Cyphan Convention Recap

So last Saturday June 26th I went to Cyphan. It’s a new small Science Fiction and Fantasy convention. I’ve hit a few conventions in this past year and have enjoyed going to them. I didn’t get to stay very long but I was able to stop by for a couple of hours.

It was held at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, Illinois. Little bit of a ride for me but it was worth it. For a small new convention they had quite a few guest, including comic book artist, writers and media guest.

They had a lot of great things going on. There was of course an exhibitors/dealer room so you could geek out and do some buying. The mandatory costumes of fans was present as well as a separate hall set up for fan displays. A robot museum, a zombie pin-up contest and a bounty hunter to track down your favorite convention goer and throw them in jail for you. Lots of stuff for a new convention.

The biggest attraction they had though were two ladies from science fiction shows. Jewel Staite (Jewel’s official site) who played Kaylee Frye on Firefly/Serenity and she also played Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis was in attendance. As well so was Nicki Clyne (Nicki’s official site) who played Flight Deck Crewman ‘Cally’ on Battlestar Galacitca. Both ladies did panels where they took questions from fans. They both also did photo ops and signed autographs for fans. In addition Cyphan set up a party afterwards for a limited number of attendees who paid a premium to mingle and have drinks with the stars.

I had tickets for all of the above but was not able to partake in all of the fun. I had a previous engagement that could not be changed. So I missed out on a bunch of the shows events described above. I also missed out on the panels for the two ladies and the party afterwards. However I did get to see exhibitors/dealer room which was pretty cool. Wasn’t real big or anything but there were quite a few things to be seen and purchased. I also did get to do photo ops with the two ladies and got their autographs. Here are pictures of me with the ladies.

Jewel and I

Nicki and I

For some reason I kind of look like their mentally challenged older brother. What a dork.

The director of the show is named Mike Bollow and he runs the Reenactor Fest which also takes place in Wheeling in February. Mike’s done a great job of setting up this new convention. I hope he has lot of success in the future and that this show continues to grow.

Here’s a link to some more pictures I took. (click the albums on the left of the page) Not too pictures this time. I forgot to check the batteries and they went dead on me. DOH!

Also added a link for the convention to Just Fun Links.

Looking forward to going to this convention next year!