Conflation post-mortem part 1: REAVER MADNESS

I have returned from Conflation.
What an interesting weekend! Those of you who missed this con missed out. Attendance is still small-ish, but we had some good ol’ fans return and some new faces appear. The “theme” of the weekend was “Firefly” and the programming reflected that.

Now, as usual, I was “up to something” this year. Friday night there was a Nerf Battle between the “Browncoats” and the “Alliance”. The battle for independence had maybe… 50-60 people involved. All of them had some kind of Nerf projectile weapon. Some time ago, some of you may recall that I posted a note here (and sent out emails) seeking people to help me with my idea for this Battle.

Here’s what I did: I put together a team of REAVERS to invade the battle and mob the scene. We gathered in my room and covered ourselves with tattered garments, ugly scars, nasty teeth and buckets of blood.
(No really. bakadragon brought her own Bucket of Blood.)
We geared up with our guns, delivered a walkie-talkie to one of our “shills” in the audience, and waited for the signal.

We wanted to appear in the middle of the battle, not show up at the beginning, you see. A good friend quietly went to the Goddesses in charge and whispered that there was a Reaver Boarding Party making its way to the battle. So about 30 seconds before we made our appearance, there was a mad scramble to let us in the *side* door of the room, where we could swarm into the middle of the scene.

Mwa ha ha!
A great hue and cry went out: AAAUGH! REEEEAVERRRRS!!!

And mob them we did.

We had two “victims” who had volunteered to be taken down, one of which was a “medic” who didn’t really want to fire a gun but wanted to participate. Down she went! NOM NOM NOM!!
Another gave out terrible, terrified screams culminating in an orgasmic cry.
NOM NOM NOM!!

Did I mention that despite our attempts to be horrible…
Um…
Reaver grrls are HAWT!

Our Team Reaver was joined by Little Reaver Foo Foo (damn. Somebody managed to come up with something even more surreal than *I* had…) and another random Reaver.
harmfulguy, alienzen, bakadragon, thesigother, klasek1987, and I made a pretty ferocious band of flesh-eating Devil’s Rejects, let me tell you.

And DAMN was that a lot of fun. I’m gong to make sure that they host a Nerf Battle at Archon this year.
Imagine having this in one of the BIG programming rooms!!

And yes, Ladies and Gentlemen… the Nerf dart that got caught in the chandelier… that was mine. Sorry.

The rest of Friday was a flurry of packing the truck, unpacking the truck, retrieving allura629 from the airport, decorating Inara’s Shuttle, and figuring out when to eat.
Later that night, I had suggested “Badger’s Tea Party.” The program said, “Come sample a variety of teas”.
Ah, but when I suggested a Badger’s Tea Party, I had meant… Badger’s Tea. Badger puts wood alcohol in his tea. I didn’t want to make anyone blind, so I chose spiced rum instead. Worked out beautifully: I got to pour “tea” out of my beautiful new dragon tea-pot, and with a grin and a wink, suggest that each party guest ‘sweeten the tea’ with something from the big bucket o’ soda.
Mmm. Spiced rum and Sprite Zero. Nom nom nom.

Oh. Did I mention my adorable “Lady” Badger costume? (Yes, arkhamrefugee, I was thinking of your turn of phrase when I was calling myself a Lady Badger.) Found a cute velvet derby hat at the party store for $5. Added it to my steampunk vest and that strange pair of pinstriped Zoot Suit pants I use for my Dietrich costume, and tied a little rag of a scarf around my throat.

Way fun.

Ah, the pettins. Ah, the backrub chains. Ah, the relaxed environment where anything can and does happen.

Conflation Post-Mortem part 2: Too much to do, not enough time...

Saturday morning, thesigother took off for complimentary breakfast in the early AM. Then he went over to Hospitality to see if anyone was up and wound up helping out as Hospitality Staff and cleaned the room for the day.
He came back up and woke up the rest of the room, and we took off for the eating of the real food.
Shortly thereafter, thesigother became ill. Poor dear. He lost all of Saturday. (And I KNOW how that feels.)

My plan for the day was to eat, go to the art panel, go be a model in the fashion show, go to the Chinese Phrases panel, go pick up Balloons (or send someone to pick them up), decorate the dance for the Shindig, and party all night.

I blew off the art panel so I could eat.
I blew off the fashion show (as a model) because I wanted to attend the Chinese phrases panel. My father was the special guest speaker.

I had no idea why all of the draperies were down in Inara’s Shuttle (and I still don’t know…) So when my father arrived, I showed him the room, and he and my step-mom helped me gather my draperies and remove the remaining tape from the walls. I heralded his panel to the other places where people might gather (since most of the con was, in fact, at the Fashion Show.)

It has been a good long while since I ever saw my father in full-on teaching mode.
I discovered something: I don’t get my ability to speak to a crowd exclusively from my mother. I had never considered that my father was someone who was clever, funny, and engaging in front of a crowd… but since he’s one of SLUH’s most beloved teachers, I suppose I should have realized.
So that was a lot of fun!
On the other hand, I realized that I had committed myself a bit too much. I had intended to go and retrieve balloon equipment in the afternoon, and intended to work on styling a wig for a friend…
And… well…
Um.
There was no where to put either of these things. Between caring for the poor dear upstairs (and losing a helper at the same time), and the other things I wanted to do all weekend… there just wasn’t time.
Decorating the room went swiftly and smoothly. I knew what I wanted, I was pretty sure I knew how to get there, and as long as all the pieces were present, I was certain that I could get the thing ready in enough time to go back upstairs and get dressed up before the Shindig was really swinging.

