Star Wars Celebration Japan Updates - Cosplay, Badge Art, Ticket Transfers and Vendor Announcements

 

We are in the home stretch! Star Wars Celebration Japan is less than three months away!

Which means I really need to get this blog updated again. I can't believe the last big update post I did was at the 200 days mark back in September! Once again I'm very sorry updates have been so infrequent this time around and I will make sure this site stays on track as we head into the home stretch.

Earlier this week I did a post bringing guest announcements up to date ahead of autographs and photo ops going on sale on Thursday (you can read about that fun time here). So now it's time to get everything else back on track.

First up - cosplay! Back on October 2nd ReedPOP announced new rules for cosplay at Star Wars Celebration. More specifically for travelling in cosplay to Star Wars Celebration due to Japanese etiquette for travelling in costume. I'll write up the details fully in an updated cosplay guide soon but you can read them all on the official site now.

And speaking of cosplay, this Thursday entry opened for the cosplay showcase!

Taking place on Saturday, April 19, the Cosplay Showcase is open to cosplayers of all levels. Entry is free (valid ticket required) and you have until Monday, March 10 at 11:59AM ET/11:59PM JST to submit your entry. Applicants will be notified if they have been selected for the showcase in early April. You can submit your entry on the official site.

Up next is badge art and this year's artwork may just be some of the most gorgeous and unique artwork I've ever seen for Star Wars Celebration badges. Created by Japanese artist Takumi, the badges feature characters from the iconic saga in Japan's traditional ukiyo-e art style. The first five badges were revealed on October 9, with four more following on December 20. I can't wait to see the full set and I am definitely going to be buying some of the badge art shirts in the Celebration Store.

Ticket Transfer was announced on October 26. I'll be including this as part of the full guide to lotteries and lightspeed lanes but in the most basic terms to take part in lotteries/reservations for panels and the Celebration Store this year you will need to transfer each ticket to a unique email address, Ticket Transfer is how you do that. You can read the official guide here. Key details to watch out for are that you must do the transfers a week before pre-show reservations launch (date currently unannounced) and if you are not attending and are transferring all of your tickets to friends to collect on site, this must be done by April 1.

If you are attending and you and your friends/family don't want to take part in any pre-show lotteries/reservations then you don't need to take part in Ticket Transfer, you can leave all your tickets against one email.

On the subject of tickets, only Friday and Sunday adult badges remain (with only 5% availability as of October 22), and on December 19 it was announced that kids badges for Saturday and Sunday were officially sold out with only Friday and 3-Day kids badges remain.

And looking at the current ticket sale page, some of the pre-sale merchandise is also listed as sold out. Sold out items are the official lanyard, all kids logo t-shirts (English, Japanese, and hybrid), the unisex key art ringer t-shirt, and the key art slouchy tote bag. Hopefully these items will be restocked for the Celebration Store.

And finally, we have three more exhibitors confirmed for the show floor. Small Planet's Pop Up Store, Bandai, and Jazwares have all now been announced as official attendees at Star Wars Celebration so I'd imagine we can expect plenty of Celebration exclusives from them! I have a feeling the Pop Up Store especially will be very popular with international fans with unique goods we don't normally see at home.