Do not pass go

Defying continents of distance, technology is allowing me to spend time with the people who mean the most.

And I cannot be anything less than grateful.

So, even a simple round of Star Wars Monopoly becomes a precious moment.

And I am so incredibly thankful for it.

[In the photo: 'A New Hope', 40th anniversary, Star Wars Monopoly]

Self love

Snowy white outside.

First working meeting in days.

I needed a powerful, yet comfy, and with a touch of eighties feeling outfit.

HerUniverse never disappoints.

And it's TanoTuesday.

Pangeek

Pangeek: spending the afternoon playing Star Wars Squadrons wearing an Avengers Endgame dress.

Christmas 2.0

Today I woke up, and, totally unexpectedly, Vanda sent me this Razer beauty.

Not just the insanely cool Base Station Chroma, which I'm so eager to try with Star Wars Squadrons, but also the Kitty Krakens ears.

THANK YOU!!!

I am not a "gamer" (or... maybe am I?), but I love these very green, very stylish, very snake-y tech products by Razer.

I recently changed the swollen battery of my Razer Blade Stealth, true, as I showed in my stories, but, besides that, in these two years, I was never disappointed.

Wearing your spoiler

Enjoying the vacation so incredibly much, I must thank Shappu for all the hours spent so far ranting about Rebels, and (re)watching The Clone Wars.

[And playing Squadrons.

But this is another story]

You know you are not a good friend when you forget to remove a super spoiler-y season seven t-shirt just before starting the last four episodes.

Sooooooorry!!

Chibi Kanera

I finally received these absolutely adorable Maxxmerch pins, featuring many of my favorite Star Wars characters.

I initially wanted to buy just this "Kanera" pair, but then they were all so cute that I couldn't stop to Hera and Kanan alone.

I will share them in multiple posts (I feel already guilty in placing Hera in the second photo) because the details truly deserve attention.

As usual, not formally a pin collector here, but I start having an embarrassing quantity of Star Wars pins for denying to be. 

萬事如意

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to scold me, repeating that I was 'ambitious', implying that was a terrible thing to be.

As a 'good girl' a was supposed to be modest, quiet, and always ready to happily set for the smaller piece of cake, the uglier cookie, the unpopular toy.

So, I was trained to graciously automatically self inflict the worst crab on the table.

[And, yes, this is a citation from a wonderful book by Amy Tan, then a brilliant movie starring Ming-Na Wen - 'our' Fennec Ming-Na Wen- which I absolutely suggest to everyone: The Joy Luck Club, 喜福會].

What that many people often misjudge about the generation of women used to gladly accept 'whatever is left', is that this does not imply that we think we deserve less than others, or that we lack in intentions or 'ambition'.

It is not for a sense of inferiority that guides our choices, but the awareness that we can handle it, no matter what life throws at us.

Fundamentally, we consider ourselves stronger, so that our focus and tenacity can make up for the initial disadvantage.

Ambition, ultimately, is not at all the antithesis of being (or try to be) kind, compassionate, selfless. We can be all that, and, at the same time, knowing that we deserve whatever we crave, that we are able to achieve it.

Even when we start from the lower ranks, even when we knowingly accept the disadvantage.

So, unfortunately for my grandmother, I don't think that I stopped, not even a second in my life, to be 'ambitious'.

Or, a Slytherin, someone would say.

am·bi·tion

/amˈbiSH(ə)n/

"A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work."

Smuggler

Will I ever pass in front of this Han Solo's action figure not feeling the urge to take a picture of it?

I don't think so.

[This totally amazing figure is a 40th-anniversary edition of Han on Bespin black series]

Morning (sanding) routines.

Morning (sanding) routines.

I am done with the filler and sanding phase. Now I have to decide the color scheme for my Mandalorian helmet.

So many possibilities.

The motivation for this photo, however, is sharing this ShirtPunch Ahsoka Tano sweater.

Spotted it some months ago in a @ahsokalive post, I really love it.

The print is a little rough, but I washed it several times, and it survived perfectly.

