#liveblogging the mando show

[businesstiramisu]

Finally got an opportunity to check out The Mandalorian, and not sure if I love the story yet but yeah this is some Well-Made-TV!! Particularly it feels like they were trying really hard to recreate the old look and feel of Star Wars (1979) with the puppets and practical effects*, but maybe updated?? I'm pretty impressed.

Also I am in love with this soundtrack

*no idea how much of this was actually practical effects, vs. just CGI that fooled me. All i know is the aesthetics FEEL like the original trilogy in a way that I don’t remember seeing from other newish star wars stuff I’ve seen. And, like, I’m assuming this is intentional??

[tarisilmarwen]

Ahsoka "The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord" Liveblog

Woo boy, there were certainly some Choices in this.

Yeah yeah, I'm late and spoilered to hell I know, look, I have been Going Through It out in realspace and my priority has been finishing Whumptober fics, cut me some slack.

Anyway.

Lars Mikkelson continuing to crush it as Thrawn.

"Even I fell victim to the... heroics of a single Jedi." Looooooool another bit for my collection of Pissy!Thrawn moments.

We're not going to get an explanation for why the Nightsisters and Thrawn are so tight, are we?

Morgan looks a little bit trepidacious about all of this ha ha.

All right, a point in this show's favor, this look at Nightsister rituals and culture is interesting.

And the flaming sword is cool, I'll admit.

Ngl, the editing really needs to be tightened up in this scene, we really only needed the one or two establishing shots before cutting into the interior.

Eman continues to be the perfect Ezra. I love him. 10/10 no complaints.

Ngl, this is sweet on the surface that Ezra's new saber has pieces of Kanan's buuuuuuuut *waves Green Saber Ezra Supremacy flag*.

Sabine, let him borrow y'all's lightsaber and YOU build a new one.

Ah goody, an Exposition Reveal.

-_-

This... doesn't actually explain Baylan's "Your family is dead because your Master didn't trust you." line btw. JUST SAYING.

I don't even know what the narrative wants anymore re. Sabine's choice to gamble Thrawn's return for Ezra.

Aaaand please not to be reminding me of the Wrong Jedi arc kthnx.

Oh good an action scene.

Ezra and Ahsoka being cool Jedi together, nice. Could be more emphasized and staged even more coolly tho.

Well poop, I guess that's the reason why we had to risk stowing away on Thrawn's ship.

Oh good! This holomap thing is exactly the kind of plot device I actually needed for one of my Sabezra Week fills.

Lol Thrawn be taking NO chances lololol.

Oh hello finally some of Thrawn's theme in the score here. Thrawn using the men's loyalty and fanaticism towards him personally to achieve his goals, fits the culty vibes, sure.

I am liiiiiviiiiiiiiiiiing for the subtle nervousness in Ezra's voice when talking about Thrawn finding the Dathomir castle and waking the witches. PLEASE CAN I HAVE A THOUSAND WHUMP AND ANGST FICS ABOUT THE IN-BETWEEN BEFORE EZRA'S ESCAPE FROM THE CHIMAERA?

His arms are so comfortably around Sabine awwwwww.

Thrawn be all srs bznss and I'm loving it.

Yeah no, Jedi!Sabine is REJECTED, she did not have any kind of necessary mental or emotional breakthrough, she wasn't shown calming her mind properly, sorry Dave THE LEGWORK AIN'T THERE, Imma fix this to be Ahsoka in the inevitable rewrite/fixfic that I've apparently decided I'm doing.

Oh Ahsoka is helping too, well I'm still not having Sabine be able to do it.

HAAAAAAAAAA THAT PISSED LOOK OF THRAWN'S OH MAN THE SNARLING LIP CURL, THE RAGE, YES PLEASE MORE.

The struggle to recompose himself OH MAN.

This is peak Mirrorverse!Thrawn and I'm here for it. I love seeing my headcanons playing out onscreen.

Aaaaaand this would have been the perfect scene to have Ezra and Sabine sharing the Our Lightsaber, meanwhile Sabine should be fully kitted out Mando style.

*simmers*

STAGE THIS DIFFERENTLY SO THAT SABINE'S BESKAR IS NOT CONSTANTLY LITERAL PLOT ARMOR PLEASE.

Aahhhhhhh Ezra my love! <3

Should have either let him use the Our Lightsaber or continued with the Force martial arts though, pick a lane. Or have a conversation about why they need to actually get him another saber.

Eman is... waaaaaaay better at this than Rosario, sad to say, lol.

Look at him GO THERE'S MY BOY.

I love him.

Oh what are we doing now?

Ohhhhh the zombie!troopers!

Lol Ezra must have left before the Nightsisters could show Thrawn their zombie techniques.

Eman makes this look flawless, I am in love.

Battle Couple Sabezra moment, awww.

"I missed you."

FAKSJHFAKJFHHKKHHHFHFH OKAY DEAD.

DEAD AND DECEASED.

LIKE THE ZOMBIES LOL.

Aaaaaaaaand I'm gonna adjust this in the fixfic, because right now it looks like they were waiting to actually dock.

And my typing is being slowed down hang on a second.

Still dumb.

Okay back.

Thrawn basically telling Morgan, "Right, so you're going to have to go fight the Rebels and stall die for me, mmkay?"

She's looking like she might regret all of this now lolol.

I do like how the finale is making it very very easy for me to fix later lol.

