Star Wars Day gift guide: what's worth buying from a galaxy far, far away
May the 4th be with you
It's Star Wars Day, also known as May the 4th be with you! Why does this day exist, outside of this single torturous pun? Well, other than being an excuse for social media to be bombarded with bad opinions about Star Wars movies, it's a day to celebrate the films with stuff.
In that spirit, we've made our own list of Star Wars-related gift ideas below. We say 'gift', because it definitely counts as a gift if it's for yourself. We're aware that there's a ton of Star Wars tat out there, so we've only selected stuff that we actually like here on TechRadar (the one possible exception is Funko pops, but your mileage may very).
Here, then, is our selection
- The Mandalorian season 2: what we know about the show's return
- How to watch the Star Wars movies in order
- The best Clone Wars episodes if you want to catch up
A Disney Plus subscription
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The cheapest and easiest way to watch every Star Wars film (minus Solo, in the US) is a Disney Plus subscription. Get a 7-day free trial and you can watch the entire nine-movie saga, including The Rise of Skywalker, in 4K with HDR. As well as that, you can burn through all eight episodes of The Mandalorian, too, without spending a penny if you really don't want to. Stick around longer, and Disney Plus has a mostly complete archive of animated shows set in the Star Wars universe, like The Clone Wars, Rebels and The Resistance.
Try a free 7-day Disney Plus trial
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Game publisher EA got the Star Wars license back in 2013, and its output has been disappointingly limited in that time. This third-person action game, though, which has a little bit of Dark Souls and a little bit of Metroid to its design, is fantastic, featuring beautiful alien worlds to explore and a genuinely great Star Wars story about a padawan on the run after Order 66. If you play any Star Wars game in 2020, make it this one. If you want to buy the game directly on PC, PS4 or Xbox One, it'll be 33% off throughout the celebrations.
Check out our Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review.
Baby Yoda Pop! Statue
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The king of Baby Yoda toys, the talking plushie, isn't out until December (though you can pre-order it), but you can find various toys themed around The Mandalorian's breakout star already. If you're not averse to the Funko style of merchandise, you can have 'The Child' in your home right now.
Star Wars 4K Blu-Ray Collection
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If Disney Plus just isn't comprehensive enough for you, or you prefer physical media in the event of some kind of global internet meltdown, check out this gorgeous set. It's exclusive to Amazon in the UK and Best Buy in the US, and it has over 26 hours of extras to watch alongside the main saga movies. You won't find Solo or Rogue One here, though, only Episodes I-IX.
Lego A-Wing Starfighter
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
You can see the whole range of Lego Star Wars items for sale here, but this fancy A-Wing model is the latest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series line, which takes the detail of Lego's long-running Star Wars sets to the next level. If you adore the spaceships of the Star Wars universe, they're a treat.
Star Wars: X-Wing Board Game
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If you exist in the circle-shaped Venn diagram that combines Star Wars fans and board game players, your choices in this space are vast. The experts at Fantasy Flight Games have created a number of great board games based on that universe, but this is an easy one for beginners to pick up. You lay out spaceships in a big square, then simulate dogfights using a series of dice and markers.
The ship models are relatively scaled for authenticity to the universe, and the model detail is fantastic. They're like high-end Micro Machines for adults. The Core Set comes with an X-Wing and two TIE Fighters, and there are numerous expansions featuring most of your favorite Star Wars ships, including Clone Wars-era fighters.
Pick up the Core Set from Amazon here
The Making of Star Wars
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
JW Rinzler's Making of Star Wars books are gorgeous. They're enormous, text-heavy comprehensive tomes that are just nice to look at on your coffee table or bookshelf, and since they're official productions, their access is second-to-none. While the Return of the Jedi edition is sadly out of print, you can easily track down the equivalent books for A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. And if you're not interested in a physical edition, grab the Making of Star Wars on Kindle for a lot less.
Classic Star Wars PC games
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
DRM-free PC game retailer GOG has a themed Star Wars sale throughout the May 4th celebrations, as does Steam. Games available through the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live will also be discounted during this period. Some older Star Wars favorites of ours include Episode I: Racer, Rogue Squadron, Jedi Outcast and Knights of the Old Republic. On PC, it doesn't cost all that much to hoover up a complete collection.
Star Wars comics
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Since Disney bought Lucasfilm, Star Wars comics have been in the hands of Marvel, which assigned books to some of its greatest writers and artists. This first series, by Marvel's greatest current writer, Jason Aaron, is a good starting point. You might also want to check out the accompanying Darth Vader series, which introduced the fan-favorite character Doctor Aphra.
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Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.