Con Report. (Finally!)
Jun. 26th, 2004 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkThe juicy details of day one of CONduit. No photos, as I've lost my pics. They'll turn up though...
Day One:
Costume: Serapha, as a captain of FLEET, (complete with really shiny shoes and sunglasses and all.)
Events of note: Chain mail making, Getting arrested, Klingon Rite of Ascension, Seeing my boss mocked.
So the whole thing began with me driving down far, far, far too early. I didn't want to have to wait in line to get my badge, and I didn't want to miss a single thing. So I spent about an hour after getting the badge just sitting around. They were still setting up stuff. I occupied myself drawing on the back of the badge, though they make you wear them right way around, sadly.
The reason I didn't want to be late was that the very first lot of workshops and panels included the one on chainmail, which I wanted to go to. Am very glad I didn, not that I think I'll be doing a lot of mailing, but now I know how to do it, from winding wire to make the links on up. Made about 100 links and started a kind of armlet thing with a basic 4 in 1 pattern. I may actually finish it one of these days, but I don't have my own set of pliers.
I wandered around the dealer's room, drooled a bit at the weaponry, eyed the anime, poked about a few other things, but there wasn't really much of interest there. The art room had some really nifty stuff. Lots of variety, even a few furry artists, though CONduit had more anime presence than furry. Only a couple of furs that I saw there anyhow.
I went and got JJ'c copy of the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles signed by Tracy Hickman next, plus I got a promotional DVD of his latest thing, which he's doing with his wife Laura, who was also there, signed by the both of them. A promotional DVD for a book. He he he. This amuses me greatly. I still haven't looked at it.
Out in the halls I bumped into a girl cosplaying as somebody from the anime Helsing. I have never seen it, so I didn't recognize her, but she let me know about it a bit and asked if I was a vampire. Of course I said yes, since I was being Serapha that day. She was all "Yes, I've wanted to do this all day, and there are no other vampires here." (True. I didn't see a single vampire the whole con.) Then she draws herself up and quotes something that must be her character's line, about me needing to go back to hell where I came from, or something along those lines. I was quite amused, and of course played my part, backing away from her cross and hissing dramatically at her. He hehe.
the next amusing thing was seeing Selphie, from Final Fantasy XIII, get arrested by the klingons. Apparently Quistis and Zell had it in for her. (Those three outfits were great. Some of the best cosplay I saw the whole con.) The klingons were the main group doing security, and they were really fun people, as I found out in more detail later on... She was sentenced to firing squad by silly string. He he he.
Little did I know that a worse fate was in store for me. The Helsing girl had me arrested only minutes later! And she didn't pick the silly string, no she knew that an undead being like myself had no fear of firing squads. She had me tortured! I was forced to perform Crocodile hunter imitations before they'd let me go! And I'm lousy at imitations, let alone trying to do a deranged Australian... It was pathetic, let me tell you.
I was finally released, and wandered the halls some more. There were pelnty of panels going on, but nothing I really had to see, and I wasn't in the mood to sit down and listen. I just eyed neat costumes and meandered. There was an amazing Red Sonja outfit that managed to look like Red Sonja, and be quite sexy, /without/ showing all. It was actually almost modest. He he he.
The next event I had to go see was the Klingon Rite of Ascension. If you're a trekkie, you probably have some idea of what it's about, but for the rest of you I'll explain. The Rite of Ascension is actually something you go through several times at different levels. It's a growing up kind of thing, from what I understand. The one going on at the con was the third rite of ascention, which is the one where a youg Klingon officially becomes a warrior. So all the members of the Klingon group who were to ascend where there. The other Klingons formed a double line of three pairs holding "pain sticks" They were faked ones, of course, with buzzers for the appropriate noise. But it still hurts to be poked with enthusiasm by one. And they were quite enthusiastic about it. So the klingons to be initiated go through, and as they pass the first pair they say "Today I am a warrior" You're supposed to say it in Klingon, but they allowed English for the people who didn't want to try and tackle the authentic pronunciation. You get poked, act suitably pained, and move on to the next pair. "I must show you my heart," is the line there. And then "I travel the river of blood" for the last pair.
After the actual Klingon folks went through they asked one of the con guests, an actor who, I guess, played a Romulan in one episode of the show, to pass through and become an honorary warrior. He hammed it up, quite amusingly. Then they sort of threw it open for anybody who wanted to particpiate. (Including the one small child present, but I think the pain sticks scared her, as she declined.) I, of course, had to go through. A bad photo of this exists, but I can't seem to find my con pictures. They've wandered off somewhere. It was fun, anyhow. I thought that doing that as Serapha was quite apt. I gave my name as "Captain Serapha Rhiannon, of FLEET" and put a loving emphasis on the word "blood" as I did the rite. *grin*
Klingons are the funnest trekkies I know. He he.