Like here. Morgan should have attempted to stop Ezra and Sabine. Just a small attempt, and then blocked by Ahsoka, and Ezra and Sabine run around and outmaneuver them.

BATTLE COUPLE SABEZRA. :D

Aaaaand final trailer shot accounted for.

Okay, can there be a little more effort on the choreography there please?

Oh no Sabine, EZRA SAVE HER.

Or we could retcon Sabine into actually legitimately being Force Sensitive and have her pull the Our Lightsaber.

SIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHH.

*grumbles, takes down notes about how to fix this in my rewrite*

Oh come on Ezra, you can jump that.

Catch me melting at the sheer and utter trust Ezra has in Sabine's abilities.

(But also, screw this, she's getting a jetpack in the rewrite.)

Aaaaaaaaaand I do hate that they got separated again, screwing alllllll of that.

Nice of the troopers to just politely stop shooting.

Yeah so, this is basically gonna be a 1 v 100 for Ahsoka when I rewrite it, let my girl have a hard fought climactic battle, she can take it.

"Your friends are dead." Uhhhh nah they ain't what does this bit of dialogue even connect to?

Lol Ezra gets to put on the big boy stormtrooper armor.

The vaaaaaaaaaguely panicky twitches that Thrawn has here. A+, excellent, no notes.

No kill like overkill LOLOLOL.

Thrawn, internally: Shitshitshitshitshitshitshiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Ah Thrawn is going to try Break Them By Talking. Ezra tanked this let's see if Ahsoka can do the same.

Nope, she's Affected.

Aaaaaand he out.

Bye Thrawn!

Hmmmmgh, yeah no, because in my rewrite I'm axing the entirety of Sabine actually becoming a Jedi it's going to be better that she goes with Ezra on the Eye of Sion instead of stays with Ahsoka, if she stayed a Jedi then yes that's what the conclusion should have been that makes narrative sense now that I see it.

But also again, I Do Not Like That Plot Point so--*grumblegrumble mumble*

Hi Morai!

Bandit queen Shin? I could dig it.

Baylan chilling with Mortis god statues.

I STILL DO NOT SEE ANY SOLID EVIDENCE THEY'RE GONNA DO ABELOTH GUYS, SORRY.

And Thrawn is setting up base on Dathomir. Lol wait til he finds out that there's basically nothing there anymore lololol.

Those uh... those be a lotta dead troopers. Probably most of the Chimaera crew.

...Cripes did they die naturally, did Ezra kill them, or did Thrawn pull some kind of Jonestown thing in order to enact his eventual revenge?

Oh maaaaan what if it's that last one, that would fit with the cult-like chanting in his intro omgghghhhggkajsfkjh.

Frick man, Thrawn fixing to unleash an undead army on the GFFA that can really only be taken out by lightsabers.

Oh come on, you're telling me Ezra was on the Eye and didn't pull some last minute shenanigans before he left?

Didn't screw Thrawn over one last time for nostalgia's sake?

(He and Sabine are blowing up some engines before they skedaddle, in the fixfic.)

HERA AND EZRA SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED A HUG, FILONI.

The attempt at bookends here is cute but no. LET HERA HUG HER SON.

THIS DOESN'T EVEN REALLY WORK AS A BOOKEND.

YES THE PART WHERE CHOPPER RECOGNIZES HIM IS CUTE BUT THIS IS WASTED DRAMA. THERE'S NO REASON FOR THIS.

LET HERA HUG HER SOOOOOOONNNN.

This whole scene just doesn't work because we're trying to shoehorn it into being a bookend for the opening, it doesn't wooooooooooorrrrrk.

THEY SHOULD HAVE HUGGED.

*furiously taking down notes on how to rewrite this scene*

*grumbling*

Blah blah Sabine can feel Anakin there but Ahsoka can't? blah blah blah.

Aaaaaaand closing us out with "As The Sun Sails And The Moon Walks"

Well.

Where do I begin?

Okay so... final verdict... I DO actually like this show.

THAT BEING SAID.

There was soooooooo much about the execution and so many of the narrative choices that I just NEEDED to be better and it frustrates me. Because this show by all rights should have been a spectacular emotional thrill ride like Kenobi and it just wasn't.

A lot of the problems and nitpicks I had with Kenobi are exacerbated here, especially under Filoni's brand of, "I didn't care for what Lucas did with the Prequels, here let me fix it." NO FILONI IT DIDN'T NEED FIXING IT WAS FINE! HOW THE FORCE WORKED WAS FINE! THE JEDI WERE FINE!

But there's such GOOD STUFF in here that I can't discount it all fully like I can with the Sequel Trilogy. (Which, believe me, I have attempted to workshop and fixfic but ultimately gave up on.) The purrgil lore! The Ancient Dathomiri! Another galaxy! Whatever Baylan was up to! Sabezra being adorable! Thrawn!

Soooooo yeah, basically join me sometime in the future for when I inevitably create a fixfic AU for this show like I did for Aldnoah.Zero because unfortunately I can't give up on this show I need to fix it, just hand me the characters and story and I can fix it.

Can't do much for the camerawork, choreography, and occasional stiff acting (Not you Eman, Natasha, Ray, Evan, and Lars, you're all great.) but I can at least salvage that part lol.

Ultimately... mid. Excellent premise and cool concepts brought down by subpar execution and some frankly baffling narrative decisions. But gimme like a week and I will workshop a Fanon AU that I can be completely happy with.

