#KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

Quinlan Vos and Obi-Wan Kenobi Are Not Normal About Each Other (A Thesis Statement)

Fandom: Quinlan and Obi-Wan have had sex, but it’s a reach to think they could be in love and/or care deeply about each other in some manner, it was just physical (this is not me saying I don't think they have sex I HELLA do and I've written a lot of smut to prove it, but I've seen wayyyy too many posts that basically say they can only be romantic as Padawans and NEVER as adults and/or were just fooling around as teens and didn't have deep feelings in some way whether they're FWB or romantic partners or whatever you like)

Me: *unrolls my scroll* I'm here to make a POINT as an addendum to this post I made recently.

Look at these little darlings! They just met and Quin's already trusting Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan WANTS Quin to trust him. In another panel from this same comic, Quin helps Obi-Wan with his anxiety and it's very sweet.

Quin's been struggling with the dark side while undercover, and everyone thinks he's really truly fallen and can't be brought back except for Aayla, Tholme, and, YOU GUESSED IT! Obi-Wan. He goes looking for Quinlan on his own and finds him and they chat. Plus, look at this flashback of these little nerds flirting. Quin literally falls into the river and almost dies trying to flirt with Obi-Wan.

What do I even say about this panel??? Look at them!! Look at Quin trusting Obi-Wan with the dark parts of himself and Obi-Wan believing in him? Look at that hand clasp? Like shut up I can't take it.

Obi-Wan refusing to leave Quinlan behind and Quinlan, stubborn Quinlan, listening to him.

Their banter here shows how well they know and play off each other and that joke in the last panel SENDS ME.

This is from the new comic that came out in September, and this is just ONE instance of several of Quinlan mentioning Obi-Wan, who only appears in this comic via a psychometric vision, but Quin keeps bringing him up anyways.

I mean this is. THIS is what made me WANT to know more about Quinlan in the first place! It's not in this gif, but the way Obi-Wan smiles in this scene? The way his eyes light UP? That's love, babey.

I could literally paste so much stuff from Dark Disciple, which to me has always been a QuinObi book in addition to Vostress. Quinlan has fallen (pretty much without understanding he has because he so badly wants to uncover Sidious) and missing his check-ins with Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan keeps going back to their bar over and over again and he's been waiting for like, two hours at this point when Ventress comes in.

"Not him." Okay, buddy. Okay. Obi-Wan has like three panic attacks and outright defies his fellow council members at various points through this book because he believes so hard in Quinlan. He is INSISTENT that Quinlan can be brought back to the light.

These two pages made me SOB.

"She saved Quinlan" in italics. Not just his life, but his spirit. Those italics speak for themselves. And "Vos knew he could never repay Kenobi for that, but he has the rest of his life to try." Do ya, Quin? The rest of your life, huh?

Anyhow, truly, this is just me scratching the surface as I was limited by only being able to use 10 photos in a post. I’m leaving out sooo many other examples. You don't have to ship them! But these guys care a lot about each other and saying that it's just, impossible for them to have romantic feelings on posts or fics where the creator is, indeed, shipping them is ... weird. So is trying to overlay other ships onto specifically QuinObi content.

This has been a PSA.

#QuinObi #Quinlan Vos #Obi-Wan Kenobi #KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag

[kcrabb88]

Obsessed with this Dooku plush I got from @kurtssingh! Bad Grandpa now lives next to Force Ghost Qui-Gon and Padawan Obi-Wan, and he’s promising to be nice.

#His face I’m dying #Count Dooku #KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag

[kcrabb88]

Okay so here’s the thing. If I see one more “who cares about historical accuracy in a historical piece of media” I am truly going to lose my entire mind. I’m not asking for TOTAL accuracy down to the detail (I don’t strive for that, and things should connect with a modern reader) but I AM asking that books and shows and movies ENGAGE WITH THE PERIOD THEY’RE SUPPOSEDLY SET IN. The new Persuasion is just the newest (and one of the most egregious) instances of this, but I’ve seen this sentiment a lot, recently. If you don’t care about historical stuff, then why create or engage with historical media? The goal should not be to “modernize” historical fiction, but to create and engage with more diverse historical media. Different settings and periods! More stories about queer and BIPOC folks! Historical fiction has so so much to offer without stripping it of all historical context. I’m tired. 

