For a long time, Germany has its own official Star Wars magazine published by the official Star Wars fan club. Of course, there were ups and downs especially since the rise of internet. More than twenty years later, the Official German Star Wars magazine (Star Wars – Das offizielle Magazin) is still published, and reaches people.
Its main editor, Robert Eiba, is very much involved in everything around Star Wars in Germany and the world created by George Lucas. For the last couples of years, he is also working for FedCon. This company/association organizes conventions in Germany. These conventions are especially around universe like StarTrek (FedCon), Lord of the Rings (Ring*Con) et Star Wars (Power of the Force). One of these conventions is the Comic Con (Germany), and it takes place in Stuttgart, in the Bad-Wurtemberg area (home to Porsche among others), not far from the French border.
Last year, after several contacts with the MintInBox’s staff, Robert asked us whether we would participate to the Comic Con as an association or fan group and moreover in a dedicated place called Galactic Cantina. We were close to going there but due to unfortunate circumstances, it would have to be a rain check. But it was more a delay than anything else. With the Force, we decided to do everything possible to join for a next edition, and thus, we were ready for the 2024 edition.
It was a first for my son and I, alone to represent MintInBox on a booth. We did participate to previous conventions (Cusset, London, Studiopolis, etc.). But we were ready and to make the best we could… Until we reached the German highway (Autobahn) near our place: it was packed with trucks to Karlsruhe/Stuttgart and from left to right… Somehow the Force was with us as the GPS guided us through small roads on the side, until we arrived to an unforeseen and very recent accident area. Though, we managed to arrived nearby the airport, and we set our booth with plans to buy material to improve it on the opening day.
The next day was the opening day. We went to our booth to improve it a bit and we were set. It was in an area next to an exit gate and just nearby our R2Builders friends and in front of a huge Imperial area, which would serve as a photoshooting booth. A strategic place one should say: many people and cosplayers went there to have a photoshoot in an Imperial base: it was really a multi-verse area: if you wanted to have a picture with Batman and Iron-Man in the Death Star, it was the right place to be. But of course, most people going there were ordinary people, Imperials, Rebels, Bounty Hunters, Jawas, Tusken Raiders and others from our beloved galaxy.
Came the moment to send our photographer trying to get a sample of every available halls. There were three halls beside the main stage, so quite plenty of opportunities to get pictures and others, and of course, if you wanted to reach your daily 10,000 steps, it was something easy to be done (note for the future: better to send two persons: a photographer *and* a reporter). So our photographer went and shot photographs of as many interesting things he could. But as you can guess, he was not able to see and shoot everything. A bit later, we exchanged the roles to have a different point of view. With the various pictures in this report, we tried to give you these different points of view, and so we might not have everything.
The most interesting hall for us was the one, where the Galactic Cantina was (and our booth). At the other hand of that hall, there was a dedicated area focusing on the cosplay of Resident Evil, with vehicles and props as they appear in the games and in cinematographical adaptations. As one can see on the map, there was also a area dedicated to video games, where it was possible to try and discover games, among others there was Star Wars: Outlaws from Massive/Ubisoft, but more about that later on. Close to that area was a stage, where guests were able to take part in several activities like Karaokes, quizz, and some video gane challenges.
Between the video game area and the Galactic Cantina, an area was dedicated to the « Stars »: actors who came to chat with their fans, for autographs (between 90€ and 300€) and for photoshoots. It was not only stars from one show or the other movie, they were diverse and came from various kinds of licenses. Clark Gregg from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and from Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D was there (and I nearly bumped into him), some others from TV shows like Katie Sackhoff (should I mention Bo Katan and Starbuck?), and the physician from Star Trek Strange New World, but also some « voice actors » and many of them were from Baldur’s Gate 3, the RPG success of 2024, and since we were in Germany, one might have to expect German voice actors obviously. Some of them were invited to Q&R sessions on the main stage or on the Force stage where a facilitator asked questions and interacted with the people in the audience.
Speaking of halls, one was dedicated to artists and manga world, another one to LGBTQ+, adults and TCG, and the hall, where we were was dedicated to fan groups, around several franchises (Resident Evil and of course Star Wars, which was also in a specific area: The Galactic Cantina), the actors for their autograph and photoshooting sessions, a big gaming zone, and some shops. Most of the pictures in this reportage were done by him, with his phone or a compact camera (a good old Canon PowerShot for the ones interested).
In one of the halls, an area was fully dedicated to model making. It was possible to see vehicles, characters, monsters and other droids from a various quantity of licenses. Of course, the one which attracted us the most was the ones focusing on Star Wars. The spaceships were marvellous, people work with off the shelves sets, with parts from various origins and of course, some of the model makers make their own parts with a 3D printer. Many of the model makers gave us their time to answer our questions and to show us their realisations.
One of the High Republic authors came to the Stuttgart ComicCon to sign his books, and to participate to a several sessions of Q&A on the Galactic Cantina’s stage. As in Cusset, George Mann was nice and ready to chat with any visitors. One can see his Q&A session here (in English):
We wanted to participate to this ComicCon (CCON) to see how it was, and to experience it by ourselves. For two days, the atmosphere was exhiliriating but it is clear that for only two staff members of MintInBox, we could not, unfortunately, see everything and/or attend every presentation on stage… There were even several stages, for example the main stage, the Atrium, nearby the entrance of the « Messe », and also one in the Galactic Cantina section (known as the Force stage) and another one in the Gaming Zone. Some of the presentation were, of course, in German, but some others were fully in English. You can find some of them on YouTube.
A group of German drugstores, Müller, had a relatively big booth, where they exhibited and sold mainly Star Wars toys, of any kind. Among them, it was possible to find Hasbro figures in their Kenner livery 😉 and some small LEGO sets. Speaking of LEGO, several times a day during the first day, the Müller’s staff were giving away some small Star Wars well known vehicle sets, among them was the TIE Interceptor.
Usually, when there is a convention, there are products around that convention. Especially for a convention about Star Wars and Science Fiction, one could find specific items of this theme. I have to admit that I do not know whether there were any products related to the Comic Con in Stuttgart, but for sure, there were some focusing on the Galactic Cantina. Just to start with the most obvious ones: the posters. They were designed by a French artist, Mathilde Machuel (Instagram link), who also got a booth there, where she presented some of her realizations that you can see here. On the other hand and about the other exclusive products, there were also some reusable cups, some patches, etc. Note that it is a bit less common but there were special editions of comics (in German) and of the official German Magazine, specific for the ComicCon of Stuttgart.
There was also an eating area with a food truck coming from the far far away galaxy (the Twin Suns Diner) and a bar (the Blue Harvest Bar). The Galactic Cantina also organized a scavenger hunt for the younglings.
(The products of the Galactic Cantina)
At last, our booth. It covered an area of around 8 m2. Its purpose, obviously, was to present MintInBox’s activities, and our own products like pins, stickers, our special 20th anniversary products, our annual Holidays cards from B2 and the cards made by our own Zuckuss.
To conclude, we would like to thank again Robert and all his team for the opportunity to attend to that convention, and we will be back in Stuttgart by the end of November for the 2025 edition.
Don’t hesitate to come visit us and say « hi! ». We might have surprises for you.
For your tickets, use the official website: ComicCon.de. And then we will meet during the last weekend of November 2025 (from 29th until the 30th) at the Stuttgart Messe!
