agsdesign

[frustrationinexcelsis]

My thoughts keep coming back to a Clone Wars army swap au. This is partly because I've started reading through the old Legends books, and the pre-Phantom Menace ones pretty obviously assumed that the Clone Wars were fought against clones.

Setup is simple enough. The Geonosians and Kaminoans are basically the same kind of shady weapons merchants, so here they just close their deals with different sides. Lama Su ends up on the Separatist Council while Poggle buys himself a seat in the Senate. They're flying different flags but are the same sketchy sorts as always.

On the Republic side, the views towards droids are the same as in canon -- nobody really thinks of them as, you know, people. There’s a clear trend in canon of most people treating droids as disposable, replaceable objects when they're pretty obviously self-aware and emotionally complex beings, and this is magnified for the battle models meant to be sent into battle to die in droves.

Anakin is one of the very few people who doesn’t share this attitude and treats droids like sapient beings. This leads to a lot of butting heads with both Republic leadership and other Jedi -- think of his arguments with Obi-Wan over R2 in the arc where R2 goes missing and everyone is like "oh, just get another one", but as a semi-constant dynamic.

The droids respond very positively to him and his assigned division tends to display a lot more intelligence and tactical acumen than normal, and also a bunch more personality quirks. This is in large part because he absolutely refuses to ever reset their memories, which is another major source of arguments.

("Anakin, when was the last you reset the droids' memory banks?" "Why the hell would I want to do that? I might as well just order in a fresh batch of rookies every month." "Anakin, without memory wipes droids develop idiosyncrasies and behavioral glitches, which leads to unreliable performance. You know that." "Oh, sure, because there’s no such thing as Jedi with weird quirks or hangups, huh?")

Occasionally other Jedi have taken temporary command of Anakin's droids, and they do tend to perform a lot better than normal. Although they also tend to do this with a background of sullen muttering of things like "General Skywalker would have asked me how my day was going..."

On the Separatist side, the clones get treated just as badly as the droids do in canon, except that this is absolutely not played for laughs. Their nicknames need to be kept secret, and their leaders all treat them as casually disposable. They’re also fed a steady stream of propaganda about the terrible things that Jedi and Republic forces will do to captured clones, basically painting their alternatives as so bad that even their terrible treatment under the Confederacy is preferable.

As a result, clone forces fight to the death and refuse to surrender out of fear of what will happen if they do. Of course, this also ends up painting an image of them as mindless war machines on the Republic side, which is entirely what the Confederacy was hoping would happen. 

Anyway, some way or another some clones end up captured anyway, probably a good way into the conflict. They're expecting torture or immediate execution by the terrible Jedi that they've heard horror stories about, so imagine their surprise when they're... treated civilly. Oh, they're prisoners of war, in cells, and with their weapons confiscated -- but the cells are clean and roomy, the food is decent and if it's bland it's no blander than what the Jedi's eating.

This is about where clear ideas start to peter out except that eventually this would lead to a clone uprising or defection of some sort. They would still be subject to a very negative perception in the Republic that would only worsen under the Empire, which in this case would likely to continue to use battle droids over drafted soldiers, and most likely would need to go to ground under fake identities or try to find a remote planet to live on. It would be interesting to have some of them side with the Rebellion anyway -- I always felt that the canon could've used a more explicit presence of Confenderacy holdouts and survivors among the Rebels, perhaps even seeing themselves as still fighting on basically the same side as always.

[brittababbles]

Holy shit.

I’m high so bare with me.

Omega is definitely force sensitive.

I have a new theory about order 66

The chip causes permanent disassociation. Assuming the chip works correctly, or is present at all, it forces the clone to suddenly recall what was functionally a repressed memory that the Jedi were traitors. A fact that would be very horrible if you’ve bonded with a Jedi, as we see the clones do throughout The Clone Wars. We see how close Anakin and Ahsoka are with Rex. We see Obi Wan’s fondness for (and arguably romantic feelings toward) Cody. Now imagine you suddenly know beyond the shadow of a doubt that that person is secretly fighting for the enemy you were raised to believe was evil. How angry would you be? Would you be angry enough to kill?

Crosshair’s fires erratically. He experiences a full disassociation that forgets everything that has happened since leaving Kamino as a cadet. That’s why he didn’t immediately kill Caleb Dunne/Kannan Jarrus when he heard the trigger phrase “Activate Order 66”.

He spends chunks of time in his pre-existing personality at the beginning of the series then his chip’s effects are cranked up to 1000 and he has this sense of knowing that the Jedi are traitors well beyond any way he’s ever known anything before. It’s true in his bones, and his brothers know it too, because they’re good soldiers like him. But Crosshair doesn’t exactly have reigns on his temper, and he’s frustrated with Hunter and Tech and Wrecker. Why are they fighting this? It’s so obvious, to Crosshair, that the emperor is right and the Jedi need to be dead. Because thats what he was built to believe. That’s what the chip tells him. That good soldiers follow orders.

The rest of the group don’t have functioning chips.

Whatever modifications were done to Tech, Wrecker, and Hunter in their brains. I’m pretty sure that whatever they did to Crosshair as an embryo was mostly done in his eyes.

Hunter has enhanced senses (though his vision is nothing on Crosshair. I’ll get to that in a minute). Hunter was built from scratch to be able to track, and notice ambush. The field commander. He was built to be in command of the squad. The captain or commander under their Jedi. He’s the Rex to a possible Jedi commander. A good leader, paternal toward his squad. Hunter’s skill set is to serve as the person who has everyone’s back. All the time. He’s supposed to take care of his men. He’s in charge, sort of. This is where a lot of the conflict between Hunter and Crosshair originates. Hunter was born to have their backs. Crosshair, however, wants that person to be him so badly.

Tech has an intensely powerful memory. He seems to interpret this to mean he’s smarter than the others, but nah, he just never forgets anything. Ever. He remembers everything in precise, clear, perfect detail. Always. Perfect for a scout, and a medic, and a pilot. He never forgets how to do anything once he learns it. He’s flexible, mentally and physically. He’s good with his hands and can create a little gadget out of nothing. You need a fixer on a team like this. Tech is your man.

Wrecker is exceptionally strong and durable. He was designed to take fire, to be able to shield his teammates with his body. He was then trained in hand to hand combat and explosives. So making his skin incredibly difficult to pierce would be important. He’d need to be able to take a blast, a blaster bolt, an attacking animal. He’s the muscle. Doesn’t mean he isn’t smart - I do think he has a bit of a traumatic brain injury from an injury sustained doing that job, where he lost an eye. He has the same synthetic eye as Wolffe, similar erratic behaviors as Gregor. Whatever happened to Wrecker was bad. He’s since been patched up. But Wrecker’s easy come easy go personality never wavered. It can’t when your job is to act like a human shield all the time.

Messing with their brains messed with their chips. They didn’t develop fully. Other parts of their brains are massively enhanced - Tech’s memory, Hunter’s senses, Wrecker’s ability to tolerate pain. But those chips are pretty well destroyed from the outset. Still there. Still possibly a threat until they have them removed. But nonfunctional. (Echo’s on the other hand, has been removed completely, purely by chance, while he was in captivity)

And Crosshair? Crosshair is a sniper. What does a sniper need more than anything to be the best marksman ever? Really, just superior eyesight. Crosshair’s eyesight must be insane. He can probably see at 500 feet what the average person sees at 3. He notices movements nobody else would see. He can probably see any wavelength, and in the dark, and possibly be able to see heat. But nobody ever asks him how he literally sees the world, and given him any basis for comparison. Imagine if you were a clone cadet and your three brothers got - what look like - magical superpowers. But your magical power is just the ability to see a little better than they can. Big whoop, eh? No wonder Crosshair has anger issues.

This was the original model of a smooth working squad, that was meant to be handed to a Jedi to command. Shaak Ti designed this squad, probably based on what she felt through the force from the other Jedi. What the other Jedi wanted and appreciated and hoped for in their soldiers. Then she took the most common features and handed the designs over to the kaminoans. She designed a team /for/ her fellow Jedi. Any Jedi. These boys were built to be the perfect, seamless team no matter which Jedi they were paired for.

(It must be awful being Echo, who was not built for this. No matter how much he tries, he’ll never be one of their batch. He was a Domino, and he’ll never know these guys like he knew Fives, or Hevy, or Cutup, or Droidbait. I think Echo recognizes that he’s older than the rest of the team, but sees one of his brothers in each of them. I haven’t quite pinned who corresponds with whom in Echo’s mind yet, but that’s why he’s so protective of his teammates. The OG Bad Batch are /young/, but they’re still clones. Echo is different now too, and he knows that being different doesn’t change who is family is. He’s the older brother, I think, in time, the rest of the batch will come to see Echo as Echo sees Rex. And Rex sees Cody. I hope that will be rewarding for Echo. He deserves some peace.)

But then the plan changed and a new order came in for clones to replace the Jedi. The Kaminoans are businesspeople with no real stake in the war, so they do it. Plus it’s interesting, really. They tried and tried to create a force sensitive child. And finally they did it. They created someone to replace the Jedi. They created Omega.

Omega’s story will be about another force sensitive kid. It’s the plot of The Mandalorian all over again.

[andorerso]

I talked about how I hate the age change in regards to Jyn before, but even disregarding that, I don’t understand how they thought this was consistent with his character in Rogue One? so he’s 31 in the movie, 26 in Andor. the same man who was apparently in the fight since he was six? the same man who blows up on Jyn about not having the luxury of a choice? didn’t even join the rebellion until he was like 27? it just doesn’t compute and is such a disservice to Cassian. literally what is the reason for making him older, it’s completely pointless and only cheapens his character in Rogue One.

I was pretty open to a lot of changes because I think it’s a well-written and enjoyable show, but I hate that it’s at the expense of Cassian’s characterization and I’m frankly reaching my limit for suspension of disbelief

fuck what Andor says, he was born in 26 BBY

[allzelemonz]

Don’t Go: Crosshair X Gender Neutral Reader Part 1

In honor of the return of Star Wars! I’m a little late... but Crosshair is in need of love. I want nothing bad to happen to him and I will likely be sad in the coming weeks.

It all happened so suddenly. One minute you were working with the resident Jedi on Kamino, then a clone asked for you to follow him. Then you heard the blaster fire. When you tried to turn back the clone grabbed your arm and kept you there.

“It would be best if you stayed with me, Commander.”

You stared at the expressionless helmet in shock. From the tone of his voice to the words themselves, this clone was not acting right. Nevertheless, he had a blaster in his hands and you did not. He released his grip on your arm and you followed him away. Nothing seemed right.

He led you to the Prime Minister who was waiting in his usual weird egg chair. When the trooper was gone you gave the Kaminoan a curious look as he calmly poured a drink for you.

“I’m sorry if you witnessed any unpleasant things today, Commander.”

“Do you mind if I ask what’s going on, Prime Minister?”

You tried to keep you cool in the presence of the Kaminoan, knowing that manners and politeness was their favored character trait. You accepted the drink from him with a small thanks.

“All will be explained in due time, but I’m afraid I must inform you that your employment in training the clone troopers may be coming to an end.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have come under a sort of new management.” The Prime Minister took a small sip from his cup. “An announcement will be made later this evening, I just thought it would be best to let you know of the threat to your employment ahead of time.”

“Thank you for that, but I’m still a bit confused.”

“We will speak more tomorrow, after the announcements. Everything will make more sense then.”

You gave the Kaminoan a nod and promptly exited the room. You were met with hallways full of troopers going in every direction. You took a shaky breath at the sight of an occupied stretch being carried to the med bay, seemingly for analysis. You had a sinking feeling you knew exactly who was on it.

You made your way to your barracks, changing your mind halfway there, and instead turning down the hall leading to the barracks room of Clone Force 99. You waited there for an hour or so, trying to distract yourself with cleaning one of Crosshair’s old rifles.

The door slid open to reveal Tech and Wrecker first. Tech going immediately to his workstation.

“Ah! Good to be back.” Wrecker exclaimed as he put his helmet down.

“The smell’s getting worse.” Echo commented.

“You’re still new. You’ll get used to it.” Hunter assured.

“Speak for yourself.” Crosshair pushed passed his brothers, finally seeing you.

The other boys went about their usual coming home routine as Crosshair sat next to you and took his helmet off.

“How was the mission?” You asked, mostly to gauge if he’d be acting weird like all the clones you’d seen today.

“Mediocre.” He mumbled.

He leaned over to you and placed a quick kiss on your head. At least that hadn't changed. The rest of the Bad Batch seemed to be acting like themselves. There was something about Crosshair’s movements that seemed different. He hadn’t taken his helmet off until sitting with you. He didn’t say anything about you cleaning his rifle.

“Not every objective” Crosshair said.

You tuned into the conversation, having ignored it until now.

“Hunter let that Jedi kid escape.” He continued. “Or do you want to keep lying to us?”

You looked between Crosshair and Hunter. Let the Jedi escape? Were all of the Jedi being killed?

Hunter stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the waters below.

“I don’t like to think of executing our commanders as a mission objective.”

“An order is an order.” Crosshair argued.

He wasn’t wrong, but killing all of the Jedi was a questionable order at best. And the Padawans, children, there was no way to justify that order. When you were first brought on to aid the trooper training you couldn’t believe that pre-teens were holding a rank that you didn’t earn until you were twice that age. You couldn’t imagine killing them.

“Since when?” Hunter fired back.

Even from behind him, you could see Crosshair become annoyed. The end of his toothpick flicking around and his shoulders tensing up.

“None of this makes sense.” Echo chimed in. “Those clones served alongside General Billaba for years. How could they turn on her like that?” The former reg hit his fist against the table in frustration.

“Because of the reg’s programming.”

Everyone looked at Tech as if he was crazy.

“What programming?” Hunter asked.

You recalled being told that the clones were made to be more obedient than the average person, but you never thought of it as programming. Tech explained what he meant and Wrecker laughed.

“Ha! We sure don’t” The giant clone slung an arm around Crosshair, stuffed toy in hand.

You could see Crosshair’s annoyance at the action go beyond his default level of only moderate annoyance.

Tech explained why they didn’t adhere to the same standards as other clones, which you could have guessed. They’re different. Tech made it sound more complicated than that, but really the short answer was that they were simply built different.

Crosshair pushed Wrecker off him as Tech continued his explanation. Wrecker began to softly hit Crosshair with his stuffed toy in opposition. Crosshair got away from his large brother and replaced his toothpick in his mouth. You could still tell he was a bit off put by the current topic of conversation. The boys continued to discuss why they didn’t follow the order that had apparently been put out. You came to your own conclusion about the Jedi and troopers you’d been with earlier.

Crosshair leaned against the wall next to his bunk, you nudged him lightly and asked silently if he was feeling okay. He didn’t respond as he usually did.

An intercom message gave the order to report to the staging area, interrupting the conversation.

The Bad Batch walked to the staging area. You followed with them, Crosshair keeping pace with you in the back. It was his form of PDA like holding hands, just walking with you in step.

