I'll just say now, I don't consider Disney's crappy attempt at fanfiction to be canon at all. Besides anything else, to write fanfiction, you have to be, well, a fan, right? This is more like spitefiction.
Anyway, I came across this on YouTube, and was really impressed! There is one point in particular in the analysis that I disagree with: I don't think Han's character was handled well at all. It seems they've just completely undone all his development over the OT, and turned him into a deadbeat dad and useless husband. Nope, that's not Han.
Disney: crapping on the Star Wars legacy one OT character at a time.
Regards to the rewrite, I'm basically accepting this as canon. A couple of things, though. I think Luke's coldness to Rey should have been more subtle. Have it so that Luke's making an effort to be encouraging, but that both Rey and the audience can see it's not genuine. Luke just being outright cold to her whole life would basically make Luke a bully, even emotionally abusive. Luke wouldn't behave like that. He'd at least try, if for nothing else than to stop her developing negative feelings that would lead her to the dark side.
Also, the Yuuzhan Vong have apparently been around for like over 50 years, but only attack now. There doesn't seem to be an explanation for why they hung around so long before attacking, especially as they could have attacked right after Return of the Jedi, when the Empire was on its last legs and the New Republic hadn't had time to get started and build up a navy.
I would also have liked Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker to have been in this, even if they were killed off before the story started. We need more Mara Jade!
Anyway, enough complaining. Despite these bugbears, I loved this rewrite, it's my headcanon for the sequel. I'd love the creator to pair up with a writer and make a full 3 part novelisation!
PS. No I haven't watched the Disney trilogy, I have no intention of doing so. I don't need to taste a dog turd to know I won't like it. I already dealt with crappy sequels and beloved original franchise characters being ruined when I played Apollo Justice, and it was even worse than I'd thought. I had to headcanon Phoenix into someone called Bob (not Bob Loblaw, sadly) and I'm not paying Disney money to do the same for Luke Skywalker Jake Greenmilker. I get way too overinvested in fictional characters; I know my limits!
Okay the prequels seem kinda crap, and mess with my AU headcanon, but it also sounds like 6 hours of non-stop memes, so I'm feeling kinda tempted!
Edit: I did it (dew it!). I bought the prequels. I've watched Episode I, and I liked it. Not a patch on the OT, but it was still good. Even Jar Jar wasn't as annoying as I expected. But then I live with 3 little kids who watch PJ Masks and Masha. I have a high tolerance for OTT annoying kids show characters. Actually, not true. I hate Masha with a passion. Jar Jar > Masha for sure.
The kids have been getting super frustrated during lockdown, and tantrums and general bad behaviour are on the increase. So here's an idea I thought of to encourage good behaviour, and give me something to occupy my time too.
It all started with The Missing Luke Skywalker Trading Card. I had one of these when I was about 14 or 15. I may have kept it in my Sonic the Hedgehog ringbinder, and it may not be there anymore, and I may be really sad about that.
Just bear in mind, unless you're using either your own photos/images or images you have permission to freely distribute, these need to be for personal use only. No sharing among school-friends or the kids on the street. Hence I will not be uploading the files, but I will tell you an easy and cheap way to make your own!
Please read through this site. It's obvious the government is putting protecting its rich mates above protecting the population. Know your rights!
Section 44. provides employees with the means to contest the adequacy and/or suitability of safety arrangements without fear of recriminations (e.g. getting sacked or transferred) or suffering detriment (e.g. loss of wages).
Section 44. provides employees with the 'right' to withdraw from and to refuse to return to a workplace that is unsafe. Employees are entitled to remain away from the workplace (e.g. stay at home) if – in their opinion – the prevailing circumstances represent a real risk of serious and imminent danger which they could not be expected to avert.
Section 44. entitles employees to claim for 'Constructive Dismissal' and (unlimited) compensation in the event that an employer fails to maintain safe working conditions.
Since I'd run out of craft projects and had 3 canvasses gathering dust, I decided now was the time to try this out!
You will need:
Acrylic paint, in 3-4 colours of your choice. Try to choose colours that will look good together. Sometimes you think colours go well together and then when you try it out, they don't. I learnt this from experience.
Water. Distilled is best, but I used tap water and it was fine
Small cups or bowls
A blank pre-primed canvas. It might be a good idea to start with a small canvas the first time
Glitter or gold leaf. Optional, but adds a nice touch.
