#I am a basic star wars nerd

[kurlyfrasier]

First Encounter (The Holonet Reporter, Part 1)

You might wanna read The Holonet Reporter One-Shot before reading this, but it’s not necessary.

Synopsis: A holonet reporter finds trouble at an underground massif fight where she meets the Silver Mandalorian for the first time.

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!OC (platonic)

Warnings: Threats, mild violence, implied child labor/slavery. Grogu is only mentioned, sorry folks. AU where there are holonet reporters

A/N: This takes place after TBOBF. Din has accepted his role as Mand’alore. We are pretending that there are reporters for the holonet, like we have newspaper reporters, ok? ok. We are also pretending the holonet newspaper can be read on datapads like you read books on a kindle or nook, ok? ok. I hope you ENJOY!

Word Count: 3135

Disclaimer: I do not own any Star Wars/Mandalorian anything. OC is my own.

Mando’a Words:

- Mand’alor (MAHN-dah-lor): Leader of Mandalorians

Pronunciations found here.

Din Djarin stood frozen in the shadows. He was clearly tired, exhausted really, to be seeing her. It had to be a trick of the mind. Maybe the Force? A concussion, most likely. But there was no way that the woman on the other side of the market, haggling for the saddest looking beat-up blaster he had ever seen, was his mother.

For one, she couldn’t have been any older than he last remembered seeing her, if not around the same age. For another, she seemed a few inches too short. Then again, he had grown over the years. Maybe she was a clone? 

He shook his head.

Impossible.

“Oh great Mand'alor,” a hand smacked down hard on his pauldron, roughly shaking him to his senses. His eyes never left the woman across the bazaar.

“Who’s that,” he stated, knowing if any of his friends knew, Cara would. She always kept up with who was who and what was what. It came in handy during formal political galas. He always knew who was coming, thanks to her.

“Who- Oh,” he could hear her smile as she leaned on him as if he were a shelf, elbow resting on his shoulder. “That’s Dinna. A holonet reporter. The holonet reporter, actually.”

“The?” he asked, tilting his head in question. Ah, so not the force or a trick of the mind. A clone was still in the realm of possibilities though. He would’ve turned to look at Cara, but she made that impossible at the moment.

“The one who’s written all the stories about you.”

“There’s stories of me on the holonet?”

At this, Cara leans away, faux shock and hurt crossing over her features. “You really don’t listen to me when I talk, do you?” She shook her head. “My, my, how things have changed since you’ve become all high and mighty as-”

Din shoved her - hard - making her bark out a laugh as he turned back towards his small cruiser. The one that now held at least a dozen shaking, frightened kids he and a small team of his best Fighters had rescued from a slave ring a parsec over. They stopped in Navarro to resupply and refuel. Plus, he had a gift from Grogu for his Aunt Cara.

“Wait,” Cara falls into step beside him. “You wanna read one of her articles? I have it right here on a datapad,” she sing-songs, waving it in front of him, not truly expecting him to grab it.

He snatched it out of her hand, shocking her to a standstill, but not long enough to get rid of her. Din inwardly sighed, wondering if this is what it was like to have a sister as he scrolled down to the author’s name. He didn’t care about the story, especially if it was about him. Couldn’t believe half of anything on the holonet, anyway.

Her name had Djarin stopping in his tracks as he stared down at the datapad in his hand.

Dinna Djarin.

Impossible.

In a rush, it all came crashing back. The memories- joy- peace- the night before his worst nightmares came true.

***

“Din,” his mother had said, a smile on her face as she was helping him get ready for bed. “What do you say to being a big brother?”

“Am I getting a brother?” He had asked, curious how that suddenly just happens. “Is he coming tomorrow?”

“Or a sister,” his mother chuckled as she led him toward his bed. “And not tomorrow, but many months from now.”

“That seems like a long time to wait,” he mumbled through a pout.

“Babies take time to grow inside mommies,” she patiently explained, before changing the subject to something she knew he would enjoy. “What would you name a brother or sister?” He was naming everything during that time. From a pet rock to each of his mother’s scarves.

Din’s face scrunched in concentration before answering matter-of-factly. “I would name a brother Traven and a sister Dinna.”

“And why do you pick those names?” She tucked him under the covers, but he was being difficult, trying to sit up, getting excited about the prospect of a brother or sister.

“Traven because it’s a cool name and Dinna because then everyone would know not to mess with her since her name is like mine!”

“Oh so you’d be protective of her, would you? What about Traven?”

“I’d teach him to take care of himself, just like daddy teaches me!”

***

“Mando?” Cara’s concerned voice had his head snapping up to meet her gaze.

He hesitated before taking long, quick strides as he absently returned her datapad back. Any residents in his way parted when they saw who was coming. “What do you know about her?” His voice came out shakier than he intended. Thank Manda for his modulator.

“Not much,” Cara shrugged, easily keeping pace, and Djarin knew he was basically going to get a full briefing. The lady was writing about her friend’s exploits. There was no way she didn’t know as much detail as possible about the reporter. “Works alone. Writes interesting stories while keeping them as true as she knows them. No criminal background of any sort. From Aq Vetina-”

Djarin spun on her, tense, facing her as if she were the enemy.

“How-” he cleared his throat, attempting nonchalance and failing if the look Cara was giving him was anything to go by. “How common is her name,” it was a demand from a king, not a question from a friend. 

She didn’t even flinch. “I know I’ve never met anybody with that name- Dinna. Sounds like a kid named her,” she chuffed out. A sad attempt to lighten the tension surrounding their little bubble. She continued after immediately realizing it was futile. “As for Duhjahren- well, I looked it up in the New Republic database and it’s not common.”

“The ‘D’ is silent.”

“The ‘D’ is-” her furrowed brows raised in shock. “You mean-” She grabbed his upper arm and dragged him into her office a few doors down. She stood silent after closing the door behind them. 

Djarin didn’t dare speak. He wasn’t sure he could.

“Are you telling me that you have a sister?” Cara whisper-hissed, as if saying it any louder would be blasphemy. 

Djarin stayed silent, mouth dry, throat suddenly clogged. Cara was now inches in front of him somehow, lips moving, forming words, but he couldn’t hear anything except the buzzing in his ears. It had been a long few days of fighting, then calming young foundlings, then figuring out if they had any family, then hyperspace on the lowest amount of fuel he’s ever dared fly on, just to get off that awful planet where no good memories were had for the children.

And now this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinna Djarin eyed her new - well, new to her - blaster and smiled, holstering it. The Toydarian earlier in the day was a tough negotiator (as most are), but she felt she had gotten the small blaster pistol at a good price. 

Where she was headed, she would most likely need it.

Dinna wrapped her scarf around her head, keeping warm on this unusually chilly Nevarro night as she exited her ship. She looked around the landing bay, noticing a group of kids with Marshall Dune (someone she needed to talk to first thing tomorrow) sitting around a fire, eating and chasing each other. Their laughter reached her ears, making her smile. Around them stood a few Mandalorians looking as though they were waiting to be attacked. Dinna wondered if their Mand'alor was around. Yet, another person she wanted to interview, along with the Silver Mandalorian she had been furiously following the past few years.

With a sigh, hoping they’d all be there in the morning, she headed back through the now empty market. If what she heard in the cantina earlier in the day was true, then the underground massif fights would be in the sewers. The same sewers she had heard a covert of Mandalorians used to live in before their Mand'alor reclaimed their planet and surrounding moons. 

Dinna didn’t know exactly what she was hoping to find in the sewers. If she could make a story about these illegal fights or if she was wanting some clue on how to find the Silver Mandalorian. All she knew was that she was at a loss on where to go next and her boss wanted another story about the Silver Mandalorian, or better yet, the new Mand'alor. 

