First I would like to say, Henry Winkler, I’m SO SORRY dude! One of the nicest guys you could meet. The guy lives a humble life, donates to charities, and is kind to his fans. He even took time to jump out of his booth to greet fans waiting in line, when his line was moving slowly, and saying “Hi” to people passing by. Why am I saying sorry? I nearly knocked this kind soul down. I backed up for a photo in my Cosplay and knocked right into him as he was passing by. Again, sorry Fonz, totally my fault.
Celebrity Low for me would be Mark Sheppard. I walked up near his booth when it was empty and commented to him, “The Show is not the same without you.” He glanced up from poking at his phone and said, “I don’t watch the show.” I then told him he was my favorite character on the show and I hated that his mother’s character on the show, which again met with “I don’t watch the show” and quickly looked back down to surf his phone. So I’m thinking the guy is having a bad day. Saturday, our cosplay group of Luchadors came by and chanted his name and cheered for him, which were met with a similar reaction of dislike. We did the same for a number of the celebs and they would cheer and wave and Drew Powell even threw his sharpies to us in approval.
For my money, nicest Celeb hands down at Wizard World Chicago was…Let’s hear it for the one and only JAKE STORMOEN. Jake was cordial with every person that came to his booth, felt very genuine in his conversations with the fans, and took personal interest in the things that interested them. My young son went up to get his autograph and Jake took the time to talk to him about Dungeons and Dragons, which my son more recently has taken an interest in. On a side note, Jake had some nice looking metal Dungeons and Dragons dice on his counter with a sign saying, “Ask me about my dice.” You can check them out here https://www.dieharddice.com.
We stopped at his booth a couple more times when he was not busy just to chat and he was always very receptive. For me, Jake may be new to the comic convention scene, but has quickly set the gold standard for how to increase your fan base just by being the kind of guy he is.
Funniest celeb moment for me was again with Jake Stormoen. At the end of the day on Sunday, I ducked into Jake’s booth just to say thanks for being there. I told him I thought he was the nicest celeb here, he responded with, “Can you tell that to that guy over there?” Turns out it’s his boss. Without hesitation (I’m dressed in a Cheesy Hulk Hogan Cosplay), I yelled, “Hey you!” at him in Hogan’s voice. He looked at me, and I go, “Yeah you, come here, brother.” He comes up and I proceed to tell him that Jake is the most cordial and friendly celeb we ever had here and if he didn’t treat him well I would have to “Body Slam” him. His boss looked at me, grinned, pounded his chest and chest bumped me. Mean while, Jake is just laughing in disbelief.
This has been another edition of Reptile’s Random Review.
