#i think people just refuse to take silly things are important lore elements

[poethebeloved]

the issue with discussions of "lore" is that people are thinking about/defining "lore" completely wrong. people beg for lore thinking that there must be universe-altering events constantly happening, and without that the story is not progressing. but large events like q!cellbit's kidnapping or q!roier and everyone going to rescue bobby are only one aspect of "lore" right?

to me, "lore" is anything that tells us something about the way the universe works or who the characters are that was not already known. q!foolish being batman? LORE!!! richarlyson hating baths? LORE!!!

people refuse to take these silly one-off events/comments and dismiss them in favor of major lore events, but that small stuff is necessary for the big stuff to pan out. I mean, without small things like richarlyson telling q!roier that q!cellbit easily falls for flirting, would we have built up to the wedding? without Tallulah/everyone on the server teasing q!quackity about his crush on q!wilbur, would we have had the "wilbur party" explosion?

at the end of the day, 99% of what the creators are doing is contributing to the lore (of at least their character if not the whole server) because they are roleplaying characters and the things they say are part of their character and become their lore. stop hating on creators for "not doing lore" when they are actively taking care of their egg or creating builds or doing silly schemes. because that is still lore that can and often will culminate in these larger narratively satisfying events!

#qsmp #just a little rant because some people discredit ccs when they are literally just having fun #believe it or not etoiles is not a father to an egg named pomme so yes he is participating in lore BC HE IS DOING RP #sorry to break it to you but not every thing that happens needs to be the most dramatic live altering story beat #i think people just refuse to take silly things are important lore elements #that is how you get to people having designating lore streams when its like... everything can be lore bc its rp! #its all lore always has been

[wizisbored]

fuckit bj/nimona mostly kingdom background lore dump because i have spent days thinking about international politics for my silly little crossover

the kingdom is a microstate in the middle of nowhere, i havent decided where. might make up a continent for it to be in i dunno.

the rest of the world knew it existed prior to the wall coming down but it was generally seen as an agressive state that refused contact from other nations

they only ever referred to themself as 'the kingdom' because they didnt know of any other kingdoms or nations. after making contact with the rest of the world the government/monarchy decided to give the state a more distinct name. undecided if this is still in deliberation during the timeframe of the au or if im going to come up with a headcanon name

this one is a big maybe, but i might have the kingdom be latin-speaking. its dialect has evolved since the language died out elsewhere, and its known as kingdom latin (unless i do decide to give the kingdom its own name). nimona, ballister and ambrosius started learning english not long after the idea of moving to america was first brought up, and nimona being adaptable as she is picked it up best. lydia does non-kingdom latin in school so its fairly easy for nimona to teach her some conversational kingdom latin once they become friends. but again, big maybe

i want to narrow the gap between nimona's sci-fi elements and beetlejuice's modern-day setting. the kingdom is a bit ahead of the curve, but not massively so. not sure yet if i will be dialing back the kingdom or dialing up the rest of the world, though

kingdom passports didnt exist prior to the wall coming down. ambrosius' family were some of the first to get them, given their status. it was him cashing in on family ties and wading through beurocratic nonsense that got nimona first an accurate government ID (family name n/a, DOB prior to 1023, appearance subject to immediate and complete chage, etc) and then later a human-passing ID, passport, and fabricated birth certificate amongst other things that ambrosius told his uncle in the registry office were 'for travel'. the intention was always to use those documents to take her out of the country permentantly, but they kept that quiet.

according to those human-passing documents, her name is nimona boldheart, she's 17, and shes under the gaurdianship of her uncle

ballister and ambrosius have a sort of lingering sense of patriotism to the kingdom that nimona insists is all brainwashing. she doesnt like to admit that she misses home far more than she thought she would. she doesnt like to admit that she still thinks of it as home

to end it on a lighter note - nimona loves convincing people that random stupid shit is a deeply important kingdom custom. she finds that the maitlands are particularly suscepticle to this, not because they neccesarily believe her, but because they try to stay respectful every time just in case shes actually telling the truth this time. she did have them convinced that the shark dance was the traditional dance of her people for at least a week tho

#bj/nimona au

[ddarker-dreams]

Levi Ackerman x Reader hcs. [COMM]

a/n: i haven’t written for levi in many years!! some lock lore is that i used to write for him the most, it’s actually what got me into fanfiction/anime in the first place back in 2012... so it feels very nice to write for him again. i had a lot of fun with this! :’) word count: 2k. warnings: non explicit mentions of death (not involving reader), just canon typical stuff.

Love has been a concept that remains closed off in Levi’s mind. Getting close to others is already a risk too great in the world he’s come to know, a factor that’s proven unfortunately true time and time again. When you’re close to others, it means the possibility of being hurt by them all the same when they inevitably leave. The pain of losing another he’s grown attached to outweighs the possible benefits that could come with a closer connection. This philosophy has ensnared his heart, creating a barrier that no one dared slipping past for many years.

Even though Levi makes the choice to be wary of growing closer than necessary to people, he also understands the importance of trusting in his comrades. He has his own way of mentally assessing new recruits, and didn’t think much of you initially. You were a fresh face, who hoped that your efforts would cultivate humanity’s future. He’d seen many with that spark too many times to count. All of them ending up killed in gruesome ways, or losing the shine in their eyes should they live past another expedition. Though he still has an inherent respect for anyone willing to put their lives on the line for the Survey Corps, this extending to you as well.

His initial assessment of you was proven incorrect. While no longer as naive to the horrors of the outside world, the spark inside of you remains ever bright. There’s determination, that has only grown in strength as time goes on, rather than fading away. It catches his eye, to say the least. He looks after you from afar, without even realizing it. Levi tells himself that it’d just be a shame if something happened to you. He doesn’t think anything beyond that for some time, for his own mental well being.

Your relationship starts off with no romantic intentions. Levi spots you training on your own one day, even after a grueling day of menial work that comes with being a member of the Survey Corps. He’s captivated, unable to look away from your form. It’s sloppy, he thinks, but not hopeless. You’re not hopeless. It doesn’t sound like a high compliment, but coming from him, it’s meaningful.

It’s startling when he approaches you for the first time. He’s pointing out the numerous errors in your stance and what to do to correct them, never mincing his words. Levi’s standing there, arms crossed, willing you to continue with his input. While being under the scrutiny of humanity’s strongest soldier is anxiety inducing, his advice works perfectly. He doesn’t comment further than that, turning on his heels and leaving you to your thoughts and confusion.

Keeping your body in the best possible condition is vital to staying alive. His advice, though delivered in sharp as knives critiques, serves you well. Even just the bare minimum has your technique rapidly improving. This motivation to keep growing and learning is what drives you. Levi continues to watch from a safe distance as you spend hours doing different exercises, developing your abilities. From this point on it becomes something of a tradition, as much as he tries not to think of it that way. There’s a level of subconscious attachment that comes with looking forward to seeing you improve every evening. He’s acknowledged you. 

