UK: Celebration Europe, part 1
"Celebration" is the official, LucasFilm-licensed Star Wars convention. Previously, there had been four Celebrations: one each year that a prequel movie had been released, and one more in 2007, the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie. But there had never been an official Star Wars convention outside of the United States, despite the enduring, worldwide popularity of the franchise.
My summer in London happened to fortuitously coincide with Celebration Europe, the first (and only, as of this writing) official Star Wars convention in Europe. It was also the first official Star Wars convention outside of the US. (Celebration Japan was the second.)
While I was in London, Victoria flew out to visit me. And when I say "visit me," I actually mean "stay at my place for free while attending Celebration Europe (as well as Star Wars: The Exhibition and the opening day of the new Harry Potter movie)." Although, I was told, there are sci-fi conventions in Europe all the time, Celebration Europe was the largest. Some European fans complained about waiting in long lines, size of the crowds, and the overwhelming scale of the three-day, 30,000-attendee convention. But having been to the 125,000-visitor San Diego Comic-Con International for several years running, Celebration Europe felt like a very nice sized, laid-back convention.
Celebration Europe was held at ExCeL Exhibition Centre, out in the Docklands east of central London. There was conveniently a train stop adjoining the convention center, so we went to the convention by rail each day.
I rocked the X-Wing pilot gear, while Victoria wore Slave Leia. She wore her Hogwarts robe to keep from attracting too much attention. She wore it inside-out, because the color of the lining matched the color of the Slave Leia skirt. She read her Star Wars novel, while I carried my Star Wars backpack
Rebel Legion pilots from different countries! I didn't have my helmet, because it would have been too burdensome to pack.
This dude had an awesome Snowspeeder Pilot Luke outfit. And yes, we are standing in front of a two-story-tall AT-AT walker.
As always, Slave Leia draw a crowd. Europe is no exception.
It's just not a Star Wars convention without a Slave Leia gathering! Only seven or eight Slave Leias showed up, which seemed to me a rather meager turnout. After all, the Slave Leia gathering at Celebration IV, and Dragon*Con each had dozens of slave girls in attendance, even though both of those conventions were about the same size as Celebration Europe.
However, the European fans I spoke to seemed awed at the number of Slave Leias in the gathering. This highlighted a difference between Celebration Europe and the US conventions I am used to: the gender split of cosplayers. The cosplayers at Celebration Europe were overwhelmingly male. In the US, science fiction cosplay has a larger proportion of men than anime and video game cosplay. However, there is still a healthy number of female sci-fi costumers, especially among Star Wars fans. At Celebration IV and Dragon*Con, there were lots of women dressed in the various Princess Leia and Padme Amidala outfits, not to mention other female characters such as X-Wing pilots and Rebel Fleet Troopers. But at Celebration Europe, female costumers were vastly outnumbered by men in uniform. This is not to say that there were few women at the convention. There were lots of female attendees, but few of them were in costume.
One really cool feature at the con was, they had an accurate, life-size set of the hallway of the Tantive IV (Princess Leia's Rebel Blockade Runner spaceship at the beginning of Star Wars).
They recruited fans to re-enact the opening battle of Star Wars, in which Darth Vader makes his first appearance. Then they edited it together with footage from the film for people to watch. It made me want to be a Rebel Fleet Trooper!
Like any decent convention, Celebration Europe had a Dealers' Hall. Mickey Skywalker and Princess Minnie were cute, but £259 was a little steep for my budget.
NOMnomnom! Nerds get hungry!
Like at Celebration IV in Los Angeles, they had a life-size X-Wing at Celebration Europe! They draped moss all over it, to give it that Dagobah style.
Too bad this one was roped off, so people couldn't get pictures next to it.
Totally at random, I ran into Beks! She's a cosplayer I met online a while back, but didn't expect to meet at the convention. She had a great Zam Wesell costume.
Beks' boyfriend John (I think), myself, Beks, and Victoria.
There was a fan-built replica of the Millennium Falcon's hallway, courtesy of the awesome Belgians!
More about the Belgian fans tomorrow!
A good pilot always knows where to go.
Plenty of seating at the convention center.
Richard LeParmentier played Admiral Motti in the original Star Wars. He's the guy who Darth Vader force-choked.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Victoria is trying to put the force-choke on Richard. Sorry V, girls can only choke Hutts!
This is the Vader Project exhibit. In 2007, 100 Master replicas Darth Vader helmets were sent to artists and designers to serve as canvases for new works of art.
The Vader Project debuted at Celebration IV in Los Angeles, and made its second appearance at Celebration Europe. The Vader Project at Celebration Europe added 28 UK-based artists to the collection. As of this writing, the collection is on display at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Samurai Vader has the Imperial logo on his forehead, and a dragon etched into the side of his helmet.
The helmet on the left had a texture like it was made out of wood. This contrasted nicely with the one on the right, which looked like an old battleship.
"Honor Thy Father." The black helmet was covered in velvet, and the brain looked like it came from a muppet.
There were also a few film props on display. This was Anakin's burned makeup, from Revenge of the Sith.
Crispy!
I think we walked into the wrong pilots' club...!
On the third day of the convention, Victoria dressed as X-Wing Pilot Jaina Solo.
Trying to find our way back to base. Are you sure this star chart is accurate?
Next time: Belgians!
For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."
Support your friends! Support the economy:
aimeekitty is having a Huge Garage Sale!
pixel_stitcher is selling the Feb 2009 issue of CosMode Magazine!
fatwetdog is selling her awesome Sanzo (Saiyuki) costume!
