Ever since its humble beginnings in 2017, Power of the Force con has quickly grown to be one of the most fun conventions dedicated solely to the saga. The usual convention floor layour with its two halls has been expanded for this edition with a third, which made the floor space even better to navigate.
The first hall was filled with interesting merchandise stands where good deals could be made. The wide variety of all kinds of merchandise, from Hasbro to Funko, LEGO, props and various other items, has got you hard-pressed to not return with something that is still missing in your collection.
In the second hall there was also some merchandise, but this hall is mostly devoted to the guests signing. This is where this convention really shines as each year the organization manages to get a big line-up of guests and ther are always a few rare signers that you hardly ever see at other cons. Among last year’s line-up of guests were Hassani Shapi (Eeth Koth), Michaela Cottrell (Even Piell) and Mary Oyaya (Luminara Unduli).
For this edition the rarest signing guest was no doubt Oliver Ford Davies, who played Sio Bibble in the Prequels. Davies regaled visitors by repeating his famous line about how a ‘communication disruption can mean only one thing…invasion‘, funny anecdotes about filming and Ian McDiarmid. While certainly getting on in his years – after all it has been 25 years since The Phantom Menace premiered – he was clearly happy to be there and a pleasure to meet.
Another great guest to meet is Barry Lowin, who was in Din Djarin’s suit for Seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian among other roles in the recent series, and while there were more guests from the new era of series, with a line-up of twenty-four star names there were plenty of guests to meet from all eras of Star Wars.
And of course there was the third hall, the new space for panels, photoshoots and fanclubs like the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Mando Mercs and others. If there was any form of critique among regular visitors as myself about previous editions, it would have been that the queue for photoshoots snakes too much among the merchandise stands, and that panels could be difficult to hear due to it being part of the merchandise hall as well. With this problem now solved with the addition of a third hall, there really is little to no critique that can be had at this convention (except for overpriced food and drinks, but when is that not the case for a convention?)
So if you find yourself looking for a fun show where you’ll enjoy yourself and go where some of those rarer autograph opportunities can come knocking: set your navigation-computer to Cologne, Germany and visit the Power of the Force convention.
