To most people, May 4 is just another ordinary day on their calendar. But to diehard fans of the Star Wars series, the date is sacred.
May 4 was chosen by Star Wars fans as a worldwide holiday because “May the fourth” is a play on the movie series’ most iconic line — “May the force be with you.”
Star Wars fanatics celebrate the day with gatherings at which they dress up as the series’ popular characters, such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Princess Leia, and hold lightsabers, the main weapon in the Star Wars universe consisting of a metal hilt that projects a blade of plasma.
Taiwan is not immune from Star Wars fever, and this year Taiwanese fans made history by holding their annual gathering at the Presidential Office in downtown Taipei.
Over 100 Star Wars fans dressed as their favorite characters were welcomed by Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who called them “the first batch of visitors to the Presidential Office from outer space.”
The fans also held a ceremonial changing of the guard when the military police on duty switched posts with the Imperial Storm Troopers and rebellion forces soldiers.
The event was made possible by the efforts of Makoto Tsai (蔡榮洲), a diehard sci-fi aficionado and arguably Taiwan’s top Star Wars fan.
“It was like a dream come true for me. I just thought this is so surreal that I would wake up to find it was just a dream,” Tsai told CNA after successfully holding the Star Wars Day event.
Tsai said he had organized Star Wars Day celebrations at other public places such as the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the 1914 Huashan Creative Park over the past four years, but was looking for a place that could best represent Taiwan.
“And the answer to me was the Presidential Office,” he said.
Star Wars characters had previously showed up at White House events before, he said, so why not Taiwan?
He was somewhat surprised to find that the Presidential Office was willing to accommodate his request and even allowed the group to bring lightsabers and laser guns to the building, which is normally off-limits to weapons-like toys for security reasons, Tsai said.
“I’m pretty sure this was one of the highest level Star Wars Day events anywhere in the world,” he gushed.
LIGHTSABER MASTER
Aside from being a leader of the Star Wars fan community, the 34-year-old is also a one-of-a-kind full-time lightsaber maker who sells his works to fans worldwide.
Lightsabers are the signature weapons used by the Jedi and the most recognizable gadget in the series. Thousands of people have devoted themselves to creating realistic representations of these fictional weapons, but Tsai’s works have stood out, earning him stardom on the Internet.
They’ve gained a devoted following because they are much brighter, lighter and easier to use than those sold on the official Star Wars Web site and even come with sound effects.
Tsai’s special talents can be traced back to his high school days when he first fell in love with the franchise.
His first encounter occurred in 2002 when he saw Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones while working part time at a movie theater and was dazzled by the film’s space battles and computer-generated special effects.
But what most caught his eye were the weapons used by the Jedi Knights and, desperate to have one himself, he bought a toy lightsaber from the series’ official site.
He discovered, however, that it was not as bright as those in the movie and broke easily when used in a pretend sword fight. So he decided to build one for himself using the handle of a broom.
It took six years of trial and error before perfecting his design, and he even changed his university path during the process and chose to major in optoelectronics in pursuit of his lightsaber dream.
After countless experiments, he found that LEDs were the best light source for a lightsaber.
His creations use a string of small LEDs that extend over the full length of the blade. The string is divided into several individually powered segments that can be turned on in sequence to create a scrolling effect similar to the lightsabers in the movies.
To make these weapons even more realistic, he installed a soundboard in the hilt of his lightsabers, giving the devices the motion sensor-controlled sound effects that simulate clashing and battle impact sounds.
Tsai originally built the lightsabers just for fun, but that changed when short clips of him and his friends playing with them appeared on YouTube.
The videos were an immediate hit, and people from around the world started to e-mail him hoping to buy one, starting a business that has become a full-time vocation.
His lightsabers are a little more expensive than those sold on the official Web site, but that has not dampened demand due to the high quality of his product and his ability to tailor the device to customer requests.
The lightsaber maker said it usually takes him one and a half days to make a laser blade and he now gets about a dozen orders a month, with 70 to 80 percent coming from the US and European countries.
LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE
As a person who turned his favorite toy into a long-term career, Tsai said Star Wars has changed his life. Now, aside from building lightsabers, he also regularly organizes Star Wars fan meetings each month with cosplayers dressing like Star Wars characters. They also regularly visit hospitals for charity events to inspire kids with rare illnesses. Tsai admitted there is a challenge that could be daunting — finding a way next year to top the success of this year’s Star Wars Day at the Presidential Office.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In the aftermath of the 2020 general elections the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was demoralized. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had crushed them in a second landslide in a row, with their presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) winning more votes than any in Taiwan’s history. The KMT did pick up three legislative seats, but the DPP retained an outright majority. To take responsibility for that catastrophic loss, as is customary, party chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) resigned. This would mark the end of an era of how the party operated and the beginning of a new effort at reform, first under
RSS