons and ShadowFUCKS and HFB3’s and Leland Hills and Ernies and Grishams. They’re different levels of despicable, and I adore hate them all.

Thank you for ridiculous caricatures ; the Gwendolyns and the Cynthias and the Jacob Williams. Thank you for SPORTSBALL (CHOP. DAT. WOOD.) and WALL CRABS and GARBAGE BEARS and DANGER NOODLES and every other ridiculous Benism.

Thank you for Teareal and serendipity and redrum roses and for the inability to see the word ‘ghost’ and not correcting it to APPARITION. Thank you for Dan & Larry and boy band battles and Doyle’s Conspiracy Cavern and Devon Hamptonframptonshire. For Golden Owl, Finn and Gator Jack and Alvin and every other ridiculously loveable character you’ve created. Some of them barely last longer than an episode, but their chaos will fuel me for a lifetime.

Thank you for Mary Jensen, who is the mom I wish I had. All moms are champs, but Mary is perfect. Thank you for Betty and Nancy and Loretta and Marigold. All who I expect deserve the praise they’re given.

Thank you for Herschel and Cecil, who are cranky old bastards and who probably shouldn’t fit together, but they do so effortlessly. The care and compassion they have for each other is inspiring, and I too hope to have a friend like that someday. Trent is wickedly skilled, and I’m sure he hears it so often but!!!!

Thank you for BE WELL BUDDIES and silly puns in the titles, and short jokes and RoboTim mixups and Science Institute break-ins with vigilante superheroes and mysterious callers. Thank you for love through overnight oats and moustache talk and non-binary pals. For a willingness to grow and change and learn and laugh. For the electrolocaust and my favourite threesome and for sammiversarys. For Ben posting Sammy’s bail, and heart-to-hearts in jail cells. For stupid bets and bensplosions and the fucking kickball story. For creepy dreams and technical terms, for badly timed BEEPS for awkward flirting and on-air confessions. For idiots who can’t keep secrets, let alone not talk about them on air for more than five minutes. For missing hikers and weird shadow tornados and notebooks and shooting down UFOs and death by damnation. For the SECOND BEST small town in American Celebration, for Christmas Gifts for Ben’s Mom and Jupiter Jaundice. For Ben’s monopoly tactics and Sammy’s audible eye rolls, for prophecies and ‘legend-has-it’s and for love and love and love.

Thank you for the mysteries, and for the constant need for MORE. You do cliffhangers so wonderfully, and I feel like I’ve never anticipated anything so keenly in my life. Tim Jensen, The Dark, Merv, Death by Damnation, The Rainbow Lights, The Zombies.

Thank you for Cameron Chambers??? How does he do it?? I have no idea, but I hope he keeps doing it. Especially all them Christmas BOPS. Legendary. Jazz-Hands worthy!

Thank you for making Zombies the F- plot.

Thank you for the Eagle Screech in the DALE’S DOLLAR TREE ad. And all the other ads too, I guess. I don’t understand The Fucky List, but thanks for that too! Thank you for JACK IN THE BOX JESUS which has caused my internet to constantly recommend me eat at Jack in the Box, despite the closest one being literal continents away.

Thank you for continuing to choose this. For being open to sharing so much of yourselves with us. Thank you for fan interactions and live listens, Q&As and twitter replies and twitch streams and retweets and Beyond the Falls. Thank you for the love and care you show us all, which above all feels genuine.

Thank you for being the catalyst for a community where I finally feel like I belong. Like I’m important. Like I matter. Thank you for being the reason for hours and days and weeks and months of in-jokes and teasing and theories and head canons and screaming and food talk and love. For so much kindness. And acceptance. For a space to be myself without fear. For people I feel like I’ve known lifetimes, and for whom I hope I can love for lifetimes more. For people to cheer on, and cry with, and poke fun at. For stupid nickname changes, and memes and words in reactions. For making me feel like i’m part of something much bigger than me. For a place to be passionate without judgement. For a place to just be. For friends. For family.

Thank you for the push I’ve needed to create again. And for all the others you’ve inspired too.

Every moment inside King Falls have been an absolute blessing, but the impact it’s had on my life outside of it is absolutely everything.

Congratulations on (almost) 100 episodes. What an adventure it’s been. I’m so excited for everything the future of King Falls holds, but most of all; Thank you for making this fuckin’ mean something.

#contest entry #100 eps!!#kfam100 #king falls am #kfam #thanks #kfam discord #ramble #unashamed fangirling #long post #text #words

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misscrawfords · 4 years

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The Rise of Skywalker: Part One

I have lots of thoughts and feelings about TROS. Most of them negative. For three days I’ve been alternating between raging and crying. Finally, I’ve felt able to start writing.

This is a negative review. If you loved the film then this might not be the post for you. I am very sensitive to what happened after TLJ. And I want to reassure anyone reading that I would never turn criticism for a film (which is absolutely a valid response to seeing something that you disliked and are trying to understand) into personal attacks against the actors or creators involved or, worse still, fans who liked it. If you liked TROS, can’t bear to hear any criticism of it, and still choose to read my posts about it, then that is on you. (I really shouldn’t have to say this but this is a hellsite.)

This post contains spoilers for TROS... and Jumanji 2. Go figure.

Things I liked:

· C-3PO and everything he did. This droid is the character I identify with most in the entire SW series (which probably says some uncomfortable things about me but this is not the time!) and he had such a big and important role and his quips were genuinely great and funny and I loved everything he did. Apart from – but more on that later.

· Ben Solo. Uh, other people have talked about his little shrug and his “ow” and his smile – oh god, his smile. Ben Solo is amazing. It’s a shame that – but more on that later.

· I didn’t hate Rey Palpatine. I mean, I literally wrote this story when I was 13 when I made Hermione Voldemort’s daughter as a way of explaining her inner darkness and had her team up with Harry (with whom she had a telepathic bond) to destroy him. (You can read the story here if you really want to.) So it would be pretty hypocritical of me to hate this plotline. I enjoyed seeing angry, feral Rey on screen, I enjoyed seeing a female hero confronting her capacity for destruction and darkness. I was okay with the idea of a final face-off between a Palpatine and a Skywalker and how this is a way of bringing final balance to the Force. This was pretty interesting and I’d be up for this. I much prefer Rey Nobody but as a concept I’m not actually against it. Unfortunately the execution – but more on that later.

· I really enjoyed more of Finn and Poe. I love both of them as characters. I mean I can’t think of a single bit of dialogue that was meaningful between them or what they accomplished in particular for they had some fun moments.

· Finn and Jannah’s conversation about being ex-stormtroopers was a lovely scene, a moment of much-needed quiet and reflection and bonding in a film that was far too hectic and crowded. Shame it went nowhere.

· Reylo kiss? I mean, that was cool.

· Unironically, I loved Hux. He was snarky and his revelation of being the spy because he just hated Kylo that much got the biggest reaction in the cinema of the entire showing. Admittedly it was derisive laughter as we all realised what a clusterfuck of bad writing this film was, but still. It crossed over into so-bad-it’s-good territory. Hux gave me considerable pleasure in a film that otherwise made me very angry.

· My favourite scene in the film was when Rey and Kylo fought on Pasaana over the transport ship with Chewie (apparently) on and Rey blows it up. The cinematography was amazing, it was a visual representation of both balance and building on the lightsaber breaking scene in TLJ while upping the stakes considerably and Rey’s reaction of visceral horror when she realised what she had done was truly shocking and unexpected. To have Chewie killed off so suddenly like this for no reason except that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the stakes are high and this is a desperate war with casualties – genius. A perfect way to make Rey and Ben even more similar – both having killed father figures – and have Rey confront her dark side as she wrestles with what she has done and the consequences of having a non-unified relationship with Ben while also being in a position to truly empathise with him – this was exactly the content I had signed up for. But it was the moment that it was revealed that Chewie was still alive that I realised what I’d only suspected before then: that this film was terrible and I would not be able to trust any emotion it was inviting me to feel.

