“Old friends/Bookends”

One of my favorite artists I’ve discovered online has done it again…made beautiful Star Wars art again, that is. And this time, Lorna-ka is tugging at my heartstrings.

Broken Promises - B&W version Art Print

Ahsoka and Vader…this one is beautiful and tragic. Leading up to the season 2 finale, seeing tiny previews of the long-anticipated duel between the former padawan and master duo instantly reminded me of the episodes of Clone Wars where Ahsoka was accused of treasonous acts towards the Jedi Order, and she ran away. Stupid jerkface (but she actually has a really cool design but that doesn’t matter) Barriss Offee framed the crap out of my darling Ahsoka, and pretty much everyone but Anakin and Obi-Wan believed that Ahsoka was guilty of bombing the Jedi Temple. Suddenly, the Jedi Order’s most devoted and capable Padawan was treated like a common criminal from the streets. Anakin was trying to talk to her, but with everyone else after her, she didn’t feel safe even talking to her master. This is when he told her he would never let anyone hurt her. I do love this moment, just because you see how much Anakin truly loves his Padawan. He believes in her and even tracks down the truth while she is on trial. Once he was able to prove her innocence, it was too late. The damage was done. And Ahsoka decided not to accept her invitation back to the Jedi Order. She walked away, and this definitely broke Anakin’s heart.

Fast forward some 20 years later, and Ahsoka’s beloved master Anakin Skywalker has become the villainous Darth Vader. For me, his promise to her is heartbreaking to think about knowing that they duel and he tries to kill her. Pairing Anakin’s quote with the picture of his grown up padawan and his turned, evil self summarizes their relationship.

But wait! Lorna-ka did a version in color without Anakin’s promise, and it’s still heartbreaking:

Broken Promises Art Print

For me, just because her stream of tears is ever so slightly more prominent in color, it still takes me back to their Clone Wars days and makes me cry along with Ahsoka.

But wait…Ahsoka isn’t our only heartbroken Clone Wars alumni!

Left Behind Art Print

Poor Rex…yes, this reflection of the good ole’ days is sad because Rex thinks these two old friends are dead…but Ahsoka and Anakin both look so adorable here…I just love this.

 

 

“This is what it sounds like, when doves cry,”

The world has lost yet another majestic megastar this year…this time, we lost Prince at just 57 years old. I grew up knowing his hits and little else; my mom is a huge fan, but my dad is not…therefore, I hardly heard him. But I at least heard him enough to fall in love with “When Doves Cry”. He’s like this tornado of David Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Jimi Hendrix, yet he is truly one of a kind. I still haven’t heard anything regarding the cause of this untimely tragedy. Regardless, Prince will live forever in his music. Rest in Peace, Prince.

I’m just going to leave this epic rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps right here to honor this beautiful genius:

“We could be heroes…”

I’m still not totally over the Rebels Season 2 finale…what happened to my Ahsoka?! I personally subscribe to this little theory that Ashley Eckstein herself even considers. It’s the only one that brings me peace. Honestly, before this past season started, I had a reasonable fear that Ahsoka was going to die; after all, that’s the only way to justify her character not being in the movies (aside from our society’s tragic lack of time travel technology). But I was sincerely hoping she would last longer than she did; couldn’t they have waited until the series was nearing its’ end?! No, because I know that it’s supposed to focus on our main group of rebels: Ezra, Kanan, Hera, Sabine, and Zeb. And yeah, that’s pretty fair, I guess. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants an Ahsoka show! But anyway, the day after the finale, Ashley Eckstein’s beautiful nerdy girl clothing brand Her Universe released a beautiful shirt designed by the creator of Ahsoka himself: Dave Filoni.

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Naturally, this sold out the same day it was released. I foolishly waited until the evening to place my order and missed out on the first batch, but luckily I wasn’t the only one; there was a huge demand for the shirt so a few days later, you were able to pre-order it for the next batch. Now I have it, and it’s no longer on the Her Universe website. I love it so much. Super cute, even though it’s actually a unisex fit (everybody loves Ahsoka), and so soft.

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Ignore my stupid face and admire my beautiful shirt!!

