We’re delighted to welcome Steven Allsopp on-board Jedi News! Some of you may know Steven as SithLord229 on YouTube.com for his incredible detailed and thorough video reviews of Hasbro Star Wars figures and other Star Wars products too.
Here’s Steven’s first report – a review of the Star Wars Fan Fun Day 2011 which took place on Bank Holiday Monday. Read the full review below and then take the link for some more pictures!
I along with my girlfriend & parents, attended “The Star Wars Fan Fun Day 2011″ at Burnley Football Club in Burnley, UK. The event was a huge success, with over four costuming groups from various garrisons of the 501st Legion in attendance, as well as actors from the Star Wars movies signing autographs (I’ll get to that later) and finally, various booths selling tons, and I mean TONS of Star Wars memorabilia. All in all the day was an absolute blast, and the first real Star Wars convention I have ever attended.
I’ll begin by talking about the actors who attended the event. Firstly, I got the chance to meet Chris Parsons, who played 4-LOM and K-3PO in Star Wars, Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Chris was a really nice guy, taking the time out to chat while he signed a photo for me. The same can be said for Alan Harris, who had many roles in Episode V, such as Bossk, Bespin Security Guard, C-3PO’s body double and interestingly, the body which was cast for the Carbonite block which encased Han Solo. Alan was incredibly nice and even signed a photo for me not once, but twice, as the ink he’d used to sign the first one had dried and begun to flake off so that was really cool of him to do! Finally, I met Chris Muncke, who played Captain Khurgee in Episode IV A New Hope. Chris was a very lively chap, who signed a free photo for my parents, who were chatting with him while I was talking to Alan Harris. He was very chatty, asking me which of the Star Wars movies was my favourite, and testing my Star Wars knowledge by asking if I remembered the character he played and the scene he appeared in. He wasn’t happy when I told him my favourite movie was The Empire Strikes Back! Other actors at the event included Mike Edmonds (Logray the Ewok), Peter Roy (Rebel Technician), Laurie Goode (Saurin/Stormtrooper) and many more! The ones I met were incredibly nice, very approachable and overall just great, great people and I thank them for making this fanboy feel welcome!
Next up we had the costuming groups. These were real highlights of the event as various characters were walking around the Conference Centre. Stormtroopers, Emperor’s Royal Guards, TIE Pilots, Sandtroopers, Republic Commandos, Wookies, Ewoks, Twi’ Leks and many other weird and wonderful characters were on patrol around the conference centre and were more than happy to pose for photographs (as seen in the image above.) Amongst some of the most memorable characters were “Craig Vader” who was a combination of Darth Vader, and Craig David from UK Comedy show, “Bo Selecta”. He was absolutely hilarious, performing impressions and posing for photos and videos! When I upload my video of this event, you’ll be able to see him in action! Also memorable was what I like to call the “Mini RC” or Mini Republic Commando, who was a small child, around 3-4 feet in height, dressed from head to toe in replica Republic Commando armour! He was awesome, showing so much confidence walking around the convention, and posing for pictures with adults and children!
At one end of the conference centre, was a full size replica of the Death Star hallway, with full size, homemade replicas of IG-88 & a Battle Droid in position. At the other end of the convention were various booths selling Star Wars memorabilia. Some of the items on offer included action figures and vehicles, statues, 12 inch figures, posters, comic books, LEGO, model kits and so much more! I got lucky and was able to purchase a new Vintage Collection Endor Capture Luke Skywalker on his Wave 3 cardback, and a Legacy Collection Captain Typho figure for my Attack of the Clones display. The booths were selling items both old and new and was an absolute “geek heaven!” I saw some very cool items that I wish I could’ve purchased, such as the Death Star Briefing multipack, Vintage Original Trilogy Collection 12 inch Luke Skywalker (complete with Vintage reproduction packaging), various Kotobukiya statues and much more, I just wish I’d taken more money with me!
Overall, I had an excellent time at the Star Wars Fan Fun Day 2011. I’d like to thank Neil Livesey for organising the event, Alan Harris, Chris Parsons & Chris Muncke for being absolutely fantastic people & taking the time to chat, members of the 99th Garrison for being great sports & posing for photos, and finally, everyone involved in making this event truly spectacular and a great day out!