She stopped in front of a tattered curtain that revealed stairs leading to the sewers. She knew because she had found it earlier, not wanting to get lost in the dark of night. With a deep breath and a quick glance around to make sure nobody was following her, she slipped in, following the deafening sounds of betting shouts and massif growls.

Once there, she immediately weaved through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, close to the fight so she could take a few discreet holoshots to show the marshall in the morning and found an out-of-the-way corner to hide in. She may have bought a blaster, but that didn’t mean she was the greatest of shots. Honestly, she probably shot worse than a stormtrooper. It was more of a confidence booster than anything. Granted, with the trouble she always seemed to find, it would’ve been smart to practice every once in a while. She shoved that thought aside, thinking she’s lived this long so there probably wasn’t much to worry about.

Until a Devaronian bumped into her.

“Fragile human,” he growled, his pale, red face and thick, dark horns making him look like the devil himself. “What are you doing down here? And with nothin’ but a little blaster.”

“For the fights,” Dinna replied, standing tall, never one to back down even with all the odds against her and thinking she definitely should’ve practiced with her old blaster more. Or maybe even a knife. Some close combat skills would’ve been smart, now that she thought about it.

“Really? Maybe we should make them more interesting,” he looked over his shoulder. “What d’ya say, boys?” Behind him was a Twi’lek who looked more gray than blue and a pale pig-faced Snivvian.

“What did ya have in mind, Boss?” The Twi’lek moved closer, eyeing Dinna, a knife twirling through his fingers. 

“Hmm… I was thinkin’ she could join the fight.”

“Good idea boss,” the Snivvian bobbed his head, arms stretching out to grab her.

“Now wait a second here,” Dinna stepped out of his reach, hitting the wall, eyes frantically searching for a way out. “I’m just here to place bets, just like everyone else.”

“I don’t think so, little human,” the Devaronian shook his head, towering above her. “I’m the one in charge here and I say you join the fight ‘cause I heard about you.”

“About me?” She squeaked, mind scrambling as she tried to keep her voice steady, shrinking into herself. “I’m nobody.”

“That’s not what I hear,” the Devaronian chuckled darkly. “I hear you're that nosy reporter who likes to make the galaxy a better place.”

“You’ve got the wrong-”

“Well the Outer Rim isn’t the Outer Rim for nothin’. We like it messy,” he shrugged. “And what’s messier than a human being ripped-”

“She said you’ve got the wrong person.”

All three spun on their heels, leaving Dinna in their shadows, hidden from sight. She wondered who just spared her a few more seconds of life.

“This ain’t your business, Mando,” the Devaronian spit out.

Mando? She wondered, slowly attempting to creep out of the corner.

“It is when she’s done you no harm.”

“I liked you Mandalorians better when you weren’t gallivanting about the galaxy, helping everyone in need.”

Now almost out from behind the thugs, about to make a run for the crowd, Dinna froze, unable to believe her eyes.

The Silver Mandalorian stood before them, looking bored, the low light reflecting off his armor making him look mystic. The Devaronian continued speaking nonsense until he suddenly wasn’t.

Dinna’s wide eyes followed the sound of a heavy thud to find the Devaronian body lying still. It took no time at all for the Twi’lek and Snivvian to make their move, both jumping the Mandalorian at the same time. He swiftly side-stepped them, effectively causing them to ram into each other, knocking themselves out. She searched the crowd to find they hadn’t noticed a thing. Perks of fighting in an already overly-loud, rambunctious place, she supposed.

“Follow me,” the modulated voice said while grabbing Dinna's wrist. Gently, but firmly, he guided her through the throng and out onto the still dark market street where he let go. 

Following his quick strides, Dinna’s reporter instincts kicked in.

“Can I ask you some questions?” She asked, voice filled with hope.

The soft thud of his boots on the ground and dark, flowing cape were her only answer.

Maybe he wanted her to show her appreciation first?

“Thanks, by the way,” Dinna started, hands speaking just as much as her mouth. “For, you know, saving my life. No way would I have been able to get out of that one.”

She was met with silence.

“I’m Dinna.”

Not even a head tilt or a sigh or any sort of recognition was shown that he heard her.

“Hey,” she jogged a few steps ahead of the Silver Mandalorian and stopped directly in his path, facing him.

It worked. He stopped. He stared. Or, at least, she thought he was staring. It was hard to tell through the darkened visor.

“I’m a reporter,” she paused. “For the Holonet.”

Silence.

“Well, if you don’t want me to interview you, then could I get an interview with the Mand'alor?”

He stiffened.

Ah, so he was listening.

“Would you mind asking him for me? Or her? My boss would love it if I actually got an article in on time,” Dinna rambled nervously before this silent man, hands gesticulating as she continued. “Not that he’s a mean guy or anything. I’ve just been having trouble- I write about you, actually! I’ve written about you killing the Krayt Dragon, helping out those villagers on Sorgan, about that guy Koresh. Apparently a lot of people hated that guy. How you helped Boba Fett. Granted, I didn’t actually get to talk to the man himself. He was offworld at the time. I’ve even ran into a couple of New Republic X-Wing pilots-”

“Sounds like you’re all caught up.”

“What? Not at all. I’ve been hearing rumors about you putting dents in the spice trade and freeing slaves,” she trailed off as he started moving again, stepping around her.

“Do you know Bo-Katan?” She asked, following after him, not realizing they were headed to the landing bay. “I’d like to ask her about pledging her fealty to the new Mand'alor. Although I suppose it’s been a few years since you all got your planet back…Still, I’m sure she remembers what she felt back then.”

Dinna thought she heard a short bark of laughter from him, causing her to stumble mid-step at the sound. It sounded oddly familiar, but she shook the thought away and continued her badgering, now realizing where they were headed as she looked beyond the Silver Mandalorian.

“Those kids…” she thought aloud.

“What about them,” the Silver Mandalorian stated. Dinna decided to take the chance given.

“I was just wondering if you helped save them?”

“This is the Way,” he replied, turning back towards the landing bay.

“Okay,” she drawled, not noticing her ship as they walked past. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. Mind telling me how it went?”

Silence.

Dinna let out a long-suffering sigh. “Do any of the other Mandalorians with you talk as much as you?” 

Silence.

“A name!” She shouted, surprising the group they were now in front of. The food was all gone, but the fire was still going strong with kids chasing each other while the other Mandalorians and Marshall Dune stood guard. “Please, can I get your name? I am so tired of calling you the Silver Mandalorian in my articles.”

The entire camp stilled, including the children, and seemed to listen for his answer. 

“They do know your name, right?” Dinna leaned over to whisper at him after a few beats of silence, considering how intently they seemed to be waiting for his answer. She could feel the pins and needles in the air.

“Mando,” he finally replied and the camp relaxed, kids continued to play. “And yes, they know my name.”

“Mando?” She was incredulous and unsatisfied. “But everyone calls you Mando,” her arms raised in exasperation. “Even that Devaronian called you Mando.”

“A Devaronian,” Marshal Dune cut in. “That sounds interesting.”

Dinna was thankful that somebody was willing to talk to her. “Well, aside from the fact that he almost had one of his henchmen throw me in the massif fight, it was.” 

Marshal Dune balked, taking in Dinna’s small frame. Mando’s relaxed hands fisted, leather gloves creaking in that quiet moment.

“Mando saved me,” she unnecessarily pointed out. “Oh! I have holoshots of the fight to show you, Marshal Dune. And I can show you where it’s at-”

“I’ll show you in the morning,” Mando stated before settling his attention on Dinna. “You don’t need to go back there.”

“But I have to,” Dinna shot back. “The whole reason I was down there was to learn about the Mandalorian covert that used to live there.” Or possibly write a story on the illegal fight, but Dinna figured he would be more sympathetic if it was Mandalorian related.

