Spartans For Nebraskon 2009

[sirblood]

Contagion: Outbreak: you probably saw me at OsFest as I wore my Mark VI a few times randomly and had my badge attached to a 405th lanyard. I also walked down the road to the Burger King and caused quite a stir. Had to wait a good 4 or 5 minutes at the corner for the light to change (was probably less but it seemed that long) Was funny as a couple of different people actually stopped their car in the middle of the road to take a picture.



An update for anyone interested in attending Nebraskon. Since I am on Nebraskon staff, its easy for me to talk to the con chair and stuff. She said they are willing to offer 10 free badges IF we help them out with the convention. I am already tied to the convention goings on (helped out every year since they started), but Loess has contacted me about working with me on my Fiberglassing panel.



About the free badges... we would need to:

* put on at least 3 or 4 panels relating to our costuming/weapons or Halo (me and Loess are already puting on 1)

* help out occasionally here or there for small volunteer stuff

* and maybe put on a demo of some sort.

* wear our armor off and on during the convention (but I think that's a given)



As I'm on staff, I already have my badge, but the rest of them are available as long as we meet the requirements for them. Its the same requirements that the 501st has for anyone who was curious.



I think that if someone or a couple of people teamed up to do an alternative methods for making your own armor panel, it would go over very good. I usually suggest poster board backed with 2 or 3 layers of drywall tape as a simple armor alternative, but there's others...



Since I am tied to cosplay and know the cosplay director and a couple of 501st members it has been mentioned to have some sort of demo in the inbetween time between cosplay and judges results. Times past Tuba Squall has done a strip request which gets people rather interested in staying..



Last year when people went overtime or the audience had lost interest we played the death star into over the pa, then 2 storm troopers and 2 R2D2 units escorted people off stage. They're looking for something similar yet different this year. The audience is not made aware of it, but all of the cosplayers are made aware of it. 1 in particular requested the storm troopers to be brought in seconds after they came onto stage as a 'false alarm'.



---



I would be willing to be an inbetween for Contagion just be advised that I am an hour and a half out of Omaha.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Contagion: Outbreak: you probably saw me at OsFest as I wore my Mark VI a few times randomly and had my badge attached to a 405th lanyard. I also walked down the road to the Burger King and caused quite a stir. Had to wait a good 4 or 5 minutes at the corner for the light to change (was probably less but it seemed that long) Was funny as a couple of different people actually stopped their car in the middle of the road to take a picture.



---



I would be willing to be an inbetween for Contagion just be advised that I am an hour and a half out of Omaha.

Jim, I don't know if you saw Jeff walking around the convention. I saw the picture of you on one of the picture pages from the convention. I was unable to attend myself. It took a bit of deduction, but I'm glad you wore the lanyard. It helped me track down this forum. Thanks for stepping up to the position of go-between. I look forward to working with you and the rest of the 405th. If it weren't for Jango and a clone trooper I'd so be doing a Master Chief or Marine at the least (former Marine myself so HALO has a special place in my heart). Feel free to e-mail me your contact information at John@Contagion2011.com. If we are unable to connect I look forward to connecting with you at NebrasKon. I'm a scout trooper like Ben Meier. I'm sure you've met him, and if you mention John the scout he'll know who you're talking about. Just remember, most of the stories aren't true .

 

[Loess]

******

An update for anyone interested in attending Nebraskon. Since I am on Nebraskon staff, its easy for me to talk to the con chair and stuff. She said they are willing to offer 10 free badges IF we help them out with the convention. I am already tied to the convention goings on (helped out every year since they started), but Loess has contacted me about working with me on my Fiberglassing panel.



About the free badges... we would need to:

* put on at least 3 or 4 panels relating to our costuming/weapons or Halo (me and Loess are already puting on 1)

* help out occasionally here or there for small volunteer stuff

* and maybe put on a demo of some sort.

* wear our armor off and on during the convention (but I think that's a given)

*****

I think that if someone or a couple of people teamed up to do an alternative methods for making your own armor panel, it would go over very good. I usually suggest poster board backed with 2 or 3 layers of drywall tape as a simple armor alternative, but there's others...

******

My fiance and I have been talking over doing a costuming panel, with a lot of emphasis on armor building.



