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Day Six - Monday, May 28, 2007: Last Day of the Convention and LA Trip

After many days of waking up really early, walking what seemed like miles and miles around the LA Convention Center, seeing and meeting many Star Wars celebrities and other famous people, buying Star Wars merchandise, meeting passionate Star Wars fans, and just basically living in a place completely transformed into the Star Wars universe - the last day of the Convention had arrived. Needless to say, despite the fact that we were all tired, it was a bittersweet experience. We all knew that after today, it would be at least two more years until we might be able to go to another Convention. When you're a Star Wars fan, words cannot describe how sorrowful it feels when you've been living in this strange and exciting world of Star Wars for five days, only to have it taken from you and have to return to the not so exciting real world. Okay, life isn't all bad in the real world, but Star Wars is just frickin' awesome, okay?

Despite the bittersweetness, there was no way we'd let this day get passed us without enjoying it as much as possible first. We were invited to have breakfast with Leti's family before we went to the last day of the Convention. Once again, it was amazing food, and her family was just so hospitable and nice to all of us. Even though we would miss a little of the Convention, it was so worth it to spend time with great people and eating great food. I really hope they can all visit us in Michigan. After we ate, they took us back to the Convention Center and we returned to our fantasy world for one last time.

We visited the Exhibit Hall for a little while and looked around some more at all the Star Wars art, merchadise, etc. After that, Steve and I decided to go to the Fan Club lounge and listen to Steve Sansweet talk a bit, while my dad stayed behind to look at the art and talk with some people. The Fan Club lounge was one of those things they had at the last convention that I was curious about but never actually went to. As it turns out, it's a smaller room in the Convention Center with tables, chairs and couches where people can just hang out with other fans, and ocassionally someone famous in the world of Star Wars would come hang out with the fans and answer various questions we have. We could be very up close to them as they answered questions.

So we all sat around Mr. Sansweet as he answered many of our questions regarding Star Wars merchandise, collecting and the future of Star Wars in general. One highlight was when someone asked him about an updated Star Wars Encyclopedia. (Sansweet was the author of the first edition, which included everything in the Star Wars universe right up through the 1997 Special Editions of the Original Star Wars Trilogy). Basically, the question was, "When?" Sansweet didn't have a definite answer, since he's currently working on many other projects and is just busy in general. But he did say he definitely is planning on returning to the Encyclopedia to update it. He also said that it was proposed to him to just do a second volume, but that he knows that that's not what the fans want and that he really just wants to update the Encyclopedia so that the fans can have one book that contains everything from all six films plus whatever has come after that prior to the completion of this new edition of the Encyclopedia.

I don't remember everything he talked about except for two more things:
- A couple of German girls were putting up a fit about how on the last day of the Convention, merchandise in the Celebration Store was lowered in price. Their complaint was that they paid more the previous days, and now people could just go and get everything for half off. Sansweet's reply was that it was a business decision, and that they wanted to get rid of as much of the extra merchandise as possible. Plus, you could buy some more things and sell stuff. I was with Sansweet on this one. When you have left over merch on the last day of an event, it makes very good business sense to lower prices to get rid of stuff. It's not a malicious act to rip off fans. It's simply a way to get rid of stuff. Needless to say, the line for the store on this day was the biggest it had ever been for the entire Convention. The girls were still ticked off though, and walked away after Sansweet answered their question as politely as he could. It was quite awkward, but those girls needed to hear the reasoning behind the business decision.
- Sansweet also commented that they want to have a Celebration Convention every two years... and there was much rejoicing.

He politely offered to stay a bit to sign autographs, and so a line formed and I joined to get my program signed. Oh, how I wish I had my copy of the Star Wars Encyclopedia with me then!

My dad made his way up to the Fan Club lounge and he and Steve (Baker) decided to head on over to the Celebration Store to pick up more merch. I didn't want anything more from the Store so I stayed in the Fan Club lounge to wait for Bonnie Piesse (young Aunt Beru) and Alan Ruscoe (Plo Koon/Bib Fortuna/Daultay Dofine from The Phantom Menace, and Gilramos Libkath from Attack of the Clones). They were the next Celebrities scheduled to come to the lounge. To be honest, I didn't care as much about Ruscoe (although I have to admit Plo Koon was a cool-looking Jedi). I really was anxious to meet Bonnie Piesse. Even though she had only one line of dialogue (one word, actually) in AOTC, she played Aunt Beru - Luke Skywalker's aunt! That, and in real life she is quite attractive. Even my fiance thinks so.

 

Anyhow, I sat as close as I could to them to get some good photos, and everyone else was crowded around them also. It was just so cool to hang out with them. I would say there were maybe 30+ fans there. I just thought it was great to have this informal setting where there weren't thousands of fans around getting in the way, and we could just be up close and personal with a couple of celebrities. It felt like I was a part of something special, because it was the kind of setting that didn't feel so public. It felt very private, very much like a small press conference or something, where you have an inside connection to the celebrties that the outside world doesn't have.

