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cladnplaid · 3 years

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OKAY GUYS, I’ve had all weekend to think this though so here is my essay on the Ahsoka’s lEkKuS & mOnTrAls Debate

I’m not here to cause waves, just here to point a view things out. I have a few points I would like to make about the costumes choices that they went with for Ahsoka’s character design in the latest episode of The Mandalorian because to be honest, I’m just really tired of seeing everyone here being so damn picky.

There could be a few different reasons as to why the Mandalorian team changed the look of Ahsoka “headdress” (ie. Lekkus and Montrals), one of them mainly being for practicality and stunt work. Also it could be that the team was wanting to stick to practical effects instead of CGI as much as possible like they have been for the entire series.

But you have all heard those arguments already so here’s a hot take on another reason:

It's a marketing thing.

She already has new toys and collectables (A FORCE FX LIGHTSABER!) scheduled to come out right off the back of the series ending of The Clone Wars as well as her new appearance in The Mandalorian. They had to make her appeal to the new fans of the TCW/Mandalorian/Star Wars so they kept a similar silhouette that's easily marketable and recognizable.

Star Wars has gained a HUGE amount of popularity from new fans over the past 5 years due to the Sequel Trilogy (mainly it has grown in 2019-2020). I would say Episodes VII, VIII, & IX had the same effect to new Star Wars fans as the musical, Hamilton, had with the general public; it got you interested in a thing so you went and researched what is was based off of to see what it’s all about. Simple, right?

Except we have a huge factor that was added to this Hyper-fixation-like equation.

New Media Thing + Stress + Quarantine = BOREDOM which then = Escapism through Hyper-fixation

At the end of 2019, as Covid started to rear it annoying head, right at the launch of Disney+, right as The Rise of Skywalker was released digitally early, right as The Mandalorian was gaining traction, right as Jedi Fallen Order came out (the first single-player Star Wars adventure game since The Force Unleashed in 2008), AND people were forced to stay home until further noticed.

If you were on TikTok in the beginning of 2020 because you were bored due to quarantine, you, like me, witnessed a whole lot of people CONSUMED all Star Wars content by the droves because for the first time, everything Star Wars was readily available on a brand new streaming service, Disney+, that was easily affordable (or free to Verizon Customers) and your casual friend who only watched the Sequel Trilogy now has access to the whole Saga and more.

In 2020, The Clone Wars series is ranked 3rd most watched on Disney+, being beaten by The Simpsons at #2 and (unsurprisingly) The Mandalorian at #1 (Rebels ranted #11 on this list) After those kinds of numbers, it’s safe to say that Ahsoka’s most familiar and most popular look/style would be from The Clone Wars series.

Now on to the more practical side as to why I think they went with the “shorter Lekkus & Montrals”

As an amateur costume designer/cosplayer, I can say without a doubt it's challenging to even WALK in something as cumbersome as her “headpiece” would be if they made it as large as it appears in Rebels, let alone attempt stunts in it. Just ask any Hatsune Miku cosplayer and they will tell you that wig is a nightmare and you don’t even want to THINK about dancing in it.

Take for example, David Prowess' stunts in the iconic Vader suit in the Original Trilogy. I know canonically, that suit is supposed to be restrictive and hard to move in but that doesn't mean you have to make it actually hard to move in for the stuntmen/actor. I wouldn’t really know if there is much you can do to make The Suit more flexible, so I applaud Prowess’ work because I can’t even comprehend how he would be able to move, let alone SEE in that thing, especially in the brilliantly choreographed duel in Empire Strikes Back.

Now with some costumes, You can cheat and make it a lot easier to move in while keeping its integrity. For example, ol' Luke Skywalker at the end of The Force Awakens, his cloak was clearly stitched to his tabards/tunic because a cloak like that is heavy so it can easily slip off in the wind or when you de-hood yourself. To solve this problem, they "fudged" it by stitching it to his tunic. Simple and easy to hide (which they did not do well, I’m afraid)

Also before you come at me with the whole “BuT sHaKk Ti iN II & III” spiel, keep in mind in The Attack of the Clones, the characters like Kit Fisto, Lumimara, and Shakk Ti all had costumes with “headdresses”, all had MINIMAL screen time and were hardly shown fighting in they're costumes. I haven't seen the movie in a while but I would hazard a guess that if they are shown fighting, it’s very brief or it's heavily CGIed which is the path that The Mandalorian crew doesn't want to go down. I would say almost all the aliens in the show are entirely practical effects, aside from Grogu in a couple of instances which is astounding compared to the Sequel Trilogy’s heavy uses of CGI aliens (except for Force Ghost Yoda, they did right making him a little puppet again. That made the 10-year-old in me so happy)

I guess the point I’m trying to make is just PLEASE stop being so damn picky! We have something REALLY good here with The Mandalorian and if you just look back in recent history, “fans” bullying the creators and cast of Star Wars can have damaging effects to the series and the people in general. To name a few examples:

People complained about not wanting the film Solo, so the Kenobi Film was canceled. Two points on that, the film was released at a bad time and now we are getting a Kenobi show, so that’s a bright side

“Fans” bullied Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico in The Last Jedi) and she now has no online presence.

“Fans” complained about the PLOT of The Last Jedi so they tried to undo it all the with fluster cluck that was The Rise of Skywalker, ruining established character arcs for Finn, Kylo Ren, Rey, Rose, Poe, etc (but also idk why Abrams and Johnson didn’t share both their visions of the series bUT WHATEVER, I’m not here to debate the Sequel Trilogy)

Let’s go back further, “Fans” bullied Hayden Christensen to the point where he hardly acted in anything where he should have been getting jobs left and right after the success of Revenge of the Sith, but nooOOOoo, he was tOo WhIneY. Homeboy strait up went and had to to try farm-living to get away from the “fans”

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED on Jake Lloyd, who was literally TEN YEARS OLD in The Phantom Menace, who left his acting career because of bullies in school and constant hounding from the press.That kid’s life was ruined by bullies.

In closing, to all the purists, the gate-keeping jerk-wads, and the basement dwelling “fans” who turn their noses up at anything that came out after 1983, you can take Kylo Ren’s absurd lightsaber and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

Stop ruining Star Wars for the Fans who actually enjoy it and are having fun. GOSH

#the mandalorian #ahsoka tano #ahsoka tano live action #star wars #mandalorian #the jedi #me just ranting passionately about costume design and yelling at bullies and babies #rambles #sw #this is NOT me @ any of my mutuals or irl friends. it's me @ the trolls and b*tchy fans who won't stop whining

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