By Lance Leibrock
At the time that this article was written and published, Legends Con II is only a few months away. Fortunately, I will be able to attend this one, due to the location of the event. But if there’s anything I remember about what I saw at the inaugural event, my friends met each other for the first time and celebrated what brought us all together. Yes, we are all excited to meet the likes of Kevin J. Anderson and Troy Denning, but I’m personally more excited to meet folks like Brennan, Marcel, Alex, Ken, Max, and even folks like Matt Wilkins and Joe Bongiorno, who brought a lot of us together and somewhat became mentors to us. Due to their work, a lot of us have created YouTube channels and social media accounts of our own to celebrate the Expanded Universe. Most of us got introduced to the Expanded Universe due to Matt, and Supernatural Encounters was the first time most of us got to experience new Expanded Universe material as it is coming out. Folks who argue and debate about how “official” SE may or may not be forget that, honestly, that doesn’t matter to us. The EU was declared not canon, yet we read it anyway, so why would we care if SE is “canon” or not? It’s irrelevant to us.
My point with saying all of this is that the EU Movement isn’t just a group of EU fans that want more EU. That is our primary goal, yes, but it’s also keeping the EU alive, which I think we’ve done a good job of. More specifically, what keeps us all going is the fact that the Movement has become a family, of sorts. We all have plenty of things going on in real life that are pretty distressing, but the Movement has always been there for us. Many of us read the EU for that familial bond that we’ve built over these past few years. It’s not necessarily about the EU; it’s about the memories we’ve made alongside those who are also reading it.
Over the past few months, there have been several groups of individuals who were once associated with the Movement who have somewhat alienated themselves. They’ve become increasingly hostile towards those who identify with the Movement. I don’t plan on naming any names, but for many of us this disunity and infighting has caused us so much anxiety, and it’s led to a domino effect of infighting. People become hostile towards the Movement, people see the hostility, then they themselves become hostile. I’ve been told by members of the Movement and, really, just fans of the EU in general, that they’ve been turned off of the EU because of the infighting. It’s awful what’s been happening, but maybe Legends Con II can make a much needed change.
My dream for Legends Con II is that it’ll unite us. Many of us will be there at the convention, but I hope that those that see footage of the convention will have a renewed sense of appreciation for the EU and its fans. Ultimately, what truly matters is the friendships we’ve made with each other. The infighting we have is nothing compared to the unity we can have. We were once united, and, while that unity would provide us with a better chance at convincing Lucasfilm to continue the EU, that’s not why I want unity. I want unity because I’ve lost too many friends over the infighting. I don’t want to lose anymore, and I don’t want to make enemies over a fictional series of books and comics. All I want, and all my friends want is to create an environment where all are welcome, and where we can all celebrate this great story we love. This is why I’m such a staunch supporter of Legends Con II. This is why so many of us are looking forward to it. This convention will show those that the infighting within the fandom isn’t what defines us; what defines us is our love for each other and this story. That is what I hope Legends Con II will accomplish and, ultimately, that is what I hope it’ll be remembered for: unity.
Long live the Expanded Universe!
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