A-Kon 2010

Whew. Okay. Con report time. Gotta make one while I can still remember it, before it fades into that vast sea of Cons I Have Known.

The Good

• The fans, the fans, the fans.  Man, you guys are awesome. Met some great people–long-time readers, long-time commenters, people I’ve been chatting with on LJ for years, some wonderful lurkers. I met people who breed poison dart frogs and people who are excavating archaeological sites in Texas, people in costumes that defied description, a wonderful woman who ducked into the Con in the brief period before her son’s Eagle scout ceremony (and brought Kevin a really cool antelope neckerchief slide and a wombat for me–lacking neckerchiefs, I will just have to find a way to tack it to my Wall of Cool Stuff.) A reader even brought me Laughing Cow cheese.  You gotta love these people.

• The artists. Met some awesome colleagues, like Laura Garabedian (who was a great sport about getting roped into Iron Artist) and Crystal Yates, who does Earthsong, and of course hung with Jennie Breeden and crew. Long-time artist friend Dana appeared with a copy of “Duck and Rabbit Seasoning” which Kevin is going to steal from me, I just know it. I was also gifted with phalloi fan art, which I am always very flattered by.

• Also got a chance to hang around with James and Mel of Two Lumps fame, who are pure concentrated awesome. J is like a homicidal teddybear, and Mel is lovely and gracious and capable of snapping your spine in any number of ways. Some of us collect wombats, some of us collect martial arts belts. We all have our little hobbies.

• The lovely women of Scuttlebutt, INC. Our table was next to them. They rocked. Kevin made me trade seats with him so that he and their inker could elbow one another whenever a hot Doctor Girlfriend or Faye Valentine walked by.

• The staff. The con did a great job for us, very well run, any crises occurring occurred under our radar. While we didn’t make enough money to afford to come out on our own, we’d definitely do the con again as guests. They were very nice, and it was great to get out to Texas and not have to drive across it.

• Catgirls in hijab. There were some truly fantastic costumes, but I think the catgirls in headscarves were one of the most awesome things ever. Fandom transcends cultural boundaries, yet again!

• Another reminder that, to paraphrase the lovely incandescens, “Other people are as large on the inside as I am.” There was a trio that included a shirtless cat-boy in a belled collar, and I confess, I was doing a little internal eye-roll. Then they hit the punk hummingbird and got into an intense discussion of what kind of twig the bird was perched on, whether it was dogwood or something else. “Remember your dendro!” one cried. Turned out, it was a trio of Forestry majors (and judging by the art they bought, clearly animal lovers.) They were lovely people. That’ll teach me.

• Mutual fangirling with Esther Friesner.

The Bad

• Anime fans do not sleep.

• And they have all this energy. Kevin thinks they’re cutting the Pocky with meth.

• The room we were in was open for twelve hours a day. We are old. Somewhere around three pm, when we were staring at six more hours of business, Kevin uttered the phrase “I miss the furries.” At least they sleep sometimes.

• Honey, if you were really that “mature” for your age, you wouldn’t try to convince me to let you look at the adult art. I have said no. It’s not going to happen. Please stop trying.  I don’t care that no one is looking. If you were not so young and so obviously well-meaning, Kevin would have bounced you. As it was, it was a near thing.

• Scuttlebutt, as I said, was awesome. Unfortunately for them, they had won the fan ficcer lottery. I witnessed two separate people deliver a blow-by-blow monologue of their latest crossover/slash fan-fic to this captive and terribly polite audience. (Gang–no matter how good your fan fic may be, NOBODY wants to hear you recite it. We appreciate your enthusiasm, you may well be an excellent writer, but trust me–you are the only one who is enjoying this recitation. Please, think twice before you begin telling someone about your plot bunnies at such length, particularly if they can’t leave the table to escape you.)

• They also got a guy talking about Drizzt Do’Urden at some length. Containing my giggles might have killed a few braincells.

• The couple who was breaking up drunkenly in the hall at 4 AM. Sometimes you just want to throw on pants, walk out, and say “That’s it! You’re now broken up! It’s over! NOW GO TO BED!”

• Did I mention that they don’t sleep?

The Baffling

• I am still not entirely sure what was up with the guy who ran up to the table, said “I am perusing your merchandise! I am fascinated by your merchandise!” and then spoke into his walkie-talkie and hurried off again. Kevin thought “tailing someone,” I thought “on drugs.” Guess we’ll never know.

• Nearly a decade doing cons, and I have never before had someone brush their teeth while examining my prints. Huh.

• I am sort of curious how that photo-shoot with Sephiroth hugging Pedobear turned out.

Addendum: If I haven’t mentioned lately that Kevin is awesome, he’s awesome. Could not do these things without him. He’s helpful, efficient, absurdly useful…seriously, the best.