Roch, NY The Celebration IV Thread - Los Angeles - May 24th-28th 2007

I believe its the same place they hold E3 and I know that draws a ton of people. its laid out nice..... however even though I have family out there, I still would have rather gone to Indy again this year. The city itself is very clean and tourist friendly.
Looks like we will all be saving our pennies this year for C4 ....

My advice... its L.A. shack up with as many as you can for the better hotels ... they will be pricey but worth it.

 

Well its a been a few...minutes...time for a rant on this topic.

I am 70% against going to C4.
Yes, I am an uber geek. Yes I have that "passion" that everyone talks about.
THIS pushes that to a limit I dont want to go to.
I know that I'll be spending 1-2k at this con. I KNOW THAT.
I know that it'll be around 500 for a flight.
I know that it'll be around 500 for a hotel.

Yes I understand that there are travel deals and basically shacking up 4+ to a room to make the hotel deals affordable but its really not that appealing to me. Yes I know its supposed to add to the experience of going to a big Con like this but throwing heavy amounts of people into a room where there is going to be armor, soft parts, and expensive accessories laying around is dangerous as far as property damage.

I hated the fact that I was starting a new job the week of C3 and it bugged me a lot when everyone got back and started talking about how awesome the experience was. Theres a difference, at least for me, between an awesome experience and tossing money in a fire.

I know the perks. We get to basically meet a HUGE cross section of SW Fans. 501st, Rebel Legion, as well as the guests (obviously) and the vendors and the X-Wing, the Athersprite Jedi Fighter, the R2 units, the group photos...but I dunno...its really bugging me to try and commit to something like that considering my budget constraints. I dont know whether or not its worth it.

 

I will not get into all the things that make me weary about going to a Celebration. All I will say is that even if I had the ability to save any major money at all ( more then a few bucks here and there that I spend on Luxuries) not needed for Food, Rent, Bills and other necessities, I would be handing it over to my parents. If I did have that kind of money and went they would be very upset with me if I did not give it to them. That?s my situation. I guess it would be nice to experience it just once guess, but it aint happening for me.

 

C3 was the first convention I've ever been to. I was a yahoo star wars club moderator and BothanSpy.com staff member for a few years at that point, and many of the people in both groups were going to go. So I decided to go. To me it was worth it to finally meet my online friends, who I had talked to regularly for so long. I even met friends from Ireland and Australia! It was the most fun I've ever had. Even standing in line for 5 hours was fun. So it was all worth it, in my opinion. I wasn't active in this group back then, so it was fun to share my love for SW with other fans. I'm planning to go to C4, hopefully it will be as good as C3.

I'm sure there will be many more celebrations down the road, even if you can't swing it this time.

 

I guess I'm firmly straddling the line on this one. I have a foot in both camps, as it were. I desperately want to go back to another Celebration, but the arbitrary decision on Lucasfilm to put it "out there" has firmly jammed a wedge into the ability of most East-coasters into going, myself included. I went with a friend to C3, by car, and it was affordable to do Indianapolis. LA? A flight? Hotels? I just dunno.... guess I'll have to get a real job.

But I have to say, for those of you who have NOT yet been to a Celebration... it is worth every penny invested. Though I too, stood in long lines to buy more SW crap, I met a lot of interesting people in that line, and at the end, felt a sense of reward for the time invested. Yes; the Celebration Store does need improving, but when you're catering to tens of thousands of fans, its difficult to get anything up to the speed you desire. My biggest regret about C3 is not having taken more time to see the exhibits, which, judging by the photos everyone else took, were absolutely amazing. But we only had 2 days there, most of the first being spent in the damn store line... I did get to meet some greet people, but the experience was overwhelming. Now, the overwhelming part is going to be affording to go. Thanks, Lucasfilm.

And yet I feel I must go. Perhaps it's my rekindled passion for all things Star Wars, since I joined up with you fine folk in the Rebellion. Perhaps it's just to compare notes with fellow Anakin costumers. Perhaps it's to find a "Star Wars" soul-mate amongst the throngs... (why not? Normal chicks just don't get me, y'know?) For these and many more reasons, I will be conducting C4 Fundrai$er$ myself, and disguising them by calling them "garage sales"...

 

Hello, Doc_Bev & Everyone.

[Okay, I could swear there was a C3 post string in here somewhere but I couldn't find it so, I hope y'all don't mind if I post this info here.]

Page 10 of the photos I took at Celebration III is now up at

http://www.rebellegionhawaii.com .

Please check out the Gallery section, then the C3 sub-section. I don't have any quick "go to page" buttons up there in the sub-section YET but Pac-El & I are working on it. Please bear with us.

Also, keep in mind that there are quite a few pics with the "Click here for second photo" prompt beneath them linking to supplemental images. I hope you won't miss these!

