Star Trek vs Star Wars: The Fans

[mr friendly guy]

I'm really torn.

On one end...psycho Trekkies. On the other end, how many people in the UK listed their religon as "Jedi"?

.

I wonder how many people were serious, or listed "jedi" as a joke.

I wanted to list my religion as "jedi knight" or "dark lord of the sith" as joke for the Australia census, but my parents objected. Jedi knight sounds better than atheist, although heretic, blasphemer, iconoclast, free thinker doesn't sound too bad either.

[Lord Pounder]

I was one of the UK's Jedi. AFAIK it was all done as a piss take, on the same census i put my race as Martian and occupation as giggalo. The media pounced on the Jedi thing and rounded up a few nutjobs to get quotes from.

[Sharpshooter]

To be fair, could it have been "Leah," a biblical name?

Could have also been part of a tren of some kind, a pattern in naming kids - I've got a sister by the same name, who was predated by another, Lisa, which sort of sound quite good in conjunction. The next three, suitably enough, also begin with the letter L, as does my father's first name - Hell, the whole of my family, save for my mother, has their first name begin with L.

Granted, she was born about two or three years after Star Wars, but my parnts were never real Star Wars fans - that's for me and my brother.

OP: I guess it would really have to depend upon the type of loyalty one's talking about. On one hand, you've got "I'll pledge my allegience to it as long as it doesn't do anything heinous" loyalty, which is the sensable sort of loyalty most people have - they are quite fond of the series, devote some resources to it, maybe go a bit overboard on said loyalty, but generally keep a good head about themselves. Here, I'd take a stab that Wars' got the upper hand here, as the original films and the sheer amount of media that has been developed throughout the years has enabled it to spread to an incredably large fanbase.

Then, as we've so often seen and mocked, there's "I pledge my undying allegience to this show, will stand by through thick and thin, and devote the rest of my corporal existance to heralding its greatness" loyalty. Here, Trek has definetily got the upper hand - at least in the eyes of the camera, in any case. While I wont deny there may exist those just as rabid and zealous about Wars as any trekkie, they are sorely outnumbered by those who devote themselves to Trek.

Overall, I'd place y bet on the Wars fans.

[Laird]

Dude this is no contest, ever hear of a juror turning up for duty in full Stormtrooper armour?

Nope, I know a guy who does it for a living. He's the "Seattle Stormtrooper".

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Where I live, there is a professional Stormtrooper regiment. They appear at store openings or conventions or other events for a small fee. In the intro to Survivor's Quest, Timothy Zahn thanks them for being a bigger nerd than he is.

Making a living as a lifesize stormtrooper stand-in > the Starfleet dirtly little secret in some nerd's basement.

[Nick Lancaster]

I'm a member of the 501st Legion, and we show up at conventions, do events for Lucasfilm as well as charity events (we helped a local Toys For Tots group collect toys after winter weather had flooded their warehouse).

I have not worn my armor to jury duty, as you can't sit down in it unless you cut the abdomen plate (recommended only for the extremely fit stormtrooper - if you have even an inkling of an Imperial bureaucrat's waistline, forget it) ... and I take my civic duty seriously. I mean, how would you like it if you were in court, and some clown on the jury showed up in Starfleet uniform or stormtrooper armor?

There's a time and place for playing dress-up, and jury duty isn't it.

(Not to mention, you can't sit to drive, so you'd have to suit up in the parking lot. You have limited mobility, and can't really 'remove your shoes' to go through the metal detector.)

And we're thrilled to be mentioned in Zahn's latest novel.

[Lone_Prodigy]

Are Stormtrooper armor sets available for purchase.

[Laird]

Exactly, So Warsies fanboisam>treks.

[Vympel]

Where I live, there is a professional Stormtrooper regiment. They appear at store openings or conventions or other events for a small fee. In the intro to Survivor's Quest, Timothy Zahn thanks them for being a bigger nerd than he is.

Making a living as a lifesize stormtrooper stand-in > the Starfleet dirtly little secret in some nerd's basement.

Dude, they visit sick kids in hospitals.

[Nick Lancaster]

Are Stormtrooper armor sets available for purchase.

PM sent.

[Kurgan]

Dude this is no contest, ever hear of a juror turning up for duty in full Stormtrooper armour?

Dude, he´s got you there.

What about the dude dressed as Vader trying to rob the pizza delivery guy?

[Mange]

Dude this is no contest, ever hear of a juror turning up for duty in full Stormtrooper armour?

Dude, he´s got you there.

What about the dude dressed as Vader trying to rob the pizza delivery guy?

I doubt he was a desperate Star Wars fan...

As for the question itself, I think that there are more "fanatical" ST fans than there are "fanatical" SW fans, that dress themselves in all kinds of ST costumes, speaks Klingon etc. Of course, that's merely how I think things to be, I've not seen that many fanatical fans around here, and Star Trek has never been that big here in Sweden.

[Kurgan]

I doubt he was a desperate Star Wars fan...

Of course one wonders why he had a Darth Vader costume lying around if he wasn't...

If he needed money, he could have sold the suit for more than he would have gotten from one pizza guy!

[Kurgan]

Whoops, bad edit. That should be Mange's quote, not Adun's. Sorry. ; p

[Mange]

I doubt he was a desperate Star Wars fan...

Of course one wonders why he had a Darth Vader costume lying around if he wasn't...

If he needed money, he could have sold the suit for more than he would have gotten from one pizza guy!

Good point! Well, I guess it really could be the case.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Where I live, there is a professional Stormtrooper regiment. They appear at store openings or conventions or other events for a small fee. In the intro to Survivor's Quest, Timothy Zahn thanks them for being a bigger nerd than he is.

Making a living as a lifesize stormtrooper stand-in > the Starfleet dirtly little secret in some nerd's basement.

Dude, they visit sick kids in hospitals.

See, I told you--they have no lives.

No, I keed. I keed our stormtrooper friends. I jyoke wit dem!


They actually have pretty cool costumes and they really are the life of a convention. And being mentioned in a bestselling novel that isn't about one's deviant sexual practices is a huge honor, so I gladly give them much credit.
Still, whenever I see a fan in a stormtrooper costume it's hard not to think of the Colonel Sanders Trooper who nearly ate Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Actually, I think the most flamboyant nerd I've ever seen must be Blackwolf the DrrragonMastah! Fresh hound!