#here's my least favorite sw movie

[reylofanfictionanthology]

STARS THAT SHOW US: THE 2024 REYLO FANFICTION ANTHOLOGY GIFT FIC EXCHANGE SIGN UPS ARE NOW OPEN

Title inspired by June Jordan’s poem “Poem for My Love”

As a special way to enjoy some Reylo fanfiction this Valentine’s Day, the Reylo Fanfiction Anthology is hosting a gift fic exchange on AO3!

As a participant, you will offer to write a story of a minimum of 1000 words for someone’s request. You will also be matched with another writer who’ll write a gift fic for you based on your sign up request.

Sign ups open on Friday, December 8, 2023.

Sign ups will close at midnight EST on Sunday, December 17, 2023.

You will receive your recipient’s request by Wednesday, December 20, 2022.

All fics are due at midnight EST on Saturday, February 3rd, 2023 to give us time for any pinch hit assignments, if necessary.

Fics will be anonymously revealed at 12:01 A.M., February 14th, 2023.

Authors will be revealed on Wednesday February 21st, 2023.

Please note that that this is an exchange hosted on AO3. In order to participate, you must have an Archive of Our Own account. For questions on how to join AO3, or any other questions, please email us at reyloffanth@gmail.com.

Please indicate at least three prompts for a fic you would like to receive when signing up, as well as anything you do not want in your gift fic.  Additionally, we are asking all participants this year to please include their favorite non-Star Wars book and movie in their sign up.

Example:

Prompt 1: Years after Rey and Kylo are married and trying to live happily ever after, a new Sith Lord rises.

Prompt 2: Domestic fluff - Rey and Ben/Kylo celebrate a holiday.

Prompt 3: Explicit hand holding

I love when Rey and Kylo banter and spar, but I don’t like outright fighting where they hurt each other. Fluff is fine! I really like when they kiss and makeup.

I do not want a gift fic with the following: Extreme violence, blood and gore.

My favorite non-SW book is Neverwhere and movie is Labyrinth!

Click here to sign up for the exchange!

Click here for more details about how the exchange will work!

[torchickentacos]

Every Opportunity Pokemon Missed by not having Drew in Destiny Deoxys: A Non-Comprehensive But Still Long-Ass list

Art above- credit to the lovely @salon-maiden-anabel ! So. This is a topic that, if my sister mentions, she knows I will go off about it at the dinner table while my mother stares on confusedly. This is a topic I feel very strongly about, and I decided to put it into words for this post-and I KNOW I'm not the only one with strong feelings about this topic! @raich-raichu I know you showed interest in this topic when I said I'd do it so hope you don't mind if I @ you! THIS GOES FOR EVERYONE: PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REBLOG WITH YOUR OWN OPINIONS AND/OR ADDITIONS ON THIS. I thrive on hearing everyone's takes and opinions. Images are included which makes it kind of long, each number on my list has a corresponding image below. For funsies. Also, I imagine this happening right before the last grand festival, though I know that’s incorrect. It just gives me more developed characters to work with since advanced and battle frontier Drew are pretty different development wise. This is with late AG Drew.

Some background. Why do I think Drew should be in Destiny Deoxys (which will be referred to as DD for the sake of my carpal tunnel)? What is the connection? Why DD and not, say Temple of the Sea? The key is the location. Drew is canonically from LaRousse City. And DD is the ONLY time we ever get to see it. Connection has been established. So... what would he even do in the movie? I'm glad you asked! Let's get into it. A numbered list of every missed opportunity the writers had by not including him.

1.) Character building through backstory. We know little to nothing about Drew's backstory, and this would have been a really natural way to learn more about it. We could have had a scene where we learn, oh, this is the flower shop his mother worked at and he grew up helping tend to the plants or whatever. This is the garden where he met budew. Just little things here and there would have been fascinating, and this movie's setting was a PERFECT opportunity for it. Plus, here's the vision. We get a semi emotional, nostalgic scene with his favorite place as a child, right? Rare Drew emotional moment, maybe sharing it with May and co.? And then, later in the movie, we see that place destroyed by the conflict in the city and we get an emotional sad moment there!!!! And in the ending credits with the song??? WE SEE HIM AND HIS POKEMON STAYING BEHIND IN THE CITY AND STARTING TO REBUILD IT (after waving at Ash and co. on the train back to mainland Hoenn). Guys, my vision is CLEAR AS DAY. Greenhouse time.

2.) Seeing him interact with other characters. Drew isn't the most extroverted guy out there, and we only ever really see him talk to Ash, May, Solidad, Harley, and Brianna. Also, May is the only consistent one in that list. That's literally five people, for those of you keeping count at home. In DD? A large cast of interesting characters for him to interact with, possibly childhood acquaintances that know him! We have Rebecca, purple hair metagross trainer who likes her computer more than most people. Sid, a human golden retriever. Rafe, who's basically Drew but with brown hair and none of the redeeming qualities. The two twins, whose names are never spoken and are only in the credits as Audrey and Kathryn (one of them also has a masquerain iirc, or at least a Surskit!). And Tory, kid who is scared of pokemon and tbh I wouldn't change Tory's role or screen interactions much. I would, however, say the others have a lot of potential for interactions with Drew. Rafe taunting both Ash and Drew at the same time? Rebecca and Drew getting along well because they're the only two who appreciate silence as a form of hanging out? Audrey and Katherine taking little sibling roles, possibly? Tons of possibilities here.

3.) Shamelessly plugging the contestshipping agenda here, but why else do you all follow me? Anyways, Sid from Destiny Deoxys has a sweet but entirely blatant crush on May (who actually knows and does not give much of a shit, though they get along well anyways). Now, I usually do not like jealousy tropes. I think they're easy to do poorly and for them to come across as posessive, which I am not a fan of. HOWEVER, I am a fan of Drew being all moody and bitchy /affectionate. I can see it going either one of two ways: one, we get asshole Drew back from season one of Advanced, who makes snide remarks at Sid who would likely brush it off as fun banter, further annoying Drew who literally cannot get under Sid's skin due to Sid's overwhelming optimism, or two, we get the Drew that has all of his walls up, hiding behind this cool facade of professionalism and aloofness, sort of emotionally overcompensating for trying to hide how much it irks him. Either way, would have been fun. Could have been used for comedy, too, since May is dumb as shit with the guy who has genuine feelings for her, but clocks the puppy love crush from Sid immediately. Would I have trusted the pokemon company to do this trope well? No, but it could have been funny as hell in the right hands.

4.) On that note, THE PASSPORT PHOTO SCENE. May isn't the most photogenic person in the world. Does he tease her about it? Does he make some offhand remark about how he thinks she looks nice before aloof-ly and deftly moving on from the topic, leaving her with the rare compliment as she tries to figure out if he was serious or not (or was it for her beautifly)? Does he show her how to retake it? DOES SHE GENUINELY SMILE IN THAT RETAKE PHOTO, LOOKING AT HIM BEHIND THE CAMERA ROBOT THING???????ASDFGHJKL so much potential with this already gold scene.

5.) More location-based character building. LaRousse City is home to the (or at least a) Battle Tower, and no mention of contests. This means, likely, that LaRousse is a very battle-enthusiast city. Did this make Drew feel like an outcast as a kid, being interested in something different from his peers? Could have been interesting.

6.) Let Drew have his hero moment. Let's be honest- most of the times that we see him, he's being either a jerk (affectionate), head-over-heels in love, or pathetic (see: Who What When Where Wynaut drowning incident). And in what I would categorize as an adventure anime, he has remarkably... little adventuring, save for a traipse in the woods with On Cloud Arcanine. This can be his moment to actually shine! He's obviously a great battler, though he prefers contest-oriented formats. He beat Ash with a type disadvantage. He's a strong trainer- let him put it to use and try to hold off the Deoxys clones (bonus points if he's holding them off from May, not that she needs him to save her ass).

