First things first:
-Got my midnight Star Wars tickets. Yay!
-Got tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in Atlanta Sept 1, night before Dragoncon
-School is finished for the semester, whee.
C3 was at an awful time of the year. Both Ash and I had so much school stuff due because it was smack at the end of the semester! I had my finals the days after I got back – I was so shot.
Anyway. We left Memphis on Wednesday morning. Our hotel in Indy was nice – we were at the Omni. Dad had some freelance work to do so we left him at the hotel with my laptop and Ash and I went over and checked out the mall that was connected to our hotel. Then we went swimming for 3 1/2 hours, haha. Their pool was scary, it was in the basement and made weird noises. We sang Phantom of the Opera songs loudly and badly and watched the people going into the gym and working out (glass wall between the pool and exercise room!)
Then we ate dinner – saw the SMT gang, but we were so hungry we couldn’t wait and had to eat without them! Then we wandered around, and then went back to the hotel.
THURSDAY
Up bright and early! We had breakfast at Chic-Fil-A in the mall, and then there was a 501st march that morning.
Then we marched back to the convention center and right on inside! Awesome! But Ash and Dad hadn’t been able to come in with me, but since it was after 9 (9AM was when the hyperspace members were supposed to be coming in) I figured I could just stay inside and they’d be able to come in in a few minutes. I was so, so wrong. Ten minutes later, I was already in the dealer’s room wandering around, and I was wondering where the two of them were. I called them… and they were STILL TRYING TO FIND THE END OF THE FANCLUB LINE.
They had been walking for ten minutes and still hadn’t reached the end of the line. I had to leave the con center because, well, it wasn’t fair to leave them outside. I went and found them. We finally found the end of the line… and said screw it. We left and had lunch, and I changed into Lake Padme.
Ash and I went back over and just decided to see if the skywalk into the convention center was open – that morning we had been told you couldn’t get in that way. Well, it was open – thank goodness! No line! Yay.
We wandered around the dealer’s room, and the fan room, where they had a great car show and dioramas and stuff. Also got our Rebel Legion shirts. Then we went and saw the Archives, which had some of the real costumes and props on display. It was really cool! I’m not posting those pictures here as they’re really big, but check the link at the end for all my pics.
Then I put on Mara Jade and we went in search of food. We went to the Ram, which was the Official 501st outpost – it was so awesome! The whole place was decorated and they had a neat menu (Boba Fettuccini!!)
Then it was really cold out so we went back to the hotel.
Anyway, Mara Jade costume held up well, except for a tear along one of the legs… which I hope I can repair.
FRIDAY
I once told Ashley, that if heaven is simply reliving the best moments of your life over and over again, I’d be in the lobby at Dragoncon at night for the rest of eternity.
If hell is the same idea, I would relive Friday morning at C3 over and over again. It was really awful.
It started off with the Rebel Legion picture. I wore Leia, and dad wore his new Qui-Gon Jinn!! Since it looked nasty out, I sent dad down to get umbrellas while Ash and I finished putting up my Leia hair. We got outside and yes, it was raining. You can’t tell in these pictures, but it was a very steady, very WET rain.
Afterwards, I had to go get into Parade Queen Amidala. Ash and I did my hair, I put my dress on, and did my makeup. I left my Leia boots on and packed my shoes and tiara and cape in my suitcase, along with my camera and stuff. We went over and meet Dad in line, and by then it was raining HARD. Ash and I were huddling under one umbrella, me trying to keep my parasol (the costume one, not one that can get wet!) out of the rain, and ash rolling the suitcase. Dad had the other umbrella so he was pretty dry, but the bottom of his cloak was getting all wet, and messing up his boots.
Ash gave up trying to stay under the umbrellas and got soaked to the bone. I had to struggle carrying my umbrella, my parasol and try to hold my dress up so it wouldn’t get wet, and not let the umbrella touch my hair. It took us about an hour – not as bad as some people, but GOOD GRIEF. By the time we got to the door none of us was in a good mood. We ate a quick lunch, and then I found out that other costume contest entrants were simply walking up to the door and telling volunteers they needed to be at costume judging and were allowed to come right in. Now I wish I’d gone on to the front door and checked to see if I could do that, like I originally thought to do 🙁
So anyway, I got the rest of my costume on in a corner, and we went to costume judging. Have to say, everyone at the costume judging area was very nice and friendly and professional! And seeing all the costumes cheered me up.
