Star Wars Celebration Anaheim (That time I was a Jedi)

Dear readers,

A long time ago (a month) in a galaxy far, far away (Anaheim, California – just across the street from Disneyland), fans gathered to show their love for this thing we call…

*Cue Star Wars Theme*

2015 marked the 10th official Star Wars Celebration, though it was the first of the kind I’d been to.  With the recent Disney handover breathing life back into the saga, I’ve gotta admit – it’s a good time to be a fan.  New films, new show, new video games…I mean, have you seen the newest trailer for the next Star Wars movie, which debuted on the first day of the Celebration?  Plus, for me, Celebration Anaheim presented the perfect opportunity to fulfill a since-becoming-a-Star-Wars-fan-long dream of mine:

Jedi Knight status.  May the Force be with you, readers.

Alright, sure, I still need a lightsaber or two.  And although it may not be quite up to par with the super intense Force-wielding costumes yet, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Why blue, why no traditional outer tunic/obi/tabbards?  The robe design I went for is based off of the Knights of the Old Republic style blue Jedi Knight robes, of which there is shockingly little representation of in the Star Wars fanverse.

Cosplay sidebar:

But seriously, I image searched the KotOR Jedi robe designs thinking there would definitely be some posts out there with tutorials and patterns for the design, but only two (two!) cosplays popped up for anything that wasn’t the Darth Revan-specific robe (sidebar to the sidebar: I could totally get on board with a pre-Star Forge Revan & Malak cosplay).  So I took the general advice of the creative person who did have some comments on her robes, and created mine based off of a lady’s tunic/shirt pattern.

The Jedi-style belt is adjustable, comfortable, and was reasonably priced – I love how the color came out!

See that tunic in the upper right corner? That was our base pattern for the Jedi robe

With the help of my mom who is so patiently teaching me the ways of the sewing machine, we adjusted the pattern based off of images from the game, and added a shinier (technical term?) fabric on top for the shoulders and sleeves.

The belt came from L’atelier d’Akinra, who has a selection of awesome leather pieces for costuming, including Jedi-style belts that can be customized.  Not only was he very accommodating on the color and timeliness of creating/delivering, but his work is, in a word, fantastic.  Now the overall costume color scheme was tweaked for the sole reason that I already had brown boots in my wardrobe and not black ones.  Costuming on a budget requires resourcefulness, people.  End sidebar.

That’s great, but what exactly happens at a Star Wars Celebration?  Well, throughout the weekend panels featuring actors, Industrial Light & Magic wizards, film directors, and more brought discussion and news on all things Star Wars to the fans – including updates for the Force Awakens and the premiere of the second season of Star Wars Rebels.  In addition, there were events each day such as the cosplay contest, meet and greets, and a full saga marathon on the big screen.

Essentially, Star Wars revelry ensued!

And unfortunately I missed most of it. When it comes to larger cons, it’s tough to see everything with a one day pass.  You want to see panels, but there’s so much to explore on the floor that you can’t afford to spend a good chunk of time securing your spot for a popular panel.  My suggestion?  Multi-day pass if you can, but even with a single day pass to a con you can enjoy some awesome panels by scoping out smaller ones you think will be less crowded.  This generally means more niche panels, which can actually be a great source of unexpected delight.  The one panel we did catch, for example, was about the music of the new Star Wars Rebels show (Star Wars + Music Composition = Awesome).

So no, I didn’t make it into the larger panels I was hoping to see – namely the voice acting panel featuring Mark Hamill – but that’s not to say I didn’t have a great time!  Equipped with a Saturday badge and the will of the Force, I set out on a journey to survey the con…

Along the way we met some Sith Lords and apprentices.

I suppose even Dark Side male Revan has style.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to metal legs.

Bravo, Vader cosplayer, bravo.

Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?

Did a little car shopping (we were thinking a hyperdrive might be nice for the ride home).

Get in losers, we’re going to the Dark Side

Red Five, standing by

We particularly liked the lightsaber holder with spare hilt in this model

Punch it, Chewie

Great, and does it have hyperdrive capabilities?

We walked into more than one trap, unfortunately. (I’ve got a bad feeling about this…)

It’s a trap!

So much for sneaking around, I hope you prefer a straight fight

Caution: AT-AT walking

Ughhh, nice rancor?

He’s right behind us, isn’t he? !

We also met a few scoundrels, finding a few droids along the way that, incidentally, we were looking for.

Always let the wookie win.

Steampunk Star Wars, the princess and the smuggler

Artoooooooooson!

R to D2 and beyond! (I’ll be here all week)

There were even a few instances where we crossed-over into other galaxies!

Tale as old as time…

Will that Clone Trooper ‘stay alive’? Tune in next week!

Dark Helmet Guy was seriously perfect

We also heard the Emperor was OOO (out of office), so we decided, ‘What the hell, let’s infiltrate the Death Star!’ (Just for good measure.  And bragging rights.)

Maybe a disguise?

This isn’t the jedi you’re looking for…

(This was quite possibly the most clever cosplay of all)

Take a selfie on the Emperor’s throne and tag him in it?

Challenge accepted. #HeyPalpy

And, of course, no trip to a galaxy far, far away would be complete without perusing the equipment and robe sales and stopping by the cantina.

(I can’t help thinking of the shops in Zelda games when looking at this picture)

Sure, the black IS sharp, but don’t you think it gives off more of a ‘anger and hatred are my go-to motivations’ vibe?

Just a blue milk for me, thanks, I’ve got to fly the speeder home

And that, readers, is basically what happens at biggest annual Star Wars convention in the world (the essence, if you will).  If you’re interested in seeing more of what went down at the con, head over to YouTube.  I hear the official Star Wars channel had a live stream going throughout the week, and I have no doubt that countless other videos have been uploaded over the last month and half detailing the finest moments of the event.

For our crew, we called it a day after getting any last-minute and very necessary Star Wars swag, and grabbing a bite to eat at the food trucks stationed outside (falafel, also necessary).  We followed the crowd to the shuttles where we were transported back to the Angels stadium parking lot and to our own galaxy once more.  I was exhausted but satisfied, having spent a whole day enjoying total fan immersion amongst people who were just as excited to be there (conventions are like refueling stations for the geek tank/battery).

*Shout out to my brother who didn’t complain once about my asking him to take another photo with me and [insert cosplay character here].

As ever, thanks for reading, cheers!  And if you happen to be wondering about the change of pace from the Celebrating Female Characters post set, I’ll be taking a break from those (for now!) as the to-blog about queue is starting to grow.  Keep an eye out for the next post coming soon, or be sure to follow and get notifications (which may be more reliable than my optimistic ideas of a regular blog post schedule) for new posts.  Until then…

May the Force be with you Mischief managed

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