Tumblr: No she isn’t! There is a perfectly logical explanation as to why she mastered everything she touched perfectly on the first try.
Star Wars fans: ….how then?
Tumblr: She used the Force.
Star Wars fans:
that is literally how the force works if you can use it have you never seen a star wars movie before or
anakin never finished a race, then wins one first time out
anakin never flew a starship before and manages to do what the other pilots couldn’t: blow up a droid control ship
let’s not forget luke
luke never used a lightsaber or piloted an x-wing before, then the second he uses the force, bam, perfect first time out
lmao look at this person tryin’ to call rey a mary sue like it’s 2004
[ Image in the OP is Han saying “That’s not how the force works!” in The Force Awakens; images in reply are of the parts of previous movies being discussed. ]
That and like. She has better reasons for knowing this stuff than the above dudes do.
Like, of COURSE she knows all about mechanics- she’s been scavenging starships for parts most of her life, so knowing what’s what and how it works is a crucial life skill.
When she handles a lightsaber, she’s very obviously using it like she would a staff (and spends most of the fight running away from Kylo anyway). You know, like the staff she carries with her all the time for self-defense in the desert hellhole she grew up in.
Everything we see her do with the Force is stuff Kylo did in front of her- he invades her mind, and she invades his and then mind-tricks a Stormtrooper (which still takes her three tries). He Force-holds her and later tries to Force-pull a lightsaber, and she Force-pulls it to her instead.
Practically everyone in the Star Wars universe is casually multilingual, and the only character in TFA who’s shown to be unable to understand at least one of Chewie or BB-8 is Finn, who was raised and brainwashed as a Stormtrooper (and neither the Empire nor the First Order seems to be much of an equal opportunity employer when it comes to species). Given her scavenger history, Rey having met astromech droids before isn’t just possible, but likely.
Her skills are better-established than either Luke’s or Anakin’s before they matter, but nope, she’s the Mary Sue, apparently.
For god’s sake, if you take Episode 1 at its word, Anakin was a goddamn virgin birth caused by the will of the force, and has an extensive prophecy about him being the Chosen One.
“I am a simple mermaid trying to get a simple college education and you fUCKERS KEEP PREVENTING THAT BY THROWING WATERBALLOONS AT ME FIVE MINUTES BEFORE CLASS SO IM STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING QUAD FOR A HOUR UNTIL IT WEARS OFF”
“Alternatively, I was skipping class and saw you trying to drag you and your huge ass tail through the courtyard–do you need help? I guess I can carry you to class if you’d like, though I’m not so sure this was worth being called ‘Prince Eric’ for the next two weeks”
“I knew there was a reason why you were so good in marine biology and why you always had to one-up me in the exam scores yOU’RE A MERMAID THIS IS SO UNFAIR IM TURNING YOU IN FOR CHEATING CHEATER”
“I don’t know why i thought bringing you to a sushi bar was a good idea, i thought seeing all the live fish in the tanks would have been nice but i forgot about all the dead ones after”
“I’m the mermaid so of course im always picked to go on diving missions by you biased advantage taking pricks, and you know what? i don’t care what you say, its dark and scary and theres something down there that i have never forgotten why do you think i stay on land”
“apparently due to your mystical sea creature powers you have the ability to mimic any sound you hear, so you know what means friend?? VOICE IMPRESSIONS! MORGAN FREEMAN GO”
“I know its late and i dont know you but i hear you can talk to fish and im worried my goldfish is depressed”
“I take my showers before bed and I always end up scaring the shit out of your boy/girlfriend while dragging my two ton tail to the kitchen for some ice cream at 11 at night”
6 years later and avatar (the james cameron movie) is still completely incomprehensible to me. like you’ve got the highest grossing film in recent history and no one actually enjoyed it beyond “eh. it was okay”
Avatar is such a weird anomaly. It’s the highest grossing film EVER (not adjusting for inflation) by a huge margin and yet it left virtually no footprint on popular culture. It had its 15 minutes of fame to the tune of $2.7 billion dollars worldwide, and within a few years it’s like no one remembers it even existed. You only ever really see it mentioned these days in the context of its record-breaking box office.
Can you paint with all the colours of the wi- wait, that was the better version.
I have a big problem with people claiming to be characters taht never existed. Characters that were created by someone. It’s some grade A bullshit. Especially when they claim things are canon when they aren’t because they think they’re a fictional character and they also think they’re something else. Like “oh, I”m this character and I’m trans therefor the character is canonically trans!”
It’s fucking bullshit.
Honestly, to me, otherkin in general seem like they’re jsut trying to be special snowflakes.
