Top 5 Celebration 2016 experiences

Gotta change one of my five actually to my daughter being on stage for the Leia parade.
I'm biased but she was one cute Leia for the 3 days besides when she was dressed as Wicket - didn't last long though as she loves Leia. Not bad for a two year old!

1) Friends. Great to see so many collecting friends from UK, USA and Worldwide. The nightly move from the Fox to the Novotel and drinking antics. Oh, and free bar at the Fox. Thank you EA Games!

2) Swag. It was a great standard at this event and so much more than just plain badges. Loved the collectors coins, was quite an achievement to finish the set at the event given a couple of the panels were well over subscribed. Love the Star Destroyer collecting stand too.

3) Panels. Some great collectors track panels. Loved The Palitoy and Helix/Letraset ones. Great to see these both get on stage for the first time.

4) Talks. I queued up early enough to get wristbands to the Hammil and Fisher talks. Had never seen either of them on a 1 hour talk ebfroe. Mark is a funny old guy and Carrie's dog Gary stole the show chasing Warwick Davis round the stage.

5) Stalls. Great to see Starzone Darren and Mark/Jason Joiner/Dave Tree with vintage stalls. Some great vintage items. Oh, and the Novotel room sales rocked for vintage too. And Podcast friends, great to see the Vintage Rebellion guys getting a stand, and Jedi News and friends organizing a podcast stage. Great stuff!



Jason

Nick_IoW said:

Was a fantastic time!

Here's my list:

1) Getting ****ed up with friends new and old (shout out to the Swedish Drinking Team!).

Well, that's about all I did really. Couldn't be arsed walking about and queueing up and all that Star Wars stuff

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Such a cool dude :roll:

1. That Nick didn't vomit in the hotel room
2. Hanging out with so many old friends and meeting new ones. It was amazing that considering the many thousands of people there I'd bump into someone off the forum every time I walked round a corner.
3. My 30 back Luke Bespin purchase
4. The Rogue One panel
5. The costumes. It's easy to take the piss out of many of them, but some people really go the extra mile and create some mind blowing stuff.

Worst moment

I wish it was possible to un-see that

Top 5 Celebration experiences? thats a hard one.
It was my first experience of a Star Wars celebration (I was collecting in 2007 but could not make it due to other commitments)
These are in no particular order

1- Seeing all the Collectors track panels (well the ones I could get into or make) I loved the diversity of the topics discussed and was enthralled by topics I knew not a lot about. I didn't see any of the big ones no way was I going to que through the night

2- I really enjoyed collecting the swag be it via scavenger hunt or just collecting patches, and I learnt that I need to make some pins to trade for next time

3- Just being able to geek out over Star Wars for 3 days and nobody caring, was great to see so many cosplayers both young and old.

4-Re igniting my interest in vintage collecting, only a few weeks before I'd made my mind to sell up and had started to do just that, but other than one book everything sold is stuff that can be easy replaced.

5-Meeting people/ putting names to forum faces. It seems strange for to me to type that as I'm really a stupidly shy person, but I have of late been trying to change that,(it got so bad that if I went out for dinner with my wife I would not go to the bar to order food)
I introduced myself to a few on here and there were other's I recognised but I didn't feel comfy going up to and saying hello, hopefully that will change as I now want to go to Farthest From at the end of August

Gorneesh, go for it! Looks like there's a camping contingent forming and nothing breaks down barriers like getting sweaty in a tent together :lol: Seriously, though, it would be great to meet you and if you can come down for the Saturday afternoon/evening. It's really worth the effort and the atmosphere in the pub is as good as any I experienced at CE3!

SOJ said:

1. That Nick didn't vomit in the hotel room
2. Hanging out with so many old friends and meeting new ones. It was amazing that considering the many thousands of people there I'd bump into someone off the forum every time I walked round a corner.
3. My 30 back Luke Bespin purchase
4. The Rogue One panel
5. The costumes. It's easy to take the piss out of many of them, but some people really go the extra mile and create some mind blowing stuff.

Worst moment

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I look beautiful in the morning.

I don't have a top five really. It was just nice to have a lads weekend away and meet up with forum members. To be honest the show itself was secondary to me once i'd walked round on the first day. I knew I wasn't going to queue for the big panels because we were out every night until fairly late, but the collectors panel talks made up for it. Some were better than others and I was a little gutted to miss the Palitoy one. The talk on pencils was excellent :wink: ...the advanced droid building talk was literally the nerdiest thing i've ever seen! (no offence. I mean it in a good way)

The room sales were probably the highlight if I had to choose one. Never experienced anything like it. Sold a few things and made some coin. Just grabbed a spot next to Iain (thanks for the loan of your box mate :wink: ) and started to sell loose figures. Brilliant!

I'm a moaning bugger so cannot resist this. The queues! My God! I knew it was going to be busy but people queued for everything - passes, getting in, leaving bags, the toilet, beer, the Celebration shop, big panels, small panels, idiotic radio controlled display, prop displays, even the release of the limited edition Kylo Ren figure, and I don't know how people even knew to queue for that one from 6am! :shock:

It was all good though

Had a great time highlight for me was Dave Tree panel and getting a set of medallions. The swag was Amazing and great to see Jez get his cardback at end of the podcast

Had an absolutely amazing time at CE! I don't know if it's possible to condense the whole experience into a top 5 moments/memories type thing however it's been two weeks now and I'm still not sure if I've spoken to everyone or thanked everyone that I met so I thought I'd try to do it here if possible based on what I can remember (which is not much!!)

