darthskellington
Dark Lord of the Typos
All-Con 2010
This past weekend Erica and I attended All-Con 2010 in Dallas, Texas. It’s a smaller convention that caters to a little bit of everything: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Comics, Anime, Fantasy, RenFaire/SCA, Roller Derby, Burlesque, Steampunk, and more. This year we stayed in the convention hotel and stayed all three days, having a blast. While we didn’t do everything we wanted, we stayed busy every moment.
Here’s a not-so-quick breakdown of our activities:
Friday:
Arrive in Dallas 10:45 am…..register for Con, begin Volunteer work including dealer room setup, hall monitoring, and other behind the scenes set-up. Saw local con band Urizen perform live in the ballroom, complete with giant “horror” monster and robot.
2:00pm – check in to our room and unload our costumes into the room.
3:00 pm – Dealer room opens…do a quick run-through of all the tables looking for steals. Boughta figure, bust-ups, and Erica buys Cat Ears (she can now be Nekomimi Erica anytime she wants). (Nekomimi roughly means “cat mode”).
4pm – Briefly attend Victorian Basics class…..talks about Victorian costuming…..kinda need to be into Costume sewing or Victorian costumes as a pre-requisite….Erica leaves to grab a quick nap. I finish class and run through the dealer room again….purchase a Mephisto bust and a Nocturals print signed by Dan Brereton.
6pm: Attend Destination Japan, a presentation about living/working/visiting Japan. It is presented by Ardith, the sister of Todd Carlton (Author of the SW Super Collector’s Wishbook). She works for Hobbylink Japan and has lived in Japan the past 10 years. She appeared on a Japanese game show, which she had playing the background.
7pm: Attend the Ultimate Geek Challenge comptition. Sadly, we don’t make it past the first elimination question….but do get to help the contestants with answers later when they “Ask the Audience”. Lots of funny converstation.
9pm: Attend the 501st Legion business meeting..catch up on latest Garrison news…..top headline….501st party has been moved to Saturday night!
10pm: First meal of the day….dinner at the hotel bar….awesome chicken tenders and vegetarian black bean burgers!
11pm….quick stop by the Friday night dance….Erica dresses and dances as Jabba the Hutt….much to the entertainment of all present…..including the 24-hour Anime theme song hosts….who flew in from Japan. They take numerous pictures and videotape Erica walking down the hall to post on their blog feed.
12pm…..sleep……zzzzzzzzzzzz
Saturday:
5am: For some insane reason Erica wakes up and exercises in the fitness room. I sleep.
9am: Erica works volunteer desk and Laser tag room. I register for the costume contest, then begin the 501st Droid Hunt. For those not familiar with this Legion activity….Droid badges are given out to Con-goers. Legion members wearing armored costumes (including the vision impairing helmets) look around for people wearing the badges. They then ask “How long have you had those droids?” The wearer then respnds with a movie or made-up quote and hand over their badge in exchange for a raffle ticket. Participating 501st members get their own separate raffle later. Anyway, I Droid Hunt, using my new helmet mic, for a couple hours.
12 noon: Help Erica get dressed up as Princess Leia for the Ms. Star Wars competition.
1pm: Ms Star Wars Competition: contestants answer trivia, state their qualifications, and demonstrate how they would handle a problem like Jar Jar Binks. Erica wins 1st Runner Up, and receives a trophy, silk flower bouquet, and a Princess Leia mini-bust from Gentle Giant!
2pm: Deli Buffet lunch at the hotel….all the soup, salad, and sammiches you can eat!
3pm: Attempt to attend Steampunk seminar….room is packed to capacity, so we make another round through the dealer room (Erica snags some more Death Note chibi figures).
4pm..begin putting on my Edward Scissorhands costume and base layer of make-up…..have to throw my Royal Guard robes and helmet on top of this for the 501st photo shoot.
4:30pm: 501st Photo shoot….pictures taken of all present, and broken down by squads (North TX, Arkansas, etc)
5pm: Erica attends Don’t Lose Your Geek Card trivia contest….and wins! Wins Catwoman and Cobra posters, Superman PVC, Stormtrooper bust-up and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank!
