Blog Project #2

Of all the fandoms that I consider myself to be a part of, none are larger or more creatively inclined than that of Star Wars. With a fanbase of millions across the entire world, it is no surprise that fan sites dedicated to Star Wars measure in the hundreds (if not more), and dedicated to a wide range of topics; everything from the films to the most obscure corners of the Expanded Universe, or fan activities like conventions or fan fiction. Therefore, it is my task to try direct my fellow fans to some of the best domains of Star Wars fandom in an attempt to demonstrate the diversity of fan creations.

One of the most prestigious of the Star Wars fan groups is the Imperial 501^st Legion. Dubbed as “The World’s Definitive Imperial Costuming Organization,” the 501^st Legion is one of the single largest fan organizations founded as a community for costume enthusiasts, which now uses its costumed members to raise funds for charity.

The 501^st’s website is used primarily as a hub for sharing news between the numerous garrisons (regional and local clubs), organizing events, and displaying the costumes created by its membership, with its target audience made up primarily of members or potential members. The homepage is very professional looking, topped with a large banner baring their logo and an easy to navigate scroll-over bar with labeled with all of the site’s most important functions labeled, such as scheduled events (or how to schedule one), a costume gallery, and membership requirements. Improving navigation even more, the right hand side has twitter listings, featured costumes, recruitment bars, ads for major events, and even a map for locating your nearest garrison.

Overall, the 501^st’s homepage is a very smart-looking site. As the Legion is played up as an Imperial stormtrooper legion stationed on Earth, the News articles are written semi-in character, without oversaturating the reader with military language or Star Wars references. Overall, it maintains an inviting, humorous tone, and does an excellent job of presenting their organization.

For those who enjoy writing about their own Star Wars adventures, there is Star Wars Fan Fiction. It is a site dedicated solely to Star Wars fan fiction without content restrictions, though they profess a focus on romance or dark fictions. Be warned, however, because this site does not place restrictions on the posting of mature content, although users who state that they are younger than eighteen may navigate the site with stories labeled as mature safely hidden away.

The site itself is quite simplistic, and is formatted as a message board. It is separated into four sections: The Holonet, a section for site rules and general chat; Fan Fiction, which is further split into the four primary eras of the Star Wars timeline; Adult Fan Fiction, which is subdivided into the same sections, with the addition of a section for adding adult scenes to the movies; and the Imperial Palace, a section for fan art and personal blogs. While certainly easy to navigate and user friendly, it comes across as very bare bones, with no additional frills, and a rather plain looking formatting. In itself, this is not a bad thing, being dedicated primarily to fan fiction, though I do wish that it had a more interesting banner.

While I am not much of an artist, I enjoy the opportunity to explore large archives of artwork for my favorite continuities as much as anyone, and the Star Wars Elite group on Deviant Art provides this in spades. With over forty-six hundred members, it is one of the largest dedicated Star Wars groups on the website. It caters to Star Wars artists of all stripes, from drawings to paintings, fan fiction to fan comics, and even crafts and cosplay.

The site is set up as a standard Deviant Art website, with a home page filled with thumbnails of featured artwork from every category, and the navigation bar split up into the home, the gallery, favorites, and the group administrator’s journal for group news. And, being a Deviant Art group, the background formatting remains a rather uninspiring gray-green. The gallery can be a bit overwhelming to navigate, as the site has over categories to submit one’s art under. Due to the sheer number of submissions, searching for a specific piece even in the smallest category can be a daunting task. Especially as it lacks a search bar for the categories, and extremely inconvenient. For sheer volume, the Star Wars Elite can occupy your time for days, but it is not very user friendly.

Pictures

501st Legion at the Anovos Costume Convention.