moments in celebration badge history

Since the first event in 1999, when you go to Star Wars Celebration – you get a badge. It could be for the whole weekend or for just one day, and it indicates if you’re a guest or crew or if you sprung for that elusive VIP package. Badges have become a collector’s item, the images have been transferred onto other merch, and the art has gotten better and better as time has gone on. They’ve also become a record of what was new and current in Star Wars at the time of each event. Now, as we approach Celebration Japan in April, what might be the best badge art of all time was recently revealed. In that spirit, let’s take a look back at some big moments in Star Wars Celebration badge history.

NOTE: For high quality images of every Celebration badge so far, check out the amazing website the Star Wars Celebration Badge & Pass Archive. Thank you to SWCBPA for their help with this article and for being a constant and great resource!

It all started with ten badges at the very first event in Denver, Colorado. These simple but striking illustrations of The Phantom Menace characters (above) are now iconic, especially the three day badge featuring Darth Maul. Look at old pictures of the first event and you’ll see mostly Maul badges, hanging around the necks of Fan Club members and their guests on that yellow lanyard advertising the Episode I soundtrack. The sponsors on the bottom, especially Pepsi, are a perfect time capsule of the Phantom Menace hype.

An interesting spin off, later in 1999 and the following year, Hasbro, Insider, and the SW Shop made a few exclusive “badges” (above) available to those who purchased sets of Phantom Menace figures. These badges were designed in the same vein as the ones from CI and would match well with the set though they were in no way associated with the event. Images included Aurra Sing on a badge labeled “BOUNTY HUNTER”, Porkins on a “REBEL” badge, and the fan favorite Mara Jade on a badge reading “IMPERIAL”.

From CI to CIII, one of the most popular purchases was the complete set of badges, available after the event weekend. Starting in Issue 45 of Star Wars Insider (dated August/September 1999), the set of 10 CI badges was available in Jawa Trader for $48. This set came in a box with a foil authenticity seal and an Exhibitor badge signed by THE Ahmed Best! This set was also available on mosespa.com as of late January 2000, according to a Wayback Machine snapshot, and I even found it in Insider as late as Spring 2002, still on sale at a reduced price.

The CII badge set came with 14 badges in a very cool metal lunchbox (above, wow I want one so badly) emblazoned with the CII logo. It also came with a lanyard from the show and a CII branded disposable camera (yes, there was a disposable camera, lol). The CIII set came with 16 badges in a gorgeous wooden box featuring the Vader helmet CIII logo, which you could purchase at the show and would be delivered after the weekend was over.

It was safe to say that by CIV, the badges were firmly placed in Celebration tradition. CIV, London 2007, and CV continued featuring animated character art, at different levels of trendy cartoonish-ness. Celebration Japan 2008 featured actual character photos and heavily emphasized the event’s Toys R Us partnership. Then came CVI, held in Orlando in August of 2012.

This event was celebrating the 35th anniversary of our beloved franchise, and the key word is definitely “celebrating”. These badges are…y’know what, they are really something. You want Boba Fett holding balloons? You got it. You want Yoda in aviator sunglasses? Consider it done. Darth Maul in a party hat? Han Solo and Qui-Gon giving a thumbs up? These badges had it all. I think they’re very reminiscent of that strange time seven years after the prequels wrapped…Star Wars was about to make a big transition later that year with the Disney purchase, and it was still not taking itself too seriously. These images were also echoed on the badges for the 2013 Celebration in Essen, Germany. Grievous had a mustache…these badges could really be their own blog post, huh?

Styles continued to develop, featuring a different artistic rendering every Celebration and continuing to be a highly sought after collectible. If they are sold as a set, they sell out very fast. Celebration 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic, but there were still badge designs made and VIPs received their badge. Full sets were also sold when the exclusive shop opened up, as well. People always find a way to collect them all, either on eBay or by other means. I’ll never forget at Celebration Chicago in 2019…I had worked at the store and therefore had the BB-8 “Crew” badge, and on the last day, someone came up to me and asked if they could buy it. I said no way, of course, and it still hangs on my wall.

When Celebration returned in 2022, the Anaheim badge images subverted expectations by going with locations rather than characters. Though it’s without a doubt that the illustrations were beautiful, their effectiveness as badge images can be (and was) debated.

Badge art was back at an all time high in 2023 as Celebration hit London, with absolutely stunning character designs by illustrator Alice X. Zhang. These images were not only on the badges but could also be found on banners hanging in the convention center’s main thoroughfare, blown up to huge size for photo ops within the Celebration store, and sold (and quickly sold OUT) on postcards at the artist’s convention booth every day. Research shows that poster versions of the images were sold later that year at Bottleneck Gallery in New York (and possibly some still are??).

And now, here we are, quickly approaching Celebration Japan 2025 and witnessing some of the most incredible and inspired badge art we’ve ever had. These works by Japanese artist TAKUMI have been taking our breath away with each reveal, with the last round being shared on February 13, 2025. Also on the 13th, it was announced that pins featuring the art will be available complete with a little easel, and who knows where else we’ll find these images as more things are revealed.

We’re still a few months out from Star Wars fans flooding the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in Chiba, and we don’t yet know which badge represents which ticket level or any details beyond the images, but TAKUMI’s 17 works of art have already contributed to the history of Celebration badges and elevated what’s possible for this beloved collectible.