#alwaysyourqueen

(I was talking to my fiance about how much I liked it an they went “well why don’t you say something?” so you can thank them for me being brave enough to send this message)

(love the blog, very fun and thank you for running it)

i think what stands out for me is that i didn’t hate it as much as a lot of other sabine fans i know, my gripes are more just the way that her story sometimes scrapes so close to being really really good, but never quite makes it all the way there. a big part of this i think is how they strayed away from a lot of overly-specific references and spending too much time on things that would need to be explained to non-rebels fans, which i appreciate from the perspective of making the show accessible (esp bc i have met a few people now who watched rebels for the first time BECAUSE of ahsoka), but i do think weakens certain aspects as far as being a spiritual successor to rebels

i think the broad strokes of what’s there could be really good, they just need more fleshing out. a lot of this is something that could be “fixed” for me in future seasons/stories assuming a certain amount of care is taken.

i’ll start with what i liked: i did warm up to natasha’s performance a lot quicker than i thought i would. the intro she has in the show had me captured pretty quickly, both because i think it’s a well-written character intro and how natasha sells it. i still prefer tiya’s iteration of the character, but natasha was really great at capturing the mix of soft kindness and attitude, plus sabines specific blend of insecurity and confidence. i think some of her best moments also come from how well she nails the chemistry between her and other ghost crew members (as sparing as those scenes are, which is a major gripe of mine). her and eman’s ezra are so electric to watch, and her one scene with hera hit it on the head (that scene also did a ton of heavy lifting as far as selling me on LA hera). you can FEEL the love she has for both characters and immediately get a sense of what their relationship is like, even if you don’t know all of their history. i genuinely think all of the LA rebels were at their best when they were interacting with each other, because those relationships all hit the nail on the head and i hope to see more of that in the future, especially with her and hera (and PLEASE bring zeb in, i miss him so much you can’t show me that you can make him look good in live action for a cameo in a different show and then not let him see his family!!!)

i liked the attention to detail the set design team had when it came to her apartment on lothal, i liked that they gave her a cat, i liked that they outright stated her sibling relationship with ezra. i liked her back and forth with huyang, i liked that they let her keep her more masculine style armor vs re-casting bo-katan armor, i liked that the show did not hold back on seeing how she’s been struggling with the loss of ezra and her birth family (though i don’t really like how the off-screen killing of the wrens was handled). i liked her rivalry with shin, i liked the scenes with her howler, i liked that she got a poncho for a bit, i liked the way she treated the first noti that she met. i liked the way she got to be selfish and messy and yet still we see that she’s a good person, that she learns from her mistakes and makes the right choices in the end even when it’s hard. i like that she cares, she cares so much it gets her in trouble and despite this she still gets to be sassy and snarky and have all of these pluralities that make her who she is.

genuinely, though everything below is way more long winded than what’s up here, my feelings towards sabine in this show do lean more positive, my criticisms are just more complicated and wordy than my likes lol. i think there’s a lot that’s done right (which i think majorly has to do with natasha’s performance), and so, so much potential. there’s a nonzero chance that season 2 could address most of my issues in a way that satisfies me and turns around my feelings on this, even if ultimately i think i will still always prefer and wish for more animated sabine

criticisms under a cut bc this is longer than i thought

favorite female character: glimmer

favorite male character: bow or maybe micah

favorite book/season/etc: 1 and 5 are tied tbh

favorite episode (if its a tv show): catradora kiss or princess prom, i cant decide

favorite cast member: aj michalka i owe you my life

favorite ship: glimadora or glitradora

character I’d die defending: im a catra apologist 😔✊

character I just can’t sympathize with: shadow weaver. die bitch

character I grew to love: entrapta or sea hawk

thank you!! in no particular order:

ellie & dina (the last of us)

yennefer & geralt (the witcher)

nathan & elena (uncharted)

zelda & link (skyward sword specifically)

eva rosalene & neil watts (to the moon; does anyone even know them idk why they came up in my mind)

(to be fair i don’t really ship characters in games that much! jdkfsh)

Cog:

