Well, Ben is going to the Creation Stargate Chicago con. Teryl does them fairly often, but I haven't seen her listed on any of them yet. It appears Alexis Cruz and Kavan Smith are doing a couple each. I haven't met Major Lorne. (And I'm sad Adam Baldwin pulled out of ShoreLeave, but we do get Jewel Staite instead...which pleases me.) I see Rachel Luttrell's scheduled for Cherry Hill. I haven't seen her in person (not counting ComicCon where you rarely get to see them face-to-face) since she subbed for Amanda in NJ 2004.

Alas, I fear Creation Cons are not in Amanda's future. She looked so unhappy when she left the 2004 Chicago con. (I saw her leave the autograph area, but someone else I know had an even more inside look and said the same thing without my offering my opinion.) (She *might* have gone to the Vancouver ones? Not sure.) I could be wrong, though, and she could totally surprise me - in order to promote SG:Continuum and/or Sanctuary. Edith and I had hoped she would do ShoreLeave again this year, but we get David & Kate Hewlett, which is cool. I've only seen him at ComicCon and haven't seen her at all (she was announced for NJ after I had already bought the tickets for BB at Farscape '06).

A lot of the same folks who attend NJ attend ShoreLeave (Helena, Tricia, Jo, Janet and Tyler Fox) - well, at least they *have* in the past. Whether it was only because Amanda and Carmen were there, I don't know. And ShoreLeave is so much less expensive than Creation, you get two autogs (one Sat/one Sun) from the 3 main guests, and the non-main guests are available for autogs (tho' you have to pay extra for them) so much more time - where you actually can stand there and *talk* with them without a nazi timing you. One disadvantage is multiple (concurrent) panels (not for the main guests, but two non-main ones might have their panels at the same time). But each guest speaks TWICE also. One disadvantage is no reserved seating; another is no online registration, so people on the east coast have an advantage over west coast peeps for getting the lowest numbers unless you pay to overnight the form. (Not sure they even allow that!)

Oh, and another thing about BB & DB - autogs NOT included in the gold pass or preferred...and $70 each (+ $70 each for photo ops).

I've kind of given up hope of seeing Teryl or Amanda at Creation because I've heard before that neither of them likes doing their cons. I maintain hope but I'm aware that it's a pipe dream. I got to see Kate Hewlett last year and she was a real treat. You'll like her. :)

It's the lack of assigned seats that keeps me from seriously considering trading in the Creation con experience for one organized by almost anyone else. I'm not young enough to stay up all night and sit in the hall to assure myself a good seat. I'm short and if I'm not near the front, I simply don't get to see anything. I really, really like having my own damned seat, being able to go to the bathroom without giving up my place, and only attending the parts of the con that interest me. I like being able to go to my room and download photos during the parts of the con that aren't my cup of tea.

So far, NJ has only Kavan Smith (woot! I haven't seen him before!) and Jason Momoa (would be the 2nd time I've seen him) signed up, but who knows which guests will show or not. God knows when they finally look at the hotel where it's being held, they may cancel in fright. *shakes head*

I certainly hope those Gold Tickets aren't priced as stratospherically as the Stargate ones are if they don't include autographs from the two main actors -- and $70 for an autograph is WAY steep. I would certainly hope the autograph nazis are kept in check if folks are paying those kinds of bucks for an autograph! Shit, I'd take the photo op instead.

I bought general admission ticket and then the photo ops and autographs. That way, I get to see them up close and personal. For being in the last row (okay, 2nd or 3rd from), I got pretty decent photos. By that, I don't mean FAB, like the first few rows, but "okay":

http://pics.livejournal.com/majorsamfan/gallery/00024b0b

I wasn't quick enough to get him when he came running to the back once. And his leather jacket was soft as butter....yummm.

I emailed Creation and asked whether there was any possibility of getting a dual photo op with both BB & CB; haven't heard back yet. It would probably cost a FORTUNE.

David & Kate are doing dual ops at ShoreLeave for about $10-20 less than another photo op with each of them added together. I wrote and asked if there was a possibility of a David/Jewel dual op, and Kett said they're working on it.

The reserved seat IS awesome at Creation; it's just too expensive. And if I go preferred, opting out of the party & brunch, I'm 15 rows back, making that not quite as "worth it" either.

At ComicCon I always just make friends with people either in line or as we sit, and if I have to pee they hold my seat. But usually, there are 2-3 panels in a row in the big room I want to see.

Those seats ARE expensive. They're only worth it if you've got a great seat but otherwise, I think they're a bum deal. I really hated Gatecon's method, which was to kick everyone out half way through the day. If you wanted a good afternoon seat on the day Michael, Christopher, and Amanda were there, you HAD to skip the entire morning's schedule and sit in line instead. I'm old, I'm employed, I'm a curmudgeon. I want my damned seat. :|

It costs the usually $369 - which does NOT include 3 out of the 7 guests' autographs (BB, CB and David Franklin) nor the brunch, neither BB or CB comes to the special gold cocktail party function but for $90 you can buy a ticket to the brunch with BB (& other guests) and for another $90 you can get a separate cocktail party with CB from the one that's included. The cabaret ticket is included but no brunch AT ALL.

From their site: "Complimentary, non-rushed, in-person autographs with great guests..." Yeah, right. Ask Aaron Douglas about how one of the CEOs stood outside screaming on the phone that Aaron was actually TALKING to people - in full hearing of fans waiting in line for his autograph. Aaron said at ShoreLeave he'd never do Creation again and would tell anyone who'd listen not to do them either; however, he did one in the past year. His boss probably told him he *had* to do it or something.

Oh that is a crappy deal. I guess Farscape fans can afford those incredibly overpriced DVDs and so they can afford tickets like that. That's...unreal.

I heard about the Aaron Douglas incident. I'm always amazed that when I think Creation can't possibly find employees who are worse, they do. Last year's NJ con was *fabulous* because all of the uptight jerks were elsewhere working other cons. Quite an amazing difference.

They were in Burbank...with me.

(Sigh) but now Brian's gone ......... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!