WonderCon 2025 - Day 1

Today was day #1 at WonderCon in the Anaheim Convention Center, and a busy day it was. I arrived around 10am to unload for the 11am show start.



I was running a little behind schedule because I had the solemn duty of picking up donuts on the way in. By the time I arrived, our droid pavilion was pretty much ready to go.



Michael McMaster debuted his B2EMO as inspired from the show Andor. It was pretty amazing. It uses Mecanum wheels, so it can roll in any direction without having to rotate, and it can rotate as well. The body rises and lowers as seen in the show, the head pans and tilts and rotates 360º, and the tool trays between levels also rotate. It is one complicated droid.



Daren Moser added several upgrades to his K2-S0, included eye movement within the eye socket. It was quite impressive too.



The show was pretty busy, and the droid builders kept the crowd entertained.



Around 2:45pm we did our daily droid parade around the convention center.



We stopped off at a photo-op area for a droid group picture before continuing on.



I have not mentioned it yet on this blog, but I was the Droid Assistant and a droid Puppeteer on the Disney+ show Star Wars Skeleton Crew (Mike Senna was Key Droid Technician and Puppeteer). Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Robert Timothy Smith had a booth at WonderCon, so our droid parade stopped by their booth to say hi. Robert had just stepped out to lunch, but Ravi was there.



Ravi's mom Christina, who I knew from our time on the production, told me to jump in for a picture.



As we approached our booth, Leilani Shiu, who plays the Jawa Teeka on the Disney+ Star Wars shows, wrangled a few droids into the 501st booth for a photo.



Back at the booth, I checked out Chris Lee's BDX droid.



At 5pm we had our panel, "Working on the Set: Droids from Skeleton Crew and Kenobi." Panelists were Mike Senna, me, William Miyamoto, Rob Wight and Gordon Tarpley, with Amy Senna moderating. The panel was very well received and it was enjoyable.



Justine Senna kindly recorded the panel, and Rob Wight uploaded it to YouTube, in case you're interested.



Day 1 is in the books, we do it all again tomorrow.

2025 Saturn Awards

Tonight I brought R5-D4 to join several droid builders for the 52nd Annual Saturn Awards at the Hilton hotel in Universal City.



We were joined by Michael and Kyle McMaster with R2-D2, William Miyamoto and Chopper, Darren Moser and his BD/Mouse droid, and Matt Hobbs and Tina Bosse with R2-TNK and Rust-E, plus a Scrubber droid for Kyle to operate. Gordon Tarpley as C-3PO and Natalie were also there by the time the guests started to arrive (they needed to head out before the after-party), but Gordon required Natalie's help getting suited up as C-3PO and wasn't in our initial picture.



We arrived between 10:30am and 11am, to be ready for red carpet arrivals from 1pm to 3pm. We were not to be on the red carpet, instead we were stationed just outside the ballroom where the awards show was to take place.

A little after 1pm guests did indeed start arriving, and before long we had quite a few people (cast and crew) from one of the Star Trek shows pose for a group picture with the droids.



A little later, Vivian Blair, who played young Princess Leia in the Kenobi series, stopped by and got some pictures.



Gates McFadden from Star Trek The Next Generation was nearby.



Sam Witwer, who voices Darth Maul among other characters, stopped by. He knows Michael and Gordon from previous work, so they caught up.



Nicolas Cage went zooming by.



Doug Jones, who knows Gordon, stopped by once Michael let him know who was in the C-3PO suit. With all the monster makeup and suits that Gordon gets into for productions, Gordon is practically a protégé.



Rachel Pizzolato from Mythbusters Jr. stopped by, complete with alien claw.



Lea Thompson from the Back to the Future franchise (among others) was nearby.



We were able to take a break during the ceremony that started around 4pm, so we watched on a monitor as we relaxed. Laurence Fishburn and William Shatner were given special achievement/lifetime awards.



The show ended around 7:30pm, and unlike the trickle of people arriving, we had a flood of people exiting the ballroom for the after-party.

Xolo Maridueña and some of the folks from Kobra Kai joined in for a picture. He was very friendly and personable, and enjoyed the droids.



Composer Danny Elfman got a picture with Tina and the droids. Tina was a huge fan of his.



