5 Ways to Fan Fest: Part One

By George Rose

September 21, 2017

Cue the Beach Boys...

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Then I remembered my $500 budget. The most autographs I’ve gotten at one convention is four celebs (Philly Comic Con 2017). At this show I was hoping to get almost ten autographs from six celebrities. With the average price of autographs being $50, that doesn’t leave much money for photo-ops or shopping. Since I already bought most of my Funko Pops in advance to have ready for the convention, I didn’t need anything new to get signed. If there were no vendors selling cool things, then I wouldn’t feel bad passing up on those cool collectibles because I’m too poor to bring a more flexible $1,000 budget. No shopping meant I could spend almost the entire $500 on celebs and do some real damage. Once I figured this out, I headed right for the autographing area at the far back wall of the show floor.

The first celeb I saw was David Mazouz, little Bruce Wayne from the show Gotham. I’ve never met a teenage celeb before and I was nervous I would immediately be arrested for harassing a minor. I could tell he was a nice guy from the way he smiled and greeted fans, so I took a deep breath and got in his line. Ten minutes later, I was at the front. The sign said $40 for an autograph, $40 for a selfie or $70 for the combo. Being one of the smaller celebs at the show and one I imagine will be around for many years to come (since he’s only 16 years old), I figured I’d skip a picture this time around. He’ll be much hotter in a few years, I’ll do it then. For now, I went up and shook his hand and told him he has the coolest job in the world. He agreed and took my Batman Unmasked Funko Pop from me. I told him I hope he is the first of many Batmen I can get to sign it and he said that was a great idea. I told him to stay humble and left.




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Ok, that was pretty harmless. I was feeling proud of myself for not harassing a child because, you know, that’s something I have to struggle not to do. Things like that don’t come easily to me. Knowing that I probably had a limit to staying classy, I figured I should keep things moving. Next up was Robbie Amell, the one person I was most excited to meet at this convention. Much to my disappointment and to his protection, he was signing autographs with his wife, Italia Ricci. She was stunning, he was gorgeous and I didn’t know if I wanted to kill her or join in on their romance. They had just gotten back from professional photo-ops so their line wasn’t full yet.

$40 autograph, $30 selfie or $60 combo. I gave the assistant $100 so I could get a picture and two autographs. Robbie and Italia took turns helping each other. If someone was there for Robbie, Italia took the picture, and vice versa. I gave Italia my phone and she took the picture of me and Robbie horizontally. Just before she handed it back I said, “Oh, I was hoping for a vertical picture so that I can get this whole work of art in the shot.” I waved my hand over Robbie’s statuesque frame and she laughed. As Robbie was signing my custom “Team Robbie” hat and my Firestorm Pop, I told Italia how lucky she was to be married to Robbie and the two laughed. I also told Robbie he was the hotter Amell and said I’d see him again on Sunday for the Amell family photo-op. They were both so sweet I figured I’d leave before I offended them.


Continued:       1       2       3       4

     


 
 

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