#and fuelled by my hatred for kill code

[marvelatthismess]

Buckle in, this is a long one

Unpopular opinion but I hate character reworks

Redesigns? Ehh its 50/50 as long as its cosmetic

But full reworks that change the fundamentals and play style of a character? I hate it

This isn't my autism hating change either, i don't mind changes when they're done right but im yet to see a character rework done right

We'll take Revenant for example, I never played him myself but I've played alongside a lot of Revenants, his changes not only shook up the feel of the game for those playing him but those playing with him - which i know was the point but his kit no longer works with the kits of other characters, its become selfish (some might call mirage's kit selfish too BUT mirage's whole thing is using decoys of himself to distract from his teammates, to put himself under fire while his teammates heal/reposition) in a way that makes him better at lasting solo than in a team

And with conduit's release, revenant feels like playing alongside a more expensive conduit, his ult feels like her tact but with a longer cooldown and less utility (his tact feels like a knock off of vantage's too but you didn't hear that from me)

I get that it had lore significance but they didn't need to change his kit to portray that significance, a visual redesign and a few kit tweaks could've done that. Ash has had 4 different bodies (human, titanfall2, arenas announcer (legacy launch trailer, for non arenas players that don't know what version of her this is), apex games) yet when you look back she still feels the same all the way through and you can see similarities between Reid at the beginning and Ash as she stands now; Revenant hasn't kept that individually, he has the same voice and colour scheme but past that? He has the feel of other legends, he doesn't feel like Revenant anymore

And maybe that's the point, to disconnect him from himself, but it just doesn't work. I've run into far less Rev players now than I used to, roughly 1/5 of my games used to be with a Rev on my team and now I sometimes go a whole day without seeing one as a teammate; by disconnecting him from himself for the sake of a plot line, it's disconnected him from players that can no longer enjoy his play style

Anyway- that was a whole ass rant, closing note:

If respawn rework Ash or Horizon, I will riot

[quaddmgd]

So during my little break I've been on and off thinking about SOLDIER!Claudia AU I talked about some time ago. While a lot of the details remain to be determined, I kinda have the outline for her accomplishments in SOLDIER, how Cloud came to be in this AU, what was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused her to defect, how Cloud ended up in trouble, effectively becoming her final destination... among other things

What really made it hard to focus on anything else than the AU was Aya's role in it. Partially inspired by the time and universe fuckery in the remakes, I decided to make her a recurring villain - Shinra's genetic experiment and a human weapon so dangerous, that letting it out for whatever reason might bring more harm than good.

Aya in this AU had been given away to Shinra by her parents to be subjected to multiple inhumane experiments, including mako enhancement and genetic code manipulation. Raised to be a weapon, she had to endure a lot of torture and, while largely brainwashed to fight for the company, it always feels like she's minutes away from snapping and attacking her own. Highly unstable and uncontrollable, closed away for most of her life, with Hojo himself keeping far away from her out of fear and disdain, she's finally let out as a last resort, only after Claudia's and her team's actions start posing a serious threat to Shinra's existence.

While being quite charismatic, if a bit stern leader, during combat she's an absolute psycho, practically dancing around with daggers in both of her hands, able to single-handedly turn the entire room into a bloodbath.

After being let out to go after Claudia, she has multiple violent encounters with her, proving to be more than a worthy opponent. As they meet during Claudia's journey, Aya's taunts become progressively more personal as she gradually destabilizes due to her trauma, the time being out of her confinement and not being able to accomplish the task of killing her adversary.

Eventually she goes rogue herself, with the rest of her team to follow, losing the plot and killing whatever Shinra forces she encounters. Still, being so full of rage, annoyance and lack of the actual purpose, she chooses to pursue Claudia even harder, as both her mental and physical health deteriorate even quicker. The second-in-command of her team - Yori - while still following her, with the nature of their relationship being a mystery, takes over as the voice of reason, actively trying to talk her out of pursuing danger.

