In case you were wondering if our world got any less surreal overnight, there’s a controversy currently unfolding on Twitter where some Star Wars superfans are extremely upset with the creator of a popular Star Wars parody account. Let’s back up for a moment: Emo Kylo Ren (@KyloR3n) is a Twitter parody account that posits First Order leader Kylo Ren as the My Chemical Romance-loving adolescent ball of angst and sebum we all know him to be deep in our hearts. Originally created after the release of Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens, the account has recently been getting a lot of comedic mileage out of Kylo’s Force-enabled Skype sessions with Rey in The Last Jedi. Here’s a few representative tweets:
And, because life is very surreal in the Year Of Our Logan Paul 2018, devoted fans of the account are currently railing against its creator, Alexandra Petri of Washington Post satire fame, after she revealed herself in an article on Syfy.com. Specifically, Petri seems to have angered fans who ’ship Kylo Ren and “Skype girlfriend” Rey—Reylo, to use the hybrid form—for implying that they are impressionable teenagers who would seek out a Kylo type in real life:
“It’s funny to see how many people are like ‘this is going to be my yearbook quote,’ [and it’s] Kylo Ren having a thought about something,” Petri says. “I think a part of him is still in high school. He’s playing the oboe in band; he’s definitely some sort of woodwind… Because he sort of feels like this sad teenager, he feels almost less harmful. There’s this very soft feeling, like, ‘aww, he’s sleeping with his Darth Vader plush.’ There’s this soft core to him where people feel less like, ‘oh, this man has destroyed several star systems.’ People are like, ‘actually, he didn’t want it to happen.’”
“I’m like, internet, this isn’t a meet-cute. You can all do so much better than somebody who abducts you. Just because we call it a bridal carry doesn’t mean it’s okay. All these teens were sending me videos of them playing the oboe and I’m like, ‘You can all do better. You deserve a nice man.’ Then we get into the Han Solo, ‘I’m a nice man’ nonsense. Find a good supportive fellow instead!”
Now, if one were inclined toward intense fandom, one might find this particular comment to be a “Get a life, loser”-type of provocation attacking one’s worldview rather than a well-intentioned warning from a humorist observing the phenomenon from the outside:
Petri reached out to this particular user, an interaction that seemed to have come to a satisfactory conclusion:
Meanwhile, the dissension continues:
And, perhaps predictably enough, Emo Kylo Ren is not taking it well.