Do we have any approximate dates on when the AL was founded, and when the different cosplay groups were started and partnered together to create the AL group? I am going through the presentation we did with Terran and we are missing some history on the group itself and the different central groups.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

Although I'm not sure of the exact dates, the forum was set up by a collector/dealer many years ago and was done so very much with a focus on collectors of props and costumes from Aliens. The cosplay groups were created long after the forum was established.

Tony Densley (Spellbinder99) then took over and the forum became more like how it appears today. I'm sure he'll see this and will be able to fill you in more on the timeline.

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

I want to say the AL as we see it today came around 2002 or 03. There's always been costuming to some degree or another, but I'm not sure when it became a regular "thing" like the group that gets together at Dragon Con every year. I remember going to Dragon Con in 2001 and there was a bunch of us that got together, but it was kind of a loose thing, not all that much organized. We managed to get together in the photo/autograph area, had a large group photo taken with the ALIENS actors that were there, and once that was done we all pretty much split up and went our separate ways.

Before that there would be small groups here and there at different cons, so I guess technically there's always been a USCM type costuming group.

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"Awww, someone tell me that's a boot!

It's a boot!"

III drops

I would add that I am trying to get information gathered so I can repackage and retell it and have it available to the group as a whole if any sections need to do a Q&A or need some reference material on dates.

With the revitalization I am seeing with IGN releases on the fan films, I got a suspicion we are going to get bigger and having more information available and out there will help.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

Thanks greatly for doing that - that is highly commendable. I agree about the expansion; I think we're (hopefully) heading for a restart of the AlienS IP. Disney won't just sit on that IP.

Spellbinder took over the forums on EZBoard from Dan and I took over for him on EZboard and then later after we transitioned to this "new" forum software.

If you check the top of this post...

http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12403

It gives a basic timeline of former staff/admin.

-R

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"A writer needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a filmmaker an army." - Orson Wells.

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Thanks that helps. I will try to get a draft posted this weekend summarizing things for open critique and correction. Cruddy first drafts and all that.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

I like what you're doing Joker, I've been archiving this site and anything that it's led me to in terms of older websites and people.
Can copy html and take screenshots. The decay rate of this fan group has left a lot of archaeology to be discovered. Hit me up if theres sanything you think I can contribute. Off hand, I believe that I've posted the majority of what I have dug up.

Hi Joker, the info you have been provided with is pretty much accurate. Unfortunately I cannot find the original post where I notified the board that we were moving from Dan's control under his own URL to the Aliens Legacy board but it was in the year 2003. If any of you savvy internet kiddies can work the way back machines you need to search for a thread "We are moving the Hubble!" on the original board that should give you EXACT dates and what happened at the time.

What was happening at that time was that Dan Short had done a great job establishing the board under the auspices of his own Aliens collecting but by that time he did not have time for personal reasons to properly run the board. He was indeed thinking of shutting down the board due to this. Please accept my apologies if I am not exact in my comments but the passing years (16!) have dimmed my recollection somewhat. I believe I was a moderator at the time and Dan shared his thoughts with me and I felt it was my duty to prevent that from happening.

The short version was that a new board was set up with the running costs being paid for by myself. I also became board Admin and owner at that time. You can also blame me for the board name........

The graphics were done by a board member but for my sins I cannot remember who at this stage, please put your hand up if you are here!





Here are some early iterations of the board header that we considered, the file date on them is the 3rd of September, 2003 so that would indicate an approximate timescale. I will keep searching my files for more info, unfortunately one of my main e-mails at the time is long defunct.

Cheers

Tony

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When you are out of Pulse Rifles, you are out of Weapons!!

From what I have found at this point the cosplay groups starting popping up around in the late 90s and the turning point was when Spat Oktan built his first armor set for his friends in association with Almeyer's Folly cosplay group.

The forum was founded in the late 90s by Dan (Aliensarchive) and was taken over by Tony (Spellbinder99) a few years later. About 15 years (give or take) after the 1986 movie release of Aliens.

Around 9/7/03 we had our first major revision of the website to the format we all know and love by Mike Rush who has made a logo that has stood the test of time. The look of the website had not change substantially if at all since then.

Previous system admins:
USCM Section Moderator: Tony "SgtTony" Leach (2012-2014)
Airsoft Section Moderator: Alex "uscmCorps" Ko (2006-2007)
System Admin/Owner: Tony "Spellbinder99" (2003-2006)
System Admin/Owner: Dan "Aliensarchive" S. (1999-2003)

This is a history lesson here and not meant to be an complete history, but briefly covers why forums like ours have stayed around:

In perspective dial-up internet access was king until the late 1990s. Starting around 2000 high speed internet came into play giving a whole area of growth for websites and around 2000 social media websites started to supplant forum and bulletin board based websites (in use since the 1980s) like what we use here.

AOL instant messenger launched in 1997 and quickly replaced IRC (created in 1988) along with other instant messaging services such as Yahoo messenger, msn messenger and others.

Myspace launched in 2003 followed by Facebook in 2004 and reddit in 2005 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_social_media.)

AOL shut down their messenger platform as has yahoo in late 2018.

Right now there is a lot of debate going on over who is going to replace Facebook as there is an exodus away from the platform some would argue and multiple platforms are popping up to fill the need and desire.

Right now there is a slow trend away from social media and there is a rise in folks moving back to using forum based websites that encourage information sharing and discourse.

Forum websites that have stayed around throughout the entire rise and ebb of social media giants and continue to be a thriving community for discussions on a myriad of topics. The sites that remain since the beginning have continued to have a strong core following and active contributors with top notch admin teams running them.

First Edit.
Second Edit.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

Tony I have a feeling that the logo and the 'green nebula cloud' background was made by Mike Rush following suggestions from members in a thread discussing what the new look should be.

EDIT: Also I just found this on my computer that shows a significant date!


Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Thanks Harry, I knew the date would be somewhere and I am pretty sure you are right about Mike doing the graphics.....which in my opinion have stood up well to the passing of time.

Cheers all.

Tony

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When you are out of Pulse Rifles, you are out of Weapons!!

So around 9/7/03 we had our first major revision of the website to the format we all know and love by Mike Rush who has made a logo that has stood the test of time. A logo and banner which has not changed and still stayed very much relevant. That is a feat unto itself.

I am still very much floored that the logo has lasted as long as it has without any changes.

I will revise this based on feedback.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

I guess if it's not broken then why bother to fix it?

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

EXACTLY!!!!

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

Thank you very much for every one's contribution of information on this. Historical information like this is very hard to come by sometimes. If any other good historical tidbits get remembered or come up, please post.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...