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juuls · 3 years

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Reylo Force Awakens(!!!) fic recs by YOU!

Look, okay. Here's the hard truth: A lot of us wish the series was cancelled after The Force Awakens because what in the actual hell was all that nonsense that followed? Anyway, I was in the mood for TFA or TFA-like fics and my readers responded!! I received TLJ and TRoS fics that are actually quite good, so those will be in their own post, whereas the TFA lists will be like... 3 separate posts lol. Thank you everyone for contributing! This is almost entirely a crowd-sourced fic rec list from one of my other posts.

Just in time for reading season (keep an eye on @fanfic-reading-challenge for this and next year's challenges!) and revisiting some of the best fics from or relating to one of the three sequel trilogy fiilms. There are a couple that delve into the OT and PT but are rare, and there are a few ships other than Reylo, which will be clearly marked, don't worry!

Fics will be alphabetized by story name, and may need to be broken into a couple posts, which I'll link together here at a later point.

The point of my fic rec requests were for that old-school, fight-me bro. proud to be a reylo feeling and the sigh we all inevitably let out. There was just something so magical about TFA stories, really....

I'm a Millennial but I'm going to say something really Boomer: I wish for the good ole' days!! :'(

Included are classics, hidden gems, very... unique fics, some that were written post-TFA and then others that were written post-the other movies because we all just miss TFA too much, hahaha. There are also AUs that fit TFA-themes or were written in the pre-TLJ years.

TFA-related Part One | TFA-related Part Two | TLJ-related & TRoS-related

Dates are posted as Y/M/D. Coloured titles are non-Reylo(or at least not just Reylo) Please ignore them rather than making a deal out of it!

***Fics recommended almost exclusively by stranger submission with a few thrown in from my bookmarks!***

Beautiful images gifted and also commissioned for me with @pandacapuccino the wonderful lady she is!

_~_

TFA-associated or post-TFA, AUs included Part One

A Collision of Stars by dustoftheancients

First day of posting: 2016-01-12

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 237710

Chapters: 57/57

Summary: Rey gets in over her head in an attempt to save her friend. Kylo Ren can do little else but get swept up along with her, because his trajectory has become tied with hers.

A Dance of Titans by LucidLucy

First day of posting: 2016-05-07

Ship: Reylux

Rating: E

Total word count: 332,245

Chapters: 46

Summary: This is the story of three individuals drawn to each other with the gravity of two massive giants circling a scorching sun; like titans forever locked in an interstellar dance, slow and steady, to a song nobody else is privy to. On their dance hinges the fate of billions of much smaller stories, those flickering lights, and the universe waits with bated breath as it unfolds. /// Three weeks after the events of Starkiller base, Kylo Ren brings Rey onto the Finalizer kicking and screaming before departing to complete his training, and Hux finds himself in the role of her interrogator. Let's just say it doesn't end well. But power struggles also have a way of bringing together unlikely individuals.

Alliance by Amalia Kensington (amaliak01), Writingwife83

First day of posting: 2020-02-21

Ship: Reylo, HanLeia

Rating: T

Total word count: 88,241

Chapters: 28

Summary: Kylo Ren and Rey Palpatine are on opposing sides of a rapidly growing conflict between the Galactic Republic and the First Order. However, during the 30 year celebration of the end of the last Civil War, a play for power on both sides comes in the form of a surprising announcement- a New Order brought about by a marriage between the two young force users. Will this finally be the hope for peace the galaxy has been searching for? And for the two people at the center of the alliance, could it become something more?

and find your way back home by second_chances

First day of posting: 2017-09-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 33,079

Chapters: 5

Summary: To end the war, Ben Solo kills Snoke. To save Ben Solo, Rey kills Kylo Ren. /// Free for the first time in his life, Ben wanders the reaches of the galaxy alone, searching for the balance. Once a year, Rey follows him, hoping he's found it.

Berserker - A Viking's Tale by Mallie3

First day of posting: 2018-02-02

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 159,367

Chapters: 24

Summary: From the sea dwelling serpents came the merciless Norse men in search of land and treasure. Forced to witness monstrosities, the young heiress, Rey, was ruthlessly bound and gagged; stolen from all that she knew. Immersed into a culture very different from her own, she discovers a world filled with contradictions and beliefs that she can only summarize as barbaric. In this world, her title held no value, for a thrall owned nothing, was nothing, and would always be nothing. But not in the eyes of the raven haired warlord known as Kylo; the very man who brought down her village with a clean sweep of his sword and a victorious battle cry. With strict beliefs and a faith that is unforgiving, Rey finds herself faced with a difficult path and a master she is unable to resist.

Black Knight, White King by pontmercy44

First day of posting: 2016-04-11

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 53,203

Chapters: 23

Summary: Luke Skywalker wrote his sister a letter on his deathbed, revealing that his ward is the orphaned heir of a family long thought extinct - and politically powerful. That letter fell into the wrong hands, and the secret of Rey's heritage is secret no more. The Emperor has managed to unite the Kingdoms, but he is old, and his son is weak. Seeking to ensure his son's claim to his throne, he sends his most trusted captain to bring the girl - willing or not - to be his son's bride. Rey is taken from her far-flung home, and plunged into a world of court intrigue, arranged marriage, political rivals, and would-be assassins - the black knight her constant companion and bodyguard. But even he, her dark shadow and protector, she cannot know whether to trust...

Blue Insomnia by Hamliet

First day of posting: 2016-02-03

Ship: Reylo, Stormpilot

Rating: T

Total word count: 61,542

Chapters: 23

Summary: Neither Rey nor Kylo Ren is pleased to discover that a Force bond connects them. But when the First Order fails to assassinate Leia and captures Finn, and Rey and Poe embark on a rescue mission, both Rey and Kylo realize they can use it to their advantage.

Breaking Point by Alania

First day of posting: 2016-03-25

Ship: Reylux, Kaytaka, Stormpilot

Rating: E

Total word count: 349,741

Chapters: 63

Summary: AU diverging at the point of Starkiller's destruction: General Hux is ordered to bring Kylo Ren back to Snoke alive, but chooses to collect Rey and Finn as well. /// When a lifetime is spent moving in one direction, just to have that direction blown carelessly out of the sky, there's a dangerous void left waiting to be filled by something else.

Broken Accidental Stars by HarpiaHarpyja

First day of posting: 2018-10-11

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: (current) 203,511

Chapters: 34/40 (last update 2020-09-11)

Summary: During the standoff on the bridge at Starkiller Base, Kylo Ren yields to the light within him and accepts Han’s plea to leave with him, no questions asked. With the map to Luke Skywalker secured, the Resistance hastily relocates to an island planet in the Outer Rim, spurred by unsettling intel about recent First Order developments in tracking technology. /// Meanwhile, Rey—untrained and stronger than she knows—grapples with the awakening of her power in the Force and struggles to determine where her path must lead. As uncertainty and strange dreams compel her to seek Kylo’s help, one thing becomes clear to them both: Whatever passed between them in the interrogation room was only a beginning, and the will of the Force is rarely easily understood . . .

Burn Your Wicked Garden Down by roane

First day of posting: 2016-01-17

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 15,983

Chapters: 6

Summary: It was by accident that she captured him at all. Accident, or maybe fate. Ever since their first meeting on Takodana years ago, they'd circled each other like binary stars, paths crossing at increasingly smaller intervals as their orbit slowly decayed. /// There was bound to be the moment that they collided.

Chained by CaraRose

First day of posting: 2017-05-08

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 99,321

Chapters: 39

Summary: Kylo Ren has found himself fixated on the girl he captured on Takadona. The girl who had somehow managed to best him on Starkiller. The girl who he now realizes is the one from his dreams, the girl in the veil who he has endlessly chased and never catches. The girl that he now appears to be strangely linked to, able to feel over light years of space. If there is one certainty in his life, it's that this girl will be his, that he will capture her and she will submit to him. /// Rey survived Kylo Ren and escaped Starkiller, only to find him haunting her. Whispering in her head and finding her in her dreams. Sent to find Luke Skywalker, Rey finds herself training, learning to use her powers, soon realizing that she was being hunted by the monster she defeated but left alive. The monster who's mind now seems linked directly to hers. /// Chained together by a force bond, the two adversaries begin to understand the potential and dangers of this link between them. --- Please note, this is a repost of the original work because AO3 did something weird and the original post of the work is now listed under anonymous.

Closer by BoredJaegerPilot

First day of posting: 2016-02-25

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 2,924

Chapters: 1

Summary: A dream is just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything. ~Complete and total smut. One-shot.

Codega by Juulna

First day of posting: Originally posted late January 2016.

Ship: Reylux

Rating: E

Total word count: 168,380

Chapters: 30/?, (31/32 are notes)

Summary: “In Venice in the Middle Ages there was once a profession for a man called a codega--a fellow you hired to walk in front of you at night with a lit lantern, showing you the way, scaring off thieves and demons, bringing you confidence and protection through the dark streets. ” ― Elizabeth Gilbert /// Rey wishes to join the Knights of Ren to discover more about her past, and to learn more about the Force. General Hux and Kylo Ren take her under their wing in an attempt to guide her through the darkness of their world; a world that they helped to create. They are surprised at every turn as Rey draws out sides to them that they had considered long-buried, and Rey is surprised at the ferocity of their protection over a simple scavenger.

Delicious Ambiguity by Juulna

First day of posting: Originally posted late Spring 2016.

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M, with marked, skippable smut

Total word count: 24,782

Chapters: 8

Podcast available here!

Summary: Rey and Kylo Ren repeatedly encounter each other in battle over the years, fighting desperately for the causes that they believe in even as they both grow in strength - and fight off growing curiosity. Yet when Kylo tells Rey that she's pregnant via the Force, will that affect their interactions? And will it change Kylo irrevocably? /// “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.” ― Gilda Radner

Disparate Pieces by space_trash_princess

First day of posting: 2017-01-16

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 117,729

Chapters: 27

Summary: "For as long as I can remember, the Force has shown me visions of the future. It is a future I must fight and sacrifice for, but it will all be worth it once it comes to pass. I know you’ve experienced such visions as well: of the forest on Starkiller, of Ach-to, of me.” /// Rey gasped. “You know about that?” /// He cupped her face and brought it close to his. “Know of them? I shared them. The force pulled in both directions, giving us both glimpses of what was to come. Although, I think I may have been given more insight than you have. But trust me. We all have a destiny, Rey, and yours lies with me.” /// Rey's past visions had not felt like a call to destiny. They had seemed more like a warning.

Diverging by LovesBitca8

First day of posting: 2019-12-14

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 26,765

Chapters: 5

Summary: Han catches sight of her first. He climbs the next six steps with eyes on her, like he’s approaching a stray cat. /// “Rey,” he says. “This is my son, Ben.” Her eyes flicker to Kylo Ren, face pink, eyes wet, and gaze intent on her. Then back to Han. “He’s coming home.” /// Or/. . . Ben goes with Han. And Rey isn't happy about it.

Equal Measure by misszeldasayre

First day of posting: 2021-02-14

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 18,365

Chapters: 7

Summary: When Princess Rey of Coruscant calls upon the cursed Sir Kylo Ren to help her escape her grandfather’s political machinations, she discovers freedom in the ancient familial magic that binds them together and the growing attraction that threatens to tear them apart.

Eros by AquaWolfGirl

First day of posting: 2016-11-18

Ship: Preylo / DarkJediPilot

Rating: E

Total word count: 82,994

Chapters: 11

Summary: She's never stepped foot off of the small, isolated island of Jakku. She's never considered leaving, never once thought about stepping off the shores to visit the mainland. She never thought about attacks, about the Empire ruling just beyond the waves, about the Emperor and his soldiers. She didn't even think, not about the Emperor or his cruelty or his consort back on the mainland who has no idea he's about to befriend a woman who's never known a world outside of marble columns and an old statue.

Error: Program Not Found by ElmiDol

First day of posting: 2020-05-20

Ship: Reader fic, choose your own adventure. Options of Reader x Kylo Ren, Hux, or both!

Rating: M

Total word count: 98,333

Chapters: 20/30 (last updated 2021-05-14)

Summary: You are in charge of programming the droids that work most closely with both General Hux and Kylo Ren. Unbeknownst to you, each of these two men have it in their heads that your relationship extends beyond the workplace. This causes things to escalate quickly when your two apparently secret boyfriends compare notes on their respective partner who is far too similar for their liking.

Forbidden by koderren

First day of posting: 2019-04-29

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 142,754

Chapters: 35

Summary: She is a Jedi. /// It is forbidden to let emotions consume her. Especially for one of the galaxy's most powerful and influential men. /// But as she stands rigid in his shadow, his most loyal protector, she fights the cruelest battle ever with none other than her own self. Because from this day forth he will belong to the woman standing next to him. The woman who will help seal peace in this galaxy. /// He had told her so. /// He had no choice.

Generational mistakes by owlet

First day of posting: 2016-01-14

Ship: Ben & Leia, mother-son. Background JediStormPilot.

Rating: T

Total word count: 17,075

Chapters: 1

Summary: With all the loss Leia Organa had known, she did not expect to feel to completely gutted by the sight of her son in chains.

go i know not whither and fetch i know not what by voicedimplosives

First day of posting: 2018-04-30

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 119,089

Chapters: 13

Summary: The year is 1994. The Iron Curtain has come down, the oligarchs have begun their rise to power, and Kyril Ren, a powerful member of the infamous crime syndicate Solntsevskaya Bratva, has been given a job: hunt down an estranged uncle who has been snitching to the FBI. /// Irena, nicknamed Rey by her adoptive father Luke, is a Krav Maga instructor in New York who has finally been able to obtain her original birth certificate from Russia. Turns out she was born in a little village named Vershinino, but if she wants to know more than that… she’s going to have to go there herself. /// TL;DR: What up here's a Russian Mafia AU.

Halfway, Between The Black and Grey. by Anonymous

First day of posting: 2020-03-22

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 40,410

Chapters: 8

Summary: "Tell me about the-" /// "I love you," she blurts out and Ben...his eyes widen with confusion, the burning intensity softening to be replaced with shock. He swallows hard, glancing from her eyes to her lips, then back again. There's a soft pink bleeding across the tops of his cheekbones and over his shoulder she can see Anakin dropping his face into his hands. /// Ben opens his mouth, but seems to struggle to find the words for a moment. When he does his voice is slightly higher pitched, breathless in a way that makes Rey's knees a little weak, "Is...is this a new Resistance counter technique to interrogation?" /// Based on the Time Travel Tweet (no longer around) that made the rounds on Twitter a few months ago.

