Ok, so ‘May the Fourth…’ was a week ago, but with The Mandalorian and Grogu just under two weeks away from heralding the return of Star Wars to cinemas (with a new film for the first time in seven years), I’m celebrating the saga all month.
Over on the Collect Us All! Instagram page I’ve been sharing some items from my Mandalorian focus collection. @collectusall
I did, of course, make an extra effort to lean into my fandom on what has officially become known as Star Wars Day.
I started this year’s festivities with an episode of Young Jedi Adventures on Disney+. I’m slowly working my way through these Aesop’s fables in Saturday morning cartoon format. They’re not aimed at me, nor do the story beats impact much on the wider canonical story, I’m a completist though and the animation is joyous to look at, plus I like seeing classic Star Wars iconography in this ultra stylised take. If you have young kids, introduce them to the franchise with this.
With May the Fourth falling on a bank holiday and all my grown up responsibilities fulfilled I was free to dedicate the rest of the day to more Star Wars themed fun, and my next activity of choice was to build a Lego set.
It’s a little over ten years since I started buying / collecting Star Wars Lego again, having been an avid fan when it first launched in 1999 alongside The Phantom Menace (more on that here). Today’s set was from more recent instalments of the storytelling, The Mandalorian / The Book of Boba Fett.
That said, it’s heavily suggested that the speeder Cobb Vanth has fashioned here is from parts of Anakin Skywalker’s podracer featured in that earlier film, or at least utilises identical pieces (both on screen and in the Lego set). A nice throwback as I did have the original podracer Lego set when I was 11.
Build complete I headed out for my daily walk, with Star Wars in my ears.
I had about an hour left on the current audiobook I’ve been listening to, Seeds of Starlight – part of The High Republic series which, for the most part has been a successful ‘off screen’ initiative since it began in January 2021. The main story wrapped last summer, but there was so much of it that I’m still dropping back and covering the side adventures from this period on the timeline.
A few thousand steps meant I had earned my extra calorie allowance, and today they were being spent on more Star Wars. Sam has been making themed cakes on May the Fourth going back to 2018. This year’s was a Beskar traybake, inspired by the Mandalorian ingots seen in the TV shows.
Here’s a collection of past cakes. Each year I say “what if…?” or “could you…?” and every time Sam makes the idea a reality.
1. Darth Maul-ble cake (2024)
2. Grogu on the seeing stone (2022)
3. Sarlaac surprise (2018)
4. Crait cake – as seen on The Star Wars Show (2019)
5. Neel’s big bath (2025)
6. Beskar traybake (2026)
This wasn’t the only Star Wars themed cuisine this year though. Thanks to the imminent release of The Mandalorian & Grogu and the cogs of the marketing machine beginning to turn, there’s some affiliated products out there this month to be enjoyed (and I do enjoy a limited edition).
I particularly like the two tie-in flavours of Robinsons squash for how quintessentially British they feel. This rare national pride pairs well with Star Wars, many of which were shot in the UK and a huge amount of homegrown talent has contributed to the productions.
The Mango-lorian Blast is my preference over the Beskar Berry Blend, but both are nice (for someone who doesn’t actually drink a lot of squash to be honest) and the novelty of the shimmer effect in the mix still has me entertained a fortnight since I bought these.
For dinner, we had the Burger King ‘Galactic Range’. Again, a rarity for a couple of vegans, but with two options for us on the new menu, we couldn’t pass up on this opportunity to indulge in what is a very 90s / 2000s film promotion, (given that studios tend to steer a little further from association with fast food now).
I had the Galactic Mandalorian Plant-Based Double Whopper, Sam had the Galactic Mandalorian Vegan Royale. Despite their elaborate names both are more or less the same as the standard product, with the addition of a Grogu inspired, green coloured pickle sauce on both and crispy onions on the Royale.
Most importantly, the meals came with a toy! Sort of..
They actually came with exclusive Mandalorian & Grogu cups that change colour when you add cold or hot liquid to them. The chap who served us was very accommodating when were total nerds / a pain in the arse and asked for two different ones. It involved him going “out back” (he was gone a while, I hope he used it as an excuse to slack off for a bit to be honest).
After dinner we concluded May the Fourth 2026 with this year’s headline act, the finale two episodes of Maul: Shadow Lord (also on Disney+). This animated show has totally exceeded my expectations over the past five weeks, the storytelling is fantastic, it’s had brilliant character development (from the old and the new), plus the additional flair on The Clone Wars established art style is phenomenal. A must see for even the most casual Star Wars fan.
I often hear fellow fans say “every day is Star Wars Day”, and they’re not wrong. I just like having these days where you push the boat speeder out that little bit further.
Liam Toms 