Dragonmeet & Muppetmeet 2024 | My recent game Litter, Detective! | Running (paid) drop-in indie RPGs for strangers at a Christmas party | + what's the deal with Bluesky | + DIY zine report | + Plane Sailing Games interviewed me | + appearing in the Debut Blog category of this year's Bloggies | + timely podcast recommendations!
📝 | The Dragonmeet writeup includes extensive notes from the panels I attended that will be of particular interest to other designers, including:
A panel on the rise of journalling games with Samantha Webb, Becky Annison, Chris Bissette, Taylor Navarro and Chris Birch;
An update on therapeutic gaming with Game Therapy UK;
Tips on being good at conventions with Mol Joule & Zach Cox from SoulMuppet, Josh from Hive Mind Games and Rori Montford of Montford Tales;
Investigating queer games & queering games with games studies academic Finley Palanaki;
And brick & mortar RPG retailing in the UK with Tom Mecredy from SoulMuppet and retailers Casper from Orc's Nest and James from Leisure Games.
Leave it Star Trek to remind me how much we're worth fighting for
Note: This is a going to be a long, nerdy post. You have been warned.
So a couple of weeks ago, I purchased tix to attend the Star Trek: New Jersey fan convention scheduled to take place during the 2nd week in November. The idea at the time was that I would not only get to see some of my favorite people from my favorite fandom, but the entire event would likely have some amazing energy following the week of the US election.
But then, we had the election that we had, and ... well.
Here we are.
Thankfully, everyone was determined to make the best of the event, and the nerds in attendance were all still fairly respectful, patient and excited to be there.
Now gone are the days when I would try to do as much as possible at cons because I'm an old Trekker. For me, simply being in the space and enjoying the Q&A panels is enough. What can I say? I'm a cheap date.
However, I told myself that if I saw a souvenir that I simply had to have, I gave myself permission to buy it. But otherwise, I wanted to try to keep my spending under control.
Plus, I've already seen many of these beautiful performers at conventions past, so the pull of the autograph or photo op isn't as strong as it used to be. For example, the only members of the TNG cast I've never seen at a con (Michael Dorn and Gates McFadden) sadly weren't doing a Q&A until Sunday and I only attended on Saturday, but it was great to see them at their tables signing and talking to fans nonetheless.
OK. Enough preamble. Let's dive in while the memories are still fresh.
_______
Warning: Most of photos here are awful. But they stand as proof that I was there, so I'll take it.
If you're not a fan of a particular Trek series, feel free to skip that section. I added the names of each series the guests were associated with before their respective parts.
Deep Space 9 🌠
As I mentioned, I didn't buy any photo ops or autographs, but I sat in on a lot of panels. I really enjoyed seeing some of the ST: DS9 cast members together (Casey Biggs, Terry Farrell, Max Grodenchik, Vaughn Armstrong, and Jeffrey Combs). Max, Jeffrey and Casey talked the most, and fun was had by all.
Max and Casey seemed to have the bulk of the stories to share. Some of the stories were funny; some were just good-natured mocking of each other.
One question I remember someone asked to Terry was about shooting the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" and the technical work involved with trying to get everything to match with the green screen and the original series plate. Farrell said they had a lot of fun shooting that episode even though everything had to be very precise.
Another fan asked about why they (the cast) thinks the character development on DS9 is so good [compared to other Trek series]. A question I loved because that's one of of the reasons DS9 is my favorite of all the Treks. The series objectively did a much better job of giving their characters realistic growth and development.
I believe Casey Biggs fielded the answer to this one though. He said that essentially because DS9 was sandwiched between TNG's ending, TNG films, and Voyager's first seasons, the studio (Paramount) didn't really pay that much attention to DS9 and forgot about them while constantly fiddling with the other two. He said one of the advantages to being the "red-headed stepchild" of the Trek universe was that it allowed the writers to tell the stories they wanted to tell without the studio constantly giving them notes on what to change. This gave executive producer Ira Steven Behr the space to develop the characters the way he wanted and tell the stories the way he planned them for each season.
