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maggot-monger · 3 years

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Survey Writing Guide: Fandom Edition

Sooo! People are collecting survey data on fandom! Makes sense — fandom is an interesting population to study, and getting data on attitudes/behaviors/etc is a great way to try to find out the truth about popular points of contention about media. To get unbiased, meaningful data, though, you’ll want to make sure your survey is in good shape. This is a guide to try to help you do that.

I am assuming, if you are reading this, that you want your survey to be unbiased and interpretable, sampling from as many viewpoints as possible and getting data on opinions you might agree and disagree with. In other words, I am assuming that you want to do your fandom research in good faith. If that is not why you are making a fandom survey, then you can ignore this whole post. I would ask you to reconsider running a bad-faith fandom survey, but I can’t stop you. But just know that my assumption is that you’re out here in the honest pursuit of truth.

I’m not accusing a survey of being done in bad faith if it doesn’t follow my suggestions. I also realize most people are conducting these surveys in their spare time because they’re passionate & curious, not for the purpose of serious publication or whatever. I’m not telling you that you have to follow all or even any of the advice here. Do what you feel good about doing. Fandom should be fun!

This guide is only about surveys themselves, and will not help you get a good sample of your fandom. In other words, none of this advice will make sure your survey reaches obscure corners of your fandom, insular communities you aren’t in, or casual fans. A good survey is important, but it’s only one part of getting accurate data, and participation recruitment is a whole other thing.

This is also only intended to help with survey setup, not analysis or results reporting. You can write a great, unbiased, easy to understand survey, and still present your results in a way that is biased/doesn’t include good information/is hard to understand. Furthermore, once your results are public, they’re out of your hands: you might be well-meaning, but please keep in mind that some people might use your data to make unfair or incorrect assumptions about others, support biased arguments, or generally behave unpleasantly. That’s just part of survey work; don’t let it stop you, but don’t be surprised if/when it happens.

Now, onto the survey tips ~

Think about how to structure your questions

Use multiple choice answers/avoid free response answers as much as possible. This is going to be really helpful for you when it’s time to analyze your data: it’s so much easier to analyze responses that are just clicks of a box than responses that require you to read someone’s long explanation of an opinion and try to figure out what they mean. It also makes answering easier on your participants: clicking a box is a lot easier for them than writing out what they think. Giving an option for them to expand on their answer in a free response text box is great, but try to capture as many possible responses as you can in multiple choice questions.

Consider: should participants be able to give more than one response per question? A good rule of thumb for this is if different responses to a question are mutually exclusive or not: if they are mutually exclusive, only give people the option of clicking one box; if they’re not, let them choose as many as they want. For example, if you want to know somebody’s ONE favorite season of a show, only let them choose one season. If you want to know ALL the seasons they like, give them the option to choose multiple.

Only include one question per question

A LOT of surveys ask questions that are actually several questions in one, and that makes answering them difficult! For example, you might THINK you’re only asking one thing if you say “Are you introverted or shy?” as a yes/no question, but that is actually two questions: some people are introverted but not shy; some people are shy but not introverted; some people are both introverted and shy, and some people are neither. People who respond “yes” might mean they are one or the other or both, and people who respond “no” might mean they are one or the other or neither — and you’ll have no way of knowing, because your question was too ambiguous.

If you’re asking a question about a nuanced topic, make sure your question and possible responses are nuanced too

People in fandom have a lot of complex views, and giving them only a black-and-white way to tell you about those views means you will miss out on nuance and get inaccurate results. If you are wondering about opinions on a controversial pairing, asking “Do you think it’s okay to ship Reylo?” (for example) and only letting people respond yes or no is not going to capture the range of opinions that exist on Reylo. If you can include multiple answer boxes for people to click, do that!

Analyzing free response data (where people can write their own answer) is hard on you, as the survey writer, and people might not feel like explaining their opinions. Definitely include a free response box if you want, but also provide a lot of options for responses.

The more controversial the topic you’re asking about, the more nuance you should let your participants give in their responses. People in fandom often have very strong and very complex opinions about certain issues; you’ll want to make sure not to flatten those opinions too much, while still keeping them simple enough to analyze. Asking “do you enjoy reading fluff?” is (probably) not going to be too complicated, and you’ll likely be fine giving people 2-3 response options (yes/always, sometimes, no/never). But you should give a lot more response options if you’re asking “is it ever acceptable to ship two siblings together?”: some people will be fine with “yes, always” or “no, never,” but a LOT of people are going to want to specify conditions like “only if they are not blood relatives” or “only if it is framed as being bad” or “it’s acceptable sometimes but I personally avoid it,” etc. Make sure people without clear-cut opinions have the ability to give you their opinions too.

Use simple, clear language

Use language that is as simple and precise as possible. Keep questions short when you can. Avoid using a lot of slang and regional idioms: people come from all over the place in fandom, and might not know what you mean. People also have a lot of different reading levels: you want to make sure most of your participants can understand what you’re asking them.

There are some terms you can assume everyone in your sample will know, and some that you can’t: it’s up to you to figure out which terms are which. For example, most people in tumblr fandom space will understand what a ship is. They might not know what “IC” means though, so you might need to write it out as “in character.” Further, pretty much everyone in the MCU fandom might know what “Stucky” is, but not as many will know what “Coulwhip” is. You can make these kinds of technical terms easier for people to understand by just writing out all abbreviations and writing all pairings in the Name/Name format.

Use neutral language and keep your personal opinions out of it

Avoid inserting your own opinions into your survey, even if you expect that almost everyone participating will agree with you. Even “obvious” jokes won’t read as jokes to everyone; you might upset/offend/put off some group of participants disproportionately such that they won’t complete the survey, and you’ll miss a chunk of data you want. This is a problem, because say, for example, you really want to know if people’s favorite Supernatural ship has any correlation to fans’ personality traits — but if you poked fun at Dean somewhere else in your survey in a way that made Dean fans click off the page, then you’re going to lose a lot of Dean fan data that it would have been really useful for you to have, since Dean is a very popular character to ship with a lot of other characters.��

A good-faith survey is also not the place to moralize. Fandom can be a very polarized place; you are not going to be able to predict which things you ask about are going to be morally objectionable to your participants, and if they’re going to agree with your moral judgments. Your results might surprise you! A survey where you hope to get accurate data is not the place to defend a problematic character you like or to call some group of shippers gross. Your best bet for not causing issues is to include stuff that’s controversial and to be as neutral about it as possible — for example, if you are asking about ships people like, include every reasonably popular ship (potentially excluding rarepairs/extreme rarepairs just because it’s hard to include all of those), even the ones you hate/think are harmful/whatever, and don’t comment on the goodness or badness of any of them.

Avoid “leading” questions to avoid bias

If you say, “Do you love this awesome TV show?” that’s going to be awkward to respond to for everyone whose answer is anything other than “yes.” Something like “What is your opinion of this TV show?” (with responses like: I love it, I like it, I have mixed feelings about it, I am neutral toward it, I dislike it, and I hate it) will give you a better sense of people’s genuine thoughts.

Select your multiple choice options thoughtfully

Be as egalitarian as possible in the options you provide to your fandom-specific questions that aren’t free response. If you leave out a major character on a list of favorite characters, for example, your participants are going to wonder why you did that — and you might not get data about that character, especially if you don’t include a free response option.

Avoid bias in your multiple choice answer options

If you ask people for their favorite and least favorite [something], make sure the list of [something] options for both of those questions is identical. For example, if you’re asking about people’s most liked and most disliked ships, make sure the list of ships you include for both questions is the same. Including Sylvie/Loki only on the “ship you most dislike” but not the “ship you most like” list might seem like a reasonable move to you if you don’t know anybody who (openly) likes Sylvie/Loki, but doing that will bias responses and make your data inaccurate. Some people will stop filling out the survey, some people who like Sylkie just won’t want to bother filling in the blank, some people might forget that they like Sylkie unless it’s right in front of their eyes as one of the response options, some people will feel judged and so they won’t answer your survey honestly, etc.

Follow common best practices advice for demographic information

Collecting information on respondents’ ages, genders, race/ethnicity, employment status, education history, etc is, luckily, very common, so there are a lot of standard questions about those things. I’ll just go ahead and list what I sometimes collect in my own surveys:

Age: for anonymous fandom surveys, I suggest using age groups (under 13, 13-18, 19-25, 26-35, etc) instead of asking people for their precise ages. Just make sure to include all possible age brackets. For example, don’t assume everyone in fandom is under 50.

Gender: unless you want a lot of nuance in your responses, it’s typically enough to include a list like: man/boy or male, woman/girl or female, nonbinary, genderfluid or bigender, and other. If you are interested in trans people specifically, I suggest asking that in a separate question (like: “Do you identify as transgender?”), rather than including binary trans identities in addition to binary cis identities in the same question. The exception to this is if you are including a very long list of gender options.

Race/ethnicity: (disclaimer that most of the data I collect comes from the US, so my best practices are most suited to that population. I welcome any feedback about the best way to ask about this for an international and/or non-US population.) I typically ask something like: “Which category best describes you?” and then give the options: American Indian or Native Alaskan, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latinx, Middle Eastern or North African, Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, White, and other. Ideally, this list should allow multiple responses, so that multiracial/multiethnic people can give accurate reports.

Employment status: “What is your employment status?” with responses: employed full time, employed part-time, unemployed and looking for work, unemployed and not looking for work, self-employed, homemaker, student, and retired. If possible, let this be multiple choice, so that, for example, people who are students AND work can select both applicable options.

Education level: “What is your highest level of education?” with responses: some high school, high school diploma or equivalent, some college, college degree, some graduate education, Master’s degree, Doctorate degree, professional degree (e.g. M.D., J.D., M.Div, etc)

Sexual orientation: like with gender, you probably don’t need to provide a long, comprehensive list unless your survey is about sexual orientation specifically. Something like the following is probably enough to cover most of your respondents: “What is your sexual orientation?” with responses: straight/heterosexual, gay/lesbian/homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and other.

Other questions: just try to make sure you are providing response options that will cover the majority of your participants, and include an “other” option if you’re not sure you’ve covered everything. There are a fair number of basic best practices documents for common demographics questions that you can find through Google, so if you’re not sure how to ask something, give it a quick search. You can also ask people you know who might know more about some specific demographic quality than you do to weigh in!

That’s it for now! I hope you find this helpful, either in writing your own surveys, or in evaluating surveys you are participating in!

#gonna just tag a few big fandoms i guess #supernatural #marvel #mcu #spn #star wars #game of thrones #harry potter #fandom #fandom survey #survey #resource #reference #mine #long post

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juuls · 3 years

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Hi Reylo community!

Latest edit: First of all! —I am more than happy to help people who want to give podficcing a try, just send me a message and we can work out details, figure out answers to your questions, etc. I would just love to see more people recording podfics!

It’s easy to be a podficcer; nothing special is needed and I’m happy to provide tips for simple podficcing! In fact I sorta ramble about my process here in this Answered Ask and include 3 basic tutorials.

To the Reylo community at large (writers, artists, readers, lurkers, everyone!): If you could pick one of your, preferably, complete (or at least a fair number of chapters in and being updated) fanfics that you would like to have a podfic made out of... which would it be?

I’d love to create a list of works where authors have given permission to podfic their fics, whether short or long, and to contribute to the new Reylo Podfic Collection!

But I’d love to use this tumblr thread as a.... thought exercises, I suppose, and permission, too, for people to podfic your work.

While I do do podficcing for Marvel... it just makes me want to do so much more Reylo stuff! There’s so few pieces out there compared to the bevy of Marvel stuff, but honestly, every time there’s a new (Reylo) podfic—it breathes new life back into the fic, the author, the ship, the fandom..... plus you personally feel awesome for the performance high and for bringing a smile to the writer’s face. That’s the best thing ever and I adore doing it, no matter how ‘simple’ the podfic may be.

So, AUTHORS, which of your fics would you like to see podficced? Blanket permission for any?