Hopefully we get a Season Two? Maybe? Or resolve everything in the Mandoverse movie?

Peace out, y'all.

[bedlamsbard]

I totally understand your rage quitting now, although it's exactly the opposite for me! I was *very* into the Asgardian storyline in MCU and I hated Ragnarok with a passion - and the fandom sure made certain I knew everybody who didn't like the movie was an Idiot. Then IW and EG happened and killed all my joy for the MCU. I kinda sorta look at it without flinching nowadays, but it took somewhere around 5 years...

I think I know more people who went MCU --> Star Wars than the other way around! Weird couple of years for both fandoms. I'm a little bit of a weird outlier because I got back into Marvel well after Endgame, but a lot of what people criticize about the MCU is what I find interesting (the puzzle piece aspect). I am well aware that if I'd been consistently in Marvel since 2014 (which is when I drifted off) I'd probably have had the same rage reaction as like...everyone else I know.

I guess it's been a minute and my SW history isn't common knowledge to people who weren't around here between 2013-2021, so the lingering fury is probably confusing to people who only know me from the MCU. I was big into Star Wars from 2013-2021, from 2013-2015 on the PT/TCW side, then from 2014-2021 on the Rebels side (there's crossover), though I was also familiar with...everything. I have forgotten more about Star Wars than your average SW fan has ever known. (I was also in and out from 2007-2013, which is when some of my earlier fic like Oxygen and Rust dates from, but this is a period of time when my big fandom was actually Narnia) I'm quote-unquote "known" for Wake the Storm and Queen's Gambit in the PT/TCW, which have very consistently garnered negative responses since Wake started in 2013, and On the Edge of the Devil's Backbone in Rebels; I also used to do liveblogs of TCW and Rebels and the comics, for a while, so some of those posts are still floating around. I had a very, very bad breakup with a close fandom friend in 2016. I bounced off the ST, had an extremely negative reaction to Rebels S4 (to this day I have refused to do a full reaction post because I hated it so much I can't think about it coherently, and there were years where I couldn't think about it without spiraling), was okay with Resistance, R1, and Solo, hated Mando, hated TCW S7, hated the comics, hated the High Republic, and was still grimly hanging onto the fandom in utter misery in 2021 when the combination of hating TBB's sheer mediocrity (and the way they retconned Rebels) and the first episode of Loki hitting all of my favorite tropes like a fucking train finally knocked me out of Star Wars, to the extreme relief of everyone who knew me.

to this day I have fannish friends (who I met through Star Wars!) ready to stage an intervention if I ever seem even vaguely interested in getting back into Star Wars. I am the only person I know who looked at the Marvel fandom post-Endgame (and the Loki subfandom at any point in time, but especially while the show was airing) and went "this seems like a nice soothing place to immigrate to!" and honestly it is, people aren't as crazy anymore as they were around CW and Endgame. (Except in the Loki subfandom, which has made even me go "hmm. that's a bit much," but then I remember the egg genocide and you guys are fine, actually.)

very amusingly I actually speed-ran the Rebels experience with the Loki show -- really liked the first half, really disliked the second half -- but by that point I'd already gotten back into the rest of the MCU. I hadn't had a dramatic MCU breakup at all; I'd kept up with the films from 2008-2014 (CATWS was the last one I saw in order), but I just hadn't gotten around to seeing more than three odd ones out between 2014 and 2021 (Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and then I saw WandaVision early in 2021). I fandom osmosed some weird stuff that turned out not to be true.

anyway for those that don't know, that's the short version of my sordid Star Wars history! also sorry, you didn't actually, uh, ask for this.

[twilightofthe]

gonna put my random liveblog reactions for Ahsoka Ep 1 here

okay so the rebels fam are literally some of my favorite star wars characters i've loved and missed them since 2018 and if anything this show will give me them

i am going with zero expectations except a plea, a plea to just not make me hate it lmao idc what happens just let me have fun

just press the start button coward ass come ON

okay i'm startiiiing Now!

oooh they didn't name it interesting

kk cool drums that's neat we like that

whoa was that sabine's helmet in the intro????

OPENING TITLE SCROLL?????

WE REALLY LIKE THAT????????

y'all the new republic's about as stable as a human jenga tower don't u have anything better to do than find thrawn i'm p sure even the imperials didn't like him THAT much they were xenophobes

former jedi knight? HMMMM

why is it always a secret map

also appreciating the OG "let's open up on big ass ship in space" makes you feel small

ok have i heard this new republic(?) captain actor before he seems familiar

bitch literally anyone could have an old jedi clearance code clearance codes were passed around like

yeah he doesn't trust it either

but i feel like he's actually dickish and we're not supposed to like him so

ah yes rebel soldiers and their stupid-ass egg helmets

wait old white bearded guy you ain't obi wan you AIN'T a jedi

his voice sounds familiar too

i have such face blindness lmao

oh whoops that's a darkside saber his friend has!

she kinda looks like Merrin from JFO

Eh probs some kinda Nightsister of sorts

I'm guessing he's some Inquisitor who got forgotten

Hmm we really paralleling ANH with darkside guy slaughtering all the egghelmet guys on a ship xD

Ok his name is Baylan

And hers is Morgan and the intro crawl mentioned her but my memory is shit so I don't quite remember what she was about except vague Thrawn-related reasons

ooooh name drop!

