Latest Posts by evanui27 - Page 3

i kinda give the show itself a pass in this respect because there are only one or two named characters (male or female) besides din and they usually don’t interact. din being male severely limits the chances for named female-female interaction. i mean if you genderbent din and did a reverse bechdel test (same criteria but for male instead of female characters) i'm pretty sure season 2 would fail. so it’s not really a gender thing and more of a small cast thing.

however, fanfiction doesn’t have that excuse because there are no limits to what characters you can have interact. you’re right - looking through my bookmarks, i might have a fic or two with some omera & winta conversation but that’s the extent of the female-female interactions. i would def be interested in finding fics that pass the bechdel test. i don’t usually read fics with ocs but i’m willing to give it a shot if they’re decently written.

How well does The Mandalorian pass the Bechdel Test?

I kinda got grumbling about representation of women in Mandalorian fanfiction as it relates to the abundance of nameless reader-insert characters a couple days ago. Namely, the general failure of the Bechdel test – does the story have two women who talk to each other about something other than a man? One step further – do both women have names? Two steps further – do they talk about something other than babies?

It shouldn’t seem that radical – two named characters who are women who talk to each other about something other than men or babies. Yet so few fanfics pass this benchmark. Among a set of authors who I suspect are mostly women.

Granted, the source material of the show presents a challenge in that the focus is, well… a man and a baby. And then I had to think about how long it took for the show itself to pass the Bechdel test, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen until late in the second season.

The first time two named women appear in the same episode was s1e4: Sanctuary, with Cara Dune and Omera. While Omera is named in the credits, I don’t think anyone calls her by name during the episode. I’m also pretty sure Cara and Omera don’t talk to each other directly. The closest we get is when Cara is telling the villagers they have to abandon their homes and Omera protests. Omera later serves Cara a beverage and Cara thanks her. Aaaannnd… that’s it! I don’t feel like this passes.

The next time we get two named women in the same episode is s1e8: Redemption, with the Armorer and Cara. Whether “the Armorer” as a title counts as a name is up for debate. I guess Din goes nameless most of the season as well, so I’ll allow it. Regardless, in their limited time together in the Forge, they don’t really interact. Cara notes that the Imps will arrive soon and the Armorer instructs them on how to escape. Aaaannnd… that’s it! Season One fails the Bechdel test.

The next time we get two named women in the same episode is s2e2: The Passenger, with Peli Motto and Frog Lady. Again, whether “Frog Lady” actually counts as a name is up for debate, and I don’t think Peli is ever called by name, either. They do have a brief, but direct, conversation confirming the presence of Mandalorians on Trask, albeit it’s in Frog language and we can’t understand it. I’d give this one a maybe, depending on how strong one wants to hold to the criteria.

Next up: s2e3: The Heiress, with Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves. I don’t think Koska is ever called by name. There’s some battle interaction, and they’re having a conversation at a table, though we don’t hear any of it. Weak maybe.

Next up: s2e5: The Jedi, with Ahsoka Tano and Morgan Elsbeth. Finally, a solid pass! Ahsoka and Morgan have a direct verbal exchange at the beginning of the episode regarding the well-being of the townspeople and they are both called by name. Ahsoka questions Morgan directly after winning their duel, and there is, presumably, an interrogation, though it’s off-screen.

Next up: s2e7: The Believer, with Cara and Fennec Shand. Both are named and they have a conversation about setting up their strategy, and closely coordinate their shots while Din and Mayfeld escape the compound. Solid pass.

Last up: s2e8: The Rescue, with Cara, Fennec, Bo-Katan, and Koska. Bo-Katan calls Koska off of Boba at the cantina; battle planning directly between Bo-Katan and Cara, with Fennec participating in the general planning; the radio exchange between Bo-Katan and the unnamed Imperial coms officer; some battle conversation between Cara, Fennec, Bo-Katan, and Koska as they mow Stormtroopers down on their way to the bridge; and a few direct lines between them on the bridge itself. Solid pass.

So, out of 16 total episodes in the first two seasons so far, only 7, fewer than half, have at least two women who appear in the same scenes, and only three of those are what I would call a solid pass. Not a fantastic track record.

What surprises me here is the number of near misses – four of the seven came so close but didn’t quite make it. It becomes more surprising when you consider Dave Filoni’s prior work. While the male:female character ratio in The Clone Wars wasn't stellar, whenever two women were in the room together, they almost always had names and they almost always had direct conversations with each other about politics or battle strategy or something. Rebels was even better by way of Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren together on the same ship. My memory of Jon Favreau’s prior work isn’t super-sharp on this subject, but the MCU didn’t offer a whole lot of opportunities (though I admit I’ve managed to miss most of the newer Spiderman stuff). Maybe Dave needs to steer Jon in the right direction on this for later seasons.

