Queue Wars Celebration: Redux!

Star Wars Celebration returned to the UK last week for the third time, last being here in 2016 (and before that, 2007). I attended the 2016 convention, and came away with a not-too-positive impression.

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?

The Time of Celebrations and Reflections

It may not have escaped your attention (unless you're sensibly retracted from the world at large, in which case I applaud you for even venturing onto the internet) that today is Christmas Day. Yippee, hurray, etc. etc.

More seriously, though, I wish everyone around the world as happy a holiday season - no matter what religion(s) you follow, or whether you even avoid the entire shebang entirely - as they can possibly have. Obviously, circumstances in some parts of the world will render this an impossibility, and my thoughts are of course with those people in their times of crisis.

Above all, of course, it can't be denied that 2016 has been a rather brutal year.

Not only has the entertainment industry been purged of so many brilliant talents*, but we've seen countries in the 'civilised' western world divided and derided by democracy, votes, and manipulative media. No matter which side you took, if you could even take a side at all, I hope that you're happy with your decision, even if we can't make the best of it as easily as people might like to believe.

2016, your time is up. Let's only hope that 2017 proves to be more kindly to us all.

From the serious to the superficial.

I also can't call myself a SWtOR Blogger and neglect to touch upon the fact that this week has also been one of celebration for SWtOR; it has now surpassed five years of age. I don't have anything special planned to celebrate this like a character evolution montage across five years, mainly because I haven't actually had a single character last across every single year.

The closest is a character who was created in very early 2012 (the game came out at the end of 2011 of course), who has been all but abandoned on the Harbinger server since his replacement was created last year and even more so now that I've finally made the move I shouldn't ever have needed to make to play on The Red Eclipse. In contrast, my current main - as well as my most-dedicated-to alt - was created halfway through 2013.

At the same time, though, these years could have gone drastically different if I had joined TRE from the start. Things working out as they have, I've settled nicely into an awesome community which makes me feel that, after five years of trying to find my place, I've finally found it. This last year has proved to have been, in my opinion, the best year in SWtOR that I've ever had, and I can only humbly thank everyone whom I deem 'responsible' for this being possible.

Just a short post for this, which will also serve as the replacement for Monday's post. I've got a rather big post planned for Thursday, so I don't really have anything more to add for the otherwise scheduled post for tomorrow.

* Since writing this post, George Michael, best known for being part of the group Wham! was declared deceased by his publicist, and Carrie Fisher, of course best known for being the indomitable Princess Leia, have both died. The entertainment industry really hasn't had a good year. :(

Preparing for Star Wars: Celebration

Star Wars: Celebration is right around the corner, but is not the only thing keeping me occupied this week. By the time this post goes live, I should by now have completed my graduation ceremony and be a fully-fledged graduate from Leicester University.

Yay!

Moving back to Star Wars.

Star Wars Celebration is, of course, a big convention which happens every so often pertaining entirely to Star Wars. Since Episode VII was announced, the number has increased several times over: we saw the Celebration in Anaheim last year, whilst this year's takes place in London, and then next year's takes place in Orlando. With a new Star Wars movie every year, I imagine that there will be an accompanying Celebration every year as well.

I'm guessing that 2018's could very well be in central Europe, based on the fact that the 'pattern' so far seems to be America, then Europe, then back to America, and so on and so forth.

Anyway.

I've never gone to a big convention before. Perhaps a little unwisely, I did buy tickets for the entire weekend, although I have since decided to leave early on Sunday due to a friend's birthday meal taking precedence.

Regardless, the schedule looks fun, with guests such as Mark Hamill, Warwrick Davies, and Jeremy Bulloch, as well as talks and costume exhibits pertaining to Rogue One.

Additionally, there's also the Old Republic Community Cantina, which will also be the first ever Community Cantina I've gone to and the first time of being with an entire group of SWtOR players and, of course, some guildies and friends including Shintar of Going Commando. Lots of firsts all-round from my perspective!

I'm hoping to have thought up some questions to ask the powers-that-be in a brief interview-of-sorts if we get the opportunity to come up and speak to them on a one-to-one basis, so if that happens I'll post the results in a post sometime in the next two weeks. I'll certainly be doing a generic "feedback" post on the Celebration experience as a whole as well, so the questions and answers will probably be included in that if they're not enough to form their own post.

We also recently learned that the voice actress for Vaylin, Natasha Loring, will be attending. I'm not sure she understands what she's signed up for, and I sincerely hope that the more KotFE-sceptical attendees keep their various criticisms of her character to themselves...

I am looking forward to the entire ordeal. The true challenge will be seeing whether or not I can resist purchasing something to put on my desk. If the new Black Series Revan is being sold at this juncture, this is a definite must-have from my point-of-view!