#i-belong-to-the-stars

[the-force-awakens]

Yeah, that's a pretty good analysis. I don't see Poe included hardly at all, in fandom or in canon to a degree, and I think it's safe to say he has one of the least number of fans who are specifically fans of him. Like I don't see many blogs/accounts that are specifically Poe centric.

Oh man, I actually got up to answer this on my computer rather than my phone, so we'll see how into it I'll get into this ask, but yes! It's vastly unfortunate that he often gets excluded or overlooked when he's the entire catalyst for the sequel trilogy. He is, archetypically and narratively within the story, the Leia of our generation: if it was not for Poe and BB-8 (who is really like an extension of Poe), then Finn wouldn't have been able to escape the Finalizer, and Rey would have never left Jakku.

While yes, it's true that Poe wasn't initially meant to survive The Force Awakens (and other nine word horror stories for me), Poe is still one part of the primary trio of the trilogy and has been since 2015. He is not only Leia's first protégé, but the eventual leader of the Resistance, and according to the Rise of Skywalker novel, the heir to the legacy of House Organa (cue me loudly proclaiming him a Disney Prince). Yet, somehow, at the same time......no one seems to ever want to include him as part of the saga, and an important one as that?

(@dameronalone points out ever so often how much they love the shot where everyone leaves Exegol for this reason, because we see Poe flying alongside the Falcon, which really hammers in that Poe is an important player in the history of the saga).

More thoughts below the cut, because I have more and this is already lengthy.

The worst thing is that Poe was extremely popular. Lucasfilm and Marvel pretty much immediately greenlit a comic series for him, and while that was definitely to flesh his story out, if my memory serves, it was so popular that I believe the first printing sold out? And it was originally only meant to last 25 issues (which personally I think it should have stayed at, because I don't super vibe with 26-onward and it feels off and tonally disconnected to the rest of the series and also the ending of TLJ, and the characterization for Poe also feels off, but that's!! a different rant!!!) but the title was so popular that Marvel decided to extend it for two more storylines!

The issue was the fandom backlash to TLJ.

You don't have to look too far into my blog to know that I adore Poe in TLJ, and that I like his arc in the movie, and that I avidly defend him for it, but the internet in 2017-2019 was an entirely different universe from that. You could not go anywhere - Tumblr, Twitter, Youtube, fucking hell, even most major media news outlets and clickbait websites - without hearing about how much everyone hated Poe Dameron.

Why? Because they walked away from his arc deciding that he was sexist and the movie's perfect example of toxic masculinity (although, lmfao, the First Order clowns are right there). It went further than that, with headlines about how everyone hated him, how he was personally responsible for everything that happens in the Resistance in the film, and how he was the worst character in Star Wars since Jar Jar Binks (because clearly the Star Wars fandom never learns from its previous toxicity, right?). It was to the point that, to my immense horror and frustration, even as far as into promoting TROS, a reporter described Poe as a "secret villain" in TLJ to Oscar (and man do I hope that man knows Poe is loved, actually).

Fandom wasn't much different. Fanon Poe prior to TLJ was....a lot different. In some ways, a lot of fics hit the nail on the head on who Poe was, but there was a definite unifying idea of who Poe was: a pure cinnamon roll who never, ever swore, and always listened to Leia and never argued with her - let alone disobeyed her orders or put a toe out of line (this is even illustrated in canon, with the first Poe Dameron annual, where the author has Poe declare that Leia is "always right" and instantly caving in an argument).

And TLJ Poe is about....as far removed from that vision of Poe as you can possibly get - although nothing about him in TLJ is ooc. We see the bare bones of it in The Force Awakens, and Before the Awakening and the comics further flesh out Poe in a way that perfectly leads into the Last Jedi. But the cinnamon roll fanon was made so common and leaked so far into fandom consciousness, that there was this strange concept that Poe was never, ever angry even in expanded material, which...he does. He gets pissed off plenty of times in the comics, and with the Defense Fleet while arguing with Deso.

So, canon Poe did the unthinkable and, y'know, didn't fall in line with how fanon saw him, which resulted in a huge backlash over the fact that he was a character with agency and a personality (that is NOT sexist thank you), which resulted in us getting books like Resistance Reborn, by authors who can't stand him or describe him as anything besides "supremely arrogant" and spends three hundred pages emotionally torturing him, claiming he needs to die, physically assaulting him, and you know...having the person who attacked him and the other person who claimed he needed to die flirt with him, because it also spends an ungodly amount of time sexualizing him to an uncomfortable degree, because the one thing fanon could agree on outside of the fact that he had been "ruined" or that he was a jackass or a "fuckboi" (yeah that went around too), was that Oscar Isaac is really goddamned fine in the Last Jedi (he is, I'll give them that, there's something about tlj!Poe, scientists remain baffled).

