Theres A Scene In The Clone Wars That I Find Pertinent To This.

There’s a scene in The Clone Wars that I find pertinent to this.

Count Dooku’s replaced Ventress as his apprentice, and is in the process of training Savage Opress as a replacement.

It’s very similar to Yoda and Luke’s training, just with added motivation (IE force Lightning). Dooku is trying to get Savage to lift the stone pillars, and Savage Tells him it cannot be done. Dooku replies:

“The task is only impossible because you have deemed it so”.

It’s essentially exactly what Yoda tells Luke in Empire Strikes Back, and reinforcers the fact that Dooku was once Yoda’s apprentice.

Not me being mad today about people over exaggerating the "do or do not there is no try" and hating on the Jedi for it as if it's not an idiom about always trying your best and giving it your all (and considering things when you do them) instead of literally saying don't try if you can't succeed. :/

I've always understood "do or do not, there is no try" as "ultimately, you will either have done or not done" - it seems like it's about focusing on the outcome instead of the process.

(As a recap of what exactly happens in ESB: Luke is doing a handstand trying to lift stones with Yoda perched on his leg when the ship suddenly sinks further into the water. It breaks Luke's concentration and his rocks fall, along with him, and Yoda. Luke laments they'll never get the ship back, Yoda laments that Luke always thinks things are too hard to be done, Luke says lifting stones is different, Yoda says it isn't, and Luke agrees to try, which is when Yoda has his iconic line.

And critically, after Luke does try and fail, Yoda gives him a great speech about the nature of the Force and how it binds everything together and Luke despondently says that it's just impossible. Upon which Yoda lifts the ship out of the water, of course, and Luke exclaims that he can't believe it, to which Yoda answers that that's why he's failing.)

Obviously you won't always get things right the first time, and that's precisely what Luke is frustrated about in the scene. And because he's disappointed that he's not getting things right, he doesn't even want to try anymore - his first instinct is to give up because he thinks the situation is beyond fixing.

So the critical point about the quote is that this Yoda shifting the focus: he tells Luke to stop thinking about what he's doing and concentrate on what he wants to do.

This is because of Luke's current state of mind, because Luke is currently associating his own efforts with failure, it's not just a random thing he's saying to make him feel bad.

Everything Star Wars tells us about the Force is that it's used through both intuition and confidence:

That's why the Jedi train so hard from such a young age - you can't doubt yourself or second-guess the Force, or you will get your ass kicked by both the universe and your potential opponents. You have to be able to trust your instincts because you have to rely on them - hence the need to either instill good Force-oriented instincts in kids, or in Luke's case relearn his own base sentient instincts. You can't learn to categorize the material world as 'too heavy,' 'too far,' 'not possible' - you have to focus on the Force, not the physical nature of the objects or your own limitations.

Luke thinks and feels the way a non Force-sensitive would: 'heavy things = can't be lifted.' He was doing okay lifting stones upside down, but he was using his muscles to stand upright, not the Force (hence why he was struggling to stay up and why he fell so easily). His concentration was clouded by material concerns (the loss of the ship and his own powerlessness) so he couldn't maintain it. He sees success as depending on his own conscious efforts but that's just not the way it works, he has to let go because his mind is just not wired right yet and so his efforts are necessarily counterproductive. It's that materialism that Yoda is responding to.

That's the point of Yoda's lesson imo - it's not so much about the technicalities of 'giving it everything you've got,' it's about something much deeper. He is trying to get Luke to radically change his mindset and entire worldview (the 'luminous beings, not this crude matter' quote is from this scene too), because Luke is never going to succeed if he thinks in terms of 'trying.'

If Luke could visualize the starship out of the bog and focus on that, the starship would be out of the bog. If he's focused on trying to lift it out of the bog, then he'll fail because everything in his mind tells him he can't.

Which is exactly what happens.

And the fact is, we know Yoda is 100% right with his advice and that everything he says and teaches in that moment is endorsed by the narrative - because he easily succeeds where Luke kept failing.

Story-wise, it couldn't be clearer that Yoda's advice is good, because it's immediately proven that not following it doesn't yield results, but that following it does.

Like most Jedi maxims, "Do, or do not. There is no try," is circumstantial advice and I'm pretty sure it doesn't show up again in Star Wars canon, be it the movies or TCW (until Rebels that is, when Kanan quotes it to Ezra like it's a rote thing that Yoda used to say all the time and it's kind of 'ah ah' moment because neither of them can figure out what it means). Which is why it kinda bugs me that it was elevated to a Yoda proverb like it's something he says constantly and not just something Luke needed to hear in that moment. It's a banger of a quote though.

Alright, considering I spent the last two points gushing about how much I like Mcgillis, I should probably do a post on the other great power in Gjallarhorn.

Rustal Elion, the Man Who Rules the Moon.

