CIV Wrap Up

Back and glad to be back, but had a dang good time.

Saw more of the convention than I'd ever hoped for which was fantastic since I missed so much in CIII. Great to see old friends there and meet all new ones too.

Spent WAY too much money there, and I'm a little irate that Monday passes got free figures and the store items went for 50% off too, but *shrugs* such is the marketing dept. Maybe we won't be seeing so many *exclusives* show up on the Starwars.com site this time, making the *exclusive* value somewhat... not so much. (/rantoff)

Great costumes there, took tons of photos of which I'll try to load up later. Might even have accidently gotten some video of various events as well (ooops).

I'm still grinning at what I consider my finest coup, autographs of every surviving Imperial Officer plus a signed, dated figure of Richard LeParmentier (General Motti from ANH) complete with his hand at his throat. He put "See, the Force WORKS!!" on the card. He was the best, although all those gentlemen were terrific. Mrs. Sid had a special moment with another guest she'll no doubt share as well. As many of those folks may not be around forever, and most live overseas it was a real treat getting to see them all.

Didn't hit too many parties as we were just too worn out from the days there, but I'm certainly glad that Mrs. had a great time despite a malfunctioning chair and a slowly healing knee.

P.S. The layout of the Bonaventure is just insane. Or is it that I just hate elevators for some reason, particularly those that skip floors...

And a belated Happy Birthday to Miana as well. We heard you were going to have a surprise party and were ourselves surprised to see you at the wrong hotel at dinner! So don't know if you party every took off, but still wish you the best on your 21st. It will be the last one you WANT to celebrate, it's all downhill from there *puckers* Annnyway, was nice to see you in person, although we still never had a moment to chat. And next time you spot us at Dinneyland, don't be afraid to say hello. Unless you are wearing a Rebel shirt of course, then you can expect the traditional "YOU REBEL SCUM!"

It's what I do *shrugs*

 

I had a blast! Didn't get to meet as many folks as I would have like to cos I only made it 2 days!

But still at least Master_Kenobi now knows I'm not a figment of her churro induced imagination!

Here's me pics here and here

Carrie liked my accent. Anthony Daniels was cool, talked with him about Alec Guiness. Jeremy Bulloch is officially the nicest man on the planet.

The Helmet art show was amazing. The Family Guy panel was hilarious.

 

I had a great time at CIV, despite a malfunctioning wheelchair (droids! ) that would arbitrarily stop and shriek every few feet. Rather embarrassing.

Spending 2 VERY quiet days at Disneyland before the convention was awesome too, despite the wheelchair.

My knee still isn't up to snuff but I did my best to hobble around the convention. The wheelchair DID come in handy for panels and such, as the handicapped seating was up front. For once, we had good seats for the panels and costume contests. The people running the Opening Ceremonies didn't do so well planning for handicapped attendees and we found ourselves overrun and outnumbered while trying to find adequate seating.

Thursday was mundane day for us. Got to the downtown area about 2:30-ish and checked into the Holiday Inn, then headed over to the CC to get my membership (which GenCon had neglected to mail). Of course, they couldn't find my membership at first and right about the time that I started to get steamed, they figured out that it was under Sid's name. Grrr. Oh, and about the time we reached the CC, the wheelchair ran out of juice and Sid had to drag it back to the hotel room to recharge. (Did I mention that I hate droids?) I hobbled around the dealer's room where I ran into other SCFF members, the fan room, and the CIV store, and spent lots of money. After that, we (mostly me) were pretty pooped and headed back to the hotel and had dinner in their restaurant, at which point I made the observation that the hotel had NO CLUE what they were in for, which proved to be right. They ran out of food and didn't have enough wait staff, but the food they DID have was decent enough (the burgers were awesome) when you finally got it.

Friday was Costume Day 1. I was in my Jedi, Sid was in his Dark Jedi. Serious props need to go out to EVERYONE who made the effort to dress in costume at the con, from the first-timers with their garage-sale specials to the professional costumers with their jaw-dropping creations. We attended the "Living In An Imperial World" panel with all of the actors who played Imperial officers and David Prowse. Quite entertaining (and such delicious British accents). We also attended the 501st panel on Sith Lords and learned an awful lot about how to make Darth Vader and Darth Maul costumes; and the first costume contest. Wow! The Gamorrean Guard took first place, and deservedly so. We checked out the Vader helmet art show and the Lucasfilm archives, both of which were excellent. Friday night was the Opening Ceremony, where we met up with other SCFF members as well as some old friends and spent some time catching up, and enjoyed Steve Sansweet running about in the Ewok costume made for him by a friend of ours. The Boba Fett flying with the REAL jet pack was pretty awesome too, as was the sliver of birthday (Star War's 30th) cake that everyone in the audience received.

Saturday was Costume Day 2. I wore my alternate Jedi costume and Sid wore Sid. We attended the Robot Chicken panel and the Family Guy panel (both of which were hilarious). We wandered around checking out other stuff and met up with some old friends once again and accompanied them to the CIV store. That night we headed over to the Bonaventure for a meal at the Japanese steakhouse there with yet more old friends. The less said about that hotel and the fact that their elevators don't stop on all the floors (!) , the better.

Sunday was Costume Day 3. I wore my Jedi and Sid was again in Sid. We went to the second costume contest where a wonderful Chewie won best in show. We got autographs from all of the Imperials we'd seen at the "Living In An Imperial World" panel and Sid got his picture taken with each of them. And I got to meet Bruce Spence, who's been one of my favorite actors since The Road Warrior (he was the gyro captain). He was SO sweet, and gave me a big hug and a kiss on my cheek and I got his autograph (he wrote something very special on the picture) and a picture taken with him. [face_bl

 

A short addition, I will hopefully add more later. LOL!

Sid and Mrs. Sid, it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice to spend some time with you both. And of course, with Master K and Siri...best hotel roommates ever!

I had a fantastic time at my first Celebration, and a large part of it was due to the myriad friends I have made here, in RL and in the 501st. And, happy to say, my panel presentation went off well, as far as the feedback I got, and I didn't fall off my huge platform boots while costuming as Darth Revan. Go me!

*hugs*

- Kai