7.) Forced togetherness with the crew. We know Drew has no issue spending time with May, and he's at the very least quite tolerant of Ash. But... Brock? Max? Fun fact, Brock CANONICALLY does NOT like Drew. At all. Calls him nails on a chalkboard. Makes this face at him (pictured below). Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want more of that. Tell me to my face that you don't want more of him having to socialize and of Brock being... like this. Shit's hilarious.

Look at him.

I need more of this in my life.

8.) The angst. He has his entire city destroyed, let him have a grieving moment for it. Hell, let him have a moment where May tries to reach out and he has to decide if he's going to let her in or shut her out. Does he snap, like he did in May, We Harley Drew'd Ya? Does he let her in, like The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing? Do the other LaRoussians reach out to him and let him know, hey, we're in this together? DO THE PLUSLE AND MINUN TRY TO CHEER HIM UP??????

9.) Let him get separated from the group, or let the group get separated from him. Let him have panic, uncertainty, worry for his newfound friends. Humanize him a little bit for casual viewers who know him as 'that asshole with the roses'. You know how Pokemon loves shots of people reaching out to save someone? Give me that. Let him not reach their hand in time as Deoxys clones pull them away or as they get lost in a swarm of security bots. Give me a Drew that thinks he’s failed, that it’s his fault. It isn’t of course, I just like putting him through it. Then… give me a reunion scene. An “oh my god, you’re all safe, I thought I had lost you” scene. Did you guys know we don’t get a single contestshipping hug????? Ever???? No, her keeping him from drowning doesn’t count. I think that’s a crime and I think a “thank god you’re alive” hug, from either end, would be amazing. Ship mode activated. Imagine. May, spotting him from across the city plaza once the dust settles, and sprinting to him, nearly knocking him over with a hug that he hesitantly returns, before realizing he doesn’t want to let go. Alternately, the other way around: he lets his walls down long enough to hug her, to feel safe to break down for a minute in her arms because he was so fucking worried. May, short-circuiting slightly because wait, is this really the same rival that she accidentally threw a frisbee at and hated so long ago? Give me Sid reacting forlornly in the background too fhdhhf. I love Sid, he’ll be ok. (Also: Brock having a moment of “Oh. You’re still alive. Great.” Kidding, mostly.) also… Brock giving Sid a “yeah, I know how it feels” pat on the back???? Just a concept.

10.) More Roselia teasing him. She's the biggest contestshipper out there. I love this little green rose gal. We need more of her being snarky to her trainer. She had so much personality with so few appearances, I love her. GIVE HIS OTHER POKEMON PERSONALITIES TOO!!!! Give them time to shine! My own takes here, but I like to think Absol is over Drew's bullshit 24/7 and is the serious one of the group. Flygon? no thoughts head empty, like most reptiles. Ft. a picture of my own no thoughts head empty reptile, who made friends with a cricket in his cleaning bowl below under Roselia gif. The others, no idea but there's my takes.

[prolix-yuy]

WIP Update!

How is it going my lovelies?! September has had some weird energy, but it feels like things are finally starting to turn around. Here's a fun lil WIP update!

My biggest new project is the next installment of I Think of You, and it's a big ol' chonker. I'm psyched to get back to my favorite space family, it's been much too long. And wouldn't you know it, we're diving back into some canon in this next one...

The next SW!Frankie story is also coming along! I officially have 4 asks for the series left (ahhhh!) but that is nowhere near the end of the story. Plus if any other asks pop in you know they could find their way into the timeline! But this one is all about them moving in together and rollercoaster that can be.

I've also got a lovely little ask from my favorite Jack girlie @fuckyeahdindjarin for a follow-up to Decoherence. Cee is asking all the questions I couldn't fit into the epilogue, so we're taking another dive in to address some lingering thoughts I'd like to share about Jack and Sugar.

The Plan: The First Date has also been knocking at my door, and how can I say no to Dieter and Murch? My babies! They're just about to see what a day together might look like, and all the questions that come with what the heck they're doing. Hijinks, sexiness and Dieter abound!

And then last (but certainly not least), I'm starting work on my Halloween story for this year! I've been watching some inspiration movies to get in the mood, and while nothing's on paper yet I will say Marcus Pike is our main boy and it will be spooky ;)

I won't be posting much writing over the next month since I've got my hands full behind the scenes, but I may find time to do a few little short pieces as warm-ups. October is my catch-up time, but I promise November will have lots of new fun things to enjoy. Plus things I've been reading! My TBR list is full to bursting!

Thank you all for coming along for the ride and enjoying more stories together!

[reylogirlie]

do you heard duel of the fates by Colin Trevorrow

Yes I did! For those who don’t know, Duel Of Fates was a very early draft of TROS which was rejected. Here’s my thoughts:

This is coming from a girl who HATES TROS. Like not even “I like all SW movies just some more than others” like it’s actually one of my least favorite movies ever.

I don’t think Duel Of Fates would’ve been any better. I like that they kept Rey as a nobody and didn’t do that forced Skywalker bullshit (I love Rey but even I don’t like the Skywalker thing) but that’s about it.

Frankly, the Knights of Ren killing Rey’s parents for a mission would’ve been a lame twist, Rose and Finn having force sensitive children would’ve been weird, (I’m not against FinnxRose, I just don’t think it would’ve been a great route) and just. Ughhhh I feel like this final movie was doomed no matter what.

They should’ve let Rian come back and fire Kathleen, then it would’ve been fine. And no, I’m not saying this just bc I’m a bitter Reylo, I genuinely think Rian does good work and I don’t get TLJ hate. (I’m legit watching it as I type this.)

[dizzydispatch]

A Night in the Life

Day 1

0652. Medical comes in just before shift change, meaning it’s a cluster and a half (sorry, Ms. Carol, the guys were fighting over whose turn it was to deal with you and your angina this time). I should be on my way home, but I've gotta stay late so I don't saddle the morning shift with the burden of a half-finished call.

In the middle of the mess, Officer Areyougoingforaworldrecordintrafficstops? (nice name you got there / thanks, it’s German) has to get one last traffic stop in. Hey, here's an idea. If a medical call is currently being dispatched, instead of making me juggle that and your unnecessary traffic stops-- I don't know, maybe go to it?

0734. Thank you for threatening to pull me over for my broken tail light on my way into work tonight, Officer Hardass. I can’t even tell if you’re kidding or not. Guess I better go to the nearest auto parts store and replace my brake light in the freezing cold. 

0812. Good thing I did it here in the store parking lot before I left, because you guys sold me the wrong bulb. Oh, you don’t have the one I need? Great. Can I get that in writing for Hardass? Also, I was shivering so hard that when I tried to take the ill-fitting one out that I dropped it and it broke. But at least I’ve got the rest of the day to myself. Right?

828. Oops, I forgot that I agreed to tutor my GED student today. Was expecting to have the rest of the day, but hey, it’s for a good cause. I still have all afternoon to sleep and shower. 

1100. Call from my Lieutenant. Did I want today’s eve shift for overtime? I jumped for it. Eves are my favorite shift, after all, and every overtime shift that I put straight towards my student loans brings me 0.01083% closer to financial freedom.

1101. Realized that now I had to be back at the station in four hours, and we’re in the middle of a quiz. Too polite to kick my pupil out mid-quiz, I silently resign myself to not getting a shower today. 

