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This was due to numerous factors, all of which were due to bizarre flaws in the management of the thing.
Firstly, if you wanted to attend a panel and weren't guaranteed a spot unless you had a VIP pass (if that's even how that worked back then), you had to queue up each morning for wristbands. Trouble is, because people literally brought sleeping bags with them to queue overnight, those wristbands were snapped up very quickly. The only thing I was able to attend by way of panels in 2016 was the cosplay competition, as all the "big" things had of course gone already.
Secondly, when it came to photo opportunities, they only had one photo booth and its queue was in between the autograph sections and the special celebration store. This meant one of two things. Firstly, if a celebrity was delayed for whatever reason, even if just getting through "just a few more!", that slowed everything else down. Secondly, the poor staff had to cope with tonnes of ambient noise, and they had no technology like megaphones or "you are x minutes away" boards to help.
Ironically, the celebration store queue did have those boards. Priorities?
Thirdly, and let's be honest here, there really wasn't a lot going on for Star Wars at the time. Yes, The Force Awakens had been released a few months prior, Rogue One was due to come out later that year, and Rebels series 3 was also on the cards. That was pretty much it.
Compare that to 2023. We've had four further films throughout those years, Mandalorian's in full swing, Clone Wars and Rebels have both ended officially, Andor's first series aired to an incredible response with its second series much looked-forward-to, Ahsoka has her own series upcoming, Bad Batch is doing very well, we've had Hayden and Ewan back as Anakin and Obi-Wan in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that's not even mentioning the numerous other projects coming in 2024 and beyond!
Point is, as far as exciting new or recent stuff is confirmed, 2023 had a lot more going for it than 2016 in terms of activity potentials.
Indeed, back in 2016 I actually ended up calling the whole thing quits after the second day despite being eligible to attend through all three. Granted, I had some extra incentive as I had an invitation to attend a friend's birthday meal, but even without that I think I still would have said enough was enough. With limited opportunities to even glimpse a 'big' panel wristband unless it was already attached to someone's wrist, there just was not enough there to justify staying.
Roll on 2023. What's different, and what's stayed the same?
~~~
Like last time, I bought tickets for all days, although I was unable to snag a single ticket encompassing all days like I did in 2016. They had sold out VERY quickly, and I was in one of the earlier batches in the virtual queue! My parents both requested tickets for the Friday again, just to check it out, before spending the rest of Easter weekend around London.
Given how much more stuff has been announced since 2016, I was hopeful that I would find enough to do and thus avoid sitting around waiting in the middle of nowhere again. Hmmm. About that...
The most obvious differences between now and 2016 was that they had done away with the wristband system. Instead, with some exceptions (more on this later), all panels and stages were on a first-come-first-served basis, so even if you arrived to the ExCel centre at 12pm you could still have a decent shot at getting into some panels later on depending on how many people were already queuing early.
The exceptions to this were the five biggest panels on the Celebration Stage: Ahsoka, Bad Batch, Kenobi, Lucasfilm showcase, and Sequel Trilogy Villains. These were opened up to the attending public as a raffle, with the prize being theoretically guaranteed seating. With Jedi Master VIP tickets also having guaranteed seats at all panels and photo shoots and autographs potentially happening at the same time, a winning raffle entry still could be wasted.
Essentially, if you were neither a VIP nor a raffle winner, you were bang out of luck for attending unless you could get to a stage where it was being streamed to, of which there was no guarantee either!
It's hard to say which system is fairer. I mean, with wristbands these went VERY quickly, so if you couldn't get to the centre in good time because of bad traffic or your train or bus was delayed, tough luck. At the same time, if a good number of people couldn't make the panels they'd won because an expensive photograph was scheduled at the same time, I don't know how easy it would have been to convey that there actually were standby spots if previously it was announced there were none.
Certainly, I was one such person hit by a schedule clash, and I'm really curious to know how many others were in a similar position...
~
Show Floor
The show floor in 2016 included a dedicated prop display area for Rogue One, VR booths and drone flying displays, and a well-sized booth for EA games to showcase SWTOR, Galaxy of Heroes, and Battlefront.
