The Force was definitely with Cincinnati last week as Star Wars' own Mark Hamill took to Twitter to comment on the BLINK kick-off parade.
Hamill, who has portrayed Luke Skywalker throughout the iconic film saga, replied to a tweet posted by Cincinnati's own "Fluke Skywalker" — a cosplayer with an uncanny resemblance to the actor.
The tweet showed a clip from local TV station WCPO capturing Fluke leading a lightsaber-wielding brigade in an illuminated procession, with parade commentators remarking they couldn't tell whether or not he was the real Hamill.
Fluke tagged Hamill asking, "Are you in a lot of parades in Cincinnati?"
To which Hamill replied, "To the guy who looks more like me than me: I truly admire your work for charity & for being in parades in Cincinnati on my behalf! Wishing you continued success, Mar(camel icon)."
Fluke — who has asked CityBeat to withhold his name in order to keep the attention on his craft and on the charities he helps — has been cosplaying as the iconic Jedi since 2017, after people began commenting that he looked like Hamill. This eventually spurred him to ask his wife for a replica of Skywalker’s Jedi costume for his birthday so that he could distribute toys to children at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati that holiday season while in character.To the guy who looks more like me than me: I truly admire your work for charity & for being in parades in Cincinnati on my behalf!
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) October 16, 2022
Wishing you continued success, Mar🐫
The charity aspect is the draw for Fluke, who started volunteering with his family at Ronald McDonald House years before his Star Wars cosplay began.
A former educator, he greets kids at the hospital as Skywalker and frequently brings a collection of Star Wars toys for the youngsters. Fluke doesn’t charge for any appearances there or at the many events he’s invited to, instead insisting that hosts donate to the charity. On his website imflukeskywalker.com, Fluke features links to donate directly to Ronald McDonald House or to a GoFundMe for Star Wars toys that are distributed there during the winter holidays.
While Fluke does tell everyone he’s not the real deal, admirers insist on capturing moments with their favorite Force-user anyway.
With his tattered Jedi robes and top-of-the-line lightsaber, Fluke’s resemblance to the beloved character is uncanny enough that Hamill himself tweeted out that he "looks more like me than me" after he saw a photo of Fluke at San Diego Comic Con in 2019.
Read CityBeat's full interview with Fluke Skywalker.
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