Gally Masquerade Thoughts

[fangrrl_squees]

I've started to think about prepping for Gallifrey One's masquerade, already. For no reason whatsoever, I awoke from my morning doze on the commuter train with "Must remember to add some version of If your costume isn't complete, don't bring it on to the rules list".

(Srsly. At BayCon, Someone was finishing their kid's costume, which included sloshing bright red paint in the green room, in the vicinity of other participants' costumes. Jesus.)

But first, I need to find out who's, y'know, handling staff registration. It feels damned weird to be doing (relatively) sophisticated programming for a con that's far from home and not really given to in-person meetings, anyways.

Regardless, I still intend to have the masque guidelines finished by early Nov and available on the G1 website (which I see is moving servers) by Thanksgiving. Many Gally folks are at Chicago, too and it occurs to me to ask for a few mins at whatever masquerade-prep meeting they'll be having to plug the G1 event - and let 'em know what's ready for them and what isn't.

Otherwise... SO ready for a Who convention, now. It's a shame that TimeCon has long since gone the way of the Dodo. The stretch from February to November is just too darn long!

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good idea!

The only other convention I know of prior to CT is Hurricane Who, but that's in Orlando in October (good for the East Coast folks, not so good for the Californians).

[fangrrl-squees.livejournal.com]

If Hurricaine Who was either MUCH closer (like, in CA) or in June/July, I'd give it some serious thought (current imploded finances notwithstanding) but, as it is, a month before Chicago TARDIS, I doubt I could ever manage both in the same year.

Granted, given the right guest list, I'd certainly consider throwing CT over for it but, it would have to be a HECK of a guest list. ;)

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, ComicCon ate the good mid summer media con spot. And DragonCon ate the Labor Day weekend. Let's face it, they are such monsters, that it is impossible to put any kind of media convention against them.
Even Mythcon is the weekend before ComicCon as both our GoH and our chair are regular Pro attendees at ComicCon.

[hawkfist.livejournal.com]

Actually, Timecon was the last weekend in July, and never had a problem with either of those (or even Pacificon, the local Labor Day gaming con); Whovian fandom was so jazzed to have their own con, and the guests were so good, that non-Who media cons weren't really that much competition.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

OH!

For a second you had me thinking TC had come back! ;)

[fangrrl-squees.livejournal.com]

Myself and a few friends, after we've had a few drinks, look at the bottom of our glasses and discuss re-starting TimeCon.

Then we sober up.

Lisa_marli has a point in that SDCC and Dragon*Con are MUCH bigger than they were when TimeCon went away. I think the only way that TimeCon could come back would be to NOT overreach itself (at least, not at first, heh) and accept that trying to compete with those events would be a bad idea - but a nice, small fannish event? Could be grand.

A shame that July is when they start shooting the new series, tho' - means it'd be impossible to get any of the current cast/crew... (not that I've thought about this, mind you...)

[hawkfist.livejournal.com]

I can probably get you Tony Lee, for what its worth. /flex comic powers

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

*grin/flex* not too hard, honestly. I know his agent. Him too, for that matter. ;)

(edited for clarity: I know *of* his agent. We're not, y'know, drinking buddies. Tony, on the other hand, can drink most fans under the table, I will attest. I think I'm STILL hungover from Gally...)

He's on the list, yes.

When we're all sober, we do the "fly out and put up from the UK versus likely attendance plan" and we all get pretty somber.

If you want to talk about it - seriously - drop me a line and we can schedule a convo. :)

[hawkfist.livejournal.com]

I promise you, if I ever move back to the Bay Area, I will start Timecon back up again.

For serious.

Now you just have to find a way to get me back there... *snickers*

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I wasn't saying No, I just was saying we would have time constraints up the YingYang, if we want the Pros to show up and the fans.
And there is that shooting schedule problem as well.
I know Agamemcon, a Babylon 5 convention, was successful in 2nd-3rd weekend in June. Most of the actors are available, and fans can wrangle some time off. Trick is to be Right After school lets out, but before summer goes nuts.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

hmm, combining forces with the AgaMemCon folks... I like that.. ;)

[honorarydoctor.livejournal.com]

So TimeCon was typically late July? When did that stop? Yes nowadays SDCC is just too freakin' big of a beast to contend with. heck I'll bet it takes a huge chunk out of the creation Vegas Trek Con goers (a con I would consider attending if it wasn't always 1-2 weeks after SDCC).

I think the proposal of early June sounds ideal. That or maybe september again. I don't think D*C is that big of a compeitior since most west coasters would pick TimeCon every time. Although I know D*C has a fair share of Who fans and cosplayers that will cause some strife for!

But I know wishful thinking. it would be nice to have a CA Summer Who con but at this stage I think I'm pleasantly happy there's 2 big cons (and 2 smaller cons like Hurricane Who and TimeGate) to represent Who right now in the USA.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

TimeCon folded, hrm, back in '92, I think it was... it might have hung on 'til 93, I'm not sure.

Early June would, I fear be TOO early. We have a big SF/F convention (traditionally lit, but with occasional brushes with broader media) here in the Bay Area over Memorial Day weekend that would drain folks' pocketbooks. If I wanted to attend both (and I would!) I'd want *at least* two pay periods between the cons, y'know? :)

I know quite a few folks who make the trip out to Dragon*Con, but not a significant enough sample to know if they'd throw over such a trip for a smaller-but-more-affordable-and-local event.

Timing is, as ever, everything.

Nope. I'm NOT going to run a con! I'm not! I paid my dues with StarQuest '95!

(although I'm told the betting pool as to when I'm going to make a bid to chair Gallifrey One is getting significant. I wonder if I could buy a piece of *that* action? ;))

[honorarydoctor.livejournal.com]

Sounds like this was a fun con- too bad i was still in St. Paul, MN at that time. Timing is criticalfor fans and actors.... maybe Early July... or again I point to labor day or September-ish. Or maybe even april if that's not considered too close to Gally....

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

As mentioned by other folks, Labor Day's kinda locked out in the Bay Area - a startup con wouldn't have much of a chance against the two big draws that occur the same weekend. Granted, they're anime and gaming conventions, but they're both pretty big (by local standards) and, moreover, get the keen space. ;)

*grin/shrug* the cost for even a small fan-run con that requires most (if not all) of the guests be flown in from the UK must be pretty stiff, I expect - nigh-on prohibitively so.

I'd say "hell with it, schedule it for a WEEK before or after SDCC, tell 'em to make a combo PR trip out of it" but a) I doubt that'd be feasible and b) only a small minority (ie, the really SERIOUS fans) could make room in their budget for two cons, a week apart - and a LOT of Bay Area fen go to SDCC...

[honorarydoctor.livejournal.com]

I'm unfamiliar with Bay area cons... so that's pretty much scrapped that idea for now but yes it would be rather pricey to get this going again. wishful thinking....

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Heh, as I say - after a couple of drinks, I think it's a FABULOUS idea...

But I was exec. staff for a small startup fan-run media con before. We threw a great con... and lost $25,000.

I learned a lot in the process, of course, and one of my Standing Rules of Constaffing is now "I'll do anything you like - except put in my own money. Not one skinny dime."

(shades of Bialystock in 'The Producers'...)