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nonhumanhottie · 9 months

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Into the empty parts of me

Finnrey (mostly platonic, a little codependent). 2.6k Hurt/comfort. AO3 link ~~~ Rey isn't doing okay but luckily Finn is there to help

Into the empty parts of me (finnrey)

The ship is no longer at full capacity. Surviving Resistance fighters are dropped off in discrete locations, swapping ships, going deep undercover. There isn’t another option; they have to rebuild. Rey can’t keep up with the layers of stories and covers and missions. It all blurs together—and it’s unimportant to her, which sounds callous, but she can really only think of one thing lately. It consumes the crowded days and nights on the Falcon. Every time she swallows a bite of a stale ration bar, the lump in her throat grows. Every time she shuts her eyes, he (don’t think about him) is behind her lids. Staring. Waiting.

You are nothing.

How to describe these frantic days that upturned her life and poisoned her reality? As the panic rises, and it does often, she wishes that she never left Jakku. When her heart thuds too loudly in her chest, she silently swears she would take solitary over this. Then the guilt seeps in, and she feels selfish and silly. But how can she explain this to her new peers? What would Leia say? What would Finn say?

They have bigger issues to deal with and so Rey keeps her internal battle to herself. She pilots the Falcon and hands out ration bars and sits silently with Leia as she mourns (‘So many loses in so few days.’). She stares at her (Luke’s) broken lightsaber, a piece in each hand as if she could put it back together herself. He did this (don’t think it don’t say his name). This was a borrowed possession, a trinket from an age she doesn’t understand. And now it’s nothing. All its history (it was always so cold to the touch, even ignited, why was it so cold?) was gone in a flash of blinding light. Its story is over. Perhaps that’s a good thing.

But Rey’s story continues, and she doesn’t know in what direction. She has the ancient texts. Texts she can barely read. Leia mentioned briefly that she had picked up a thing or two from Luke, but it had been a long time ago. It’s been a long time for everyone. The Jedi, over barely two generations, are a dying breed, and likely always would be. There was no master left to guide her. Would they want to, given her curiosity towards the Dark Side?

The Dark Side.

Thinking about it, mouthing the words to herself, sends chills down her body and bile in her mouth. She knows nothing about it, not really, other than Luke’s few words on it and what he (don’t think about him) said about it. It frightens her, the utter power, the chilling sensation and, more than anything, the temptation. She imagines it easily, giving in, letting it fill her, oozing into her empty insides.

When she lays awake on her tiny bunk, and the ship hums too loudly around her, she thinks about it: the alternate choice. She felt it, through the bond (that insidious word), the satisfaction, the passion, the rage, the lust. It keeps him (stop) full, even if only in temporary bursts, even if the tug of the Light is blinding. He’d seen a vision (he was probably lying) of her by his side, shrouded in darkness, with a red blade. Her imagination runs off without her, so clear and fightening.

Her skin prickles; it’s too tight. Lights dance around her, and she can’t tell if it’s coming from the ship or behind her eyelids. Are her eyes even open? Is she even on the ship?

She sucks in a deep, rattling breath and the emptiness swirls inside her like a hurricane in a chasm. She’s as void as space, she’s back on Jakku, scratching days onto the wall, time trickling like molasses. As wretched as… his (don’t think of his name) thoughts were, as sickly as the connection was, it was something. As tangible as feeling could be. It had snaked around her like prickled vines, it had grounded her, rooted her in reality, despite the reality-bending nature of a Force-bond. It was confusing and dangerous and uncomfortable, but the loneliness was gone.

Rey.

And now, everything had shifted again. Not back to the way it was, but something newer. A new emptiness she could never have fathomed. Each staggering breath leaves her hollower than the last. Does she deserve this? Is this punishment for following the elusive lure of the Dark Side? Maybe the bond isn’t severed at all. Maybe this is him (don’t think of his name!) coaxing her into returning, filling herself up again, whole and alive.

‘Rey.’

You are nothing.

Would it be worth it? Just to feel something. Even if it’s him (please don’t think of his name), as vile as he (don’t) is, as empty as she is, as confusing as these feelings are (she can’t breathe, there’s nothing to fill). What is her course? Where are her next steps? Her senses are robbed by (just breathe) (don’t think it), by (stop!). By Ren—

‘Rey,’ Finn says, standing in front of her, filling her vision.

Oh.

She sucks in another deep, but less-rattling breath. She’s still on the ship. Reality (actual reality—not Force-bond, space-bending reality) crashes into her, filling her insides like the tide coming in. She doesn’t remember how she got to the galley but here she is. Finn, as bright a moon on a clear night, smiles, awkwardly, hesitantly. He’s worried but polite enough (or concerned enough) not to comment yet. His hands remain by his sides, though he shifts his weight slowly, forcing patience.

‘Finn,’ Rey breathes. She swallows and tries again, ‘Finn. I’m not. I’m alright.’

‘It’s okay if you’re not,’ Finn says, a rehearsed line he probably heard from Poe or Leia. Finn carries weariness too; he’s slightly better at schooling his features but he can’t hide the eyebags and heavy shoulders. He spent most sleep cycles by Rose’s side until she woke and was able to move on her own again. Rey still hasn’t introduced herself. She wants to but her nerves outweigh her desire for new company.

‘But I am,’ Rey says, lying to Finn, her stomach tensing. How can she tell him without frightening him? Or is she underestimating him?

Regardless, Finn’s unconvinced. ‘I know it’s hard,’ he says carefully. ‘We were taught to bury any feeling. All that mattered was loyalty, servitude. That’s no way to live.’

Finn adapted quickly. He fell into honour fast and absolutely; he embraced love and compassion as easily as breathing. The First Order bred totalitarianism and hatred, and against all odds, Finn escaped. Perhaps out of cowardice at first, but once Finn tasted life (and love) on the outside, he couldn’t turn back. And he didn’t. Heroism suits Finn well, and Rey knows that will only further blossom in him.

Then what of her? Is she a hero too? She rejected him (but the temptation was there, however minute) and she saved the final scraps of the Resistance. She made rocks dance like cascading stars. Was that enough to be a hero? Did she have to feel like a hero to keep doing the right thing? She’s sure Luke would disagree.

You are nothing.

‘I’m just very tired,’ Rey says, and it’s true, but it’s also elusive. She’s falling apart at the seams, as she does at least once a day, and she needs to hide it, like a dark curse. ‘I’m going to head to the bunk.’

‘I’ll walk you there.’

Rey doesn’t refuse. She walks with Finn by her side. When she’s with Finn she’s safe and whole, mostly. It’s a struggle to verbalise her woes but having him close eases the fear weaving into her bloodstream.

They arrive at the bunk that she, Finn and Poe share. It’s been very strange sleeping with others near and if either of them is woken by her silent sobs, they haven’t mentioned it. Poe is outspoken and headstrong, so Rey thinks he’d say something if he heard. Though come to think of it, she isn’t sure he’s slept yet.

Rey opens the door and for a second, she sees him, sees Ren, standing in the darkness, eyes glowing, hand outstretched.

It’s an illusion; she blinks and he vanishes, but the terror remains. Every time she sleeps, that’s what she sees. Him, waiting, wanting, hunger burning in his eyes and pain pulsing between them. The bond (what a horrid thing) is still there, Rey knows it must be, even if she can’t quite feel it, not like before. So many things she can’t describe, and even if she could, no one is left to understand. Except for him, perhaps.

Finn steps inside but Rey lingers in the threshold, heart thumping, head spinning. She grips the doorframe and shakes. The galaxy is so cruel, and the Force is so unknowable. What chance does she have against the power blazing inside her, connecting her to every rock and tree in the galaxy, distancing herself from anyone she could hope to love?

But that just isn’t true. She repeats that in her mind and wills the walls to stop shaking around her. She is loved—Finn loves her, Leia does too. Poe likes her enough, and she really should introduce herself to Rose; they will be good friends, Rey knows.

You are nothing.

He’s stuck in her thoughts, echoing sentiments she tries so hard not to believe.

‘Are you going to come in?’ Finn asks.

Something has to give.

Rey crosses the threshold. She can’t hide her festering emotions anymore. She crashes against Finn, gripping his shirt in desperate fists. She isn’t sure what she wants but she can’t think of him anymore, she can’t imagine him hiding in the shadows (was it her imagination or was he really here?).

Finn catches her, staggering once, then resolves. He holds her tightly, arms clasped around her back. He knows, somehow. It’s like they’ve known each other their whole lives—for several lives. Rey cannot imagine life without him, and she’ll keep it that way. That isn’t the Jedi way, according to the texts; it’s cruel to position someone above death itself. She’d have to work on that, but for now, she clings to Finn like she’s drowning. She needs to learn how to swim.

They don’t speak right away. Rey pants and almost sobs but can’t get it out. Finn rubs her back like she’s choking on rehydrating protein chunks. It doesn’t help but the contact is nice, regardless. His hands are warm and firm. He doesn’t treat her like she’s fragile; he embraces her with all his strength and crushes her to his chest. Rey can barely breathe but she never feels more whole than in Finn’s arms (is that normal?).

‘It’s okay,’ Finn says lowly. ‘I know. It’s rough. But it’ll be okay.’

Rey nods against his shoulder. He’s so soothing, so easy to believe. Even in the dark room, he’s a light spot, guiding away from her waking nightmares. Finn doesn’t need to understand everything; he knows when she’s uneasy and he extends his compassion. He’s special (Rey knows that). Very special. Few in the galaxy blossom into such kindness after such a harsh adolescence. His shift to freedom fighting was inevitable. A hero. Her hero.

You are nothing.

She just has to hold herself together. For Finn. For Leia. For Chewie and Poe and Rose. For the galaxy.

There’s a bang on the door.

‘Finn, bud, you in there?’ Poe’s voice is too loud, even behind the door. ‘The General wants to talk to you.’

Finn sighs and waits another beat before he gently draws Rey back. ‘Will you be okay if I head off for a bit?’

‘Go to Leia,’ Rey says even if she can hardly bear it. She’s sure that isn’t a normal response, and perhaps when her life is in less peril, it is something she can assess. But for now, she wraps her arms around herself to keep her insides in place.

Reluctantly, they move to the door. Finn opens it and reveals Poe tapping his fingers against the doorframe (always so impatient). Finn pats Poe’s shoulder as he passes and turns to give Rey a goodbye smile before vanishing around the corner.

Rey doesn’t step outside the bunk. She presses her lips together tightly.

Poe looks after Finn and then back at Rey. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing,’ Rey says, too automatically to be convincing.

Poe is suspicious. Not in a cruel way, but a little nosy. In the extremely short time of knowing him, Rey discovered that Poe did not like to be left out of a conversation. He likes seeing the bigger picture. Along the journey so far, Leia has chastised him in a fond, forlorn way. They have a bond Rey can’t understand but the sick guilt of jealousy clings to Rey whenever she notices it. Rey doesn’t like to be left out of a conversation either, but she doesn’t have the confidence to probe anyone for more information.

Rey smiles and hopes it's convincing. She should probably practice in a mirror when she gets the chance (she makes others frown more often than not).

‘Um, so,’ Poe said, scratching his neck, ‘it’s been a helluva week, huh?’

‘Yeah.’

‘How’re you holding up, kid?’

Rey scrunches her nose. ‘It’s Rey.’

‘I know. I remember.’ Poe gives a lopsided smile and raises his brows.

She still needs practice with conversations. Should she lie and say she’s fine, or should she burden him with her anxieties? Should she mention him (of course not) and her fears surrounding that?

Instead, she says, ‘I’m going to join Finn.’ It’s not something she should do. Leia didn’t request her. She should give Finn space—but she’s been doing that when he was nursing Rose. And Rey still hasn’t introduced herself. Maybe she should do that, instead of following Finn once again. Rose would like her. Why wouldn’t she?

Poe’s expression falls into a grimace. ‘I mean, I think you,’ he cuts himself off and sighs, ‘no, go ahead. Go find him. Leia was in the cockpit with Chewie. Finn’ll be there too.’

Rey isn’t sure why Poe gives in. Is he treating her like she’s fragile or is she not worth his time? (Always so many questions swirling inside her). Or maybe he’s dealing with his own issues. Rey knows a little of what he went through from Leia’s anecdotes. She senses the guilt; it weighs him down. Pain is relatively easy to hide from the average person, but Rey sees right through him, to the broken pieces. Is that what the Resistance is—broken beings fighting their demons? Is that why they want to recruit her? Broken beings who mend each other by mending the galaxy.

No one is whole, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hopeful. Oh. Is it really such a simple revelation? She doesn’t need to hide her fears. No one else is. No Resistance fighter is infallible; they’re flawed, they’re hurt, they’re angry. And they’re stronger together.

You are no—

Rey leaves the bunk and walks to the cockpit. She doesn’t pass anyone, thankfully, and sure enough, Finn, Leia and Chewie are all there. None of them are surprised to see her. It doesn’t mean she should be there. She should work on that. Her attachments hit her hard and fast and she’ll do anything to hold onto them. That probably isn’t normal, though neither is she. She’ll work on it. Surely, she’ll grow and change and adapt. The future is very unclear and frightening but at least there’s a future to fight for. Will she ever see it to the end? Who knows.

It doesn’t matter all too much because Finn smiles at her.

She is known and she is cherished. And that is enough for now.

#rey skywalker #rey star wars #finn star wars #poe dameron #finnrey #reyfinn #star wars sequel trilogy #star wars sequel fic #star wars #fanfic #leshi writes

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deniigi · 3 years

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So @petrichordiam and I are menaces and giggled over our ideal dinluke flower shop AU for like 4 hrs and then I wrote this.

Title: murderer next door

Summary: Din works as a florist and Luke works as a bookseller and they’re both assassins trying to keep the other off their turf.

-------------

Two times now, Luke had crashed past that flower shop, and two times now, the fucker inside had taken out his mark. Now all Luke had to say about the whole thing was that it was too bad that he was going to have to kill the guy.

Han told him not to turn back. The mark was dead; the mark was gone. They weren’t fast enough this time, but there would be others.

Luke just couldn’t let it go, though. He had rent to pay, and McFloristApron over there was smashing through all his targets and making that nigh impossible—regardless of how many marks there were in the area.

Luke waited until Han had closed up shop for the night and remained there in the dark with his arm slung over the back of the chair in the backroom, surrounded by books. He rolled his shot of whiskey in its tumbler. The sound against the old wood table offered no comfort.

He stood up and left the glass to get his laptop.

He wasn’t losing to some florist, Han, sorry. Only one family could take innocuous cover on this street, and it was them.

---

McFlorist’s name wasn’t listed on the florist’s staff page, but then again, none of the people on that page had names. In fact, the website’s whole vibe was all wedding-chic until you clicked on the ‘staff and contacts’ tab. Then, it may as well have been a line of mugshots.

Luke squinted along the row of increasingly involved headgear until he got to someone with a reasonably-sized neck with no tats. The ladies on either side of him appeared to have sapped all the ink out of McFloristApron. He wore a mask over the lower half of his face and gave a stoic thumbs up to the camera.

