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  1. - Top - End - #931
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    So what, Hutts have an absurdly efficient welfare-state?

    EDIT: ypu'd think a sppecies typecasted as "ruthless criminals" ould have a more "dog eat dog" mentality.
    Theyre Hutts. Only lesser species would conspire to deliberately destroy something so beautiful as a Hutt simply out of principle. Which is not to say the Hutts never fight, there is of course politicking going on among the Hutt clans, but they see the overt destruction of another Hutt to be a fairly undesirable thing, in general.
    Last edited by Keltest; 2022-01-12 at 09:32 AM.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Keltest View Post
    Theyre Hutts. Only lesser species would conspire to deliberately destroy something so beautiful as a Hutt simply out of principle. Which is not to say the Hutts never fight, there is of course politicking going on among the Hutt clans, but they see the overt destruction of another Hutt to be a fairly undesirable thing, in general.
    It's entirely possible to exploit someone without "destroying" them.
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  3. - Top - End - #933
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    So what, Hutts have an absurdly efficient welfare-state?

    EDIT: ypu'd think a sppecies typecasted as "ruthless criminals" ould have a more "dog eat dog" mentality.
    I think the way to think of it is that Hutt's are family, and family takes care of family. Though more in a nepotism way than a welfare way. They're a gerontocracy btw, age is valued and respected in itself and tends to be a quality of the members of the Hutt council, which can contribute to a general slow pace of cultural change.

    Sometimes family 'takes care of' family too.

    If a Hutt is genuinely poor, incompetent or otherwise unable to cut it their relatives either make sure they wind up in some low level white collar position for the family, or discretely kill them for being a failure. If a relative, such as your mother or sibling, winds up in destitution it shows that you as a Hutt are a failure, so social pressure makes most Hutts provide for their close kin.

    Menial jobs are done by slaves, lots of slaves. The Hutts basically have entire species enslaved or in a position so close to slavery the difference becomes irrelevant. Slaves provide entertainment, grow and prepare food, fix machines, fight on the Hutt's behalf and so on and so forth.

    Are all Hutt's wealthy members of the crime families? No, probably not, but one of them trying to be different is like a real life mobster's kid trying to distance themselves from the criminal aspect of their family, no matter how much they try the family is going to be keeping an eye on them for various reasons.
    Last edited by Grim Portent; 2022-01-12 at 09:42 AM.
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  4. - Top - End - #934
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    It's entirely possible to exploit someone without "destroying" them.
    And anything overt like menial labor is going to be shielded from prying eyes. You're likely never going to see it because if it happens, they would deliberately hide it from outsiders.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    And anything overt like menial labor is going to be shielded from prying eyes. You're likely never going to see it because if it happens, they would deliberately hide it from outsiders.
    It's not just that. It's also that outsiders don't usually have reason to deal with Hutts who aren't politicians or crime lords.

    I'm currently working with an offshore team in , well, let's call it country X. Everyone I've met from country X is a software engineer or a manager. But that's not because everyone in X is a graduate of a technical institute. It's because, as a software engineer myself, there's no reason for me to encounter anyone outside of what is a relatively small group. X has dentists, butchers, bakers, artists, musicians, laborers, hairstylists, and who knows what else. But I don't meet them, because there is no reason for us to cross paths.

    I think the same thing happens with the Hutts in the GFFA. There may be many different occupations for Hutts, but non-Hutts won't have any reason to deal with them; just with those Hutts who have reason to do business with off-planet travelers. So: Smugglers encounter Hutt crime lords, Senators encounter Hutt politicians. It's not that the other occupations don't exist; it's just that a non-Hutt has little reason to cross paths with them.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Excellent point, that too.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Given their anatomy I'm not sure Hutt's would even be good labourers. Stubby arms aren't great for tool use, and otherwise their only real physical asset is being big and strong.

    I genuinely can't imagine a Hutt being a farmer, or a construction worker, or a surgeon or any other job that involves frequent useage of manual dexterity. Overseeing people who do such work yes, but not actually doing the work themselves. I imagine the Hutt equivalent of a farmer is either a plantation owner or someone who tends their own houseplants.
    Sanity is nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Grim Portent View Post
    Given their anatomy I'm not sure Hutt's would even be good labourers. Stubby arms aren't great for tool use, and otherwise their only real physical asset is being big and strong.

