San Fran, CA CELEBRATION III April 21-24, 2005

It's like something out of a movie, rain, thunder and lightning, and lightsabers.

 

I'm so excited with ENVY for all those who are at CIII, I could pull the ears off a Gundark!!

Here's to all who are out there! Have fun!

 

There definitely some negatives about CIII though, the main one being the whether and theother the long lines.

 

I found it impossible to go to CIII because of school and work taking up 95% of my time right now, but even if I didn't have those two things dominating my life I don't think I'd be crazy about going to CIII.
I mean it must be very worth it to get to hear people speak from Lucasfilm et al and see all the cool footage, and see and buy toys and other cool stuff, but those LINES...and the fact that you PAY and go to so much TROUBLE to go to it, and then to be able to do anything you must make your procession through line after line after line.
Really if I went I'd just be happy for the time spent with friends who had similar interests, and going out in the evenings to socialize more after the thing was done for the day. And it certainly doesn't require going to a celebration to do any of that.
Star Wars fans sure know a lot about lines, they have to wait in far too many and for far too long.
You guys who are braving this thing totally deserve all the cool experiences and stuff you get out of it and more. I just think it's a sad way to treat a lot of this series' biggest fans. It just aint right.

 

Yeah, the lines and the weather are indeed a problem.

The best part of the con is the stuff between fans, meeting others from different parts of the world and so on. The Japanese 501st Garrison is staying at our hotel. The Fan party for 501st Rebel Legion and Fan Force was a little lame because it seems many of the celebrities were at the Master Replicas private party which I was at. Matt won a cool brand new Obi Wan Ep III lightsaber. And the celebs were really approachable at these parties.

The celebs eventually went to the Rebel Legion/501st party after Master Replicas and hung around for pictures and relax. Ray Park brought his adorable 5 month daughter, and Daniel Logan was hyper as ever.

It's going to be interesting and somewhat alrming to see what happens today since it is the bussiest day of the con. The Celebration Store for the official LFL merchandise was already bad for the previous days. Of course if the store is indeed closed for the rest of the con because they did not have enough merchandise, then there won't be a line for that.

 

Make sure and keep us updated! Even though I can't be there, I want to know what's going on.

 

Wow!....that's awesome Matt! COngrats on winning the lightsaber. First SW Trivial Pursuit, now a MR lightsaber. You have some good luck right now! Play the lottery or buy a few SW lottery scratchers, (yoda voice)::win big, you may::

 

Does Obi-Wan use a new lightsaber in ep III that's diff from the one in AOTC?
It's great that you won the saber Matt.

 

Yes he does. It's supposed to be the saber you see in Episode IV.

 

Thanks for posting updates, Harlock. It's fun to live vicariously!

*hug*

- Kai

 

Wow - CIII was awesome!

Damn cold and rainy, but awesome!

Yes the lines were horrendous, but I feel I got to see everything I wanted to (minus George Lucas).

sw.com Celebration III stuff. Check out the Celebration III Picture viewer!

 

I would give CIII a 6 out of 10... I had a good time and did lots of cool things, but the lines... oi the lines haha. And unlike CII, nothing I saw was "blow you out of the water" cool. That may very well be because I had such high expectations this time, where going into CII I had no clue LOL.

The thumbs ups were:

- Star Wars in 30 minutes... OMG what a riot!!
- Ray parks talk/demonstration
- The Hayden phone call (video didn't work, and I didn't expect to enjoy it, but ya know, it was pretty entertaining!)
- One man Star Wars (this guy is nuts! haha)
- The Master Replicas Party (lightsaber demo and many of the celebs just hangin out, seeing Jake Llyod all grown up was cool hehe)
- Wearing my costume on Saturday (lots of stops for photos and many pats on the back from fellow costumers )

The thumbs downs were:

- A four hour wait in line for just about anything. I never did get into the store... something just doesn't sit right with me with spending your whole day in line to get a momento that you were there LOL
- No particularly BIG celebs. Not counting Lucas, which I didn't care to wait in line for (or grab one of the last tickets too see from the waaayyy back)
- The Celebration at Celebration... what a joke LOL. MORE lines, only with music playing. I never made it to get a tshirt & the room was WAY too small for 3000 people.
- No Iain McCaig I was really looking forward to his talks as he's my faaaavorite SW artist.