Hex by Hormonal_Trashbag

First day of posting: 2016-12-01

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 74,591 (last updated 2020-07-12)

Chapters: 35/36

Summary: For a moment he assumed she was someone’s familiar, but there were few witches in the area. Kylo sincerely doubted any of them would be so cruel as to have their companion fend for themselves in the streets, especially when considering how small she was. Still, there was something undeniably clever about her. /// He sighed; either way, it was of no consequence to him.

Hypothermia by LucidLucy

First day of posting: 2017-08-05

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 31,501

Chapters: 7

Summary: “You hardly find me repulsive, little desert rat,” he said with honey on his tongue, a term that used to once make her blood boil but that she now acknowledged as a warped version of an endearment from Kylo Ren. “Or need I remind you of Takodana?” /// They had shared their first kiss on Takodana, in a forest very similar to the one in which he’d once taken her captive. Rey shifted weakly, trying to put some distance between their naked bodies. /// “That was a mistake,” she replied. /// “Really?” he asked, his chuckle only prolonging itself as he splayed the long fingers resting on her abdomen, pulling her closer against the proof of her irritating twitching, hard against her lower back. “Was Coruscant a mistake, too?”

I'll Be Your Mirror (Reflect What You Are) by stellardarlings

First day of posting: 2020-02-11

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 30,191

Chapters: 5

Summary: [Technically Post-TRoS but it's set during TFA!] When Ben disappears on Exegol, Rey refuses to let him go. Instead she follows their bond to try and bring him back from the beyond, and the Force is helpful in the way the Force often is: it sends her back to the day they met. She didn't intend to wake up strapped into the interrogation chair on Starkiller Base, but if this is how she gets Ben Solo back, then this is how she gets Ben Solo back.

Ileenium Manor by WaterlilyRose

First day of posting: 2016-07-11

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 109,081

Chapters: 33

Summary: Rey decided she hated Lord Benjamin Solo before she even met him. So when he comes to take his rightful place as heir to Ileenium Manor where she works as a maid, it will test Rey in ways she couldn't have imagined.

In My Bloodstream by EllieCarina

First day of posting: 2015-12-31 (yooooo one of the OGs!)

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 103,017

Chapters: 15

Summary: Rey knows Kylo by now. And she knows Ben and almost everything in between. But when Poe Dameron kisses her, she learns something she hadn't known before. They are bound by the Force and this alone would be difficult enough - with love of all things added to the mix, the universe could as well come apart under the weight of their minds.

Interstellar Transmissions by LovelyThings, ricca_riot

First day of posting: 2015-12-22 (even earlier!!!)

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 193,613

Chapters: 55

Summary: Rey’s interrogation at the hands of Kylo Ren triggered an awakening in the Force, as well as an unwelcome bond that links them across the galaxy and grows stronger every day. An accidental encounter alerts Supreme Leader Snoke to the existence of this bond and he orders his apprentice to capture the girl and bring her to him. Sometimes it's not the big speeches that redeem people, but the actions you inspire them towards. Former PWP, now full scale adventure.

It Will Come Back by ReyloTrashCompactor (NextToSomething)

First day of posting: 2016-01-26

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 4,138

Chapters: 1

Summary: "Honey, don't feed it. It will come back."

Let the Light In by meg_anderson

First day of posting: 2016-01-08

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 231,884

Chapters: 77/79 (last updated 2020-11-24)

Summary: ***NOW COMING AS A WEB COMIC IN 2021 @icanseeyourreylo on tumblr *** After the destruction of Starkiller Base, Rey is left to come to terms with her Force Sensitivity, and the price it asks. With new expectations suddenly thrust onto her shoulders, and unsure of her place in this new Galaxy she never thought she would see, how can she hope to stay true to herself? After all, Rey has no one to turn to for help with her newfound power. Or does she? *** This is the story after The Force Awakens. *** And it WILL be Reylo, as my Snippets will show you. You have been warned. (also Stormpilot fluff on the side)

Like a River by troublesomeee

First day of posting: 2020-12-15

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 48,555

Chapters: 12/? (last updated 2021-08-12)

Summary: “Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle.” – Crystal Middlemas /// As the First Order grows stronger, Rey turns to the galaxy's greatest hero in an effort to defeat the dark side, determined to be a part of the next generation of Jedi. Kylo Ren struggles with his demons - both inside and out - in order to let the past die and to help lead the First Order to victory over the Resistance. Despite their differences and hatred for one another, they find themselves drawn together through a new bond and wonder if perhaps there is something they can learn from one another. /// A post-TFA story of questioned loyalties, lessons learnt, battles which are lost and won and finding belonging.

Like Young Gods by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2016-01-13

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 84,000

Chapters: 20

Summary: “What do you think?” Luke asks his nephew. “She has potential.” /// “She bit me, Master,” is Ben’s stiff response. “Any opinion I give would be biased.” /// Or: Everyone is connected, even if, sometimes, it's just by the skin of our teeth. Even in the midst of darkness, still, luminous beings are we.

Luminosity by Verisimilitude (Wolfy_Tales)

First day of posting: 2016-01-22

Ship: Reylo, side HanLeia & Stormpilot

Rating: G

Total word count: 24,275

Chapters: 1

Summary: Kylo decides not to kill his father and instead joins the resistance. It's understandably tense. /// But as Rey begins to train with him under Master Luke, she learns more about the boy named Ben Solo hiding in the shadow called Kylo Ren.

Meet Me in the Grey by JJBattleX

First day of posting: 2016-05-09

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 119,025

Chapters: 32

Summary: What does it mean to walk the path of the Grey? Is there a place between the light and the dark where two wounded souls can find peace and balance? /// Can Rey save Kylo Ren from the darkness? Together they must face their own demons while fighting to defeat the First Order. Kylo/Rey Reylo! Full cast and full romance/action/adventure plot.

Morning in the Burned House by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2016-02-11

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 6,456

Chapters: 1

Summary: Leia's not really surprised at all, to be honest, but, for the sake of his pride, she should probably pretend to be.

No Truths to Hear by Arimanes (Kara_Sevda)

First day of posting: 2016-01-27

Ship: Reyux, Reylo (please mind the content of fic)

Rating: E

Total word count: 7,498

Chapters: 4

Summary: Hux acquaints himself with Ren's new apprentice.

Nocturnal Studies And Other Peculiar Magic by WaterlilyRose

First day of posting: 2016-11-29

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 37,256

Chapters: 6

Summary: Hogwarts was the first home Rey ever had. Now she has a chance to return as a grown woman to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. /// She cannot tolerate the Potions Master and former Death Eater that she duelled and scarred so many years ago. Yet unity must be upheld. /// Gryffindor and Slytherin will unite in ways never before.

Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns by chancecraz

First day of posting: 2016-11-13

Ship: HanLeia, Leia & Darth Vader, Leia & Luke, Leia & the Organas, Leia & Obi-Wan Kenobi

Rating: T

Total word count: 574,457

Chapters: 27/? (last update 2020-11-26)

Summary: I went to sleep on the worst day of my life and woke to find myself in the past on the second worst day of my life. As experiences go, I don’t recommend it.

How (Not) to Fall in Love with your Jedi Training Partner by Mster70 (7 fic series)

First day of posting: 2015-12-26

Ship: Reylo

Rated: from T to E

Total series word count: 46,974

Total works: 7

Summary of first fic: Rey has always looked up to Ben Solo, skilled Jedi Knight, nephew to Master Luke Skywalker, and legendary lone wolf. When Ben suddenly starts to take an interest in her, (and starts losing his shirt around her with alarming frequency), she just can't seem to catch a break.

Part Two and more will be compiled in the next few days; just takes a lot of time hah!

#reylo #reylo fanfic #fic recs #rec list #juulna recs #a couple other ships thrown in because they're awesome fics #and yeah someone demanded I put two fics of mine on here so blame them. :P #the first of lots of fic rec lists!#especially TFA <3 #rey x ben solo #rey x kylo ren #rey #kylo ren #ben solo #focusing primarily on TFA for now!

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fallintosanity · 2 years

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I wonder what Noct's bro's would think of the Firsts, and vice versa? 🤔

Oh now that's a complicated question!

Zack is pretty straightforward - he's the kind of guy who makes friends with everyone. He and Prompto would hit it off right away, and I think he and Gladio would land in a sort of casual friendship. He and Ignis would be friendly but not particularly close or interested in each other - Zack is too casual and laid-back for Ignis, and Ignis is too focused and formal for Zack.

Angeal and Ignis would share the mutual respect and commiseration that comes from being their respective gangs' Mom Friend, but otherwise don't have much in common. Angeal and Prompto would likely be friendly, but also don't have a whole lot in common. Angeal and Gladio, otoh, would bond over a love of nature and the outdoors.

Kunsel and Ignis would start out suspicious and wary of each other, as they'd recognize each other as intellectuals and schemers. But if/when they start working together, they'd be a terror. Kunsel and Prompto would be friendly in a we're-both-friends-with-Zack sort of way. Kunsel would be cautious around and respectful of Gladio, because he can see past Gladio's fratboy facade to realize that the Shield of the King isn't just a meat shield, but also a highly educated and trusted advisor. Gladio would mostly ignore Kunsel until he realized just what he's capable of, and then he'd be wary/respectful of him in turn.

Genesis and Ignis would violently Not Get Along. Ignis doesn't have the patience for Genesis's pretentiousness and self-aggrandizement, while Genesis would be intensely jealous that Ignis is as smooth, elegant, and noble naturally as Genesis tries so hard to be. Gladio would find Genesis amusing - or more accurately, find it amusing to egg him on / rile him up, and watch the fireworks. Genesis would enjoy the support even if he knows it's for Gladio's own amusement. Prompto would be more than a little intimidated by Genesis and mostly stay away. Genesis wouldn't be much interested in Prompto until he realized just how deadly Prompto is capable of being, at which point Genesis would develop a professional respect for him.

Sephiroth and Ignis would have a similar professional respect for each other off the bat. Ignis would slot Sephiroth into a similar mental space as Cor ("highly-skilled military commander") while Sephiroth would think of Ignis the way he thinks of Lazard ("deceptively unpretentious but vital to smooth operations"). Gladio would immediately peg Sephiroth as a threat on the basis of "he's stronger than me", and treat him accordingly until he realized that Sephiroth (at least the TFA/Providence version) has no interest in threatening anybody and is primarily interested in finding people who can challenge him. Then Gladio would use Sephiroth as a sort of whetstone for himself, and Sephiroth would humor him (and be surprised that Gladio is closer to matching him than most people). Prompto would be terrified of Sephiroth, but if he ever found out how Sephiroth was created, he would also be the only person to realize just how, and how deeply, that fucked Sephiroth up. Like he does for Noctis and the weight of the Crown, Prompto would do his best to give Sephiroth the space to just be friends like twentysomthing guys should be. Sephiroth would not know what to do with this.

Cloud and Ignis don't have much in common; they'd be cordial but not especially friendly (though they would respect each other's capability for snark). Cloud would see a lot of Barret in Gladio, and they'd likely share a similar friendship - the kind that comes from being friends with the same people and therefore being in the same space all the time. Cloud would initially see Prompto much the same way he sees Yuffie from his own timeline: bright, spunky, and a little too innocent for their own good. But as with Sephiroth, Prompto would eventually realize how wounded Cloud is, and Cloud would find himself leaning on Prompto for emotional support without ever quite realizing how he got there.

#sanity replies #sanity's final fantasy crossover fic #whew that was a lot

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dalekofchaos · 3 years

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Rian Johnson did Finn dirty and we gotta stop pretending he didn’t

Every now and then I am reminded how I hate how dirty Finn was done in the Sequel Trilogy. TFA started it, but TLJ continued it. JJ started it with the bait and switch, Rian continued by making sure Finn would remain a side character, which JJ would finalize in TROS.

Like I like TLJ for the visuals and Rey and Ben’s dynamic, but let’s be clear. It absolutely did nothing for Finn, Poe or Rose. Pretty much all the characters of color were given the shaft.(and one of them didn’t even get any speaking lines, NO I WILL NEVER NOT BE MAD ABOUT THIS)

Let’s take a look at what Rian Johnson did with Finn

Finn is repeatedly harmed for comedic effect. Most of his important scenes were either cut or rewritten. He is constantly belittled and mocked throughout the movie.

The beginning of Finn in the movie. Finn awakens from his coma. Does he struggle to come to terms with his near-death experience? Is he fearful that Rey is dead and he failed her? Is he scared, in pain? Nope. He falls on his face and squirts juice everywhere. The medics on-duty were on a coffee break and allowed their patient to wander the fucking halls unattended. And with that, his duel with Kylo is worthless and made a joke to laugh at.

Finn’s deleted scenes. The deleted opening where Finn wakes up. Finn and Poe’s scene on the Raddus where Finn declares he’s not joining The Resistance, but Poe simply says “you are where you belong” and hands him his coat after stitching it up for him. Then the scene where BB-8 shows Finn Rey’s last moment with Finn. Then the deleted scene with the one Stormtrooper where Finn shows restraint. and Finally the scene that shows a better death scene for Phasma......why were any of these scenes deleted? ESPECIALLY THE PHASMA ONE! I will never understand why this was deleted. Finn calls her out about her betrayal of lowering the shields and when this information is revealed, the Stormtroopers near her look suspicious and it looks as if they are going to turn on her. Phasma like the ultimate survivalist she is kills them with no hesitation. Finn cuts her hand off and blasts her into the abyss, giving Phasma a more deserving and better send off. Seriously, this is way better than their actual confrontation. What I really like about this scene is its direct connection to The Force Awakens plot point and that it acknowledges Phasma’s survivalist attitude which was introduced into her novel.