#Persuasion is just a modern day movie with people wearing Regency clothes #It's not even a GOOD modern movie #It wouldn't even work as a modern day adaptation of Persuasion #But my point stands #KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

Not to vent on main, but I do want to talk about this because I think it speaks to a bigger issue in fandom recently. So, there's been a small but noticeable trend recently of people coming onto Quinlan/Obi-Wan content that I make and either saying "I liked this except for the QuinObi and/or Quinlan himself" or commenting on something as to why it was QuinObi and not another more popular ship. This happened recently in a comment I got on a fic and also on a piece of QuinObi art that I paid for, among other things. First, that's a shitty thing to do. You don't come into comments and complain that it's not what you like. Second, I gotta say, I have not experienced having people who like super popular ships coming to me, whose ship is a rowboat, and complaining that my content, or content I paid to have created, isn't their ship in any fandom I've ever been in. You're right! It's my ship. I love them and will continue to write about them. If a few people have written QuinObi because of me (and they have! Which is so nice!) I'm still not rocking the fandom boat. I am not making a dent in the behemoth ships that are out there. I ran a QuinObi week which was so wonderful and I will do it again, but it's not going to suddenly steal writers away from other popular ships (also, multi-shipping exists!) I'm not a threat. Not that we should think of things that way, but it does start to come across like that when stuff like this happens, like I'm getting in the way of an agenda.

I've been in fandoms where I shipped a big ship and got complained to by someone shipping idk, I hesitate to call it a rival ship, but that's the only word I can think of. Still not nice, but coming to me about my SMALL SHIP is much more unexpected and much more unkind as far as fandom power dynamics go.

People have gotten truly aggressive about both fanon and popular ships. No one, whatever the fandom, is obligated to ship the popular ship you like. Not everyone is going to fit the mold of popular fandom trends, and they don't have to. They should be able to create what they like without being bothered about it. People seem to believe now that if you ship a pairing that you also hold an Approved slate of beliefs about every other character in fandom. That you follow what I've been calling a Fandom Map. Well, some people like to mix it up. Fandom isn't a hive mind and diversity of characters and pairings should be encouraged. I think it's ironic that I have to be extremely nervous to make a post critiquing a popular fandom trope but people can come to me and be rude about my way less popular shipping preferences. I’m not a fandom vending machine. If you don’t like one thing but enjoyed others tell me what you did like and leave the rest out. Or don’t read it. Crits like this aren’t even dislikes about story elements (and even those are more for Goodreads than Ao3) they’re crits about my personal taste.

(As to Star Wars fandom in particular, I continue to think it's really off that people are so weird about Quinlan generally, and dumb him down, among other crimes. You have to start to wonder why and when you wonder, the results of that wondering aren't great).

tl ; dr don't be a jerk. We're all here because we enjoy something.

#KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag #Quinlan Vos #QuinObi

[kcrabb88]

I got some excitement when I posted that little Blood Makes Noise snippet, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about it! Don't always do that before I post a fic but I'm really really excited about this so here's some of the fic lore to tide over until I get deeper into writing it since it'll take a bit with my other projects :D

It's set from 1988-95/96 in New York City during the height of the AIDS crisis

Qui-Gon, an ACLU attorney and anti-war protestor, adopted Obi-Wan when he was four after his single mom, a client of Qui-Gon’s, was killed by the police

Qui-Gon is Dooku's son, and they're Jewish. Dooku is a former US Rep and is cantor at the synagogue they all attend and things are ... complicated

Tholme, a PI, adopted Quinlan at age 8 (and later on Aayla). Quin's birth parents immigrated from Haiti and died when he was five

Qui-Gon and Tholme, who are close friends, move in across the hall from each other and Quin and Obi-Wan become the best of friends from age 8 on

Quin's a violin prodigy and composer who later starts a punk/rock band and teaches music in an NYC public school

Obi-Wan is a political science professor who also writes political and investigative pieces for The Village Voice and tutors low-income kids at his local JCC (Bail is his editor)

Both of them are in ACT UP and also did crisis line work for the Gay Men's Health Crisis group that was the pre-cursor to ACT UP

They've been stupid in love forever and keep sleeping together but don't become a couple until right after Obi-Wan's HIV diagnosis (for various reasons that will be explained in the fic)

Eventually Anakin and Shmi move into the same building as Obi-Wan and Quinlan and become super close

Obi-Wan writes hit pieces on Palpatine, a former US. Rep who now works for the pharma company that's responsible for jacking up AZT prices (and Palpatine just so happens to be Anakin's estranged grandfather)

Little Padme will also be in this! Her dad is a city councilor

Obi-Wan IS one of the lucky earlier on HIV/AIDS survivors (it's just a very hard road)

I won't spoil it all but! Some lore. Really excited to dig into this!

