#Bods Star Wars Sequel Thoughts

[nobodysdaydreams]

As my Star Wars hyperfixation begins to sneakily creep its way back into my life, I’m going to throw my two cents in and say that I’d like to see more about what happens between TLJ and TROS.

Because Star Wars is a story about broken family relationships and one that I think is under explored is Leia and Ben’s.

After TLJ, Leia was still the leader of the resistance. And Kylo became the leader of the first order. Sure, Palpatine returned, but that wasn’t until later.

Which means that the entire year between TLJ and TROS was a mother vs. son battle.

Leia Organa, who already lost the love of her life and just wanted her boy back had to wage a war against him and his armies for a full year.

Benny Kylo “don’t make me shoot my mom” Ren had to wage a war against her. Again, for a full year. He’s not just on the opposite side anymore, he’s leading the war against his own mother.

Did they ever come close to killing each other but decide against it? Were negotiations ever offered? Did Leia ever feel conflicted between fighting for what was right and hurting her son? Did Kylo ever have to tell himself that it didn’t matter how he felt because his mom would never forgive him anyway? Did they ever accidentally force connect again?

I have ideas for this if any wants to hear them, but maybe it’s just me. But in a saga about the Skywalker family drama, this is one piece of it I can’t stop thinking about.

[itcamefromthetoybox]

Pauly Shore Trooper

Happy Star Wars Day! I absolutely love Star Wars, and can’t get enough of it, and have been collecting figures from it for years. And, I mean, can you blame me? Star Wars is one of the biggest and most influential sci-fi and movie franchises ever made, and is a cornerstone of our culture. So I thought for Star Wars Day, let’s talk about a Star Wars figure, “Star Wars: The Black Series Carbonized Shoretrooper!”

First, what exactly is “The Black Series?” Well, y’know those 6-inch action figures with all the articulation? This is the Star Wars line of those figures. The Carbonized Collection of Black Series figures is a subliine of the Black Series, where figures are given a metallic finish to make their armor look shiny and metal. The end result is a line of highly detailed and articulated figures that look like little statues, adding some flair to one’s Star Wars collection.

The Shore Trooper is a type of Stormtrooper first seen in the absolutely fantastic “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Sandtroopers go to the horrible dessert planets, Snowtroopers go to the freezing cold ice worlds, and these guys get to hit the beaches. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

This is what happens when a Stormtrooper gets his summer beach bod.

This particular Shore Trooper is painted after the ones seen in the hit Disney + series “The Mandalorian,” which takes place after the fall of the Empire, but before the rise of The First Order from the Sequel Trilogy of films. As a result, his armor has some wear and damage painted on, which really gives it that “I have been in a war” feel. The Shore Trooper’s entire paint job is absolutely amazing. The intentional wear and damage painted on in no way detract from his look, and the metallic finish looks beautiful. You really get the impression this figure’s made of some type of die-cast metal instead of pure plastic.

His sculpting is just lovely. Each plate of armor is detailed, and every part of his outfit is detailed to look just like metal, cloth, or whatever else he’s wearing. Appearance-wise, he looks really great, and I’m thrilled to have him. Even his gun is very detailed, which all results in a figure that looks like it stepped right off the screen.

Seconds before getting sand kicked in his face by a plucky rebel.

In terms of articulation, the Shore Trooper, like the majority of the Black Series, definitely delivers. He’s got articulation all over his body, so you can pose him almost any which way. The one issue is that, once you get to his legs, his skirt armor gets in the way of some poses, so watch out for that.

He has a blaster that fits in either hand, though it’s intended to be held in his right hand. It’s his only accessory, and it doesn’t fit tightly into his one hand, but having him hold the barrel with his left hand solves that problem. Just watch out, because other than the Shore Trooper holding his blaster, he has no other way to store it, so try not to lose it.

He looks cool, he’s super shiny, and he still shoots like a blind drunk.

The Shore Trooper’s a great figure aimed at the collector’s market, and I myself would recommend him for collectors and older kids. He’s meant to be displayed as part of a collection, and a lot of people would be wary of getting him banged up and scratched. Though, since I play with my toys, mine’s probably going to experience that fate. Right now, the Shore Trooper can be found on retail shelves for about $20, though I got mine for $16 because Target had a sale. This is JL signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting, and May the 4th Be With You!

