#the mandalorian rant

[ravenalla]

I can’t even be mad at this tweet because it is factually what they did in the show. I can however say that it went beyond Din’s usual stubbornness and into the stupidest mischaracterization the writers could have possible done and people who agree with it give me bad vibes. Din has always been calm and level-headed even in the most extreme circumstances, he’s a bounty-hunter for fucks sake in the first episode he works with a droid to get the job done even when he has deep-rooted trauma from them. Meanwhile Bo-Katan was the ex leader from a terrorist group and has consistently been hostile and quick to action when something doesn’t go her way. The fact that season 3 made Din look like a rash and violent individual while Bo is the partner who has to calm him down and keep them on task is a joke. Din has flaws and he certainly can be off-putting and unpredictable, but he is smart and always keeps the task at hand in mind, one of his most compelling traits is how he never tries to wear his heart on his sleeves. It feels like another change they made to justify Bo being leader without actually developing her and how Din and other mandalorians need her. It’s just gross in so many ways and does a disservice to BOTH characters. Ugh I’ll never be over how hard this season fumbled everything

[klatchshy]

So season 2 establishes Bo as a very driven and capable leader. She's a bit underhanded and she fights a bit dirty but that just adds spice. At the end of season two, through no fault of her own she does not get the darksaber. ok. Din has it. ok. I hated that personally, I didn't want that for him but you know what? There's drama there. There's room for some self discovery. We've all read the fics, we all know how fun it is to make Din Mand'alor.

But what's this? In season 3 Bo-Katan is arbitrarily knocked back to square one after not getting the darksaber. Her friends think she is a failure and unworthy of leading and it isnt even worth it to try and take back Mandalore anymore. So she's completely given up. Why? Why didn't she give up when she first lost the darksaber to gideon? Why did her friends stick by her then? Or why did they join her when they knew she had lost it?

What really throws a wrench in this whole thing though is that we are never given a real reason as to why Bo shouldn't have the darksaber or why her friends left her. She is never given a fatal flaw, besides maybe her refusal to murder Din (but this shows loyalty, something Mandalorians are supposed to value). But she is unworthy anyway, and her friends all hate her and she hates herself.

And now, this whole season is building BO-KATAN up as a capable leader, instead of Din. But we already know she's a capable leader! She was one last season, before the writers inexplicably decided to fuck her up and put her back to where she presumably was when she originally lost the darksaber to Gideon. And they've NEVER established anything wrong with her! The only thing she needs to do in this season seems to be regain belief in herself, which she lost because her friends left. And her friends had no good reason to leave.

It would have been so easy to fix this, too. Make her arrogant, or stubborn, or reckless, or in despair, or SOMETHING, ANYTHING. Give a reason for her and her friends to give up on her outside of the sword. Something that she needs to change about herself. This is baby's first protagonist shit.

If it was Din, this would all be very simple. He's never been a leader before. He's not qualified. He has no experience. He would have a lot of work to do, and it would take a lot for him to figure out that yes he is a good leader.

Anyway, as of chapter 22, Bo-Katan's arc isn't satisfied, but she got the sword anyway. She doesn't really believe in herself, and the people who gave up on her don't really believe in her either but she got the sword by loophole so they're rolling with it. Nothing has changed about her yet! "she's walked both ways" they have established exactly one clear difference between the covert and normal Mandalorians and it's just the helmet rule and she didn't like it. All they're actually doing is getting Bo-Katan back to where she was in season 2.

So why didn’t Bo katan just get the damn sword at the end of season 2 if they were just going to arbitrarily set her back in season 3 so she could become worthy of the sword she was already worthy of in season 2? Don't tell me in the next two episodes she's going to lose it and this whole season will have been an exercise in wasting my goddamn time.