#Blood Makes Noise #QuinObi #My fic #Obi-Wan Kenobi #Quinlan Vos #Star Wars tag #KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

I've been thinking a lot lately about fandom's penchant to take male characters who are funny and/or chaotic, or perhaps might be known for throwing a good punch, and then create fanon in which said character is stupid/constantly does stupid stuff. I'm particularly thinking currently about Quinlan Vos, but this is by no means unique to Star Wars fandom. There was a period there in Les Mis fandom during which the Broification of Bahorel was a thing. It happened to Caleb Brewster in TURN fandom. Sometimes Zeb in Rebels fandom (which, Star Wars again, but different part of the fandom). It happens A LOT. And like, just because a character is funny, chaotic, or has a penchant for a brawl, it doesn't mean that they're stupid?? I don't understand why this is such a trend.

Back to Quinlan, specifically. I follow the Quinlan tag. I follow the QuinObi tag and the things I have to see where Quinlan is just?? Dumb?? All the time??? Extremely not sure what about his sarcastic sense of humor and chaotic plans (that work! He has a plan in the new comic that is objectively hilarious and also EFFECTIVE) gave anyone the impression that he was stupid, but I see?? So much of it?? He's?? A spy?? A Jedi Master?? He's a really GOOD spy, as a matter of fact. He goes undercover a lot. He IS funny and he IS chaotic but that doesn't mean he isn't smart! Sometimes characters like this also might use humor as a shield, which can be a super intriguing thing! Quinlan in the comics definitely (in my opinion at least) does this, and he does it in Dark Disciple too. His psychometry can be a traumatic kind of power, and he has to get closer to temptations around the dark side a lot more than other Jedi, and that is something he struggles with while being such a good person even when he falls and has to get back up again.

Anyway, Quinlan is a really compelling character with a lot of facets to his personality. He IS funny (I am often writing him being funny!) but he's not JUST there to be comic relief. He has his own things and his own arcs. There is some truly great Quin fanwork out there! Maybe it's the incorrect quotes getting to me, but I hope the trend of making him stupid will end, because he deserves better.

#I love Quin so much #Quinlan Vos #KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag

[kcrabb88]

ok I'll bite. what are your thoughts on stewjoni biology?

Been waiting for a time when my frustration at the use of this trope (more than the existence of the trope) built up enough to be brave enough to answer. The usual disclaimer applies: people can write what they want. I'm not an anti. This is not a moral debate. People can have whatever kinks they want in fic. It's just my observations on how I'm seeing queer characters written in Star Wars fandom and how gender roles is being put into things based on what parts people have. Which, I thought we were not doing that anymore?

For the uninitiated, Stewjoni biology is a fanon concept where Obi-Wan is dual sex (he has a penis and a vagina and associated internal workings). The concept on it's own is fine. It's Star Wars! There is probably all kinds of biology and coming up with something for a planet with like, zero lore cause it was made up on the fly by George Lucas is creative! However. It's the execution and sameness of this concept that has started to uh, get under my skin.

So, I have a lot of thoughts on this, and they are two-fold and related. I think, likely without meaning to do so consciously, people are starting to assign personality traits to certain genitalia, and, in larger ways (due to other trends in Star Wars fandom) are re-inventing gender roles under the guise of queerness (which is, you know, kind of the opposite of the point of queerness!) Most fics I see with this concept (I said most, not all) simply ... have it there. There's not really an exploration of it so much from an intersex and/or trans point of view. How does this impact Obi-Wan's love life? Does it at all? How does it impact his life generally? What are his thoughts on his gender? Are dual sex people discriminated against in any way? I'm sure that is in some fics! But a lot of the time it pretty much goes down to "oh look he has a cunt!" Which I mean, that's not a mortal sin! I just think there could be things that are explored with it that aren't being explored. It's largely there to simply be another place for Obi-Wan to be penetrated.

The second, and likely more controversial part of my thought process, is that I find it. Kind of odd that it's Obi-Wan in particular this has been assigned to. Obi-Wan has what society might consider as more "feminine" traits. He's kind and he's patient and he prefers diplomacy over fighting. Now, this is not inherent to women, but society (and socialization) assigns these traits to women. So, I see a fic. It has this dual sex trope. Said dual sex trope LARGELY focuses on the fact that Obi-Wan, has a vagina. These fics are usually smut fics. Obi-Wan is usually a submissive in them (the conflation of "prefers to bottom" with submissive is a whole other rant and so is my Obi-Wan is sexually versatile agenda). Usually the other characters are, most of the time, a bit Super Masculine. The Super Masculine Man has a penis. The Less Masculine Man, Obi-Wan has a penis too but that's in the background. The focus is on the vagina. So it comes across as These Traits Are Assigned to These Genitals. It comes across as gender roles 2.0. The "feminine" one is the one who's submissive and has the genitals that are associated with cis women. He's the one who "takes it" as I've seen it phrased one too many times. Dirty talk in fic is fine! But the constant emphasis on that kind of phrasing in this situation has kind of off-putting implications as far as writing queer men goes, and kind of has some accidental misogyny in it to boot.

