#Power of the Jedi

[galactic-hunter]

A quickie work-in-progress. I was trying to replicate an old publicity photo using some handy Hasbro and Kenner Star Wars figures from the last 45 years. (Some may be older than me! OK just one may be.) I was trying to replicate an old publicity photo I saw as a kid, see below, of Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi.

The playset is the 2023 Hasbro Boba Fett's Throne Room - but the figures are a mix of vintage Kenner, POTF2, Saga, 30th Anniversary Collection, those 5-jointed Rebels-era guys, The Black Series, The Saga Collection, The Vintage Collection, Power of the Jedi, Saga, The Legacy Collection, and my apologies if I forgot to name-check one.

As you can see, we're close. I probably could've grabbed Hrcheck Kal Fas to stand in for the Saurin. We haven't seen Hasbro try to do the Ugnaughts yet, and I'm not sure who the human creeping in the background is - maybe some guy? I wish we could get a Geezum (Snivvian/Snaggletooth) too.

Looks like I missed Klaatu behind Hermi Odle. Oops. Something for later.

[thedarthray]

Star Wars - Quarren by Darth Ray Via Flickr: Various Star Wars Quarren Figures * Kenner - Squid Head (1983) * Power of the Jedi - Tessek (2001) * Legacy Collection #15 - Quarren Soldier (2008) * Legacy Collection 6-Pack - Darth Maleval (2009) * Legacy Collection Comic Pack #17 - Nrin Vakil (2009) * VC 286 - Tessek (2023)

[david-talks-sw]

Dooku didn't leave because of the Jedi.

At least, if you're going by George Lucas' word.

In deleted scenes of Attack of the Clones, when we learn about Dooku's departure and his values, there's no mention of the Jedi or "the Jedi Order as an institution".

And every time Lucas refers to Dooku's disenchantment and reason for falling, he doesn't mention the Jedi.

"When you realize that Dooku is Darth Tyranus, it explains what Darth Sidious did after Darth Maul was killed: he seduced a Jedi who had become disenchanted with the Republic. He preyed on that disenchantment and converted him to the dark side, which is also a setup for what happens with Anakin." - Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, 2002

"[Dooku is] one of the few Jedi who became disenchanted with the Republic and left the order and he is leading a separatist movement." - Vanity Fair, 2002

"I wanted a more sophisticated kind of villain. Dooku’s disenchantment with the corruption in the Empire is actually valid. It’s all valid.  So, Chris plays it as, 'Is he really a villain or is he just someone who is disenchanted and trying to make things right?'" - Starlog Magazine #300, 2002

He probably meant the Republic/Senate in that last one, but you get the point. And you're seeing the pattern, right?

Dooku's problem isn't the Jedi, it's the Republic.

He's become disenchanted with a system that - according to Lucas' prologue in the 2004 book Shatterpoint - worked for 1,000 years...

"For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the venerable Jedi Knights."

... but has been rendered ineffective because of 1) senators becoming corrupt and 2) corporations gaining political power.

"But as often happens when wealth and power grow beyond all reasonable proportion, an evil fueled by greed arose. The massive organs of commerce mushroomed in power, the Senate became corrupt, and an ambitious named Palpatine was voted Supreme Chancellor."

That's the message Dooku runs on, when he rallies the systems to form the Separatist Alliance.

"By promising an alternative to the corruption and greed that was rotting the Republic from within, Dooku was able to persuade thousands of star systems to secede from the Republic."

The Jedi aren't really a factor in his decision to leave.

Why would they be? Their political status isn't very high, they're virtually powerless, as illustrated by the film's narrative and stated repeatedly by Lucas.

On the contrary, as we already established in this post, Lucas full-on confirmed that Dooku actually carries the sympathies of most of the Jedi. Again:

Most Jedi agree with Dooku, ideologically.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, the politicians are effing up the Republic, and it sucks because the Jedi see this but aren't allowed to interfere in the political process. They have to resort to looking for loopholes in their mandates to actually get stuff done.

That's what that whole "she's a politician" scene is meant to hint at. In the commentary of Attack of the Clones, Lucas uses a similar turn of phrase as he does with Dooku.

"[This scene gives us] a chance to talk a little bit about politics and the Jedi’s disenchantment with the political process, due to the corruption and the ineffectiveness of the Senate." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

Considering all this, it becomes clear that the intended narrative surrounding Dooku's decision to leave the Order is not:

"The Jedi are dogmatic and asleep at the wheel except for Dooku, who is ahead of the curb and sees the system is flawed, so he left."

It's actually:

"ALL Jedi see the system is flawed, Dooku's the only Jedi who decided to take it a step further and leave the Order so he can try to get into politics himself and change things."

That's why they hesitate to accuse him of murder.

That's why in an earlier draft of the Attack of the Clones script, by the end of the second act, Mace STILL has his doubts that Dooku would sign a treaty with the Trade Federation to attack the Republic.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, Dooku is out there fighting the good fight, making noise because whenever they try to protest it falls on deaf ears... until his betrayal on Geonosis.

After all, let's not get it twisted: the Dooku we're introduced to in the films and The Clone Wars, isn't really just Dooku anymore.

He's Darth Tyranus.

A point Lucas makes sure to highlight in his Shatterpoint prologue:

"Unbeknownst to most of his followers, Dooku was himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, acting in collusion with his master, Darth Sidious, who, over the years, had struck an unholy alliance with the greater forces of commerce and their private droid armies."

It's not about doing the selfless thing for Dooku, anymore. He's knowingly part of the problem.

He's all about ambition, now. His personal goals are things like overthrowing Sidious and becoming the most powerful Jedi.

