It has taken me several years to get to this point…but I have finally seen the light.
Padme Amidala, late secret wife of Anakin Skywalker, mother of glorious twins Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, was a strong, badass, amazing woman who honestly doesn’t get enough credit.
Why did it take me several years to finally realize how cool she was, you ask? Well, you see, awkward-middle-school-Rita was madly in love with Hayden Christiansen (what can I say; I like the Skywalker men). Back then, while us Star Wars fans were waiting for what we thought was going to be the last major Star Wars movie we were ever going to get, I was planning my marriage to the real-life Anakin Sykwalker. And Natalie Portman not only played Hayden’s love in the movies, but they were also dating in real life at the time. So, she was in my way.
Fast forward about a decade later, having watched the prequels over and over AND the animated series Clone Wars (the one that didn’t look exactly like Samurai Jack), I realized that Padme is actually kinda awesome. You can see where Princess Leia gets it from; they are the both damsels in distress that get themselves out of said distress. They are both opinionated and strong-willed and they would probably intimidate the crap out of you in person, but yet they are both just so darling and compassionate that you would probably instantly fall in love.
Also, there’s this moment from Attack of the Clones, where Padme was ahead of the boys pretty much the second they were all chained up:
Amid my new-found appreciation for the former Queen of Naboo, I found myself angry. Okay, if you read my previous post, you know I love Luke Skywalker. His blue eyes and blue lightsaber still get me every time. But I wished he cared more about his mother. Sure, he asks Leia in Return of the Jedi about her, but that conversation is brief, nor was he concerned about who his mother was before he found out the truth about his family, when he simply thought his father was a pilot. I know, it’s not my sweet Luke’s fault. Uncle Owen and aunt Beru didn’t seem to tell him anything about her either. Sure, they met her only briefly and perhaps they didn’t assume that woman they met that one time was the mother of the sweet baby boy they ended up taking care of. But come on, they should have; I don’t think anyone would bring someone they didn’t really care about when they sense their mother is danger and they must go home. I’m going to mostly blame Owen on this one. Or, really, I should just entirely blame George Lucas. Sure, he didn’t necessarily have the prequels perfectly planned while making the original trilogy, but everyone has a mother. He chose to have the parental focus entirely on Darth Vader, and it just makes me so mad now. I also feel really sad thinking that Luke and Leia know diddly squat about their awesome mother. Actually, I kinda think maybe Leia knew a little bit; after all, Bail Organa was good friends with Padme, it would be kinda wrong if he didn’t tell Leia anything about the woman she truly came from. Alas, we don’t know that for sure and it makes me sad.
Point is, I really want the Skywalker family portrait, guys. I know, it would be a totally different story if Anakin didn’t turn to the Dark Side and Padme hadn’t died just after giving birth to the coolest twins ever, but it’s fun to fantasize about the beautiful, strong, unstoppable family of the Force that would have been.
Recently I started to collect those awesome little Funko Pop! Vinyl figures, and limited myself to Star Wars ones for now in an effort to control my spending…considering they have a billion Disney ones and even Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles characters, I would most definitely be broke by now if I hadn’t set a theme. I promise, this is still quite relevant to Padme. The first one I bought was Princess Leia in her classic white gown. She was so freaking adorable, I couldn’t stop gushing at her. (I know, I’m a bit of a big dork). I also acquired Luke in his all black Return of the Jedi outfit, and decided I needed Padme. I needed Padme to be with her children for once, DAMNIT! The only figure they had of her was in her iconic Queen Amidala form, and of course they were discontinued when I decided I wanted one so I had to go to eBay. But I found her, and Padme can finally be with her awesome children.
Apparently I can’t upload videos on here but please, picture their cute little heads bobbing, as they are bobble-heads. Also, even more importantly, I urge you to listen to “Mother and Child Reunion” by Paul Simon in your head. Or if you don’t know, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pa5H_4lBXs
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