So there's that post going around that asks, very simply, that producers and writers stop adapting shit they don't like.
And that's fair, and I would've wholeheartedly agreed with it at one point in my life, but it also makes absolutely no sense.
Film and TV is an industry where 80% of business decisions are made by people not invested in what they're selling (listen to Bob Chapek talk about disney animation, for example).
Now, knowing and caring makes those people a hell of a lot better at their jobs, but knowing and caring don't fit on a resume, and the people conducting the interviews just want to know if they can make them cash.
But also, "don't adapt work you don't like" doesn't allow for nuance in our opinions of the media we're adapting. Stories can -- hell, stories should be treated as more than a binary good or bad value.
For example: Harry Potter was the most important book series to me as a kid, by far, but plenty of things in it provoke genuine disgust from me now -- and plenty just never made much sense.
Like, even if JK Rowling didn't make TERFdom her new world, I'd still take issue with the antisemitic goblin bankers, mediocre characterization that lead the fandom to prefer side characters to the main trio, and...god, okay, I'm stopping there because I don't even want to list them all.
But you get the point. If we somehow wrested control of that IP away from JK, we'd all be making jokes about her in the writers room. Same goes for George Lucas and Star Wars.
Doesn't mean that the people in that room don't love the original (though often they don't, and just need a paycheck because writers gotta pay rent too!) but these things are not on/off hate-or-love-pick-one sorts of affairs.
And by all means, push for better shows, with writers who care about the characters and producers who will devote the necessary resources to getting the story told right.
But please, approach these concepts with a little nuance, so that decision makers won't just write fans off as a bunch of rubes with no idea how media actually gets made.
The only two pics of me at pride. Wasn't there long, but this was actually my first time publicly presenting as anything other than a cis dude, so...not too shabby
Sex, Death, Revolution was one of my all-time favorite comics from the very moment I understood where the premise was going, and holy shit, does it deliver on that premise.
The basics -- the stuff I’m willing to reveal, because further developments are just too juicy to tell you before you read -- are that trans sorceress Esperanza is reeling after the breakup of her Coven, and to make things worse, her past is changing before her eyes. So she needs to figure out who is doing this, and how, before the changes overtake who she is entirely.
"Identity” is a pretty common theme, but Sex, Death, Revolution does things with it that I’ve never seen before. It’s an incredible story that could only be told by this creative team, with this genre, in this medium. I can’t recommend it enough.
@vault11overseer asked me to rank all of Palpatine’s looks, which was probably at least 40% a joke. Joke’s on them, I’m doing it anyways, starting with the absolutely most wretched of them:
The classic throne room look
Yeah, I know -- this is The Palpatine Look, the one that defined our mental image of withered old bastards forever in Return of the Jedi. It’s a classic. But looking at it with the nostalgia goggles off, first doesn’t always mean best. There’s nothing regal about this look, nothing that screams Emperor, just a decrepit old man in his comfy clothes.
Sure, it’s real menacing when the fabric kind of blends into the shadows, but when he’s just walking around? It looks like he’s wearing evil cotton bathrobe. Even Dooku knew that if you were going to take a nap, you’d better be doing it in black silk pajamas. Next to Palpatine’s other looks, this one’s clear that he’s not trying too hard.
Which, of course, is the point -- Luke Skywalker sure didn’t expect the bathrobe man reclining in his Death Star Lay-z-boy to summon fucking lightning from his fingertips. That, and Palps just doesn’t have anyone to impress at this point. Who the fuck does he need to dress himself up for? Nobody, that’s who.
That said, this outfit has an unsung hero -- the cut of that hood. The way it’s draped like that, basically putting his head inside of a triangle, is way more evil than some round hood would be. Seriously, that hood is the reason we remember this look so well.
Final Verdict: 6/10, a respectable showing in many ways, but his other outfits often take what’s good about this one and do it better.
Next up...
Pantene-patine
Yeah, that’s not a great pun, but this guy clearly loves having hair a little too much for his own good. It’s like he saw male pattern baldness coming for his colleagues in the Senate, and thought “oh man, they’re all gonna be so jealous when they realize I can still style my hair like Nicholas Cage.”
But it also gives him kind of the air of a doddering politician. Between the taditional Naboo clothing, unflattering haircut, and the particular brand of politeness he employs, this Sheev Palpatine can blend into the background until it’s time to let his actual personality shine through and steal the space presidency out of nowhere.
Still not going to save it from a mediocre score, though. 2/10.
Space President, President of Space
Ol’ Palpy’s moving up in the world, so he can trim the weird wings off the sides of his haircut and stop wearing medium blues and purples to look nonthreatening. He doesn’t want to come on too strong, so there’s no hood or whatever, but he takes advantage of the opportunity to wear black and runs with it, only offsetting it with a brown top and sash. Palpatine can afford to look a little evil now; he’s space president. If he wasn’t at least a little evil, what would he be doing in politics?
