Dan Baker's DragonCon 2008 Report

Thought I'd repost Dan Baker's excellent summary of our R2 Builders experience at DragonCon 2008:

"Yeah, we had a great time at Dragon*Con. Lots of interesting people, and lots of interest in R2-building. Attending members were Andy Schwartz, Doug Dixon, Chris Lee, Oscar Banos, Blake Mann, Dan Baker, Dale (LastName?), Steele Smith, Dan U., Doug Poston, with special guest Barry Clark and his Dalek. A few other members dropped by to say hi as well.

The line forming to the book signing down a nearby hall helped form a "droid corral" in which the astromechs got to zip around and interact with the crowd, along with Chris Lee perving on all the girls with Andy's B9 and its laptop-activated voice. "Hey you! In the black costume! Come closer. Closer. I am VERY happy! Yes! Yes! Yes! Is that your hand on my rear vent? My sensors tell me you are NOT a natural blonde!" were among the more colorful phrases the 6.5 foot tall robot enticed the audience with.

The panel was very well attended, especially with it being at 8:30pm on Sunday night. Chris Lee had an excellent slideshow ready, and many good questions were asked.I wouldn't be surprised to see ten new people join from D*Con alone.

Personally, I had my unfinished droid there, and people responded to it with as much glee as a fully finished unit. Just to see it tooling around was a blast. Of course, the carpet bogged us all down, but a few of us got out enough to take some great pics.

Nice job guys! See you all next year!

Dan Baker
www.bakercraft.net"