Steel City Con - Day 1

It's time for my last convention of the year. I've attended Steel City Con once before, in April of last year. They had a phenomenal lineup. John Carpenter, Christina Ricci, Hayden Panettiere, Heather Graham, etc. Well worth the travel. With one HUUUUUGE exception that I won't get into right now, I had a great time.

This year's winter event was on my radar ever since Robert Englund added it to the schedule on his website. With his usual 2 item limit, I'll need to meet him a few more times before I have all of my stuff done. But it would take more than just Robert Englund to make it worth the trip. They announced a few more names that sealed the deal. Linda Hamilton was the main one, but as you'll see, there were several other big names that definitely justified the travel. So I picked up my Robert Englund VIP pass and booked my travel.

The event is held at the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville, PA. It's pretty close to Pittsburgh. The location isn't really big enough for the event, and the parking lot wouldn't be big enough for a string cheese convention. I always get to cons early, but it's especially important at Steel City Con, just to make sure I get one of the few parking spots. I arrived at around 5am, and there were already several people in line. It was quite cold, especially for somebody from Florida. When I got out of my car it was 11 degrees outside. Luckily I remembered to bring a coat, hat, and gloves. But even with all that it was still freezing. Luckily the regulars that populate the front of the line at SCC don't mind at all if you come and go. So I spent about 75% of the time in my rental with the heater on. About 15 minutes before the doors were scheduled to open, I took all of my winter gear and put it in the truck, as I didn't want to lug it around inside of the convention. That 15 minutes before they let us in was pretty rough! It was finally time to enter. They let in all of the VIP ADA first, and then the regular VIP line. I bee-lined it to Robert Englund's line, and was lucky enough to be first in line. Unfortunately, his wonderful rep Connie announced that Mr. Englund wouldn't be arriving until the afternoon. Luckily I knew some people in line, including my buddy Dwayne that was next to me in line, John who was working Robert's table, and of course Connie. So I felt comfortable leaving most of my stuff as a placeholder in line while I tried to get somebody else. Nobody else had really arrived yet, so there wasn't an obvious first target.

There were two lines that were starting to build faster than the others. Voice actor icons Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Welker's line was slightly shorter, so I jumped in. Once I got to know the people around me in line, I was kind of able to bounce between the Welker line and Englund line. Unfortunately Welker and Cullen were both quite late arriving as well. I was starting to worry that they'd arrive at around the same time as Robert Englund. But they eventually arrived at something like 12-12:30pm (I'm terrible at paying attention to the time). Just before he arrived, one of the volunteers working his line announced to everybody that he'd be signature only, and wouldn't be doing any character names or quotes. This was a big blow for me, as everybody on my Gremlins poster had added character name, and it'd be a huge bummer for Stripe of all people not add his. But what can you do? Once I got up to Mr. Welker, I told him I was a huge fan of Gremlins. He said if that's the case, he'd like to share some information with me. He told me that he is the one that got Howie Mandel the job as Gizmo. As he was handing my poster back to me, I decided to go for it. I said "Mr. Welker, if I were to pay for a second autograph, is there any possible way I could get you to add "Stripe" to your autograph?" He grinned, waved off the offer of paying more, and added the character name. Score!

After that, I went back to the Robert Englund line. It wasn't too long before Mr. Englund arrived. Meeting him was a great experience, as always. When he saw the "Stranger Things" poster, he exclaimed "Where is my son Jamie!?" He also noted that he had never seen the "Urban Legend" poster before. Due to some fortuitous confusion regarding the autograph that is included with VIP, I was able to get three items signed. Don't worry, I paid for all of them!

I would have liked to have gotten Peter Cullen after that, but his line was insane, and was capped anyway. I looked at the lines for the other people I really needed, and they were all huge. So I made my way over to the vendor area, as there were two people I needed that were at vendor tables. First I met Michelle Santiago. She's worked on some of the Terrifier films. She was really nice, and was very impressed with my cutout system for autographs. She even asked to take a picture with her own phone.

The other celeb in the vendor area was John Russo. John co-wrote both "Night of the Living Dead" and "Return of the Living Dead", among other things. When I got to his table, I realized I only had one of the posters I wanted him to sign with me. The other was in my car. He had a discounted price for two autographs, so I asked if I could pay for both, and get the second item signed after I ran to my car. He was okay with that. I got sidetracked, and didn't return to his table until several hours later. I asked if he remembered me, and he said "Yeah, I was wondering if you parked 10 miles away".