aaaaaAAAAA RIGHT IN THE EMOTIONS NOOO NO THE AHSOKA AND ANAKIN LEITMOTIFF TWILIGHT OF THE APPRENTICE THEME

ok i'm good lol

ohh wait so there IS a title

master and apprentice

alas it seems like the thing i didn't want is gonna happen but we are staying OPEN MINDED we are going to SEE

ok lots of tall pillars in what looks like another fuckin desert lmao

ey there's Snips

something on the ground? That kinda looks Sith-ish but also I have like no clue

hmm did they kinda fix her montrals or not i can't tell

Ehhhhh slightly

eyyyy wait are those the world-between-worlds lines

the statues kinda look like nightsisters but also like old sith statues

mmm caress the whispering pillar

ok indiana jones time to get your ass out of there before the booby trap

what am i saying she's anakin and obi wan's spawn she LIKES this shit

oh hey she made something happen

i feel like all of these pillars should have been turned at once

the force likes teamwork and that kinda thing

but it also kinda echoes maul and ezra's little teamwork exercise lifting those walls in the sith temple that one time

ope she found something

guessing it's the Magic Maul Map

ooh it's one of those bakugon balls or whatever they were we played with as a kid i had one that turned into a dragon

H U Y A N G

SHOW ME MY ROBOBITCH

armor person hello

what's the mask that's not a mando is it

nah i don't think it is

nah

is it a person in armor or a droid i can't tell

oh subs say droids they're droids

you poor bastards curbstomping droids was her high school internship job she is WAY more qualified than you

wasn't quite expecting ahsoka to play whackamole but good for her that sounds fun

oh hell yeah we stan the droids that self destruct xD

waiiiit yeah i forgot she had a B-wing they're cool!

STILL LOVE ME HUYANG

ahsoka there was NO way you didn't wait till the last moment to jump away from that explosion except to be dramatic

"the order doesn't exist anymore" you shush missy we KNOW you know who luke is he's trying his best

ahsoka lbr do you even know what standard jedi protocol is

Fulcruuuuum

DAMN FUCKING RIGHT HUYANG IS FULCRUM HE DESERVES IT

also he looks so good in live action i forgot to mention that!!!!! <3

"T-6" girl u need to name your SHIP anakin would be APPALLED

well if that's the same ship with the darksiders on at least

h3ERA

HERA

HERA HERA HERA

HERA MY BELOVED

wHERES CHOPPER

WHERES CJASON JACEN WHATEVERTHE FUCK

H E RA

oh right this is mary elizabeth winstead oh boy i hope she does well!

i wonder if ewan was there

aNYWAY HERA

ok unpausing sorry had a Moment

General

Ok so the voices aren't quite matching but we'll see

ooooh hera has a patch on her jacket let's go back to that later

"abilities like you" hera kanan told you what darksiders were like inquisitors tried to kill y'all

she has sabines firebird on her jacket

don't mention thrawn around hera she'll just think of ezra ;_;

oh so morgan was thrawn's

EZRA NAME MENTION

GONNA DIE

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ok this is nothing on mary's performance she's doing fine but hera's dialogue doesn't quiiiite seem her? we'll see

oh yeah and rosario's doing better this time more natural

IT’S LOTHAL LOTHAL LIVE ACTION LOTHAAAAAAAAL

ITS BEAUTIFUL SO SO BEAUTIFUL

wait who's speaking

THEY SAID EZRA AGAI

THAT'S FUCKING RYDER

RYDER AZADI HELLO YOU WONDERFUL BASTARD YOU LOOK GREAT

Hi Clancy Brown good to see you do you know you have an evil Devaronian twin who's running around bothering Din Djarin as we speak

well at least sabine still hates politics

my dude ryder you know her tf did she say to make you think she was coming at all lol

WAIT JAI

JAI KELL HELLO EZRA'S EX BOYFRIEND

YOU'RE SO HANDSOME MY BOY ALL GROWN UP WONDERFUL

wait ryderrrr c'mon don't be a dick again you were so well

OH HELLO GWEN STACY SPIDERVERSE VIBES

not quiiiiite liking how sabine grew her gay haircut out in this but still digging the bike fit

also hello Natasha good luck pls treat my dear well i love her greatly!!!

hmmm not sure how much i like other non-OG ghost crew giving themselves Spectre callsigns yes i AM being gatekeepy fuck off

good sabine is running from authorities we do love that

hey her voice kinda matches that's great!

oh i'm liking her acting already

i think

SHE HAS A LOTH CAT ON HER HELMET

that's my GIRL

also it's very interesting how the pilots call each other by their spectre callsigns but address sabine--an ORIGINAL spectre--exclusively by name

lothkitty LOTHCAT

LITHCAT WITH THE FOOOOOFYTAIL AND LITTLE SPINDLE LEGS

im gonna DIE

it's so cute i can't even

also getting Emotions(TM) at ezra's old tower

hmm you think sabine has depression

FUCK OFF WITH THAT SABINE SEES EZRA MUSICAL CALLBACK

oh hey hey it's his original message to theeeeem

wait shit yeah it's the new one just to her

ooh it's eman! i can't see his faaaaace expressions but the voice sounds similar? like it seems like he's tryna match taylor's way of speaking good for him

ok yes but ezra is a jedi show pretty please for me don't go there with sabine

ok ok that's enough complaining from me lmao

ACTUALLY NO WAIT ONE MORE *inhales*

i would prefer sabine and ezra to stay platonic friends. no hate to shippers but i just personally would like them to be friends/siblings, that's what would make me happiest because i like to imagine sabine as a lesbian and also their dynamic as friends/siblings just makes me happy

but shippers are of course still welcome here and if they do become a couple i won't begrudge you your fun :')

ok ok ok ok ok NOW i'm done lmao

back to Best Boy sorry bby you were speaking and i interrupted you <3

oh hey hey he did say sister! i'd like that!!!

