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Star Wars Celebration 2015 – Sure It's Over, But I Still Got My Swag

Published Sat, 25 Apr 2015 08:15:40 -0500

After four long days, Star Wars Celebration 2015 is over. Thankfully, I will not have to deal with any horrible lines like this convention had for a while – SDCC 2015 you're in my sights – I do have a pile of swag I can enjoy and even share, at least through pictures because you can't have any of my stuff.

This first picture includes my media pass which features The Inquisitor, very clever Star Wars and kind of insulting since you are comparing the media to a character to hunts and murders Jedi and Force-sensitive children, and the lanyard given out with each pass that was from Think Geek and features images from the Battle of Yavin. Sadly I was unable to get the official Star Wars Celebration lanyard, $8 in the Celebration Store, as they sold out as fast as the pin sets did, which is to say too damn fast me for anyone I knew to get one. I did see a vendor selling a lanyard for $60. Also in the photo is the Insider's Guide to Star Wars Celebration 2015.

I was disappointed in it when I first received it as I started comparing to what is given out at SDCC, but when I went into the Official Star Wars Store I discovered there was an official program for the event that was glossy and full of nice pictures. I decided to pass on the program as they wanted $20 for it and I figured I would save that money for the larger, more in-depth program they give out at SDCC every year free. Del Rey was giving out a great little sampler of all their recent and upcoming books that are part of the official Star Wars Canon, along with copies of Star Wars: A New Dawn, by John Jackson Miller. I just finished listening to the audio version of the book and Marc Thompson does an amazing job reading the book and changing his voice for each character. If you are Star Wars fan I recommend the book, but if you are a Star Wars Rebels fan then the book is required reading (or listening) as it features Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla and tells the story of how they met.

In this second picture, we have some the Star Wars Celebration show exclusives. First up are the two Hallmark exclusives, the ornament features the Ralph McQuarrie concept art scene of Darth Vader and Lukestarkiller battling with their lightsabers. The second Hallmark exclusive are a pair of Itty Bittys, Bossk and Dengar. The other two items featured in the picture are from the Official Star Wars Store, plush singing Max Rebo and plush Death Star dice to hang from your rearview mirror. When I was checking out the women at the counter was describing the items as she entered them into the computer, and she called the Death Star dice "fuzzy balls." About 10 seconds later she realized what she had said and she turned to the color of Lord Vader's lightsaber.
One of the hottest collectibles at Celebration were the new Star Tots that were given out at the end of each collectible track panels, 20 in all. Here are the two I received, AT-AT Driver and Princess Leia (Hoth Outfit). I am not sure what to make of these as a collectible. They are not pins or magnets, so unless you leave them in packaging I am not sure what you are supposed to do with them. Additionally, they were a big pain in the ass as far as getting into some of the collectible panels go. There were a lot of people who got shut out of panels because the rooms filled up with people who just wanted the Tots, and didn't even care about the panel itself. I had two panels that I had waited at least 30 minutes for and couldn't get into due people wanting to get all the Star Tots. Also in the photo are four Star Wars Store exclusive dog tags, the official Star Wars Celebration pin. Thinkgeek gave out Velcro patches either to those who bought their Con Survival Edition Bag of Holding at the show or to anyone that had the bag with them. They said they intended to have a new patch for every convention they attend. Also pictured is a Wampa pin Hallmark gave out and a free audiobook download for the William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return.

The Official Star Wars Store had this great set of four pint glasses, and now so do I. Each of the glasses feature the Star Wars Celebration 2015 logo on one side, and on the other side are the images seen in the pictures – Hoth Bar, Outlander Club, Mos Eisley Cantina, and Cloud City Sky Bar.

Of all the vendor booths at the show, the one I spent the most type perusing was the Dreams and Visions Press booth. Dreams and Visions Press is a publishing company that has been publishing Ralph McQuarrie's art books and prints for a number of years. While the prices of many of the items were sadly out of my spending range, they did have a number of items that were inexpensive enough that I couldn't pass up. First is the uncut bookmark set from the 2008 Star Wars Celebration in Japan. McQuarrie himself initials the print, and there was no way I wasn't getting this beauty. The second print is the concept art for McQuarrie's redesign of the Enterprise for the never produced film, Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.

The last of my showing off swag pictures is of the Hot Wheels show exclusive, R2-KT. All proceeds from the sale of this car were to be donated to Star Wars: Force for Change, the charity setup to donate money to UNICEF. To find out more about R2-KT and its amazing story check out http://www.r2kt.com/.

That's it, all my swag from Star Wars Celebration 2015. It may not be much, but as I know it is tradition of Bleeding Cool to post con swag, well who am I to break tradition.

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