These are my impressions of the con. If you're interested in what the guests said, please surf over to the album of pictures I took at the con. The larger images have captions that try to capture the essence and gist of what each person said.

Overall, the con took three steps forward and one backward from my experience in New Jersey the year before.

IMPROVEMENTS:

Stage lighting! Big honkin' improvement. I'd like to see even more of it but I imagine they found a good balance between my ability to take pics and the actors' onstage comfort.

The breakfast food selection rocked. Lots of traditional, not-so-healthy items such as sticky baked goods and bacon that appeal to most as well as plenty of healthy choices such as fruit, oatmeal, and skim milk. I'm not normally a fan of buffets but this sort of event is the perfect venue for one. Huge thumbs up.

Cabaret: A blast, this was easily my favorite part of the con. It's a great way to get to know the actors in a slightly different way: this is what they choose to present. It's not what is in the script this week but a personal choice. They're performers and this is their chance to do what drew them into the biz in the first place.

Dancing: Creation added a DJ'ed "after the dessert party" dance session. The contracted DJs in Dallas played rather lame music but once Peter took the helm, it livened up considerably. Loved dancing the night away, though it made that breakfast the next morning a bit harder to get up for.

More Teryl: I know, I covered this above in the cabaret bit, but really, any con in which we get more Teryl is a step forward. She is always gracious, entertaining, and open to everyone.

Banner in Official Pictures: The banner behind our heads in those expensive photos was much less busy this time. Great improvement! Now, about those damnable chairs...

Dessert Bar: The dessert bar this time around looked much more appealing than the soft serve ice cream of NJ. I can't attest to its quality since I didn't have any but it looked scrumptious.

Creation does listen to feedback. In NJ, several friends and I requested both better stage lighting and vegetarian options for the breakfast. I'm sure the positives I noted above were because many people requested similar changes. Proves the power of nicely asking for what you want. In a fandom where it seems like the people with the power to make a fan happy couldn't care less about doing so, it's wonderful to see that Creation is an exception. Kudos to Creation for listening to its market.

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

The guest lineup. The con was a day longer this year but I saw one fewer guest. The tickets cost more but I saw one fewer guest. I loved the folks I saw but I saw one fewer guest. Get my point?

I've heard that there were extenuating circumstances but I wish they'd compensated by increasing the guests' time onstage. I don't think anyone would complain in that instance but I'd still rather have had a couple more guests - especially since the extra down time meant later starts and earlier ends than more time with the actors.

TICKETING. It boggles my mind that I've now been to two Creation cons - and both had ticketing screw-ups. For last year's NJ con, my tickets never showed up and SEVEN phone calls during stated business hours remained unreturned. Ever. I had to luck into getting ahold of a live person. For Dallas, I received tickets in the mail - only they weren't mine.

The ticketing system leaves a LOT to desire. No way to pick seats when you buy. Mailing them only 2 weeks prior to a con means that when something inevitably goes wrong that there is no time to fix it! Keep in mind they're adding a shipping and handling charge to each and every ticket. Buy two admissions? $12. Buy a photo op? That's $6. An op with another actor? Another $6. That adds up VERY quickly and for that kind of "shipping and handling" I expect a LOT better. Especially since they don't even ship photo ops; I print those out myself.

Michael and Christopher scheduled on the same day. First off, I adore both men. I admire both men. I want to see both men -- separately.

Why? They're great friends and it shows. They enjoy interacting with each other, sometimes to the detriment of interacting with the fans. Staying up late to get sloshed the night before an early breakfast gig isn't wise; being late and hung over is unprofessional. People took time off work, traveled, and spent a large sum of money to see them. Food fights are not how I want to interact with them. I relish Christopher's exuberance. Honest. Flying baked goods and butter balls is more than I'm ready to deal with in the morning. Were I Creation, I'd schedule them on different days whenever possible. Probably sell more single-day tickets that way, too.

The breakfast went poorly, with Christopher flitting around, hiding under tables...yes, it was entertaining, especially if you were at one of the five or so tables well situated to see what was happening, but it was hardly a chance to meet Christopher personally. I'm glad that wasn't my first chance and I feel for those whose it was. Michael stagnated at one table and lots of us had to wait for a very long time to talk with him. I give him credit for sticking it out and making it to talk to everyone but I had a ticket for a picture with Christopher Judge that I didn't use so that I could chat with Michael Shanks. I don't want to choose, especially when it isn't scheduled to happen that way.

At the very least, a polite but firmer insistence on arriving on time would be appreciated. I know Creation can't control a guest's decision to drink too much but wake-up calls, serving habitually late actors breakfast and coffee in their rooms so maybe they can just get to the meet 'n greet right off if they are late, and so on. I bet much of this would clear up if the two boys were on separate days.

I'm not certain this qualifies as a complaint, precisely, because I'm not really an avid fan of Atlantis...but had I been one who bought a ticket to the official Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis convention, I'd have been disappointed to see no one from Atlantis onstage.

All in all, I had a wonderful time.I want Creation to succeed; I want the Stargate cons to continue expanding. Thin guest line-ups, ticketing nightmares, and disappointing events - for which many paid an extra charge - could be disasterous, especially when reaching a new clientele for the first time. I know that I disliked much of what I experienced at Gatecon in 2004 but the quality and depth of the guest roster meant I couldn't help but consider attending again. I hope I'm wrong and that Creation brings the Stargate actors back to a city near me again soon.

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