Selfies and the Calgary Expo and C-3PO, oh my!

I spent the weekend volunteering at the Calgary Expo. My shifts were either 10 or 11 hours long, so blogging wasn't a priority. :-)

Neither was taking pictures of the people in costume. So, I direct you to two excellent sources of amazing cosplayers, here and here.

April 24 Day 114 selfie - The next best thing to Wil Wheaton being there!


I forgot that I had a geek t-shirt that hadn't been in a photo op, so I wore my Paul McCartney t-shirt for my Anthony Daniels photo op, for the British connection. This is me getting ready.


Oh my goodness. Where do I start? I made line buddies while waiting for the photo op. We were all so cool, sharing photo op stories from previous conventions. We were such veterans of the experience. We thought we couldn't be blown away because we had already been there, done that.

The line seemed to be moving slowly, and we couldn't figure out why. When we got closer, the reason became apparent. Anthony Daniels wasn't just chatting up the attendees, he was going over to the camera to make sure that the photo was okay and didn't need a retake.

The couple ahead of me were just thrilled. The guy shook his hand and said he'd been 20 feet from Anthony during Star Wars in Concert. Anthony asked which city (Calgary). They thanked him profusely and then it was my turn.

Well. First of all, I noted that he had his own C-3PO toy. He told me to get rid of mine (no! They've been in every photo op!) He asked my name and talked with the photographer about the best angle. Cheekily, he noted that I'm one of the few people shorter than him. The photo was taken, Anthony walked over to check it, and the photographer said that I had a great smile and we didn't need a retake.

I gushed and thanked him and said that I'd also been at Star Wars in Concert in Calgary. I told him that I liked that I saw him sitting off to the side during the filmed segments, and I liked that I saw him watching the screen with everyone else, not fiddling with his Blackberry. He said that he first understood the whole Star Wars saga storyline when he started narrating the concert.

Anthony Daniels was incredibly gracious and kind and I was just glowing. :-)

Since the next fan was taking his mark, I went off to where the photos were being printed. My line buddies and I just kind of stared at each other before we exploded. We could not believe the wonderful and joyous experience that we'd each just had. Amazing. :-)



April 25
Day 115 selfie - I bought one t-shirt (being worn in the photo). They gave me a giant bag.


This cutie enjoyed having the run of the VIP Room, so that she could crawl without getting stepped on. She's not just rocking Batman socks, she also had a Batman onesie.


The other side of the giant bag.


Hermione, for size reference.


April 26
Day 116 selfie - ugh, worst selfie. If I'd known how blurry it was, I would have taken another. I was tired, and I'd poured a couple of ounces of Bailey's over ice cream.


Clearly, the Frozen cosplayers summoned snow in late April.


This was my favourite out of all of the Tardis costumes this year. I also had a really great conversation with this lovely woman, I was glad I had the time to sit and talk and hear her stories.


Amazing Dark Crystal costume.


April 27
Day 117 selfie - playing around with Gollum while helping to take down the Expo.

Another great year for the Calgary Expo! I got to meet a lot of fun and interesting people and look forward to next year!