Desucon 2012
A couple of weekends ago I attended Desucon - Norway's largest anime and manga convention, based in Oslo. It's popular among furs as it allows them to fursuit freely - plus, some of them actually enjoy anime and/or manga too. Go figure! This year Desucon had even invited the Norwegian furry community to host a few furry-related panels and activities as well - which we did! It was suggested that I maybe lead one or two panels, but after much internal deliberation back and forth, I opted not to.
While I didn't end up hosting any panels, I did contribute in a few very minor ways: a few of my pictures from Eurofurence were used during the Furry 101 panel, I wrote the information for the Norwegian Paws flyer (which was designed by :linkziggy_wolf:), and I heard some rumors that one or two of my furry YouTube videos were played during one of the fursuiting panels.
I'd also invited my Swedish housecat Trax along for the event, as well as inviting him to the big annual post-Desucon furry party. Figured he'd enjoy mingling some with the Norwegian furs, and it would of course be fun getting to spend some time together again. He also brought along his friend Neweinstein!
The last time I attended Desucon was in 2008, together with a group of non-furry friends. Attendence was free back then, and it wasn't quite as crowded.
Here are a few select highlights, lowlights, and misc.
The highlights.
• Getting Gin facepaint. I knew Swandog (:linkswandog:) was going to be at the convention doing facepainting, and I've always wanted to try getting facepainted, so this seemed like a good opportunity! Wasn't sure if I wanted to be facepainted as an arctic fox, Gin from Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, or Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In the end I went with Gin! Which lead to someone miawoing and pawing after me (guess I should've barked or growled back, but happened too quickly for me to respond), lightly startling someone someone at the men's rest room at a restaurant, someone asking if I was one of the cats from Cats (there had been a few of those around the convention), and someone asking to take my picture. Yay, random attention! Surprisingly most furs seemed to still recognize me. Guess my body build, clothes, and/or other mannerisms are fairly recognizable. I was planning on getting another one from Swandog the next day - maybe just Fluttershy's cutie mark on my cheek - but was too tired to put in the effort of securing a spot.
• Getting a Fluttershy t-shirt. The weather was warmer than expected, and I was worried my shirt would end up as just one big sweat stain by the end of the convention, so I was considering getting another t-shirt / shirt to wear. They had a couple of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic ones, but I wasn't sure which one would look best on me, nor if they were worth the 225 kroner they were charging (which is a small fortune!). Wanted to get some other fur's opinion, and I eventually managed to drag Kal (:linkbadgerkal:) along to have a look with me. And he ended up buying the Fluttershy one for me! Very nice, very unexpected, and slightly confusing. Though I ended up with a girl's size medium, as they were out of large, and I'm guessing it wasn't designed for men. There was some speculation among the cashiers whether or not it would fit me.
• Meeting new and old furs. Bumped into both people I knew I'd bump into, and people I didn't really expect to, and people I didn't know who were until I bumped into them! Which was fun. Always good making new acquaintances, and getting to spend more time with your already established friends.
• Furry party. The post-Desucon furry party was fun! Friendly furs who seemed happy to mingle, most of whom I already knew. Not quite sure how many people ended up attending; somewhere around 25 - 30, I'm guessing. At one point Kal decided I had to try on my new t-shirt, and he even went to the effort of putting it on me (in part to keep the facepaint make-up from rubbing off). It was definitely a bit on the tight side, but people seemed pleasantly surprised by my manly physique. Teh blush. Always think I look a bit odd with t-shirts, especially tight and coloured ones, since I have a pretty big chest. Don't think I did nor said anything too stupid during the party, and no one teased me about my pink sleeper either. Was surprised to find the American fur :linkmasquerade: there as well, whom I'd met a couple of times the last time he had visited Norway.