Since many of us are waiting for C4 and others are still deciding on whether or not to go, I hope these pix will 1) help whet our appetites for the upcoming event and 2) finally convince people to go, respectively. In the least, I hope you all like the pix.

May the [Good Side of the] Force be with us.

Jay Tee

 

100% Not Going unfortunately
I'm hitting DragonCon next year instead as my Yearly "Big" Con.

 

The news of an official SW Celebration convention in England in July of 2007 is seriously going to affect attendance at CIV.

~Doc_Bev

 

I wonder if it's cheaper to "cross the pond" and go to that Celebration rather than the one in L.A....

 

Hmmm London... I Loooove London. I will make a few calls to see what flights will cost. July is still peak season but I have a bit of luck with UK travel.

 

For those that haven't heard yet - tickets go on sale TOMORROW for this at 3pm our time.
http://www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/news20061025.html

~Doc_Bev

 

Guests are finally being announced...
http://www.officialpix.com/OPX/Celebrities.html
So far no one I'm heartbroken to miss. So far...

~Doc_Bev

 

The official poster looks really cool!
http://www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/news20070323.html

~Doc_Bev

 

Can't attend, but would still like some autographs - check out this offer
http://www.bigfanboy.com/autographs/index.html
I think I might be taking advantage of that...

~Doc_Bev

 

The CIV store's catalog is now online
http://www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/f20070518/img/civ_store.pdf

~Doc_Bev

 

Who is making the trip from Rochester? Warren and I are flying in from Texas. Emily can't make the trip, this weekend she moved from NY to Kansas with her boyfriend.

I packed my Padme costume but I don't know what day I'll wear it.

Talk to you guys and gals later!!

 

As far as I know MadKidJedi is the only one from these boards heading out to CIV.

I hadn't realized Emily was moving away too.
Good luck Facer girls! Stop back in here to visit when you can.

~Doc_Bev

 

Glitch is going, too! And I fly out later today! Woo-hoo! California... here I come!

 

Have fun you guys!!

~Doc_Bev

 

Having TOO MUCH fun already!! I had the Best day... met a lot of Rebel and 501st Legionaires, got signed up for my volunteering shifts, got my crew badge and t-shirt, bought my program, and spent nearly the entire Movie Marathon next to a cute blonde named Kelsey... just an awesome day. Made it through Eps. 1-5, but needed to get back to Chris's place by train before I turned into a pumpkin.

The marathon itself was great. Nothing like being in a room with hundreds (if not over a thousand) fans, cheering every classic line and applauding the entrance of every major character when they appear for the first time in each Episode. One of the best: the incestuous kiss in the medical bay after Luke recovers from the Wampa attack in Empire... everybody just hollering "Ewwwwwwwwww!!!!" Hillarious! Applause throughout the crowd at Yoda's classic line ".... Do... or do not... there is no try..." ...simply resonates through your soul, y'know?

And they intro-ed each Episode with snippets from the History Channel special next Monday, which looks to be awesome... a must-Tivo program to be sure. Also showed snippets from the new LucasArts next-gen game "Force Unleashed" which should be KILLER.

Not a lot of costumers, but that'll change in the next day or so.

Also, I got through the entire day on less than 20 bucks, including the $1.25 bus ride there, and $1.25 subway train back to Chris's neighborhood. Don't expect that to be the norm for the rest of the con.

UPDATE! Just made a new album with (a few) pix from today!!!

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/MadKidJedi/Celebration%204/

Mind you, they're in reverse-chronological order... darn Photobucket...

EDIT: Photobucket reverse chronology fixed. They're in order now!

 

Thanks for the on-site report!

It does look awesome already.

~Doc_Bev

 

I don't know about all of you, but I'll be living vicriously through Deand and Glitch this weekend!!

 

Well.... I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure I'd want to live through some of the things they might be doing this weekend.

To beat my "stuck and home and not at CIV" blues I'm tuning into the 501st live table cam.
http://www.501st.com/webcam.php

And, I've been taking a look at the photo coverage at rebelscum.com.

~Doc_Bev

 

Belated "Welcome Back!" to MadKidJedi & Glitch (and everyone else who traveled to CIV)!

Thanks for the calls from each of you so that we know you landed safely.

MadKid was wondering if anyone got last week's Brighton Post. I'm not sure who of us is in Brighton anymore (other than MadKid) - WaSabe maybe??

~Doc_Bev

 

My pics are up here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50003406@N00/sets/72157600275415807/

I got to see Dean at CIV and stopped to chat with a couple from Buffalo...I don't remember their names, but I remembered them from the Jan 2006 Holiday party at MacGregor's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50003406@N00/517543583/in/set-72157600275415807/

I hope more of the Rebellion can make it to the next one. I heard a rumor it will be in LA again, someone said they signed a 3 yr deal. I wouldn't mind if it was, the con center was big enough, there was food to buy and the lines were bearable.