The Things That Made CIII great For Me

- Rooming with 2 501st members. These guys were NUTS about their stormtrooper costumes and were up until 5am on Thursday morning working on their costumes with Dremel tools, clamps, handheld riveting tools, superglue, epoxy, etc. These guys were hardcore and they took great pride in entertaining other fans with their gear. These guys were, by and large, one of the brightest points of the show for me and always brought smiles to us when a non fan would stumble across them and walk away with an incredulous look while we went back to our room.

- Surviving the line at the Kamino, er, Downtown Hyatt in the pouring rain to see Lucas. I got in line at 2am and waited for hours while wearing several layers to keep warm. I had the fortune of staying at the Hyatt and being right by the back entrance, so I setup a system with my fellow survivors where they would hold my place in line while I'd take the place of others so they could use my spare keycard to get in and warm up. At least 30 people took up my offer and took 15 minute warm up breaks in the lobby before having to go in myself.

- The store line. Yes, it was a long wait and my legs felt like they were about to fall out from under me, but while I was there, I came across a young lady in the next tier of the line with a sharpie pen and a sheet of paper. She asked me to sign it for her friend who couldn't come. She said her friend wanted just fan signitures and not the actors' signitures as, in her opinion, C3 was just about the fans. I thought about it for a moment and then gladly signed it while going back several spots in line for my Vader figures.

- The One Man Trilogy. This guy needs an OK from Lucas to sell his act on DVD, he'd be a millionaire overnight.

- Getting the timing right on the 20+ Vader figures my roommates and I had bought so they all said "Welcome to Star Wars Celebration 3..." at the same time.

- Seeing the near dead ringer for Sir Alec roaming the halls and wearing Jedi robes of all things.

- Getting third row, right of center seats to the first Lucas presentation.

- Seeing ESB with 1000+ other fans who all cheered (and recoiled) at the right parts.

- Spending 4 hours with Simon J. Williamson and getting to hear about his experiences with being Max Rebo, a Gammorean Guard, and a Mon Cal officer.

- Meeting JCers I've only known thru PMs, IMs, and email.

- The Lucasfilm Archive room. Kick yourself if you missed this one.

 

I missed One Man SW but saw SW in 30 Minutes. I would love nothing more than to get a recording of it, it's very hard to explain to people and they don't get some of the subtle jokes.

 

CARRIE!

 

^LOL! I had to explain that one to family and friends. I had to explain Yoda's over done "YOU WILL BE!", and I have no way I can explain Jabba.

 

Heh. My mom got to see SW in 30 minutes while I was working across the hallway checking badges of people going in the Fan Fair hall. I wish I could have seen it. And the Archives too.

Duh! I forgot another thing that made C3 great for me:

Walking down the asile in stormtrooper armor to the tune of the Imperial March during the opening ceremonies. I was grinning from ear to ear under my helmet.

Working the C3 store was just like working anywhere else. I was put beside a trash can, and told to direct people out. Then people started asking me questions that I had no clue on, stuff only people running the store would know. Later I let people who wanted cash only figures go out of line and get them. It was cool to work with "The Brit" aka the guy who ran the NYC maraton in stormtrooper armor. He was wearing his Anakin costume. After awhile, one of my garrison members came over to me and I stole his gun and walked around with it for a bit. (He was dressed as a TIE pilot.) This was the same one who was in the Stormtrooper Olympics with me and Trilobite. It was fun to walk around as a Jedi with an E-11 blaster. I didn't really get any perks, only that I was able to go in the volunteer line to get my stuff because I had a little bit of time before I had to head over to Steak 'n Shake to meet Jedi_Laura_Kenobi.

 

- The lady who plays Threepio and Artoo, and the guy who does Ackbar and Jabba, in the Star Wars in 30 minutes.

- Thrawn and Isard costumers

- Asking two well-received questions at the Zahn panel

- Allston's numerous one-liners at the EU panels he attended

- Jay Legaia and Ray Park

- EPISODE III SPECTAC-U-LARRRRRRRR

 

Oh man, there's so much that made this thing great. I don't know where to begin, but I thihnk that just being there was the greatest thing.

 

The Star Wars Spectacular was the highlight of the convention, in my opinion.

