I would call SiliCon 2007 a mixed bag. It wasn't terrible, but it was not exciting to me, personally.
SiliCon went with a theme of horror/horror films this year, and if you were not particularly interested in the horror genre, then you probably didn't find much to interest you. SiliCon is *trying* to become a media-oriented convention, but I'm not particularly sure they are doing it the right way. Yes, trying to draw in more people from different places is a good thing. I've got no quibble with that. You want to appeal to a wider audience, draw in new blood, so your convention can survive. However, leaving the fans that have supported you over the years out in the figurative cold, doesn't strike me as a particularly good idea. It's tough to strike the right balance, and I would say that they tipped too far over. For the costumers, the masquerade results. Experienced Category First Place - M.W. Wonka as "Malochai the Purple Fluffy Dragon. Second Place - 2D Costuming for "Dorothy and Scarecrow" Third Place - Robert Kovacs as "the Dalek," who also won for Best Reproduction and the coveted Tech award. Novice Category First Place - Ron Smity and Denise Lombard for "Loki and Enchantress" Second Place - Miss Nintendo for "Poison Ivy" Third Place - Christopher Erickson for "Sandman Mystery Theater" Best Youth Costume Gabrielle Westfield as "the Dark Princess" Most Animated Chris Smith for "The Masked Mustang" Most Meticulous, Best Performance, and Judges Award for Material Use Mette Hedin and Bryan Little for "Lady Cassandra O'Brien" Most Humorous Ninja Shank for "Zell and Squall" fight scene Costume Comments Malochai was a well-done dragon costume by a woman known for her excellent Willy Wonka costume. It was fun and cute. Dorothy and Scarecrow by 2D Costuming was Dany Sloan and her fiance Darium. The scarecrow was really impressive, but I did not know the source material, so I was a little baffled by the presentation. Before the masquerade, Dany indicated that it was an obscure source, but if people enjoyed it, it would be worth it. Definitely worth it. The Dalek was *pretty*. Yeah, you don't normally associate pretty with Daleks, but it was a very attractive machine. It was bronze/gold colored rather than grey, which may be why it appealed to me so much. This Dalek had a plunger where the "terminator" weapon would normally be. It was very well done and moved well - even though he was not able to get it up on the stage. The presentation happened in front of the stage, but I believe that most everyone was able to see it. This one was awarded properly. Loki and Enchantress were two very well done costumes. The entrants had the right body types to carry off the costumes, and they were well done costumes. The only thing that marred their entry was the fact that they had their convention badges on when they went out there. No one backstage bothered to inform them or spotted the badges. Beautifully done costumes, though, and I look forward to seeing more entries from them in the future. Poison Ivy is one that I have a slight bias against. I saw her walking around the convention in the costume, and I awarded her a CC26 Pre-Con Hall Costume award because I thought it was a good hall costume. However, it did not do well on stage. On stage, I noticed the pantyhose panty showed rather glaringly. People have got to remember to wear hose that doesn't show the panty when they're going on stage. Sandman Mystery Theater is one that I do not clearly recall. The Dark Princess was very pretty, and Gabrielle Westfield is the daughter of a local fan that I know. She's at least a second-generation fan if not third. It'll be interesting to see what she comes up with in the future. The Masked Mustang was lots of fun. Lady Cassanda O'Brien was based on Dr. Who, and it was well done. Getting the material for Lady O'Brien right was difficult, but they managed to do a very good job on it. These are the same people who did the Lego Star Wars characters last year. Zell and Squall was a fight scene based on a video game, I believe. The boys were well choreographed, but I was still nervous about their presentation. Personally, I would not have allowed it, but it was not my show. They had flying fake kicks, drop falls, and fighting. Fortunately, they were not injured, but I'm not sure this was the right venue for their presentation. It seemed like the costumes came in second to the fight choreography. Not what I tend to think as masquerade appropriate, but again, not my show. Until later-- Carole _______________________________________________ Basfa mailing list [email protected] http://lists.basfa.org/listinfo.cgi/basfa-basfa.org