Fundamentally, I think that this film is incredibly poorly written and emotionally dishonest. It is telling that I saw Jumanji 2 earlier in the day and out of the two films, the only point at which I cried was when Milo decided to stay in Jumanji as a horse. Why did I cry? Because Milo and Grandpa’s relationship had been gradually built up over the course of a film that was not afraid of quiet moments and building a narrative of a relationship that revealed what it needed over the course of several meaningful scenes. It allowed Milo’s decision to stay to be both a tragic loss but also a happy ending for him. Truly bittersweet and in a way that everyone can relate to. The loss of a dear friend to illness is a horrible but human thing to contemplate. To be able to set this friend free through a metaphor of a beautiful death and afterlife is genuinely moving and hopeful. Unfortunately TROS did not manage to give me any such emotions or elicit a single tear.

At least not till afterwards. I’ve subsequently cried a lot, some of it over the tragedy of Ben and Rey in a film that promised hope, but mainly for myself and the other (mainly) young female fans who have poured all their knowledge and intelligence into analysis of TFA and TLJ and who seemed to understand the story that was being told and who had been promised more of this story in the interviews and trailers released prior to this film – and who are now feeling like absolute garbage as this film throws out its own mythology for an incoherent, self-serving mess that in many ways defies analysis. The only thing I feel really capable of analysing is how much it doesn’t work, as opposed to what the film is trying to do. Where is the symbolism? Where is the metaphor? Where is the hero’s journey? Where is the heroine’s journey? Where is nuance? Where is everything that was set up in both TFA and TLJ? IDK, I can’t see it. It’s a kick in the teeth.

So, no matter how many individual things I was able to enjoy at the time when watching TROS, they end up being meaningless because the entire film was so bad. I can’t feel pleasure thinking about the good bits because they were mired in context (or lack of it). I can’t feel genuine sorrow about the fate of Rey and Ben because the execution of that fate was so poorly done. I don’t even mind that Ben died. It was always an option and the story of redemption followed by death is a very common story, a very Christian story. Though the death of Christ to save us from our sins, is crucially followed by resurrection. I mean, literally everyone can and does die. That doesn’t make you special. If you’re going for a Christ metaphor, you kind of need resurrection too. But I’m not sure that was exactly what they were going for with it; it was a mess and the execution made little internal consistency.

It may be that if I watched the film again, my problems would be lessened and I would see new things in them and they would make sense. I’ve read some twitter threads of people who are making connections and finding explanations on a second or third viewing. But the problem is that I shouldn’t need to see a film more than once to fundamentally understand it. I don’t mean picking up on new and interesting features and subtext which a good film, like a good book, rewards you with on multiple viewings. TLJ does that. But you should be able to follow what the ultimate meaning of a film is when you see it first.

If that is the case, then the ultimate meaning of TROS is that the good are good, the bad are bad, change is rewarded with death, a character who was once alone ends up alone again, plot coherency is sacrificed for whatever explosion or cool backwards-reference is needed at the time, death is not the end except when it is, there is no cosistency and consequently no emotional impact. And apparently it is a happy and hopeful ending? The tonal disconnect with the story being told and the way it was shot and the music being played and the clear intention of the people making the film is utterly jarring.

To famously quote Macbeth:

It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

This post is already too long so I will go into my criticisms in more detail in a further post. Stay tuned!

Read Part Two here.

#tros #tros spoilers #star wars #the rise of skywalker #anti-tros

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greyrebeljedi · 4 years

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

So it’s been a little over a week since I went to watch The Rise of Skywalker in IMAX 3D (which was amazing!!)

I’m off to watch it again tomorrow (3D but without the IMAX this time), so I’d thought I’d post a review of what I loved and what I didn’t so much hate as just generally dislike...

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS!

What I loved

- Jedistormpilot

Aka the wholesome trio that is Rey, Finn and Poe. I loved the banter between them, going off on an adventure together, the hug when the battle had been won and they’d been reunited

-The amount screentime Poe got

Not going to lie (and anyone who knows me on here will know this), Poe Dameron is pretty much one of my favourite things about the sequel trilogy. He got quite a lot of screentime in this film and Oscar was 1000% the right casting choice for him. Like he completely and utterly owns this role.

-General Poe Dameron

One of my biggest wishes for Episode 9 was Poe rising to the rank of General (after all Leia has been pretty much doing her utmost best to lead him down this path), and I got this wish. So happy Poe fan-girl here.

- Armitage Hux: Resistance Spy

An unexpected (and hilarious) moment of The Rise of skywalker is General Hux confessing to being the resistance spy amongst the first order ranks. Like he hates Kylo so much he doesn’t give a toss if the Resistance wins.

-Reylo kiss

I’d been a long time for this moment like many other Reylo shippers, and when it finally happened it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Like beautiful with a capital b, and so heartfelt and it’s adorable how Ben smiles at Rey after.

-The Easter Eggs/Nods to the rest of the saga

Another thing I loved was hidden references/nods to the rest of the saga. Like the fact, the festival on the desert planet Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, Chewbacca and C3-PO visits takes place every 42 years. A clever yet subtle nod to the fact the first Star Wars film came out 42 years ago. Also, Chewbacca getting his bravery medal after missing out on one at the end of A New Hope.

-D-O

D-O the adorable little droid introduced in this film. Such a cute and funny one-wheeled droid.

What I disliked

-Rey Palpatine/Rey’s family backstory.

First of all. What the heck? Isn’t Rey supposed to be a nobody? Whose parents left her in the care of Unnkar Plutt. The fact Sheev Palpatine aka the Emperor aka the big bad of the Skywalker Saga had a son in the first place is weird enough. Like if I had to have given Rey a famous lineage I’d have made her a Kenobi. After all Skywalkers and Kenobi’s have fought side by side since before Anakin became Darth Vader.

-Poe Dameron - Spice Smuggler

Really. Did they really have to give Poe this shady/morally iffy past? Like it totally disregards when he flew for the New Republic before Leia ultimately recruited him and he joined The Resistance. This pointless plotline makes sense and they invented it purely to introduce Zorri Bliss...

-Death/Redemption of Ben Solo

WHY

JUST

WHY.

One of the big things I didn’t want to happen was for Kylo to be redeemed (thus becoming Ben Solo again) only to be killed off again (having saved Rey’s life). This is an almost identical copy to The Return of The Jedi when Vader and Luke teamed up to bring down the Emperor, only for Vader to later die in Luke’s arms.

LAZY SCRIPT WRITING FOR THE SAKE OF EMOTIONAL DRAMA.

-The ending

After 42 years this is how Star Wars ends. With Rey as a Skywalker on Tatooine burying Luke and Anakin’s lightsabers (aka the legacy lightsaber) in the sand on her own again. Don’t get me wrong Luke and Leia’s force ghosts and the binary sunset are a beautiful touch and the orange/yellow lightsaber is super cool but she should have Ben by her side but he’s not. He’s not even there as a force ghost alongside his mother and uncle. Like there has to be an alternative ending we were robbed off in the edition room.

So that’s how I feel about The Rise of Skywalker. Whether a second viewing will change my views, we’ll see. I mean on the whole, I love it but it could HAVE been better. So Lucasfilm if you want help with the next Star Wars trilogy feel free to get in touch.

#Star Wars #The Skywalker Saga #The Rise of Skywalker #The Rise of Skywalker spoilers #Major spoilers #Star Wars Episode IX #Rey #finn #poe dameron #armitage hux #d-o #sheev palpatine #Kylo Ren #Ben Solo #Bendemption #reylo #jedistormpilot

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roses-foxes · 4 years

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TROS feelings but i try to keep it all in one (long) post

I’ve had some time to think about this film, read lots of different opinions on it, consider the things I hated and liked about it, and I guess I just want to share? Let’s start with the good stuff

What I liked

It’s really not much but some positivity is always nice lol

Adam Driver’s acting! He’s not the only good actor in this, but imo he’s far above the rest. I’m 90% sure he’s getting that Oscar for Marriage Story, but he’s also extremely good in this despite having probably more than half of his lines cut or altered (more on that later) and he deserves that recognition

The fact that Finn, Poe and Rey had stuff to do as a trio, even though it wasn’t well done (more on that later)

The Han moment with Ben

Rey being cheered on by all the past Jedi (more on that later too)

The concept of Rey burying the lightsabers and the last shot being on Tattooine at sunset

The lighstaber “””magic trick””” through the force with Rey and Ben

The entire dyad thing with Rey and Ben, actually

That’s literally it lmao I truly hate this film

What I think the problems are

Even if I hadn’t read stuff about it before, it’s super painfully obvious as you watch it that they had reshoots/line changes/storyline changes and it makes the film not make any sense at all, it’s such a mess.

