Carrie Fisher

     Way back in 1977, The ten year old boy who would become the man who would become Mister Smith saw an amazing movie. A year before this, My brother and I had believed a man could fly, as Christopher Reeve sailed across the screen in primary colors. In 1977, we had to learn the ways of the Force, to accompany Alec Guinness to Alderaan. My parent's battered green dodge dart got us there, and to Yavin IV, and back.

     In among all this jumping through Hyperspace (Which ain't like dusting crops) I saw an amazing vision.

Clad in a clinging white dress, Confident, Defiant, Sassy... I'm not sure how tall a stormtrooper is, but I knew I didn't want to be a little short to be one. She burned her signature on my young heart just like Daphne, Batgirl, Lois Lane and Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman had before, and just like Catherine Bach's Daisy Duke would in the future. Her luminous brown eyes and shining brown hair said "Princess" to me, and she left a mark on my soul that all my life still hasn't worn all the way away. She was smart, funny, and a crack shot with a blaster. She was never just a pretty face, but a dynamic force on the screen. Real princesses don't just wait to be saved. They do some of the saving themselves.

     I know I am talking about the character, not the actress, but for me they are indelibly painted together.  No one else could have made her the way she was on the screen. When the right actor takes a role, no one else can replace them.

     I read Postcards From the Edge when I was way too young to truly understand it. It was funny, a touching fictionalized memoir, but I should read it again. I remember it was a compelling read, and she a compelling writer. I should pick up some of her other books as well. She wrote satirically of what she had done to herself, candid, unapologetic. At the time I thought it was about what "Hollywood" does to you, but really it was about what it did to her, and how she handled it. It was about how she learned to handle it better.

     She's gone from us now, certainly one with the Force. She left a legacy behind of tough, yet vulnerable heroines that is both hard to quantify, and at the same time trackable. She broke the princess mold, she shattered the damsel mold, and forever changed what many of us young would-be Jedi or scoundrels sought out for our other half. 

From neck-to-ankles coverage to metal bikini, and everything in between. 

      She was brave, honest, and we learned, dealing with bipolar. I know a little of what it's like to have your mind betray you, and tell you things that make you feel anxious or self-hating or downright crazed, and I appreciate the courage it took just to function, much less give joy to so many people for so long. 

     Carrie Fisher was a class act. She had a unique ability to combine class with crass, and to be earthy and approachable. I am saddened by a world without her.

Here are some tributes by fellow Web Personalities

• The Bloggess
• G.I. Jigsaw
• The Toy Box
• Talk Star Wars to Me
• Blue Milk Special (the blog post below, more than the comic)
• Full Frontal Nerdity
• Alexis' Universe

Round Robin Challenge: Christmas Wishes Vs. Christmas Reality

     These days, Practical gifts are the order of the day, if that day is Christmas. As I mentioned here, I have a tradition of picking up a little somethin'-somethin' for me.

I also prowl the aisles at Walgreen's(Open till 4:30 PM Christmas day!) looking for the strange and interesting, and Cherry Mashes for my Mom.

     My family tends to go either very big or very spartan, depending on the year. Now, by Spartan, I don't mean they get really cut abs and start kicking Persian emissaries. that would be madness, madness, I say. 

     I related the story of the last Christmas we really got toys. Dad decided he wanted his boys to have the Transformers toys I loved. So for my dreams, I pick that one toy I have had my eye on and order it to arrive right about the right time-frame for Christmas. It calls back to me the days of the Penney's catalog, or the Montgomery Ward's or Sears & Roebuck. Looking at those things and trying to pick...one. 

     This year the Christmas reality got unusual. My middle sister proposed we each buy one gift, around $20, and draw numbers. (with you so far) and the the gift could be stolen, twice, by a later number(and we'll be cleaning the blood off the walls for months!)

     It actually turned out OK. I was number one, I chose a nice copper insulated mug, that got stolen by my niece, and ended up with another nice insulated mug at the end. where it got weird was when my brother in law chose the tangerine thong. 

     He pulled this out of the box, his expression went from "this can't be what I think..." to "whoa, wrong box" until my nephew showed him the real gift, a yeti mug (yep, lotta mugs.) I put an RC Stingray in the pile, and my nephew's wife ended up with it, which turned out nicely. They have a young son.  

     I think the reality of Christmas beats the dreams. A few years ago I started to really enjoy the giving aspect of Christmas... the choosing of personal gifts, or putting together a craft project. I still did that, despite the exchange my sister suggested, and I think my choices were appreciated. The dream was the waiting, the hoping, and the finding out whether it's transformers or socks. The new dream, for me, is the anticipation of seeing their faces as they open what I chose for them, and it generally matches the reality on the day itself. 

My fellow participants

• Toy Break Like, me, can't always get what he wants, but if he tries he can get what he needs
• Alexis' Universe knows friendship is the true magic of the season
• for The Toy Box, his wishes are made real 

Round Robin Challenge 1

Pages over in the right column, Gentlebeings, start your engines

Ghost of Christmas Presents

     Way back in December of 2011, I made my first tentative foray into the dark, troubled world of the underground third party transformer Market. "this is my Christmas present to me", I said. Or probably it was something like "Give it to us, because we wants it, precious" 

It was the Mastermind Creations Knight Morpher Commander- A Homage to what Optimus Prime could have looked like in the IDW Series Hearts of Steel

December 2012-MP-12- Masterpiece Sideswipe- from BBTS

December 2013- accessories for generations Springer and Blitzwing

December 2014-Planet X Neptune, MP 21- Bumblebee

December 2015: Ocular Max Sphinx

     I think I have been getting better with my photographs over time .

     This year, I am back to planet X for their take on Optimus Prime from the Fall of Cybertron game. He is big, and mighty looking- His transformation is complex but fairly intuitive, and not quite to the level where I would rather have a hangnail than transform him. The plastic he is made from has a swirling metallic pearlescence which looks great in the light, and the light piping in his eyes is excellent, He came equipped with an energy axe, an energy sword and a cannon which represents the "Path Blaster" from the game. He is one helluva fun piece to have on the shelves. As an added bonus, he has a matrix chamber that opens in his chest to show a removable matrix of leadership.