The helmet stared her down, silent as a grave. Dinna looked around uncomfortably, hoping someone would jump in to help, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to their conversation except Marshal Dune, who was obviously siding with Mando as she stood by just as silent as the man standing between them. When she glanced back up at Mando, he was walking up the cruiser ramp.

“Hey,” she shouted after him, moving to follow. “Where are you-”

“You get used to it,” Marshall Dune stopped her with an outstretched arm.

“Oh,” Dinna’s shoulders slouched, suddenly feeling exhausted after…everything. Being threatened to be torn to shreds, meeting the very person she’s been writing about the past few years, having an actual conversation with him - well, sort of. It was late. He obviously didn’t want to talk and she was tired. “I’ll just…get some sleep then. Mind if I stop by your office in the morning to give you those holoshots?”

“Sure,” the marshal replied. “See you then.”

With one last look into the small cruiser, Dinna stepped away from the camp with hopes of speaking to Mando and Dune in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mando’a Words:

- Mand’alor (MAHN-dah-lor): Leader of Mandalorians

Pronunciations found here.

If you would like to read more by me, click here to browse the Masterlist

[astrxealis]

i shut up abt ffxiv for now hii good noon u all take care :3 <333

[everythingisround]

info dump about raggedy ann and andy, just recently watched the show and i am in love B))

hello!! ive been in the fandom for two and a half years (almost three lol), so i know a bit about raggedy ann and andy.

so raggedy ann and andy were created in the early 20th century, the former sibling coming first with her patent in september 1915. the most popular legend surrounding her creation is that she was based off an old rag doll that belonged to creator johnny gruelle's mother/sister (can't remember exactly), who he then drew a face on and gave to his beloved daughter, marcella, who sadly would pass away months after ann's patent. marcella's inclusion in the raggedy books has been seen by many raggedy historians as johnny working through his grief by immortalizing his daughter's likeness in his stories to remember her in a positive way. andy came around in august 1920 and is said to have been created with johnny's sons, worth and richard, in mind.

the 1977 film is probably where a lot of the younger fans first became interested in raggedy ann (well, that and tadc, and even then gooseworx is a pretty big fan of the film and even specifically based jax's voice on raggedy andy from the film), although the 1986 broadway musical has also been bringing a lot of people in through tumblr and tiktok. the film, despite ultimately flopping at the box office, had the esteemed richard williams at the helm of the animation, even animating the ever so popular "no girl's toy" sequence. of course, richard williams being richard williams, went way overbudget and way past the deadline and ended up being removed from the project just so it could get released. considering the composer of the film, joe raposo, theorized that the film flopping had something to do with the first star wars movie being released around the same time, it's interesting to think about how the raggedy film's fate could've been altered if it had released the year prior for america's bicentennial. the 1986 musical is a whole other can of worms, and im still learning a lot about it from being in the RARE server (which you should definitely check out, wink wink nudge nudge), but to summarize, a combination of a development team constantly at the brink of self-destruction, constant adherence to a family-friendly atmosphere spurred by parental concerns despite the dark themes playwright william gibson intended the story to have, and too much of the budget spent on expensive special effects that nearly killed the actors led to the musical notoriously flopping on broadway and ending its run prematurely never to be seen or heard from again. or so they thought.......

although the 1986 musical is considered a failure in the united states, over in russia, the story has a small cult following amongst childrens and community theatre productions. basically, in 1985, the musical was brought to the USSR as part of a cultural exchange between the two superpowers, and considering that russians had not been familiarized with raggedy ann or her cultural impact up until this point, this led to the rag doll and her friends not being seen as cheap americana, but rather somewhat of a childrens fable (ironic, considering raggedy ann as a character was born from johnny gruelle's stories...). because of this, russian productions of rag dolly (the 1986 musical) are plentiful, with even some very recent productions popping up every now and then. it should be noted that these productions rarely contain the original songs; sometimes the story will just be played straight with no music, while other productions will substitute the lack of musical songs with their own music. this can lead to some..... interesting results lol

i feel it is also important to bring up the various other adaptations of raggedy ann, too! there's the original books, of course, but if you're an animation nerd like me, there's the 1941 fleischer short (which takes some.... interesting creative liberties from the original source material), the two noveltoons shorts, the chuck jones holiday specials from 1978 and 79, the 1980s cartoon (watch at your own risk lol), and the two snowden specials from 1998; one is just a straightforward direct-to-vhs animated special, while the second is a full ice show with animated segments dispersed throughout. you get to see raggedy elvis! who doesnt want to see raggedy elvis?

in this last section ill just toss to you a bunch of links i recommend if you wanna learn more about raggedy ann beyond the movie!

(i should also probably mention now that some books and adaptations of raggedy ann feature racial stereotypes- i know suddenly its spring has a racial caricature in terms of adaptations specifically- likely due to the culture at the time. these depictions are obviously not right, but sadly when we're talking about a franchise that has been around for over a century, it's kind of unavoidable especially in the older books, so just be aware that those depictions will come up occasionally.)

my pal brooklyn is also working on a more extensive video on raggedy ann history, so be on the lookout for that when it comes out :)

[ace-writer-lani]

Solangelo Headcanon (5): Gifts

(4)

Will would be the type of person to make things while Nico would be the type of person to collect things.

To start, while Will might not be musically talented, he is definitely artistically talented.

With living at Camp for most of his life, Will had discovered all different kinds of mediums that include painting, drawing, pottery, crochet, etc. He got really into art partly because he loved making things to give to his siblings, and because he's one of those Star Wars nerds that makes his own merch.

But anyways, when they started dating, Will would just...make things for Nico all the time. Not only was Nico his new muse, and would be for basically the rest of his life, but he also just wanted to give Nico tokens made from his love and care.

And Nico loves each and every one of them.

This is because Nico loves to collect stuff. He has all kinds of weird and interesting shit that he just keeps in his cabin. They're mementos, each representing an event that happened in his life because he's afraid he might forget about them in the future, and he doesn't want to deal with more empty gaps in his memory.

So, their hobbies complement each other. Will makes Nico things out of affection and Nico treasures those things with the same amount of affection.

(And am I writing a fic about this? Of course I am. It's linked right here)

(6)

[phoenixkaptain]

I have read the 1976 novel, originally titled: Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, later retitled Star Wars: A New Hope, and I would like to share my favourite parts.

Note: I read the novel twice. So that I didn’t miss anything. But, also, because this is a library copy and I wanted to jot down my favourite parts so I could reread them after I return it, okay, let’s go-

First things first, Luke is the best.

These are my favourite Luke things, I am begging you to click on them and read them, they are soooo good. Luke in general is a lot more likeable to me in the novel than in the film, if only because his weirdly whiny mood in the beginning makes much more sense because we have a bunch of scenes before Owen buys the droids.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Luke in all his various incarnations because I am, at my center, a massive nerd, but I like his characterization here. I also like that the novel tells us, “Yes, Luke has friends. No, most of them do not like him very much.” It implies (heavily) that the people he hangs out with have more money than he does, and he works a lot, and he has his head in the clouds, so they don’t quite get him. We have a scene of Biggs and Luke, and it is so sweet and cute and I love it so much. Biggs is like “Please stop trying to run into canyon walls.” And Luke just “Wow, you really have changed. You sound just like Uncle Owen.” And it’s affectionate riffing, but Luke, if two people are telling you, maybe you should, I dunno, listen??

I like that Han and Chewie basically took one look at Luke and were like “Yes, perfect, I love him.” Threepio and Artoo also have this. And Leia is immediately protective of him five minutes after his botched rescue. Even Obi-Wan is protective of him. The novel tries to tell us he is an average boy, but their definition of average and mine must be different. Something about Luke just inspires instant loyalty, it’s amazing.

