I'm re-reading the Thrawn Trilogy and this show nails the feel of the books. Even if it isn't supposed to be a direct correlation, or maybe a prequel to those books, it just feels right.
Hadn't read the books since they came out. They hold up extremely well. [Reply]
Credit to Disney - these ladies can fill out a uniform, now...
There are some strong asses on this show. I mean it's not like I went into the show looking for it but every other scene Sabine or Hera or Ahsoka or even the padawan baddy will stand sideways and it's just a 'dayum!' moment.
Given recent Disney history (last 2 Star Wars movies, Indiana Jones 5, Captain Marvel, endless list) and Amazon LOTR I am on high alert for annoying Mary Sue bullshit with annoying “overly strong and flawless female characters that could defeat any male in any kind of combat, etc.”
Even though it is a chick-fest, I think the show is pretty well done and I’m enjoying it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DCTwister:
Given recent Disney history (last 2 Star Wars movies, Indiana Jones 5, Captain Marvel, endless list) and Amazon LOTR I am on high alert for annoying Mary Sue bullshit with annoying “overly strong and flawless female characters that could defeat any male in any kind of combat, etc.”
Even though it is a chick-fest, I think the show is pretty well done and I’m enjoying it.
But all of these female characters have flaws, and none of them show any tendencies of the Mary Sue (which is a common thing with Filoni... he, for the large part, does a good job avoiding tropes).
Ahsoka- She's impatient and has exacting standards. She's difficult to get along with and has issues with trusting others.
Sabine - She's headstrong and has a reckless streak. The Force is HARD for her.
Hera - She's a badass (more on this momentarily) woman of action, but it frustrated by the bureacracy that is "in her way" as she tries to deal with threats.
It's a pleasant change and, I think, a great example of how to do "strong lead who happens to be a female" without it being over the top.
Now, back to Hera. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Snaps for you, and that wonderful, wonderful posterior. I see you, girl. I see you. It is a "bad" ass, indeed. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
But all of these female characters have flaws, and none of them show any tendencies of the Mary Sue (which is a common thing with Filoni... he, for the large part, does a good job avoiding tropes).
Ahsoka- She's impatient and has exacting standards. She's difficult to get along with and has issues with trusting others.
Sabine - She's headstrong and has a reckless streak. The Force is HARD for her.
Hera - She's a badass (more on this momentarily) woman of action, but it frustrated by the bureacracy that is "in her way" as she tries to deal with threats.
It's a pleasant change and, I think, a great example of how to do "strong lead who happens to be a female" without it being over the top.
Now, back to Hera. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Snaps for you, and that wonderful, wonderful posterior. I see you, girl. I see you. It is a "bad" ass, indeed.
I agree with all this, especially the part of Winstead's remarkable ass, but still... the only male characters are the main villain and an uppity droid. Oh well. I'm enjoying it. They're like a bunch of Ripleys, not a bunch of Burnhams. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
But all of these female characters have flaws, and none of them show any tendencies of the Mary Sue (which is a common thing with Filoni... he, for the large part, does a good job avoiding tropes).
Ahsoka- She's impatient and has exacting standards. She's difficult to get along with and has issues with trusting others.
Sabine - She's headstrong and has a reckless streak. The Force is HARD for her.
Hera - She's a badass (more on this momentarily) woman of action, but it frustrated by the bureacracy that is "in her way" as she tries to deal with threats.
It's a pleasant change and, I think, a great example of how to do "strong lead who happens to be a female" without it being over the top.
Now, back to Hera. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Snaps for you, and that wonderful, wonderful posterior. I see you, girl. I see you. It is a "bad" ass, indeed.
It's space fiction. The force can be used by someone other than Macho Alpha males. I don't see any "woke" and they all have flaws as you point out very well. Everyone should be able to enjoy this show on its merits. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
I agree with all this, especially the part of Winstead's remarkable ass, but still... the only male characters are the main villain and an uppity droid. Oh well. I'm enjoying it. They're like a bunch of Ripleys, not a bunch of Burnhams.
