Star Wars Rebels

[trash panda]

Okay I just saw the first 40-something minute episode.

Spoiler

I had previously spoiled the "the apprentice lives" scene via youtube (but I didn't know when it would occur. I wasn't expecting that scene to come so early. And...Ahsoka kept it a secret -why? My initial thought was that she was the type of person to put duty before personal feelings, but she did leave the Jedi order for personal reasons so maybe she does have selfish reasons for not revealing the truth?

Also, sorry, not making very decent sentences/thoughts right now because I'm trying to continue my marathon.

 

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Shroud of Darkness may have a little hint for you.

Also, the dialogue in the preview clip from tomorrow's episode makes it seem like

Spoiler: Ezra & Kanan are in for a change that might alter how things focus in Season 3

If they're leaving to go after the Inquisitors on their own, and everything doesn't go smoothly like (the title Twilight of the Apprentice seems to suggest), the crew may not all be together at the outset of the new season.

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Oh man, for an episode that kind of took a break from things for a little Ralph Macquarie-inspired monster encounter, there was a LOT of musical, thematic, and cinematographic foreshadowing the whole time. Also, knowing that what's coming up in the finale is SO BIG that they're just following the Force users and leaving the crew of the Ghost behind for it has me so excited and nervous.

6 Days…

That I am apparently going to spend screaming non-stop.

Full interview: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/24/darth-maul-returns-star-wars-rebels




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[trash panda]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! THE TIME IS NEAR!

I'm about to watch episode 16!!!!

 

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Getting the old band back together, and all that Clone Wars-y type history gwtting slowly revealed. You're catching up in perfect time!! I'm so excited that you get to ride the hype train with meeee!!!!~




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[trash panda]

I'm all catch'd up!

Spoiler

So, considering that the Chopper Base episode was the second to last episode, I er....wasn't too impressed. Not enough build-up for what's to come.

I forgot where I read it, but someone mentioned that Hera's hug with Kanan was pretty similar to Leia's hug with Han just before YOU KNOW WHAT happened to him. HMMMMMM.

 

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I liked Chopper Base because of the creatures being based on Ralph Macquarie art. SO!! Time for the big list of questions!!!

Spoiler

• What did you think of Tarkin?
• Opinions of the Grand Inquisitor both from his initial reveal up to his latest origin reveal as being one of the Temple Guard (who were all noticeably absent when Anakin/Vader slaughtered everyone in III)?
• What's it been like with Ahsoka's close encounters with Vader so far, and getting to see her and Rex as older, especially so soon after Clone Wars?
• General thoughts about Seventh Sister & Fifth Brother.
• Since we're leaving them behind, whaddaya think of the individual members of the Ghost's crew now?

Also, have you seen the Ahsoka/Anakin trailer I posted earlier now?




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[trash panda]

Spoiler

Tarkin
Tarkin looked exactly like his live-action counterpart, and that's all I can say about Tarkin.
I'm actually wondering if I missed something here because Tarkin is just a tremendous butthole and there isn't really any explanation for it. Towards the end of Rebels Season 2, we even received a brief explanation as to why Commander Kallus is sided with the Empire and we even see a little sympathetic "I has raygrats" scene in his personal quarters...I don't remember getting any sort of personal exploration of Tarkin's character despite the fact that he's probably way more important.

Grand Inquisitor
What are you getting at? You asking me that makes me think I missed something.

I'm still sort of scratching my head about the Inquisitors. It seems appropriate that the Empire would have a special division devoted to eradicating the rest of the Jedi. In the Original Trilogy I don't recall anyone so much as batting an eye at the idea of survivors, so apparently the Inquisitors did their jobs and then ceased to exist after their work was done.

As for the Grand Inquisitor being the temple guard...I'm not sure what it means. The Yoda that contacted Ezra and Ahsoka was actually Yoda but we have no reason to believe that The Grand Inquisitor had any knowledge of how to remain sentient after death. In that regard, I don't think it was really him - I think it was all in Kanan's mind - maybe his intuition told him that there is something linking the Grand Inquisitor to the Jedi. Hmm...

Ahsoka/Vader
I think the tension/build up is being really underplayed. I do get that Ahsoka's story took place in the Clone Wars and that Rebels is focused on this new crew, but this whole Ahsoka/Anakin arc is pretty freaking incredible and idk about everyone else in the world but I care more about Ahsoka than any other living character right now.

We haven't seen enough of her. I HAVE to know her thoughts since she realized that Anakin is still alive and I REALLY hope that she gets her own comic with some clarification.

I like Rex, but considering that he is so closely tied to Ahsoka (who we haven't seen enough of) I think that he could have done a lot more blabbing about his experiences with Ahsoka AND Anakin in the Clone Wars.

