Thursday, June 24, 2010

Star Wars in Concert: Vancouver Day 2

Before I was big into anime, I was very much into Star Wars. Hey, even the name I use, "lightningsabre", is a relic of my Star Wars highs. Quiz me anything about Star Wars and I'd give you the correct answer straight way. Now my mind's been filled with anime, but a Star Wars event happening locally?? I'M THERE! So on Wednesday night, I went to see Star Wars in Concert!


What are you aiming at Boba? NOOO! Not my ticket!? Err... Actually he's aiming at the Sarlacc. This is one of my favourite figures from the Star Wars Unleashed line from a few years ago. It depicts Boba Fett's escape from the Sarlacc Pit (in the Expanded Universe comic book) after he screamed like a girl when he fell into it in Return of the Jedi.

Here's my ticket... On the first row! ...Not the floor seats mind you, but no one to block us, depending on the angle of the stage, that is. Someone did block us, but I asked the guy to lean back. GM Place is pretty big, so we were thinking there would be a lot of people, especially since there were playing for  2 nights... But there were quite a few empty seats.

There were many Star Wars costumes, props, etc., on display, but they were packed with people wanting to take pictures with them and lots of nudges here and there, so it was hard to take pictures of anything without people in it. Especially on this glass case... Sigh...


That's no moon. That's my test... Uhhh... Testing of how much the Death Star really weigh...

I was stoked when I saw this Han Solo in Carbonite on display! I remember when I was back in Jakarta I saw an action figure (would you call it an "action figure"?) of this and thought about getting it, but I didn't. It was my first Star Wars encounter!

A close-up of Jabba's favourite wall ornament.

Mr. Protocol Droid who's well versed in over 6 million languages, yet barely know Ewok's language... Probably being modest. Gold is one of my favourite colours, by the way, so C-3PO is looking pretty cool here!


Episode III Yoda when he was still kicking ass and didn't need a backpack to travel on.

I like these Royal Guard outfits, especially the red one since the face is hidden. Makes you wonder what these guys are really like... Which is why I bought those issues of Crimson Guard comic books back then. I don't remember what the hell happened in it though...

There were a couple of people in costumes taking pictures with kids and adults alike. EDIT: I apologize to the members of 501st Legion about my deleted write-up here ^^; Very awesome that volunteers from the Legion coming in costumes on a very hot day in Vancouver!

Nooo, Danny, don't die! Oh no, wait, it ain't Danny... No danchou armband. This Trooper actually had his voice sound exactly like in the movies. Very professional voicebox! A kid requested he runs a lightsaber through the trooper for his photo opp... The Trooper obliged.

There was also a blue-skinned Twi'lek bounty hunter with a Mandalorian tattoo, but I didn't catch a photo of her. I wonder if she's part of the Legion too...

The walking carpet, Chewbacca, is well preserved in that glass case. I hope he doesn't smell like a wet dog inside...

And after a quick run through to the souvenir stand, it was time for the concert to begin! We get the THX sound, the 20th Century Fox fanfare and can't forget the "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I tried to take some photos during the event, but since it was very dark, there weren't very clear pictures, so I picked the best ones here...


The big screen was a mash-up of movie scenes, candid shots of the orchestra and concept art. It was very much like the Video Games Live concert. Ok, maybe the screen's a bit bigger here, lol.



And here's Goldenrod again... After the first piece played we are introduced to the emcee for the night by the voice of Darth Vader himself, Mr. James Earl Jones.

The emcee is none other than the man inside C-3PO, Anthony Daniels! It was awesome to see a celebrity in person! Unfortunately this is one of the best pictures I got of him ^^; The structure of the music was played by order of the movies following Anakin from when he was a child and then to the celebration at the end of Episode VI.

Podracing was one of my favourite things in Episode I. Probably because I have a bias since I do have a jacket with Podracing on the back of it and I played that N64 game to death!



Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.

After the Intermission I've pretty much given up much hope for taking pictures... Lighting condition was too bad so I just tried to enjoy the show while taking any photos that I can get.

The Asteroid Field scene was one of my favourites in The Empire Strikes Back.



My brother also took photos during the concert, once he gets them out of the camera, I'll try to add some of them here.

"It sounds like you're not ready to go home yet," Anthony Daniels stating the obvious before the orchestra reprising The Imperial March. This time, though, they were up close and personal with the orchestra. The camera zoomed in on this very cute girl who was playing the triangle. Everyone cheered at her and she had a big smile on her face acknowledging the audience.

What the heck is this picture doing here!? It's supposed to be Star Wars! Ah well... After my second run to the souvenir stand I saw this Camaro and I thought it looked like Camaro Bumblebee, when it actually is. The arena is called "GM Place" after all... Some witty guard told me that I can park my car here. I cracked a smile and replied back, "it'll move by itself eventually" :P


So I got home and took pictures of my loot right away along with Princess Leia in slave outfit, which is also from the Star Wars Unleashed line.