And I’m gonna pick apart that title before anything else. He is in charge of the Arianrhod fleet, in charge of directly safeguarding Earth, which obviously affords him a lot of power. Him being “the man who rules the moon” also puts him in the same league as Nobliss Gordon and McMurdo Barriston “the man who rules Jupiter”. It also shows his, at least at first, disconnection with the other events going on around him. Or rather the fact that he essentially just shows up, this massive power unrelated to much of the others going on around him, like he’s come down from another world. Which is fairly accurate.

His tactical excellence really goes without much saying, but the recent Iron-blooded orphans MSV has revealed a new detail I want to talk about.

ASW-G-48 Gundam Haagenti, the Gundam frame owned by the Elion family, currently stored at Vingolf with (presumably) the rest of the Seven Stars Gundam frames (which is a topic for another day).

Now we know that members of the families are able to take out and deploy Gundam frames, as Gaelio does with Kimaris, so why wasn’t the Haagenti deployed? It would have surely been a great boon to their forces, and even might have been able to match Barbatos.

Rustal even has a pilot for it in the form of Julieta Juris, so why was it just left in Vingolf?

Because Rustal chooses not to. The Gundam frames are legendary relics of a bygone age, and Rustal wishes to crush Tekkadan and Mcgillis without using them. He could even risk playing into Mcgillis’ hands by using the same “power” that Mcgillis does. So instead he uses the Reginlaze Julia.

He rejects the ancient power of the calamity war, instead choosing a machine based off the brand-new Reginlaze frame. He embraces the future, while Mcgillis and Tekkadan wield weapons of the past.

(Okay yes he also uses Dainsleif’s, but those don’t have as much of a mythic aspect in-universe as Gundam frames do).

It just adds to his character, with him possessing the power needed to enact change, but also the wisdom to recognise that some powers he probably shouldn’t use.

(And yes I know the out-of-universe explanation is “well it didn’t exist yet, so of course he couldn’t have used it”, don’t @ me.)

Also (less relevant to the above points but I just want to kinda gush about Haagenti (and Gamigin) for a bit) ever since we saw the hangar in Vingolf in episode 43, I’ve really been looking forward to seeing what the other Seven Stars Gundam’s are. Haagenti and Gamigin are utterly gorgeous, but I’m particularly interested in the Issue, Kujan and I suppose Fareed families (I always forget that the Fareed family exists as a separate entirety to Mcgillis, since he was adopted into it).

Huh, actually that does throw Mcgillis’ plan in a new light, since he (presuming it’s still around) essentially already had a Gundam as his birthright as head of the Fareed family, but still went for Bael. Maybe the colour didn’t match or something, I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m reasonably sure that the Kujan family Gundam’s no longer around, since you just know Iok would’ve deployed it, Rustal or no. But that still leaves the Issue, Fareed and Baklazan families still to go.

Oscar Chinchoni

I’m mildly annoyed it took me this long to realise that, in a series full of them, the Mobile Armour mode of the destroy Gundam is essentially a redesign of the Big Zam from the original mobile suit Gundam. The positron reflectors substitute for I-fields, the "Aufprall Dreizehn" High-energy Beam Cannon replacing the Large Mega Particle Gun. Even the anti-air claws on the big zam are represented with the Destroy’s flying arms. Finally, it’s name, the Destroy Gundam is apparently a reference to the second episode of the original series, which had that as its title.

I mean, I know it had a bunch of influence from the Psycho Gundam I and II, but I’d just never clocked the Big Zam as an influence before.

Spoilers for Gundam Witch from Mercury episodes 13 and 14 follow.

So, now that we know exactly how Aerial’s been operating this entire time (well, give-or-take a couple details) it does raise the question of what Eri’s role in all this is.

Like, how cognisant is she of her actions? Is she just following Lady Prospera’s orders? Is she protecting her sister? Is she fully aware that she’s murdering all these people?

It’s worth noting that when Suletta expresses doubt about her actions, brought on by witnessing Sophie’s death, Eri (as Aerial) immediately steps in to reassure her that she’s totally on the right path, and should trust her mother (at least that’s the vibe Suletta’s response gives me).

But, in light of this new information, it’s worth considering Elan Four’s fight with (as we now know) Eri (again, as Aerial) and Suletta.

Eri essentially pulled the patented newtype therapy on Elan Four, reminding him of a significant time in his life. But the question is, why?

She had no problem murdering Sophie (though that was somebody actively trying to kill), but why give Elan this?

My immediate though is as a distraction, to give them time to set up that little coup de grace they hit Elan with, but the alternative is that Eri is a good deal more empathetic than someone under Prospera’s thumb should be.

It’s also possible that she was put into Aerial at an early age (I’m not sure how much of a representation what Sophie and Elan saw was) and as such a lot of her development has atrophied.

Other predictions and thoughts on this development:

1. Lady Prospera will almost certainly betray Delling.

Perhaps I’m reaching for the low-hanging fruit here, considering that this was already likely, based both on how they act around each other and Lady Prospera’s existence as a char clone (and therefore pretty likely to betray anyone). But I’m thinking that Delling either doesn’t know about this (highly likely) or this is just a small part of the larger quiet zero project, which he also doesn’t know the full details on. Given his position with Cathedra in the prologue, I just can’t imagine him backing this.

