Star Wars Celebration 2025 Recap

Garry: 00:00:01

Hello there and welcome to Spark of Rebellion.

f Star Wars Celebration Japan: 2025

You've not have to listen to our waffle. Same time feels like yesterday. Maybe you've gone through the back catalog, maybe you've checked out some SoR content.

If so, then welcome aboard and those of you that have listened to us for years, then welcome back as well.

Now we're going to be running through the key headlines of Celebration, about half a dozen things to go through and we'll just give you our thoughts on did we think, did we have massive FOMO not being there or did we think it's a bit meh this one compared to London we went to a couple years ago.

wars celebration returning in: 2027

Make sure you are following or subscribing to this podcast so you don't miss an episode announcement. As we're seasonal now, we're not going to be doing every week but we will be back in chunks to give you our thoughts on Disney plus TV series.

When that lands we've got andor coming up soon our review of that when Ahsoka lands we'll do that and then the films etc. So you can do that in your favor. Just do a search for Spark of Rebellion or head over to sparkofrebellion.com listen you can find all the links there.

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It's Palpatine's favorite chambermaid. It's Mark Asquith. How you doing, dude?

Mark: 00:02:40

I am good, mate. And to quote Tony Stark, oh, it's good to be back. I've missed doing it. I've missed doing this.

But then I like that it's seasonal because she sort of got this fire for it, haven't you? You've got this kind of. This kind of vibe for it. So. Yeah, man. No, I'm all right, I'm all right. I'm golden. Like C3 pure. Apart from that leg.

Garry: 00:03:02

Weird that in it. Yeah, yeah, I'm good, man. I'm good. It's exactly the same as you.

I think it's good to have a bit of a break, a bit of a breather on the old Star wars stuff because we were getting to the point where it was like, what the are we going to talk about?

Mark: 00:03:15

This was the same old stuff, wasn't it? Was like, there may be a movie, there may not be a movie. Guess what? There's movement on this movie.

And the movement is that there's movement until next week. We'll sit there.

Garry: 00:03:31

Exactly that. Yeah. So it was good to take a wee break, watch some. Some Star wars in your own time, play a game, all that stuff, and reconvene on Spark Off.

Mark: 00:03:44

Reconvene. Have you done any Star wars bits?

Garry: 00:03:48

I've played a little bit more Star Wars Outlaws. There was the first. The first DLC pack for that was out at the same time as the. Sorry.

Just after the game had sort of wrapped up all of its main content stuff and that was with. With Lando Calrissian's character and that stuff, and then wanted to get that done and out the.

Because shortly we've got the second DLC that's going to land, which we'll come on to in a second. So, yeah, a bit of that and not much else, to be honest with you.

I've plowed through a ton of books that were in the backlog while I was reading Star wars books like a few months ago when we did our last episode. So, yeah, just. Actually, no, I've watched a bit of. A bit of the Clone wars as well. Just dipped into that one. I've had like a spare hour or so.

So, yeah, little bit. Not too much about you, dude.

Mark: 00:04:40

Not too Dissimilar. Actually. I had a bit of a break from it. Got like, you obviously inevitably get constant book deliveries and stuff. Like I'm that guy.

I'll just pre order books because I like them. But I've actually not touched that many. I've only just started Mask of Fear, which is Reign of the Empire. You know, the Reign of the Empire.

I think it's a trilogy and our friend Kev. Hello to Kev. Said. Said it's. It's really good. Ties into Andor and such. But I've just, I've just stayed off it, same as you.

Like gone through some stuff that I wanted to read that wasn't Star Wars. The only thing that I have done is a little girl's now getting into Star Wars.

She's always sort of known R2D2 and stuff from just having, you know, seen the Lego that I've got on stuff. But she's. I got a little Princess Leia early years reading book and she's loving that one. And then she sort of.

We watch bits of the films and the movies and, and stuff and then the Young Jedi Adventures I think it is on Disney plus. So it's sort of just getting her into that. And so that's. That's been kind of nice, man. Like, oh, and obviously you've been through that, so it's.

