I was pretty easy to spot walking around the show floor on any given day. I picked up that lightsaber poster tube attached to my backpack during the first hour of the first day, and it came in handy to tote around all kinds of posters, prints, and handouts that we picked up while walking around.
See what I mean about the massive crowd? Saturday at Celebration is insanely packed!
It doesn't matter what kind of shoes you wear to an all-day convention, your feet are going to hurt no matter what and by the end of the day even the most comfortable shoes are going to annoy you. I alternated between Chacos and Vibram Five Fingers (my TrekSports, to be specific) each day, and the changeup seemed to work well for me.
I spied a scout trooper and a sand trooper while standing in line and got my costume photography off to an early start. There's so much more of this to come!
Once inside the exhibit hall, we weren't sure where to go first- with nothing on the schedule we had our choice, so we started out with the speeder bike photo op, complete with a scout trooper to pose with!
We stopped by the Dark Horse booth to spin their prize wheel and walked away with a patch and a free comic book (Firefly, no less!).
It seemed like I was stopping every 10 feet to take costume photos, like this bounty hunter and the Padme/Anakin duo that we ran into right after leaving Dark Horse.
A trio of stormtroopers!
With some free time on our hands, we decided to browse artist alley, where we were lucky enough to find Katie Cook taking commissions for her famous $5 on the spot sketches!
J and I had been looking for something to take back to Mom and Dad, so we each ordered two sketches- one for us and one for the parents. J chose a bantha for Mom and Boba Fett for himself (not the happy Han Solo in Carbonite. :) )...
...and I got Yoda (for Dad) and the 10th Doctor for me. I just love Katie's adorable artwork!
And see what I mean about running into costumers no matter where we went? As soon as we left Katie's booth we found a bounty hunter, a sand person, and Greedo!
It was at this point that J remembered the Mandalorian Mercs were having a group photo session in the lobby this morning. We just missed the group shot, but there was plenty of individual and small group cosplay going on, so we ran downstairs to see what we could get photos of.
J and I didn't normally pose with the costumers, but this guy handed J a gun and insisted- and who was he to argue with a Mandalorian?
There were a few non-Mandos about, too, such as this Jawa and a few other characters.
But mostly it was all about the mercs!
The 501st observed quietly from above.
We ventured back to the main exhibit hall after hanging in the lobby for a while, and passed a Jawa basketball team on the way in. A Jawa basketball team, people!! Where else can you see this stuff?!?!
Hellllloooo, Clone Trooper!
Kenner brought back the massive action figure packaging photo op (they had it at Celebration V, too), so we stopped to take a few quick photos there. I was only half kidding with the whole napping act- by Saturday I was nearly asleep on my feet!
More costumes, including a Mando chick...
...Barf from Spaceballs....
...and more Mandos!
Speaking of Mandalorians, we made the Mandalorian Merc exhibit our next stop so J could check out the helmets and armor on display.
And of course there were lots of club members about who were more than willing to pose for photos.
Stormtrooper medic...if I ever talk D into costuming, I'll get him this one. :)
We passed a Slave Leia gathering on our way to visit Roxy the Rancor, where we hoped that the line to take photos wouldn't be too long.
We'd been admiring this life-size sculpture from afar up until this point in the show, but since the line was shorter (which was crazy for a Saturday) we jumped in and had our photos taken. I chose to go with a roundhouse kick...
...and J had a more appropriate response.
Lego Boba Fett!! I have this guy's photo from Celebration V, too.
Speaking of Legos, we made the GFLUG booth the next stop on our tour. We'd been passing by it day after day, saying we'd get photos of it later. With the semi-open schedule, Saturday was the day to get it done!
J really, really wanted to put this Super Star Destroyer in his pocket and take it home.
And I totally giggled at this Star Wars Robot Chicken build- it was even motorized!
There was soooo much coolness at the Lego booth. If you want to see more than the approximately eleventy billion photos I've posted here, click through any one of them to get to my Flickr photo stream for the day and feel free to browse around.
These AT-AT costumes totally rocked- the legs were attached to the guys' shoes and moved when they walked!
The only panel we had on the schedule for the day was- shock, shock- a Timothy Zahn talk about faking science in fiction. We made sure to be in line upstairs fairly early, meaning we had a great vantage point to see a little "crossing of the streams" in the hallway below.
I love seeing EU cosplay! (The woman is Hallis Saper from The Starfighters of Adumar.)
