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The Legal Geeks
Barely Good Luck: Our Tokyo Star Wars Celebration Adventure
Join us for our recap of Star Wars Celebration 2025!
No part of this recording should be considered legal advice.
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Hello everyone, my name is Joshua Gilliland, one of the co-founding attorneys of the Legal Geeks. We were in Japan, we have recovered from Japan and we're now ready to talk about Star Wars Celebration. With me are two of my traveling companions to Japan, Katrina Wright and Stephen Tollefield. So, starting with Stephen, how are you?
Stephen Tollafield :I'm doing good, the world is a lot less. It was a lot more boring, a lot less magical than when you're at Celebration, but it's slowly readjusting and and or helps for sure.
Joshua Gilliland:Katrina, how are you in a post-celebration life?
Katrina Wraight:I'm doing wonderful. Thank you, Getting back into my routine. Got a little sick there after. I wasn't sure what that was, but I'm recovered and feeling great and no complaints. I'll take sickness with a lovely trip to Japan any day.
Stephen Tollafield :A little com-cred is a lovely trip to Japan any day yeah A little con credit is a small price to pay right.
Katrina Wraight:Yeah, the cons always seem to get me yeah.
Joshua Gilliland:Yes, yes, indeed, right. So let's discuss our trip to Tokyo. So there won't be any legal analysis. So this is just us talking about we had a wizard of a time and how much fun we had, and we'll discuss some highlights what we did before the show, what we did after the show and now that life is back, to quote, normal. So first things first, let's talk about the pre-show Travel to Japan. Katrina, how was your adventure? Getting to the land of the rising sun?
Katrina Wraight:It was wonderful. It was great. No issues whatsoever. I'm good on an international flight. I sleep the whole time, oh my gosh. I took A&A, though, for the first time ever, and they had the most adorable Pokemon flight preparation videos, with, you know, little Pikachus running up and down the aisle. It was so cute. And the food was absolutely amazing. On ANA it was some of the best airline food I've had, probably since, like Etihad. So travel trip was just great, no complaints whatsoever.
Joshua Gilliland:Good steven. How about you? You guys arrived, uh, I think, a day or two after, after we did so, yeah, we got there right before the convention.
Stephen Tollafield :We, we landed in tokyo the day on wednesday. No, yeah, there Thursday. Um, we left on Wednesday but didn't arrive until like kind of after dinner on Wednesday or Thursday night. And so we got off our plane, we got off that weird shuttle from the airport to um, to our hotel, and ran we had like 15 minutes to get our badges, um, and just like hit the ground running and ran into the line to get our badges. So yeah it was. The journey was mostly pretty sedate, except for that last little sprint.
Joshua Gilliland:So I left on Saturday April 12th and arrived on Sunday April 13th because the international date line and took the bus dateline and uh took the bus, uh, we stayed uh near disney and uh really did grow to enjoy that hotel and the surrounding area because it was disney um which. So I thought there'd be lots of sense in english and other things that would make navigating easier. Sunday I was able to meet up with well, actually, no Sunday was more travel get settled, watch Doctor who, had the buffet and made it to bed by eight o'clock local time. Monday morning went down to the water's edge because we were looked over Tokyo Bay because I was thinking like hey, my grandfather was there for the surrender and met up with James Gones and his buddy Ed from Monster Party and we went to some vintage toy stores, the Godzilla Hotel it was really cool and had a fantastic time.
Joshua Gilliland:And and then, uh, met katrina at the airport, which was again exciting to navigate, and then off to uh, then off to uh back to the hotel the Tuesday, so we got to play tourist. And so, katrina, what was your highlights from the adventure?
Katrina Wraight:before the show so we had like a temple day that's the first thing with a tour guide, a very fast older japanese gentleman that scuttled around the city. We had a hard time keeping up uh, but he showed us kind of the wonderful temples and the culture in various areas. He somewhat showed us how to work the train system, which is one of the most difficult trains. I love a train. Um, one of the most difficult train systems I've ever encountered. I had no idea they had so many various private lines and so many different types of lines. If you pulled up the map I remember wanting going, going to look at the map and being like never mind, uh, that's not I'm not gonna memorize that anytime soon.
Katrina Wraight:Um. So what was good about, uh, and what I'd probably recommend for anybody going, is our tour guide picked out certain well, we picked out certain spots and then he showed us how to get around and kind of gave us a primer on how to use the train. So that's always probably a good thing for everybody to do when they first get there, because you've got to lay out the land and then figure out at least where the train ticket systems are and kind of how they work um very, very complicated, um it's still a lot of fun, um.
Katrina Wraight:Do you have anything to say about that day, josh?
Joshua Gilliland:yeah, well, before you, before you arrived, uh, I took the train back after hanging out with james and, uh, to my horror, I learned that the train reversed. So I thought I was going back to the hotel and it made it to a specific stop because it was an express train and then it started going the other direction from which we had just arrived and I thought that's not good, that's not how I thought this was going to go. And my train adventure, you know I was not lost in Tokyo, so it was not an after-school special but it was, you know, popping off at one of the other stops, taking the train to the main Tokyo station, which is intimidating, but luckily they have color-coded markings on the floor to follow, like to which train that you need. So there was a switching and that was unnecessarily exciting, but made it back to the hotel and was able to drop off some purchases from that vintage toy store and made it back From the tour of Tokyo.
Joshua Gilliland:I mean, we had a great lesson in how the train work. But, more importantly, it set the theme for us for barely good luck. At one of the shrines it was, you know, you drop a hundred yen, which is a coin and their valuation system is completely different than ours. So when we think $40 for them, it's like you know, like 500 yen and it's just. It's a very different. You know mathematical equation to run in your head.
Joshua Gilliland:But dropped in a coin of 100 yen and got my fortune and I opened it and it said barely good luck. And I thought like good enough for me, I can work with barely good luck. And the tour guide was like no, that's actually bad, you should tie it to the rail and do it again. And I was like no, no, we can make it work. And that turned into the theme for the rest of the show. So we can talk about where barely good luck happened later. But Wednesday was our Mount Fuji day, where barely good luck granted us great weather. Cherry blossoms were still open around Fuji. We could see the snow blowing off the mountaintop. It was just so much fun. Katrina, what were your memories of Mount Fuji and the restaurant where we had lunch?
Katrina Wraight:Mount Fuji was absolutely gorgeous and I was so happy that we got to see those cherry blossoms. Our tour guide was telling us that typically they're only in bloom around like two weeks total, and more recently they've been blooming in bloom for as long as two months. There weren't any in the city of Tokyo, so we didn't get to see any on our initial tour, but, for whatever reason, they were lingering around the mountain, and what I loved about the tour was the secret little spots that our tour guide kept pulling off to where he wasn't supposed to. The one specifically that sticks out to me is that there was the lake where you had the view of the cherry blossoms and the Mount Fuji in the background, and overlooking a lake was absolutely gorgeous.
