I was shaking in my Federation issued boots!

When I attended Megacon in Orlando a couple of months ago, I had a boatload of things to get signed. While most of them were fairly routine, there were a couple of stand-outs.

One of them was my experience with Brent Spiner. He is generally known as a goofball and an impressionist. His impressions of many of the other cast members including Patrick Stewart are hilarious and an absolute treasure to witness live.

I had a number of magazines with me that I hand picked for the ST TNG cast members to sign, including 7 copies of the Official ST TNG Magazine. One of these was #6 which has a picture of Brent playing Data playing Sherlock Holmes on the Holodeck.

I had prepped the issue with a backboard on the front with a window for him to sign at the bottom of the issue over the pipe in his mouth. But when he saw the issue, he knew what it was and said that he had signed a few other copies before and wanted to know if it was ok to take it out so he could sign it a specific way.

I was certain this issue was going to get a 9.8 once graded so I was leary at first to do what he wanted, but then I thought nothing ventured nothing gained.

So I took it out and laid it in front of him. He proceeded to sign it at an angle and trailed the end of his signature into the pipe! This way it looks as though he is smoking out the signature in the picture!

This was so neat to me and I immediately was glad I had agreed to go the extra mile for this. In the process, he actually handled the issue as well so all together, it was fantastic!

The only question was whether it WOULD get a 9.8 once graded. Well, I just got it back yesterday and I am happy to say YES! So without further ado...

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the one and only CGC graded copy of this magazine in the world! Signature Series and 9.8 WP!!!

The moral of this journal? Sometimes you have to step out of your CGC comfort zone and not be a coward to get that extra special experience that you will always remember.

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