It’s been happening for 20 years, but in the past decade your professors Jason and Ashley have found ourselves asking the question out loud:
“What is Star Wars Celebration?”
According to the infallible source that is Wikipedia:
“The Star Wars Celebration is a fan gathering to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. It began in 1999, when Lucasfilm held the Star Wars Celebration in Denver, Colorado to celebrate the upcoming release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Subsequent events have taken place to welcome forthcoming movies, as well as honoring the 30th and 40th anniversaries of the release of the original film.”
As with so many generations born after 1977 Star Wars has been a huge part of both our lives. We’ve even done multiple Geek History Lesson episodes on the topic including a Summer Movie Club Special when we were joined by Trisha Hershberger to break down Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens:
Jedi, lightsabre, space buns, and Muppets have been staples of our pop culture and science fiction lexicon for both of our entire lives. When we imagine staples of genre Leia Organa and Obi-Wan Kenobi always jump to the forefront. Fun fact: the only Sideshow piece present in the Geek History Lesson office is a mythos Obi-Wan Kenobi meant to embody the “interim” time for the character which has since become the focus for the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
So, as a simple matter of deduction, Star Wars Celebration is an event designed to celebrate these iconic film moments. This Star Wars Celebration was a mixture of “work” and “pleasure”. Back during Jason’s days of hosting DC All-Access when we would be attending conventions and events Jason would be running around all day working and this year the tables have turned. Recently, Ashley has started hosting and producing for The Popverse, so she had to rush off to A Galaxy Far, Far Away for both a good time and a long time.
images courtesy: The Popverse
The drive from Los Angeles to Anaheim, California is blessedly short compared to some recent travel (Ashley flew back to Canada to see family the week before), the first thing to do on the Wednesday before a convention is to walk the convention floor. If you’ve never seen a convention come together it’s a fascinating look behind the curtain. There’s never a better time to snap pictures with some of the best booths and photo ops before the lines begin OR to meet the folx who work for amazing brands like Jazwares (if you ever wanted the Micro Machines as an adult collector don’t sleep on Jazwares - this is not an advert, we just think they’re great)
Wednesday of SWCA
What is the Best Thing You Saw at SWCA?
There’s two answers for this question, really. Attending Star Wars Celebration as a professional working geek allowed Ashley access to some pretty incredible things - like being in the first group of people to ever attend The Mandalorian Experience and the first professional video team to do so!
… or being able to attend the premier of Obi-Wan Kenobi
The other best thing is running into so many creatives we love from Cavan Scott (whose upcoming Yoda Marvel Comics series was announced at SWCA), to previous Geek History Lesson guest Susan Damon (listen to her brilliance here!), and more kind GHL listeners than we expected.
Getting the opportunity to experience cool things early is exciting, don’t get us wrong, but the connection, the selfies, and the toddler dressed as Leia we saw interact with an IRL astromech R2-D2 is unparalleled. Conventions and participatory fandom is building up a new generation of geeks. Star Wars Celebration was a beautiful reminder of just that.
What Videos Did You Get to?
A bunch of fun collectibles content, a proper longform The Mandalorian Experience tour, and Ashley was lucky enough to get an interview with her very favourite Star Wars actor who plays her very favourite Star Wars character of all time. It was a very last minute booking we weren’t initially sure we were going to get on Sunday (the final day), of Star Wars Celebration and wound up being such an uplifting and special note to send off the entire experience on. If you’re maybe newer to Geek History Lesson here’s a hint as to who:
Be sure to keep your eyes on our social media accounts for when and where you can watch those!
What Are Your Star Wars Celebration Hacks?
By Day 2 (in this case, Friday), Ashley was already tired from running around, creating content, meeting people, and snapping up all the daily Rebel Pilot pins at the Convention Store! While an average attendee is not doing the exact same thing we often find ourselves doing at a convention we’re willing to be your feet will be just as sore as ours were! Want to be at the top of your game? Here are a couple hacks:
Hydrate (may we suggest this Geek History Lesson mug?)
Use the bathrooms on the second floor of the Anaheim Convention Centre (honestly our best and most prominent hack)
Use the APP to plan ahead
Eat the at food trucks off hours - everyone is there at noon. Try 10am or 3pm.
Be flexible
Trade pins
Talk to strangers!
After a combined 6 rebellious days at Star Wars Celebration we jumped to hyperspace back to Los Angeles following the Closing Ceremony. If you’re a theatre geek like we are you will really appreciate the theatrics of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Star Wars Celebration. No thoughts. Just vibes. And lightsabers. So many lightsabers. Be careful with that lightsaber you’ll put your eye out. This was a legendary convention we’d heard about for years from our galactically-mindede friends (looking at your Krystina Arielle and Marc Reilly!), and we were finally able to make it happen. This was our first convention back since 2019 and we would encourage all citizens of the High Republic to join us in attending. The characters, the stories, and the set pieces will send you all the places you want to be!