How Raleigh Becket Changed His Tune Once He Met Miss Mako Mori: A Short Story
“You don’t understand, I’m a complicated hero with angst and man pai- OMG SHE’S PERFECT EVERYONE GET IN THE JAEGER WE’RE GOING MONSTER HUNTING”
Oh god I never noticed how his shoulders drop in that last gif. It looks like he is literally sighing over how perfect she is.
He LITERALLY sighs at her when she walks by. NEVER have I seen a main character hero who is an extremely masculine male be SO ADORING of a woman. He has literal stars in his eyes. He’s tipsy on admiration. He looks at her like she brought Christmas and puppies and chocolate cake.
I STAN MANLY MEN WHO ARE RESPECTFUL AND EMOTIONALLY AVAILABLE AND TOTAL EQUALS WITH THEIR LADY FRIENDS
Raleigh treats Mako like the capable adult that she is but he just worships her. He treats her correctly but he walks on air behind her with hearts in his eyes. Dude is crushing hard and still gets what needs to be done done.
What I love so much is that he falls for her but doesn’t use it as an excuse to protect her. So many stories have the guy deciding to wrap the woman he cares for up in cotton and tuck her away where she’ll be safe. Raleigh cares for her enough to actively help her achieve her goals, even if that means putting herself in harm’s way.
Obscure details about Finn that the films don’t tell you
Finn’s squad in the First Order was the FN Corps, who were personally under the command of Captain Phasma. They were made up of FN-2187 (Finn/87), FN-2003 (Slip), FN-2199 (Nines), and FN-2000 (Zeros). Finn was the unofficial leader of the squad.
Finn was one of the best Stormtroopers that the First Order had ever trained and was recognized as Officer Material by Captain Phasma. General Hux had considered him Captain Material. Everyone considered Gina born leader.
Jakku was Finn’s first mission against the Republic, but Finn had gone on other missions before to other planets and had also completed simulations where his kill count would break records. Finn had no issues going to battle with the New Republic. In fact the biggest issue he had was the fact that he was always looking after his less competent squad mate Slip.
Finn would have been one of the best soldiers if it wasn’t for his inability to shoot or harm civilians. An issue that Zeros and Slips did not have. Only Nines did, but still followed Orders. Finn had accepted before Jakku that he’d never be a true Stormtrooper or a soldier in the First Order’s army because of that. This problem caused friction between the other Stormtroopers and with their jealously over his superior skills, Finn became an outcast. Even though Finn could have been the best, he just couldn’t pull the trigger on a civilian.
Finn had never been particularly close with anyone in the First Order but he did regard his squad mates as his comrades and got along well with Nines and tried to look after Slip.
Out of everyone is his squad, Finn is the only confirmed survive. Slip was killed by Poe Dameron on Jakku, Nines had been killed by Han Solo on Takodana, and Captain Phasma had been killed by Finn on the Supremacy. Zeros may be the only survivor as his status is unconfirmed.
(Petition pending to get Michael B. Jordan to play Zeros)
Finn had heard the screams from the Hosnian system as it was destroyed. It was then that Finn made the conscious decision to return to the Resistance and warn them about the First Order’s attack on the Republic BEFORE he found out Rey was kidnapped.
Finn is specialized in all First Order equipment to the point of being a sharp shooter with a blaster, a master of the Z6 baton, and being able to identity any weapon or tech of theirs. That is why he knew what model of tracker the First Order was using in TLJ and was able to identify the mini Death Star canon. 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.
Finn isn’t as naturally skilled with a lightsaber as Rey, but he was skilled to the point that Kylo Ren had been impressed in their duel and weakend even more after fighting him.
Contrary to popular belief, Finn is deeply conflicted about fighting Stormtroopers due to the fact that many of them didn’t have a choice in the matter of who they served under like him. The deleted scene even showed Finn lighting the sparks of a stormtrooper Rebellion within only moments of speaking to them.
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 has earned the right to be called the sequel trilogy protagonist and I’m hoping Episode XI will bring this badass center stage again.
I love these obscure details posts, especially this one. Thank you for making them!