There's enough of us going to Nebraskon that I bet we could make up one or two more panels. Anyone else make it to last year's 501st panel? We might be able to pull off something like that as an intro to the 405th and and explanation of all the different costumes we've done.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong thread, but we at Contagion are all avid costumers. We thought we were aware of most of the costuming groups around until we came across the 405th. As I said in a previous post the only way we found you was that Sir Blood wore a lanyard to OsFest and we were able to track you down that way. Have you ever thought about advertising? For Contagion we're selling advertising packages that are really inexpensive and will help promote your group. We created www.KNTGNews.com to draw people to Contagion: Outbreak as well as offer a very affordable advertising package that everyone can participate in.



The way it works is that you can buy pixels for .10 a pixel. They are sold in blocks of 100px (10px x 10px) so the minimum purchase is $10. That gets you a lot of advertising for such a little investment. You can spend as little as $10 or as much as you want in $10 increments. There are levels as well, so the more pixels you buy the more advertising you get. What other fan organizations have been doing (ie. the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Omaha Fan-Force, etc...) is gathering a collection from members to purchase as many pixels as they can. This way they get a larger advertisement for less money per member.



What a basic $10 purchase gets you: A block on the pixel page that includes a mouse over popup (an image of your choice that pops up when someone hovers their mouse over your ad), this leads to a link of your chosing. I'd recommend these forums because the main 405th website seems to be based in England and I had a heck of a time finding these forums to chat with you. In the program book for the convention there is going to be a printout of KNTGNews.com that includes the entire pixel page. Opposite this image will be a list of everyone who purchased pixels and their website and contact information. If you buy the larger packages you also get free ad space in the convention booklet, but even if you only buy $10 you still get into the booklet.



There are a lot of costumers locally who'd love to hear about the 405th. We'd like to help get your name out there. We're also hoping to promote you at Contagion: Outbreak. As I said, we're all costumers so we have a respect for the work and effort you all put into your armor and hobby (I use the word hobby loosely because often it can seem more like a lifestyle choice than a hobby ).



Thank you all for listening, and as I said before I'm looking forward to meeting you at NebrasKon.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Wow, did everyone just disappear? Hellooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sirblood]

Wow, did everyone just disappear? Hellooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

There will be a lot of talk when the convention is just 2 or 3 weeks away...



If you're looking for advice on running a panel...

- small props are good, but showing up in full armor = epic

- when you start the panel, introduce yourself and a quick explanation of why you are qualified to instruct the panel... for instance if its a panel on using pep, mention your armor and weapons you have made, maybe how long you have been doing it and by all means mention you are a member of the 405th!

- Plan a rough outline, but be prepared to stray from that outline..

- Leave time at the end for questions, and after you discuss something major, ask if there are any questions... elaborating will get you bonus points as not everyone can follow 'your' train of thought as good as you can...

- Come up with more material than you know you will have time for... don't think about it a whole lot, its just for time filler incase things go a lot faster than you plan

- A lot of people have public speaking anxiety... don't try to speak to everyone in the whole room, find someone up front, preferably 2 maybe 3 people spread across the 1st or 2nd row and just focus on them remember to turn your head from time to time (look at the next person) so it looks like you are speaking to the whole room

**** show up on time for your panel... I would show up at least 5 maybe 10 minutes early

**** double check where your panel room is, so you know!

**** Make sure your panel is going to be in that room, if it changes make CERTAIN that a sign gets posted about it at both the new and old locations.

- If there's not a lot of people in your panel when its about to start, don't be afraid to go outside and speak in a very loud voice and announce your panel to the world...

- a lot of people often come from somewhere else or lose track of time, its common for 5 or 10 more people to show up 5 or 10 minutes into the panel

- People have poor memories, if you are discussing something like the steps to do something... have handouts with the website to find the information even if its just your blog or myspace site. This is especially important if you are giving people websites to goto for more information or offering a way to contact you (most won't remember how you told them to contact you by the end of the day, sometimes not even by the time they leave the panel room...)

- handouts are very good, gives people something to hold onto and remember your panel. If you plan ahead enough when you are making your handouts you can figure them to be 1/2 of a page and cut them down. Sometimes you can get all the information onto a 1/4 sheet of paper, but don't go any smaller than that as it WILL get lost...

 

[Loess]

Wow, did everyone just disappear? Hellooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the problem with this section of the forums, it's not very heavily trafficked. Add to that everyone madly prepping for D*con, Gencon, etc. and folks just aren't paying attention to these threads right now.



