Semifinal 1
Our four early winners are set to do battle in the popularity ring. First Order baddie Kylo Ren is up against his rival, Rey. Those two must match up against BB-8 and early favorite Yoda. These aren’t seeded, and I have no prediction about who will win! (Okay, I do — Yoda. But let’s see.)
Wow! This one was incredibly hard to predict! It’s also going to be a toughy to pick a winner. Kylo Ren has the highest spike of any character, but his popularity seems to tail off after the Google adjustment of January 1st, 2016. Rey even has a higher average than he does overall, but she doesn’t get any spike that differentiates her from the rest. Meanwhile, BB-8’s cuteness gives him a good spike early and matches him with Rey at the January 1st spike. Lastly, Yoda has an enduring popularity giving him a huge edge in average popularity rating overall. This one was so tough that I went in and looked at every spike in detail from the debut of The Force Awakens on in order to determine a winner. One character came out as the clear winner – Kylo Ren. So he moves on to the final round to face the winner of the Semifinals 2 bracket, but I want to point out one other thing: in my statistical analysis, Rey came in last in this group, suffering from low overall numbers during times when Star Wars clearly occupied the cultural zeitgeist in great numbers.
Semifinal 2
Our last semifinal starts with upset-not-an-upset winner Boba Fett. He’s joined by true upset winner Chewbacca, massive frontrunner Darth Vader, and king of the Skywalkers, Luke. These four characters are long-time fan favorites of the franchise and it’ll be interesting who gets matched up to face new favorite, Kylo Ren.
No tight matchup here: Darth Vader strolls confidently on to face his grandson, Kylo Ren, in the championship. There are some interesting data points here, though. For instance, Boba Fett’s low results tell me he’s not nearly as popular as many would believe. While being a notable fan favorite is one thing, he’s clearly not getting the sort of interest online that the main characters of the series are getting. The other really interesting thing for me is that Chewbacca seems to be just as popular as Luke Skywalker. I’ve always liked Chewbacca, but for me, it was clear that Luke was a main character and Chewbacca was more of a supporting character. Apparently, I’m one of the few who thinks that because Chewie is definitely a popular Wookiee.
So let’s get on with it then, the battle for MOST POPULAR STAR WARS CHARACTER!!!!
Kylo Ren v Darth Vader
DARTH VADER IS YOUR CHAMPION!
Ever since his introduction in 1977’s Star Wars, Darth Vader has maintained a choke hold on fan culture, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up. Even as new movies arrive with new characters, Darth Vader remains the character that most people keep coming back to time and again. Kylo Ren puts up decent numbers in comparison, but it doesn’t look as if he’ll ever catch up to his grandfather, a point that is echoed in the current sequel trilogy by character after character. As long as Darth Vader is so popular, expect him to pop up in cameo appearances as he did in 2016’s Rogue One or to headline comics series as he has done for last several years since coming back to Marvel Comics.
What do you think of comparing characters in a franchise like this? Do you agree with the results? Did I miss a character? Let me know in the comments below!
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Popular Characters By Group
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