Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Everyone Loves A Good Con

My husband and I just returned from Star Wars Celebration VI this past week in Orlando Florida.  Overall, it was a good con and we had a lot of fun.  The con was over four days, and they flew by before we could even really get homesick.  We went to SWC V in 2010, and we kind of knew what we were in for this year.  While the con panels and activities are very entertaining and informative, there is a power game that is played by the people who actually "run" the con.  The biggest example is line queues.  While I understand that there is a large number of people that attend the panels, this absolute need for lining us up like cattle to slaughter is unnecessary and somewhat hostile.  In 2010, the line control police (LCP) were somewhat unorganized and had us lined up anywhere there was space.  Usually shouting at us to group up four across and "leave no space" between us.  Um, it's a con.  NO ONE wants to be that close to each other.  This year, they had dedicated rooms with metal railings to line us up with again "no space between us".  Hundreds of people in the room waiting to be ushered into a much bigger room where there was no real direction and we were now in the free for all seating mind-set that most of us veteran con-goers are used to.

I made a promise to Scott and myself that I wouldn't go on my tirade about LCP's and their authoritative ways while at the con.  Mostly, I was able to keep that promise because I realize it just drags down a good time to constantly  gripe about something I can't really change.  I was struck, however in 2010 and again this year in the differences in con-goers.  Scott and I are experienced con-goers, and especially Gen Con.  I am amazed at how the SWC goers are more docile than the Gen Con goers.  There is no way the LCP's would be able to control the Gen Con goers in the same manner they control the SWC goers.  Not without actual police force members there to back them up.  I would say the same amount of people go to each con, so it's not a numbers issue.  And, it's not a space issue either. The Orange County Convention center in Orlando is HUGE.  Gigantic huge.  I can't even really fathom the square footage of this building, and even the SWC con was in a small part of the building.  The Indiana Convention Center is nowhere near that big, yet they seem to do just fine with the large crowds that attend Gen Con.  So, that's not it.  I don't think I will ever really understand why there is a difference other than gamers may be more non-conformist than Star Wars fans.

Some good things:

We got to see George Lucas on a panel when he unexpectedly showed up.  He was not expected to be at SWCVI at all, but there he was.  We got some good pics and it's always fun to hear him in his quiet, dead-pan voice, talk about Star Wars.  The room we were in held roughly two thousand people, and when he walked in, it was complete cheering and applause that would have given a jet engine take-off competition for decibel levels.

I got the cutest poster tube holder known to man.  It looks like a fat light saber and was definitely a hot ticket collectible on the dealer's floor.  I didn't anticipate, but Scott warned me, that it wouldn't fit into our suitcases.  It didn't, but luckily the flight crew did not even take notice of it and it fit into the overhead compartment (phew!).  The hotel we stayed at gave me a very large clear garbage bag to put it in, and security at the airport didn't even glance at it.  Then again, it is cardboard and plastic so x-rays should have gone right through it.  I'm really glad I didn't have to trash it and got it home just fine.

Scott got several neat animated cell pictures that are matted and ready for framing.  I got a Greedo one.  There was also an Indiana Jones cell that is pretty cool.

Scott got encased in carbonite.  There was a booth that took a detailed panoramic picture of you, and then a  laser-guided computer carves your likeness into "carbonite" just like Han Solo.  It's pretty cool, and will be a neat piece for our collection.

We saw a lot of people in really good costumes, and some we didn't really understand.  I think there may have been a cosplay crossover so that was kind of weird.  There were some really bad costumes too.  Yikes.  We were also shocked at the number of people who had tattoos.  Again, some really good, and some really bad, and some so head-scratchingly confusing that neither of us could figure them out.  There was a dedicated area in the dealer's room for tattoo artists, and there was no lack of paying customers.  I'm not sure that spur of the moment tattoos are the best, let alone the ones of the fever induced from being immersed for four days in Star Wars fandom only to get home and have buyers remorse of the giant tattoo on your kiester of Darth Vader.



It was good to get home on Tuesday, as both Scott and I came down with some food bug or virus Tuesday morning before we left.  So glad that if it was going to happen, that it happened after the con.  We made it home and for the first time since May, I got a migraine sometime during the night.  It's back to reality tomorrow with work and as always, vacation goes way to fast.    



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