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SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2004 Day three at Wizard World Chicago was a day full of surprises. Sandtrooper Dan headed back north Sunday a.m., and the other members of the crew had enough. I decided to bring my Padawans along for the ride, and let them see where Daddy has been all weekend. Sandtrooper Jason also met up with our party later on in the p.m.
The Gentle Giant booth was again very busy in the morning, but had slowed down dramatically by mid-afternoon. There were not as many people running around in costume either. There were plenty of deals to be had. First off Mattel decided to let everyone win the raffle to buy the Exclusive She-Ra or Batman action figures. However, shortly after 1 p.m. Mattel was selling them outright to who ever had twenty dollars. Gentle Giant also was selling the Luke Stormtrooper bust to any and all comers. I was told they had “quite a few” remaining but I was told they did anticipate selling out. Master Replicas also had plenty of the .45 scale Obi-Wan sabers in stock as well. They informed me that sales on these were “very good." Most of the dealers I spoke with said they did quite well. Our S.C.A.L.P. Recon Team stopped at the Autograph booth to grant Rena Owen a special request, and General J parted with one of his Sandtrooper T-Shirts to please the sexiest voice in Star Wars! The traffic in the autograph area was much slower than previous days.
The highlight of the day was catching up with Steve Sansweet who appeared to be shopping around and sightseeing himself! I ran into him again at the Federation Toys booth where he met Eric Walker for the first time. My children also recognized Steve from the Cartoon Network skits he did during the Clone Wars Cartoon series. My son asked where the “doofus” was that was with him in the TV spots! Mr. Sansweet’s reply was, “Yes he was, and he didn’t know that much about Star Wars, did he guys?” We had a few good laughs and it was a pleasure to meet him in person. Lucasfilm could not have a better guy at the forefront of fan relations. It was nice to see him having fun and getting out among the crowd. Steve also did the exact presentation from Saturday at 11 a.m. Sunday for those who missed it.
We forged on and hit up a few more stores. I was really surprised how much free stuff my two sons received from Mattel, various exhibitors and surprisingly vendors! I guess they didn’t want to haul it back but we had an all around great experience at Wizard World Chicago.
For those of you who missed the show, you may want to pencil in August on the calendar next year. Estimates were this show surpassed the record setting crowds of 2003. Even on day three, the Windy City was still the place to be. We had a blast covering the show, and more importantly getting the word out to new Troopers who never heard of our Star Wars community. Our mission continues, and we hope to see you all in a few weeks when Dewback Patrol stops at the Midwest Collectors Expo. However, Wizard World 2004 was great show and any collector would be a kid in a candy store at this place! MORE PHOTOS
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