#like a robot* but also a clone from Star Wars.

[tangents-within-tangents]

Thoughts on Echo as amputee/disability representation

First and foremost, I am not disabled or an amputee and I don’t claim to speak for those communities (and if I was I couldn't speak for everyone). What little I do know mostly comes from this youtube channel (@oakwyrm), this post, and other research I’ve done for my writing (and like one amputee I kinda knew in passing). By all means correct me and add to the conversation, I just have some thoughts I want to share because I haven’t really seen this discussed anywhere

Overview

So Echo is interesting. He is a triple amputee which is pretty rare in media. His disabilities come from extremely traumatic circumstances: injured in a near-death experience, imprisoned and dehumanized as an experiment with no autonomy over what happened to his body.

There are a few moments in the shows where Echo is treated… questionably. Like this bit where Rex uses him as an example of the Separatists' evils to convince the locals to fight back:

To be fair, yeah Echo’s treatment does prove that the Techno Union is not neutral like they claim. The modifications that everyone is gasping in horror at here obviously weren’t made with comfort and accessibility in mind, nor with Echo’s consent. But you still just want to be sure that “They took away his freedom, his humanity, they tried to turn him into a machine” is about using him as a living computer, not the fact that he is missing limbs. 

The Batch is also pretty insensitive toward him and his trauma imo, which is weird considering they've supposedly also faced discrimination for their mutations

Disabled people do have to deal with stuff like this in this day and age so I guess it can speak to those experiences. I think especially him being mistaken as a droid (and Hunter going along with it (bruh)) might resonate with some people. 

Aside from that stuff, Echo isn't really treated any differently as a character/person which is really good (as low of a bar as that is).

We get this moment in CW where Echo contemplates that yeah things are gonna be different now

While also (imo at least) showing that he is still the same person regardless, evidenced by the fact that he just echoed Rex :,) I also think it's significant that he joins the Bad Batch on his own terms and we're given a really emotional scene to specifically show that he's not just like 'lumped in with the other misfits' but that it is his choice to go where he feels his place is.

A lot of people, myself included, are disappointed that TBB didn't have more time to explore Echo's PTSD, but I think the one panic attack scene we did get is really good. Even thought it's minor it at least is an appropriate reaction from a guy who was medically tortured (which is more than I've come to expect from Star Wars shows lol)

And it's really sweet to see Omega showing Echo some empathy and consideration.

It would have been nice to see more of his adjustment period, and other side effects like chronic pain and maintenance, but there’s a lot of daily life stuff the show never had time for (i.e. we don’t know if he removed his prosthetics to sleep, but we also never saw him sleep anyway). His disabilities might take on a background role (much like the character himself sadly) but for the most part they aren’t invisible or erased, nor do they define his character and arc.

Physical Appearance

Okay this one is bit dicey, bc on the one hand, yes complaints that Echo’s paleness (most likely caused by burns from the explosion or chemical burns from the cryo-chamber) is whitewashing are totally valid. But I also think you can draw comparisons to real life conditions that affect pigmentation/complexion (like you know burns). So while I understand why a lot of fanart will depict him with his original skin tone and with hair, consider that there are real people who have to live with temporary or permanent changes to their appearance, and the idea of “fixing" him by making him look more like his old self can be problematic.

It's also interesting to note that Echo could act as a reversal of the 'disabled/disfigured = evil' trope. He's pale and bald and wears black and red, which is so often visually associated with villains, but we all know Echo is the bestest boy™

The Headpiece

Echo’s headpiece is interesting because within the show we don’t actually ever learn much about it (idk if there is more info in books or whatever bc i don’t have them so?). He didn’t have it in CW so we know it didn’t come from the Techno Union and therefore Echo probably had more choice with it. We don’t know its exact purpose but it’s most likely related to his scomping abilities. When he is hacking with his scomp in CW, before he has his headpiece, it’s clearly very mentally straining:

We don’t see him struggling like this in TBB once he does have it (though that could be bc he got more used to it over time). There doesn't seem to be much of an impact when he removes his headpiece in s3 ep14-15, except that he gets stuck in the ports every time he uses his scomp which is not something we’ve seen before: 

There might not be an exact real-world equivalent, but the headpiece is some kind of accessibility aid. It means that someone specifically designed a device to help him adapt to the changes the Techno Union made, as well as a helmet that integrates it. It’s removable and visually very present, much like a cochlear implant would be. (A lot of people actually headcanon it to act partially as a hearing aid, since it makes sense that Echo’s hearing would have been damaged in the explosion, but there isn't really any indication of this in canon.) The headpiece is never really acknowledged in the show, but I think that's a good thing. It's something he needs/wants and it just exists, completely normalized, and that's pretty cool 👍

Legs

Sigh... So from the very first episode of TBB I was really disappointed that the animation team or whoever completely visually erased Echo’s prosthetic legs (I think we all were, honestly, if fanart is anything to go by). It’s one thing when he’s in armor because he would probably want to protect his prosthetics, but we literally see him in his blacks and there is no indication whatsoever that he lost his legs even though it was not left up for debate at all in CW:

Like ??????!?

This is just really strange to me! Idk what went on behind the scenes with this decision but I don’t really see why it would be that much harder to animate or anything since it’s 3D and they've done it before. We do see some pretty sophisticated cybernetic technology in Star Wars canon that mimics real limbs:

But Luke’s fancy hand is technically 20ish years from now, so Anakin and Maul are more of a representation of what level we could expect here

So yeah, for no apparent reason, his leg amputation is effectively, visually and narratively nonexistent. Which is not great 👎

Arm!

The scomp on the other hand (uh lol!) is the complete opposite and I kinda love it!

At first I, like many others, thought it was a bit odd that they didn’t give Echo a prosthetic arm. Losing hands is basically a Star Wars tradition at this point, so robotic arms/hands are well established within the worldbuilding: 

We aren’t necessarily given a canon reason for why Echo doesn't get a cybernetic arm (again unless it's in some lore book I haven’t read, sorry). General fanon explanations I’ve seen are that he either couldn’t because the Techno Union wired the scomp too far into his nervous system, and/or the resources to give him one were deemed too expensive for a clone (what about his legs tho?), or that he chose not to, usually because he thought the scomping was useful. 

Regardless, I actually really love this choice (and it's the whole reason I made this post), because here's the thing: There’s a lot of problematic tropes out there that either erase/cure disabilities or compensate them with perks (like how pretty much any blind character is actually not blind by some sort of magic power). With amputees that is done with robotic arms. The character is still an amputee or course, and there is still value in that representation, if this story from Mark Hamill that makes me tear up is anything to go by:

but for the most part these characters function like anyone else, just with a limb that looks a little different. It’s no more than a video game skin, an able-bodied actor with a green screen glove. It “cures” the disability, or it actually makes the character even stronger than usual: 

It usually makes sense within the world of the story, but the reason it’s not so great in my opinion is that in the real world we just do not have technology anywhere close to that yet. Prosthetics can more or less replace any mobility from lost legs, but not for all the complexities of a hand (and even if they could the average person wouldn’t be able to afford it).

So

I think it's actually really super cool that Echo’s scomp bypasses the canonically-established amputee erasure and functions much like a stump would irl. He integrates it into his movements and everyday life and it’s (as far as I know) a lot closer to an everyday amputee’s experience. 