Here's a close up of the magnet that I got for my co-worker whose birthday is actually the day after the concert.

I bought a pair of this buttons set, one to give away as the birthday present as well.

And here is my new Star Wars T-shirt! I think I'm addicted to graphic tees ^^;;; My brother bought one with a better design, so I didn't want to have the same one. I wonder if I should've bought that same one anyway.

The back lists the locations and tour dates. Two nights in Vancouver, but they weren't sold out since there were still many empty seats.

And finally... I'm just gonna put this last picture here and see what happens...



And here are some extra pictures from the better photographer ;)

I forgot to take them pictures of Ewoks...

Frontal view of Han Solo in carbonite.

And here's the souvenir stand. I really wanted to get a few things, but they were quite pricey ^^;

A nice clear shot of Amidala!

Anthony Daniels without the aid of the giant video screen.

For the life of me, I can't seem to remember whose blaster this was...

This one I know! Han Solo's blaster made from a modified Mauser! one of my favourite guns, btw.

Scout Trooper helmet in white, B-Wing pilot helmet in gray and Death Star operator helmet in black, I think.

I luvs ze X-Wing!

And finally the aforementioned triangle girl ^^ It's low-rez because it's from a video.


Big thanks to my brother for getting these ones!

9 comments:

  1. You forgot the Kotobukiya Vader!
    Could have gotten the Vader shirt...
    I'll send you the pics soon!

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  2. The people in costume who were interacting with the crowd were local members of the 501st Legion, an all VOLUNTEER group.

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  3. @M: I'll save Koto Vader for a later time :P The Vader shirt?? The one that T got? >_< Will post the pics later.

    @Anon: Ah! My sincerest apologies! In the back of my mind I had a feeling it was the 501st Legion, but when I got around to writing this at 3 AM, I lost my train of thought. Post is fixed! Thanks for the correction!

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  4. This looks pretty sweet. :D
    Omg I forgot about that podracing game until you mentioned it in this post! My friend got it in one of the used games bins in Gamestop and we spent a number of afternoons playing it. Good times.

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  5. Orly, ANY trivia question? KoToR time! Who saved Revan after Malak's betrayal? Which planet did she take him to?

    It's pretty cool how what the fans thought brought Boba back to life. Shows that the Star Wars' top brass care(d) about the fans... Or at least the proper financial decisions.
    Every time I see Han frozen I think about the various poses he could've retained.

    So what happened there? Did you slander the 501st? Ready to face retribution in the form of a hail of blaster fire?
    Though, depending on which era of the 501st we're talking about you might not get hit at all :P

    Dammit Rob, all I can say is that moving to Toronto was 3/4 a bad decision.
    And I just can't get enough of that bikini, despite how much it's been exploited over the years.

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  6. @Coco: Sweet indeed! Haha just gave you a flashback! It was really fun, me and my brother don't play it at the same time, so we raced to see who can finish the game first XD

    @Tim: Ok... Star Wars video games trivia doesn't count, even though I did play it. I do know it's that female Jedi master, I just can't remember her name and don't remember the planet... The movies though, I'd excel at that :P

    Well actually, I don't know if the fans got him back to life, but I guess the top dogs at Dark Horse comics thought that Boba need to be alive. In the Family Guy parody of ESB they got Han to moon while being frozen ^^;

    Not slander, lol, I just assumed that money was involved ^^;;; And speaking of bikini and 501st... Strike Witches were also the 501st >.>

    Hmm? Why's moving to Toronto a bad decision? Because of the riots this weekend?

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  7. Never knew lightningsabre was a Star Wars thing. Always thought it referred to Saber.

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  8. Bastila Shan, to Dantooine! I think.

    so did the post just get longer? and isn't that a bounty hunter's blaster? I'm basing that entirely on the grip, though...

    Yeah, it's the Family Guy thing that got me thinking that in the first place >.>
    THANK YOU for mentioning the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. You don't know how many times I crack that joke every year to be met with crickets.

    Well, partially because of that, but I said that mostly because I'm not able to go to events like these stuck out here in the boondocks :p

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  9. @Yi: Well it started with Star Wars, but it seems to have worked out later on when I did start to like Saber XD

    @Tim: Ah that's it! I believe that's correct. And yes, I edited it to add photos from my brother. From the looks of its worned colours, you may be right. I can't seem to place it right now. Hahaha I've only started to watch Strike Witches, but I realize they're the 501st as well later on. Ah that... Well perhaps you should move to downtown Toronto where all the action is, apparently, lol.

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