• Getting more stuff! Trax brought along a few items I'd had shipped to Vulpine (:linkbritishredfox:) which he had been handed at Confuzzled to pass on to me. Including the Player's Guide To The Changing Breeds, one of the rarest and most sought after sourcebooks for Werewolf: The Apocalypse! It wasn't quite in mint condition, but it didn't exactly look used either. The book Hellbound Hearts was in worse shape though, with an actual large tear on the front cover. Pretty much a nightmare for us mint condition fantatics, but not sure if I should bother using money on getting another copy. Not sure who did the damaging either; Vulpine claims it was undamaged when he handed it off, and Trax claims it was already damaged when he got it, so not yet sure who I should be scowling at and berating. Might be the fault of the seller or postal worker, too. Guessing someone is misremembering, or that there's some miscommunication. Ah well.
I was also given another set of collectible Ginga Nagareboshi Gin sticker cards, which Trax had bought on my behalf (and which I still need to pay for; had planned on bringing along the exact amount in Swedish currency, but it slipped my mind). As a surprise, Trax had also brought along some cards he got made at Confuzzled for my Once Upon A Nursery project! Unfortunately, he'd mistakenly used the ending cards and not the story cards, so I'm not quite sure if I can use them (since they will rather stand out from the rest). But maybe. It included a card by Roareyraccoon (:linkroareyraccoon:) though, who's style I'm a big fan of.
As the stuff was in the headless lounge (or de hodeløses salong in Norwegian), this also meant I got to briefly step into this most mysterious area, which was neat. Seemed like a much better and easier place to casually chat than any of the convention areas. Cool and quiet. Maybe I should get a fursuit just so I can start hanging out in the lounges.
Some really great, memorable scenes here! Need to find some sort of frame I can put them in.
*insert whining here*
• Spontaneous Caramelldansen. A Stormtrooper suddenly went on stage and started doing the infamous Caramelldansen as the tune blasted through the speakers, and several others joined. Fun to see the entire convention momentarily stop and start dancing, or watching others doing it. Perhaps next year they could get some fursuiters to initiate it instead.
The lowlights.
• Organizing dinner. Trying to organize dinner on the first day was exhausting, and I was just about ready to collapse or throw a hissy fit towards the end. As I absolutely hate hate hate having to run around looking for people to eat with - as I've done at previous furry conventions - I'd casually posted on the Norwegian forum, asking if anyone would be up for grabbing a bite, and a few had said sure. I'd asked a few more during the actual convention, and a few more seemed keen. So I suddenly had a bunch of candidates, and I had to try to organize things between everyone, finding out when the most people would be available (or unavailable). Then suddenly there was an offshoot dinner group, and two who had explicitly said yes to joining suddenly cancel on me and go to that one instead, which left me feeling rather low. Dinner did eventually happen, but I wasn't feeling too perky and I had halfway lost my appetite by that point. In hindsight, I should've either made the dinner less planned or more planned, and not gone for the in-between solution of slightly planned.
• Not spending more time with Trax. Trax ended up cancelling on the dinner I'd invited him to (he was one of the two guys mentioned above), and on the furry party. I believe it was for practical reasons, since he was dependent upon another fur to get rid of some luggage. He also agreed to text or call me before leaving on the second day, so I could at least get to say properly good bye. But shortly before his train was scheduled to leave, I received a text from him saying he had tried calling, but had been unsuccessful. Guessing there had been some technical difficulties. Naturally these incidents left me feeling very sad and down, which probably affected my overall mood during the weekend. I think we only spent around 30 minutes together all in all. But I'll be seeing him again during Eurofurence at least, which is only two months away, and then again in November or December. Seemed like he and Neweinstein had a good time overall at the convention and in Oslo though, which is good to hear!
• Aimless, alone, exhausted. There were lengthy periods where I wandered around somewhat aimlessly, not quite sure what to do nor where to go, and no one to hang with. Which normally isn't too fun (though it can be refreshing to be by yourself as well, getting to walk and browse at your own pace - if it weren't for all those darn Naruto-cosplayers standing in my way). On the second day, I was also pretty exhausted. It was my third day in a row with not much sleep, and my bad knee was starting to ache. I was also slightly hung over from the party (but not too bad), and I ended up not eating anything until I was home again.