It doesn’t define his character, it doesn’t hold him back, he lives a full life, the other’s don’t treat him any differently, and he’s still a total karking badass 

The only additional thing is that he sometimes uses it as a weapon (which given his story, I think it’s cool to see him taking back autonomy in a way, and we only see that like twice)

And also the scomping, which could be seen as the 'added/compensating superpower' trope. But narratively it's no different than if he was plugging in with a hacking gadget of some kind (he didn't necessarily "need" to lose his arm for it) and it’s not like Echo is completely defined by this skill. Personally, I think it's well worth the positives of him actually having a visible and realistically impactful amputation. 

I see a lot of posts or comments out there that say stuff like “how come Echo doesn’t get a hand?” or fanworks that do give him one and I just think it’s a bit of a shame. If he did get a robotic hand, it just would have disappeared the same way his legs and Anakin’s arm did (aside from that one time he got yoinked by a magnet). When Echo did “get a hand” in the last two episodes there were comments like “yay he finally got a hand! but it doesn’t even work” but I was actually so relieved that it didn’t! Bc for one thing that wouldn’t make any sense, he grabbed it off a droid, it wasn’t designed to implement with his scomp, that would be really complicated. But more importantly because it again refused to erase/cure his disability! It functioned like a real-world cosmetic prosthetic (useless beyond appearance) which is exactly what he needed it for, so that he could blend in better with his disguise.

And he continually took it off throughout the episode and ditched it at the end. He only used it for the necessity of a stealth mission, he doesn’t feel the need to visually “fit in” in his daily life. 

And, last but very much not least, he made a dad joke and from my intel that is very accurate representation!

TLDR: Echo’s scomp is actually really cool from an amputee representation perspective, especially within Star Wars, and I think that deserves some appreciation 

[jeellyjams]

someone better shake me by my shoulders because i have the strongest urge to create a SecUnit sole survivor

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

You know, I was just thinking about the UA entrance exam.

Specifically, how terribly designed it is, but not for the reason they seem to give in the story itself.

Like, here's how it is: Aizawa is shown criticising the UA Entrance Exam once, during the Sports Festival. And the ONE criticism he makes, is that the use of Robot enemies during the exam would disproportionately affect people whose Quirk work against biological opponents, essentially.

His one criticism, is that the exam is not designed to also cater to people like him, and that's it. The way therefore it's set up, it'd be logical to assume he'd ask for a restructuring to the exam to remove the Robots and substitute them with live enemies, possibly Ectoplasm clones.

This is never brought up again, aside from maybe a stealth bring up during the mid term exams when they switch the exam from fighting robots to fighting teachers.

The exam is, and I just got to it myself while watching this video about how Copaganda paints police training and the relative risk police officers face on the job, set up in a very specific environment:

An empty town, where what is essentially a murder spree is taking place. The ONLY entities in the place, outside of fellow examinee, are robots that have been literally designed to attack everyone on sight, and that need to be destroyed to pass. The points granted from saving people are hidden, so they can be more "genuine" of course, and are, ultimately, also part of the problem.

Because here's the fucking thing.

When the fuck is that ever going to happen.

When the fuck, is a superhero, after their 5 years of Hero training in high school, then entering the work force without a need for a decree in higher education, ever going to find themselves in an environment where they can use LETHAL FORCE on civilian targets? With no restraint or care for collateral damage?

And where they are ENCOURAGED to kill as many criminals as they can, and NOT collaborate with other heroes? Because that's another thing, you need to steal points from other people to pass, by culling the number of limited robots, much like heroes are paid by the arrest and by popularity.

You do understand how fucked up that starts to sound right? The other, the enemy, is reduced as a caricature Droid from star wars, there only to kill and destroy, and against whom your only TWO methods of defeat are outright destruction or sneak attacks on their off buttons.

And here's the cherry on the shit too, because, AGAIN, when is that EVER going to be the case?

Do you know how many heroes show up in the first villain attack in BNHA?

Five.

Two are engaging a purse snatcher, three are doing crowd control, the Slime Villain, who may I remind you was guilty of robbery at a convenience store before he got the hostage, gets THE NUMBER ONE HERO, as well as those same FIVE heroes involved, of which only BACKDRAFT is actually doing anything.

Now, imagine you are a hero school, and you produce 40 heroes a year, just like every other hero school out there. How many of those heroes will see active duty, if the rate of crimes demand FIVE heroes to react to ONE criminal?

And people will say "but EDS, this mentality is later rewarded when All Might retires and it all falls to shit," Except NOT REALLY, because that's an externally forced situation caused by, and I can't stress this enough, a hundreds of yeas old NEET boomer who read too many Doctor Doom comics as a kid and decided to become a supervillain, the riots, the open air warfare, is only caused by AFO forcing the hand and inciting popular unrest, which is an unrealistic thing to expect off any society.

In one of the movies, Class 1-A is sent to open an hero agency on a small island with barely a village on it. 20 Heroes. Until the movie truly picks up, the best they do is help kittens from trees, and Bakugou, the sort of person for whom the Entrance Exam was designed, is useless, left in his tent like Achilles, the perfect cowboy cop who peeked in highschool and didn't realize just how much paperwork and dead time his dream job actually entailed.

So that's the ACTUAL Issue with the entrance exam. It take no account for any other mean to beat the robots but brute force, it takes no account for collateral damage, or the sanctity of life of your opponents, and it tests nothing but how good at ending lives you are.

Which is a problem when you're picking future heroes.

[communistkenobi]

i never really paid much attention to star wars before the mandalorian so please forgive me if this is super obvious but: are we supposed to view the droids as being kind of alive? beings with artificial intelligence? i was very uncomfortable with how the ugnaughts (sp?) were portrayed in the last episode but i didn’t think much of the droids because always just saw them a technological tool. i was a little surprised when the bartender droid gave their monologue about the droids wanting to work and catch the bad droids, and thought maybe they want to work to fulfill their programming. but maybe i should have been more considerate. (i am kind of a dumb bitch too tho so maybe this is just something that’s super obvious to most people and not me :s)

Narratively I think droids are supposed to represent an advanced form of automation - astromechs are navigational droids that handle the immense amount of math that’s required to travel through space, droids like C3PO house linguistic and cultural information for diplomatic purposes, etc. I think originally, given that Star Wars was created prior to the internet being a thing, they were used to represent mass sums of human information, but access to that information was restricted to wherever those droids happened to be in spacetime. They’re essentially mobile computers, but not in the way we think of them (eg phones). But because they’re mobile and have to communicate with human beings without any touch screens or interfaces, especially in the case of droids like C3PO, they are by default anthropomorphised. It’s on par with people naming their roombas. These are tasks that are within human capability, but have been offloaded and automated to make everyone’s lives easier (and probably also many financial and political reasons, but that gets into like, the political economy of Star Wars, which if you talk about that you threaten to take Star Wars too seriously).

But, given how expansive Star Wars is, the answer to your question is maybe sometimes. Chopper in Rebels seems to fill the role of the beloved family pet. L3-37 in Solo is explicitly calling for droid liberation and insists that she and all other droids are equal to organics. Mouse droids likewise seem to be viewed as robotic animals. Mando again makes equivalent droid automation and slave labour.

