After Action Report for Edmonton Expo 2013!
We left here on Thursday, which was a good thing. We had lots of time to settle in and find our way around!
Friday we wandered around the West Edmonton Mall for a few hours
Saturday morning, my brother Jon forgot to wake us up at 7:30AM to get ready, so we had to scramble to get our costumes on and walk down to the Expo centre from our hotel. In the commotion, Ripley forgot Jonesy, and I forgot Felix the Facehugger!
We got to the convention, Me and Mom were in our "Alien" costumes, and almost immediately, a gentleman and lady tapped Ripley on the shoulder and admired her outfit, here it was the media people covering the Expo! I managed to hand them an Aliens Legacy card each before they moved on!
Throughout the day, people would pass by and say "Hey! It's Ripley!", or rubber-neck as they passed haha. One lady couldn't get over Moms strong facial resemblance to Sigourney Weaver. More people had to stop and confirm their thoughts that she was cosplaying Ripley from "Alien". I don't think Mom was quite used to that much attention! I was beaming with pride the whole time, it was a blast!
Everyone that inquired got an AL card.
We started to go for autographs for some of the guests a few hours into the day after we settled into the hustle and bustle of the busy centre. Mom wanted to meet Christopher Lloyd, so we did that first. Then I wanted to meet Ron Perlman. I was pretty nervous but he was very genuine, kind and oddly gentle for his size! The man is HUGE! Maybe not in height, but his hands! My gosh!
Next I wanted to meet Sarah Wayne Callies, so we went over to her booth to see her. She is also very kind and down to earth!
We also met up briefly with Becky (Ebob) and I managed to squeak out a brief few sentences! haha. I tried to emphasize how shy I am in person with people, especially in crowded and large busy places!
Then came time for the Costume Contest, but it turned out they were looking only for people who actually HAND MADE 80% or more of their costumes, so unfortunately Moms costume didn't qualify, even though we worked hard on it and she practiced and practiced Ripley's Final Report. They should have really specified that in the rules. I guess they had to turn away a lot of entrants. As soon as we found out, all three of us (me, Mom and my brother Jon) were beat, so we called it a day and headed back to the room for some Swiss Chalet delivery!
Day 2, I was going solo in the costume department. Ripley's back was killing her from wearing the flightsuit all day the day before haha! I wore my Service C uniform, and I remembered to get Felix the Facehugger securely attached to the back of my chair, creeping up over my shoulder to help draw the "ALIENS" connection, so people didn't pass me off as some sort of "G.I. Jane" or something haha.
I was actually surprised at the amount of people that stopped me and asked about my costume, the Facehugger, or even recognized my outfit as being ALIENS inspired. Again, everyone that did got an AL card
We met up with a friend from a different Aliens forum who decided last minute to come, and lo and behold, we found Becky again! and we actually got a proper visit!
She told us that there was a person walking around with a smartgun rig before we parted ways after an hour or two chatting. So Me, Mom and our friend Kody searched the area where the smartgunner was last seen. It was looking gloomy for finding him so Kody decided to branch out for a larger search, when suddenly a gentleman approached me and pointed out my costume as being from Aliens, when we said "YES! We heard there was a gentleman with a smartgun around here!" when he replied "That's me!! I had to take it off to take a break! it was getting really heavy!"
We briefly chatted about the smartgun, and he mentioned he was a steadicam operator by trade, and talked about a production he does with video game voice actor Mark Meer. I didn't catch this mans name, but I quickly gave him an AL card, and he noted that he was a member here some time ago. I hope he will pop back in! If you are reading this, it was fantastic to meet you sir!
He then left just as Kody came back, bummed out that he couldn't find this myserious smartgunner. We laughed, telling him the mystery was solved just as he came back!
Kody then parted ways with us to go to a panel he was waiting for, so we rendezvoused with Jon to go meet Chad Coleman. Jon and I got a great chat in with Chad, and we each got his autograph, then we headed back to the hotel
Our first convention was a success! Fun was had by all, and we met some fantastic people. No doubt we will be looking forward to the next convention in our area!!
Pictures to follow probably tomorrow!
Thanks for reading!