You split from the boys to take your position at the head of your group of clone cadets. All of them acting strange, not a single one out of place or trying to talk to one another. All of them stood at attention as if they were clankers. Even your subordinate sergeant didn’t give you any more comment than an acknowledgement of rank and a curt nod. He’d usually at least crack a smile or a wink if he was feeling confident.

You watched the announcement with a bad feeling about what was to come. You tried to catch sight of Crosshair or Hunter, anyone of the batch, but they were too far ahead and blocked by too many other clones. You couldn’t even see Wrecker towering above everyone else. The news that all Jedi were to be executed for treason explained a lot, but it didn’t change your mind about anything. The clones around you cheered at the announcement of a new Empire. The cadets behind you included. Men that just a few weeks ago had been talking about their disgust with the authoritarian Separatists. Maybe Tech had a point about the programming.

After the announcement you were caught up in the chaos that was clone cadets. Your fellow training commanders all worked to get the cadet back into their schedules and you couldn’t slip away no matter how much you wanted to. You escorted your troops back to their training area and got them back on track, leaving them to the bounty hunter trainers they were working with.

You made your way back to the batch’s barracks to find Crosshair looking over the old rifle you had been cleaning.

“Where is everyone?” You asked. It was a rare case the barracks were only occupied by one member of the batch.

“Out.” Crosshair stated plainly.

You took his meaning. Everyone was doing their own thing. You sat by the tall clone and watched him inspecting the weapon.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been accommodating recently.” Crosshair said, breaking the silence.

“Since when are you accommodating?”

The sniper chuckled and set the rifle to the side, turning to you. He took your hand in his and met your eyes.

“I try to be for you.”

He leaned in and kissed you. The usual crosshair kiss, short and to the point, but exactly what you needed.

“Have you been feeling okay?” You asked.

Crosshair raised an eyebrow at the question.

“You’ve been picking at Hunter a bit more than usual is all.”

“He made a bad call.”

You nodded, not wanting to provoke him. Maybe Crosshair wasn’t as immune as the others. He was acting off, but not nearly as badly as the regs.

“Do you want to go to the mess?” You rested you had on his cheek, tracing the point of his tattoo with your thumb slightly.

“Maybe later.” He answered, leaning into your touch.

He inched closer to you, pulling you close to him. He wrapped his arms around you in a rare hug. You relished in the action, pulling him closer as well. You ran your fingers against his short hair. Crosshair never hugged you for more than a few seconds, but you sat there for a while before the clone pulled away to kiss you again.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Cross?”

“Just missed you.” He spoke softly.

He hugged you close again. It made you wonder what was going through his head right now. The stoic man Crosshair usually appeared as was fading the longer he held onto you. Something wasn’t right.

[thelovelylolly]

Risked

Request (by @emilaa2001​ ): I don't know if requests are open, so feel free to ignore it! Could you do (clone wars) Anakin X Jedi reader? Basically reader knows she is pregnant and her days in jedi order are numbered, but is too scared to tell her lover about that. During a mission she gets badly injured and is unconscious for some time. During her recovery Anakin learns about the information from the medical droid and has mixed reactions (happy that she is safe, but angry that she risked so much). After she wakes up there is an argument, because reader doesn't want to leave the jedi order. Basically angst with fluffy ending. Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️

Warnings : Clone wars violence, pregnancy, injuries, uses of Y/N and L/N (im sorry)

Notes : Unless I say other wise, my requests are always open! Thank you for sending this in, I love this idea! Also I’m assuming that her lover is Anakin so yeah. Enjoy!

You slammed the door to your quarters shut behind you. As you sat down on your bed, the words from the medical droid kept echoing through your head. You went in for a check up since you’ve been feeling sick lately and it’s been causing you to lack on your missions. You had to clear the droids memory of your appointment so the order wouldn’t find out, if they did you would be expelled from it.

‘You are pregnant, General L/N.’

You rubbed your face, stressed out of your mind. You looked over to your mirror and lifted your shirt, shifting so you could see your stomach from the side. There was the beginnings of a baby bump already forming since you were a few months into your pregnancy. You quickly put your shirt back down and put your cloak on when someone knocked at your door. 

You stood and went over to your door, opening it. Ahsoka stood there, her normal smile on her face. “Hey Ahsoka, what do you need?” You asked.

“Anakin wants you to join him on his mission and sent me to get you. It’s just a patrol mission.” She answered.

“Okay, why isn’t he bringing you?” You replied, stepping out of your room with the door closing behind you. Ahsoka started to lead you to a transport that would take you to Anakin’s ship.

“I have some other things to do at the temple that he doesn’t want me to miss. He’s taking a few squads from the 501st with him since it’s a large planet.” Ahsoka told you, followed by her telling you other mission details.

“Thanks for the information, Ahsoka.” You said once you two reached the transport. She waved goodbye then went on her way. As your transport flew towards Anakin’s command ship, you came to the conclusion that this would distract you from the news you got only minutes earlier. It’s just a planet patrol so no harm would come to you or your baby. 

Then your mind wandered again. Anakin was the only person you’ve been with recently, he would have to be the father. How would he react? He would be expelled from the jedi order if they found out you were pregnant. Maybe you could just leave before anyone would notice. You had many friends with connections so they could get help you get a home on Naboo or anywhere that wasn’t Coruscaunt so the jedi order couldn’t sense you on the planet. On the other hand, you didn’t want to leave the order. The jedi raised you, became your home and safety net. They have been there for you and yet you betrayed the code.

You sighed as your transport landed on Anakin’s ship, it’s doors opening so you could exit.

----------

You met with Anakin and Captain Rex on the ship and they briefed you on the patrol as the ship flew through hyperspace. Once you reached the planet, the scanners didn’t pick up anything suspicious. Anakin readied the 501st into patrol squads to get sent down to the planet.

While riding in the ship with Anakin and Rex, you started to get a little bit dizzy and nauseous which is one of the symptoms that caused you to go into the medical center. You closed your eyes tightly so you could try to stop the feeling. “Y/N, you okay?” Anakin asked, noticing your actions.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy.” You answered, smiling at him. Anakin nodded but he was worried.

He turned to the other side of him in order to face Rex. “Keep an eye out for Y/N, I don’t think she’s doing too well.” Anakin whispered. 

“Yes sir.” Rex replied. The ship touched the ground and the doors slid open, clones walking out and assembling into pre-chosen groups. You, Anakin and Rex walked out behind them.

It looked like you had landed in a large valley since tall mountains surrounded you. There was a forest around you too, the plants being different vibrant colors. “Y/N, you know your path right?” Anakin asked, snapping you out of your thoughts about the planet.

“Yep, Rex and I will take our squad through the ridge. With other squads around the planet, hopefully this patrol will take no time.” You replied, putting your hands on your hips and smiling up at him once again. Anakin nudged you playfully. You always knew the plan and executed it perfectly, at least according to him. Since he doesn’t always stick to the plan, having you with him balanced everything out. Which was probably why you two had gained feelings for each other.

When Anakin got out of his thoughts, he realized that he was already walking the opposite direction of you, Rex and your squadron with his own squadron.

--------

“It’s a trap! Head back to the ships!” You yelled when a separatist probe droid set off a bomb. You turn and ran behind your squadron, Rex by your side and droids probably starting to chase you. 

“General Skywalker, come in! We’ve be attacked by separatists!” Rex exclaimed into his comms.

“So have we! We’ll meet you at the ships!” Anakin quickly replied from the other end. 

You sensed something behind you and turned around just in time to see large tanks rolling closer. The tanks were readying to fire, aiming at you and Rex. You used the force to push Rex away as one tank fired and hit very close to you. The force of the blast sent you flying until you hit a tree. “General!” Rex called as you faded in and out of consciousness.

The captain ran over to you and picked you up, calling for some help. When he noticed the clones were too far ahead to hear him, he started running towards the ships. “General Skywalker, General L/N has been hit and isn’t responding!” Rex nearly yelled into his comms.

Anakin nearly stopped what he was doing when he heard Rex. His patrol squadron was already boarding into transport ships to get back to the command ship. “How far are you from the transports?” Anakin asked, using his lightsaber to deflect blaster shots coming from the droids.

“Nearly there, sir!” Moments after Rex responded, he ran into the clearing. Anakin saw you and he almost froze, only being able to move over to defend Rex and your unconscious body. He did so until he was on the transport with Rex and it was the last one to take off. Luckily, the separatists didn’t follow any of the ships or attack the command ship. Anakin was too worried about you to fight more separatists.

--------

The door to your med bay room slide opened followed by Anakin walking in. The medical droid turned from it’s work on the computer beside you to face Anakin. “How is she?” He asked.

“She is simply unconscious with a few bruises and scratches here and there. She will wake up soon. Her and the baby are safe.”

Anakin’s world stopped. “The....the baby?”

“Yes, she currently is 3 months pregnant.” The droid answered. Anakin quickly erased the droids memory of ever discovering that you were pregnant, like you did earlier that day. He dismissed the droid and sat on the edge of your bed, waiting for you to wake up.

When you did, you blinked your eyes a few times to adjust to the lighting. That’s when you noticed Anakin sitting nearby. “Anakin.” You said, smiling.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

You worried he knew. Your smile left your face immediately. “Tell you what?” You asked nervously.

“That you were pregnant?” This time, Anakin turned his head to make eye contact with you. You sat up, trying to avoid his gaze.

“I...,” you sighed, “I don’t know.”

“Do you know what this means? What will happen to you?”

“You think I don’t? I knew since earlier today and-”

“And you went on a mission knowing you were pregnant?!” Anakin was angry.

“I didn’t want anyone to become suspicious! But now you know, so here we are.” You could sense Anakin was frustrated so you stopped talking, letting you both process your thoughts. You looked at the wall beside you while Anakin stared at the floor. It was silent until Anakin spoke up.

“Who’s the father?”

“I assume you.”

“Y/N.....maker, I’m so happy right now but,” he paused to meet your gaze, “we’re gonna be expelled from the order.”

“When my baby bump develops more, I’m leaving then. I’ll leave with no questions asked so you won’t have to.”

“No, I don’t want you to leave.” Anakin put his hand on top of yours.

“I’m sorry Anakin, I don’t want to leave either but this is something I must do.” You spoke softly, wrapping your hand around his. Silence resumed as you looked at your interlocked hands. “How about we don’t focus on what’s going to happen and focus on what’s happening now, hm?” You asked. 

Anakin smiled and leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to your head. “You’re going to make a great mother.” He whispered.

“I’m practically raising Ahsoka already, I’ll be ready for anything.” You joked, earning a laugh from Anakin. You leaned your forehead against his, smiling.

“You’re so smiley today.” He commented.

“I’m just happy, I’m thinking about the pros instead of the cons.”

“I should start doing that.” 

“Yeah you should.” You replied. You two allowed silence to take over once again. You and Anakin were in the moment, happy about the unexpected news and what goods thing would come in the future.

[baebeyza]

Ideas/concept in each Transformers series that you liked that are either written terribly, wasted potential and needed to be written in depth?

Okay, say GO! note: I love most of these shows and most of what I nitpick here isn't to say that I hate what we got + doesnt include RB and RBA

G1: I love Galvatron's and Cyclonus' dynamic and loved how the show was self-aware about the fact that Galvatron was crazy, and I would love to see this written with more depth and getting further into Cyclonus' motivation for staying at Galvs' side Headmasters: It's always about Sixshot- I love him so much but always gotta say that his development only really started in the last four episodes - would have loved it if we had gotten some inclination about his more gentle character before that!

Super-God Masterforce: I am of the opinion that Masterforce is a great show with great writing and great characters and don't have much to talk about here. Anyway, I absolutely adored Godbomber and the entire concept behind him - he's a drone who gets controlled through Ginrai's chokon-power (human energy) and acts whatever Ginrai wants him to do. What I found so nice about him is that he emotes! :D And he does react to other people, even if his reactions are all based on Ginrai's will. He doesn't have a voice, so he has to get his point across in other ways and seeing him do that is a delight ~ It made him feel like a character instead of just a drone with no personality and it would have been so awesome if more detail was put into that. Minerva treated Godbomber like a person and I'd have loved to see more of that!

Victory: There is a lot I loved about this show that just didn't really come into fruition - this post should explain it! Beast Wars: I fucking love Megatron cloning his ex Dinobot to get himself a new henchman, anddüde - wouldn't it have been nice to see it be acknowledged how creepy that is? Maybe get more into the reason why he has this need to clone Dinobot? Megatron obviously wanting his ex back, but his ex wont come back, so he creats a version of his ex that is just what he wants to him to be...weird housewife creepy romance novel style??? Beast Wars 2: Hm, tbh the stuff I liked about this show was well done! Can't think of anything here

Beast Wars Neo: Same as BWII, I just cant think of anything here that I loved that was done badly. The shows are simple! One thing I would have loved to see more of is Big Convoy's past as a lone wolf. We got bits and pieces but a little bit more couldn't hurt!

Beast Machines: I loved almost every idea in this show and somehow none if it was done in a way I truly enjoyed x'D 1. The premise nature vs techno 2. Blackarachnia trying to save Silverbolt 3. The whole concept of using existing sparks for new bodies, creating new people 4. Megatron splitting himself in half 5. Plantformers Apart from the Plantformers, all these were great ideas but the way the show executed them was depressing and weird.

RiD01: You know me people, I fucking love Ultra Magnus and Optimus being brothers in this and I would have given everything for more depth between them! Just a flashback to how they were before Ultra Magnus went JerkMode would have been gold QuQ

Armada: I loved the conclusions at the end, absolutely hated everything before the conclusion tho Energon: Love Shockfleet/Mirage being in fucking love with Galvatron, wish Galvatron had acknowledged it once qvq

Cybertron: Almost the same as Energon - I loved Chromia/Thunderblast having a crush on Megatron and wished they had done something with it. They could have gone full Decepticon Queen with her with evil romance, but Megatron has the same amount of communication and social skill as a brickwall.

TFA: I loved the 2 minutes of Cyclonus and hated that he never showed up again-

Cyber Mission: So, there is this episode in which Bee and Ironhide are sparring and Ironhide saves a flower from being squished under them and is like "we must protect life". Bee says that the flower aint sentient tho, but Ironhide says "this one is."

WHAT THE FUCK DO MEAN A SENTIENT FLOWER EXISTS ON EARTH??? Why to they drop this thing and then never do anything with the concept-!

TFP: I feel like Ultra Magnus is kinda missed potential and wished they'd have done more with him, he could have had great dynamics with the rest, but was just used for Wheeljack angst.

GO!: Man they got this Predaking character (I love Predaking) and he's just so generic...and they didn't even make him bishie and pretty like the original characters for this show qnq

RiD15: I loved Steeljaw but they did him dirty by just never allowing him to be the show's threat! He mostly just got pushed aside and used by other people. (still sexy tho, his german voice be like WOOOOO-)

Prime Wars: I loved the plot of this, loved what they did with Megatron and it was such missed potential to not make him Prime at the end! QnQ It would have fit so much! Nothing against my monkuh Primal, but come on! Megatron was right there-!

Cyberverse: Loved Roddy as leader and was kinda disappointed when he was done after Prime showed up again. My boy deserved at least an award or something.