Claudia, despite being the best P0 SOLDIER to ever exist, always tries to avoid bloodshed at all cost, but with Aya around it's simply out of the question. As they suffer through multiple encounters with each other, their hatred grows to a point where even Claudia, with everything she has to lose, being also a pissed off mom she is in this AU, swears to kill Aya during their final fight.

I actually thought about their last encounter so much, that it's probably the most developed part of the AU, mostly because of the parallels between the universes I came up with.

For their last fight, Aya is already degraded too far to be reasoned with. Probably knowing that she's about to die, against Yori's desperate pleas, she turns off her pain inhibitors, so Claudia "could hear what she's doing to her,". As they fight, she sends her adversary multiple illogical taunts, sounding more like something one would say to their lover, rather than enemy. For some reason her words highly disturb Claudia, fuelling her rage before finally winning against her.

As she ends up with Aya pinned to the wall with her blade, her opponent, coughing up blood, says that even if she kills her, she will always be there for her, finishing with "Don't you remember our vow?" For some reason this makes Claudia lose it and burst into tears, as she lets go of Aya and lets her collapse to the ground. Close to her son, she decides to proceed further, leaving Yori giving up and crying over her partner's body.

I figured that Aya, in addition to her trippy, unhinged personality in this AU, for some reason being able to see into the universe where they get married as she approaches her death, would make for a truly haunting, tragic experience.

Her whole character turned out to be a place for inter-universal parallels and intersections. Her backstory and torture at Shinra reflects her upbringing and a soul-killing job in the canon, while Yori once again becomes the only friendly face to her in this environment. On the other hand, she goes from Claudia's future wife to a sworn enemy. Both women were supposed to be providing each other respite and safety instead of bringing each other harm and tears. Claudia's angel turns out to be the one of death in the end, while she, instead of a savior, ends up being her demise. In a way, she did save her from her life again, though this time it required putting her out of misery.

Also the whole idea of Aya being a death incarnate is a total opposite of who she is in the canon, at the very least, when she meets Claudia for the first time.

Claudia tearing up after Aya's last words is a further proof of the timelines being somehow connected. While she doesn't understand her own feelings, they are there - something's not right and she internally knows that.

I recreated Aya in Freedom Wars, trying my best to give her a meaningful design. Her hairstyle is still there, but her outfit is full of wear and tear. It's full of blue accents (including her mask, belt and shoelaces) in the same color shade as the necklace she had gifted to Claudia in the canon and, as originally intended by Aya, also her eyes.

Also it would be kinda vile to retain her two wedding rings on a necklace, put on her in Freedom Wars to symbolize her eventual marriage in FF7, but the vision of a broken chain on her neck was too enticing.

Beside her is Yori, as always, glancing at her with care; wearing an outfit I actually chose for her Freedom Wars self rather than this AU.

(Oh and I just noticed that I accidentally gave Yori's outfit red accents in a shade similar to Aya's eyes and chain.)

And here's Aya recreated with a picrew I found.

It was actually my wife's idea for her blood to be pink...

...as seen in this doodle by them:

@procyo9

She retains a faceplate I tried to give her in the picrew above, partially because we call her "cyber aya" in our conversations. I haven't decided what augmentations she would have, if any, but she's definitely genetically altered and/or mako enhanced at the very least.

I tried to make her a Spotify playlist as well, but I never ended up deciding on the vibe so it's rather messy.

All in all, I've spent too much time on a dynamic between two characters in an AU I'm not even planning to turn into fics (at best it will end up as a chronological description of events with some details on the characters) but here we are. As much as I don't enjoy writing angst, I can't seem to escape it...

The whole thing feels very detached from the canon, but I actually have a few cool ideas regarding Cloud, Lucrecia, Genesis, Sephiroth and possibly Vincent...

and i need to. kill hojo

[gibbontakeart]

Celeste killed me (negative)

