ryutanagasawa-blog

[bluevelvt]

when people think anakin wouldnt have turned to the dark side if qui-gon trained him im just ?????

YOU THINK THAT WOULD HAVE STOPPED PALPATINE???

i mean qui-gon took anakin to be trained cause he thinks anakin is the chosen one or this is at least a major reason why and like??? PALPATINE WOULD HAVE JUST PIVOTED LIKE

"it's such a shame my boy that the council and even your master only see you as the chosen one and not your own person"

"i hope that they trust you as a jedi and not just part of a prophecy"

"i fear that qui gon only wants you as the chosen one and if you weren't, you would never have left tatooine"

LIKE PALPATINE WOULD HAVE DONE THAT! HE ENGINEERED A WHOLE WAR JUST TO TAKE POWER AND QUI-GON BECOMING ANAKIN'S MASTER WOULD HAVE DESTROYED PALPATINE'S PLANS???

idk just gets on my nerves and feels like a slight against obi-wan who yeah wasn't perfect and the circumstances for becoming anakin's master weren't ideal but i think he was a great master and this idea also makes palpatine seem far less manipulative, cunning, and evil

the man once said he would gladly make vader again given the chance, even knowing how it would eventually end, so he's not stopping just because anakin has a different master

[greyias]

Time to go Full Gravedrog

Hey guys. You know what we haven’t done in a while? That’s right! Put on our tinfoil hats, get tangled up in an entire spool of red string, and do a ridiculous deep dive on lore and make up wild insane theories about the upcoming story drop!

That’s right we’ve got some--

First up. If you haven’t watched it already, here’s the trailer for the 6.2 story drop, specifically for the storyline we’ll be doing our deep dive on, Echoes of Oblivion.

Are you pumped? I’M PUMPED. Let’s do this!

Okay, so there’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m going to state outright, that the chances of this being on the money like Gravedrog is... well. I’ve got no lottery numbers for you this time around. I can’t believe no one took me up on that offer.  There’s always the possibility the storyline has absolutely nothing to do with any previously established lore, and they create something wholly new. And hey, if that’s the case, this is just free fanfic fodder for the masses.

But Charles did mention, I believe on the forums(?), that he’s seen one person guess what’s going on. The real question is... WHO GUESSED IT. HMM.

So I’ve been wanting to actually do a post on this a while, at least since Arcann’s voice actor accidentally made the slip up about Thexan being in this story drop. A large part of this theory/discovery goes to the lovely @confettininjabean​​, who found this piece of lore when we were getting tangled up in red string back in the Gravedrog days, pre-Nathema Conspiracy. Let’s just say, there was a... certain interaction on Twitter that had us thinking this had something to do with NC, and when it didn’t pan out we were like “Oh, weird, guess that wasn’t on the right track” and forgot about it.

Well, sort of. Because we were like, “that really seemed significant considering”, but hey, sometimes you hit upon a Gravedrog, sometimes you think Indo Zal is an evil mastermind playing 4D chess. In other words, when it comes to red string theories, you win some. You lose some.

Anyway. I forget why, but I went perusing on Wookieepedia a few months ago, looking back up this sort of obscure piece of lore for some reason. And something about it was.... FAMILIAR.

The article in question: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Thought_bomb

May I direct your attention, to this part:

Hey. Where have I heard that before?

Aw. Aw shit. Well I mean, that can’t be right though, right? Because it’s Satele and a bunch of Jedi/like-minded Force users that are being possessed right? And besides this is an an ancient Sith ritual thought to be created by... 

Oh.

Oh wait.

But that’s a plague right? Not the same thing as a thought bomb. I mean it’s not like anyone in SWTOR has dealt with a Force plague--

Oh. huh. But you might say, “But Grey, that plague was invented by Terrak Morrhage, not Vitiate.” And you would be right! What I can’t seem to find confirmation of, thus far, is exactly when Terrak Morrhage lived, but by me and Jayde’s current reckoning, it seems like he may have been around possibly during the Great Hyperspace War, the end of which Vitiate used in his mad grab for immortality and power, manipulating what was probably a majority of the remaining Sith Lords into his brand spanking new ritual that he just needed a little help with.

Okay, and this is where we leave lore land, and enter into speculation land. I, um, just got sidetracked on Jedipedia (I’ll get to that), trying to find a codex entry regarding Vitiate I know I’ve read but I lost at some point. So, we’re going off memory here, but I’m fairly certain it’s stated in canon somewhere that prior to his ascension, Vitiate was obsessed with Sith alchemy and ancient Sith rituals. So if Morrhage pre-dated him, or was a peer, it’s possible Vitiate was able to learn about his plague, and adapt it to some of his other experiments.

Okay, back to the thought bomb for a moment. Full disclosure, I haven’t read the Darth Bane novels, so I’m going off of Wookiepeedia here instead of the source material (which is always a dicey affair), it says Bane adapted the thought bomb from notes on the ritual Vitiate performed. So, it’s possible the thought bomb is not a 100% Vitiate original, just a bastardization of it. But it’s interesting that the ritual itself gathers up and shreds the Force essence/soul of everyone in its path. Well, I mean, horrifying. But in this theory’s perspective, interesting in that when Vitiate used Zildrog as part of his ritual--where did all of the Force go exactly?

Because as you wander around Nathema, you hear the tortured whispers of every soul obliterated during that ritual.

This is talked about a little in the Revan novel, and it’s been a few years since I read it so I’m kind of going off memory again, but he basically created a void in the Force there. And remember... in the KOTET chapter we went to Nathema, he was actually visibly afraid a few times. Hmm... now why would that be? Was it Vaylin he was afraid of? Was it something else?

If memory serves, there wasn’t an actual explosion like as described with the thought bomb--because he wasn’t using the ritual as a weapon. He was using it to gather power, to shuffle off this mortal coil and live eternal as an annoying spirit who you just can’t quite squash out no matter how many mind mazes you build to keep him locked up. So, and again, this is speculation land, but all of that swirling Force and dead energy had to go somewhere right? I mean, Zildrog had his snack and went omnomnom, but where did the Force power go? And why was there a Void that constantly pulled at him and sapped away his power on Nathema?

Is it because the Force didn’t explode? Is it because he bound it up in his old disgusting decaying old man flesh? And the only reason he was alive because he basically made himself a little flesh horcrux that was destroyed at the exact moment we sent him off to the Void that he feared so much?

Hmm. Interesting.

Wait. Wait a second... I think there was something else he mentioned. Now, what was it?

You know, I had always assumed he was talking about Gravedrog being unleashed, since the whole reason he went to Zakuul was likely to find the Gravestone so he could pair it with Zildrog back on Nathema, and enact his galaxy-wide extinction event.

And maybe he was.

Or was he talking about his failsafe.

The one he knew would happen if someone destroyed his old, withered, icky body?

So... if the ritual/plague is some take on the thought bomb, and it infects any Force user like some prescient, who could have realized this is what 2020 held in store for us pandemic that spread rapidly and consumed everyone who touched it, until it made manifest what was once just thought...

Is the whole entire point of this to bring Valky back from the dead? Or is it just his last revenge? And what on earth would that last revenge be? Well... and just hear me out. Say there was this guy. Kind of an asshole. And he had this whole schtick about killing every single living thing in the galaxy and liked to consume whole planets in a single gulp just for funsies. Wouldn’t it be so funny if he, say, in the unlikely event he possessed some Outlander who happened to go “get out and get a job loser!” and booted him off to the beyond, and at the same time his old indentured servant and that chick he once possessed found his horcrux and destroyed that, wouldn’t it be a kick if that somehow kicked off a plague that consumed every single Force user in the entire galaxy until it had enough power and then exploded and completely wiped out all life in the galaxy, so that if the asshole who’s name totally isn’t Valkorion couldn’t live forever then neither could any. single. thing. in. the. galaxy.