You start training together. It’s not everyday an opportunity to learn under Levi is offered, so when the hand was extended to you, you accepted it. He’s a tough yet fair teacher, offering praise only when he believes it’s deserved. Unfortunately, he can’t devote that much time to your little evenings due to his other obligations. That makes the time you shared all the more special. Despite himself, he’s looking out for you, and you him. A solid relationship begins to form.

Levi isn’t the easiest person to be around. He’s surprisingly talkative if you get him speaking on subjects that interest him, but his language remains coarse. Once you get used to this side of him, it’s for the better, hours flying by and the night sky appearing before you know it. Unlike others that tend to get offended or avoid alone time with Levi due to his reputation, you remain constant. He never brings it up, though he does wonder why you’re hellbent on seeking him out.

There are still times where Levi holds an internal battle over the unfolding events. He’s starting to like spending time with you, more than just offering wisdom on various subjects he’s knowledge about. He genuinely enjoys listening when you speak, an honor exclusive to you. Through the snark and monotonous comments, there’s clear attachment. 

It gets to the point that his closer comrades even pick up on the unusual behavior, this level of respect typically reserved for no one other than Commander Erwin. Though Hanji is the only one to point this behavior out. Everyone else is too frightened at the prospect of teasing Levi over his not so subtle fondness for you. He really didn’t think he was being so obvious... 

You’re on his mind more than he cares to admits. His mind wonders to you at night, when he’s in town, or even when he sees something silly that reminds him of you. Eventually, Levi’s thoughts almost always connect to you to some degree. He’ll spot something in the windows of a shop and recall how you mentioned wanting something similar, or subconsciously look for your favorite food when walking through market stalls. The thought of giving you gifts is off putting for a while since it’s a clear sign of of tenderness. And dammit, he’s trying so hard not to become attached -- but who is he kidding -- it’s far too late for that.

What Levi is good at is making swift decisions in the heat of the moment, and combat. So he has literally no idea how to approach his developing feelings for you. There are a lot of impulses, such as complimenting you, but it comes out more like an insult than anything. God bless your soul, because you’re going to be putting up with lots of uncomfortable interactions. He’s trying, okay, but he doesn’t know the first thing about romance. 

How he best shows his care for you is helping around in various ways. It isn’t as embarrassing as having to offer compliments, or the other traditional ways of romancing the person you’re interested in. Levi commits to making your life easier in anyway he can. These things range from making sure your horse is in top condition, setting aside rations if he knows you’re too busy to get them yourself, and checking over your equipment personally. He presents all this by saying “You’re prone to making mistakes, so let me do it instead.” In reality he just wants to make life easier for you, don’t be fooled by the prickly comment. 

He isn’t blind to the other elements of his attraction to you. You’re always glowing, an angel incarnate, beauty enough to draw in practically anyone with eyes. It was enough to draw him in after all. The first attempts at physical affection are subtle, yet heartfelt. Sitting closer to you, thighs almost touching. Leaning in closer whenever you speak. Lightly brushing his fingers against his face, claiming he saw a spec of dirt on it. All these things to gauge your reaction and build up his own confidence in pursuing you further.

The first time you kiss would be the night before an expedition. It’s always the most gut wrenching experience, anxiety ailing you so badly that sleep refuses to come. The stars are out, not a cloud in the sky. Levi comes to sit by you, chastising you for not being asleep, and offering no rebuttal when you point out that he’s also awake. It’s a serene moment, neither of you exchanging words for some time, finding comfort in each others presence. You don’t even realize how close he is to you. He speaks, the words insignificant, you’ve already long forgot what they were. 

When your head turns to offer him your full attention, that’s when he leans in. A chaste kiss is pressed against your parted lips. It’s shocking to say the least, adrenaline pumping through your veins at the intimate moment. His lips are softer than you expected. He treats you with unprecedented delicacy, moving back to assess your expression through lidded eyes. When you’re willing to reciprocate he’s more than happy to let you have your way. 

Levi isn’t the best with expressing himself fully through words. His actions more than compensate for this, you’ll never doubt his dedication to you. There’s no need for flowery prose, not when he has proven the lengths he’d go through to keep you safe, bearing all of himself to you. Your relationship isn’t defined by strict terminology, as he admitted to finding stuff like that “a waste of breath”. You both wordlessly acknowledge one another as partners. Any keen onlooker might be able to pick up on this, you don’t hide or put your relationship on display.

It’ll take some time for him to grow more amiable to physically expressing himself. He’s aware of his own strength and intimidating disposition, and doesn’t want to mess what’s possibly the best thing in his life up. So you’ll need to lead in most of those areas. All physical affection is reserved for private moments. Aside from maybe him whispering a sly remark or two in passing. 

The affection he likes receiving from you the most would be: Complimenting his actions, when you lay your head on his shoulder, whenever you do little things to help him out without him mentioning it, and when you hug him. He’s never experienced being held by another human being. So when you do it for the first time, he’s taken aback by how pleasant it is. Your comforting scent, how your warmth envelopes him, and how he can feel your heart beating. It’s one of his favorite things in the world, other than you of course.

The type of affection that he gives you the most would be: Acknowledging your growth in different areas (especially if he knows you’re insecure in one of them), putting his hand over yours, reminding you to take care of yourself, and kissing you on the forehead. Levi is a very proactive lover. He’s got a keen eye, picking up on things about yourself before you even notice them. While he might not always have the most tact, everything he does for you comes from a wholesome place.

Levi remains serious in the public eye. But when it’s just the two of you, or the company is people he’s close with, he loosens up considerably. Most of his jokes go over your head, since he always delivers them with such a deadpan. When he gets you to laugh with his dry wit though, by god does it feel good, he could listen to your laughter forever. It might even make his face heat up. 

You’re capable of making him smile more than anyone else! Though it’s still rare, that just means that when he does, you treasure it all the more. He smiles the most when you lose yourself in conversation. Rambling about your dreams, stories from your childhood, frustrating encounters that you had that day... all of it warms his heart in a way he never thought possible. You’re an addicting ray of sunshine, that he’s hellbent on protecting. 

Levi knows, now more than ever, what he wants from the future. Alongside protecting and expanding humanity’s territory, it’s you that he wants by him, and no cost is too great to achieve it. He won’t lose you -- he’s already lost so much -- so expect him to be protective. There may be limits to what he can do, but they’re all arbitrary to him. Rules and morality mean nothing in the face of ensuring your safety, and he’s vowed this to you. That one day, you’ll have a secure future, forever tied to each other. He might not mention the last part as it’s embarrassing, but the general sentiment is understood. 

#levi #levi ackerman #levi x reader #levi x you #levi ackerman x reader #Attack on Titan Imagine #attack on titan #attack on titan x reader #aot #aot x reader #aot x you #shingeki no kyojin #shingeki no kyoujin x reader #snk x reader #my stuff #commissions

[inkweaver22-blr]

Okay so I had an idea for a Mystery Skulls Animated fic. It has been on my mind for some time and I wanted to share it with you all. But when I went to write it… It wasn’t a pretty sight. It wasn’t BAD, but it wasn’t all that great either as I’m severely out of practice.

