#save that kind of drama for the professionals (the Skywalker family)

[riyo-soka]

Omega: so am I force sensitive?

Ventress, looking at Omega’s family of emotionally unstable men who would try to blow up the entire galaxy if she got anything worse than a paper cut: if you are it’s not my problem

#the bad batch #tbb spoilers #she realized she was *not* qualified to deal with the fallout of their issues and decided she simply wouldn’t #and she was right for that #save that kind of drama for the professionals (the Skywalker family) #tbb omega #asajj ventress #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb crosshair #so we’re clear: they would fail miserably at blowing up the galaxy and probably die in the process #and that would be what prompts Omega to actually blow up the galaxy

[frumfrumfroo]

A fanon take I hated after TFA was Kylo having zero piloting skills, which I’m so glad got thoroughly debunked in TLJ. A lot of bad takes seem to come down to giving Rey some kind of edge / power advantage over Kylo even though they are clearly equals. Plus I don’t really enjoy ships where one half is made inept to make the other half look better (unpopular opinion but why I don’t like Shang in Mulan). I like pairings based on equality of competence and hope this continues to apply to Reylo.

The real bad take there is making it into some kind of pissing contest between them, like that’s productive or necessary. SW is about moral victories rather than warrior prowess, might =/= right, so the entire idea of it mattering that one is ‘stronger’ in a literal sense is wrong-headed from the outset. She isn’t ‘more powerful’ or physically stronger, but she also doesn’t need to be. That isn’t what the conflict between them was ever about and isn’t why she was victorious in TFA. This isn’t a thing about subjugation in either direction and everyone in the fandom needs to stop making it into one.

The movies really hammer it home that they’re equals and that’s pretty much the entire basis of their relationship and its potential healing power, so yeah. Not something I’d worry about. If people want to wilfully misread it and make his pain about physical weakness, that’s on them. Rey’s effectiveness comes from conviction and altruism, not mastery. Her physical abilities aren’t an end, they’re a metaphor. The fights are a metaphor. Ben’s defeat wasn’t about or because of her having bigger muscles or more Force points or more training because obviously she doesn’t. Logically the advantages should all be his and they wrote it that way deliberately.

But, you know, he will continue to fail and suffer as long as he is at war with himself. She’s accepted her past. He hasn’t. It’s not like she doesn’t have an advantage, because she does and always has, but it’s not a power thing. It’s a spiritual thing. Sheer power is irrelevant when the spirit is broken. That’s like… the whole essence of this story. Love is stronger than violence, period.

Side bar, but I do feel like it was a foregone conclusion he’d be a great pilot. Highly Force sensitive = superhuman reaction times and magical intuition = superhuman piloting abilities. This was a plot point in TPM and ANH. Also, it’s a gimmie as a writing choice anyway, almost everyone ‘active’ in SW can fly a ship because it’s both just plain convenient and good for externalising drama into action. Not to mention the Anakin parallel, the Skywalker emotionality as advantage. They wouldn’t go against the grain on something like that because there’s no possible pay off in doing so.

If we were seeing a slower paced, episodic story on his teenage years and throwing more wedges into the family, then it could have narrative utility as another disconnect between Ben and Han, but it wouldn’t really make in-universe sense unless he was refusing to learn for psychological reasons. In the structure as it stands, it would be an albatross not worth carrying.

(I’m trying to remember Mulan now and I can’t say I know what you mean. Because she’s clever and she saves the day rather than the professional soldiers? Of course she does?)

#reylo #like Luke didn't defeat Vader by becoming better than him at fighting either #but strangely no one has the same problem with that #maybe this is just wank you're trying to get me involved in idk #I do hate all the 'she can kick his ass and he loves it' shit I'll admit that #because no that's not what's going on here #he's physically stronger and better than her at fighting this is super clear but sw isn't about power levels so that's NOT THE POINT #why is all the Force training we ever actually see about emotion and belief and never how to best kill someone with a laser sword? #HMMMMMMMM #ben solo #writing