Contemporal 2012
This past weekend was the inaugural Contemporal, in Chapel Hill, NC. Since it was just half an hour away, I probably would've gone anyway, but their comic Guests of Honor were Phil and Kaja Foglio and Cheyenne Wright. Do I need to tell you how much I love Girl Genius? Would it help to say that my kittens are named after bit characters? I have been a fan of Phil Foglio since Phil & Dixie ran in the back of Dragon Magazine, and his choice to produce a fabulous steampunk web comic has only made me more of a fan! Too much of a fan! I kind of spent the whole convention going "eee! eee! eee!" under my breath!
So, of course I had to get my Anevka costume ready! I actually took last Friday off so I could finish the costume. But I did! For the most part. I like the *idea* of the wig, but not the execution so much. That will be redone. And I want a mask that will better portray Anevka's porcelain skin. Especially after seeing how dark the circles under my eyes were. Ugh! BUT! The costume tickeled them, and that's what I really wanted. Kaja actually drug Phil down the hall to see my costume and I'd be lying if I didn't say that that made my day. Totally worth it!!
Here is a picture of Sarah and me! She was an AMAZING Jagerkin! So cute! There was also a Zeetha, but I didn't get my picture with her. WHY DIDN'T I GET MY PICTURE WITH HER?? Feelings, I have them.
Anyway, I went to a lovely high tea, and was at a table with SO MANY AWESOME PEOPLE! I wanted to take them all home with me. So much talent and sweetness at one table! Also piracy! (Let's just say that we were the best provisioned table at the tea!)
We also went to the costume contest. It was very impressively attended, although no one seemed to know how they decided whether someone was novice, journeyman, professional, whatever. Also, they never had information about it on their site (that I could find), just on their forums. And it didn't seem like much of a construction contest... Oh well! It was their first year! They'll only get better, I'm sure! It was a great chance to see a lot of awesome costumes! My favorite was the steampunk Riddler, of course! But maybe second place was the steampunk Hex from Reboot. So creative! It was a very dark room, and I just had my phone, so my pictures are... less than impressive.
Anyway, then we went to dinner. It was a bit of a flop. By the end of it, I was ready to just go home to sleep, but there was a Girl Genius Radio Show scheduled for 10:30 - way past my bedtime! I told Eric we should just go home, but he "missed the turn" and so we ended up at the con again. We got seats and chatted with some of the other super nice people there (I think that was the theme of the con - super nice people!), and then got to hear a radio play that I hadn't heard before about fanfiction, as well as Sleepy Clank, which I think is available on iTunes. They made noises about putting all of them on DVD within the next six months... I know what I want for Christmas!
So, then we wandered home, and passed out. It was a lovely convention, and I can't wait to follow it as it grows!