I just beat celeste for the first time, it's not the sort of game i usually play. But i had wanted to play it after i learned that the creator realised they were trans after publishing. Apparently the game was very trans-coded, lots of things could be interpreted through a transgender lens. and that's definitely true, i felt it almost immediately. I'm not good at expressing myself in text, so i won't get into specifics of the game and the themes and characteristion. All i'll say is that i related to Madeline way too much. To the point that her self hatred and depression prompted me to dig up my own. Lots of things swirled through my head as i played: 1. fuck this game 2. i hate this game 3. i hate myself 4. if i can't climb this fucking mountain then i deserve feeling like this 5. i can't put assist mode on, that's the cowards way 6. i can't give up, that just proves that i'm worthless 7. i need to do this or else i'm nothing Etc etc. Not very healthy is it? Part of the frustration that was fuelling all this anger and resentment was the fact that i'm not terribly good at precision platformers. I avoid them. I don't like challenging games, they make me sad but i keep playing them. My peers don't seem to be as emotionally fucked up as i am, they play the games and they say "AUUGH" when they lose but then they're still in high spirits. I yell when i lose and everyone runs away. I'm so scary, so serious, calm down "CALM DOWN, IT@S JUST A GAME" IT'S JUST ITS JUST ITS JUST ITS JUST it's nothing. I'm stupid for feeling so strongly about anything, my brain must be broken, i'd be better off dead. etc. it's just really revealing for me, playing Celeste and losing over and over and getting sadder and angrier. It's no good, i shouldn't be doing this. But quitting would feel worse. And so i keep playing, having mini mental breakdowns as i go. Most people would not torture themselves like i am. I'm not even that bad at the game, i'm just really REALLY sensitive to it. I wish i could talk to my Badeline, or maybe my Madeline, i don't know who i am at the moment. But it'd be cool if i can sort myself out by climbing a mountain together. The game wasn't my mountain, my mountain is way taller than this game. Much more dangerous and impossible to climb. I'm not a mountain climber after all, i'd never be able to do it....

[havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong]

Desperation — Even in Fear, Step Forth

A Master, alone in Fuyuki with only a fearfully-summoned Servant to his name, finds himself backed against a corner.

He may not have signed up for this — but he knows full well he must see it through.

—

‘I don’t want to be here.’

I remember speaking such words to a young person beside me.

Yes, they who were not unlike me — a person pulled for only a surface - level magical talent, a person only capable of altering their body’s physique — who furrowed their brow, and ran a hand through their short, black, ruffled hair.

‘Why not? We were chosen for a reason, even as mere extras. We’ve got the potential to be Masters in our own right.’

...An idealist, that one. The definition of ‘normal.’ So close to sanity amongst the chaos of the ‘true mages’ around me that I would briefly consider my moments with them to be like my ‘real life.’

‘I’m a baker, Ritsuka. I have no other talents than that. I... wish I could hide in that bakery, in ignorance, like I used to.’

And perhaps, in any other situation, in any other world, I had. And yet...

‘You’ll have something. More than I do, at any rate.’

‘So when we get there to help the big guys, let’s show our worth, yeah?’

—

“...Are these the Genji you wanted killed?”

In a moment, I wiped the tears from my eyes — the summoning ‘circle’ I used smudging, accidentally smearing some blood onto my face, stinging my eyes.

“...Yes.”

I didn’t have the time to ask that voice what ‘Genji’ was — only that she destroy whatever she spoke of. The sounds of bone cracking, the clattering of a bow striking the ground — the snap of a spear’s body, all following in moments, as I blinked the fluids from my eyes.

Only now could I even get a clear look at the voice who saved my life.

Their armour brought to mind the armour of a Japanese warrior — padded armour seemingly made of a mixture of leather, metals, and silk, if history lessons served me right. Coloured black and white, red highlights on the arm armour and on the front of their suit, and a purple obi — from what I could tell — on their waist, it served for a remarkably striking appearance. If not for the voice, clues to the armour’s owner would be hard to find — at a glance, its covering was as if it was meant to obscure the owner of the armour.

Certainly, as the Servant turned around, the remnants of the three skeletons crumbling to pieces at her feet, the mask only confirmed it — a white and red mask I presumed to be a kitsune’s mask, and something pitch-black underneath it obscuring their eyes.

“...Are you my Master?”

...They speak. An intimidating, serious voice — every last word felt as if drenched in poison, even if such poison was not made for me.

