We stan all the Anakins and all the Ahsokas.

Except Rebels Anakin, we don’t talk about Rebels Anakin.

I’M CACKLINGG

Do you know what one of the funniest stories is to me?  There was an interview (iirc) Ahsley Eckstein did a few months ago, where she was talking about how intimidating it was to be around someone like Dave Filoni at first, that he knew all this stuff about SW, and a lot of the actors didn’t.  But during the Mortis Arc, they had a bit about Padme and Shmi’s interaction and Sam Witwer had to gather up his nerve and say, “Actually, Padme met Shmi in The Phantom Menace....” and Dave just LOOKS at him for a long minute, while everyone is like “oh god oh god” and then eventually Dave breaks and is like “yeah, you’re right” and he respected Sam’s knowledge from then on. This was clearly a cute interaction, it wasn’t mean-spirited or anything, but it makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME because OMG DAVE PLEASE DID YOU NOT WATCH TPM SINCE IT CAME OUT?  THAT WAS A BIG PART OF THE STORY, MY DUDE.

her mando design is the worst its literally nothing like her even the mannerisms and way she speaks are different,, she may as well just be a random togruta, not to mention she is also played by a transphobic actress which is worse,,,,, ahsoka means so much to me and to see her protrayed like this is hurtful. anyways please have this rebels ahsoka. ahsley eckstein as animated ahsoka will always be the best ahsoka

Star Wars: The Clone Wars “The Phantom Apprentice” -Review

The Clone Wars creates a horror movie of inescapable dread in the game changing, “The Phantom Apprentice”

(Review contains episode spoilers)

Maul and Ahsoka Tano are now face to face. As the battle for the future of Mandalore unfolds around them, it becomes clear that something much larger is at stake. The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance and everything that is known will change. And our heroes and villains are powerless to stop it.

It’s been known for quite a while that the end of The Clone Wars would tie into the events of Revenge of the Sith. The show has been on a collision course with this darkest installment in the Star Wars saga ever since it premiered in 2008 and now the inevitable moment has arrived. Everything in the galaxy is about to upend itself and the feeling of dread and tragedy hangs over everything. While The Clone Wars has dipped its feet into the horror genre before, director Nathaniel Villanueva and writer Dave Filoni have created a half hour experience of impending dread and terror.

The Clone Wars was always going to end in heartbreak. Revenge of the Sith was the inescapable end point for this series, but the unspoken cruelty of this series is in the unaware insignificance of its own cast. Ahsoka Tano, Rex, Maul, the Mandalorians are doomed to be side notes in the galaxy altering Skywalker Saga. Their narratives are twisting, emotional, and undeniably engaging but they will never escape living in the margins of the adventures of the mythic figures they count as their friends, allies, and enemies. There is a knowing futility to Filoni’s script for “The Phantom Apprentice” that pervades everything. We can be watching titanic battles unfold on the streets of Sundari and daring lightsaber duels, but it’s all for nothing. Composer Kevin Kiner, still the only musical talent that has come close to mirroring and expanding off the legendary work of John Williams, turns the aural landscape of this conflict into a sound that can only be described as Star Wars meets Hereditary. We are never once made to feel comfortable. There are no hints that this will work out. It won’t.

Like the standout season finale to Star Wars Rebels’ second season, the title of “The Phantom Apprentice” is deceptively nuanced. It’s actually in conversation with three different characters, one of whom never actually appears on screen.

The most obvious of the three is of course Maul, the original apprentice to The Phantom Menace. I’ve never hidden my adoration for the long, strange character arc that Lucasfilm Animation has taken this formerly one note villain on. Sam Witwer, Dave Filoni, and the rest of the creative team have transformed this former Sith assassin into a perpetually broken and emotional frail man that is never more than a few steps away from collapse. First hinted at in one of his first appearances on this series, Maul was always aware to some degree of The Clone Wars and the larger machinations of his master. The pieces were always in place and now Maul is slowly realizing that the end goal of his master’s decades long plan is finally upon them. And it terrifies him. Long gone is the confident Maul who thought he could carve out an Empire for himself in the shadows of the galactic underworld. After Darth Sidious’s humiliating beatdown of him in “The Lawless” and the murder of his mother in the Son of Dathomir comic series, it’s now clear to this lost Zabrak that his master is the most powerful being in the galaxy and something to be feared above all else. Witwer plays Maul’s former anger and jealousy at having his dreams of grandeur robbed of him as a transformation into existential collapse. He realizes that he really is nothing more than a cast aside bit player in the revolution that is about to come and he is determined to stop it from happening. Not out of any kind of good will or redemption, but out of his own desperation for survival and relevance.

