Rhode Island Comic Con with a dash of NYC

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how one looks at things, RICC has become a yearly tradition for me. Since 2013 and they always seem to suck me in. This year was no exception. Despite what is probably a record amount of cancellations any con has ever experienced, it was a monster line up for me. I was fortunate enough where the majority of cancellations had no affect on me. Beverly D'Angelo was the only major cancellation for me, and there were also 2 or 3 lesser names I would have gotten that did cancel. My top want of the show was action star Dolph Lundgren from Rocky IV, Universal Soldier, and of course He-Man himself in the Masters of the Universe movie. Since I got Cam Clarke this would make my second actor who portrayed He-Man.

Photo ops aside, it was also awesome seeing and hanging out with board members Greg, Lanza, Mike (Overthetop), and Dan (DJ) and NYC combo hunters Jimmy, James, Suzanne, Kush, Ling, and Leslie. Even got to see Asian Dave.

Sadly I had a tough time finding splits for this con. So paying for a hotel was not an option. However, due to sub zero temperatures I set the goal to minimize my time sleeping in the car. I left on the crack of dawn Friday to avoid rush hour traffic and arrive in Providence shortly after the con opens. 

My first photo op is a split with RF, namely Paul Rubens AKA Pee Wee Herman. Personally I never understood the Pee Wee craze. But he is not Pokemon as he has been in stuff I watched such as Batman Returns, Gotham, Mystery Men, among others. Plus the "iconic" aspect of him was another factor. I don't like the face he made, but what can you do. Not ideal for me but valid regardless. RF paid me what he owed for this op and went back to man Bret Hart's line.

From this point on I figured I'd try to see what I can mooch rather than immediately dive in. I saw Robert Carradine all clean shaven and wanted an upgrade. I showed him my photo op from Monstermania and told him I got him already but he had facial hair and I would like a clean shaven shot. He agreed no issue and I got the shot for free! I finally have a perfect Robert Carradine shot (took long enough).

For the rest of the Nerds cast that I needed I lucked out! Saw a guy that had like 3-4 things for each! And they were free photo op with each auto. The guy also remembered me from NJ Horror Con. So I helped the guy out with his posters and I got free photo ops with everyone I needed plus an update with Brian Tochi. Score! Donald Gibb actually said he knew my face and I confirmed to him that I met him at Monstermania. He said he is bad with names but never forgets faces.

Managed to also get a free Joey Fatone. Then off to the hotel to see what could be had. Sadly everyone I saw I either had already, were not stopping, or both. Some I had did do photo ops but I was not planning to fight for something I had. I did manage to score David Della Rocco who was on my list. So that's at least something.

Friday night I sadly slept in the car on the street. But I had 3 layers of socks, 2 layers of pants, 3 layers of tops, plus my coat, plus 2 layers of bed sheets. So it was manageable. I could have slept in the parking garage but they had an RICC special which was $15 from 7am to midnight. If I stayed more I would have paid more in parking.

Paul Reubens

Joey Fatone

Full list of RICC Friday photo ops



On to Saturday. Thankfully I manage to commandeer four splits. I split Dolph Lundgren with RF, Paul Bettany and Jerome Flynn with and Brittany Daniel with 

The last one is very significant and historic as it's the first time we ever split a photo op. 

Start with table ops. Get the new Chewbacca, Frank Whaley, Sadie Sink, some Star Trek actors, Elizabeth McGlynn from Star Wars Rebels, and Robert Hays. I also got Sam Keith (artist and creator of The Maxx), and John Aston. 

I knock out both pro ops in Dolph Lundgren with RF and Paul Bettany with Lanza (Bettany being my second biggest want at the con). RF successfully used his status as a vendor to pull a switcharoo! RF then paid me the rest of what he owed me and went off to this table. I joined DJ to split Brittany Daniel and switcharoo'd Jerome Flynn with Lanza. 

Now I had a pro op for Michael Dorn but did not want to stay till 5pm as I wanted to head out to NYC. So I managed to convince him to accept my pro op ticket for a table op. After doing that I went to ask for a refund for my jpeg and got that. $10 back in my pocket and leaving RICC sooner. That's a win/win!

With that, I said my goodbyes, sold my 3 day pass via craigslist (along with that of Leslie's plus her extra sunday pass) then headed out to NYC!

Paul Bettany

Dolph Lundgren

Sadie Sink

Full list of RICC Saturday photo ops

Autograph


With another RICC in the books I drove to NYC and made good time avoiding both tolls and traffic. My primary target was actor Stephen Lang who I passed on at a con long ago (and regretted it). I arrive at the spot, see his photos via google images, and wait for him to enter. I never see him. The event lets out, I mooch my way inside and I see a man taking photo ops. No idea who it is, but it's NYC so I get the op, not knowing if I even got someone valid. I am then joined by friend of Vanessa the Jersey shore stalker David and show him the op but he can't ID him either. 

So we both wait for Lang, never see him. But we are told he is in the bar. We never see him. I then pull up the man's twitter, something I don't normally bother doing for older actors. Then I found out on Halloween he actually shaved all his facial hair! WTF? I then looked at the op I got earlier turns out it is indeed Stephen Lang himself! I was looking for someone with facial hair so I probably even missed him going in. This marks the first time in history I ever get someone I'm targeting and don't realize it's him till after the fact. We then see him take group ops at the bar and David gets a photo op. Hindsight is 20/20 I'm glad I didn't pay for that pro op way back when.

Move on to the next spot where we hope to see Taylor Swift and others but no luck. Saw Jack McBrayer AKA Fix It Felix walking up the street. Followed him and upgraded my shot. I could have stayed to try for Taylor Swift and other names late at night but given the cold and the fact that she is not known to be nice I chose to simply get some $1 pizza slices and leave NYC. In hindsight that was a good decision because nothing happened that was worth being out at 2am in the freezing cold.

I still could not finish my drive, so I stopped at a rest stop I usually park and sleep at when I'm tiered. This time it was sadly not feasible to sleep in the lot like I normally do. But inside the rest stop was a chair where one puts in bills for massages. I didn't put in any bills but I took my pillow and slept on said chair for about 5 hours. Good thing I had my ear muffs cause there would be people chatting throughout the night. Eventually someone woke me up and I screamed in terror. I then filled with gas and left. So I managed to do RICC, save on hotel costs, and sleep in the car for just one night. Not too shabby.

Stephen Lang

Jack McBrayer