In regards to GenCon... I think the only mistake they made was in overselling. Considering the massive amounts of people there, I think they handled it as best they could. There needed to be MORE things happening at once, rather than 2 big things and a handful of small ones... that certainly contributed to the lines. I'd rather see them double ticket prices and limit the total to half of what this crowd was. Either that or move it to a BIG city with a BIG convention center that can actually handle the crowds! LOL

Overall I'm glad I went. (Just not boucing around the room glad hahaha) If the C4 plans actually come though, I reckon I'd consider going... on the hope that w/o a new movie release hype the crowds won't be quite so insane.

It was fun meeting up with everyone who went from the SFFF... next time I'll have to stay near you guys so we can hang out more

Oh, and in the end, one of my friends took pity on me and gave me a vader figure LOL, so I didn't come home empty handed hehehe.

Ok, time to get amped up for the movie!!!! Weeee!!

 

I would say:

Pros:

Hanging out with the fans is always a delight.

Meeting and talking with the celebs outside of the autograph sessions were great. Sandy Finlay is just plain nuts but in a cool way.

The Master Replicass party was really cool and it was great to see Jeremy Bulloch, Dave Prowse, Sandy Finlay, Bai Ling, Zack Jensen, just relaxing and chillin out in a party. Saw Ray Park and his new 5 month old daughter. Congratulations Ray.

Got my figures the first day.

Star Wars Spectacular with Rick McCallum. Amazing footage. Dramatic music with almost 10 minutes of unseen footage from Ep III. No dialogue, no sound effexts, just the music and the visuals. It was jaw dropping.

The 501st had their own official Bar! Something we need o work on.

White Castle

Our hotel was across the street, and the staff even dressed in costume and had the movies playing 24hrs in the lobby.

Jar Jar in carbonite!

Many great costumes. Several Slave Leias

Cons:

The lines to get in to the con just to get an opportunity to get into another line.

On top of the long line to even get into the Official CIII store, when you got there it was poorly staffed, poorly organized, and very poorly stocked. Not enough merchandise for the demand. Things sold out in the first day. Even after triumpantly paying your money for souvenirs, you still had to waite for the merchadise to get to you which for some people were up to 30 minutes. And if you didn't double check your merchandise bag before you left the room, you could be screwed.

For as long a line as it was, the Archive room was a dissapointment. You would think that a Lucasfilm Archives exhibit would have more interesting things in it.

The weather. It was muggy the day before the con which is not a good sign because it signalled the Camino weather we had the next few days. It was freezing cold and raining for most of the con.

Not enough Slave Leias

In general, it was the fans and the guest who made the con a success, it certainly was not the Gen Con organizers. The city of Indy was very nice and accomadating to us as well. But of course, I think we brought in about $6 million in revenue for the city too.

 

Awww man...White Castle??! If I'd of known that earlier I would have shelled out the money for a ticket!!

 

Don't worry man, we ate some for you.

 

Hahaha OMG I forgot the weather. I got caught in a DOWNPOUR on my way to the Ram... I had a jacket, but I was soaked halfway up my thighs in a matter of minutes from walking. It took my shoes two days to dry out... that was unreal!! I didn't catch the snow, but I did get a taste of the nasty cold wind that followed.

All I can say is thank goodness for skywalks hahaha.

 

Ahh, The Ram. We need our own bar.

 

It was great to meet you guys! Hope to see you again soon!

 

Now that I've gotten some time to sort my thoughts, here goes....

PROS:

*Getting merchandise the first day
*Meeting fans from all over the world
*Being in a costume skit with 7 Padmes
*Christy as Slave Leia (finally)
*Winning an MR Ep. III Obi-Wan saber, although I would've prefrerred an Anakin Ep. III
*Getting my phone back after I lost it at Friday's party
*Getting my autographs from Jango, Grievous, Zam Wesell, Shaak Ti (hottie), Luminara, Kit Fisto, etc.
*Presenting a Rebel Legion Honorary Membership plaque to Nalini Krishan (Barriss Offee) on behalf of Chanel and getting her autograph for Angelica
*The R2 Builders Club with Jar Jar in carbonite
*Participating in the 501st photo shoot
*Participating in the Rebel Legion photo shoot
*Meeting potential new SFFF members at the Pacific FF table
*Getting a bunch of freebies from the Exhibit Hall
*Winning a trivia contest at the Saturday Party
*Meeting Albin and Kathy Johnson and talking about Katie's recovery
*The Opening Ceremonies (thanks Kim & Josie)
*Seeing the new Ep. III footage
*Watching the new soundtrack DVD
*White Castle
*Having the Jedi Assembly raise $718 for Angelica's college fund through a raffle of a jedi costume
*Kicking it in the jacuzzi with Daniel Logan and getting Ray Park's baby, Sienna to hold my finger
*Having several SW celebs on the flight home, and sitting next to Sandi Finlay (Sly Moore)
*Being with other Bay Area fans, instead of just Dale and myself - You guys rock!
*Doing more than I did at C2
*Seeing Angelica having a great time


CONS:

*the rain
*the snow
*the cold
*the lines
*the parties on Friday and Saturday (both could've been better)
*needed more in the Lucasfilm Archives
*not getting to see everything
*not getting Natalie's picture during the Opening Ceremonies
*the disorganization by Gen Con overall

*not having Chanel there


All in all I had a great time, and now I'm proud to say that I'm a veteran of all 3 Star Wars Celebrations! Here's to C4 in 2007!

