Yoda, C3PO, R2D2 and Wicket

Group selfie of the short of stature held up by the metallic:

This particular group of characters was requested by a non relative looking for a picture for a three year old Star Wars fan.

My younger son and I discussed what would Yoda, C3PO, and an Ewok be doing if they were together? His suggestion was that they should all be playing poker like the dogs in the well known "Dogs Playing Poker" painting.  He was familiar with it because we had a napkin a couple of years ago that brought up the idea of that painting.

While I agreed that was definitely a potentially funny scenario- (is the Ewok cheating with extra cards? Or is R2 using his extension arm to hold the cards?) Poker seemed maybe not the right fit for the those under 5.

Recently, the group selfie has become my lazy fall-back explanation for any grouping of characters.

My son tells me I still need to draw his poker game idea with Yoda, Wicket and the two droids.

C-3PO Rides a Gallimimus

Star Wars Rides Dinosaurs #7:

According to the Jurassic World website "Gallimimus" means "Chicken mimic"
These dinosaurs are shown running in a large flock in both the first "Jurassic Park" and the recent "Jurassic World"...probably as a call-back to the original film.

It seemed like an appropriate mount for the fussy, bumbling droid. I tried looking at pictures of people riding ostriches to try to get a feel for C-3PO's riding position, without much success... But, wow, there are a lot of pictures of people riding ostriches. I had no idea it was such a popular activity.

C3PO Hails a Cyberman from "Doctor Who"

Which metal suited guy is more cool?
Ansel has recently been convinced of the appeal of both Star Wars and Doctor Who.

Now that "geek" culture has more or less completely triumphed over the mainstream, I find myself somewhat confused by just what is supposed to be cool...or perhaps I am uncertain if there is anything that is not supposed to be cool.

While I am well aware that the Doctor predates Star Wars by over a decade, from the perspective of my own adolescence and personal birth of the concept of the cool, they are about the same vintage. 

I was an early and avid reader of science fiction.  By high school, I had more or less exhausted the back catalog of the "Science Fiction Book of the Month Club." ( I remember my mother attempting to convince a telemarketer for the club to stop harassing me by telling him that I had died.)  I was also a moderate fan of the first two Star Wars movies, although teenaged authority that I was, I would have been pleased to inform you that I did not consider those movies  to be "real" science fiction.

Perhaps I might have had a tiny bit of geek cred back in the 1980's... If there had been such a thing at my high school at the time.  I  don't think, however, that my interest in science fiction had any remote relationship with coolness, and in fact I was rather circumspect about admitting my enthusiasm for Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

I was aware of Doctor Who back in the 1980's, but I don't think I considered the show to fall into the legitimate science fiction category either. And I don't remember ever watching an episode.

It was just too uncool even for teenaged me.

My apologies to Whovians everywhere... and to my sons, but I am pretty sure my kids would not make it through a "Classic" episode themselves.

I am not saying that I share the opinions of my younger self, on Doctor Who, or anything else...but...
when I was a kid, the Doctor looked like this:

and the Cybermen looked like this:

While they may be undecided on the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi, my sons are pretty convinced of the coolness of Matt Smith.  His bow tie and ADD like arm flapping and hyperactivity just make him all the more compelling.

And the current Cybermen are definitely cool.