😍❤️❤️

Voltron season 8 in 2 days

I can’t do it!!!!!!!!! I can’t say goodbye to the Paladins yet!!! I feel like either having a heart attack or a heart break!!!!!

If Obi-Wan had actually stayed on Mandalore with Satine after the Civil War and left the Jedi Order, it would've made The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones peak comedy.

Like, Qui-Gon would still be sent to Naboo and end up on Tatooine, he'd still meet Anakin and take him back to the Temple. But, in this AU, he survives the battle on Theed and takes Anakin as his padawan. And the entire Order would be making jokes:

"Congrats on the new padawan! Hope he sticks around longer than the last one!" "We'll keep this one off the bodyguard missions, eh Qui-Gon?"

So one day little Anakin’s like "hey master, what happened to your last padawan?" And Qui-Gon's like "oh he ran off with a girl, yeah he's royalty in the Outer Rim now".

And it's all fine and dandy until Anakin’s nineteen and they get assigned to protect Padmé, and Qui-Gon takes one look at this kid's face and thinks "You've got to be fucking kidding me, this shit again??"

The way Fives looks at Echo. Please I love them

I love how in the second one Fives just wants to complain about the plan while Echo is just like “let’s do this!”. Well at least he was excited about the citadel mission...

OMG I NEVER REALIZED WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS!!!!!!!!

I have a bone to pick with the Ever After High fandom. How come I haven’t seen anyone make the most obvious joke possible? Apple had a literal gay awakening. That’s it, that’s the joke

ao3 turns 15 today

reblog if youre older than ao3

(there's a lot of people asking about this, but the legal age to use social media is 13, except in few countries. so yes, there are people here under 15)

Kix + caring immensely about his brothers

thunderclan medicine cats

Mandalorian Armor, a simple guide

Oh dear. Several months late, but here we go. This will be a broad term overview of mando armor in canon at the moment, not an exhaustive list. Feel free to skip “materials & history” if you’d just like some more concrete guidelines and refs! 

(Remember to click on the images for a better look!)

Material & History

A Small Intro Course

Mandalorian armor is supposed to be made out of beskar, an alloy (and yes all beskar is an alloy in disney canon (at least as of May 2021), like steel for example. Yes even “pure” beskar). The secrets of how to make it is limited to the Mandalorians, and the materials used to make it are most likely limited to Mandalore or the Mandalore system. It’s been in confirmed use as an armor material for at least 900 years & can take straight blaster bolts or hold off the circulating energy blade of a lightsaber for short periods of time, possibly until the beskar heats up enough to loose its integrity, but the heat would most likely cause serious damage to the wearers body before that.

Beskar armor is most often inherited, passed from generation to generation and reforged to suit the current wearers needs. It’s seen as passing down the history, the battles and the will of those who have worn it before and making it your own. However the material is rare, possibly because the mines have run dry ages ago (old EU), or because war and/or the New Mandalorians stopping production. The Empire interfering by taking over Mandalore and trying to get their hands on as much beskar as possibly and then later “glassing” the planet while hunting its only known creators surely did not help either, in any case.

This means that not all Mandalorians had access to the material, or at least large enough amounts to make a full suit of armor. This lead to the make of “impure” beskar that can take less of a brunt & armor made of other metals such as durasteel. This is most likely what makes up the majority of Din’s kit, beyond the helmet and possibly the chest piece, when he’s introduced in S1 and he still wears pieces that might be one of these materials as of Season 2. 

Characters like Sabine Wren, Bo-Katan Kryze and Boba Fett all inherited their armor from their aliit  (clan/family) through several generations and it’s most likely already pure beskar based on its age and how it reacts to blasterfire.

The armor is most often painted and there are various designs and colors that indicate personality, achievements or allegiances, but that would have to be another post. (Would anyone like a post on Mandalorian armor fashion? Because I have thoughts)

Helmet

Let’s start from the top. The helmet, aka the bucket. The buy’ce.

In the “modern” era it’s usually a helmet with a rounded top and some kind of cheek indents. It has a T (or occasionally closer to a Y) shaped visor that obscures the wearers face. It also contains a large amount of technology that allows for various visual filters, binoculars, built in comms and audio enhancers (allowing for near perfect 360° hearing in the old EU, as possibly shown by Din Djarin in the new), among other things. The earcaps seen on most modern styles of helmet allows for various specialized attachments, like rangefinders.

The styles of the helmets vary between clans and eras, but there’s a few distinct modern bases that are pretty easy to identify as Mandalorian and worn by all major Mandalorian characters. 

The Boba Fett, based on the original helmet as seen in the OT, and worn by basically every male character with various types of cheek indents, ridges and the like. Some are thinner or longer, but the base of the design is still very clearly the OG Boba Fett helmet. T visor, sharp slope indent that takes up the entire cheek, long ear caps & a brow ridge.

