Is Ahsoka really popular with young girls?

I am curious as to whether this character has caught on with her probable target demographic. Anyone here hear anything about this?

 

My daughters think she's pretty cool and enjoy watching her on the show. They also enjoy seeing Padme as well.

 

I don't think we can really answer this question.

My fiancée and I have annual passes to Disneyland. While there, it's unusual to see a little girl wearing a Star Wars shirt. When we do, it's usually a Yoda shirt from the theme park. However, we see boys wearing Star Wars shirts all the time, every time. But that's not really a good way to research this topic because they simply don't make a lot of Star Wars clothes for girls. It's a gender issue that doesn't really lend itself to answering this question.

I've gone to both of the Los Angeles Dodger's Star Wars nights. While there, I did see girls dressed as Ahsoka and I sat behind a girl dressed as Barriss Offee. That doesn't mean anything though. I can't tell if they dressed as those characters because their families dressed up and being a girl they made some logical choices regarding who to dress up as.

It seems girls do connect with Ahsoka but to what degree is hard to say. I've heard women say they connected with Princes Leia and it seems superficial and other times I can tell they're sincere. That said, my fiancée got into Star Wars on her own because of Attack of the Clones. It seems like Ahsoka is more popular with girls than Padme was. But that's just an assumption based off my experiences.

 

We should keep this in the official discussion thread.

 

I have no idea, but I hope so.

To put on my feminist hat here, although Ahsoka's character is problematic in some ways (hey-o lolita-ization), it's a heck of a lot better than other role models put out there for young girls. Compare her to, oh, the Princesses from Disney. Unlike Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, Ahsoka has her own sense of agency and is able to take care of herself most of the time - she is, in fact, able to be a hero.

And unlike the ever-changing set of Disney pop stars, Ahsoka is never going to be pressured into a heavily-studio-edited career as a "pop star" that will eventually become a spiraling snowball of trying to be "darker and edgier" (yes, I know you exist, Miley Cyrus, please shut up). She's not going to end up as the next Lindsay Lohan. And although I take issue with some of the outfits she's been stuffed into, especially in the comics, she is not specifically billed as a sex object, unlike what Miley Cyrus is apparently trying to pull now.

By the time this show is over, she will either escape to fight another day, or die a hero. Not being expected to end up as a sex object pop star is a pretty significant step, honestly.

She's also not up to her neck in societal pressure to be more pretty, not worrying about makeup, not worrying about boys boys boys!, etc. - she's a great role model because she is feminine while going against this societal pressure that a woman's life MUST somehow revolve around a man. Instead her life is very much centered around her duty to the universe - the greater good! - which is a really powerful message, I think.

Hey, at least some young girls are maybe getting the message that they don't have to pick up that lip gloss and start worrying about making their first bra a push-up one, and are instead focusing on Ahsoka as a badass role model.

I can dream, anyway.

 

I don't see what's so wrong about female characters who don't fight and do need help. I'd actually say it's often more realistic. I don't like this sentiment that we need sassy, 'badass' female characters to make up for some Barbie Doll syndrome in society. It seems too forced sometimes.

I'm guessing a lot of kids like Ahsoka, and relate to her, want to fight like her, have her powers, stuff like that. But I think with kids in general, Anakin is still the most popular.

 

There's needing help, and then there's being helpless, y'know? And to be honest, if this thing didn't disproportionally affect female characters, there wouldn't be this discussion, really. At risk of derailing into Feminism 101, there are some essays worth checking out on the subject, like this one about the social construction of gender (which ties into how women are groomed/pressured into being thought of as helpless/less than).

Ahsoka may need help occasionally, but she's not helpless, a la Sleeping Beauty. Which is a relief.

 

Agreed 100%.

My girls are 9 and 6, and they love Ahsoka. I had to special order the action figures because I could never find them on the shelf. Their (and my) primary complaint is that Ahsoka's outfit isn't very modest. But she's a girl who fights, and gets good screen time. My girls love her.

 

You hit it right on the head, OW. Ahsoka's ratings score consistantly high amoung her intended demographic (according to LF's
marketing studies); her action figures and other related toys repeatedly sell out at Target, Toys R Us, etc. The problem with
Ahsoka (and I was shaking my head over this from day one) is her outfit. Bare midriffs were well on the way out for young
girls when Ahsoka was created (think Disney's outfit change for Kim Possible). Most parents just don't fly with tube tops and
micro skirts on their eight-year-old daughters. Having Ahsoka dressed like she's on her way to a Brazilian dance competition
interferes with her character.

Everyone wins in the long run, though. Occasional wardrobe changes in future episodes mean happy parents and plenty of new
action figures to sell.

(Provided they can keep them in stock.)

 

^Kim Possible, now that's a pretty good comparison for Ahsoka. Better than Miley Cyrus and fairytale princesses at least. I'm not sure Kim Possible was ever that popular though.

 

I agree with CloneUncleOwen about Ahsoka's outfit. My 7 year old daughter thinks it is silly for Ahsoka (a Jedi in training) to "show her tummy".

She likes Ahsoka because she is a girl Jedi. Just as she likes Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. It is great to see the ladies with lightsabers! I grew up in the days of the OT, so I always had to play the role of Leia. Yeah, I ran around shooting a blaster at everyone, but I always wanted to have the lightsaber.

Ultimately, Padme is her favorite character because of the whole romance thing with Anakin. Go figure!

 

The mid-riff baring trend seems to be an extenuation of Padme's bare midriff in AOTC (in two different costumes) and Aayla Secura's costume design. Yet, it's strange to have a 14-yr old girl in that kind of costume as Padme and Aayla are both in their 20's. I've written a few letters to Lucasfilm requesting that they change Ahsoka's costume as it also seems strange for her to be wearing the same thing day after day.

