Pretend it's Valentine's Day 👀 uh haha Love and Kisses and Hugs, everyone!

Valentine's Day 💌 cards for the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 lovers among us ❤️ Send this post to your favorite Astro Boy Toy 😘

joel, j. elvis, mary jo, trace and frank is a POWERHOUSE squad and also like?? they rented a genie lift?? someone smashed a guitar?? mary jo was relentlessly mocking the us news media?? the theme song slaps???

In days of old, the first-ever film celebrity I met was Michael Berryman. You might know him (you BETTER know him) from the original The Hills Have Eyes, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and The Guyver.

He was a really awesome guy, very sweet, very funny, and fun to chill with. I gave him a portrait I drew of his character from The Guyver. As you can see, this was back when I had hair and when cell-phone pics weren't terribly crisp. Nevertheless, my friend and I had a blast meeting him and hearing his stories. If you get a chance to meet the guy, do so.

Not long after that, in 2011 I met THE Doug Jones, star of basically everything Guillermo del Toro has ever made, like Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and Shape Of Water. Doug was unbelievably sweet and nice, and to my surprise, will lift you into the air for your photo op. This is both because I only weighed MAYBE 100 pounds back then, and the fact that Doug is physically very strong. He also ACTUALLY stopped by my table to look at my art, which was a huge thrill. If you get a chance to meet the guy, do so.

And lastly, here's the one that probably meant the most to me. This one is much more recent, 2015 (hence the baldness) and the most unexpected. I was walking around GenCon and suddenly, there's Trace Beaulieu. My brain shit its pants. The original Crow from Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was a delight to meet, very generous and funny, as you'd expect. Crow himself was kind of aloof.

I did my best to politely, CALMLY, tell Trace how important his work has been to me and how he's enriched my life over the years. I didn't break down and weep over the fact that his humor and heart helped me find the will to go on living during the darkest points in my life, but I think I gave him the general gist. At least as much as was appropriate in public.