Yeah, it's been really cool. But yeah, I've enjoyed the break. I'm enjoying seeing the news from Celebration and you know, getting used to like. I've not watched Andor yet.

I know you've probably not yet either. So I'm gonna batch that up. I'm gonna watch it all at the end because it's only a four week run with three episodes a week.

So it's actually, I'm excited to get into it, but be able to binge it. It's not like the burnout was before.

Garry: 00:06:04

So.

Mark: 00:06:05

Yeah, man, it's been nice. It's been nice to, to spread the wings a little bit and. And to dip back in now.

Garry: 00:06:10

Yeah, same. Yeah. Good. Yeah. And I'm the same with you with Andor. It's. I'm gonna wait and just binge the. Binge the whole lot.

I'm also one of these people that just naturally doesn't follow the crowd with that stuff. You know, I've always been that since high school there's been like a popular TV show or something like Gaz, what do you reckon?

I'm like not seen it and then I'll wait like a year and Binge, watch the lot.

Mark: 00:06:32

Yeah, I didn't do Game of Thrones. Same took me like 10 years.

Garry: 00:06:36

Yeah. Not the bad crowd to be in because you let the dust settle a little bit. Fresh eyes. Yeah.

All right, let's rattle through some of these announcements due to. For Star wars celebration this year. And you said you've been enjoying the news and stuff like that.

There's been loads of, like, little bits that have come out in and around some of these bigger announcements. So we'll just. We won't go into too much detail with all. All the periphery stuff, but the headlines will be.

First up, Mando and Grogu movie got their announcement date for that now, next year, 22nd of May. So they're targeting that usual Star wars cinema thing, aren't they, where it's either May or Christmas, usually with Star wars stuff.

And we got a decent panel for that. We got a clip. We had Filoni out. We had some other people, and then they brought out Sigourney Weaver, which was pretty sweet. She was.

She looks really cool. I don't know how old she is. I don't ask her age. Don't want to be rude, but she's looking pretty good. She's looking pretty good for her age.

And she seems well up for her role in Star wars and saw a couple of screenshots and things like that. So you're up for this Mando and Grogu film that was meant to be out. I don't know when it was this year. I think so. Yeah. Another year to wait, dude.

But looks pretty good.

Mark: 00:07:52

It does, actually. And I'm sort of interested in a couple of things.

Garry: 00:07:56

The.

Mark: 00:07:57

The. We know that this sort of ties into the big picture of, like, the Feloni verse, if you like the Disney plus universe. And there's.

There's more to come for the characters, you would think, because of. Because of what goes on with, you know, the throne stuff. Ahsoka Season 2. And then Filoni was sort of asked, is this the end of. Or was it five?

One of them was, I think it was. Filoni was asked, like, what's next for Mando? And they're like, well, you know, we'll see. I'm sort of. I'm engrossed in the universe stuff.

And Filoni gave a little tidbit which was like, you know, he works on these big picture things. You know, everything to him is a big picture. And he has these ideas for things and, you know, sequences or ideas for story points and plot points.

And story beats and where the has to work out where they fit in. So I, I don't think this will be the end of, of the Mando and Grogu story. I'd be very shocked if that. That was the case.

They're just too bankable and Pedro Pascal is obviously the, the, the, the, the man in Hollywood right now even though he's probably not in this that much. So I'm excited for it. As for Sigourney Weaver. Yeah, it's sort of a weird one for me. You know the whole why did they make it into a movie?

Why, why bother putting it into a movie?

I don't know why they turned it into a movie but I think, you know, you've got Saganu Weave, you've got that level of person in there is quite interesting. I didn't know she was playing someone that would wear an X Wing flight suit.

I didn't know that until I saw the pictures and Kev mentioned it and Kev said do you think she's going to be playing Nora Wexler? And I think that's a pretty good shout given. Snap was in the Snap Wexler was in the old sequel trilogy.

