Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Final rounds of 2013 meets

After the long and grueling weekend, I decided to take a nice long break from combo hunting. Of course Joresky kept on going. As a result of my desire to relax, I ended up paying the bitter price since he ended up with some A-list scores in Will Smith and John Goodman. But let us take a look at what I did get. 

About a week after my arctic like adventure, I decided to go for Rick Springfield. Even though I had a photo op, I figured I'd improve it and get some autographs. Even though it was cold the venue has a high success rate and I could wait in the relatively warm car while waiting for him to come out. 

So me and other guy get to the venue and the show is over. People are waiting. Rick shows up from the distance and fans scream for him in the freezing cold, some even tried to play the handicap card by showcasing people on a wheelchair. But he didn't come over and got in the vehicle. I was getting ready to rush to his hotel before he stopped his van and began to sign. So I rush out of the car. He is signing people's stuff with a pen! Goes to show you what amateurs most people are, not coming prepared with a sharpie 

Anyhow, so I hand him my two albums and a sharpie. What happens, he takes the albums but not the sharpie and signs one of my albums with a PEN  I scream and point to the sharpie, he takes my sharpie, resigns that album over the pen and signs my second album. 

While technically not a total bust as I got one properly signed album, I was expecting more success for this. I still had a third album completely unsigned plus I wanted an updated photo op. So I figured we would go to his hotel where there would be no crowd and no stress. 

He arrives, and we start with photo ops! He accepts to do them graciously. While posing with me he looks at my album noticing I have something. Then I hand him a gold marker and he signs on the perfect spot even inscribing "thanks". While it sucks one of my albums is basically ruined, the overall result is a success! 

photo op

Signed albums (bottom one signed twice)


About a week after that I decided to re try for Malcolm Jamal Warner AKA Theo from the Cosby Show. I had previously failed with Joresky, this time I was solo. And the weather was good so I thought it was a good chance for a second try. And I told myself that this try would be my last one for this endeavor of his. 

I arrive and scope out the situation. Turns out there is a Q&A with him and the other actors. So I mooch my way into the Q&A and take my seat This honestly helped me big time cause the guy blends in. I honestly don't think I would have recognized him walking around. The price is of course sitting through a long and boring Q&A that I had no interest in. 

After the Q&A I saw him doing combos, so I rushed there. They then said he couldn't take photo ops here due to the copyrighted scenes  No fucking fair he was doing them a second ago! I did get him to sign my two 8x10s and tried to plead more for photo ops to no avail. I asked him if he was going to be in the lobby he said no. So I exit the building in order to try my luck further. I had some autographs and I knew how he looked like, so it was now solely a "get  photo op" mission. I wait outside, I see other actors come out. Then for a second I look in the lobby and I see him  guess he lied to me. I go in and I get my photo op no issue. He then goes "thanks for coming" and I shake his hand. I then run to my car and drive away so as to be forgotten by the staff as I plan to return there in February. With this addition, the only photo op I am missing from the Cosby Show is Phylicia Rashad. 

Photo op

Signed photos


Fast forward and it was now time for WWE! I wanted to get some of the lower tier names I don't have. Namly

Eva Marie 
Rene Young
Jo Jo
El Torito 

Of course, I really wanted Brock, but I wasn't realistically expecting to see him. 

Of the people I did have, this is who I wanted autographs from

Great Khali
Aksana 
Daniel Bryan
AJ 

Plus I wanted a goat faced Daniel Bryan photo op and a modern day CM Punk photo op. 

Anything else I get would be a bonus. 

Unfortunately of all the names I mentioned, Jo Jo, El Torito, and AJ were not even in town. 

I start at the hotel. Me and one other friend go around another way and sneak into the hotel, bypassing the field of vision of any security. We had a perfect spot where we could see who was coming and get our combos, and still hide from security. I see Booker T, Jamie Nobel, and Finlay, but did not really need them so I didn't bother them. Then I see Great Khali by the elevator and get my photo op with him signed! First success. After this Summer Rae and Eva Marie show up! I really needed Eva but felt bad asking Eva for the photo op and not Summer lol. So I get a photo op with each and I had their autographs to the WWE_E V2 inside cover! Shortly after we see a man, woman, and two kids come inside, sporting WWE clothing and programs. THIS is where our cover is blown. Security sees them walking around then comes to us and kicks us out  We had pulled perfect stealth but it got ruined. Furthermore, the family didn't even get kicked out as they had room keys 

