These ARE the Droids We Were Looking For!

Last week, Perfect Wifey and I happened to find ourselves touring Disney's Hollywood Studios, at the magnificent Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The DHS is a wonderful theme park, full of thrilling attractions, fun shows, marvelous decor and wonderfully themed restaurants that serve barely edible food. All of these elements make this a really great place to be (except for the food).

The highlight for me, though, is the "Star Tours: The Adventure Continues" attraction. This 3-D simulator ride takes you to many of the various hang-outs seen in the Star Wars films, and includes appearances by familiar (and beloved!) characters from the films. For those of you Star Wars fans out there that haven't experienced this attraction, all I can say is, put it on your bucket list. The ride technology really makes it feel like you are soaring through space in a galaxy far, far away, and since there are 57 different scenarios you can experience, you can ride it again and again and never get tired of it (PW disagrees with this opinion). Believe me, when Boba Fett, flying his ship, Slave I, started talkin' trash and fired on our ship, my lil' heart leaped, and when we engaged AT-AT's on Hoth, I had tears of joy streaming down my face.

Excuse me, I need a moment to pull myself together...

Okay, where was I? Oh yes! As thrilling as the Star Tours attraction was, I was even more excited to find out that the day of our visit, May 10th, was a special day. It was the day that the "Build-a-Droid Factory" was debuting at the "Tatooine Traders" gift shop, which is conveniently located at the exit of the ST attraction!

At the B-A-D Factory, you can choose from a multitude of droid parts, and assemble your very own personalized action figure! Allegedly, there are 71 different parts, and the possibilities for building your own unique droid are endless! Each figure costs about $12 each, or you can put together a 2 pack for $19. A bargain! (Again, PW begs to differ.) You also get a clam shell package to store your bounty in, and a sheet of  letter/number stickers that you can apply to the package to proclaim your  droid's "name".

I was thrilled to be able to be one of the first geeks on Earth to experience this, but of course, there were a few challenges to enjoying this experience to the fullest.

A fat guy stands on the head of a child he cut in front of,
and builds himself yet another droid.

For one thing it's a very small space, and there is only room for two people to assemble a droid at a time. For another, a lot of people want to build one.  The kids are delightful to watch: the look on their little faces as they assemble their own personal droid is priceless. Less-than-priceless, however, is the behavior of the adult Star Wars geeks with their massive sense of self-entitlement and their OCD need to build hundreds of  droids, oblivious to those patiently waiting behind them to build just one. As I was putting mine together, I asked one of the Cast Members if she had seen many adult geeks. She rolled her eyes and said, "You wouldn't believe it". Oh yes I would! Of course, she may have been including me in that group.

When I finally got a chance to build my droid, I was aware of the crowd behind me semi-patiently awaiting their turn. Consequently, I made some hasty decisions, but the result is something that I'm sure even George Lucas is kicking himself over for not thinking of first. I present: R2-PW:

All in all it was a great experience, and I can't wait to do go back and do it again.

"MAY THE FORCE (AND A FAT WALLET) BE WITH YOU!"

And geeks, if you go to  this, give the  kids a chance, and don't make a greedy ass of yourself!

The Avengers: Go to the Movie!

I am off to Florida  for a few days, so there will be no posts here for a week or so.

Before I depart, though, I must urge all comic book geeks out there to see the new film, "Marvel: The Avengers". Not since "Superman: The Movie",  have I experienced such a geek-gasim.

This movie is a fantastic film, and even people who don't care about Superheroes will enjoy it. Perfect Wifey certainly did. Although I think she may have been a bit embarrassed by her husband weeping for joy during many moments in the film.

BTW, if you  take my advice, and go to see the film, stay through the credits. There is a reference to a character I recently mentioned on this blog!

Blotted!

Sorry for the paucity of posts lately, but, for the first time in quite a spell, I am up to my ankles in work!

Unfortunately, I cannot share any of the details of what I am engaged in (Non-Disclosure agreements and what not). However, I can share the image you see at right. This is a rough sketch for one of the things I am currently working on.
This should satisfy both those of you that enjoy classic comic books, and those that want to see more of my "Work in Progress".

Note that this is a rough sketch. All the proportions, tangents, negative spaces and such will be worked out before I finish the piece.

For those  of you who are eager to know what "tools" cartoonists use, this was scribbled hastily with a Blue Col-Erase© pencil, on 8.5" X 11" typing paper. And yes, that is The Phantom Blot!

More, much more, next time. I promise!

UPDATE: One more image to tease y'all. Is this the first time The Beagle Boys  and Goofy have appeared in the same story? (Wait, maybe they did, in a Super Goof story. I await confirmation in the comments.) For those of you nit-pickers out there: Yes, these characters are way off-model, but it's only my first pass!