Starfest 2013 -April 19-21st

In years past if it fell on Easter it was held the weekend immediately before or after, never in May. All I can say is they better have a really big superstar for me to go. If the rumors are true, I'm definitely out (I might show up for a Saturday night room party and maybe some fun in the atrium Friday night). One of these days I'll hit the hot tub.

 

Yeah, I meant to hit the hot tub this year. Brought a swim suit and everything. But somehow there never seems to be time.

 

I have lots of fun pictures that I will eventually upload to the RMFF photo gallery. I'm slowly working my way through photo-upload backlog from before the con.

 

Ewwww I would not recommend doing that at a con . Dirty water.

 

Yeah, you think con crud's bad... I wonder what's floating in that germ bath. Ick!

 

it is true...it is that weekend. KathE wanted to have dinner next week, so i'll see if that pans out and see what their thoughts are.

 

Please pass along that those of us who go to free comic book day and may the fourth strongly encourage them to pick a different weekend.

 

You might mention that Free Comic Book Day is like Christmas for comic book stores. I think they would have a really hard time getting ComicFest vendors that weekend....

 

Unless their long-term plans don't include ComicFest... We assume that their goals are to keep the ComicFest and the Star Wars groups. However, I've been getting the impression over the past couple of years, especially since Denver Comic Con started, that we and ComicFest are expendable. They have other priorities such as the Horror, Robots, wizarding, etc. and would be okay losing us, if they had to. We're looking at this from our point of view and to them, they've burned bridges in the past and perhaps we just may be one more.

This is definitely a glass half-empty, sky is falling pessimistic post, but the con isn't the same as it used to be. I'm curious to know what their long-range, strategic plans are for Starfest now that DCC is in town and other factors that affect their decision about where to take the con going forward.

 

I wanna say that I am so totally glad that I got dragged to the con.......

 

Glad you were there! ***hugs***

 

I'm so totally glad, too!

 

You make some valid points, and if they want to let ComicFest go, I can see that.

What I can't see is them thinking the 501st is expendable. And if Star Wars goes, that's a substantial portion of the con attendees, room reservations and panelists. I personally think it would be suicide, but I'm not them, and I don't know what they think they can lose and stay afloat.

 

If they do let go of the SW groups they'll have to pay thousands of dollars for law enforcement to do weapons checks since no other group wants to do it.

The "Robocon" is exactly what it's been for years, a B9 group reunion in the model room. Only there's more room in the old restaurant. Yeah, I had my droids in there but I don't think I'll go back. Lack of security (Goldie's dome got heavily damaged), and they expect me to be in there all the time. I want to enjoy the convention, which I haven't been able to do in years. This year I took Saturday off to hang with Umbrella Corp, go see Ben Browder, go to a couple panels, even going to our meeting. I got what amounts to a slap in the face for not being in the robot room all day Saturday.

The celebrity guests haven't been exactly top notch as in years past, drunks and pot heads keep damaging items at the 501st table (again, where is security?), room parties don't seem to have themes anymore (just more drunks and pot heads), dinners got moved around this year, and there seems to be too much drama among all the fan groups. I don't see a strong emphasis on Horrorfest, but the Walkers do run some pretty big haunted houses. I didn't see one "wizard" from Avistrum, even though they had a smaller room. I was totally disappointed that SG14 wiggled their way back with the same four people, but that's life (KathE LOVES Stargate, I personally hate it, dumb show). And I HATE the federation ball in the atrium with their very loud booming music, most of it bad. I liked it better when it was in the big room other side of the lobby. It was quiet enough then one could get some sleep (or at leat hear the room party conversations). It's a pain in the arse to break our stuff down every night.

Until Starfest gets more true 24 hour security to keep the riffraff out and to keep our stuff safe, until they get that horrible dance out of the atrium, until they get real celebrities like before, I don't think I'll be back.

 

I think Psy had a good time...

