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Yodasnews.com Event Coverage of Wizard World Chicago!
Image Gallery 1 -- Image Gallery 2 -- Image Gallery 3
Post Con Report - 8/13/2007
The Star Wars presence
at Wizard World Chicago was not very strong in the force this year. Both Hasbro
and Gentle Giant were not at the convention so there is nothing new to report on
any upcoming collectibles. It did seem like there were more fans this year
compared to last year and it's always great to see a big turn out. Many of the
fans were dressed up as their favorite comic book, tv and movie characters and
we took plenty of pictures of everyone. Our personal favorite had to be the
Slave Leia. Wizard World held a costume contest this year with a prize package
worth $1,000 with such nice gifts as some Ghost Rider statues and the Obi-Wan
Clone Wars statue. Grobo and I sure wished we had dressed up for those prizes!
The winner was an 8 foot tall Apocolypse costume and he certainly deserved to
win just for keeping his balance alone.
We had the pleasure of meeting Mary Oyaya who plays Jedi Master Luminara Unduli
in Episode II and III. Mary is proud to have been a part of the Star Wars
universe and enjoys meeting fans of all ages. She was born in Kenya and has
lived in several other countries. Her character was originally sheduled to
portray a Senator but was changed to a Jedi Master, not a bad role change! She
never expected her character to be noticed in the movies let alone appearing in
comics, video games, books and attending conventions. Mary appreciates the fans
and she thanks all Star Wars fans from the bottom of her heart as they have done
many nice things for her. To find out more about Mary, please visit her website
at www.maryoyaya.com
Doug Wangler was also in attendence supportting his role as the expanded universe character Quinlan Vos. Doug was at the convention last year for his induction into the 501st Legion as an honorary member. Doug tells us that he will be working with Hasbro again to model for another EU character in 2008. There will also be a correction to his current Quinlan Vos figure. He is thrilled with the fact that he has an action figure of himself and who wouldn't be? Doug has been hitting the convention trail this year and having a good time meeting all the fans. To keep up with Doug, visit his website at www.dougwangler.com
Another Star Wars actor in attendance was Dean Mitchell who portrayed Cellheim
Anujo who was the aide to Senator Tundra Dowmeia during the latter stages of the
Clone Wars. His character has several brief appearances in Revenge of the Sith.
We weren't real sure where we had seen Dean's character before and he told us he
can be seen early in the film when the senators are gathered around to greet
Palpatine after Anakin and Obi-Wan rescue him from General Grievous. Cellheim
Anujo can also be seen on the stairs before the opera house scene. To learn more
about Dean, check out his website at
www.deanmitchell.net
Some other guests in attendance were: Lou Ferigno, Richard Hatch from the
original Battlestar Galactica, Michael Madsen, Tricia Helfer and WWE stars Bobby
"The Brain" Heenan and Virgil. Not a very strong guest list this year and we are
hoping we see a little more in 2008.
A big disappointment was lack of any Star Wars exclusives at the event. The ones
worth checking out were the Man Bat from Mattel and the Diamond exclusive T-1
Six Battlestar Galactica figure. This figure is an unpainted version of the
character and was limited to only 250 pieces. It is a great likeness of actress
Tricia Helfer and she was available at the Diamond booth to sign the figure for
fans of the show.
Next year Wizard World Chicago will be June 27th-29th. It looks like WWC will
happen before the San Diego Comic Con so we're thinking that this may bring in
more guests. SDCC has stole our thunder for too long! So now with a second
Wizard World under our belts, we look forward to covering next year's show in
June. Hope to see everyone there in 2008!
Click any of the Images below to check out some of the great shots MaxAttack and Grobo got while at the convention. It may have been a little light on Star Wars guests and exclusives this year but it was a still a great time. Look for more reports later this weekend but we will start off with our first few galleries because we know everyone loves pictures!