And then we know that, you know, she's in the aftermath books and cracks on with Wedge, you know, settles down with Wedge. So I think she could be playing Nora Exley which I think would be really cool. I think she'd be a great fit for that. So yeah. Interested me interested?

Garry: 00:09:51

Yeah. It has certainly brought the hype level up a little bit more because the only thing we had to go on was did we have a trailer? Do we have a trailer?

Mark: 00:10:00

I don't know. Was it some stills?

Garry: 00:10:03

Yeah, I can't remember. Yeah, so there wasn't much to go on really. So this is a good opportunity to bring out the peeps involved.

Like you said Filoni, ask some, some good questions and stuff like that. And the thing around why is it a movie? I think that's money and fan service. I think fan service in the way because they've cancelled so many things.

I think this was just the right. We've got to put something out in cinemas. We've got nothing coming out in the next five years or so. Even though this next announcement is a thing.

Yeah, they just needed something out in cinemas to satisfy the Star wars fandom and secondly they probably had a bunch of budget budgeted for something one of these films or whatever. And it's like the age old thing, isn't it? You know, if you don't use your budget, you don't get it next year. So.

Mark: 00:10:51

Yeah, so they're just doing roadworks, basically.

Garry: 00:10:54

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So May 22nd next year, Mando and Grogu. That lands. We've got an announcement for a brand new film.

So sod, sod all the other ones that are in development and have been in development for God knows how many years. Nope, we're going to do a new one. We kind of knew this was going to happen, didn't we?

You and I spoke on this probably this time last year where we heard rumblings that Shawn Levy was working on a film and we said he's probably the guy that of all of them that will probably get his film over the line because he's just so popular at the moment with the whole Wolverine, Deadpool thing, the Stranger Things stuff, all of that. He's just the guy at the moment bringing out all the cool popcorn stuff. And lo and behold, announcement, Ryan Gosling to start.

And the movie is called Starfighter.

y quick, if I'm being honest,: 2027

Ryan Gosling, dude in a Star wars film. Does this, does this land?

Mark: 00:12:04

Yeah, I'm all right with that. I think Sean Levy's a really, you know, like you said, he's on trend at the minute with the Deadpool stuff.

He, he clearly knows how to direct fast paced action and doesn't seem to make his films too long. You know, some of the movies aren't great, but then some are. So I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm interested to see what will come of this one.

As for Ryan Gosling and the fact it's a whole set of new characters and all that kind of stuff, I think I'm all right with it. I quite like Ryan Gosling. I think he's just easy. He's an easy, he's a good actor.

We've seen him in Blade Runner, we've seen him in, you know, La La Land. Plus he's done everything from, you know, Barbie to, to, to, to like Drive and more serious movies. So I actually like Ryan Gosling.

And what I think, what I quite like about this is he, he can easily carry the, the Han Solo swagger.

Like I feel like poor Dameron was sort of intended to have that swagger and whilst he does have the brazenness and confidence, I don't think he's necessarily got the swagger that Harrison Ford had in A New Hope. And I think someone like Ryan Gosling can pull that off because he's the kind of guy and nostrilize.

It's a fantastic looking guy, he's a great looking guy.

But when Harrison Ford walked into a room in his 30s, just like Ryan Gosling when he walks into a room even I'm stopping to have a look because they are good looking at. They are good looking lads.

Garry: 00:13:38

Yeah, yeah.

Mark: 00:13:40

But I think he's so. I think he's got. I think he could have that Tom Cruise maverick style swagger.

Garry: 00:13:47

Yeah.

Mark: 00:13:48

So I like it. Yeah, I like it, man. I like it. I think this could be very interesting. I will.

I'm interested to see what the storyline is and I would be very interested to see if it's a standalone as they're making out because I think that could be really cool, you know, it could just be really cool. And I sort of wonder, has this taken the Rogue Squadron? Is it Rogue Squad or whatever the Patty Jenkins one was. Is it.