Katrina Wraight:So thankful for him showing us around and then stopping in all sorts of places he wasn't supposed to so that we could get a good little shot. And then he, it was a madhouse. It was so busy, probably because the cherry blossoms were still there. So the line getting off the freeway was how long, would you say josh?
Joshua Gilliland:so long it was like 20 minutes, I mean it was. Yeah, it was rough, uh, I I was impressed with his work stamina because that kind of like defensive driving is an art and skill and the parking around the first little village that we went to, at mount fuji, was some of the worst parking I have ever seen in my life and I survived driving in boston and, uh and la, like it was, it was bonkers scary on that little parking lot. But all you know, we saw this pond because it's groundwater coming up to make this pond with, with all these, uh, koi, fish and ducks and you get to, you know, feed them, and the view was spectacular and this, all these little markets and we got tons of snacks. Uh, you got that seafood that that is hard to explain, um I'm sort of like squid.
Katrina Wraight:I don't even know what it was on a stick like, but in an egg casing.
Joshua Gilliland:Oh man, it was worth a try it was like seafood corn dog, like it was but like squishy and like rectangular you know, I mean you were hungry. We fixed the situation. But man, that was, uh, that was one for the books, uh, but the little wasabi you did not take my offer for a bite.
Katrina Wraight:You didn't. You didn't give it a go.
Joshua Gilliland:No, I was. You were braver than me so and and remained that way throughout the week. So I, yeah, I knew when to fold them. But the restaurant that we stopped at, I mean it was super busy. That we stopped at, I mean it was super busy. I had a pork dish and you had that amazing ramen.
Katrina Wraight:Ramen with the best homemade wheat noodles I think I've ever had in my life. We sat Japanese style so on the floor cross-legged, which we had to keep adjusting ourselves, as did most of the other Americans in the room keep shifting the weight from side to side.
Joshua Gilliland:I did learn to carry Tylenol after the walk around Tokyo where we logged at least. That was hard to explain. It's like you get to cook the meat that they serve you, but it's like this little candle lit grill or hot plate and we were starved by the time we got there. But that was fascinating. And drinks followed by karaoke and I'm grateful there's no video, um, but we, we did live to tell the experience and uh, the private room karaoke is the way to go, and uh, I think james may have some video.
Katrina Wraight:If, uh, anybody you know wants some blackmail, I want to put your video.
Joshua Gilliland:It wasn't me well, yeah, it was not me, but I will follow up accordingly, in case there I I had hoped there was no video, so that uh I think you may have video.
Joshua Gilliland:Oh, no, might need a restraining order, so there is irreparable harm. So we can talk more about that with him at Comic-Con. But, yeah, so the Tuesday and Wednesday with all of our tours, which is so much fun and it's like part of me is still at Mount Fuji, fuji, like I can close my eyes and still see it. It was just so awe-inspiring and I we got some great photos, but, man, that was just so incredible. Which then brings us to Thursday, which was our, uh, disney day. Well, first things first, we rendezvoused with Thomas Harper, uh, who got in Wednesday, and we met for dinner and, uh, why don't you, uh, share the dinner experience? Because that was some of your finest work.
Katrina Wraight:Okay. So we were looking for somewhere good to eat, somewhere close, because Thomas had, I think, just that second gotten as well and he was also, I think, rushing to get his badge or deciding whether he was going to rush to get his badge. So I booked a reservation online and it was like kind of a fancy restaurant, like a benihana type, uh ordeal, where they uh do it in front of you, the cook-in, um, and it had one of those little boxes for you to put like happy birthday or happy anniversary, and I was rushing to get a reservation because the windows kept disappearing, um, so I just put Star Wars, exclamation point in it. And then at the end of dinner they came around and brought a dessert with candles for Josh to blow out, and then it just said Star Wars on it, exclamation point. And the lady came over and she's like Star Wars Didn't know what to say.
Joshua Gilliland:She's used to saying, I'm sure, happy birthday or happy anniversary or whatever it might be, but I managed to sneak in a little star wars reference there to begin with you were so cunning and tactical and quick I mean like we're talking princess leia type activity here with just being able to make that happen and saying dantooine, um, it was uh, I like you had seconds to do that and that was very impressive, brilliant. Yes, I, I keep it on my refrigerator, just because again they came to me with it.
Katrina Wraight:Um, they knew it was free.
Joshua Gilliland:And the dinner was really good, so it was super tasty. And this is all before the show. That includes a trip to DisneySea and Tokyo Disney and I'm a Disney fan I've been going to. You know there's pictures of me meeting Donald Duck when I was four. So getting to do both of these parks was so much fun. And the US translation for the park entry was about 60 for each park, which is way less than Disneyland or a park hopper with California Adventure Like that's $190 something. So this is pretty impressive. And DisneySea was unlike anything I'd seen before. Yeah, the center of the park is Volcania and you know from Jules Verne and it's, you know, captain Nemo's base. And then, being the skipper of the Nautilus in my Sea Scout life, getting to see a, you know, a full scale mock-up of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was was very important to me. But, katrina, why don't you share your impressions and favorite elements of DisneySea?
Katrina Wraight:DisneySea was beautiful. It was gorgeous, it was scenic, had a lot of like the like kind of facade elements that say, like you know, certain places in Vegas do but beautiful little areas you have, like the Mediterranean area, where there was the most incredible curry popcorn.
Katrina Wraight:The lines for the popcorn were arguably the longest, some of the longest lines in the park. It was a very, very big deal. I can see why that curry popcorn was to die, for I dream of it. But it was beautiful, like Mediterranean elements, the sea, sea elements. It was gorgeous with all the water throughout. It's one of the most beautiful parks I think I've ever seen. We also happened to time it really well and that it was the food and wine west of festivals, such that you could get special treats and alcoholic beverages.
Stephen Tollafield :But no wine but no wine. But no wine. There was no wine at DisneySea at the Food and Wine Festival. I was like, is it really Food and Wine Festival? What's the wine. The drinks were great, but I was like I'm not seeing the wine.
Katrina Wraight:Yeah, that's so true. Actually I don't see any wine.
Stephen Tollafield :No, no wine.
Katrina Wraight:The drinks were great.
Joshua Gilliland:Maybe if we'd gone to one of the Italian restaurants, there would have been wine.
