"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

(And he ate their cake too...what a guy!)

alexreager | September 05, 14:19 CET

Looks like a ton of fun was had by all!

baxter | September 05, 14:44 CET

The title of that video is a massive spoiler, but Gods, that was cool. I'd have loved to been there.

Jayme | September 05, 15:04 CET

That's really neat. I'm half used to celebrities/rich people getting annoyed or upset with fans spending money on them instead of donating it to charity. I'm glad he was actually happy to take this. There's nothing wrong with donating to charity of course, but the intentions of any fan gift are for the celebrity to keep and cherish it for at least a little while. Those are usually dreams, but it looks like James Marsters is at least going to like his gift.

VeryVeryCrowded | September 05, 16:37 CET

OMG, he is so cute. I wish I could have been there to see that or be a part of it. There is only one time I ever gave a gift to a celebrity and he didn't even seem to care. So I have shied away from all that. But James just made me a believer again.

madmolly | September 05, 17:42 CET

I suspect that when a celeb meets a fan who says "I'm a huge fan!" they think "Cool! A fan!" but when someone has spent a lot of time and/or money on something it must make them think "Uh oh! Crazy Stalker alert! Will this person be breaking into my house with handcuffs and duct tape next week?"

It may seem ridiculous to us but there have been stars who have had serious problems with stalkers, remember Rebecca Schaffer?

I've read that celebs are told never to sign autographs with "Love from..." because that could fuel a stalkers obsession, for example. Sad but it's a crazy world out there.

zz9 | September 05, 18:27 CET

First time Dragon-conner question.

How much are they charging for James Marsters autographs?

geratongs3000 | September 05, 19:04 CET

That's a wonderful gift.

Shade of Pale | September 05, 19:34 CET

madmolly I'm sorry you had a bad experience gifting a celeb. Something like that would totally deflate a person, I'd think. And rather lower that celebrity in the fan's view.

Reminds me of Tin Cup - Don Johnson played a golf pro that had a public image of being a sweet, loving guy, but in reality hated kids, old people, and dogs. There's a scene where a little boy and his grandparents stop him for an autograph, and he rips into them, saying he's too busy to sign anything.

zz9 Well I seriously hope Tony didn't think I was a crazy stalker when I presented him with a Breyer model horse I'd painted to look like his horse Otto; the model had black English tack and came with the two ribbons he'd won in the first two live shows I'd ever gone to.

He did, admittedly, look a bit "Wut the hell?" when I said I had "a little something" for him and then brought out this huge boot box wrapped in metallic green wrapping paper. But when he lifted the layer of protective material that was covering the model, and he realized what it was...oh, man, I will never forget his reaction.

I didn't get a chance to see James at that con (He gave a concert Thursday night, but we were on the way back from the airport) but I've heard that he's very gracious with his fans. Joss knows how to find the good ones.

Oh, and my three autographs read:

"Hope you kept it clean...Not!" - Andy Hallett (On the cover page of a fanfic I'd written that featured Lorne)

"Much love" - Amber (Well, "much" and a heart, on my picture of the two of us)

"Thank you! XXX" - Tony (on the cover of his CD)

And all three were personalized. (I have Tony & Sarah's signatures on my copy of her book "Know Your Horse Inside Out." They both included personal messages to me - Tony's was a suggestion that I check out Otto's case history.)

ShadowQuest | September 05, 20:02 CET

Cool, geeky gift. Very nice.

I know one celebrity who over the years has thrown every single gift he gets in a box. A box he never opens other than to throw the gifts in.

One tip: if it's touring musicians you want to buy something for, sweets and chocolates tend to be much appreciated - for some reason they don't get round to snacking much on the road. And if they are arty types they tend to enjoy things you've *made* rather than bought.

Caroline | September 05, 20:08 CET

Hope it also came with shipping costs covered.

The One True b!X | September 05, 20:46 CET

The shipping cost are taken care of, no worries.

