No one needs convincing that Star Wars is a cultural staple. It's a franchise that expands far beyond the reaches of childhood, and adults are just as likely to carry a bit of the Force with them. They're not too old to buy action figures, either.
In fact, a trip to the Disney Store at Stonebriar Centre in Frisco proved you can't set an age limit on imagination, especially when it comes to Star Wars and its new The Force Awakens toys.
"I'm just a really big kid," said Joey Islas as he picked up a replica Kylo Ren lightsaber.
Islas, 26, is a bonafide Star Wars kid. After being introduced to the series at a young age by his older brother, his fandom was set in stone. For him, buying the toys takes him back to a simpler time. He still enjoys swinging around a lightsaber and making his voice sound like Darth Vader's.
"Walking through here and seeing kids with toys, it's amazing to see them getting into it," he said. "But it's also cool to see the adults still nerding out."
Islas said his favorite items from the latest film are the Rey and Kylo Ren lightsabers and the voice changing masks.
The reason the Disney Store, of all places, is seeing lots of traffic from adult-aged "kids" is because the movie giant purchased Lucasfilm and is now producing Star Wars movies under the Disney name. Many fans say the Disney Store is one of the best places to find the good Star Wars figurines.
"Before, lightsabers were cheap and fold out," said one Disney Store employee. "But now they're beautifully done."
In fact, the split between kids and adults buying Star Wars toys was 50-50, some employees guessed. (But we all knew that, right?) "The people that were loving it then are loving it now," the employee said.
For parents buying Star Wars toys for their kids, adults swarming the stores hasn't been a real problem. For them, the biggest issue is finding toys of Rey, The Force Awakens' lead character.
With rumors swirling that Rey was dropped from initial runs of merchandise and wasn't present in character sets, the Internet spawned the movement #WheresRey. A Disney employee said that Rey figurines "fly off the shelves" because they're rare.
After the #WheresRey outcry, Disney is launching new Rey toys for "Star Wars" fans https://t.co/7QvVfQqUi5 pic.twitter.com/oc1CtBJwYk
— Forbes (@Forbes) January 16, 2016
Disney didn't return questions for comment on Star Wars sales figures. Anecdotally, it seems as though the kids store is resonating with both the young and young at heart.
"It looks like it's never going to die," Islas said. "That's great."