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Hi! I’m a big fan of your work!! I am looking for more but unfortunately I feel like I have read all yhe good Harry Potter docs on Ao3. Do you have any recs?

Sorry for the delay, I just know that whenever I make rec list it usually ends up taking a while.

With that, Harry Potter fics are a big genre. Just saying Harry Potter in general really isn’t that specific to me so this is across genres/character focuses/you name it.

Also, as usual, I’ve been on fanfiction longer and have amassed more favorites there. Some of these are cross posted to Ao3. Similarly, a lot are unfinished, this personally doesn’t bother me but if it bothers you take heed.

Also, you’ll see my embarrassing obsession with Tom Riddle. So, heads up for that.

Stepbrother (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, period piece, in which the two remind me a lot of Nabokov)

Cat Among the Pigeons (Tom Riddle/Lily Evans, Psycho-Pass Detective AU, in which I am a beta actually so my promoting this goes without saying)

Til Death Do Us Part (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Voldemort wins AU, which for me does very well with the concept of immortality and what exactly Tom is supposed to do after he wins)

This Tangle of Thorns (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, modern AH AU, a full on Nabokov inspired fic which I enjoy because Lolita)

Delusional (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, sort of. Harry wins the war, goes crazy, checks into a mental hospital. Or he’s not crazy and Voldemort is as unkillable as Palpatine.)

Harry Potter and the Natural 20 (OC insert, D&D inspired, shameless crack. I mostly enjoy the beginning of this but it makes me laugh enough to recommend.)

A Hairy Business (AU, Harry is a deer, he is literally a deer, that’s it. It’s funny.)

Animus, Anima (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time, gets stuck in Tom Riddle’s brain, and it turns out Harry’s responsible for every terrible thing that ever happened. This one was squicky even for me, very well done, but strap in.)

Addendum, He is Also a Liar (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Tom has an inexplicable ability to travel to the future, but only to this random little girl Hermione Granger)

Framed & Fractured (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry gets stuck in an evil painting back in time. Tom is creepy as usual.)

Trying for Eden (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time to lecture Tom into morality. It doesn’t work.)

Magical Mirrors (Luna Lovegood and Severus Snape, Luna and Snape stumble on the Mirror of Erised at the same time and strike up a conversation)

Aphelion (Hermione Granger/Loki, MCU crossover, Hermione and Loki strike up the world’s weirdest toxic friendship when Hermione’s young and attending Hogwarts, this leads terrible places as Loki slides into madness and despair)

Wandering Souls (Luna Lovegood and The Undertaker, Black Butler crossover, Luna meets and strikes up a conversation with the Undertaker)

Of Lies Most Beautiful (Tom Riddle, Hunger Games crossover, Tom wins the Hunger Games becaues that’s what he does bitch)

In Wonderland (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry ends up back in the past and decides to raise Tom Riddle. This goes so poorly that the pair almost get eaten by eldritch gods multiple times.)

Rumpelstiltskin, Guess My Name (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Female Harry travels back in time and offers to save Merope’s life/get her Tom Riddle Sr. the non rapey way in return for her firstborn son. Merope thought Harry was joking. She wasn’t joking. In the sequel, also linked, Harry kills Morfin.)

The Eyes (Harry Potter, AU, turns out “the power he knows not” is the power humanity knows not, Harry’s ability to see eldritch abominations and cosmic gods and thus bring them far enough into our reality that they eat everything. And I mean everything.)

Mirror Mirror (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry makes a huge mistake and stops Hulk in the middle of a rampage. This gets him abducted by octopus nazis.)

I See the Moon (Harry Potter and Bruce Banner, MCU crossover, Harry got brain damage from the war and wanders around the middle of nowhere. He runs into Bruce. He’s now Bruce’s only friend.)

You Will Be the Death of Me (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Despicable Me inspired, through a series of convoluted events Tom as the world’s worst father figure ends up raising Harry the sad adorable orphan.)

In Death, Standby (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter (sort of, the authro claims), Tom raises Harry, the only Tom raises Harry that I’ve seen done well because Tom is the world’s worst father. Harry thinks he’s a deformed snake until the age of three.)

