The Franchise Report

Content updates from our favorite IPs

🌌 From A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Ahsoka Part Five: Shadow Warrior

Spoilers ahead.

This episode tied together years and generations of Star Wars. I obviously grew up watching the trilogies, but my true obsession began when I found The Clone Wars animated show shortly after college. Due to the nature of this business, I often see some screenshots and spoilers, but in anticipation of this one being special, I shut the phone off for a few hours until I was able to settle in and experience it blind. Thank fuck I did.

The individual character moments between the crew looking for Ahsoka and Sabine were fantastic - choosing to use Jaycen as a true character instead of eye candy for Rebels fans was a nice touch…that boy is going to be a hell of a force user one day. We get a Leia name-drop, who is apparently covering for Hera’s secret mission (awesome) and Huyang tells a confused Carson that Jaycen has abilities, as his father was a Jedi named Kanan Jarus. His response of ‘….okay?’ takes on the embodiment of all non-animated show watchers who are trying to follow along with the show - this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Ahsoka has one foot in the grave at this point, and somehow, Anakin manifested to be her spirit guide and complete her training. The two have great chemistry and it was surreal seeing Hayden again…something about the way he swings a saber around touches my soul. The force works in mysterious ways.

We see Ahsoka and Anakin travel to three points in time, painful memories clouded by the fog of war.

• The first is Teth, the first time we see her with Anakin.

• The second is the battle of Ryloth, where she gets a dozen soldiers killed for directing bad orders and where animated fans know Hera grew up.

• The third is the Siege of Mandalore, which was a formative moment for her, choosing to help the Mandalorians instead of the Chancellor, which ultimately ends with Anakin turning into Vader. Mandalore is also important to Sabine, as that’s her culture and her people…there are a lot of layers here.

Ahsoka begins the episode, physically and spiritually drowning in her own fears, guilt and regret. Struggling with her place in the galaxy and the legacy she’ll leave behind. It’s why she refused to train Grogu and gave up on training Sabine…she was scared to pass on that lineage and continue the death and pain. She is grey, and at war with herself.

Ahsoka needed Anakin to teach her one, final lesson. "‘If you don’t fight, you’ll die.’ Fight for her physical life but also fight to live how she wants and not be dictated by the past. She ultimately forgives herself for not being there for Anakin and understands that he, and she, are more than death and destruction.

She surfaces from the depths of the Seatoss ocean, reborn and hopeful…as Ahsoka The White. She communes with some space whales, hops in one’s mouth and sets off to a distant galaxy to save her friends and continue her Jedi Lineage. This is the Hero’s Journey. This is mythology. This is why I’m obsessed.

“One is never too old to learn, snips.”

If you’re late on getting caught up with the series, find my Ahsoka Primer here.

More

• I mean, just look at this. On the nose and heavy-handed? Yes. Fucking awesome? Also yes.

• This is the perfect representation of a force-sensitive Jaycen talking to his Chopper lmao. Get ready for more weird Jedi shit!

• Samara Weaving was flanking Margot Robbie while protesting and it’s giving heavy Padme and her decoy Sabe vibes.

• Ariana Greenblatt’s career is off to a great start, as she plays young Gamora in Infinity War, the daughter in Barbie and now the Clone Wars version of Ahsoka.

• I never knew I needed Owen Wilson as a Jedi…but now I do LMAO.

• Anakin and Ahsoka learning from each other. Always.

🦸‍♂️ Cape Shit

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finally began their marketing campaign, releasing the teaser trailer just three months away from its release on December 20. The trailer looks fine, but I’m expecting the visuals to be lacking here with all the issues they’ve had during production. The shining beacon of hope is that director James Wan called it ‘a bromance action-adventure story’ between Orm & Arthur…so at the very least we’ll have some fun with Patrick Wilson and Jason Momoa.

• Marvel Studio’s VFX workers unanimously voted in favor of unionizing IATSE. Per Variety, this is the first time a unit of solely VFX workers has unionized with IATSE.

