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Escapade/Escapade 2025
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Escapade 2025
Escapade 35 was held January 31-February 2, 2025 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton LAX North in Los Angeles, California. The theme of the con was "Winter" and the theme of the dance party was "Blue Balls". All programming was in-person, with some online events, such as a vidstream Discord room where vids were streamed 24/7 during the con. This con was the first Escapade run by new co-chairs, glymr and nevertheless, with founders Megan Kent and Charlotte C. Hill stepping down as chairs.
Escapade 35 Programming
Fandom-specific panels
- Star Trek: Trekking On with Strange New Worlds, Discovery, Lower Decks - We’re here, we’re queer, we’re talking TOS through Lower Decks through Discovery and Prodigy. And while we’re at it, let’s discuss the Kirk/Spock relationship in Strange New Worlds. How is it the same or different from TOS? What is the next season going to bring us?
- Eastern Media Novels: Beyond Seven Seas - What translations are coming out?
- MCU: Maybe It Won’t Hurt Me This Time - Will shows like Agatha All Along improve Phase 4 enough to save the MCU from itself?
- Star Wars: A Light Side, A Dark Side, Binding the Universe Not Included - What is Star Wars canon these days? Which parts of Legends do you still miss? What unexpected good Star Wars has Disney rolled out lately?
- Agatha All Along and Along and Along - Agatha All Along presented a group of middle-aged women and one teen on a quest for power. Oh, and Agatha’s ex-girlfriend is Death. How awesome? And how will this fit in the larger MCU?
- Professionals: First Times - When? How? Why? Where? Yeah, I want all the details!
- Supernatural: Thursday Nights Will Always Be Spooky - Two brothers on a road trip, saving people, hunting things. We make friends along the way, they all die. What’s your favorite monster? What’s the dumbest lore? All pairings welcome, even that one.
- The Expanse: Like A Fucking Valkyrie - We read the last three books of The Expanse series and we are going to have feelings about it.
- Interview with the Vampire: Gay Divorced Vampire Drama - Let’s talk about the queer divorceé vampires being insane, horny, and violent at each other on AMC’s Interview with the Vampire!
- The Untamed/MDZS: We Need More Porn of Wen Ning - What is there left to talk about in this fandom? Let’s find out!
- Arcane - Arcane season 2 is out. What do we think about the relationships between Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx? How do we feel about the ending? And what, if anything, comes next?
- Guardian: Going Down to Dixing Again - What are you writing, drawing, recommending, and loving about Guardian in 2025?
- M/M: What’s Up in English Language BL? - M/M romance novels, original English language BL webnovels, the Original Works section on AO3: wherever you look, there’s more and more original m/m content in English. What have you been enjoying lately? Where do we find the good stuff?
- due South: For reasons that do not need exploring at this juncture. - Discuss Hot and Hotter, and which Ray is which.
- Wicked: Pink Goes Good with Green - We’re all shipping it, right?
- DC Comics: Should Be Making This Movie - DC comics, failing to make the movie of your dreams! Tell us what they should be doing.
- Deadpool and Wolverine: Healing Factor Your Way to New Kinks - This movie had all the chemistry, made all the money, and starred all the characters nobody was expecting. How do we feel about this finale to the Fox-verse? Does it portend anything for the MCU? And how much are we shipping the leads?
Meta panels
- Welcome to Escapade - Opening ceremonies! Join us in welcoming back old friends and new attendees, as well as helping choose the Wildcard and Wayback panels!
- Time-Travel Fix-It - Canon ended all wrong, so fanfic provides a solution! Some are strong on restarts from the beginning; others return to a key spot in the middle. Some focus on fixing the same couple of events; some are all over in what or how much they fix. What kinds of time-travel fix-its do you like? What’s boring? How is it different across different fandoms?
- Wildcard Panel - Voted on during opening ceremonies, what is the newest thing that everyone’s talking about?
- Comfort Media - When things are looking dark, what media do you turn to? Old favorites? New escapes and distractions? And how and why does that media help you—does it give you hope, a break, nostalgia, or does it model new possibilities? Let’s talk meta but also share/rec our favorite comfort shows, films, or even fanworks that help us get through.
- Don't Go Where I Can't Follow - Or maybe, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! Feeling left behind as fandom stampedes to some media type or property that’s just not for you? Let’s discuss where people are going and how to get into those fandoms…or find something else active instead.
- Are You an OTP Fan or Do You See Multiple Possibilities? - I started out in fandom as a OTP girl, but as I matured, and the shows tried to destroy the relationships that seemed to have any slash context. I couldn’t see my favorite character with his OTP anymore and I fully embraced branching out to fertile ground and exploring combinations. Tony/Gibbs was no longer a healthy relationship so it became open season on finding a new OTP. Stiles/Derek forever but Peter is so wickedly fun. Which characters have you moved away from the OTP in order to explore new connections, and which characters can you only see as part of an OTP (Kirk/Spock, Rodney/John, Jim/Blair)? Come and present your arguments for OTPs or for exploring brave new worlds.