Miscellaneous.
Was surprised to find one of the vendors selling (official) Ginga Densetsu Weed figurines! But, they were 50 kroner each, didn't look all that good, and they were from the inferior follow-up (which I've yet to actually see for myself - but I've heard it's inferior!). Had they actually been proper Ginga Nagareboshi Gin figurines I'd have happily given them whatever was in my wallet at the time.
Didn't see any cosplayers who really stood out to me. Last time I attended I managed to find someone dressed up as Parapa The Rapper and Konata from Lucky Star, but I didn't see any characters from any games or animes I'm particularly fond of. Oh, though I did see some people dressed up as classes from Team Fortress 2! That was fun, and I guess that counts. Might've gotten some pictures with them if I'd had someone around to handle my camera. Or gotten some pictures with them together with a fursuiter. ("You, random fursuiter, come here! Spy, pretend you're backstabbing him. Scout, pretend you're about to hit him with your baseball bat. Medic, do your 'rubber glove' taunt. Heavy, stand to the side and eat your sandwich. Perfect!") Yes, I'm a big TF2 fan.
Tried filming the fursuiters, but didn't get quite that much interesting footage. The fursuiters were occasionally hard to track down, and I didn't see them doing too much aside from wandering around and occasionally posing for pictures. Maybe antics would have ensued if I'd stalked them more! Did hear that some fursuiters ventured outside, where they were maybe more rambunctious. Anyway, I've edited it together into this video, complete with distracting transitions and indie synth-pop!
Cute, scary, funny, hunky? Not quite sure.
Conclusion.
Overall, Desucon was kind of... meh for me. Not too many interesting panels or activities, not that many to hang out with, and a pretty high ticket price. I'm sure it's fun enough if you're fursuting, and maybe if you have your own entourage there too (like I had last time I attended). But if you're by yourself and with no costume and with nothing to do... it does get rather boring. Towards the end I was starting to wish I had brought a book to read. Not sure if I'll be attending next year or not; might just go directly to the post-Desucon furry party. Or maybe I'll have acquired an entourage by then and will have someone to take pictures of me while I pose awkwardly with random cosplayers. We'll see.
Oh, and turned out my non-furry friend wasn't attending after all, as he was short on cash.
While I didn't end up hosting any panels, I did contribute in a few very minor ways: a few of my pictures from Eurofurence were used during the Furry 101 panel, I wrote the information for the Norwegian Paws flyer (which was designed by :linkziggy_wolf:), and I heard some rumors that one or two of my furry YouTube videos were played during one of the fursuiting panels.
I'd also invited my Swedish housecat Trax along for the event, as well as inviting him to the big annual post-Desucon furry party. Figured he'd enjoy mingling some with the Norwegian furs, and it would of course be fun getting to spend some time together again. He also brought along his friend Neweinstein!
The last time I attended Desucon was in 2008, together with a group of non-furry friends. Attendence was free back then, and it wasn't quite as crowded.
Here are a few select highlights, lowlights, and misc.
The highlights.
• Getting Gin facepaint. I knew Swandog (:linkswandog:) was going to be at the convention doing facepainting, and I've always wanted to try getting facepainted, so this seemed like a good opportunity! Wasn't sure if I wanted to be facepainted as an arctic fox, Gin from Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, or Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In the end I went with Gin! Which lead to someone miawoing and pawing after me (guess I should've barked or growled back, but happened too quickly for me to respond), lightly startling someone someone at the men's rest room at a restaurant, someone asking if I was one of the cats from Cats (there had been a few of those around the convention), and someone asking to take my picture. Yay, random attention! Surprisingly most furs seemed to still recognize me. Guess my body build, clothes, and/or other mannerisms are fairly recognizable. I was planning on getting another one from Swandog the next day - maybe just Fluttershy's cutie mark on my cheek - but was too tired to put in the effort of securing a spot.
