Starfury

This wasn’t a convention I planned initially to go to. I really wanted to meet Christian Kane and Amber Benson, because I liked both of them in Buffy and Angel respectively…and Amber Benson in Supernatural, too. Even though Lenore only appeared in two episodes, her character left a huge impact on me, as she was the turning point in Sam and Dean realising that not everything supernatural was necessarily evil. So I did ask if someone could pick me up an autograph from Christian Kane and Amber Benson…and a few people did offer…but then I got a back payment from the NHS that allowed me to pay for a ticket, plus a photo with David Boreanaz, who was announced literally two days before my money came in and I was able to get my ticket. Fortunately, despite my worries, the event didn’t sell out before I could buy my ticket, so I was able to get my ticket…and photos with five of the actors in total, so I was really excited about this event.

This event was a pretty big one, with about 1400 attendees (200 gold, 1200 regular). I managed to get to the event, but I got there later than I should have done due to traffic. Then my normal route to the airlink was closed off, meaning that I had to go a different way and into a tiny lift which…yeah, not ideal considering just how many people were moving through the airport. But I got to the hotel where the convention was, I managed to get registered and picked up all of the things I needed…then I had to go into Birmingham town centre for the hotel I was staying at. It was only a six minute walk from the train station, but Google Maps decided it wasn’t going to work. Unfortunately, that caused my first meltdown. Google Maps worked eventually, but it wasn’t a great start to the weekend.

Anyway, I got myself settled into the hotel and then returned to Birmingham Airport for the opening ceremony. And that was really great fun. Misha Collins and David Boreanaz weren’t arriving until the Saturday, but six out of eight of the guests being there was awesome! It really felt like they all wanted to be there…and I was left with a good feeling as I got myself fed and then went back to my hotel. (Five Guys is ridiculously expensive, by the way).

Anyway, I got back to the convention on Saturday morning for 9am…only to find that there were three different photo studios. And my photos with Jodelle and Amber were at different sides of the hotel and both taking place at the same time, which…sent me into a panic attack. Fortunately, the stewards were great and really helpful and I managed to get both of my photos…despite the fact that Jodelle was fifteen minutes late and Amber had already started. I got to both of them!

My next three photos went off without a hitch; they were half an hour apart and thanks to being on access (I could do without the diabetes, but unfortunately, it seems like I’ll be living with that…and let’s not forget finally being diagnosed with autism), I was able to sit down and wait in the photo studio, rather than going backwards and forwards more than three times.

I’d signed up to help steward and wound up helping at the fan meets. Unfortunately, due to reasons, I had a second meltdown while trying to get half of my autographs and return to help steward as quickly as possible. Due to the stress of the weekend, I don’t think it’s in me to help steward events anymore. It’s a shame, but if I’m going to have meltdowns, I need to stop doing that.

Anyway, the staff members were great. I was given the space I needed to calm down and was able to get all but one of the autographs I’d wanted to, as well as return to the fan meets to finish my stewarding shift very quickly. And I don’t think any of the guests realised I’d been crying…or if they did, they didn’t comment on it, thank goodness.

Christian Kane and Amber Benson were the main two I was most excited to meet, so I was really happy that neither of them had cancelled. The Lindsey photo was the last one left for Christian Kane to sign…and I’d been torn about whether to get Supernatural or Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Amber, but I wanted a Lenore photo, so…that’s what it was.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Starfury without the included autographs, which I got on the Saturday as well.

I unfortunately can’t decipher what Tahmoh wrote in his autographs, although I think the booklet is his character name from Supernatural. Still, the meetings were all great…and I got an extra heart from Amber in my booklet, since the first one she drew didn’t look exactly like a heart.

Anyway, after everything had finished and I had dinner, there was the cosplay competition. I had a lot of trouble seeing the costumes without standing up and blocking other people’s view, but I moved to the side of the hall so I could see…and there were a lot of very cool costumes! Some of my favourites were Vampire Slayer Barbie, the Smile Time crew, the Gentleman…really, though, everyone’s costume was fantastic and I loved seeing all of the work that went into them! And having David B as the announcer was pretty cool, since he made a lot of funny comments.

Anyway, Sunday was a much better day for me, as I didn’t have to be there quite so early. It was much nicer to have a leiusurely breakfast and a bit of a lie-in, then to head over to the airport for the second (and final) day of the convention.

I got to see two of the panels, which were Christian Kane and Amber Benson, then Misha Collins, David Haydn-Jones and Adam Fergus. Despite the strikes making it difficult to ask any questions about struck work, people came up with a few really good questions…and it was also awesome to get to hear Christian play and sing!

The above two pictures were taken by Gina and full credit goes to her for them.

Apart from Christian playing the guitar and singing (thank you, Amber, for bringing it up!), my favourite part of their talk was when they were asked about spirit animals…and Christian shared all of the evidence as to why a wolf was his, which was pretty cool.

The other talk I was able to be part of involved Misha Collins, David Haydn-Jones and Adam Fergus.

The above two photos were taken by @purplenurplespn and full credit for these go to her.

This talk made me laugh a lot…and there were some really cool questions asked, such as, ‘What’s your Mandela Effect moment?’ None of the actors actually knew what that meant, but there was a demonstration of the effect that came from a well-known quote that’s been misremembered.

I got half of my autographs on the Saturday, but the other half were on the Sunday…all of those who were the extra/bonus guests. I was really disappointed not to get a 10×8 of Jodelle signed on the Saturday, due to my meltdown causing me to forget to pick one up. The staff members did very kindly allow me to go in during the end of the autograph session on Sunday, so I was able to get my 10×8. And I was wearing my cat top, which my sister and my two oldest niblings got me for my birthday last year, which Jodelle told me she liked, so that was a lovely experience.