    I genuinely can't imagine a Hutt being a farmer, or a construction worker, or a surgeon or any other job that involves frequent useage of manual dexterity. Overseeing people who do such work yes, but not actually doing the work themselves. I imagine the Hutt equivalent of a farmer is either a plantation owner or someone who tends their own houseplants.
    That depends on how much fat a typical Hutt has. Severe obesity can distort body proportions something fierce. A fit Hutt, like say one who has to work for a living instead of spending all day laying around eating live toads could look a lot more like the typical "snakefolk" body-type.
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  9. - Top - End - #939
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    That depends on how much fat a typical Hutt has. Severe obesity can distort body proportions something fierce. A fit Hutt, like say one who has to work for a living instead of spending all day laying around eating live toads could look a lot more like the typical "snakefolk" body-type.
    Bokku the Hutt disagrees.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Bokku the Hutt disagrees.
    This guy could totally be a construction worker! He's ripped!
    Now, I'm trying to figure out what Hutt sit-ups look like.
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  11. - Top - End - #941
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    This guy could totally be a construction worker! He's ripped!
    He could be!


    .......he's a crime boss.
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  12. - Top - End - #942
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Why does he have abs? I was under the impression Hutts are boneless, the muscles shouldn't be arranged in such a fashion as to form abs.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    He could be!


    .......he's a crime boss.
    I said could! I know he's a crime-boss, but he's clearly taking better care of himself than Jabba I-have-fat-over-my-shoulders Desilijic Tiure The Hutt ever did.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    It's classic uncreative EU writing. This character in this one scene was in this role? Guess what, There's a whole planet of those characters, and they're all experts in the thing that one character was!

    Bothans were spies once in a throwaway line? All Bothans are expert spies!

    Boba Fett has snazzy armour? There's a whole planet of people that wear that exact suit of armour

    Admiral Ackbar captained a ship? There's a whole planet of him that builds ships exactly like that one, and they're known for their spacefleet!

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Here's a hypothesis: When Hutts first emerged as an intelligent species, they were symbiotes with some other large creature, like remoras with sharks. The Hutts supplied the "brains" to the "brawn" of their partner-creatures, and it is these creatures which provided the muscle power for their civilization until the Hutts discovered fossils fuels, nuclear power, and other innovations which made muscle obsolete.

    Perhaps, after contact with interstellar civilizations, the Hutts either did not carry their partner-species into space due to the life support requirements, and instead adapted into 'symbiotic' relationships with the other spacefaring peoples. They provide brains and expertise which allows them to act both as politicians or as crime lords. In Jabba's case, the relationship is more "parasitic" then symbiote.

    Yeah, it's probably not backed up by anything at all in canon but I think we've got at least the bare bones of a plausible tale here.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard View Post
    It's classic uncreative EU writing. This character in this one scene was in this role? Guess what, There's a whole planet of those characters, and they're all experts in the thing that one character was!

    Bothans were spies once in a throwaway line? All Bothans are expert spies!

    Boba Fett has snazzy armour? There's a whole planet of people that wear that exact suit of armour

    Admiral Ackbar captained a ship? There's a whole planet of him that builds ships exactly like that one, and they're known for their spacefleet!
    Yes, that's definitely a world-building problem/lack of creativity that has plagued EU since the first RPG. The early EU novels and video games borrowed heavily from material created for the RPG.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by pendell View Post
    Here's a hypothesis: When Hutts first emerged as an intelligent species, they were symbiotes with some other large creature, like remoras with sharks. The Hutts supplied the "brains" to the "brawn" of their partner-creatures, and it is these creatures which provided the muscle power for their civilization until the Hutts discovered fossils fuels, nuclear power, and other innovations which made muscle obsolete.

    Perhaps, after contact with interstellar civilizations, the Hutts either did not carry their partner-species into space due to the life support requirements, and instead adapted into 'symbiotic' relationships with the other spacefaring peoples. They provide brains and expertise which allows them to act both as politicians or as crime lords. In Jabba's case, the relationship is more "parasitic" then symbiote.

    Yeah, it's probably not backed up by anything at all in canon but I think we've got at least the bare bones of a plausible tale here.

