I went to Shatterdome in Herndon, VA this past weekend as a vender. Er, vendor. Whatever. Wasn’t really sure what a Shatterdome actually was, but, liked the word. Yes, yes, I saw Pacific Rim. Once. Cool movie, but I didn’t get all up in it so a lot of the references have sieved right through. This con looked like it was going to be Pacific Rim-heavy, and I wasn’t sure if it was worth the effort. But, what the hey, give it a shot.
Turns out this was the very first Shatterdome Con held in northern Virginia and, well, it showed. I popped in about 0900 on Saturday morning to set up my table and could not find the registration people. When I finally spotted Laurie (who, by the way, did a great job in a rather chaotic situation), she couldn’t find my Vender card, so I ended up getting an extra one from Steven,
another vender. Vendor. Whatever. They didn’t have a table for me, either, so they grabbed one out of the kitchen and put me in the hallway outside the Vende(o)r sully, right next to another author, S. Usher Evans,
a very cool person who wrote a book called Double Life, which is about Space Pirates. Who doesn’t love Space Pirates?
Well, I set up and sat down…and was told to move my stuff because I was blocking a fire exit. Fire Marshalls have no sense of humor. So, with cartoon curse words in a bubble over my head, I did so. This was my final iteration:
which was actually strategic because the hordes of Rimmers (awright, enough of that) on their way to the autograph tables farther down the hall would be dazzled by my beauteous banners and, in wonder and want, spin right around and purchase my wares. So,I sat, ready for said hordes. And…crickets.
Apparently, I was just one of a handful of people who knew Shatterdome was on. Not enough of them showed up to keep we (us) vendors solvent, and a few of we packed up and left within an hour or so. I stayed, because, man, the people who DID show up were just awesome. As were the costumes:
At one point, a parade of about 15 Fetts went by. Some posed:
What a great background. So, others stopped to use it:
The lovely Elsa. And she can sing, too.
Dick Tracy.
The Doctor and his phone booth.
In-transition Lizard.
The only person actually dressed as a Pacific Rim character.
This is Curt before:
This is Curt after:
A Mandalorian Warrior, which is what Boba Fett is, too. Must have missed that in the movies.
This guy was a character called Yang from a new web series called Rwby:
You’ve been warned.
Kaylee from Serenity:
I have no idea:
And lots and lots and LOTS of Star Wars people:
Why? Because the 501st Legion was there in force. Or Force. I’d never heard of ’em, but, man what a great bunch. They made the whole con, IMHO. Shoutout to them all.
Speaking of people who showed up:
Ward and Lottie, who were part of this Zombie Hunter group during Monster-Mania in Hunt Valley (scroll down):
This is Anna, who has outstanding literary taste:
She is evaluating both Ship and Partholon for inclusion in the DC CapitolCon. Did I mention she is brilliant, beautiful, and wonderful? No?
I had so much fun, I decided to come back on Sunday. I set up inside the vendo(e)r sully this time:
Not a lot of new people showed up. Eh, Sunday, wadja expect? Indiana Jones and Jane Austen stopped by:
but that was it. Bought some Xmas presents from the other venders, and went home.
And I’ll be back next year.