All of that was absent this time.
While there were some props dotted about, like a couple of daily-rotational costumes, including Nien Nunb and an ewok specifically from Rise of Skywalker, by the Celebration Live! stage, most things were just mock-ups for the sake of photographs. Impressive mock-ups, but mock-ups nonetheless.
Understandable, but... c'mon. Ahsoka's coming up, we're in full swing with Mando, Kenobi's been and gone, and Andor's done well with its first series... you couldn't have had one prop display area to showcase those...? Granted, I am biased in my love for these sorta things, but this seems like a massive wasted opportunity.
There was absolutely no video game presence at all, whether it be VR based or traditional console / PC or mobile based. Okay, fine, Survivor got delayed, Battlefront II just kinda... is... but there's that Hunters game, Galaxy of Heroes is still going, and I think there's a certain game that's now been going for eleven-and-a-half years. Just... why weren't they there, y'know? What a place to get new players!
The drone thing was apparently a waste of time in 2016, so not surprised it wasn't there, but at least it took up a hall! There was just so much empty space in the halls leading up to the main body of the show floor, and it felt like there could have been more!
I did like the fact they had a dedicated kids stage this time, which even Ashley Eckstein got involved with at least once! That's nice. Really helps to get the kids involved and having fun, especially given how much Star Wars is for them as much as it is for us older generations.
Some things, of course, remained. Droid builders were back, LEGO and Hasbro of course had their booths, and the Celebration Live! stage was much bigger this time around. Of course, there were also all the stalls selling merch dotted around, cosplay groups advertising themselves, etc., etc.
What was new was the FUNKO! store. This was really quite sizable, and was the first official store you'd come across. I don't much understand the appeal of those... things... but apparently they're popular enough to warrant a lightspeed lane!
With regards to the photo and autograph sections, they were no longer right next to the show stores, but the autograph queues were quite close to the Live! stage... and of course there was a lot of whooping and hollering. Thus, depending on which queue (or overflow queue, depending!) you were in, the staff still had to holler to even stand a chance at being heard.
On the plus side, they at least had three separate photo booths rather than just the one, with each having six queue lines rather than one long snaking line. That, at least, must have been easier to manage, surely!
What certainly wouldn't have been easy to manage was the sheer volume of people. At times, it felt like trying to wade through a brick wall, except some of the bricks are very fragile if bumped into or stepped on. There were many Padmé cosplayers, many wearing some absolutely beautiful dresses, and I can only imagine the stress those poor people must have been under in large crowds with the sheer number of opportunities for people tread on the hem of the dress, dirty it, maybe rip it...
Not a pleasant thought!
This was especially bad around the eateries, not helped by seating areas in the central column taking up a large part of the general surface area. That's the last thing one needs, for some Mandalorian to be tripped up and next thing you know their meatball marinara sub is now decorating Han Solo's jacket.
Fun.
Returning to the actual show floor for a spell, there were two displays I was looking out for: Droid Builders and Cosplayers of the Old Republic. Since the SWTOR team couldn't make it, they had sent the Cosplayers table team some pins and signed key art to give away, so of course I had to get some of that action!
However, I really struggled to find the latter booth. Wi-fi was absolute dreck in the ExCel centre, but even if I had known the table number that wouldn't have helped due to the layout (not everything had a visible number...). Ultimately, I found them quite by chance on the Saturday when leaving the Droid Builders display, and secured the faction pin. Huzzah!
The Droid Builders display was, of course, brilliant. So many R2 units (including the 17th official iteration of R2-KT herself), but there were other droids there as well; pit droids, B1 battle droids, a droideka, but the highlight was seeing T3-M4, HK-47, and my boy T7-O1. Amazing stuff!
On the whole, apart mainly from Droid Builders, things felt surprisingly underwhelming in this regard! Not that 2016 provided an awful lot more, but they were just generally more interesting.