2. Lady Prospera will fight in the Aerial.

Okay, so this is the biggie. I’m thinking that Suletta comes around to Miorine’s way of thinking and backs her in the upcoming fight. Aerial is (initially) more loyal to Prospera than Suletta, and Suletta will be forced to use a different unit (though presumably still a Gundam). Throughout the fight, suletta will be desperately trying to appeal to Aerial/Her mother and eventually get through to Aerial, which will then refuse to dodge an attack that kills both Eri and Lady Prospera. Bonus points if it plays out similarly to Scirocco’s death in Zeta Gundam.

Alternatively Lady Prospera takes to the field in a shiny new Gundam, the culmination of Quiet Zero (I wonder if too many of my theories rely on the fact that we know absolutely nothing about the Gundam Schwarzette at this point), and trying to convince Aerial to take her side, while Suletta’s desperately fighting without Eri’s assistance.

I have also just found out it’s only going to be three episodes, as opposed to a full series.

The protagonist, Rio Hojo, is essentially standard energetic boy, his design reminds me of Wistario Afram’s a lot, and I’m liking the style of protagonists we’re getting here. He’s also Hawaiian, which is cool. It’s a nice contrast to his avatar, who while I don’t dislike, I do think looks kinda generic in comparison (it’s probably the black hair).

I don’t really have any strong opinions on the mentor, Seria Urutsuki, other than the fact that she’s probably gonna be Mask Lady, the Char. However, Mask Lady?

Is that an Ippei Gyoubu lady? I freaking love it so much. Yeah, it’s a lot like his other work, but his other work is good and we get to see this one animated. I absolutely adore the jacket. It’s always wonderful to see the similarities between how he designs people and how he designs mechs, which elements are common, and which are not.

And now; the mobile suits.

The Lah’s just fine. I don’t really dislike it or anything, I’m inclined to believe that a lot of the design choices are due to it wanting to be an Entry Grade, and thus needing it to be based of a suit that already has an Entry Grade model (this being reinforced by the Build Strike Exceed Galaxy also being an Entry Grade). I do like the RX-78 design and it is justifiably iconic, It’s just we see a lot of them, and it gets routine.

The aforementioned Build Strike Exceed Galaxy looks lovely, and I’m sure it’ll make for some wonderful poses and designs, especially with all the effect parts.

I honestly don’t have much of an opinion on either the F-Kunoichi Kai or the Plutine Gundam. I’m not that interested in Cross Silhouette as a line, and Gundam Build Divers re:rise wasn’t that long ago. I would hope that if they’re releasing the Plutine that we may eventually get kits for the Dubious Arche Gundam and Reverse Turn X from the finale, but I wouldn’t expect it. Though I will admit I would love to Display the HGBF Plutine and the HG00 Plutone opposite each other now.

And now the two I’m actually looking forward to. The Shin Burning Gundam and the 00 Diver Arc. The Shin Burning looks to have such a dynamic pose, and it’s precursors were all typically suits that had an emphasis on Martial Arts, so it’ll make for some cool poses even before considering the wings or effect parts. I do think that the legs look a little odd though, probably the roundedness. The 00 Diver Arc is an odd one, since while I very much disliked the 00 sky, I had basically no feelings on the regular 00 Diver. This one looks to have a fancy energy sword system like the AGE FX or 00 Quanta, which I’m very much interested in (as well as those little sword bucklers on the arms). However, I do find the chest quite boring. Sticking a gun in the chest isn’t an alternative to actual visual design.

Finally, I don’t actually have a stake in the “Metaverse” as a concept, in series or out. I think that someone at Bandai just realised they’d accidentally created advertisement for such a thing in the form of the build series. I should probably also mention that due to the massive amount of MMORPG’s and similarly massive, all-encompassing online things in Japan at time of writing, it’s quite possible that it’s a very different climate to that of the western world in regards to how feasible a metaverse’d actually be.

Okay, so we gotta a bunch of information on Gundam Build Metaverse this week, and I got opinions on it.

I’m also gonna just quickly preface this with two things for context.

1. If you’re new to Gundam (since there’s always a bunch of new people with any new show, and Witch from Mercury is no exception), then know that the Build Series has massively lower stakes. The general target demographic is a lot lower, and it typically patterns itself a lot of Pokemon - the whole shonen-y vibe, the whole “to be a master” thing. I personally also like this, but it can be a bit of a tone whiplash going from “mainline” Gundam to the Build Series.

2. As above, I generally like the Build series for both the Anime and the model kits, with both Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try having some of my favourite fight scenes in the entire Gundam series. However, I absolutely loath the first season of Build Divers (I might do a post on it later), and as such a lot of what I don’t want to see is directly cribbed form that.

In a nutshell, though it’s lower-stakes, I’m usually here for the fights and the model designs, and a lot of what I focus on is gonna be those.

I’m trying to stay away from long posts unless it’s analysis or me gushing about something, so I’ll follow this up momentarily.