We hit up the line at the Galen Center at about 10:30, a little later than we’d hoped (we really wanted floor seats) but still early enough to get a good spot. Amazingly, when we rolled up, there was maybe 60 people in front of us!  We were golden!  Two hours later, the line was all the way down the block, and then some. Spirits are high, everybody is on a great mood.

Event Note One: Riot decided to amp up the crowd by handing out hundreds of white foam boards, and buckets of markers. Sign-making related hilarity ensues.

At some point, the sun has shifted from being behind the building to sort of in front/from the side. It gets hot. For the entire line.

Event Note Two:  Good Guy Riot rolls out several blue coolers on wheels and hands out hundreds of water bottles right in front of the USC food vendor cart hawking Desani for 6 bucks a bottle. Suck it, USC!

Ok. We’ve been in line for three-ish hours. At least a dozen pretty legit cosplayers have come and gone, including this dude in his full on Garen outfit, who clearly needed one of those World Championship branded bottles of water. Arcade Sona makes an appearance, her controller even makes sounds. When she ults, everybody in line starts dancing. I’ve been talking to fans all day. Me and this guy who flew in standby this morning, and was taking the redeye (again, on standby) after the event try to guess the average ELO of the line between the front door of the Galen Center and the pizza joint down the block. At this point, I am running dangerously low on cigarettes, but the Italian guys hook it up whenever I ask.

Event Note Three:  LoL players are really, really nice IRL. It makes me wonder where all the ragers come from in Solo Queue, because everybody here is awesome.

It’s about 2:00 now. Event security has decided to move us to the other side of the front door, because the line is getting out of control. They split us off and move about 50 people across, we are now literally first in line to get in. Within the hour, there are hundreds of people behind us. Phreak and Rivengton walk out for a minute and then go back inside.

 Event Note Four: Somehow, nobody is pissed off about this.

Some of the teams are showing up now! There a VIP/player entrance around the side of the building, but several of the teams have opted to use the front, right in front of us. Most of TSM walks right in,  General Oddone comes out, shakes hands and poses with fans for 15 minutes or so. M5 BenQ rolls up with 5 giant cardboard boxes of T-Shirts, throws them out to the fans. Dignitas shows up sans Scarra, who we will later learn is inside already, getting ready to comment and play in the exhibition game.    Siv HD and the Protatomonster guys show up and mill around for a while. In case you were wondering (I was), that’s Siv’s real voice in all those videos.

Four PM. People are amped, it’s almost go time!  Some guy in a red shirt comes up to the front of our line and tells us that we’re mistakenly in the VIP line, the wrong line, and we have to go to the back.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Random Chinese guy next to me goes “He must be 200 ELO, he is trolling us”. Now, people are pissed. We didn’t see red-shirt’s Riot Badge, was he even on staff? What is going on?

So now, Riot gets involved. A staffer comes out and asked what happened. I am wearing a suit jacket and tie, so I take charge of negotiations for our part of the crowd, explain what happened with the line move and how long we’ve been there.

Event Note Five: Riot wants to make damn sure we have a good time.

Doors open in 30 minutes.  We are freaking out. Riot lady says “I’ll be right back”‘ which nobody wants to hear. She leaves and does in fact come right back. “How many are in your group?” She asks.  ”Just the three of us, but they moved like 30 people at first and then a huge line just formed up behind us”.

“I can give you guys a choice. You can stay here in this line and we’ll make sure you get in first, or I can give you these VIP wristbands. It’s the only way to get on the floor, you’ll be on TV and stuff”

“Wait what?”

“I can take like 15 people. You guys want in?”

“Yes. Please. We love you”. We make sure the Italian guys are with us, they are super cool and have been here longer even than us.  Plus, they FLEWFORFUCKINGEVER and totally deserve it.

We move to the side of the building, and exchange our tickets for those WWJD style bracelets, grey, emblazoned with the LoL logo. “These get you anywhere in the building but backstage. Have fun, sorry about the confusion”. Then she thanks us for coming and disappeared like a magical event fairy.

STOKED. 

We’re inside maybe 20 minutes before they open the doors to the general public. We make a beeline for Snoopeh, who’s kicking it with a Heineken and talking to some other fans.  He poses for a picture with us, and thanks us for coming.  Tells us there’s free beer backstage for the players. We see Reginald and Expecial. Riot people are everywhere. There’s tons of energy in the room, everybody is just blown away by the time and money Riot has thrown out to make sure the fans get a good show.  We start collecting autographs on our “Nerf Pheelin” sign, Snoopeh tells us to tell him to reconsider his move to England.

PhantomL0rd and Siv HD are hanging around the camera boom, we thank them for the time they put in to their content.  They are very appreciative.  PhantomL0rd tells me that Riot brought them all out, wanted to make sure the fans had a good time and got to see their favorite streamers, etc.  Suddenly, things start to get real – the exhibition match is about to start!

It’s East vs West, blind pick. MakNooN instalocks Teemo and starts trolling immediately.  It’s awesome.  People are going nuts because Ocelot is just destroying everybody on Cassiopeia.  West wins no problem.  After a few minutes of break time, the pre-game stuff starts.  Rioters are onstage shooting the Kogmaw t-shirt canon into the crowd.  They have a new one, a big Graves shotgun canon.  They’re throwing Oranges stamped with “It’s K” and Gangplank’s picture on it.  Riot plays a bunch of awesome fan-created content on the big screen, a Siv HD guid to AP Xin Xao, and a Demacia vs Noxius sick-fighter battle.

The lights dim.  An orchestra takes the stage, and a choir that’s gotta be at least 40 strong.  The laser light show starts.  They’re singing the theme song, and it’s fucking epic except it’s hard to hear because people are cheering so loud, going absolutely nuts.  They debut the Summoner’s Cup with a gorgeous video, bring the thing onstage.  It’s massive and awesome.  We get our sign on stream (our only real goal) during an interview with Azubu Frost fans.  The player introductions start, both teams take their seats on stage, and it’s GAME ON.

I won’t say too much about the actual games (no spoiler alert!), except that the Taipei Assassins are 100% on top of their game.  It’s amazing to watch.  During the breaks, they bring out the t-shirt cannons, throw more oranges.  Live interviews with HotshotGG and Reginald about the matches go up on the big screen.  I’m outside smoking during these, talking to the fans, some of whom waited through 3 games just to get a Blitzcrank hoodie or a Teemo hat – apparently the line was so long at the merch booth, Riot came by and handed out a bunch of Riot Graves skins to people waiting.

And then, it’s over.  Taipei Assassins are awarded the Summoner’s Cup.  Much cheering ensues, TPA are the obvious fan favorite throughout the entire tournament, and everybody is glad that they won.  We’re herded outside, where we are told we can collect our swag bag – a crazy awesome statue of Ryze and Tryndamere, and a skin code.  The line stretched all the way to the back of the Galen Center and back, on both sides of the building.  It’s an hour and a half before we get ours, but we don’t care.  Totally Worth It.

Smokejumpers make all their own equipment, sewing and repairing their own parachutes and jumpsuits.

I had the opportunity to visit the Northern California Air Attack Base in Redding, California and see some of their equipment, and learn a bit about how they work.  And it’s awesome.

A ripped parachute on the table for repairs.

When the call comes out, these guys grab and go.

There’s a gallery with these and more images below!

Be sure to check out the article over on the News & Review site!