But the ruffled brown-gold...sweater...? That’s not doing him any favors. 5/10.
Revenge of the Sleeves
This one’s pushing it, Pal. This outfit might not quite scream evil, but it's at the very least stage-whispering it. All-red color scheme? Shoulder pads like an evil wizard? Sleeves wide enough to hold entire folders in the upper arm?? Also, now that he’s in animation, it’s a little hard to hide the fact that he looks like an evil puppet, but what the hell. The Senate voted him enough war powers that shit shouldn’t matter.
All of that evil looks good, but those sleeves really do lose this outfit a lot of style points. Still, I guess he just had to do it to em. 4/10
The murder machine
We all have days where we want to cut lose and just be ourselves, right? Well, this is what Palpatine wears on rare occasions when he can put aside the busy schedule of leading both factions in a galaxy-spanning war, and just be what he is in his heart: a goddamn Sith Lord.
This doesn’t just scream evil, it screams evil and loving it! He spends his time in this outfit doing two things: cackling, and styling on absolutely everyone he encounters. It’s got that same classic comfy cut as his original Return of the Jedi look, but with a little more class. The texturing is great, the balance of black and red is on point, and it’s got a nifty sith clasp thing. Also, accessorizing with two lightsabers is a risky choice, but it really works out here.
Honestly, this look is hard to beat, a great combination of old and new. 9/10.
Leather car upholstery from the 90s
You know, this has a lot going for it. The cut of it is great, with angles seamlessly transitioning into round forms in a way that kind of suggests a business suit. This really says Space President in a way most of his looks don’t. That said -- this texture is just too much. Space leather is nice, but this is just distracting.
Also, I just noticed this, but -- are those loafers? Fucking evil loafers? Sheev, come on.
It looks good in darker lighting, though, so I’m gonna give it 7/10.
The Coronation Gown
Motherfucker shows up like “okay, the Jedi tried to kill me, gave me some weird scars, but i’m good. Don’t even pay attention to those scars, I’ve got this sick red robe aND A NEW EMPIRE, SEE YA DEMOCRACY WE’RE GREAT.”
Also? This is a fucking sith robe. Dude’s just wearing it in public because he knows he’s eliminated the only people who would know what he’s doing. What a fucking power move.
Is this a little too regal? Maybe for day to day wear, but come on, let Sheevy have his day to wear crushed velvet and unholy symbols of the dark side. 8/10
Classic 2: The Sequel: Redux: Fresh New Emperor Edition
What’s old is new again. right? Mostly. While this is a good look, it’s not as striking as the look he sported in the Clone Wars, and it’s not as creepy as his original look, either. Also: he gets flipped over a chair by Yoda.
Surprisingly underwhelming, 6/10.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
Is it cheating to count two looks as one? Probably. But the juxtaposition of his original Space Satan look with Kindly Old Grandpappy Palpatine was fucking incredible.
You never forget that he’s a bad guy, but you understand the Empire a little better just looking at Hologram Palpatine -- this is the face he presents to the public, a charming and diplomatic wartime leader turned the greatest champion of peace in the galaxy. It’s a hell of a trick.
Plus, the animated version of the costume is a little more put together than the 1983 version, while still maintaining everything that made the original great. 10/10.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Is this our old pal Sheev? No, technically not, it’s a recording of him being projected by a droid after his death.
Still, I like to think he picked this look out for the Sentinel Droids. Red leather, poofy sleeves, classic Sheev Palpatine material. Also, the faces on top of droids? Very spooky, very necessary, and very Palpatine. A post-mortem message isn’t quite the same with your dead boss staring you in the face.
However, I’m sorry to say, these sentinel droids look cooler without Palpatine’s face being projected in them.
They have a really neat look all of their own, and a dead dictator in a fishbowl doesn’t really add much. 7/10
So classic you don’t even know it’s classic
This is how Palpatine appeared in the original release of The Empire Strikes Back, before Ian McDarmid was even cast in the role. And, if I may say so, this is clearly Sheev’s best appearance. Big spooky hologram, lighting so dark you can’t tell where the shadows end and the black clothing begins, eyes that are probably sunglasses with putty on them -- need I go on?
No. No I don’t. Sheev was facetiming Vader from the fucking Coruscant runway where he was showing of his Sheevy Collection. Everyone else in the galaxy, eat your heart out, you’re never gonna look this good. 1,980/10.
...That applies to everyone except Lando. I can’t even joke about that, the man wears capes as fashion statements, and can turn the most painfully 1970s look into something acceptable. Sorry, I don’t make the rules; that’s just how it is.
