Blood Drives: A Fandom Tradition

The Awesome Refs make this next call with some trepidation, fearing the utter Awesomeness of this tradition may be more than one Penalty can encompass. But, by our Duty to the Awesome, it's a Call we have to attempt. We're pointing at you, SF Con Blood Drive.

Its origins lie with the great Robert A. Heinlein, who helped organize a blood drive at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in 1976. Many Cons since that time continued to commit this massive act of Awesome, and The Heinlein Society formalized their involvement in 2001. The Heinlein Society will organize, or assist the local organization, at Cons wishing to hold a Blood Drive, while also encouraging individuals to give either their blood or time to the effort.

The Refs have heard rumours on the field that this year's DragonCon collected over 1000 units, breaking Comic-Con's previous record of 856 units. All of those units are units of untold Awesome.

The Call: Extraordinary Altruism.

The Penalty (we're throwing all our flags, cards and whistles on the field, and freeing up our hands for this one): Standing Ovation - Prolonged, With WOOTs and Tears in Our Eyes.

Photo, used with permission: Flickr User Cayusa, the Face of Awesome. He attempted to give blood this DragonCon but couldn't because he gives Too Often. Yes, he deserves that Awesome T-shirt for participating.

Weeping Angel at Dragoncon

This spookily accurate depiction of a Weeping Angel statue from the Hugo award winning Doctor Who episode "Blink" was brought to the attention of The Refs.

Awesome? Assuredly. But how awesome? When you factor in the idea that the creator was generous enough to post detailed instructions to the costuming community, the call is clear.

The Call: Too talented for words
The Penalty: May have "Won" the convention.

"Ironic" Man

This awesome "Literal Iron Man" costume was spotted at Dragoncon 2008. The Refs were off duty, so a proper penalty could not be imposed at the time. This is impressive, not only for its technical achievement, but for the skill in which such an elaborate and difficult costume was presented.

The Call: Humorous Literal Interpretation
The Penalty: Five "Wows"

What We Do

Awesome Referees are qualified to identify, quantify and issue citations for people being awesome at science fiction and fantasy conventions.

We are watching, so lets have a nice clean con.