SARLACC Goes to the Denver Star Wars Celebration

Well, if you read my write-up about SARLACC's visit to the San Diego Comic Con last year, you may remember me whining about the lack of an "official" Star Wars Con. Proof positive, kids, be careful what you wish for!

These pictures were generously provided by Garry "Jar Jar" Pedersen and Ron "Mr. Hat" Salvatore. Many thanks, gentlemen!

The Wait

This photo shows two of the three most memorable features of the Con: mud and lines. Now, just pretend we also have a .wav file of the convention staff yelling at us, and you'd have a perfect picture of what went on.

Waiting

Chris Georgoulias, Gus and I spend some quality time wallowing in the mud. As I recall, I think we were actually not waiting in line, but waiting for Todd Chamberlain to complete one of his deals. Note the giant can of Yoda Soda in the upper right.

Fanatics

Long waits were sometimes ameliorated somewhat by the antics of crazed fans who dressed up like their favorite characters. That's SARLACC's own Indigo Vic as Darth Vader, with Richard and Cliff Glass as a stormtrooper and a sandtrooper! (No, not really, but that's what Garry told me to say.) :-) Later, Jason Pond found out why it's not wise to upset a crazed fan.

Darth Earl

Somewhere under that makeup and the horns is Earl Bergquist, who likes to spend time off his busy job at Amazon.com relaxing as the Galaxy's evil-est super-villain, Darth Maul. Here, Earl is trying to explain to slow-witted cable news personnel why the Sith Lord is "cool." Later, a few of us got to see the "real" Maul, Ray Park, perform some martian arts. BTW, if you'd like to see some more of Darth Earl's incredible costumes, please take a look at his costume page.

Boss Nass display

Finally after a seemingly endless wait, fans flooded into the main tent and were free to make fools of themselves. Here is a display "Jar Jar" Pedersen found particularly enticing.

Anakin's pod

Anakin's pod racer. From the movie and stuff. Cool!

Deanna as Jabba's Prisoner

Denver was a great place for pretending you were a real live action figure. Here, Deanna clowns around with a large green friend.

Ryan Pond, Jedi Knight.

Ryan poses next to an X-Wing replica that was parked next to the pod racer. Since the Con took place inside an airline hangar, it was really bizarre to see an X-wing parked in the same place as real military planes.

Best friends

Greg cosies up to one of his famous Hollywood pals.

C3PO

Anthony Daniels works the crowd.

Wald

That guy who plays the little Greedo kid in the new movie.

High end collectibles panel

On Sunday (when we weren't rained out), Gus chaired several panel discussions about Star Wars collecting. Here, Chris, Gus, and Todd Chamberlain waiting to speak at a panel on high end collectibles.

Customizing panel

Gus and Deanna participate in a customizing panel.

The Renaissance crowd

Most of the best Con events actually took place back at the hotel (after we had gotten through slogging around in the mud for the day). At the Renaissance Hotel, you couldn't shake a lightsaber without bumping into a Star Wars collector. L-R: Deanna Bock, Jeff Carlton, Gary Weaver, CJ Fawcett, Alex Bickmore, John Wooten, Nick Stathis, Brennan Swain, Ron Salvatore (without hat), Andy Loney, Todd Chamberlain, Rob Amantea, Greg Hanson, Mac Dunbar, Jon Peck, Duncan Jenkins, Erik Janniche, Chris Georgoulias.

Room sales

Hotel rooms seemed to get more sales volume than the show's dealer tent. Here, Eric Janniche tries to sell something to Gus. Meanwhile, John Wooten is evidently trying to talk me out of buying something.

The pickup line

Chris Nichols isn't a member of our Seattle club, but this image was too damned funny not to include it here.

Six Flags

Some of our crowd temporarily escaped the madness of the con for a tranquil day riding roller coasters at the local Six Flags amusement park.

In line at TRU

May 2, 1999, 11:59 pm.

Paydirt!

Deanna, Jeff, Ryan, Garry, and Erik proudly display their Episode 1 finds.

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