Category: Uncategorized

So I watched The Dragon Prince. It’s cute. The animation takes a bit to get used to it and a lot of the establishing shots are really freaking gorgeous. It’s a very pretty show.

I like it but I’m not sure whether or not I like it enough to get involved in the fandom. Maybe I’ll reblog some fanart or something, but we’ll see where it goes. 

Also, if anyone has an ASL to English translation of what Amaya said those times Gren wasn’t interpreting please tell me or link me. It’s gonna but the fuck outta me until I know. 

The Star Wars Deep Dive: Han Solo, Beckett, and Ben | StarWars.com

smols-darklighter:

I don’t think there’s been a movie starring Han Solo that made him more deep and complex than Solo: A Star Wars Story, but it needs to be taken against all of the other films for the depth to really be seen.

There’s one scene in particular that plays in my mind, over and over and over again and that’s the final duel between Han and Beckett. Many people will tell you that it’s a comment on Han from A New Hope and his handling of Greedo, but I think that’s missing the forest for the wroshyr trees. For me, this particular scene in Solo has a lot more to say about the final showdown between Han and his son in The Force Awakens.

In Solo: A Star Wars Story, Han is an orphan, absent a father figure. The closest thing he gets in the course of the film is Tobias Beckett, a mouthy scooch of a criminal, taking on big jobs for people like Crimson Dawn. He takes Han under his wing and tries to show him the way of the world. It’s an example Han never got out of Lady Proxima and he certainly never got it out of the Empire when he was under their tutelage. But Beckett fills that role from the moment Han sees him on Mimban.

You can tell that Han is awed by Beckett at first sight and sticks with him from that moment forward. Even after getting betrayed by him and almost fed to a beast, Han still follows Beckett around like a lost puppy who doesn’t realize he wasn’t lost but abandoned.

Like any rebellious teenager, Han doesn’t quite gel with all of Beckett’s advice, but he still looks up to him and listens when a plan is being made. In fact, one of my favorite moments comes during the escape from Kessel, when Han realizes that the guards are on to him.

“What do I do?” he asks Beckett.

“Improvise!” Beckett responds.

“But you told me never to improvise!” Han replies, as though he’d been hanging onto every word Beckett said, so as not to mess up the plan.

It’s not quite the Han we’ve known, the one who “takes orders from just one person.” It’s a proto-Han, still learning his way.

This brings us to the duel between Han and his father figure. Han is forced to choose between his own survival and the man he’s spent the entire movie looking up to. He’s learned his lesson and fires first, killing his father figure. Because he has to, but not because he wants to. Han is such a gentle spirit beneath that would-be outlaw exterior that he races to Beckett’s side and cradles him in his death, hearing his last words and comforting him in his last moments.

Regret is painted on Han’s face.

This wasn’t something he wanted to do.

And this is all echoed as we move forward into the far future of The Force Awakens.

Han is the father figure here now. And he’s facing off against his own son. The one he wanted. The one he loved. And Ben is faced with a dilemma much like the one his father faced on that sandy cliff of Savareen.

Ben has two options, neither good in his mind. He can turn back from the dark and give up the future he wants for himself, with the power and control he seeks, or he can murder his father. And he’s torn between the two.

Han knows that his life is in peril here, and for a man who’s shot first throughout his life, the fact that he doesn’t even consider it here — and tells his son that he’d do anything for him — is very telling about how far Han has come in embracing the love that’s in his nature.

And when Ben decides to act, Han doesn’t stop him, sacrificing himself in the hopes that this will benefit his son.

Han has changed a lot over the years, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is Han’s compassion — compassion that he worked so hard over his life to suppress. In his final moments, just as he did with Beckett, he takes the time to comfort the other party of the duel. There is almost nothing more emotional for me in The Force Awakens than the moment where Han, with a lightsaber through his middle, reaches up and caresses the face of his son.

This is Han Solo.

This is the true essence of who that man is.

Full of regret over how things had to happen, with a heart full of love, even for the people who wished to kill him.

Seeing this arc play full circle from Solo all the way to The Force Awakens is a beautiful thing. We’ve seen his austere beginnings and his august ending and it closes the book on a character who is now more complex than we ever understood.

I hope the next time you watch The Force Awakens, you’re able to see the ghost of Beckett and the Han-that-was looming over that bridge, because it adds an emotion to the scene that you might not be prepared for.

The Star Wars Deep Dive: Han Solo, Beckett, and Ben | StarWars.com

I am so not here for fanfic snobbery. I don’t care if you know it has technical or storytelling flaws. I don’t care if the writing is lazy or choppy or lacks proper world-building. It’s free, made as a hobby, and written by people who (probably) have never been to a writing workshop and may have never written anything longer than a 5k essay. Fanfic already gets shit for not being “good enough” as it is. Don’t be a jerk to your fellow writers and don’t call them lazy or lame to their face. This is exactly the thing that keeps people from trying and improving in the first place. Who gives a shit if it’s not perfect? No one springs from the head of Zeus as a fully fledged writer. We all gotta start somewhere and “somewhere” is usually on the border between Meh-ville and Needs-Work-burg. 

I think fandom, as a whole, needs to take a step back, take a deep breath, and try to see things through the eyes of the person they oppose before we attack each other. 

Each of us has our own biases, our own baggage, and our own struggles and those things color our interpretation of everything, whether we’re conscious of it or not. The key, in my mind, is being conscious of those biases, acknowledging and accepting them, and then trying to step outside of them and consider the perspective of someone else. I’m not saying you have to agree with the other person, or even that you have to change your mind, all I’m saying is that we need to be more considerate of each other. 

Don’t assume malice, and don’t treat everyone who errs as if they’re doing it deliberately to hurt others. Consider the intention, the potential for harm, whether harm was done or not, and react accordingly. You can have an issue with someone or the way they’ve done something but please, for the love of all that is good in the world, consider your reactions. No one deserves to be threatened or harassed. I don’t care what that person has done, if it’s serious enough to get authorities involved, get authorities involved but no one (and I mean no one) deserves to be treated like their life doesn’t matter. We’re so hostile to each other anymore and it leads to this environment where we’re okay with hurting people because they have a bad opinion. It’s okay to be upset, but it’s not okay to take your anger out on another living, breathing person. 

I don’t have all the answers for all of fandom’s problems (and boy do we have a lot of them) but it’s not going to hurt us to be just a little more compassionate. I’m tired of seeing people get threats and harassment. I’m tired of seeing people being treated like trash. I’m tired of fandom being a hate mob instead of a place for human connection. We can still talk about issues and problems when we consider there’s a real person on the other end of the screen. It’s the only way we can talk about our issues. The hate needs to end.