But, at the risk of sounding like a dork, I met a gorgeous woman there who floored me. I think she was the highlight of C3 for me. She lives thousands of miles from me so it's not like I'd ask her out, but...wow! I don't think I'd even have a shot but still....wow.

 

Getting in to see Lucas's last show without having to stand in line.

We just walked in from the skyway entrance and some stormtroopers told us that there were still plenty of seats left, so we walked right on in! We didn't expect to see him at all, so the Force must have been with us.

I also saw the Spectacular Footage twice, and that was a great moment, too.

 

Those 'Miami Vice' drinks were quite the treat.

 

The funny highlight of CIII for me was not getting into the Ray Park presentation because a GenCon staff held up the last 30 ppl to let the line get into the Sagmore ballroom and continued to do this for at least 5 minutes. So when we were coming around and like 30 ppl from getting in we were told the show was filled, frustrated, I continued to walk up to the doors, single out and call out the GenCon staffer who stopped the line and said "Way to go! Thanks, good job!!" and clapped loudly as I walked away.

But this also was a highlight for me too:
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/Vaportrail1519/MattAmy.jpg]

 

Montie said like three things about me. I totally rule.

What did everyone else think of me?

Amazing.

 

Best quote of the weekend:

I'm Amazing.
-AmazingB

 

"But this also was a highlight for me too: "

I don't blame you, that guy is hot!

 

Getting my Janson X-Wing helmet signed by Aaron Allston (who was following me around, I swear) and by Ian Liston.

Meeting a gazillion new people, and meeting again a half-gazillion people I met before.

 

There was a five year old boy who badly wanted a Vader figure, but whose mother knew she had no chance of getting one (thanks GENCON). I gave him my only one.

When I became a Star Wars fan in 1977, I was also 5 years old, and my first figure was darth vader.

Star Wars has brought alot of good friends and happiness into my life, I only hope he gets the same from it.

STAR WARS IS FOREVER

 

Do mean "girl" instead of guy or are you really that into me?

 

Taking pictures with the Hayden lookalike that Misty and I dubbed "cute Anakin" was definately fun.

I showed the picture to one of my staff members and she asked if it was a wax figure or something like that. T'was awesome.

 

I have always been a huge fan of Lucasfilm from Star Wars to Indy, to anything ILM has done, to Skywalker Sound, to Lucasarts, all of it. I am awestruck by this huge creative haven Lucas has cultivated with the help of a lot of compasionate, creative people who have thrived in that environment.

C II and C III have been like getting a chance to see inside their world a little better, a little more personally. It's one thing to read interveiws or watch documentaries about these people, but to actually stand in the same room with them and to listen to them talk about what they all did to make these amazing cinematic acheivments come to life, well it's really nice of these guys to do this for us.

For 4 days I felt like I was a part of that family, it's something I will never forget.

I think the most emotional part for me was actually seeing Lucas in person, even if it was from across the theater. Hearing that kid just tell Lucas "Thank You" really moved me.

As if that sort of thing wasn't enough, the other fans were friendly and interesting to talk to. I had as much fun waiting in line talking to other fans as I did enjoying the presentations.

 

Some of the things that made it great for me:


Seeing George Lucas in person. The way that kid just wanted to say thank you really moved me too.

Seeing the first Rick McCallum show,with the new footage. Man,you could feel the energy in the room that day. That was really awesome.

Getting to meet Jake Lloyd.

Getting to meet and get autographs from several of the stars. They were all awesome. Mike Quinn even took out a couple minutes to talk to us,and that was really fun.

Seeing "Saving Star Wars" at the Indiana Museum. That was an awesome film.

Also the fans. We met some really cool people in line.

 

I had such a great weekend... an amazing mix of spending time with jeff, my e friends I'd never met before, random JCers, people I'd banned (hehe), a billion million mods (haha), seeing ROTS footage that made me want to die with joy.... I bought 8 droideka figures... went out drinking, ate lots of food, froze half to death, got soaked in the rain... everything was just so amazing. And excluding the ROTS footage, it was JCers that made the weekend for me <3

 

The whole weekend was just awesome. But, the best part was getting to sit with Ray Park while he was signing autographs. He is such a totally awesome, nice guy.

