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deedeli-liveblog · 1 year

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RWBY ReWatch notes, part 3: i guess I’m doing one of these for every volume

I’m supposed to be making minor notes / commentary, cause this is just a rewatch I decided to do on a whim. But I guess I’m way too used to how I normally liveblog these days, since I actually have to stop myself from commenting like, every minute on bullshit things afkdjhkadkla

Anyway, Volume 3! My personal favorite, and the Volume where Everything Goes Wrong.

I love the creativity in the weapons in RWBY. There’s a lot of swords and guns and classic weaponry. But then there’s things like Oobleck’s thermos being a flamethrower, Coco’s purse being a blunt weapon and a minigun, and then Reese’s (from ABRN) hoverboard being a weapon in and of itself, that transforms into mini pistols.

Arlsan only had that one episode, but she was so cool in it.

I like that team RWBY’s strategy half the time is to just launch Yang at the enemy.

BIMBO!?!?! D:<

It’s pretty neat seeing the animation budget go up in every volume of early RWBY.

The whole time Nolan’s listening to the explanation about Nora’s semblance he’s still charging her up, alkfkjdashkjsf

Actually, can a person’s aura protect them from dying from an electrical shock, since that’s mostly internal??? Ren got poked for a few seconds and stiffened up and dropped. If Nora wasn’t immune that probably would have killed her.

Wait, are all of those cups in the bar Qrow’s?? Jesus, man.

Team SSSN needs to work on their... everything. That was a hot fucking mess, lmao.

Oh right, I forgot Winter and Qrow had a best nemesis thing going on. Wonder if that’ll come up in volume 8

“How appropriately... underwhelming.” Oh my god, Winter was such a bitch in her intro, I fucking forgot salkfhdkljal.

The Ice Queen title has been passed down through the Schnee family for generations!

the subtitles specifically state that’s a crow cawing, but I prefer to think that that’s Raven, come to watch her daughter’s fight.

I can’t remember where, I think it was in my review for RWBY that I said the Qrow v Winter fight kind of sucked. I don’t think I elaborated on that, but rewatching it now? It’s not... bad. But this is a big battle between two incredibly skilled combatants but it just felt incredibly stiff. In a way that previous fights were not.

That being said, the soundtrack during that fight kicked ass.

hehe, get fucked Ironwood

Emerald and Mercury creepily stepping back into the tall grass behind them is actually really funny.

Mercury as a character has never really done much for me. I neither liked or disliked him too strongly. But god, is he an entertaining fighter. The fact that he mostly only uses his legs makes his movements seem so wild and all over the place, but he’s incredibly skilled too.

Also, Yatsuhashi and Coco seems like a kind of unbalanced fighting team. They’re both heavy hitters, so they’re slower at times. Maybe it would’ve matched better to have Coco and Velvet or Yatsuhashi and Fox.

I was gonna say it’s cute that Qrow just carries that picture of his team with him, but then I noticed that he uses his thumb to cover Raven’s face when Yang starts staring at her.

Oh yeah, I don’t think we ever found out what Penny’s plan was that would allow her to stay at Beacon. I figure by now it was just a red herring so you wouldn’t think that she’d die this volume.

Oh my god, Team FNKI!! >:D

The battle with FNKI is one of my favorites because it introduces two really fun and unique characters and the soundtrack during it is kickass, with having jazz renditions of the opening and Yang’s theme in it.

Also, Flynt’s semblance is the third one that we’ve seen where’s it’s someone making a clone of themself (Blake and Sun’s being the other two), and it’s cool to see the variance in a similar ability. Blake can only do one and it (initially) cannot move, only sit there and take a hit for her. Sun’s are completely mobile, but he can only make two at a time (it seems) and they disappear after a single hit. Flynn’s are mobile, but it looks like they can only copy his own movements, at a slight delay. So attacking one moves all of them.

“The Tale of the Two Brothers” is clearly about the Brothers, the two gods that created Humanity and the Grimm, “The Girl in the Tower” is very likely about Salem before her fall (if I’m remembering that correctly), but I’m not sure what “The Shallow Sea” could be about. I suppose we haven’t gotten that far yet.

“Sorry we’re late” he says, after such convenient timing.

alkdshkahkf i bet Ruby was regretting that “Break a leg!” after the match.

Emerald’s pistols are different in the past. Maybe Cinder taught her to fight better and got her better weapons? I had always wondered why Emerald would be so devoted to Cinder. I know Cinder helped pull her out of poverty, but it didn’t look like Emerald was struggling too much when Cinder found her that she’d devote herself fully to Cinder. I suppose she could just be in love with Cinder, but I’m even more confused if that’s the case, lmao.

it’s weird to offer a little girl who fell off her bike an apple, afkdhfkaf. i don’t think she’s hungry, i think she’s in pain

Love Qrow giving the advice that “sometimes bad things just happen” as if that isn’t his whole life

Yikes, I forgot about the scene where Pyrrha accidently attacks Jaune.

Ruby has some serious binocular vision if she was able to spot Emerald clear across the stadium like that.

So if Penny had never participated in the tournament, or if Cinder never found out she was a robot, what was Cinder’s plan to create the uproar that lures the Grimm? Like, was the plan always to have one student accidentally kill another? And Pyrrha and Penny just so happened to make it easy?

if ruby is molecules when she’s using her semblance, how is mercury able to kick her

rip penny (but not for long!)

I’ve got such a love-hate thing going on for Ironwood. Like, obviously his actions suck most of the time, but his motivations and character are so well developed and consistent. I hate what he does, but I understand why he does it. He falls into the same category as Raven does for me.

also, he’s just really bad ass when he fights, lmao. tearing up the ground with his hand, slamming the beowulf one handed, and shooting it in the head with it draped over his back? *chefs kiss*

uggghhh i forgot rewatching rwby from the beginning means i have to subject myself to adam again. my face twisted in disgust at his “hello, my darling” GROSS

I LOVE the scene with Velvet using her weapon, it’s such a great moment. But it’s actually really funny when you think about it cause they had multiple people with different weapons and they all couldn’t take down one Atlesian knight. But a single girl with multiple weapons could, lol. They just needed someone to kick in the cool music so they could win.

rip clownie

Damn, I forgot that Ironwood’s robot half is for that entire half of his body. What in the hell did that to him and how the hell did he survive.

rip amber

rip yang’s arm

My only solace is the knowledge that adam does in fact die in the future. Clinging onto that thought like a prayer everytime he opens his mouth.

You know it’s bad when Sun calls someone else an idiot.

RIP Pyrrha. It’s so hard to watch the fight between her and Cinder knowing what her fate is.

rip cinder’s left side, i guess, i still don’t know what actually happens here

So I’m gonna take a guess and assume Tai never explained to Ruby about her silver eye powers because he didn’t want her to use it and end up becoming a target like, I assume, Summer was.

The dirty look Tai gives Qrow is kind of funny and I don’t know why.

Hey, Qrow’s picked up a bit of Oz’s manipulative spirit.

The scene of Tai happily walking into Ruby’s empty room only to drop her food and run out is soooo sad, please just let this man rest.

"The ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind’s greatest attribute. I will focus all of my power... to snuff it out.” The emotional whiplash here is just beautiful. The whole reveal of Salem as not just the narrator from the beginning, but THE villain of the series is fantastic.

The end of Volume 3 certainly feels like the end of a chapter, and I suppose it truly is. From here on out, RWBY feels like an entirely different show, for better or worse. We no longer have the fun, low stakes, almost slice-of-life style episodes. The show becomes far more plot heavy and focused. While there’s a lot I like about the later volumes of RWBY, I will say that I do severely miss what RWBY was before.

Anyway, onward to Volume 4

#RWBY #RWBY liveblog #liveblog #RWBY rewatch

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bisexualmikisayaka · 3 years

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disclaimer: i haven’t watched the most recent episode yet (as of 6/19) buuut ive seen a couple spoilery gifs and i’m thinking about what i wanted out of the show. sorry if this makes no sense with the newest material 😭 but you know, and this is just my opinion, if filoni hadn’t defaulted to his standard “competent yet traumatized grizzled man with sweet mystical child” trope and made half the show a circlejerk of his tv ‘verse, i think the bad batch could have been really interesting as the only media to be set during the empire building itself.

what comes to mind is the narrative structure set up by another show he’s been involved with - ATLA. something i noticed during my summer rewatch of it that i didn’t as a younger viewer was the really excellent way that so many steps of aang’s journey were made to parallel or foil zuko’s in some way, or vice versa. the show was structured to play both of the characters off each other narratively until they ultimately came together and didn’t need to show their separate stories. if we had gotten that with hunter and crosshair, or even the bad batch overall and crosshair, i think it could have been much better. we would have been able to see more of the empire’s internal mechanisms, while being able to keep an eye on characters we knew previously (tarkin, lama su and taun we, crosshair - hell, i’d even take one-off characters like shaak ti’s clone team from the fives arc in tcw, since they seem to be the military presence on kamino) while also taking steps into a new era. we could have explored what happens when clones are under long-term influence of the chip, something we’re sorely lacking in canon. would crosshair have been able to resist at all due to his (sigh) mutations? so far the only trooper we’ve seen be able to resist for even a little bit when directly given the order is rex, and i personally like the theory that it’s because his faith in his duty was challenged so much during the clone wars, but there’s never been any real explanation or evidence to prove why others could or could not do that. how do people treat clone troopers when they start getting phased out? do clones under the influence of the chip care that they’re going to die? for god’s sake, the first death trooper is a clone! that kills me and i wish we could have seen more of crosshair’s time as an arm of the empire constructing itself from the existing structures of the republic!

and to counterbalance that - the violence, the order, the suppression and subjugation - we could have had the bad batch’s journey. omega could still be an important character in their newfound literal and emotional freedom, and whatever purpose she serves could likely be incorporated as a plot point. we could also get the other side of the equation, as the bad batch are now persecuted by the empire - we got a good taste of that with the cut lawquane episode and the chain code stuff but personally i think there could be more. crosshair as an agent of the state empire vs the bad batch as subjects actively being marginalized by the empire - it’s a really interesting parallel to draw. because everybody involved is dehumanized (and has been since the republic days) but crosshair and the chipped clones still serve a purpose and are granted sort of a modicum of citizenship (again, implications from the chain code episode), whereas the bad batch are rogue entities who need to be eliminated, on top of their status as clones. and yet ironically, despite the way they are now forced to exist on the margins of Star Wars society, they’re freer than the rest of their brothers. there are so many avenues to take with a group of clones having to adjust to citizen life while still working in active combat situations to survive - funny scenes, emotional scenes, kickass scenes, you name it. i just really wish that more clear parallel storylines had been drawn that we could follow so what when they converged once again, it would be that much sweeter.

#this on top of you know. fixing all the problems in that last post i reblogged #but if i got into the whitewashing in-universe and weird mutual prejudice the clones and tbb seem to have for each other #and what that says about clone standards and society and how i wish we could dig into that #this post would be even fucking longer #star wars #the bad batch #tbb critical #the bad batch critical #sw critical #star wars critical #tbb meta #the bad batch meta #crosshair #hunter

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ahsokatanope · 4 years

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Battered and Bruised: Chapter I

(Un)friendly Encounters

Summary: It’s two years after the Clone Wars ended with the fall of the Jedi Order. As the First Sister, it is your duty to hunt down the Jedi that remain in the galaxy after The Purge. On what you believe is just another ordinary mission, you encounter your former best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi and memories of your past come flooding back. After believing that he betrayed you and left you to die, will you kill him to get your revenge? Or will your feelings for him rekindle under unexpected circumstances?

Pairing: Inquisitor!Reader x Obi-Wan Kenobi

Word Count: 3,129

Warnings: some violence. decapitation. death. negative thoughts. (reader is v sad)

Note: Hi everyone! This is my first SW fic, so go easy on me! Feedback would be very helpful as I go on with this series! :) I’ve been wanting some more Obi content right after Order 66 lately, so I decided to make it come to life. Reader is an inquisitor, so beware of slow burn, untold feelings, and a bit of angst! Let me know what you think and if you would like to be tagged! Enjoy!

The heat from the twin suns of Tatooine radiates off your black attire as you hop out of the top of your TIE fighter. You jump off your ship and when you land, the sand around you dusts up towards your eyes, but your helmet protects your face.

You hate this planet. There is nothing about it to like. It’s barren, hot, and full of uncivilized scum who’d do anything for credits. The last time you were here, you came as a Jedi Master at the start of the Clone Wars to negotiate for safe passage for Republic ships through the Outer Rim Territories.

Sighing internally, you make a mental note to make this visit quick. With your cape flowing behind you, you make your way over to the entrance of Jabba’s Palace. This time, not as a Jedi Master, but as the First Sister instead.

One of Jabba’s droids waits for you at the entrance of the palace. You give it the password and it accepts it, making a high-pitched beep sound. Waiting patiently, you wait for the door to open, but it doesn’t quite yet.

“No weapons allowed in the throne room.” It says, voice monotone. “The door will not open and you will not be permitted to enter until your weapons are given to me.”

You grudgingly call both of your sabers to your gloved hands with the Force and place them in the tray that flaps out of the droid’s rusting torso. “If I so much as see a scratch on them by the time we’re done here, I’ll throw you in an incinerator myself.”

“No need for threats, Inquisitor. They will be right here the whole time.” The droid says, opening the door and wheeling away from you. “Follow me.”

The throne room has not changed since your last visit. It’s still as grimy and dreadful as you remember. You didn’t think it was possible for Jabba to look even more slimy and disgusting, but here he is, more than surpassing your expectations.

He couldn’t even bother to be awake for your arrival? Disgraceful.

“Jabba! Glad to see that you are excited to be in my presence.” You state, sarcasm oozing from your words. You move to stand in the center of the room and all eyes fall on you.

He awakens suddenly and stares at you with his big, grotesque eyes. He slurs out a jumble of words you don’t understand and you wait for his protocol droid to translate, but a man to the right of Jabba does instead.

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Inquisitor?” The man says smoothly, narrowing his eyes at you.

“I came here to speak with Jabba. Who are you?”

“I am Plin Fazabar, one of Jabba’s negotiators.” He says with a smirk. “It’s quite rude to have a conversation with a helmet on, don’t you think? Why don’t you take it off and let us see if the rumors of the First Sister’s beauty are true.”

“I don’t have time for this.” You say, struggling to hold back the annoyance in your tone. “You reached out to the Imperial Inquisition to make a trade for intel on the whereabouts of a Jedi survivor. I’ve come for that intel. Why don’t we make this trade swift, yeah?”

“Oh, don’t be hasty, Inquisitor. What’s the rush? You’re not enjoying this quality time together?” Jabba’s droid translates while the Hutt chuckles.

“Are you afraid of being alone in a room full of crime lords and bounty hunters?” Fazabar adds, outwardly mocking you. You exhibit restraint to kill him right then and there.

“Afraid of what I may do if you don’t give me what I want, yes. Slightly.”

Fazabar hums and crosses his arms. “And how much would you pay for this information?”

“We agreed on 8,000 credits. The Empire will pay you generously.”

The tattooed man looks at Jabba before he nods. “Yes, yes.” He sighs before continuing. “There have been whispers of a hooded man in a cloak that looks eerily familiar to one a Jedi would wear. He was last seen at a cantina in Mos Eisley, where there are rumors of… a bit of an incident with a blue-colored laser sword.

Your fists clench with anger and your jaw tenses before you speak up.

“You mean to tell me that I came all this way, to a planet full of nothing, for rumors?”

“You should be thankful we gave you the information before we received our payment. Perhaps we should charge you double if you are not going to be grateful for our offering.” Fazabar walks over to the droid who holds your weapons. Your eyes follow his every step.

“Now, I know you most likely did not come prepared with 16,000 credits, but I’ll tell you what. Jabba and I are going to cut you a deal, aren’t we Jabba?” The Hutt grunts in agreement and the creatures that surround him laugh. “Why don’t we keep your lightsabers as a fair bargain and call it a day. They would more than cover the cost: military grade, custom durite metal… These are unlike any other Inquisitor saber I’ve seen or heard of. I’m sure they are worth a fortune. Tell me, Inquisitor. How many Jedi have you killed with these blades?”

Fazabar picks up one of your sabers and runs his fingers over the hilt lightly. You feel your anger well up inside you.

You narrow your eyes and lick your lips, looking around the room before your piercing gaze settles on the man. “21.”

“Well, that is an incredible feat! Maybe the lightsabers are much too sentimental for you to trade. I’m sure we can work out a different type of payment. One that would involve a bed and the absence of your helmet.”

He can’t see your expression behind the mask of your helmet, but if looks could kill, he’d already be 10 feet under.

Plin sends you a dark, twisted smile but before he can get another word out, you use the Force to pull him towards you by his throat, choking him. Simultaneously, you call the lightsaber he holds to your right hand. Releasing your Force hold on his throat, you allow him to breathe again and roughly grab Fazabar’s shoulder to make him turn and face Jabba while you ignite your red blade and bring it up to his throat.

