The Official Celebration Horror Stories... post/complain here.

Actually, Dani, I think she was a volunteer.

I agree with queenseamstress. If you wanted more lines opened or more people stationed around, then you should have signed up to volunteer. Things of this magnitude are never going to run smoothly without volunteers.

Well, one of the problems with the store was that about half of the registers were cash only/vader only - they weren't set up to be able to do anything else. On our side, of the 8 registers, and a max of maybe 1 was being used at any one time. So even if there'd been more volunteers there, there wasn't anything that they could do. And it appeared that there were 3 volunteers that were standing there "manning" the stations, even though they weren't being used.

Don't get me wrong - I'm totally not blaming the volunteers, it's just that, from my view at least, it looks like they weren't using them to the best of their ability.

 

I think I see your point, Carmen. Long lines are inevitable, no matter what you do. My concern was more about spreading events out among a longer schedule to allow people more flexibility in choosing what events to attend.

I might be seeing this from a more selfish point of view, plus the only conventions of this type I've been to are C2 and C3. Maybe I'll go to the Motor City Comic Con this spring to compare the experiences.

 

Thank you jedi_

I agree wholeheartedly that having more GenCon temps or help wouldn't have made running things much smoother-but more volunteers would have. GenCon temps don't care about SW, but the volunteers did. We gave up hours that we could have spent seeing things ourselves to help everyone else have a better time.

Some of the fans knew that and were very appreciative-but there were others that were not. The same man who really hassled me because I stopped the line for the Rick Spectacular because it was full and he didn't get in to see that show should have realized that I wasn't getting in to see it either because I was working the door/crowd line.

There were some volunteer friends of mine who worked many hours in the store doing the best that they could, and while they understood the fans frustrations and felt for them, they were taking a lot of crap from people for a scenario that wasn't their fault.

My opinion...let the 501st, Fanforce, and other groups run the convention next time instead of GenCon or WOTC. *winks*

 

The thing is, if you spread them out, MORE people are going to be attending each because there's nothing else to do at that time. Having more of each session would make sense, but having the exact same amount and spreading them out would make it worse I think, rather than better.

 

I know they capped off the Convention Store line pretty early on Friday and Saturday but however frustrating for those who did not get into the Convention Store on those days because the line was capped off, it was probably for the best, else you would have spent the entire day in line.

Trust me, I spent 12 hours standing in line on Thursday, from 9am until 9pm when I finally got my purchases at the Convention Store. I know all the volunteers and 501st people gave it their very best but for many fans it was rather frustrating to spend that much time in line, although overal most of them were pretty patient and calm.

 

^ we abandoned all hope of entering the store, and guess what? We had the time of our lives!

It isn't about toys, and it sure isn't about "collecitng" or "exclusive". (do you seriously think your "exclusive" is so hard to get when 50,000 people bought four each?)

But, just to rub it in...we got in line Sunday morning around ten, and we were out again before eleven. Bwhhaaaaaa!

Had to order the shirt though. all they had left were the goofy Vader figures.

 

Arg I had a few horror stories to tell. First I didn't bring nearly enough money! Second after I arrived there on Friday it was pouring out side. I managed to get inside look around and get used to the map. I found the Official Store about 11:30 A.M. But like so many I was denied access because there were about 7000 people inside.

The next day I had the dilemia of decideding either get in line for the store again or wait in line for George Lucas. Not even having a faint clue if GL's line was worth the effort to be turned down I got in line for the CIII store. I had to wait 6 hours just to buy the Vader figure for my buddies back home here. Arghhh! I went alone which kind of sucked. But then some guy I faintly know from him working at Toys R' Us near by me was there on Sunday and I would have hung out with him had I known that he was going!

So all in all I give CIII about a 7 on a scale of 1 - 10.

 

My only complaint was being stuck in Denver for a whole day because our pilots ran out of time to legally fly our plane.

Honestly, I had no problem with the lines because I had other people buy things for me while I went and did things for them. Teamwork does wonders at events like this.

Ummm, I could have also dealt without the rain while I was in my costume. Glad I protected the robe though.


Oh yeah.
Seriously, eff lines. Didn't see Lucas because I didn't think he deserved my time and effort of waiting in ANOTHER line just to see him. The store? Meh, have a volunteer friend get in line for you and give them your money. Line for archives? Big whoop. I get to see the stuff through display glass rather then through television glass...gee thanks. I think I'll look at the wookiees from outside.

The only line I spent a lot of time in was the line to get in on Friday. That was it. If I was in a line that looked like it would take a couple hours, I didn't wait. I already spent enough time, money and effort to get here, I am not about to waste my time standing.

And I am 2 cents poorer.