RavenU | September 05, 21:47 CET

Cool gift, JM seems well in touch with his inner nerd so that it'd be the kind of thing he'd genuinely appreciate. Personally I kind of get and don't get the gift thing in general - it clearly comes from a good, well meaning place in 99% of cases but I guess I also see the blurring of lines in people's heads as potentially a bit dodgy.

I've read that celebs are told never to sign autographs with "Love from..." because that could fuel a stalkers obsession, for example. Sad but it's a crazy world out there.

Why would they need to be told it's a bit unwise to profess love for a total stranger ? Hearts/kisses are pretty casual but to me putting "Love ..." is something you only do when you, well, love the person. Maybe i'm just not down with the kids ;).

Saje | September 05, 22:25 CET

My autograph from Nathan says "You are dirty." :)

I've had 'Love' on my autographs. Don Marshall even signed "With all my love" - and I told him I'd had a crush on him since he was on Julia. Okay, I'm old.

I rarely gift actors, but James I have and he's always gracious. I gave something to Andy once that he seemed to quite like, and I'm very glad I did.

Emma mentioned last weekend that people often give her stuffed bunnies and she doesn't know what to do with them. She's given some to children and seemed embarrassed to admit it, but I thought it was lovely. If the gift was to make her happy, then that was the result.

[ edited by redeem147 on 2009-09-05 22:41 ]

redeem147 | September 05, 22:39 CET

James was very gracious in enthusiastically accepting something that could have come off as really creepy. Good for him being such a good sport.

TamaraC | September 05, 23:16 CET

Yesss!!!A fellow Breyer collector on WHEDONesque! ShadowQuest, what Breyer mold did you use for the portrait of Otto?

James sure is nice, isn't he. I love...ooops! I mean... I like celebs who really appreciate their fans!

Little Green Kid | September 05, 23:41 CET

Felicia meets her alterego in a cosplay guild.

RavenU | September 06, 00:35 CET

I kept a big grin the whole time I was watching these 2 videos, James always seems to really care about his fans.

rehabber | September 06, 00:36 CET

Those Guild costumes are pretty impressive. Bet they loved running into her.

Speaking of DragonCon and costumes, the Firefly fan in this article amused me.

hacksaway | September 06, 00:58 CET

Litle Green Kid I used Big Ben, because he's in almost the exact same pose as one of the pics of Tony on Otto from "Lessons."

It was awesome - at first he just saw the hooves, and he frowned. Then he pulled the material all the way off, and his face just lit up. And he said, "It's Otto!" He asked me how I got it, and I told him I collect the models, and hand-painted that one to match, and had someone in the hobby make the tack, and then took him to two live shows - the first show he took second in English Pleasure, and the second show he took fifth in Other English Performance. (The real Otto took second in his first show.)

I emailed Sarah later, because I'd forgotten to include a COA or anything else w/my info on it, and she said that was ok because she'd probably lose it, because she always loses paperwork. Then she told me she put "Otto" up on a shelf in the office, "and whenever someone visits the farm they see it and ask about it." :-D

I eventually made an Otto for myself, named TH Phantom Hunter, and commissioned Candace Liddy to sculpt a "Tony head" for me, which she attached to a Helm's Deep Aragorn body. I repainted the boots & pants, made a simple shirt & a brown leather duster, and now I've got Tony riding his horse. Took a panoramic frame, removed the glass, painted the sides dark green & glued model railroad turf to the cardboard, added some "bushes" and grass along the edges...so I've got Giles riding through the English countryside.

Yeah, I'm a dork. :-P Drop me an e - it's in my profile - and I'll send you pictures.

ShadowQuest | September 06, 05:45 CET

ShadowQuest, that sounds amazing.

I gave James a gift once at a signing, it was an article cut from The Times giving the details of the British Museum's putting all their pre-First Folio Shakespearean quartos on their website, so that you could compare different revisions and track the changes he'd made as he'd made them. He seemed to like it (translation: 'Holy S**t!', loudly, and he stopped and read the whole thing). Cool guy.

[ edited by 171Oak on 2009-09-07 13:43 ]

171Oak | September 07, 13:44 CET