Following The Freemakers: Zander’s Joyride

…And with a title like that, you just know it’s gonna be a fun one! Time again for another edition of Following The Freemakers, where I write the world’s most fangirly (and probably weirdest) commentary on each exciting episode! Yeah I don’t have a clue as to how to open this do I? Let’s just go already. *Slams foot on the gas* *Realizes starships don’t have gas pedals* *Finally locates hyperspace controls after thumbing through the manual* *Finally makes the jump to light speed*
NOTE: Contains spoilers from Episode I, Episode IV, TCW episode Mystery Of A Thousand Moons, and Freemakers episodes A Hero Discovered and Zander’s Joyride

So throughout these last couple posts I’ve spent whole paragraphs on what I love about each character; Rowan’s innocence, Kordi’s strength, R0-GR’s wittiness, even Naare’s craftiness. But I think out of all of this I’ve only given Zander a few sentences. That’s not fair in the slightest. So I’m glad I have the opportunity to give him the attention he deserves throughout this post.
Yes, there’s no doubt that Zander is a boss with his tools, and he darn well knows it. Guy could do it blindfolded and chained, which is good when you’re trying to sneak in a ship you don’t want him to get near. Unfortunately well… Zander knows a Naboo starfighter when he smells one. He breaks through them chains and pretty much falls on his knees before the might of the beautiful, sleek spacecraft. I can completely understand the feeling ’cause whooo those N-1s are purty! The reason this is a problem is because the ship belongs to a wealthy gentleman who’s trusting the Freemakers to fix it right. Bro’s a little high-maintenance but clearly he has the ca$h to be that way. Kordi expertly reassures Mr. Cooper his baby’s in good hands. Buuuuuut… well… his siblings’ insistence to not fly the N-1 goes unheard. And the second they turn their backs, Zander is off to the races! Again, I can’t really blame him. I mean, yes, I know that it wasn’t the wisest decision, but watching that golden beauty fly I can understand why you’d want to. Zander may be a little rash and unfocused and susceptible to Jedi mind tricks, but he knows a good spacecraft when he sees one! So now it’s up to Rowan, Roger, and Kordi to keep their customer busy. Also one thing I absolutely love about this show is all the stuff we learn about SW vehicles and how one might repair, build, or modify them. That makes sense right? I mean… just Star Wars mechanical jargon! It’s cool! IDK I think I’m failing to make my point clear. Moving on.
So it looks like Zander has the most marvelous time in that starfighter. He soars through asteroid field, does plenty of spins and dives, and doesn’t hesitate to challenge a bunch of X-wings to a race. ‘Course, no one told him that those X-wings technically belonged to the Rebel Alliance… and that he just flew right into a battle. I don’t know how it is someone could shoot down TIEs without even realizing it but wow Zander’s good. I really do love the fact that the Freemakers have utterly no interest or involvement in the war right now; it’s just a fantastic unique angle that we haven’t seen a lot of and it makes for spectacular storytelling, and certainly will be interesting if these guys ever find themselves Rebels. But yeah though Zander didn’t notice the damage he done, that Star Destroyer noticed. As the tractor beam pulls him in and a prerecorded message states his crime and potential punishment, Zan realizes that yeah he might be in trouble…
In continuing in the buying-some-time game, Kordi sends Roger to keep Wic Cooper entertained. C’mon you know you’re at a fancy hangar when you get to enjoy a celebrity (holo?)book reading before its release! Roger’s autobiography sounds like a good one! I mean, when you’ve been around the galaxy for forty years or so and fought on the opposing side of the Clone Wars, you’ve gotta have some good stories to tell! Also, I guess that answers a few of my questions as to what Roger can remember or can’t since he obviously remembers most of his life story. I mean, regarding battle droids, here’s what I’m thinking: they would march out and shoot clones and Jedi and other soldiers generally without question, but often we would see glimmers of the droids’ personalities when they would question their leaders’ plans, casually talk with each other, and of course panic. And it took Jaebo Hood nine months to reprogram a slew of battle droids into the Iego welcome wagon/personal slaves. So I guess my thought is: is there some part of their programming that restrains them from directly disobeying orders, but allows them to have some personality? Perhaps that violent part is what the Freemakers simply reprogrammed? OK I know that completely bored most people but it’s fascinating to me. I think Mr. Cooper is done with everything right now XP
