Admiral Ackbar, The Highlander, and some vintage toys

This is a re-post from October 2012 from my family blog.

This past Saturday, my family and I took a little road trip to Knoxville, TN to attend the Fanboy Expo.   This year the sci-fi convention had some really great celebrity guest in attendance.  For us, we were most excited to meet Adrian Paul from The Highlander tv series and Tim Rose, puppeteer and Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

My husband really loved The Highlander tv series so meeting "Duncan MacLeod" was exciting to him.   I do have to say that I love Adrian Paul's accent.  Listening to him talk during is Q&A session was great.   He was funny and genuinely seemed to enjoy meeting his fans.

I know my husband had wished that he could have spoken with him longer.  DH has always loved The Highlander.   As a gift one year, I bought my husband all 6  seasons on DVD.   We had this epic Highlander marathon one weekend.   That of course was before we had children and our TV got hijacked by Nickelodeon.

We took a short break after meeting Adrian Paul.  His line was the longest of the day for our family.  The kids were ready for a change of pace.    The venue for the event was held at a park, which was great! The kids were able to get outside and run around for a little bit.  After a bite of lunch, they were happy again.

For me, the highlight of our time there, was meeting Tim Rose.   Since, my Star Wars costume is Admiral Ackbar, it was a true pleasure to meet the man who actually portrayed the character. As a puppeteer he has worked on some of my favorite movies.  Return of the Jedi, Howard the Duck (cheesy but awesome), and Dark Crystal.   I went total nerd and brought my costume for 2 reasons.  1.) To get a picture with Mr. Rose and 2.) to enter the costume contest.    I mean, how often do you have to opportunity to meet the actors?

I really wished that I had the opportunity to speak with him a little bit longer.  I would have loved to have learned more from him about being Ackbar.

I am proud to say that I did win  for best costume in the "Best Sci-Fi" category.   I won an autographed poster.  It was signed by a graphic novel artist.  I am totally finding some place to display it.  As far as I am concerned, it is a trophy of sorts.

We did meet several other Star Wars actors.  My husband added their signatures to one of our multi signed pieces.

Of course, you can't go to a con without hitting the vendors area.   I only picked up a few items to add to my assorted toy collections.  My first purchase came in the way of Mr. Staypuft.   I have been fighting starting a Ghostbusters toy collection.  But, I just love that movie so much!  I never had any of the toys as a kid.  So I gave in and got the beloved marshmallow.  He really is in excellent condition.  The color is still white, no yellowing and no marks.

I need 2 more Ghostbuster figures, Slimer, and maybe an Ecto1 for my collection to be complete.

My second purchase was a bag of assorted Harry Potter action figures from the first 2 movies.   I paid $15 for the bag, which was reasonable for the 15 figures it contained.    I finally got a Ron Weasley in Hogwarts robes!  Which to me, made the bag.   I also picked up a Griphook figure and 3 of the Slime Chamber figures (2 Harrys and a Malfoy).   Some of the figures are extras or upgrades to the ones I already own.   I also was able to upgrade my large Hagrid figure by adding his pink umbrella accessory to him.  Now, if I can locate a baby Norbert, he will be complete.

I really love the mini Quiddich Harry and Hagrid figures.  I have been researching  more information on the "mini" figures.   My HP figure short list is growing.  I am now on the look out for a Ginny Weasley mini figure.