Yesterday, at a Star Wars fan event in Anaheim, fans were happy to stand in line to fork over some hard-earned cash to get an autograph from one of the stars of the franchise, but just how much did they pay for the privilege?
The answer is a decent amount, as it turns out that getting a scrawl from Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) at the show would set you back $125 (€115), while Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) would set you back $70 (€65).
Other stars of the movie were also there, like Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) who were charging the lower rate of $50 (€46) for their autograph, while back up the other end of the scale, Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palaptine) would have charged you $90 (€83) to get his.
When it came to getting pictures with the cast, Hamill was asking for $108 (€100) while Fisher charged $76 (€70). If you wanted them to pose together, then the price went up to $211 (€195), and while the convention in Anaheim was the first time that the two were actually offering that as an option, you would have thought there'd be some sort of 2-for-1/multibuy discount in there. Other cast members were on hand to pose with the public too, including Ray Park (Darth Maul), who would only set you back $44 (€41), while if you wanted to meet Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) then you would have needed to fork over $54 (€50).
All those prices seem a bit rich for our blood, but as one fan who not only had to pay but also stand in a queue for a long time noted, "it's on the steep side, but I've been waiting to meet him [Billy Dee Williams] since I was 3 years old". Fair point, well made.