Is it taken that slot as the, you know. Yeah, we're doing space Top Gun.

Garry: 00:14:18

That was my initial thought when I saw the title, especially Starfighter, I thought, yeah, that looks like Patty Jenkins. That stuff's never going to figure itself out. Not anytime soon anyway. So it's probably slots in there quite nicely. And yeah. Oh no, I agree on.

On Ryan Gosling as well. I think he's like. He reminds me of like Peak Brendan Fraser back in there.

Mark: 00:14:40

Yeah, he had some swagger in it.

Garry: 00:14:41

Do you know what I mean? Like, you know, when he was in the Mummy and stuff like that, he was a bit of a. An action dude as well as a comedy dude as well as a straight dude.

And you know, he kind of did it also. Yeah, should be good.

Mark: 00:14:53

He was done dirty, that lad, wasn't he? Now he's.

Garry: 00:14:56

Yeah, a couple of pounds but you'll lose that. And just to mention a couple of other films that apparently they mentioned at Celebration are still in development.

Apparently Shamina Boy, Chinoy, James Mangold, Waititi and the trilogy from Simon Kinberg. They are confirmed to still be in active development. Any news on that? Get out of here.

Mark: 00:15:25

They've just been around for such a long time, those movies now, haven't there?

Garry: 00:15:30

Yeah, I think the only one that we know of that's kind of I don't know. Would. Could be. Next up after Starfighter is probably the James Mangold one. Right. Which is the. Because we've heard the most about that, I think.

Which is the.

Mark: 00:15:45

Is that the rare one or like the early ass Jedi stuff?

Garry: 00:15:48

Yeah, that's the early origin of the Force and. Or origin of the Jedi, one of the two. Way back when. Yeah.

I don't know what the Ray one is because they keep firing the bloody writers and everything, so.

Mark: 00:16:02

Yeah, they do.

Garry: 00:16:03

Don't know.

Mark: 00:16:04

It's a funny one, isn't it? Because just like those two movies, we didn't really get many movie things, did we? Apart from. Oh, we've got these two. But all the rest are still.

Like you said, the rest is still in development, we promise. Like, do you think that. Do you think that is them finally learning the lesson?

Garry: 00:16:20

Yeah.

Mark: 00:16:21

Do you think.

Garry: 00:16:21

It has to be.

Mark: 00:16:22

It has to be, mate, because Levy and Ryan gosling and a 27 release date, like, that feels like. You said it feels like it's gonna happen. That.

Garry: 00:16:32

Yeah. Especially when you bring them out on stage.

Mark: 00:16:35

Yeah.

Garry: 00:16:36

With the logo, with everything. That feels like it's.

Mark: 00:16:39

Yeah, that's a good point.

Garry: 00:16:41

You know, even though the trailer. It wasn't a trailer, it was just a logo reveal, wasn't it? And they reuse some music from Rise of Skywalker and stuff.

Even though it's a bit rough and ready, it still feels like it's leagues ahead of these other projects that are still apparently coming. So. Yeah. All right.

Mark: 00:17:01

But it was like, it was definitely light on movie stuff, wasn't it?

Garry: 00:17:03

Oh, dude, the whole. The whole event was light.

Mark: 00:17:06

Yeah, I agree. And we'll get to that in a bit, but I agree.

Garry: 00:17:09

Yeah, sure. Some Disney plus stuff. Let's recap that.

So we had, we had a bunch of Ahsoka Season 2 information, but we sadly didn't get an announced date, an announcement for the release date for that. So we got a bunch of interviews, a bunch of people talking about how great it was working with Rosario Dawson and developing that character.

And, you know, Filoni was out again and talking about that stuff. We did get a mini announcement that Hayden's back for season two, which is very cool.

Mark: 00:17:40

Which we knew anyway we could, we could infer that, couldn't we? But yeah, like he's. He's now the Mark Hamill cash in the bank star in a. If you. To bring Luke Skywalker back. Money in the bank, put Hayden there.

