Con report: Megaplex 2016
Drove down to Florida with Rawr Jesse. Most of the route has become somewhat routine. Didn't have to dig out quarters for tolls, as Georgia's Peach Pass now works on Florida's toll roads too.
Met up with roommates Brace Bear & Kiki and caught up on things. Was happy to see the two of them going out to fursuit together, as Brace never seemed to get the chance last year. Ran into sinabu in the lobby, as well as corellian_ninja & sarakazi, who posed for a photo. Later met up Alpha Scout & D-Claw and took the shortest Uber ride ever to a Chinese restaurant.
The breakfast included with the hotel stay was really nice and created opportunities to chit-chat, particularly with Stardust Raccoon and his roomie Judy Hopps. Friday was mostly spent hitting panels and taking photos. I probably should have done more fursuiting during Friday's daylight hours as that seems when most others are also taking photos. Spent the evening hanging out with Stardust & Co. At one point, I chaperoned Judy and a rather tipsy raccoon to the Halal chicken restaurant across the street. Along the way, Stardust confided his opinion of my fursuit performance. I was very flattered.
Saturday was mostly fursuiting-related. The still-officially-unnamed Pronghorn was my pick to participate in the con's main parade. Lots of compliments, ladies in particular loved his little bouncy ears. I've never been a big believer in head-fans, but the Pronghorn's fan was actually quite helpful during the mostly-stationary photo and lineup process. I haven't seen the final photo yet, but I'm hoping the Pronghorn's lofty height rises above the massive crowd. Last year, Mr. Wallaby just barely managed to "peek" over a taller suiter's head.
Attended the fursuit dance competition. Really great talent as always. Was glad to have had the opportunity to see Furry Mike, a fellow mascot, showcase his moves. My biggest gripe of the con was the dim lighting at the dance comp. It was quite difficult to get good pictures of the fast-moving performers. (The irony here is that my current camera was purchased because of the poor lighting at Meagplex 2013.) My camera's ISO1600 worked better than I expected, but the noise is definitely noticable. Some were a hopeless cause, even when ISO3200 (aka "the snowstorm") was engaed.
That evening, I spotted Judy Hopps and Gideon Grey wandering the floor, so I rushed upstairs to summon Mayor Lionheart. Unfortunately, they were no longer on the floor by the time I returned. I wandered the floor a bit and walked past the karaoke room, a few steps later... "BA BA BA BA BAAAAA..." The song "Try Everything" was playing, and I was in full Lionheart cosplay. I bolted into the room and hammed it up with the singer. Stuck around for a few more songs. Twas one of two truly magical moments at the con. (Almost as cool as singing "Hakuna Matata" with simbamco a few years ago)
Sunday was a big day. skippyfox and myself were hosting the fursuit games. I carried around my game plan notebook around the entire morning, jotting little notes at breakfast. Won some cool animation cells from the "Ewoks" series at the Charity Auction. Skipped the floor wars in favor of lunch, then it was back to main programming to set up for the games.
The games Skippy & I created for Megaplex were designed to operate like clockwork and minimize fursuiter downtime. The end product featured four games - football penalty kicks (soccer), charades of British landmarks, Roundabout (ball relay), and a hula hoop relay. No activity took longer than 30 seconds per cycle and each had at least four fursuiters active at any given time. A break was planned after the second round with a defined time of 15 minutes.
Flashback... Some of these concepts originated months ago out of frustration at FWA. FWA's final game took about one minute for each fursuiter (Skippy actually timed it) to complete, with two fursuiters participating in parallel. I was frustrated because I sat idle in full fursuit for about half an hour as 50+ fursuiters ran through the course. Skippy and I are both programmers, and we discusssed the "threading" problem before us. About a month before Megaplex, Skippy brought up our little conversation and asked if I wanted to host the games for Megaplex. After much waffling, I agreed.
The time came for the event to begin. I was so nervous, but it was great having Skippyfox as co-host, we could be awkward & nervous together! I kinda want to see the video, just to see how bad my public speaking was. Then, the first round (penalty kicks) began and I saw something wonderful. "It's working," I excitedly whispered to Skippy. Break time came and we sent the fursuiters to the lounge. Skippy and I were worried about how many would return, but to our delight, pretty much everyone came back! Two rounds later and we ended right on schedule, 1 hour 15min.
