#mina bonteri

[antianakin]

I have such mixed feelings about the Clone Wars "Heroes on Both Sides" episode because I appreciate what it's TRYING to do with the idea of showing that the Separatist side has legitimate grievances and the Senators in it are/were good people who've just been duped into being on the side of a war that's literally enslaving people, but I also think it handles it incredibly badly.

Take Mina Bonteri, for example. We're SUPPOSED to like her and think she's this honorable woman who mentored Padme and is still Padme's friend, but she also thinks Dooku's somehow a good honorable person and will literally not hear a single word against him even though this person she's mentored could tell her that Dooku is the one who nearly executed her on Geonosis. Padme can literally speak to how those events in the Geonosis arena ACTUALLY WENT, but she can't because Mina refuses to hear anything bad about Dooku because she's apparently got a political boner for him or something I dunno.

And then her whole story of woe that's meant to show us how the Republic also sometimes commits atrocities boils down to "my husband worked at a lab and clones attacked and now he's dead" and I feel like my reaction is supposed to be "wow that's horrific that the clones attacked an innocent person" but knowing what I know about the Separatists and how they worked my reaction is actually "well what the fuck were they doing at that lab huh Mina? Did you even know your husband or was he a bitch who was coming up with some sort-of bio weapon to use against Republic civilians?" Because I don't believe for a SECOND that the clones would've just attacked a random lab for no obvious reason. That lab was up to some shit and they never tell us what it is because they want us to feel bad for Mina's loss, but I... don't. Because I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Mr. Bonteri to have been caught up in shady shit that Mina had no idea about.

And of course then there's her son and the whole interaction he has with Ahsoka. Again, I understand the point of them saying that Ahsoka has only ever met "military commanders" on the Separatist side and not any of the actual Separatist civilians/senators, but the comparison being made is with Lux's experience with the JEDI, who are ALSO military commanders in this war. Ahsoka is judging the Separatists by the people they've PUT IN CHARGE of their side of the war and who are the ones actively causing atrocities. Ahsoka is judging the people who are her PEERS on the Separatist side. And while there is obviously merit to getting to know Separatists civilians, I don't think it counts the same as Lux saying he's never met a Jedi before and is now choosing to judge an entire culture when he's never met a single person from that culture until now.

The Onderon arc and the Gerreras do a WAY better job of getting this concept across, that there are literal REBELS on some of the Separatist planets who didn't choose to be Separatist and don't necessarily care for the Separatist government. Ahsoka (via Anakin) seeing every Separatist as an evil person simply due to being Separatist would have been incredibly paired with having to help out some Separatist rebels fight for their world because they KNOW what's going on, they're LIVING it, they just can't really do much about it due to lack of resources.

I love the idea of making sure the Separatist side is given a little nuance, that there IS an explanation as to why the Separatists seceded and became what they did and all, I just think it got handled SO SO BADLY and it makes me so sad/mad every time I think about that episode.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #sw tcw #tcw #the clone wars #mina bonteri #lux bonteri #ahsoka tano

[ahsoka-its-all-of-us]

Possibly unpopular opinion: I think The Clone Wars missed a great opportunity by making Pong Krell evil.

Don’t get me wrong; I hate the man with an absolute, burning passion. He was a bastard, an asshole, the worst Jedi ever. But then in the end it’s revealed that’s because he isn’t, not anymore, he has willingly and openly fallen to the Dark Side and has committed his war crimes in hopes of getting Dooku’s attention. Which is a valid and interesting storyline, I guess.

But what if he hadn’t? What if he had remained a devoted Jedi?

One thing TCW tries to show occasionally is that even on the bad side not all people are actually bad — e.g. Mina Bonteri —, and similarly they try to show that on the good side not all people are good — e.g. Slick or Barriss. But they always stop shy of actually making that point; in the end, Mina’s son Lux decides to join the Republic, Slick was not just a defector but a traitor, and Barriss loses all humanity (Mirilianity?) betraying her own friend. In the end, the show keeps being about good and evil, and the Republic is good while the Separatists are evil. This becomes painfully obvious with systems that wish to remain neutral; in multiple instances they are eventually persuaded to aid or join the Republic, which is then framed as a good and honourable thing to do. As if choosing to stay out of a conflict they have no stakes in wasn’t.