WFC: You know me, I loved the stuff between Megatron and Magnus, but it is a shame that we just never got to see how they were pre-war. And not just those two, them, Optimus and Elita as well. I like the plot, just wish we got backstory.

[thatfunkyopossum]

@battlingeccentric​ said:                                                                

PLEASE elaborate on your dumpster diving guard and clone theatre headcanons

The Guard Definitely Steal Trash.

Clone theater will unfortunately have to wait for another day, but until then I’m happy to share my dumpster diving guard hc, as it’s one of my absolute favorites. I hope you enjoy the shitty mood board :’)

Okay so lets establish some things!

The Guard are one of the most stable divisions of the GAR. They stay in one place, have one home that, as far as we know, never gets blown up or otherwise destroyed during the war, and most likely they experience very light loss of personnel.

The Guard are stationed in a city. In fact, they are stationed in THE city. And cities are full of shit people don’t want.

They’re like..... Look the Guard are either not paid at all, or they’re paid very poorly. I personally can’t imagine they’re paid. It would be so expensive to pay your slave army comprised of millions, and it might get them thinking they’re people, and we can’t have that. Any money the guards have comes from picking up credits off the sidewalk. Besides, why would they need money when all of their basic living requirements are paid for by the government?

We have very little information on Fox as a person. He flinches when Anakin is angry at him, he immediately believes that Ahsoka killed his brothers, and when he thinks that Ahsoka killed Letta Turmond he tells her that he doesn’t blame her, but he arrests her anyway. There may be more information in the comics on his personality pre-66, but I haven’t read them.

So that’s the canon information we have. Now its time to start HCing! Namely, that with the second and third bullet point

There’s no way in hell the Guard don’t take stuff from the garbage.

There’s absolutely no way they don’t!! Do you know how much cool shit you can find in the trash, especially when you’re someone who has nothing? The guard are surrounded by opulence on a daily basis. They see beautiful possessions, people who have things, people eating all sorts of food, everywhere around them. CONSTANTLY!

Now imagine you’re a member of the Coruscant Guard. You’re a clone. This morning you woke up for your shift and you made your bed in your nearly completely barren barracks. You shave, pull on your standard issue blacks, and you put on your standard issue armor with its standard issue paint job. After all, it’s not like you’re important enough that the natborn higher-ups would want to be able to distinguish you from the rest, like they do with the commanders. And its not like you’re far away from the public, only ever seen by brothers, commanding officers, combatants, and the civilians that you’re protecting. No. Your armor is exactly the same as every other brother in the guard’s, because when the public and the senators see you, you have to be forgettable. A uniform face in a uniform crowd.

You sit down at breakfast with your brothers, and eat the same ration of nutrition paste you’ve been eating your whole life. If you’re lucky, you’ll get some sort of food additive to change the flavor a bit, but this is it pretty much. Then you go on your patrol shift.

You walk through the streets of Coruscant. It’s morning, so the bakeries have their doors and windows thrown open. The scent of baking bread is intoxicating, and you don’t think you’ve ever wanted to eat anything so badly in your life. You can’t even imagine what it tastes like, what the texture of it in your mouth might be, but your mouth is watering anyway. This is how it is every morning. You watch a natborn walk out of a shop, some sort of food thing in hand. They take a bite out of it and make a face. They exchange some words with their companion, sigh, wrap the item back up, and toss it in the garbage.

Are you telling me you wouldn’t stick your hand in a trash can for that meal??

Most Coruscant Guard have an experience similar to this within the first few months of their time actively serving. It rapidly becomes a somewhat accepted thing to do amongst themselves, but they’re VERY good at hiding it from their commanders and the public. If you’re not looking for it, you probably wouldn’t notice a Guard quickly reaching into a trash can, pulling something out of it, and slipping it into a belt pocket.

However, eventually the commanders notice. Specifically they notice when the dumpster diving expands from just snacks and food to whole ass items being brought back to the barracks. When Fox calls a guard meeting about it, held in the mess, the guard are all pretty nervous. They don’t want to be told off, and they don’t want to lose the little things they have.

But Fox, at least as the person I believe him to be, doesn’t get upset. In fact, the meeting is more stressing that its important that they don’t be caught, and that they maintain a professional face around the public. He makes it clear that they’re allowed to be people when they’re home in the barracks, away from the eyes of senators or the government. But that freedom to be themselves is only something they have as long as the people they serve feel no need to look behind the mask and see if they’re out of line.

Basically, as long as they give the impression of perfection, Fox gives them the go ahead to home-ify the shit out of their barracks.

So, towards the end of the war, if you were to ever find yourself in the CG barracks, you’d find a homey place full of chipped trinkets, scrubbed clean keepsakes, fairy lights, posters, salvaged books..... If you were to sit down on an old ratty couch with stitched up holes in those barracks, it wouldn’t be long before a fox mug with a broken handle full of cheap, watery caf was shoved into your hands.

The Guard don’t have much, and the things they have aren’t necessarily nice. But those things are theirs. And they’re precious. :)

[feelinkeeli]

Jangobi week - Day 2: Time Travel

It's almost midnight my time and I'm still not done with what I was writing for today's prompt. Well, what I wanted to write for today and possibly expand on later. So sorry this leaves off rather abruptly.

Jango woke, groaning at the headache caused by Force exhaustion. He didn't recall doing anything strenuous to cause him to over-use his Force abilities. There was a mission to an abandoned Jedi Temple to recover some artifacts accidentally left behind on Dantooine. Typically work that was for Shadows or Temple Guardians, but Sifo-Dyas gave him the mission instead.

-

"Is this a mission the Force is telling you I need to take or is this a mission that will lead me to meeting Kenobi again?" Jango had asked. "You know we've exchanged comm codes. I think at this point we can handle our relationship ourselves."

"Why can it not be both?" Sifo-Dyas has asked in return. "What does the Force tell you?"

"That my master forgets my talents lie in the Living Force," Jango grumbled before reaching out to the Force and getting a sense of… necessity. No urgency thankfully, but now an inescapable nudging by the Force. "I need to go."

"You do," Sifo-Dyas agreed before he smiled at Jango. "And do give Ser Kenobi my regards."

-

"Mmm, what did we drink last night?" Obi-wan asked as he joined Jango in the land of the living.

That being the first the first question Obi-wan  asked really was a testament to how regularly the two of them drank before falling into bed together. Of course when you know your parental figure, or your partner's, may or may not be an unwilling voyeur to your sexual activities- you drank. It wouldn't prevent Sifo-Dyas from witnessing anything but Jango's former Master claimed it helped to muddle the details. Jango was not brave enough to ask if it was true.

"I think the more accurate question is what did you two touch," a third voice wryly pointed out.

Jango startled. He had not felt anyone but himself and Obi-wan in Dantooine Temple's hidden archive. Looking around he soon realized why. There was a Mandalorian watching them safely out of lightsaber reach.

Not blaster reach however as Obi-wan took a shot, just as badly startled as Jango. (Perhaps because he trusted Jango to be able to sense danger long before it presented itself as Obi-wan learned over their many encounters.)

The familiar sound of a lightsaber igniting and blocking the blaster shot wasn't surprising. Not when Jango saw the blade was pure black.

"Peace, friends. I mean you no harm. I only sensed your arrival and came to investigate," Tarre Vizsla, the first and probably last, Mandalorian Jedi said as he turned off his lightsaber. 

"Yes well, anyone that can sneak up on a Jedi is troubling," Obi-wan said, not even bothering to apologize though he did holster his blaster. 

Not turning his back to Vizsla, Obi-wan stood and carefully offered Jango a hand up. Accepting the hand would leave Jango free to Force Push if necessary. They really did find themselves working together too frequently Jango thought as he accepted the up. The movement caused his hood to slip down and Vizsla made a noise of interest.

"You're a Fett? But- I'm the only Mandalorian in the Order," Vizsla asked, sounding confused for all Jango couldn't sense it through the beskar.

"You are," Jango agreed, feeling like he was breathing in shards of glass as he did.

"But you're a Fett," Tarre Vizsla protested and Force did he sound so young. Had he even become Mand'alor yet?

Obi-wan looked between the two puzzled. "How did you know his last name is Fett? Why is Jango being Mandalorian or not such a concern?"

"It's rather obvious once you know anyone born into the Fett clan has the same face. Too much incompatible genetics from interracial relations we assume. It's a bit like interacting with a multi-generational family of clones when the helmets come off," Vizsla said, gesturing to Jango's face as he did. "They're an Old Clan by Mandalorian standards. It's beyond strange to me one isn't Mandalorian."

"I was declared Dar'Manda," Jango choked out, grasping for peace and not finding it. "No one wanted a jedi. Not after the Excision. Except the New Mandalorians but I couldn't accept their price. You- you are the first and only Mandalorian the Jedi Order has had in millennia."

Obi-wan and Vizsla stared at him in alarm, shocked into silence.

-

Obi-wan was willing to admit he was concerned for Jango; he had never seen the surly Jedi so rattled. He looked like a gentle breeze could knock him over. He hadn't even let go of Obi-wan’s hand since he helped the man off the floor.

It was rather uncharitable but Obi-wan was sorely tempted to try shooting the Mandalorian Jedi again. Honestly, knowing it would be dodged or deflected were the only reasons he was holding back. Force users were insufferably frustrating that way, it was a wonder Obi-wan found it attractive in Jango.

Still, thinking about shooting Vizsla was a lovely distraction from the fact they time-traveled. Time-traveled over three millennia into the past. Melidaan was still Melida/Daan. Stars, Melida/Daan hadn't even started their bloody Civil War over the kriffing name yet. Nield was never going to believe him and Cerasi was going to be disappointed if he didn't bring back any pre-Civil War information on Melida/Daan.

It did make Obi-wan wonder if the two were going to be more amused or relieved to learn Jango probably didn't have a bastard love child with Duchess Kryze. Once he and Jango went from a one night stand to something steady it had been something of an on-going speculation amongst the Young. They had all wondered once Nield and Cerasi had shared the holos of Santine Kryze's "nephew" Rex. Bringing the news that all Fetts had the same face was only going to make the speculation grow. Assuming, of course, they could even go back.

[maulusque]

guess who just learned a whole lot about burns for a smut fic

it me.

so anyway now i have Ideas about how clone medics would treat blaster burns and they Definitely aren’t all going to make it into the fic because the blaster burn is honestly supposed to be an excuse for one character to undress the other

TW: burns, description of how severe burns affect the body (clinical, not graphic) and burn treatment

So, let’s assume that damage from a blaster bolt is basically a burn that is very small in terms of surface area, and whose depth depends on whether or not it was a direct hit, any armor you were wearing, the power of the blaster, etc. So you get 3rd and 4th degree burns that are like an inch square, which you don’t really see in the real world that often. I think any blaster bolt that comes into contact with a person is going to inflict AT LEAST a third degree burn (which means the epidermis and dermis are destroyed, basically the whole thickness of the skin), but usually would be deeper (4th degree), destroying muscle and bone and whatever else is in there. You’d only get away with a second degree burn if the blaster bolt just skimmed you and didn’t actually hit. Skin around the blaster wound would be white or black.

A skimming shot (2nd degree burn) would actually be the most painful, because once you get to 3rd and 4th degree burns, the nerve endings are destroyed so you don’t feel any pain. Which means that when you get shot with a full-power blaster bolt, you might feel a momentary flash of pain, but then nothing, and if the shot doesn’t immediately down you, you’d probably just keep going, and you might not even notice. Which. Imagine the angst potential of a clone trooper being shot 3 or 4 times and just. not knowing. Clone troopers who keep fighting despite being riddled with blaster bolts, right up until they collapse dead, never even knowing they were shot. Oof.

On the other hand, a weaker shot, say, one that hit a weak point in your armor or came from an underpowered blaster, might dissipate slightly on contact, meaning you’d still get the deep wound that wouldn’t hurt, but there’d be a small area of 3rd and 2nd degree burn around the opening, which would hurt like hell. A painful blaster wound would be a good sign, since it means it isn’t as deep.

Treating blaster burns wouldn’t be quite like real-world burn treatment, because real-world burns, especially severe 3rd and 4th degree burns, tend to cover a lot more surface area of the body than a blaster bolt would, because the things that tend to burn you that badly are not tiny and focused like a blaster bolt. Which means a blaster wound is probably less lethal than severe 4th degree burns, so yay for that i guess. Bacta patches, as well as the ability to cover the entire wound site easily without risking damage to delicate tissue, would greatly reduce the risk of infection.

Treatment involves excision (removal) of dead tissue, and usually for 3rd degree burns, skin grafts. 4th degree burns tend to need amputation- but I’m not sure if that would apply in a situation where the burn is deep but very small- instead of burning your fingers down to the bones (don’t go look at the wikipedia article for burns unless you want to see that), it’s just one small area of your body, with living tissue all around it. And since Star Wars has Magic Healing Juice, clone medics probably don’t need to go around performing amputations on everyone who gets shot in a limb. 

I think that burn treatment in the Clone Wars would be somewhat like this:

-in the field, slap a big ol’ bacta patch on it, to protect the wound and help stabilize the patient until further treatment can be performed (bacta would help the body handle the sudden physical trauma, as well as actively fight off any infectious microorganisms). Most blaster burns would probably heal okay with just a bacta patch (see: Rex on Saleucami), but really won’t heal properly without actual treatment. (Although Rex seemed to be just fine the next day, despite the nerve damage that immobilized his arm. My personal theory is that Kix used some sort of mega bacta patch, a step up from the standard. The little blinky lights on it indicate that it has electric components for some reason, so my interpretation is that somehow that bacta patch has Extra Features (tm) that allow it to regenerate nerves)

-once there is more time, the patient can be treated for reals. Removal of dead tissue could be accomplished by a medic with a scalpel, but it would also be interesting if there was a patch or ointment of some kind which was applied to a wound which would just, dissolve the dead tissue without damaging the surrounding tissue. Perhaps it involves some sort of microbe. Sort of like those tanks of tiny fish you stick your feet in and they nibble all the dead skin off your toes? Like that, but microscopic and for wound care. 

-the medic would then apply a burn patch, which is essentially a specialized bacta patch. The patch not only applies bacta to the wound, but also contains a pre-generated skin graft, so that as the wound heals, it incorporates the skin tissue from the patch into the healing wound site. The patch is not meant to be removed or replaced. Eventually, once the wound is healed, the top layer of the bacta patch is shed like dead skin flaking off a sunburn. These patches were developed specifically for the GAR, and can only be used on clones, since the skin tissue is generated from clone stem cells. The burn patches greatly speed up and improve burn treatment, since clone medics don’t have to go back in later and perform a skin graft, and subsequently monitor the healing of two wound sites, which would greatly increase the chance of infection. 

-Nerve regeneration does not always occur with the standard burn patches, and if it does, is not always complete or perfect. Many clones, therefore, have small numb patches at the sites of old blaster wounds. They may also suffer chronic cutaneous pain at those sites. Unlike in the real world, treatment for this would exist, but would not be available to clone troopers since clone trooper healthcare sucks.

