I’ve returned from Las Vegas where the only thing more unforgiving than the sun is the hotel toilet paper.
It was largely a great trip aside from potentially getting overcharged by the hotel and getting absolutely railroaded into signing up for some TSA Pre-Check product on the way home (don’t worry, I cancelled it). It’s always a unique privilege when I’m granted press passes to an event so thanks to Creation Entertainment for hooking that up. I’ll never not feel like Wayne and Garth with their backstage laminates when I roll up at a convention with my own.
As I previously wrote in my convention preview piece, I had never been to a Star Trek convention in my 40-plus years as a Trek fan so I had to go big when it was finally time. I’m a fan of a great many things and there’s equal space in my heart for any Star franchise be it Wars, Trek, or even Gate. It may be recency bias here, but I think Star Trek has one of the best fan communities out there, as I experienced while attending Star Trek Las Vegas: The 58-Year Mission.
It’s a very welcoming community which I feel is a rarity these days. People just care that you’re into Star Trek; it doesn’t matter which variety you’re interested in, it’s all good to them. On the first day of the convention when I was waiting to be seated for lunch a couple invited me to sit with them as I was flying solo. It caught me a bit off guard so I politely and very awkwardly declined. I never had that happen at any comic con that I’ve been to.
On to the con! I was able to attend the first two days of the Star Trek Las Vegas: The 58-Year Mission convention, since I ended up having to fly home earlier than intended. The airline seriously dicked me over by making my return flight depart six hours earlier than when I booked the flight. Even thought my time was cut shorter than I wanted it to be, I still went hard for the two days I WAS there and get the full convention experience.
I managed to attend a few panels while there and true to my word I got into the Out of Drydock: Relaunching the Enterprise D, which was a blast. I also sat in on a panel with the Bridge Crew of the Discovery as well as a chat with Walter Koenig, who has been a guest at Creation Entertainment conventions since 1979!
Before any of the panels my first stop was the vendor room which housed both vendors and guests. It was a medium sized room as far as conventions are concerned, but I don’t think there’s ever been a more concentrated area of Star Trek then there was at that point. It was also pretty surreal to be standing next to various Star Trek actors randomly. I’ve never been closer to Christopher Lloyd in my life and I probably never will be again.
I immediately did some critical damage to my bank account while in the vendor room but there was Star Trek merch I just couldn’t pass up. Check it out:
Fansets: I have a full assortment of Fansets replica Starfleet Delta pins in the Star Trek corner of my living room, and this was an excellent opportunity to upgrade a couple of them to the newer, more accurate versions. I walked away with the newer Star Trek: Picard grey and silver pin, the Lower Decks/Strange New Worlds “live action” pin, a set of rank pips, and a half-size TNG-movie era delta.
Star Trek Wines: When I moved into my house, the very first housewarming gift I received from my pal Wes was a variety pack of Star Trek wine complete with bottles of Chateau Picard and Klingon Blood Wine. Long story short, I now have my own wine rack and I’ll be adding two bottles of Risan Wine to it in short order.
I also got a peek at Star Trek Wines forthcoming “Ten Forward in a Box” set with lights AND sound.
Miscellaneous: There was a lot of Star Trek stuff to behold and I almost walked away with a brand new Starfleet uniform jacket before I talked myself out of it. I also got a laugh from all the Franklin Mint Star Trek collectibles that were there. From pewter ships to collectible plates, they had a fair amount of stuff I used to sell when I worked at one of their stores about 25 years ago.
I managed to make it out to the Millennium Fandom bar not once but TWICE this trip, and if you’re ever in the area and need a watering hole dedicated to nerdly pursuits, this is your spot. As fate would have it, I ended up sitting next to Jason and Laura who were there from NerdSpin.com to cover the contention as well.
While at the bar I got to sample three (or four) of Neon Desert Brewing’s Star Trek Powers of Illusion Talosian Lager before I called it a night. I’d have stayed longer but as I mentioned at the top of the article, I had an early plane to catch.
I was able to follow along on social media for the convention’s remaining couple of days and it surely looked like the con continued to get better and better. Even though it’s been the only Trek convention I’ve been to so far I can’t imagine a better convention out there and I can certainly see myself coming back to Star Trek: Las Vegas in the future.