And READERS!!!—which of your favourite fics, short or long, G or T or M or E... would you love to listen to, or think deserves the verbal treatment? :D

Old, new. Canon-Compliant, Modern AU. Canon-Adjacent or Post-Canon. Post-movie Fix-It or forget-the-movie Fix-It. Gen, Teen, Unrated, Mature, or Explicit. A/B/O or Soulmates. Bendemption or Renperor. Senator Ben or Jedi Ben. Fuck-Jakku Rey or Must-Return Rey. Hopeful Rey or Antagonistic Rey. Blocked Force Bond or Open. Good or evil. Take his hand or don’t. Pre-Canon, post-TFA, post-TLJ, or TroS—I don’t know her.

Come one, come any, come all! What would you pick to podfic?

Pod together with us!

I’ll keep the list of approved fics updated if we get enough replies! I do so hope we do! I love Reylo, you love Reylo, who doesn’t want their fic put to voice? And also, let’s breathe some new forms of life into this fandom! Celebrate it with me!

(Sometimes there are already podfics done for a particular fic but you can always 1, welcome another for your own fic, and 2, request of an author to see if you can perform an additional reading of their fic—each podfic is different and special in their own way.)

Do you feel how awesome this could be?

They do.

Blanket permission for any of these user’s fics: *

Nymja

TheOriginalSuki [[“Maybe skip the Welsh epitaphs, ha!”]]

Politicalmamaduck [[Tall Tales of the Western Wilds has previously been podficced by @luminoustico and @quickficradio 🧡!]]

Perry_Downing [[Devotion has already been podficced, and Powerless, Thwarted, He Knows, and Unbidden claimed.]]

Crossingwinter

EllieCarina [[In My Bloodstream has been claimed.]]

DragonWhiskers [[any completed works]]

PalenDrome (nerdherderette) [[any and all fics, ships, fandoms]]

🌟

Podfics welcome for specific fics (permission given): *

Delicious Ambiguity by Juulna (~24.8k)

Shadowed by Juulna (~5.6k)

Little Earthquakes by LochTayBoatSong (~5.3k)

the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you by LochTayBoatSong (~36.1k)

Asking Price by SouthsideStory and ReyloTrashCompactor (~33.2k, 13/15 chapters)

Things Not Seen by SouthSideStory (~13.8k)

Chains by Veggieheist @veggieheist (~295.5k, 67/? chapters) [[contact author as they wish to re-edit the beginning of the fic]]

Dream House by sleepyowlet @sleepyowlet (~11k) [[“I read it out loud to myself and because I wrote it with the Dreamlands cycle as background noise, it has the same kind of feel to it. You just need to find a podficcer who can read consentacles without cracking up.”]]

Camera Shy by Sophia Ravencrest @sophiaravencrest (~23.8k)

Blades Crossed by the-reylo-void @the-reylo-void (~27.1k)

enemies-to-lovers by the-reylo-void (~59.6k) **

Within Monsters by AnonymousMink (~132.6k)

Hiraeth by TheOriginalSuki @theoriginalsuki (~47.9k)

Blood is Thicker Than Whatever This Is... by DragonWhiskers @belovedunderwing (~1.5k)

Siren’s Song by DragonWhiskers (~22.5k)

✨

Specific fics we’d love to see in podfic form and currently awaiting permission from their authors: [[fics granted permission moved to ‘Podfics Welcome’ list]]

Ashes of the Empire by Skyelo_Ren @dancingpenguin57 (~128.4k)

The Moon, the Sun, and the Star Inbetween. by Silvershine @silvershiner (~120.1k)

can’t turn off what turns me on by audreyii_fic @audreyii-fic (~26.1k)

Tactical Surrender by destinies @destiniesfic (~155.8k)

🌙

Claimed with permission:

landscape with a blur of conquerors by diasterisms @kylorenvevo (~362.9k) and To Kingdom Come (~145.7k) [[claimed by @isitcoolthatisaidallthat18]]

In My Bloodstream by EllieCarina @jackpotgirl (~103k) [[Claimed by @juuls — awaiting pre-production edits, recording will begin, soon followed by posting, in a handful of months]]

connected in the deep and Split Soul by Juulna (~2.5k and ~1.3k each) [[short ficlets currently claimed for practice by @lochtayboatsong]]

Powerless by Perry_Downing @perrydowning (~213k) [[claimed by @juuls and will begin work on it in early- to mid-January]]

Sky Marked Souls by AnonymousMink @anonymousmink (~22.3k) [[claimed by @isitcoolthatisaidallthat18]]

Thwarted (~358k), He Knows He Needs To Stop (~140.5k) and Unbidden by Perry_Downing (~183.8k) @perrydowning [[claimed by @isitcoolthatisaidallthat18]]

* “Please claim” even if just replying to this post or sending me an Ask or DM so I can edit the post. Mutiple podfics are flattering to the author but some podficcers really don’t like to be ‘one of many’. Absolutely valid. You can even create a placeholder AO3 ‘podfic’ and link it as inspired by said fic, so people can see that it’s being worked on... as long as permission has been granted first, or course, sillies! :)

** Although an unconventional fic format, this fic can certainly be podficced by using (1) different tones of voice for thoughts, fic summaries, different sorts of text, and/or (2) different tones of pings/chimes/whatever for the text messages from different characters, and/or (3) adding in an extra line of, for example: *ping* “text message from thekyloren reads as follows…” OR (4), if you want to get fancy, you could have some friends assist you by recording any of the messages from ‘their’ character. That would be a lot of fun, in fact! Another option is (5) where you would split your recordings and give an audible indication to read the message, followed again by a new audio file, etc. Only problem with this approach is if there are too many breaks in the audio and you end up going from one to the other too many times in a row.

💫

And please, reblog and spread the word for this project! No project can operate by its lonesome; it needs help from the community it belongs to. ❤️ Here’s another link to the Reylo Podfics Collection!

Thank you so much!

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abruisedmuse · 2 years

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Just went to the elriel tag to look at their art because I genuinely love them but now I feel somehow. I am fairly new to the fandom and don’t know how things work and that people go all out for shipwars I didn’t know if you don’t ship a certain ship you should stay away from their content they made me feel so icky for shipping elucien they didn’t use the exact words of calling him a creep but there was so many insinuations I legit saw one say that if you ship elain and lucien your weird because why would you ship people that are uncomfortable around each other. Neglecting the fact that there is a reason and deeper meaning to why they have this reaction towards each other and it’s not because elain thinks Lucien is a creep he is literally one of the most respectful males in this series , honestly I didn’t know the fandom was a cutthroat place like this and I do love the contents but it’s a lot for me. I didn’t know who to tell since your practically one of the first eluciens I followed and looking at your page it’s feels like safe space so hope this ask is okay.

First sorry I'm late to the response (my little one was sick and I've been offline 90% of the day). And this is always okay! Anything on your mind Fandom or not send me an ask. I'm happy you think of me as a safe space ❤ ❤

E/riels are a special brand of wild and moronic behavior. Not all but majority of them are some of the biggest immature cyberbullies I've ever witnessed. I'm so sorry you had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with them.

Elucien is endgame. They can accept it and keep E/riel as fanon or leave the Fandom.

This is what I don't understand. Obviously not every ship in every book, movie, TV, etc will be Canon. We all have tropes we favor and characters we think would be good together. They won't be endgame. They might not even have a relationship. But that doesn't stop fanon. With fics, edits, art, head canons, whatever. Your ship can exist in Ganon. You can have this happy little slice of fanon heaven. I've done it time and time again.

You know what I didn't do? Change narratives in the Canon text to claim them for a fanon ship. I didn't provoke others online for shipping the Canon ship(now if they came for me or my friends it's on but I didn't go into random posts or ask boxes spewing negative. Calling them worthless or far worse because of it.) Anyway, I don't understand why E/riels can't just be satisfied in their own little fanon world. And leave everyone alone.

Lucien isn't a creep. He is kind and very respectful towards Elain. Three. He's given her three years and will continue to give her whatever time she needs to come to terms with bond. He'd never resort to some dumbass duel, cry like a selfish toddler that he's left out, or please himself to a fucking bottle of headache pills. Thats because he values. She means something to him. Even if they broke the bond, he would always be there for Elain. Unlike a certain bat boy who only wants her as a forbidden booty call.

Now that, that's out of the way. Let's talk about this Fandom. I'll be the first to say babes. Alot of this Fandom is toxic. And not just the E/riels. I've seen it from anti sjm, to anti/pro certain ships and characters. Tbh, if I wasn't apart of Star Wars or the HP Fandom. Shipping both Reylo and Dramione....I probably would have left this one.

I understand if you decide to leave this Fandom or take a step back (sometimes it's a good thing!).

However lovely anon. There's alot of us who do love acotar and although we know there's flaws in the characters and the books. We love it dearly. It's a special place in our hearts. You're Fandom experience is what you make of it. What I mean by that is simply if you wanna stay in the Fandom because the series itself do four things as often as you need too:

1. Block the tags

2. Block users

3. Unfollow those that make this experience negative.

4. Don't listen to E/riels (they've twisted so many narratives, have been consistently rude to artists and I believe well known bookstagram accounts too. Might add Vassa X Lucien shippers too. A few of them twist the narrative too in saying Lucien wants Vassa. When we were given those Jurian x Vassa moments. However, I've never had a bad experience with them personally)

Fandom should be fun, not stressful ❤

If you'd like a list of blogs in the Fandom who don't contribute to the negativity let me know. I'll try and get one for you. I hope if you choose to stay that your experience gets better. At the very least you'll have me ❤

#anti e/riel #Fandom wank #ask #answered #anon

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whitecap-bay · 3 years

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Edit: Stop telling people what they should or should not like! (I'm looking at you FinnRey AND Reylo shippers!)

I wanted to come here to address something that really boils my anger and has been pissing me off for a few days. Over the last couple of days I have seen an increase in negative comments towards Reylo and people who ship Reylo. The hashtag Kylo is currently trending on Twitter and there are a lot of people actively making nasty tweets about Reylo in general and especially towards people who create art about it or who ship it. I have had 2 people this last week comment on my Reylo art post about how toxic the ship is (which is a narrative a lot of FinnRey shippers cling to when trying to justify why we shouldn't ship them). Edit: the person below is not a FinnRey shipper, it's just what they commented on my art.

I am not here to argue why me and other people ship Reylo, because I have a feeling FinnRey shippers will roll their eyes and not listen anyway. Edit: But I am here to showcase how their behaviour can be shitty when actively sending hate towards Reylo shippers. (Sending hate towards anyone is shitty in every situation and Reylos sending hate towards POC is extremely disgusting)

First of all I want to say that I am a new Star Wars fan. I have been a Star Wars denier my entire life simply because I was traumatized by Anakin burning in lava after which is reached a point where i thought I was cooler for having never watched these movies. The only reason I decided to give Star Wars a try in the first place is because I kept seeing Reylo posts on my Tumblr feed. I became really invested in their story even without ever knowing it. Which is why the first Star Wars movies I ever watched fully were the Disney sequels.

Second I want to say that telling people what they shouldn't like is a really shitty thing to do. Life is fucking miserable. It sucks ass. Especially now during a pandemic where people are even more depressed. And guess what, people like to use different media to escape this shitty reality. This is especially true for people who turn to: writing fanfiction, reading fanfiction, making fan art, fan edits (photos or videos), you name it. These are small things that brings joy to people. They don't do it for money. They'll probably get a few likes and a few comments. They spend hours creating that art for such a little price, just because it brings them joy. And what do you do? You go to these posts and tell them "you can't like this, your ship sucks, mine is better". How dare you? Do you hear yourself?

You have become the very thing you swore to destroy!

Edit: You're toxic when you shit on people and the things they enjoy. You're not God, you don't hold the absolute truth. You're not Palpatine, you're not here trying to convert people to your side. Stop trying to tell people what they should or shouldn't like. It's shitty behavior!