    Respectfully,

    Brian P.
    That's exactly what I was saying for my own headcanon - they are evolved from parasitic brain slugs. Their entire means of survival is some form of innate telepathy that lets them charm/dominate a number of creatures into serving them and protecting them. Hutts will compete with each other for populations of suggestible creatures. The most successful and powerful of them also would need to develop normal interpersonal negotiation skills so that they could command much larger organizations that can't be telepathically controlled. However, they always have an inner "court" of thralls who will serve them without question or recompense and protect them to the death, making them difficult to approach, assassinate or steal from. I mean, look at Jabba's palace - this menagerie of creatures just hangs around, sleeping right next to him in the throne room? Most of these are probably the thralls who serve under compulsion, and are not allowed to leave Jabba's presence (within whatever range the telepathy has). This is also why the Jedi mind trick wouldn't work on Jabba - he possesses a version of it himself. He already knew Bib Fortuna was weak-willed - that's why he keeps him around!
    Last edited by Thrudd; 2022-01-12 at 09:32 PM.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thrudd View Post
    That's exactly what I was saying for my own headcanon - they are evolved from parasitic brain slugs. Their entire means of survival is some form of innate telepathy that lets them charm/dominate a number of creatures into serving them and protecting them. Hutts will compete with each other for populations of suggestible creatures. The most successful and powerful of them also would need to develop normal interpersonal negotiation skills so that they could command much larger organizations that can't be telepathically controlled. However, they always have an inner "court" of thralls who will serve them without question or recompense and protect them to the death, making them difficult to approach, assassinate or steal from. I mean, look at Jabba's palace - this menagerie of creatures just hangs around, sleeping right next to him in the throne room? Most of these are probably the thralls who serve under compulsion, and are not allowed to leave Jabba's presence (within whatever range the telepathy has). This is also why the Jedi mind trick wouldn't work on Jabba - he possesses a version of it himself. He already knew Bib Fortuna was weak-willed - that's why he keeps him around!
    Similar, but not exactly the same. I am not assuming psionic powers or telepathy. I am thinking more along the lines of maxed ranks in bluff, diplomacy, and negotiation.

    In Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! He says that in the street gangs of Vimes youth, there was always one scrawny, bright lad who had the #2 slot in the gang. Never the gang leader, but maintained his position by having bright ideas and solid intel on whose homes could be most easily looted , keeping the gang rich and entertained so they don't decide to entertain themselves by beating up the scrawny kid.

    I think that's Jabba's path to power. Start in a gang as something like a clerk, ingratiate yourself with the boss, supply information and become indispensable, fawning and unthreatening ... until the moment when the support network is in place and all the strings go to him rather than the ostensible "leader", and then one swift coup using hired bounty hunters to change the leadership.

    I don't think we need psionic thralldom to explain Jabba's court. What we're seeing is sycophancy . Sycophants -- also known as suck-ups, toadies, hangers-on, courtiers, and the like, throughout history have gathered around rich and powerful figures. Their sole purpose in life is to flatter the rich person in charge in hopes of getting special favors, money, and power in exchange. You also see them in middle school, where kids can form their own little bands and echo chambers, their own little cliques, where they compete for favor and outcast those who put one foot wrong.

    These tend to form around arrogant, rich people who have allowed their success to go to their heads, and allow themselves to be surrounded by flatterers who will tell them nothing except how great he is. The Dufflepuds in C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader had a group like this around their 'chief'. But you see the phenomenon in all kinds of places.

    I think that's what's going on in Jabba's court. He's rich, powerful, and arrogant. So people on the make come to his court as dancers, musicians, bounty hunters, what not, all to earn their place at his table and share in some of his fortune. It's a dangerous game. Displeasing Jabba means being fed to a rancor, so there may be a complicated, subtle dance among the courtiers to win as much favor as possible and shove any disfavor or bad opinion on their enemies. And there are of course contractors like Boba Fett, who are privileged members of the court and hold it by sheer competence and intimidation, disdaining the games the smaller fish have to play to stay alive.

    It's a difficult, dangerous life for one with few scruples, but I can definitely see why one would choose it over moisture farming.

