Monstermania Cherry Hill and Steel City Con

In one weekend I would attend both Monstermania in Cherry Hill and Steel City Con. My first Steel City Con in years. Unfortunately both would be severely ruined by cancellations. 

On the Monstermania side, Marley Shelton would be announced and canceled. Additionally, I had planned to go to Monstermania Friday and Steel City Saturday. W Earl Brown was supposed to be there all 3 days. Then he was changed to Saturday and Sunday. PUNCH! My plans were already in place at that point.

On the Steel City Side both Mia Farrow and Jennifer Grey, both wants of mine, canceled. 

Despite that there will still people I could get at both shows. With Alicia Silverstone being my top want for the weekend.

First off, Monstermania. I get Leo Rossi and Dick Warlock from Halloween II fame. Then make up artist Greg Nicotero, and finally Debra S Hayes from Friday the 13th part 2.

Full list of Monstermania photo ops

Autograph

Next up, Steel City Con. I get my top want Alicia Silverstone out of the way since she had a long line. Then it was smooth sailing from there on. Got actress Grace Van Dien and voice actress Judy Kuhn. I was thinking of getting Tom Payne but he was pricey and I had no one to split with so I didn't get him.

Rounded up my time at Steel City with X-Men Animated creators Eric and Julia Lewald. And make up artist Nick Maley who is best known for his work on Yoda.

Alicia Silverstone

Full list of Steel City con photo ops

Kicking off August with a few meets and a con

Start August with Baha men, best know for the early 2000s song "Who Let The Dogs Out". After the show they were super friendly and met with all fans. I'm sure some of them are barely valid, but I did get the main two singers. Dyson Knight (who yells actual phrase WHO LET THE DOGS OUT" and lead singer Rik Carey.

Baha Men photos

Next up to Philly for Icons of Wrestling AKA RF Con. I mainly needed Slick because my old ops are not really valid. I get a photo op with Slick and his autograph on the WWE_E V1.

While there I got ECW original Tommy Cairo who is best known for his feud with Sandman. And I got a dual shot with Dexter Lumas and Parker Boudreaux.

Icons of Wrestling photos

After that it was off to the airport for two original members of Blue Oyster Cult. You have the two members that tour along with the barely valids. And you have the Joe and Albert Bouchard who are the rare members. Arrive at the airport and see Joe. He is super nice. But his wife was not letting him take the mask off for photos. Managed to talk them into a distant no mask op (which wasn't easy). Not the greatest but valid and counts. I think of it as no different than a shades shot. Not ideal, but valid. Then Albert who is also super nice and does a normal op.

Joe Bouchard

Albert Bouchard

Autographs

Then to a separate flight for DJ Spinderella of Salt and Peppa. I see her and ask and she's like "what do you want". I reclarify and say I want the op. She goes "c'mon" but sadly declined to take down the mask. Bust.

DJ Spinderella

Fast forward to mid August and I get info for two actors from the show Trying. One of them, Rafe Spall, was in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. And the other is actress Esther Smith.

So I went to the hotel not knowing if they were in, out, or even still there. I ask a guy who was with them in the event. He claims they are gone "to the next spot". But I am not too quick to believe that. Upon further research I have reason to believe they are still there but not in the rooms. Not long after I start waiting, perhaps 45 minutes later, I see both Rafe and Esther walking on the sidewalk to go back inside. I couldn't believe how I lucky I got to a point where I had to do a double take and look at the photos on my phone to make sure I'm not hallucinating. Indeed it was them, and they are super friendly. 

Wow it is not often you go to such a setup, wait, see your people not long after, AND they are  super nice. Usually you wait 5 hours and don't even see them!

Rafe Spall

Esther Smith

Shore Leave, Scares that Care, and Galaxy Con

Rounding off July cons, I would do 3 cons. Shore Leave in Maryland, Scares that Care in Virginia, and Galaxy Con in North Carolina. Sadly, covid would be a factor in these cons.

Let's start with Shore Leave, where I meet with Greg2600 on markedout. We both want Aimee Garcia but turns out she is behind a glass pane and not doing table ops. She has pro ops the next day but not the day we are there. The website said nothing of all this. And she is really the only name of note that we needed here. We wait to try to negotiate. While waiting I knock out John Billingsley of Star Trek fame and actor Eddie McClintock.

When it comes to Aimee we plead our case saying the website said nothing and we have to drive up. In the end they let us pay for table ops, but sadly there's a glass pane. However, it is 1000X better than the pro ops she did the next day. They used a horrid divider for that. And I managed to edit out the pane well. So it largely worked out.

Aimee Garcia (glass pane edited)

Full list of Shore Leave photo ops

Next up a weekend of two cons, Scares that Care and Galaxy Con. First up, Scares that Care. Thankfully I only plan for 4 people. KC Martel from ET, Steven Williams from Jason Goes to Hell and 21 Jump Street, Harvey Stephens who was the Child actor from The Omen, and finally Kerr Smith from Final Destination fame.

