Kickstart: May the Fourth Be With You

Hello there, it's me, Erin Sloan, again. This time celebrating probably the nerdiest day of the year: Star Wars Day. Or May 4. As in, May the Fourth Be With You.

There's plenty of plastic involved in the long and complex history of Star Wars. The original movie was one of the first to use plastic vacuum forming for props, body armor, droids and Darth Vader's costume. It also reshaped the toy industry.

Kenner toys originally brought the galaxy far, far away to life with more than 300 million Star Wars action figures produced between 1977 and 1985. That number is probably well over a billion now.

But for collectors, a coming reboot for packaging is stoking rebellion.

In 2019, Hasbro, which now has the Star Wars toy license, announced that it would have plastic-free packaging.

That means no more clear plastic windows on packages. Collectors like that film because it allows you to get close to the product without having to open it. Or if you're like me, you can open it and store it and put the item back in there as needed.

Hasbro's rationale was to help make its packaging more recyclable, but as many collectors pointed out, these packages aren't being tossed. They're being savored and doing the noble job of protecting the figure inside for display.

In 2018, Hasbro started the switch to using 30 percent plant-based "bioPET" in its plastic packaging.

Star Wars month is in full swing now, with two of the biggest events to come: the latest Star Wars TV show, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the multiday Celebration event in Anaheim, Calif., right next to Disneyland.

The monolith of pop culture theme parks has had supply chain issues just like the rest of the world. That led to fans throwing a fit in January when their $200 custom lightsabers or droids made at Galaxy's Edge, the Star Wars-themed land in the theme park, were given plastic bags instead of higher-end carrying cases.

Speaking of Galaxy's Edge, have you seen the specially designed Coca-Cola bottles for the park? They're designed to look like "thermal detonators" (aka grenades) and the company's famous logo is rewritten in Aurebesh, which is the written word from the films.

Also this month, Lego is getting its first stage at Celebration, where it is set to feature current Star Wars sets, as well as debut new ones. Lego has had a great year so far, with fans particularly loving the excruciating detail of plastic seams on its legendary minifigures in its newest game release Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

Also, Lego is featuring a series of dioramas of famous scenes from the films meant to be less toy and more home decor. As a millennial with a taste for nerdy decorations, I'm very much on board (they definitely have me targeted) and have my eyes set on this exclusive Lars Homestead Kitchen set. You know, where Luke's Aunt Beru made the space soup and the blue milk?

I'm going to get very granular and share what in-universe plastic is like, according to Wookieepedia, which is the wiki for all things Star Wars. It's known as cast-plast, plastoid, plasticene or simply polymer.

Beyond what we've seen in movies, here are some deep cut fun facts from the expanded universe like the books, comics, games and other TV shows:

• The material was widespread in the galaxy, being used in armor, bioweapons, droids, ships, some smuggling operations (hello, Han) and of course medical applications. For example, Leia Organa's adoptive mother, Queen Breha, had an artificial heart and lungs.

• Archival plastic, which was indestructible and had edges that could cut skin, was used in place of paper.

• The planet of Nakadia is home to many plastoid factories but actually was a very high-quality bioresin, made by farm crops on the lush planet.

Too nerfherdery for you? That's OK, Rhoda will be back tomorrow for our regular trench run.