Stephen Tollafield :Yes, yeah, maybe if you sat down in one of the places, yeah, but yeah, it was really funny. The food was great, though, and you know we tried to find that. We went to DisneySea after the con, just for the evening, though. You can get a post 5 pm like dusk ticket, so you the evening, though you can get a post 5 pm like dusk ticket, so you get like four hours in the park. It was perfect. Um, we just went to have like dinner and food, and, um, we tried to find the curry popcorn. We found every flavor of popcorn, but the curry.
Joshua Gilliland:We're so sad the fact that the app showed the lines for the popcorn was something I was not prepared for. That'd be like going to Disneyland and seeing an app saying how long the line is to get a churro. Like. It's just not something you expect. I did have one of their churros that were potato based. It was different. It was tasty. It wasn't what I expected and it did not remind me of the churros of Disneyland because it wasn't coated in cinnamon and sugar and things that would shorten your lifespan. It was deceivingly healthy, but it was still. It was tasty, but it was different.
Joshua Gilliland:The rides the 20,000 Leagues Under, under the sea ride, I thought was a ton of fun. Uh, because it has the peter pan element of like. Like you get into the little uh, dsrv and that's steampunk style and you go through this area and instead of submerging the windows, you know, look, make it look like you're diving and I thought that was a nice element. And you get to. You know, control a searchlight so you can look at the undersea areas. But there were other rides that we went on. Now Katrina, you did the Tower of Terror. It was something that hurts my back and Stephen's giving a thumbs up, so why don't you two have a bonding moment over the thing that would put me in traction?
Katrina Wraight:Oh, so fun. Did you love it Stephen?
Stephen Tollafield :I did. You know I hadn't been to Disney. I'm not from California, so I hadn't been to Disneyland really until about five or ten years ago. So by the time I got there, tower of Terror had already been re-scanned as the Guardians of the Galaxy, so I'd never done the original version of it. So it was really cool to do that. Um, and it was fun. Um, I feel like, uh, it was. It was not as scary as I thought it would be.
Katrina Wraight:Yeah, I guess. It's a shorter drop, I think, than the, maybe the one here, but something about a haunted monkey or something. It was all in Japanese and I had no idea what was happening, but it was so much fun we all got. It's one of those rides where you all get off and everyone's giggling and giddy and that's like what state parks are all about. I feel like it's fun.
Stephen Tollafield :Did you do the toy story? Ride right around the corner.
Katrina Wraight:I think Josh did while I was on Tower of Terror.
Stephen Tollafield :Yes, super fun, right?
Joshua Gilliland:we really enjoyed that one yeah, which is very, very similar to california adventure yeah, it's similar to the spider-man ride too, yeah so it was good, clean, fun.
Joshua Gilliland:But hearing all the characters in japanese is uh kind of a head switch. Uh, because it's like okay, it's, it makes sense, like why? But no, you're not hearing Tom Hanks Like so it's a different, it's just different. I did have one of my higher scores though, so like that, that was fun. Years of practice being brought to bear, the war we weren't able to go on to the journey to uh, to the center of the earth ride. I really want to do that the next time, so fun that one is really cool.
Joshua Gilliland:That was my favorite yeah, it looked good, it was. We were just running out of time, it was. You know, we had the mantra of we'll leave something for next time.
Stephen Tollafield :That's what's left for next time that's a good thing to look forward to. It's really fun.
Joshua Gilliland:The Indiana Jones ride is very similar to the California equivalent and the Soaring ride is very similar in the execution, like the waiting room area has this 19th century european gliding craft that I'm not familiar with, with a falconeer that apparently is important in french history that I've never learned about, uh, but the flight is like, let's just say, 80 the same, except for the end, which is, you know, japan, you know, which makes sense as the california, one ends in california. So all of that's good fun.
Stephen Tollafield :uh, anything else from disney sea either, if you want to highlight you know we were kind of running through it because we only had a few hours. We didn't get a chance to do a lot of the rides we wanted to, but it was just really fun. Ariel's Castle at night was beautiful. That was really impressive. Yeah, it was a cool park I really enjoyed it.
Katrina Wraight:I imagine it was beautiful in sunset because it was just such a gorgeous park to begin with.
Stephen Tollafield :I imagine it was so pretty.
Katrina Wraight:Yeah it that, because it was just such a gorgeous park to begin with, I imagine it was. So yeah, it was beautiful. The only other thing would be a tip. If anybody wants to know is to sign up for the app, and then you get a feel for how the like back passes and bcas work.
Joshua Gilliland:I guess it's not a huge deal, but yeah what were some of the other rides that we were able to do, because there's a lot to do there.
Stephen Tollafield :We did the little roller coaster. Which one? What was that? That was kind of fun.
Joshua Gilliland:The one that goes inverted.
Stephen Tollafield :Yeah, it has a loop. Yeah, it was fun.
Joshua Gilliland:Yeah, I'm glad that warned me. I chickened out. I chickened out the tramp steamers, so it did. All of this was designed for the the sailor and, uh, you know, for a tramp steamer is a ship that doesn't have a set routine and they look like you know paddle wheelers, wheelers of old that were crossing you know the Pacific or the Atlantic in the late 19th century, except these boats definitely had diesel engines. It sounded very familiar to what I've been able to operate and Katrina humored me and nerding out and being on a boat. So thank you.
Joshua Gilliland:But yeah, that was fun to take a little cruise on that, so it was amazing. Then we were able to hit Disney Tokyo, which there are parts of that theme park that are better designed than Disney, just with Main Street and how it's wider and it's covered and it has like side streets that you can go down and from what I we saw the park because that was our limited experience. I think it's a it's a smoother design. I think Disney had a little urban sprawl in California so the layout isn't as ergonomic as you could make it and I think the Japanese counterpart did a a good job of building that out. So that was fun and we did the haunted mansion and a couple other things around the park you have to mention Small World with Groot.
Joshua Gilliland:Oh golly.
Katrina Wraight:That was so well done. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. It's me, josh and Thomas all on Small World like loving it, because they threw little Groot things and elements it was.
Joshua Gilliland:I think he took videos and they have other Marvel characters that are done in like that same puppet style throughout it. That's just clever. And Katrina spotted someone wearing a little Groot like headband deal, so it's Groot kind of across the top of your head. So we did find one of those. They are available for purchase and so, again, it was a truly wonderful experience and I did bring back some of the very tasty chocolate candies from Disney and have had them at work and shared with colleagues, so they've been popular at the office.
Joshua Gilliland:We got our tickets Tuesday morning, so we did that before the tour and that was an adventure.
