Get used to Star Wars Quotes.I live by them. So, about a year ago, Alex mentioned that he would like to go to a Comic Con convention. I remembered that there was one in Kansas City, so I set out to do some research.
What I found is that there is an annual convention called Planet Comic Con . Ok, so it was not going to be as awesome as San Diego's Comic Con, but beggars can't be choosers. I bookmarked the webpage, and over the course of the year, eagerly anticipated the celebrity list. To my amazement, they managed to gather an appealing lineup of celebrities. George Takei, Ray Park, Will Wheaton, Peter Mayhew, Lou Ferrigno, Lee Meriwether. Google the names, if you must. But trust me when I say these are prime nerd celebrities.
Now, not being your average family, there is allot to consider when planning on attending such an event. We must consider crowds, noise factors, length of time to attend. All these things could make for a miserable time for our kids. But at the same time, we always want to expose Nik and Noah to as much as possible. We aren't raising bubble boys here. They have to live in this world and learn to adapt to their surroundings. After careful consideration, we decided to go for it and purchased our tickets.
On Saturday morning, we headed to Bartle Hall in Kansas city. We got there an hour early, and were able to score a good parking.
When we walked into the convention center, we were greeted by the 501st Legion, accompanied by a bag piper playing The Imperial March. It was awesome!
501st Legion entering the convention.
Here's a blurry video of the 501st entering the convention.
Bag piper jam!
Since we pre purchased our tickets, we made our way to the will call booth. Fortunately, there was no line for this. Check out the long line of nerds waiting to get in.
Trail of nerds.
Once we had our tickets in hand, we were directed to a special line. Anyone who pre purchased tickets was going to be allowed in 30 minutes early.
Waiting patiently.
Noah got a kick out of all of the fans in costumes. He even talked to a few. He was so excited. Before we knew it, the line started to move slowly. We made our way past the Comic Con sign, then up an escalator.
Comicon, baby!
Once we reached the top of the escalator, we were inside the convention.
Since only pre purchased tickets were allowed in early, it was not crowded at all. The convention hall had a good layout. To the left was celebrity row, where celebrities would be available for autographs. To the right was artist row, where comic book artist were available for autographs or sketches. In the center were rows and rows of vendors.
The 501st Legion had their own corner of tables. Yeah, that's a Ton Ton with his back turned to me. Well, I think it was a he. I didn't check.
It was cool to see all the characters chillin' and chit chatting with each other. I kind of felt like we were in the bar scene of Star Wars IV, surrounded by a cast of characters.
While the crowds were still light, we made our way around the vendors area. See how much room there was to walk around? Well, that didn't last. Look, sand people!
As it approached 10am, we made our way to celebrity row. We came across a huge Hulk statue.
Being our first Comic Con, we had no idea what was allowed, I was nervous to have the kids stand in front of the statue, so I had them stand at a distance and got a shot with the Hulk in the background.
At celebrity row, we immediately spotted the table that we wanted. Noah wanted to meet Ray Park, the actor who plays Darth Maul. We got in line and waited patiently. Normally, Noah struggles with anxiety. To our pleasure, he stood in line totally calm. No hand flapping, rocking, or repetitive speech. While waiting in line, we noticed George Takei of Star Trek fame. I love him! Alex was tall enough to get a shot of George. Sorry for the blur, but he took it from a distance and I had to zoom in to cut out the mass of people around him.
Oh myyyy!
The table to the right had Lee Meriwether (the original Catwoman). She was a beautiful woman for her age. I did not take a picture of her. I just felt bad about doing it. To her right was Will Wheaton (Stand By Me, Star Trek). And here is why I felt bad about taking pictures. Any time a fan raised their camera to take a picture of him, a handler would shout out "No pictures of Will Wheaton." After hearing that, I just felt reluctant to snap photos of the celebrities.
After a short wait, it was almost our turn to meet Ray Park. The dude in front of us had several things that he wanted autographed. He forked over more than $100. When it was finally our turn, we were told it was $30 for an autograph and $5 to buy a stock photo for him to sign. Noah selected a picture of Darth Maul holding a double bladed lightsaber. Ray Park was extremely friendly to the kids. He reached out to shake our hands and asked everyone's name. He talked with Nik and Noah and was very gracious and kind to them. And the most thrilling thing is that Noah talked back! He said something to Ray Park about another character he played. I couldn't hear because I was standing behind Noah.
Ray Park signing an autograph for the boys.
Noah standing out of the camera view, talking to Ray Park. The lady holding the blue bag was the money collector. Nik is holding on to the autographed picture.
