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Category: Star Wars

Let your geek flag fly on Geek Pride Day

Monday, May 25 marks the 14th annual Geek Pride Day, which was officially begun in Spain in 2006. Taking inspiration from geek pride festivals in the United States that dated back to the late 1990s, Geek Pride Day celebrations quickly spread worldwide. The day is also Towel Day, which honors the anniversary of the death of author Douglas Adams; the anniversary of the release of Star Wars in 1977; and in the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, it is the anniversary of the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May.

These are a few of my favorite things

Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 1984. I’m six (“and a half!”) years old, and this is the year I would discover some seriously cool stuff: Transformers and G.I. Joe. While G.I. Joe had debuted two years earlier, and my older brother, Kevin, doubtless had some of the toys, I didn’t really notice that stuff until after I’d turned six. At this point, I was beginning to become one of the “big kids,” and my tastes in toys reflected that. The fact that, a year later in 1985, both toy lines would have TV shows – which were, really, little better than half-hour-long daily commercials for said toys – certainly aided in my discovery. That year also saw the release of a new cartoon in the U.S.: Robotech, and by 1986, I’d also discovered Voltron, another Japanese import. Add these to my existing love of the Star Wars toys, and I’m shocked my mother was able to refrain from causing physical harm to myself or my brother whenever we happened to pass a toy aisle when we’d go shopping.