yeah I – dispatches from the dumpster

laureljupiter:

I’m probably not the right person to make these predictions because I do not have a good grasp of the kind of narrative priorities that value Power and Dark Prince stories in general. But I will be stunned if Supreme Leader Kylo lasts for more than a weekend. Like… people are talking about him ascending to power and crossing the ultimate line by becoming the ruler of the galaxy, but let’s be real about this guy’s leadership abilities. What qualities do we associate with a strong leader? Clear vision, high executive function, the ability to inspire respect and loyalty from their subordinates. Kylo Ren… where do I even start. We have yet to see him complete a single task, whether he fails OR succeeds, without having a massive mental/property destruction breakdown. He can’t get anything done because he’s constantly falling into dramatic meltdowns over his personal and spiritual problems. He screws up almost every villainous task he’s given in the entire first movie. I guess the raid on Takodana isn’t a complete disaster, but immediately afterwards he flips out and is back on his bullshit destroying infrastructure because he can’t and won’t regulate his emotions, because part of him hates the First Order and hates his job and wants to smash it all to pieces. I think the only time anything he does in TFA goes according to plan, it’s Han Solo. This fucks him up so much he loses his focus and is more or less directly responsible for the rebels destroying Starkiller Base. Hux hates him. All the First Order officers and stormtroopers we see steeling themselves to walk into or nope away from a room he’s freaking out in hate him. Even the red guards, who you’d think would be hip to Dark Sider power struggles, don’t recognize the apprentice gaining mastery by killing the master and attack him. How long can you hold a military organization together on the basis of personal magical powers alone? Because that’s really all Ben has going for him when it comes to the First Order. My son doesn’t have any friends at his school. He is 100% going to get fragged. He is a logistical disaster. A more entrenched dictatorship could probably survive that kind of volatile figurehead, but the First Order hasn’t been in at their current level of power for more than, what, a week? If I were a higher ranking officer who actually believed in the First Order and didn’t want the organization to implode, I would want him gone ASAP. If I were a petty officer, trooper, radar technician, or anyone else more anonymous, I would probably run. If I were Hux, I would just ditch him on Crait. I’m probably biased because the thing I want most for this guy is to be sent on the run and given a Zuko Alone arc to pull himself together as a human, but I really do not see this Emperor gig working out.