FWA2010 Con Report
Ok, so last weekend I had the opportunity to attend FWA for the first time, and it was a blast for many reasons.
Highlights
Low-lights (all minor stuff really)
Thursday, March 25th
Left Columbus about 1:15 PM with kai_darkwolf & teh_wuff joining me for the ride. The Escape was packed tight what with 3 fursuits, coolers, duffles, and all that stuff. Even though it was an 8.5 hour drive, it was really pretty easy and we arrived at the hotel just before 10 PM. It was nice to have to help from the porters unloading the vehicle and storing our stuff until we went up to the room. After meeting up with Tzup & Leon, I registered quickly and then we went to the diner to grab some food. We actually drove the short distance since the hotel parking lot was full, then parked in the garage down next to the hotel on the way back. Nbowa's flight was delayed, so he didn't get to the hotel until about 1:30 AM. However, I convinced him to go out with me for my debut in suit. Tzup, Tisket & Huscoon were kind enough to join me as well. It was really weird to be out at a con in suit, but instantly fun as well. We basically just messed around in the fursuit game room where we ran into coopertom , skroy , and jase_husky a bit. We then wandered the hotel some before calling it a night around 3:30.
Friday, March 26th
After catching breakfast/lunch at the diner again with Nbowa, huscoon , & earendil31 , I wandered around con area a bit and stopped through the dealer's den to say hi to a few folks and check on a couple commission opportunities. A short while later, Nbowa & I suited up again and had some fun wandering the con area. I hit up the dealers den in suit and delivered a house-warming gift to Mahrkale, then hit he fursuit photo shoot and just randomly messed around for a couple of hours before heading up to shower for the God-level dinner. The dinner was a fun event. They transported us in party buses, so the trip was rockin. The restaurant was Fogo De Chao, a meat lovers paradise and an interesting experience. I ate there back in 2004 or so while visiting a client in Atlanta, so it wasn't new for me. The FWA staff did a really good job of making the God-level folks feel they got their money's worth. That said, I can't see myself doing it again. The dinner took up roughly 4 hours of Friday evening between grouping ahead of time, the travel & eating. It's just too much time to spent away from the con. Having it right up against the fursuit games was a bit of a bummer as well. After the dinner, I went out in suit again for a little while in the evening (yeah, it's safe to say I'm addicted), mainly just messing around. I do wish I could dance even a lick so I could get out on the floor, but that wouldn't be pretty. Called it a fairly early night for a con actually, travel fatigue catching up to me a bit.
Saturday, March 27th
Saturday morning Tzup, Nbowa, Tisket, Kalendil & I went across to the mall to get some breakfast prior to the fursuit parade. While there, I guilted Tzup into doing the fursuit parade, using the whole "it's my first parade" ploy. Little does he know I plan to keep using this, i.e. "This is my first FCN parade, my first MFF fursuit games, etc.". The parade was fun, although it seemed pretty short. I supposed that's not too bad when you are trying to be bouncy and active. After the parade, we did a DHC photo shoot in the fursuit game room, then Nbowa & I went to the 2:00 PM poker tourney, where we planned to play in suit. The poker tourney was a bit delayed though, so we went up and changed first. Both of us made it to the next round. I actually got pretty lucky as I was down to just a few hundred chips, but caught a good hand where I tripled up. After the early round, Nbowa & I suited up for some fursuit tennis before the 6 PM semifinals. It was a lot of fun, and I even shockingly nailed my first serve, but the winds were high and just hitting it back and forth was difficult. Kalendil was taking pictures for us and hopefully got some good shots in. We did the semifinals of the poker at 6, and I was lucky enough to move on. I actually hit some pretty decent hands and had the chip lead at my table up until the last hand, and was able to advance to the Sunday finals. After poker, steviemaxwell , Nbowa, ayulf and I went out to eat at Durango steakhouse. It was reasonably decent for the price and three of us ordered steaks the right way...rare! I didn't suit up Saturday night, instead choosing to wander the con a bit and get some pictures. I also watched the fursuit dance competition, which was very entertaining. There were many good performances, with Mangusu's and Skroy's being the best. I think they choose the right winner in Skroy. He was my pick. If this was being judged from a professional standpoint, Mangusu would have won, because his routine was technical and beautiful and executed well. However, this is a furry con and I think audience reaction is a huge part of things. Skroy's performance was definitely the most crowd pleasing. After the dance competition we had a small game of HORSE (Hold Em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, Stud Eight or Better) in the game room, entertainment purposes only of course. The group was bucktowntiger , Nbowa, malowolf , November, Stevie, Kalendil and me. It was a fun, mostly social time and we ended up playing until 4AM.