A lot of super important lines by Kylo Ren are delivered with his mask on? There are also other instances without his mask where he’s either not in shot as he speaks or he has his arm in front of his mouth etc.. The more I think about it, the more I realise there’s literally no point at all in the story for him to reconstruct his mask. The scene where he does it is like.. 3 seconds long?? Like there’s no real emphasis on it even though it’s super important character-wise? UNLESS... it was done only to make sure lines (and therefore storylines) could be easily changed in the edit. I don’t think there’s actually a shot of anyone in the film saying, with their lips moving in shot, visibly “Rey is a Palpatine”, and that’s weird as hell? Rey herself never even really REACTS to it properly? In a saga that puts so much importance on legacy, she SHOULD have reacted, like Luke reacted when he learned Vader was his dad. Also Oscar Isaac said the actors had no idea that was a thing before the premiere..? Which implies there was no big table read with that part included and only a few people knew of that change? In my opinion it’s clear that this isn’t how the storyline was originally planned, and it probably was a last minute decision that they tried to make work with minor reshoots and some editing (the lightning when Rey blows up the ship Chewie is believed to be in could have been added in post-prod, for example).

That’s not the only change, a lot of people have pointed out that Rey speaks to Ben in the end (before the kiss), like, you can clearly see that her lips are moving and that he’s listening to her, but that conversation was cut for some reason? In many shots of that scene, Adam’s hair are longer then shorter, his hands are gloved then ungloved, Rey’s reaction to his death is super weird, he’s never mentioned again at all, he doesn’t get a force ghost even though Anakin did at the end of RoTJ, the shot where he falls back and dies makes more sense in reverse when you look at the angle of Rey’s arm etc.. it’s very possible in my mind that Ben Solo dying wasn’t originally planned either and they just reshot the kiss or something, but yeah that whole thing felt particularly sloppy to me. Props to Daisy and Adam for still making it kinda work though.

The editor of the film has said herself in a podcast that they used the “speaks with the mask on”, “not in shot” etc kind of tricks to allow them to change things up. Like idk what the hell happened to the original movie outline but I’m 10000% sure that it wasn’t what we ended up seeing at all.

What would have been my ideal TROS (or what would have at least slightly improved it)

Involve Rose Tico??? Instead of setting her aside for no reason at all, have her go on the mission with the trio, like it really isn’t that hard? Adding one (1) tiny little scene showing what her relationship with Rey is like would also have been great. Either continue the romance with Finn and develop it more, or establish that they decided to remain friends, but don’t cast it aside and pretend it never happened? What they did to her is fucking gross honestly. My heart breaks in a million pieces for KMT

Develop!! Rey!!! and Poe!! It’s clear that they were going with OT trio vibes with Rey/Finn/Poe, except that Finn’s relationship with Poe and Rey are developed separately, but Rey and Poe aren’t with each other. So it doesn’t really seem like a trio and more like 2 duos that have Finn in common, you know? In the OT, Han/Luke Han/Leia & Luke/Leia were all developed, and that’s why the trio worked as a whole by the end of the saga. Instead what TROS did was make Rey and Poe bicker 80% of the time for no real reason? Then hug? So.. are they friends or not bc it’s a bit hard to tell?

Cut that whole wayfinder plot to make it wayyy shorter. It was so stupid to watch (the knife needing to be placed exactly right at the exact right place, are you kidding me JJ Abrams? Is this Benjamin Gates or smth?), it didn’t do anything at all for the characters journey, it introduced people (Zorii and Jannah) that, as cool as they were, ended up not doing much at all...? Those were weird ass choices that ended up taking away screen time that could have actually been useful for the characters we already had. If you wanted a cool female character, JJ, Rian Johnson already had one. But where was she all that time? Oh, yeah. Off screen.

NO REY PALPATINE. Makes no sense at all, is awful, has super weird implications that are never really explained, it’s full of plot holes... just big huge no. Rey being Rey Nobody was extremely powerful. It meant creating your OWN legacy, your OWN history, it connected her with the audience more. Rian Johnson actually surprised me with this, and I would have loved for it to stay that way. This is actually what crushed me the most about the entire film, I refuse this as canon completely.

Ideally,... no Palpatine at all? Him coming back kinda ruins Vader’s arc for me. Ofc one big bad was needed after Snoke’s death and Kylo Ren getting an obvious redemption (yes, it was obvious, I’m not even gonna go through explaining it, just rewatch the 2 previous films). But Hux was RIGHT THERE. We knew he was a big BIG mean guy since his dictator speech in TFA, he had more to do with Starkiller Base than Kylo Ren ever had (yep, thats canon hoes), he always hated Kylo Ren, he almost killed him in Snoke’s throne room, I mean??? Plus Domhnall Gleeson is an excellent actor, why waste him like this when you can give him a great character arc where he does a coup and takes over the First Order?? Nonesense

Have Kylo/Ben’s redemption earlier in the movie and show him actively save lives before joining Rey’s side. I don’t necessarily hate how it played out in the film but I was pissed off that for a movie called The Rise of Skywalker, the actual Skywalker still alive barely speaks or does much once he comes back from the dark side. If you go for a redemption, GO for it, make him break Vader’s mask intentionally, make him feel Hux’s betrayal, make him be heroic. And ideally, once he saved lots of lives, imply that he intends on rebuilding the things he broke.. and make him live. Because having a last minute good action then “poof, he’s dead!” isn’t reverse Anakin/Vader, it’s a direct parallel to it. Which is a lot less interesting to watch as an audience. Why make a new trilogy if the ending is so similar to the original one? Why make it all about balance if Rey ends up forever brokenhearted bc her dyad in the force died?

Still regarding Kylo/Ben: A FORCE GHOST MOMENT WITH ANAKIN WAS SO ESSENTIAL FFS? Even one with Luke? Or literally any other Jedi, like I’m so mad about that. He was the LAST Skywalker. Rey was cheered on by all the jedi and that was cool as hell, but when he was lying in that pit he should have been cheered on too? It would have been such an awesome scene to have that parallel between them (also them killing Palpatine TOGETHER would have been better, but whatever nothing about Palp made sense)

Heavier hand on the Rey/Ben romance. I’m one of the people who saw it coming since TLJ, so I personally wasn’t surprised at all, but a lot of casual fans were and that isn’t normal. There were so many opportunities for scenes reallyyy preparing the ground for a big epic space kiss that would have felt more satisfying, instead all we got in terms of clear romance pre-kiss was “I did wanted to take your hand, Ben’s hand”. That wasn’t enough. TLJ went hard, but stayed subtle. TROS needed to go harder, and not be subtle at all.

NO RACIST DRUG SMUGGLING BACKSTORY FOR POE!! And instead maybe an arc about taking over Leia’s legacy in the resistance, about him fighting since he was a kid, about his parents being Rebellion fighters... if there was a story to be told about legacy... that was IT. Bc that’s Star Wars. You have characters trying to distance themselves from their legacies (Kylo Ren), trying to build their own legacies (Finn, Rey), and characters honouring it (Poe, Rose). It’s so stupid that they didn’t actually go anywhere with that.