3. Things you said before leaving. Your name is Charlotte Olivia Grace, you’re nineteen years old, and you met a man in town today who told you he could take you with him back to New Alexandria. He seemed genuinely pleased by your enthusiastic agreement, and had walked you home so you could pack your bags. He’s now planted himself between you and your parents, and the warmth of this stranger’s hand in yours gives you the courage to stand a little straighter, look your mother in the eye, and tell her that not only are you leaving but that you’re never coming back. You’ll cry over the memory of the look on her face that night when you’re fairly sure your new companion has gone to sleep -and he won’t have the heart to tell you later that he heard each quiet sob- but in that moment your resolve is firm, and your voice doesn’t shake. Your name is Cog, you’re twenty years old, and you’ve just met the most wonderful group of people. They’re rough around the edges, but so was Ace when you first met him. They’re fearless and exciting and so full of life that your chest aches with a longing to join them on their adventures. You’re silently but profusely grateful that you were the one sent to fetch them for their meeting with Master Kind when they first arrived in the city, and that she saw fit to send you with them on the errand they ran for her.  ...but that errand has been completed. You’re back from the town you swore six months ago you’d never step foot in again, and in the morning your new friends leave for the Crossroads. In the morning, your life returns to lectures and essays and studying runes and history you’ll never use, and it’s so much better than what you had in Lafaroh but the taste of a life of adventure is still thick on your tongue and you’d give anything you have for even just another day of that excitement. You’re unhappy and subdued the night you make it back to New Alexandria, and you know Ace notices even though he doesn’t say anything. You hope he knows you’re not ungrateful for the life he gave you here, and as you lay on your back in your dorm room bed you tell yourself again and again that boring at least means stable, and that stable is good.  Ace sends you off ahead to meet the party outside the Academy gates the next day, claiming he wants to grab some supplies to send with them and that he’ll catch up soon to see them off with you. You’re in the middle of trying to convince the standoffish gunslinger to give you a hug goodbye when you see Ace coming toward you, and though his grin is infectious it’s out of place enough to give you pause. He leans in, ruffles your hair, and tells you that you have approval straight from the Headmaster’s desk to leave New Alexandria with this group of weirdos you’ve gotten so attached to. It takes a moment for what he’s saying to sink in; it takes another for you to understand what was unsaid, as well. You’re going, and Ace has to stay here.  You know Ace almost as well as you know yourself, and you know he wants more than anything to be able to do what he just bent the rules to give you the freedom to do. And yet here he is, smiling and teasing you for tearing up when you should be thanking him, because he’s honestly excited you get to go in his stead. So you hug him tight and promise to write, promise to come back and visit, promise you’ll miss him and do whatever you can to make the world a better place. He makes you promise to keep your chin up and refuse to let the Wasteland smother your spirit, and you do without hesitation. Your cheeks are still wet but your face hurts from smiling when you finally pull away, and with one final, heartfelt goodbye, you take off into the city to catch up with your new friends and tell them the good news. 9. Things you said while lying to yourself They’re just dreams. Stress dreams, you tell yourself, and who could blame you for being stressed? In less than a week you’ve had to watch helplessly as one of your friends was lead to his execution, trekked across the Wasteland because your car was stolen by a Bandit who’s now taken it upon himself to tail your party, had to choose between destroying a town’s entire water supply and triggering Project Leviathan, gotten a letter from your best friend who’s hurting and struggling to hold his city together, and had the horrifying realization that the Bandit who days ago stole your car just to get your attention now has unsupervised access to an incredibly powerful, incredibly dangerous magical artifact. It’s enough to put a strain on anyone, and you’re self-aware enough to admit that you’ve never been especially good at dealing with emotionally taxing situations anyway. It makes sense that you’re having stress dreams, and you’re certain they’ll go away on their own when things slow down. It doesn’t mean anything that these dreams are reoccurring, unchanging, and relentless. It doesn’t mean anything that you’re dreaming of your hometown, of the street where you watched as -with your permission- Ace killed you mother. It doesn’t mean anything that the creature speaking to you is the same one she summoned, or that it speaks with her voice. Or your own. It doesn’t mean anything that it says, over and over, that you can’t cheat destiny, or that you’ve heard that phrase more times than you can count over the last few days. It’s your brain dredging it up from those moments, that’s all. It doesn’t mean anything. Because if it did—If it did—  But dreams are just dreams. You jolt awake, pulse racing, heart in your throat, and look around frantically to find your friends asleep in the room around you. Seeing their silhouettes is less of a comfort than you had hoped it might be, and you curl in on yourself, forehead pressed to your knees, and whisper that truth to yourself in the darkness again and again. Dreams are just dreams. Dreams are just dreams. Dreams are just dreams. 25. Things you said that you still think about today You’re in a jail cell in a city that by all rights you never should have been able to step foot in, and for the first time all day the people around you are speaking a language you actually understand. It would be a refreshing change, but you’re having trouble believing even now that you’re actually understanding what’s being said. Valentine had followed the party as they were escorted from the throne room to their cells, no doubt to gloat about how they had played right into his hand, that everything they had done had been pointless in the grand scheme of things. And, sure enough, he’s there now, leaning against the bars of your cell and waxing poetic about the meaninglessness of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and how the only way to save the world from ruin is to conquer and unite it. He speaks, uninterrupted, for several minutes. He’s all but preaching at your exhausted, downtrodden party, and not one of them raise their head to tell him to stop, to argue with him, or even to tell him to just fuck off. And so, exhausted as you yourself are, you have no choice but to push yourself to your feet and take a step toward the bars. “You’re wrong.” It takes Valentine aback for a moment that you were the one to stand up to him but, as always, he recovers quickly. He smiles at you, composed as ever, and leans in to remind you that you were the one who said you wanted to see the Wasteland at peace. Isn’t that right, Charlotte? That’s what he’s offering. Really, you should be thanking him...  Your hands ball into fists at your sides, and an anger you’ve never felt before starts to burn in your chest. He’s trying to use you. He’s trying to take your words, trying to take the good you want to see done in the world, and twist it so you have to agree with him. He wants you to believe that your options are help him or watch the world burn, and you’ve never been more angry with another person in your life. “You’re wrong,” you insist again, and the new fire in you burns hotter as you watch his smile go pitying at the way your voice trembles. He doesn’t get to be right because he’s not emotional! He doesn’t get to be right because he’s decided he’s been logical! You take an angry step forward, with half a mind to jab a finger through the bars and against his chest. You instead stop inches away and glare up at him, defiant and resolute. “If you’re looking at a problem this big and can only see two solutions, it’s because you found the one you wanted and stopped looking for others. You’re wrong, Valentine, and you don’t get to tell me I’m stupid or naive for knowing there has to be another way.” It’s the first time you’ve put words to that thought, but the conviction behind them is unshakable. You’re right, and you know you’re right. You know that it may not always be easy, but looking for that third option is always, always worth it. You tuck those words into your heart, and carry them out of the city with you. And when you get to New Alexandria, when you learn that Master Kind wants to start a war and Ace intends to let her do it because he can’t see another way out, you look him in the eye and tell him exactly what you told Valentine. There is always, always a third option.

Raini