hobbitkiller

[hobbitkiller]

God I am so sick of people who only watched Clone Wars and skimmed Rebels watching Ahsoka and asking why Sabine is so obsessed with Ezra and acting like her turning back was some sort of character development, when one of the core parts of her character is giant abandonment issues.

Sabine has watched her family turn their backs on her, Ketsu leave her to die, the other members of the Ghost crew falling away for one reason or another, losing her family, and then Ahsoka ditching her for being sad about it. She has spent over half her life watching the people she loves leave her behind, and she would never do that to someone else. Let alone to Ezra, who she bonded with over also having abandonment issues and who was only able to leave in the first place because he counted on her to bring him back.

It's not about romantic feelings or priorities. It's about the fact that all she's ever wanted was someone to come back for her, and when she's on the other end of that decision, there's no scenario where she fails them the way everyone else failed her.

[hobbitkiller]

A few stray thoughts on The Force after the recent Bad Batch:

Clearly, the Force ability Filoni would want most in the world is the whole communing with animals thing. It’s the first one he gave Ahsoka in Tales of the Jedi; it was Ezra’s whole thing; and now this episode.

On the Force thing, people have got to stop the endless conversations about who is or isn’t Force sensitive. Yes, M count is important because it makes it easier to connect to the Force. As Sabine has shown, however, high Force sensitivity is not required to eventually learn to connect with it.

I’m not sure why so many people in this fandom are so dead set on the Force essentially being solely genetic. It doesn’t make your favorite Jedi or Sith characters less special if others can tap into the Force, even if subconsciously.

I understand that, for some, the issue is feeling too many characters are Force wielders now, which I get, but we must acknowledge is a somewhat important part of this universe, and also asking Sabine’s question which is “why doesn’t everyone use it?” To which I find Ahsoka’s answer that it requires training and dedication acceptable.

There are plenty of real life skills most of us would like to have but don’t have the time/ability/patience to actually develop even without the only masters of the ability being super selective of whom they teach.

#sabine wren #ahsoka show #tbb omega #ezra bridger #asajj ventress #the bad batch #the bad batch spoilers

[hobbitkiller]

Can’t get the idea that Shin Hati is the child of Quinlan Vos and Asha Ventress out of my head. I have no justification for this other than force sensitivity and her overall vibe, but I can’t let it go.

I’m not a huge Shin fan outside of Wolfwren, so I don’t know if anyone else is floating this concept, but it just seems like an interesting idea. Of course, it’s also totally fine for characters to just be unrelated to each other. Not every show needs to be Once Upon a Time.

#shin hati #quinlan vos #asajj ventress

[hobbitkiller]

As someone who has and will defend Sabine using the Force—it does feel a little like Filoni is passing out the Force like Oprah passes out cars.

I’m not mad, because he’s showing different sides of it, but I did have to laugh.

#bad batch spoilers #bad batch season 3 #bad batch season 3 spoilers

[hobbitkiller]

It’s interesting watching Rebels reactions from people who saw Ahsoka first because they immediately pick up on the episodes that point toward Sabine becoming a Jedi. Not that, “Protectors of Concord Dawn” is particularly subtle.

For my part, I still struggle to understand people who act like it came out of nowhere. No, she wasn’t trying to become a Jedi at the time, but she loved Kanan and Ezra and frequently chose a more Jedi path than Mandalorian. It certainly felt like the show was going for a mixing of Mando and Jedi with her, which is what drew the approval of Bo and Rau.

I think it’s fine to not like the Jedi choice for her character, (not that anyone needs or asked for my approval), but it always feels like a weak argument to say it came out of nowhere. Plenty of people commented on the possibility before Ahsoka came out, including Favreau.

I’m not saying that was the plan if Rebels had a fifth season, but it certainly feels like one of many possible paths.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka series

[hobbitkiller]

Watching some Arcane reactions, and it’s kind of wild how many people are mad at Vi for getting Caitlyn to safety over immediately running back to the person who just shot at her with a mini gun.

If ever the saying “don’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm” applied, it would be this situation.

#vi arcane #arcane

[hobbitkiller]

Sorry if someone’s already said this, but I’ve been thinking about Filoni saying he’s looking forward to Thrawn and Hera facing off because Hera was always the one who thwarted him, and I thought that was really interesting.

Hera isn’t the tactician Thrawn is. Most of the strategy throughout Rebels was done by Kanan, Sabine, or Ezra. But it’s the fact that Hera was able to rely on her crew that made her succeed.

Two of the biggest losses Thrawn had were Atollon and Lothal. Arguably, Thrawn only lost those because of failings Konstantine and Price.

This is not to say Thrawn is superior. Being unable to effectively lead your people is a big shortcoming, and Rebels demonstrated it was the Rebels’ ability to make friends and allies that often won the day.

