underrated moment imo when he finally snaps at devon, that's when you could tell that the imminent breakdown was bubbling up lol. also funny as hell that he still talks like that even when he's losing his shit. Fucking vacillations
there’s something almost sinister about how Shadow Lord handles Maul… and I don’t mean in-universe. I mean what it does to us as the audience.
because tell me why I caught myself multiple times leaning forward like, "oh… this might actually work." "oh, i would like to see what happens," like I was considering it. like I was ready to watch Devon fall and go, "yeah, okay, I get it, I support it."
and that’s the trap.
this whole time, we knew who Maul is. manipulator, survivor, (at one point) a victim, walking vendetta wrapped in charisma, Sam Witwer voice, and cool tattoos. him technically not being a Sith anymore doesn’t cleanse anything. it just makes him more unpredictable. he’s not serving Sidious anymore, he’s serving himself.
and still… the show makes you feel for him.
that last episode especially felt like emotional whiplash in the best, most unsettling way. one moment you’re watching him inch closer to getting what he wants; Devon as an apprentice, and there’s this creeping tension where you think, "is it really gonna happen?" and then the next moment he’s practically delivering Master Daki to Vader like a calculated sacrifice.
and it snaps back into place.
oh. right. he’s awful.
but it doesn’t stick, does it? because then Daki dies, Devon is angry and shattering the way Maul wants.
and Maul... Maul has that moment. that barely-contained smile. that flicker of satisfaction he tries to hide while feeding her anger, sharpening it. "we will have our revenge." and suddenly you realize something deeply uncomfortable:
he’s not just manipulating her.
he’s been manipulating us the entire time.
because why are we feeling anything close to hope when he speaks? why does his pain feel compelling enough to blur the lines? why did I, even for a second, forget that wanting Devon to follow him is wanting her destruction?
it’s not just character writing at that point. it’s narrative sleight of hand.
and honestly? I have to give it to the writers. because making Maul likable isn’t new. making him tragic isn’t new. but making the audience complicit in his manipulation? making us feel the pull of the dark side alongside the characters?
that’s something else entirely.
it’s unsettling. and it works a little too well for my liking.
Foreigners will never understand how someone like Rawhide Kobayashi would immediately become a beloved local fixture in whatever small American town he ended up in.
every single time someone pulls the "How would you AMERICANS like it if someone came to AMERICA and" reversal, the answer is always "we'd fucking love it"
I just Googled the Swedish-Japanese guy in the OP, and according to this interview, his Japanese name was given to him by the master gardener he was apprenticed under:
“The family name ‘Murasame’ was given to me by my master. The given name ‘Tatsumasa’ is a combination of ‘dragon’ (tatsu), the [zodiac] year when I was born, and one character from my master’s name,” says Murasame."
So I think maybe it's less like naming yourself 'Brandon McFreedom' and more like moving to the states to work under a veteran car mechanic named Bud McLean, and then having him turn to you after a few years on the job, and say "Son, it's time for you to become an American so you can open up your shop. And when that day comes, I think the world should know you by a new name: McLeo GM Corvette."
The thing is you can have a grassy lawn or even a golf course without it being an ecological disaster, you just have to a: be cool about having the occasional non-grass plant in the mix and b: be willing to live in a climate that supports grass without irrigation.
I always thought that golf as a sport should be adapted to the local native landscape. I think this will encourage regional pride when local golfers completely trounce visitors at Swamp Golf, Desert Golf, Forest Golf, etc. Rich tourists will be pressured to travel extensively to experience all forms of golf, instead of staying in their backyard country club golf courses. Internet discourse will probably somehow get worse but I think this is a small price to pay.
I am Australian and had never heard of either of these??? Now I feel extra unhappy with the golf course near me that's just regular water-hungry grass :/
(originally i was only taking notes on what characters call each other to use for my codywan magnum opus fic)
jedi say...
anakin mostly calls clones by their names, not their titles
^ "trooper" when the clone is unknown/unnamed
^ calls obi-wan "general kenobi" when talking to rex (once)
^ he occasionally addresses rex as "captain"
obi-wan mostly uses names, but also often uses titles
^ obi-wan calls cody "commander" in the movie (early war?)(just sometimes?)