And on top of all of that, a particular fraction of the fandom developed an interesting habit of taking new pieces of canon and spreading them around online out of context, claiming that the writers were now intentionally writing him as sexist and as a jackass, and ruining his character further. I don't know for certain if this had any effect overall on the fandom's perception of him, but I know that it did almost break my spin in him for a while because I thought people were being very genuine, and it wasn't until 2020 that I got curious and started doing my own research into the panels/paragraphs being shared online, and sure enough, discovered that the angle had been falsified to paint Poe into a worse light (which, if anyone is curious, is why I did my deep dive into everything that he was in, because I didn't want to be fooled again. You can't trick me if I know everything lmfao).

So essentially, his popularity nosedived after the Last Jedi. It seemed to bump up a little bit, or at least there definitely seemed to be more people interested in him/writing for him in 2020 coming off the lockdown, but obviously that has very much dwindled. But I've definitely not seen any blogs dedicated to Poe as a character since 2017, and you don't ordinarily see him in miscellaneous Star Wars gifsets that go around either, let alone solo Poe gifsets (I know because I lose my shit anytime there's a new one that's not by me), and Poe creations that have nothing to do with a ship is.........even less likely to be found.

I definitely think canon is at least trying to keep him in our minds though. He was the second character to lead one of the Lego Specials, and that Rey short story ("Through the Turbulence") was focused on her friendship with him. Whether or not that's because of the possibility of Oscar returning for the Rey movie (which feels fairly tangible, considering he's been kind of shady about it after mentioning he'd come back for a good story, and doing that Halcyon video), or if it's just because of Lucasfilm maybe warming up to him as a character again*, I don't know, but I hope it means we get good-faith content for him again soon.

*Because I'm tired of the story group constantly being a little bitch about him, and the same goes for the Topps Trading Card App. Maybe people wouldn't think he was a villain if you stopped describing him like a terrible person? Just a thought.

[spacenintendogs]

Hi, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get the multi color boop badges?

this is what the badges say!!!

[thefrogdalorian]

Din's very fortunate that his creed prevents him from showing his face because if he was a bounty hunter that didn't wear a helmet no one would take him seriously once they saw his big brown eyes and social anxiety

Yes it would!! Fortunate for him so he could acquire cool weapons like the amban rifle and a ship like the Razor Crest. A man with such devastating social skills forced to bear his face could never have achieved such heights.

Or alternatively.... perhaps his job would have been way easier because people would stop trying to outrun him or fight him and just submit to a poor little meow meow when they took one look at those brown eyes 🥺

[dameronalone]

I don't remember if I ever asked you this (apologies if I have) but I'm curious what the inspiration behind your url is? The Dameron part ik already, but the alone part I don't. It's just really cool and I feel like there's a good story behind it (although I might be thinking into it too much)

you did not ask before and even if u had it's a great story so you don't have to apologize!!

okok so yes there is a very cool story behind it. technically it was a toss up between butdameronalone and just dameronalone and I mean it's pretty clear which one I went with

its actually a line from the comics (issue #6, with the grakkus prison arc) and actually said by one of terex's minions. basically, poe and the gang manage to escape with grakkus which leaves terex scrambling to get back to his ship before they get away. terex attacks the prison and I think he tries to shoot down the escape pods the warden sends to the planet so poe is like, hey we can't let them get away with then, and orders black Squadron to engage

cue line

(does terex listen to his very wise pilot, no, no he does not and they have to make a hasty retreat later)

ANYWAY all that to say, I fucking love that line. the amount of like. awe and fear and admiration and respect you have to inspire in people for them to be that worried about YOU ONLY in a single light fighter NOT TO MENTION the rest of ur kickass team. like. holy shit dude. what a man. inspiring fear in neo imperial dickbags since. approximately 25 aby. love of my life fr

also shout out @the-force-awakens for the screenshot and the info since I'm at work w/o my comics akfjsnfjd

THIS HAS BEEN A POE DAMERON APPRECIATION POST

[nowritingonthewall]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers 💗

Thank you so much, Orb 🥰

💜 Poe

💜 Marc

💜 Hugs

💜 Music

💜 People being kind and understanding

[junggoku]

Your blog is really lovely

oh my god, no, YOUR blog is lovely 😔😔👏👏

[batsycline69]

I wanted to reblog your last post but wanted to ask first because ik you wanna delete it later.