Thankfully Zander was able to get a transmission out to his sibs before he was dragged off by stormtroopers. Kordi is in no way thrilled about this development (“I’M GONNA THROTTLE HIM!” were her exact words). Rowan suggests Master Naare help them, which Kordi is also not thrilled with until she remembers nutjob Jedi cost less than bounty hunters. As for our favorite Darksider-next-door, we catch her in the zone doing some lightsaber practice (with her red blade, of course). She’s clearly very good at this and enjoys doing it and did it just occur to everyone that it looks like she only has one lightsaber? And that that lightsaber has two differently color blades in it? How does that even work?? Of course she might just have two and I haven’t been paying attention but is the idea of a dual-personality blade not the coolest? Also interesting note: she’s practicing and seems chill and at ease, but the minute Darth Vader interrupts, she goes into a brief rage mode. Her markings and Sith eyes flare up and she powerfully and forcefully decimates the training probes. I mean yes it’s obvious she’s frustrated with the dark lord’s interruption, but it almost seems like the way she was fighting in the beginning was more Jedi-like, and she was at her best in that way, more balanced emotionally and physically. At risk of dumping out every theory I have on her, I will say I believe she was trained as a Jedi before deflecting to the Dark Side. Soooo might this sort of be a sign that maybe she’s not as good at this whole Sith-y thing as she wants to believe? Maybe the slightest bit of a Kylo Ren “remind-me-again-how-awesome-the-darkness-is” thing? I don’t know maybe I’m completely off but it’s just a thought. Anyway so Vader has a whole thesaurus of ways to describe his master’s impatience with her progress, but um yeah Naare don’t got time for that, her padawan’s at the door. “Of course! You can put your trust in me! I am a Jedi after all…” Yikes there are some close calls in this episode. You have to wonder how long she can keep up this charade. I’m really enjoying the tension, but I’m kind of terrified as to when the other shoe will drop. Anyway, at word Zander’s on the Vendetta, Naare suggests bailing out. But Rowan instantly sees this, not as anything suspicious, but as a test, and that forces Naare to go back to her Jedi master guise. So the rescue mission is back on! And Kordi’s got the game plan: a makeshift TIE fighter! Master Naare just smiles, backs away, and heads off to her own spacecraft this time. Only the first of many awkward moments for the Imperial agent today.
Also the thing with Vader and his subordinate was perfect. “I TOLD YOU TO CHEW MORE CAREFULLY!” and then just when the dude could breathe again he actually does start Force-choking him XD Hehe I kinda missed seeing Darth Vader around here! But when he gets word a Rebel’s been captured and he has an opportunity to bring out the interrogation droid, Lord Vader drops everything. Boy man when I heard the words “interrogation droid” I shuddered. NOOO NOT ON SWEET PRECIOUS ZANDERRR!!
So after a really really close call with a damaged Imperial transponder, Rowan and company make it on board the Vendetta. Not unfortunately without drawing some attention to themselves in the process. Well, it’s not that they were trying to they just opened the door and BOOM! Stormtroopers! Makes you wonder why Kordi doesn’t carry a blaster around in situations like this. In fact, calling back to the scuffle in the pilot, she probably should’ve had one there, too. How do you survive in a war-torn galaxy making deals with potentially dangerous people without a good blaster in your hand?? Oh yeah probably because she knew Rowan might get ahold of it and we know how that would go. Good thing Naare handled it with her lightsaber and her fists. Also I did just notice it looks like her lightsaber is double-bladed, she just only turns on one end at a time. Still cool how she carries two different blades at once. I wonder if it was always this way, like, if she made a lightsaber as a Jedi, did it start out a double-bladed blue but then switched one crystal out for a red later? Or is this a specifically designed lightsaber for her current career? Theories! Theories everywhere! I really hope I’m not the only one thinking up theories and headcanons on this series…
