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Furnal Equinox 2025 Con Report
6 months ago
Thursday
As always, I left home around 6 AM. Back in September I had to buy a new vehicle, and my new I mean new, and actual brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee. And I love the car. The trip up to Canada went smooth as silk and I was astonished at how awesome my gas mileage was.
My plan was to meet with
Fulminar in Niagara Falls and see the sights before heading to the Westin Friday morning (we hadn't been able to book the room for Thursday night back when the room block opened). However, a few minutes after crossing into Canada, the service connection to my phone went crazy and I lost my map. I pulled off to the side of the road to get it straightened back out; had I been heading to Fulminar's place I would have just kept going since I have done it so many times I know the route, but I was going some place I'd never been before and didn't want to be without the map. Well, freak accident happened, a passing vehicle kicked up a rock that slammed into my back windshield like a hammer, spiderwebbing the entire thing immediately. I remained calm then, got my map back up, found the hotel where I was meeting Fulminar, at which point most of the glass collapsed into the back of my Jeep. Fulminar went inside and got the address of a nearby glass place, and we headed over there, but they would not have been able to replace it until Monday. They did put crash wrap over it so it would be protected against the elements, but now my car was a mobile invitation for theft. We drove down to Clifton Heights looking for secure parking, but there wasn't anything. So I called the Westin and managed to secure a non-refundable room for Thursday night; the parking garage at the hotel is valet only and about as secure as I was going to get. We grabbed Fulminar's stuff from the hotel room, stopped by his house for the rest of his luggage, and then headed on in to Toronto.
We were able to get into the valet parking and get up into our room without too much trouble. We then picked up our badges and wandered over to the Dealer's Den to pick up our supersponsor swag. The T-Shirt is excellent this year and I know I'll be wearing it at future cons. I was able to wander the Dealer's Den area for a bit staying out of the way while some Dealer's set things up. I chatted with
Pakesh, 
hbruton, 
SpiderDragon, 
CatMonkShiro, and 
Nyomi a bit while I was there and that helped me for a while as I was able to say hi, catch up a bit, and vent about my ill fortune.
Eventually Fulminar and I ate at the hotel restaraunt and then headed back up to the room for the night. I'd tried to check out the Game Room, but there was nothing to do but look at the games and chat with the folks running it, neither of whom I knew. So we did a bit of channel surfing and chatting as I vainly tried not to dwell on what happened. I zonked around 10 PM.
Friday
We woke up around 6:00 - 6:30 and headed down to the Mizzen for the buffet breakfast. It opened at 7 AM so we had to wait only a few minutes. The Jeep dealership I bought my car at opened at 8 AM, so I gave their service number a call and after getting transferred to the Body Shop was able to get an estimate on replacing the back windshield of my car. It took an hour after I hung up before I had the estimate, but once I did, I felt immense relief as it was cheaper than I was expecting it would be (still not cheap, ended up spending less than usual in the Dealer's Den because of it). I was able to get an appointment for the repair set up for Tuesday and once that was done, I felt the weight lift and I was finally able to start enjoying the con.
I attended opening ceremonies with Fulminar, then headed up to the Dealer's Den to get in with the other Supersponsors. I stopped by the Guest of Honor's table first. This year it was
Teaselbone. I had half an idea of a sketch I could ask of him, but he wasn't doing con sketches this time, so I opted just to pick up a trio of stickers (Wily E Coyote, Bowser, and Gideon Grey); his first time in Canada so I wanted him to have a good time. I then went to 
Anyare to give her my sketchbook for her to sketch me in the theme of the con (Monsters in Toronto). I then spent a bit of time browsing the den looking for other things I might want, but most especially for things I could buy for my wife and daughter.
My browsing was pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of
Cobalt_K and 
WolfFriend, my other long-time roomies for Furnal. I went back to the Westin lobby to give them their room keys and help them find registration. We chatted briefly with promises for more later before I headed back to the Dealer's Den to continue my browsing. I was able to spend some time chatting with hbruton and 
SandySchreiber about how I and they were doing and of course I shared with them my sketch ideas with a promise I'd get them my book tomorrow. I also talked to Shiro about a sketch commission, but there would never be time for it so I opted to snag some of his transformation stickers instead. While visiting with my dear friend SpiderDragon, I was pleased to meet 
Utunu who was sitting with her helping sell her merch as well as his own books. Like many of you, I have admired the amazing artwork he's commissioned of his African Wild Dog characters over the years. We had a nice conversation about writing and universe building and of course I brought up Metamor Keep.
