The Toys on 365 are celebrating "Smile and Wave at the Tourists" Day this Week. Of the dinosaurs, the Allosaurus was the obvious choice for model, since he is the most consistently outgoing and smiling of them all. Plus he has perfected the art of waving (though not necessarily at tourists). I had though we might go to the Flint Hills Discovery Center here in Manhattan. We'd probably find some out-of-towners here to see the exhibits. Alas, we didn't get around to it. Instead, the Allosaurus came with me to Crypticon KC in Kansas City Saturday. We -- meaning The Allosaurus, Dan, Dan's friend Joey, and I -- only went for the day (as opposed to the Crypticon in Minnesota in October, when we'll go for the whole weekend.)
The Allosaurus was a natural! He was very keen to see some of the celebrity guests, but mostly stayed with me rather than Dan and Joey who were lining up to talk to them and buy autographed pictures.
Many of the vendors were more than happy to let him hang out on their tables and wave at passers by. He posed with a steampunk skeleton, roadkill art pieces, and a display of DVDs made by an independent filmmaker we've bought from before.
A wonderful artist graciously took his dinosaur sketches out of the protective sleeve in his portfolio to cut down on the glare. He thought of that on his own. We didn't ask him to. Allosaurus REALLY enjoyed posing as an auxiliary hood ornament on a fancy theme car that had all sorts of stuff like skulls hanging inside and a spider sculpture on the front.
At the booth of independent filmaker, James Balsamo, he got a chance to meet a little creature who's name neither he nor I can remember, but it was a very strange name. He and I enjoyed chatting with the very friendly blonde-haired woman assisting at the booth. We can't remember her name either. I bought a DVD with their latest film on it and got a free T-Shirt and a chance in a drawing to get the opportunity to be "killed" in his next film.
Finally, as we were almost ready to leave, I stopped at a table and chatted with Jill, another independent filmmaker. She's made a few short pieces and I bought a six-minute DVD called Call Girl from her. Jill got me to pose with the DVD and the Allosaurus plucked up his courage and asked if he could pose with HER and her DVD. I totally understand. She is a very attractive young woman. The Allosaurus never even thought of waving at tourists while she was holding him; his heart was beating so fast. It was a fantastic end to Crypticon for him and for me.
