Star Wars Celebration 2017: Episode 1

You guys, I HAVE SO MUCH TO TELL YOU.

Star Wars Celebration was a completely different experience this year. Last time it was in Orlando there were no new movies, no plans for Star Wars land at Disney, and significantly less crowds and hype. So this time felt like a taste of San Diego Comic-Con: very commercial, very Hollywood, and very crowded. (Attendance hit 70,000. That's Dragon Con level!) All of the vendors were giant companies with glittering storefronts, the Artist Alley was TINY - and only sold licensed Star Wars art, of course -  and happily there were more food vendors than you could shake a Dewback at.

If you're not familiar with most cons, that is all very unusual.

This was also the first time I've been to a con that encouraged overnight sleep-overs in line (which thousands participated in), effectively rendering all of the big panels moot, since only the extra extra die-hard fans could get in.

 

 (How great are these two??)

Once I realized I wouldn't be seeing any celebrities or sneak peeks or any of the panels I was interested in, it was actually kind of freeing. I had nothing on my schedule, so I could wander and soak in the atmosphere at my leisure for all four days! So that's what I did.

Ladies and gentle-beings: Sith-3PO.  [mic drop]

To be clear, SWC had lots of panels you could attend without sleeping on a concrete floor first. All the non-celebrity ones didn't require the coveted wrist-bands, and there was an impressive array of family-friendly activities, classes, live podcasts - you name it. Believe me, no one was bored.

 

Rebels!

Plus there were tons of activities on the show floor. You could build dioramas, race remote-controlled inflatable droids, pose with any of the dozen or so fantastic photo ops:

Or you could go to the LEGO area to play, where some folks spent the weekend building an enormous LEGO Millenium Falcon:

Custom-sized bricks and everything!

Like most huge conventions, SCWO had some major bumps the first day. Line management was almost non-existent, and all 70,000 attendees were funneled through a single security check point... with metal detectors. It was a nightmare, with lines stretching outside and around the enormous convention center, TWICE. Social media was on fire, people were furious - it was bad, y'all.

John and I woke up early that morning, stared wide-eyed at our phones blowing up over the debacle... and went back to sleep. Ha! By the time we arrived around 1pm the massive lines had subsided, and Friday saw significant improvements in crowd flow and extra security entry points.

 

Think cosplay has to be expensive? THINK AGAIN. How clever is this?

Getting back to the show floor: even shopping is different at SWC. Some booths, like Funko, wouldn't even allow you in line to purchase things unless you'd won a lottery. That's right: you had to win a lotto... for the chance to give them money.

The official show store had a queue that never went under 2 hours in length, and took as long as 4 hours to get through. Again, just to buy stuff.  Some of my friends dubbed the weekend "Queue-lebration," and with good reason. I suppose this is all par for the course in San Diego, but here in Florida these kinds of lines for a con are unheard of.

At first I didn't understand why all the vendors were selling out each day - didn't they know to bring enough product? - but then I talked to some of them. Turns out, the convention itself restricted how much the vendors and artists could sell, I assume to drive up demand. So don't blame ThinkGeek for not having enough tiki mugs, guys; that was the con's fault. Which is kind of crappy of SWC, if you ask me. But no one did, so let's move on. ;)

You guys. These two are cosplaying action figures. Look!

 Hammerhead and Snaggletooth! Both characters look different in the movies - and that Snaggletooth was a rare Sears exclusive - so these really are cosplays of the toys themselves. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Oh, did I mention there was a full size Tie-Fighter? It made a nice backdrop for photos:

On Thursday I spotted a Tarkin from a distance wearing slippers, which made my day. And if you think that's obscure, hold on to your ice cream makers:


There was a Willrow Hood flash mob! And just to be EXTRA random, one of them was a Jawa:

 Have I mentioned how much I love geeks lately?

If you somehow ran out of things to do on the Show Floor, the 501st's room right outside the hall was filled with MORE goodies and photo ops:

Only at SWCO do you have to constantly check the feet of cosplayers. If they're bolted to the floor, then they're probably mannequins. 

But no guarantees.

Here's Amber, one of our readers, helping John out in the trash compactor:

Now I want to talk about my favorite aspect of Star Wars Celebration: the way the fans got to play together.  Actually play! Everywhere you turned people of all ages were interacting with each other in character, re-creating movie scenes with total strangers, fighting lightsaber battles, chasing droids, and having fun. Not drunken Deadpool fun, either; this was an extremely family-friendly environment, and folks were incredibly respectful and inclusive.

Of course I see a little of this playfulness at every con, but here? Here it was everywhere. 

 

And you bet your walking carpet I have examples.

A lady dressed as Maz Kanata from TFA approaches Chewie on the floor: 

"THERE'S my boyfriend! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Without missing a beat, the giant Wookiee does this:

 

 Note Maz's leg pop during the kiss. And Chewie let out a victory roar after. Bahaha! 

Even better, Chewie's non-costumed companion yells out, "Dude, I'm telling your wife!"

I was just about to ask Captain Phasma here for a photo when someone informed her one of her troopers needed an inspection. I didn't quite catch it, but I think the trooper had broken a strap on his armor? Anyway, she immediately stalked over, and the trooper snapped right to attention:

 She looked him over thoroughly, and then proceeded to lecture him, completely in character. And it was delightful.

Even I got in the spirit, and asked these three to recreate the closing scene from The Force Awakens:

 

Luke's gonna need a bigger hand.

 :D

My idea pales in comparison to the sheer genius of these fans, though:

Via Moyae Carter, who's the lightsaber.

It gets funnier every time you watch it. Trust me.

Ok, ok, one more:

I had nothing to do with that one either, but c'mon. SO GOOD.

 I have lots more stories, but I'm tackling these photos roughly in order, so I'll just sprinkle them in as I get to them.

Here's an awesome Lady Lobot:

And a lovely Padme in yellow:

I'm digging Darth in the background there. That was a happy accident.

There were lots of kids, but they actually added to the fun. Cute costumes and starry-eyed wonder, everywhere you turned! 

Rey and Kylo were definitely the most common choices, but at least one tiny Kylo had pigtails and pink sneakers (d'awww), and there were plenty of boys *and* girls in armor:

AW YEAH.

It's cool to think some of these girls will grow up to be women wearing armor, like Trish here on the right:

Trish is a reader from Canada who was VERY excited to spot us in the crowd. Ha! She made her own armor, which took hundreds of hours, is solid metal, weighs 45 pounds(!!) and has the most incredible detailing:

Fun Fact: After I asked Trish if I could take a close-up of her copper work I realized I'd just taken a picture of her boob. So... there's a thing that happened. (HI, TRISH!)

And now I have to wrap this installment up, you guys, because I could easily ramble on forever and I still have so many more photos to edit! I'll leave you with this hilarious group:

Phasma's cup says, "My First Order Is Coffee," and Kylo has a plush Vader & Vader slippers. Bahaha!

Next post I'm going to focus on some of my favorite mashups, so get ready for Han McFly (Marty Solo?), Disney Siths, Nightmare Before Life Day, Hogwarts Jedi, and so much more greatness. Oh yeah. It's gonna be gooooood.

'Til then!

P.S. You can stream all of the big panels from SWCO on Youtube! I'm still catching up, but definitely check out the 40 Years one with all the surprise guests. Especially the last half.

And if you missed it, go see some of my favorite moments while walking the floor as a BB-napping Jawa! Total cuteness overload.

 *****

UPDATE: Click here for Part 2!