Spooky Empire - Day 2

With all of the headliners out of the way, I didn't feel my usual pressure to be first in line on day 2. With that being said, the idea of just strolling down later and joining a huge line just doesn't work for me. That just isn't how I'm wired. So I still woke up around 6:30am. I immediately got dressed and headed towards the con. The plan was to stake out a spot in line, and then leave for a bit to take a shower (you're welcome) and grab my stuff. It worked perfectly, as I ended up right behind my buddy Steve. So I hung with him for a bit. I made sure to wait until some people showed up in line behind us, and then I ran back to the room to finish getting ready and to grab my stuff.

When it was finally time to enter the con, my main priority was seeing Fiona Dourif again. The people I still needed today weren't likely to have long lines, so I didn't feel like I had to rush to anybody else's table. Fiona's line moves very slowly, so going back to her first made the most sense.

I was going to have her try to go over her red autograph on that poster I screwed up on day 1. She did her best, and I do like it better now than when it was red. It's sort of pink, but it definitely shows up a lot better. I know it doesn't look great, but the red really, REALLY bothered me.

Up next was Ashley Brooke. It was her first ever convention, and I think I was maybe the third person to meet her? Very sweet, and kept asking if I was happy with how she was signing my items.

Next was my buddy Jonathan Breck. Always one of my favorite celebs to meet. We usually talk sports, but this time he had a lot of questions about pens. So I gave him a quick rundown about what types of pens to use on what items. I should have recorded it, as I get asked these questions ALL THE TIME lol.

Both items turned out absolutely fantastic! The axe especially. That bad boy is going on the wall in my theater for sure.

Then I finished up my remaining items with Tony Cecere and his wonderful daughters. The ladies loved my silver deco pen, so I gave it to them as soon as I was done with it.

I visited Taylour Paige next. She was definitely my biggest autograph objective of the day. I checked her table periodically throughout the morning, checking to see if she had arrived. I didn't mind doing this, as it gave me multiple chances to visit with my friend Claie. Taylour was very friendly, and seemed excited when I had her sign my Toxic Avenger poster. But I did get the impression she wasn't having a great time. Probably because none of the Welcome to Derry cast has been busy at all this weekend. I just don't get it. I was super excited to meet all of the adults, and I though others would be as well.

I met Joann Willette next. Of course, I forgot the main item I needed her on in my hotel room. She was very nice. I told her that my wife was a big fan of her old TV show "Just the Ten of Us". I'd meet Ms. Willette again later in the day to get my Nightmare franchise poster signed, but I'll go ahead and show it here.

While I was putting my first Joann Willette autograph away, I saw that GWAR was at their table in full costume. I hadn't planned on it, but I decided spur of the moment to get a photo with them. My buddy Travis was working their table. He always seems to get the best celebs.

When I went to stand with them, the didn't really leave a spot for me to stand. So I kinda put myself in the middle. The bass player, Beefcake the Mighty, yelled at me "Sure, stand right in front of me!" It was a fun experience, I'm so glad I did the photo.

After that I met C.J. Graham. I've met C.J. many times, and he's always a good dude. This time he made a big deal about me being a "line cutter" since I had VIP lol.

Up next was Mark Holton. He was incredibly sweet. I had "Ozzie" on my label for character name. He saw that and said "Actually, the character's name was Oswald. I'll go ahead and make that one slight correction". It was hilarious. I'm really pissed off at myself, though. I left the Leprechaun 11x17 poster I got signed by Warwick Davis last week at home. I only live an hour away, so I could have gone and gotten it. But I'm WAAAAY too lazy to do that lol.

As I was putting my Mark Holton autograph away, I looked at my phone. It was 11:38! I had my Fiona Dourif photo op at 11:30! I immediately started walking as fast as I could towards the photo op area. When I got there, they told me her op was already done. I was devastated. Her and I had planned out the op in advance, and then I freaking missed it like an idiot.

Luckily, they still had some group ops to do, so Fiona came back and they were able to work me in. But this meant that Brad Dourif was about 7 feet away from us when we did our op, which made me very nervous. You'll understand why as soon as you look at the photo......

As you can see in the photos, Fiona let me pick her up! I was looking for a way to one-up our prom photo from the last time I met her, and she was happy to make this happen. I was already pretty terrified that I was going to drop her, and then even more so because her freaking dad was right there lol. But I pulled it off. As I was about to put her down, she told me she liked being picked up because it gave her a bit of a break lol.

At this point I went back to my hotel room to relax for a bit. Then I returned to finish up my last couple of items. Tuesday Knight hadn't arrived at her table yet when I left to do my photo op, but she was there when I got back. So I got her next. She was nice as always. She did misunderstand my character name request, but I forgive her lol. She loved my white Molotow pen, so I gave it to her, thinking I was done with it.

And then I made the spur of the moment decision to get back in Fiona's line to get my photo op signed. I never do that, but I just couldn't resist in this case. She started laughing hysterically when she saw what I was getting signed. I absolutely love her inscription!

You see that little white scribble next to the word "are"? She thought that somehow her armpit was showing in the photo, so she did that to cover it up lol. I didn't quite understand what was happening at the time when I heard her mutter "what's this weird armpit thing?", but once I looked at it later it all made sense. And it wasn't her armpit, it was my hand!

Of course, since I had just given my pen to Tuesday Knight, I had to start a new Molotow pen to get the photo op signed. And then I let her keep it, as she said she need a white pen lol. Two white Molotow pens given out in the span of an hour!

And that was it for the con! I retreated to the hotel for a bit to relax, and then met up with my buddies Eric, Melissa, and Michael for dinner at Delmonico's. After a very fun and tasty meal, I went to the VIP party. Dinner ran long, so I was late arriving. As always, I put my VIP raffle tickets in for the signed 16x20s. I never win at these parties, but there is a first time for everything. They started with the 16x20s, and the very first ticket called was mine! So I grabbed a signed Robert Englund 16x20. It was an excellent finish to an incredible day.

Day 2 Stats! CELEBS MET: 16

PRO PHOTOS: 1

ITEMS SIGNED: 19

TOTAL AUTOGRAPHS: 19