Of course I have to make the comparison with Avatar: The Last Airbender, which very similarly has a good and a bad side of a conflict. But there we do get to see the opposite in both sides: the good side has people like Jet and the Earth Kingdom thugs, people who lose all humanity in their quest for vengeance or who abuse the situation for their own gain, while the bad side has people like the Fire Nation kids and Zuko and Iroh: people who have been drilled into supporting the system and don’t know any better, or who figured out that their side was in the wrong and decided to work against it for their own people as much as for the other side.

And I think Pong Krell could have been a great example of that. A great example of a Jedi who has lost sight of all things a Jedi should be; whose arrogance and racism (sort of; I don’t have a better word for it rip) actively undermines all we as an audience believe the Republic should stand for. By having him change sides, that conflict is reduced to a good/bad one, when it could be so much more.

Because imagine the consequences if he hadn’t done what he did because he wanted to join the Sith. Rex and the others had not just moral but legal backing in arresting him because he betrayed the Republic, and same with Dogma shooting him. But what if they hadn’t? What if Rex would have to choose between loyalty to the cause he was bred for and the General that stands for it, or loyalty to his men and therefore against the General? Would he have been able to make the arrest? Clones are meant to be expendable, after all, and while Krell’s actions are nothing but cruel disregard of his pawns, they weren’t necessarily illegal. It was more the contrast with the other Jedi generals who had developed a bond with their clones that made Krell’s behaviour jarring.

The Umbara arc is one of my favourite arcs because of the spotlight on the clones and their morality, and I think this would have made it even better (or worse, in terms of how my heart could have taken it)

#star wars #the clone wars #pong Krell #Captain rex #barriss offee #slick #atla #avatar: the last airbender #dogma #Mina bonteri #lux bonteri #dooku #star wars gifs

[r0gerr0ger]

Just thinking about how Padme, Breha and Satine were all ruling as queens (/duchesses) at the same time for a few years.

Did they meet for dinners? Was there a group chat? Who else was in it? I’m totally chill about this idea and haven’t made a list or anything…

Julia of Bardotta is the only other queen I can think of

(There are the zygerrian and geonosian queens, but no chance are they invited)

Senators are definitely allowed in. I can think of Mon Mothma and Mina Bonteri around that period. Riyo Chuchi joins a bit later. Mina Bonteri stays on it during TCW and it’s how Padmé gets in contact with her.

Also Maz Kanata is 100% there. Pirate queen, icon. She’s got 1000 yrs of shit to spill.

Am I missing anyone?

#maybe some jedi too? #shak tii for sure #star wars #i’m picturing coruscant times cover shoots #star wars women #satine kryze #padmé amidala #breha organa #mon mothma #queen julia #mina bonteri #maz kanata #riyo chuchi

[ultimate-clone-bonanza]

Wonderful Women Bonanza: Round 1

Vote for the woman you think is best from the entire Clone Wars Era

Mina Bonteri vs Omega

Links/Info:

Mina

Omega

All posts under the "wonderful women bonanza" tag on this blog

#clone wars #clone wars poll #star wars polls #star wars #star wars poll #sw omega #tcw omega #tbb omega #mina bonteri #wonderful women bonanza

[singswan-springswan]

Me, completely unprepared for the Mina Bonteri name drop:

#mina bonteri #tbb spoilers

[skypalacearchitect]

ok I’ve never seen anyone do this but frankly I think it’s an overlooked amazing possibility: 

concept: 

padme amidala x mina bonteri

#just THINK about it… the POSSIBILITIES #padme amidala #mina bonteri #star wars #tcw #skypalacearchitect #someone please write this

[fanfictasia]

Whirlwind of Chaos Chapter 72 - Toil and Trouble, a star wars fanfic | FanFiction

Whirlwind of Chaos - Chapter 72 - Toil and Trouble - Wattpad

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #fanfiction #ahsoka tano #ahsoka #obi-wan kenobi #obi-wan #ahsoka and obi-wan #anakin skywalker #anakin #anakin and ahsoka #anakin and obi-wan #mina bonteri #mina #anakin and mina #angst #hurt/comfort #family #friendship

[starwarstoxicfemslash]

Can we add Mina Boneteri to the line up? Her and Padme's frienemey relationship was fun in tcw

oooo I love the padme/mina situation!!

but the bracket was seeded based on submissions to the blog as of last sunday, so maybe next time

#faq #toxic femslash madness #starwarstoxicfemslash #mina bonteri #padme amidala #padme amidala/mina bonteri #star wars: the clone wars #prompt

[yourlocalvod]

Lesbian seperatist? You mean Mina Bonteri?