Give Finn something to do??? My boy was treated so fucking dirty I can’t believe. He’s an ex stormtrooper, why didn’t he, at ANY point in this trilogy, ever think twice about killing stormtroopers? If he KNOWS they’re brainwashed child soldiers.... why not have him do something with that? Create an arc around that? He’s really just gonna kill them left and right like it’s nothing to him? We’re gonna introduce Jannah, basically a female version of him (bc apparently that’s all woc get to have --’) who’s also an ex stormtrooper, and still not build an actual storyline around that? In a trilogy about BALANCE, ffs, which implies there can be good in the bad and bad in the good?? Like I’m losing my mind here lol that’s so so so dumb. Also for the entire film he’s got *something* to tell Rey, but there are some issues there: if it was a romantic confession, it doesn’t quite work bc TLJ already gave him another romantic interest (Rey too even if ppl like to deny it, Kylo was her love interest in TLJ) + made him care about the fight besides her. So making him be all “heart-eyes puppy following her around”, especially if you plan on having her kiss someone else at the end, seems particularly cruel. But if it was about him being force sensitive, it still doesn’t really work bc 1) it’s barely implied in the film and doesn’t actually go anywhere. It was a great idea! So why not fully lean into it? What was the point? I don’t get it. 2) They don’t even resolve it. Like, he tries to tell her that *something* like 3 times, and in the end it’s just never brought up, we leave the theatre not knowing what it was. I mean?????

Have Leia’s death be more meaningful and CLEAR as to why she dies. I’ve seen like 10 different interpretations of her death. None of them make absolute perfect sense, that’s how poorly executed it was. I know they didn’t have much to work with, but I hate her dying like that, its like they tried to kill her off but had no idea how so there were like “she lays down and dies”. She’s Princess Leia ffs. Giver her some damn respect.

I think I said pretty much everything I had in mind here. If you want to chat about it, my ask box is open!

I still love star wars, but i’m gonna need to refuse to see this movie as canon in my head, for my own sanity ^^

#star wars #tros

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swshadowcouncil · 5 years

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It’s pretty ironic in retrospect that when the Sequel Trilogy began, there was a large pushback from racists and bigots that a black man and a woman couldn’t be the protagonists in the newest trilogy of Star Wars movies. People were honestly trying to boycott it because a white guy wasn’t the protagonist.

Now years later, the trilogy has come almost full circle with people refusing to see Finn as the co-protagonist of the ST or John Boyega as the male lead. I mean, if we want to look at it deeply enough, some people don’t even think Rey is the true protagonist, but Kylo is. It’s rather funny, in a sad way with the lack of self-awareness, that there are so many fans of the ST (Sequel Trilogy) that have forgotten, or don’t know, that originally there was a giant pushback for these heroes not to be the protagonists, yet years later, fans are echoing the intent of these people without realizing it. Finn has been sadly the biggest victim of this ironic mess. From being one of the central characters in all of the marketing, merchandise, advertising, and basically present and in full view of everything ST related, to slowly being forcibly pushed way into the back and made small enough on posters, merchandise, and media coverage at times that you actually need to zoom in or hunt down a trusty magnifying glass to find him.

The problem has extended from the #boycottstarwarsvii movement on social media in response to Boyega’s casting in 2014, to Lucasfilm (LFL) allowing multiple artworks to be created with Finn excluded, placed in the back, or smaller than the supporting characters, to the EU stories where he is sidelined, depicted as a joke, or generally just treated in a way that would make any sane black person, or person in general, go “Yikes!”. This isn’t an easy conversation to have, nor is it something many people even know how to approach, but from the perception of many fans, especially black fans and other fans of color, this comes across as pretty racist at best. So, without further delay, let us begin.

#BoycottStarWarsVII

Friendly reminder, when people bash the idea of Finn being Force Sensitive, you make this guy smile.

Yeah, I’m not going to sugarcoat this, John being cast as Finn, the male lead/protagonist, alongside Daisy’s Rey, the female lead/protagonist, was met with a LOT of backlash. For those who don’t remember, or just weren’t following the TFA like a lunatic like other losers (me), there was a hashtag going around, #BoycottStarWarsVII, which if you couldn’t tell from the title, was for the boycott of TFA. The main reason for this all circles back to John Boyega being the lead that had many bigoted racists in their feelings (translation: mad).

How bad was it? Well, let me just show you:

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These are the ones I can actually post. The others I have kept/found I won’t be posting due to the content in them being beyond disgusting. This was all over the place. Racists were rejecting the idea of a black male lead in Star Wars tooth and nail to the point of demanding people to boycott the newest movie.

So, how did the boycott go?

If you look closely, you can see Bob Iger’s tears of joy next to the dollar signs

Yeah, it failed on every level imaginable!

Something interesting about it though was that while some people were speaking up about the racist treatment that had been thrown at Finn:

You’re a good man, Trevor Noah. Thank you.

Others had remained silent on it completely. There was an odd amount of radio silence on how the public was treating Finn and his actor John Boyega, and looking back on it now, when there is still a great amount of pushback against the character and actor, I can’t help but feel that silence was a choice, rather than ignorance. Which brings me to the main topic of this very article:

#WhereIsFinn?

The #WhereIsFinn movement was created by fans of the character who started to notice something…odd. Now, I can’t actually pinpoint the first moment Finn’s erasure had started, but I do remember the most prominent and famous one that many in the community still remember to this day, and that was the Chinese Poster for The Force Awakens.

Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again

Oh, this kriffing poster! Years later and my blood still boils like Anakin’s did on Mustafar! Now, I’m not pointing any fingers at any one individual at Lucasfilm, yet I highly doubt that if Rey was made smaller than a BB-8, or if Kylo was taken off of the poster, whoever said yes to this would have had the same response. Finn was made significantly smaller on the official Chinese poster for TFA. Now, for those reading this who don’t know, racism against black people isn’t just an American thing, I know, surprising, right? It’s something that happens everywhere, and movies with a black lead don’t usually do well overseas. So, someone made Finn smaller, and it somehow slipped through the cracks. A one-time thing though, right? It was a mistake and it’d never happen again. Lucasfilm would never try to make the co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy smaller or treat him with disrespect…right?

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Well, I guess that’s one way to avoid the Chinese poster situation. Just make him small by default

Rian, turn on your location. I just want to talk.

Johnson…just…why?

The longer you look at this image, the more you likely will want to die inside.

Don’t worry, guys. We got rid of the black character for now!

I’m like 85% sure the Nines (TR-8R) is making these with Phasma.

Well this is just erase. Not much to say about it. Finn’s not even here, I guess he wasn’t in TFA or TLJ.

I don’t know if making Finn smaller than Poe, and shoving him behind Chewie, is an accurate depiction of who were the protagonists of TFA

Just…why is it always Finn?

No, for those of you wondering, Finn isn’t allowed to even win the fight. BB-8 does and Poe lectures Finn.

Okay, why is Poe constantly being made bigger than Finn? Would this be approved if he was made bigger than Rey? Did someone sell their soul to Papa Palptine?

It sounds petty, but notice Rey and Kylo aren’t being made small, Poe, who’s not the co-protagonist, is made fairy decent sized, but Finn again is placed behind him and smaller.

Yeah, it’s been a LONG few years

Some of this is official artwork, some of these are posters, others are book covers, the backwards tux is how Rian Johnson thought Finn couldn’t dress himself, the leaky bacta suit was included in the film, etc. These are far from the only times Finn has been made small or been made a fool of since post-TFA Star Wars, but I wanted to give some type of understanding to what’s going on. Now, I know some people may be wondering: “Well he’s there. What’s the big deal?”

Well, to understand what it’s a big deal, you have to understand how Finn originally was marketed and depicted.

Regardless of your views on if Finn is Force Sensitive or not–which, if you’re doubtful, let me shamelessly plug another article I wrote about there being two awakenings in TFA (click here)–Finn was always presented as the male lead of the ST: heroic, brave, and important to the story. The idea of him being just as important to the ST as Rey, or the antagonist Kylo, wasn’t something that people scoffed at, which is a stark contrast to how things are going now.