Firstly I have to say that seeing all the SWF guys that I previously met at FF last year was really cool, feels like I've known many of you forever and you are always welcoming and happy to chat. It was great to finally meet such great people like Iain & Neil, Paul Armory, Nick_iow, roundster, jedi_masters, SAVORY100 and everyone else I saw for the first time at CE!

Thanks to everyone that turned up to the Chinese meal on Thursday btw, I hope you all enjoyed it & huge thanks to Ben for counting out the money towards the end of the night! Still not sure how we came up so short but thanks to those that put in a bit extra, it all worked out in the end!

Simon & Andy, two great guys who I need to thank for putting up with me as a roommate at the hotel! The confessions of a Star Wars collector chat we had on Friday night over a few stiff drinks was funny :lol: (Although I think Andy still needs to confess something??)

Even though I didn't actively hunt people out for their freebies I still came home with a bag full of SWF swag, from bottle openers to badges and everything in between! I apologise if some of our meetings were short but I really appreciate everyone trading with me or just giving me things at the fox/novotel and other places.

Had a great chat with Edd over a pint at the collecting track panel about SWF and other things, was great to see you again mate!

Podcast guys - you really pulled out all the stops to make CE a fun and interesting event. Every time I wandered by your booth was full of people and I couldn't get near but I managed to chat to you guys a few times over the course of the weekend! Sat next to Jez with his furry Chewbacca slippers at one of the panels who was pissing himself hearing people outside roar like Tuskens LOL

Looking back at some of the photos of the weekend (especially at the novotel bar) it seems that were times when many of you guys were just a few feet away from me and I had literally no clue! Chatting to some of the Germans and Swedes while Nick kept the Sambuca shots going seemed to keep me in the same place all night which I quite regret now so if anyone thought I was being rude or keeping away then I apologise, I honestly didn't even realise half of you were there :lol:

I'm sure there are a million more people to thank and people that deserve a mention but the entire weekend was overwhelming for me. All I know is that I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too! Thanks to each and every single one of you for making CE such a memorable event, without a SWF presence at the bars/meals, room sales & collecting track panels/booths I think it would have been a totally different experience.

Great post Joe.

My 3rd Celebration but my favourite simply because the chances are, you were there with me!
This Celebration was preceded with some negativity but that all soon quickly dissipated as soon as the SWFUKers got together along with the rest of our great community. The whole event in my opinion was really well run.
I can't give it a top 5 really, as my thoughts and emotions will change as my memory remembers something else. Suffice to say, it was a pleasure and a blast. I am absolutely blessed to be part of the Podcast crew who are all diamonds and feel honoured to be amongst the rest of you guys who give so much and have so much fun.

Tim the next time??

This was my first celebration and i loved every minute of it! If i had to choose some stand out moments they would be (in no particular order):

1. Meeting Mark Hamill for photo and autograph - this was a childhood dream realised for me (even with the hefty price tag attached). He came across as really great guy. I gave him one of my swag badges and he seemed to genuinely like it too!

2. My first room sales experience.... this really is something that has to be experience to be understood. It was insane and a real rush. Especially enjoyed seeing some of the ridiculously rare variant and proof cardbacks etc that I'll never afford.

3. Emoji Pin Trading/Swag Trading - Both my wife and I really enjoyed tracking down the pins we wanted and trading them AND trading swag with people - we met so many lovely great people from all over the globe - what a great experience!

4. My wife buying a Chopper figure - this is a personal highlight just because she was so damn excited when she bought it and ripped it straight out of is packaging. Just made me smile.

5. Rogue One costumes and props - I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. It was great to see some of the authentic production used stuff up close.

In reality it's far to difficult to limit the favourite moments just to 5 - it was such a great weekend!
Thanks to any of you that traded with me and chatted with me etc - it was a truly unforgettable experience from start to finish!

Been really enjoying this thread and also thinking about celebration over the last few weeks. As everyone has said, hard to pinpoint specific things but some things I really enjoyed were -
1. Hanging out with and meeting some of you guys and the random conversations with other Star Wars fans. Great to finally meet Iain, Neil, Edd, Mark and so many others I've interacted with on here. Great seeing the podcast massive, love you guys. Nice to see Dan and Nick and some guys I already knew. Simon and Joe were great roomates, so welcoming and friendly
2. All the creativity, the cosplay costumes, the fanmade props, the astromech builders, the artwork, the Rogue 1 costumes. It was all so visually stunning. Love all that stuff.
3. The room sales. What an experience, just a crazy free for all of diverse vintage and sellers from all over the world.
4. The collecting panels. Really interesting, learnt loads and really made me feel involved in the collecting comunity. Pleasure to hear from some expert collectors.
5. Spending Saturday and Sunday with two different oldest friends who came up for the day. Loved showing them around and talking Star Wars all day.
It was a great event. Still buzzing