May the 4th Be With You! 2023

 May the 4th is Star Wars Day. I mean, it's a fun play on "may the Force be with you". This is a day created by fans, for the fans of Star Wars. Fans take on many different levels. There are casual fans, dedicated fans, and the hardcore fans. And yes, collectors are fans, often they are in the hardcore category. Since this is the day of Star Wars fans, I want to give a rundown on the categories, and what they mean not only for past success of the Star Wars franchise, bit also its future success.


Casual fans of Star Wars will be the ones who buy movie tickets. They find aspects of it interesting, like special effects, story, or they heard an actor or actress they like is in the movie. Casual fans played an important role when Star Wars first came out in 1977. They told their friends about the movie, and then it would become the highest grossing film of all time. Casual fans may also tune into the current Disney Plus shows, maybe not all the time, but just to "catch up". They won't buy the movies on home media, but they are fans.

The next group of fans are what I call dedicated fans. They not only watch the movies but they also watch all the Disney Plus shows, and may occasionally buy a toy, or a shirt, mug, stuff like that. They also will buy the books, comic books, and any other media they can get their hands on. They may make plans to go to Star Wars Celebration, and may even cosplay if they get the chance to go. Dedicated fans help pay the bills, as they not only go to and buy the movies when they come out in theaters and in stores, respectively. They have a Disney Plus subscription, and on a day like May 4th no doubt plan on watching a Star Wars movie.

The hardcore fans are the ones who truly keep Star Wars running. In the dark times of 1986-1991 they kept the franchise alive by role playing games, fan fictions, and newsletters. They have a lot of the Kenner era Star Wars toys, and when Kenner/Hasbro brought the toys back in 1995 & they have bought toys every year since. They have not only physical copies of the movies, but on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray & 4k. I wouldn't be shocked if they have the Beta tapes of the Original Trilogy either! They near religiously read the books, comics or anything that has Star Wars slapped on it. They post on collecting sites, dedicate social media accounts, and plan to go to events like Star Wars Celebration or local Comic Cons. The hardcore fans kept the fires burning since 1977, or whenever they first discovered Star Wars.

May the 4th is a day created by fans, for the fans. No matter what level of fan you are, it's how you choose to celebrate it. And while some want to mock fans of Star Wars, or any other franchise (Star Wars fans do often mock fans of other franchises, we aren't blameless in that), I have come to the realization that it's a waste of time to do so. While I may not be a fan of, say, True Blood, someone else may be a hardcore fan of it. Insert other Fandom's too: Star Trek, Twilight, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Marvel, DC and toy properties like GI Joe, Barbie, Masters of the Universe and My Little Pony. The only fan day I know of for the other franchises I listed is Star Trek (April 5th, First Contact Day). Those franchises can have their day, and Star Wars fans should let them! But this is our day. And if you want a celebration guide, here's my post from last year: https://sundaystarwars.blogspot.com/2022/05/may-fourth-be-with-you.html

So, however you choose to celebrate May the 4th is up to you. So to all the casual, dedicated and hardcore fans this is your day! Celebrate however you want to! Wear a Star Wars shirt, or don't (but please do wear a shirt, some places require you to wear one to enter places), or take the day off and get an early start on the weekend. Or get ready to party on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo), but don't party too hard that May 6th becomes Revenge of the Sixth! But whatever you do, have fun, be safe and make sure you're able to do it again next May the 4th, and of course, May the 4th be with you! 

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