Look I'm sorry to be that person but honestly. Why is this season about Bo-Katan? Why Is She Here?? Why wasn’t Din enough??? Why couldn't we just let The Star Wars Dad And Baby Show be about the fucking DAD AND HIS BABY

[omaano]

Omega and Batcher looking for some lost brothers in the Hades AU

Omega: "You're a bounty hunter, that means you're good at finding people, right? Except... I don't have many credits on me, so maybe I can help you on the job in exchange? You know, as payment! I've got my bow, and I'm a great pilot too. You can ask Tech when we find him. And Batcher could help to follow a scent, she is a very good tracker, you know." Din: "... I really don't think I should be taking jobs from kids... *sigh* Look, my main objective right now is to find Grogu a Jedi teacher, but if I come across this... Tech during my travels I will let you know, deal?"

Din cannot adopt another kid, he already has one that comes with a Very Important Mission, after all. Hopefully Rex or Cody will keep and eye on Omega and her dog.

(On the other hand, please don't get your hopes up, Echo is the only one who will make it into this AU from the Bad Batch, sorry.)

[bestintheparsec]

#for science

[firstofficerwiggles]

Jon Favreau saying Din Djarin was never meant to be Star Wars Aragorn is dumb on many levels, but primarily because no one saw him as Aragorn!

Aragorn was born to be a king and knew this his entire life. He struggled with it, rebelled against it, and then finally realized it was his destiny. No one in Star Wars is an Aragorn.

Din Djarin was never born to be a king, and he never considered that he would be one. If Din is anyone, he is King Arthur, a person who performed an extraordinary task to win a powerful sword.

The idea that the story was not setting Din up to be a leader is ridiculous, though, because in all three seasons and The Book of Boba Fett, we see Din as an effective leader. In several episodes and across the story arc, Din brings people together to fight and win unlikely battles. He manages to diplomatically get different groups to work together. He comes up with the plans that will take advantage of everyone's best skills. He puts himself in positions of extreme vulnerability because he knows it's what they need to win. He also manages to pull off some incredible moves of his own that just make everyone go. "Wow! That dude is awesome!" Din does all this while still being respectful and kind to the point where at the end of the battle, the people in the group are willing to follow him anywhere if he asks.

Then you have the audacity to sit there and tell me you didn't create a king.

[thefrogdalorian]

A little love letter to Din Djarin writers... 🤍

I love that some of you write him as soft and gentle while others focus on the darker, harsher parts of his personality. I love that he can be both a quiet, kind man caring for his child or an intimidating, terrifying bounty hunter who is a lean, mean killing machine... depending on what the fic warrants.

I love how you write him with other characters from The Mandalorian or even with those who would never cross paths with him in canon, from Star Wars or elsewhere. I love how you write him interacting with yourselves and us, and some of you even create your own original characters to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away alongside him.

I love that some of you ship him with that one other special person, while others recognise how desirable he is and ship alllllll the ships. Not forgetting those of you which are here for none of those ships and/or even headcanon him as ace. I love that any of those options allow you to explore your own identities and sexualities through him.

I love that you can write the most tooth-rotting fluff or filthiest smut, and all of those things in between. Whether it's for general audiences or explicit and strictly 18+ ... all of your fics have an audience and someone out there who appreciates your writing.

I love how differently you can interpret him, but there are also so many common themes and tropes running through your writing. I love that there is room for all of your Dins here.

I love that he means so much to you and that all of us here hold him in our hearts a little bit. I love that we can all watch the same episodes and come to entirely different conclusions about him. I love how much we love him.

Getting to be a part of this wonderful community and interact with so many people who love the space tin can man as much as I do has truly been one of the best things that happened to me recently. I'm so glad I made this little blog... It reminded me just how good fandom can be. I am blown away by the number of talented people here!

So, I just wanted to take a moment to express some gratitude towards all of you! Thank you for writing your Dins and please don't ever stop. Finally.... last, but not least:

I love Din Djarin!!!

