UK: Celebration Europe, part 2
Victoria and I had the best time at Celebration Europe! This is especially noteworthy because I didn't have any of my other beloved convention buddies with me, nor did I stand a chance of running into any of the people I love to see at a convention. Despite all that, I had a fantastic time at this convention.
Celebration Europe was great because of the Belgians. I had a lot of fun meeting other fans from around the world, sharing our mutual love for Star Wars, and hearing about how their experience of fandom differed from my own. The fans we met from Belgium were the most amazing group.
Here we are with the Belgians! Their shirts say "BCD," which stands for Belgian Costume Division. I'm not sure how things work organizationally, but they are associated with the Belgian garrison of the 501st, but are also a separate club because they do not limit their costuming activities to Star Wars (though Star Wars seems to be their primary focus).
I wish I could remember all of their names. From left to right, they are Jos (pronounced "Yo-ss" with a long "o"), Jimmy, John, Victoria (obviously), I think his name was Clint, guy in grey whose name I don't recall, Stefan (holding the bottle), I think his name was Tim, and Wim. Kneeling, I think his name was Bert, and myself in X-Wing pilot gear. Not pictured: Steven, who first introduced us to the rest of the awesome Belgians.
Stefan, the leader of the Dutch-speaking Belgian group, and the man responsible for building many of their life-size props.
Our first exposure to the Belgians was at this panel, in which they talked about costuming, with a focus on bounty hunters. They talked about stuff like using mustard as a mask for doing battle damage on armor, the exacting standards for creating a Boba Fett outfit good enough to meet 501st standards, and the evils of re-casting.
Not Photoshop, or an optical illusion. That is actually a two-story-tall AT-AT Walker, built by Stefan, the leader of the Dutch-speaking Belgian group.
The Belgian fan group is well-known for their fan-built props and sets. A lot of fans express their creativity and fandom by making costumes. The Belgians take it to the next level by building life-size replicas of props and set-pieces. This obviously impressed LucasFilm, because they contacted the Belgians about bringing their props to Celebration Europe, and paid to have them shipped over in two 18-wheelers.
This amazing set piece was built by the Dutch-speaking Belgians. It's a section of the interior of the Millenium Falcon! I'd love to have this in my living room. Technically, it's really a section of Dash Rendar's Outrider, from the "Shadows of the Empire" book/game/comics. But the Outrider was kind of a ripoff of the Falcon anyway.
Another part of the Falcon set, the hallway. Victoria is posing with John, Clint (?), Jimmy, and Stefan. There was a long line of fans waiting to get their pictures taken in this set.
Stefan built this life-size speeder bike to stand on a nice, solid pedestal, which is covered in camouflage netting. This made it strong enough to sit upon.
In the background, you can see another Belgian creation, the 9-foot-long E-web cannon, with a pair of snowtroopers.
The Belgians are actually divided between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking people. Presumably, the langauge difference resulted in two somewhat-separate operating fan groups. Most of the Belgians we hung out with were the Dutch-speaking variety, though fortunately for us, we could all communicate by speaking the fictional language of the Star Wars universe, Huttese. Just kidding, they mostly spoke English.
Which is lucky for me, because I only speak English, a little German, and some conversational Klingon.
The Belgians brought a life-size snowspeeder. No joke. This thing was surrounded by a crowd, because they were actually letting people get inside the snowspeeder to get their pictures taken!
Stefan is on photo duty in his snowspeeder outfit. Jos, in the black T-shirt, slides the canopy open and closed.
Right now Victoria feels like she could take on the whole Empire herself. Steady, Vic. Attack pattern Delta.
The interior of the snowspeeder was a detailed as the exterior.
Go for the legs! It might be our only chance of stopping them!
I had never wished I had a snowspeeder pilot outfit as much as I did at this moment.
Stefan was great at dealing with all the kids. Victoria was helping out a bit with the crowds, and we were both doing some posing with fans.