Third, I want to remind people that Star Wars is a work of fiction. Guess what, in fiction you're allowed to sympathize with the villain. Motivation is the very thing that drives villains. They are fascinating and complex characters. They all have a story about why they turned to the dark side. Even with all the shit they did, we still love them as characters. We still pity them, feel sorry for them. When Vader died I felt bad for him. I didn't want him to die. I wanted him to live out his days with his children. Ben/Kylo is the spitting image of Darth Vader. In fact, most people complain about the lack of creativity, and how it's a recycled idea. So what is the difference? Why do people accept Darth Vader and not Kylo Ren?

Edit: In the end, people need to stop shitting on people's parades because they have different views that doesn't align with their own. We're allowed to ship who we want. We're allowed to have different interpretations of a work of fiction. It's such a benign/harmless thing to be pissed about. A fucking fictional story that brings people joy in different ways. You don't have to like it. Focus on your own ship, one that brings you joy. Make your own fan art and edits. Stop making people feel bad about what they like. These movies are already hated enough, and there's only a handful of people who love them and it makes them happy. Why do we have to ruin that over a ship war? Enjoy what you enjoy. Have respectful debates and communicate. Please listen to each other! Understand each other's biases and why we think the way we think.

Per the request of some people, I erased the FinnRey tag.

#star wars #star wars sequels #star wars sequel series #rey x ben #rey x kylo #rey skywalker #rey #ben solo #kylo ren

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stoppingby · 3 years

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Any Reylo fic recs?

i’ve actually wanted to do a big fic rec for a while, so this is the perfect opportunity!

i’ve gathered a list of classic tropes and tried to pick one or two favorites for each! this is by no means a comprehensive list, and if you guys like this, i would be happy to do another edition later on! these are all mostly fluffy as that’s what i usually prefer, but as with most reylo fics there is a lot of explicit content, so please mind the ratings!

without further ado, i present...

stoppingby’s first reylo fic rec: tropey favorites!

Arranged marriage? And Closer Still Is Never Enough - lovefrompluto (15K, E). sweet, tender & caring prince ben. rey is special, and he knows that. reminds me why i love fanfic - watching them fall in love a million different ways.

Best friends-to-lovers? i’ve been in love with you for ages (and i can’t seem to get it right) - akosmia (10K, T). when who you want is right under your nose, and not only can they give you everything you want, they want to. ben cares for rey without hope or agenda.

Bleed Me Dry, I Don’t Mind - AttackoftheDarkCurses (12K, E). best friends to lovers from two perspectives. a little growing up together, a little university AU. they slip into love without even realizing.

Canonverse? chase all your cares away - LovesBitca8 (4K, E). ben defects to the resistance. rey loves his smile and is determined to get one out of him.

Coffee shop? maybe i just wanna be yours - akosmia (13K, T). ben compulsively offers favors to rey’s friends. in return, they meddle. it’s a 5+1 (i am obsessed with those as you will come to find out).

Emotional hurt/comfort? thrilled by the still of your hand - akosmia (9K, T). canondivergent. ben is touch starved after… everything. rey helps. i cried multiple times, and i loved it.

Serotonin and Dopamine - pontmercy44 (28K, E). this is so unique. very realistic in the way that it shows the work that goes into a relationship. i won’t give away too much, but mental heath issues are integral to the plot, so be forewarned.

Enemies-to-lovers? Left Handed Kisses - Ever-so-reylo (18K, E). a reylo classic. assistant district attorney vs criminal defense lawyer. hatefucking turns into something more.

Epistolary (including forms of communication)? Hanging on the Telephone - jeeno2 (11K, E). rey gets a sext from a wrong number. sure, she should ignore it and move on. but where’s the fun in that?

our love was meant to be (my love came back to me) - BensCalligraphySet (3K, T). in this life, ben finds letters in a bottle from someone who seemed to know him in a previous one. the galaxy gives them another chance.

Fake dating? Let Me Dream, Let Me Stay - Melusine11 (38K, E). rey backs herself into a lie and asks her coworker kylo to pretend to be her boyfriend at rose and finn’s wedding. they roadtrip, they share a bed, they eat at a punny restaurant. so much fun!

Roommates? Closer to Fine - jeeno2 (15K, E). pregnant rey needs a roommate and moves in with medical student ben. there’s a lot to be scared about, but they’re not alone.

Someone You Love(d) - AttackoftheDarkCurses (39K, E). rey and prince!ben are college roommates. they end up spending break together with leia, han, breha, and padme. they claim to hate each other and misunderstandings ensue. so many tropes i can’t even list them.

Flower shop/tattoo parlor? alderaan places - nymja (5K, T). a classic take on a classic trope. it’s valentine’s day!

Friends with benefits? Making Love Out of Nothing At All - LoveofEscapism (4K, E). ben will do anything rey asks. so hot, but full of emotion.

Two to Tango - crossingwinter (6K, E). i love this one. absolutely nails the heart wrenching emotion of knowing you’ve made a mistake in the moment before you fix it.

Funny? First Order IT, Can I Get Your User ID? - krossartist (14K, T). witty banter and childish name calling with a small touch of hurt/comfort. adorable!

Harry Potter AU? the water smells like you - shruggyben (3K, G). every ship needs an HP ‘verse amortentia fic! feat. professor leia organa.

High school? The Buddy List - violethoure666 (23K, E). since reading it a few weeks ago, this has quickly become one of my favorites! if you miss the aughts this one's for you! AIM messenger drives the story.

Medieval/Royalty? Tangled, but Unbroken - AttackoftheDarkCurses (20K, M). growing up together, star-crossed lovers, alderaanian hair braiding - what more could you want? my fave tag on this: uncle luke is a reylo.

Neighbors? Flux & Solder - angharabbit (23K, E). another one of my all time favorites. new neighbors ben and rey help each other with trauma. feels like a rainy day from the thunder through the rainbow. make sure you read the tags before reading this incredible work!

Office romance? Minus 1 - Ever-so-reylo (5K, E). rey sends a text to the wrong office IM number. rey doesn’t know who she’s texting, but friendship and… more develops.

keep calm and let HR handle it - hi_raeth (11K, T). another 5+1! ben is the CEO and rey is the HR director. coworkers to confidantes to lovers. super sweet.

Oneshot? spring will come again - prncesselene (8K, M). over the course of a year, rey’s life changes completely as she renovates padme amidala’s old greenhouse.

Only one bed? under thy own life’s key - galvanator (23K, E). sexy with great emotional depth, but it’s the sequel trilogy gang that makes this stand out in the trope! makes me wish we got a post-TROS everyone-lives sitcom.

Romcom-inspired? if you’re ready comic get it - violethoure666 (28K, E). if You’ve Got Mail was with tumblr mutuals and a comic book store.

We Never Met - KyloTrashForever (3K, E). that scene in When Harry Met Sally where the older couple talks about meeting in the elevator. what happens when two people who are constantly just missing each other finally meet?

Slow burn? My Heart Always Belonged To You - JGoose13 (52K, E). Persuasion AU! reylo + jane austen = magic.

Soulmates? wholly to be a fool - bigfootsflannel (9K, T). when your soulmate confesses their love, their words appear on your arm. ben makes a drunken confession.

Stuck/stranded together? a place to go - delia-pavorum (52K, E). rey and ben go looking for solitude in luke’s cabin. they don’t get off on the best foot before getting snowed in. sickfic (which i think there is far too little of in reylo fanfic)! beautiful and warm.

University/college? Sociology of Sexuality - Celia_and (4K, E). ben is that just-playing-devil’s-advocate kid in class that we all have to put up with. y’all this is so hot. if this happened in my real life, i think i would never recover.

Work-in-progress? flesh stays no farther reason - galvanator (20K, E). i drop EVERYTHING when this updates! ben and rey are from completely different circumstances, but that doesn’t stop a hookup from turning into something more. i feel like this fic gets their dynamic so right, and i am anxiously awaiting the conclusion in two chapters!

My comfort fic? bloom (you fill my lungs with sweetness, you fill my head with you) - akosmia (12K, T). i’ve read this again and again and i don’t plan on stopping. blind bestselling author ben solo needs a scribe. rey gets the job. there is cooking, there is domesticity, there are overwhelming emotions. my go-to.

as i’ve said before, akosmia (@kylorensx) is my all time favorite fanfic author. the fact that we are mutuals blows my mind daily. please please go read all of her stuff. you won’t regret it!

#you guys this took me so long so i'd love to hear your thoughts on how i did #good or bad!#thanks for reading!#reylo fic rec #reylo fanfic #reylo #rey #ben solo #kylo ren #star wars #ali talks #ask box

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luke-skywalker · 4 years

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Mike aka captainpoe is talking shit about me so let me get things straight.

He’s gonna do screenshots of what will makes him look like the victim, like he always does so you will have to believe me on my words (since I coun’t found our conversations by pm) but most people who know me or I've been following me for a long time know that I usually stay out of the drama. Big thanks to my friends for telling me what he was doing behind my back like the adult he is.

3 years ago Mike started following me, I was back then a small blog and I thought “wow a big blog is following me!”

He started to talk me and really fast told me to send him my edits by messages and I did! he also reblogged me on his mcu blog (and his sw blog too... I think).

I was really stressed with a big exam around July and I became obsess with EVERYTHING, I was a true pain in the ass to everyone. I’m not gonna lie. So yeah I also became obsess with my Tumblr notes, I did gifs to relax but it was not working very well back then. my behavior was childish and I apologized to him after!

(He accused me of wanting to be reblogged on his sideblogs, it’s true, but it’s natural to me to reblog everything that people send me or tag me in on my sideblogs, I sincerely don’t understand people problem with reblogging on sideblogs things ).

When he got harassed on here, more like called out (it was actually around the same time I was a dick) he asked me to take his defense and to reblog a post he made, he was basically whining about how he was the victim and never harassed anyone, he sent me messaged telling me that he was a married man in florida and never did anything against the once upon a time fandom, wasn’t homophobic and meh meh meh... Back then I believed him because he was the nice guy who was helping me getting notes in the MCU fandom. He used me, after talking to other members I realized that I wasn’t alone.

I WANT TO APOLOGIES TO THE POEPLE I DIDN’T BELIEVED BACK THEN. I KNOW WHO HE IS NOW.

He started being aggressive but nothing worriedly when TLJ came around, it was a real little thing but I wasn't shipping Rey x poe and I felt like it was problem for him that I wasn’t shipping them. I didn't thought too much about it but still, it left a bad taste in my mouth, I wasn’t talking a lot to him after that.

When I had problems and got hate on my blog he didn't do shit to help me.

I was still sending me my edits because... Notes. I can’t lie about that, like every creators here I want my edits to get notes.

I think we haven’t talked for a verrrry long time, I was sending my edits that’s it.

Last year he asked me to join my GOT blog, after all the reblog he did for me I thought It would be really bitchy to me to not add him as a member. But I also noted that it was funny how he joined both the B99 and the GOT fandom once he realized that it was very popular.

He did edits on the blog so no problem at all, until s8 ended. I’m like everybody, I hated that season but when someone join my sideblogs, especially my got one, I am very clear about the no hate rule (I had problems with that on this blog before). But he thought that since he was popular he could do what he wanted, I deleted the two first he reblogged, one of them was calling people to harass D&D and I hate what they did but as someone who has been victim of bullying at school and still suffer from that I was disgusted by what he posted but I haven’t told him anything since he’s really popular and I didn’t want to create any drama... I have a life so I finally forgot about it.

My laptop broke and gosh, I really understood who he was at that moment! I sent a messages to all the members of my sideblogs asking them to keep the blogs active while I can’t, normal stuff for an admin. I had my tablet with no photoshop... spidey got “fired” and like a lot of other people I thought about that scene in iw where Tony told him “you’re an avenger now”, lucky me I have already made that gifset before so I took my tablet and just reposted my own gifset, it took me so long because I had to convert it back to gif format because of Tumblr... Anyway, later he sent me a message accusing me of having copied him and I haven’t seen his gifset so told him exactly that. He then accused me of doing that ALL THE TIME with endgame and I told him “listen bro we’re both using the same 30 seconds YouTube clips that marvel gave us”, like 20 other people (they were not a lot of people because that channel was weirdly unknown), it’s true that I was doing them after him but it’s just because I have a life and cannot always do gif, I make them when I have time. He also basically told me that I must be rich for having replaced my laptop that fast, I haven’t, I was using my tablet but even if I did replace my laptop, mêle toi de ton cul ( I have no English expression coming to me ).

