May the fourth be with you! May 4 is Star Wars Day, celebrated informally by fans of the series. To celebrate, here are my favorite and least favorite things about the “Star Wars” universe.

I love the characters in “Star Wars.” They’re all such complex individuals, each with their own goals and inspirations. Growing up, I had a crush on both Anakin and Padmé. My siblings and I played with “Star Wars” action figures, acting out scenes we would make up. We had every character you could possibly want, ranging from the popular Luke Skywalker to more obscure characters like Breha Organa.

My favorite thing about the characters is that though not all of the characters are good people, they’re still well written. George Lucas does a great job of explaining why characters do the things they do, while not excusing it at the same time.

Anakin Skywalker is a great example of this. He starts as an innocent child who simply wants to be a Jedi Knight and one day free his mother from slavery. As he matures, he is influenced by the Dark Side of the Force and Chancellor Palpatine. He begins to doubt everything he knows and loses trust in the Jedi Order. In doing this, he loses his loved ones, including Padmé and his twin children. He continues to be influenced by evil, becoming worse and more cruel with time. He even goes as far as trying to kill his son.

At the very end, he saves Luke and turns to the Light Side again. I love that throughout his long and dramatic character arc, Anakin’s actions are explained, not justified. He does terrible things, but that’s what makes him such a good character.

Controversial opinion here but I love all of the series. There are the prequels, originals and sequels. There’s a lot of hatred directed towards both the prequel series and the sequel series. People complain that episodes one through three are too stuffy and dark. They say sequels are trying to be “politically correct” and they don’t follow the comic or novel storylines.

I disagree with both of these popular opinions. I absolutely love all three sets of “Star Wars” series. The original series has a special place in my heart. My dad watched it with my siblings and I when we were little, so it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. The prequels are also amazing.

I love the politics shown in the series. The audience finally gets to see how the “Star Wars” world works, and how the Empire could have come to power in the first place. Characters that were referenced in the seventies’ film are fleshed out into full people. The sequel series are so fun. There are so many new characters, while still following some of the previous characters’ storylines. I love that there’s so much diversity in the newest series. “Star Wars” can be intimidating and exclusive if you’re not a white man. With the new series, kids and adults both have new characters that they can relate to.

My least favorite part of this galactic series is the fandom. While there are so many great fans, there are some people who are exclusionary. They act like you have to know every single detail or “Star Wars” lore to be a true fan. There can be no one that just likes the movies; everyone must be as big of a fan as they are. There’s nothing wrong with being a huge fan, but it’s not cool to shame others for their level of involvement.

Though watching all the episodes of “Star Wars” would take over 24 hours, May 4 is a great day to watch your favorite one.