Stefan, Victoria, Jos, and me.
Jos is the creator of the snowspeeder. He was not a part of the BCD when he built it. He actually built it on his own, for his kids to play with! He had it right out in his front yard. Then one day, Stefan and someone else (I forget who) from the BCD were driving around, and they spotted it. They screeched to a halt. "I must have it!" Stefan said, and went up to the house and introduced himself. Jos ended up joining the BCD, and letting fans enjoy his creation. I think that's pretty generous. If I built something that awesome, I wouldn't let anyone touch it!
Especially not you.
A Belgian Rebel Trooper stands guard over Jabba during the Slave Leia gathering.
In the past couple of years at the San Diego Comic-Con International, as well as at Celebration IV, they have had a life-size sculpture of Jabba the Hutt on display, either at the Star Wars licensees pavilion at Comic-Con, or at the Gentle Giant booth at Celebration IV. The Jabba featured at the Celebration Europe Slave Leia gathering was not the same Jabba. This one was built by French-speaking Belgian fans, out of papier mache!
Not only did they build Jabba and his dais, they even built Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo band! (Sy Snootles, in the center, was the singer in the original Return of the Jedi release. The musical sequence in Jabba's Palace was changed for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition release, adding a new, computer-generated lead singer to the band.)
And no Hutt palace is complete without a Gamorrean guard! This complex costume was mistaken by many observers for a statue, like the band, only to be startled when he actually moved.
And the props and set-pieces you see here weren't even everything the Belgians brought! They also had a couple of life-size moisture vaporators, a highly detailed model of an X-Wing, and a bunch of costumes. Jimmy, the R2 builder of the group, even brought his R2-D2, complete with his drink-serving tray. You can see why, in my mind, the Belgians will always be synonymous with awesome Star Wars fans!
Next time: Back to the boring shit!
For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."
SHOPPING TIME:
neku_niku is selling a new Angelic Pretty Black Millefeuille skirt!
aimeekitty is having a Huge Garage Sale!
pixel_stitcher is selling the Feb 2009 issue of CosMode Magazine!
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!
Celebration Europe was great because of the Belgians. I had a lot of fun meeting other fans from around the world, sharing our mutual love for Star Wars, and hearing about how their experience of fandom differed from my own. The fans we met from Belgium were the most amazing group.
Here we are with the Belgians! Their shirts say "BCD," which stands for Belgian Costume Division. I'm not sure how things work organizationally, but they are associated with the Belgian garrison of the 501st, but are also a separate club because they do not limit their costuming activities to Star Wars (though Star Wars seems to be their primary focus).
I wish I could remember all of their names. From left to right, they are Jos (pronounced "Yo-ss" with a long "o"), Jimmy, John, Victoria (obviously), I think his name was Clint, guy in grey whose name I don't recall, Stefan (holding the bottle), I think his name was Tim, and Wim. Kneeling, I think his name was Bert, and myself in X-Wing pilot gear. Not pictured: Steven, who first introduced us to the rest of the awesome Belgians.
Stefan, the leader of the Dutch-speaking Belgian group, and the man responsible for building many of their life-size props.
Our first exposure to the Belgians was at this panel, in which they talked about costuming, with a focus on bounty hunters. They talked about stuff like using mustard as a mask for doing battle damage on armor, the exacting standards for creating a Boba Fett outfit good enough to meet 501st standards, and the evils of re-casting.
Not Photoshop, or an optical illusion. That is actually a two-story-tall AT-AT Walker, built by Stefan, the leader of the Dutch-speaking Belgian group.
The Belgian fan group is well-known for their fan-built props and sets. A lot of fans express their creativity and fandom by making costumes. The Belgians take it to the next level by building life-size replicas of props and set-pieces. This obviously impressed LucasFilm, because they contacted the Belgians about bringing their props to Celebration Europe, and paid to have them shipped over in two 18-wheelers.