Then the costume pagaent was at 4 or so… omg. So many awesome costumes!! And guess what… I ran out of disc space. No pics 🙁 But really… there were so many high quality costumes, and so much hard worked involved. My favourite was the Mint-on-Card Luke Skywalker action figure.
After the whole thing was over I didn’t hang around, because my back was KILLING me from the parasol (I can’t lean back while wearing it), and the shoes were hurting, too. So we went back and put on normal clothes, had dinner, and then went to bed early.
SATURDAY
Ash and I had given up on trying to get in to see George Lucas before we even got there. From last I heard, 9000 people lined up in the pouring rain and waited half the night to get into see George. Haha. Yeah so not doing that.
So we figured we’d take our time getting up saturday… eat breakfast… then mosey over to the convention center later and hit the dealer’s room, and just avoid the George scene all together.
We came through the skywalk and a woman came up to us and asked if we wanted to see George Lucas. I was suspicious but said sure… I mean, heck yeah. So we kinda wandered to the door, and the volunteers at the door said, come on! Come on in! Have a seat! So we got to see George Lucas with no line 🙂
Then it was time for the Celebration @ Celebration party. We spent the entire time in line, trying to buy t-shirts, since we’d never been able to get into the C3 store, since they closed it so early due to overcrowding/stock problems. Managed to get 2 tshirt transfers and 2 shirts.
But it was fun… the band (we only heard the first one) was good, and the costumes were great, and it was fun seeing people dance.
Then, back to the hotel. Dude we went to bed so early every night… we were like little old ladies. But you see we were suffering from FAMIGLIA and the SPINZELS, so we had to go to sleep early!
SUNDAY
I got up at 6 sunday for the 501st picture. We left Ash in the room, because it was *so* early. I put on dad’s Qui-Gon robe over my Mara Jade costume because it was cold. We tried to go through the skywalk, but it was closed of course, because it was so early. We got down to the door and it was SNOWING. Like, seriously snowing.
Since we weren’t exactly sure how to get to the Hyatt on foot, we… got a taxi. Hahahaha.
So we didn’t march to the RCA dome and do the pic on the stairs… but instead we went straight into the convention center … at 8 AM. Dad stuck by my side so he came in, too.
The thing is, neither of us had our badges, because we didn’t think we’d be going into the convention center. D’oh. It was around 8:30 when I realised we were in the convention center before the lines… we could get in line for the C3 store! Except, we didn’t have our badges! I called Ash and was “GET UP GET BADGES GET HERE NOW”
You can barely see my head in the official pic – if you ever see it, I’m directly under the 501st banner in the last row. So 501st pic got done, and I BOLTED and got to the C3 store room and it wasn’t closed yet! I circled the room 4 times before I found dad and Ash already in line!
So we waited there in line for a while, and finally got to buy our stuff. Of course they were out of Small and Medium shirts AGAIN… (really, places like this never order enough small shirts.) But I got to get the shirt I wanted (I’ll take it up myself so I can wear it and not look like I’m wearing a bag), and a couple of the exclusive Darth Vaders! I didn’t really worry that I wouldn’t get one… but I had promised my friend’s nephew one, and I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I was so happy I was able to get them!
So afterwards, I went and got changed, and packed, and we checked out of the room.
Forgot to mention, I had gotten Shannon McRandle’s autograph the day before (she’s the model for Mara Jade in a lot of the art, including the Insider cover picture), and she was very nice! I wish I’d gotten my picture with her but didn’t really think about it.
We had wanted to get Billy Dee Williams’ autograph (LANDO!!) but it didnt look like we would have time, so with our remaining autograph tickets, we got Ray Park’s autograph and the lady who played Mon Mothma (hehe, I love Mon Mothma)
So after that we went to the airport. The airport was full of C3 people, it was great. We got home. Had a cookout. The end.
So I had a GREAT time at C3. Loved the people, the costumes, the dealer’s room (spent a lot in there… nothing worth mentioning), the fan room, the exhibits.
I didn’t like the way this convention was run. If they do have a C4, I’ll only go if Gencon has nothing to do with it. On Saturday they closed registration – if you just came on Saturday you couldn’t get in. I felt so bad for people who had driven in just for that day, only to find out they couldn’t get in.
The weather was horrible! LOL I know nothing can be done about that! But still! It just compounded all the other problems; having to stand outside in line in the rain.
After C3, I’m so ready for Comic Con and Dragoncon now.
Especially Dragoncon, because we are planning a group that’s going to be so cool. And I’ll get to see Phantom of the Opera on stage. He, he.
Now I have a painting to finish.