themandalorianwolf:

Finn isn’t going anywhere. Get use to it, edgelords and dudebros

I hate that it’s been almost 3 years since TFA and people still call Finn a dumb janitor, refuse to believe he was one of the best Stormtroopers, or that he’s even the co-protagonist night of the sequel movies.

I don’t know how many times people have to say that every low ranking soldier in the FO did sanitations. Snoke wasn’t going on no space craigslist.

The Before the Awakening Novel details Finn’s days in the FO. Leading his squad, his training with Phasma, his knowledge of different melee and range weapons, his status as one of the best Troopers, and his first mission on a mining planet and his failure to shoot protestors, which in turn led to him being sent on the mission to Jakku to prove that he had what it took to do the dirty work.

Want to learn more about his past with the First Order, how he feels about fighting other Stormtroopers, what his time in the FO was like for him, his feelings during TFA and just stuff a 2 hour movie juggling multiple characters and subplots from several different other movies doesn’t have time to tell?

Read the damn EU material!

Why is it whenever it comes to Finn actually being an interesting and thought provoking character who’s competent, the claim has to be backed up by every single shred of canon and signed off by Yoda himself? Like it even matters considering even when backed up with LOADS of canon evidence, people say it doesn’t count, but only for Finn of course. When it’s to else, that’s whole different story. But screw it, I’ll talk about Finn.

Here’s some spark notes from the EU:

• Finn hates killing Stormtroopers, but he knows they won’t hesitate to kill him due to their training, so he doesn’t hesitate either.
• The First Order teaches their Troopers to suppress their feelings, so TFA is really the first time Finn is allowed to act freely.
• Not all Stormtroopers are taken from their families. The First Order army is huge. Some Troopers joined willingly or were born into the FO.
• Finn, and all other Stormtroopers, had multiple jobs in the First Order due to how they rotated jobs, one of which was Sanitation.
• Finn had also been an executioner, but didn’t have to execute any one due to there being no prisoners or reason to.
• Phasma and Hux both thought him Officer or Captain material if he could move past his need to help weaker troopers and morality.
• Finn doesn’t talk about his experience in the First Order because beyond NO ONE EVER FUCKING ASKING HIM, Finn is deeply ashamed of his past with the First Order since he genuinely wanted to be a good soldier.

In the Beyond the Armor book, something John Boyega personally helped with in regards to Finn. It’s actually a very interesting in general about Troopers, but it also confirms Finn’s love for Rey and Poe’s friendship is what helped convince him to fight against the First Order.

Ever since Finn appeared in the TFA trailer, there has been a constant fight against him, even before the movie came out, people have been looking for reasons to hate him. They say he doesn’t belong, he’s useless, they ask for proof that he’s even slightly competent, proof that he’s black, proof that he loves Rey, blah blah.

It’s just ironic that the first black protagonist in Star Wars is always under a microscope and judged as either too competent in the books or not OP badass in the movies. I’m sorry I forgot how Luke, Anakin, and even Rey were also fish out of water looking for their place in the world.

All people need to know about Finn has been there the whole time, but people ignore it. I’ve seen people who obsess over Rey and Snoke’s origins, not even bother giving Finn’s background a look or a guess. Kylo stans will search every single EU material to try to find anything redeeming about his murder happy ass, while writing Finn off as a toxic throwaway character. And don’t even get me started on how the dank shippers and edgelords treat Finn.

Meanwhile Finn’s over here doing his best and proving that he’s the badass, kind hearted protagonist JJ Abrams and John Boyega busted their asses on. Hopefully in IX, JJ and Boyega can remind everyone what a damn great character Finn is.