Joshua Gilliland:Pro tip for those who are thinking about 2027 is you know, in the past you go online to buy your celebration tickets and it's a team building experience because you might have a friend who gets in before you. Thus they end up buying tickets for a bunch of people and then they transfer them to you. Uh, read pops transfer system shows that the tickets are transferred, but then apparently another affirmative act needs to happen to actually make it completely done, because we didn't have a problem because we were in early and we got someone who was a problem solver who said oh, the person who bought the tickets was person x. You guys are, you know, joshua and katrina carry your badges and we got our badges and were successful. Others were not and had to deal with the person who purchased the passes. Even though that they were transferred to those individuals, they couldn't pick up their badges. I was theorizing how to do a class action lawsuit in line and looking up like what venue to sue in if they started messing with people who crossed an ocean.
Stephen Tollafield :And you said there'd be no legal analysis. Yeah, I'm sorry, but we were totally looking at the terms of sale, like reading the fine print, to see, yeah, that was ridiculous, like I I. I don't remember it being like that before in previous celebrations. I don't know why they changed it and it was fine for us too. We were at the very end of the day and by the time we got to the front of the line we had a friend had bought our tickets and I was like we don't have the qr code, can we still get our badges? And it was fine. What if it was going to be fine? Why did they have to layer in all that stupid language about you need the qr code show up like why are their comms so confusing and so like wrong all the time?
Katrina Wraight:I don't get it why they got to be like that yeah it was added stress of you don't know, no one knew, if they were, if they didn't have their qr card, how they were going to manage. Right person wasn't, even in japan. What were you going to do?
Stephen Tollafield :exactly and I was glad that you guys had gone earlier the day, that we had gone and had we're fine and that gave me confidence that it was going to be okay.
Joshua Gilliland:But um, wow, it was stressful and unnecessarily so, yeah, yeah, and there were people who were complaining that, you know, it was not consistently applied and that they needed the person who purchased the tickets. Um, so all all scary stuff. Uh, and because, again, it's like, think of the damages somebody would have had if they had bought airfare, paid for a hotel, got to tokyo and couldn't get in because their friend in ohio, who got sick and or lost her job and decided not to go, uh, canceled and um, all of that is bad, uh, so so, yeah, all bad, but it worked out. So happy ending for us. And and but again, that was unnecessarily stressful, um, so unnecessarily stressful.
Joshua Gilliland:But now we're crossing into the show, uh, the main event, and so friday, let's, let's just take take a look at our notes. Uh, because barely good luck was holding on, so there was a line, long line, to get in, and it started with thomas and I, and thomas had swag to trade and had this little sign that I have swag to trade, so we were getting stopped all the time by people, um, who made like pins or stickers like I haven't seen that swag yeah, I haven't seen people do that at like san diego comic-con or wonder con, so I guess it's a Star Wars celebration phenomenon.
Joshua Gilliland:I thought it was cool to see. But getting stopped all the time was starting to turn into a buzzkill because it was like every three feet, so like that, that did get a little rough. But seeing the creativity was inspiring and or kids coming up to thomas and you know, it's like they would have a sticker and he gave them a coaster, it was just like that. Stuff was pretty adorable and uh, uh and it's a good community experience. So, despite the stopping, I thought it was pretty cool. Um, and then we get in. So the first big panel was the mandalorian. In grogu I tried doing a standby line, uh, to get into twin suns. Uh, it was full, did not make that one. That was the only one. We were not successful, uh, in getting in.
Joshua Gilliland:But I took the opportunity to walk around the floor and watch some things at the main stage, got the little lightsaber that they gave out that changes colors and they were all on a circuit or Wi-Fi and so their colors could be controlled so they would all turn red at the same time in the audience, or all green or all blue, and I thought like that's one impressive technology. And two, you know, everyone's going home with like an 18 inch lightsaber. So that was pretty fun. So that was pretty fun. But we started doing, you know, some shopping and looking around and I got to say Pedro Pascal and Filoni are true rock stars. True rock stars. Uh, because when pascal made it to the main stage and we were getting ready to go do our first photo op, like the exhibit hall all rushed towards the main stage, like I'm just talking about charisma and command presence. It was just Well. Then we did our first photo op. And, katrina, why don't you tell the story? Because it is one for the ages.
Katrina Wraight:Well, first, when I came I came a little bit later Because I think I needed to go to the gym first before I came but when I arrived, hayden Christensen was in the Star Wars Live stage and it was his birthday, so everybody sang him happy birthday. Stage and it was his birthday, so everybody sang him happy birthday.
Katrina Wraight:And it was adorable, and it was so nice to like see him welcomed back in a good way and you could tell, like you'd see on his face, how happy that made him. That was wonderful. Um then, I think almost right after that was when r Gosling was up on stage, right too that they announced the Starfighter uh spinoff with the director, the Deadpool director I forgot his name um Levy, sean Levy yeah, yeah, so that's what was.
Katrina Wraight:Something that was really cool about the hall in and of itself, I think, is that you could catch all the big stars there, even if you didn't make it into the panels, and it was kind of a surprise. You didn't know. Like you said, they would all rush to the stage, so that was really cool. Brian Gosling told the story about how he had Empire Strikes Back bed sheets and his mom sent the picture in for the panel and he was like oh, nobody else's mom sends their bed sheets in, so that'll be interesting.
Katrina Wraight:But then we had our first photo op uh, the ahsoka duo. Um, so I was awesome, it was so special.
Katrina Wraight:I walked in first and ashley xp was like just like this, but put her arms out for a big hug, like it was a huge hug, and kind of set the stage, um, and then rosario dawson was there and let's meet in for a big hug. Like it was a huge hug and kind of set the stage, um, and then Rosario Dawson was there and let me in for a big hug and she was like, wow, you're so pretty. And I was like, wow, you're so gorgeous. And we were shocked by each other's beauty, um, which is like so cool. But I'm blushing, I couldn't speak, I and say anything. The boys said their little pieces. It was adorable. They were so wonderful and kind and welcoming and I know for some photo ops we're like don't touch people or don't even shake their hands and they gave us big old hugs and welcomed us literally with open arms. It was so wonderful.
Joshua Gilliland:That's now the top photo op I've experienced. Wonderful, that's now the top photo op I've experienced. And so it it displaced the ewan mcgregor one and and which was like it was cool because, like he did, you know, like like shake hands, it's like hi, I'm ewan and you know. And arms around everyone and like gentlemen, actors, actor. But like the hugging, the welcoming, like it was, even though it's like just 20 seconds, a lot happened in those 20 seconds of making people feel special and appreciated. Uh, they, they love the fans. I am so glad to see the voice actress and the live action actress like just being a dynamic duo.
Katrina Wraight:It's just everything good about fandom they both cared about how the picture, how you set the picture up. So the one before they did the pose with that girl did you see back?
Katrina Wraight:yes which is probably such a cool picture. And then rosario dawson was like oh, what are we doing? Just smiling? Okay, like wanted to make sure that, put extra effort in to make sure that she addressed each one of us, and then the pose is what we wanted as well. She's got her arm, like all the way around me in the photo. It's just really special um situation.
