SupermanHawaii.com

by Jason Tayros

Context? I was born and raised on O’ahu, Hawai’i. Context? I was 7 years old when the first-released Star Wars movie (now known affectionately as Episode IV: A New Hope) debuted in theaters back in 1977. Flash forward 30 years later. You’d think most people would have forgotten about an obscure, underdog science fiction movie about some teenagers taking on a fascist government. Well, apparently, at least 35,000 people haven’t forgotten. Reportedly, that’s how many people made it to the Los Angeles Convention Center for Star Wars Celebration IV. [That’s not even counting the people who WANTED to come to “C4” but couldn’t.]

Now, this was NOT my first Star Wars Celebration. I missed the first two (1999 and 2002, respectively). However, I try to learn from my mistakes so I made a point of going to C3 (Indianapolis, Indiana – April of 2005). C3 was, truly, one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. So, coming to C4, I had mixed feelings. Was I going to have fun? Was the event going to live up to my experience at C3? These, and many other questions, raced to and fro in my mind. So, with frame of C3 reference in mind, I naturally compared C4 with my past experiences, for better or for worse.

Back when C3 was ending, I remember thinking “Four days is too short! Celebration should be FIVE days long!”. Scarily enough, I think the people at GenCon (hired by LucasFilm Limited to orchestrate both events) can now read minds. C4 stretched a pleasing 5 days. Well, sort of. Thursday – May 24th was officially Day 1 of the convention but, on this day, the event was only open to Star Wars fan club members and those that accompanied these members with special entry tickets. Even on this first day, I noticed how the building layout differed from C3. At C3, the Indianapolis Convention Center’s main lobby was like “costume central”. Sure, there were several ways to enter and exit that building but, if you hung out in the lobby long enough, you were likely to see just about every costumed fan there. C4 was a little bit tougher. The Los Angeles Convention Center is spread out to at least 2 buildings: the West Hall and the South Hall. This may not seem like a big deal to most fans. Actually, I DID appreciate the fact that, despite the reported BIGGER attendance at C4, due to the greater amount of convention space, attending fans could move about more freely without having to battle crowds. However, I had promised myself I would take AT LEAST 75 pictures PER DAY for the fan site I founded (insert shameless plug here), rebellegionhawaii.com. I would focus the majority of my photographs on my favorite subject at Celebration: costumed fans!

You’d THINK that, sure, taking 75 pix a day at a convention of 35,000 people should be easy. And, sure, I’d agree that it SOUNDS easy to me, too. But, no. I’m out of shape. And, with Celebration now spread out to TWO huge buildings instead of one, filled with fans that, naturally, will not just stay in the same place for the entire day, it was a trick trying to find them all and take their pictures. Also, I had yet ANOTHER challenge self-imposed. I wanted to TRY to capture photos of things I hadn’t seen at C3. Maybe I’m masochistic for making things so hard on myself. [Imagine how much harder the challenge will be if I make it to Celebration 5 after having already been to two cons!]

So what did I take pictures of? I must say I was impressed by A LOT of people and a lot of things. The two biggest impressions made on me at C4 were the Republic Commandos and the wealth of Astromech (often referred to as “R2”) droids at this convention. Now, if I’m not mistaken, the Republic Commandos were not introduced to Star Wars fandom until AFTER C3 so this was their first Celebration. I can’t quite explain my fascination with the Republic Commando costumes. ALL my friends that know me well enough know that I ALWAYS side with the good guys and gals. The Rebels. G.I. Joe. More recently, the Autobots. etc. Technically, the Republic Commandos, however, were on the side of good, at least until Emperor Palpatine’s deplorable Order 66. Star Wars fans can only guess what became of these aging-accelerated specialist clones after that. Nevertheless, the Republic Commando army does strike high on the “cool” meter in my book. I regret not seeing more of them or seeing the entire Delta Squad (a team of the 4 best known R.C.s) there.

There was a droid-builders room at C3 in Indy. However, I don’t remember seeing as many of them rolling around the convention center then. Fortunately for the fans at C4, quite a few of the Astromech droids were allowed to truck around the halls for lots of photo ops. Like many other Star Wars fans, I am fascinated with R2-D2 and his ilk. Even for a fan as old as myself, it is a treat to see life-sized, actual working astromech droids in person. Each droid was remote controlled by his or her owner. Some of them could even speak. Well, at least in their own astromech voices. I saw at least one with a retractable leg. All of the droids had their own charm.

I must, for the record, declare here that I DID enjoy Celebration IV. Thoroughly. Sure, not all of the friends I made at C3 were there. A few made it. And I made some new friends at C4. If someone asked me which Celebration I liked better, I would simply say that I loved both. Each had its own pros and cons. For this Star Wars fan, however, all the pros far outweighed the cons.

I hope that any Star Wars fan that reads this review might consider attending a future Celebration. I think the conventions are events to be enjoyed by all Star Wars fans. As far as I know, no official announcement has been made yet regarding any future Celebrations. However, many fans speculate that a Celebration V may happen in 2010 to commemorate The Empire Strikes Back’s 30th birthday. A rumor that Celebration VI may also happen in 2013 to mark Return of the Jedi’s 30th. [My favorite film!] Only the future will tell what holds for fans of the events chronicled from a long time ago. I’m guessing a LOT of money was made (good for the vendors, etc.) at C4 and a lot of fun was had (good for the fans) so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think there might, indeed be more Celebrations. Happy 30th birthday, Star Wars and Star Wars fandom! I wish you many, many more to come.

To learn more, please visit:

http://www.astromech.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Commando

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Republic_Commando

http://www.starwars.com

http://www.rebellegionhawaii.com

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