ST Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma) in the ST

The Phasma comic was pretty good, nice artwork too.

 

Issue one of Phasma was exciting. If this is any indication of what she's going to be like in TLJ, I'm going to be satisfied.

 

Does she appear without her helmet and/or armour at all?

 

No.

I'm not sure if this characterisation was intended at all, but it does make you look at Phasma in a new light.

 

From the novel I felt that Phasma sees her looks as a kind of weakness. So her characterisation in the comic seems consistent with this - she only seems to reveal herself in situations where knowledge of what she looks like can't be used against her. I am now wondering if we do get to see her in TLJ that it will be Finn who "unmasks" her after beating her in a fight? This would need to be a big deal so I would imagine she won't be depicted in the comic this way. At least not full on - maybe from behind or a shadow?

 

Yes. And its very much describing Gwendoline Christie.

 

It seems opinion is divided

 

No you don't see Phasma unmasked/unarmored in the comic, something like that seems like it would be saved for a in-movie reveal.

 

But they're not doing that for TLJ either.

 

I don't see them doing it at all to be honest.

 

The book on the other hand does showcase Phasma unmasked, and its very clearly Gwendoline under there.

 

She doesn't feel happy unless she's wearing a mask does she?

 

Revealing a smile while it's off should only be saved for a Finn encounter.

 

I'm thinking like Vader it should be when she thinks she's dying and wants to be honest about her feelings talking to her niece Rey..

 

That would be a awkward revelation.

 

Well if it's good enough for Darth Vader...

 

http://comicbook.com/starwars/2017/...e-force-awakens-comic-book-rey-kylo-ren-duel/

 

Spoiler

now that i've read the phasma novel i am actually less sure of phasma's inevitable betrayal. and it's because it seemed to me that she and armitage hux are on the same page. they are both psychopaths. they each know this about themselves and about the other. phasma has no ideals at all--she is a "savage." armitage was raised in a more "civilized manner" but he is no stranger to savagery as he had to be around his father's awful child psycho training program on jakku and was terrified of those kids (per aftermath). i think part of the reason is they were more savage than he was.

but it seems from the phasma novel that armitage worked from the beginning to try to bridge the gap between phasma and himself and i think that he succeeded. that he comes from a more "civilized" background and she a more "savage" one, may not make any difference now. i think they understand one another. that armitage hux can make his psychopathy an elegant stream of FO ideals (when phasma doesn't have any ideals outside of self-preservation) doesn't make a difference because armitage is only in it for himself too imo. he just put a pretty bow on it is the only difference. in one another they may have found an equal.

but i have a problem with this in that hux i suspect loved SKB. if he knew that phasma lowered the shields, what would his reaction be? it's possible that is something he wouldn't be able to understand. maybe that's the issue. hux sees a big picture about power and how to keep it. phasma doesn't think that way. would this forge a rift between them, or is this something each understands about the other? this is the same problem in a way between brendol and phasma (or one of them). he was trying to explain to her how this works and she didn't seem to get it. it's possible she can't get it because the worldview shaped by her origins is so different. the phasma novel compares her people to the FO stormtroopers and the character of siv couldn't understand how *impersonal* the FO is. her people, including phasma, are the opposite. they've had to live tooth and claw, with nature and the elements, and have had to work hard just to survive. it's more "true" to the raw nature of the human animal (to a natural human?)

so maybe there is something about armitage being more "civilized" vs. the more "savage" origins of phasma that will become a problem between them, no matter how much they have bridged the gap. they come from such completely different worlds maybe they can never completely understand where the other is coming from.

another thing is that brendol warned phasma about her pride when she didn't like him lording over her. and armitage might be lording over her as well... if he is, then i think she'll definitely betray him eventually.

 

Spoiler

An interesting and thoughtful analysis I agree with a lot of it, but personally didn't take away that Phasma is psychopathic as she showed empathy and remorse including shedding tears twice in the book. Hux Jnr so far though as portrayed shows some psychopathic tendencies but may just be extremely ruthless and dedicated to the cause - even to the expense of his own family. The difference I feel between the FO stormtroopers and the Scyre is that for the Scyre there was so few of them that everyone counted and they couldn't afford to lose anyone. This made them into a more personal group than the FO where everyone is expendable and only the cause matters. Phasma also gives Finn the benefit of the doubt in "Before the Awakening" even though she strongly suspects he has issues and might rebel.

 

Prediction! Phasma gets more screen time but at the end of the day she won't play a pivotal role in TLJ.