I think what makes Obi-Wan Kenobi such a lasting character in so many of our memories is that, really, he wasn’t special. At all. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. He wasn’t the strongest or the smartest or some sort of Chosen One child prodigy. He had to fight tooth and nail from the very beginning to become a Jedi Knight (in the Apprentice books, while it’s never outright stated, it can be surmised that the reason Qui-Gon was his last chance to become a Padawan was because everyone else before him had passed over Obi-Wan without a second thought), and the entire time he was one, man, it was trial after trial thrown his way. Loved ones dying, war starting, torture, you name it. It’s like his whole *life* was the Trial, not just one battle with Maul. In the face of that, anyone else would have just given up. They would have fallen to the sheer despair of it all (literally and figuratively, in the Jedi sense).
But not Obi-Wan.
Determination, that’s what makes him fantastic. A resolve so deep that no matter what’s thrown at him, no matter how many times he’s knocked down, he gets back up. He keeps trying. Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn’t fall, and while I love a good FallenJedi!Obi-Wan as much as the next nonbinary doof, the original one – the one that felt the sweet caress of the Dark Side when he fought Maul yet still managed to turn away from it, a Jedi Knight born from the Dark Side, how ironic; the one that spent two decades in a desert after watching everyone he cared for kill or be killed; the one that fought to be who he was until the end – that’s the guy we all fell in adoration with. The guy that always climbs back up when he falls. The human embodiment of never give up, never surrender!
Clones don’t get paid. Instead, they get issued credit vouchers to use out on the town. 79′s and a few other establishments accept these.
The medics in each unit work together to give a presentation reminding everyone about protection and consent and sexually-transmitted infections, complete with pictures and species-specific information. If anyone has any questions or “asking for a brother” potential situations, please come ask; we don’t want another situation like Sling over here who sprouted purple spots all over his legs and told us he karking didn’t know how it happened. Thanks, vod.
These quickly devolve into good-natured pandemonium with somepeople trying to embarrass the medics with ridiculous questions (“Hey doc: the condom goes overthe twig and berries, right?”). The medics roll their eyes and take it on the chin, because ridiculousness is better than a silent lecture hall during question-time, but Force help these mir’shebe afterwards.
The water pressure in the showers is literally the greatest thing. No sithspit weak-stream trickle or (thank the Force) the sonic showers the cruisers have. Conversely, the towels are blindingly white, thin, scratchy, and generally unsatisfying.
For many battle-tested clones, the smell of industrial cleaner is associated with safety.
If someone wants a paint job—tattoo or armour—now’s the time to do it.
The more artistically inclined among the troopers do touch-ups on the
LAAT/i noses too.
Some clones from deployed units get heated with the Coruscant Guard because they’re not real troopers, when’s the last time you had to drag your vod away from the heat because his shin’s just not there anymore and he’s screaming like a dying mynock—((take a walk, brother, we’re all on the same side here.))
If you’re not a raging besom, maybe one of the Guardsmen will let you borrow from their Lost-and-Found of civilian clothing. (Some of those may or may not have been pilfered from careless birthborn officers.) These clothes are usually used as costumes or props in talent show competitions held between units or platoons.
Playing Two Truths and A Lie about crazy osik they’ve seen Jedi do
“They threw me off a wall, Cody. No warning, off a fucking wall—I thought I was gonna die.”
Some like the on-base holofilm theater, sitting unbothered in the dark, watching some half-decent romcom so they don’t have to think about that upcoming assignment on Bothawui.
“Why don’t they just talk to her about their feelings?” “I dunno, Resol; you asking me to fuckin’ explain birthborn psychology to you? Buggered if I know.” “No, but couldn’t they both just—” “To the drongos up front: shut up; some of us are trying to watch!”
Shrieks of “Kandosii!!” and “Kote!!” from the meshgeroya / limmie field (the older batches prefer the former term, the younger ones the latter). Matches between pilots and ground-pounders can get…interesting.
