TVSquad

I'm sure that those of you that consider yourself part of the Whedonverse already know about all the shenanigans surrounding the big Flanvention this weekend. But for those of you that don't follow all things Whedon, it's an interesting tale. These are strange days in the Whedonverse. I've only been following it through random posts around the internet, so feel free to add/correct details in the comments, but here is the quick and dirty version of the story.

This weekend there was supposed to be a huge Firefly event in Burbank. There was a banquet, panels, booths to sell wares, photo ops and autographs from cast members, all the usual convention stuff. It was to be a somewhat limited affair, so the tickets were not cheap. With the various events , autographs, hotels, airfare, etc. many of those attending had spent their way into four figures for this opportunity. Then last week things started to get really weird.

The company running the convention put up a message on their website saying that Flanvention might be cancelled. No other details were given. And the fact that the website was crumbling under the load of those trying to get more information didn't help. This came as quite the shock to Whedon fans. All of the tickets had sold out long ago, so there were hundreds of thousands of dollars that had been spent toward the event. They started questioning just where all that money went. After a few days of turmoil and internet speculation another message appeared saying that the event was back on. Strangely though, it added that an explanation would be coming for what happened after the event.

People relaxed and reaffirmed their plans. But wait, if it all went off without a hitch and everybody had a gay old time, I wouldn't be writing about it, now would I? No, on Thursday the website for Booster Events, those running the convention, disappeared. It was replaced with a message that simply said:

Booster Entertainment apologizes for the great inconvenience, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Flanvention is cancelled. An official notice will be posted within 10 days.

Unforseen circumstances? 10 days? The speculation motor is back up and running at full capacity. Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K. I don't know that we'll ever know the whole story, but short of cancelling a lawyer convention taking place alongside the big porn show in Las Vegas, they couldn't have picked a worse group of people to wrong. If you check out the thread on whedonesque about the cancellation there is already a lot of discussion on just how to go after the people behind this. There is also this livejournal collecting informations for victims of BE.

Unfortunately, with the convention set to start on Friday, many people were already on their way. Driving, flying, they had no way of knowing and it was far too late to change plans. But wait... these are Whedon fans. For some reason they refuse to accept this crappy ending. The SoCal and NorCal Browncoats have sprung into action and are busily crafting a celebration for all of those that still end up in shiny downtown Burbank. There are even people donating money for the event that aren't able to attend. And if that isn't enough of a feel-good happy ending for you, take a look at this picture theonetruebix snapped at the Burbank Hilton.

Upon hearing about what happened, Adam Baldwin did what...well... not very many actors would do. He made his way to the hotel to hang out with the fans. Kick Ass!