I went over to check on Linda Hamilton's line, and it was still crazy. I didn't mention this earlier, but I would only be able to attend on Friday, and for a few hours on Saturday. I started to do the math on how long the lines were for the bigger names I still needed, and realized I probably wouldn't be able to get everybody. Not getting any autographs for the first couple hours the convention was open had really set me back. So I made a very stupid financial decision. I bought a Linda Hamilton VIP ticket. This meant I wouldn't be able to afford to get everybody on my list, and would have to skip a couple of photo ops I was planning on doing, but at least I'd be able to get the people that I traveled all the way to PA to get, which included Ms. Hamilton. With my new VIP ticket in hand, I joined the very short VIP line for her, and was at her table within a few minutes.

This was my second time meeting Linda, and she was just as awesome as the first time. She must be a great actress, because she usually plays really tough characters, but she is an absolutely sweetheart in real life. I got my "Stranger Things" poster signed and was on my way.

I had about 90 minutes left before I needed to head over to my photo op with Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp. I surveyed the lines, and decided to go for Heather Langenkamp next. I've met her several times, but always find new things for her to sign. I found myself in the same situation I was in with John Russo. I needed her on two items, but stupidly left one of them in the car. And she also has a bundle deal if you buy two autographs. Luckily my buddy Derrell was working her table, so it wasn't an issue asking if I could pay for two autographs now, but get the second item signed later. The item I had with me was my Cabin in the Woods poster. I had just started it with Sigourney Weaver at NYCC. Heather and her husband did FX work on the film. I asked if she could inscribe whatever she considered to be her role on the film. She said she had never been asked to inscribe anything about her FX work before. I found that to be shocking.

I also needed Ken Kirzinger on the "Cabin in the Woods" poster, but he wasn't at his table. So I went for Robert Patrick next. He had a pretty decent line, and I got in just in time. He had to leave for photo ops shortly after I met him.

At this point Dee Snider had a relatively short VIP line, so I went there next. Of course, I failed to account for the fact that Ray Park would jump the line and spend some time chatting with Dee.

Dee was worth the wait. Super nice guy. I handed him a silver paint pen and asked if he could sign somewhere dark. He said "how about my crotch?" lol.

I had enough time left for one more short line. Ken Kirzinger was back at this table, so he was my choice. My friend Aaron was working his table, so it was nice seeing both of them. Ken is always a nice guy. I asked him if he remembered what kind of stunt work he did on "Cabin in the Woods". He said he couldn't remember a whole lot, but that he definitely did some zombie stunts. So that's what he wrote.

The Robert Englund VIP package came with a pro photo op. But I just did a pro photo op with him at Scarefest a few weeks ago. So I paid to upgrade it to the Nightmare duo op. I'm so glad I did, this is one of my very favorite celeb photos I've ever taken.

After the photo op I ran to the car and dropped some stuff off, and grabbed the rest of the stuff I needed signed. When I went back in I noticed that Heather's VIP line was starting to build, and she wasn't back yet from photo ops. I wanted to make sure I got the other item I had already paid for signed today, so I went ahead and jumped in line. While I was in line I got to chat with my friend Jeremy from the Horror Con Lounge.

Luckily when Heather and Derrell came back, Derrell saw me and called me to the front of the line, saying I didn't need to stand in line a second time. I completed the 16x20 photo that Mr. Englund had signed for me earlier in the day.

At this point it was starting to get late, and quite a few celebs had left for the day. I tried to get John Stamos, but his line had been cut off. There were still a few people I needed that had short lines, though.

First up was Edward Furlong. He was reasonably nice, but he upcharges for every little thing. He charged me extra for a poster (it was an 11x17). He charged extra for character name. Luckily I didn't need a quote, or else that would have been extra as well. I guess I should be thankful he doesn't charge extra to not personalize like Corey Feldman. Still, it left a dirty taste in my mouth. I had two posters I wanted to get signed, but because of all of the nickel and diming, I only got one of them signed. I also skipped out on the selfie I had planned on getting. He got considerably less money from me than he would have without all of the upcharges.

Next up was Joel David Moore. I needed him on several "Hatchet" items. I had to forego the selfie, as I was running out of money due to the Linda Hamilton VIP purchase. He was a super nice guy. We chatted about Adam Green a bit, and he told me he is working on another horror project with him.

My last meet of the day would be David Denman. Another nice guy. Again, I had to skip the selfie.

And with that I called it a day. I was a bit bummed I wasn't able to get John Stamos and Peter Cullen. My only objectives for tomorrow, in addition to those two, will be Frank Grillo and Bruce Dickinson. We'll see if I can get all four of those guys before I need to leave to catch my flight. I also need to get my Linda Hamilton pro photo op that came with the VIP. She had already done her photo ops by the time I purchased it today.

Other than the two guys I missed, it was a really good day. Spent lots of time in line chatting with old friends, and making new ones. I forgot to mention, but at some point in the day Steel City Con legend Davina came over and said hi. She really came through for me at the other SCC I attended, so it was great to see her again.

And now, the stats!

Celebs Met: 12

Photos With Celebs: 6

Items Signed: 15

Autographs Obtained: 18