By Jay Malone.
My name’s Jay Malone, and I love Star Wars.
Up until about two months ago, I had no idea that Star Wars Celebration V was coming to Orlando. I found out, by chance, while watching Empire on Spike one day. When the ad said that Celebration would be held in Orlando, I believe my entire vocabulary for the next 3 minutes was “Holy Shit! Holy Shit!” repeatedly. Needless to say, yes, I was excited.
Let me back up a bit here – I’ve been a Star Wars fan ever since my Mom and I rented the original trilogy when I was a kid up in Massachusetts. Between that, Indiana Jones, the Tim Burton Batman films, Ghostbusters and comic books, I was hooked on a sci-fi/fantasy/adventure/comic book lifestyle. Despite attempts to shake it in high school, it’s clung to me like a facehugger – and I’m fine with it.
In 1998, when the first Celebration was announced and I dreamt about going to Denver and attending. There’s not really any other level of fandom I approach that rivals Star Wars (with the noted exception of the Flash, but there ain’t no real life Flash museum, despite my prayers and hopes). I love the prequel and original trilogy universe, I love the expanded universe, and I love the video game universe (Super Return of the Jedi FTW!) But, things being what they were, it wasn’t in the cards for me–a guy making minimum wage with no car–to somehow end up in Denver, CO for a week and pay not only for tickets and swag, but also for room and board. (Truth be told, had I gone out, I probably never would have come back. I probably couldn’t have afforded to leave). So, Celebration went back burner. A couple of years later when the second came around I had just gotten engaged to my wife and we were, needless to say, poor. There was no way in hell I could make it out to Indianapolis – ditto for III and absolutely not happening for IV in Los Angeles.
Cut to this year–the “Holy Shit!” moment mentioned above–and the crushing realization that I am, once again, broke, poor, and now saving money to move my family back to Orlando. There is no chance of me getting to, attending, or experiencing something I’ve longed for…it’s just not in the cards. To go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows that quickly is something that’s quite humbling. I mean, I wasn’t able to go for the right reasons – my family is more important to me than The Force any day of the week. I wrote it off. The Force was not strong with this one. Yoda told me in Empire to Do or Do Not – I chose Do Not.
Fortunately, Force(s) conspired against me. This week, my good friend Marc asked me if I’d want to go on Saturday. A friend of his had an extra pass for Saturday, and I said yes. As the week went on, things got slower and slower as I got towards Saturday…it was like waiting for Christmas, only I knew exactly what present I was getting, and I wanted to open it immediately. Then, I began having doubts…what if the Celebration was just another Con? What if it wasn’t everything I’d built it up to being over the last 11 years, and I ended up feeling like I do after every MegaCon; Ultimately annoyed that I drove down to I-Drive, and felt like I was hustled out of money. Good God, what if the Celebration…sucked?
So, on my drive into the show was anxious. On one hand, I was excited because I was checking something off of my “List of Shit To Do™”. On the other hand, I was worried that I’d be checking it off in frustration rather than joy. Walking through the doors onto the show floor itself from the mezzanine melted all my doubts away immediately. I felt like I did when I walked into C2E2 this year. I knew, as soon as I was on the floor, that this is how conventions are supposed to be set up, organized and run. (It should come as no surprise, then, that ReedPop does both C2E2 and Star Wars Celebration – and does both very, very well). The aisles were wider than normal, so walking was a breeze. Things were laid out in such a way that you didn’t have similar dealers bunched up next to each other, creating some sort of negative zone. Toy dealers were placed throughout the hall, and were almost never next to another toy dealer. It was planned, it was executed, and it worked.
