Listen. I get it. Maybe Star Wars wasn't for you, certainly the prequel movies weren't that great, you never understood the fandom, you never bothered with the comics or the books, the toys it all seems so surreal.
But now that we, the geeks, the nerds, the star wars fans, the 501st, have something to be really proud of? Don't ruin that for us. We aren't in high school anymore, there's no cred that you need to appeal to hold on to. Don't ridicule people for loving what they love. And certainly don't ridicule them when all they want to do is share their enthusiasm for it with you. If it still isn't for you? Sure, fine, fair. But if you want to rag on it because it's popular finally?
That makes you a jerk.
We have a fandom. We have stories that we played, tales of sliding sideways through the stars in improvised freighters, dodging the Empire, gunrunning for Hutts. I was 12 when my friend's father dropped three of us off at the movie theatre to see Phantom Menace. We weren't able to articulate movie criticism then. We understood that the writing wasn't amazing, but the spectacle. The SPECTACLE of what we loved, the books and comics brought to life on the big screen. We saw the podracing and the starfighters.
My cousins showed me the movies when I was 8. I read every book. I collected the comics. I've run three different sets of Star Wars Tabletop RPGS, and played in two others. In our world, I was a Fallen Jedi who concealed his passionate heresy for living from an aging order of Jedi. A party captured an Imperial Star Destroyer and crewed it with droids, using it as a waystation for beleaguered adventurers and smugglers drifting in the stars. We made the Kessel run in 13 parsecs, swindled Yatta the Hutt and brought down a Black Sun Skyhook.
We love Star Wars. We love that universe. It is rich with stories and personal connections to us.
Don't rob us of that because you don't get it, or worse, because you feel left behind. Come with us. It's a big galaxy out there. Take our hand, or better yet take the turret, left hand for the aimer, rotation on the right, triggers to fire. We need co-pilots in this wild ride. Let's go. Here's a vibroshiv, keep it close.
Anyway, I'll be over here having imaginary lightsaber fights with my friends, speaking in Darth Vader's rasping voice and quoting Han Solo. You can live in your 'serious' world of economic depression or something. Just don't bring down what the rest of us love because you don't get it. We're leaving you behind then.
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