 

Well we are back too. Dale, Matt and everyone else who I got to see briefly, it was fun and I wish we could have hung out more. Congrats again Matt for the MR saber! We had a great time, didn't get to do everything we wanted...but maybe next time.

Here is my list:

PROS:

Getting merchandise without more than a 2 hour wait
Not having to wait in too many lines
Meeting fans from all over the world
Taking over 800 photos (several of the Slave Leia Shoot)
Spending time with friends and a few celebs
The R2 Builders Club with Jar Jar in carbonite
Participating in the 501st photo shoot
Meeting new people and friends
CIII artwork
Meeting Albin and Kathy Johnson and spending some time with them
SpatCon
Working the MR party
The Ram


CONS:

the rain
the snow
the cold
the lines
missing White Castle
not getting to see everything
not enough sleep
didn't costume enough
missed the Rebel Legion photo
the disorganization by Gen Con overall
not enough time to spend with all my friends

 

So if C-1 was Dagobah, and C-2 was Naboo, C-3 WAS Kamino. Dittoe on most parts, but trying not to totally repeat what Robert and my bro said here is my own list in no paricular order:

Pros:
- Getting my shopping out of the way on Wed. and Thurs. in less than 2 hours.
- Getting my pic. as ANH Luke with the Japanese Garrison's Darth Vader - helmet off. (Finally a Vader who could actually play my "father.")
- Getting my pic taken w/ the actor who played Biggs, and finding out both him and his wife were in the first scene of 1989's Batman.
- Getting re-aquainted with: Mike Quinn, Daniel Logan, and Jeremy Bullock.(He even remembered how he used his own sharpie to emergency fill in the tip of my fallen blaster at last year's Comic-Con )
- The Ram and MR Party (where David Prowse ordered a Gin & Tonic next to me as I was ordering my own drink) Thanks Rob!
- Yeeess! Christy Marie!
- Spending a good amount of time with a large Bay Area contingant, as well as seeing old friends from Cons and Celebrations past.
- And of course as previously mentioned, sharing a heartfelt touching moment with Nalini "Barriss" Krishan on Chanel's behalf.
- Sandy Sly need I say "Moore" ? She talked about her time working with on Ep 3, and Moulin Rouge with Ewan. And how she worked with Nicole and calling Tom Cruise a "******" when she worked with them both on Days of Thunder.
-McCallum spectacular, Gillard's presentation, more spoilers galore, and seeing Jai Lagaia (Captain Typho) in full costume inside the 501st photo shoot)
-Drinks and Buffet at Friday's.

Cons:
- Getting soaked and ultimately currently sick because of the cold and wet RL shoot.
- The over-all disorganization of the Gen-Con staff.
Lines. Lines. Lines. No tents or other protection from the weather at all.
- Losing my ATM on the last day of the con. (That hotel ATM machine must be haunted)
- Not getting my shake at Steak N' Shakes.
- Not spending enough time with certain new friends.
- Missing the opening ceremonies.
Overall ,it was a great con and it got me motivated how to make our own upcoming events done right - especially Wonder-Con, and how much I actually appreaciated the true organization of how Comic-Con is run w/ LFL...

 

Yeah, the lines were awful (along with the weather) but as my first major convention, it was a great time. It was great getting a chance to hang out with everyone. I will always remember getting out of the party Sat night to find out it was snowing and the guys deciding that was a good time to start a lightsaber duel. Getting to hear from Rick McCallum, Nick Gallard and others was great. It was also the debut of my first costume, so that made me feel even more a part of things. I'm looking forward to going to Comic-con (also for the first time). I guess I've been bitten by the convention bug.
On the plane ride home, I ended up sitting next to a solider who was on leave from the war in Iraq. We talked a lot about what it was like over there and it was a sobering reminder of real life. However, it was really interesting to get a first hand account. (He said his friends over there told him to bring back some new DVDs and also Butterfingers, which apparently is the one candy they can't get). Too bad we don't have clone troopers to send over there instead. lol
I gave one of my Vader figures to my boss, who was really excited. (Ming said I was just sucking up). lol

 

[image=http://swanb.net/SVRF/c3/jarjarcarbonite.jpg]

 

Whoa... it's like Rachel's first post ever! It's official everyone, she's a fangirl!

