Empire Con - Saturday!

Empire Con has its first convention this weekend, the show presenters also bring the London Film & Comic Con, this is more a simple hotel event without the hassle of Star Wars Celebration.  You can check info at: https://empireconla.com.  It ends tomorrow, Sunday, December 8th at the Marriot LAX.  There were wanted posters of various bounties to be collected with selfies for raffle tickets to the Peter Mayhew Foundation around the convention area.  It is an escalator ride to Empire Con and this is the only event I have ever attended that gave me two autographs when I got my lanyard.  

Empire Con, photo by the author.

There were a number of tables along the hall.  Later, there was Tait Fletcher and Sala Baker.  On the other side of the hall was Charlie Bailey and Mike Quinn.  Inside the main room was Frazer Diamond and the Peter Mayhew Foundation table with the Chewbacca mask and posters.  Check out: http://petermayhewfoundation.org.  There was the groups like Rebel Legion, the 501st, and Mandalorian Mercs.  On the side were tables for Angela Staines and Alan Fernandes. Then, some rooms for panels like “Talk to the Hand” with Mike Quinn and David Barclay, and Voices of The Force with Jim Cummings, Jennifer Hale, James Arnold Taylor, Christopher Sean, and Daniel Roebuck.  

Tait Fletcher may be imposing, he said I was like I was at my first convention(!), and he was Alpha Trawler, who gets into a fight with The Mandalorian in the first episode, and Paz Vizla, wielding the heavy gun in Chapter 3!  He has also been in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), an episode of Westworld, and John Wick (2014).  Also sharing his table is Sala Baker, he was the Klatooinian Raider Captain in Chapter 4, he played Sauron in Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and in the other Lord of the Rings films.  Sala is a stunt performer in Deadpool 2 (2018) and Captain America: Civil War (2016).  It was great to see both actors.  

Sala Baker aka Klatooinian Raider Captain, photo by the author. 

Mike Quinn was on the other side of the Tough Guy Table, but he has been in some epic movies!  Quinn is of course Nien Nunb in The Force Awakens (2015), ShekNa the Slave Master in Dark Crystal (1982), and was one of the Helping Hands in Labyrinth (1986).  Check out his work at Quinn Zone Studios at www.quinnzonestudios.com.  Frazer Diamond also met with Star Warriors, he was the Jawa in the Sandcrawler where C-3PO goes, “No, don’t shoot!”  Diamond was 7 when he played a Jawa.  I was impressed since he is the son of Peter Diamond who worked on stunts with Doctor Who, stunt coordinator for the original trilogy, and arranged stunts for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).  He died in 2004.  It was really cool to see Frazer, “Utinni!”  

Another interesting person I met was Kevin Thompson who played Chukha-Trok in The Ewok Adventure (1984).  He was also the Bear in Blade Runner (1982).  Thompson was donating some of his proceeds to the Peter Mayhew Foundation.  At the Peter Mayhew Foundation table was Christopher Sean.  He plays Kaz Xiono in Star Wars: Resistance.  On the panel, he mentioned how important it was to have Asian representation in Star Wars.  I mentioned that Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress (1958) was influential for Star Wars (1977).  I also met James Arnold Taylor and noted his hosting jobs at Celebration.  He hosts the Talking to Myself The Podcast on Youtube if you want to learn about voice acting, character acting as the panel members described it.  

Peter Mayhew Foundation table, photo by the author.

Jim Cummings voices Hondo Ohnaka, now in Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run in Galaxy’s Edge, but he is also the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh and played him in Christopher Robin (2018).  There were a number of artists at Empire Con including Matt Busch, Cat Staggs, and Tom Hodges.  A limited print of Baby Yoda was offered by Hodges.  There was also rooms of posters and memorabilia.  I met Mara Jade, the former Emperor’s Hand, in the form of Katherine Winchell part of the Rebel Legion.  This was an exciting opportunity to meet personalities from the Star Wars films and television programs especially with The Mandalorian and soon Rise of Skywalker!  

#EmpireCon, #MikeQuinn, #SalaBaker, #PeterMayhewFoundation