#jedi finn is what the sequels should’ve done!!!

[bethanyeliseart]

Finn — art nouveau

#finn star wars #finn fanart #star wars #jedi finn #star wars art #jedi finn is what the sequels should’ve done!!! #this is very much inspired by the high republic fashion #finn come back please #bethanyeliseart

[inklingofadream]

not to have Star Wars Thoughts but

I think that The Force Awakens is the best (regarded/remembered) because it’s both a good movie and a good opener for a trilogy. It’s honestly the only one that does a really good job endearing us to the characters.

The Last Jedi is a fine movie and a BAD second act of a trilogy. Rian Johnson had a lot of ideas about subverting the cliches of the series that are set up in TFA, but he focuses on that at the expense of the characters being fun to watch and moving the story forward.

Rise of Skywalker is just bad, but it is kind of set up to struggle by TLJ giving it so little to work with. TLJ doesn’t end in a “going into the final act” way, it ends basically the same way TFA does. For all the prequels’ flaws, they do manage that escalating stakes and tension lightyears better than the sequels do.

imo, they SHOULD have hired some third director who wasn’t Abrams or Johnson to do the WHOLE trilogy- JJ Abrams sucks at ending anything, and while I think Johnson COULD have done a good trilogy if the whole thing was his baby, I don’t think he wanted to do more than one movie. If they wanted to give him a Star War, it should’ve been a Solo/Rogue One. If they really wanted to alternate directors, they should have had someone higher up who was VERY ACTIVE in what the overall vision for this trilogy was, FROM DAY ONE.

I do think that if the TFA and TLJ scripts were extant at the same time (TLJ seems v much like a response to TFA as a finished product, and I think the production history confirms that, but play time traveller with me) they could have made a really interesting start to the new trilogy mashed together. TLJ is WAY too obsessed with subverting both general Star Wars stuff and specifically the way that stuff is played out in TFA for a middle installment, but as a latter half of a first movie I think it could set up a really interesting theme?

Because neither of the other Star Wars trilogies care about subverting or deconstructing anything. The first one is just having fun in its mashup of genres. And where the prequels are RIGHT (and could have been v good if Lucas was being edited) is that they don’t even really try to recapture that vibe. They revisit bits of that story, with Anakin on Tatooine similar to Luke etc, but it’s all very “this is the more serious side, where we take the mentions of slavery seriously and examine the politics”. They both have a very singular Vibe to each other, that the sequels don’t.

Like if you took the first act of TFA basically as-is, but then sped up its story (probably dropping Maz Kanata, because for all I love Lupita they just. never paid any of that off, and Kylo capturing Rey is a beat that’s basically repeated in the TLJ story, so you can still move those pieces into place) so that Luke throwing away the lightsaber was the end of the second act, I think you could do a lot of that deconstruction?

Especially if we drop the Kylo flashbacks, just keep everything to the impact it has on the original trio. A beat that i think makes more sense for Luke is NOT seeing things going wrong with Ben, not seeing it and not killing him fast enough. You pay off Finn’s marketing by having him go to find Luke, while Rey is captured, very clearly influenced by the stories she’s heard and poking at the idea of redeeming him. I think TLJ is waaayyy too mean to Poe (he’s clearly trusted in TFA! and like leading an important mission! if we’re deconstructing Han, Han wasn’t even part of the proper military of the Rebels, he just showed up when he felt like it!) and we could do more with him and Rose as the insiders to Rey and Finn’s outsiders.

You already establish Rey’s trying to redeem Kylo, and maybe hint that it could work, and THEN, having played that more heavily, him killing Han (or Luke, depending on how you want to shake those pieces out) is how we know that the heroes are going to drop that idea. If you actually wanted to do sth interesting with Leia in the rest of ur trilogy, you could play Kylo still waffling but the heroes not buying in because of the personal loss of Han/Luke by having her talk about Alderaan, and how Luke could forgive Vader, but she wouldn’t have.

#star wars #ink post #meta #rambling

[lifblogs]

Angstpril 2021: Day 19 - "Don't leave me."

Can't Find Warmth

@chaos-company read on ao3 1068 words sequels, the last jedi, stormpilot, first kiss, goodbye kiss, angst

Poe grabbed Finn outside one of the passageways, pulling him into the compartment. Finn had been racing to get a shuttle with Rose, but Poe couldn’t just let him go like this, not so soon after he’d woken up.

“Hey, hey, Finn.”

Finn struggled a bit, and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Poe, the fleet, I have to go.”

He held out a hand to calm him down, maybe to make his point clear. “Yeah, look, buddy, I know, but… Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Finn frowned, and grabbed the hand on his shoulder. He pulled it off, but didn’t let go of it, and that bit of touch should’ve relaxed Poe, but it seemed so fleeting. What if… what if everything went wrong?

“But you just agreed to it back there.”

“I know what I said—”

“Poe—”

“Look, I know you don’t have a lot of time, but are you sure? You can’t give anyone the information you have and let them go?”

Finn leaned in, clearly confused. “What? Come on, don’t be stupid. I have to go.”

Finn tried racing out, and Poe grabbed him by the arm.

“Would—you—let—go—of—me?”

“Hey, please: Is there anyone else? I just got you back. You were hurt, and every day I waited for you to wake up. Just… don’t leave me.”

Poe wasn’t even sure where those last words had come from, why they’d slipped out. He had a duty to do, a place amongst the Resistance that he had to figure out for himself now that he’d been demoted and Holdo was in charge.

Finn looked as if he’d been about to say something, but then he froze, deep in thought.

“Don’t— Poe, you know I have no choice.”

Poe was shaking his head. “Yeah, forget those last words. That was stupid.”

Feeling a surge of bravery, or perhaps just panic, he grabbed Finn, and pulled him into a kiss. (Okay, yeah, it wasn’t panic, it was just pure stupidity. Galaxy to Poe, anyone in there? Nope.)

Finn froze, and for a second everything in Poe sank.

Stupid, stupid! He was such an idiot! What a terrible idea!

Just as he was about to pull back, profusely apologize, and hurry Finn on his way, Finn tangled a hand in his hair, pulling him tightly against him, the other hand going to his hip. If his lips weren’t preoccupied, Poe would’ve yelped with joy as Finn kissed him back.

He needed to do something with that excited energy, so he gave the kiss all he had, not even remembering the last time he had kissed someone. And with Finn, it was all new, and wonderful. And Finn, he seemed surprised, and why wouldn’t he be? This was probably his first kiss ever.

That thought had an uncomfortable feeling rising in Poe’s belly.

Oh hell, what if he wasn’t kissing Finn properly? What if he was a poor first kiss? What if—?

Finn pulled back, and squeezed his hip. His beautiful brown eyes were wide, seemingly lost in the stars.

Poe was about to open his mouth and ask how that had been, but Finn spoke first, “Don’t worry, I’m coming back to you.”

Words leaving him in a rush, Poe said, “Please come back to me.”

Their lips met once more, and it was still as new and wonderful as before. Finn was so soft, and warm against him, and Poe would be a star-blazing idiot if he didn’t take advantage of this moment.

He felt like he was in the cockpit of his ship, and he was taking down every fighter in his way. But there were no fighters, just the triumph, the sensation of knowing in his heart what he fought for.

It was his people, his friends, Finn.

Their kisses became frantic, and Finn moaned against him. Poe wasn’t sure how he was a puddle on the floor—it would be in bad style to leave maintenance to clean that up if that did end up happening. Yeah, just kick my body outside the door. You can have Holdo sign the paperwork later.

“I’m coming back,” Finn eventually said, clapping a hand to the back of his head.

Poe cupped his cheeks. “You’d better.”

Another kiss.

“I gotta go.”

“Yep.”

Their lips met again.

“Poe.”

Again.

“Mm-hmm?”

And again.

“I really gotta go.”

Then one last time...

Poe managed to pull himself back, though he felt all disheveled. “Yeah, I know, buddy. Go be a hero.”

“Shut up, everyone knows you’re the hero.”

Poe gave him a grin. “Nah, I’m just a pilot. You’re the brave one.”

Finn pursed his lips, and pointed, “We’re not done with this, okay? But leave it for when I get back. We do our jobs, we can both be heroes.”

“Hell yeah.”

“Hell yeah!” Finn copied.

They kissed just one more time, and then Finn was on his way, the touch of him quickly fading from Poe’s mouth and hands and against his body. As he watched him go, he didn’t just watch their only hope go with him. He watched someone he couldn’t lose. And maybe his heart would’ve broken at the idea, but Finn—maybe unknowingly—was taking that with him too.

Poe was left all alone in the compartment, his elation dying down.

What if he never saw Finn again?

Once more, forgetting his duties, forgetting all of it, he wanted to grasp his hand, and ask, Don’t leave me. But they had jobs to do, and Poe would be damned if he didn’t do his to make sure Finn could make this all work out.

“I’ll miss you,” he murmured to the empty passageway, and he wished on everything that Finn was there to here those words.

Poe ran a hand through his hair, and then straightened his clothes.

Time to head to the bridge, get this thing going. You can do this. For Finn. For all of them. The Resistance is counting on you.

Take care of him, Rose.

As he walked through the passageways, he somehow knew that she would. Still, he and Finn were separated once more, and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to stand the eighteen hours till he saw him again. If he ever saw him again.

That thought left Poe feeling cold inside, and he couldn’t find any warmth.

#angstpril2021 #fic #day 19 #'don't leave me' #star wars #the last jedi #stormpilot #fanfiction #writing #my writing

[eternalthenas]

what bothers me the most about tros and what i’m most unable to accept is how jj managed to destroy and disrespect EVERY single character. even the ones who technically had “happy endings”🤡

ben - i feel like this one doesn’t even need to be said, but i’ll say it anyways. after years of emotional abuse from palpatine, it’s disheartening to see that jj gave no explanation as to why palpatine wanted ben (personal vendetta against the skywalkers i guess??) when it semed like he only needed rey AND that ben never really triumphed over palpatine in any way. it hurts to know that leia straight up had a vision about her son’s death but that she still seemingly gave up on him despite knowing that he was struggling and that she sent him off to train to be jedi with a luke, when apparently she could’ve done that herself. it’s disheartening that luke who believed even vader could be turned back to the light also gave up on his nephew, when he was just a boy no less. it’s disheartening that although he was the last skywalker (a fact only palpatine acknowledged!), none of his family nor his namesake reached out to help him. instead of telling the last skywalker to rise, they ignored him (as they had apparently done his whole life) in favor of a palpatine. ok. even though as the last skywalker, he really should’ve been the one to have the final kill against palpatine since it was HIS family that palpatine destroyed, he doesn’t. he’s motionless in a pit for the whole final battle. ok. that will never not leave a bad taste in my mouth. his whole family (except for han apparently i love him) gave up on him and clearly so did the writers. as a fan of the skywalkers and their story, this isn’t the ending i wanted for them. especially when luke and leia and han had given their lives to see him turn to the light. and for what? so he could be used as a plot device to conveniently bring rey back to life and then promptly die (even though they’re a force dryad and, according to jj’s own fucking canon, supposedly one) without any fanfare, emotional reaction whatsoever, or later mention? wtf? it’s disrespectful not only to ben solo, who is easily the best character in the sequel trilogy and one of the best characters in ALL of star wars, but it’s disrespectful to the entire skywalker line!! (and to adam driver, who deserved so much better than this shit. go get that oscar)