Most of the remaining fan questions -- along with the detailed stories in response -- just reminded me of how I need to do a complete rewatch of DS9.
With that said, the sound in the venue was unfortunately not great, and the echo around the space was annoying. You really had to pay attention and listen with every cilia in order to focus on the responses. But overall, it was still a fun experience.
If they do this again in this area of NJ, I would recommend holding the con in a ballroom with a carpeted floor and non-metallic fixtures all over the space.
Strange New Worlds 🛸
That lovely panel was followed by our ST: SNW duo Q&A with Anson Mount and Ethan Peck, which had the single best question asked in any of the panels that took place on Saturday. A young fan who caught onto Ethan's subtle allusion to the IDIC vision of Star Trek in a previous answer, stepped up to the mic and asked Anson and Ethan the following:
[Note: I'm paraphrasing]
"If Starfleet believes in the concept of IDIC -- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations -- and the Vulcans are one of the founding members of Starfleet, why do all the Vulcans have the same boring haircut?"
To which, both Anson and Ethan said was the absolute best question they've ever been asked at a con. Ethan then kind of dropped a wee bit of spoiler about an upcoming episode of SNW where Capt. Pike will go undercover as a Vulcan, and he interestingly will not have the standard Vulcan haircut we all know and love.
Again, sorry for the awful photos. I was in the General Admission section and the camera on my phone isn't that great from afar.
There were a few good questions in this panel, but I think the biggest takeaway for us nerds is that Anson Mount is a new pottery enthusiast and he has taken up making pottery for his fellow castmates as gifts. He originally bought the potter's wheel for his wife, but after she only used it once, he decided to give it a try and he loves it.
So now we know that the "Man of 1000 Exasperations" both likes beekeeping and throwing pots. He used to teach acting and theater classes in NYC. And his secret to great onscreen hair is to not wash it too often. (I learned that from a Hell on Wheels interview from a few years back.)
Personally, I wish I could've thought of the question that came to me after the con ended a little bit sooner, then maybe I would've had a chance to walk to the mic and ask it. Although with all the pre-fan question chatter that the MC/host engaged in, maybe not.
My question was going to be about Anson's experience working on the Dr. Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness with Sir Patrick and Cumberbatch. I know it's not ST related, but I was very happy to see him pop up in a Marvel movie (even if his demise is gruesome and awful) and it was great to see 2 Star Trek captains play superheroes on the big screen.
ST Merch Tables 💸
Moving on, after the SNW panel, I took a break to go walk around some of the merch tables before settling on the floor in the lobby area to charge my phone, share some pics with some friends & family, and people-watch all the folks in awesome cosplay.
I did stumble across a lovely souvenir to take home with me at one of the merch tables. I rationalized that it was ok because it was both geeky and practical. I bought this cute flash drive that looks like a cork to a wine bottle with Picard's vineyard logo on it. Although, to be fair, for $20 I feel like it should be more than 64 GB. But oh well. It's still cute.
After that, I headed back into the main Q&A room to watch the Costume Contest, followed by arguably biggest headliner of that day's panels (no shade at Ms. Ryan or her fanbase -- which was robust). The 3:45pm panel featured two not-so-young whippersnappers by the name of Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner.
But first the Costume Contest.
Costume Contest 🖖🏽
There were a lot of participants into the Costume Contest, but not so many that there weren't some clear standouts. Plus, I love the fact there were a lot of fans dressed in ST uniforms from all the different eras and styles who didn't even entire the contest. I saw everything from TOS uniforms to DSC uniforms. Plus, a number of cool nonhumans.
Not to be outdone, there were a number of Andorians at the event, and I think all of the entered the contest. And there was not a bad one in the bunch. I think my favorite was the Andorian woman with the bottle of ale hanging from her belt.