~
Celebration Store
The celebration store in 2016 didn't have a lot of memorable products, from what I recall. I genuinely don't know if I ever did buy anything from there or if my mother and I just looked once and that was it. They'd likely sold out of a lot of the good stuff even on day one, and we were rather late to it.
This time around, there was at least a lot more interesting stuff, although it also helped that it was the very first thing we did this time. A beautiful throw that we just couldn't justify (and not just because of the price; £80), a glorious set of drinking glasses (£70!), and so on. I settled on the wonderful exclusive bag, a celebration t-shirt, a scarf (more versatile than a throw at least!), a fridge magnet, celebration pin, and an exclusive Kenobi pin set. The bill came to £150, largely because the bag was £42...
I mean, it's nice, but not £42 worth of nice!
My father bought a "Galactic Antics Antiques" t-shirt, representing Luthen Rael's business in Andor. I should point out that my father has not seen any of the Star Wars shows - he just got it because he feels like a galactic antique.
Of all the shirts to buy...!
I was able to get back into the store queue on the Sunday, due to being let in to the centre itself proper 25 minutes early. A good number of things had, of course, sold out, like the £42 bag and all but two of a very nice mug that I didn't notice on Friday - unless it wasn't put out until Saturday.
Certainly, there was one very prominent new item which wasn't there on Friday but I had seen around on Saturday. A truly lovely cardigan from Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe line, themed around Ahsoka. Even though I'm not an Ahsoka super-fan - I do like her well enough, she's just not in my top 5 - I simply could not resist picking this up. It's beautiful, it's a wonderful material, and I wouldn't have been shocked if it was over £100.
As it is, it was only £65! Still a tad expensive, perhaps, but better value than I was anticipating!
I also picked up a couple of posters, although annoyingly only one was sold in a tube. The other one was just being rolled up by the chap at the table, although he at least commented that if you bought both the tube could accommodate the second as well. Still a silly setup.
So altogether my shop total came to £235. Not toooo bad compared to what some will have spent (the cashier we spoke to on Friday commented that someone had spent £700 in one go earlier - it hadn't even been open a full hour!), but still a bit overinflated.
£42 for a bag. £42!
~
Photographs and Autographs
In 2016, I booked a photo opportunity with Mark Hamill, but looking back I wish I also had one with Carrie Fisher. Alas, that's how these things go. Based on Carrie's passing, I chose to focus mainly on getting photographs with actors who I would regret missing out on if, for whatever reason, this was to be the last opportunity I would get to get one. Anything can happen, to me and to them, after all!
With that in mind, I purchased photos with Billy Dee Williams, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, and - purely as a self-indulgence - James Arnold Taylor.
C'mon, I couldn't avoid a chance to meet the voice behind Colonel Korrd and Plo Koon! Obi-Wan as well, I suppose.
Booking the photographs was alright, if of course expensive. I chose to focus all of them initially on Saturday and Sunday, although had I known then how exactly the event as a whole would be run I would have done things differently. Indeed, this is what led to the schedule clashes I mentioned earlier. I had secured seating for the Villains and Kenobi panels, but my photo with Ewan was scheduled at the same time as Ian's panel, and my photo with Ian was scheduled at the same time as Ewan's panel.
I am not making that up. It really played out that way!
Fortunately, I discovered it was possible to rearrange photo slots, and I was able to move all bar Ewan's (who had sold out) and Hayden's (because I felt the original slot for him worked okay) around. So Ian and Billy were now one after the other on Friday, and James was on Monday.
In retrospect, I should have chosen a different day again for James, as this became literally the only thing I would go in for on the Monday. Ultimately, it was a wasted venture anyway, as he had to cancel for an unspecified reason! Ah well. I do hope that if his absence was illness related that it wasn't anything like COVID - I know at least one person caught it over the weekend who had been there.
Everyone who I did manage to meet was, of course, lovely, although due to Ewan being in the midst of filming and therefore needing to remain healthy, the crew had to wheel in the Social Distancing R2 Unit for all his photographs. That wasn't a problem; it was just a bit of an oddity, albeit a necessary one!