 

Sorry to post in this thread, again, but what rumblewagon said was just wrong. Rumblewagon, I don't think you understand how difficult it is for them to create new character models. So far, Ahsoka has her full bodysuit and her tube top. I can't see them changing her outfit every single episode she appears in. That would be redundant, and mostly stupid for them to be wasting money to build new models of Ahsoka.

 

I've actually gotten used to her regular costume. I mean, eh, it's not the greatest thing ever. It could very much be improved. But I do appreciate she is wearing tights.

THIS is what made me spit coffee all over my screen when I saw the picture in Wookieepedia:
[image=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081213002840/starwars/images/5/52/AhsokaSlave.jpg]

I think the artist responsible for that...
[image=http://www.ehansberry.com/ppct/2009/20090126-chrishansen.jpg]
...needs to take a seat over there.

(Yeah, I'm slipping into internet. But there you go.)

 

And what you've just posted GGrievous is complete nonsense. They change Padme's costume every episode (sometimes multiple times). In Cargo of Doom, they actually forgot to fix Ahsoka's model in a brief second when she collapses on the floor after being shocked by Cad Bad. It reverts for a second to her normal costume before being changed back to the full space bodysuit. Don't try to tell me it's an extremely arduous and expensive endeavor to change a character costume.

 

That is certainly the "lolita-ization" of Ahsoka that you're talking about, but it is Dark Horse which has always been an edgier comic book publisher. It seems to be an ill-conceived homage to Leia's slave girl costume. I wonder if the artist was aware it was a 14-yr. old girl he was drawing into that costume.

 

Given that Ahsoka still has a 14-year-old girl's physique under there (prepubescent, or in layman's terms, no T&A), I'd have to say yes. Given that Dark Horse was going with the cartoony style as well, obviously tying into the series, I don't think that they were marketing it to a terribly much older audience.

Really, that image is just sort of stunning. I am amazed it made it without somebody saying, "Perhaps a prepubescent girl, scantily-sexily clad, in a slave collar and chain, is a bad direction to be going in."

 

When I read the title I thought you were talking about young girls in the Jedi Temple...

Uh...getting off topic.

Sandtrooper: Move along, move along...

 

But that's only because her character has already been clearly established as one that changes costume every time she moves into a different room. I suppose Padmé fans would be outraged if she ever repeated an outfit. As far as Jedi go, we've always seen that they use the same outfit for years. Nobody's complaining about Aayla never changing her outfit, or Yoda.

Actually, it's hard to tell whether that shot is her original outfit, or the bodysuit with a texture glitch that made the thighs a bit too bright. It seems more likely to me that it's the second case.

As a 3D animator myself, yes I'll tell you that changing a character's outfit is a time-consuming job that you avoid if at all possible.

 

I can't speak for the super-young girls, but us older ones aren't exactly fans... although I'll admit, the gals I watch this show with have started to take a liking to Ahsoka once Season 2 got rolling. Probably a combination of Ahsoka growing less annoying and the steady realization that if we didn't have Ahsoka, we'd have *shudder* more Padme episodes.

That's awesome...

GG, honestly, you have the most eloquent way of starting an argument around here...

 

TCW already has its "Damsel in distress". Do we really need another? I'd say one is more than enough.

I daresay Rex surpassed Anakin some time ago...

Kim Possible was very popular. It was originally planned to only go three seasons, but because of fan requests and viewing numbers it was brought back for a forth season. I would also think that Kim Possible would be better known than Ahsoka Tano.

Tough heroine characters are hard to come by in cartoons and when they do they are usually portrayed as complete tomboys, Kim and Ahsoka are a welcome exception to this.

However there is one thing that gives Ahsoka uniqueness even over a character like Kim Possible, the fact that Ahsoka has never had a love interest. After a movie and 44 episodes, Ahsoka hasn't even had a hint of a love interest or shown "sexual tension" with anyone, which is in itself an achievement. Not even Kim Possible was able to escape that trap.

 

But that's exactly what Filoni and company HAVE told us, rumble. They've also told us that Ahsoka having a limited costume makes it easier to animate her; I'm sure she probably has the most poses/movements out of anyone in the entire series. This also explains why there were so many Ithorians on the lower levels of Coruscant, as GG's signature points out.

"Second ofly", she's a Jedi - so unlike Padme, who is apparently wasting taxpayers' money on her wardrobe, she maintains the same uniform. Just like Obi-Wan and Anakin don't change outfits.

You're also getting very close to the line in your comments with respect to GGrievous. Be careful

 

So by that rationale, Padme changing costume four times in a single episode (Senate Spy) must have been quite a monumental task for the animators.

Ahsoka needs a costume change because 1) it's an impractical costume (tube top) and 2)the notion that she has either:
a)one single set of clothes (does she do laundry every day?) or
b)multiple identical copies of her outfit in a closet (gosh, I wonder what she should wear today?)
are ridiculous presuppositions to impart to Ahsoka's target audience.

(unrelated but how is my comment any different than his comment? His was even remarked upon by another poster as baiting an argument).

 

I'm glad you've come to understand it. Padmé changing clothes like she does is certainly quite a headache for the animation team. But that's just something they can't avoid. Padmé simply cannot go to a gala dinner in the same clothes she used for her day in the senate.

I can understand people requesting a change of clothes because they don't like the current outfit. But your other argument simply doesn't stick. It is VERY common for fantasy characters to always wear just a single costume most of the time. The outfit becomes part of their identity (plus it saves work). As mentioned before, none of the Jedi characters change clothes for years. That's just how it works. I don't see why you complain so much about Ahsoka's case when it's the same with virtually every other character in the saga.