1205. Finally, bed. Two blissful hours of--

1415. GOD that alarm is loud. Gotta get up and haul ass. No time to primp, just throw a bandana on, fresh uniform— aaaaand it’s damp.

Day 2

1500. Freezing My Butt Off Because My Uniform is WET and Dispatch is COLD.

1655. Remembered that as the dispatcher, I’m in charge of the dispatch office, and therefore I control the thermostat. Cranks heat. 

1938. Relentlessly mocked by Lieutenant about keeping Dispatch a sauna.

1941: Retaliated by playing up the cold symptoms related to an ongoing, non-contagious sinus infection, then fake sneezing on said (germaphobic) Lieutenant.

1956: Noise complaint from a guy whose neighbors are watching a movie "so loudly it sounds like World War Four in there." (I'm sorry, did I miss World War Three somehow? Any particular reason we jump right to four?)

2056: I should make some coffee. I sure hope the coffee machine isn't-

2057:

2143. Where’s Officer Goingforarecord when you need him? At least the constant traffic stops would be something to keep me awake. I guess the fact that the sun was out helped me forget that three in the afternoon to a night shift person is like everyone else's three in the morning.

2300:

0000: Is it seriously only midnight?

0100:

0200:

0300:

0400: My favorite officer to chat with has decided to let me talk his ear off. While I’d like to believe I am simply that good company, I also suspect that it’s because my mindless chatter is impossible to sleep through. He looks about as tired as I feel.

0500: After talking pretty much nonstop for an hour, my voice hurts. But if I stop, I’ll lose the momentum and adrenaline of a mostly one-sided conversation about the relative benefits of being a bandana girl. Sure, it’s not exactly a runway-worthy fashion statement, but can you tell how long it’s been since I washed my hair? 

0549: I wonder if this would make an interesting blog entry? Dispatch: A Night in the Life. 

0601: Should I at least format it into essay style? 

0636: Too tired. Transcript will have to suffice.

0639: I swear I know how to spell the word lieutenant, Mrs. Overton, my dearest seventh grade English teacher. I even use the pneumonic you taught us: lie-to-u-about-ten-ants. I’m just so tired, my brain won’t cooperate. (I won’t even tell you how many times it took me to spell pneumonic.)

0646: Wait, why would an officer lie about ants? Do we have ants in the station???

0649: I guess after the mouse that Dave’s mousetrap caught, a few ants shouldn’t be too much concern. 

0651: Almost time to...

0652: You have got to be kidding me, Carol.

[marinersubmariner]

Ahsoka series thoughts

I wasn’t going to post this because most of the recent Star Wars stuff gets worse upon reflection and it bums me out. Plus it’s all been said better elsewhere and the last thing the internet needs is more Star Wars complaining. But I also like reacting to what is basically the only fandom thing I ever think about on an ongoing basis! And I type it all out to myself anyway! So here you go. More Star Wars complaining. Bon appetit

I actually overall had a pretty good time watching this show, because there’s a deeply-ingrained part of me that simply likes hanging out in the SW universe. I AM, in fact, just here for the vibes. 😔✌️ Unfortunately that doesn’t tend to carry over into long-term affection for the Disney+ shows themselves, and the only series I find myself still caring about and thinking fondly of when it’s not immediately in front of my face is Andor (every part of that show but especially Luthen’s speech and the whole mood of that scene and how I felt watching it is STILL in my head.) Star Wars would be so good if it was good, etc.

On a visual level, for a Volume show it didn’t look too terrible for the most part. What it lacked in dynamic lighting or convincing realism it often made up for in atmosphere, and they did a better job on some of the larger environments. At least until the finale, which devolved into a bunch of plain rooms. I thought Seatos looked nice, that was my favorite new location—the moody red forest and the map hologram on the cliffside were really appealing. (side note: I had to google what that planet was called because it takes me a while to learn new places when they don’t put the names on the screen, and in my head I was picturing it spelled like C-DOS. GLaDOS’s cousin.)

I was REALLY thrown by Sabine training as a Jedi because it came out of nowhere and I don’t see how it fits her character, but I am otherwise generally a fan of the “anyone can be a Jedi” thesis. I know it’s controversial because by now it’s been very established that space wizardry is a highly selective genetic trait, and of course surprise superpowers aren’t as fun or special if just anybody can do it… but going all the way back to the OT I always felt like Luke’s journey had more of an everyman quality to it, that he chose to follow that path and he trained and he learned to tap into the Force. Some people are born to be better at it, some people are way too strong with it and have to learn to control it, but theoretically anyone can do it. The Force connects ALL living things, so it makes sense to me that anyone should have the ability to access it, even if that only manifests in faint or subliminal ways (“I have a bad feeling about this,” that old theory).

I’m just not convinced they should have gone this route for Sabine! Her relationship with Ahsoka still doesn’t make sense to me, they didn’t flesh it out at all and I can’t track it from what we saw in Rebels. And it also disappoints me that she did ultimately work out how to use superpowers because I enjoy the dynamic of non-Force sensitives who are nonetheless very narratively important, even when you mix them in with the magic users who tend to suck up all the story weight. I like it when the magic is a little more rare and unique and hidden (particularly in the OT and ST eras!), and as much as I love space wizardry, that mythic element seems to work a little better at movie scale than at tv scale.

So I’m kind of a big hypocrite when I say anyone can use the Force when I also still want it to be special and exclusive, lol. I guess logically I like Force usage to be all-inclusive (or at least have that potential) but narratively I like it to be rare. ???? IT’S CONDITIONAL, OKAY. I contain multitudes.

I still have a really hard time connecting to live-action Ahsoka and I don’t think she seems enough like her animated counterpart for me to feel emotionally invested in her. It’s just a lot of Rosario Dawson doing a Knowing Smirk and posing with lightsabers. It was especially stark in comparison to Ariana Greenblatt’s younger version, who seemed EXACTLY like animated Ahsoka—which admittedly is not a fair comparison because she was literally playing the animated version, but she got the voice and mannerisms down so well.

Really all the animated characters seem so thin, and while I did like Sabine and I warmed up to Hera, forcing this all into live-action has the two-fold effect of not being enough for people who are familiar with the cartoons (because we don’t need the Cliff’s Notes versions of their characters, we know them and their story, and this just seems like cosplay versions of them clunkily recapping us on how they know each other) but ALSO not being enough for general audiences who haven’t seen the cartoons (because who the hell are these thinly drawn characters referencing a bunch of backstories and events we’ve never seen??). It’s like, yes, I recognize them from the cartoons! But that recognition alone is not enough to carry an entire series! Whereas if they’d just gone ahead and made a sequel cartoon they could’ve actually made a plot and it wouldn’t feel like they spent all this time on what only amounted to setup for something else.

I DID, however, feel like Ezra was the most successful translation from animation to live-action—I loved him a lot and he felt most like his actual character to me. (well. him and Chopper. lol) I understand why they gave him a beard but I hope he ditches it, then he’d be perfect. I can’t even wish for them to do away with the colored contact lenses because I know they won’t, but obviously those are awful across the board. It’s so distracting for everyone to have dead doll eyes, but apparently cosplay accuracy is more important than staying out of the uncanny valley. “We have to literally give them these goofy-ass cartoon eye colors! Otherwise twitter will riot!!!”

I just do not understand why they would make this show with its entire main cast from the cartoons, that is a direct sequel to the cartoons… not a cartoon. (I mean, from a cynical standpoint I get it—they have a ready-made premise and characters to continue churning out live-action Star Wars Content™ in lieu of actually making any more movies. But I don’t LIKE it.) People who know the characters are distracted trying to do the mental gymnastics required to align new voices/faces/mannerisms/personalities with what they already know, and people who don’t know the characters are totally lacking any of the context that would allow them to care and not be bewildered.