It took a moment — I only forced my response out, recalling a Servant may kill me if I lacked a response.

“...Yes. I... had summoned you.”

...I’d bitten my tongue, the moment I stopped talking. My jaw was quivering, and surely the rest of my body was the same — facing a being like that, even though they were on my side, felt as if I were too outmatched to even begin to speak.

“...I see. In that case...”

...The being looked around them. Trying to spot onlookers — eavesdroppers. How they could see with that covering on their eyes was beyond me, but I had little choice but to dismiss it as ‘Servants doing Servant things.’

After a moment, the being resumed speaking.

“I am... Avenger. Kagekiyo. So long as I am summoned — the Genji will die.”

...It seemed she’d noticed the same thing I had. If anyone could overhear Kagekiyo’s True Name — they were long dead, likely lacking the conscience to understand what such a string of words meant.

And yet — ‘Avenger.’ My heart could’ve stopped, for a moment, as my breath hitched in my throat. A class I knew little about — only what I had been taught by other soon-to-be Masters in my short time in Chaldea. Holders of Oblivion Correction, those fuelled by endless hatred — hatred that wouldn’t ever fade, until they had destroyed everything, and themselves along with it.

Of all the things I could summon — a being with a grudge, a hatred, that would never fade. One that could even kill me, if I matched their definition of ‘hatred.’ A feared class, most of all by myself.

...Their expression must’ve changed — their smirk dropped, reduced to a more serious expression, from what I could see of their mask.

“...You fear your own Servant? You want the Genji killed too, do you not?”

...How could someone get a read on this being? Their facial expression was unreadable from their mask — their mind, focused on ‘Genji,’ didn’t seem to allow for more than a passing thought outside it.

...I had to ask, my mouth open before I could think to stop it—

“Am I a Genji?”

...A question that, I realized, would almost certainly kill me. Paying attention to me, a warrior like themselves may view my cowardice as ‘wrong’ — was that what the ‘Genji’ meant?

A haze surrounding my mind simply wouldn’t let me remember. My heart beating up to my throat, the face of a Servant I couldn’t figure out staring daggers into my eyes even through the mask.

“...You are... No. I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you if you were the Genji. You’re a coward... But you haven’t even attempted to run.”

...There weren’t any other options — surely...

...No — they were far enough in front of the flaming trap I found myself in to enable my escape. They had to kill the archer, after all — that lay far further back than the swordsman who trapped me. They hadn’t moved a muscle.

“...If I were to try and get out of this space now...”

“...You can’t kill the Genji if you won’t move from your spot, Master. Step out — and I will be your sword. Stay in there, and you will only hold me back from ending their lives.”

The being remained where they were. The heavy tunnel vision, plaguing my sight, began to clear up — my heart slowing, even a little, as I allowed more air into my lungs.

They were right, weren’t they? If I remained here, my death would only change from ‘all-but-certain’ to ‘assured.’ Surely, my life was in no small amount of peril — surely, I may die regardless of my actions here. But, if I were to choose between assured death, and even a slight chance of survival...

‘In through the nose...’

The smell of ash burnt my nostrils. But I had to ground myself — to move.

‘Out through the mouth.’

...I wasn’t safe. I had to stay alert. But... I was not alone any longer.

...A step forward — one foot in front of the other. The cracking of bone and wood underneath my feet, stray sparks flying out from the flames surrounding the two of us.

My legs surely could hardly stand — quivering under the fear, the stress, the paranoia and anxiety, of the situation I remained in now.

Surely, tears still stained my cheeks. I could still feel hiccups coming up, the warm tears welling in my eyes burning ever-so-slightly from the surrounding heat.

Terror itself, like a beast, gripped my heart, my legs, and my lungs, in the attempt to pull me back — to freeze me in place.

But there was nowhere else for me to go. No alley to turn to, no trump cards up my sleeves. Only Kagekiyo, and my Mystic Codes to protect me from nigh-certain death.

I had to be brave. I had to be a Master.

I have no other choice.

“...That’s the spirit, Master. You’ll be slaughtering Genji before you know it.”