Under his picture was the number fifteen.

Damn.

Luke was only making eight per pop. Who the hell was this guy eating up all the feeder fish, huh? Them lower division folks had to eat too, you know.

Well.

‘Lower division’ in a sense of the word. Being two times undercover wasn’t super glamorous, Luke had to say. But when your dad fucked it up for the first family, sometimes you had to take what you could get.

Luke pointed at Fifteen on the screen.

“You and me, pal,” he said. “You and me.”

Step one was to get paid first.

Luke chased down three marks on the other side of town to pay the rent and the medical bills for now. His hand’s new sleeve felt like a dream. It didn’t overheat like the nylon black one did, and the hand was far less shiny now as a bonus. That had certainly reduced the number of people catching something move out of the corner of their eye.

Was it worth fifty grand?

No.

Was it worth the last nine that Luke had left to pay on it?

Yeah. It was definitely worth the nine.

------

Step two was to go make it clear to Fifteen McFlorist that he and his folks needed to back down in the face of the established guard.

Luke put on his biggest sweater and the thickest glasses he could find. He stole Chewie’s messenger bag with all the pins on it. He slung it over his shoulder and rolled the hems of his jeans up just a smidge too much, then scurried over to the florist’s across the way.

Fifteen was off to the side of the register, fucking around with something in the refrigerator. Luke busily and noisily looked through the wall of foliage on the side of the shop nearest the window. He hummed. He hawed. He made anxious nerd-sounds until a voice asked, “Hi, can I help you?”

Luke glanced out of the corner of his eye and found that Fifteen was standing facing his way now. His mask was gray this time. His apron was orange. His boots were too heavy-looking for florist work.

“I’d love that,” Luke gushed breathlessly. “See, my mom just got engaged and I’m on the way to her house.”

Fifteen lifted his chin slightly.

“What’re her favorites?” he asked tonelessly.

Terrible customer service skills, dude.

“Roses,” Luke said.

“Ours are shit today,” Fifteen said. “How about dahlias?”

Luke didn’t know what those were but sure.

“That sounds great,” he said. “You have any in pink?”

--------

He watched Fifteen brutalize some pink, orange, and white flowers into a bouquet wrapped with a silver bow and was sure to smile every time the guy looked up.

“That’ll be $37.59.”

Sir, these are dead flowers. There is no need for that price.

“Can I put it on card?” Luke asked. “How long have you worked here, if you don’t mind me asking? I work just across the way is all.”

Fifteen’s dark gaze flicked up. His hair was covered by a gray beanie two shades darker than the mask.

“At the club?” he asked.

“The bookshop,” Luke corrected him with a shy, but widening smile.

Please be gay. Please be gay. Please be gay. Leia wasn’t going to want to cooperate. She thought it was beneath her to establish boundaries like this.

“Blue paint,” Fifteen said. “Yeah, that place. How long have you been there?”

“My brother-in-law’s place, actually,” Luke said. “I started there last year after I finished college.”

Or, you know, maybe even eight years ago when he’d finished college. No one had to know. Baby faces don’t kiss and tell after all.

“Huh. You must like it there,” Fifteen said.

“It’s fine,” Luke hummed. “You like it here?”

“The kid does.”

“Oh, you’re a father?” Luke asked. “How old?”

“He’s three,” Fifteen said. “Godson. His folks were in an accident; didn’t make it.”

“That’s terrible, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Luke said. “He’s lucky to have you.”

Fifteen handed him his card back. Luke’s hand didn’t close in time to catch it and it fell onto to the wooden counter.

“Sorry about that,” Luke said, reaching for it with the other hand. His knuckles bumped into Fifteen’s when he went for the card at the same time. They both paused and went for the card again with the same result. Luke laughed.

“Slippery, am I right?” he asked, flattening his fingers on top of the piece of plastic and snatching it away.

“Very,” Fifteen said. “I hope your mom likes them.”

“Me too,” Luke smiled. “I’ll see you around—What was your name?”

“You can call me Armando,” Fifteen said.

“Armando,” Luke sounded out. “It suits you.”

It was a falsie.

“And yours?”

“James.”

“It suits you.”

It didn’t.

“Bye now,” Luke said. “Thanks for your help.”

He let the door fall closed behind him with the tinkle of the bell.

--------

He informed Han that “Armando” had a toddler and received only a warning look and a scolding for all his effort. Han told him not to get jealous. If there was a kid in the balance, then Fifteen, for better or worse, was going to have to see each day after the next until there was no longer a kid in the balance.

Luke offered to call CPS and report “Armando” as an assassin.

“You do that and those folks across the street are gonna call the VA and tell them I’m an assassin,” Han said. “Lay low, Luke. Lay low.”

Never.

“Christ. At least until that thing’s yours then.”

Luke glared at his right hand.

“Gimme a double,” he told Han without looking away from it.

------------

It was never easy to hunt in the daylight, but Luke wasn’t here to do easy things. He needed to get Mark No. 1 alone. The man took the train once a week to a gentleman’s club on his lunch break. Luke needed a change of clothes.

He had a rainbow windbreaker, white boots, and fishnets all ready to go.

He got on the same train as the mark and dropped his phone nearby. It clattered loudly and the case came off. Luke swore and squatted to drop it at the same time that two girls next to him decided to become good Samaritans. They crouched with him and one of them caught the phone first. They handed it back with a smile.

“I like your jacket,” she said.

Luke let his face struggle to find a smile at her kindness to him, a sweet little twink trying to find the pride parade that happened two weeks ago.

“Thanks,” he said. “I like your bracelet.”

He stood up. The girls were pleased with themselves. Luke glanced back to find Mark No. 1 turn his head abruptly away.

Come here, Markie.

Do you like what you see?

Mark No. 1 didn’t make it out of his hotel room. A pity. Luke took the elevator down and huffed and puffed about a cheap date when he passed the front desk. He stopped abruptly and went back to ask the receptionist what the cross street was. She judged his go-go boots.

He told her she wasn’t his type. Her manager gave him the cross street.

Mark No. 2 had different parameters.

----------

Mark No. 2’s parameters involved chasing him through a maze of boiler rooms and dumpsters. He was chump change towards a hand that Luke hadn’t wanted in the first place, but alas. The anger still roared.

Luke cornered him, still in go-go boots—no need to sacrifice style for speed—and watched those pale eyes look every which way as Mark No. 2 realized that there was no getting out of this.

“You got options, friend,” Luke said. “I can bring you in hot or I can bring you in—”

“—cold.”

His head snapped up and he lurched out of the way just as the crack of a bullet exploded in the alley. A car backfired around the corner in a sympathetic cough. Luke stared at the body then twisted around just in time for a thick glove to latch onto the back of his neck.

“Well, look who it is,” Fifteen drawled.

Luke glared out of the corner of his eye.

“Hands off, Armando,” he warned.

“I like your boots.”

“You’re gonna love ‘em when they’re on your dick,” Luke warned.

“Back off, Nayberry.”

Fucking hell, Han. This is why they should have set up boundaries weeks ago.

“I prefer ‘James,’” Luke said sweetly.

The glock levelled at his face didn’t care.

“You took my mark,” Fifteen said.

“Aw, poor baby,” Luke pouted. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you took mine.”

Fifteen’s orange apron was gone. He’d swapped it for an old leather jacket—something he could more easily wipe clean. He should’ve gone for patent leather. The brown really wasn’t working with his grey mask-beanie situation.

“Stay in your lane,” Fifteen warned.

“Only if you stay in yours,” Luke beamed.

Fifteen huffed.

“Bookstore,” he scoffed. “Who’d you give the flowers to?”

Luke tsked.

“Myself, jackass,” he said.

“Do you even have a mom?”

“What the fuck business is that of yours? You even got a kid?”

Fifteen’s stare was deadly—the cooling body before them notwithstanding.

“Take one step near him and we won’t be talkin’ so friendly, yeah?”

Mm. Yeah.

“You owe me four grand,” Luke informed Fifteen as the glock went down and Fifteen left him to go take a pulse.

The man’s back stiffened.

“Four?” he asked. “You took this job for four?”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“I got bills, Armando,” he drawled.

“How do you keep that shed open? Have you sold even one book?”

Rude. Luke was a great sales associate. If he actually cared to put his mind to it, he’d be worthy of a promotion to manager.

He pulled the rising legs of his shorts down and adjusted the weapon in his windbreaker. He couldn’t leave the alley the way he’d gone into it. Someone might have seen. He was going to have to take a side street. Hmmm, which one? Choices, choices.

“I’ll give you a Dad’s discount. Gimme two grand, and you can have him,” Luke negotiated as he thought.

“Two.”

Hey, no need for that tone. This was a great deal.

“What’re you gonna do with two?” Fifteen asked, already knelling down to heft the body over his shoulder as proof for payment.

“Buy some more tights,” Luke deadpanned. “Two, final offer.”

Fifteen stood up all the way and gave him a weird look. A long look. His beanie was pulled down low, but Luke got the impression that he was frowning at him.

“Take the four,” he said out of nowhere. “I’ll bring it tomorrow.”

Luke recoiled a step at first, then recoiled another when the reality of the situation hit him full in the chest.

“Forget it,” he snapped.

He spun around and started to leave.

“Wh—hey. HEY. Where are you goin’?”

“I don’t need your fuckin’ pity,” Luke called ahead of him as he set to climbing the chainlink fence separating him from the adjacent dead-end alley.

“You what?”

“You heard me,” Luke said.

He jumped down. His left hand found his right wrist and squeezed as he walked.

-------

The phantom pains kept him up all night, and it was definitely that and not the humiliation that made him call in sick. Han told him to answer his therapist’s emails. Luke told him to go do something useful and hung up. He rolled onto his back on his bed and focused on letting his body relax, his jaw unclench, his joints go limp.

There was sunlight finally streaming through his apartment windows again. It had been months.

Spring was almost here. He just had to hold out a little longer.

--------

He came in to work the next day and found an envelope on his chair in the backroom. It was thick.

“McFlorist dropped it off,” he said between aggravated sounds at his spreadsheets.

“Is it tax season already?” Luke asked him as he tried to burn a whole in the center of the envelope with his mind.

“Sure fuckin’ is.”

He stepped forward and snatched up the envelope, then deposited it squarely in Han’s lap. He made an unattractive noise of confusion and alarm.

“For the taxes,” Luke called as he went out to grab his lanyard and name tag. “Gotta keep this place open for another six months at least.”

------------

There were new books in. A new shipment to shelve. Two kids’ displays to set up. And Luke was actually good at this stuff, thanks; he started stacking.

He got peace until he nearly got to the end of the second display, and then what he had was a heart attack. Two liquid brown eyes surrounded by an ocean of ringlets stared up at him from between his knees. The child curled a hand in and out in hello.

Luke jerked himself up to locate the thing’s parents immediately, and promptly found himself in deadly eye-contact with Fifteen.

Armando.

“You were gone yesterday,” Fifteen said flatly.

Luke looked between him and the kid. He was pinned between two enemy parties. How to escape, how to escape.

“Are you sick?”

How to escape. How to escape. How to escape.

“Are you hurt?”

H—what?

“I’m fine, stalker,” Luke snapped with more heat than this present cover allowed. He caught himself and pulled it back. “I’m fine,” he repeated. “Thank you for asking. Is this…?”

Fifteen blinked once. The child blinked once as well. It was creepy.

“He’s mine,” Fifteen said. “And apparently the only thing that will get us through the next two hours is a book.”

Dude.

“Kids are kids,” Fifteen said. “You got any books?”

Luke stared at him, then checked the shelves to make sure he hadn’t teleported into another dimension.

You always had to check.

“We’re in a bookstore,” he said.

“He can’t read,” Fifteen said, pointing.

The kid grinned. His teeth were gapped in that toddler sort of way. He was kind of cute.

“You can’t read?” Luke asked him.

“Hi,” Baby said.

Oh no.

Luke loved him.

“How much?” he asked Fifteen.

“Touch him and you’ll be permanently comatose,” Fifteen said.

“Not if I died out of spite,” Luke said.

There was a long pause. Then Fifteen started laughing? Kind of hard?

“Oh my god, that was so unprofessional. I am so sorry,” Luke blurted out.

Fifteen collected himself and shook his head. His little one giggled and reached for Luke’s fingers.

“Boo,” he said.

Luke couldn’t feel the hand, but he could feel all the heart.

“Book?” he asked, crouching down. “Do you want a story?”

“Mmmm.”

“I have the perfect one,” Luke told him. “It’s about a caterpillar. Do you know what a caterpillar is?”

He got a slow, exaggerated head shake back and forth, back and forth. He stood up straight.

“I’m conducting a temporary kidnapping,” he informed Fifteen. “Do I have consent?”

Fifteen looked from him towards the front entrance and mulled over the merits of leaving his kid with his rival assassin. Then he shrugged.

“Consent granted,” he said. “Luke.”

Luke’s heart stopped.

“James,” he said.

“Your name tag says ‘Luke.’”

Well, fuck.

“Luke Nayberry. It suits you.”

Hhhhhhh. This was karma, wasn’t it.

“Thanks,” he gritted out. “And yourself, Armando?”

“Din.”

Woah, look out. Mr. One-Syllable-Cool-Man had entered the building.

“Din, what?” Luke asked as his arm registered tension. Din’s kid had latched onto his fingers and started pulling incessantly with a chubby hand gesturing in the direction of the wall of children’s books.

“Don’t you worry about it,” Din said.

“Fine, go trip then,” Luke said.

He swore that there was a smile under that mask.

----------

#dinluke #luke skywalker #ficlet #fic #I can't take any trope seriously it turns out #perhaps I am simply too old now to appreciate them #the mandalorian

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jeanjauthor · 3 years

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Thanks for replying to me. I suppose for me to putting it all to paper is a bit different; I share many of these worlds with my friend, but becoming a writer used to be my biggest dream. I gave up on it after one of my trusted professors didn't seem to respond well to my plans. I have a pile of books for research, but I can't get my motivation stronger than my crippling depression. When I think of my ideas, I wonder if it's all been done before. I want to put it to paper, but my own mind stops me. It's rough.

*gives a major spiritual wedgie to said professor...perhaps three or four or fifty-five times...*

It is indeed rough. It hurts when you express your dreams and aren't met with matching enthusiasm, encouragement, etc. Especially from someone you look up to and whose opinion you're inclined to weigh more heavily in its importance than the same words from someone else. I know that feeling, it's debilitating, discouraging, and flat-out sucks.

I don't know what to say to help you get past that debilitating depression, other than to hold fast to how good your story ideas make you feel, and repeat to yourself your encouragements from your friend. And then maybe just...focus on some of the worldbuilding, sketch that out, write it down in little notes to yourself, so the details begin to remain consistent?

