Follow up to Last Dance, Xena Con 2015 Photo Slideshow

So in my previous article I wrote about the Xena fandom a little bit. I would like to elaborate on it a bit more. When I went to my first convention in 2001 it was all about the stars of the show. Back then they were just coming about 10 weeks off of shooting the very last episode of the series. Their memories of life and stories from their time on set were fresh so they had a lot of great stories for which fans swooned over.
There was also two nights in a row of amazing cabaret shows of which to me was the best part of the first convention experience outside the moments where the stars came out on stage for their hour of fun with fans. I remember at that first convention I had crappy seats in a room of 8,000 Xena fans that had gathered together. I couldn't afford the gold seats or even the silver seats. It was like nosebleed seats at a baseball game. And then there were the photo ops which I had never realized I should have been budgeting to get in on those. So I had decided that the next time I went back to the convention again I would be sure to budget for better seats and photo ops.
It would be 15 years before I'd have the opportunity to go to another Xena convention. And boy were the contrasts between the two experiences different. At the last Xena Con ever it was obvious that both the stars and the organizers were tired. Their enthusiasm was not as great as it was at my first experience. There were also significantly less fans who attended. Although, there were still between 2,000 to 3,000 attendees it was not as large of a gathering. It was a more intimate gathering. Yes, there was still the excitement to see the stars and have photo ops with them, and those lines for photo ops were longer than lines to get onto your favorite roller coaster, but this experience was more about meeting and hanging out with fellow fans.
Xena fans who had been coming to the convention year after year had taken it upon themselves to create an amazing fan powered community that no longer needed the star power to keep them excited about the show. The fans themselves had become the experience of the show and their many stories about their own memories of their convention experiences were better than those faded memories the stars had of their own experiences working on the show.
It was so funny to me to realize that the fans better remembered the stars' personal experiences on the show better than the stars themselves did at this point. That includes myself, because I still remembered all the cool fresh stories I had heard on my own first convention experience directly from those same stars.
During this particular experience although I found myself disappointed that the cabaret I had been so excited to see again was not on the schedule this time, or to get my personal photo ops with Renee O'Conner, and Lucy Lawless which turned out to be less than glamour. In fact, you had like two seconds with them after waiting in line for an hour. You just walked up, stood next to them, the camera went off, then you were quickly ushered off. Some of the stars seemed even tired of doing that. Although Lucy, and Claire Stansfield were still most gracious. They towered over me, two women who are probably like 6 foot to my 5 foot 4 stature.
The other thing that was disappointing was the show room. The show room at Last Dance in 2001 was huge and expansive. There were prop weapons hand crafted by the show props masters, and you could get both versions of Xena's chackram, Gabrielle's staff, sais, Ares's weaponry, and the list went on. There were endless tables of set photography up for grabs. It was impressive, and had I had any real money in 2001 to spend I probably would have bought the entire show room. In 2015 the show room was mostly left overs of what little was left in Creation Entertainment's vaults, combined with fan tables filled with fan-fiction, fan-inspired arts, and crafts, and a few consolation gifts.
With all that being said it was meeting and hanging out with the welcoming Xenite community that made Xena Con 2015 awesome. The fans of Xena are so very generous and over they years they made sure they created amazing charity events to go along with Xena Con weekend. There was now a Starship Foundation annual charity softball game with the Bards of Potedia vs Xenas of Amphipolis, there was a charity breakfast, a bra auction, and the list goes on. Not to mention the amazing talent of those Xenite Cosplayers who fashioned and made their own costumes. They looked so real, like they were crafted by the show wardrobe runners themselves. I was floored at how immersed the fans and the show itself had morphed into a living breathing entity.
Yep, because I had dusted off my old Xena wind breaker that came with one of the season's VHS box sets I had purchased 20 years before as part of the swag I was quickly identified and welcomed with open arms by all Xenites who had made and created such a "strong Amazon Nation." A quote from the show of course, but so relevant to Xenites all over the world. Yes, Xenites are indeed a special global family and all because of a campy little show made in New Zealand.
If you've read this far into my article it can only mean one thing. You are a true Xenite so I hope you enjoy the slide show.