Finished Heir to the Empire. I'll get to the other Thrawn trilogy books soon, but first I have to finish The Hero of Ages and maybe the first Imperial Radch book. I have to say that I liked it a lot. It's also interesting to see the state of Star Wars before things like the Sith and the Clone Wars were as they are now. Also I just really like that it was something new for me? I like The Force Awakens but far too much of it felt like a retread of A New Hope. This was a far preferable continuation. Also Thrawn is cool and he's blue, which is always a plus. On that note, the trailer for the next film leaves me hopeful that some of my complaints about how the Force works will be addressed in a manner I won't hate. I have exceptionally little faith that this will indeed be the case, but I can dream anyway. If it doesn't rest assured that I will continue writing my Kencyrath au which partly serves as a fixfic for Star Wars.
Not sure what I'll do after the Thrawn books Star Wars wise though. Thinking of tackling the NJO. Then probably LotF. Got the first books in each. Gods there are ton of those though. Fuck my life.
So now I am curious after listening to How Star Wars Conquered the Universe and talking with a friend of mine about the stuff we like in Star Wars. What kind of fan are you? What is your particular interest in the franchise? What is, if you have one, the one specific thing for which you will die for that colors how you interact with the rest of Star Wars media? AND WHY. Because there's many kinds of Star Wars fans. There's lots of us and we all like different things and take different things away from the franchise. I for example don't really care about the films. The original trilogy and TFA in particular I find just kind of ok. They're fun to watch but they don't capture my imagination and obsession. The prequels veer closer to it with its greater focus on politics, the dangers of organized religion, and so on but those were pulled off terribly and also they just don't get as deep into the nitty gritty as I'd like. But RepComm? RepComm is for me what Star Wars just kind of is. The details are critical to me. There's a very strong cultural base in those books that is expanded upon book after book and I adore that. It also homes in on some of the things that bothered me in the prequels and really, really goes to fucking town on them. The political corruption, the effects that an emotionally repressive religion has on people, the fact that however we cut it the clones are a slave army of children, the confusing nature of the conflict and so on. It took things that I saw as potential, gleaming bits of truly interesting shit in the prequels. And it expanded upon those and ironed them out. Creating this lovely, horrifying picture. Also it's military fiction and I adore military fiction because fuck if I know. Like not books with militaries or wars, but books that are like...about militaries and military culture. Which then leads to what my true fancy Star Wars interest is beyond RepComm. It's the Mandalorians. Specifically the Celt inspired Mandos of Traviss' books. These brutal, passionate, tribalistic people who adopt absolutely anyone who can make the cut. With all the loving little details in the culture. Things like handshakes and religion and how they feel about their armor and so on and so forth. You can even find glimpses of their culture in their language in terms of how words are derived or used. And it's just such a lovely culture too. One that feels homely in a way, even if I know I could never make it physically in it because of numerous reasons. Them Mandos though. THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. Thrawn may be fast approaching "This is Star Wars" territory too. I have to read the other books with him in them though. But god damn did he get a fabulous start. Tarkin, as in the book, is up there too. So again I enjoy heavily militaristic Star Wars, with an intriguing focus on culture. Be it the culture of an entire race, or that of the Imperial Navy and one particular odd man out's command, or that of a particularly powerful family. And that shapes how I interact with the rest of the media. I look at things, specifically searching for cultural bits and bobs. I look at the prequels not for their story per se, but to eek out the bits that it says about the Jedi Order at the time. I look at Kotor not for its plot, but for the culture and the view points people have on things. What little details can I rip from things that allow me to think about and construct things. Little small cultural building blocks to create a grand whole that I actually like. As opposed to many complete things, many of which I am somehow disappointed by. The Disney purchase wasn't a bad thing for me. For me it was just an excuse to mix and match my toys more to create MY Star Wars. Which is a heavily detail oriented thing, focused primarily on culture, religion, and the military or other martial professions. But other people have a very different Star Wars. And that's neat.
The Monster Factory boy audio over vids of beautiful fictional boys is my favorite meme. I'm so pleased that it's a Thing.
