San Fran, CA Celebration 4 in L.A.....

woo!! this is gonna be the best birthday party ever!!! xD

 

You want to go to C4 naked? Dude know your role and keep your clothes on!

My advice to everyone however. Have low expectations. 30,000 fanatics and a poorly run and managed Convention is a bad mix. LA is know for gangs and riots after all. Although since it is in California, it should be nicer than Indy weather wise. Still... I will have reservations and they are bound to screw something up. They always do.

 

For me, C2 was the best one overall - weather-wise, lines, fun. But I did see more at C3,and there were more people to share the experience with!

As far as gangs go, the only gang color war will be between Jedi & Sith with blue & red battling it out. And I'll start a riot when Natalie's publicist denies me access to her again!

 

Come on, folks, remember...we're all posting endlessly on these boards. We ARE fanatics. And we're all part of the community.

Anyway, in spite of the possible location woes, I'm extremely excited. I prefer to look on the bright side of things, and for me--hey, I have never made it to a Celebration before, I will be there with lots of friends and people who share my interests. I am forewarned from CIII about possible pitfalls, but ultimately, who cares? It's a huge celebration (gee, there's that word again) of something we all love with people who also love it. That's cool.

A lot of what we get out of something is what we put into it. I prefer to put into this a lot of joy, silliness, costumes, visiting friends, making new ones, and rolling with whatever punches the venue might give us. And if there are people there who rub me the wrong way, with 30,000 people to choose from, I am sure that I will find tons of people that I think are just awesome. I think that is a healthier way of approaching this convention than focusing on how I will hate everything...because if I do that, I probably will.

*shrug*

Not trying to be too Pollyanna, here, but it seems like (and this part isn't directed at anybody in specific, it's just been going around a lot on the boards) there is a huge amount of negativity and focusing on the possible bad parts of something that should by all rights be fun...and would be more fun if the focus were on that, rather than on what could go wrong.

Plan for what can go wrong, and then focus on the positive.

Just my two cents.

- Kai

 

Well said, Carolyn.

 

I agree with Kai, too.

I'm originally from the San Gabriel Valley which is next to L.A., and I've been in that area quite a bit and have never had any problems with anyone. Now I know my personal experiences can't speak for everyone else's; but my first response to hearing it was in L.A. was that now it would be possible for me to finally go to one, not about gangs or fans, or gangs of fans.

Just stick in large groups when going outside, and set for stun.

 

I do intend to go and make the best of the convention. However, I think it's also important to think of the possible 'cons' of the con so we can find work arounds.

Honestly, there are a lot of people who are disappointed in the location for various reasons. I'd like to think this is a safe place for me to express my disappointment or concerns amongst friends.

At least it sounds like the store should see some improvement. I also understand that there is 'point person' at Rebel Legion who should be in contact with the folks running the convention at some point. Hopefully they will have some luck in voicing concerns of the fans so that things will be put in motion to make it an enjoyable convention for everyone.

- kay dee

 

I totally think it should be a safe place here to express both happy and unhappy thoughts about any of these issues. I was just trying to interject that if we focus overly on the negative and short-shift the positive, the overall mood will probably go down. That's just the way these things work. That being said, I didn't mean to say that people shouldn't be able to express any misgivings they have. And if we express them in a way that opens the door to working with these potential problems and turning them around, then all the better. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression on that, Kay Dee.

 

Expressing your opinions is still safe on this board. You should be fine. I have many misgivings about the site and Gen-Con once again running things.

RIP Basher's Sanctuary

 

I think some of this is also people's initial reactions to the announcement. It is also a year away. I'm sure as we get closer, we will be more focused on the fun. Although forwarned is forarmed. Knowing what potential problems could be will help us prepare for them. Personally, I will be more prepared for the lines and hence might make different choices about what I go see.

 

And remember, there are non or few horels within walking distance of the convention center.

 

Sorry I don't share your optimistic appraisal of the situation... There is a reason why there was tons of people focusing on the negative aspects of these Celebrations. Mainly because there WERE SO MANY NEGATIVE aspects to focus on. To the store, the lines, the "staff", the over priced party, the over priced store which supposedly sold exclusive Celebration stuff but then offered up almost all the same items on SWshop.com. Plain and simple it's about $ and how little Lucasfilm can put out while milking all the fans, The People, for all they are worth. Gotta give it to Lucas though, that he's not afraid to make a buck or rather several billion of them. However, he's totally forgotten who got his monkeyass there in the first place... So when I say don't expect much there is plenty of good reason for it.