Finn’s injuries do not get attention, but Kylo’s injuries do. In The Force Awakens, Finn fights Kylo Ren. He does well, but is ultimately defeated. He is slashed in the shoulder and the spine by Kylo Ren and falls into the snow, unconscious. Now if this were in the first 6 movies, Finn would be dead or would be paralyzed. But because it’s a Disney movie, Finn heals up. Rey continues the fight and slashes Ren across the face, leaving him with a gash. The characters all escape, but Finn has to be carried to a medical station, unconscious until TLJ. Kylo Ren seems fine, ultimately jumping in a TIE fighter to try and kill his mom before getting patched up further. Finn, again, has to wake up before doing anything. Here’s the difference between Finn and Kylo’s injuries. Finn awakens in a medical bed wearing a bacta suit. His first instinct is to call out for Rey. As he jolts up, he slams his head against the medical container. He slams against it again. Regaining awareness, he opens up the medical container to find himself alone in a cargo room. He falls out of the bed, spraying medical fluids all over the place. He trudges down the hallway until Poe and BB-8 find him. His injuries are never mentioned, shown, or even referenced again. Kylo, on the other hand, is asked by Snoke how his wound is, to which he responds “it’s nothing.” He then takes that ridiculous thing off, complete with a close-up of a sad kylo Ren face, with his sutures framed to draw attention to them. This happens again in the elevator. Then we get a scene of him getting patched up soberly by a medical droid. Then we get a shirtless scene as a final showcase of his other two scars. Throughout the film, Kylo’s scars are present and framed as a constant reminder that he went through pain. Finn’s injuries are used as a joke once and promptly forgotten, and let’s not pretend that these injuries are one-to-one aside from how they’re framed. Remember Finn received injuries trying to protect Rey, while Kylo received injuries trying to murder Finn and bring Rey before Snoke, a fate worse than death. Finn received a deep wound across his spine, which can often be fatal in the real world. Kylo received a gash across his face. Finn’s injuries were worse and nobly gained. Kylo’s injuries were comparatively tame and well deserved. Yet the movie uses Finn’s pain as a joke, and Kylo’s pain as a humanizing factor. That Rey, as well as the director, cinematographer, and a considerable portion of the audience sees a scar and is willing to find sympathy with the person, no matter what they have done, is pretty reprehensible. Not only is Kylo Ren’s scar not enough to be considerably a change to his appearance, as Rian Johnson specifically modified the location of his scar because, “it looked goofy,” the scar is not the mark of an accident or from an assault, but rather from a failed assault on his part. Also, I could get into how messed up it is that scars that don’t fit Rian Johnson’s preferred model are considered goofy. Is a scar that isn’t kept to one side of the face not worth showing? Is a person with a scar you don’t personally like somehow less able to be taken seriously? By treating Kylo’s minor wounds as a big, life-changing deal, and treating Finn’s life-threatening wounds as a trivial matter of no more consequence than a joke, The Last Jedi reinforces century-old stereotypes about Black people. Specifically, it implies that Black people are somehow less affected by pain, have higher pain tolerances, or cannot be physically damaged the way White people can. This is a demonstrated, dangerous trend, where white people actually perceive Black people as experiencing less pain than White people under the same situations. Older textbooks, including some used as recently as late 2017, suggest Black people over-report the pain that they are experiencing. Doctors have declined to give painkillers to Black patients expressing the same level of discomfort that would grant a White patients the same painkillers, and some surgeons even believe that less anesthesia is needed for operations on Black people. This, of course, goes beyond the medical field, where Black people are not believed when they speak about suffering, and are expected to take more physical abuse than their White counterparts. However as the injuries are framed in a medical setting in this movie, I wanted to primarily address the medical bias as in the real world. This has been referred to as an empathy gap. When two people are hurt, with everything except the skin colour being the same, and White people feel worse for the hurt White person, there is a gap in empathy. Now, when the conditions are not the same, and the White person deserves to be hurt, and is hurt much less, and is still empathized with more, and the White man’s acts of attempted murder are framed as romance, while the Black man’s friendship is framed as harassment. Let’s also talk about Finn’s treatment. He’s placed alone in a room filled with cargo, without any monitoring. It’s almost like the medical staff doesn’t even deem his injury serious enough to receive attention. He’s not on the medical ship, which we know they have. He’s not even in the Raddus’s Medical Bay, which, again, we know they have. Finn is isolated, left unattended, injures himself, and stumbles out into the hallway without any assistance. All for a joke. Finn’s injury should have been treated with respect and acknowledgement. A scene with the doctors examining his injuries, telling Finn he is medically clear to join The Resistance and Finn sorrowed by his inability to help his friends, would have been light-years better than a scene where Kylo looks sad getting hurt while trying to kill people.

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

Finn repeats the character arc from the last movie. Finn’s character arc from The Force Awakens was dropped completely in The Last Jedi. He does want Rey to be safe, but TLJ paints it as if Finn just wants to run away, despite the fact that he learned to be courageous, face his fears and stay and fight at the end of TFA. The First Order kidnapped Finn as a child, from his family(possibly killed his family) he was able to leave The First Order and resist the indoctrination. He no longer wanted to fight, he wanted to leave everything, he wanted Rey to come with him. When Rey was captured, Finn had something to fight for and when Kylo Ren pushed her. Finn finally stood up to his past and The First Order. He overcame his fear. So Finn should have been wanting to fight The First Order and become a big deal in The Resistance, we could have even seen Finn inspiring a Stormtrooper rebellion against Phasma and The First Order. Finn just wanting to leave is just bad writing and backtracks his entire character arc from TFA.

Went from one of the major focuses of this trilogy to a side character. Finn is the very reason why The Resistance is alive. Finn breaks his life-long brainwashing, informs Rey and Han about the importance of BB-8 and helps out in getting BB-8 to the resistance and provides vital information that lead to the destruction of STB and gets nearly killed while helping to achieve this. If it were not for Finn saving Poe, BB-8 would’ve been scrapped for parts and Rey never would’ve left Jakku. The map would either be destroyed or be in the hands of The First Order. Starkiller Base would’ve destroyed D’Qar and Ach-To. He is the reason why Poe is still alive. He is the reason why BB-8 isn’t parts and Rey left Jakku. Because of leaving Jakku, this is the sole reason why Han and Chewie were able to find the Falcon. And he is the reason why The Resistance was able to find out about Starkiller Base’s weakness. he Helps out in sabotaging STB so that Poe, the very pilot he saved in the beginning can deliver the finishing blow to Starkiller Base and destroy it completely. In the Last Jedi, Finn awakes from a coma with no one attending him. No medics or guards. He's not even on a medship, he's in the fucking cargo hold. Finn recovering from his injuries is meant to be seen as a joke and his injuries are never mentioned again, while Kylo gets sympathy and shown his scars. There was also no marketing for Finn in the build up to TLJ. Despite Finn knowing that the First Order must be fought and knows there is something bigger than himself and Rey, we then see Finn attempting to flee in an escape pod to hide with Rey. Then he meets Rose. Rose in mourning meets Finn and expects him to be this big Resistance hero, only Finn never officially became one. Rose thought he was deserting. Finn wants to escape to save Rey and because The Supremacy is tracking them through hyperspace, but Rose sees this as desertion….Desertion? You taze people for desertion? How exactly am I supposed to root for either side again? This is probably the same only less lethal treatment one could expect from The First Order. And what if The Raddus took critical damage? Are you trying to tell me Rose would taze anyone going to the escape pods? I thought she was supposed to be a mechanic, not someone who prevents escape. Despite Finn explaining himself, she tazes him. She spends the majority of the movie berating, insulting and belittling him. It's even worse in the novel. Finn, who was the main focus of the last movie, and one of the main protagonists, is now made the sidekick to Rose in a pointless side plot. Finn and Rose then get caught because none of them could bother park their ship legally. Finn, the child slave doesn’t even get to say they should save the child slaves of Canto Bight, instead he blindly follows Rose into freeing the space horses. Then they openly trusts a man who talks like a snake and is shocked when DJ betrays them. Finn and Rose are made to fail their mission pointlessly, when they could've succeeded and get caught on the way to the escape pods. Finn gets to face his oppressor and fight Phasma and end her, but Phasma's better death scene was stupidly cut for reasons I don't understand. Finn then makes one last effort to save The Resistance, the people he loves. Rose stops him. She takes one last chance to insult him and kiss him without his consent as the bunker is destroyed while The First Order prepares to kill what Finn loves....and people see this as love???

The racist undertones of how RIan Johnson wrote Finn. Finn is treated like a racist slapstick caricature. The first real problem for Finn. He is reduced to a slapstick joke in his very first scene. Finn awakens from his coma, slams his face and it is revealed that he isn’t even on the medical ship or even in the medbay on the Raddus...he is in the cargo hold and is made to be a joke. This is the Co-protagonist of the trilogy, and he’s reintroduced as a slapstick joke. Then once again he wants to runaway. I am getting a real racist vibe that Rian Johnson sees Finn as the cowardly black man troupe. That’s just downright disgusting. Moving on. Finn is paired with Rose Tico, honestly I want to like her, but bad writing prevents that. Finn is put with someone who abuses him and we are supposed to root for this and see it as romance? Let me explain. Finn is then tazed by Rose, which is understandable, she thought he was running away and she was in mourning. He also was objectively posing absolutely no threat to her, wasn’t running away, and was even trying to explain himself. Additionally, just the threat of the taser seemed to have been enough to stop him from leaving. But Rose attacked him anyways. The difference between Rey and Rose attacking Finn is Rey subdued Finn just enough to stop and interrogate him, Rose went completely overboard by paralyzing him and knocking him unconscious. It was completely unnecessary and gratuitous. Rey and Finn have a real friendship and partnership from the last movie. Rose, on the other hand, spends the rest of the movie belittling Finn and talking down to him. The book also says that she thought about using violence against him more than once after the tasing (for annoying her) and even pushed him. This displays a really problematic pattern of violence and disrespect towards Finn so yeah, multiple uses of violence and expressed desire to inflict violence on him as being abusive. I would argue that she is undeniably verbally abusive with Finn. In the movie and in the book (more so in the book) she often belittles him by calling him names and using other put downs. It seems she wants to make him feel bad about himself and bring him down, which is abusive. Of course, it doesn’t really matter what her intent is, even if she doesn’t “mean to be mean” it still counts as verbal abuse. So, in summary, her repeated threats and use of violence against Finn and her continual use of insults and put downs causes me to come to the conclusion that she is abusive to Finn. For the record I am not saying Rose Tico is abusive towards Finn, I am saying how Rian wrote Rose towards Finn is hostile for no reason whatsoever and could be interpreted as abusive and it’s downright tone deaf how the abuse and tazing is directed at the black man of the trilogy. Then Finn is made to fail. The only time he is allowed to be portrayed as a protagonist is him facing his abuser and taking her down. My only problem is they cut out Phasma’s better death scene. Finn reveals Phasma shut down the shields for Starkiller Base, and that gets the Stormtroopers to turn on Phasma. This is what I would hope starts a Stormtrooper Rebellion. Finn’s defection was withheld information by Hux and Phasma in fear of a full on rebellion. Humanizing Stormtroopers and having one become a hero is kind of genius, but the way they did it in Episode 7 made it seem like Finn was the ONLY good Stormtrooper, which has to be an impossibility. If one Stormtrooper can suddenly switch sides, what's to say that others couldn't? And since Episode IX will most likely see the fall of the First Order, I personally think that Finn should convince all (or most of) the Stormtroopers to turn against Kylo and Hux, leading to a cool final scene where the First Order is ultimately destroyed by their own henchmen, children who were abducted and indoctrinated take back their narrative. That would be cooler and more unique, I think, than another Resistance vs. First Order space shootout, or Rey and her possible Jedi apprentice army taking them down. The most insulting part of the movie is the last part. Finn’s suicide run. Finn was the best Stormtrooper and knows about The First Order’s weapons, he should know full well that speeder would be destroyed trying to destroy the mini death star. Finn’s attempted sacrifice was pointless, Finn was treated like garbage throughout the movie, he deserved better.

Finn was almost a big deal for the Resistance in the beginning. It is shown through cut material that Finn was in Cobalt Squadron uniform. If this was the case, there is something real simple they could’ve done. Have Finn be with Paige, have Paige and Finn have a short friendship(this actually gives Ngo Thanh Van speaking lines), Paige being in awe that Finn, someone who escaped The First Order helped The Resistance destroy Starkiller Base is working with him and she is more than happy to show him the ropes. They are co-pilots. Finn was able to save Paige from dying in space and instead she dies in his arms while leaving a bloody handprint on his heart, working as a callback to when Slip died in Finn’s arms and left a bloody handprint on his helmet and her last words being “tell my sister I love her. Finn brings the bad news to Rose and gives Rose Paige’s pendant. Rose breaks down and hugs Finn. Both Finn and Rose have a good relationship at this point and there is no pointless hostility. You could even have Finn and Rose together finding the hacker and having their plan succeed and just having DJ betray them as they make it to the escape pod. And Finn and Phasma do have their fight, but keep in the deleted Phasma death scene. Instead of that? Nothing and instead of that we get a conflicting and hostile relationship between Finn and Rose and Paige has no speaking lines.

Rian Johnson rejected any and every possible character arc for Finn. Rian squandered a proactive, clearly-defined character from TFA, trying to make him fit moment after moment because he had no real big-picture idea what to do with this guy. And in light of Rian presenting himself as a progressive voice, he deserves to be challenged on why he failed a complex, heroic black character so abysmally while giving clear focus and dignity to the white male villain of the piece. (And this isn’t to say I want Kylo Ren’s character development to be worse, it’s saying I want Finn’s to be better.) But he shouldn’t just have treated Finn with care and dignity because it would’ve been more “progressive” - he should’ve done it because it would’ve made a better MOVIE.

Finn is brought to a white man, put on his knees, and is slapped in the face by said white man who once commanded him. Why? No Answers

Rian Johnson had Finn and Rose arrested and locked in a prison cell. Him and Rose are the only characters to be arrested (as in, not kidnapped by evil regime) in the Skywalker saga. PLUS they were immediately electrocuted after being pointed out to the space cops.

Rian admitted not wanting Finn and Poe together because he can't see them as two separate characters(he can't see two men of color as two different characters, let that sink in) and because in his words they "got along too well" and Rose is only there to give Finn 'conflict" We were robbed of Finn and Poe being boyfriends. I love Rose Tico as a character, but I will always want Finn and Poe to be together, aside from the amazing chemistry Finn and Poe have together and John and Oscar have together, if we get to see a gay relationship portrayed in Star Wars, it will show boys and girls who are gay that nothing is wrong with you, you are perfect the way they are and the way they love is beautiful. Oscar Isaac fought to have Finn/Poe together, he encouraged the shippers that the relationship they want is valid and supports it. And I feel so bitter after finding out Finn and Poe were meant to have scenes together in Canto Bight but were separated because Rian Johnson said “those two were getting along too well and that would be boring” aka Disney doesn’t want gay characters in their cash cow. Despite Oscar’s fight, FInnpoe did not happen and it’s a damn shame.

