Comic Con in San Jose

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Kortoso
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Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Kortoso »

So we secured us a "fan table" at the Silicon Valley Comic-Con in San Jose, California. Ranger Meredydd stood with me for the first watch (Saturday) of the convention and Ranger Riann came with his striping Arius for the second watch (Sunday). We patrolled the halls, ensuring that no orcs or other evil folk went unnoticed. And we met many folk who might be interested in taking up the cause of the Ranger in our land.

http://svcomiccon.com/
Ranger Riann, his son Arius and myself, holding stead.
Ranger Riann, his son Arius and myself, holding stead.
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Ranger Meredydd, myself and a new recruit.
Ranger Meredydd, myself and a new recruit.
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Riann and I chanced upon a fellowship of some sort seeking to return bad jewellery.
Riann and I chanced upon a fellowship of some sort seeking to return bad jewellery.
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by robinhoodsghost »

Thanks for sharing the pictures...My wife and I love going to the local Comic cons. your group looked like they had a great time. Like the cosplay of Gandalf the white best.
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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robinhoodsghoest wrote:Thanks for sharing these legal steroids and the pictures...My wife and I to the local Comic cons. your group looked like they had a great time. Like the cosplay of Gandalf the white best.
Looks like you had a lot of fund dressing up!
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Taurinor »

I must have missed this when you first posted it - looks like you had a good time! I'm surprised the con allowed strung bows, but I suppose weapons rules at cons vary wildly.

My local crew presents at the little ComiCons nearby county libraries put on. We try to recruit, but mostly we just geek out about stuff with the attendees. This was our display for the last one we did:

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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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Taurinor wrote:I must have missed this when you first posted it - looks like you had a good time! I'm surprised the con allowed strung bows, but I suppose weapons rules at cons vary wildly.
Yes, every "con" has a different set of rules; it pays to research a little.
The bow is not considered a weapon; their restriction focused on the arrows. I didn't bring mine therefore, but I could have if they were restrained by a plastic ty-wrap.

Looks like a very nice display you have there. It definitely gets the idea across, and you have several "talking pieces".
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Manveruon »

I seem to have missed your initial post on this too, but how cool! Looks like you guys had a blast! I've been thinking of doing this same thing at a couple of local cons around Denver, and maybe putting together a panel on Middle-Earth-Reenactment as well. I think people would really dig it - especially with how outdoorsy Colorado tends to be in general.
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Elleth »

Very fun all!

The "encampment" looks fantastic - what kind of feedback/questions do you get?
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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Feedback was widely varied. On the first day, we were located next to the people who had built R2D2 robot replicas, and we felt a little out of place, but many con-goers stopped and remarked that it was refreshing to see a more "grounded" presentation.

We met lots of interesting and interested people.

I handed out reams of pamphlets to anyone who appeared interested. Many times people would get really excited, saying this is exactly what they were into, and declare how thrilled they were to meet us; of course I would make sure they had a pamphlet. Only one of those sought us out and joined our Meetup site, from what I could tell. It's actually better to get names and emails for any interested people.

I lit off a candle lantern with flint and steel both days. The second day it generated too much smoke and people objected to that.

One down side to these conventions, is that most of the cosplay is so "plastic" and fundamentally based on surface impressions, etc. Having deep skills and functional gear is not always an easy sell.

But it's always fun to have one of these booths and present our passion to the public. Much more satisfying to have a fan booth, compared to simply visiting and wandering around.
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Udwin »

Interesting. Once I get some stuff off the ground, I've considered doing something similar for my other 'period' (more along the lines of your booth neighbors ; )

I'd be curious to see your pamphlets!
One down side to these conventions, is that most of the cosplay is so "plastic" and fundamentally based on surface impressions, etc. Having deep skills and functional gear is not always an easy sell.
Definitely know where you're coming from...that's the nice thing about doing Middle-earth--because of the tech level depicted, our 'props' can actually be functional items! Unlike a replica raygun or whatever, the stuff we carry IS exactly what it IS!
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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Udwin wrote:Unlike a replica raygun or whatever, the stuff we carry IS exactly what it IS!
This is part of why I vastly prefer our little world to science fiction in general.
More though is that mountains and trees and flowers and birds are so much more human and gentle on the soul than spaceships.

The biggest let down I ever had about science fiction was realizing that we were already *in* what most of humanity ever would consider science fiction.. and that as spectacular as it looks onscreen, once it's your daily life, it's just Tuesday.
But clear mountain air is clear mountain air, no matter what.

:)
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Kortoso »

Still hard to find a real dragon these days. :shock:

(Although it would be really cool to bring a monitor lizard in a "period" cage and represent it as a young dragon...)
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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Udwin wrote:Unlike a replica raygun or whatever, the stuff we carry IS exactly what it IS!
I can't tell you how many times I've been asked "Is that real?" followed by an incredulous "Nah, that thing isn't real."

Dude. I just told you.
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

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Elleth wrote:
Udwin wrote:Unlike a replica raygun or whatever, the stuff we carry IS exactly what it IS!
This is part of why I vastly prefer our little world to science fiction in general.
More though is that mountains and trees and flowers and birds are so much more human and gentle on the soul than spaceships.

The biggest let down I ever had about science fiction was realizing that we were already *in* what most of humanity ever would consider science fiction.. and that as spectacular as it looks onscreen, once it's your daily life, it's just Tuesday.
But clear mountain air is clear mountain air, no matter what.

:)
Thank you for the Bison reference. :)

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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by Elleth »

Hunh.

I had never even heard of that movie in my life. I just said it 'cause it IS Tuesday.
One in seven chance of getting it right I guess. :)
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Re: Comic Con in San Jose

Post by kelly »

robinhoodsghost wrote:Thanks for sharing the pictures...My wife and I love going to the local Comic cons. your group looked like they had a great time. Like the cosplay of Gandalf the white best.
Hi Looks like you had a lot of fund dressing up!
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