Henry Thomas from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial stopped by for a picture.



Voice actor Phil LaMaar stopped by and got a picture of the droids with Rachel.



And finally, Ethan Peck, who portrays Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, got some photos with the droids (photo swiped from William Miyamoto). He too was friendly and enjoyed the droids.



By the way, this is what a Saturn Award looks like from 10 feet away.



By 9:30pm we wrapped up, took down the backdrops, packed up, and headed home.



It was an enjoyable evening and I appreciate the opportunity to participate.

Star Wars Night with the Anaheim Ducks - 2024

Tonight, R2 returned to Honda Center for Star Wars Night with the Anaheim Ducks. We were joined by the Dodds brothers and their R2-D2, along with Sean Christophiades and his RX droid, and the members of the various Star Wars costuming clubs. As usual, my former coworker and Ducks fan Rich Newman did wrangling and photo duties, along with his son Paul.



I arrived around 3pm at Honda Center.



Since there were two R2's, I deferred to the Dodds brothers for most of the activities, and instead I'd have my R2 hang out with DJ JoJo in his booth for most of the game. We made our way there.



Of course, the DJ booth was only accessible via stairs, so I used the manual droid lift to carefully get him down a few stairs to his destination.



Made it safely (phew!).



The booth contains the big red button that JoJo presses to officially start the game.



From my perch, I positioned R2 and made sure I didn't drive him to his death. Once he was situated, I turned off the body, leaving only the dome lights powered.



We had seats nearby, so I split time between watching the game from our seats, and tending to R2.



Toward the end of the game R2 made his way through the concourse to join some of the other characters for the Dance Cam.



The game was tied 2-2, when, with 25 seconds remaining in the 3rd period, the Ducks scored what would be the winning goal against the Winnipeg Jets.



The win brought R2's record with the Ducks to 4-3. Hopefully we can improve upon that record next year.

Hollywood Christmas Parade - 2024

Tonight was the 2024 Hollywood Christmas Parade, and for the 8th time R2 joined in on the festivities. As I neared Hollywood and Highland, I tried to get a picture of this Star Wars Skeleton Crew billboard. I need to wash my car.



I arrived right around 1pm for the 6pm parade. I arrived extra early because many of the streets in the area get blocked off as the day goes by.



Shortly thereafter, William Miyamoto and Gordon Tarpley arrived. William would be driving his Bumblebee car with the Star Cars, while Gordon would be joining my R2-D2, as C-3PO. We were also joined by Darren Moser, who would be marching in the parade with the Southern California 501st Garrison.



With a lot of time to kill, we checked out the cars (including William's shiny yellow Bumblebee), and then grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets.



On our way back, we stopped in front of the Chinese Theater, where R2-D2's, C-3PO's and Darth Vader's footprints live. William has costumed as Darth Vader in the past, so we each filled the footprints of our respective characters.



Before we knew it, it was time to get set up. Gordon unpacked his pile of C-3PO costume, and we got ready.



We were joined by Chewbacca (Frank), and made our way to the beginning of the red carpet, on Hollywood and Orange. The three characters would only be going 1 city block, ending up at Hollywood and Highland, before making our way back to the parking structure while the rest of the Star Wars characters would be continuing on the 3+ mile parade route.



The Star Wars clubs were #19 in line, so while we waited, I took various pictures, including one of Grand Marshall Jeremy Renner's car, and another when William drove by.



When Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack's car drove by, I yelled, "Landon, thank you for the championship!". He yelled back, "You're welcome!"



Almost exactly an hour after the parade started, the Star Wars clubs arrived. The 501st was in front, with the Rebel Legion following them. We were to jump in just in front of the Rebel Legion.



As usual, I don't have many pictures until after we were done, but I usually come back later and add some pictures/video, so something should materialize. I "borrowed" this pic from Sandra Collamore as we were wrapping up by Highland.



We headed down the scary alley, back to the parking structure. Inevitably we are stopped for photos, and oblige.



One last quick pic before we wrapped up.



And after the fact, here are a couple of pictures from the telecast on the CW network from Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 8PM PST.



It was a great (and thankfully uneventful) parade. Hopefully R2 and I will be back again.