Visual Reference

The Nite Owl, based on the helmet worn by Bo-Katan and the Nite Owls in TCW. It has a cat eyed Y visor and a more of a cut out cheek indent style, or simply a less severe smaller curve under the visor ridge (the area painted red on Boba Fett’s helmet). 

Visual Reference

The Kast, is the rarest so far only seen on Rook Kast & the Maul-aligned female Mandalorians. It slopes slightly inwards below the uniquely shaped T visor and has no ear caps.

Visual References

And finally, some mandalorian helmets with slightly more unique shapes and/or shape combinations that put them outside the general easy to identify pile.

From left to right, The Armorer, Paz Vizsla, Pre Vizsla and Fenn Rau:

Chest, Neck, Back & Shoulders

As with everything else, there are various styles for these pieces of armor, but here are some basics.

Breastplate

Most commonly visibly segmented into three big parts, two on the chest and one below, with a small diamond shaped heart piece in the middle. The heart piece design can also been seen on Mandalorian clothing and architecture. In The Mandalorian these parts are generally attached together to give the armor a more solid look, but they are still distinguishable. Before the fall of the empire several female mandos favoured a more solid two part design that interlocked with their neck piece and had a thin rectangular bar instead of a classic heart piece. During the clone wars women of the faction supporting Maul (mostly clan Kast and clan Saxon) used a semi-connected two part design with six smaller pieces trailing down the stomach, three on each side. There are also various other designs with solid one part chest pieces, but most at least have a variation of the heart piece in the middle, as seen on Paz Vizsla. 

The chest piece usually does not go below the navel, for bending over reasons.

Neckplate

Either two pieces on the side of the neck, or a longer single piece that goes in front of the neck & sits over the collarbones. Both of these variations are usually semi connected to, or line up with where the backplate ends.

Shoulders

Bell type, like Din Djarin & Axe Woves wear. The Classic, aka the style worn by Boba Fett, Ursa Wren & most grunts. And finally a slightly rounded middle ground, smaller than the Bell but sits over the shoulder and is often favored by female characters like Bo-Katan, female Mauldalorians & Sabine Wren.

Backplate

Usually as long as the chest piece, used to protect the back and to mount jetpacks, and other useful things, on.

Jetpack

Technically not a piece of armor, but sometimes armored. Comes in various sizes and styles.

Visual References

Vambraces & Handplates

Vambraces

Both forearm protection and weapons. Developed to give a Mandalorian that extra edge when fighting stronger opponents. To that goal, they’re often fitted with various attachments such as flamethrowers, retractable blades, shield emitters, repulsors, grappling lines, magnets, missiles and various types of darts, including the whistling birds seen in The Mandalorian.

Handplates

It’s a plate that goes on your hand. Nothing more, nothing less. Can of course be fitted with various other weapons, as long as they fit.

Visual References

The Codpiece, Buttplate & Hip Plates

Ah yes. Well.

All pieces are usually worn tucked underneath and/or attached to the waist sash/girth belt/belt.

Codpiece

Look, it’s a codpiece. It’s there to protect your sensitive parts. There are less bulky variations for people who can do without the extra space. Those are often segmented. Some wear more of a lower stomach plate. Others don’t bother, or only wear theirs when they might need it since I imagine it can be a bit uncomfortable to wear day to day.

Buttplate

It’s a plate that goes over your butt. And I mean just above, not on. Din has one, Boba has one. It’s a thing. Why? Because bruising you tailbone hurts like hell.

Hip Plates

They’re plates that go on your hips. Only confirmed sighting has been on Din, but we’ve also got some good shots of them because of this so I put them in anyway.

Visual References

Thighs, Knees, Shins, Ankles & Feet

Varies from completely covered to almost no armor at all. On one end you’ve got Jango Fett, and on the other you’ve got Boba Fett. Ironic, in a way.

Thigh plates

Generally sit either on the front of the thigh or on the outer sides. The outward style thigh plates are more form fitting and allow for holsters to be mounted directly onto the plate, this was popular during the Clone Wars era. The front facing plates are often different sizes, possibly depending on your dominant hand/how you prefer to hold your weapon of choice.

Knee armor/pads

For knee protection, unless you’re like Boba Fett, then they’re also dart launchers. In the old EU the darts were laced with neurotoxin, but that seems to have been removed for new canon. Sit nebulously in the knee region.

Shin, Ankle and/or Boot plates

Over your shins, ankles and feet, for all your literal ass kicking needs. Comes in various types including but not limited to: boot caps, ankle plates, shin guards and of course full on greaves.

Visual References

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So there you have it! A broad overview of Mandalorian armor. This has been in my drafts for months at this point so I’m not going to go over this again so you’ll have to excuse any weird phrasing or misspelt words. And how messy the visual ref sheets got. (I’m also considering putting together something for different eras & allegiances based on design, accessories, paintjobs, etc, but that will have to be another day.)