 

My two biggest complaints had to deal with the way lines were handled. (Big surprise)
Waiting in line at the store was sickening.
Waiting in line for Lucas nearly killed me.
I had a great time but I'm glad it's over to.
Can't wait for the next convention, because you know there will be one.

 

Horror Story -

We drove down on Wednesday from Toronto and got to our Motel at 3am. Once at the hotel we realized how bad it was and had to get out of there but knew we were stuck for another night.
So Thursday we went to the con for the day and found a hotel downtown that night for Friday and Saturday. No problems there.
Friday morning we wake up early, pack all of our stuff in the car and head downtown. Can't check into the new hotel until 3pm so we head to the Con. My buddy had to leave the con to get some stuff for the dioramma builders group which he helped with. He was a half hour outside the city when his car breaks down with all of our stuff in it. Calls CAA and gets towed to a Hyundi dealership. We find out the part he needs to have the car fixed has to be shipped from Canada - the car won't be ready until Tuesday. But we both HAVE to go to work on Monday.
So he comes back to the Con with all our stuff in the dealership courtesy car. Thankfully we can check into the Hotel early.
Then we find out our only option to get home is the bus. So Saturday night we leave on the bus to Toronto.
All of our stuff is with us and we have a ton of it.
23 hours later we get home.

Worst part is, my buddy has to take the bus back up there to get his car this weekend.

Still, I loved C3 and only missed the last day.

 

I agree with sonofsidds, the whole celebration was generally a waste of time. I am from Toronto Canada, and drove down with my brother and a friend, and were sadly disappointed. Celebration 2 was better.

GenCon is a joke, but obviously Lucasfilm supports them. My wait in line for the Celebration store was 6hr 15min. My wait to see George Lucas?? 45 minutes.

We lined up at the second floor walkway at 9:45 am saturday morning - seeing Lucas is not worth standing out in the cold and rain. We waited at the doors of the walkway (which were just outside the hall where Lucas appeared), nice and warm and dry I might add, and were let in at 10:30, and then promptly ushered into the final Lucas presentation. Very ironic, considering we were sitting beside people who had lined up all night and were soaking wet. Poor buggers.

Also, most of the new merchandise on sale you could get at Walmart for about half the price.

If you are mad at GenCon, how can you not be angry with Lucasfilm?? My advice, don't buy any star wars crap ever again, don't see the movie - just download it for free. You want quality action figures?? Try McFarlane toys, where the figure actually looks like the character.

And really, you all know Episodes 1 and 2 were not that good, admit it to yourselves.

 

I agree about the horrible, horrible administration and management by GenCon. I was in the frickin' Thursday 7-hour line for the store, and not for me really. I was getting figures off my badge for someone else, heh. See my previous post in this thread.

Luckily I'm not a collector, and was able to avoid any other GenCon crap the rest of the time and thus enjoyed C3.

 

I am reading every bodies posts about how horrible the lines were and all I can think was that the lines were some of the most fun I had all weekend. I met many great SW fans from all over the world and spent the several hours in each line talking and getting to know them. If you had a 4 day pass you were able to see just about everything you wanted, aside from a few panels. The people and the lines are part of a SW convention, if you were there just to collect and buy things just for your collection then you could have stayed home and shopped on ebay. I agree the the store could have been handled better but I had a blast hanging out in that line for 5 hours chatting it up on Friday. I was one of the not so smart people that got in line for Lucas before midnight, but that line was the highpoint of the weekend because of the fans. Its great to share a unique and similer experience with people that have the same interests. I'm sure I could find alot to complain about but the fact is I got to spend 4 days in Star Wars heaven. Nuf said!

 

Yeah, I go to a convention to stand in line...sure.

What did I expect to see? ILM production footage, real stars from Episode 3, tons of real props from Episode 3, story boards and concept art from E3 on a large scale. Unique products I've never seen before (being from Canada, we don't always get everything that may be available in the U.S.).

Most of all, a professional, well run event, which you think would be possible since there have been 2 previous Celebrations - it's not hard to organize something properly, regardless of the size or number of people.

Any Celebration attendees from Toronto may remember the presentations in Toronto for Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Although very small in scale, they were full of props, clothing, models, and art from the productions.

The best part of Celebration 3 was the digital footage, which I hope someone recorded with a digital video camera and posted on the internet, just to piss Lucas off.

 

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[b]UberFetus:[/b] I agree with sonofsidds, the whole celebration was generally a waste of time. I am from Toronto Canada, and drove down with my brother and a friend, and were sadly disappointed. Celebration 2 was better.

GenCon is a joke, but obviously Lucasfilm supports them. My wait in line for the Celebration store was 6hr 15min. My wait to see George Lucas?? 45 minutes.

