What's the Difference Between Ahsoka Tano and Michael Burnham?

[Winter]

The never before mentioned Padawan and surrogate sister of Anakin Skywalker and the never before mentioned Adoptive Sister of Spock, with the former was largely treated the same way that Michael was in the years since her appearance Ahsoka has become something of a fan favorite character and is now as well known as her Master with her even getting her own TV Series that could even lead to a In Universe reboot of Star Wars.

Michael, while she's been somewhat better received when Discovery truly, um, Discovered itself in Season 3 Michael is still something of a base breaking character. Many decry Michael being Spock's never before mentioned sister even though Spock never spoke of his parents, specifically that his mother was human thus making him half-human half-Vulcan which is a REALLY big thing to keep a secret so having an adaptive sister isn't really THAT out of character for Spock.

So, why is one not only well liked by fans and has her own place in Pop-Culture while the other is still trying to find her own footing?

[Link8909]

For me personally, the issue with Michael Burnham wasn't that she was the adopted sister to Spock, and as you said it's not out of character for Spock to talk about his family as he's alway been a private person about that, It mostly came down to the fact that Michael had too many story arcs and relationship problems and dynamics even for a lead in a series, on top of this revelation that it wouldn't be until season two that this relationship would be explored, this lead to her being the primary focus of the series for the first two seasons that for many people quickly grew sick of.

While I'm only a casual fan of Star Wars, I have watch all of The Clone Wars once (I have yet to watch Rebels or The Mandalorian), and I also like Ahsoka Tano, and much like Michael I wasn't bothered by Anakin's never mentioned once apprentice, but I feel that while she had a rough start with being a bit bratty, her stories had always focused on her growing as a Jedi and her friendship with Anakin, as well as The Clone Wars taking time away to focus on other characters.

I personally feel season three was far better at handling Michael as the lead, other characters were given more time and focus with their own arcs, while Michael only had one personal arc during this, she was still the lead, but the story wasn't always about her.

And of course it's been years since Ahsoka's debut and fans have overtime accepted her as they watched her grow, while Michael is still a relatively new character compared, and it's very common for fans of anything to hate the new thing simply on principle because it's new and clashes with their perception of what they like because it is different, and only after that new thing is old or at least familiar to they start to warm up to those things, this isn't a new occurrence either as people hated The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and all of their characters when they first aired, it will be interesting to see what opinions of her and even the newer Star Trek series are like in ten or so years time.

[MerelyAFan]

Part of it is that Spock had numerous appearances in film and television over the course of 50 years where an adopted sister never being mentioned (even in some many other private contexts with family) and then popping up in Discovery just feels egregious.

Yeah Anakin doesn't mention Ahsoka in Episode 3, but not only is that just one movie but there are much bigger things going on that are the focus of his attention. His transformation into Vader leaves him even less inclined to ever talk about her in the context of the original trilogy. Thus Tano's creation is a bit of an easier fit into a timeline than Michael's was.

Moreover Ahsoka is generally associated with content a lot of the fanbase really likes. Discovery is still pretty divisive even now, and the divide about it dwarfs anything in comparison to Clone Wars, Rebels, and even much of the Mandalorian.

[CrypticMirror]

Ashoka, they took time to build up. As much as fans think her introduction was a bit sudden, it was still rooted in the lore of Star Wars. We knew the younglings in the temple existed, we knew that Jedi got assigned one to mentor, and we knew in a war that was rigged to bring out all the worst in the Jedi in general, and Ankain in specific, that younglings might be rushed out too fast. And we saw Ashoka grow and develop, be portrayed by multiple actors [the most recent of which is a bit more controversial than Mickey's but that is by the by], and that is the difference. She was a character that could always have existed, and then organically developed and grown.

Mickey was just thrust in our faces with a backstory straight out of fanfiction.net's worst self insert category, and was placed in a scenario that broke the lore instead of being rooted in it. Also, I hate her fucking name. And her friendship with girl!Wesley and Captain Cattle is just the absolute worst, those characters, the main three of STD, are just the absolute worst people. Ashoka's relationship with Captain Rex, on the other hand, is a joy to behold.

[Thebestoftherest]

Does help that Ahsoka wasn't the only character in Clone wars, it helps that while Clone wars was a little rocky at first but it was less controversial than Discovery now.

[Admiral X]

Michael being Spock's adopted sister comes off as the kind of thing you'd read in a self-insertion fan-fiction, to be honest. Lord knows that I read plenty of those (or at least started to) back in the web 1.0 days. It's kind of like hearing that T'Pol was originally intended to be T'Pau, from TOS's "Amok Time." I'm glad they didn't go there, and that, at least, was not as direct a connection as being a never-before mentioned adopted sister of a main character. A lot of people try to use Sybok as a defense of this, but my counter is that this actually proves how bad of an idea that is, and how lame the explanations for such a character are. Another thing that makes people critical of Michael is how she is written - she's basically always made out to be in the right, even when she ends up causing a war. I'd make a comparison to Archer there, actually, as far as how the writing always made him out to be right even though it usually also made him look like an entitled child at the same time.

[Thebestoftherest]

Adirmal I couldn't said it better myself. I do wonder if they will learn their lesson.

[Link8909]

While I do recognise how others see how Michael being Spock's adopted sister can be an unnecessary addition, however much like with Ahsoka Tano being Anakin's never mentioned once in the films apprentice, I do like that they didn't backpedal on this and stuck with it and did explore this dynamic, I do feel that season one wasn't portraying Michael's actions at the Battle of the Binary Stars are right, or that all her actions during that season are right, in fact she was Court-Martialed for those actions that she herself, and her season one arc is one of redemption.

I do think season two however does have Michael being right problem that you said, but season three for me personally felt more balanced in that regard, she made mistakes, but learned and grew from them, and even when she made what she feels is a right call, there are consequences to her actions, I'd honestly say that season three has done a great job at making Michael a great lead for Star Trek Discovery.

[Thebestoftherest]

I think as said before we only got one film with Anikan after he meet Ahsoka, so her existences doesn't feel as weird. We got dozens of appearances of Spock in TV episode and movies and not one mention.

[CrypticMirror]

I think as said before we only got one film with Anikan after he meet Ahsoka, so her existences doesn't feel as weird. We got dozens of appearances of Spock in TV episode and movies and not one mention.

Especially since Final Frontier already pulled the secret relative. That is a card you can really only pull once. If STD had been set in the period between TOS and TNG it would be more believable, seeing as Sarek remarried [and somewhat mellowed, I could buy Spock having a new younger adoptive sister [I wouldn't be happy about it, especially if they kept the stupid name, but that would just be something I disliked instead of a setting breaker], but after Sybok I think they tapped out the well of similarly aged siblings.