Amanda is selling this amazing jacket!
Don't forget to buy your tickets to the May 9 SoCal Spring Cosplay Gathering!
pegasusmaiden is selling cute hairclips!
My summer in London happened to fortuitously coincide with Celebration Europe, the first (and only, as of this writing) official Star Wars convention in Europe. It was also the first official Star Wars convention outside of the US. (Celebration Japan was the second.)
While I was in London, Victoria flew out to visit me. And when I say "visit me," I actually mean "stay at my place for free while attending Celebration Europe (as well as Star Wars: The Exhibition and the opening day of the new Harry Potter movie)." Although, I was told, there are sci-fi conventions in Europe all the time, Celebration Europe was the largest. Some European fans complained about waiting in long lines, size of the crowds, and the overwhelming scale of the three-day, 30,000-attendee convention. But having been to the 125,000-visitor San Diego Comic-Con International for several years running, Celebration Europe felt like a very nice sized, laid-back convention.
Celebration Europe was held at ExCeL Exhibition Centre, out in the Docklands east of central London. There was conveniently a train stop adjoining the convention center, so we went to the convention by rail each day.
I rocked the X-Wing pilot gear, while Victoria wore Slave Leia. She wore her Hogwarts robe to keep from attracting too much attention. She wore it inside-out, because the color of the lining matched the color of the Slave Leia skirt. She read her Star Wars novel, while I carried my Star Wars backpack
Rebel Legion pilots from different countries! I didn't have my helmet, because it would have been too burdensome to pack.
This dude had an awesome Snowspeeder Pilot Luke outfit. And yes, we are standing in front of a two-story-tall AT-AT walker.
As always, Slave Leia draw a crowd. Europe is no exception.
It's just not a Star Wars convention without a Slave Leia gathering! Only seven or eight Slave Leias showed up, which seemed to me a rather meager turnout. After all, the Slave Leia gathering at Celebration IV, and Dragon*Con each had dozens of slave girls in attendance, even though both of those conventions were about the same size as Celebration Europe.
However, the European fans I spoke to seemed awed at the number of Slave Leias in the gathering. This highlighted a difference between Celebration Europe and the US conventions I am used to: the gender split of cosplayers. The cosplayers at Celebration Europe were overwhelmingly male. In the US, science fiction cosplay has a larger proportion of men than anime and video game cosplay. However, there is still a healthy number of female sci-fi costumers, especially among Star Wars fans. At Celebration IV and Dragon*Con, there were lots of women dressed in the various Princess Leia and Padme Amidala outfits, not to mention other female characters such as X-Wing pilots and Rebel Fleet Troopers. But at Celebration Europe, female costumers were vastly outnumbered by men in uniform. This is not to say that there were few women at the convention. There were lots of female attendees, but few of them were in costume.
One really cool feature at the con was, they had an accurate, life-size set of the hallway of the Tantive IV (Princess Leia's Rebel Blockade Runner spaceship at the beginning of Star Wars).
They recruited fans to re-enact the opening battle of Star Wars, in which Darth Vader makes his first appearance. Then they edited it together with footage from the film for people to watch. It made me want to be a Rebel Fleet Trooper!
Like any decent convention, Celebration Europe had a Dealers' Hall. Mickey Skywalker and Princess Minnie were cute, but £259 was a little steep for my budget.
NOMnomnom! Nerds get hungry!
Like at Celebration IV in Los Angeles, they had a life-size X-Wing at Celebration Europe! They draped moss all over it, to give it that Dagobah style.
Too bad this one was roped off, so people couldn't get pictures next to it.
Totally at random, I ran into Beks! She's a cosplayer I met online a while back, but didn't expect to meet at the convention. She had a great Zam Wesell costume.
Beks' boyfriend John (I think), myself, Beks, and Victoria.
There was a fan-built replica of the Millennium Falcon's hallway, courtesy of the awesome Belgians!
More about the Belgian fans tomorrow!
A good pilot always knows where to go.
Plenty of seating at the convention center.
Richard LeParmentier played Admiral Motti in the original Star Wars. He's the guy who Darth Vader force-choked.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Victoria is trying to put the force-choke on Richard. Sorry V, girls can only choke Hutts!
This is the Vader Project exhibit. In 2007, 100 Master replicas Darth Vader helmets were sent to artists and designers to serve as canvases for new works of art.
The Vader Project debuted at Celebration IV in Los Angeles, and made its second appearance at Celebration Europe. The Vader Project at Celebration Europe added 28 UK-based artists to the collection. As of this writing, the collection is on display at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Samurai Vader has the Imperial logo on his forehead, and a dragon etched into the side of his helmet.
The helmet on the left had a texture like it was made out of wood. This contrasted nicely with the one on the right, which looked like an old battleship.
"Honor Thy Father." The black helmet was covered in velvet, and the brain looked like it came from a muppet.
There were also a few film props on display. This was Anakin's burned makeup, from Revenge of the Sith.
Crispy!
I think we walked into the wrong pilots' club...!
On the third day of the convention, Victoria dressed as X-Wing Pilot Jaina Solo.
Trying to find our way back to base. Are you sure this star chart is accurate?
Next time: Belgians!
For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."
Support your friends! Support the economy:
aimeekitty is having a Huge Garage Sale!
pixel_stitcher is selling the Feb 2009 issue of CosMode Magazine!
fatwetdog is selling her awesome Sanzo (Saiyuki) costume!
Amanda is selling this amazing jacket!
Don't forget to buy your tickets to the May 9 SoCal Spring Cosplay Gathering!
pegasusmaiden is selling cute hairclips!