And then maybe plop a character into those details, and ask yourself, how would so-and-so react to such-and-such? You can literally borrow characters from other writers' universes for this (which is how fanfic sometimes gets started). The way how The Doctor of Doctor Who fame will react to something is going to be vastly different from the Doctor of Star Trek: Voyager versus any doctor from, say, Grey's Anatomy the t.v. show. Or maybe Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus Bella from the Twilight novels. Or even Shrek from his eponymous movies versus The Incredible Hulk (comic book, t.v. show, or MCU, your choice).

...Sometimes it's easier to start telling a story in someone else's sandbox than it is in your own, or with someone else's "story toys." It's often not as intimidating. You don't have to do all the work, because you're playing with characters and/or a setting that someone else created.

There are two more things to consider, and the first is the paralyzing fear of "what if my writing turns out crappy / riddled with errors???" This is a common one among writers. (Yes, even those of us with literal dozens of books published, like myself!) And I gotta say--even if you won't believe me--SO WHAT?? (Sorry for the scary shouting, but...)

One of the upper-crust storytellers that I know, like easily top 20%, maybe top 15% of those who are amateurs and those who are pros...is absolutely horrible at spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. But she tells an amazing story. My inner editor dislikes all those errors, but I love the twists and turns she brings to her stories. And as I've told her many times, if you have technically perfect writing, go write a technical manual. If you can tell a story, tell that story. The polishing of that story is the part where you just go find or hire a good patient editor or beta editor who is willing to work with you.

Don't worry about the quality of your writing. WRITE. The rest only comes with practice, and the only way to practice is to--you guessed it--just write.

Try little things to get the pump flowing. Write down a character description. Write down a location description. Write that character interacting with said location, like...they're in a fancy dressing room, do they sit at the vanity table and start brushing their hair, applying makeup, triming their moustache, or putting on socks and shoes?

...The other point of consideration is your comment about whether or not your particular story has been told before. This is...both moderately true, and yet very false.

Story archetypes have been told and retold for generations. So if you have a story of a kid who gets dragged off his farm to go on a dangerous adventure, gets taught how to swing an enchanted sword, ends up having to fight an enemy with a vast army, blah blah blah...did I just recite the tale of young King Arthur...or Luke Skywalker? Or Garion who becomes Belgarion in the David Eddings Belgariad series?

This is quite possibly true for pretty much 99.98% of all stories, they almost all share story archetypes.

However, no one would ever claim that the Belgariad quintilogy is the same as the Star Wars stories is the same as the Arthurian legends.

The exact story you choose to tell, the elements you choose to put into it, can and will make your story unique.

Don't believe me? Have the twins be swapped, and it's Leia Skywalker rescuing Prince Luke Organa, and suddenly there's a whole different dynamic to the original Star Wars movie. Leia will make slightly different choices (similar due to her upbringing, but different), and while she could wind up with Han...well, Han and Prince Luke could've wound up having a yaoi love interest thing going on.

If you fear your story is risking running into "way too similar to another already established tale" territory ...then mix it up. Swap roles, genders, presentations, social statuses, love interests, et cetera. You can fanfic your own writing as much as you want, especially when trying to figure out what you want to write.

And by writing short little fanfic snippets...you'll find it easier to write. They're fanfics, they're throwaway. You can always hit Delete. Or hit Save As, and save it under a file name such as "Don't Look At This number 317".

You have stories to tell. Tell them to yourself, tell them to your friend, tell them to your wordprocessing software or your spiral notebook, or your cat. Or maybe your dog. A dog might actually try to listen; not sure about a cat. it depends on the cat.

#answers #vespertinecat

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swan2swan · 4 years

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Not exactly a TLJ fan here but you have the most weirdest sticking points. I mean... dresses? Old crusty reluctant mentor (that one's could've been better). I mean, Rey Palpatine was a bit of a leap but you really can't let go of the whole "chosen one with a secret parentage," can't you? Tropes are not bad or good. It's how you use them. There's holding subversion up to scrutiny and advocating writer to NEVER innovate, never try anything risky like the corporate goons they are.

Look, the “Dresses” thing is a jab that the sequel trilogy really stank with fashion and costume design, and also kept Rey in the exact same outfit for three movies, just swapping up the palette (except for that one Super Symbolic White Leia Hood moment in the third movie). The prequels and OT had costumes that specifically spoke to the characters in their moments and roles in the movies; the sequel trilogy was super-generic. Also, Kelly Marie deserved to wear something fancy on Canto Bight.

The “chosen one with a secret parentage” thing is a stupid thing to throw out because those two are, and I mean this seriously, Mutually Exclusive. A Chosen One is Just Somebody who is destined to be a hero, generally born to humble and unassuming parents. A Secret Parentage person is someone who learns that they have a whole mess of family history, or have been raised a certain way, or were Actually Someone Important (I suppose they can be NOT Mutually Exclusive, but that’s generally for the Captain Marvel method, where someone who is The Chosen One is taken in by the Bad Guys because they want them for their power, kind of like the whole Kylo Ren plot). Also, my desire for Rey was less Secret Parentage, more Family Legacy--the point was to have Luke learn to be a Good Dad and Rey have a Reason To Fight, because she learns that she has a Messy Heritage and takes up responsibility. Rey Random is still okay, but my problem--again--is that there wasn’t even Found Family with her. You can’t have a character spend two days with someone else, fight them and run off angrily, and then never see them again (until I guess some significant moment?), and then just adopt that family name. It’s not how it works. You have to earn it. Stitch doesn’t call Lilo and Nani “Ohana” because he met them and had some ideological war with them, he does it because he causes trouble but they care for him anyway, then he cares for them right back, and they learn and grow and work together and have fun together and do things together, and that’s how they become family. Clark is raised by Martha and Jonathan, and that’s why they’re famly. So my whole “what if it was some rando” thing is directed at the lazy storytelling there--especially because she has no real reason to fight or care about their cause. Blood can easily be a messy plotline, but it can also be a quick and simple way to bond characters (especially if Rey is longing for her family). And the Palpatine thing was dumb because it showed up so late that there was no reason for it. It ultimately has no plot relevance, except to suggest that “Dark Blood Gives You Dark Powers”, and frankly, the Glove of Darth Vader books handled that better than the sequel trilogy (largely because the Moffs had a Mofference on the Moffship and they had the guts to say “Dark Greetings”).

The point is, the Sequel Trilogy was a disaster that mishandled tropes and cliches and ultimately turned out garbage and really started dancing a two-step with racism.

#st criticism #Anonymous

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hail-the-supreme-leader-kylo-ren · 4 years

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**TROS SPOILER WARNING** I saw it and ... 💔💔💔

Well after waiting 2 years, I finally saw The Rise of Skywalker and wow I’m devastated, confused, and angry. The worst thing that they could’ve possibly done they did. They killed Ben Solo Skywalker. I don’t know why screen writers today do this bullshit “bittersweet romance” thing where the two lovers finally have each other, only for one to die when it’s not necessary?!? It’s so cruel. The way the entire ending played out after they killed him, was like the knife they’d stabbed me with was being twisted. I can’t stop crying.

Rey defeated Palpatine, Ben pulled himself out of the pit (lol yes), cradle Rey is his arms lovingly, decided to try to Force heal her (I always had a feeling Ben would bring Rey back to life, because Anakin could never save Padme). Rey is alive again she says “Ben”, caresses him, they kiss, he smiles, REYLO IS CANON, and then shock twist he slumps and then instantly fades away. He’s dead.

LIKE WHAT THE ACTUALLY FUCK IS THAT JJ???? The final Skywalker, the one you’ve been building up as a tragically misunderstood, abuse victim dies sacrificing his life for Rey’s. Han, Luke and Leia all died and hoped that Ben would return to the light. And yeah sure he did, but I would’ve thought that his family would have wanted him to return to the light and LIVE out the rest of his days happily. Doesn’t he deserve that??

There’s so many confusing aspects to this, like A) why did he become “redeemed” then die sacrificing himself just like Vader? I thought that was the problem with the OT and why we have the ST... being that Vader died too soon and didn’t complete the full redemption journey and return to that innocent happy boy he once was and teach his story to others? B) does Rey love Ben? Because the whole movie was framed like she did. But the second he died, I don’t think she called out or even cried???? She goes back to the Resistance and is happy and hugs Finn and Poe. UGH THE “TRIO”. Isn’t she devastated she’s lost her love Ben? And then when she goes back to Tatooine, she sees Force ghost Leia and Luke but no Ben??!???!? A final slap in the face. C) since Ben and Rey were a “Dyad” and were one through the Force, I feel like they should’ve been able to both easily live??? Why bother making them Dyad if it ain’t going to serve the story at all? Is it supposed to just be a cop out and explain the Force Bonds? It’s all so infuriating.

They only reason I can think of why they’d kill Ben Solo is because they wanted to close the loophole of the “Skywalkers” so that they didn’t fuck anything up with the Force’s balance again. But even then that’s seems like a very thin idea, because Rey still exists and she’s a “Palpatine” and is uber powerful? How exactly was the Force finally brought into balance through this movie? Palpatine was defeated and the Palpatine bloodline/legacy “redeemed”? It doesn’t make much sense. GAH I would’ve preferred both Ben and Rey die, since their equals, why would one live and not the other?

To be honest, I was enjoying the film for the first half. It opened with Kylo/Ben so that’s a great. And the Force Bond scenes with Kylo/Ben and Rey screaaaaamed Reylo love. But so many of the leaks were right, it was becoming quite comical. And looking back of the film now it was all very clunky and had a lot of convoluted stuff in there that was so illogical and didn’t really serve a strong purpose to the narrative or any character development. When the watery Death Star scene went down, it seemed like (trope wise) that this would be the moment the Reylo kiss happens, but the dialogue wasn’t right it wasn’t angsty. And I thought, “oh no Reylo is not happening”. But then Bendemption happened and I was okay again. And by the time Rey went to confront Palpatine, I’d realised Ben really hasn’t been given enough screen time in this film, he wasn’t going to be the “hero” in this finally showdown, this was very firmly Rey’s story/saga. Which seemed odd, because they’re equals “dual protagonists”??! As Rey defeated Palpatine I was confused as to what the hell, because there was an obvious emphasis on all the Force ghosts telling HER alone to “Rise”, including Anakin. This was deeeply concerning because what about his own grandson Ben Solo??? At this point I didn’t know what was going to happen with Ben. But then like I said before he pulled himself out of the “pit”, very romantically came back for her and saved her and then just D I E D like it was nothing. I repeat W T F.

Now here’s all the other stuff I didn’t like about the film: - There was zero character development, except for Ben finally turning to the light and then he DIED - SNOKE WAS A PALPATINE CLONE???????? WTF JJ ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK? This was an early red flag that I should have heeded. I feel like all the fanboys finally feel satisfied with knowing Snoke’s backstory. - Where the fuck was Rose? Why didn’t she say like 3 words and get .5 screen time? that was some bulllllllllsshit. Why was she introduced in TLJ just to be sidelined? - Why the FUCK did they bother to make Finn Force sensitive? They hinted at it, and he never even got to tell anyone. It didn’t serve the story at all?!?!? Such a waste of time - Poe got to have a romantic happy ending with Zorri, while Reylo did not. - The C-P30 memory wipe had no lasting consequences, R2-D2 restored him in like 2 hrs? This screentime could’ve been used for Ben. All of Kijimi could’ve been scrapped to be honest. - The Knights of Ren were extremely useless, you could’ve swapped them for stormtroopers and it wouldn’t have made a different. Very disappointing. - Jannah was also useless, this screentime and scripttime could’ve been used for Rose. Her stormtroopers rebellion story was so heavy handed and terribly done. - Same goes for Dominic’s character, why did he exist? - Lando being back was also under-utilised, he had history with Ben why didn’t they use that? - Sooo many of the terrible leaks were true: the necklace grab, Luke/Leia training, Hux being a mole which was confusing and then he just died, Rey thinking she killed Chewie, the Sith dagger and C-3PO blah blah, Ben falling into “a pit” lol, the film finishing with Rey going to Tattooine and saying “I’m Rey, Rey Skywalker.” As soon as I saw Tatooine, I wanted to vomit because I knew that horrible horrible line was coming. - It wasn’t explained as to why Kylo remade his mask - Ben and Rey didn’t say I love you. And tbh, it’s probably good then didn’t since JJ killed Ben. - The finally “war” was very underwhelming and took place on one star destroyer - I was really hoping for some awesome Force Bond “world between worlds” jumping location stuff, and/or awesome new Reylo powers (but it was just healing)... so this was underwhelming. - I don’t know why Ben didn’t kill Palpatine instantly, opening scene? - They really emphasised babies and children on Pasaana with Rey, so I thought this was obvious foreshadowed of her and Ben’s future.... but no. - Pyrde wasn’t that interesting of a character, well acted but one-dimensional. - I really really hated Rey being a Palpatine. It makes no sense? I loved her being a no body and getting her powers from herself. What about her father, Palpatine’s son?? Did Palpatine try to get his son to kill him as well??? It’s so illogical. Also if everyone has to be if legacy blood, does this mean that Finn is a Konobi?! HAHAHA. I also hate how they added the fact that Leia and Luke “knew” she was a Palps all along. BAHAHAHAHA. Terrible. - Palptine wanted Rey to kill him, so he could live through her as a vessel. But then he Palpatine took Rey’s and Ben’s life essence, but they didn’t die? But he was back to his 100%. Then Rey killed Palps with the power of “all the Jedi”, and somehow Palpatine died? I thought he was going to go into her if she killed him? Or is the clause that she has to be angry and kill him with hatred? Boyyyyyyyyyy it’s so stupid. I can’t even.

Here’s the stuff I did like: - The Reylo kiss and Ben’s smile. - Ben offering his hand to Rey again, and all their Force Bonds of them trying to one-up each other with how well they know each other’s fears etc. - Him crushing the Sith wayfinding was hawwwwt. He was like if you’re going there, you’re gonna have to go with me. (Also leaves open a plothole of how the fuck did Ben navigate his way there in the finale) - Rey not killing the snake but healing it, yeah it was really odd but I don’t like how previous Jedi always slaughter animals so this was a plus for me. - Ben Solo in his “redeemed” outfit, he looked soo fine, and it reminded me of Han too which was sweet. - Leia’s death being the prompt to finally turning Ben back to the light. Finally a mother she did something right, looool. - I thought it was weird for Star Wars, but I did like Han being back as a memory, to talk with Ben. And the “Dad....” “I know” killed me. I knew they needed to resolve the one evil deed Ben performed, so this worked fine. - I loved Rey mediating with the rocks at the start of the film, and I loved her and Ben’s prequelsque Force jumping. - I loved that Jodie Comer was Rey’s mum!!!!! (I love Jodie) - I did like how the Luke’s water sunken X-wing from TLJ was used in this film, it was predictable but satisfying somehow. - There was so much FinnPoe tension through the film like Poe was jealous of Rey, it was hilarious. - I liked the queer kiss, even though it wasn’t much.

