To say that I think this main character was thoroughly cheated would be the understatement of the year.
I so badly wanted to watch Finn grow, be a badass in battle and continue to change for the better. Instead, I got to watch him get utterly battered, laughed at, and then very very narrowly escape a mercilessly teased death. Like that was all he’d be good for… show up, get pushed around a bit, then die uselessly.
crazy how it’s suddenly time for the skywalkers to die out when the prime next gen candidates are a woman and a black man like really interesting how that worked out for you rian
interesting how it’s suddenly time for “more than just another villain” and making him “relatable” now that the main new heroes are a woman and a black man
interesiting how now we concern ourselves with showing that “anyone can have the Force” rather than explore the possibility of a female heir to the Skywalker legacy (and let’s face it – if Rey Skywalker were to have any children, it would be with Finn – meaning non-white Skywalkers in future films)
interesting how now that a woman and a black man are supposed to be the leads of the new trilogy, suddenly they have to *earn* their place in the story, while that same story bends backwards to revolve around the white male villain
interesting…
Also interesting how the moment the heroes are a woman and a Black man, a sizable contingent of the fandom are screaming that the real hero is the white Skywalker because it’s the Skywalker saga (even though TLJ was supposedly the nail in that coffin) and the heroine has to bear his children to continue the line after the physical, mental, and emotional abuse she suffered from him, despite her canon bond with the hero.
So LucasFilm can take the time to include a glimpse of a compass originally seen in a Star Wars video game in The Last Jedi, but they can’t manage a single reference to Finn’s backstory from their own “canon” novel other than yet another reference to him working sanitation.
Well the compass can be merchandized, while Finn… can’t, evidently?
This is the least satisfying “I told you so” ever, but it’s worth pointing out that every single worry that Finn fans had about Finn’s treatment in TLJ, based on what Rian was saying in interviews, came true (and then some.)
Finn was repeatedly physically assaulted, used as a punchline, shoved to the sideline of the plot, and generally treated like shit.
And all of that doesn’t even *begin* to cover the fact that they took a man who’s a strategic GENIUS and reduced him to “haha I was a janitor once.” Like…??? ???????
Then there’s the fight with Phasma. That could have been AMAZING. And, in fan fic retellings, it probably will be. We have Finn facing the woman who stole his childhood from him and kept him in fear his whole life. He’s also back in the FO, the place he *never* wanted to come back to, but has returned to for the second time, because he’s brave, selfless, and a hero.
The point is, this should have been a long, climatic scene with WAY more screentime, actual dialogue, and a lot more focus on John’s face throughout. Finn must have been going through a million emotions a minute while fighting Phasma, and John would have played that so well.
Basically, we never really got Finn’s POV into what should have been a major emotional climax of the film.
Instead, we get a plot that goes by quickly with little explanation (the whole DJ thing) and then a truncated fight scene between Finn and Phasma, that just felt really anti climatic in the end.
Again, this is a brilliant man facing his childhood captor. Wouldn’t he have something more profound to say than “chrome dome??”
tl;dr TLJ missed the mark with almost every single character, and spectacularly so with Finn.
Also, Rian Johnson explicit *told* us this ahead of time, by calling Rey and Kylo dual protagonists and reducing Finn to, “a main protagonist also.” Rian also talked about how “funny” it would be if Finn were in a coma for the whole film. And he went on an on about how tortured and relatable Kylo Ren was.
So screw everyone who said, “You can’t judge a film until you see it!” Because yes, I can, and yes, we did, and I’ve never been so crushed to have been right.
I keep thinking about possible scenarios how Finn and the Resistance would go about freeing all those children the FO has kidnapped to turn them into stormtroopers, and came up with one where a group of them ends up becoming part of Finn’s family 🙂
So this is a… I’m not quite sure? An “illustrated headcanon with a random manga page thrown in” I guess 😂
What Poe’s holding there in the last pic is a tray of home-made Yavinese tamales btw 😀
Ah yes, next generation. She means the little white Force boy with the broom.
How could I forget, characters of color are only important when they’re supporting or inspiring white characters. So fuck if they get to achieve nothing for themselves, that’s after all not their “purpose”.
This is the racist trashfire who added (or reblogged the addition) to a fan art of Finn and Rose in FO officer uniforms, “We’re here to unclog your toilets!” Because that’s what officers do in the FO and they’re both janitors right? Hahahahaha.
Honestly fuck this fandom that sees Finn and Rose as incompetent but well-meaning morality pets and FUCK Rian Johnson for validating them.
@palindroned shared this in a chat and we all pretty much started yelling. Heather Antos is comic editor at Marvel so… And the tweet is from yesterday (Jan 10th)
Since someone official is right now giving Finn and spin off material some attention maybe tweet her about how exited you are? She’s not a top boss or anything, but she is did answer here and she is a Marvel editor. So I think it’d be good to use this chance to let someone at Marvel who’s already shown some positive attention that people want more Finn!
It was a skill, partially taught to intimidate rebels, partially learnt through necessity. You keep fighting to demoralise an enemy. You keep fighting, because you’ve been taught how to fight until the bitter end. …and you keep fighting because loyal soldiers seem to have far better chances of surviving surgery.
FN-2187 knew all these things, felt them in his bones long before he’d found the words to articulate them. Scars didn’t bother a Stormtrooper, because your armour was your true skin. Any fresh wounds? Distractions, to be ignored until you couldn’t ignore them any longer or the mission was over.
And so it was almost easy to ignore the throbs and twinges when he woke to a nightmare. The Resistance burning around him, his only friends about to become cinders and space dust. Don’t show weakness, FN-2187, old voices seemed to echo.
…it’s hard, when the universe seems to insist on finding ways to hit the still-healing flesh…
…but he’d never show it. Not til the mission is done.
It was hard though, not long after Rey had saved them all. She and Poe had seen spots of blood soak through the jacket, asked him (then all-but-demanded) to let them help. Where bits of wound had re-opened, in the crashes and collisions of the past few hours, they’d stitched shut once more. Finn was used to pain, but Rey’s quiet anger as she traced the scar with bacta gel found a new way to hurt.
Years of battles and bacta treatments later, Finn still had the odd red-tinted dream. Sounds of steam and smells of blood, while an angry loop of energy bit into his back. He’d wake up soaked in sweat and memories, running through the calming techniques Rey taught him before he could even form a coherent thought.
There were good days too. An awful lot of them, as the galaxy put itself back together. In peace, now the mission was over, he could let himself flinch and ache. The people he loved were there to help him, even when they were far away.
Yet more parallels between Biblical Moses and The Force Awakens: Our hero, while fleeing the genocidal enslaving regime he grew up in, runs to the desert and meets the heroine, an extraordinary desert-dwelling woman with whom he forms a deep and lasting bond. Her father figure becomes the hero’s mentor and advisor, unafraid to give the younger man tough advice when he needs it.
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