Star Wars Celebration VI is a week behind us now and I’ve been thinking about it pretty much constantly. It usually takes about five days for me to process the awesomeness and think back on what really stands out. For me, every Celebration has a few moments that “make the con.” I wanted to share some of the specialness with Big Shiny Robot! readers.
At Celebration V, one of those moments was winning the Friday Bounty Hunt. As time passed, having my recaps published on BSR! (which eventually led to my permanent status here), became very important. It also led, indirectly, to my being asked to join the staff of the Bounty Hunt this year. Considering I spent most of my time at the hunt, it’s no surprise that some of my big moments this year are directly connected.
There were planned moments that were fantastic: Kevin Smith, the radio drama, etc. But, dealing with nearly 300 teams of 2-4 people, it was wonderful to hear how many considered the Bounty Hunt to be the highlight of their Celebration (like it was for me at CV). Hearing that sort of made mine.
I also had several teams mention that they had first heard of the Bounty Hunt by reading my recaps from Celebration V. That didn’t only “make” the con for me this year, it sort of re-“made” the last one. But the best Hunt-related moment came in the form of an email shortly after Celebration.
Hi there,
2 years ago, I was captain of the team Our First Kettch of the Day in the Thursday Bounty Hunt at Celebration V. We placed in third with 42,500 points. A decent finish, we thought. This was the only entry in the race, but we looked forward to trying at the next Celebration.
Meanwhile, shortly after the convention, I was scouring the web for stories from other teams who had run the race, as I was still on my post-con need for information. I came across your story for the team Sithilis, which took first place, and an astounding 90,000 points on Friday. I read through the game plan and realized that it was much more well-planned out and more concise than our plan of running and getting bounties as we could. So I remembered your plan.
A month ago, I signed up for the Thursday Bounty Hunt again for Celebration VI, with the same team name, and 3 of the 4 players returning (our original fourth was actually with Sirius Radio, to record the event, but there were technical issues preventing recording and broadcast). I hunted down and found your original article from CV, and sent the article to the other members of my team. They remembered that I had wanted to follow a plan from another group last time, and were willing to join me.
We ran the Bounty Hunt last week, on Thursday, and ended up with a total of 11/12 bounties collected, with a total of 95,000 points. We finished with 6 minutes left, and the only bounty we didn’t collect was the 5,000 point bounty where you had to play sabacc at the very far end of the convention center. We realized we did not have the time to collect the remaining bounty while finishing up another bounty most of the way out there, so decided to finish up with our final score. We took first place in the Thursday event, with a new high score record that we took from you. We were excited beyond belief for our win, and I knew I had to thank you for the successful game plan.
Of course, records were made to be broken, and ours lasted all of one day, as on the Friday event, 2 teams were able to tie for first place, both collecting a perfect score.
So thank you for posting an article about the Bounty Hunt after Celebration V. I hope to race against you at CVII, whenever that may be.
Tom
Well Tom, I would love to race against you at Celebration VII, wherever that may be. But, if James offers, I’d love to help with the race again. Winning isn’t everything, but it’s a great thing. A greater thing is knowing that my efforts helped someone else win, and that my contributions to the race gave hundreds more a memory they can save just like mine.
Strangely, my best moment was completely unrelated. While the meaning will be lost on anyone but me, I’ll still relate it. As I was leaving the convention center, returning to the hotel, after the final day, I was feeling a little melancholy as I always do at the end of Celebration. I found myself walking behind a couple and their children. The man had a shirt that I thought meant he was from the Irish garrison of the 501st. Being in Ireland back in May with my wife, I naturally was curious what part of the Emerald Isle he called home. So I struck up a conversation with a stranger, something I don’t normally do. It turns out they were from Northern Ireland, a part we didn’t visit. But we did learn a little about one another. It turns out the Emerald Garrison is not part of the 501st, though the larger organization has apparently tried recruiting them. Being independent just seems to serve their Irish spirit. In just three minutes of conversation I felt we had a connection that can only happen in those special conditions where strangers share one thing they love. As I turned for my hotel, and he continued toward the parking lot, he handed me a patch his garrison had made for Celebration VI and told me to look them up online. Maybe the patch meant nothing to him, it was probably just a promotional tool, but it meant a lot to me. His generosity and friendliness was typical of what I experienced in his homeland. Maybe this moment wouldn’t have felt the same to me at any other Celebration. It could have been my recent connection to Ireland that made this have much more impact than it deserves. But I’m not questioning. It was a great moment for me and I immediately called my wife to share it. That patch will be one of my most-prized Celebration souvenirs. So thank you, Mr. Northern Irish. I didn’t think to ask your name, but I’m hoping you’ll read this somehow and recognize your contribution.
Mr. Northern Irish and Tom Kane, from the Emerald Garrison’s website.
I’m looking at Celebration Europe II in Essen, Germany. But I doubt I’ll make it for 2013. The seventh US Celebration will be announced before we expect it I’m sure. At this point, it’s almost a point of pride to make sure I get to it. If my experience to date is any indication, there’ll be two or three moments that make the entire trip worthwhile. And I’ll be back to share them with BSR! readers when they do.