There were also a lot of creative one-offs. One couple costume entry was dressed as Shaxs and Dr. T'Ana from ST: Lower Decks. That got a big fan reaction. And there was also a family dressed as the creatures from Farpoint Station at the end of the ST: TNG premiere. It was 2 parents and their little kid, and they all were very cute.
My favorites in the contest were the woman who dressed as Jaylah from Star Trek Beyond. Her makeup and outfit were very well done. If it were up to me, she would've come in 3rd place. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of her.)
Instead, the actual 3rd place winner would've been my 2nd place choice. It was a woman dressed as the oil slick creature, Armus, from the "Skin of Evil" episode of TNG. She even had a little Riker figurine sitting on her shoulder, like he was sinking into the slime.
And 1st place went to the fan who seemed to be everyone's favorite: a mechanically accurate Borg. To be fair, not everything in his suit moved, but there was a lot detail, and clearly, a lot of work that went into that costume. And with each elimination round, he kept staying near the top, so it felt fair that he won overall.
There was also a really great Borg Queen costume as well. If it were up to me, I would've had her as my Honorable Mention. So to recap, my picks were:
Realistic Borg
Armus
Jaylah
Borg Queen
Another great costume that didn't make it into the final round, but did get an enthusiastic response from the other fans was a woman in a wheelchair who was pushed by her friend around the convention & merch hall. She carried a sign that said, "The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!" It was so freaking adorable and made a lot of folks laugh. Eve Smith, the actress who played the roll in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, was such a delight whenever she showed up in TV and films in the 80s and 90s. I think she would've gotten a kick out of people remembering her small, but delightful performance so many years later.
Overall, it was pretty decent costume contest. Again, the sound in the space was not the best, but it seems like most people enjoyed it.
The Next Generation 🚀
Now on to the biggest -- in terms of personality -- panel of the day! Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner came out to huge applause, as expected. And even though the hall was pretty full already, even more people made their way inside the curtained off area as the duo were getting settled in.
Although, it's fair to say that they didn't really settle at all. Has Frakes ever settled in at any convention?
I'm not one to diagnose from the stands, but man, did Jonathan seem a wee bit "caffeinated" on stage. And I mean that in the best sense. He was funny as usual. Engaging. Silly. He came with the behind-the-scenes anecdotes and playful shots at his castmates and friends. But getting him to focus for more than 3 minutes was like watching someone try to wrangle a kindergartener on the playground after lunch.
Jonny kept asking Brent to do his Patrick Stewart impression, which he was more than happy to do throughout the Q&A, and then Jonathan became fascinated by a marquee advertisement that had all the faces of the actors who are a part of the convention tour on it, and he kept walking over to it to "complain" about the order of the faces on the marquee.
Of course, all of this was in good fun! But the man definitely did not feel like sitting still for very long, and as a result, the 2 of them only answered like 4 or 5 fan questions tops.
It didn't help that we had not 1, but 2 groups of special guests interrupt join the boys on stage during their mere 45 min-panel. First, came the always dynamic and fearless Marina Sirtis, who was quickly joined by Michael Dorn. Marina plugged a new series that she's working on, and Michael came on to just chill and make fun of Marina. (Don't read into that too much! They had a Q&A scheduled together for Sunday.)
So after Marina and Michael joked around a bit with Brent and Jonny, there were a couple more questions from fans and other shenanigans. Then, the lovely Tawny Newsome and Eugene Cordero from ST: Lower Decks came out bearing gifts of water for our power duo like lowly interns working in a megacorporation.
Their plan was to steal a little air time from the headliners, but they ended up getting invited to stay and shoot the breeze with Jonny and Brent for a large part of the Q&A. And at one point, Dawnn Lewis came out as well to join them.
I honestly don't remember any of the questions from this panel. I do remember there was a bit of singing from Jonny, Dawnn, and Tawny. And Jonny swore a lot. But if you've ever heard him on a podcast, you know he cusses like a sailor. In the end, a good time was had by all. Except maybe the poor fans who lined up to ask questions at the microphones.