I mean, that or it’s just a ploy to get him into one final boss fight.

But i dunno... I kind of just found the entire cast list of who’s in the Echoes of Oblivion storyline (warning, major spoilers and datamining on that link, and yes, that’s what distracted me on Jedipedia) and I’m kind of thinking. Having to keep the entire galaxy from being consumed by a sociopath’s final revenge kind of sounds like a pretty epic finale, don’t you?

And hey, if not. Free fanfic idea for anyone who wants it.

Oh yeah, also predicting the following:

We’re going on another mindscape adventure like in KOTET Chapter 9, but it’s Satele’s mind we’re in

It’s not actually Valkorion/Vitiate/Tenebrae, but a remnant/essence of him that’s made manifest by the ritual. Also he needs a combo nickname because I’m tired of having to pick one of three names. I shall call you Valkiatebrae. It’s a beautiful name. I know he’ll love it.

Vaylin and Thexan who we see in the trailer are probably also manifestations conjured by the quasi- Valkiatebrae

We’re going to Ossus? Or Ossus in Satele’s mind?

The Knight and crew missed a few of the death cult back in the storyline, and that’s who was either watching Tenebrae’s body, or who hijacked Satele’s ship OR they have some part in the ritual (perhaps the part to physically manifest  Valkiatebrae). We see them in the trailer above.

Regardless if any single one of these predictions is right I’m going to die of feels

Because I think Satele and Theron may have a scene together????? OMG

I’m screaming again

I’ll stop now

I’m sorry Charles I hope I didn’t do it to you again I couldn’t help myself, but hey at least I kept it in this long

EDITED TO ADD: Okay guys, I’ve been looking more at Jedipedia. I think I can safely hazard a guess that a LOT of fans of different characters are going to be super happy with this update. Just saying.

[inquisitorhotpants]

okay let’s just get this out of the way.

i didn’t like it.

If you liked it, I am honestly jealous of you! I wish I did. But I am really uninterested in any attempts to convince me to like it.

TROS review, with spoilers, below the cut

So I walked out of the theater very “meh” on it. Almost everyone else in my friend circle seemed like they loved it, so I ruminated on it for a couple days and came to a conclusion.

I’m not meh. 

I really, really don’t like that movie. I will likely never turn it on of my own volition.

These are not in any particular order, just as they come to me.

The pacing is absolute shit. 

JJ’s “Lost” buddies got more lines and screentime than Rose, an established character they promised was getting a bigger more impressive role in TROS. 

Everything important Rose did got cut. That lightspeed hopping Poe was doing? Rose worked it out. But I guess we didn’t need to know that.

There are more effective ways to communicate in a movie than having Poe stand around reciting exposition about things he shouldn’t know about, but clearly JJ Abrams is uninterested in any of them

So many unearned emotional moments that mean nothing to the characters but JJ slaps in there to mash the dopamine button because HEY REMEMBER THIS YOU GUISE

So just to be clear, Leia can fucking FLY THROUGH THE VACUUM OF SPACE but just mentally communicating with her shitty kid kills her, sure jan

Rey would have just fucking killed Palpatine if he’d just shut the fuck up but no

Someone banged Sheev Palpatine.

Who also managed to somehow survive the second death star FUCKING EXPLODING.

You had the chance to show a fucking sith cult and went with “have Poe recite exposition about a sith cult”

The universe shows up for Lando, but not Leia??? 

Do not get me wrong, i adore Lando! But I really feel like even Lando and Chewie would have been like, “what the fuck??” about this?

JJ Abrams is a fucking shit writer

Pretending everything in TLJ doesn’t exist - except for some halfassed R*ylo, apparently - is shitty

Rey felt grossly OOC this whole fucking movie.

SHE ABANDONED FINN ON THE GODDAMN DEATH STAR

In theory, the Palpatine thing could have been good in the right hands; JJ Abrams was not the right hands.

All it took for Kyle Ron to stop being a space fascist was thinking about his dad telling him to be nice? THAT’S IT? Well hell, why are we punching Richard Spencer when we can just ask his dad to tell him to be a good boy??

Why the hell did we bury the lightsabers on Tatooine? All Luke ever wanted was to get away from there. It meant nothing to Leia. It meant nothing to Rey. It was literally only there so that viewers could go OMG I LOVE ANH and get teary eyed

So after that frankly excellent acting where Rey tells Kyle Ron to leave her the fuck alone, we get heart eyes and “Ben!” and a fucking kiss? 

When she doesn’t even know who the fuck Ben Solo even is??

Neither do we because he has no fucking lines??

Finn is the glue that holds this fucking trio together and he’s reduced in half the movie to running after Rey. Gross.

We seriously took the member of the trio with the most established backstory and most filled in timeline in canon, played by a Latino actor ... and made him a former drug dealer. really? not a single person went “hmm maybe this looks bad”?

Fic writers will do hours of research so they don’t get something wrong in a PWP smutfic, and you can’t research Poe’s backstory for four seconds?

please enjoy your three minutes in each set piece, keep all hands and arms inside the screaming traincar at all times, and ... nowwww we’re going to slowwwww dowwwwwwwn so Rey and Kyle can Force Skype for no apparent reason

there are no actual stakes

“Chewie died!” just kidding

“threepio is gone!” just kidding

“we don’t have a fleet!” just kidding

“kylo ren, head fascist, is dead!” just kidding

“Final Order” is dumb as fuck

so much finnrey baiting

this covers the part about unearned emotional moments much better than i ever could 

Good thing Vader eliminated that galactic menace, amirite? oh wait

“closes the entire saga” hey jj you know there are NINE movies in the saga, right? cause there sure wasn’t fuckall about the prequels in there.

this “trilogy” doesn’t feel like one. at all. 

it’s so checkboxy. “they want r*ylo, check! no r*ylo, check! use that leia footage - shit we’re out, give her the weakest death imaginable. twin suns! palpatine! let hayden say a couple words so the prequels fans shut the fuck up! ‘everyone’ complained about rose, cut her out! cameos out the ass!”

The Knights of Ren were boring af.

rey gets no character growth

Are we just gonna make all the black folks in the movies related? Lando & Jannah already are, so do we get a short in a couple months where we find out Finn is his son and they’re all related to Mace Windu? 

It just felt very “i didn’t like your movie so i’m going to make 2 and 3 in one smashed together mediocre movie”.

I just cannot get past shit writing and shit pacing and a hack job at “homage”

Now i’m stuck looking at a hundred hot takes on twitter about how “this is ben solo’s trilogy! he’s the real hero! he’s the poor abused boy and no one else has ever had it worse in the entire star wars sagaaaaaaaaaaaa and how dare rey get everything while he was abused and neglected and had NOTHING” thanks jj

Y’all I love this cast and they deserved so much better than what they got from this trilogy.

I suppose there were a couple of things I liked.

the music was phenomenal, as always. Palpatine’s theme done in the style of Rey’s theme was great. 

space horses!

FINN FINN FINN FINN FINN

FORCE SENSITIVE FINN

the bickering scene. I got my hopes up after that. They were quickly disappointed as Rey quickly went off into OOC-land

Dark Rey and that little snarl at the end

I thought the new force powers were cool af. It’s about time we do something with the Force beyond jumpy jumps, zoomies, and the jedi mind trick

I’ve only known D-0 for 4 days but if anything happened to him ... you know the rest.

i actually enjoy the theme of “you are not your bloodline” but it was done so much better by Claudia Gray.

Anytime the trio was together was good.