If you are waiting for your orders obsessively with your gabby hands like I do, the website has a nice tracking system, that keeps you updated about production and shipping.

ShirtPunch ships catalog items waaaaay more slowly than Teeturtle, but the sweater arrived still within a month or so.

My Luke

Finally, it is MandoMonday!

Deleting the spoiler post, openly able to speak about Luuuke!

As said on Friday, I really could not convey into words what I felt, and, somehow, still feeling.

The total happiness, nerves breaking, sobbing, and happiness again.

The people that watched The Mandalorian episode with me know well because they had my voice pitching in ultrasounds in their headphones.

Genuinely, I still cannot describe what Luke Skywalker means to me.

But, finally, I can speak about the thrill to see him, ultimately, as a Jedi *Master*.

We followed Luke in his hero journey, his successes, and failures. His force training: Rodia, Devaron, Tatooine, Dagobah.

We saw his stubborn hope, his *attachment* and love for his friends and sister.

We left him, in VI, serene, accomplished, aware of his abilities, calm.

A Jedi Master.

But then, we lost track of that wise and confident character, finding him disillusioned, lost, full of regrets, and sadness.

Don't get me wrong, I personally think that Episode VIII Luke is still very much in character. I can relate to the insanely deep guilt and sense of failure he felt after the slaughter of his pupils by Kylo's hand.

Ultimately, Ben was Leia's kid. The closest he had to a son. Heroes are not unemotional. Especially someone so passionate as Luke (very much Anakin alike).

The point is that the new canon covers just a small portion of that period. Most of the stories are between IV and V or V and VI. And, although I tried to collect any media in which Luke was mentioned or appearing (a small portion depicted here), the only glance of that incredible human he became after ROTJ was in Shattered Empire and Battlefront II.

Even if you don't play, I do suggest to search for this beautiful BF2 scene (on YouTube). He is on Pillio, looking for the Jedi compass that can guide him to Ahch-To. And he is compassionate, kind, knowledgeable, wonderful.

So, I must confess that I wouldn't mind seeing a little more of this Luke in the future. There are at least 19 years to cover between what we saw on Friday and the Temple fall.

I really would love to live that story.

The hero

Started with me saying "Ok, let's rewatch all the movies with a certain hilt (!)".

Ended with me watching VI *and* all the sequels.

Snips

I am still processing yesterday's episode.

What a time for being a Star Wars fan.

Anyway.

Today, passing in front of my Ahsoka Tano's action figures and Funko Pop mini collection, I realized that I never took pictures of this beautiful Clone Wars Ahsoka outside the box.

I am uncertain about the color choice for the lekku and montrals (a little too gray, maybe), but I love the details.

My time

Caption: vacation.

[In my holiday photo, parts of an LGT's saber]

Go Rogue

No chances to use my very new, very green, very geek, gear this semester.

And it doesn't seem very promising next semester too.

However, since today is the Rogue One anniversary, I thought to share my proudly shown logo on my safety helmet.

Now, Rogue One rewatch.

Unseparable

A quick switch to the Wizarding World today, because I'm so excited to finally own (and being able to share) this Grindelwald pendant by The Noble Collection.

I must confess here that I'm more than a little a Grindeldore fan.

But, however you see the Dumbledore and Grindelwald relationship, I think it will be brilliant to observe its development in the third Fantastic Beasts movie.

The pendant is made with true metal, probably plated brass, which I am pleased about (after Leta's wand disappointment, which I discussed a couple of posts ago).

I love the details, especially the symbol at the top (monogram?). It would be wonderful to have a gel inside the ampoule, but I do like the differences in color anyway.

[In the picture, Albus Dumbledore's wand and A History of Magic by House of MinaLima]

All connected

As I previously said, one of the aspects of Lucasfilm that I love the most is that the canon is all connected. The story team does an incredible job to link different stories and media.

I hope I am out of the spoilers zone (it's MandoMonday after all!) and I can share my appreciation for the Operation Cinder reference in the last episode of The Mandalorian.