While I’m not attending Cross Roads 8 next year (I really shouldn’t be going to so many conventions, and in fact this one is likely my last one for this year), I am hoping to go to Lux 3 and Ultimates next year…hopefully taking my oldest nibling to the latter.

I cannot recommend Starfury enough. If you don’t go to any other conventions, go to one of theirs. The event doesn’t oversell and it’s not just a signing event. Plus, you get all talks included as well as the parties. Check it out!

I have to be honest…I haven’t seen Warrior Nun and I’ve only seen two episodes of Motherland: Fort Salem. But Taylor Hickson was lovely to meet last year, at the final Survival event, and one of my friends was going to Witchbomb, so I went to meet her as well.

In any case, I booked my ticket quite late…although I wasn’t the last attendee number, at least to the best of my knowledge. I know the event was really close to selling out…and I was surprised it didn’t end up doing so, given that there were eight really good guests who all seemed really excited and happy about being there. At the opening ceremony, they all seemed to have this really great energy, which was awesome! And the cheering when Amalia Holm and then Taylor Hickson came up on the stage was deafening.

I hadn’t planned to get any photos with any of the guests, having only budgeted for autographs. However, I mentioned to my friend that it would have been nice to get a photo with Amalia, who plays Raelle’s (Taylor Hickson) love interest in Motherland: Fort Salem. And she kindly paid for most of the photo, so I ended up getting one…although not in my normal photo outfit, since I didn’t bring that with me.

When I have photos with actors, I always try and see how they are with other attendees. If they seem to be open to hugs, I’ll ask if I can hug them…and Amalia was incredibly sweet, as you can probably tell from the photo above. I’ve seen some of the double photos with Amalia and Taylor and they clearly had a lot of fun with doing the shoots.

Unfortunately, Kristina Tonteri-Young (Sister Beatrice in Warrior Nun) had to leave immediately after photos on the Sunday, so she very kindly signed for everyone on the Saturday night. I’m not sure how late she ended up staying for, but the cosplay competition ended up having a delayed start, so I think it must have been quite late! Anyway, despite having to get through about 500 attendees (and perhaps double that in autographs, since there was a maximum of three for each attendee and she was included for free), she still took the time to talk to attendees and it didn’t feel like she was rushing through the autographs…even though I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did!

I really enjoyed the cosplay competition, although it was very much Motherland: Fort Salem and Warrior Nun themed. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there are normally a few other themes sprinkled in when I’ve seen the competitions in the past! All of the outfits were super awesome and it was also really good to see the reactions from the guests. Unfortunately, I missed some of the announcements about who had won due to reporting to a staff/steward about someone breaking the rules. It’s very disappointing to see peple persist in filming, even after all of the warnings given about it.

Lyne Renee (General Alder in Motherland: Fort Salem) also had to leave early, specifically after the autograph session on the Sunday. When me and my friend got into the room, I was shocked to see that her line was so short, since I was expecting it to be long. And just like Kristina, she wasn’t rushing through people. There was no sense of ‘she needs to leave soon,’ even though I knew that she actually did.

Diana Pavlovská and Emilie Leclerc (Willa Collar and Izadora in Motherland: Fort Salem respectively) were the two whose autographs I got next. As you can see from her autograph, Diana outlined the i in her name in a blue heart balloon…and she did that for every single autograph. It was such an awesome touch, but I couldn’t help feeling bad about how many autographs she probably ended up doing that to. And Emilie was awesome! She did stars on my autograph (as you can see) and while she was doing them, she told me she didn’t know why. I was just like, ‘I’m good with whatever you want to do!’

Amalia Holm (Scylla Ramshorn in Motherland: Fort Salem) and Olivia Delcán (Sister Camila on Warrior Nun) were the next two autographs I got. They were both lovely to meet, though I moved on quite quickly due to the long line building behind me.

Kandyse McClure (Nicte Batan in Motherland: Fort Salem, though I got a picture of her as Anastasia Dualla from Battlestar Galactica) was the final autograph I got. Her line was really long…and she was very chatty and easy to talk to. I had a good couple of minutes with her before I moved on!

Now, Starfury wouldn’t be Starfury without a few autographs included in the price…and I had six out of eight of the guests included in my ticket. I was very happy about this – I’ve always said and belive that Starfury is excellent value for money!

Another important aspect of Starfury for me is the access for disabled attendees, since I now have type 1 diabetes. The team has taken to having stewards who can be a stand-in for the attendee in an autograph queue…and for me, that turned out to be a good thing. Because I had two overloads, one on Saturday when we were waiting for an hour for Amalia photos, and one on Sunday, during the autographs. I actually didn’t realise that was coming on, but my friend with me realised and got one of the stewards to take my place. (I thought I was fine, right up until everyone around me started yelling and cheering at one of the guests when she was leaving). Another really good thing that the stewards were doing was going around offering attendees water. I didn’t feel too hot in the rooms, but I know quite a few other people did. Kandyse told me she thought her deodrant had stopped working!

I love Starfury. It’s 100% the best convention company out there, and the organiser does his best to keep the costs for attendees down. And the addition of helping with queues and offering water has really made a difference.

If you’re a fan of Motherland: Fort Salem, or Warrior Nun, or both, check out next year’s event. Heck, even if you’ve never heard of the shows but would like to be at an event that doesn’t oversell and is less stressful for both guests and attendees than signing events, Starfury definitely fits that bill!