It checks out. There’s so much Star Wars merch out there that anybody will wear it, but you have to go out of your way to get a shirt with a blueprint of DS9 on it, and everybody will know that you’re a massive nerd who can be trusted with their life.

When I was teenager, I was put in a program for juvenile delinquents because I was truant. The fact that it was due to a sleeping disorder didn’t matter to the school district. I was told I could volunteer to do it in the summer or they’d get a court order in the fall. It was basically group therapy and rehab with a bunch of kids who had drug problems and criminal records, plus me, a nerd.

At one point, I disagreed with the guy running the group about something. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but wasn’t even about me, nor did it impact my compliance with the program. But they still said that I would be kicked out and not allowed back into the group until I agreed with them.

Because my participation was voluntary, I didn’t actually have to go back, so when they wanted me to come back in to “discuss” the disagreement, I told them I would do so only if they agreed to give me a ride afterwards no matter what, instead of sticking with their petty policy of refusing to give people a ride to the bus stop if they were “in conflict” with the group. They agreed, so I went back in.

Well, we didn’t resolve the dispute They refused to back down from their requirement of agreeing that there are 5 lights, I insisted there were 4 lights, another day wasted. And then they told me they wouldn’t give me a ride after all. When I argued, they told me that I could walk or they could call the cops for trespassing. It was a record breaking 110 degrees outside, and the walk to the bus stop was an incredibly long death march up a very steep hill. I told them they can call cops, I wasn’t walking out of there.

A cop shows up, and as I am calmly explaining the situation, he takes one look at me, a fat nerd in a Star Trek shirt, and realizes that I’m not the out of control menace that the staff had implied I was when they called. He gave me a ride home, we talked Star Trek the whole way, and the next time I got a call about the program I told them to fuck off and hung up.

The difference to me is that, in Trek, Roddenberry had a very specific vision he was trying to communicate. Starfleet had an ethical code, Earth had become a post-scarcity society, and while everyone knows it certainly wasn’t the best science fiction out there, Gene and the people who worked with him and inherited his vision mostly agreed and just got it. I think a large part of the fandom does, too - at least, those who go out of their way to wear merch to some everyday thing. I’d trust the morals of someone in a Starfleet shirt faster than I’d trust those of someone wearing a cross around their neck.

Star Wars on the other hand was just a fun movie. There’s some Jedi stuff that the writers were never super clear on, but that approximated Lucas’ idea about samurai who were space zen.

One of the best completely anonymous interactions I’ve had lately was due to me wearing a USS Cerritos shirt to the mall a city over. A random guy saw it, stopped me, complimented the shirt, and urged me to watch Strange New Worlds. That’s what convinced us to watch it, and there’s no going back now.

I’m a fan of both, and significantly more of a Star Wars fan if I’m to be honest…

…definitely the Star Trek shirt, the Star Wars fandom can’t even agree on which trilogies are good or bad (and this subject often leads to vicious arguments), and I have seen some really vile political trolls insinuate themselves into the fanbase.

Meanwhile most Star Trek arguments I’ve had online tend to end with someone presenting proof and everyone agreeing on it, or saying things like “I don’t agree, but that’s a fair point” in the rare case it can’t be resolved.

I’m not into either fandom but I’d trust a person in a Trek shirt with my wallet.

Total stranger in a Stargate T-shirt, or total stranger in a Battlestar Galactica shirt?

What about an Andor shirt specifically

I don’t know. The ubiquity of Star Wars merch since Disney took over doesn’t help that side. I’d be interested to know who you trust more, a person wearing the symbol of the Jedi Order or the Cardassiam Union?

This is to simplistic on both sides. original trilogy or the prequels or the postquels? and of course there is an exception for darth maul but an enhanced negative for jar jar. On the other side is it tos, stng, ds9, voy, ent, std, cartoon ones, movies or series, so many important details.