Money in the bank.

Garry: 00:17:54

Defo, mate. Yeah.

Mark: 00:17:56

Which sort of, you know, this is a slight digression. Like when they said, oh, we're done with the Skywalker Saga. That's like D.C. going, you know what? We cannot be asked with Batman. Him.

Do you know what I mean? Or Superman. And like, no, no, clearly, like, you're clearly not. Like, you crack on, then go and try some stuff. Yeah, you do you. Yeah.

We'll see you when you get back. We'll see you when you get back.

Garry: 00:18:22

Yeah. Until they do one huge sort of sign off film or sign off TV thing for the foreseeable. I think just all roads lead back to Skywalker.

Mark: 00:18:35

Well, I think to it and it is, you know, it is, it is. Why, why not mine? Those stories, like, just recast Luke. Just recast him. Like. And if you want to.

We've said it before, if you want to bring Hamill in, let him do Old man Luke, you know, here I am on actor now. Let me tell you these stories. Shagga, you know, I've got nothing else to do here. Like the diaries of Luke Skywalker.

Like, just make that and take the money.

Garry: 00:19:03

Yeah. Like he's reminiscing to some.

Mark: 00:19:05

Yeah.

Garry: 00:19:06

Beat up droid in the corner of a cantina. Yeah.

Mark: 00:19:09

Or he's like, he's chronicling everything to R2. Like just use the Lucas idea of R2 being the chronicler and just say, right. He's. He's gonna.

He knows he's gonna piss off to actor cuz he's had enough of all this crap. But he doesn't want his knowledge to go, yeah, all appear in it. So he's chronicling it to R2. And that's the.

Just make it a cool: 1970

Garry: 00:19:44

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I think, I don't know, it's difficult because I think you've got so many fans who are like, if you touch Mark Hamill, if you disrupt him, you know, so you could recast him and play. Yeah. Although the flashback thing would be pretty cool.

You could have a younger Luke even if it didn't look exactly the same as Mark Hamill back in his 20s, whatever it was, it's not the end of the world.

Mark: 00:20:13

No, just you can't. You're not going to get it. Like, Bail Organa has been recast in Ando, hasn't it? A Benjamin Brat. Looks nothing like Jimmy Smith.

Garry: 00:20:22

Nothing. Just GPT it.

Mark: 00:20:25

Yeah.

Garry: 00:20:26

There's your prompt. Make this actor look like a young Mark Hamill.

Mark: 00:20:29

Yeah, done. Might bloody have to. And we all know Sebastian Stan would do it. Like, I know we've said this for years now, but just put him in it.

I saw the Thunderbolts movie with when that came out last week and I was like, oh, this is actually pretty good. Sebastian Stan's cool.

Garry: 00:20:42

Still no spoilers. I'm seeing that on Saturday.

Mark: 00:20:46

e to a very popular film from: 1991

Garry: 00:21:03

Right.

Mark: 00:21:04

Like possibly the coolest that I. Not, not just on film, but in life, that anyone's ever looked brilliant.

Garry: 00:21:12

Okay. Okay.

Mark: 00:21:13

Let me know what you think of it. You know the scene that I'm talking about.

Garry: 00:21:16

Cool. Okay, cool. And just lastly, it's not me.

Mark: 00:21:21

Spoilers just. I know because what you're thinking to yourself, Marco, you already look cool. You are that cool. But it's not me.

Garry: 00:21:26

We all thought it.

Mark: 00:21:27

I know. Well, that's what I'm saying. Get it in the show notes.

Garry: 00:21:31

Lastly, we had, talking of recasting, we had a picture. We had a picture of Roy McCann, Rory McCann, who has been recast as Balin Skull. We had a picture of him. So that doesn't look too bad.

That'll be all right. My thoughts on it, really.

Mark: 00:21:51

All right, Leave it out. Yeah, don't want to say anything on that.