Plus my motivation for it died faster than the hype for No Man’s Sky.

So I’m just going to post a detailed summary of what the story was going to be like and let someone else try their hand at it. I’m also going to tag my favorite writers/drabblers/idea farmers/AU crafters from this fandom so they see this in case they want to adopt it. Let me do that now.

@phantoms-lair @ectoimp @providentially-demonic @squigglydigglydoo

I’ll leave it under the cut so people can be spoiler free in case someone does come along to write this out. Feel free to ask questions if something doesn’t make sense! Here we go, a detailed, yet slightly silly, summary of my almost fic: ‘Under Your Skin’.

So firstly, yes. This IS a ‘Arthur becomes something other than human’ fic. And yes, I think the creature I picked has been done before. HOWEVER! I’m hoping the way it happens and my original variation on said creature will be different enough to be interesting.

To begin with, some background. This takes place about a year after the hypothetical reunion of the gang and Lewis no longer wants to kill Arthur. They’ve all been through some therapy both individually and as a group (Mystery knows a guy/elf who does this) so the majority of their issues/insecurities have been worked out. Their bonds of friendship and/or love haven’t been better.

But instead of focusing on the romance between Lewis and Vivi (and MAYBE Arthur), I wanted this story to focus on the friendship between Mystery and Arthur. Like how that he’s now able to talk freely to them and so they get along. My main example was Mystery actually preferring Arthur’s choices in music over Vivi’s and Lewis’.

Anywhos, onto the plot! The gang receives a call for a job on the coast to help retrieve a stolen magical item. The client, a woman, refuses to give many details until they meet in person. Vivi, being curious, insists that they go. So they load up the van and head for the coastal Texan city/town of BLANK. The opening of my original draft was towards the end of this trip with Arthur and Mystery up front enjoying some music while Lewis was in the back with Vivi as she napped.

And that was as far as I got. The rest is what I had planned out in my head. If you do plan on picking this fic up you can go into as much or as little detail as you want based off my ramblings. No names or physical descriptions were ever chosen for the OC’s so go wild. Onwards!

They reach The Town of Ongoing Events late at night/early in the morning and sleep at a hotel for several hours. (Maybe have Mystery curl up against Arthur’s side because Lewis and Vivi are cuddling?) They then head out to the address provided by their mystery client.

Mrs. Plot Catalyst lets them in and they exchange some pleasantries. She then explains that the item that had been stolen was her Seal Cloak, exposing her as a selkie. Vivi begins to go on a rant about selfish men being jerkwads and demands to know who her husband is because in all selkie lore that’s who would steal her cloak. Seal Lady, a bit bemused, calls her husband in from the garage and after a brief misunderstanding (read: Vivi threatening the man with the painful things her pet Kitsune or Wraith boyfriend could do to him) they find out it WASN’T her husband who stole the cloak. Mr. Nice Guy actually accepts her for who she is and didn’t mind her leaving for months at a time.

What happened was a friend of Seal Husband stumbled across them when she was returning from one of her trips and asked to borrow the cloak. Friend of Seal Husband was Very Rich™ and said that he wanted to study the cloak for the benefit of all magical/supernatural beings. As the couple knew this guy well and believed him trustworthy, they agreed. That was several months ago and they hadn’t heard from him since. They had tried to contact him but all attempts failed for one reason or another.

So the MS gang and Seal Couple sit down for a plan of action. They decide that Vivi and Arthur are to go Mr. Wealthy’s office building to try and talk to him. Mystery and Lewis can’t come as this guy is super into the magical and has wards that would alert him when a magical being enters the premises. They get all upset at first but Vivi calms Lewis while Arthur reassures Mystery.

The Blue Temper Problem and Yellow String Bean head to I’m So Rich I Can Buy An Impoverished Country’s office and give the secretary some tripe about magical being conservation which immediately gains them an audience with him. They meet with Rolling In Money and he greets them kindly. The duo explain that they heard through the magical grapevine that he was doing something to help out mystical creatures. With a wide smile Mr. Potentially The Antagonist But It’s Not Clear Yet begins to explain.

It started with his Tragic Backstory™ when he was a boy. In the woods near his home town lived a family of (unspecified sentient magical creatures) that he befriended and knew for years. As they didn’t possess the ability to disguise themselves as humans or animals they stayed away from humans except for Child Version Of Mr. Rich. One day, he heard a loud commotion from his friends’ home and hid in some nearby bushes to see what was going on. A group of humans dressed in strange clothes/armor had his friends tied up. They spouted some BS about human superiority and purity and then executed the family.

Mr. Depressing Past grew up with the incident weighing on his mind and vowed to try and help magical creatures from then on. He tried to find the mysterious group as well but had no luck. He used his fortune to help protect creatures by financing relocation's and national parks where magical creatures could live semi-peacefully. But he felt like it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t until he stumbled across the wife of his Very Good And Close Friend™ (at this point Arthur and Vivi are like ????????) shedding her seal skin to look human that he got an idea. What if he can find a way to copy the selkies’ ability to shed their skin like a cloak for other species that couldn’t disguise themselves? Then they could hide in plain sight!

So Mr. Good Intentions asks to borrow the cloak to study its magic and see if it could be copied. They agree and he begins his research. It takes several months and he has a process but he needs some further help from a specific book found only at Shangri-La. So he goes there and seeks council from the monk mystics and yeti that live there.

He learns that while he can’t make it so living creatures can shed their skin, nor can he give them human skins to hide in (ewww), there is another way. He can take the remains of a creature (fur, scales, bones, claws, teeth, ect.), turn it into a wearable item, and magically bond it to a human. The human then gains the ability to take the form of that creature by simply donning or shedding that skin like a selkie. BUT!!!! It will only work properly if he gets permission from the departed spirit of the dead creature(which he does through a ritual). If they don’t get permission they properly dispose of the remains according to the spirit's’ wishes. Also some spirits will be super picky about who bonds with their wearable item so the process won’t work with some random person they must be C H O S E N . And while many creatures have natural defenses, he decides to add minor elemental abilities to the bonding spell so they can better protect themselves. The best part is that this is hereditary so any offspring will also have this ability so in a couple generations most of that species will be able to do so.

Mr. Rich asks if they want a demonstration. Vivi is like HECK YES because despite being wary of this guy this is a major breakthrough in magic that could change a lot. So he takes the white fur scarf he was wearing this entire time and sticks his hands into the hidden pockets on each end. He seems to blur for a second before appearing as a seven and a half foot yeti from that one Mummy movie. He then makes a little crystal of ice in his paws to demonstrate the elemental add on(only $9.99 extra if you pre-order now).