• Getting a Fluttershy t-shirt. The weather was warmer than expected, and I was worried my shirt would end up as just one big sweat stain by the end of the convention, so I was considering getting another t-shirt / shirt to wear. They had a couple of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic ones, but I wasn't sure which one would look best on me, nor if they were worth the 225 kroner they were charging (which is a small fortune!). Wanted to get some other fur's opinion, and I eventually managed to drag Kal (:linkbadgerkal:) along to have a look with me. And he ended up buying the Fluttershy one for me! Very nice, very unexpected, and slightly confusing. Though I ended up with a girl's size medium, as they were out of large, and I'm guessing it wasn't designed for men. There was some speculation among the cashiers whether or not it would fit me.
• Meeting new and old furs. Bumped into both people I knew I'd bump into, and people I didn't really expect to, and people I didn't know who were until I bumped into them! Which was fun. Always good making new acquaintances, and getting to spend more time with your already established friends.
• Furry party. The post-Desucon furry party was fun! Friendly furs who seemed happy to mingle, most of whom I already knew. Not quite sure how many people ended up attending; somewhere around 25 - 30, I'm guessing. At one point Kal decided I had to try on my new t-shirt, and he even went to the effort of putting it on me (in part to keep the facepaint make-up from rubbing off). It was definitely a bit on the tight side, but people seemed pleasantly surprised by my manly physique. Teh blush. Always think I look a bit odd with t-shirts, especially tight and coloured ones, since I have a pretty big chest. Don't think I did nor said anything too stupid during the party, and no one teased me about my pink sleeper either. Was surprised to find the American fur :linkmasquerade: there as well, whom I'd met a couple of times the last time he had visited Norway.
• Getting more stuff! Trax brought along a few items I'd had shipped to Vulpine (:linkbritishredfox:) which he had been handed at Confuzzled to pass on to me. Including the Player's Guide To The Changing Breeds, one of the rarest and most sought after sourcebooks for Werewolf: The Apocalypse! It wasn't quite in mint condition, but it didn't exactly look used either. The book Hellbound Hearts was in worse shape though, with an actual large tear on the front cover. Pretty much a nightmare for us mint condition fantatics, but not sure if I should bother using money on getting another copy. Not sure who did the damaging either; Vulpine claims it was undamaged when he handed it off, and Trax claims it was already damaged when he got it, so not yet sure who I should be scowling at and berating. Might be the fault of the seller or postal worker, too. Guessing someone is misremembering, or that there's some miscommunication. Ah well.
I was also given another set of collectible Ginga Nagareboshi Gin sticker cards, which Trax had bought on my behalf (and which I still need to pay for; had planned on bringing along the exact amount in Swedish currency, but it slipped my mind). As a surprise, Trax had also brought along some cards he got made at Confuzzled for my Once Upon A Nursery project! Unfortunately, he'd mistakenly used the ending cards and not the story cards, so I'm not quite sure if I can use them (since they will rather stand out from the rest). But maybe. It included a card by Roareyraccoon (:linkroareyraccoon:) though, who's style I'm a big fan of.
As the stuff was in the headless lounge (or de hodeløses salong in Norwegian), this also meant I got to briefly step into this most mysterious area, which was neat. Seemed like a much better and easier place to casually chat than any of the convention areas. Cool and quiet. Maybe I should get a fursuit just so I can start hanging out in the lounges.
Some really great, memorable scenes here! Need to find some sort of frame I can put them in.
*insert whining here*
• Spontaneous Caramelldansen. A Stormtrooper suddenly went on stage and started doing the infamous Caramelldansen as the tune blasted through the speakers, and several others joined. Fun to see the entire convention momentarily stop and start dancing, or watching others doing it. Perhaps next year they could get some fursuiters to initiate it instead.
The lowlights.