[astral-veil]

my takes on star wars right now:

I really hate the marvelization of star wars, somehow everyone knows everyone, doesn't feels much of a big galaxy, you need to watch x show to understand the reference of the character they introduce, because they wont explain to you who they are, their story,their weight in the story, motivation etc (i had to explain multiple times bit and pieces of lore to my father, since he mainly knows the old star wars)

I felt mandalorian suffered a lot from it, becoming the catalyst to introduce others shows or placing bits and pieces of projects that got canceled (rangers of the new republic), i know the show is called the mandalorian, but we’ve been following Din since season 1, only to be sidelined in season 3, where all the weight of his decisions in season 2 (removing his helmet) is easily brushed off, we dont get to see how the character feels in all of this, there’s no spiritual journey for him to understand that he can walk 2 ways, also grogu is just there because he’s the $ sign, we barely have father and son moments which is what hooked me to the series, i felt they shouldn't have reunited in book of boba fett, but instead explore Din being alone again, reflecting and let boba lead his own show.

What im afraid in general now is they will do the same mistake as marvel, quantity over quality. Questionable direction and writing, cramming as much as possible characters without taking the time to conclude their story.

[noisynaia]

Heyo… 💕

I have not been on here a lot for the last year or so, and I don’t know how many people are still interested in my writing, but I would like to get back to it. So, I’ve decided to open my requests again to get back into the groove. I don’t now if anyone is interested, but I would love to write again. I write for almost all Pedro Pascal characters and the triple frontier guys 💕

(I am also going to go through and edit Distant Suns and Dreaming of You, and hopefully soon get back into writing for both of them.)

[lux-ishii]

The Mandalorian: Gives actually good written relationship that doesn't fall into cliché tropes and instead promotes good values such as your companion shouldn't be your everything, but they should make you a better person than you already were on your own; Is a slow burn with development over not one but two seasons, the characters are rich in backstory, going through their redemption arcs, and who they are now is an effect of the guilt they carried for decades. This all makes them one of the best written partners (romantic or not) in modern live action Star Wars.

DinBo haters in DinBo tag: This is the worst writing I've ever seen because I projected that Din is ace/gay/hates her/is her brother/cousin and Bo-Katan is lesbian/his sister/Grogu's wine aunt/terrorist/whatever.

Just go out and touch grass, y'all chronically online.

[ravenalla]

Nah I’m sorry you will never convince me The Mandalorian Season 3 was the natural progression of the story. Sure maybe the fandom was influencing my expectations for Din but no way was Bo Katan always meant to be the rightful leader of Mandalore lmao. If you like her and the season then that’s perfectly fine, just don’t act like people are dumb for thinking it was a weird writing choice to completely change her personality in basically one scene and have the darksaber plot mean absolutely nothing for Din just so Bo could get it and be a good leader. (Also hot take imo their friendship was horribly rushed and executed also so I literally don’t care if you argue that was the reason, outside of maybe the talk about her dad Din had a more believable connection with Mayfeld than her 🤷‍♀️)

[mimomentomori]

BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE DINLUKE THOUGHTS PT. 3 OF ?

So, by this point the 'Luke teaches Din how to use the Darksaber' trope has been pretty well explored yeah?

Where's the sexually charged 'Din teaches Luke the finer points of hand-to-hand combat?' Hmmm? Where's my space husbands rolling around in the dirt and pinning eachother down by the wrists ey?? Where's Din coming up close to correct Luke's stance eyyyyy? Where's the sunshine boy getting pinned to a bloody tree eyyyyyyyyy???!??

Luke was a pilot and a heck of a shot but lad is a wild haymaker scrappy lad when it comes to throwing punches I'll place money on that

[star-wars-oh-mood]

Speaking of dinluke, when you google the movie, this is what pops up (on mobile at least) lmao

[antikate]

It’s not bad writing if a show does something you dislike-

No it’s bad writing when a show does something I dislike nonsensically and incoherently, undoes character growth in ridiculous ways, fails to build any kind of satisfying arc, falls back on lazy tropes and cameos without any thought, sets up and then completely fails to deliver on major plot threads, has important character moments occur offscreen, forgets about such narrative tools as plot pacing and structure, and basically treats its audience as baby yoda merch buying machines

[stardusthuntress]

SOOOOOOOOOOO…… anyone else keeping count of the Mandalorian urge to adopt children running rampant in the Fett lineage this season? I think we about to double Hunter’s current adopted count (4), in a single episode, courtesy Echo and Emori! AND I AM HERE FOR IT!!!!

