Furnal Equinox 2011
velvetpage and I attended Furnal Equinox over the weekend. We saw many friends there, and many members of fandom I've not seen in an age. FE continues to be a pleasant and well-run convention. It was noticeably larger than last year, which was the first year it ran.
We arrived on Saturday morning, the 2nd day of the convention...
The very first thing we saw was a fursuit fight. Well, sort of. The suiter on the left was spinning around and hitting the person on the right with her tail, and he bopped her in the head.
Leading to a mock battle!
The first person we recognized was manlantrio, mate of the erstwhile felinaeus. They were visiting from Montreal. Plans are afoot to visit them in July, when we have a kid-free week of roaming.
Aha! It's wyldekyttin, all the way from Chicago! She had come to visit acegreco, and ended up serving as con staff. As she serves on con staff at every US con I attend, seeing her at another was sort of natural.
The dealer's room was about three times the size of last year. Also, for some reason, I am intrigued by headless fursuiters.
Not furry (but well known in local gaming circles) it's Ben and Kate (aka "Wench" from Toronto Area Gamers). Kate was there with her 17-year-old brother in law (not pictured), who is interested in the fandom.
There were a number of suit makers around.
Somewhere, a one-horned bear is missing his head.
There was the usual energy and excitement of people at a con doing what they damn well please for three days.
Geeks in love, everywhere one looked. Geeks of all sizes and shapes and orientations.
All the way from Michigan, it's kianir's across the street neighbour, Thor!
No longer bloo, but looking cheery nonetheless, it's melskunk!
melskunk occupied a table in Artist's Alley. She was painting temporary tattoos and doing sketch commissions.
matthiasrat, from Pittsburgh, told us of the wonders of the Cathedral of Learning. He was rooming with fulminar (who I didn't get a photo of!), a local.
Fursuit were everywhere, perhaps the highest percentage of suiters I've seen at a con. Roughly 1/4 of the people there were in a suit, according to stats taken by the con com.
Thor again, and his lovely wife! Her head was shaved close at the back, giving the effect of Spaniel ears. I don't think that was the intention, but it was rather cute in an odd way.
acegreco on the right used to live in Hamilton. A sound chap, all round.
Somewhere in there is felinaeus. Hi, rabbit!
velvetpage kitted up for wggthegnoll's drum circle! <3 Always a delight to look at, especially when she's excited about something.
Khaki was minding the game room a lot of the time. He used to live about two blocks from me, and attended Delta Secondary with commanderteddog.
manlantrio and velvetpage bonded over crafting.
wggthegnoll's drum circle was small, but enthusiastic. I banged away on a cardboard box.
velvetpage used her little djembe, then later lent it around the circle and switched to a tambourine.
Also, there was a balloon.
A fursuiter joined us, dancing around the middle of the circle.
Balloon girl acquired a remote control car and sent my fursuit on a wild ride about the room as the drumming continued.
As the circle ended, the room filled up with the participants in the fursuit parade. That's Thadius Effingham, a Niagara Falls author who binds his own books. His three-year-old son also marched in the parade.
Some suits are more realistic than others.
FURSUIT BRAWL!
Um, velvetpage? Look out behind you!
The parade was, as they always are, much longer than I expect. Look, it's babsbunny, recently back in Canada after living in the US for a long time.
High paw!
wyldekyttin molests my fursuit!
I confess this unsettled me. Michael Bard's fursuit was in the charity auction. Michael (mwbard) passed away, suddenly, almost exactly a year ago. He invested much of himself into that suit, and I recall a late night discussion about hoof manufacture I had with him. I was pleased to hear, from matthiasrat, that an anthology of Michael's fiction is in the works.
As evening fell, velvetpage, melskunk and I met non-con goers commanderteddog and robad for sushi!
And sashimi!
Of course, what is sushi, if it is not followed up with poutine? Nothing, I tell you! We wandered into a two-story room party advertising the Montreal convention, "What the Fur?"
Poutine, and smoked beef!
felinaeus (fursuit free) and manlantrio held court!
10 kgs of cheese curds and untold cans of St. Hubert's Poutine Gravy were consumed!
Also, PS, melskunk tattooed me. I hope they don't mind at the office.
Poutine was followed by the game of Call of Cthulhu I'd offered to run for the con, using the "Bad Rabbits" tournament adventure. melskunk joined in, and the elbow to her right is Deuce.
The group was fantastic. Here, manlantrio, Arbitrary, velvetpage and The Nice Fellow who Has the Same Camera as I Do indulge in some active roleplaying.
And more!
The scene continues. The game deserves a write up of it's own, I think. Following the game, went to bed while I drove melskunk to the subway station. Then crashed, very hard...
I awoke Sunday morning and fancied myself up for the two panels I was to present. Both had about 20 or 30 people in attendance, and both seemed very well received.
We lingered about the con till early afternoon. I hung out in the con ops room for a while, chatting with acegreco and wyldekyttin while velvetpage checked out the auction.
Then home, to little girls, and koresrabbit, who had been babysitting for us!