Road Warrior Weekend 2009 - my report
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:55 pm
Hey guys, so here's my recap:
As many of you know, I put a lot into this event. Karol and I worked for many many hours putting Wasteland Radio together and I've been working on my two Max costumes for months.
The good news is it was a big success. I think this is something to build on, and everyone who went said that they would do it again, and go even bigger with their outfits and vehicles next time. And I think now they'll be able to hype it to their friends and bring in even more people.
I wonder what the final attendance was once you factor in all of the people who bought tickets plus the people that were staff/comped/performers. I might guess it was somewhere around 250 people.
Anyway, there were a few disappointments, but overall, the positives totally outweighed the negatives and it was a great event and I feel totally satisfied that it was worth all of the work on everyone's part.
First, the disappointments:
1. My costume. After talking up my screen accurate Road Warrior costume for months, and working on it for countless hours, it just wasn't ready in time to wear. I even brought tools and materials with me to try and finish it during the weekend. First I thought I'd get it done to wear Saturday, then I thought I could have it for Sunday. In the end, I gave up and just wore the jacketless-Max version on Sunday (just the t-shirt, leather pants, boots and leg brace. And even then it was still missing the knee pad and the gloves). I was disappointed about this, but I WILL have the outfit done soon to show off to all of you guys online, and in person at something like DragonCon and/or Comicon next year. One thing that took the sting out of this is that my MFP outfit WAS ready in time (barely) so I got to wear that.
2. The drive. I left a few hours late on Friday (working on my costume, of course) and hit tons of traffic going out of Los Angeles. I thought I'd be okay once I got out of the city, but I forgot about all the traffic heading to Vegas that weekend. All in all, a drive that should have taken 2 1/2 hours took me about 4 1/2 and I didn't get there until after dark on Friday.
3. Some of the vehicles and people I was looking forward to seeing had to drop out at the last minute. (See you next time Dave.)
4. No Death Guild Thunderdome. We had originally hoped these guys would come to the event and bring their awesome thunderdome from Burning Man, but it didn't happen. Maybe next time.
5. The weather - it was just too damn cold. Next time, we need to have this event in September or early October. This would give us great weather (not too hot either), an extra hour of daylight before the daylight savings changeover, and would mean that those coming from far away wouldn't have to cross snowy mountains.
6. The accommodations. I couldn't afford to buy all of the camping gear I wanted, so it ended up cheaper to just stay in a hotel (I was thankful for the shower because I forgot just how dusty the desert is). Problem is, the nearest hotel was an hour away. Having to commute back and forth to the event was a pain. Next time I'll work out a way to stay onsite. Maybe rent an RV.
7. My hair. I was overdue for a haircut and the desert wind wreaked havoc on my long-ish hair and receding hairline. I apologize for any group photos I may have ruined with my windblown hair flying up all over the place.
That's about it for the low points. Nothing too serious. Here are the highlights (in no particular order):
1. The people. Tons of cool people showed up to this thing. It was great meeting people from the forum. But I agree that next time we should have a way to identify ourselves. I bet there are some folks that that I didn't even know were forum members. I ended up mostly hanging with the MFP guys. I showed up in my MFP uniform the first night and just naturally gravitated to other officers. People just naturally seek out their own kind I guess. I kind of wish we had all driven in to town and had lunch at a diner or something, looking like a real police force. I hope to hang out with a lot of you guys again at some point. Tony all the way from Jersey, Ziggy, Curtis and his crew (thanks again for the jump start), Gabrielle, Scarlett, Alan and Karen from Australia, Alex and his girl Pinky up at outpost 8 on the top of the hill, Jim and the gang at MFP substation 29,Paul Miller,Karol, etc. etc.. One of the nice things about the cold weather is that everyone would stop by each other's fires after dark to warm up. You would sort of wander from fire to fire around the camp, seeking out the next source of light and heat. Everyone was really welcoming around the fire and it was a good way to meet people.
2. The costumes and vehicles - a lot of creativity was on display. I wish I'd had more time to really take in everyone's outfits in greater detail. Jim's Goose uniform and bike were a highlight for me, not to mention the pair of interceptors, black and yellow. And Curtis (Madmaximages) had the f'ing demon dirt bike!
3. My MFP costume - Even though my Roadwarrior costume wasn't quite ready to go, I ended up putting together one of the most screen accurate MFP costumes ever I think. (I'll post a thread about it later on). This was my first time wearing it as it wasn't ready until Friday morning, and I was really happy with it.
