SWCA: Saf Errant
It was a month ago that I finally stepped foot onto the plane that would bring me, for the first time in over 15 years, to America. I meant to sleep the flight away–I really did–but instead I absentmindedly drank a glass of wine offered to me before remembering my sleeping pills had a “no alcohol” rule. So for around 30 hours, I did not sleep. Oops!
At least there was free food. Why was I going to America? Well, for Star Wars Celebration, the massive convention for Star Wars fans all over the globe to converge and nerd out together. As if anyone needed more proof of how much I love the franchise, this was it. From the 15th to the 19th of April, I was to be surrounded by Star Wars.
SWCA ’15 Gallery
Related:
Jedi Mulan shoot 
TFA exhibit Rey reference photos SWCA: Jedi Mulan
Cosplay by the super lovely Bria of White Hot Room
To See Ourselves in Fiction
I’ve always been that person who constantly and consistently fights for other people–be it for better or worse–but has never worried too much about herself. When it came to representation in media, I’ve always been vocally backing up that yes, we need trans people, we need people of colour, we need asexuals and aromantics and all the other facets of the LGBT+ umbrella.
But I never really worried about myself, I never felt I needed to see people I identified with in the shows, books, games and movies I love. Sure, I was bitter at the utter refusal from shows like Orange is the New Black to use the b-word (bisexual, the word is bisexual), but I reiterate that actually seeing a bi gal on the silver screen didn’t feel vital to me. Other people needed (and still do need) that representation more.
And then The Legend of Korra happened.
The Rebels and I
Hearing the news of the cancellation of The Clone Wars last year was like a galactic gut punch to the stomach. Rebels softened the blow, in the way that a cushion softens a skydive-gone-wrong.
But, I am endlessly positive about the future and hopelessly enthusiastic about seeing new Star Wars stories, and so it didn’t take me long to get into the Rebels hype. I was going to miss Ahsoka and Asajj and everyone else with the fire of a thousand suns, but I had total faith that the group working behind it all had plans. I’m endlessly scared of change, but I knew it was time to love a new thing.
Sexuality in Space
Science fiction is the broadening of horizons. It’s the extending of what is real for us, now, into what could (perhaps) be real to us in the future. So many of our realities are echoed in these stories set in the far future — or even a long, long time ago — but not so much for folk who fall under the LGBT umbrella. There seems mostly to be a set sexuality in space: heterosexual.
Star Wars, as anyone who has ever talked to me would know, is hugely important to me. However, there’s one (now non-canon!) character I can identify with, sexuality-wise. One! Out of hundreds! My darling Juhani from Knights of the Old Republic, who is often looked over in favour of Carth or Bastila. She is either lesbian or, because of a bug apparently, bisexual. When I first learnt I could romance her with my lady jedi I literally whooped with joy, and she never left my side from the moment she joined my party.
Boba Fett Is Not White
As is the apparent norm for inspiration for new posts for me — I stumbled upon something someone said on the internet. I say I stumbled upon, but I rather mean a tweet popped onto my tweetfeed. The tweet featured a picture of a man in Mandalorian armour, which obviously attracted my attention. Then I saw the face also in the picture. Then I read the text.
I won’t quote directly, because 1. I’ve lost the tweet completely and 2. I don’t want to give it attention. But the gist of it was “rooting for Cumberbatch for Boba Fett!”
In Defense of Satine & Others of Her Kind
It’s not uncommon among the Star Wars fandom on tumblr to find some pretty awesome gifsets made by some pretty talented people. It is also unfortunately not uncommon to find a tag on any of these gifsets saying something along the lines of:
“I didn’t like this character at first because they were so annoying/just a love interest/fought with [male character]/so on and so forth.”
If you’re nodding along to that and thinking that yeah, maybe that’s a reasonable line of thinking, I want you to stop and reconsider. You’re thinking of a female character, right? Any male characters that you hate spring to mind for any of those reasons?
Across the Stars: A Deteriorating Relationship
Trigger warning for abuse
Lost Missions spoilersA topic I’ve been seeing mentioned a lot recently, especially brought on by the final Clovis arc in The Clone Wars, is that of Padmé and Anakin’s relationship, and the question:
Is it an abusive relationship?