...Encouragement... from them. Those words drove my legs — forwards, quicker, faster —

...Only stopped, as I blinked the tears from my eyes, by a grinning, armoured being who stepped mere inches in front of me.

“...Channel your fears, Master, into hatred at the bastards who got us here. Anyone can become Kagekiyo when your back’s against the wall.”

The being’s head moved to match my gaze, as my breathing slowly levelled.

“Hold your ground, and fight the Genji with all you have. That is what it means to be Kagekiyo — I expect you will follow.”

...From this close — the being’s voice, their visage, their statue, it rang something deep within me.

That anger, beneath the fear, of a fate like this befalling me — of the desire to fight, live, and be safe, despite all that stood against me.

Their name, Kagekiyo —

Clear of the fear fogging my mind, in the twisted ‘safety’ of being so near a warrior like them, I recalled—

A being, who tried to slaughter Yoritomo thirty-seven times, from legend. A being who failed each time.

A being who would eternally seek vengeance for their clan.

‘...So that’s how it is.’

...I swallowed my fear, wiped away the tears with my other hand.

“...I’ll do my best to keep up, Avenger. There’s a lot of Genji we need to fight — I trust that we’ll make a good team.”

...Even with my hiccuping, the nod of their blindfolded head said it all.

“It seems you understand. Come, then — let no Genji survive. With myself and a mage to spare, their deaths are all but certain.”

[averys]

There will be a fire awoken inside of THE INSURGENT, an inferno that has the capacity to burn down everything in its path. However, if it can be harnessed properly, it will bring them strength in the darkness and light their way back home...

❝ I was looking for a breath of life, a little touch of heavenly light, but all the choirs in my head sang no. ❞ Merlin’s beard, what is ( LAVINIA AVERY ) doing out at this hour? For a ( PUREBLOOD ) who is ( 51 ) years old, ( SHE ) really ought to know better. You know, I hear that they’re aligned with ( THE ARCHANGELS ), but that could be just a rumor. I do know that they’re a ( CIS WOMAN ) and a ( SLYTHERIN ) alum who works as a ( GOVERNOR AT HOGWARTS ) though. They’re very ( PRAGMATIC ) and ( CHARISMATIC ) but also quite ( MASTERFUL ) and ( IRRITABLE ), which could be why they remind of ( FORCED SMILES AND FEIGNED LAUGHTER, SILVER PLATED JEWELRY, AN INTENSE GLARE OVER READING GLASSES, ROLL NECK SWEATERS, BOTTLES OF WINE STORED IN WOODEN FRENCH WINE CRATES, A LOCKED SAFE GATHERING DUST ). Some people say they’re the spitting image of ( JENNIFER ANISTON ), but I’ve never heard of them. Word on the street is that they’re ( THE INSURGENT ) and their prophecy is ( PROPHECY 24 ), but only time will tell if that’s true or not. [ ELLE,  22, SHE/HER, BST ]

abuse tw, abandonment tw, death tw

THE BASICS

name: lavinia avery

age: fifty one

pronouns: she/her (cis female)

blood status: pureblood (sacred twenty eight)

house: slytherin

occupation: hogwarts governor, previously a ministry of magic employee

special abilities: leglimency

wand: 9″ red oak, phoenix core.

affilliation: the archangels

code name: leviathen

CHILDHOOD

the avery family were no strangers to dark wizards. lavinia’s father had the dark mark and his position on blood purity and indeed the dark lord limited her choices growing up and indeed in her adult life. the avery’s were one of the named twenty eight sacred families and she would always have to live up to that.

her father was one for discipline, tough discipline. they were all afraid to say anything to him, to argue with him was a dangerous game. it was a toxic household to grow up in but lavinia didn’t know any better. the day her letter from hogwarts came in the mail was the happiest day of her life as it gave her an opportunity to escape it and feel as safe as she could.

unlike some of her slytherin counterparts, she wasn’t one to terrorise other students nor was she stuck on blood purity. this surprised most as she was different to what they were expecting. lavinia was tolerant but easily influenced. she wouldn’t fight others on issues or stick up for the little guy but she’d watch it being done.