I like Han in this a lot. He is just so… strangely optimistic. Also, he is overconfident and cocky and an asshole and I love him with all my tiny heart. Chewbacca is great too. He is so nervous, let him back on the ship, please.

Leia is great. She is a tiny little lady who is yelling at everyone, including the big scary Wookie (they spell Wookiee with one e in the book) and she kisses Luke twice and gets embarrassed about it both times (and there’s a weird scene where Luke sees a man and woman kissing, in the book’s own words, “passionately” and he basically thinks “they could have any relationship in the galaxy. Lovers, siblings, platonic. Who knows…” and I think about it a lot because do you guys passionately kiss your siblings? I am very concerned and confused and confounded, send help). Leia is very cute and very vicious and she’s basically perfect.

Now I wanna talk about Ben, because I love Ben. Every other person who sees him or senses him or hears thinks he is a hallucination. He goes onto the Death Star without even knowing Darth Vader is there, and his thought process is “Next step of the plan? Let’s see how much Luke and Solo fucked up, then we’ll think about the next step of the plan.” One of my favourite Ben moments is when he sees this big panic on the Death Star (caused by Luke and Han’s rescue of Leia) and he’s like “This couldn’t be for me, no way they would send all these people after me.” As though he has been seen a single time.

(Side note: my favourite thing is how they treat Leia, actually, because they surround her with multiple, armed guards and put her in giant cuffs and lock in a cell that is heavily guarded at all times. When there’s a disturbance in the cell block she’s in (they do NOT know she’s broken out yet, only that there is something happening near where she is being held captive), the whole ship goes on high alert. I know, intellectually, that it’s because they don’t want to risk losing her, but I like to think it’s also because she is very intimidating. She spit on Darth Vader. She straight up spit on him, and hit him! Who does that? I love her)

Ben is very cheerful for a man who has spent twenty years in a desert watching a kid from a distance. I like that he can do a krayt dragon call, which he does twice and tells Luke he’ll teach him how to do later. I like that he cuts two people in half and one guy’s arm off, all in one swing, because they made the fatal mistakes of 1.) looking away from Ben for a second, and 2.) they bullied Luke. Ben is so fond of Luke, it’s very sweet. I also like that he is trying very, very hard not to be so fond of Luke. It’s impossible, honestly, Luke is just too lovable, but Ben put up a good fight.

Ben being a general in a war only twenty years ago is kind of highlighted, if that’s the word I want. Like, he knows how to fix up R2 units so they can at least function, he knows how to work the computers on a war ship/station, he keeps up with Darth Vader when they fight; he just seems much more war general-y. He is also a huge goober and a nerd and I love him dearly.

I like this scene, primarily because of Vader’s “Obi-Wan is here. Well, I only felt it for a second. Maybe he isn’t- the princess? Obi-Wan is here!” Also, “He is here” “Obi-Wan Kenobi???” Vader talks about Obi-Wan so much, methinks, they are just so used to it. Imagine their shock when it turned out Obi-Wan was here.

I am now going to give you a succinct guide on how to use the Force, as explained in the book.

Step 1. Zone out.

Step 2.

And yeah, now you can use the Force, congrats.

No but seriously, Luke using the Force is just Luke zoning out so hard he doesn’t even remember firing the proton torpedoes that blew up the Death Star. He’s over there like “I don’t have anymore proton torpedoes. And I am no longer in the trench. And the Death Star is blowing up. But, did I press the button to fire them? I don’t think I did…” This is so relatable. My guy, I used to go up on stage and perform band concerts in high school, or on the football field to perform in marching band, or I would do a presentation in class, and the second the activity was over and I was walking away, my memory of the activity would be gone. “Did I do that? I have my oboe/clarinet/papers in my hands, and everyone is cheering, and I am out of breath. But, did I do it?” Luke is super relatable, 10/10, they finally made a character for me-

Anyway, there are a lot of minor things that don’t line up with movie canon, but the book is so fun, I highly recommend you read it, if you find it. I love this book, I read it twice because I love it so much. Ask me for my favourite scenes, I have a list of them that is too long to put here if any of us ever want to see the post beneath this one.

[expecto-kedavra]

What’s your little niche fandom thing?

Yes, there’s all the super huge fandoms we love, after all this is a Hogwarts Legacy blog, and I am the biggest Star Wars nerd before anything else, but what’s your little teeny thing?

When I was around 10-12ish, I had this Nintendo DS game called Fossil Fighters. It’s basically Pokémon but ✨dinosaurs✨ (and I fkin LOVE dinosaurs)

I’ve never met anyone else who’s played it, I dusted off my old DS lite and replayed it a while ago. It was really fun and nostalgic. LMK WHAT YOUR LIL THINGIES ARE! I love learning more about y’all (:

[mcrinmyhead]

INTRODUCTION

Hiya, my name's Dee or you can call me Dead! instead, cuz that's what my name is in Tumblr. I'm sixteen. I'm an Indian, so racists better fck off. I like to draw, sing and write songs and poems. I mainly post my art here and i have a sideblog too, which is @mcrinmyheart and idk what i post there :D. And when I say "art" I usually draw My Chem, Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, Bring Me The Horizon and few other bands, but you can always leave a picture in the "ask me?" box if you really want me to draw something that you like :). Just make sure it isn't something s!utty, cuz my parents like seeing my sketchbook sometimes, haha.

About me...

Name: Dead! / Dee

Age: 16

Pronouns: she/they

Sexuality: Bisexual

Likes: listening to music, art, singing, music bands, food, sleeping (I'm a very eepy person), travelling, reading, etc.

What kind of art do I do? Fanarts mainly.

Dislikes: peanuts (yea I don't like 'em, so if you know me irl and try to feed me peanuts, I'm gonna fcking stab you, you little shit), pedos, homophobic fcks, Jimmy Urine (from MSI) supporters (y'all need therapy or something even better, death), basic DNIs, etc.

Am I single? Yes, and that's because I don't want to date anyone.

Music bands/artists I like:

+ twenty one pilots, p!atd, bring me the horizon, glass animals, Mindless Self Indulgence (I only like their songs, Lyn-Z and Kitty. Fck that Jimmy guy), etc. I also liked The 1975, The Nbhd, Joji, Driver The Era, Arctic Monkeys and Chase Atlantic before, so I really don't mind if you wanna talk about them too. I'm basically a music addict who has listened to a whole lotta music genres thru out my life. But I'm currently into rock music rn. Yeah I can't stop talking about music if I start.

My favourites:

Books: Agatha Christie's books, Heartstopper, Five Feet Apart, The Fault in our Stars, Crime/Horror/Mystery books (there are many but I can't remember them), etc.

Movies: anything horror, mystery, crime, sci-fi, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, from the 2000s and 90s, etc. (How do people actually choose a favourite movie??)

Shows: Loki, Heartstopper, Young Royals, Marvel shows, etc. (i literally like all the shows I watch)

Albums: My top 10 rn (June 2024) are like- Three cheers for sweet revenge (my chem), POST HUMAN: NexGen (BMTH), XO (LeATHERMØUTH), The Black Parade (my chem), I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love (my chem), Clancy (Tøp), A Thousand Suns (Linkin Park), Danger Days (my chem), Folie a Deux (FOB), and Pretty. Odd. (P!ATD).

Colours: (Bury me in) Black, Blood Red and Lavender.

Where else can you find me?

At home, in my room 95% of the time. Nah, just kidding.

Links:

Pinterest

Spotify

Discord: mynamesblvrryface

Tags I use:

My art: #art

Asks: #asks

Scroll down for more facts about me...

Or don't. I really don't care.