I didn't take a ton of photos during Tim's talk since we were all to busy listening and laughing- he's wicked funny! Roqoo Depot has the complete audio here if you want to have a listen.
Seeing this (almost) full set of Muppet Troopers together was seriously one of my favorite parts of the whole event! I'm going to have to scrap this photo soon!
There were lots of droids about, too.
A Mando and my favorite Slave Leia of the whole con- a Hello Kitty version!
There were lots of smaller exhibit rooms outside of the large hall, too, and we made it a point to go by each of them to have a look since it was J's last day at the show and I didn't want him to miss anything. Our first "satellite" stop was the 501st Legion experience, where the massive dewback from the Day 2 costume contest was all set up (without people inside this time).
The 501st had a massive display of armor too (there are more photos of this in my stream, as well)...
...along with guns. Lots and lots of guns.
The Han Solo in Carbonite/Jabba's palace setup was new since last time and very, very well done!
And of course we found actual people in costume here, too.
I so very much wish that I could have gotten a shot of the Beaker Trooper (love!) with the rest of the Muppets, but I'm happy just to have a photo of him on his own (this is back on the main floor, by the way).
And you know I had to take a photo in the Jabba's Palace setup, right?!?!
My favorite photo of myself ever was taken in this very exhibit during Celebration V, and J and I got to do a brother/sister repeat of it at VI!
We also danced with the Cantina Band- J did a little "Sophie dance" that his daughter does...
...and I can't dance at all, so I just acted crazy. :)
More Spaceballs costumes!!
And a little athletic activity in the form of moisture vaporator climbing.
J really, really wanted to see the "As You Wish" project featuring decorated Mandalorian and Clone Trooper helmets that were auctioned off for charity (raising more than $135,000 in the process!), so we lined up for that exhibit next.
J insisted that I take photos of all of them. :) I'm including just a few here, but pictures of all of them are in my Flickr photostream, which you can get to by clicking on any of these images.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering what this was all about...
Next we dropped by the diorama builders' exhibit to check out the Day 3 progress- quite a lot of new stuff today!
And J has discovered a new love of photography- in fact, he took my Nikon away from me so he could play with it a bit here.
A little behind-the-scenes here with several buildings that are plastered and waiting to be painted.
There were stations set up for each part of the diorama, with plenty of different parts to make and build. We didn't stop to try any of it, but it was cool to see the new additions every day.
OMG, more Mandos?!!?
We were both totally punch by the time we got to the bacta tank photo op-- I'm not sure if I'm screaming for help or miming here.
And J just took a nap.
Arguing over a game of holochess...
...and, you guessed it- more Mandos!
I love this fantastic Mara Jade costume, and I think that's supposed to be Luke...kind hard to tell with dark hair, but fantastic Jedi robes!
Death Star! Mouse Ears!
We popped into the Celebration store so J could pick out a t-shirt to take home, and he ended up getting one of the custom screen prints done.
Lucasfilm had resurrected one of the original Star Wars coloring books and used some of the artwork to create screens. The t-shirts were screened and dried right there on site!
Nearing the end of Day 3, and the chalk art mural was definitely coming along.
A Mandalorian and an Ewok- now there's a combination!
The R2 Builders had their own satellite room, so we headed there next to see all the droids. There were lots of stock R2-D2s, of course.
And there were also lots of other astromechs and some cool color scheme mods.
This green guy needs to serve drinks at my next birthday party!
The day was nearing its end, and we decided to make one last jaunt to the show floor before it was over...passing some costumers on the way, of course!
The Lego group build was finished a day early!
And I squeeed with delight to see this lovely aqua and purple droid trundling about the place.
Some lovely Star Wars ballerina cosplay.
And I finally took the time to photograph all of the massive character statues in the Lego booth.
Wait, should these guys be hanging out together?
You could tell it was the end of the third day- everyone was getting really silly.
Another awesome Mara Jade costume. Seriously, I need to make one for myself!
And luckily we remembered to take photos with the Wampa before leaving.
I pulled out a roundhouse kick again. Aside- I needed to turn my hip all the way over- I blame being tired.
J went straight for a punch.
Okay, I'm tired just from reliving Day 3 now- I have no idea how we managed to pack so much in and not totally kill ourselves!
Next week I'll have my last Celebration VI post...and you'll be able to tell that I was really tired because a) there aren't nearly as many photos and b) I spent a lot of my time in panels just so I could sit down. :) There's some cool artwork to share, though, so stay tuned for that post next Saturday!