This amazing set piece was built by the Dutch-speaking Belgians. It's a section of the interior of the Millenium Falcon! I'd love to have this in my living room. Technically, it's really a section of Dash Rendar's Outrider, from the "Shadows of the Empire" book/game/comics. But the Outrider was kind of a ripoff of the Falcon anyway.
Another part of the Falcon set, the hallway. Victoria is posing with John, Clint (?), Jimmy, and Stefan. There was a long line of fans waiting to get their pictures taken in this set.
Stefan built this life-size speeder bike to stand on a nice, solid pedestal, which is covered in camouflage netting. This made it strong enough to sit upon.
In the background, you can see another Belgian creation, the 9-foot-long E-web cannon, with a pair of snowtroopers.
The Belgians are actually divided between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking people. Presumably, the langauge difference resulted in two somewhat-separate operating fan groups. Most of the Belgians we hung out with were the Dutch-speaking variety, though fortunately for us, we could all communicate by speaking the fictional language of the Star Wars universe, Huttese. Just kidding, they mostly spoke English.
Which is lucky for me, because I only speak English, a little German, and some conversational Klingon.
The Belgians brought a life-size snowspeeder. No joke. This thing was surrounded by a crowd, because they were actually letting people get inside the snowspeeder to get their pictures taken!
Stefan is on photo duty in his snowspeeder outfit. Jos, in the black T-shirt, slides the canopy open and closed.
Right now Victoria feels like she could take on the whole Empire herself. Steady, Vic. Attack pattern Delta.
The interior of the snowspeeder was a detailed as the exterior.
Go for the legs! It might be our only chance of stopping them!
I had never wished I had a snowspeeder pilot outfit as much as I did at this moment.
Stefan was great at dealing with all the kids. Victoria was helping out a bit with the crowds, and we were both doing some posing with fans.
Stefan, Victoria, Jos, and me.
Jos is the creator of the snowspeeder. He was not a part of the BCD when he built it. He actually built it on his own, for his kids to play with! He had it right out in his front yard. Then one day, Stefan and someone else (I forget who) from the BCD were driving around, and they spotted it. They screeched to a halt. "I must have it!" Stefan said, and went up to the house and introduced himself. Jos ended up joining the BCD, and letting fans enjoy his creation. I think that's pretty generous. If I built something that awesome, I wouldn't let anyone touch it!
Especially not you.
A Belgian Rebel Trooper stands guard over Jabba during the Slave Leia gathering.
In the past couple of years at the San Diego Comic-Con International, as well as at Celebration IV, they have had a life-size sculpture of Jabba the Hutt on display, either at the Star Wars licensees pavilion at Comic-Con, or at the Gentle Giant booth at Celebration IV. The Jabba featured at the Celebration Europe Slave Leia gathering was not the same Jabba. This one was built by French-speaking Belgian fans, out of papier mache!
Not only did they build Jabba and his dais, they even built Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo band! (Sy Snootles, in the center, was the singer in the original Return of the Jedi release. The musical sequence in Jabba's Palace was changed for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition release, adding a new, computer-generated lead singer to the band.)
And no Hutt palace is complete without a Gamorrean guard! This complex costume was mistaken by many observers for a statue, like the band, only to be startled when he actually moved.
And the props and set-pieces you see here weren't even everything the Belgians brought! They also had a couple of life-size moisture vaporators, a highly detailed model of an X-Wing, and a bunch of costumes. Jimmy, the R2 builder of the group, even brought his R2-D2, complete with his drink-serving tray. You can see why, in my mind, the Belgians will always be synonymous with awesome Star Wars fans!
Next time: Back to the boring shit!
For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."
SHOPPING TIME:
neku_niku is selling a new Angelic Pretty Black Millefeuille skirt!
aimeekitty is having a Huge Garage Sale!
pixel_stitcher is selling the Feb 2009 issue of CosMode Magazine!
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!