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

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!)

Heroes

Pokémon ships that I ship

Amourshipping (Ash & Serena) don’t come biting my @$$ for this, but I think that Serena and Ash have a better chance at a relationship than Ash & Misty. Speaking of which... Orangeshipping (Misty & Tracy) I feel like Misty and Tracy have had some really cute moments together while Ash was off traveling else where and that Tracy is not one to be intimidated by Misty’s fire (despite being a water type user). Luckshipping (Brock & Lucy) this ones a bit more obvious, since Lucy is one of the few girls who ended up returning Brock’s affections. She loved his eyes😍 Contestshipping (May & Drew) May and Drew had way more chemistry than May and Ash, just getting that out of the way. Appealshipping (Dawn & Zoey) continuing our coordinator ships, I had a hard time finding the perfect guy for Dawn, and then I remembered that slash ships were a big thing, and I thought about it and realized that these two have really good chemistry with each other and are perfect foils for each other too, bringing out the best in each other.🎀 Wishfulshipping (Cilan & Iris) I just cannot see these two characters with anyone else but each other! I know that might be a slightly were reason to ship two people, but that’s my reasoning for this one. Diodeshipping (Clemont & Ash) I know this might seem contradicting since I ship Amour already, but not only am I a sucker for slash ships, I just cannot see Clemont with anyone other the guy who always thought science was the coolest. Kaiwe x Lana x Mallow - I honestly ship these three on a ployamory relationship since I can’t really imagine them parting.

rebloging this for educational reasons.

Not diagnosing a child doesn't mean they won't notice they're different. It just means that instead of thinking "I'm struggling because I have autism/adhd/anxiety/depression/schizophrenia", they will just conclude that they are struggling because they are stupid, weak, annoying, unlovable, etc.

Debunking more myths in the GFFA: the Jedi and the clones.

I wrote a post debunking the various myths about how “the Jedi condone slavery”, a while ago. Something I had omitted (because it’s such a big topic) was the following two statements that concern the clone troopers’ relations with the Jedi:

“The clones were genetically bred to have accelerated growth, so they’re technically child soldiers.”

“The clones were slaves of the Jedi.”

Both the above statements are inaccurate, let’s explore why. 

“The clones were child soldiers”

Let’s get the easy one out of the way first, because it’s a logic that cuts both ways. If age is our only determination of the maturity of a Star Wars character, then Grogu is not a baby. He is aged 50, and is thus a middle-aged man.

Who cruelly eats the babies of a woman…

… and knowingly tortures animals for his own sadistic pleasure.

Of course, I’m kidding. Grogu’s none of the above things.

The narrative frames him as a cute baby who does innocent baby stuff. Him eating the eggs is played off as comedic, as is him lifting with the frog. To this day, some fans still call him “Baby Yoda”.

Conversely, despite the clones being 10/14-years-old, their actions, behaviors, way of thinking, sense of humor, morals etc, are all those of an adult.

Like, Ahsoka is technically older than Rex in this scene.

The scene doesn’t portray them as peers, though. This isn’t written as “a teen and a tween talking”. No, Rex looks, acts and behaves like a grown-up and is thus framed as such by the narrative.

You can make the argument “they’re child soldiers”, but (unless you’re doing so in bad faith) you’d also have to argue that “Grogu’s an adult”.

“The clones were the Jedi’s slaves”

Nope. For all intents and purposes, they’re in the same boat as the Jedi, who George Lucas stated multiple times had been drafted to fight in the war.

Again: both the Jedi (monk/diplomats untrained for fighting on a battlefield) and clones (literally bred en masse only to fight) are being forced to fight by Palpatine and the Senate.

Though, on paper, the clones were commissioned by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, it was actually done by the Sith (who either manipulated or assassinated Sifo-Dyas then stole his identity, depending on the continuity you choose to adhere to). The rest of the Jedi had no idea these clones were being created.

So while the clones are slaves… they’re not owned by the Jedi.

They’re the army of the Republic, they belong to the Senate. This isn’t exactly a scoop, they refer to the clones as something to purchase…

… and manufacture.

As far as the Senate’s concerned, clones are property, like droids. 

Like there’s a whole subplot in The Bad Batch about this very point: after the war, the clones are decommissioned and left out to dry because they literally have no rights, they served their purpose.

The only trooper to ever canonically blame the Jedi for the clones’ enslavement is Slick, who the narrative frames as having been bribed and manipulated by Asajj Ventress into betraying his comrades.

Also, the only canonical Jedi shown to ever be mean, dismissive or mistreating the clones in any way, is Pong Krell.

And it’s eventually revealed he’s in fact a full-on traitor, hence why the story frames him as an antagonistic dick from the moment he’s introduced. He doesn’t represent the Jedi in any way.

We know this because the other Jedi we’ve been shown are always prioritizing their clones’ lives over theirs, if given the chance.

Finally, if we wanna get even more specific… as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the clones belong to Palpatine. 

