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Saturday afternoon, and it was time for my first panel. Being that this was my first time hosting a panel in the UK, I was worried that no one would show up for it, or that no one would understand my... lack of an accent, or just not like the panel at all. In fact, we sold out the panel (you needed a ticket to see my panel, they were free, but you had to get them, and there were only so many available), everyone laughed in all the right places, and at the end, many people came up to me afterwards to thank me and ask more questions. So I consider it a hit. Malika actually said that next time, they'll put in more seats so we can sell more tickets.
My first panel was the Live Lifecast. Where we make a mold of someone's head, live in front of the audience. This time around, we decided to make a mold of Mantroon's face and then later, auction it off for charity. Since Mantroon is the leader of the UKCM, I figured the members would pay to own his face.
Malika bought all the materials, and helped out as an assistant, and Fal jumped in and lent a hand as well. But only one hand, because we only had 5 rubber gloves to go around for some reason.
Here we are prepping Mantroon for his goo.
Mixing the goo.
And here I am putting my goo all over Mantroon's face.
More goo.
Fal jumps in to pose!
Mixing up the plaster bandages.
Bandaging him up.
More bandages.
And finally, removing him from the whole thing.
As Malika jumps in and blocks the shot!
Afterwards, I headed over to Fal's table and tried on one of his Starship Trooper Helmets. It's a little too small for me.
The Marines outside the Alien Experience. It's basically a walk through ride where you get a tour of the Weyland Yutani Bio Weapons Division, and during the tour, there's a containment breach, and the Colonial Marines charge in to escort you to safety as Aliens come in and attack you. These guys were putting on the show, I don't know how many times per day, and it was absolutely brilliant. They did an amazing job of it.
Some of the other costumes at the show, Batman, Stargate, Predator, Ghostbusters, and there are even some people dressed up as a Star Wars in the background there!
Necromongers!
When the con was over for the day, we all headed to the SpatCave room to have a debriefing meeting. It turned out that it was actually an awards ceremony! Many marines (me included) were given a set of Gold Dropship Wings as an award for outstanding service to the fan community.
Here's my award.
And my Gold Wings. I was blown away! It was such a huge honor for a Yank to come over there and be honored with an award. But, here it is! Thanks all!
After the meeting ended, it was time to head back to the hotel to party the night away!
Now that's love.
English plate of ribs.
Then it was time for dinner. Check out the Pulse Rifle cake! With working LED Counter!!
After dinner, it was time for the charity auction. This was the first time that I had ever seen a charity auction that was not open to the public. It was only for members of the UKCM and the UKG. The UKG is the UK Garrison of the 501st Stormtroopers Legion. There is a lot of odd, nerd animosity between the two groups. After they had auctioned off all the items donated, I jumped up and reminded them that they had forgotten about Mantroon's head. Mantroon tried to get people to move on and forget about it, but we pressed the subject and I jumped up and took over the auction. I started the auction at five pounds, and no one made a sound. Someone piped up and offered fifty pence. I made a comment about paying someone to take the head away for me because I was tired of looking at it. Finally, a member of the UKG jumped up and offered ten pounds. We were all shocked as to why the UKG would want a bust of the leader of the UKCM, and he mentioned that he was going to take the head, and smash it!
Well, suddenly, the UKCM members were pooling their money together to outbid the Troopers and save Mantroon's face! This went back and forth a lot until ultimately, the bid was up at about one hundred forty pounds (that's about $280!!)!! Finally, both groups decided to pool their money together and each have a shot and smashing Mantroon's face. So, when the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the final total was two hundred and ninety five pounds (almost $600!!)!!
But we'll have to wait and see what they'll ultimately do with his face.
Harry cuts the cake.
Trevor was given a Colonial Marine Helmet from the UKCM (made by me) as a gift. He loved it and wore it for pretty much the rest of the weekend.
Geordi learns about Rogaine!
Teaching the Brits about the "Boob Grab".
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