#ix spec

Yeah it’s a hooded cloak. It’s consistent with the rumors and spoilers about his costume we’ve been hearing for a while from various sources. See:

I’m absolutely excited about... everything. The title is much bolder than I expected in that it hints VERY strongly to Bendemption (particularly with Kylo’s theme rising at the end of the trailer). I’m loving the HELL out of Palps’ return, because 

on a doylist level it solves neatly the question “if Kylo isn’t the ultimate big bad then WHO” without having to pretzel Hux into that role---as I did myself in my former epIX predictions (to clarify: I think Hux is smart and sinister enough to represent a serious threat to Kylo, but it’s obvious that the Big Bad must be someone who can threaten the galaxy both on a political and on a mystical level, i.e. it must be a powerful force user. And Hux isn’t. I still think he can factor in someway, but I’m glad the heroes will have bigger fish to fry than Ginger Spice, tbh)

on a thematic level it bookends really wonderfully the whole saga because Palpatine was the architect of Anakin’s fall, which is what cosmically cursed the Skywalker family by opening a festering wound that even Anakin’s sacrificial death couldn’t heal. Palpatine was the big bad behind the curtains in the original trilogy and he was the big bad behind the curtains in the prequel trilogy; it makes sense that he is in the sequel trilogy, too;

purely from a narrative potential perspective it opens a lot of fascinating possible scenarios that will likely tie the sequel trilogy with the expanded canon (the Aftermath trilogy etc). How did Palpatine survive? Did he really go down so easily? What was his contingency plan really about? What about the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? Did Palpatine actually find a way to achieve immortality via the dark side?

The possible plot... well. I’m not going to make any detailed spec yet but I think it’s safe to say, also based on spoilers/leaks, that the movie will revolve at least in part around the quest for a McGuffin (possibly more than one) that will eventually lead to Rey, and possibly Kylo, learning about Palpatine’s return, which will require them to seek each other’s help and team up. There might or might not be some major reveal of Kylo’s motives to fall to the dark side. All of this is likely ending in Bendemption and the infamous balance.

This is what MSW calls “Force Flash Fights”. I warned y’all that JJ was probably going to do his own thing with the Force Bond—not just in terms of what they can do with it, but also from a visual perspective. Rian used a minimalistic approach, basically just a simple but effective juxtaposition of camera shots. Knowing JJ, I knew he was going to do something more spectacular with it:

Anyway, this is actually great news for us. It means the Force Bond is only getting stronger, so much that they can actually teleport across the galaxy (either in flesh or via astral body or something). And, as MSW speculates, they might use this new ability against Palpatine, since there is another source claiming that “Rey and Kylo team up against [an] ‘outside threat’ […]. The person is in a black robe and cloak” (or… ya know… for sexy times…)

The slightly less positive news is that the tie fighter scene might be a real fight after all:

One source that told me about what they filmed in Jordan mentioned Kylo and his TIE Fighter and Rey in a “Wild West stand off.” We pretty much saw that in the trailer. That person also said that Rey damages the TIE and we see Kylo walking away from the TIE in flames (which was also mentioned by a BTS reel viewer). This source said things get trippy when they first clash. (x)

ezrabridgers

 “IX TEASER SPOILERS BELOW”

real question: who all is in the ghost

Anything is possible and I don’t necessarily rule out ANOTHER redemption bait and switch (though I’m sure final redemption will happen ANYWAY), but boy would it feel redundant at this point, since Kylo is already starting TRoS on the evil side. I don’t see the point in it.

The mask... I’m now starting to think it will serve a more positive function than we had initially thought, i.e. it won’t be about Kylo regressing to his former self but something entirelydifferent. As people have noted, the way it’s fixed looks reminiscent of the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which is a wonderful thing, and the hands that are fixing it in the teaser trailer look...hairy?, which makes me think it’s some kind of alien, which ALSO makes me think it’s NOT someone who is in the First Order, BUT MAYBE SOME UNEXPECTED ALLY?

I’m very much On Board with Rey and Ben calling each other, respectively, “Kylo Ren” and “the Jedi / the Girl” when they’re around other people, but addressing each other by name when they’re alone. It reinforces how the intimacy they have is something that is only between them and they’re not ready to share with the rest of the world yet. But who knows, maybe TROS will surprise us and they’ll refer to each other using their real names right from the beginning.