Joshua Gilliland:They were lovely, lovely lady that and, uh, that was the last one we signed up for. Like we were getting lunch before our tour and looking at the app and I went like, oh, this one's still available and we talked about it and we're like, yeah, let's do it. So it was an impulse buy and I am grateful we did that impulse buy Because that's framed on the wall right now. It was just so cool and they treated everyone so so nice and and you know, katrina was just beaming with that story about you know, rosaria Dawson said I was very pretty, that I did have a custom t shirt made, made and I know it was delivered.
Katrina Wraight:So, um, uh with with the quote, so uh, I'll be riding that high for all year, maybe, yeah.
Joshua Gilliland:The picture and the t-shirt to prove it. So it was uh, uh again. Like that was just that cool. I haven't seen that happen at a con before. It was just neat. We also did one with Vanessa Marshall later in the day and she's amazing. Quite. The space mom Love her as Hera. She and other castmates have the pot of rebellion right now doing a rewatch of Rebels. Strongly recommend it. I think Rebels is one of the best Star Wars stories. So getting to see her just loving all the fans, the fact that she booked that trip on her own and when the organizers found out she was going, they like promoted her up to like you know, like the photo op and she moderated panels, uh, so just, I mean it was, it was an e-ticket, so very happy for her I remember the guy that came out when we were standing in line.
Katrina Wraight:He comes out and he like, stops, bed and distracts. He's all on his own and he goes oh and I was like, look at it. And I was like, was it at him? He's so cute. And I was like, was it good? He's like, oh my gosh, you were such a joy Like I can die happy. And just to watch this complete stranger's reaction just from coming out from his photo op with her was so special, it was so beautiful, it was wonderful.
Joshua Gilliland:I think he was German, he might have had a script with him from Rebels. Think he was german, he might have had a script with him from rebels. Again, just like quality fan experiences of people just enjoying the community of other people who love star wars. It was just good and pure. And then we made our way to the animation anniversary panel, which I just I loved. So the animation folks kept the light on for fandom after Revenge of the Sith and there's an entire generation of people who grew up watching the Clone Wars and that's their first introduction to Star Wars and the, the interviews and hearing Filoni, all that was cool. And they showed the first episode from Tales of the Underworld with Asash, ventress and I. It's just so good. Uh, katrina, like we saw it with Thomas and Katrina. You, this might have been one of your first or second introductions to some of the Star Wars animation. What did you think of the Ventress story?
Katrina Wraight:the animation. I think we were having this discussion where I don't know what I was thinking about animation, or if it's, I don't know what, the general stereotypes are right, like it's childish and like you know. I don't know what I was thinking, but I think I told you that one of my first runs in run-ins was with Bad Batch and I've absolutely fallen in love. And then to see Dave's passion for these projects and how much heart he puts into it and like, how, like, all consuming it was for him, I just think it's something that's super special that I certainly need to give a second look. Um, and most definitely will. Um, but yeah, it was, and it's just so beautifully done like I wouldn't expect the like, beauty and the heart that go into it, and I don't know that there is any other animation kind of like that. You know what I mean.
Joshua Gilliland:Stephen, did you make it into that panel?
Stephen Tollafield :yeah, actually we, we, I think we just stood by to get into the celebration stage, um, and yeah, it was great, um, really fun to see the first episode. As always, it's really fun to hear the stories about the production and how the budget works and sort of the nitty gritty. That's really interesting. And so, yeah, it was a great panel. And I kind of missed the Clone Wars the first time around too, katrina, I didn't watch it that part of my life when it was like each week, because I think it was like on Disney or something like Cartoon Network to begin. Cartoon Network, yeah, exactly so it was kind of like Cartoon Network, of course has swim and everything, but it seemed like it was kind of geared for kids. But I did a rewatch years after it came out and or an original watch, I guess, um, and loved it, and then all the stuff that's come out since I've just been a really big fan of.
Joshua Gilliland:So it's very cool to see that they're still doing that but and the um other producer with feloni, who I'm blanking on her name ath Petrillo. Yeah, the hero who's good at getting things funded. She's incredible. There should be little statues of her.
Stephen Tollafield :Very clearly the brains of the operation. She runs the show.
Katrina Wraight:They respect her. It's cool to see a woman in that arena with that much respect.
Joshua Gilliland:The preview that they showed for mall. You know, uh, uh, golly, what's. What's the new mall show going to be called? Um, not underworld, but um, something lord crime, lord. Uh, I'm blank, and I just listened to a great interview with Sam Witwer on the Katie Sarkop's podcast, that great trailer In fact he came out in the Darth Maul voice that played again.
Stephen Tollafield :I think it is just called Maul Shadow Lord.
Joshua Gilliland:Shadow Lord. That's it, steven, with the save, save, google with the save you're typing and I was stalling. So teamwork, all good stuff, but we'll talk more animation in a moment. For day two. Was there anything else from day one that either of us want, anyone wants to, to mention? Well, there was a lot of shopping. Um, I, I'm not. I'm not ashamed to admit this now, but I I love getting Star Wars socks, and so we had a couple different. We went to the Stance store and the Rock'em store, and so we got one Rock'em set stolen package. These will be put into service but also got the uh stance ones. The uh, these ones are just preview ones, and yeah, worn yours.
Joshua Gilliland:Yet I've worn all my dainty I've looked longingly at them and uh do have your Lucasfilm animation poster too.
Katrina Wraight:From that day I've gone through my photos.
Joshua Gilliland:I do.
Katrina Wraight:That's a really cool poster that they gave out with that as well.
Joshua Gilliland:I have yours as well.
Katrina Wraight:I'm glad you could show everybody, because it's so cool.
Joshua Gilliland:It's in my office home office.
Katrina Wraight:I got it.
Joshua Gilliland:We'll get that out. And the other set from Stance. But I own a lot of Stance and Rockham and at the Rockham booth they had the artist who's designed them and so we started chatting and discussed how we do legal panels and I was a big fan of his work and he's, you know, started talking about some of the ones he worked on. I was like did you do the halloween one, star wars ones? He's like, yes, did you do the christmas ones for star wars, marvel yes. So again, it was just it's like, dude, you're awesome. It's like I have lots of your socks and the socks are comfy. Like, again, the seven-year-old getting socks on Christmas morning. Granted, if they're just white tube socks, you know that's less exciting, but I can say in middle age socks are a good gift. And I got Star Wars socks for my nephews and nieces who love Star Wars immensely. So going to a Star Wars show and not bringing them back anything, just I mean they'll all have fun memories, so very grateful about that. So, yeah, so that's day one.