(Also, feel free to tag me or @ me or whatever on your art! I love seeing the different ways people design their mandos!)

Keep the Jedi Out of It

With input from @atagotiak (Tia), @gelpenss (Gel), and @thisarenotarealblog (Doc).

Standard initial premise: Clones take over the Republic after Fox kills Palpatine.

Fun AU Twist: in order to keep people from trying to fuck over the Jedi, and also as a backup because they trust the Jedi to at least try to save them after the initial hubbub goes down, and also as a bit of a vindication for those who don't like their Jedi... the clones arrest all the Jedi and just keep them in the brigs etc. until they figure out how to break the news to the galaxy that Palpatine was a bigger problem than previously anticipated.

"Why did the Jedi not stop you?" "Great question! We arrested them." "...all of them?" "Yes." "On what grounds?" "On 'they would have stopped us from killing the Chancellor' grounds."

"The Jedi couldn't stop you from arresting them?" "We just kind of told them 'here, hold this' and then put the force cuffs on. It was really easy, actually, they trust us way too much, it's kinda scary. A few of them passed out without the Force to keep them awake and the medics got pissed they hadn't been sleeping." "...you're saying you did this for their own good?" "No, we did it so we could kill the Chancellor."

Tia:

Anakin would def be upset. What would the other jedi be like? Mostly exasperated? I imagine a few would be like “well I guess I’m stuck here. I’m gonna have a nap”

Doc:

Obiwan finds a corner he likes and conks out in 5 minutes with the power of long experience

Gel:

At least one or more of the Jedi is like. WEIRDLY zen about it. Like “yeah if he arrested me there’s DEFINITELY a good reason and they’ll all tell me eventually”

Like the reason O66 worked in large part was that the Jedi trusted the clones, which means that you could easily argue that without even murder-of-said-Jedi on the mind, it would be even easier to just. Trick them.

Rex was uncomfortable about arresting Anakin for "Palpatine's his friend and he'll hate me" reasons so Kix just arrested both of them himself. They don't tell Anakin what's going on even when he grills Rex in their shared cell. Anakin's under the impression this is a 'you haven't been taking care of yourself' medic arrest.

Ahsoka had to share a cell with Yularen and they played cards because Ahsoka wanted to work on her Sabacc-without-Force-Cheating skills.

Some of the arrested Jedi have tea parties with the clones who arrested them. Mostly I'm imagining this as being Mundi. Bacara is off handling Various Things and the shinies put in place to guard Ki-Adi while the Coruscant problem is handled just sit down and have some tea with him while he teaches them Jedi philosophy, because Mundi strikes me as very "grandpa tells you stories to try and relate to the youth and he's not great at it but he sure is trying to be a good grandpa, and he's a bit out of the loop but he's putting in the effort, he got you some of those Pokey-mans you like for the holidays and everything."

"It's been three days, are you going to tell me why this was all necessary?" "Chancellor's a Sith Lord." "WHAT?" "It's fine, Fox killed him, but we couldn't have the Jedi stopping us, or like... getting accused of organizing it. So we just arrested, uh... everyone over the age of three?"

Tia:

Im just imagining Depa in a cell, sometime before the assassination is done: Grey: yeah so we’re killing Palpatine, for uh. Reasons. Depa: well I feel like I should disapprove, but….

Gel:

Anakin is spinning conspiracies about mind control because why else would they do this and the clones are just like. 😬“well yes but actually no”

Cody: No hard feelings but we do need Fox to do the plan. Chancellor's evil. Obi-Wan, not at all convincingly, especially after the explanation: Oh no... the Chancellor... whatever shall I do... Cody: ...do I even need to put you in cuffs? Obi-Wan: For the sake of protocol, yes.

Doc:

Ponds: we're going to kill the chancellor Mace, who got pressured to give the chancellor access to a 10-year old: legally, I cannot endorse this.

"We arrested the Jedi." "...and they LET you?" "Yeah, they assumed it was for a plan, which it was, but they assumed it was 'we're being watched by Separatists, play along' reasons and not, you know, killing the Chancellor."

Bly: General Secura, you're under arrest. Aayla: Wh--On what charges? Bly: Uh.... it's a sex thing? Aayla: ..............sure, why not.

Monnk: General Fisto, you're under arrest. Kit: Why? Monnk: ....reasons. Kit: ........yeah, okay.

Nobody even bothers to tell Shaak Ti, she's so far away that she can't do anything and really they just. Don't tell her she has a long-distance call coming in.

The only Jedi that don't just get arrested with zero fuss are the ones that are in active battle zones far enough away that it's not worth the deaths that would follow, Anakin, and 'I don't trust clones' types like Krell.

And the ones in-Temple, which is admittedly a lot, but we're going to ignore that and say the clones just triggered a reactive shut-down protocol that had metal going over windows and stuff.