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To begin with, I started out my Plano expedition at
2:00 am on Saturday, August 24, namely because I had been
taking too bloody long to get my stuff together and I
knew that I couldn't have successfully gotten up early
enough to drive to Plano in the morning. I had it mind
that in the morning, my motel would be completely
booked so I was hoping to get there in the night as to
beat the crowd. I was averaging, oh 80 mph. This mind
you did not go unpunished, as at.. 5-6am thereabouts,
I got a speeding ticket. The cop addressed me as sir,
and it was just not happiness from there on. It was
the end of the month and I was 15 mph over the speed
limit, so things where staked against me if I was to
play on any type of sympathy. I'll just see how that
whole mess plays out. I got the Expo early, so I
wasn't too bent out of shape about it all. Though it
still took me about 6 hours to get there, factor out
an hour to me screwing around.
MapQuest did an excellent job for providing
directions. The Plano Center was actually very clearly
marked with signs on the freeway and on the feeder.
The turn for the building was somewhat sharp, but not
too bad. A medium sign declaring a Sci-fi Expo/Retro
Con in scrolling light was also around. The fee was a
moderate 10$ for a weekend pass. The man who was
arranged the Expo was a Mr. Ben Stevens, his website,
www.scifiexpo.com lists the Expos he arranges. He has
been attempting to expand the audience he reaches.
However, he seems to get a large number of the same
core people and vendors, thus most cons become
scifi/star wars cons, planned as such or not. There
really isn't anything in the way of expos or cons in
Plano outside those that Mr.Stevens hosts. The expo's
Mr. Stevens held were a little more than just an
assemblage of stands for different vendors, so they
really did not qualify as a convention. There was an
autograph room set up which provided another source of
attraction. The guest in the autograph room seem
somewhat mismatched and not a very solid grouping,
which I'm sure hurt the autograph sales of the less
Sci-fi affiliated guests. A number of the guests
certainly qualified as being Retro: Gerard Christopher
(Superboy-Superboy), Angela Cartwright(Penny Robinson-
Lost in Space), Mark Goddard (Major Don West- Lost in
Space), Kathy Garver (Cissy- Family Affair), Ken
Osmond(Eddie Haskell- Leave it to Beaver), and Jon
Provost (Timmy- Lassie). Other guests were of more
modern science fiction fare, such as: Richard Herd
(Admiral Paris- Star Trek), Paul Boehmer (a guest on
Star Trek: Enterprise) and Veronica Cartwright (J
Lambert- Alien/ Body Snatchers). By far the guests
with the biggest draw were Amy Allen (Aayla Secura in
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) and Rena Owen (the
voice of Taun We from Star Wars: Attack of the
Clones). Carrie Fisher had been scheduled to appear
but at the last minute she said that she couldn't make
it to the con on Saturday. Mr. Stevens said that it
would be unfair for the fans to only see her one day,
so instead she was just going to make it to the next
con in Plano, the Dallas Comicon Oct 12-13. Adam West
and Jeri Ryan, it seems, also canceled but were again
booked for the October show. The vendors it seems were
the worst to suffer though for Carrie Fisher's
unavailability. The few I spoke to told me that they
had already booked tables before Ms. Fisher canceled,
so they ended up with a lot a stock they weren't able
to move. Many fans who were anticipating Ms. Fisher
declined to come at all once she canceled due to
severe disappointment. Many vendors were actually
losing money over the weekend.
Fan dressed as Obi Wan
However, the Star Garrison from the 501st Legion of
Storm Troopers greatly brightened things up. About
12-20 Storm Troopers descended unsolicited on the
convention. A TIE fighter gunner, biker scout, Jango
Fett( or Boba, I really can't remember), Mara Jade
Skywalker (Luke's wife in the Expanded Universe), two
Jawas, and a Tusken Raider accompanied the gaggle of
troopers. Todd Carlton was the Tusken Raider, his two
children were the Jawas, and his wife, Tamara,
cameo-ed as one at least once. Tamara also was the one
to design the Jawa and Tusken costumes, where were
very good. She also did at least one Jedi costume. The
Jawas were great with their glowing eyes, and the
kiddos had their behavior down perfectly. Todd Carlton
is actually more famous in Star Wars circles in his
own right as the author of the Star Wars Super
Collectors Wishbook. He was a great person to
interview. I only heard rumors of the legendary vault
or Star Wars that Todd owns, I really would have liked
to see that. One of the major reasons I went to the
Plano con was also to see my friend Bryce, aka TK
2300. He was one of the many troopers but I eventually
got good enough to pick him out of a group of them.
Don't look now, but there's a Klingon at the door!