Since they have the downtime, units typically do their Remembrances now. Saying (or singing) the names of all their dead vode can take a long time (General Koon’s troopers’ list is currently pushing 7.8 standard hours), so soldiers take half-hour shifts, scrolling past name after name (some, only numbers) on the screen. The room’s acoustics make their voices echo, swirling the dead around and around the living.
No one’s ever really gone; they’re just marching far away.
R&R eventually makes the troopers restless, so they’re glad to leave when a new assignment comes down. When they’re out of atmo, some look back at the glittery planet, wondering if it’s the last time they’ll see Triple Zero.
Clones might not get paid, but they have a preternatural ability to get hold of credits. The quartermaster is a very popular man during R&R for his ability to sell GAR supplies under the table.
Packing up to leave means trying to stash as much contraband as possible for trade or consumption during deployment. ARCs are especially suspect.
Sitting in the windows of tapcafs and people-watching, marveling at all the different species with all the different faces (so many different faces! how do civilians keep track of them all?)
A much annotated and updated list of Free Or Cheap Places To Go That Won’t Throw Us Out, Don’t Fuck It Up For The Rest Of Us.
Wearing armour because it’s easier to hide in your helmet when everyone stares.
Not wearing armour because it’s easier to dance in, even if everyone stares.
Satine is…
complicated. But, if were are being honest, most of the issues surrounding the character
can be traced back to the writers. That being said, I don’t think she is weak
as much as she was under-developed and borderline offensive.
She was
clearly created to be Obi-wan’s love interest. Her role was to create some
intrigue and then die. She was there for Obi-wan’s manpain. And fans more
familiar with the trope could see the end coming from the moment she was
introduced.
She was
used to whitewash Mandalore. The moment Mandalore first appeared in TCW
everyone was shocked to see how white™ it was. Mandolare is one of the most
famous planets in the franchise, a planet known for its non-white citizens so
when the planet was portrayed as the whitest planet to ever white people were rightfully
offended. To make matters worse they tried to justify it by saying Satine and
her allies (the white citizens) saved Mandalore by casting out the bad ones
like Jango Fett (a moc). Then to make matters even worse the new canon tried to
fix the situation by saying the Fetts are not REAL mandalorians, in a misguided
attempt to camouflage Satine TCW writers’s terrible choices. So now one of the most beloved cultures in the GFFA, one of the few mostly
depicted by poc became a mostly white planet. That’s offensive.
People were upset and Satine, as the leader, became
a really disliked figure
Personally, I don’t
blame Satine for it because it’s clearly the result of the writers poor life
choices but when discussing the characters in-universe, no…Satine is not an innocent leader who loves democracy. She profited from cultural/racial profiling and kept her power by supporting ethnic
cleansing.
Satine’s
political views are nothing like Padmé’s. Padmé had long list of flaws but
unlike Satine, the moment she realized how her people had alienated part of the
planet she immediately tried to fix things. Satine insisted on her extremism. But,
again, I see this as a result of tone-deaf writers than intentional character development.
We can see this by how they react when accused of whitewashing Mandalore: they
have no idea what they were doing. I honestly don’t think the writers
understood how bad they made Satine’s political choices look. They went for a pacifist
but created a leader who is supporting ethnic cleansing.
I think
they tried to create an Anidala parallel with Obitine but oh boy, how that didn’t
work. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Obitine. But it makes no sense for Obi-wan to
behave like Anakin and have a secret, forbidden, all-consuming love with a politician.
That’s not who Obi-wan is. And we don’t know who Satine is because we never got
to see enough of her to understand who she is and what motivates her.
Comparing
Satine with Padmé only works on the superficial level: they are both wealthy,
privileged politicians with a love for fashion and handsome Jedi. but Satine,
unlike Padmé, we never got to see what’s underneath that. We never see her away
from politics and her love interest.
People
dislike Satine for a lot of reason but when we look at it objectively, it’s
hard to blame it all on her and not the writers. Padmé was the main female character,
she was already developed so it was only a matter of adding more. Satine unfortunately,
wasn’t so lucky. She felt victim of the writers’ sexism and less than ideal approach to important
social/ethical topics.
wrennette 