As much as I am super “eh” on Kyle Ron as a character, I appreciate Adam Driver as an actor, and the scene where Rey passes him the lightsaber and he does that little shrug with the smirk, that was good. I liked that quite a bit. 

The problem is that cool setpieces do not a good movie make.

I started The Witcher the day after I went to the movie, purely to stop thinking about this shitshow of a movie, and that show is great. xD

[theshijlegacy]

Rise of Skywalker ramblings

Saw RoS last night and loved it. 

I’d seen the mixed reviews and was a bit apprehensive going in, but was pleasantly surprised in a lot of ways.  It kept some of the spirit of TLJ that I liked while still delivering a lot of the “safer” Star Wars story that I expected.  Being part of a super enthusiastic opening night crowd is always fun too.  And it’s nice to see that I’m not the only person who liked the whole 7-8-9 trilogy!

Spoileriffic thoughts below.

--Rey Palpatine was one of the theories I’d kicked around, but it would have been nice if she really was nobody, like the Force doesn’t care who you’re related to. Timeline-wise she would have been better off as his great-granddaughter but I completely buy Sheev having lots of kids and/or having some later in life.

--I’d been running with the “Skywalker is the new name for Force user” theory for a while, but I’m OK with Rey adopting it as her last name.  She doesn’t have to be a Palpatine and the name of the family that saved the galaxy is continuing.

--HOLY CRAP FINN IS FORCE SENSITIVE.  I would love it if that was what he wanted to tell Rey.  (Best answer from Reddit: “I’m in love with Poe and don’t know how to tell him!”)

--Ben Solo didn’t make it to the end!  I was convinced he’d get a redemption arc and live happily ever after. Props to JJ/whoever for going in that direction, especially with the Jedi fadeout.

--The opening crawl getting right to "oh hey the emperor isn't really dead.” So happy they didn't drag out the “when-do-we-see/hear-the-emperor???” mystery

--Sheev Palpatine and his motherfucking contingencies for contingencies, plans-within-plans shit.  This guy was a thousand steps ahead of everyone else, all the time.  Got a glimpse of that in Empire’s End too.

--LOL the tank of Snoke clones.  Sheev loves his clones, in both canon and legends!

--Poe’s lightspeed skipping.  Poe being an ex-spice runner.  Poe and Zorii!  Poe in general.  Poe is great.

--Luke/Leia training flashback!!  Leia's lightsaber!!!!  Which she presumably built herself!!!!!

--3-way Finn/Poe/Rey hug.  And the sound of a thousand fanfics being composed…

--More First Order defectors who had been kidnapped as children.  (Also a plot point in Empire’s End, complete with a 6-year-old-ish Armitage Hux ordering around a group of kidnapped-and-brainwashed child recruits)

--Hux being the mole, not because he agrees with the resistance, but because he hates Kylo Ren.  I bet he was hatching a plan as soon as Snoke was killed.

--Force-healing onscreen!  And it wasn’t just “Force magic” (which I also would have been OK with), it was actual taking life from one to give to another.

--Rey was noticeably better at lightsaber fighting.  She was… not great in TFA.  Only slightly better in TLJ.  Her year of training really shows and I like that we’ve seen a pretty clear progression.

--Rey stopping that transport with some Kyle Katarn shit and Kylo trying to get it back and OH SHIT REY SHOT OUT FORCE LIGHTNING  

--Palpatine: GLADoS edition has been added to my recent “horrifying scene that works but really gives me the creeps” list (also includes flashback to Coulson resuscitation/brain surgery with him repeating “just let me die” on Agents of SHIELD, Brainy getting rebooted on Supergirl)

--Aside from his GLADoS-esque support arm complete with wires, I liked undead-Palpatine's look - missing fingers, whited-out eyes, and his transformation after he stole life from Rey & Kylo.  Especially the red-lined robes.

--Got serious Endgame vibes at the end with all the ships showing up. Husband unit also pointed out the parallel of “I am inevitable”/”I am Iron Man” and “I am all Sith”/”I am all Jedi”

--OMG ALL THE JEDI SPEAKING TO REY.  I didn’t recognize everything at first but I heard Obi-Wan (young & old), Yoda, Mace Windu, Ahsoka(!!!!!), and Anakin.  Per the credits, voices also included Qui-Gon(!), Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, and Kanan Jarrus(!!!!!).  Two notable absences: Cal Kestis and Ezra Bridger.  I can accept Cal’s fate as TBD since Fallen Order just came out, but this is really good news for Ezra.  I am now super super interested to see where these two have been.

--Kept the Rey/Kylo force-connection deal.  It weirded me out in TLJ but I’m really glad it was kept here.

--Wedge coming back for one last ride!  (and aging pretty well, wow)

--RIP Snap.  :-( I’d grown a bit attached to him after the Aftermath trilogy, but I think Norra and Brentin would have been proud.

-- ForceGhost!Luke has a new attitude; I guess being dead for a while tends to mellow you out.  I am still 100% OK with his character in this trilogy.

--Kylo not being as good at fighting after he dropped the dark-side allegiance – specifically the 6v1 fight against the Knights of Ren before he got the lightsaber.  Like he'd been into it so deep for so long he forgot how to fight without it.

--Han coming back one last time for some Ghost Dad Advice

--THANKS FOR NOT KILLING CHEWIE!!  I was seriously worried

--Rey fights herself!

--Where can I buy a replica of that Sith wayfinder?  I do like shiny force-user crystals/holocrons/etc

--Rey finally builds her own lightsaber!  And it’s yellow.

--TAKE THAT REYLOS: Oh you want a kiss huh?  There’s your kiss!  AND NOW HE’S DEAD.

--That whole scene.  Kylo staring at dead Rey.  Kylo force-healing Rey and bringing her back to life.  And now they’re staring at each other, and I’m thinking don’t kiss you idiots, don’t fucking do it.  FUCK they did.  I actually booed out loud.  (I will not deny being a little bit happy that Kylo died immediately after)

--All of the “are you happy Ep 7 & 8 haters???” stuff: Rey is super powerful because she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter, someone bringing up a “why don’t we Holdo this” argument and getting shot down with good reason, showing Leia’s Force powers with a flashback to being trained by Luke AND having her own lightsaber

--The urgent timeline got kind of.. muddled?  Forgotten?  They had 18 hours or 12 and still had time for all those spacejumps and Lando gathering friends from all over?

--A bit too on-the-nose with some of the ROTJ parallels.  Lando in disguise saving the day on a desert planet! Speeder bike chase!  Emperor taunting Our Hero while their friends are losing a huge battle outside!  A Skywalker dies so Our Hero can live!

--Also wondered if one of the writers played SWTOR: Emperor who really isn’t dead uses Super Mega Force Lightning and tries to jump into Our Hero’s body to take over their mind.

After chewing on this for a day, here’s my ranking of Skywalker/Palpatine saga films from best to worst:

5 > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > 2 > 1

And including Solo and Rogue One:

5 > Rogue One > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > Solo > 2 > 1

tbh I’m so far into the “inject all Star Wars content directly into my veins pls” territory that I can’t say I hate any of it, and even the cringiest prequel moments are leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of other junk I’ve watched/read/played.  So much about Star Wars is just FUN, and I will gladly handwave away most of my nitpicks (SpeedForce, I ain’t gotta explain shit) for the sake of enjoying the story.  Even the ridiculous stuff that I poke fun at is still a part of the whole mess; it can’t all be great or even good or OK and that is fine with me.  [NOTE: I have not watched the Holiday Special but the husband unit is weirdly enthusiastic about me doing so; it may happen yet this year.] 

I really like this comment from the A.V. Club.  More cynical than my overall take on the whole shebang but I totally know with where they’re coming from.  I don’t agree with all the responses but it’s a pretty good discussion.