Through these last few years, there has been a trend of individuals trying to remove Finn’s importance from Star Wars, whether it be by depicting him as smaller than characters he’s narratively bigger than, leaving him off of posters and artwork, depicted him as a joke in various forms of media like comics or books, or even just cropping him out of pictures completely. There are even attempts to make him seem less important on Wookieepedia or TvTropes.com, and it’s having a domino effect with how the powers that be see the character. Disney and Lucasfilm are businesses at the end of the day, and like any business, they do what’s best for them first and foremost. If certain fans and media go out of their way to erase, sideline, or mock Finn, then Disney and Lucasfilm will not try to course correct it, but rather let it continue or make less content for the character. Then fans of the character get less interested in content regarding Finn, and the cycle continues.

At first, many didn’t think much of it, yet as time went on, the number of instances that it seemed people were going out of their way to depict Finn as a supporting character or sidekick were starting to pile up. Its honestly become a trend now that if new content is coming out that has to do with the sequel trilogy era, you might as well play bingo for one of the ways Finn will be depicted.

We have him pushed to the back, looking like a supporting character/sidekick:

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Finn is once again in the back, with lighter skin for some reason???

Finn once again is made smaller and has lighter skin…okay

How are there 3 different versions of this cover and Poe’s head is still orbiting Tatootine while Finn is smaller than Darth Vader’s will to live?

Is Phasma the one green lighting these? Is she still mad?! She’s probably alive! Nobody is ever really gone, remember! Maul does!

If that’s not your flavor, then we have The Rise of Skywalker media coverage, which consists of basically Rey and Kylo, with article writers that seem to forget everything about the last two movies and can’t remember that they’re not on Archive of Our Own anymore.

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The Journey to Rise of Skywalker really isn’t doing too hot for anything Finn related, if you couldn’t tell by the giant orbiting space station that is Poe’s head on the cover for Resistance Reborn. In Spark of the Resistance, Finn isn’t even in the book, sent off on some subplot with Chewie that likely we’ll never hear from again. Maybe he went back to Canto Bight to free the slave children instead of the horses. Side note, whose idea was it to have the former slave child of two decades (Finn) not even comment on the slave children at Canto Bight? Oh…yeah, never mind. There’s also Resistance Reborn, which is again more about Poe than anyone. There’s even a scene where Poe has to tie Finn’s tie because he doesn’t know how to do it, and so many people are now flashing back to the backwards tux.

At this point, I can already hear that person who always appears in discussions about Finn saying “Who cares? He’s just a supporting character who was a janitor. John isn’t the male lead”

First of all, go jump into a Sarlacc pit!

Second, let’s talk facts:

Huh, Finn sure does have a LOT of screen time for someone that doesn’t matter. Oh, well. Maybe, he was there for moral support.

As of both TFA and TLJ, Finn comes in 2nd to only Rey, while having 15 more mins of screen time than Kylo. In fact, in two movies, Finn has more screen time than Han or Leia had in their first two OT movies. Hell, Finn almost has as much as Obi-Wan did in his first two PT movies and Finn lost around 16 mins of screentime because he had the most deleted scenes out of TLJ. 7 deleted scenes if you’re curious. No, I don’t know why, beyond the fact that one of them had more Canto Bight in it, and yeah, that one should have been cut.

See, that’s the funny thing I’ve never understood about people saying that Kylo is the real co-protagonist and male lead, or that Poe is bigger narratively than Finn. Finn still has more screen time than Kylo in both TFA and TLJ and Poe isn’t even in the same league as Finn’s screen time in either of his two film appearances.

Further, John’s Finn represents something not seen in the Star Wars franchise ever before – the first and only black lead of any Star Wars movie let alone trilogy. Lando and Mace Windu didn’t exceed 10min of screen time in any of their films, and Ahmed Best’s Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace was severely reduced and nearly erased following the toxic backlash that drove the actor to contemplate suicide. And while James Earl Jones’ voice of Darth Vader is a timeless and iconic addition of black voice acting to the Star Wars franchise, Finn, and Finn alone, represents something more as a leading face of the concluding arc to arguably the most successful episodic series in cinematic history.

The real problem here is that there are people in the Star Wars community that just don’t want Finn to be the co-protagonist, the irony of which is amazing since it’s just the TFA boycott all over again. For every time someone says that Finn is the co-protagonist of the ST, there will be someone there to comment that he’s not. Kylo is, or in fact, Kylo is the SOLE protagonist of the ST and Rey is below him. So the irony that originally racists and sexists were boycotting the ST because they didn’t want to have a woman and a black man as the protagonists, have now turned into “fans” in general claiming that the true protagonist of the entire sequel trilogy is Kylo, the white guy.

Ironic indeed, papa Palpatine

Now, people putting Kylo above Finn isn’t the only cause of Finn’s erasure. As you can tell above or in recent merch or artwork, Poe is being depicted in front of Finn, bigger than him, more heroic, etc. Now, there is no problem with Poe getting more of a spotlight. But when every single thing that comes out is constantly depicting Poe, a character who is at best a supporting role that was upgraded to the status of one of the main characters in TLJ, as bigger and narratively more important than Finn, who dominated the marketing for TFA and still has more narrative presence in the trilogy than Poe, it comes off as colorism at worst and biased favoritism at best from LFL. Recently there’s been a drought of actual Finn content that treats the character with respect or even content at all with him in it at all. Meanwhile, the EU for the ST is practically filled with Poe to the point of arguably oversaturation for some. Now, I like Poe and I like Oscar, and maybe others can’t see it because they’re not used to colorism, but as a black man myself (Kenyan-Brazilian to be exact), I’d be lying if I said that elevating a white-passing Latino man of color like Oscar’s Poe while slowly erasing a darker-skinned Black man like John’s Finn doesn’t look like clear colorism on LFL’s part from the perspective of many black fans. For black fans, it seems like there is a constant battle to remind people of Finn’s status in the trilogy while everyone is trying to put Kylo and Poe above him.

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Since 2016 when Finn’s erasure started to take place, people on social media have been trying to bring attention to this problem, yet they’ve been met with others in the fandom ignoring them, or suddenly saying it doesn’t matter and changing the topic. In fact, recently, while even more people have been trying to bring attention to #WhereIsFinn, the #WhereisRose tag was created. Not only was it picked up by Nerdist, but major social media accounts agreed there was a problem with how Rose (who, mind you, is a supporting character) wasn’t on the initial merch, but were silent about the co-protagonist being shoved in the back behind Poe, made smaller, or not being present in the marketing in the same levels he was at the start.

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I’m not knocking you for trying, Nerdiest, but it’d help if you also talked about #WhereIsFinn that has been going on since 2016.

It’s actually ironic that OP has never touched on Finn’s erase or his placement in the back…

The thing about #WhereIsRose is not that it’s a bad thing to bring attention to the fact that Rose isn’t in the TROS marketing or merch, it’s the fact that these same people who are fighting for what they feel is an injustice, are totally ignoring the blatant racism and erasure of what’s going on with Finn. The difference is, some of these people aren’t even overtly racist, but they are against the idea of Finn being the co-protagonist. So this erasure of him isn’t seen as a bad thing, it’s seen as what should be. For instance, there is a vocal shipping community in the Star Wars fandom that has ironically been echoing many of the same things that the bigots did when the ST began. Only instead of the bigots who said “Finn shouldn’t be,” you have shippers saying “Finn isn’t” whenever it is said that Finn is the co-protagonist, or the male lead, etc, etc.

Another puzzling aspect of #WhereIsRose, is that if the objective co-lead of the trilogy is getting sidelined, or artistically segregated into tiny portrayals with the other black characters, what hope is there to give a supporting POC character proper justice and representation? In fact, we’ve seen the result of successfully gaining attention for #WhereIsRose without any thought or consideration for #WhereIsFinn.

Take for instance this The Rise of Skywalker art (below), which segregated the black characters to be much smaller than Poe, and left out Rose. After the artist acknowledged #WhereIsRose backlash, the artist then added in Rose, placing her in front of the other black characters. In doing so, the art now further segregates and minimizes the black characters behind Rose and under Poe. The artist has yet to acknowledge the #WhereisFinn trend pointing out the artistic segregation even though they were quick to acknowledge the #WhereisRose trend AND act upon it.

