2nd and 1st place in Ms. Star Wars! by
wookiee_cookiee, on Flickr
Here are the pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48811827@N00/sets/72157626198415771/
Thursday Warren and I helped with set up, at All-Con if you volunteer at least 8 hours you earn a free badge for next year. So basically you buy your badge the first year you go and then volunteer, you never have to buy a badge again!
Friday I volunteered in the morning, setting up the volunteer desk and answering people's questions, then checking badges at one of the entrances.
Warren and I went to the game show "Fandom At Random Password", where Warren was selected to be a contestant. His opponent was his friend Phil, who has a Vader costume in the 501st Legion. Phil won the game, and his son got a cool Star Trek Enterprise ship.
After that we went to the dealer room where I got a skull pattern fascinator from Dream Hats, a pair of Quidditch goggles, and a giant Scooby Doo plush. (I am planning to use Scooby for my 2012 All-Con costume)
Later Warren and I were selected to play "United States of Geekdom's Ultimate Geek Challenge", along with 2 other contestants. I placed 1st and Warren came in 2nd, so we must be very geeky!! I won a Master Replicas .33 scale ESB Han Solo Blaster, and Warren won a Diamond Select Spider-Man 3 bust.
Then we went to a showing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Luckily we got there early and snagged a seat because it was standing room only! It was great to hear 100+ nerds singing in tune to all the great songs. Plus comments from the crowd made it feel like Mystery Science Theatre 3000, but with a good movie!
Japan's MIQ performed a concert on Friday night, she is the queen of Anime singers, known for the theme songs for "Gundam 0083", "Area 88", "Xabungle Graffiti" and more! She performed as well as her protege group, MIQ Force. We were really glad to have them in Dallas, after the earthquake and tsunami happened right before the convention.
Saturday I wore my Princess Leia costume.
The 501st Legion had the Droid Hunt that day, so Warren wore his Imperial Guard and gave out raffle tickets to those with droid hunt badges. I didn't have my badge for very long as this stormtrooper spotted it and made me give it up!
I went to the Learn to Knit panel, where I successfully learned how to knit. Hopefully with enough practice I can make some R2 hats soon!
Then we went to "JediCole's Prize Pile" and while we didn't get a chance to compete for the huge prize pile, we had a good time watching the contestants try to beat Cole's massive trivia knowledge. Alas, Thomas did not beat Cole, but did answer 6 out of 10 final round questions correctly, almost beating Cole's score of 8!
Then the event I had been waiting for, The Ms. Star Wars contest! I placed runner-up in 2010, so I was there to win that crown! There were 9 contestants total, including a Twilek, Queen Amidala and a Jedi. They made us compete in challenges, including dancing for the mighty Jabba, using a lightsaber to deflect Nerf darts shot by Boba Fett, Star Wars Jeopardy, and the worst challenge of all, we had to sing The Life Day song from The Star Wars Holiday Special. Luckily after much audience input, they let us sing it as a group, instead of each of us singing the song and making everyone hear it 9 times!
The competition was fierce, but I won!! I got a crown, sash, silk flowers, a trophy, a custom Slave Leia statue, and a goody bag of SW pencil tins, stickers, temporary tattoos and an easter egg coloring kit! And I get to be a judge in 2012.
It was great.
There was a private non All-Con St. Patrick's Day party going on in the hotel and I kept having to tell drunk guys that they could not walk through the con hallway without a badge. They ignored me of course and I had to chase them down the hall and make them go back. I want to thank Jeff and Amber and all my friends who consoled me after I left my shift in tears that night! The chocolate Han in Carbonite Amber gave me made me feel much better, especially after I bit his head off!