The room goes silent and the bounty hunters that were lurking around earlier raise their blasters and point them in your direction. At this point, Fazabar’s demeanor has completely changed. You can’t see his face, but you can feel the fear radiating off of him.

Not caring about the blasters trained on you, you lean forward to murmur in Fazabar’s ear. “You didn’t really mean any of that, did you?”

Suddenly, Jabba starts to laugh and your eyes snap over to him over the man’s shoulder.

“What’s so funny, Jabba?” You ask darkly. “Did I miss a joke?”

The protocol droid translates what he says. “Surely, you’re not stupid enough to kill him in a room full of bounty hunters.”

“Surely, you’re not ignorant enough to try and scam an Imperial Inquisitor.” You spit, glaring at him.

Without tearing your eyes from Jabba, you push Fazabar into the red blade of your lightsaber, decapitating the man in a smooth, swift motion.

Gasps can be heard around the room and the bounty hunters tense up, waiting for Jabba to make the call to shoot. Their fingers itch to pull their triggers, but the call doesn’t come.

You call your second saber to you, and clip it to your belt. Keeping the other saber ignited, you pull out a sack of credits and throw it to the translator droid.

“This is only half of the original amount!”

Keeping your attention around you, you make sure you’re able to defend yourself at any moment. You begin to walk out of the room. Before you exit, you state, “You’ll get the other half when I kill the Jedi.”

And with that, you take your leave.

Jabba yells in anger, garbling something.

The translator droid says, “Initiate protocol 757.”

The bounty hunters in the room nod. One of them presses a transmitter on his wrist.

__________________

You’ve got to give it to Fazabar. The intel he gave you is accurate. There is a Jedi in Mos Eisley… you could feel it. His presence in the Force is faint, but it’s there. Something about it feels familiar, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

You’ve been tailing the Jedi through Mos Eisley, so when he gets in his rusty, run-down speeder and travels to a scrap yard on the edge of the port city, you follow at a distance. Silently, you watch the cloaked man hop out of his speeder from the top of a building nearby. As he walks towards the scrap yard, he takes a second to pause and check his surroundings.

The twin suns hang low in the sky as you wait for him to move on. You jump down from the building when he’s a good distance away and continue to tail him through the scrap yard as he looks for spare parts. You assume they are for his speeder since it looks like it’s about to break down at any moment.

As you get closer to the Jedi, his force signature grows stronger, but you can tell that he’s trying to conceal his presence as much as possible. He must have been a Jedi Knight or Master, judging from his ability to do this.

You patiently wait for the right moment to strike as you hide behind an old wrecked LAAT Gunship.

Suddenly, you feel a whoosh of emotions come over you as the concealed Force presence now intoxicates you. Your breath catches in your throat and you close your eyes as you struggle to push back your feelings as quickly as possible.

Flashbacks of your past flood your mind, overwhelming you. Feelings of pain, betrayal, laughter, sadness, and love all fill your senses at the same time, overwhelming you. Voices in your head begin to overlap.

“Master Y/L/N and I will be able to handle Grievous. We make a great team.”

“I see you decided to take a page out of Anakin’s book. That was reckless, Y/N! You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“You and me on a mission together again, Kenobi? I’m starting to think you’re swaying the council just to get a little more quality time with me.”

“Y/N! I’ve got you. Grab my other hand. No!”

Your eyes snap open and you take a deep breath.

“Obi-Wan.” You whisper to yourself.

You don’t let yourself dwell on your past for too long. Your fists clench when you’re reminded of what Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order did to get you to the point where you are today. They are traitors, the lot of them. And Obi-Wan is no different, as much as you once wanted to believe he was.

You hear boots hitting the dirt from a distance and a voice brings you back to reality.

The Jedi lowers his hood and shouts out, “Reveal yourself. I’m afraid you are not as stealthy as you think you are.”

You finally step out from the shadows and Obi-Wan’s eyes watch you, studying your every move.

He hasn’t changed a bit. Save for his slightly longer hair and beard, he looks exactly the same since you last saw him. When he let you fall to your presumed death. He’s still as handsome as you remember, but The Purge hadn’t done him any good. You can see the deep sadness in his eyes and you know by looking into them that he barely rests.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi.” You drawl, your helmet distorting your voice slightly. “You haven’t changed since our last encounter.”

He looks at you wearily before he cocks his head. “I’m quite embarrassed. I don’t seem to recall your name, how rude of me. Remind me of who you are again?”

So his wit surely is still intact.

He removes his cloak, revealing his robes and lightsaber hilt attached to his belt. You wonder when he used it last. You take a few steps closer to him, but keep your distance.

“They call me the First Sister. I’m the first of my kind, trained in the ways of the Dark Side by Lord Sidious and your fallen apprentice.” You state and you two circle around each other. “My Sisters and Brothers answer to me.”

Sadness flashes in Obi-Wan’s eyes at the mention of Anakin. “So, the rumors about the Imperial Jedi hunters are true, I presume.”

“They are indeed.” You chuckle darkly. “You had to have known you’d encounter one eventually, Master Kenobi. I sincerely hope, for your sake, that your lightsaber skills are still sharp.”

“I’m afraid you never answered my question. Who are you and why do you speak to me like you know me?”

You know the time to reveal yourself has come. Your hands reach up to take hold of your helmet and you pull it off slowly.

Obi-Wan watches with curiosity and as your face is revealed, inch by inch, his expression shifts to one of shock and heartbreak.

“Y/N…” He whispers and his body freezes, tensing up. “I thought you were dead.”

You smirk at him. “In a way, I am. Y/N Y/L/N, the Jedi Master who was loyal to the Order was weak and I replaced her with someone who is stronger and more powerful than she could ever be.”

He starts to shake his head slowly and the wind blows a tuft of his auburn hair to his forehead. “No… no, I watched you die on Utapau. You were shot and you fell to your death.”

“Believe what you want, Kenobi, but it’s not going to change the fact that you turned away your apprentice and your best friend. Nothing will change that!” Two years of pent up anger and hate flood through your system and fuel your every move.

Noticing your increasing aggression towards him, his eyes widen. “Let us talk about this. This is not who you are, Y/N.”

You laugh humorlessly. “Always the negotiator.”

You call your lightsabers to your hands and ignite them, the red light from the blades illuminating your face.

“Don’t do this, Y/N.” Obi-Wan begs, his blue eyes plead with yours. “Please. I do not wish to fight you.”

“Then this will be easy.”

You get into your fighting stance, your eyes not leaving his figure.

“You leave me no choice.” Obi-Wan says, broken and defeated. He unclips his saber from his belt and illuminates it.

You are the first to strike and both of your sabers strike against Kenobi’s. Blue and red clash together as you two move with grace and precision, an equal match for each other. You always were.

The power dynamic shifts back and forth, but you can tell that Obi-Wan is holding back.

“Why do you hold back, Kenobi? Are you afraid?” You spit out when your lightsabers are locked. “Don’t want to be responsible for my actual death?”

“You must know that I did everything I could to save you! I couldn’t stop Order 66 or you getting shot, but I still blame myself for it everyday!”

“You could have come back to see if I survived the fall, but you didn’t!” You push him back with the Force to create distance. “The Empire saved me instead!”

“I wanted to, but I couldn’t!” Obi-Wan yells, trying to plead his case. His beautiful blue eyes start to well up with tears. “I had to stop Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. I did—”

You cut him off by reaching your hand out to Force choke him. His feet slightly lift off the ground as tears fill your eyes.

“Yeah? Well, how’d that work out for you?”

Obi-Wan is finally at your mercy after two years of wanting him to pay for what he did. After two years of resenting his existence and taking your anger out on killing other Jedi and force-sensitives. You were trained to use the anger you had towards him as power, and you wanted to cause him as much pain as he caused you, but...

As much as you want vengeance, you just… can’t find it in yourself to finish him. Your feelings for him before The Purge came flooding back the moment you saw him and now, it’s making you weak.

You release your hold on his throat and he drops to the ground, but Obi-Wan had already flung a large piece of scrap towards you in defense. You couldn’t move in time and it hits you full on, knocking you to the ground and your lightsabers out of your hands.

You groan in pain as you fade in and out of consciousness. Struggling profusely, you try to get up and wobble on your feet, but fail to stand straight. Falling back to the ground, you attempt to drag yourself towards one of your lightsabers. You have no idea where Kenobi went, but you know you need to defend yourself.

Suddenly, there is creaking heard from above you. The tall pile of scrap a short distance away is beginning to crumble. Kenobi must have removed the perfect amount of scrap to make the whole thing tumble down.

As the pile starts to loom over you, you know, deep down that you won’t be able to make it a safe distance away. You could barely stand. So, instead of running, you decide to drop to your knees and close your eyes, your lightsabers lying forgotten in the sand. You welcome the death that awaits you. Maybe you deserve it, after all. You’ve done so much wrong by killing Jedi and innocent force sensitives across the galaxy. Years of letting your fear, hate, and anger drive your actions are finally catching up to you. Maybe, just maybe, after enduring all the pain and suffering in your life, you’ll finally find peace. Maybe peace isn’t a lie.

You jolt at the feel of strong arms starting to drag your body across the sand. You open your eyes and stare at the night sky to try and register what’s going on. Turning, you see Obi-Wan’s face etched in pain and concern.

“No,” you mumble. “Don’t touch me.”

You try to pull away from him and drag your heels into the sand, but he stops to pick you up over his shoulder and runs to safety. Struggling against him, you finally wriggle free and drop to the ground on your hands and knees.

“What in the blazes do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get kriffing killed?!” Kenobi yells as the scrap pile crashes behind you, old fuel tanks exploding from the impact. The orange light from the glow falls on both of your faces.

“Get away from me!” You yell, slow to get up. You didn’t have any energy in you to push him back with the Force. You're finally able to stand on your feet, swaying a bit as you try to catch your balance.

“Y/N, please let me—”

Obi-Wan suddenly stops talking as a light thump emits from behind him. His eyes droop closed as his body starts to go limp and fall forward.

Witnessing this, your eyes widen as you see a dart in the back of Kenobi’s neck. You quickly glance around (your head spinning) and with newfound adrenaline, you call Obi-Wan’s lightsaber to you for defense and press the emergency communicator on your left forearm. Milliseconds later, you feel a slight pinch in your neck and you quickly remove the sharp object, but it’s too late. You feel the effects of the dart begin to take their toll, numbing your body and making your vision go black.

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ramenandchill · 4 years

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Character criticism

Today’s criticism: The entirety of the show Boruto

Hood day/night my children. How are you all? I hope you all are eating your veggies and drinking your water. I hope you all are taking care of yourselves to the best of your abilities and that your all doing well back home, wherever home may be.

Today, we’re going to be tackling the mess that is essentially the anime,Boruto. Basically why it’s not as good as it could be, and why it has potential. I even have an alternative plot for Boruto, and I thought I would share that with you all, my loves.

So first, let’s summarize what Boruto is;

Boruto:next generations is a spin-off show to the Naruto series. A series that once followed the life of Naruto Uzumaki and his fellow friends as growing shinobi, now follows his son Boruto Uzumaki and his friends, who are the next generation of ninja growing up in the shinobi world.

In depth: the setting takes place in a now peaceful shinobi world, where the 5 great nations are no longer at war or no longer have bad blood anymore. Naruto Uzumaki is now the 7th Hokage of Konoha, and Sasuke Uchiha serves as the shadow Hokage, protecting Konoha from the outside. Most of the Konoha 11 have children. These children are learning to be ninja, and are growing up to become extremely powerful each day.

Though this plot sounds very entertaining, it is far from that and the lazy writing shows through many parts of the Anime. Here are some problems I’ve encountered with the plot and characters itself.

1. The children are extremely overpowered- for one, the children in Boruto are too overpowered. One thing that was interesting about Naruto was that we got to grow with the kids and see them develop their powers. Though some were prodigies at a very young age, we got to see them develop even more and we realized that they weren’t too ultra powerful and that they could be beaten. Once we as the audience realized that our beloved Naruto characters were only kids who weren’t all prodigies, the suspense was amped up quite a lot. The chunin exams is a great example. In the forest of death, many of the genin weren’t too powerful, and we saw a lot of genin groups die in the forest of death. We even saw a Sannin, Orochimaru, sneak into the exams and bite Sasuke, which caused the main plot to kick off. A lot of the times, we weren’t sure that our faves would make it out of their life or death situations. But In Boruto, the suspense is not there. We know that most of the kids, especially the 3 main characters, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki are all powerful. There’s no “if” they are gonna make it out. We also don’t get to see much hit or misses from the children. We don’t get to see their trial and error with learning their parents jutsus and developing their own so it’s hard to grow with them. Their powers ensure that they get out of most situations, and it takes away from the hard work their parents did to reach the level they are at. Their powers look rather more genetic (which I’m sure they mostly are), than actual hard work.

2. The next generation-another problem is that the kids are essentially carbon copies of their parents personalities. They aren’t their own selves, which very much annoys me. I rather see the kids be their own person, rather than adapt ALL parts of their parents personalities. I don’t mind the children having small parts of their parents incorporated into them, but Boruto really takes it to new heights. The personalities are more copy paste. Most of them act exactly how their parents do or once did. One of the few characters this probably doesn’t go for is Mitsuki, as he’s rather pleasant compared to his father, orochimaru.

3. The lack of screen time- this is a minor issue to me, but I don’t appreciate how a lot of the interesting characters like Sarada are glazed over. The other teams besides Team Konohamaru are usually not shown progressing as much, and are given the much shorter end of the stick than the main characters, which is rather annoying.

4. The Konoha 11- the Konoha 11 have been greased so badly. Their powers seem heavily downgraded, and their character designs look awful. A lot of them look like pedophiles and Shino looks like a can of bug spray. Their powers seem very light, compared to in the Naruto series. For example, Shino not being able to control his bugs and messing up, is a regular for the shows gag unfortunately. That’s so unnatural because we know Shino is very serious and calculated and careful, so that gag is not funny at all. Even Naruto, who’s a master at shadow clone jutsu, has reverted back to his childhood. His clones are ineffective but they do it as a gag, which is dumb. They have made some of the Konoha 11 a shell of there former selves, which frustrates me. They were so cool in shippuden and such, but now their once cool and mysterious powers are downgraded for laughs, which aren’t funny.

5. Naruto and sasuke- Naruto and Sasuke are horrible fathers. For people who should want to make the most of family because they never had any, they don’t even spend time with their kids, which is so dumb. Naruto does Hokage work, but nothing is stopping him from making shadow clones to do the work for him, so that he could spend time with his family. Sasuke is even worse to the point where seeing Sasuke triggers Saradas sharingan because of the overwhelming emotion she felt from seeing him for the first time in years(I also hate how Sarada just bonds with him after an episode. Their relationship would need mending and building considering how long sasukes been gone. He doesn’t know much about her, so he should learn steady over a period of time like how it is in real life). That’s awful. They could be there for their families but their not, which is so weird for characters of their backgrounds.

6. The plot itself- the plot itself drags on for very long and in my opinion isn’t interesting. The plot is constantly jumping. The Arcs aren’t that intruiging and follow benign story plots that could only possibly serve as filler. It takes so long to get to the main plot of Borutos story. Here’s a list of the 17(Yes,17) arcs that have occurred in Boruto so far;

I can tell you that a lot of these are pretty much anticlimactic and waste time. Some are cool to sit through, like the time travel arc or Kara Actuation, but some are like the War arc of shippuden. If something’s like the war arc of shippuden, I rather smell someone’s booty than watch that again. So please, you can even read the plots yourself, and find that they aren’t that captivating.

7.The Villains- last but not least, we have the very copy paste villains. Just recently we’ve gotten some newer villains with a new agenda but it won’t be a breath of fresh air for long. For example, we know that so many of the villains such as Momoshiki, have been just copy-pastes of Kaguya. Their a Naruto and Sasuke level threat which we know that both Naruto and Sasuke could beat them any time. I’m bored of seeing Naruto and Sasuke fight villains that we know they will beat anytime. And with the villains point- I bring to you why Boruto has potential. You see, the Kawaki arc(Kara arc) showed that Boruto could turn into a show about a rivalry, and we saw the clip of Kawaki and Boruto fighting at the very beginning of the series. This is cool that a character like Kawaki who is shown in the end to have a strong resentment towards the ninja world for making him what he is, eventually will try to go the mile to end the age of shinobi. We will have to wait for this, sadly and I wished they introduced this sooner.

Alt plot: my alt plot goes a bit like this. Let’s say that the peaceful world is not exactly completely peaceful. The 5 nations aren’t at war anymore but the smaller countries within them aren’t exactly that peaceful. There aren’t a lot of casualties at all, but some people are still a tad bit resentful.

Let’s say that some of the great nations have become docile. The New generation of kids no longer learn how to be ninjas. Instead they go to regular school and for those who would like to be ninjas, there is a fake kitty-program for them to take. It’s not serious enough for them, though. Jonin still go on message delivering missions. The Hokage is still there, all of that.

