Finished Addressing Foot Shell Sag on Droid #1

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.

Star Wars Night at Angel Stadium - 2026

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.

Wondercon 2026 - Day 3

Today was the third and final day of Wondercon at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim CA.

We started the day off right.



Stuff seen around the booth.



Late in the day we took a droid group photo for the droids that remained at the booth.



And a little while later, that was a wrap for Wondercon 2026. Wondercon 2027 will be on the weekend before Star Wars Celebration in Los Angeles, so it's not clear how many of us are going to be there, but we'll see.

Wondercon 2026 - Day 2

Today was day #2 of Wondercon at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, CA.

Walter Martinez brought his waitress droid from Dex's Diner in Attack of the Clones. While it didn't balance like a unicycle, it was still impressive.



Cary and Nicholas Christie came out from the Phoenix area, and brought their cool BB units. BB-8 sez thumbs up!



Droids entertaining folks, as they did all day, every day.



The Bandit!



The booths across from us were unoccupied, so every once in a while some of us would seek sanctuary over there as things got crazy-busy at our booth.



One of the attendees brought their R2 unit modeled after one seen in one of the episodes of Star Wars: Visions. Very creative.



Baby Ewok, enjoying baby-sized droids.



Kaonashi from Spirited Away waved hi to me. (I did wave back.)



Another late-day droid parade, and another group photo at the half-way point.



Finally, at 7:30pm, Michael McMaster, myself, Mike Senna, William Miyamoto and Chris Romines gathered for what was our last scheduled "How to build your own droid" panel. We've been doing this panel for something like 14 years now, and we decided it was time to retire our panel. We may very well do other panels, and other panelists may well do this panel though.



And that was a wrap on day 2. One more day to go.

Wondercon 2026 - Day 1

Today was day 1 at Wondercon 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, CA. I arrived around 8:30am to help with setup. Or, at least take photos of other people helping with setup.



The most important meal of the day.



We were well-provisioned throughout the weekend.



Paul Thompson brought a trash crab! It was like Star Wars Skeleton Crew all over again.



Paul's animatronic Grogu is not impressed with my droid.



Darren Moser is working on a tool droid. It will have real, usable tools at the ready when it is done. Very cool



Matt Hobbs' WALL•E



Chris Lee & Burn•E



I have no idea how this person managed to navigate some of the more narrow aisleways. I didn't see a helper for them either.



Emperor Mouse and Director Krenec Mouse, by Romano and Connie Bassi. The Emperor Mouse was mobile and moved his cane as he "walked."



Lots of R2 units.



Late in the day we did a droid parade around the convention center. Near the half-way point, we paused for a group photo.



Around 7pm we wrapped up the booth at show-close for the day. We cover, and in some cases, lock up the droids for the night, and hope for the best. We've never had a problem leaving the droids overnight in many years of attending Wondercon.



We'll be back at it again tomorrow.

Swapped Out Dome and Sound Automation Switch

The small paddle switch I use to enable and disable the Dome and Sound Automation circuit was starting to die, so it was time to replace it. I had to unscrew it from its location at the bottom-front of the droid so that I could begin disconnecting the five wires that were soldered onto the terminals.



Next, I transferred each wire over, one at a time. I flush-cut the wires from the old switch's terminal, and soldered them to the new one.



All done with the transplant.



Next I needed to screw it back down, where it belongs. It's always tricky to reach way down in there and get the screws to go perfectly through the PVC mounting stick and then into the matching holes in the frame, although it doesn't look that bad in photos.



And the underside.



I have a couple of things I want to do with the feet, so I may be posting again sooner than later.