This was posted elsewhere but let's share it here too. And keep sharing it here. I am putting stupi amounts of work into this project so why the fuck not. Other things on my list to handle are breaking down and finding all the possible morphemes of Mando'a, marking out which are bound and free, and trying to figure out the rules for various kinds of word making. "So one thing I really love in regards to languages is morphology, the way in which words are made. It's a pretty broad topic in terms of what it consists of, but things like "Can you compound two words to make a new word?" and "What are valid combinations of letters and sounds for a new word?" play into it. I've decided to spend some time looking at that aspect of Mando'a for fun, and to show what I've come up with or what I'm working on. Right now I'm working on figuring out the canonically valid vowel-consonant strings. So the word "solus" is a string of a "cvcvc" pattern, for example. But "chaab" is a pattern of "cvvc" (or "cvc"). The first step in this is getting all the words into groups based on word length so when I start jotting down the strings I'll be able to sort through the things easier, so that cutting out repeats is easier for me. I'm about halfway through that. Then after that I'll take a look at the combinations in which sounds appear and jot down all the valid digraphs and trigraphs, be they diphthongs/triphongs or consonant clusters. The positions of the digraphs and trigraphs needs to be marked down too. Things like this provide the rules for which new roots can be made, or how words need to be shifted sound wise when combined or altered in some fashion. It's why you don't see a bunch of native English words starting with "vl", for example. Natively that isn't a valid initial cluster and we don't seem keen on making it one. Some neat things I've found so far is that there's a LOT of five letter words. While I have plenty of four, six, and seven letter long words five seems to be the most common word length in terms of letters. I'll want to break these down into syllables too at some point, mostly just for fun. Along with being broken down by phoneme number, that is the distinct amount of sounds in a word. "Chaab" is five letters long, but it's only four phonemes long. That is "ch", "a", "a", and "b". And if you don't want to include short vs. long vowel distinction then it would only be three phonemes long. I'm not really sure what could be done with any of this. But it is fun. I'll also want to look at other bits of how words are formed in detail too. Specifically the ways in which new words are formed based off pre-existing roots. Though so far, without really digging into things and just based off my experience, one of the main ways in which they're constructed is to compound roots together. Adding on of prepositions and affixes is another way in which many words are formed. "Ba'gedet'ye" also provides an example of what may be a dative construction, as seen in languages like Finnish. EDIT: The list of words by letter lengths is done. Words range from 1 to 12 letters long. 5, 6, and 7 letter long words appear to be the most common. 1, 2, 11, and 12 seem to be the least common lengths. I'll bother with numbers later. Next step is working through the vowel-consonant strings. The list contains the affixes so far, but those will be removed as they aren't free morphemes."
"Alright. I have finally gone through the whole list. I've done my best to ensure that there are no repeats, but I'll have to go through this again to make sure because I know for a fact that there are still some there. Somewhere. But for now here is the list (which will probably need to be edited). Key: C=consonant V=vowel S=semi-vowel (y in certain positions) V C' VC CV VCV CVS VCC CVC CVV CSC VVCVCV VCVS VCVV VCCC VVCV VCSC CVVV CVVC VCVC CCVS CVSV VCSC CVSC VVCVC VVCVS VCVCC VCVVC VCVCV CVCVC CVCSC CVCCV CCVVC CVSCV CVSCV CSVCV CVCVV VCCSV CVVCV CVCSC CSCCS CVVCC CVVVC CVCVS CSCVC CVVSC CSCVC VCVSV VSVCV VSVSC CVVCC CVCVV CCVCV CVCSC CVVSC CCVVC VCVSC VCCVC CVCVCV CVCCSV CVCCSC CVCCV CVVCSC CVVCVC CVVCCV CVCVCC CCVCVV CSVCVC CSVCCV CSCVSC CSCSVC CSCVVC CVVCSC CVCSCV CVVCCV CVCVVV CVSCVC CVVCSC VCVCSC CCVCVC CCVCVV CVCVSC CVCSCV CVCCSC CCCVVC CCVVCV VCCVCV CVVVCV CVVCVS CVVCVV VCVVCVC VCVVCVV VCVCVCV VCVCVVC VCCVCCV VCVVCCV VCVVCSC VCCVCVC CVVCCVC CVCVCVC CVCSCVC CVCCVVC CVCVSC CCVVCVC CVVCCV CVCCVC CVSCVCV CVCCVCV CVCVCCV CSVCVCV CVCSCVC VCVSCV VCVCCVC CVVCVCV CVVCVCV CVVCVSC CSCCVC CVVCCVC CVCSCV CVCCCV CVCCSCV CVCVVCV CVCCVSC CVCVCSC CVCVCVV CVCCVVC VCCVCVV VCVCSV CCVCVVC VCVCCVC CVCVVSC CVCVCSC CVCVCVV CVCVCSC CVCCVSC CSCVCCV CSCVCVC CVCVV CVCCVVV CVCSCV CVSCVVV CVCCVCC CVCCVCV CCVCVCV CCVCVCCC VCVVCVCV VCVCVCVC CVCCVCVC CVCVCVVC CVCCVCSC CVCCVVC CCVVCVCV CVCVVCVC CVVCSV CVCCVCCV CCVCVVCV CCVCCSV CCVCVCVC CCVCVVC CVCCSV VCVSCVC VCVCCVVC CVVCVCVC CVVCSCVC CVCSCV CVCVSCV CVCSCCVC CVCVVVCV CVCVCCVC