Filk, 501st, and Cosplay at ApolloCon 2009

Danny Patterson as Obi Wan, Chris Smith of the 501st Legion and the Denning Family: Simone Kern
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While Montrose was celebrating gay pride this past Saturday, another oft-marginalized community was rocking out with its proverbial Klingon cock out at ApolloCon 2009. I learned a lot during my stay at the Doubletree Hotel, like what the heck filking, cosplay, and programmable matter are, and I got to meet some truly friendly Houstonians in the process.

"Other rooms are more, ‘Hey, here’s some tequila. Here’s a green girl who’ll serve you a blue drink, and she won’t tell you what’s in it’.”

I started off my day by attending a few of the panel discussions offered throughout the weekend. At Apollo 11: Forty Years Later astronaut Stanley G. Love and a crew of NASA scientists wistfully recalled their childhood hopes for the space program; in Writing 101, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and romance writers gave their advice on how to get your genre fiction published. Wil McCarthy, ApolloCon’s guest of honor, discussed his research on something called “Programmable Matter.” To me, it sounded something like this: ‘Jibber Jabber photons bleeh blah nanotechnology whosiwhatsist basically we can create materials which have properties which don’t occur in nature.”

In the hallway, I ran into a guy in a kilt tuning up his twelve-string. Dene Foy, from the filking group Ghost of a Rose, explained to me what ‘filking’ is. “Simply put, it’s the music of science fiction fandom. Music about a scifi subject, taken from a book or story. Sometimes people write their own music, sometimes they’ll take a popular folk song and change the lyrics. Last night I heard a rap about dwarven kings and a song about the lack of bathrooms on the enterprise. “

Despite an emo subgenre of filking called ‘ose’ (from the word morose), the majority of filking tends to be playful. “This is a very playful community,” fellow musician Mel White confided to me, “Being a science fiction fan means we have a great optimism about the future. We believe that there’s goodness in humans and ... we go forward from here.”

Rachael (with an ‘a’!!!!) and Sandy (whose favorite word is ‘suckish’), who were trying to build a catapult out of raw spaghetti.: Simone KernIn the gaming room the twenty-sided dice were flying! At six large, round tables, gamers cast healing spells, moved tiny plastic elves around maps, and rolled for damage. Apparently there’s a whole universe of role-playing games out there, like ‘Frag’ and ‘Munchkin’, which I’d never heard of.

I was thoroughly enjoying my day, but I expected the con to be much bigger, like the conventions I’d seen on TV. Jason Lovins, founder of the U of H Gaming, Reading, and Writing League explained, “Anime and comics conventions are for a younger audience, typically 15 to 20-year-olds, and they’re much, much bigger, anywhere between 2,000-25,000 people. At an anime convention you go to observe—to hear people tell you how to be a voice actor, how to draw manga; you go to see a band from Japan. At a writing/gaming con, however, you go to interact. You play a game, make a costume. You have someone read your writing and you get to ask questions of an astronaut.” He also explained that if I wanted the real ApolloCon experience, I would have to stay after hours for the room parties. When I asked if it gets crazy, Jason explained, “It depends. Some rooms have theme parties that are more family-friendly, I believe there’s a zombie themed ice cream social tonight. Filkers do their thing. Other rooms are more, ‘Hey, here’s some tequila. Here’s a green girl who’ll serve you a blue drink, and she won’t tell you what’s in it’.”

At 8:00 the masquerade and costume competition began. 'Cosplay’ is the term for making original costumes and dressing up as characters from anime, video games, and other media. Cosplayers Dug Finn, Jesse Briceno, Connell Osborne, and Ethan Wolters first met at an anime convention. They stay in touch over the internet, but usually only see each other whenever the next con comes around. “It’s not at all the stereotype of gross, unwashed troll people at conventions. You meet a lot of pretty people,” Ethan Wolters told me, “it’s a very social thing; you make a lot of friends who have the same interests as you.”

When they’re not at conventions, their hobbies are as varied as any group of college kids. Occasionally they’ll meet up at the mall in costume, but otherwise Dug Finn studies and plays video games, Juan (not pictured) plays soccer and is in a Norteno band. Ethan skateboards and goes tricking (running up walls and doing backflips and stuff), and “you know, chilling, partying.”
Testament and her badass scythe—every bit of that costume is hand-made from her brother’s skinned couch.: Simone Kern
The room parties were, I admit, a bit of a letdown. I didn’t find my green-skinned girl to serve me a blue, smoking drink. However, I did get to chat with Wil McCarthy over a beer and get further confused about his research; I heard some great jokes about Dalek Porn (I assume they were great because everyone was laughing; I have no clue what Dalek porn is), and I chatted up a real live storm trooper!

Chris Smith is a member of the 501st Legion—an international club of over 3,000 storm troopers whose local chapters hold fundraisers for organizations like Toys for Tots, the Ronald McDonald House, and Make-a-Wish Foundation. They also visit the Children’s hospital regularly; that’s Chris’s favorite part of the job. “The kids just get blown away. Like 'Wow! Cool! I’m hanging out with a storm trooper.' And for the hour that you’re there they forget about their cancer.”

In fact, I heard a lot about volunteering and charity work throughout the day. Each club — Starbase Houston, the U of H Gamers, the 501st — had a charity or two to sponsor. I think it goes back to what Mel White was saying, about scifi fans having an inherent optimism and hope for the future.

But the people I met on Saturday don’t just hope the world will become a better place, they donate their time and money to ensure that it will. That’s why I got so pissed off when, while grabbing a bite to eat before the masquerade, a businesswoman at the hotel bar noticed my press badge and asked with the utmost derision if I was there to “watch the Trekkies.”

Fuck her and her ilk. Everyone I met on Saturday was friendly, intelligent, and hilarious, and they had the courage to get their kicks how they liked, no matter society at-large might think. Great people, and I can’t wait to see them all at the next con. Live long and prosper, bitches, and thanks to everyone who welcomed me into the ApolloCon family.