I love this so much!

[Balloons from 'Shattered Empire' a Star Wars comic by Greg Rucka, Checchetto, and Unzueta. A small run for meeting Poe Dameron parents, and discovering interesting details about the Rebels and the Empire, just after Endor]

The sails are black (but the teeth are not)

Instant crush.

There is just one problem so far.

They all have such white perfect teeth that the suspension of disbelief is out of question.

Also the fact that half of the crew can be hired as the model outside Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't help.

[Not that I complain, though]

Royalty

I wanted this Leia Organa lightsaber since I saw it last year in The Rise of Skywalker.

In addition to be a magnificent saber, it is also Leia's as a force sensitive Jedi, something that it was 40 years I was waiting to see.

My indecision was mainly (beside the price tag), the accuracy of the replica.

After the close-up photos of the original movie prop published by Lucasfilm (on the Star Wars website), I wanted something accurate. The pearl inserts were, specifically, the details that delayed my purchase the most.

Almost all the empty hilts with the pearl accents on the handle were or excessively priced (for my mental budget, not for the work of the makers!) or not precise in other parts. The most similar ones, instead, often also the cheap ones, did not have that detail.

The turning point, for me, was The Lightsabers Collection book, in which, as a rendering and not the photo of the actual prop, the saber is just aluminum and dark copper.

I am a big fan of LGTtoy hilts. They are cheap, but they offer a great deal for the price. Sure, nothing to compare to custom works by expert sabers smiths, but unbeatable for the quality price ratio.

Since I wanted mostly a shelf queen , not minding too much about Proffie board or Neopixel, I opted for this 270 dollars LGT for Black Friday, with new smooth(er) swing sound and LED.

I personally love a specific reseller, Crimson Dawn Sabers, because of their 3/5 days shipping (note: the mean wait for a saber for most of the popular brands is around *3 months*), their transparency, and their incredible customers service.

I am SO HAPPY to have this beauty in my hands!

Crafty

Today I'm beyond excited for this mail call.

These stickers by Hello There Stickers are so beautiful that I'm even afraid to actually stick them somewhere. I should find something really worthy.

The creativity and the quality is astonishing. These pictures really don't give justice to the colors and printing level, for both matte and glossy prints.

And, yes, I *am* picky.

(So much that I complained with Redbubble about their bad quality so passionately that they reimbursed me)

This is why shopping from small shops like Hello There Stickers is the best.

They REALLY care, and you can see it in every detail, from the materials used to the masterpiece envelop (which, by the way, I will keep because is SO COOL).

So much creativity out there, and so much talent!

Always (grumpy)

If I need to pick my overall favorite character in the Wizarding World, I would probably choose Neville Longbottom.

He is The Hero.

Nevertheless, when I had to choose one on the official HP website, I opted for Severus Snape.

Although nobody will ever convince me that he is a Slytherin (I know, I'm totally a minority about this, but in my book he is the definition of a Ravenclaw), he is a wonderful and exceptionally constructed character.

And he is grumpily lovely.

So, ultimately, I couldn't be anything but glad that he was (mis)placed in 'my' house.

[In the photos, Snape's qposket figurine and House of MinaLima Advanced Potion Making journal]

Imperfect

After buying the wonderful Dumbledore's wand by The Noble Collection, I decided to reward myself with this Leta Lestrange one.

Although very pretty, I was disappointed about the fact that the 'metal inserts' are not made by metal at all, and I truly did not expect that.

I knew that the wand was made by resin, not wood, but I assumed that the metal was real, like in Dumbledore's wand.

The chrome acrylic is not even too realistic. If it was a paint job on one of my lightsabers, I would definitely redo it.

Which, actually, I'm planning to do.

Role Models

Ok, ok.

Blogs not written rules dictate no more than one post a day.

But, seriously, today is suddenly just like Christmas in this house.

I just received the Ashley Eckstein autograph, the Her Universe celebration pin, and A TON of absolutely stunning outfits.

I am crying of happiness right now.