Seventh Sister & Fifth Brother
Yeah, where are the rest of them?

Who trained them? Why do they have double-sided light sabers (like Maul <3)? Ahsoka mentioned that she couldn't open the Jedi temple because she left the Jedi Order, but the Brother & Sister were able to move the temple....are they former Jedi or just force sensitive?

Ghost Crew
Chopper is my favorite. I know he's there for comic relief but he makes everything so special. <3

Hera is my second favorite. She's very "duties before personal feelings" - a trait that I really abhorred in Padme, but one that works for Hera.

Kanan's my third favorite because of his history with the Jedi and I'm very much looking forward to reading his comic.

Sabine & Zeb...I'm not really into these two characters. Can't put my finger on it. They're both fleshed out just fine, but I don't feel particularly drawn to them.

As for Ezra....he's not at the bottom of this list because I don't like him, I just think that he's been portrayed as sort of a powerhouse. Yeah, Luke learned how to use the force in a short amount of time too, but he was learning from YODA. Ezra is learning from Kanan, who left his training as a Padawan and learned whatever he does know first hand. I suppose Ezra just has great instincts and a very strong affinity for animal kinship?

I hasn't seen the trailer yet. Watching shortly.
EDIT: JUST SAW <3 <3 <3

 

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Spoiler

&#8226; Tarkin

I just liked how ruthless he is as a tactician, and intimidating he is &#8212; even compared to the other Imperials like Kallus (whose episode with Zeb I thought was really good).

&#8226; The Grand Inquisitor:

The Grand Inquisitor showed up by using Luminara's corpse to trick them into coming to find her, and then within moments of fighting Kanan manages to identify his Master by his fighting style. Aside from that, there's also the fact that he willingly falls to his own death once he's been defeated.

Additionally, while the Force vision that Kanan had wasn't communing with the Grand Inquisitor's Force Ghost or anything, we do have a confirmation that the identity of the Grand Inquisitor is accurate to what he saw there. The Temple Guard were also pretty much the only Jedi to use double-bladed lightsabers, which makes sense why the Inquisitors use them.

The current thoughts're that Palpatine might've had a hand in corrupting some of the temple guard to make things go over more easily when the temple eventually fell during Order 66, and/or that the Inquisitors may eventually fraction to tie into the darker Force Users like Snoke & the Knights of Ren in TFA &#8212; especially since Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother were designed based off of unused Knights of Ren concept art.


&#8226; Anakin/Ahsoka

I think that most of the reason that the finale is a double episode focused only on the Force Users is to give us the big moments that things have been slowly working towards. I have a LOT of thoughts about Maul being the Ahsoka reveal of Season 2, but I'll link all that at the end (spoilers for Son of Dathomir in it). I think that you'll get some of the references in the finale episodes, too &#8212; especially between her & Rex for a particular line of dialogue.

&#8226; Ghost Crew

I'm glad that Chopper has a sassy counterpart now.

Hera is totally my favourite. I love her accent slip when talking to her dad, and how she is such a big part of little pieces of the proper establishment of the Rebellion, like finding a base and the acquisition of the B-Wing (my favourite ship). For me, she's the lifeblood of the crew, but the others help guide her.

Kanan's stuff is enhanced a good bit by the comics, but I do generally enjoy him since he's a good marker for difference in Force training. Ahsoka is the last proper Jedi and she's WAY above him, whereas Ezra is more raw and less disciplined. All in all the three of them have an interesting dynamic that way that'll be interesting for the finale.

Zeb being based on Chewie's original/unused design is cool, and I really like his relationship with Kallus as a point of difficulty (especially because of how ruthless and disturbing the extermination of his people was).

Sabine is designed to a demographic that I know I'd've liked a lot more when I was younger. However, the fact that she's from House Vizsla is gonna be a big deal with Maul coming onto the scene, since Filioni has pretty much confirmed that her mother was present when Maul took over Death Watch.

Aaand a bunch of links to important things from my tumblr.

My tl;dr post about Maul coming back (some Son of Dathomir spoilers): http://xsoldier.tumblr.com/post/141695647730/there-are-so-many-reasons-that-im-excited-to-see

Ahsoka/Rex teaser for the finale: http://xsoldier.tumblr.com/post/141628905960/screamingatthevoid-star-wars-the-clone-wars

That hug&#8230; http://xsoldier.tumblr.com/post/141628375605/imadcgeek-this-is-not-okay

Older ones:

Ahsoka episode parallels: http://xsoldier.tumblr.com/post/136127056015/swan2swan-children-of-the-force-vs-future-of

Ahsoka's unseen story hint: http://xsoldier.tumblr.com/post/140378530990/kickfliptano


Also, the official episodes' trivia galleries are a good source of little tidbits of information, as are the Rebels Recon things: http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-rebels/




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[trash panda]

Spoiler

*clicky clicky clicky*

- Anakin was freed from slavery into the Jedi Council, he loses a hand, his mother died from a Tusken Raider attack, Ahsoka leaves him, he betrays his own &#8220;brother&#8221; Obi-Wan, gets some of his limbs cut off & gets severly burned, and Padme dies because of reasons.