Point being: one of the great uses of fanfic is filling the gaps left by the source material. The Mandalorian has some huge gaps in terms of women with names who talk to each other (about something other than men and babies). The potential is enormous. Did Cara and Omera develop a friendship on Sorgan? Cara and Fennec seem to get along well – how did they become such fast friends? Why is Koska so loyal to Bo-Katan? These are all easy things to tuck in around our favorite Man and Baby. Like, you know Cara and Fennec are having conversations about their favorite guns while Din’s in the back losing his mind over finding Grogu. It’s not hard. (And yes, I’m working on a few of these, myself.)

I’ll also admit I’ve been so wrapped up in my own writing lately that I haven’t had much time to check out AO3. If anyone has some good examples of Mando fanfic that passes the Bechdel test, please feel free to reblog with recommendations! OCs with names - actual developed characters who are their own people - count as well! (Conversations can, of course, include our favorite Man and Baby, but just not be limited to them.)

Happy writing!

I think both the show and Din himself associates removing his helmet with death. maybe not always literal death (in ch8 he would rather die with his helmet on than live and take it off), but there’s a sense that he would meet a permanent and irrevocable spiritual end of some kind, something he won’t be allowed to come back from. I think in his mind he pictures it as a singularly traumatic event where nothing that happens after will matter, because whether he lives or dies, he won’t be a Mandalorian any longer. This would be the bookend moment to losing his parents as a child, which is the day he STARTED being a Mandalorian. It’s a very cinematic, very easy way of thinking about his life.

But that doesn’t happen! IG-11 removes his helmet and he has to keep on living as a Mandalorian. That transgression is a bit easier to rationalise if he’s being incredibly literal about the Creed (IG isn’t technically “a living thing”, as he says), which I don’t think Din is normally prone to doing, but it’s enough to keep the panic about losing his identity under control. In ch15 though, he shows his face to a bunch of Imperials and then has to put his helmet back on and keep being a Mandalorian, which would normally be a plain and simple End Of My Life event. but in that moment he puts his helmet back on anyway and keeps fighting, because being a Mandalorian means protecting the kid more than it means hiding himself from other people.

The common interpretation I see of this sequence of events is that Din is learning there’s more than one way of being a Mando, reinforced by his contact with Bo and Boba. And I suppose you can make that case, but for me personally I think it’s much more interesting to understand it as Din having to confront a deep contradiction in his own beliefs, which is whether to prioritise his armour and his own self, or his duty to those he loves. Din’s ties to his mando-hood have always been based in his larger community, but in the show itself he’s framed as a perpetual loner, a singular individual unit in a vast galaxy that is unconcerned with his well-being or his beliefs. And Grogu is presented as the first time he has to confront the idea that he is more than himself and his responsibilities, that he has to take care of himself for other people, and that his principles need to accommodate for that shift in priorities. It doesn’t mean he suddenly has this moment of clarity where he thinks “oh god, I’ve been living by this set of rules my entire life and they don’t actually matter”; it’s moreso “I am finally in a place in my life where I have to make real compromises, and I would rather compromise my own personal safety and comfort than my relationship with my own son.”

Which is such a great arc for him to go through!!!! It isn’t a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes moment, nor a ledge-i-can’t-come-back-from moment. It’s a continual and subtle shift in his beliefs that he has to consciously attend to and confront every single day. Din has to practice being a Mandalorian for Grogu, which is different from being a Mandalorian for himself or his covert.

ZINE ART SHOWCASE

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WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU’RE RIGHT

i’ve been hypothesizing since like the beginning of the show that baby yoda’s blood was used to create snoke and/or the resurrected palpatine. is this confirmation??? the conspiracy theorist in me is going WILD right now. idk how kylo ren fits in though unless his theme is just being used as a symbol of the first order in general, foreshadowing how baby yoda’s blood is being used to faciliate its rise.