#star wars #the clone wars #mina bonteri

[short-wooloo]

A lot of people really seem to have this idea that the Separatists are a secession movement based upon an honest desire for self determination and independence

But it's more like the south in the US Civil War

It's a rebellion by the elite for the elite so that they may continue their horrific practices, and in both cases they've dressed it up in fancy words to dupe the civilians into believing its all in their interests

Just look at who's really running the separatists and what they want

Dooku: establish a fascist empire

Grievous: conquer and kill, specifically kill Jedi

Corporate leaders: profit, unrestricted capitalism, no taxes

(that last one is specifically what incites the events of tpm, the trade federation is blockading naboo because the republic was enforcing a trade route taxe that they didn't want to pay)

Moreover, these guys above are the ones who are actually fighting the war, hell they are the ones causing the war!

The corruption of the Republic, its ineffectiveness, and the power of the corporations are all things the individuals above caused or actively worsened

Thus that leaves separatist civilians and politicians like mina bonteri woefully naive and taken advantage of at best, or willfully duping themselves at worst, believing that the people causing the problems can somehow solve them

#wooloo writes #wooloo-writes #star wars #sw #the separatists #confederacy of independent systems #anti separatists #anti mina bonteri

[antianakin]

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #the clone wars #tcw #swtcw #anti padme #anti padme amidala #anti satine #anti satine kryze #mina bonteri #pre viszla #poll #polls

[elizabethwydevilles]

There's more serious things that are issues with the author of the YA Padmé books, but 'actually 🤓Padmé did try to free Shmi' will always be something that really annoys me because it obviously stems from criticisms of Padmé's character on the internet.

Instead of digging in to why Padmé didn't try to find Shmi - digging in to thematically appropriate ideas of being part of a system that makes it actively hard to enact change, the idea that the problems in the Republic are so vast that extremely important values get lost in the day to day fight, that Padmé herself is a person with privilege with the blind spots that brings, that you can be a person with the best of intentions and yet fuck things up (literally the theme of the prequels) - we're told that she did! And it was important to her!

Just not important enough to her for it to be mentioned in any of the movies, or relevant enough for Padmé to tell Anakin the highly pertinent information that Shmi was not with Watto and could not be found, when Anakin was trying to make sure Shmi was safe and not suffering like in his dreams.

#padme amidala #star wars #there were people so upset that certain things in the Ahsoka novel were retconned by filoni #and given what was retconned and what replaced it I do get it #but it also gives big old eu author arguments vibes #considering the author retcons Padme's r'ships with Clovis and Mina Bonteri

[interdimensionalmenace]

So the new Bad Batch episode huh

I’m sad now

#crying screaming yelling #TBB s2e3 #crosshair #Crosshair my guy what are you doing #they name dropped mina bonteri and I’m sad #peace was never an option NOW I’M SAD #the bad batch #I’m trying not to put real spoilers in the tags but I’m so sorry Cody’s in it and I cried #dammit Dave #Star wars

[jaded-of-mara]

how do i get it into your heads that the separatists and the rebellion are the same. if the republic turned into the empire why would those fighting against the one be so different from those fighting against the one, transformed. those who had power under the old system can call it the "alliance to restore the republic" all they want but like. acknowledge your separatist forebears they were right

#mina bonteri shouldve stayed alive so she could get in catty political disagreements with mon mothma

[aq2003]

the clone wars sure is a media ever because any many many times it's like "yeah the jedi are good people and their deaths in rots are made even more tragic bc we have more chances to see who they are in our tv show" but also for a couple separate bits when it's like "we want to give some depth and moral gray-ness to the storytelling" it falls kind of flat on its face bc they don't develop the "moral grayness" past just putting it there and not going further with it. so all it does is lessen the impact of their "humanize the jedi" theme in the first place

#best example i can think of is the clone traitor episode #and also wrong jedi to an extent. there's a lot of great in that arc and there's also a LOT of VERY BAD #or the mina bonteri arc that humanizes a separatist senator #or the conversation ahsoka has w obi-wan in the siege of mandalore arc. ARGH. pulls out my hair. dave please use ur brain for a sec #pro jedi #i guess #stars war #sorry if this doesn't make sense i just think sometimes the existence of 'not everything is black and white' isn't always a good story beat

[tvstaticanger]

the de-regulate the banks episodes sure do exist huh

#(derogatory) #(oh look politicians making me angry) #(and being useless) #(this is so different from my real life joy) #(anyways rip mina bonteri) #tcw #the clone wars