What happened to Legends Con?

Hi all! I volunteered for an amazing event last year called Legends Con. – it was so fun! It was a Star Wars fan-run convention focused on Legends – there was a lot of SWTOR and KOTOR fans there. I can’t wait to volunteer for the next one and I hope we will see the Old republic team there this time!

Unfortunately one member went rogue and decided to make his own event, but is claiming credit for the one we organized and hosted. BUCKLE UP Drama Ahead! 🧵

Legends Con was a blast! When’s next Legends con?

I’m really excited for the next Legends Con we host as a volunteer team – the team, special guests, and con attendees were so cool to meet and I had a blast volunteering at both the front desk and website/tech/planning. We do not have a date for next Legends Con for a really important reason. Our main volunteer and guest coordinator, @Martian_Mara, was involved in a near fatal head on car accident leaving her severely injured – after hearing this, all volunteers were really happy to wait until she was better and devastated by the news. I first met her at Star Wars Celebration and admired her work ethic and dedication to inclusivity, so when she asked me to help with this project, I was 100% on board, and although I was only dipping my toes in at first I wound up volunteering heavily to support our special guests, volunteers and attendees closer to the con because I was so happy with the group.

Initial Convention Planning

I wasn’t a big part of the initial planning, and deferred to @Martian_Mara as our lead at all times – she was working heavily with another volunteer to secure the venue, but most of the rest of the work came later. During this time, they realized they needed to start an LLC since a non-profit would be too difficult, so they picked two people to be on the LLC board, one was someone helping with the website named Patrick who I’d been getting along well with, and another initial member of the volunteer team that I didn’t know. Because Katherine was the main organizer and point of contact, I didn’t even know she wasn’t in charge of the “business” LLC till close to the convention LOL. I actually helped set up the website so part of my role was clarifying what people were doing for the convention project so I could list them on the page about the Team with little biographies – and the second member of the LLC team was only listed as “Adminstration” and I never saw much from them so I kinda forgot about them after that. We had quite a few volunteers that were interested in volunteering but didn’t wind up having time to actually do so, so I didn’t think much about it.

We did run into one issue while planning – initial funding. When you do a convention, you need to pay for the convention center mostly up front. No one on the volunteer team is rich, nor was this a business done to make a profit (just fans of scifi y’know), so while we knew we could cover the bills based on ticket sales, we needed some money up front. In a closed meeting, @DarnKatarn aka Kyle, stepped up and offered to get a 10k loan to cover the costs, with the knowledge he would be paid back after the convention ticket money was received (he was). Although I kept forgetting who he was, this was a huge boon, and I think the team was quite grateful for it. For that alone he should have gotten a huge pat on the back and could have been a hero of the convention. I believe he also may have helped with a few graphics for social media which was a solid contribution.

The Convention -Woohoo!

Then the convention happened. It was AWESOME. It went so good. I got to volunteer at the desk all of the second say and got to talk to so many happy guests, volunteers, and special guests. It was mad fun. I loved it so much. I met Kyle at the front desk… but I uh… kept forgetting who he was because he didn’t have a specific role for me to associate with :( (I met our photographer and videographer for the first time – although I hadn’t talked to them much before the event, I got along with both of them super well haha!) Kyle came up to the front desk to volunteer but I didn’t have much of a role for him. The rest of our core pre-show volunteer team was running around like mad supporting our Special Guests, helping vendors, and being hosts/guests in panels – Kyle strangely didn’t have a role or didn’t give himself a job. The convention itself was very successful for a first time, and as far as I understand, we mostly broke even with some to spare to donate to the Peter Mayhew foundation. We were excited about the event and ready to take a break before planning for the next event, which @Martian_Mara said she would be shooting for 2025 so she can catch her breath.

Don’t be rude to volunteers, Kyle Rawlings.

Where things started to get dubious was when Kyle started to get more involved and “act” more like a “member of the board”.