Mr. Yeti Man returns to normal by simply imagining removing his hands from the pockets and offers to give the two a tour of his home the next day where he converts the remains into Cloaks™. They agree and skadoodle back to Seal Base Alpha and tell the others what they’ve learned. Mystery is unsure how to feel as this IS a good thing and Mr. Ice Ice Baby even went so far to receive permission from departed spirits so not to disrespect them. BUT he seems to have also stolen from his friends AND giving humans these kinds of powers can lead to all kinds of problems. So they decide to allow Vivi and Arthur to go alone again BUT!!! Lewis and Mystery will be hanging out at the edge of the property in case something goes wrong. Mystery gives a token of some kind to them both that they just have to press in case they need help and he’ll know.

The next day Arthur and Vivi head out and arrive at a Very Nice Estate™ that has a mansion and huge lawn and fountain and everything. Mr. Corporate Cryptid invites them in a guides them to his underground labs/workshops. There are scientists/magicians and security guards going about their stuff as they receive the tour. They meet some important people to the process like his second in command, tailor/taxidermist, and head spell-caster. At one point they are passing glass cases of Cloaks™ and Arthur just STOPS in front of one. It seems to be an actual cloak/cape unlike some of the other wearable items(Vivi scoffs at a pair of Jackalope fur Bunny Slippers). The upper half is black and gold feathers while the lower half is beige fur. He STARES at it for a minute, as if it’s calling to him, until Vivi snaps him out of it.

After a bit, Vivi feigns curiosity and asks what happened to the original cloak he based his research off. The Abominable CEO Man happily states he returned it to its owner and even gave them some monetary compensation. Vivi then just GOES OFF at that and says ‘Uh, yeah, no you didn’t’ but not as polite. Mr. Rich is both confused and slightly horrified as he hears this and brings them to confront his second in command as he was the one he put in charge of that.

After trying to play innocent at Mr. Rich’s and Vivi’s interrogation, SURPRISE! He betrays his boss and magically binds them. The security force begins to non-lethally subdue the workers that weren’t in on this as The Actual Villain begins his Evil Monologue™  He used to be part of the evil group that Mr. Rich mentions in his Tragic Backstory™ but ‘They didn’t think big enough’ for him. So he left them, infiltrated this project, and converted others to his cause. His goal? To make an army of human/mystical creature hybrids using the Cloaks™ and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!1!!ONE!!

Jerkwad McGee takes the magical alarm tokens from Arthur and Vivi and locks them up with Mr. Rich and the workers that weren’t part of his evil posse. He then begins to try and force the bonding with the Cloaks™ on his followers as none of them were ever chosen due to their evil intentions. Hours pass and the sun starts to set. The trapped people are trying to come up with a plan to escape while Lewis and Mystery get antsy.

Alrighty gang, this is where we enter the territory that I haven’t finalized yet. Most of it will be kind of vague so get a bit creative if you decide to write this out.

Mystery loses patients and he and Lewis barge in. They fight off the guards but somehow give Bad Guy the means to finish the forced bonding process. Meanwhile the prisoners somehow escape. The workers all leave the property, the grunts are all unconscious, and Mr. Rich in his Yeti form and the MS gang confront Antagonist out on the lawn. Bad Guy then pulls out a Cloak™(in the form of a helmet) he’s been hiding made from the remains of a REALLY REALLY BAD CREATURE™ and forces the bond onto himself. He transforms into the beast and goes berserk.

I was originally going to have him be the Red Bull from the Last Unicorn, but that’s a fire elemental and wouldn’t work with what I have planned. So make him some sort of really powerful and feared monster that’s resistant to fire and ice but weak to electricity.

Mystery is like ‘OH SHIZNIZZLLE!!!’ and hops to the top of the mansion and creates a barrier/illusion surrounding the entire estate so the beast won’t escape and authorities won’t come to investigate. Lewis and Yeti Guy fight the Beast on the lawn while Arthur and Vivi hang back towards the house.

It doesn’t go well.

When things start to look even worse than they already are, Arthur feels a pull leading into the mansion. Vivi doesn’t notice him leave as he follows it. He comes to the glass cases room to find it trashed from Lewis and Mystery’s fight earlier. The calling gets stronger and it leads him to the Cloak™ he spaced out in front of earlier. He hesitantly picks it up and wonders what to do when he gets a strong sense of ‘This is RIGHT’ and ‘You can help stop this’ coming from it. With the sounds of battle in the background Arthur takes a shaky breath.

He puts on the cloak.

Back at the brawl, Yeti Guy and Lewis are injured while Mystery is straining to keep the barrier intact when a fierce cry rings out. From the mansion flies a griffon that has a metal forelimb and golden feathers puffed up in a strange fashion on its head. Electricity forms around it and it fires a HUGE lightning bolt at the beast, harming it. Yeti Guy immediately recognizes the color scheme from an unclaimed Cloak™ but is like ‘The Elemental Add Ons aren’t THAT strong wth???’ and Mystery is like ‘A Royal Griffon?? But it’s aura…? ARTHUR?!?!’.

Pausing the plot for a second to explain! Royal Griffons are something I made up. In this universe of MSA, griffons come in many subspecies. The most common being eagle/lion, there are others like hawk/lynx or raven/siberian cat. Basically any bird/feline combo of almost equal proportionate size. But then there are ones that have the body parts of OTHER mythical creatures. These are Royal Griffons. Some examples are a phoenix and house cat, or a condor and nemean lion. Arthur here happens to be a Thunderbird (think an oversized golden eagle with lightning powers) and mountain lion mix.

So Griffon!Arthur joins the battle and with the beast’s weakness to electricity they manage to defeat it, remove the Cloak™ from Bad Dude, and save the world! Mystery drops the barrier and rushes up to Arthur and begins to checking him over to make sure he’s okay. Arthur insists he is and ‘I was just running on instincts I guess’ so Mystery slaps him upside the head and begins lecturing him on being such an idiot and ‘WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HURT!’ and ‘DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO YOURSELF THIS IS PERMANENT!’ and ‘THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CAVE ALL OVER AND I COULDN’T STOP IT THIS IS MY FAULT AGAIN!’

And Arthur is all ‘HECK NAH this was MY CHOICE and it FEELS right for some reason and what about Lewis he could have been hurt and I’m not panicking so you need to stop panicking or else I’m going to start panicking and OHMYGOSH I WAS FLYING SO HIGH IN THE AIR I HATE HEIGHTS THAT WAS TERRIFYING!’.

Vivi then grabs them by the ear/feathers and gets them to chill. Yeti Guy helps Arthur through the process of taking off the Cloak™ (he just has to imagine his human self doing so). They go back inside, retrieve Seal Lady’s cloak and all return to Seal Base Alpha to explain all that happened. Yeti Guy invites them back in the morning so he put some final protections on Arthur’s new cloak so they head back to the hotel for some well deserved R&R.

Also not sure if this should be mentioned during the explanation scene or in the morning, but Yeti Guy mentions that the spirit of the royal griffon said he would only bond with ‘a loyal follower of a ruler’. Arthur then snarks ‘So a Kingsmen than?’ earning groans and a slap to the head.

