Welcome! Get Yourself Known (and post your introduction)

12 Parsnips wrote:Hi, everyone! I thought I probably ought to introduce myself since I've been Liking a few posts and people are probably wondering who that creepy lurker person is. I promise I'm not creepy, but I probably won't be posting a whole lot. I really have enjoyed the insights you all have into character, motivation, etc., but I'm also loving the metas. It's also such a refreshing thing to read actual thoughtful give-and-take discussions online instead of the usual "discourse" that's out there.

Just a bit about my story: in 2015 I was a big fan of the OT but was a little cautious about this new ST business. I finally went to see TFA and thought Rey was a Skywalker. But I loved it and saw it again and thought Rey was a Solo. I was also rather puzzled about why I didn't hate Kylo Ren for killing my favorite OT character, Han Solo. In fact, I kinda liked him and thought it might be my duty to save him. (And if not him, then certainly his hair.)  I saw it a third time in January 2016, and this time the bridal carry hit me like a ton of bricks. Did I just see...? But doesn't that mean...? And if that's true, then it changes everything. But...am I crazy?

Fortunately I went online and found I wasn't crazy, that there were others like me who also had recognized the Reylo dynamic. And as it turns out, Rian Johnson did too.

Anyway, though I am late joining your party, I just wanted to say hi and I'm glad to be part of this "haven"!

Dar-ren19 wrote:Hi all, thanks for letting me in! I'm going to be lazy here and copy what I wrote the mods in my email to them (they asked)....

My name is Darrah Lane (my fanfic-writing name) and I'll be totally honest here and admit that I am actually a long-time Trekkie. And by that I mean a Treknobabble-spouting/Trek-characters-'shipping/fanfic-writing/graduate-course teaching (about Trek and its impact on society and popular culture, etc) fan.

When I was barely into my teens (and already focused on Trek), Star Wars was released. Like everyone else, I got in line with my classmates and saw it, yes, multiple times. I liked it and that was that. I wasn't floored. Then TESB was released, and I had a smidgen more of an interest because I happen to like interesting, slightly convoluted relationships that don't cross all the t's and dot all the i's. That was Han and Leia... (but I wasn't really 'shipping them at the time. That phrase wasn't even around in those days, but we did have the whole K/S thing - Kirk/Spock - around. I even saw a few zines that had K/S and perhaps Scotty/Uhura in a Con or two).

As time went by, life happened, and SW (and even at times Trek) took the back seat. I have a mixed STEM/Lit background... majoring in both Biology and Literature in college and have a Lit MA, and I help publish science/medical journals. In my spare time, I write novels and have gone back to my music again (it was a passion during my childhood), and have written a few DS9/Enterprise fanfics.

Last year, after a half a lifetime of adulting behind me, I sat down with one of my oldest friends from college -- a die-hard SW junkie, and we watched TFA together. I hadn't seen it in the theater due to a very traumatic family emergency that happened around that time...

I had seen the prequels with her as well (she'd been trying to turn me for aaaages!), and had come away impressed with RotS. Something in it tickled my interest, but left me wanting more.

I guess I wasn't yet a SW (Warsian?) fan

While watching TFA with her last year, I finally realized what it was that I had needed to see happen more fully in Star Wars: I needed to see an examination of a textured, layered character who was psychologically complex, promising nuanced interaction with his/her environment that took us beyond the old LF trope of "made for 12 year olds kids".

To be honest, the last two of the prequel trilogy, TFA, and especially TLJ most definitely aren't made for 12-year-olds (more like for 40-year-old kids )

I found Rey delightful and heroic, but more than that, I found that she was a character who could "go places" in terms of character development. She was in some ways fully formed, and yet had a nebulous enough backstory that promised creative fulfillment if the writers desired it.

One of the drawbacks in Trek (for me, at least) has always been that Trek has never really done/shown romance well. Call it bad writing, a lack of chemistry between the actors put together, bad directing, the overall gestalt of the show (strong sci-fi elements that hinged more on platonic interactions)... but this is one of the truths most Trekkies know and deal with on a case-by-case basis.

