Super8er
01-21-2014, 12:50 PM
Hello all!
Just thought I'd share a little personal story.
So, I'm a huge Star Trek fan.
In 1994 I was living in Seattle and a freshman in college. Two of my classmates - fellow Star Trek fans - told me they were going to an upcoming Star Trek convention and asked if I wanted to come along. The whole notion of a "fan convention" was somewhat foreign to me; conventions 20 years ago were of a different nature and scale than they are nowadays. I'd never been to one but I thought it would be fun.
The convention was structured differently from modern cons. There were only two guests - Marina Sirtis and one of the ST:NG visual effects guys. I paid around $40 to get in the door, but that included one autograph from Marina Sirtis. After both guests spoke, we got in line to get autographs. I got my 1992 Impel STNG Inaugural Edition card signed and Ms Sirtis was very nice and pleasant. After that we hit the small dealers room to spend some money. I had a lot of fun.
On a side note, 1992 Impel STNG Inaugural Edition was and still is one of the best Star Trek card sets ever produced… in my personal opinion. It was a very comprehensive set that really dug into the characters and technology of the show with some really nice graphic design elements. This product really was all about the base set. Plus, the character cards were designed with some nice empty space, making them excellent for IP autographs. A sealed box can now be had for about $15 on ebay and of the 4 or 5 boxes I've purchased over the years, each one netted me 2 full base sets, 2 holograms and a complete set of the Language Cards insert set. Highly recommended.
So, fast forward exactly 20 years. There was an upcoming Comic Con in my city and Jonathan Frakes was one of the guests. Number One was my favorite character so I was excited to finally meet him. I pulled out my Impel Riker card and went to the convention. Full disclosure - I was also there to work as I'd volunteered to shoot VJ interviews for the station I work at. We got to interview Jonathan Frakes, Ray Park, John Morrison (Johnny Nitro), Adam Baldwin and Pink Ranger Catherine Sutherland. After the interviews, I got in line to formally meet Frakes and get him to sign my card. He was very nice and talked with me for a few minutes, mostly about his directing career which was what I was mostly interested in.
In the end, it took twenty years, but I finally got a pair of in-person autographs from two of my favorite characters from a show I loved. As I'm sure a lot of folks here will agree, IP autographs have little monetary value but have a great deal of personal value for fans, especially if the experience getting them was enjoyable.
Anyway, sorry for the length and thanks for reading my little story. Here's the cute couple…
http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u477/SquirrelyThings/Z%20Showcase/STNGx2_zpsf22a57eb.jpg (http://s1069.photobucket.com/user/SquirrelyThings/media/Z%20Showcase/STNGx2_zpsf22a57eb.jpg.html)
Just thought I'd share a little personal story.
So, I'm a huge Star Trek fan.
In 1994 I was living in Seattle and a freshman in college. Two of my classmates - fellow Star Trek fans - told me they were going to an upcoming Star Trek convention and asked if I wanted to come along. The whole notion of a "fan convention" was somewhat foreign to me; conventions 20 years ago were of a different nature and scale than they are nowadays. I'd never been to one but I thought it would be fun.
The convention was structured differently from modern cons. There were only two guests - Marina Sirtis and one of the ST:NG visual effects guys. I paid around $40 to get in the door, but that included one autograph from Marina Sirtis. After both guests spoke, we got in line to get autographs. I got my 1992 Impel STNG Inaugural Edition card signed and Ms Sirtis was very nice and pleasant. After that we hit the small dealers room to spend some money. I had a lot of fun.
On a side note, 1992 Impel STNG Inaugural Edition was and still is one of the best Star Trek card sets ever produced… in my personal opinion. It was a very comprehensive set that really dug into the characters and technology of the show with some really nice graphic design elements. This product really was all about the base set. Plus, the character cards were designed with some nice empty space, making them excellent for IP autographs. A sealed box can now be had for about $15 on ebay and of the 4 or 5 boxes I've purchased over the years, each one netted me 2 full base sets, 2 holograms and a complete set of the Language Cards insert set. Highly recommended.
So, fast forward exactly 20 years. There was an upcoming Comic Con in my city and Jonathan Frakes was one of the guests. Number One was my favorite character so I was excited to finally meet him. I pulled out my Impel Riker card and went to the convention. Full disclosure - I was also there to work as I'd volunteered to shoot VJ interviews for the station I work at. We got to interview Jonathan Frakes, Ray Park, John Morrison (Johnny Nitro), Adam Baldwin and Pink Ranger Catherine Sutherland. After the interviews, I got in line to formally meet Frakes and get him to sign my card. He was very nice and talked with me for a few minutes, mostly about his directing career which was what I was mostly interested in.
In the end, it took twenty years, but I finally got a pair of in-person autographs from two of my favorite characters from a show I loved. As I'm sure a lot of folks here will agree, IP autographs have little monetary value but have a great deal of personal value for fans, especially if the experience getting them was enjoyable.
Anyway, sorry for the length and thanks for reading my little story. Here's the cute couple…
http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u477/SquirrelyThings/Z%20Showcase/STNGx2_zpsf22a57eb.jpg (http://s1069.photobucket.com/user/SquirrelyThings/media/Z%20Showcase/STNGx2_zpsf22a57eb.jpg.html)