'Force Friday' Has Arrived

On the fourth of every month, it's easy to find random "May the Fourth be with you" platitudes on social media from Star Wars superfans—but today's "Force Friday" may even lure Jabba the Hutt onto the Internet or into a store on Tatooine. Just after midnight, five retailers—Target, Walmart, Amazon, Disney Store, and Toys R Us—kicked off a major merchandise event both online and in stores, centered around the December release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the newest movie in the franchise, the Washington Post reports. In addition to new toy and merch lineups, the Force Friday event guide lists plenty of giveaways and Star Wars-themed ceremonies.

In New York City, Uber has dispatched a fleet of Dodge Chargers designed to look like Hot Wheels Stormtrooper cars to give Manhattan pedestrians free rides, Mashable reports. Interestingly enough, many of the purchases made during today's event won't be by kids and their parents, but by adult aficionados and collectors, the editor of a toy review website tells the Post—and some don't even want to check out the toys to buy them, but to cull clues about the plotline for the upcoming movie. Even if you don't have any purchasing plans, you can watch as some of the new products are "unboxed" in 15 cities around the world on the YouTube live stream. (Here's the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer again to get you stoked for today.)