Star Wars Celebration Orlando Wrap-Up

4/19/2017

Star Wars Celebration Orlando Wrap-Up

A long time ago (last week) in a galaxy far, far away (Orlando) ..

It's time to become one with the Force and put and end to those pesky rebels, we mean our Star Wars Celebration updates. We had an epic 3 out of 4 days at this years Celebration in Orlando. If you missed any of our live updates from Day One or Day Two be sure you check them out.

In this update we're going to wrap up everything that went on at Celebration with the panels and other news in the Star Wars Universe and share some of our favorite pictures and moments of each day. We hope you enjoy.

Day One

Day One kicked off with an EPIC 40 years of Star Wars panel which had some hilarious moments, some classic moments, cast from all era's of the Star Wars Saga and of course a touching tribute to our Princess.

Unfortunately Day One also had some issues in the morning with lines but thankfully they had them all handled by Day Two. We didn't get a chance to see any panels on Day One, but had an epic day exploring Celebration and of course with the awesome fans.

Speaking of epic moments, #GarthVader pretty much took Star Wars Celebration by storm, Cosplay In America picked up on our picture, found the person behind Garth Vader and here is his story.

My buddy and I have done Wayne & Garth a few times for Halloween and some special events. I went to Star Wars Celebration in 2012 (Orlando) not in costume. I was a big fan of the cosplay mash ups! Got tickets for SWCO 2017- originally did not think about doing a costume - but then it came to me. I have Garth - just need to add Vader = Garth Vader.
I already have a great Garth Algar costume. Original thought was to get a movie quality Darth Vader suit. That didn't pan out. Plan B - What would the real Garth get for Darth costume at Halloween? So, I ordered a Deluxe Darth Vader costume from Rubies - and tossed the helmet mask. Had to order some good Vader gloves and a decent red light saber. The shoes are Star Wars Skechers - Darth Vader checkerboard.
Non stop looks, comments, and photos - from the first moment to the last.
In the lines to get in, lines to meet celebs, I think it helped keep people from thinking about the lines. I visited the 501st room - took tons of photos - great sets and props! It was so crazy, every where I went, non stop. Right up to the end of the day. We were trying to leave, getting stopped by people everywhere to take photos. My friend Greg said, "I bet 1000 people took you photo today!"
Many people (attendees, exhibitors, and crew) made positive comments all day. That made me feel great and it didn't matter that my Vader was not movie quality. One guy stopped me for photo and told me he has been to many SWC, and my Garth Vader was the best thing had ever seen. I was actually blown away by that!
There was a guy walking with this daughter. He saw me and did a double take. He asked for a photo, then had me pose with his daughter (maybe 7 years old). She had long blond hair and glasses, like Garth Algar. She told me her dad calls her little Garth - so cute! Got a big high five from her.
The best reactions were from Mark Hamill & Hayden Christensen. They both had the biggest smiles and laughed when I asked them, "Have you seen Obi Wayne Kanobi?" Mark said to me, in all the years of Star Wars Celebration he never met Garth Vader.

Day Two

Day Two once again saw huge crowds but the lines were much better managed and everybody was super excited for The Last Jedi panel. We again didn't quite get into the panel (it seemed for this celebration you pretty much had to camp out to get into any of them) but they did show the panel and trailer on the main show floor which was awesome.

Day Two also had some more amazing Cosplay on the show floor and some shopping in the Celebration store where Renée likely broke at least one Credit Card. =)

Day Three

Unfortunately we didn't have anybody who could attend on Day 3 but that doesn't mean we weren't keeping an eye on all things going on at Celebration. The biggest thing, for us at least was the release of the Star Wars Battlefront II trailer.

Gregg: I'll be the first to admit I'm a HUGE fan of the first Battlefront although I definitely see why people have issues with it. There's no story mode and some of the game modes **cough**Fighter Squadron**cough** are used WAY too much in the expansion levels. But even with that I totally love the game.
That said, after seeing the trailer below I'm super excited for Battlefront II. Not only is there a Story mode, but it's told from the perspective on The Empire after the events of Return of the Jedi, which is AMAZING. Plus it's got the multiplayer mode included. We can't wait to get our hands on this in November.

In addition to that awesome trailer, we also got a look at the 4th and final season of Star Wars Rebels. Seriously, if you aren't watching this show you really need to. The writing is excellent, the characters are fascinating and it's definitely not just a "Star Wars Cartoon".

Day Four

We found ourselves back at Celebration on day four. For anybody who's ever done all four days of any convention you know that by the last day everybody is exhausted, needs to get their last minute shopping in but that's when you also find it easiest to get some amazing pictures, especially when the last day falls on a holiday. And that's just what happened.

Some awesome pictures from Morgan of the Sunday fun at Celebration.

I think for us, as "older" fans of Star Wars, seeing younger people get into the series now is amazing. Some awesome Cosplay here.

So that's going to wrap it up for our Star Wars Celebration Orlando coverage. A HUGE thanks to Renee and Morgan for putting this all together, it was amazing to be able to follow along.

We hope you all enjoyed. May the force be with you ...

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