All-Con 2008

All-Con 2008 was held in Dallas, Texas March 7-9, 2008.

As the name suggests, this was a convention for “ALL” genres. This included Sci-Fi, Anime, Comics, Costuming, Film, Television, Gaming…. and just about anything else you could imagine.

All-Con is headed up by this guy… Todd Carlton.

Some of you may know Todd from his book (Star Wars Super Collectors Wish Book) or his website (The Star Wars Guide for Super Collectors). At this point I have to give a shout out to Todd… AWESOME JOB! The con was a blast and a bunch of us are already making plans for next year.

I made it to Dallas Thursday night in the middle of a really nice winter storm. I got checked in and then had the pleasure of playing pool with Zach (Galactic Productions) and Mike Edmonds (Logray – ROJ). As you can see, Yak Face played for a bit too.

Set up began Friday morning….

Although they were along for the trip, nether Yak helped me set anything up.

Once the booth was done, the boys decided it was time for more pictures…

We even let Whiphid join in the fun.

As I said, there was a really nice winter storm that hit the area Thursday evening. This resulted in our two featured guests getting delayed in New York over night. This actually gave me the opportunity to shoot some other pictures and just mess around a bit.

The 501^st was out in full force….

Vader really needs to do a better job of keeping his troops in line…

Speaking of Vader…

Troops were everywhere…

Even on the dance floor…

And did you know, the Sith even have their own cheer squad… who would have thought?

Thanks to the 501^st, we were all able to be action figures.

Yes friends, it’s the newest peg warmer from Hasbro… Niktom – The dumb look & needs a haircut variation.

I’m also included in the new three pack with Bobby (right) and Zach (back).

I’m still trying to figure out if we were going for the tough or stupid look.

That tall guy that makes Bobby and me look like Jawas is Zach of Galactic Productions. He was responsible for bringing in the Star Wars celebrities for the weekend. Here he is with our boy Yak…

Zach did a great job of lining up celebs. for this con, in fact here’s one of them now…

Mike Edmonds was in ESB (Ugnaught) and ROJ (Logray) along with many other hits over the years. He is a real character! There is never a dull moment when Mike is around.

I made sure to “let” him beat me at pool Thursday night so I could get an autograph and some pics from him.

Well this next pic is the only one that will be posted from that evening…

It’s a great shot of Bill, Bobby, Todd, Jonathan and me. I think Todd was actually following us to make sure we all behaved. At some point though we did get away and thus am not able to post anymore pictures from Friday. It’s best to protect the innocent and guilty. :p

You will notice in the above photo a gentleman (term used loosely) by the name of Bill. This is actually The Bill Cable of CreatureCantina.com.

Yea, we had to pay Bill to advertise his site on mine…. what the crap?

I won’t even tell you what this picture cost me…

I have to say, it was great hanging out with Cable over the weekend. He’s a great guy and we are all going to try to get him back down here next year.

Oh yea, late Friday night our two sponsored guest were able to make it in. So finally, after months of planning and last minute sweating… it was our pleasure (YakFace.com & YaksPub.com) to help Galactic Productions welcome Sean Crawford and Tim Dry to All-Con!

Sean Crawford (Yak Face/Mon Calamari Officer – ROJ)

Tim Dry (Whiphid/Mon Calamari Officer)

Let me just say, these two gentlemen are a class act. By far the most personable, easy going and friendly celebrities I’ve met to date. They are down to earth guys who like to meet the fans and share their many adventures as actors and musicians.

As you can see from the next two shots… yes, they do own action figures of themselves and take them everywhere. It was an honor for our boys to hang out with their boys.

Tim and Sean were great to humor me by posing with my figures…

After spending a little time playing with toys it was off to work.

I had the honor of moderating a Q&A time with all three Star Wars celebrities.

Bill Cable presented the guys with some original art work… man this guy is good. CreatureCantina.com still Sucks though…

If all goes well, we will have video up of this in a few days!

One of the greatest things about All-Con is that there is always something going on. Panel discussions, contests, live music, art work being produced, a video gamer room, costumed fans, and the list goes on. As the day progressed you never knew what would happen or who would walk by….

As I was manning the YakFace.com/YaksPub.com booth, I noticed the live music in the background and looked up to see….

The Ghostbuster were in town…

The guys are with the Ghostbusters Central Oklahoma Division

John & John of Star Wars Action News (SWAN)…

Assassination City Roller Derby Girls…

Me getting world domination hints from Cobra Commander himself…

Captain Jack with Yak…

Captain Jack packin heat…

Captain Jack with a Road Mart cup? A dollar says that’s not cola…

Austin Powers…

As the day wore on I was able to catch a couple more candid shots of the guests…

The events of the evening will again be kept hidden to protect all those involved.

Sunday rolled around and it was busy with autographs, fans, and more fun…

Then it was time to bid one another bye…

Front: Mike Edmonds, Back: Sean Crawford, me, Tonya Kay (Creature – Who Wants to be a Super Hero) and Tim Dry.

Finally, a big round of thanks…

Sean, Tim and Mike… you guys are great! I had a blast swapping stories and getting to know you. Thanks for being such great guests and I hope to see all of you sometime in the near future.

Zach thanks for the hard work of bringing these guys in. Everyone at YakFace.com, the fans and me included greatly appreciate you getting them over here.

To all the staff of YakFace.com, thanks guys for letting me on board and trusting me to represent the site at a convention. So many of you did a lot behind the scenes and took care of things that I just didn’t have time for. I especially want to point out Yak_Den who was my partner in crime for working out the logistics and keeping things running smoothly… couldn’t have done it without ya bud. Just wish you could have made it down.

Bobby, Drusilla, Jonathan, Bill and everyone else that I met over the weekend… I HAD A BLAST! We must do it again next year. Yes Bill, even you. We will find a way to get you here again.