With Sabine entering the “real” world, Ong felt like she suddenly meant more to others too. “Right after that panel, so many people were like, ‘Yeah, Sabine! Yeah, Sabine!’ Normally I just get, ‘Oh, cool costume.’ And then all of a sudden it was like, oooh…Sabine is here!”
Ong believes characters like her make the fandom more accessible. “With Rey, with Sabine and Hera—all the female representation in Star Wars now, it’s not just Princess Leia, although she was very strong. But she was kind of the only one. Now you’ve got so many more.”
Although she acknowledges that others can still be toxic online, she tries to avoid those conflicts. “No one I know personally is fighting online. I feel like the nerd community is usually pretty nice to each other. Sometimes they’re like, oh, are you really a nerd?” she said. “I mean, I used to get that maybe 20 years ago: ‘You’re a girl, what are you dressed up for?’ But now I feel like I see everybody here. It’s not just all male fans, the way Comic Con used to be.”
That camaraderie was evident even in the way people at Celebration expressed disagreement. While waiting for a meetup of Ahsoka Tano cosplayers, Erinn Baker, 26, of Portland, Oregon, displayed her twin lightsabers and engaged in the topic of Ashley vs. Rosario. Her take was far more measured than most found online.
“I think I liked Rosario’s performance in [The Book of] Boba Fett better than in The Mandalorian. She had more of Ahsoka’s spirit the second time around,” Baker said. “I would’ve loved to see Ashley in it, but I think I’m excited for any Ahsoka content. Ashley will always be Ahsoka to me, and so I think a lot of us were disappointed. But I think Rosario is still going to do a good job.”
The upbeat way she addressed the issue is typical of interactions at Celebration, and a contrast to the way they frequently play out online. When gathered in person, those who disagree are more likely to do so without slinging insults at each other. “Without the digital barrier of the internet, when you’re face-to-face with people, you have to engage your social filters and think more like, ‘I should not be an a-hole to this person,’” said Lacey, the Obi-Wan Kenobi cosplayer.
Will the politeness and good manners endure now that Celebration is over and the fandom returns to interacting largely online?
“Lightness and darkness is in all of us. That’s the Force, right? It’’ a spectrum,” said Gray, the Santa-themed Jedi. “You’ve gotta just pull toward the light and try to not get sucked into the dark. You’ve got to just try and be good, try and be forgiving and try to be positive. Try to think a good thought about your fellow Star Wars fans.”