I snagged some specialty tea and coffee for my family before heading back to the game room to meet up with WolfFriend and Cobalt. We played a game called Villainous where each person is a Disney Villain trying to win their own story and keep the others from winning theirs. I played Rattigan from The Great Mouse Detective (no, I couldn't do the Vincent Price voice), while WolfFriend was Prince John from Robin Hood, and Cobalt was Jafar from Alladin. It was a really interesting game because each character had different mechanics and win conditions. I had to get the Robot Queen to Buckingham Palace as my initial mission, but one of the other players dropped Basil on my board and was able to destroy the Robot Queen. At that point Rattigan's goal changed to vanquish Basil. Which I managed to do the very next round because I had the cat in my hand and well, Basil made a nice bulge in her belly for my victory. Muahahahaha!
I think we played some other games as well but I cannot recall what specifically we played, but it was a fun afternoon. I went back to the Dealer's Den and bought a Bismuth figurine of a lizard for my daughter to celebrate her getting a Bearded Dragon for her birthday (the Beardie's name is Athena and she's doing quite well). I then went to the Prehistoric Meet and Greet where I ended up chatting with
Seadog_driftwood and another fur whose name I never caught. The panel wasn't well organized and everyone just sat at their tables talking with their existing friends and no attempt was made to get people to interact beyond that. Disappointing, but I enjoyed chatting with Seadog at least.
Afterward my Roomies and I went to Firkin's for dinner. WolfFriend shared a huge pretzel with me as an appetizer for which I'm grateful. Afterwards we stopped by a convenience store and each bought a little something to snack; I grabbed a couple of Aero Bars as I can't find them in the States. When we got back to the room it was pretty late so we broke out Betrayal at the House on the Hill for our nightly game. Cobalt ended up being the traitor and had some zombies or something chasing after us. WolfFriend's character was already pretty beat up by the first half of the game and was killed. But I managed to use the Mystic Elevator to snatch all of Cobalt's and WolfFriend's items including the revolver and managed to take out the Madman and the zombies or whatever it was, so the heroes won!
At that point it was very late so we all called it a night.
Saturday
Started the morning with breakfast at the Mizzen with Fuminar and Cobalt. Afterward Cobalt and I ended up in the game room and played a month of Land of Galzyr. Land of Galzyr is a persistent adventure board game where you play as one of four characters in a fictional land who travel between cities and go on adventures that can change the world in little or big ways. I played the kingfisher character and on my first turn I ended up helping this noble family overthrow the government in their city; I wasn't sure which side I would have really sided had I known a bit more of the backstory, but I was jumping into a world I only knew a little bit about and so I decided to stick with the folks who hired me and well, that's what happened. It was a fantastic way to start, and while none of the other missions I did quite lived up to the first one, the other characters helped evacuate a town before a volcano destroyed it, and also helped invaders take control of part of the capital city (again, by accident, they thought they were trying to stop them and misinterpreted the situation). It's really a fantastic game though you can only order it through their website. I'm so glad Cobalt introduced me to it last year.
The game took all morning and some of the afternoon, at which point Cobalt had a panel to do and I headed over to the Dealer's Den to check on my sketchbook. Anyare had finished my sketch and it looked awesome (will post soon). I then handed my book to Heather and Sandy as well as arranged our Roomies pic with Heather. I shopped a little bit more for my daughter and snagged her some stickers since I didn't really like the look of any of the shirts there. I then headed to the TFTuesday Live Podcast Panel with WolfFriend and Cobalt. I don't usually do podcasts but it was a fun show and I got the chance to suggest Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" so that was good. Afterwards I got into my Rat suit and wandered the con space for a bit, making sure all my artist friends had a chance to see me in suit. A few noted I'd had it for a long time (since 2012). I've kept it in such good shape because I only wear it a few times a year.
My Rodents! panel was next and I managed to do the whole panel while in suit, first time in a few years I've pulled that off! It was a good panel with about thirty furs in attendance, including many first timers. I kept the conversation moving as I usually do by getting everyone to discuss why we love Rodents, and the influences we've had from stories, to movies, to TV, to games. Once folks started talking it went really well and there was never a dull moment. I wish more folks would do their social panels like this.
Afterward I got back out of suit and my roomies and I all went to the Olde Spaghetti Factory for a well-earned dinner. I almost wished I'd factory-sized it because I could have eaten a bit more, but that probably would have been too much. It snowed a little on us on the way back to the hotel, and I was very glad to get back inside. The elevators were slammed though and it took a long time before we got back to the room. So long in fact that we opted for another game of Betrayal rather than Land of Galzyr like we had planned. It was still fun and Cobalt got to be the traitor again. This time he was a mad scientist calling us monkeys and trying to capture us and put us back in our cages. We were able to evade him and his minions long enough to destroy his secret lab and win the game.
Sunday
WolfFriend and I headed to morning Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral to start the day. The Mass was beautiful with a boy's choir doing all the singing. After we got back, I headed to the Dealer's Den to pick up my sketches and bought a few more stickers for my daughter. I then spent more time in the Game Room; played a few rounds of Happy Little Dinosaurs with WolfFriend as I missed getting in on another round of Land of Galzyr. After a little quiet time in the Game Room I went back for one last round through the Dealer's Den making sure to spend some time chatting with my friends there as it could be a year before I see them again.