However, this becomes complicated because there are also actual slaves in Star Wars. The clones are the most obvious example, but the twi’lek as a species also are often enslaved. There are also slaver “planets” and “races” who base their economy off of the buying and selling of slaves (that was in the clone wars, I can’t remember what episodes though). Droid liberation is often framed as inherently farcical in the franchise, but “droid liberation” also exists as a form of deracialised political action, and I mean that in the real world sense - droids are not analogous to a given real world conflict or historical process the way that like, twi’lek are (who even have french accents and speak space french! Now Filoni is an idiot and says this is because he’s drawing inspiration from the French Revolution as opposed to the much more appropriate and obvious Haitian Revolution, but whatever). So when drawing parallels between slavery as a thing in Star Wars and slavery as a real world historical process, it becomes frustrating to talk about, because droid lib is both set-up and punchline, but it’s also the most “acceptable” way to explore ending slavery in SW because it means the white writers don’t have to engage with systemic racial oppression in a way that might make them feel uncomfortable. As a comparison, there are multiple episodes in clone wars where clones refuse to follow orders or try to escape and they’re treated as defective or wrong or insane. That shit fucking sucks and it takes on a much more insidious tone than “haha, the droids want weekends off. how cute.”

And then the counter COUNTER problem with that, which is explicitly invoked in The Mandalorian, is that droids are essentialised to their code or “base functions.” These are facts about a droid that are intrinsic to their nature and cannot be altered or removed, and to attempt otherwise means perverting the “true nature” of droids - they are doomed to be what they were created for (I guess forget about IG-11 being rehabilitated lol). So when you call them slaves, and then insist they are forever shackled to their programming, that’s not a neutral storytelling choice, and you are essentially invoking the idea that there are some races or people for whom slavery is more naturally suited. Which is explicitly a white supremacist idea. And given the context of this storyline in The Mandalorian’s broader political problems, it becomes particularly nefarious.

All this to say - droids are maybe slaves. It depends on the story being told and why, it depends on the writer, etc. But when analogising it to real world history it becomes fraught, given that there are actual slaves in SW who are intended as obvious parallels to real world acts of slavery in human history, a thing that is omnipresent in star wars while also being largely ignored or dismissed by the writers

[arkus-rhapsode]

Video Game Hot Take of The Day: Metroid Other M would've actually been more warmly received if it had nothing to do with Metroid.

Nintendo is one of those rare companies where they've got such appealing characters and worlds for a general market, that they can take a lot of their existing franchises and expand them out into other genres to get players to try. Nervous about buying a tennis game? Well don't worry we have Mario in it. Wanna play a rhythm game? Well we got theses Bongos with that Donkey Kong plays along to. However, a lot of these are still general and broad appealing genres. What about more diverse styles of gameplay?

This is certainly more of a gamble. Sure Mario and Zelda transitioned in big 3D worlds fine. They're basically the same core mechanics but in a different dimension. Metroid Prime is still a search adventure style game but they move it into an FPS perspective and make it more about gathering info. But in terms of massive genre shift you get all the Mario RPG series, something that almost completely ditches the gameplay of Mario and becomes a completely different experience. Now Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario are generally well liked and for some the only RPGs they'll play, but then you get something like Star Fox Adventures, a game that wasn't intended to be a star fox game and has very little things sections that have original star fox gameplay. Now Adventures has its fans, people who would say they'd never try a Star Fox game due to the fact its a flight sim, but others will argue it strays too far from the series identity. So it often makes you wonder what it be like if Dinosaur Planet did come out instead. Would it still be considered a Ocarina of Time clone? Or would it be see as standing on its own merits?

And what about something like Pikmin? Some of Pikmin's earliest prototyping phases had it as a Mario game. But it was ultimately made into its own franchise with its own identity. But what if it was just other Mario game. Mario isn't some small man needing to flee this foreign world on a time limit before he dies, he's just be leading a bunch of goombas or koopas or something collecting mushrooms. Would it be as fondly remembered? Would it be consistently released across Nintendo consoles?

Now of course we can debate on the merits on what direction to take a franchise in or if we can balance releases of a franchise with two distinct types of gameplay like 2D and 3D Mario plus its various spin offs. But in the case of Metroid Other M, a lot of the hostility is often due to the story. A game that seemed to both contradict lore and ruin the mystique of a beloved character. However, the actual gameplay was done by, of all people, Team Ninja. A group known for character action games. The actual exploring and arena combat in Other M is actually pretty fine. Yes it was the Wii so there was Wii Remote shenanigans, but in terms of the actual combos and supernovas you could do, it was pretty alright. Its no DMC, but I could see it being something that would get people into DMC.

Its also important to remember at the time, Nintendo didn't really have their own unique character action game. Meanwhile, Sony was just cleaning up with stuff like God of War. Now of course Nintendo has Bayonetta and they even have a franchise they own that's also a character action game in the form of Astral Chain. But that leaves me wondering what could've been had Metroid Other M just had nothing to do with Metroid? What if it really was just some different sci-fi story about a moody girl with a chip on her shoulder as she smashes up aliens and robots? Not having at all to worry about an existing canon or timeline?

Honestly, I have no real answer. People could've still acted the story, the wii was still mostly known as a general entertainment system so maybe it would've do too well. Its would just be speculation on my part and I highly doubt at this point we'd see Other M 2. But I do at least think as an actual gaming experience, Other M isn't that bad. But it absolutely is a bad Metroid game.

[put-me-out-of-my-destiny]

I'm having thoughts about a plot starring Trish, Lucia, and Lady. Posting them here:

The enemy faction is an organization devoted to fighting demons, similar to the Order of the Sword, but with more of a modern military aesthetic. They were a bit of a fringe group up until the Qliphoth incident, after which they received a massive influx of enlistees and funding.

By some means, they learn about the original Nightmare, a demon created by Mundus from his own blood, that had the power to destroy the Underworld by itself. They also learn of Trish and her origins, and seek to secure a sample of her blood to create their own Nightmare, perhaps even multiple Nightmares (this is based on another old idea of mine).

Much of their intel was fed to them by Machiavelli, who I've pitched as a villain for a plot starring Vergil and Dante in the past. However, I actually think he'd be more of a begrudging ally to our heroines. Machiavelli is a war profiteer, but this organization wants a weapon to end all weapons, to start a war to end all wars, and that would render him obsolete.

Trish and Lady would both be highly distrustful of Machiavelli. Trish and Dante parted ways because she felt responsible for Enzo Ferino losing his hand to one of Machiavelli's creations in the Drama CD. Lady herself spent a whole month possessed by one of them in DMC5. Come to think of it, Trish is the one who brought Artemis to the Qliphoth in the first place, you'd think she'd feel terrible about what happened to Lady based on her reaction to what happened to Enzo.

They might try to sway Lady to their side, she's an ordinary human who relies on human-made weaponry, they think she's like them. However, she doesn't find humans inherently more trustworthy than demons. Her father was born human, after all, and most of her friends are at least part demon, especially the very demon these people are trying to exploit.

The organization has a contract with the Ouroboros Corporation. It's new CEO is actually a clone of Arius created by the same means as mannequin/secretary demons like Lucia. There's an element of tragedy to this character, he's pretty evil, but he was never given the choice to be anything else. Trish would relate to him, maybe she'd try to reach out to him the way Dante reached out to her. I don't imagine he's entirely aware of what this organization is planning, he wants to use demonic power to rule the world, not to destroy the demon world. If he found out, perhaps he too would become a begrudging ally. But I don't think he'd choose to abandon his evil ways if given the chance.