So, imagine my surprise and delight when I spied an interrogation scene between a complex, textured, and nuanced "villain" and a character which promised to be his Dulcinea. I was hooked from the moment he shook off his mask and faced his "nemesis". Not only had I been presented with my much-hoped for complex and intricate character, but TWO! AND.. they seemed to be the focus of the story. That meant I didn't have to fight the filmmakers for center stage... my favorite characters were already there LOL.

(Even in TFA, Finn seemed to me a side-kick, not the anti-hero... and to me, the anti-hero/antagonist is always juxtaposed front and center in the hero's journey).

This past year, I'd hoped for an interesting step forward in this relationship, never really imagining where it would go. And I did all the hoping in isolation. Life has been hectic, and I've not had the chance to discuss my secret "'shipping" with anyone other than my friend. So once TLJ was sprung on us -- and it was a revelation, indeed -- I decided to look up a few "reylo" forums, and this one seemed to be the very best in terms of contributors and thought. Anyway, I hope that made some sense! I'm looking forward to being with all of you and reading and participating in what looks like a wonderful 'ship.

Many thanks for reading and take care,
Darrah.

Asphodel wrote:Hi there ! I'm 22 years old and live in France, so I hope my English won't be that bad ! Really happy to join you all !

Asphodel wrote:Hi there ! I'm 22 years old and live in France, so I hope my English won't be that bad ! Really happy to join  you all !

Asphodel wrote:Hi there ! I'm 22 years old and live in France, so I hope my English won't be that bad ! Really happy to join  you all !

Saralee wrote:Hello everyone I’m Saralee and I’m excited to be a part of this forum! I grew up with the original trilogy and have always loved it but I must say I’ve been absolutely delighted with the sequel trilogy so far and especially reylo and the new characters! I’m wishing for a happy ending for Rey and Kylo in episode 9 as well as all the other new characters that we love! Im am just down that we have to wait another two years but I’m sure the wait will be worth it and it will be interesting speculating based on how much reylo we got in TLJ.

Sent from Topic'it App

Crystalfox wrote:Hello all.    

I am a very casual Star Wars watcher. I have seen the original trilogy maybe 2 – 3 times over the years, and I have only seen the first of the prequel trilogy films once. I have never owned any SW merchandise. I was born in the early 70's, but my parents didn't take me to see the OT films at the cinema.
I missed The Force Awakens when it came out. I might have seen an ad or two, but I paid very little attention to it. I don't recall the first time I watched TFA on DVD. But it must have been over a year after the film premiered. At the time I just saw it as a regular film. I noticed the romantic bond between Kylo and Rey, but it never occurred to me that others didn't see it. I thought it was obvious. I didn't get hooked on them though.
In 2017 I started following a few movie channels on Youtube. Through those I became aware that The Last Jedi was on the way. From there I stumbled upon a few Reylo theory videos on Youtube. I then watched TFA again. This is the point where I became interested in an above-average way. So I have only been into Reylo for a few months, since late 2017.

I really like all the Rey and Kylo interactions in The Last Jedi. The Praetorian Guard fight is awesome.
I have no one IRL that I can talk to about this subject. I have to settle for listening to podcasts, Reylo-friendly Youtubers, and reading posts on this forum. My favourite podcast is Scavenger's Hoard, because they are very analytical.
So now it's just a very, very long wait for the last film. I can't wait to see how it ends. Hopefully there will be a positive ending to their story. I hope that there will be some more Reylo scenes on the TLJ Blu-ray, since we have been promised over 20 minutes of deleted scenes. I wish I could edit together the Reylo scenes by themselves, for study purposes of course. But I'm not very technical.

If you watch TFA and TLJ back to back it seems clear that there is an overall plan for Rey and Kylo. Their story arc stays consistent, even if some other elements of the two films don't. I can't predict what JJ Abrams will do with Reylo in ep 9 though. If I was familiar with JJ's previous work I could have more of an idea where things are heading. But the only other thing of JJ's that I have seen is the first half of Lost's season 1.
So I don't know how JJ approaches love stories, other than what we got in TFA. Will he continue forward on the current trajectory, or will he veer off in another direction? I don't know what sort of love stories Chris Terrio writes either.
I am relieved that JJ has replaced Colin Trevorrow for ep 9. I recently watched Jurassic World, and both the female and male leads were awful, IMO. I checked the IMDB page for Jurassic World, and there are several writers credited. But I still think Trevorrow is largely responsible for the poor leads. No disrespect to the actors, they did the best they could with what they were given.

