We’re by no means late to the Star Wars easter eggs party – ok maybe a little – but, with May 4th, aka Star Wars Day, on the horizon, a new fan exhibition in town and the Mandalorian finale fresh in our minds, we’ve been enjoying our favourite fun hacks. Namely, Spotify’s music-fuelled lightsaber and Google’s adorable Grogu, each one cleverly adding an interactive element to these online platforms that we use daily. If there’s one thing that shows how powerful the Star Wars fandom is it’s these kinds of hidden gems.
If you’re not already familiar, these easter eggs are features you can find on your desktop – no downloads or complicated coding sequences required. First up, treat yourself to a listen of John William’s epic Star Wars soundtrack on Spotify. While the trumpets swell with an uplifting sense of hope in the Main Title music, or the ominous rhythmic beats of the Imperial March reverberate in your eardrums take a look at the progress bar and you’ll see it has been transformed into a lightsaber – with the plasma blade growing longer with every second that passes and the glowing light flickering when you hover over it.
While you can’t exactly take it and swish it around your screen, you can give it a click and choose from a selection of all the iconic lightsabers you’ve seen characters wield in the films over the years. Try dabbling in the dark side with Darth Vader’s sparking blood-red blade, channelling your inner Obi-Wan with noble blue or taking the path of a lone warrior with Ahsoka Tano’s lethal white. Don’t worry Samuel L Jackson fans; there’s also Mace Windu’s brilliant unique purple blade.
The feature dates back to 2015, likely a result of the hype surrounding the release of The Force Awakens, and they have kept it updated with new lightsaber additions over the years, including (potential spoiler, but you can only blame yourself at this point) Rey’s gleaming yellow.
Now one for the Mandalorian fans. Head on over to Google, type in Grogu or Baby Yoda, and voila; he will appear in the corner of your screen. The adorable pointy-eared foundling can be encouraged to cause a bit of destruction with a mere click, using the force to dismantle your search results and dump them in a pile at the bottom of the screen. Just a warning for any fellow procrastinators out there, it is a dangerously addictive bit of time-wasting. This one works on both the desktop and mobile phone, so Grogu is never far away. Ok and now a moment’s pause for those living under a rock (or recently freed from imprisonment in carbonite) to try these easter eggs out.
Clearly, when it comes to the internet Star Wars is a force to be reckoned with and just a few minutes trying out these easter eggs can easily get you in the mood to re-watch the franchise. Or, if you fancy taking it a step further and fully embracing the Star Wars spirit, you could always pay a visit to The Fans Strike Back in South Kensington. The fan exhibition is brimming with life-size sculptures, costumes, photo ops and more that bring the galaxy far, far away to life and invite you to relive your favourite scenes from the films. If you find colour-changing digital lightsabers and destructive baby Yodas exciting, then this will be right up your street.