rey - by making her a palpatine, jj completely disregarded her arc. whatever your opinions about rey nobody, once they went with it, they never should’ve retconned it and turned her into a legacy character in the final film. it felt cheap. in my theater, there was no cheering about this reveal. because jj had never properly set it up and he didn’t even bother to reveal it an impactful way. but what’s most annoying about rey suddenly being a legacy character is that it completely disregards the fact that she was powerful on her OWN, without any famous blood making her that way. furthermore, by turning her into the chosen one and giving her the entire skywalker legacy (which felt like a slap in the face to the skywalkers imo), she did turn into a mary sue, one of the biggest complaints about her since day 1. she was overpowered, morally perfect, and never faced any failure. i struggled to root for her as the “hero” because i felt everything was handed to her on a silver platter. so not only did jj turn her into a mary sue and take her power away from her by turning her into a legacy, but he also destroyed the fact that her whole arc had been “seeking belonging” and a family. rather than having her final scenes be with her new found family, she ends the movie with her canon soulmate dead and no one but a droid by her side on a desert planet of all places. to add further insult to injury, she also disregards her family name even though they supposedly loved her and sacrificed themselves for her (despite the fact that they sold her but whatever) in favor of a last name of a guy she had barely known. she had more emotional connection to han or leia, but she didn’t take their last name. she took luke’s, the guy who had refused to teach her and who she had come to view in a more negative light towards the end of tlj. in this house i will not EVER be calling her rey sky- i can’t even say it🤢

finn - in all honestly, they screwed finn’s character arc in episode 1 when jj turned him into a lovesick sidekick who served as comedic relief. as a deserted stormtrooper, he could’ve had the most interesting storylines. and he should have. but apparently the writers forgot about him. although they mention his past BRIEFLY, it’s paid no real weight or attention. instead, he spends the whole movie once again trying to (possibly) confess his feeling for rey. and for what? probably just to bait finnrey fans and prove the character’s heterosexuality bc it goes absolutely nowhere. although we find out he’s force sensitive, that too is glossed over and has no lasting effect. he’s also made co general, which okay cool, but then he does nothing?? so while finn could have and should have been a main character with an interesting storyline, they turn him into your average run of the mill action hero with an occasional quip. john boyega, sweetie, i’m so sorry (but i guess that’s kind of what he wanted since he hated tlj, the only movie where he actually had a main role with any character growth?? idk)

poe - it’s once again evident that they originally intended to kill off poe bc he has no arc whatsoever. he gets a little backstory as a drug smuggler now ig, which really came out of left field considering the already established canon with his past as a pilot. he’s more of the same in this movie, except more unlikable than usual (imo). he’s still stubborn, occasionally funny, but mostly he just bickers with rey, which isn’t funny, at all necessary, and doesn’t add anything to the “trio’s” dynamic. he’s at his best when he’s with finn but then, of course, jj has to remind us of how straight he is every single scene so. another character like finn who could have been great, but with the lazy writing, he has no arc, no backstory, no character growth, so he’s just mediocrity personified and just kind of there.

zorii & jannah - both could’ve been awesome. both are just there for a brief introduction and to help the heroes with maybe one thing and that’s it. both deserved better.

the skywalkers - yeah jj really said a big fuck you to luke, leia, and anakin most of all. the WORST part of tros is the fact that it basically makes the previous six episodes useless. anakin’s redemption arc? what does it matter now? he didn’t successfully bring balance to the force. he didn’t successfully kill palpatine. and now his entire bloodline is dead. ok cool😎 thank you jj!!!! what a hopeful end to the skywalker saga!!!! i love seeing that anakin failed and wasn’t REALLY the chosen one. i love that luke and leia gave their legacy to a descendant of the guy who tried to tear apart and terrorized their family. that’s really nice. i love that anakin NEVER reached out to help his grandson who struggled with the dark just like he did. but that he came in just in time to tell palp’s granddaughter to rise😍 really hopeful, lovely ending. thanks again jj! thanks for making leia seem like a bad mother who sees visions about her son but just throws in the towel and doesn’t really try to help him?? wtf??? not my princess leia. also tros luke? truly the worst luke. i really have no other words, i’m just disappointed. jj let me down in every single way possible and ones i didn’t even realize he could.

palpatine - jj also managed to ruin the best star wars villain, a feat i didn’t even think possible. palpatine had always seemed scary to me because of his inhuman qualities. but in this one, he’s back with no explanation whatsoever. he just is. he somehow managed to survive (ok🙄) and furthermore he had a kid. what in the fuck? jj clearly read harry potter and the cursed child, but he clearly also forgot to read the reviews. NOBODY LIKES IT WHEN THE PREVIOUSLY UNTOUCHABLE/SCARY VILLAIN HAS A KID OUT OF NOWHERE. NOBODY. i seriously spent the entire movie wondering who the heck would sleep with him? that’s it. he didn’t seem menacing or at all like a threat. this movie genuinely had no stakes whatsoever (that’s why ben’s death feels so out of left field bc literally for what?! but i digress) also the final “fight” where rey kills him??? very lame. he supposedly survived all those years to be taken out like that?? no thank you, i’d like a refund.

in conclusion, thank you to jj for ruining my favorite franchise by killing off every last one of my favorite characters, destroying the skywalker legacy (& killing them off), ruining seriously every character, and leaving me with despair!!! while i’ll continue to watch star wars without including episode 9, it sucks that some of my joy is zapped from my favorite series. because this is how future generations will know star wars. with this shitty ending. and any future movies will have this canon. and that really fricking sucks. thanks, i hate it.

anyways feel free to message if you’re also in the depths of despair about how this all ended!! bc the more i think about it, the sadder/angrier i get.

#star wars #sw negativity #the rise of skywalker #tros spoilers #tros #anti tros #ben solo #kylo ren #rey #finn #poe dameron #luke skywalker #leia organa #anakin skywalker #emperor palpatine #adam driver #daisy ridley #john boyega #oscar isaac #mark hamill #carrie fisher #hayden christensen #ian mcdiarmid #obi wan kenobi #zorii bliss #jannah #jj abrams

[dalekofchaos]

My critique of the Sequel Trilogy Lightsaber duels

My biggest problems with the Sequel Trilogy are the blatant rip off and unoriginality, no clear plan at all, lore breaking bullshit, lack of worldbuilding and poor executions of great character concepts. In this post, one of my My biggest gripes with the Sequels is the terrible Lightsaber fights.

The only good duel in my opinion is Finn vs Kylo Ren. This feels raw and powerful. A hardened soldier who has just became familiar to Lightsaber combat vs a trained dark side warrior. Despite Ren's years on training, though, Finn puts up a good fight and is able to hold his own before having his back sliced up. But.....that's what kills the fight for me. Finn's injuries. If this were in the first 6 movies or anywhere in the EU, Finn would be in a wheelchair or in a bacta tank for life. And guess what? A movie later and Finn’s injuries are never brought up again or treated with any severity.

Like Finn’s injuries, Finn’s rivalry with Kylo Ren is dropped for no reason whatsoever and never mentioned again. Finn and Kylo Ren are narrative foils, yet after TFA it’s dropped??? From the start they have been prominent foils to each other: dark from light and light from dark, both in the First Order but in drastically different positions. And Kylo too obviously has strong feelings about his defection. I also believe that Finn is the awakening in the force that Kylo and Snoke felt. Perhaps that is why Kylo focused on Finn and is so angry about him. Finn is also the first person to use the legacy lightsaber and is the first to actually fight Kylo. TLJ could've focused on Finn and Kylo being  narrative foils having a force connection and Kylo wondering why Finn would switch to the Resistance while Finn wonders why Kylo joined The First Order and  Rey standing in the middle of it all wondering with the new realization that her family has a mixed past of good and evil and her questioning where exactly does she belong? The way at the height of tfa when Kylo Ren rejected Han Solo’s offer for redemption and killed him he looked over and noticed Finn. Like they both locked eyes and in that moment was a surge of emotions between them— shock (and some fear) on Finn’s end, and anger on Kylo’s as he shouts at Finn that he’s a traitor— and those circumstances set Finn and Kylo up to be the dynamic for the sequel trilogy. They were foils, and the trilogy had the potential to truly expand on that and see their development in a final standoff/rematch at the very end. But it was wasted, because why have good movies.

Rey vs Kylo Ren. This duel was bullshit from start to finish. Okay, I don't care how force sensitive she is. I don't care that she downloaded Kylo's abilities in the interrogation. ANd I don't give a fuck WHO she turned out to be related to. If you are thrown into a tree, you are gonna be out for at least an hour. I will hand it to them that it feels like a genuine fight, but it just feels cheap when Rey won. It also doesn't make it any better that Kylo's injuries doesn't force him to wear the helmet at all times, his facial wounds are non-consequential. Rey has no prior training. Never held a lightsaber. Rey fighting off thieves with her quarterstaff is not the same thing, it is understandable that Kylo was struggling because of his injuries, but Rey didn’t struggle against Kylo. Even Luke struggled with Vader and Anakin struggled with Dooku. What should have happened is as it looks like Kylo is about to win, Chewie from the Falcon fires his bowcaster to keep Ren at bay and both Rey and Finn make it to the Falcon. This way we can keep Kylo Ren strong and show Rey struggling to overcome Kylo. It will also show This is how powerful he is when injured, so imagine him at his peak. Instead we get a pointless fight instead of Rey and Finn just escaping Starkiller base while Ren collapses due to injuries and Rey beating Kylo served no purpose(the end goal to destroy Starkiller Base was already accomplished) and helped derail their villain of the trilogy.

The Throne Room Duel. Everyone knew that Rey and Kylo would kill the Praetorian Guards. This is a fight with absolutely zero stakes. It's one thing if Rey and Kylo dueled Snoke himself, that might be a good fight. But come on, did anyone REALLY think they would lose? There is no tension in the scene and it is pointless. Kylo Ren and Rey are fighting a faceless a group of guards that we know absolutely nothing about and have literally no purpose in the entire story except for this one fight. We know neither of the characters are going to die because these are just faceless red shirts and there is still like 30 to 40 minutes left of the movie. Terrible editing takes away any enjoyment one might have with the fight choreography, if you've got to literally photoshop out the bad guys weapons in post production to not look stupid you might need to recoreograph the shot. There are multiple times where Rey, Kylo and the guards are just doing motions and actions because they look cool but serve no purpose but to look cool. Kylo stabbing the ground? Pointless. Rey twirling her rave stick around while someone falls behind her, pointless. Not even once do we see them displaying their powers is what cheapens the fight. Kylo Ren is powerful enough to freeze a blaster and a person in place and Rey herself unlocked Kylo’s powers, so the two of them could have easily ended the fight sooner than it was dragged out. Kylo is powerful in the force but he SERIOUSLY could not stop a Praetorian Guard choke holding him and Rey struggled with a guard? Rey and Kylo were stronger in TFA and are just made weaker in the duel with the Praetorian Guards. Kylo could have frozen half of the guards and Rey could have mind tricked the other half into killing the frozen guards and Kylo and Rey could have finished them. They are masters of light and darkness, but they are made weaker. The throne room scene is a symbolization of everything wrong with the movie. It’s all flash, but no substance and the more you think about it, the worse it gets.