lavinia was too sensitive for her father’s liking. she was a feeling person that acted on her emotions, one that grew more and more afraid to act on them as she grew older. there were always so many unsaid things in her household because things were never questioned; her father was the head of the household and they had to do what he wanted. lavinia was obediant but she never hated things hard enough to get on the level she was supposed to in order to catch the dark lord’s attention, not like draco malfoy did. her father was disappointed in her but it was left unsaid, he didn’t need to say it she already knew.

she always saw hogwarts as a safe place but that wasn’t what she experienced in her sixth year. however, a prank her friends orchestrated on a younger muggle born student showed her that harm could come from within its walls. that was the eve that she did stick up for the younger student because it had already gone so south and the other would have lost their life had she not being there. however, her father wasn’t happy that people were talking about her, doubting their family after siding with a muggle-born. it got her into a lot of trouble, incited so much anger in her father that she would never do anything like that again. it would take people a while to forget that his daughter had sent a very clear signal to everyone that she was tolerant and it didn’t sit well with him.

after she returned to hogwarts, she wasn’t the same. she kept her head down and hoped the hero trope would be dropped so she didn’t bring any more shame on her family. she had done the right thing but it hadn’t once felt good as she had to endure so much after it, including making her father’s life more difficult with the dark lord.

lavinia was known to be a stellar student and the school couldn’t fault her purely because of who her father was and how he acted. her own actions did cause her to be bullied by her house mates until snape took her under his wing and taught her leglimency. he was in on it, she knew that, but he did make an effort with her in terms of preparing her and giving her a skill that she could use.

AFTER THE WAR

lavinia’s father fought along side lord voldemort and ended up in azkebanwhile her mother disappeared; it wasn’t clear as to whether she had died or seen it as a perfect opportunity to escape a toxic household. lavinia was hurt by this and she’d never get an answer. as horrible as it is, she’d rather tell herself that her mother was dead than accepting the possibility that the woman left her in a time like that.

after leaving hogwarts, she worked for the ministry of magic for twenty five years before handing in her resignation and becoming a hogwarts governor. in between that time, lavinia married, he would take her last name in an attempt to higher his status, to feign being part of the secred twenty eight. just like that, it took the focus of her and he looked like an avery heir. they had one child, who lavinia loves so much.

THE WRAITHS TO THE ARCHANGELS

her husband was very involved with orion and therefore, lavinia became the supportive wife who would keep her mouth shut, just like her mother did with her father. everything was a cycle and she saw no point in fighting it.

she was a devoted member of the wraiths by association and had been incredibly supportive until her husband returned from a meeting cursed, imperiused. whoever cursed it wanted them gone for reasons unknown to the woman. she killed him protecting her child and it was the hardest thing she would ever had to do.

it had ruined her, ruined them, and it was something that couldn’t be undone. it was deemed a self defense incident but that still didn’t bring her husband back, nor replace him as a father. hatred fuelled her and pushed her to plan to set up her own organisation - the archangels. the wraiths would get what was coming to them and the more people deflected, the better chance she’d have.

she carried on meeting people once she had left and recruiting people, through various false promises but that was the game she had to play in order to get justice and to feel in control of the situation.

lavinia is the charismatic, pragmatic leader , something that does feed her ego. however, she does feel like she’s in the right in what she’s doing instead of simply just becoming a new version of orion lestrange. she’s under pressure because of everything to make it work; she can’t fail at it, she just can’t.

it’s obvious she does have some doubts seen as her child is part of the organisation but she keeps them as far away from the truth as possible. she worries that something will happen to them, that they will be targetted just like their father was so the less they know, the better. she really cares for them and although she’s on a quest for power, her child is her main priority and will always be... hopefully.

[roxannepolice]

idk, i guess i don't think a storyline where rey 'does what needs to be done' and the audience only realizes afterwards that she was wrong would land very well. maybe if rey's absolutism was framed as bad from the beginning of a duel where she kills kylo. but if the narrative makes it look like rey needed to kill kylo until she kills him, that really underserves his redemption arc: i feel like his redemption shouldn't just be an 'in hindsight, he was turning good' realization for the audience.

