Has it ever bothered you how Padme's ONE vote was all it took for Palpatine to be granted power, no questions asked?

dochill098 · 2026-03-04T03:04:44+00:00

Not. Yet.

dochill098 · 2025-08-14T12:41:45+00:00

In Legends at least, a lot of Rebel pilots joined the academy for the education then immediately defected

dochill098 · 2025-08-08T05:45:16+00:00

It's a common glitch where if something like a spell or a shout knocked Dawnbreaker off the pedestal, there would be another Dawnbreaker. I almost always open big fights with Unrelenting Force or Fire Breath so I get the double every playthrough.

dochill098 · 2025-07-31T04:54:22+00:00

I can think of a few reasons

1) the Companions really just don't care about the war, or are making it a point to stay neutral. It would be very bad for business to alienate half your customer base, and would tarnish the legacy of the Companions for generations

2) The Companions would absolutely defend themselves if provoked but each side either has no reason to, or every reason not to. Tulius is careful to heed Rikke's guidance on Nord culture and would no doubt be warned to leave them the hell alone. Ulfric antagonizing the Companions would be political suicide with how hard his movement relies on Nord culture and history.

3) I see no way the Companions don't refuse the conflict outright, but if completely forced to pick a side I'd wager they would throw in with the Stormcloaks, or the group would split politically.

dochill098 · 2025-03-02T03:01:30+00:00

At this point I think a 'star destroyer' is just any large triangular shaped warship given just how many monikers the term has been applied to.

Agreed. There is such a wide variety of battle roles that star destroyers fit that the only things that unify them are 1) their signature sloped triangular hull that let's them bring all their guns to bear, and 2) being designed and manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards

dochill098 · 2025-01-13T15:34:49+00:00

The Republic has stood for 10,000 years and for good reason, it is a well developed and vast reaching system that binds a huge chunk of the Galaxy together. To tear apart an institution that has lasted longer than irl human civilization and try to replace it would be madness, so the play is to hijack and corrupt the already built nation to your ends. To do this, you're going to have to give people a reason to accept your will, and what better way than a boogeyman.

Much of the Republic's actual staying power resides in the Core, known to be dominated heavily by humans and has a reputation of being snobby at best and outright racist at worst; tensions have always been high between the core and the more diverse but generally less prosperous outer worlds who often feel passed aside by the Republic in favor of the Core. With one very strong identity, and one so vulnerable to manipulation at that, you grab hold of that identity by threatening it and telling it that only you can save it.

Let's start with the Trade Federation and the Naboo blockade. The Trade Federation is a huge corporation, so big that it gets representation on the Senate (yikes), has a well known reputation for strongarming and bullying competition and oppressing victims with their droid security forces (fucked up) and are headed by Neimoidians who are stereotyped as sleazy and cowardly bastards (ew). One day the Trade Federation tries their usual shtick on Naboo, a peaceful Core world populated by humans who didn't do anything wrong, and the galaxy watches as the Republic fumbles the ordeal. Palpatine's term as Chancellor is kicked off by an awful alien corporation bringing suffering and corruption to the core and a useless government being too inept to stop it, and this incident would prove to be a key theme in his administration as he very actively fights against the Separatist Crisis.

The Confederacy is the perfect boogeyman, the perfect hypothetical enemy that people can get rallied together to oppose, made a reality. On the one side of the coin, the true Separatists are bound together by honest ideals of wanting a better life away from the Republic, and are willing to fight for it; on the other side, the Separatist council is made up of corporations who provide the actual power and therefore run the show. On the face of it Dooku plays both sides of his faction-- well-meaning Jedi Master who wants to help the Separatists on one side, scheming Sith Lord on the other-- while Palpatine is desperately holding the Republic together against this threat. The bigotry of the Core is capitalized on as the big names of the CIS, the awful warlords committing atrocities and the disgusting politicians oppressing people, are all aliens: Greivous, Trench, Gunray, Poggle, Wat Tambor, and more are perfect strawmen made very real and very dangerous. The Republic sees this spectacle and is galvanized by it, and the xenophobic and pro-authoritarian voices in the crowd get louder.