Stirring sticks
Old newspaper, plastic sheeting or anything else to catch the mess. There probably will be a lot of mess
Cocktail stick or toothpick, to help create feathering patterns. Optional
Rubber gloves. Optional, but recommended
Something sturdy to hold up your canvas while drying. I used my paint bottles
A desk fan. Optional, but greatly speeds up drying time
So I gave in to the temptation, and finally watched the original Star Wars trilogy! I got the first DVD release edition. It still has some of the extra stupid CGI additions, but not as much as later releases. Only problem was, it did not want to work on Windoze 7! Darned copy-protection! After 2 hours of tinkering, I worked out that you need VLC Player, plus Make MKV and then go to Make MKV's options and select the VLC option and it should work like a dream!
I don't get why they felt the need to cheesecake the characters?! [Edit: I see it's from the original movie poster. Still pointless cheesecake though.]
I also find it interesting that these are all rated Universal, but Toy Story is PG? Tiny ended up getting nightmares about the Wampa in Episode V. I forgot to censor it on her second viewing :O
Tiny thinks "Daft Vader" looks really cute on the cover of VI. She thinks he looks even cuter than Luke, and that's really saying something (she absolutely fangirls Luke Skywalker, he's her favourite and best). Anyway, I can sort of see what she means. The highlights on his eyes kinda chibify his mask a bit in this shot!
Anyway, that's enough of that.
I'm going to say first of all, I did enjoy the films. They kept me gripped from beginning to end. Although RotJ did seem to drag a little during the Endor scenes.
But there are things that, in my own opinion, could have been better. Namely:
Not enough world-building
Not enough character development
Too many badly cobbled together retcons
Obviously, spoilers to follow!
This is a thing that bugs me: the deleted scene with Biggs and Luke,
besides missing out on the chance to make that moisture-farmers' hat iconic, addressed the first two points more than any other scene in the trilogy. This is just a personal thing for me, but I like a story to have a mix of plot and character development. I like to know what drives a character to make the decisions they do, I want to know the thoughts behind their actions, I want to get to know them as people. Sadly for me, it seemed the characters were, for the most part, completely plot-centric. For example, when Han decides to join the resistance, I was like "Yay!" but also "Why?" What made him go from being totally mercenary and only caring about saving his own skin to putting another target on his head by joining the rebellion? Because of Leia? But why? I'm sure he wouldn't be short of female attention, why would he risk everything just cos the girl is pwetty? Even so, out of the human cast, Han does seem to have the most developed personality (out of all the cast, it's easily C-3PO and R2).
Leia is Generic Strong Female No.1, and Luke, well, Luke is just a good guy. He has character traits (ever the optimist, and going from naive in ANH to a wise Jedi in RotJ), but nothing really to show he has a life outside the films' plot. Yet in the deleted scene, you actually see more of his hinterland. You see he has friends, he has a best friend Biggs, he has a sense of humour, he is fascinated by the rebellion against the Empire (and if you read the novelisation, he also used to have a puppy).
You also get more world-building in that scene than you do in the rest of the trilogy. That one scene brought out the whole galaxy-wide resentment of the Empire, the inevitability of the Empire conquering everything, Luke's desire to join the rebellion, and just how frustrated he is being stuck on Tatooine. I actually got a feel of what it was like living under the Empire. You see glimpses of it in other scenes, but this one brought it out the most vividly. I just don't get why they cut that. It could easily have been inserted before the sunset scene, after all, Luke did mention wanting to visit Tosche Station when Owen was buying the droids. Or even, if it really did mess up the flow so much, it could have been added to the DVD as a bonus scene.
People want different things from a film, and I just would have preferred more "Show, not tell" from it.
Okay point 3, the retconning. Yeah, Lucas got lucky with his "I am your father" retcon, but also not that much. It's obvious that in New Hope, Lucas did have Anakin as dead, literally killed by Vader. Pay attention to the wording used by Ben.
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."
None of it makes sense if he knew that Darth was Anakin all along. It's just way too specific, plus it makes Obi-Wan an outright liar. Anakin is at this point still a goodie. A dead one, granted, but still a goodie.
Also: "Your father wanted you to have this [his lightsaber]." Your father who didn't know you existed? Nooooo.
He even calls Vader "Darth" when they fight on the Death Star. "Only a master of evil, Darth."
Obvious retcon is obvious.