"[Anakin's] ambition and his dialogue here is the same as Dooku’s. He says “I will become more powerful than every Jedi.” And you’ll hear later on Dooku will say “I have become more powerful than any Jedi.” [...] It is possible for a Jedi to want to become more powerful, and control things." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

"If you put two Sith together, they try to get others to join them to get rid of the other Sith. [When revealing the truth to Obi-Wan], Dooku's ambition is really to get rid of Darth Sidious. He's trying to get Obi-Wan's assistance in that and help in that, so that he and Obi-Wan could overthrow Sidious and take over." - Attack of the Clones, Commentary Track 2, 2002

Y'know? Selfish things.

Dooku - like all other Sith, and like the very corporations and Senators he had sworn to destroy - is consumed by his own greed.

[inquisitor-apologist]

Thinking about how, at the end of the day, at the fatal moment, the sunset of the Republic, it wasn’t Yoda, or Obi-Wan, or even the Chosen One himself standing in the way of Palpatine. It was Mace Windu.

Mace Windu, the inventor of Vaapad and Master of Form VII, the Jedi's strongest duelist, the only person to ever defeat Palpatine in combat. Mace Windu, Master of the Jedi Council and the youngest Master ever appointed to it, the revered leader of the Order. Mace Windu, who forgave even those who tried to kill him, who risked his life over and over again for his troops, who, after 3 years of desperate war, tried to negotiate with battle droids. Mace Windu, who knew the clones were created by the Sith and chose to trust them, who saw every Shatterpoint in the Republic, and loved it still, and fought for it until his last breath, until he was betrayed by Anakin, who he believed in and trusted despite everything.

Mace Windu, High General and hero of the Republic, the embodiment of the Light, the last and greatest champion of the Order, the best Jedi to ever live.

[aj-artjunkyard]

NOT to cheapen a beautiful and very emotional scene but I love that Vader just tossed Sidious over a safety railing. You’re so right king he DOSEN’T deserve a climactic 10-minute lightsaber-force-lava-showdown-duel like Obi-Wan did

[zykamiliah]

i love it when fandom infantilizes characters to the point of denying them their own agency.

"if people in cang qiong had treated shen jiu differently-" do you have any evidence that they mistreated him? or is it too hard a pill to swallow that shen jiu was the one who decided to close himself off and be an asshole. that cang qiong treated him just fine, that his martial siblings tolerated him to the point that even when he was suspected of murder nothing was done to him?

who forced shen jiu to abuse luo binghe? to abuse other disciples? those were his decisions, that was him acting in a position of power.

the moral of the story is not "shen jiu was misunderstood :(" the moral is: the person who was abused can also become an abuser. the one who suffers violence can be violent towards others. you, despite what you've gone through, have the capacity for kindness and cruelty. so be wise on how you decide to act, because your pain doesn't justify hurting others, and your actions will have consequences.

you have agency, you have whatever amount of power you have over your own life and the things you do have and impact in the lives of those around you and yourself. so maybe try being at the very least neutral to the world and yourself, if you can't be kind.

but no, shen jiu's mentality was "since I suffered, they deserve to suffer too". and by taking that path he perpetuated the cycle of abuse.

bingge is the same, because he could have stopped at taking revenge on shen jiu, but he decided to involve the whole sect and the rest of the world, no matter who was innocent. he was unnecessarily cruel, but so was his master.

both shen jiu and bingge had the capacity for some form of "niceness" (in the way they treated women), so it wasn't as if they'd never known some form of love. at some point in their lives, they stopped being abused children and became abusive adults.

and that's an expression of human behaviour that we have to accept as possible. the svsss narrative invites us to examine ourselves in this light, to witness our capacity for both love and hate, to realize that even in the most adverse of circumstances, there's always a small sliver of agency over how we feel and how we act. that, despite the things that defines us from birth through childhood, our decisions also define what we'll become in the future.

[communistkenobi]

not sure if this was intentional or not but nemik saying in his manifesto “Remember this: Try.” is an interesting sentiment given that “do or do not, there is no try” is like one of the more famous lines from the original trilogy

[jebiknights]

Most of fandom: it makes more sense if Quinlan is a few years older than Obi-Wan and his creche mates, since his Padawan is several years older than Anakin and knighted before him, and it also ties in neatly with him not existing in the Jedi Apprentice books if he's already doing Padawan things when they happen

Me: uses the not great Legends dates/timeline that says Obi-Wan and Quinlan are the same age because that makes Quinlan a Teen Dad

[satans-knitwear]

Actual OTP. Most iconic couple in the galaxy.

Gido x Gulu

[dathomirdumpsterfire]

okay hear me out...

fan made visual novel where the reader is the new chancellor of the republic after sidious dies under mysterious circumstances. (*coughitwasyoucough*) all the various jedi and sith are alive. the clone wars continue. multiple endings, morality system, dating options. 🤓

(art credit: photomanip of imperial throne and maul from comics, cleaned up and spliced together with a ui.)

[jewishcissiekj]

Star Wars and text posts except it's just Asajj Ventress-centric ones. very specifically chosen to me but probably don't mean a lot otherwise

[archeo-starwars]

The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #25

[flammabel]

Cal and Merrin

[lesbidin]

i know “beskar blocks the force” is a semi-popular headcanon but i raise you this: extremely force positive beskar. it amplifies it like a bluetooth speaker. when din and luke first meet it nearly knocks luke off his damn feet.

[wrencatte]

I finally finished these! They were fun, but some got a little tedious

Originals:

[justafandomgvrl]

hmm. let’s see.

yep. confirmed.