I will express again, these are deeply my opinions. No one who does this is bad or wrong and I have fic writers whose work I enjoy that use this trope. I just think that sometimes fandom picks A Thing To Do and then doesn't do it differently from each other, or take a step back and be like, huh, maybe we could examine this. I think it's one of those things that started off interesting and got flat over time. I'd love to see this concept explored! I'd love to see more trans Obi-Wan stuff! I just am not a fan of how this concept has been executed.

#I fear answering this but I'm going to #Asks #KCrabb rambles #Obi-Wan Kenobi #Star Wars tag

[kcrabb88]

Ted Lasso is a masterclass in two things: character-driven storytelling, and BUILD. The writers on this show know how to structure and place things that pay off later and that is missing waaay too much in the modern media landscape and I just respect the hell out of them.

#Do I wait for the new eps to drop at 9 pm on Tuesday nights?? MAYBE #Ted Lasso #KCrabb rambles #TV tag

[kcrabb88]

The thing I've noticed recently about shipping QuinObi, a small Obi-Wan ship (we'll say a few rowboats tied together, but could be a sloop someday) in Star Wars fandom where there are monolith Obi-Wan ships is that, like ... there is a lot of kind of, I suppose unintentional shade thrown around? Not directed at me specifically (though I've had that too) but just in posts where fanon things are stated as fact. There are A LOT of posts that reference Quinlan and Obi-Wan having a thing as Padawans that go out of their way to say "oh but they weren't in love it was just sex" like Obi-Wan can't be in love with multiple people throughout his life and must wait to be in love with whoever the main love interest of the post is (could be any big ship I'm not like, calling out a particular one) or Obi-Wan can't care about someone deeply that he's having sex but not a romantic commitment with. Sure, FWB is a thing! It's often a part of the progression of any of my QuinObi fics. But the way posts like this are phrased is often like "oh well sure he slept with Quin as a Padawan but it was just cause he was there" kind of tone. I dunno, just the kind of fairly popular insistence that Obi-Wan likes Quinlan sure, but he isn't in LOVE with him and never was to make sure that it's CLEAR that Obi-Wan was only ever in love with whoever the other half of the ship is ... well, odd.

Like "Quinlan's so dumb am I right, but he's hot so Obi-Wan slept with him. Fun to be around but not a serious love interest" kind of vibes. There's a not small amount of fics that have Quinlan either pretending to be someone else while he and Obi-Wan sleep together, or being in a threesome with Obi-Wan and someone else for the purpose of getting the other two together and I'm like?? Why is this such a trend? No one has to ship my ship by any means, but using Quinlan like that just ... kinda sucks. Quinlan is a great character and he and Obi-Wan are really close. It's not wild to think they could fall in love. I've written situations where they're in love, then they're with other people and come back together later, like, it's possible to write multiple relationships like that.

I dunno, all of it makes me feel weird about how fandom generally views Quinlan. Obi-Wan could just as easily be with Quinlan as he could with any other ship and yet Quinlan is treated like this stepping stone or side piece without respect sometimes. There's gotta be a better way to involve past character relationships in your fanwork than to low-key imply that another character is just a stand-in for the eventual Big Love.

#Sorry I'm grouchy #I just keep seeing posts like this #And I do think it's possible if you have past QuinObi and another ship #To not do this #I don't really think it's intentional but it bugs me #QuinObi #KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag

[kcrabb88]

Feeling so normal about the Quinlan comics I’ve been collecting from the early 2000s and wanted to share some of my favorite panels

This one! Aayla! Tholme! Quin’s struggle with the dark side which is unique and fascinating and def the framework for Dark Disciple

Sobbing about Quin thinking about his boyfriend (Obi-Wan) right after Order 66. They give him a random girlfriend here but that’s just men writing comics in the early 2000s and they don’t understand he’s bisexual

These two as babies I’m sobbing

More quality QuinObi content (ft. Anakin)

BABY QUIN

And of course, Quin being a great master

More QuinObi

And a hot Quin for the road

The art style of the older comics isn’t my fave but the stories are great! Especially if you’ve read Dark Disciple and want more Quin, or you just generally want to know more (def read Dark Disciple in new canon tho).