I was then supposed to meet Tom, the guy who had agreed to let me crash in his room. But I left him a message and instead went to Monster in an Hour, because I'd discovered that my boss, Lynne, the Director of the Treehouse, was going to be one of the artists there.
Monster in an hour is where several of the guest artists draw a creature in an hour, the drawings to be auctioned off to raise funds for the next year's convention. This year's creature was Godzilla. The audience is supposed to participate by recommending details of the monsters. Our group ended up picking Mecha Godzilla, and, at a very odd suggestion, insisted that clockwork be somehow included. Clockwork Mecha Godzilla. Then one artist stunned us all by asking what Godzilla looked like. O.o!
The results were amusing. Artist 1 did a very accurate picture of the actual Mecha Godzilla, with no clockwork in him, attacking big ben. He hehe. Artist 2 was the clueless one, and did a nifty but unrealated T-rex looking thing that looked like it was made of blued steel. She didn't finish it. Artist 3 did a spiffy semi-abstract sketchy thing that was all gears and wheels and shadows. Neat. And artist 4 was Lynne, children's book illustrator, who usually draws sweet fluffy stuff.
The moderator running it kept poking fun at her for it too. "Going to put in any butterflies? Maybe some cute flowers and mushrooms?" And admittedly it was looking cute. A dragon-ish thing with a clock in it's chest, on little treads. But after that it got cuter. She did indeed put in the mushrooms, flowers, and butterflies. He he he. I liked it.
After that, I looked around for Tom, but he was nowhere to be seen. So I wandered up to the next event, Cooking in Middle Earth. The recipes were rather odd, but the whole thing amused me, plus I was hungry. Discovered the free food in Consuite thing, which kept me fed the rest of the con, thankfully. The hobbit mushrooms were great, and nobody wanted them, so I had lots. The lembas bread was good, but not at all right, as far as I'm concerned. The drinks were interesting. The entdraught was just lime-ish, and not very inspired, but the fake mead was quite interesting.
After that was the ice cream social. They were having the mascot contest, but only one person had entered, so they called for extra entries. The mascot theme was "CONduit Reloaded" and I wasn't even remotely Matrix-ish, but I guess the FLEET military thing was close enough, so I volunteered. I stood at parade rest, trying to be in character, forever, and did a lot of saluting to people. It was amusing, but not really all that fun. Next year I plan to have a costume to enter in said contest.
The final official event of the day was the DDR contest. Passed round one, but got totally owned on round two. Ah well
Then up to the room for the night, where I didn't actually sleep much, but then who sleeps at a con?
Day One:
Costume: Serapha, as a captain of FLEET, (complete with really shiny shoes and sunglasses and all.)
Events of note: Chain mail making, Getting arrested, Klingon Rite of Ascension, Seeing my boss mocked.
So the whole thing began with me driving down far, far, far too early. I didn't want to have to wait in line to get my badge, and I didn't want to miss a single thing. So I spent about an hour after getting the badge just sitting around. They were still setting up stuff. I occupied myself drawing on the back of the badge, though they make you wear them right way around, sadly.
The reason I didn't want to be late was that the very first lot of workshops and panels included the one on chainmail, which I wanted to go to. Am very glad I didn, not that I think I'll be doing a lot of mailing, but now I know how to do it, from winding wire to make the links on up. Made about 100 links and started a kind of armlet thing with a basic 4 in 1 pattern. I may actually finish it one of these days, but I don't have my own set of pliers.
I wandered around the dealer's room, drooled a bit at the weaponry, eyed the anime, poked about a few other things, but there wasn't really much of interest there. The art room had some really nifty stuff. Lots of variety, even a few furry artists, though CONduit had more anime presence than furry. Only a couple of furs that I saw there anyhow.
I went and got JJ'c copy of the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles signed by Tracy Hickman next, plus I got a promotional DVD of his latest thing, which he's doing with his wife Laura, who was also there, signed by the both of them. A promotional DVD for a book. He he he. This amuses me greatly. I still haven't looked at it.
Out in the halls I bumped into a girl cosplaying as somebody from the anime Helsing. I have never seen it, so I didn't recognize her, but she let me know about it a bit and asked if I was a vampire. Of course I said yes, since I was being Serapha that day. She was all "Yes, I've wanted to do this all day, and there are no other vampires here." (True. I didn't see a single vampire the whole con.) Then she draws herself up and quotes something that must be her character's line, about me needing to go back to hell where I came from, or something along those lines. I was quite amused, and of course played my part, backing away from her cross and hissing dramatically at her. He hehe.
the next amusing thing was seeing Selphie, from Final Fantasy XIII, get arrested by the klingons. Apparently Quistis and Zell had it in for her. (Those three outfits were great. Some of the best cosplay I saw the whole con.) The klingons were the main group doing security, and they were really fun people, as I found out in more detail later on... She was sentenced to firing squad by silly string. He he he.
