The Freelancer Strikes BackI had a great time attending my first Star Wars Celebration. I met a lot of people I'd previously only had professional or online contact with, made many new acquaintances and ran into the occasional old friend. I took full advantage of the panels. I often skipped some of the major ones that I knew I'd see clips from online and went to some that wouldn't be seen elsewhere. Among the event related highlights (of which there were many):
- The Force.net party, which was a big success attended by many Star Wars celebrity guests (artists, authors, directors, creators, etc.) and fans.
- Briefly meeting Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni, and having him comment on the end of the RPG line.
- Panels covering Del Rey, Dark Horse, Essential Guides, Blueprints, Knight Errant, Atlas and Star Wars Insider.
- Panels with Ben Burtt (sound), ILM model makers, SW and TESB producer Gary Kurtz and Lucas Licensing.
- Writing panels with Troy Denning and Aaron Allston (I couldn't make the third).
- Continuity-heavy discussion panel with Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo on the Clone Wars.
- Storytelling panel and Clone Wars Season 3 panel, both with Dave Filoni.
- Roaming the dealers hall, seeing the various sets and multitude of collectibles, toys, books and artists.
- And many other displays, events, etc.
It was a very fun show and a great time. I also managed to see the last half of the Main Event from one of the overflow rooms and...and...and....there was too much to do even in 4 days, though I covered a lot of it.