So there that’s everything I needed to say. I would’ve been sad and confused if Reylo didn’t happen, (because they’d set it up for 2 films), but I’m devastated that they killed Ben. Bendemption isn’t truely complete if he doesn’t get to live. I know he means so much to people, people who connected with him/who faced similar trauma as him. I know they’ll be a devastated as I am and that is what makes it so much worst. I saw someone say on Twitter a few weeks ago that it’s be horrible for Ben to die, who had suffered so much only for Rey to take the name of “Skywalker”, basically stealing his identity.

And yeah that’s exactly what happened. Ben deserved better, the fans deserved better, and the Reylo’s deserved better. 💔💔💔💔💔💔 In a few hours I’m seeing it again with my family this time, and I really don’t want want to rewatch it.... isn’t that horrible.

#the rise of skywalker spoilers #tros spoilers #ix spoilers #star wars spoilers #sw spoilers #theriseofskywalkerspoilers #episode ix spoilers #trosspoilers #spoilers

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zaraevee · 4 years

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Just saw Rise of Skywalker!

I’m normally pretty bad with spoilers but I managed to keep away from them for this movie and only saw the trailers. Before I continue, you need to know, according to my friends I am “easily entertained” by movies, because I am so optimistic and don’t raise my expectations too high, so I am often happily surprised. I loved this movie. So if you were not a fan, feel free to skip this post. May the force be with you.

(Can someone PLEASE tell me how to do under the cut/read more on mobile Tumblr I can’t figure it out!)

I have a tendency to be long winded so i’m writing bullet points instead of paragraphs. You’re welcome.

-I have always been a fan of Ben Solo. I waited for him for nearly five years and I am so incredibly happy that he finally became who he was meant to be and walked into the light. I especially enjoyed the moment when Rey healed him and he saw Han Solo again. That was such a sweet scene and such a strong parallel. His fight against Palpatine alongside Rey, especially the lightsaber swap made me very excited.

- I also really liked the detail that his scar disappeared and his eyes took on a much softer look after he became Ben Solo again.

- His death scene was very emotional and to me it symbolized how much he had changed as a person. Going into this, I was worried he would be killed in anger and cold blood. I am very very glad he went out by his own selfless choice, a sort of way to atone for all the things he did as Kylo Ren.

- I have never been a true Reylo shipper but I have always enjoyed watching their relationship, a mix of familial and romantic, develop. So the paralleled saving each other and the kiss made me very happy and for a moment, I could actually see them together in the future. Of course, that didn’t last but I was happy with the closure.

- Also him fading away like a jedi, along with his mother, was a great way to finally give him peace.

- On another note: I was so happy with how much Carrie Fisher was in this movie and how well her scenes flowed with it. I knew they had used old footage and I was worried it would be choppy and only expected her to have a small part, only one small scene with Rey, But was really amazed and happy with how integral she was to the plot and happy with how they sent off Leia, peacefully. I’m so happy they gave Carrie such a great last role.

On lighter notes:

- What they did with C3P0 was cool and sad and I did not expect him to be restored, but i’m really glad he was. Especially with his reference to R2’s unreliable memory banks, I should have seen it coming. It made me realize again how important to the series C3P0 is. He is probably the oldest alive character in the series and he has been in every main movie.

- I adore Poe Dameron and I love the leading role he had in this and how much his character has developed. I never expected to get his backstory from befor he joined the resistance but i’m glad we did. He turned out to have a more colorful past than I expected. Also he was very attractive in the outfits he wore in this movie.

- Finn meeting another former storm trooper was amazing and I’m really glad they did that.

- Also, I have always been a FinnRey fan. I have always thought Finn’s affections for Rey were obvious, but I just read that apparently when he was sinking in the quicksand, accordint to J.J., that is not what Finn was going to tell Rey. J.J. Abrams apparently said he was going to tell Rey he was force sensitive but I don’t quite understand or agree with that... I totally accept that he is force sensitive! There have been hints in all three movies. But I don’t know why he would tell Rey that right before he thought he was going to die. What would he have gained? It doesn’t quite make sense to me. I would be interested in finding out how other script writers of the movie saw that scene. J.J. did say he left it open for interpretation though, so each viewer is allowed to see it whichever way they want. Any way you see that scene, I am glad they never had him tell her what he was going to say, as Finn knew what Rey was going through and he respected her too much to put another thing on her mind.

- One thing I wish they would have done would be having all the ghosts of all the past Jedi stand behind Rey when she got up and faced Palpatine. That would have been really cool. But I understand it probably wasn’t doable.

-The only other thing that confused me a little was General Hux being the spy. It felt like it came a little out of left field and I am not quite sure what his motives were. He said he just didn’t want to Kylo to win but it was not elaborated on. Maybe in the previous movies, there were hints he was not entirely on board with what Kylo was doing, but I never picked up on them before. I was delighted by the twist, I would just appreciate a more in depth explanation.

Speaking of twists,

- Personally, I loved the twist that Rey is a Palpatine. I don’t think many, if anyone, predicted that. It was an amazing parallel to the original trilogy, as Luke was also the son of a Sith Lord and just like him, Rey overcame her bloodties and chose the light side.

-The Skywalkers being her chosen family made me extremely happy and that last scene where she visited Luke’s childhood home on Jakku, embraced the name Skywalker and mirrored Luke’s iconic shot with the twin suns, when the whole adventure all began was the perfect ending.

This is Star Wars, and a movie made by people. There will be mistakes, nothing in the world is perfect.

And especially evidenced by the original movie and its behind the scenes development, Star Wars has never been without fault. 😅

There are so many other amazing and fun things I wish I had the words to talk about, but I’ll probably need a while to think about the movie and I’ll probably need to go see it again.

I know a lot of people didn’t like this movie. I know some people were mad about how characters died or how it ended. I know for a fact, that many people set their expectations too high, and that was their fault. Not the fault of the people who worked so incredibly hard on this movie.

I didn’t let a few things change how I felt about it. I never let the negatives take over my view of a movie because when you let small things grow like that, it takes away the fun and awe of the experience.

Let yourself see things with a childlike optemism and openmindedness and you will be a lot happier with the results. 😊

Hi! If you read this thing the whole way through, thank you for listening to me and my opinions! I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I did. If you have anything to add or comments or would like to start a discussion with me, feel free to comment on this post! I would love to hear from you! But let’s keep this post FRIENDLY AND RESPECTFUL please! Thank you very much. May the force be with you!

- Zara Evee 💕

#rise of skywalker #rise of skywaker spoilers #star wars #tros spoilers #reylo fandom #rey skywalker #rey palpatine #kylo ren #kylo redemption #poe dameron #finnrey #finn star wars #c3p0 #han solo #luke skywalker

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greencrusader13 · 4 years

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My impressions on The Rise of Skywalker (Spoilers below the cut)

So I just got back from seeing The Rise of Skywalker, and I thought I’d share some of my initial impressions on it. Still need some time to digest a lot of it, so my overall opinion is probably still quite malleable.

The Good

The cinematography - as it has been for the entire sequel trilogy - was great. There are so many shots that look so cool and are a delight to see.

Rey and Ben continue to be very interesting characters, and their Force bond was without a doubt one of my favorite parts. The way their realities blend and mix despite being in different locations is done very well, and used with some sincerely interesting consequences. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley give solid, believable performances.

I can’t quite think of another movie in the post-Disney era that references the EU quite to the extent of this one. If you’re familiar with it, you’ll probably catch several little easter eggs here and there.

The story left few unanswered questions. Whether or not you like the answers is another thing altogether, but we did get answers.

The Less-Than-Good

Movie had a slightly rushed beginning. Similar to Rogue One, the second and third acts are much stronger than the first.

Story decisions I didn’t quite care for, which will be elaborated on below the cut.

Similar to The Force Awakens, too much of the movie felt like it was trying to stand on the shoulders of the movies that came before it. Criticize the prequels and The Last Jedi all you’d like, but damn if they didn’t try to have their own identity. Lando could’ve been easily swapped with someone else and little would’ve changed. It felt more like they were just going “oh hey that’s Lando. Remember him?”

Rose got frickin’ sidelined. Her actress deserved better than that.

My biggest problem with the sequels hasn’t changed: it still feels like these movies are products rather than something that has a reason to exist. There’s an egregious lack of macro story, and I really shouldn’t be lost when I ask what it’s trying to say. The movies never really justify their own existence.

From here on out I’ll be discussing SPOILERS, so proceed with caution.

The Good - Spoilers

Leia’s death was perfect. It was done in a respectful manner that served the story and matched her characterization. It was kinda touching, actually.

YELLOW FRICKIN’ LIGHTSABERS ARE NOW PART OF THE FILM CANON

Rey hearing all the voices of the Jedi that came before her was really nice. I’m not one who’s seen The Clone Wars or Rebels or anything, but from what I understand characters from that could be heard among the voices. I particularly liked hearing Qui-Gon again; he was my favorite part of The Phantom Menace.

Little detail, but I thought they did a good job with the VFX for de-aging Luke and Leia during that one flashback. Granted, the lighting was dark so there wasn’t much detail to be seen, but from what we did see it looked pretty good. Nothing in the uncanny valley.

Poor Hux, but I laughed when the typical “wound me so they don’t buy my betrayal” trope backfired horribly on him. Also loved that his entire motivation for assisting the Resistance was “f*** Kylo Ren.”

Ben Solo doffing his Kylo Ren look in favor of something simpler really added to his redeemed appearance. Also loved seeing a more Jedi side of him.

The Neutral

This topic is divisive from what I’ve seen, but I’m chill with them introducing Force Healing into the canon as something Jedi can just do. It’s been present in games as a mechanic all the time and I believe some other sources as well, so it doesn’t contradict anything. And what I believe Anakin sought was the ability to spare someone from death outright with no cost to the self. I dunno. I think it does raise some issues, but nothing that can’t be explained. Besides, I already used it in my SWTOR fic, so I’d be a bit of a hypocrite to take issue with it.

The Less-Than-Good - Spoilers

Okay, let’s get it out of the way: I hated that they killed off Ben Solo at the end. Poor guy deserved his redemption at the end. I know some people don’t regard him very highly, and that some people have a more punitive approach to wrongdoings, but I’m not about that. If we’re talking TvTropes, this should’ve been a Redemption Earns Life moment, not a Redemption Equals Death one. Plus the Skywalker bloodline has officially died out now, which really sucks IMO. I’d seriously be okay with them retconning his death somehow and bringing him back. Hell, let’s pull a Star Trek and make Episode X: The Search for Ben Solo.

Rey being a Palpatine felt so tacked on it wasn’t even funny. It felt more like they rushed into trying to find someone important to relate her to so they could address that looming question about her parentage, but even then I liked what they were going for in The Last Jedi where she was no one important, and that destiny doesn’t require you be tied to someone already prestigious.

Enough celebration endings. It’s been present in four of the nine main series movies. Feels too repetitive at this point.

Minor gripe, but when Anakin spent his childhood enslaved on Tatooine, and Luke grew up wanting to leave the desert planet behind, it feels wrong leaving the last living memory of the Skywalker family buried there. You’re just ditching them on a place they never wanted to be.

Overall, I’d rate the movie a 7/10. I had fun seeing it, but I doubt it will leave any lasting impressions besides just being another entry in this saga. Go see it if you like Star Wars, but once should be enough.

#star wars #star wars: the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker #rey #kylo ren #ben #ben solo #episode ix #episode 9 #movies #jj abrams #daisy ridley #adam driver #the emperor #palpatine

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captainmazzic · 5 years

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I decided that I could use 10-15% of my tax return on something frivolous and indulgent, so I went down to my local comic book shop and purchased a few Star Wars anthologies. I got Captain Phasma’s comic (quite good), both volumes of Vader’s newest series (excellent), and the Infinities collection.

I was not expecting the Infinities collection to be my absolute favourite out of all of those, but here we are. SPOILERS below the cut, because this comic series is FANTASTIC and I want to highlight my favourite points about it.

Okay so first of all, the Infinities collection is essentially a series of AU stories set in the Original Trilogy timeline. There are four story arcs total, one each dealing with an alternate timeline for each movie, and a fourth one that is simply a comic book adaptation of the original rough draft. Each one is better than the last, but I’mma breeze over the first three just so you can get a taste of this smorgasbord of awesome before I hyperfocus on my favourite one.

So the first story deals with the “what if” storyline of if Luke had missed his shot on the first Death Star. Essentially, it detonates too early on its way down, the rebel fleet is routed, Han and Chewie hightail it out there to save their own skins, Leia gets captured, and Luke goes straight to Dagobah. In this one, we get such treats as Imperial!Leia, Blaster-wielding Imperial!C-3PO, a restored Imperial Senate, Yoda actually getting off his ass and leaving Dagobah to confront... Tarkin?, an Imperial Guard fight scene, and the whole-ass fucking Death Star ramming into goddamned-fucking-Coruscant. It’s a glorious hot mess and once I breezed by Yoda’s typical pontificating, I loved every single panel.

The second story answers what would have happened if Luke had died in the snow on Hoth. Despite the pretty sobering premise, there’s an ongoing humor point of Han thinking HE’S the next chosen one and has to train to be a Jedi, but it’s clearly Leia. Insert hilarious misunderstandings here. Boba Fett shows up unmasked in this one, and because of a single scene I’m not hopelessly shipping him with Lando. In this story, we have things like Jedi!Leia, lots of beautiful shots of Dagobah landscapes, Cloud City falling, Vader interacting directly with Jabba, Vader interacting directly with C-3PO, a trippy inside-Vader’s-head sequence, and the epic conclusion happening in Dagobah’s swamps. Leia is a constant treasure throughout this one, and it makes me sorely disappointed that we never got lightsaber-wielding Leia in the actual movies.

The third story asks what would have happened if Han Solo’s rescue from Jabba the Hutt had failed, and is by far the best of the “what if” stories. In this one, Jabba has an early demise in a massive explosion that takes his entire palace out with him. But Fett still has Solo, so our friends set off on a long chase to hunt him down. In the meantime, Yoda is whining about how magical-Force-fate isn’t doing it right, and Luke should have come back by now to complete his training. He dies mid-whine, the Emperor feels his death, and sends Vader to Dagobah. Luke also feels his death, and also ends up going to Dagobah. The rest of our heroes find Fett, Leia steals Slave I along with Solo-the-still-carbonitecicle, but by the time they thaw him out he’s permanently blind. Meanwhile Luke’s been captured by Vader, we have a ton of father-son angst and attempts at bonding, and Leia tries to go and rescue him. SHE gets captured as well, and they’re both taken before the Emperor on Death Star 2.0. There’s a scuffle, but Vader can’t bring himself to kill his kids. He loses an arm (again) and as the rebel fleet attacks all around, the Emperor disappears into the shadows and Leia insists on taking wounded Vader with them. Luke happily agrees, and they flee the scene. The next time we see our intrepid heroes, they are joined by Vader, still very Vader, but dressed in a white version of his suit. Together they plan on discovering the location of the Emperor and finishing their fight. It’s... honestly glorious. Vader has no major moment-of-regret or tear-filled turn-around, he simply thanks Leia for saving him. He just wants to be with his kids, and if that means he’s helping the rebellion then WELP looks like he’s a rebel now. It’s delightful.