It will be interesting to see what lessons they’ve learned from each other.

#sw rebels #ahsoka series #hera syndulla #grand admiral thrawn #thrawn

[hobbitkiller]

It’s funny rewatching the first season of Rebels and seeing Sabine be such a little brat the first time she talks to Fulcrum. Like, Ahsoka, you knew what you were signing up for.

If I were in a fic writing mood, it would be fun to write a series of scenes with Ahsoka and Sabine meeting before becoming master and apprentice.

Like, I imagine a scene where the Night Owls are meeting at Krownest and little baby Sabine comes toddling out with her face covered in paint, then a follow up to Out of Darkness where Ahsoka asks Hera about Specter Five’s outburst, then a scene where Sabine mentions that her mom told her about Ahsoka.

#sabine wren #ahsoka tano #sw rebels #ahsoka show #ahsoka series #ursa wren

[hobbitkiller]

One of the dumbest criticisms, in my opinion, of Star Wars is when people say things like there being survivors of Order 66 or Sabine learning to use the Force makes Luke less special.

Is the reason you loved Luke that he was the last Jedi? Or that he was the son of the “Chosen One”? Or is it because he is earnest and brave? Because he wears his heart on his sleeve and would do anything for those he loves?

You know who would be thrilled by Order 66 survivors or people like Sabine figuring out how to use the Force? Luke. Luke would never gate keep the Force. At least not the Luke from the original films. Luke wasn’t like Anakin. He didn’t need constant validation of how amazing he was.

Also, you know who would also not have destroyed the map to find his family? Luke.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #luke skywalker #star wars #the force #ahsoka show #ahsoka series

[hobbitkiller]

I really hope we get to see Sabine and Bo-Katan interact in some way in the Mandoverse.

I can only imagine how many conficting emotions they must have. Do they blame each other for the purge? Themselves? Does Sabine feels as guilty for giving Bo the Darksaber as Bo does for accepting it? How does Bo feel about Sabine becoming a Jedi? Was Bo the one who confirmed the Wrens were dead? Why were they on Mandalore and not Krownest?

My head canon is that Bo-Katan sees Sabine as a potential heir. She seemed willing to back her claim back in Rebels, and Sabine would be one of the better people to keep an eye on Grogu after she and Din are gone.

But, I can also see Bo as feeling Sabine betrayed Mandalore by giving her the Darksaber and then going back to the Rebellion.

I just really want more—comics, books, TV shows, I’ll take it however I can get it.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #bo katan kryze #ahsoka show #ahsoka series #the mandolarian #mandoverse #dave filoni

[hobbitkiller]

Here’s my take on the bit about Sabine being like Anakin.

What Sabine has in common with Anakin: recklessness, disregard for rules, fierce love for loved ones, a level of ruthlessness when called for.

These are also the traits Ahsoka has in common with Anakin, and I think her negative reaction to those traits in Sabine is a projection of her feelings and fears about herself. She is so stoic in Ahsoka, in my opinion, largely because she is scared by intense emotion—only further validated by her immediate dark reaction when she thinks Shin killed Sabine.

And, I think part of the point is that Ahsoka and Sabine are not Anakin. Yes, they have that potential to go to the dark just like all Jedi do, but that doesn’t make them “Anakin coded.” I also think trying to equate Sabine’s actions with Anakin’s is being pretty generous to Anakin, who, you know, personally committed a ton of atrocities.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka tano #ahsoka show #ahsoka series #anakin skywalker

[hobbitkiller]

I really do think it was a missed opportunity to not have Sabine flashbacks mixed in with the Ahsoka flashback episode and make it a two-parter. She could have been trying to meditate in her cell while Ahsoka was going through her World Between Worlds thing.

I think it would have helped better explain Sabine’s motivation. It would have also been a better way to introduce Ezra than just the recording. It also would have made a really great parallel between Ahsoka and Sabine, both of whom spent their adolescence fighting in wars.

Like, imagine a transition where you have Anakin flashing to Vader, and it transitions to that scene in Rebels where they’re fighting Vader and he deflects those shots back at Sabine.

I realize that they didn’t really have the time or money to do that, and having the focus just be on the Anakin flashback was a more economical use of resources, but it would have really been cool if they could have done that.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka tano #ahsoka show #ezra bridger #ahsoka series

[hobbitkiller]

It would have been cool if they intercut the Ahsoka and Anakin episode with some Sabine war flashbacks and made that a 2-parter. Like, as Baylon pointed out, she’s got nothing better to do in that cell. I think the show did a good job establishing Ahsoka was a child soldier, but so were Sabine and Ezra, and it would have been interesting to make that parallel and also further explain why Sabine would take the gamble she did to save Ezra.