As for Zander… poor guy doesn’t have a clue about the Rebel Alliance and he still gets tortured anyway. All he knows is his name, where he lives, and that he likes pickles, starships, and some girl a few floors up. But you know the Empire they don’t care. UGH WHYY MUST YOU HURT THIS POOR DUDE?! Though anyone realize that Darth Vader knows where they live now?? Man if the day comes when the Freemakers become a threat to the Empire… ohh… dang O.O I can only hope Zander slipped that part about The Wheel out so fast that Vader and the Imp didn’t catch it. Though it is good to know he likes pickles ’cause that means pickles must exist somewhere in the SW galaxy and that’s a good thing 🙂 But seriously wow this is kinda scary. And I’m realizing I still haven’t given Zander a proper paragraph forgive me. Words are failing me so hard today.
Again, I think Roger’s a pretty good writer! And that’s by human standards! He’s very descriptive, y’know? Though word to the wise, if he offers you anything to drink and it doesn’t look like kaffe DO NOT DRINK IT. IT IS MOTOR OIL. Wic learned that one the hard way.
“Utter nonsense. He’s either highly trained to resist interrogation or a complete imbecile.” Hey, what some might see as weaknesses can actually be strengths! Aw Zander you may not be the sharpest sometimes but we love ya 🙂 Oh and apparently Kordi doesn’t carry around a blaster, but she does keep around a screwdriver… or is that what they call a hydrospanner? Or something totally different? But no time for whatever she was gonna do with that Naare’s got this. Mostly because she already knew the code. Wow is there nothing she can’t do? So this whole rescue mission was giving off serious Episode IV vibes, right up until Kordi gave her brother the biggest chewing out of his life (or at least of the last week). But Zander is more than aware of his mistake and gives a genuine tearful apology… and then he realized Naare was there and then he went back into smooth mode XD Well, he was doing pretty good there for a while! Further discussion will have to wait — now’s the time to go. But soon as they turn the corner, there stands Darth Vader. And Naare’s done flown the coop. I’m all “OH NO SOMEONE’S GONNA DIE!!” because that’s generally what comes to mind when pretty much anyone runs into Darth Vader. The Freemakers plead their case that they’re not Rebels, just a few young scavengers. When the dark lord doesn’t buy it, Zander spills everything about how this joyride led him into a battle. Vader’s still skeptical up until he catches glimpse of the N-1 himself. Oh man it’s love. It’s like the first spacecraft he ever flew! And knowing his former self’s love of cool fast vehicles, it’s no surprise Vader absolutely fanboys over it. So no questions he took that puppy for a spin, happily proclaiming “YIPEE!!” XD And that’s when Naare showed up again, alerting the other Imperials that the “Rebels” were escaping in that ship. Hehe nice. Darth Vader was enjoying every moment in that old fighter, right up until he was surrounded by TIEs… ‘course, true to Vader form, he then enjoys every moment firing back and destroying those TIEs. Finally, it’s up to Rowan doing an Imp impersonation to rein the N-1 back in. And yeah after all that action the golden beauty isn’t quite so pretty anymore. Can’t tell who’s madder right now — Vader at his stormtroopers, or Kordi at Zander. But thankfully, with the troopers no longer buying any comment on escaping Rebs, the Freemakers and co have time to slip on outta there.
So things went well back at the hangar. Or at least, about as well as you might’ve figured considering Cooper’s precious baby came home a pile of scrap metal. He was pretty steamed, at least until he eyed the Blazemaker. Zander is reluctant to give up his latest greatest creation, but considering Cooper wouldn’t bat an eyelash at reporting them to the Empire… sacrifices had to be made today. Anddd thennn just as Mr. Cooper flew off in his new baby… it exploded. Welp that’s just how it goes. Assuming he gets back to solid ground before he suffocates, I’m betting the Freemakers are gonna owe someone a lot of money… or else Naare’s gonna have to mind trick someone again. Ah, fun times!
So that was a blast! After all the peril and shocking turns I’m glad we got a slightly lighter episode so we can catch our breath for a second. Sorry this blog’s kinda thrown-together, but hopefully you enjoyed all the utter nonsense anyway 🙂