The con opened at 10:00 am, but at that point in the day,
I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway. One of the
first characters on the scene at the opening of the
Scifi Expo was a Klingon warrior. The Dallas-Fort
Worth Fanforce was out, though it did only end up
being a rather same branch of the FanForce, with only
about 30 members. There were a couple of vendors
specializing in old comic books, one even boasted a
selection of old Playboys. Only one stand was doing
much selling in the way of art and a few had some
antique sci-fi toys on the side. I personally was more
interested in toys, and there were plenty of vendors
to supply my lust for things posable and plastic. I
spent 70$ on a Creature of the Black Lagoon doll,
Godzilla figurines, a Twi'lek and some assorted Star
Wars creatures. At about 11am, the Imperial March
plays and in swarm a whole lot of Storm Troopers to
the delight of the patrons. After about a half-hour
the Troopers went to behaving more like the "normal"
patrons, shopping and such. Pretty soon it was time
for lunch, and it took the fighting 501st about an
hour to decide where to eat, first Hooter's then
Dave&Busters. Someone fortunately called ahead to D&B
and made reservations for 25. It must have been very
amusing for people to see a convoy of about 10 cars
with the front car flying the Imperial flag with a
Storm Trooper sitting in the back. The group of 3 cars
that I was with got lost but somehow were among the
first to make it the restaurant. The other Troopers
took the long way through the mall, stopping for
pictures and what not. It was rather bizarre to have a
large group of people in Trooper gear just hanging out
at the local mall. At lunch I did feel some pity for
these Troopers as the way that the costumes were
designed, it was very painful for one to sit without
due care. The Trooper costumes were basically an
underlayer of a black cat suit with the white plates
strapped on, which became extremely hot in the Texas
heat. The notion to dress up like a character from
Star Wars is about the same as dressing up for the
Renaissance Festival or for the Rocky Horror Picture
Show. However, the Trooper outfits are much more
expensive and harder to make at home. Mayhaps I should
consult Tamara Carlton on how to make a cheaper
Trooper suit. Though, if I were to dress up as a
character from Star wars, I would choose a Twi'lek,
one of the dancing tentacle girls.
Getting back on track, lunch went rather smoothly.
Though some little kids would want pictures, which was
all well and good. After lunch, the 501st went out in
the foyer of the mall, which of course got them a lot
of attention from the crowd. Sure enough a Rent-a-Cop
showed up and said that the guys had to move out. A
couple of the members of the Star Garrison were police
officers, and they knew that this punk had no right to
throw them out. A few went back to talk to the
security guard, namely so that they could go through
to get to there cars on the other side of the mall.
The guard said yes but they were not allowed to stop
for pictures of shop or anything, especially since it
had not been cleared first. More shocked than angry,
the Troopers instead opted to walk around to their
cars because they did not want to seem callous and
rude because of course they'd attract some attention.
They had never been thrown out before for such a
stunt, one would assume that they would attract
business more than detract from it. Annoyed the
troopers made their way back to the Plano Center.
Surprisingly, the con was all but devoid of patrons
when they returned. The group made their way to the
autograph room and had pictures with Rena Owen (Taun
We) and Amy Allen (Aayla Secura).
Reba Owen, the author, and Amy Allen
Amy Allen was a very friendly young woman, but she was
a little nervous around the 501st; it didn't help that
one of them managed to sneak up on her. Todd Carlton
told me that she had asked him to remove his Tusken
Raider helmet when he was around her and that she was
generally bothered by the masks. A garrison of
troopers in full gear likely didn't help her nerves.
Her character Aayla Secura, was originally a character
introduced in the Star Wars comic book, a blue Tw'lek
Padawin. Later issues of the comic with Aayla Secura
in it actually had the characters face changed to be
more similar to Amy Allen's. She had a binder with her
signed photos from other Star Wars stars and pages of
the comic in which her character is featured. She did
seem interested in the story of her character and in
Star Wars in general, not just someone in it to make
ends meet. The cover of the 33# issue featuring Aayla
Secura inspired George Lucas to include her in Star
Wars: Attack of the Clones, in Genosiss scene. Amy
Allen was a Production Assistant (CGI artist) for
Industrial Light and Magic. She had also been a
Twi'lek in Episode 1, one of which was in the pod of
Senator Orn Free Taa. Both roles had been last minute
additions. She told me about a planned Twi'lek reunion
in Paris later this year, so I hope that goes well. I
was rather put off with 20$ per photo signed, which
was the price charged by both Amy Allen and Rena Owen;
they said something about it being standard the price
charged for photos from Lucas Films. I, trying to
outsmart the system , took photos of the photos, as to
avoid paying that much for a print (those photos
didn't end up turning out very well). However, I
actually ended up being very lucky. One of the photos
in Amy Allen's stack got bent, so she couldn't sell
it. She signed it and gave it to me, I was touched.