Crystalfox wrote:Hello all.    


@Crystalfox

Welcome

SheLitAFire wrote:@Crystalfox

Welcome! Glad to have you here!

Dar-ren19 wrote:@Crystalfox welcome to the board from another newbie! your story and mine could almost be the same, btw

RealAnise wrote:(sticks head in and waves) Hi...
I can't BELIEVE I'm doing this, but I guess I am...
I'm Anise, and if you've read D/G, yes, I'm THAT Anise. The insane one who writes zillions of chapters.

I never ever thought I would be any kind of a Star Wars fan... I've stuck to my own corner of HP, dabbled a tiny bit in DS9, and that's been about it. I KNEW about Star Wars, I'd seen the films... because you literally have to be raised by the Amish in a cave in the Zone of Inaccessibility in Antarctica to not know that much... but other than that, eh. The fandom always seemed so intimidating and technical and requiring knowledge of lots of specs and the inner workings of spaceships. But with TFA, I saw something clearly for the first time: narratives that are really about relationships and the choices that characters make because of their interactions with each other. Not to say that this wasn't true before, but I think that it's never been as clear as in the new trilogy. And while this is true of all the characters, Rey and Kylo stand way, way above the rest. Their story contains all the others-- all the conflicts, all the connections, all the mysteries, all the choices that make this universe what it is. The choice to explore whatever the relationship is here could have been just a one-film fluke, but then it was stepped WAY up in TLJ. It's an official thing... and it's too fascinating to resist. I started working on scripts for a new Youtube channel that was about something different (more general media), but a lot of the ideas kept circling back to TLJ, to a lot of the themes, and to these two characters. Then I was searching for some kind of Porg topic and found this board, and that was it.

I'll probably lurk more than post for a while, because the schedule is insane right now-- that's what I get for going back to school again. But I'm glad to find this group!

RealAnise wrote:(sticks head in and waves) Hi...
I can't BELIEVE I'm doing this, but I guess I am...
I'm Anise, and if you've read D/G, yes, I'm THAT Anise. The insane one who writes zillions of chapters.

I never ever thought I would be any kind of a Star Wars fan... I've stuck to my own corner of HP, dabbled a tiny bit in DS9, and that's been about it. I KNEW about Star Wars, I'd seen the films... because you literally have to be raised by the Amish in a cave in the Zone of Inaccessibility in Antarctica to not know that much... but other than that, eh. The fandom always seemed so intimidating and technical and requiring knowledge of lots of specs and the inner workings of spaceships. But with TFA, I saw something clearly for the first time: narratives that are really about relationships and the choices that characters make because of their interactions with each other. Not to say that this wasn't true before, but I think that it's never been as clear as in the new trilogy. And while this is true of all the characters, Rey and Kylo stand way, way above the rest. Their story contains all the others-- all the conflicts, all the connections, all the mysteries, all the choices that make this universe what it is. The choice to explore whatever the relationship is here could have been just a one-film fluke, but then it was stepped WAY up in TLJ. It's an official thing... and it's too fascinating to resist. I started working on scripts for a new Youtube channel that was about something different (more general media), but a lot of the ideas kept circling back to TLJ, to a lot of the themes, and to these two characters. Then I was searching for some kind of Porg topic and found this board, and that was it.

I'll probably lurk more than post for a while, because the schedule is insane right now-- that's what I get for going back to school again. But I'm glad to find this group!

Darth Snoopy wrote:Hello everyone,
I'm a new former lurker here. I'm a youngling majoring in Genetics, Zoology and Reylo-ology. Glad to be an official member, but work will probably keep me to my natural born lurker status on most days. I hope I haven't blundered and used the forum/reply tool incorrectly

PrincessPorg wrote:Hi Everyone! I've been lurking as a non-member since the release of TLJ but decided to join the community. I'll probably lurk most days. Became a Reylo fan after TLJ but have been a Star Wars fan since the special editions were released.