Maz cannot abide common denizens in her castle!

I've always been enthralled by aliens or other species in sci-fi/fantasy, be it Star Wars, D&D, Warcraft, whatever. When I create a character for myself, I almost never pick "human" because I'm a human in real life (yeah, I know, hard to believe) so I like to take any chance I get to change it up. That said, my favorite part of the Vanity Fair Star Wars issue is the above set of pictures from Maz Kanata's castle. To me, they look like a slightly classed up wretched hive of scum and villainy. If the Mos Eisley Cantina is a run-down dive where the neon sign is only half-lit and you can't tell if the smoke lingering near the stained and moldy ceiling is from the kitchen or the people at the bar, then Maz's joint is like Denny's. I will admit that, like some other fans, I'm a little disappointed to not see at least a token Rodian or Weequay, but I'm willing to look past that considering we may be on the complete opposite end of the outer rim from what we're used to...plus, no old species means plenty of room for cool, new species to become canon and start making their way into books, comics, cartoons, etc. And I have no problem with that. So, with my copy of Vanity Fair open in front of me, let's go through the non-humans one at a time, from left to right, and see what insights I come up with...

Nobody expects the Spani, er, I mean Female Inquisitor...

Yup, I'm gonna beat this dead horse...because, why not? I might have some new, fresh ideas on the subject that no one else has thought of...most likely not, but I don't care...so, who is this lythe, tech-savvy inquisitor? First and foremost I think it's definitely someone that's been introduced in some why, shape, or form before, i.e. it's not just some random character with no connection to anyone...if it is, I don't think they'd bother masking her since the other two inquisitors have (or had, I guess) their faces out there for everyone to see...now maybe this will all be moot once we see the episodes and find out that she really doesn't wear the mask much, she just happens to have it on during all the trailer scenes, but I doubt it. Besides, what fun is that? Star Wars has a history of intriguing masked figures, so what's one more? Or two more if you count Kylo Ren...three if you count Captain Phasma...so yeah, masked figures are like Jello...now, without any further ado, let's begin the guessing game!

So it all started today...

I want to say I was there, front row, wide-eyed, anticipating the cinematic experience that was about to change my life...I want to say that...but I'm 35, do the math...I'll wait...carry the one, yeah, wasn't born yet, but I saw this little tidbit on the mothership website and decided, "hey, I'll start a blog today!" Cool story, I know. This is something I've been thinking about doing for quite some time, but hadn't managed to work up the gumption. I'm honestly not sure what changed today, but I don't really care either...and if I don't care, you (by "you" I mean the potential reader, though I have a feeling I may be the only one that ever reads this so I'm basically talking to myself...as usual) certainly don't care...so, moving on!

I think I'll take this glorious opportunity to regale you (there I go again) with the story of how I became a Star Wars fan...are you ready? Here it comes...I had cool parents...I know, right? Weird. But yeah, I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't like Star Wars. It's been a part of my life for as far back as I can recall. In fact, one of my earliest and most treasured memories involves sitting on the couch watching Star Wars, no particular movie, my memory isn't that detailed, and, because I was too young to read it myself, listening to my dad radio-voice the crawl as it so epically marched up the screen. It made the experience interactive, important. This wasn't just something I got plopped down in front of the flickering blue parent to watch, this was Star Wars. This took special care to setup. I won't lie, I get a little misty thinking about it. Then I think about how I used to do the same thing for my dogs when I'd watch with them around and it becomes either "aww, cute!" or extremely weird and uncomfortable, depending on who you are, and that breaks me out of the nostalgia sniffles.

So, yeah, Star Wars. Always been a fan. That makes me pretty damn cool, if you ask me, and, since this blog is all about me, myself and Star Wars, I'm clearly the deciding factor on cool around here...anyway, that's my post for today. Basically just a little introductory blerp to get started, no real meat to it, but I plan to post my opinions about all sorts of Star Warsy things going forward, including, but not limited to:  book and comic reviews and discussion, Rebels episode reviews and discussion, storyline hypotheses, rumor reactions, personal speculation and other stuff...I'm bored of making a list, but it'll be cool stuff. We've already established that I'm cool, so no worries there...anyway (yeah, I say "anyway" a lot when I get off track, sorry in advance), I'm excited to put my thoughts down, and, hopefully, eventually, to hear what any of the yous out there have to say about them. But, until next time, may the Force be with you...