I remembered this Scout Trooper from Celebration V (and he's also scrapped on a layout here), though his Ewok family seems to have grown a bit in the last couple of years!
I'm pretty sure that this cardboard armor is not 501st approved, but it seriously rocks anyway!
Heard of Men in Black? How about Imps in Black?
I could already tell that this was going to be a great costume-spotting day, and we weren't even in line yet. So, yes, be prepared- this is a very, very photo-heavy post...again!
I never really mind waiting in line at Celebration, because there's just so darn much to look at while you're in line. This awesome Ewok strolled up not long after we took our spots.
I was snapping at photo of the banners hanging overhead, but this shot also give you a good idea of the size of the crowd.
You won't find just US Star Wars fans here! People travel from all over the world, like these two guys from Ecuador who were kind enough to let me photograph them along with one guy's awesome backpack, complete with a massive Star Wars patch.
Once we were inside the main exhibit hall, we made a quick stop by the del Rey booth to take photos in front of the Scoundrels display, just so we could cross it off of our photo op list.
And we swung by the Diorama Builders booth, too, to see what progress had been made the day before. Lots of new buildings and scenes popping up!
The main event for us that morning, though involved...you guessed it...more standing in line! We lined up about an hour early (and it was a good thing, too, as the line eventually snaked all the way around to the back of the show floor!) at the Barnes and Noble booth for Timothy Zahn's book signing- one of my "can't miss it" events. There was still plenty to photograph, though, like the top of the Disney booth.
And we were directly in the line of sight for the Disney Jedi Training Academy stage, where kids were picked from the audience to participate in a short show (about 15 minutes or so). I don't know how the actors didn't get super bored doing this, since the show ran several times a day for all four days.
Finally we were next up to have books signed, and Tim was nice enough to pose for photos with us, too. Neither J or I really cared about meeting the film celebrities or getting their autographs while we were there, but the authors? We're both huge readers, so meeting them was definitely our preference.
I brought my really old, really battered copy of Heir to the Empire for Tim to sign- I've had it since I was 12!- and also somehow managed to talk myself into buying a brand new annotated 20th anniversary edition while I was there, which also got signed. J brought the entire Thrawn trilogy with him- the one I had shipped to him when he was in Iraq with the Corps of Engineers. :)
Jon made a new friend on the way out of the B&N booth...
...though Darth and I didn't get along quite as well.
After the book signing we had to run upstairs to try to get to a panel in time (we were pretty sure the line would already be full), but we did stop and take a few random photos on the way, just to remind us of what we wanted to come back and check out later when we had more time.
There were several awesome scenes set up around the floor- some you could take photos in and other's you couldn't. This speeder shop was one of the closed ones, but so cool, anyway!
More Sith-ly costume spotting.
We made a quick trip by the Lego booth just to check out what was there- I'll have lots of photos of this in next week's Day 3 post!
We weren't able to get in line for the Star Wars Lego panel (unfortunately the line was at capacity before we got there), but these photos reminded me of how cool it was to look down on the lower floor and check out the costume action going on in front of the main exhibit hall doors. Here a group of Wookies pose for the cameras.
And this little group was going on, too (and I'm super jealous of the professional studio lighting umbrella set up off to the right!).
Since we didn't make it to the Lego panel, we had some time to kill before we needed to line up (again!!!) for the Costume Masquerade and decided to hit the exhibit floor again.
Most of the items in the Think Geek booth had "No Photography" signs on them, but I did stop in and get a Death Star Tea Infuser for Darren.
We found the official booth for the Star Wars vegetable carvings (I've got photos from that panel in my Day 1 post and Flickr stream)
I mentioned in the Day 1 post that neither J or I are big collectors, but that didn't stop us from wishing we could have some stuff! J, of course, wanted to go to the Lego booth, where I promptly fell in love with this X-Wing model kit. We ended up buying little $3.99 TIE Fighter sets, instead.
And you know how much I need this TARDIS bathrobe, right? I know, it's not Star Wars, but it's still fantastic!
More Sith costumers in front of one of the many, many amazing backdrops scattered around the floor.
And of course there was a lot of this going on, too.
Some people are so incredibly imaginative with their costumes, like this Imperial Quidditch player.
And then there's the ever-popular "crossplay." J found a female Han Solo (love the hair!) to pose with. We didn't pose with many of the costumers (I prefer to take photos of just them), but there were a few.
These leather costume replicas were nothing short of stunning. They also had a Batman suit that I unfortunately didn't get photos of. There was just so much!
Leisure suit Boba Fett and Darth Vader- they're bringing the 70's back, man!
And of course we had to swing by to see how the chalk mural was coming along!