Lower Decks 🌌
After our Baby Boomer duo left the stage, the "babies" of the Trek extended universe came back out to do their Q&A panel for ST: Lower Decks with Tawny, Dawnn, Eugene, and Gabrielle Ruiz. The MC/moderator came back out to guide us on our journey, and this time, even though I still thought he was a wee bit too chatty and took too long to get to the fan questions, most of what he contributed was still pretty good.
To be honest, I don't remember many of the questions during their Q&A, but I do remember that the general vibe of their panel was "silly coworkers letting us watch them be silly."
The moderator/MC had them each go down the line and answer some oddball getting-to-know-you type question before launching into anything Trek-related. Each cast member answered it in stride while also making fun of how dumb it was.
Then, they launched into different stories about shooting different episodes, and what they'll miss about the show now that the final season has began airing. Tawny and Eugene plugged an improv show in Brooklyn for later that evening, inviting anyone who didn't already have plans.
Like I said, most of the questions weren't too memorable. The only one I kind of recall was one that ticked me off a little bit. The question itself wasn't a bad one, but the guy who asked it had to get in a little dig at the Kelvin universe cast -- and I did not care for that.
Anyway, his question was: "Now that Lower Decks is coming to an end as a series, would the cast like to see a Lower Decks movie? And if so, would they want it to be live action or animated?" Every cast member pretty much loved the idea of doing a Lower Decks movie, but they're not sure in what direction it would go given what happens in the series finale that hasn't aired yet. So their answers were both positive and a wee bit cryptic.
Admittedly, it was a pretty good question, but he had to throw in some shade claiming that Trek fans would rather see a Lower Decks movie than another Kelvin universe movie. To which I say: I would love to see both! I enjoy both of these Trek iterations equally, but for very different reasons. And although it will never be the same without Anton Yelchin as Chekov, I am looking forward to seeing Karl, Chris, Simon, and John suit up one more time.
And on that note, I think I'll end this absurdly long convention report that I started over a week ago, but kept coming back to add more and more detail.
I'll also add this one last photo from the convention room floor where all the autographs were being signed. Since I wasn't getting autographs, I decided to just steal quick shots of the actors signing for other people. Again, it serves as proof that I was there, and it feeds the general fun of being a nerd in my favorite fandom of all time.
Saturday started with @shbumi and I off to the Exhibition Hall and @lechevaliermalfet off to get an autograph from Peter Cullen. Now, despite not being a huge Transformers fan, I won’t lie – the dealers there have some super impressive stuff. Like, I completely understand why people drop a lot of money on some of the Transformer stuff on display. And the artists there are just as talented as at any other con.
But because I’m not the target audience, I probably burn out in there faster than in the dealer/artist space at anime cons or general pop culture cons. That’s not to say I didn’t find stuff – I did, over our multiple visits to the room. With my first purchase being energy drinks. I think I was feeling caffeine-deprived at the time and when you add it subtle pressure to buy from a polite but persistent pair of vendors…yeah. They actually taste pretty good though, so I might grab some again if I see them at another con. We’ll see.
I did find some other stuff, of course - my favorite purchase of the weekend was a page from one of the MLP/Transformers crossover comics.
After that first trawl through the available merchandise, we went to a panel on G1 Transformers with Sue Blu, Paul Eiding, and Ron Friedman.
I missed a chunk of what was being said thanks to the guys sitting behind us who were having a very active discussion on photography. And no, they didn’t bother shutting up when I politely let them know they were being too loud. *sigh* I get that not every moment of every panel is going to be fascinating to all attendees – but in that case, if you must talk to kill time, whisper. Or just message each other on your phones in silent mode, if there aren’t rules against phones in the panel. Better still, walk out. Let someone else have your seats.
Yes, I was very grumpy over this.