During the night, Mystery and Arthur get some time alone to talk things out. Arthur admits that he does feel a bit nervous about being a griffon now but not as much as he would have before they all had therapy. Mystery admits he’s simply afraid for Arthur because Arthur is going to be alive for a LONG time now(several hundred years) and the human somehow managed to worm his way under his skin (T-T-T-TITLE DROP) and considers him a best friend. They hug and whatnot, promise to always be supportive and there for each other and then head to sleep.

Not sure if the story should end there or include Yeti Guy’s extra protection spells and maybe a scene of Mystery helping Arthur out with his new body.

But that’s the end of Under Your Skin! Hope you enjoyed reading this summary! Again, feel free to ask any questions! Let me know if you plan on writing this out or just plan on playing in this sandbox I created! Peace!

#MSA #Mystery Skulls Animated #Mystery Skulls #Arthur Kingsmen #Arthur #Mystery #Lewis #Vivi #Ghost #Freaking Out #kitsune #selkie #griffon #yeti #thunderbird #friendship

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 40: On the Run

"That’s not my home.”

Anxiety and depression are two sides of the same coin, separated by opposing degrees of certainty. Depression tells you to dread the future because bad things will definitely happen. Anxiety tells you to worry about the future because who KNOWS what’s going to happen, yikes, things could go REALLY BAD. Depression tells you to zero in on awful things from your past and remember that there’s nothing you can do about it. Anxiety tells you that oh man if you’d just done that one thing differently life might be better, or heck, life might be WORSE, so hopefully you won’t get lost in a time vortex and screw things up, oh no, one more thing to worry about! Depression tells you that nobody cares about you. Anxiety makes you cripplingly unsure, because what if your friends are just pretending and your parents are just tolerating you, but what if that’s all in your head and everything’s fine but people find out you’re worried about this and think you’re crazy?

When depression gets its way, you’re a passive mess accepting a miserable fate. When anxiety gets its way, you’re an active mess stressing yourself into a panic about possibilities. And a lot of us get to have both!

Amethyst and Pearl are sad in a way that Garnet and Steven fundamentally aren’t, but this sadness takes two distinct paths. Pearl’s is certain and passive where Amethyst’s is uncertain and active. Pearl is Depression, and Amethyst is Anxiety.

Of course, this isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a perfect metaphor, because like most actual people with anxiety or depression, both Gems have elements of both disorders: recall Pearl’s many anxious fits and Amethyst’s depressive slumps. Moreover, it’s important not to diagnose fictional characters with real disorders when you don’t have a medical license and the characters don’t have the physical brains required to even have human mental illnesses. But as a representative exercise, Pearl appeals to my despondency while Amethyst appeals to my overthinking. Pearl often lets negativity engulf her, but Amethyst internalizes and dwells on it until she explodes.

On the Run is one such explosion. Except for a single joke-based hint in Steven’s Lion (“We kept Amethyst”) there’s been no reason to believe that Amethyst has a different origin than Garnet or Pearl, but it’s soon clear that Kindergarten is never far from her thoughts. Our excursion solidifies Amethyst as a character who’s always worried about how people see her—which, I mean, she’s a shapeshifter, come on—and that she’ll never measure up to the roles she’s supposed to play. She’s supposed to be part of a team that fought the Homeworld Gems, but she’s the direct product of the invasion. She’s supposed to be a mighty Quartz warrior, but she’s an overcooked runt. She’s supposed to be one of Steven’s guardians, but she’s still treated like Garnet and Pearl’s kid sister half the time. Pressure squeezes away her self-esteem until she sees an opportunity to bond with Steven, and they immediately bounce.

The conflict of On the Run hinges on Amethyst’s anxiety blending with her middle-child syndrome. This isn’t Tiger Millionaire, focusing on Steven and Amethyst, or Giant Woman and Secret Team, focusing on Amethyst and Pearl. This is about how both of these relationships pull Amethyst in different directions.

The prompt here is Pearl’s explanation of the Homeworld invasion, which pointedly omits Amethyst from the group of rebels led by Rose Quartz. We can see that Amethyst is mad, and gets madder as Pearl dances around the “bad” thing Homeworld was doing, but at first viewing one could easily read her reaction as anger over being ignored. Miniature twists like these do wonders for the show’s rewatchability.

After a welcome aside commenting on old-school book series like The Boxcar Children and The Hardy Boys (complete with criticism of their ridiculous comic counterparts), Steven and Amethyst are off! 

On the Run (the song) has two important achievements beyond being a great tune. First, it speeds our characters from Steven’s room to the open rails and gives us a little journey without using too many of the show’s eleven minutes. Second, it ensures our understanding that Steven and Amethyst are in separate places. We begin with Steven singing alone, highlighting the silly hopefulness of running away on a whim. Then we have a whistle solo (courtesy of the sequence’s songwriter/co-storyboarder and resident guitarist Jeff Liu), giving a nostalgic, adventurous interlude to reinforce how fun this whole thing is. But then, as Steven continues to obliviously enjoy himself, Amethyst reveals that she’s still dwelling on Pearl. It all culminates in the same line, “Home’s a place that I have never known,” sung from opposite perspectives—one goofy, one wistful—before a gorgeous final shot sets a somber tone for the rest of the episode. 

Amethyst reverts to her usual demeanor as soon she’s home, reversing her and Steven’s chipper/wary dynamic from the song. I wonder how grade-school kids grapple with the fact that the ominous canyon full of bacteriophage drills we spend most of the episode in is called “the Kindergarten.” Does it tap into their budding sense of irony to see a class they aren’t far removed from associated with such a scary setting? Do they think the name is funny, in the way Fluffy the three-headed dog from Harry Potter is? Regardless, as an adult, I love love love the name of this literal garden that grows children.

Amethyst’s light attitude helps keep the Kindergarten’s dim lighting and eerie soundscape (the music, sure, but also those clangs) from getting too frightening, but it’s still a hell of a place. In a rare moment of asking the right questions, Steven voices the viewer’s concerns over just how many Amethyst-shaped holes there are in the walls, and all that they imply. But Amethyst is just happy to give him a tour.

Because when she’s around Steven, she gets to be the cool big sister that runs away with him and tells him all the secrets the grown-ups don’t want him to know. He, and we, wouldn’t get this introduction to the Kindergarten without Amethyst’s desire to bond, and maybe show off a little. She’s not ashamed of her background, instead proud to position her earthling status as something she and Steven share.

It’s only when bigger sister Pearl shows up that Amethyst’s sour mood returns. Telling Steven the full truth is against the rules, it seems—who would’ve thought a team founded by Pink Diamond might be against telling the truth?—and Pearl is blind to Amethyst’s ulterior motives in bringing Steven to the Kindergarten. Part of this is Pearl’s fault, as she should know Amethyst well enough over thousands of years of friendship to understand why she might be upset, but a lot of it is Amethyst’s fault for her stubborn refusal to talk things over. It takes something drastic to break this pattern, and it comes in the form of their first physical fight on-screen.