I really understood who he was then.

He totally stopped making edits for my got blog, because it stopped trending so it wasn’t interesting him anymore.

a few months past and I think the only thing he told me is that he was scared of clowns... Literally.

And then the BIG ONE, I know he was a douche but omg. Mike asked me to reblog ALL his posts on a sideblog I'm only a member of. He told me that the admin have blocked him because she was shipping reylo and well reylos hate him because he’s posting shit on them , they were a huge misunderstanding then (because i’m French and I may not have explained myself right) , I told him that I wouldn’t reblog him if the admin didn’t want to see his posts on the blog, he was blocked! and I was, at the same time, talking to another member of this blog who is a close friend of the admin and she agreed with me. he was very insisting and I told him that the admin was checking what we add to the queue and would certainly delete his posts, it was the big misunderstanding that could have hurt the admin of the blog, I just meant I know she checks what’s happening because she told me when I don’t tag a post with the right tags, it’s just what a good admin (unlike myself) does. I also told him that it was a new blog with “only” 14k followers, he must have something like 50K followers sooooo, and that his edits were getting 100K notes, more than anybody here. He became... I have no words to describe that. He told me that it was a dictatorship if I couldn’t reblog what I wanted, and that I should leave the blog, I stopped answering pretty fast after that.

In our last conversation I was vulgar. (it’s in the post he sent to my friends), he really need to get over it, I’m French and from Normandie : I am vulgar! wtf. It’s also the last thing he ever posted on my game of thrones blog. It was a Sunday either two days after after the last star wars movie came out or ten days ( I don’t remember if he waited a week or not) but he reblogged a text post from his blog sending hate toward the writers of both got and sw and spoiled the entire Star Wars movie on my game of thrones blog, which was “the drop of water that caused the vase to bleed” like annoy me all you want but when people goes on my got blog they don’t want to be spoiled, it was so rude and mean and that post had nothing to do there and it was at least the third time so I told him to “fucking stop” and since mr thinks he is the king he went all “you can’t talk to me like that” “I'm an adult” meh meh meh. I told him to never go in France ‘cause he wouldn't like us. And it was the last time we spoke. Nothing to do directly with me but I would never do what he does to get notes, that man he’s ready to use any big events such as pride or women’s day to get notes. I do make edits for those events too but I'm actually a bisexual woman and not an heterosexual man and I really don’t think he’s doing those edits to show his support to those movements but just to get notes, this year he did the same thing with blm movement I thought it was disrespectful at best, he even made the famous “I we burn you burn with us” gifset from the movie and no, just stop dude. Making that gifset of Naya before she was even found was awful, a lot of people are doing gifs to feel better about things but I don’t think it would have came to anybody else mind to have it ready in their draft. It actually make me think of myself because after they died I made a gifset of Carrie Fisher and Stan Lee and in my head it was a tribute but now that I think back about it I wouldn’t make gifset when people dies anymore, I said it once again but in my head it was a tribute to those wonderful people life and work. I did to feel people and myself a little better in those situations but it didn’t makes me feel better. I thought about it even more, especially for Carrie, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Billie and losing my mom is the worst thing that could happen to me. You can say that, at the end, Mike makes me realize something.

He has been calling out for his behavior but instead of facing it like an adult he just want to take people down instead of him, I'm one of them and I certainly won’t be the only one. it’s someone who doesn’t know how to face the consequences of his behavior and still think he’s untouchable, me and one of my friend said that he thought he was the king of Tumblr and I sincerely think that in his head he is.

Sorry for the grammar I'm French and it’s almost 4 am so I'm gonna check the grammar tomorrow.

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sherlollyandspoilers · 3 years

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20 Questions: Writer Edition

I was tagged by @geekymoviemom - thank you dear! :D

How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 80 total...and a couple of those are prompt fill collections.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

292,719

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Sherlock, The Hunger Games, and Star Wars

What are your top five fics by kudos?

(1) The PANEM Initiative - The Hunger Games, Everlark,

(2) Isn’t She Beautiful? (3) Making it Stop, (4) The Little Pink Box, and (5) Love Drunk - all of these are BBC Sherlock, Sherlolly

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to but my time is much more limited and I am often checking my email between meetings at work and by the time I get home I have forgotten to respond.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t usually write too angsty of endings because I want everyone to be happy lol, but probably What do we do now? because I haven’t finished it and left it at a very angsty part lol.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Again, I like happy endings soo....umm...maybe Here Be Dragons because its a happy wrap up on three fics?

Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

I have written ideas and done edits for a Sherlock/Star Trek cross over but never a real fic

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I wouldn’t say hate but definitely comments about how the reader could have made a better choice for the characters lol

So you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. I’ve only ever written it for Sherlolly and Everlark. Its usually pretty vanilla lol

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

Have you had a fic translated?

I had someone ask me a couple years ago if they could translate one of my fics, but honestly I never followed up and neither did they....so who knows if it ever happened (maybe it was stolen lol).

Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes! I did some back and forth with a friend about five years ago for a Mystrade fic.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

My OTPs are Sherlolly, Everlark, Reylo, Naley, and Jaspenor.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

One of my fics called Breathe Again. It was a prompt fill from @sirro134 and it was about John having left the wizarding community. I wrote 6 chapters and just never continued it. I even took it off of AO3 because it was just taunting me lol.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialog. Maybe its because I’m a therapist but I think dialog is one of my strengths. I will say that it didn’t used to be...but as I’ve grown as a therapist so has my ability to help my characters express themselves through conversation.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I post too soon. I am often so excited to get feedback that I post and then I leave my poor readers with nothing lol.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I’ve never done this so I would need to ask for help from someone who speaks that language.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBC Sherlock

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

The Panem Initiative and Here Be Dragons (both linked above). I love them both so much...I go back and reread them...I can’t help it lol.

#tag games #tag game #kate writes

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scav-eng-er · 4 years

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“I Will Always Find You.” Reylo Soulmate/Multi-Universe AU

Summary: In a soulmate/multi-universe AU, two hearts take time to find one another. But in the end, it’s all worth it.

Words: 3,222

OMG this took forever! It is so bad but it’s kinda cute?? Right? I don't know! Guys I would love feedback! If it sucks, tell what I should edit! If it’s good, what was your favorite part? Some parts are obviously rushed while others I wanted to savor. It is long!

The downtown streets of the city bustled in the bright summer morning. Commuters walked swiftly to their jobs, ignoring the hundreds of thousands of others walking in the same pattern as them. Among the crowded sidewalk, Ben Solo nonchalantly made his normal route to work. His black messenger bag hung off his shoulder as he skimmed his company’s new grant proposal. His lukewarm coffee was in his other hand as he re-read what he was up until 2 A.M. working on. He couldn’t help but grin at his work, it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Soon, he would be able to finally visit his mom and dad for the weekend. He had felt so guilty putting it off for weeks now, but had to get this done.

He had been thinking about what flowers his mom would like when a quick and surprising force knocked into his right shoulder, knocking his coffee all over his navy button down…and on his grant proposal. He stopped in the center of the sidewalk, passerby filtering around him, not even caring about what just happened. He gaped at the mess on him. Anger swelled in his chest. He looked up in time to see the culprit who just ruined his morning. He saw the back of a head, tied up in a messy bun. She flew by in an army green bomber jacket with a tan canvas backpack bouncing as she swirled around the strangers of the city.

With a quick glance to nothing in particular, she shouted out as loud as she could, “Sorry!”

That voice.

Ben’s heart suddenly became sore. Something ached in his gut and his head hurt like a dream he was trying really hard to remember.

~~~

As a lord, Kylo had a duty at birth to take care of his people. He would provide, care and try to give his best to make sure they would thrive for generations. This meant that his life was planned since he was born, especially when a lord overseas had a baby girl when he was ten. The engagement was announced after Kylos father and the foreign lord had agreed that a trade would keep the two lands at peace until the marriage on the girls 20th birthday.

Kylo had heard of her, that she was born on a stormy day, but the moment she cried when she entered the world, a ray of sunshine broke through the gray clouds into the castle of Niima. Throughout the years, Kylo had heard about Rey through letters between his father and the Lord of Niima. She was a fiery little girl who enjoyed getting dirty, playing in the stables and wanted to learn how to sword fight. Kylo had thought it was unladylike and didn’t pose a good image for anyone in relation to her. Then, the Lord had decided to visit Chandrila to finally have Kylo and Rey meet. At 16, Kylo was a studious boy who occasionally would glance at the young kitchen maids as they passed by him the dinner table. At six, Rey was an adventurous girl who arrived to the castle of Chandrila is mud and sticks. Kylo grimaced at the dirty child and groaned at the thought of having to have her in his company for the rest of his life. She laughed at him when she caught him with a girl in a dark hallway. He scowled at her when he watched her play sword with his uncle in the courtyard. She made his blood boil! It seemed like everyone liked her, everyone but him! She was an annoying, gross, intrusive little brat!

He sighed in relief when she was finally sailed back home…far away from him, until next time.

When he was thirty, it was time to take over his fathers legacy. Lord Han had passed a few years prior, and Kylo had reigned the land since then. He had been doing a wonderful job, until the council finally aid that the marriage had to happen. He had to prepare for a Lady and soon, heirs. Kylo had wondered what the young Rey would be like at 20. He had hoped she was a reserved, calm young woman who would listen to her future husband, or anyone for that matter. He stood at the entrance with his mother and rest of the castle staff as they welcomed the Lord and his daughter again.

But when the Lord stepped out with his engaged daughter at his hand, Kylo’s breath got caught in his throat and his body suddenly became very warm.

She was an angel.

Rey of Niima was downed in a light gray, flowing dress. The summer sun gave her tan freckled skin a glowing radiance that Kylo couldn’t pull his eyes away from. Her petite figure caused images to run through his mind, clenching his fists. Her tight corset didn’t help with his imagination. She was absolutely gorgeous. Thick chestnut locks piled on her head, with loose strands framing her face. Her eyes showed determination and strength. She held herself in an elegant fashion and Kylo could only imagine kissing that smirk off her face. She wasn’t a little girl. She was a woman. She was his bride. His queen. Leia gave a small chuckle and mumbled under her breath, “uh oh.”

A ball was held that night in celebration before the wedding the next day. The room was filled with food, merriment and cheer. Ale was constantly poured and dancing was non-stop. Kylo was seated at the head of one of the tables, but his eyes grazed over the entire party. He searched for his bride-to-be. He had only heard her brief “thank you” when they had talked at their arrival and her voice was so sweet, he craved for more.

“I do think there was someone who wanted some fresh air.” His mother started calmly, before bringing a goblet to her lips. Kylo rolled his eyes at his mother, but as he stood to leave, he placed a quick kiss on her temple.

The young Lord hurried out to the courtyard. The bright moon illuminated the summer night. He felt his heartbeat in his ears in anxiousness as he looked for the young woman.

“Good evening, milord.” A calm voice spoke behind him. He turned to find the beauty he was looking for. She had changed into a white gown, lace details on her bodice made her look more heavenly than Kylo had ever imagined. The only thing he thought would be better on her was nothing.

“Good evening.” He stated. She had to feel as strong as he did, right? This marriage would work, it had to, there was no other choice.

“You’ve grown into quite a Lord.” She hadn’t moved from her spot, her hands delicately held in front of her, emphasizing her chest.

“A Lord with a future wife by his side,” he eyed her up and down, stalking towards her in the shadows, “You have also grown into quite a woman. I must say, I’m impressed at how you have finally grown out of your childish nonsense. I was a afraid my future bride would be a child fore-“

The lord was caught off guard by the woman, pushed into the stone wall of the castle. Her forearm pressed against his throat. His eyes widened at her sudden act that he froze for a moment.

“You listen here you entitled, ignorant fool. You have been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember. You were a cold, distant, selfish boy when I was little and now we have to spend the rest of our lives together. I’m not a little girl anymore, I know you saw that when I arrived. I’m not naive either, I’m aware that I’ve been molded for your…desire.” She glanced down his body, her face flushing red, but continued.

“But know this, I care about my people just as much as you care about yours. I will do anything I have to to protect our lands. I will be your wife, your bride, the..mother of your children. However, I am your equal. You will be my husband, and you will aid my father and land in any assistance they require from now until death. We are in this, together. Is that understood?”

Kylo could only nod.

She released her grip on him and turned back to the celebration inside. She could feel his eyes on her as she flaunted her figure on her way out. Thank god he couldn’t see her blush.

Kylo had sighed at the image of her.

Fuck, he was in love.

