Invasion Dublin III

Last weekend our friends in the Emerald Garrison put on the third Invasion Dublin in the Citywest Hotel with  special guests Billy Dee Williams, James Arnold Taylor, Jeremy Bulloch, Mike Edmonds and Star Wars artist Will Sliney plus the convention had all the usual Invasion activities along with a couple of new attractions.

We arrived down at the hotel right in the middle of James Arnold Taylor's Q&A and I have to confess to rushing everyone directly to the stage so I wouldn't miss a second more than I had to. I've been a massive fan of James since first seeing his Youtube videos and hearing him on the Forcecast. Whether you're a fan of Star Wars or not you've definitely heard his voice before as James is one of thee best voice actors in the business.

This was worth the ticket price for Invasion alone, at the end of the day James performed his show, 'Talking to Myself' and it is an absolute must see. In the course of the show James lets the audience in on just how much fun and entertainment his job as a voice actor allows him.

If you haven't seen this video I implore you to check it out, it was filmed at a different convention but is part of the same show we got to see in Dublin. I did get the chance to speak to James but was embarrassingly star struck, which I don't normally get, so I gushed a bit then left the man alone but he was very welcoming and it felt good to tell him he was a hero of mine, plus he commented on my Forcecast t-shirt which was cool, think it got across the kind of fan I am.

We only got speaking very briefly to Billy Dee and unfortunately missed his Q&A. Shannen did get her picture taken with him and it was nice to say we met him.

Jeremy Bulloch and Mike Edmonds did a joint Q&A. Jeremy is absolutely great, I had the awesome opportunity to chat with him at length at last years Invasion Dublin 2, he has all the time in the world for fans and Invasion wouldn't be the same without him. Mike Edmonds I'd never met before and was amazed by the number of characters he's played, to name a few he's Logray the Ewok, the Ugnaught who puts Han into carbon freeze, Og from Dark Crystal plus he was in Time Bandits and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Also in attendance was Will Sliney, a Star Wars comic book artist, we didnt get meeting him but you can check out his blog at http://sliney.blogspot.co.uk/, if you're reading modern Star Wars comics chances are you've seen some of his work.

At every Invasion there's always great photo opportunities as their lifesize replicas are just plain awesome, above you can the Y-wing, AT-ST, AT-RT and the TX-130.

New for Invasion Dublin 3 was Yoda's hut complete with a screen accurate replica of the Jedi Master himself.

This is something the Emerald Garrison have done before but not at any Invasions I've been at, they call it Recreating the Magic and at Invasion Dublin these two guys live sculpted these in latex.

This had started out the day before as a solid bock of latex, hopefully this photo does some justice to how detailed it was one day later.

How to draw Star Wars was another of the activities I had seen at Invasion before and seemed like a great idea for the younglings.

As far as I could gather the Star Wars films seemed to be on a continual loop in part of the convention hall which would be great if you were down for the whole weekend, over the four days you easily could've taken in all six between other activities.

Also on display were some of the replica helmets and masks that have been created by members of the Emerald Garrison.

Below is just a sample of the Emerald Garrison characters that could be seen over the four days. These images are used courtesy of friend and fellow Star Wars fan, Owen Quinn, thanks Owen!

Owen Quinn is the author of The Time Warriors book series, so please take the time to check out his link: http://www.bibliocracy.com/e-books/Science-Fiction/the-time-warriors-tempest#.T66_zOspMsd

You can find the Emerald Garrison's website at http://www.irelandgarrison.com/garrison/home.html and the Invasion website at http://www.invasion.ie/.

I leave you with one final picture from the convention, Star Wars weddings, were I took Shannen as my non-legally-binding Imperial wife.

PS. Yes, I did buy some very cool action figures at Invasion, look for the first post this week.

Invasion Belfast IV - Saturday 01 October 2011 - 02 October 2011

Ireland’s premier Star Wars costuming club, The Emerald Garrison, returns to W5 with Invasion Belfast IV for a mega weekend of fantastic photo opportunities. With over 40 iconic costumed characters including a legion of Storm Troopers, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Jedi Knights, Bounty Hunters, Clonetroopers and even Wookies you will be spoilt for choice as to where to point your camera as they battle for your attention.

The enormously popular Force Training with Emerald Garrison’s very own Jedi Knight instructors is back with places bookable on the day for wannabe Padawans - Sorry Dads this one is just for the kids!