[gffa]

2 and 23, for the Star Wars asks? And 19 (specifically, do you like Mara Jade?)?

2. which character do you want to be most like?I’ve talked a bit about it here and there, but one of reasons the Jedi really appealed to me is that the heart of their message–control yourself before your thoughts/feelings control you–and the need to let go of anger because it did dominate my life and still threatens to some days.  That commitment to self-reflection (something I’ve had to do so much of in my life to get to a reasonably good place) and understanding yourself and the reality around you, to letting go of the bad shit that doesn’t help to hang onto, that’s all stuff I’ve been working towards and that’s why I would very much like to be more like a Jedi.23. what’s your favorite star wars musical piece or theme?As much as I love the Imperial March or how Binary Sunset gives me that sense of something larger than life about to unfold, my favorite will always be Duel of the Fates.  Nothing makes me feel that excitement in the same way, so intense and powerful a piece, it’s a piece that I always feel like it should be older than it is, that it should be some kind of classic they just reused for Star Wars instead of John Williams having composed it for the prequels!19. what’s your opinion on legends/expanded universe?COMPLICATED.  The short version is:  I like it!  But George Lucas got to decide what was and wasn’t canon and he said it wasn’t canon.  Now Disney/LF gets to decide what is and isn’t canon and they say it isn’t canon.The longer version:  Legends has some of my absolute favorite stories (spend five minutes with me and you’ll probably hear me quote something from Wild Space, after all) and I am very fond of a lot of the characters, chiefly Mara Jade. I love her so much!  I love that she got to have the introduction she did, that she got to be her own character for a long time before being Luke’s love interest and i think that’s the biggest reason I’m wary of recanonizing her the way they did with Thrawn, because everyone would immediately be speculating OMG WHEN ARE SHE AND LUKE GETTING TOGETHER??? IS SHE REY’S MOM??? and not let her have her own story separate from that.I think was absolutely the right call to make Legends a separate world, to wipe that slate clean.  The second that Ben Solo came into existence, the two worlds could not co-exist EVEN MORE than they already couldn’t co-exist, with how much The Clone Wars could not exist with the worldbuilding of stuff like Jedi Apprentice.  Making those worlds separates allows the Legends versions that we have fondness of to still exist, those stories are still out there, but they are not part of George Lucas’ Star Wars and they’re not part of Lucasfilm/Disney’s Star Wars.  They’re their own world and that’s a great idea!  It lets them have their space and the canon have its own space.On a more intra-level, I have complicated feelings about Legends.  Because there’s some absolutely amazing stuff there!  But that’s also where you’ll find a lot of the stuff that I feel like, “How DARE you write my beloved Jedi in such a bullshit way, that makes no sense and doesn’t work!” and so, yeah, I’m glad that George Lucas and Dave Filoni and the story group and Lucasfilm in general have made it clear that there’s a separation between it and canon.We, as fans, can do whatever we like (god knows I adopt things I like from Legends all the time, you’ll pry shared apartments from my cold dead hands!!!!), but it is still their franchise to do with as they please, it’s their franchise to make the rules for.  And while I’m super wary that some of the authors coming in will try to make crappy Legends stuff canon again instead of awesome Legends stuff canon again, as it stands Legends is a place that I enjoy a lot, but my heart is very much with canon, I’ve gotten far more enjoyment out of it personally!

[saranel]

The Last Jedi review, sorta

I don’t think I’ve talked enough (if at all) about what a huge Star Wars nerd I am on this blog, mostly because I didn’t love TFA as much as most people seemed to and I just never joined in the renewed fandom frenzy.

TL;DR on my views on TFA: It was fun enough, some interesting new characters, beautiful visuals, but I’d seen that movie before.  It came out in ‘77 and it was much better then.  Homage is one thing, rip off is completely another.  Mostly, I guess I was just disappointed that they didn’t dare to try and move the universe forward a bit, beyond the already trodden path.

Say what you will about the prequels, but I will always, always maintain there’s nothing wrong with them a better script and director couldn’t fix.  George tries, bless him, but he can’t write dialogue worth a damn.  Not even Meryl Streep could’ve made the line “So love has blinded you” any better than Natalie Portman did, and both she and Hayden have proven themselves to be much better actors than they were in Star Wars.  I’m not bothering with Ewan because he was one of the few really great things about the Prequels. 

That having been said, what George can do is weave a decent background story, and the Prequel Trilogy’s story is much, much richer than the OT’s.  Taking off our nostalgia-colored glasses for a moment, let us be honest: the OT was so successful because it did a very simple thing, and did it well, and had a cast with wonderful chemistry. The story itself is nothing to rave about: just your simple Evil Empire vs Plucky Rebels story.  But the Prequels actually got political and much darker than the OT did, they just did it clumsily.  Still, it was something new in the Star Wars universe and George always tried to expand the known worlds by giving us even small glimpses of other cultures and planets.  Don’t forget that Star Wars was never meant to be high-brow Science Fiction a la Philip Dick, but a space adventure.  This doesn’t mean that the story can’t have nuance, but the point of Star Wars was always to be a fairytale exploration of a fictional galaxy.

Compared to that, the new trilogy seemed extremely lacking to me.  And seeing The Last Jedi a few days ago really cemented that.  Never before have I seen so many things happening in one movie while nothing really happens at all.  It makes Attack of the Clones look interesting in comparison, and that’s saying a lot.  ALSO LUKE, WTF HAS THE MOUSE DONE TO MY SPACE SON, THE FUCKING GALL.

So yes, surprise-surprise, TLJ manages to rip off Empire (with a dash of Battlestar Galactica thrown in for good measure) and does so poorly.  It was not a terrible film by any means, but I honestly thought it was no better than Phantom Menace. And Phantom Menace had the Duel of Fates.  So. 

(okay, to be fair, TLJ didn’t have Jar Jar so that’s one point in its favor)

In a nutshell:

(cut for spoilers)

THE GOOD

- Poe.  Poe was good. Moar Poe, there was a serious lack of Poe in TFA and it has been rectified, this was a very good decision. 

- The silent scene.  Y’all know the one.  People in my theater literally gasped in unison.  I was bored outta my skull up until then and as soon as I realized what Holdo was about to do, I sat up, all ‘oshit’ and it was amazing.  Beautifully shot, beautifully clever, and the most badass hero death in the SW universe.  Only comes in second in terms of best scene in the movie because the other one involved a more established and beloved character.

- MY SON LUKE KICKING HIS NEPHEW’S ASS LIKE IT AIN’T NO BIG THANG.  In full disagreement over how shit went down between them in the past, but Luke showing Kylo who’s the most goddamn powerful Jedi in the galaxy (which Luke did canonically become in later years btw) was such a rewarding scene.  Also, he was dressed in black.  Like in ROTJ. Because fuck yeah.

- Rey’s parentage.  Most people probably hated that she’s not a Skywalker but I just... kinda loved the suggestion that she was the Force’s answer to Kylo?  It’s happened before with Anakin, so this isn’t exactly new, and Anakin, too, came from ‘nothing.’ I liked it.  She doesn’t have to have illustrious parentage to be important in the series, and as much as I love my Space Drama Queen clan, it’s time the universe moves on from the Kardashians of the galaxy.

- Luke’s death.  I don’t agree with 99% of what went down with Luke in this trilogy, I think it was deeply out of character, but his ending?  That was spot on.  Did I want more out of his storyline? Obviously, but examined in a vacuum, his ending was beautiful to me.  Especially that last scene.  Best scene in the movie from start to end.

- Yoda manipulating the goddamn heavens to rain thunder upon the ancient tree.  Ilu Yoda

- Leia and Holdo discussing Poe.  This was an A+++ short scene. Get it, ladies.