Fun facts about me ^^:

I'm a really joyful, chaotic, kind, funny and a sweet person! :D (according to my frens)

Until and unless you get me on my nerves. Trust me, That's when I go insane.

If you know me irl, hi... Uh, I know I don't talk much in person but I'm sorry. That's just who I am. But if you want to be my friend, you can start by texting me lol.

I'm a music addict who likes to annoy people by talking about music bands 24/7.

I have an unhealthy obsession over My Chem.

I'm a huge nerd (according to every person in my class) and I like Math and Science (but I don't really talk about it unless you are someone who is into math and science as much as me).

I'm also a sarcastic and sassy person. So if my words ever offend you, I'm so sorry bbg. Deal with it.

I'm a vampire (I have fangs and I will bite you to suck that blood your body holds, RAHHH).

Other than drawing and singing, my hobbies are fangirling, sleeping, reading books, travelling and sometimes even cooking.

I might be surrounded by many people who I call my "friends," but in the end it's just four people who are actually my friends.

I'm mostly an introvert, but I'm an extrovert when I'm with my friend.

Yikes, this list is still going on!

I lived in Germany for two months along with my parents, but we moved back to India because I couldn't handle the bullying and all. But it was fun there, ngl. Having a new name was the worst part though (it was Diana, which I still use sometimes, and my aunts pronouncing it... was er... shit).

I suck at socializing btw.

But I like to annoy people at the same time.

Wait, does Tumblr have a word limit on a post?

SHALL I TRY REACHING THE WORD LIMIT???

Ah, yeah, I forgot to mention this but I'm a really curious person. I like trying out or experimenting on stuff. It's fun, okay?

I can be smart and an idiot at the same time B)

I write poems but I don't like showing them to others cuz I feel like they're stupid. Any tips on poetry from the poets of Tumblr?

I love cats. Cats or get tf out.

Am I annoying rn?

Idk.

This was fun.

Alright, that's enough fckery for today. Farewell my little kittens <333

So long and good night!

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E14: Golden Triangle, Part 1

A rash of violence against sex workers raises Castillo's suspicions.

And we learn that Castillo is... I don't know? A martial arts wizard?? We'll later learn he is also a fucking samurai, but this is really the first "let's give Castillo depth" episode, and they really fucking go for it

An absolutely useless bit of trivia: some of the opening credits in this episode are in the wrong font.

This is not the Miami Vice font. It switches back to the Miami Vice font like two names later.

Love Castillo downing a cafecito from what is absolutely not a heat-safe plastic glass, and Rico and Sonny following him as he walks away like he's a beautiful girl in a bikini

Also love that Crockett's "nerd" disguise involves going over dot matrix printouts by hand by the pool. A normal vacation activity. Love less that he is just blatantly doing an entrapment.

When Sonny and Rico take Candy in, we cut to a currently-in-progress conversation in which she asks Sonny, "well, am I right or what?" Then pauses, while neither Sonny or Rico look her in the eye, but they both smile in the most hollow and awkward way possible, and then Candy nods and says, "Yeah, I'm right." I really want to know what she thinks she's right about that both Sonny and Rico basically are like 'please stop talking' about.

Candy is great-- she's very savvy about the police (and rightly does not trust them), very intense, and has no issues telling Sonny off.

Rico finds all of this hilarious.

The drug dealer who wants a safety deposit box is John Snyder, who will always be "extremely annoying Joey in the Mafia Wars arc of Wiseguy" to me, except that recently Dan and I watched an episode of Star Trek in which he was a eugenicist from the eugenicist planet. Man sure plays some roles. He's also apparently a long-time anime voice actor??

Sonny complains about the system being broken and Tubbs kind of sighs and says "the system. Want a cold one?" #1 reason Tubbs isn't as broken by the end of the show is that he comes in from day one knowing that Everything Sucks Forever, while Crockett takes it personally every single time

Alligator Nail Filing

Alligator

Nail

Filing

"We're getting too good at playing bad guys" sure is the understatement of the whole series

It's not actually clear until around the 3/4 mark that this is the first Castillo Episode, but he makes a wonderful little suspicious face when Sonny starts telling him about Szarbo-- he knows something is amiss.

There's an exchange with the cop who has been working part time as a pimp where Sonny no-true-Scotsmans him-- he states that the man isn't a "real" cop for what he's done. I think Sonny still genuinely believes this at this point in the series. He will not by the end.

Castillo finds out that one of the dead people is Thai and just absolutely flips out and is like I NEED TO SEE THE CORPSE. I get what the actual intention here is-- that Castillo has put together enough things about the case based on similarities to things that happened during his own years in Thailand-- but we don't know that yet as an audience, so it just kind of seems like Castillo is totally paranoid and thinks any deceased person of Thai descent MUST be involved in crime, which is not a good look.

I adore the sequence in which it is implied Tubbs and Castillo go to like eight Thai restaurants together, partially because I appreciate when they work together, and partially because I love seeing restaurants from bygone days.

To the tune of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Awkward dinner naked waiter

Awkward dinner naked waiter

Awkward dinner naked waiter

Marty n' Rico having supper

It is awkward!

(but seriously why does that waiter not have a shirt)

And we learn, finally, that Castillo is a master of every martial art, as he gets in a wild action movie fist fight with the naked waiter in the parking lot. It's stupid and fantastic in equal measures, and we'll learn even more about Castillo's exciting fisticuffs adventures next time.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why I am blocked on Thick as Thieves

Or: Help! I need help! 😫

Okay, you know what? I hear you. I did the NaNoWriMo poll and you folks really want me to finish Thick as Thieves. And like, I get it. So, let me tell you about why I am right now blocked on the story and what stops me from continuing on it.

The answer is short: Xenk. Xenk is stopping me. Or rather... the lack of more official backstory for him is. Or to be even more specific: My lack of knowledge of Faerûn's history is stopping me a bit.

Let me explain.

One of my framing devices for the romance in the story is supposed to be about the "Ballad of Xenk Yendar". Basically: Ed, crushing on Xenk, starts the story out writing this ballad about Xenk. Given what he knows from Xenk himself, he focuses mostly on the tragedy, which Xenk then is not much of a fan of.

The general idea was, that there were going to be four total versions of that ballad, that kinda symbolize Ed getting to know Xenk better. The first one (at the beginning, where they have not interacted since Neverwinter has been saved) focuses on the tragedy, the second one was going to focus on the hero Xenk, the third one on the paladin (mixing both tragedy and hero), and finally the last one on the man that at that point Ed admits to loving.

Soooooo, the next chapter is supposed to feature the second version and herein lies my problem.

I need some good heroic stories about Xenk (that are not played for laughs) that I could write verses for. But I cannot think of any. Because there is no official stuff on him for the most part - but, well...

I am still fairly new to DnD. Like, I have played some DnD, yes, but always with homebrew worlds, never with Faerûn. Sure, like back before 2010 I played the old Baldur's Gate games and Neverwinter Nights, but... Look, I would lie if I said I remembered much more than the general feeling. Like, I for sure do not know anything about the story of those games.

Now, yes, I am very aware that the general rule for worldbuilding in DnD is: "Just make shit up!" Buuuuuut... My brain blocks me on that front on regard of feeling to badly informed. (This is a general hang up of mine, mind you. It is the general reason why I always had a hangup about writing for giant fandoms with lots of lore like Marvel of Star Wars, because I felt there was too much I didn't know.)

Like, by now I have a general feeling for what the Sword Coast looks lke in the late 15th century. Alright. But that does not help me much with Xenk and what his life looked like between "Szass Tam takes over the Thay" and "plot of the movie happens".

So, yeah... This is what is blocking me right now.

And even with all my nerd friends... I somehow do not have a single one who is super into the lore of Faerûn, whose mind I could pick about this.

