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MANDALORE — If there is one thing we have learned in this day and age, it's that fandom knows no bounds.
When people get attached to something these days there is no stopping them from proving their loyalty and devotion. There are certain fandoms that are insanely intense, like "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Trek." But the granddaddy of them all may be "Star Wars."
I agree: it's debatable. But people love their wars fought in the stars, and the big newcomer is "The Mandalorian."
The Disney+ TV series has a huge following after just two seasons —16 episodes total.
I've witnessed some of this obsessed fandom firsthand. I was recently in Disney World and saw a woman having a photoshoot with her Baby Yoda doll. I don't think you're getting the whole picture: She was alone with nothing but the doll and a camera.
She wandered around Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios all day taking professional-quality photos of her Baby Yoda. There were multiple in front of the Millennium Falcon, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle and an X-Wing fighter. She took selfies with the doll and posed him all over the park. She paid over $100 to enter the park, not to ride rides but to get photos of her Baby Yoda.
Then just this weekend while out to dinner with my wife, I noticed a guy wearing shorts. Peculiar, considering it was about 38 degrees Fahrenheit outside and he wasn't a teenage boy that was inexplicably trying to prove his manliness by wearing shorts in cold weather. No, this was a full-grown man, with his young children by his side, wearing shorts.
I soon realized why his bare legs were braving the cold air: He had two massive tattoos, one on each leg. The left donned the symbol of the "Kyr'bes" — the skull symbol you can see on the armor of both Boba Fett and "The Mandalorian." And on the right was the symbol of the "Mud Horn," or the "Clan of Two," which the Mandalorian earned after facing a rhino-like animal and barely surviving (thanks to his little green friend).
Man, I know too much about this.
Regardless, "The Mandalorian" has a dedicated fanbase, and I've seen it with my own eyes. But expensive photoshoots and tattoos aside, I think these fans in Russia win.
A group of Mando fans in the Russian city of Yakutsk, Siberia, built this life-size replica of the Mandalorian's ship, the Razorcrest. The ship is 46-feet long, weighs over 1 ton, and costs over $10,000 to build, according to the NY Post.
The thing is pretty cool. And if you're a die-hard "Mandalorian" fan, then put your money where your mouth is and either build one or buy a plane ticket to Yakutsk, Siberia, to see it for yourself. Roundtrip tickets start around $2,000. Cheaper than building one, I suppose.
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