Little Harry’s Mirkwood Adventure (Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley, Hobbit Crossover, one of the most Tolkien style crossovers I’ve actually seen and is very good)

A (Self-Imposed) Trap for a Fool (Ginny Weasley, turns out Harry Potter never existed, as in he’s a collective hallucination made up by the entire wizarding world)

McLaggen and From McLaggen with Love (McLaggen, a detective AU then a James Bond style adventure starring McLaggen, the greatest wizard who ever wizarded)

Tom Riddle’s Diary: on keeping devils in the summer (Tom Riddle, Tom Riddle’s antichrist orphan adventures involving exorcism and burning people alive)

and the fates sing (hold on, son) (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry is the son of Loki and like all children of Loki he is a wretched and cursed thing)

A Faulty Master (Harry Potter and Itachi Uchiha, Naruto crossover, Itachi after the massacre of his family has a run in with a master of death Harry, who is a creepy creepy man)

Eye of Reason (Harry Potter/Jack Frost, Rise of the Guardians crossover, due to the mythos surrounding his life Harry ceases to be a man and becomes akin to a god)

Flowers for a Ghost (Luna Lovegood and Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Crossover, Luna befriends a blind ghost)

Third Time’s the Charm (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Bruce Banner keeps trying to kill himself and MoD Harry is there to have himself a real good day)

Blind Faith (Bellatrix LeStrange/Tom Riddle, canon compliant, an in depth look at Bellatrix from the escape of Azkaban onward)

Cocktail Time (Rita Skeeter and Gilderoy Lockhart, Rita does an expose and autobiography detailing the descent of Gilderoy Lockhart and how he became what he became)

Fantastic Elves and Where to Find Them (Harry Potter, canon divergent AU, Harry thinks he’s an elf. That’s it.)

The Twine Bracelet (Colin Creevy, a look at Colin’s death) 

Legal Alien (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry visits New York and an alien invasion breaks out. Culminates with the best, dumb, joke.)

The Root of Desire (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Hermione travels back in time and tries to influence Tom. All this does is inspire his sexual awakening.)

Deadheads (Harry Potter/Godric Gryffindor, a romantic comedy of a kind, culminating in the best dumbest joke)

Give and Take (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Hermione tries to outwit Tom, it ends in despair)

The Road to Somewhere (Harry Potter, Spirited Away crossover, Harry as MoD is in the realm of the spirits)

Absolute (Harry Potter, Harry picks up a death note, he kills everyone)

Fortunate Son (Dudley Dursleys, years afterwards Dudley looks back and writes a memoir and expose about the abuse inflicted on his cousin)

Elective Affinities (Severus Snape/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time to discover his parents are assholes and things are more complicated than he imagined)

Juxtaposed (Bod, Graveyard Book crossover, Bod attends Hogwarts)

The Fire Omens (Tom Riddle and a look at WWII)

Broken Toys (Tom Riddle and his useless broken toys)

The Fine Art of Poisoning (Madame Zabini)

A Marriage of Convenience (Pansy and Theo get married)

Reparabilis (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom becomes a professor, he still destroys Harry Potter)

The Unforgivable Curses (Draco Malfoy, a look at the 4th year unforgivable lecture with Moody and the Slytherins)

Ugly (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy one sided Dudley/Harry Potter, Dudley’s fat, ugly, and creeps on his cousin)

Three Can Keep a Secret (Harry Potter, on secrets and secret keeping)

Caveat Incimici (Hermione Granger, on Hermione and her terrifying wrath)

Babylon (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Harry never gets rid of Tom)

Wonderful Tragic Mysterious (Luna Lovegood and Albus Dumbledore, Luna Lovegood time travels and becomes a young Albus’ neighbor)

In the Clockface, Weighted and Weary (Harry Potter/Ariana Dumbledore, Harry after DH ends up back in time in Dumbledore’s childhood and witnesses the beautiful Dumbledore family dysfunction)

Eternal Return (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Harry is reincarnated as Tom Riddle and as a result becomes Voldemort so that a Voldemort exists)

Like Pale Fire (Harry Potter/Godric Gryffindor, the Founders are resurrected and it turns out Harry had travelled to the past and become Salazar Slytherin, turns out the Founders were more complicated than people expected.)

12 Moves Sideways (Harry Potter and Light Yagami, Death Note crossover, Light becomes the Defense Professor, for once Harry does not figure out the mystery.)

