CJ25 Star Wars Celebration (social thread)

Felicity Jones and Britney Spears were the two celebrities where their handlers specifically told us prior not to touch them, speak to them etc and both extended their hands out to me for the photo op and spoke to me first etc so thankfully I didn’t have to deal with that.

The only “celebrity” I’ve dealt with that could be considered rude at a signing was Buzz Aldrin but he admits he is an a-hole (his words, not mine)

 

I think sometimes they hear you're in the building and want precautions in place, but when they see you didn't buy a photo op they feel safe to put their guard down.

 

Don't worry, I'm too poor for this to affect most guests at SWC.

 

I think I would have respectfully said I don't feel comfortable shaking hands right now. Especially when they've been engaging with hundreds of strangers all day. I saw friends I hadn't seen in two years at the cons I went to and we avoided handshakes and hugs as a precaution. It's just not worth the risk to me with delta right now. I know I was taking on some risk going to a crowded, indoor event, but i still wanted to be as responsible as i could given the circumstances.

 

If I can help it, I would rather them and me do a funny pose..Like me and Ray Park...

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Years ago at ECCC, Patrick Stewart was signing and for a good price!, strangely, his "handler (that sounds so bad, like a pet or something!) also had his head shaved and was a seemingly double for Patrick! I asked, right in front of Patrick if I could shake his hand, the handler said " Mr. Stewart doesn't shake hands", I thought "oh well," but sort of noticed Patrick may have arthritis in his hands. have any of you noticed this if you have had a signing by him or know if that's true or if it was a "handler thing"?

 

I've never met Patrick Stewart but I do remember the good old days where celebrities would pose for a quick photo after signing. When I met Mark Hamill at the first Celebration Europe it was at the end of the day, they were asking anyone who had passes for the next day to come back in the morning, they even started to say if you couldn't come back the next day they'd take your address and mail your items back to you as Mark had a panel but he told them no, he'd get through everyone who couldn't come back the next day, it was his panel (last of the day) so people would understand if he was late. Even then, he made time to shake hands and take photos after signing. So I got to meet him, got his autograph, a photo with him, and still made it to his panel. We only got to do one day at the first SWCE and that is my best memory of it.

 

Saw in the September issue of Locus magazine that this year's Worldcon is planned to be an in-person event in December in Washington DC. Since this might have a bearing on how cons work for the immediate future, here are some of the highlights:
Vaccines are mandatory. If you aren't fully vaxxed you will have to attend online.
Masks are mandatory. Only exceptions are if you are eating or drinking.
Children under 12 will not be allowed unless vaccines are approved for the 5-11 age group.
Proof of vaccination is required.

If you are attending or want more info see https://discon3.org/covid-faq/

 

I think it's pretty safe to say similar requirements will be in place for Celebration since RP has already followed through with their other events. We'll know a lot more after seeing how NYCC goes.

 

Chris, it seemed(maybe I'm wrong now) that both Carrie and Mark really went out of their way to sign and have photo ops as long as they could at an event.I was so impressed when Carrie spoke flawless French to some fans from Canada. wonderful! I wonder if Mark will show up next year, if Cele. is still going on. very generous people!

 

I have very little hope Mark will attend though I really wished he did. Maybe he will surprise me.

As far as mandated vaccine for cons, if RP goes that route I'm not opposed. Con crud is already a thing, let's minimize spreading Covid as much as possible

 

They just announced Hotel reservations are live. They haven't announced guests yet (as far as I know) but they are having the badge sale tomorrow and you have to buy all 3 days for $150. I may go for tickets but I would be surprised if they have any big panels or high profile guests right after Thanksgiving.

 

Yeah, I don't think the studios are going to use it for big announcements. DC Fandome is already next month.

 

So after repeatedly dodging my question and getting multiple emails from me asking if they could please stop dodging my question, I finally got this response...

"While we currently do not have plans to release additional tickets to Star Wars Celebration, if and when additional tickets to become available, additional details (including pre-sale or early access opportunities to previous or current ticket holders) will be announced via e-mail, social, and posted to the Star Wars Celebration website. To ensure you are among the first to know, make sure to sign up for the Star Wars Celebration newsletter.

Thank you and may the Force be with you"

The only thing that stands out here is that apparently there are no plans to release additional tickets. Which is very interesting, because had I not gotten this response, I think we would probably assume that at some point there will be another badge sale.

Anywho, I'm going to start hitting them up for a volunteer slot now. If I don't get that, I may just have to write the most strongly worded email I've ever written.

 

I'm skeptical on the "no plans to release tickets". They continue to tell people who ask on social media to stay tuned for info on tickets. They also had a presale window for hotels for current badge holders which doesn't make any sense if those are the only people who can go anyway. The FAQ on their site still basically says to stay tuned as well. If they'd made a decision not to sell anymore, you'd think they would say the event is sold out.

Even if it's true though, they'll open Lyte eventually.

 

Maybe they are going to tie new tickets to some kind of proof of vaccination for Covid. People who currently have tickets could be asked to provide proof before attending.

 

All businesses say that though. They aren’t under any obligation to come out and tell fans straight out there won’t be an additional badge sale. Purely from a business standpoint they would want to keep the interest as high as possible, a lot of that would drop off if they told people there won’t be any additional badge sale.

I kind of had a feeling they oversold it and were going to use this as a chance to walk that back a bit.

Either way, I’m going to go based off the information I received directly from them. You guys are free to interpret it differently.

 

I already have a badge and a state of the art security system to keep @Padme501st away from it, so I don't really care.

 

good thing @ChrisLyne doesn't have one of those. He has to pass my side of the country to get to Celebration. I have time

 

Maybe the duloks will conjure up some tickets.

 

Based on the footage I've seen, I'd consider this unlikely.

 

Duloks are great at stealing

 

They're great at stealing something, but not necessarily the right item. You could send them to steal a Celebration badge, but they easily could come back with Logray's invisibility badge which will make it hard to get into any panels.

 

Maybe they’ll bring back soap

And honestly I could ask for a badge and they’ll bring back Hayden so win win