In the Annals of Viewer History...
...2009 will go down as the year of epic cons. Now, you all know about the greatness that was AFO, but now Yours Truly can gleefully add EXPCon to the list. Things didn't start off as well as they did a few months ago, in fact, it was very auspicious. It started on Friday when I was packing up to go. I had to make a few stops to get gas and pick up something I needed when Gameshow called and said he needed my help loading up. Naturally I said yes, since he is my co-host, and since he didn't have alternatives. It did hold me up a bit, but the traffic gods smiled as even though I wasn't on the highway until around 4:30, I ended up at the con with about seven minutes to spare. We were able to set up and get things started with just a little delay. Pyramid ran without a hitch, even though through two games the total score was 22 out of 42. So far, so good. I was finally able to de-suit and take the first trip to the dealers room to spot out some souvenirs. After seeing the potential, it was just time to chill until the first food run. For said food run, I had an idea. a friend of mine was working a panel and needed me there (let's just say there were some questionable videos he wanted to show), so naturally I picked up some fried chicken. After eating and doing some hanging out, I decided to change into my rave gear and troll around. Around 10 we decided to go to a panel room that had been taken over, so we sat for a while, hung out, and got some ideas. After a bunch of pictures and a delayed rave, the Angry Panel ensued. The fried chicken helped when it came to things like the techno Slap Chop commercial, a rick roll, My Little Pony, Emo Jones, and the rest. A friend of mine came to the con that night so we hung out a bit in the room and talked some social theory among other things. A half hour and a noise complaint later, it was off to sleep.
Saturday began like a usual con Saturday. Woke up at 11 and tried to find something to do. We sat and chilled in the hotel room fora while until it was time for the Angry Gamer Panel. It was nice, especially since it featured a good mix of stuff from last year and some new stuff (Captain N, seriously?) Anyways, we had some downtime which was intended for coding the program for Press Your Luck, but that didn't happen. So at 7 it was time to do Press Your Luck. Things got started on time, and we had a good time with the game. We were barely, BARELY able to record the first half (which included some good host, evil host action and ended in a tie) before my batteries died. Then the second half game with less whammies and yet another tie. This was especially entertaining as we were able to pull questions from the audience. Then came Showdown, and as a host I shined. Our audience was HUGE (especially since Anime Night Live let out) and this is when we had more people show up that remembered us from last year, which we then used for contestants. There were some thrilling battles, and we wound up giving out a LOT of prizes, which was awesome. Afterwards, not only did one of the people at the panel take our picture to post on the forums, a girl stopped and talked to us and said that she was glad we were back. We reminisced about last year's shows and she told us that she was looking forward to next year (fangirl, anyone?) and we snapped a few pictures and got back to the room to chill. We wound up watching the Gators game and got yet another noise complaint (seriously?). We wound up hanging out until time for a dating advice panel with The Man Power (Google them, they are awesome). I was initially going to the other rave, but it got delayed again. So, fate intervened by having us hang out with some fans and playing cards. When it came time for Man Power, I gladly went to ask them some advice they would have for a friendly game show host. They promptly replied by telling me to lose the suit (not gonna happen) and we had some good laughs for a while. Afterwards I got to talk to them and get an awesome picture. Then it was some walking around (since the late night panel was forgotten about) and off to bed.
Then we came to today. It was an early day since we had an 11 AM panel (Password) and a noon checkout. After finding out that the hotel swiped my bath equipment it was time to use the hotel stuff and re-suit. We had enough time to set up and for Gameshow to do some coding for the show, which was REALLY helpful. Then, it was showtime. Password went off flawlessly. It started well, but when it came to going to the audience for words, things ran long. It was okay for the first half hour, but after that we got some tough words. We actually rewarded those tough words by letting the givers be contestants. Well, that didn't work out too well because we had one team last the whole hour (and a few minutes). Finally, it was time for the hosts to defend their grand prize by becoming common contestants. This got sticky. After two near impossible words and another skunk, we found ourselves in a 17-0 deficit. Finally, the hive mind kicked in and we managed back-to-back nine point words to eek out an 18-17 win (the winning word was bishounen). During my trip to the dealer's room I ran into The Man Power, which was sweet. I talked to them for a bit, did a video talking about them, and they actually want to be involved in game shows for next year, and to talk about them to other cons, which I would gladly do because of their awesomeness. After some hanging out, it was on the highway and back home. All that's left is to transfer the data off my memory card and continue to reminisce about the weekend that was EXPCon 2009, and look forward to EXPCon 2010.
Saturday began like a usual con Saturday. Woke up at 11 and tried to find something to do. We sat and chilled in the hotel room fora while until it was time for the Angry Gamer Panel. It was nice, especially since it featured a good mix of stuff from last year and some new stuff (Captain N, seriously?) Anyways, we had some downtime which was intended for coding the program for Press Your Luck, but that didn't happen. So at 7 it was time to do Press Your Luck. Things got started on time, and we had a good time with the game. We were barely, BARELY able to record the first half (which included some good host, evil host action and ended in a tie) before my batteries died. Then the second half game with less whammies and yet another tie. This was especially entertaining as we were able to pull questions from the audience. Then came Showdown, and as a host I shined. Our audience was HUGE (especially since Anime Night Live let out) and this is when we had more people show up that remembered us from last year, which we then used for contestants. There were some thrilling battles, and we wound up giving out a LOT of prizes, which was awesome. Afterwards, not only did one of the people at the panel take our picture to post on the forums, a girl stopped and talked to us and said that she was glad we were back. We reminisced about last year's shows and she told us that she was looking forward to next year (fangirl, anyone?) and we snapped a few pictures and got back to the room to chill. We wound up watching the Gators game and got yet another noise complaint (seriously?). We wound up hanging out until time for a dating advice panel with The Man Power (Google them, they are awesome). I was initially going to the other rave, but it got delayed again. So, fate intervened by having us hang out with some fans and playing cards. When it came time for Man Power, I gladly went to ask them some advice they would have for a friendly game show host. They promptly replied by telling me to lose the suit (not gonna happen) and we had some good laughs for a while. Afterwards I got to talk to them and get an awesome picture. Then it was some walking around (since the late night panel was forgotten about) and off to bed.
Then we came to today. It was an early day since we had an 11 AM panel (Password) and a noon checkout. After finding out that the hotel swiped my bath equipment it was time to use the hotel stuff and re-suit. We had enough time to set up and for Gameshow to do some coding for the show, which was REALLY helpful. Then, it was showtime. Password went off flawlessly. It started well, but when it came to going to the audience for words, things ran long. It was okay for the first half hour, but after that we got some tough words. We actually rewarded those tough words by letting the givers be contestants. Well, that didn't work out too well because we had one team last the whole hour (and a few minutes). Finally, it was time for the hosts to defend their grand prize by becoming common contestants. This got sticky. After two near impossible words and another skunk, we found ourselves in a 17-0 deficit. Finally, the hive mind kicked in and we managed back-to-back nine point words to eek out an 18-17 win (the winning word was bishounen). During my trip to the dealer's room I ran into The Man Power, which was sweet. I talked to them for a bit, did a video talking about them, and they actually want to be involved in game shows for next year, and to talk about them to other cons, which I would gladly do because of their awesomeness. After some hanging out, it was on the highway and back home. All that's left is to transfer the data off my memory card and continue to reminisce about the weekend that was EXPCon 2009, and look forward to EXPCon 2010.