Star Wars Resistance has a special place in our hearts. It pushed countries with a unique animation style, spy/resistance setting, and zany ensemble cast of characters that all together contributed to the joy of Star Wars from a new perspective. Today is Remembering Resistance day! Our Friends at Friends of the Force are hosting big events (including a hashtag on Twitter #RememberingResistance) and we wanted to highlight an amazing transformational Artist who we love and respect and has also appeared on the podcast before Kate (@BB_Kate_Art)!
What was your introduction to Star Wars: Resistance?
I first learned about Resistance from the official announcements and trailers online, and honestly, I was sure it wasn’t going to be for me. I had never been able to get into Clone Wars or Rebels and the trailers and description of Resistance really focused on the racing aspect of the show. Spaceships are like the least interesting part of Star Wars to me, so I wasn’t interested. I ended up giving it a shot, I think because I was hoping some of my favorite characters from the Sequel Trilogy would make an appearance, and I’m so, so glad I did. It took about 3 or 4 episodes for me to fall really in love with it, but from that point on, I was hooked. I found myself really connecting with the characters and invested in what was going to happen to them.
Tell me about your love of resistance, Why is Resistance important to you as a sequel trilogy fan?
The best word I have to describe Resistance is “fun”. Every new episode, I’d find myself just smiling for the whole time I watched it. It keeps the focus on the characters and their relationships with each other, which is always what I’m looking for in stories.
It’s all the adventure and heart of Star Wars, but one of the things that sets it apart is that it takes place mainly within one location. The Colossus itself is such an important character in its own right. It’s like how when I read Harry Potter as a kid, Hogwarts felt real to me and I was dying to go there. I feel the same way about the Colossus. Due to that fact that a big part of most Star Wars stories is travelling from planet to planet, there aren’t that many other Star Wars locations that have the same kind of real, home-like feeling to me, apart from maybe the Millennium Falcon (and I would guess Rebels fans feel this way about the Ghost).
I also really appreciate that, overall, the stakes are relatively low. Yes, Kaz’s long-term goal is to help fight the First Order and save the galaxy, but the story is more about this one group of people and how the galactic events are impacting them. Kaz’s goals shift to taking care of the people around him and helping his friend, Tam. Kaz doesn’t end up doing anything that has a major impact on the galaxy, but he does save his friend and that’s enough. That’s a story worth telling.
I remember there being a lot of criticism of the animation style of the show online, probably just because it didn’t look like Clone Wars or Rebels and people hate change and associate a cute, brightly colored style with being childish. I personally am a huge fan of the look and feel of the show. It’s so pleasing to look at and there’s so much great physical comedy from the character animation. The episode where Kaz is disguised as a stormtrooper comes to mind as an example. It’s hilarious to see his distinctive noodley movement style come through his disguise.
I really could go on and on about all the reasons I love this show, but the biggest thing is its heart. It is fun and unashamedly goofy and uncynical. It respects its characters and its audience, and it has brought me a whole lot of joy.
Who are some of your favorite characters and tell me why they appeal to you?
Basically all the characters have a special place in my heart, so it’s hard to pick just a few to talk about, but I will.
First, I love Kaz so much. He’s such a fun choice for a main character, especially in a Star Wars show. He doesn’t have any Force abilities and, other than being a good pilot (which, let’s face it, that’s a skill that basically half the people in the Star Wars galaxy have so it’s not particularly impressive), he doesn’t really have any special skills. He just has a lot of enthusiasm and a good heart and that’s enough for him to be a hero and make a difference. I love that his kindness and his faith in people is almost always rewarded. I also have a special place in my heart for characters that are very dumb in an endearing way, and Kaz has that quality in spades.
I’m a big fan of Tam as well. Her frustration with Kaz and always being kept out of the loop and outshone is very well written. That moment where she decides to join the First Order, I thought for sure she was going to change her mind at the last minute and stay on the Colossus, and I was shocked that they really went there with her story. I always love when a show, especially a kids’ show, can surprise me like that. I love her no-nonsense, taking-nothing-from-no-one attitude that cracks occasionally to show her vulnerability and disappointment. She’s smart and courageous and stands up for what she believes in.
Synara is one of my other top favorites. I just think she’s the coolest. The fact that she punches Kaz in the face the first time they meet? Inject that straight into my veins. I love her independence and her journey of learning to trust people and open herself up to friendships. I love that when Kaz has a dangerous, non-piloting-based mission to go on, that she’s the friend he chooses to take with him.
You produced alot of amazing art during the run of resistance. I remember esp the Prom piece. Where do your ideas come from?
