Celebration 3

From the moment I started my trip to C3, I wanted to do a day by day run down of everything that went on there. With that in mind, I took my camera around with me, and tried to capture all the vintage related insanity there. What follows is a run down of my con experience:

Wednesday the 20th

Upon arriving in Indy, I took an uneventful cab ride to the Omni, and then tried to make my way through the mall to the convention center. I got lost several times, and had to backtrack to the hotel twice. I should point out that I was VERY tired by this point. I finally found my way to the convention center, and was stopped at the door. It seems that even though it was a 4 day event, I still needed a pass to enter the building. So, I had to make my way back through the mall to the hotel to get my badge and then walk all the way back! Todd Hudson was able to find me a badge to get me in the dealer room early (thanks for the loan Jeff!), and C3 began! It was great to meet everyone! I got to chat briefly with a bunch of collectors who I've known for years. By that time though, the convention center was closing so we had to leave. I left with Jeff Correll and we were supposed to go back to the hotel but instead we got lost. It was raining rather hard by then, and there were pan handlers every few steps.

We finally found our hotel, and then got a call from Chris Georgoulias. It seems that a local collector was inviting several people over to see his collection. So, we made our way back to the convention center, met up with them, and then made our way back to the hotel again. Upon our arrival, everyone realized that there was no way that everyone could fit into the car to go. Since I was the last person to join, and since I had not recieved a first hand invite, I stayed behind. It ended up being okay though, because we had a blast back at the hotel.

Back at the hotel, I met up with Todd Hudson, Broc Walker, Derek Ho, Bob Steffey and Jeff Hunter. Great guys all, and I would end up spending the majority of my time at C3 with one, or all of them!

We decided to head out to dinner at Hooters, even though Jeff and Derek had just come back from there. So off we went. While there I got a call from Rob Amantea, so we finished eating and went back to the Omni to meet up with him. Rob was kind enough to bring me a super cool Micro Collection Tshirt, which he delivered by hitting me in the face with it the second I walked into the Omni. Jon Peck, Isaac Lew and Oscar Didier had also just arrived, so we all headed out to Steak and Shake. While we were there, Joe Yglesias dropped in. The waitress at Steak and Shake REALLY didn't like us. I don't know why, I was always polite to her, but she just hated us. After our second dinner, we went back to the hotel. By this time it was close to 3AM. It was a long day, and the con hadn't even started yet.

Day 1: Thusday

Waking up early, I went over to room 530 to go to the covention center with Broc, Bob and Derek. The line to get into the convetion center was a little long. Many people reported waiting hours in line. Thanks to Todd Hudson and Tom Derby though, I was able to get in via an associate (dealer) pass. All I had to do was help Cloud City set up (which was fun anyway). So, I was "Eugene" for the first few hours. Dealer room. I got stuck with organizing the loose figures. I would have much rathered set up the many prototypes that Cloud City had brought, but that's another story. :- ) I spent most of Thusday hanging out with Broc. He's a really great guy to chat with at get togethers, and he has an awesome collection of Hoth Rebel Soldier items showcased here on the SWCA. We tried to find some people to go to lunch with, but for everyone was too busy. So, we ended up just walking around and talking with the various other collectors we encountered. After a while it was time for the Collector's social. That was a lot of fun! Nice to put some faces with names! Chris Georgoulias was our MC for the evening, and announced that free cels from the Ewoks cartoon show would be handed out. They weren't the best cels, but we all had a blast going through them! Truth be told, I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun if the cels had all been great. There is just something funny about a cel that features a single Ewok eye blinking! Many collectors walked away with stacks of cels.

Around this time I realized that I hadn't eaten since that trip to Hooters the night before. Luckily, once we arrived back at the hotel we were invited to go to Alex Sleder's house. So, we sat around the lobby and waited for the cars to pick us up Once at Alex's house, he gave us a tour of his amazing collection, and treated us to pizza. I can't thank him enough for his hospitality. Tom Neiheisel shared with us some vintage Kenner commercials that he brought. Very cool, I had never seen some of them before. Every collector yelled out "Wampa! Wampa!" along with that kid in the ad. Really funny!
We finally left Alex's house and headed back to the hotel. We hung out for a while, till Todd Hudson decided it was time to go wake up Alex Bickmore. He was surprised to find Alex sitting in the hallway however, so his plan was foiled. Joe Y arrived, and we decided it was time to go out to eat, and the decision was made to go to Steak and Shake again. Halfway there, it was decided that White Castle was a better option. By this time, it was pouring rain, and I had forgotten my umbrella back at the hotel. The food didn't look to appealing, so I just had a Diet Coke. Some.....incidents occured at the White Castle that are probably best forgotten by all. Suffice to say that drunk friends and public places don't generally mix well.
Once the embarrasment of the offers made there had passed, we traveled back to the hotel again. So, the day ended. In retrospect it should have ended BEFORE the trip to White Castle, but live and learn.

