I’m often asked if I ever get tired of Star Wars. From the age of seven to this very moment, it’s been one of my passions. I’m one of those fans that adorns their walls with Star Wars art and posters. I’m running out of space on my bookshelves for new books, visual dictionaries and collectibles. And long-lost relatives who haven’t seen me in years know that, for a safe holiday gift, they can just give me a Star Wars key chain, and everyone will be happy. It’s everywhere. I do love Star Wars.
In 2014, I started to talk about Star Wars professionally. I began to broadcast my opinions, hot takes, and share all my joy for those little moments, shared inside jokes, and trivia answers that bring us all to the saga. It grew and grew, and, at the time of this writing, I record up to six hours of Star Wars programming a week for shows like ForceCenter, Collider Jedi Council, Black Series Rebels, and many other wonderful Star Wars podcasts. Because of that, I have to watch every movie again and again. I can’t miss the television shows. Barely skip a word in the novels and regularly run over to my comic shop Earth-2 in Northridge, California, to pick up the comic books. And every trip to a store finds me sneaking over to the toy aisle to see what treasure I might find. There is not a day that goes by without some part of it spent thinking about Star Wars, even on that rare Tuesday when I want to think about something else.
You’ll hear tales of the dark side of the fandom. Of the raging debates over the tiniest of details or biggest of themes. You’ll hear of actors, directors, and creators being harassed and fractures in the ranks. It’s there. There’s no denying it, sadly. It’s as if the lessons of the worldwide bullying of Star Wars Kid didn’t take hold. It’s as if those times growing up in which you were told your joy of this franchise put you on the fringe weren’t a powerful enough reminder to never stop celebrating it. There are days when it’s a challenge to be a Star Wars fan.
Yet, when you walk onto a convention floor and feel connected with thousands of strangers over the shared appreciation of a silly space opera, that all fades away. When someone sees your tee shirt and calls across a room to find out what your favorite Star Wars movie is or when your friend uses a Han Solo quote in a normal conversation and you both laugh at the ease in which it slipped into the flow of the moment, it all feels worth it. When you look back on your life and remember the first time you connected with a character, a scene, or brief little moment that you thought only you had seen, it all feels right. Star Wars is everywhere in my life.
But I never get tired of it.
I love Star Wars.
And I hope you do too.