It All Began With Star Wars

Star Wars was unlike anything seen before. It marked the beginning of epic, blockbuster movies and featured special effects that changed the industry forever. For me, it marked the beginning of what is an ongoing infatuation with virtual men in body armor.

Picture courtesy of  http://starwars.wikia.com

Picture courtesy of http://starwars.wikia.com

While others were swooning over Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Boba Fett stole my heart. How could he not? I mean, look at the picture people. He is freakin’ cool! In “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,” there is a scene in Jabba’s palace where Princess Leia, dressed as a bounty hunter, is negotiating the bounty for her “capture” of Chewbacca. During the course of discussions she pulls out – and activates – a thermal detonator. In the background, Boba Fett watches carefully, ready to take action if needed. Leia’s aggressive negotiation tactics please Jabba and all ends peacefully; Boba Fett gives the princess a nod. That’s all. One simple nod that says, “Well played.” For me, that nod, from that character, was – and still is – one of the sexiest things ever. To this day, whenever the movie is on I make it a point to watch that scene – just so I can grin foolishly and swoon quietly. My husband lurks in the background, watching me watch Boba Fett. (He laughed when he read this; he didn’t realize that I was on to him!)

I think that a big part of the infatuation is the aura of mystery projected by the character – you don’t see the man inside the armor; the only glimpses of him come through his voice and actions. I was actually very disappointed when Boba Fett was given a face in “Episode II: Attack of the Clones.” He will always be awesome, but I preferred it when he could look any way that I wanted him to.

Picture courtesy of http://halo.wikia.com

Picture courtesy of http://halo.wikia.com

The seed of my infatuation had been planted, but it fell dormant until I discovered video games – or rather, had gaming thrust upon me. (How I actually became a gamer is a topic for another post.) The first games that I played were first-person shooters, to be more specific, the Halo saga. For those of you not familiar with the games, the protagonist of the Halo trilogy is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. John is known simply as the Master Chief, or Chief for short. The Chief, in my opinion, is drop-dead sexy. Once again, see the picture. Not only is he seven feet of gorgeous, but he is a man of few words; when the Chief does speak, he has a great gravelly voice and is a bit of a smart-ass. (A great voice and cocky attitude are both high on my list of desirable traits for my virtual crushes.)

Bungie LLC – the original creators of Halo – understood the mystique of the man inside the armor; they swore that the Chief would never be seen without his helmet/armor. I can only hope that 343 Industries, now the carriers of the Halo torch, keep this promise as well.

My more recent virtual crushes have changed slightly – they still have body armor, but you can actually see their faces. However, for brevity’s sake, I will save their “unmasking” for a later post. (You can read it HERE.)

Do you have any virtual crushes from movies or videos games? If so, please share in the comments. It will be our secret, I promise. ;-)

8 comments

    • isabellanorse says:

      Hi Sara! Thanks for stopping by. I’ve never played Metal Gear Solid so I don’t know much about Snake. (One of my sons is a diehard MGS fan though.) I would check him out, but I’m an XBOX girl.

  1. K says:

    Those are some good points : ) Masked characters always drive me crazy too. I didn’t like that Boba Fett’s face was shown in II either. I would have preferred him to stay mysterious.

    As for crushes, Boba Fett and Han from Star Wars : P

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