Cons:
-Lost my badge.
-Line for the store was 5 hours long not including the wait outside on the first day and was totally a mess up in organization and line order fairness.
-Kamino like weather
-Hoth like weather
-No actual lightsaber combat with other people from else where.
-Lost the activator button on my favored lightsaber
-Confirmed with a higher up at LFL that the Coronet is truly lost.
-Certain pics that were really cool turned out blurry including the ones of everyone's favorite slave Leia.
-Finding out that the so called Celebration exclusive Vaders were online (even though they took them off later).
-The food at the 501st/RL/Fan Force party.
-Not having Chanel there because she would have loved it all bad or good.

Pros:
-Seeing gajillions of SW fans and some that I haven't seen in far too long!
-Meeting Rick McCallum, getting his auto on my badge and taking a pic with him with my bro Rogue Six.
-Hanging out with the famous/infamous Daniel Logan!
-10 minutes of unreleased footage!
-Dark Forces missions with Rogue Six to aquire some neat C3 "exclusives"
-Meeting Matthew Stover and the message he wrote me in my copy of Traitor
-Meeting cool folks at White Castle
-White Castle
-Drinking (light weights Eva? HAHAHAHA... Tell that to our friend Jack. Jack Daniels that is! Just Bring It!)
-Watching the music videos off the DVD that is being included with the ROTS soundtrack that won't be release till next week, esp. Battle of the Heroes.
-Jar Jar in carbonite (nice one Devin!)
-Slave Leias of course!
-"It's a trap!" oh man I'm still laughing about that one...



I'd also like to thank Robert for getting us a kick @$$ room rate. Next time we get loaded the first couple of rounds are on me!

 

Might as well add to the list:

Cons:
Getting our Dad's camera stolen. He had left it to Jos and I just before he passed away. (the loss of of over 100 pics just added to the hurt.)

Jos getting food poisoning.

Losing the pics of Nick with Charles and myself in the "Vanity Faire" pose with Nick's hand on my shoulder "directing us"

Not getting down in time to help with the "Lucas Line" because the rest of my adhesieves and removers had gotten lost in the mail and had the makeup only partially applied before we realized that we didn't have enough to either finish the job or remove what had been applied.

Long Long lines.

Vile, Nasty, disgusting, moldy tasting water.

Replicating how drenched Kenobi got on Kamino

Stuck sitting on a plane next to one of the "Great Unwashed" who reeked of stale beer for the four hour flight home and had a nasty drunken attitude. (ARRGGHHHHH)

PROS:

Takeing 2nd in the Cabaret despite everything that could have gone wrong, going wrong during the performance.

The MIA Adhesieves and Removers arriving at about 10:00 a.m. on Sat morning..so I could then either remove or finish applying the beard! (Chose to finish applying)

Getting to sneak Matt and Angelica into line with us for the Opening Ceremonies.

The plane flight made a bit better by having some of LFL people sitting behind us and getting to hear their stories of working on all the films!

Meeting Nick and actually getting to seriously discuss how he trains and sets up saber routines.

Getting complemented by the judges on our saber routine AND being told by Jerome "how it was like watching Ewan and Hayden fight"...wow..just.. wow!

Spending about one hour with the younglings in the Battle Arena by the FF table...teaching them fighting techniques and having one 8-9 year old ask "Master Obi-Wan, will you please train me? "

Running into all my friends and making new ones.

Actually getting the Drenched Kenobi on Kamino look down without any effort (LOL)

Watching Matt in the Cabaret and laughing my butt off! (I was so proud!- Good Job, Padawan)

And my all time high: Running around looking for Ewan when the rumor was going around that he was there in his EPIII Jedi Outfit. Then, suddenly, having a group of people come up to me asking me for my autograph cause they thought I was him and a couple of StormTroopers coming over to do security for ...me! LOL..that was great! Was funny cause of the look on their face when I asked them if THEY knew where he had been seen cause I was looking for him and they told me that I was the one that had been pointed out as "Ewan in the Jedi Outfit." THAT made the convention for me.

Both a Pro and A Con:
Seeing the footage in the Spectacular. Awsome, incredible, exciting...and mind- numbing and gut wrenching at the same time.


The Entire Experence: Priceless!