I did walk out of that panel with a greater love for the character of Arcee though, so there’s that.
We took a food break after the panel. @shbumi headed to the autograph area after her lunch, since she also purchased a ticket for Peter Cullen. Compared to the reasonably well-organized experience @lechevaliermalfet had in the morning, @shbumi reported clusters of people, line confusion, and delays during the afternoon session.
@lechevaliermalfet and I opted to check out the costume contest that afternoon. It started a little late but otherwise was just fine. Just like with their panels, TF Con had video monitors up and filmed contestants as they entered, so that as many people as possible would get a good view, no matter where they sat in the room. We were actually seated right on the edge of a row, which was an excellent view – even if I also occasionally got a wonderful view of other people’s phones and cameras while trying to take my own photos.
The energy for the cosplay contest was pretty good – a very appreciative crowd. And the MC also kept things going at a decent pace. As is usual with costume contests that have age categories, the kids went first. The highlight for everyone was the youngster whose costume allowed him to actually transform between robot and car mode.
Among the adult contestants were a Starscream and Megatron who stole the crowd’s affection easily. You had your small handful of folks cosplaying the human characters, but let’s face it – folks are there for the ‘bots. The last contestant, cosplaying Ratchet, was nearly forgotten – and wisely noted that you’re screwed if you forget your medic!
A note on the emcee for the event, though – I was entertained by what I took to be over-the-top sarcasm and lighthearted jabs at characters. However, there are also those who viewed the commentary as being too mean and also leaving contestants awkwardly trying to determine how to respond. I can’t say which side is right – since I’m far more casual within the fandom, it’s possible I missed some subtext in what was said.
There was a small amount of downtime in the dealer hall after the cosplay contest and then it was time for Peter Cullen’s panel. Or rather, it was time to get in line for Peter Cullen’s panel.
TFCon does do a tiered badging system, which meant there were concerns that many regular attendees like us would be left out in the cold and unable to access Peter Cullen’s panel. After all, hotel ballrooms can only hold so many people, and we figured with such a high-profile guest, most of the seats would be taken by the VIP and Premium badge holders. So we were in line roughly 50 minutes before the listed start time of the panel.
The line got shuffled around and moved between three and five times before anyone ever got into the panel. There were issues with the sheer number of people in line causing blockages for the dealer’s hall. And allegedly the line stretched through the hotel and toward the doors out to the parking lot.
We were lucky enough to make it into the panel and get relatively good seats. And all I can say is, Peter Cullen is a treasure. He seems genuinely touched at the love the fans show him and eager to return it. He’s an excellent storyteller and made us all laugh several times during the panel. Especially during his reenactment of the moment he discovered Optimus Prime dies in the 80s movie, during the script read.
TFCon has the entire panel on their YouTube page and I highly recommend it.
After Peter Cullen’s panel, we were done with official TFCon events for the day. But @shbumi managed to drag us to a room party that night. Which is greatly outside the norm for us, but it was a fun experience. There were a few games, including a Madlibs-style bad fanfiction.
The hostess had set her bathroom up as a mini-bar and was mixing drinks up – I tried a couple. Neither were exactly what I would order for myself normally but I’m glad I tried them.
They were strong! Our hostess was mixing drinks for free, though tips were happily accepted and we all made sure we tipped for the night. All in all, I spoke with some cool people, had some laughs, and it was a good couple of hours.
Oh, and @shbumi got a 3D-printed tiny robot dick.