 

My Wife and I attended all four dates with four day badges as HYPERSPACE/OFFICIAL STAR WARS FAN CLUB members. Our oldest nephew did the same with us, but as a nonmember. Friday, our 3 1/2+ great nephew, our oldest nephew's son, attended with us.

We made the Opening Ceremony Thursday night, a version of the Rick McCallum Spectacular without the Q and A Friday, the Archives Friday, the first show of George Lucas' on Saturday, my wife and I made the Celebration at Celebration party Saturday night as we had pre-ordered tickets and my Wife and I made the Bad Girls of STAR WARS Sunday, the last show of STAR WARS CELEBRATION III.

I pre-purchased the Unsigned Photo Set With Celebration III Logo binder and 56 autograph coupons. 40 of the scheduled 41 actors/actresses did attend and I was able to meet and get a photo signed in person by each of those actors/actresses plus I was able to do both with Warwick Davis when we were in the autograph hall at a time he was there signing autographs for an hour, plus I was able to do both with Barrie Holland in the autograph hall on Sunday. The only person signing autographs who I had to buy a photo of pre-signed in order to have that person's autograph on a photo was Jay Laga'aia who, like Warwick Davis, couldn't spend a lot of time signing due to being a host of STAR WARS CELEBRATION III and obviously I did buy a pre-signed photo of Jay Laga'aia.

My Wife filmed/recorded the actors/actresses signing my photos and took pictures of the actors/actresses posing with me. Due to early problems, one or two opportunities to film/record may have been missed and another was cut off by request of the actress, through a volunteer. But, my Wife did take pictures of each posing with me. The only ones I didn't get pictures of with me were the two actors we were told were not posing for pictures, another who we may have been told the actor wasn't posing or we felt he wasn't due to the short time he had to sign autographs at that time and another actor due to a circumstance, no fault of his, no fault of mine, no fault of my Wife's, no fault of our nephew ( who wasn't around at the time) and no fault of our great nephew (who didn't attend that day). But, my Wife did film/record each of them signing my photos.

Each actor/actress signed each photo to me, except for one actor who was not doing signings to those getting autographs, but my Wife did film/record him signing my photo and did take a picture of the him posing with me.

When I got my autograph signed to me from Ray Park on one of my photos of Darth Maul I also got an autograph from Ray Park on my life-size Darth Maul figure from the STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE FRITO LAY/PEPSI Promotion that I had brought to STAR WARS CELEBRATION III on Friday for that purpose. He signed the base the figure stands on. He also posed with me and my Darth Maul figure after he signed. Getting this figure to STAR WARS CELEBRATION III and to where Ray Park was signing took a lot of planning and a lot or effort and it was totally worth it!

I met some of the Artist attending, bought some of the art they were selling, got my picture taken by my Wife with one of them I bought art from and I took a picture of two of them together who I bought art from. I bought STAR WARS items and I got STAR WARS items for free in the exhibit area and other areas in the Convention Center.

And I did buy a Darth Vader talking STAR WARS CELEBRATION III figure!

I truly appreciate George Lucas, Rick McCallum, the actors, the actresses, the artist and the behind the scenes people for attending and for being incredibly giving, incredibly accomadating and incredibly fun.

STAR WARS CELEBRATION III!

 

Here is what made C3 great for me(not in any particular order):

- SW in 30 (Jabba's image is burned forever in my mind)
- Lucasfilm Archives
- The Fans
- The FF Members
- The 501st
- Official Pix
- Star Wars Spectacular
- All the nice actors/actresses in the autograph hall
- Matt Stover and Timothy Zahn (saw Zahn on 3 different occassions outside of the convention, and he is very nice indeed)
- Opening Ceremonies
- The patience of everybody in line and in the convention halls
- My roomates (movieboy, VaderFanForever, and a member of the 501st)

This was my first convetion and I loved every minute of it, even if I was waiting in line, at least I had someone to talk to about Star Wars.

 

Lets see... Quicky stuff:

Tem Morrision singing his praises of us volenteers (liturally) on Sunday afternoon...

Rhondaroo "I could hurt that boy" - in front of Dave Prowse!

Closing down Jillians with Rhon, Jedi Trace and Qui gon Tim..

Dashy and Typhoo...