- Snoke is gone, thank the heavens.  Worst-named villain in movie history, I couldn’t stop laughing every time someone said SUPREME LEADER snoke.

- CRYSTAL FOXES OMG

- Luke getting his kicks in that boring-ass island via EXTREME ROD FISHING, lmao the nerd

THE MEH

- So, um... Kylo and Rey?  ....ew? (did they not think Finn and Rey were super cute or)

- So, um... Finn and Rose?  ....ookaaaay? (did they not see Poe biting down on his lip when he saw Finn in his jacket or)

- I don’t really care for ships in this trilogy tbh, whatever.  Guess I’m steering clear from attachment until I know who’s related to whom (THIS IS A DANGEROUS UNIVERSE TO SHIP IN OKAY).  Plus, not really feeling particularly strong toward any couple, just... not Kylo and Rey, ew.

- Rose.  I liked her, but... they hardly gave her anything to do.  That casino storyline was such a mess, made it seem like she was there just to be there.

- Finn’s storyline. Snoozefest.  I like him, but... see above.

- lol wtf happened to Chewie...? He was just... there?

THE BAD

- SPACE-WALKING LEIA.  I’M SORRY, OKAY, I know this scene will be big with many people, and lord knows I wanted to see Space Mom use the Force beyond that Spidey Sense shit, but this was just so dumb. 

- All the ‘humor.’ My god, just... no.  Not every scene needs to be steeped in Whedon-speak, please stahp.  I will admit the first scene got a chuckle out of me, but the rest...

- The ‘plot.’  This was literally an extended car chase scene in space with some Sense8 type shit thrown in. Rey hardly even did any training, ffs.  

- so the force-sensitive member of the trio goes on to be trained by a wise, isolated mentor and finds herself drawn to a place steeped in the dark side and ends up seeing only herself reflected in there, meanwhile the rest of the characters are involved in a chase across the galaxy, running away from the evil empire, and at some point decide to ask for help form a well-known swindler who betrays them and in the end everything seems bleak with just a tiny glimmer of hope. HMMMMMM. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 

- quite frankly, I’m still in shock Rey finished the film with two fully biological arms

- O hei, look, it’s The Salty planet Hoth.  With pod-racing.

- Really? Rey blushing at shirtless Kylo? Really

- WHERE IS FORCE GHOST ANAKIN TO GO “BINCH I REDEEMED MYSELF IN THE END STOP THIS SHIT, ALSO I DID THIS FIRST AND I DID IT BETTER” TO HIS WANNABE GRANDSON

- The whole damn Casino storyline.  I don’t care if it’s meant to set up something for the last movie (probably not) but it was long, boring, and a clumsily written attempt at a storyline that could’ve been more nuanced and a good addition.

- why did we have to see Luke milk that alien Y

- NOT ONE DECENT LIGHTSABER FIGHT THE FUQ.  

- Leia (and Han in TFA) giving up on her son instead of beating some sense into his ass with a space slipper. Y’ALL KNOW SHE WOULD.  Baaaaad characterization. Space Mom would never.

- Also, fuck whoever decided that Leia, who canonically has the exact same force potential as Luke because they’re twins, never developed her powers beyond Force Sense or whatever.  If you’re not gonna give the woman a lightsaber, at least have her Force Push fools out of her way. 

- Wtf Rey you obliterated that nice alien’s cart and didn’t even apologize they work hard every day you should be ashamed

- why was it meant to be funny when porgs were slapped around wtf

- “what’s that canon?”  “Basically a small death star” kjashKLAFJSHSAJKDFSADFHSAK 

- Kylo. Can he just die, plz, the expanded universe did the Evil Solo son storyline so much better.  Yet another way in which this trilogy is totes an ~*homage*~  No shade on the actor though, he did a great job.  It’s just the violent manchild character I cannot stand.

- So like... we’re never gonna learn what Snoke’s deal was...? Or how he got to Kylo...? ....Okay then.

- This movie was 2 and a half hours long.

[franeridart]

you made me start shipping bakugou, kaminari and Kirishima (i forgot their ship name). They're sucha good ship and your drawings for them are amazing!!!!!!!

Oh man thank you!!! I’m super happy I could make you like them!!!!!! They got amazing dynamics, don’t they? :D

Anon said:Your ocs are always so cool and cute i love them??!? Do u have more information about them?

THANK YOU!! And yesssss I do, actually! And I’ve also talked about them a while ago already!!! If you’re looking for more info specifically about Josh and Chris I blabbered about them here!!!

Anon said:I love your art ! And I love your Bakugo, but, have you ever thought of a undercut Bakugo ??

I sure have!!!! Tho I guess I do draw him more often with a side shave haha

Anon said:This is probably annoying, but I just wanted to say that I LIVE for your art! Its so amazing and I love it so much!! You’re one of my favorite artist on Tumblr. Plz continue to be awesome

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why would it be annoying anon!!!! Thank you so so much for the good feelings!!!!! :D

Anon said:What u think about Traitor Theory in BNHA :,)?

I find all the theories going around incredibly interesting and well thought, actually! But they all feel pretty unrealistic to me, after all, and as of now Horikoshi still hasn’t given me any reason to change my mind about the traitor actually being Tsukauchi

Anon said:Oh honey.. everytime i got a notification of your art, my day become better. Stay safe, happy and manly💛💪

A Kiri anon ;O; ohhh boy this ask made me seriously happy hahaha thank you!!!!

Anon said:I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I REALLY want to hear your opinion on this. What about a Bakushima Star Wars AU wherein bakugou is a badass Sith warrior who feels the pull of the light-side and Kirishima is the only Jedi Knight who actually trusts him enough to help him with converting to the light-side of the The Force. Oh and Bakugou dual wields red light sabers and Kirishima only has the one Blue saber but wears heavy armor. What do you think?? Thanks! Love your art!!

It’s a pretty amazing concept, actually? :O one I wouldn’t mind thinking about more, even though Bakugou as a sith………….. does feel pretty unrealistic to me, not gonna lie haha he’s such a good guy in the soul, Katsuki~

Anon said:oh my god i absolutely adore your linearting. it’s so neat and smooth. i hope i can achieve that kind of smoothness one day

Thank you!!!!!! A good stabilizer setting and a lot of ctrl+z might help you in your endeavor, anon hahaha my linearting is more about the patience to erase a line sixty times than it is about skills lol

Anon said:yo! have you ever watched digimon or yugioh??

DIGIMON!!! YES!!!!! My first fandom ever!!!!! I was five when I got into it!!!!!! I’m behind with a couple of the movies, atm, but I still love it a whole damn lot!!!!

On the other hand all my knowledge about yugioh comes from when I watched it on tv as a kid and from my dash obsessed with it, so I can’t say I’m well versed in the topic haha

Anon said:YOUR SERO IS SO CUTE

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Anon said:AAAAAAA I CANT BELIEVE YOU MADE A CUTE COMIC THING FOR MY BAKUGOU ASK! omg ty :‘0 and yeah, i see how it could stand for king or katsuki! seems like something he’d do lol

IT WAS A GOOD INSPIRING ASK ANON thank you for the involuntary prompt!!!!

Anon said:A FULLY COLOURED COMIC!!??!? WOW GOOD JOB!!

THANKS!!! Sometimes it seems like I can actually manage to put together the patience for that sorta things too haha

Anon said:You know the bnha ending where all the characters are in this au fantasy world? I’ve been curious to know what type of mythical creature or fantasy being deku and kirishima are…? :/

Uhhhhh aren’t they just humans? Well, the fandom as a whole has decided that Kirishima’s probably the dragon, but I think the general, original concept was that most of them are just humans haha

Anon said:Kiri’s dragon tail looks fantastic!!! I love the way you colored it.