~~~

Ben felt like he just had a crazy dream. He was brought back to the sidewalk like no time had passed. How long was he gone? Where the fuck did he even go? He glanced ahead to the army green bomber that was only a few feet ahead of him. He had to get to her.

Rey.

Was this the woman in the gray dress? They had the same voice, did they share the same face? The same memories? The same feelings? He felt the dampness of the coffee soak on his skin, causing him to smell like old coffee grounds. But it was forgotten as he hurried to catch up to her swift figure. She weaved through people like she had done it for years. It took him some time to move, thanks to his towering height and bulky body. He groaned as he continuously apologized to passerby…ironic. Upon further glance, he saw her tight skinny jeans and how they hugged her so well. It didn’t take long for the crowd to settle as she turned to a less densely populated street. She picked up her pace, causing Ben to curse as he hiked up his bag, the proposal crumpled in his large hands. He tried to keep his distance, not wanting to look so obvious following the girl just a few feet ahead of him. If she didn’t know him, or got scared of this tall man following her, he would hate himself for the rest of his life.

She slowed down as she arrived at a coffee shop, swinging the door open and practically jumping through the entrance.

‘Jesus, she’s quick on her feet.’ Ben commented to himself.

He finally caught his breath at the shop. Too eager, he swung the door open too, causing the hinges to reel it back and smack into his side as he gazed into the shop.

The front of the shop window welcomed natural light from the summer sun, with an exposed brick wall all around the perimeter. The far left corner had a light blue counter with an array of pastries, desserts and sandwiches behind a glass wall. A large letter board menu took up the back, hanging over coffee machines and espresso makers.

He found her walking to the back where white wood booths lined the back wall. She hurried to a table with two other men seated.

He wanted to run over and hug the two, as if they were old friends and they were surprising him. His heart hurt as he watched the three friends reunite, set up their computers and paperwork at the table.

~~~

“Come on Ben!” Poe had tugged his much taller friend towards the celebration. The two U.S. soldiers scurried in the NYC streets to the Victory Parade. Thousands of people gathered at the edge to see the floats while soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division marched down the pavement. The chilly January air didn’t stop Ben and Poe from dressing in their uniforms, proud to show that they fought for their country. The childhood friends stood tall and proud in their green uniforms, hat and tie in all as hundreds around them celebrated the long awaited victory. Poe could see a few women glance in their direction, and couldn’t help but send a wink. Ben however wasn’t feeling as interested in the women around him. Too caught up in the war, he never had much time to think about dating or finding his gal. After this weekend, he planned to go back to London to help repair the city. Seeing it destroyed while he was deployed over seas tugged this heart. He had to help clean it up, and maybe he would go elsewhere, travel. There wasn’t much holding him back to the States anyway.

“Do you see Finn? He’s with the Triple Nickles out there,” Poe stood on his toes, looking out for his missing friend, “he said he brought a girl over from London. A real pretty thing! Her name was Kay, or was it May?” He shrugged.

After the parade, Ben and Poe searched in the ending parade for Finn and his date. Ben tried to use his height to his advantage and helped find him.

“Finn! Buddy!” Ben turned to find Poe run off towards a dark skinned man and embrace. He caught up as Finn spoke.

“Fellas, this is Rey!” Behind Finn was the most beautiful woman Ben had ever seen. Her chestnut victory rolls made her look pristine and untouched. Her pale pink button down coat only accentuated her incredible smile.

He’s seen her before, right? He had to based on her reaction seeing him too. Her gaze never left his as she went to shake his hand.

“It’s a pleasure.” She spoke as if only to him. Her warm, soft hand disappeared into his. He wanted to pull her flush against his body and hold her like they were long, lost lovers.

“Have..have we met before?” He couldn’t help but ask. His deep voice scratchy from not speaking since they arrived to the parade, “Perhaps in London?”

Finn and Poe looked to Rey in curiosity. The young U.S. soldiers could tell something already sparked between the two strangers.

“I…I don’t think so. I don’t think I could forget a face like yours.” She smiled. A blush crept from Bens neck all the way to his ears, poking out from underneath his black locks.

Oh boy, he was smitten.

~~~

Slowly, Ben made his way to the booth. It took every ounce in him not to run and hug them. Her back was turned towards him while the men - Poe and Finn - were seated on either side of the booth. She had a notebook in hand, discussing something that sounded like a potential article story.

His heart started pounding as he made his way closer. He missed her. He missed her so much. He wanted to feel her in his arms as they hugged, feel her tremble in pleasure beneath him, feel her belly as it grew with his child, feel her wrinkles along her cheeks as they grew old together. It’s like they’ve done it a hundred times and he wanted to do it a hundred times more. He gently placed his messenger bag on the ground as he took a closer step. A crumpled grant proposal sat beside it, forgotten.

When Ben felt Finn and Poe lock eyes with him from behind her, his breath - as well as theirs - caught in their throats. Poe stopped fidgeting with his pen, and Finn’s jaw slightly dropped. However, even in their confused eyes, he saw some sort of recognition. They knew him, they remembered him. He could only imagine what memories the three friends would make together this time, in this life. He was so excited.

But that could wait. Now, he needed her to remember.

~~~

“Ben!”

The young jedi would know that voice anywhere. It was her, his other half. She was okay. The redeemed man looked around the ship dock as pilots and resistance members ran around him. The falcon had brought him home, brought him to her. The battle was won, a personal one between him and the now deceased Palpatine. The internal struggle he experienced through years of torment was gone. After Ben Solo was reborn from the ashes of Kylo Ren, he knew he had to get home, to his friends, to his mother, to his love.

“Ben!” He heard again. Where was she?! He turned and looked up and down, searching for the love of his life.

Then he sensed her. Gate C, second level.

He saw her hurry down the stairs, practically skipping every step. Her white cloth fluttered behind her as she sprinted towards him. She dodged each person swiftly on her feet, nothing stopping her to feeling Ben safe in her arms. When they reached for each other, the warmth, the loneliness, the need for each other was satisfied. Rey wrapped her arms around his neck, holding so tight, she thought she would choke him. Ben pulled her into his body and finally felt himself take a real, deep breath. A breath of freedom, of love. Her warmth filled him with hope of a future, many futures, together. He lifted her from the ground and held her. The world stopped around them.

He felt a shudder from her as she held back a sob.

“It’s okay, I’m alright. Shh.” He cooed into her ear. Her face was hidden his shoulder. Her tears staining his black tunic, drenched in sweat, dirt and blood. But he was safe, alive, in the arms of his love.

She pulled back, her bright brown eyes glimmered with tears. Strands of hair stuck to her forehead and Ben thought she was the most beautiful thing when she gave a sweet smile. He sighed when he felt her warm hand against his cheek, and nothing could stop him from leaning to taste the sweetness of her lips. Rey froze for a moment, never having felt a sensation like this, but it was almost like she already knew what she was doing. Her fingers delicately made their way into his hair as she closed the gap between them, desperate to have her heart touch his. She had to feel it beat, to know he was truly here.

With the chaos of the outside world around them, the two jedi simply held onto each other, never to be parted again.

~~~

“Guys?” Her accent had not changed a bit. Goosebumps peppered Ben’s skin as she turned in wonder.

“What are y-“ Her eyes caught his mid-sentence.

She stopped.

Her eyes widened.

She remembered.

Ben didn’t know what to do. But he felt himself get choked up. He shook, wanting to hold her like the millions of times he had before. He felt himself complete just looking at her. But now, to be with her all over again, was enough to make him cry.

A tear fell down his cheek when she dropped her notebook and ran into his arms. The force of her impact into his chest was one of the happiest blows in his entire being. Rey’s cries of happiness were music to his ears, his silent sobs intertwining with hers. Her fingers played with his hair at the nape of his neck, just how he liked it. She had done it after he had a stressful day, or after they forgave each other after a bad fight. It had felt so good to be somewhere so safe, familiar. Her arms.

Ben felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his tear filled eyes. Poe and Finn stared at him in happiness and support at the reunion, knowing that after this, they would have to catch up.

The gang put the computers and paperwork away. Four warm cups of coffee sat amongst the friends as they chatted away on what they were working on in their present lives.

Poe and Finn talked about how they and Rey were lucky enough to get internships at a magazine company together. Finn had been talking to a TA, Rose and they were planning on going on a date. Poe got a dog after he moved into the city, who he loved more than his vintage leather pilot jacket (which is saying a lot). Giggles and tales of small adventures filled while Ben held Rey on their side of the booth with blood shot eyes and the occasional sniffle into a tissue. His hand rubbed her arm in soothing, slow motions. She would squeeze her free hand into his to let him know she was thinking about him.

For once again, they had found each other. And they were ready to finish this new lifetime, together.

#Reylo #rey x ben solo #Rey x kylo ren #reylo au #Reylo modern au #reylo soulmate au #reylo fanfic #reylo fanwork #soulmate au #scavenger writes

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ineffectualdemon · 4 years

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I wasn't going to get into it. I promised myself I wouldn't talk about Star Wars on here. That I wouldn't get invested, but I am SO FUCKING MAD

I WILL be talking about spoilers for Rise of Skywalker so be prepared

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars film I've ever seen (note: I didn't see Solo so that's not in the running)

Why is it the worst?

1. The fucking pacing is JANK AS HELL. Things happen so fast you don't have time to be invested in anything that's happening. It throws tropes at you in a cheap attempt to make you feel but doesn't give anything enough time to land. So we have scenes like the one where Rey gives Leia Luke's Saber and promises to earn it back only for Leia to immediately turn around and give it back.

This actually meant that my ability to care about the characters that has been built up prior to this had been squandered and very quickly in I stopped caring what happened becauase nothing they did felt real or like it mattered.

2. On that same vein having Rey and the others think that Chewie was dead was cheap and unearned. It was designed to make you cry but when he was shown to be alive just captured (which made no sense btw) it just made me angry not relieved.

3. Fucking fridging Leia on behalf of her Idiot Son. I have no words for this.

4. Chewie's despair at her death would have been a much more poignant moment if she hadn't had such a dumb death and if we hadn't had the stupid bait and switch with Chewbacca

5. Stop trying to make Poe straight. Thank God Oscar Isaac felt the same because he lay on the subtext thick as hell

6. They did Rose dirty! She should have been the one with Finn on the command ship and she absolutely should have gone with them on their adventure!

7. All the reylo shit. Yeah the fights looked cool but their relationship is fucking stupid and felt gross and goddamnit the actors tried but they also knew the relationship was gross and you could see it

8. How many times did Rey and FuckBoy have to take turns dying? It was dumb and by the end I wanted both of them dead

9. They didn't seem to know what story they wanted to tell. They tried to make it a love triangle between Finn, Rey and FuckBoy but they just made it seem that Rey kissed FuckBoy for some weird reason before returning to her boyfriend and her boyfriend's boyfriend. But was this Rey's story? Finn's? FuckBoy's? You don't know because they don't spend enough time on anything to allow you to give a shit

10. FuckBoy's redemption was not earned at all. He's no Zuko and also the point of the last movie is that he's not fucking redeemable. But even with that if he had just said sorry at ANY point! But he fucking didn't even do that!

11. Finally it felt like they were trying to set up things for more stories in the Star Wars universe rather than making me care about more Star Wars movies by making me care about this movie and these characters

The only good things are how the trio interacted which was choice, the message of "they win by making you think you're alone, Finn being explicitly force sensitive, the message about found family being more important than blood, and that it was visually beautiful.

