Today I performed a minor procedure on droid #1. There are two drywall screws that secure the battery boxes to the foot shells. After recently recently addressing some sag on the foot shells, one of those screws started getting a little out of line, to the point that it wanted to pull back out if I hit a bump while driving. I decided to redrill the hole adjacent to the original hole, while also relieving some of the stress.
First, I removed the screw that was just to the right of the dark gray PVC stick.
Next, I clamped the battery box so that it was flush with the foot shell.
I then drilled a pilot hole through the PVC stick on battery box and foot shell behind it.
I then relocated the drywall screw into the new hole. It self-threads as it goes through the PVC battery boxes and foot shells. As I said, this was a minor procedure. Very minor.
Looks good to me.
I'll get a better idea how well this worked the next time I take him on a bumpy drive, but I think this should resolve the issue.
Yes, this was the 20th R2LA gathering at Mike and Amy Senna's house. I've been there for 18 of them (I didn't know about the club or the gatherings for the first two).
As always, there were droids, droids and more droids.
I did so much socializing that I didn't take many more pictures. I got to chat for a while with Science Bob Pflugfelder, prop maker Lee Trujillo, and a few dozen other friends from the club.
Around 2:45pm William Miyamoto and I did a quick presentation thanking Mike and Amy for 20+ years of R2LA and build days.
And a little after that, it was time for the droid parade, where we took over sidewalk and street.
Immediately after the parade we gathered the group photo, both without (see above) and with their human builders.
It was a great time as always. Next year R2LA goes on hiatus due to the Star Wars Celebration convention, but hopefully we'll all be back in 2028!
Tonight was Star Wars Night at Dodger Stadium, and R2 joined several Star Wars Characters to mark the occasion.
I rolled up just ahead of our 4pm call time and unloaded R2.
Most years R2 hangs out in the lobby, but with the arrival of Shohei Ohtani to the team, the number of tour groups entering the lobby has exploded (it seemed like a group of 30 people were starting a tour every 10 minutes or less), and R2 ends up being a distraction for the tour. So, into the changing room he went.
While I awaited the other characters to get ready, I took the opportunity to check out batting practice.
Once 5pm rolled around, R2 and I, along with Sean and Rex, made our way with our Dodger Stadium hosts to our photo op area behind the center field wall. A long line quickly formed, and fans took pictures with the droids.
Around 6:00pm, the pregame scoreboard hosts joined the droids, and the group was shown on the Diamond Vision scoreboard. Due to the mismatch of the refresh rate on the scoreboard vs. the video I was shooting from when I grabbed a still image of the scoreboard, you can barely make out R2. Everything was much clearer when I took a photo of one of the monitors, though.
My co-crew members from Star Wars Skeleton Crew, Dacklin Young (VFX) and Dan Kritchevsky (Locations) came by and got a picture with the droids. Always great to see my old buddies from Skeleton Crew again!
Right before R2 had to leave on his secret mission, Sean and I got a picture with the droids.
R2's (not-so) secret mission was to head over to the home plate area, via the warning track. This year we took the 3rd base side.
Former Dodgers (and Yankees, and Cardinals) manager Joe Torre walked by. He was there to promote the Safe at Home initiative.
Current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was nearby, although he did not meet R2 (like he did back in 2016).
R2 was joined by a couple of Stormtroopers, as we gathered behind home plate for the "It's Time for Dodger Baseball" announcement.
And moments later, it was indeed time for Dodger baseball.
As R2 and I made our way off the field and to the handicap elevator, we had to force Dodgers radio and TV host David Vasseigh from his seat in front of the elevator door. Each of us got a picture of him with R2 (also, like he did back in 2016).
Just as the elevator was descending (we actually go below field level, and then back up), I took a quick picture of the dugout. No Shohei that I can see, though.
Next, R2 took the wheelchair elevator like he always does to avoid the stairs. I was told that elevator was broken and was only fixed yesterday!
I was asked if R2 could drop by the player's family room to visit their kids (of course he'd be happy to do so). No pictures of that, but the kids were endlessly entertained by asking R2 questions, who's answers they couldn't understand. That went a good 20 minutes or so. After that, I stowed R2 back into the Droidmobile so I could watch the game.
I took a look at where we had been by the Dodgers on-deck circle, and I still saw our tracks, haha.
The Dodgers came back to win, 5-2, improving R2's record with the Dodgers to an impressive 14-3. I'm telling you, he needs to be there for the post-season.
I always love doing the Dodger games since I'm such a big Dodgers fan (having been to Dodger Camp and having been a season ticket holder), and I hope to be back.
Today I finally got around to finishing what I started on December 9, 2025, I adjusted droid #1's foot shells to no longer sag toward the body.
I was visiting Mike Senna today and had the droid in the car anyway due to a secret (NDA) mission he had last week, so I ran the problem by Mike. He suggested cutting some segments of PVC and gluing those in such a way as to prop up the battery boxes above the drivetrain motor mounts on the inside of the battery boxes.
I cut a couple of segments of PVC. Here's one.
Next, I propped up the foot shell so that the bottom edge was parallel to the ground.
Then, I slathered some PVC glue on the PVC segment, and placed the segment on the inside of the PVC batter box such that the bottom edge rested on the motor mount, and glued it down.
I repeated the procedure for the other foot. Once the PVC glue had dried, I removed the wooden blocks to see how things looked.
I'd call that a success. It only took 19 years or so, but R2's feet finally don't droop anymore.
Tonight was Star Wars Night (1 of 2) for Star Wars Weekend at Angel Stadium, in Anaheim, CA.
R2 and I joined several members of the various Star Wars costuming clubs, not to mention our droid friend Captain RX and his operator Sean. Around 4:20pm we headed down to the Garden area to greet fans and pose for photos.
I also had a chance to say hi to DJ JoJo, who I know through our events with the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL and from his time at CHOC, as well as being the Angels pre-game DJ.
Around 5:30pm the characters headed to the tunnel near the left field foul pole in preparation to go out onto the warning track while the Angels squad distributed t-shirts and balls.
And a few minutes later we did our thing on the warning track.
After that, we headed back to our changing area and dined on tasty pizza.
After our dinner break, some of our group visited fans in the stands. R2, Darth Vader, Princess Leia and RX visited one of the player's family in their suite. We weren't able to get pictures of that visit due to privacy concerns.
By the time we wrapped up with that it was around the 5th inning. Last year I stayed until after the game, and it was pretty challenging getting R2 back to the Droidmobile and loaded up without being mobbed. So this year I decided to head out a little early and avoid the mob. I think it was for the best.
The Angels ended up winning 8-0, so R2's record with the Angels improved to 4-6. Hopefully with a couple more visits we'll be all even.