Joshua Gilliland:Day two the Andor panel. Day three they had people who were doing the one-way-out cosplayers. Like it was a good way to warm up the crowd Seeing the actors speak. I was in Twin Suns Like I was in an overflow, but seeing the actors speak and just the reverence that they all have for the subject matter and how much they love Star Wars was fun to see. But then we got to see the first episode and you know I've been watching Andor at home alone. Watching it with 1000 of your new best friends is a preferred method for watching it. Steven, you're nodding, buddy. Now share your love. What happened?
Stephen Tollafield :Yeah, I love that was the one panel that I had a reservation for and we were on the galaxy stage for that one. We wound up getting into a bunch of other ones, just kind of luckily in standby. But that was the one I really wanted to see and was not disappointed. It was everything I kind of hoped for and I love that the one way out is kind of taking over the Willow Hood, the running of the Willow Hoods with the ice cream bucket, so that's a really great tradition. I love seeing that.
Stephen Tollafield :You know, I was wondering. So when we were in Anaheim and they did the preview or they did the Obi-Wan premiere, that was like at night right, like they kind of announced at the panel that everyone who was there would get would be able to come back and watch the premiere and that was like a whole red carpet thing and there was like costumes and it was like a whole event. And this one was just kind of like you get to see the episode. So it was like it was cool and I was really grateful for it. But I was kind of found myself kind of yearning for that extra layer of like specialness that was the Obi-Wan premiere.
Joshua Gilliland:Since I couldn't get into the Obi-Wan premiere, I preferred this one because it was a little more democratic that everyone. Because of all the overflow, rooms, rooms.
Stephen Tollafield :It wasn't just in one theater that special tickets, it was, you know, 2 000 lucky people yeah, or, and and I don't see why they couldn't have the galaxy galaxy stage and the twin sun stage also showing it at night. Like that place is huge, like why can't everyone come in and see it? Like, like, anyway, I don't know that's my roasting of Reed Bob.
Joshua Gilliland:I think that just goes to the difference of, I think, the venues, because, as Thomas highlighted, in older celebrations they had evening screenings of movies. That didn't happen here or at Anaheim.
Stephen Tollafield :It's been years since that happened and I don't like that sort of thing. I don't understand why reed pop is like every year it just diminishes just a little bit, like things get taken away, um, and it changes in ways that makes the experience more painful, um, and so I'm just curious about like what in LA is going to be like no longer there or what's going to be kind of just a little less cool, I guess, and I'm not sure why read pop does the way things it does it might swing the other direction and they might bring things back.
Joshua Gilliland:so let's just again this importance of doing the surveys, importance of being engaged. But all of that aside, the show ending effectively at six o'clock, anaheim went later. It's not like WonderCon or San Diego Comic-Con that has panels going up until nine o'clock at night. That can include screenings and other community events. We're done at dinner time and I don't know if that's just japanese culture with how they do a convention, or in japan, or if it was shower, maybe like getting people away from I don't know, who knows it, but it was just different because anaheim went a little later yeah and I had more evening activities yeah but anyway in a different place.
Joshua Gilliland:Uh, so we we have andor, we had the ahsoka panel that was the one we didn't get in.
Stephen Tollafield :To see, we were in the standby line for that and got cut up we did standby and made it in nice.
Joshua Gilliland:And uh, katrina, do you want to share any of the ahsoka panel memories you might have? Seeing you shake your head, I'm gonna go with no, uh just like how passionate rosario is about.
Katrina Wraight:That character really blew me away. That she's like championed for it to begin with or something, and then that's how much she truly cares. That was my takeaway. It's beautiful to see someone in a role be that passionate about it she really campaigned for that part.
Stephen Tollafield :She's kind of like a simu liu and so cool well that.
Joshua Gilliland:And you know, hearing feloni talk about realizing, oh, she wants to do this, let's talk to her like it was, like man, it's more than manifesting it. It was, you know, the, the creative team, going like, yeah, that is a good idea, let's, let's, let's talk to her. How often does that happen? Uh, just let's, let's set up a skype and we can chat. Like good for them, like that's really impressive to pull off. And hearing her speak with such reverence for the fans who make that costume and the orange body paint and everything else that goes into it, there's just a respect. Hearing Filoni, uh, like we're, we're the same age and so hearing him talk about experiences that I'm very familiar with was cool. But you know, the fact that we're going to see Grand Admiral Thrawn versus Admiral Ackbar made my heart sing, because we haven't seen like full-on naval strategy of, like, you know, fleets versus fleets, like you know, fleets versus fleets, uh, and the idea of seeing akbar, you know, and prime akbar, you know, uh, going up against a very formidable enemy, uh, is something I I just can't wait. I mean, I don't know if they'll show like crossing the t and other you know naval strategies, or they'll lean more into the world war II type experience of fighters against capital ships. But I'm excited to see what they do and they're working on filming now.
Joshua Gilliland:But I remember the teaser trailer they did for Empire Strikes Back. So, seeing the way that they did a teaser trailer for Ahsoka, not having any footage yet that's of the same venue, of, like it's like animated stills or, you know, like character pictures, the fact that Zeb will be, you know, in Ahsoka, it's like you know, they're bringing all of the Rebels characters in live action together and I'm here for it. So it's just, it's just nerdy goodness and can't wait. So we did that. We. Then let's talk about Stephen. You were able to see manyanny Jancito on the live stage.
Stephen Tollafield :Yeah, I was a big fan of the Acolyte and I happened to catch him on the live stage and, as you were talking about before, it's so cool to be able to just catch randomly people like that.
Stephen Tollafield :I will say his appearance was pretty remarkable. He was very visibly emotional about the fact that the show is not coming back for a second season and it was kind of awkward that you know he'd been invited back to, he'd been invited to celebration to sell the show and to meet the fans, and then two weeks later they canceled the show and so he's like I guess I'm still contractually obligated to come to the celebration so and so that was a little cringy and a little weird, but um, kristen bavar was interviewing him and she kept it very nice and it was a great uh conversation, so that was good. But he was kind of misting up a bit um when he was talking about the show and um, but it was a really great opportunity for the fans to show their appreciation for him and for the production and we're all chanting season two at the end. It was really, really great. So that was actually one of my favorite um moments from celebration was just catching that, just the randomness of it and um how kind of emotional it was.
Joshua Gilliland:it was relatable, yeah he's, he's a fan and yeah, for sure. Um, I had problems with writing of the acolyte specifically at the end and uh, but that's why we need a season two.
Stephen Tollafield :It's like it ended in a kind of an awkward place, Like it was. It was a down point and the characters need to come back up.
