Star Wars Celebration Day 1 Experience

The first day of ‘Star Wars’ Celebration is over, and it’s been a great day. Panels, cosplay, announcements, and surprise guests filled the day, making it extremely exciting and memorable. It’s been a great start to the event, kicking off the fun.

‘Star Wars’ Celebration sees tons of fans attend the event, many of whom are in cosplay. In Tokyo this is no different, with the day kicking off with meeting a pair of ‘Where’s Waldo’ Mandalorians, a surprising combination. But this is self-expression at its highest, with fans expressing their love of all their fandoms with their own personal touch. Other costumes were more traditional in their get up, with Captain Rex and other clones, even more Mandalorians (Din and Grogu especially), and even a Nute Gunray. One truly off the wall weird cosplay was a Deadpool in a cut red Vader helmet, giving him a samurai esque-look, especially with his katanas. 

Celebration is also about visiting panels, and while today the only one I attended was “Who’s the Bossak”, an interview between host Mike Celestino and historian Dr Chis Kempshall, talking about his experience in the ‘Star Wars’ fandom but also his work as an author, including most recently his 2024 book ‘The Rise and Fall the Galactic Empire’. I was hugely excited for this panel, especially after interviewing him back in 2024.

Walking around the show floor, audiences can see an X-Wing with a TIE Fighter, and a Dewback. They’re right next to the live stage, which is where the fun really began. Throughout the day, guests came onto the stage to talk, including Dave Filoni and Pedro Pascal, Jon Favreau and Sigorney Weaver, Vanessa Marshall, and the last guests for the day were Sam Witwer and Athena Portillo. 

It was amazing to hear these icons talk and see them in person! Dave, Pedro, Jon and Sigourney teased ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’, Vanessa Marshall talked about voicing Hera Syndulla from ‘Star Wars: Rebels’, and Sam and Athena hyped up the next Lucasfilm animation series, ‘Maul – Shadow Lord’ which will focus on Maul’s criminal empire after the Clone Wars. While Disney is returning to the well-worn well of between episode three and four yet again, this series has the potential to be extremely dark and adult, more so than ever before. 

Bring on day two!