#Battle of Yavin

[giantmonster]

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Trust Your Feelings by Alexandr Elichev

[alphamecha-mkii]

Death Star is Cleared to Fire by Joe Wight

[star-wars-forever]

[misswift]

Andor finale had inspired me to make a "Battle of Yavin" comic. Andor + rogue one adds so much more to this scene. It's bigger than just Luke and the rebels we meet in a new hope.

[mommymothma]

Andor S2

Physically I am alone, baking into my sofa while suffering against the heat of summer. At one point I might have accepted my fate and waited for the weather to turn me into a crispy carcass to be eaten by whatever rodents or insect find me first.

But right now I do not care about the heat. I do not care that I am boiling alive in my own home. Right now all I care about is the absolute peak cinema I just watched.

The series finale of Andor did not disappoint, and I can hardly express in words the emotion I am feeling. Joy, for having experienced it. Grief, for knowing how it ends. Anger, for not being entitled to more.

There is a huge stereotype about Star Wars fans, "They hate Star Wars more than anyone". Normally I'd laugh and offer a cheap expression of "real" or "based". But right now... I don't hate Star Wars.

I don't think I have ever really hated it, only hated the commercialization of it. The sequels and many of the shows were cheap attempts at getting our attention, making money by exploiting us and the franchise we love. They pour in dollar after dollar, expecting that we heed to every one of their demands and take the garbage they've thrown at us with a smile on our face.

I hated that for so long Star Wars was treated as a machine, born to make money and nothing else. But looking at Andor I can see that there are creators out there, and fans, that see it as I do. I don't want them to slap my favorite character on a title card and make a show that has nothing to do with them. I want a story. A real story. About the people, the planets, survival.

Andor is not "A Star Wars Story", its a story about Andor, about a rebellion. It's the story of people who just want to watch the sunrise again, without having to worry about the light being blocked by an imperial banner. It's a story about people, who just happen to exist in the setting of Star Wars. And that is what makes it so great.

But enough with the vague descriptions, it's time I dissected as much as I can possible remember and process in this moment. Spoilers ahead for Andor S2

Kleya.

FUCKING. KLEYA.

Yall remember last week when I said "Idk why I just like her"

BITCH WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS FOAMING AT MY GODDAMNED MOUTH IN EPISODE 10. I did not expect to get an expansion on Luthen's lore, let alone hers. I was fully expecting to fill in the blanks of her life with fan fiction. When I heard we were losing 3 seasons of the show I resolved myself to the fact that her role would be reduced and that was that. I would still love and cherish her from the sidelines. I have friends watching that didn't even know her name, and probably wouldn't remember who she is if it weren't for this final act. Star Wars heroines have never failed me, and it seems they never will because the girls stay winning.

I knew Luthen was gonna die, I predicted that last week, and I was on the fence about whether she would be collateral. I was on the edge of my fucking seat for THREE hours because they kept baiting me into thinking it was the end of the road for her. Cassian, Mothma, Bail, etc all had very strong plot armor, so I never really had to worry about them. But Kleya... my god I was so SCARED. First at the hospital, I was certain she was going to get busted after she killed Luthen. I thought no way she gets out of this but SHE DID. And she did it so well they thought she was THREE people. Girls stay winning. Stay winning. Then, when Cassian comes to save her and she refuses to leave for so long I was pre-emptively crying. Like I was so sure this was it. Cassian needed one more loss just to really fuck with him. I was ready to cuss out the first person I saw tomorrow.

BUT SHE LIVES

and then I'm like, alright, certainly, she is fine now.

NO. Episode 12 I was so so so terrified she was gonna kill herself. I was so paranoid, she was struggling. I was BEGGING my tablet screen at this point to not let it happen. I simply could not have handled it and THANK THE FORCE. I am 100% convinced that if Vel had not found her right then, that the show would have ended with a very different tone. Thats 2 weeks in a row Cassian successfully smuggles a bad bitch off of Coruscant. STAY WINNING.