Joshua Gilliland:Well, it's, star Wars is about hope and I felt Acolyte was devoid of hope and I agree with my brother's analysis that it was an under-end ending. All of that aside, I love Manny and he was so formidable. The dude hit the gym Gotta respect that. And loves the fans, and so I really want the best for them and hope they can finish the story. Want the best for them and hope they can finish the story. However, meanwhile, katrina Thomas and I made it to the Siege of Mandalore, clone Wars screening Nice, and I really enjoyed seeing Katrina's reaction to it, since she hadn't seen it before. So, katrina, can you share how the experience was for you?
Katrina Wraight:Well, first off, it was in Japanese, so let's start there. How they can even convey that much again beauty and heart when it's not even in English. But it was epic. It was wonderful. I got to like get involved.
Katrina Wraight:What I've enjoyed most hearing, though, is about the history and your guys' tales about how that was something that you didn't think was going to be, and then they made it happen, and then like how much more epic that was, and then just everyone in the room, like with their lightsabers and you could hear it like people sniffling and like people cheering and like just like pure emotion in that room, and how much it meant to everybody. When combined with you guys's stories about how just thankful and grateful you were that it even came to be, um, I just can't get over how like gorgeous it is, it's so beautifully done. Um, it's gorgeous, it's absolutely gorgeous, and I gotta like I gotta get stuck in for sure and then just like how much it means to thomas. We should save it, talk to him about it like it's, it's so cool, it's so special, and like just that pure passion and that innocent fun. There's like not much like that in the world and something truly to marvel at yeah, I had disassociated.
Joshua Gilliland:It was in japanese, like that's how powerful it is. Uh, I'm like sure I've seen it before and I I was privileged to see it at celebration 22, uh, at the end of the convention. Uh, they again, they did a great job with it. Um, uh, in the big theater at anaheim. Seeing it this way was just cool. Uh, so much hard again, why, like, seeing how, like you know, you riveted watching it and that was really cool to see that level of, like you know, connection uh to it. Uh, because I mean, you know, like the first half or two-thirds, uh, with the, you know there's mandalore and everything that happens there. But you know the last half where it crosses into revenge of the sith and order 66, and it's just like you know, it just tears your heart out. Um, especially with you know, like you, know, I got shells again.
Joshua Gilliland:There are goosebumps it's just just seeing it of, like, you know, rex trying to fight it and and ahsoka going like, oh no, because now the entire ship that are her clones you know that, that you know she has tried to protect and lead are now trying to kill her and she does. You know it's a great arc with that character. Like you know, I will not be the one who causes their death and you know, doing surgery on rex, you know, having hearing her say, like I am one with the force and the force is with me, it's like oh, uh, way to work and sure it in way, just, I mean just just so, so good. And that you know, like it ends with no dialogue Now and just people crying, you know, highlighting the futility and horror of war of you know, and the final music is burying the dead.
Joshua Gilliland:That's the name of the track and it's this haunting melody that you know breaks you. It's just so powerful and so well done. So, yeah, bring on more animation. Uh, because they're, they're in, and let those folks also make live action. Uh, as well. Uh, because, again seeing, oh no, I don't want to spoil it for you.
Joshua Gilliland:Uh, you, there's something don't do it, I went to the.
Katrina Wraight:I went to the restroom after and all the girls are in the mirror like trying to fix their makeup sniffling and like it was so cute, everyone. It just like was broken and it was all dampened and like I't know. Just the pure emotion I mean, it was my first time, but all those people have probably seen it a billion times and the fact that I can invoke that feeling again and then being in a room with all the people that care about it so much, it was truly special.
Joshua Gilliland:There are a few stories that do that to a person years after they've already seen it. You know, like Wrath of Khan is one, glory is one. It's a short list of media that can have that emotional gut punch, and I think all of the animated series do that at least once, sometimes more. And uh. So yeah, get ready for uh rebels and bad batch um, because they have the same kind of emotional weight with solid storytelling, with characters that people care about. Um, and that's again. Lucasfilm was really good at this. We did a little more shopping that had barely good luck, um, so I was able to get the ronin uh uh action figure from hasbro still still in its package, but it opens up to a nice diagram. I was able to get the music box set, but we also went to the Roosevelt booth. So I'm wearing one of the shirts that's the Empire Strikes Back one, because that's my movie. But Katrina, our barely good luck was at play there, could you?
Katrina Wraight:I feel like we should pause on this too, until I can show it okay so we'll save that for another time but there was barely good luck at the Roosevelt booth incredible.
Joshua Gilliland:I'm very proud of that.
Katrina Wraight:That was impressive the lovely lady there had my back, thanks to her.
Joshua Gilliland:I knew it was going to end well as soon as you talked to her. So that's day two. We had a nice dinner afterwards, then crashed hard because we were beyond the point of exhaustion. Then day three, you know, we started with the visions panel, we saw the ILM 50th panel, we had a photo op with Ahmad Best and in the closing, stephen any, any, oh, we got together.
Stephen Tollafield :Like we finally found you. Finally, after three days of kind of like orbiting each other, we finally connected. It was really cool. That place was huge.
Joshua Gilliland:It was really hard to find folks yeah, but it was like you were the one that was hard to find for me. There was another gentleman who goes by, the star wars lawyer, walked by me and hugged me.
Joshua Gilliland:Oh, nice and so and then we ran into him like yeah, it's like a 90 minutes later with another one of his friends who cosplays, is cosplays deidre muro, from nice, and like she's also a lawyer, scary looking as deidre like just nails it and and lives in San Jose, and so, with the fact she was able to like quote back uh information that that we've covered in prior episodes was pretty cool, very cool, uh, katrina, your thoughts on the last day?
Katrina Wraight:I'm running out of battery on my iPhone.
Katrina Wraight:Okay, I just got the 10% warning and I'm not anywhere near a charger. I really enjoyed the ILM panel. I thought those were really really cool to see how it works and how, um, yeah, how they explain to you that cgi is what costs the most money. So in all actuality, those little models, um keeps the cost down, which just wouldn't. I wouldn't know. I'm not in the scene at all, but that like blows my mind.
Katrina Wraight:And then how they would show the actual side by side of what the cgi rendering was going to be and how much more epic that mini model was, with the shadowing and the detail, like I wouldn't. I would never have thought that that would have been the case. Um, and I forget the guy's name, but the guy that set up the track that put the spaceships on to have the models go by, that he did on his like spare time from like on his weekends and his shop, like that is so cool, that is so mind-blowing to me that he just came up with that in its entirety and then to get to see, like the actual product and then to know that's what you're seeing when you see these things. I thought that was so, so cool he also co-created adobe photoshop.
Joshua Gilliland:So, yeah, the fact that he's inventing things in his garage is one like a very silicon valley type story. But also the lucasfilm story of like yeah, I just did this, you know, like made it in the garage, thought it'd be fun I knew this is what we needed.