#My boy #Quinlan Vos #QuinObi #ObiQuin #Star Wars tag #KCrabb rambles #Obi-Wan x Quinlan

[kcrabb88]

The way some parts of fandom talk about characters being "irredeemable" is so ??? Messed up?? First of all, I think the word is being used incorrectly. People will see a character who did Bad Stuff atoning and and making changes in their life and still call them irredeemable, but BY, in fact, changing, they automatically are NOT irredeemable. The Cambridge definition of irredeemable is impossible to correct, improve, or change. Something the person did may not be able to be changed (as in you can't go back to the past) but the person themselves, by changing, makes themselves redeemable. I feel like what people mean by "irredeemable" is "are they unforgivable" and forgiveness is, on the whole, a super personal thing. Some people will forgive things and some won't. Someone said person (or I guess character if we're talking fandom) hurt doesn't owe them forgiveness! But that still doesn't make them irredeemable if they're out there atoning and changing. Being irredeemable means someone has refused to change or repent. And I dunno that there's like, a Threshold a character meets to be called "redeemed." That too, is a flexible and nebulous concept and I don't think that's how we should look at redemption arcs regardless because then it's like "okay! I'm done! No more atoning or changing necessary" which is not it. But also flagellating themselves forever isn't good either. There's just no Number we can look at because it's not that easy.

Calling a character irredeemable after they've changed is such a weird and black/white concept. What's going to happen to them? Are they going to fictional hell? The concept of redemption and atonement is based on action. What are they doing to change and make good? It doesn't mean YOU have to like them! But people aren't static. And honestly it's an odd trend I've seen, this kind of thirst for fictional punitive justice against characters. Like SURE there are characters who fucking suck the whole time and never do anything to change and they deserve to get tossed off a roof! Like, IDK, Palpatine or Thanos or people like that. But it's so off to me to see that kind of extreme thinking applied to any redemption narrative.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

#KCrabb rambles #I see this concept in SW fandom ... a lot #Like ... A LOT

[kcrabb88]

Morphed into my Edgar Allan Poe Girlie form and watched all of The Fall of the House of Usher (my fave fave fave Poe story) and thank u, Mike Flanagan, for my life. Truly, it was SO GREAT.

#It is pretty graphic so warning for that but #God it was so literary #Haunting in so many ways #Great acting #The Fall of the House of Usher #KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

Me, idly to myself: I should start a QuinObi discord server

#It would be small but I bet it would be fun? #QuinObi #KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

Having one of those nights where I well and truly love being a writer like?? It's so fun?? And when something turns out so so well it's SO satisfying. The process of creation is truly one of my fave things and there's nothing else like it.

#I worked on book edits tonight and gahhh the last bit of Gemini is truly!! Turning out so! Good! #I also did some fic work today and gahhh I'm feeling so inspired lately and it's so exciting #I love reading my own stuff and I'll never stop #Writing things #KCrabb rambles

[kcrabb88]

I see a staggering amount of manipulative disinformation on the internet daily, but I am gonna have to draw the line at the post I saw the other day that said something positive about Ronald Reagan. We on the left cannot horseshoe our way into saying a single good thing about that man! Ever! Not to be old (in my thirties) online but the horrors that he enacted that still impact us today are easy to find! Sure most people, even awful ones, had good qualities, but I assure he did not this has been PSA.

#Neither did Nancy as a sidenote #Between that post and the Biden did nothing about Roe vs. Wade post I saw I truly am going to lose my shit #Fifty years of conservative attacks undid Roe v. Wade #Including guess who? Ronald Reagan #Anyway #KCrabb rambles #Current events #KCrabb talks politics

[kcrabb88]

Okay! It’s time to post some choice panels of this new Quinlan comic that came out last week.

This beauty.

The whole thing is truly perfect at showing Quin’s sense of humor, his smarts, and even the way he talks. It also has some QuinObi gems in it.

Like, this!! This is perfect!

Like space western vibes? It’s got that too.

Quin being funny and badass all at once.

Aaaaand AND!! He just can’t stop talking about Obi-Wan (or seeing him in a psychometric moment).

Talking about Obi-Wan yet again 😂

Anyhow! If you love Quinlan, I recommend this comic because it’s delightful. He’s smart, funny, and super cool in this, and it’s better than I wished for when I heard it was coming out.

#Quinlan Vos #QuinObi #Star Wars tag #KCrabb rambles