    Respectfully,

    Brian P.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    It's a little strange to think jabba took over by sycophanting his way to the top and then killing the leader, but now he sleeps in a room full of sycophants
    Last edited by Kornaki; 2022-01-13 at 06:13 PM.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Kornaki View Post
    It's a little strange to think jabba took over by sycophanting his way to the top and then killing the leader, but now he sleeps in a room full of sycophants
    No its not.

    thats just the cycle of power and betrayal at work. good leaders don't surround themselves with people who just tell them what they want to hear in hopes of earning a position replacing them one day. in turn a former sycophant was probably always a bad leader who surrounded themselves with sycophantic underlings even before they got to the top even as they spew out sycophantic lies to their superior. they probably know what they're doing is the same thing their minion is doing to them, but each person in the chain is assuming they are the exception and will triumph over all the others, that due to their self-centered view they assume they're the one playing the game the best instead of the one above or below them. Its sith-like in that manner.
    Last edited by Lord Raziere; 2022-01-13 at 11:22 PM.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Kornaki View Post
    It's a little strange to think jabba took over by sycophanting his way to the top and then killing the leader, but now he sleeps in a room full of sycophants
    I think he actually inherited the position from his father, who inherited it from his father. Nepotism rather than schmoozing, he's from a powerful family, so he had the resources to stay powerful. It's not specified to my knowledge is his father was the leader of their clan before him, but given that one of his uncles is still alive and not in charge I'd say it's a safe bet in my opinion. Though it's possible it was under the leadership of his uncle Ebor, who died somehow and then Jabba's father took over, but all we know of Ebor is that Mama the Hutt liked him more than Ziro.

    His grandfather, who is unnamed, was powerful enough among the Hutts that he had a record of all their illegal dealings that he kept with himself until he died, then had it hidden with his body.

    Jabba's Uncle Ziro and his own nephew Gorga were both powerful and wealthy members of Jabba's clan, and I would assume he would intend to pass his holdings, illegal and legal, to his own son Rotta once he was old enough.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    That checks out better. If you kill jabba, the next hutt will come in and crush you anyway.

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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Season 4, Episode 21 : Brothers

    Spoiler: Recap
    Show
    Oh, hey, the logo's red today. Because Maul's going to be so important to this show he can change the logo color, but not appear for more than one arc per season, apparently.

    Dooku is worried about Savage Oppress growing continuously stronger, which he warns grievous about. This is the last time we see these two during the entire episode. Cut to a random American-style space-diner where Savage is randomly throttling a waitress. Damn, man, she'll bring you your extra pickles, no need to get so worked up! He runs away from the owner (frying pan beats lightsaber, you've heard it here first, folks!) into a warehouse of some kind. There, the amulet Talzin gave him starts reacting to the dust on some crates. He concludes they're from a place Maul was recently. Talzin, who's been watching him from a mist-palantir or whatnot (sure, sure, why not, at this point) and is perfectly not-dead tells the audience she has to make preparations for the brothers' reunion. This is th elast time we see her during the entire episode. Cut to Ventress having a drink in a random cantina somewhere with Latz from the last episode (seems like there's no hard feelings then). Ventress is on edge because she can sense Savage. This is the last time we see these two during the entire episode. Cut back to Oppress, the dusty crates are being loaded off a cargo ship aboard which he sneaks. he forces the captain to take him to the planet he's got the crates from: the junk fields of Lothal minor. Same system as the one from Rebels?

    Meanwhile, the police is arriving at the dinner, and who else should show up as well, if not Anakin and Ahsoka? Usually these kid of coincidences propel the plot forward, but not here. They ask what's going on, even though the police droid insists they can deal with this. Damn Jedi, stealing the robots' jobs! The owner tells Anakin this happens often, on account of all the rough characters they get around here. He's telling the truth, too, just behind him is the mushroom bounty hunter who helped try to kidnap the Chancellor! With all his guns! Not that Anakin minds. Savage takes off just as the Jedi get free drinks. Anakin feels something sinister. Just missed him buddy! This is the last time we see these two during the episode. Savage gets to Lothal Minor. The entire planet is huge landfill, in one of those cases where you really don't want to think of the logistics behind it all. Savage can tell by the amulet that Maul is close and he randomly decides to eject the captain off his own ship before landing. Wait, where did he ever learn to fly a ship? He walks around for a bit until the amulet stops working, which pisses him off something fierce. Then a snake-like alien called Ollie approaches him to offer his help. He starts throttling him, in what I guess is his default reaction to strangers now. However, with his amulet malfunctioning, he could use a guide. Especially since Ollie can tell he's looking for a person. Oh, and there are dragons to avoid, no biggie. The "fire-breathers" are huge quadripedal droids with fire coming out of their "mouths", that they use to grab and consume(?) junk. Who made them and why, I haven't the faintest clue.