Palpatine who is a Sith Lord. 

Palpatine who arranged for the creation of the clones and had them all injected with a chip that would activate upon hearing a code-word…

… and forced them to murder their Jedi without hesitation or remorse.

When you bear all that  ⬆️  in mind and when you read this quote by George Lucas…

“The Jedi won’t lead droids. Their whole basis is connecting with the life force. They’d just say, ‘That’s not the way we operate. We don’t function with non-life-forms.” So if there is to be a Republic army, it would have to be an army of humans.”    - The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, 2020  

… narratively-speaking, everything falls into place.

Sidious knows that:

If he orchestrates a war designed to thin the Jedi’s numbers, corrupt their values and plunge the galaxy into chaos…

If he wants to draft the Jedi - peace-keeping diplomats who’d never willingly join the fray - to fight in his war…

… then the only way they won’t resist the draft and abstain from fighting is if they think joining the conflict will save lives.

So he creates a set of cruel, sadistic villains for them to face, opponents who will target innocent civilians at every turn…

… and instead of lifeless droids, he prepares for the Jedi an army of men… living, mortal people who, despite being well-trained, will be completely out of their league when facing the likes of Dooku…

… Ventress…

… Grievous…

… Savage Opress…

… or the defoliator, a tank that annihilates organic matter.

Thus, in order to save as many clone and civilian lives, the Jedi join the fray despite knowing that doing so will corrupt their values. 

And as the war rages on, a bond of respect is formed between the two groups.

Clearly, the Jedi don’t like the fact that the Republic is using the clones to fight a war, but for that matter, they don’t like being in a war, in fact they advocated against it.

However, it’s happening regardless of their issues with the idea or personal philosophies. Said The Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy:

“I’d rather not get into the Jedi’s philosophical issues about an army of living beings created to fight, but the Jedi are in a tough spot themselves, being peacekeepers turned warriors trying to save the Republic.”

And bear in mind, the Jedi are basically space psychics, the clones are living beings that they can individually feel in the Force… 

… so the Jedi feel every death but need to move on, regardless, only being able to mourn the troopers at the end of every battle.

We see this in the Legends continuity too, by the way.

(that is, when the writers actually try to engage with the narrative)

Also, if you ask the clones, they’re grateful the Jedi have their backs.

When Depa Billaba voices her concerns about how the war is impacting the Jedi’s principles, troopers Grey and Styles are quick to make it clear how grateful they all are for the Jedi’s involvement:

So the clones aren’t the Jedi’s slaves. If anything, they’re both slaves of the Republic (considering how low the Jedi’s status actually is in the hierarchy).

Only I’d argue the clones have it much, much worse. 

The Senate sees the Jedi as “ugh, the holier-than-thou space-monk lapdogs who work for us”… but a Jedi has the option to give up that responsibility. They can leave the Order, no fuss or stigma. 

A clone trooper cannot leave the GAR! If they do, they’re marked for treason and execution. Again, they’re not perceived as “people”.

And it doesn’t help that the Kaminoans, the clones’ very creators, see the troopers as products/units/merchandise. A notion that the Jedi are quick to correct whenever they get the chance.

How The Clone Wars writers describe the clones’ relationship with the Jedi.

Keep reading

Yall sleeping on this Sam L. Jackson interview about trump lmfao.

One of these days I’ll be able to look at Allura without crying Today isn’t one of those days

My Top Ten Personal Harry Potter LGBTQA Headcannons

1: Scorbus- I feel like either most of the fandom or even all of the fandom just kind of accept this one a cannon, but since JK Rowling has never confirmed it, it gets to come up here. I don’t feel like this one needs much explanation.

2: Wolfstar- Kinda the same with Scorbus, practically all of the fandom just accepts that these two were a thing at one point. I personally see Sirius as gay and Remus as bisexual, but if you think differently, that is totally fine.

3: Bisexual Harry- let’s be honest here, Harry was kind of thick headed, and still kind of is, so it would not surprise me in the slightest if he was bi and never even knew it about himself. I saw one post a while back on Harry being bi and it just made so much sense to me. I’ll try to make this short, but the sum of it is that, Harry has only directly called one GIRL beautiful, Fleur, and let’s be frank here, that ones kind of a given, but he has directly called multiple BOYS handsome on plenty of occasions, Sirius and Cedric for example. There is also his obsession with both Draco and Snape to point to. I believe the reason he never knew this about himself, or at the very least, never acted on it, was because of his childhood at the Dursleys’. From the way they act and behave, I would honestly not be surprised if they made a very homophobic comments on multiple occasions or simply say that it was a forbidden topic and that Harry and Dudley were never allowed to talk about it. It’s not secret that Harry had a sh*+y childhood, so I would honestly not be surprised if this is exactly what happened.

4: Aromantic Asexual Charlie Weasley- This is kinda another one that the fandom just accepts and occasionally jokes about. I also accept this as cannon.

