LA, CA Memoirs of a Convention v.2 (What I liked about C-IV)

I would like to thank everyone who I hung out with at C-IV, during and after hours. I would like say thanks to J_J for the most part for kicking me up a notch in Star Wars collecting. It was fun seeing and being around D_B, ES, ES's friend, JR, A_S1, A_S2, JB, BeSo, DH, LB, NP, JediMia, Arminca, VK2, Anneke, CD, my friends from the Video Game boards and the other FF's.

I wish my school schedule didn't interfere with with C-IV, but what can you do? Overall I had a great time even though I couldn't make it all four days. But I made the most of my time, and I felt like I bonded with everyone from the LAFF who was there.

Hopefully next time around I'll be able to enjoy more of C-V when it comes around. Again thanks to everyone for making my first Star Wars convention very memorable. And hopefully this is the first of many to come.

Sol_Jedi

 

My Celebration 4 pics I didn't take too many pictures, and for good reason. I found out my memory card wasn't saving pictures from the mixer on saturday night and my camera doesn't have image stabilization so some of my pics came out blurry. So hopefully I can find a better camera for next time.

 

I'll come back for putting up some pics later.... I don't have all that many though.

My favourite things were probably the Kessel Run, which my team placed 3rd out of like 40 for the masters level and that was just a blast to do, and the banter between teams competing was great fun. Also, thanks to the LAFFers we asked while you were in line for SW in 30 minutes. And it was fun hanging out with SR at the fan force table on Friday.

I can't believe I'm going to say this. At all. But I had a great time at Celebrate. Thanks to the fan force table I was covering, met one of the Australians that came over and so I saw her at celebrate and another aussie and talked with them a fair bit, and then more of the LUN people I know. I never thought it was something that I'd say about an event with music, drinking, and dancing, especially as I don't dance or drink, but I had a blast Saturday night. And to think I nearly didn't go to that.

I had a lot of fun talking with some of the people that stopped by the fan force table, both the fan force people that did, and the others working it, and the people that were interested in joining groups.... there's a lot of L.A. people.. we'll see if any show up here. Come on people I tried to recruit!

I'll def come back and add some more though

 

This was my first Star Wars Celebration. I think I will do it again next year, at least if it's in L.A.

My only regrets were:
1) I didn't my costume finished for Friday. CIV was definitely more fun dressed as a Jedi.
2) Missed too many things, due to not getting there before 11:00 (1:00 on Saturday- finishing my costume) as well as too many neat things being held at the same time.
3) Didn't get to hang out with enough of you! Had a great time with the people I did hang out with, but I was hoping to spend time with a lot more of you.

 

For Jersey Yoda, ... sorry bud. http://starwars.com/video/view/000478.html
Clone Wars trailer.

I must be brief... It was terrific seeing you all. I really enjoyed spending time with the group, and seeing my old LAFF.
Thanks for the good times. The con when all was said and done, was good. Just not a good city. We all had fun, (I think) that was what matters.
Thank you all for your friendships and comradery.

I saw the guys from Lucas Arts in LAX airport. They were pleased. My flight home had 8-9 fans on it.
See you all in a few months.

Special shout out to Skyryder. Thanks for everything Scott. You were terrific and a great host.

 

I had so much fun! DB, it was great to see you, thanks for stopping by the FanForce table to chat. I don't think I would've seen you otherwise. Thanks to everyone else who stopped by, too. It made the time go by much faster. And Adrian and I had some fun times on Sunday and Monday (your mother is so awesome, Adrian!) I had a pretty good time, all things considered. I thought it would be a lot more stressful because I had to miss Thursday and most of Friday due to work, and I'm in the middle of moving, but I made some great memories at this con. I think Helen and everyone else who worked hard to put information online for the out-of-towners deserves a big round of applause. We did a good job and it seems like people enjoyed visiting L.A.

 

Just dropping in to say it was great to meet a few of you in the line for the opening ceremonies. I'll have to post the pic of Darth Bubba and my mini-TIE as soon as I can. Thanks for being awesome, guys!

