A COLLECTOR'S REVIEW OF GALAXYCON LIVE - Star Wars Autograph News

Hello Star Wars Autograph News Readers:

My name is Doug Maulden-Locke and I’ve been an avid Star Wars autograph collector for over 20 years. My signature collection ranges from a multitude of 8x10s, action figures, posters and artwork from the Star Wars films, animation and Disney+ series. My collecting process has been primarily in-person, until the pandemic hit. Prior to 2020, I had not participated in any private signings or send-ins, and always preferred the in-person experience to commemorate the moment I got an autograph and had a few moments with Star Wars signers to carry with me forever.

As we have all experienced since 2020, conventions and shows all but evaporated until only recently. But of the ashes of the lack of in-person shows to help fans cope with the lack of shows and wet our appetite for celebrity meet & greets and signings came GalaxyCon. I was aware of GalaxyCon through their shows in Richmond, VA and Raleigh, NC, and saw them more as a smaller player in the convention circuit. As they began to announce their GalaxyCon Live “virtual” events in summer 2020, which include free virtual Q&A panels and options to purchase 1:1 video chats, “virtual” photo ops and autographs (either from their pre-order options or via send-in). Their pricing varies by celebrity guest, and similar to in-person appearances, appear to be determined by each guest’s talent representation (including which options are available).

The first Star Wars guest I came upon was Sam Witwer, who was participating in a Smallville GalaxyCon Live event in September 2020. I joined the free virtual panel and purchased a 1:1 video chat. I had no technical issues viewing the free panel, which was quite enjoyable, but did find that the queue for the 1:1 chats can be a bit long – similar to waiting in a ‘real’ line at a show. Once my turn arrived, there were some minor tech issues with my setup as the GalaxyCon team couldn’t “see” me, and their Tech Support team had me switch to my mobile device to complete my chat. (Lesson Learned: I had tried to use my ‘work’ device which had some security software blocking GalaxyCon from seeing my camera. Definitely only use “personal” devices for these experiences with good internet connectivity via ethernet or strong wifi.)

My chat with Sam ultimately went great and I was sent a screen grab photo and full video of the session immediately after it was completed. Since that session, I have participated in many virtual panels featuring Star Wars guests, as well as other franchises like Transformers, The Addams Family, Star Trek, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Amazon’s The Boys. I’ve purchased a number of autographs from these events including Rosario Dawson, David Acord and Michael Biehn from The Mandalorian, Matt Lanter as Darth Vader and Ian McDiarmid as the animated Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars Rebels, Tim Rose as Admiral Ackbar in The Force Awakens, and many others from the above named franchises.

GalaxyCon has been very forthcoming about how their process works and they are very communicative as you await your order to arrive. To work around the pandemic and face-to-face restrictions for signings, they are shipping items to the guests to be signed and returned to them. Once they receive the items back from the signers, they are all inspected for order accuracy, and authenticated with JSA (if that was purchased) before shipping the signed items out to the customers. GalaxyCon sends emails informing customers of which step of the process their order is on so they’re not left in the dark. The shipping times have varied between 3 weeks and 3 months depending on the signer, and knowing where my items have been in the process has given good peace of mind.

To date, I have only purchased 8x10s from GalaxyCon (they do offer Funko Pops, mini-posters and full-sized posters), and all have delivered in yellow manilla envelopes, with the autographs housed in a plastic protective sleeve sandwiched between two sheets of cardboard for added protection. All of my autographs arrived in pristine condition with nothing ever damaged. GalaxyCon’s customer service has proven to be very responsive and most helpful as there were minor issues with a couple of my autographs once I received them (i.e., character names or requested quotes not included), and GalaxyCon were able to issue partial refunds to compensate for those issues.

I am happy to see that GalaxyCon is continuing with their virtual events even as in-person events are beginning to re-emerge. The recent Rosario Dawson event was one of their best, and I’m looking forward to their upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars event, again with Ashley Eckstein and Matt Lanter, on December 12, 2021.

For anyone looking to get a ‘convention fix’ to either see a free panel, purchase a 1:1 chat or add a new autograph to their collection from the comfort of home, these events are quite good and make it very easy.