Keep The Peace,
– Twilight

REB UP: Thoughts On The Newly-Revealed Rebels Crew

I know I know… what kind of title is “Reb Up”? Well… I thought it sounded kind of cool, cheesy as it is…

Anyway, there’s been quite a sudden flurry of SW news coming out as of late. Aside from the obvious, all-too-exciting news of the new TCW episodes on Netflix, they’ve introduced us all to some new Rebels characters that we’re going to come to love this year!

Because of these great videos, we’ve seen the sketches and unfinished animation, been introduced to and heard their voices, and gotten an opportunity to get to know the crew of the Ghost a little better. It’s hard to say whether this has made it easier for me to wait or harder for me to wait… all I can say is, I pretty much loved all these guys instantaneously and I’m definitely extremely excited for this show. So, if you have a moment, why don’t we talk a bit about what makes this fantastic mishmash of a team awesome? And we’ll start by talking about each member of the “family” in order of revealing. Which would mean we would start off with the Grumpy Cat of droid-dom, Chopper!

This blog contains spoilers from Episode I, Episode III, and The Clone Wars Season 5.

(Screencap credits: the official Star Wars Youtube)

So the first good guy they introduced us to wasn’t human, wasn’t alien… he was a machine; an astromech they call Chopper. If you follow me on tumblr, you likely know my first thoughts on him were “OH MY GOSH I LOVE HIM ALREADY!” And who wouldn’t? First of all, he’s an astromech droid, and for the longest time, the only astromech we loved with all our hearts was Artoo. but at this juncture in time, Artoo was probably getting in trouble again alongside Threepio (c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t know the words to the Droids theme song!). Artoo’s always been a crucial part of any cockpit, riding alongside the Skywalkers! So the fact they wanted to give us a new good-hearted astromech droid is a big deal. But not only that, they gave us a good-hearted astromech droid with attitude.

He looks very much like what could’ve been Artoo, based on legit McQuarrie concept art, so he automatically looks adorable, but it’s his attitude that cinches it. Artoo’s a bit of a prankster, impulsive, and smart-alecky, but no matter what, he’s there for you. Even if it means he has to stand exposed on a Naboo ship and restore power while all his droid comrades are getting blown to pieces. But it seems for Chopper that he’s more, well… “Whoops, I just broke the hyperdrive. Eh… nobody’ll notice it. I’ll fix it later.” and then the Ghost crew’s all “WHAT THE HECK, CHOPPER?!” and then he’s like “OK, OK, sheesh, I’ll deal with it, bro!”. He does have a good heart, but it’s a little harder to find for him. But I’m sure when it comes down to it, he’ll get out on that Naboo ship and do what he must… so to speak.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I love his funny little “voice”; my first thought was that he sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher synthesized XD Maybe not really, but it was close enough for me to love the similarity.

Between his attitude, his endearing, junky-ish look, and his equally grumpy voice, there’s really no debate that Chopper will be a fan favorite for us. Now all we need is for the R2 Builders group to make a life-size one! But one awesome step at a time…

Now, if we’re going to have an “Artoo” on our “Falcon“, we need a “Han” of sorts, and it seems likely that that role will be given to this dude named Kanan. It’s a super-cool feeling getting to meet our first human character, and it helps that this guy’s as cool as they come!

My basic prediction for the Ghost crew included a guy like this… someone a bit overconfident who has swagger come naturally to him, someone who’s daring and a smidge reckless, someone who has a good head on his shoulders, but most importantly, has a good heart despite his past. Kanan 100% fits the bill, but I never expect that that “someone” would be an ex-Jedi!

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about this between-the-trilogies timespan is the stories of the Jedi who escaped Order 66, and the fact we’re about to really get to know a character of that sort of kin is so exciting for me. It’ll be epic uncovering his past and seeing his character grow. Oh, what a day it’ll be when we see Kanan pick up his lightsaber and actually bring back a bit of the Jedi part of him he can’t deny! I’m completely entirely excited to get to meet Kanan for real and see what happens when he sits in the cockpit of the Ghost, onto another Empire-fighting adventure! And perhaps, what will happen when he locks ‘sabers with Quizzy here…

Then there’s Ezra: who I consider, from my first impression of him, to be a mix of young Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Prince Ken (an EU charrie), with a smidge of young Anakin Skywalker and Jaebo Hood from TCW’s Mystery Of A Thousand Moons. What do all these guys have in common with him? They’re all kids who start out on a much bigger adventure in the SW Galaxy, and most of them come from pretty humble beginnings.

Ezra here is a thieving street kid who steals “only what he can’t afford… and that’s everything,” (#DisneyReferences); not too far from growing up on the lawless planet of Tatooine as a farm kid or a slave. He’s got himself a set of quick moves, clean getaways, and sticky fingers, and is no fan of the Empire. He’s clearly got attitude as he rocks the occasionally-swiped Stormtrooper helmet, and *spoiler alert* may or may not be Force-sensitive 🙂

It seems to be that Ezra is going to end up accidentally being the unofficial padawan of Kanan, and that can only lead to really great, heartfelt stories! There’s truly so much surrounding this awesome kid hero that I can’t help but be excited to meet him and learn more about him as his own brand of awesome to the Alliance!

