la grande bellezza

Hi! Sorry, you’re right I didn’t mean to dismiss the works that came before Andor or anything like that. In fact I find them interesting and I like many of them. A good number of them are well written and have created backgrounds and histories to the characters on their own that flesh them out in equally interesting ways. I’m not saying one way is superior to the other. I’m saying that because they’re no longer completely aligned with now-canon, they don’t exactly “come off right” based on now-canon, without the characters and stories that it’s now composed of, which imo has added a lot of breadth and depth to it. It doesn’t mean I think the older fics don’t have merit or I think they’re wrong because I understand that they were written based on what information and characterizations were available at that time. It’s just an observation and I found it interesting to see.

I think it also has a lot to do with the characters introduced in the series that were not present in Rogue One, since Andor is composed of a new world rich with people and history for him to grow in. Luthen, Maarva, Vel, Bix — all of them are interesting and whole as characters that older fics without complete information on his past relationships and motivations don’t come off as exactly right anymore. In older fics, their absence, whether physical or even just their influence, is glaring. But I suppose that’s the beauty of a character whose development is still ongoing.

Quick v rough sketch of Don John from Much Ado About Nothing (1993), it’s been a hot minute (year/s?) since I’ve drawn anything so I’m super rusty, but it was nice to just start again.

i also noticed that a number of reylo are also an*dalas. i am not, but that’s neither here nor there, and i do love padmé and ani individually. there have been fics where the parallels have been made, but i dunno, i feel like reylo and the sequel trilogy are really thematically a continuation from the og trilogy and not really a callback to the grandparents’ romance, because to me the og and sequels are more about family and belonging than this star-crossed lovers will ruin or save the world thing (which i think is secondary). tbh to me the prequel trilogy was also about that — belonging and otherness, the jedi order also just trying its best (i am going to cover my ears to insults to them bec i love them sorry) and ani feeling so othered that he fell prey to palpatine, despite obi wan (ult loml in the sw universe so i will not take any insult to him sitting down) also trying his damned best. it makes me sad to see the admiration for the ship but coupled with disdain for the og trio. they were all imperfect beings who were just trying their best.