Day 2: Friday

I overslept so I missed the first 2 collector's panels of the day, Star Wars Posters and Strange Star Wars Collectibles. I did however arrive in time to see Gus' speech on Cereal Collectibles. Next up, Todd Chamberlain and Mike Mensinger did a very interesting panel on Fastfood Collectibles. There was a neat intro to collecting panel as well, the Collecting 101. After the panels, we headed out to the mall's food court for a bite to eat. The time came at last for the room sales! First we had to find our way back to the hotel however, which proved difficult. We made several wrong turns, and it took us a while to find our way. Lost in the mall AGAIN! The room sales were fantastic! Everyone had great stuff, and it was fun to just sit around and talk. It also gave me a chance to go around and get everyone's autograph on a neat C3 print. 80+ collectors signed that poster! I still can't read a few of the signatures though. Some collectors have awful handwritting. Honestly, I had gone to C3 with the intention of getting a C3 poster signed. The line at the C3 store however was several hours in lenth, and I had just about given up on my plan. While wandering the dealer room however, I happened across a signed artist print with a C3 design. It was poster sized, and had great C3 related graphics, so I bought it right away. Now, granted it cost way more than the poster would have, and many people thought I was crazy for having them sign and thus ruin what in their minds was a collectible, I think it looks much better this way.

The room sales proceded, and everything from unproduced prototypes to bootlegs were bought and sold. Even now years later I think back to this night and wish I had picked up a few of the aewsome pieces that were offered here. Hotel security was called, but once we explained that all the rooms in the aear were ours, they left us alone. After a while, Timothy Crofton asked a few of us to go out with him to get a drink. So we gathered in the lobby. We tried to go to Hooters again, but it was closed. Timothy (I kid you not) went off to look for a liquor store that was still open. In the process found an open bar. The events of this evening weren't as dramatic as the trip to White Castle, but that's not a bad thing. We had a blast! I will tell you that during this evening a certain collector wandered into the ladie's room, but that's another story. So, the evening ended and Tim decided it was time to go hassle the people in line to see Lucas. I declined. I am told that he wandered into room 530, and gave us the C3 classic quote, "this one's for your mother!" but I wasn't there to hear it.

Day 3: Sat

I ended up missing the first few minutes of the Character Collectibles Panel because of the large crowd in the convention center. I did however see some of the fantastic pics in the Lili Ledy speech, very, very cool! As well as the International toy panel. Later in the day it was time for the SW road Show! A fun panel where people brought in their stuff to get appraised. The highlights included a prototype R2-D2 lunchbox, and Chris Nichol's bringing up one of the free Ewoks Cels. Dunkin Jenkins declined to appraise the cel saying that he was interested in adding it to his own collection. Then it was time for the SW trivia contest! The panels ended, and we were all invited to Mark Salotti's birthday party! That was a lot of fun, even if they food was expensive and slow to arrive. I still had a blast though!

Right before the food arrived, Gus showed up dressed like the vintage Blue Snagg figure. there was a mad dash as collectors raced to get thier cameras out. Very cool costume!
After dinner, we went up stairs and just talked in the hallways again. The entire floor was occupied with collectors, so we weren't bothering anyone. Finally we decieded to go back to Steak and Shake. To my surprise it was actually SNOWING outside! I have NEVER seen snow that I can remember, so I was shocked to see it. I live in Orlando! I seemed to be the only one impressed with the weather though. Derek Ho proclaimed it cold and wore a hotel robe to Steak and Shake. The wait staff there started calling him "Hef".

Day 4: Sun

The last day at C3 was a lot of fun! It began for me with the Cheapskate Collecting Panel. and ended with the future of Star Wars panel. Then C3 was over. Way too soon in my opinion, because I really hadn't seen that much of it yet. I had spent most of my time in the collecting panels, and didn't get to see any of the other things that C3 had to offer. There was still fun to be had though. I hung around after the panels, and there was a chance to fill in any gaps in my collector card run. Finally we ended up with almost 40 vintage collectors all going out to eat. It was wild! It was around this time that Broc's Rebel Soldier was almost destroyed by my table. Perhaps an explaination is needed. Broc had a Rebel Soldier figure with him, and the night before Derek had done some rather odd things with it. So, the soldier made his appearance again, and this time he was catapulted across the room several times. He got pretty good distance too. I felt really sorry for the wait staff here and told them so. I gave them a few extra bucks for not killing us. Derek had to leave early, so we just waited up with him. We spent a while dancing to Broc's car stereo in an abandoned parking garage at 3AM, and then went out to Steak and Shake. While there the Soldier made another appearance. He was still sporting a napkin over his face that Rob Amantea put on him as a blindfold. He was once again launched across the room. My repeated protests that it wasn't a good idea were ignored. Sure enough, the pepper shaker that was being used as a lever flew across the table as well and shattered on the floor. I am told that I shouldn't "panic" about such little things though. Once again, the waitress there REALLY didn't like us. I told her again that she would miss Todd Hudson when he left, but she didn't seem to believe me. We went back to the hotel and said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Final day: Mon

I spent most of the next day packing. Those of us who were still in Indy though went out to eat. That was really nice. I took a cab to the airport and once there I was selected for "additional security screening". Seeing as how I look 13 years old, this was the first time anyone has ever stopped me at an airport out of security concerns. I told the security guard there that I thought it was cool and that the extra security was kinda fun (hey, I have a Criminal Justice degree!), and he told me I was the first person to ever tell him that. Once at the gate, I ran into Chris Georgoulias and we talked for a while. He walked past and started talking to me, then noticed I was studying, and said that he'd leave me alone. I said that I had a test in like 18 hours, but I'd MUCH rather talk with him than study. Then my flight arrived, so I had to leave. All in all, I met soooooooooo many truly great people at C3. Everyone I talked with was really, really nice. I had SUCH a good time! C3 was my first big collector gathering, so I'll aways look back on it with fondness.

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