You're correct however, that it's the fans, The People, who make Star Wars worth while now. It's always nice to met the millions and THE MILLIONS of SW fans out there. That's why we have this club, SF Fan Force, after all. As a venue to meet fans from all over the planet you can't beat the Celebration, as a convention however, it's definetly lacking.

 

Knowing what you know now and if a wayback machine was in your possession, is there anyone who wouldn't have gone to Celebration3?

 

Word.

 

The Basher's Side is strong in this one. But I agree It wasn't the convention itself that made C3 fun it was the fans. Okay the weather had a huge actor to the dissatisfaction. But GenCon totally blew it as far as organization was concerned. Where the fan club were supposed to get in early, they still had to wait hours to get in even after the doors opened. The lines for the official store weere a joke and they frequently ran out of their daily alotments and in fact had to close early on some days. There was allegedly a Fast pass system in place, in fact there was a booth for it. It didn't happen.

The official CIII party was overpriced, and just plain silly. Long lines for activities and events were the norm there.

And next year, unless you are a Hyperspace member, you can not go to Thursday's show since that is exclusive to the fan club. So if you are willing to schekel out another $39 for membership into Hyperspace, you are out of luck for an entire day of the con. yes Lucasfilm knows how to milk a franchise and a fanbase for all it's worth.

 

I still would have gone, however, I would have changed what I purchased and what I did. AND I wouldn't have lost my badge on the first day.

Actually the coolest thing I bought was the plush Yoda. I should have bought two. lol

 

I can't say that I wouldn't have gone to C3, because I had so much fun hanging out with the SFFF and all, but let's just say that when I heard that GenCon was running C4 I decided not to go. Not to be too negative, but the lines were just too much for me. And what really threw it was waiting in line for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours) at the overpriced party and STILL not being able to get my palm read ... that was ridiculous. I'll have more fun seeing everyone's photos and hearing the stories. And I'll probably make it a point to go to ComicCon one of these years instead!

 

6 hours in line for the store... I heard worse from other people...

 

The store was the cause of the near riot. One of the days they had to close it early, people were so pissed they refused to leave and the volunteers had to call the police. At least this time it will be self-service, hopefully that will solve some of the problems. I would still have gone to C3, it was great getting to know everyone and meeting fans from all over the world. I think you just have to go into everything with a sense of humor and not expect too much. lol

 

Oh and those volunteers who all the sudden they had all the power in the galaxy... That was pretty lame.

 

That's why I don't volunteer at Celebrations!

 

Finally people who think the same way I do!! I will never forget the guy dressed in a clone trooper costume at CIII who was getting mad at me because I wanted to take Temuera Morrison's picture while he signed an autograph for me. I stood in line for an hour, paid $30 or whatever it was for his autograph, let alone stood outside in the cold rain for hours just to get in. Let me spend 10 seconds to take his photograph. Don't be an @$$ just because your sitting on the other side of the table wearing plastic armor thinking you're all-powerful. IMO, volunteering at Celebration is for the birds. Why travel all that way, pay all that money to stay somewhere, only to work for free for Gen-Con and miss out on all the fun of the convention! Ok.. my venting is over. I feel better now. I can't say that on my board because our CR volunteers.

*still lurking on your board even though I'm not RSA anymore.

 

Tough call, but I still would have gone to CIII. Mainly because it was fun meeting fans I'd only chatted with online for so many years at the Costume and Props Forum. I almost had more fun going to restaurants and bars after the con was over with my long distance friends (that's why I'm a little sad about the lack of night life by the LA Convention Center).

Not that I'm a big convention goer, but of the few I've been to (Comic-Con, WonderCon, DragonCon) CIII was the most dissapointing in the way it was run. I only saw a couple of panels because the lines were too long for me to tolerate in the morning.

- kay dee

 

JediRacer, two great names think alike.

 

Dude, his name isn't Ming.