On 17th December, 2020, there was a great disturbance in the Force as if millions of fans across the world cried with joy as Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni showcased their masterclass in the second season finale of The Mandalorian. Widely considered to be the best thing to happen to Star Wars in over decades, the show has re-united the ever warring and dissatisfied fans with each episode at a time. If the gripping plot of the series wasn’t enough, the sight of a familiar looking green lightsaber in the season finale sealed the deal.
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Prior to the airing of the second season finale, a lot of speculations were doing the rounds regarding the Jedi Master who would be answering Grogu’s call on Tython. With Dave Filoni, who was taken as a protege by George Lucas himself, and Jon Favreau, who kickstarted the behemoth of a franchise with Marvel Cinematic Universe, at the helm, The Mandalorian did the impossible by creating a story for casual fans of Star Wars while still managing to include some lip-smacking fan-service throughout the second season. And to top it off, the showrunners brought back Luke Skywalker, with Mark Hamill returning as a de-aged Jedi Master in the final episode that has left fans reeling.
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As a testament to the brilliance of The Mandalorian, a popular YouTuber by the name Star Wars Theory, or more popularly known as Toos, live-streamed his reaction to the second season finale. As an avid Star Wars fan, Toos has now made his passion into a full-time profession that has become widely popular among the fans. Sharing the sentiment of millions of fans across the globe, Toos broke down into tears of joy when Mark Hamill appeared as Luke Skywalker after laying waste to scores of Dark Troopers. For the next fifteen minutes or so, Toos could not stop his tears after being overwhelmed by the barrage of emotions that he felt with the Jedi Master’s return. When it was over, he was slightly embarrassed, but nonetheless, truly grateful to the showrunners and Lucasfilm for making Star Wars great again.
But surprisingly, just a week later, his gratitude quickly turned sour when everything was seemingly perfect in the Star Wars universe after a really long time. Despite the show’s remarkable brilliance, a tweet from a top executive in Lucasfilm’s story department mocked Toos for bursting into tears had done the damage. Pablo Hidalgo, a popular figure among the fans for his work on Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and numerous other projects including short stories, comics, and illustrations, was found to be the main culprit who brought this great disturbance to the Force that was precariously balanced after years.
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Pablo chimes in to make fun. Deletes the tweet. Then puts one of them as his header. How is this acceptable from someone so high up at Lucasfilm? You're telling people it's not ok to have emotions about the work your company produces, and you make fun of them for crying? Not ok. pic.twitter.com/aIfU2SigIy
— Star Wars Theory (@SWTheory66) December 28, 2020
Having tweeted: “Emotions are not for sharing”, Hidalgo took a dig at Toos which the popular YouTuber did not take kindly. Outraged for mocking his emotional outburst, Toos took it to Twitter to rally the fans against such unsolicited trolling. Though Hidalgo soon deleted his tweet, for some inexplicable reason he put the screenshot of the tweet as his banner picture, further exacerbating the situation.
“You’re telling people it’s not ok to have emotions about the work your company produces, and you make fun of them for crying?” Toos soon replied. “Not ok.” Roughly after 20 hours, Hidalgo apologized for the tweet, clarifying that it was self-mockery and was not intended to hurt anyone. “As a lifelong fan, I appreciate fans expressing how they feel – it’s what being a fan is about!” But sadly, 20 hours is too long in the Twitter timeline.
I wish to clarify that my post that "emotions are not to be shared” was sarcastic self-mockery and was certainly not intended to be hurtful to anyone and I'm deeply sorry that it was. As a lifelong fan, I appreciate fans expressing how they feel – it's what being a fan is about!
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) December 28, 2020
By the time Hidalgo apologized, Toos had taken it to YouTube to film another video addressing the entire situation and how distraught he felt. Having amassed over half a million views, Toos’ video polarized the fans once again as some started criticizing Hidalgo for his unsolicited trolling, while the rest argued that Toos was exploiting the situation for extra views and a few more dollars. However, Toos claims that Luke Skywalker helped him when he was fighting cancer, and honestly, the live-stream was genuinely overwhelming.
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As the Twitter feud led to fans fighting once again, Toos also did a bit more damage by reopening the wounds of The Last Jedi, which he has been vocally critical about since its release. Directed by Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi is unarguably one of the most controversial movies that polarized the Star Wars fanbase with its reclusive Luke Skywalker who had renounced the Jedi Order. Having discussed the movie in his latest video once again, Toos just opened the can of worms that The Mandalorian had barely managed to put a lid on.