Outside it was pretty much dead. A crew bus came in and one guy named Kerwin Silfies is apparently some sort of director/producer for WWE since the first Wrestlemania. So I figured he's a valid combo, and asked for a photo op. He tells me to come over so I do. Then the security guard decides to be a  about it and stop me. I tell him that I was told to come over and Kerwin says it's ok but he would hear nothing of it and would put his hand in front of my camera. Kerwin then says, "let's go over there" and we talk to the sidewalk and I get the photo op. He then says "thanks for being a fan". After that the security guard gives me lip. I thought he was going to threaten to call the cops but he did not. So I just let it be. Few minutes later the security guard comes back again (note I hadn't tried anything since he gave me lip) and this time he does threaten to call the police on me. To which I reply "go ahead and call them". His reaction was a mixture of this face  and this face  As he has hand and bodily gestures and angrily walks back into the hotel, as if he's getting ready to call the cops.

I guess they always expect people to be afraid once the word "police" is mentioned. But this trick doesn't work with me. Though it was time for me to leave cause I needed to sleep and gear up for the morning I chose to stand my ground and stay put anyway. Minutes later the guy came out and still saw me standing there, but there would be no stand off. Shortly after that, realizing there were no more combos to be had and that no cops were actually coming, I decided to call it a night. 

The next morning I woke up in the car and for a second my head was confused as I didn't know where I was. Took me a few seconds to realize where I was and why I was here. I guess that's what happens when you don't get too much sleep. But this is where the major haul would be. 

On another note, to prove to most that I don't always save money, I chose garage parking for about $6 more than the outdoor parking. It was worth it to 1) be able to simply walk to the spot and 2) sleep in the car while it's somewhat indoors rather than completely out in the cold. 

As I arrived I found out I missed The Miz, Great Khali, and a couple of others. But no one I needed.

Photo op wise got a dual shot with Summer Rae and Eva Marie, got upgrades with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan from the Wyatts, among others. 

Sadly Daniel Bryan did not do photo ops but I got him to sign my No Way Out 8x12 (still needs AJ). 

Autograph wise I got Aksana to sign two photo ops. She goes "oh wow blonde hair" then upon the second one which is dark haired Askana she goes "ahh that's better". Personally I prefer her as a blonde, but that's just me. 

Brodus Clay, Alicia Fox, an Uso, Roman Reigns, and Brad Maddox are examples of people I just let go by as I didn't need at all. I told Alicia "have a good day" and she smiled back and said thanks. HCIT.

We also had a thuderbuddies  moment. Me and other graphers see a short White guy covered up in a hood. We all think it's CM Punk. I go to get him he goes "that's not me" and throws the pen down on the WWE_E, blemishing it (at least he didn't sign it). Turns out we all thought Justin Gabriel was CM Punk! Dammit! 



Now on to the real CM Punk, he is wearing is ear phones, walks like no one existed, ignored everybody and did nothing for no one! This really sucks as I did want a combo with him. 

Others who did nothing for no one were Seth Rollins and Wade Barrett. 

On the WWE_V2 I scored

Booker T
Darren Young
Dolph Ziggler (spirit squad entry)
Jack Swagger
Fandango (Johnny Curtis entry)
Mark Henry (he actually signed a couple but no one asked for photo ops)
R Truth
Rosa Mendes
Road Dogg (single entry)
Bella Twins 
Bray Wyatt‎ (Husky Harris Entry)
JBL (APA entry, wish I had the first WWE_E on me as I never got JBL on there)
Luke Harper (inside cover)
Erick Rowan (inside cover) 

Afterwards it was calm, there was barely anything going on. I still didn't see another want of mine that was in town, namely Rene Young. This upset me cause I did want more than one first time photo op out of this whole ordeal. And I was afraid she passed right by us. I was actually closely inspecting every young looking blonde to make sure it wasn't her. We wait and wait and I was getting uneasy, but then she and Dean Ambrose showed up! YES! I didn't need Dean on anything so I get a combo from Rene Young who was nice as can be. Had her sign the inside cover of the WWE_E V2. 

While I didn't need Dean Ambrose he was a total douche. One guy went up to him for an autograph, he signed the 8x10 on his head then put an X over it. How happy I am I got him when he was a total nobody and happy to be doing a photo op (at that same spot no less). Goes to show you that you never know.

While there were more people coming, no one else was worth sticking around for in my book. I happily left the spot and headed home. 


Full list of photo ops

Photos I got signed

Inside cover of the WWE_E V2

Look how much better GOLD sharpies look. On the upper right you see a silver Brad Maddox that you can barely see. On the right side in gold is Summer Rae and Eva Marie. On the left side are Rene Young, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan. Gold is officially the new sliver. 

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