Why So Blu?

Comic-Con 2011: A Talk with Clone Wars Actress/Entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein

I had the good fortune of interviewing Ashley Eckstein during this year’s Comic-Con about her character Ahsoka Tano, who happens to be Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  During our chat we discussed the show’s future, her character’s not-so-rosy future fate, the franchise’s generational shift, and the business she created called Her Universe which sells cool sci-fi clothes to women.  She’s also married to Major League Baseball player and two-time World Series Champion, David Eckstein, and they generously support a variety of organizations and causes including, Mid-America Transplant Services, Donate Life and The Ronald McDonald House.  Our talk took place at at her booth on the convention floor which was incredibly noisy but I did the best I could to transcribe our loose informal conversation that flowed around customers, the Hulk himself, and the multitude of people.  Ashley was very sweet, friendly, and a pleasure to talk to and who was nice enough to take time away from her booming business to chat with me.

So how are you doing at Comic-Con this year?

Good! It’s been going well.  We had our panel last night that had a good turnout…

That’s good…

And a good group of panelists…

Is this the first time you’ve had a booth here?

We were here last year. (Seeing a passerby) Look at that, she looks so pretty.

Yeah I’ve seen a lot of creativity here…hey look there’s Lou Ferrigno!

Oh yeah! I met him earlier…he’s actually represented by my old agent.

Really? Small world…

Yeah it is a small world.

Ok…a lot of fans were surprised that Anakin would have an apprentice on the show considering what happens during Revenge of the Sith.  How did you approach that and what kind of role do you think Ahsoka plays?  Is she there there to reflect the changes in Anakin?

Oh wow.  Umm…you know I knew that she would be a major character in the Clone Wars but I didn’t know how long she would last.  Again, I don’t know Ahsoka’s fate and people ask me all the time what is her fate and I truly don’t know.  I know theories…I’ve heard theories but you know anything for certain I don’t know.  So you know…I think she plays many roles in the Clone Wars…I’ve heard in the past from Dave Filoni that you know…the audience is supposed to experience the Clone Wars through Ahsoka’s eyes…especially the kids…I think the kids can really relate to her and so maybe she’s just a more relatable character that you can put yourself in and see the Clone Wars through her eyes.

I’ve noticed she’s definitely matured over the course of the show and it seems like she’s becoming more and more like Anakin versus say someone like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Yes.  Well she’s very much becoming more like Anakin because that’s her master so it’s kind of like a kid who mimics their parent a lot.  She’s just going to become naturally more like him because that’s her Jedi Master…I mean Jedi Knight not master…but umm… I think she’s a mix of several different characters.  She’s a mix of obviously mostly Anakin but she does have a little bit of Obi-Wan in her, a little bit of Padme in her, a little bit of Mace Windu in her…I mean a little bit of Plo Koon in her…she takes bits and pieces of all of her mentors.  She’s a melting pot of them all.

She’s is really unique since she does have so many different connections that most them don’t have since Anakin mostly just has Obi-Wan and briefly Qui-Gon, but for her we’ve learned this season that she’s got Plo Koon and all the others and that she’s kind of a different character than everyone else.

Yeah.

What do you think her arc is actually going to be?  I mean ultimately, she’s either going to end up following Anakin to the dark side…which probably won’t happen, or there’s going to be some kind of a confrontation between her and Anakin.  Something is going to have to happen. I mean obviously you don’t know what’s going to happen at the very end but do you see a pattern or an arc leading to something?

No…I mean the thing is that I still feel that Ahsoka is far from the dark side.  I mean… she’s still innately in her…she just wants to do what’s right at all costs.  She knows the Jedi way and she tries her best to live out the Jedi way at all costs.  So with that being said, I think she’s far from it…far from the dark side but I don’t know…you know…I’m not the writer of the show…

I know.

The thing is that I don’t even try to be because we have such a fantastic writing staff and also Dave Filoni.  Dave Filoni is on top of it all and he knows his stuff.  I couldn’t even begin to script a better ending that what I know they’re going to come up with…but I don’t know what it is yet but I know it’s going to be a good ending…

Yeah…

…So I don’t even try to hypothesize because I know it wouldn’t be as good.

But does knowing what’s going to happen in Episode III affect your choices you are making now?  Or does it have any effect on you at all?

It doesn’t have any effect on me.  I mean the only thing that has an effect on me is as she gets older.  I mean I really made a conscious choice to act older, sound older, and be more mature.  That’s really the only thing that’s affected my performance because I don’t think what happens in the future matters.  I mean…she doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, and I’m talking about your future, so you know…it doesn’t impact how you act today.