I think it'd be a great idea to put our name out at Contagion, but it's Adam and the mod staffs' call as to how the 405th name and logo are used for advertising. I can stencil the logo on my shoulder plate, and talk up the group, but I'm just a member, so I can't sign anything. There's a thread about the rules for using the 405th logo that should say who's currently in charge of deciding stuff like that.

 

[kensai111]

Answer:Spase is the brand manager he's in charge of the logo. As far as advertisements go you'll have to speak to Adam who can be reached at Adam@405th.com



As for the front page being based in England no, the server is hosted in Texas and the editors and contributors are from all over the world, as we have members all over the globe. If you have any questions about 405th.com, the 405th Source, I'll be more than happy to assist. We serve as the friendly faces up front and center for the 405th reporting all the latest news, top props, interviews, and fan artists of the Halo universe.



Cheers,

Kensai

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Thanks for the info, guys. It'll help a ton in the coming months. I know how it can be when a thread goes inactive for a while. Just out of curiousity do any of you guys do parades? As I've said before I'm in the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion, but I think it would be awesome to get all of the local costuming groups together for one major parade to celebrate the hobby as well as the uniqueness of our groups.

 

[Loess]

Last year some of the folks who got to D*Con were in the parade. I don't believe that we've done any others as a group, but I may be wrong. If we can get enough folks to Contagion, I'd love to march.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Last year some of the folks who got to D*Con were in the parade. I don't believe that we've done any others as a group, but I may be wrong. If we can get enough folks to Contagion, I'd love to march.

We're definitely looking to promote the many unique costume groups in the area as possible. I like the idea of a parade, but we have something even more special planned. On another note, if anybody is going to be in the Omaha/LaVista area on Saturday, September 12th we're hosting a gaming tournament, Contagion: Innoculation Alpha, at the convention center. It only costs if you want to participate (but all participants get prizes, so it's worth it), but if you don't want to feel free to stop by. We'd love to meet the local Marines! Semper Fi.



Details on the event are at www.Contagion2011.com under the "Event Information" link if you want to register .

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone was going to be at the NebrasKon BBQ this Sunday? It'd be great to meet you all.

 

[Loess]

Didn't know that there was an event. I doubt that we'll be able to go, unfortunately.



Now that GenCon is over, it's officially time to start my serious prep for Nebraskon.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

Didn't know that there was an event. I doubt that we'll be able to go, unfortunately.



Now that GenCon is over, it's officially time to start my serious prep for Nebraskon.

Here's the information for the event:



WHERE: ELMWOOD PARK, OMAHA, NE 68114

IN THE PICNIC AREA. LOOK FOR THE PEOPLE IN COSPLAY AND CARD BOARD AND ALUMINUM FOIL ARMOR



WHEN: AUGUST 30TH, 2009, SUNDAY

2PM(3ISH IN OTAKU TIME FOR MOST OF YOU LOL) TILL WHENEVER OR THE SUN GOES DOWN





WHO: Everyone and Anyone which includes and is not limited to the following: Con Staff, Con Attendees, Their Friends, Their Family, NUKE Con Staff, OSFES Staf, Otaku Get Togther, Otaku Omaha Staff,UN Otaku Anime Hoshii, Nebraska AMT Gard, Anime Sunday, and anyone else who likes anime or a good BBQ!



To sum it up this is for everyone to come together and just enjoy some good food, talk about anime, comics, sci fi, fantasy,LARPS, rpgs, smack each other with foam weapons, and wear really awesome home made nerd armor.



EVENTS:



SUPER BATTLE FRENZY

-4 teams

-Give yourself a name

Bring your armor and weapon

and see who will prevail as the SUPER BATTLE MASTER!!!



ARMOR and Weapon Contest

-Best Original Armor

-Best Original Weapon

-Best Female Armor

-Best Male Armor

-Battle Frenzy Master



ANIME WHOSE LINE IS IT



BATTLE FRENZY CARMELDANCIN REMIX



POKEMON BATTLE/ TRADE GATHERING(Bring your DS and your Pokemon. E-mail Cay Combs at Marketing@animenebraskon.com, so he can make a list of who's bringing their DS for others who ask.



BATTLE FRENZY SIDE DISH CONTEST

- Bring a side dish, give it a name, judges will taste and decide who is the Ultimate Bringer of the Epicness of Side Dishes.