I love how in like ep 2 Hunter immediately moved from 1 to 4. And now Echo is about to call him and tell him he better start building a bigger house on Pabu because he’s inbound with 4 more, including a baby. And before y’all get mad and remind me they have families already, consider this: even if returning them to their families is doable, they’re gonna need good protection for the rest of their lives, and who better to teach them that than the Bad Batch + Rex and Friends? AKA, Hunter is now like a swordfather to, ~8 kids!!!

^ this is how this man wants to love out the rest of his days, watching his children play and live free!!! and this is what I want to see too!!!

[thefrogdalorian]

Do any fellow neurodivergent people feel like Din Djarin is such a comforting character to you and the fact your brain is Spicy™  might actually be the reason you feel such a connection to him?

I'm autistic myself and I just feel that having a complete lack of facial expressions to interpret makes watching Mando so easy for me, even when I'm overwhelmed/burnt out. Just being able to watch this quiet man go about his business while not seeing his face and without speaking too much brings me instant comfort that I don't feel with a lot of other characters.

Truly, I have no idea what expressions that gorgeous tin can is making during big emotional scenes but I almost feel as though I do?? The way I can put all of my energy into interpreting his body language/tone of voice and imagining how he might feel in certain situations is just really comforting even if I'm watching him beat the shit out of people or going through the worst pain imaginable oops... sorry Din, your pain brings me comfort

Also he's so much of an outsider himself, barely speaking and he seems to feel uncomfortable around other people, that I do wonder if he too has a touch of the 'tism too... or whether he's just like that because of his upbringing. Let me know if you have any thoughts on whether you think he's One Of Us™ because I'm curious!!

In conclusion.... loving Din Djarin [autistically]

[muldyfi]

I don’t often do this, I am very team ‘Yay TV is the best and I’m either going to enjoy it or I’m not going to watch it...’ but I need to rant a little bit about the Mandalorian season finale. 

I work in TV, I know stuff goes wrong. And a lot about this season of Mando felt like production issues. Obviously they didn’t have Pedro much (if at all?) and obviously Katee Sackhoff was contracted to appear in every episode which made for some weird story choices in the first two episodes (going from Nevarro to Kalevala to Tatooine to Mandalore instead of Nevarro, Tatooine, Kalevala, Mandalore which makes a lot more sense). And also rumours of stuff being cut from the finale (which it really did feel like happened).

But there were so many story things in this season that weren’t paid off. 

1. The Mythosaur. I’m not saying I needed anyone to ride the Mythosaur or use it in battle or whatever, but to start with Bo-Katan saw it in the Mines of Mandalore and then got it on her shoulder pauldron and then NEVER MENTIONED IT TO DIN. That is such a weird story choice that I thought it was going to be a point of conflict between the characters but it just...wasn’t mentioned. Like if she was meant to have told him offscreen why didn’t she just tell him in Ep 3 when he woke up after she rescued him? And then to have all these random monsters attacking everyone all season EXCEPT the Mythosaur is....also very weird. 

I actually didn’t want anyone to kill it or hurt it but it would have been nice for Bo-Katan or Din or the Armorer to have a moment being like ‘The Mythosaur is one of us, it’s part of Mandalore and we should respect it.’ Perhaps let the Mythosaur help them defeat their enemy. Basically a reason for it’s existence. Because right now the *only* reason it needed to exist is so the Armorer could be all ‘Bo-Katan saw the Mythosaur so she can lead our people.’ Which was also echoed in ‘Bo-Katan has the Darksaber so she can lead our people.’ Like we get it. She can lead the people. 

But the Mythosaur just felt like it wasn’t paid off at all.

2. DinBo. I’m not talking about it as a shipper (I am one, don’t worry, but I didn’t expect anything to actually happen this season. No one in Star Wars gets together unless they’re dying). But why on Earth (or Mandalore) would you build this relationship so well all season, to the point of Din pledging his allegiance to her and then having Bo be all ‘Mandalorians are stronger together’ and then he leaves. What? 

This was one of the best built relationships I have seen on TV in a long time. The way that they went from completely not understanding each other to strongly respecting and trusting each other. Where she became Grogu’s other parent. It’s so nice to see a healthy relationship like that. But then it had no pay off.