Soooo, what I am saying is: Say, is there anyone here, who knows a lot of shit about Faerûn and the Sword Coast, so that I might pick their brains for ideas?

Or alternatively: Do you have any great ideas about heroics that Xenk Yendar could've gotten into prior to meeting Ed, Holga and Co.?

[palfriendpatine66]

My dream is that you one day will write boiling rwrb au

Also I need to know all of your thoughts about the film

RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE MY BELOVED!!!!

In summary: I absolutely love it and have so many thoughts. But also I don’t see myself writing an obikin au for it. (Not to worry, I speak autocorrect 😉) Read more below the break

I adore rwrb. It’s my new comfort movie. I’ve watched it three times and I read the book after my first viewing.

The first time I watched in I could NOT believe how gay it was. Honestly I am still twirling my hair and kicking my feet that we get to have a rom com that is just SO!gay. I want more! And I’m really hoping that it’s popularity means we’ll get it

*side note for any of my younger followers: this makes me feel so old. But as a teen in the 2000s there wasn’t a lot of queer media readily available and what was definitely wasn’t showing or marketed toward teens. What I was aware of was adult dramas surrounding HIV/AIDS. Glee and Modern Family didn’t come out until I graduated. Stories like this would have been a game changer

Anyways: back to rwrb. I LOVE that it gets to unabashedly be everything that it is. Is it corny as hell? Yes! Is it tropey and over the top? Yes! Does it read like a fanfic? Yes! Is it fantastic that it gets to be all of these things that every!single! hetero romance/romcom gets to be while basically leading a pride parade through everyone’s Amazon Prime account? YES!!!

A short list of my favorite things about rwrb in no particular order:

All the star wars references in the book. They are nerds and they are my kind of people

Get Low is also my drunk jam. Yes I am the target audience. Yes I am ok with this

There’s a female president and vice president (girl power!)

The sex scene might just be the sweetest, most intimate thing I have witnessed with my own two eyes? It was so tender and so real

There was zero attempt made to pretend that they weren’t just copying the royal family and the fact that the movie leaned into it so hard is absolutely hilarious to me.

They’re also a biracial couple and they don’t shy away from Alex’s experiences as the son of an immigrant to the US (the book does more here)

The key stays on during sex, just hanging there bonking him in the face. 10/10. Hilarious. Kills me.

They do not shy away from gay sex happening and the boys are horny for each other. Like, we don’t just see them kiss once. Again, I’m old, but YES!!!!

I’m cutting myself off here but I could very much go on.

As for the possibility of an obikin au: I’m not going to lie, I thought about it. But I don’t think I see that happening from me.

The first reason is mostly how I write obikin. I don’t write same age aus because I can’t personally separate out their age gap and power dynamic from the other aspects of their canon relationship. I just don’t know how to make them work as peers. (Note: nothing against same age aus, I’ve read many that I’ve adored. I just can’t wrap my head around it to make it happen myself).

Secondly, I kind of don’t want to touch it? I realize I’m basically the queen of looking at a movie and thinking YES, but make it obikin! But I just went on a rant about how this movie/story feels special in that 1) it’s already queer and 2) is allowed to unapologetically be itself. And I don’t know that I want to change that

(Would I read a RWRB obikin au? Absolutely)

[azazelsazaleas]

I finished watching through DS9 a few weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to do a rundown of my thoughts on it. Here goes:

- Oh my god that was fantastic. I really wish it’s given it a fair shake back when it was on the air; I was a dumb teenager who resented it for not being TNG and was going through a weird self-loathing phase where I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was the massive nerd that I am. This seriously lived up to the hype. I may have to do a TNG rewatch because this might just have upstaged it as my favorite 90s Trek.

- Andrew Robinson should’ve been made a full cast member. Ditto Max Grodenchik and Aaron Eisenberg.

- Damar’s transmission at the end of The Changing Face of Evil lives rent-free in my head. I cheered out loud at that.

- One thing the show did fantastically that a lot of other SF/fantasy properties don’t quite get right is that it lands a pitch-perfect balance of “these characters are major, important figures in the larger multinational conflict” and “this conflict is absolutely massive and not everything revolves around the same small group of people.” The fact that Sisko, Worf, Kira, Odo, et al are so important is entirely plausible and it never feels like the writers are trying to gratuitously bring everything back to them.

- That said, I kind of love that Admiral Ross’s leadership approach during the Dominion War eventually consists of doing whatever the hell Sisko tells him to do.

- God, the acting was incredible. Andrew Robinson, Armin Shimerman, Nana Visitor, Marc Alaimo, and Louise Fletcher were real standouts, but everyone was just so damned good.

- Actually, I really need to give special mention to Shimerman. The man went above and beyond to make Quark be something more than a joke character, despite how obvious it was that basically the entire production team wanted him to just be cartoonish comic relief. He worked harder to flesh out his character and show his race as a race of *people* (not just caricatures) than just about any actor playing an alien on Star Trek before him except for maybe Nimoy. Give the man a goddamn Emmy. Don’t believe me? Go rewatch the iconic root beer scene from The Way of the Warrior.

That said: I do have a few criticisms:

- Pretty much all of the (canon) romantic subplots were just…yikes. The only major exception I can think of Sisko/Yates, where they actually seemed to have a healthy dynamic, fall legitimately in love with each other, and generally treat each other like adults in a serious relationship, not bickering teenagers.

- Seriously, Worf/Jadzia got so hard to watch and then the fallout with Ezri was just ugggghhhhhhhhh stop please for the love of god

- Why did the writers need to try to romantically pair off all the female characters? Just, why?

- Kira had more sexual tension with that Romulan lady in half an episode than she did with any of her bucket-of-paint boyfriends over the course of seven years.

- I totally get the behind-the-seasons reasons why things panned out the way they did, but (hot take) I think Dax’s whole arc would’ve worked better if they had killed Jadzia off after the first season or two and brought in Ezri earlier. Jadzia was fun, but she was just too perfect to get many interesting stories and her relationship with Worf felt too much like manufactured drama. Having a trill who didn’t want to be joined, agreed to in a life or death emergency situation, and now has to reckon not only with taking on this symbiotic relationship with no preparation whatsoever but also succeeding this beloved person in the eyes of her loved ones is such a better setup for a character and it’s a pity we didn’t get to see that play out properly.

- Sisko deserved a better conclusion to his story. Give the man his damned house on Bajor and let him raise his kid with Kasidy. He’s more than earned it.

- Next time I rewatch the series, I’m skipping the mirror universe episodes and the ones with the genetically enhanced walking-90s-neurodivergent-stereotypes.

Other random thoughts:

- Dukat’s storyline should’ve ended with him getting killed at the end of Waltz. Either by Sisko, or by deluding himself so thoroughly that he does something suicidal. The pah-wraiths subplot felt like a lazy afterthought (except for the episode where he pretends to be Bajoran and starts fucking Kai Winn) and as much as I liked watching Marc Alaimo act, his story arc was basically over at the end of Sacrifice of Angels….which, incidentally is when Damar actually starts to get interesting.

- I loved the O’Brien must suffer episodes but I thought Hard Time was kind of overrated. Mostly for the plot line with the cellmate; I think I’m a little burned out on seeing stories that have a moral of “deep inside us is a line between humanity and savagery and when pushed to the limit, even the best of us would turn to murder.” It’s been done to death, and it’s really not truthful, at least for many people.

- I think I may have a little bit of a crush on Major Kira. It would never work out if I met someone like that in real life, though. I’m a laid-back, atheist, creative type; she’s a deeply devout former insurgent. Given certain real-life crushes I’ve had recently; maybe I’m just into strong women with big, expressive eyes who wear their hearts on their sleeve and have a spine made of fuckin’ steel. I have no idea what this says about me.

