Hou, TX Comicpalooza March 26-28 2010

GUYS THIS IS AWESOME


Comicpalooza will hit the George R. Brown Convention center the last weekend in March. The folks running this want to establish a ComiCon or Draagon Con size event that will be an annual fixture in the Houston and national fandom scene. They have gotten the support of the City of Houston, who would love to see a big annual convention bring thousands of people to the city each year and have given Comicpalooza well over 30,000 square feet of space at the GRB.

The organizers are really keen to have a bunch of Star Wars fans and costumes in attendance. I have been coordinating 501st participation and it looks like general Star Wars participation as well, though I am happy to take any and all help I can get.

Here are some things we are lining up:
*panels for "501st meet n greet", "Lightsaber Academy", "Houston Fan Force meet n greet", prop building and collecting, R2 building, and more.

*Star Wars booth for all Star Wars fan groups; 501st, Rebel Legion, and Fan Force. We'll have a 10x10' booth in the dealer's room with power and we have plans to set up a green screen photo booth where folks can pay a little for a photo with some Star Wars characters and we'll photoshop in a SW background. All funds will go to a charity, likely Texas Children's Hospital.

*Lazer Tag for TCH
There will be a Lazer Tag arena set up in the dealer's room available throughout the weekend to the general public. A couple of time throughout the weekend, people will pay a little extra to play Lazer Tag against Stormtroopers, with the "extra" (probably $5/head) going to the charity of our choosing. It looks like a HALO costume group may also do something similar, and the organizers want to see about maybe doing a HALO vs Star Wars event for spectators at some point.

There will be a lot to do at Comicpalooza, and a lot to do to prepare. Please PM or email me at bullseyetie<at>yahoo<dot>com if you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to volunteer yourself to help out.

 

I'm hoping for great things for this con for both comic and sci-fi fans.

I'm working on my Storm Troopah outfit for this con. If anyone has some spare cash and wants to dress up for this con I have an idea for a Boba Phat costume that is both inexpensive and sure to attract attention. Let me know since my Troopah costume looks better with a partner in crime.

-Brian

 

Here are the notes I have about Comicpalooza from our January meeting:

We need volunteers to work the Star Wars booth - shifts lasting 3-4 hours. We probably need 3 people at a time working the booth

Possible discount rate for those that work the booth

Possible Star Wars party Friday or Saturday night

There will be a room for us at the Hilton

We will need fliers (unless someone else wants to offer a flier, we can base these off the old poster we used at Apollocon - WARNING 8 MB file)

Brian wondered if we could collaborate with the Houston Kendo school for the Lightsaber Academy

Christi volunteered to present a portion of a panel on the Real World Influences on Star Wars

 

I'll go ahead and contact the Kendo school if that's cool with everyone.

 

Star Wars guests added!

Ray Park & Peter Mayhew!

Also: Bruce Campbell !!!

Chronicle article here.

 

You can count me in for a shift at the booth. How is that possible discount going to work? The best weekend pass price requires registration before the 25th. I'll hold off purchasing it online until then if there is a possible discount.

 

There have been a lot of developments over the past week for this, and I believe that pretty much everyone here is on the email list. Once some details stabilize, I'll post a summary for all to see. Meanwhile, if you are not getting the planning emails, just PM me here and I'll add you to the list.

 

We've worked out a deal with Comicpalooza for 501st/Rebel Legion/FanForce to get a lower rate for everyone going to participate at the Star Wars booth.

Currently, the weekend pass is $40 a person for the whole weekend- and will go up to $45 the week of the event (next week). Since Comicpalooza believes that our booth will add a lot of fun and value to the convention, they are offering Star Wars booth participants a rate of $25 for the weekend!

The $25 off is vaild until Friday, March 19th only. After that, Comicpalooza has to maintain the regular rate for all registrants. If you cannot do the $25 for financial hardship or whatever reason, get in touch with me by Friday, March 19th and we can work something out.

There is, of course, an expectation that those getting this deal will spend at least some time helping to staff the table/green screen set up, and general "as needed" help for the convention. Some of you who are on panels may be getting your panel day for free, but then would have to buy the other days access at a cost at- or higher than- $25 anyways. So this really makes the most sense and is the most fair for everyone involved.

We want to support this con so that it becomes a recurring event, and the single best way to support the con is to buy full weekend registration. $25 is not much to spend for 3 days. Heck, even $40 is a deal. So please, buy your registration ASAP if you have not already done so.