But even as awesome as that story was, my favourite is still “The Star Wars”. It’s adapted directly from the very first rough-draft screenplay by Lucas, and even though it is certainly familiar, it’s definitely NOT the same story. Lightsabers are everywhere, and generic characters have white-blue ones while Important People like the main characters all have red ones. The Galactic Empire is literally just an empire that supplanted a PREVIOUS Empire. The Jedi-Bendu and the Knights of Sith are also very literally just rival warrior clans that have nothing to do with quasi-religious drivel and while they have mysterious powers the only reference we have to the Force is when they stay “May the force of others be with you all”. I just... I LOVE this aspect of this story. It makes it so much more enjoyable.

Luke Skywalker is a grizzled old Jedi who used to be a top general and then war advisor, with little in the way of posh diplomacy, and who is not shy about saying things like “War is by business”. He’s buddies with one Kane Starkiller, whose son Annikin is a teenage-ish Jedi warrior-in-training that Skywalker takes on as his Padawan. Leia is the spoiled and scrappy princess that he ends up having to protect, and while she’s kind of a disappointment in the story many of the other characters are definitely not. C-3PO and R2-D2 are in this one as well, but AJKFLSFHDS HOLY SHIT R2 TALKS, that threw me for a fucking LOOP I’ll tell you. Han Solo is a massive green alien who reminds me a little of a scaly version of Khem Val except Solo is old buddies with Skywalker. Solo gets a red lightsaber too. He big. He hot. Sarc like.

Anyway. Darth Vader’s in this one, but he has no face-covering helmet and is instead a rather engaging man with one red eye. He’s not a Sith, though. That role goes to one Prince Valorum, who is an unfairly pretty man in black with a breath mask (most of the time).

(apologies for picture quality, I took these with my phone). It didn’t take me long to ship Vader with Valorum, but honestly Val’s got better things to do in this story. Namely, saving Annikin’s ass and breaking him out of interrogation. They even have that little “we’re not so different” moment, but it’s literally just... rather lighthearted banter while they plow their way through stormtroopers and find the princess. They rescue Leia (again) together, and end up... in a garbage masher.

(I clearly have a thing for Valorum he is my favourite in this, okay.) Their banter is adorable, they think they’re about to die, but a clan of massive Wookiees that look like hairy versions of Garrazeb Orrelios show up, the day is saved, big explosions happen, and our suave Sith Prince Valorum is standing right along with our more well-known heroes celebrating Annikin’s new status as Lord Protector.

It’s... it’s so charming. The whole story. It’s deep enough that you can get into the gritty wartime tragedies happening all around, there’s family bonding and humor and decent people confronting shitty-ass people, but it doesn’t get in over its own head and the characters are just... people. On different sides. Doing their best and doing their thing. Sometimes they’re swapping sides when it makes more sense, and there’s zero angst about it. It’s... refreshing, honestly. The romance subplot between Annikin and Leia is really contrived and kind of painful to watch, but it takes up so little of the story it can easily be ignored. It’s beautifully and expressively drawn, moves fast, and is pretty solidly put together. I really like it. I think I’m gonna go read it all again. XD

#sarc does star wars stuff #sarc reads star wars comics #long post #star wars infinities spoilers #the star wars spoilers #star wars comics #star wars infinities #the star wars

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sleemo · 6 years

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Force For Thought

Producer Ram Bergman tells Richard Edwards how The Last Jedi is pushing the boundaries of a Star Wars movie. — SFX Magazine, Winter 2017

Usually when SFX speaks to a filmmaker a couple of months ahead of their blockbuster’s release, they're hectically running around fiddling with scores, signing off the colour grading, or making a last dash to finalise effects shots. So it’s something of a surprise when The Last Jedi producer Ram Bergman tells SFX, “We finished the movie, there’s just clean-ups here and there, working on the DVD, press, things like that. But the film’s basically done.”

We’re going to take that as a big positive ahead of Episode VIII's arrival - along with the fact that all of the behind-the-scenes buzz around the project has been, well, good.

We’re the first to admit that big studios aren’t generally in the habit of spreading anything but messages of harmony and love ahead of their blockbusters landing in cinemas, but the rebooted Star Wars galaxy has had to deal with more than its fair share of backstage shenanigans since Disney bought the keys to the Millennium Falcon back in 2012. Indeed, from all the (not officially confirmed) rumours about Gareth Edwards’s diminished role on Rogue One to full-on director swaps on Episode IX and Han’s solo movie Solo, it’s only JJ Abrams on The Force Awakens and now The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson who’ve made it to the end in one piece.

“Rian wrote the script and people really loved it,” Bergman recalls. “That was as simple as I can say. When Rian was hired, JJ was essentially just a month into filming, so there were not really any guidelines for us - we just had the script that JJ was filming and dailies of what they were doing. Then at some point in the writing process, we basically told the studio where it’s going to go and everybody seemed to be on board. It was the month after JJ finished filming the movie when we delivered the script, and Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm head] and the studio loved it. The first draft is probably 90% of the movie that we ended up shooting a year later.”

For anyone looking into that galaxy far, far away, that seems like a wise strategy. With high-school noir Brick and tricksy time-travel thriller Looper - two of the most memorable films of the 21st century - Johnson proved himself to be a quirky, idiosyncratic auteur with a great ear for snappy dialogue. Why hire such an exciting talent - albeit one who has no previous experience of a mega-budget blockbuster - and ask him to churn out another studio sequel, unless you’re desperate to play safe? But was there ever a danger that Johnson might have pushed the story too far?

“There were some things where you say, ‘Oh shit, they’re never going to let us do this!’ but they totally did, and I think everybody realised that it’s probably what it needed.” says Bergman. “And everybody was like, ‘Don’t be safe.’ To the credit of Kathy, and Bob Iger and Alan Horn [Disney CEO and chairman, respectively] and all those guys, they never tried to push us towards the safe. Whatever we pitched, whatever Rian said he wanted to do, they completely supported, and I think they understood why it needed to be that way. So definitely, Rian had the vision, but you have to give credit to the people on top; they had the vision to actually say yes, we need to shake it up a bit ”

Of course, that screwing with a formula includes Johnson’s much publicised approach to Luke Skywalker, which famously prompted star Mark Hamill to tell his director, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character.”

“I think when you watch the movie, you think this is not where I thought it was going to go,” Bergman tells SFX. “That’s the beauty of it. I cannot get into the details, but the script that Rian wrote was really taking it in a direction you never really expected, and which kind of made it exciting for everyone who was involved in the movie. But of course in the beginning it was hard for Mark, especially coming from Episode VII [where he barely appeared], which also was a bit hard for him.”

STAR LORE

While every previous Star Wars episode has been preceded by an in-universe gap of at least a year (anything from the 12 months or so between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, to the three decades separating Jedi and The Force Awakens), The Last Jedi breaks with tradition by picking up exactly where its predecessor left off. It's a move Bergman reckons was something of a no-brainer.

“There wasn’t any deliberation,” he says. “Immediately when you saw the end of The Force Awakens, with the cliffhanger, you knew you wanted to know what happens right after that moment. It wasn't even a question.”

That decision, however, adds to a tricky dilemma - how do you explain away 30-plus years of backstory, without playing around with Star Wars storytelling convention by adding numerous flashbacks? (The closest the saga has ever come is Rey’s vision in Episode VII, and that was effectively a cheat because it was driven by the Force.)

It's certainly information that can't be brushed under the carpet. For starters, we need to know the identity of Rey's parents; how Supreme Leader Snoke came to run the First Order; what made the former Ben Solo hook up with the Knights of Ren; and how Maz Kanata got her hands on the lightsaber Luke lost at Bespin. It would also be handy to learn why gigantic evil organisations with galactic domination on their minds keep on building colossal battle stations with easily identifiable fatal flaws.

“You definitely think about [how to supply that information],” admits Bergman. “Again, I can't tell you how, but I think when people see the movie they’ll basically understand to a large degree what happened in between. But not everything is going to be answered...”

REY OF LIGHT

Perhaps the other biggest mission for The Last Jedi to negotiate is the sheer volume of core characters - the biggest principal cast in Star Wars movie history. Okay, the late Han Solo’s no longer a concern - or is he? We don't know yet if Harrison Ford’s been tempted to return for a back-from-the-dead Corellian cameo – but Episode VIII not only has to service original stars Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, and The Force Awakens stars Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren and BB-8, but also newcomers Rose Tico, DJ and Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo. And there will probably be more we don’t know about yet.

“It’s definitely a challenge, because this movie does have more characters than previous movies,” says Bergman. “But at the end of the day you kind of figure out who are the main characters carrying the main story, and you make sure you give arcs to tell the story of other characters. You don’t have 10 hours in a movie, you only have a limited amount of time, so how you tell the story of all those characters is the tricky part. I think Rian delivered.”

And then there's the bantha in the room, the small matter of a previous second instalment in a Star Wars trilogy that’s frequently held up among the best part twos of all time - and no, we’re not talking about Attack Of The Clones. The Empire Strikes Back got so much right that it must be tempting to just use that as your template and be done with it - much as The Force Awakens riffed heavily on A New Hope.

“You look at it, and you look at all the movies, but by the same token you put it aside and you say let’s do what’s right for this movie,” Bergman counters. “Let’s forget about the expectation, let’s do what’s right for the structure of this movie. You stop looking at the other movies as a reference. You tell the story of this movie as it is. Are there things that would be similar? For sure, but by the same token, it’s not. You’re not consciously saying you're making something different or similar - you’re just trying to tell the best story in the best way.” Hopefully the Force really is strong with this one.

— SFX Magazine, Winter 2017

#this took foreverrrr #and there are still more to do #*#uploads #interview #ram bergman #rian johnson #kathleen kennedy #the last jedi #star wars #long post

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mayormimii · 6 years

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Mundane Headcanons ft. the SW Kids

Rey:

Adores the way soap bubbles look like pearls when she scrubs them into her skin

Very sweet-toothed

Loves shampoos that smell fresh and citrusy

Would enjoy rainy/snowy days if they didn’t remind her of Kylo. (First encounter with these weathers are always interrupted by him.)

Deeeeeep sleeper. Seriously is fine with sleeping anywhere no matter how hot or stuffy the room is

Adores cats!

Introverted

Hair easily becomes messy and gets in her eyes.

Loves the floral scent she can smell off Leia

Has a small box to contain tiny, pretty things she finds on her adventures.

Prefers cold showers, but with all the cold planets she visits she often settles for hot, steamy ones instead.

Night owl

Is the type to revisit bookstores every few seconds.

Would like to drink tea, but doesn’t know how to brew any.

Loves listening to others, even if it’s just singing/humming.

Weird sense of humor

Softest skin of the Rebellion, somehow.

Once lied about being lactose-intolerant when Luke offered her blue milk.

Finn:

Very touchy-feely

Loves dogs

Doesn’t like cats or birds

Discovered his love for swapping clothes when Poe gave him his jacket because “clothes you borrow are like wearable hugs”

Is the type to hug his pillow with his head rested on it in his sleep

Will smile in every photo you take of him, even the serious ones

Even if phone cameras exist he’d prefer to use a digital camera

“Pardon the mess.” He mumbles as he notices you tripping over nothing because his room is tidy.

Prefers phone-calls over text messages

Talks in his sleep

Opts for warm baths as pick-me-ups.

Always and forever an early bird

Will take forever to finish a book unless someone recommended it

Walks close behind people and steps on the back of their shoes

Your parents love him

Is your go-to person when you need a jar opened.

Gives the best presents.

Doesn’t mind nicknames but loves just ‘Finn’ the best.

Poe Dameron:

(Small.) Dog. Person.

Has been banned from cooking because he once set the kitchen on fire while making cereal

Never play Mario Kart against him

Pokemon starter is always a fire-type

Secretly self-conscious about his height, but it’s too late now.

Was the bad boy in school, but not the kind you’d swoon over, he just broke a lot of rules & copied everyone’s homework & was underprepared for every test

Puns.

Sleeps with BB-8, who can tell you his room is a dump site and that he will get up in the middle of the night for a snack “lol IDC” (but is somehow still an early bird)

Movies-over-books kinda person

Uses up all the hot water while taking baths

Rarely orders the same meals. Something new every day

The first to discover the newest/latest meme(s) but still speaks in vine references

Overuses emojis

His profile picture is him doing something illegal

All of his sentences begin with “Dare me to…”

Sneaks snacks into the X-Wing.

Occasionally plays ‘Uptown Funk’ on maximum volume while on said X Wing

Gives good advice but never uses it

Sleeps shirtless.

Rose Tico:

Mostly found in the kitchen with ice-cream/mac’n’cheese

When she talks, she can’t stop!

Bounces a lot, just easily excitable

Enjoys tinkering she would more often if she could!

Loves mornings & watching sunrises

Loves big dogs

Also a warm weather person

Very curious about BB-8

Loves going on dates to the zoo, definitely, but she’s going to want to stay in the petting zoo for a looong time so come prepared

Collects encyclopedias

Full-and-proper breakfast person, would never just grab a bite and run

Keeps lots of eccentric pets

Loves her plants. also.

Cries when angry

Enjoys cold bubble-baths.

Hates formal events & dressing up for formal events.

Favorite scents are anything musky or warm, with a home-y feeling

But doesn’t like perfume, much.

Kylo (couldn’t come up with much for him, so I mostly built on details I found in the movie/novel/etc):

Is a cat person but cats hate him

Was fascinated by tales of his grandpa & will passion-rant about it for days (it scared Luke)

Apparently he’s always seen reading/writing something but no one in the First Order knows what. (A special interest that doesn’t involve his grandpa for once)

Loves his calligraphy set but it frustrates him because he loves playing with the ink, therefore he easily gets distracted.

Is bad at expressing his emotions

Has a hard time getting jokes (& has a twisted sense of humor)

Drank Uncle Luke’s blue milk and is now prepared to devour anything, including pretty nauseating-looking vegetables (once he hears how beneficial it is for his skin/hair because he’s unexpectedly conscious about his appearance)

Very light sleeper: Just can’t sleep unless his bedroom doors/widows are all locked (including closets) and with a light saber in bed—Which ends up on the ground due to his tossing and turning.

Routines Routines Routines

Has to wear gloves while handling light sabers because he doesn’t like the texture of the hilts. Seriously, he can’t use anything if it has the Bad Texture™.

Struggles to learn under traditional means (school) but is incredibly gifted in his areas of interest

He was standing in his bedroom so of course he had something to put on, but he didn’t—even after Rey asked him to—because the layers of black robes he wore felt like Too Much, but he loves the pressure of the armor and the leather texture of his gloves (Everyone thinks he just wants to look cool.)

Prefers hot, steamy showers

Or saunas followed by cold showers.

Hums a lot, loves to feel the vibrations in his throat.

Would finish a book in one sitting, fiction or non-fiction.

His helmet was also designed to muffle noise. (Ironically sensitive to sounds.) And gets stressed if more than one person talks at once.

