Star Wars Fan Days II & Sci-Fi Expo
The Plano Center (Plano, Texas)
Review by Mat Bredfeldt
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Saturday, October 25, 2008 I set off at 8:45am to go to the Star Wars Fan Days II at the Plano Center in Plano, Texas. One of the big selling points of this convention was to get two Star Wars Autographs as well as a Firefly Autograph. After getting fuel in my car, at $2.29 a gallon, I set off for the show. I spent most of the time waiting in line listening to the guy behind me talk to his friends on his cellular phone about the wedding he and his soon-to-be-wife were planning and the girl in front of me was talking to someone she met in line about her trip to Washington state and Canada. Apparently these conventions are big family magnets, because there were lots of kids under ten who were dressed in child sized costumes of Clone Troopers with their parents in tow. Close to 80 minutes later, I got my Speed Pass and started looking around. I set off to wander the dealer's room. Lots of Star Wars stuff that I would like, but there were some comic book offerings and I dived in feet first. I picked up some Deathlok comics as well as Howard the Duck, Justice League International and The Falcon (Limited Series from the 1980's). After that, I went back up to look at the display of the Big Millennium Falcon that Hasbro has under glass with some buttons hooked up to the various effects they have on it. I turn into a giddy five-year-old all over again and then wander past the tables of free swag to see that one of the places along the row has action figures for sale. I see that they have some Super Powers figures from the 1980's labeled $20 apiece. At first I thought this was a mistake, but they had two that I really wanted and I figure if it's a typo then I'll move on; I'll be let down, but I'll move on. They had Orion and Cyborg, two that I wanted from when I was younger. I believe the conversation went something like this. L = Lady manning the table. M = Me
L: Yes it is. M: I'll take him as well as the Orion. Is he also twenty dollars? L: Yes. They are twenty dollars a piece. (M fishes his wallet out and gets out two twenties) M: (homer Simpson-esque) Done and done. L: Would you like a bag? M: Yes, please. (L gets out blue plastic bag, and places them inside.) M: Thank you. (M takes my bag of swag and internally does a happy dance.) L: Enjoy the show. I calmly walk out to my car and place them in the trunk, and call my older brother to see if he wants any Super Powers Figures. He says no and I move on. I wander some more through the dealers room and look through some boxes of graphic novels and I overhear two negotiations going on at the table to my right. There was a lady and her husband trying to get the dealer to go down on an open Republic Dropship from Star Wars Episode II. The price is forty-five dollars with three figures (A Clone Pilot and two gunners). She wants him to go down to thirty-five dollars without the figures. He says that is reasonable and eventually they come to a deal. There is another lady and her young son trying to get another dealer at the same table to go down on the price of an ARC-170 (the Target Clone Wars Edition) and four figures. The dealer tries to make some BS story about how he paid $30 for the three pilot figures alone, and that he would have to pay another thirty dollars for the ship. She wants to pay the thirty dollars for the ship, but he does not want to sell it without the figures. Down the way, there is another about five or six year old trying to get his parents attention. There is nothing in the graphic novel boxes, I move on. I think bargaining is a skill I lack because I'm so used to paying the advertised price at other stores that I see a price on something and know in my head if I am willing to pay that much. I guess that is a skill that I'm going to have to practice. I head back out and I see one of the autograph tables is for Amy Allen (Aayla Secura of Star Wars Episode II and III) and I go to the back of the line. As I wait in line, the nice gentleman in front of me decides to strike up a conversation with me. We talk for a while and I find that he's in Texas for a job and that it's his first convention ever. I tell him he picked a good one and that this is my first one in about a couple of years. We manage to get through the line in about forty minutes and Amy Allen is one attractive lady in person. I have the ultimate brain freeze-up when I get my second autograph from her and tell her to make it out to my sister Stephanie. I don't know why I get a case of the stupids every time I'm around someone who's supposed to be a big star, but I figure as I go to more of these things I'll eventually get comfortable. I go back out to my car and place the Amy Allen autographs with all my other swag and grab my Serenity poster that I have autographed by Summer Glau and the picture of Darth Vader I'm going to get autographed. I walk back in and head to the autograph room. I find that they are finally letting Speed Pass holders in and I get in line for Jewel Staite first. The two young ladies in front of me are having a hard time getting good pictures of Jewel with the cameras they have. This line moves a lot faster than the last two and I'm up front and pay my money for Jewel's autograph on my poster. There are also pictures of her from Firefly and Stargate Atlantis as well as one of her in a slinky black dress that I would get to send to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan just to keep them motivated. I decide not to and take my time getting my poster out. Jewel autographs the poster and I ask her how she likes Texas. She says it's been good so far and I take my poster, thank her for the autograph and head to the Peter Mayhew table. I would figure that someone from the original Star Wars Trilogy would have a line up one way and down the other, but he's sitting