She is indeed an inspiration.

For all of us.

Her leadership, her kindness, her attention to the community, her activism, the way she built Her Universe for the fans, with the fans.

Aaaaaand all the collections are absolutely gorgeous, and the quality excellent.

And I feel SO GOOD in them.

So, nothing.

I had to share this right away.

Magical History

I bought many Harry Potter themed props and stuff, recently, and, since I have waaaay more time now, I would love to share.

As I said before, I'm a pangeek after all. 😉

This is a House of MinaLima journal, inspired by their original design for the A History of Magic book "by" Bathilda Bagshot.

I absolutely adore the golden details, including the page edges. I love the paper quality, the carmine fabric used for the biding, and the themed-designed paper used on the back of the cover.

The only tiny defect, in my option, is the printed barcode on the back cover.

Overall, it is really worth the 18 dollars price (I bought it on the Harry Potter NY website).

[In the picture, also: Albus Dumbledore wand from Fantastic Beasts, by The Noble Collection]

Nonjudgmental

I hoped for a little more 'juicy' story, especially with the big yellow saber teaser, but it was still lovely to read.

Any Star Wars media is good to me.

Cheap selling point (but maybe not)

I was decorating the house for Christmas, and I couldn't resist.

In other news, I finally finished grading.

Boom!

This means, more more more pictures here.

In-universe

One of the things that I love so much about the whole Galaxy Edge park concept, is that everything is in-universe.

Therefore, you can easily understand why I absolutely **needed** to have this toydarian doll.

Probably Watto -but maybe not- the crucial point here is that it would be nonsensical to have a toydarian toy maker that doesn't sell dolls of his/her own race.

This is definitely one of my favorite recent purchases.

[I'm trying to be good here and not dropping any spoilers from the Mandalorian today]

Unexpected Kindness

I joined a lovely group on Facebook about droids builder, and, day one, they sent me a gift.

It is astonishing how strangers can be so kind.

Corvax

I know, I know.

Lord Corvax is not exactly one of the most famous Star Wars characters.

But.

I love his lightsaber.

I love the font.

I love the spark just before it ignites, and the smoke when it dims down.

It's elegant, and different.

And the kyber crystal exposed is a plus.

Soon

While finishing the massive end of the semester grading, and my million projects are waiting for me (reminding me, painfully, that I abandoned them for months), it seems that I reached 300 followers in my Instagram blog. I am speechless.

Meanwhile, sooooooo many new things arrived, and I'm so so eager to share.

Again, very soon.

Growth

Second post featuring my brand new GameStop exclusive Clone Wars season7 Ahsoka Tano.

The mechanic version.

I am that kind of fan that loves everything about Star Wars, no exceptions. So, I'm not very selective in my opinions.

But I totally ADORED the arc with the Martez sisters. I think that it completes Ahsoka growth.

I know, *we* already saw her in Rebels. The compassionate hero she become.

But, if you think to CW alone, she needed an extra step, a reality check, before landing on what she wonderfully become at the end of the season. And, now, in the Mandalorian.

So, once again, thanks Dave Filoni.

Got (blue) milk?

Absolutely adorable blue milk tiny tiny earrings by SweetHomeMiniatures on Etsy.

(The shop has green milk too!)

Lovely micro replica of the milk sold at the Galaxy Edge milk stand.

To choose the light

"The darkness is in us all, the power to resist, to choose the light, the essence of a Jedi that is".

Very relevant today.

Can we, at least sometimes, simply be KIND to each other?

Nail Polish

Dear ILMxLAB, I don't care what all the other gamers are telling you, but I actually cried, the other day, when I saw "my" woman hands with nail polish (!) holding a lightsaber.

A wonderful lightsaber, moreover.

Really, thank you so so much.

I truly did not expect this little treasure inside Tales from the Galaxy Edge.

Speaking with Yoda was also fantastic.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Remember. Maybe we are not so loud.

But we are here, and we appreciate.

A LOT.

The Jedi (no, not really)

It was a nice sign indeed.