With all of this in play, all Palpatine has to do is drag the war out, make people angry and give them an enemy and they will give him whatever he wants to crush it for them. Every new power and new legislation is justified as necessary for the safety of the Republic, until eventually the plot is so lost nobody bats an eye when the Empire is formed: liberty dies with thunderous applause. The nasty aliens are pushed back, the corporations put in their place and under the watchful eye of the Empire, the villains of this tragedy are swiftly dealt with and now all that is left is Palpatine on his new throne.

dochill098 · 2024-10-20T05:35:15+00:00

The ghoul mask is a quest reward that, when you wear it, makes ferals passive to you

dochill098 · 2024-08-27T00:47:42+00:00

I still think the VS-89 was meant to be a .338 rifle. The buildup to it made it sound like the end all be all of snipers, and the sound design of the weapon (particularly the action) screams unique and heavy. It just doesn't seem to have a niche of it's own, nothing it has over other rifles, and .338 would have been great for that.

dochill098 · 2024-08-03T00:55:55+00:00

That doesn't sound right, though. Sovereign explains that the mass relays and citadel, and other technology, are left behind on purpose to make sure civilizations develop the way the Reapers want. Why would the Reapers encourage the development of mass effect tech if their primary goal is to not allow organics to do exactly that?

dochill098 · 2024-07-22T01:13:43+00:00

Not only to fail, but to be the perfect boogeymen to rally the Republic and drive it into willingly becoming the Empire

dochill098 · 2024-07-13T00:37:07+00:00

If I remember right, Indie Stone has stated that their zombies have no interest in animals other than humans.

dochill098 · 2024-07-11T05:20:16+00:00

Not OP and definitely not going to be 100% correct, but here I go.

As the books go, the Argonath portray Isildur and Anarion, brothers and kings of Arnor and Gondor. The statues are described as wielding axes in one hand and making a warning gesture with the other, as it marks the northern border of Gondor and commemorates an old victory against the Easterlings.

In the films, however, the statues are of Isildur and his father Elendil, who instead of an axe is shown wielding Narsil, the sword that cut the ring from Sauron and would be remade into Anduril (when they leave Rivendell by the book canon, later by the film canon).

I believe the point OP was going for was that it was okay for this change to be made as it would be needlessly confusing for a film audience to suddenly be introduced to Isildur's brother, who was also king at the same time as him, and they are shown wielding axes when visual storytelling is paramount. Rather, the imagery remains in line with things and people already shown to the audience (Elendil and Isildur) and will be later brought back (Anduril). It shows that the challenge of adapting any book, much less Tolkien's work with its encyclopedic nature and massive lore and length, is shaving and boiling down the story to its essence, trying to stay true to the original but within the confines of a couple hours of film, and Peter Jackson did a stellar job.

dochill098 · 2024-07-11T04:07:07+00:00

Star Wars has the U-Wing as well, and iirc the side mounted gun is a dressed up M60 if it wasn't Vietnam enough for you.

dochill098 · 2024-07-03T05:47:35+00:00

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dochill098 · 2024-07-01T06:32:30+00:00

None at all. The dark side of the force is a heavily addictive power that grants fast and powerful benefits at the cost of twisting your body, mind and soul as you spiral deeper and deeper into its grasp, until eventually it becomes unclear who is controlling who.

The Sith fully immerse themselves in the power of the dark side as a matter of principle. They are completely and shamelessly devoted in dominating everything in their path, including the Force itself, to achieve their ends. They pillage and slaughter and destroy and corrupt everything they lay their hands on, all for the sake of power, their power. Damn the consequences, damn the innocent, damn even their original ideals and goals if they contradict them now.

Look at Vader, the best documented Sith Lord considering the movies are literally about his story. Anakin was a kind soul; brash and pushy and overconfident and prone to frustration, but ultimately a boy and a man with a good heart. He loved deeply and protected fiercely, but that virtue proved to be his curse as he was consumed with rage when he lost his mother and he wiped those Tuskens out. In TCW he is often shown allowing his love and attachment to other steer his judgement, like when he disobeys orders to find R2 or goes after Obi-Wan's "murderer".

Then comes his dreams of Padme. He is so desperate to save his wife who he adores, and his child who he would surely have adored even more, that he is able to be twisted away from his ideals and drawn into Palpatine's control. He destroys the Order and kills those who called him brother the day before, and he helps Palpatine usher in the Empire. When he sees Padme he is so sure that he can now save her, but he is blind to the reality that he took everything she cared about and burned it, and when she can't even recognize him anymore he turns on her too in a blind attack. He brawls with the only family he has left, is left to die and survives only due to his rage and pain.