^ when cody greets them with "general [lastname]", obi-wan responds "cody :)"
when obi-wan and anakin are talking to each other, they don't use titles for rex and cody
^ anakin just calls him "rex" when talking to ahsoka
ahsoka almost always calls clones by their names
^ she calls rex "captain" in the blue shadow virus arc, but its life-or-death and shes giving him a direct order
aayla and luminara use titles for clones
yoda doesn't use titles, and only sometimes uses names
plo koon mostly uses titles, but occasionally drops it for wolffe
not clone related - both anakin and obi-wan use padme's name and almost never use her title, which is really funny. padme only remembers to use their titles when talking about them to a 3rd party
clones say...
clones always use titles (for jedi, and higher-ranked clones they're not close with)
"general(s)" and "sir(s)" consistently
^ anakin and ahsoka IMMEDIATELY know rex has been brainwarshed when he says "anakin"
rex DOES drop ahsoka's titles a few times - "ahsoka, it's me, rex" and "ahsoka ordered it"
cody and rex still use titles when talking about jedi that arent present
^ an unnamed clone drops anakin's title and just says "skywalker" when gossiping
cody and rex do not use titles for each other
^ rex sometimes calls cody "commander" during missions
cody knows slick by name and uses his name, not his rank. rex does too
slick calls rex by rank, and uses "sir" for him and cody
slick's men similarly use "sir" and/or rank for higher ranked clones
cody calls the squad "gentleman"
CODY CALLS ONE OF THEM "SON." SCREASMS.
rex calls either fives or echo "kid"
^ REXXXX ALSO CALLS AHSOKA KID.
cody doesn't refer to waxer or boil by rank
the rest - other language used, character notes, and setting stuff - below the cut!
language used:
CODY OUT! 🫡
fives and echo each say "hell"
cody says heck. he's a heck-sayer. my fucking goat
cody says "rex old boy" the raisin bran eating fuck
^ ahsoka also says that later? is that just a rex nickname?? or was she mimicking cody???
ahsoka also calls rex "rexster"
ahsoka also also calls someone "gramps" but i didnt write down who (probs anakin tho)
rex calls helmets "sun bonnets" (dweeb)
count dooku uses the phrase "godforsaken"
rex calls slick a "piece of rankweed"
anakin: "that sleemo"
ahsoka: "we're not gonna last a mynock minute!"
one of yoda's squad: "theres no figuring a jedi master" (shrugs and shakes head)
about cloudy atmosphere: "this soup is thick"
CLANKERS!!! its so funny how often and with how much intensity they say clankers
i hate "seppies" though. stop fucking saying that CODY!
they also call droids: tinny, tweezers, rollies (droidekas)
someone (i think ahsoka?) called Grevious "general clanker"
the lead ship in a squad of fighters was called "mother bird"
axe: "come on, you whiners, let's get dirty"
idr what a trooper said to warrant it, but when he sees that it upset ahsoka he immediately follows up with "i meant no offense, commander"
"Commander on deck!"
ANAKIN SAID POODOO. jarjar's foul influence...
character stuff:
cody makes rex fly him around
anakin calls cody boring
cody and rex often communicate nonverbally
clones consistently refer to each other as "brother(s)" as much or more than they say "clone(s)"
at one point rex kinda has to remind anakin that he has to follow ahsoka's orders (even if he doesnt like them)
anakin doesnt like ahsoka's flying. also he yells at her for talking during mission - "CUT THE CHATTER!"
^ he later lets her fly his starfighter....
the opening narration for the rishi outpost ep (fives + echo's intro) says "new clones are rushed into service [...] before their intense training is complete"
rex goes on a bit of a power trip during rishi outpost mission bc cody put him in charge - bossy to shinies, "thats captain to you"
the rishi crew knows cody by name before he gets there
while rex gets mad, cody starts planning
cody is a sarcastic bitch. MY FUCKING GOAT.
^ @ rex (finding spy) "what do you think, he just sat down and wrote a note?"