A Very Young Girl’s Record of Her Own Impressions (Ariana Dumbledore’s diary)

Night Comes Early (Moody on war)

Little Witches (The Black family women and how it all falls apart)

Paved with Good Intentions (Petunia on finding a baby on her doorstep)

Emerald Serpent for Vanity (Draco and Nagini introspective)

Blue (Tom Riddle/Bellatrix LeStrange, Voldemort wins dystopia, Tom visits Bellatrix’s grave and is very crazy)

Eighteen (Hermione Granger, on Hermione’s betrayal of her parents)

Ouroboros (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, on what they’ve made of each other)

Not so Different (Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird Crossover, Scout reflects on the wizarding world’s raicsm)

Traitor (Hermione Granger, Hermione is captured by the Death Eaters and commits unspeakable acts to free herself)

Smashing Mirrors (Tom Riddle, introspective)

Twelve Dark Moons (Luna Lovegood/Tom Riddle, Luna becomes a captive of the dark lord)

Full Circle (Harry Potter, Harry wins and is miserable)

The Web of a Thousand Spiders (Luna Lovegood on the diary)

The Metronome (The fall of Lucius’ entire generation)

Understand (Hermione Granger and her betrayal of her parents)

Tea with the Headmaster (Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, the pair have tea)

This Grief Feeling (Hermione Granger and Severus Snape after the end)

After Innocence (The trio after the end)

Of Great Turmoil and Excess Stupidity (Sesshomaru and Hagrid, Inuyasha crossover, Hagrid decides to capture a demon for class)

What’s Left of Hope (Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, on preserving hope)

In His Keep (Severus Snape and Luna Lovegood, Snape informs Luna her father has died)

Wednesday (Petunia Evans, introspective)

In the Presence of Angels (Moody in WWII)

What He Grows to Be (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry Potter raises Tom Riddle in the past and it goes horribly wrong)

Being Cassandra (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Tom, and their strange AU friendship)

The Girl (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, a fem Harry Potter keeps accidentally appearing in Tom’s childhood)

Corruption (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom wins AU and female Harry slowly becomes corrupted)

One Night Stand (Tom Riddle/Lily Evans, a wonderful look on the first war, Tom Riddle, Lily Evans, the Order of the Phoenix, and terrorism)

The Voldemort Principle (Severus Snape, turns out Snape was Voldemort the whole time and Harry is a lying liar who lies)

Harry Potter and the mountain of pure diamond (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry has become an ageless god who travels worlds and decides to raise Tom Riddle. He’s disturbed when he realizes Tom is more of a person than he is)

A Road Less Travelled By (Harry Potter/Lucius Malfoy, Harry’s a veela, just read it, it’s amazing, I know I sound crazy but it is)

Transformation (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Draco gets eaten by the Forbidden Forest and then Harry gets eaten too)

Rock Bottom (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom gets trapped being defense professor and has a miserable time)

[cariyvette]

Creating and Transforming

When it comes to media and technology it is constantly transforming, media is changing in the sense that what we are absorbing from it is turning our creations into what are known as “remixes” and stolen content. Technology is also transforming when it comes to what is being built and how we use it whether it be good or bad, for example when we use technology to create and when we use it as a distraction without really realizing.

On TED talk the topic “Embrace the Remix” was talked about by Kirby Ferguson he mentions that the way that one creates a remix is by copying, transforming and combining; “you take existing songs, you chop them up, you transform the pieces, you combine them back together again, and you have a new song.” An example Ferguson mentioned was in regards to Brian Burton who also goes by Danger Mouse, he created an album by the name of “The Grey Album,” and it’s said that in order to create that album he combined the “White Album” by the Beatles and “The Black Album” by Jay-Z.

Another example Ferguson used was a series of songs that Bod Dylan made that sounded the same as other songs some such as, “Nottamun Town” by Jean Richie and “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan, “The Patriot Game” by Dominic Behan and “With God on Our Side by Bob Dylan and finally “Who’s Gonna Buy You Ribbons” by Paul Clayton and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Bob Dylan. In all of these examples the similarities were either the instruments/sounds or the lyrics that were copied but unfortunately to the other artists and producers their property was taken.

