MISSION REPORT: Norwescon '08

we look awfully happy to be standing with a couple of TKs! lol! Norwescon '08

I am excited to say that I have now attended my first ’con’. You don’t know what a ’con’ is? Well, it is short for convention, and this was Norwescon, the biggest science fiction & fantasy convention in the Northwest. From my guess, there were a couple of thousand attendees, most of which were dressed as their favorite character or had conjured up a character of their own. Boy howdy, was that interesting!

I helped field questions at the Jedi Assembly and Rebel Legion Star Wars tables, which was situated right next to the 501st Garrison Titan. Those Stormtroopers look so cool, and the guys inside are very nice, too! I participated in a photo shoot for charity, saw a masquerade and preview show, had my picture taken, observed a dance and talked to many, many folks about costuming and Star Wars.

After seeing so many folks in costume, I have to say that I firmly believe that whatever they had chosen to wear was clearly revealing about who they were, or wished they were, in reality. I mean, most of these folks take these costumes very seriously! Some of my favorites were Darth Vader, of course... he was incredibly fearsome and just a little intimidating! The Klingons were very, very well done, as were all the rest of the trekkies - impressive, to be sure. The Harry Potter enthusiasts were out in force, as were a plethora of fairies, barbarians, gnomes, goth and goth-wannabes, superheroes, victorian ladies and pirates. I have to admit that I have never seen so many corsets in my life (unfortunately, most were not all that attractive!)

I didn’t attend any panels (interactive lectures) this year; since it was my first, I chose to just take it all in from the safety ’behind the table’. We had a great position where we could just watch the parade of con-goers walking past. I did talk to an interesting man who had created and perfected his own method of creating chain maile, and absolutely loved the two charming vendors who were selling all the different Lego Star Wars characters (I had to choose the Darth Maul with his double ended saber - too cool!). In the dealer’s room, my Padawan and I were lucky to find Jedi Knight patches and pins, so those had to come home with us. Also, there were lots of clothing to be oggled and tried on.

There was an artist’s gallery where artwork was submitted for viewing and purchase. I was excited to see ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) on display, and they featured hand-carved stamps! However, I was rather disappointed in the majority of the artistic work shown; so much of it was sexual in nature. Yuck.

I was rather surprised at how much wizard/fairy representation there was; I was expecting more science fiction. It is my personal opinion that the Star Wars and Star Trek representation was the ’royalty’ of the con, but, I may be biased. :-)

I had the distinct privilege of meeting some incredible fellow Jedi, as well. After all, it is always a pleasure to meet a Jedi! I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with them again - hopefully sooner rather than later.

So, will I attend another ’con’?

Are you kidding me?? To have another chance to walk through the crowd, watch it part before me as my robe billows out behind ....you bet!

Swoosh!