 

YoSafBridge! It was great meeting you and hanging out in line for the OC with you. Overall I had fun but would have rather had it elsewhere for various reasons. Hanging with my homies was the best, especially ES and JD who I never see any more. My favorites were the conversation with Carrie, Irv, and Tony. The animated series panel was cool too, especially the footage. I also enjoyed DWR's panels, wrote him a thank you email and he responded back. He's just the coolest guy in the whole wide world, next to SR, of course. I'm so tired now and barely got through the day at work.

 

I'm back from the hospital! Long story...anyway, I had a great time, even if I got dehydrated/heat exhaustion. I set up this shot with JR when we were building the X-Wing, and it ended up on SWblog. More later!
[image=http://lafanforce.com/Gallery/albums/JediBith/XwingJR.jpg]

 

JR and I made Rebelscum. I look weird though.

[image=http://www.rebelscum.com/c4/c4fridaybreakfast/IMG_2514.JPG]

 

This Celebration was completely awesome! The panels with Kersh, Anthony, and the ILM guys were great, but my absolute fav was being able to hang out with Norman Reynolds in the Fan cLub lounge and discuss how he came up with his ideas for TESB and ROTJ sets and dressing. That was amazing - it was like being in a bar with him and having a casual chat.

It was great hanging out with all of you as always. Wish I hadn't missed the party on Sat night, but I was really wiped out. Getting little sleep and being on my feet all day in Jedi Robes took its toll.

All in all, a great time and I can't wait for CV!!!

 

I like that I got this:

[image=http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/ValedaKor/Medallions.jpg]

 

VK, that's very cool.

 

Wow, has this become a "post a pic of JR" thread?
[image=http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d188/TD2409/rebels/menmat.jpg]
This is me and Deralis, a buddy in the 501st. He usually has a Sandtrooper costume on. It's his picture.

Anyway. Overall, I had a really great time at CIV. Hanging out with friends was the best part. It was a little too much for me, as I was in a constant state of tiredness, and when I'm tired I get cranky. But I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could! This convention, I thought, was well organized. It ran much smoother than C3. I was able to see all the panels I wanted to see, which was good. I did find the convention was sort of lacking in content, but I guess if I really wanted to, I could've had a full day of stuff to do. The Celebration Store was better than the C3 store to the power of Infinity. It was almost overkill.
The highlights for me was the Clone Wars presentation, the Carrie Fisher $15 presentation, the Anthony Daniels presentation.
The lowlights include being tired all the time, having to eat convention center food, getting Anthony Daniel's autograph and dealing with idiot Official Pix volunteers (not you VK).
It was a great surprise to finally meet chibiangi in person. It was nice to see the "sisters" of the LAFF in costume. I regret not being able to take their picture. They looked awesome! J_J, your new Jedi costume looked good too. DH and I made a good Rebel Fleet Trooper team. Thanks to SR and DB being good sports and letting me shoot them with my dart blaster. As always it was nice to see ES and Jedilona again, I miss both of you.
I will post pics as soon as I unpack and get them out of my camera.

 

I had a lot of fun. The best parts for me were seeing people I hadn't seen in a loooong time including ES and my friend John from the Midwest. I also got to meet my friend Angie, whom I've known for many years but had never met. SR, thanks for taking a picture of us. The Billy Dee Williams meeting was very cool and Tom Drew, who was in a tie as an official employee, joined me for Pink Five's latest. HAHAHA, love those films. Also, the R2 makers stuff was amazing!

JR and DH, you two looked great! I didn't even recognize you. SR was like, 'What? Where's DH? Are you blind?'

If not for all of the fan efforts, I don't think there would've been enough content. And yeah, by Sunday the convention center had run out of fountain drinks and pizza. Panic! Oh well, it was still STAR WARS and a lot of fun.

BTW, I took the Metro in each day and it was fun seeing all the lightsabers on the train. Like riding around town with 200 Jedi Knights!

 

I agree with everything said. I had a good balance of panels, fan activities, shopping, and standing in lines (oh wait I really didn't stand in too many of those). Highlights for me included, Carrie, the wedding proposal, and the Clone Wars. I also enjoyed the Darth Vader helmets, Fanboys, and Tony Daniels until he acted like a jerk to JY. See that's why you don't meet personalities. You run the risk that they may not live up to your ideal picture of them.