They throw Thrawn’s name around soooo much before he shows up, they make such a huge fucking deal about Thrawn, and we’ve never seen Thrawn in live-action before so it has absolutely no meaning to anyone coming into this cold. Even for me, watching it as someone who knows who Thrawn is, it feels completely stupid to treat it like something that has so much weight in the universe when within this story he has never existed before now. You say a name ominously and this is supposed to matter? Why? Who cares? You’ve never even shown this guy. It feels like I’ve missed something even when I’ve watched everything there is to watch. There are ways to build suspense around an unseen character, but just saying their name a bunch without showing why anybody should care or where all this talk came from in the first place is not it. They’re not connecting these dots, and certainly not in a way that makes for a compelling viewing experience. None of these stories stand on their own anymore, it’s like it’s all just references piled on top of references. They’re so busy talking about past events and setting up future events that they’re not really bothering with current on-screen events.

I did think Thrawn’s intro scene had some pretty cool gravitas, but here’s where I admit that I don’t care about Thrawn. 😬 Now, GRANTED, I’ve only read the Thrawn trilogy and watched Rebels, so I don’t have any exposure to his other appearances in the current EU. But he irritated me SOOOO MUUUUUCH in the original books that I’ve never wanted to seek out more. He’s a stream of deus ex machina gotcha moments, “I’m always ten steps ahead of the heroes because reasons,” and I never found it interesting, it was always just annoying. “I study art so I know everything forever” uggghh shut up. But! At least that guy was competent! This version of a brilliant strategic mastermind written by dummies is even worse. He’s not intimidating at all.

And I mean, a good way to maybe get me to care about Thrawn would have been anything approaching fandom’s invented odd couple adventures for Thrawn and Ezra post-Rebels, but instead the implication here is that they have done absolutely nothing and have not interacted at all throughout their entire exile. Complete stasis for both of them. Like, I hate the vague tell-don’t-show of the Sabine and Ahsoka stuff, but it’s doubly boring to not even have the suggestion of anything happening in that intervening time period. What a transparently lazy way to shuffle Ezra and Thrawn off the board for the OT just to zip them back and pick up where they left off to fill in some dead space before the sequels.

That first shot of Enoch’s weird FACE HELMET was so bizarre I was really excited—the combination of gold and an unsettling molded face mask reminded me of Death Stranding, so for a second I was like omg weird Kojima Star Wars, holy shit. But it was really only one weird visual that wore off quickly. Just another different action figure, nevermind. And then I learned he was AMOS FROM THE EXPANSE so I just wanted him to take the mask off. Classic mask guys: I know you’re hot underneath there!!!!!!

I was enormously frustrated with the finale because, while I had decently enjoyed the journey, it really made it clear how futile it had all been and it wasn’t fun enough to overlook the emptiness. Ahsoka and Sabine facilitated the one thing they were trying to prevent and they’re fine with it. It was one long “To Be Continued” and like. I dunno. It would have been nice for a tv series to have SOMETHING within its scope that was being built to.

I liked Baylan and Shin a lot (new characters we’ve never seen before??!?!? who have cool outfits and cool vibes??!???!? LOVE IT) but toward the end I started to get irritated that we had no idea what Baylan was really up to and I assumed we would find out in the finale. Haha NOPE!! The lack of resolution makes it an even bigger bummer that Ray Stevenson is gone and they’ll have to recast to continue. From a logistical standpoint it just seems so odd and unbalanced that the season started with them and then by the end they only merit a few seconds of silent check-in without ever clarifying their reason for being in the story in the first place. (Obviously I see they’re bringing Mortis into this somehow [completely unclear to non-cartoon viewers!!!], but. What ABOUT it???? SHOW YOUR WORK)

Seeing the World Between Worlds was cool and I enjoyed the resultant Ben Solo clowning. :) (I also was comforted by seeing people excited about that, because my initial gut reaction was to be ANXIOUS AS HELL about them using up things I want for Ben on other characters. Noooo you should be saving that for my boy!!!! Please don’t chip away at my delusional hopes for the future, I need those to survive!!!!!!!) But the more Anakin’s corpse gets dragged out and bandied about the less sense it makes that they didn’t bother to use him in the sequels. You know, the conclusion to the saga about his family. The place where it would have made the MOST sense to use him. Nah. Anakin Skywalker throughout his entire life and afterlife: “Fuck them kids.”

I do think it’s cute to see Clone Wars-era Anakin and I’m glad we’ve progressed to a time where people appreciate Hayden. But I am also personally in dangerous territory of being like “I’ve had enough of this dude.” Between this and Obi-Wan suddenly Anakin is all over the place… while being markedly absent from the part of the story that features his legacy dooming all of his descendants. I don’t wanna be a person who holds a grudge against a fictional character for choices made by the writers, but I do find myself feeling more like “piss off, ghost!” because of TROS. If you’re gonna be an absentee father then GET OUTTA HERE!

Too bad Marrok was a nothingburger and went out like a total punk, because he looked so much like a Star Wars version of Rinzler I was losing my mind. Tron AU 4ever

Huyang was great, David Tennant has an excellent droid voice. And of course I loved the talk about Kanan 😭 But I’m bummed that lightsaber construction—!!!!!! one of my personally monumental longtime wishes for live-action Star Wars!!!!!—got rushed out in such an anticlimactic way on a mediocre tv series. Sigh. Glossed right over it just to cram another lightsaber in there for some bad action scenes. I actually liked Ezra only using the Force and Sabine only using a lightsaber so they had like a tag team “two halves of one Jedi” thing going on.

The zombie stormtroopers and their loud undead moaning were so stupid. I believed what the internet was theorizing, that all those troopers were dead to begin with, but I guess not? (I was really expecting that reveal in the previous episode with the group that got wiped out in the outdoor battle.) They were scarier and cooler as quiet automatons. The Spirit Halloween shambling zombie garbage really ruined it.

I was pretty intrigued by the whole “other galaxy” premise and the ancient artifacts/magic. I love the Zeffo aesthetic, and I love the Nightsisters so seeing the Great Mothers was really cool. But Peridea was such a dull environment it wasn’t as awe-inspiring as it seemed like it should have been. I did like the giant monuments and whale bones, and the crab guys were cute, but otherwise… not a lot going on. I know the universe is a big place and most of it is more likely to be dead and empty than not, but also. It’s a fantasy. And I wanna see COOL ALIEN STUFF and WEIRD ENVIRONMENTS.

I enjoyed the duels between Sabine and Shin—the first one on Lothal was particularly cool because as it was happening it dawned on me that, holy shit, is this the first time we’ve ever seen a live-action lightsaber duel between two women?!?! And I had to scan my memory banks to be sure. Sometimes… you spend so long in a dude-centric universe and become so desensitized to it… you can’t even tell when you’ve reached the light. 🤧 So anyway that was fun!! They also had some real copycat Reylo moments that made me laugh. (Shin threw Sabine into a tree!!!!1!1!)

The Purrgil were nice. :) I also liked that the Peridea boneyard had some brief glimpses of SPACE SHRIMP?? I did wonder as we were getting such an up-close look at Purrgil baleen if they actually ate space krill, and welp, I guess so. Just some regular whales in space. Star Wars was jealous that everybody’s favorite Star Trek is the one with the whales.

