Supporting himself with a cane, Michael Rooker still managed to grab hold of the spotlight on stage at New York Comic Con along with his fellow stars of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The 68-year-old actor known for playing roles like Yondu in Guardians and Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead stole the show despite having a only a brief part in Vol. 3.Part of it was his willingness to talk like everybody’s favorite grandfather who has simply lived too long to keep giving a shit. Another part was his willingness to make interesting use of discarded jewelry. Who was most likely to fall asleep on set? All eyes turned to Rooker. Who was most likely to injure themselves on set? Again, semi-jokingly, Rooker. Just 10 minutes into the panel, Rooker looked down in front of his chair. He got up slowly and picked something up from the stage floor.“I found an ear thing, one of those things that go in noses and ears?” His co-stars were a bit flummoxed. “A piercing?” his co-stars suggested. Rooker laughed, then proceeded to stick the ring in between his nostrils and brandish it for the whole crowd to see.“I’ll auction it off,” Rooker said while taking the ring out of his nose.The assembled actors weren’t necessarily supposed to discuss much, or anything, about their time helping create one of the more recent Marvel hits. The ongoing actors’ strike continued to make this year’s NYCC a somewhat awkward occasion. Assuming there was no option to even make a mention of the Marvel film, the hosts cheekily called the assembly the “security guards of the Milky Way” panel.And yet at times the actors seemed to ignore the strikes completely. Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula, said she would spend four and a half hours every day for her makeup. Pom Klementieff and Chukwudi Iwuji, as Mantis and the High Evolutionary, respectively, said they only had to spend two and a half hours in the chair for each day of filming. Sean Gunn, who did the voice lines for the young Rocket, offered some insight into how the filmmakers animated the younger raccoon. Gunn said they only did some motion capture for young Rocket that required he slip into a motion capture suit. The rest was simply “motion reference,” which he called “pretty easy.”Gillan also offered a hint for how she came up with Nebula’s electronic-strained voice, saying that director James Gunn asked her to do a gravelly voice “like Clint Eastwood,” adding she was given a lot of leeway to make some “off-kilter” choices how she portrayed the blue-skinned warrior. When asked how it was to play characters that aren’t human, Rooker said it was more about how the characters are humanized, rather than how they aren’t.“[Yondu] likes Terrans,” Rooker said, offering more insight into Yondu’s central relationship for the entire Guardians trilogy. He likes the way they play. He likes their little doodads and toys,” Rooker said. “He wants to be a real dad to Star-Lord.”“It has to be grounded, right,” Iwuji said. “Everybody has such recognizable human traits, and its when those moments of humanity come out that it really just shows off these characters.”It seems the Guardians cast really had no limits where they would go. That usual superfan call from the crowd of “We love you, Michael” was met with a scoff from Rooker.“Love, lust, people get it mixed up,” he said.Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.