--Best Tasting

-- Best Name



INTERGALACTIC WATERGUN FIGHT

Bring a change of clothes and your best water gun.



If you are not interested in wearing armor than you are more than welcome to wear regular cosplay in whatever form you want.



More importantly, JUST COME!!



Cost: There is no charge on this event. All that we ask is that you contribute something whether it be soda, dessert, side dish, chips or meat. We are going to

our best to take care of the meat area.



Only thing that we require is that you bring yourself, a friend, some type of homemade weapon, be it foam sword, nerf sword, something safe for the most part; but still can be used for battle fun. Also any type of armor, made out of foam, cardboard, foil, duct tape, metal,trash bags, beer cans, whatever you can patch

together.



Any games or suggestions for activities to include in this event,contact Cay Combs.

At any of the following:

NEBRASKON MARKETING COORDINATOR

CALEB "CAY" COMBS

Marketing@animenebraskon.com

http://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/I1KIDDYNAMITE1I

CAYCOMBS@FACEBOOK

402-452-1553



In the event of rain, this will be postponed to 9-6-09. If you are bringing food, please notify Cay or add what you are bringing to a wall post. Thank you and hope to see you there!!



We're going to be stopping by. If you can't make this one Contagion: Inoculation Alpha is happening on September 12th. Visit www.Contagion2011.com for information on that. We'd love to meet the local Spartans at either event.

 

[JangoFett140]

There's 1 member who showed up to last year's Nebraskon but he didn't have his suit totally finished, was missing biceps and thighs i believe and he's from Omaha.

http://405th.com/for...p?showuser=6970

Hey guys Blood told me there was a thread rolling. i was the fore mentioned partial caboose last year. right now im revamping the whole suit ( http://405th.com/for...=1&#entry322601 ) and giving the old one to a buddy thats coming.



Anyway id love to help out with the pep forum. also i started to try to find out if they will let my tshirt launching Spnkr be used at the Con. if they say yes maybe we could see if they have old shirts they could donate or something. I have to say you all being there makes it hard for me to win the cosplay contest lol. cant wait to see you all



I made it to the 501st panel they started out with what the 501st is, what the y do and the basics of how and where you buy your armor kits or make your own. they had a slide show with pictures and screenshots. they also talked about how they get the suit to be as accurate as possible and they differences in the different trooper options for armor.

 

[Contagion Outbreak]

I made it to the 501st panel they started out with what the 501st is, what the y do and the basics of how and where you buy your armor kits or make your own. they had a slide show with pictures and screenshots. they also talked about how they get the suit to be as accurate as possible and they differences in the different trooper options for armor.

I believe that was Mason and Sam. They were using the powerpoint presentation that Rob Carmichael and I made up. I hope you enjoyed the presentation. Sam and Mason are probably more entertaining than I am.

 

[Loess]

Just over a month to go 'till Nebraskon.



Anyone have Noah's email, or know which N*kon contact would be the correct one to use? Hopefully, I can still get an armor panel scheduled.

 

[sirblood]

Just over a month to go 'till Nebraskon.



Anyone have Noah's email, or know which N*kon contact would be the correct one to use? Hopefully, I can still get an armor panel scheduled.

Send panel info for a panel you would like to run to:

Activities@animenebraskon.com



Be sure to mention you are with the 405th halo division



I can't believe the convention is only about a month away!



Looking forward to meeting whoever goes to the convention!

 

[drgon47]

I am finishing up the final strapping and undersuit for my Mk VI. I got 34 days till 3 days till Nebraskon. Plenty of time. I'll be driving from tx, so I have to give myself a bit of drive time. Hope to see you all there!

 

[sirblood]

Its been mentioned between me and a couple of 501st members to possibly have either

- capture the flag contest between the 405th and the 501st

- skit with BOTH the 405th and 501st (may or may not be while the judges are out after cosplay, there's usually a very popular 1/2 time show)

- maybe both...



For capure the flag it may be needed to remove some leg armor to equalize movement between spartans and storm troopers... but Spartan visors have 1000% more visability (yes 1 thousand) than storm troopers... they have extreem tunnel vision... biker scouts however have a decent ammount of vision out of their visors.



If there's a skit, we'll wait until the convention to plan it so we can see exactly what we have to work with. Sounds like there will be between 14 and 17 members of the 501st central garrison there along with some of the R2D2 builders... but the R2D2 builders may be included in that number...