I didn't ask any questions, but I took pictures and a video of a guy dressed up as Obi-Wan handing off a special gift to Bonnie - a baby "Luke Skywalker" doll wrapped in swadling clothes! It was pretty funny to see Bonnie as her normal self take on the role of Aunt Beru from Revenge of the Sith for a moment, accepting Luke Skywalker into her arms. After that, I got a photo taken with her. To be honest, I was kind of nervous since she was talking to me for a moment, looking at me in the eye, standing only about a foot away from me so that we could take a picture together. Her face was so close to mine that it almost felt like she was going to kiss me or something (even though there was no indication of that other that the fact that her face was so close to mine when she was talking to me)! It was funny. But, I'm already taken by another beautiful woman so...

Anyhow, after that I left to go to the Autograph Hall to collect the last of the autographs I wanted. I missed out on getting Daniel Logan's autograph at Celebration III, so I figured I'd better get it now. After all, I had the autographs of old Boba Fett and Jango Fett, so it only made sense to get young Boba's autograph. He was very personable, and my dad talked with him too. He commented to him about how he was so informal and personable for being famous. Logan's comment was something like, "Hey, we may be actors. But at the end of the day we eat, sleep and crap just like everyone else." I thought that was great! Also, his parents were there, and we got to meet his dad briefly.

After that, I didn't have any more autograph coupons, but decided to get a couple more so that I could actually get Bonnie Piesse's autograph. It was funny, because I had just seen her and gotten my picture taken with her, and now, after getting her autograph I got another picture taken with her!

Since this was the last day of the Convention, there wasn't a whole lot more going on, and the day was ending early at 4PM. So, after some more roaming around, we all went to the Lucasfilm Archive Exhibit to check out original concept art, props, etc. from the films. This was the last thing we did at Celebration III also, so it was only fitting to make it our final stop on this long voyage as well. It's always amazing to see actually props and costume from the films, and we must have spent a good hour in that room.

We actually had to leave around 2ish to catch our shuttle bus to take us back to our hotel so that we could catch another shuttle bus to the airport. Yes, we actually left on the last day of the Convention. But we really didn't miss much because it was only really a half day they had scheduled there. So, we walked out of the doors of the LA Convention Center for the last time and headed for our bus. Once we arrived at our hotel, I called my fiance to let her know we were done and on our way back to Michigan.

Oh, how this was saddening. Riding in the shuttle bus on the way to the airport, looking out the window at LA and seeing the Convention Center in the distance made my heart sink. I didn't want to leave all this behind. The only thing I could say to myself was, "Perhaps in two years I'll be back. I hope I can go to Celebration V !"

What was great, however, was that once we got checked in at the airport, and were on our way to our terminal, we heard Star Wars music playing in the background! For a few moments, it felt like we were still at the Convention Center, since they had Star Wars music playing in the background of many of the events and exhibits there. I had one last smile before leaving. No tears, but I was crying inside ; (

It was a long trek back to Lansing. We were to catch an evening flight out of LA and connect to a Detroit flight out of Las Vegas. I hated the Las Vegas Airport. Immediately someone was trying to sell us something, there were slot machines and flashing lights everywhere, and all three of us were kind of tired of being around each other for so long. We all get along great for the most part, but when you're around people for so long, things just start to get irritating. We were definitely not in LA anymore, the Convention was long over and I felt like I was in a sort of purgatory. Also, our Detroit flight had switched terminals on us, so we were trying to figure out where to go. By that time, I was so tired, Steve became incredibly hyperactive since he was so tired AND wired at the same time, and my dad was trying his best to just get through it all. Steve needed coffee to calm down! :) We all wanted sleep.

After everything was figured out, we hopped on board our Detroit flight and flew through the evening. Going back to Michigan meant going forward in time a few hours. So by the time we got there it was already early morning the next day. I tried to sleep, but really couldn't. My dad didn't seem to have any problem. Steve got out his laptop and fiddled around a bit. I believe I listed to the Force-Cast Celebration IV Megacast on my iPod again just to pass the time.

Finally, we got to Detroit and our friend from Garden City picked us up and we went out for breakfast. After that, it was an hour and a half drive back to Lansing. I got home, hung out with my fiance for a bit, and then pretty much crashed.

What a ride!

Conclusion:

Well, when all is said and done, Star Wars Celebration IV was amazing. There was enough about it that was new to me that it didn't feel like a complete repeat of Celebration III. Although, if it was I wouldn't be unhappy either, since CIII was amazing as well.

Sure, this time George Lucas wasn't there, and we didn't wait up all night in the cold and rainy weather just to see him. Sure, I didn't get the chance to get Ray Park's autograph and have him swing around my Anakin Episode III Force FX lightsaber while doing martial arts. Sure, it wasn't like the first time experiencing the convention, where everything was so new and exciting. But somehow, after two years of waiting, even though it wasn't all new to us, it was still very exciting. It doesn't matter how many times you go to one of these things, because once you step into a world completely transformed into Star Wars, where you can't go anywhere without seeing or hearing something Star Wars related, you feel like a kid again. And nothing can ever take away from that.

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