    The two are spotted by "junkers", people (droids? cyborgs?) wearing concealing robes and collecting junk, apparently. Maybe they're infringing on their territory, or something, but they get angry and attack. Oppress kills a dozen of them and the rest scatters. Savage tells Ollie he's looking for his brother and the snake says he's heard legends about a horned man, dragging things "beneath", never to be seen again. Then acidic rain starts falling and they take shelter in a former-turbine turned house? From the ceiling of which a dead junker is hanging. The amulet acts up, so Savage starts looking around, only finding more corpses. He starts ranting, thinking Talzin betrayed him and Maul is dead. Then Ollie tells him she's not the only one who betrayed him and the floor collapses under the dathomirian's feet, making him fall into a deep vertical tunnel while Ollie says he'll make a good offering for his master. And then, he'll get the leftovers! Lovely. Savage lands and is stalked by an arachnoid silhouette. He stats exploring, using his saber as a torch. he spots the creature, a spider-centaur of some sort and runs after it, demanding to know what it's done to his brother. Of course, it turns out the creature IS Maul, which he tells by the talisman finally acting up again (was it on low battery, or what?).

    Maul's seen better days. Not only is his lower body gone and replaced with a mish mash of metallic parts kitboshed together into a crud approximation of a spider abdomen (who did that? Ollie has no appendgaes) but he's dangerously skinny and his horns have grown to be almost as long as his skull his wide. Also, he's completely out of his mind, groaning and moving with animalistic frenzy. 1savage follows him to his lair where he starts just screaming no incoherently when Oppress addresses him as "brother". Then Ollie shows up, expecting Maul to have finished eating already. Savage, is not happy with him, to say the least. Ollie exclaims that he found Maul like this and was helping him, but Savage just snaps his neck while Maul moans and cries. He tells Oppress he's been down there for years and he remembers he is a hunter, fear and death incarnate, but also that he is nothing. But he remembers the Jedi who took his legs. And he must have revenge.

    Cut to the Jedi Temple wher eYoda and Obi-Wan have felt a disturbance in the Force. Yoda tells him Maul is back for revenge and they are very worried. This is the last we see of the episode.


    Spoiler: My thoughts
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    This is all just build up for the next episode. Everybody and their grandmother are worried about Maul coming back, we get it.
    The episode itself consists mostly of padding, with all these cuts to other characters, long shots of the ship landing, the fire-breathers sequence the fight with the junkers (why were they dead junkers above the tunnel to Maul? Who killed them?).

    Ultimately , the whole junkyard planet is neither interesting or pretty to look at.

    The snake is a traitor, big shot. Seemed awfully sure Oppress would be killed easily, but I guess he ought to have broken his legs falling.

    How did Maul end up in a junkyard, of all places?


    Next up: Revenge, hope the finale can deliver on all that build-up.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    (why were they dead junkers above the tunnel to Maul? Who killed them?)
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    1. Snake-man implies that he brought Savage Oppress here to become food for him and his master.
    2. The junkers are hung from the ceiling like things caught and tied up by fantasy spiders.
    3. Maul's legs have been replaced by robotic prosthetics with a decidedly arachnid aesthetic.
    4. Spider-Maul attacks Oppress when the latter falls through the floor.

    Care to make any guesses as to who killed the junkers and why they're strung up like dead meat in a (fantasy) spider's larder?


    How did Maul end up in a junkyard, of all places?
    Clearly, it's a metaphor for where they found the script and for the quality of the episode as a whole.
    Last edited by Aeson; 2022-01-25 at 05:38 PM.

  25. - Top - End - #955
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Aeson View Post
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    1. Snake-man implies that he brought Savage Oppress here to become food for him and his master.
    2. The junkers are hung from the ceiling like things caught and tied up by fantasy spiders.
    3. Maul's legs have been replaced by robotic prosthetics with a decidedly arachnid aesthetic.
    4. Spider-Maul attacks Oppress when the latter falls through the floor.

    Care to make any guesses as to who killed the junkers and why they're strung up like dead meat in a (fantasy) spider's larder?
    Except Maul's lair is much more below and the snake expects him to be done with Oppress quickly, so he is not in the habit of storing corpses.
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    I see two possibilities for the corpses strung from the ceiling.

    One is that Maul still has a sadistic streak even while insane and strings some of them up when there isn't enough meat on them, or he just isn't particularly hungry, as a terror tactic to keep the others from bothering him.

