#she appears in the sw novel queens hope

[kingtuna]

WHY DID I JUST NOW LEARN THAT THWRE IS A CANONICAL TRANS FEMALE CLONE TROOPER??

a CANONICAL trans clone

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also this ties beautifully back to my post about the clones and gender

Sister's vode accepting her without a thought and the jedi encouraging her

just

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this is so important

how come I didn't know this sooner?

this is such a huge thing, to have her canonically exist

I don't have the words

[padme-amitabha]

Why do you not like Ahsoka?? I mean she’s more interesting than Padme, and Padme never gets referenced in the original trilogy, there’s a reason the final fight in rotj is between Vader and Luke with the emperor in the background and not Padme talking to Vader about how she loves him and all of that, plus Ahsoka is just badass and likeable, Padmes only cool in tcw imo, outside of that she’s kinda boring imo, no better than a character like Rey or Snoke imo, she also has baffling dialogue

Why do you not like Ahsoka?

Must we all conform and like her?

I mean she’s more interesting than Padme,

Subjective.

and Padme never gets referenced in the original trilogy,

Well, Ahsoka doesn't even exist in the movies until Filoni created her in 2008 and casually inserted her into Star Wars.

there’s a reason the final fight in rotj is between Vader and Luke with the emperor in the background and not Padme talking to Vader about how she loves him and all of that,

Because the emperor is alive and she isn't...? And she isn't force-sensitive to appear as a ghost. She may just be Vader's ghost and anything she says to him will be said only to him. We are following Luke's story. We as the audience don't know Vader would be redeemed and specifically what is going on inside his head. Again, even in ROTJ novelization before Padme even appeared Vader thinks of his wife and that she was very dear to him. Where was Ahsoka again in any of this?

plus Ahsoka is just badass and likeable,

And boring on her own because her story is mostly reliant on Anakin. What is she except Anakin's padawan? We don't see anything else of her except being a Jedi. Padme isn't just a politician. She served in public service as a kid, got elected as a Queen, had things happening to her, had a love life (with Anakin), has her own values and beliefs that weren't taught to her, and has plans and hopes for things outside her work. Ahsoka is a Jedi and can fight with a big plot armor. Totally makes her more likable.

Padmes only cool in tcw imo, outside of that she’s kinda boring imo,

See, that just means you prefer to see her as a Senator and you see Ahsoka as a Jedi. That's going for character stereotypes, rather than the characters themselves. TCW Padme is horrible, unlikable and completely different from her actual character. Filoni had to butcher her to make his pet more likable in comparison and casually insert her into the prequel trio because we all like our own things. He is so "attached" that he can't even kill her. Well GL created the others and let Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan die as they were supposed to so the story could be meaningful.

For all of her badassery, it was Luke's (and Padme's) love that redeemed Vader and saved the galaxy. Ahsoka like obi-wan and Yoda failed to turn him back and just went into hiding from him lol. Doesn't seem very brave to me. And when there are two Jedi who failed what was the point of her again? She was pointless as far as the Skywalkers were concerned. I wouldn't mind if she had her own story independent of the skywalkers but Anakin being 20 and assigned an even younger padawan makes no sense. Obi-Wan was older than ROTS Anakin when he trained him. No wonder Ahsoka likes to strut around like she's Anakin junior. It's stupid, unoriginal, and annoying. We didn't need a kid for SW to be relatable.

no better than a character like Rey or Snoke imo,

Rey is the Mary Sue of the sequels and Snoke is a background villain. Yes, totally equivalent to the mother of Luke and Leia who inherited a lot of her qualities that helped them become the heroes they were, a Queen and senator from her planet, the main character in the first movie and a part of the actual prequel trio. Padme was always going to be part of star wars. There's old concepts before she was even named and she was present in a completely different, older version of Star War. There was no padawan kid named Ahsoka Tano and she certainly didn't change anything in the Skywalker Saga aside from adding pointless filler.

she also has baffling dialogue

Maybe you don't understand her character well and TCW's dialogue is easier for you?

More thoughts on Ahsoka: 1 2

[him-e]

Hi, do you know any metas involving queercoding and Ben? I saw a stupid meme from some antis and it made me mad so now I’m hoping to read some actual good takes involving him and queercoding. I hope that made sense?

Sure it did!