A leader in this organization is a surviving family member of Eva's, perhaps a parent or a sibling, who blames Sparda for her death, and wants a piece of this mysterious demon wearing her face. Trish might try to explain her real origins, and this character is just appalled to learn that their sister gave birth to two half-demons, assuming they'd even believe Trish.

While Lucia loves Matier very much, and is grateful for the love she's been given, there's tension between them due to how long Matier hid the truth about Lucia's origins, which comes up again after the reemergence of the Ouroboros Corporation and Arius.

One mechanic from Dante's DMC2 moveset that should transfer to Lucia is the Desperate Devil Trigger, also called the Majin Devil Trigger. A major source of internal conflict for Lucia is a fear of completely giving in to her demonic nature, of losing control of herself and becoming a threat to others. While this fear is mostly irrational, suddenly gaining a more powerful devil form, one that manifests in dire circumstances where Lucia is fighting to survive, would validate that fear.

A piece of lore I've speculated about before is Anima Mercury, described in DMC4 as an 'artificial soul'. I could see this organization messing with that, essentially utilizing robots. Perhaps this includes a return of Infested Tank and Infested Chopper.

I've talked before about how a female-led DMC game should focus on the notion of given v.s. chosen family, and I think the ideas given so far could serve as a vehicle for that. Trish is being targeted because of something her maker did. Lady's motives are heavily informed by her experiences with her human father and with the demons she calls friends. One antagonist is a mannequin demon like Lucia, made in the likeness of the man who created and disposed of her. Another antagonist is Eva's next of kin, who disapproves of the family that she started with Sparda. Lucia is reconciling her love for Matier, who chose to love Lucia when she was discarded by her maker, with the fact that Matier lied to her about it for her whole life.

Also, what if Gloria was a real character who moved to this organization after Trish stole her identity, infiltrated the Order of the Sword, and helped bring it down?

[theladyheroine]

Transformers x Star Wars 🛸🪐🛞

❥ Author’s Note: Hello everyone! So I’ve always wanted to make a SW crossover with another sci-fi series, & I didn’t know whether to pick this or Avatar? But I went with this one! I will be planning an Avatar-themed post too. Also a quick side note, these headcanons will mostly be based on the movies since those are the only Transformers media I’ve seen so far. But I am trying to watch the shows so hopefully this is okay! Thank you & enjoy!

Cybertron

Okay starting off! Cybertron in this universe is located along the Inner Rim of the Galaxy, but resides as an independent world during the Old Republic Era. Unlike other colonies & planets in the Inner Rim, Cybertron is considered the most technologically advanced place in the galaxy. Considering their inhabitants are autonomous robotic organisms.

The planet itself is entirely based around robotic bodies: while there is some wildlife, such as water & flora, etc. The planet itself is entirely made up of metal, with multiply cities & colonies resting along the surface, or even underground.

The Cybertronians are somewhat of a mystery, as they prefer to keep to their own & often worry about their civilization’s care. It’s incredibly rare for any other species to arrive on their planet at all. Although they are not entirely secluded, as sometimes their presence is needed for political matters.

Whether it’s discussing planetary boundaries, offering their services to aid in building projects, or even providing physical support in combat. They have been known to help the Republic a few times as a means of military support. Considering they’re giant mechanical beings that are taller than any building…

But I also feel they would be willing to help out in the Clone Wars too.

Autobots vs Decepticons

So I know the war on Cybertron lasts like a gazillion years, but for the sake of the headcanon maybe it takes place around the same time as the Star Wars franchise? Like the Autobot rebellion against Megatron perhaps started before the Empire took over. But maybe it goes on long enough throughout the Clone Wars, and the Autobot brigades leaving begins either when the Empire takes over or a while after.

But I can image the Empire also tried teaming up with Megatron at some point. I guess this is kind of similar to Mandalore in a way?

Just like the live action movies, the Autobot brigades decide to seek refuge on other planets as a means to rest & regroup. Which also translates to the whole “robots in disguise” thing. So once the war happens, Cybertronians aren’t secluded anymore & the war has gone lot more public in the galaxy. With a few Bots living or hiding among cities, or even building their own bases as a means to reconnect with each other. They even take the opportunity to defend the planets from the Decepticons, just like Earth.

Obviously the Bots still transform into vehicles, as it’s still convenient for them to move around. But the fact that lots of vehicles in Star Wars are usually automated by droids, or they can just hover around like speeders & ships, I feel the option can just be whatever people want it to be? Lol

I did discuss this in a Bad Batch discord I’m in, and I thought making the Cybertronians land vehicles might help make them stand out more when compared to other alien races in Star Wars. But they can obviously just scan a Walker or a Speeder, or even a clone ship, & just take off on their own too.

Fun Facts

Okay so these are just random, less lore-based or time-based ideas compared to the ones above, but I hope you enjoy!

This one is my favorite, but I love the idea of Optimus Prime being a hero of both Cybertron & during the Clone Wars. And maybe during the original trilogy, he shows up! Like maybe Luke or Han come across him stuck in his alt-mode & they kind of wake him up & he transforms! Ready & willing to find his comrades & defeat the Empire! 🤩

I discussed this one on the Bad Batch discord too with someone and we discussed the Marauder or one of the Clone ships secretly being an Autobot!! Like maybe Hunter or even Tech finds out, or are the first ones to find out.

This also gave me an idea for Bumblebee, since he’s one of the most popular Autobots, as well as being accustomed to Earth & other cultures in the movies. I like the idea of him meeting the Bad Batch or even the 501st through the Clone Wars. Like maybe Bee crash landed somewhere & the Clones are in the same area as him, & pick up his distress signal. This would be similar to the 2018 movie, but I feel their dynamic with Bee is kinda like with Sam Witwicky. 😅 Bayverse Bumblebee is pretty rambunctious…

Similar to the Last Knight movie with Hot Rod, I like the idea of an Autobot being a Senator’s guard. Maybe for Princess Padme or even Leia since she’s such a good marksman. They could be their personal transport during their time in the Senate, but if things get hectic they just transform to rescue them.

[doamarierose-honoka]

THE BIG PICTURE

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is an animated series exploring Peter Parker's early years as a hero in a new multiverse continuity.

The show features iconic characters like Doctor Strange, Norman Osborne, Aunt May, and a gallery of villains set to challenge Spidey.

Craig of the Creek 's Jeff Trammell is behind the series, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on November 2, 2024.

Everyone's favorite web-slinger has made his way to D23 for the new animated prequel-adjacent series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Releasing later this year, it's set to portray a variant of Peter Parker's life before first donning the mask and suit in the MCU and during his uneasy first days as a hero in New York. It's been some time since fans were given their first look at the early Spider-Man comics-inspired animation, but the biennial fan expo remedied that with a massive update on the project, with a new convention-exclusive sneak peek at the project.

As reported by Collider's Aidan Kelley and Taylor Gates, the footage featured Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) at school, where his day is interrupted by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) coming through a portal along with a horned symbiote. We see Peter bitten by a spider in a sequence demonstrating how he got his powers, before the footage catches up with him a few months later, with Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) helping him strategize as his "guy in the chair."

