FF:VIC Celebration Australia

Basil Brush would fit in over there----BOOM BOOM

 

I was at Celebration 4, it was awesome.

Everywhere you looked there were people that were bigger nerds than us....it was great.

Saw a homless guy on the streets (where else) who had a sign that said....

"Spare change for homeless veteran"

By the second day on the convention he'd changed his sign to read...

"Spare change for homeless Jedi"

wish I'd taken a photo of him now.

 

This, though I doubt any of the JCCers would come over for it, sadly.

 

By default if there was a Celebration held in Oz, ALL SW fans in the country would HAVE to go, no matter what state it was held in.

Celebration is the only official LFL convention in existance which means it'll be packed with heaps of guests, lots of collectables, lots of interesting talks and some mega displays. It would literally be the biggest SW event this country has ever (and will ever) see.

If anyone declined going then they would really needs to assert their priorites next to a death in the family, overseas holiday or a wedding.

It'd be like having your beloved football team make it to a grand final for the first time in 30 years and on the day it's televised you opt to read a book in the library.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....which book?

 

The book of Dags!

And on page 1 is written.

"And The Dags said "thou shalt attend all Star Wars conventions as all Star Wars conventions are good" thus The Dags said".

 

LOL......AAAAAaahmen brother!

 

See it's never made sense to me. If you're a SW fan why not go a SW event?

If Celebration came to Oz and someone was thinking whether they should go or not, I'd just go off my nut.

Some things are simply not thought about. It's here, you go. Simple as that.

Who knows, maybe some people out there simply aren't as passionate about these things as I am.

 

I think that might be the case. Love Star Wars and all, nerd it up old school and all that, but I would think long and hard about whether I'd go to a convention or what have you.

 

Why?

Wouldn't you see it as a unique opportunity that is only ever going to come around once?

 

I guess we'll just have to disagree on the importance of a convention as opposed to other things in my life I did sign the petition to bring Celebration here, for the people like yourself who REALLY want it, and I would consider goiong depending on what was on offer to see and do.

I know you probably won't get why I am not champing at the bit, as you seem extremely passionate about it all, but there are just levels of fandom I guess. I love the movies and defend all the little quirks that other people rip to shreds. But conventions, other than as a social gathering, just don't catch my fancy.

 

I want to go to a SW convention mostly for the novelty of it - a real large-scale one, I mean, not the tiny one that was in Melbourne last year. It sounds interesting.

 

I would definately go if they had one here (signed the petition), conventions are a great place to release the inner child inside and to know that when it comes to being a die hard SW fan Michael Jackson sang it best "You are not Alone"

 

Any convention large is small is a good one.

The chance to let your nerdy side "hang out" is just awesome.
You can walk up to any group of people and just join in the conversation without people looking at you weird....it's great.

C4 was awesome, but I must say for a real "fandom" feeling you just can't beat a con run by the fans for the fans......it's awesome.

 

I probably consider myself a collector first & foremost which is why I have never been to a convention. Yes, they have trader rooms but I generally spend $$ on SW every week so there are very little savings left to travel to a convention. Not much of a traveller either.. I like my house too much & find my SW room is my "escape"....
That being said, a convention the quality of C1-4 would definately spark my interest. To the point of offering my services in any way shape or form in helping setting it up.
I'm waiting to see what eventuates as several parties have made some interesting statements regarding it.... all rather confusing actually....

 

For what it's worth I DIDN'T sign the petition. Why? Because I don't believe it has any baring on whether Celebration will come to Oz or not (it'll be a Lucasfilm business decision). If it does come here, then hell yeah I'll go but I'm not sitting here sweating on it.

If I was TRULY passionate about this interest in conventions, then I'd be saving my $$$ to go to the Celebrations in the US/Europe, but I don't do that. So I guess to a large degree I'm my own hippercrit (sp?)

 

Yeah it can be a tough gig sometimes. We put on a convention which has all the quality and energy to make it be really successful, but a low attendance puts a dampner on things, which in turn becomes a disapointment to people.

Ironically Jedi-Con was probably the last SW fan run convention to be held in the country - and if Celebration never comes to Oz then it will have been the LAST SW convention full stop. Star Walking only did it because ANH turned 30, so it was hoped that that would be the incentive for people to turn up. Alas it wasn't though at least the banquet was a success.

So yeah we've come a long way from the big SW conventions like Force II held in 1997. Unfortunately with the proliferation of the Internet, many fans don't see the need to get involved in their local SW club on a social level. It's a real shame but I guess that's just how it is now.

 

I'd say that no matter what level of fan you are, a huge Celebration style convention would drag you in.

Having said that though, the whole idea of the petition is to show Lucasfilm that there is support for the idea and that it's worth them making the effort to do one down here.
If all the fans say "COz...ummmmmm...yeah....I might go" where is the incentive?

Put you name down and support the idea....it doesn't cost anything and you can't be held accountable if they say yes.

 

Out of curiosity, how many people have signed the petition?

I just want to clarify I'm not against the petition at all, in fact if it garnishes some interest and people feel like they're doing their best to try and get a Celebration here, then go for it. I just don't believe that a petition has any baring on what LFL will do.

In essence we don't need to prove to LFL that there is a SW fan base here, that's been done already in the box office takings for all seven SW films and merchandising rights, and when LFL were in Sydney making AOTC and ROTS they would've experienced this first hand themselves expecially with the Magic of Myth and the Science of SW exhibition that's still to come.

The problem we have with getting a Celebration here is population. LFL would need to factor in the logistics and costs of moving everything out to Oz for an event which might be impacted by how many people turn up. This is why Celebration Europe and Japan have come into play, their population can support the enormous cost a Celebration would need to run.

Remember that even our biggest attended SF conventions (Armageddon [Melbourne] and Supernova [Sydney]) have not pulled in the same numbers that the Celebration conventions have done. So for that reason LFL would have to wonder if it's truly viable.

So after analysing all that, I believe that a petition would only have any significant impact if over 40,000+ people signed it. Quite honestly, I don't think there are that many active SW fans in this country who would do that.

This is why I think that if LFL DO opt to have a Celebration Oz, we can count our lucky stars because if the numbers and $$$ aren't there to make it worthwhile, then it's not going to happen.

For what it's worth though, I REALLY hope I'm wrong and they DO come out here.