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Birmingham, AL |
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INTRODUCTION
After the panel Snowtrooper Monk and I were off again. We went down to the main show area where the organization booths were. I got to meet some of the Alabama Garrison 501st members and checked out their booth for a little bit. After that we made our way into the dealer’s room where there was everything you could possibly imagine sci-fi and fantasy related available. We looked at a good bit of modern stuff which seemed to have the usual convention markup but there were what seemed like some pretty decent deals on vintage carded figures from one seller. His prices seemed pretty good actually which makes me wish I would have brought more money with me.
After the costume contest Monk and I decided it was time to get some food. We headed out from the con in search of Birmingham’s Mellow Mushroom but were disappointed to find it closed for renovations. We grabbed some food elsewhere and headed back to the show. It was getting a little late so I decided to pack it in for the day and head back home. I dropped Monk off and started my trip back. All in all I thought it was a pretty good show and was glad I made it down to attend and look forward to going to it again next year. PHOTO GALLERY
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This
was OmegaCon’s first year and it was a blast. The convention was
held over the course of 3 days at the Sheraton Hotel across the
street from the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in downtown
Birmingham, AL. This Con was not just for Star Wars fans but for
anyone who enjoys Sci-Fi and Fantasy. They had it all from Star
Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Harry Potter to Celtic, Literature,
Art, Music, and even the paranormal. While I was only there for
Saturday’s events I had a great time and look forward to attending
another OmegaCon in 2009.
As
you walked into the huge Sheraton Hotel its very overwhelming as to
where you were supposed to go and what all was going on and where as
I believe the Con was spread over 4 floors. I actually had to call a
fellow trooper, Snowtrooper Monk, for some guidance when I walked
in. He met me up front and showed me around a bit. We saw Peter
Mayhew going into an auditorium so after standing in the line to get
my $15 day pass, which moved pretty quickly, we were off. We went
into the auditorium to hear a bit from Chewbacca and a Scout/Stormtrooper
(Mayhew and Lightning Bear) about what it was like filming the Star
Wars movies in a Q & A panel. Hearing things that went on behind the
scenes of making some of the best movies ever is always a good time.
From hearing about a snow and ice covered Wookiee in Empire Strikes
Back melting and being soaked and making giant puddles wherever he
stood when they’d go back indoors from shooting to hearing about
working with green screens and interacting with CGI characters that
aren’t really there when filming ROTS we got to hear a lot of great
stories.
After
spending some time browsing the dealer room we headed over to the
celebrity room so I could get all my goodies autographed. First stop
was Lightning Bear. He was a nice guy and surprised me by having
quite a few different pens to autograph with. His assistant
suggested he used the silver for one of my figures but he said “no
that won’t look good on that particular figure”. None of the other
autograph signers have ever seemed to care how the piece would look
after it was signed and out of their hands in my past experience.
Monk snapped a quick picture of me and Mr. Bear and we traveled
onwards. Next stop was Admiral Motti, Richard LeParmentier, who is
definitely now one of the coolest cast members I’ve met. He talked
with Monk and I for a while telling us about the watch he was
wearing being his favorite and how he purchased it on the streets of
New York for $10 if I remember correctly. So after a bit of watch
talk and him complaining that Hasbro needed to get on the ball and
make a new figure of him he signed my figure for me. Then, I asked
if he’d mind posing for a picture with a prototype of his action
figure. I showed him the figure and his face lit up as he held it.
“What is this, a sex toy?” he said when he saw it. He looked it over
and said “Wow that’s cool. How and where did you get this?” I told
him that I knew a guy and he posed with the prototype and my figure
he just signed. Afterwards he said how he thought the proto was too
cool and he had to at least get a picture of it for himself. He
tried a couple of times to take a picture with his phone using
different things on his table as backgrounds to get a good shot but
couldn’t get one to take. I told him I’d take a picture of it for
him and email it to him along with some others of it. So we put it
on one of his Motti photographs and took a pic. We said so long to
him and that we’d see him at the costume contest then moved on.
Next, we stopped by Peter Mayhew’s table. He was just as polite as
ever and signed my figure for me then gave me a great picture posing
with two of his prototypes that I’d brought. We shook hands and kept
walking. Then I spotted someone whom I wasn’t expecting to see. “Hey
It’s Jaws” I said to Monk. It was Richard Kiel who played the role
of Jaws in several James Bond movies. I grew up watching James Bond
movies with my dad and have seen most of them 100 times or more so I
was just as happy to see him as I was to see the Star Wars guys. I
asked him how much for an autographed photo and told him that my dad
and I were big fans. I got a picture signed for my dad, which he
loved, and one signed for myself. Then, Monk took a picture of
Richard and I with Richard doing his famous in my eyes pose with him
grabbing my head and neck as if he were about to bite Roger Moore.
We walked around the rest of the room and saw Chase Masterson who
played on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Kane Hodder who played
Jason in some of the Friday the 13th movies along with many other
actors as well as novelists.
After
we ducked out of the celebrity room we still had a little time to
kill before the costume contest so we walked around and checked out
some of the booths in the main entrance room. We ran across a booth
for our new friends at 
We
made our way through the huge hotel again and after a little
confusion figured out that the contest was to be held in the
Cantina. We made our way up the stairs to the cantina stopping to
take some pictures of some of the costumes along the way. We got
some good seats for the show and were treated to a short Q&A session
with Richard LeParmentier while they got everyone ready. Richard
told us about his role as Admiral Motti and about a project he had
thought up a while back but was now inspired to complete after
having seen the Family Guy Blue Harvest episode. His project was to
be an animated tale of Admiral Motti after he made his triumphant
escape from the Deathstar before it was destroyed. The contest
started by bringing out all the younger children who participated
and giving them each an award then bringing introducing everyone
else and having them judged. There were several Vaders, various
troopers, Jedi, Sith, and of course snow bunny Padmes. There was
also a great Admiral Ackbar homemade costume with Ackbar’s face
sculpted entirely from paper mache. The trophys for the costume
contest were made using galactic heroes and unleashed figures that
had been gold plated and professionally attached to trophy stands.
The winner for best in show was a pretty hilarious take on Darth
Vader called King Vader. It was a guy in a really well put together
Vader costume holding a Vader mask on a stick up to his face. When
he was introduced he lowered his mask to reveal none other than the
King from Burger King mask hidden underneath.