Wow, I think this is the first Anime North ever where I got a relatively decent night's sleep every night (bearing in mind my benchmark for a good night's sleep is if I manage 3-4 uninterrupted hours at a time). IT'S A MIRACLEEE
Thank you to my amazing roommates @atorier, @zanazac and Rachelle. You guys are the best hotel and con buddies anybody could hope for! And shoutout to my table/comics pals @om-nom-berries, @phaena and @illintentcomics plus seeing more of awesome people like @strengefruits, @sunhawk, @mfukuma, @lindateaa, @yamijay, @ichigorennyu (if only for a split second in some cases... lol) and many many more cool artists and makers I got to see again, to meet, and to chat with! And thank you so much to everyone who came by~
Above photos:
A photo of my table at the start of Sunday
Rude but delicious cookies by @illintentcomics
Some on-site commissions and drawings I did!! The middle two are not actually commissions - it's my hasubando North Bound version of Hokushin, drawn as a quick example for the style and media available, and @atorier's hasubando favourite character Sakuma Rei from Ensemble Stars. I googled some helpful information on tomato juice from the V8 website. Mmmm tomato juice. Almost all my commissions were for repeat customers/awesome people who've supported my work for a long time over years, like @yamijay (whose adorable nephew in a Spiderman hoodie was a delight to get to draw)! Thank you guys so much! It's always an honour getting to draw for you all!
The sucky: Somebody swiped a card from my personal Lenormand deck that was out on the table for demonstration/visual sample :( Kind of a weird thing to steal, but fortunately it wasn't something more valuable (I heard there were artists who actually had cash stolen!! Terrible), and actually if I had to name a single most useless card in the deck to me personally, it probably would've been that one lol. Still kind of sucky that any level of stealing happened, and to not have a complete version of my own deck. I don't wanna break into one of my nicely wrapped ones :/
BUT...
The awesome: Just like at TCAF, I did some super amazing Lenormand readings!! Basically people pulled two cards and I recited card meanings and they went "WOW COOL SO EERIE!!" or "OK sure whatever" lmao. Actually, in all seriousness, I’ve only really had one lukewarm response to a reading so far, which honestly surprises me. I always tell people they don't have to tell me their question unless they want to, and I find it way more interesting when they DON'T tell me before I walk through the cards they pulled. It’s really neat to see how people interpret the symbolism for their own situation. A lot of the card combinations - almost all of the readings I've done where the querent has actually shared their question/interpretation with me - do become startlingly relevant and helpful when you hear people's own insights, even if you recognize it as the human brain's fascinating tendency and ability to find pattern and meaning in everything. Some really good stories came out of doing these!
Also I FINISHED A NEW MY LIFE AS A MAIJI MINIZINE. It shall debut at my next event!! ...whenever that is lmao
And ALSO @mfukuma told me her sister (I don't know if she has a tumblr?) had (not at the con, some other time and place lol) showed my Demon King! Urameshi fanbook to a Japanese artist who had done Comiket, and they flipped through the book going "I WISH I COULD READ ENGLISH". I feel extra honoured since I've felt the same kind of feeling many times while reading Japanese doujinshi hahahha (and hey at least one of the stories requires zero translations... lol)
The thoughtful: I got asked a few times at both TCAF and Anime North about when the next Now Recharging book is coming out. I'm still kind of trying to gauge the interest and how best to approach it, since I'd have to reprint both the first book AND print the next book... which is not cheap for two full colour books averaging well over 100 pages each. But it's really wonderful to know there are people who are following the webcomic and interested in it!
NOW back to reality and catching up with all my other art projects, and reopening my online shop. Please stay tuned!
I’m not just being dramatic, though I’m sure that was kind of clickbaity. Just, please. Do not ever support this convention, and always tell anyone who you hear mention it that it is bad news. Apparently it has been talked about in the down low since its conception, but until this HORRIBLE year, it never got out enough to the point that everyone is now upset and taking complaints to heart. This wasn’t just a “bad show”, it was a fraud. Legal obligations were not upheld. People traveled far to get here. Please stay away from the convention and the man who runs it: Steven Lin. He is a very shady person.
I’m not afraid of other conventions seeing this. Hell. I spoke to the rep of another con there, who was very chill and friendly, about this mess. Any convention worth anything that KNOWS about what has gone on has stayed away and wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. I am going to make sure that con knows. This is not good at all.