Rian Johnson joked about keeping Finn in a coma

Rian had a scene written where Finn was too bumbling/confused to know how to put on a tuxedo. He also had a scene where he sees alien ass unconsensually.

Finn’s suicide run. Finn knows about the weapon during his time as a Stormtrooper, so he should know full well that speeder would be destroyed trying to destroy the mini death star. Finn’s attempted sacrifice was pointless as he knew that it wouldn’t work.

Rian has Rose explain to Finn, A CHILD SOLDIER, that war and child slavery are wrong. Surely you see the issue there.

Finn almost had memories of his upbringing, but Rian chose to cut it. "In the original scene, Rose’s story of her childhood was a bit tamer and Finn shared his backstory with her, revealing a further connection between the two characters – that they both had family members taken by the First Order. Most of the sequence was reshot."

Rose stopping Finn. “that’s how we win, not by fighting what we hate, by saving what we love.” That makes no sense and ignores the entire narrative of Star Wars and heroism of the saga. Paige, her sister sacrificed herself to save The Resistance. Holdo sacrificed herself to save The Resistance. The Rogue One crew sacrificed themselves. Kanan Jarrus sacrificed himself to save what he loved. Finn’s entire arc in the movie was learning not to just think about running away with Rey and fight for a greater cause and when the time comes for Finn to prove that he’s grown as a character, he can’t? What was the point of Finn’s arc in the movie? And let’s talk about Poe. Shouldn’t Poe be sacrificing himself? Poe has spent the entire film watching others die and give their lives and he’s never backed down, so shouldn’t Poe be in Finn’s place? And if Rose stopped Finn who would save The Resistance? We saw after Rose stopped Finn, the bunker was blown up by the battering ram. Absolutely NO ONE knew that Luke was going to make his surprise entrance and save everyone. For all we knew, The First Order would’ve moved into the bunker and killed everyone and The Resistance.

I am well aware that JJ Abrams did Finn no better, I even talked about it here. But let’s be honest, Rian didn’t know what to do with Finn and truly did him dirty.

This was really the easiest character arc for them to write. Indoctrinated Child Soldier turned Elite Soldier who after realizing what he was doing was wrong, wants to make things right, hunted by the FO for treason and because he knows too much, he slowly finds his path with the resistance and trains in the force with Rey and together they rise as the new Jedi, oh and Poe is his boyfriend.

It is my own personal headcanon that The force chooses Finn because he chose empathy for his fallen brother and chose to walk away from killing innocents.

Finn had potential to be one of the best characters we ever got in Star Wars. It’s been over 3 years since he was sidelined in the sequel trilogy and it still upsets me to this day. John really deserved better, to be marketed like this and then sidelined is just awful.

Finn in The Force Awakens: trooper number as call back to Leia, Awakening in the Force, & call to the hero’s journey/defending the symbolic hope of the Skywalker family is peak Star Wars & whatever was Abram’s original intent for Finn’s prominence in the ST; undone by studio interference because KK and China did not want a black lead.

Finn was the literal 1st face we saw when they teased The Force Awakens, it's clear he was supposed to lead the way for the future of Star Wars, criminal what they did to the character and god forbid a person of color saves the galaxy because some of ya’ll can't handle it

Finn was setup as the male lead and co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy. That’s not an opinion, that’s not a headcanon, that’s a literally fact. He was set up to be equal with Rey & Kylo’s foil and we all know why that changed.

At the start of the trilogy, we all thought people of color would have a prominent role in the new trilogy and there was a potential for the first LGBT relationship in Star Wars. But no, it’s clear that both TLJ and TROS gave us the impression that only white people can be Jedi and save the galaxy, people of color can only have secondary roles. And the blink and you miss it kiss? Only white women, not two men of color who clearly love each other.

Finn deserved to be a main character alongside Rey and Ben. He deserved a good character development, a great arc, an interesting backstory. he had the potential to become one of the most epic star wars characters. TLJ and TROS was an insult for him and he deserved better. nobody will EVER change my mind.

Finn should have been a Stormtrooper turned Jedi. It doesn’t matter that you think it tells a better story for him to not be a Jedi. “Finn being a hero who is not a Jedi is important.” Poe and Rose are great examples of ordinary heroes coming from nowhere. Rey was supposed to be a jedi related to Skywalker or Kenobi legacy while Finn was the perfect "nobody from nowhere" that becomes a Jedi. And honestly, Black kids deserved to see themselves in the Black Jedi and black kids deserved to see themselves as one of the three protagonists of the trilogy.

#Star Wars #Finn #Finnpoe #Finnrey #Reylo

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short-wooloo · 4 years

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Jedi Academy/New Jedi Order animated series

You know what I would really really like? To have Dave Filoni (all hail) create and work on a series animated like Clone Wars focusing on Rey’s new Jedi (and also retcon and fix ROS)

Just imagine: its set 10-20 years after ROS, Rey’s Order is small (100-200 memebers), but strong and growing, the primary point of the series will be the Jedi reestablishing themselves in the galaxy as a force for good, peace, and justice, this is complicated by various factions hoping to stomp out the nascent Jedi Order, mistrust, and the fact that after over 50 years of Jedi being gone, persecuted, or denying that they ever existed, the Galaxy is a bit unfamiliar and fearful of the Jedi

Now for characters

Of course, Rey will be a major character, but as this would be about the Jedi as a whole, she will not be the focus, Rey will be primarily training new Jedi, or off on missions, though of course there will be instances where the plot will focus on her,

Side note: this is just me letting my imagination run wild, but I’d like to imagine Rey’s outfit in this as something like Jocasta Nu’s, Shaak Ti’s or Master Fay’s (from Legends), long flowing and regal robes of white and grey embroidered with gold makrings (to match her lightsaber)

The main characters would be a group younglings, ranging from ages 12-16, perhaps one of them being an adoptive child of Rey, other stories would also focus on other, older students of Rey, who are now out and more active in the galaxy doing their work as Jedi (ideally I’d like Tenel Ka Djo, and Lowbacca to be among them)

Chewbacca, Maz, Beaumont Kin (because I love that we have this history nerd character in Star Wars and I want more of him), R2, and 3PO would be characters who work with and support the New Jedi Order, aiding in missions and helping care for the students

Other characters from the films such as Poe, Finn (I know that JJ says that he’s force sensitive but you can’t just not hint that at all in the last two movies then bring it up but not even confirm it in the final film, if you wanted Finn to have the force they should have done more to hint at it early on, Filoni should retcon it, or at the very least make Finn have the force but not be a Jedi), Zorii (because she’s cool but was wasted in ROS, and deserves a second chance, also because I’m a sucker for Rey x Zorii) etc, would show up, but as guest stars, this story is about the new Jedi (sidenote it should make StormPilot canon), other guests would be Mara Jade (MAKE HER CANON! YOU MISSED YOUR OPPORTUNITY IN REBELS FILONI!) who could be an aunt-like figure to Rey, (I think that would work, she was basically Palpatine’s adopted daughter in Legends) and could have a hinted-at history with Luke, speaking of farmboy, he would appear as a spirit along with Leia and other deceased Jedi (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, etc) as advisers to Rey and the new Jedi

As for villains we’ll have our usual star wars thugs, pirates, criminals and crime lords, but the Jedi will also have to deal with First Order remnants and warlords, some of whom having turned to more mystical means to combat the Jedi, working with Dark Jedi and other Darksiders, perhaps even some former students of Rey who went rogue or were sent to her academy as moles, now having returned to their backers in the First Order to begin training a First Order Jedi Corps

Now for our main villains, I have two, and I’d like to draw on cocnepts and ideas that were unused in movies (as is the Star Wars tradition), and Legends

Evidently one of the screenwriters for TFA had an idea for a character with a “fire and ice” motif, wielding a double-bladed Lightsaber with one blade red and the other blue, (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Double-bladed_lightsaber#Behind_the_scenes) I like that, and I’d like to take it further with some design ideas, lets say that as with the “fire and ice” theme, this character’s robes would be white and orange and wheres a featureless black mask over their face that appears as if its made of glass

Now as for backstory I want this villain to be and ex-student of Rey’s, who like Luke once did, has experienced visions of this student falling from to the Dark Side, unlike Luke, and demonstrating how she has learned from her Master’s mistakes, Rey works to the best of her ability to help her student resist the Dark Side, but unfortunately being unsuccessful, in this case compared to Luke and Anakin’s visions of doom, the thing Rey hoped to prevent happens in spite of her efforts to prevent it, not because of them

The other major villain I’d like is Lumiya, now she would naturally require a major rewrite of her origin as she would have to be very different from what she was in Legends, but I think she can still work, she’s a cool character with an awesome design and weapon that has not been explored much in canon

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zenniet · 5 years

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Waspinator going into heat and getting help from Rung? * dom rung is pretty hot*. eating the predacon out thourghly at first then fucking him. Maybe using sex toys Alot of praise kink too poor waspy needs it.

Just so yall know, I never watched beast wars and I only kind of remember waspinator from tfa and exrid

Check under the cut! you can request the continuation of this later if you’d like

“You are zzzzure about thiz?” Waspinator’s unsure voice buzzes our from behind his knees as he squeezed them together and laid back at the head of his berth. Rung’s slender digits gently held Waspinator’s kneecaps as the slim mech knelt and looked over to see shining purple optics tracking his every move.

“Of course, Waspinator,” He said, voice calm and soft, but it felt loud in the room that was empty save for the two of them. The predacon had never heard Rung’s voice be so loud. “I would love to help, as long as you are willing to accept it.”

Waspinator was silent for a moment. He had never seen Rung in a professional sense, but he had definitely spent enough time with him to consider them close to one another, and there was nobody else who Waspinator would trust more than him to help with his heat. After a short while, he nodded his helm, his antennae bobbing with the motion,

“Yez pleazzze,” He said, trying to match Rung’s gentle tone. The orange mech smiled softly and let one servo glide down the outside of Waspinator’s thigh. Slowly, Waspinator let his legs open for Rung to have access to his shut-but-leaking valve panel. Rung quickly lowered himself and let his servos cradle Waspinator’s hips as he ran his glossa along the seam of the panel. Waspinator let out a squeak that made Rung chuckle.

“Do you want to open up for me?” The question barely left Rung’s lips before the panel quickly slid aside. Another squeal came from the predacon as Rung immediately dove in, licking up along the oversensitive valve lips. He swirled his glossa along the pulsing anterior node at the peak of his valve, hips bucking sharply up in response.

“Pleeeeeazzze!” He cried out, valve dripping lubricant onto the berth. Rung slipped a single digit into the tight wet heat that was begging for something in it and Waspinator was already falling into his first overload. He thrashed on the berth and Rung held his hips down easily with his free hand. His vocalizer trilled and chirped and his optics flashed bright before he finally settled down. Rung drew his face away from Waspinator’s valve and sat back, licking his digits,

“Now,” He opened his subspace, “If you want more overloads, you’re going to have to ask just like that. Okay?” He pauses until Waspinator gives him an enthusiastic nod, only then does he pull out several toys of different sizes. One is a medium, ridged false spike, dark blue at the base and light towards the tip, it looked unlike something someone would find on a bot. The other one Rung focused on was just a small, silicone oval with a wired remote attached to it. The remainder of the toys remained off to the side in a little bundle.

“Since you are going through a heat, I think we should focus on you valve, primarily.” He picke dup the first, larger toy and rubbed its harsh ridges across Waspinator’s overly wet valve petals, making the bot whine and try to move his hips, only for Rung to hold them down again. Waspinator tilted his helm and looked at Rung with a puzzled expression.

“None of that, now. You get what I give you, when I decide to give it to you.”

Waspinator chirred but then fell silent. He knew that Rung was more experienced and knowledgeable than him, and it’d do him well to listen. Plus, Waspinator couldn’t deny the sharp pulse of want that coursed through him at the demand.

When Rung decided that the toy was slick enough, he lined it up and pushed its whole length into Waspinator’s valve. The predacon almost screamed with the intensity of his pleasure, the cruel ridges raking against all of his internal sensors. His frame went taut before relaxing and allowing Rung to continue, but instead, the slender mech smoothed a servo over Waspinator’s abdomen.

“So good,” He continued to pet him, “You’re doing well.”

Waspinator purred in response, spreading his legs even wider to give Rung even more access to his needy valve. The thick toy remained where it was while Rung handled the smaller one, resting his servo along Waspinator’s pelvic plating, save for his thumb that pressed and held the tiny toy against the predacon’s anterior node. Rung held the small remote in his other servo and twisted the little dial on it. The toy it was tethered to buzzed to life and vibrated against Waspinator’s sensitive node. He whined and his hips twitched, desperate to get away from the intense sensation, only for Rung to click his glossa and place his free servo on one of Waspinator’s hips to still him.

“Shhh,” Rung hushed him, but he continued to whine and writhe. The dial got turned down, just until Waspinator would stop squirming so much. Rung’s servo came to hold the base of the toy that was still lodged in his valve and he gave it a soft pull, freeing it halfway. Shortly, he pushed it back in until it was once again fully sheathed. Waspinator sobbed at that.

“Ruuuuung-” The predacon whined out, his clawed servos coming up to hold his own helm after deciding that he shouldn’t chance grabbing hold of the bot helping him.

Rung remained quiet, simply slowly fragging Waspinator with the overly-textured toy and massaging the vibrator against his node until he was overloading again, lubricant flooding out around the intrusion in his valve. His thighs shivered where they framed Rung’s body as he restrained them from shutting around the slender mech’s frame. His mouth fell open in a panting cry and his back arched off of the berth before finally settling back down.

Carefully, Rung turned off the vibrator and pulled the toy from Waspinator’s valve, setting them aside. He kneeled up to see Waspinator’s worn out frame.

“Get some rest,” His servo stroked down the predacon’s side, “I can come see if you need my help later, if you’d like.”

Waspinator could only nod.

