Day 4 – Starwars Celebration 1
April 18, Chiba
STAR WARS! Wow. Where to begin? We woke up late since there were no panels early that we wanted (or that I got reservations for) and decided to stroll in after the main rush. Was that a good decision! On my way to breakfast, which is opposite the way of the convention and towards the train station, there was a never-ending throng of people headed to celebration. I mean it. There was no break in the crowd, just an in the sea of people headed towards the convention center. Man. We were so glad we got the hotel next door.
Bad part of arriving early
is you feel a sense of ownership. We got to our little Cafe inside the train station, and it was packed. All of our favorite breakfast items were gone and people crowded. The entire area. Found myself thinking, what’s with all of these tourists here?… Only to remember that I too. I am a tourist.
After we got what little remained for breakfast, we headed back. Thankfully, the overhead walkway broke off and a majority of the Star wars fans jumped across the street while we continued towards our room.
Getting Ready
It took about an hour or so to costume and do makeup. After seeing some of the cosplayers just around the hotel, I was kinda disappointed in my costume. I get it, first con. Not a cosplayer. But it just didn’t quite turn our like I wanted. Oh well.
Juli’s was the easiest out of ours so she patiently chilled while he rushed to ready. Until, I found out that we both read the date wrong for her pictures and she had to switch costumes. Still, she was ready before the boys were, so we headed out to go scope the floor.
The energy was unlike anything
I’ve ever experienced. We were able to go through our side doors that were attached to the hotel, and as we walked in there was no c of Star wars fans in their t-shirts. A few caused players, and A LOT of businessmen in suits? (Turns out, there was also a spinal surgery convention going on in the same building at the same time)
We made it to the entrance of the show floor right as another panel got out, and another sea of people poured out. It was amazing. Everybody together, loving Star wars. I found another night sister, the characher from clone wars I was cosplaying, and took a picture with her. That was fun. Julie and I made our way to the show floor looked at the shops, costumes, and art.
I guess my cosplay was better than I thought...
.someone asked for a picture. Then someone else. And other. Bruh. I knew cosplayers get asked for pictures all the time and I expected that. But not in the amount that I was getting. It definitely made me feel better since I was already self conscious about how I did on it….loose threads, wraps wouldn’t stay up, spilled makeup on it in multiple places….But everyone was so kind. I guess I was so obsessed with it being perfect that I forgot were all just here to geek out. I got photos from my favorite characters who were also not perfect. And I didn’t care.
Neither did they.
Finally met up with Nate and Elijah. Saw some other Tusken Raiders so Elijah got adopted. They went off to meet Hayden, Juli to see Ashley Eckstein, and I to wander and listen to pa else and announcements. I started wandering one stage and they swore something big was coming and like and idiot I left my prime spot to go wander. I was in my way back when Dave Filoni and Pedro Pascal came out! Still very close, but not as close as I would have been. I listened to them talk about the new movie and a whole bunch of other nerdy things I won’t repeat for fear of boring you. Next out was Sigorney Weaver, also slated to be in the new film. Eeeeeeeeeeek. I planned to plant my feet right there, but needed to meet up with the rest of the peeps who were ready to go home for a break.
While Juli and I wandered towards to theme food, I saw a cosplay of Hondo, one of my favorite characters from the cartoons and Juli one of hers, so we went to go get pics when some dude asked to do like a photoshoot. I haven’t modeled in like 8 years but it all came back. The photos looked SO GOOD. I cant wait until I get them back in May.
Apparently, we were in the get pics with cosplay section. Y’all, I had a LINE. That was fun and I got some cool pics too. (And finally one with Hondo)
The food line was AN HOUR WAIT, which wasn’t about to happen so Juli and I made our way back to the hotel. There’s a pizza shop (also full) so we got konbini food and ate like savages in our room. It was a nice way to take a break.
I was ready for more
so Nate and I left Juli and the boy and wandered the halls. Both of us then got sucked into pictures and geeked out with other cosplayers. Good fun. We then all reconvened and headed to the Celebration store. While the line was not nearly as long as it could have been, it was still pretty long. Elijah was convinced that we need not wait in this line as I had Lightspeed passes. I thought everyone did but they didn’t and after a quick question we cut the line and split up.
Even though a lot of stuff was gone (it honestly didn’t feel like it was) it was a pleasant experience to go near the end of the day. The crowd wasn’t jammed packed and the shop was in comfortable disarray. No more airs about it. We each got a treasure (Juli might have gotten several) and we made our way back home.
After an hour wait but some very tasty pizza, it was time to turn in and rest for another great day tomorrow!
