Fandom Fest 2013

[Videofox]

My girlfriend Linda, sister Maggie, and two nephews, Nick and Jared, still fresh from the trip to Fanboy Expo, hit the road again last weekend to attend Fandom Fest in Louisville, KY. This con was much bigger than Fanboy, probably ranking third in immensity behind San Diego Comic-Con and DragonCon...at least it felt this way to us. It was spread out over two buildings, the Galt House Hotel (where we stayed) and the Kentucky Convention Center next door.

Not many celeb pictures this time, but managed to get autographs from the likes of Sixth Doctor Colin Baker; Jewel Staite and Alan Tudyk from Firefly/Serenity; and John Barrowman of Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow. My girlfriend Linda got all those autographs plus Jason Momoa, who starred in "Game of Thrones" and the "Conan" remake, and my sister met Grant Wilson, formerly of one of her favorite shows, "Ghost Hunters." We even had separate crowded elevator encounters with John Barrowman (who was hilarious) and Jewel Staite (who stayed quiet and tried to just be another person on the packed elevator. If anyone else recognized her, they were respectful and didn't show it.)

Our legs were about to fall off by the time we got done, thanks to the con's biggest event: Line Standing. The crowds were apparently more than they were expecting this time, and the professional Photo Ops we participated in were backed up. We must have spent most of Saturday afternoon Waiting in Lines and outside the door, when the fire marshal temporarily shut the dealer rooms down because of capacity. At least the kids had a good time though; one reason we went was that they were upset about missing the costume contest at Fanboy so we made it up to them by bringing them here. Even though they didn't win anything, them having fun made it worthwhile. :-)


Couple of shots of one of the dealer rooms.




The Mystery Machine:



Doctor Who Cosplayer (complete with TARDIS) and a Dalek. Jared is sporting his new Minecraft character helmet, while Nick is reprising his Sonic the Hedgehog from Fanboy:




Michael Rooker of "The Walking Dead" (which I've never watched) dropped in at the convention center's Starbucks where Linda and I were taking a rest:



Maggie and the boys with Grant Wilson of "Ghost Hunters":



Some video screencaps of Jared in the costume contest as Ralph. His suit was made from Under Armour like mine (with a smaller shirt, but wearing my pants, as the red tights were discontinued years ago) but unlike mine, actually had the white trim sewed on by yours truly. Definitely a learning experience, as Linda hurt her shoulder somehow and couldn't do it, so it was either me or nothing. He is wearing my belt, and the wig and cape from the 80sTees.com costume with the strings removed. Needless to say, he was quite original to the con; lots of people thought it was awesome and wanted his picture.






Nick and Jared hanging out in the lobby while we waited for the Fire Marshal to re-open the doors.



We were all quite pooped by the end of the day, with still a five-hour drive home to look forward to.



Also wrangled a couple of professional Photo Ops. Linda gave herself a John Barrowman pic for her birthday, but unfortunately the long lines made it impossible to get all the photos printed before we had to leave. They will mail it to her...we hope.

With Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, and Alan Tudyk of Firefly. We aim to misbehave.



Last but not least, an early birthday present to myself: THE SHAT!!



Or, for non-Star Trek fans: THAT PRICELINE NEGOTIATOR GUY!!!

[MelMac]

Those are great and cute photos.

Somehow though - I think Sonic with a Minecraft head actually works better than the original Sonic design.

Thank you for sharing.

[Videofox]

Thanks! Actually, some passersby did think the Minecraft/Sonic mashup was intentional when he was really just fooling around. Hey, whatever works!

I'm reminded of another amusing moment. As we were completing the elevator ride from the parking garage to the hotel, Jared, in full Ralph regalia, pretended to use his "super strength" to open the elevator doors. Sure enough, there was a group of people on the other side waiting to get on. Without missing a beat, he strutted right through the group as if he owned the place. Loved it!

[HoudiniDerek]

Awesome that you got Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin.

[Videofox]

Awesome indeed. Missed getting Baldwin's actual signature though, so the photo will have to do until the next time he comes around.

My girlfriend had never really watched Firefly; we saw Serenity in theaters when it first came out but had no idea of the backstory, then she sat down and watched the DVDs the week before we went down there. I was just going to settle for autographs instead of the more expensive three-in-one photo op, but she became an instant fan in that short span of time so I decided "Ehh...why not?"

Speaking of photo ops, she received her pic with John Barrowman much quicker than expected:

[jozpierce]

Awesome photos! Especially the Shat! That must have been awesome!

And the GAH costume! \o/

GAH Geeks, REPRESENT!

[Videofox]

Thanks! And in that huge con there wasn't one other Ralph Hinkley that we spotted. He got lots of double-takes and we heard mumbles of approving recognition as we walked past, from those that didn't stop to demand his photo.

My sister reported one exchange with a couple of GAH fanboys:

Fanboys: "AWESOME! He just needs the blond afro!"

::Sister holds up blond wig that Jared had removed due to heat::

Fanboys: "AWWEEEESOMMMEEEE!!!"

(Don't know why people keep calling it an afro... guess for lack of any other one-word way to describe it... oh, I don't know... how 'bout Curls?)

Even a middle-aged employee of the hotel saw him crossing the street and said "That was even before you were born!" and had to take his picture too.

Guess the fact that he was so young made it so gosh-darn cute.