Little did I know that a worse fate was in store for me. The Helsing girl had me arrested only minutes later! And she didn't pick the silly string, no she knew that an undead being like myself had no fear of firing squads. She had me tortured! I was forced to perform Crocodile hunter imitations before they'd let me go! And I'm lousy at imitations, let alone trying to do a deranged Australian... It was pathetic, let me tell you.
I was finally released, and wandered the halls some more. There were pelnty of panels going on, but nothing I really had to see, and I wasn't in the mood to sit down and listen. I just eyed neat costumes and meandered. There was an amazing Red Sonja outfit that managed to look like Red Sonja, and be quite sexy, /without/ showing all. It was actually almost modest. He he he.
The next event I had to go see was the Klingon Rite of Ascension. If you're a trekkie, you probably have some idea of what it's about, but for the rest of you I'll explain. The Rite of Ascension is actually something you go through several times at different levels. It's a growing up kind of thing, from what I understand. The one going on at the con was the third rite of ascention, which is the one where a youg Klingon officially becomes a warrior. So all the members of the Klingon group who were to ascend where there. The other Klingons formed a double line of three pairs holding "pain sticks" They were faked ones, of course, with buzzers for the appropriate noise. But it still hurts to be poked with enthusiasm by one. And they were quite enthusiastic about it. So the klingons to be initiated go through, and as they pass the first pair they say "Today I am a warrior" You're supposed to say it in Klingon, but they allowed English for the people who didn't want to try and tackle the authentic pronunciation. You get poked, act suitably pained, and move on to the next pair. "I must show you my heart," is the line there. And then "I travel the river of blood" for the last pair.
After the actual Klingon folks went through they asked one of the con guests, an actor who, I guess, played a Romulan in one episode of the show, to pass through and become an honorary warrior. He hammed it up, quite amusingly. Then they sort of threw it open for anybody who wanted to particpiate. (Including the one small child present, but I think the pain sticks scared her, as she declined.) I, of course, had to go through. A bad photo of this exists, but I can't seem to find my con pictures. They've wandered off somewhere. It was fun, anyhow. I thought that doing that as Serapha was quite apt. I gave my name as "Captain Serapha Rhiannon, of FLEET" and put a loving emphasis on the word "blood" as I did the rite. *grin*
Klingons are the funnest trekkies I know. He he.
I was then supposed to meet Tom, the guy who had agreed to let me crash in his room. But I left him a message and instead went to Monster in an Hour, because I'd discovered that my boss, Lynne, the Director of the Treehouse, was going to be one of the artists there.
Monster in an hour is where several of the guest artists draw a creature in an hour, the drawings to be auctioned off to raise funds for the next year's convention. This year's creature was Godzilla. The audience is supposed to participate by recommending details of the monsters. Our group ended up picking Mecha Godzilla, and, at a very odd suggestion, insisted that clockwork be somehow included. Clockwork Mecha Godzilla. Then one artist stunned us all by asking what Godzilla looked like. O.o!
The results were amusing. Artist 1 did a very accurate picture of the actual Mecha Godzilla, with no clockwork in him, attacking big ben. He hehe. Artist 2 was the clueless one, and did a nifty but unrealated T-rex looking thing that looked like it was made of blued steel. She didn't finish it. Artist 3 did a spiffy semi-abstract sketchy thing that was all gears and wheels and shadows. Neat. And artist 4 was Lynne, children's book illustrator, who usually draws sweet fluffy stuff.
The moderator running it kept poking fun at her for it too. "Going to put in any butterflies? Maybe some cute flowers and mushrooms?" And admittedly it was looking cute. A dragon-ish thing with a clock in it's chest, on little treads. But after that it got cuter. She did indeed put in the mushrooms, flowers, and butterflies. He he he. I liked it.
After that, I looked around for Tom, but he was nowhere to be seen. So I wandered up to the next event, Cooking in Middle Earth. The recipes were rather odd, but the whole thing amused me, plus I was hungry. Discovered the free food in Consuite thing, which kept me fed the rest of the con, thankfully. The hobbit mushrooms were great, and nobody wanted them, so I had lots. The lembas bread was good, but not at all right, as far as I'm concerned. The drinks were interesting. The entdraught was just lime-ish, and not very inspired, but the fake mead was quite interesting.
After that was the ice cream social. They were having the mascot contest, but only one person had entered, so they called for extra entries. The mascot theme was "CONduit Reloaded" and I wasn't even remotely Matrix-ish, but I guess the FLEET military thing was close enough, so I volunteered. I stood at parade rest, trying to be in character, forever, and did a lot of saluting to people. It was amusing, but not really all that fun. Next year I plan to have a costume to enter in said contest.
The final official event of the day was the DDR contest. Passed round one, but got totally owned on round two. Ah well
Then up to the room for the night, where I didn't actually sleep much, but then who sleeps at a con?