In the media is how we come across music, television shows and movies, all in which had to come from somewhere, all in which maybe wasn’t an original idea but a continuation of someone’s idea, all in which is considered a “remix.” In a YouTube video called “Everything is a Remix Remastered” by Kirby Ferguson talked about just that, that “most box office hits rely heavily on existing material” and this reason being is probably because they are sequels or remakes of other movies, novels and even toys.

Ferguson then moves into a new topic that goes along with the name of his video “Everything is a remix” which is technology and that is also a part of remixing because its constantly transforming and according to Ferguson it’s “taking an idea and making variations.” An example would be the computer starting with the ‘Xerox” which created the modern personal computer known as the “Altair” and then apple created two difference versions of the computer known as the “Lisa” and “Macintosh.” According to Ferguson it was the “Star 8010 and the Altair that served as a foundation for the Macintoch.”

As for technology the other negative aspect of it aside from artists and producers claiming their work and not wanting remakes of it, it’s a transforming distraction for students. 

So, when it comes to remix it’s what we are surrounded with when it comes to media and technology, if it wasn’t for an idea that came from somewhere, we wouldn’t be transforming it would just be that one idea. According to a video called “Digital Nation” by Rachel Dretzin and Douglas Rushkoff technology has caused students to become multitaskers but that’s not necessarily a good thing. In the video they had a chance to talk to students when it comes to multitasking while writing an essay and they were able to find out that most of their essays don’t necessarily make sense. The reason being is because they tend to a paragraph at a time and in between those paragraphs they look on social media either on their computer or telephone that when they get back to it, they don’t continue on the same train of thought. As technology continues to transform there will be more reasons for individuals to be distracted and more opportunities to make remixes of content with media.

[kartiavelino]

The highs and lows of pop culture in 2018

While some things in the world could be going better, it was at least another fascinating year in pop culture. A yodeling boy from a Walmart aisle 3 went viral, the people behind the charming “Crazy Rich Asians” got crazy rich and The Rock took a breather by only releasing 16 projects. In a nod to Brett Kavanaugh, let’s flip back through our calendars and revisit the highs — and yes, some lows — of TV, movies, music and celebrities this past year. Jan. 28 Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Kesha at the Grammys The singer is joined onstage by dozens of white-clad female singers for a buzzworthy #MeToo tribute. Too bad the show was broadcast on CBS. Feb. 4 Justin Timberlake flops at Super Bowl LII Justin Timberlake returns to the big game’s halftime show after the notorious 2004 “wardrobe malfunction” and underwhelms with a milquetoast medley. They should have just had the Prince hologram perform the whole thing. Jack’s death revealed on “This Is Us” Crock-Pot cooked when it’s forced to defend itself after a very special episode of the weepy drama finally clears up a long-running mystery, revealing that a fire caused by a slow cooker led to Jack’s demise. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. Nor would you want to. Feb. 16 [embedded content] “Black Panther” storms theaters A film about a third-tier character, who’s had trouble even sustaining his own comic book title over the years, goes on to become the year’s biggest domestic earner. Man, studios should really start making some superhero flicks. Feb. 18 [embedded content] Fergie botches the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game The singer shoots the vocal equivalent of an airball with a slowed-down, sexed-up version. The NBA hasn’t been party to a musical travesty this bad since the last time Knicks owner James Dolan’s rock band performed. March 16 “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” opens on Broadway The red-hot London import bows on Broadway, and audiences watch as their money disappears, with scalped seats to see the original story about the adult wizard asking as much as $5,000. March 27 Adam Rose/ABC via AP “Roseanne” returns ABC revives the blunt-force sitcom after a nearly 21-year hiatus, giving the network enough time to plan for absolutely every factor that could affect the show’s success. Absolutely every one. April 16 Kendrick Lamar wins a Pulitzer Prize In a curveball, the awards committee hands the prestigious prize to the rapper for his album “DAMN.” The honor comes with a $15,000 prize. “Do you have change for a $30,000?” Lamar asks the committee. April 28 Reuters Michelle Wolf stirs controversy at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Wolf roasts Donald Trump, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the media so ferociously, it forces the hosting body to actually rethink the dumb event. May 18 Peter steals “Deadpool 2” Despite all the new characters crammed into the sequel, it’s Peter, the dad-bod everyman member of X-Force played by Rob Delaney, who is the breakout. His eventual Disney ride will allow visitors to sit in a comfy chair and compute their earned income tax credit. May 19 AP Prince Harry weds Meghan Markle The British heir marries mixed-race American Meghan Markle, leading to endless speculation about whether Harry’s family will accept someone so different. After all, Markle is only cable-TV-star-rich. June “Fortnite” continues to dominate screens In June, the video-game maker announces it has attracted a whopping 125 million players — though most of us are no closer to knowing what the hell it is. June 15 Wretched “Gotti” opens The biopic starring John Travolta as the infamous mob boss gets whacked by critics, earning a 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers might rather spend a year in a maximum-security federal prison. June 21 [embedded content] Paul McCartney goes for a “Carpool Karaoke” In arguably the greatest installment of the long-running late-night segment, the former Beatle returns to Liverpool, stopping by his childhood home and rolling down Penny Lane. All the while, Paul makes sure to introduce himself to stunned locals, as if they don’t know who he is. That’s for Ringo. June 29 Drake acknowledges secret child on “Scorpion” After weeks of rumors, the rapper steps up nobly and confirms that he has a son with a French woman. “I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world/I was hiding the world from my kid,” he raps on the album. Might want to hide those old episodes of “Degrassi” from him, as well. Sept. 20 Disney chief announces pull-back on “Star Wars” After the summer’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” fizzles, Disney’s Bob Iger admits in an interview that the amount of “Star Wars” material may have been “a little too much.” Bad news for people hoping for a trilogy about how Greedo got his vest. Oct. 11 CNP/startraksphoto.com Kanye West visits the White House Ye stops by the Oval Office and launches into a rambling 10-minute monologue that is so incoherent, he nearly lands a position in Trump’s cabinet. Oct. 14 Celebrity couple-of-the-moment Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson split Who’d have thought we’d ever live in a world where two kids who moved in together, got matching tattoos and got engaged a few weeks after meeting don’t last? Nov. 12 Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Stan Lee dies The world, and fanboys, mourn after pop-culture force Lee passes away. On the plus side, he accomplishes something that’s unheard of at Marvel: actually ending a story. Dec. 16 Kentucky radio station plays “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” for two straight hours The station says the song captures what the holidays are truly about: providing gathered families with petty culture-war ammunition to argue about around the tree. Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/12/27/the-highs-and-lows-of-pop-culture-in-2018/ The post The highs and lows of pop culture in 2018 appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/12/the-highs-and-lows-of-pop-culture-in-2018.html