As for my friend and the wig... well, I remembered that allura629 is far more accomplished at wig styling than I am. I'm merely competent: She's a genius. So I asked her if she would be willing to help with the styling of the wig. Since she was already ready, she agreed cheerfully and also got to help an "Inara" put her lashes on.
Genius. Did I mention that she's a genius? (Not to slight her genius in other subjects, either. Genius of technology, genius of fashion, genius of beauty. I <3 allura629)

But back to the decorating of the Shindig.
We blew off the Balloons, and part of the reason was that with the décor I chose, balloons would have been trite and cheesy. (The other part was lack of time and available hands.)
When we got done with it, that room was elegant. Many thanks to bakadragon and allura629 for all of your help! The two of them took my big mass of greenery and created absolutely gorgeous flower arrangements. About half of the tables' centerpieces were vases of silk flowers, the other half were partylite candle arrangements.
I had purple and silver tablecloths, and lots of silk greenery.

And then, there was the Wall of Video.

See, I took my inspiration from lots of things we have seen in the Firefly ‘Verse. The Wall of Video was inspired by both the bar scene and Mr. Universe’s room from Serenity. We dragged a couple of monitors, a couple of TVs, a couple of computers, an iMac with a spacescape screensaver, a couple of DVD/VCR players, and a projector… and Voila! Wall of Video!
Of course, the WoV needed content to show. One item was a video camera recording the crowd. (The screens are watching you, too!) alienzen managed to bring some of his stranger DVDs to share. (So if you saw it and didn’t recognize it and it scarred you for life… talk to alienzen about that. Hee hee hee!)
We also had some anime and some fractals, and some random strange stuff. I really have to give credit where it is due: Without alienzen, I wouldn’t have been able to create the WoV at all. He not only got it all running, he brought out the lion’s share of screens, and he provided the bulk of the content.

Unfortunately, people tended to congregate on the dance floor to watch the screens while standing still.

After I broke up the party a couple of times, that didn’t happen anymore. All I had to say was, “You know, if you stare at it long enough, you’ll utter the word, ‘Miranda’ and kick everyone’s ass. Maybe you should dance, instead…”

It was gorgeous, and the dance was really heavily attended this year. I was really pleased!

I also got to model the dress I've been trying to pay for all year. It was the "I can haz slinky dress?" Fundraiser. ("Captain, can I have money for a slinky dress?")I collected all of $6, but some people promised to pledge more. (And yes, you can contribute to the Slinky Dress Fund any time at www.curiouscatclothing.com. Just tell the proprietress that it's for my Leather Dress.)

And then they made me their Queen.

No! Bad plague monkey!

Since I seem to have my own special version of thesigother's illness, I'm home to regale everyone with my Conflation stories.

In between trips to the potty.

So, here's the wrap-up report:
We didn't win any prizes, and that's just ok by me. I don't need more stuff, honestly.

I was appointed as next year's Queen. But because two other members of the court were doing Reaver-related performance art all weekend, also... the chanting began:
REAVER COURT! REAVER COURT! NOM NOM NOM...

Heh. Well, if I must, I must. And if I must, I'm delighted to be a Reaver Queen.

And since next year's chosen theme is Steampunk...
Is a Steampunk Reaver Queen like a Borg Queen? Because Alice Krige was HAWT.

And yes. Next year's Conflation theme is Steampunk.
Consider for the moment the implications of this. Steampunk combines elements of victorian costume, engineering, and language with a modern hindsight and a late-industrial attitude. Many people have written in the "History that never was" genre, many people have spoken about this weird new subculture, and many artists are making some of the coolest things I've ever seen!

Not into Steampunk? Can't think of a way to include victorian/early industrial/clockwork robot/anime airship pirate/wild wild west costuming in your plans for an adult relaxacon?
Then ignore the theme. Really. I give you permission. Wear your finery, wear your street clothes, wear your pajamas. Spend the day with other fans, sharing stories and making merry. Dance at the dance, drink at the room parties, and have a good time.

Are you into Steampunk, but uncertain about letting your freak flag fly and letting it all hang out for all the geeks of fandom?
Leave your freak flag at home. Conflation is not an orgy. It is not a swinger's convention, and it is not some weekend-long hedonistic fleshfest.
Don't misunderstand me, if those are things that you're seeking, it is possible to find such things at the con, but not in the con space. Usually. Even during its heyday as a Geeks Gone Wild party, the real craziness always happened where it happens at all conventions: In private rooms, doors closed.

Ok, to be fair, I did see one of the goddesses making out with a group of scantily clad people in the hallway at one point. That did happen. Were all 110 people attending the con in that group? Not hardly.

So if random public displays of affection bother you, stay home. Stay home from Archon, too. And while we're at it, stay home from the Anime cons. I run into random groups of people making out in the hallway at Archon all the time. (Its just that some of them aren't old enough to drink yet...)


Oh dear. I've begun to rant.

Dragging myself back on topic,
Next year's theme is Steampunk. If you know anyone over the age of 21 who loves this sub-genre, please pass an invitation along to them. Please consider attending the con yourself.
It's not expensive, either. Under $40 at the door? who else does that?

If you can think of programming (on-topic or off-topic) feel free to forward your ideas to the Con Goddesses. (Or me. You can tell me what you'd like to see. I'll pass your ideas along.)If you can think of someone who might make a good panelist or non GOH guest, let the con know about it. Personally, I'm going to push for a few extra 'guests' to make things interesting.

And just think: If your steampunk isn't the least bit naughty, no worries. But if your idea of steampunk is a little bit naughty... bring it on!