-Nerve-regenerating treatments, like Rex received on Saleucami, are expensive, and are only used when the nerve damage is severe enough to be disabling (e.g. Rex’s arm). The special patches are particularly costly, and normally Kix would have waited until Rex was back in the medbay in order to apply a slightly less costly treatment for his nerve damage, but since they weren’t able to transport Rex and had to treat him in the field, and the nerve-regeneration treatments become less effective the longer treatment is delayed, Kix used the Mega-Healing Patch right away. 

-so post-engagement med-bays would have the following procedure: blaster wound patients who are well enough to move on their own (which is more of them than you might expect, since they’re not bleeding out or immobilized by pain), would line up in the med-bay, probably along a wall or in a designated area. Medical techs would go around, removing armor and blacks around wound sites and cleaning the area with water. They would then apply debriding ointment (the dead-tissue-eating stuff), and move on to the next patient while the microscopic pedicure fishes do their jobs. The patient would be checked every ten minutes or so to see if the ointment has finished removing all of the dead tissue. I think it would be cool if the ointment fizzed as it worked, due to the microorganisms releasing gasses as they metabolize dead tissue, and once the ointment stops fizzing, you know it’s done.

 Once that is done, the ointment is gently removed, and a burn patch is applied. The patient is assessed for further treatment, paperwork is filled out, painkillers given if the wound is less severe (and therefore painful), and the trooper is free to go. Troopers would probably be talking to each other and cracking jokes, singing songs, or complaining about being bored. Most of them aren’t even in pain. Medics aren’t at all reluctant to physically hogtie a trooper to prevent them from moving since it’s easy to forget that you’re wounded and start roughhousing with your brothers.

-improperly treated blaster wounds, i.e. ones that only received a bacta patch instead of a burn patch, would take much longer to heal, would leave a more noticeable scar, and would cause the skin and muscle of the healing wound to contract, which could be painful and limit mobility, depending on the location of the wound.

-which is why it is common practice to check your squad-mates for blaster wounds they may have missed after engagements, and it’s not uncommon for a medic to menacingly track you down like “I know you got shot, i saw it happen, now get your ass into my med bay before i write you up for clinical stupidity”

so ANYWAY there’s my Clone Wars Medical Headcanon of the day, happy new year. I’m going to go back to writing my smut and if anyone can guess the pairing i will be VERY impressed

MORE under the cut because i fell down a bit of a rabbit hole lol

OKAY so dehydration is a big concern with burns because the skin is what retains fluid and severe burns obviously damage your skin. Fluid leaks from the burn area, since the skin is no longer present to contain it, and this leads to loss of electrolytes and dehydration, and can be lethal. From my brief google foray, it seems that it wouldn’t be a huge concern for blaster wounds, since the surface area that is burned is very small. However, multiple blaster wounds would probably be dangerously dehydrating. Clone troopers in standard blaster wound treatment (i.e. the guys sitting around bored while the debriding ointment fizzes) are probably fine with oral rehydration, meaning that someone shoves a bottle of rehydration formula at them and makes them drink it while they wait. 

Patients with more severe blaster wounds are probably kept hydrated intravenously.

There are also potential complications during or after wound healing that are very interesting! Fluids continue to leak from damaged tissue while the wound is healing, and if the surface heals before the deep tissue, can lead to edema (basically, accumulation of fluid in body tissue) can occur. Edemas get worse with rehydration. If the wound doesn’t heal quite right, it can form a compartment, which is a closed space of muscle tissue, nerves, and blood vessels, surrounded by a fascia, which doesn’t stretch. If fluid is leaking into the compartment, the pressure can compress capillaries and nerves, which is called compartment syndrome. Troopers would be told to look out for the symptoms after they are released from medbay. Symptoms include:

-severe pain, out of proportion to the wound, which does not respond to pain medication

-paleness of skin

-weakness or, in severe cases, paralysis of limb

-prolonged capillary refill time (takes a long time for capillaries to refill with blood)

This would have to be surgically treated. 

3rd degree burns in real life can take months or years to heal. Due to Star Wars Advanced Healing Juice, and clone trooper genetic enhancements allowing them to heal faster than standard humans, this time is reduced to weeks or even days (again, see Rex on Saleucami). 

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-09-29

More Homestuck time!  Continuing on the outside-canon plot.  Livebloggin’ starts now...

> CHAPTER 14. The Best Laid Plans

Wait, who’s house is this?  Was this Roxy’s?  (When I saw a glimpse browsing my twitter feed during the debate, I saw Yiffy on the ground accosted.)

> (==>)

THEY’RE JUST HOME?!?!?????

HOW???  HOW could the heat be off so badly?

Jane’s arrogant, but one of the CHARACTERISTICS of her arrogance is that she underestimates the character and capability of her political opponents.  How would she NOT consider the possibility that these kids would return home again even while the heat was on??  How would she assume that JOHN would be too smart to come back to--

...oh right, she may not know John is involved or willing to do anything.  That’s fair.  But the kids??

I’m sure there’s going to be SOME sort of explanation of why the heat is off.  Also, I wonder who made that anti-Jane battle plan chart?  John himself, or Karkat or something?  Karkat’s usually the chart-er.

JOHN: wow, i feel like i'm barely keeping myself sitting. JOHN: if it weren't for keeping you kids safe i'd be out there right now!

Hm.  Are they counting on the fact that Crockercorp would KNOW that John and Vriska are both there to intimidate them from moving in against them?  From a sheer difference-in-firepower standpoint after Vriska’s big display?

HARRY: and some of us aren't gods and shit. JOHN: i'm detecting a hint of judgement in your voice, there, harry anderson JOHN: don't you enjoy being a part of all this? finally getting to be in the thick of it all? HARRY: i mean i was having a fine time at school, if i'm being honest. HARRY: all this tear-assing back and forth between my home and various points of interest over the past few days has me pretty beat.

Yeah, most kids don’t appreciate being involved in war.  Even Vrissy immediately showed some regrets no matter how much she liked to think of herself as wanting to get out there.

HARRY: also i wouldn't call this "the thick of it all" JOHN: oof, getting air quotes'd by my own son. JOHN: we had to hide in a forsythia bush on the way back here when that drone flew by! JOHN: that's the thick of father-son hijinks if i ever saw it! JOHN: well, modern day war hijinks, but i'll take what i can get, you know??

(Be more considerate, John!!)  Hm, so they DID sneak their way back in here?  I mean, John’s powers may have helped them get through unnoticed, but this is still a big stretch.

HARRY: i'm not knocking the old adrenaline thrill, or helping out Vrissy's moms or anything. HARRY: i'm just saying i was literally just here and you told me to leave, so i hope this is where we're gonna park it for a minute. HARRY: a boy's gotta breathe. JOHN: yeah, well, this wasn't my plan, either. JOHN: but rose sent out some false intel about us heading toward my house, so technically this is the safest place we can be right now, since they cleared the area and everything. JOHN: i guess.

Ahhhh.  Okay.  Yeah, a Seer of Light can float an attention lure and know it’ll be an effective enough distraction.

HARRY: hmm. JOHN: what? HARRY: now YOU look like you're hiding some extra commentary. JOHN: oh, i don't need to burden you with all the bureaucratic stuff, it's boring. HARRY: well now hold up, dad. HARRY: a minute ago you were all "we're in the fight together," and now you're backing out of sharing the details? JOHN: it's not really- HARRY: am i a part of this or not? JOHN: well i'd sure say you were! JOHN: but i guess maybe my thoughts on what is or isn't right for the operation aren't up to snuff. JOHN: because here i am, sitting in the dugout, same as you. HARRY: in the dugout?

Mhmm, John’s sore about Rose not counting on John as a heavy hitter.  He got back INTO this in part because he missed all the action and relevance, and now they’re telling him to stop and stand still?  That’s never been a command John’s easily agreed with.  For now, protecting the kids (Blood!) is enough to keep him sitting, but if they (and Vriska) start encouraging him...

HARRY: plus i wouldn’t have been able to get your measurements for some clothes that actually fit you if we hadn’t come back here where all my sewing stuff is.

Thank god, we might get a non-embarrassing god-pajamas John back

HARRY: you were getting pretty into everything back there with rose and them? getting to be with the old crew and everything, like the stories you told me about the game? JOHN: yeah. HARRY: that sucks. JOHN: i had a good plan, too! JOHN: it just wasn't good enough for karkat, i guess. JOHN: i'm just not "experienced enough in combat strategy"

Oh huh, so that’s John’s discarded plan he’s holding.  Karkat's faction hasn’t quite succeeded the bloody (heh) way so far, perhaps he needs John’s Breath to add some inspiration to it for the most success but they’re not giving him enough credit?  It’s hard to blame them for doubting him, though.

JOHN: that is a plus of being here, at least. JOHN: it's been really nice to get to spend so much time with you. HARRY: um. yeah, it's not so bad. HARRY: anyway, before you ruffle my hair or anything, it looks like things are getting a bit heated between the vriskas over there. HARRY: maybe we should offer them a snack to bring the mood back down? JOHN: me, mess up your hair when you’ve worked so hard on that look? i do know you at least that well, harry anderson HARRY: thank god.

Cute!

VRISKA: So you actually want to know what I’m thinking now? You want my opinion? VRISSY: Um...Yes? VRISSY: I'm not Really Sure what’s going on right Now. VRISKA: What? VRISSY: I just was wondering why you’re so pissed off at me. VRISKA: What the fuck are you talking about? VRISKA: I’m not pissed at you, you haven’t done shit 8asically at all since i’ve been here. VRISKA: I just can’t 8elieve I’m 8ack stuck in this tacky rumpusblock after all of that!

Both Vriskas are constantly assuming the other Vriska is thinking about them because they’re both Vriska, when they’re really both self-cente-- no, that’s not quite true.  Vrissy constantly assumes Vriska is thinking about her when she isn’t, and Vriska is somewhat grated because Vrissy belongs in this universe and she isn’t? Or--

Gosh they both have so many issues going on and firewalls up that I can’t actually make heads or tails of it.  Usually what’s on Vriska’s mind is painfully obvious from her dodges, but Vrissy is so oblique with her OWN weird thought processes that-- god I dunno

VRISSY: We could do Something if You Wanted. VRISKA: Huh? VRISSY: If you’re 8ored. VRISSY: This isn’t my House, but Harry has video games and Movies and shit. VRISSY: Actually, we’re pro8a8ly 8etter off not watching his movies. VRISSY: His taste is Worse than His Dad’s. VRISKA: AGGGHHH!!!!!!!!

They’re from two different worlds, yeah.

VRISKA: No, I don’t want to watch a fucking movie! How the fuck can you think a8out movies????????? VRISKA: How are you okay with any of this? VRISSY: Any of What? VRISKA: 8eing left at home like a couple of dri88ling of wigglers!

Vriska invests all of her self-worth in what she can bring to the table relevance-ways.  Her self-esteem couldn’t survive the sidelines.

VRISKA: How are you so calm right now? Your lusii were training you, right? And you’re a troll, you’re definitely five times stronger than a human! And if you’re my clone, you are way more 8adass than little miss Fussy Fangs. VRISKA: I can’t 8elieve you just stayed 8ehind?!?? VRISSY: Well...they told me to. And they’re my Moms.

COMPLETELY different lives.  Vriska has never really accepted, never really KNEW what “peaceful life” is actually supposed to be, nor how alluring and satisfying it is.

VRISKA: Clearly not a good plan, 8ecause then I would 8e part of it! VRISKA: What’s the point of me even coming to this shitty fake reality if I’m not supposed to fix it?

hahahahahahahaha

VRISSY: Yeah, they told me about That stuff, but a Lot of the Shit that Happened in the Session if just not in the History Books. VRISSY: You weren’t Really mentioned that Much. VRISKA: Excuse me? VRISSY: People know who you Are, 'cause we had to Memorize the names of Every one of the Players, Even the ones who didn’t last very Long. VRISKA: You’re trying to tell me that there’s a whole recorded history of SGRUB, and I’m not in it?  VRISSY: You’re not not in it.  VRISSY: I guess they Mostly Focused on the Creators who Ascended, you know?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

--hm, what if some of the pre-retcon timeline where Vriska WASN’T as involved DID fold its way into this one?  Explaining Jane remembering Gamzee showing up early in her session to sell her troll blood when that was (if we’re remembering right, correct me if I’m wrong) erased by the retcon in favor of Vriska time-traveling in in his place?

VRISKA: Whoever was schoolfeeding you was a complete 8ulgesucker, because I “ascended” 8efore any of the humans did!! VRISKA: Literally 8illions of years 8efore, since our session was the one that created theirs!!!!!!!! VRISKA: I was the 8ne who 8uided John’s 8uffoonish 8lue ass all the way through his first 8ew days in the Medium! VRISKA: I m8de all the plans to take down the J8cks! VRISKA: I SINGLE H8ND8DLY! VRISKA: CURED YOUR MOTHER’S FUCKING ALCH8LISM!!!!!!!! JOHN: uh, vriska, everything okay over there? VRISKA: EVERYTHING’S FINE, J8HN! JOHN: okay. JOHN: do you girls want a snack? VRISKA: AAAAGGH!

HA!

HARRY: vriska, eat whatever. HARRY: just not the zebra cakes, those are mine.

(Zebra cakes are kinda Barbasol-bomb-like, right? Doom thing, because black-and-white stripes like most of the black-and-white-striped explosives in Homestuck? --Nah that’s a stretch.)

> (==>)

--That’s not Jane’s head, that’s JOHN’S head giving a thumbs up.  Wow.

...Your plan prominently features Yiffy even though you didn’t know she existed until a couple hours ago?

JOHN: so anyway, as you can see, this would have worked just fine! HARRY: no i think karkat’s right. this looks like shit, dad. JOHN: you know, me letting your earlier use of the word "fuck" slide wasn't a blanket approval for all cursing in front of me. HARRY: sorry. HARRY: try not to make such a shit plan, and i won't call it that. JOHN: haha wow.

Harry really is his son, wow

HARRY: i mean, i still can't believe i told vrissy and them to bring a dead celebrity to school. HARRY: what was i THINKING. JOHN: you were thinking it sounded hilarious! JOHN: but yeah, in hindsight, maybe not the best call. JOHN: maybe it’s genetic? HARRY: yeah.

Harry really is his son, wow

HARRY: i kinda can’t believe we’re all still alive, actually. HARRY: and how did YOU make it this far, being so bad at this? JOHN: i had my friends with me, i guess.

Pretty much!

Plus, they haven’t really had time to talk about what happened with Dave, yet, and he doesn’t want to tank the mood by bringing him up.

Glad John’s taken some time to deal with that offscreen, so he can keep being cheery here.

He’d spent so long seeing mostly the best parts of Roxy in Harry Anderson. He forgot, he guesses, to look for himself in there, too. And if what they have in common right now is a lack of strategic foresight, hey, he’ll take it.

Hah, fair enough!

JOHN: speaking of friends, i will say the snacks were a good call, at least! JOHN: i don’t hear any more screaming, anyway. JOHN: see, that's one good plan between the two of us!

--they left, didn’t they.

> (==>)

HARRY: oh, that was definitely them leaving, wasn’t it. JOHN: ah.

