WIZARD WORLD - MID-OHIO CON !!!!

I would type this blog in all caps if it weren't so annoying... but here are some photos from The recent Wizard World - Mid-Ohio Con.

The weekend started out like most weekends... I was sitting in an airport waiting for a plane and got a text message from my buddy Josh.  Something along the lines of "yo homie, you goin' to Mid-Ohio?"  Honestly, at the time I received the message, I did NOT have any plans on attending.

After thinking about it for three minutes, I decided... what the heck - I can go down to C-Bus for a few hours and be back Saturday night.  First, I had to get home and get R2 ready to go out for a spin.  Long story short, I made it home around midnight with R2 in the trunk.

I woke up on Saturday morning, had a nice leisurely drive down 71, until I hit traffic from the Buckeyes game.  No worries, as I did not want to be there right at opening - as it is always a zoo trying to get in with the rest of the crowd.

I parked my car - Lord knows where - and used a series of skywalks to get tot the convention center.  I had a few R2 related items but did not have the droid himself as I can't (or couldn't) get him into the car by myself.  Upon arrival at the Con, I hooked up with a few fellow Ohio Garrison, Rebel Legion and Mando Merc members.  Graciously, Mando Merc Dave accepted an "invitation" to help me go get R2 out of the trunk.   Another long story cut short.... about 50 minutes later, I actually FOUND my car.  Holy Smokes !!!!!  If you are ever in the arena district, pay VERY close attention to where you park, as  there is a maze of really similar looking buildings and catwalks peppered about the area.

Dave kept his cool, and we eventually got the droid to the con floor.  I cannot thank him enough for helping me out!

One of the reasons I ended up going was to see the full size speeder bike that number of my 501st O.G.ers built recently.  And yes, a true treat it was.

Here is the first shot I took (more to follow).

Another angle.

Here it is sowing the full bike.

I am totally in awe of the work these guys put into this build, as there are no blueprints available for the speeder bike.  They used reference photos from the movies and pictures of other fan-made speeder bikes.  Chuck (BlasterPro) offered the space and the tools to build this awesome replica.  He said that the build was difficult due to the fact that what was "right" or "wrong" was based on the number of source images.  I have no doubt that even if there are details they are not happy with - even the most staunch, movie-cannon snob would have a hard time denying the quality of this prop.

One word, Badass.  Truly one of my favorite characters from all of the movies.  This was the costume that brought me into this world - and I still LOVE the Biker Scout.  

The guys had a plaque in front of the display that sums up the crazy world of costumers and prop-builders.

Did I mention that I brought R2 along ?  What a day - after first powering him up at 11:00 - he ran without a hitch for 8 straight hours.  This was pretty much the scene wherever I took him...  I hooked up with Josh and spent the day moving 4 feet at a time from the Con floor to the concourse outside the convention center.  What would normally be a 2 minute trip took us about an hour, as R2 was stopped every few feet for another photo op.  

I thoroughly enjoyed playing with attendees, hiding the control behind my back and talking casually with Josh.  All the time driving R2 up to people to "pose" for a photo, then motoring on to the next photo op.  Many people looked around to see who was in charge of the mech, and a good number of people didn't even care - they were actually seeing a "real" R2 !!!!!

One of the Con volunteers came up to me on Sunday afternoon and said, " I FINALLY found you !  I looked to see who was controlling him for 5 hours yesterday."  At one point, I was talking with a fellow O.G. member and after about 15 minutes he said, " Alright, who's controlling him?"  I produced the best caca-eating grin that I could muster and held up the controller that I had behind my back the entire time.  "Oh ... what the falafel??!?!" were his words.  

I wish I took more photos of all the action going on around me, but I did manage to get a few shots with some costumers along the way.  One of my favorite comic book characters (that STILL deserves a GOOD movie) Frank Castle, AKA The Punisher with popular female costume Harley Quinn fro the Batman comic books.

Even backed in the corner so Josh and I could grab a cup of coffee... R2 was happy to have his photo taken.

I believe this was a first costuming outing for this young lady, as she had about 100 photos taken with her even before she fit the con floor, and wasn't quite sure how to handle all of the attention.  Her husband said, "Honey - you are a STAR !!!!"

With the recent release of the second Star Trek "reboot" - I have become a fan of the series.  Costumes like this don't hurt either.....