Sunday, March 28th
Sunday I hit the mall for lunch/breakfast again with JTigerclaw, Doral, Nbowa, tozier_wah and folks, then it was off to the 2PM poker finals. After catching some decent cards early, I made some mistakes and took some chances I shouldn't have. I ended up finishing 4th, which isn't too bad, and keeps my final table streak alive. All of the folks were fun to play with, and I don't think anyone took it too seriously. After the game, I suited up again and along with Nbowa, Electropaw (in Flagstaff), and November, we went up to the top of the Marriott where Jet was kind enough to get some pictures of us on the top floors and others stops. This was one of the more memorable experiences for me as we messed around a bit with the gal at the bar there and also had some kids come up to us for hugs and pictures. This kind of thing I actually find a lot more fun than the con itself. The Marriott was incredibly gracious. No one gave us a problem and they actually even brought the 4 of us complimentary bottles of water at one point. That evening we went out to dinner at Jalapeno Charley's with Nbowa, Stevie, Skroy, Reactiv, and Kraven. It was actually a pretty decent, cheap meal. Not exactly authentic Mexican, but filling, and it's the company that matters anyway. Later that evening I suited up for the last time at the con. I had a lot of fun again just generally messing around in the con areas, the hotel lobby, and the fursuit game room. Honestly though, one of the best parts of the con for me was just chilling out in the headless lounge Sunday evening. I got to talk with a number of cool folks, including latinvixen02 , marc_crevan and shivonhusky , and in general people were just hanging about chatting and everyone was in a good mood. I like the fursuiters as much as the next person, but I always find getting to know the person inside far more interesting than the suit, which made this a fun time. After heading out and doing a little more suiting down in the lobby and such, I went up to change out and hang up Roby to dry for the trip back.
Monday morning came quickly and Teh, Jack and I met downstairs at 10:30 to load the car for the trip back. The trip back was fairly uneventful and we even were close enough to Kwik & Kokoes on the trip that we were able to have dinner with them. We got back a little later than planned due to a slight detour, but it was all good. Jack & Teh were good travel mates. All in all it was a great con. Lots of great people, and suiting was a real blast. I'd love to shout out to all the people I met & said hi to, but I'm afraid I'd forget somebody. Thank you all for making it special for me. This is a con I'd like to make a regular deal of.
Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the con.
You can see the full set at: s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv308/RobyPanther/FWA%202010/
Skroy, playing the dead dog in the fursuit game room.
Porter, the totally cute Corgi suit from Media
Skroy & Reeca, before the dance competition
I'll call this one the kookyfox special ;)
Saerak, preparing for the FCN 80's them with his Thriller impression.
Reactiv, wearing Skroy & doing an impressive side flip
A couple pics of me, courtesy wolfwithdances
And lastly, one that just really defies explanation
Highlights
- Roby made his con debut as a suit. Even though I was kind of flying blind, I can't stress how much fun suiting was. Thank you all for being a part of my first con suiting experience.
- Rooming with nbowa , tzup , & tisket_wolf . You were all great! Given that Tzup & Nbowa were the first furries I met, it's hard to believe that this was actually the first time we roomed together at a con.
- Poker tournament. I did ok, finishing 4th, and keeping my final table streak alive.
- Heading up to the top of the Marriott in suit with Nbowa, electropaw (in Flagstaff), November, and having jet_der_hund take pictures of us.
- Awesome sketch that I got from mahrkale .