- Where My Ladies At? - Where are the good femslash ships these days?
- Monster Non-f*cking - A tumblr post asked: what’s with all the monsterfucking? what if I want monster RELATIONSHIPs? Monster HAND-HOLDING with INTENSE LOOKS? (and then someone added a pic of Guillermo del Toro pointing up at the words). What’s it like to date outside your species? How does it change a relationship when the biology is very different? What kind of social problems will the couple face?
- Frankencanon - Comics/manga, anime/donghua/cartoon, live-action, 80s cartoon vs recent cartoon, audio drama, video game, pre-Crisis vs post-Crisis vs post-Crisis II…what does it do to fandom when canon has a broad range of clashing source material? What elements are considered “always true” even if they didn’t happen in all versions, and what’s considered drop-able? Do you like frankencanon fics or prefer ones that stick to a single source?
- Rec All the C-Dramas - Gone are the days when it was all about Guardian and The Untamed. Sadly, gone also are the days when we had full-on danmei adaptations. But there are many wonderful c-dramas out there, with high drama, angsty bromance, multidimensional characters, political intrigue, epic (or cursed) weddings, and beautiful actors (not to mention the artful spitting of blood). What do you look for in a c-drama? Pimp your favorites, old and new! And bonus points for sharing fan works.
- Things That Shock Fannish People and Why We Love Them - Bully to love interest? May/December relationships? Schrödinger’s incest? What suggests the kids aren’t all right to us lawn-protecting over-21s?
- Big Dumb Hot Cops and Effete Possibly Sociopathic Genius Consultants - This classic pairing continues to appear in media, drawing fannish attention and appreciation across decades, genres, and cultures. Come talk about your favorite instances, from recalling beloved standards (Sherlock Holmes, due South, Merlin, SGA) to sharing newer incarnations (Bones, Psych, Under the Skin, Guardian, SCI Mystery, The First Shot). How does this crime procedural paradigm expand to fit different kinds of narratives?
- Do Old Flames Burn Brighter? - What shows or pairings do you keep the flames burning for even though the show disappeared in the rearview mirror a long time past? What keeps pulling you back? Did you even leave in the first place? How do you keep the fires hot and find others to help fan the flames? Come discuss the fandoms you never wanted to let go of.
- Principles of Crystallization - What makes a fandom form? Is it some property of canon? Is it random chance?
- How to Keep Hope - What can we do to support and nurture each other in a political landscape full of hate, bigotry, and willful ignorance? What have you found that gives you strength and hope? What activities have you decided to avoid for a while? What fanworks have you turned to for inspiration and comfort? We’re in this together—let’s find ways to encourage and help each other.
- Personal Fannish Websites - What types of personal fandom websites have existed throughout the online ages? Characters and ship shrines, art galleries, quizzes…and what else? What new types of websites would be fun to see? Any websites you miss?
- Wayback Panel - Voted on during opening ceremonies, which panel will we revisit from 10 years ago?
- Internet as a Double-Edged Sword: Is Disappointment Inevitable in an Open Fandom? - Thanks in large part to the internet, the speed and immediacy of fandom has skyrocketed in recent years. Streaming platforms allow us to watch and rewatch episodes endlessly, and fan communities and fanworks proliferate overnight. But in the hiatus between seasons, discussion and discourse can lead to headcanons and divisions, and when the next season arrives, it may bear little relationship to what fans wanted or expected to see. We’ll talk about some examples of this phenomenon, as well as whether there is anything to be done about it.
- Past Its Best By Date: When Should Shows Stop? - We’re all familiar with the first-season show that ends on a cliffhanger that doesn’t get renewed, as well as the one that goes on far too long. Is there a best by date for television shows, an optimum number of seasons or episodes for peak creativity and storytelling?
- Closing Panel and Escapade Review - Closing ceremonies, and your chance to discuss what we did well and what we could do better next time. Come and say goodbye!
Tech panels/Alternative Programming
- Language Learning for Fandom: How Do You Say That? - Let’s discuss resources and tips for learning various languages for fandom purposes, as well as a basic introduction to pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and possibly other languages.
- There’s Too Much Fic To Filter (Or Is There?) - Can’t find what you’re looking for on AO3? Learn the secret search operators to find That One Fic.
- It’s All in the Research - A lot goes into writing, and your research should reflect the work you put into your writing.
- Fanbinding: The Old, The New, and The Pricey - We’ve come full circle: Paper fanfic is now the exotic novelty version. And people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts for their favorite fics as paperbacks—sometimes without the consent of the author. We’ll look into Manacled and All the Young Dudes, and how those relate to the ethical practices of fanbinding with permission, or at least, not for profit.
- What’s Up with BlueSky (and Decentralized Social Network) - What is BlueSky and how is it different from (or similar to) platforms like Tumblr, Twitter, or LiveJournal/Dreamwidth? And how is it different from other efforts to create decentralized social platforms like Mastodon? But most importantly, can fandom use it, and should it?
