Nobody actually hated the Star Wars prequels. The idea that they were universally despised is one of the greatest psy-ops in internet history. Just follow the money. From 1999 until Disney derailed the franchise in 2015, there was an absolutely relentless avalanche of prequel merchandise. Cartoons, video games, LEGO sets, novels, Halloween costumes, clothes, lunchboxes, bedsheets, school supplies. You couldn’t walk into a Walmart without seeing Darth Maul or a Clone Trooper staring back at you. For FIFTEEN YEARS. Name one other supposedly “hated” movie that had an entire generation of children begging their parents to buy literally anything associated with it more than a decade and a half after its release. And yet everyone talks about how the prequels were eventually “rehabilitated,” as though public opinion underwent some miraculous reversal. Bullshit. They were always beloved. The only thing that changed was that the millions of normal kids who grew up loving Star Wars finally got old enough to wrest control of the internet away from the same bitter, petulant NEETs who’d spent decades blaming George Lucas for ruining their childhoods because admitting they’d wasted the rest of their lives was too painful.