All-Con with Wedge and C-3PO

I have said it before and it is true, All-Con is good small convention. It does a lot of things. It doesn’t want to grow and it has loyal fans. The thing they do that I like most is ‘Free Thursday’. No admission to attend on Thursday. That allows me and my friends to come, look over the vendor room, and get the autographs we want.

I had a couple of autographs I wanted. After getting a couple of double-takes from people because I didn’t have a badge, I walked over to David Ankrum’s table. He was standing behind his table arranging photos. The lady that was sitting next to him got his attention and pointed to me. We barely exchanged ‘helloes’ when he pointed out the red, white, and blue ‘A’ logo on my shirt. He asked if I went to Arizona.  I smiled and nodded and asked if he did. As he was saying no and explaining his daughter did, the lady stood and introduced herself as his wife.

As we talked about Tucson and Uof A for a bit. Chris Bartlett came over and asked about a panel they were planning on doing. Since it was business, I stepped back and chatted with the wife, Barbara Ankrum.  Because she had 10 different books on the table with her name on them, I asked if she was a writer.  Yeah, not my sharpest moment. But I was vamping to wait out Chris.

One of the books was made into a Hallmark movie; which I replied my mom and maybe my wife has seen it. Mom watches a lot of Hallmark. Of course, I asked to get a signed copy. Then we talked about writing and the glamor of being a published writer.

Now conversation between Chris and David slowed and they turned to Barbara and me. Barabara asked about Chris’s origin story. I smiled at the turn of phrase but I guess people do say that nowadays: origin story.

He mentioned being a cosplayer and made his own C-3PO suit. He was an actor and did a YouTube video of himself as C-3PO. Lucas saw it and a meeting was set up. They wanted to see him in person. Lucas also wanted to see his suit. They flew in Chris and his suit. Talked and he now does C-3PO in the TV series and some of the other characters. And some of those are characters Chris created himself.

We chatted for another 10 minutes. It was great to be part of the chit-chat. I feel like part of the ‘in crowd’. After Chris moved on, David mentioned he actually tried out for C-3PO. When he was called back, he was asked to do Wedge.

After I left David’s table, I backtracked to Chris’s and picked up his signature.

AH