^ @ slick (protesting that his men will be upset abt traitor) (cuts him off) "your men are tough."
one of slick's men is nervous to talk to rex (tbf hes being interrogated) and explicitly says he's nervous bc rex is his CO
clones dont say "contraband", they say "forbidden items" (maybe bc kid audience dont know the word contraband, but if its intentional thats so fucked up and weird)
unfortunately cody gets his ass beat by slick. as does rex. my 2 flops<3
^ cody does better after he tackles slick to the ground #codyisgrapplertruther
during slick's lil sermon - cody looks so bothered and doesnt join rex in bitching him out
^ he only chimes in when slick says he loves his brothers - cody: "if you loved your brothers, you wouldn't have put them at risk."
^ bc cody loves his brothers. btw.
^ this is making me crazy
^ he was sooo bothered like i think cody is smart enough to realize slick was a little right #slickwasright . whereas rex saw the sitch in a very black-and-white traitor=bad way
^ ill never recover from this one line tbh
rex hearing one of anakin's worst plans of all times: "well, this plan is...... questionable......"
rex passes an order from mace windu to anakin and anakin gives a sassy comeback and rex immediately says "i'll tell him that 🫡"
literally everyone clowns on anakin for not following orders
padme about clones dying of blue shadow virus: "what a waste" :( rex: "all due respect, its what these men were born to do."
when obi wan finds out he's not getting reinforcements, he asks his squad "who's up for a challenge?" to which waxer replies "here we go again". the fatigue in his voice implies obi does this shit to them often
obi-wan is known for using "deceptive maneuvers"
the mando dad instinct takes longer to set in for some (boil)
i thought i was ready for the saber hand-off but nno one told me that cody doesnt even SAY anything. hes so nonchalant!!!
cody's "QUIET ROOKIE." is in response to the rookie oohing and aahhing over obi-wan. like yeah whatever our generals an awesome wizard move onnnn. hes so fucking #sickofit
numa (twilek girl) has a dad. for some reason this made my heart hurt so much more than if she had a mom
^ i think its bc waxer and boil's time with her is the closest either of them will ever get to fatherhood but it wasnt that pivotal to her because she already has a dad. its not like shes an orphan who lost her father, they get reuinited. she continues to have a dad after the episode but they. uyea h
when obi-wan tells them "nerra" means brother. do you thin k that hurt him too.
setting stuff:
lights in the LAAT go red when they're standing by to deploy, then green to jump
communication fails - "their comm-links are on a different scramble set"
luminara's star destroyer is named Tranquility (this is on the wiki im sure i just like it a lot)
there are med droids in the infirmary that presumably handle the less serious injuries (a clone went in, saw a droid, and returned to his barracks the same night)
^ during one of anakin's trips to the infirmary, he's treated only by a med droid
^ there are several other scenes in which characters are only treated by a med droid
clones killing time with arm-wrestling
some of the clones carry electric stun grenades that they call "droid poppers"
THE BARRACKS!
^ they have pinups all over the walls (i saw at least 4 distinct posters)
^ there are also pinups in the rishi outpost, including in their central operations room (boys.)
^ the same pinups appear a 3rd time on the planet iego
^they prop up their blasters against the wall and rest their helmets on top
^ everyone was still in armor except for their helmets
^ they have bunkbeds<3 they all have 1 pillow but i dont see any blankets
^ there are large metal storage crates (presumably 1 per clone but i didnt count)
clones are forbidden from taking certain items from the battlefield, which includes parts from battledroids
^ they specifically say "forbidden" and not "contraband" (as prev.)
^ one clone had strung together battledroid fingers as a necklace, and was (at first) willing to lie and be suspected as a traitor rather than admit it
theres a ruined head of a buddha statue on naboo??
when rex receives opposing orders from anakin/obi-wan and chairman cho (leader of a republic member world), he has to obey the chairman. im. im not sure why
sometimes the jedi have cute lil backpackies
the LAAT used by obi-wan and the squad containing cody, wooley, waxer, and boil has beautiful nose art of Salacious B. Crumb (or a member of his species)
boil pulls a ration of some kind out of his pouch that looks like a cheese stick
cleaning R2 units is mentioned as a punishment
i wrote these notes on half-sheets of 8.5x11s (old bills, papers from class, etc). at one point i had four of these half-sheets on my desk at once. which is a normal way to watch a television show.
it just occurred to me that darth vader, master engineer, probably looked at the death star plans at some point and noticed the flaw, but didn’t bother to tell anyone about it because he despised everyone who was involved in the project
#krennic and tarkin: [die as a (indirect and direct, respectively) result of the death star’s flaw] #vader, who knew about that flaw and did nothing: unfortunate
Meanwhile Vader, expert ace pilot, acts well below rank to supposedly fight off the attackers. Attackers who, as far as anyone else knows, can’t hope to do shit to the Death Star.