Owen and Beru's "He's getting more and more like his father" conversation also doesn't make sense in the context of Anakin turning evil. It only makes sense in the context of Anakin going off on "damned fool idealistic crusades" with Obi-Wan and getting himself killed, and Luke looking like he's going the same way. No sign they're worried that Luke is going to turn to the dark side! Plus if Luke is meant to be hiding away from his now evil dad, why does he still have the name Skywalker, make no attempt to hide this, live with his step-family (if they were even step-family at this point and not blood-family) and Red Leader knew Anakin and knew that he had a son! RETCON!
Okay, I know this was probably obvious to everyone who watched the classic trilogy, but apparently there are some people who still think Lucas had this plot twist planned all along. It's ridiculous!
Then there's the retcons caused by the prequels: one that stands out is Leia having a memory of their birth mother, but this is retconned in the prequel where their mother dies in childbirth.
In my Legendary Yoda book, it says Yoda didn't want to train Anakin as a Jedi as, at 10 years old, he was too old, but then he trains Luke, a grown man! And he also completes his training in what seems like days!
Yes, I'm the kind of person who can't see the forest for the trees. None of these things stopped me from enjoying the films, but they do still bug me. So I'm replacing badly-retconned canon with headcanon. [Actually, I've been meaning to re-write this to include Nellith, but I still haven't got round to it.]
Anakin Skywalker and his twin brother Darth Skywalker were Jedi-in-training, students of Obi-Wan Kenobi. While Anakin was compliant and co-operative, Darth always had more of an independent streak, questioning things more than his more docile twin, wanting to follow the Jedi principles of spreading truth and justice, but wanting to do it on his own terms. However, they were both very close, and followed similar paths in life.
While Jedi were dissuaded from marrying, it was not forbidden. Darth, being a bit of a rebel, married publicly, whereas Anakin kept his marriage hidden, even from his own brother, as he saw it as a sign of his lack of discipline; being a good Jedi who followed the rules was very important to him.
Therefore, when his wife fell pregnant, he sent her to Tatooine to live with his sister, Beru Skywalker, and Beru's husband Owen Lars. Things were getting dangerous now that the Separatists had declared outright war, and he wanted her and his unborn child to be safe. Plus his brother Darth had started to show worrying signs of moving away from the Light side. Anakin knew he'd made the right decision in hiding his marriage. Worried about Darth's behaviour, he confided in his master, Obi-Wan. He revealed that he and his wife were expecting a child, and that should anything happen to him, he would like Kenobi to watch over his child, and train the child in the ways of the Jedi once it was old enough. He handed over his lightsaber, entrusting it to Kenobi until he felt the time was right to pass it on.
Meanwhile, Darth was succumbing to the Dark side. His parents were killed, his home planet ravaged, and his Jedi comrades were falling one by one. As his wife was fleeing their home planet, the refugee ship she was on was attacked and destroyed. She was pregnant at the time, and Darth was demented with grief, losing both his wife and his unborn child in one blow. He wondered what good fighting for justice, and being a goodie-goodie like his brother, actually was. His bitterness increased, and the fall wasn't hard. He renounced the Skywalker name, henceforth calling himself Darth Vader.
But Darth's wife had survived the attack: she and a few others managed to get to an escape pod in time. She reached the safety of Alderaan, where she was taken in by a noble family. She hid her real identity, and never let them know that she was the wife of a fallen Jedi. She gave birth to a daughter, Leia.
Meanwhile on Tatooine, Anakin's wife gave birth to a boy, whom she named Luke. Sadly, she died shortly after giving birth, and the child was adopted by his aunt and uncle.
Leia's mother died when Leia was 4 years old. The couple who had offered them sanctuary were childless, and since they had no way of tracing any family for the girl, they adopted her and raised her as their own, even bestowing the title of princess on her.
Anakin and Obi-Wan tried to get Darth back to the Light side, but it was no use. The fall was complete. Obi-Wan and Anakin fought in vain; Anakin losing his life to the twin brother he had loved all his life.
Obi-Wan fled to Tatooine, changing his name to Ben. Hoping to be able to pass on his training to Anakin's son, he was surprised to find Owen and Beru not allowing him any access to their nephew; if it weren't for Kenobi, they said, the child would at least have one parent. They told him to stay away from Luke, and forbade him to mention any nonsense about Jedi. They concocted a story about Anakin being a navigator on a spice freighter, if Luke ever asked.
