Sunday, April 24, 2005

Klingon Korset Kon

Or should I say "Khaaaaaaaaaan!"

No, I shouldn't.

Two weeks ago a fellow huckster at Vulkon told me about the Dover Peace Conference. This local event is dedicated mostly to Klingons and things er...Kling...ish. It had all the features of being a complete waste of time.

-Fan Run
-No guests
-Trek Theme (Trek is withering on the vine)
-Low attendance

But it did have one attractive feature, it was cheap, AND they let us in only a few days before the con. So it was with a sense of apprehension that I loaded the van at an ungodly hour of the morning Saturday and drove to a Holiday Inn south of Akron.

When we arrived, the dealers room was locked and the sign-in table for the con was empty. Several bleary eyed people told us that this was likely due to the very heavy drinking that had taken place last night. Apparently, the Klingons had held a viewing/performance of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'.

I would honestly have paid money to see that.

The dealers room was soon opened and we set up. Then we waited. And waited. There were only about four other merchants in the room. More bleary eyed Klingons began stumbling through the room. We started generating interest. But we always generate interest. We were told that Klingons don't spend a lot of money, it takes away from booze money. But every fan group does have at least 1 whale. A customer who will spend whatever it takes to get something they want. We just had to find the whale.

The whale showed up at around noon. He was not dressed as a Klingon. But he did buy $500 worth of stuff without batting an eye. The gentleman buys a new outfit for his wife every year for Dragon Con. Bless you sir. But he was a guppy compared to the next fellow who came down with his two lady friends. After a flurry of try ons he purchases three complete outfits. Me very happy, do little dance.

After this we have along talk with a very tall woman who is very enamored with the spiked leather corset Rossana is wearing. In fact, Rossana looks stunning. She is easily one of the smallest women at the con and wears a corset well. The woman orders the corset. By 5pm the dealers room is shut down so we can have a break during the banquet. It was scheduled to re-open at 8 and to close at Midnight but we were exhausted. Three sales doesn't sound like a lot but for every sale there are a dozen try ons and lots of social chatter. In the end, I was very happy with the day. The event organizer was very happy with us and the women were very happy with their corsets. All way right with the world and we drove home.

The Klingons turned out to be a very nice crowd and I will likely do the event next year. If you know someone who has a head lobster fetish, you might want to let them know about this little shindig. They'll thank you for it, or give you a head but. Which is pretty much the same thing.

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