Atlantic City Boardwalk Convention 2015
May. 18th, 2015 10:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerYou have to understand that Peter has a standing policy of not going to first time conventions. He has had some really not good experiences with them.
However this convention, even being a first time convention, we had no worries about going to at all. We knew Michael D’Alessio would have this down to a science since his company is the one that runs the Marvel Booth like clockwork along with all the other convention work he has done.
And we were not disappointed in the least. We had a blast and a half the whole weekend once we got there.
The rest of our adventures behind a cut since this is getting long and there are a number of photos involved.
Remember last week when it took us so long to get to Philly? Guess what, it was worse this go around due to accidents and some new road construction. Get your act together DOT, there has to be a way off the Island onto the main land that doesn’t involve driving 40 minutes out of your way to avoid 50 to 90 minute delays.
We arrived very late. Checked into Caesar Atlantic City and collapsed. There was a room screw up but I will give lots of props to the staff there, they worked very hard to make it right by us. Perfectly happy with the quality of service and the attention to detail.
Friday we went and got our badges and set up.
(For the VI: The was our table at the convention. In front is a sign with PETER DAVID on it. From left to right is my Zelena puppet (wicked witch of the west) in the middle are the books we had to sell and to the right is my Husband writing his schedule down on the back of his badge. He is wearing a maroon shirt with a purples dragon on it. Behind Zelena, you can see Mr. Gold peeking out of the puppet bag)
Caroline had a great time exploring the place. Sales were fair but it was Friday of a new convention. We had time to talk to old friends and make some new ones.
And there was so much to see! I spent a lot of time in the Stan Lee Museum which had props from the various marvel films and lots of beautiful artwork from Stan’s collection. Stan Lee Collectibles did a great job of bringing these items to the fans. I clicked a lot of photos of props and the like. Stan had to cancel for professional reasons which was a shame but we could feel his presence the whole time.
(for the VI: The Iron Man display with suits from the various films all screen used.)
(For the VI: One of the spheres used to contain the infinity gem from Guardians of the Galaxy)
There was also a Wonder Woman museum display as well which had lots of lovely things to look at.
They had cars for people to get their pictures taken with.
They had programing for children with lots of different activities.
The vendors were a diverse lot and there was just about something for everyone to either buy or want to buy.
The staff both for the convention center and the ACBC staff were very helpful and polite even in the face of some very irate fans.
We had a good day and a pleasant evening after the staff at Caesar’s managed to get the room situation straightened out.
Saturday was were things really got interesting for so many reasons.
The first being that Peter knows the guy who runs Stan Lee Collectibles and when we went by the booth, they were cleaning the Marvel props.
So this happened.
(For the VI: This is me holding Loki’s scepter. I am wearing a black hat and a blue shirt. The scepter is the one from the first Avenger’s film)
And of course this happened
(For the VI: Peter is to the left and I am to the right. He has the scepter pressed against my chest. I am looking up as if mesmerized)
(For the VI: Peter holding up Wolverine’s claws)
I got a lot of information about how these props together that will serve me well.
Onto the next adventure.
This is my puppet of Zelena the Wicked Witch of the West from Once Upon a Time.
(For the VI: Zelena has green skin with red hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a black hat. Her bodice is covered in black jewels. She is wearing a black cape with a fur collar. Around her neck is a green necklace.)
Rebecca Mader is the actress who played the character Zelena in Once Upon a Time. She did a magnificent job but then she is one hell of an actress. She created a character you really didn’t like. Unfortunately some fans can’t separate reality from fiction and she got a lot of flack for giving such a good performance. The rest of the cast stepped up on various social media platforms and defended her. The saner part of Fandom stepped up and posted nice things to try to counteract the appalling things that were being said. It was just a weird situation that seem to resolved when the character was taken care of (I know it has been over a year but I want new viewers to have the same reaction I did).
But then things changed again and some internet idiots were having another go at the actress which didn’t sit well with me the first time and enraged me the second.
So I made a puppet of the character to give to the actress.
Thanks to both Mike D’Alessio and Kiesha LeRue Johnson I was able to get the puppet to her.
The short version, she loved it.
(for the VI: This is Rebecca holding the puppet. She is wearing a red jacket over a black shirt. Her eyes are an amazing shade of blue and her hair is red.)
