I think one of the biggest problem with being a fan of a franchise as large and long-lasting as SW is having to deal with a franchise version of shifting baselines. What I mean by that is that every generation sees SW very differently. If you were a kid back in the late 70’s or early 80’s then to you SW means the OT, Kenner figures, Marvel comics, etc. If you were a 90’s kid it still means just the OT, but also Dark Horse comics, Thrawn trilogy, Jedi Academy books, LucasArts video games, Shadows of the Empire, Special Editions, etc. I grew up in the early 2000’s so to me it was the OT and the PT, SW Lego, Hasbro toys, Darkhorse and Lucasarts still, etc. The funny thing as that the two latter were fairly similar, especially since they followed the same EU canon, but kids today have a completely different baseline. To them SW means Disney, Marvel (again), OT, PT, ST, and anthology films, etc.
The point I’m trying to make is that franchises, despite being focused on the same core; movies, novels, etc. never can nor will stay the same. A 90’s fan may have had a fair amount of things in common with the 80’s fan, and more-so to the later 2000’s fan, but the fan from the early 2000’s has very little in comm wit the 80’s fan. Likewise I don’t think any of these have much in common with the Disney SW generation.
I think every franchise will at some point start to feel like it has grown away from you. Many Star Trek fans currently feel quite left out now that the remakes are new and popular and many younger people basically just ignores TOS. That makes sense to the current generation of kids based on the kinds of film and TV series they’re used to, but for those who consider TOS to be Star Trek this is pretty weird and frustrating.
And leaving your own baseline is a very rare thing. Although I get the feeling that many of the “younger” members on this forum has done just that. I grew up during the early 2000’s, but I’m much more of a fan of SW from the 90’s.
And add to all of this the fact that SW really is the only franchise were the original films aren’t available in an un-tampered form, causing this baseline disassociation to feel even weirder and more intrusive. If you’re a Star Trek fan and like the TOS you can always just buys the Blu-Ray and watch the original episodes, with or without the new effect. With SW you don’t really have that option.
(Anyway, that was a long and rambling post, but I hope some of it made any sense.)