The “bokken Jedi” phrase Baylan introduced here is interesting to me because it’s nice to have something to describe a concept that I LOVE: the late-stage kids informally trained in the wild who have no idea what they’re doing. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed thinking about in terms of the sequels (see: one of my old meta observations that I’m most proud of!). The one thing I don’t love about it is more just straight-up copying Japanese words and concepts—just because Star Wars started that way doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it. :/

One unequivocally good thing I will say about this series is that I LOVED the music. The end credits in particular were awesome, I watched that all the way through every time.

The only things the finale left me looking forward to were Dathomir and whatever the fuck weird Force mythology they’re gonna get into, but I’m not exactly holding my breath about any of it. It’s not like they can make any sort of seismic shift since obviously the sequels still happen. ……Unless they break the Force so hard that they go full alternate universe………….. or they break it several years down the road right when Rey is born and actually cause the dyad to form… oh god

[marashi96art]

Since I laughed at you for not having the anon asks on, I'll ask you a question. :P

Aside from Titanic, what other movies inspire you when drawing Cleon?

I love Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock so much that I want them to be my celebrity parents. But they are just best friends and always have been this way since they worked on the film Speed (1994), and The Lake House (2006) 12 years later.

When I first got into Cleon, they were the only "couple" in my mind and I have been preaching this ever since. I think they are my core of Cleon, and I rewatch Speed every month lmao.

I've also mentioned a few movies on my AO3 log, and here are MORE honorable mentions:

Action Movies:

Point Break (1991) Someone recommended me to watch Fast & Furious series for RE AU(and I have), but this movie is the OG of F&F series.

The Gray Man (2022) Kickass power couple saving a little girl, together. I use it for RE4 era ref, and I kinda have a reverse AU of Claire being trained to be an FBI agent to follow her brother's steps and Leon is just a random college boy.

Mission Impossible series I was talking with my friend about how Hollywood cliche Capcom can be.

RED (2010) & RED 2 (2013) If RE9 is about the OG team reunion like DI, they will be exactly like these movies, grandpas & grandmas still kicking ass.

Fantasy & Rom-com:

One Day (2011) Friends to lovers…The drama. In fact, my newest art has used this for ref, and you will see it in 2 days.

Now and Then (1995) Teenage Cleon. Childhood neighbors, enemies to friends to crushes lmao.

What Maisie Knew (2012) Spoiler alert I'm planning to draw a series of this. I'm not into Cleon having children but if they are, I'll do it my way ;)

Life as We Know It (2010) Enemies to friends to lovers again. And raising a baby together.

No Strings Attached (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011) Not really into FWB Cleon but you writers kinda like to write this? So I rewatch them recently, well, it could work.

The Mummy (1999) You cannot tell me Rick O'Connell didn't reference Leon's design. Again, gonna draw this soon.

The Huntsman: Winter's War(2016) Pretty average, I only use ref for outfit design but Jessica Chastain is so beautiful in this. (But my ideal live-action Claire is Rebecca Ferguson, just FYI)

Far and Away (1992) LMAO I've always thought of this movie as the prequel of Titanic.

Angst:

Drive (2011) My favorite movie of all time. And I saw someone already draw it, I reblog it to my main account a few days ago. I will draw another one soon, my fav scene is not the elevator scene so, no worries.

Marriage Story (2019) Literally just rewatched it last night. I love the arguing/fighting scene so much, and it kinda suits my idea of how Claire will leave Leon for his drinking problem.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) I don't know why this movie got so much hate, but I think the part when Steve came back and later Diana has to let him go…Inspired me to draw Cleon.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Directed by David Fincher. It's more for Claire honestly. But the Scandinavian scenery is something I long for.

Sci-fi:

Oblivion(2013), Edge of Tomorrow(2014) Both staring Tom Cruise. And I regret that I didn't go to the theater for both of them, at the time I thought the posters were boring, but they turned out to be really good, at least for my taste.

Not gonna put Romeo and Juliet (1996) on the list bc I don't use Leonardo DiCaprio for my Leon when drawing, I use Brad Pitt more, for he has a better fashion sense haha. Claire Danes is already perfect.

Some TV shows as well:

Full House (1987-1995) Uncle Jesse & Aunt Becky, just search them on Pinterest.

My So-Called Life (1994-1995) Angela Chase & Jordan Catalano. I Only use Jared Leto's appearance for ref; characteristically speaking, Leon is more like Brian in this show.

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022) For Noir outfit or Mob AU cuz why not?

Rougue One (2016 movie), Andor (2022) I love Star Wars and fuck…Cassian and Jyn are so Cleon-coded! I'm mostly into SW fashion, they have some dope jackets in Andor. Seriously go watch, Andor is as good as The Last of Us.

Ride with Norman Reedus (2016-) They got some cool bikes in the first season and Cleon bike date on PCH…My beach Cleon is inspired by this show actually.

I didn't even try hard to think about these and can still go on for days…Still, I think it's good enough for one ask for now hehe.

[elismor]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

@cacodaemonia tagged me for this one and I've never actually looked at my AO3 stats, so this should be interesting (for me, anyway)...

How many works do you have on ao3? 119, which is kind of...something when you consider that I only started writing fic again in 2022

What’s your total ao3 word count? 101, 481. Yeeps.

What fandoms do you write for? Most of those words are for The Clone Wars, but there are some other SW shows/movies in there too. I'm 100% Star Wars these days. But there are also works from Stargate, Firefly, Supernatural, and a couple of others.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Pillow Talk

Forty Winks

Intensive Care

Whiskey Tango...Foxtrot?!

Crime and Punishment

The first four were all part of Codywan Sleep Bingo 2023, the last one was for 501st Bingo 2023

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do! I always respond to thank those who left me a comment at the very least and will try to answer questions or react to something specific if they have called it out. Fandom is about interaction.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I suppose that depends on how one defines angst. Intensive Care ends with both Cody and Obi-Wan gravely wounded in bacta tanks. But None of Us Perfect ends with an OFC giving Anakin advice that will ultimately fail because...you know...Vader. So one of them is what I would maybe call "modern angst" in that fandom seems to have more specific definitions of it now but the other seems like a somewhat happy ending when we all know it's really not and never could be.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Honestly? I have no idea. These days, I tend to only write happy/fluffy sort of stuff, so most of them end well. Strictly Ballroom is about Waxer and Boil's first kiss and it's pretty sweet and happy, I think.

Do you get hate on fics? To date? No. Will I eventually? Probably? I dunno. I'm pretty small potatoes in the fic world....I don't have the kind of spotlight that draws hate.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, I suppose that I do. 98% of it is clonesex, but there is a side of het in there with Thire and an OFC because when I started writing smut, I needed to do it with the kind of sex I am familiar with.

Do you write crossovers? I have written one crossover in my life. It is not on AO3.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I am aware of, no.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, but it was a million years ago in a fandom far, far away.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? This question gives ME angst. I am not a shipper by nature and I've never had an OTP. In TCW, I very much enjoy Rex/Cody and it probably edges out my fondness of Codywan a little.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have about 15K written as a sequel to None of Us Perfect and I really would like to finish it because I started it when the Kenobi series aired as a sort of tribute to my friend Alex, who passed away before she could see it. I'm also just really fond of that OFC and would like to tell more of her story. But it's such a personal project that gets me deep in my feels, so it can be hard to work on.

What are your writing strengths? If the comments are to be believed, I'm somewhat funny? I do think I can turn a decent phrase from time to time, too.

What are your writing weaknesses? I used to write in past tense and, back then, I think I was pretty good at action, but now that I'm in present tense, I don't think that's true anymore. I struggle with it not reading staccato (he did this, then he did that, then this happened), so I actually tend to avoid it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I tried it once with that crossover mentioned above, but did it phonetically because I wanted the readers to have a sense of how it sounded instead of just looking at words in a language they didn't speak. I don't think I would do it again aside from a word here or there as needed.

