Wheeeeee!!! Had a blast at New Worlds - The 1st Philippine Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. I had no doubt it would be a success but I was a little wary of how the people will take it and how many people will even bother to attend. There were a lot of people and everyone had fun, so I am now relieved and can safely look forward to the second convention possibly later this year, in time for "The Return of the King"

2 days before the Con itself though, I didn't get to eat or sleep properly, continuously coordinating SWP stuff, our props and booth design and our "surprise" number and the Lightsabre Fight Demo. We only got 2 hours of sleep the morning of the Con. I was dead tired with all the planning but probably not as tired as my hardworking Jedi. But it was all a team effort and I am ever so thankful I had these people to work with. People who are true fans and who are dedicated to the group.

We got to the Convention late, actually. We came from U-l-a-n's Hobbit Hole where we worked on the supposed Booth Design the night before, along with the 2 hobbits who were doing TPTS's design also. I told U-l-a-n she must've felt like Bilbo Baggins when Gandalf and the dwarves started invading his hobbit hole when they went on their quest to hunt down Smaug the dragon.

If he had heard me, Master Yoda would have scolded me for not believing in the Force. See the moment we started loading all the stuff in the cab, things went wrong. 2 of the set pieces broke. Then we got stuck in pre-rush hour traffic (yes, there is such a thing), we ran out of paint, Moriondo was running late also and the Stormtrooper helmets were not yet painted. Good thing the Toy-darians arrived at the Convention area early enough and they were able to set up. We ended up abandoning putting up the supposed Death Star Throne Room backdrop. And it was funny. We actually tied for the X-Philes for best booth design until the representative from AEGIS broke the tie and voted for the X-Philes. They deserved it though, as it truly looked like Mulder's basement office complete with all the posters and books he had, a filing cabinet, and more.

Our first activity was the "Create Your Own Jedi" Art Contest which was participated in by surprisingly talented people. Two people actually ended up winning it. Wooooo. One drew a Kaminoan Jedi, and the other, a... hrmmm... I've forgotten what it was called, but it looked like... a horse....

Then there was the costume contest. I got to be the SWP representative in the judges' panel. There were 2 Jedi who came in robes escorting Queen Amidala. There was Louis, Lestat and Claudia from "Interview with the Vampire", and then there was Buffy, Arwen, Frodo, Hermione, Harry Potter, the X-Men, Eowyn, and most notably, a Borg and an Alien. Wow. The Alien won the contest by a unanimous decision. Cool stuff there.

And then.... the STORMBALLS. Oh. My. Gosh. I'm still kinda speechless, but THEY ROCKED! They turned out to be THE Ultimate Sci-fi fantasy! Get get awwwwww!!! Hahahahaha!

And of course there was our Lightsabre Fight Demo. Emil, Gary, Rain and Jaybee did really really well considering they only had a few days to practice. But they made an impressive performance that the attendees received well. The great sound effects, music, and the Force-throwing probably did the trick also. Heeheeeeee....

We didn't expect much media attention also, but... my gosh. Several TV camera crews and newspaper and magazine people were there. I actually got interviewed myself. Hrmmmm... Will put up the link when it comes out on the Inquirer's website. :) Most of the shows focused on the merchandise that the Toy-darians brought in... especially Artoo and the Anakin FX Lightsabre. Cooooool.

So there. All in all, it was a great experience, and I thought it was a great way for SWP to do team building. At least after this, we've learned some lessons we can apply for future activities.

Photos and video clips may be found here:
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/starwarsphilippines
More photos will be added soon, so watch out for those. :)



.:chronicled by senator skywalker at 1:56:00 AM:.
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