Now let’s say a character like Kawaki and an organization behind them, a small one, has been wronged by the shinobi world. They aren’t exactly like the Akatsuki, open with their deeds. However, they are internal threats like Danzo almost, who live within the village. Nobody suspects them because they pose as regular citizens in the lands that no longer practice the way of shinobi life as they once did.

Now let’s say this organization start taking out unsuspecting Jonin. One by one, 2 by 2, Jonin are turning up dead left and right. Nobody can really explain their deaths yet, but their deaths are really disturbing. Next, Anbus investigate, but some of them are even taken out too.

The Hokage and village are becoming restless once again. Then citizens start going missing and dying. This doesn’t just happen in Konoha though, this also happens in other nations. This can make a rift between the nations who think that the other nation is sabotaging them, which can influence bad blood again. These villains are tearing up the almost perfect world from the inside out. They bring back people like Kakashi, Yamato, Tsunade, Kurenai, Gai, basically everyone from the old days, and the Konoha 11 for their lines of defense.

People propose that the children should learn to be true shinobi. Some argue that they shouldn’t, but it is decided that the children should learn to protect themselves and their lands. So now, medical ninjitsu classes are taught, ninjitsu, chakra types, genjutsu. The ninja school is rehashed.

Sasuke comes back to the village and is asked if he’s seen anyone enter the village but the answer is no, which gives a clue.

Soon, the children graduate and learn important lessons about friendship and teamwork. We watch them work hard to learn and perfect their parents Jutsus. we watch the trial and error, but we watch them turn out great in the end. They can even have Boruto face off against this villain when he gets older.

They learn from the oldest Shinobis and earn their powers, instead of just having them materialize them and genetically master them.

(p.s honestly Temari and Shikamaru should’ve had twins, one boy and one girl, have them both be smart but have one learn shadow possession and one learn wind style. The boy is obvi Shikadai who learns shadow possenion cuz that’s already cannon, and the girl Tomoe, could learn wind style from Temari. She doesn’t have to be a carbon copy, but she could still learn her mother’s craft.)

Thank you for coming to my ted talk my loves, and I’ll see you on the next episode of Character Critisims.

#anime #naruto #boruto #analysis #ted talks

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thesummerstorms · 4 years

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Rev Recaps Hard Contact (Chapter 19)

CW: Violence & blood.

TL;DR Recap: Niner and Fi kill the scientists as they flee Uthan’s facility and Darman blows it up from underneath. Hokan realizes he now has no scientists and no virus. Etain briefly distracts Atin and he gets shot. Uthan is injured by shrapnel from his armor. Niner and Fi try to take down Hokan, but struggle against his beskar’gam. Niner decides on a trap.

Beginning Kal Count: 37 Ending Kal Count: 39

Last chapter, with the exception of the date rape joke, was actually fairly satisfying, so by the Traviss Law of Plotting, this one has to make me sigh. Here we go.

Darman and Atin are approaching the safety point where they can blow up the science facility from underneath, but Niner is observing it topside and tells them to hold off when he notices something happening.

Somewhere in the middle of that, we get this line”

Which, spoiler for Triple Zero, it absolutely is his new tic.

Hokan has killed the lights, and when Niner’s night-vision kicks in, he hesitates to shoot at the people coming out of the building because he sees Hokan’s t-shaped visor and Niner associates with clones (and probably Kal, though mercifully that isn’t brought up for once) and his brain jumps to Atin and Dar, despite them being a ways away. After a moment, he opens fire when he realizes it’s Hokan, but it’s too late. After another second, a second group makes a break for it (Hurati and the scientists) and he and Fi successfully gun down 3/4 people. See? Foreshadowing.

They decide to put more explosives into the facility, just to be on the safe side, so Fi and Niner throw in six anti-armor grenades to take out any remaining droids close to the surface, and also set the E-Web to overload. Then they book it, because Dar’s about to blow up the labs from underneath, and absolutely no one wants to be in that blast radius.

The things that make Fi happy.

Sadly, this is not endex. We switch to Hokan’s pov for the updated casualty report. He’s survived and so has Hurati, but all of the scientists are dead.

Niner apparently hit someone, just not Hokan. Or Hokan’s armor protected him. Or the scientist functionally turned into a shield. Hurati confirms that he survived because he hit the ground, but that when he yelled drop, none of the scientists dropped. Hokan confirms that civilians tend to do that. Hurati adds more bad news by explaining that, given the color/temperature/position of the explosion, there’s no chance that any samples of the virus left in the facility survived. Which means Hokan has lost Uthan, the science team, and the virus work all in very short order. His only shot is to recapture Uthan, but his staff is down to him and Hurati, so chances aren’t great. He decides to try it anyway, sends Hurati hunting, and settles in to listen for the commandos.

We then switch to Etain’s POV. This is the scene that makes me sigh. But I’m just gonna ignore authorial intent and power through.

I can’t think of a great explanation for Etain being able to sense the larty and not droids/weapons/ *ahem* minefields. I really just don’t know. Best guess is what she’s feeling is less the gunship itself and more the Force rippling with the currents caused with what will happen because of the gunship/ how her life will be changed...

... but again. Triple Zero. The minefield. I don’t know.

a) “its drive chang[ed] pitch, and Darman reacted as if someone were talking to him”

b) everyone seems, at best, mildly perturbed the first time they see Atin be even remotely cheerful, and it’s pretty damn funny. If only it wasn’t a set up for disaster.

a) I pity that specific soldier too.

b) okay, so the “clones are appreciative of the little things & look how grateful they are compared to your average civvie” has been a MASSIVE throughline in this book (and series) but “His dreams were modest. She thought that was a fine example to set.” Actually, you know what, no, not when you look at the systemic reasons for the “modesty”. This line is just creepy.

c) (the highlighed line) Etain wants Darman’s respect. That should be your immediate red flag signal that something terrible is about to happen immediately so the narrative can show her why she doesn’t deserve it yet again.

d) (still though... she wants his respect, specifically, she wants to know what he wants to do when they finally escape this miserable place. notably, she isn’t even thinking what she’ll do, though of course having already read the book we know she doesn’t get to escape. but it’s not subtle is all I’m saying.)

Okay, so the set up the narrative is going for is clearly:

Etain wants to be liked/appreciated/respected so she decides to show off with her Force abilities ---> Professional and Competent Soldier is Distracted by Etain at the wrong moment ---> Atin gets shot and it’s Etain’s fault because she distracted herself and him with Force powers but those Force powers weren’t even good enough to see the REAL threat so what use are they actually, she’s worthless.

ahem.

As an Etain RP player... I tend to keep this as exactly how she perceives/remembers this incident. Her fault. A confirmation yet again that she isn’t worth anything to anyone, that she’s useless. The guilt stays with her, unless someone finally manages to corner her to talk about it, which no one has yet.

As someone critiquing the narrative... look, we’ve seen Omega get taken by surprise and be shot at before in this book. What it horrible, terrible timing that Atin is shot while Etain is, admittedly, showing off a bit because all three characters have relaxed after hearing the gunship? Yes. It’s terrible. But I really don’t feel like Etain deserves a much larger percentage of blame for what’s ultimately a matter of bad timing.

As for her not sensing Hurati... listen, Traviss you literally had her sense a gunship, aka machinery, not five minutes ago. Yet she can’t sense one clearly malicious/dangerous shooter nearby? Not only is that inconsistent with every pattern you have written so far, it’s an obvious authorial choice to force this exact situation despite internal coherency. Not unlike the minefield in True Colors.

I wish she’d just make a consistent thread for Etain’s abilities, but they’re always magically heightened when its necessary to resolve a plot, and otherwise diminished at any possible given moment so that we can rag on her some more.

Anyway, Darman downs Hurati and gets a look at him through the scope:

“He is now.” pffff.

Darman field medics Atin, who isn’t doing great, and prepares to carry him to the larty. Atin, per his history, tries to convince Darman to leave him behind, because, again. He’s been in this position before. Even if he weren’t critically injured, this would be pressing all his trauma buttons.

With Dar caring for/carrying Uthan, that leaves Etain to carry the partially sedated Uthan, except Etain realizes that Uthan has also been injured. She has a shard of shrapnel from Atin’s armor embedded in her ribs. This means that, if you view this incident as Etain’s fault, Etain has accidentally just endangered/ruined the entire mission. With Uthan dead, they might as well have blown up the planet from orbit and spared everyone the bleeding and the heartache. Great.

She’s got a point about trauma, but to be entirely fair to Kast, he didn’t teach her lessons that were “learned quicker by almost dying” because that’s an insane way to teach. Additionally, she’s also falling in love for the record, and just doesn’t know it yet, but I’m tired of KT’s pogoing back and forth between “jedi/not jedi” so we’re moving on.

So this is Kal Count 38, but it actually is a fair point about Fi versus Skirata, so I’m okay with this one. Fi and Niner start to talk about where they’d rather be deployed next, urban versus jungle, but it quickly devolves into an admission that Fi is not entirely detached or coping well; he just wants to be.

Fi gets the least amount of development of all of Omega Squad in this book, but it’s moments like these when you step back and remember, he also just watched all three of his original brothers die. Niner trying to reassure him is heartbreaking, as is realizing Fi is “shutting down” and trying to distance himself because it’s all happening again, and so close to the last mission, too.

Hokan cuts off this emotional moment by firing on Niner & Fi. They have difficulty because Hokan is wearing beskar’gam, which is as tough or tougher than their own armor, and he also is armed with a Verpine shattergun, which just made very quick work of Atin’s armor.

Fi and Niner realize that if they don’t hurry it up, Majestic will leave without them because now that Uthan has been captured, they’re unimportant to the mission. (They aren’t even wrong, actually; they just don’t know that Zey will end up staying on planet.) They comm Darman, who offers to leave Atin at the gunship and come back for them, but he’s got 10 minutes until he even gets to the larty, and Niner orders him to stay back. Then Hokan throws an EMP at them, and Niner & Fi lose all systems because apparently when the katarn helmets got upgraded after Geonosis they weren’t stress tested properly.

They try to throw some IEDs after Hokan, complaining about “civvies” who tested the armor the entire time, but that fails so they have to come up with another plan. Niner decides to try and trap him.

Kal Count jumps to 39, with one more chapter to go. But those last two lines never fail to break my heart.

#Republic Commando #Rev Recaps RepComm #RepComm #Darman Skirata #Atin Skirata #Niner Skirata #Fi Skirata #Ghez Hokan #Etain Tur-Mukan #Qail Ovolot Uthan #Hard Contact

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millicentthecat · 4 years

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TROS FEELINGS

ASSORTED STAR WARS FEELINGS after the break.

Ok, I just sat down in front of my computer, and I haven't read any reviews or Hot Takes about the movie. I went in completely unspoilered. So these are all my instant thoughts after just seeing the film, and they are subject to change.

I was entertained but not impressed.

Palpatine is so incredibly cool. Star Wars is a story about how cool Palpatine is. How did he survive though? And was it implied that Snoke was some kind of clone? Made by Palpatine? Why? Why would you make a scarred, disfigured dude to go out and do your bidding? And if you were going to make one, why not make a dozen and then never reveal yourself at all?

There were many "whys" in this movie. Why did Kylo Ren---did he turn? The Knights of Ren seemed to think so, but I don't know why. And weren't they HIS followers? Why were they suddenly defending Palpatine? But back to--did Kylo really heel face turn because his mom said his name and then died? And because Rey healed the hole that SHE stabbed in him, while gaslighting him with his deadname? Was that all it took? No thank you. Rejected.

Also, Hux's death: rejected. Kylo's death also rejected. Palpatine's death also rejected. I guess the spirits of the Jedi prevented him from inhabiting Rey's body and continuing the legacy of the Sith? Unclear on how that worked.

In general, the movie was very complicated and dense, which is not a bad thing. There was also some wonky pacing and a lot of expository dialogue. These are things that I usually appreciate in a story, because my internal processing speed is different than most peoples', so wonky pacing and exposition help me keep a grasp on What's Going On more than action. And ok, here's a thing that needs to be said. If you watch the old movies from the 70s, the pacing--including simple things like the length of shots and frequency of cuts--they are MUCH slower paced than the prequels and MUCH MUCH slower paced than the sequel trilogy. This is because movies have gotten FASTER and DENSER as each generation increases the speed with which they can process visual information, as we learn the language of film intuitively as children. So I wasn't too put off by that, even though films that a lot of people younger than me like (like Grindlewald, for example) feel fast and dense and overwhelming to my old brain.

Some positives: so much good Sith worldbuilding. Lots of cool aliens. Good snek. Complicated and fractious relationships amongst the heros. Funny C3PO. Solid first hour or so? Though I may revisit that later. I appreciated Leia training Rey, and the explicit nature of Rey's alliance to the Jedi, which I've remarked on before (to a lot of skepticism from the peanut gallery.) Also, I thought introducing Force Healing was a bold move--though this was one of the things that knocked on the door of my brain and said "Your disbelief is still suspended, right?" and I said "yes of course please leave."

Neutrals: Rey Palpatine was a hoot. I'm going to have to see it again before I have strong opinions about it, but I will. The execution made it seem like a complete and utter retcon, even though I don't think it was? IDK, mixed thoughts.

Some (of many) silly things. Poe's romance and backstory. Lack of Rose. Too many walkbacks and "almosts"--Chewie almost dying, C3PO almost being erased, etc. etc. No mention of the Rose/Finn kiss. Random kiss between to Resistance fighters that the story tries to pretend is queer representation (GTFO). Leia's death--I'm not upset that she died, I'm just kind of put off by how random and out of place it felt? Like, the story halted for it to happen? Continuing on. Lack of Vader and/or Padme. Rey on Tattooine for some reason? Lando wasted. It was AWESOME to see Lando but I felt like he was wasted, like there wasn't enough room for his character or explanation of why he was there and where he'd been.

Some more silly things. The use of the Carrie footage was just janky. I might not have noticed that if I wasn't looking for it, though. I bet little kids won't notice. Another thing little kids might not pick up on: it doesn't mean anything that the First Order has been defeated at the end. Because they've been defeated like 6 times already. They keep undefeating themselves, springing back up, same people, same conflicts. It diminishes the meaning of the victories. Even things like the Chosen One trope aren't meaningful if dozens of people are the Chosen One.

Another thing. It didn't feel like anything that happened in this movie was planned when TFA was written. I mean, we know that these movies were not written according to any kind of overarching plan--we know, for example, that Poe was supposed to die in TFA. So I kind of wish that Rey Palpatine and Palpatine's rise in general has been hinted at more and built up more over the last two movies. But TROS is not the end of a 3 movie arc, it's the end of a 9 movie arc, and so if nothing in the last two movies seems to build to this conclusion, it may still feel like a conclusion to all 9. Or at least a spring board for fanfiction.

Ok I am going to go read what everyone else thought now.

#tros #the rise of skywalker #rise of skywalker #star wars #rey palpatine #spoilers

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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‘But They’re Covered In Nipples’: The Story Of Destroy All Humans - Quill’s Scribbles

Another E3 has come and gone. There was some good announcements. Square Enix unveiled their Avengers game, Keanu Reeves came on stage to give us the release date of Cyberpunk 2077, Ubisoft are making another Watch Dogs set in London, and... um... what else happened?

Oh yeah!

DESTROY ALL HUMANS IS BACK!!!!!!

Yes, the cult classic Destroy All Humans is returning next year, developed by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games. This was quite possibly the nicest surprise I’ve ever had. When the teaser trailer came up on my YouTube recommendations, I practically screamed the house down. It’s a level of excitement I felt when 20th Century Fox announced they were finally making a Deadpool movie.

Yeah. That excited.

Destroy All Humans was my favourite video game series growing up. I played the first two games non-stop on my PS2 and I even bought a Nintendo Wii and PS3 just so I could play Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon (yeah, we’ll get to them). Unfortunately, while the series was reasonably successful, it never quite broke through into the mainstream, and it ended up having a very short lifespan, making it one of the most underrated franchises of all time.

So, to mark the return of Crypto and Pox, I thought I’d take a retrospective look at the series as a whole. Analysing each game in the franchise and talking about what made them so good, whilst also looking at how it faded into obscurity and how THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games can hopefully avoid this fate with their remake.

Radioactive, Exploding, Zombie Cows

The first Destroy All Humans was developed by THQ and Pandemic Studios (the latter probably most famous for making the original Star Wars Battlefront games. You know? The good ones that weren’t overloaded with loot boxes and microtransactions) and was released in 2005 on the PS2 and Xbox. You play as a Furon warrior called Cryptosporidium 137, or Crypto for short, who is tasked with harvesting the brains of humans in order to extract pure Furon DNA from them. His leader Orthopox 13, or Pox, explains that the Furons are at risk of cloning themselves into extinction as they are unable to reproduce naturally due to a lack of genitalia and the DNA in their cloning banks are starting to degrade. Fortunately the Furons visited prehistoric Earth on their way back from destroying the Martians and took the opportunity to ‘let off some steam’ with the natives. As a result, humans possess a strand of Furon DNA that can hopefully restore the Furons’ reproductive organs. Unfortunately a secret government organisation called Majestic (a sort of cross between Project Blue Book and the Men in Black) have caught wind of the Furon invasion due to Crypto 136 crash landing in Roswell 10 years earlier. So Crypto 137 will have to be extra cautious in his quest to take over Earth.