#valveplug #waspinator #rung #maccadam #mtmte #rung/waspinator #heat #Anonymous

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onwardintolight · 5 years

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Canon Catchup

With TROS coming out soon, I’ve been doing a lot of catchup on canon material that I’ve missed, particularly that which I think will be most relevant either for the movie or for Resistance Reborn (which I finished yesterday and will talk more about below). I will avoid major spoilers, as excited as I may be about some of them, haha, but I wanted to write out a few of my thoughts here while they’re fairly fresh.

A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova and Galaxy’s Edge by Delilah Dawson—these don’t seem quite as relevant to TROS, but I read these two Galaxy’s Edge tie-in novels a few months ago and I thought I’d say a few words. I REALLY enjoyed the A Crash of Fate; it was such a lovely, heartwrenchingly beautiful story that reminded me a little of Lost Stars in the way that it focused in on a friendship/romance between two people who wouldn’t ever be main characters in the movies. The story was told primarily over the span of a single day, and wow did I not expect my heart to be pulled in so many different directions. Definitely one I will read again and again.

I’m not sure I’ll do the same with Galaxy’s Edge. It was a super fun read, with some great, Indiana Jones-like action sequences, and I’d recommend giving it a go especially if you’re planning on ever going to Galaxy’s Edge—but it also had a few seriously problematic elements that I just couldn’t overlook. For one, NO WAY is Leia going to force Vi to work closely with someone who tortured her, and speaking of torture, many black people have already commented on the problematic nature of the excessive violence Vi undergoes in this book.

TFA and TLJ Junior Novelizations by Michael Kogge—I wanted to get a refresher on these stories, and since I’d never read the junior versions, I decided to give them a try. Overall I enjoyed these quite a bit. The TFA one was way better imho than the adult novelization by Alan Dean Foster, and both had some really meaningful character moments. There was one Leia scene at the end of the TFA one that brought me to tears.

Aftermath: Life Debt and Aftermath: Empire’s End by Chuck Wendig—I’d originally read the Aftermath trilogy as each book was released, but with everything I was hearing about Resistance Reborn, AND with the return of Palpatine in TROS and the promise of finally figuring out what’s been going on in the Unknown Regions, I thought it was a perfect time to revisit it. I skipped the first one (my least favorite of the three, and also my copy is in a box somewhere from when we moved last and the library’s audiobook copies were checked out) and read a synopsis instead to refresh my memory, then dived straight into Life Debt. Both of these books were as good or better than I remember them. I enjoyed them the first time, but I enjoyed them even better this time around. I feel like they’ve gained even more significance now. My HanLeia shippy heart is happy with some of their scenes, and also I rediscovered that I absolutely adore and would probably die for Norra, Wedge, Jas, Sinjir, Temmin, and crew.

Spark of the Resistance by Justina Ireland—this was a super cute but ultimately rather forgettable junior novel. The best part about it was seeing Rey, Poe, and Rose interacting. I may revisit it sometime after TROS and see if my unexpectedly skyrocketing feels for these characters (see below) makes it better.

The Poe Dameron comic run—I’d previously read the first trade (Black Squadron), the third (Legend Lost), and maybe a tiny bit of the second (The Gathering Storm), and aside from a really poignant bit in Legend Lost I just didn’t find myself very invested. This time around, however, flipped that on its head. Trades 4 and 5 (Legend Found and The Spark and the Fire) completely did me in, and without warning, I found myself 100% invested in Black Squadron. Poe, Jess, Snap, Karé, Suralinda, and L’ulo have officially joined the Aftermath crew in my list of characters I would die for. I just want all my babies to be okay! There were numerous moments in those last two trades (including the AMAZING Annual #2, a must-read for HanLeia new canon fans) which made me cry. I’m not even joking. So good. Well done, Charles Soule.

Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse—Buckle up because I have a lot to say! I HIGHLY recommend reading the Aftermath trilogy, Bloodline, the Poe Dameron comics, and watching the Battlefront II campaign (which I talked about in another post) before reading this because HOLY MOLY. You won’t be lost if you don’t, but it will mean so much more to you if you do. Speaking of crying, I literally lost count of the moments that brought me to tears, and so many were significant because of how all the stories I mentioned and more have been so beautifully interconnected in this one. Wedge and Norra, Zay and Shriv, and so many others—each was given their due and it was amazing. One character’s surprise appearance had me practically on my knees with joy and heartbreak all at once, and I would say more but I’m really trying to keep that promise not spoil you, haha.

If the Poe Dameron comic weren’t enough to win me over, this book has officially cemented Poe as one of my favorite sequel trilogy characters. Tbh, I’ve had trouble feeling much of a deep connection with any of the sequel trilogy leads—I love them, sure, but not like Leia, Han and Luke, the trio I grew up with. I’ve wanted to love them more, I’ve wanted to be more invested in them, but it just hasn’t happened. I’m really glad I read this book before TROS, because I think this has changed that. I was definitely getting a few OT golden trio vibes with Rey, Finn, and of course, my Boi™ Poe—except they’re completely their own characters, and I’m really starting to love them for who they are.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book, it felt really meaningful, and I can’t wait to read it again.

That being said, when I finished it yesterday I felt a little bit disappointed, like it tasted a little bit bittersweet. I’m still trying to figure out why that is, but I think it may be down to three things:

1) Though there were a number of fantastic character reveals, there were some obvious people absent and I can’t help but wonder where they are. I hope they’re not dead. I hope TROS includes some of these characters, too. I hope we get the rest of their stories either way.

2) The book is way too short. Especially on the heels of the Aftermath trilogy, this feels like only the first act of at least three. The ending comes way too soon, just after it really seems to get going. This I don’t blame the author or the publishers for at all; they are very limited, after all, in what they can portray leading up to TROS. But it really left me longing for more. This book had such a wonderful focus on character, but in the end, I wanted to see the character arcs get even more resolved than they do here... but I guess they really couldn’t be, and that’s what TROS is for. I just hope the movie does it well! I need all these people to be okay <3

3) It doesn’t shy away from grief, struggle, and the mental cost of war. Honestly, that’s part of why I love it so much, but I think that’s also part of why it left me feeling a little melancholy. The Resistance is in such a seemingly hopeless place, and while things do get better over the course of the book, there’s still such a terribly long way to go.The First Order rains merciless terror on anyone or any planet who gives even the slightest hint of opposing them or of aiding the Resistance. The whole galaxy is afraid. Poe struggles deeply with guilt and with how to make up for the horrible mistakes he made in TLJ (this is not brushed off in the slightest, not by the book or by the characters in it, and I appreciate that). Rey is confused and still unsure of her place in things. Characters are faced with the fact that they will almost certainly die because of their choice to join the Resistance, and it’s heavy. And Leia. Oh, Leia. I am deeply grateful to Roanhorse for her very realistic portrayal of Leia as someone who has lost so incredibly much (most recently her husband and brother), most definitely has PTSD, and probably is dealing with a bit of depression. Leia is weary. Leia struggles to keep stepping forward, struggles to figure out the next step for those she leads. Leia struggles to keep hoping. The battle between hope and despair in the face of terrible loss and terrible odds is very much felt in this book. But as ever with Leia, hope always wins in the end. By the end of the book, you can still feel the struggle, but hope wins.

I think that because I personally relate so much to Leia, reading some of that was hard. Not because I feel like it’s contrary to who Leia is, but because I resonate with it so much and because it reminds me in a particularly strong way of some of the struggles I’ve dealt with that I’d like to forget. It’s no wonder that my heart felt heavy after I closed the book. But along with that, I also see how Leia perseveres, how she’s finally gotten to a place where she lets herself rely on and be comforted by others, and how she accomplishes the seemingly impossible just because she damned well refuses to give in to despair, no matter how tempting it may be. It reminds me that I, too, can accomplish incredible things despite all my struggles, despite the odds stacked against me.

Anyway, I highly recommend this book. Resistance Reborn hasn’t quite come up to the level of Bloodline or LPOA in my personal ranking, but with future rereads, it very well might someday.

This book—along with all of this reading—has put me even more on the edge of my seat for TROS than I was before, if that’s possible. I desperately want it to be the best ending possible for the Skywalker Saga and for all these characters who’ve become so beloved to me. I’m trying to temper my expectation—TFA still isn’t especially my jam, after all, and while overall I’m a fan of the ST (the TROS trailers made me cry, for goodness sakes), I have a somewhat complicated relationship with it in general—but goddammit, I’m hoping anyway. There’s so much beautiful setup in the new canon EU, such a deliberate focus on character, and so many hints that this might reach through the whole saga and bring together something bigger than we can imagine.

I’m hoping anyway.

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boxoftheskyking · 6 years

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I’m talking more about star wars

and the Young Heroes primarily

The thing about a space opera

Is that they tend to be pretty straight up, thematically. And so when you’re writing that story you have to be pretty focused on your central questions.

So the way I see it is that all 4 of our Young Heroes (is Rose our Lando?) are grappling with their heroic ideal and the fact that every manifestation of that is flawed in some way and they need to accept a more complex type of heroism.

It’s the Darkest Hour, so it’s a lot of folks staring down the end times and trying a bunch of hail Mary shit to see what will stick.

So, Poe. The Poe in TLJ is not 100% the one I expected from TFA, but we get a lot more of him in this film and also I spent so long reading and writing fan versions that it made me go “oh, okay.” Which I’m fine with, because it’s not not consistent with the first film.

But anyway, my dear daredevil duck is raised on rebel songs (they always die in the rebel songs) and starts this trilogy on a black ops spy mission that he assumes will lead to his death as soon as he is captured. He’s been willing to die for the cause since day one, and as a commander has seen so many good people go into the black on his orders, that it has to become almost normal. The entire Republic—which he used to defend—is exploded. So it’s not that he doesn’t care about orders or about the lives of his pilots, it’s that he thinks he should have died years ago and is grabbing on to the one thing he can do, thinking if he just pushes far enough, hard enough, daring enough, close enough, it will be . . . well, enough.

So his lesson is to live for a cause. Holdo—not Leia—is his teacher in this, and she shows him a type of self-sacrifice that’s very different from his desperate racing headfirst into the fray. And he succeeds at his challenge at the end!

Finn, dear lovely egg, found his heroism in TFA through his love for other people. In the first order, of course, it’s all about the larger cause and personal attachments are forbidden. So of course his huge revelation is finding that connection with Poe and then, massively, with Rey. And discovering selfishness, too, for the first time, making decisions based on what he wants to do, and then discovering that what he wants to do is save the people he’s come to love. So his “desertion” of course is based on his new life philosophy: Fuck the Cause, Save what you Love. And at the moment, the most vulnerable of his loves is Rey.

So of course, obviously, his challenge is reconcile his love for individuals and individuality (still such a new thing!) with committing to a cause that serves those values. Which Rose helped with

Rose, whose beloved sister died in combat, whose grief and history of trauma makes it hard for her to compromise. Who shares a similar attitude to Poe in terms of self-sacrifice and commitment to the cause and ends up preventing Finn from committing the act she held up in their first meeting as the ultimate heroism.

I mean her arc is pretty easy to track.

And then sweet baby angel Rey. Her core goodness is So Strong and unwavering, even as she dives into the dark and faces the harsh truths about her origins, that she genuinely doesn’t see what Luke’s issue is. She knows she’s not going dark side. It was never on the table. Of course Luke has good reasons to be worried, but she just . . . it’s not gonna happen.

And so for her, who is not worried about “becoming Vader” or whatever Luke thinks she’s dealing with, heroism is Luke’s forgiveness of his father and his allowing for Vader’s redemption. Which is a great story and one of my fave things about the original trilogy! So taking that example, of course she’s like “knowing that Vader had the capacity to change, wouldn’t that have been a great thing . . . like . . . three films ago? Like before Alderaan?”

And my plucky little stickbug decides to DO IT HERSELF bc you can’t wait around for people to help you or give you permission on Jaaku, no sir. And she is so disappointed in Kylo (though not shocked, as she’s been burned so many times before), because she is a Good Person with a Good and True Heart and it is really hard to understand Assholes when that’s your frame of reference. She was sold by her own parents, tricked, cheated, and abandoned by everyone she thought was a friend, and then told by Luke that she was a potential Bad Guy . . . and still, she’s the fuzzy blanket that fixes a baby droid’s antenna in the middle of the desert.

So her challenge is, of course, giving up on the redemption story. Not “giving up” in a bad or nihilistic way. But saying “you know what, I did my best” (which is 1000x more than anyone else would do) “and it just didn’t work out. So fuck that guy, let’s burn him to the ground.”

But the clear and bright and glorious inner heart of her is not changed. She’s been let down again, but only by some jackass. And especially now, she has Shining Sunshine Finn back, Older&Wiser Poe now is officially on her Friend List, and she’ll eventually connect with Rose who will show her the Strength of Community

and then they’ll do such a good job and I’m proud of all of them

#star wars spoilers #sorry this is all really obvious and not very smart but i felt the need to type it out

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fallintosanity · 4 years

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Re: our conversation in the comments of your fic, I’m imagining someone innocently remarking that Cloud is good with kids, and instead of it being the intended compliment it goes down like a lead balloon. 😂 (or maybe Kunsel overhears it and swoops in like no no no, ixney on the idskay lol)

Oh man, it’s a good thing there aren’t any kids around to spur this particular discussion! (Except Yuffie, but Cloud’s interactions with the spitfire Treasure Princess aren’t going to qualify XD)

It just occurred to me though, I’m not sure even Kunsel knows about Denzel. It’s unclear just how much Cloud tells him during TFA, but it seems to be primarily focused on what canon Sephiroth/Hojo/ShinRa did, and the narration says Cloud “skirted around his personal experiences”. So even Kunsel might be caught off-guard by Cloud’s reaction to such a comment.

Maybe that’s what Cloud needs now, along with a new motorcycle to work on - a new kid to adopt? Then again, trying to replace Denzel and Marlene might not be a good idea. That’s the hardest part, I think, about his situation in TFA/Providence - he left so much behind, and can’t ever get it back. In many ways it’s like his original family died. Even though he knows they're still alive and fine in his original timeline, to Cloud in this timeline they’re gone, and the only thing he can do is mourn them. :c

#sanity replies #sanity's final fantasy crossover fic #r3zuri

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dalekofchaos · 6 years

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My Problems with the sequel trilogy

I do love The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any problems with it.