First fandom you wrote for? Highlander: The Series

Favorite fic you’ve written? I have a very soft spot for the second HL fic I wrote, which is probably still online somewhere, but I'm not going to try to link to it because it's under my real name (because that's how we rolled in 1997). Here and now, under the cover of usernames, it's probably A Brighter Star than You.

Thanks for the tag, caco! That was more fun than I thought it might be. I'm going to open tag this because I feel like I have been hitting the usual suspects pretty hard with the writing game tags lately. If you see it and want to play, please do so and tag me back so I can see your answers! And, because caco is a genius and did this first, here's a list of the questions for you to cut and paste:

How many works do you have on ao3?

What’s your total ao3 word count?

What fandoms do you write for?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Do you get hate on fics?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Do you write crossovers?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

First fandom you wrote for?

Favorite fic you’ve written?

[cloventine]

Hi hi!!

So recently I've gotten just a tiny amount of attention recently (which is so awesome cool yippee!) And I've decided to make a little about/get to know me type post so that way I feel a little bit more transparent and you guys get to know me a little better!

Introduction

So as everyone knows my name is Clover! But I have two other names too, Clementine and Dustin. I don't have a preference for these names at all but if you had to ask me which one was my favorite I'd have to choose Clementine lol. But no matter what you can call me any of those names!

I am 18 years old (though everyone both online and irl automatically assume I'm in my 20's I have no idea how and why I'm literally the silliest creature) and my pronouns are they/she, again I don't have a preference to which pronoun is used so feel free to pick one

A little bit more about me

I know I don't have to share this but I feel since my dms are open to anyone it should be at least shared! I have ADHD and Autism, it sometimes does make talking a little bit harder, as sometimes i will forget to respond and if I do just message me again, I promise you're not bothering I'm just forgetful. I also do tend to have a "wait your turn to talk" issue (which has improved greatly but still there lol) but that goes more so for like a VC type deal (which I am open to those too)

Secondly, I don't have much as far as DNI (other than the basics like if you're an asshole, racist, any kind of hateful phobic yahda yahda) but if you are 15 or below please do not interact with me personally (I would also advise to not interact with my page). The only trigger I have is real world pregnancy stuff, anything that has to do with irl pregnancy I really don't want to hear it, it makes me feel uncomfortable. I would also appreciate it if you use tone indicators, if you don't that's fine and dandy but sometimes i will ask if something is a joke or sarcasm.

My hobbies

Here's some things I like to do!

Drawing (big one, digital and traditional)

Playing Video games (I'll get to what my favorites are)

Writing(I'm still working on this, I'm really bad at it but I like writing characters, talking about scenarios, and sometimes rp)

Programing(I'm still majorly learning how to do this but I have a huge interest in it)

Here's some more things I'm into! Or Special interest!

Air planes

Computers

Retro technology

Biology

Plant biology

Botany

Bugs

Flowers

Some media I'm into (Video games and Shows etc etc)

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 2

SSBU

Mario kart 8 deluxe

Minecraft

Skyrim

Animal crossing

Pokémon Scarlet

Pokémon alpha sapphire

Pokémon Sun

Pokémon ultra sun

Pokémon X and Y

Nintendo dogs and cats

Kirby super star ultra

Halo (game series as a whole

Elden ring

Sims 4

For honor

Halo infinite multi-player

GTA 5

Flight sim

War frame

Shows and movies

Breaking bad (this is really the only TV show I like the rest is cartoons and anime honestly)

Spongebob

Hellsing

FMA

FMA Brotherhood

The FMA movie (I forgot the name lol)

Wall e (the most movie ever)

Star wars (unfortunately)/j

I can't remember every thing I'm into, but you can always bring up stuff in conversation or if I don't know a piece of media I would love to learn more about it!

So I think this is about it, I would love talk to everyone sometime! I'm really open to making new friends n stuff and I would even love it more talking about those medias/ ocs ^ ^!!!!!!

I'm also open to playing games with people too! My switch friend code is

SW-6769-7884-8275

And my xbox gamer tag is CL0V34 K1DD with a halo profile picture!

I hope I can talk and meet everyone soon!!

[hecckyeah]

5, 16, 22 for the sw ask 🪐

Heya friend!! Thanks for the ask <3

5. answered here!

16. which movie/episode have you watched the most?

I think it's a tie between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi :) Absolute classics. Funny story: when I was like 10 I recorded the audio of ANH onto my little SanDisk mp3 player and listened to it laying in bed every single night like a podcast for months. I could probably still quote most of it to you right now, or at least the general storyline. So if that counts as watching, then ANH wins lol

22. favorite droid?

R2-D2 MY BELOVED. He's everyone's crabby, mischievous uncle. He's more of a Skywalker than Rey could ever be. I love him a completely normal amount (lying)

[reylofanfictionanthology]

I CATCH MIDNIGHT: THE 2023 REYLO FANFICTION ANTHOLOGY GIFT FIC EXCHANGE SIGN UPS ARE NOW OPEN

Title inspired by Audre Lorde’s poem “Recreation”

As a special way to enjoy some Reylo fanfiction this Valentine’s Day, the Reylo Fanfiction Anthology is hosting a gift fic exchange on AO3!

As a participant, you will offer to write a story of a minimum of 1000 words for someone’s request. You will also be matched with another writer who’ll write a gift fic for you based on your sign up request.

Sign ups will open on Saturday, November 19th, 2022.

Sign ups will close at midnight EST on Saturday, December 3rd, 2022.

You will receive your recipient’s request by Monday, December 7th, 2022.

All fics are due at midnight EST on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 to give us time for any pinch hit assignments, if necessary.

Fics will be anonymously revealed at 12:01 A.M., February 14th, 2023.

Authors will be revealed on Tuesday February 21st, 2023.

Please note that that this is an exchange hosted on AO3. In order to participate, you must have an Archive of Our Own account. For questions on how to join AO3, or any other questions, please email us at reyloffanth@gmail.com.

Please indicate at least three prompts for a fic you would like to receive when signing up, as well as anything you do not want in your gift fic.  Additionally, we are asking all participants this year to please include their favorite non-Star Wars book and movie in their sign up.

Example:

Prompt 1: Years after Rey and Kylo are married and trying to live happily ever after, a new Sith Lord rises.

Prompt 2: Domestic fluff - Rey and Ben/Kylo celebrate a holiday.

Prompt 3: Explicit hand holding

I love when Rey and Kylo banter and spar, but I don’t like outright fighting where they hurt each other. Fluff is fine! I really like when they kiss and makeup.

I do not want a gift fic with the following: Extreme violence, blood and gore.

My favorite non-SW book is Neverwhere and movie is Labyrinth!

Click here to sign up for the exchange!

Click here for more details about how the exchange will work!

[lilredghost]

Tag Game To Better Know You

Send this to people you’d like to know better!

Tagged by @bladling (hi!!!)