The game was released four years after Grand Theft Auto III, which had completely revolutionised gaming with its open world sandbox. As a result, other companies were attempting their own open worlds and putting their own spin on them. While Destroy All Humans didn’t quite have the same scale as GTA, it made up for it with quality over quantity. The game offered six small open world areas for players to have fun in and its central premise was utterly captivating. After countless games where you had to fight alien invaders, Destroy All Humans allowed you to play as the alien invader.

Pandemic Studios completely embraced the alien invasion premise, giving the player a vast number of weapons and abilities to wreak havoc on planet Earth. You had access to weapons like the Zap O Matic, Disintegrator Ray and Anal Probe (no, really, there’s actually a gun called the Anal Probe and it’s as funny as it sounds) as well as mental abilities such as Psychokinesis, Hypnotism and the Cortex Scan, which allowed you to read the thoughts of humans and was also used to help maintain your Holoblob disguise in stealth missions. And if that isn’t cool enough, you also get your own flying saucer, which you can use to destroy buildings and landmarks. The game gave you a lot of freedom, essentially dropping you in a small destructible playground and telling you to go and enjoy yourself.

But the thing I loved most about the first game was the writing. The plot itself is actually pretty good with plenty of twists and turns as the military and Majestic become more and more desperate to stop you. And the humour, my God the humour! Honestly Destroy All Humans remains to this day one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. It’s use of satirical humour and 50s pop culture references never failed to make me chuckle. There was one moment that I’ll always remember where I scanned the mind of a police officer and it revealed that he was thinking about forming the Village People. If only he could find a cowboy, an Indian and a construction worker.

The game’s main source of comedy mostly came from poking fun at the culture and attitudes of the time period. 1950s America was of course gripped by ‘the Red Scare,’ which the game mocks frequently as we see Majestic and the US government try desperately to cover up alien activity by blaming the death and destruction on communists, to the point where it just gets more and more absurd. At the end of each mission, a newspaper headline is shown, often blaming recent events on freak weather or communist propaganda. Yes, that should explain perfectly why people’s heads are exploding and why the cows are glowing green. It’s all perfectly normal. No aliens here. What’s that? A little green man in a flying saucer is blowing up ice cream trucks? Damn you commies!

The game also pokes fun at 50s sci-fi B movies, often parodying and lampshading the tropes and gimmicks one would expect in a low budget sci-fi flick. For example, the game ends with you fighting a giant robot that houses the President’s brain. It’s fully aware of how ridiculous and stupid it all is and clearly revels in it. Killer robots, mind control, radioactive animals, mad scientists and secret government conspiracies galore. Destroy All Humans is very much a love letter to cheesy sci-fi.

But by far the biggest draw was the main characters. Crypto and Pox. They’re both such funny, wonderfully realised and likeable characters. Pox is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz, who you may remember from Invader Zim, and he gives the character a maniacal glee. I honestly could listen to his rants all day. He’s the quintessential evil genius. Crypto meanwhile is voiced by J. Grant Albrecht, who gives the character a Jack Nicholson-esque voice. Unlike Pox, Crypto is crass, crude and craves destruction, which often puts him at odds with Pox, who favours more subtle styles of invasion such as mind control. The two characters often bicker and squabble, which never fails to be entertaining, and yet there is an underlying respect and fondness for each other that helps ground the relationship. It’s the perfect double act.

Destroy All Humans was a good game, but does it still hold up? Well there are a few issues. Controls can be a bit clunky at times and missions can often get repetitive. Destroy x number of farmers. Collect x amount of DNA. That kind of thing. Also, annoyingly, there’s no checkpoints, which means if you die or fail the mission, you’re automatically sent back to the Furon Mothership and you have to start the mission all over again. But the writing, humour and entertainment value more than make up for it.

Hot Monkey Love

While the first game wasn’t what you’d call a hit, it was successful enough for THQ to commission a sequel. Destroy All Humans 2 was released in 2006 on PS2 and Xbox, just one year after the first game, and this time Crypto was going international.

Set in the 1960s, ten years after the events of the first game, the KGB in Russia learn about the Furon’s takeover of America and plan a counterattack. They nuke the Furon Mothership, killing Pox, and try to assassinate Crypto 138, who is posing as the President of the United States. The assassination fails and Pox’s mind is able to survive in hologram form. The two then embark on a global adventure, seeking revenge against the KGB and uncovering a massive conspiracy that puts the entire Furon invasion at risk.

Destroy All Humans 2 is an ambitious sequel that increases its scope from the first game. No longer confined to America, we see Crypto terrorise San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Russia and even the Moon. Our arsenal of weapons are also expanded. The original weapons from the first game return as well as some all new ones such as the Disclocator, which fires a purple disc at a human or vehicle and sends them flying around the map, the Burrow Beast, which summons a Tremors-esque space worm to cause carnage, and Meteor Strike, which I think speaks for itself. We also get a few new mental abilities such as Transmogrify, which allows you to turn objects into ammo, and Free Love, which causes everyone in the general vicinity to start dancing, allowing you to make a quick getaway while they’re distracted. The saucer too has some extra features, including a cloaking device and the ability to drain vehicles of health using your Abducto Beam.

This sequel pretty much takes everything that worked from the first game whilst tweaking the things that didn’t. The GTA style Alert system got a complete overhaul. If you want to raise or lower the Alert level, all you have to do is bodysnatch a cop or a soldier and make a call using a police box (you can also make prank calls from them, which is good for a giggle). Holoblobbing has been replaced with Bodysnatching, which works so much better and it does away with the annoying Concentration meter, so you can PK cars and humans to your heart’s content. There’s also a lot more stuff to do now. There are numerous collectables such as Alien Artefacts, which unlocks the Burrow Beast weapon, and FuroTech Cells, which are your main currency that can be used to upgrade your health and weapons. Missions have greater variety than in the first game. There’s a lot more side missions, including Odd Jobs and my personal favourites the Cult of Arkvoodle missions, where Crypto brainwashes humans to worship the Furon God Arkvoodle of the Sacred Crotch.

As you can tell, the humour is still just as wacky and ridiculous as ever. Destroy All Humans 2 lampoons and ridicules the 60s mercilessly, taking aim at the Cold War and the hippie counterculture movement. It also pokes fun at 60s sci-fi films, spy films and Japanese movies like Godzilla. In fact there’s a boss fight that involves you fighting a Godzilla-esque monster and it’s honestly the best boss fight in the series. It regains health by destroying buildings, so you have to destroy them first before you can kill the monster. It’s a great premise.

Story-wise, Destroy All Humans 2 is a worthy successor, raising the stakes and expanding the lore. We’re introduced to the Blisk, the Martians that were presumed extinct by the Furons millions of years ago. It’s a brilliant conflict and ostensibly allows the developers to make commentaries on America and Russia at the time using the Furons and the Blisk respectively as stand-ins. Crypto and Pox are well written, funny and likeable as ever and we’re also introduced to an assortment of new characters, including the Russian spy Natalya and MI6 agent Ponsomby (voiced by none other than Anthony Head from Buffy). The game is engaging and rewarding, but it crucially never takes itself too seriously. For example there’s one instance in Tokyo where Crypto learns about the battle between the White and Black Ninjas and he guesses that the conflict started because of the cliche student betraying his master type origin, but it turns out that both groups of ninjas were originally Grey, but then they ran out of grey fabric and disagreed over which colour they should be instead. There’s so many great comedic moments like that and they pretty much hit bullseyes every time.

That being said, there was one aspect of the game I didn’t like and that was the crude sex jokes. Crypto 138 is the first clone to have pure Furon DNA, which means he now has genitalia. As a result, this new incarnation of Crypto is far more randy than 137 was in the first game. This mostly takes the form of Crypto constantly trying to hit on Natalya, despite her showing no sexual interest, which I personally found pretty gross. Worse still, the game ends with Crypto cloning Natalya and ‘making a few adjustments’ so she will consent to have sex with him. The word ‘creepy’ doesn’t begin to cover how I felt about this. If THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games ever decide to remake the second game, I really hope they consider rethinking that ending because... Jesus!

On the whole, Destroy All Humans 2 was a brilliant sequel. It was also sadly the last Destroy All Humans game to be developed by Pandemic Studios before they were bought by EA and eventually shut down in 2009. Unfortunately this would have a severe impact on the future of the series going forward.

Limp Willy

The next game in the series was a spinoff for the Nintendo Wii, released in early 2008 and developed by Locomotive Games. A PS2 version was also planned, but was scrapped due to budget cuts (remember this. It’ll become relevant later).

Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed was... underwhelming, to say the least. Set in the 1970s, six years after the second game, Crypto and Pox have opened a fast food restaurant called Big Willy as a way of disposing of the corpses left behind during Crypto’s missions. However a rival fast food chain, run by Colonel Kluckin’, is stealing their business and socialite Patty Wurst is threatening to expose Big Willy (smirk). So it’s up to Crypto to protect Pox’s Big Willy (haha) and maintain their cover on Earth.

Now you’re probably thinking this sounds quite tame compared to the previous two games, and yeah, it is. But it’s a spinoff, so I can understand to a certain extent. However there are a few narrative discrepancies. The big one being Crypto has retired from being the President. No explanation given as to why and we have no idea what Crypto is doing instead. When we first see him, he’s watching TV. He doesn’t even know Big Willy exists until Pox brings it up. So what’s going on exactly? Are they still trying to invade Earth or have they gone native? Also, compared to the grand conspiracy stories of the previous games, Crypto protecting a fast food restaurant sounds a little beneath him.

Gameplay is virtually unchanged from the previous game. There’s some new guns such as Ball Lightning and the Zombie Gun, but nothing special. The biggest addition is Big Willy, the restaurant mascot that’s actually a Furon battle mech in disguise. It’s... fine. Not that much different from the Saucer really. We also get some new locations. Harbor City, Fairfield in Kentucky, Fantasy Atoll (a weak parody of Fantasy Island) and Vietmahl (a painfully obvious homage to Vietnam). None of these locations are particularly interesting however. There’s also a multiplayer mode, which... exists.

Honestly the game as a whole is just lacklustre. The story just isn’t as good as the first two games and the humour doesn’t have the same wit or intelligence. Most of the comedy surrounds the fact that Pox has called his restaurant Big Willy and isn’t entirely aware of the double entendre, which admittedly is funny for the first few missions, but by the time you’ve finished Harbor City and move on to Fairfield, the joke gets old real fast. There’s less of an effort to actually satirise the culture or films of the time, instead merely making 70s pop culture references without ever actually doing anything with it. It’s like the Family Guy school of comedy. Take Fantasy Atoll for instance. A pisstake of Fantasy Island, but instead of Mr. Roarke and Tatoo, we get Mr. Pork and Ratpoo. That’s the level of humour we’re talking about here.

What’s worse is that J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz don’t return as Crypto and Pox. Sean Donnellan and Darryl Kurylo voice the characters instead and it’s just not the same. It doesn’t feel like Crypto and Pox. So from the very first cutscene, we’re already off on the wrong foot.

And then there’s a bunch of other stuff that I find really questionable. The most obvious being the revelation that Colonel Kluckin’ makes his chicken wings from the corpses of the Vietmahl (Vietnam) war, which just seems in very bad taste to me. If there is a satirical point being made here, I can’t find it for the life of me. There’s also some side missions where Crypto finds out that he and Natalya have a son, which goes absolutely nowhere and doesn’t feel like something that should be in a Destroy All Humans game.

Overall, Big Willy Unleashed was a massive dud meant to tide us over until Destroy All Humans 3 came out later in the year. Honestly the one aspect of it I thought had potential was the side missions involving Crypto and Pox being assessed by a Furon Efficiency Expert called Toxoplasma Gondii. Considering what happened in the second game, including the destruction of the Furon Mothership, the return of the Blisk and the Furon operation on Earth being jeoprodised, this could have been a great premise for a sequel.

Instead what we got was...

Disco Inferno

Oh boy. Where do I begin?

Path Of The Furon was developed by THQ and Sandblast Games and released in December 2008 on the Xbox 360 in North America. The PS3 version was cancelled because Sandblast (and Locomotive Games) was closed down before development was finished due to THQ’s financial problems at the time. However the PS3 version was released in Europe and Australia, so either THQ got another studio to complete it or, more likely, they just released it in a broken, buggy state.

Fans really didn’t like this game, myself included, but before we go tearing it a new one, lets look at the few positives the game has. First off, J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz return to voice Crypto and Pox, which is great. As a result, the original chemistry is back and they help salvage the game when the writing fails to deliver. There are a few cool new weapons, like the Black Hole Gun and the Venus Human Trap, which creates a giant man eating plant. The Saucer’s weapons have been tweaked, so now they affect the environment as well as destroy buildings. So if you fire your Death Ray at the ground, for example, you can create scorch marks. PK now has its own dedicated button, which means you can pick up and throw objects whilst using your guns simultaneously. There’s also the titular ‘Path Of Enlightenment,’ which upgrades your mental abilities significantly as well as allowing you to freeze time.

That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is... pretty much everything else.

The humour is, again, quite poor. Rather than satirising 70s culture, the game continues to make references to 70s films like The Godfather and Star Wars, but not actually doing anything with them. Just making the reference. The writing as a whole is quite substandard as the plot pretty much recycles the plots of Destroy All Humans 2 and Big Willy Unleashed, except instead of the Big Willy restaurant, it’s the Space Dust casino and instead of the Blisk, it’s Nexosporidium warriors, who are basically Furon cyborgs. Things do threaten to get a bit interesting when Crypto and Pox discover someone has been manufacturing synthetic Furon DNA, but nothing ever really comes of it. Instead the game focuses mainly on the Master.

Ah yes. The Master.

In an attempt to recapture the magic of the second game, Path Of The Furon tries to spoof kung-fu movies just like how DAH 2 spoofed spy films. Unfortunately this leads us to a slew of unfunny gags, cultural appropriation and some of the worst racial stereotyping I think I’ve ever seen. The Master is a Furon who crashed on Earth a hundred years ago and embroiled himself in Eastern culture, enhancing his PK abilities. This is what he looks like:

YYYYeah.

Oh and if that’s not awkward enough, he also speaks in an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. It’s incredibly cringeworthy and made me want to crawl out of my body and hide in the darkest corner I could possibly find. How anyone involved in this game’s development could look at this deeply racist and downright embarrassing excuse for a character and think this was okay, I don’t know.

And before anyone tries to excuse it by saying that he has been living in China for a hundred years, so he’s bound to pick a few things up, please note that Nolan North is in this game playing the Furon Emperor Meningitis, who also has an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. Now I suppose some could argue that the game is satirising how Asian people were portrayed at the time, but if that’s what the game is going for, they’ve failed miserably. See, the problem with that argument is that replicating something doesn’t count as satire. By recreating over the top racist caricatures, you’re not making fun of them. If anything you’re just reinforcing them. The first game’s satire of the Red Scare worked so much better than this because there was an actual point behind it. It comments on how paranoid the people of the 50s were at the time by using Majestic to exploit the threat of communism in order to cover up alien activity, and everyone willingly buys into it because of that sheer paranoia. Now yes, admittedly the humour in Destroy All Humans isn’t the most sophisticated in the world, but it used to be a LOT better than this. Not only do I find the racial stereotyping in this game deeply offensive, it’s also frankly beneath this franchise. And it’s not just limited to the Chinese either. The final act takes us to the Furon homeworld (which was pretty underwhelming after four games worth of buildup) and we meet another Furon called Endometriosis whose only characteristics are that he has an Italian accent and wears a beret. It’s these broad strokes and general laziness that makes this game such a disappointing experience.

Path Of The Furon is subpar in every way imaginable. The writing, the humour, the gameplay and even the graphics. The first two games looked so much better than this and they were on older consoles from the previous generation. It’s shocking.

It’s hard to blame Sandblast Games for this considering they were shut down before development was finished. It was THQ’s mismanagement and financial woes that killed off this franchise and indeed themselves. The company went bankrupt in 2012 and their various IPs were sold off to other studios, with Nordic Games buying the lions’ share, including Destroy All Humans, which briefly reignited hopes that we might get another game, but that seemed unlikely considering the franchise has never exactly been a mainstream success. There was even talks of doing an animated sitcom based on the games for Fox, to be written by the same guy who did King Of The Hill, but that never went anywhere.

No. It seemed like Destroy All Humans was gone for good and fans reluctantly made peace with that. It was fun while it lasted, but perhaps it was time to move on.

Oh The Furonity!

I’m not going to lie. I was pretty sure we were never going to see Destroy All Humans return. Not just because of its lack of mainstream appeal, but also because game development studios and publishers in recent years have become more and more reluctant to make single player, mid-tier games. Instead pivoting toward massive triple A releases and ‘live services’. So it came as a rather pleasant surprise when Nordic Games, now named THQ Nordic, released Darksiders III in 2018, a sequel to a series of games that were also not very mainstream but still had a significant cult following. This briefly reignited a small flicker of hope within me that maybe, just maybe, we might see our favourite Furon return.