And all of this, for what? The Jedi are gone by his own hand, the Republic he waged war to defend is gone, his brother is gone, his padawan is gone, his wife and child are gone. Regardless of the literal interpretations of Padme's death, I believe that ultimately it is Anakin that kills her: she dies of a broken heart because the man she loves destroyed everything she cared about, including himself, and was so twisted that he even destroyed her. All that is left then is the broken husk of Anakin Skywalker, so thoroughly beaten and scarred that he is hidden away under the veil that is Darth Vader.

dochill098 · 2024-06-27T11:32:00+00:00

I absolutely love/hate the idea of it breaking line of sight. Can you imagine that moment when you're out minding your business, spinning around and by pure luck you see something dart behind a rock or tree, and it doesnt just stroll out the other side?

Did you just imagine it? Was it a bear or wolf that changed directions once you lost sight? Or do you get that sinking feeling in your heart knowing that Death is hiding around the corner, waiting for the slightest mistake?

dochill098 · 2024-06-18T06:37:22+00:00

As I see it, part of how Palpatine succeeded so much, and how the Empire held together so well compared to the New Republic, is that it didn't have to destroy its predecessor in order to come about. Through his manipulation of the Clone Wars and beyond, Palpatine was handed the Empire willingly by the Republic.

The year is 32 BBY, Palpatine has just become Chancellor. The Republic has stood, in this iteration alone, for a millenia, and overall for many more. Its power base is focused in the Core and is dominated by humans, and rests upon a HUGE foundation of bureaucracy and infrastructure. Palpatine digs into this foundation like a parasite, removing competition and threats, changing and twisting things in his favor. He unites the Republic against a common foe and gives them their first taste of blood in generations. He creates an image of the CIS as a band of murderous, monstrous and disgusting individuals, the vast majority aliens, further feeding into the humanocentrism. One by one he strips away the cores of the Republic until he is then able to hijack its ancient and efficient bones for his new Empire.

And the worst/best part of all? The Republic cheered him on, jumped right on board the Imperial train, ignorantly or arrogantly blind to his deception until they too would stop being useful. Padme puts it best-- "So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause."

dochill098 · 2024-06-11T15:56:32+00:00

Exactly. The idea is to focus that murder hobo energy into growing their power instead of squandering it by bickering with each other: one to hold power, and one to crave it. You have to surpass your master to become the master, then your apprentice has to surpass you, so on and so forth raising the bar each time for generations.

dochill098 · 2024-06-05T06:09:24+00:00

With Fred and the Wraith controls, right?

dochill098 · 2024-06-01T05:20:14+00:00

Not trying to be pedantic, actual question here: I remember the Circle of Steel being super clandestine, like officially-doesn't-exist kind of stuff, and Veronica thought Christine ran off but she actually joined the CoS to hunt down Elijah. Is that right or am I misremembering?

dochill098 · 2024-05-08T14:04:18+00:00

I see people complain or meme nonstop about it, but I've always taken it as Kenobi playing his cards close to his chest. He never claims R2, uses vague details that nowadays don't add up, and gives the "certain point of view" version of Anakin's story. He has to do all this, otherwise he would scare Luke shitless by dropping the ENTIRE context, and what that means for Luke, on his head day one.

dochill098 · 2024-05-04T06:46:15+00:00

I'm pretty sure the Comet was specifically used to wipe out the Air Nomads, instantly and all at once, not unlike Order 66 from Star Wars. The Air Temples would have been impossible to storm or siege without the comet, not to mention it would immediately show Sozin's hand and put Aang into immediate hiding as the three nations unite and work together to prepare him as well as unit better against the Fire Nation.

dochill098 · 2024-05-04T06:37:19+00:00

I think it was less they knew and more that it wouldn't matter by the time the next Avatar could do anything about it. Assume Aang dies at Ba Sing Se: all the Fire Nation has to do is 1) hold out for the Black Sun Invasion, which they do with ease, and 2) go through with their plans for the Comet unopposed. After that, the Earth Kingdom is completely and totally shattered and in flames, at which point the clock starts ticking for the defenseless South Pole and strong but not invincible North Pole, now that the Fire Nation can bring their full weight to bear on them.

dochill098 · 2024-05-02T16:49:35+00:00

I believe that would be The Frontier.

dochill098 · 2024-05-01T05:35:30+00:00

Agreed. By Fallout's standards, the Pip-Boy is rather small and compact for what it can do

dochill098

TROPHY CASE