Celebration Stories: Saf Davidson

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim left us all with many wonderful memories. From seeing new footage of The Force Awakens to getting pictures & autographs from our favorite celebrities to meeting lifelong friends, SWCA allowed fans of all kinds to have an experience like no other! In a series entitled "Celebration Stories," fans share unique and interesting tales with TheForce.Net straight from the convention floor and beyond!

Today's story comes from a girl from New Zealand named Saf! Her and I originally became friends through Twitter, and was luckily able to meet in-person at Celebration! After the con, I was able to have a chat with her about her SWCA experience, what it was like coming to an American convention, and much more!

First of all, how was your SWCA experience in a nutshell? Did it meet all of your expectations?

It was honestly amazing. I've constantly said it was the best five days of my life so far, and that's not an exaggeration! My expectations were blown out of the water; I couldn't have imagined a better convention or better people to spend those days with. Before I went, I was totally like, "This will probably be my only Celebration in a long time, I can't afford this again." But as soon as it ended I decided I am definitely making it to the 2017 one—even if I have to swim there!

What was it like to wait in line for The Force Awakens panel, and then to see the trailer surrounded by a group of people who were as excited as you?

One of the best experiences of the convention, no doubt. I was sure I wouldn't do the line thing before I got to the con—I've never really been bothered with making it into panels or celebrities before—but then I saw a couple friends waiting in the line and realised that this was a really cool way to hang out with friends I wouldn't normally get to see. I'd also never had the experience of waiting in a line with people for something I love before; I'm a bit young for that era of cinema and fandom, and it's something I've always kind of felt like I missed out on, especially when being part of the Star Wars fandom.

I didn't sleep the entire night, but spent it chatting to various friends who were awake, which was fun. The panel itself had this energy, filled with so many people who love Star Wars so much. I've always loved going to midnight premieres for that reason, everyone has put themselves through a lack of sleep, or something similar, just so they can experience this thing they adore. The TFA panel was like that, but on a grander scale. The entire thing felt so surreal, which was probably helped by me being delirious from a lack of sleep.

In your travels to/from New Zealand, did you have any Star Wars-related experiences, like maybe meeting a fellow fan or convention goer?

Unfortunately, no! A lot of people who were traveling were tweeting about that kind of stuff, but the best I got was exchanging a grin with a guy in a Star Wars shirt at the airport.

You do a lot of cosplay and other activities for Star Wars as well as other fandoms. How did Celebration and the “American” convention experience differ from what you are used to at home, if at all? Did anything surprise you?

Oh boy, the entire convention was totally different to what we have here. Our conventions are pretty badly organized and super packed, with cosplay really being the only thing I care about at them. I go to them for cosplay, and for basically no other reason, although I went to PAX Aus last year, which at least prepared me a little bit for SWCA. Celebration was massive in a way I've never experienced before, with the massive floor, the panels, the exhibit, everything! I didn't even get a chance to see everything that was there, because there was so much other stuff I actually wanted to check out.

The next con I'm going to here is in a sports stadium, lovingly called the "Cake Tin". It's basically just a massive donut, and it's freezing. The main stage is set out on the same floor, and can only fit a couple hundred people. There's also wrestling there, and basically no Star Wars except for the Rebel Legion and the 501st. That's our second largest con in New Zealand, which is a little sad, no?

On the flipside, I found cosplaying at Celebration a lot more frustrating. Like I said, I go to conventions here for the cosplay aspect (I help out with the Cosplay Parade and the Cosplay Games), but at Celebration I acted more as media, and my friends were all media. I didn't have time to stop and chat to other cosplayers, I was too busy running from panel to panel and trying to catch up with people. In the end, I only wore Leia for one day (which of course ended up with me going to the DK Publishing party as Leia). I'd love to bring a costume over in 2017, but it's gonna be a much more casual one.

You and I, along with an entire group of friends, interact daily on Twitter, and we were able to meet many of them at Celebration. I have terrible social anxiety, but when I met you and everyone else, I felt like I was reuniting with people I had not seen in years, rather than seeing them for the very first time. How was your experience in comparison to that?

I had a little bit of anxiety on the day I first met people, but I kept that pretty quiet because I don't like people knowing I have weaknesses, haha. I'd agree with you completely, though. Usually meeting up with people from the internet can be a little awkward or anxiety-inducing, but I had a realisation while hanging out with people at the Hilton that it felt like I'd known everyone for years. It probably helped that we all love Star Wars!

It was amazing how lovely and accepting everyone was, even the people I'd kind of admired from afar on Twitter. The after-con hangouts at the Hilton Lobby, just chilling out and joking around with everyone, were some of the best parts of the entire convention for me. I just loved how normal it all felt.

How much of an impact do you think social media had on Celebration? Do you think it would have been different had you not established a connection with some of your friends beforehand?

Twitter definitely had a huge impact on my experience at Celebration. Honestly, if not for Twitter I probably wouldn't have even gone, I got into the blogging/podcasting part of the fandom completely through Twitter, and that's how I met most of my friends within the fandom. Without that, and without the friends I so wanted to meet, I never would have even considered trying to make it over to the con. I travel for friends as much as for myself.

If I'd gone without having established those connections earlier, I probably wouldn't have done the overnight line. I may have ended up meeting some of the same people, but overall my experience would have been one of feeling a lot more lost and confused than normal. All in all, I'm very thankful for Twitter and all the friends I've made because of it.

What was your favorite panel at Celebration? Were there any that you missed that you wish you could go back and see?

Does the Rebels premiere count? If not, I really enjoyed the Untold Clone Wars panel, mostly because a few of us were livetweeting furiously at the same time and helping each other out with it a bit. It was fun, but also taught me that I do not enjoy livetweeting panels. I do wish I'd made it to the Rogue One panel, just so I could have seen that trailer, but the one I opted for instead (one about the diversity of opinions among the Star Wars fandom) was super fun and filled with friends, so I don't mind missing out too much.

Is there a special or unique story of something that happened at Celebration that sticks out to you?

Oh man, there are a few! My favourite one is probably when we met John Jackson Miller at the Hilton lobby. I was a little tipsy at the time, and talking to him about Kenobi, when it suddenly hit me that he wrote Knight Errant. Knight Errant is one of my absolute favourite Legends books, and it was just so awesome getting the chance to talk to the author of it. He's such a lovely guy, it was really cool getting to meet him—even if I probably embarrassed myself somewhat!

Coming from someone who deals with extreme social anxiety, Celebration helped me break out of my shell some, and I was able to leave it a more socially comfortable person. Did you take away any important lessons from your experience?

I left with something somewhat similar to you. I'm a pretty confident person already (as you've probably gathered), but Celebration helped me with that even more. I'm less weird about talking to "well-known" people now, and I also have a desire to make the most out of any future convention experience. I'm determined to be fearless in the future so I don't miss out on anything.

If people would like to talk to you about Star Wars, your podcast, or anything else, where can they find you?

I'm easily found on Twitter at @Wanderlustin—the rumour is that I never sleep and I'm always tweeting—and my personal blog, Flower Crown Jedi. If you ever want to hear my opinions with the added accent, I'm on both the ForceCult podcast, and Now This Is Podcasting!

Do you have a unique or interesting experience from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim that you'd like to share? Send them to me at chris@theforce.net and you may be featured in a future installment of Celebration Stories!

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