For starters: Is Kylo Ren Queer-Coded? Well, Yes And No (this is post-TFA and kind of short and cursory, but it's a good place to start and I liked the point about Kylo killing the traditional masculinity embodied by Han, as well as the comparison with Ra’s unmasking in Stargate, which is… probably one of the most iconic villain moments of my childhood);

This post and these metas discuss the dark side as feminine-coded magic (basically a space stand-in for traditional witchcraft), and consequently Kylo Ren being coded as, essentially, an evil witch. (this ties in nicely with Snoke being originally conceived as a woman in early drafts of the story). Note: I don’t agree with everything said in these posts, because the op’s are strongly dark side-positive and they tend to have a reading of the story that is almost diametrically opposite to the authorial intent (which they’re admittedly very critical of), but it’s worth reading, and the coding stuff is on point, and they also raise some interesting questions re: what this feminine-coding of Kylo’s dark side means in a story where he’s obviously going to be redeemed. Will he still be coded as a witch-prince even after redemption? Or will he be normalized into standard, “good” masculinity?

This post on the feminine-coded traits in Kylo, Hux and Loki, and this (on the yin/yang dichotomy between masculine-coded heroes and feminine/queer-coded villains). Feminine coding in villains is often used as a stand-in for deviance, perversion of the natural order of the world. Such villains are usually negative foils to heroes who radiate natural charisma—as opposed to gaining it with “tricks”—and effortlessly perform a “healthy”, stereotypically gender compliant, unsubtle kind of masculinity (though modern media have started to erode that image and give us softer heroes who are more and more in touch with their feminine side—I think Steve Rogers and even the latest Thor are a good example of that). The interesting thing with Kylo is that he’s a female character’s foil; Rey filling the role of the masculine (yang) principle in this binary has good chances to subvert it all completely (which has in fact already happened);

Here’s a meta on Kylo’s (and Rey’s) androgynous characterization. Kylo Ren’s appearance & costume, especially in TFA, is somewhat androgynous. On the one hand, Adam’s impressive height and muscular build ( + his phallic lightsaber) definitely scream male. On the other hand, the guy has long, soft raven curls, pale skin with a distinct lack of facial hair, big red pouty lips (note that plump lips, like most feminine traits in male characters, are often coded as repulsive, see: Joffrey Baratheon), he’s essentially a male version of Snow White in dark robes. His TFA attire is not only reminiscent of a knight templar, but also of a witch: his clothes are long and billowy with a belt emphasizing his waistline like in a woman’s dress, shaping his figure as an elongated hourglass, while the turtleneck conceals Adam’s muscular neck. His mask is scary, but genderless. If not for his size, fully masked Kylo Ren could be easily mistaken for a woman (interestingly in TLJ his costume is more traditionally masculine, though still medieval/renaissance inspired, with the classic doublet + cloak combo);

A side thought that would be worth exploring is how Kylo is constantly shifting between masculine and feminine coding. TFA Kylo has more androgynous looks and more “yin” (feminine) imagery (dark, cold, wet), but he’s also the aggressor, the pursuer most of the time. TLJ Kylo is superficially more manly (the clothing, the facial hair, the scars, the blatant display of muscles, the association with fire and machinery), which contrasts with how passive—reactive, rather than proactive—he is throughout the film; until he loses Rey and regresses to childish, trauma induced rage;

A lot of things about Kylo, from the layers and layers of thick cloth forming a barrier between him and the rest of the world, to his discomfort to be seen without his mask, to his nervous/awkward body language (staggering gait, clenching/unclenching fists, self-contained demeanor punctuated by sudden outbursts of movement/violence, extreme oscillations in his concept of personal space, etc.) suggest that he’s not entirely comfortable in his own body, he’s both touch starved and afraid of contact. He reads as a virgin, or as someone who hasn’t quite come to terms with his own sexuality yet;

not about queercoding per se, but essential to understand why Kylo’s relationship with masculinity is very layered and interesting, are these posts on Kylo’s emotionality, compassion and vulnerability (which he tries to suppress over and over under a self imposed, but unsuccessful, performance of toxic masculinity); on Kylo’s similarities with Kay’s character in the Snow Queen fairytale (i.e. “the prince in the tower” archetype); on the “whiny crybaby” label and what it says about the cultural perception of male emotions; on Robert Bly’s influence on The Last Jedi ( + more posts on this);

Ben is coded as a “troubled” child, with Han and Leia struggling to deal with his /diversity/ (from various sw novels and canon sources like Bloodline, Last Shot and the novelizations we know they were “frightened of him, he realized, and so they got rid of him”, that Leia had been keeping Ben’s force sensitiveness as a secret, that she blames herself for sending him away and for hiding things from Han). It’s really strong subtext, and can be read as a metaphor for mental illness, for drug addiction, but also for queerness, especially in conjunction with Snoke being clearly coded as a child predator and an abusive mentor.

You should find more stuff on my other blog by searching #queer, #gender and other relevant keywords, and under the tag #gender subversion.