There is no background, motivation or an endgame for The First Order or a reason why we should care about the war. Biggest mistake of the sequel trilogy is not explaining The First Order or giving them motivation. The Empire’s goals were order, security and control. The First Order’s motivation in the movies are nonexistent. I came up with my own First Order motivation. And honestly I don’t see why we should even care about the war. The New Republic didn’t even care enough to take the threat seriously. 7 planets destroyed and The New Republic is just gone? What? That’s like saying America was no more after 9/11 and terrorists became the new world power. You’re seriously telling me the rest of the worlds of the Republic are not motivated enough to join forces with The Resistance? The First Order is not the Empire, they are a terrorist like organization, they should not be the strongest power in the galaxy. Hell, there isn’t even a name for this war. We had The Clone Wars and The Galactic Civil War, but the world building for the sequel trilogy is so bad that there isn’t even a name for this war. As for The Resistance. They were almost destroyed and there are less than 50 members of the Resistance left alive...and they are celebrating like they just won the war. Why should I care when no one else does?

There is no originality in this war. Everything is just a copy of The Empire and The Rebel Alliance. Say what you want about The Prequels. It was original and creative. We had a war that isn’t just a copy and paste of the Galactic Civil War. There was no planet destroying weapon, the Death Star was being built, but that’s it. There was creativity in The Clone Wars and it really worked. In The Sequel Trilogy, there’s a just a bigger Death Star and a mini Death Star. Really? And while I can understand that there is an Imperial remnant, I don’t understand why with The Resistance. For some reason they are redoing the Rebel Alliance instead of having the New Republic fight the First Order. It really felt like it undermined what Han, Luke and Leia were fighting for.

The complete lack of marketing for Finn, Poe and Rose. The marketing of TLJ is 100% focused on Rey and Kylo Ren...that is a problem. Focusing on your white heroine and white villain, while your POC protagonists is barely featured in your marketing. JJ Abrams fought for a diverse Star Wars cast, and that diverse cast are not featured in marketing and are given the shaft in the story.

Billie Lourd is wasted in this trilogy. Billie Lourd has displayed in Scream Queens and American Horror Story that she is a talented and wonderful actress. In the sequel trilogy she is a background character in The Resistance. Billie should have been Leia’s daughter and Ben’s sister. I like her name, but honestly Billie’s character should have been Breha Solo. The only survivor of Luke’s academy as Ben could not kill his sister, the only part of his past he could not kill. Breha would run to her mother and hide herself away, so her brother and Snoke could never find her. It’s only when Rey awakens and gives a hint that there is hope for her brother that Breha finally reveals herself to bring her brother home.

The lack of empathy and care for Finn in TLJ. He is constantly belittled and mocked throughout the movie. In The Force Awakens, Finn fights Kylo Ren. He does well, but is ultimately defeated. He is slashed in the shoulder and the spine by Kylo Ren and falls into the snow, unconscious. Rey continues the fight and slashes Ren across the face, leaving him with a gash. The characters all escape, but Finn has to be carried to a medical station, unconscious until TLJ. Kylo Ren seems fine, ultimately jumping in a TIE fighter to try and kill his mom before getting patched up further. Finn, again, has to wake up before doing anything. Here’s the difference between Finn and Kylo’s injuries. Finn awakens in a medical bed wearing a bacta suit. His first instinct is to call out for Rey. As he jolts up, he slams his head against the medical container. He slams against it again. Regaining awareness, he opens up the medical container to find himself alone in a cargo room. He falls out of the bed, spraying medical fluids all over the place. He trudges down the hallway until Poe and BB-8 find him. His injuries are never mentioned, shown, or even referenced again. Kylo, on the other hand, is asked by Snoke how his wound is, to which he responds “it’s nothing.” He then takes that ridiculous thing off, complete with a close-up of a sad kylo Ren face, with his sutures framed to draw attention to them. This happens again in the elevator. Then we get a scene of him getting patched up soberly by a medical droid. Then we get a shirtless scene as a final showcase of his other two scars. Throughout the film, Kylo’s scars are present and framed as a constant reminder that he went through pain. Finn's injuries are used as a joke once and promptly forgotten, and let's not pretend that these injuries are one-to-one aside from how they're framed. Remember Finn received injuries trying to protect Rey, while Kylo received injuries trying to murder Rey. Finn received a deep wound across his spine, which can often be fatal in the real world. Kylo received a gash across his face. Finn's injuries were worse and nobly gained. Kylo’s injuries were comparatively tame and well deserved. Yet the movie uses Finn's pain as a joke, and Kylo’s pain as a humanizing factor. That Rey, as well as the director, cinematographer, and a considerable portion of the audience sees a scar and is willing to find sympathy with the person, no matter what they have done, is pretty reprehensible. Not only is Kylo Ren's scar not enough to be considerably a change to his appearance, as Rian Johnson specifically modified the location of his scar because, “it looked goofy,” the scar is not the mark of an accident or from an assault, but rather from a failed assault on his part. Also, I could get into how messed up it is that scars that don't fit Rian Johnson's preferred model are considered goofy. Is a scar that isn't kept to one side of the face not worth showing? Is a person with a scar you don't personally like somehow less able to be taken seriously? By treating Kylo’s minor wounds as a big, life-changing deal, and treating Finn’s life-threatening wounds as a trivial matter of no more consequence than a joke, The Last Jedi reinforces century-old stereotypes about Black people. Specifically, it implies that Black people are somehow less affected by pain, have higher pain tolerances, or cannot be physically damaged the way White people can. This is a demonstrated, dangerous trend, where white people actually perceive Black people as experiencing less pain than White people under the same situations. Older textbooks, including some used as recently as late 2017, suggest Black people over-report the pain that they are experiencing. Doctors have declined to give painkillers to Black patients expressing the same level of discomfort that would grant a White patients the same painkillers, and some surgeons even believe that less anesthesia is needed for operations on Black people. This, of course, goes beyond the medical field, where Black people are not believed when they speak about suffering, and are expected to take more physical abuse than their White counterparts. However as the injuries are framed in a medical setting in this movie, I wanted to primarily address the medical bias as in the real world. This has been referred to as an empathy gap. When two people are hurt, with everything except the skin colour being the same, and White people feel worse for the hurt White person, there is a gap in empathy. Now, when the conditions are not the same, and the White person deserves to be hurt, and is hurt much less, and is still empathized with more, and the White man's acts of attempted murder are framed as romance, while the Black man's friendship is framed as harassment. Let’s also talk about Finn’s treatment. He's placed alone in a room filled with cargo, without any monitoring. It's almost like the medical staff doesn't even deem his injury serious enough to receive attention. He's not on the medical ship, which we know they have. He's not even in the Raddus’s Medical Bay, which, again, we know they have. Finn is isolated, left unattended, injures himself, and stumbles out into the hallway without any assistance. All for a joke. Finn's injury should have been treated with respect and acknowledgement. A scene with the doctors examining his injuries, telling Finn he is medically clear to join The Resistance and Finn sorrowed by his inability to help his friends, would have been light-years better than a scene where Kylo looks sad getting hurt while trying to kill people.

Finn who is meant to be one of the protagonists is made to be a side character and the comic relief in the trilogy. Finn’s character arc from The Force Awakens was dropped completely in The Last Jedi. He does want Rey to be safe, but Finn just wants to run away, despite the fact that he learned to be courageous, face his fears and stay and fight at the end of TFA. The First Order kidnapped Finn as a child, from his family(possibly killed his family) he was able to leave The First Order and resist the indoctrination. He no longer wanted to fight, he wanted to leave everything, he wanted Rey to come with him. When Rey was captured, Finn had something to fight for and when Kylo Ren pushed her. Finn finally stood up to his past and The First Order. He overcame his fear. So Finn should have been wanting to fight The First Order and become a big deal in The Resistance, we could have even seen Finn inspiring a Stormtrooper rebellion against Phasma and The First Order. Finn just wanting to leave is just bad writing and backtracks his entire character arc from TFA. Finn is the first Stormtrooper to show a real personality, child soldier, who risked his life to find his own freedom and save the known galaxy and ended up in a coma for it. Finn was meant to be a main character, instead he is a supporting character to Rose. Forced to be embarrassed and pointless. He already learned about being brave and truthful. What happened about his past? His brothers and sisters? The family he’ll never know? Why does he share close to no scenes with Rey and Poe? Why does he get nothing to do? Finn was the FO’s best Stormtrooper to the point where he was considered Captain material and because of this Finn would recognize the Hyperspace tracker. Finn also has an almost perfect photographic memory due to being able to memorize the layout of both Starkiller base and the Supremacy with extreme accuracy. Kylo Ren had been impressed with Finn‘s capabilities during their lightsaber duel on Starkiller to the point Kylo had to tap deeper into the dark side to beat Finn. Finn is one of the most compelling protagonists of the franchise, right along with Ahsoka and Luke, because while he is the most dangerous to both sides of the war due to his skills and knowledge, he actively tries to save lives instead of end them. Finn’s upbringing left no room for love. He was stolen away from his family before he could even make memories of them. He tried to dedicate himself to the the First Order, but couldn’t. Finn chose to leave the only life he had known because he couldn’t let even one innocent life be senselessly killed. Finn deserves to be known as one of the Sequel Trilogy’s main heroes and not shoved to the sides.

Rose’s treatment of Finn. I desperately want to love Rose. Rose is a wonderful character held back by bad writing. Finn is put with someone who abuses him and we are supposed to root for this and see it as romance? Let me explain. Finn is then tazed by Rose, which is understandable, she thought he was running away and she was in mourning. He also was objectively posing absolutely no threat to her, wasn’t running away, and was even trying to explain himself. Additionally, just the threat of the taser seemed to have been enough to stop him from leaving. But Rose attacked him anyways. The difference between Rey and Rose attacking Finn is Rey subdued Finn just enough to stop and interrogate him, Rose went completely overboard by paralyzing him and knocking him unconscious. It was completely unnecessary and gratuitous. Rey and Finn have a real friendship and partnership from the last movie. Rose, on the other hand, spends the rest of the movie belittling Finn and talking down to him. The book also says that she thought about using violence against him more than once after the tasing (for annoying her) and even pushed him. This displays a really problematic pattern of violence and disrespect towards Finn so yeah, multiple uses of violence and expressed desire to inflict violence on him as being abusive. I would argue that she is undeniably verbally abusive with Finn. In the movie and in the book (more so in the book) she often belittles him by calling him names and using other put downs. It seems she wants to make him feel bad about himself and bring him down, which is abusive. Of course, it doesn’t really matter what her intent is, even if she doesn’t “mean to be mean” it still counts as verbal abuse. So, in summary, her repeated threats and use of violence against Finn and her continual use of insults and put downs causes me to come to the conclusion that she is abusive to Finn. Then Finn is made to fail. The only time he is allowed to be portrayed has the protagonist is him facing his abuser and taking him down. The most insulting part of the movie is the last part. Finn’s suicide run. Finn was the best Stormtrooper and knows about The First Order’s weapons, he should know full well that speeder would be destroyed trying to destroy the mini death star. Finn’s attempted sacrifice was pointless, Finn was treated like garbage throughout the movie, he deserved better.

Poe was changed in between movies for no reason. Poe started out as the most levelheaded, compassionate and trusted soldier in the entire Resistance, so trusted that he was given the mission to find the map to Luke Skywalker and leading the strike force to destroy Starkiller Base, why is it that he is suddenly a hot headed fly boy who ignores orders and is getting no respect from his commanding officers? The character change for Poe Dameron was unnecessary and so out of place. Poe before TLJ would not be okay with sacrificing lives to stop one ship that can be easily replaced. In all source material and the last movie he refused to let anyone die. Not even Finn, a man who was an enemy an hour before they met formally, even though Poe shot his squad mate before during the fight on Jakku. Everything about Poe’s portrayal in TLJ is so unnecessary. Poe Dameron went from a caring and experienced rebel pilot to an arrogant, hotheaded latino stereotype in the span of like…a day. That’s not subversive writing, that’s racist and bad writing. I just don’t understand why no one even tells Poe the plan. Poe is a respected and highly trained, top ranking rebel fighter, who had been covert enough to execute a highly delicate and secret mission to retrieve the Map to Luke Skywalker, responsible for destroying Starkiller base and the biggest asset to the resistance and biggest threat to the first order, anything about the plan? He’s literally a war hero and is more than likely only second to Leia. And honestly? Holdo didn’t just leave Poe in the dark, she left the entire Resistance in the dark. When Holdo meets Poe, she then proceeds to dress Poe down just for asking for his orders and the plan. Keep in mind that Poe isn’t just some grunt. Even with his demotion, he’s your second or third in command, and he has the respect of the entire crew, as evidenced by his later leading a majority of the crew in mutiny against Holdo. Holdo brought her personal crew from her ship and worked with them while snubbing the main rebel crew entirely. That’s a bit of a dick move, protocol or not. One of the biggest issues was not that Holdo wasn’t telling Poe the plan, but it was acting as if there was really no other plan. She was literally taking personal jabs at him when he was trying to find something out. If she said something like. “While it seems bad , we are working on a plan right now. We are not just going to stay here and have everyone die. Just have your pilots ready to go at a moment’s notice” But she didn’t even give him that. Remember up until Poe taking over, they were watching ship after ship being picked off slowly. The crew was given nothing and was told just to trust her. Blind faith in leadership is a horrible message. If that is the take away then why not just do what the First Order or the Empire wants. I mean seemingly they are in charge of stuff now. And we should follow orders blindly. Moreover they were down to < 1000 people, and from the POV of everyone else she was just watching people die. Rank be jammed. Anyone who cared about their crew would do something. He was a Commander and the flight commander there is NO way he should have been left out in the cold. Then I like how they talk about his spunk over his knocked-out body. How Poe was treated in TLJ was absolutely atrocious and a complete insult to Oscar Isaac, Poe deserves better.