Lol there are some ppl on here all “oh he was feeling a little Light so he knew he had to destroy it to do the Right Thing!!!” like nah. I love my boy but he’s a bag of stinky garbagé at this point and still totally evil.
He just despised the Death Star cuz everyone was all “nyeh heh this thing can do ur job for u u LOSER” and he actively loathed every single person who was on board it. Of course he was petty enough to ignore its self-destruct button. He’s just that bitch.
this seems entirely reasonable
sidebar: apparently thrawn treason is, like, mostly Krennic and Tarkin hating each other and i have never read a thrawn book but i might just read that one
Vader is high-key insulted by the existence of the Death Star, the effort and expense thrown into making it, and the way everybody’s praising it as the new ultimate power in the universe, and probably the worst part of the whole affair?
He has no one to bitch to about it.
Even the Emperor’s jumped on the superweapon hype train. Even the tolerably-competent officers like Tarkin are all #TeamDeathStar, and then there’s smug assholes like Admiral Motti who just won’t shut up about it, and honestly?
Vader’s probably been on the email CC list for the design since the project started. Years of enduring shitty design and interdepartmental bickering and watching some smarmy asshole in an inferior cloak prance about bloviating about his special superweapon like somebody who has an anime body pillow of the superlaser housing.
And then there’s this one scientist who keeps going on and on about this thermal exhaust problem.
Just. Huge amounts of emails on the subject, going on and on and on about it.
Vader is totally the only person who actually reads these after the first, like, five of them. Everybody else just skims through them with a side of “Seriously, Galen? Another one? Force-dammit, Krennic, couldn’t you have left him on that mudball with his family?” But Vader is bored out of his skull with 90% of his job anyway, and it’s not like he has anything better to do. Besides, viciously judging other people’s design abilities is the closest thing to pass for fun when there aren’t any Rebels to slaughter or armies to curbstomp, and there’s plenty of shit design for the judging.
He spots the flaw in the reactor the first time it appears in the plans.
He’d have shit himself if it wasn’t for the suit.
He promptly makes a bet with himself on whether anybody is going to spot it.
Nobody does.
They’re a pack of idiots. Every last one of them.
Maybe he contemplates telling them for like two-thirds of a second. It would be fun to lord his actual mechanical expertise over that little shit, Krennic.
But then he considers that he can only tell them once, and what if it were after the thing blew itself right the fuck up, what if that? He can still point out the flaw, and he can throw everyone’s stupidity right in their stupid faces, but also there’ll be no more Death Star.
So when Galen Erso sends out Thermal Exhaust Problem Analysis Report #6,109 and buried in paragraph 37 is a suggestion of an extra exhaust port, and Krennic responds with “SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN THERMAL EXHAUST PORT, GALEN, I DON’T GIVE A SHIT!” and Erso goes, “So you approve the solution?” and Krennic goes “S***** F*** LKJDGJFKL!!!!LJF$%#$DJF! YES!” Vader saves the email exchange for posterity and is downright cheerful the rest of the week.
True, he acts in its defense, chasing down Rebels when the plans are stolen. Of course he does. They’re Rebels, and hunting them down is his job and one of the very few pleasures of his existence. But it’s not for the Death Star. In fact, if one of them were to escape with its plans, and hide them successfully, and keep their location secret through torture and worse, and if another of them were to fly a starfighter well enough to keep from being destroyed long enough to drop a torpedo through that vulnerable exhaust port and touch off that reactor instability and turn the whole massive, ridiculous, wasteful, absurd, and vaguely insulting contraption into so much spacedust …
… well …
… oops.
Vader’s only regret about the whole affair is that Krennic predeceased it and is therefore unavailable for gloating to.