Thank you! For the prom drawing, I think the idea for that just came from me liking fancy clothes and wanting to dress these characters up. I had been joking about wanting a prom episode, and I knew we weren’t going to get it, so I made it happen for myself! A lot of my ideas come from conversations with friends on twitter. Something will spark a funny image in my mind and I feel compelled to draw it. That’s the most fun and rewarding kind of drawing, when the idea comes first and I just need to produce it. When the situation is that I want to draw something and then need to come up with an idea of what to draw, that’s a lot harder and usually I end up liking the finished result a lot less. I like to keep a running list of drawing ideas on my phone, so that when the mood strikes me, I have a ready source of possible inspiration, rather than just drawing “3/4 view of character head facing left” yet again.
Tell me in your own words about the Art you have made from resistance.
1. Kaz with BB-8: I really love the dynamic that Kaz and BB-8 have together. BB-8 is basically there to babysit Kaz and BB-8 seems to kind of reluctantly tolerate him. It’s really funny to me because in the movies (for the most part, apart from his love of chaos and violence) BB-8 is pretty cute and sweet. So to have him telling Kaz “We’re not friends” and callously shoving him out of an airborne ship when Kaz is nervous about jumping is peak comedy. There are several scenes where Kaz has to pick BB-8 up and he’s super heavy, so I thought it would be nice for him to have a more convenient way to transport BB-8 and that’s what the baby carriers are for.
2. Since Kaz grew up on Hosnian Prime and his father is a senator, it’s possible that he knew Ben Solo when he was young. The age difference inspired the headcanon that Ben babysat Kaz and, look, you can’t prove that it didn’t happen.
3. This is inspired by the episode where Kaz helps Synara escape the Colossus and she is very oblivious to his feelings for her. It’s an older meme, sir, but it checks out.
4. This is the prom drawing I talked about before! BB-8’s little bow tie is my favorite part.
5. To be honest, Poe has never really been one of my favorite characters, but I do love him in Resistance and I like his relationship with Kaz a lot. It reminds me a bit of the relationship between Miles Morales and Peter B. Parker in Into the Spider-Verse, since Poe’s mentoring style is pretty hands-off, so this is a redraw of that Spider-Verse screencap that was a meme for awhile.
6. The droids are one of my favorite parts of the show, so this drawing is to show my love for them (and Kaz too, of course!).
What has the reaction been to your Resistance Art from the Star Wars fandom/creators?
The Resistance fandom is pretty small, and there aren’t a lot of people making fanart, so nearly every drawing I made got some positive interaction from the creators and/or actors. In my experience, there aren’t a lot of subjects for fanart where that happens, so that aspect was super rewarding. It was really fun to be able to connect with the people who were making something that I enjoyed so much and show my love for their creation, as well as to receive so much kindness and positive feedback from them. Their interaction meant a lot to me and it really demonstrated that the people making the show were really excited about what they were doing and had a real love for what they were creating, beyond seeing it as just a job.
I went to Star Wars Celebration in Chicago last year and brought some stuff to give out to people, including mini prints of my drawing of Kaz with BB-8 and CB-23. One guy I gave a print to said that he had an autograph appointment with Christopher Sean and that he was going to have him sign my art. I was like, “Hold on, why am I not doing that?” and I was able to snag an autograph slot. Christopher was so nice when I met him. He said that he recognized my artwork and that he was a fan of my drawings. I offered him one of the Kaz prints and he asked me to sign it for him and it later showed up in one of his Instagram stories. It was just a nice experience as a fan to be treated so kindly and with so much enthusiasm!
I do wish the fan community for Resistance was larger, since that would probably have given us more seasons and I think it deserves a lot more appreciation than it’s gotten. But, in some ways, the fact that the fandom was so small made it a lot of fun, stress-free, and wholesome.
If the adventures of Star Wars: Resistance were to continue, what would you like to see happen?
I really want to see where Tam goes next. I honestly wish they could have stretched out her story a bit and had her in the First Order for longer. That could have been a really interesting look into that world and I feel like we only got a small taste of that. But, now that she’s back, how does she fit into life on the Colossus? Will she join the Aces?
I also want more Synara! We left her at a really interesting point in her story, where she chose her friendship with Kaz and the others on the Colossus over the pirates, and I want to see what she does next and how her new friendships continue to develop. I’d also like more details about her past. How did she end up with the pirates?
I also feel like there were a lot of loose ends that we never got resolutions for. What’s the deal with Mika Grey? Is there anything more to the story of the children from Tehar? Is Senator Xiono working with the First Order? Do Kaz and BB-8 ever reunite? What did Kaz do with that stuffed animal he found on the Starkiller Base prototype? Did Kaz just forget about his crush on Synara and is he ever going to ask her out?
Kate was so kind to provide all the Artwork and the special new feature art for this interview. Star Wars: Resistance was very special to those who came along for the journey. You can find more from Kate on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bb_kate_art
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bb_kate_art/