The interesting thing I have found is that R2 has an uncanny universal appeal.  Kids love him because kids love Star Wars.  Men love him because of the fact that they grew up with it, and they can appreciate the "build".  After all - it is a fully operational RC robot.  Women seem to have a particular admiration for him because he is "Soooooo CUTE".  R2 is like a roving kissing booth.

Fellow O.G member, Brad's son Reagan.  Gotta give mad props for his shirt.

Brad joins the photo sporting our new O.G. shirt.

A really impressive Darth Maul and Padme Amidala.

I "met" this group with R2 was strolling around the concourse.  They were having a rest, presumably updating their facebook status, and I rolled R2 over to them and casually Beep-Boop-Beeped at them.  They went bonkers.... they took photos, put a hat on him and really had NO care about who was controlling him.  Many attendees talked directly to the droid, asking him to "turn around" or "come over here".  I wanted to get my own shot of this crew, so I pulled them over to the Wizard World banner and got a nice photo.  I think R2 looks rather dapper in his chapeau.

Rebecca rocking the Slave Leia costume.

See....

O.G. (via Atlanta) member John in an outstanding Judge Dredd costume.  

What a great family.  The little girl had such a perfect attitude, and the pose... priceless !!!

Han and Chewie.  Certainly not cannon, but I really love when people "do their own thing" with costumes.

This superhero collection from the DC universe was a particular standout.  (Notice I did not mention the Marvel character that poisoned the photo)....

I said. "do something superhero-y", and this is what I got.  Perfect.  I even give Iron Man props for throwing out the repulsor, even though they apparently sold out of them at Wal-Mart.  Pardon my sidewards step into costume snobbery, but I would rather see a poorly built original costume than an off the shelf get-up any day.   My favorite is Batman's pose - like - "'Sup, I'm Batman"

As I had no plans on staying Saturday night, I was happy to have an extra shirt in my car.... don't we all ?  I got my opportunity to ride the Speeder Bike.  Yeah, it made me all giddy inside.

This is the appropriate face to make while firing a laser pistol while traveling 200 mph.

Here is a photo that confirms why I don't wear my hat backwards while wearing sunglasses.....

Capitalizing on Google+ Auto Awesome photo .gif creator.  If you upload a sequence of photos (at least 4) that are closely related into the blog, Google+ makes the sequence into an animated .gif.  Smart people make me happy.

Matt, Chuck (BlasterPro) and Striker - the brains and brawn behind the speeder bike crew.

The attention to detail is insane....

... even down to the rivets on the underside of the bike.  Something that would rarely be seen, but there because they wanted to make it REAL.

I thought this Joker costume was extremely well done, and he enjoyed hamming it up with R2.

Lindsay rocking Leia with R2.

No idea who she was, but..... thank you.

UTINNI !!!!  R2 with what one would not call a "friend".

Getting ready for our group photo.

Ray Park (Darth Maul, Toad in X-Men and Snake Eyes in G.I.Joe) joins us for our photo.

Ray is a truly kind person, and I give him a lot of credit for coming over to support our group.  These celebs are extremely busy during the con, and in actuality, when they take time away from signing autographs, they take money out of their own pocket.

If I ever say Ray directing this pose at me, I could not be in the next county soon enough.

"Buckets off" photo, by OG and Rebel Legion brothers and sisters invited me into the photo.

One of the best gangs to be associated with.

Me, apparently trying to do that Ray Park pose... with zero effect.

OG Vader, Marcus getting ready to show his mug.

Not sure is Marcus was going for a "force choke" or extending his hand for a handshake.....

I would like to think that Ray was chasing me down to ask for a photo with R2.  Alas, he was graciously accepting my invite.

Yeah - I like this photo.  I played "Duel of The Fates" when he was around, and Ray said "Very nice choice".

If this dude says "thumbs up", you must abide.

Another shot of the GLB and OG crew.

... not sure what this is.... but, thank you, as well.

Han Solo and a KILLER Boushh made by fellow OGer - Jennifer.

I believe this is blasterPro... and somebody.  Once these guys are suited up, it is difficult to tell who is who.

Vader force-choking a female version of Deadpool (also known as fempools).  Bad Vader.

Steffanie is not sure that she is happy with whatever R2 did....

Four letters.  ICON.

All in all, a great weekend !  These events come around every year, and I can see why everyone gets all jazzed up about attending.  R2 performed like a champ and even appeared on the Columbus evening news on Saturday.


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Finally, I copped this photo off of Facebook.  It pretty much sums up the weekend.  Great friends, great times.  I will NOT miss another Mid-Ohio Con.  P.S. - you should go too !