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Storytime. I joined my community yard sale last week and put a lot of my Star Wars toys out bc I’m letting go of a lot of them. I have collected since the PT era but ramped it up in 2015 with ST. My collection is massive. Anyways a little girl, maybe 9/10 came w/her little sister
and grandmother. She immediately went to my table and started to tell her sister who Rey was. But her sister cut her off and said, “yeah yeah, I know you talk about it alllll the time.” I watch the little girl deflate. She got quiet and kept looking. Any of us in this fandom can
definitely relate to that. I’ve had friends say, “oh god, don’t get her started,” when all we want to do is share our love for something. So I asked her which Star Wars character was her favorite. She immediately lit up and said, Rey. I could see she was excited someone wanted
to talk Star Wars with her. So I asked her which movie was her favorite, and she said all of them. And I had both Forces of Destiny Rey dolls on my table. The one with Bb8 and the other just TLJ Rey. She looked at them and a few other things as we chatted. Then I asked her
if she had any Rey dolls. She said no. So then I asked her which one of the dolls I had she liked the best. And she said the one with BB8. I picked it up off my table and handed it to her. I told her she could have it for free. She was so excited. Her grandmother thanked me and
told me she couldn’t find ST toys anywhere in the stores. It’s all OT; well, she said Vader Luke, etc., but she meant OT. The little girl said not many of her friends like Star Wars like her. Then I told her that Star Wars was for girls too. And that lots of girls love it like me
Anyways I just wanted to share this little story for two reasons. 1. DLF has basically pulled everything from the toy shelves that has to do with the ST, which I find sad since the movies ended not that long ago. Kids still want ST material. They’ve removed most of it bc of the
backlash from the older fans who only like the OT. Which is why that merch is now back on the shelves. 2 I related to that little girl so much that day. It reminded me that the Reylo community is one of the most extraordinary fandom experiences I’ve ever had the privilege to be a
part of. I’ve made irl friends like @ReyloRobyn2011 we hang out bc we live close, our kids play together. Like @directedbyrian who I met by chance at an AITAF event years ago. @MarieCGould and @black_tym, who I met at the end of SWCC and had the most fun ride to an airport ever
gushing about Star Wars the whole way there. We do belong in this fandom. We’ve been through a lot. The irl world doesn’t always understand the sexism or harassment we’ve endured. Bc who thinks that happens bc someone likes romance in Star Wars? I never would’ve believed
it had I not faced it myself And Star Wars is fiction it’s fantasy. But it’s also an important part of my life as an artist and writer. I’ve grown exponentially in the last few years in both because of the wonderful people in this fandom. Thank you all for just being you. #Reylo