Garry: 00:21:56

I don't, I don't know the actor of what I haven't seen in or anything prior.

Mark: 00:21:59

What? Have you watched Game of Thrones?

Garry: 00:22:02

Well, yeah, but he's not. What I mean is I've not seen a Rory McCann leading starring thing before.

Mark: 00:22:09

He's the friggin hound.

Garry: 00:22:11

I know, but he's like one of.

Mark: 00:22:13

The main actual characters in Game of Thrones. The very famous ensemble cast based drama fantasy thingy.

Garry: 00:22:22

Okay.

Mark: 00:22:23

By George Rura Martin.

Garry: 00:22:24

What's the other thing he starred in then that I should go and watch?

Mark: 00:22:30

I don't know, do I?

Garry: 00:22:31

Oh, you don't know all of a sudden. But he's this big guy. Is he?

Mark: 00:22:34

Yeah, because Bing's down, otherwise I wouldn't know.

Garry: 00:22:38

Yeah.

Other than Game of Thrones in which he plays a very, very specific stylized character, I haven't seen in him anything else to make a proper call on it.

Mark: 00:22:47

Well, I mean, they've cast him as a very unstylized non sci Fi. Fantasy based char in a drama about a hospital. No, no, he's freaking Jedi.

Garry: 00:22:58

He's just got a beard. Like that's, that's it. Like where's, where you're pissed off you.

Mark: 00:23:03

Didn'T get the job. Just say so, man. You have to go through.

Garry: 00:23:07

I'm not pissed off at all.

Mark: 00:23:09

I just never rang.

Garry: 00:23:10

I just don't have a thought on it, mate. Just don't have a strong. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Or no, I'm not thing. I'm just indifferent.

Mark: 00:23:18

Yeah. All right. I think you'll be good. So eat.

Garry: 00:23:21

You think you'll be good? Cool. The Hound.

Mark: 00:23:23

The picture looks good though. I mean it's tough to recap. Ray Stevenson's got such a presence. Dude, you know, he did what a. What a. What a. What a difficult recast.

But I think it's a nice choice. We'll see.

Garry: 00:23:38

Anyway, some other TV stuff. You know the anime style, Star Wars Visions Volume 3 of that is out. That drops on. I think it's like this year. I think it's like October, November.

So that was pretty cool. October 29th. Yeah, that wasn't too bad. I'm not really sure on the whole anime thing.

They did it with a series of Batman stories a few years ago they brought a collection of mini stories or anime based and they're kind of cool. They're okay. But I'll take or leave this one.

Mark: 00:24:20

Yeah. Visions was not a thing for me.

I tried, I tried and I get it, I get like, I get why it's good and I get the animation styles are cool and I, I do, I get it. I understand like why people like it and I'm not poo poo and it just wasn't really for me.

And I think it, I think it was because it was like I put that much time into Star wars that you, you sort of don't, you don't really have time because there's that much other stuff that you want to do or you want to watch or you want to consume or play or whatever that when there's something that doesn't for me certainly like contribute to the main mythology and move any wider act forward or you know, a self contained story, but that tells us a story within the universe, you know, like I just choose something else because there's that much other stuff that I want to get through. So, you know, I, I, I find it difficult to not do anything that's really in the, in the main universe or you know, whatever, you know what.

Garry: 00:25:21

I Mean, yeah, no R. But that is landing this year though, which is kind of cool. Very rare. Do you get something at Celebration? It's like, oh, this is a cool thing.

Oh, and it's this year or it's.

Mark: 00:25:33

Yeah.

Garry: 00:25:33

So that's, that's pretty cool. So that visions that's out October. A couple of really quick things before we move on to our sort of overall thoughts on On Celebration.

First of all, as I mentioned, Star Wars Outlaws, the second DLC that drops next week actually that's called A Pirate's Fortune. That's the DLC where you've got Hondo Anaka back from the Clone Wars, Clone Wars Rebels 1 or 2. So he's in that DLC.

