Thankfully, LEGO provides digital copies of their set instruction books online. This means that if you have the bricks, you can build anything in the LEGO catalog. Of course, it might take time and energy to hunt down each individual brick and element that you might need to assemble a given set if your collection is as disorganized and binned as mine is. Nevertheless, it’s satisfying being able to build something new with what you have instead of having to go out and buy it.
In this case, I assembled a set that didn’t buy when it came out in 2010: 8099 Midi-Scale Imperial Star Destroyer. It took a considerable amount of time to find all of the bricks that I needed to complete it, and I had to cannibalize some other sets to get all of the parts. Eventually, it came together. However, I did have to make one off-color substitution deep within and hidden from external view.
It’s the 10225 R2-D2 set that was released in 2012 (shortly before I moved back to Atlanta).
It features a turning head, a little bit of wobble, arms, saw, data port interface, and a retractable third leg. It’s blockier looking than the 2021 R2-D2 75308 set, but its the blockiness that makes it endearing.
Though, be warned that R2, when left to his own devices, might try to hack your computer . . .
Almost ten years before I went to the Star Wars and the Power of Costume Exhibition in New York City, I attended Star Wars the Exhibition in London, England on 26 June 2007. It was held in County Hall, Westminster, which is across the Thames from Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster and near the London Eye.
Star Wars the Exhibition was held in an old building with fine wood detailing and fireplaces throughout the smaller rooms. It was tight in places and open in others. It was dark and the lighting produced shadows and a variety of dramatic colors, which created challenges for my camera. As you’ll see in the photos, it had some amazing life-size artifacts from The Phantom Menace (1999).
Ticket Front and Back
Life-Size Naboo Fighter
Life-Size Anakin Skywalker’s Pod Racer
R2-D2 and C-3PO
Padmé Amidala
Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader
Boba Fett and Jango Fett
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn
Darth Maul
Stormtrooper
Princess Leia
Yoda
Han Solo in Carbonite
Imperial and Republic Uniforms
Life-Size Speeder Bike, Model-Size Speeder Bike, and Ewok
Droids
Ships, Fighters, Monsters, and Other Models
Me and R2-D2
For this shot of my younger self with R2-D2, I set my camera with a timer delay and placed it on a fireplace mantle opposite R2.
When I first read Warrick’s The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction, I thought to myself that I want to write a book like that. Her writing and thinking have been and continue to be a guide for me. The book project that I am currently working on is very much modeled on her work. When it is done, she will certainly be a part of it.
Photo of SFRA Executive Committee by Elizabeth Anne Hull from Locus, Sept 1985. Pictured second from left, Patricia Warrick was the immediate past president.
Before the 1998 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, I had never been to a fan convention (con) before. I had been to small town comic book/baseball card shows, but there were no celebrities or cosplay at those.
My first girlfriend, who was a student at Wesleyan College, wanted to go, because she wanted autographs from Wendy and Richard Pini (Elfquest) or Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon). I can’t find a guest list for 1998 and 1999–the two cons we attended together–and I recall from memory who was when.
Nevertheless, I do remember my interests at the con. I am a Star Wars fan, and I was watching Babylon 5 on TNT at that time, so I thought it would be cool to meet some of the actors in my favorite series. As an added bonus, Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison were attending, so I looked forward to meeting them, too (I plan to write more about this practice and my disavowal of it now, but I’ll save that for another post).
Looking at these photos now, it’s difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that 25 years separates then from now. While a lot of things have transpired during those 25 years leading up to my winding up in Brooklyn, New York, they seemingly passed in a blink of the eye.
Science Fiction Writers
Ray Bradbury
I took this picture after Bradbury had made the introduction to the Atlanta Radio Theater Company’s “The Man Who Walked Through Elephants,” an adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein story that is Bradburyesque.
After introducing myself, Bradbury besieged me, “Jason, it’s good to meet you, but where are your Argonauts!?”
Harlan Ellison
The line for Harlan Ellison’s autograph was astonishingly long. Despite the cantankerousness attributed to him, he stood in his chair and shouted to us, “I’m not leaving until everyone who wants an autograph gets one!” Those of us in the crowd cheered! He was true to his word.
Star Wars
Meeting Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, and David Prowse was a highlight of my con experience. It was a strange experience meeting each actor. Having seen them play their roles behind masks and suits throughout my life was difficult for me to square with them in the flesh. Ecce homo.
Kenny Baker/R2-D2Anthony Daniels/C-3PODavid Prowse/Darth Vader
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 was nearing the end of its first five season run, so it was great to meet much of the cast in person. I’ll begin with Jason Carter, because I wanted to be a Ranger prepared for action with a Denn’bok.
Jason Carter/Ranger Marcus ColePeter Jurasik/Londo MollariClaudia Christian/Commander Susan IvanovaMira Furlan/DelennJeff Conaway/Zack Allan
The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company produced two back-to-back shows one evening of the con. The first was “The Man Who Traveled Through Elephants,” an adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein short story that is Bradburyesque. Ray Bradbury introduced it. Anthony Daniels and Harlan Ellison played roles in the production.
Rory Rammer, Space Marshall: The Space Cycloplex
The second ATRC production was a Rory Rammer, Space Marshall story featuring Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith on the original Lost in Space TV series).
The last time that I went to Dragon*Con was 2011 to participate on a panel organized by the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA). I had to wait in a long line to get my badge and then there were crowds of other attendees. I am uncomfortable in crowds. According to numbers on Wikipedia, the weekend event’s attendance was more than 46,000. That’s 2.5x as many attendees as when I first attended in 1998, which was 18,000. In 1999, there were 19,000. And the last time that I attended as a fan with my cousin Ryan and friend Bert in 2000 there were 20,000 attendees, which felt slightly claustrophobic to me. So, you might imagine how overwhelming the 2011 event felt to me while navigating through the crowds in various places of the con.
Of course, this is a personal thing. I’m not necessarily suggesting that cons should be smaller by design (though, that would be cool for folks like me), but there are gobs of people who aren’t concerned by crowds in the least and in fact thrive off all of the humans in one place. I’ll stay at home and let those folks enjoy future big cons!
