Hello, this is Lizzy Perales. I costume the explosive artist Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels. How did this all start? Well… after Star Wars the Clone Wars ended we were all pretty upset and getting bored of just the same Clone Wars, at least I was. I wanted something new, something possibly after the Clone Wars. That’s when my dad, who now does the costume of Kanan Jarrus, burst into our room and pulled up a YouTube video of the character clips of the crew. Immediately, we knew Axel would do the costume of Ezra because of his long flowing hair and personality. My eyes were set on Sabine, her beautiful artwork, her colorful armor and the fact that she was a teenager like me, really caught my attention! Unfortunately, it caught my mom’s attention as well. Next thing I knew, my parents were talking to me about green face paint for me. I had no choice. Chopper was taken by my little sister Victoria, so it was either Zeb or Hera. So I ended up being Hera. My dad didn’t seem interested in Kanan since we really didn’t know much about him after the episodes came flooding in, he seems pretty excited to be (( SPOILER )) blind Kanan. After season two of Star Wars Rebels came out, I knew for sure… THIS Sabine, was mine. And it is. Now since season 3 is on its way, EVERYONE has changed. (( SPOILER )) Kanan has no armor but has a mask. Sabine has new armor and a new hairdo, Hera has a somewhat new vest. As for Ezra… Well, let’s just say that there will be a lot of crying at a barbershop. I told you how the Rebel family started but how did it ALL really start…

Pretty sad actually.

I was born in Mexico and since my real dad had done some… upsetting things… My mom broke up with him and the two of us moved to California… People would say that’s terrible… But I think that it’s great. If he hadn’t done those things… We wouldn’t be here. Since we moved to California, it was pretty hard to have money for food, until my mom finally found work, AND found my dad now. Well… Actually from what I’m told, he had an eye on her for a while. It was great! He showed me how to play video games and we played the guitar together and showed my mom and I our first Star Wars movie. Of course, mom and I fell in love with it, maybe not as much as my him, but we were getting there. Over the years, my dad would buy me Disney Movies, Galactic Hero Star Wars toys  ( Which I STILL have ) and some toy pots and pans since I loved to cook. I used to “cook” the Star Wars toys in them. Then came Axel. At first, I was pretty excited! But like most kids, I began to get jealous because I would have to play by myself instead of with mom and dad since they were occupied with Axel. Axel was a quiet baby.. so I grew to love him, now he’s not so quiet. I started going to school but I never really made any friends. No one liked Star Wars and when I mentioned something about it, boys would pick on me saying that its only for boys. But when I asked if they watched it… they said no. Which confused me since they didn’t even know what it was. When I was able to understand that Sal wasn’t my biological dad, I became more confused since I always called him dad. Of course, I never told him that he ‘couldn’t tell me what to do’ and things like that ( and I never will ) but then after watching Star Wars again, it made me think of how Princess Leia and I were somewhat alike. Her real father was evil, and mine is in a way… But she still, to this day, calls Bail Organa her father. It took me a very long time to understand this, but now I do.

A father is the one who takes care of you, is there for you, plays video games with you and of course, raises you. I never cared that he wasn’t my biological dad, but he doesn’t need to be.

HE raised me. He became my father when I didn’t have one. He made me into the Star Wars and video game geek that I am now. And I’m grateful for that. He made this family, what it is now. Sometimes I think he planned this from the beginning.

Thank you, dad.

Thanks for everything!