;O; thank you so much ohhhh boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:i literally l i v e for your kiribaku and bokuroteru art 😍😍😍

THANK YOU!!

Anon said:I came for the art, stayed for the wonderful person you seem to be, then scrolled down to fangirl over more art. Your art is a blessing and I hope you know how great you are! 🎉

Oh my gods thank you so much this is such a sweet message !!!! ;O;

Anon said:How do you usually find your inspiration?

Hmmmmmmmm what a question. I guess, through life? This sounds like such a bullshit answer haha but yeah, I found that the best way to keep your inspiration going is to live life and experience new things. Most of the ideas behind what I draw come from things I did myself or saw or said or heard and so on - talking to my friends and family inspires me, books inspire me, music inspires me, going out and looking at people/places inspires me, other people’s fanworks inspire me a whole damn lot too! As far as I’m concerned, inspiration is sort of everywhere - there’s days in which I’m more receptive to it, and days in which it flies right over my head and I sit there wondering where the hell it went, but in general as long as I’m living and doing things ideas in the end will come my way haha

Anon said:Hmm…If Bakugou wants to be the best at everything…would he be the best at playing the flute? :o

I wouldn’t say Bakugou wants to be the best at everything, it’s more like he wants to be the best at everything he’s interested in doing - so if he had any sort of interest in playing the flute, he sure as hell would make sure to be as good as he possibly can at it haha

Anon said:have u ever considered: tokoyami/tetsutetsu OR tokoyami/shinsou

You know, this is actually an interesting question because I’ve actually been asked about both these ships already? Are they actual ships that exist in this fandom? :O I can’t say I’ve ever thought about them - well, tokoshin does interest me in the sense that I’d really love to know if Shinsou’s quirk works on Dark Shadow, but that’s about it haha

Anon said:I really like what you said about trans Bakugou! Like…I know it’s canonically improbable but I still really like the idea of Izuku being trans, because that’d add another layer of adversity and self doubt he’d be facing while trying to become the top hero. So I think it’s neat when people acknowledge that something isn’t canon but still completely accept the headcanon of it. Love your work! Keep it up~

It’s why it’s called transformative work, after all!! If you want to keep as close to canon as you can then all the power to you, but once you start transforming the canon (shipping non-canon is included in it, of course), putting a limit on how much you can transform it would just be unfair! As long as we’re all on the same page about the fact that it’s not canon, and therefor no one can force the idea on anyone else, I don’t see a problem with it!

[zoedozy]

Thoughts and analysis about S4

This is going to be episode by episode and very long so here we go.

Episode 1: Code of Honor The Blade of Marmora is affecting Keith obviously in more ways than one, we know that Keith felt he was not meant to be the leader of Voltron and the BoM helps him ghost away from his responsibility. This causes something he feels is right, no longer being the Black Paladin, and something he fears, being pushed away by his team. From his vlog, we know he isolates himself on purpose so he won’t get hurt, instead it has the least desired effect this time. Yes, the team supports eventually his decision on going with the BoM, however, they were harsh on him in the beginning and this isn’t what Keith needs.

Despite all the things with Keith, Shiro (Kuron) gaining his trust back with the Black Lion says something, they still have their bond and the lion knew how much he needed to help the team. If we’re still on the clone theories, it’s really interesting Kuron was able to bond with the lion. But, this still throws away all the work in S3, even if Keith didn’t want it. 

Episode 2: Reunion (AKA MY FAV EPISODE) Oooohh boy!!! I’ve been waiting so long for this!! Prepare for super analysis and detail because the Holts are my life. 

So, the episode starts Katie staring out the classroom window, until something in the school lesson catches her interest. She gets excited and shares her own knowledge on it, it shows how much passion she has for science. Only for her to be shot down by pre-teen assholes. This affects her to the point of tears, showing she wasn’t confident about her brains, even giving up studying for a brief period. 

Let’s take a break to say, because of this, I suspect Katie didn’t have many friends. It’s middle school, a really tough time for any teen and she’s struggling. The only thing that keeps her sane is her older brother, he shares his wisdom and supports his little sister. At a point later in the episode she even says something along the lines of: “I can’t believe I have to go through middle school without you.” She’s later praised and known for her brains. Nerd power!!

Also, it turns out Matt gave Katie the nickname Pidge and used it as her alias. I have my own headcanon on how she got it but that’s a post for another time.

Okay, back to the present and Pidge is out searching for him. That Pidge Jedi aesthetic? My aesthetic. Bargaining Pidge? My fav. Now, she’s got a lead and helps freedom fighters she encounters. Okay, here comes the part where I super analyze Pidge. 

Pidge witnessing someone die right before her eyes, when she knew she had the chance to save them. She’s crying, frustrated and feels helpless. We know how much Pidge thinks and rambles when she’s nervous. Imagine her now. “I could have done more.” “I should have been faster.” and etc. She knows the casualties the Galra cause, but seeing it up close and alone is different. 

Back to the past! Honestly, this small moment of the siblings sitting on the roof, Matt teaching her codes and frequencies, and them going past their curfew is adorable.

Now here’s where I get emotional. With Matt’s code, Pidge arrives on a destroyed planet, there resides a massive burial and cemetery honored rebels who fought in the cause. Everything about this scene screams heartbreaking: the music, scenery of the 120,000+ graves, the flashbacks, everything. I knew from the spoilers that Matt was alive and well, but the feeling of over a year’s work of finding your family, only to reach their grave, is devastating. This hit me hard and it’s the only episode I recall crying at.

Thankfully, encrypted in his grave, there are hidden coordinates. (HUGE FUCKING SIGH OF RELIEF AFTER THAT HEARTBREAK)

after small scuffle, her bayard knocks off his mask and cue a very happy and sweet reunion. Matt loves his sister and thinks she’s amazing, literally all that matters. Also a bounty hunter was looking for them since the Unilu meeting. 

“Stand back, Matt.” “Stand back, Pidge.” SHOW THAT GUY WHAT THE HOLTS ARE MADE OF!!! The animation in this fight scene is awesome like I’m in awe. The siblings using their brains to weaken their opponent and BOTH KNOCK HIM OUT!!! LITERALLY EVERYTHING I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR!! Matt is a tall bamf and I love him.

Some pictures of the Holt family in front of the Garrison is shown (also pre-Kerberos Shiro and Keith in the background, I’m assuming he knew Keith at some point). Matt no longer needs his glasses and passes them on to Pidge, I’m sure they’re mostly for sentimental purposes and she wears them for that. Pidge can knock down Matt like omg. And it ends with a shot of her putting on the glasses and looking up to the sky. 

Okay, honestly. This is one of my favorite episodes, it’s just great. I have no words for it. I love Pidge, I love Matt. I LOVE THEM

Episode 3: Black Site Haggar/Honerva looking at her true self, using magic to hide her her true appearance because she can’t bear to look at herself. 

We get to see how Matt really is and I love this memelord. Fanon Matt is Canon Matt and it’s amazing. Honestly, he’s relatable when first seeing Allura. Like that Ouran vision is amazing AND THEN THAT SHOUNEN SHOT I’M DYING. JEALOUS LANCE!!! 

