When checking the mail yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find my membership kit to Hyperspace, the official Star Wars Fan Club, among the junk mail and election ads. The membership package wasn't really a driving factor for me to become a card-carrying lover of the saga. I joined the fan club in early June for the express privilege of posting blogs at this very site. I was looking for a new creative outlet and found it by recounting Star Wars themed tales of my family to the faceless web-surfing public.

Not that I wasn't interested in the three-months-in-the-waiting membership package. I have fond memories of receiving awesome membership goodies and issues of the Bantha Tracks newsletter in my youth the first time I was officially a fan of Star Wars. I was excited to see whether the promise of an envelope full of free Star Wars stuff would have the same effect on an impressionable young fan-in-training and recruited my son Scott to dive into the potential treasure trove with me. My plan was to pull out the elements within the envelope one by one, marvel at its awesomeness, and have a little pre-bedtime father and son geek out.

I intentionally started with the ever-present Welcome Letter penned (and by "penned" I mean "signed", and by "signed" I mean "stamped by an intern") by George Lucas. I knew this would hold Scott's interest at the same level as, say, the transcript of a U.S. Senate Finance subcommittee meeting, and we'd be quickly moving on to the next item in the envelope. As he has a developing interest in how movies are made, I thought I could slow Scott down by pointing out the small black and white headshot of Lucas. "That's the director of 'Star Wars' buddy." No dice. We were moving on.

The next item out was a poster promoting Marbs, Star Wars decorated marbles mounted on bases with logos. Scott seemed a bit befuddled about what these are and why they exist. I think I agree with him. We unfolded a poster sponsored by Penguin books which featured the dramatic action-packed art from the cover of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Secret Missions #1: Breakout Squad. (Clearly, the use of the colon is nearly as frequent as the use of a lightsaber in Star Wars lore.) The gigantic logo and battle-ready clone troopers grabbed Scott's attention. "That is so cool!" he exclaimed. Focusing on the Chiss Jedi in the background Scott commented, "I didn't know he was a Star Wars." I'm not sure how the grammar unit is coming in Kindergarten but, yes, that Jedi DOES in fact appear to be a Star Wars.

The Kotobukiya poster followed (lots of posters in this membership kit) and was also greeted excitedly by the little guy. How could a poster with colorful clone captains and commanders NOT be exciting? Oddly, Scott focused on the picture of the Darth Sidious blue hologram "bonus figure". I told him who he was and that he looked that way because he was supposed to be a hologram. "Like when they use the telephone in 'Star Wars'?" Scott asked, deploying his not-far-off the mark understanding of how prequel-era characters compare notes across great distances.

The Dark Horse comics poster (another poster?!) was next, featuring some great art of farm boy Luke standing next to his landspeeder. As an unapologetic fan of Star Wars comics, I enjoyed this one personally. Scott was a bit baffled by the concept of a graphic novel timeline on the back of the poster and was already fishing around in the membership envelope. Someday you'll be checking off those titles, buddy. Someday.

The promotional piece for the Star Wars Fandex came in the form of ... a fan. This appealed to Scott as it was, so far, the most toylike object in the envelope. "And when it gets hot, we can fan ourselves," he helpfully suggested. Aside from wondering about the identity of the Sith woman on the cover of the Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Imprint mini-book (two more colons for those keeping score at home), Scott had no time for miniature fiction with no pictures. Nearly ripping through the unopened end of the membership envelope to confirm if he had been duped into an exercise that was as he sometimes reports "too boring for me", he quickly rifled past a Clone Wars patch, DK magnet, Sideshow Collectibles gift card, and Fan Club membership card. He noted an oversize sticker promoting Museum Replicas and casually assured me that it would find a place on a sticker chart marking some domestic achievement.

Just when we thought we were left with an empty envelope -- hold the phone! -- Hasbro swoops in with the coolest offering in the bunch: a Droid Factory magnet set! The arms, legs, heads, and bodies of four Build a Droid action figures were presented as little magnetic punch-outs for mix and match fun. Nicely done Hasbro!

When all was said and done, I was struck by how promotional the package was. I realize that ANY Star Wars branded materials are by their very nature promotional, but I didn't anticipate that nearly everything would be tied to merchandise. Not that I was naively expecting an envelope full of unsponsored original sketches from the Lucasfilm art department and a personal letter from George. ("Hey Brad, thanks for re-joining the fan club. I always wondered what happened when you let your membership lapse back in the late '80s. Mellody and I would love to have you and the family up for dinner next time you're on the West Coast.") But I was struck by a few things:

A) "The Clone Wars" really is the new face of Star Wars. There was virtually zero representation of the films in that package, particularly the original trilogy.
B) Star Wars has a LOT of licensed products. And if there's a captive audience willing to browse their goods, they'll be happy to oblige.
C) I forgot how jazzed I was to receive my "Return of the Jedi" patch and Yoda sticker when I renewed my Bantha Tracks subscription back in the day. Those membership kits were gold, and Scott reminded my how much fun it could be for a young fan to rifle through free surprise Star Wars goodies that arrive by mail.

Oh, and D) cobbling together some R2 protocol droid hybrids using those cool magnets just made the kitchen an exponentially more fun place to hang out.