4. Wasteland Radio - After all of the hard work Karol and I put into it, it was great to hear it on the air. And I loved hearing from other fans how much they liked it. It really was pretty great to be able to tune your car to 95.7 on the drive in to camp and hear the sounds of the wasteland before you even saw the the event on the horizon. We'll probably put a couple more samples from it online, but we're going to keep most of it under wraps and only play it at events like this in order to keep it special.
5. Walking around with my buddy Brad Saturday night, serving free "wasteland champagne" (a cocktail I invented consisting of a mix of several flavored vodkas and black lemonade soda) - served in a plastic crystal champagne flute.
6. Liquid O. These guys really elevated this event with their portable performance setup. A combination bus/stage with sound system, lights, stripper cage etc.. This provided us with a focal point for all of the special events (not to mention a wall to project the movie on). This is also where the fire performers did their thing, the fighting ring was etc.. Can't emphasize enough how much these folks brought to the event.
7. Bartertown - I'm not sure if the vendors made much money at this event, but it was really cool having them there. Especially the folks that were providing essentials like snacks, chapstick, water, etc.. And thanks for only charging $1 for a bottle of water. You guys rock.
8. Road Warrior photo session. This was something that was supposed to happen on Sunday, but sort of got forgotten because everyone was packing up by then. I managed to convince the guy with the good camera to hang out and do an informal one with a small group of us. It was a lot of fun. Another photographer happened to come by and took tons of photos with me and Ziggy hanging out at the Atomic Cafe sign etc.. Very cool bonus to the end of the weekend. Speaking of which -
9. The atomic cafe sign. It was awesome. Even better than the one from the movie, since it was bigger.
10. The two guys in Bartertown who helped me do some work on my leg brace (Peter the blacksmith and the other guy's name I forgot). If you need costume repair done on metal and leather, renfair vets are the guys for the job!
I'm sure I forgot some stuff. Thanks again to everyone that made it such a memorable weekend. I think this could be just the beginning of an event that grows and grows. Burning Man is old and played out. Plus it's a bunch of hippies doing weird art shit and frat boy gawkers in street clothes hoping to take pictures of naked chicks that they can post online.
This event of ours is the future. You heard it here first.
As many of you know, I put a lot into this event. Karol and I worked for many many hours putting Wasteland Radio together and I've been working on my two Max costumes for months.
The good news is it was a big success. I think this is something to build on, and everyone who went said that they would do it again, and go even bigger with their outfits and vehicles next time. And I think now they'll be able to hype it to their friends and bring in even more people.
I wonder what the final attendance was once you factor in all of the people who bought tickets plus the people that were staff/comped/performers. I might guess it was somewhere around 250 people.
Anyway, there were a few disappointments, but overall, the positives totally outweighed the negatives and it was a great event and I feel totally satisfied that it was worth all of the work on everyone's part.
First, the disappointments:
1. My costume. After talking up my screen accurate Road Warrior costume for months, and working on it for countless hours, it just wasn't ready in time to wear. I even brought tools and materials with me to try and finish it during the weekend. First I thought I'd get it done to wear Saturday, then I thought I could have it for Sunday. In the end, I gave up and just wore the jacketless-Max version on Sunday (just the t-shirt, leather pants, boots and leg brace. And even then it was still missing the knee pad and the gloves). I was disappointed about this, but I WILL have the outfit done soon to show off to all of you guys online, and in person at something like DragonCon and/or Comicon next year. One thing that took the sting out of this is that my MFP outfit WAS ready in time (barely) so I got to wear that.
2. The drive. I left a few hours late on Friday (working on my costume, of course) and hit tons of traffic going out of Los Angeles. I thought I'd be okay once I got out of the city, but I forgot about all the traffic heading to Vegas that weekend. All in all, a drive that should have taken 2 1/2 hours took me about 4 1/2 and I didn't get there until after dark on Friday.
3. Some of the vehicles and people I was looking forward to seeing had to drop out at the last minute. (See you next time Dave.)
4. No Death Guild Thunderdome. We had originally hoped these guys would come to the event and bring their awesome thunderdome from Burning Man, but it didn't happen. Maybe next time.
5. The weather - it was just too damn cold. Next time, we need to have this event in September or early October. This would give us great weather (not too hot either), an extra hour of daylight before the daylight savings changeover, and would mean that those coming from far away wouldn't have to cross snowy mountains.
6. The accommodations. I couldn't afford to buy all of the camping gear I wanted, so it ended up cheaper to just stay in a hotel (I was thankful for the shower because I forgot just how dusty the desert is). Problem is, the nearest hotel was an hour away. Having to commute back and forth to the event was a pain. Next time I'll work out a way to stay onsite. Maybe rent an RV.
7. My hair. I was overdue for a haircut and the desert wind wreaked havoc on my long-ish hair and receding hairline. I apologize for any group photos I may have ruined with my windblown hair flying up all over the place.
That's about it for the low points. Nothing too serious. Here are the highlights (in no particular order):
1. The people. Tons of cool people showed up to this thing. It was great meeting people from the forum. But I agree that next time we should have a way to identify ourselves. I bet there are some folks that that I didn't even know were forum members. I ended up mostly hanging with the MFP guys. I showed up in my MFP uniform the first night and just naturally gravitated to other officers. People just naturally seek out their own kind I guess. I kind of wish we had all driven in to town and had lunch at a diner or something, looking like a real police force. I hope to hang out with a lot of you guys again at some point. Tony all the way from Jersey, Ziggy, Curtis and his crew (thanks again for the jump start), Gabrielle, Scarlett, Alan and Karen from Australia, Alex and his girl Pinky up at outpost 8 on the top of the hill, Jim and the gang at MFP substation 29,Paul Miller,Karol, etc. etc.. One of the nice things about the cold weather is that everyone would stop by each other's fires after dark to warm up. You would sort of wander from fire to fire around the camp, seeking out the next source of light and heat. Everyone was really welcoming around the fire and it was a good way to meet people.
2. The costumes and vehicles - a lot of creativity was on display. I wish I'd had more time to really take in everyone's outfits in greater detail. Jim's Goose uniform and bike were a highlight for me, not to mention the pair of interceptors, black and yellow. And Curtis (Madmaximages) had the f'ing demon dirt bike!
3. My MFP costume - Even though my Roadwarrior costume wasn't quite ready to go, I ended up putting together one of the most screen accurate MFP costumes ever I think. (I'll post a thread about it later on). This was my first time wearing it as it wasn't ready until Friday morning, and I was really happy with it.
4. Wasteland Radio - After all of the hard work Karol and I put into it, it was great to hear it on the air. And I loved hearing from other fans how much they liked it. It really was pretty great to be able to tune your car to 95.7 on the drive in to camp and hear the sounds of the wasteland before you even saw the the event on the horizon. We'll probably put a couple more samples from it online, but we're going to keep most of it under wraps and only play it at events like this in order to keep it special.
5. Walking around with my buddy Brad Saturday night, serving free "wasteland champagne" (a cocktail I invented consisting of a mix of several flavored vodkas and black lemonade soda) - served in a plastic crystal champagne flute.
6. Liquid O. These guys really elevated this event with their portable performance setup. A combination bus/stage with sound system, lights, stripper cage etc.. This provided us with a focal point for all of the special events (not to mention a wall to project the movie on). This is also where the fire performers did their thing, the fighting ring was etc.. Can't emphasize enough how much these folks brought to the event.
7. Bartertown - I'm not sure if the vendors made much money at this event, but it was really cool having them there. Especially the folks that were providing essentials like snacks, chapstick, water, etc.. And thanks for only charging $1 for a bottle of water. You guys rock.
8. Road Warrior photo session. This was something that was supposed to happen on Sunday, but sort of got forgotten because everyone was packing up by then. I managed to convince the guy with the good camera to hang out and do an informal one with a small group of us. It was a lot of fun. Another photographer happened to come by and took tons of photos with me and Ziggy hanging out at the Atomic Cafe sign etc.. Very cool bonus to the end of the weekend. Speaking of which -
9. The atomic cafe sign. It was awesome. Even better than the one from the movie, since it was bigger.
10. The two guys in Bartertown who helped me do some work on my leg brace (Peter the blacksmith and the other guy's name I forgot). If you need costume repair done on metal and leather, renfair vets are the guys for the job!
I'm sure I forgot some stuff. Thanks again to everyone that made it such a memorable weekend. I think this could be just the beginning of an event that grows and grows. Burning Man is old and played out. Plus it's a bunch of hippies doing weird art shit and frat boy gawkers in street clothes hoping to take pictures of naked chicks that they can post online.
This event of ours is the future. You heard it here first.
