CREDIT: EMILY STEWART
Jumbo Video Centre carries plenty of Star Wars merchandise, including pop figurines.

2015 was a big year for Star Wars. The highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was released, the first major motion picture released in the series in about a decade. The film collected around $2.05 billion USD and five Oscar nods. Prior to its release, a plethora of Star Wars’ food products, from Kraft Dinner to oranges were being sold, piggybacking on the popularity of the series. On top of all of this, popular a capella group Pentatonix performed a medley of music from the Star Wars saga at the 2015 American Music Awards.

Although the film has been long out of the theatres, that doesn’t mean Star Wars mania has ended. An upcoming event at Jumbo Video Centre will reflect the Forest City’s love of the galaxy far, far away.

Jumbo Video is having a release party for the Blu-ray edition of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on April 5. Jake Davidson, the video game and marketing manager, said that this is the first movie-centered event they’ve had in a while.

“Last year, we started getting into the pop culture side of things and going to the London Comic Con and bringing in that sort of product,” he explained.

Davidson added that he noticed a Star Wars following in London. He said someone told him about the Unicycling Storm Trooper, who has been spotted riding around the Forest City. “There’s definitely an audience here in London that really caters to Star Wars.”

London’s appreciation for Star Wars was also seen with the national event celebrating the franchise on May 4, 2015. Along with wishing people “May the Fourth be with you”, the Cardboard Café played music from the series while promoting Star Wars’ board games and testing their knowledge at trivia. Richmond Row staple Stobies Pizza also offered free slices to anyone whose name was Luke, Carrie, Leia, Ben and even Chewbacca, Darth or Yoda.

Davidson also felt that events, like the London and Forest City Comic Cons, represent the mindset that geek and nerd cultures are becoming cool. Davidson predicts that the following will only get bigger.

“It started off with a couple of conventions here and there spread out through North America and the early 2000s. Now, there’s a convention in almost every single city,” he said. “Groups of people in cities are like, ‘Well, instead of travelling for three hours, I want to do one in my city’.”

Cosplayers will also be signing autographs as different Star Wars characters, such as PrettyWreck Cosplay as Rey and Alex Rose Cosplay as a Twi’lek. Customers who stop by can also have a chance to take photos with some cosplayers.

There will be plenty of prizes, including a London Comic Con pass and an autographed photo from Ron Perlman. Jumbo Video will be giving away six gift cards as well ranging from $15 to $50. All you have to do is place a pre-order to enter.

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1080 Adelaide Street North.

Jumbo Video also hosts gaming tournaments for all of the NHL Series, and they’ve hosted tournaments for FIFA, Halo and Call of Duty games. They will also host a Pokémon Tournament in anticipation of the Pokémon Sun and Moon games to be released later this year.