And as you already know, I got my wish. A new Destroy All Humans game will be released next year by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games.

So what can this remake learn from the franchise’s past? Well thankfully the writing and voice acting is going to remain the same, so story, characterisation and humour won’t be an issue. They’re also incorporating elements from the sequels such as Transmogrify from Destroy All Humans 2 and giving PK its own button like in Path Of The Furon. There’s also a few new additions that I’m excited about such as the ability to dodge and strafe using the jetpack. That should make combat much more exciting and dynamic. I know a few people have a problem with the new cartoony designs of the humans and the world, but I honestly don’t mind. In fact I think it suits the tone and setting quite well. Hopefully people will eventually get used to it. The big question mark hovering over all this is whether they’re planning to remake the other games in the series. I for one would love to see a remake of the second game. As for Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon, I think it’s best to leave them firmly in the past. The big dream would be to see Crypto and Pox have further adventures together beyond the first two games. Hopefully even have enough sequels to get the characters to the present day. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings. My only word of advice for them would be to never forget what made the first two games so good and so beloved. Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon lost their way, as its writing and humour grew lazier and lazier. If we are fortunate enough to get more games, the developers will need to remember what it was about the first game that made it so special and build off of it.

This is a second chance. Not a lot of franchises get this. Don’t waste it. Here’s hoping the remake will provide the definitive Destroy All Humans experience and that it will gain the success it deserves.

#destroy all humans #pandemic studios #locomotive games #sandblast games #thq #video games #quill's scribbles

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allykat4416 · 5 years

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Trip Report: Canada’s Wonderland

Dates: August 14-15, 2019

ocean man take me by the hand lead me to the land that you understand

Let’s set the scene here:

It is August 18, 2011. It is about 2:30 in the afternoon. Your mother is back at work, but you aren’t back to school. You’ve had massive surgery on your jaw 17 days earlier, and you’re staying with your aunt during the days because your mouth is wired shut and you’re a choking hazard to yourself. You’re finding out a lot of things you like, and one of those are roller coasters. Yes, you really like those. You check your trusty website, Screamscape, and see that a park you’ve only vaguely heard of before has announced something very big and very fast.

Color yourself interested. In your ever-growing quest to know more about these steel (and wooden!) beauties, you click the link to the video. The music begins, the green-tinted footage begins to play, and you are horrified at the thought of being 306 feet above ground. This looks amazing, but you’ll never get to go to Canada anyway and you’re terrified of heights.

This is my park now! It proclaims.

Congratulations, friend! You think. I don’t think our paths will ever cross.

It is July 17, 2013. You have just been 310 feet in the air. It scares you shitless. For the first time, you understand “Roller coaster hype.” It is this day you fall hopelessly and unchangeably in love with Intamin’s finest creation, Millennium Force. You swear that you will meet all the other gigas and you will protect them with your life. (But you won’t love them quite as much as you do Force. She’s special to you.)

It is May 9, 2015, and you remember about halfway up a 325-foot-tall lift hill that 306 used to scare you shitless. It still scares you shitless. It will be many years, but eventually, you will not be scared shitless of being 300+ feet in the air. But regardless of how much shit has been scared out of you, it is this day you fall madly in love with B&M’s finest creation, Fury 325. It is this day, really, when your thirst for Leviathan begins to go into overdrive.

It is August 14, 2019, and you’re riding out of Toronto with a tray of poutine in your lap when you see teal steel on the horizon. You know Kings Island is about to drop a giga that you don’t think you could love unconditionally. You are going to make the absolute most out of your time in Canada and milk every last hour of calling yourself “giga trash” without an asterisk while you still can. You can only choke out two words: Ocean Daddy.

Disclaimer time, I’m going to say it. Canada’s Wonderland is straight up my favorite Cedar Fair park. I am so enamored with this place that it isn’t funny. Everybody is so nice, and while the wait times are hot garbage, I think the park is worth it. I want to try more food there, but the treat we had was delicious! My only complaint with this park is the waits. Even the operations are really good, it’s just mobbed with people constantly.

My first international credit was Mighty Canadian Mine Buster. I was interested in trying this because it’s a clone of Shooting Star at the old Coney Island in Cincinnati. Shooting Star is originally what Beast at KI was meant to be before it became the icon it is today. I personally liked this ride more than I had expected to, and it makes me wish I had a chance to ride the OG Shooting Star. It can be a little bumpy at times, but it had some pretty good air since it had a chance to warm up through the day. Refurb and retrack it, but don’t RMC it. Please.

Behemoth is my second-favorite B&M hyper now, still behind SFOG’s fantastic Goliath. It has a lot of great, sustained floater, and it wasn’t trimmed to death. It’s very smooth and it does everything I like about Diamondback even better. The weird double-helix at the end was a unique finale, and I always like to award individuality in B&M hypers. I had heard that it was running kind of poorly this year, and if this is “poor,” I’d probably die from how good it is at the top of its game. I lost my shit when I saw the CN Tower on the lift as well. We liked it enough to ride it again on our second day back, despite the crappy wait. It’s my second favorite in the park.

From there, we went to Time Warp. This ride sucks, plain and simple. It both looks and feels like a Medieval torture device. I don’t know why this exists, but I’m pretty sure it violates the Geneva Convention by existing. Vortex is probably my favorite suspended coaster that’s still in operation (RIP to the Wolf!!) I enjoyed the part at the top of the lift behind Wonder Mountain. The rest of the ride is a little uncomfortable, but makes up for that with amazing scenery and cool interactions with the new neighbor. I would definitely ride this one again.

Wilde Beast is okay. It’s much rougher than MCMB, I think. The layout was pretty good, but not crazy memorable. If any wooden coaster here gets Schilke’d, I would vote for this one. It still isn’t awful, I just want to keep MCMB as is because of Shooting Star. Dragon Fyre is an inoffensive Arrow looper. Not the worst, not my favorite. My real main drive for this was to pad my count for Leviathan to be a quasi-milestone and to get good views of the ride I’ve been salivating over for the past 4 years.

Let’s flash back to last year, when I rode Cedar Point’s lackluster Valravn. The vest restraints killed my enjoyment of an otherwise-passable ride. Griffon had spoiled me. When Canada’s Wonderland announced their own dive coaster at the end of the 2018 season, we all collectively shrugged, said “lol okay and?”, and went on with our lives. Because Valravn was garbage, and this really couldn’t have been much better. My expectations for Yukon Striker were incredibly low, and we even put off this ride until the next day because we didn’t feel like waiting in line that long for a vested dive coaster.

I underestimated this ride. While I still prefer Griffon because of the old restraints, the vests aren’t nearly as bad on this. If it had the old restraints, Yukon easily would be my favorite dive coaster. The layout is very good---I didn’t think that Son of Beast looking ass loop would work, but it did, surprisingly well---and the ride has an amazing amount of speed that you can feel even when you aren’t in the front. It also feels like you’re hung up at the top longer than Valravn or Griffon.

I still really don’t like the name, but it’s more like a TwiTim or Mystic situation where it’s an ugly name for an otherwise very good ride. So fuck off, Yukon. I really didn’t want to like you as much as I did. You smug little shit. You Tesla-driving prick. You smarmy bastard with your popped collar and sweater vest. I really, really like you. Ugh.

But now it’s time to address the fish in the sea, isn’t it? The driving factor for me getting this damn passport? The most beautiful man in the RailChasers world (aside from maybe SFGAM Goliath)?

I incredibly like Leviathan. I knew I was going to like it a lot because up until the 15th I had a blindingly-strong giga bias, but I really didn’t think I was going to like it this much. While yes, on technicality, it still is my least favorite of the four, it’s better than the majority of coasters that I’ve ridden.

I still can’t tell if I prefer the back or the front with this one. I assumed I would prefer the front because that’s what I like on Fury, and you really do feel the speed so much more up there, but the back has more kick to it. Where Leviathan can’t really fall back on its length, I think I do prefer the kick to make the most of my short time.

And being short truly is Leviathan’s only flaw; while it actually is a few hundred feet longer than 305, Intimidator makes up for that with sheer aggression. You feel like you’ve been on it longer because the ride tousles you around. Leviathan is more like Force and Fury where he’s a very graceful, speedy boy, so it seems like it’s over much faster because the ride focuses on the feeling of “we are going really quickly as we finesse down Weston Road and go down as G-O-D.”

But honestly, aside from that one thing, this ride is fucking amazing and it was everything I hoped it would be and then some. I anticipated it to be my new second favorite B&M over Goliath but under Fury, and I was right. It’s a little closer to Fury than I honestly thought it would be. I’ve always been a little anxious about meeting rides that I’ve been stoked for ever since I was let down so severely by the shitshow that is Steel Vengeance. Thankfully, Leviathan didn’t break my heart like that. There was only happiness, Tim Horton’s coffee, and listening to a lot of Drake while we talked about our feelings.

Yes, I sobbed like a fucking bitch on the brake run. I love him so much. Dammit. Leviathan is so good. It almost (almost) makes me have hopes that Orion won’t be as bad as the layout suggests. And hey, at least all the North American gigas still have awesome names.

It is August 15, 2019. As you leave the park, watching that ride fade out of the rearview, you feel some really weird sense of peace. You realize there’s only two “bucket list” rides you have left in North America: any RMC Raptor you can get your paws on, and Outlaw Run. But you’re not worried about blazing rails or lassoing villains or being the sane Herschend RMC right now. Your only concern is when you get to see the most lovable sea monster you’ve ever met again.

#I love my canadian fish boyfriend and you can all eat shit #update I really don't even mind orion at this point thanks to the GTAs lol #trip reports

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jasonfvkingtodd · 6 years

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Wolf [Part 1]

Warnings: Slight mention of mental illnesses

I awoke with a throbbing headache from the earlier 'session'. Ive been stuck in this cell, tortured for weeks or even months on end in 'The Lab'. My own blood was on the floor and walls of the cells, it stank like the pits of hell. Why were they doing this? Both my tank top and tactical pants were caked with blood. When was the last time I actually cleaned up? Fuck.

A group of men burst into the cell and dragged me across a long corridor, illuminated with bright white lights. A bald man with a goatee wearing a white lab coat greeted me. As from what I’ve have gathered from the conversations my captors had, his name was Sadiq.

"Jasmine, nice to see that you've... recovered. Lets begin with our next session." Sadiq smirked.

I then glanced down to find that the stab wound from the previous time you were in The Lab healed fully.

The men tied me down to a examining table, awaiting for Sadiq's instruction. Not having enough energy to resist them, I laid there, exhausted and hopeless, awaiting the pain that’s about to come. Then, out of nowhere, men were shouting outside the Lab, followed by guns firing. Sadiq looked worried, terrified even and ran out of the room. Not so tough now huh.

Minutes later, the entire facility sat in a deafening silence. I started to realize why Sadiq was scared shitless. Something took out the entire facility within minutes. Strapped to the table, i was left defenseless. Unable to turn my head, I heard the door opening behind, followed by a dark shadow with... pointy ears? Was this a joke? A face loomed over, it was covered by a cowl. The man’s face was impossible to read. He then sunk a syringe into your neck as you slowly faded into oblivion.

Whispers were heard as you laid on what felt like a metal surface. “You can’t just bring someone like this into the cave Master Bruce. Especially not a criminal!”, a British sounding voice exclaimed. “She’s in need of immediate medical attention that even the best hospital in Gotham can’t provide,” a deeper, American sounding voice replied. How was I a criminal?

They’re going to torture me again. Another one of Sadiq’s mind games. The man in the mask moved towards me, his face inches away.

“Why are you in Gotham,” he growled.

“ I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I blatantly said.

“Let me ask you once more. Why. Are. You. In. Gotham.” The man in the mask repeated.

I remained silent. No point answering him anymore. He remained silent for a while, thinking.

“Do you remember fighting me?” He asked.

“No.” I answered.

“Do you remember fighting me for that thumbdrive?”

“Uhm no.” I hesitated. What on earth?

“She doesn’t remember a single thing from 6 months ago.” The man in the mask said to the older guy in a suit standing beside him, both seemed… vexed. Maybe I was really rescued.

The man then turnt to the machine and administered another substance into the IV drip. Before I could panic, I immediately felt the effect of the knockout drug, as waves of fatigue crashed over me, before I drifted back into nothingness.

I woke up to warm rays of sunlight on my face. Sunlight. Huh. It’s been forever since I’ve seen the sun. Last time I saw it… well, Sadiq almost executed me. Just one of his mind games.

“Good morning Miss.” The British guy walked in the room just as I was about stand up. I tensed up, my body on alert. I’m much stronger now, I can fight back. “You’re safe here. Don’t worry Miss…?”

“Jasmine. You can just call me Jasmine.” I managed to stutter out. That’s what I presume, my name I mean. Sadiq always calls me that. I never knew my name, I can’t even remember who were my parents.

“At your service Miss Jasmine. Oh, where are my manners. Alfred Pennyworth, at your service. If you need anything, ring the bell.” He gestured to your nightstand where a dainty-looking hand bell stood.

“Yes… Sure, thank you. May I ask where am I?” I probed. This sounded too good to be true.

“You’re staying in Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne’s ‘house’” He replied.

Who? Who the tell was that? I gave a puzzled look to him. I heard him mutter under his breath, “Oh dear Lord, this is even worse than what Master Bruce has made it to be.”

He cleared his throat, “Would you like a tour around the manor Miss Jasmine?”

With that, I was cooped up in this manor for 2 months, recuperating. Not that I’m complaining, it’s been the best days of my life. On the plus side, I was getting stronger everyday, getting smarter everyday. I eventually found out who Bruce Wayne was, billioniare ‘playboy’, secretly Batman. Funny how I knew Batman first before Bruce Wayne. But like all the Robins before me, I found hope again.

The first time I met Bruce (a few days after I woke up in the manor), I hugged him. I know, totally not the most awkward thing to ever do when you first meet the Batman. Still, no regrets. “Thank you. For saving me.” I choked out. He smiled (HE ACTUALLY SMILED). And that was our first non-hostile exchange of information. He’s the sweetest person, although he doesn’t actually show it. He became a father figure to me after the 2 months.

As weeks passed, he started teaching me martial arts as I recovered. ‘To neutralize threats’ he would tell me, ‘is to take each and everyone of them down in the fastest way possible’ as he fucking flips me across the room.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m never becoming a Robin, Damien would murder me. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m not cut out for this shit. I’ve had countless sleepless nights, even with the knowledge I’m safe, I can never sleep properly without medication. It’s a problem, I know. Thus, I would conclude, everytime I had an internal argument on taking up Robin’s mantel, I would never get that lovely 8h of sleep if I were to become Robin.

Meanwhile, as I’m fantasizing about my plans to take Sadiq down with the new learnt moves Bruce has taught me, I walked around the house. Then one day, I saw a figure looming over a picture in the library. Fuck is that a ghost? I’ve always heard stories from Dick that the manor had tons of wandering spirits.

As I inspected closer, it was a man. Around 6’2, in a grey tactical suit with a red bat symbol. As he sensed someone’s prescence, his head suddenly turnt to my direction, staring right back at me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked, getting ready to fight if there was a need.

He laughed, “What the fuck are you doing here? Alfred let me in don’t worry. “ He paused awhile and continued, “OH you’re the girl, Alfred’s talking about! You’re a clone or something right? Hi, I’m Jason Todd, former robin, now red hood.” He remarked.

“What th- First of all fuck you, I lost my memory I’m not a fucking clone. Second, name’s Jasmine, you shitfuck.” Shit was that too rude? FUCK.

Jason chuckled,”Woah, feisty. Nice to meet you Jasmine. Are you planning to fight Damien to overthrow him as Robin? Or are you going to take the Spoiler route?”

“Huh, definitely fighting Damien.” I joked.

Jason and I… We hit it off. It’s kinda like the dynamic I have with Dick, only much much more inappropriate. I talked all the way into the night as he drove you to what he termed “the most beautiful view in Gotham”.

“Woah.” I marveled at the city lights of Gotham city as both of us reached the rooftop of a rickety old brick building. “I gotta admit Jason, I had my doubts.”

“Never judge a book by its cover clonegirl.” He remarked.

“Fuck you.” I rolled my eyes.

Both our feet hung off the rooftop, sitting next to Jason’s childhood gargoyle, letting the stillness of the night fill the atmosphere. The view was amazing.

However, as I looked down, cop cars raced off along the road. I was reminded of the crimes that people were committing during Gotham nights. Then one thought led to the other, I was in Sadiq’s Lab again, filled with fear. Agony. Pain. Fuck this wasn’t the first time I’m having these flashbacks, but every. Damn. Time. It feels the same.

“Jason, do you ever have flashbacks?” I broke the silence.

“Of wha- Oh. Yea. I have them. Not the best thing when it happens. Although it did make me zone out when I was tortured down in Qurac.Why?” He remarked.