I’ve always been a tad skeptical of one of the final confrontations of the series being a duel between Asoka Tano and Maul. Not at all because Ahsoka isn’t capable of taking on a character like this wayward former Sith. She’s more than proven herself able and “The Phantom Apprentice” more than sells that Maul is definitely not acting at full capacity. (We’ll talk more about that fantastic confrontation later along with the rest of the stellar action here.) Instead, I was concerned that this clash would feel hollow. Ahsoka and Maul do not have an existing relationship prior to “The Phantom Apprentice.” Their big climactic meeting of sabers could have been nothing more than a set piece that was created only because they were the only characters free during the Revenge of the Sith era to have one. That is very thankfully not the case.

Filoni smartly positions Maul and Ahsoka as two sides of the same coin. As Maul was eventually cast out and discarded as useless by Darth Sidious, Ahsoka was also tossed away by the Jedi order by their own dedication to doctrine and lack of trust. Both are victims of their respective order’s worst qualities and exist as relative outcasts. However, the true dramatic irony of it all is that by doing so, both Ahsoka and Maul are arguably in better positions to survive the coming slaughter and possibly put an end to it. Sure, Maul’s argument for their teaming up to stop Sidious is mostly self-serving (even if I suspect that it does have some root in the sad sack of a Sith’s perpetual need for companionship and belonging), but Ahsoka considers it for a moment because she can see the truth in it all. It’s a fascinating moment and the fact that it feels emotionally genuine is a true feat of Ahsley Eckstein, Witwer, and the entire creative team. We can’t not acknowledge that incredible shot of the shattered glass and embers blowing through the wind as Maul’s fateful offer is made.

The final apprentice is of course Anakin Skywalker. Perhaps the most startling development of “The Phantom Apprentice” is Maul’s revelation that he is more than aware of Anakin’s eventual slip to the Dark Side and it was probably in the cards for quite some time. (His moment of post-mortem pity for Dooku is a fun wink to how doomed all of Sidious’s apprentices were on their eventual march toward Anakin’s ascension.) It recontexualizes so much of the final days of The Clone Wars and of Sidious’s plan itself. Of course as Anakin’s fateful seduction to the Dark Side is occurring parallel to the events of the Siege of Mandalore it is more than fitting that Maul is not the only one with Anakin on his mind. The brief call between Obi-Wan and Ahsoka comes from a place of compassion, but it ultimately serves as further example of Ahsoka’s suspicion of the Jedi. She sees a kindred spirit in Anakin at the moment that the Council betrays his trust and how could she not. The fact that Ahsoka and Maul’s duel happens mostly as a retaliation to the assertion that Anakin will fall speaks to her unbreakable trust in her surrogate older brother. It ends up playing as a bit of a fight for Anakin’s soul. Hope versus despair and denial versus inevitability.

And what a battle it is. Dave Filoni mentioned at Star Wars Celebration last year that they brought in original Darth Maul stunt actor Ray Park to assist with the animation for this fight and it certainly shows. While it may not be the most sprawling duel ever or as brutal as Pre Vizsla and Maul’s duel to the death, The Clone Wars has never featured a confrontation as fluid and dynamic as this one. The constant back and forth of the upper hand and the emotional instability of both fighters gives this encounter a strange edge that ratchets up the tension even if we know both combatants are destined to make it out of this alive. The final stage in the scaffolding that holds up the city of Sundari is a standout and brings to mind a similarly stellar set piece from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

It’s not just our phantom apprentices that get in on the action this week. A claustrophobic showdown between Bo-Katan and Gar Saxon in an elevator shaft is one of the most inventive set pieces that the series has produced and Villanueva sells it with a cluttered intensity that never loses clarity. A prolonged battle between the liberating forces and Maul’s loyalists is similarly brutal and striking with sweeping tracking shots of the action that smartly know when to cut into the carnage and when to transfer back to other scenes. It brings to mind some of the great multi-tiered battles in Star Wars history and it once again gives big screen live action installments of the franchise a serious run for their money.

 A few random final thoughts!

It seems only fitting that Almec would be gunned down by one of his own allies. Gar Saxon is poised to take over Almec’s position as the self-serving Mandalorian leader in the era of the Empire and there’s certainly some poetry in this sort of cyclical killing. Poor Mandalore. Planet’s not going to sort itself out anytime soon.

Jesse lived! I’m sure every one of us clone junkies were prepared for one of our last surviving 501st boys to fall to Maul this week, but through some small glimmer of positivity the newly minted ARC Trooper survived. I’m not sure we can be as hopeful in coming episodes, but I’ll take the positivity where I can find it.

