R2LA XVII

Today was R2LA 17, the first time in four years that we've been able to get together at Mike and Amy Senna's house, and it was a blast.



I arrived a little before 10am with donuts, to start the day off right.



Several of us made short work of setup. By 10:20am all the tables and chairs had been set up, and we were ready for business.



Around 11am the event officially kicked off, and people lined up to get their name tags.



Over 60 droids were in attendance! We had an area for Disney+ screen-used droids, and my mouse droid squeaked in (pun barely intended), since it was in an episode of Kenobi.



Matt Hobbs brought out his surprise project, a mash up of WALL•E and an R2 unit that was pretty awesome.



Chris Lee brought his animatronic C-3PO.



Around 1pm lunch was served (Panda Express) and folks sat down to eat.



A look at some more droids that were in attendance.



I brought my droid #1 as R5-D4. To my surprise, it was the only R5-D4 there.



Around 2:30pm all the builders gathered outside for a group picture. There were something like 150+ in attendance, although not everyone was there for the (first) group picture.



We also had several people from the Disney+ productions in attendance, including Vivian Blair, who played young Princess Leia in the Kenobi series, and Robert Smith, who is in the show that Mike and I worked on, the upcoming series Skeleton Crew.



Leilani Shiu, who most often portrays a Jawa but has also performed several other rolls in the Disney+ Star Wars shows, was also in attendance.



Others from behind the scenes included our Skeleton Crew 1st AD Eric Lasko, our Key 2nd AD Franny Stafford, our Security team Michael Sullivan and Zachary Quemore, Kenobi Prop Master Brad Elliot and Kenobi Art Department Artist Bethany Barton. It was great seeing them, as I wondered if I would ever see them again after we wrapped shooting earlier this year.

Shortly after the human group photo, we took the droid group photo.



After that, it was time for the mouse droid races/demolition derby/death match.



Leilani Shiu didn't make it in the first group photo, so she requested we take another that included her, and we gladly obliged.



Things slowly wound down over the hours, and by 10:30pm we started folding up the tables and stacking the chairs. We chit-chatted a little longer, and a little after 11pm I loaded the droid and headed home.



Everyone had a fantastic time. Between the fact that it had been 4 years since the last R2LA and the shear number of people and droids in attendance, it was a really enjoyable event. As always, I look forward to the next one.