but also ezra when tf did you have the time to record those both weren't u a bit busy planning the attack on lothal

oh it's darkside goth girl

nice smoky eye

oh wait fuck she's got a PADAWAN BRAID

heyyyyyy i was RIGHT about the temple statues looking like nightsisters!

but wrong about darkside goth girl being one then tho

well masked emo fucker following bryan or whatever his name is is probs an inquisitor

wait wait wait does MORGAN have gold eyes?

ooooooo

oh no wait darkside apprentice has gold eyes again

ugh okay so we ARE getting force sensitive sabine then

alright fine i'll make my peace with it this episode

even though it makes no SENSE

no no pe not going there we are going to have FUN

aaaaa repeating ezra's final dialogue from the rebels finale ;_;

love the mirroring shots to rebels ep 1 RIGHT DOWN TO SABINE WEARING EZRA'S ORANGE

ahsoka and anakin leitmotiff coming back hmmm

oh wait fuck i think ezra drew those lothcats oof ;_;

ok good good we going back to sabine being the rightful art expert in the gffa take second place and DUNK urself thrawn

ok i get they're tryna make them ex master and apprentice but imma say it. imma SAY IT

ahsoka and sabine give awkward exes vibes

BIG awkward exes vibes

m a s t e r

you both know damn well she's gonna take it anyway or at least try who are y'all even kidding urselves

oooh surprise surprise the darksider are former jedi-associated

oh right his name's baylan not bryan

WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED

oh there's goth darkside girl

if anyone hurts sabine's cat i will kill the entire world and then myself

i swEAR TO GOD

WHY DOES THE SHOW KEEP MAKING AHSOKA AND SABINE SEEM LIKE ANGRY EXES LMAOOOO

COME ON

ahsoka ur being emo so hera is allowed to make a dig at anakin

hera you're trying your best girl lmao

it's always rule of three it seems

kinda gives me that mortis trinity vibe

this reminds me of the time i got one of those 3D puzzles from barnes and noble and i was supposed to take it apart and put it back together and failed utterly

ope she did it!

again if someone even TOUCHES that fucking cat wrong i go full john wick

bitch NO SHOOTING NEAR THE CAT

ope they smashed the map

ahsoka my dude i'm guessing you know where sabine lives why didn't u just go find her lmao

wait does sabine have ezra's green lightsaber i can't tell from the hilt because i'm shit at recognizing hilts

i can't even appreciate the duel because i am admittedly pouting but they are both very pretty at least

sabine how r u not getting ur hair chopped off

oh fuck she got stabbed?

maybe shoulda worn ur mando armor

oh and she's still MOVING

oh nope there she goes

oh wait who's Ray? :(

okay

okay okay okay

dave my dude.........

okay so i am going to take some time like a few minutes or so

and process this sabine thing

like if i cannot find a way to come to fucking terms with it i will not be able to enjoy this series

ik ik that sounds dramatic i'm just

hmm ok five minutes

[wantonlywindswept]

mando liveblog 3.7 ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

i am both mad and disappointed, if ultimately entirely unsurprised

oh good, we get to watch bo-katan get the darksaber again

oh right gideon’s bullshit

still calling that they’re going to take all the storylines into other series and turn the mandalorian into a ‘din and grogu run from gideon’ thing bc that’s what worked for them before

oh god are we on coruscant again? with the imperial bitch? ughhhh not againn

he’s already got his outfit back? lame. you just got busted out of prison, suffer bad clothing choices!

oh no he actually looks MORE vader-y, what a poser

i do hate (which i understand is irrational) that the show has to be beholden to the sequels, bc. well. the sequels sucked.

PROJCET NECROMANCER ASDKLJFSG

oh so if gideon’s interest wasn’t in the clones shenanigans does that mean i can fuck around with him wanting to become the next dr demagolka? Forcibly Assigned Jedi At Experimentation

yeee bitches feel fear at thinking about mandalorians

‘the spies’ oh no

poor nevarro civvies, ‘ah shit not the empire again’

i wanna know how painting that giant mythosaur on the underside of the cruiser worked

ARE WE FINALLY GONNA SEE WHAT THE WHOLE WALKING TWO WAYS BULLSHIT WAS ABOUT? INDOCTRINATION YEA OR NAY

ahh hordes of mandalorians my beloved

din. din get on the side of the covert. din.

‘paz bout to start shit TIME TO USE THE TALKING HAMMER’

oh god the droid we all forgot about. again.

