Star Wars

May the 4th [be with you] just came and went, and it makes me reflect on the first fictional universe I ever found myself immersed in. (But certainly not the last.)

Star Wars will always have a special place in my heart. For a while in my childhood, I pretty much lived and breathed Star Wars. My brothers and I would discuss the details of it, and, probably especially formative of my roleplaying lifestyle, we would create and enact entire galactic conflicts.
When you think about kids playing Star Wars, you probably think about kids trying to whack each other with gift-wrap cardboard tubes. And no doubt, that's definitely part of what we did.

But more than that, we drew and wrote. We created entirely original political powers that conspired with and against one another's in the Star Wars universe, referencing characters from the movies as well as from the videogames, and created our own droids for battle and espionage.

Such an awesome game! Can't believe it was made in 1998.

I still consider being a younger brother as a blessing. Not only was I able to participate in entirely imaginative games as a young lad, but I was given constructive boundaries.

When I was a teacher, I could always tell which kids didn't have older siblings. These were the ones who, when creating a superhero or a Pokemon or something (my classes were the BEST), would want their guy to be the best at EVERYTHING. Super strong, invincible, able to read minds, dueling with swords, blasting with laser rifles, and flying through the air with super speed.

Yeah. I didn't get away with that.

Enter the Flea. I attempted to make a super-small, all-powerful reconnaissance droid that not only could sneak around anywhere, but with an arsenal that could pretty much destroy a death star all on its own, thermal exhaust port or not.
Bucky was the one who picked on me most of all, and it took me a few years to realize that he was just putting down constructive boundaries (and also picking on me). He designed a counter-droid, the Flea Flanker, which just took everything the Flea could do, and made it just an eensy bit better, so that it could destroy my omnipotent little thing.

But enough about that. Let's talk about loner Woody.

I consider myself an introvert. I love being alone. It's how I recharge. Don't get me wrong, I'm a people person, and I'm nothing if not outgoing, but if I have an option, I'll go out on my own and take that booth in the corner, that empty back seat, and I'll go camping on my lonesome.

And it's wonderful.

When I was but a wee lad, I would pretend to fly TIE fighters and A-wings, bouncing up and down on a riding mower, with a pistol-looking stick in one hand and a trusty cardboard tube in the other.

And in my solitary hours of play, I didn't blast my way through swathes of stormtroopers, or slice AT-ATs into bits. I would infiltrate. I would tiptoe around the bad guys, and if they left me no choice, I'd blast them with an blue ion laser, which, according to my not-so-canon imagination, wasn't lethal, but rather just sent them flying away like ragdolls.

I'd run away from the Empire, and me and that famed astromech droid R2-D2, (which was just a big plastic pretzel jar with a paper plate on top,) would laugh as we flew away from the evil forces we'd just sabotaged. (Yup. When I played alone, even my imaginary friends weren't humans.)

And that's how science works.

And when I got around to playing the videogame Knights of the Old Republic (or Kotor, if you're as cool as I surely am), I would play the same way. Sure, I could use a lightsaber, but I really only threw it like a boomerang, because that was cool. Other than that, I'd cowboy through with two blaster pistols. And it would just be me and my new favorite astromech droid T3-M4, sneaking around, laying mines, hacking computers, locking doors so enemies couldn't get through, and taking on non-combat missions to get money and buy the best stuff.

Hey there have you heard about my robot friend?

Of course, this strategy gets really really hard towards the end, when all you fight are dudes with lightsabers.

As it turns out, lightsabers reflect lasers.
Crap.

But the way I played makes me love the newest Star Wars, The Force Awakens.
Rey isn't a hack-n-slash Jedi, she's a techie! A saboteur, just like I used to pretend to be!
Of course, she can handle herself hand-to-hand, but when it comes down to her specialty, it isn't in lightsaber duels. She's in her zone not in a fight, but behind the controls of the Millennium Falcon. Her power is in her wits and know-how.

 And I can get behind that.

Who needs humans? We've got droids!