Longer version well the puppet has a twitter account now along with an instagram. She adored it and the rest of the actors loved it too. She says it was one of the nicest gifts she has ever gotten. She retweeted my tweet to her and my feed exploded.
Thanks again to Kiesha, we got to meet Sean Maguire and he was raving about the puppet to us. So now I am embarking on making a Robin Hood puppet for him. Such a nice guy.
(For the VI: Sean and Caroline. Sean is wearing a blue shirt. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Caroline is wearing a pink shirt and a big grin)
But after all that adventure, we still had more to go.
Maurice LeMarche is a well known voice actor. You might not know his face, but you have heard his voice. He’s a fan of Peter’s work and we are of his. Maurice and Peter finally met at Dragon Con a couple of years ago. We discovered that he was going to be at this convention and got in touch with him about having dinner or at least getting together for a chat.
We were invited to join him and a bunch of his friends who are also voice actors at dinner on Saturday. Good food and good conversation that went on long into the night. I left with Caroline when she started falling asleep at the table but Peter was there for another hour or so. Special bonus Thank You to Tress MacNeille and she knows why.
Caroline tried to get everyone who was at dinner to sign her badge the next day. She is missing only two signatures.
(For the VI: This is the back of Caroline’s badge which has been autographed by her dining companions)
Sunday was a winding down day. I finally got to show Sean my Rumple and Mr. Gold puppets.
(for the VI: Sean holding my Rumplestilskin puppet. He is wearing a grey shirt. Rumple is in his one of his many Enchanted Forest costumes with a red shirt and a lizard skinned jerkin.)
We said our good-byes to our friends both old and new.
We packed up our stuff and started back home.
And again ended up adding about an hour and half to our drive time due to traffic and constructions and so many traffic accidents.
But it was so worth it. We each had a great time and a lot of fun stories to tell.
Yes, we would be willing to go to the next one without reservation.
I am grateful to Michael D’Alessio and his crew for making the convention such a blast for us. Well done all.
However this convention, even being a first time convention, we had no worries about going to at all. We knew Michael D’Alessio would have this down to a science since his company is the one that runs the Marvel Booth like clockwork along with all the other convention work he has done.
And we were not disappointed in the least. We had a blast and a half the whole weekend once we got there.
The rest of our adventures behind a cut since this is getting long and there are a number of photos involved.
Remember last week when it took us so long to get to Philly? Guess what, it was worse this go around due to accidents and some new road construction. Get your act together DOT, there has to be a way off the Island onto the main land that doesn’t involve driving 40 minutes out of your way to avoid 50 to 90 minute delays.
We arrived very late. Checked into Caesar Atlantic City and collapsed. There was a room screw up but I will give lots of props to the staff there, they worked very hard to make it right by us. Perfectly happy with the quality of service and the attention to detail.
Friday we went and got our badges and set up.
(For the VI: The was our table at the convention. In front is a sign with PETER DAVID on it. From left to right is my Zelena puppet (wicked witch of the west) in the middle are the books we had to sell and to the right is my Husband writing his schedule down on the back of his badge. He is wearing a maroon shirt with a purples dragon on it. Behind Zelena, you can see Mr. Gold peeking out of the puppet bag)
Caroline had a great time exploring the place. Sales were fair but it was Friday of a new convention. We had time to talk to old friends and make some new ones.
And there was so much to see! I spent a lot of time in the Stan Lee Museum which had props from the various marvel films and lots of beautiful artwork from Stan’s collection. Stan Lee Collectibles did a great job of bringing these items to the fans. I clicked a lot of photos of props and the like. Stan had to cancel for professional reasons which was a shame but we could feel his presence the whole time.
(for the VI: The Iron Man display with suits from the various films all screen used.)
(For the VI: One of the spheres used to contain the infinity gem from Guardians of the Galaxy)
There was also a Wonder Woman museum display as well which had lots of lovely things to look at.
They had cars for people to get their pictures taken with.
They had programing for children with lots of different activities.
The vendors were a diverse lot and there was just about something for everyone to either buy or want to buy.
The staff both for the convention center and the ACBC staff were very helpful and polite even in the face of some very irate fans.
We had a good day and a pleasant evening after the staff at Caesar’s managed to get the room situation straightened out.