While Steven Universe has always veered against violence being the answer, its exciting fight sequences often go against this message. Not here. Amethyst and Pearl’s fight is just brutal, even when Amethyst gets what may be her most badass line in the series (“I wouldn’t wanna fight me neither!”) and the choreography’s on-point as ever. Aivi and Surasshu obviously help, but Amethyst’s blind rage quickly giving way to her self-loathing is heart-wrenching on its own, especially when we see how futile her attacks are. And when you think the worst of it is over, it ends with this:

The ambiguity afforded to this scene is incredible for a children’s show. While watching it over and over reveals that Amethyst is clearly stepping away before Steven bubbles, in the moment itself it’s uncertain whether her exclusion was intentional on her or Steven’s part. Obviously Steven’s not a monster, and immediately is concerned, but physically separating Pearl and himself from Amethyst encapsulates the latter’s self-exile in a way that’s succinct, elegant, and tragic. Having it not be immediately clear whether she’s the one doing the exiling is icing on the cake.

While this is Amethyst’s moment to shine, Steven gets to show off his maturity by realizing he’s in over his head. It’s Pearl that needs to talk with Amethyst, but there was a time where Steven wouldn’t know that, and Pearl wouldn’t have listened even if he did. I appreciate that his contribution isn’t overplayed, because this isn’t really his story, but I’m also glad he isn’t limited to a standard “hey stop fighting!” role.

The positive reinforcement for Steven about talking versus fighting has major benefits down the line. He, and we, are shown that talking things out, even when you’re sorta bad at it and it’s awkward, beats fighting. There’s a straight line connecting the conclusions of On the Run and Mr. Greg that I adore; Steven presents the same solution to a longstanding conflict, but where the former comes from a place of confusion and desperation, the latter is a planned and confident maneuver (and in song!).

I don’t wanna think about what Amethyst would be like without Michaela Dietz. In the wrong hands, the character’s slangy lexicon would aggravate and alienate viewers over the age of ten, but Dietz’s natural delivery makes every line feel wonderfully unforced (give or take a “Chill it, dude” that not even she could salvage). This skill by itself would be enough to make her casting worthwhile, but episodes like On the Run let her show off her impressive range and criminally underused singing voice. Dietz has openly discussed how her experience growing up as an adoptee affects her portrayal of Amethyst, and her vulnerable performance exhibiting Amethyst’s anger and sorrow in the Kindergarten is some of her series-best work.

On the Run continues the show’s trend to put character first even in heavy lore episodes; with all the emotional tension here, it can be easy to forget just how much we learn. Not only is Amethyst from Earth, but lots of Gems are, and it was kind of a huge deal to the rebellion. This is a game changer, but we care more about whether Amethyst and Pearl will make up, even though we’ve already had two entire episodes about their feuding natures. 

Still, this is hardly to say the lore is brushed aside. Even if the Gem Odd Couple is one step closer to the healthy sisterhood of Last One Out of Beach City, the lingering final shot of Kindergarten before it cuts straight to black leaves an impression of its own. We’re in this deep, folks.

Future Vision!

The lovely melancholy feeling of the train ride gets another day in the sun when Steven and Amethyst take Peridot on the scenic route back to the Kindergarten in Back to the Kindergarten.

Now We’re Only Falling Apart not only shows the moment Amethyst was left behind, but the moment Pearl’s anti-Amethyst sentiment was born: this might’ve been a very different relationship if nobody had bumped Pink Diamond to the ground.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

The amazing tone of Kindergarten gets this high marks already, but finally getting some development on Amethyst and Pearl’s relationship after hemming and hawing for forty episodes? Yeah, put it up there.

Top Ten

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

On the Run

Warp Tour

The Test

Ocean Gem

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Future Vision

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

No Thanks!

     3. Fusion Cuisine      2. House Guest      1. Island Adventure

#on the run #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

[zcbp5]

Early Thoughts on The Last Jedi

Like a pretty sizable chunk of humanity, I love Star Wars. I love the stories, I love the characters, I love the mythic overtones even when they occasionally slide into nonsensical mumbo-jumbo, I love the visuals, I love the way my heart always skips the moment John Williams’ iconic fanfare explodes over the opening crawl. I even love the much maligned prequels, movies that both diehard fans and more casual viewers seem to wish had never happened. Even though it was slightly reactionary in its storytelling, I really enjoyed The Force Awakens. So it pretty well goes without saying that I was extremely excited for The Last Jedi and rushed to see it on its opening weekend.

The critical reception was largely ebullient. As is becoming increasingly clear, fan response has been far more divided. So what did I think? 

Read no further if you haven’t seen the film, because spoilers abound.

My first thought is that I have considerable admiration for what Rian Johnson is trying to do. People aren’t kidding when they say that he is taking Star Wars in some new directions. After the hammering George Lucas took for taking risks with the prequels, it takes some balls for a director to fuck around with Star Wars tropes in the way that Johnson does. I genuinely admire his willingness to tweak and subvert the formula.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure I admire the actual results as much as the ideas underlying them, and I think that in more than one place, he strayed too far from the established lore with too little motivation. Put bluntly, at least on an initial impression, The Last Jedi is probably my *least* favorite Star Wars movie, and yes, the ranking includes The Phantom Menace.

Recycling the framing of The Empire Strikes Back, The Last Jedi opens with the new Rebel Alliance (the Resistance) on the ropes in their face off with the new Empire (the First Order). Probably one of the weakest elements of The Force Awakens was the total lack of clarity about the power dynamics in the galaxy, and The Last Jedi does nothing to improve matters. Unless you read a lot of supplementary material, there is very little context: at the end of the original trilogy, we saw the Rebel Alliance triumph over the evil Empire. The Emperor and his most powerful subordinate were dead, their super-weapon destroyed, and their fleet in shambles. At the start of The Force Awakens, it feels almost as though we’re back at square one: although the Alliance has nominally restored the Republic, the military advantage in the galaxy appears to lie with First Order which, in all but name, is the Empire. It has its own star destroyers, its own stormtroopers, its own dark-side-of-the-Force-wielding leader (Supreme Leader Snoke) and its own Vader-like enforcer (Kylo Ren). It even has its own Death Star (Starkiller Base) which is summarily dispatched…to apparently no effect whatsoever. The chief impact of the First Order’s most powerful weapon (and a slew of associated personnel and hardware) being blown to smithereens seems to be that the First Order is now the undisputed power in the galaxy. Talk about “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!”

This trope worked in The Empire Strikes Back. The Empire was the Empire, after all, and even without explanation, it made a reasonable amount of sense that a powerful galactic empire with vast resources could quickly rebound from the destruction of a super-weapon. Without further development than we’ve seen in either movie, the First Order’s mere existence makes less sense, and their sudden total galactic hegemony following hard upon the loss of Starkiller base makes even less sense—even factoring in their destruction of the Republic’s core worlds and fleet. Furthermore, the Resistance’s resources seem vastly diminished. In The Force Awakens, they were able to intervene when the First Order tracked BB-8 to Maz Kanata’s castle, not to mention mount a large-scale attack on Starkiller base. Here, they’re down to their last couple of ships by the time the movie starts, which is a bit of a problem since the movie seems to start within hours or days of the end of The Force Awakens.