6pm: Return to 501st room for public Droid Hunt giveaway. Erica has several raffle tickets, but does not win. Following this is Legion prize picking for Droid Hunt participants…..Person with most badges picks first among prizes..then 2nd..etc etc. Prizes are donated form collection of Todd Carlton. I get a British ROTJ placemat by Icarus and a 7-11 cup from ROTJ, both featuring Royal Guards.
6:30: quickly finish suiting up as Edward Scissorhands and get lined up for the contest. I’m one of the first 10 contestants to walk (there were maybe 55 contestants total). Numerous awesome costumes entered, including Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop, 9-Tailed Fox from Naruto, several Repo: The Genetic Opera entries, and more. I win 1st Place in the Horror/Moster category..and get a snazzy trophy!
9pm….following the contest winner announcements…we walk around the hotel in costume for photo-ops…check out the 24-Hour Anime Theme Song Marathon, and then take a quick break.
11pm-4am: 501st Legion party!…on the same night as the time change! Good food, drink, an conversation had.
4am: sleep…..zzzzzzzz
Sunday:
9am: Jedi-Cole’s Morning After fandom talk show
10am: Charity auction: items from Jedi Cole’s and Todd Carlton’s collections are auctioned off, starting at 10 cents. We win several lots, including vintage 7-11 and Burger King cups, pencil toppers, posters, and more!
12 noon: Last run through the dealer room. Meet and get autographs from Larry Hama (GI Joe and Wolverine comics), and John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox on Enterprise). Both very nice. We then stop by a fellow Legion member who makes costumes and get Erica fitted for her future Imperial Officer uniform.
1pm: Check out and drag everything to the car. Then we catch the last two songs of the 24-Hour Anime Theme Song Marathon (total played: 694!)
4pm: Volunteer Event: Con Volunteers get awarded with free prize drawing . Get some shirts, comics, and plush animals.
5pm: Help with con-take-down: we carry and load stuff up into a U-Haul at the loading dock.
6pm: Erica and I have dinner at The Fish Shack, an awesome seafood restaurant owned a 501st friend’s sister.
7pm-11pm: drive home
2am: get up and go to work…..with only 2 hours sleep.
Purchases:
Erica:
10 Death Note Chibi figures
4 Hello Kitty mini figs
Cat Ears
Queen Amidala Europena Stationery fun pack
SW treat sacks
Imperial Officer Rank badge a Legion member made for her
Warren:
T-Shirt featuring a samurai in feudal Japan being bombarded by UFOs
Vintage 7-11 and BK cups, including plastic and glass variations
ESB Boba Fett candy head, Micro Machine mini-heads, pencil toppers and bust-ups at auction
Vintage Droids C-3PO PVC from Comics Spain
Signed Dan Brereton Nocturnals Print
Mephisto Bust
Vintage Power Droid figure
Jedi Con 2001 C-3PO figure
Bootleg DVDs: Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, Nick Fury (starring David Hasslehoff), and Legend of the Superheroes (some sort of live action Justice League type specials from the 70s).
Winnings:
Erica:
Leia Bust, Trophy, and flowers
Stormtrooper bust-up
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank
Death Star PEZ
Cobra and Catwoman posters
Superman vs Despero bust-up
2 free tix to Scarborough Ren Faire
All-Con 2010 shirt
Warren:
Costume Contest Trophy
Execute Order 66 poster
Royal Guard placemat and cup
Plush All-Con alligator & moose.
You can find our pictures (including pictures of our purchases and winnings if Erica has posted them yet) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48811827@N00/sets/72157623628702574/
Other people’s awesome sets can be seen below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21057795@N08/sets/72157623508121733/
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=all-con&s=rec
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?i...85&s=20&hash=895f13ac80d0422a80cdd5242d0fdf7d
There should also be other photo links on the All-Con website….but I can’t find them at present.