Somehow in that mad dash of running around the floor, we were able to score free books at the del Rey booth, which brings me to another waiting-in-line pastime- reading!
We got in line early so we could score good (read: easy to photograph from) seats at the Costume Masquerade. Last time I shot this from the balcony, but this time I was able to score seats on the bottom floor at the halfway point where there was nobody sitting in front of us! This is also the only event that I need the big 70-200mm lens for (and between that an the big hardcover book I'd purchased at B&N that morning, my backpack was getting a bit heavy!).
The costume show is also a big party- DJ Elliot was there again (he was at the Celebration V costume contest, too)
So many panels and events at Celebration begin with the tossing out of SWAG- lots of t-shirts and toys are up for grabs. I managed to snag two t-shirts during the course of the convention! The costume contest was no exception and started out with the warm-up host tossing t-shirts out to the audience.
The DJ felt like the balcony wasn't getting enough love, though, so he ran upstairs, microphone in hand, to give them some goodies, too...and was totally out of breath by the time he got there. :)
The show started with a super cute "If Chewbacca Was My Best Friend" video that had us all laughing (especially the anger management part).
James Arnold Taylor, the voice actor behind Obi Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars (and a whole host of other voice acting credits), was the main host for the show. He was incredibly funny and kept slipping back into his Obi-Wan role while he was hosting.
The categories this time had a lot more overlap, so we saw Jedi, Sith, and others each represented across several of them.
Her red body paint is so well done!
I got some great pictures of this guy later in the show, complete with water vapor drifting up from the back of his costume!
This adorable Bantha was hands-down my favorite of the show. The two designers who created it fashioned it after Chinese costumes that allow the wearers to still move freely. It was so cute dancing across the stage!
This massive dewback lizard was also quite impressive!
The costumers inside had a bit of trouble controlling it, though, and nearly knocked a speaker off the stage...
...and almost lost the rider, too! But it was still so seriously, seriously cool.
The Younglings category was filled with some of the tiniest Stormtroopers, Jedi, and Sith that you've ever seen!
The host couldn't help posing with these two Jedi brothers (the shot below was actually taken of one of the massive video screens in the auditorim and not the stage itself).
Some kids had a little help from their parents...
...while others got directions from the stage host.
These Muppet Stormtroopers were just toooooo insanely cool! I actually caught up with them and two more of their friends later on in the con (I think on Day 3), so be on the lookout for more photos either next Saturday or the one after that.
There weren't a lot of entries in the Jedi category, but this Luke on Dagobah outfit was quite cool...
...mostly due to the baby Yoda on his back. :)
Of course there had to be lots of Padme gowns, right?
And we can't leave the guys out! Though the Galactic Apparel category was host to a few families, too.
I didn't realize how few Lando Calrissian costumers there were at the show until this guy came out on stage. Well done!
A few special awards were presented at the end of the show while the judges conferred on the winners, giving us all another opportunity to see the girls behind the dancing Bantha costume.
The even gave a bit of a demonstration for us!
We left early since I wanted to get in line for Aaron Allston's book signing, so I didn't get to see who the winners were. We did get to see the Dewback costume being loaded into the freight elevator, though!
Back on the main floor, we ran into another Muppet Trooper- Animal himself!!
And also a Twi'lek.
Stormtrooper Elvis was performing a ceremony on the Millennium Falcon.
And we were amazed at how quickly the Lego group build was coming together!
A few more characters had made appearances at the vegetable carving booth, too.
Wait, weren't we supposed to be getting in line for Aaron Allston? What am I doing costume gazing, then?
And when did J and I have time to pose in the snowspeeder?!? This is the problem with a four day con- everything blends together into one big, fun, geeky blur. It's a good thing I took so many photos, or I might not remember any of it!
Okay, now we're waiting in line! We have to be, because there's the Disney booth again. :)
And I had a pretty good view of the Lego screen, too, which played (hilarious) cut scenes from the Lego Star Wars games all day.
I spotted Aussie Vader (Mick) again (I've got his photo from Celebration V, too), and this time he brought a friend along with him.
How adorable is this baby Wookie?
And then it was my turn to have my book signed by Aaron- yay!
We finished the day with an evening panel put on by the Madalorian Mercs- J's costuming club of choice. I'll admit, they do have some pretty awesome weaponry!
I was completely exhausted by the end of Day 2, but wanted to get pics of the banners outside before we left for the day.
And I was so happy to see the R2-D2 wraps on the posts again this time!
I'm not posing. I was tired and trying not to fall asleep on Artoo. :)
I know- soooo many photos! And there are even more for Day 3! I keep thinking I should break it into two posts, but I think I'll leave it as one so those who aren't geekily inclined can just skip it more easily. :)
Okay, back next week with more!