Okay, here’s where I’m a little disappointed. The reunion with Shiro is a little stale and stiff, yes there’s a hug but there’s nothing about Shiro saving Matt when they were prisoners. Him calling him ‘Sir’ is a little strange, I’m sure he was higher up than him, and him being a Paladin is intimidating, but in a reunion none of that really matters. 

zarkon’s going like darth vader with the suit to keep him alive. also CARRY ON MY WAYWORD SON

CUE MONTAGE OF PIDGE BEING ADORABLE AND SHOWING HER BROTHER THE CASTLE

Matt: “Hey, this is pretty goo- d.” HE MAKES FUCKING PUNS I LOVE HIM

I love Pidge’s messy little room, she kept her trash versions of the paladins and even some of the trash bugs. AND MATT JUST LOVES HIS SISTER SO MUCH AND IS VERY PROUD AND I’M SURE THEIR DAD IS TOO

Color coded or you’re an animal is the holts’ mindset. Matt calling Hunk and genius and HE’S SO SMUG ABOUT IT!! HE KNOWS HOW SMART HE IS!! 

Hunk: “This one time, we went to another reality. It was pretty lame.” Matt: “Wait, you what? You were in another reality?” Pidge: “No big deal.” hovers away Matt: “My little sister.”

HE!! LOVES!! HER!!!

i’ll never get over how coran and allura talk to animals and like milkshakes. adorable!! Lance playing video games to blow off steam and jealousy. Honestly.. same. I’m so happy they got their video game set up. Lance knowing how to milk a cow. Iconic. HE CHUGS MILK LIKE DAMN SON AND DRINKS MILK BY ITSELF??

TECH TRIO!! I LOVE THEM!! THEY ARE ALL SO SMART AND I’M VERY PROUD!!

CO PILOT MATT!! CO PILOT MATT!!! I LOVE HIM!!

I’m still trying to figure out why Narti was a spy and was given Kova to begin with? What where her intentions? Haggar just wanted to keep an eye on Lotor, she knew something was up with him, and Narti was the only option. Like the death seemed to be for shock value, they could have gotten rid of the cat. Idk at this point. Ezor and Zethrid obviously begin doubting him at this point, wanting to save their own skins, while Axca is trying her best to say by his side. But we see how that plays out later. 

Episode 4: The Voltron Show! Now, I’m a fan of this episode because: Coran focus and it gives us a moment to breathe. But, it has it’s iffy moments, AKA the ‘Humorous Hunk’ joke. I hated it so much, like poor Hunk I felt so bad for him. Of course, we know something was manipulating Coran but that’s just mean and humiliating. The Yuri on Ice, Jurassic Park and Star Wars references are great, plus aerial dancer Lance. 

And the iconic: Coran: “Allura, you’ll be playing Keith.” Allura: “HEAAHGHG”

Shiro: “I will save the princess, even if it means taking on the Galra Empire with my bare.. hand.” i’m dyingg 

literally everyone else is reading the script deadpan as possible and LANCE IS THE OVERLY EXCITED THEATER KID I LOVE IT.

“holds bayard dashingly- oH.”

hip talking coran is so bad i love it.

brief cameos of the mermaids and varkon.

i don’t have much to say on this episode.

Episode 5: Begin the Blitz Wow, we get to see Keith again! 

Axca is still trying so hard not to doubt Lotor by telling herself he’ll protect them. 

Hunk is accepting of Nyma and Rolo while Pidge is still unsure, that’s unexpected, but she can’t stay mad at a cute robot. I love how she loves robots it’s adorable.

ALLURA SPEECH!! I LOVE HER!! 

PIDGE AND HUNK FIGHTING TOGETHER!! HUNK BEING A BAMF AND KILLING A MAN BY ELBOWING HIM IN THE FACE AFTER HE HURTS PIDGE!!

that really hot galra commander like mmm

I love the rebels so much. But like a third of them gets fucking wiped out... jfc

FInALLY MORE KEITH!! 

God Lotor looks so defeated when visiting Daibazaal. I feel bad after his plan fails and his generals turn on him. They suspect after his failure he’ll just turn on them suddenly, but they don’t know about Narti being a spying and it’s frustrating. He didn’t even explain it to them, so both sides are at fault here. He wasn’t even expecting their betrayal. Like yikes.

THE WHOLE COALITION FIGHTING!! REBEL FIGHTER SHAY!!

god this scene with lotor’s bONES LIKE OMG I’M DYING LIKE  DAMN SON I LOVE IT

Episode 6: A New Defender This episode is wild.. like wow

Lotor flies barely above the surface of a star and lives?? He’s desperate to complete his plans, whatever they are. 

Haggar is awesome this episode like she’s crazy and i love it 

This episode was tense and had my heart racing, I knew they would be okay but this situation was insane. The fact that the camera is on Lance and goes for Allura first when she’s being electrocuted, then asks if she’s okay. 

ANOTHER ALLURANCE MOMENT AND I’M LIVING!! Lance cares so much for Allura and supports her in every way he can. Allura’s magic is back and it’s beautiful!! I love Princess Allura!!

Allura: “Thank you, Lance.” Lance: “That was all you.”

MY HEART

GOD KEITH’S ALMOST SACRIFICE FUCKED ME UP SO BAD

ONLY MATT AND THE REBELS WOULD HAVE SEEN HIS DEATH

FUCKING CHRIST HE DIDN’T EVEN TELL TEAM VOLTRON

AFTER LEAVING TO GO WITH THE B:ADES THERE’S THIS SAD FACE HE MAKES AND THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR HIM OK

HE ALREADY HAS ABANDONMENT ISSUES AND NOW HE’S PUSHING THEM AWAY EVEN MORE, TO THE POINT WHERE HE’S FULLY WILLING TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF. HE’S NOT SUICIDAL BUT BELIEVES THEY’D BE FINE WITHOUT HIM LIKE 

I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE THANKFUL FOR LOTOR

After rewatching it, I like this season a lot more. It’s pretty good! Now I’m off to read meta posts about Keith.

[violasarecool]

any advice for someone planning to get into kotor?

oh!! omg ur gonna have so much fun i love those games

for kotor 1, general advice-wise, soldier’s the easiest class, twin sabers make you the powerhouse of the jedi, the “recommended’ stat level is fine, talk to your companions frequently, definitely play kotor 2 when you’re done with kotor 1.

but also……. MODS

kotor’s an old game with a great story, but it’s still an old game. there’s a ton of mods out there that improve gameplay, graphics, and what have you. i know some people dont like to install a bajllion mods, so ive skipped a few, and rated these by order of importance

a note about mods, first: most kotor mods either are installed by double clicking an .exe file, or chucking the files in your override folder

when you install them in the override folder, you CAN’T KEEP THEM IN SEPARATE FOLDERS. i wanna be super clear about this bc i fucked up my first time lmao. there can be no additional folders in the override folder or the mods won’t work. just paste all the files directly into override like so

anyway. mods.

Essential

health regeneration: you heal outside battle. i would probably die a lot without it lol

classes, feats, powers & skills tweak: makes extra points and abilities available for character skills etc. i havent actually played without it, so i dont know how much harder the game would be vanilla style..

Romance

(if you don’t like playing romances, check out the first link for a “no romo” mod before you scroll past)

“female” player characters have two canon romances, carth (m), and juhani (f). “males” get bastila (f). but there are mods to switch it up!

bi carth: this mod actually has multiple uses. first of all, it obviously means you can romance him with a “male” player char (with a bit of misgendering due to the original voice files, sorry). but second, if your player char is “female”, but don’t want to romance him, this adds an option to turn him down right away, avoiding further harassment. [.exe]

carth romance fix which as far as i know works with the above mod [override]**

“female” player character is bi: this not only lets you romance bastila, but you can flirt with a few female npcs throughout the game [override]

bastila romance enhancement: adds unused dialogue back into the game among other enhancements. also lets you romance her with a “female” player char. compatible with the above if you use the k_hbas file from this mod and not the above. [override]

juhani romance enhancement: makes sure you get the final rom convo, and also adds a little extra something :) [.exe]

juhani romance guide: not a mod, but essential if you want to romance juhani, as she can be kind of tricky. if youre going to use this on your first playthrough, don’t read ahead too far on the “conversation paths” sections if you don’t want to be spoiled.