Forgive me, thesis, for I am weak…

I’m planning to run a more sytematic research on the language used in Star Wars throughout the episodes, but the general impression I’m sure of is: the sequel trilogy is textually much more black and white than the previous ones, while simultaneously much grayer on the subtextual level. Here’s a thing - adjectives/epiteths used in the opening crawls:

TPM: galactic republic, trade routes, greedy trade federation, outlying star systems, alarming situation, two Jedi Knights the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy

ANH: civil war, rebel spaceships, secret base, evil galactic empire, secret plans, ultimate weapon, armored space station, sinister agents, stolen plans that can save her people (ooops…) and restore freedom to the galaxy

TFA: sinister first order, Skywalker the last jedi, brave resistance, desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy, most daring pilot, secret mission, old ally

SINISTER first order? BRAVE resistance? MOST DARING pilot? WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS? Mind you, when ANH first came out people had no idea who will be who, so information “evil galactic empire” is plain helpful in placing the pieces on the chessboard, “guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy” applies to some 15 years before jedi gloriously f*cked up this job, while telling me fo rose from the empire is basically mentioning a Dalek in later Doctor Who seasons. 

Opening crawls in TPM and ANH provide proper information about the chessboard, yes, including who plays whites and who blacks, but TFA practically informed me whom I should like and dislike and who’s gonna win and who’s gonna lose before first line of dialouge has been spoken… unless there’s some table turning in store, since the subtext tells me quite a different story (a good stormtrooper? an evil Skywalker? good guys and bad guys both fuelling destructive war machine?). 

The thing is: if the script is desperate to inform me about the direness of good guys’ situation, which is what it is desperate to do on Crait, and I find myself plain unable to feel tension for them and the next installment reassures me that there indeed was no reason for tension… then it’s poor writing. Now, I get it, maybe it’s all supposed to be even more for children than the previous trilogies, but then why give me patricide and mass nuclear weapon?

Rey’s absolutism hasn’t been presented as something negative, because, first of all, it was far from being hitherto negative, just as Kylo Ben’s compwassion has been far from having bigger consequences - I’m not saying absoultism is the dark side and compassion is the light saide, I would rather say absolutism is a very strong pull to the dark and compassion is the strongest pull to the light. But on a more meta level the entire trilogy is very absolutist in appearances, I would even say gratuitously narcisstic in revelling in how good it is to be good and how bad it is to be bad.  This manicheism in language makes me think epix will introduce something of a circle of hatred - resistance will no longer care if what fo is doing is right or wrong, only assume that what they’re doing is wrong because fo is doing it, pretty much the way audience assumes Kylo Ben is physically incapable of doing anything right so long as he is with fo - and if there is one thing we should know about Rey at this point is that she’s really good at sticking to what she wants to believe in. There’s a good chance the audience would be getting strong hints, perhaps very strong indicators, that Renperor is far from being the worst thing that could have happened to the galaxy - but would it really be so simple for all of the audience and Rey as a parial insert to believe that what they’ve coded as Palpatine 2.0 (or immediately identified as real history dictators, because why not) should live? Now, as I said, there can be nothing to it, maybe we are meant to ignore the subtext and happily jump in on the black and white train, but looking back at what was happening in previous installments, it gives me a strong red light.

So you see, when I say that Rey would realise that it was wrong of her to kill Kylo Ben only after she kills him, I don’t mean that she would realise that it was wrong because he actually wasn’t so evil. I mean a scene eerily similar to Kylo Ben after he killed Han and Luke looking at his ignited lightsaber. It wasn’t about realising Han was actually a perfect dad - he wasn’t - or about realising Ben would never do whatever Luke saw in his vision - he always could though I don’t think he really already wanted. It was about realising the plain wrongness of killing someone they love, ultimate sacrifice of love in the name of “what’s right”, and tbh, the negative backlash Rose saving Finn - a bad decision from a purely strategic viewpoint - got from the audience tells me it’s a very important message to be sent.

But you know, this is all just my angsty love for drama, so thank you for constructive criticism :)