 

For my part, I have to say that I still very much enjoy Starfest. Everyone's experience will vary though. I enjoy it because my focus is mostly on spending time with the RMFF, having our own parties and hang-outs, and as a bonus most years getting to see at least one or two guests that I am happy to see. There are often some fun costumes and props to see (very impressed with the Weeping Angels this year!). I invariably spend at least a little money in the dealer's room. While I have never paid and gone into the actual Sat night dance event, I've certainly danced outside it with our group and had a lot of fun doing so. I was actually a bit bummed that we didn't spend a little time dancing this year. Our SPN group debuted our first panel this year and met many other SPN fans as a result. I assume that SG-14 has scaled back somewhat due to some of their people moving away (and taking costumes and props with them) and some moving on to other groups/interests. I still enjoyed stopping by their room to chat a while, though, and took advantage of their smaller gate for photos. But at the end of it all, I travel out to the con to spend time with you guys, so as long as that happens I will continue to come back for it.

I've never done the May 4th event in Denver, so I don't really have an attachment to it or basis for comparison between the two, whereas I am sentimentally attached to Starfest. Who knows... maybe for some reason the con was stuck with a lesser option of dates for next year due to something with the hotel.

 

Hate to burst your bubble but SG-14 died because of four insane people running the club, not because everyone moved away. Quite the contrary, everybody quit, including me. I was shocked to see these four conned the con staff into giving them a room. But the ones running the con LOVE anything SG and allowed it. The very small group can't keep members. I have so many detailed examples of how this group fell apart and started to write a few here but would rather you pm me for more details. SG-14 is one group you do not want to get involved with, even on friendly terms.

As far as the dance, I hate that song! Psy guy had fun, I didn't. And where was the RMFF party? I went all over the place but didn't find any room parties except the BSG "drink as many bad shots as you can in one hour" room to room fiasco. I did stop off at the RL room, was this the same party? If so, I couldn't hear a word anyone was saying because of the ridiculous loud music from downstairs, so I left.

As far as May the 4th, it's a HUGE deal here in Denver because of the X-Wing and a HUGE SW fan base in the local area. The original SW fan club back in the 70's got started here in Aurora. Bantha Tracks newsletter was published here. This is the birthplace of SW fan groups, so yeah, May the 4th is a big gig for us. I'd rather go to that than Starfest.

 

The RMFF spent a fair bit of time Sat evening hanging out downstairs around the area where our fan table was located, at that junction area between the lobby and atrium. I'd say that was for the most part our "party location", at least for part of the night, rather than a room. I'm not sure what you mean by an "RL room" - do you mean S__C/DH's room? That's where we were for some of the time as well. It's true that the music on Sat night is on the loud side... I guess I just view it as the ambiance for that slice of the con.

To be fair, I'm sure I don't know the full story behind SG-14. I only know them/of them in passing. I was just starting to get into Stargate when I moved away from Denver, courtesy of JD passing the DVDs sets around the RMFF way back then. My comment was based off of reading somewhere that their previous team leader had moved, and I'd been under the impression that some of the con display items had been hers. But beyond that I don't really know. I tend to like to get along with everyone, whether individuals or groups. I was wearing a new Stargate costume on Sat, so I stopped by their room to take pictures with the Gate background. The people I chatted with were courteous and friendly to me, which is as far as I can comment.

I'm well aware of how great the Denver Star Wars fans are! And RMFF in particular is the most cool, most awesome SW group ever ... though it's possible I may be a wee bit biased in that evaluation. But seriously, you guys will always be my home group, no matter how many years it's been since I moved. May 4th was not yet a Star Wars event when I left Denver though, and it's not one of the ones I've traveled back for yet. I know it is surely awesome; I'm just saying that for me personally I don't have the sentimental attachment to it. I hope that something can be worked out so that Starfest doesn't conflict with May 4th, but to be fair we probably don't know whatever is behind the scheduling change. If it does end up having to conflict next year, hopefully it will be only a one-time thing and can go back to the regular April schedule after that.

 

Regardless of the reasoning behind it... ComicFest members are not going to abandon their single biggest revenue day for a con. And Star Wars members are booked up all weekend between the two events. You're looking at what could equate to a 1/3 of the con attendees, for a conservative estimate. How can any con survive when they ignore the needs of a 1/3 of their audience?

 

Pretty much what I said up-thread.

 

A selection of my Starfest photos is in the process of uploading to the RMFF gallery here.