After the event, we were all still very excited, and discussing wrap up and stuff like that. Post-event, we held an online team meeting. Such excitement! We discussed stuff we did well and stuff we could have done better (sorry about the flimsy badges HAHA! lesson learned by me!) and one of those was that all our main volunteers were often tied up in panels. Rather than discuss the idea of staggering more or do better planning to make sure we always have a core volunteer on hand for any issues, Kyle jumped STRAIGHT to saying all volunteers can not also be on panels, completely ignoring the fact that these are not paid volunteers, and that being able to host/guest on panels is something that brought a lot of joy to the volunteers, many of whom spent $100s of their own money towards the project and to be there, not to mention their time investment before the convention. I told him and the rest of the attendees of the meeting, that no, yall are volunteers, and we are thankful for what you are doing, and no, you will not be treated that way.

I had to outright ask @Martian_Mara who the hell this dude was via private message during the meeting, because my immediate thought was “this is a bad person, I do not want him on the team, and they haven’t done anything to be making so many demands of others”. She let me know he was the one who helped cover the $10k loan, so I was like “ohhhhh” and decided to let it go, because even if he was a horrible leader, he did do a solid, and I continued to support our volunteer team and not pick a fight with someone who, as I saw it, was putting their heart and wallet into this project, even if they aren’t good at interacting with other people. I got another private message from another volunteer at the meeting that said, “Thanks for saying what we’re all thinking” HAH. I am a frequent volunteer and volunteer leader both online and off, and I think volunteers for all project deserves tons of love and support!

At the wrap-up meeting, someone also mentioned we should have an interest form for volunteers and potential vendors for next year. Great idea! I started putting it into motion, testing out technical options, and when I found something, I posted it up for review. I got lots of feedback from different members of the volunteer team, from typos to faux-pas’s, which is exactly what I wanted, in addition to approval from @Martian_Mara, our coordinator. Kyle decided to post: “Just a note: these kind of documents go through the approval of all the admin team all the same, including Katherine, Patrick, [other volunteer], and myself, and the form looks great!”

This was the first time I’d even realized there was a board or that he had a role on it, as I’d been working directly with @Martian_Mara and the rest of the volunteers for almost a year now on almost all aspects of the project LOL. I worked on the map with our Events Coordinator, the website with Patrick, Catherine on the badges and rules, @RyanMiorelli on comms and helping with volunteer communication, Punchit Chewie for graphics, and during all that time I hadn’t heard much from Kyle except a few comments here or there.

I replied to Kyle after he asked things go through him that, “I will continue working with Katherine as I have for the past year or so. Anything I post on this discord feel free to give feedback on, that’s why I post it here.” I did not receive a reply back but I think it’s safe to assume between my vehement support for our volunteers during the meeting, and my rebuffal of working with him who I’d only really met a few days ago at the convention, he was not a very happy camper. I spoke with another volunteer, who wanted to discuss my comments, and I replied to them, “How you present things is just as important as what you are presenting if you want people to listen. Its part of being a good team member or team leader. I also agree with some of his ideas, just not the way he wanted to lay down the law” As a frequent volunteer and community leader I still stick by that 100%.

After the convention, something terrible happened. @Martian_Mara got in a near-fatal accident. It was out of the blue, she was severely hurt, and we were getting updates from friends and family. It was so sad to be hearing things like “surgery had to be postponed” multiple times, especially after the high from Legends Con and her recently having started a new amazing job.

You can’t fire me, I’m a volunteer!

FIVE DAYS LATER, Kyle, on his own, decided to post that our services as volunteers would no longer be required. You can see he is fully aware that our main volunteer coordinator, Katherine, was literally in the hospital with every limb broken when he decided to send it. Here’s his full message.