Right.  I know she can’t predict the future, but what I meant was that other than Obi-Wan, probably nobody else knows Anakin as well as Ahsoka…

Yeah I know what you are asking…

…so for Obi-Wan, he’s starting to see the seeds of darkness within Anakin and he’s starting to get a little uncomfortable…

Yeah…

…and he’s starting to see how far Anakin will go to achieve his goals…

I think she senses stuff at times and reacts by questioning his actions at the time.  She definitely questions his actions but she’s so blinded by love and I mean platonic love…but she loves Anakin so much that she only sees the good and it’s almost like she can’t see the bad in him.  I mean she’s so…you know they say that attachment leads the way to the dark side but she’s attached to Anakin.  So she does question his actions but she doesn’t look beyond that I don’t think.

I think that’s true.  A lot of the characters around him feel the same way as her which is partly why no one saw his fate coming.

Yeah.

Star Wars has had a lot of strong female characters such as Princess Leia, Padme, and now Ahsoka…how do you feel about that? I know we’ve talked about the audience seeing the show through her eyes, but do you think that there’s another reason that that character was made a female?  Do you think that decision was made to provide a strong female role model…

That’s a question for Dave Filoni.  I know that they specifically decided to make Anakin’s padawan a girl but I don’t know specifically why.  I did ask was it a conscious choice to bring in a female fanbase and they said no.  They said they made that choice because of the character and that they just wanted Anakin’s padawan to be a female.  They didn’t have ulterior motives but that was before  I came on to the show so that’s a question for him.

I think it was beneficial since Ahsoka has a very big female fanbase…

Yes…

…and even males too and I think that the show has attracted a new demographic that I don’t think that they were really even expecting since it seems like a whole new generation likes it…

Absolutely.  Absolutely.  It has brought in a ton of girls to the franchise and just kids in general.  It’s brought in a new generation and to the kids of today, Star Wars is the Clone Wars and that’s interesting because parents are now getting ready to show their kids the movies  for the first time which for all of us is the opposite since we watched the movies first…

Right…right…that is a whole different thing.  Each generation now has is own version of it now.

Yeah…

I don’t know how much longer the Clone Wars is going to go considering that you have a timeline that you are coming up against…do you guys have any idea of what’s going to happen?  Do you have another year or two years?

Again…I don’t know…I have no control over that…I don’t even know what’s going to happen the next episode!

<Laughter>

So they don’t tell us that far out.  We aren’t a part of those decisions.

Ok.  So what made you want to start Her Universe?

You know…close to half of all Star Wars fans and sci-fi fans are women and they weren’t giving us anything to buy and selfishly as a fan, I wanted more merchandise to buy so got into Her Universe because nothing was being made for the women and I was tired of wearing men’s size small or boy’s extra large.  So we started with Star Wars and now we’ve debuted our sci-fi line – we’ve got Battlestar Galactica, Warehouse 13, Sharktapus…

Yeah I saw that on your site.  I thought that was great since my wife loved that movie so she’ll be very happy about that…

Oh we have his and hers…

Do you?  That’s one of the questions I was going to ask you…

…At the web shop we have Sharktapus shirts for men…

So you’re expanding then since it was initially just for women….

We’re only doing Sharktapus but the rest of the clothes are for women.

Are there any thoughts to expand that line because I know there wasn’t a whole lot for women but actually there’s not a lot for children either…

…We actually have kids sizes on our website but we didn’t bring them here because this isn’t really known to be a kid’s convention.  But we have kid sizes but we really try to appeal to women of all ages.

I briefly looked at your site and I saw that the clothes sizes went from small to an extra large.  Are you thinking about adding even more sizes?

We do actually.  This shirt [pointing to one on display] goes all the way to 4X and the Yoda shirt goes to 4X…

So it just depends on the shirt…

Yeah it just depends on the shirt because some of the garments…I don’t actually make the garments.  I buy the garments and then do the printing on them.  So honestly, it just depends on the garment on what sizes it comes in.

Ok thank you for your time and good luck with that…

Thank you so much.  I appreciate your interest!

I’m really glad you’ve created that since I can now actually get my wife some cool clothes!

Thank you!  Well we just came out with a new charm bracelet and all of these shirts here are best sellers that we’ve brought back and there’s these earrings too…

I’ll have to check out all of this on your site.

Thank you!  It’s been a pleasure.  Thank you for your time!

 

And so ended my brief chat with the lovely and gracious Ashley Eckstein.  If you didn’t get a chance to see her booth at Comic-Con, then you should check out here site here to see all of the cool items that are for sale.  Let me tell you…I wish a lot of them were available to men too since we don’t quite have the selection she thinks we do.  <Hint. Hint.> With the online Star Wars Shop being closed down (which I found out about after I talked with her), this seems like a perfect opportunity for Ashley to expand her empire by creating a His Universe site or adding a men’s section to the existing one!  Until then ladies, if you are looking for some really cool clothes then please check out the site!  Look below for one of the best seller’s at Comic-Con which you can still buy at http://heruniverse.com/.