Halloween 2016

Tonight R2 was out in the garage to help hand out Halloween candy.



I had about 40 trick-or-treaters come by. They took pictures, I didn't, so that's all there is to this blog entry! :p

Stan Lee's LA Comicon 2016 - Day 3

Today was the third and final day of Stan Lee's LA Comicon.

Chris Romines graduated from merely using a hand drill the last two days, to using a Dremel to work on his dome today. No noise there.



Today's show hours were 10:00am-4:00pm, and once the doors opened, we were busy once again. Some pics.






Being allowed access to the VIP area has its advantages. Stan Lee was there for pictures and autographs around 2:30pm. Michael McMaster was able to snag an autograph.



While I was able to get a picture. Neat!



A little while after I got back to the booth, we were ready to start wrapping things up. Plus, we had a vermin problem, as WALL•E's roach friend Hal made his way into the Halloween candy.



This was another great show, and I look forward to coming back next year. In the meantime, I have plenty on my plate for the remainder of this year.

Stan Lee's LA Comicon 2016 - Day 2

Today marked day #2 of Stan Lee's LA Comicon, and we had plenty of droids for the occasion.

We arrived around 8:15am for a 9:00am show opening. This was to be a fairly long day, with show-close at 6:00pm. By the time I arrived, the booth was mostly ready to go, as Chris Romines leveraged the convention as a building weekend.



9:00am arrived, and so did the crowds.



You can't have a Stan Lee Comicon without Stan Lee. Our booth was near the main stage, so we saw plenty of him, and he certainly draws a good crowd!





Here's a first (at least as far as I know), three WALL•Es; with Preston Altree, Michael McMaster, and Mike Senna.



Meanwhile the R2s still got plenty of attention.




The droid builders were allowed access to the VIP area, where we were able to get lunch and some rest from time to time.



In the afternoon, Gordon Tarpley suited up as C-3PO, and we walked the convention with my R2. That's always a crowded adventure. We paid some visits as we made our way around.



Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols.



The amazing Fon Davis.



When we returned to the droid area, we were joined by Cory as Chewbacca. Along with BB-8, that drew quite a crowd.




By the end of the day, both Wookiee and droid builder alike were pooped, but we'll rest up and do it one more time tomorrow!

Stan Lee's LA Comicon 2016 - Day 1

Today kicked off Stan Lee's L.A. Comicon (formerly Comikaze), and the droids were out in force. We were joined by the usual suspects, plus a couple of new ones from the BB-8 and WALL•E Builders.



Show opening for Friday evening was a relatively late 5:00pm, but we arrived early and set up.



I took very few pictures of the goings-on, but here are a couple, with more promised for Saturday and Sunday.




Congratulations to Preston, who finished his WALL•E in time for the show. It was joined by Michael McMaster's, and we will soon have 3 WALL•Es tomorrow when Mike Senna's joins us.



We do it all over again shortly!

Discovery Cube OC Fall 2016 Visit

Today R2 and I joined several members of the 501st and Rebel Legions, along with fellow builders Aaron Lane and Tom Piedmont and their droids-in-progress, for Discovery Cube Orange County's Spooky Science weekend.



In all, I spent about 4 hours having R2 interact with the people in attendance.




My USC documentary crew of Marine, Hao and Stephen tagged along to shoot some B reel footage for their class project.



The visitors had a good time meeting the characters, and I'm sure we'll be invited back soon.

R2LA XIII

Today was the big day, R2LA XIII! All told, over 130 people came by throughout the day from all over the country, along with between two and three dozen droids.



I arrived at Mike Senna's house a little after 11:00am, and unloaded in the designated Droid Unloading Zone. There were signs directing us on everything.



And I mean everything.



Droids, and lots of them.






BB-8s and Baby-8.



For the first time, the Senna/McMaster/Tarpley Robot Chicken action figures were united.



Along with their slightly more lifelike counterparts.



I tried to keep an eye on the r2la.com webcast and make sure nothing froze up.



Mike explained his static BB-8.



Brian Mix demonstrated his fire-breathing Logan's Run gun.



Someone brought a full-sized Star Wars arcade game!



Toward the end of the afternoon we prepped the droids for the group photo.




After the photo, John Boisvert modeled his John-Taun head.



Around 11:00pm we started folding up the tables and chairs, and taking down the awesome canopy that Mike deployed to keep us out of the direct sunlight.




Around 11:30pm, Michael McMaster got hungry for a donut run, so we headed out. Only in our world is it not unusual to see a pickup truck with R2-D2 hanging out in the truck bed (in this case, Matthew Henricks' droid).



It was another hugely successful event, and I'm already looking forward to next year!