Carolina Garrison

Date:
May 20-21, 2016

Location:
Myrtle Beach Convention Center

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
This was the 9th year of X-Con Comics shop in Myrtle Beach hosting this convention. It has seemed to grow in scale every year, although attendance seemed lower this year than last. This year's celebrity guests included 3 former Power Rangers, several competitors from SyFy's reality show Face/Off, a WWE Diva, and quite a few minor actors/artists/writers.

The vendors and costume contests seemed to be the real focus of the convention. This year's costume contest (judged by the Face/Off folks) had more that $13,000 in total prizes, with the grand prize being $3,000 in cash in addition to gift cards, a sewing machine and more. The big winners were a full-size Dalek with someone inside and a very impressive Iron Man with loads of electronic moving parts and lights, all seemingly operated from his gloves. All day Saturday, there were pre-judging events in the panel room, and the main contest still took over 2 hours on the main stage. Vendors included the typical convention favorites: collections of old action figures, comic book stores, hand-crafted costume parts and prop weapons, and some real pros, like Reynolds Advanced Materials who had samples of most Smooth-On products for mold making and casting.

The 501st was there as the convention opened on Friday with a sampling of helmets and blasters in front of our Death Star hallway wall. We posed for pictures gave away trading cards and talked to con-goers about the Legion and how they could get involved. Friday we only had a couple of troopers and one lone Jedi, but Saturday morning opened the con to find our ranks had grown to include several troops, crew, rebels and even a brand new R2-D2 (his upgraded metal body and speedy new motors/batteries were impressive). Bryan brought along some non-Legion friends in their trooper costumes to fill in the ranks, but they didn't hang around long.

Did this event support a charity?:
X-Con raised money for The Boys and Girls Club and Comics 4 Kids (buys comic books wholesale to give away in schools). They also had money set aside for XCON Summer Art Camp Scholarships.


Event Length (Hours):
6 hours Friday
9 hours Saturday


Direct Funds Raised? (Money raised directly by the Carolina Garrison):
Our Make-A-Wish donation box at the table raised $25.50 on Saturday


Indirect Funds Raised (Total money raised by event):
Boys and Girls Club should be about $7,500 (waiting on final bills)
Comics 4 Kids - $440
XCON Summer Art Camp Scholarships - $380

Other non profits XCON gave free booths too:
Classy Smiles ( a charity that provides free dental care to poor children ) - $750
Lupus Research - about $300


Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Chris Gould - Scout
2. Michael Beaupre - Snow Trooper
3. Jason Boyd - Sand Trooper
4. Jeff Miller - Sand Trooper
5. JP Morgan - Imperial Crewman
6. Bryan Roller - Stormtrooper

Handlers:
1. Christine Miller
2. Marty Harken

Crossover Attendees from the Rebel Legion / R2 Builders Club / Mando Mercs:(delete this section if not applicable)
1. Chad Varn - Obi Wan
2. Brad Butler - X-Wing/Luke Skywalker
3. Ed Reed - R2

Check out some of the event photos below:

Good report. I too was surprised at the crowd this year. I had fun but something about this XCON was different from years past. This could potentially be a place to really host a large-scale 501st Experience booth

Great work and those are some awesome photos.

I emailed Robin (owner of X-Con comics) to say "thank you" and get those charity totals. He told me in one of our first exchanges that he loves Star Wars and really wants to help build some large setpieces with us for next year. He's got experience as a contractor. I told him to definitely get in touch around January or December so we can get some ideas bouncing back and forth.

I also want an excuse to go visit Justin Branfur's workshop again. He'll be a 501st member soon and does amazing things with mold making and casting.

I'm finally getting to meet some new faces from around the Garrison. I enjoyed X-Con very much and look forward to attending next year. Very nice to meet all of you!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Me and the lovely Mrs. TK-14082...


Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Hey, Bryan, did you show up in the big "Star Wars" trailer that I saw out in the parking lot?

That belongs to Teddy Hatcher (TK-71063). That's where we suited up.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

WOW...those Indirect totals are incredible

Yeah, I wasn't gonna pay $30 each for Marty and myself to go to the VIP party, but then he started talking about how vendors pay that amount to cover the free food and open bar, but general public pays $100-$150 and it all goes to the Boys and Girls Club. I thought I'd look like a jerk for not spending that money to see all my comedian friends from Charleston there, and get more face-time with Robin and Steve. It's a really cool store as well.

I don't think they make any money from the con. Table fees and people paying to get in covers the cost of putting it on and the rest goes to charity.

Cool setup, good job.