“Hello [tagged all volunteers]. These are troubling times, and she has been in my prayers. I trust our community will pull through for her.
Unfortunately for the business, many recent events of the past six weeks have led to difficult decisions that needed to made. My apologies for formalities amongst friends, but I need the following message to be heeded at this time:
In lieu of many recent events, the owners of Legends Consoritum LLC [sic] have chosen to freeze all business activities for the time being.
Upon today’s date, 10/20/2023, your services will no longer be required by Legends Consortium LLC. Legends Consortium LLC requires the return to the property of the company all documents, records, diskettes, hard drives and software drives and, notebooks, work papers, accounts and web pages and passwords made with Legends Consortium LLC’s business information, and all similar material containing any confidential information, whether prepared by yourself, Legends Consortium LLC, or any other volunteer, staff member, or agent retained by Legends Consortium LLC; all assets need to be delivered electronically to typhojem44@hotmail.com by 05:00 PM (PST), 10/21/2023; you are not permitted to speak on behalf of Legends Consortium LLC in any way or medium. Thank you for your time. 

Kyle Rawlings
Co-owner of Legends Consortium LLC
2108 N ST
Suite N
Sacramento, CA 95816″

What a lot to unpack!

Apparently Kyle had decided he did want to dissolve the LLC he was a two-person board member of after the event, as he seemed unhappy with the team and possibly unhappy with the decision to move towards a non-profit (the original plan, which would have a vote for leadership). Totally fine, if he wanted out. that would be perfectly acceptable. The law states that if there’s only two people on a board, any one of them can dissolve the LLC without the others permission, and the assets need to be distributed amongst the board members (we didn’t have any leftover dollars or gold bullion, so that wasn’t a huge problem.) Uh, awkwardly, Kyle also didn’t technically have the power to “fire” anyone (ignoring the fact that we ere volunteering) as he is part of a two-person board and all major decisions need to be made together by law. Awkward.

Oh. They were all volunteers.

But no. Kyle decided he wanted to dissolve the LLC, but he STILL WANTED TO HOST LEGENDS CON, AFTER “FIRING” THE ENTIRE VOLUNTEER TEAM. Oh my god I’m dying laughing writing that. Ok but here’s the best part – because this was a very informal event hosted by fans, although the LLC was done right for tax purposes, the rest was done so poorly – which means the art, the photography at the show, the website, the logo, none of it was actually handed over copyright-wise to Legends Con – it was all made by volunteers, who would maintain ownership of their property, except for a few photos before the convention started. So he posted that message, and of course, all the actual volunteers immediately put together their own chat, and although this is a huge and stressful pain, I kept getting to post delicious things like,

“There’s nothing to coup.
He is losing 100% of his volunteers
He dont got the website
He dont got the socials
He dont got the contacts
He dont got

All of which is still hilariously true.

Legends Con – the name. And the Logo ™. And LLC. And Lucasfilm.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

Part of us being allowed to host a Star Wars Themed convention was being in contact with Lucasfilms / Disney / whatever. They gave us very specific rules that we had to follow (which we did). Kyle is clearly *not* aware of these rules, and does not have a contact within Lucasfilm that I know of, not to mention no relationship like our lead coordinator has. Kyle decided to try and host his own Legends Con, but not only does he not own that name – it was recorded and timestamped as being created by one of the other volunteers and once again not officially “given” to the “Legends Concsortium LLC” – he also made a new logo that is non-compliant with Disney (yes! there are rules! no you can’t just use lightsabers in your logo… particularly not when you are trying to do weird shenanigans like this and you’re on everyone’s radar and not in good standing.) They even placed a TM Trademark label on the two versions of the lightsaber logo on the website whichh is gunna be really awkward later when Disney/Lucasfilm messages them…

So Kyle has decided to “fire” everyone volunteer that actually made Legends Con happen, and host his “own” event.

Here are the links to his “stolen” event:

https://www.legendsconofficial.com/
http://instagram.com/legendscon_official
https://www.facebook.com/Legendsconofficial/
Tweets by LegendsConX
legendsconsortium_helpdesk@outlook.com

… you’ll notice that he had to do things like add “official”.. because… the original ones were already taken by the actual event.

