AER: Northern Ontario Expo 2016

After many weeks of preparation, and great victories along the way, we came this weekend to the Northern Ontario Expo – the largest fan event in Northern Ontario. On Friday O’C’Tav assisted the local comicbook shop Jump City in establishing their base of operations before bringing in Maj’vIq to construct our foothold in the arena.

Later that evening, Thought Admiral Krikor arrived after his long journey across the realm of the Crimson Knight Fleet to survey the conquered territories, and join the crew in their revelry. When he arrived, he told us of the launching of IKV may’vIloS and the mighty crew that is joining the Crimson Dawn in the conquest of the North. After a great evening of sharing stories, we finally decided it best to get at least some rest before the day began.

This year, the NOE grew well beyond the capacity of its previous venue and as a result broke away from its association with the Timmins Sportman Show, moving to the Archie Dillon Sportsplex.  The road there was a challenge as they are a brand new not for profit organization and not yet eligible for grants. But with the help of the community, they were able to grow the Expo to new heights. Some vendors came from as far as Gaspe, PQ! In the Timmins Daily Press, organizer MJ Lapierre attributed some of the event’s “buzz” to the support of the Crimson Dawn at the recent City Hall presentation, and the subsequent publicity.

Each year at the NOE, the crew of the Crimson Dawn works to raise funds in support of important causes. As people who play warrior characters, our crew feels an obligation to those who really are. To this end, we decided to support a project being undertaken by Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps TIGER to send a group of Timmins’ your on a citizenship tour of Vimy Ridge, Normandy, Paris and London. At Juno Beach they will stand on the same sand where James Doohan, then a Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Artillery and former member of the Canadian Cadet Organizations, took 6 bullets as the Allies secured their foothold in Europe. At Vimy they will climb the same hill that the combined forces of all the Canadian divisions in the First World War ascended to break the German Hindenburg Line. To this end, we were asking for donations as people can to our booth for pictures. In all, we were able to raise $139.20 CAD (or 1.25 slips of Gold Pressed Latinum).

But as well as honour and duty, the crew of the Crimson Dawn are seekers of glory! O’C’Tav and Maj’vIq joined the annual costume contest in the Adult category, and tlharnoQ in the Master. Although in the adult competition our warriors faced defeat at the hands of a Borg drone, victory was ours for it is he who was assimilated into the Klingon Assault Group!

This Imperial Xeno-Legionaire was one of 5 new recruits who pledged their allegiance to the Empire on Sunday by signing on to kag.org. The Crimson Dawn’s roster now sits at 12 warriors, and the interest in the surrounding region is building! Many more expressed great enthusiasm and took our information. We won’t introduce them all just yet as most are still in the process of choosing their identities, but watch for their exploits on the near future!

In the master category of the costume contest tlharnoQ was victorious! None could stand against her..

At the end of the day we were approached by the owners of the Batmobile to come by for a photo shoot.

On Saturday evening we celebrated tlharnoQ’s great victory and the success of the mission thus far at Siva’s Restaurant.

The expansion of the Cosplayer section of the NOE allowed for some truly glorious battles!

Glorious battles were had with the Brampton Iron Man, the 501st Canadian Garrison, Candy Cosplay, Atlas Cosplay, Nikko Marie Cosplay and Voidshift Creations. And once we had met on the battlefield, we forged the bonds of warriors. Ideas were traded, and connections made. Voidshift and members of the 501st spoke with us about helping to establish a greater Klingon presence in the Sudbury area. Iw’noH who has been on long term assignment alone in that region was pleased went we sent word of the prospects of company.

We also had the chance to meet with the Federation representative, Commander Deanna Troi. Actually, she’d probably give me a look for saying that because Marina isn’t really a fan of staying in character. Several of us sat in on a presentation by Marina Sirtis. In spite of what she claims, she is very personable and really very funny. Maj’vIq actually got a hug from her after telling her of the impact she’d had on him both as Troi and as Marina.

We are currently waiting on a digital copy of a group shot, courtesy of the Porcupine Photo Club.

We also conducted a panel of our own, led by tlharnoQ, Maj’vIq and Krikor on the Way of the Warrior: How to build a warrior character and the different forms that may take.

At this time, Thought Admiral Krikor took the opportunity to promote Maj’vIq and O’C’Tav to Lieutenants, and bestowed upon tlharnoQ the honourific of vestai.

Still more battles ensued…

Eventually, as happens with this crew, things got silly…

We got a lot of people trying on ridges over the weekend including His Worship, Mayor Steve Black, who had promised to come support our fundraiser after the meeting at City Hall.

These and many more photos from the Northern Ontario Expo can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1094119543984144.1073741848.832188033510631&type=3

It was a glorious weekend of making friends, recruiting new warriors, and helping to build an important new cultural phenomenon in the North akin to when conventions first came on the scene in the post-Original Series era.

Participating in the weekend were:

Krikor
tlharnoQ
Maj’vIq
O’C’Tav
Ghob’Qan

Nivek also made an appearance disguised as a human in order to meet the Thought Admiral and check in with the ship.

Lieutenant Maj’vIq tai-Mk’naj
Executive Officer
IKV Crimson Dawn