OH! Speaking of Ahsoka…on Twitter I follow just a few other major Ahsoka fans, and one of them tweeted about how Dave Filoni had an idea for these “Ahsoka Loyalist” clone troopers that would have existed had the series not been cancelled. I need this mere concept drawing on a t-shirt ASAP. LOOK AT IT:

Ahsoka Loyalist Troopers

I’m in love. It’s perfect. I researched it myself to verify its’ authenticity and discovered this awesome, super detailed summary about the Untold Clone Wars Panel that Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo spoke at during last year’s Star Wars Celebration. I also then looked it up on YouTube and was watching it for a while, but I had to stop because they were talking about Asaaj Ventress’ last episode concept, which happens to be the inspiration for a book I’m reading right now that my boyfriend bought for me called The Dark Disciple. He saw that it said “based on unproduced epsiodes of the Clone Wars” on the bottom and immediately thought of me. And it’s awesome, I love it so far. I had to stop the video, just in case they went on to explain the whole story (the unfished clip they showed already was precisely like one of the events early on in the book). That, and it was time for bed. And it’s actually that time again…

But…one last thought: I’ve loved Star Wars my entire life, but was never particularly fond of stormtroopers. For me, Attack of the Clones and the Clone Wars series make the Clone Troopers significantly more interesting, and even cooler looking. And in The Force Awakens, I love the design of the First Order troopers better than the original stormtroopers. And then there’s that moment with FN-2187. The first moment we see the humanity of the stormtroopers in these films (again, clone troopers not included; they’re their own breed of troopers). The bloody hand that marks Finn’s epiphany is one of my favorite moments in Star Wars history, despite my personal history of fainting at both the sight of and the mere thought of blood. Evidently I can handle it if it’s a subtle, yet incredibly bold remnant of destruction in my favorite space fairy tale. I just want t-shirts galore of Finn’s bloody helmet and Ahsoka’s Loyalist troopers’ helmets…and only those helmets…I already have this beautiful splatter artwork of that iconic, bloodied helmet by the wonderful Spooksieboo:

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Yup, still have to hang that…alas, I’m still working on the overall arrangement of my art collection. I can’t wait to show you whenever it’s all up on my walls!

 

“You can’t always get what you want..”

There have been many times in my life that I wished I could be in London, the land of my idols. This is definitely one of those times, because right now there is a Rolling Stones Exhibit called “Exhibitionism” and I need to be there. My childhood crush Mark Hamill talked about this very recently, and the Rolling Stones have advertised it themselves all over their social media pages, so I have known about it for a while. But seeing pictures of it is what makes me sad that I’m not there.

rolling stones exhibit

There are a bunch of these sculptures outside of the exhibit…these alone…oh my goodness. You don’t understand. I love this logo so much….or maybe you do understand; I have talked about it before. Regardless, I want these sculptures in my home. Outside my home. I WANT THEM EVERYWHERE! Especially that Union Jack one to the right.

But wait, there’s more!

rolling stones in front of exhibit

I love these men so dearly.

more rolling stones in front of the exhibit

I want to be there.

Alas, I have at least been to something similar; they had a special floor of beautiful Stones artifacts a few years or so back for their 50th anniversary at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s slightly closer to me…definitely more within my reach than London.

me with my favorite mouth

me hamming it at the rolling stones

brian jones

brian jones and his thing

mick jagger outfit

Just a few of my favorite shots…

Also, can’t forget this:

my ideal door

I need this as the door to every room in my house. It’s beautiful.

 

“I’ve just seen a face, I can’t forget the time or place where we just met”

Or two, or three, or…okay. I finally watched The Force Awakens in my own home the other night, and it was glorious. I still got chills, was still in awe, still in love. It’s an absolutely phenomenal film. I could go on for days about how fantastic it is, but perhaps I’ll save that for another day.

I’m just in love with everyone in the movie.

Even Kylo Ren and General Hux!

Oh Kylo. When you remove that helmet and reveal your black lion mane, I swoon. This gif isn’t the best quality so I  suggest you just watch this scene, and you’ll know what I mean.

kylo ren removing helmet

When this movie initially came out, I heard a lot of people complain that (SPOILER) he could not possibly be the son of Leia and Han Solo, that he wasn’t handsome enough to be their offspring.

But have those people seen this?!

sexy villians

Look at that face and somehow tell me it’s anything less than exquisite. I truly see a resemblance to Harrison Ford in this picture.

He’s sexy like his grandpa.

sexy vader

Oh my goodness, I’m having flashbacks to when I was madly in love with him in middle school. Part of that will clearly never go away.

I am also just lightly attracted to General Hux….

general hux
Star Wars: The Force Awakens General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) Ph: David James ©Lucasfilm 2015

It might just be his red hair…and that the last thing I saw Domhnall Gleeson in before this, he looked like this:

ex machina domhnall gleeson

I thought he was adorable in Ex Machina, another excellent movie!! You know who else was in Ex Machina? The beautiful Oscar Isaac, that’s who.

oscar isaac is poe dameron

Poe

hey girl need a co pilot Poe

YES, POE. I SURE DO.