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is being billed as a meeting between Spidey's earliest years on the page as portrayed by Stan Lee and his earliest years in the MCU. When Tom Holland's web-slinger first appeared on-screen in Captain America: Civil War, he had already obtained his powers a year prior, leaving a gap to fill in between. However, this series will still take place in a different continuity within the multiverse, exploring how Peter navigates the life of a teenager after first getting his powers. His abilities and sense of duty will be tested as he is immediately thrust into battle with formidable foes to protect the city.

One major difference between the series and the MCU is who takes young Peter under their wing. Instead of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Spidey gets some much-needed guidance from Norman Osborn, who helps Peter survive high school while he comes into his own as a hero.

Who Is Behind 'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man'?

Marvel Studios Head of TV and Streaming Brad Winderbaum also emphasized how important the ensemble around these two will be to the series and Spider-Man's growth, with classic characters from his history that haven't yet appeared in the MCU like Lonnie Lincoln, Nico Minoru, and even Harry Osborn appearing alongside Doctor Strange, Aunt May, and a rogue's gallery of villains ranging from iconic to more obscure. He's also slated to run into Charlie Cox's Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, setting up a team-up between the web-slinger and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

Craig of the Creek writer and story editor Jeff Trammell was tapped to create Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for Marvel when the series was first announced in 2021 under the guise of Spider-Man: Freshman Year. His resume is full of animated hits, with credits on The Owl House, Amphibia, and the 2023 origin film Craig Before the Creek. Animation, meanwhile, is handled by Polygon Pictures, which has previously worked on episodes of Love, Death & Robots, Transformers Prime, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars among other things. This is just one such Spider-Man-related project in the works at Marvel, alongside a new film starring Holland that has been inching along in development, a Spider-Man Noir series at Prime Video starring a returning Nicolas Cage, and the trilogy capper Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is currently slated to premiere on Disney+ on November 2. Stay tuned here at Collider for more coverage from D23 throughout the rest of the weekend.

[fellthemarvelous]

Favorite Star Wars character? (Mine's Chopper, by the way. Little murder droid is my soul mate.)

I am obsessed with Chopper!! He is my favorite droid (sorry, Artoo)!!

He makes me emotional and I love the way that he and Artoo always bicker with each other (or the way that Threepio always takes Chopper's side in those arguments. "R2-D2, apologize!")

And I also love AP-5 because he's one sarcastic little fucker. I love that Stephen Stanton chose to make his voice sound like Alan Rickman's robot from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Okay but you asked about my favorite characters and I go back and forth between these two:

They are always going to be tied together because of the Clone Wars. They were both child soldiers (and it's sad when you realize Rex is actually four years younger than Ahsoka even though he ages twice as fast).

Their friendship is one of my favorite things, and I can never decide which one I like better, but when all hell broke loose during Order 66, they survived because they had each other.

And when Ahsoka needed him again fifteen years later, he showed up.

He joined the rebellion because it was a cause he chose to believe in and not because he was programmed to fight. Ahsoka freed him when she removed the chip from his head on the Tribunal.

These two worked closely alongside Anakin during the Clone Wars. He loved both of them, trusted both of them with his life. And even though Anakin turned to the dark side, Ahsoka and Rex never strayed from the light and they never lost faith in each other.

I might have a thing for epic friendships with rich backstories.

[jedi-lothwolf]

Winter Whumperland Day 6: Jack Frost (Amnesia)

Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch

Summary: After a reg attacked Hunter, he finds he can't remember anything.

  When Hunter woke up, he couldn't remember how he had gotten to this white room. He wasn't sure who these people around him were. He didn't remember anything.

    "Hunter, you're awake!" The tallest  man yelled.

    "Don't yell." The man that talked looked robotic.

    Someone stood nearby. He looked worried but didn't say anything.

    "Who are you?" Hunter asked.

    He watched the tallest man hold back tears. "I'm Wrecker, your brother. Do you not remember?"

    A man with the glasses walked to the other man's side and put a hand in him. "Hunter hit his head extremely hard when he was attacked. Amnesia is not a surprising result."

    The man in the corner spoke up, "I'm going to kill the mother fu-" he was interrupted by the man with glasses.

    "That won't help." He sounded robotic, like his voice should belong to the cyborg standing by the tallest of the group. Still something was comforting about it.

"What's going on?" Hunter asked as he tried to sit up. He noticed how bright the lights were and laid back down for a minute. His head hurt. "What happened?"

"One of the regs hit you with the butt of their gun" hissed the gray hair man.

"Regs?" Hunter wasn't sure why that stood out the most. "What?"

"Let's introduce ourselves. I'm sure it's not very fun being surrounded by a bunch of people you don't know must be unpleasant. I'm Echo. I work with you."

"Alright." Hunter sat up this time. He looked around and shook his head. "Where are we?"

"This is the Kaminoan cloning facility. It is also our home. I am Tech, one of your technically millions of brothers."

"Don't break him" the gray hair man spoke.

"I'm Wrecker! I'm one of your brothers too!"

"Yeah I remember you saying that earlier." Hunter tried to make sense of the knowledge he had. He was a clone. That wasn't the most surprising part. What surprised him the most was how many clones existed. Why did they exist? What purpose had they been made for?

The others looked at the gray haired man, trying to get him to say something. When he didn't, Tech took over. "This is Crosshair. He is also a clone. We are your batch mates and work with you. Echo joined after being turned into that."

Hunter tried to look at Echo. "Okay." Slowing the group explained the war and how he was a sergeant in the army of the Galactic Republic. They explained some of their relationships with him and how they grew up together.

For a long time Hunter felt empty. These people around him had so many memories of him but he barely knew who they were. He watched them grieve over a man who he didn't know; over a man he had been.

It took time. Recovery always takes time. The clone that had caused the trauma to Hunter was never punished. The Kaminoans didn't have the time. Hunter grew strangely close to some regs, despite never liking them before.

The batch started to think he would never remember who he was before. But with never remembering, Hunter could forget the blood and death he had seen before. He could forget all the ways the regs had done them wrong and he was growing a relationship with some of them. He seemed happy.

Then he remembered. Slowly, Hunter had been getting back little memories. Small things like short memories from when he had been younger. But one day he just knew who he had been before.

It had been months. The memories were overpowering. Hunter felt confused and lost. He felt both frozen and on fire. The memories of who he once was seemed like a distant lifetime ago. He remembered he had liked red more then blue and how he hadn't liked lemonade, even though he loved it now.

It was strange. It felt like he was a completely different person now. Hunter liked talking to the regs, or at least most of them. He had known a life that wasn't on a battle field, even if he was preparing for war. His biggest problem had been the regs and not the droids on the other side of the war.

The first thing the man did was tell Echo. He had grown closer to him then before. Soon he told the others. They seemed overjoyed to have their Hunter back but Hunter wasn't so sure. He still liked lemonade and the color blue more than orange juice and red. He still wanted to be friends with the regs he was around.

As time moved on, Hunter got used to being himself again. He felt more confused then anything. At first he wasn't sure that he wanted his memories back. All the death and destruction his two eyes had seen was overwhelming. But he got used to it.

Hunter finally felt normal again. After months and months of not knowing who he was and not know what to do with who he had been, he grew to like the person he was now but also who he had been. He liked knowing about his brothers and who they had been. He learned to cherish his memories. After all, nothing is permanent.