All this duel makes me believe is that Rey and Ben should’ve both switched sides in TLJ. Rey gives in to the dark side and Ben returns home. Rey is the most Sith like character if you obey the rules of George Lucas for Light and Dark sides of the force. Ben Solo is more Jedi like throughout the movie until the end. Let me explain. Rey throughout the sequel trilogy has given in to her passion and anger. In the end of TFA Rey gave in to anger and hate to defeat Kylo. and in TLJ she is shown to use anger and hate throughout the movie. She is shown to as Yoda put it “take the quick and easy path to the dark side” gives in to anger and hate in almost every scene before she boards the Supremacy and gave in to the temptations of the dark side water cave. Her dark side actions in TROS speak for itself. Ben is calm and clear minded like a Jedi, he even wants to cut all ties to attachments like a Jedi. Everything we were told of the Jedi and how disciplined they are, Ben displays that in TLJ until after the Throne room fight. Hell, EVEN THE THRONE ROOM FIGHT SUGGESTS THIS. Think about the fact that Ben really does not move or even engage. He just stands there and dodges and swings once when the guard rushes him. Contrast that to Rey, who is clearly being more aggressive with her lightsaber and attacking rather than just being passive. How again is Rey the Jedi and Kylo is the dark side force user in this movie? They’re fighting in the exact opposite way they should be. Rey fights for the kill while Kylo gets a glancing blow in the armor in the opening fight. Their style of fighting in the Throne Room with the Praetorian Guards really suggests that they should’ve switched sides. What they should have done is have Ben realize that Snoke was evil and shows regret for his actions and turn to the light. While Rey feeling betrayed by Luke and the revelation of her family turns to the dark. This would not only be unexpected but would even rival Vader’s “I am your father” twist. And it would logically follow what we’ve seen of these two characters leading up to this point. Rather than just out of the blue Kylo turns angry and irrational and Rey is calm when Ben was calm and rational throughout the movie and Rey was full of anger and hate throughout this movie. You have them follow an arc that makes sense for their individual personalities. Ben is always calm, but he felt betrayed by those on the light, but he comes to realize that betrayal was an incorrect perception and he desperately wants to make amends to Luke and Leia and therefore he should rejoin what he knows in his heart is good. While Rey is full of passion and anger and as that builds up and she realizes that even the great Jedi Luke Skywalker is a disappointment and her family abandoned her, she knows the only person who can live up to her own expectations is herself and that self-centered attitude leads her to the dark side. That would make sense and we would have something to fight for, save Rey from herself or stop her.

Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren. Originally, I thought they were gonna have Luke first send the Walkers’ turboblasts right back at them and use the force to bring down the transports, TIEs and the shuttle and then toy with his nephew like Vader did to him and leave Kylo Ren in defeat and his ruined fleet. In a way he did(minus the ruined fleet), but it took away any tension away by having Luke just be a force projection. He wasn't there. His moment with Leia and 3-PO doesn't feel genuine anymore. And the "duel" if you can call it that is just bad. Luke doesn't have his Green Lightsaber and their blades do not clash. A Jedi is all about defense. But a Jedi will also fight in self-defense to defend others. The argument that Luke did the "most Jedi thing ever" is bullshit. A Jedi will stand up for what's right and face the threat. Instead Luke pulled a practical joke and died pointlessly. I mean if he instead pulled the X-Wing out afterwords and told R2 "Come on R2, we've got work to do." I would forgive that and then we could've gotten a genuine master and apprentice relationship between Luke and Rey and a proper reunion between Luke and Leia. But no, he has to die of force exhaustion. If Palpatine, who uses the force like crack didn't die of force exhaustion, then why did Luke?

The duels in TROS are all equally terrible. Not once did I felt any excitement between Rey and Kylo's duels as I did with Finn and Kylo from TFA. Every Lightsaber duel is forgettable. The fight in Ren's Quarters is just bad. The fight on the Death Star Ruins is just terrible. It's like they both got high on deathsticks and could barley remember that they are both trained with a Lightsaber. Fighting in ruins surrounded by water SHOULD BE EXCITING! But they did everything in their power to make this duel boring, mediocre and lackluster. They act as if they are swinging bats, not Lightsabers. Lightsabers aren’t baseball bats, stop treating them like they are!  

The worst part is that THIS was the final Lightsaber duel of the Star Wars saga. A huge step down if compared to Obi Wan vs Anakin in Mustafar and Darth Vader vs Luke Skywalker in the Emperor’s Throne Room, which unlike the previous prequel, had awesome shooting and use of the soundtrack, also being very lengthy.

Then we get the Luke and Leia flashback. The ONLY well choreographed fight scene is a fucking flashback.

Then Ben Solo and the Knights Of Ren. Again, we know the Knights are gonna die. If JJ Abrams bothered to characterize the Knights, then yes they might've had a chance, but like the Praetorian Guards, they exist for background and die pointlessly.

Of Course we don't get to see Palpatine duel wielding his twin Sith Lightsabers and fighting Rey and Ben, cause JJ mr I hate the Prequels can't give the fans any decent Lightsaber fights. Instead of Palpatine facing Rey and Ben in an epic climatic final battle, we get Palpatine killed by his own lightning.

The fights in TFA is adequate at best. TLJ is meaningless. TROS is absolutely terrible and forgettable.

John, Daisy and Adam deserved better choreography than they were given. There's no excuse for the lackluster duels we see in the ST, whether from Rey, Finn or Kylo.

One of the biggest complaints for the Prequels is Lightsaber fights is "they are too choreographed" and anyone who believes this is an idiot. What? You wanted Jedi in their prime to slap sticks like old people? You wanted them to fight like drunken hobos? One of the best things in the prequels was finally getting to see the Jedi finally go all out in some awesome lightsaber duels. The Jedi should be masters at Lightsaber combat. Fight choreography is a good thing. Look at the duels in the prequels. You can like or hate them but the duel between Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon and Maul was great. As was Obi-Wan vs Jango, Yoda vs Dooku and every duel in ROTS. Even The Clone Wars had great fight choreography. There was more planning and choreography in The Clone Wars S7E10 than in the whole sequel trilogy.

Seriously, why wasn't Nick Gillard contacted? He is the main reason why the Lightsaber duels in the prequels were so good. I don't care if too many Lightsabers were a big complaint amongst the Prequel haters, the duels were good. So instead of great fight scenes, you traded great fight choreography for mediocre baseball bat fights?

The choreography is not the issue alone. There is no emotion. In TFA. Starkiller Base was already set to blow, so the fight was pointless. In TLJ there is no emotion at stake for the Throne Room fight and the Resistance already got away prior to Luke's pointless death. Rey vs Kylo doesn’t even matter because the characters HAVE THE SAME GOAL. Both want to get to Exegol via a wayfinder before the duel and both get to Exegol with a wayfinder (or memory of it) at the end of the duel. While Kylo gets redeemed, the duel wasn’t necessary for this part as Leia just needed to talk to him and then give him the force induced memory. The only thing this proves is that Rey is not a Jedi because she gives into anger and blind rage to start the duel.

The duels in the prequels and originals had themes, emotion and meaning. Not just that but they looked damn impressive and was the spectacle that helped made Star Wars, Star Wars.

There isn't any good musical scores for any of the Lightsaber fights either or at the very least, nothing memorable. Nothing as iconic as Duel Of Fates, Battle Of Heroes and the Throne Room fight in ROTJ. I don't remember any themes in the Sequels and that's a problem.

And it doesn’t help that these duels have no meaningful deaths either. A bunch of faceless guards and Luke (through indirect means) are the only deaths via a duel. But this is what happens when you hide the mentor archetype on an island and have the hero and villain go at it for three films.

The Lightsaber duel is no longer an emotional spectacle and a grand duel to the death. It's a bunch of idiots high on deathsticks fighting pointlessly and fighting for absolutely nothing. Rey fights like a Sith but she's a Jedi. Ben fights like a Jedi but is leading the First Order? They don't matter anymore and the duels in the sequels are the most forgettable thing about them.

#Anti Sequel Trilogy #Anti TFA #Anti TROS #Anti TLJ #Rey #Finn #Kylo Ren #Ben Solo

[forgotn1]

I think one of the biggest reasons why the original Star Wars Trilogy, Rogue One, and the Mandalorian worked so well while the Prequel Trilogy, the Sequel Trilogy, and Solo struggled is expectations and how they (expectations) were handled. 

With the OT, Rogue One, and the Mandalorian people really didn’t have high expectations as to what would happen in them. They went in hoping for a good movie/series, but they didn’t have strong preconceived notions of how those stories would go or how the characters in them had to act. For the OT, everything was still new and nobody knew how the trilogy would end, so the teams making them didn’t have to play to audience expectations. They were free to create the story they wanted and tell it in the way that felt best to them. 

With Rogue One, it was the first Star Wars film outside of the main series, which meant that the teams were free to create a story that fit into the canon, but could be a self-contained piece of art unto itself. It didn’t have to be a massive space opera, so it could be a war film in ways that the Skywalker Saga couldn’t. It could be dark and gritty, with just a sliver of hope, and it would work because it didn’t have to advance the story of the Skywalkers. 

The Mandalorian had a similar freedom, since most people knew very little about Mandalorians going into the series. They knew Boba Fett, Jango Fett, and the clones, but not much else, which gave ample room for the creators to tell unique stories free of expectations. It also had the ability to explore the characters in a much deeper manner due to the longer format of television. They couldn’t have gotten away with a character-driven space western if they had based it on Boba Fett and placed it between Empire and RotJ. 

Because of the low expectations placed on the OT, Rogue One, and the Mandalorian had, they had the freedom to be incredible in ways that are hard to duplicate while also handling high expectations. In contrast, the Prequels, Sequels, and Solo all had high expectations to live up to and they all failed to meet them in very different ways. They also told poorer stories because of how they dealt with the expectations along the way.

For the Prequels, George Lucas smugly assumed that because he had created the OT he would be able to recreate that success on his own. He made the films that he wanted to make without any real regard for the expectations fans had for it and it shows. Because Lucas wanted to be the auteur of the series and do everything himself, he wasn’t open to constructive criticism and forged ahead with his mediocre writing and directing capabilities. This led to a trilogy that was decent, but didn’t have the same gravitas it could have had Lucas been open to changes that could better mitigate the expectations placed upon it.

On the other hand, there was the Sequel Trilogy which had an incredible amount of expectation. Unlike the Prequels, where George did whatever the hell he wanted, the Sequels were tightly controlled and relied heavily on what the executives thought the audience wanted to see. Unfortunately for those execs, “What Happens After the Rebellion” had been one of the largest topics in the Extended Universe prior to Disney’s acquisition. Because of this, most die-hard fans had strong opinions on what a sequel trilogy should be and rather than rework the previously accepted canon of the EU, Disney revoked the EU’s canon status and opted for a wholly original idea. And that’s where they went wrong. 

The Force Awakens was a decent opener that relied pretty heavily on homage to the OT, but it had enough of its own story that it could work - if the rest of the series paid it off. It played into some expectations, but also defied others. Which is exactly what the Last Jedi and the Rise of the Skywalker failed to do. Where JJ Abrams paid homage to the past, Rian Johnson took one look at what had been done and said “fuck that.” Johnson gave us a film that was stylistically incredible, but deviated so far from what was expected that it ultimately does not feel like it fits into the series it’s supposed to be in. Disney allowed this because they thought that subverting expectations in a huge way would play well with audiences. They didn’t anticipate how strong opinions on Rey’s parentage or Finn’s importance were or how audiences would turn on them for not providing a satisfying narrative. 