I love Poe the most, but everyone is beautiful and talented and awesome in this movie. John Boyega is adorable and Daisy Ridley is just…she’s the best. She’s my idol. Rey is strong, beautiful, charming, and seriously just the coolest.

Speaking of Star Wars crushes…I can’t neglect my original love.

luke pilot

I was just expressing my adoration very recently, and he is still being awesome.

  1. On Twitter, he favorited one of my tweets!! Granted, it was a retweet of his own, but still!!
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(I know it’s really small, but in my profile picture I’m wearing my Princess Leia costume!!)
2. He talked about another 1960’s band again. He referenced one of my favorite songs of all time, “All Day and All of the Night” by the Kinks:
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I love him.

 

 

 

 

Mugshot Monday #8

THE FORCE AWAKENS COMES OUT ON BLURAY AND DVD TOMORROW!!! I will finally be able to view it in my home, to hold it in my hands!!

Oh, speaking of The Force Awakens, take a look at my latest Disney Store snag:

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My Itty Bitty Rey tried to gather warmth by standing by my BB-8 mug this morning.

This BB-8 sculptural just might be the coolest one I own now! And I didn’t even think I would ever have it. I first saw it back in November when a plethora of TFA merchandise was released at many retailers. It quickly sold out on the official Disney Store website, but I remember walking by it fin stores at least once. I don’t know, I just assumed that they would keep making this beautiful mug and I would have nothing to worry about! Of course, I was quite wrong; after those first few sightings online and in the store, I never saw it again…that is, until last weekend when my mom and I were at an outlet mall. She needed something from the Old Navy there, and I didn’t technically need anything from the Disney Store but since we were there, I just wanted to check it out. And I’m so glad I did; I found this little guy all alone, no other BB-8 mugs in sight, just some stormtrooper mugs, and instantly grabbed him. When I went to check out, the cashier informed me that she just brought that mug out of hiding the night before, saying it was time for a good home. As a fellow retail worker, I interpreted this to mean somebody returned this glorious mug (for some crazy, unknown reason) and they had just gotten the chance to put it back out on the floor. It was meant to be.

“These eyes…”

I still can’t stop thinking about the Star Wars Rebels season 2 finale, guys…while it was tragic, I can’t lie about being excited about the new journey Kanan is going to endure being a blind Jedi.

Then, I let the shallow part of myself react, and realized that we will no longer see Kanan’s sexy eyes…alas, the art of Lorna-Ka will help us all remember Kanan’s beautiful eyes:

SWR Kanan  Art Print

That smolder. I bet he’s not even trying.

“And I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation,”

Speaking of badass women, look at my latest Etsy treasure:

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Yup, it is the lovely and strong Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy! It’s by this darling artist named Gabby Zapata that I follow on Instagram. I’ve actually had my eye on this piece for a while; she posted a tease of it months ago because she was hinting towards a new series of “Super Cuties”, which is a collection of other ladies in the comic book world looking beautiful and adorable! I love it so much. My own picture isn’t that great, you have to see close ups on her Instagram and Etsy or in person to truly appreciate the lovely paint job. Also, I adore this little thank you note she added! It has a mermaid with pink hair and it sparkles!! I would frame that alone. I’m also particularly fond of mermaids.

She even drew me a new cute little lady on the back of this thank you note:

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You can’t tell from my crappy phone picture, but the little lady face was drawn freshly on the back of that business card-postcard-like-thank-you-note.

My art collection continues to grow! Star Wars still dominates the theme of my collection, which I will show you sometime soon…or do I wait until everything is on my wall?! Hmmmmm!! Either way, I want to say I still want a few more Marvel and Disney things, but I honestly probably have more than I can fit. I’m going to have to revamp my entire room.

“I won’t leave you…not this time,”

Oh. My. GOODNESS! Is anyone else still recovering from the Star Wars Rebels season 2 finale?! I know there has to be some of you out there; I noticed many tweets and comments on Instagram expressing the same feelings I was, freaking out about what happened to our dear Ahsoka Tano.

SPOILERS!

I thought I was being crazy, having been ridden with anxiety all night while I was at trivia with my friends, knowing that this intense episode was happening and I couldn’t see it. But then, looking at the reactions of other Ahsoka fans, I wasn’t alone.

