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I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Monday, May 28, 2018

2018 Bay Area Maker Faire

After a grueling couple of weeks trying to finish more projects than any sane person should ever try to fit into that time, everything was loaded into trucks and trailers and we left Petaluma, southbound for San Mateo and the 2018 Bay Area Maker Faire.

We arrived fairly late on setup day and immediately set about building the display booth:
Booth Building

As that was coming together, we were also installing ED-209 in his parking space for the weekend:
ED Assembly

Even after four years or so, he's still looking pretty good:
ED Looking Good


Freddy busied himself with building a frame to hang the Grey Knight Terminator costume on:
Grey Knight Stacking

While I climbed aloft to add a few more things to the top of the booth:
Sign Install

Before too long, the display racks were filled with all of the weapon props we brought:
Gun Rack

Gun Rack 2

The rusty steel T-60 was set up as a bust display:
T-60 Bust

So was my blue HALO Spartan armor from way back:
Display Corner

And "Big Sexy," my Dark Angels Space Marine Sergeant costume:
Big Sexy

Right in the middle of the display was a stack of my books available for sale:
Book Sales
You can get a copy here (LINK) if you haven't got it already.

With that, the whole display was together and ready to go:

20180519_095217

First visitors, the San Mateo Police Department:
SMPD Chainsword

SMPD Bolt Pistol

About that time, the whole crew was lined up and ready to go:
Part of the Crew

The floodgates opened, attendees poured in, and for the rest of the weekend, my view looked about like so:
Crowd at the Booth

Folks stopped by to get signed copies of my book, other makers came to ask how to make the things we make, and countless small children and adults alike queued up to try on helmets and pose for pictures.  It was an all-around success.  Mostly it looked like this:
20180519_163145

At some point we got a couple of my Warhammer costumes dressed and walking around:
40k Portrait

We also got Freddy into his T-60 Power Armor:
Rigging Freddy into T-60

It came out pretty good:
Two Big New Things

The Grey Knight, sadly, spent the weekend in statue mode:
Grey Knight Full-Length

But he still looked pretty good:
Grey Knight Angry

The same goes for my rusty, bare steel T-60:
T-60 Hero Shot

T-60 Texture

But while I was stationed in the booth and my crew answered questions, a few of my costumes managed to get out and about.  First was Thor, the Goddess of Thunder, worn by the lovely Lady Shawnon:
Thor at the Maker Faire

Thor on Dragon Bike

Goddess of Thunder

Thor in Gloom

Thor vs. Balloon Cthulhu

Thor and Fans

Then one of my First Order TIE Fighter Pilots did the rounds worn by my cousin Drake.  Here he is driving a giant cupcake:
FOTI Driving Cupcake 1

And holding his own in a dance-off:
FOTI Dance-Off

Before shooting down some very threatening bubbles:
FOTI Bubble Attack

He made it a point to drive everything he could get his hands on:
TIE Pilot on Bike Contraption

FOTI Train Engineer

FOTI Solar Car

FOTI and DeLorean Hovercraft

FOTI and Dragon Bike

And met a few fans along the way:
FOTI Hug

FOTI and Wee Trooper

He looked like he was having a good time, but somehow he still failed to trigger the Smile Detector:
FOTI Smile Detector 2

Finally, we got Madison, one of my newer crewmembers, into the Lady Shawnon's Bo Katan costume so she could get out and see the Faire in character. First she found some other Star Wars nerds:
Madi and Jawa

Land Speeder Commandeer

Then she found all kinds of other interesting things out and about:
Make: Bo Katan

Madi and Baymax

Sweeping Mando

Somewhere along the way, the Freddy donned his T-60 and Rachel put on her vault suit so they could wander a bit:
Wasteland Walk

T-60 Fist Bump

Jailed Power Armor

So taken for all in all, this year's Maker Faire was a success and we can look forward to doing it all again next year.
Booth Crew

Stay tuned...