“Huh, nice. I just don’t know what to do. You can’t stop the images from forming you know? It’s not… I can’t.” My brain was not working.

“Fuck, what happened Jasmine?”

“I was tortured too. By a man named Sadiq. For months, the pain I was put through was unbearable. But he just won’t let me die. Whenever I wake up, my wounds, even a punctured lung, stab wounds… They’ve all been healed.” I rambled, before I knew, tears started streaming down my cheeks. “ Oh fuck. Sorry. You really don’t have to know that.”

“Hey hey, its going to be ok. You can cope with it. You’re here now right? Let’s start with that” Jason said, as he hugged be. Oh god. The warmth that radiates off him. I want this hug to last forever.

I sniffed, “I guess you’re right.”

I asked him all questions on coping with all these and he has been the best support. Don’t get me wrong here, Alfred and Bruce has helped me so much through these weeks of rehab but the emotional trauma… I don’t want to cast that burden on them, or anyone.

Jason and I, I realized, shares a lot of common things. We went through surprisingly similar experiences, similar tastes, humor…

“And that was how I knew I’ve done fucked up this time.” Jason concluded on his story on bringing a muddy raccoon back into the manor when he was 15. We were sitting shoulder to shoulder, sitting closer and closer together as our conversation and the night went on.

As we watched the sunrise, I rested my head on his shoulders. I felt him tense up. Ohhh shit, bad move Jasmine. He relaxed again as he let out a breath, resting his head on mine. Relief washed over me.

“We talked an entire day.” Jason cleared his throat as he got up from the ledge, “We should get some rest.” I guess he must’ve seen the disappointed look on my face. He then added,” You free tomorrow? Let’s go on a day trip to NYC.”

“Yea sure.” I chuckled. Is he leading me on? I don’t know.

As we arrived at the porch of the manor, we said our farewells.

“See you tomorrow, pick you up at 0800. Rest well doll.” He said, with the most mischievious looking smile ever.

“See you soon Jay.”

Thank you for 100 followers and for surviving this long ass read at my first shot at a fanfiction! I opted to go for 1st person instead of reader x Jason fic as I found it more challenging to write from that POV.This story also starts off on the first few issues of RHATO Rebirth. If i can, I’ll be following this series close to the current comics! :) Also, much much more fluff & action is planned out for this series! (I’ll keep on writing no matter) Already planned out a tie-in for #25 so hope yall would like it! Hope this concepts works out with logic haha. Any suggestions/tips for writing, pls comment! Much appreciated :) AND ALSO WHAT A TIME TO POST THIS YALL IMMA KICK START JASON TODD BIRTHDAY WEEK HERE WITH THIS STAY TUNED xoxo

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saintgale · 6 years

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Forgive me. I’m having feelings and I think have talked about this a lot on a side blog before, but wanted to try to condense some of my thoughts on this here because I’m still bitter and upset after all this time, whoops.

This is about Starscream’s treatment in TFP.

There’s a lot of text below the cut and also tw for abuse mention. Also spoilers for TFP, some Aligned stuff, and TAAO.

Also warning that I’m going to get sort of heated here and I’m not making the best case for him (bc I’m emotional right now), and these points are not, as they are now, grounds for a really sound argument because there are holes and patches and references missing. Also let me say up front I don’t condone Starscream’s behavior, I am not trying to make excuses for anything that he’s done--but that’s not what this is about. This is more about his treatment in the series by other characters, through the fourth wall in the writing, etc. This is more about how victimized he is and how he’s painted so often as the end-all-be-all villain of the century when there’s so much more to it than that. I feel like so many times his suffering was meant for comic relief or to make a moment for another character. Also how everyone was bent on him being Evil when he was trying to be something else.

This isn’t about painting Starscream as a “good guy” or trying to make him look good. This isn’t about trying to pardon him from all the wrong he’s done. It is about what I see as pretty gross injustice and how damn relate-able he was as an abuse survivor.

-- Recall, he wanted to swap sides. We don’t know for certain how this would turn out bc the Autobots wouldn’t give him the chance but you know what, they have the same target, being Megatron. Starscream could have been invaluable: he could have helped them tremendously even if it was in the end just for his own gain. But damn would I like to think what could have happened if for once in the goddamn show someone treated him with an ounce of kindness.

You know what he does when confronted with Cluffjumper’s murder--he admits his mistake. He admits he made many. He repeatedly voices that he wants to CHANGE and he DOESN’T WANT TO FIGHT HER. (Fair, we don’t know if this was genuine or just excuses made to try to cover his ass, but seeing as he explicitly asked to join the Autobots at the beginning of the episode and made no attempts to resist, gave them the info they wanted, and didn’t once threaten them even when they treated him poorly--ex: battering and dragging him around, I’d say he was well on the path to trying to be honest with them).

It’s only when it’s clear that Arcee is going to murder him (ie: force him into combat when he’s being held prisoner and is very much going to fight to the death) that he turns on her. And then gets really nasty, because tbfh if she’s going to just treat him like a criminal and force him into a battle while he’s the Autobots’ prisoner, and no one’s going to give him a chance, etc., why should he hold back?

-- Here’s the thing about Starscream: he literally cannot afford to trust anyone and it’s painful to watch. He has been conditioned to look out only for himself, because he’s HAD TO to survive. Megatron has quite literally beaten it into him that he can’t rely on anyone else, he’s alone, no one wants him, and that if he doesn’t continuously prove his worth, he could be killed at any minute. Pair this with constantly being ostracized, threatened, yelled at, punched, blamed, etc., and here you have Starscream’s already existing paranoia all bundled up in the most on-edge ball of nerves you ever did see.

-- He has to trade information for medical care. (Ie: He can’t “prove his worth?” Then he’s labeled as useless and left to die or punished for it--but Star’s damn used to that by this point, right?) Given I understand the Autobots had limited resources themselves and then again this is Starscream but he was defenseless and asking them for help in a time of need. As if saving Arcee’s life from Arachnid or helping them locate the Harbinger and begging to join their side beforehand wasn’t enough proof that the potential for him to change was there--he wanted to change--but no one would give him a chance.

-- He was gravely injured and literally begging for his life on his the goddamn floor and Ratchet and Bulkhead were content to let him die. Alone, vulnerable, out in the middle of nowhere with no affiliation, when no one else knew where the hell he was, when he had renounced his allegiance to the Decepticons. He was a neutral at that point. He was literally disabled (ie: forcibly had one of his internal organs removed from his body so he couldn’t transform into his alt mode or even transform his arm into his gun to defend himself) and starving and left to fend for himself with whatever little resources his brilliant mind could scrounge up from the NOTHING he had to work with.

Sure, Star is notorious for being a trickster/backstabber, but for fuck’s sake at points he was lying there BLEEDING OUT on the ground, and he had already shown before that a) he was MORE THAN WILLING to join the Autobots and help them out instead and BEGGED THEM TO LET HIM JOIN and that b) he had ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION to do any harm to them. As if he were even in the state to hurt them if he wanted to. Damn.

Again. It would be well within the Autobots’ rights to be cautious/take precautions around him. But the level of disregard for even his life was concerning. Yeah, there was a war going on, yeah he was their enemy, but he had no affiliation at that point--he was literally all alone and begging for medical attention, would it be that much to show some empathy?

Like I keep thinking of that line Optimus has at one point (I think there are several iterations of it throughout the series) something like “every sentient being deserves the chance for redemption,” how 1) not only was Optimus content to let Megatron into the Autobot base when they were fighting Unicron, but 2) lets him fuck off into space in Predacons Rising because apparently Megatron now understands “the true meaning of oppression.”

No shit, man? Isn’t that what sparked the Decepticon uprising in the first place? I’m pretty sure Megatron put Starscream through a hell of a lot more than what Unicron did to him in that brief period of time, but Starscream just doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break. When he does show some signs of potential change, it gets brushed off or denied.

-- I’m pretty sure the Autobots KNOW how awfully Starscream is treated by Megatron (and this is a joke, it’s supposed to be something funny and it’s sickening--G1 even had a Heroes laugh about Starscream’s mistreatment as they ride off into the sunset moment, if I recall). Starscream has literally been beaten within inches of death, to the point of hospitalization, and for SHOW in front of the Decepticon troops, and left with his entire body, head to fucking toe, littered with scars, scrapes, dents, etc. We’ve seen him scream and beg and get down on his hands and knees and pray to Megatron not to hurt him. And yet he seizes up and is completely powerless to stop it--watching it physically hurts me. He’s so fucking terrified of Megatron that he flinches and shrinks back and winces wen approached by him, when Megatron raises his voice, or fuck forbid his fist.

-- I love Bulkhead and all for but his gentle-giant act his literal response to Starscream not wanting to tell him where the exit of the Nemesis ship was was to beat the life out of him. (Turns out this was a clone, but Bulkhead killed it. He would have killed Starscream over Star not wanting to give him information because low and behold! Bulkhead didn’t have anything to offer him back. Which is really fucking funny considering when it was the other way around, with Starscream being desperate for help, Bulkhead and Ratchet wouldn’t even consider giving him the medical attention he needed unless Star coughed up intel they could use.) He’s not only Megatron’s punching bag, it’s like he’s everyone’s punching bag. Just because he’s fucking there. And hearing him scream and cry is funny apparently.

-- Get this, Starscream was SO DESPERATE that he went BACK HIS ABUSER instead of trying again to ask the Autobots to join them. He pulled off the impossible because he’s fucking brilliant--something that Megatron was never able to do: infiltrate the Autobot base (let us also recall that Starscream had been collecting intel since early season 1 on the base’s location, but he literally sets up a trap to get in through their ground bridge despite the world spitting into his face) and steal the Omega Keys. Which he uses, of all things, as bargaining chips to try to negotiate his way back into the Decepticon ranks--he even is willing to forsake his position as Second In Command, he just wants some goddamn patch of dirt to stand on at this point.

-- I stand by my statement that Starscream absolutely proved more than once through the series that he not only had the potential to change, but he really wanted to change. But no one else seemed to want to accept that change, and no one was willing to give him the room to grow on it or prove that he really was trying to better himself. He spends every second of his life in Megatron’s presence cowering in absolute fear (bar when Megatron was in a goddamn coma on life support and thus could not hurt him), and trying to find ways to make sure that no one can hurt him. I’m convinced that his actions and his goddamn levels of treachery/me-against-everyone-else is because it’s been proven to him over and over and over again that no one will help him, no one cares about him, and no one is willing to give him a chance to be anything but evil scheming Starscream. So at the end of it all what goddamn choice does he even have?

-- He doesn’t even know how to accept compliments. I don’t mean flattery/you scratch my back I scratch yours types of things, I mean like. Out of the blue really sincere stuff. Like when they think they’re gonna die and Knockout says something nice to him, and he just like. Shuts the fuck up and looks away and gets all flustered? I seriously have a hard time recalling any points where another character is legitimately nice to Starscream (let’s be fair, is he particularly nice to anyone else?, it doesn’t seem so, but then again who the hell has given him a reason to be anything else but hyper-aware and suspicious?) and that kind of just hurts.

-- THANK FUCK in TAAO he got the redemption arc he so rightfully deserved and it was handled pretty well imo, and at the end of it all, he was described, by the author, as exactly what he is: an abuse-victim. I’m still salty as fuck that Megatron got ANOTHER get out of jail free card in MTMTE/LL and gets to fuck off and around the galaxy on a space journey (again) while Starscream winds up punished via life in prison but that’s out of my hands.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that Ms. Scott worked as an assistant writer on TFP (and was probably well-aware of what TFP Star went through and the details of his character) and that TAAO Star gets such a goddamn well-written redemption arc and blatant address to the horrors that he’s had to suffer through in his life, particularly the physical and emotional abuse he had to endure at Megatron’s hands, but there’s some similarities here.

-- I’m not saying what Starscream (in any verse) does was right or anything like that, but what I am saying is that particularly in the case of TFP (and TAAO) his actions are understandable. We know why he’s doing what he’s doing and we know the extreme level of trauma that he still suffers and the lengths he will go to to ensure that it never happens again.

Also shoutout to the Aligned novels where we see him before the abuse really starts (though Megatron and Shockwave basically traumatize and power play him on purpose) where he is an absolute fucking badass and takes Megatron on head-on at a disadvantage and puts up a DAMN good fight. And looks him straight in the eye when threatened, like he does not give a Fuck.

We see how goddamn obvious the before and after is. We see how utterly afraid and miserable Star is and how he will do anything to kill Megatron, will do anything to try to make himself feel safe. (Or safer.) We see not only the sheer difference in size between Starscream and Megatron, but the difference in the power versus the powerlessness. Here’s the thing about Starscream, his whole personality and physical appearance in TFP is crafted around him not being very strong (physically)--it’s all about his mind being his sharpest weapon. (I have to note that this doesn’t mean he’s not a good fighter--he most certainly is, he’s proved that, and that for a bot his size he’s actually pretty strong. Also we gonna talk about the melee capability he has and how agile he is because this guy’s got spikey-pointy bits all over his body including what look like pile-bunkers on his elbows and claws like knives). Starscream can kill Megatron, and he’s come really close to it more than once. But he often feels like he doesn’t have the power to do it. He doesn’t fight back when Megatron beats the hell of out him, he either tries to get away and/or begs him to stop. It’s so damn relate-able and it makes me hurt inside.

Also for the record I don’t see the problem here as Starscream very clearly being a queer-coded character. (Though we can talk about in general queer-coding villains in media.) I DO see a problem with Starscream being a queer-coded character who used as a punching bad and constantly beat up by a hyper-masculine character (Megatron), and Starscream as being constantly kicked around, made fun of, and having to suffer because of his femininity, lack of strength, lack of control, etc.

For the trash-mess that was the RID sequel (there are still loveable bits though) one thing they DID get right was the expression of absolute hatred, fear, and bitterness that Starscream feels regarding his suffering at Megatron’s hands, and his entire reason for reappearing is to kill Megatron. Good on Starscream for calling out all the awful and horrible shit that Megatron did to him. AND calling out Bumblebee for the exact same ridiculing/belittling bullshit he tried to pull on him (which, as we saw, completely worked as a distraction because of how much it upset Star).

(Also can we talk about how the Dark Star Sabre “rejected” him and how Bee’s making fun of him because hahaa!! Look at you Starscream!! You’re such a failure that an EVIL SWORD rejected you!! But in actuality let’s think about the implications of this and wouldn’t this be a neat piece to reference for an Aligned redemption arc?? But I know that’s never gonna happen.)

And don’t get me started on the whole design change (the RID design itself was badass as fuck, the 180 from the TFP design and the reason for it was absolute utter fucking rotten dogshit) because I’m still pissed as fuck about that too.

-- You know. I think there’s a lot of differences between Starscream and Megatron but I think the one that sticks out to me the most is that Starscream never became his abuser the way Megatron did. Sure, we don’t know for sure, and maybe never will, but let’s also take note that for the short time that he was in charge of the Deceptions when Megatron fucked off to go get the Dark Energon and then was on life support or whatever, Starscream was aiming for big things (yes, devilishly evil in many cases but for fuck’s sake he’s at least competent, and he knows what he’s doing). Also yeah, we’ve seen him lash out at/smack people, but this really isn’t anywhere near on the same dimension plane as what Megatron does to him on a regular basis.

-- To me, Starscream’s the goddamn strongest character in the whole show (I don’t mean in brute strength, I mean strength of will and perseverance). He’s a survivor and he’s trying his damn hardest to keep surviving. We know damn well no one else is going to lift a finger to help or look out for him so he’s done that for himself. He’s absolutely ruthless and a menace but he’s been through some Shit and I just hope to hell and back he gets a happy ending somehow.

#dratz vents #dratz rants #shut up dratz #abuse and abuse mention tw #text post //#long post //#filler tag one //#filler tag two //#i think that's good //#starscream #tfp

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childofsolace-write-ups · 3 years

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Arc 01: REUNION

::CODY::

I place an arrow to my bowstring and send it flying. I got the animal right on its head. I beam in pride. With Meeko hunting everything in sight, I was happy to take one down on my own. Even if I was just on a blind waiting for game to pass by. I climbed down the tree I was perched on and picked up the dead, fallen raccoon. I went over to the red head sitting on a tree stump.

"Lori, Lori! I got a raccoon!"

Lori smiles at me in a way that seems like I got something better. He's always encouraging like that. "Good job, Code." he ruffles my hair. "and you got it at the head, that's a good shot." He takes it from me and put it and places it inside a burlap sack along with a few of Meeko's other kills.

Lori scrunches up his nose though when he did that. The smile earlier was just for me. He eats meat like the rest of us but he never really liked killing the creatures himself, and mentioned something about how he used to be something called a 'Vegan' or something. I didn't understand it before, but he told me it was something like empathy... I don't really know what that means either, Lori only told me it was like knowing how the animals feel. He said it was the same way we didn't like it when we were attack by Rabids and how these animals must have not wanted to be attacked by us. It was confusing because while we all know Rabids are bad, Lori tells me that it didn't mean we were bad for needing to eat them to survive and something about survival of the fittest, uh, that meant the instinct that drives us to eat any animals we could. It's confusing. But I get it a little bit and also try to kill them instantly so they wouldn't fill pain before they died. Lori understood that it couldn't be helped, we needed meat for food. While we never ran out of food because Kytes did have gardens, it wouldn't be filling. And I don't like veggies much either. So if I only had to eat that forever, I'd go rabid.