[toxifoxx]

YOU'RE gonna be known through STAR WARS

Husband: Darth Maul. He sucks, he's pathetic, he's fucking insane. Springtrap if he was in Star Wars. He becomes half robot. He cheats death. His story is heartbreaking in all the right ways but he's also objectively a terrible dude but he's still a pretty princess. He even has one single earring.

Wife: Padme. Is it basic? NO. She's head strong, a political leader, and has dealt with some real scum of the galaxy. She'd pull a blaster on you with no hesitation. She's a queen, literally, and then becomes a senator and does her damndest to make things better during the Clone War. She's smart, she's savvy, she puts herself in danger to do the right thing. Very fashionable, too. Kick ass awesome woman who knows how to dress.

Bestie: OT era Obi-Wan. He's chill and laid back. He'd be great to get high with. He's even in a dilf.

DSLGKDSJLGJDSLK??? ur truly so right... from the way u describe him he'd be right up my alley. i 💖pathetic fucked up men

padme seems pretty cool and swagful. perhaps too swagful for a guy like me. i could be her pathetic boyfriend if shes into that maybe

fuck yes i would absolutely chill with obi-wan, not sure what OT era is tho. seems like a fun time regardless

[deejadabbles]

OCs Jacen and Tiio

Just realized that I haven't made an actual post for my two Corrie Guard boys, and since it's OC sunday I want to fix that <3

These boys mostly show up in my Fox x Reader series but they might pop up in some other stories 🥰

Jacen and Tiio are batch mates and have been together through everything. They were very close with the other three in their squad as well, and got a reputation for having some of the highest scores in teamwork and unit cohesion.

Unfortunately their squad was sent to Geonosis for that first fateful battle, and they watched the other three in their squad fall.

Their brothers died without names, so the moment their natborn leaders started allowing clones to take nicknames, they named each other.

Their names are based off of characters from a random episode of a random soap opera their batch mate downloaded from the holonet when they were little. The five of them curling up in a supply closet to watch it without the kaminoans knowing is one of their best memories together and use their names as a way to honor their fallen brothers.

Jacen and Tiio knew that they may not be able to stay together once the war really started. Thankfully, Fox had heard of their high scores around team work and knew he wanted men like that for the Guard and personally requested they be sent to him on Coruscant.

(maybe Fox also knew how hard it would for them to lose so much so early in the war and wanted to give them a new close-knit unit to work with)

Now the two take pride in their positions in the Corrie Guard. They value their Commander's dedication to protecting others and want to embody that dedication in their own right.

Jacen embraced his individuality quickly, he has several tattoos: The symbol of the Coruscant Guard on his neck, lightning lines running down his right bicep (he misses the thunder storms on Kamino) and a matching tattoo with Tiio of a phoenix on his back, another tribute to their squad.

Jacen's personality can seem abrasive at first. He'll follow orders but does it in the most stiff, robotic way he can when they're given by someone he doesn't like (kind of a malicious compliance thing). If he thinks you treat him and his brother's well, though, he'll be very loyal to you. Once you've shown that you're trust worthy Jacen can actually be quite funny and charming.

(also, bit of a behind the scenes note: the spelling of Jacen's name is actually inspired by the old, no longer canon star wars books. Jacen was the name of one of Han and Leia's sons <3)

Tiio takes a little longer to show his individuality through his appearance. As said above, he does have a tattoo of a phoenix on his back to honor his squad mates, but other than that, he doesn't really care for tattoos personally. He does grow his hair out longer though and likes it to lay in curls around his head and down his neck.

Tiio is much more trusting than Jacen. More of the "give people a chance" rather than the "hold them at arms length" type. It takes a lot for Tiio to write you off as someone he doesn't like. However, like his brother, he becomes extra kind to those who prove they aren't assholes. He's a bit of a stickler for rules, but only because he views them as good guidelines how to avoid getting decommissioned or killed. Gets very nervous when Jacen gets snippy or mouthy with others and often tempers his brother's anger.

Tiio also adores animals, please let this man open an animal shelter, he wants to rescue them all!

I'm tagging the OC encouragement queen @commander-sunshine as well as @blueink-bluesoul and @dystopicjumpsuit since I think you two already love these two from their brief debut in the handmaiden's fox lol

[rjalker]

Since Martha Wells decided to confuse everyone, I made a chart.

Feel free to save and share this chart wherever you want, I don't need credit.

[ID: A chart showing the differences between an android and a cyborg.

The Left side is pale blue, and is labeled, "Android", with the explanation: "A robot or other artificial creation designed to mimic the appearance of a human. Can be made of mechanical parts, synthetic, or a mix of the two."

Below is a picture of Nick Valentine, from Fallout 4. Nick is an android with grey skin that is damaged in some sections, showing the mechanical parts of his skull and part of his neck. His eyes glow yellow.

More text beneath the image of Nick reads "Other notable androids in popular fiction…"

And lists: "Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries book series, Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation show, C3PO, from Star Wars."

The right side of the chart is pale orange, and titled, "Cyborg", with the explanation: "Any biological organism given cybernetic enhancenements, usually in the form of prosthetic limbs, but can include synthetic organs or sensory aids. Literally cybernetic + oragnism", with "CYB" in cybernetic, and "org" in organism in all caps, underlined, and purple for emphasis.

Below this is a picture of Cyborg, or Victor Stone, from the DC Comics. Cyborg is a Black man with many parts of his body, including half his face, replaced by cybernetic prosthetics of blue and grey metal.

Below him is a list: "Other notable cyborgs in popular fiction…" listing, "Luke and Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars, Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes from the MCU, the Cybermen from Doctor Who, and the Borg from Star Trek", with "(literally, their name is just 'cyborg' without the cy)" in parenthesis for the Borg.

End ID.]

Murderbot is an android, specifically an androgynoid since it's designed to look like a genderless human. It would only be a cyborg if it started out fully human and was then later given mechanical parts. It was created from the getgo as a combination of mechanical parts, cloned human tissue, and artificial intelligence. It's not a cyborg, it's an androgynoid.

Gurathin is a cyborg, because he is a human who was then augmented using technology.

In general, cyborgs are born. Androids are created.

Anything, including an alien or an animal can be a cyborg. Anything can also be an android, but the term android specifically means "robot designed to look like a man" as in a male, not just a general human, hence why Murderbot's an androgynoid. A robot designed to look specifically like a woman would be a gynoid, and so on and so forth. There are pretty much infinite options here.

(Edit 5/9/23: I created the term "anthroid" as a catchall term for any robot designed to look like a human, without having to specify gender each time. Go. Be free from male default language.)

So if you really wanted to do good worldbuilding for an alien species, they'd have their own specific term for robots they build to look like themselves.

a robot designed to look like a spider, for an example, could be called an arachnoid. You may also notice the similarity to the word "humanoid".

Anthroid = robot (or other artificial construct if your universe has magic) that is humanoid. Android = robot designed to look like a human man. Gynoid = robot designed to look like a human woman.

Cyborg = any biological organism given any mechanical enhancements or augmentations. Yes, including something as "not dramatic enough" as a prosthetic eye with a high tech camera in it.