Because of the turn that TLJ took, the Rise of Skywalker was settled with the weight of paying off the narrative of the entire saga, which Disney flubbed because they tried to make everyone happy rather than tell a good story. The Rise of Skywalker ended up undermining much of what TLJ did by, essentially, making it the second and third film of the trilogy in one. Much of what happened in TRoS should’ve been in TLJ and that led to a movie that was both too big and not enough, since it had to compromise a lot of what it should have been in order to retcon TLJ. If the entire trilogy had had its major plot points laid out first and directors/writers had been given freedom to hit those plot points how they wanted, we likely would’ve had a stronger, more cohesive trilogy. But because Disney caters to what tests well rather than what tells a good story, they ended up with a disjointed trilogy that didn’t know what story it was telling, but looked really cool while doing it. 

And Solo? Just never should’ve been made. We didn’t need Han’s origin story or to see the Kessel Run because the OT already told us both of those stories. The OT *is* Han’s origin story and the Kessel Run is more fun as a throwaway line in Han’s brag about the Falcon. Han Solo is one of the most beloved characters of the past 100 years and it was nearly impossible for them to tell his origin and make it good. It would’ve been better for them to make a Lando Calrissian movie where Han Solo has a small part. Like, maybe he’s only in the film for the scene where Lando loses the Falcon. But Lando would have worked for an origin film for the same reason the Mandalorian worked: we knew some, but not much, which meant we could go into the film without high expectations of what it should be. 

#star wars #star wars original trilogy #star wars prequels #star wars prequel trilogy #star wars sequels #star wars sequel trilogy #skywalker saga #the skywalker saga #george lucas #disney #a new hope #the empire strikes back #return of the jedi #the phantom menace #attack of the clones #revenge of the sith #the force awakens #the last jedi #the rise of skywalker #rey #rey skywalker #finn #finn star wars #rey star wars #john boyega #daisy ridley #mark hamill #carrie fisher #harrison ford

[bayleafpaprika]

im having a st*r w*r* opinion about finn and k*lo r*en and how kyle essentially stolen what should’ve been finn’s character growth from being a brainwashed cog of the first order to a deserter to a leading member of the resistance. dude was literally kidnapped from his family and first order ideology was all he knew, and instead of giving him the deprogramming/redemption arc he deserved they gave it to a guy who not only actively chose to be a raging murderous asshole, but one who’s capable of and has done enough damage to climb to the very top of the star wars neo-n*zi hierarchy. regardless of how you feel about these characters as they are as figments of fiction, you have to see how fucking messed up it is for the geniuses behind the last jedi to look at the political reality of the last four years, look back at this internationally successful sequel trilogy of an iconic sci-fi series, and decide “yep, this is the right move and we’re gonna stand by it.” imagine thinking stephen miller deserves to be redeemed.

#i dont even give a shit about sw all that much outside of the mandalorian tbh #and maybe oscar isaac's face #this came about bc i thought of john boyega and how angry he was #bc he's fucking right #no i dont take criticism #*p

[potatowitch]

finding out that the star wars sequel series was written on the fly rather than actually planned out makes so much fucking sense but also pisses me off EVEN MORE because i watched the force awakens in 2016 and within a day of leaving the cinema had a fully fleshed out idea in my head of the direction the next two films would take and the plot points they would cover, all brainstormed in the shower. 16 year old me was more capable of writing a cohesive storyline than disney was. so here you are - i rewrote the sequels to be ten times better than what disney actually gave us. enjoy.

- after rey finds luke they train for a bit then he's like "gotta tell u something. u ever heard of mara jade? she's ur mum" "wait weren't u two dating for a bit" "yeah" "does that mean ur...." "...yeah"

- "why did u leave me on jakku?" "i didnt. she did. i only just learned u existed i wouldve come for u" "oh."

- "...can i call u dad or" "i would be honored if u did"

- meanwhile at the resistance base leia realises finn is force sensitive, gives him her old lightsaber she had in the comics

- because come on. rewatch the force awakens and tell me that man aint fuckin feeling the "shitloads of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced" when starkiller goes off

- and he picks up a lightsaber and instinctively knows how to use it?

- also: two main heroes in a star wars film being a queer coded woman and a queer coded black man.

- and the whole "used to be a stormtrooper and defected, becomes a jedi" is a TOTALLY NEW storyline? not some tired old "white boy villain is a dick for three movies then suddenly turns Good TM right at the end" trope

- make rey explicitly asexual. she's beautiful and smart and got abs that make everyone who sees them MELT but she is NOT INTERESTED in anything but JUSTICE and PLATONIC HUGS

- finn and poe are also making out because come on, disney, if u wanted to show you're becoming more progressive having a loving interracial gay romance is the fucking easiest way to do it. BB8 has two dads and they share The Jacket

- turns out finn is a kenobi because u cannot tell me obi wan didnt Fuck. jedi code says "dont form attachments" but watch the clone wars - obi wan plays fast and loose w the jedi code at the best of times. now we got a skywalker and a kenobi working together being best buds again, THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.

- the destruction of starkiller has crippled the first order. don't fucking look at me like "the resistance just won a major, VERY VISIBLE victory but OOO no somehow they're still very low on numbers and infrastructure" NO. the public destruction of starkiller has earned the resistance an influx of allies. the republic has started publicly supporting them. the first order spent years building that thing and now not only is all that time, effort and MONEY gone, they lost a shitload of staff and military personnel when it blew up

- "the first order is rich" is a plot point I DO NOT UNDERSTAND because it directly contradicts what's going on in the expanded universe books. the first order was built from remnants of the empire that had been banished to the outer reaches of the galaxy to live out of broken down, shitty old star destroyers.

- it's the reason hux, who was raised in a decrepit old academy in the ass end of the universe by an abusive father, is SO anti republic. in his head, it's the reason he starved as a child. it's the reason his mother is dead. it's the reason he had to be raised by a father that beat him. his hatred for the republic is PERSONAL

- disney learn how to write a good villain challenge? hux EASILY could have been terrifying AND sympathetic

- hux and kylo now have to deal with how absolutely PISSED snoke is that both of them failed with starkiller. hux gets force choked and threatened. kylo gets snoke very painfully rooting around in his head. it is emphasised that snoke's relationship with these two is downright abusive.

- somewhere in there, they realise that the whole five years they've known each other snoke has been deliberately pitting them against each other and sneakily forcing them to undermine each other's authority

- they realise it was snoke's shitty leadership that lead to the destruction of starkiller. they realise that maybe they'd be better off on their own

- the two of them plot to murder snoke themselves. while this is happening, the resistance is happily building an army, gathering resources, and forming alliances. luke and rey have reunited with the resistance and now rey and finn are both happily training with luke.

- snoke dies. hux decides to take the mantle of emperor. kylo LETS HIM because he realises he doesn't know shit about fuck when it comes to leading anything more than his knights. has a crisis of confidence about how useful he actually is, then hux decides he wants to keep the knights of ren around as his personal "fuck up the resistance" squad.

- the two of them working together turn out to be fucking terrifying, competent villains. the films have short, five to ten minute sections where they explore their VERY SIMILAR traumas to make them sympathetic WITHOUT making them seem like "uwu they're not actually bad people" because THEY'RE STILL AWFUL GENOCIDAL MASS MURDERERS

- on the kylo trauma side: it's made obvious in the books that from about age 6 snoke has been in his head deliberately grooming him away from his family. make that obvious in the films. make its impact on kylo obvious in how unsure of himself he actually is. don't make his "redemption arc" one where he suddenly goes light side. give him a bastardisation arc where he realises his whole life he has never made a choice - and then make THE FIRST ORDER his choice. (it is the wrong choice! emphasise that! but make him MAKE THAT CHOICE)

- the resistance thinks they're doing well. they have two new jedi. they've seen very little of the first order outside of small operations that they've been squashing. they think "hm. starkiller's loss must have crippled them. we're doing well!"

- until they learn actually. they've got an emperor now. and the commander of the knights of ren is INCREDIBLY loyal to him. the first order is PISSED OFF and VENGEFUL. they're back with a force. they've started invading and subjugating planets even with their forces cut as thin as they are because hux is a military mastermind and kylo and the knights of ren are a fucking TERRIFYING unit in combat.

- also why did disney decide to present hux in the films as a weak pissbaby when he probably topped his class in all combat situations and fights dirty in close quarters. man can SNIPE. man will bite your fucking finger off if you manage to disarm him. he is a 6 foot beanpole and he will kick your ass

- kylo has a crisis about actually having to kill his mother, uncle and cousin. he still feels a bit bad about han - despite everything, he still loves them and is struggling. he actually confides in his knights about this. we get to see that the knights of ren have a found family dynamic with their commander and they comfort him.

- kylo realises it will be painful to murder the last of his bio family but it must be done, because he's come around to hux's view that the resistance and the republic are standing in the way of true peace in the galaxy. he actually believes that reinstating an empire is the best thing for the galaxy. this makes him a more effective villain because he actually believes what he's doing is right.

- more stormtroopers defect to the resistance. finn is there to welcome them and help them adjust. there's a couple of lowkey force sensitive troopers in there too. we learn more about how horrible, soul crushing and traumatic stormtrooper training is. this is a good way to keep painting the first order as an organisation that violates human rights and the geneva convention at every turn.

- the first order makes up for this loss of troops in picking up recruits from the planets they've taken over in the outer rim because they've been providing stability. again - it is SO EASY to write the first order as sympathetic villains WHO ARE STILL FASCIST ASSHOLES. this would've been such a good opportunity to show the moral argument between stability vs freedom. show the flaws in the republic because they do exist!! we see that throughout the ENTIRE expanded universe! every iteration of the republic fails in some way!

- the fight against the first order becomes increasingly more difficult, but they're actually on pretty even ground. it doesn't make sense to me that disney decided to go for the route of "the resistance should've been squished easily by the might of the first order but uwu kylo can't make up his mind and thats what saves them!" that is not a compelling storyline! they are relatively evenly matched and the resistance only JUST comes out on top!

- kylo kills luke in actual combat, not just "luke randomly dissolves for ... no good reason?". this hits the resistance HARD. rey and finn have to struggle with their desire for revenge. leia realises her son is beyond help. it nearly breaks her. she has a moment where she feels like she has lost everything. poe has to step in to remind her she still has him. it is revealed that he joined the resistance after the first order killed his family HORRIBLY when he was a teenager and he and leia sort of have a mother/son relationship.

- this is also a good way to juxtapose hux and kylo. they took their trauma and it made them awful. poe takes his trauma and it makes him kind. it makes him want to protect people from what he went through. also gets rid of the "haha we made the latino man have a drug dealer background" bullshit that disney did

- poe also has to comfort his boyfriend and best friend and remind them that they are fighting to make the galaxy a better place, NOT for revenge. then they have a discussion about "yeah, don't make revenge your main priority, but the jedi were a bit wrong in saying that you shouldn't enjoy it anyway. it's going to feel good to fucking murder kylo and that's okay". acknowledgement that the old jedi code was garbage and too restrictive for actual PEOPLE to follow it.

