Warning! This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka episode 5.
Summary
- Ahsoka’s original Clone Wars costume has been a subject of criticism due to its impracticality and suitability for her age.
- The Tales of the Jedi series has started retconning Ahsoka’s costume, providing her with a more practical and comfortable outfit for fighting.
- In Ahsoka episode 5, she is seen wearing the retconned outfit, solidifying the change and emphasizing her youth during the Clone Wars era.
Star Wars has finally completed a retcon of Ahsoka Tano in Ahsoka that’s been 15 years in the making, and in the very best way. Ahsoka has earned her Star Wars series for being one of the franchise’s most beloved and important characters. As Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, Ahsoka has always had deep ties to the Skywalker saga, despite not making her live-action debut until 2020 in The Mandalorian season 2. Though Ahsoka has a lot of love and appreciation behind her now, it wasn’t always this way.
Ahsoka fell under a lot of criticism when she first debuted in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, which then developed into the beloved animated series. She was very young, and thus had the attitude any blossoming teenager would have to go toe-to-toe with Anakin Skywalker. Subtle improvements have helped to make Ahsoka into the iconic character she is today, especially as the prequel Star Wars trilogy generation continues to grow up. However, one of the biggest criticisms about her debut has always been her original costume, the one she wore for The Clone Wars seasons 1 and 2. Star Wars is now taking steps to correct this issue, even over a decade later.
Ahsoka Tano’s Original Clone Wars Costume Was Always Problematic
Ahsoka essentially wore a tube top as a young girl fighting in The Clone Wars, which would never be suitable for the kinds of battles she was expected to fight in. Many have thought this outfit to be inappropriate for someone of Ahsoka’s age, especially while she jumps between war-zones. This would have been a rough transition to live-action, where the true problems of this outfit would’ve been even more obvious. It’s bad enough that Ahsoka had to fight in the Clone Wars at such a young age, but to put her in an outfit that’s both so uncomfortable and unsuitable for fighting is just problematic.
Tales Of The Jedi Began Retconning The Clone Wars Costume Out Of Existence
2022’s Tales of the Jedi started retconning Ahsoka’s original The Clone Wars costume by depicting a young Ahsoka in a completely different outfit. This one is much more to Ahsoka’s taste and more practical for fighting, and it also draws inspiration from the outfit she wore during the later seasons of The Clone Wars. While it maintains some of the same spirit of the original outfit in its color and other parts of the design, it now offers both more protection and comfort for Ahsoka as she trains to fight and survive in the war. It served her well in Tales of the Jedi, when Anakin made her practice fighting off the clones’ blaster bolts relentlessly, and it also began the effort that Star Wars has officially completed.
Ahsoka Episode 5 Completes The Costume Retcon
Ahsoka episode 5 sees the live-action debut of young Ahsoka as she’s taken through memories of the Clone Wars. When viewers see her at what she says is one of her very first missions, Ahsoka is wearing the same outfit as she did in Tales of the Jedi, rather than what she wore in The Clone Wars. This change being reflected in live-action cements the retcon, and for the better. Seeing Ahsoka in live-action only reminds viewers just how young she was during the Clone Wars era, and to have seen her wearing her original outfit would have been jarring. Instead, Ahsoka’s outfit serves as almost a precursor for what’s to come, and even takes after her master’s in a way.
This wasn’t Ahsoka’s only costume to complete a retcon in this series. Ahsoka the White also made her live-action debut in Ahsoka episode 5, after previously being seen in the Star Wars Rebels epilogue. Ahsoka instead made her transition from Ahsoka the Gray to Ahsoka the White in this series, when she’s able to connect with her former master in the World Between Worlds and receive both closure and the remainder of her training that she’s always needed to move forward. These costume retcons have been for the better for Ahsoka, and as her story continues to be told in Ahsoka and beyond, they will continue to be iconic marks of the legacy of her character.
Ahsoka releases new episodes Tuesdays at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on Disney+.