** Copy all of the files in the “override” folder into your Override folder. Copy the file in the “sound” folder to your \SWKotOR\streamwaves\m41aa\cart04 folder.

ALSO: i linked these straight to the download to avoid description spoilers; [.exe] means you just double click the .exe file to install, [override] means you copy the contents to your override folder (Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\Common\SWKotOR\Override), except for the above exception. but if you want the main pages anyway, here they are in order: [x, x, check the readme, x, x, n/a]

Minor

party clothing: gives good stats to companions’ default clothing so they can keep their Look (the armours you find are kinda ugly tbh)

invisible headgear: get the stats but keep the helmets invisible (cause guess what else is ugly…. the helmets….)

movement animation fix: your character has a tendency to waddle walk. this fixes that.

pc response moderation: makes some of your dialogue options less ridiculous/childish. has no effect on how people respond to you, just a tweak for your character’s sake.

[fictions-war-among-stars]

I finally finished the OG Star Wars trilogy for the first time!!!

Since the beginning of the year I'd kinda made it my goal to watch all of the Star Wars content in chronological order, because I haven't actually watched it before now! (Also my classes kept including it in the lessons, so it's for research too lol-)

Today though marks a very important date to me, because I just finished the OG trilogy for the very first time!

A very vague non-spoiler reaction, is that I enjoyed it! The first movie was kinda hard to get through, the second a bit better, but I realize that's because the formatting of the story is a bit different than what I'm used to?

To me, it seems like you have to watch all three movies for it to make sense. The first movie set the stage, the second had character development and raised the stakes, and the third closed everything off.

It's kinda hard to explain? Most movies don't do that - they each have the beginning middle and conclusion that very much seperate each film from one another, and connect to one another in a different way?

The closest thing I can think of would be Avengers Infinity War to End Game - you can't watch one without the other. They are meant to be the same story.

My more specific thoughts

I really should have taken notes, but here are my most memorable thoughts on it over all!

This is your last warning - there are spoilers up ahead!

Shakespeare who?

It's super funny to me how much the lines the actors would say would remind me of something out of an old English play

I think what was the most jarring in this sense was how Luke acted during the last of the OG movie. He was no longer a 'farm boy' but now a proper Jedi, and acted very stiff as a result. Yet he was still super dramatic???

Omg wait - have you seen the Romeo and Juliet version with Leonardo DiCaprio???

That has the same energy to me lmao-

One of the biggest things that irritated me whilst watching the prequels was how much the clothing reminded me of 1500 Europe. The clothing itself was really pretty, but the way they used it to sexualize Padme was something I had a LOT of salt with.

While there was a lot of different outfits for Leia, I was surprised that she wasn't as sexualized in her outfits? (With exception of when she was with Jabba - but is that really surprising???)

She was objectified more than I thought necessary, but the scenes with Padme and Anakin in the prequels seem way worst to me...

Whomst do I simp for???

A huge part of why I stick to content is because I simp for a character. The more attached I get to them, the more I want to watch things they're in, and the more I'll buy their merch

I mean, everyone does this lol

I'm actually super surprised though, because I don't simp for anyone in the OG trilogy?

When I was on the outskirts of the fandom, I tried to get into it by reading stuff with the characters and was surprised when I couldn't really find anything good with Luke?

Based on characters I like, Luke seemed like he would be one of them

But I don't find myself attracted to him at all during the films???

Ahsoka Tano is so far still the best and only character I simp lol

Luke / Leia - it's not what you think!

I was really surprised with this one! I thought Luke and Leia actually had a relationship prior to finding out they were related, and there was going to be a whole Oedipus Rex thing going on, but it was just heavy flirting?

It was still REALLY awkward by the last movie though - because they admitted to always kinda knowing in a really dramatic way, but there was quite a bit of sexual tension between them in the two movies before???

It just made me uncomfy :/

Leia / Han?

...please don't kill me, but I don't really ship it?

The iconic I Love you / I know was literally the only time I thought they were cute together?

Oh, along with when Leia took Han out of Carbonite. That was cute

Like He was waking up thinking he would never see her again, and she had spent months trying to track him down to save him-

That was really precious

Their dynamic though, is why I don't ship them

It reminds me of prequel Anakin/Padme, and seems kinda toxic?

Like at points she was clearly telling him no, and he kept teasing and coming onto her

Also they were bickering in a way that isn't good, and just not properly talking things through?

Consent and proper communication is sexy, and that was missing at times

...it still isn't as bad as the prequels though, and there is hope for their relationship to grow and get better

(Insert character here) I am (insert reveal)

There were so many dramatic reveals lol

It's not really a surprise to us now, but Vader and Luke are related, Leia and Luke are related, Vader was Anakin, Vader is Leia's dad-

On that note though!!!!

Vader kinda traumatized Leia in the first movie????

Also how did he know that Luke was his son, but not Leia???

That still makes no sense to me-

I'm probably missing something???

Like the only reason he was going after Luke was to convert him because he was his son-

But if push comes to shove Leia seems more likely to be a Sith than Luke??? She was way more impulsive and emotional at times than Luke???

I feel like trying to convert her would have been easier???

Idk, that was a missed opportunity there :/

OH ALSO!!!

The last movie in the OG just makes Padme's death seem even worst!!!

Like Leia goes on about having vague memories of her mother, but Padme dies in the prequels giving birth to her???

So Leia is either more force sensitive than Luke (my head cannon honestly) or Padme should have raised the twins in secret for a while before dying on like a rebel mission and prior to Vader working beside the Emperor. Then Obi Wan swooped in and relocated the twins

Honestly, both those should be canon to me

Leia being trained with the force is something I really regret not seeing :(

At least there's fanfic

Vader

Vader confused me at first?

He seemed really obedient to the general (i don't remember his name - I think he's the one in Bad Batch and Clone wars???) in the first movie, and followed his orders????

Wait wasn't his name general Tarkin???

It was weird to me because I had just come from SW: Rebels and Rogue One, and Vader seemed like this illusive right hand man to the Emperor

But then he goes and obeys this guy way lower in power to him?

In the second and third movie he gets more power though, so maybe he was supposed to be the empire's dog originally???

Actually, it was weird seeing Vader be as obedient as he was

Anakin was super rebellious, so seeing him as Vader was weird

He was also a lot calmer than I thought he would be. Sith rely on anger and emotions to fuel them don't they???

...I didn't like the interaction between him and Obi Wan very much also

Jedi training line

So Obi Wan was originally trained directly under Yoda himself???

And Qui Gon and Dooku never existed-

So the entirety of the conflict in the prequels would have been super different to what it is lol

The edits

Since I didn't watch the OG versions, I'm not really aware of all the edits that were made to the movie

There is one though, that is really what spurred me to write this

They really just replaced the head of ghost OG Anakin with prequel Anakin LMAO-

Like-

I'm actually pretty neutral to them doing it since I'm not attached to the OG version but like-

This is just so fucking funny to me-

It's kinda sad though, cause the OG Anakin actor was dead for like 10 years, and then he was replaced with his angsty double

....still funny lmao

I think they also added in a bunch of Jarjars onto the roof of a building in Naboo XD

End thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed the content much more than I thought I would, and would watch it again!

I wish Ahsoka had helped train Luke and Leia ;p She would have been a great teacher, and I think she would have helped Luke and Leia in a way that would have been better for them?

...I really just wasn't a huge fan of Obi Wan. He reminds me of that one meme about movie Dumbledore vs book Dumbledore in Goblet of fire :/

I'm really struggling to find the words for it...

ANYWAY-

I'm super excited to watch the Mandalorian and see Ahsoka again though!!!