Convergence 2007

From KAGCDQ

1 After Event Report
2 Photo Gallery
3 Videos

After Event Report

Convergence 2007 was, once again, a convention that should not be missed. The Klingons of KAG were in force with elements of the Cold Death Quadrant in attendance were the IKV Rakehell, IKV Black Thunder, and the IKV Warhammer.

The Rakehell arrived in force the day before the con, using the time to set up the party room, The Rutting Tribble, which served as the Kronos Hunting Club. It is actually impressive how many con goers show up the day before the con actually starts (a lot!). But then there is a lot of set up to do, and its better to do it in advance rather than spend part of the convention doing so.

Arriving on Friday afternoon with the main masses, we found that several elementary schools had coordinated a field trip to the convention and were able that they were treated to some special panels by the various guests on writing as well as science. I thought this was way cool, as did everyone else who ran across the groups of kids that were having a fun day at an SF convention.

The Writer Guest of Honor this year was Lois McMaster Bujold, and Bridget Landry returned as a science guest this year. For those of you who don’t know Bridget, she is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab as well as a master costumer. She is two guests rolled up into one.

Panels ranged the full gamut, from science (NASA’s Cassini Program) and theory (living starships) to costuming and writing programs. It is always tough getting to all of the panels as there is a tendency to book several that are of high interest against each other. as this was also the Centennial of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein, there was a panel discussion on his works as well.

JaPa, the quadrant commander, and other members of the Black Thunder, made their presence felt during the after hour parties (okay, there really isn’t such a thing as after hours at a con).

Living up to Klingon standards, Qob and I made our way around the party floor on Saturday night, harassing Feddies as we went. One stop we made was at the Romulan consulate where we managed to fire off some appropriate insults while drinking all of their Romulan Ale (at least putting a dent in their supply). Qob also did a good job of putting the Rommie Ambassador down for his feeble attempts at telling Klingon jokes. We had a lot of fun at their expense.

Qe’pa made up a bunch of stickers that read “this tribble has been spayed by the Klingon Empire” that were distributed amongst the crew. We promptly went on a mission to spay all of the tribbles (and a few Feddies) at the con.

The Rakehell’s party was, as mentioned above, the Kronos Hunt Club, and had a sign up featuring a pair of tribbles and called, interchangeably, the Rutting Tribble and Rotting Tribble, depending on the side of the sign you were looking at. The room was decorated with pelts from a number interesting creatures including tribbles. Shotgun shell lights, weapons and targets completed the display. The lineup of drinks ranged from Romulan Ale (better than the stuff of the same name served in other party rooms) and the con’s favorite, Hot Sex with the Klingons. There was also a bottle of Tribble Sweat on hand,

G'Amar and Kosh both had entries in this year’s masquerade, and looked very good. Unfortunately we (as in my wife and I) missed about half of the masquerade, including their presentations, however I was serving drinks at the Kronos Hunt Club with Kosh, who was just a skeleton of his former self. His costume was Ghost Rider, and was well received.

The IKV Rakehell put on a performance of a new skit, “Kaptain Kang’s Killer Thriller Theater.” This one mixed in some video shot before the con and mixed in as a Kaptain Kang serial with live bits of movie trailers.

I sat on a panel on the Creatures of Star Trek (this year’s convention theme was “Creature Feature”) which promptly turned into a general conversation on Star Trek.

Kosh sat in on a panel, displaying his gargoyle costume, on fantasy creatures, that was well attended despite being opposite closing ceremonies. His gargoyle costume was a big hit last year and he has been having a lot of fun with it ever since.

Convention attendance was bigger than previous years, as the con continues to grow and attract more people. The attendance count was 2595 present and accounted for, with total registrations of 2711. The hotel was filled to overflow, and a second hotel is now being leveraged to help with the load. Next year will be even bigger as it will be a four-day event celebrating their tenth anniversary. This means get your reservations in early (ours are already in!).

Sunday night was spent relaxing with what was left of the Klingons in attendance heading over to TGI Friday’s for dinner, then watching the first couple of episodes of Torchwood.

Convergence keeps getting bigger and better every year, and the hotel staff is probably the friendliest I have run across in all of the years I have been going to conventions.

Much fun was had by all.

Lt. Cmdr. Sqo’tty sutai-MacKlingon Communications Officer for the Cold Death Quadrant

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