Full list of Scares that Care photo ops

The heartbreaking this about all this, it would be the last Scares that Care ever. Sad times cause I really liked this con. And off to Galaxy Con.

Start off Galaxy Con with Andrew Robinson from Dirty Harry. A good rare name I haven't seen elsewhere. Then Marilyn Ghigliotti from Clarks who did over the table ops due to COVID. I'm fine with that better than masks or glass.

Next up Gerard Christopher AKA Superboy. And then actor Rupert Friend from Obi Want tv show and Pride & Prejudice. Surprisingly his booth didn't have much activity and did table ops even though those were not advertised. 

Now here comes a sour note of this con. She was advertised as doing table ops. So I went to get one. But she is not doing table ops, pro ops are done, and she is not there Sunday! What an unlucky chain of events! I pleaded my case to them, told them I'd pay, and explained my situation. In the end they preferred to give me a free signed 8x10 as an apology instead of taking my money for a table op. The mind boggles. I figure she will do another con so I decided to concede and chose an 8x10 from Star Wars.

For actors I rounded up my day with Terry Farrell from Star Trek fame and Hellraiser III and Steve Downes AKA Master Chief from Halo.

I also got a couple of people from the artists area. Comic book writer Peter David. I got him to sign my Incredible Hulk comic books and a photo op. I put $5 in his donation box. And artist Tom Fleming who worked on some iconic WWE are from the early 90s. He sadly wouldn't take the mask off for ops. But I got him on two prints. He asked where I got these. I told him truthfully I got them from the Internet and printed them at Walgreen. He goes "oh, really" like he was surprised. Then I left Galaxy Con.

Michael C Hall was playing a venue in Raleigh. So I thought why not try to upgrade my shot from NYC years ago. Don't want to pay for it but for free why not. Sadly he didn't stop. Rushed out the front while we were waiting in the back. I got the barely valid band members.

Andrew Robinson

Rupert Friend 

Full list of Galaxy Con Day 1 and street photos

Autographs part 1

Autographs part 2

Go back to Galaxy Con the next day. The main objective is Brendan Fraser, a huge want of mine. Now here's the mind baffling thing about him. He is at his autograph table, he is doing no table ops. He has no mask, no glass, no divider, nothing. And he is mingling normally with fans. Yet in the pro ops he requires plexi glass. The mind boggles to no end.

I begrudgingly decide to do the op. My rationale is that if he died I would regret not getting the op. But I managed to edit out the damn divider. Ended my time at Galaxy Con with wrestler Kaleb with a K who was also Suicide in Impact Wrestling.  

Brendan Fraser (glass pane edited)

Full list of Galaxy Con Day 2 photo ops

More scattered meets in July

First off, a spot with the bands Bare Naked Ladies (best known for the song One Week) and their opener Toad the Wet Sprocket. There's 4 members to get for BNL and 3 to get for Toad (one member is barely valid).

I arrive and sadly missed BNL singer Ed Robertson by a few minutes.

First up I get photo and autographs with BNL member Jim Creeggan. Then photo and autographs with BNL member Kevin Hearn. I see the main man of TTWS Glen Phillips walking about and get a photo op with him. Then TTWS member Dean Dinning. Thankfully I finally see Ed and get autographs and photos from him. 

Sadly I never see Tyler Stewart of BNL and I couldn't get a photo op with Todd Nichols of Toad as he was behind a fence and only signed.

Full list of photo ops

Autographs

Next up a political name. I go to the airport for Nikki Haley. She was nice as can be but did only one per.

Nikki Haley

Autograph

Next up a music venue with En Vogue, Salt N Peppa, and New Kids on the Block. Need 2 members of New Kids and all of the rest. Sadly it is a bad venue. So you have to get them at other spots. While waiting there I see rapper D-Nice. Never heard of him but got the op.

I found a spot and got Salt of Salt N Peppa but didn't see Peppa. At another spot I got New Kids member Danny Wood. Sadly I had him already. So the night is largely a bust. I had a flight for all members of En Vogue but since I saw they wore masks for their paid meet and greets I didn't bother to try.

Full list of photo ops

And finally Linda McMahon. I met her before but I wanted to get some autos. She was doing a 2 day event. 

Went the first day. Never saw Linda the whole time but I got former Governor of Texas Rick Perry, football legend Lou Holtz, Kellyanne Conway (update), Joni Ernst (senator), and the cast of the TV Show Wise Guys (John Tabacco, Cara Castronuova, and Lou Gelormino). Saw Newt Gingrich but didn't bother to chase him down for an op as I have him a couple of times.

On to day 2. Donald Trump was there that day but of course no shot at him. I do get Tommy Tuberville (senator), and Keith Kellogg (former National Security Advisor). And finally I do see Linda McMahon at the very end. She does ops, signs one item for one person, but declines autographs otherwise. This is painful cause I had an op and this is just an update. I needed autos more than the op.

To make matters worse, I was blown off 3 times by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a senator I actually would have liked a photo op with. 

Linda McMahon

Wise Guys

Day 1 photo ops

Day 2 photo ops