And we had some Hasbro releases for new figures for the Black series and the vintage line. So those of you that are fans of the old video game Star Wars Shadows the Empire, you've got the main character, Dash Rendar. He's very cool.

I love it when they do these sort of legends stuff. They also announced a bunch of figures from the second Jedi game, Jedi Survivor. So Cal Kestis and a bunch of other people.

And then coming up the rear, we've got Moff Gideon from the Mandoverse in his proper outfit and also Cobb Vanth, which is the, the dude from season two, I believe, where they had the whole western vibe and that stuff.

So a bunch of new toys, new stuff for video games Smugglers Run, which is the, the mission based thing at the Disney World and Disneyland parks that's getting a new Mando and Grogo Grogu Fiend sort of mission added to it. So a bit of an update for the parks there.

And lastly, we had the announcement that Star Wars Celebration is returning back to Anaheim, which is in LA.

Mark: 00:27:11

Yeah, it's in. Yeah, just outside LA. Yeah.

Garry: 00:27:14

Yeah. So that's: 2027

That one has some cool stuff there. So a few other bits there.

Mark: 00:27:24

Dude, it's in the same place. Certain trip, man. We've got a bit of like, I think the, I think it's in the same place as where we had the Podcast Movement Conference years ago.

It's a big, big conference center just outside of like Disney and all that stuff.

Garry: 00:27:38

h, yeah, we're very cool that: 2027

Mark: 00:27:48

. I want to say: 2018

Garry: 00:27:54

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, nice It's a good venue, though. Huge.

Mark: 00:27:57

It is, yeah.

Garry: 00:27:59

Right, so that's all the news, the headline stuff from.

From Celebration Japan, as we did, just looking from afar, but just picking up all the announcements and just looking at people's Instagrams and, and, and TikToks and all that stuff. What were your thoughts on. On the event as a whole? Do you. Were you like, oh, nips, I really would wish I was there?

Or you're like, yeah, I'm just happy to view it online.

Mark: 00:28:26

Yeah, sort of the latter. I was away as well. I was on holiday and didn't. Didn't like. Didn't even catch up with the news that much on it.

I'm in the Star Wars Celebration group from when we went in London back couple of years ago in 23. And it was originally I was like, oh, it'd be cool to go to Japan. And then it seemed like a bit of a faff.

And even in London it was a bit of a faff, like getting to the event. And I'm never a big fan of, like, trying to get out of events when it's the end of the day and I just. It just annoys me.

So, like, logistically, I was sort of maybe a little bit of FOMO to start with, but as time progressed, I was all right with it. And then just seeing some of the stuff at the Facebook group and the reviews online and how few genuine announcements were. There were.

And coupled with the fact that it seemed like, logistically it was terrible. From what I could see, it appeared that there was just a.

A, just myriad issues with, like, people like Aaron Christensen's signings getting canceled and people getting refunded and that, like, for many people, they've spent their savings for that signature. You know, it's. And it's not about the refund on the signature, it's about the fact that they've spent on travel and accommodation, time off work.

And so I didn't really like that. And I also. I also just didn't like that. It.

It appeared that, like, the panel ballots that we had the issue with back in 23, there were the same problems. And then it seemed we were lucky. We were very lucky because we didn't queue for any of the merch.

We didn't queue to get into the shop or any of that stuff, but it looked as if the lines for that were just terrible and there were people unable to get in. So honestly, it's not that I'm. There was. No, it's not what I'm Trying to say it's gone further than, you know. Am I a bit miffed that I didn't go?

No, it's. I'm actively glad that I didn't go. You know, I'm actively glad that I didn't go, so. Because it would, it would have cost a fortune.

We went because it was in London. It's a train ride for us. It's a couple of hours. It's easy and it's cheap to stay for us.

But if I'd have gone to Japan and spent all that money, I would have been pissed, man. And I. I'm guessing you were exactly the same.

Garry: 00:30:43

Yeah, exactly the same. Yeah. A lot of money to get over there. And don't get wrong, I think it's cool that they host it in other places. It's not just in the US all the time.