There needed to be a scene where she thanked him for everything. Where he told her he was leaving. Where Grogu and Bo got to say goodbye because she’s basically is mother now. Anything. Even just a ‘If you ever need me, you know where to find me’ moment. At the very least a scene of them waving at each other. Lizzo and Grogu got a better goodbye than Bo and Grogu did. This genuinely makes me (and I believe everyone else) angry.

3. The Darksaber. Okay so I’m not even going to be upset about the fact that apparently Gideon can crush a Darksaber with his hands when I couldn’t even bend the handle of my plastic one if I tried. But to me the idea of destroying the Darksaber is to prove to Bo-Katan that she can rule Mandalore without it. 

It’s not the Darksaber that made her a good leader, but instead the lessons she learnt about uniting her people and trusting and relying on those around her, things she’s never been very good at. There needed to be a moment where she had a meltdown of some sort along the lines of ‘It’s gone, how am I meant to rule now?’ And Din (or the Armorer or Axe and Koska or all the above) tells her that her strength to lead comes from within and isn’t about the Darksaber at all. If this isn’t used to show character growth within Bo-Katan then what is even the point of destroying it? 

Honestly this is the thing that annoyed me the most.

4. The Covert and the Armorer. All season I haven’t really been able to tell where they were going with her character or Din’s attitude towards the Covert. But in the pledging to Bo-Katan scene, when Din mentions he was told lies about the other Mandalorians I felt like that was him realising that maybe the Armorer wasn’t so all knowing, that maybe there was another way and that Bo-Katan represented that way to him. 

Maybe it was just me being hopeful that he’d change his mind about his religion and take his helmet off so I could see Pedro’s pretty face more often, but if that line wasn’t about him learning that he’d been lied to his whole life I’m not sure why it existed. Honestly this point is probably more about personal taste but I still find it weird.

5. Coruscant. Why the hell did we spend 38 minutes in Coruscant? Why did we have to listen to Imperial officers chatting about Thrawn? Is this all set up for Ahsoka? Because in a season where most of the episodes were shorter than they should be what we really could have used was more time with our main characters having quiet character moments, understanding their wants and needs...which leads me to... 

6. Din. Honestly this has never bugged me prior to this season, but suddenly I got really annoyed at him wearing his helmet because I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. If we’re not going to see his face, we need to have scenes where he expresses his feelings to someone in words. Otherwise we have a lead character who shows no emotions about anything and doesn’t have an opinion on anything. The most emotion we saw him have all season was when he showed his hatred of battle droids. 

I’m sure the reason Bo-Katan ended up being the focus of the season was a lot to do with the fact her helmet was off a lot of the time and we could actually see her emotions. For us to feel like Din is the lead we need to understand what he’s feeling.

The appeal of the Mandalorian to me has always been that it’s simple, straightforward and fun. It’s about the love between a Mandalorian bounty hunter and his adopted son (yay!). And there was a lot of that great stuff in the finale. But it felt twenty minutes too short. 

Jon Favreau needs a TV writers’ room. It is literally the job of a writers’ room to be like ‘What if we did this in this more interesting way?’ instead of just one man’s fan fiction. A group of people are always going to come up with something more interesting than one person, it’s why writers’ rooms exist.

Twitter and Tumblr were all very good at coming up with fantastic season finale plots - mind flaying Din, him being tortured and his helmet removed, Thrawn showing up, the Armorer being evil, Axe being a traitor, Bo-Katan dying and Grogu having to bring her back with the Force. All of these things that could have added a heightened emotion and stakes in the finale. 

I’m not saying that creators should listen to the internet, this rarely makes for good television, but I am saying Jon Favreau as a solo writer has run his course on this story. He’s not a TV writer either and it was really obvious this season where Dave Filoni seemed less involved because he was focusing on Ahsoka.

Anyway I love this show and I will absolutely look forward to and watch any future seasons, but I was left super disappointed after the finale, despite really loving a lot of it, because it just felt too easy and too emotionally disconnected.