Why isn’t anyone talking about how Snoke’s theme plays at the beginning of the song Experiment off the Mando season 2 soundtrack and then how it bleeds into Kylo Ren’s theme ?!?!? AND that’s the scene where they talk about Grogu and midichlorians too !!! I NEED ANSWERS

noticing a pattern of unusual instruments being used in the soundtracks of the disney+ tv shows. bass recorder and electric guitar in the mandalorian and theremin in loki. it’s so different and fascinating compared to the standard john williams orchestral soundtracks and i love it

i think a lightsaber is a really telling choice of weapon for the jedi order in terms of how they practise peacekeeping. a lightsaber is not the tool of an organisation that priorities non-violence. it’s for, ideally, a very controlled amount of violence, as much violence as is necessary (whether it’s a kill or the traditional jedi cutting off a limb) to efficiently end the threat

we overwhelmingly see jedi fight other lightsaber wielders, but realistically on a day-to-day basis, the enemies the jedi face would be ordinary people, not remotely a match for them. it’s up to every jedi in battle to be judge jury and executioner, to decide exactly how much harm they need to do before they do it. in legends the jedi have their own specific terms for the different kind of cuts or ‘marks of contact’, with an understanding of how honourable they are and what enemies they can be applied to, which really demonstrates that they are controlled ethical decisions rather than instinctual or purely defensive

and on a wider scale this is how the jedi order practises their role in the galaxy. that’s the clone wars: rather than refusing to engage in violence, they accept an amount of violence that, in their view, has to be done in order to end the conflict as quickly as possible and achieve the peaceful result. but violence on a galactic scale can’t be so easily controlled. and even where it can be, that gives the jedi a level of galactic power they were never meant to have

happy pride month! here's the aroace flag colorpicked from din djarin:

just realized “din djarin needs a hug” is a popular tag on ao3 but “din djarin gets a hug” isn’t :(

someone give the poor man a hug

yeah, i agree that was definitely the main reason he was upset. i think in bo-katan's case there was also an element of anger that she didn't follow the creed, but most of what set him off there was her attitude towards his beliefs rather than the things she herself believed.

(i'll make sure to tag you in my prejudice post once i get around to writing it!)

i don’t think we should be quick to trust anything bo-katan says about the children of the watch.

the main thing i’m suspicious of is her claim that they’re a fringe group. maybe they were in the clone wars era, but they’re clearly the dominant mandalorian faction right now. we know this because literally everyone in the show, not just din, thinks all mandalorians never take off their helmets. that perception wouldn’t be so widespread if the helmet thing were only practiced by a small group of religious zealots. i mean, this is galaxy-wide common knowledge. it’s not just din being sheltered by a cult.

Keep reading

the mandalorian fandom is funny because everyone's horniness level is either zero or a hundred. like there's the x reader folks and then there's the noromo mando folks and there's no in between

psa to anyone who follows me: if i randomly drop out of a conversation/vanish from tumblr without warning, it's just social anxiety and i will be back

i work at a grocery store and i've written a substantial amount of fic on scraps of receipt paper in between customers.

People who write fic on mobile genuinely frighten me

the hunter

rating: g (word count 195)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31384529

The urge to move burns hot and bright through his veins.

He does not like breaks. He has never taken a vacation. He rarely stays on one planet for longer than three days. The bounty has never excited him, the accomplishment of a job well done bringing only unease. When asked what he wants, his answer never changes: My next job.

Because there's this itch. This crawling beneath his skin, this emptiness following him across the galaxy. He’s a shell of metal where a self should be. He hates the moment after the credits are pushed across the table and the job completed, because what is he then?

He is Mandalorian, but has no clan or signet. He has a name, but doesn't use it, not even to himself. He is a head without a face and a voice without speech. He is an outsider in the covert and a stranger above the ground. He exists only in the moments when he feels flesh against his knuckles, when the tracking fob tells him you have a purpose in blinking red.

You hunters like to keep busy is how Karga puts it.

Yeah. Something like that.

absolutely. bo-katan’s clear prejudice against the followers of the ancient way calls into question anything she says about them. there’s little to no evidence so far that din’s beliefs are hurting anyone. any time someone says the word “cult” they really just mean “religion i don’t like”.

mandalorians can definitely be compared to different groups of people in our world. “you’re not really mandalorian because you don’t do xyz” is a lot like “you’re not really christian/progressive/muslim/american because you don’t believe xyz”. in reality, there’s no such thing as a “real” or “fake” mandalorian. (now you’ve gotten me thinking about all the parallels between prejudice against mandalorians and prejudice against people in our world... i’ll have to post about that at some point.)

yeah, could be a geographical thing. i think mandalore proper actually is in the outer rim, but i’m not sure how close it is to all the planets din’s been to. the outer rim is a big place.

i don’t think we should be quick to trust anything bo-katan says about the children of the watch.

the main thing i’m suspicious of is her claim that they’re a fringe group. maybe they were in the clone wars era, but they’re clearly the dominant mandalorian faction right now. we know this because literally everyone in the show, not just din, thinks all mandalorians never take off their helmets. that perception wouldn’t be so widespread if the helmet thing were only practiced by a small group of religious zealots. i mean, this is galaxy-wide common knowledge. it’s not just din being sheltered by a cult.