    The other idea I have is that the junkers themselves put them there, as an offering or bait of some kind, hoping to appease Maul or to lure him into a position where they can shoot at him. Human(?) sacrifice to appease what is essentially a demon or bait to catch a wild animal seem like sensible options for them.

    Hell, maybe they're Maul's version of windchimes hanging in the back garden.


    The giant dragon machines are probably meant to incinerate, crush and melt down the junk, like an all in one version of various real life scrap processing machines, but with a weird sci-fi/fantasy vibe. Someone probably collects the materials they collect and refine from the garbage to sell on to offworlders as cheap raw materials. Stupidly overcomplicated for the job, as is an entire moon serving as a multi-planet scrapyard, but it is Star Wars, their industry in general makes no sense.

    As for Maul's legs, he's meant to have made them as I understand it. They're not proper cybernetics obviously, more just junk held together by subconcious usage of his force powers and a little bit of actual construction. Presumably made while he was horribly injured but not properly insane yet, crawling through garbage and eating rats to survive, and gradually adding to this crude prosthetic mass, first to protect his lightsaber wound, then to try and improve his movement, eventually getting to the point of multiple shoddy limbs that can just about support him between them. Then as he went more and more insane he subconsciously started modifying it, becoming more animalistic in appearance as he did in mind until he became a spider cowering in the dark.



    Real question is how does Maul go to the bathroom? The ends to his digestive tract and urinary tract were presumably in the half of him that included his long lost knees*, so he'd either have cauterised tubes or just sphincterless holes in his charred torso stump, neither of which is conducive to hygenic waste excretion. Proper cybernetics would presumably have catheters or waste recyclers or something, but I can't imagine he'd shove bits of rusty garbage into the destroyed remnants of his colon and bladder to try and improvise a new set of sphincters.

    Then again he's a lunatic determined to survive at all costs, so perhaps he did manage to catheterise himself with the Star Wars version of disposable straws and exhaust pipes without dying. Disturbing thought.

    *Making an assumption about Zabrak biology here, but it seems a safe bet that their anus and genitals are in roughly the same spot as a humans and work more or less the same.
    Last edited by Grim Portent; 2022-01-25 at 07:39 PM.
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  27. - Top - End - #957
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Grim Portent View Post
    I
    Real question is how does Maul go to the bathroom? The ends to his digestive tract and urinary tract were presumably in the half of him that included his long lost knees*, so he'd either have cauterised tubes or just sphincterless holes in his charred torso stump, neither of which is conducive to hygenic waste excretion. Proper cybernetics would presumably have catheters or waste recyclers or something, but I can't imagine he'd shove bits of rusty garbage into the destroyed remnants of his colon and bladder to try and improvise a new set of sphincters.
    Subconscious Force use. Maul can simply telekinetically remove wastes from his body.

    The Force can allow for some pretty incredibly violations of biology when attached to a sufficiently motivated individual. Maul is not, after all, the first dark siders to survive being bisected at the waist. That honor goes to Maw, who suffered basically the same injury and subsequently survived as a floating torso in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, all the way back in 1997.
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
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    he forces the captain to take him to the planet he's got the crates from: the junk fields of Lothal minor. Same system as the one from Rebels?

    ...

    a snake-like alien called Ollie approaches him to offer his help.
    It's Lotho Minor, not Lothal Minor. The Anacondan's name is Morley.


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    https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Morley
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Season 4, Episode 22 : Revenge

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    Savage Oppress is taking Darth Maul to Dathomir and Mother Talzin. However, he refuses to leave the ship and just repeats Obi-Wan's name while quivering in a corner. Savage elects to live and discovers the remains of the Nightsisters. Talzin super-smokes in and fills him in on what happened. She's confident the Nightsisters will endure. I mean, with Ventress gone, aren't you the last one of the clan? Doesn't look like very good odds to me. Talzin isn't very happy with Maul's state, but not worried about it. She summons a ball of light to lure him out and lead him to her temple. Seeing Maul like this is kind of creepy. Then she magically puts him to sleep. Aaaaand he's having a nightmare.

