So Wales Comic Con was a blast! The journey was a long one for Dave and J5 (who almost made it in one piece). Thankfully the damage to J5 in transit was superficial but Dave is well versed in repairs and of course had all his tools to hand. We put in some very long days but despite the tiredness we had an amazing time talking all things Johnny Five to so many people and seeing peoples costumes and designs!
We got off to a great start with Justin Lee Collins who came bounding over, almost like he was going to start hurdling chairs in his eagerness to talk with us about J5 pretty early on. It was an absolute pleasure to chat with him about projects and he pretty was smitten with J5. What a genuinely nice guy he is, super encouraging! Let us hope he decides to do some more ‘Bring Back’ series and decides to give Short Circuit a shot!
Setup went well, in fact it probably took us longer to get J5 from the door of the hall to the exhibit area we were designated than to actually set up. Coffee run certainly took longer but was worth it after the initial hustle and bustle.
We kept things minimal, a monitor with a reel of development images and a few parts of J5. We had two chairs behind the table but in the end hardly enough time to use either! We were kept very busy. On the Sunday thanks to the talented Mike Berry of VinylDesigns, Bristol we had some very snazzy decals to hand out to people with website and Facebook group details. Incredible effort by Mike who at short notice managed to get us so many and sent guaranteed delivery by 9am! They seemed to go down well with the crowds and what’s more pleasing is there’s been some superb interest in Dave’s Wrexham J5 Build page on Facebook and the awareness of the Input-Inc team and their insane contributions continues to grow.
Special mention also to Brian Herring (@BrianHezza), operator and puppeteer of BB8 fame from the recent Star Wars films who came over to say hi and chat about J5. As R2 builders we’re also aware of Brian within the builders community, so it was great to catch up and chat droids!
So many people of all ages were taken with J5. We had so much fun discussing the films, the characters, favourite quotes, whether they were team laser or tool box…. what is your favourite? We’ll make a poll!
Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t just take its toll on us. J5 did sustain a little damage during the course of the weekend too. We discovered a few things that in order to make safer and more durable for future events we need to address, STAT! These were of course fed back to the Input-Inc team. Things like the gauge of wire used in his armature, which over time and through use stretched which eventually loosened at his wrist and at one point we managed to snap the cable even. No biggie, it couldn’t go anywhere and it can be replaced but it all takes time. Unfortunately that means rebuilding the entire arm just to fit a new cable but its part and parcel of such a project!
J5’s one hand was a little limp towards the tail end of Sunday but we were able to make temporary repairs as needed. On top of this one of his joint covers (a small disc) dropped off and we’re pretty sure a tiny bolt went spinning across the floor at one point but its reasons like this we ensure safety and take precautions before attending events. Others safety is paramount to us as operators and PLI is key to this. Some fail to understand what PLI is there for. Its not to insure our creations and droids, its for members of the public should they happen to get injured by one of our droids. This is what any responsible droid operator should have in place before attending an event. We’re happy to talk about PLI for J5 if anyone is reading this and wants to know more. As part of this we abide by the rules set before us, this unfortunately meant no one could see J5’s full potential, let loose on the floor. We couldn’t drive him around crowds as its one of the terms (understandably) and we couldn’t show off his ‘tiptoe’ feature, which at full elevation can see him reach a height of 7ft tall! On top of this he has enough torque to pull almost anything, imagine a game of tug of war with J5!
Happy accidents aside though we weren’t worried, we always ensure J5 is stationary before anyone gets in close for photos…..so many photos….but we encourage it! We are there to entertain and share the fun! We also ensured audiences were stood well back when triggering sequences which a lot of people went absolutely wild for. Seeing peoples reactions is priceless, just at that moment where you can hear them saying ‘he’s a cool replica’ but then see him bust out some shapes to his favourite jam or converse in only a way J5 can. There’s so much more in the pipe line, I’m excited for it, we’re excited for it!
Special mention to our new friend Pete! Pete was a convention go’er. He was enjoying his time wandering around, buying things for his daughter Evie and then he came upon us, we chatted for a while about J5 and the films, about what he does for a living and how it has some over lap with what a J5 project involves and before long he was helping us! He could see we we’re swamped with fellow Short Circuit fans so took it upon himself to help with crowd control! Thank you Pete for your help over the weekend, because it wasn’t just the Saturday, he joined us briefly on the Sunday morning too! You are a scholar and a gent! We look forward to seeing you again at the next one!
Speaking of seeing people again…..we hope to attend more events with J5… and friends….in the near future. We’re really hoping to become regulars for Wales Comic Con and other events too so if you happen to see us, please do stop by and say hi. Have a photo with J5 if you like, it costs nothing and its a great way to remember the day and experience.
Below are a small selection of our favourite images, our takeaways from the weekend. Thank you again one and all!