I watch Lori take his knife and pull out an apple. He starts to cut it in half so we can share. I stare at his face and start playing this mind game I think to myself, pretending Lorri was his brother and giving him stuff he might say instead. Right now, Lori might say Here, let's share it. While Meeko might say Hehe, wanna see who eats his share the fastest? And he'd give me the slightly bigger share. He would pretend its so he can win, but he would really want me to accept the bigger half without me feeling guilty. I pretend I don't know that because I really like apples. I stop feeling guilty when Corrin explain to me that it's a way of showing how you care.

Whenever I play this game, it makes me realize how identical Lori and Meeko actually are. It was hard to remember that, since whenever you hear them and see how they act, the differences were more obvious that people easily forget the similarities, like the same red hair and the same yellow eyes. Though their hair styles were giveaways too, since Meeko's was usually tousled and sticking out while Lori was much more clean looking, the ends near his neck curving slightly, though their attitudes were more of stand outs so them looking alike wasn't really obvious.

"Here, let's share it Code." Lori gives me my half. "this one's yours."

Nailed it, I smile proudly to myself. "Thanks, Lori!"

"Anytime," Lori chuckles, ruffling my hair.

I liked that feeling a lot, it really helps me relax. Still, no matter how relax we might feel at the moment, our instincts were always sharp, Lori's more so than mine since he's older. He was the one who carried me and got us out of the way just in time as Meeko bursts through some bushes, riding on top of a Rabid Sheep.

An actual sheep is actually not so scary, they're real fluffy and cute, sometimes a little stupid. I was watching over our flocks, the ones we take care of for clothes, with Jonah when a rabid wolf tried to eat one lamb. While Jonah fought back as I watched the flock, I can say I was more rattled than they were. They kept eating grass the entire time!

As for any animal's brain internally affected by radiation, they go Rabid. Unlike people, they don't die instantly though. Well, most don't anyway. Any Rabid creature is potentially bad, even a Rabid Squirrel or Mouse since they usually attack in numbers. On the safe side, we don't eat them. It's easy to tell the difference of a Normal and a Rabid. The Normal types are... Well, normal. While the Rabids are colossal, scary, sometimes deformed and really smart.

But leave it to Meeko to make it look fun to take them on.

"Woo-hoo! I got you now you giant cream puff!" Meeko laugh. "Loreal, Coco Bean, clear the way!"

Meeko duplicates himself. The clone went in front of the sheep. It's kinda funny that was his power when he already has an official look alike, except his actual clone acts way different than he does. The sheep got confused long enough for Meeko to jump down, landing on his feet safely. Then, he took out his double-edged saber, pulling it back like one would with a baseball bat and—

Well, Lori closes my eyes before I can see more. Meeko is pretty brutal when he hunts, and he's got a lot of bravery. I hope I can be as courageous someday like these two, and that's one of their common traits. I really look up to them a lot and I really like them, but I guess that doesn't really say a lot since I like everyone. Trey used to tell me that I would only hate an enemy. So far, I never had a chance to see if that were true.

"Okay, you can look now." Lori pulls his hand back.

I run towards Meeko, "That was awesome! Well... I didn't see all of it, but I bet it was awesome!"

"You know it, Coco Bean!" He ruffles my hair. Lori approaches us and I tell Meeko about my own raccoon. He congratulates me, saying if I keep that up, I could hunt just as hardcore as him.

"Woah, now let me stop you right there." The other Meeko interrupted—and I mean Lori, not a clone. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves or even hope that. I think one hardcore hunter is enough, and sometimes one too many... And I mean that almost literally." He smirks. He crossed his arms and look down at the dead sheep with a grimace. "now that you had your fun, please tell me you at least remembered to hunt actual game we can take home and eat. I'll admit, that sheep is larger than three of us put together even if it were a Normal."

I kick it a bit. "If there were Normals that size. I don't think we can even get a thing that big through the hotel doors."

I guess I should explain the hotel bit.

That's our home base right now. It's not a permanent settlement, though. We have a whole bunch of base because we can't stay in them for more than four months and a half. Actually, the a half part is the longest we can last in any base. Things change around an awful lot where we live. I don't know if it's the same with the rest of the world because we can't travel all over it, and Rhys only has guess that it might not be as bad as ours. And he knows most things. Rhys called our part of the surface, our division, Surface R. In other words, SURFACE RADIOACTIVE. He told me about the radiation triggered something in the atmosphere, something called Mana, in a time before I was even born. He said when something from outer space came crashing down and changed everything, it landed in our division, back then called a country, so the Mutated Mana altered people like us; have spread most around here to the point that it gave us unique abilities. I don't know why it's called unique when everyone up here pretty much has it, but Rhys said it wasn't normal to have these abilities in the time before I was born.

I don't get much with the rest of his explanation, but I do understand that the past must be really different from now. I also know that we are in a location where things always change. It can be perfectly safe one minute then suddenly everything's chaotic a second later. Also, the other things that got loose Mana energy doesn't like us much. So when one area gets too dangerous, we move to another. They never stay dangerous forever, so we can come back later. That's what scouts are for, they visit the bases ahead of time and check which is the safest to move into. Right now, the hotel is perfectly safe. But since things always change... Well, you'll never know when danger will strike. I don't remember if there was a time that we were without risk of being in danger. Because even at night, while we're sleeping, if the sentries sound the alarm, we have to prepare for action. That's why we've gotten used to trusting and relying on each other.

It keeps us all alive.

Meeko waves off Lori's words. "Yeah, did that first." he gives me another burlap sack, and I tip over because of the weight. "Easy kills."

"What do you have in here?" Lori picks up my arrows and places them back inside the quiver before helping me with the sack.

Meeko shrugs. "The usual. Three foxes, five rabbits, some squirrels. A turkey and half a boar for bacon." We stare at him for a full second. "I had to give up the other half so it could fit the bag since this big guy suddenly attacked."

"Wow," Lori whistles, impressed but not all that surprise. This was his brother after all. "that's a new record. Good hunting."

Meeko scowls. "Good? That's excellent hunting!"

"Except you only got a half animal for bacon. Plus, your ego needs deflating." Lori laughs. "Well, it's a Rabid, but since it's a sheep, we can't let the wool go to waste. It's sturdier than a Normal's wool, after all." He takes his knife and approaches the lifeless sheep, getting to work.

We help him out so we can finish faster and head back. Halfway through, though, I hear leaves rustling, feeling a chill down my spine, and then the thumping vibration from the ground.

Lori must've felt it too. "Cody, Meeko, take a flank!"

I take up Lori's left side, notching an arrow and Meeko takes his right, raising his sword. Then other three rabid sheep come bursting into the glade. I send the arrow flying but it didn't get the eye. Not that it'd be an instant kill, but I could've at least partially blind it. Rabids aren't easily taken down like regulars. What Meeko did earlier might've been an extreme. They weren't as big and colossal as the one he took down but still, about seven feet tall and who-knows-wide doesn't fall under small either.

"Uh oh. I think the one I killed was a mommy..."

I look at him. "Oh. But Meeko, I don't think she could tell her kids not to eat us. She'd probably help them."

Meeko gives me a weird look. "Er, that really wasn't my point..." he says.

A sheep charges towards us. We spread out. But I stumble on my feet.

"Cody! Look out!"

I look up, barely able to shoot my arrow right on the sheep's eye. Thankfully, my arrow had already been placed and it was close enough for me to get a good, clear shot. But I'm unable to get a next arrow ready when the sheep jumps over head.

"Cody!" Meeko swoops by and carries me out of the way.

I hug him around the neck. "Thank you, Meeko! That was scary!"

"Meeko," Lori comes over. "three on three isn't a fair fight if it's against Rabids. That's your cue!"

Meeko looks a little embarrassed. "Ehe, about that..." he holds up his watch. "I might've overdone it a bit earlier during the hunt and my POWER GAUGE is on full bars..." suddenly, his watch sparks and the green-lit screen turned black. "...aaand now the battery's dead..."

"Are you serious now?!" Lori looks amazed... but not the good kind.

"Don't be mad!"

"Well, I can't be happy!"

I didn't have time to pay attention to this argument because I realize I was missing something. The lace that kept my pacifier around my neck was gone! I know I'm ten years old and a little sucker is not something I need, but it was the last and only thing I ever got from my parents. I was a baby when I was still with them. I don't know who they were and what parents even were until Corrin explained it to me. I may not have known them, but I do know that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be alive and that they must've loved me because that's what they do. So even if a baby item is all I have left as proof that they existed, then I can't lose it!

I scan the area and found it a few meters far and raced to retrieve it.

"You know, you can be so... Wait, what is... CODY?! No, wait!"

"Huh?!"

I pick it up. "Got it!" In the next instant, I'm shoved away and I see Lori being body slammed by one of the sheep. I gasp. "NOO!"

"LORI! No, no, no!" Meeko screams after me, rushing over. But then he is held back to fight off the other two. "GET LOST, DAMN IT!"

I look at the sheep on top of Lori and wait. He doesn't use his powers. He doesn't go through it even as the sheep is tired and doesn't move. It only means he's hurt.

"Lori!"

Then it happened. I felt goosebumps and the sheep floated to the air. But it's hard to keep it there. Meeko got to escape the other two sheep, carrying Lori who looked injured with some scratch marks. But he was still conscious. They were out of the way and I mentally dropped the sheep. My knees buckles up and I collapse. The two sheep went for me. I didn't have the strength to move.

"CODY!"

Then there's fire and I felt the heat. When my vision clears, the animals were burnt and I see our leader stepping into the glade.

"TREY!" I bound up towards him, limping a bit. I wrap my arms around his lower torso. "Lori's hurt!"

Trey pat my head. "I know, I see his wounds. But let's not panic, kiddo." We walk towards the twins. Trey helps Meeko support Lori. Then, he instructs me. "Take the sacks you can carry and get them back to the base. Alert Rhys, Code 4 for A1."

"What's Code 4 and A1 again?" I've just taken up lessons and still get terms mixed up.

"Rabid Animals. A1 is Area 1."

"Got it!"

I take a burlap sack, Meeko's, and run as fast as I can despite the extra weight. The last words I hear behind me are from Lori. I didn't know what it mean so it probably didn't matter.

"Don't tell him anything."

#ChildOfSolace Original

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evabellasworld · 3 years

Text

Death of Mandalore

Chapter 12

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

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Summary: After murdering Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic, Vanya Doyvesky joined leagues with both Death Watch and Darth Maul, hoping to reclaim her Mandalorian warrior heritage. But with broken promises and betrayal against Death Watch and Maul’s crime syndicate, the former Mandalorian Jedi had to choose the right path not only for her but for Clan Doyvesky as well.

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“I46,” Cinta read aloud the bingo ball, making Obi-Wan groan in frustration. Arin, on the other hand, was smiling as she stamped her card. “I am definitely winning this game.”

“Shall I say the next number?”

“Yes, please,” the red Twi’lek gave a thumbs up, prompting the pink Togruta to roll the cage, letting the numbers fall out of the flap on its own. Picking them up with her fingers, she read the next one. ‘O64,” she announced. “Do we have an O64 here?”

Obi-Wan and Arin shook their heads. “Nope, we don’t,” said Obi-Wan as he gazed at his own cards, with barely any numbers stamped at all. “Move on to the next number.”

Cinta’s eyes narrowed at the auburn-haired Jedi Master and turned to Arin, who was tapping her fingers on the table. “What about you, General? Do you have an O64 on your card?”

“I don’t have an O64, unfortunately,” she replied, sighing. “You can move on to the next number.”

He rolled his eyes as Cinta spun the cage again, picking up another number. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

“What are you saying?” she let out a chuckle, avoiding his glance. “I do trust you.”

“Do you, really? I asked a moment ago the same question as General Sallis and you answered her instead.”

“Well, I was just making sure, that’s all,” shrugged Cinta. “Besides, you have a habit of cheating in games like these.”

“Master Kenobi, you cheated in games?” Arin snorted, waving her fingers. “That’s very naughty of you.”

“I never cheat,” he insisted, showing his palms. “I just used the Force to my advantage, that’s all.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Master Kenobi, do you realise that you just described the definition of cheating?”

“No, actually, I just described my Force-sensitivity. Why do you ask?”

Cinta blinked as she crossed her arms and exchanged a wink with Arin. “Just ignore him, General. Cheaters never admit that they play dirty in games like bingo.”

“Maybe you should admit that you hardly pay attention,” Obi-Wan poked her left arm. “After all, I’m just better at games than you are.”

She simpered at her friend as she said aloud the number, predicting the end of the game. “O66.”

“Bingo!” Arin frenzied, showing her card to the Togruta. “I’ve won! I’ve won!”

Obi-Wan’s lips were sealed as his head hung low, clasping his hands together on the table. Cinta smirked at him, her hands rested on his shoulder. “You were saying, Kenobi?”

“Well,” he stammered, lifting his fingers. “You must have used the Force to let Arin win, am I right?”

“You’re such a sore loser,” she bared her fangs, slapping his shoulders in a playful manner. “Just admit that you weren’t paying attention the whole time.”

He softly laughed as he stroked his beard, his eyes focused at Arin. “It was a good game,” Obi-Wan offered his hand towards her. “I’m happy for you.”

“It’s not a big fuss for me,” grinned Arin. “After all, to win a game of bingo, you need Lady Luck by your side, if she feels like it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Basically, you need to pray that luck is on your side and then you can win the game,” she simplified as she composed herself, putting on her poker face. “After all, bingo is full of unpredictability, just like life itself.”

Obi-Wan chortled and nodded, realising what she said was true, based on his experiences. “That’s actually precise, if you think about it” he leaned against his seat, slurping a glass of water. “So far, the Chancellor was murdered, Eva and her sister went missing, and currently, we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, so yes, life is full of uncertainty.”

“Yeah,” Cinta sighed, sitting next to him. “I kept having frequent headaches because too many are dying every single day, which is taking a toll on my health.”

“Using the Force to heal someone is difficult, even if you’ve trained long enough to handle the pain.”

“I can understand why there aren’t many Jedi Healers around,” she massaged her own neck. “The responsibilities are far too great and plus, do you have any idea how many pills I have to take?”

“I feel that,” Arin validated her feelings, rubbing Cinta’s back. “Medics and Healers are the most stressful jobs in wars, since they either risk getting themselves killed or die of infection since they’re too focused on their patients.”

Obi-Wan’s head drooped as he took a deep breath, reminiscing about the sudden death of his apprentice, whom he never got to say goodbye. “You know, it’s funny. It’s like yesterday we met them and then the next day, they’re not here anymore, you know. Never realise that life is too short until you see it with your very own eyes.”

Cinta hands him a handkerchief and pats his back as Obi-Wan sniffles when Anakin and Ahsoka walk into their tent. Noticing their presence, he cleared his throat and glanced at them, returning Cinta’s handkerchief frantically. “Anakin, Ahsoka,” he forced himself to smile. “Is there anything you need?”

“Master Yoda and Master Mundi want you in the briefing room,” his former apprentice informed him, sensing his grief. “Also, are you alright

“I’m alright, that you, Anakin,” he bowed, as headed out of the medbay, much to their worries.

Passing by the clones who were preoccupied with their duties, the base on the Anaxes was crowded, with the remaining Republic officers pacing back and forth, ordering their soldiers to carry some crates which stores ammunition, rations, and spare parts for ships and vehicles. Tents and barracks were set up in rows just to house whatever is left of the Jedi, clones, and officers alike.

Obi-Wan felt that the Republic remnants were lucky that they could gather as many soldiers as they could get to fight against the Separatists, which were reorganised into the first Galactic Empire under the leadership of Count Dooku. After what happened on Coruscant, which burned to the ground, he’s uncertain about the future of the galaxy.

Entering the briefing room, he bowed to Yoda and Ki-Adi-Mundi, who were waiting for him. “You summoned me, Masters?”

Both of them were silenced as they stepped away from the holotable, revealing a familiar face from his past. His eyes beamed as he saw his distressed lover again, prompting him to play her message that was delivered. “This is a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Obi-Wan listened to her voice. I've lost Mandalore. My people have been massacred, and Almec is now the prime minister. I can't explain everything now but Almec has the support of the crime families.”

“Obi-Wan, I need your help.”

The message stopped playing, leaving him stunned. The last time he met her, Obi-Wan had to protect her from her enemies on her homeworld. Vizsla was there too, who eventually revealed himself as the one behind the attacks against her. He wonders if it’s the same case all over again. “Your thoughts on this, Master Kenobi?” Mundi asked, sensing his distress.

“Satine has been at odds with the Death Watch for years,” he recalled. “And according to a report from Eva Bella Young, they're no longer in league with the Separatists.”