Rey has no character arc in TLJ. Rey doesn’t learn anything and I don’t feel like she has a character arc or journey. She starts her journey in TFA and I was excited to learn where her character would go. And TLJ does nothing with Rey. I do love Rey, but I don’t feel like it truly tests Rey and forces her to grow as a character. Rey is intriguing and we care for her, but her journey feels non existent. Luke and Anakin had struggles and journeys. I just don’t feel it from Rey. I am really disappointed with how TLJ handles Rey. Rey doesn’t have any struggles. Rey is all powerful and she is the same character she is from TFA. Everything TFA was building her up was instantly ignored. How Maz got the Skywalker lightsaber? Never mentioned again. How Rey was drawn to the Skywalker lightsaber and what the force vision was meant to mean? Never addressed. Rey says that she’s classified information, “none of your business” Then her parents are revealed as junk traitors who sold her for drinking money and died in Jakku. If her parents were just junkers, how did they afford that space ship if they spent the money on booze? Also the best theory I thought was gonna happen is that Rey has ties to the Empire or at the very least because of the novels it is stated that Palpatine had secret labs on Jakku and the Empire was invested in Jakku, hell it’s last stand WAS on Jakku. Rey herself told BB-8 she was classified information. All that build up for nothing. The force can come from anyone, we all feel it but you build Rey up only to do nothing with her. I’m not upset that Rey is a nobody, I’m just upset that what TFA was building up for Rey was dropped entirely. My big issue with how TLJ handles Rey, is she does not learn anything. She was awakened by Kylo’s mind melding, but after that nothing. She doesn’t learn anything from Luke and she feels like the same character in The Force Awakens. We see Luke showing Rey to feel the force and the Jedi’s hubris. The third lesson was deleted, but we did not really get to see Luke train her as a Jedi. Rey doesn’t learn anything. In the end we see Rey has the sacred Jedi texts, but Yoda pointed out that those texts were holding back the Jedi and the Jedi Order needs to be reborn So really, Rey does not learn anything.

The romanticisation of Reylo. Reylo is a toxic and abusive relationship. Their interactions make me uncomfortable and all their interactions reminds me of is every emotionally abusive relationship I’ve witnessed in real life and in fiction. Kylo has manipulated, mind tortured(Rey admitted she was tortured in the canon comics and no torture is not sexual tension) murdered her father figure right in front of him and mocked her about it “Han Solo can’t save you now” threw her into a tree, sliced Finn’s spine and put him in a coma, when Rey refused to let him become her teacher he tried to kill her. Throughout there force bond sessions it was a means to manipulate Rey so he can find Luke Skywalker. Gaslighted Rey about his past with Luke and shattered her faith in Luke. Used Rey as a pawn to kill Luke, tries to get her to join her and rule The First Order together, then tries to emotionally break her resolve by attempting to destroy her self identity by making her think she is nothing, and then when that doesn’t work he tries to kill her and blames his killing of Snoke, on her. Kylo assumes control over the First Order as it’s new leader, asserts his dominance over Hux and makes him submit, leads an attack against the Resistance, again, tells the soldiers to take no survivors, orders the Falcon to be shot down, and ends up being the cause of his own uncle’s death because said uncle had to sacrifice himself to prevent Kylo from killing more people. Kylo has sworn to kill Rey, her friends and The Resistance. Han and Rey have given him second chances and every time he has chosen the dark side over bettering himself as a person. He choose his path as a villain, he has shown no remorse for his actions, he did for Han, but everything else he’s shown no remorse and has chosen The First Order every time. Their interactions is meant to be antagonistic, not romanticized.

Kylo Ren is downgraded from his amazing character in the Force Awakens. Everything about Kylo Ren in TFA is amazing. Kylo Ren was a well-rounded antagonist that broke the clichés of most of modern villains. Kylo Ren was a complex and layered character who wasn’t glorified or idealized for his morally wrong actions, so powerful in both the force and with his lightsaber. A hint that the lost child was still in there, but still chose to kill his father to reject redemption and chose to be who he was by choice regardless of his positive upbringing. Kylo Ren is exactly the right villain to succeed Darth Vader in this new trilogy despite not being a Sith. Had Chewbacca not have shot Kylo, I don’t think Rey or Finn would’ve made it out of Starkiller Base alive. My problems with Ben in TLJ is he is downgraded to the great character he was in TFA in TLJ. In TFA there was already a moral ambiguity with his character, but it was subtle. It was made in your face that he was sympathetic in TLJ. An interesting antagonist/villain isn’t a mustache twirling generic character that does things for no reason. Villains are meant to be the antagonist. We are meant to disagree with their actions and understand the flaws in them, to have a villain/antagonist who not only acknowledges what they are doing is wrong, but feels guilt about it. This is something that is extremely difficult for a writer to convey believably. Most of the time a director/writer will go out of their way to make their antagonist/villain sympathetic at the cost of the overall story. They only want the audience to relate to the antagonist/villain so they only put emphasis on that character’s sympathetic traits and ignore their negative ones. Ben has to earn his redemption, he doesn’t need it to given on a silver platter. His whole personality changed. While Han’s death would be enough, it just doesn’t work. In TFA his goal was finding and killing Luke Skywalker. In this movie I just don’t even know what his end game or motivation is. He went from this powerful dark side warrior and in TLJ he was downgraded and made weaker. And of course he is made into a meme cause of the shirtless scene. His bond with Rey was really the only good thing about his character arc in TLJ. The problem is everything they went through together was undone. And my issue is with how Ben doesn’t explain why he killed Han. He doesn’t explain to Rey that he killed Han because he felt like he was being torn apart by the light and dark sides of the force and he thought killing Han would help him, but all it did was make it worse. There is no scene with Ben and his mother. They never once interact. Ben shows absolute no desire to save his mother despite everything him and Rey been through. He could have shed a tear that he believed that he killed his mother and Rey tells him Leia is alive and that all convinces Ben to help Rey save the fleet and save his mother. The sad thing is they will never get to interact because of Carrie’s passing. At the end of TFA Snoke said he was going to finish Kylo Ren’s training but no training is given to him. It doesn’t add up that Snoke does not train Ben. Snoke said that he would complete Kylo’s training when he told Hux to bring Kylo Ren to him at the end of TFA. Yes, he did fail him and he sensed his father in him, but I really thought we’d see Snoke sending Kylo to Vader’s castle on Mustafar to allow the dark side energies in the castle and what remains of Vader to strengthen the dark side within him to snuff out the light. Killing Han broke his spirit, but he could use the castle to complete Kylo Ren’s training. Then we would see Snoke personally train Kylo himself. Snoke begins by telling Kylo the Sith code ” Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.” teaching him the ways of the dark side, using torture and force lightning to draw Kylo’s rage to bring out his full potential in the dark side of the force. We needed to see Sith training. We never once got to see it, so we needed to see it with Snoke and Kylo Ren. You could still have Ben and Rey’s force bond and their closeness, and the throne room fight, but not even displaying their powers is what cheapens the fight. Kylo Ren is powerful enough to freeze a blaster and a person in place and Rey herself unlocked Kylo’s powers, so the two of them could have easily ended the fight sooner than it was dragged out. Ben is powerful in the force but he SERIOUSLY could not stop a Praetorian Guard choke holding him and Rey struggled with a guard? Rey and Kylo were stronger in TFA and are just made weaker in the duel with the Praetorian Guards. Kylo could have frozen half of the guards and Rey could have mind tricked the other half into killing the frozen guards and Ben and Rey could have finished them. They are masters of light and darkness, but they are made weaker. As for their final scene together. Ben’s proposal still stays, but it makes no sense for Ben to say “you are nobody, you have no place in this story.” it makes no sense because Ben told Rey in TFA in their duel “it is you.” the scene just makes no sense. Kylo Ren doesn’t even have a clear motivation. He wants to kill Luke because he thought he wanted to kill him. There’s no reason why he killed the other Jedi, there’s no reason why he joined The First Order, What did he hope to accomplish by joining the First Order? It’s never even explained why he has Vader’s mask. He never explains why he killed Han or why he even wants to destroy The Resistance. He says “let the past die” yet continues to lead the First Order in the same direction that Snoke did. Snoke wanted the Resistance dead, so why take up his mission? He spent the duration of the movie as the most calm and collected and even most Jedi like character throughout the movie, but by the end he turns into a screaming lunatic again by the end. There is no motivation for why Ben is doing anything. He acts how the plot needs him to act and that’s it. Vader wanted to crush the Rebellion and turn Luke to the dark side. With Kylo Ren I just don’t understand, turn Rey and start a new order? He knows full well Rey doesn’t want anything to do with that, if that’s his plan, it’s a bad one. And if he doesn’t have one it hurts him as a villain. it’s not like he’s Michael Myers or The Joker where it works for them. But with Kylo Ren it just hurts him and the story and hurts the potential of The First Order. There is no motivation or a clear endgame for Kylo Ren or anyone in The First Order, if Ben is to be redeemed, great but that just makes his path as a villain bad since he has no motivation or endgame. and that just hurts Kylo Ren/Ben Solo as a character.

Supreme Leader Snoke is wasted and there is no reason to care now that the villain you’ve been building your trilogy around is dead. Snoke’s death was too soon. Snoke is a dark side user. Calm and collected. Old enough to see the rise and fall of the empire. He takes no risks and does what it takes to win. He was different from Palpatine and I dare say he even had potential to rival Kreia. He was a mastermind and did not allow himself to be a slave to the dark side. He did not want his apprentice to die like the Sith masters of old. He did not want to keep power until his dying breath. Snoke was not the average Sith Lord, he was different. He was respectful, he was very powerful, and watching his scenes, even when faced with failure, he remained calm and collected because he was playing the long game and was not a slave to the Darkside like the Sith. He was invested in turning Kylo Ren into Vader’s heir and even has a ring from the catacombs of Vader’s castle. Snoke was so interesting, so many unanswered questions and this well thought out villain. And then TLJ turned him into a dumbed down Palpatine rip off. The claim that Snoke and his backstory is not important is dumb, considering that we know nothing on why this war is even happening or even why The First Order is doing ANYTHING! We want to know who Snoke is because we want to know how this random evil guy was able to destroy the lives of the entire original trio, corrupted Ben Solo and override the happy ending the entire original trilogy and prequels were fighting for. The struggles of the prequels, the clone wars, rebels, original trilogy, all of these stories and struggles were undone because of Snoke, so of course we have questions. Why do the remnants of the Empire follow Snoke and where did he come from? Not wanting to know the motivation of the villains is just plain ignorant. They completely wasted Snoke. Snoke is a power from the unknown regions. He was SO powerful that Palpatine sensed him, Palpatine was so focused and invested in Jakku in hopes of getting closer to the Unknown regions and he wanted to meet what he believed was the source of the dark side of the force. And they just kill him off so easy? Now there is no reason to care. Kylo Ren is not an intimidating villain and it’s pretty obvious he’s turning to the light in Episode IX. Hux is a bumbling incompetent fool and I’m pretty sure they already confirmed he will be more comedic in Episode IX instead of being a threat. There is a villain problem for the Sequel Trilogy. There is no menace in The First Order anymore and I really feel there is no reason to care. The only possible way The First Order will be an actual threat to the Galaxy is if Rae Sloane usurps Kylo Ren. Problem is, that would actually make the First Order a legitimate threat, and Disney could never allow that.

Paige Tico and Tallie Lintra were pointlessly killed off. Okay if you are a casual fan and have no knowledge of who these new characters are in TLJ, then you would have no idea who Paige is and why Rose is crying until you see their twin pendants. And the way they went about her death was just bad. There was no need for so many bombs, Y-Wings would be enough. Why do they need that many bombs to blow up the shield generator of a Star Destroyer when X-Wings in episode six could destroy that with their normal lasers with enough sustained fire power. Killing Paige without establishing who she is or why she is important to Rose is just god awful. You establish characters and connections they might have before killing them or it’ll lose all the impact. What could have been done after destroying the Star Destroyer. Paige escapes and rejoins the fleet. We get a touching scene of Rose and Paige reuniting. We also get to see Paige mourn for the losses of her squad members. We see a love/hate relationship with Poe, but eventually Paige trusts Poe and sees him as a leader. While Finn and Rose go to Canto Bight, Paige and Poe work together on the Raddus. And if Paige has to die, then show her sacrifice herself to stop the canon. There you go, we have a tragic death that is just as emotional and you get to see why she is important and instead of being killed off so early we get to know her and her relationship with Rose and her death is not wasted potential. And Tallie, I did not know much about the new character, hell I didn’t even know her name until I played Battlefront II. But I loved this pilot. I loved how good she was and I wanted more of her and god killing her off was pointless. What’s the point of introducing these unique Resistance fighters if only to kill them off?

Canto Bight and the plan to disable the Hyperdrive tracker was ultimately pointless. Canto Bight works, what doesn’t work is DJ and having the plan fail. They are specifically looking for THE master codebreaker and they just happen to find someone else who has the same skills? And honestly what ruins Canto Bight for me is the fact that neither Finn or Rose cared enough to park legally, it’s pretty much their own damn fault for being caught. While I do like DJ as a character, I read up on what was planned for the Master Codebreaker character and I like it so much better, if they had gone with what was intended with the Master Codebreaker character and maybe made Lando the Master Codebreaker, I don’t think anyone would’ve complained. My big issue with the plan failing is it did not have to fail. If Finn and Rose had to be caught, they could’ve been caught on their way to the escape pods. The betrayal felt so forced and out of place. The plan should have succeeded with them being caught on their way to their escape. What I’d change is Lando is the person Finn and Rose are meant to get help from. Lando is on Canto Bight to stop the crime lord and he is grieving in his own way for Han by gambling. But he is willing to drop everything and help Finn and Rose disable the Hyperdrive tracker. But Finn and Rose wants to help Lando in exchange for helping them. So after they leave we see a scene of Lando grieving for Han Solo in front of Finn and Rose. And as we get to the Supremacy, the plan succeeds, Lando and Rose successfully disable the tracker but as they make their escape they are found and caught by Phasma.

The Original Trilogy’s characters are only brought back to be killed off. At this point I honestly expect Lando to die, then Chewbacca and finally C-3PO and R2-D2. What was the point of bringing the original trio if you were just gonna kill them off? I honestly would have preferred it if they were all killed before the events of the new trilogy and actually build on the new characters without relying on nostalgia.