 

Spoiler

hmm, i disagree she is not a psychopath (sociopath may be more appropriate, i'm not sure). vi's story was about how phasma will do anything to survive (she will betray or harm anyone). vi sensed that cardinal was not a psychopath and that was her strategy for getting him to eventually let her go. she knew that once he realized that phasma has no moral scruples whatsoever that it would bother him deeply because he does have scruples. phasma's pattern began as a child when she betrayed her brother and family. she orchestrated that her parents and tiny tribe were killed by another tribe and she cut her brother's leg so it would need to be amputated as part of her plan. this was the first time her brother saw her true face. i think that phasma has some feelings, but it doesn't seem she is regularly plagued by conscience. i find it more telling because it began in childhood. she simply doesn't operate by the values the rest of her tribe does and i think it's because she has a very tiny conscience (almost no conscience at all).

i am also interested in her soft spot for finn, but after reading the novel i am not sure if that is what it was. vi explained that phasma worked with her warriors/people to protect them as long as they are an extension of herself (her survival depends on theirs). as soon as they are no longer "of herself" because she has a new agenda, she cuts them off. she doesn't bond with other human beings basically. they are utilities. siv also noticed that the others in the tribe would touch one another to comfort one another, but phasma never did. she is starkly different from the rest of them.

i still think that she noticed finn was the best--he's like her. it's possible she just thought he was too valuable a utility to throw away > whatever very tiny spark in her might relate to him on a personal level.

saying that i think phasma is a sociopath/psychopath doesn't necessarily mean i think she can't be "redeemed" in any sense. this is star wars and even though in real life ASPD has no cure/successful treatment, this is fiction. but it remains that even as a child phasma seemed cold and heartless. (also phasma and vader are really similar, but the difference is there was a good person in vader who became a bad one... phasma seems to have always been the way she is as though she was born that way.)

the farther they get from their home, the more siv notices the emergence of who phasma really is and it's not what she thought. this is because she projected the emotions that form human social bonds onto phasma that she feels (that most people feel). and the realization is that phasma doesn't have that at all.

eta: one of my little doubts is regarding siv. she told siv where to go to treat her radiation sickness and she didn't need to give her that information. there could be something similar in finn's case. it doesn't change that phasma would likely go back and kill siv to cover up her past now that she knows someone was able to figure it out. i hope vi was able to get to siv as she promised before phasma's return.

 

I think her pursuing and trying to kill Finn will be her major action in the movie.She is clearly obsessed with getting him as not only does he know it was her who lowered the SKB shields, but also that she knew of his doubts and issues with the FO before he defected with Poe and that she gave him the benefit of the doubt. So if he ever got captured and interrogated by the FO that would all come out.

What I would love to see is her undercover at the Canto Bight casino while tracking Finn et al there. So it would be Gwen dressed in a completely non-Phasma gown to blend in with the patrons, with perhaps a chrome half-mask as a little insider nod to herself that she is still Phasma. It would just be a brief thing with her observing Finn then talking into a comm followed by the speeder chase. Finn could just glance at her and frown too as to a "why are you staring at me with all that hate?" look! A lot of the audience wouldn't get it (in the same way they didn't get Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine was Sidious in the PT) but it be a little *squee* moment for the rest of us!

 

I'm more inclined to believe she suspected Siv was pregnant and acted to protect her.
Which is why I'm still wondering about Frey since why wait until they reach Phasma before giving them their numbered designation it would make more sense to start when Cardinal gets involved with raising them so I think he lied about knowing Frey.
He was trying to get her to talk and if he thought some weapon malfunction was suspicious wouldn't he take a closer look if he really cared that much?

 

Spoiler

probably wasn't so suspicious until he heard the story?

the other thing about siv is that the FO wouldn't have been a good place for her. i wonder what phasma would have done if that con star facility hadn't been there.

 

Spoiler

Its worth noting that Vi said she embellished a few parts. It wouldn't surprise me if those tears were part of an embellishment. Phasmas actions from the time she was young suggest to me she is only capable of caring about herself, but will work with others to achieve her own goals/survival.

I think its worth noting that Finn never fully developed friendships with anyone else in the First order. Perhaps Phasma thought she had found someone else like her and wanted to utilize him for her own goals.
It'll be interesting to see if she ever feels the resistance is the superior army by the end of the trilogy. Will she switch sides? Will the resistance be willing to work with her? What would her goals be after a war like this? This book did a LOT for me in terms of how I can look at Phasma's character