FCN 2010 Con Report- One Year Furry Anniversary
This past weekend was an anniversary of sorts for me. FCN last year was my first con, and it was also where I met a good number of you in person for the first time. Hard to believe that was just a year ago and now I've been to 7 cons and I have my own fursuit. Damn I must be crazy! FCN will always hold a special place for me as my first con, but it also is my favorite con because it's incredibly well run, relaxed, and the hotel seems happy to have us. Much thanks to girtygrin , nikvulper , and all the staff for creating a special weekend for us all.
Highlights
- Suiting more at this con than I did at FWA, even though I was there for less time.
- Sushi Friday night with jdpuppy , jimwolf24 , nbowa , jet_der_hund , snickershusky , and tzup .
- Poker Friday evening.
- The end of the fursuit parade, where they had a Delorian waiting for us outside.
- Bucca Di Beppo on Saturday night with The Pope & a host of folks.
- Team Purple winning the fursuit games.
- Following Tardfin (fuzzyfin ) around and actually getting out on the dance floor for a little bit.
Low-lights (none con related)
- Missing the Sunday night activities.
- Not being able to hang much with some folks I would have like to, always a con problem.
- Skipping the poker tourney. It was necessary, since I was leaving Sunday, but still a bummer.
- Missing duncandahusky 's potent potables party & kellogg_collie 's birthday bash.
- Only taking 30 pictures (9 actually by me) while there.
Thursday, April 8
I left Columbus after work at about 5 PM for that relatively short drive to Novi. First stop was the airport to pick up JimmyWolf. His plane came in early so I barely had to wait and we made it to the hotel before 10 PM. Special thanks to JD for calling ahead of adding my name to the room so that I could check in. Nbowa, Tzup & raver_rabbit weren't due in until 1 AM so I said hi to a few folks and then went out to Denny's with furball2k , mightytauren & crew. When we got back, it was upstairs to suit up for a bit a mess around downstairs. Thanks a bunch to kookyfox for grabbing my camera and getting some shots of us messing around.
Friday, April 9
After catching lunch at On The Border, suited up again for little fun roaming the con areas, stopping by the dealer den to say hi to the GOH. Ended up heading to the lobby, where I joined a large number of suiters that were grouped in the lobby for pictures. After showering up, I checked out the con areas while waiting to pick Jet up from the airport. His flight had been delayed, but the timing actually worked out so that he landed while Nbowa & Tzup were picking up JD, so they picked up Jet as well. They then met Snickers, Jimmy and me at Sadako in Ann Arbor for some sushi. Thanks go to Gir for suggesting the place and it was honestly the easiest furry dinner I've been apart of. We ordered a couple of sushi platters and the total bill came out to exactly $25 per person, including the tip. The sushi was solid-average, to borrow a scouting term, and the evening also featured Tzup downing a huge amount of pure wasabi on a bet from Snickers and JD giving us his "levels of fullness" speech. Later that evening, I joing a group of folks for a social poker game. Nbowa & I wanted to play Friday evening since we planned to skip the Saturday charity tournament. Normally I wouldn't mind a Saturday tourney, but we were headed back Sunday evening, so I didn't want to kill my last night to be able to suit. Hopefully I don't miss someone, but the game included albaz555 , Nbowa, steviemaxwell , deyna_otter , Ian, bucktowntiger , Tigerpaw, November, Drenthe, and one person I'm missing. It was a fun game and I essentially doubled up. Albaz was the big winner, a precursor for the charity tourney the next day.
Saturday, April 10th
Saturday brought on the fursuit parade, which was a lot of fun and included a great surprise arranged by the con. When we reached the outdoor area in the parking lot, they had a Delorian waiting for us to match the con's 80's theme. Folks were thrilled and there were tons of pictures takes of folks suiting both in front of, and in the car. People stayed outside quite a while, dancing to 80's tunes and just having a good time. It was a cool experience. I suited around a little longer after the parade before heading up to shower. While in my room I got a surprise text from Fuzzyfin saying the she and Raccoon Drew were on their way up from Columbus. I went down to Mighty's room, where a group of folks were hanging out. Mighty is a great host, with lots of booze and food for all. They even had vintage Atari games and controllers. It was nice to meet a few new folks, though I do regret never introducing myself to Jill (of Jillcostumes), who was hanging out for a bit. When Fuzzy & Drew arrived, we took a group of 18 to Bucca Di Beppo. They seated us in the Pope room, which was both hilarious and creepy. Dinner was great, and ended up with Furball & Fuzzfin both getting a sticky white substance over their face & hair. I'll let the videos to the talking if they are ever posted. ;) Later that evening I hopped into suit and followed Tardfin around, who was dressed as a Ninja Tartle. It was both so wrong and so hilarious. I even went out onto the dance floor with Tardfin, tiger_sammy , and Kitty. I called it a night around 3 AM. baja_hyena and fordshepherd were kind enough to put me up in there room Saturday night as we overbooked our room a bit with some folks coming up just for Saturday/Sunday.
Sunday, April 11th
Sunday I ended up having breakfast with drakeduck , hegdish , and tilt_longtail at the hotel buffet. It was nice to get a chance to talk with them a bit, and I had never really met Drake as he couldn't make it out to Furconsin last year. After breakfast, I suited up and went down to get ready for the fursuit games. I was scheduled to help out Ford as one of the team captains. The games went ok. Parts were entertaining and my team won, so I can't complain too much. Ford's goal was to set the game so that everyone could participate, and to incorporate the con theme. In that case I think it was a success; however, I'm not sure how entertaining the format was for the audience. It was probably difficult for the crowd to hear the questions and answers, and it got slow at the time. People also knew their 80s trivia well, resulting is some rigged questions to generate the "physical challenges". The fursuit games are a tough deal to balance audience entertainment, fursuiter participation, and a genuine competition. Some folks would like to make it a true competition, while others see it as an opportunity to entertain and like to "cheat". I can see both sides, but tend to fall a little more in the latter category. I will say that the fursuit games is the hardest I've ever worked in fursuit and I was completely soaked by the end of it all. After showering up, we started to pack up while watching the end of the Masters Tournament. At one point, we actually had 10 furs in our room watching golf, which has to be some sort of record. Well, probably only me, Nbowa, huscoon , November,and Kooky were watching the golf, with the others just hanging out, but still. After loading up the car, we had a last dinner at Deadwood Grill, a place Briggswolf took us to last year. Nbowa, Jack, Drew and I made it back into Omaha around 1 AM, basically caravaning with Huscoon & AJ. Nbowa then flew out at 7:15 the next morning.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend.
Thank you all for making this a great con and an awesome 1-year anniversary!
Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the con.
You can see the full set at: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv308/RobyPanther/FCN%202010/
Peakaboo!
Ooo La La!
Business Lion
Yo, Barkeep!
I wonder if the Cubs won.
Roan J. Coywolf, Attorney at Law