Plus, his hair is so cool… ^w^

Next up is Zeb, who has a lot of coolness going for him. First of all, he’s a new alien species (Anybody remember the last time we had a new canon species introduced? I sure can’t…) and that’s kind of a big deal. And it helps that he’s a totally cool-looking alien with a design that fits perfectly into the SW Galaxy! (I want to see someone like Zeb in Episode VII all done up in CG/live action! 😀 ) And then they give him this great, gnarly Australian-accented voice that, again, suits Star Wars to a T! (Thank you, Steve Blum!) But most importantly, they made him a great character to start with!

Tough, intelligent, quick-thinking, and an overall fun guy to hang around. And who doesn’t love a guy who enjoys smacking Stormtrooper heads together? And all with his own burly classiness… if that’s a thing. If Kanan’s our “Han”, Ezra’s our “Luke”, and Chopper’s our “Artoo”, then Zeb is most definitely our “Chewbacca”. Honestly, I think Zeb could be one of the few who could arm-wrestle Chewie and come out alive; whether he would actually win or not remains to be seen… I must ask that if I ever get to be part of a Q&A with Mr. Filoni and the crew 🙂 All in all, I’m pretty much psyched to get to see Zeb take down those ‘Troopers before long!

And it’s a fact that SW isn’t complete without its heroines; without our Leias and Padmes and Ahsokas, where would we be? So I did myself a happy dance (well, on the inside) when I found out that the Rebels crew is getting two girls as part of the crew!

The first revealed of the two is Sabine, who perhaps, at first glance, with her fashion sense and rebellious spirit, isn’t too far being a normal teenager/young adult. But surprise! She’s a Mandalorian! With an awesomely designed (pink!) helmet and armor! I pretty much loved her immediately; she’s a truly colorful, creative individual who’s using her mad skillz to give the Empire a piece of her mind. Plus, she’s fashionable, smart, and blows stuff up. It’s nay to impossible to obtain that level of coolness! And being a Mandalorian and all, she’s already naturally cool.

From the get-go, I was predicting a really great new girl character would be a part of Rebels, and I was thrilled that she surpassed the coolness levels I predicted! Also, I’ve wondered a while what on earth became of Mandalore after all the nuttiness that conspired in the fifth season of TCW. Plus, at this point in the timeline, the only armored supercommando we know much about is Boba Fett. So with the introduction of Sabine, we’ll hopefully dig up some further dirt on one of the most intriguing of SW planets. So yeah, I could go on and on about this awesome girl, and I’m sure I will even more once I get to see her story unfold!

Finally, there’s Hera, whose role in Rebels I couldn’tve imagined to be as awesome as it is… she’s the pilot of the Ghost! That’s a pretty sweet role for anyone, and it’s given to our resident twi’lek! Twi’leks have always been awesome, but aside from say, Aayla Secura, there haven’t been a surplus of true hero twi’leks in the SW Galaxy. So seeing Hera at the controls is pretty epic!

I absolutely adore her personality, being strong, wise, practical, and quite the leader amongst her fellow rebels. And as if that isn’t enough, she’s got a super-cool steampunk sort of fashion sense! Hera is truly an awesomely unique member, playing a different role than one might expect of her and keeping this mismatched “family” of Rebels together. I look forward greatly to learning more about her as this era in the SW universe comes to life!

So that’s my two cents on the crew as individuals, now, as a group, let’s start off by saying that they’re awesome as they come!

Obviously, we love the Falcon‘s crew, and for good reason, perhaps mostly for the fact that they’re mismatched and quite a varied little gang. They all come from different backgrounds and places and situations and they don’t really hit it off instantaneously. Ultimately, Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo became amazing friends with each other and sorta, you know, saved the universe and stuff 🙂 They’re not the only heroes in Star Wars, but they’re the originals. And that’s the feel I think we’re going to get with the Ghost‘s crew.

We’ve got an ex-Jedi, a Jedi padawan-in-the-making street kid, a rusty little droid desperately in need of an attitude adjustment (though we hope he never gets one all the same), a muscly, intelligent ex-warrior, a sharpshooting graffiti artist, and a strong (may I mention girl) pilot. Don’t let this fabulous group pic of them make you assume that they always get along perfectly; like any family, they have their scuffles and disagreements (so far, that seems the most prevalent between Zeb and Chopper). They came together first because they had a desire to fight the Empire, but I’m sure that in the end, they’re together because they want to be… because they unexpectedly become family 🙂

Anyone else unable to wait for this show? Everybody? I’m not surprised. ONLY A LITTLE BIT LONGER…!

Keep The Peace,
– Twilight