[nobodysdaydreams]

Since posting on the potential for the Sequel Trilogy (especially in regards to Leia and Ben's arcs between TLJ and TROS), @myfairkatiecat has asked me for my thoughts. I apologize in advance. There's so much I don't even know where to start. I suppose the best place to start is my thoughts on TFA and TLJ:

I liked the force awakens. It was the first Star Wars movie I'd ever seen. I wasn't planning on getting into Star Wars, because like most people who didn't grow up with the movies, I still knew all the twists, all the memes, and all the quotes. What was the point in seeing it? I knew it was good, but it was hard for me to feel the magic of seeing it for the first time when I'd seen so much out of context already. But the force awakens was new. I know a lot of fans at the time were like "this is a cheap new hope remake" and sure, it had a similar plot structure, but it also introduced a lot of new ideas, characters, and concepts, and I think it succeeded in it's two goals: 1) Offering the beginning to an excited new story that could go in a number of interesting and cool directions. 2) Capturing what was so good about Star Wars in a way that would bring in new fans. It not only succeeded, but it completely knocked it out of the park, at least for me. I remember sitting in the theater, before the movie was even over, and thinking to myself "Dang it. They did it. I didn't think they'd do it, but they actually did it. This is the start of another hyperfixation. Maybe one of the worst I've ever had." I knew 100% that the moment I had free time that this was going to take over. And it did. I appreciated the other movies so much more after having had the experience of watching a Star Wars movie unspoiled that captures that feeling. This brought me into the fandom. It might not be everyone's favorite movie, but I loved it.