There is so much I could say about Kleya, but I'm actually gonna keep it for a bit. Let it cook. Let it marinate. Let it inspire. Just know it won't be the last you hear from me regarding her. She will be getting a picture on my wall mark my words.

Dedra on the other hand got what she had coming to her. I understand that her reinvestment into the Axis problem likely stemmed from the loss of Syril. I almost feel like she talked herself into thinking that it would "avenge" him. But, at some point during the gap, I think she lost her way and her motivations became very much personal. She was after glory. The parallels between her being in the room with Krennic to the interaction she had with Syril in season 1 that very much mirrored this.. Incredible screenwriting right there. The imperials routinely learn, again and again, that there is no reward for serving the empire. They is always someone above you. Someone who will not hesitate to waste you as you have wasted your inferiors. Every single imperial is a drone, and to the empower, drones are expendable.

Syril, Dedra, Heert. All of them assumed that because they were dedicated they were entitled to success. It was a fitting end for each of them, that they would die by the hands of the system to which they were so dedicated too. Signing up to the empire is signing your life away to them. They have no right to be scared when the time comes to reap that clause of their contract.

Unlike Kino, though, Dedra will at least know what it is her imprisonment is working towards. Whether that makes it better or worse for her remains to be seen. Regardless, I don't think it will do much to curb her ego.

RIP Dedra, I suppose the best case scenario for you is being able to look yourself in the mirror at the end of every day and tell your reflection that it was worth it.

Last big thing on my plate is the ending, the news about the death star, the reactions. I was a little surprised to see Bail so against the plan if I'm being honest. I loved him last week but this week he was pissing me off. When one of your most trustworthy, capable men comes to you and says "hey, our enemies have this weapon we cannot beat" YOU BELIEVE HIM. Also, Mon should have stuck up for Cassian a lot more in that scene. I know her and Luthen didn't end on the best of terms, but at the end of the day Luthen did come through for her. LUTHEN organized her escape from Coruscant, not Bail. When her cover was nearly blown and her jig was up... LUTHEN saved her. Now I know he has got his problems, but she should know better than anyone else at that table what Luthen would have given up for the rebellion. And if not Luthen, then she should have trusted Kleya. All that being said, she does come around, and to her senses so I forgive her. Also, appreciated the dynamic that she, while out in the woods on some random planet, was smiling in her final finale scene while Perrin, who was surrounded by wealth, grandeur and the "obedient" wife he had always wanted was not. Once a loser, always a loser.

That brings me to my conclusion for now and if you stayed this long thanks for hearing my rant. I don't have pictures this week because I used my tablets dying breath to finish the episodes so just a wall of text. Memes will follow I assure you.

I did not expect the Hunger-games ass looking ending (said with affection). Bix standing in that field, holding the child of what I'm assuming to be Cassian Andor, definitely tugged at the heartstrings. I'm mad at her, for one, because Cassian deserves to know he has a child out there. Parent/Child relationships run to the very foundation of Star Wars, and is not exclusive to this series. In Andor it's explored through Syril and his mom, as well as Andor and Maarva. But we see it again in Rebels with Ezra and Hera, Sabine and Hera, or them with Kanan. Anakin and his mother, Anakin and Luke. Obi-wan and Luke. Din Jarin and Grogu.

So after some thought, this revelation doesn't feel foul at all. Because if Bix had told Cassian, he never would have stayed on Yavin. He never would have rescued Kleya, and certainly never found himself watching that beautiful sunset on Scarif. And if he hadn't done those things... well there would be no future for Bix or his child. And as we have seen many times in this franchise, being raised by a single parent on a remote planet is hardly the worst thing that can happen to a child. In fact, it almost guarantees you some sort of plot armor. I have no doubt Bix will be devastated to hear that Cassian doesn't make it, and she may never forgive herself, but their kid will have a reason to wake up everyday. A reason to watch the sun set over a field of wheat and think about what it means to see a sky so blue. So full of hope.

I have made my peace with the fact that not everyone will get a happy ending, but at the very least, they all get to experience hope.