- kylo still can't kill leia or chewie. we get flashbacks of her singing to him, braiding his hair, comforting him after nightmares. we see baby ben riding on chewie's shoulders. seeing the conflict between kylo recognising his family loved him and still choosing to be a villain would have RUINED ME. he tells hux this, expecting hux to shoot him for it. hux understands - he had a mother, once. the republic killed her.

- (they actually didn't. she was an imperial slave and was probably left behind when an imperial settlement was being razed. the only reason hux actually survived was because he was his father's only heir. there's a whole spiel in the books about brendol going "this kid is a piece of shit bastard i dont want him" and imperial officials being like "the empire needs kids. go pick him up")

- hux decides to kill leia instead. he nearly dies doing so because woman is STILL a force to be reckoned with even at this age. remember she is actually trained to use a lightsaber AND guns. the only reason hux doesn't die? kylo steps in at the last minute and kills his own mother. he's made his choice. he mourns, and then he steels. there is nothing left to pull him to the light side anymore.

- anakin has given up trying to bring his grandson to the light from beyond the grave. him and obi wan are focusing their force ghost attention on rey and finn. now luke and leia are both there too. we get the same "all my jedi ancestors are rooting for me" moment that disney gave us, except now it's shared between rey and finn.

- the two of them plus chewie cut through the knights of ren until they get to kylo. he kicks the living shit out of them, but they manage to kill him. rey earns some gnarly, sexy scars. chewie needs a hug and goddamn does he get one.

- poe is the one to kill hux. he's not just doing it for the galaxy, he's doing it for leia. the first order already stole his first family from him. he won't lose his second family to them. bonus points if BB8 joins the fight and like ... tases hux in the leg a few times.

- we get some gratuitous "c3p0 and r2 are sneaking through an imperial base and fucking shit up but like, badly because 3p0 never stops talking" scenes

- you want to bring rose tico into it? she's head of the resistance's infiltration team. she's with the droids taking down shields, stabbing people in the back, freeing prisoners, stealing plans, sowing chaos. she's the one who finally takes down phasma.

- without their emperor and the knights of ren, the new empire crumbles pretty quickly. the resistance has taken HEAVY losses but they have won. we get a very beautiful funeral scene for luke and leia. there's a gorgeous group hug between finn, rey, poe, chewie and bb8. poe and finn smooch against the sunset.

- we see finn and rey going into crystal caves to get kyber crystals. poe, chewie, bb8, r2 and 3P0 wait outside the cave in the falcon for them to be done picking up their crystals, then we see finn and rey inside the falcon building their new lightsabers with guidance from a bunch of force ghosts. we get to see that rey has chosen to decorate the inside of the falcon with a bunch of potted plants so she can be surrounded by greenery at all time. the found family aesthetic is STRONG

- rey builds a saber pike. it comes out golden. finn builds a standard single blade saber that comes out white, like ahsoka's. gold to emphasise protection of the weak and the perfect blend of combat and scholarly pursuits. white to emphasise free will from both the jedi and the sith. it is emphasised that these two will NOT be your traditional jedi.

- we see an epilogue where poe is working to help shift the republic's focus from political squabbling to actually protecting its citizens. he leads reconstruction efforts, helps establish more of a presence in the outer rim, constantly fights for moving resources from protecting the republic's assests to providing food, shelter and safety to its citizens.

- finn is constantly by his side. we see him protecting his new husband, on the front lines destroying remnants of the empire and the first order, and using his combat prowess to absolutely murder slave owners.

- rey has taken to training new force sensitives with chewie by her side, however she recognises the jedi code has been failing force sensistives for millennia, and instead her teachings are more aligned with the grey jedi philosophy. she recognises that people feel anger, hate, grief - and that they are all valid emotions. it's what you choose to do with them that is important.

- she actively encourages personal connection, believing that loving your friends and family is righteous and the true path to the light side. her apprentices all adore her, and she is always there for them - she'll listen to their worries, from something as small as "i am 13 years old and my first crush just rejected me" to "i am a former slave coming to you after the first order murdered my family and tortured me. i am having nightmares and am afraid of the anger i feel".

- she encourages apprentices to stay in contact with their family, and she becomes that family for the ones who have lost theirs.

- you get the feeling that this time, peace in the galaxy is actually going to last. anakin, obi wan, luke and leia look on from the Force in pride at their children and grandchildren. they did good. they can finally rest.

- the sequels have made personal choice a major theme. finn chooses to defect. poe and rey choose to be kind, when they have every reason not to be. hux and kylo make the wrong choices. there's no flip flopping like a dead fish between good and evil until the very last second. the lines between kindness and freedom and hatred and subjugation are clearly drawn again and again.

- i sit in the cinema after the screen goes black and i weep. i am satisfied. this was a fitting end for a franchise i have loved for most of my life.

#star wars #star wars sequel trilogy #anti disney #they really fucked up one of my favourite things and i will never forgive them #star wars fix it #i was a literature nerd in school #can you tell? #stormpilot #finnpoe

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Star Wars Wednesday

(Self-indulgent fix-it of the sequel trilogy? On my blog? More likely than you'd think! As I often do with the ST, I'm really only using characters introduced in those movies that I liked)

The reunion was a raucous one, every bit as full of exuberance as the aftermath of the Endor victory. Luke wove through the crowd, shaking hands, hugging old friends, even submitting to the occasional hair tussle.

There appeared to be some kind of conspiracy between Han, Lando, and Chewbacca to prove to themselves that Luke hadn't gotten too tall to do that to. (Han had been a little annoyed the day Ben got too tall for him to easily ruffle his hair. Now Luke had to take his place, apparently.)

"Luke! Get over here, you old hermit!"

Luke laughed as Wedge pulled him into a tight hug. "Wedge! I should've known you'd only be on time for the after party."

Wedge shoved him playfully. "Says the man who vanished for ten years! Don't tell me you were stuck in another swamp?"

"Uh..."

"Luke. No. You weren't!"

With a sheepish look, Luke shrugged. "Wasn't a swamp, no. It was an island inhabited by cantankerous groundskeepers and mischievous ghosts. Technically only half stranded. It's just that my mission ended up taking way longer than it was supposed to."

Wedge Antilles stared at him a moment, then broke into loud laughter. "Only you, Skywalker! Only you!"

They were interrupted by Han pushing through the crowd to reach them. "Hey Luke! Take over for me, will ya? I need a break from all this socializing."

Of course, Luke knew what he really meant. He was going to see Leia and Ben in the infirmary. They had demolished the so-called Knights of Ren during the final battle, but not without sustaining injuries. Nothing a few weeks of rest (and a lot of therapy) wouldn't fix. Luke was just happy nobody had lost a limb this time.

"Alright, tell them I said hi," Luke said.

"Tell 'em yourself," Han grumbled goodnaturedly.

The celebration showed no signs of slowing even hours later. Luke found himself a quiet corner with Kaydel-Ko, Rose, and Rey. They could just see Finn over the heads of a few pilots, looking as though he'd like to join them. Unfortunately, the young general was still being mobbed. Luke pulled a wry face at his apprentice and laughed when Finn crossed his eyes at him in return.

"Well, do you think I'll actually get to retire this time?" Luke joked, leaning back against a tree.

"Speak for yourself," Kaydel-Ko said primly. "I'm just getting started!"

Rey hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose I am, too. At least, when Master Leia is on her feet again."

Rose propped her feet up on a tool box and leaned against her friend's shoulder. "What do you want to do when your Jedi training is done? Are you going to fly with the Solos?"

"I don't know," Rey teased, "Maybe I'll take up moisture farming."

This earned her a rather dire look from Luke.

"Don't even joke like that, kid," he groaned.

#fix it au #sequel trilogy fix-it #Star Wars Wednesday #Luke Skywalker #Leia Organa #Han Solo #Lando Calrissian #Chewbacca #everybody lives #Ben was never Kylo Ren except to catfish the First Order #Poe is the new leader of Rogue Squadron #Rey and Finn are both adopted Skywalkers #Lando is going to adopt Jannah just so he can bestow his thousand capes on her if no one stops him #Chewbacca looks around and realizes his Irresponsible Human pack has grown exponentially #he's not sure how he's going to explain that to his wife when he next visits home

[winchesternova-k]

Iden is right there. Want a lead with color? Play Battlefront 2. Stop lying and saying that was the most requested thing. It never was. If so, how comes Jedi Fallen Order did as well as it did with a white lead? Despite you people claiming you was going to boycott. How comes it’s getting a sequel? How comes that same white lead is getting a whole franchise? How comes it was nominated for a BATFA. I don’t even want to come across as rude but they gave you a game with a WOC and people ignored her and now she’s barely even talked about. It’s about the money. Disney are business people.

this is a lot of assumptions for someone who doesn’t seem to know what they’re talking abt. have u spoken to star wars fans of colour recently bc yes, it is the most requested thing. did u see what happened w finn? or did u ignore that?

u have literally no idea whether i’ve played battlefront or not. i haven’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that there should be more than one lead of colour. if i had that wouldn’t change the fact that i can still criticise other parts of the franchise. i adore tfa but im incredibly critical of the rest of the sequel trilogy and it’s mess of bigotry and abuse apologism bc surprise! i can like things and be critical of them at the same time!

this is the first star wars game i’ve played and there WERE a lot of requests for the lead to be a poc. i literally saw it. i don’t recall anyone saying to boycott but sure keep that victim complex up 😋

and what the fuck do u mean by “you people”? bc that feels distinctly racist. leave poc alone and let them be upset w disney (i’m white too which just shows that u assume everyone who calls out racism must be a poc which is interesting, and by interesting i mean racist)

also, i literally fucking said in my post that cameron monaghan did a good job. i love him as an actor and he did a good job. disney still should’ve hired a person of colour.

i said NOTHING abt the game’s content. the plot is sound and the chs are good. doesn’t change the fact that disney’s fucking racist. even if i agreed that them hiring another white man wasn’t problematic, there’s still the whitewashing in game and the cultural appropriation woven into the entire canon. and the second sister who is acting as cal’s foil is a woc! having a single person of colour from any race or ethnicity in a piece of media and making them evil and have to be defeated by a white person is always racist! and that’s just from where i am at chapter three.

battefront is a completely different type of game. i literally didn’t know abt it until recently. disney also did next to no ads for it so when it didn’t do as well bc of the lack of ads shitheels like u would say white leads r more popular. then they can say “ooh look! white ppl sell better!” that’s a pretty common marketing technique amongst racists. netflix has done it repeatedly. the lead for battlefront should be more popular, but do u know what i saw the last time i saw an ad for battlefront? rey. and the time before that? obi wan. this is literally the first i’ve heard abt there being a woc as the lead. the only ads i ever saw for it emphasised the fighting rather than the story, which from a quick browse was apparently badly written. the ads made it sound like it was in a similar style to injustice

also r u rlly saying that poc should have to play a shooter game as opposed to an action game to have a lead of colour bc that’s racist pal. poc should be able to play any genre of star wars game (or any franchise) and find a ch of colour and guess what! they can’t do that! bc disney!! r racist!!

ur right the battlefront lead should be more popular and well known and fandom should acknowledge her more. she should’ve gotten better from both disney and fandom. that doesn’t change the fact that cal should’ve been played by a moc.

