When I moved to Orlando, I was not a Star Wars fan. I had seen the movies probably once or twice each, but that was it.
“But Chelsea! You cosplay and you have a Star Wars bathroom!”
Yeah, I do. All stories start somewhere. I was probably five or six when my Star Wars story began.
I remember Star Wars as a child. I remember other kids watching it and liking it. I remember references in pop culture that I didn’t understand, and I remember being at day camp and everyone got a space name that was alliteration, and I got made fun of because the only thing they could come up with for me was “Chewbacca Chelsea”. I can’t tell you who specifically in my life said it, or where I heard it, but I remember growing up and being told “Star Wars is for boys.” So, I never expressed interest in it because I didn’t want to be teased.
My Mom won the original trilogy DVD Box Set when it was first released from a local radio station, and when we sat down to watch them it was the first time either of us had seen them.
I was twelve. I liked the Ewoks, but I refered to them as Teddy Bears. Luke was whiny, Leia annoyed me, and I wasn’t old enough to be into Harrison Ford yet. (To be fair even now I prefer older Harrison Ford to young Harrison Ford.)
We decided to see Revenge of the Sith at the drive in while it was in theaters, so we rented the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones first. Mostly I was confused why Anakin went bad. It seemed weird, and, dare I say, forced. I didn’t connect with any of the characters. Padme was cool, but then she died and went out with a whimper instead of a bang. Neither her or Leia seemed to serve much of a purpose other than supplying a female lead character. We never even got to see a female Jedi who was more than a background character.
In 2013, I moved to Orlando in January. In May, I got up early to head to Star Wars Weekends, not because I was excited about Star Wars but because Dee Bradley Baker was signing autographs, and I wanted to show him the Appamobile. (He does voices on Clone Wars, but he is also the voice behind Appa!) I then stuck around to meet characters, but that has more to do with the fact that I like meeting characters than it does Star Wars.
I had more fun at Star Wars Weekends once I started doing Jedi Korra, but even then I didn’t really get the big deal about Star Wars. There wasn’t any meaning in for me.
Even though I wasn’t a big Star Wars fan, there was no where on earth I could be on December 17th, 2015 than at Disney Springs. I wasn’t nearly as excited as the people I was with, but I threw together a Han Solo Disneybound and showed up, hoping it lived up to the hype.
Then Rey happened. This wonderful, ass-kicking, Force-using, Kylo-stomping girl with this adorable droid at her side. Fearless and fighting for her friends with nothing more than a stick and flying the Falcon. I spent half the movie thinking how badly I wanted to cosplay her, that I had finally found someone in this Universe who I wanted to win. Not just Light beating Dark, but I wanted to see this girl take down everything in her path. I was so angry when she got captured, that was she was going to be reduced to the damsel in distress Leia was, and then she proceeded to bust herself out and almost pull a blaster on her rescuers.
That’s right. I didn’t like Star Wars until The Force Awakens.
I didn’t like Star Wars until Rey.
I fully admit it too. I’m never going to pretend I loved the original trilogy, or that I didn’t think the prequels made some questionable decisions. I’m never going to pretend I want Star Wars Weekends back for any reason other than Hyperspace Hoopla. However, I am so happy to finally be invested in this universe, and I can’t wait to see what happens next: on the big screen, on the small screen, and at the Galaxy’s Edge.