--So was Vrissy peer-pressured along, or practically abducted?

> (==>)

--Oh, this was the picture I glimpsed and scrolled past on Twitter!  She’s not on the ground, she’s running-- good.

> (==>)

--ALREADY!  Fuck yes!  :D

(and those cute paws on jade’s gloves wow)

> (==>)

--Oh I thought that was an air-lift! No, they were just diving to the ground with her.

Man, the pacing of this panel-to-panel composition throws me SO much.  Stuff happens without being properly established, and we’re shown the wrong keyframes to internalize it easily.  (I hope I don’t have to keep mentioning how much I miss Andrew’s talent at it, even though the art WITHIN panels is better here.)

So Jane is confronting them with soldiers.

ROSE: Oh, is this one of those rare and marvelous beasts, the "villain speech"? ROSE: I've written one or two in my time. ROSE: I'm on the edge of my seat. I hope it's better than your political material; I've always found that rather trite. JANE: I haven't given a political speech in years, Ms. Lalonde. I don't know what you're referring to. I'm just a simple business woman. JADE: right with her own talk show JADE: and multi billion dollar merchant company and lobbying groups! JANE: That's what a business woman is, Jade, dear.

--ah, in this perspective maybe Jane DOESN’T have the resources to be “everywhere” yet.  Makes more sense that they could’ve left the home unguarded.

JANE: But enough of that. I'll skip straight to the point. JANE: You are on my territory, in the presence of my secret police, laying your hand on my investment.

QUIT DEHUMANIZING THE GIRL

JANE: You think I come anywhere unprepared? I haven't left the house without an armed guard in years. ROSE: Is it the libidinous power rush that comes from snapping your fingers at men with guns, or are you worried that you might accidentally do something heroic?

Rose usually has decent snapbacks I guess

I don’t think Rose’s plan was to admit themselves into custody like Jane is asking, but I’m not ruling it out.

> (==>)

(this image is so cute)

JADE: wow could you be any more full of yourself?? JADE: shut the fuck up for a minute and look up!

> (==>)

Ahwhoops.  Jane misunderstood who’s in control of the situation.

> (==>)

Ooh!  That’s threatening.  :)

(Tavros is playing along, but he doesn’t HAVE to fake that sweat.)

KANAYA: If You Make One Single Move I Will Bite Him Directly On The Exterior Shout Tunnel KANAYA:  I Will Turn Your Son Into A Rainbow Drinker KANAYA: Then You Will Have A Rainbow Drinker Son JANE: That's not how troll vampirism works, don't treat me like an imbecile! JANE: You think I don't know everything there is to know about your disgusting biology? KANAYA: KANAYA: Okay Then I Will Just Break His Fucking Neck

HAH

Yeah, mutual child-threat standoff.  Jane isn’t going to make that sacrifice, AND can’t be SEEN making that sacrifice.

> (==>)

Jane Crocker hesitates.

This is something that she used to do regularly. Hesitate. Stop and think and weigh her options. Talk out every possible scenario and the impact they might have, morally and optically and socially. What would the political apparatus think? What would her social media followers think, her friends? As the years went by and she honed her instincts, she found herself doing this less and less.

Yeah, the difference between deserving a Just death or not is whether you’re willing to check yourself and allow another’s will to override your own.  To allow someone who ISN’T you to have a say in how reality unfolds, to consider that what you want may not be right.

The impact that her words made became lessened when spread out across such a wide and thirsty audience, as public sentiment began to swing her way. She stopped thinking about how she would be received, and more about how she could play to the people she knew would receive her favorably. 

Yeesh.  Topical.

Looking up she sees Tavvy with tears in his eyes. Rage and guilt surge inside her. This situation is not her fault.

Anger is based in fear.  Jane is not just afraid for Tavros, but afraid that she’s at fault.  And the more she fears and has to deny that, the angrier she’ll get.

Is it angry enough to make a rash decision here?

> (==>)

JANE: This situation is not my fault! 

Jesus, she even said it out loud?

JANE: I'm the only one who has taken any interest in her upbringing or education! JANE: Or have you forgotten who has been paying for her schooling and taking charge of her introduction into society? JADE: i never asked you to do that! JADE: you offered! JADE: so stop calling me ungrateful for not sucking your dick over things i never asked for!

Taking something that was a clear, ostensibly-selfless gift and using it as a transactional club.  I hate that.  Nothing shows how transparently little you actually believed in the “selfless thing to do” than that.

> (==>)

She can't just stand here and let herself be humiliated, allowing two architects of the insurgency mess her around like this.

If they were to kill Tavros, the entire world would see them commit this war crime. And weighed in the balance, Lalonde and Harley would be off the playing board. Saving your daughter certainly counted as a heroic death, and with the damage they'd done to humanity, it would also probably be just.

Tavros has not called out for her once. Perhaps he knows what her choice was always going to be.

Whoa you made that choice pretty easily, psycho-Jane.  Are you actually gonna try it???

> (==>)

JAKE: Tavvy! 

Oh shit, the plan!  :D

--if Jake isn’t just.  Um.  Taking the threat to Tavvy seriously, not having realized this was a bluff.  Um.  Jake?

> (==>)

That looks like he’s taking it seriously.  Shit.

At least Jane will look like even MORE of a monster if she gives the order this way.

> (==>)

JANE: Stand down!

I don’t think Jake’s gonna listen to you when it comes to Tav’s safety anymore.

> (==>)

JANE: Get out of my sight.

Oh.

Is she letting Jade, Rose and Yiffy go?  --probably, but it’s unclear.

Damn this panel-to-panel framing not conveying what’s going on properly.

Guess that’s it for now!  Patreon Commentary....... I’ve been putting off the commentary backlog for a long time, but I think the Homestuck Commentary coverage deficit still has to wait a while longer because the World Is A Fuck and I have to devote more time to stress relief than usual.  Take care y’all

EDIT: extra bit on gamzee corpse here

[angelwars11]

PART 1

*finally gets my siblings up and we all sit down on the bed* Alright y'all, time to watch this shit. Let's get itttt!!

*new ominous pre-intro comes in* "A LUCASFILM LIMITED production. "

Me: Oh, we starting like this. Wtf!! Okay, dude, I have goosebumps. Holy shit. *Calming facade is down. Is totally unaware and unprepared for what's coming*

*fanfare jumpscare*

Me: *startles* *grabs my heart*

Heart monitor: *beep beep beep, beeeeeeeeeeep~*

Me: OH MY GOD!!! *cough violently like Grevious* Holy shit. The fanfare, holy shit. I'mma—*notices red logo* *starts to hyperventilate*

*Another very different and new red title* "Part 1. Olds Friends Not Forgotten. "

Me: *gasps sharply* THAT IS SO COOL!!! I'mma cryyy *sniffles*

Yularen: *comes in clutch with the narrator recap*

Me: Yoooo!! What's up my dude?!

*see Grevious* Damn, I mean, General Grevious lookin good though. You see that animation! DAMN! Best design ever!

Yularen: "Republic forces are pushed to the brink. In response to this overwhelming attack. The Jedi Council had dispatched it's Generals far from the Core Worlds. "

CALEB DUME aka. KANAN JARRUS!! Ahhh!! Look at my son!

*sees Plo Koon in his Delta 7 inteceptor* "Ummm, no, stop it. Stop. That looks familiar. *shakes head violently* No. Be quiet.

*sees Aayla and Bly* *inhales sharply* *chokes on saliva* "Aayla Secura is where? OH SHIT. Is that Felucia?! NO, FUCK. "

(The clone troopers look so fucking amazing. Their armor is heavily detailed with the amount of scratches and dents covering them. It makes their armor look rough. OMG! This is literally 'nose bleed heaven' I am in right now!!)

Me: *dances* They onn a bridgeee, they on a—HOLY SHIT!! That's a big ass cannon," *watches the cannon blast fire upwards* Ohhhhh~ That's, uh, not good! Oh shit!! AH! Cody DODGE NOW!!!

*stares at the tv* Holy. Sh—

*light saber unleashed*

Me: OOhhh!! Who the fu—ACK! Obi-Wan coming out of the CUT alllll BEAUTIFUL!!!

LOOK at the lightsaber light pouring through the dust cloud surrounding him🤩 *blood pours out of my nose* His magnificent graying beard, so beautiful. I LOVE how there's a limp piece of hair bouncing on the side of his head, it's so satisfying. And the way he slowly looks over his shoulder at Cody like: "Must protect my husband!" OMG, I love them so much, CodyWan forever!!! Bless Dave Filoni for giving us that scene because, it was beautiful😍 God, the animation. 😍I'mma—😵😳

Cody: "General?!"

Me: MmmmmHmmmm. *wiggles eyebrows*

Obi-Wan: "Cody, get down!"

Me: Protect Cody!! Holy fu—Cody, stop staring at Obi-Wan and take cover, yes I know he's hot as fuck, my sister thinks so too, so do I—That's NOT the point. Just GET your ASS DOWN!! You can stare at him all you want later.

Obi-Wan: "Anakin, where are you?"

Anakin: *jump scares* "I'm right here. "

Me: ⬇⬇

Me: I SWEARRRR. You are so lucky I don't have a gun because I would've BLASTED you to the other side of this GODDAMN BRIDGE. The fuck is wrong with you, you lucky mother fucker.

Anakin: "What are you doing down there. "

Me: 🤣🤡 Shut the fuck up!

Anakin: *dodges a fucking blaster beam* I'm dea—🤣 ANAKIN. You cray cray!

*all shots miss Anakin while he stands right there in plain sight on top of MOTHER FUCKING debris*

Me: Hehhehehheeee—OH my GoD!! Anakin!! Get DOWN FROM THEREeEe. They gonna shoot you, bro!

Obi-Wan: "What are you up to? Where is Captain Rex?"

Me: Yeah, what are you up to? *suspicious*

*Nobody stays seated while Anakin walks straight at the enemy. Managing not to get fucking smacked*

Me: "Y'all DUMB ASS droids can't SHOOT!! Ohhhhhh myyyy goddddd!!" 🤣🤣

Anakin: "I have come to surrender. Your forces fought valiantly. I must admit we are overmatched by your superior fire power. " Me: "Tell me y'all ain't gonna fall for this. If you beli—"

Me: *inhales sharply*

Dumb and Dumber: "Surrender. That's a relief. Notify the tactical droid. "

Me: ⬇⬇

*sighs heavily* They believed him. 💀

*scope shows up* The fuck?! Oh, is that Rexy Boi™ *gasps* R2!!!

Rex telling his squad they have to wait a little longer to hang upside down on the bridge. They all *groan* "Sir, yes, sir. "

ME: 😆 They want to fly so fucking badly!!

OoooWe!! They've got JET PACKS!!! Oooo, we bougie MOTHER FUCKAASSSSS!!! *dances to the epic music*

*nobody stays seated while the Clone Troopers kick ass*

Obi-Wan: "Bravo Anakin, you've done it again. "

Me: 🥺🥺

Anakin: "Oh, I can't take all the credit. You staying back really sold my surrender talk. " *Obi-Wan smiles*

Obi-Wan: "Always glad to help my friend. " *they smile at each other*

Also me: *cries internally* 😭😍

Anakin: "Skywalker here, what is it Admiral?" Me: *gasps* Admiral: "Sir. We received a transmission from someone using a subspace frequency. Fulcrum. "

Me: *stops breathing* FULCRUM. 💀 Ah—Ah—AhCHOO! *wheezes* Oooh, bless me.

*the transmitter room scene from the trailer* Me: *screeches* Anakin: "Alright, Admiral. What's so important you brought us all the... Way... Back...here." *sees Ahsoka*

(*PAUSE* I noticed that Rex is not here in this SCENE!! Woahhh~ Just wanted to point that out! Okay, sorry, *unpause*)

Ahsoka: *turns around* "Hello Master. It's been a while. " Me: 😍😍😍😍😍

Anakin: "Ah—Ahsoka. Wha— *scoffs*I don't believe it, " *voice goes two octaves higher* "How are you? Where are you?" *voice softens to be protective* "Are you okay?"

My heart: ⬇⬇

(SKIP)

*Mandalorian ship comes in* Me: *tears coming down my face*

Aaaahhhh!!! R2 D2 rolled up to Ahsoka to say hi!! OMG, cutie pie!!😍🥺 My heartttttt😭

Anakin tries to say Hi to Ahsoka but she's just like, "Can't do that right now. " Me: *snaps my own neck* Damn. Heyo!! He's literally hanging by a THREAD, a measly THREAD over the fucking pool called the DARK SIDE. And you treating him like that, focusing on the war and not a hug, mannn, Anakin is about to take a 'dippity dip' in this goddamn pool. Smh.

Bo-Katan: "He murdered their ruler. My sister. I thought she meant something to you. "

Me: *visibly sees Obi-Wan look sad* Satineeeee😭😭😭 No, Obi-Wan, it's okay!!

(SKIP)

*when the troopers pass by and salute to Ahsoka* Me: UwU

REX'S SMILE 👑 when she walks in😍 "Glad to have you back, Commander. " *smiles again* 👑 "Rex. Thank you. But you don't have to call me Commander anymore. " "Sure thing, Commander." *smiles AGAIN* 👑

Me: 😭😭 Rex, I SWEAR TO GOD, if you don't stop SMITING me with those SMILES BRO. Just chill. Please. Do it again and I'—

*alarm goes off* God fucking dammit. *sees the troopers scrambling in the background* HAHAHHAHHA😆😆🤣

*stops laughing* Who's in trouble? The Chancellor. Hahahaha, who's that? Ohhh, you mean Buttcheeksakin. Yeahhh~🤣 Nobody cares!!

Ahsoka: "I understand, that it's your usual playing politics. This is why the people have lost faith in the Jedi. I had too. Until I was reminded of what the order means to people who truly need us. "

Obi-Wan: "Right now people on Coruscant need us. "

Ahsoka: "No, the Chancellor needs you. "

Me: *nose bleed* "Damnnnn, say it again for the people in the back!!! Ughh, feisty Ahsoka is sexy. " 😍

REX GETTING WHAAA, PROMOTED?! I knew this day was coming for sooo long *sniffles* I'm so proud.

*music heightens it's pitch* HER LIGHTSABERS😭😭😭

Ahsokaaaa got her lightsabers BACK!! Looking snazzyyyy, looking beautiful, you look hot honey! And a BONUS, they are BLUE!! Hot DAMN!! 💙💙

Ahsoka: "Anakin... " *Anakin turns around* "Good luck. " *Anakin smiles with pride*

Me: *ugly sobs*

*Nobody stays seated while, 'Love pledge' plays in the background*

Me: *cries harder* WHYYYY😭😭😭

'Commander' REX. Whereeee areee youuu?! Ah, there you darling. Beautiful bby boyyyy, you deserve it!!! 😍😍😍

*spots someone behind Rex* Who Issss...?? Oh, JESSE!! Heyyy~ *waves* ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡ )

Rex: "Sorry, I didn't think to bring you a jetpack?" Ahsoka: "Don't need one. " *Nobody will ever fucking stay seated while Rex gives the mother of all amused smirks* 👑

(THIS beautiful smirk⬆ I know I WILL be watching 60 more times after I finish this goddamn episode 🥵)

PART 2 of my reaction coming soon!! (Nah, I'm serious, it'll be here. Just hold your horses!)