Well, let’s review male characters that are associated with Hera, Ashoka, and Sabine:
1. Ezra Bridger: Missing in Action, with Thrawn
2. Kanan Jarrus: Dead
3. Anakin Skywalker: Dead
4. Captain Rex: Likely dead
5. Luke Skywalker: Busy failing at raising the next generation of Jedi
6. The Mandalorian: Busy doing Mando things
Any new male protagonist would be a forced-in, add-on to the story. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
It's just a pretty damn good show.
I'll be interested to compare its audience retention to BOBF or Obi-Wan. Because both of those were hot garbage and it was pretty apparent a couple episodes in.
This is much closer to Andor and Mandalorian than those two piles of crap. And even as someone who's unfamiliar with the Rebels canon, I find it entertaining.
Disney needs to understand at this point that they can't coast on the IP. They HAVE to make a quality product.
I’m probably less hard on Obi-Wan and Fett. I seem to be able to put aside the dogshit and appreciate the good parts.
That being said Andor is almost unassailable. This isn’t that. And I think it probably is better than the other 2 but it has yet to have a scene equivalent to the Vader ObiWan fight, which was pretty well done IMO.
This has a few problems. 1. I think it needs some editing. I’m not a Nazi for pacing, but goddamn. 6 minutes in the fucking temple turning shit? Duuuuuude.
2. Ahsoka in Clone Wars and Rebels moved fast and was upbeat. I get that this is the older version of Ahsoka, but other than her head things there aren’t a ton of similarities to the established properties. And I don’t think it’s Dawson. I think she’s pretty good. Hell she was pretty good in Mando, but she wasn’t ever the wise stoic.
3. To my knowledge this is the first I’ve heard of Ahsoka training Sabine. Maybe take 3 of those minutes in the temple and let us catch up. I mean it wasn’t hard to understand, but it didn’t really fit a flow either.
4. I think it’s just a little too big for its britches with the stoicism part. Both with Ahsoka and Sabine. In the cartoons they tackled some heavy ass shit, but they didn’t make the characters boring and lifeless.
Hopefully it comes around, and I think it’s doing a lot right, but it’s certainly not Andor. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
But all of these female characters have flaws, and none of them show any tendencies of the Mary Sue (which is a common thing with Filoni... he, for the large part, does a good job avoiding tropes).
Ahsoka- She's impatient and has exacting standards. She's difficult to get along with and has issues with trusting others.
Sabine - She's headstrong and has a reckless streak. The Force is HARD for her.
Hera - She's a badass (more on this momentarily) woman of action, but it frustrated by the bureacracy that is "in her way" as she tries to deal with threats.
It's a pleasant change and, I think, a great example of how to do "strong lead who happens to be a female" without it being over the top.
Now, back to Hera. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Snaps for you, and that wonderful, wonderful posterior. I see you, girl. I see you. It is a "bad" ass, indeed.
I have no problem with the female aspects here. In fact I hadn’t even noticed. I mean Baylon is pretty awesome, and I have no problem with dude bureaucrats being schlubs.
It all feels reasonable.
And yes. MEW has a very very spectacular ass. [Reply]
The dude in black that fought Ahsoka with the droid on the dock before running away is clearly Ezra Bridger, I don't think you can get a more obvious eventual reveal. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gravedigger:
The dude in black that fought Ahsoka with the droid on the dock before running away is clearly Ezra Bridger, I don't think you can get a more obvious eventual reveal.
All the rumors I've read online actually said it more likely will be
Originally Posted by Fish:
All the rumors I've read online actually said it more likely will be
Spoiler!
Galen Marek (Starkiller)
Spoiler!
That would be an amazing fanboy squee moment if it's revealed (and a badass moment for Sam Witwer to make his live action debut in the SWU), but I don't see it. Starkiller ended up being so powerful as to beat Vader into submission one-on-one; I just couldn't see a scenario where he'd be batting third after Baylon and emo-ish not-padawan in a story about Thrawn and Ezra's eventual return. I have no guess as to who it could be, and like I said I'd love to see that, but it just feels off. Will be happy to eat crow if I'm wrong!