Hates [sudden] changes.

Knows a lot about tea flavors but does he ever get the chance to brew himself any? No.

Sits in his quarters with the lights off after a long day and has his phone brightness all the way down, yet still loves candles. He gets absorbed in watching the light flicker, finding it visually pleasing.

#sw #tlj #star wars #the last jedi #tfa #the force awakens #rey #finn #poe #kylo ren #ben solo #rose tico #headcanon #head canon #hc #my head canons are a bit dull but #I noticed there were no posts for headcanons so #I had to write my own head-canons #s this apparently counts as fan fiction?

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vankrin · 7 years

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Star Wars Theory!

This post is Star Wars related. It's my theory for how it's going to play out, specifically the change in position of Kylo and Rey. I am someone who considers myself a casual fan, a bit more recently than during my childhood, perhaps due to the interest I have in what the writing team is going to do to please one of the biggest fan bases on planet Earth. They have a tough job ahead of them, one I do not envy. Okay, maybe I do envy it. Who wouldn't want to help write a Star Wars movie!? Moving on, here is my theory I randomly thought up after the recent trailer inspired me:

*Disclaimer, if this theory or something similar has been posted already, I have not seen it, nor have I gone looking for it, and any similarity would just be a product of living on a planet with almost 8 billion people.

*The crux/tl;dr of the theory is simple; Kylo Ren and Rey are going to "swap" sides. Kylo ren will go to the light, and Rey will fall to the dark side. Now I will back this line of thinking up with all the clues I have, and the logic I have employed from experience as a writer and my passion for writing in general. We don't actually know that much about Rey at all, especially not a lot about her value system. She was abandoned by a Jedi on a dry planet and left to live a miserable existence for her entire life thus far. Without any real parents or anyone to truly take care of her physically, let alone mentally and emotionally, she could very easily be a person with deep-seeded issues who could be prone to alternative thinking and temptation by the dark side. Two, I have a feeling Luke and Rey's inevitable conversation following the first movie isn't going to go as she planned -- Luke thinks the Jedi are a thing of the past, and might decline to teach her in the way that she has dreamt about. She will realize then that it wasn't necessarily being a Jedi that she craved, but power in general -- the power to finally control her own destiny. Snoakes will use this to his advantage when she becomes a "free agent".

*Now on to Kylo, as with the information given thus far I feel most of the clues are for his character. One, redemption stories are among those that people love and identify with most. Mary Sues are boring, and it's the exact reason Superman can never entertain in the same way that Batman can. The first and perhaps most important clue and detail for Kylo Ren's ascent to the light is this: that his prime motivation(that we know for a fact) is to honor and live up to Darth Vader. One of the most iconic and powerful scenes of the first movie, going all the way back to the trailer, is when Kylo is holding Vader's broken helmet and saying to it," I will finish what you started." But let's ask ourselves, what DID Vader start? Did he start the colonization and subjugation of the galaxy? Not even close. He joined the empire after it was already successful and helped it get more successful, sure, but he didn't begin that assault. What he BEGAN, right at the end of his life, was the destruction of the Empire. As we know from episode 6, Vader turns on the Emperor in his final moments, killing him and himself all while saving Luke. Kylo doesn't know this yet, though, hence his position in episode 7 where Snaokes is feeding him what he needs to hear. For this theory to pan out, Luke would have to get this information of Vader's final moments and change of heart to Kylo Ren -- and I think it'll happen. Remember that Kylo's character so far hasn't been of a fully institutionalized Sith, but of a very emotionally torn young man who doesn't know how to live up to Vader.

*Random moments I think will happen that all align with the theory: I think Kylo will save Leia, or at least try, showing us the opposite of what he did before, which is kill his father (under the heavy manipulation of Snoakes).

*Another piece of what I find to be perhaps forshadowing is in regards to how Rey fights. She fights naturally with a staff. I don't know of any Jedi (in canon) who fight with a staff-light saber, and only of one Sith who does: Darth Maul. She is quite the badass with her staff, but looked very awkward when she finally got the light saber in her hands. If Snoakes gets ahold of her and puts a dual-sided light saber in her hands, it would fit perfectly and give her a very plausible quick ascent to power. In other words, it would be BELIEVABLE that she becomes a relatively quick badass with the staff-saber, because shes trained with a staff her whole life (given the information we have).

*Random bits of perspective on writing techniques as a whole in regard to a big franchise like this. It's hard for these writers to surprise fans who have been theory crafting this second trilogy since it was announced. People will be let down if this trilogy ends up being a rehash of the first -- in fact, that has been the very complaint thus far. I think Episode 7 was a setup for the ultimate twist. They cast a pretty, wholesome looking girl as an obvious "good guy" of the new trilogy. No one would ever look at this girl and think "villain material" -- she just doesn't have that look. Adam driver on the other hand, looks like Snape's grandson, a perfect person to cast for a faux villain who becomes the good guy. Hell, this very technique worked flawlessly in Harry Potter, both from a writing point of view and a casting one. If I was going to trick a few billion people, these are the people I would cast for the job.

*PS, thanks to anyone who reads this. I look forward to the thoughts!

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twopointthreeninetoone · 7 years

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The movie that started it all, Star Wars: A New Hope. Ewoks, Jar Jar Binks, rabid nerds who hate George Lucas—you have this movie to thank for all of that. So let’s get this party started.

But first let’s get our eardrums fucking pulverized by the THX sound booster thing.

We start in…a space ship. Because it’s Star Wars. Not Alderaan Wars or Tatooine Wars or Jabba’s Party Barge Wars. (Although a sitcom based on Jabba’s Party Barge would be pretty awesome, you have to admit. Like, a sort of “Faulty Towers” deal, where Jabba’s right hand man, Bib Fortuna, has to manage the whole barge? And that little rat-like creature could be Manuel! That’s sitcom gold, right there. Anyway.) HOLY SHIT THAT SPACE SHIP JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. This is back when those Rebel Fighters didn’t have a fucking chance in hell. (Also, there were lots of C-3POs and R2-D2s on the ship. Did they hang out? Were there cliques? Were C-3PO and R2-D2 sort of an odd couple for being friends? Yet another potential sitcom, folks. Like “Square Pegs”. But in space.)

And here’s Darth Vader, making his entrance amongst a pile of dead Rebel soldiers. Really, the best way to make your movie entrance is with the slain bodies of your enemies strewn about you. Good show, Darth. C-3PO spots R2-D2 having some sort of chill time with Princess Leia. We don’t know who she is at this point, so I’m guessing we’re just to assume she’s one of those spooky chicks that like to hang out in the furnace room.

Darth Vader chokes a Rebel captain using his actual bare hands, and not his Jedi magic, because that’s the sort of thing you like to savor. Meanwhile, the droids skedaddle in an escape pod. Because, you know, those humans probably didn’t need them or anything.

While the droids make their escape, Leia is captured and brought to Vader. Oh, the dialogue in this movie. It’s so awful that it’s awesome. Darth doesn’t realize that the sassy girl he’s admonishing is his own daughter! I guess the Force wasn’t too strong with this one. (Maybe she was wearing too much perfume? Maybe Darth was distracted by the smell of Charlie cologne to sense the Force in his daughter? I don’t know, man.)

C-3PO and R2-D2, riding through the desert on a horse with no name, feeling good from getting out of the rain, bicker and beep at each other, because they’re like an old married couple that way (although, interestingly, throughout the movie C-3PO seems sort of casual about their relationship. Like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard good things about this R2 unit. He’s sort of annoying with his bleeps and bloops, but when he makes love to me, it’s like we have a spiritual connection.”)

And…they get into a fight and split up two minutes after landing. Because C-3PO is just that much of a whining load. R2-D2 is the real hero of this movie, folks. He’s on a mission and he’s going to accomplish it even if the direction in which he’s going is slightly rockier than the direction in which his life partner is going. C-3PO gets picked up by a transport pretty quickly. Like when you’re in New York City and you don’t want to walk from Penn Station to the Battery. You get a taxi, this is what happens. You’re sold into slavery to desert people.

R2-D2 is indeed faring no better. He gets his ass kicked by some Jawas, which will also happen if you wander into the wrong neighborhood in New York City. It’s really cute/sad when the Jawas electrocute him and he falls down. Sadder than dozens of Ewoks dying in Return of the Jedi, that’s for sure. He’s sucked up into the Jawa transport, where he once again allies with C-3PO. Man, there’s no getting rid of that guy. There are a lot of other droids on the Jawa’s transport, so it’s pretty much just like their situation on the Rebel ship, except now there’s sand everywhere. (There’s also the Gonk droid, a mysterious fellow who says nothing but “Gonk! Gonk!”, and who is my favorite supporting-role droid in this series.)

We then have our first bit of CGI revisionism, as George Lucas injects some computer beasties, apparently called dewbacks, for no other reason other than because he has an unlimited amount of money and because he can, damn it.

R2-D2 and C-3PO are strutted out to be sold like the slabs of meat that they are. We meet Luke Skywalker, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru—and the first thing out of Luke’s mouth is a snarky barb about the Jawa’s lack of droid variety. Dude, you buy black market, you get what you pay for. C-3PO sells himself to Uncle Owen, who’s literally like “Yeah yeah shut up already,” which is the funniest part of this movie. Luke whines some more, and chooses a red R2 unit, which makes R2-D2 sad. It’s sad. This droid is sad. He watches C-3PO go off with his new owners and he does this little “Take me with you!” bounce…it’s just sad, is all. Suddenly the red R2 unit catches fire and breaks down! R2-D2 also has the ability to kill things with his mind, I suppose. C-3PO puts in a good word for R2-D2 and Luke chooses him as his new best friend. The world is happy again.

Luke and the droids chit-chat a little more, swapping life stories, although it’s primarily just Luke whining about how he never gets to do what he wants, always has to work on the farm, can’t go to the rebel military academy and battle Imperialism. Luke wants to live the high life of a soldier! He wants the girls! He wants the glamor! He wants to dance, damn it! Luke, you live on a planet with two moons. Stop complaining. He comes across R2-D2’s recording of Leia and is instantly enamored by the girl who turns out to be his sister. Because George Lucas is a sick fuck. Leia needs to find Obi Wan Kenobi, who Luke thinks might be Ben Kenobi, a hermit who lives out in the even more bumfuck part of the planet. Luke, considering there only to seem three other people living in your hemisphere, and two of them are your aunt and uncle, I think it’s safe to say that Obi Wan is Ben Kenobi.

Luke and his family have dinner, which consists of blue milk, among other things, because SCIENCE FICTION! Uncle Owen is pretty knowledgeable of the Star Wars prequels, which is probably why he thinks this whole situation is crap. Luke wants to enroll in ARMY, which Uncle Owen nixes, because you can pretty much smell the Force dripping off of him, and when Uncle Owen promises some random Jedi dude to watch this random Jedi baby, HE DOES IT, DAMN IT. Luke doesn’t know the truth about his dad. Although if you were to tell him that his dad was also a whiny little bitch when he was his age, should he really be that surprised?

R2-D2 has run off. Because he’s a robot on a mission. Luke and C-3PO go off to look for him the next day, because it isn’t as though the little dude could get too far (spoiler alert: he can) and find him right in the middle of a Sand People par-tay. Sand People are the worst. Because they’re mean and they like to steal and kill people and they probably smell pretty bad. But they’re also easily frightened by eighty-year-old Jedi hermits, so Luke and the droids are in luck. Obi Wan Kenobi scares them off and then says a lot of mellow Jedi shit. Obi Wan seems to recognize R2-D2 immediately, which he should, considering the fact that he spent, like, ten years in his company. Obi Wan takes the others to his rocking bachelor pad, and talks a lot about Luke’s dad. He’s been waiting about twenty years, I guess, for Luke to come his way, and he has a hope chest full of Star Wars memorabilia to give him. Unfortunately nothing is in its original box and thus is no longer in mint condition, so it’s practically worthless. Luke asks Obi Wan how his dad died, and Obi Wan FLAT OUT LIES. He lies his little British ass off. Because if he was like, “Lol, Luke, your dad is the most powerful villain in the galaxy,” then Luke would probably high-tail it to the Empire cruiser to live the high life with his dad. Because Luke is a tool.

Obi Wan watches Leia’s message and recruits Luke to help him in his adventures. For some reason Luke says no despite the fact that he’s waiting his whole life to get away from Tatooine. Because he’s a chump.

Darth Vader and his superior officer, Grand Moff Tarkin, crash an Imperial officers’ meeting. Vader chokes an officer with his mind! But he’s unable to kill him off because Tarkin is like, “Dude, stop it, this isn’t conducive to productivity.” Back on Tatooine, Luke and Obi Wan find that Imperial Stormtroopers have slaughtered the Jawas that sold R2-D2 and C-3PO to the Skywalker clan. Luke rushes home to find that his aunt and uncle have been killed, in a scene George Lucas pretty much took straight out of The Searchers. I’m not carping, it’s a nice reference, but I’m just saying. There’s a pretty gory shot of his uncle and aunt’s burnt bodies. Ouch. Sucks to be you, Luke.

Also sucks to be Leia, because Darth is about to torture her with some sort of Floating Torture Ball that has a hypodermic needle glued to it. Because SCIENCE FICTION.

Luke returns to Obi Wan and the dead Jawas. Obi Wan and the droids are burning the bodies, which is sort of weird. Get rid of the evidence, Obi Wan! Don’t forget the quicklime! Luke has no real choice but to go with Obi Wan to Mos Eisley, and then to Alderaan, and help find Leia, which worked out well for Obi Wan, I guess. Another new CGI scene, as a CGI droid beats up another CGI droid, and a CGI dewback bucks a CGI Jawa off its back. Because George Lucas wanted some slapstick humor to really class up the joint twenty years after the fact, I guess.

Obi Wan uses Jedi Mind Magic to get some Stormtroopers off their asses, and Luke is all like, “I want to go to there,” meaning he wants to use this Force junk that Obi Wan’s been preaching non-stop. It’s sort of like Scientology, I guess. Look at all the cool things you can do with the Force, Luke! I can bend people’s minds to my will! I can set you up on a date with Tom Cruise! Do you want to be Mrs. Tom Cruise, Luke? Because I can make it happen! Obi Wan and Luke go into a Cantina, with its awesome Cantina music. Everyone hangs out at the cantina. It’s like the Club 54 of Mos Eisley. There are a bunch guys in cheap alien outfits snorting coke, downing colorful milk. But the bartender turns away the droids, because he’s racist, I guess.

They might actually be in a gay bar, and they’d never know it. Because everyone’s some sort of alien. I’m just going to pretend they’re in a gay bar.