So, I’ve always been pretty curious about who Lapis Lazuli is - or, more specifically, who she was, and what led to her being imprisoned in the mirror. Following the Steven’s Birthday Bomb week, however, I find myself asking the same question… but with a slightly different angle.
In the latest episodes, “The Answer” especially, it’s been confirmed that any gem that isn’t a same-gem fusion or a Diamond is regarded less as an individual and more of a copy - all Rubies are the same, all Pearls are the same, and while some gems might be rare (like Sapphires), there are still always more than one.
Ruby’s a very clear example of this. The flashback introduction of Ruby and Sapphire demonstrated that 1) Gems of the same type often look exactly the same 2) when gems of the same type fuse, it’s just a bigger version of them, and they don’d ‘disappear’ while becoming a different person. Ruby describes it as, “it’s always just me, but bigger!”
It seems like the concept of individuality and singular, personal thoughts/experiences is near nonexistent when it comes to gems as a species. Rose is downright awe-struck by the fact that humans have unique lives and experiences, totally different from any other person.
All of this new context surrounding identity and gem culture has now led me to think back on Lapis’ introduction and some of her dialogue in a new light.
Even before she’s brought out of the mirror, Lapis seems to have a distinct personality, shown through her interactions with Steven. If we’re to believe that she was once part of Blue Diamond’s court (which I think is meant to be implied), we might assume Lapis’ (Lapis..es?) are probably obedient and quiet and elegant, as the rest of Blue Diamonds’ court seems to be.
The Lapis we’ve encountered is passionate, opinionated (”I never believed in this place”), and likes fart jokes. And of all the Homeworld gems we’ve encountered, she seems to have the strongest sense of identity of them all.
This was always a very strong, chilling line, but in retrospect it holds a new level of significance. Lapis seems to regard herself as a distinct individual; she’s not just a Lapis, she IS Lapis Lazuli.
This is also suggested by a few of her other lines: “You three knew I was in [the mirror], and you didn’t do anything. Did you even wonder who I used to be!?”
I began to think if this might be due to her imprisonment - I’d say being trapped in a mirror for a couple thousand years is a unique experience. Then I got to thinking, what if she really is very unique? What if she is the only Lapis Lazuli, or at least, one of very few.
It’s already been shown that there can be rare gems. Sapphire is an example. And what’s something both Lapis and Sapphire have in common? They each have notable abilities that aren’t universally shared between gems. Sapphire can see into the future. And Lapis…
Lapis can manipulate water. She can call it to her, bend it to her will, even create water clones of other gems and make them fight for her, seemingly with very little concentration. She steals the entire freaking ocean, for goodness sake. You can easily make the argument that Lapis Lazuli is by far the strongest gem we’ve ever seen in action.
There’s another aspect of her powers you have to take into consideration, too - not all planets have water. While her powers are impressive, for a species whose singular goal seems to be ‘colonize as many planets as possible’, the ability to manipulate water might’ve been seen as extremely valuable.
It’d make sense to bring a gem like Lapis to Earth, then, a planet where there’s more water than land. Lapis might’ve been an invaluable asset to the colonization of Earth. Which then begs the original question: why was Lapis Lazuli trapped in a mirror? Who put her there?
I’m starting to think that she was imprisoned in the mirror for this exact fact. The Resistance may have seen Lapis to be a huge threat to their cause - she’s extremely powerful and gave Homeworld a huge edge. Her very presence on Earth was a danger to it. So I think, perhaps by Rose’s own command even, Lapis was confined to the mirror in order to keep her away from Homeworld’s hands.
As a mirror, Lapis was also used as a tool for relaying information. Though it’s not elaborated on exactly how much ‘the mirror’ knew and what it could show, it could be speculated that since it was Lapis’ powering it, The Resistance may have been able to get information about Homeworld’s plans through Lapis via the mirror, asking it questions on locations and plans only Lapis would know.
This would also explain Lapis Lazuli’s clear contempt for the Crystal Gems. They may not have captured/poofed her directly - Pearl’s line “How could I have known the gem contained in that mirror could be so powerful?” makes me think she didn’t know exactly what Lapis was like and what she was capable of. Maybe Lapis’ was poofed and her gem cracked, and the Rebellion found/took her before ever knowing what she was like when fully formed. Perhaps Lapis had an accident and was discarded/imprisoned by Homeworld after being cracked (and thereby useless), and the Rebellion got her then, but never freed her?
Either way, new context has lead to Lapis Lazuli becoming an even more interesting character than she already was. I’m growing ever more excited to find out who she really is.