We lined up at the second floor walkway at 9:45 am saturday morning - seeing Lucas is not worth standing out in the cold and rain. We waited at the doors of the walkway (which were just outside the hall where Lucas appeared), nice and warm and dry I might add, and were let in at 10:30, and then promptly ushered into the final Lucas presentation. Very ironic, considering we were sitting beside people who had lined up all night and were soaking wet. Poor buggers.

Also, most of the new merchandise on sale you could get at Walmart for about half the price.

If you are mad at GenCon, how can you not be angry with Lucasfilm?? My advice, don't buy any star wars crap ever again, don't see the movie - just download it for free. You want quality action figures?? Try McFarlane toys, where the figure actually looks like the character.

And really, you all know Episodes 1 and 2 were not that good, admit it to yourselves.[hr][/blockquote]Maybe it's time you admitted that to yourself and left the rest of us who still care alone.

 

What did I expect to see? ILM production footage, real stars from Episode 3, tons of real props from Episode 3, story boards and concept art from E3 on a large scale. Unique products I've never seen before (being from Canada, we don't always get everything that may be available in the U.S.).

The first two Celebrations didn't have this stuff on the scale you wanted, so why did you expect the third one to? I don't remember seeing advertising promising any of this stuff in any different fashion from the first 2 cons.

In fact, by your posts, I can't figure out why you drove down from Canada at all. You hate Lucas, you hate the films, you hate the merchandise. What were you doing at a convention for them?

I'm not sure what lines were bad except for the store, and the archives.. If you were waiting in line just to get in to the con, I don't understand that either. I slept in Friday morning, got there around 9:45, entered through the skywalk, walked right in to the convention. No waiting. No bad weather. My wife got there right around 9 am on Saturday, and walked right in to see Lucas. No waiting.

 

I still had some hope that Lucas could produce something good and make up for Episodes 1 and 2. Not to mention the reworking of the original films in their Special Edition.

As for the figures, how can anyone compare them to the quality of other figures being produced? Have a look at McFarlane figures. I realize they are much higher in price, but well worth it - they actual look like the characters they represent.

Lucas has become what he used to hate - a marketing machine. And yes, he is still the most innovative in terms of film technology, using digital is spectacular.

But the Celebration was not impressive, either in features or scale of the show, considering Episode 3 is the climax of the whole thing

 

Why do you still care about mediocre movies produced by Lucas? The Clone Wars cartoon have better story lines.

Episode 3 may have potential because Speilberg had a little input into it.

 

Yeah just keep telling yourself that.

For me Star Wars is a whole lot more than a bunch of action figures.

And for the record, I don't see anything mediocre about the films Lucas has made so far in this saga. It's better than most of the crap that comes out of Hollywood.

I agree that Lucas is a master marketer, he even has people like you hook line and sinker.

 

Too true. I coughed up my money for Gen Con. Sucker that I am...what can I say? Grew up with Star Wars, have better memories of it than what it actually was.

Though it saddens me to see Star Wars fans treated badly by Gen Con and Lucas not seem to give a damn, and that is truely what happened. Very inspiring to see 'fans' trying to sell the C3 figures 2 minutes after they bought it....

Since you are such a hardcore fan, you must have loved the Special Edition DVDs with all the wonderful changes?? Even the Greedo scene...

 

Even the Greedo scene.

 

My condolences then. I wouldn't even rip myself DVD copies of the Special Edition dvds.

Have a look at the Lord of the Rings Extended versions if you want to see quality extended versions of movies.

You must also be a fan of Jar Jar Binks then.

Though I must admit Natalie Portman's protruding nipples were a high point of Episode 2, don't you think?

A good addition to Episode 3 I think would be to have Samuel Jackson have sex with Natalie Portman, and maybe Lucas can digitally edit Episodes 4, 5 and 6 and make Luke a Leia Samuel L's love children????

 

Don't feed the troll.

 

No sense of humour....think you were Star Trek fans or something.

Don't tell me you think Hayden's acting is any good (and he's canadian), nor is Natalie Portman's, who is excellent in everything else (have a look at The Professional). Ewan MacGregor is excellent as Obi-Wan. As is the Emperor.

Mark Hamill was just as bad - but is excellent doing voices for cartoons, such as the Joker's voice in the Batman animated series.

Just a bitter fan in my old age I guess, that expects a lot.

The Clone Wars cartoons are good.....if that makes you feel any better.

 

You know...I don't like pickles. I hate them-the smell, the taste, the texture. Therefore, I don't buy pickles, eat pickles or concoctions containing them, or go to festivals celebrating pickles.