It doesn’t stop him from snagging a copy of the Rebels’ footage of the Death Star blowing up and posting it anonymously to the holonet with the added caption “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
What makes this whole thing better is that the comics ( Darth Vader Annual 2 to be precise) backs this theory up
The Annual literally starts with Tarkin arriving on Scarif, only to find Vader had broken into the archive and was just casually studying the Death Star plans
Then later on, he literally says THIS to Tarkin
Vader is the pettiest fucker who hates EVERYTHING to do with his coworkers and the Death Star and I LOVE it
Do yourselves a massive favor: practice asking for help BEFORE it's an emergency.
I am a social worker. I have worked in community mental health and in home-based healthcare. And it is much, much easier for me to help you when the situation you're in is not yet a full-blown crisis.
"I'm out of money and have been for a while and now I haven't eaten for three days." This is a crisis. A crisis where I'm likely going to have to put you in the car and take you to the nearest food bank--except food banks require appointments now, and the next opening is in four days, so you're staring down the barrel of a week with no food. That's obviously not going to work, so, let's call eight different food banks until we've found one that has an appointment the next day...except it's in the neighboring county and you can't drive. So now I'm calling your doctor to try and brow beat an emergency plan of care update out of him so I can come back the next day and drive you to the food bank. And we haven't even started on the "constantly broke" part of the problem.
"I don't think I have enough food to make it to my next paycheck. I have (xyz) in my house and that will only last until (date)." This is bad, but not a crisis. We have a few days. We make you an appointment at the food bank and contact your brother to make sure you have a ride there. Now we can spend our visit talking about what bills are causing you the most problems and make a jump on a long-term solution, like looping in a community action agency to cover your utilities and getting you an OTC card from Medicaid to cover some of your groceries every month.
"I'm ten months behind on rent, and my landlord said I have a week to get out, or the cops will throw me out. I don't have the money, and if I get evicted, I have nowhere to go." This is a crisis. Every single thing we do here is going to be some version of a Hail Mary. In Michigan, we have the state emergency relief fund for rent issues, but process time is well over one week. There are community action agencies that we can call to assist you with payment, but they are unlikely to have sufficient funds to cover nearly a year of back rent. We can contact legal aid clinics to try and prevent your landlord from evicting you, but they may look at your case and determine that too much "fault" lies with you. Most likely, I'm going to have to put you in touch with homeless shelters and the public housing office.
"I'm two months behind on rent and I don't think I'll be able to pay next month either." This is bad, but not a crisis. This is solvable. We have time to apply for SER, or put you in contact with community action agencies. We have time to review your finances and see if you qualify for a public housing wait list or other forms of ongoing rental assistance. We have time to talk about a million possible adjustments to try and ease the burden of your rent.
"I am the sole caregiver for my elderly parent who has dementia and is emotionally volatile and fully dependent on me. I have not slept through the night in weeks and I have not had an actual break for over a year. I am having screaming meltdowns multiple times a week and I am threatening self-harm unless someone comes to collect my parent and take over all caregiver duties." This is a crisis. This is a crisis where the ethical code of my profession demands that I call 911 and report the conversation to them. They will likely come to the house and interview you. If they determine your threats were serious, they will have you forcibly committed to a psych ward. Your parent will either be dumped into a random hospital or rehab center, or left in the house on their own. Upon release from your psych hold, you will be expected to resume caregiving duties as though nothing happened. Except, now, adult protective services is actively investigating you, because it was determined you may be an ongoing danger to your parent.
"I am the sole caregiver for my demented parent, and I have not had a break in a couple of weeks, and I feel angry and weepy most of the time." This is bad, but not a crisis. We can get you in touch with volunteer groups for respite, and apply for state funded programs to get more day-to-day help, and talk about long-term planning for when the dementia symptoms get worse. We can get you the phone numbers for crisis lines and enroll you in a support group.
Obviously, you can ask for help at any point. Don't use this an excuse to never ask for help. If you always wait until it's a crisis, fine, you have free will. But you are ALLOWED to ask for help BEFORE you're in a blind panic, and it is always easier to get help when you aren't screaming and sobbing because you think your life is over.
This brought tears to my conservationist heart today.
The continued existence of these species is the legacy of so many people whose names we will never know--some of who never lived to see the impacts of their work.
When you count up the flaws of our species, you have to count the good things too--out of the many species throughout Earth's history that have caused the demise or endangerment of other species, we are the only one that tries to fix it out of our fascination and love for other life forms.
(Big thank you to the anonymous asker who sent this in!)
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