May 26, 2006
Story and Photos by Chris Rhoads (dustrho)

NOT IN INDIANAPOLIS
Everyone now knows that C4 will be held in Los Angeles and not in Indianapolis. I’ve been to LA once in my lifetime, and that was a long time ago while I was on a business trip. I don’t remember too much of what the city looked like or what was there, but I do think that Lucasfilm could have chosen other locations that would have been much better. Sure, I would have loved to have seen it come to Chicago, but I knew that it would never have happened that way. Indianapolis would have been great, seeing as it isn’t too far from me and is a simple drive across some corn fields. Las Vegas would have been probably the most ideal, as there are so many hotels for people to stay at and it’s Las Vegas! Who wouldn’t want to party it up Star Wars style in one of the greatest cities on this planet? I know I sure would have.

BETTER START SAVING YOUR MONEY
Since LA was chosen as the hosting city it raises a lot of questions and concerns. One major concern is that it will be much more expensive to attend than something that could have been much closer to home (my home any way). The only way to get there that’s remotely feasible would be to fly out there, because there’s no way I would even think about driving out there. Well, if I had a couple weeks where I could take off from work I might consider it, but that isn’t even a possibility for me.

Something else to think about is where to stay out there, because that in itself could become a major problem. As I mentioned, I’ve only been there once and I’m sure there’s lots of hotels to stay in, but hotel rooms are bound to be completely booked to the point where you can’t make a reservation even if it’s well in advance. Plus, I’m sure the cost of a one-night’s stay in a hotel there would be very expensive, and unless you’re going to share the room with other people it will put a big dent in your wallet. I’d rather be spending my money on Star Wars toys and collectibles, instead of spending a great deal of it on a hotel room.

So, you’re going to need to plan on spending a good chunk of change on hotel, airfare, food, but most importantly will be the cost of the tickets and all the items you will plan on buying while you’re there. It shouldn’t be too hard to blow a lot of money on all the different Star Wars toys and collectibles that will be on sale there, but what will probably cost the most amount of money will be all the exclusives that will be made available there. Last time the hot item was the talking Darth Vader action figure, but there were many other items that people had to bring home with them. If I were to go there, I would have to ship everything back because I’d be buying so much stuff that it wouldn’t be able to fit on a plane. Seriously though, I don’t think I could walk away without spending several hundred dollars on collectibles, so steering clear from this show might be the safest strategy for me. Otherwise, I might end up going bankrupt.

WILL THERE BE IMPROVEMENTS?
I’ve been reading in several forums on the Internet, and it seems to me that the majority of people are not all that thrilled with Lucasfilm choosing to do the show in Los Angeles. What is even more surprising is the fact that GENCon will be running the show, who is the same company that ran Celebration III. Again, I didn’t attend Celebration III, but from the various reports we received during C3 last year most people were very irritated with how the show was handled. I surely hope that all the mistakes from C3 will be rectified for C4.

One of the biggest complaints from last year’s Celebration had to deal with the long lines for everything. There was a long line (and wait) to get into the show. Then you had to wait to get your exclusive items at the StarWarsShop store. Then you had to wait to get autographs from any of the many Star Wars celebrities. I’ll tell you one thing, and it’s that waiting in line is one of my biggest irritations when it comes to conventions. If you’re willing to spend the high dollar amounts for exclusive products, then why should you have to wait in such long lines? Why not make all those exclusives available online, to those who have already purchased tickets to attend the show? It would be simple enough to have specific numbers on the tickets, and when you’re about to purchase those exclusive items you’re asked to enter the number that’s on your ticket. That way not everyone will have the opportunity to order that particular item, making it an actual exclusive collectible. You shouldn’t have to spend all the money for airfare, hotel, food, convention tickets, and spend the majority of your time waiting in lines. That is flat out ridiculous.

SHOULD I GO OR NOT?
Will I be going to Celebration IV next year? At this point in time I truly do not think that I will be attending the show, because of the amount of money I would end up spending there. I have never made it to a Celebration event, but if I choose not to go to this one then I suppose I won’t know what I’m missing. Right? While I was home last year building web pages with reports and photos galore from C3, it did feel that I was there yet I knew how much money I was saving because of that. If the opportunity presents itself though, I would go there, but chances of that happening are pretty slim.

CONCLUSION
In the end, how this show is handled will not be affected by our comments, suggestions or criticisms. We can offer advice to all those who are responsible for organizing this, but will anyone really listen to us? If they had listened to us I think they would have placed the location of the show somewhere in the central portion of the United States (i.e. Chicago, Indianapolis, etc). I’m sure the show will be a huge success (to some people anyway), and I’m sure that everyone who will attend it will have the time of their life. But, it’s going to cost you a pretty penny if you don’t live anywhere remotely close to California. So you better start saving your money, and don’t forget to put in your hotel and airfare reservations now!

Stayed tuned for future updates about Celebration IV here at Sandtroopers.com.