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Approving artistic representation such as that above spells out an extremely negative portrayal of ALL black characters, since not a single one of them could break a bigger feature than Poe – a secondary supporting character. Regardless of the artist’s intent, and without their responding to or acknowledging the #WhereIsFinn trend – it sends a message of favoritism and apathy at best, and accurately portrays colorism and anti-blackness at worst.

You see, that is in of itself is part of the reason why #WhereIsFinn even exists. Finn’s erasure is coming from all sides at this point, and only certain fans even care about it or recognize it, most of them being fans of color who are openly getting ignored or mocked. I’m not saying it has to be #WhereIsFinn vs #WhereIsRose, but if you think the lack of Rose merch is a problem and gives a voice to the racists and sexists, and see ZERO problems with Finn’s erasure and sidelining over the last few years, then there is a severe problem with how you are seeing the world and its problems with race. No, it is not right for a black man to be the co-protagonist, be on equal footing with two other white characters, then years later be placed in the back of everything or not even shown at all. There is a problem with this and people need to see it. No one is saying that we shouldn’t ask about Rose, regardless of if she is a supporting character or not, but all we are asking, and by we, I’m now referring to myself and many black fans at this moment, is that the same type of energy be used to help defend Finn and John Boyega from the racist treatment that has been going on since 2014.

People stood up for Rey, people are standing up for Rose, yet whenever it is time to stand up for Finn, no one does a damn thing. All many fans of Finn are asking for is that the same effort people give in fighting sexism or racism against other characters, they do the same for Finn.

But to be the devil’s advocate, for once in this argument, let me tackle why #WhereIsFinn isn’t picking up the same coverage that #WhereIsRey did get and #WhereIsRose is now picking up.

People. ARE. TIRED.

There is nothing more disheartening for a black fan, or a fan of Finn in general, who really wants good content for the character, than to be met with a comic that projects the negative attitudes that the fandom has for Finn by calling him a janitor in the description or having him scream “fear my mop!” while dirty water drips on his shoulder as Kylo stares him down. Regardless of Canon already debunking multiple times that Finn wasn’t just not a janitor, but rather one of the best cadets that the stormtrooper program ever had, seeing Finn depicted as a joke or a sidekick just makes fans and non-fans of the character not want to even consume his content. No one wants to see their heroes constantly made to look bad, and that’s something parts of the community and LFL do at times, which has a domino effect on how people absorb Finn content.

The second reason, that is in relation to everything we’ve talked about, is that Finn barely gets good, solo content made for him at all. There aren’t even many people championing for the character to be seen anymore because of the fact that all attempts to bring awareness to this problem, have fallen on deaf ears. There isn’t an “FN-2187 comic series or novel” that is used to flesh out Finn’s life and suffering when he was in the First Order while providing world-building for the FO and its characters. There isn’t a “Finn’s journal” that helps dive into the character’s inner POV and feelings throughout his adventure. In contrast, there has been a decent amount of solo content for Rose, Rey, Poe, and as of recently, Kylo, yet we still have nothing for standalone for Finn that’s detailed and personable.

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The comics that come out give fans of the other characters have moments like this:

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As Finn was being lectured by Poe, the fandom cheered because it looked like Poe was in a Jedi Robe.

A Rey comic that explores her abandonment issues before leaving to find Luke’s fish nun island

This one IS a Kylo comic, where he’s doing backflips and screaming ‘Your God is dead”.

Hux’s comic, that dives into some of his past trauma and his nightmarish adventure with Kylo “I haven’t showered in a month” Ren

Poe doing his best Captain Kirk impression as he dressed like Spock

And Rose and Paige remembering their sad childhood

Snoke’s comic that is basically a Kylo comic featuring Snoke

Phasma just being Phasma

Rey kicking names and taking ass

General Princess Space Mom and Rose. No jokes here. Move along.

While what little Finn fans get looks like this:

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First image of we see of a comic featuring Finn, is him getting wrecked by some steroid using alien. Spoiler alert, he doesn’t win the fight and he’s lectured after. Yay!

After years of trying to make it clear Finn wasn’t a janitor by citing Lucasfilm’s own canon, Finn’s comic description calls him a janitor, shows a preview of him playing with a mop he doesn’t know how to use. Why? Who the kriff knows

It’s rather hard for people to feel anything but disappointment for this character they cared about because of how he’s been handled, and that disappointment is having a negative effect on how everyone in the community, media, and even Lucasfilm treats Finn.

This character means something to people:

This character is an inspiration to many black fans, not just because he’s the lead in one of the biggest franchises in all of cinema, but because he’s someone who was oppressed by a system that enslaved him and chose to be better, to do the right thing, and stand up for what’s right, regardless of what the cost of it was to him. Seeing so many people at LFL, in the Star Wars community, and in the media not only refuse to treat the character with any respect, but also act like he deserves disrespect, is heartbreaking to many many fans of Finn who relate to the character, regardless of their skin color, age, or gender.

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It doesn’t matter what you are in this world. We all want the same thing in life, and that’s to feel like we belong. This article isn’t being written to target anyone, it’s not being written to start any fandom drama. The reason this article exists is that there are a lot of fans not getting their voices heard when it comes to trying to fight for Finn, and we want to give that voice a platform. We want people to hear them because this message is important. FINN. IS. IMPORTANT. He’s important for reasons of representation, he’s important to people who want to believe they can change their life for the better, and he’s important to the story of this trilogy. All we’re asking, all anyone is asking, is for him to get the treatment he deserves from the media, community, and LFL. That is why people are asking where is Finn.

“Finn could not simply be a sidekick or key ally in the story; he needed a story arc of his own. For the first time, The Force Awakens offered a Star Wars film in which two characters, not only one, are undertaking the Hero’s Journey.”

“Each of these archetypes appears in the Hero’s Journeys of Rey and Finn – but not always in the same way or with the same character in the respective storylines. This makes The Force Awakens an interesting study in the use of archetypes.The Hero, of course, is the central protagonist of the journey. In Rey’s adventure, she is the Hero; in Finn’s adventure, he bears that mantle and Rey fills a different archetype.” – Tricia Barr

Thank you for reading, and may the force be with you…Always.

Where is Finn?: The Erasure and Sidelining of a Star Wars Protagonist #StarWars #WhereIsFinn #WheresFinn It's pretty ironic in retrospect that when the Sequel Trilogy began, there was a large pushback from racists and bigots that a black man and a woman couldn't be the protagonists in the newest trilogy of Star Wars movies.

#whereisFinn #featured #Finn #jj abrams #John Boyega #Star Wars #The Force Awakens #The Last Jedi #the rise for skywalker #Where is Finn?

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lilyfromfrogzcountry · 4 years

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Saw TROS - spoilers ahead, don’t read if you don’t want to be spoiled

I need to get some things off my chest to sort out my feelings about this movie :)

It wasn’t as /bad/ as I expected. Let’s say I didn’t get bored. However, there was a lot of stuff I found weird, dumb or that didn’t make sense to me. A lot of things seemed rushed and like last minute additions, which spoiled a bit my enjoyment of this movie. So here’s a little summary of what I liked and didn’t like.

((Before reading, please be aware that i’m a hux fan and a multishipper (reylo included). If this bothers you, please avoid reading this post, since this will probably influence my perception of the movie))

⛔⛔ SPOILERS JUST BELOW - BE WARNED ⛔⛔

What I liked :

Finn finding other stormtroopers having defected (a whole battalion, even), and realizing that he’s not alone. Even if it was to be expected, Finn was always presented as an exception in the story. This shows us the First Order’s stormtrooper program isn’t as efficient in its brainwashing as they claim to be.

Hux being a spy for the Resistance. I know some Hux fans may not have liked it, but I personally found it to be an interesting development in his character. It’s not everyday that a high ranking officer, who’s been a ‘true believer’ in the cause his whole life, changes side like that. I wish it would have been explored more deeply and seriously. Too bad it felt like a last minute addition.

This idea that “some things are stronger than blood”. Rey’s ancestry doesn’t matter, doesn’t influence her destiny. Light side or Dark: what matters is who she chooses to be.