The Cloned Props and Replicas exhibition this year features the huge Clone Wars ‘Republic Fighter Tank’! During Invasion weekend visitors can get their photograph taken as they man the guns of this amazing life-size prop!

This is also a great opportunity to pick up that collectible or toy you've been looking for at one of our traders stands.

Fans also have the chance to meet actors from the original movies during signings and lecture theatre talks.

We welcome back Jeremy Bulloch who played Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi. Femi Taylor also joins us this year, Femi played Jabba the Hutt’s Twi’lek slave dancer Oola in Return of the Jedi. Please note that the actors charge a fee for photographs and autographs.

Follow Invasion Belfast on Facebook for more details.

Updated: Emerald Garrison Jedi Academy

Next Saturday and Sunday the Emerald Garrison are returning to W5 to run two days of Jedi Academy events to help celebrate their 10th Anniversary. This from the W5 website:

"W5 welcomes back the Emerald Garrison and their hugely successful Jedi Academy. Don't miss this weekend treat for all young Padawans. Train with The Emerald Garrison in their Junior Jedi Academy. Young visitors have the opportunity to don the famous brown robe, pick up a lightsaber and learn a few Jedi skills from an Emerald Garrison Jedi Master!"

Times are as follows and places are allocated on first come first served basis:

Saturday 9 April: 10.30, 11.15, 12, 12.45, 2.30, 3.15, 4 & 4.45

Sunday 10 April: 12.30, 1.15, 2.30, 3.15, 4 & 4.45

Come on down any time over the weekend to check out the garrison and maybe even see me there as this will be my second crewing experience with the guys.

See original post at http://www.w5online.co.uk/whats-on/events/item/57/emerald-garrison-jedi-academy/

UPDATE:

First of all, I can't take credit for these images, turns out there are several very talented photographers in the Emerald Garrison so I've just stolen their pictures as I only had my camera phone with me. I'm going to attempt here to do a post event report and while I don't know how it compares to past Jedi Academy events I had an absolute blast in W5 this past weekend.

So the Jedi Academy event was this past weekend as part of a series of weekend events put on by W5, an interactive science museum for kids here in Belfast, to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

The impression I got from what I was able to glimpse of the actual sessions was that they seemed to last thirty to forty minutes and were held every forty-five minutes on both Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon. Approximately twenty kids at a time are met by three Jedi instructors. The kids are given cloaks and lightsabers and introduced to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (who else when you have a Jedi training academy in Belfast?). Master Jinn teaches the kids some basic moves with the sabers in a set routine.

Once the kids have learnt their moves Darth Maul appears to challenge the Jedi. The kids all line up and Darth plays out a short battle that uses the routine taught to them by Qui-Gon. At the end everyone gets a certificate saying the Force is with them and they are now a Jedi Knight.

However as I say I only glimpsed a small part of this as I spent the two days crewing for the Storm Troopers out and about W5 and the Odyssey Pavilion that houses the museum.

Hanging out with these guys was one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time. I was surprised by how surreal it wasn't to walk around with Storm Troopers, it's something I also felt to some extent when attending Invasion Belfast II and III, and I think it's down to the vast amounts of Star Wars I've consumed in the last decade. It just feels right to see Star Wars characters walking about, I think to us major fans, the TK helmet is just like a familiar face.

This is turning into one of my longest blog posts and part of the problem is I'm struggling with how best to describe what we got up to for the two days. The experience was very different from being a 'civilian' at Invasions. Back at those events I'd toured around, seen all the characters but never really spoken at length with any of the Garrison members and what is difficult about this write up is how to explain the kind of 'you had to be there' humour that ensues when you're walking about a pavilion like the Odyssey on one of the hottest days of the year so far with a Sand Trooper, a Scout Trooper and a Snow Trooper.

Last thing I want to mention is the end of Saturday. There was one more session to go but no kids signed up that late in the day, so all us troopers and crew dressed in the little kid cloaks with the little kid sabers and went through a mock version of the academy and you can see our 'extra special' class photo below.

P.S. I got my Emerald Garrison member number after this weekend, I am EG-2507 and I've signed up for crew at Invasion Dublin over the Easter break so watch my twitter feed that weekend for updates and photos any time I get near wifi.

Now all that's left me for to do is decide on a first costume. Suggestions in comments!