Meeting a Moff, and the Boss…

Last week I made the trip to Yorkshire Comic Con to meet two big Star Wars names, who are also legends way beyond the Galaxy Far Far Away…Giancarlo Esposito and national treasure Brian Blessed. The Moff, and the Boss.

The Moff:

To many, the Mandalorian is the hottest Star Wars property of the Disney era. It’s almost certainly the content that has garnered the largest mainstream popularity and helped maintain Star Wars as a cultural phenomenon. That’s been in no small part due to the immeasurably cute and unapologetic Grogu, but also the story of the Mandalorian himself, Din Jarin.

Across the three seasons so far Din’s character arc has seen him progress from ruthless bounty hunter, through conflicted child of the watch, to devoted father. His ever-present foil Moff Gideon has been the antagonist of his tail and a critical ‘yang’ to Din’s ‘yin’. An aloof, unshakingly confident, manipulative and egotistical representation of the Imperial elite, Gideon is a crazed and machiavelian leader on a mission for power…and for Grogu.

Gideon, though, isnt just a token Imperial Remnant leader and pretender to the throne with a grand plan, his story is interwoven with important parts of Star Wars lore and of Din’s story. Gideon was a a key actor in the decimation of Mandalore, the night of a thousand tears, is a wielder of the Darksaber, and what’s more he’s messing with cloning tech and high ‘M-count’ DNA.

Its fitting then that a villain intended to have such a powerful presence, and deep mythological ties, was written for and is portrayed by undeniable master of his villainous craft - Giancarlo Esposito. I had the thrill and pleasure of meeting Giancarlo at Yorkshire Comci Con for a couple of autographs and a photo. I unfortunately missed his panel discussion which you can watch here, in which he shares some great views on constructing the Moff.

Rumour had it Giancarlo had travelled late and had little sleep before he came direct to the Con. I couldn’t help but think that Yorkshire also probably cast a fairly unfamiliar image to the kind of event and spotlight he was used to, but the people there to meet him were just as passionate and excited as anywhere I’m certain. Mandalorian and Breaking Bad cosplay, and huge smiles walking away from his table to boot.

He could be forgiven for not being too talkative given his travel arrangements, but he greeted us with a great smile and a warm handshake. I was interested if he remembered a particular scene that he felt most connected to Gideon, to which he replied “oh I loved all of it, I loved jumping out of my Tie Fighter”.

Moving between scheduled activities, he stopped to chat to a Darth Maul cosplayer and snatched the double-blade to show off his saber twirling skills and take a photo. I was delighted to get Giancarlo to sign a Topps Star Wars Living Card, and for him to be the first signature on a poster I’m hoping to make a big mulit-autograph project.

I didn’t get a chance to explain I was planning the poster to be a multi before Giancarlo jumped in and started signing it, so naturally he didn’t think to make it a proportionally sized signature. Instead he opted for bang in the middle and made a big sweeping and pretty elegant signature. On reflection I think this is fitting. Giancarlo carries real superstar energy, and plays characters that are well-presented, poised and unmissable, a bit like he is. It was a huge pleasure to meet him, and a golden opportunity I’m delighted we took to meet such a legend and acclaimed actor and producer on our doorstep.

The Boss:

The Phantom Menace is a Star Wars film probably known best for bringing Star Wars back to the silver screen after the Original Trilogy, and kicking off the telling of the story before THE STORY. As well as seeing well-known characters in a new time period like a young Obi-Wan and Anakin, and introducing other key new characters like Qui-Gon and Padme, one thing I loved about it as a kid were all the fun, cool and eye-catching secondary characters we got.

One of the most unmissable of these characters is Boss Nass, the booming and forthright leader of the Gungans. As well as his memorable look (inexplicably different than the rest of the Gungans), his slobber knocking cheeks, and his vocal range which oscillates between the high pitch of a distant but approching missile to the full bodied exclamation of an opera singer, Nass also turns out to be critical to the whole third act of the film.

Nass’ decision to accept Padme’s plee for support, and offer up the Gungan forces to help repel the droid invasion of Naboo, gives us the epic battle scene we all remember and creates the conditions for the way the whole film ends. Including Nass in the final frame raising the symbolic and shining orb of the “Globe of Peace”, signifying victory.

Very fittingly Boss Nass’ voice was provided by the inimitable Brian Blessed, a decision which in retrospect seems both obvious and inarguable. Meeting Brian in his homeland of Yorkshire was brilliant, and an experience filled with hilarity, insight and awe-inspiring gravitas. Again I couldn’t miss the opportunity to get Brian to sign a Topps Star Wars Living card, and to add to my new multi-poster.

Brian easily had the longest autograph queue of the day, one which didnt move very fast! As we got closer to the front it became clear that this was testament to his desire and impulse to talk to everybody that came his way to find something interesting to hear or say. On the way towards the front of the queue were were also treated on numerous occasions to a booming ‘Gordon’s Alive!”, reference of course to his character Prince Vultan’s iconic line from Flash Gordon.

When we reached the front of the queue Brian was busy finishing off a bit of banter with one of the Con staff, and having a bite of his sandwich. He’d chosen to work through his lunch break to make sure he got to everybody waiting to meet him. He was taken by both my trading card and my sisters oversized Boss Nass boxed action figure from 1999. Without even needing to ask he jumped into telling us some nuggets of insight about Boss Nass.

Upon receiving the script Brian thought Nass was Jamaican, given the cadance and form of his speech, until he realised it was a sort of language all of its own. He noted that ‘Boss Nass’ was a real-world gang leader, though I can’t find any record of this! Brian didn’t bat an eye lid, nor need clarification or spell check of the quote ‘Misa Lika Diss’, which I think reflected his real affinity, association and understanding of the character.

Our experience of reaching the front of his photo-op queue was very similar, he was finishing off a conversation with the previous person that had clearly gone on too long if he was to stick to his tight schedule…when the staff finally got to usher us in for our turn his first words to us were “stop talking!”. His hilarious and expletive-laden panel which you can view here can only be believed by watching it, and included unabashed (tongue in cheek) proclamations of his own greatness, intimate tales of his time spent with gorillas, being a trained astronaut, and the worst hygiene I’ve ever heard of at the summit of Everest.

Brian is larger than life and being in front of him, and in the audience for his panel, felt very much like relinquishing control of the situation and being temporarily swept along in his stream of thought. Similar to Giancarlo, Brian jumped in to sign my poster with a casual “BOM!”, and also penned a large and clean autograph bang in the middle next to Giancarlo. Looking at it now it almost seems that Brian refused to be upstaged even in ink, and while it takes up precious space on what I optimistically hope will become a packed poster, I can’t argue with the Boss taking up as much space as he likes, loud and commanding even on paper!

MTFBWY