Hi All, I’m still in a post SDCC coma but I wanted to get this report out before I forgot everything.
Saturday and Sunday were just a comedy of errors coupled with some really wonderful lucky chances. I haven’t been this excited for a panel in forever. So I had to decide if I wanted to sit close to the stage for the Gotham panel or close to the mic to ask a question about Nygmobblepot. I arrived like 6 hrs early for the 1st panel of the day just to score a good seat. I got one and saved one for me sis, but then it was one bad decision after another and rotten luck after that. Ultimately, with an epic ending to the weekend.
@m4dh4ttey Everyone LOVED your shirt! I even had one person take a pic. Sadly, none of these people knew who it was a picture of. The only time I saw another Nygmob was an Edward cosplayer IN THE LADIES ROOM! I totally spazzed and in the quiet ladies room line just blurted out “EDWARD NYGMA!” like a total loon. The cosplayer was nice enough to wave and smile at me. But considering we were just in a panel where the stars talked about embarrassing fan interactions in the restroom I was a little like *face palm*. I’m such a dork. I never found the cosplayer again. If you are on here and reading this, it was fabulous! I wish I‘d gotten a pic.
Onto the Gotham Panel. For whatever dumb reason on this day I decided the quality of my phone recordings just wasn’t good enough. So I borrowed my sister’s. But I can’t seem to remember how her video works. So when I think it’s recording it’s actually not and when I decide to stop recording that’s when it actually starts. So I thought I was recording the Gotham cast entering the hall and yet. Not so much. Add to that, this happened more than once. I was so mad at myself.
I debated asking a question, in fact I’d been thinking of how to word one all weekend on the off chance I’d get up the nerve. But we were sitting up the aisle from the mic. Only a few feet but it was enough. When you guys watch the panel you’ll hear them yell to “DON’T RUN”. Yeah, that’s at me! I was in row 2 and sprinted back to the mic. AND IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH! I was two people back when they stopped questions. The girl in front of me was cosplayed as Kristen. Her question would have been about Chelsea. Maybe if she was coming back or to stop killing her or something close to that. I told her it was a good question but neither of us got to the mic.
The really sad thing is I had GREAT SEATS! But instead I ended up on my knees watching the panel through people’s backs. So I didn’t even get any good video. I was so bummed! If I don’t really have a burning question again, I’m going to stick to my good seat and the phone I know how to use. UG!
So after that we decided to head to TV Guide’s Fan Favorites panel. They never list who will be there so when Ben McKenzie walks out, I bout die! I finally have my chance to talk to one of the cast. Again, I make a total loon out of myself.
I leapfrog over to a good position to the mic this time. This isn’t as popular of a panel so there were plenty of seats to move to. However, that meant I was also FIRST to the mic. I was not prepared! And I couldn’t ask Ben a Nygmobblepot question so had to come up with something on the spot! Rickie Whittle had just been talking about how awesome fandom culture is and was really passionate about loving fanart and fanvids especially. It really touched me. So I wanted to tie back to that.
I was so nervous I dropped my phone….my sister’s phone. I was a mess. Luckily Ben saved me. I asked some rambling question about how so many people seem to want to “be respectful” of fans from previous canon versions but fans coming from the tv show are just shat upon with impunity. Which I actually take great offense to! It wasn’t really a question. More I just wanted to know his thoughts. Ben was just a dream and really pulled my butt out of the fire. I also told him he was “My Jim Gordon” which got an “Awww” from the audience. Boy was I wiping my brow. I have video of this exchange but I was shaking so much I keep waiting to see if someone uploads the actual panel. If I don’t see anything in the next day or so, I’ll post it here cause Ben’s answer was amazing. I was pretty much walking on cloud 9 for like 4 hrs after that. Even though the Gotham panel went so sideways.
