The Tantive IV - The Star Wars Celebration

April 30 - May 2, 1999

Well, the weekend of April 30th, May 1st and May 2nd, 1999 will always be a wonderful memory for me. It was the chance in a lifetime to be involved in an international conference of about 40,000 Star Wars fans, meet Star Wars celebrities and get an upclose inspection of actual Lucasfilm props and archives.

It was literally only days before the event that I was given the opportunity to present my Star Wars custom toys and sculptures. I brought my Krayt Dragon, Queen Amidala, Prototype Imperial Guard, Vintage George Lucas, Poncho Luke, Treadwell, Santa Yoda and the Simpsons figures. I spoke on Sunday, May 2nd about our customizing group, The Forgotton Force, and how we make custom toys and how to sculpt using Sculpey.

There are many great pictures I have taken, so click on the descriptions below to see them.

Program guide with MY NAME on page 3!!! Woo Hoo!!!
Dan Madsen (President of the SW Fan Club, and organizer of the event) and me.
Steve Sansweet and me.
The free pass Steve sent (and autographed for me).
Meeting Warwick Davis, and the trading card he autographed for me.
Seeing young Anakin, Jake Lloyd (who was also asking Warwick some questions with the rest of us).
Meeting Anthony Daniels, AKA C-3PO (he liked my gold Threepio watch).
Some of the "Womprat Pack" as designated by our friends at Lucasfilm.
My presentation, showing my "Santa Yoda" figure.
Two huge posters on either side of Stage B before the crowd entered (Maul, Amidala).

Inside the "hangar" where the Lucasfilm, Hasbro, Decipher, Pepsi, Topps, etc. booths were:

Lucasfilm props EP1 Threepio, Yoda and Battle Droid.
Chewbacca posing for photos.
Me and my favorite Droids.
Me and that "vile gangster Jabba the Hutt".
Me, Maul and Jar Jar!

Phew! What a great three days! I picked up so many souveniers, and even won my Star Wars Episode One black baseball cap from the Pepsi booth. What a fluke ... it was a trivia contest, and I successfully answered the question "How many engines are on a Corellian Corvette Blockade Runner?" Well I HAD BETTER have gotten that one right -- it's the TANTIVE IV!!! The answer was 11! Much to the chagrin of the crowd, I got picked and answered it correctly! WOO HOO!!!

I think one of the best things about the weekend was meeting people face to face, fans and co-customizers of the Forgotton Force who I had only corresponded with via email. Everyone was wonderful, and being a representative from The Forgotton Force was a real honor and privilege. Having the pass to allow us to go in and out without lining up made me feel like royalty -- and being asked to make a certain member of Lucasfilm a custom was mind-blowing! (to see more details on THAT click here). Even Warwick Davis liked my Santa Yoda custom, which had a tiny Wicket ewok in Santa's sack!

So I was pleased that my customs survived the trip intact ... if you want to see more pictures, take a look at my photo album here!

Click on the datapad to sign
the Passenger Manifest

or click HERE to just view it.