• A take on the ‘colors’ TikTok trend, MCU & Infinity Stones themed. 

• Travis Scott apparently says he’d want to do the soundtrack for Marvel’s Blade. I love it when artists/producers take on movie and series projects…all in on this.

The Rest

Content updates from smaller franchises and projects

🎥 Films, TV & Streaming

More

• Creator Kit Lazer made a video, analyzing the real amount it’d cost you to have all of the necessary streaming services and products.

• Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 3 (part 2) releases November 4. The first trailer can be found here.

• IRL marketing tactic for The Creator - actors in makeup and gear appeared at the LA Chargers game and watched amongst fans.

• Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were caught publically supporting That 70s Show co-star Danny Masterson (rape charges).

• The 20 highest-grossing films of all time, per Culture Crave.

• Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher has October vibes.

• The ‘colors’ trend, but make it Harry Potter & Invincible. I am addicted to these, I’m sorry.

The Gaming Industry

Content updates from the world of gaming & esports

Starfield

I’m around 20+ hours into this game and finally feel comfortable enough to discuss it. Starfield feels like every other Bethesda game, and I mean this in the best way possible. The RPG elements are fantastic and the lack of hand-holding (outside of the main quest) feels consistent with other great projects they’ve produced. The worlds, the shipbuilding, the base creation, and the side missions all shine through and allow you to really make this game exactly what you want it to be.

The negatives for me are the somewhat constant load screens and lack of true travel and traversal. I miss being able to just walk in a singular direction in Skyrim or Fallout and find things…but in Starfield, you have to travel in your ship everywhere and it’s mostly fast-travel exploration and limited interactions. It’s borderline immersion-breaking and doesn’t feel natural…maybe this gets better the more time I put into the game, though.

I’ll likely be playing this Starfield for a long, long time. The official Bethesda account tweeted out upcoming changes, fixes and improvements - and it sounds like they’re listening.

More

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 will feature all 16 iconic maps from MW2 (2009) at launch. Rust. High Rise. Terminal. Favela. Are we back???

• New cinematic trailer for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty….I’m actually incredibly stoked for this one.

• Creators and press were invited to Los Angeles to check out Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. First impressions will be released tomorrow, Friday, September 15 so we’ll talk about it next week at length.

• Cup Noodles has announced a caffeinated ‘gamer-friendly’ variety of the instant noodles brand….please look at this branding. 

• FaZe Snip3down shared the comparison from a Halo World Championship in 2017 to the Apex Legends Global Series Finals from this past weekend. We’ve come a long way.

• Roblox and PlayStation officially announced their partnership, Sony will now support the social gaming app.

The Quick Hits

Nonsense updates from the week

💣 Random

• Twitch streamer Aceu was offered $3,500 just to order 1 pizza from Dominos while he was streaming. Drunk me has been funding the local Dominos for a decade…where’s my cut??

• Keira Knightley had a chokehold on the male population in 2007.

• My soldiers push forward…my soldiers scream out…my soldiers RAGE.

• Content creators took part in a charity soccer match and one creator pulled out his own uno reverse card when he got hit with a yellow.

• Gotta love a little notes app 5-year plan. This is me.

• Netflix is launching a Stranger Things-inspired ice cream line at Walmart called Scoops Ahoy with over 7 flavors. Yes, I’m trying this.

• Friends, but there’s no laugh track so Ross just sounds like a fucking predator.

🐦Tweet of The Week
When my interests collide.

📽️ Trailer Recap

• Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 4 | Official Trailer

• The Creator | Final Trailer

• Killers of the Flower Moon | Official Trailer 2

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters | Official Teaser

• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Teaser

• Cyberpunk 2077 | Cinematic Trailer

• The Fall of the House of Usher | Official Trailer

👀 Keep An Eye Out

• Sep 12 | Ahsoka Part 5

• Sep 19 | Ahsoka Part 6