But the actual story around those things is SO bad and I am so angry because even with the last Jedi (which had gross reylo moments but that at least was a coherent story) I expected MORE from this movie and it disappointed me badly. I was not fan of the prequels but I didn't expect a lot from them either

I'm so so angry because the movie is so badly edited and put together story wise. It's like they only cared about what looked cool and not what made sense and iI am infuriated

#star wars ros #star wars ros spoilers #star wars spoilers #star wars #rant

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babbushka · 5 years

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Babbushka’s FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Hello everyone!

I thought it might be helpful for you all to see my answers to some frequently asked questions that I receive.

PLEASE CHECK MY BLOG DESCRIPTION TO SEE WHEN I AM ACCEPTING REQUESTS!

1.The Basics

Hello! I’m Babbushka, I’m a fanfic writer for the ADEU (Adam Driver Extended Universe). You can find my fics in my Masterlist, or on my AO3. I have a personal AU/self ship with Flip Zimmerman, which you can hear about or avoid, using the tag ‘personal au’. I am very anti-reylo.

2. What do you write?

I write reader insert fanfiction for the Adam Driver Character Extended Universe. The characters I write for are:

Kylo Ren in a variety of AUs

Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Any ‘canon’ Kylo Ren content is from a Canon Divergent!AU that I have, where Kylo has crushed the Resistance and reigns as Supreme Leader with his Empress (You))

Mob!Au

Medieval!AU

Edwardian AU aka BB!Kylo

Biker Gang!AU

Ancient Emperor!AU

Bond Villain!AU

Criminal Prosecutor!AU

Flip Zimmerman

Pale (from Burn This on Broadway),

Clyde Logan

Charlie Barber

Paterson &, and/or Paul Sevier

Sevier Twins AU

Various Saturday Night Live characters (like Cameron Bissel lol)

If a character isn’t listed, like Adam Sackler, Matt the Radar Tech, Jude, etc., that means I don’t write for them. Please do not ask me to write a character that is not listed here.

3. What will you not write?

I will not write reylo, nor do i want any of my writing to be associated with reylo. Please don’t tag my fics as reylo if you reblog them, and please please please don’t insert Rey into the reader, it just makes me so incredibly uncomfortable and the ship fully disgusts me. I also will not write “””bendemption”””, any fics about “””Ben Solo”””, or any fics set in the D/LF canon of TROS.

I will not write heavy angst (such as breakups or divorce between reader and the character, infidelity/cheating where the character is cheating on reader or vice versa, torture or violence against the reader, MCD/reader death, hurt-no-comfort, dub-con, non-con). I also won’t write ddlg/daddy kink, breeding kink, monster aus, or a/b/o.

4. WHEN IS [INSERT FIC HERE] UPDATING???

Whenever it’s ready to be updated. Please stop asking me this question you guys lol I do this in my free time for fun, I have a lot of factors that affect the timeliness of fic/chapter updates. I am so grateful that people like my writing but I am just one girl who is doing her best. I really appreciate everyone’s patience!

5. Can we send in prompt requests/submissions for Sinday?

YES – please check my description for when I am accepting prompts. Please don’t ask me if I’m accepting prompts if the description says I’m not. I keep it updated, I promise.

While I am always accepting prompt requests or submissions, I reserve the right to deny or delete any prompts I don’t want to write. I will usually always respond to the ask saying that I won’t write it, so you don’t have to wait around for something that never comes, because I do believe in being courteous.

Any prompts that request themes, tropes, kinks, or characters/ships that I have listed above will be deleted and you will be blocked. Please give me the respect of reading through my guidelines, if you wish for me to make content for you.

6. I’m confused about some of the terms you use and events you have on the blog. What’s sinday? Is it different than After Hours or Sleepover? What’s the difference between requests, headcanons, and thots?

Sinday = On the first Sunday of every month I open up prompt submissions. I always make an announcement post when sinday has arrived, and now with the new pin feature i’ll be keeping those announcement posts pinned to the top of the blog when it’s the appropriate day. If you’re ever unsure, the description at the top of my blod says either “prompts are open!” or “prompts are closed”. When in doubt, just check there and you’ll know if I’m accepting submissions!

Zannah After Hours = This is usually a part of Sinday, where later in the evening I post the nsfw/smutty content. This means prompts that people have sent in, oneshots that i’ve written of my own accord, and any art i’ve made that I want to share. But Zannah After Hours can happen any day of the week lol, especially during sleepovers.

Sleepover = A chance for us all to hang out! I reblog a bunch of ask lists and ask games, people send in questions, or they send in asking for advice, or telling us about their day, or anything else they’d like to share. We talk about all sorts of things, it’s a great way for us as a community to just hang out and spend an evening together. I often will like put on a face mask and get snacks or something, or have a movie on in the background to help make it feel like we’re all sleeping over at my house and giggling together!

Prompt Submissions (also called Imagines) = These are scenarios that you guys send in to me, that you want me to write. It’s usually only a sentence, an idea you guys have, and then I get inspired by that and write out anywhere from like 500-1k words based around the idea. These can be sweet, silly, angsty, or smutty! For example: “what would happen if Flip heard someone catcalling you?”

Headcanon requests = These are topics you guys send in that you’d like for me to go into some detail on in a casual way. It’s not fully fleshed out prose writing, but is instead a series of bullet points listing how I think the characters would respond to a scenario, or how they feel about a topic. For example: In what ways does Pale show he loves you?

Thots/General Shenanigans = These are just opinions that you guys have that you want to share with the world! It’s not expecting writing from me, it’s just you guys shouting out into the void and us all shouting back! For example: Clyde Logan is so thicc and I want to climb him like a tree.

7. Do you have a taglist for when you upload new writing?

Yes! Please see the link in my description, which will take you to a google form. You can select which characters you’d like to be notified for, as well as what type of writing (chapter fics/oneshots/prompt fills).

8. Can you help me develop ideas for my fic?

While I am very flattered that you would consider me, I’m going to have to respectfully decline. I spend so much time developing ideas for my own professional writing and my hobby fanfic, that my brain tends to be fried and I’m of no help to anyone lol

9. Will you be my beta author?

Again, while I am very flattered, I will have to decline. Editing takes up most of my own free time, and I’m afraid I’m fried by the time I would be able to edit your stories.

10. Do you do RP threads?

Generally speaking, no.

11. Can I send you writing that I’ve done through the inbox/submissions box?

No. While I am flattered that you’d like to share writing with me, I really prefer to be tagged in a post you’ve made yourself, rather than posting your writing for you. You can tag my directly via the @ function, or you can use any of the following in the # section of the post:

for babbushka

userbabbushka

babstracks

I track these tags so if you include any of them, it’ll show up on my feed :)

Please understand that just because you tag me in something, doesn’t mean I’ll automatically share it. I only reblog writing I really enjoy, because I’m not really willing to compromise my personal standards lol. That’s not to say that if I don’t share your writing that it’s bad!! It’s just not for me, and that’s okay :)

12. Do you have a masterlist?

Yes! I have compiled an ultimate masterlist that has links to my individual character masterlist posts. You can find those here, or via the link in my description if you’re on mobile, or via the link on my blog if you’re on desktop!

13. I’m not sure if you’ve written this before but --

Please, please, please check the masterlists before sending in something if you’re unsure. Chances are, I’ve written it and you can read it right away, rather than wait for me to tell you it’s already been posted 6 months ago lol <333

#faq #frequently asked questions #babbushka's faq #updated faq

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theshijlegacy · 4 years

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Rise of Skywalker ramblings

Saw RoS last night and loved it.

I’d seen the mixed reviews and was a bit apprehensive going in, but was pleasantly surprised in a lot of ways. It kept some of the spirit of TLJ that I liked while still delivering a lot of the “safer” Star Wars story that I expected. Being part of a super enthusiastic opening night crowd is always fun too. And it’s nice to see that I’m not the only person who liked the whole 7-8-9 trilogy!

Spoileriffic thoughts below.

--Rey Palpatine was one of the theories I’d kicked around, but it would have been nice if she really was nobody, like the Force doesn’t care who you’re related to. Timeline-wise she would have been better off as his great-granddaughter but I completely buy Sheev having lots of kids and/or having some later in life.

--I’d been running with the “Skywalker is the new name for Force user” theory for a while, but I’m OK with Rey adopting it as her last name. She doesn’t have to be a Palpatine and the name of the family that saved the galaxy is continuing.

--HOLY CRAP FINN IS FORCE SENSITIVE. I would love it if that was what he wanted to tell Rey. (Best answer from Reddit: “I’m in love with Poe and don’t know how to tell him!”)

--Ben Solo didn’t make it to the end! I was convinced he’d get a redemption arc and live happily ever after. Props to JJ/whoever for going in that direction, especially with the Jedi fadeout.

--The opening crawl getting right to "oh hey the emperor isn't really dead.” So happy they didn't drag out the “when-do-we-see/hear-the-emperor???” mystery

--Sheev Palpatine and his motherfucking contingencies for contingencies, plans-within-plans shit. This guy was a thousand steps ahead of everyone else, all the time. Got a glimpse of that in Empire’s End too.

--LOL the tank of Snoke clones. Sheev loves his clones, in both canon and legends!

--Poe’s lightspeed skipping. Poe being an ex-spice runner. Poe and Zorii! Poe in general. Poe is great.

--Luke/Leia training flashback!! Leia's lightsaber!!!! Which she presumably built herself!!!!!

--3-way Finn/Poe/Rey hug. And the sound of a thousand fanfics being composed…

--More First Order defectors who had been kidnapped as children. (Also a plot point in Empire’s End, complete with a 6-year-old-ish Armitage Hux ordering around a group of kidnapped-and-brainwashed child recruits)

--Hux being the mole, not because he agrees with the resistance, but because he hates Kylo Ren. I bet he was hatching a plan as soon as Snoke was killed.

--Force-healing onscreen! And it wasn’t just “Force magic” (which I also would have been OK with), it was actual taking life from one to give to another.

--Rey was noticeably better at lightsaber fighting. She was… not great in TFA. Only slightly better in TLJ. Her year of training really shows and I like that we’ve seen a pretty clear progression.

--Rey stopping that transport with some Kyle Katarn shit and Kylo trying to get it back and OH SHIT REY SHOT OUT FORCE LIGHTNING

--Palpatine: GLADoS edition has been added to my recent “horrifying scene that works but really gives me the creeps” list (also includes flashback to Coulson resuscitation/brain surgery with him repeating “just let me die” on Agents of SHIELD, Brainy getting rebooted on Supergirl)

--Aside from his GLADoS-esque support arm complete with wires, I liked undead-Palpatine's look - missing fingers, whited-out eyes, and his transformation after he stole life from Rey & Kylo. Especially the red-lined robes.

--Got serious Endgame vibes at the end with all the ships showing up. Husband unit also pointed out the parallel of “I am inevitable”/”I am Iron Man” and “I am all Sith”/”I am all Jedi”

--OMG ALL THE JEDI SPEAKING TO REY. I didn’t recognize everything at first but I heard Obi-Wan (young & old), Yoda, Mace Windu, Ahsoka(!!!!!), and Anakin. Per the credits, voices also included Qui-Gon(!), Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, and Kanan Jarrus(!!!!!). Two notable absences: Cal Kestis and Ezra Bridger. I can accept Cal’s fate as TBD since Fallen Order just came out, but this is really good news for Ezra. I am now super super interested to see where these two have been.

--Kept the Rey/Kylo force-connection deal. It weirded me out in TLJ but I’m really glad it was kept here.

--Wedge coming back for one last ride! (and aging pretty well, wow)

--RIP Snap. :-( I’d grown a bit attached to him after the Aftermath trilogy, but I think Norra and Brentin would have been proud.

-- ForceGhost!Luke has a new attitude; I guess being dead for a while tends to mellow you out. I am still 100% OK with his character in this trilogy.