[errantindy]

Ya wanna know what truly makes Galen Erso’s planned weakness and all the effort of getting the Death Star plans in Rogue One darker but still full of hope?

Galen Erso secreted the flaw deep into the Death Star’s construction to get revenge for what the Empire did to his family and to give the galaxy a chance to end this threat to liberty.

Jyn Erso, Rogue One, an entire Rebel fleet and part of Yavin’s fighter wing sacrificed themselves at Eadu and Scarif to get the plans and pass them onward like a torch of hope to Leia and then to R2 and Luke and the gang. More died on Tatooine, Owen, Beru, a clan of Jawas, to keep that hope moving. Ben Kenobi gave his life on the Death Star to push hope further onto Yavin.

Then, the plans were analyzed, a battle plan was made, a plan with LONG, SUICIDAL ODDS, but that’s the hope they have, the torch guttering as it’s passed on. Luke and 29 remaining pilots in the surviving 30 fighters go up while Yavin and almost the heart of the Rebellion is in the crosshairs. 27 pilots die trying to act on the hope they’ve been delivered. And one of the most important, experienced pilots they have left, Red Leader Garven Dries, tries to make the shot…and misses.

All the hope THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS have died for rests on the shoulders of a farmboy swept up by uncaring destiny. And all that leads to that farmboy trying to follow the plan set out for him…and coming to a realization whispered by ghosts:

The targeting computer wielded by a mundane being could never have hit the exhaust port.

All that work, all the blood, sweat, tears, and lives expended to carry hope forward to this point, and only a fledgling chosen one of a sort almost purged from the galaxy, with the barest of training and relying on instinct and ability honed in his daredevil freetime could make the shot that mattered.

[swtechspecs]

Incom Corporation T-65C-A2 X-Wing Space Superiority Fighter

Source: The Star Wars Sourcebook (West End Games, 1987)

[gwempire]

Imagine, for a moment, that you're an evil sinister Dark Lord battling an uprising against your empire, and you notice a young pilot with the same magic powers as you, is the age that your child who died when your wife gave birth would be, shares your old surname, and has the preferred boy name you and your wife picked out. Would it take your evil sinister Dark Lord Overlord telling you that that's your son?

And IMAGINE, for a moment, that you're an evil sinister Dark Lord who's just come to power. You see that a close politician friend of your pregnant politician wife, who has recently died by your hand, has adopted a young girl who has the preferred GIRL name you and your wife picked out, would you be suspicious? Or would it take using your magic powers in a battle against your son by pluck his fears from his mind to realise you have a daughter as well?

Anyway I think Darth Vader was in active denial or dumb as a rock because dude?????

[foxykatie425]

Am I the only one that finds it a little strange that our chosen “Year Zero” in the Star Wars universe is the Battle of Yavin? Like I get that Episode 4 was the first movie so I guess people came up with the dating system early and just stuck with it, but I feel like the end of the Clone Wars and the fall of the Republic is a way bigger deal in the grand scheme of things. And it’s not like anyone in-universe is measuring from Yavin either. What’s the in-universe calendar(s)? 🤷‍♀️

[giantmonster]

[alphamecha-mkii]

Star Wars: X-Wing - Core Set - Proton Torpedoes by Scott Murphy

[star-wars-forever]

[sidonius5]

[grayrazor]

There are people who say that Clone Wars era starfighters were broadly better than Imperial ones, but in the movies at least, TIE Fighters have a way better K/D ratio than Vulture Droids. Nine TIEs took out 26/30 Rebel fighters over Yavin, while after the Droid Control Ship exploded there were at least half of the ~14 Naboo fighters left despite going up against hundreds of droids.

[errantindy]

A New Chapter IS AWAY!

Sand Becomes Pearls Chapter 39: Fear Like Fireflies has been posted.

The attack on the Death Star continues as TIE fighters arrive. Gold Leader begins his attack run, and Pearl and what remains of Red Squadron must defend themselves, defend Gold Squadron, and attempt to mask the rebels real purpose of the attack.