CGI young Luke and Leia flashback (I’m really a fan of this CGI way of bringing back younger versions of actors, the result is always quite realistic imo).

This cute and polite new little robot, D-0 . So sad to learn it was abused by its former master :’(

Kylo’s clothes changing when turning back to the Light. Bye bye black menacing attire and long cape, hello simple shirt and pants. Even if I loved his former look, I quite liked this one as well, it made him appear more “human”. Also, damn, I really found Kylo to be a treat in this movie, he looked so good!

Rey always making a difference between Ben and Kylo Ren : she makes it clear that what interest her is Ben, ie. the Light side of him. It is only after he turns back to the Light for good, after he becomes Ben again, that he earns her trust and love.

Rey lethaly wounding Kylo, then healing him. Because it really seems to be the thing that shook this boy’s soul and made him turn back to the Light (it’s a big part of why, at least). Also, I’m always a sucker for nice characters showing compassion towards villains.

That reylo kiss tho. I know this is a very controversial ship, but since TFA, I was personally certain something deep was going to happen between those 2. I’m glad it was a cute, sweet and hopeful kiss, right after Kylo saved Rey no less. We even get some Ben Smile™. I really wish the movie would have ended here and there, on this hopeful note.

A lot of Hux’s scenes, since I just like him a lot, and he looks both cute and funny (even if I don’t really appreciate how this character was turned into a joke after TFA). Him being unsettled by Kylo having his mask back on, and then saying fearfully how it ‘looks good’ when Kylo calls him out on it in front of everyone. Kylo waving his finger at Hux to shut him up. The whole interaction with Finn and Poe, how they were surprised he was the spy, how he helped them escape, how he asked to be shot to pretend he was taken hostage, the “I don’t care who wins, I just want Kylo Ren to lose” line, etc. Also, how strong his mind must be if he managed to hide the fact he was the spy from Kylo for so long (or did Kylo know and just ignored it?)

What I didn’t like

Rey being Palpatine’s granddaughter and all her powers coming from him. I’m disappointed, because what really interested me in this character since TFA is that she was a nobody. Star Wars had always been centered around the Skywalker family and its Exceptional Destiny™. It was nice for a change to see someone who came from nothing be the main protagonist and shake up the galaxy just because it was the right thing to do (a parallel to Finn, a simple and almost exceedingly banal stormtrooper who chose to become something more, and wasn’t pushed by some hidden destiny/heritage). Also, this whole Palaptine arc seemed like it was added at the last minute.

The whole ‘Palpatine is back and wants to make a new Empire’ shit. For me, Palpatine was really a thing of the past. That’s also what interested me in the First Order: the fact this was a regime built on the ruins of the Empire, having evolved under its shadow and memory, but wanting to become something more. It was a good way of exploring the “how the past can influence the present” thematic, and could be used as an interesting parallel to IRL authoritatian regimes reclaiming a glorious past. If Palpatine was behind everything from the beginning, nothing of this matters. Also, what was the deal with Snoke, then? Was he a mere creation of Palpatine from the beginning? Or a real being that got captured and manipulated? What was the point of this character?

Hux’s death. Like, I may be biased because he’s my favorite character, but his death was so rushed and unnecessary. Did he really need to be killed off by Pryde like that, in such a quick and callous way? With Phasma and Snoke gone, he was the only one left in the First Order to have a past history with Kylo. I think it would have been better to have them interact more, especially with the whole story of Hux being a spy. It would have created some interesting interactions. Also, he’s not anybody storywise: he’s one of the architects of the First Order’s rise to power, perfected the Stormtrooper program, participated in the creation of Starkiller Base, gave the order to destroy the Republic... He’s not some random underling. Nobody seems to react or care when he’s killed off out of the blue, which doesn’t make any sense storywise.

The whole character of Allegiant General Pryde. What was even the point of this character? Where does he come from? What did he do that Hux couldn’t have done? The only interesting thing about this character seems to be that he already served Palpatine during the Empire, but after this fact is stated, it doesn’t come up again and doesn’t really influence the story. He doesn’t do anything extraordinary, just gives random orders. Clearly a waste, imo.

The fact that the Rose/Finn thing is completely abandoned. I know a lot of people didn’t like that kiss in TLJ. I personnaly didn’t really care. But it’s weird it’s never mentioned again, and that even in the few interactions those characters have together, there’s no awkwardness, no aknowledgement that it ever happened (even just to say “we moved on”). It’s like it never even existed. What was the point of that kiss, then?

That weird love triangle thing I felt between Rey/Finn/Poe, and the hostility Poe seemed to have towards Rey for a good part of the movie. I really wonder if they didn’t try to subtly cater to Finn/Rey shippers (by making Finn seem in love with Rey) and to Finn/Poe shippers (by making Poe seem in love with Finn, and jealous towards Rey), while nothing clear is ever stated out loud. Of course, I may have misread the vibes, but that’s what their interactions made me think of.

Kylo’s death. Like, I may here again be biased because I like redemption stories, but was it really necessary to have him die right when he turns back to the Light? I was so hopeful for him, and it was all gone in an instant. Also, his death was very weird and seemed rushed. Rey kisses him, he smiles, he seems quite fine and not /at all/ on the verge of death, and then he just loses conciousness and disappears? What even was that?? (also, very sad to make that whole family die off without having known any true happiness away from Palpatine’s manipulations)

Stuff overwhelming the story: too many big revelations, too many powerful ships appearing out of the blue, too many weird stuff happening with Palpatine (wtf was that ‘ritual’ even? what was this shadowy audience he had?). Just...a lot of stuff to digest. And the Palpatine storyline seemed like it was added out of the blue. Nothing in the 2 last movies gave a clue about this (or it wasn’t obvious). Seemed like a cheap last minute addition..

#tros spoilers #the rise of skywalker

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burnouts3s3 · 4 years

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously. I enjoyed all 5 Michael Bay Transformers films, for crying out loud.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Ticket Price: Will Vary Theater to Theater How much I paid: Nothing. A friend took me to a screening. Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action. Running time: 142 minutes (2 Hours and 22 Minutes) 3-D: Yes, but I didn’t see it in 3-D. Post-Credits Sequences: None. My Personal Biases: I’ve watched all of the main Star Wars films. I’m mixed on the Phantom Menace. I actually like Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I like the Original Trilogy. I’m okay on The Force Awakens. I actually really like Rogue One. I do not actively dislike the Last Jedi. I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars Cartoons past Rebels. I have not seen Solo or the Mandalorian. Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 are among my favorite games. I had a subscription to the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. I haven’t played Jedi Fallen Order. I have not read any of the Star Wars books. Did you read the leaks online: Yes. Are the leaks close to the theatrical release?: Pretty much, though a subplot about Lando Calrissian’s long lost daughter seems to have been removed. Wait, is Rose Tico in this?: Yes, but she’s basically a background character. She hangs around the Resistance base delivering exposition with Leia. Is Admiral Holdo in this?: Not that I saw. I heard people say she’s a voiceover Force Ghost but the ghosts’s voices overlap so much, I couldn’t tell one voice from the other. My Verdict: After all that’s said and done, it feels like the sequel trilogy doesn’t add up to the sum of its individual parts. It feels as though Abrams and Johnson’s visions for Star Wars have vastly differed and without someone such as producer Kevin Feige to oversee the plotline, it sort of feels like a mess. Still, I had fun. (Warning: SPOILERS ahead!) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a Spoiler Review

Ever since Disney acquired LucasFilms, there’s been a curiousity that Disney would make the new Star Wars films better than the prequel trilogy of George Lucas’ vision. After the divisive reaction between fans and critics over The Last Jedi, what will returning director J.J. Abrams do?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Haters and Fans, HK units and Meatbags, this is a review of Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker.