The Last Jedi was actually good, but it made one fatal mistake. Two if you count the fact that they skipped all the Ben and Leia stuff, but I forgive them for that because it's not like they could see the future and knew Carrie Fisher was going to pass away. If they knew that, I think they would have written a different script. But I liked most of it. The force dyad stuff was incredible. I was in that theater completely in awe because I gotta hand it to them: I would never in a million years come up with the force dyad stuff, and it's better than anything I could have thought up with on my own. 1000/10. Amazing. Fantastic. So what then is my problem with TLJ? Finn. Especially because he was right where he needed to be. They could have even done his arc in a lazy way, and I would have still accepted it. All they had to do was have him panic and rescue Rose from Hux, accidently connecting him to the force, and then he could suddenly be like "woah I'm force sensitive." All they had to do was have him find some files on where he came from and info on all the stormtrooper brainwashing so that we could continue to explore the mystery of his past instead of pretending like it doesn't matter. For heaven sakes, he was right there on the ship. We saw a hologram of child Finn in Force Awakens when they were going over his file. Phasma could have offer him information about himself or his past in exchange for his freedom or betraying the rebellion. Not to mention Finn's discovery his force sensitivity would have parallel Rey discovering she's a dyad AND her not receiving any answers about her past, which would that tied the movie together thematically. That plotline was right there on a silver plater, it was the obvious choice, the easy part, it baffles me that they fumbled it, especially when the stuff they did with Kylo and Rey completely knocks it out of the park. I've probably watched the scene of the two of them fighting in the throne room the most of any Star Wars scene. But I don't think I've ever gone back to rewatch one of Finn's scenes from TLJ. But I could have and that frustrates me so much. I left the theater of TFA being like "Dang. They got me. I'm hyperfixated now.", and I left the theater of TLJ feeling kind of conflicted. On the one hand, the force dyad stuff was one of the best things I'd ever seen. But on the other hand, I wanted more out of Finn. The Rose and Finn kiss came out of nowhere for me, and it made me worried they were gonna waste time in the third movie with an unnecessary Rose, Rey, Finn love triangle then ended with Finn and Rey together (turns out I did not need to worry about that. They had plenty of other ways to waste my time. But I'll put my thoughts on the romance plotlines in another post because...romance wasn't the biggest draw for me anyway, and my takes on it are a tad more nuanced than "love it or hate it with everything in my soul" which seem to be the only two options). But my other worry was that they didn't seem to know what they were doing with Finn. They also have a lot of "Main characters" to keep track of now. The OT trilogy had the classic "Leia, Luke, Han". Now we have Rey, Poe, and Finn, but Rey and Poe didn't meet until the end of the second movie, and also we have Rose now, and then we have Kylo/Ben and his whole dyad bond, he's much more of a main character than dark mysterious villain. In the OT trilogy, was Vadar conflicted? Sure, but we as the audience didn't fully know that until the end, we didn't need to spend a ton of screen time following his internal journey. But we did need that for Kylo/Ben because of everything they set up for him. With all of that, plus Carrie Fisher dying (which would likely force them to rework a lot of their plotlines), I did have concerns going into TROS. But, since they blew me away with the force dyad stuff, I held out hope that they wouldn't fumble it. Sure, I saw the negative reviews. But everyone was crying about TFA and TLJ too, and I enjoy those. So I held out that hope until the end.

And...well... I have thoughts on TROS too. But I'll save those for another time. Also: I know things can get heated in the star wars fandom, and while I welcome engagement and it's totally cool if you hated TFA, loved Finn's TLJ arc, and hated the force dyad, (different opinions are fine!) please don't hate on my posts and please be respectful. Thanks! 🥰

[nobodysdaydreams]

Still thinking about Ben and Leia

Sorry for all the Star Wars posting, but on the subject of the underutilized potential of exploring Ben and Leia's relationship in between TLJ and TROS, has anyone noticed the in TLJ, Kylo not only refuses to shoot at his mom's ship, but might have tried to go after her when her ship is blown up?

If you go back and watch the scene, after Leia is thrown into space, they show a shot of Kylo's face, and then his ship veers off course into space after her. He only turns around when Hux comes on via hologram to inform him that the resistance is out of range and they can't cover him if he keeps flying that direction and orders him to come back to the fleet.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if he ignored Hux and kept going and got to Leia before she force pulled herself back to the ship. Would Kylo try to save her, and if so, would he do it by surrendering to his mother and her army or by taking her prisoner? Would Leia try to run from her son and flee with the resistance or would she try to reach him one last time?