By Leon Azor / Cloud City Collector – September 28th 2025
Fans enjoyed an unforgettable weekend at STARFURY: INVASION 2025, highlighted by Diego Luna and Ivanna Sakhno’s first-ever European Star Wars appearances.
Last weekend I attended INVASION, a STAR WARS event hosted by STARFURY at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, UK. STARFURY CONVENTIONS have been running since 1997 and were established by Sean Harry, following his visit to Star Wars Celebration wanting make something special for the fans based in the UK. Sean and his team have built a convention like no other for autograph signings, photo opportunities, meet & greets, and fan led Q&A’s. I’ve heard amazing stories about previous STARFURY events from collector friends of mine, and the big draw for me was headline guest Diego Luna, joined by some top tier Andor & Ahsoka Guests in Birmingham.
Autographs & Prices at STARFURY INVASION 2025
| Guest | Autograph Price (£) | Photo Shoot (£) |
| Diego Luna | 125 | 175 |
| Natasha Liu Bordizzo | 50 | 60 |
| Ivanna Sakhno | 40 | 65 |
| Denise Gough | 30 | 30 |
| Elizabeth Dulau | 30 | 30 |
| Kyle Soller | 30 | 30 |
| Wes Chatham | 30 | 35 |
| Robert Emms | 20 | 30 |
| Katie O’Brian | 20 | 30 |
| Paul Darnell | 20 | 35 |
| Elizabeth Grullon | 20 | 35 |
There was also a host of group photo sessions options & meet & greets for fans to take advantage of!
Ticketing
All tickets to STARFURY included the Three day event, Q&A’s, access to the opening and closing ceremonies, and after parties.
There were two ticket options, both of which covered the whole weekend. A regular ticket cost £120 and included autographs from the £20 guests. A gold ticket, at £260, got you exclusive access to the guests at a meet and greet, priority seating at panels, and the £30 guest autographs included as well as the £20 guests. All photos and autographs from premium guests Diego Luna, Ivanna Sakhno and Natasha Lui Bordizzo were at extra cost, with limits of 4 for each ticket holder.
Regular Guests (included with Regular & Gold):
Robert Emms, Elizabeth Dulau, Katie O’Brian, Paul Darnell, Elizabeth Grullon
Bonus Guests (included with Gold; paid for with Regular):
Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Wes Chatham
Extra / Premium Guests (not included with any ticket):
Ivanna Sakhno, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Diego Luna
Cancellations: Tina Ivlev and Jacob James Beswick were originally announced but cancelled due to filming commitments
I purchased a regular ticket and made my way up to Birmingham for what turned out to be my favourite Star Wars event since Celebration London!
Highlights
Clear Rules, No Distractions – No private signings pulled guests away. Each ticket offered a maximum of four autographs from premium guests, which meant no dealers monopolising guest time, and ensured equal access for everyone, this event focused on fans who bought tickets.
Smooth Signings & Scheduling– Guests rotated between autograph sessions, photo shoots, meet & greets, and Q&As. Signings ran in Three hour AM and PM blocks. Every interaction felt personal with no one being rushed. Meet & greets gave fans extra time with the guests around tables, and every guest held at least one Q&A which all ran for an hour each.
Meeting Diego Luna – When my time came to meet Diego, he looked up at me, smiled and asked me how I was. My reply was “I am super excited to meet you, thanks so much for coming here to see us!” I still could not believe that Diego Luna had come to a hotel in the middle of Birmingham to hang out with us fans for a weekend! After receiving my Rogue One poster to sign by the handler, he looked up once more and said ” I really like your T-Shirt”, I was wearing my red Andor Celebration shirt. He signed my poster with the quote and full character name I had written on my post-it note. I thanked him, took my poster and mentioned that I’d recently heard he was in a series of Narcos, and was looking forward to watching it. He replied with a big smile and said “yes that was the origins of Mexico”. I was blown away with this encounter, it really did make my day, I was buzzing with the interaction and the autograph.
Fan-Driven Q&As – Each Q&A was introduced by event founder Sean Harry who welcomed the guest(s) on stage to a warm reception from the fans. A member of the crew then handed the mic to a line of fans that had requested to ask a question, all questions were pre screened for suitability and then they ran for a full hour with no host, just fans asking direct questions. I found these to be fascinating, usually there are set questions by one host but this way we got varied questions with amazing behind the scenes stories and thoughts direct from the guests. They couldn’t prep for this so everything was very natural with some endearing moments.
At the first Q&A we had Behind the scenes stories, laughs with Diego Luna & Denise Gough.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo & Ivanna Sakhno paired up for an exceptionally warm Q&A, their friendship and humour shone through.
Katie O’Brian gave a confident, open talk, and even touched on her appearance in The Running Man.