I also think I may know too many people. It's hard to talk to everyone. But I think I hit all the fan groups, LAFF, 501st, Rebel Legion, and LiningUp. If only I could join more groups (that's sarcasm).

I agree with DH, I would have wished it was far away so I could take a real vacation but I guess it was easy to drive home each day and sleep in my own bed at night.

I'll post the few pictures I have later as well.

 

Loved spending time with my LAFF! Wish we'd found Casey's earlier. Wish I hadn't messed up the CPK time. Re-connected with a friend I've been searching for for 7 years! Hung out with the X-Wing...I love that ship! I took no pictures... well I took one, but a better version is posted above. I broke my lightsaber getting out of a cab, just like at CIII. Had great fun in my Jawa suit...then nearly ended up in the ER (luckily that waited until Tuesday). Signed some Skywalker Ranch wine bottles, which I hope will become a tradition of sorts! Missed a lot of things, but met all my obligations. Next time I'm going to volunteer less, and have more fun.

Still, I had a GREAT TIME!!!

 

I took the Metro and it was kinda cool. The day I took my lightsaber on the Redline a lady asks "What's that?" I reply "It's a lightsaber." Then she has this blank look on her face for about 15 seconds then I say "From Star Wars?" Then she's like "Oooh Ok"
It was funny to say the least.

JB, I found where to get Skywalker Ranch Wine now, so now it can be a tradition of signing SW Ranch bottles at other Celebrations!

 

Great thread, SJ!

 

Y'all in the costumes look amazing. I hear so much about JB's costumes, and never got to see 'em! You guys in the hardware, mostly SR, and JR and DH, seriously, great stuff. I guess I never knew how much I missed hanging out with the FanForce, but it was great hanging out for CIV.

My regret is also not having a new costume. I do not like mine and intend to redo a Jedi costume the right way. Also maybe planning a Grievous costume... hehe. You know I can't resist.

Good to hear you are better, I was worried!

 

I finally found my Jawa on RebelScum:
Here.

And my X-Wing Pilot costume (with the X-Wing) Here.

 

Awesome, JB!

I remember last time I was going through LAFF withdrawals about now but I don't feel it quite the same as last time. I do miss ES and D-B though... ES, come back soon.

 

oh, we gots to get some of that for the JW concert!

I had a blast even if I was there for only two days. My fav was the Helmet Art exhibit and the Family Guy panel. The lines werent bad at all even when I went to get Carrie Fisher on Sat morn I only waited about 45 mins.

Was good to catch up with Lowbacca while he worked the FF booth, good to hang with Sol_Jedi for a while too.

Didnt get to see/meet many others though I did briefly see skyryder on my way up an escalator!

I saw most of OCSWS and IEFF.

I hear skyryder & sol_jedi wanna get kilts.

Here's my pics from CIV - Fan Day & Saturday

 

I had a much better time than expected. I got to see some great panels and learned a lot of new tips on costuming. I even snuck into the 501st picture but it will be my last one until I get an official number. The Assajj Ventress who got mad at me for sneaking in apparantly rubbed many people the wrong way. One friend of mine complimented her on her costume but she got mad at him because he called her weapons lightsabers. Do curved lightsabers have a new name? So I don't cause anymore trouble I promised certain members that if I don't have an official number by Comic Con, I will bow out of that picture gracefully.
I did go to the after party it Trifecta. It was ok. There was a small turnout. I ran into some LAFF members but they couldn't get in due to lack of ID. In the club, I almost got assaulted by a Brit fan who was so drunk, he thought I was insulting him. It was a scene just like Luke in the Cantina. Just as he grabbed my throat, the Bouncer saw the attack and threw the guy out. Luckily there were no injuries. Despite that, I can't wait until C5.

 

Whoa, CD, that sounds kind of crazy! Brits are nuts, this is true, but it's weird that he got violent and stuff. Hope everything's okay! Great pictures and costumes, everyone!