Happy Rebels Remembered Day! Today started by Johna of Geeky Bubble, is a celebration of Rebels marking the anniversary of the finale episode, "Family Reunion - And Farewell." We celebrate Rebels every day here at Star Wars Geek Girl, but we especially wanted to take a look at how far Rebels has come in the last ten years!
Something that has been so special to me as someone who's been watching (and loving) Rebels since season 1 is watching the fandom around it grow. I still remember those early days- while there was a passionate fandom around the show from the beginning, many didn't even know it existed, including other Star Wars fans! For some people, it got lost in the hype surrounding the brand new sequel trilogy. Rebels also, as all new Star Wars does, faced dismissive backlash, and people wrote the show off. As frustrating as that was, it makes the conversation around the show today so much more rewarding. Today, Rebels is repeatedly brought up as among the best of Star Wars post-Disney acquisition, and characters that used to be seen as "annoying" like Ezra or Sabine are now considered beloved and iconic. The fanbase has only grown as more and more people have gone back to give the show a try, and you can still find brand new Rebels fanart, edits, memes and conversation every day!
Not to mention the merch! Obviously merchandising isn't everything, but the options for Rebels merch has expanded greatly since the show was on air. It used to mostly be action figures or simple t-shirts (and if you wanted something with Hera on it you could just forget it). But today, Rebels fans can have everything their hearts desire- Loungefly bags, plushies, jewelry, and anything else you may wish for is out there!
What can't be understated, though, is the impact Rebels has had on Star Wars storytelling since its release. And I don't just mean Ahsoka- we'll get there in a minute. But so many of the characters and storylines in other Star Wars media owes at least some credit to the stories in Rebels. Whether its Inquisitors showing up in the Jedi games or Obi-Wan Kenobi, the inclusion of Hera Syndulla in Star Wars comics, books and games like Squadrons, the continuation of the darksaber plotline in The Mandalorian, or the ever-increasing presence of Loth-cats, so much of modern Star Wars pulls from ideas originating in or expanded upon in Rebels, even all these years later.
The story of Rebels lives on too, of course. The epic finale that aired seven (seven!) years ago now was a fantastic conclusion to that chapter of our favorite characters' lives, but promised an exciting new story ahead. And after years of crying out #WheresEzra (thanks again to Johna for that one), we finally got Ahsoka season 1 in 2023. This series delivered more of young Jacen Syndulla, showed us how Hera operates in the New Republic, gave us Ahsoka and Sabine's team-up as promised in Rebels' finale and had Sabine step into a new role as a Jedi Padawan. But most importantly, we got to see Sabine deliver on her promise to Ezra, and reunite with him and send him back home.
We can expect Ahsoka season 2 in the next couple of years and see this story continue even further, and I for one cannot wait for more reunions, and to see our favorite space family whole (as much as they can be) again.
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