So, aside from the show being organized well, there was so much FAN stuff that was awesome. I didn’t make it in time to see the “Main Event” interview between John Stewart and George Lucas, but I was fine with it–that’s what the internet is for. I did, however, find booth upon booth of cool stuff, in particular a prop booth run by EFX Collectibles that I went back to at least five times, each time seeing something else I’d missed the time previous. There were costumes, and unlike MegaCon or FX where I see far, far too many people dressing out of their body types, I truly only saw about 10 people the 6 ½ hours I was on the floor that really shouldn’t have dressed the way they did. In particular, I’m lookin’ at you, Homer Simpson Darth Maul and dumpy Slave Girl Leia (of which I literally only saw one, so that’s not a generalization – in fact, all the Slave Girl Leia’s that were over the age of 18 that weren’t Miss Dumpy actually looked like they belonged in the costume). I also had my faith in Star Wars fandom restored when I was ecstatic to NOT see any Sexy Asokah’s from Clone Wars. In fact, there were literally maybe two people over the age of 10 dressed as Asokah, and neither of them went to the trashy side of things. I do, however, have a problem with the girl dressed as a Sexy Jawa…that was just…creepy, really, really creepy.
The LEGO displays throughout the Celebration were, for lack of a better term, amazing. There were – I believe – two official LEGO booths, and one unofficial booth set up by a group who built amazingly complex scenes from the movies and video games (and, I hope, expanded universe books and comics). In particular, I was a huge fan of their Battle of Hoth scene, as well as the motorized Pod Race from Phantom Menace. The official LEGO booth’s had sets for sale, a life sized Boba Fett that was being built while we were there, as well as the most adorable cutouts you could take pictures with – Han and the Tauntaun were probably my favorite, followed by the LEGO Snowtroopers.
The Hasbro booth was not to be outdone, the displays were brilliant, and the amount of love that the folks at Hasbro clearly have for this property is apparent–not only fiscally, but from a fan perspective as well. I really liked the Hoth scene set up here as well. (I’ll just say this now, I liked anything I saw that involved Hoth. It was a good year for Hoth) In addition to the bridge battle between Clones, Mace Windu, Count Dooku and Battle Droids–really neat to see. My favorite part, though, was how much the booth attendees knew about not only the toy lines, but the properties in general. One of the gentlemen, whose name I didn’t catch, that worked for Hasbro was talking to some of the kids that were trying to learn the new pack in game with the latest Clone Wars action figures, and he was referencing things from the Clone Wars cartoon that wouldn’t just found in a generic instructional pitch. It made me happy to see that this guy was not only passionate about his product, but he truly loved what it was based upon as well.
One of the best highlights for me was hanging with Team Atomik in the Echo Base Ice Bar, sponsored by G4. I truly love my compatriots here at Atomik, and any time we can get the whole group together is a good thing. When we get the whole group together in a bar that has an ice sculpture Wampa and Tauntaun, it’s even better. And when said bar is playing awesome disco and big band versions of Star Wars music…it’s hard to top. Toss in blue lights, a Wampa throw rug, and cleverly named food and beverages – The Nachosen One sticks out to me – all while subtly displaying the G4 branding (literally, there was some window clings, the logo projected into a corner of the room, and Attack of the Show! was being shown on the TV) it quickly becomes unstoppable; a juggernaut of awesomesauce that can’t be beaten.
So yes, Star Wars Celebration V was everything I hoped it would be, and, quite literally, more. The people I was fortunate enough to spend the day with made it an even more enjoyable experience, and I truly consider myself lucky to have been able to spend any amount of time in the Star Wars Universe. 6 ½ hours was barely enough time for me to truly feel like I’d quenched my Star Wars thirst, and I now look forward to the next Celebration that will be on the east coast of the US – ‘cause I’m going. And I really, truly hope things performed well enough here in Orlando that we get another shot at it in a few years. Thank you, Marc, for thinking of me for the pass. Thank you Franco for making it happen. Thank you Team Atomik for making it fun. And Thank You George Lucas for creating Star Wars.
My name is Jay Malone, and I – unabashedly, without hesitation and unconditionally – love Star Wars.
Jay Malone currently lives in a cupboard under the stairs, much like Harry Potter. He has a wife, a son, and a dog that looks like Stitch. His favorite food is Korean spicy pork and would stab a man in the neck for a giant bowl of it. He also plays a lot of video games. I mean, a LOT. It’s a bit unsettling, really.
I love it, too. And I think we spent the day together. Fancy that.