- MORN

- Favorite Episodes: In the Pale Moonlight, The Visitor, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light, In the Cards, Duet, The Wire, Civil Defense, The Magnificent Ferengi, basically the entire Dominion War arc.

[ashbelero]

Consuming problematic content: A brief example from my husband

My partner is a comic book collector. I am a manga collector. Lately, he’s been poking around the manga section while I get books because I take fucking forever to grab shit, and because of that, he’s started getting into a couple series of his own. He now collects Food Wars, Witch Hat Atelier, and a recent series called Gleipnir.

Gleipnir is... something. I’ve watched a couple episodes of the new anime with my partner and oh boy, is it a thing. The basic premise is that people get monstrous abilities by putting special coins in a vending machine, and the main characters are a boy who turns into a living mascot suit and the girl who gets in and pilots that mascot suit like a goddamn flesh mech. In the manga, she apparently does this naked because the suit is wet and slimy inside, but in the anime she keeps her clothes on.

The characters are in their 1st and 3rd year of high school, so... 15-18 or thereabouts, just from what I know about the Japanese high school system. And the books are rated mature and wrapped in plastic at the store because of the kind of content that’s in them, and because that was their intended audience. It’s a seinen manga. It’s not aimed at kids.

My partner was born in the 80′s and is therefore within the series’ target demographic.

When I asked him how he feels about the ages being so low in this extremely sexual title (because it gets hella ecchi), he just shrugged and said “I just pretend they’re in college. It’s not a big part of the story.”

My partner is not part of the anime community anywhere online. He doesn’t know or care about debates about “problematic” content regarding aging up characters. I’ve briefly mentioned issues that people have tried to bring up against me regarding things like “incest” between non-blood-related characters or aged-up My Hero Academia dudes, etc, and... he just kinda thinks it’s dumb and doesn’t know why I bother listening. “Are you doing anything illegal?” no. “Then who cares?”

He’d rather spend his time arguing with nerds about why having POC in Star Wars isn’t destroying the series and why sending hate mail to child actors is a dick move. Which admittedly affects real people, unlike the shit I get from anime purists.

It’s interesting to see what this argument looks like from outside of anime twt or whatever - and it looks like nothing. It looks like a guy headcanoning that the high school girl with her panties taking up the whole damn page is in college.

uh... anyway Gleipnir is pretty decent, in case anyone was wondering.

[ghosthalfa]

「 GET TO KNOW YOUR RP PARTNER! 」

( repost, please don’t reblog )

「BASICS」

▐ NAME: perseus (percy) ▐ PRONOUNS: any ▐ SEXUALITY: girls! ▐ TAKEN OR SINGLE: single ▐ FIVE FACTS:

i really love animals! in my life i've owned cats, dogs, turtles, lizards (bearded dragons and skinks), snakes, hedgehogs, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, fish, frogs, snails, tarantulas, ducks, chickens, lovebirds, and parakeets. currently i own several dogs, two cats, a turtle, three ball pythons, a boa constrictor, and a brazilian rainbow boa. ask me about them if you want to see 8 billion pictures.

throughout my childhood and adult life i've lived in five different states, all up and down the east coast! despite this though i have never visited a state outside of the east united states.

archery is a big hobby of mine, even if i don't have nearly as much time to do it right now. i started out using a child's fiberglass compound when i was a kid, but grew out of it within a couple years and now use a wooden recurve bow. it's for this reason that actors holding bows incorrectly in movies makes me go on unhinged rants, sorry anyone who's friends with me.

i'm a big dnd player! i started out playing with friends i met in the rp scene (shoutout to mod mimosa you a real one) and now have a dedicated in-person group with my friends who play weekly or bi-weekly. and despite always saying dnd we actually play mostly pathfinder, mostly 1st edition but we've been dipping our toes into 2e recently. pls ask me about my characters i would die for them.

i'm like. a huge nerd, traditionally speaking. i am a fountain of useful or useless information about comic books and stars wars. i've been following both marvel and dc comics since i was in middle school, and in high school i added star wars to my list of nerd obsessions. the batfam and young avengers are beloved to me, and my favorite star wars characters are ezra bridger, ahsoka tano, and cal kestis!

「EXPERIENCE」

▐ HOW LONG (YEARS/MONTHS): 13-ish years? give or take? maybe a little longer even, i'm not 100% sure ▐ PLATFORMS USED: mostly tumblr, but i started out forum rp'ing on a super old website. i've dabbled a little in discord rp'ing but it didn't really stick ▐ BEST EXPERIENCE: oh geeze uhhh. it's really hard to pick when you've been at it so long. tbh tho if anyone was in aod at the time and remembers, the gnome wars really stuck in my head. i don't think i'd ever had so much fun roleplaying before, it gave me such great and super fond memories

「MUSE PREFERENCES」

▐ MALE/FEMALE/OTHER: i tend to have mostly male muses, but when i do muse a female character i cherish her a lot ▐ FAVORITE FACECLAIM: i've never really needed one before. if i'm doing a mun post i just kind of scroll through my icons and pick a sacrifice ▐ FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT: i'm not one for smut at all, but i do very much enjoy angst. fluff is also good but i'm a sucker for angst in general

▐ PLOTS OR MEMES: plots! memes are nice but they can burn me out if i do too many of them. that's why i tend to only participate in meme day once every couple of weeks or so ▐ LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: long replies bc i'm apparently not capable of controlling myself or my writing. i like short replies too but it seems no matter what i do they turn into long replies eventually ▐ BEST TIME TO WRITE: at night in my room, with a show (a lot of times from the muse i'm writing for) playing in the bg for white noise ▐ ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES: sometimes yes sometimes no. i definitely feel like i have a type, but also a lot of times i wildly veer off from it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it really depends

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the First Time in Fifteen Years

Ok, so, as we move further into this book, I kind of don't understand why they didn't click with me when I read them at seventeen. I mean, I was DEEEEEEEEEEEP into the Star Wars EU at that point, so maybe it was just genre and writing style whiplash. That said though, I am very much enjoying myself this time around. Let's talk "Three is Company.

So my four key reactions to this chapter were, in the order they arose,

Frodo is the single most relatable hobbit ever. His whole "To tell the truth, he was very reluctant to start, now that it had come to the point" thing is just like...I don't care who you are or when you are, you have felt that at some point in your life. Like...yeah, that hobbit needs a hug and a swift kick in the ass to get him moving.

WHAT THE ACTUAL TITS IS TOLKIEN'S BEEF WITH LOBELIA SACKVILLE-BAGGINS!?!?!? Like yes, she is a deeply unpleasant hobbit, but like...Frodo does not offer her any tea and leaves her the washing up, and frankly that kind of seems unnecessary? Like why is Tolkien a dick to Lobelias?

I had forgotten that Tolkien leaned on characterizations of elves that swing from near-childlike delight and wonder and bluntness ("...and hobbits are so dull," anyone??? Like I was literally raised with better manners than this) to absolute solemnity and wisdom. What I'm saying is that Gildor and his buddies gave me whiplash while Sam was getting starry-eyed.

WHY THE HELL HAS NOBODY TOLD THIS HOBBIT ANYTHING??? Literally they have almost been nabbed by black riders THREE DANG TIMES, and they're still basically in the heart of the Shire. Someone needs to fill these guys in, and frankly I think in Gandalf's oft-remarked-upon absence, then Gildor should probably step up and--as Frodo rightly fucking says--fill in some of the gaps because the vague warnings and ominous allusions are objectively worse than just knowing what is happening.