Despite the increasingly compounded problems with the overarching narrative framing, things get off to a bang, with fighter ace Poe Dameron trolling the hell out of the First Order’s prissy military commander, General Hux and a desperate Resistance attack on a powerful First Order vessel that is bombarding the Resistance base and its escaping fleet. After that, things start to flag a little bit as the rag-tag Resistance fleet is tracked through hyperspace and then begins to run low on fuel as the First Order pursues, the latter being a rather forced plot device, since fuel has never before been an issue in a Star Wars movie. Worse, the Resistance ships are just enough faster than their First Order pursuers to lie outside of effective weapons range which again seems more convenient to the plot than particularly plausible.

As Leia and her small remnant of Resistance fighters remain in their plot-mandated stalemate with the First Order fleet, our Force-savant heroine Rey, seeks the assistance and guidance of Luke Skywalker. Just as Yoda initially refused to train Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke initially refuses to train—or even talk to—Rey here. Like his old master, Luke gets some laughs with his curmudgeonly trolling of his would-be apprentice, as when he blithely chucks the lightsaber that once belonged to him (and his father before him) over his shoulder and into a porg’s nest. Alas, despite some enjoyable and funny moments and Mark Hamill’s finest performance to date as Luke, the “training” doesn’t play out as well as its forbear in “Empire”.

First of all, in The Force Awakens, Rey was presented as the most naturally powerful Force user we’ve ever seen, able to use Jedi mind tricks and go toe-to-toe with the powerful Kylo Ren without any training at all. She’s far more powerful than Luke was before he was trained, and she even shows more natural aptitude than Anakin, who was a sort of messiah. So it’s not really clear that she even needs training so much as she needs answers—a sense of context or, in her words, a sense of “my place in all this”. When Luke inevitably comes around to helping Rey, she gets very little of either training or context. We could use a little more exposition from Luke on the nature of the Force, his own tangled history with it, and perhaps at least a brief montage of Rey further developing her already formidable skills.

Instead, Kylo Ren keeps butting in. The Last Jedi elects to introduce a radical new Force ability—Force Skype! From his quarters aboard a First Order star destroyer, Kylo can commune with Rey as she stares into the windswept waters around Luke’s island hideaway, giving them the opportunity to develop their antagonistic and faintly erotic connection from The Force Awakens. This is a clever plot device for advancing Rey’s and Kylo’s ambiguous relationship and for further fleshing out Kylo’s motivations. It’s also a previously unmentioned new superpower, a distraction from Rey’s interaction with Luke, and a cheap plot trick to cram important, perception-changing revelations into the space of around one-third of the movie. In The Force Awakens, Rey’s previous experiences with Kylo were not positive (unless she’s the kind of girl who had a well-worn copy of 50 Shades of Grey stashed in her AT-AT desert home): he kidnapped her, tortured her for information, murdered his father—and her mentor—as she looked on, and finally tried to kill her. In her first Force Skype with him, she calls him a monster. A few Skype calls later, and Rey is optimistic that she can set the brooding Vader wannabe formerly known as Ben Solo back on the right path. It’s silly. I understand that Adam Driver exudes a peculiar sort of sex appeal as Kylo. I understand that the internet is filled with legions of “Reylo” shippers. And I understand that even in The Force Awakens, the relationship was played with some noticeable—if muted—sparks. But the rapidity of Rey’s reversal on Kylo in The Last Jedi frankly plays even worse than Padme’s sudden discovery that she truly, deeply loves Anakin after repeatedly rebuffing him in Attack of the Clones, and using a brand new Force ability to sell it makes the plot creak mightily.

While Rey is learning to love Kylo, Poe Dameron has come up with an ingenious plan to save the last 25 Resistance fighters in the galaxy. After a rather less Force-y Skype call with Maz Kanata (the First Order can track you and outgun you, but they can’t overtake you or jam your communications), he sends ex-stormtrooper Finn and newcomer Rose Tico on a top secret mission to the casino world of Canto Bight to track down a hacker who can help them get aboard Snoke’s flagship and disable the hyperspace tracking device, thus allowing the Resistance to safely retreat and regroup. It’s here that the movie inserts its most incisive and politically relevant messages—the rich get rich off the backs of poor children, brutalized animals, and conflict (no matter which side wins the war, the arms manufacturer always does). They play baccarat in posh casinos while the galaxy burns, the people suffer, and both the First Order and the Resistance indiscriminately buy their wares and line their pockets. Further, it gives Johnson a chance to introduce the sort of down-trodden and overlooked young’ins whom he clearly wants us to believe are the future of both the Resistance, and of the Jedi order. But to the plot of the movie, the whole sequence still comes off feeling both too long and not long enough, essential to some larger story but entirely tangential to the one at hand. This is especially true since the entire mission yields no result in the overall story: Rose and Finn fail to contact the hacker they were sent to find and instead settle on a stuttering, cynical Benicio del Toro. While they succeed in getting aboard Snoke’s ship and getting near the tracking device, Benicio betrays them to the First Order and they are very nearly executed before a very well-timed, deus ex Holdo attack on the ship saves them. Johnson wants to make point about the importance of failure, and if this particular lesson on that front hadn’t come at the expense of other storylines, or if he had been unable to weave it into other aspects of the movie, it would be fine enough. Alas, even at two and a half hours, the film feels weirdly rushed and the lesson about failure is boldly underlined elsewhere, meaning that the diversion on Canto Bight comes at the expense of richer development of Luke’s misgivings, Rey’s and Kylo’s connection, and huge unanswered questions about who the hell Snoke is and how the First Order has so completely demolished all resistance (both with and without a capital ‘r’). This brings me to yet another problem: Snoke.

Rey becomes frustrated with Luke’s reticence and sets off to return to the Resistance and persuade Kylo Ren to turn against Snoke and turn back toward the light. Just as Vader did with Luke, Ren seizes her and escorts her to his master. Just like the late great Palpatine/Darth Sidious, Snoke sits in a grandiose throne room with a good view of the Resistance fleet getting wiped out and a contingent of red-robed guards. Just like Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, Snoke can’t seem to stop with overconfident sneering about his impending total victory, his utter power with the Force, and Rey’s imminent demise at the hands of his apprentice Kylo Ren. And just as Darth Vader turned on the emperor at the last moment, right as it appears that Kylo is going to carry out his master’s command and kill Rey, he instead ignites her lightsaber (which Snoke has set on the armrest of his throne), impaling and then bisecting the Supreme Leader. Snoke’s bodyguards leap into action and, fighting side by side, Rey and Kylo defeat them. But here Kylo’s path diverges from his grandfather’s: this isn’t an act of redemption, this is the classic instance of a figure powerful with the dark side betraying his master for his own aggrandizement. Kylo wants to be Supreme Leader, and he wants Rey to join him. Along the way, he even manages to reveal that the mystery around Rey’s parentage is one big fat nothingburger.