Is she dead? She can’t be…we saw her still standing after her long awaited duel with her former master, Darth Vader. I’m watching that part again right now and I’m getting so emotional…it is absolutely this exchange that does it for me:

when Ahsoka broke through the helmet

Ahsoka hearing her master

When Darth Vader turned around with less than half of his face revealed, I got chills. And when Ahsoka looks at him in that moment, I almost cry. Okay, perhaps I did cry…

Part of me has been embarrassed, feeling like an emotional wreck while out with my friends when I didn’t even know what was happening on this animated television series. But again, I’ve learned I’m not the only one. Ahsoka means a lot to her fans. We adore her. We were scared about what was going to happen to her. I believe in my heart she made it out alive, but that ending was a bit ambiguous to say that she absolutely survived, and I think Dave Filoni left it that way so that the show could focus back on the original Rebels gang for a while. Which is quite understandable, but being the huge Ahsoka fan I am, I’m sad that she won’t be a part of the show for who knows (besides Filoni) how long.

I think I got even more emotional watching the episode because, prior to this season, I honestly did not consider that Ahsoka would have felt guilty leaving Anakin when she left the Jedi Order. Did she feel responsible for what became of him? Did she feel like if she stuck around, none of this would have happened? Yes, I absolutely think she felt that way. And while she is absolutely not to blame, I do think her leaving the Jedi Order was part of Anakin’s path to the Dark Side. I read this article once before I even watched Clone Wars and it talked about how the show pointed out the flaws in the Jedi Order, and that Barriss Offee wasn’t entirely wrong to say that the Jedi Order was corrupt (though she was entirely wrong to frame Ahsoka so carelessly, so viciously done with ease). When Ahsoka was walking away from the Jedi Temple, Anakin admitted he thought about leaving the Order as well. Ahsoka knew he understood how she felt, and even that shows their beautiful bond as Padawan and Master, even more so as Brother and Sister. And my tear ducts were once again activated when they were dueling, and Ahsoka tells Vader “I won’t leave you…not this time,”, confirming that she definitely felt guilty and was even trying to make things right. Unfortunately, at this point, we know that’s not possible. Even Dave Filoni has said in recent interviews that Vader is the most affected by the presence of Luke. And that’s fine! It just adds to the tragedy of what Anakin Skywalker became, and how heartbreaking it must be for Ahsoka to see her dearest friend become the biggest monster in the galaxy and want to help, but she may have come to the realization that she cannot fix him in the hardest way.

Aside from the heart-wrenching drama between former master and apprentice, that episode was crazy all around! Darth Maul, or rather, just Maul now, has returned!! And naturally, he’s causing our gang of Rebels lots of trouble! First, it both disturbed me and yet still amused me to see him imitate Yoda’s introduction from Empire Strikes Back, appearing as a helpless old man with a cane telling Ezra to put away his weapon, that he means no harm. LIES! It was also heartbreaking to see him blind Kanan, but then honestly, it was so cool to see Kanan fight back, using the Force more than ever before to help guide him. Also, small thing…but I kinda liked that Maul referred to Ahsoka as “Lady Tano”. Maul is still powerful, still evil, still badass and scary. I’m excited for more Maul in the next season!

And, let’s just take a look at this again….it is now up there with Finn’s bloody stormtrooper helmet in my all time favorite powerful Star Wars images/moments:

when Ahsoka broke through the helmet

Look at that and just try telling me it doesn’t give you the chills and make you want to cry.

But also, I have to show you this thing I found on Pinterest a while ago, hitting me right in the feels because of not only Ahsoka and Anakin, but also because it’s quoting one of my favorite Fall Out Boy songs:

fall out boy and star wars feels

And I don’t care what anyone else says, AHSOKA LIVES!!

 

“You’re just too good be true, can’t take my eyes off of you,”

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When I was little and first saw the original Star Wars trilogy, I was madly in love with Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. My love for my sweet Luke has never gone away, and it just got stronger the other day when Mark Hamill tweeted about the Rolling Stones:

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He was talking about being in the UK and being able to see this Rolling Stones exhibit…the best part of is that he said “#StonesFreak”, which means he is obsessed with the Rolling Stones, like me!

Just when I thought he couldn’t be more beautiful, he tweeted about the Beatles later that day:

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He was referring to the classic Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night! It’s one of his all time favorites?! A beautiful, lightsaber-wielding Jedi who loves the Rolling Stones and the Beatles?!?!

take me

Oh, Mark Hamill…let’s go back in time and get married. Cool? Cool.

cute Luke