Star Wars Controversy Meme

Happy Star Wars Day! To celebrate, here's a meme that I've been meaning to fill out for a while. Blank version can be found here.

NOTE: Although the meme says "despised," in most cases I actually DON'T despise the stuff in those boxes. There's not a lot of Star Wars related stuff that I TRULY despise - something has to get to the level of The Courtship of Princess Leia or a certain death scene that shall not be named for me to despise it. So for this meme, just fill in "least favorite" in place of "despise." And if you disagree with me, you're free to fill out this meme yourself, but you're NOT free to get bitchy about it. Also, I decided to stick to the current version of canon for this meme, so no Expanded Universe (now called Legends) characters will show up.

Favorite Character: Han Solo. Yeah, big huge DUH - this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. What's there to say about my Han that I haven't already said a million times? Well, I'll say it all again. Han is EXTREMELY entertaining and full of personality and his character has such a great arc. He's not just one thing - he's many things. A smuggler, a pilot, a Rebel, a friend, a lover, etc., and he plays all his roles to perfection. I have a huge collection of Star Wars action figures, but I still get excited when I can add a new Han to it. If you want to know how much he truly means to me . . . well, after I saw TFA I cried buckets for days and went into a state of actual grief. Real, true grief.

Despised Least Favorite Character: This one was tough, since there are very, VERY few Star Wars characters I don't like, but I finally went with Captain Phasma. Mainly because she tries to look badass but she's actually just . . . useless. Her one and only contribution to the plot is . . . letting the heroes threaten her into disabling the shields. Yeah, how did such a coward rise to the rank of captain?

Favorite Movie: The Empire Strikes Back. Maybe it's cliché, but this movie truly does deserve all the praise it gets. Not only is it considered the best Star Wars movie, but it's considered one of the greatest sequels of all time and I totally agree. Once the stage has been set with A New Hope, it can be expanded in ESB. The characters get further development and new beloved characters like Yoda and Lando get introduced. I'll be giving it a more in-depth review tomorrow, so for now I'll just say it's FREAKING AWESOME.

Despised Least Favorite Movie: The Force Awakens. Okay, look, I DON'T hate this movie, but something had to go in this box and I just plain can't put TFA in the same category as the other SW movies. Aside from the OBVIOUS reason (if you can't figure it out, you either don't know me very well or haven't seen this movie), the story is essentially a point-by-point rip off of ANH, as if the filmmakers cared more about catering to the fanboys than telling a good story. Again, I'll be giving a more in-depth review later.

Overrated Character: Boba Fett. He gets plastered all over Star Wars merchandise and yet he does NOTHING in the actual movies. Any of the other bounty hunters could have been the one to track down the Falcon and the story would be no different. But I've said a lot about this over the years, so I'll shut up before the fanboys kill me.

Underrated Character: Jar Jar Binks. Yes, I'm dead serious. He does NOT deserve the hate he gets. If he personally annoys you, fine, but that's totally subjective. He personally doesn't annoy me and I actually think he's cute. He's a misfit who always tries to do good even if the result isn't always great. But even though he knows his limitation, he never stops trying, and there's something endearing about that. The hate for him has been WAY overblown.

Favorite Game: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Every Star Wars fan NEEDS to play this game. Lego and Star Wars is a match made in heaven (watch the Lego Star Wars specials too) and this game is proof of that. It's adorable and hilarious and yet it maintains the Star Wars atmosphere throughout. Every level is unique and there are TONS of characters to play as. There's something real addicting about blasting everything in sight to get Lego studs to fall out. I'll probably post a full-fledged review of this game sometime, so for now let me say it's AWESOME. I'm freaking excited for the Lego TFA game coming out next month.

Despised Least Favorite Game: This one was tough too since I haven't actually played that many Star Wars games and I generally love the ones I HAVE played. So I finally decided to give this spot to the NES Empire Strikes Back game. I tried playing this game on an emulator and I couldn't last for more than a minute without dying no matter how many times I tried. Yeah yeah, I know the NES era was the era of extremely tough games, but even with Battletoads I can at least get past the first level. When I can't last more than a minute, I'm not having fun.

Favorite Show: Star Wars: The Clone Wars. GOD, this show was amazing. Not only does this show have some of the best CG animation on TV, but it expands on the Star Wars universe in the best way, showing us both old friends and new faces. The background Jedi from the prequels actually get character development and so do the clones. The show really dug into the lives of the clones, so much so that you're actually sad when they die. And of course, this show gave us Ahsoka, who to this day remains one of my favorite characters.

Despised Least Favorite Show: Droids. I thought of putting the Star Wars Holiday Special here, but that's not exactly a "show," and it has Han. And yeah, I know I said I was sticking to the current canon, but something had to go in this box and I don't think the Droids cartoon was ever even REMOTELY canon (and no, I haven't actually seen the Ewoks cartoon). Anyway, this cartoon is just . . . bland. The animation stinks and aside from starring 3PO and R2, it has very little to do with Star Wars.

Favorite Villain: Darth Vader. Do I even need to say anything? This guy is menacing, chilling, ruthless, and yet he has a hidden depth to him. He's considered one of the greatest villains of all time and it's not hard to see why. From the first moment where he enters Tantive IV to his final redemption, we're fascinated with him.

Despised Least Favorite Villain: Ziro the Hutt. Yeah, some of you probably thought I'd put Kylo Ren here because of what he does to Han, but I actually DON'T hate Kylo. I can appreciate what they were going for with him and well, I've been writing about him for a while, but enough about that. And no, I didn't put Phasma here either because 1: I had a rule against putting the same character in two boxes and 2: She's BARELY even a villain. So I went with Ziro the Hutt from Clone Wars. This guy's just plain annoying and his romance with . . . Sy Snootles? That's bizarre even by Star Wars standards.

Favorite Couple: Han and Leia. Again, this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, given that they've been my OTP for years. Their chemistry is just plain PERFECT, absolutely PERFECT. Their banter is hilarious and their serious moments are downright tearjerking. And I'm normally not even a romance person, yet I could watch them all day. They fit together so so SO well. Hell, there are couple bracelets that say "I love you" and "I know," so that oughta tell you something.

Despised Couple: Luke and Leia. Nope, I didn't strike out "despised" for this one - I actually DO despise this pairing. And for the record, it's not just because they turned out to be siblings. Even if they weren't siblings, I'd still hate them as a couple. There's no spark, nothing. Luke and Leia being siblings or not, Leia belongs with Han, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Favorite Moment: The carbon freeze scene. I could talk on and on about this scene. The emotion, the intensity, that five-word exchange that says so so much, the heartbreaking music, the kiss, the sound effects of the freezer, everything. It is the moment that simply defines Han and Leia as a couple (and God, do I miss the days when this was their MOST heartbreaking moment . . .).