One year after the Battle of Crait, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith Wayfinder device and travels to the planet Exegol. He discovers a physically impaired Palpatine, who reveals he created Snoke as a puppet to control the First Order and lure Kylo to the dark side. Palpatine unveils a secret armada of Star Destroyers and tells Kylo to find Rey, who is continuing her Jedi training under General Leia Organa. Meanwhile, Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca retrieve information on Kylo's discovery originating from a First Order mole. After learning that Palpatine has returned, Rey discovers notes on a Sith artifact in the Jedi texts Luke Skywalker left behind. Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8, and C-3PO leave for Passanna to seek a contact Luke knew, while R2-D2 stays behind with Leia.

Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber duels are nothing compared to the dueling tones and continuities’ of Rian Johnson’s revisionist take and J.J. Abrams overwhelming need to pay tribute to the Original Trilogy.

It feels especially after the mixed reception from the Last Jedi, Rise of the Skywalker is the film they made to appease everyone, even going so far as to contradict the last movie. I have an easier time believing Ant-man and the Guardians of the Galaxy belong in the same cinematic franchise than The Last Jedi and Rise of the Skywalker.

I’m going to spoil the film so I’ll give my verdict and explain how I felt after the cut. If you don’t want to be spoiled, look away now!

Verdict:

Matinee and turn your brain off.

LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK BEFORE I SPOIL THE FILM.

-Rey is Palpatine’s Granddaughter. Kylo continues his rant from The Last Jedi and explains her parents became nobodies BECAUSE they were Palpatine’s children and gave everything up to make sure Rey was kept away from him.

-Rey, Finn and Poe go along a journey to find Palpatine and kill him once and for all before he destroys the galaxy, such as finding Sith Daggers and erasing C-3P0’s memory to find the coordinates.

-Rey and Kylo Ren have a fight on a sunken portion of the Death Star and Rey kills Kylo Ren in a fight. Kylo Ren was distracted because Leia “used the last of her powers” to redeem Kylo Ren, thus giving Rey the opportunity to stab him. Rey heals Kylo Ren and steals his ship to go back to the planet in the Last Jedi. She does this because she’s afraid of becoming a Palpatine. Leia dies because of this (probably to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher). Poe becomes the new general of the Resistance.

-Force Ghost Luke talks to Rey while a vision of Han (it’s unclear if he’s a Force Ghost or just a vision in Kylo Ren’s head because he isn’t blue and transparent like Luke) and Han redeems him. (I’m guessing and, this is pure speculation from my part, that the scene originally had Leia come back as a Force Ghost, as in she would be the one to succeed in redeeming Kylo Ren where Luke and Han failed, but Carrie Fisher sadly passed away before the scene could be photographed.)

-Palpatine unleashes a fleet of Star Destroyers, each equipped with leftover pieces of the Death Star, meaning each Star Destroyer has the capability of destroying a planet. (Can we please have something besides the Death Star to be the final weapons? There’s been a plethora of other doomsday weapons we could use, we don’t need to keep going back to this one. Hell, SWTOR came up with a bunch of doomsday weapons.). The Resistance goes in one final battle to stop him.

-Rey confronts Palpatine and Palpatine attempts to taunt her to killing him, risking her friends dying to the fleet. If she does so, “all of the Sith” spirits will transfer into her. A redeemed Ben Solo comes in to save her. Using their Force Bond, Rey sneaks a Lightsaber to Ben while she uses another one to deflect Palpatine’s Lightning.

-Ben and Rey both confront Palpatine but Palpatine uses the Force to extract the Bond from them and let him power up his Sith Lightning so it’s capable of shooting up to the sky and destroying Resistance ships.

-Palpatine throws Ben over a Ravine and states “And so the Last of the Skywalkers Falls”.

-Palpatine shoots Lightning at Rey but Rey deflects the Lightning to Palpatine. Palpatine states “I am all of the Sith” to which Rey replies “And I am All of the Jedi”. She successfully kills Palpatine but it causes her to die as well, allowing the Resistance to defeat the Star Destroyer armada and save the galaxy.

-Ben climbs up the Ravine and sees a Dead Rey. Using the technique Rey used to heal him, he successfully brings Rey back to life. They share a kiss on the lips but then he dies.

-The Resistance meets up on a jungle planet and everyone hugs each other. Moz gives Chewbacca a medal. (I liked that part). Rey, Finn and Poe all hug each other.

-In the final scene, Rey returns to the burned Lars residence and buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. She draws out her own lightsaber which has an orange / yellow hue. A stranger passes by and asks her name. Rey, after seeing the Force Ghosts of Luke and Leia in the distance, answers, “Rey Skywalker”, adopting the name of her masters. She and BB-8 walk off to the twin sunsets of Tatooine and the film ends.

Obviously, there’s a lot to go over so I’ll just post my thoughts.

I don’t dislike Rey, but she feels too much like a series of reveals. I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, but the living embodiment of J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box, where in there’s always some sort of twist to her character. I don’t even mind the reveal that she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter and the final climax of the film is her rejecting her biological family in favor of her new family. It’s too bad that the other protagonists, Finn and Poe, don’t have much to do because their individual arcs wrapped up in the Last Jedi. Sure, there’s lipservice to the idea that Poe will be the new General following in Leia’s footsteps and Finn is still around because, as a former First Order soldier, he knows his way around ships, but they feel really perfunctory while Rey gets the spotlight.

I realize the reason I dislike the idea of Leia being Force Sensitive isn’t so much the Retcons to continuity but moreso the idea that she’s an accomplished General because she had Force Sensitivity as opposed to being just a capable woman. It’s inadvertently stating “This woman is awesome because she had space magic” as opposed to “this woman is awesome because she didn’t need Space Magic to get the job done”. It’s funny; producer Kathleen Kennedy was trying make the vision of a Female Jedi cool (which I can totally believe she’s genuine in that vision), but in doing so, it makes non-Force users such as Finn and Poe seem useless. To me, personally, I would have preferred (not demanded but preferred) that both Ben and Rey defeat Palpatine together and they both inherit the Skywalker surname. It feels like Rian Johnson was setting up parallel storylines of Ben and Rey to join together to be the new Jedi order but for whatever reason, they killed off Ben. They want to set up that Luke and Leia were a Force-sensitive Duo, but they don’t do the same for Rey and Ben? Maybe, this should have been “Rise of the Skywalkers” instead of “Rise of the Skywalker”.

Apparently Finn skipped that part of Stormtrooper orientation about Jet Packs.

Apparently, you can also plug in ancient Sith Holocrons to your ship and it will still be legible for Future Generations. Always forward thinking those ancient Sith Lords.

CAVEAT: You know what’s weird? For all talk about continuity and lore and fanservice, the one franchise I do think accomplishes what the new Star Wars trilogy was trying to do is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is also a Disney owned subsidiary AND promotes an inclusive globalist message). I realize the strength of the MCU comes from the fact they can do prequels, sequels and side stories in the universe and develop individual characters and do ensemble pieces since all the character work is in the other movies.

Meanwhile, Rise of the Skywalker is overstuffed with giving each of the characters screentime, dealing with the continuity and paying homage to the original movies.

However I feel about Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, Rose and BB-8, it just doesn’t seem to mesh together as seamlessly as Groot meeting Steve Rogers.

Does that feel weird to anyone else?

In a film franchise that gave us Midichlorians, Pod Racing, Jar Jar, the Clones, and Boss Nass, it doesn’t really surprise me that the silly stuff here is going to be added among those. The effects are handsome looking, the score is awesome and I’ll probably bring my family to a screening just to spend the Holidays together, but it didn’t really come together for me.

I don’t need a retcon. I don’t need an extended cut. I won’t sign a petition asking for LucasFilms to rewrite the movie. And I don’t think people that genuinely enjoyed this movie are paid shills (which clearly doesn’t work since this film has a Rotten Critic score on Rotten Tomatoes).

To me, this silly movie is just as canon as Anakin Skywalker being a snot nosed 9 year old who said cheesy lines about angels to older women. And I’ll buy the Rifftrax track for this film so I can rewatch it again with the commentary.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just some anonymous jerk on the internet.

#rise of the skywalkers #star wars #star wars 9 #rise of the skywalker #rey #spoilers #the last jedi #the force awakens

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