And it's absolutely not whiny to want your art to be appreciated. The way that fandom is rn is really horrible for writers and creators and I think you absolutely have the right to speak out about your frustrations.

Totally feel free to reblog! (I honestly would have forgotten about the post and that I was thinking about deleting it anyway lmao)

I just know a lot of writers and artists are feeling this and it’s rough!!! But I also get it because I have mush brain, and I also like fics with the intention to read and reblog later and never do so I feel like a hypocritical dingdong to complain

[cal-kestis]

Happy Birthday!!! 🥳🎉

thank you so much!! 🤍😊

[eggdrawsthings]

a duet in a galaxy far, far away

[shyranno]

I've been sad lately so I've been trying to boost my serotonin by drawing Jedi AU youngling trainer Maul (who I affectionately call Dad Maul)... it works :))

[the-force-awakens]

Just thinking about how Poe is so open to giving affection and compliments and does is SO effortlessly and how I just wanna call him a pretty boy and watch him malfunction and become a blushing, stammering mess

i imagine what would happen would be very similar to that tiny moment in tfa where dameron.exe effectively crashes when Finn leans in close to talk to him Very Seriously About Rey and all systems switch over to the bi panic of "pretty man leaning in close":

there's not a damn thought in his head right there. not a one. i'm hopelessly in love with him. which just brings me right back to the point of this ask: can you seriously for real imagine flustering poe dameron? can u actually imagine making him malfunction? i would either malfunction just from how flipping endeared i am with him, or get SO smug i'd also do a full system (heh) crash

[spacenintendogs]

Thank you very much. It's silly but honestly looks like fun, and, I get to see how my cats feel whenever they boop my face 😆

you're welcome!!! o 2 be a kitty & experience the gentle boop on the nose....

[thefrogdalorian]

★ put this star into the inbox of your favorite blogs. It's time to spread positivity ✨

Thank you so much!! This is very sweet of you🥹💖

[dameronalone]

I sometimes wonder how it would have gone if Poe and Din met. Poe would def appreciate Din's piloting skills and Din would appreciate how passionate Poe is about protecting the people he loves. And imagine if Grogu met Beebs!!

We've seen how R2 could understand Grogu, so BB might also understand him???

Grogu: patu!

BB-8: *aggressively agrees*

Poe could teach Din how to understand binary. I also feel like Poe would be one of the only people Din's ever met who doesn't harp on him about the helmet, probably doesn't even bring it up.

I just want them to meet so bad.

AAAAAAA SOOO TRUE poe would think Mando was so cool and he would so normal about din not taking off his helmet. depending on if they met in universe or in stone kind of au thing the dynamic could be different but no less interesting each time

like if they met up in the sequel trilogy movie era poe would be relentless about recruiting din so in awe of meeting one of the mandalorians who helped resettle mamdalore and I think poe's relentless idealism would not be exhausting to din as much as it would be inspiring. I think din has the tendency to assume most people either don't care about anyone else or are neutral, so poe's insistent belief on the goodness of people would be.. refreshing, maybe.

poe would have so much respect for din ngl while simultaneously this man has zero self preservation instincts and would end up putting his foot in his mouth, if very earnestly but accidental. thought maybe not toomuch, i think his experience with Leia and alderaan might help with that. poe gets upset when people don't care but I think he'd understand din's reluctance to come out of the shadows, yknow?

HOWEVER IF THEY MET WHEN POE WAS A KID, YKNOW, MANDO SHOW ERA, I-- [explodes] din would be so awkward and teeny poe would think he was sooooo cool (and also very shiny and definitely says as much) and din would be like [awkwardly holding poe] (also teeny poe snd grogu would be best friends)

and if they were for some reason a closer age to each other it. has the potential to get gay.

[nowritingonthewall]

💐🌷spread the love to the people you’re glad you’ve found in this corner of the internet 💐🌷

Thank you for being you, Orb 🥰 You really make the Poe and Oscar fandom a brighter place 💜

[ewwww-what]

These freaks are not studying (good for them)

Closeups below :)