When Luke was 19, his R2 droid led him to Ben Kenobi, who told him the truth about his father, that he was betrayed and murdered by a student of his, Darth Vader. He told him about the Jedi, and handed him his father's lightsaber. Luke was intrigued, and was curious about the rebellion, but his uncle's brainwashing served its purpose. Like his father before him, Luke had a tendency to be compliant.
After Owen and Beru were murdered by Stormtroopers, Luke joined the rebellion, having no idea that the enemy was his own uncle.
When Darth heard a 19 year old Skywalker was among the rebels — one that seemed to be Force-sensitive too! — he felt certain that his wife and child had somehow survived the attack. This, then, was his son! He was determined to find his child that he was so sure he'd lost, and maybe even his wife! Together, they would join him on the Dark side, and his family would be complete.
Luke and Darth eventually have a showdown: Darth proclaims that he is the father of Luke, who can't believe it's true. Later, when he meets Kenobi's Force ghost on Dagobah, Kenobi insists that he did not lie: Anakin was dead, slain at the hands of Darth. Luke is confused: why did Darth tell him that he was his father? Kenobi reveals something: Darth was once also a Skywalker, the brother of Anakin. He wasn't aware that Darth's wife was pregnant, but putting the pieces together, it would seem that maybe Darth's wife did survive the attack on the refugee ship over 20 years ago, and Darth could have fathered a child. The question is, what happened to that child? Did it and its mother survive? If so, where are they now?
Luke sets out to find out what happened to his missing aunt and cousin. Plus, if his cousin was Force-sensitive, another Jedi would be a great asset to the cause. A chance conversation with Leia reveals that she was adopted, and that her birth mother died when she was a toddler. Luke probes: does she know more about her mother's history? Leia's memory of her birth mother is hazy, but her description matches what Kenobi had told him about Darth's wife. Was this his missing cousin? Should he tell her? How would she react, knowing that the man she despises above all others, the man who allowed her planet to be destroyed, is her father? What if he's wrong?
Luke is burdened by his secret. He manages to find people who knew more about the escape pod that made it to Alderaan. Discussing it with Kenobi's Force ghost, he is sure now that Leia is the missing child of Darth. He decides that for his father's sake, and his cousin's, he must get Darth back to the Light side. Before confronting Darth, he reveals to Leia the story of their family. Leia is heartbroken, but in a way, maybe she knew all along that there was a connection there; she just didn't want to confront it. Leia tries to dissuade him: how can he succeed where even his father failed, and even if he could, how could Leia ever forgive Darth for all the suffering he's caused? But Luke's mind is made up: there is some good there, he knows it. He'll find it, and Darth can finally get to know his daughter. Leia isn't sure, but she can see that Luke has made his decision. As he's about to leave, she stops him. If he does succeed, she tells him quietly, let Darth know that she'd like to see him.
Luke and Darth showdown for the final time. Luke reveals to Darth that he isn't his son, but Anakin's, and he knows where Darth's daughter is. Luke tells Darth he will succeed for his father's sake, for the sake of his mother, his aunt, and his cousin. For Obi-Wan, Owen, Beru, Biggs. As he fights his nephew, Darth remembers in flashes what it was like to love, rather than hate. He remembers what it was like to be surrounded by a family, to feel safe, to feel at peace. He realises he has a family again: a daughter and a nephew. But no — that is weakness. He's made a choice, and he will follow it through, even if it means losing his family once again.
But seeing Luke cry out in pain when Palpatine attacks him with Force Lightning, the memories get stronger. Anakin, his wife, his parents, his teacher. Family, love, happiness. He wants those things back. His heart breaks seeing his nephew suffer. He remembers the suffering he caused to his beloved brother Anakin, and his heart is rent asunder. He has a chance to put things right, he has a chance to fill the void in his soul. Darth makes a choice, and finally, Luke succeeds where his father failed. Darth has returned to the Light side.
Darth uses the last of his strength to dispose of Palpatine, but he is badly injured, he will not live to see his daughter. Luke tells him it's Leia — Leia is his missing child. Darth smiles, glad to know that his child survived, and proud of what she grew up to be. Luke looks upon Darth's face, tells him that Leia wanted to see him if he returned. Darth says he too, wishes he could say a final goodbye to his daughter, and Darth passes in Luke's arms.