Rena Owen played the Kaminoian Taun We, or rather her
voice. She told me that there was a lot more to her
job than just solely speaking. She had to create the
strange and alluring walk that Taun We has. She also
has to wear a special helmet with a mock head and neck
attached so that her co-stars could establish better
eye contact with her CGI form. She commented that
despite what people think, one does not really make a
lot of money doing Star wars, especially a relatively
small part such as her's. She got along pretty well
with the Storm Troopers and pose for several pictures,
though it was getting late and everyone was tired.
I had missed an event at 1:00 pm called Attack of the Star
Wars Ladies, which had been a question and answer
session between Amy Allen, Rena Owen and the fans. I
think I did all right though in the brief interviews I
had with them. The guys were milling around in the
autograph room until the expo closed for the night at
6pm. The 501st changed out of their Trooper gear
headed to Todd's house where they were going to have a
Trooper slumber party so to speak. I retreated to my
motel room for the Cartoon Network. I did all right by
the motel, a Ramada Limited for 39.99 a night. I
thoroughly checked over the bed and even lifted the
mattress to make sure there weren't parasites like bed
bugs; there were none. The linens were a bit course,
so I brought in my own from my car; I had been
prepared to sleep in my car if need be. The shower
worked well, as did the refrigerator and TV. The only
things that come to mind as far as items they skimped
out on were the complementary breakfast and insulation
in the walls. I was pretty beat so I fell asleep
fairly early.
Sunday, August 25, the next day at the expo, I decided
to dress up, as I hadn't had a place to do so
yesterday, and it had simply been too hot. I was in my
blue wig, goth makeup, top hat, Twilight Zone shirt
and black&white stripped socks. I also had a walking
stick with a gothic baby head attached. I ended up
being an hour late, but I really didn't miss much. The
501st had declined to dress up again, except for one
Trooper. I assumed that the reason for this was
because it was simply too hot; however, Mr. Carlton
told me that today was Amy Allen picture day and that
they weren't in costume because she had requested
such. I was not able to confirm what he said because
Bryce wimped out and went home very early in the day.
I was not to able to reach him for comment later
either. I hope he's ok . . .
I will say with most of the people I spoke to I was
very shocked on how few of them actually read this
publication; hopefully that can be remedied. As I said
before, the vendors were in large part losing money at
this expo. I was looking about for cheap toys and the
sentiment, "I like 5$ better than Kaadu's" seemed to
exemplify how the vendors were willing to come down a
good deal on prices because they were simply doing so
poorly. I made off with 22 opened figures for around
50$. I spent way too much on toys certainly, but I
like them so I don't regret it. I also got a near
intact vintage Millennium Falcon for 10$, though one
of the vendors scoffed and told me I had been ripped
off, oh well. I bought Crow and Creature of the Black
Lagoon figures still in boxes. I would like to see how
long I can go without ripping into them. I was very
lucky to see the man who played Chewbecca, Peter
Mayhew. He apparently just lives in the area and
decided to drop by or something. He is a huge almost
imposing guy but somehow he just seems to fit in with
the rest of the geeks. He was very kind to let me have
my picture taken with him.
Peter Mayhew (Chewbaca) and the author
It was already a slow day to begin with, though I
believe some vendor commented that they had actually
done better on the second day, which was not normal.
At about 2:45, a real storm picked up. There were
75mph winds, quarter-sized hail, and hard rain. In
about a 30 minutes, the power went on and off 3-4
times. The second time the Parks Lightsaber booth
started turning their wares on like flashlights. It
only took about a minute for the power to turn itself
back on each time. There were not any problems with
looting that I heard about. After the power went out
the first time, all the vendors started packing,
instead of a few going about it very slowly. The con
was completely over by 4pm, though I wandered around a
bit talking to vendors and patrons. I tired to talk to
Mr. Stevens, the man who arranged the con, but I
picked a rather bad time to try to talk to him as he
was closing up shop. I hadn't anticipated that the
expo would rap up so quickly. I would like to talk a
certain vendor who was kind enough to watch over my
purchases, the DFW Fanforce who was also helping in
doing the same task and Tyler, a guy who was talking
to me when the expo was shutting down and who also
helped take stuff out to my car. I left the expo at
5pm to once again return to my room as to watch
cartoons.
The 501st were indeed the biggest attraction at the
con, and they weren't even scheduled. I will say
though of all the species in the Star Wars universe, I
find the Twi'leks and Kaminoians females the most
pleasing to the eye. The Plano Sci-fi Expo/ Retro Expo
was not a complete waste, but I doubt I would have
come all the way up there if I knew the 501st, namely
TK 2300, wasn't going to make an appearance. This was
not a bad way to spend the weekend, time away from the
family, and the chance to buy a lot of toys I had
yearned for but had not had the cash for before.
Hopefully, Mr. Ben Stevens convention/expo, the Dallas
Comicon Oct 12-13, will turn out better and Carrie
Fisher will indeed show up.
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