I saved a copy of the website for posterity/journalism.

PDF: 0aee1c2f-ce11-4d77-ad11-14dbfd28c4da.pdf

Here’s the real ones by the way. They’re the same ones as we used to the convention you may already be following. We renamed the Facebook to not be using the LLC name though, since there are hopes to dissolve it.

• https://legends-con.com/
• https://twitter.com/Legends_Con
• https://www.instagram.com/legends_con/
• https://www.facebook.com/LegendsConvention
• https://ko-fi.com/legends_con
• https://www.eventbrite.com/e/legends-consortium-2023-tickets-541786186067
• LegendsConsortium@gmail.com

Oh but wait, even better! The website says, “LEGENDS CONSORTIUM LLC PRESENTS:” The LLC has not yet been legally dissolved, due to the chaos. So who is.. actually running this? Legends consortium is a board of two members. currently Kyle and Patrick. They can’t vote eachother off, they can only dissolve, due to their being only two. But because there’s only two, they need a unanimous vote to add anyone else to the LLC. So technically Patrick is still on it, and without his permission, Kyle has decided to “add” these members to the “team” for the fake Legends con:

• RAYMOND O’BRIEN: Executive Program Director
• MARCEL RYAN: Executive Director of Fan Relations
• JOE BONGIORNO: Executive Networking Advisor
• CHRISTOPHER YOUNG: Executive Event Coordinator
• RANDALL BARNES: Executive Event Coordinator
• KYLE RAWLINGS: Owner & CEO of Legends Consortium LLC (aka “Kyle”)

I do not know these people well, sorry. I am hoping they just got excited about the idea of being a part of a convention but didn’t realize what had happened. I request to those people that they be paid handsomely and up front by Kyle, as employees, because he treated “his” volunteers during Legends Con very poorly, unlike the rest of the team. I do not recommend to work with Kyle Rawlings actually, but hey, if he pays good, go for it. I wonder if they know that they are on a team lead by an LLC where there are two Board Members, one of which has an equal legal/lawful vote on all major affairs who disagrees with all of them being on the team and for running “their” event.

“Legends Con” Announcement Video

Most recently, they made all their website and social media, and posted an announcement video ON CHRISTMAS. Our volunteer coordinator was nice enough not to tag us all about it until a few days later to let us enjoy christmas haha.

Watch Video

In the video, Marcel said he attended from out of country and said he had a very, very positive, intimateexperience with authors and creatives. You’re welcome Marcel! I’m glad you enjoyed your time at the real Legends Con that was organized and put together by all the volunteers! You stated it was “one of the things that made it stand out for me is probably one of the best conventions I’ve ever been to too so I want to keep that positivity going I want to keep that energy going I want
uh I want for it to be as as inclusive and as positive and uh as great an experience for for me and for others”. You’re right is was very inclusive. What plans do you guys have to make it so, if any? I see you do not have any ladies on your volunteer team yet.

Matt Wilkins seemed to be leading the meeting, though I’m unsure his role in it, perhaps just interviewing Marcel and Kyle? Matt I hope you do actually get to go to the next Legends Con but I think you’re going to be very disappointed if it’s the same one announced in your video sorry :( Kyle can go back to your wonderful Legends Con Part 2 video from February 2023 to hear our lead coordinator and her experience being Executive Director for events and her experience with working with professionals authors and other Star Wars creators to learn more about the incredible work that goes into putting on a convention – I was glad to hear you seemed to understand the immense planning that goes into planning a convention,
as he does not have any experience that I know of! Great vid.

