Author: M. Dean Cooper

That Rebels Cosplay Family is Exactly as Awesome as You Expected

Posted on June 2, 2014by

GhostCrewA couple months ago, WonderCon finally gave fans their first serious taste of the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels. The big news out of the show’s panel was Kevin Kiner’s return as the show’s composer (including a sneak peek at the show’s theme music) and for the first time, a look at a completed action sequence from the series itself.

But the most memorable moment, at least for some of us, was the appearance of the Perales family of California, fully and immaculately costumed as nearly the entire cast of the show we were just then really starting to learn about. Mom and dad Liz and Sal Perales played the roles of Sabine and Kanan, respectively, accompanied by kids Lizzy and Axel as Hera and Ezra, and even their teddy bear joined the fun with her own Chopper-inspired cap. The whole thing was perfectly amazing—so much so that they were invited onstage at the panel to show off, prompting a nervous “hope you like the show” from creator Dave Filoni.

Sometime later I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Liz and Sal on Twitter, and I finally had the opportunity to learn more about the family that launched a thousand snapshots. They were gracious enough to answer my questions, and even provided some exclusive photos to accompany this interview. For more pics be sure to check out Rogue Rebels, their official cosplay Facebook page. When not running from the Empire, Sal also works as a musician, and his personal website can be found here. Read More

So You Think You Can Internet: On Argumentation

Posted on May 26, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks
Credit: xkcd, of course.

In my recent interview with author Jason Fry, I asked him about his personal reaction to the reboot announcement—and Jason took that ball and ran with it, commenting not just on his own reaction, but his perspective on others’ reactions, and what they said about internet culture overall. Some fans, Jason felt, were too quick to see ill intent in the news; a “plot against EU fans, or something Lucasfilm did casually or dismissively.” He went on:

“This is probably too kumbaya, but it’s just the latest thing that makes me wish we’d take it easier on each other, particularly online. It’s like we’ve been primed to assume that faceless person we disagree with is malevolent or incompetent. I don’t know why we do this (I’m certainly not innocent), but it doesn’t win arguments, it doesn’t elevate our discourse, and it sure doesn’t make us happier. I wish we would all try assuming the other person’s acting in good faith, attempting to understand their perspective, and if we’re still at odds, accepting that we just see things differently.”

For my part, I’ve long been a devotee of something called Hanlon’s razor—“never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” That works pretty well for politics, I’d say, but when dealing with the ins and outs of major franchise fiction, one might go a step further and say “never attribute to malice or stupidity that which is adequately explained by changes in circumstance”—Fry’s razor, if you will. Nine times out of ten (give or take a David Goyer), the people responsible for producing the media we fans consume are genuine fans themselves, or at the very least, doing the best job they can within a given set of constraints to produce something they honestly believe people will like. Read More

According to My Design – The Staff Re-Revisits Infinities

Posted on May 23, 2014by , , , , and

obi-pit kenobi

Shortly before continuity exploded, the staff of Eleven-ThirtyEight gathered to ponder some of our own “what if” ideas for the Original Trilogy, in honor of the classic Star Wars Infinities comics of the early aughts. I’m now proud to present round two, in which we push further than Infinities ever did, by which of course I mean go backwards, into the great goldmine of ill-considered decisions that is the Prequel Trilogy.

You may notice a new name below, so let me also take this moment to welcome Rocky Blonshine, she of our recent feature article on the Rule of Two, and now our newest full staff member here at ETE! Welcome aboard, Rocky—you break it, you bought it.

Jay: After watching Revenge of the Sith, we’d all wondered how it was possible that Obi-Wan could jump over Maul without injury while the same maneuver pretty much destroyed Anakin. As everyone knows, possessing the high ground gives you a +5 attack bonus. Suppose, then, that Kenobi was the one diced in half at the end of The Phantom Menace instead of Darth Maul — what changes? Read More

Escape Pod: Ailyn Vel

Posted on May 20, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

Okay, stick with me on this one.

Point one: several months back, there was a rumor going around that in order to step away from the baggage of the prequel era, Lucasfilm was going to begin their (not yet confirmed) Boba Fett spinoff movie by killing off the existing version of the character and having someone else don his Mandalorian armor.

Point two: last week, a “leaked” list of the Star Wars release slate through 2020 appeared online and “confirmed” that not only was a Fett movie in the works, it would be first out of the gate between Episodes VII and VIII.

Point three: even if one and two are complete bullshit, of course they’re going to make a Boba Fett movie.

While the first rumor was met with the gnashing of teeth from both hardcore Fettites and the diversity crowd (who at the very least would have appreciated a Maori in a leading role), it does open up a lot of interesting possibilities, one of which I’d like to explore in the following. Read More

No Gays in Space: Diversity and the Changing Faces of Star Wars Canon

Posted on May 13, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

briefing

If you’re an eagle-eyed follower of this site, you may have noticed that Michael Lind, author of our Go Figure series, explained in a comment in the wake of the reboot announcement that since so much of what we previously understood to be “real” in the Star Wars galaxy can no longer be considered canon, doing any kind of authoritative statistical analysis of the Galaxy Far, Far Away and its population is no longer possible—and thus, the Go Figure series has come to its end.

And, well, he’s mostly right, but not completely. Out of respect for Michael’s phenomenal work thus far, I will indeed be discontinuing Go Figure as a discrete series of pieces. Likewise, the sample size of what can be definitively regarded as canon SW characters is now a fraction of what it was a month ago, and thus, there’s no way now to talk about the GFFA at large without resorting to a bunch of guesses and assumptions.

What we can talk about, however, is the franchise. Read More