As someone who will defend Ahsoka tooth and nail and finds much of the criticism lacking, here’s what I thought could be improved:

1. Eight episode seasons are a bane on streaming, and it was a detriment to Ahsoka. The fact that Andor got 12 and Ahsoka 8 sucks, partly because I think Ahsoka needed those extra episodes far more to flesh out the dynamics and go further into motivations.

2. The mystery box reveal of Sabine and Ahsoka’s falling out, like so many mystery boxes, was unsatisfying and hastily done given how much that whole mess clearly contributed to both their actions, with Ahsoka being intentionally stoic and reserved and Sabine feeling lost and abandoned. I don’t know if this is something that was going to be dove into later, but I think it should have been given more time.

3. I thought the direction of the final episode wasn’t great. The blocking and pace of all the fights except Morgan and Ahsoka felt off, and Sabine using the Force did feel slightly weightless. I think Natasha did fine, and I liked that her hands were trembling when she pushed Ezra, but something about those shots didn’t land.

4. Marrok was pointless and seemingly existed for Ahsoka to have a cool kill. I don’t think we had time for that with only eight episodes.

5. The balancing act of trying to satisfy Rebels and Clone Wars fans while not completely alienating Mandoverse and movie fans didn’t always work and led to silly things like Sabine’s “I can’t see. How am I supposed to fight?” line, which is a fun reference for film only fans but makes no sense in context for Rebels fans who wonder how she forgot Kanan was blind.

Otherwise, there are things I would have liked to see that are in my wish list for Season 2. Kanan appearing as a vision or in a flashback would have been great. Letting Hera hug her adult children, Sabine with her jetpack, referencing the fact that she was the one who gave Bo-Katan the Darksaber…but these are more personal wants than active criticisms.

I think a lot of the flaws with Ahsoka were based on current streaming conventions, and I hope changes being implemented after the writers’ strike will help course correct.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka tano #ezra bridger #ahsoka series

[hobbitkiller]

You know what fandom has great ship names? Young Justice. Yeah, there was some name mashing, but “Spitfire?” “Longshot?” “Museum Heist?” “Snaibsel?”

Love ‘em.

#young Justice #shipping #fandom

[hobbitkiller]

One of the most annoying takes I see around is people acting like Sabine pushing Ezra was an OP moment. Like, since when is a Force push some sort of advanced skill? Particularly after Ezra got 3/4 of the way there on his own.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka series

[hobbitkiller]

Can you imagine after Sabine gets back to the main galaxy, some rando pirate tries to board her ship only to realize they fucked up when they see her in Mando gear. Then she takes out a lightsaber…

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka tano #ahsoka spoilers

[hobbitkiller]

As someone who will defend Ahsoka tooth and nail and finds much of the criticism lacking, here’s what I thought could be improved:

1. Eight episode seasons are a bane on streaming, and it was a detriment to Ahsoka. The fact that Andor got 12 and Ahsoka 8 sucks, partly because I think Ahsoka needed those extra episodes far more to flesh out the dynamics and go further into motivations.

2. The mystery box reveal of Sabine and Ahsoka’s falling out, like so many mystery boxes, was unsatisfying and hastily done given how much that whole mess clearly contributed to both their actions, with Ahsoka being intentionally stoic and reserved and Sabine feeling lost and abandoned. I don’t know if this is something that was going to be dove into later, but I think it should have been given more time.

3. I thought the direction of the final episode wasn’t great. The blocking and pace of all the fights except Morgan and Ahsoka felt off, and Sabine using the Force did feel slightly weightless. I think Natasha did fine, and I liked that her hands were trembling when she pushed Ezra, but something about those shots didn’t land.

4. Marrok was pointless and seemingly existed for Ahsoka to have a cool kill. I don’t think we had time for that with only eight episodes.

5. The balancing act of trying to satisfy Rebels and Clone Wars fans while not completely alienating Mandoverse and movie fans didn’t always work and led to silly things like Sabine’s “I can’t see. How am I supposed to fight?” line, which is a fun reference for film only fans but makes no sense in context for Rebels fans who wonder how she forgot Kanan was blind.

Otherwise, there are things I would have liked to see that are in my wish list for Season 2. Kanan appearing as a vision or in a flashback would have been great. Letting Hera hug her adult children, Sabine with her jetpack, referencing the fact that she was the one who gave Bo-Katan the Darksaber…but these are more personal wants than active criticisms.

I think a lot of the flaws with Ahsoka were based on current streaming conventions, and I hope changes being implemented after the writers’ strike will help course correct.

#sabine wren #sw rebels #ahsoka tano #ahsoka show #ahsoka spoilers #ezra bridger #hera syndulla #ahsoka series #kanan jarrus