- Tennis in suit with Nbowa
- The fursuit photo shoot.
- All the cool new peeps I was able to meet, even if only briefly in some cases, and the folks I hadn't seen in a while that I was able to see again.
- Chilling in the fursuit lounge Sunday night, chatting with folks.
Low-lights (all minor stuff really)
- Never being able to work out a time to play basketball in suit with jtigerclaw .
- Killing about 4 hours of the con with the God-level dinner. Keep in mind the dinner itself was quite fun and not a lowlight, I just regretted that it killed so much of Friday evening.
- Not doing a photo shoot with fordshepherd .
- Never hooking up for any parties & leaving with unopened bottles of Kettel One & 99 Blackberries.
- Watching poor Tzup hobble around on his bad knee.
- Sweating my ass off in suit, and freezing out of it. It really does through your body for a loop.
Thursday, March 25th
Left Columbus about 1:15 PM with kai_darkwolf & teh_wuff joining me for the ride. The Escape was packed tight what with 3 fursuits, coolers, duffles, and all that stuff. Even though it was an 8.5 hour drive, it was really pretty easy and we arrived at the hotel just before 10 PM. It was nice to have to help from the porters unloading the vehicle and storing our stuff until we went up to the room. After meeting up with Tzup & Leon, I registered quickly and then we went to the diner to grab some food. We actually drove the short distance since the hotel parking lot was full, then parked in the garage down next to the hotel on the way back. Nbowa's flight was delayed, so he didn't get to the hotel until about 1:30 AM. However, I convinced him to go out with me for my debut in suit. Tzup, Tisket & Huscoon were kind enough to join me as well. It was really weird to be out at a con in suit, but instantly fun as well. We basically just messed around in the fursuit game room where we ran into coopertom , skroy , and jase_husky a bit. We then wandered the hotel some before calling it a night around 3:30.
Friday, March 26th
After catching breakfast/lunch at the diner again with Nbowa, huscoon , & earendil31 , I wandered around con area a bit and stopped through the dealer's den to say hi to a few folks and check on a couple commission opportunities. A short while later, Nbowa & I suited up again and had some fun wandering the con area. I hit up the dealers den in suit and delivered a house-warming gift to Mahrkale, then hit he fursuit photo shoot and just randomly messed around for a couple of hours before heading up to shower for the God-level dinner. The dinner was a fun event. They transported us in party buses, so the trip was rockin. The restaurant was Fogo De Chao, a meat lovers paradise and an interesting experience. I ate there back in 2004 or so while visiting a client in Atlanta, so it wasn't new for me. The FWA staff did a really good job of making the God-level folks feel they got their money's worth. That said, I can't see myself doing it again. The dinner took up roughly 4 hours of Friday evening between grouping ahead of time, the travel & eating. It's just too much time to spent away from the con. Having it right up against the fursuit games was a bit of a bummer as well. After the dinner, I went out in suit again for a little while in the evening (yeah, it's safe to say I'm addicted), mainly just messing around. I do wish I could dance even a lick so I could get out on the floor, but that wouldn't be pretty. Called it a fairly early night for a con actually, travel fatigue catching up to me a bit.