I had also arranged to get my first ever paid autograph: a special lithograph from Obi-Wan Kenobi which would be signed by both Ewan and Hayden. Expensive, yes, but since only 75 people could get this done over the weekend and the artwork was itself beautiful... I would regret passing up on it while still having the opportunity to get it.
 |
| Since I have yet to frame mine, the generic "what it'll look like" image will have to do! |
Admittedly, this did upset my hopes of getting into a panel dedicated to looking back at 40 years of Return of the Jedi, but... well. I know which of the two I'd cherish more!
There were, of course, others there who I could have booked stuff with if I wasn't trying not to overbook myself. Ashley Eckstein, Dee Bradley Baker, Michelle Ang...
In terms of names I'd love to catch if ever they showed up at events I could make, that list would definitely include Daisy Ridley, Natalie Portman, and my absolute favourite of the Doctors and Huyang's voice actor, David Tennant. Sadly, as alluded to above, Carrie is no longer an option, as she's someone who I'd have loved to have met.
Ah well.
While I don't much like how I turn out in photographs (I hate how chubby my face is from certain angles!), I'm still very pleased to have met all these individuals and to have recorded proof of it!
~
Panels
When booking the tickets initially, I commented that it was my hope that, compared to 2016, there would be more 'big' panels and that I would be able to get to at least one.
Not that the smaller panels aren't worth attending; in 2016, there was an excellent one at a side stage where the droid builders for The Force Awakens went over how they filmed BB-8 using numerous physical puppets and rigs before building the "red carpet" one that actually moves as in the films. Fascinating stuff, especially for a panel which many would dismiss because "oh, it doesn't have a wristband".
But there was still a feeling of sadness that I didn't get to experience a "proper" panel outside of the cosplay competition (which was fascinating, though!), especially in my first celebration event. Sure, it left something to come back and try again for, but still would have been nice to experience, right?
I mentioned earlier that schedule clashes prevented me from attending two such panels in the end, but I am still proud to have attended two 'big' panels nonetheless; Andor, and the aforementioned Kenobi panel.
Both of these panels were preceded by a rather bizarre pre-show event, which lasted about 30 minutes. The hosts, two DJs, invited people on stage at numerous points. About 30+ Narkina-5 prisoners flooded the stage prior to the Andor panel - complete with chants of "one way out!" - and every Obi-Wan present at the Kenobi panel hoisted themselves on the high ground before the audience.
Every Obi-Wan.
It was something of a joy seeing the gobsmacked faces of the many Kenobis present as Ewan himself strode in front of them all, inspecting them and turning to the audience nodding in approval.
The bizarre part came with the audience "games", with a t-shirt as the ultimate prize. The Andor pre-show had eight audience members partake in a pose-off competition (notable poses being "Constipated Hux", "Like a Bantha", and the winner, "BEN SWOLO"). The Kenobi panel had four cosplayers (Rex, "Bluena" [as named by the cosplayer] the twi'lek slave saved from Bib by Boba and Fennec, Leia, and a 7'2" Imperial officer) doing a dance-off.
The Imperial officer won through a stripping act, although fortunately he didn't get to do what "BEN SWOLO" did and pull off his entire top half!
The Andor panel was a first-come-first-served one, and even when turning up 50 minutes early they were already starting on the second queue block. Since the pre-show is 30 minutes and started ten minutes after the doors opened, we were only waiting ten minutes before they let us in. Not too bad, then!
I absolutely loved this panel. Hearing Tony Gilroy, Kathleen Kennedy, Diego Luna, John Gilroy (producer / editor), Toby Britton (art director), Michael Wilkinson (costume designer), and Nicholas Britell (composer) just have so much love for the project was incredible. Diego and Michael's enthusiasm in particular was infectious!
We also got an exclusive teaser trailer for series 2. Don't worry, no spoilers, but I was pleasantly surprised to get one. They're further along in production than I thought!
I got to the Kenobi queue earlier than anticipated. I was due to have a photo with Ewan from 11:40, but as I always do I turned up early just in case, which resulted in me being done a full 30 minutes before my group was even meant to start! So I then headed downstairs, a full two and a half hours in advance, and joined a throng about four-dozen strong. Sure, it's a fair amount of time doing nothing, but at least I secured a spot nice and early.
