Darth Vader can finally get over his goth phase with a new mod for Star Wars Battlefront II on PC (via Eurogamer). PC modder Destauch has uploaded pink and white skins for Darth Vader to Nexus Mods, which can be used with the PC version of Battlefront II via the Frosty Mod Manager. Both skins are a cheeky response to comments made last year by an EA executive about respecting the Star Wars canon.
Back in November 2017 when EA was getting into major hot water with their fans over the implementation of loot boxes in Battlefront II, it came out that gameplay-neutral cosmetic items for customizing your character’s appearance had been implemented, but removed from the game in lieu of stocking loot boxes with gameplay-affecting bonuses. Apparently pressure to make the change came in part from Lucasfilm over concerns about canon if players could freely mix and match characters and styles from across the entire franchise history. Imagine a First Order stormtrooper fighting alongside a Clone Wars stormtrooper? Immersion shattered — literally unplayable. EA CFO Blake Jorgensen defended the decision at a Credit Suisse event:
“It’s an amazing brand that’s been built over many, many years,” said Jorgensen. “So if you did a bunch of cosmetic things, you might start to violate the canon. Darth Vader in white probably doesn’t make sense, versus in black. Not to mention you probably don’t want Darth Vader in pink. No offense to pink, but I don’t think that’s right in the canon.”
No offense to Mr. Jorgensen or the Star Wars canon, but no one tells Darth Vader how to dress except for Darth Vader. In case you thought the colors in the mod and Jorgensen’s remarks might be a coincidence, Destauch included the quotes in question on the mod page to show MR. Jorgensen just how wrong he was. To protect fragile fans, however, he also included a helpful warning: “WARNING! MAY BREAK CANON!”
What does and does not constitute canon has been a subject of major debate among Star Wars fans ever since Disney purchased the franchise in 2012 and retroactively invalidated a huge swathe of Extended Universe media as non-canonical. The mixed reception for The Last Jedi recently has only intensified the debate as everyone seems to have developed different expectations for what constitutes a proper Star War. We applaud fans like Destauch who take the sanctity of their canon with a grain of salt.
