Social Greetings to all, and to all, salutations.

I'm a 21-year-old aspiring professional illustrator from Finland; the one nordic country that everyone always forgets about. I'm new to the boards, but I have been lurking semi-regularly for the past few years, and finally decided to join to share my experiences and hopefully make new friends.

Star Wars jumpstarted my imagination back in 1997, when I was exposed to it for the very first time after my mother got the brand new, original trilogy VHS boxset for my father's 33rd birthday. Little did my three-year-old brain realize that the following six hours would change my life forever and come to define me in ways that I would only realize and fully appreciate years and years later.

I grew up watching the special edition and the prequel trilogy, and so, I don't have a nostalgic connection to the original, unaltered theatrical releases, and while I have seen them later in life, it's not the Star Wars I grew up with. I feel this is always an important point to stress. I have no issues with the changes Lucas implemented, as that is the way I remember these films. I feel as though a lot of the people who bash on and nitpick the SE and prequels, do so for nostalgia reasons, and the rest of us who are not old enough to have experienced the films in their original, theatrical glory, mostly join in on it because it's trendy to tear Lucas apart now, and most people are too timid to form honest opinions of their own and hold on to those for fear of social exclusion.

Regardless of which version you prefer, the story still remains unchanged. That's what we all fell in love with, originally. In a very real way, the entire pantheon of characters I was introduced to over the years through various forms of Expanded Universe media, became more real to me than many of the people in the highly overvalued "real life." The film saga taught me the importance of forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and redemption, and Knights of the Old Republic made me view the world in a less-simplistic, black and white terms, and understand that sometimes evil deeds are necessary in order serve the greater good. These are just two examples of all the deep, immersive and very human stories that punctuate the entire fabric of Star Wars' rich, 30,000 year-old in-universe history. It is these stories that have kept my interest in creative pursuits alive to this very day, and now, I'm finally starting to live my childhood dream of making it as a professional illustrator. To work on my own terms, doing what I love.

Star Wars started before any of us can truly recall, and it will go on until the end of time.

May the Force be with you. (And sorry for the needlessly lengthy and verbose introductory post.)