The panel was, again, incredible. Deborah, Ewan, Hayden, Indira, and especially Vivien were just so enthusiastic about it all, and the audience reaction to Vivien was phenomenal. I'm really pleased she hasn't suffered the same treatment poor Jake Lloyd did. There was also quite a touching moment where Indira mentioned how much she enjoyed working with Moses, earning the absent actress a loud round of applause, which was lovely.
It was also very nice getting to see each of the attendees' favourite scenes and hear them talk about them. Kenobi first seeing Vader (Deborah), Tala standing up to Reva (Indira), Kenobi talking to Leia about the family he remembers (Vivien), the end of the big fight between Vader and Kenobi (Hayden), and Kenobi saying farewell to Leia (Ewan). Wonderful stuff.
Before anyone gets jealous of panel attendees potentially receiving exclusive information about series 2, nothing came of that except Ewan expressing a hope for something extra. Personally, I hope we do not get a second series as the one we have now just about worked; a second would be very hard to justify as you can't have Maul or Vader, and without any reason to leave Tatooine unless Leia gets captured again we'd just be stuck on that planet all the time.
So, no, thankfully no evidence of any further Kenobi series exists. Enthusiasm from the cast and crew gets you some way, but if the base foundation is shaky, very few people will come away happy. Better to leave people wanting more rather than to make them wish they'd have stopped earlier.
At least, that would be my philosophy if ever I would be lucky enough to get involved with television or film production.
While I was disappointed to not have the opportunity to attend other potentially interesting panels, I am really pleased I got to see these two; of all the panels they ran these would have been my top two to aim for.
~
Cosplay
I seem to have developed a bit of a habit of costume-spotting at these events. This year and in 2016 I went around, noting down all the costumes I saw and how many there were, just because I was curious to see how popular certain characters were.
Last time, the most popular character I saw by far was Rey. It's highly unlikely that I didn't accidentally count some people twice, but I counted 108 of our favourite scavenger-turned-Jedi.
This time around, the most popular individual character was Obi-Wan Kenobi, owing no doubt to both the return of Ewan but the recent Kenobi show. I stopped counting costumes past 75 this time, so ultimately I have no idea how many Kenobis there really were. A lot.
It also didn't help that there were lots of people just in generic Jedi robes, many of which could have been trying to be Kenobi with whatever they could get cheapest, rather than being their own character or some other notable Jedi. I mean, you're always going to identify certain characters from a distance. Clone Wars Kenobi, a screen-accurate Episode III Kenobi, Rey, Ahsoka, Boba Fett... you won't ever need to look too closely to figure out who these people are trying to be.
You can't really assume whether the person with Poe's jacket who just passed you is trying to be Finn or Poe without seeing what colour undershirt they have on (if they're even trying to be in character rather than just wearing the jacket, of course!) or if that nondescript Jedi is meant to be Kenobi, Mace, or Qui-Gon without seeing what saber they may have.
Not everyone will be able to present a screen-accurate representation of a character, and with how universal the appeal of these characters is you will of course get people of varying genders, ages, skin colours, etc. portraying them, so there are multiple factors which will go into being unable to identify specific characters.
That's not to mention the sheer number of generic costumes thrown into the mix. There were dozens of Mandalorians, and depending on how many "Jedi" were meant to be Obi-Wan they're either in first or second place overall.
The surprise contender came in the form of the Narkina-5 prisoners. Again, hard to tell if people were trying to be Cassian, Kino, or Melshi, so best to leave them as generic. The 30 or so who turned up to the Andor panel was one thing, but there were yet more of indeterminate number in the hall outside as there was yet more chanting at a couple of points.
Oh, and a couple even turned up barefoot, even when coming from their hotels. That's dedication!