Keep reading

me, an aromantic, whenever i realize two characters like each other before they start kissing:

[ID: The Captain America "I understood that reference" meme, except it's "I understood that romantic subtext."]

questions about the children of the watch:

why do they never speak in mando’a?

why are they the only type of mandalorian that the average person has heard of?

how are they connected to death watch?

if they’re a split-off group from death watch, how did they transform from a terrorist group into a religion?

and how did it go from a race to a creed?

why doesn’t din recognize bo-katan’s name or know what the darksaber is?

do the other members of din’s tribe know as little about mandalorian history as he does? if not, are they intentionally concealing information from him? and if so, is that unique to him or something that happens to all foundlings?

is “the watch” death watch, or is it something else?

how many coverts are there?

what are the specific tenets of the way?

when were the children of the watch founded?

are there children of the watch who actually call themselves that, or is it a term only used by non-believers?

food for thought.

me: i want to get tumblr so i can nerd out with other people who are just as obsessed with the mandalorian and star wars as i am

also me: gets tumblr and doesn’t interact with anyone except over anonymous asks

i don’t think we should be quick to trust anything bo-katan says about the children of the watch.

the main thing i’m suspicious of is her claim that they’re a fringe group. maybe they were in the clone wars era, but they’re clearly the dominant mandalorian faction right now. we know this because literally everyone in the show, not just din, thinks all mandalorians never take off their helmets. that perception wouldn’t be so widespread if the helmet thing were only practiced by a small group of religious zealots. i mean, this is galaxy-wide common knowledge. it’s not just din being sheltered by a cult.

clearly something changed between clone wars and the fall of the empire. i’m guessing most of the mainstream mandalorians were wiped out after the great purge, leaving the children of the watch as the largest group. one reason for that may have been a cultural shift towards the ancient way because the anonymity aspect of it gave them a definite survival advantage. however, the main reason was probably the practice of adopting foundlings.

the mainstream mandalorian culture prior to the purge seemed to view itself as a race rather than a creed. this meant that when the ethnic mandalorians were killed off, the children of the watch kept growing because they adopted outsiders into their group. the armorer alludes to this when she says that “foundlings are the future.”

this is why din getting upset about boba and bo-katan wearing beskar armor doesn’t necessarily mean he’s being sheltered by a cult, as bo-katan claims. notice that he’s okay with them keeping their armor once he knows they’re mandalorian in heritage, if not in creed. he just didn’t consider that was a possibility because if you’re mandalorian and never swore the creed, you’re probably dead.

basically: i don’t think bo-katan is as representative of mandalorians as a whole as she makes herself out to be, and i don’t think din’s tribe is as cultish as she claims.

but anyway, that’s my take. thanks for reading my ramblings. i’ve only just started clone wars so like... let me know if i’m wildly missing the mark in my ignorance.

still cannot get over the fact that ludwig goransson basically invented a whole new musical culture for the mandalorian. like, that soundscape just. did not exist before. bass recorder plus electric guitar?? in star wars??? who even thinks of that???? mind blown.

i first watched rogue one around the time i was doing a lab in ap bio involving potassium sulfate so now i can never remember whether the droid's name is k-2so or k-2so4

[ID: Venn Diagram with one circle titled “Tried to kill Din at least once” and the other titled “Will babysit his child”. Under “Tried to kill him at least once” are pictures of Moff Gideon and Xi’an, while Frog Lady, Omera, and Peli are under “Will babysit his child”. The “both” category has the most people, with Mayfeld, Fennec, Boba Fett, Greef Karga, Cara, and Ahsoka. End ID.]

i love how literally everyone din meets is either a deadly enemy or a potential babysitter

and fifty percent of the time they’re both

you know my favorite thing about peli? she’s basically the only person who treats din the same way she would if he weren’t mandalorian.

she’s not afraid of him, not because she’s confident she could defend herself, but because she doesn’t assume she’ll need to. she doesn’t pester him with questions about his helmet because she doesn’t think making personal religious decisions is weird. she thinks of him as a PERSON with a PERSONALITY and an actual LIFE beyond the mandalorian bounty hunter stereotype.

like. pretty much everyone gets this “oh crap it’s a mandalorian” face the moment they see din and make a bunch of assumptions about who he is and what he wants. even if they’re not overtly racist and xenophobic, they’re still obviously uncomfortable and weirded out by his helmet. but peli? peli has zero reaction to seeing a mandalorian in her hangar. she's one of the few, if any, people who don’t initially think of din as The Other. it’s nice to see.

question for vidders: how do you get the clips for your fanvids? i’ve had an idea for a mandalorian fanvid bouncing around my head for a while but i’m not sure how to go about making it.