After the games, we had a bonus round courtesy of KuddlePup. He reached out to me a few days before the con to deliver the sad news of PawPet Live (at Megaplex) being canceled. His suggestion was to incorporate the "subservient fursuiter" segment into the games somehow. Since our runtime had ~40min of slack, we just tacked it onto the end. With the winning team determined from the games, we had the winning team chose the first duo to participate. I got the first two started while Skippy ran to find KP. He arrived and I passed the mic to him. As soon as he started speaking, I thought to myself, "He is SO much better at public speaking than I!" Certainly someone I look up to.
Anywho, it was a relief that the games went without a hitch, despite my poor public speaking ability. I went back to my room to rest and suit up for closing ceremonies. Brace, Kiki, I watched the movie "Lucy" in the room... interesting movie, even if it is entirely divorced from actual science.
Arrived on the floor in leonine form in time to catch the latter portion of "Rhubarb & Cosmik Ruin Everything", where the duo play/ruin overplayed songs. A few fursuiters were in front of the stage playing tamborines and maracas. Cosmik started playing "Let It Go"; a stupid idea popped in my oversized head; I seized the moment. I went out on the dance floor and did a send-up of Elsa dancing to the infamous song. I had fun being a fool and people, including Rhubarb, seemed to enjoy the stunt. It was my second magical moment of the con.
Closing ceremonies immediately followed. Megaplex managed to continue its rapid growth, leading us to another hotel next year. I'll miss the Embassy Suites, wish we had moved there a year earlier. I kept fursuiting through the Late Night parade. (Megaplex Parades: 2; FWA Parades: 0) Judy Hopps, Gideon Grey, and Nick Wilde were all lined up together. I wasn't in mayoral attire, so Judy described Mr. Wallaby as "Mayor Lionheart on Vacation."
Monday morning finally arrived. Amazingly, many of our friends converged in the lobby at just the right time to say goodbyes. Rawr Jesse agreed to wake up a little early so that we could hit up nearby Disney Springs before the trip home. Disney had expanded their "Downtown" area to include sections of upscale retail stores. We ate at Earl of Sandwich, then ran through the rain back to the car. A few hours later, we pulled into Atlanta with some sunlight to spare!
Overall, a great con that's growing up quickly. Can't wait to be back next year!
Met up with roommates Brace Bear & Kiki and caught up on things. Was happy to see the two of them going out to fursuit together, as Brace never seemed to get the chance last year. Ran into sinabu in the lobby, as well as corellian_ninja & sarakazi, who posed for a photo. Later met up Alpha Scout & D-Claw and took the shortest Uber ride ever to a Chinese restaurant.
The breakfast included with the hotel stay was really nice and created opportunities to chit-chat, particularly with Stardust Raccoon and his roomie Judy Hopps. Friday was mostly spent hitting panels and taking photos. I probably should have done more fursuiting during Friday's daylight hours as that seems when most others are also taking photos. Spent the evening hanging out with Stardust & Co. At one point, I chaperoned Judy and a rather tipsy raccoon to the Halal chicken restaurant across the street. Along the way, Stardust confided his opinion of my fursuit performance. I was very flattered.
Saturday was mostly fursuiting-related. The still-officially-unnamed Pronghorn was my pick to participate in the con's main parade. Lots of compliments, ladies in particular loved his little bouncy ears. I've never been a big believer in head-fans, but the Pronghorn's fan was actually quite helpful during the mostly-stationary photo and lineup process. I haven't seen the final photo yet, but I'm hoping the Pronghorn's lofty height rises above the massive crowd. Last year, Mr. Wallaby just barely managed to "peek" over a taller suiter's head.
Attended the fursuit dance competition. Really great talent as always. Was glad to have had the opportunity to see Furry Mike, a fellow mascot, showcase his moves. My biggest gripe of the con was the dim lighting at the dance comp. It was quite difficult to get good pictures of the fast-moving performers. (The irony here is that my current camera was purchased because of the poor lighting at Meagplex 2013.) My camera's ISO1600 worked better than I expected, but the noise is definitely noticable. Some were a hopeless cause, even when ISO3200 (aka "the snowstorm") was engaed.