As always feel free to post or PM with any questions.

 

I got my tickets this morning (with participants' discount applied, thank you Ian & Alan)---see some of you tomorrow @ SCH, some more of you @ Stag's Head on Sunday, and the rest (hopefully ALL) of you next week @ the GRB for COMICPALOOZA!!

 

Ditto for me. I'm hoping alot of the FanForce shows up for this. Should be lots of fun!!!!

 

Got my ticket barcode on my phone and ready to roll Friday and Saturday!

 

Hey Yall looking forward to the con. Gunna be running the music stage there and also performing.


The Mos Eisley Cantina Music Stage STAGE INFO/HISTORY:
The Hero's From The City of Space Multi Media Epic Dance Music event will be landing in Houston once again this weekend!!

This time the event has "Exploded" into a Three Day MAJOR MUSIC FESTIVAL!! Featuring a collection of the southern United States Top Talent! This event is a an established Texas favorite and has been successfully hosted in numerous venues.

It has featured some of Houstons most respected artists and producers, such as global touring DJ El Nino of 77002/Ultra Music,
grammy nominated recording artist Vertigo Blue,
DJ Ambition of House of Dance Radio & PhatBeats.net UK,
the legendary DJ Alibi of Revolutions,
Steven Lawrence, DJ Danny B, and a slew of Houstons favorite underground DJs.

That's just naming a few. This event is always sci-fi / anime themed, incorporates an intense light show, and encourages cos play for the most intense and interactive audio-visual experience possible.

We look forward to the event continuing with the support of Texas party and con goers this weekend. Enclosed is a slide-show of a few previous fliers from past heroes from the city of space events.
For more info stay tuned to myspace.com/revolutionsentertainment. The Heroes from the City of Space Event and Revolutions DJs are available for booking nationwide.

SLIDE SHOW OF PAST EVENT FLIERS

 

This may be too late to ask, but do we have any FanForce banners ready for the con?

If not, I can print some and bring them on Saturday.

 

We have a banner up and some flyers on the table. Come on out! Dealer Room opens at 11, and most of us are planning to get there between 9 and 10.

 

Cool. I meant to ask about fliers. I'll see about printing some up for tomorrow. If we have extras, we can always use them at 3rd Planet.

 

Great con.

The combined forces of the Houston FanForce, the 501st and the Rebel Legion will be remembered at this con for a very long time.

Christy, Courtney, and Brian, it was awesome to hang with you all for the weekend.

Hopefully we can have other events that we can join forces for the greater cause.

Thanks again for helping me do my load out.

 

You too, and you're welcome! Thanks for all your help, and yes, here's to more events like this in the future!

 

I had a good time, but I wish I could have been able to spend more time at the con.

I was really impressed by the size of the con. Thanks to everyone for helping out.

 

Thanks to FanForce for your participation in the booth! You all were integral to the success of the activities there. I hope everyone also managed to have a great time as well.

Mark your calendars for Comicpalooza 2011!!

See you all around at the next FanForce meeting soon- let's start a plan for April.

 

Earlier in the month the better for the FanForce meeting. Baby will probably be here on the 25th/26th!

Chris J.

 

A new thread for April has been started. I'm leaning toward April 17th.

 

It was great hanging out with you guys this weekend. Look forward to more events soon.

 

Here's my photobucket album link for Comicpalooza 2010:
CP2010

It was really cool meeting all the 501st and Rebel Legions members that I had not met yet.
And of course it was a blast hanging out with all my FanForce peeps.

I'm excited to finish my Darth Nihilus costume for the summer and I've decided to get the TK armor so that I can troop since I already have the helmet and other gear.

I'm hoping Comicpalooza sticks around and gets ALOT bigger since the venue is too big and pricey(and I'm not referring to the just weekend pass) for a con unless it draws over 10K people.

I went to Anime Matsuri in the Woodlands this past weekend and the venue there is more appropriate for Comicpalooza even if CP had twice the attendance. I heard CP drew 3K peeps and AM probably drew twice as much and the venue still had plenty of space. The reason the Marriot in the Woodlands would have been a better venue is they have plenty of food options in the area within a walkable distance, a movie theater across the street, plenty of parking and its free, alot safer than downtown and fairly close to the airport.

-Brian