What book are you currently reading? Idk I’ve had The Fellowship of the Ring on my bedside table for like months now. But I haven’t had time to read it?? Clown emoji.... SW has taken over my life so it’ll have to wait

What’s your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? I’m preeetty sure I didn’t go to any movies this year. My cousins all went to see the black panther movie together but I was busy OTL

What do you usually wear? Sweaters or crewnecks with jeans, but I need to buy more plaid and flannels again. I used to dress like a butch but my old clothes either don’t fit or have holes. I’ve been avoiding getting new ones bc I hate shopping, lol

How tall are you? 5’6”, but my driver’s license says 5’7” for some reason

What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? Immm gonna be honest, if blade didn’t answer “capricorn” I wouldn’t even know what you meant by star sign. I’m a sagittarius or however u spell it. I’m not even gonna bother googling the second question

Do you go by your name or a nick-name? I hate my name but I do go by it irl. On here I like to stick to some variation on my username

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? Do you want the funny version or the sad version of this story? I honestly never thought I’d be anything, so in grade school I just put something random and different everytime someone/something asked. I'm a grad student rn

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one? Nooope, I’m extremely single (and ready to mingle?)

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at? I’m good at crafts! I’ve got a decent amount of experience with needlework and I’ve been thinking I want to branch out into something that’s more functional (like crocheting or sewing) compared to purely artistic.

I’m bad at reaching out of my comfort zone. I feel like life is already hard enough in the day-to-day, so finding the motivation to do something new and different is hard. I need a friend who will drag me out :(

Dogs or cats? Either one, they’re cute in different ways!

If you draw/write or create in any way, what’s your favorite picture/line/etc from something you created this year? Probably this bit from Take Care of Me, Please? These fics make me feel extremely seen, and I can’t wait to get back to them when I have a chance

But it seems too easy. Anakin is… Anakin is the brightest star in his life. He smiles and laughs and shines with such charisma—such gravity—that he must surely be at the center of everyone’s solar systems, not just Obi-Wan’s. What could Obi-Wan have possibly done, to deserve such devotion?

What’s something you would like to create content for? Well blade is right, “content” is kind of a shitty word. We are inspired and driven to make art. We’re sharing pieces of ourselves; in this essay I will... Anyway the answer to this is obvious: Star Wars

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with? Star Wars again! I normally fandom hop a decent amount but ever since I found SW, something has sort of settled in me. I hope it never goes away <3

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? Man I joined a westmarches campaign and it was very disappointing compared to a regular dnd campaign. I understand the draw of the structure, but it's just not as much fun

What’s a hidden talent of yours? Idk if you’d call it a “talent” but I really like to sing. When I get my own place, I’m never going to shut up <3

Are you religious? Kind of? My cultural roots are very deep and my religion is all tied up in that. But my health is bad, I regularly get fierce pains, and I’ve been depressed for like ten years now. Not to say that you CAN’T have faith coexisting with all those things, but I’m just exhausted. It’s not for me. (Or at least, it’s not for the me that exists right now. I suppose that could change in the future)

What’s something you wish to have at this moment? Ummmm, an ask in my inbox? Jk jk

I know this is a long one so don't feel obligated or anything but I'm tagging @leafchan15 @tennessoui @kyberkenobi

[greeneyezblackheart]

I just came across a conversation you and I had at one point about how we both loved the Star Wars movies, as well as The Mandalorian. That reminded me to ask you- are you keeping up with season 3? I have been, and it's not as good as seasons 1 & 2. There have been some great moments and some great episodes- last week's episode, Chapter 23, was AMAZING- but as a whole, I have not been as impressed with this season as I was the first two. Here's what I feel like the biggest thing is: up until just a couple of episodes ago, a fully developed plotline wasn't established, at least not to the extent the plot of season 2. In every episode up until very recently (I won't say anything in case you've not seen it yet), it just felt like nothing was getting anywhere. There was a serious lack of momentum. In season 2, every episode built on each other until finally, at the end, there was an epic climax. With season 3, every episode has had nothing to do with the one before it. (This is just my opinion, by the way. I get some people probably love as it as much as they loved the first two seasons and if so, I'm here for it.) But like I said, things are starting to look up- I can't get over how good Chapter 23 was. This week's episode is the season finale, though, and I'm nervous. I'm afraid they'll kill off a character I like, or something bad like that will happen. In addition, I don't want it to be over! I waited so long for it- no telling how long we'll have to wait until season 4! 😭

Girrrrl. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t seen 2 OR 3 yet. I love SW so much and I really like the first season of The Mandalorian, I just haven’t gotten around to watching the next two seasons yet. But I will eventually. My favorite SW character is Boba Fett, so I feel like as a Boba fan, it’s important to watch TM. I haven’t even seen Boba’s movie The Book of Boba Fett yet. I know, I know! FOR SHAME!!

Here’s a gif of my boo flirting with the Twi'leks upon entering the cantina (in Return of the Jedi) lol. LOVE IT. 🖤😂

Anyway, I was so excited to see you in my notifs, Hannah Banana. I love your mile long asks.

[raspberryzingaaa]

The Branagh Much Ado, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ben Hur, Errol Flynn Robin Hood, Princess Bride, OG Star Wars trilogy?

Hahahahahah this feels like cheating 😂😂😂

Yes to maan and beuller. And no to ben hur! But that's a really good guess! The crucifixion makes me sob and the fights are baller, but the brown face lowkey grates my nerves. This one was deffo made in the 2000s.and yes! Yes! And i didn't include any star wars because while SW is v important to me, there's so many movies and the shows and books have a little more value to me!

1.

2. Ferris Beuller

3. Princess Bride

4.

5.

6.

7. LotR

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.  Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh)

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18. Robin Hood (1939)

19.

20.

[this-acuteneurosis]

Hi! I just finished binging your whole Don't Look Back series and I absolutely love it! It scratched a Star Wars itch I didn't know I had and made me realize just how much I enjoy all the politicking that goes on. I was also wondering if Asajj Ventures would ever play a role, since I'd love to see how Leia would interact with her.

I'm so glad you've loved the series so far!

As for the question of Ventress...

So, at one point, in my delusional mind, this whole story was going to be finished in about 200k words (I can still hear @mylongsufferingroommate laughing at me for this...), and so my assertion at the beginning of Like Fire in Our Bones that I would be sticking primarily to movie canon (where I stuck to canon at all) made sense.

And when people ask me about things, I always try and reemphasize that I Am Not An Expert in anything beyond the first six movies. I failed out of The Clone Wars series in about season 3, I have not watched and don't plan to watch Kenobi, my only interaction with Rebels has been fan content, I've pulled a lot of names off of wookipedia and any characterization accuracy for those people is a complete accident because I was just looking for a warm body to do a job for the plot (looking at you Darsana, dark horse favorite with my readers). I haven't read comics or novels, I haven't played any video games. Guys, I am a Fandom Fraud, okay. For all the content I've created for SW, I...don't really feel like I belong here. I have no idea how this happened.

All of that to say, I have no idea if we're going to see Ventress. Part of DLB has been putting a focus on female characters, especially ones that I've felt were under-served in canon. And I feel like Ventress could qualify.

But oh my goodness, I would ruin her. She would be unrecognizable. I know next to nothing about her. I would be making so many things up. And I don't know that I'll need her for the story. Not sure how many people have noticed, but, I uh, am actively avoiding writing the war as much as I can. This was always supposed to be a political fic, and while politics and war time are inseparable, readers should still expect a lot of the story to be focused on boring paper shuffling, not in the trenches, however much more fun that might be.

So, she might surprise me and show up, at least in name. We'll see. But no promises.

[fruitcoops]

After the wedding, coops plays the newly wed game and Marlene is just like 😍😍

The newlywed game is so cute and Neil Patrick Harris did one with his husband a few years ago that is just adorable. SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

“Welcome back, Lions!” Marlene said with a broad smile. “After a brief summertime hiatus, we’re back with Captain Sirius Black and our brand-new winger, Remus Lupin. Do you guys want to tell the viewers why you’re here?”

“You threatened us,” Remus said.

“Also, we got married,” Sirius added, holding up his left hand.