Captain Phasma is nothing but product placement when she could’ve been a great character. Both TFA and TLJ just wastes Phasma. In TFA she just orders her troops to slaughter villagers. After that all she does is look cool and imposing. Phasma should have been the one to fight Finn on Takodana, Phasma easily overpowers Finn, but Han of course knocks her out with Chewie’s bowcaster. And in Starkiller base, Phasma would not budge. This scene in the movie is what bothered me with how she was handled the most While she is said to be completely devoted to The First Order, she is so easily intimidated into turning the shield generator off. I don’t see this happening with the character they were trying to establish. I see her choosing death over betraying The First Order so instead I’d prefer Phasma either go out fighting or getting knocked out by Chewbacca and thrown in the trash compactor while Han and Finn shut the shields off by themselves. She survives and escapes in time And oh god, TLJ just wastes her AGAIN! They did nothing with her. Once again she is just there to look cool and sell toys. There is a difference between Boba Fett and Captain Phasma. Boba Fett HAS character. we learned about Boba in The Clone Wars. We learn nothing about Phasma and they do nothing for Phasma. She looks cool and easily shows her defeated by Finn. Phasma does have a character in her own novel. In her novel she is a completely different and better character. In the novel which is a fascinating study of how utterly ruthless and selfish she is, how completely dedicated to her own survival at the expense of others, and how there is no one and nothing she would not betray to further herself. It’s about peeling back the layers of a seemingly perfect First Order warrior to show her morally empty core, and with it the rottenness of the First Order itself. The novel shows with unsettling clarity that, under all the pretty words about the ideals of justice and order, the First Order is a place where actual idealistic soldiers are used and then thrown away (see: Finn, Cardinal) while backstabbers, abusers, and murderers like the two Huxes and Phasma are actively shielded and rise to the top. Phasma is a survivor. She will always align herself with the most powerful force. Phasma is extremely intelligent and a brilliant battlefield commander. Outside of the movies, she’s lost approximately one fight. Ever. the movies portray her as a minor annoyance but in the book she is the most badass human to ever live and I’m upset with how they’ve treated her. My suggestion about having Finn inspiring a Stormtrooper rebellion against Phasma and putting an end to Phasma would be a far better ending for the character. But SOMEHOW Phasma will return cause they need that toy money.

The movies make it absolutely impossible to take Hux seriously as a villain. Here’s the problem with Hux in TLJ. He is completely changed from how he was in TFA. In TFA Hux was a competent military leader that came up with plans and made necessary risks in order to find the resistance, talked back to Kylo Ren and didn’t fear him or his power and Hux has the populations of 5 planets to his body count. In TLJ, Hux is so incompetent to the point where I am wondering how he was a general, he is reduced to a slapstick cartoon and why am I believing Jar Jar Binks is a better general, and they expect me to believe Hux will usurp Ren as Supreme Leader? General Hux, the man who caused the destruction of the Hosnian system and is shown to be a younger angrier version of Tarkin in TFA, is shown to be an incompetent bumbling fool and Captain Canady is the only intelligent officer in The First Order. He does not deploy the Tie Fighters, order the fleet to move in when The Resistance are evacuating D'Qar and vulnerable, instead orders the Dreadnought to move in, and instead of ordering the Dreadnought with it’s devastating canon to fire on the cruiser thus giving the transports nowhere to go, he orders an orbital bombardment to an almost empty planet. But does not fire because he sees Poe’s X-Wing When Poe arrives in his X-Wing, the only X-Wing in view. Hux does not order deploying the Tie Fighters or even ordering the Dreadnought to fire on Poe. They do absolutely NOTHING. How is Hux a general again? Did he just want to hear himself talk? The turrets are being destroyed by Poe and Hux tells Captain Canady to fire the Dreadnought, Canady responds it’s too small and too close of range to fire their turbolasers and orders the Tie Fighters to be scrambled which should have been done 5 minutes ago. Canady knows Poe is not aiming to penetrate their armor, he knows Poe is clearing out their surface cannons. Here we have it. The only intelligent officer in The First Order, everyone else including Hux are incompetent. How exactly is Hux a general again? Moving on. Hux is slapped around with the force by Snoke, okay understandable, it’s for failure. Vader did the same. But god it is done in almost every scene by Snoke and Kylo. When the Silencer pretty much destroyed all the X-Wing fighters, and The Resistance command is jettisoned in space, Hux just orders Kylo back. They have the opportunity to end The Resistance, just calls him back, a scene later Hux complains he let them go. Sure they can still track them, but the fact that they let them goes shows that Hux is a fool. The only time Hux is allowed to be villainous in the movie is when he is prepared to take out his blaster and kill Ben. Everything else he is either an idiot or someone’s toy to be slapped around. And you expect me and the general audience to believe Hux is going to be the villain in Episode IX?

Leia is wasted as a character in The Sequel trilogy. I don’t feel there is an issue with Leia’s character outside the fact they are redoing the Rebel Alliance despite the fact the New Republic exists, but the big issue I have is that Leia is not a Jedi. Luke does train Leia in the force but they were dead set on not making Leia a Jedi.....for reasons. They don’t even do anything with Leia. Leia could have used Battle Meditation to ensure the destruction of Starkiller Base was a success. in TLJ Leia’s knocked out for half the movie. Leia is taken out 90% of the movie and it doesn’t feel like Carrie’s swan song and TLJ does absolutely nothing with Leia. Carrie Fisher is gone. The character herself does nothing to affect the plot. We all knew that Leia was strong and powerful with the force, but the way they decided to have it be shown is baffling. Instead of showing Leia using the force to send the missiles flying at Kylo’s wing men or use Battle Meditation to inspire the Resistance to fight, instead we see the most impressive, and stupid looking, display of force powers, nothing follows from that. Leia goes into a coma for most the movie and then just hangs around. Isn’t it weird that Leia, one of the most important characters in the entire franchise only sees her brother for a moment, never mentions her husband, shares no screen time with her own son and isn’t even the focus in the very rebellion she’s been fighting for her entire life. In the end, all of her loved ones are dead, her son is wants to destroy her legacy, her allies abandoned her, her soldiers were almost all killed, and due to Carrie Fisher’s passing, TLJ is her swan song and curtain call. The most iconic and empowering woman in all of cinema gets to go out as a supporting character and Mary Poppins meme.

The Force Awakens undoes everything about Han’s character arc in the original trilogy. Han starts out as a selfish smuggler who is COMPLETELY fine with letting other people die if it meant his own survival and goes through an internal and external journey to not only give a damn about his fellow person but also grow as an individual to be a hero that is willing to risk his own safety for a much larger cause than himself. And all that character development is thrown out the window. The new canon is dead set on making Han a bad father. They made it so that Han goes back to smuggling. Han learned that there is something more than smuggling and Han and Leia breaking up because their son turns to the dark side? Han would never leave Leia or abandon his child. It is simply bad writing to redo his entire arc from the original trilogy again and to make him a bad parent when it is out of his character to do so.

Han and Leia are portrayed as neglectful and bad parents. Han and Leia are two of the most selfless people in the entire Star Wars franchise. Han and Leia were two strong, kind people who helped save the galaxy. They sacrificed everything to do so. They were overjoyed when they had a son and did everything in their power to keep his happy and safe. They had left him with a droid, a babysitter briefly like any other parent would and even that didn’t last long . He wasn’t almost killed by it. Were these books only skimmed through once.? There are plenty of written evidence of Kylo with Han or Leia in his childhood. They loved him. The only reason they sent him to Luke was to help him.

The ruination of Luke Skywalker. I will never forgive how Luke was portrayed in TLJ. I will never forgive the treatment of Mark Hamill by Lucasfilm. I just cannot understand how Luke would even consider igniting his lightsaber and try to kill his own nephew in his sleep. I will never accept this. This is not Luke Skywalker. Luke ALWAYS saw the light within Anakin. Darth Vader was evil and committed atrocities for decades but he saved and redeemed his father. But he gave up on Ben because he saw Snoke’s influence on Ben and instead of helping him like Luke would actually do and what Leia wanted Luke to do, he goes with the intention of killing him but stops with the shame. But the problem is that Ben saw him with his lightsaber, what he saw was Snoke’s whispers proven right that Luke was afraid of his power and wanted him dead. Ben’s family abandoned him, but Luke would never do this. Luke Skywalker would never try to kill Ben, his nephew and his family. Darth Vader committed countless atrocities and Luke still saved his father and brought him back to the light. I will never believe that Luke would try to even ignite his lightsaber on Ben. Leia gave him her son to train, allow him to control his raw force abilities, love Ben like he were Luke’s own child and to protect him from Snoke. Even if Luke sensed the darkness in Ben, he would have talked to him and try to meditate and do anything that would help Ben. But no, instead of doing what Luke would actually do he ignites the lightsaber and it’s too late and Ben sees what Luke tried to do. Luke is ashamed and sorry, but it’s too late. We were given 3 out of context flashbacks. 2 of which were altered by the storyteller. Ironically Kylo Ren doesn’t say Luke tried to kill him because he thought he was a monster. Kylo Ren didn’t say he didn’t know why Luke was in his hut. All Kylo Ren said was Luke feared his power and he defended himself. Then he killed half of Luke’s students and burned the temple. All Luke said was that he saw death and destruction in Ben’s mind and then he ignited his lightsaber. Ben and him had an altercation, then Ben killed half of Luke’s students and burned down the temple. There is no context in what happened before that even led up to that moment. And still that scene is so frustrating. Luke Skywalker, the man who would literally die for his family, who risked the entire galaxy to save his friends and family, then again to save his father, would ever think his own student and nephew was beyond saving and deserved to die in his sleep. What’s even worse is that Luke continue’s the old ways of the Jedi, instead of reforming the Jedi Order. In Legends, Luke reformed and made the Jedi better. But instead he continued the old ways and just gave up. He is written to be broken and hollowed out by his past mistakes and painfully out of character. TFA kept on insisting he left a map behind. Lor San Tekka has it and said Luke’s return would make everything right. Han and Leia said Luke left behind the map. In TFA script “It is Luke Skywalker. Older now, white hair, bearded. He looks at Rey. A kindness in his eyes, but there’s something tortured too. He doesn’t need to ask who she is, or what she is doing here. His look says it all. Hold on Luke Skywalker’s incredible face, amazed and conflicted what he sees, as our music builds, the promise of an adventure, just the beginning” Luke looked touched at seeing Rey in TFA and Rey was on the verge of tears, finally someone to help her with the belonging she seeks. In The Last Jedi, no tears and Luke just tosses away his father’s lightsaber like it’s nothing. We are not allowed to see Luke react to Han’s death or Luke to grieve that his best friend is dead. Han was a big influence and friend it was dismissed as if he barely knew him. To quote Mark Hamill on the matter “They had time for me to milk that big alien but to show any human emotion? Nah" He does not even care that his sister’s life and the Resistance she is leading is in danger. He does not train Rey. Again, he gave up on Ben instead of trying to save him. He is sorry and regrets it, but it is too late. You might say that Yoda and Obi-Wan also gave up. But for those two, the Sith took over the galaxy, they had to go into hiding to protect and guide Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan wanted to save Leia and guide Luke. Yoda always wanted to train Leia as a Jedi and bring Anakin back to the light. He was reluctant to train Luke but he still did his duty as a Jedi Master. They did not just give up and wanted to die and they did not betray their characters at all. Luke spends most of Last Jedi on a windswept island, brooding in solemn silence and frozen by indecision. He doesn’t connect with Rey on any meaningful level, doesn’t impart wisdom or knowledge, and never reasserts himself as the powerful Jedi he once was. A brief physical duel against Rey ends with her as the undisputed victor, completely killing his deserved mythos and her potential character arc in one fell swoop. It’s clear in that moment that he has nothing to teach her, and nothing to contribute to the overall narrative. The boundless potential that seemed poised to explode at the end of The Force Awakens fizzles here but never ignites. And without any training at all, Rey defeats Luke Skywalker and Luke acts all cowardly and begs her to leave. When he goes to Crait. He does buy time for the Resistance to escape, but he is not allowed to display his power, he’s not allowed to wield his green lightsaber, he does not bring down all the AT-ATs or bring down the star destroyers. He doesn’t even show that he wants to help and save his nephew, all he’s doing is trolling his nephew. He’s not even there thus making their final confrontation ultimately pointless. He toys with Ben, but we don’t see a lightsaber fight between them. Luke Skywalker is not allowed to be Luke Skywalker. The Hero’s Journey that he was following was ignored completely and he just gave up and wanted to die. And he dies instead of reuniting with Leia properly. Mark Hamill wanted Luke to live until Episode IX where he would pass on what he learned to Rey. No big battle with Snoke, no saving his nephew and no passing on, instead Luke dies and all we’re getting is force ghost Luke. Luke Skywalker was a hero to an entire generation. Luke was the true heart of Star Wars. His was the journey we followed from idealistic farm boy dreaming of adventure, to reluctant warrior, and finally to savior of the entire galaxy. The original trilogy built him up, and The Last Jedi finally broke him down. I for one mourn my hero’s passing.

The EU handled Han, Luke and Leia’s characters far better. Let me explain why the old Star Wars EU/Legends handles and understands the characters of Han, Luke and Leia better. Han and Leia stood strong in their marriage for 3 decades despite a hostile extra Galactic invading species killing both Chewbacca and their 14 year old son Anakin, their other son Jacen becoming a Sith, him killing Luke’s wife Mara, and having to be killed by his twin, their daughter Jaina. And they both still kept up their roles as a General and Chief of State/Ambassador all the while. And Luke, bless this dude, not only fully rebuilt the Jedi Order, but in his first class of Jedi, when Kyp Durron went to the Dark Side he went out and brought him back and redeemed him. He had to deal with internal schisms in the Order about the nature of the force and the role of the Jedi and kept the peace and the order united. He lead the Jedi through a war with the Yuuzahn Vong that saw trillions die and helped end the war on diplomatic terms just like his mother Padme would have done. He dealt with the Galactic suspicion of the Jedi and even after he was personally blamed for his nephew becoming a Sith and being exiled by the Galactic Alliance he still held to his role as leader of the Jedi and his role as a father to Ben Skywalker and continued to fight for peace and against the dark side. And even after his death his Force Ghost was still working to save the Galaxy and help his descendants stay on the right paths. The nonsense we got in TFA and TLJ betrayed their characters. Even if I could understand TFA, I cannot understand TLJ. What I really wanted is in TLJ we see Han, Luke and Leia go on one last adventure together to bring Ben back home. They confront Snoke and Ben is shown that everything Snoke told him was a lie and his family loved him enough to confront Snoke. and Ben goes back to the light to help his family stop Snoke. And together we see the Skywalker family reunite. That’s what we should have gotten.

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