Link to part 2!! ⬇

[jayne-hecate-writer]

The Mandalorian... In Lego form

What can I add to the praise about the Disney Plus series, The Mandalorian, that has not already been said?

Yes, it is really very good, I was captivated within the first minute and was heart broken during the third episode, entitled The Sin, when the Mandalorian handed over the child to the Imperial officer, played so beautifully by Werner Herzog. Of them all, it is probably episodes three and four that are my favourites, showing the more gentle side to the character. But let us be honest, when choosing favourite episodes of this series, we the viewer have been rather spoilt because there is not a dud among them. Not even the sixth episode, which was a heist story and could easily have been done rather badly, but wasn’t and even included a fabulously dry Dave Filoni cameo as a New Republic pilot. No, not a single missed beat, bad line or failed joke throughout series one.

This is not to say that it does not have its cold brutal moments though, the Quarren being bisected in the first episode was utterly shocking, you even hear his legs heit the floor! Encasing the good natured Mythol in carbonite was really mean. Yet, they saved the humour of child abuse right up until the end and the speeder scouts indifference in violently handling the child. These moments of suffering are balanced so perfectly with real heart and leave a lump in the throat, even when dealing with an assassin droid walking into a lava flow. Terminator eat your heart out!

So, it must be time to combine some of the biggest loves of my rather childish, adult life into one hobby, namely my love of Star Wars and my love of Lego. With every new franchise released under the Star Wars banner, Lego get good dibs on making tie in sets. With the release of the Mandalorian, the Lego sets have been exceptional and if you have not yet seen them, you should go and have a look at the Brickset page.

The first set, number 75254 or AT-ST Raider is a glorious reworking of the beloved Imperial walker, as seen during the Battle of Endor, but here it comes with loose wiring and scratched paint. The colours are indicative of rust, repainting of old worn out parts and some battle damage, all achieved with coloured bricks and several stickers. The effect is really very pleasing and the walker stands at just over twenty five centimetres tall. All that it is missing is the red glow in the cocpit. The minfigs that come with this set just wonderful. Cara Dune, played so effortlessly well by Gina Carono in the show, is a really lovely minifig, although having a globally available minifig of your character must be exciting even for a movie star. Along with the walker come two raider pilots and then even Mando himself, in his dirty and mismatched armour, which is a little odd. By this point in the show, when he meets and briefly fights with Cara Dune, he already has his new Beskar cuirass of armour, complete in shining silver. So one has to ask why he is presented to us in the older colours of his armour that was destroyed by the Mudhorn in the second episode? Over all though, 75254 is a lovely set, even with the annoyance of having to apply stickers (which is a topic that takes on the additional needs of disability issues for me and my manky old lady fingers), rather than using printed pieces.

Set 75267, the Mandalorian Battle Pack is simple, cheap and rather pretty. This is a basic set with four minifigs, all in various colours of Mandalorian armour which may be different clans, with a small gun emplacement and speeder bike. The warriors are split equally male and female, but I have no idea which is which, due to the lack of lipstick, floral tops and flowing long hair, the usual key indicators used by Lego to show the gender split (stories of my subverting this by placing  the ‘male’ bodies with the ‘female’ heads, are very likely true!). Removing the helmets reveals an unprinted black head, which is slightly disturbing, but this is something that Lego had done for several years now.

The big set of this theme for 2020 has to be the fabulous ship used by the Mandalorian, the beautifully named Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport Ship… Oops yeah, it seems that somebody fucked up. Set number 75292, Razor Crest has in some cases been renamed following claims of trademark usage by another company, who just happen to make Lego compatible sets and some may claim have been guilty of cloning Lego sets without license. Oh dear.

I pre-ordered my set a good three months prior to release and thank the heavens that I did, because it was hopelessly delayed and finally cancelled three days after release and so I had to deal with Lego directly... during a pandemic outbreak... when every anguished parent with a Star Wars addicted child was no doubt screaming for their Mandalorian set too. Lego were hellishly busy and no doubt there were many like me, disappointed Amazon customers scrabbling to find the sets they had ordered weeks before. How many of those adults with debit cards were buying the toy for themselves though, remains a closely guarded industry secret.

When the set arrived, I was impressed by the actual size of the box which was huge and which my cat now uses for a bed! This was just the outer packaging used by Lego to ship the set, but the actual set box was still quite large and also beautifully printed, if surprisingly heavy.

Building the model was fun, even if there is a fair amount of repetition due to the chirality of the ship and the usual struggles with yet more bloody stickers! The engine nacelles are probably the least screen accurate feature, given the rough tooth like arrangement on the front intakes bares little resemblence to the smooth circular versions on the screen rendered ship. This is a tiny little complaint about an otherwise awesome model though. (I am just going to pause here for a moment. Are they really air intakes? Given that this is a spacecraft and it can travel at ‘light-speed’, why does it have these large open front intakes that resemble the compressor fan of a jet engine? Actually, that is a stream of thought that can only lead to sadness, especially with the roar of said engine as it flies across screen, supposedly in space, you know space. The place where NO ONE can hear you scream! But can hear if you miss a gear on your spaceship!)

Minfigs with this set are thoroughly cool, with our classic Mando himself, Din Djarin. He does of course have the child with him and the fidure of the child is adorable. This set also includes Greef Karga, a Scout Trooper and IG11… Um. Once again, this is a potentially confused set. Is this from the first episode or the last two? I don’t recall seeing the Scout troopers in the first episode so much, but they are present and a large part of the finale. Mando does of course have some serious issues with droids, having been orphaned during the Clone Wars, by a B2 Super Battle Droid (Speaking of droids and the Clone Wars, this does explain to me why when Luke and Obi Wan visit Mos Eisley, the cantina owner tells Luke that the droids are not welcome. It was a glaringly obvious issue that I never gave thought to, of course people would mistrust droids, the Clone Wars were a political tool used by a member of the elite, to secure their own power while creating political turmoil in which they could thrive and in which many thousands of innocent people lost their lives. I wonder if this was written to parallel real life, not that we have many examples of this in the real world), which is shown in heart breaking visceral detail during the several flashbacks we see. Again, this is just another element in this series that goes to such great depth to give the characters real heart. Anyway, back to my point, a part of his redemption was Mando coming to accept and even trust a droid, which he does with IG11, despite it being Mando himself who terminated the IG unit to begin with. So with a Scout trooper, IG11 and Greef Karga, would it be fair to say that with the child in hand, Mando should be in his silver Beskar armour? It would appear not and thus Mando is still in his dirty, rusted and damaged armour with this set. At some point they simply must release a set with him in shiny new Beskar, but maybe that will come with the release of Series two.

Over all, the sets released in this theme for 2020 have all been excellent and to an adult child like myself, well worthy of collecting, building and displaying… Because these are not  toys! They are valuable collectors pieces, future antiques and actually rather pretty. Which leads me onto my next section, how to display the models while making them look like something interesting and not just a pile of bricks. I had a space that you could have called a bookshelf, not a great space for books if I am honest, being slightly awkward and on top of my Lego desk. So I decided to fill this space with a Lego Diorama that measures one hundred and six studs wide and twenty four studs deep. It was a crap bookcase and my Lego books kept falling over or worse, falling off altogether to land on whatever I was working on at the time. The gloss painted finish proved to be be sticky, which damaged a couple of my instructions booklets and well, these are the issues you get when you design and build your own furniture, out of scrap wood and offcuts. Yes, the furniture is a bit mismatched in my office, but I made nearly all of it. Maybe one day I will do a show and tell.

The display started as a simple thing, a couple of enclosed boxes in which I could build a pair of scenes. My first scene was the Rebel Alliance looking at a hologram of the Death Star, while planning an attack on the technological terror. It is half based on Episode four with a dash of episode six. I added flickering lights and a large Death Star shell from the planets sets and stood back to admire my work. It was… OK-ish and sat like that for several months as I planned the next box and then what was to go above it.

With the release of the Mandalorian, I knew that the remaining box had to be the Covert, with the Armourer and her forge. I also knew that with the Razor Crest, I wanted some kind of scene above the covert to place both the ship and the AT-ST together, which while technically mixing a couple of episodes set on different worlds, could be seen in the soul of the show, rather than an accurate depiction of the Mandalorian itself. With the addition of some more lights it was all going so well and then I had to re-home Vader's castle, a task of Sisyphean proportions. 

Humour aside, I need a larger office. With my Solo, Rebels, Rogue One, Clone Wars, New Hope and final trilogy themes to my Star Wars Lego display, plus the collection of Technic lego so large it required specialist furniture to be built, I have run out of room. Vader’s castle is thankfully taller than it is wide and it fitted onto the shelf fairly well. It also took lighting effects really nicely and I was pleased with the results, in particular, the glowing hologram of the Emperor that appears in miniature in front of Vader's desk. However, it now looks like I have a nice castle, built on the edge of a run down city slum, with the sewers taken over by rogue blacksmiths and a group of noisy political activists. If any of you can spot the social commentary in here, well done you. Poor old Vader however can barely get any sleep, no wonder his mouse droid keeps leaping off the model and onto my carpet, it wants to escape for some peace!

So now that the office shelves are filled, what should I do next? Well actually, there are some things on the Razor Crest that I am not happy with, aspects that need some work to make it look a little better. First to go is that hideous hole in the top. Yes, it allows you to claw the pod out, but for display, rather than play, the hole is unacceptable. I made my own Moff Gideon (Using Winstone from Ghostbusters for the head and an Imperial Pilot body) and equipped him with a Darksabre. I added a pair of speeder bikes too, one for the scout that came with the Razor Crest and one for a scout that I added later.

I dread to think how much I have spent on this project, there is easily three hundred pounds in sets on my shelf alone, consisting of three large ships, one walker and a castle. There are also the various minifigs I bought from else where, such as the Rebel Alliance leadership and spare Mandalorian warriors. There are all of the lights, the wire and the switches, which cost about twenty pounds. It all adds up rather quickly and luckily for me, most of the Lego consists of bricks that I have collected over the years and a lot of those bricks were second hand.

Was it worth it? Yes it was. Not only was it a lot of fun to plan and build, but as a disabled person, it is nice to have a hobby that I can still manage and do fairly well. It is nothing like climbing a mountain, or wild camping with my mountain bike, but it stopped me going insane with boredom, especially during lockdown. Who knows what I can do next, but it is nice to be back on the technic and building actual gear boxes again.

[sl-walker]

Preview

The air was still a little chilly as the city shook off night and headed into daylight, but despite not being dressed for it, Tally didn't really feel it.

"Mountain medicine?" he asked, incredulously. "Surgeon trained in the best medical schools in the galaxy and you used mountain medicine?"

Dawn was breaking over Aldera in pastel blues and golds; somehow, they had ended up out in the Royal Gardens surrounding the palace, pacing the tended paths and surrounded by the late spring flowers.  Before the pre-dawn glow had even come into the sky, Zan had taken him to an early-opening caf-and-tea shop called Turn Another Leaf on the boulevard that led to said palace, and had bought him a cup of herbal tea (citing that caffeine was the last thing he needed after his stim-overdosing) and the conversation hadn't paused but for that.

Now, Zan wagged a finger, grinning sheepishly. "I didn't use mountain medicine, Frayus did.  I just had it two-day shipped from my family on Talus and explained it to him once he asked me what I would suggest; we keep a stock there, imported from Iridonia.  I figured that your lieutenant probably hadn't been exposed to it, and he wouldn't have built up any tolerance to it, so it might do what it was originally used for."

The first thing they had done was circle each other in conversation, revealing bits and pieces back and forth.  Zan had apparently been a surgeon on Drongar, assigned to an RMSU, a pilot program that was quickly discontinued when the cost of maintaining the mobile surgical units and provisioning them became higher than just letting clone medics do what they could in the hopes of them eventually making it to a medical center.

Because, in the cold calculus of war, it turned out it was cheaper to let badly wounded clones die and be replaced than maintain dedicated on-planet facilities to keeping them alive.

Before that had happened, though, he'd had his hands inside the bodies of hundreds of Tally's brothers, while the GAR tried to protect the very expensive 'medical miracle' called bota.  Tally remembered some talk about it; it had been a cure-all, until a retrovirus introduced by someone -- no one even knew which side or if it was an outside group, everyone disclaimed responsibility -- had altered its genetic structure, making it permanently unusable and nothing more than a prolific weed.  Having no monetary investment to protect anymore, both sides abandoned Drongar.

"Someone reported me for using it on patients, back when it still worked -- troops and natural born soldiers -- and it turned into a mess," had been Zan's explanation, when it was still dark and they'd only just gotten started, and while that wasn't enough to win Tally's trust fully, his estimation of the zabrak went up several fold anyway.  Because bota was so expensive and coveted that of course it was for the rich and powerful civilians and not the people dying and bleeding to protect it; that Zan went against that (and paid for it) definitely was enough to catch Tally's attention and tentative admiration.  "I come from a wealthy, powerful family; they would have made an example of me if I hadn't.  Still, I was disgraced; I escaped criminal charges of treason and theft, but I was thrown out of the army and stripped of my accreditation in the civilian sector.  I had to pay back my wages, lousy as those were."  He had shaken his head there, heaving out a heavy-sounding sigh. "I'm good enough with a quetarra to live well, but--"

"Do you miss it?" Tally had asked, pointedly.

"I didn't think I would, but yeah."  Zan had held out his hands, fingers splayed, looking down at them. "At first, I was just relieved to get away without a criminal record, and to get away from the blood and gore and misery of the front lines, but-- yeah, I miss it.  Not war, but being a doctor.  Medicine.  Surgery."

In between all but interrogating Zan, Tally revealed little bits and pieces of how he knew what he did; it wasn't until they had been talking for awhile that he realized Zan was letting him get away with not ponying up an equal amount of information, and while that made him wary, he was kind of grateful for it, too.

Now, most of Zan's history was out in the open and the talk had turned to current medicine; in this case, a mountain flower native to Iridonia called rasash.  Because it was the first time Tally had ever had a doctor and a zabrak to prod for information and there was only so far that medical texts could take him.

"How'd you know that it would work on a hybrid?" he asked, plunking himself down to sit on a bench and finishing the dregs of his herbal tea; he'd gotten rid of the headache, but he could still feel his own exhaustion.

"I didn't, but even if it didn't work, it wouldn't have hurt him any.  Humans occasionally gain a taste for it; it doesn't have any medicinal effect on them, though."  Zan shrugged and lowered himself down to sit at the other end of the bench. "It was known to work on inflammation in zabraks long before we kept records of those things, old clan remedies.  Over the past tens of thousands of years, it became a common thing in most family pantries; everyone stocks it, drinks it, and it doesn't really do anything for anyone these days because it's so commonplace everyone's built up a tolerance.  It's tradition, it tastes good and reminds them of home or family.  But since he was isolated, I thought he probably hadn't been exposed to it and that it was worth a try as the most gentle way to get his immune response under control."