Katrina Wraight:I knew exactly how to do it. I made it happen like that's so cool when you're that tactile and creative and like you can make something like that be, and then it's what you do for all of them going forward, cause it worked so incredibly well, awesome.
Joshua Gilliland:Yeah, it was heroic and, you know, I got to see Fawn Davis talk, who who is a friend, a mutual friend in common, and Fawn is a great guy, and so hearing him talk about working on the different movies that he's worked on in his career was very cool. So Fawn is a wonderful person. And then we end up, you know, last dinner, which did include ramen and which was pretty epic.
Katrina Wraight:Oh but you're forgetting our fairly good luck on the way out of the Amag Best picture.
Joshua Gilliland:Yes.
Katrina Wraight:We are walking out of our starter together. That we got, which was wonderful, and I thought Hayden, from afar, panic and spit out only the words I can get out, like no, no, you guys, hayden, just to make sure that you guys know that he's just about to literally walk past us, like two feet away across from one boundary. Um, I'm in that time, I'm scrambling and yelling at you guys that he's about to walk past. I managed to get a selfie and he flames in it, so like wow, that was a crazy way to end the best in the con. It's so kind of him, right, he's just been doing all this photo op.
Katrina Wraight:He kind of has some issues with his signatures and stuff and he saw what I was doing and gave me a little wave he might have been on your return flight too, so there he told me that and I was like he might have been on your return flight too. So there's. He told me that and I was like do I go and maybe get kicked off his plane. Do I walk up there Check it out? I did not.
Joshua Gilliland:Good life choice. Good life choice, and the next one's in Los Angeles.
Stephen Tollafield :So I'm not sure which convention center in la will host it, but I was thinking it was the one downtown, isn't it?
Katrina Wraight:yeah, I think the la one in la live or in that general area I think it said it didn't it it's, it's right by crypto, right yeah okay, so plenty of hotels, so that'll be good, yeah, kind of a sketchy part of town though DTLA is.
Stephen Tollafield :We were just there last weekend. We went down for a concert and we stayed in DTLA and it was.
Katrina Wraight:It's very much Good location to take the train up for people, if they're coming from various places. That'll be good.
Joshua Gilliland:We can drive to it as opposed to crossing the Pacific. Tickets will be exciting. Uh, I I'm guessing you know we'll have. There'll be events at the lucas museum. Uh, yeah, coincide. I would bet good money that there'll be a screening of Star Wars at the Chinese Grauman Theater. Pretty, cool. I've been wrong before, but that just seems like a no-brainer because there are so many of the iconic photos from the premiere in 77.
Stephen Tollafield :I really hope you're right in that they take advantage of all the stuff that's kind of in LA and kind of around it to unpack things a little bit more.
Joshua Gilliland:Yeah, and just, I mean you, it makes sense. I mean, like you have talent down there. I was expecting Anaheim again, la, close enough that I think it will be a good time, but that's 2027. And so we'll have one movie before, then another movie right after then. So you know there's a lot to look forward to. So, uh, well, before batteries run dead, katrina, favorite part of the trip favorite part of the trip.
Katrina Wraight:Favorite part of the trip, Honestly, like the Wagyu, highball combos everywhere. A dream, An absolute dream. Someone was trying to sell Japan to me. That would be the way. Every menu has a highball and has the best Wagyu on every menu. Like, oh my gosh, that was an absolute treat. But I think, like seeing the sights-wise Fuji was epic, Like the symmetry on that mountain, just absolutely gorgeous, the scale. I don't think I even knew what to expect there.
Katrina Wraight:And then, probably, honestly, the celebrity run-in was Rosario and Hayden. That was super special and for the con that made it it was really cool. And then, yeah, the Ahsoka duo and how warm and welcoming they were. You can tell that's just who they are generally and every day and it makes the characters just have that much more, you know, meaning and heart to them.
Joshua Gilliland:Thank you, steven, how about?
Stephen Tollafield :you, buddy. So I um I love the ender panel. I love the visions panel. I love the visions pavilion on the floor in the um and of the convention that that was probably one of my favorite things was so cool to see some of the animated costumes conceived of in real life and some of the props that was really cool and the maquettes that was. I love seeing stuff like that. I wish there was more of it. Um, that was great. I? Um love the cosplay. Like. I had high expectations for Japan cosplay and was not disappointed. It was really really good. Um, and also just the overall seeing star wars stuff in the context of japan, where the cinema played such a huge role in developing the look and the feel and the stories of star wars that seeing that connection in that context was just really special and I felt really privileged to be able to be a part of that.
Joshua Gilliland:So that was kind of my big picture favorite part I'm going to go with being there with all of you. So that was a lot of fun. Uh, being able to again go on the trip with you and have that adventure was uh important to me, um, as opposed to just going to a con by yourself. You Having friends there and having that adventure is what matters. In addition to that, just having some of the smaller movements, I was able to get little blind boxes with pins for my scouts and watching them open it was hysterical because one of them opened it and she got Count Dooku and she went. I got an old man and I went.
Joshua Gilliland:That's Christopher Lee. He became very famous for Hammer Horror and is arguably the best Dracula. And one of the other scouts went Sir Christopher Lee was in Lord of the Rings and I and I thought like you know, that's why I volunteer like I just that level of nerdiness and both, both, both of them were a ton of fun to have those reactions, as were the other seven. Um, all of that aside, uh, it was a great trip, from the food going to a restaurant in an alley where I wasn't sure I was going to get black bagged or not, to again Katrina's.
Katrina Wraight:You're lucky, you're lucky. That wasn't my plan.
Joshua Gilliland:Yeah, because I turned and you know we turned down the alley and I looked at Katrina and went where are we Worry about it? Yeah, that was your reply. I was like okay, Come on, let's do this.
Katrina Wraight:He went to tag us and he was like where are we? I didn't give you any information.
Joshua Gilliland:The karaoke was a ton of fun too. So, uh, and I started looking at private karaoke rooms in san diego for comic-con so there are some and so I was sending you them, sending you links on, uh, the other before, right after we got home. So, um, so there are. Yeah, so need need some more research, but um, might have to book one of those during san diego. But again, it was just a ton of fun and the fact we kept having barely good luck was a high point.
Katrina Wraight:That is all you need. We made it work.
Joshua Gilliland:Ended well. So with that, everyone, thanks for tuning in. There was mild legal analysis, but not much. This was just pure nerddom of our trip to Tokyo, so we'll be back. We're going to start andor coverage. You know, between trial prep and other deadlines and travel, uh, we now need to uh get to andor. So, everyone, wherever you are, uh stay safe, stay healthy and stay geeky, take care.