Watching the scene, I expected that sometime later we’d see Snoke putting himself back together and rising from the dead. Nope. Unless he has a comeback in the next film, Snoke is dead. My first reaction to this was consternation: what kind of story kills off its “big bad” well before the last act? Snoke doesn’t even make it to the end of the movie, and he was set up to be the overarching baddie for this entire cycle of Star Wars films. On reflection, I think that killing him off is actually pretty clever and pretty gutsy. It’s surprising just in and of itself. It makes Kylo Ren’s arc that much more interesting. And it actually fits *extremely* well with the lore around the Sith, where sooner or later the Sith apprentice always ended up murdering the Sith master in the quest for ever more power. That said, Snoke still needed more explanation. Who was this powerful figure who managed to essentially rebuild the Empire and turn Luke’s fledgling Jedi against him? Explaining that would do a lot more to put the big picture (that is, how did we get to Rebels v. Empire 2.0 in mere decades after Return of the Jedi), and it would also make his murder at the hands of Kylo Ren that much more impactful.

Like much of the rest of the film, the final big scene in which the First Order ground forces attack all 10 remaining Resistance fighters on Crait felt oddly truncated and choppy. Oh, here are some cannon fodder guys manning some trenches. Oh my, here come some walkers across the salt flat! Send out the speeders! Oh goodness, not only do they have walkers, they have a mini-Death Star (another one! Jesus!) Is Finn going to die? No, it can’t be! Oh, thanks Rose! Oh man, is Rose going to die? And suddenly a wild Luke Skywalker appeared! I never realized he was so vain—looks like he stopped by the salon for a trim and a dye job. My, I guess Luke *has* gotten really powerful what with withstanding all that blaster fire! Oh, Kylo’s pissed. Look at Luke trolling the fuck out of Kylo. Oh shit, Luke is a hologram! Oh shit, Luke is using the Force in some really crazy ways! Shit, now he’s tripping hard and seeing Tatooine. Oh damn, he’s dead. Oh well, no time to mourn, there’s Rey picking up rocks, getting hit on by Poe, and wondering why Finn doesn’t love her anymore. It’s not a bad scene, but like a lot of the movie, it feels like Rian Johnson needed to piss really bad while he was editing it.

I’ve never seen a Star Wars movie that I really didn’t like, and The Last Jedi is no exception. But at least on a first watch, it is getting a lot closer than I would have thought possible.

There’s still a lot of stuff I liked.

It looked good (the marvelous salt-encrusted red-velvet cake landscape of Crait, Snoke’s throne room, the aftermath of Holdo ramming Snoke’s flagship) and there were some really exciting sequences (the opening space battle, Kylo and Rey fighting Snoke’s guards).

One of my favorite things about The Force Awakens was a welcome dose of diversity: the lead character was a girl who didn’t need rescuing. Another main character was a black man, another a Hispanic man, and they were surrounded by a background of diversity in both the First Order and the Resistance. The Last Jedi carries on this noble tradition, and even adds to it, introducing an Asian woman in a major role (and showing her sister nobly sacrificing herself), a heroic, middle-aged female admiral, and more background diversity. I absolutely love this about these new Star Wars movies.

There were any number of moments where the film was really funny, and that was a good thing. Hux is a great straight-man: Poe prank calling him in the opening was genuinely funny. Pretty much all of his interactions with Kylo Ren are funny. Snoke sneeringly telling Kylo to take off his “ridiculous” mask was funny. Luke chucking his family heirloom lightsaber over his shoulder was funny. Finn’s foot crashing through the floor of his speeder in the midst of an otherwise tense scene was a welcome moment of levity.

I liked the addition of two prominent female characters. Vice-Admiral Holdo was, alas, not around for very long, but she stood out while she was there, rightly scolding Poe for his recklessness. And when it mattered, she showed that her more cautious style wasn’t lack of courage. Rose Tico was a nice addition as well: a character with a humble background and a humble job who shows a lot of heart and rises to the occasion, not to mention giving voice to perhaps the single most important line in the movie, when she explains to Finn that the good guys don’t win by killing what they hate, but by saving what they love.

Speaking of Admiral Holdo, Poe Dameron’s arc was also well-handled. He’s a really likable character, but he’s also a cocky, arrogant, hotshot with rather poor judgement. Most of the ideas he has throughout the movie are really bad ideas--either too risky, too costly, or both. In the final battle on Crait, Poe seems to have finally absorbed some of these lessons as he calls off what would amount to a suicide attack on the advancing First Order forces--something that he almost certainly wouldn’t have done earlier in the film.

Finally, even though it was clumsily handled, I liked what Johnson was doing in showing the spark of heroism and resistance in the stable hands. It’s good to be reminded that the fate of the galaxy--and even the fate of the Jedi--doesn’t rest solely with the Skywalker family.

Still--and again, this is only a first impression--The Last Jedi made too much of a hash of its main story lines. My biggest problems:

Since I enjoy the interconnectedness of key characters and threads in the main Star Wars saga (the ones that get episode numbers), I couldn’t help but hope that Rey had some intriguing connection to something we’d seen before. I was particularly keen on a popular fan theory that she was related to Palpatine, but that was just me. However, I don’t really mind if she really is--as The Last Jedi indicates--essentially a nobody from nowhere. But if that is truly going to be the case, some big-time explanation is needed that either plausibly explains that most of what the previous two trilogies told us about Force users was bunk or plausibly explains that the Force itself has changed and adapted to a galaxy without organized Force users.

Killing Snoke relatively early in the game is fine, and even an ingenious bit of storytelling. Doing so with zero explanation of who he is and how he managed to successfully plunge the galaxy back into darkness so quickly is really bad storytelling. It would be fine if there were no previous Star Wars movies, or if the new trilogy were completely unrelated to the others, but that isn’t the case. Anyone watching these new films *knows* that the Empire and the Sith were destroyed. The complete reversal of fortunes--not only do we have a new Empire in the form of the First Order, but we have something like new Sith in the form of Snoke and Kylo Ren--trivializes the hard-won victories of the original trilogy and leaves a gaping narrative hole in the absence of any explanation.

There are plenty of smaller questions that aren’t quite as important but that rankle nonetheless: who the hell are/were the Knights of Ren? Were they Snoke’s bodyguards, and if so, why did they turn so immediately on their purported leader, Kylo Ren? If they are something else, who--and where!--the hell are they? How did the Resistance go from mounting a massive and successful attack on Starkiller base to scrambling aboard a handful of mid-sized cruisers? Why can’t the First Order just call in some other ships to intercept the fleeing Resistance ships?

At the end of the day, The Last Jedi has some really exciting moments and shows a laudable desire to try a few new things, and put a new spin on some old things. But despite its two and a half hour runtime, it felt rushed and too short. Too many questions, large and small, from The Force Awakens, remained unanswered and there were no satisfying reveals or truly unexpected twists to make up for that. And too often the subversion of Star Wars tropes seemed to exist for their own sake, rather than arising organically from the narrative.

#star wars #the last jedi #episode viii