and srsly, ONE lead of colour? as opposed to HOW MANY white leads of the years? get over urself. poc deserve better than that and u know it

also pal, if u think going “but,, but the money!!1” is going to make an ANTICAPITALIST sympathise w disney u came to the wrong fucking blog. everyone should do the right thing even if it costs u profit.

anyway disney know that poc leads r just as profitable as white ones. y’all r v quick to forget how profitable black panther was

and surprise surprise sometimes ppl who want more diversity still play games that don’t have it. what exactly is ur point?

but sure, keep telling urself that a man of colour wouldn’t have done as good a job 🤷 ur racist and lying and it shows and YES ur rude

tldr; disney didn’t advertise battlefront having a woc lead which is shitty. fandom also erased her which is equally shitty. one lead of colour in the entire franchise is not enough and cal should’ve been a moc. fuck disney and their corporate greed.

eta: tfa is also a goddamn racist mess, i meant to say that i was critical of it as well as the rest of the sequel trilogy and my adhd made me forget fvgfvg

#star wars #fallen order #cal kestis #anti disney #alex talks #fandom racism #asks #anonymous #if anyone knows anything abt battlefront feel free to add on #bc literally until right now i had no idea there was a woc lead bc all the ads featured white ppl and that it was a fighting game #like injustice #so if that’s not true disney certainly didn’t want anyone to know abt it #anon if i catch u sending similar messages to bloggers of colour i’ll steal ur kneecaps #also what kind of gotcha did anon think this was? what a mess #long post #gaming

[oneinathousand]

Every so often I think back to how disappointed I am about how they handled Rey in the Sequel Trilogy. She doesn’t really have a concrete personality other than “she’s heroic and nice and stuff”. She gets very emotional and has a tendency to run straight into things without thinking, and that could’ve been a character flaw but she never faces consequences for it.

You know what they should’ve done? Play with the fact that Rey has lived most of her life with no guardians in the desert. Luke had an aunt and uncle and Anakin had a loving mother, but Rey didn’t have anyone for a good portion of her life. The closest thing she had was alien Simon Pegg and their relationship in TFA was like one between a volunteer worker and a boss.

With no one raising her, and with seemingly no friends, Rey should’ve been totally socially awkward. Sure, she interacts with people, but it’s mostly only when she needs to. So I thought about handling it like this:

I’m not saying to make her like Tarzan, but rather - for example - when she meets Finn for the first time, her words to him should be friendly but laconic, straight to the point. She wouldn’t give a formal introduction right away with a handshake, because Jakku wouldn’t really be a place where people exchange those sorts of pleasantries. Even when she decides to stick with Finn, she’d probably have trouble opening up to him and the other characters because no one ever asks her how she feels and what her dreams are.

And by having her be socially awkward, the other characters like Han and Leia wouldn’t instantly be enthralled by her. Han would probably be distrustful of this wild child and be worried that she’ll get herself into trouble.

Rey’s biggest character flaw should be her emotions and instincts getting the best of her, just like it was with Luke and Anakin. On Jakku she’s used to having to make split decisions to protect herself, but now she’s up against threats that can defend themselves and fight back. She has to make mistakes and suffer the consequences. Like getting injured. Her Jedi training should help her learn how to focus and think about how to approach conflicts differently.

Even adding all these flaws into the equation, Rey’s biggest strength can still be her kindness. Even though she lives on Jakku she doesn’t believe that everyone should be out for themselves. She’s heard the stories of Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion and looks up to them. Maybe she has memories of her parents telling her to be a good person, and she wants to make them proud. Even though she doesn’t know BB-8 and Finn, she still helps them out because she wants to make a difference.

I feel like I could add a lot more, but I’ll leave it here.

#stars wars #rey #tros #the rise of skywalker #sequel trilogy #sw negativity

[dangerouslysmartslime]

Let’s Write About While Watching: LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special (2020)

This is a celebration of Life Day (Winter Veil tiding) only for the Sequel Trilogy. Rey is the main character here, instead of a big mess with the wookiee family of Chewbacca. With freedom restored Life Day could once again be celebrated, so to Kashyyk again we go. Finn and Rey are working on training with a lightsaber, that Rey senses force potential in Finn, and Finn ends up not “letting go” as she tries to read the ancient texts. When traveling down a wrong path, one must find another, a new path. That she is actually challenged. She ain’t a Mary Sue you hacks! There are other parts of the crew post Rise of Skywalker for celebrating Life Day, and Rey continues to study the Jedi texts as she doesn’t know what she is missing. As she is not as nmater in the forc,e of both darkness and light. And this is where I wish that she had a teacher, whether of Light like Luke or Dark like the OC Aliana (not Kylo Ren, he’s shite). And apparently there is a prophecy on Kordoku to help them both with training. That Life Day is today so they have to go. Chewie is knowing about the fact that family and spending time with each other. So Rey is trying to balance training and spending time with people. BB8 leaves and then a sir cries and says “I have a plan” and they know that his plans are terrible. So he resolves to make the biggest party ever with the best food. Rey didn’t take Finn with her to the Jedi Temple on Kordoku. It is a very snowy place with an Aurora Borealis all around it, then again such is probably not the mame for winter lights in general, just for Northern lights or such. Rey looks through the ruins and finds the symbol the Jedi are known for and inside is a green Kyber Crystal wrapped in linen, and with waving it she created a portal. So her and BB8 walk in to explore what’s next. A force gateway to… Empire Strikes Back where Luke was training with Yoda. She found that such is true and she thinks that it is a lot more interesting than it really is. That she could learn something from Master and Apprentice. “Do or do not, there is no try” “Participation trophies for Jedi, there are not” That is an amusing quote, and then there’s a sea monster which is right behind Rey, so they had to get out, and then to the next place. Watch other Jedi masters train their students. Do or do not and I’m going to do, he says. Obi-wan and Qui-Gonn Jinn are together at the start of The Phantom Menace, only for the appearance of Attack of the Clones where they see Anakin and Obi-wan talking about the fact that Anakin loves Padme. Jumping to Luke, where she ends up in his cockpit and they still need to shoot. “Listen to your master, use the force!” The shot goes through, which guiding a shot into the exhaust port is rather odd. Technically Rey did help him blow up the Death Star, and she thought that it was awesome. Switching back to Finn, Chewie, Rose, and… Captain turned general… He ends up burning a  porg. Rey reflects on all of the things that she saw with the time traveling Kyber crystal and it was rather intersting, so then she jumped into a new portal caused by the crystal and then there is a monologue from Sidious. Death Star Two is commented as derivative, Starkiller Base was thought of by Vader, “Galaxy’s Best Emperor” only for Vader to be send into the future with Rey to find what happened. Return of the Jedi Vader vs Rise of Skywalker Rey… Interesting. Then the family of Chewmbacca comes and they start getting into a ruckus. Then I findally remembered the camptain turned general’s name is Poe Dameron. “All too easy, now I have the… what is this thing.” Quite humorous, and the fact that they are fighting and Vader didn’t know from what point in time she was so he assumed that it was during RotJ. “Impressive, I almost feel bad having to destroy you.” There are two Darth Vader’s because of there being RotJ Vader and ESB Vader, so they end up fighting. They say that their skills are impressive, only to conclude that they are the same being and agree to kill Rey. Rey runs off along with a Snowtrooper, where the RotJ Vader follows Rey as they appear on Mustafar where Anakin and Obi-wan were fighting in Revenge of the Sith. This is entertaining, only for The Child with The Mandalorian to show up in their adventures so Rey and Vader agree that The Child is cute. Only to continue fighting. Clone Wars have two clones talking about hating traffic duty, they joined the chase with Pod Racers from The Phantom Menace’s Pod Race scene. Then there are some from the ESB Hoth base, space battles, only to appear in A New Hope’s opening shot with Luke Skywalker drinking blue milk and a bunch of people from different points in time fighting amongst each other. Different versions of Jedi and Sith, clone troopers and stormtroopers. Only for Luke from ANH to chase after them and the key is taken by BB8 and then Vader is almost done taking it and the mug… He succeeds so now there’s ANH Luke and Rey in the temple. Kylo Ren is found dancing around saying that he’s Surpreme Leader, and Hux ends up perving on him. Palpatine and Vader are found by him and it is commented that Kylo Ren is a total fanboy. Palpatine doesn’t doesn’t rule anything, so Kylo is told to put on a shirt. Luke and Rey end up talking and Luke is at the point in time where he doesn’t know who Darth Vader is or the fact that he is Luke’s father… Although Vader did hint at that in a conversation. Kylo Ren finishes the story of RotJ to Rise of Skywalker. Kylo Ren speaks of the fact that he didn’t kill his master by Reactor Shaft, but didn’t tell Palpatine that he would kill his master in a different way. So now Palpatine is trying to work on stealing the time to have an Infinite Empire… Switch back to Finn and Poe, Finn sings Huttese Jingle Bells. Rather entertaining, as Poe Dameron. Palpatine likes everything that Kylo says, even things which Vader already said like Starkiller Base being seen as a good name when said by Kylo but when said by Vader it was a ‘lame name’ (earlier in the special). One thing that Disney does know how to deal with is making fun of the movie series along with the fan perception of it, while having cheesy bits like Huttese Jingle Bells, just as in the original Holiday Special Luke, Leia, and Han were on Kashyyyk to spend time with Chewbacca for Life Day. Skywalker is on the forest moon of Endor, so Vader is told to go and get him. Sending Vader down to pick up Luke when it would go to the same chain of events? Well, Palpatine now has Kylo Ren instead of Vader. Voda’s force ghost appears to Rey while she’s moping to herself, and it is noted that failure is important, to be a better student and a better teacher. One for doing a reminder of A Chrismas Tale from Charles Dickens. So focused on the books that she forgot the most important part. Useless knowledge is without connection. That there are friends that people have, and not just the connection between master and Padawan. Luke then talks to Rey about what was being said, while kind of just repeating it. “Had the power al along” So then she alights kyber crystals and they swirl together, along with holding the hands of ANH Luke to create a large portal using those crystals back to ANH. Kylo Ren like having a swirly chair. It is noted that Kylo Ren loves his grandpa so doesn’t want to send him down the shaft, two lightsabers of Kylo and Rey, then there is ANH Luke throwing milk at Kylo Ren, only for BB8 to stop him and then Rey to stop him. Uncle Luke “Uncle” “What did you mean by destroy Vader too?” Stop everyone in a  black cape. “All of us, make with the fighty fighty!” So now there’s two versions of Luke around, Kylo, and Rey, as Palpatine is a pain in the ass. “Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy” “Really should’ve seen that coming” Only for Kylo Ren to fall back into his chair and he gets really angsty, destroying his chair with his lightsaber. Now it’s Rey, Vader, Rey, and Luke… “You’ve failed before, you’ve failed again.” I do enjoy the jokes that Palpatine has, only for Rey to stop him by having the help of Vader and Luke? “Luke, do you remember the first Jedi lesson you ever knew?” That she already knows and then Palpatine is still thrown into the reactor shaft. “Hey, what’s with the sweater” only say “Happy Life Day” Then Palpatine reflects on the fact that he a complete asshole and is always so mean, so he gets a Scrooge Reflection while he is falling to his death that being on the Dark Side and ruling the galaxy isn’t that good of an idea. Which is rather amusing but for something to actually come of that would be odd. Where Luke drinks his blue milk and reflects on what just happened, as Rey sends everyone else back to their proper time, puts the crystal back, and then gets back to the Millenium Falcon to the Life Day party. Rey actually sows up and speaks of the fact that she actually made it back in time, only for BB8 to tell the adventure to C3PO. There was a reflection that Finn is ready to become a  Jedi and Rey to train him, as for the events, snow on Kashyyyk and Finn accidently destroys the table with the lightsaber. Plus it’s a yellow lightsaber, which is traditionally mainly used by Jedi Temple Guards. Well… That was the end and it was quite interesting. That plus the fact that apparently another LEGO special for Star Wars is a Battle Droid RO-GR which came from Clone Wars to fighting the First Order.