Anyway, Ray Park was very sweet to the boys and they got a kick out of meeting him. He signed their picture "To Noah and Nik, feel the force." I wanted to take a picture with the boys standing next to him, but we had already been told that there would be photo opportunities later in the day. Although I'm sure if I had asked, Ray would have said yes.
After we got our autograph, Noah was doing his pee pee dance, so we headed for the restrooms. When I got out, Alex and the boys were already waiting outside for me. I saw Noah talking to a Sleestak, as what happens at a Comic Con. Lol. I think Noah just asked what the guy was supposed to me. But again, it was just awesome that he was talking to people and being so social!
We made our way back to the artist row to check out more costumes. We spotted one of the Walking Dead comic book artist, and the very long line of people waiting to meet him. As we were passing his table, this dude strolled by.
I am Iron Man!
He was pretty cool. I have no idea how they made this costume, but it came complete with sound effects. Note the Steeler fan following him. People traveled from far for this convention.
Because Noah and I are suckers for all things Star Wars, we passed the 501st Legion table again. These two were just kickin' it and chatting with each other.
A Storm Trooper saw me trying to sneak a picture, and he told me " we'll pose for you, if you want." The Jawa heard, then tapped his friend and they both turned to my camera so I can take their picture. So cool!
The man of the hour. Darth Vader.
As I turned around, Darth Vader was headed my way. A Storm Trooper was right behind him and stopped to pose for my camera.
Storm Trooper in the house!
He liked the kids shirts and stopped to take a picture with them. He even gave Noah his blaster to hold.
There was an assortment of Bounty Hunters at the Star Wars table. Nik liked the purple one. It's his favorite color, and she was a girl!
The R2-D2 roamed around. Apparently, there is an R2 building club. They had a display table and information on how to build your own R2.
We hit the vendor area next. We ended up buying a few toys, a Darth Vader book and some comic books. I spotted some Star Wars character robes that I liked. I loved the Darth Vader one. I should have bought us all robes. Oh well, next time.
By this time, it was starting to get pretty crowded, and I could tell the kids needed a break. We decided to check out the 501st Legion discussion panel. On the way to the conference room, we stopped to check out this cool statue.
Our intentions were to sit in the conference room to take a break. But I quickly became fascinated by the discussion. They talked at length about the requirements to join, the charitable work that they do, and how their costumes must meet the approval of George Lucas. Every scratch, dent, color and design must meet exact specifications.
Another fascinating part of the discussion was how normal these people seemed once they took off their helmets. I mean, look at how normal that Bounty Hunter looks up at the podium. He could be a doctor, or something.
After watching the panel for a while, we headed to lunch.
As we sat and ate our food, the Star Wars panel ended. A collection of Bounty Hunters gathered near our table.
Hey there!
Boba Fett fist bump!
Bounty Hunter gathering.
Apparently, our picture taking didn't go unnoticed. Notice the Bounty Hunter in the back ground?
Hey kid, put 'em up!
Nothing to see here. Keep it moving.
More Bounty Hunters showed up. Noah got a kick out of them. Look, it's Nik's girl in the purple!
Eventually, they all decided to pose for pictures.
Then they all took off their helmets and had lunch. Lol.
It was only 12pm by the time we finished lunch. A quick look at the schedule showed that George Takei wasn't going to have his discussion until 2 and Ray Park wasn't until 4pm. We knew that the kids wouldn't make it that long. We decided to just do some more exploring for a while longer. This Sand Person approached me. He even made the grunting noise that they make in Star Wars.
Sand Person. Out of my way.
We spent another hour exploring. By that time, it was extremely crowded and getting hard to walk around. Noah was still calm as could be, and was loving it, but I could tell that the crowd was getting to be to much. And at one point Nik said he needed to leave. So we decided to call it a day. On our way out, we took advantage of one more photo op.
And I did manage to snap a photo of Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) on the way out.
Laugh it up, fuzzball!
So, ending thoughts on the day. We had an amazing experience. I think we are hooked on Comic Cons now. I'm already researching the next ones. But let's get back to the quote that I posted in the beginning.
It's not about going to a Comic Con (the mission). It ended up being so much more. Something that has eluded us for some time. Our wonderful Noah was thriving on this day. He was talking to people, interacting, and enjoying himself without being crippled with anxiety. We were able to enjoy the day together as a family, like every other normal family is able to do. And that is something that I will never forget.
"It's not about the mission, Master. It's something... elsewhere. Elusive." Obi-Wan Kenobi
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