OH NOT A DROID IT’S A FUCKING JAEGER IM FUCKING CRYING ASLDKJADG

OH IT’S FOR GROGU??? IM FUCKIN

oh lord baby with a murder exoskeleton

OH

ONIDSFJAG

LETS THE BABY SPEAK???

runaway baby so happy ‘yessss i can murder now!!’

okay i know this is supposed to be funny but clearly the baby should not have the exoskeletON ARE THEY ROASTING THE BABY BIRDS???

man they just got a home and they’re already needing to leave again?

i’m sorry GROGU AS WELL? what. what. YHOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE NEVARRO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SO THEY COULD KEEP THEIR KIDS SAFE

big spartacus vibes here

oh ho ho, the armorer too?

lmfao everyone chillin and then there’s paz with his ginormous gun, love that for him. also wonder if my hc about him never actually setting foot on mandalore before despite being a vizsla is correct?

did we. at least land somewhere significant? and not just in the middle of nowhere?

ah good on top of a city at least.

oh

oh my heart

‘do you have food’

the first question asked

mandalorians have been here all along??

okay this hurts me but i feel like not for the reason they want it to, bo-katan DID abandon you in the end

are these the spies, this is going to Hurt Me

oh she admitted it

wait did we know about this deal before or is this new info? bo-katan cut a deal with gideon? i have not watched any of the animated series

oh thank christ finally confirmation the tribe is against Death Watch, even if descended from it

hmm does sound like a good reason for joint leadership

I SERVE YOU? WHAT?

what are these vibes my brain suddenly just sidestepped into the Mad Max universe

is the armorer gonna die to traitors

lmfao paz fucking down to fight over fucking checkers im sobbing

really ‘primitives’? i know we’re supposed to be like ‘oh assholes on both sides’ but paz is like 100000 times better than woves

BABY????

the fuck DID he learn from you then, din

oh wait

i know there’s the assumption it was din (and i mean. fuck yeah dinluke. but.)

what if all the stuff about grogu learning things

was from kelleran?

mythosaur?? pls??

no mythosaur :(

PAZ MAKING SURE THE BABY GOT OUT

what is it with mandalorians and giant lizards anyway

MY HEADCANON IS CORRECT, PAZ NEVER LIVED ON MANDALORE GO ME

nope not survivors

bigger vibes that they were led here THEYRE WEARING WHAT. FUCKIONG IMPERIALS IN BESKAR?? FLAMES! ON THE SIDES OF MY FACE!!

vanguard paz my heart

yeah this was totes a trap

OH SHIT DIN SEPARATED FROM THE BABY

wow the worst vader wannabe

...din forced down on his knees doe unf

somebody cut off this dude’s head

I WAS SO RIGHT HES THE NEXT DEMAGOLKLA PUT TOGETHER IT ALL AND YOU GET JEDI MANDO...clones? something. w/e

UH YEAH, YEAH YOU SHOULD HAVE BO

ah paz it about to die isn’t he

sigh

oh for fucks sake it wasn’t even a smart death you coulda closed it and then gone through

oh fake jedi bitches

i know this is supposed to be a badass honorable death but i’m too busy being mad about it

[zolusbian]

THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS BRIEF NUDITY????

[bo-katan]

I live my days by whether I have work that day or not so I didnt even realize it was Saturday 😩😩

About to watch the 3rd episode 😅

[francesderwent]

my favorite thing about the Mandalorian is that Mando hates droids almost as much as I do.

[professorllayton]

just thought abt the fact that we're getting more mando so soon which means more baby yoda which means more dad and his weird son moments...this is just simply all i will care abt for the next 2 months again

[ooccoo]

ok so is cobb’s speederbike just a seat strapped to a podracer engine

[communistkenobi-archive]

lmao does din also hate droids because he was rescued by death watch

[girlbossk]

anyways next up is a mandalorian episode or maybe multiple mandalorian episodes, i don’t remember and i already closed the site, and i do NOT care about any mandalorians except for The mandalorian so. yeah! that’s a problem for tomorrow me

[meandmyechoes]

TBOBF finale liveblog

yes i know how competent R2 is

yes i do not think it’s a good idea to send a toddler into space alone

haha just realized Bane’s about to die (i hope he does)

how much are they gonna rip off Mando S1 finale shot by shot

*poke* *poke* *falls off cliff* that is about. the driest suit fight I’ve ever seen.

I think a problem might be the trandoshans are not wearing flight suits/camoflague vests but robes constructed like the Jedi’s witg thick belts? and I glimpsed one in an almost star trek and not-subtle-at-all red uniform among what supposed to be random people - all of whose costumes can’t show a thing about their job?

Did he just say “tablet”??!? It’s an actual wooden tablet???

Well, at least they know Oba Diah has obsidian cliffs

Well, at least we know Boba is a quick poet

Wait is that guy actually wearing suit and tie? (+ hoodie we’ve seen on a dozen extras by now?)

this should’ve been the first epiosde

thanks narrator Din. Always eager to help out no-reason-to-stay newbies and knew-better-than-you diehards learn about star wars weapons.

These street hawkers sure seen enough not to pack up first thing and leave

if they give us girlfriends i’m willing to forget 5% of its faults

Wow beast vs droid. what keeps me from turning up a real episode of godzilla

Yesss Yesss that face. Sorry Bane you should’ve showed up earlier but at least salvaged a moment even though we’d never know what perosnal beef there is between you two BECAUSE TCW IS CANCELLED

oh i see the monster movie tribute isn’t over

ohh. okay feels like a bingo announcement at this point for how predictable the whole ep is

ha another shot concept art worthy

ohhhhh the la pykes looks like blue lanternnnn. Saint Walker GLTAS. down to the emblem

oh my for a second i thought the Ithorian got force-choked and thought it was Maul

Fennec MVP

haha a New Look with Starry Night prints and cheap support?

