Keycon 2025 Guests

 Keycon is our local science fiction convention.  It’s never been that big – in the largest years they have claimed attendance of ~500, but many years have been much less than that.   We used to go all the time but don’t go as often lately.  I even ran the gaming room for a few years in the 90s.

 

But Jim Butcher and Jeremy from Black Magic Craft were the guests, so we definitely wanted to go this year.  Jim Butcher is one of our authors and he writes The Dresden Files.  While Black Magic Craft is one of the youtube crafting channels that I follow.

 

In April, our friend Chris called us to see if we would be guest liaisons for Jim Butcher and Jennifer Blackstream.  We would have to get them to and from airport, and make sure that they made it to their panels.  They wanted someone who would not be too starstruck to be responsible for them.  After confirming that we would not have to attend meetings, we accepted. 

 

Chris was also running programming at the convention, and asked me if I would do an interview with Jim on the Saturday.  I agreed, and tried to find some questions that he had not already answered a bunch of times.  Because I was dressing as Captain Hammer on the Saturday, I wrote the questions on cue cards that I could keep in my glove.  I’ve often complained that the people doing the interview don’t seem to ask the obvious follow up questions, so this was my time to see if I would fall into the same mistakes.

 

While we had read the entirety of The Dresden Files, we hadn’t read his other two series, or any of Jennifer Blackstream’s books.  We made an effort to get the six books in the Codex Alera series, as well as the two Cinder Spires books.  We also ordered the first three of the Blood Trails books.  I was able to read the first two of Jim’s Codex Alera books, as well as Deadline, the first book in Jennifer’s Blood Trails series.

 

On the Friday, we picked them up from the airport.  Since the convention started later, we took them to dinner, and then took them to the local grocery so that they could get some supplies for the weekend.  We made sure that they got to their panels on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.. We got invited to the after-con dinner which allows the convention chairs a chance to interact with the guests.  On the Monday after checkout, we took them for lunch, and then back to the airport and made sure that they got on their flight.

 

As guests, they were lovely.  Jim was very engaging, and was quite good about posing for pictures and signing autographs.  A few people had brought a lot of books for him to sign (three at a time), and he was very generous about signing all of them.  He even stayed beyond his allotted time to ensure that he signed everything. 

 

Jennifer Blackstream was adorable.  She was also great about taking photos, and had a great panel with Tanya Huff which gave both perspectives – both from an older writer and from a newer one.  Her shark movie panel with Jim was very fun and engaging.  It sounds like they might try it again at DragonCon so, if you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

 

Canadian author Tanya Huff was also there as a guest.  While we did watch her Blood Ties TV series, we haven’t really read any of her books yet.  She came across as feisty in her panels though, and we definitely will need to check out some of her work.  She had a great panel with Jim where they discussed the tv adaptions of The Dresden Files, and Blood Ties, which both had one season in 2007.

 

Due to scheduling, I wasn’t able to catch any of Jeremy’s panels. They had sounded interesting, but we just couldn’t get to everything.

 

After the convention, we ordered another dozen of the books in Jennifer Blackstream’s Blood Trails series.  She has been pretty prolific, but that gives us the first 15 of the 19 books.

 

Keycon custume recap

 Keycon was fun.  It was good to see old friends again, and the guests were good (more on that later).  We were able to play Circus Imperium on Saturday night.

 

 

I wore my Jack Burton shirt on Friday.  I had let my stubble grow out from Wednesday.   I wasn’t able to wear my ninja tabi.  With the extra weight , my feet must have swollen a bit and I wasn’t able to close the tabs on the side.  So I just wore sneakers.

 

 

On Saturday I switched into my Captain Hammer.  The new shirt had arrived that week.  I had also bought a Captain Hammer groupie shirt for Shann, so we were dressed as a couple.  Since Captain Hammer is clean shaven, I cleared away the stubble as well.  A few friends already noticed this change the next day, so I knew the change for Saturday would have a big impact.

 

 My Kurgan proof-of-concept jacket was completed in time.  It did take a few later nights to get all the final sewing done.  The hot fix skulls I had ordered did not arrive in time, so instead I had to use the skull beads that I had picked up from Michael’s.  They were a bit smaller, but they are much cheaper than the actual skull studs. 

Taking off both sleeves, and cutting them into strips to sew together for his arm guard took a while.  I also stitched up a bunch of the parts on the jacket where the vinyl was peeling apart. This actually helped add to the look. 

The chain mail went fine.  I had a spool of fencing wire that I had bought over two decades ago for making mail.  I coiled it around a bar we had in order to adjust the teleposts, and cut the coils with a Dremel cut off wheel.  The sleeve, pocket square, and partial glove took over 500 rings.  If I find a more accurate jacket, I can easily move the mail over.

I wore the same black cargo pants and work boots for both Captain Hammer and the Kurgan.  On the night, I combed my hair back and tied it in the back. 

 

I wore the same costume on Sunday morning.  But I buzzed my hair down that morning to 1/8 inch.  I also had cut a strip of nylons and put a bunch of safety pins in it to simulate the ‘in disguise’ look.  The hair cut definitely caught a few people by surprise.  People who hadn’t seen me Saturday night didn’t recognize me right away.

 

 

I didn’t get around to making the “bullet-proof” vest for Richard Castle.  I really should continue and put it together so that I have it for when I need it next.  This is another one I can make two of to use as a couple costume.

Figure Painting Total - March 2023

 I finally received the missing arms and bases from the Justice League set.

I was finally able to get some momentum going and completed some figures. 

The weather even opened up one day and allowed me to spray clear coat outside to finish them.

Bought

DCU – Justice League – 3 (three figures replacement arms)

 

Painted

Unmatched – Redemption Row – 1          (Ghost Rider)

DA – Plains Tribe Posse – 9

DA – Cross Roads Cult – 4 (? hired guns, ? Desperados)

DLB: Final Girls – 1

MU – Avengers starter – 1 (Captain America)

MU – Brotherhood of Evil Mutants starter – 1     (Pyro)

MU – Dark Avengers starter – 1    (Iron Patriot)

 

 

Mar total – 3 figures bought, 18 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 45, figures painted 18

Figure Painting Total Sept 2022

 

I picked up the last two Operations for Dust Tactics that I could find.  I still need Operation Cerberus but, since that came with the building it is hard to get.  I don't need the building as I bought three of the Tenements but do want the booklet and figure.  I was also finally able to get a Green Lantern from DCU.  Now I just need to get the Justice League set.

Sept

Bought

DCU – Green Lantern – 1

Dust Tactics: Operation Hades – 1

Dust Tactics: Operation Icarus – 2

Dust Tactics Allied Pelican P-48 – 1

Dust Tactics Axis Horten HO-347 – 1

  

 

Painted

MU – Sabretooth – 1

MU – Wolverine – 1

 

 

Sept total – 6 figures bought, 2 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 181, figures painted 75

Figure Painting Total - August 2022

Bought

 

Painted

Unmatched – Deadpool – 1

Unmatched – Hell’s Kitchen – Bullseye, Daredevil – 2

Unmatched – Redemption Row – Cage, Moon Knight – 2

BM – Joker’s Gas Canisters Objective Markers – 2

DCU – Superboy – 1        

  

MU – Captain Marvel – 1

MU – Deadpool – 1

MU – Ms. Marvel – 1

SWNYC – New Yorkers – 2

 

Aug total – 0 figures bought, 13 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 175, figures painted 73