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We have a winner!

Caperton

And the winner is… everybody, kind of. The final count for Slave Leia Watch 2011 is in, and it’s a simultaneously disappointing and heartening six Slave Leias. It’s disappointing because at $5US per Slave Leia (and no Rebels or Dudes), that’s a mere $30 to our winning charity. It’s heartening, though, that so many women have moved away from what I see as a rather disturbing costume choice, so much so that they didn’t even have the usual designated Slave Leia section in the parade. (Also kind of cool? A Leia in bronze bikini, carrying Jabba’s head on a pike. If you’re gonna do it…)

The lucky charity will be Planned Parenthood, with a comfortable 56 percent of the vote. Although the Leia costume count was low, I figure an appearance by the actual Leia, Carrie Fisher, should be worth something. So I’m going to round that out to a nice $50US for women’s health. Congratulations, Planned Parenthood, and women in general.

(Start planning now for next year’s Watch. With such a light Leia showing, the 2012 costume to watch is kind of up in the air, but there were certainly enough Sookehs around this year to make some deserving charity very happy.)

16 thoughts on We have a winner!

  2. I actually dressed as Princess Leia in high school. I wore an old cream colored bridesmaid’s dress of my mothers with long sleeves and a high neck. It was like her dress when she gets “rescued.” I wound my hair up on my head.

    It was the least sexy of her whole costume system throughout all three movies. But it was one of the best costumes my laziness ever created.

    She was a badass, when you look at it as a whole, and she was probably my first badass lady hero.

  5. If they do a second annual comic book babe contest, that might be the place to look for a replacement for slave Leia.

  6. I counted two rebel Leias and several classic princess but not a single slave Leia. Maybe they were all hanging out in the Hyatt. Speaking of hanging out, I owe 30 bucks to southern poverty law because male support undergarments were in short supply this year.

  7. My daughter is going as Princess Leia again this year (the white dress/bun hair version) and this year she’ll have a friend to go with her. We were at her favorite place in the world (Build a Bear) and they had Star Wars outfits for the stuffed animals! So this year she will have a stuffed animal dressed up as C-3PO. They have Darth Vader and a jedi outfit too, with little stuffed light sabers.

  8. sidhe3141: Google search didn’t turn up anything. A shame, really.

    Patience, Padawan. The con only ended yesterday. People are still recovering; most will be posting pictures over the next week or so.

  9. This was my first dragoncon in a number of years and it was a total blast.

    I too was completely shocked (pleasantly so) at the low number of slave-leia costumes. I, like scrumby, saw a fair share of classic Leias. Also… what was with all the Steampunk stuff? I know it is becoming really popular but… geez.

    My feet are still sore and my pocketbook is mostly empty but I’m already looking forward to next year’s con. As usual, I got bitten by the costuming bug and I’m currently drafting a couple different costume designs. Hopefully if I start working now (I’m a total n00b) then it will be ready and awesome in time for next year.

  10. Vail, if you post a picture of your daughter’s teddy bear dressed as Slave Leia, I suspect my friends will love you forever. (Oddly enough, sci-fi fans seem to be over-represented among the Planned Parenthood student affiliates I’ve worked with this year!) 😀

  11. Steampunk is apparently The Thing at Dragon*Con these days. A friend of mine did a documentary about Dragon*Con last year and Steampunk features prominently.

  12. Guess that’s what happens when feministes objectify women to try for a charity. God says, “You’re hypocrites.” and sees to it, you don’t get as much money.

  13. Jackie:
    Guess that’s what happens when feministes objectify women to try for a charity. God says, “You’re hypocrites.” and sees to it, you don’t get as much money.

    Yes. By noting the literally dozens of costumes every year that romanticize Leia in her most vulnerable time, trying to turn that negative into a positive by donating to charity for the costumes that women were already going to wear anyway, and actually encouraging women to reproduce Leia’s costume where she’s covered neck to toe and heavily armed, I have drawn the ire of the Almighty. And He punished me by depriving Planned Parenthood of funds. Mea culpa.

  14. Yes. By noting the literally dozens of costumes every year that romanticize Leia in her most vulnerable time, trying to turn that negative into a positive by donating to charity for the costumes that women were already going to wear anyway, and actually encouraging women to reproduce Leia’s costume where she’s covered neck to toe and heavily armed, I have drawn the ire of the Almighty.

    You know, Caperton, if you’re that good at getting God’s attention, I know some football fans who would really like to meet you.

  15. As what I think is an opposite to slave Leia, did anyone notice the new female action hero? River Song was well represented. Including a mother daughter pair where the Mom was River and the daughter was Amy Pond.

    Also, I noticed that women were represented well across every genre. That includes military type costumes (Umbrella Corp, Stargate, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters) – with a LOT less “feminization”/objectification than in previous years.

    But seriously, there is no such thing as too much River Song.

  16. FashionablyEvil: You know, Caperton, if you’re that good at getting God’s attention, I know some football fans who would really like to meet you.

    If I had any true influence with Football God, do you think Georgia would have gotten so viciously rolled by Boise State last weekend?

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