#LEGO Star Wars #Star Wars #star wars holiday special #Renari'sReviews

[lifblogs]

Angstpril 2021: Day 22 - "I had no choice!"

Calling Me

read on ao3 1589 words sequels, reylo, rose tico, finn, poe dameron, bb-8, angst, enemies-to-lovers, arguments, the dark side of the force

“I had no choice!”

“Didn’t you?” Rey asked Kylo. She had been meditating, hovering, trying to hear the voices of past Jedi, but then she’d been interrupted. By him.

She had lowered herself to the ground, and made sure she was ensconced in the trees and underbrush, not wanting to give away where she was in case he could see her surroundings.

His face contorted into a snarl, and it hurt her to look at it, because part of her knew that wasn’t him. It couldn’t be, yet she hated him, even while her heart broke for him.

“You were the one who ignited the lightsaber. You made the choice to kill him, to kill Han Solo.”

His face fell, gaze softening, and she sensed hurt, regret. It pulsed from him through the Force, and straight into her. She nearly reached out her hand to him, but she just crossed her legs, and pulled her knees in close. No, she wouldn’t be taking his hand. Not Kylo’s.

“You’re right,” he said, sitting down with her, just a couple feet away. “I did.”

Tears started building up in his eyes, and Rey couldn’t stand it. Because she knew him. She’d touched him, and she’d seen who he was, seen what he could be. That darkness he carried around, it wasn’t him. It’d been placed there by Snoke. She’d seen it. Now she wanted to break him free of it, but the thought terrified her. Their last meeting had brought so much pain and turmoil. And then he’d attacked Crait. He’d given up, surely. But looking at him now, she wasn’t so assured of that. He seemed almost child-like, lost.

Blast, she sure knew the feeling.

Snoke’s throne room flashed through her mind, all red like blood, and pulsing with anger and fear. Darkness. And yet there’d been light for a time… from him, flowing through both of them. She’d wanted to cultivate that light, to save him, but she’d had to save herself instead. Sometimes Rey regretted that choice, even though she knew she could never bring suffering upon others.

Their eyes locked, and she knew they were both seeing Snoke, seeing how Kylo had been nothing to him but a puppet to torture and play with and use. The man in front of her, he was lost. So lost.

“I-I’m sorry, I—”

“No, you’re right.”

“But Snoke—”

“Yes, he… got inside me. Twisted me.” He paused, and then his face turned cruel, yet his eyes, his eyes were the same, filled with a goodness she knew was there, a light that she had touched. “But now he’s gone, and I’m who I’m meant to be. But you, you’re not.”

She bristled at his words, and resisted the urge to shift backwards, even while part of her wanted to lunge forwards and tackle him—was that even possible right now?

She filed the thought away for a later time. But she couldn’t possibly fight him now. It would only play into his hand.

He’s the enemy, Rey. Remember that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she spat.

“The dark side.”

She rose to her feet, lightsaber hilt out and pointed at him. He slowly stood up, and this close to her, his towering height was beyond imposing.

“You’ll take my hand this time. I’ll turn you. I know it.”

“Is that what you’re trying to do now?” Rey accused, thumb fingering the ignition on the hilt. “Turn me?”

“It’s what you want. I’ve seen it.”

Rey snarled, and turned from him. “You’re seeing things that aren’t there, Kylo.”

“And so are you.”

She whirled on him, hilt right up against his throat, face set in a fierce grimace, teeth bared. “Don’t pretend around me! We… We shared something, and still do. You’re frightened, you’re hiding. I won’t let you.”

Kylo Ren reached out his gloved hand, and he gently touched Rey’s wrist. She should’ve let go, or should’ve hit the ignition. She could’ve ended it, could’ve done something. But when he touched her, she was helpless, seeing endless possibilities crumbling to dust, becoming nothing in the Force. But surely that was his will. Not the truth. It couldn’t be the truth. It wasn’t.

Fire burned through her, a fierce fire that she felt whenever she was near him. Yet it immobilized her. He gently moved her hand away from him, having the hilt point downwards beside his feet.

“Rey—” he said, reaching out a hand as if he was going to caress her cheek.

“No, don’t touch me.”

He let go, stepping back, leaving her breathless, and horribly confused. What in the galaxy was she doing? Talking to the new Supreme Leader? It wasn’t right, it wasn’t good, and yet… she’d seen herself on that throne, she’d seen the flaring red. Maybe… Just maybe, he was right.

No.

No, he couldn’t be.

She wouldn’t let him be.

Yet what of him? She couldn’t… She couldn’t leave him, do nothing. He needed help. She saw it in him even in the way he looked at her now. He was filled with longing, hopelessness.

Anger.

Fear.

Rey felt it too, and knew it was her own just as it was his.

“What you did—what you’re doing,” she began, “—it’s vile, and evil. And it’s hurting you. I can see it. You’re suffering.”

“You see nothing!” he spat.

Suddenly, he was reaching, grabbing something, and his mask came into view. It was full of cracks that seemed to bleed. With the mask on, it was as if he was another person, as if he was hiding. He was hiding.

“You’re wrong. I see through you, Kylo Ren. I see Ben Solo. I’m going to save you, and if I can’t—”

“If you can’t, I’ll turn you,” he said, his voice coming out deep and dark.

“No. Never.”

“We’ll see.”

The connection broke off, and Rey was left standing all alone in the forest, sweating slightly from her encounter, her head pounding. The very Force around her and in her felt empty now that he was gone, and she found her breaths coming to her in deep gasps. Nothing lingered between them for now, but she’d seen him. She was sure of it. She’d seen Ben.

“Rey?” a voice called.

She jumped at it, and quickly turned. But she instantly relaxed upon seeing Rose’s kind face. There was concern there, but she didn’t voice anything, seeming to somehow notice that Rey didn’t want to talk.

“Finn and Poe are back, and they have information from the spy.”

Even as she said that, said Finn’s name, Rey could hear the hurt, the unrequited love, if that’s what love even was. It had to be. Rose had fought for him. And wasn’t Rey trying to do the same thing for those she loved?

“Right, thank you. I’ll—I’ll be right there,” she responded, taken aback by everything. It was all moving too quickly.

Rose nodded, and Rey stepped closer. “Rose?”

“Hmm?”

“Finn does love you, you know.” Why was she saying that? Did she just not want Rose to feel as lost and empty as she did?

Rey, you fool, they’re hardly the same thing.

Still, she forged on, going up to her, and brushing their shoulders together, “I know it’s not in the way you wanted, but he still cares. He has a big heart. And between you and me, I think you deserve someone with more of an attention span.”

Rose smiled and even gave a tiny laugh at that.

“And you deserve someone who doesn’t leave you hurt.”

“He won’t,” she responded, no idea why she was even sharing this. And how did Rose know? “Not always.”

“Rey—” Rose began, voice darkening.

“I know.” She swallowed back her confusion, and loneliness, and then put an arm around Rose. “Come on, let’s go check on the boys. Beebee-Eight, you coming?”

The droid appeared from the underbrush, where he’d been sulking since the tree incident. He was a little scratched, but otherwise fine. Just moody. He rolled over to them, and then went past her, heading straight for where Rey could now see smoke emanating through the trees.

Blast it, the Falcon.

BB-8 whirred and beeped his derision at her, and as she chased after him, Rose right behind her, she said, “Hey, you know I didn’t mean it!” They kept going. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? And—”

She paused at seeing the Millennium Falcon, Rose pulling up beside her.

Oh Force, it was on fire!

Anger rose in Rey, and a small part of her managed to forget about Kylo Ren—Ben Solo. She had a job to do now. She had no choice.

Yet would that choice tear her apart?

She pushed it from her mind as BB-8 went up to Poe and started yelling about her. An argument began and there was no time to think about her wants and desires.

She was the last Jedi, a Resistance fighter. She had a job to do, and people to save. Ben couldn’t get in the way of that. Something akin to grief stabbed through her, but she shoved it down, and down, and down. She yelled at Poe, till Finn came along, and hugged her. He hugged Rose too. Maybe things weren’t all bad.

But once she heard the news about the Final Order, she knew that was a lie.

This mission to Exogol—she had no choice. This was it. She would face the Final Order. And she would face him.

#angstpril2021 #fic #day 22 #'I had no choice!' #star wars #star wars sequels #reylo #reylo fanfiction #poe dameron #finn #rose tico #bb-8 #star wars fanfiction #the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker fanfiction #star wars: the rise of skywalker #star wars: the rise of skywalker fanfiction #sw #sw fanfiction #sw: tros #sw: tros fanfiction #tros #tros fanfiction #kylo ren #ben solo #rey #fanfiction #writing #my writing

[staarshines]

first off OMG YOUR THEME IS SO GOOD and second don't get me started on the new star wars movies?

THANK YOU SO MUCH SAKJLFH

don’t get me started on the new star wars movies. whew, okay. this is going to be confusing.

send me “don’t get me started on...” + any topic for a rant

the sequel trilogy is my favorite trilogy but it’s also the trilogy i hate the most. that probably makes no sense; i love it with all my heart but it is the only trilogy you will find me making fun of and getting angry at. the prequel trilogy? i’ll get mad about anidala and the jedi code, but that had to happen in order for the original trilogy to work out. i love everything else about the prequel trilogy. i don’t think i hate anything about the original trilogy, but there’s nothing that’s close to my heart from it except for scoundress.

now, the sequel trilogy? that’s a while other can of worms.

i love rey, this badass baby. a scavenger, a nobody, dragged into all of this resistance/first order/force drama only to discover that she isn’t a nobody. i hate the decision to make her a palpatine instead of a kenobi, because if she was a kenobi, it would’ve made sense for anakin’s lightsaber to call out to her; anakin and obi-wan were brothers in everything but blood. but then again, the decision to make her a palpatine got us that epic fight on exegol. and then again, that probably could’ve happened even with her being a kenobi.

i love poe (obviously), this chaotic little shit. the son of two retired resistance members who loses his mother at such a young age. he does what he thinks is the right thing (joining the navy) but then realizes he has to be a bit more rebellious to get things done. he goes and joins the resistance, where he basically gains a surrogate mother and advances the resistance’s place in the war so far that leia makes him general. she knows he doesn’t think with his brain all the time—he’s a chaotic flyboy—but knows that if he has a responsibility this big that he’ll make the right choices. he keeps hope until the very last minute, which is practically impossible. he’s selfless to a fault and so, so pure. they fucked it up by giving him a spice runner backstory which... that’s another entire paragraph.

