A few weekends ago I was able to go to Star Wars Celebration Europe at the Excel in London. This is a 3 day convention dedicated to Star Wars with many of the big names attending and big announcements made.

I had booked my tickets over a year in advance and went for the last day of the event. This meant having to miss out on a lot of the bigger panels for things like Rogue One and Rebels and having to endure post after post on social media showing me just how much I’d missed out on.

However on Sunday, my eldest daughter dressed as Rey, my wife and I stood in line waiting for the convention to start.

Our first destination was the Rogue One Costume exhibit. Since the trailers first started to appear I’ve been drawn to the new Imperial troopers. After seeing them in the flesh I was very impressed with the new Shoretroopers and Deathtroopers. The members of the 501st are already deep in the rabbit hole to develop these as new costumes for the Legion. Something I’m really enjoying helping with, and already have a number of parts for.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the rest of the exhibits and stalls.

LEGO had a stand where you could build a small X-wing or a TIE fighter and once handed over they’d give you a polybag set. The models were displayed on the stand with TIEs out numbering X-Wings significantly, as they should.

The Art Exhibition contained a lot of excellent work by a number of artists. Sadly not much was affordably priced but we did walk away with a signed limited poster print for the eldest’s room.

The UK Garrison along with the Rebel Legion, Galactic Alliance and Rebel Force Radio had a most impressive set up including a number of sets from a X-34 Landspeeder to a Wampa lair to a Death Star wall. These were all very busy and a great showcase for the members who built them.

The highlight of the day though was meeting A New Hope actress Pam Rose. She actually came over to us and introduced herself to my daughter. She was kind enough to talk with us for a little while and took some photos with us, including one with a Jabba the Hutt she commanded to come join in.

The day was excellent fun and I’m looking forward to chances to attend one again in future. My only real regret is not being able to troop the event. The costumed characters were all extremely popular and as always the UKG where shining examples.