Witchbomb

I have been to a lot of conventions over the years, in the UK and abroad, but Witchbomb was undoubtedly one of the best I have ever been to – anywhere., ever.  Just listen to what Sean Harry had to say at the Facebook Live (32) after the event.  https://www.facebook.com/starfuryevents/videos/1020995032256504  Listen from 5.10 to 6.20.  They acknowledge it was their best ever. 

Before the con, I was concerned about two things.  I was concerned that this might be the last hurrah for the fandom and that expectations were set so high that I felt people were almost bound to be disappointed.  I was glad to be very wrong on both counts.  One thing I had not expected was the level of generosity, never has so much free stuff been given to the fans by other fans.

 In some ways this was a typical Starfury event, with little early indication that this was going to be special.  But when news emerged that three of the guests would be working and would have to curtail their attendance, it did raise stress levels.  Lyne and KTY were having to leave early on the Sunday and Amalia wasn’t going to attend until Saturday.  But, as Sean said, guests in similar positions would usually have cancelled, rather than make valiant efforts to be with us for the weekend.

The Friday evening opening ceremony set the tone for the event.  No, I don’t mean that it started 20 minutes late.  We all know convention time is only approximately ever similar to clock time.  When it did start, we got the Starfury promo film, followed by the Witchbomb promo and then Sean introduced the guests in order of their appearance on the promo, starting with Diana.  So, after KTY, we were expecting him to go straight to Taylor.  So, the first surprise of the evening was that Amalia came out on stage.  She had been seen at Oslo airport earlier by one of the Norwegian fans, but she was actually there and made it to the Meet and Greet afterwards as well. 

Saturday morning was a crazy mix of photoshoots and fan meets, before we settled down for the guest talks in the afternoon.  Even here there were surprises, like the announcement of the ice cream van that had free ice creams for attendees.  Of course, we all had to find a few minutes to check that out.  And there was the LED screen van parked next to it, showing material about Motherland Fort Salem.  Photos later emerged of cast members getting their ice creams too!

After the guest panels, there was the autograph session for gold ticket holders.  Fans had brought a lot of gifts to give to the cast.  But it was reciprocal.  Emilie had brought Canadian candy that she was giving out to people getting her autograph.  Very nice Maple candy.  Just sorry I didn’t take a photo of it before I ate it!  Kandyse and Amalia had by far the longest queues.  Kandyse was having a lot of fun talking to fans.  Amalia just had a lot of autographs to sign.  But, all of them were happy and professional, being warm and welcoming even after about 3 hours of autographs.  For KTY this was her only autograph session.

The cast’s long day continued when they had to judge the cosplay competition in the evening.  That took a lot of discussion.  Then they were eventually able to disappear while we partied at the disco.

Sunday morning was more photoshoots and fan meets.  Extra fan meets had needed to be scheduled as there was large demand and some of the original allocation sold out very quickly.  The guest panels were rearranged on Sunday.  Instead of 4 panels, each with 2 people, both the Motherland panels had 3 people.  This meant that KTY could leave after her talk and the autograph session could start earlier, allowing Lyne to depart in time for her plane.

But it was the end of the Amalia / Lyne / Taylor panel that blew everything away.  Amalia singing Redemption to Taylor is the best thing I have ever seen at a convention.  By a very long way.  That woman is a goddess, such an amazing gift to the fans.  Taylor and Lyne did not know it was going to happen.  It started with a showing of the video, which Amalia, Lyne and Taylor came down into the audience to watch.  Then Flora Leo, the composer, brought her keyboard onto the stage and it got wild.

Redemption is a song that is meant to be sung, musical theatre style, by Scylla to Raelle.  To actually see it happen was unbelievable.  The room had spent the previous hour filling with love and emotional energy which Amalia was able to tap into and bring Taylor with her into that energy.  To see her look into her eyes and sing and then take her hand and go round the room, was mind blowing.  To say it was ‘Magical’ is almost an understatement.  Nothing beats that.  It left everyone emotionally exhausted, but incredibly happy to have witnessed something that special.

At the closing ceremony, the extended standing ovation that Amalia got actually moved her to tears.  Starfury had lots of tissues available!  She talked of having been very nervous about coming as she didn’t know what to expect.  She had been worrying about it all week, but ‘now’ she couldn’t understand what she had worried about.  She had been surrounded by love and affirmation for the whole weekend.  She also paid tribute to some of the fans and what they had faced to come here, particularly mentioning one young fan with social anxiety who had flown all the way from Australia because she wanted to meet the cast. 

There is no question that our cast had a great time.  Taylor said at the closing ceremony that she will come back every year they will have her.  So we await Witchbomb 2 next August.

I have been thinking about why this convention was so special and there are two standouts for me.

First the generosity of the fandom.  Even Starfury staff said that the amount of gifts for the cast was far bigger at this convention than any other con they had even done.  Some cons, there are none at all.  At Witchbomb, there were crates and crates of gifts.  Fans even brought things to give to other fans, sweets, balloons, name labels, pens, pronoun stickers, cards etc.  That level of gift giving creates such a positive energy and atmosphere.

Secondly, the willingness of the cast to start a relationship with the fans.  As was mentioned at the opening ceremony, this was the first time they really got to meet us.  We came out from behind our screens and so did they.  They put a lot of effort into getting to know us.  On Sunday, I was in the foyer as one of the guests walked through and she greeted me by name.  My first coherent thought was ‘how does she even know my name’?  After a few moments thought I realised I had told her at the Friday night Meet and Greet.  But then a second cast member greeted me by name later. 

This was not just a paid gig for them, they showed that they want to connect with us.  We are very fortunate in the cast we got.  It reminded me very much of the Earper con the previous week and the way the WE cast relate to their fans.  There is a relationship and a commitment there too.  Right down to getting a police car for the photo shoots and Kat Burrell spending an hour in the Manchester rain dressed in her police uniform for fan photos. 

Whether or not we even get Motherland back on our screens in one form or another, Witchbomb showed that this is a fandom with a lot of mileage in it and a cast that are prepared to travel with us too.  Just witness the deluge of fanfic, fan art and new videos that have come out since the con.  People are already planning their gifts for next year. 

It is a stronger, more empowered fandom, that now goes to Paris at the end of September.  It is Jess’s first in person con.  Witchbomb had Raylla, Paris had Talder.  Can’t wait.