- Calibre – FanFicFare - Learn how to download fanfiction directly into Calibre, create custom columns for warnings, genres, challenges, pairings and more! If there is time, we can also go over how to generate your own custom covers per fandom.
- The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development – Building a Fandom from Scratch - Come hear about our adventures attempting to build a “slash fandom” from first principles (for a good cause), and let’s talk about what makes fandoms and ships stick! Project website: www.fujoweb.dev
- Arts, Crafts, and Conspiracies - Come make stylish tin hats and talk about your conspiracy theories.
- Fandom Hipsters - You’ve probably never heard of my fandom, and now I’m going to pimp it to you.
- Fan Video is Dead, Long Live Fan Video! - Does the traditional form of vidding persist, or is it becoming a lost art form? Short form fan edits are everywhere—do they share qualities with more traditional old-school full-length vids? Do you watch short form edits and have you come to appreciate them? Have you even tried to make them/would you like to try? If so, how would approaching short form edits differ from conceptualizing a full fan vid? And/or do you think it’s a matter of time before full length fanvids re-emerge as a predominant form?
- Where Did the Comments Go? Discord, apparently. - Apparently, people are gushing about fics on Discord and not leaving any feedback where the story is posted. This sucks for writers. Come talk about solutions to encourage readers to leave comments for writers before the writers fuck off to other fandoms with better commenters.
- Vidding 101 - Basics for vidding newbies and those who want to get into vidding but don’t know where to begin.
- Classic Fanvid Analysis - We’ll review 3 or 4 popular fanvids—watch each one, and then discuss how it was made, what makes it work, why these scenes out of canon—and then compare all of them as a group. (Panelists to choose vids in advance.)
- Pegging and Butt Stuff! A Delightfully In-Depth Intro - Have you ever wanted to bend over your boyfriend and have your way with his sweet ass? Come learn how! Are you new to butt stuff and want to learn some basics? Do you want butt sex info for your fic? Come join us! Panel will feature in-depth info on anatomy and techniques, plus how to entice nervous first timers.
- They Said What!?! - Doctor Beth and Kandy name the fandom and the episode, then show a slashy/out of context picture. The player picks which of four quotes matches that scene. This will be followed by a presentation of rare 35mm film clips of your favorite shows.
- Vid Review - If watching the Escapade Songvid Show isn’t enough, come dig into why a vid did or didn’t work, analyze technique, and basically geek out over vids with us!
- Foods of Fandom - Come share your favorite fannish recipe, whether it’s a food from your canon or a meta joke on fandom in general.
Parties, Events, Games, etc.
- Night Market - Join us the evening before the con, where fans like you will be selling their exotic wares from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Don’t miss out!
- Fan Faire - Join us from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM on Friday morning for the Fan Faire, where fans like you will be selling their crafty creations! Don’t miss it—you might find something amazing!
- Friday Night Dance Party - Come dance Friday night away from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM with a curated list of fan-made music videos and a special menu of mock- and cocktails. This year’s theme: Winter Ball! Brrr!!! Are you turning blue yet? Bring your wildest outfits, your coolest costumes, your dancing shoes, and your pearls to clutch while you enjoy Escapade’s annual dance/costume/vid party!
- Game Night – Party Alternative Activity - If you need a bit of a break from the dancing Friday night, join us for some gaming fun in the game room. We are friendly and casual. Feel free to bring games of your own.
- Tea Party - Take an elegant break for tea and snacks. Join Franzeska in Room 528 for the classic Escapade tea party experience. For those who prefer their tea in more open spaces, Amphisbaena will be hosting in the atrium corner by Laguna/Malibu/Newport.
- Saturday Night Vid Show: Loud Room - Saturday night wouldn’t be complete without the annual Escapade songvid show! Join us in the vid show’s Loud Room (conversation cool; sing-alongs known to occur) to see what awesome new vids everyone’s been making.
- Saturday Night Vid Show: Quiet Room - Saturday night wouldn’t be complete without the annual Escapade songvid show! Join us in the vid show’s Quiet Room (attentive atmosphere; more focused) to see what awesome new vids everyone’s been making.
- Theory of Cocktails - After the vid show, Franzeska will run through the general basics and advanced underpinnings of mixing cocktail drinks. Please bring something to write with if you want to take notes!
- Escapade Art and Charity Auction - Don’t miss the fun and excitement as arts, crafts, and even food are auctioned off! We’ll also be choosing the winners of the raffle at this time, so make sure you’re there!
- Dead Dog Party - It’s the last space open, and the last con space people gather to finish off the food and beverages, continue the conversations, register for next year, and say goodbye. Once all the panel rooms are packed up, take a load off and relax!
Vidshows
Escapade 35 Vid show
*Premiering Vid
Escapade 35 Dance Party
Con Reports and Vid Show Reviews
- Escapade 35 Saturday Night Vid Show Report by amedia (February 8, 2025)
- A pleasant Escapade by Gideon Marcus (February 8, 2025)