Headcanon FTW! I'm not saying this is better than the canon, it's just an alternate take on what could have happened if Lucas stuck to his original story. I just wish the canon plot wasn't so shoddily retconned, that's all! Edit: After I found out about Nellith, I planned on reworking this to include her, but I don't know when I'll get round to it. I have no plans to watch the other trilogies, as I'm not sure my head won't explode from all the other retcons.I did end up watching the prequels, and they were bad, but also pretty fun.
I think that's what it's called. So here we go, and I finally got to do my red and black theme!
The decor on this was absolutely hideous. I can't even describe how awful the master bedroom wallpaper was. It had to go.
One thing to bear in mind about this one is that it is wider than the other three, so I had to get the one with the dust cover, as it had to go on the top of the display shelves. Otherwise Biscuit would have quickly done some "redecoration" of his own.
This one seemed to be from the same manufacturer as my first dollshouse (Elegant Times 2018?), but there has been an improvement. You actually get a sheet with all the pieces mapped out so you can easily see which piece is which.
As I said in a previous post, you CAN use LIT on fabric. Previously, I used LIT mixed in with Tulip Fashion Glitter Bond, which I piled over dried fabric paint. While it worked, it didn't look very attractive, appearing very lumpy and just amateurish in general. This time, I tried LIT mixed in with the Tulip Glow fabric paints, and the result looks super good! It has a very painterly look, quite like watercolour at times.
I used LIT in the four available colours: original green, blue, pink and yellow; plus Tulip Glow fabric paint in pink, blue and yellow. Plus various Tulip Slick paints in neon.
So for my first experiment, I mixed up some Pink LIT with pink glow paint, and this time I used a regular paintbrush. So far, so good! The fabric did absorb quite a lot of paint (do make sure to place at least 1 layer of card inside the t-shirt. It's touch-dry within about 10 minutes, I think. I didn't time it, but it really wasn't long.
After the success of the faerie bedroom, I wanted to extend that and make a full building. This is going to go to B as soon as I can trust him not to destroy it (it may be a matter of years). I'm not sure what scale this is, but it's definitely smaller than 1:24. The only thing is, I have no idea why I went with a bookshop, given how darn tedious making miniature books is. No really, it's tedious.
For the structure and furniture, I used that card thingie that I still don't know the actual name of [edit: it's called greyboard or mountboard]. I used acrylic paint to paint it, scrapbook design paper for the walls and floors, cardstock for the window and door frames, and clear cellophane for the glass. For the decorations, I used beads, tissue paper, scrap fabric and leftover bits from my dollshouse kits.
I bought this Fimo like 9 years ago, and never really got very far with it. I've been watching a lot of NerdECrafter lately (and picking up way too many of her mannerisms, especially the "stop messin' ma stuff!"), and Tiny really wanted me to make a faerie garden, so inspired by this video, I thought I'd have another go with the Fimo, and see if I could make something passable.
I had two major problems:
The Fimo was 9 years old, and had long since hardened and become impossible to use
I have a gas oven, not an electrical one, and getting the oven to stay at 110° is not so easy (last time I made anything with Fimo, it had scorch marks around the edges)
How to Recondition a Hardened Block of Fimo
You may have seen several tutorials telling you to add vegetable or baby oil to Fimo to soften it.
As I mentioned, the kids are really into Star Wars. I originally planned on making full-sized lightsabers, but then I realised, dang, that would be expensive. Plus the potential for actual casualties would be high, so I scaled things right down to dolly-sized.
These lightsabers actually light up!
If you read this post, you'd know I now have the full complement of LIT paints. Now, LIT is expensive, so you can substitute this with any glow-in-the-dark paints you have, it just won't be as cool.
Yeah, I did it again. Here is the one I chose this time:
That's the default style. Originally I was planning on doing a complete repaint, as I did with Blue Times, but I do have a weakness for pink, but at the same time, I wanted to introduce a little more variation, and make it more "mine". So the red-and-black theme will have to be saved for the next one (and yes, there will be a next one).
The Chipmunk and I got a plain wooden box from The Works. The Chipmunk couldn't think of how to decorate it, so of course Crafty Auntie (who is apparently just a bigger Mummy?) stepped in. He wanted to just paint the whole thing blue, with his very own blue glitter paint, but I told him, that's boring, if we're gonna do it, let's do it properly! (We did paint the inside of the lid blue, though.)