    She begins a ritual where she pulls some oily black smoke out from his skull. !is that supposed to be his "madness", she has magic-therapy as power too? What am I asking, of course she does. Ritual's not done, though, she separates him from his spider lower half and pulls some bits of wire and metal that were lying around to forge into mechanical legs for him while he screams in pain. Also a collar and braces materialized for him and his horns grew shorter. She orders him to rise and he does. Immediately throttling Savage and then letting him go. Talzin just smokes out without a word. Wow, we're not even pretending she has agency anymore, are we?

    Darth Maul needs a moment to adjust to his new legs, but he's much more coherent now. And then he runs out of the temple and screams. He explains that his hatred kept him alive. He wants to know why the Force feels more unbalanced than before and Oppress tells him the Clone Wars are going on. "Oh yes, so it began. Without me." Huh, Darth Maul was in on the whole clone plan? Interesting. I have a hard time picturing him playing Dooku's role, but maybe he could have lead the CIS just as well, in a different style, with less pretension of good intent. Savage gives him a lightsaber that he pulled out of his ass, I guess, and Maul decides he's going to start his new life with some of that sweet, sweet revenge.

    The brothers head to planet "Raydonia" (?), to a remote village where the original owner of the ship was aparently expected and are greeted by a bunch of children. Darth Maul explains to Oppress that to get the attention of the Jedi, one must slaughter the innocent. Fun! Cut to the Jedi Temple were Obi-Wan and the council are watching a recording of Maul killing defenseless people and demanding Kenobi comes, alone, or he'll kill the rest. Obi-Wan wants to do just that. Windu interjects that it's an obvious trap and they should end in a whole task force, but Yoda overrules him "against his better judgement" as he feels Obi-Wan must finish what he started; Windu still thinks Obi-Wan alone is not guarantee enough of capturing Maul. Yoda says he might have an unexpected ally and they msut trust the Force. The Force lets them down.

    Meanwhile in a cantina somewhere, a bunch of bounty hunters are looking at a least of wanted people, with assorted bounties, and who should have the highest one (at a million credits), but Savage Oppress? Hearing the name Ventress immediately calls dibs on it and downloads the bounty-file/hologram thing in what I think is a reference to bounty hunters ripping off "wanted" posters in Westerns. This just raises more questions, thought, not the least of which "How is your face not on that list, Assaj!?" No, seriously, Savage was involved in the war for, like, a week at most, I'm really surprised they even have footage of him.

    Obi-Wan reaches the village... and it's burning and littered with corpses. Maul shows up and rants about their last encounter, confirming to Obi-Wan that he's the real deal. Savage ambushes Obi-Wan, manages to disarm him and the two Darksiders beat him up out of his senses. Ventress arrives and sneaks aboard their ship as they take off. In the cargo hold, Maul is having a grand old time beating the snot out of a defenseless Kenobi who's not as witty as usual, despite his best efforts. The Zabrak ignites his lightsaber, intent on upping the torture a notch. Assaj chooses that moment to make her presence known. Fool, you could have killed one them before they'd noticed you! Savage makes the introductions. She leads them away from the hold and backtracks to rescue Kenobi. "When did you become the good guy? - Don't insult me." Hah! She gives him a lightsaber "I want that back. That's fine, red's not my colour." This is going to be another red-saturated fight, innit?

    Naturally enough, Maull attacks Obi-Wan while Savage fights Ventress. The wayward witch loses her weapon but Kenobi manages to get his back from Maul so he returns the one she lend him. Maul pisses the Jedi off by bringing Qui-Gon up, then mocks Kenobi for being so easy to disturb. Kenobi tells Ventress they're outmatched "You want to run? - I learned from watching you." And they run to the cockpit. Which can eject from the rest of the ship. Left adrift in space, Maul decides they can afford to wait a little for his revenge, and he counts on the Jedi coming after them.


    Spoiler: My thoughts
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    Well, there wasn' tthat much revenge in this episode was there.
    Also, Why do I get the feeling that if they'd listened to Windu here, they'd have saved themselves a lot of trouble down the line?

    Talzin keeps being a plot device rather than a character.

    I wasn't expecting Savage or Talzin to bring up Feral to Maul, but I'm surprised Ventress didn't. Seems like it'd have been an easy way to distract Oppress and Maul or drive wedge between them.

    So, next season begins with Ventress in custody, right?


    Up next: I'm probably going to write little review of the whole season, even if I feel I don't have much to say, and then start season 5 with Revival.
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  30. - Top - End - #960
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    Default Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    Savage elects to live
    How close was the election?
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