i love finn, that little baby. a stormtrooper whose force sensitivity was downplayed—do not tell me kylo or anyone else didn’t know he was force sensitive—but his f.s. was so strong that it took over and made him do the right thing. he didn’t want to be a part of it for a while, but then he realized that he was one of the people the galaxy was depending on. he picked up that lightsaber knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to beat kylo ren, and still put up one hell of a fight. then they went and completely fucking sidelined him.

i love ben/kylo, that babie who thinks he’s an emo bitch. he turned because he was scared for his life. he made a bad decision, and millions died in the wake of it. he did what he thought was right at the moment, and then refused to believe that he was on the wrong path even though he knew he was. then rey came along. rey came along, and showed him what the light side brings. he killed his father and then felt the guilt of it for the rest of his life. his mother then died reaching out to him, and he knew he’d had enough loss as a result of the dark side. when he saw rey lying down on the ground of exegol, he knew he needed to do one good thing for the people he loved. he knew he couldn’t live without her. he knew he couldn’t handle more loss. ben solo sacrificed his life for rey’s willingly. that probably makes no goddamn sense because this is all raw but i’m way too tired to go and edit it.

rose’s character was not handled well. i’m not saying i hate her, because i know we could’ve gotten so much more but then everyone just decided to fuck it up. i don’t like what they did with her character, but i can’t hate her because she had so much potential.

the force awakens is my second favorite star wars movie. there’s nothing that i hate about it. send tweet.

i hate the last jedi. poe, finn, and rose’s plan to deactivate that hyperspace tracker should’ve worked. but then again, since it didn’t, we got that amazing fight on crait.

the rise of skywalker is an okay movie for me. i love it, yes, it gives me an unbelievable serotonin boost but i wish i had never known about duel of the fates. tros was its own thing, but dotf was so much better.

tl;dr: i fucking love it and i fucking hate it.

#don't get me started on #we have decoded the intel [asks] #my queen [queenie's tag]

[gizkalord]

TROS review

I’m just gonna make a list of the good and bad things I found about TROS in an attempt to reconcile my feelings about it and let it all out. I have a short summary of my main thoughts first, but the good/bad will be under the cut!

Ultimately, this movie (and the sequel trilogy as a whole) suffers from the fact that Disney evidently didn’t have a clear-cut plan or vision of where they wanted to take the sequel trilogy. The hastily introduced and underdeveloped plot lines, the neglect of many of its wonderfully diverse characters, the painfully obvious disconnect between Rian and JJ’s visions, and the attempt to fall back on tried-and-true story beats make this movie feel confused about its own themes and messages. It’s a polished product though, with beautiful production and an interesting and well-acted cast of characters (albeit with unexplored potential), but upon further inspection it has none of the genuine heart of the original trilogy, nor the daring complexity and ambiguity of the prequel trilogy. TROS carries the veneer of Star Wars, but through a combination of poor setup and lack of creative vision, TROS just seems to fall short in the ways that matter.

The Good

- Force-sensitive Finn!!!! Finn in general!! I’ve been hoping for force-sensitive Finn since TFA, and I’m glad it was confirmed, even though I think it should’ve been explored more and before this (which relates to my issues with TLJ, but I digress). John Boyega is such a charismatic actor, and it’s a pleasure to see him have a bit more material to work with. My only overall complaint is that Finn was not a lead character anymore after TFA—a waste of John’s talent (and his looks omg).

- Trio interactions, finally! I thought Daisy, John, and Oscar had great chemistry, and it was a lot of fun to finally see them work and banter together. Stand out performance goes to John, who really was the glue holding together this trio. Once again, it’s a shame this wasn’t have been started and developed earlier.

- Finnpoe. I’ll be honest that after TFA, I leaned more towards Finnrey and I still have a big soft spot for that ship, but Oscar and John were on fire together—the co-general line was hilarious and I would’ve 100% bought a romance between them.

- Stormtrooper defectors! Jannah! This was something else I always wished to see ever since Finn defected, and while in a perfect world I would’ve wanted to see an onscreen stormtrooper rebellion led by Finn in this series, I’m at least glad we got confirmation of this. Also, it seemed implied that the defectors were force-sensitive too?

- Ian McDiarmid. I love the way he chews up the scene as Palpatine in all his cheesy villain glory.

- Adam Driver’s acting. He’s a fantastic actor, and he’s done a great job at portraying Kylo Ren in the sequels. He almost made me buy the redemption. Almost.

- Voices of Jedi Past!!!!!! I almost made an inhuman noise when I heard Anakin (welcome back Hayden!), and hearing Ahsoka and Kanan was super special to me as well. I've some mixed feelings about what it means for Ahsoka to be part of those voices, but either way it was great to hear their iconic voices in a live action movie. The visuals of that scene were cool too.

- Yellow lightsaber for Rey!!!! And cool hilt design!! The Jedi Sentinels had yellow sabers too—don’t know if it’s intentional, but either way yellow is one of my favorite lightsaber colors and I’m glad they went with an unusual color for her.

- Overall, I enjoyed myself. It was a fun movie, but I don’t know if it ranks very high on the rewatchability meter for me.

The Bad

- Reylo never made sense to me, and it still didn’t in this movie. Unnecessary romance, far from the most compelling dynamic, and Rey seemed pretty unbothered by his death. Meh.

- The Forced HeterosexualityTM for Poe was uh.... hm. Also, weird retcon of his background? Wasn’t Poe always involved with the Republic/Resistance?

- Bendemption was mind-bogglingly quick and convenient. All it took to redeem him was Leia whispering his name from light years away and dying?? And he does a total 180? Come on. This is where the failings in TLJ become apparent, because Bendemption should’ve always been centered around his actual family, and he should’ve had interactions with Leia in TLJ. He fell because of his conflict with his family, and therefore his redemption should’ve happened due to a resolution with his family. This would’ve also worked if Rey was also related to him, but alas.

And of course it wraps up in a nice little bow with him ~selflessly~ sacrificing himself. Been there, done that in a superior way with Vader. Would’ve been more interesting if he’d survived as a not quite good but not quite evil person, and been forced to live with his sins and spend the rest of his life atoning for them.

- It is truly the ultimate troll that the main surviving legacy of the Jedi rests upon Palpatine’s descendant, and not the descendants of the bloodline THAT ORIGINATED FROM SLAVES that Palpatine cheated and manipulated for 6 movies. I don’t actually know if this is a good or bad thing, but it sure makes me feel some kinda way.

- Force dyad stuff is Not It for me. Transferring physical objects, super fast life force transfer/regeneration, spontaneous skyping.... no thanks. I’m cool with force bonds, but the way it’s been done in previous movies and tcw—being able to sense the presence of ppl you’re connected with, sending vague/simple emotions and messages. Like what Leia did with Ben? Cool, I’m down with that. Having a stronger connection when one person is on a force-concentrated planet? Also cool. But I really draw the line at physically touching and transferring objects because that’s basically a lazy shortcut to bypass the significance of the World Between Worlds.

- Similarly to TFA, I had an issue with the fact that it didn’t feel like any of the drama was character-driven—rather, they go where the plot demands they go and react to it.

- Fake out sacrifices for Chewie and Threepio, especially for Threepio. Basically, movie attempts for some stakes, and then rapidly backtracks.

- Just so much random stuff crammed in for the sake of it, like they were trying to cover their asses or something. There’s the obvious asspull of Palpatine being the final villain was there was literally ZERO hint of that in any of the previous movies, the stormtrooper defectors that come from nowhere and are barely explored, a laboratory of snoke clones (???), Jannah and Lando’s weird, out of place conversation that only makes kinda sense if you knew beforehand that Jannah is his long-lost daughter (which most ppl wouldn’t??), the lgbt “rep” that’s honestly just embarrassing, etc, etc. I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but it really screams to me of a failed effort to please everyone but ultimately pleasing no one.

- The mass jumble of underexplored plot lines just made the movie feel oddly unsatisfying at the end, and thematically the end of TROS is basically the end of ROTJ, which begs the question—what was the goddamn point of the OT and PT and ST if we were going to end up in the same place all over again? This is starting to veer into my qualms about the ST in general, which is not what this post is for.

- Disappointed with the soundtrack. In the end, the only memorable themes were rehashes of either the OT or TFA.

#tros spoilers #star wars #tros critical #tros review #tros

[stressedtaco]

SW ep 9: TROS SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

Listen, what bothers me about Kylo is his character arc.

Ben Solo was born into a loving and supportive family, with Leia and Han being wonderful parents, and grew up among a whole rebellion of people fighting the evil and corrupt for the greater good: the safety and freedom of the galaxy and universal peace. This boy literally grew up with heroes, was trained by the last existing jedi and living legend Luke Skywalker, who's also his uncle and loves him dearly, and has known of the evil ways of the empire (now first order) since he's had conscious thought.

So my question is, what was his motive to accept Snoke's temptation toward the dark side?

Even Anakin Skywalker had an understandable reason to give in: save his wife Padmé's life. But what does Ren want?? He has a loving family, a home, he's surrounded by people who support him and want what's best for him, he's training to become a jedi, has a purpose in his life.

Does he want power? Control?? Is that it?? If so Kylo Ren didn't really deserve a redemption. His actions were fueled by greed and selfishness, and that's it.

Oh Snoke influenced him since the womb? He can't be judged for his actions because he's been manipulated since birth? Then who even is Ben Solo? How does he know what he wants if he's acted as he's been told all his life? He'd just be an empty shell of a human being if that were the case.

And we know he has clear personal motives for his actions. He doesn't care for Snoke or Palpatine at all, unlike Vader who's only motivation was serving the emperor (after Padmé's death of course). If he's been manipulated and controlled since birth and his actions can't be judged because of that, how does he even know if he loves Rey? Why does he feel remorse after killing Han Solo? Why does he hesitate from killing Leia in TLJ?

This is what bothers me about Kylo Ren, the inconsistency of his character's writing, his rather unnecessary romance with Rey in the end, when they've tried to kill each other the whole trilogy, and his parallels to Vader, when he's been even worse than his grandfather in the sequels. Kylo killed Han, tortured Poe, was involved in Finn's abuse since childhood and tried to kill him, almost killed Leia, and kidnapped, tortured (yes, using force to get information from someone is torture) and tried to kill Rey, and that's without mentioning all of the mass genocide he's promoted and done himself.

Yes, Vader killed innocent people too, but he never purposefully killed a jedi (he fought obi wan, but he didn't even hurt him), never purposefully tried to murder his love interest, gave his life to the dark side to save hers, couldn't kill his own son per the emperor's orders and even turned on him in the end to save his son, earning his final redemption. Kylo only turned on Snoke to gain his authority, and would've done the same with Palpatine if he could.

If they really wanted to make Kylo's redemption the endgame, then they should've worked towards it since the beginning of the trilogy, not until the very end of the final movie.

What bothers me about these sequels is Disney excusing evil behavior and glorifying a character who has been cruel and selfish since the beginning of the trilogy, up until the end of the last movie, where he gets a random redemption to make up for the endless abuse he's caused and reducing the actual protagonist and hero to a mere love interest in the process.

#the rise of skywalker spoilers #spoilers #star wars spoilers #episode 9 spoilers #the rise of skywalker #kylo ren #ben solo #sw the rise of skywalker