That evening, I spotted Judy Hopps and Gideon Grey wandering the floor, so I rushed upstairs to summon Mayor Lionheart. Unfortunately, they were no longer on the floor by the time I returned. I wandered the floor a bit and walked past the karaoke room, a few steps later... "BA BA BA BA BAAAAA..." The song "Try Everything" was playing, and I was in full Lionheart cosplay. I bolted into the room and hammed it up with the singer. Stuck around for a few more songs. Twas one of two truly magical moments at the con. (Almost as cool as singing "Hakuna Matata" with simbamco a few years ago)
Sunday was a big day. skippyfox and myself were hosting the fursuit games. I carried around my game plan notebook around the entire morning, jotting little notes at breakfast. Won some cool animation cells from the "Ewoks" series at the Charity Auction. Skipped the floor wars in favor of lunch, then it was back to main programming to set up for the games.
The games Skippy & I created for Megaplex were designed to operate like clockwork and minimize fursuiter downtime. The end product featured four games - football penalty kicks (soccer), charades of British landmarks, Roundabout (ball relay), and a hula hoop relay. No activity took longer than 30 seconds per cycle and each had at least four fursuiters active at any given time. A break was planned after the second round with a defined time of 15 minutes.
Flashback... Some of these concepts originated months ago out of frustration at FWA. FWA's final game took about one minute for each fursuiter (Skippy actually timed it) to complete, with two fursuiters participating in parallel. I was frustrated because I sat idle in full fursuit for about half an hour as 50+ fursuiters ran through the course. Skippy and I are both programmers, and we discusssed the "threading" problem before us. About a month before Megaplex, Skippy brought up our little conversation and asked if I wanted to host the games for Megaplex. After much waffling, I agreed.
The time came for the event to begin. I was so nervous, but it was great having Skippyfox as co-host, we could be awkward & nervous together! I kinda want to see the video, just to see how bad my public speaking was. Then, the first round (penalty kicks) began and I saw something wonderful. "It's working," I excitedly whispered to Skippy. Break time came and we sent the fursuiters to the lounge. Skippy and I were worried about how many would return, but to our delight, pretty much everyone came back! Two rounds later and we ended right on schedule, 1 hour 15min.
After the games, we had a bonus round courtesy of KuddlePup. He reached out to me a few days before the con to deliver the sad news of PawPet Live (at Megaplex) being canceled. His suggestion was to incorporate the "subservient fursuiter" segment into the games somehow. Since our runtime had ~40min of slack, we just tacked it onto the end. With the winning team determined from the games, we had the winning team chose the first duo to participate. I got the first two started while Skippy ran to find KP. He arrived and I passed the mic to him. As soon as he started speaking, I thought to myself, "He is SO much better at public speaking than I!" Certainly someone I look up to.
Anywho, it was a relief that the games went without a hitch, despite my poor public speaking ability. I went back to my room to rest and suit up for closing ceremonies. Brace, Kiki, I watched the movie "Lucy" in the room... interesting movie, even if it is entirely divorced from actual science.
Arrived on the floor in leonine form in time to catch the latter portion of "Rhubarb & Cosmik Ruin Everything", where the duo play/ruin overplayed songs. A few fursuiters were in front of the stage playing tamborines and maracas. Cosmik started playing "Let It Go"; a stupid idea popped in my oversized head; I seized the moment. I went out on the dance floor and did a send-up of Elsa dancing to the infamous song. I had fun being a fool and people, including Rhubarb, seemed to enjoy the stunt. It was my second magical moment of the con.
Closing ceremonies immediately followed. Megaplex managed to continue its rapid growth, leading us to another hotel next year. I'll miss the Embassy Suites, wish we had moved there a year earlier. I kept fursuiting through the Late Night parade. (Megaplex Parades: 2; FWA Parades: 0) Judy Hopps, Gideon Grey, and Nick Wilde were all lined up together. I wasn't in mayoral attire, so Judy described Mr. Wallaby as "Mayor Lionheart on Vacation."
Monday morning finally arrived. Amazingly, many of our friends converged in the lobby at just the right time to say goodbyes. Rawr Jesse agreed to wake up a little early so that we could hit up nearby Disney Springs before the trip home. Disney had expanded their "Downtown" area to include sections of upscale retail stores. We ate at Earl of Sandwich, then ran through the rain back to the car. A few hours later, we pulled into Atlanta with some sunlight to spare!
Overall, a great con that's growing up quickly. Can't wait to be back next year!