Discounting those characters who numbered 75+ or were just too hard to count reliably, the top ten this year is as follows:
1. Rey Skywalker: 63
2. Padmé Amidala: 59
3. Leia Organa: 55
4. Anakin Skywalker: 42
5. "Sith": 33
6. Ahsoka Tano: 32
7. Rebel Pilot: 31
8. Imperial Officer: 28
9. Luke Skywalker: 25
10. Han Solo: 22
Of course, this is based purely on characters that I saw. There were plenty I'm aware of that I never got to see in-person, like Lana Beniko. Similarly, I never saw any Mace Windu cosplayers, although I did see a few purple sabers waving in the air at the Celebration Live! stage. Again, without knowing for sure what they were wearing alongside the purple saber, it's impossible to know if they were in-character or just carrying a purple saber (even if it was Mace's) because it was their favourite colour blade.
Happily, I did get to see some SWTOR representation in person; I passed a Havoc Squad trooper and simply had to get a picture of Darth Malgus.
"Excuse me, Lord Malgus?" is certainly not something I was anticipating ever getting to say...
Among the more creative costumes I saw were the intro crawl (someone wearing a black dress dotted with stars and with the A New Hope intro crawl emblazened on it), sand (of course queuing for a photo with Hayden), and a Luke with a "Seagulls! Stop it now!" Yoda backpack.
I was also struck by a good number of people using "creative minimalism" to decent effectiveness, like someone dyeing their hair in blue and white stripes and tying and arranging it so that it was resembling Ahsoka's lekku as best as they could do. It's little things like that that I just love, y'know?
I was also pleased to see many children get involved as well, and there were several dressed up as jawas, Jedi, Leias, Reys, Mandalorians, and stormtroopers among others. Indeed, all three of the First Order stormies I saw were young kids.
Ultimately, I just loved seeing how much all of Star Wars was represented in costume form. All eras, all media, very few things were left out. I don't believe I saw anything from Visions, though, but the High Republic, Doctor Aphra, Rebels, Clone Wars, Andor, The Mandalorian... so many things beyond the films got some love and it was wonderful to see.
~~~
Conclusion
It strikes me just how... international... all this was. Obviously, Star Wars has no boundaries, but it was still just so nice seeing people from the Americas, central Europe, and even as far as New Zealand, come to this event alongside those of us who are UK-based. Obviously, depending on where you live, these things may never happen close to home, so if you want to get to one you really have no choice but to travel, but it was interesting seeing how many people just keep on doing these events.
Really, the biggest takeaway from these events is that, much like the Force, Star Wars connects and binds us all together, and Celebration is just the place where everyone can just let it all out. This was only my second, and I have no intention of it being my last, but I think if I were to attend again there are a couple of changes I would make.
Firstly, if I were to attend all days again, I would look to get VIP. I had actually tried to get it this time, but all of these tickets had sold out within 30 minutes of the virtual queues opening. I'm happy to have actually got into a couple of big panels this time, but it is something of a gamble buying any other type of ticket across all available days. After all, on the Monday this time all I could have done was have the photograph taken, and that ultimately never came to pass!
Secondly, celebrity meets. It was good to meet more than just Mark this time, but I wouldn't want to meet too many. 5 opportunities felt about right as a maximum, but I don't think I'd try my luck with such a number again. All depends on which ticket I can get, though.
As for whether I would ever actually be confident enough to attend in-costume... I really don't know. There are certainly characters I'd like to cosplay as, and I do have an Obi costume from about eleven years ago... it's not spectacular, though, and my body is hardly costume-fitting at the moment.
So I don't know. All depends on multiple other factors I can't really control.
Unless my fortunes change drastically, I shall continue to attend these only while they're in the UK. The ExCel Centre isn't great, but at least it's relatively easy to get to for me.
So that was Star Wars Celebration 2023! Overall, I do think it was slightly lesser in quality than the 2016 one, but I do think they made some very important improvements in certain places. Ultimately, I can't forget that 2016 allowed me to meet some very good friends from my guild and the blogging community in real life, so that aspect will always overshadow most other things that happens in any future conventions!
Regardless, whenever the next one in the UK is, I shall endeavour to be there, likely queuing away once again!
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