We had an incredible Q&A from Diego Luna & Elizabeth Dulau on the Sunday. When I think of the twenty minute guest speaker spots we get at Celebration, this hour long Q&A felt very special for those of us in the room and the comparatively small crowd made it feel really intimate.
Photo by Jo Overton-Pinn
A heartfelt thank you from Sean Harry to Diego Luna & Elizabeth Dulau after their incredible fan-led Q&A in Birmingham
New Autographs Acquired
Just a few new 8×10’s for this collector this time around, these autographs were included with the regular ticket signed on your own items. Additional autographs could be purchased prior to the signings, with cash only accepted. Invasion provided glossy photos for any additional autographs purchased.
Funko Pops Were Signed!
Yes I have turned to the dark side! As there were guests from Ahsoka attending that are outside of my usual collection focus, I bit the bullet and ordered some Funkos to get signed by them all. I must admit, on receiving them from Ebay & Vinted for decent prices, I found them very endearing and got myself a white Edding gloss paint pen to get the autographs with.
I’m sure the guests signed a few of these at the event! I am really pleased with how they came out and will likely continue an Ahsoka line in the future!
The Venue & Atmosphere
This whole three day event took place at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham. This hotel had a proper event space with large function rooms that catered for the autograph sessions and photo op’s. All the rooms where accessed from a corridor which stretched down to the big main room which was used for the opening & closing ceremony, Q&A’s and the parties, which ran until 2am every day. Meet & Greets took place on round tables of 10 in a side room. It all felt really comfortable with plenty of seats and areas to hang out. Spaces used for autograph signings were very well managed with staff controlling the flow of the rooms allowing for even queues. There were tables where you could sort your stuff out after getting signed.
We stayed at the Hilton which was super convenient, the hotel had a large swimming pool and spa facilities that included a hot tub, sauna and steam room. We made use of these both Saturday and Sunday mornings!
Food wise, as you would expect it was Hilton prices, I was paying £15 for a pint of Guinness and a bottle Old Moot fruit cider. Just a 10 minute walk away was Resort World, where we ate at Zizzi’s Italian, 5 Guys and Pizza Express, there was also a Starbucks right across the road from the hotel which was handy! Some of my friends stayed at a nearby Moxy hotel which was a short walk.
Final Thoughts
When first arriving and seeing the well thought out schedules for each day, I was a little overwhelmed and wondering how is this all going to work. A good friend of mine who had attended before reassured me with this advice; “Just chill out and think of this like a cruise with activities you get called up for, you will get everything you need to get done done, trust the process”. He was spot on!
When you received your badge it has a number, and autograph sessions were organised by calling numbered groups to the signing rooms. You could sit in the Q&A’s and the group numbers would be displayed on the screens, so you knew when to go in. This all went pretty much perfectly to plan from what I saw. My only shortfall was missing out on getting the included autograph for Elizabeth Dulau. This was due to Elizabeth having a last minute a filming commitment. I would say as testament to Elizabeth and her relationship with the event she rocked up and did as much as she could in the one day, before leaving to go straight to set. Personally I was really happy to witness the incredible Q&A she held with Diego, and for me, that made up for it.
I was lucky enough to have my wife and some amazing collector buddies of mine there to share the experience with and made a few new friends along the way, which made it all that little bit extra special.
All guests seemed genuinely happy to be there, I think that’s down to a few factors which separate this event from the pack. Sean booked a solid group of guests that got on with each other, and they worked well with the team to keep tight to the planned schedule. This event was centred around the fans, this was evident in limiting autographs for the premium guests so stopping dealers. There were no guests taken away to do send in or private signings, everything signed was for those in attendance.
I usually take lots of photos when getting autographs, and don’t get me wrong, I do like being able to get a selfie and capture the guests signing. I think having the phone ban in the autograph rooms did save time for everyone and enabled the schedule to run as intended, and allow you to be in the moment.
INVASION was one of the best Star Wars event experiences I’ve had since Celebration, and I’ve already marked out next year in my calendar! I’ve not written a review here for a while, but felt compelled to shine a light on one of the most unique Star Wars conventions I’ve ever been to.
Huge congrats to the Sean, the team and the guests for a wonderful experience.
If INVASION 2025 proved anything, it’s that Star Wars fandom thrives on intimacy and authenticity. Diego Luna made history — and the fans made memories. Roll on 2026.
Check out an official video from the event organisers STARFURY: INVASION 2025 it really does capture some of the magic!
STARFURY: INVASION 2026 will take place June 26–28, 2026, at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham.
- Details and ticket info: Starfury Invasion Website
- Join the community on Facebook for announcements and fan discussion: Starfury Invasion Facebook
- Group
Head on over to the Star Wars Autograph News Facebook group to join our community
You can find me on the socials as Cloud City Collector
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram
#DiegoLuna #IvannaSakhno #StarfuryInvasion #StarWarsAutographs #Andor #Ahsoka #StarWarsUK #StarWarsConvention
