Elements of the IKV Rakehell descended on the Holiday Inn, Bloomington, a day early for MarsCon 2010 in order to set up the ship’s party room. Much decorating was done by the crew, with dinner afterwards.
On Friday, the first day of the convention, many of the crew members were there early as they stayed the night in the hotel, with the rest of us arriving about the time the convention opened, and we were all ready for a weekend of fun, frolic, and harassing Redshirts.
Gwynyth Walsh, famed for playing the Duras sister Be’tor on Star Trek: The Next Generation, was the media guest of honor. The Rakehell’s own Jennifer served as Be’tor’s liason for the weekend. Also from the Rakehell, Patrick, who is a journalist by trade (New Prague News), interviewed Be’tor for a piece he would like to publish. We’re all looking forward to the results.
The mighty Qob ran two costuming panels on Saturday, the first doing the Wraith Queen from Stargate, and then followed it up with a one-two punch of Costuming the Klingon (reloaded). Both costuming panels were well attended and the results were great.
Meanwhile, as the costuming panels were in progress, one of the panels I was on, “Femme Fatales in Film Noir” took place, where discussed some of the great films of the ’40s and ’50s that set the tone for movies looking at the dark side of the human condition.
A local Steampunk club ran a murder mystery game in one part of the hotel, which doubled as a display of Steampunk costumes and props.
The Masquarade was a bit light this year with only 10 entries, but those entries had some darned high quality, such as the brothers, Damon and Yancy as the Riddler and Doctor Freeze (respectively). They won Best in Show and deserved the kudos. Our own, Bin’di, the Warrior Girl, won in the Young Fan Category for being the Original Femme Fatale, Cinderella.
The party scene was excellent for a mid-sized convention, with numerous room parties on the 13th floor and a couple on the 12th floor. The Rakehell’s party theme was Casino Royale, with a Spy vs. Spy type of décor, and numerous drinks, such as “Snake Eyes” and “All In”. Best party room this year went to the MN Super Heroes United, with Second place going to The World Defense Force for their tribute to classic monster movies. Blair, of the WDF, made most of the Mad Scientist gear used in the WDF party room, including a working Jacob’s Ladder.
Sunday, tending to be low key as the con wound down, Sue’La and I attended a panel on “Teaching Astronomy To Your Kids”, which put the wonderful Bin’di to sleep (naptime!). This was an informative panel that needs multiple sessions as there is a lot of material to cover that we didn’t get to in the one hour time slot.
Patrick and Ivan ran a panel on how to make working wings for a costume, use Patrick’s “gargoyle” wings as a demo/model.
After closing ceremonies, the crew of the Rakehell descended on one of our favorite Chinese restaurants for entirely too much food and post convention decompression.
All in all, much fun was had. Most of the active crew members of the Rakehell were in attendance at MarsCon. Convention attendance was pegged at 706 this year. According to the ConCom, next year MarsCon will play host to John and Bjo Trimble.