So with the key reactions sorted, let's walk it back a little and chat through this chapter. I--like every other nerd who existed on the planet in the 2000s--have seen the Peter Jackson film adaptations. I was also tangentially aware that there was a LOT of time compression in those movies, but uh...reading the book is a whole other level of understanding that. There are gaps of literal months and years between "oopsie poopsie, it's the One Ring" and "hey, you probably need to leave the Shire" and "OK FINE, WE'RE GOING." And even once Frodo, Sam, and Pippin get their asses on the road, they're like...meandering. Hanging out. Enjoying the walk.

What I'm saying is, the sense of urgency is utterly nonexistent.

Which is not a judgement, I actually enjoyed the pacing and watching our little hobbit bois be happy hobbit bois, but the feet-nailed-to-the-floor practical side of me was in a screaming match with the -delightedly-kicking-her-feet side of me the entire time I was reading this chapter. Like...guys. The Enemy is LITERALLY ON YOUR DOORSTEP. THEY ALMOST GOT YOU. MAYBE HAUL ASS A BIT??? BUY YOURSELVES SOME TIME AND SPACE???

I'm pretty sure that running into Gildor and his buddies saved their hobbity butts.

Just before we get into Gildor and the company of elves though, I want to take a brief second to just...acknowledge the goddamn WHISPLASH I got when the song movie Pippin sings over Denethor just destroying a roast chicken and cherry tomatoes popped up this early in the trilogy. It's a walking song and it's very hobbity, and I love both versions (book and movie) but for DEEPLY different reasons. The book version is sweeter, a little cheekier, and I imagine it paces because it is indeed a walking song, meant to keep those feet moving. It also is very much Pippin going "bed please!" which is deeply relatable. The movie makes it way weightier, more melancholy. And in the film context, it's also tragic. The shift from "away shall fade" to "all shall fade" is doing a TON of heavy lifting too. I don't have much else about that, really, because in terms of adaptation, that's not so much an adaptation as a recontextualization. And...I like both? Both are good? They're different, and I'm not gonna get bogged down in judging differences, I'm just going to enjoy both versions.

Back to the elves.

Frodo has some social cache with them, given his relationship to Bilbo and his grasp of the elven language, however small. Frodo also goes in for the traditional polite greetings and exchanges, which is all great. That said...

Thank christ that Pippin has no chill, because if he hadn't burst in and gone, "Tell us about the Black Riders," we'd have been doing social graces for literally another few pages. And I'm willing to bet that Frodo might not have actually gotten there, and then the three would not have been taken under the elves' wing, which again, I'm pretty sure saved their halfling asses. So thank goodness for Pippin just cutting through the bullshit and getting the plot moving a little. And he is amply rewarded with just hella good food and a good night's sleep, so all is right in his little hobbit heart.

I might love Pippin. Like, disproportionately.

What I did not love was Gildor. Gildor and his "Then I think it is not for me to say more - lest terror should keep you from your journey," and his "advice is a dangerous gift," and his "is it not enough to know that they are servants of the enemy?" and his "courage is found in unlikely places."

Gildor. My dude. Sweetie, honey, friend. YOU ARE NOT HELPING HERE WITH THE PHILOSOPHIZING AND THE PASSING OF THE BUCK. This is actually how you know Tolkien was a tried and true academic, because you can't get a straight answer to a direct question without being taken through a masterclass in philosophy first.

Like, I'm so happy for you and your education and your erudition, but for fucks sake, if I asked you if the sky was blue, we'd be debating what "blue" is for hours over tea when what I needed was a straight answer so I could plan my day. (I would be a terrible elf, you guys. Just absolutely terrible.)

The best I can say about Gildor is that he names Frodo an Elf-Friend, which I'm willing to bet is going to be beneficial down the road. He also made sure that Frodo, Sam, and Pippin were safe that night, and they got fed. So I guess that's a win.

Overall a fun chapter, and I'm excited to finally catch up with Merry and start planning to bail on the Shire in the next chapter!

[iamthetruenhaz]

Why do I have to have fictional crushes on grimdark, edgy, traumatized, tough badass anti-heroines with hearts of gold who are waiting for the right kind of pilot to come but irl wouldn't look at me twice once? Is this my version of "I can fix her"? Or am I just channeling my inner basic nerd?

I mean let's see

The Chronicles of Riddick: Kyra

Tron Uprising: Paige

Maleficent: yeah

Fury Road: you bet Furiosa

Star Wars: Jyn Erso, also Sabine Wren, also Ahsoka

Warcraft: Sylvanas

Starcraft: Kerrigan

Eh, on the "discuss with therapist" list ig

[vetinarivimesy]

Okay okay okay. I'm enough of a nerd that yes I own those damned Disney Star Wars themepark cookbooks, and I've been steadily working my way through most of the recipes in them.

Mostly the recipes are a great balance of fun, interesting, and vaguely deliberately shifted around a really solid base to make it just a little unfamiliar so it's 'space' themed. But actually something you'd be willing to cook, without a million and a half rather finnicky steps and a ton of things to wash up before the thing even meets heat.

(With one or two minor SNAFUs caused by ye olde separated by a common language - tomato paste vs tomato puree woops)

But ahem, anyway that 'spicy' Mandalorian stew, ey?

For all of the advertised heat in the thing... You essentially end up with a rather tasty Japanese style curry with couscous in it, rather than rice on the side.

Nice? Yes.

Spicy? No not really. Even compared to other similarly mild curries, and taking spicy to mean spiced not hot. The Japanese style curry this recipe seems to be based around somewhat infamously comes from the bland for the UK-palette generic curry powder of the Victorians...

Sooo. I am spitefully choosing to follow a large chunk of fandom's example and picking bits of Star Wars at random to pick and choose my canon from... I'm now taking that recipe as 'proof' that Mandalorian cooking... really isn't all that hot.

And yes, I made that Pog soup too. Tasty? Yeah sure. Spicy? ...Eh?

And again, spitefully logicking my way through, which culture is always depicted in the films as actually extremely multicultural, and actually allows its members to retain their home traditions from their roots, and actually is based loosely around Asia rather than the old colonising empire building bounty hunters and rogues mashed with Knights Templar thing that is still the bulk of what the Mandos have?

The Jedi.

Who, notably, are absolutely missing any representation whatsoever in either of the two Disney-era Star Wars cookbooks. Since the setting is post the second Jedi genocide in the Skywalker Saga...

So whilst I'm now headcanoning, Mando food as all bark and very little bite, spitefully and based solely off of a very dubious bit of 'canon'.

I can also with impunity go, Sichuan cooking for the Jedi? Yes. Yes. Yes. Genuinely interesting Indian cuisine? Sure why not? Spicy Uzbek style stews? Great! Shakshouka as fiery as you can get it for breakfast? Amazing! Enough spicy kefta to feed fifty ravenous knights? Fabulous!

There's a brisk, and expensive given they're just cheap space-ramen, trade in the Jedi Temple sector of Coruscant of all the numerous flavours of Space-Buldak Chilli Noodles, since the Padawans basically live off of them.

Swimming in chilli already? Well that's not hot enough for old Master Rancisis! Add more! And don't forget the numbing peppercorns, that's Master Sifo-Dyas's favourite part!

Cue a fanfic, with the usual increasingly irritating set-up. Ahahaha, lets laugh at the culture that supposedly eats nothing but the blandest thing on the menu encounter the Manly Men we only eat the Hottest Vindaloo because we're hard! culture... And... Nope, nosiree the Mandos cannot handle it at all, cue much blue milk chugging, and not from the jedi half of the contingent. Despite all their showboating about how spicy they love their spicy spicy stew, they're like the old stereotype about white Brits in an Indian Curry House in Goodness Gracious Me.

(Seriously still far too spitefully amused that the official 'Spicy Mandalorian Stew' recipe produced bland but tasty comfort food in reality.)