• Organizing dinner. Trying to organize dinner on the first day was exhausting, and I was just about ready to collapse or throw a hissy fit towards the end. As I absolutely hate hate hate having to run around looking for people to eat with - as I've done at previous furry conventions - I'd casually posted on the Norwegian forum, asking if anyone would be up for grabbing a bite, and a few had said sure. I'd asked a few more during the actual convention, and a few more seemed keen. So I suddenly had a bunch of candidates, and I had to try to organize things between everyone, finding out when the most people would be available (or unavailable). Then suddenly there was an offshoot dinner group, and two who had explicitly said yes to joining suddenly cancel on me and go to that one instead, which left me feeling rather low. Dinner did eventually happen, but I wasn't feeling too perky and I had halfway lost my appetite by that point. In hindsight, I should've either made the dinner less planned or more planned, and not gone for the in-between solution of slightly planned.
• Not spending more time with Trax. Trax ended up cancelling on the dinner I'd invited him to (he was one of the two guys mentioned above), and on the furry party. I believe it was for practical reasons, since he was dependent upon another fur to get rid of some luggage. He also agreed to text or call me before leaving on the second day, so I could at least get to say properly good bye. But shortly before his train was scheduled to leave, I received a text from him saying he had tried calling, but had been unsuccessful. Guessing there had been some technical difficulties. Naturally these incidents left me feeling very sad and down, which probably affected my overall mood during the weekend. I think we only spent around 30 minutes together all in all. But I'll be seeing him again during Eurofurence at least, which is only two months away, and then again in November or December. Seemed like he and Neweinstein had a good time overall at the convention and in Oslo though, which is good to hear!
• Aimless, alone, exhausted. There were lengthy periods where I wandered around somewhat aimlessly, not quite sure what to do nor where to go, and no one to hang with. Which normally isn't too fun (though it can be refreshing to be by yourself as well, getting to walk and browse at your own pace - if it weren't for all those darn Naruto-cosplayers standing in my way). On the second day, I was also pretty exhausted. It was my third day in a row with not much sleep, and my bad knee was starting to ache. I was also slightly hung over from the party (but not too bad), and I ended up not eating anything until I was home again.
Miscellaneous.
Was surprised to find one of the vendors selling (official) Ginga Densetsu Weed figurines! But, they were 50 kroner each, didn't look all that good, and they were from the inferior follow-up (which I've yet to actually see for myself - but I've heard it's inferior!). Had they actually been proper Ginga Nagareboshi Gin figurines I'd have happily given them whatever was in my wallet at the time.
Didn't see any cosplayers who really stood out to me. Last time I attended I managed to find someone dressed up as Parapa The Rapper and Konata from Lucky Star, but I didn't see any characters from any games or animes I'm particularly fond of. Oh, though I did see some people dressed up as classes from Team Fortress 2! That was fun, and I guess that counts. Might've gotten some pictures with them if I'd had someone around to handle my camera. Or gotten some pictures with them together with a fursuiter. ("You, random fursuiter, come here! Spy, pretend you're backstabbing him. Scout, pretend you're about to hit him with your baseball bat. Medic, do your 'rubber glove' taunt. Heavy, stand to the side and eat your sandwich. Perfect!") Yes, I'm a big TF2 fan.
Tried filming the fursuiters, but didn't get quite that much interesting footage. The fursuiters were occasionally hard to track down, and I didn't see them doing too much aside from wandering around and occasionally posing for pictures. Maybe antics would have ensued if I'd stalked them more! Did hear that some fursuiters ventured outside, where they were maybe more rambunctious. Anyway, I've edited it together into this video, complete with distracting transitions and indie synth-pop!
Cute, scary, funny, hunky? Not quite sure.
Conclusion.
Overall, Desucon was kind of... meh for me. Not too many interesting panels or activities, not that many to hang out with, and a pretty high ticket price. I'm sure it's fun enough if you're fursuting, and maybe if you have your own entourage there too (like I had last time I attended). But if you're by yourself and with no costume and with nothing to do... it does get rather boring. Towards the end I was starting to wish I had brought a book to read. Not sure if I'll be attending next year or not; might just go directly to the post-Desucon furry party. Or maybe I'll have acquired an entourage by then and will have someone to take pictures of me while I pose awkwardly with random cosplayers. We'll see.
Oh, and turned out my non-furry friend wasn't attending after all, as he was short on cash.