there with only his handler and a father and his two children in front of me. They get their action figure autographed and the kids take a picture with Chewbacca. They move on and I choose my picture and get my autograph. I should have used the line from The Empire Strikes Back, "How you doin' Chewbacca?" but I figure he gets that enough and decide to just be humble. He signs the photo and I thank him and move on to David Prowse's table. There's a short line, maybe five people deep, for him and I wait behind a father and his young son and daughter. This line goes quickly as well and I give my money (exact change) to the handler and he signs my picture that I picked up at a Sci-Fi Expo a few years ago. The handler compliments me on my choice of picture and says it's a great picture, and Mr. Prowse agrees. I thank him and as I am walking off he stops me and gives me a business card that has a URL for an Internet voting site so that we can vote to have them erect a statue of Darth Vader in his home town of Bristol, England. The URL is http://www.moss247.com and click on the Vote Vader Button. By now it is close to two o'clock and my stomach is rumbling. I run back out to my car and drop off all my autographs. It takes me three times to roll the Serenity poster up so it will fit in its plastic poster bag, but at least it is safe and the autograph is not smudged. I look at my funds and I have only spent approximately $150 of my initial $340. I passed this table a few times as I was going out and back to my car that offers you a Photo-Op with the stars at the convention. It's only thirty-five dollars for a picture with Jewel Staite and I figure this is going to be the closest I can legally get to her without having the police arrest me afterwards. I walk up to the table and pay for my photo and they try to up-sell me on getting me a JPEG for an additional ten dollars. I pass on it and wait in another line. We wait for a good ten minutes for her to show up and the line moves fast. When it comes to my turn, Jewel is all smiles and I utter the following phrase:
I don't say anything else. In a sense she does not remind me of my cousin physically, but both Jewel and my cousin Jennifer have great smiles that make you want to smile as well. Later, when I'm heading to the men's room, I realize I said something absolutely stupid in front of one of Sci-Fi's hottest women. The photo won't be ready for a couple of hours according to the lady at the table, so I head to the snack bar in the corner of the center and get a Chicken Quesadilla, a Diet Coke and a brownie. I pay my money and go outside to have my meal. The Quesadilla is kind of spicy, but not super spicy and the taste of the chicken is totally drowned out by the cheese. I don't know why I got a Diet Coke instead of a Diet Dr. Pepper, but I drink it and then move on to the brownie. OH MY GOD! This brownie must have been made out of some special kind of chocolate because it was so good. It was even better than the ones my mom makes which is saying a lot. I take this time to check in at home and see how things are going and see if anyone wants me to look for anything. As I'm talking to my older brother someone on the convention staff comes by and knocks on the door to my right. Someone opens it and I go on with my conversation. A short time later the staff member, a lady and Jewel Staite come walking past me. My mouth proceeds to stop working for a few seconds and I really don't remember what my older brother said, but I just remember her walking past and my watching her go. I finish my phone call and walk back into the convention with the intention of hitting the dealer's room one last time. I'm looking for a copy of What If (Second series) #104 for my little brother so he can have a complete run of all the What If series put out to date. I fruitlessly search through the fifty cent boxes that I got all those cheap comics earlier in the day and there's nothing. I check a few other boxes at various other dealers and find nothing. I check one last place, the Duncanville Books table. I looked through their back issues but they did not have any either, but they did have a box of first issues. I flipped through it and found a copy of Howard the Duck #1 and Howard the Duck Annual #1. I scoop them up and take them to one of the people at the table. He says "These are fifty off." I remember looking at a sign on the box that said twenty-five off, and I mention it but I'm not going to argue. I paid seven dollars for comics that I would have to had paid somewhere between forty and fifty dollars elsewhere. After that I feel I have spent enough and go by the table to see if the picture is ready, and it is. The nice lady hands it to me and I go back out to my car to make the eighteen mile journey back home. This con is absolutely one of my favorite ones to go to because they mostly have local dealers and charge a low price to get in. They can also attract some of the better stars of various Science Fiction movies because of their contacts within Hollywood and have them show up as scheduled. This convention blows Wizard away which this year IMHO will just blow.
Find of the Show (Comic): Howard the Duck #1 for $5. Find of the Show (Toy): Super Powers Orion and Cyborg for $20 each. High Points: Finally getting the autographs I want, meeting Jewel Staite and getting a picture with her. Low Points: It's very hard to get through the convention with everyone and their uncle with kids and a camera taking pictures of everyone in costume. The line for Bruce Campbell autographs for non-VIP ticket purchasers snaked through the entire Plano Center by the time I left and there was no way I was going to stand in line just to get an autograph as a Christmas present for my older brother. I didn't have the patience or energy to stand in a line like that by the time three-thirty had rolled around.
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