Tally had stolen Zan's datapad, which was networked to the palace's medical wing, and had called up Maul's stats.  And they were improved; it wasn't a cure-all, he was still a mess, but he was a mess whose status was under control and who was actually resting properly for the time being.  Slow-wave sleep, something Maul desperately needed at this point.  "How'd you know he was isolated?" Tally asked, bluntly.

Zan's usual reaction to his prodding, especially when it was sharper, seemed to be either amusement or sheepishness.  Now, he sucked a breath in through his teeth and rolled his shoulders in the warm morning light. "That's another long story.  Are you sure you want it now?  You look like you should probably go back to bed for awhile."

"I'm sure."  Tally smiled, just a hint of sharpness in it. "Because I might just be a medic--" And there, Zan snorted at him. "--and you might just be a quetarra player now, but let's not pretend there's no deeper reason why you're here to 'consult' with."

"I can't go into that part," Zan answered, raising his brows again. "Not yet.  That, you'll have to take up with Viceroy Organa."

"I intend to."

"As to the rest--"  The zabrak took a deep breath and let it out, then leaned back against the bench and tipped his head back, sprawling there.  "He approached me after I was back on Talus for a little while, feeling wretched.  He invited me to meet with him.  Then he proceeded to grill me to within a centimeter of my life.  You've talked with him-- he's a gentleman, but he's certainly not lacking any speed.  He had apparently been vetting me before I even knew his name, and he asked me enough questions to make it clear that he knew a lot more about me than any public records might show.  Then, just as I was feeling like I was either being recruited as a spy or about to be buried in an unmarked grave, he offered me a place in Aldera here, and an audition with the Orchestra."

Tally chewed on that for a few moments.  Long enough to feel a little shiver in his spine; a thrill of fear.  Or maybe hope.  Or maybe some tangled up combination of the two, a hint of something much bigger than expected on the horizon.

"And just in case you ever need to know, I'm working on Maul's situation too."

Tally knew his brain wasn't up to speed right now, but he was starting to get the sense of just how far Organa had been going since he'd told Tally that on Corellia.  He had thought the man was trying to find some legal loophole, but now -- presented with a compassionate, principled, disgraced zabrak surgeon who had apparently been maneuvered into this, if kindly -- he was starting to suspect that it was a hell of a lot more direct action in nature.  "He wants to know if those cybernetics can be cracked without killing Maul in the process, doesn't he?"

Zan reached over and swatted him on a shoulder. "Come on, don't push.  I'm sure he'll bring it to you before long.  He made it incredibly clear how much he respects you and how nothing gets done without your involvement."

Tally's eyes wanted to close without his permission (again), but his eyebrows went all the way up at that. And completely outwith himself, he felt a sharp rush of affection for the Senator from Alderaan.  His crush had died on Corellia, but the respect he had for Organa hadn't, and now here was another reminder of why: For Bail's faith in him, for the fact the man was working on exactly what he had said he would, but--

But also, for loving Maul that much.

For the first time since before Felucia, Tally could almost feel hope again.  The loss of Rabbit still was digging a hole in his heart, but he felt a little like he could breathe past it easier than he had been.

[wicoppi]

Villain | Hero in Pursuit | Hero Pursued 

I got this ask when s6 aired and gave an abbreviated response because I had way too much irl stuff going on at the time. But that didn’t stop it from haunting me- there’s a lot to unpack and really it could be answered in a large series. I marked it to follow up on, and so here I am, up two whole brain cells, a bottle of tequila, and an ill advised deal with a devil later... following up on it. 

Anonymous asked: Just a thought... something I think we can only say after [season 6]: so S1-2 the villain was Zarkon, and the arc sorta ended up being Zarkon v Shiro. Then 3-6 would be Lotor, so Lotor v Keith. I guess it makes sense to think now that the next arc would feature Haggar v Allura? Also I was thinking there's some space there for Sendak v Shiro too. Thoughts? 

Voltron: Legendary Defender is easily divided into (3) 26-episode acts, and each act is marked by several storyline transitions, perhaps the most noticeable being the changing of primary antagonists. As pointed out, each villain has been pitted against specific persons on our hero team, but this show has more complexity than a simple 1-for-1 opposition can provide. In VLD, each villain is matched with (2) heroes- one hero who leads the charge and actively pursues the villain, and one hero who is being pursued by the villain as a means to an end. 

In Act 1, Zarkon spent his efforts and resources pursuing Shiro and the Black Lion, but Allura led the charge against him. She called the team to action, trained and prepared them, and determined what the paladins knew of Voltron prior to entering the fight. Allura set the team’s initial overall goals and established the idea seen throughout s1+2 that “defeating Zarkon” equaled “winning the war.” 

In Act 2, Lotor was introduced as the main villain and new leader of the Galra Empire, during which Keith led the obsessive pursuit against him. But after Lotor’s adversity to Zarkon became known, he gained audience with Team Voltron and began winning their favor primarily by pursuing Allura. In conversations, he most often addressed her rather than the group, speaking to her of Altea. Of transforming the Galra Empire, healing and saving the universe. Of rebuilding the coalition her father started. Not to say Lotor was disingenuous in all of this, but he pointedly sought Allura’s favor using terms he knew she understood and identified with in order to sway Voltron to his side. And it’s only when Keith returned at the close of Act 2 with hard evidence of Lotor’s wrong doings (against Alteans) that his spell was broken. 

And in Act 3, Honerva has been set up as the main antagonist; so following this trend we may expect Keith to be the hero pursued and Shiro the hero pursuing.

Of course, this isn’t likely to play out how we’ve come to expect, particularly given the first half of Act 3 featured Sendak. While he certainly fits into the villain category and was a centerpiece of s7 in a way which pushed him past the combination secondary and arc villain he’d previously been, it’s important to remember Sendak was first introduced as Zarkon’s agent and later reintroduced as Haggar’s puppet. It’s important to remember Honerva plays both direct and indirect games. 

Hero pursued- Keith has been on the edge of Honerva’s storyline since s1 when he fought one of her druids, Macidus. Later in s2 he battled more of her followers alongside Thace, and in s4 he was going to destroy her ship’s shield during the battle for Naxzela. And as of s6 Honerva has started returning Keith’s phone calls. First and most significantly by sending clone!Shiro to finish him, but also in 07.05 The Ruins with Macidus’s return. 

Granted most of these are not considered direct plays, but Honerva typically operates from a distance, setting pieces into motion in ways which make her hard to track. Additionally, Honerva now knows a great deal about Team Voltron and their interpersonal dynamics in a way which she has, and undoubtedly will again, manipulate. 

Hero pursuing- Keith and Honerva’s dynamics are subtle, but hers with Shiro are not. We could argue Honerva has been the real villain all along, that Zarkon was a red herring, that Lotor was / is not in opposition to the team, that Sendak was just a distraction. And Shiro has been tied in with her every step along the way. 

When first abducted by the Empire, Shiro was interrogated by Haggar’s druids. She took his arm, outfitted him with his first prosthetic, and credited herself his fighting prowess in the arena. After Shiro’s escape and Voltron’s return, the first robeast she sends to fight them is one whose defeat earned Shiro his title as Champion. And the first time we see Haggar fight someone head-on, she’s fighting Shiro. 

She has manipulated, battered, and used him, going so far as to make him the center of her slow burn take down of his team. But in s6, we follow Honerva’s trek through Oriande through clone!Shiro, implying their connection, their power struggle, is mutual. That Shiro is capable of returning what Honerva deals out. 

This is not to say the rest of the team won’t be involved in Honerva’s undoing. Just as Keith had a hand in Zarkon’s arc and Shiro in Lotor’s, Allura will be a big part of Honerva’s arc. Which is critical because Allura is the only one to have caught Honerva with her pants down,, way back in s2’s finale. That’s not to be forgotten or taken lightly- it’s seen with Shiro, Lotor, and a myriad of others, people do not win against Honerva, they only ever lose badly or come to a draw. But Allura, prior to the majority of her character development, went toe-to-toe with the witch and won. 

It’s going to take more than a single hero can do to save the universe. It’s going to take Keith’s instincts, Allura’s alchemical abilities, Lance’s perceptiveness, Hunk’s compassion and clarity, Pidge’s intellect. It’s going to take Shiro’s ability to unify and inspire. 

VLD is about teamwork, not one person saving the day. Shiro has many strengths- as a fighter, a leader, a survivor, a diplomat, and a strategist. But he cannot win this alone. He came into this story a formed young adult, already having undergone great struggles and personal discoveries, already having achieved greatness. His development was never going to manifest like the rest of the team who were inexperienced and have made obvious leaps and bounds. 

His development has been subtle- Shiro’s greatest asset, his ability to bring people together, has been inhibited by his inability to rely on them. It’s seen with Adam and in parts with how he related to his team, Shiro put ‘the mission’ before relationships and was always prepared to rely only on himself. His need to maintain control and his instinct to shoulder burdens alone weighed him down. 

Which is why Keith saving Shiro, in s7 and across the whole show, is so important- it’s how Shiro has grown. Theirs is one of Shiro’s few relationships we see which pre-dates Kerberos, and it has not only survived, but has thrived. At the onset, Shiro poured a great deal into connecting with Keith for the express purpose of helping Keith, not himself. Shiro expected to gain nothing from this, and yet Shiro is alive because of this bond. Shiro is stronger because he made and fostered a connection with someone who repeatedly and unfailingly covers him when he falters. 

Shiro is stronger for relying on his team. The team is stronger for having endured together. Voltron is stronger for it all. 

This pursuer / pursued arc has been repeated a few times now, and with each new twist in villainy Team Voltron has come closer and closer to working as a unit, as a team. And Sendak’s defeat, their victory for Earth, represents a significant shift in the narrative, because this is the first time this group worked clearly and cohesively together across a long, large-scale battle. And this is due considerably to Shiro’s growth into someone who can not only unify, but can rely on his team. 

When Shiro faced Sendak in s1 they fought to a draw. But Sendak came out on top because his team was there to intervene and forced Shiro to yield. Shiro was strong, but alone. Later Shiro tried to interrogate Sendak (again alone) and was shaken to his core which caused him to falter and left viewers with the sense Shiro has inner demons to overcome. 

Because that’s how this trope is supposed to work- The hero fails the first time they face their big bad, spends the majority of their story growing, facing smaller enemies, working themselves back up to the big boss fight. And that’s what happened with Sendak- nevermind Honerva is actually Shiro’s big boss fight 

Shiro and Sendak’s fight in s7 is a mirror parallel of their first fight. Seasons later the pair are still evenly matched, but this time Shiro’s team is unified and Sendak is alone. Where he discarded his team, literally used them as cannon fodder, Shiro built rapport with his, protected them and trusted them to play their roles. 

Keith delivering the final blow against Sendak was not him stealing Shiro’s hero moment. 

Keith delivering the final blow against Sendak displayed Shiro’s growth into someone who unifies and relies on his teammates. 

Keith delivering the final blow against Sendak underlined, bolded, italicized, and highlighted THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST AND TEAMWORK. 

The point is that teammates, friendships, close relationships, are to be fostered. Are to be protected. Are to be valued. Loyalty is strength. The point is it’s important to have people you can trust to fill in and cover where you cannot. Because that is how they are going to save the universe.

[lurkingcrow]

Some of the posts on my dash have reminded me of certain facts. Which of course set of the little cogs within my brain turning with new crack possibilities…

It is the middle of the Clone Wars, and Asajj Ventress has sworn vengeance upon Count Dooku for the way he betrayed her. Her attempt to use Savage Oppress to obtain her revenge has failed, and the assault on Dathomir has taken a horrendous toll on her Nightsister brethren. And yet, Mother Talzin has shown that Dooku’s defences are not impenetrable. As she kneels amid the barren ruins of her ancestral village, Asajj calls upon the ghostly matron for advice.

The spectre reveals that the method she used is not available to Ventress - not only is she not trained in the deeper Nightsister mysteries but she does not have access to a convenient lock of Dooku’s hair, and have I mentioned how desperately I want the story about that? I mean, how the hell did Talzin manage to get it - what self respecting Sith doesn’t take care not to leave pieces of themselves where practitioners of Dark Magics can get them?

Anyway, that’s obviously not an option here, but Ventress needs to find a way to get past Dooku’s not inconsiderable defences. Mother Talzin points out that while she may not be able to target him directly, even a mighty Sith Lord cannot rid himself of all his connections. It is a longshot, but it is possible that a spell targeted at another might still be able to affect Dooku tangentially. All they need is a piece of something tightly linked to one who Dooku is still connected to…

The Jedi Temple has upped security since the incident with the Holocron Vault - patrols around the archives in particular have been increased, and the computer systems themselves not carry some rather impressive surprises for those attempting to infiltrate them. Security measures around the Jedi’s personal quarters however is not tight - oh the creche is well protected, but most of the Jedi are spending greater and greater periods on deployment and there is little need to guard empty quarters.   

Which is why no one can work out exactly what Ventress was after - her infiltrating the Temple was not completely unexpected, even if she does seem to be running freelance these days, but she didn’t seem to leave with anything of value! No military systems were breached, the archives are intact, and while some initiates report seeing a strange “Knight” wandering the halls there were no attempts at kidnapping (in fact if anything Ventress appeared to be taken aback by the appearance of children in the halls - they will never know the parade of might-have-beens that filled her mind in that moment). Ventress is just glad no-one caught her raiding certain people’s freshers. It was traumatic enough as it was without having to explain why she was raiding hairbrushes.

So having acquired the necessary materials Ventress returns to Dathomir and within  a one of its many sacred caverns begins the ritual, using all her skills to call upon the Darkness to bring “Yoda’s last Padawan” (or “Most powerful” depending on whatever canon has decided regarding certain apprenticeships) to her for the purposes of vengeance.

She’s not sure what exactly she’s expecting (the tie between Dooku and his former Master may not be strong enough to do anything, and who knows exactly how the spell will achieve it ) but it’s certainly not the flash of light followed by the sudden appearance of a young, blonde, human male who is most definitely NOT Count Dooku.

Luke Skywalker is having a very strange day. One moment he’s communing with the Force Ghosts about where best to start rebuilding the Jedi and the next there’s a massive shift in the Force as he finds himself falling in front of a rather intimidating woman standing in the middle of what looks suspiciously like some kind of ritual circle.

He wishes he were more surprised.

But according to Ben’s stories this is exactly the kind of thing that happens to Skywalkers, so he brushes himself off and puts on his best smile to greet the strange Force user. Something doesn’t quite feel right about the atmosphere, the Force isn’t responding the same way as he’s used to, but with any luck this is NOT yet another Imperial loyalist looking to avenge the Emperor's death by torturing the galaxy’s most infamous rebel cum Jedi Knight. “Hello there! I’m afraid I appear to be rather lost. I don't suppose you could tell me where exactly I am? Or why I’ve been brought here?”

Now Ventress is something of an expert in appearing unruffled in the face of unexpected circumstances (usually related to the appearance of Skywalker and Kenobi). So on being faced by a remarkably calm apparition politely enquiring about what's going on, she simply cocks her hip, raises an eyebrow and archly responds; “And who exactly are you?”