He paused for a moment after mentioning her name, before continuing his words. “If there was a takeover on Mandalore, it was most likely an independent act caused by the Death Watch alone.”

The Cerean Jedi sighed. “Without involvement from the Separatists, this is an internal affair for the Mandalorians. I'm afraid we cannot help.”

“We cannot just hand Mandalore over to these crime families and let Satine become a martyr,” argued Obi-Wan.

“I'm afraid her decision to keep Mandalore neutral makes this situation difficult.”

“Understand your feelings I do, Obi-Wan,” Yoda spoke, in a calming voice. “But to take action, support from the admirals, we will need.”

“You know what the admirals will decide,” grumbled Obi-Wan. “They will not send aid to a neutral system.”

“At this time, nothing more can we do.”

“I understand, master,” he tightened his lips as he walked out of the tent, only to find Cinta and Anakin standing there, waiting.

“Is everything alright, master?” asked Anakin, holding his hands.

“It's Satine,” he answered, swallowing a lump of saliva. “Her planet had been taken over by Death Watch again.”

“That's awful,” Cinta pitied, tugging on her shawl around her two-piece dress. “Are you going to rescue her? Surely you can’t just let her face her troubles all on her own.”

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Unfortunately, Mandalore is a neutral system. Since this isn't a Separatist takeover, we can't do anything at all."

“Well that sucks,” commented Anakin, placing his hands on his hips. “Someone has to do something about it.”

“I agree,” she nodded. “Neutral system or not, we should do something to help her. Is there anything we can do for you, Obi-Wan? I know that you and Satine were close to each other.”

She’s right, he pondered, formulating a plan to rescue his lover who is imprisoned on Mandalore. If he could find a ship around the base, he could fly there in his own disguise and get her out of there. But he cannot do it with Anakin and Cinta, since this is personal between him and the Duchess and also, someone needs to cover-up for him. Besides, Eva would approve this plan anyways.

“Anakin, is there a ship you could lend me for a while?” Obi-Wan made up his mind.

“Yeah, I still have the Twilight left,” Anakin replied, his head held high. “Why do you ask?”

“Great,” he thanked the Maker. “I need you both to vouch for me while I’m gone. No one must know that I’m heading to Mandalore. Is that clear?”

The brown-haired man smiled along with Cinta, pleased with his decision. “Now you're talking.”

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doorsclosingslowly · 7 years

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Literally ALL OF THEM for Riches and Wonders.

THX!!!!!!!! I’m going to do this in chunks. it got kinda long, sorry!

1: Whatinspired you to write the fic this way?

Riches and Wonders is reallya Savage character study in the end. When I started writing Runaways, back whenit was a one-shot, the point was more that I wanted to figure out a way inwhich Maul was going to survive, and didn’t he have that brother with theedgelord name? TCW still isn’t my favourite interpretation of Maul even if it’s funny, but Ilove Savage so much I can’t really diss it anymore

Writing it from Savage’s POVwas because I liked that framing better, and then the story became about hisjourney because I decided writing about near-misses and calling it “Thank Youbut Your Princess is in Another Castle” was funny. So while it was empatheticto Savage’s perspective and I was starting to figure out his narrative voice,it wasn’t really as deeply in his head as it could have been. (Which does work.“There were no words for a long time.It’s good that there weren’t.” Savage in Princess is incredibly depressedand Talzin’s mind-controlled tool, and he becomes more lively after he gets tointeract with someone who thinks of him as a person again.)

(Side note: The way I figure the mind control works btw is that it’sbasically a strong compulsion to obey, not a reshaping of his mind or anything,and he acts the way he does because he’s terrified, depressive, hurt, andthrown into a completely new world so he’s also pretty confused, and when he’snot completely numb, he’s keeping himself together by the skin of his teeth andthe ways he’s learned how to cope as a nightbrother. Which ends up reinforcingthe obedience. And makes him hide his emotions apart from the ones people wantfrom him (rage) because he must be Strong. The goals aren’t his own, but it’shis mind trying to fulfil them: he’s trying to do what Talzin orders withoutreally knowing why but that’s mostly what he’d have done anyway so he doesn’teven think it’s weird. The compulsion can be triggered by the Sisters or brokenlike in canon or when he thinks, I just CAN’T letMaul die like Feral in Princess. I amsoft and the idea that Talzin’s ritual destroyed the person he was is way toosad for me to write tbh. And also makes characterization really really hard)

That more shallowunderstanding I used to have in Princess obviously doesn’t cut it, if I’mwriting an eight-part series about them. So from Curses onwards I thought a lotabout what each of the brothers is getting out of this relationship, the waythey affect each other, and the way it’s both a train wreck and mutuallysupportive. (Your Love Alone is pretty much the condensed version of thatthought process.)

I did a lot of research, especially about maladaptivecoping responses to abuse (focusing on compliance and avoidance w/r/t Savage,because he’s so… quiet before the rage explodes) and it fit with thecharacterization I had in Princess and with TCW. (They’re incredibly maladaptivenow that he’s run away, but self-soothing and advance compliance andpsychological withdrawal are what might have kept him alive as a nightbrother.)

Also I watched his episodes a lot and got upset a lot.Apart from Monster the show’s POV isn’t that sympathetic but trying tounderstand what he’s thinking in every scene… oh boy.

A big part of the characterization ended up justgrowing from lines I put into Princess because I thought they were fun orsounded right. So, “He imaginessurprising Her, conjures up Her proud face when he reports that he has foundMaul, and then discards the thought. It’s never been him She was interested in.Once She sees Maul, She will never look at him again. He thinks he should feelwistful. He is relieved.” becomes this idea that Savage is usually veryaware of how he’s supposed to be reacting, of who he is supposed to be, but he often doesn’t measure up. Everysituation contains the emotions he shouldfeel, and the ones he does feel. Atthe same time, his reactions are pretty reasonable and the expectations he’sinternalized are just… not.

Also, the daydreaming which Savage does in Princess (“He entertains himself with guessing thebusiness his brother does” etc) has increased exponentially. Partly it’sbecause Savage actually knows Maul now, so he can be reminded of his brother byrandom stuff. Partly it’s because I’m really into “This made me think of you”as a bit of show-don’t-tell affection. Partly it’s because Maul is his wholeworld now. Partly it’s that Savage would totally stick Maul’s report cards tothe fridge if he had the chance, or pass around his album of Feral baby photosto everyone who doesn’t run away fast enough. He would talk to a random woman in a bar about how cool he thinks Maulis.

Ultimately, I think it’s pretty fortunate that I gotso derailed into focusing on Savage. The inciting What If of Runaways is “Whatif Talzin wanted Maul back 15 years earlier” obviously but the actualcounterfactual I’m writing is more like, “What if Savage was much moresuccessful in the tug-of-war of defining their relationship?” Which isconnected to the fact that they’re in a very different place to canon when theymeet, and that they have the luxury of spending (mostly) unobserved years assmall-time criminals and not as parties in the Clone Wars.

From Princess on but also in the parts I haven’twritten yet, Savage’s decisions drive a massive part of their story. He decidesto run away with Maul, after all.

Which is funny, because he doesn’t think of himself asa person with agency, and obviously most people he interacts with think of himas a tool (Talzin) or a monster or an apprentice who should do what Maul saysbecause they are Sith and that’s how life works. They really don’t think of himas making choices either. There’s a lot of ‘minor’ decisions where he goesalong with little or no protest until suddenly there’s something he can’t bearanymore, and then he just acts. Thereis no leadup because it’s been simmering under the surface, just as feelingsand never vocalized. Like in the show, haha. Mostly silent obedience obedience obedience CHOKE DOOKU & VENTRESS!!!It makes him look like an irrational person from the outside (or a “mindlessbeast” blah blah blah, hate that), but I don’t think that’s it. To deliberatehis decision would have required him to be a more verbal thinker, but mostly: toactually believe he has a choice.

And Savage can’tbelieve that he has any agency anymore. If he is capable of disobeying orders– well, why didn’t he disobey the order to kill Feral? Being a tool sucks, buthis destiny has always been controlled by the Nightsisters anyway. Not being atool – having the power to stop Feral’s death, and killing him regardless…

(This is an absolutetangent but anyway. So I read this Savage/Asajj fic that was enthusiasticdubcon aka ‘they both know he isn’t allowed to disobey her and therefore he can’tactually consent to sex but he’s really into it and after he’s brought to theSisters and before the ritual, he initiates the encounter and it’s his POV which is the only way dubcon can work’, and it was prettyinteresting especially with the woman-centered framing of sex (engulfingetc) but anyway, I had the most horrifying thought right now: Asajj is stillgoing to use Savage’s body to kill his brother. This is probably the mostpsychologically wrecking version of what happens in Monster ever. In theRunaways ‘verse version of what happens, the story Savage tells himself isthis: He has no capability of disobeying at all anymore, so ultimately he isjust the tool that killed Feral. Still traumatizing, but… What do you tell yourselfwhen you ‘willingly’ sleep with the person who ordered you to kill yourbrother? Can you still make yourself believe you didn’t make the choice to kill him? Like it obviously doesn’t makehim any more culpable at all but it would feel So Bad.)

Wow sorry, this is really rambly and way too long. Tosummarize… What inspired me to write this fic this way was that I’m writing apretty long story about how Maul and Savage very slowly help each other, oftenin ways that seem strange or even slightly unhealthy on the surface or involve murder.My mental picture of Maul was much clearer, and that would have been doingSavage a massive disservice. So I watched Clone Wars a lot. And cried.

2: Whatscene did you first put down?

The rape scene, or, well,the ‘Thinking about Maul’s eating habits to mentally cope with being rapedbecause Savage thinks this is something he has to endure and not something heshould and could escape’ scene. I still think it fits with what I’m going for really well tbh, andboth the ‘externally controlled body’ part (less of a magical metaphor here) andthe ‘ignoring his agency’ part and the nightbrothers as essentially breedingslaves part are such major aspects of Savage’s backstory, or I wouldn’t havewritten this scene. When I said that the fic was way out of my comfort zone, Idefinitely meant it. But Savage’s issues with agency are a major part of him, and I thought the take worked and it’s probably why I wasso stubborn in trying to finish Riches even though six months is a fucking longtime.

3: What’syour favorite line of narration?

There is a tongue inSavage’s mouth again, lightly tracing the back seams of his teeth and thensquirming against Savage’s tongue, like the bitten-off tail end of a massiveearthworm, only much less delightful—andMaul doesn’t like rancor flavored with kur-seeds and peppers. He made themost entertaining face on tasting that dish for the first time, and when hestumbled on his unsteady new leg to the fresher to spit it out, Savage onlystarted to feel bad for laughing when he didn’t come out for half an hour. Hewas too entertained to even think about his failure then, even though he cookedit, the meal he’s come to think of as the most comforting comfort food, in thedoomed hope that it would help Maul feel better and stronger after his injury.

It feels wrong to mock him,now that he’s had a while to think it over. Maul’s soft palate is the fault ofthe human who raised him. Besides, Savage should be grateful: There issomething soft left in his brother. Every time Maul hates the meals that Savagelovingly prepares for him, he should be glowing with pride and relief, becausethere is something Maul doesn’t like, and he’s learned to tell Savage about it.

Savage doesn’t know what itwas that he did, but that doesn’t make it any less his greatest triumph: Thefirst day that Maul looked at him, still tied up and after a month of stoicallyforcing down whatever Savage held up to his mouth, and spat the spicedchew-fish back in his face.

“This tastes like shit,”Maul said, then.

It’s one of Savage’shappiest memories, and it’s not like Maul is really wrong about the taste of rancor, anyway.

Savage thinks about theimportance of Maul being able to say “No.” in a moment where he himself (believesthat he) has no choice. The fact that Maul feels comfortable enough to refusethings is something he sees as a major breakthrough in their relationship,because it means that Maul is beginning to trust that Savage isn’t going toreact like Sidious. Savage doesn’t consciously connect it to his own situation.He doesn’t really think about the difference between the things he wants forMaul (and Feral) and what he has accepted for himself.

Also, he’s redefiningsomething that looks like a dick move (Maul insulting Savage’s cooking skills) intoa show of trust and a sign of affection, which I always like.

(Maul won’t try roe today, after all. They’ll slit a few fish bellies,but Savage’s picked the wrong season, and none of them carry young. He will trya piece of raw fish in the end—after much cajoling, which Savage will figurehe’s entitled to, after Maul left the shallow waters with his heavy prostheticand pretended to drown, and then pulled his frantic brother under. Twice.Predictably, Maul will declare that raw fish is disgusting.

He’ll still be complaining about the aftertaste when farmer M’lee makesthe incredibly unwise and terminal decision to check on his fish in theevening.)

(M’lee’s daughter will inherit the roe farm. It will lie empty, andsuccumb to rot. She’ll never set another foot on Talasea, not after thathorrifying morning when she comes back from a friend’s wedding to find herfather missing and then dismembered and burned in the peaceful grass.

She’ll die on Coruscant ten years later, destitute and still trying tobring justice.)

Also this one, because I just think it really works the way I wanted it to? It punctures the cocoon of Savage’s POVwhere only Maul really matters. I don’t get to be compassionate to anybody else usually because of Runaways’ tight perspective but I think it’s important to remember the victims

4: What’syour favorite line of dialogue?

This is really hard. It’sprobably this part

Instead of meditating,though, Maul stands up again. He looks at Savage for a long second, paces,picks up the blanket from Savage’s bed, and then he sits down in the corner ofhis floor-nest. He pushes the mismatched pillow-wall on the other side further awaywith a few kicks. Then he orders, “Come here.”

Savage does.

“Sit down,” Maul says.

Savage does, carefully,stepping over the pillow-wall. When he sits, the floor is cool through Maul’sblankets, and hard as well. He scowls. He’s been telling Maul that it can’t becomfortable for a while now, but he’s always been informed that it’s adequate.For lack of actual knowledge—maybe the thick fabric he’d forced on Maul wasenough, even if it didn’t seem like it—he believed him. Now, though…

“This isn’t good for yourback. You need a proper bed.”

“A mattress is superfluous,”Maul says.

“You refused to have ablanket for two months,” Savage reminds him. “And now look at your nest…” Heruns his hand over the wall of pillows to his left, still standing sturdydespite Maul’s show of carelessness in pushing it aside. “See? You can change.”

You can grow to like beds, Savage almostsays, but the words bite into his throat and refuse to come out.

He pats the floor blanketagain, instead.

“You’re deflecting,” Maulsays, mercilessly. “I felt your terror. What happened?”

The start of their BigConversation, where they’re basically talking about nothing at all, even thoughboth Maul and Savage obviously know what just happened. I like things that are very lowkey.

Savage’s instinct is to beMaul’s big brother and his caretaker, even when he’s really out of it. Focusingon Maul (what they are going to do when they meet, making sure they meet,whatever Maul looks like he needs now) is also one of his more effective copingmechanisms, and he’s been doing it the whole time really. He has chased Maulthrough all of Princess, he’s been doing whatever Maul wants during Curses. Unmasked doesn’t really count because it was originally part of Riches It’salso what he’s doing in the flashback at the beginning of Riches, feeding Feralso he doesn’t have to be so afraid of the Sisters coming. He has never reallythought about what is being done to him. Well, Maul isn’t letting him run awayanymore.

It also kinda punctures someof Savage’s ‘I am the big brother and know what your life should have been like’airs. Savage’s been trying to coax Maul into accepting his own vision of whatlife should be like, including making him eat what Savage thinks he should eatand sleeping the way Savage thinks he should sleep, instead of the way Maul’sused to live. Fair play, the way Maul was raised was terrible. But Savage’s lifewasn’t great either, and now, Maul being raised a nightbrother doesn’t lookthat attractive anymore.

(Also it says something about Savage’s decision-makingprocess I think. There’s a kind of reversal of the model thought process, the ‘rational’ ideal… The most consequential decisionbased on his feeling that Maul deserves better than a nightbrother slave’slife, Savage takes right in the beginning. Not bringing him back to Talzin. Twoyears later, Savage is still struggling with that idea though, see also: “Savage cannot think back far enough toreach a world empty of this truth, but he remembers too that Maul wasn’t raiseda nightbrother (for the blink of a second and for the first time, it feels likea mercy), and so the words will have to stumble out.” because he’s neververbalized his reasons for not bringing Maul to Dathomir or integrated theminto his worldview. They aren’t thoughts he knows how to think, but thatdoesn’t mean they don’t influence his actions.)

I also like the space pigeondialogue a lot haha If I didn’t I’d have cut it, because it’s probably definitelyToo Obvious

5: Whatpart was hardest to write?

Going by what I left off until the end, it’s the barscene from the point when Keeu shows up. Because a) I don’t recognise flirtingin real life, so how am I going to write it and b) I knew that if it didn’tmake sense, the whole ending of the fic wouldn’t make sense.

That’s not the bit I re-wrote about a million times,though. That’s Maul and Savage’s conversation about Dathomiri society and theSith code

#sl-walker #dimtraces makes things #runaways 'verse

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