Haha feels no better than finishing a cartoon

oh so the suit guy was a regular moped ranger

Ah Rob Roz guy again no wonder so dull

Vanth…? They’re going to…? Hunh? *face of disgust*

[twilightofthe]

Chapter Twelve liveblog of The Mandalorian Season 2!  Let’s go!!!

Ok so I already see Greef on the thumbnail for this and the summary mentions old allies, guess we’re meeting back up with Greef and Cara

Once more Din’s Space Honda is a wreck

You better not be asking the baby for ship advice dude

ALSKDJFLJSKDK YOU ACTUALLY ARE

DIN THAT IS A CHILD

EARLY FATHER/SON BONDING????

DIN NOOOOOOO XD XD XD XD

HE’S GONNA SHOCK HIMSELF

HE FUCKING SHOCKED HIMSELF DIN NO YOU BITCH

Ok good he got a reward for his troubles

Aw poor single dad

Whoooop someone’s remodeled the Mando covert

Hey space squirrel!

Oop dead space squirrel

Lol these dudes are dead 

Oh Cara, was expecting Din, but my opinion stands

Ok she’s still a human wrecking ball

Aaaaand now she’s got an animal sidekick xD

The Siege?  That don’t sound good at all lol.  

Oooof I swear this ship wasn’t as junky when we first saw it

SAME GREEF THE CHILD IS EVERYTHING

LISTEN TO HIS BABY TALK

Awwww there’s a school!!

Din c’mon it’s not like you haven’t left the kid with total strangers like five times already

Awwwww Yodito’s making FRIENDS

Lol wait is that kid eating macarons?

LAKSDFLKDSKLJK BABY FUCKING STOLE THE MACARONS THAT’S IMPROPER FORCE USAGE XD

Heyyyy it’s Mythrol!!  Lol and he basically pissed himself

Hah this is why you don’t come back to visit family Din, they always have favors for you 

Lol I kinda love these dicks bullying Mythrol for absolutely no reason

Ok if y’all are tryna scare Mythrol into coming w/ y’all cuz lava tide, why aren’t you at all concerned with your only ride out getting fried by it?

Aw I hope Mythrol doesn’t die from all of this he doesn’t deserve thiiiiis xD

There’s no guard rail on this WELCOME TO STAR WARS MYTHROL

Wtf are in those tanks

LAKSDJFLKSK ARE THOSE DEADASS SNOKE CLONES??!?!?!??!?!

HOLY SHIT THEY’RE ACTUALLY GETTING INTO THE PALPATINE CLONING CLUSTERFUCK

“Pardon me” hah I love Mythrol

M COUNT?

MIDICHLORIAN COUNT?!?!?!

HOLY SHIT THAT’S HOW THEY’RE TYING THIS INTO THE SEQUELS

THEY WANTED BABY YODA BECAUSE HE’S GOT HIGH MIDICHLORIANS SO THEY CAN TRANSFER THEM TO THE PALPACLONE SINCE REY’S DAD WAS BORN WITH NO FORCE JUICE

Baby Yoda is deadass a donor baby they created

Wait a sec but since when can you transfer midichlorians between subjects?

Or maybe you can’t and that’s what Pershing and the likes are experimenting with rn

OOP OH NO YEP YOU BETTER GET YOUR SON MANDO

“There they are!  Blast ‘em!” is like legit 80% of the dialogue in all of STar Wars

Oh damn so that’s how Cara drives

And awww Mythrol’s speeder!!!!

Oh whoop that’s a bomb that other trooper has

And Greef has em

Oop TIES

Aaaand now they don’t have a gun

Wait “almost there” so those TIEs are just gonna what, stop at some imaginary land boundary?

Oh hey it’s Din!  And his ship’s fixed

And Baby Yoda I would Die For You but that’s nothing new

LAKDSJFLKSDJKFSLK HE STILL HAS HIS LIL BLUE MACAROOOOOOONS!!!!!

HE LOOKS SO HAPPY WATCHING HIS FATHER DOING VIOLENCE

Uhhhh Din ur ship’s kinda trash idk if it’s built for ur fancy kind of stunt flying......

Eh if it works it works

Din craves validation from his-- EW VOMIT

Aaaaand Din has Dad Duty and can’t go for drinks xD

Noooo Greef mention the Palpaclones!!!!!

a “’gram?” what’s that?  Space telegrams now???

Cara’s squirrel friend again!!!

Listen to the officer Cara u gotta let them know before Palps can come back

Aw shit right she’s from Alderaan jeez that has to suck

Ooooop that’s a Star Destroyer

Oh I feel like I’ve seen this actress

OOOP THAT MECHANIC WAS A SPYYYYYY OH NOOOOOOOO NOW THEY’RE TRACKING DIN’S SHIP AAAAAAAAAAA

Ok I love Gideon’s musical theme

Wait what are those things are those the sith troopers???

