Happy May 4th – may it be with you, and guide you, always. – National Star Wars day to all of you! As well as today being a celebration worldwide for everyone, it is also a special day for us. It has been a year since our very first blogpost on this website. It’s been an absolutely tremendous year for not just us three but for all star wars fans. The release of The Force Awakens, the Rogue One teaser trailer, amazing seasons of Rebels and who knows what’s in store for the next few months. It’s been a very adventurous year for me personally as I have been travelling around and have met lots and lots of people along the way. I worked in a preschool, volunteered, am currently working as a nanny and have explored lots of different cities. This gave me a pretty good insight into how Star Wars was marketed before and after the release of TFA over many different places in the world. It also gave me the chance to talk to lots of adults and children about Star Wars which is exactly what I want to share with you today.

I remember when I was young I already had a burning passion for Star Wars just like my father and sister. One could say;

“My father had it, I have it…my sister has it.”

As you can see we were big Star Wars nerds and not afraid to show and share that with anyone and everyone. However back then it seemed that liking Star Wars (especially as a girl) really was not the way forward to making lots of friends and usually was a point of mockery. Of course I had some good friends with whom I would act out scenes from Star Wars, watch Star Wars with and play Battlefront with. But we remained a smaller group (as Facebook wasn’t as big of a thing yet as it is now, so there was no way for me as a kid to connect with other Star Wars fans) and were content that it was just us and we didn’t have to ‘share’ Star Wars with the whole world. We continued to watch it and the first film I personally saw in cinemas was Revenge of the Sith. Up next was the Phantom Menace in 3D at midnight in London and then The Force Awakens. With the release of the seventh film it seemed that suddenly Star Wars was cool again. Everyone knows about Star Wars (SW), but not just knows of it but knows lots of things about it. It is now cool to be able to name all the different characters and their species,to discuss fan theories (like who Snoke is?! Is anyone else dying of anticipation?) and to create a paper lightsaber and swing it around making *swoosj* noises.

It has been such a joy to witness all although I have to say that deep within I am also sad that it’s not just the three of us anymore but lots and lots of people, some of whom previously had written off SW completely. But then how can I not smile when I now sit next to a 7 year old girl and help her make a speeder out of pillows. How can I not smile when I hear children talk about all the different battles while waiting at the dentist. How can I not smile when after watching the Rebels finale with the kids we sit and talk for an hour about what will happen next. I am currently living with a 10 year old boy (who has seen all the star wars films and Rebels) and a 7 year old girl (who has seen the first two and Rebels). Of course we had to explain some things to her so she would understand Rebels but I was amazed at how easily she took it all in and understood it. The release of the Force Awakens has opened up and expanded the fanbase so much that now we are a big collection of wonderful nerds, and what could be bad about that? Never in a million years as a child did I think that I would be having lightsaber duels with a group of 5 year olds in America. Or that I would hear children scream out quotes from all films and series. There truly has been a rise of a new Star Wars generation meaning the Star Wars legend will continue on for many decades to come!

I want to say thank you to all of YOU. You have made it possible for us to continue doing what we love which is talk about Star Wars non stop for a whole year. It also has allowed me to talk to so many people involved in Star Wars like Douglas Lovelace and the whole cast of Rebels during my live tweets. I want to thank all of them for allowing me to engage with them and making our posts so much more exciting. As seen in Rogue47’s post our stats have been through the roof and we have started building up a big fanbase on facebook, twitter and Instagram.  A thank you to all the artists out there who let us post their art on our Instagram and to Daisy Ridley for taking time to like and comment on  two of our posts which helped us gain momentum. The whole Star wars fanbase is like a family to us and we truly love you very much. Stay tuned for so much more to come and just an awesome next year!