- Maul was taken from Talzin by Palpatine, trained as a Sith, cut in half, survived for years by clinging to the Dark Side and his hatred, then he had his brother murdered in front of him, and watched Palpatine, Tyrannus, & Grievous murder his mother in front of him.

This is why Maul is 32379859345893842 times the villain that Vader is. Understandably, his story was not developed until after the Prequels (and has been developed over the course of many years) but seven hells, his story turned out to be so good that it's actually miles better than Vader's. You know, Vader, the FACE of Star Wars - not half as good as this "sub" character.

Since you mentioned it, I actually didn't know that the temple at Malachor was designed to keep Sith out. Wookieepedia isn't giving me as much information on the temple as I'd like.



Oh, I forgot that Ahsoka said last time she saw Anakin he was rushing off to save the Chancellor! She was ON Croissant Coruscant when all that shite happened! She knew Padme was pregnant (and based on her "I know" remark to Anakin when he said he knows what it feels like to want to leave the order, I suspect she knows he's the father). Much excite! ;____;



BTW, I just had a poke through some of Ralph Macquarie's art. *like*



I'm still thinking about the Temple Guard thing before I reply. Might possibly have to read the internet now.

 

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Spoiler

Yeah, what with continuity being cleansed from the EXU, I ha e to say that Maul is hands down my favourite Star Wars character.

The Temple on Malachor is from the interview on Maul's return that I posted with ze little clip a few posts up.

Also, whereas Clone Wars was based on Genndy Tartakovsky's designs from the 2D series, Rebels took that template, and made it closer to Macquarie's art to make the series' look feel familiar but different.

I can't wait to see where things get taken/left on Wednesday!!


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[trash panda]

AHHHH I didn't read the interview! BRB

Edit: READ IT!

Spoiler

As for having a soft side, well...I think all of the best/most believable villains do.

 

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Honestly, I think that the fact that Palpatine murdered Savage, and after escaping imprisonment Maul worked to bring back Talzin, only to see her killed in front of him as well probably hit him really deep. In the years since, I think that he's had a lot to reflect on, but I think that his plans for revenge have had to extend beyond his own capabilities, and they've made him&#8230; well&#8230; how we see him now.

Also here's your other TV spot trailer for the finale:

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*heavy breathing*

TWO DAYS&#8230;




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[trash panda]

We're almost there!!!!

 

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It's happening tomorrow!!!! &#8211;and I'm highly confident that it'll take some of the top spots from this video.




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[trash panda]

Spoiler

Maul definitely sounds...different....and I don't just mean his elderly voice. He's changed.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

So, they had a limited screening of the finale today, and apparently Sam Witwer's performance is utterly phenomenal, and the whole hour-long episode was good enough that it will give you ALL THE FEELS. Not only that, they followed it up with a Q&A where Filioni confirmed that The Grand Inquisitor was one of the temple guards present during Ahsoka's trial, and that this was responsible for him deviating away from the path of the Jedi.

AND: Rex is supposed to survive long enough to be in the battle of Endor:

All of this is thanks to this article: http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2016/03/dave-filoni-reveals-intriguing-star.html


Holy fuck.

I am not prepared.

I am glad that you're caught up, Howl. I do not have to have ALL THE FEELS alone.



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[Roger]

Filoni thinks he could be the guy IF he survives that long. He doesn't know if he's gonna kill him off yet in subsequent seasons and it's far from unlikely.

 

[trash panda]

What the hell, that is definitely Rex.

Panicking now because I have to find a place to watch it. I've seen the entire series so far on some toonova.com website or something.

 

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Kisscartoon is pretty reliable for having things up soon I think. Not sure about streaming places though.




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[trash panda]

Omgomgomgomgomgomgogmogmg!!!!!!!!!!!! Almost! ALMOST!!!!

 

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I'm basically unable to concentrate on anything today, and time is CRAWLING (probably because I'm actively avoiding the internets in an attempt to not risk running across anything).

Additionally, I think that my PS Vue channel for Disney XD is Pacific Time rather than Eastern, so I might end up hunting for it online when I get home rather than waiting for it to air in my timeslot.




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[trash panda]

Interview with Ashley Eckstein

^ I'm still reading it.

 

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Should I read it, or should I wait for 6 hours?




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