An alien who has a vagina for a chin tries to pick a fight with Luke, who doesn’t know what the fuck Vagina Chin is saying because That’s Not English, Dude, but Obi Wan steps in. He kills one roughneck and hacks off another’s arm with his light saber. They show the bloodied arm on the floor, which begs the question of why the light saber didn’t instantly cauterize the wound when it sliced through the arm. Seriously, George Lucas, you spent millions of dollars changing Jake Lloyd’s eyeballs in The Phantom Menace, and you can’t fucking fix this? Whatever, George. I’m done with your shit. Anyway, we finally, finally meet Han Solo and Chewbacca, who don’t take no shit from no one, at least not for a price. Obi Wan and Han hash a deal out, and Han agrees to shuttle Obi Wan and the boy around, because a job’s a job. Before he can leave, however, Greedo, a bounty hunter, comes to bring Han back to Han’s ex-boss, Jabba the Hutt, who’s put a price on Han’s head, because it’s a nice-looking head. Han and Greedo trade barbs right before Han shoots Greedo. Now, in the original version, Han shoots Greedo, because he’s a bad ass in that way. In the new version, however, Greedo shoots at Han first, somehow missing him despite the fact that he’s only, like, two fucking feet away from him. Han actually aims his gun and kills him. Because George Lucas, you son of a bitch.

Outside the cantina, the Stormtroopers are closing in on Obi Wan and the droids. Luke sells his jaunty jalopy and whines about it, because DAMN THIS ECONOMY. They’re followed to the Millennium Falcon by an alien that looks suspiciously like Trumpy from Pod People, who rats them out to the Stormtroopers. There’s a new scene in which Jabba the Hutt and Han have a conversation outside the ship. Han is like, “Whatever, this scene probably won’t even make it into the movie,” and doesn’t seem particularly worried by Jabba’s presence. Little does he know. There are another two Greedos hanging out with Jabba, so I don’t know why Jabba is so upset that Han killed the first Greedo. But whatever, that scene is worthless.

Luke sets his eyes on the Falcon and, of course, whines about it. Han tells him to keep his whiny mouth shut and get the fuck on board. They’re about to leave when the Stormtroopers attack, which allows for another fight scene, and they ultimately zip out of Mos Eisley in a hurry. Han quickly realizes that his new passengers might not be what they seem. And that he’s probably going to end up trapped in a trash compactor in the near future. Poor Han. Imperial cruisers chase the Falcon, while Luke whines and Han handles the situation like a man. Because he’s awesome.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tarkin meets Leia, who sasses him, because she has a sass-mouth. You’re either a sass-mouth or a whiner in the Skywalker family, and Leia lucked out in that respect. Tarkin threatens to blow up her home planet of Alderaan unless she tells him the location of the rebel base. She gives him a random planet name, because she’s smart and sassy, and Tarkin blows up her planet anyway, because he can play the sass game too, little lady. Obi Wan feels a whole bunch of death going down in the universe, and has to have a lie-down. Chewbacca and R2-D2 play some sort of alien game of holographic chess, because SCIENCE FICTION. R2-D2 lets Chewbacca win because Chewie’s a sore loser and will kill him if he doesn’t. Which is a good strategy to have, really. I wish I had employed that strategy more when I played competitive sports. Meanwhile, Obi Wan is trying to school Luke in the Force, while Han makes fun of him, because he’s Han and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about hokey religions. Because Han is too cool for school. And besides, Luke’s getting his ass handed to him by a laser-shooting baseball, so Han sort of has a point.

Tarkin is shocked—shocked!—to find that Leia lied to him about where the rebel base was. Dude, she’s sassy. You’re going to get that, with sass-mouth. Tarkin gives up trying to reason with her and orders her to be executed. But not instantly though—no, let’s give those Rebel fighters a chance to maybe save her first, there’s a good sport. Luke and the gang arrive where Alderaan should have been, but by now it’s nothing but space junk. They follow some short-range TIE fighters to what is not in fact a moon but actually a space station—the Death Star. Because it’s as big as a star, and it likes to kill things to death. Hence, Death Star. Luke whines at a higher pitch than usual as the Death Star pulls the Falcon in with its tractor beam. Han wants to fight the Stormtroopers because he’s a man, damn it, and that’s what men do, but Obi Wan convinces him to hide in the cargo hold of the ship, because that’s what Jedis do. Darth senses Obi Wan’s presence. But not his own son, because I wouldn’t want to recognize Luke’s presence either.

Luke and the Gang kill some Stormtroopers and steal their uniforms, because they’re sneaky like that. Chewbacca mauls some officers to death, because that’s what wookiees do. They take control of the control room fairly easily. Good job, guys. One room down, 30,000 more to go. Han has been hanging out with Luke for too long, because he starts to whine about having to run and sneak and exert himself physically. Obi Wan sets out to turn off the Death Star’s defense system, and tells Luke to stay safe and don’t touch anything. Just put your hands behind your back, Luke. Remember—you break it, you buy it. Han and Chewie make fun of Obi Wan because Jedis are lame, man. R2-D2 finds out where Leia is being held and Han is all like, “What the fuck is this shit about princesses and saving princesses and shit this is not what I signed up for.” Luke whines, and then tries a different tack, explaining to Han that saving princesses come with rewards which means money. Money for Han. Han likes money and begrudgingly goes along with Luke’s shitty plan, which involves pretending that Chewbacca is a prisoner and going to Leia’s cell block and…that’s it. That’s the plan. It only works because everyone else on the Death Star has better things to do than wonder what two shorter-than-average Stormtroopers are doing with a humongous walking carpet (Leia’s words, not mine). They arrive at the cell block and try to lie their pants off, which doesn’t work because the officer in charge is on the ball and realizes how ridiculous their story is. So Chewie goes berserk and Han starts shooting. Because why the fuck not?

Okay, actual funniest part of the movie—Han pretends to be an Imperial officer and tries to explain the firefight that just went down when some senior officers call in asking what all the ruckus is. Harrison Ford adlibbed a lot of it, apparently. Of course, it doesn’t work, because none of their plans work, and so he shoots the CommLink. Of course he does. Luke finds Leia, who makes fun of his height, because she’s sassy. Princesses, man.

Darth Vader is 110 percent sure that Obi Wan is on the Death Star, because there’s an old man smell wafting through the hallways, I guess. Obi Wan continues to sneaky-sneak about the Death Star while Han and Luke get their asses handed to them left and right. Because they’re incompetent. They try to leave the cell block with Leia but are quickly hemmed in by Stormtroopers. Leia sass-mouths everyone, because she’s sassy, and calls Han “Fly Boy”, which is pretty fucking funny. (Actually, most of what Leia says is funny in its sassiness.) Then she forces everyone to jump into a garbage chute, because she’s a Skywalker and all Skywalker plans suck ass. Wheee, down the garbage chute they go, into the trash compactor, which is usually where all garbage chutes lead to. Leia did not plan that far ahead. Han, Leia, and Luke yell at each other as they try to get out of the compactor, because they’re way in over their heads. There’s also a Dianoga, some sort of octopus-y alien, down there with them, because why not?, and it pulls Luke into the garbage water in record time. Because Luke is a tool. There are some awkward minutes in which Luke has apparently been killed and Han and Leia have nothing to talk about, but then the alien releases Luke, because George Lucas realized that that was a plot point that was going nowhere, I guess. And then the trash compactor starts up! Because fuck their lives, that’s why!

C-3PO and R2-D2 are in the control room and could turn off the compactor, but some soldiers break into the control room, and C-3PO has to turn off his CommLink , and is unable to hear Luke whining for help. Luke and Co. are slowly getting squished, bickering all the while. It’s Suspenseful. C-3PO remembers his CommLink and tries to apologize to Sir Luke for not calling him up sooner. Luke tells him to shut the fuck up and turn off the garbage compactor. Which he does. Everyone’s happy that they’re not dead. Han and Leia hug. Han feels a stirring in his plastic stormtrooper codpiece.

Han and Leia trade barbs, because they’re both sassy, and Leia insults everyone, because she’s the sassiest of them all. Obi Wan uses his Jedi Mind Magic to turn off the Death Star’s tractor beam. On their way back to the Falcon, Han and Luke and Leia split up, Han offering a diversion by getting into it with some Stormtroopers, which naturally leads to him being chased by more Stormtroopers, and Luke and Leia getting stuck in a little alcove after Luke shoots out the controls to the bridge or something, I don’t know. He’s a fuck-up. He and Leia get out of their sticky situation, but not before relishing in some sexy, actually-incestuous chemistry between themselves.

Darth finally tracks down Obi Wan, and they duke it out using their light sabers. Darth’s like, “Yo, what’s up? How’s it going? I’m totally going to kill you, by the way, because I’m stronger than you, and I’m 90 percent machine.” And Obi Wan is like, “Even if you kill me, then I’ll still win, because I’m Zen like that.” Vader’s like, “Yeah, I’m willing to live with that,” and kills him. But only because Obi Wan lets him kill him, to divert attention so Luke and Co. could get into the Falcon and escape. Luke fucks it up by whining about Obi Wan’s death, however, catching the Stormtroopers’ attention, and so they still get shot at. Obi Wan isn’t even dead for ten seconds before his spirit has to remind Luke to run the fuck away from the bad guys.

Back in space, Luke is sad because his mentor died. Despite only after knowing him for maybe a week, at most. He tries to grieve, but Han reminds him that they’re still on the run from Imperial TIE-fighters so put on your big boy pants and strap yourself to a laser gun, farm boy. What follows is a pretty awesome fight scene between the Falcon and said TIE fighters. The good guys win, although Leia is quick to rain on Han’s parade by insisting that the Empire let them go. Because she’s sassy. She’s right, of course, because Darth Vader and Tarkin have put a tracking device on the Falcon and are going to follow them back the Rebel base. Han and Leia argue because they’re both spunky and that’s how spunky people fall in love. Luke is like, “Don’t think squishy thoughts about my sister-crush, dude, that’s not cool,” and Han’s like, “Well, of course I’m going to now.”

The Falcon flies to the rather nice-looking planet of Yavin IV, and Luke and Leia and the rest of the Rebels prepare to destroy the Death Star, using the blueprints R2-D2 purloined. Vader and Tarkin have followed them and prepare to destroy Yavin. What a crazy happenstance! It’s like a sitcom! Hopefully, at the end the Death Star will be like, “You were trying to blow me up? But I was trying to blow you up!” And Yavin can laugh and be like, “You mean—you…? Oh, well boy is my face red!” Jan Dodonna, the Rebel leader of the attack, explains his Blow Up the Death Star strategy to the rebel pilots (it’s basically, “shoot this tiny target in the middle of the scary laser ball”). Han tries his best to not seem interested in all this. He does a fade-away-jerk hand gesture at everyone who looks at him (or, well, Chewie. Chewbacca is the only one who looks at him).

Luke whines about Han leaving before the fight, because Han apparently hasn’t put his life in jeopardy enough for Luke’s liking. Luke tries to browbeat him but Han’s like, “What the fuck ever, this bounty on my head isn’t going to pay itself.” Luke hops into an X-wing fighter with R2-D2 as his batman, (batman as in an officer’s assistant, not Bruce Wayne’s crime-fighting alter ego, although R2-D2 as Batman would be interesting, admit it). Luke meets his old boyhood friend Biggs, who’s ready to kick some Imperial ass; not realizing, I guess, that if you’re introduced just before the beginning of a battle scene, you’re pretty much as good as dead. Sorry, Biggs. Nice mustache though. The Ghost of Obi Wan gives Luke a little pep talk before the mission. Everyone takes their places—Luke and R2-D2 in his X-wing, Leia and C-3PO in the rebel control center, Darth Vader and Tarkin in the command center of the Death Star, Han getting the fuck out of dodge, etc.

And the fight begins! It’s rather wicked. Troopers on the Death Star scramble about as the Death Star takes minor hits. A Rebel named Porkins is killed—Porkins, because he’s fat, get it?! Oh, George Lucas, you do have fun. Rebel pilots start getting taken out by TIE fighters, one by one, and Luke whines all the while. “Wahh, stop getting shot, guys, this isn’t funny! Wahhh, power converters!” he whines. (Fun fact: I have a Luke Skywalker pen that talks, and all its sound bytes are of Luke whining. I love it to death.) A handful of the X-wings fly through a Death Star canyon to hit their target, which will in effect blow up the Death Star—it is literally the size of a shoebox. They have to shoot into the shoebox-sized hole while flying a million miles per second and with TIE-fighters on their tale, so when Tarkin says he’s not worried about the Death Star getting blown up, it’s not necessarily difficult to see why. One after another the rebel pilots attempt to hit their target, but fail, because their scopes were apparently built in China and therefore suck and are useless. Biggs is killed, which makes Luke sad, but more driven to Blow All the Shit Up. There’s another pilot named Wedge Antilles, who realizes that this is a stupid fucked-up plan and is like, “Lol, screw you, assholes, I’m going home.” And thus is able to make appearances in subsequent Star Wars movies, unlike any of the other minor rebel fighters.

At this point Darth wants in on this Rebel-killing action and mans his own ship to shoot down the rebel pilots. He finally, finally senses that the force is strong with Luke, and manages to hit R2-D2. It’s sad. Sadder still that, if R2-D2 died, C-3PO would be unable to collect R2-D2’s pension or anything, because inter-droid marriage and its spousal benefits are probably illegal, I’m guessing. Darth is just about to shoot Luke down when HAN APPEARS TO SAVE THE DAY! Yay! The Falcon shows up in a very nice shot, haloed by a lens flare, and in a movie theater somewhere, a tiny JJ Abrams feels a chill roll down his spine. Darth is ricocheted into outer space as Luke hits his target (it’s blatantly sexual, but George Lucas probably didn’t realize it, because SCIENCE FICTION). The Death Star blows up, everyone returns to base, Han is instantly happy and Part of the Team, and they all celebrate. Some gearheads promise to fix and shine R2-D2 up real pretty-like.

In a final scene straight out of Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, Princess Leia awards Han and Luke with medals—but not Chewbacca, because Racism. Han winks at her because he’s a smooth one, that Han is, and R2-D2 is alive, yay! The heroes are applauded, and George Lucas wonders if he’s going to get enough money out of this dinky little movie for him to pay off the rest of his car loans. Fox executives, doubting this movie will ever break even, wonder if maybe they can make some money off its merchandise. The answer to all their questions is—yes. Yes, it will make some money.