(The Daleks and also Geordi la Forge are also cyborgs, I knew I was forgetting obvious examples)

[heaven-s-black-box]

Notes- Modern Star Wars pt.1

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Recovery date: August 15th, 2022

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Notes: N/a

Parts: 1 2 3 4

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- the jedi all go to the same temple, in this au the jedi religion is no different then being Jewish, Muslim, Christian, ect.

- Caleb and Cal are neighbors, they've been besties since kindergarten (I refuse to separate these two, they are now a pair)

- Caleb's nickname is Kanan

- masters= parents (adopted or bio, a few exception cases like Ahsoka and Ani, Obi wan and Ani, ect.)

- obi wan is qui gon's bio kid, Anakin was adopted

-Ahsoka is adopted by plo koon

- while I would love to include all clones, last time I tried that I fried my modern AU, so here's a more edited list with my faves

- Jango had Boba and Omega

- Rex and Cody are brothers, they're boba and omega's cousins

- the bad batch(quintuplets) + domino twins are brothers and are boba and omega's first cousin once removed (so Jango's aunt/uncle's kids)

- pretty much everyone in the fett family joins the military to some degree

-Bd-1 is Cal's small dog, C3P0 is a golden retriever (or possibly a service dog for Ani due to childhood trauma) and R2 is a cat (maybe a tuxedo), Chewwie is one of those big super fluffy dogs, Chopper is a ginger cat, and Jar Jar is Padme's overly excitable yippy dog (couldn't decide on a breed)

- Hera and Kanan eventually adopt a wolf dog they name Dume, Chopper hates sharing attention

- Kanan adopts Ezra

- Sabine is related to Bo-Katan and Satine (somehow, I know she's the same clan so extended family!)

- After meeting clan Wren (I am writing this as I watch Rebels) I have decided Ursa was Satine and Bo-Katan's adpoted first cousin once removed

- Hera is totally Airforce, like I feel like that's the closest to her role in rebels, her and Kanan met in highschool

- their song, which later became their first dance at their wedding, is "Ain't no mountain high enough"

- Zeb is another friend of theirs from highschool, he was a year or two younger

- Zeb is a security guard, Ezra is an animal conservationist (see him and Loth wolves), his parents had a radio show where they talked about endangered species

- Kanan is a firefighter (because irony) and Cal is an elementary school teacher who is in charge of his school's fencing club

- in this au Kanan's injury comes from a job, once he's blinded he joins Ezra in his work

- Cere is a highschool music teacher, Merin is a history teacher who also has an elective cultures course, and Greez is a freelance pilot who's business is definitely totally 100% legal(/s aka he takes some shady jobs)

- Cere and Greez are neighbors, Merin works at the same school as Cere, and she meets Cal through her

- Din obviously adopts Grogu at some point, and Luke volunteers at the temple's Sunday school which is where he meets them(???)

- I feel like Luke would own a martial arts school, Leia becomes a politician like her mum, Anakin would be a robotics engineer

- Satine is prime Minister of Mandalore, Bo- Katan is either military or lawyer (she strikes me as the lawyer type), Sabine was going to join the military but ended up pursuing an artistic career, Korki wants to go into politics like his aunt

- Mandalore works like the u.s where it's a bunch of small countries a trench coat, except they're more functional... mostly

- Obi wan is either a social worker (helping other kids like Anakin) or some kind of diplomat, he only became a diplomat cause he took a few classes to spend more time with a cute international student *cough* Satine *cough* and found he was good at diplomacy

- Plo Koon and Ahsoka are body guards/ security, Plo has his own company, Ahsoka started as being in charge of marketing (I consulted my mom for Ahsoka's job and she suggested marketing because she's so bubbly)

[intothecocoverse]

I finished The Mandalorian season 3. So many strong female characters, I LOVED IT AND I LOVE WOMEN AND ELIA KANE I AM READY TO FIGHT YOU IN DUAL I'M TINY BUT MIGHTY KATY O'BRIAN PLAYS HER SO WELL I WANNA FIGHT I HATE ELIA SO MUCH JDKDFNKDKD

When it came out, people had mix reactions; some were very happy that Grogu and Djarin have now their little house but others, if I remember well, were like "but why did he abandon the darksaber?" And so on. It didn't shock me. Djarin was right when he said that the robot weird general grievous thingy took it from him and that Bo-Katan was the one who retrieved it from the creature. I see Mando like this; he lived only by the Creed before he met Grogu. He didn't seem to be that social guy with a lot of friends. He just wants a calm life. After Grogu and everything that happened, he has now a son who is also his apprentice. He helps a lot of people and makes friends along the way. For me it would have been weird to see him on the throne of Mandalore at the end of the season. He is a leader but he doesn't want the power that goes with it or any type of power for that matter. So him not fighting for the Darksaber and going on adventures with Grogu is on point. And honestly, if they wanna do 10 seasons of the Din family going on adventures, saving people, discovering Jedi's secrets or just living a normal life, I'll watch it. The people being Animatronic Grogu, puppet Grogu and CGI grogu made an amazing job and Pedro Pascal plays so well that we can't but believe that Grogu is actually a living being. So thank you to them.

I can't wait for season 4 because yes, new Mando and Grogu adventures but also the Mythosaur!!! How will Mandalore prosper? And unfortunately, the creation of the new order....

The only thing that bothered me a bit during this season is the level-up of the imps. Everytime, we are seeing new droids that are almost impossible to kill but then, they are destroyed and we won't see them again DESPITE they're killing machines. It was the same in The Clone Wars or SW Rebels. I don't know how to explain it.

As a fan, I hope that, as long as good stories are written, we will see Din Djarin on our screens for a long time.

So yeah, The Mandalorian is done, waiting for season 4 impatiently and tomorrow I will start Ahsoka! Just like Star Wars Rebels, I know that The Mandalorian is a Star Wars series I will watch again and again. I have spoken.

(and if you wanna express your opinion about it, please do! I would love to talk about the series haha)

Here is my Grogu because why not

[duckapus]

Most of the major events in the Haltmann War, in more-or-less chronological order:

The distraction plan is successful and the Crew + Kirby manage to get into the Access Arc undetected...but shenanigans ensue because it's them and they all get separated early on.

Susie succeeds in copying Mario's Player Data over to Elanore, but doesn't kill him right away, because even if she wasn't afraid of how Movie Mario would react to her killstealing she'd still let him be the one to do the deed since she promised him revenge if he helped her and it would go against what's left of her principles to go back on a deal.

Lots of cool fight scenes down on the surface, with Marcy, Shroomy, Kaizo, Amy, and the other Major Side Characters, as well as the Hologram Trio, getting most of the focus.

There's also a scene with Slenderman, Siren Head and Huggy Wuggy teaming up and absolutely slaughtering Haltmann's forces.

Elanore and Barney decide to help Mario escape because he seems like a nice guy. Unfortunately, the Tax Evasion Yoshis find out and won't let them go without a fight.

Primp Town comes under attack because of course it does, allowing the Puyo Puyo characters, the Koopalings (minus Iggy 'cause he's trapped with the other mad scientists), Root and Lil Coding to show off their skills.

Tari and Saiko find Hal, who's been upgraded Mecha-Knight-Style into the Halt Monitor and is guarding the bootleg Guardian Pod Susie made from the God Box Shard.

