Monday Morning Copilot: The YDY-Wing
Chewie-ing It Over: Dear Fans, You Do You
I have to say I was a bit surprised this week with the reactions of some fans to the announcement of the Hasbro Fan’s Choice poll. If you didn’t see the announcement from San Diego Comic-Con, the character of Jaina Solo was voted by fans as a figure they want Hasbro to produce. This struck me as a cool choice given her Expanded Universe importance and the push in recent years for more female character toys. Most of the reaction I saw was positive but some very vocal and very upset reactions came from fans who wanted a Starkiller figure.
I will admit that I am not likely to buy either figure, but some fans reacted very angrily and frankly pretty nasty online about a little chunk of painted plastic. Which leads me to a larger point.
No caveats, no addendum, and no excuses, FANDOM SHOULD BE FUN!
We will all be disappointed at some point by the direction a franchise takes, the fate of a character, the contours of a story, or the performance of an actor. These disappointments or frustrations are natural and perfectly fine until you use them as an excuse to act like a jerk.
If you feel like your fandom or hobby is work, or it is consistently making you frustrated, angry, stressed, or miserable then it is probably time to move on to greener pastures.
If you get your enjoyment by tearing down other fans by showing how much more than them you know, by insulting their creative works related to the fandom, or by harassing them online, then you are a jerk.
If you want to criticize something, do it honestly, focus on quality of what you are critiquing and not on the characteristics or character of the person you are engaging with. If you are going to be critical, make your point and move on. No one wants to hear your repeated bleeting on your personal pet issues, every day, directed at the same person or people.
Conversely, if you do like or love something shout it from the rooftops. Whether it is a TV show, film, book, or comic there are a number of people who contributed to that thing you love. The more often you say you love it the more of these folks are likely to see it.
Share what you love with others and hopefully they end up loving it to. If they don’t though, remember you do you and let them do them.
The Bright Center of the Universe: This Week on StarWars.com:
This week over at Triple Zero there wasn’t a ton of new posts; I assume half of Lucasfilm was recovering from Blue Shadow Virus at the offices and half was spreading Blue Shadow Virus in San Diego. We did get some interesting articles though including one big one in the form of a question and answer with Timothy Zahn.
ENTER THRAWN: A Q&A WITH TIMOTHY ZAHN by Kitster
THE CINEMA BEHIND STAR WARS: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN by Bryan Young
STORMTROOPER EVOLUTION: THE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC, EMPIRE, AND FIRST ORDER by Jay Stobie
STARTING YOUR STAR WARS COLLECTION by Patrick Cavanaugh
A LONG TIME AGO: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY’S INFLUENCE ON STAR WARS REBELS by Ross Brown
STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII WRAPS SHOOTING by Kitster
And lets not forget Andi and Peter and the latest episode of “The Star Wars Show”:
Wild Space: This Week on MakingStarWars.net:
This week on MSW we had some cool news stories as well as the latest releases of the MSW Podcast Network.
Articles
LIFE DEBT – JONATHAN’S REVIEW by Jonathan Baker
SDCC: MAKINGSTARWARS.NET’S HASBRO STAR WARS INTERVIEW by Corey
NEW DETAILS ON BISTAN FROM ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY by Corey
UPDATE: MEET EDRIO (“TWO TUBES”) FROM ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY! by Corey
MATTHEW GRAHAM TALKS THE LONG-IN-DEVELOPMENT LIVE ACTION STAR WARS SHOW by Jesse Tschopp
CHECK OUT THE NEW HASBRO STAR WARS FIGURES! by Corey
Podcasts:
“THE CARGO HOLD” EPISODE 4: STAR WARS CELEBRATION EUROPE REVEALS
EPISODE 40 MAKINGSTARWARS.NET’S “REBEL GRRRL”!
“ROGUE WON: A STAR WARS PODCAST FOR WINNERS” EPISODE 14: STAR WARS CELEBRATION EUROPE BREAKDOWN
EPISODE 139 MAKINGSTARWARS.NET’S “NOW, THIS IS PODCASTING!”
To the future, to the horizon:
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures continues Monday night with an episode entitled, “The Test.” From Marvel we have Star Wars: The Force Awakens #2, part two of a six part mini-series adaptation by Chuch Wendig with art by Luke Ross.
Until next Monday, remember: don’t try to be the best fan, just try to be a good fan.
