Apparently, because today is May 1 – May Day in many European countries – someone has decided that it's also the made-up "holiday" of Traveller Day, for obvious reasons.
I don't know who came up with Traveller Day or the intentions behind it. Maybe it really does represent something genuinely spontaneous and fan-driven. If so, then why not choose a more suitable date for commemoration, like the date of its original publication? Wouldn't that make more sense? May 1 feels like a marketing stunt rather than something real, but what do I know?
Bah, humbug.
I don't know where I first saw May 1 as Traveller Day, to me it's a loving allusion to the box cover of Classic Traveller (and many later versions of Traveller). I've never seen any commercial hoopla about it.
ReplyDeleteMay 4 as Star Wars day is just fun too... Again, not sure where I saw the first reference. Might have been a Star Wars movie theater marathon. These days, I am fully aware of it because Lego always releases new Star Wars sets on May 4. Sure, it's commercial, but they have a staggered release schedule over the year, and why not release new Star Wars sets on May 4? They are (mostly) always well received by fans.
I HAVE also seen celebration of Traveller on the anniversary of it's general availability at Origins. But the I couldn't tell you the date.
I wished folks Happy Traveller Day on the RPGPub boards without any external prompting. I just realized it was May 1 aka May Day and dropped the well wishing.
Definitive proof you are an Old Grognard! Hahaha! And I agree... too much meaningless frippery.
ReplyDeleteIt's also Justin Timberlake day.
ReplyDeleteFinally, a real holiday!
DeleteI appreciate the implicit promise that this is the only day of the year his evil can manifest in the world, leaving us safe for the other 364 (or 365 on leap years).
DeleteApril 26th, Alien day, the day the movie was released. I went and saw a re-release in the theatre on the 30th anniversary. Also, a day when new material is occasionally released to the community - there were a bunch of mini films of fan content building up to it a few years ago. I don't think of it so much as a day of celebration, rather as a locus point for discussion and new/discounted content - somewhat like GM's day in March.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Alien was originally released in May of 1979, but I could well be mistaken.
DeleteI read somewhere that 4/26 was chosen as homage to "LV-426", the name of the moon visited in the first Alien movie.
DeleteI hadn't heard of Alien Day until this post, but the date 4/26 represents planet LV426, where the Aliens were discovered. (And yes, I just posted on my blog about the Star Wars day game I'm running this year.)
DeleteI stand corrected, funny how as a fan there is always something more to learn. All my points are valid though, at least for myself, but I think for the niche Alien fandom as well.
DeleteThe 4th being a Saturday, my workplace decided to do a "Revenge of the Sixth" celebration instead. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThis Is The May
DeleteI think May the Fourth Be With You started organically enough and was eventually either embraced or coopted by Lucasfilm's marketing dept, depending on your worldview.
ReplyDeleteEven cynical me says "embrace" the inevitable. The Navajo nation even embraces it and does their annual live dub dramatization drive-in in Navajo. Kevin Bacon embraces "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" too.
DeleteYou must be fun at parties.
ReplyDeleteRemind me not to pitch my idea for Grognar-Dia de los Muertos to you then…
ReplyDeleteYou win today's No-Prize. Well done.
DeleteGrate on your nerves? Really? Geez. Much better things on which to spend my anger.
ReplyDeleteIt is still better than blatant Hallmark Holidays like Grandparents day
ReplyDeleteTrue!
DeleteThis is an awesome opportunity to share a very unique and fake nerd holiday! The following was sent to me by my buddy Charles after I'd asked about his reoccurring term 'Happy Hoodad!'. I think he graduated high school in the mid 70's.
ReplyDelete"In honor of those in my group of high school nerds, and on a pseudo holiday we called the 'Annual Hoodad' that falls on the 25th of every month, and is named after an eccentric but athletic mutual friend of that group, I wish you all Happy 4th (April) Annual Hoodad.
For Rabbit, Nathaniel, Buzz, and of course, the Mad Man."
And yes, the 4th ANNUAL Hoodad of the that year fell on the 25th of April, not the 4th.
Sorry, the Annual Hoodad post was mine, not anon.
ReplyDeleteHa! Well said, James! Bah humbug indeed!
ReplyDeleteTechnically the term “Fake Holidays” is kinda redundant because all holidays are fake in the sense of like, they are traditions that where created by people. I know that when you say “fake holidays” you mean “holidays that where cynically created for marketing purposes” and I’m just being a pedantic snot.
ReplyDeleteI will never criticize someone for being pedantic. ;-)
DeleteTraveller Day has been going on for several years now. I'm not sure when I first ran into it, but it was before 2020. Marc Miller usually does some little thing as a thank-you to the fans, such as a limited-edition product; this year, it's a Patent of Nobility, which is a small, plastic, credit card-like object printed with some Third Imperium information, for not much more than the price of shipping it. You might have gotten one when you backed T5, if you did back that.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow “hater of fun since before it was cool” I also dislike these fake holidays.
ReplyDeleteIm a card carrying member of the Cranky Old Bastards Club, but if it brings positive attention to the games*, I reckon I just don't see the big deal.
ReplyDeleteMy Son calls/texts to wish me a Happy May the 4th every year (we are 12 hours away from each other and see each other infrequently), so maybe I'm biased. Some memes or memories are exchanged. It's a good day.
*sadly, the SW franchise is beyond help.
Valentine's Day is the worst offender. For single people it's a day to make them sad, and to married people it's another day to have to remember and spend money on top of Christmas, birthday, and anniversary (and mothers day if you have small kids because you know a toddler's not going to be buying her anything).
ReplyDeleteAdd anniversary of first date, anniversary of meeting, and more...
DeleteMay the fourth be with you. Use the fork Luke. Revenge of the sixth.
ReplyDeleteEh, it's harmless. I can think of other things to get upset about that are much more...meh.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one true Star Wars holiday — and thankfully the movie that celebrates it is FINALLY (after nearly two decades of development) available on DVD and Blu-ray:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDfgplMhqcg
Hear, hear!
DeleteDown with calendars!
ReplyDeleteIn the US, how May 4th can be anything other than Kent State Day is beyond me.
ReplyDelete