“Oh, yeah, that too.”

Marlene rolled her eyes as they turned to her with matching grins. “You two are hopeless. You’re here today to play the newlywed game, which will test how well you know each other. I’ll be asking each of you eleven questions that the other person has already answered, and you get a point for each answer that matches. Does that make sense?”

Remus gave her a thumbs-up. “Crystal clear.”

“Loops, because you slandered my good name earlier, you’re going first. I hope your husband wins.”

“Oh, I will,” Sirius promised, kicking the leg of Remus’ chair lightly as he tapped his cue cards on his thighs. “Alright, first one: what did we do on our first date?”

“Pizza at Sid’s,” Remus answered.

Sirius held up a small posterboard with ‘pizza’ written on it. “Correct! What was the last thing we bickered about?”

Remus thought for a moment. “You answered these today, right?”

“Yeah, honey, we did this in adjacent rooms,” Sirius laughed.

“Right, sorry. In that case, it was parallel parking because there weren’t any spots outside the building.”

“Correct! If our love life was a candy bar, what would it be?”

Remus frowned. “What?”

“If our love life was a candy bar, what would it be?” Sirius repeated with a devilish smile. “What, you don’t know this one?”

“Shit, what would you say to this?” Remus muttered. “Um…hell, I don’t know, a Snickers?”

The smile slipped off Sirius’ face. “Are you kidding me?”

“Did I get it right?” Remus’ eyes widened when Sirius held up the posterboard with ‘Snickers’ scrawled across it, and pumped both fists in the air. “Ha! I don’t even care who wins now!”

“Good, because it’s going to be me. Next question: If I could describe you in one word, what would it be?”

“If you could describe me?” Remus exhaled slowly. “That’s tough. Uh, chatty?”

“What?” Sirius asked through his laughter. “Chatty?”

“It’s true!”

“I said ‘sweet’!” He showed the board to the camera and they both burst out laughing. “Jesus, who do you think I am? Just rolling up to Marlene like, ‘hey, did you know my husband talks a lot?’”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“You’ve only made it through four questions,” Marlene informed them, clearly amused.

“What is your weirdest quirk?” Sirius read off the board.

Remus paused. “Like, what do I think my weirdest quirk is?”

“I think so. It threw me off at first, too.”

“This is not grammar correction hour,” Marlene called.

“I think my weirdest quirk is that I can’t end stairs on my left foot,” Remus said after a moment. “I’ll skip a step if I have to.”

Sirius hummed. “I didn’t even think of that one.”

“What did you put?”

“Pre-game superstitions.”

“Hypocrite,” Remus said with a grin.

“Perhaps. Who is my celebrity crush?”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure you want me to tell them?”

“It’s not that weird!”

“Freddie Mercury.”

“That is a little odd,” Marlene agreed when he showed the board.

Sirius looked between them in disbelief. “Why?”

Marlene snorted. “Because the person you married is basically the exact opposite.”

“There’s a difference between thinking someone’s hot and wanting to marry them.”

Remus pouted slightly. “You don’t think I’m hot?”

“Oh my god,” Sirius groaned. “Next question. What is my favorite book?”

“The Hobbit.”

“Nope.”

“Three Musketeers?”

“Nope.”

“Winnie the Pooh?”

“What the fuck?” Sirius laughed. “It’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Marlene, can I skip the next one?”

Remus leaned closer. “Well, now I’m curious.”

“Which of us would win at Trivial Pursuit?”

“Oh, baby, I would wipe the floor with you.”

He sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know. If I needed a lift at 3 am, who would I call?”

“James.”

“Yep. What is my silliest fear?” There was a brief pause. “Really? I thought this was one of the easier ones.”

“There are several to choose from,” Remus mused. “But I think you would say your silliest fear is dishsoap bubbles.”

Sirius held the final board up. “Unfortunately, you’re correct. They’re all slimy and gross. Last question: what is our favorite activity to do together?”

A smile twitched at Remus’ lips for half a second before he regained his poker face. “I would say hockey, but I think it’s actually road trips.”

“Incorrect,” Sirius said smugly.

“We literally had this conversation two days ago. What did you put down?”

He flipped the board around. “Movie night. You’re not entirely wrong about road trips, but bonus points helped you win last time, so I’m never doing that again.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Remus waved him off, as if he wasn’t having the time of his life. “Okay, number one: who is the better driver?”

“Me,” Sirius said without hesitation.

“Indeed. What did I wear on our first date?”

Sirius bit his lip in concentration. “You wore jeans and a sweater. Your green one, right?”

Remus glanced to the camera, clearly stunned, then held up his board. “Yeah, you nailed it.”

They high-fived and Sirius leaned back in his chair, grinning. “You thought you were so smart with that Snickers answer, huh? I know things, sweetheart!”

“Who is the tidiest?” Remus continued with a faint blush on his cheeks.

“Me, but you clean more often.”

“True. Who is the funniest?”

“You.” Remus shook his head and Sirius gave him an offended look. “You’re way funnier than I am!”

“We’re funny in different ways,” Remus conceded. “You make really good puns, but I’m just sarcastic and people think I’m kidding. Who does the most cooking?”

“You, for sure.”

“Marley, these questions are too easy. You’re rigging the game against me.” Remus shot her a teasing glare as he set the used boards on the ground. “What is my ideal date?”

“Going to the bookstore and staying there for at least four hours.”

“I don’t know about four hours—”

“Re, I love you, but that is exactly what we did last weekend.”

Remus hesitated, then nodded. “Fair. What is my favorite junk food?”

“You are an Oreo hound. We have, what, three boxes stashed in the house right now?”

“Five,” Remus muttered.

Sirius’ jaw went a little slack. “Where? I only saw three in the pantry.”

“I’m not telling you, you’ll steal them!”

He turned to Marlene with a disbelieving look and she shrugged. “Hey, I’m just here to moderate. This is reality tv for me.”

“If I was a Disney princess, who would I be?” Remus asked before things could devolve further.

“Belle, obviously.”

“Hell yeah. What do I think your best feature is?”

“Again with the wording,” Sirius sighed. “Hmm. You’re always messing with my hair.”

“It is very soft,” Remus agreed. “But that’s the wrong answer. I think you have the prettiest eyes.”

His cheeks went pink. “Really?”

“Babe, I’ve told you this a million times,” Remus laughed.

“Still.”

He shook his head and moved on to the next question. “Which of us has the worst handwriting?”

Sirius frowned. “Neither of us has bad handwriting.”

“Which one is worse than the other?” Marlene clarified.

“You, maybe?” he guessed. “I really like your handwriting, though.”

“Yeah, I put myself for that one. It’s kind of a weird half-cursive with a bunch of loops. Which is fitting, I suppose.” He shrugged. “Ready for the last one? You’re totally going to get this.”

“Don’t jinx me.”

“What was our last date, and when?”

“Last Thursday,” Sirius said. “We got takeout and watched The Princess and the Frog.”

“Did you sing along?” Marlene asked.

“Of course we did,” Remus said with a playful scoff. “Alright, who won?”

Behind the camera, Dorcas cleared her throat. “Remus, you got seven out of eleven correct, and Sirius, you scored a grand total of…nine.”

Sirius whipped back around to face him. “I told you I would win!”

“I’m crushed,” Remus said drily, though he couldn’t keep down his smile. “Oh, no, my husband knows me too well!”

“Did you guys have fun?” Marlene asked.

“We always do.” Sirius slid the boards across the floor to her before looking up to the camera. “Thanks for joining us today to see my victory at last, Lions! Be sure to like and subscribe to Lion Pride for more content like this.”