But yeah, for folks in the US and here in Europe, to get to Japan in the first place is not cheap. And then you add on all the stuff to get to the venue and tickets and like you said, all that stuff. Yeah, I would have been pissed as well.

So happy to view this one. Just, I think, I think they had an official YouTube streaming channel you can see, you know, all that and the recap.

I do want to say a shout out to Matt at Star wars sessions. Those guys, they do their own podcast and YouTube and everything. They flew out there from the UK.

They covered it all in depth, like a big billion tick tick tock and Instagram stories and everything. So. And I think he listens to our show, which is pretty sweet.

So thank you very much for keeping us in the loop on all the behind the scenes stuff and travel and getting around the venue and stuff. So that was cool. But not gonna lie, dude, I'm up for Anaheim though. Might have to try and swing that one.

Mark: 00:31:48

Well, different because it's, you know, there's.

And I know Tokyo is the same as this, but you know, you can go to la, you can do other stuff in la and the parks are right there so you can make a family trip out of it. And it is like it's a drive from la, you know, even lax, it's fine. I've driven it before. It's easy and there's a lot of options there.

And I think, you know, with it been 50 of, of a new Hope, you know, you, you probably are going to get a Mark Hamill, you probably are going to get Harrison Ford. You know, some of them are gonna, you might even get a George Lucas, you know, because it Only happens once, doesn't it?

And they're not going to be there for the hundredth so or 75 maybe. So I think there'll be some big stuff.

But that just for me then just like that goes against everything that I enjoy, which is too many people paying expensive things for things that shouldn't be that expensive for that reason. So I, I don't know. I'm. I love la, but I would like to go to Anaheim again. But I don't know, man.

It just, it's got all the hallmarks of a show already. Just because it will. There'll be that many people wanting to do the same thing. Especially if Hamill and.

And Harrison Ford or whoever there and even George Lucas. I just feel like it might not be very good.

Garry: 00:33:07

True. That is true. It's just the. Yeah, it's that initial. Is that an initial thought of like oh my God.

Shoulder to shoulder with like thousands of other people and that social battery draining pretty quick.

Mark: 00:33:24

Yeah.

Garry: 00:33:25

Throughout the year. I know what you mean, dude. But we'll see. You never know. Stranger things have happened, you know. And let's wrap it there, mate. Let's wrap it.

On a positive note, we had some good things come out of of this celebration. New film looks to be getting over the line, which is a good thing. Mando and Grugu Grogu movie confirmed for next year.

Starfighter: 2027

I think the end of June. I think we said we were going to come back and review that and a bunch of cool little bits. Gaming, toy news, all that stuff.

So yeah, it's been pretty sweet. And on that note, we will wrap it there for episode 243. Thank you guys for checking out another episode of Spark of Rebellion.

f Star Wars Celebration Japan: 2025

Who knows he said no before said no to starting the podcast. So here we are.

Mark: 00:34:52

Look where that got us.

Garry: 00:34:53

Look where that is. Yeah. From a sins make sure you're following and subscribing to the podcast. Just search for Spark Rebellion on all apps. You'll find us there.

That way you won't miss announcements when new episode drops. Lobb us some beer money at forward slash support or listen at forward slash listen. And we'll be back for andor season two pretty soon, dude.

It's been good to be back chatting Star Wars.

Mark: 00:35:15

Yes, always good, mate. We'll probably do an Ahsoka Season 2 episode of the next season, I would have thought. It seems a logical thing to discuss, so I'm keen for that.

And yeah, looking forward to it. Trying to get some guests on there as well, which would be fantastic. So looking forward to the seasonal approach, but been great to chat, dude.

Much love to Kevin, Pascal, Denise, everyone that supports us. And yeah, excited for the next season, man.

Garry: 00:35:36

Indeed. What he said. And we're back soon, so until then, take care of yourselves and may the Force be with you always.