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ShadowCon X was held in the summer of 1986 in Los Angeles, California.  This was one of the most fun times I've ever had in my life! 

All I knew was that finally there was a convention dedicated to "V."  I didn't know why they called it ShadowCon, but it turns out that the past nine SC's were for the tv series "Dark Shadows" but people started losing interest so they turned it into a "V" convention but kept the popular SC name.

Problem.  I was 17 just graduating High School and the convention was in Calif!   Ack!  So my grandmother decided for graduation she would pay for my flight out there and after the convention, I could stay with her sister in LA for the rest of the week.  GREAT!  Now all I had to do was find someone to room with at the hotel for 2-3 days because I couldn't afford the hotel room by myself back then!

Online people--you may or may not know what it was like 10-13 years ago before the Internet was big in people's homes.  Back then we had snailmail penpals!  So I wrote to everyone to find out who was going, and someone told me that one of THEIR penpals from Hawaii was going!  I wrote to her (Debbie) and she wrote me back "Welcome aboard shipmate!" (turns out her husband was in the Navy).  And so I roomed at this very expensive hotel in posh L.A. for the weekend with Debbie and her best friend, Cheri (Frank Ashmore-aholics).

My plane was late arriving into LAX.  I finally got to the hotel around midnight and met with Debbie and Cheri who were both adults and worried about me!  I slept on the floor and experienced my very first earthquake that night!  Cool!  Enough of this, onto the good part!

The convention itself was totally amazing.  The people in charge actually constructed a Mother Ship lookalike that you could walk through!  Everywhere you turned a Visitor would jump out at you!  FUN!  Also, Commander Diana (LA fan club) and her friend (a real life stunt person) had staged the fight that Diana & Lydia had, complete with costumes and weapons!

Meanwhile, a lot of the fans had made or sent away for their "V" uniforms!   I didn't even think to have one.  There was one lady in Calif who made the uniforms for a lot of fans and charged $150.  Back then, as a silly kid, I didn't have the money.  I already spent thousands of dollars on "V" stuff--video taping every show "V"'s were in, running into NYC to see "V" actors, the year before I had gone to Spain and bought all of the "V" stuff that didn't come out in the U.S.A, etc! (including the little action figures!).

You can read all about Mickey Jones' and Frank Ashmore's appearances on their pages.

Now, if you're familiar with how conventions work and how the "V" fan clubs used to work, and the penpalling by snailmail, etc. you'll be able to enjoy this next part.  I'll explain it for those of you who don't remember or are too young (eek!) to know about what I just said up there.  Basically, at the conventions, you were able to leave your Fan Club flyers on a table for everyone to pick up.  And with the penpals, it was like one big web.  I had about 150 penpals from all over the globe that I kept in constant touch with, so if I needed to find something, I had a pretty good chance of one of my penpals directing me toward the right person(s). 

Since the entire hotel was infested with "V" fans, it wasn't hard for me to make friends fast.  So I hooked up with about 6-10 people all in Visitor uniforms, and at lunchtime we decided to go to the mall.  We're walking in the mall secretly laughing at the "normal" people dressed in regular clothing who didn't know who we were, and all of the sudden we hear a tapping noise.  Turns out someone in a restaurant was tapping on the glass window at us!  So we strolled over there and low and behold it was Commander Maritza of the NY MotherShip!  She wasn't in uniform, but saw my group in ours and called us over!  We joined her and other "V" fans for lunch.  I totally recognized her name because at the NYC Conventions I would see her flyers, but we never actually met up with each other.  It was SO COOL!

Other "V" famous-fans that attended the ShadowCon X were Barbara Fister-Liltz (author of one of the coolest "V" fanzines), Commander Diana of the L.A. MotherShip, & Commander Dana from somewhere out in the boondocks.

When we weren't downstairs at the "V" convention (like late at night when it closed for the evening), we were all partying in the hotel rooms!  Someone asked me if I wanted a Gummi-Mouse and I told them "No thanks, I don't feel like getting fur stuck in my teeth right now."  Another person asked this guy standing near me if he wanted Chinese for lunch, and the guy responded "I didn't know they were in season."

So, as you can see, the entire weekend was just pure "V" "V" "V"!!!!  "V" Videos, the V actors, the fans...it was definitely a time I'll never forget!  Below are some fan photos.  Enjoy!  Ilana. lizard.lady@mindpulse.com

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shadow5.gif (22712 bytes) <===  The Hawaiin Mother Ship crew!