a tiny detail from the mandalorian soundtrack that i love: one of the recurring sounds in the track “capture the flag” in chapter 14 is actually the tie fighter sound effect. it starts as din leaves grogu to check on the new fighter that’s just landed, foreshadowing the imperials coming to take grogu when he’s not there.

it’s so cool. like, the line between sound effect and soundtrack is blurred. reminds me of chapter 16 where the sounds of the dark troopers booting up are also part of a song, “activated”. it makes the action way more intense because you can’t really separate what you’re seeing from what you’re hearing.

question for tumblr: do you guys usually make separate side blogs for each of your fandoms? cause i’ve only posted mandalorian/star wars stuff so far, but i want to post mcu thoughts as well. should i do that on my main blog or make another one?

so show me where my armor ends, show me where my skin begins.

- pluto

why does every sleeping at last song fit din so perfectly???

so slowly i'm losing who i've sworn to be. a promise in pencil that years have made so hard to read. i've spent my life building walls brick by brick and bruise by bruise... a birdcage religion that whispered me to sleep.

- birdcage religion

all of a sudden, you changed my mind. pulled back the curtains a little at a time.

through the static, through the ashes we were brave. through the perils of endless narrow escapes, we’re still here. we’re still here.

- we’re still here

like. does anyone else see it? i only discovered sleeping at last today and my “din djarin vibes” playlist has already doubled in size.

though your heart is far too young to realize the unimaginable light you hold inside,

i’ll give you everything i have. i’ll teach you everything i know. i promise i’ll do better. i will always hold you close, but i will learn to let you go.

- light

YES that is EXACTLY how din feels about grogu.

now i have to write fics to go along with all these...

until things get messy

rating: g (word count 431)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31179644

Mayfeld honestly doesn’t believe the guy’ll take off his Mando armor until he’s right there with a kriffing stormtrooper helmet screwed onto his shoulders.

The guy makes himself out to be some sorta moral big shot, y’know? All that this is the Way and you start to think a guy’s serious. Not, like, a strong possibility, but it’s a maybe. It’s out there. ’Cause most people in Mayfeld’s line of work are all talk and nothing to show for it, but then here comes this guy who’s no talk and a hundred percent wicked fighting machine, who can take out four New Republic security droids all by himself without breaking a sweat. Mando’s on a level of his own. Makes Mayfeld think, maybe somebody like that doesn’t have to make concessions.

’Cause the rest of them make concessions all the time. Mayfeld sure does. He’s got a backpack full of excuses and it never runs out.

But if anyone could do it, make it through the mercenary business without stretching their conscience, it’s Mando. Mayfeld didn’t expect to find himself still breathing after he felt a presence approaching him in the prison transport hallway, much less locked up with a still-very-alive Xi’an and Burg. He would’ve pulled the trigger in a heartbeat if their shoes had been swapped. But Mando didn’t.

From a practical standpoint, their lives probably weren’t worth the idealism. Not that Mayfeld wants to be dead, but once Burg and Xi’an get out of prison they’ll track Mando down and kill him. They’ll have to be taken out of the equation sooner or later.

Everybody starts out like Mando, convinced that you’re gonna be the good one when everyone else has failed. Eventually you reach a point when you’ve got to choose between being good and being dead. But a tiny part of Mayfeld has started to think the old buckethead is invincible, started to think that maybe idealism doesn’t have consequences if you’re a Mandalorian. There’s not much that could hurt or even slow down a guy like that.

Maybe it’s naive, but Mayfeld owes his life to Mando’s code. Can’t blame him for starting to believe in the man a little.

But no. Turns out Mandalorians have their weak spots just like the rest of ’em, and this one’s is a little green kid with big ears.

When Mando turns his brand-new stormtrooper face to look at Mayfeld, there’s a clear You happy now? written all over it.

Nah. Think what you want about Mayfeld, he’s not that cold. Doesn’t make him happy to be right.

fans: how did padme die?

george lucas: she died in childbirth

fans: oh that's so s—

george lucas: of heartbreak

fans: ...

Things that are still writing even if you don't think they are (an incomplete list)

thinking about a story

creating a new document

brainstorming

researching

thinking of a title

explaining your story to someone else

reading other stories and noticing things like word choice, sentence structure, plot development, characterization

thinking of a great line that doesn't have a story yet

getting a picture in your mind that you want to put into words someday

being inspired by others, even if you don't know what to do with that inspiration yet

making notes about how you want to tag your work

editing

cutting out lines or scenes that don't work

stopping work on something that isn't working right now

starting over

writing a summary

rewriting something you've written before