The Access Arc's defenses come online to assist Haltmann's fleet against the good guys' much larger fleet, and Sage retaliates by bringing out the Death Egg and fighting Death Star Parody to Death Star Parody, which provides an amazing background for the ongoing fight between Movie Mario and Melony's team

The New and Improved Augmented Security Swipe takes to the battlefield back on the ground, getting into a fight with the side characters and surprise entries Dusty Grumpton and Heavy Squid, while Joe, Dusty's Dad and Fury Bowser fight the King Salmonids and that one giant robot boss from Kirby 64.

Bob and Boopkins run into The Goomba, who now has a personalized Robobot Armor he calls his Executive Suit. It has four massive arms because he, like most Goombas, has kind of a complex about that sort of thing. He's also still only calling Boopkins Fishy, which makes him rather quickly shift from trauma-and-bad-at-fighting-induced-fear to also-trauma-induced-murderous rage

Cody discovers that he inherited his mom's skill with a shotgun when his siblings nearly get killed by a squad of Octoling Clones that slipped past Primp Town's actual combatants.

Kirby, Luigi and Perry find Susie guarding the Scientists, and it's immediately obvious that they're going to have to knock some sense back into her

A second invasion fleet appears in the Internet Graveyard, only to discover that it has not been left unprotected, with 1, 2, Juliano and Knuckles leading the Dead Memes as a well-coordinated army instead of the chaotic feral mess Haltmann had probably been expecting

3 and 4 find Vee and Hex, and while 3 and Vee's frustratingly similar personalities do make them clash at first they manage to get the kids on their side like Mario did. And then the Bob-Omb Battlefield Chain Chomp shows up with a plasma cannon mounted on it.

Meggy ended up alone and, in a scene framed almost identically to the Octo Expansion Agent 3 boss cutscenes, finds DST-19, the Octoling Clone who most closely replicated their DNA donor: Desti. It even has her original Blaster, the signature hot-rod paintjob faded to almost nothing and replaced by patches of rust from its years at sea.

Movie Mario looks like he's on the ropes after a devastating blow from a Super Waluigi Launcher attack, only to tap into the God Box's power and become Mari0, which gives him a second wind also unleashes his secret army of Anti-Minions onto all of the ground battles.

There's also a massive, surprisingly powerful Anti-Meme version of the Onceler who shows up in Primp Town

At the Goomba fight, Booplins manages to actually climb up the mech while Bob's drawing fire with his actual direct fighting, and he proceeds to push the Goomba out of the mech, take control of it himself, and use it to stomp the Goomba without remorse.

Mario, Elanore and Barney defeat the Yoshis, with Mario afterwards lamenting his broken friendship with the main green one, not knowing that he's actually still conscious and has been given some things to think about

Saiko and Tari have a lot of trouble with Halt Monitor, but eventually manage to break through his reprograming thanks to their shared past in the Reboot timeline

Just when it looks like the Primp Town group is beat, Lily discovers that her siren song is the least of her voice's powers, because she unlocks the power to SHOUT DEVISTATINGLY AND IMPOSSIBLY LOUDLY, which basically deletes the Mega-Anti-Onceler, most of the invaders...and a great deal of the surrounding countryside.

During the Susie boss battle, she gradually realizes that her situation with the God Box Shard is a direct and terrifying parallel to what happened with her father and Star Dream. She's not exactly cured of her corruption, but she does at least now know there's a problem and is actively fighting against it. Unfortunately, between all the damage to the Access Arc, the God Box's influence permeating everything by this point, and Mari0 and A.S.Swipe being Mari0 and A.S.Swipe, she doesn't currently have any way to call the invasion off

Meggy vs DST-19 is nasty, both because Obvious Trauma Reasons but also because DST-19 turns out to legitimately just as good as the original Desti was, and besides the lack of talking is even acting exactly like the original would have. Ultimately the duel leads to a draw, at which point DST-19 actually finally talks, commenting on how Meggy's getting slow in her "old age," because apparently she's had Desti's memories the whole time and was looking for a rematch! So now she's part of the group, apparently.

Also A.S.Swipe gets blown up again. Hopefully for good but probably not.

It's at this point that everybody in the Arc actually manages to meet up at the bootleg Guardian Pod...well, almost everybody. Guardians are still missing up until they come crashing through a wall still pursued by the Cyber-Chomp, who's then quicky taken down and freed from its cybernetics by Executive Suit Boopkins, because he's tough now apparently. We'll see how long it lasts.

Meanwhile, out in space, Mari0 is handing Melony's team their asses and Sage is getting way too into tearing the Arc apart, to the point where she's seemingly forgotten that everyone has to actually escape from it before she finishes destroying it. Eggman is very proud of her.

The Arc group gets inside the Pod, which the Chomp puts inside its mouth, and they all shoot out the nearest airlock just in time to not get blown the fuck up, since the Chomp is the Chomp and can totally survive the vacuum of space and falling from low orbit. While that's happening Mari0 sends the group fighting him crashing to the ground

this leads to the final battle happening in a massive crater. While the Arc group is mostly still fresh to go, the space battle and ground battle groups are running on fumes at this point, with the chaos emeralds spent, Waluigi and the Demigods unable to access their powered up forms, Shaggy fucking dead (and poofed because it turns out he was the Shaggy that Axol drew on Anime Island), and Creative Mode disabled.

Despite this they still stand up to keep fighting, with Waluigi pulling out a tennis racket(gloriously fitting), Desmond doing his best with his lance and shield, Steve breaking out the Diamond Gear, and Melony actually having Kirby use her sword to become Fierce Deity Kirby and pulling out Inkweaver to use herself.

Just about everybody still standing working together(including a surprise Lawyer Kong pulling a Cease and Desist for a brief stun at one point) just barely manage to take him down...except the boss music just changed keys instead of ending.

Mari0 grabs Luigi, stating that its fitting he'd use SMG4 Mario's brother to gain the power to destroy this world, given what happened to his own, and starts fucking absorbing all of his Meme Energy! This gives him the boost he needs to start draining the Meme Energy and Anti-Meme from everyone and everything around him, except for Mario because he wants his counterpart to ba awake enough to suffer and the Haltmann siblings thanks to their immunity to Anti-Meme energy.

Regardless, this allows Mari0 to assume his final form, Mari0 Soul('cause Kirby), with only Mario, the Haltmann siblings and Peach(who has no Meme Energy of her own thanks to the Worst Activation Ever) left standing to fight him

Except, as the fight wears on and it all seems hopeless, their friends start managing to jump back into the fray, still weakened from exhaustion, injuries, pain from the extraction, and the fact that they can't use memes to screw with reality like usual, but no less willing to help save the day

Even Yoshi manages to come back and sides with the heroes, allowing for a last-minute Big Super Move courtesy of the whole Seven Star Children thing Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong have going on(from Yoshi's Island DS) that Mari0 couldn't have possibly seen coming thanks to his origins. And now he dead and the Anti-Memes die with him

Now there's the cleanup, including dealing with the whole "Desti is a goo clone now" situation, detoxing everyone who got pumped full of Anti-Meme Energy (especially Susie), and figuring out what to do with a whole extra weak-but-fully-functional-and-stable Meme Cycle Set who on one hand are creations of the God Box meant to be used for evil but on the other hand are literal children who ultimately decided to be good the very first chance they got.

Also Yoshi now gets to join Peach and Welony in the "Attempting Redemption" group! Mario is probably going to be significantly more wary about this one, considering.