This of course leaves Luke somewhat taken aback since, A) his face has featured heavily on wanted posters across the galaxy for the last few years, B) his role as “The Last Jedi” is widely known and he is currently carrying his lightsaber openly on his belt, and C) one would assume that the person performing the Dark ritual would have some idea about who they were targeting. So he keeps it simple.

"I'm Luke." He says, smile never dimming.

Great, thinks Ventress - yet another man who thinks he's so clever. Time to show him she’s not a woman to be take lightly.

"Well then, Luke, I'm afraid this seems like a case of badly mistaken identity.” she says, slowly circling her captive. “ Here I was, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the illustrious Count Dooku so that I can brutally and painfully extract my vengeance, and instead the Force gives me you…” with a quick flick of her wrists her blades are at the ready “...a weak and worthless Jedi.”

Oooh, Luke thinks as his surroundings are bathed in red light, Darksider then. Still - at least she's not actively trying to kill him at the moment, so negotiations might still be possible.

He holds out one hand, palm open, while the other remains in reach of his lightsaber.

“I'm sorry I'm not this, what did you say his name was? Dooku? I don't know the name, I’m afraid. But I have no quarrel with you. If you’ll just let me contact my friends I promise I’ll be out of your way as soon as possible.”

Asajj feels her draw drop.

“What do you mean you don't know the name?!” she hisses. “Are you a complete imbecile?”

The Jedi’s mouth opens as if to respond but one look and his jaw clicks shut.

“Good boy. Now I know you Jedi aren't exactly the brightest of sorts, but I’d at least think you’d be able to recognise the leader of the Separatists, the man responsible for starting the war and your precious Order’s own sworn enemy. Which means…” she presses closer, raising her sabers in a swift movement to frame his throat, only to be intercepted by the Jedi’s own green blade. “

... there's more to you than it appears.”

For all his quick reaction to her threat  the Jedi looks rather shellshocked. Something in her words had left him off balance, and that was very interesting.

She takes a step back, gesturing magnanimously with one hand. “Go on then. Explain. My patience is not infinite.”

Luke takes a deep breath and takes a moment to compose himself. And when he speaks, blue eyes locked with her own, Asajj feels compelled to believe him.

“I don't know the name because by my count the Clone Wars ended decades ago, and the Empire was never exactly keen on acknowledging it's defeated foes.”

Well then.

The discovery that time travel appears possible is somewhat overshadowed by Ventress’ amusement that Dooku was apparently betrayed by his own Master and his memory reduced to little more than a historical footnote. Luke doesn't quite see what's so funny, but makes a point to mention that said Master was himself eventually thrown down a reactor shaft by his apprentice and that just sets off a chain reaction of laughter and they end up sitting against the wall or the cavern exchanging stories about the folly of the Sith.

It turns out to be highly cathartic for them both.

When her laughter clears Ventress admits that she has no idea why Luke ended up in the middle of her spell, and she has no clue how to get him back to wherever he belongs and wait… her spell called for Yoda’s apprentice. Does he know the insufferable little troll?

Yes, Luke sighs, yes he does, did, why does time travel make tenses so hard? But no, before she asks, he can't just go to the Jedi. Not without alerting the Sith Lord and…

Luke looks at Asajj. She looks back. He begins to grin widely as he notes that while it's not exactly what she was looking for,  how would she like to join forces for a worthy cause? That being of course the abject humiliation of the Sith and the complete ruination of all their plans for galactic conquest.

“Oh my dear Jeci” she purrs in response “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!”

And so begins the buddy cop movie we never knew we needed, where Ventress and her time travelling partner set out to foil both Palpatine and Dooku's plans, arguing all the while. Highlights include:

The moment Ventress realises she has voluntarily allied herself with a SKYWALKER and seriously questions her sanity

Luke discovering that apparently it is indeed possible for his sister to yell at him for being an idiot across both space and time, and he will never admit how relieved he is to feel Leia’s presence across their bond. Her knowledge of pre-imperial political history is a secondary benefit.

The time they both end up as impromptu bounty hunters and Luke just cannot get over how tiny Boba Fett is. As it turns out they make a remarkably good team - Luke's raw Force abilities and Asajj’s dueling skills making double crosses an exceedingly bad idea.

Ventress needing to rescue Luke from a dangerous and predatory woman whose intentions he seems not to notice.

Luke getting outraged at the plight of the clones, Ventress getting him drunk, and both of them ranting about slavery while plotting revolution. He wakes up to Leia laughing uproariously in his head which hurts so so much.

Ventress calling Luke “Flyboy” “Kid” “Banthabrain” and just about anything except his actual name.

Luke picking up on the sexual tension between Ventress and Vos and doing everything in his power to encourage it. Ventress would kill him if his foreknowledge wasn't so useful.

Ventress wanting to know who the glowing blue figure that Luke's always talking to is and why he keeps calling her “little sister”

Luke watching his father and Ben in action and being uncomfortably reminded of Han and Leia. Luke watching his father and mother trying to be stealthy and realising why Wedge claims he can't lie for shit. Luke seeing all of them interact and coming to the conclusion that he was meant to have three parents and an older sister and becoming determined to make that a reality in this timeline.

Ventress deciding the kid’s not so bad following a close call with republic authorities and Luke creating an impressively explosive diversion.

Luke hugging Ventress in the ruins of Dathomir and promising they won't be forgotten.

Palpatine wondering why none of his schemes seem to be going as planned and assigning Dooku to find out.

A confrontation in Separatist space where the Jedi become aware that Ventress and her unknown partner are on some kind of secretive quest, and Luke faces Dooku and, much to Ventress’ dismay, decides that he should try to sway his brother-padawan back to the light!

Maul and Savage vs Obi-Wan, Ventress and a very flustered Luke. Could people please stop flirting with his young mentor/uncle/not-father now already?

Luke and Ventress getting caught up in a hostage situation on Coruscant along with several senators and Luke learns why Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala are near legends in the Rebellion - and also that there's no way Mon Mothma hasn't guessed his heritage by now.

Anakin getting irritated that there seems to be someone that he can't outfly and why do they have to be allied with VENTRESS of all people.

And much, much more! 😉

[frostbite883-archive]

DBM Bra hating

These comments won’t be in order. With that said..let’s do it to it.

Tregrenos

So, is it Hyukhyuks turn to eat a Senzu in the middle of the match?

#GetGudBra

Me:...I doubt that would happen seeing as that hulking monster never did carried senzu beans after it’s ‘birth’.

A Poverty-Stricken Antelope

@Tregrenos

Now I understand another reason why I hate Bra: she heals mid-match like a little bi***. She wouldn't last 10 seconds in a Dark Souls duel.

Me: So you say.

Itsarge (gamergater or former GGer) and snowflake exchanging some words with each other.

snowflake:

My view on Bra: She's an awkward character. Literally. She's an entitled princess of a Deity-God-Warrior and Bulma, so she's a overpowered brat with a genius level IQ, and obsessed with strength and being better than everyone, which makes her relationships very one-sided and binary. She literally divides the world up into people stronger than her and not stronger than her, and only acknowledges one person as legitimately stronger than her. No, seriously. It's a problem. Try writing like a tomboy teenage girl would talk, who's obsessed with beating everyone she comes across. At best it would come out as parody. It is hard to find that voice, and harder still to make it resonate with a predominately male audience, and yet harder STILL to do it within the confines of traditional shonen story-telling, from which DBZ is inspired. So Salagir took cues from cocky, pre-redemption Vegeta (not a bad idea). But I believe it only jarred the readers more. The gender-swap seemed obvious and artificial and distracted the reader from the story. The same problem occurs in superhero comics. Iron Man? Everyone accepts that a white dude of indeterminate age can be of genius level intellect, have his own company, and be a superhero/playboy in his copious spare time. Riri Williams? A 15 year old black girl who reverse-engineered Iron Man's tech? Whom he then decided to fund and sponsor? UNBELIEVABLE, according to the backlash. Not a real Iron Man/War Machine, it was obvious that the writers simply "made her up." X-23, Laura Kinney? Not a true Wolverine. "Just created as fan-service." Dr. Jane Foster? Not a real Thor. "Just a writer gimmick." This begs the question, why not? What dissolves the suspension of disbelief with these characters, while the suspension of disbelief is limitless with traditional characters? People claim they want new and interesting stories and challenging plots and characters, the same way they claim they want to lose weight. But they really don't. They want the old chestnuts, the familiar, the predictable. The sugar and the salt. If a story is predictable, you don't have to think about it too much. It won't upset you. People dislike being upset. Shonen style stories are the most predictable on the planet. Good always wins. Evil is punished. Virtue is rewarded, and sins are rebuked and/or reprimanded. Good guys and bad guys are obvious and look the part. So Salagir set himself up with challenge in U16 Bra: an unsympathetic, one-dimensional character who happens to be a girl whose cockiness and obsession with strength is/was rewarded, not punished. Her morality is questionable. It's a deliberate inversion of the typical shonen character. But plot-wise, U16 is integral to the story. So she had to wear Plot Armor from the beginning, as well. Also DBM is moving along, plot-wise, at the pace of Freeza's kitchen timer. And there's also a peanut gallery of readers dissecting everything you do every page? Uh-oh...

ltsarge:

Regarding their statement people could buy iron man cause he is a white male... You know I take issue when people bring this line of thinking up. I think their iron heart girl, being a 15 year old black girl is a total cash grab gimmick appealing to their xtreme social left. In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. I don't think it's unreasonable to call out this type of pandering where it's seen. If marvel really wanted a black female heroine to take up the reigns of them iron man, they could have gone with this character. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Knight It would be way more believable for an previously established in comics older black lady who has personally designed by tony stark tech, to take up the Ironman mantle than some 15 year old prodigy made up whole cloth. Same with female thor. If she - hulk or black widow went around welding his hammer (them latter which has occured), I would totally buy it. Having some super powered feminist be the new thor, and telling thor to check his privelege seems almost a parody of sjw influence in comics, yet it's played horribly straight. Sorry for the digression in this thread

snowflake:

But the entire superhero genre is pandering. Captain America punching Hitler? Meek and Mild-Mannered Clark Kent becoming Superman beating up anyone and anything with complete moral justification? Batman being the God-Damnned Batman? Itsarge - In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. That's a totally legitimate power-fantasy. It's just not aimed at you. At least you can console yourself it's likely to fail commercially. And just wait until the Enchantress gets her hands on her! As for Misty Knight, they were probably wanting to avoid anything smacking of blaxploitation. In fact, since Riri Williams looks like her exactly, she'll probably end up being a clone or something. Anyway, my point is that female superheroes are a challenge. They're a challenge to draw (how sexy is too sexy? how muscular is too muscular?). They're a challenge to write. They're challenging to present in an appealing light, and they're a challenge to plot for. And then there's the audience predisposed to hostility against such characters, and then there's the fact it's on the internet, which simply makes everything worse!

ltsarge:

1st up, female superheroes are not a challenge.  Just focus on making a good character, that happens to be female.  Black Widow, Ripley, Sarah Connor, Lara Croft, Rukia, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Bulma Fucking Briefs... (I can go on but you get my drift.) 2nd.  Anyone complaining about them being too sexy is either a prude or hypocrite, considering the over masculine features of male heroes which gives plenty of fanservice to people who like men.  And before anyone says any Anita Sarkeesian-esque excuse about how male superheros having amazing body appeal to the male power-fantasy, go do a cursory google image search on any male hero, ESPECIALLY if they anime, and take off your parental filters.  You will see endless fan art of male characters from Ichigo to wolverine to Raiden who are all in sexually explicit poses, if not flat out porn of them.  Probably the latter. Hell just look at fucking Twilight series if you want an entire series dedicated to the female gaze upon appealing strong masculine figures. The point is, if you're overly concerned about the sexual imagery of a female character, you're in either fear of the rabid feminist crow, or possibly the overly conservative crowd.  Considering their are female characters throughout comics and anime that are sexually appealing but renownly well written speaks volumes on how little an artist or writer should give a fuck about whether they are too muscular or sexy.   3rd.  Regarding superhero pandering like Captain America punching Hitler (or similar heroes punch insert political villain) in the face.  You may note that is something that is often mocked by comic book fans for how politically charged and nationalistic it was.  If that low bar is what we are setting as defense for female thor, than sure, well than I guess those examples of bad writing justifies absurd levels of feminist pandering.

4th.  Most of the arguments brought forth in the discussions regarding all this since the comment about "people are more willing to allow for a white male Iron man, but not Insert minority character" that have emerged as defense of bra, seem to be desperate attempts of justifications for an overall badly done character.  You don't need testicles or white pigmentation and blue irises to recognize the Bra for the most part has not jived with the fan base.  I've made a hefty list in this thread of why her character has problems, and none of them are because she has a vagina.  In fact, I have criticized many of Salagir's Original Characters for the same reasons, but Bra has either more or all of the flaws of the others such as Gast or King Cold. Let's be real.  If Bra was not a female character, people who defend her would not have certain cards in their arsenal.  If this character was Vegeta, and I was defending her, you wouldn't see me saying "Oh you vegeta haters dislike Vegeta because he's a male.  You are all sexist!"  or "its difficult to right an arrogant MALE character from space" I don't give a fuck that Bra is a strong female character.  I give a fuck that her blatant mary sue traits are not addressed, and in story she's not criticized for being a bratty person. Just because there is a lack of "strong female" characters in DBZ cannon (not complete absence, as there are still many in DB/DBZ), is not a good excuse for building a shitty one.  We don't need affirmative action in comics or fan comics.  If people want to make a strong female character, that's good, that's fine!  But if there is one that's made that has HUGE FLAWS, we shouldn't say "Well, there are no other strong female characters, so thank god for BRA."

snowflake:

Well, on the flip side, if Bra was male, I doubt we'd get as much demands for PUNISHMENT!1!11 or "Punch me harder, Daddy" jokes. At this point, we'll just agree to disagree. We're talking past each other. I have faith that all of your complaints with U16 Bra will be addressed in the story eventually. U18 and U16 have had limited interaction since the beginning of the story. There's a reason for that.

ltsarge:

I'd be happy to argue at length over female portrayals vs male, so if u'd like to merge some of this over to a new thread that be fine with me.

Me: Hopefully, they don’t do that. Not because I think they’ll lose any argument or whatever you’d have with them, but out of the fact that whenever they DO point out flaws in your arguments and show you evidence you’ll just conveniently ignore them. You’re def. not someone worth conversing with.

Me: And seriously, why would you liked their last post to you?

prphd and ltsarge like this

Me: I mean with the way you went after them, I’d rather they didn’t get a like from you let alone anything else (although, this could be your way of respecting your opponent or whatever you would refer to them as, still, it doesn’t make it any less awkward seeing as how antagonistic you had been towards that person, a stranger no less...who you try to inject your thoughts and feelings towards while replying to their post when it wasn’t warranted).

Me: And some Anti-SJWs wonder, bitterly, on why some social justice advocates don’t take them seriously. Let alone obligate themselves to even talk things out with them.