Saturday, March 27th
Saturday morning Tzup, Nbowa, Tisket, Kalendil & I went across to the mall to get some breakfast prior to the fursuit parade. While there, I guilted Tzup into doing the fursuit parade, using the whole "it's my first parade" ploy. Little does he know I plan to keep using this, i.e. "This is my first FCN parade, my first MFF fursuit games, etc.". The parade was fun, although it seemed pretty short. I supposed that's not too bad when you are trying to be bouncy and active. After the parade, we did a DHC photo shoot in the fursuit game room, then Nbowa & I went to the 2:00 PM poker tourney, where we planned to play in suit. The poker tourney was a bit delayed though, so we went up and changed first. Both of us made it to the next round. I actually got pretty lucky as I was down to just a few hundred chips, but caught a good hand where I tripled up. After the early round, Nbowa & I suited up for some fursuit tennis before the 6 PM semifinals. It was a lot of fun, and I even shockingly nailed my first serve, but the winds were high and just hitting it back and forth was difficult. Kalendil was taking pictures for us and hopefully got some good shots in. We did the semifinals of the poker at 6, and I was lucky enough to move on. I actually hit some pretty decent hands and had the chip lead at my table up until the last hand, and was able to advance to the Sunday finals. After poker, steviemaxwell , Nbowa, ayulf and I went out to eat at Durango steakhouse. It was reasonably decent for the price and three of us ordered steaks the right way...rare! I didn't suit up Saturday night, instead choosing to wander the con a bit and get some pictures. I also watched the fursuit dance competition, which was very entertaining. There were many good performances, with Mangusu's and Skroy's being the best. I think they choose the right winner in Skroy. He was my pick. If this was being judged from a professional standpoint, Mangusu would have won, because his routine was technical and beautiful and executed well. However, this is a furry con and I think audience reaction is a huge part of things. Skroy's performance was definitely the most crowd pleasing. After the dance competition we had a small game of HORSE (Hold Em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, Stud Eight or Better) in the game room, entertainment purposes only of course. The group was bucktowntiger , Nbowa, malowolf , November, Stevie, Kalendil and me. It was a fun, mostly social time and we ended up playing until 4AM.
Sunday, March 28th
Sunday I hit the mall for lunch/breakfast again with JTigerclaw, Doral, Nbowa, tozier_wah and folks, then it was off to the 2PM poker finals. After catching some decent cards early, I made some mistakes and took some chances I shouldn't have. I ended up finishing 4th, which isn't too bad, and keeps my final table streak alive. All of the folks were fun to play with, and I don't think anyone took it too seriously. After the game, I suited up again and along with Nbowa, Electropaw (in Flagstaff), and November, we went up to the top of the Marriott where Jet was kind enough to get some pictures of us on the top floors and others stops. This was one of the more memorable experiences for me as we messed around a bit with the gal at the bar there and also had some kids come up to us for hugs and pictures. This kind of thing I actually find a lot more fun than the con itself. The Marriott was incredibly gracious. No one gave us a problem and they actually even brought the 4 of us complimentary bottles of water at one point. That evening we went out to dinner at Jalapeno Charley's with Nbowa, Stevie, Skroy, Reactiv, and Kraven. It was actually a pretty decent, cheap meal. Not exactly authentic Mexican, but filling, and it's the company that matters anyway. Later that evening I suited up for the last time at the con. I had a lot of fun again just generally messing around in the con areas, the hotel lobby, and the fursuit game room. Honestly though, one of the best parts of the con for me was just chilling out in the headless lounge Sunday evening. I got to talk with a number of cool folks, including latinvixen02 , marc_crevan and shivonhusky , and in general people were just hanging about chatting and everyone was in a good mood. I like the fursuiters as much as the next person, but I always find getting to know the person inside far more interesting than the suit, which made this a fun time. After heading out and doing a little more suiting down in the lobby and such, I went up to change out and hang up Roby to dry for the trip back.
Monday morning came quickly and Teh, Jack and I met downstairs at 10:30 to load the car for the trip back. The trip back was fairly uneventful and we even were close enough to Kwik & Kokoes on the trip that we were able to have dinner with them. We got back a little later than planned due to a slight detour, but it was all good. Jack & Teh were good travel mates. All in all it was a great con. Lots of great people, and suiting was a real blast. I'd love to shout out to all the people I met & said hi to, but I'm afraid I'd forget somebody. Thank you all for making it special for me. This is a con I'd like to make a regular deal of.
Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the con.
You can see the full set at: s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv308/RobyPanther/FWA%202010/
Skroy, playing the dead dog in the fursuit game room.
Porter, the totally cute Corgi suit from Media
Skroy & Reeca, before the dance competition
I'll call this one the kookyfox special ;)
Saerak, preparing for the FCN 80's them with his Thriller impression.
Reactiv, wearing Skroy & doing an impressive side flip
A couple pics of me, courtesy wolfwithdances
And lastly, one that just really defies explanation