The Paris convention was great fun. It was organised by Nevastalgia and it was their first event with Motherland Fort Salem guests. We had Taylor, Lyne, Jess, Arlen and Ess. Yes, Jess finally managed to get to a convention in person and she was so excited. We finally had Talder on stage. Witchbomb might have reunited Raylla, but Switches Gathering had reunited Talder. 2023 is proving to be a good year for the fans as we finally get to meet the cast.
Nevastalgia were extremely well organised. There were electronic noticeboards telling us what event was happening where. There was a screen in the main hall where there were announcements throughout the day. You could drop in and get updated, you didn’t have to rely on messages showing up on social media.
I loved the way they organised their extras. There were beautifully done cards for each guest and each one was for a different extra. It was like a set of baseball cards.
They also did a special poster, available on A4 for €4, as well as photos for the guests to sign and badges made for the occasion. All very modestly priced.
But this was Jess’s con. She was bouncing around like an adorable puppy. Clearly she had been looking forward to the con as much as the fans had. And she gave us some very special Talder moments.
The opening ceremony was the first chance most of us had to actually see her, although she had been around in the corridors with convention security people. Of course she was sitting next to Lyne, sort of.
The actors’ strike means that the actors can’t talk about their shows and Nevastalgia got round this by having games. Mainly games where they were asked questions about other cast members and had to put answers on a white board and discuss it. For me, this was the weakest part of the con. The actors sometimes did not write big enough for their answers to be seen. On some occasions they did not read out their answers either. As they had the pen in one hand and the board in another, they often were not holding their microphones while they spoke, so sometimes I had no idea what they were talking about. The French translators put everything in French, but as my French is pretty poor, that didn’t help much. But I am sure the actors’ strike will be resolved by next year and this won’t be a problem then.
Later in the day we got a Talder panel, leading to this classic moment.
Only Talder could do that live on stage.
As I said, in writing about Witchbomb, the cast got given a lot of presents, but I had never known the fans bring so many presents to give to other fans. The same was true here, but even more gifts. After Jess and Lyne, we got the big surprise of the day – donuts. And very welcome they were too.
We got a Spree badge too.
Thanks to these wonderful people for organising it.
It was hard to follow that, but we had the games session. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but frankly it was hilarious. Classic party game style, getting people to line up and then one is given a word to mime and the mime goes along the line to the end and, hopefully, the last person can guess the word.
After that we had a panel with Ess, Taylor and Jess.
Yes, there was some cheating going on. It was nice to hear Arlen give some of her answers in French, as she is fluent. Then the translators gave us the English version.
While things were going on in the main hall, elsewhere in the convention area were photoshoots, autograph sessions, selfie sessions, meet and greets, 1 to 1 meets and Switches having fun. The packed schedule of panels and extras meant that some people had clashes, but the convention organisers were brilliant at sorting things out. Starfury were great, but Nevastalgia exceeded even that high standard. They told people to prioritise the guest meets. If people missed selfies, they did them in the autograph session. If they missed photoshoots, they caught up when that actor was doing their next photo session. Someone in the organisation is very good at logistics.
As with all conventions, convention time bears little resemblance to real time. So the closing ceremony started about 9.15pm instead of 7.30. Nobody complained, we were getting far more for our day. The best part was when Audrey, told us she would see us next year. That was the first hint that there would be a Switches Gathering 2. And on Monday Nevastalgia announced that it would be a 2 day event and it would be in Brussels. No date announced yet.
I had a great time and I will be buying my ticket as soon as they come on sale. The fans had a great time, so did the cast and so did the organisers. When Switches get together, we seem to endear ourselves to convention organisers. Starfury said that Witchbomb was their best convention ever. Now Nevastalgia are not only having another convention, but giving us the weekend. This time, they were running a one day convention for another show on the Sunday. Next time it is just Motherland Fort Salem.
Of course, there were a couple of gatecrashers:
Blue balloons get everywhere, so does Morrigan. I bet he was looking for Scylla.
The success of the conventions this year is down to the cast and the fans. The cast want to meet us too. The atmosphere at these conventions has been lovely, people talk to each other, share experiences, make new friends, give gifts and show respect. Several of us did end up in the bar afterwards to carry on the conversations. Even allowing for the many languages that different people speak, we managed to communicate and enjoy the occasion.
So, I will be back for Brussels and London. Having been to Vancouver last month, I think it is a case of ‘become a Switch and see the world’.
ReturntoFortSalem 