CVVCVVC CVCVVCSC VCCVCCV VCCVVCVC VCVCVCSC VCCCVCV CVCVCVC CVCVCCVS CVCVVCVC CCCVVCVC CVCVSCVC CVCVCCVC CVVCCVC CVCVCVSC CVCVCCVC CCVCCVVC CCVCCVCVC CCVCVCCV VCCVVCVC CVCVCCVC CVCVCCVC CVCCVCVS CVVCVCCV CVCCVVCV CVVCVCCV CVVCVVSC CVCCVCVC CVVCVCCV CVVCVVCSC CVCCVCVC VCVCVCVC VCVCVCVCVC VCVCVVCCV CVCVCVCCV CVCCVCCVC CVCVCVCVC CCVVCCVVC CCVVCVCVC CVVCVCVVC CVCVVCSC CVCVVCVC CVCCVCCVS CVCCVVCVC CVVCVSCVC CVCVCCVC CVCVCCVSC CVSCVCCVV CSCCVCVVC CVCCVCVVC CVCVCVVCV CVCVVCVCV CVCCVVCCV CVCCVCVVV CVVCCVCVC CVCVCCVVC VCVCVCVVC VCVCCCVVC VCVCVVCSC VCCVCCVVC CVCVCVCSC CVSCVCVC CVVCVVCSC CVCVCVS VCVCCVCVC CVCVVCVCVC CVCVVCVCVC CVCVCCVCCV CSVCCVCVCV CVVCVCVCVC CVCVSCVC CVVCVCVCVC CVCVVCCVC CVCCVCVCCV CVCCVCVVCV CSCCCVCVCV CVCCCVCVCV CVVCVVCVC VCVCVCVCVC CVCVCCVVVC CVCVCCSCVC CVCVVCVCVC CVCVCVCVCV CCVVCVCVVC CCVCCCVCVC VCCVCCVCVC CVCCVSCVC CVCCVCCVSCV CVCVCCVVCVC CVCCVVCVVCVC VCVCVCCVCSC VCVCVCVVCVC CCCVVCVCVCV CVCVSCVCVC CVCCVCVVCVC CVCCVCVCCV CVCCCSCVCVC CVCCCVCVCCV CVCVCVCVCVVC CVVCVCVVCVCV CVCVSCCVCVC"
*Walks in late and disheveled with an Irish coffee* I need other people to drown in Kylux with because my last attempt went poorly. [X] My big brother was a "collects rare tonner figures" Star Wars fan, so I always considered the amount I liked Star Wars to be the usual, reasonable amount. The Red Letter Media Reviews of the Phantom Menace were the single most informative experience of my life in terms of constructing storytelling, esp in regards to what not to do. My little brother was pretty hype over the idea of TPM and I wasn't that invested, and even tho we were like okay, he kept his Kentaco Hut merch neatly organized Mint In Box. After rewatching a cut of the prequels with an astounding attempt to eliminate most of the bullshit, I find myself almost glad my big brother died before The Phantom Menace released. That said my biggest Headcanon is that Qui Gonn Jinn is Anakin's father, that Qui Gonn had his tragic forbidden romance with Shmi, but decided it would be easier to wipe her mind of their love, not knowing she was with child. It makes watching TPM 110% more intense wrt to chemistry between Shmi and Qui Gonn and the stakes of that dice roll. Tragically, I cannot find any good existing content which means that I will have to make my own. I want to write a Star Wars Everyone Lives AU, I will definitely name it Keeping Up with the Skywalkers and incorporate as many happy good fandom HC to it as possible. It's still going to have conflicts of course but they'll work out with a lot less murder and genocide. Right now I am getting hype for Episode 8, and fell back into Kylux hell. I'm currently uploading a fic of me projecting on Hux as he's my trans goals and hello naughty murderers it's children time. [X] I am also working on what was supposed to be a dumb one-shot near-crack fic that's going to become a Karaoke battle for the fate of the Galaxy. I want to write some good poly fic, like Chewie/Han/Skywalker Twins, and Finn as the hub of a wheel with Poe, Rey and Rose as the Spokes. I almost had the intro to my Finn fic figured out the other morning, but it didn't stick in my sleep hazed mind. *Trust falls*
I like that Qui Gonn/Shmi theory a lot! I'm gonna keep that one in mind next time I try a full Star Wars rewatch.
That's an interesting theory. The one I tend to go with is "FORCE BABY JESUS" just because of his blatant Space Jesusery. That Shmi/Qui-gon one sounds fun to think about and work with though.
I'm fond of "There was no [father/mother/parent of other alien gender]" being accepted slang on Tattooine for "[parent] is not in the picture." Especially if one or more parents is a slave, and admitting to the parentage might cause problems for those involved.
As happy as I am about what looks at Mandalore we're getting in the promotional material for season 4 of Rebels I continue to be annoyed by the idea that Mandalorians were a necessarily static people in the Legends canon. You fucking fight me you pieces of shit I read the stuff. I HAVE READ ALL OF IT OR SUMMARIES OF IT. YOU FUCKS. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GO "oh well they're all scandanavian based". Either way once I get there I will be picking out the bits and pieces I'm fond of to create my own based Mandalorian history and culture. Which is what a lot of us seem to be doing because MEH.
I saw TLJ yesterday and found it highly enjoyable and I am gloating because I was right about Kylo Ren's character arc and they did the thing with Rey I didn't think they'd have the guts to do but I was honestly hoping for. Spoiler I'm really glad they're working with Force-bonds, too; it's a cool concept that's gone almost entirely unexplored in the movies except for the weird one-off plot device lines in the OT that introduced it. It's a good way to get the Force's mysticism back, and I was really impressed by how they managed to indicate when it was starting with nothing but editing.