5: Demisexual Snape- Not very surprising to accept and think about after learning what Demisexual is and given that Snape never got over Lily, AT ALL, it’s basically cannon.

6: Asexual Newt Scamander- Okay I saw a post somewhere, probably Pinterest, comparing the Hogwarts Houses with sexuality’s and Hufflepuff matched up with Asexual. And think back on it, Newt may be Asexual too. Not because he is in Hufflpuff, but because of how he falls in love. With Newt, in both Fantastic Beast movies, I notice Newt didn’t fall in love with Tina and Leta’s appearances, but with their hearts and souls. He loved them because they took an interest in magically creatures just like him, and they made an effort to understand him. He does think that they are pretty, there’s no getting around that after the salamander eyes thing, but that’s not what made Newt love them in the first place.

7: Pansexual Fleur- Like Newt, I don’t think Fleur feel for Bill just because of his looks. While his handsome face was definitely what caught her eyes, I believe it was his spirit and personality that truly captured her heart. This is only backed up by the fact that Fleur basically tells everyone after Bill is injured, “I don’t give and d@m about how my husband looks, all I care about is that he is brave and stands up for what is right”.

8: Gay Hugo Granger-Weasley- He literally has no canon content for his personality or interests so that I get to headcannon him whatever the frick I want without any evidence to back it up. But in all seriousness, I think it would be a cute thing to see Hugo being scared to tell the family that me likes boys until Albus comes with a Malfoy boy around his arm, Hugo’s like “well, can’t make a bigger scene than that” and finally comes out to his parents, sister and family. Everyone of course loves home just the same and Hugo and Albus can now bond and gossip about their crushes and dates.

9: Gay Lorcan Scamander- Same reason as Hugo, no cannon content, so he can be anything I want him to be. Unlike Hugo though, Lorcan never had any doubts when it came to his sexuality and how his family would react to it. When he told his family it was without any preamble and everyone was fine with it. Luna would have totally raised her kids to be just as proud of themselves as she was, and it would be no different when it came to their sexualities. Plus, I ship Hugo and Lorcan. No cannon content.

10: Transgender Luis Weasley- As I have said with Hugo and Lorcan, we have little to no cannon content with the next generation. The best we have are what little we got out of JK Rowling and headcannons that all the fans just accept as cannon. So, I have this theory about Luis, Bill and Fleur’s son: what if he was a ftm Transgender. It was stated on his wiki page that Luis is the only know boy descended from a Velia , but what if he wasn’t a boy. What if he was born a girl, but unlike his mother and sisters who were all girly girls, he was more of a tomboy. Then when he went to Hogwarts and was placed in the girls dormitory, he felt wrong and out of place. After a lot of angst and self-louthing that did not go unnoticed by the teachers, McGonagal called Luis into her office and asked him what was wrong. Luis broke down and explained what he was feeling the best he could and eventually the Headmistress said “so you feel like you are in the wrong body?” Luis nods yes to this, “Mr. Weasley, that is far from unusual. Why do you this I turn into a cat? Because it is a comfort form for me, I like being a cat.” “But I like being a boy, Professor. I want to be a boy.” McGonagal thinks, “There is a spell that I can use to transfigurat your body to that of a male, however it will take awhile to prepare, both the spell and you. Your body will go through a change even more dramatic than puberty, I must also discuss this with your parents. It that really what you want?” Luis than nods his head vigorously and McGonagal gives Luis instructions about preparing himself for the transition as and sends a letter off to his parents as well. While Bill and Fleur are surprised at such news, support their child without a second thought and are even there when McGonagal performs the spell. Once Luis sees his new male body, he cries tears of joy and hugs both his parents and Professor for helping to get him to this point. This experience also gives Luis a drive to learn as much as he can about Transfiguration and later becomes Hogwarts’ newest Transfiguration Professor.

Anyway, those are my personal top ten headcannons. Let me know if you have any.

Now I would appreciate a fic where Anakin Skywalker just kills Palpatine on accident. I was watching revenge of the sith and through the whole sequence of Obi-wan and Anakin saving Palpatine from the ship I was thinking: “Anakin is waving his damn sabre EVERYWHERE it’s a miracle he hasn’t hit something on accident” and then bam: idea.

In Anakin’s defence there’s a LOT going on so like it’s not his FAULT that he wasn’t looking where he was slicing and the next thing he knows Palpatine’s head is no longer on his shoulders but rolling down some flight of stairs and Anakin just sort of,, pees himself a little.

“Oh. Shit.”

A whole mile away Mace Windu is sitting in his quarters and suddenly the migraine in the back of his head disappears and he’s like “whoa.” And then jokingly is like “who had to be sacrificed for that damn ache to finally go away.” Turns out!

Obi-wan, through a holo-call, (with Anakin skywalker furiously sobbing and heaving through snot and coughs in the background): hey so, we should look into getting Skywalker some ADHD medication.

The Jedi council: why? What has happened?

Obi-Wan: just a little loss of focus, it happens to the best of us.

cub