Saturday was were things really got interesting for so many reasons.
The first being that Peter knows the guy who runs Stan Lee Collectibles and when we went by the booth, they were cleaning the Marvel props.
So this happened.
(For the VI: This is me holding Loki’s scepter. I am wearing a black hat and a blue shirt. The scepter is the one from the first Avenger’s film)
And of course this happened
(For the VI: Peter is to the left and I am to the right. He has the scepter pressed against my chest. I am looking up as if mesmerized)
(For the VI: Peter holding up Wolverine’s claws)
I got a lot of information about how these props together that will serve me well.
Onto the next adventure.
This is my puppet of Zelena the Wicked Witch of the West from Once Upon a Time.
(For the VI: Zelena has green skin with red hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a black hat. Her bodice is covered in black jewels. She is wearing a black cape with a fur collar. Around her neck is a green necklace.)
Rebecca Mader is the actress who played the character Zelena in Once Upon a Time. She did a magnificent job but then she is one hell of an actress. She created a character you really didn’t like. Unfortunately some fans can’t separate reality from fiction and she got a lot of flack for giving such a good performance. The rest of the cast stepped up on various social media platforms and defended her. The saner part of Fandom stepped up and posted nice things to try to counteract the appalling things that were being said. It was just a weird situation that seem to resolved when the character was taken care of (I know it has been over a year but I want new viewers to have the same reaction I did).
But then things changed again and some internet idiots were having another go at the actress which didn’t sit well with me the first time and enraged me the second.
So I made a puppet of the character to give to the actress.
Thanks to both Mike D’Alessio and Kiesha LeRue Johnson I was able to get the puppet to her.
The short version, she loved it.
(for the VI: This is Rebecca holding the puppet. She is wearing a red jacket over a black shirt. Her eyes are an amazing shade of blue and her hair is red.)
Longer version well the puppet has a twitter account now along with an instagram. She adored it and the rest of the actors loved it too. She says it was one of the nicest gifts she has ever gotten. She retweeted my tweet to her and my feed exploded.
Thanks again to Kiesha, we got to meet Sean Maguire and he was raving about the puppet to us. So now I am embarking on making a Robin Hood puppet for him. Such a nice guy.
(For the VI: Sean and Caroline. Sean is wearing a blue shirt. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Caroline is wearing a pink shirt and a big grin)
But after all that adventure, we still had more to go.
Maurice LeMarche is a well known voice actor. You might not know his face, but you have heard his voice. He’s a fan of Peter’s work and we are of his. Maurice and Peter finally met at Dragon Con a couple of years ago. We discovered that he was going to be at this convention and got in touch with him about having dinner or at least getting together for a chat.
We were invited to join him and a bunch of his friends who are also voice actors at dinner on Saturday. Good food and good conversation that went on long into the night. I left with Caroline when she started falling asleep at the table but Peter was there for another hour or so. Special bonus Thank You to Tress MacNeille and she knows why.
Caroline tried to get everyone who was at dinner to sign her badge the next day. She is missing only two signatures.
(For the VI: This is the back of Caroline’s badge which has been autographed by her dining companions)
Sunday was a winding down day. I finally got to show Sean my Rumple and Mr. Gold puppets.
(for the VI: Sean holding my Rumplestilskin puppet. He is wearing a grey shirt. Rumple is in his one of his many Enchanted Forest costumes with a red shirt and a lizard skinned jerkin.)
We said our good-byes to our friends both old and new.
We packed up our stuff and started back home.
And again ended up adding about an hour and half to our drive time due to traffic and constructions and so many traffic accidents.
But it was so worth it. We each had a great time and a lot of fun stories to tell.
Yes, we would be willing to go to the next one without reservation.
I am grateful to Michael D’Alessio and his crew for making the convention such a blast for us. Well done all.
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no subject
Date: 2015-05-18 06:32 pm (UTC)Your photos are wonderful & I'm glad you had such a great time!
no subject
Date: 2015-05-20 01:01 pm (UTC)She is a great actress because we do so hate the character.
She did "What does ol' Rumple get out of this" for me and it still cracks me up.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-20 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-19 10:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-20 01:03 pm (UTC)She did love her puppet. Had to convince her that I made it for her. She though I wanted a signature.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-21 09:05 am (UTC)