--Kylo not being as good at fighting after he dropped the dark-side allegiance – specifically the 6v1 fight against the Knights of Ren before he got the lightsaber. Like he'd been into it so deep for so long he forgot how to fight without it.

--Han coming back one last time for some Ghost Dad Advice

--THANKS FOR NOT KILLING CHEWIE!! I was seriously worried

--Rey fights herself!

--Where can I buy a replica of that Sith wayfinder? I do like shiny force-user crystals/holocrons/etc

--Rey finally builds her own lightsaber! And it’s yellow.

--TAKE THAT REYLOS: Oh you want a kiss huh? There’s your kiss! AND NOW HE’S DEAD.

--That whole scene. Kylo staring at dead Rey. Kylo force-healing Rey and bringing her back to life. And now they’re staring at each other, and I’m thinking don’t kiss you idiots, don’t fucking do it. FUCK they did. I actually booed out loud. (I will not deny being a little bit happy that Kylo died immediately after)

--All of the “are you happy Ep 7 & 8 haters???” stuff: Rey is super powerful because she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter, someone bringing up a “why don’t we Holdo this” argument and getting shot down with good reason, showing Leia’s Force powers with a flashback to being trained by Luke AND having her own lightsaber

--The urgent timeline got kind of.. muddled? Forgotten? They had 18 hours or 12 and still had time for all those spacejumps and Lando gathering friends from all over?

--A bit too on-the-nose with some of the ROTJ parallels. Lando in disguise saving the day on a desert planet! Speeder bike chase! Emperor taunting Our Hero while their friends are losing a huge battle outside! A Skywalker dies so Our Hero can live!

--Also wondered if one of the writers played SWTOR: Emperor who really isn’t dead uses Super Mega Force Lightning and tries to jump into Our Hero’s body to take over their mind.

After chewing on this for a day, here’s my ranking of Skywalker/Palpatine saga films from best to worst:

5 > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > 2 > 1

And including Solo and Rogue One:

5 > Rogue One > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > Solo > 2 > 1

tbh I’m so far into the “inject all Star Wars content directly into my veins pls” territory that I can’t say I hate any of it, and even the cringiest prequel moments are leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of other junk I’ve watched/read/played. So much about Star Wars is just FUN, and I will gladly handwave away most of my nitpicks (SpeedForce, I ain’t gotta explain shit) for the sake of enjoying the story. Even the ridiculous stuff that I poke fun at is still a part of the whole mess; it can’t all be great or even good or OK and that is fine with me. [NOTE: I have not watched the Holiday Special but the husband unit is weirdly enthusiastic about me doing so; it may happen yet this year.]

I really like this comment from the A.V. Club. More cynical than my overall take on the whole shebang but I totally know with where they’re coming from. I don’t agree with all the responses but it’s a pretty good discussion.

#rise of skywalker spoilers #episode 9 spoilers #spoilers

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chaotic-undying-loki · 4 years

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I really hate aggressive, hateful, bullying, and petty fans in fandoms. Tldr, can't edit, on phone but feeling my annoyance hard

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Also, kinda long, feel free to scroll past, I'm just dealing with the stress of negative fans toxifying fandoms, on either side. Also if you don't like negative critiques of Kylo, feel free to scroll.

(on phone, can't cut it off, sorry for length, or typos)

Often there's two sides, half the time those two sides are ship-focused, though not always, it can be character focused or narrative focused. And I try to be, and mostly am, reasonable, patient, and respectful of people's opinions.

Sometimes my opinions might sound as if they're judgmental if a character, but I do my best to deliver my opinion honestly but without it seeming aggressive. Sometimes I might even with-hold an opinion to not offend or start a fight (I hate TR now, but have friends who love it, that I rp with, so I keep most opinions to myself and try to stay respectful when, if ever, I share my opinion).

I don't like people, on either side, ie that share my opinion or stand with the opposite (over a ship, character, it any content), who will attack in any way, shape or form; calling people idiots, generalizing in misogynistic/sexist/racist/or any other close minded fashion that is often in accurate and or offensive, and just belittling someone who just happens to have a different opinion (sometimes in a respectful fashion, sometimes aggressive).

I've been through so many fandoms with such arguments over character morality, character treatment, how a character translates into an example of toxic real life people or not, if so and so should be together or single or with that other character. I've had my aggressive days, fewer than others, but I'll admit to my doing. But it's not worth attacking and I'm constantly working towards bring better, expressing my opinions and views freely without arguing and attacking.

But I also I'm beginning to learn to stick to that fandom advice/fact of "you can like things, and not support all the bad; you can be interested in a character and not have to feel guilty or feel you have to defend every part of them. Fandom isn't black and white, and it shouldn't always be a responsibility" (not to say you shouldn't be aware of how things can be offensive or harmful, but not Quit Culture just because you feel guilty).

All this leads me to stating that I'm sitting here, trying to figure my opinions of a character without ignoring all the realities of their good nor their bad, and worrying I'd offend friends by having a positive opinion or negative opinion, and in trying to scan tags I'm Tumblr, certain fandom members are making me feel fucking disgusted.

So, I'm gonna say, I have a complicated opinion of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo from the recent Star Wars trilogy. I'll list it like this, a 1st watch and Reflection phase of each movie.

TFA; 1st Watch,--love the actor, so only minimally biased. But I liked the conflicting factor of who he was, where he came from, where he could go. Reflection-- after a while, the appeal half wore off, and given the hidden/limited backstory to his fall, half the fandom assumed he was influenced and wronged with no choice, or that he was deeply loved and cared for kid that turned his back on so much light for the legacy of a grandfather that he should have known wasn't all that Darkness he was trying to become and so he becomes a killer and leaves his family behind, for bullshit.

TLJ; 1st Watch--clearly struggling and growing in his desires and conflicts, may or may not have done fucked up shit to his fellow students and just continues to be a raging lil whatever, and then we have the Rey connection which, albeit out of his control, seems to come off stalky and invasive and forced. Just, very angry, little change other than expressing he's conflicted and masking it with further rage and aggression. Reflection--basically felt the same afterwards. But from here on out, I hear fro others or notice myself that he seemed to fit the tormented but actually spoiled an whiny, angry nice guy archetype, bordering on tyrant student if not actually so. My opinion was lowered, I didn't try to analyze like I do Loki, for fear I'd get sympathetic for a character who's too morally fucked for it to be okay.

TRoS; 1st Watch--confliction grows, he seems like an angry, lost robot, alone, just trying to regain control in whatever fashion he can, trying to stay on top, find answers. Will admit, what I had wandered and hadn't had evidence to before, that his evil master (thought to be Snoke but really Palpatine) was manipulating him through Anakin/Vader, then Smoke, changes my views w decent amount (as does some novelisation reveals, I think, that state the original trio kept the truth of who Vader was from Ben for years and such a lie, when growing up believing one a valiant Jedi and the other a powerful and mostly evil sith saved at the end of his life was surely confusing (but this is one of those conflicting facts of, Was this always the truth and plan or was it added in for sympathy? Not gonna argue)). Then we have one scene, a battle between 'Good' and 'Evil', he's trying to kill Rey for Palpatine or for himself, can't really say. He is stabbed, deadly wound, saved, and it's like a painful rebirth, he speaks to his father, and sheds Kylo, going to join Rey as Ben and out a stop to it once and for all. For all my conflicted feelings before and still standing by such, seeing that last scene had me hyped and crying, I thought it was all amazing, and he made many good actions to balance against his good. But still not enough, and I'm tired of the Villain Dies to Earn Redemption arc, good or badbor misunderstood, these characters should be able to live, pay for their crimes, and grow from it. But also, deeply against reylo for personal and none personal reasons, I found the kiss sweet and heartbreaking, it was a soft moment that made me feel (I prefer her with Finn, if not the impossible Finn and Poe, but I understand why reylo is shipped). Reflection--basically the same, except I've learned that there was implied neglect, assumption of evil, lying about his family, and an Evil Dark Lord whispering in his ear as probably both Snoke AND fake Vader, and he's still fucked up for all the death, pain, and torment he caused that most of it could have not be necassary. But maybe I'm fucked up for now suddenly wanting to analyze and understand him and for thinking he deserved to live his redemption, not die and earn it.

But whatever. I've decided I'm gonna RP, and analyze. And I keep sifting through Tumblr for feels post or just pics of Ben, not Kylo. And there's a lot of Reylo, I either admire it and move on.

But then there's posts trying to demean other characters in twisted, if not cruel ways. Example 2; Finn kept taking Rey's hand on Jakkuu without her consent, but Kylo always asked, such a gentleman!! = ...Finn grabbed her hand while they were running, it was a protective instinct, not in any way trying to violate her. For one, Kylos reach was a 'please take my hand and assist in making the universe cry while we spread evil' so it's not a healthy comparison, not to mention, Kylo actually violated her, using the force on her body, making her unconcious, kidnapping her, and attempting to torture her and invade her mind. I'm sorry, there's no arguing who has violated her. Example 2; referring to Finn, in just a simple small statement if who deserved her, as FN2187 = Nice, so you just stated you're an aggressive, hateful shipper AND a racist willing to use a black characters literal slave title.

Like, I'm just trying to look for pics or meta that relate to what I'm feeling, but the characters I love more than Ben, and sometimes the actors (Rey, Finn/John, Poe/Oscaar) get attacked or demeaned, or called bullies for doing less than what said fans actually say and do on a daily.

I'm just here for Kylo/Ben, but got people being toxic fucking bullies while defending him or vying for his worthiness and happiness, which makes me disgusted for even considering interest in him.

And it shouldn't. And it won't. But I'll just say this, you people make fandoms like a fucking fire pit. Just here for warmth, maybe to admire the fire, but you don't handle it properly and he burn others in the process, while making others turn around and fear the fire.

So please. Just...chill. Be respectful. Or feel free being the aggressive assholes that making the thing you love into something toxic and unlovable.

#tros spoilers #star wars spoilers #the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker spoilers #star wars #fandom discourse #tldr #sorry for the tldr #kylo ren meta #ben solo beta

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hexiva · 4 years

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Book Reviews

I’m getting back into reading fantasy, getting a bunch of random books out of the library if they look good. I thought I’d post my thoughts on them.

The Tiger at Midnight, by Swati Teerdhala Inspired by the culture of ancient India and Hindu mythology, The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala features a cat-and-mouse game of deception and thrills between a rebel assassin and the reluctant young soldier tasked to bring her to justice.

Just finished this one. There were definitely times when I thought I was just going to stop and take it back to the library unread. It’s by no means a terrible book, but in many ways it feels too much like every other YA book I’ve read. I really like the concept of the central romance: it’s an enemy romance, which I love, the characters have a pretty equal power dynamic, and there’s no gross abuse stuff to put me off. It also felt like a gender-reversal of the typical YA dynamics - Esha is like the dark, handsome, conflicted romance hero, and Kunal is like the sweet, repressed heroine. I liked that, and I really liked Esha as a character. Kunal was by no means unsympathetic either. But the relationship between the two of them, which was central to the book, felt really under developed. The narrative informs us that they feel something for each other very early on, when they’ve barely spoken, and continues informing us of their feelings, but I kept wondering . . . why? There were a couple of points where there was a line like “It’s strange that I feel so strongly for him given we barely know each other!” and I feel like, when you find yourself writing a line like that, you should sit back and think a bit about why you felt the need to point this out. It felt like there were opportunities for them to be pushed together and bond, and the book didn’t really capitalize on them - or, rather, acted as if they’d already been pushed together. It felt like it was missing a key moment early on in the book where they bond. There’s a reveal halfway through the book (pg 300 out of 500) that they knew each other as children, but it’s too little too late.

5/10. I’m thinking of picking up her next book because I feel like there’s a lot of potential here and I’d like to read a more polished version of this book.

Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned that she had been chosen to lead a dangerous mission to avert an apocalypse, brought about by the terrifying masquerade, Ekwensu. Now, stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny is studying with her mentor Sugar Cream and struggling to unlock the secrets in her strange Nsibidi book.