Overall it was an amazing time! I sat next to interesting people from all over the world and professionals in the business. I spent way too long at the Nygmobblepot chair. With as many videos and pics of that thing I have, you’d think it was a celebrity itself. If I could go back in time and tell myself to stay in my seat for the Gotham panel, I would! But it’s Comic Con. You are going to make poor choices and bad decisions. And have an awesome time doing it.
But then Sunday blew everything out of the water. We usually don’t go to Hall H cause it’s just such a clusterfuck. But my sister is a huge fan of Lost Ship, which was after the SPN panel. I haven’t watched SPN all year. I’m a wee bit behind. But I think Jensen and Jared and the fandom is a really awesome community. Those guys know how to treat their fans. And boy did they ever!
Some people had been waiting all night but we learned long ago sleep for us was more important. Plus, Sunday’s Hall H you can usually just walk in with minimum of waiting. We were prepared to miss the SPN panel but, just in case, we decide to get there around 9:45am. Luckily, about 10:15 we get in. Easy peasy. And I am so glad we did.
We sit in the back middle section and get a great view of all the screens. Which was perfect! SPN blew their fans away with a surprise concert performance by Kansas. LIKE A LEGIT, FULL ON, WITH LIGHTS AND SMOKE AND FREAKING WRAP-AROUND-THE-ROOM SCREENS, CONCERT! The only thing they didn’t have was pyro! I have seen some crazy stuff at Comic Con but that was EPIC!
hi i started this right after katsucon writeup months ago but never finished it and ota is coming up so yeah this’ll never be finished. i’ve done a con report for every con i’ve been to since ~2013 so i can go back through this tag for the memories and i don’t wanna stop now, so here’s my katsu con report half a year late. wrote most of this a few months ago lmao
I had such an amazing time I never want to forget the memories I made at the con. It was a con of many firsts, and the only thing that would’ve made it better is if some other members of my con squad could make it.
Friday:
I arrived at the con before my roommate did, and some of my other friends were occupied so I spent a few hours wandering around the con by myself. I’ve always had people with me at cons, so it was different wandering around alone. It took me literally 10 min to get my badge Friday evening, while 2 years ago it took 2 hours so props to Katsucon for finally getting it together.
I wandered around in Artemis for a bit (and didn’t take any pics or put on the mask lol) and it was a pretty chill time. I ran into friends and then Olivia arrived, and I eventually got too sweaty (Artemis is surprisingly warm) and changed into Hinamori, a costume I haven’t worn since 8th grade lol. It fits me better now than before, surprisingly.
I ran into some other Bleach cosplayers and we ran around for an hour trying to find an Aizen cosplayer that was supposedly running around the con (spoilers, we never found him...). After we got tired we went back to the room and finished our P5 cosplay (buttons + wigs lol we threw these together in 3 weeks) and went to the gathering. Both of us were dead tired so we were like zombies at the shoot and left pretty early.
Saturday:
Fire Emblem day!!!
We got up pretty early and headed down to get pics before it got too crowded.
Idk what was going on this year but there were so many more normies than normal. We tried to get shots by the statues on the beach and it was clogged with normal people. I think there was an event idk? But we got called Power Rangers lmao. Tbh I didn’t really care until some lady started not even discretely take pics of me and Olivia (and other cosplayers near us). She was definitely getting in the way of some other people’s shoots too. Like yeah, I get one pic anime cons are weird and it’s not normal to see so many people dressed up, but we were walking away, putting stuff in our bags, and obviously not willing to get our pics taken, yet she still had her arm out camera shoved towards me and continued to take pics even though I was giving her my best piss off face. Dude, if someone doesn’t want you to take their pic, stop. We were on the docks with other cosplayers and she was the only non con person there so it’s not like we were in the middle of the city. Pissed me off so much, like dude at least ask so we can pose if u want a pic that badly. If you want pics of costumed people go to the actual hotel and look.
and here is where i stopped writing cause real life got in the way so here’s some pics lol
Sunday:
tbh it’s been so long since katsu this has been sitting in my drafts for months so here’s a bunch of pics
