As you may have already seen in this report, this coming Monday, 30th October, has been (unofficially) declared Anakin Solo Day.

No, not Anakin Skywalker - Anakin Solo, Vader's grandson.

It's the fifth anniversary of the "death" of Han and Leia's youngest son in Troy Denning's novel Star by Star, which was released five years ago come Monday.

As you've probably heard by now, Anakin's big brother, Jacen Solo, continues to pursue an Orwellian agenda as a Sith Lord wannabe in the "Legacy of the Force" novels; but a group of fans have decided that this offers us the perfect opportunity to remember the other Solo boy and his unfinished Hero's Journey - the one who seemed to be the best hope to continue the legacy of the original Star Wars trilogy.

As I did in the last report, I ought to stress that this isn't being organized by TheForce.Net. The fans behind this, who call themselves the "Corellian Embassy", can be reached at corellianembassy@wrighton.org, and they've sent in an update with their various plans:

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* We'll be reviving the Anakin Solo thread at the StarWars.com forums.

This is intended as a place to discuss Anakin's legacy in the storyline since Star by Star. We're not really sure what sort of shape the discussion will take, but we're hoping to combine serious and humorous points of view, thoughtful reflection and impromptu reaction.

Think of it as an experiment to discover what the the range of moods and strength of feeling about the character is after five years....

* Posters at TheForce.Net are adopting an "icon campaign".

The F.A.D.A. (Fans Against Dead Anakins) group at TF.N's message boards are marking Anakin Solo day by adopting commemorative user-icons. I'm sure they won't mind if other posters there join them.

For the week leading up to the 30th, F.A.D.A. members are using icons showing Anakin's friends and relatives, combined with taglines in their signature bars explaining why their chosen character has been affected by Anakin (and often why they'd like to see him back from the dead), and advertising "Anakin Solo Day, Oct. 30 2006".

For instance, poster THE_PIED_PIPER, whose idea this mainly is, has a picture of a mean and armed Padm? Amidala, with a tagline to match:





Padme is ticked, and has a gun. She demands her grandson back, immediately!!


Savvy?

On Anakin Solo Day itself, the plan is for everyone to change over to a shared icon showing Anakin's Force-ghost, with a tagline to go with it:





LONG LIVE ANAKIN SOLO!
Anakin Solo Day, 30th October 2006


* Solo Halloween Costumes

It's Halloween, and you don't know who you want to be? How about Anakin Solo - or his ghost? If we get enough photos, we'll try to organize a gallery. At least one female fan is talking about doing Jaina instead - but here's the basic Anakin description:

Dark hair, worn long and slightly messy; blue eyes. He has a tendancy to stand with his thumbs tucked behind his belt, a Jedi pose which is also an unconscious echo of Vader's favoured stance in the classic trilogy.

For the Myrkr mission, the strike team wore olive/khaki combat jumpsuits, but Anakin is described elsewhere as wearing Corellian breeches and boots (like Han), with a lightsaber on his belt, and a loose tunic. Sometimes, he has a dark, sleeveless jerkin over the top - though it's not clear whether this is of the Corellian type worn by Han, or the Jedi sort that Luke wears in Return of the Jedi.

LONG LIVE ANAKIN SOLO!
corellianembassy@wrighton.org
Anakin Solo Day - October 30, 2006.

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At TF.N, we will, of course, keep you updated on the events as they actually happen - and indeed with all other Star Wars books & comics news that comes our way.

You can also follow the latest Anakin Solo Day news in these two threads on the TF.N message-board, here and here.