My List of Top 10 Star Wars Online Communities

Best online community for combining franchise updates, collector information, and merchandise news.

Yodasnews.com is a Star Wars news site reporting the current news about the upcoming Star Wars films and promotional events while having a focus on collectibles. According to Star Wars Fanpedia, it offers “regular news updates and images from manufacturers, online retailers, and individuals within the collecting community. Some of the features include photos of readers' collections, exclusive interviews, and an active message board.” The site features Yoda as its mascot who has mass fan appeal and green is the dominant color for its content pages. In addition to articles, film trailers, and fan films the site also contains advertising for various Star Wars apparel and merchandise. http://www.yodasnews.com/

Best online community for analytical and opinion postings regarding the Star Wars franchise.

Eleven thirtyeight is named after the famous Clone Commando who led his squad on suicidal missions that were crucial to the survival of the Republic. According to the site’s “about” tab “ Eleven-ThirtyEight is an ongoing journal of news and opinion dedicated to chronicling the state of the Star Wars franchise in a way that eschews reactionary news posting in favor of longer, more considered pieces with a proactive mindset.” This site is for the more cerebral fans that have opinions regarding the overall plot consistency and structure. Most of the posts are thorough, informative and thought provoking, however the posts are quite lengthy. New posts are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/

Best online Star Wars community from Britain.

Jedinews reports the latest news for Star Wars fans in the UK. It provides information listed in the following categories: apparel; collecting; conventions and events; film, music and TV; gaming; interviews; lego; literature; podcasts; and miscellaneous. The site is well organized and designed and allows users to find their topic of interest with ease. The site also advertises merchandise and includes information about Star Wars themed resorts being built, concepts for posters, film and music, and podcasts for each category offered on the site. http://www.jedinews.co.uk/

Best online community for fans of Star Wars heroes that wish to “give back”

The Rebel Legion describes itself as a “Star Wars based costuming fan club. The Rebel Legion’s members create and wear costumes of the hero characters from the Star Wars saga, which includes but is not limited to the films, comics, books, games, and television shows based on the Star Wars saga. Although started in the United States, the Legion is now an international club that encompasses multiple nations worldwide and has become the premier Rebel costuming group in the Star Wars community. Since the Legion’s inception it has been a volunteer club of costume enthusiasts who can enjoy, express, and share their interest of costuming with others in the fan community.” Members of the community are grouped as follows: pilots, troopers, dignitaries, officers, allies, fringe, and Jedi. The members are assigned to bases or outposts and there are specialized detachments. This online community assembles and works together as a community offline for charity events. http://newsite.rebellegion.com/

Best online community for fans of Empire, Republic Clone Army and First Order who wish to “give back”

The 501st Legion states their mission as follows: “The Legion seeks to promote interest in Star Wars through the building and wearing of quality costumes, and to facilitate the use of these costumes for Star Wars-related events as well as contributions to the local community through costumed charity and volunteer work..." This community actually assembles and makes public appearances for promotional events and charity fundraising. The Legion is divided into units called Detachments, Garrisons, Squads and Outposts and are sorted by locations throughout the world. http://www.501st.com/

Best Family Friendly online Star Wars community

Founded and maintained by passionate Star Wars fans, the Star Wars Underworld, as per the site, “strives to uphold a fan-first attitude and family-friendly environment in which fans of all ages can engage in constructive conversation and spread the word about their creative projects. These open and respectful values have contributed greatly to the growth and sustainment of the organization, and will always be the core moral tenets of its existence.” This site reports the latest information about the films, collecting, conventions, and gaming. The site also features product reviews, television series reviews, book reviews, and opinion articles. There are also podcasts, interviews, and special features such as Clone Wars bloopers. The fandom tab includes cosplaying, fan art, fan films, fan fiction and events. http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/

Best online community for fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe

This online community declares it was created for one purpose: “To help all Star Wars fans become familiar with and enjoy the Expanded Universe of the already amazing galaxy of Star Wars.” The site is named after the famous cantina of Tattooine and it is a place where fans gather to read columns, reviews, interviews, forums and previews for Expanded Universe items. This site also conducts surveys and polls on a variety of Star Wars related topics. http://www.eucantina.net/

Best online community for the Star Wars collectors against scalping

Sandtroopers.com as per the site’s about page, is a “Star Wars Toys Collectors' website that stands unique as the pro-fan, anti-scalper unifier in the collecting community. Focusing on new action figure releases as they hit markets across the nation and worldwide, and delivering original entertainment in our articles, Sandtroopers is the collector's most valuable tool in getting the toys and fighting the scalpers.”

The site contains product guides, product images, interrogations (actually interviews), forums, and photo galleries featuring collections, customs, and dioramas. http://www.sandtroopers.com/

Best online community with lengthy history (founded in 1996)

This is a Star Wars news website that provides updates on the Star Wars media franchise. There are categories for movies, television, literature, games, and the fan community. The site features the Jedi Council Forum Feed and rebelscum.com Star Wars Collecting News. The home page also contains the latest Twitter, Instagram and YouTube content posted by force.net. The site provides podcasts through forcecast.net. The senior content manager of this site won the title of Star Wars Fan Club President from Lucasfilm in 2006. He also started The ForceCast, which quickly became the #1 Star Wars podcast. Philip Wise a partner and webmaster also runs Rebelscum.com and is a partner in C2 Ventures, Inc., a promotion company with a significant focus in the Star Wars celebrity arena, as well as OfficialPix.com, which held the Star Wars and Indiana Jones license to print and sell licensed photos and autographs from 2002 through 2015. http://theforce.net/

Best online community for fans of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
This online community blog raises awareness about and generates enthusiasm for the Star Wars prequel trilogy which unfortunately is not as popular as the original Star Wars trilogy. The fans of this site consider the prequels the most important part of the star wars saga since they provide the back story that results in the events of Episodes IV, V and VI. I favor this site above all other Star Wars communities because the prequels have always been my favorite part of the entire franchise as I grew up watching them. I am a devout fan of the prequels and the Clone Wars era. The site also has an archive of monthly blogs dating back to the year 2007. It provides a community of like-minded prequel fans who can express their thoughts and share information about this essential part of the Star Wars saga. This blog features podcasts and links to its other social media content on Facebook, Tumblr, and Pro Boards Forum . https://starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.wordpress.com/