#Star Wars: A New Hope #Harrison Ford #Peter Mayhew #George Lucas #movie review

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gffa · 7 years

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It’s Wednesday, which means it’s Crying About STAR WARS Time and I love that apparently it’s a never-ending font of things to cry about in the GFFA. But, hey, at least sometimes it’s crying in a good way? So, here, come cry some more with me about these space monks with their laser swords. STAR WARS FIC RECS: ✦ House of Cards by Smitty, obi-wan & anakin & oc, 23.8k Just when Obi-Wan thinks he has life figured out, a shadowy bounty hunter proves him wrong. ✦ The Exchange by MissLearn, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & qui-gon & mace & rex & cast, 31.2k wip The Daughter has a bad day and it irrevocably changes the fate of the galaxy, twice over. Or; ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels. ✦ Obikin Ficlet: Exotic Dancer AU by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, imperial!obi-wan, 1k Prompt: “Exotic dancer!Anakin giving a private dance to sith lord!imperial general!Obi-Wan and they haven’t seen each other in 6 months. They missed each other and Obi-Wan just wants to touch Anakin but Anakin won’t let him.” ✦ Clarity by anecdotalist, obi-wan/anakin & anakin/padme & ahsoka & cast, Anakin’s jealousy leads to the start of something new between him and Obi-Wan and a lot of frank discussions about things they should have talked about but didn’t in canon. ✦ Do Not Go Gentle by Glare, obi-wan/anakin, a/b/o, 4.8k wip Anakin Skywalker is only six months into his Jedi training when he goes missing on a mission, bringing his Master’s life crashing down. ✦ untitled by gaealynn, obi-wan/anakin, mild bondage, 1.9k I propose – an Obi-Wan who indulges one of Anakin’s tantrums and is startled to find that he, ah, doesn’t quite mind letting Anakin tie him up and dote on him; and an Anakin who is over the moon at being allowed to do so. ✦ Choices by writegowrite, obi-wan & krell, sith!obi-wan, ~1k The path to the dark was easier than Obi-Wan had ever thought it could be. ✦ Reunion by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, ~1k It has been nine minutes since Darth Vader arrived on the Rebel reconnaissance ship. ✦ Lights Will Guide You Home by darlingargents, obi-wan/padme & potential obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke/ezra & leia & ahsoka & cast, 27.3k wip Obi-Wan knew that if he didn’t leave now, Padmé would die. And so he made his decision. ✦ untitled by silvergryphon, leia & mace, 1.7k Everyone expected Leia to follow in her mother’s footsteps. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, padme & background anakin/padme, 1.2k Padmé stares at the clock on her bedside table. She knows it’s time to get up and get ready to face the day, but she… She doesn’t want to. ✦ untitled by lurkingcrow, obi-wan & luke, 1.2k Obi-Wan braces against the bulkhead as yet another refugee pushes past him, attention focused upon the growing food line rather than the bedraggled figure hunched over his precious cargo. ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan/anakin & cast, pirate!obi-wan, 1.9k All things considered, Darth Vader was taking the news of growing pirate fleet surprisingly well, thought Lieutenant Piett as he followed after the towering, black-suited menace. full details + recs under the cut!

✦ House of Cards by Smitty, obi-wan & anakin & oc, 23.8k Just when Obi-Wan thinks he has life figured out, a shadowy bounty hunter proves him wrong. It would probably help to have read “The House That Obi-Wan Built” and “Sofa, So Good” before this one, but it’s not absolutely necessary and all you really need to know is that Obi-Wan has decided to train Anakin on Malastare instead of on Coruscant and, of course, shenangigans happen along the way. My one caveat about this fic is that it spends more time on the OC than I could really quite get into, so I wound up feeling a bit distracted during those parts, but the Obi-Wan and Anakin stuff is just as delightful as the other fics in this series. I really love this author’s take on both of them, especially that there’s a sense of sharp fun to the both of them, there’s a weight to both characters that strikes me as true, that this can be a warm-hearted fic, but I wouldn’t really call it fluffy, either. Especially in the interaction between Obi-Wan and Anakin, you can tell the author loves both of them and there’s this great exchange that had me cackling: “I have some errands to do. I want you to work on that patience exercise I taught you yesterday.” “All morning?” “No, Anakin. Your line is, ‘Yes, Master. Your every wish is my command. I live only to serve.’ No, go medidtate.” because, oh my god, that’s it, that’s them, it’s hilarious and perfect. For all that this was apparently posted in 1999, it really holds up as a great sense of who these characters are and how they’d interact! ✦ The Exchange by MissLearn, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & qui-gon & mace & rex & cast, 31.2k wip The Daughter has a bad day and it irrevocably changes the fate of the galaxy, twice over. Or; ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels. I am so glad I stumbled over this fic and got caught up in it because it really was a whole lot of fun! I do have the caveat that it’s rough around the edges and takes a chapter or two to get going, but once I was in the thick of things, I was absolutely engrossed in it and the heart of the fic is on the Obi-Wan & Anakin relationship and it is absolutely so satisfying with that. Swapping places with their older/younger selves leads to some important discussions for ROTS!Obi-Wan&Anakin, which, let me tell you, I was glued to my reader during that conversation because it was just exactly what my heart wanted from it! But also, TPM!Obi-Wan&Anakin in the future, stumbling over everything going to hell as it does during ROTS, and how they’re thrown into this mixed up world and start to bond and obviously complement each other right from the start, was also deeply satisfying. It’s a fic that’s also about their relationships with other people, but it’s very much revolved around these two characters and their relationship, which is what I picked this fic up hoping for and got something that I really got hooked on and would absolutely read another 100k of this. It’s good-hearted and clearly loves them both, loves everyone in this world (except for Palpatine, but fuck that guy) and, though the shit they go through is difficult and painful, I feel like this is a story about hope, even in the most dire circumstances, I feel like it’s a story about giving the characters the room to set things right. And that sense of how the people they meet are so good–it was so much fun to see Mace being kind, so much fun to see Rex being kind, so much fun to see Padme being kind, so much fun to see Qui-Gon being kind–in addition to Obi-Wan and Anakin having space to work shit out, ahhhh, that’s so very, very much my jam. ✦ Obikin Ficlet: Exotic Dancer AU by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, imperial!obi-wan, 1k Prompt: “Exotic dancer!Anakin giving a private dance to sith lord!imperial general!Obi-Wan and they haven’t seen each other in 6 months. They missed each other and Obi-Wan just wants to touch Anakin but Anakin won’t let him.” Oh, this didn’t have to be long to have entirely caught my attention! It had some absolutely lovely imagery here, which isn’t always easy with dancer!AU fics, but this one really worked, it brought to mind so many echoes of canon, so many moments where I could so easily see the Anakin I know in the way he moved, in the way acted/reacted towards Obi-Wan. And the tension between the two characters was absolutely delicious, they never even had to touch for me to be practically on the edge of my seat! Give me a beautiful image and a compelling AU scenario and I’m totally gone, which this one did so well. ✦ Clarity by anecdotalist, obi-wan/anakin & anakin/padme & ahsoka & cast, Anakin’s jealousy leads to the start of something new between him and Obi-Wan and a lot of frank discussions about things they should have talked about but didn’t in canon. Chapters 14-15: This is an update rec and will focus on these chapters, rather than the fic as a whole. When SW fandom gets busy or when I run into a streak of fics I haven’t come across before, sometimes others that I’m keeping up with get pushed down on my reader and it takes me time to get back to them just because of the way I read. And this one came up for me again recently and I just slid right back into it, where we’re in the thick of things at this point–one of the things I so enjoyed about the fic up to this point is that, even when shit was happening, it felt like there was breathing room for the relationships, both Obikin and Anidala, so I feel like there’s a good base to build on, when the shit hits the fan, as it’s been doing in these chapters. Order 66 has come and that means plot-related things! And it’s really interesting to see how things change because Obi-Wan and Anakin are in different places in their lives, just different enough that things go a little differently. And, who knows, maybe that means not much will change or maybe it’ll mean everything will change, but the point is in the journey there. I’m especially enjoying Bant’s addition to the story–for all that I’m glad the JA books have been contradicted and de-canonized, she’s one of the things I would love to see rescued from them and she’s lovely in this story, this is part of why I love her character so much, that she can provide such heart as she does here. And I also love that, for all that he’s turned a bit more towards a more stable path, Anakin is still absolutely a mess and still absolutely emotionally unstable and in real danger of falling or doing terrible things. And that makes the journey he goees through so much more satisfying for me! And I enjoyed the struggle to understand what’s happening to the clones! And, oh, there’s a conversation between Obi-Wan and Padme in chapter 15–an argument, really–that is so good for me, because so many people overlook that the Jedi were dying in that war, they were overburdened and the Senate was corrupt and they may not have been perfect, but they certainly laid down their lives to try to save people and the Senate did not. And Padme, with all her passion and compassion, cares so deeply and sometimes gets swept away and she’s all the better a person for recognizing that sometimes. Neither of them is the enemy here and I’d have read this fic just for that lovely conversation alone, never mind all the other good plot stuff happening and the ships! But that I get all of it is wonderful. ✦ Do Not Go Gentle by Glare, obi-wan/anakin, a/b/o, 4.8k wip Anakin Skywalker is only six months into his Jedi training when he goes missing on a mission, bringing his Master’s life crashing down. Unable to recover from the loss, Alpha Obi-Wan Kenobi grieves his Padawan’s uncertain fate, unaware that his life would once again be turned on end with the arrival of an Omega Sith Lord to the Temple ten years later. This fic had me at a/b/o dynamics, which I’m weak to! But then it hooked me with the actual story, with alpha!Obi-Wan having lost omega!Anakin as a Padawan, never knowing where he went or who took him and while that first chapter is intriguing and engaging, it was the reunion in chapter two that really got me. I’m a sucker for a good epic reunion kind of scene and this one gave me everything I was looking for, the fighting and the use of alpha/omega dynamics and the hints at past terrible things that happened and an unbreakable bond that still exists between the two of them, even more about the emotional side than any physical side that might still be there. It’s one of those iddy fics that’s well-written and those tend to be my favorites, the ones I look forward to most and will just flail over the most and think about the most. The reunion here was so satisfying that, even if you’re usually on the fence about WIPs, I’d still recommend this one because it has a lot of the good stuff already. And I am super eager to see where this goes! ✦ untitled by gaealynn, obi-wan/anakin, mild bondage, 1.9k I propose – an Obi-Wan who indulges one of Anakin’s tantrums and is startled to find that he, ah, doesn’t quite mind letting Anakin tie him up and dote on him; and an Anakin who is over the moon at being allowed to do so. Oh, this was actually really warm-hearted and kind of fluffy! I love that it’s very much about Anakin not being a reliable narrator and being kind of an emotional mess and losing his shit when he worries about Obi-Wan, so Obi-Wan has to find a way to indulge Anakin after a tantrum and that winds up with letting Anakin literally tie him down and feed him and watch over him while he sleeps and the whole thing. I love it because Anakin is such a mess about it and so very, very needy and really does need Obi-Wan’s attention and indulgeance and it just was really surprisingly sweet for a bondage fic! I enjoyed it a lot. ✦ Choices by writegowrite, obi-wan & krell, sith!obi-wan, ~1k The path to the dark was easier than Obi-Wan had ever thought it could be. This is a short piece, just a bit over 600 words, but it’s a lovely one about a moment that changes everything, where Obi-Wan has two paths laid out in front of him, one to the light and one to the dark, just a single decision that has consequences either way, and will eventually lead him into the dark. It’s a lovely look that continues the themes of The Clone Wars–that there are no truly easy choices in war, that sometimes there aren’t good options, and that sometimes sacrificing a bit of yourself is what will save more people, and yet you can’t know if that was the right choice. But it’s the id-pleasing choice and this was very, very nicely done! ✦ Reunion by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, ~1k It has been nine minutes since Darth Vader arrived on the Rebel reconnaissance ship. I don’t know how I missed this one before, but it’s a lovely and heartbreaking look at how the reunion between Obi-Wan and Anakin might have done in a different world, how some things change and some things still echo canon. It’s not a happy fic, but it’s beautifully written and has a lot of emotional weight to it and was a really, really great read. ✦ Lights Will Guide You Home by darlingargents, obi-wan/padme & potential obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke/ezra & leia & ahsoka & cast, 27.3k wip Obi-Wan knew that if he didn’t leave now, Padmé would die. And so he made his decision. Chapters 4-5: This is an update rec and will focus on these chapters, rather than the fic as a whole. I’m still in love with this fic, where Obi-Wan and Padme try to piece their lives back together after Anakin’s fall, as well as fight back against this Empire and whatever it is that Anakin has become. And this is a truly monstrous, fallen Anakin (though, we’ve only seen him through others’ povs so far), especially in the scene he has with Padme, which is awful and terrible and it hurts me, but I can’t say it’s against Anakin’s character, even as I still love him and want redemption for him, want him to work towards that again someday. And also Obi-Wan and the twins meeting the Ghost crew! It’s a good balance between plot and characters/relationships, not a ton happened in these two chapters that I can specifically point to, but that made them no less engaging and this fic no less one that I’m always looking forward to when it updates. It’s a great read and if you like Padme Lives fic, it’s definitely worth picking up! ✦ untitled by silvergryphon, leia & mace, 1.7k Everyone expected Leia to follow in her mother’s footsteps. This is part of a larger AU, but I don’t think you really need context beyond that it’s a happier AU where Luke and Leia are being raised by their parents and the Jedi are still around. (Though, the quoted reblogs will fill you in, too!) What I fell in love with on this piece was, oh, both Leia and Mace were perfect. There was such weight to both of them, tiny little Leia with her anger about injustice and the sheer weight of Mace’s character, even as he was quiet and serene as he talked with her. You could feel the anger in both of them, but good anger and the short conversation they had was pitch perfect and so lovely and everything I want for both of them. I was in love with every inch of this one! ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, padme & background anakin/padme, 1.2k Padmé stares at the clock on her bedside table. She knows it’s time to get up and get ready to face the day, but she… She doesn’t want to. I really enjoyed this look at Padme’s character, in the Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan verse, where she clearly loves Anakin very much, but takes a really long, hard look at their marriage and that not everything about it is perfect. It’s not a fic that’s down on the relationship, I don’t think, but instead about exploring the cracks in the foundation that are there because that’s what makes them all the more interesting and I loved how flawed they both were and how that makes me love Padme all the more for her pov in this fic. It’s lovely and gentle and a good look at her character! ✦ untitled by lurkingcrow, obi-wan & luke, 1.2k Obi-Wan braces against the bulkhead as yet another refugee pushes past him, attention focused upon the growing food line rather than the bedraggled figure hunched over his precious cargo. This is another fic that came about via several tumblr conversations and, oh, it’s such a heartbreaking and yet lovely look at the transport Obi-Wan takes to Tatooine with Anakin’s child in his arms. The vast ocean of heartbreak that’s underneath every moment of this, even as he tries to be comforting to baby Luke, is just very well done and so, so nice to imagine Ewan McGregor’s singing in. ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan/anakin & cast, pirate!obi-wan, 1.9k All things considered, Darth Vader was taking the news of growing pirate fleet surprisingly well, thought Lieutenant Piett as he followed after the towering, black-suited menace. Oh, this was totally silly and cracky and just pure fun. Set in the Accidental Pirate!Obi-Wan AU, this was all about the sheer amount of charm Obi-Wan has and how Darth Vader is hardly immune to it, even when they’re totally enemies now, for real, you guys. It’s light-hearted the entire way through, including the evenutal reunion, it’s a spoof and it’s hilarious! It’s one of those fics that’s based on the headcanons/tossed out scenarios that go around, the ones that aren’t meant to be taken super seriously, and yet still manages to be an entirely engaging, readable fic for it! It was just pure joy to read.

#obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #obikin #fic recs #star wars fic recs

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