I actually really loved Maul’s cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story and it’s nice to see “The Phantom Apprentice” tee that up with the blink and you’ll miss appearance by Dryden Vos. Was really hoping for a tiny line of dialogue from Paul Bettany, but I guess that’s as good as we’ll get for right now.

Sam Witwer remarked several months ago that the scripts for the final arc of The Clone Wars were the best the series ever produced and it’s hard to argue with that. Never before has this saga had more on its mind or felt as emotional or consequential. It’s a nail biting stunner of a chapter and I’m genuinely in awe that we are only half way done. Buckle in folks. This is when the pain really begins.

Score: A+

Guys, I met Ashley Eckstein! OMFG!!!

So, not too long ago, Ashley wrote a book! (You can see my review of it here)

It was not only an autobiography, but a guide to help you find and pursue your own dreams and it's chocked full of Disney and Star Wars references.

my copy of the book and the pin given out at Hot Topic

Well, Hot Topic (who know owns Her Universe) decided that it would be great if she did a book tour across the US, with one stop in Canada. Toronto, my fair city, to be exact.

I had been pumped about this for months, but when the day finally arrived, I was feeling less than stellar. My anxiety was acting up and everything just seemed to be going wrong. Had I needed to do anything else that day, I probably would've bailed and stayed home in my pj's, binge watching Dear White People. But this was Ashley we were talking about. If you've been a follower of my blog for awhile now, you will know that she is one of my idols!

So I pulled myself together and headed to the Eaton's Centre to wait in line. 

But what's this? I had to buy something if I wanted to be in line? Booooo. Money was tight and I had already bought a copy of the book and brought it with me. So I settled on something fun and cheap (as far as HU goes)

That's right, I bought lightsaber lipstick (something that the HU fandom as been asking for since the company opened) They're not really my colours, but I love the packaging.

I finally ended up in line, but I was behind a group of fanboys who were quite obnoxious. They had no idea what HU was and had in depth conversations about how SOLO didn't follow the cannon closely enough. An hour and a half of listening to them talk about what comic they wanted the Boba Fett movie to follow and making the other fans around them feel stupid when they said anything, I was ready to quit the line and go home. But that is when she came out and I managed to hold on a little bit longer.

When I got near the front, I realized someone else was with her. It turns out that it was E.K. Johnston, the author of the Ahsoka novel I had just finished listening to!!

totally worth reading! You can read my review here

2 amazing women for the price of one!

Look at meeee! I'm with E.K. Johnston and Ashley Eckstein!!!

I spoke with E.K. first and told her how much I enjoyed her book (and how awesome Ashley was at narrating it) and she was so kind and funny and happy that her book was so well received.

I don't have a physical copy of this book, but she gave me an insert page in case I ever do get one.

I had just started to talk about how much fun it was to gear Ashley reading the Ahsoka novel when she turned to me and said hello. That's when E.K. noticed my Ahsoka/Plo Koon shirt from waaaay back in the day and pointed it out to Ahsley, who gasped and was suddenly ecstatic that I had been a fan for so long. I told her that I was a first day customer when HU opened and she got so emotional that she had to get up and hug me! I told her that not only am I a fan of Ahsoka, but even more so of her. That she is my idol for what she has done for the fangirls of the World. 

I told her that I had bought her book when it came out and that I had already read it cover to cover and how wonderful I thought it was. She asked me what my dream was and I told her that I wanted to open the Braekery (my bakery) and that I had recently gone back to school to pursue my dreams. She told me that when I get it up and running to let her know so that she can come support me! How sweet is that? She even added me to her Instagram so that she could follow my progress!

I floated away on a happy cloud. How did I ever think that this was a bad idea? It was worth every bad fanboy, every unexpected purchase, every minute of waiting in line.

Thanks Ashley

Where did you get your shirt if you don't mind me asking?

Not at all! It’s from Her Universe. Awesome brand, founded by non other than the voice of Ahsoka herself, Ahsley Eckstein! It was founded to fill the void of geek apparel for women and empower fangirls. All my Star Wars clothes are from there.

When Ahsoka as Fulcrum was revealed in Star Wars Rebels, I was really surprised that her face shape had changed so drastically.

We went from this:

To this:

I think this has been mentioned before, but when I first really looked at Fulcrum/Ahsoka, I noticed she exhibits a very striking resemblance to:

Ashley Eckstein- voice of Ahsoka. (Except their lips are different.) I don’t know. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed?