Starcon 2003 (Moscow)

The following represents a personal review of the events of SatrCon 2003 held in Moscow in the beginning of July

While all the arriving guests were being registered and diven their badges, there was a photosession of all the guys in costumes.Left to right: Anakin and Ami.. oh.., Neatary in Amidala`s costume (this sweet couple looked so great that I couldn`t force myself to make photo smaller, beware of 240 Ęb picture, but it`s worth the wait), Vader and Kyle Katarn, Vader in full gear, the Jedi.

So, I`m at the con. And I can`t believe it.
It`s my first StarCon in Russia and I can`t evaluate it right as I don`t have anything to compare it to. Still, I`ve been to The Elstree Star Wars Day in 1993 (London) and I must say this was no worse. Of course we don`t have the ability to invite the actors and our figurine shop looked a bit poor, but the rest of the event was no worse than the Biritsh con, really. It was very kind of the head of the club that they made their business to meet guests and house them for the duration of the con. No foreign con organization do this, so I must say our con was far friendlier, than any foreign one (Thanks to Neatary and Mifa).
This con was a lof of fun. Despite a lot of spare time when we did nothing but communicate to each other it was all great. I met everyone I was writing with via e-mail and got new friends. There was no time to eat or sleep as the events were going on around the clock (probably Jedi should draw their strength from the Force I don`t know, but the guys who organized this con were always in top working condition despite the 20 hour work day). Everyone went to the con for fun and we got a lot of it.
Ok, where to start? Over 90 people from 15 cities were guests of StarCon this year and so far it`s an absolute record for the con.

Left: Metro station became a meeting place for the con guests. Right (both photos): StarCon 2003 declared open.

First of all it was great to walk around the city in a company of fully dressed Jedi. I`m not a RPG player nor a Tolkien fan, so I never experienced this before. That`s why I took every opportunity to walk along with other guys in costumes. I had very special pleasure doing that.I hope to do a more interesting costume for the next StarCon. Right now I have one that loosely resembles Luke`s costime from Episode 6. But it`s not as bright as you have to wear at a con like this. The opening ceremonu was just brilliant. The guys in the costumes were just beautiful. There were two Anakins (Anakin and Vader, actually) and two Amidala costumes (from Episodes 1 and 2). But it could be better if they would also stage something, not just stand there and wait till Vader gets on with his speach.
After the opening ceremony most of the fans went to play RPGs and card games and the rest of us went to find some place around the rented building to talk and have some fun. At night everyone went to see the first two episodes of the saga. I decided that watching the movies was too much for me, I wanted to be in the right condition for the next day and went home.

Guests from Perm at StarCon 2003. Left: the fan who holds the flag at the top row and me at the front. Center: me with the StarCon poster in the background. Right: Wedge of Perm and Anakin of Moscow.

Next day we had a small seminar and the exhibition of SW items from the private collections (I have to explain something here. We have very limited ability to get Lucasfilm toys and figurines, that`s why this exhibition was really interesting for the ones who have no opportunity to get those things). Main attraction for the day was computer games championship which was very popular.

Picnic by the road. Right: the Jedi are prepared for sabre fighting.

There was KVN in the evening. I have to explain something here again. KVN is Russian abbriviation that stands for "Competition of the inventive and festive" (maybe my translation is not quite correct, but you got the idea). Well, the point is, two teams of people have to make the audience laugh. The jokes have to be smart and funny. Some scenes are prepared in advance and staged, some are on the spot findings. The most funny team wins. It`s like a stand-up comedy but only it`s a team work. This game has no analouges abroad, it`s strictly Russian national stuff. And the whole thing was hilarious, what a pity it wasn`t recorded with any camera. We`ll try to make the teams to repeat this and record it on video. For everyone who missed the show.

Sabrefighting show

The third day was the most fun. Sabrefighting show was brilliant. Vader vs Kyle Katarn fight was great. And the staged mini-show with Anakin and Neatary was plain great. They played out a scene between a brother who turned to the dark side and a sister who fought for the light. And it was awsome.

Anakin and Neatary confront each other at the show. Right: lord Vader gives a lesson of sabre fighting for everyone who wanted.

Next on the agenda was a mini-roleplaying game on location. The location was the same park we had our sabre fighting lessons. It resembled Endor in parts. I don`t play RPGs in any shape but I decided to give it a try anyway as I came here to have fun. I was assured again that RPGs are not my kind of thing, but running around the park with waterpistols was fun anyway.

Almost all guests at the Con (except the ones who were taking pictures)

It`s a pity that the con weas closed just the way it was opened - with Vader giving a speach. It could have been better with a staged show or something like that. All the winners got their prizes (RPGs, computer games, card games and so on). There also was an exchibition of fanart, pretty poor this year. It was a lot of fun for the ones who came there to have it. But there were (I was told) a lot of unhappy fans around, I didn`t notice them. Maybe because I was set for fun.

Left: Vader gives the final speach. Right: a photo of everyone.

I`m sure I`ll go to the next con which will be held in Saint-Petersbourg next July.