Hey and Carl Weathers did this one!!!  Good on him acting AND directing it

Ok this is gonna be very interesting, it seems like The Mando Show is actually gonna try and attempt to patch up some of the holes in the sequel trilogy like how the First Order was able to form AND how Sidious was able to return if I’m right and Baby Yoda is one of the cogs in the cloning project

Next episode’s probs gonna be the Ahsoka episode but gah I’m still really hmmmm about her showing up, but eh don’t mind me

[wantonlywindswept]

mando 3.6 liveblog (frustrated)

oh ho ho more mandos and the darksaber and mandalore in recap?? please give me these things that i want to see yes

das a weirdass ship

why is she the only one in the fishbowl??

‘imperial friends’ oh sweetheart wrong faction

woves, eh?

woves i’m sorry but in this universe your accent means that you are evil and you are not helping challenge that view

THERE IS SO MUCH DRAMA PUT IN THIS EXCHANGE BUT ITS JUST TWO  FISH

still don’t like koska!

hm is this gonna be the Bo-Katan Episode

oh no din is also there! sweet

FASLDKHSDFG THE DOCKING ELEVATOR MUSIC

ah, the high-speed public transit that we all dream of...

i still also hate chain codes!

din you always have to blast your way out of everything, it’s your go-to plan of action

ahh rich people

JACK?? JKACK BLACK??? SIR!!! HELLO!!!!

nooo don’t make jack black an imperial he deserves better

DO NOT TOUCH THE BABY

GROGU PLEASE

din please take the baby back i do not trust this woman

oh word’s out that mandalore’s coming back huh

oh so she’s actually abandoned it? OHH SHE ASKED DIN???

....din please

omfg hibachi droid i’m crrying

din pls smack the big red button

hmm does that mean the ugnaughts are once again enslaved? din don’t take that shit

lawls bo

nnngh din taking charge so sessy

....where is the baby??

oh noooo is din gonna have some flashbacks, poor bb

din pls

din i thought we’d gotten over this

look i’m not gonna feel sympathy if the problem is that droids are snapping when being mistreated

like, it’s running? it’s not fighting back??

dafuq is a spark pad

Do Not Let Her Do The Talking In There

nevermind let bo do the talking. not really enjoying this little regression in din’s character development, but i spose it can be explained away with them being specifically sep droids

am enjoying all the droid characters tho

YEEEEE DARK SABERRRRRRR

oh now droids have chain codes too

so security guy makes droids malfunction to show that they still need security?

thank you bo

GROGU DO NOT EAT THE BALL

oh no he’s cheating instead rofl

we’re gonna use the quacta thing forever now huh

lmao din ‘what the fuck is the key thing and do i have to touch it’

KNIGHT GROGUADFSGIFJ LDGHHHHH

this entire government is ridiculous

YOU’RE THEIR LEADER NOW DIN WAVE THE DARKSABER AT EM

oh that’s not a good place to start bo

challenge? CHALLENGE? DO ITTT??

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

huh wonder if challenges are diff in diff creeds, or if the tribe just has regulations for duels like it does everything else. din and paz were much more uh. calculated with theirs.

OH BITCH YOU’RE REALLY CITING BLOOD TIES? YOU’RE REALLY DISRESPECTING FOUNDLINGS LIKE THAT??

din please stop trying to give the saber away

hmm interesting take. don’t like it. don’t want mandalor bo.

ughhhhhh but that’s what i’m getting isn’t it

ugh ugh ugh

[tolkien-feels]

Silmblogging: Valaquenta

Apparently I'm liveblogging a lot of things today.

The fun thing about reading the Silm is that when I get to parts dealing with subjects I love, I'm very excited because I love them! But when I get to parts dealing with subjects I don't love, I'm very excited because this means I don't know as much about the subject and might juuuust find new stuff in the text! It's win-win!

Having said that, the Valar..... Are not my favorite subject ever. I mean, I do like them, but to paraphrase Sam, they seem above my likes and dislikes, and I never know how to relate to them? (By which I don't mean they have to be #relatable, I mean "I don't know what attitude to have when reading them")

Sure they're interesting but I know I can't possibly understand them in any meaningful way so I just. Don't think about them much. (Which is unusual because I love themes and the Valar are so important if you want to talk Silm themes!)

Since this IS the Valaquenta I have to mention that my favorite Vala is Mandos and my favorite Valie is Nienna. Shout out to Manwe though - he's not my #1 favorite but I find him very underrated and would like to say he's definitely up there among my faves

Speaking of not understanding the Ainur....... What exactly does it mean for an Ainu to be a spouse or a sibling? I can see that siblings usually have overlapping spheres of influence while spouses complement each other. But like. Is that a metaphor for the benefit of the elves, or do the Ainur have emotional ties to one another that mimic kinship or marriage or friendship?

And on the topic of marriage, I find it fascinating how not only is Ulmo unmarried, but the text remarks that he's very separate from the other Valar. And so is Nienna in a way. That impresses me because in Tolkien, so often being a lone wolf leads to downfall, but lest we be too simplistic about it, we've got undeniable examples showing this isn't an inescapable rule

Given also the contrast between Aule and Melkor, if I had to I'd guess that loneness isn't the problem - pride is and hard-heartedness are. People who isolate themselves in Tolkien's world often do so because they believe themselves above others, which also ties in with the dangers of subcreation, which can so easily turn into a desire to control others and/or the world

So the theory I want to test as I read the Silm this time is: do humility and/or compassion reliably lead to unity, and is unity reliably a good thing? Note I say reliably rather than invariably! I'm looking for a strong trend, not an absolute rule

That's basically it for today. As usual: I'm following the pace set by a friend so who knows when the next silmblog will be