Watch Video

The fake “Legends Con Official” website also states, “AFTER OUR FIRST SUCCESSFUL CONVENTION IN BURBANK, CA, IN SEPTEMBER OF 2023, WHICH INCLUDED THE APPEARANCES OF MATTHEW STOVER, RANDY STRADLEY, MICHAEL STACKPOLE, BARBARA HAMBLY, CRAIG MILLER, ABEL G. PEÑA, SEAN STEWART, HENRY GILROY, MICHAEL KOGGE, JOE BONGIORNO, JASON FRY, CORINNA BECHKO, MIKE HANSEN, MARK ANTHONY AUSTIN, DANIEL KEYS MORAN, & SHEA STANDEFER, WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT LEGENDSCON WILL RETURN IN 2025. TICKETS ON SALE SOON!”

Is that the royal we? I’m not sure, because all of those people were brought into the convention through tireless efforts of our lead coordinator, not Kyle. Heck, I’m not even entirely sure if he was a way to contact some of those people – they are very private with their contact details, and we are so grateful to our lead coordinator who is great at talking to people who tracked them down and convinced them to come. Many came due to good word of mouth and through the positive connections Katherine has made in both the fan and professional Star Wars scene.

Summary

• Proper Legends Con by the same team as last year is still happening! It’s just on hiatus due to our lead coordinator getting into a head-on collision and us having to waste time on all the stated above. It was originally hoping for 2025 but both those event threw off the timeline. Watch the REAL social media and website for details though they won’t be soon. Our lead coordinator is only recently been able to use a keyboard/phone again.
    
• I’m still very excited to be working on proper legends con. Once we get this mess sorted (Arghhhh) we have all the videos from the convention to share! Some AWESOME panels by our volunteer videographer!
• Please spread the news that the whatever convention or event being run by Kyle Rawlings is is not the same event run by the same volunteers as the first one which went great. It is easy to tell this because it has a different website, social media accounts, and completely different volunteer team, none of whom have their credentials/experience listed on the website. DO NOT WORK WITH THESE PEOPLE IF THEY CLAIM TO REPRESENT LEGENDS CON AND ITS SUCCESS AT ITS FIRST EVENT!
  • RAYMOND O’BRIEN: “Executive Program Director” – DO NOT WORK WITH. DOES NOT REPRESENT LEGENDS CON.
  • MARCEL RYAN: “Executive Director of Fan Relations” – DO NOT WORK WITH. DOES NOT REPRESENT LEGENDS CON.
  • JOE BONGIORNO: “Executive Networking Advisor” – DO NOT WORK WITH. DOES NOT REPRESENT LEGENDS CON.
  • CHRISTOPHER YOUNG: “Executive Event Coordinator” – DO NOT WORK WITH. DOES NOT REPRESENT LEGENDS CON.
  • RANDALL BARNES: “Executive Event Coordinator” – DO NOT WORK WITH. DOES NOT REPRESENT LEGENDS CON.
  • KYLE RAWLINGS: “Owner & CEO of Legends Consortium LLC” (aka “Kyle” from this story)
• If you see friends volunteering for this Kyle project or asking your favorite artists and authors to volunteer for it, make sure they are aware it is not the same event and redirect them to the proper event and contacts:
  • https://legends-con.com/
  • https://twitter.com/Legends_Con
  • https://www.instagram.com/legends_con/
  • https://www.facebook.com/LegendsConvention
  • LegendsConsortium@gmail.com
  • The actual Legends Con team and their credentials:
    • Executive Director – Katherine
    • Events Coordinator – Corinthia
    • Event Advisor & Web Developer – Swtorista
    • Charity & Costume Club Liaison – Bill
    • Networking Specialist – Ryan
    • Social Media – Kendra (and now also bekahsoka)
    • Art Team & Events – Liisa
    • Art Team – Arakel & Isabella
    • Videographer & Media Support – Brian
    • Technical Director – Patrick (Edit: I believe Patrick is stepping down from volunteering, but he is also not volunteering for the other group.)
• If you don’t know who I am, my name is Swtorista, I am well known for my coverage and community curation and fan content focused around Star Wars: The Old Republic. I like creating tools and connecting fans together, promoting a non-toxic friendly environment online and off in the fan space, and to share knowledge and guides about the game to help other fans.