Awhile back, I was at SDCC, and I walked by a publisher’s booth, and they handed me the first book in this series, for free! They just gave me a whole book for free! I’ve had this happen before at cons, but it’s usually self-published stuff, or spin-off books of dubious quality. But this is a book that’s perfectly relevant to my interests, a YA fantasy novel with an exciting new setting, and they just gave it to me! What a wonderful thing to have happen.

Anyway, I was hooked, and I got the next book in the series out of the library. I loved it. The woman at the publisher’s booth told me this was “Nigerian Harry Potter,” and I definitely got Harry Potter vibes from it. It honestly took me back to my days reading the original HP books in a way none of JK Rowling’s subsequent books (or the movies) have been able to do. That’s not to say it’s a copy, or anything - this series is way more eager to dig into the big, magical mythical stuff that HP mostly only hinted at, and is conversely much more willing to spend time in the real world and discuss real-world issues. It’s . . . really really good.

Also, as a personal bonus for me, there are multiple cool magical creatures which are arthropods - mythical spiders, cool magic wasps, I just love it.

9/10. My mom stopped reading it halfway through saying “As I get older, I’ve had less patience for books that aren’t very good.” But then again, she never liked Harry Potter as much as I did either, so maybe she just doesn’t get our generation.

Click more for reviews of We Hunt the Flame, Bloodwitch, and The Throne of the Crescent Moon

We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

I really wanted to like this book. I’ve been reading a lot of Middle-Eastern history and the thought of a fantasy inspired by that is 100% my jam. But this book is just . . . not that good. It’s not offensively bad, it just feels like the first draft of another, better book. I actually did not finish this book. I gave up and took it back to the library.

The main romance feels very predictable, and honestly, it was giving me big Reylo fanfic vibes. The exposition, of which there is massive amounts, is clumsily delivered. It feels like it ought to be the second book in a series, because there are so many past events being explained all the time.

The one thing I kinda liked was the bits of Arabic in the book, and the choice to not exposit the Arabic bits on top of the fantasy bits. And I learned a new Arabic word from this book! That’s a positive.

3/10. Wish they’d spent more time on the editing.

Bloodwitch, by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (and its sequel, Bloodkin) Vance Ehecatl was raised with every luxury he could imagine in a beautiful greenhouse within the powerful empire of Midnight. Vampires are the only guardians Vance has ever known since he was abandoned by his shapeshifter family as a baby quetzal, and he is grateful to them for generously providing for all of his needs. When an act of violence forces Vance from his sheltered home, he is startled to meet Malachi Obsidian, a fellow shapeshifter with conflicting ideas about Midnight and its leader, Mistress Jeshickah.

This is a new book from an author I loved as a child. Atwater-Rhodes published her first book at 14, when I was four, and I came across her books when I was 11ish and first learning to write. Her book Hawksong was the first romance story I really enjoyed, and its sequel Wolfcry was one of the first times I ever encountered a queer romance in a fantasy novel, at a time I was starting to wonder whether I was queer.

This book still caught the same interest I had in her books all those years ago. Bloodwitch is set in the same world as Hawksong, but centuries later. Personally, I would have preferred a book set in the same timeline, but it was still great to return to this world and its conflicts and magic.

With that said, it wasn’t perfect, and this wasn’t one of those times where I returned to an old favorite author and was like “Oh my god, I never appreciated what a genius she was when I was a stupid kid!” I was particularly struck by Vance’s character arc in the first book, which felt uneven. Vance is raised by the villains, and believes they’re the good guys initially. And then, early in the book, one of them kills his friend in cold blood, shouts at him, tries to kill him, and chases him out of their stronghold. And then . . . he goes back to them, and there’s ANOTHER, separate moment where he suddenly realizes they don’t care about him and turns on them. I really didn’t understand why that first moment didn’t shake his loyalty, but the second one did.

I was also kind of disappointed by the lack of queer characters. A lot of my favorite straight authors, when I checked back in on their work in 2019, have included queer representation, and because I knew that Atwater-Rhodes is herself queer, I was really hoping for some of That Gay Shit.

7/10. Give me that gay shit, Atwater-Rhodes, I know you’re holding out on me.

The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

This, this was the book I wanted when I picked up We Hunt the Flame. This is the quality content I want in my fantasy novel. I fell in love with the main character, Adoulla, almost immediately, and I was terrified he was going to die. I just love this prissy, hedonistic, idealistic, middle-aged, fat hero so much, and I will RIOT if Ahmed kills him off.

I liked the other older characters in this book a lot too. Ahmed clearly has a knack for making cool characters. Dawoud and Litaz are cranky old ex-adventurers. Adoulla’s love interest is a middle-aged sex worker who really wants him to commit and marry her or fuck off, and I am so rooting for them, I want them to live happily ever after, they deserve that.

The treatment of sex work and sex worker characters in this book is also a major plus. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity in this book, where I’m not sure which character we’re supposed to believe, but the one issue the book takes a firm stance on is DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE TO SEX WORKERS, THEY ARE PEOPLE TOO. This book is written by a man and is not the kind of feminist fantasy I read a lot of (like We Hunt the Flame and The Tiger at Midnight are) so I was pleasantly surprised by this strong pro-sex worker’s rights message.

On the downside, I did feel like the younger characters were less interesting than the older characters. They still felt like colorful, detailed characters drawn with a skillful hand, but they also felt much closer to the kind of characters you usually see front and center in a fantasy novel. What I loved about Adoulla and company is that you don’t often see fantasy heroes who are fat and old and tired. The romance between the two younger heroes is competently drawn and believable but I did find myself wishing the camera would pan away from them and go back to the cool characters.

Other notes:

I found out that Saladin Ahmed is a Marvel Comics writer and is writing a comic about my favorite superhero, Ms Marvel, and I couldn’t be happier with that news.

I was certain, reading this book, that Ahmed plays D&D and that this book was inspired by D&D, and HA, CALLED IT. My nerd-dar is ON POINT.

9/10. Adoulla is my dad now, no take-backsies.

#throne of the crescent moon #saladin ahmed #akata witch #nnedi okorafor #book reviews #hmu if ur a fan of Throne of the Crescent Moon too #@mr ahmed I NEED THE NEXT BOOK #I kno ur busy writing Ms Marvel but PLS

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jellostrikesback · 4 years

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Thoughts on TRoS

SPOILERS! SO MANY SPOILERS!

This was a hot mess. And I had a ton of fun watching it! And just as much fun tearing it apart for hours afterword with my boyfriend.

Where do you even begin with this movie? There's so much wrong with it! The plot is overloaded and rushed, there's too many characters and no proper focus on any of them, it's utterly nonsensical at times, tonally dissonant in others, there can't be any longer than 3 seconds of each musical score at a time because the thing is cutting so fast between different scenes... such a mess.

And so much of it could have been fixed if they'd just EDITED THE DAMN SCRIPT before shooting or, if not that, edit the MOVIE down afterwards. It can be the same running time! Longer even! Just with more time with each scene. And if you're gonna set up a plot point, FUCKING DO IT FOR A REASON!

Rey has a lightsaber but isn't using it cause she has to earn it (???????)

Rey is easily thrown off balance by the force bond, taking hits from the training droid (this could have set up a moment later when, in actual battle, Kylo distracts her at a crucial moment. Instead the force bond is later useful in key fights for them both?)

Hyperspace skipping is SUPER DANGEROUS YOU COULD ACCIDENTALLY PULL A HOLDO FOR NO REASON WHAT EVEN

So Lando and Luke found a ship that's supposed to have a clue to the Sith planet and they didn't think to BOOT UP THE DROID THAT IS THERE AND COULD POTENTIALLY KNOW THINGS ABOUT IT? Cause guess what guys IT DID! (Not that it actually matters anyways cause Rey steals Kylo's map so D0 is literally useless)

Either kill someone or don't, fake killing Chewy is rude. You didn't earn the emotional moment and then it didn't happen anyways. Do better.

Also... They go to the Kijiji desert planet for the knife, then Kylo's destroyer for Chewy, the Falcon and the knife, then Endor for the Sith GPS, but Kylo breaks it so she steals his starfighter and goes to Porgland, then goes to [Sith Planet that's not any of the Sith planets that have been established in the EU] cause he had a map all along. Couldn't all that bullshit be culled down to "they steal Kylo's map"? Why do they need A KNIFE THAT MATCHES THE TYPOGRAPHY OF THE CRASHED DEATH STAR

Poe had a history with a rough crowd. Okay. IT LITERALLY DOESN'T MATTER TO THE PLOT (also there’s literally backstory for him in the comics that you’re ignoring, wtf people)

Hux is revealed as the spy and is IMMEDIATELY killed by Admiral Newguy. What a waste.

There are other Stormtroopers who left. Okay. THEY LITERALLY DON'T MATTER TO THE PLOT. Finn wasn't having difficulties with making friends, or people in the rebellion giving him trouble cause "Stormtroopers never turn good" or whatever. Sure, it's cool. But it doesn't matter.

C3P0 sacrifices his memory for the team IT DOESN'T MATTER, R2 HAS A BACKUP

Not to mention, HOW many times does the Falcon take SERIOUS damage and they repair and have her flying in hours?

Rey leaves the group and goes to the Death Star wreckage alone, Finn follows, LITERALLY DOES NOTHING EXCEPT SHOUT 'REY' distracting her in a fight with a Sith. That's all he does. While Poe fixes the ship. Last movie we had him learning that leaving in an escape pod to save Rey wasn't the right thing to do, that he was part of the Resistance now and had to work with the team. Now he's regressed and is just focused on Rey?

Also WHAT DID HE NEED TO TELL HER? (rumors say that it was that he’s force sensitive? But like, that didn’t help you notice the quicksand bucko, it’s not a DEATHBED CONFESSION you need to be making)

Also in 30 years, did no one think to scavenge through the Emperor's THRONE ROOM?

Also how did Kylo get off of Endor? He lands a vintage Tie on Exagol, did he find a FUNCTIONAL Tie Fighter in the wreckage? VINTAGE TIES DON’T HAVE HYPERDRIVES HOW DID HE GET TO EXAGOL (Also in the Mandalorian, Ties have a shown landing sequence, do your teams communicate at all, Disney?)

In TLJ, Luke's hut's door is an X-wing wing. And yet his ship is whole.

Kylo's redemption moment was CLEARLY supposed to be with Leia. Sadly that was not possible. But maybe having ANAKIN FUCKING SKYWALKER show up could have been just as emotionally resonant and not just a rehash of the Han death scene in TFA

Rey. Fucking. PALPATINE? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?

What has Poe ever done that makes him a good commander? He got a bunch of people killed in a bombing run. Then a bunch of people killed in a failed coup, and now a bunch of people killed in an attack with no plan beyond 'shoot it till it's dead', Lando will show up later.

Also if Poe's second in command, HE SHOULDN'T BE OUT ON THE FRONT LINES, HE SHOULD BE COMMANDING

If you can get troop carriers close enough to land YOU CAN GET A STARFIGHTER CLOSE ENOUGH TO SHOOT THE DAMN SATELLITE DISH you ESTABLISHED that they don’t have shields in atmosphere you don’t NEED THE SILLY HORSES

Ah, with one lightsaber I could only block the lightning, but with two I can redirect it at you!

JUST STOP. SHOOTING. LIGHTNING.

The Emperor asks Kylo to kill Rey, then says he wanted her there so she could kill him, then uses the “force dyad” they’ve got going on to heal himself, then when she starts killing him he’s upset? MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

If Palps was controlling Snoke the whole time shouldn’t he have already known about the force dyad thing?

I AM IRON MAN

Not gonna touch the Reylo. They acted well. His smile was cute. But just... ugh.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT LINE LANDO? Is this a setup for the amazing adventures of old Lando and Stormtrooper girl, or is this CREEPY AS HELL? MAYBE BOTH?

Please tell me she’s not staying on Tatooine, she’s more than that.

Anyways. I’ve been sitting with this long enough. Here internet. Have my thoughts.

#star wars #rise of skywalker #spoilers #this movie was just marketing choices squished into a plotline

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