After the Den closed I headed to Closing Ceremonies with Fulminar and enjoyed all the numbers from attendees, fursuiters, charity, etc... And then they finally announced the theme for next year. We'll be going into space as well as enjoying our last time at the Westin Harbour Castle. I have loved space since I was a kid so this theme will definitely be one I look forward to!
I dropped my furry stuff off in the room and then assembled in the lobby for our annual pilgrimage to Mandarin's for the final meal with friends. Shiro led us on the subways and on the shuttle bus as the station we needed was closed for construction. Mandarin was fantastic as always and we all had a great time stuffing ourselves. It was a little bittersweet knowing this could be our penultimate subway ride. But we've had many great years at the Westin and we still have one more to go.
That night we made enough time to play Land of Galzyr. I played the kingfisher agian and while nothing quite as momentous happened as in Saturday's game, it was nevertheless a satisfying series of adventures that started off with helping secure supplies to rebuild the town destroyed by the volcano. I do hope that I'll be able to play again next year and I think I'd like to play the kingfisher character again too.
Monday
Monday morning started with paying for the hotel and initiating checkout, followed by one last breakfast at the Mizzen with Fulminar and Cobalt. Luggage was packed and goodbyes were said. My car was thankfully unmolested during its stay in the hotel parking garage and after loading up our things, we bid adieu to Cobalt and WolfFriend. I drove Fulminar back to his place; it was definitely louder in the car with the crash wrap over the back window, but usually only when another vehicle was close behind me in any lane. Fulminar played our traditional "Try Everything", hearkening back to FE 2016 when we all went to see Zootopia together. That pleasant tradition cheered me some. After dropping him off I headed to the border crossing, got through easily (contrary to what everybody was predicting, it was one of the easiest crossings I've experienced), and then managed to finish the long drive home in record time.
FE 2025 was a good experience, and while I know I've missed mentioned the times I chatted with a few folks (notably
DaiCymru, 
Leo.The.Ninja.Lion, 
Kokuei, and 
Faclan and a few others) but it's been a crazy time since trying to get things repaired (car repair went smooth at least). There were a few folks I know who were there I didn't get to see, but that's how cons go sometimes.
I am looking forward to next year, when hopefully we won't have quite so dramatic a time!
Dominus vobiscum
As always, I left home around 6 AM. Back in September I had to buy a new vehicle, and my new I mean new, and actual brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee. And I love the car. The trip up to Canada went smooth as silk and I was astonished at how awesome my gas mileage was.
My plan was to meet with
Fulminar in Niagara Falls and see the sights before heading to the Westin Friday morning (we hadn't been able to book the room for Thursday night back when the room block opened). However, a few minutes after crossing into Canada, the service connection to my phone went crazy and I lost my map. I pulled off to the side of the road to get it straightened back out; had I been heading to Fulminar's place I would have just kept going since I have done it so many times I know the route, but I was going some place I'd never been before and didn't want to be without the map. Well, freak accident happened, a passing vehicle kicked up a rock that slammed into my back windshield like a hammer, spiderwebbing the entire thing immediately. I remained calm then, got my map back up, found the hotel where I was meeting Fulminar, at which point most of the glass collapsed into the back of my Jeep. Fulminar went inside and got the address of a nearby glass place, and we headed over there, but they would not have been able to replace it until Monday. They did put crash wrap over it so it would be protected against the elements, but now my car was a mobile invitation for theft. We drove down to Clifton Heights looking for secure parking, but there wasn't anything. So I called the Westin and managed to secure a non-refundable room for Thursday night; the parking garage at the hotel is valet only and about as secure as I was going to get. We grabbed Fulminar's stuff from the hotel room, stopped by his house for the rest of his luggage, and then headed on in to Toronto.We were able to get into the valet parking and get up into our room without too much trouble. We then picked up our badges and wandered over to the Dealer's Den to pick up our supersponsor swag. The T-Shirt is excellent this year and I know I'll be wearing it at future cons. I was able to wander the Dealer's Den area for a bit staying out of the way while some Dealer's set things up. I chatted with
Pakesh, 
hbruton, 
SpiderDragon, 
CatMonkShiro, and 
Nyomi a bit while I was there and that helped me for a while as I was able to say hi, catch up a bit, and vent about my ill fortune.Eventually Fulminar and I ate at the hotel restaraunt and then headed back up to the room for the night. I'd tried to check out the Game Room, but there was nothing to do but look at the games and chat with the folks running it, neither of whom I knew. So we did a bit of channel surfing and chatting as I vainly tried not to dwell on what happened. I zonked around 10 PM.
Friday
We woke up around 6:00 - 6:30 and headed down to the Mizzen for the buffet breakfast. It opened at 7 AM so we had to wait only a few minutes. The Jeep dealership I bought my car at opened at 8 AM, so I gave their service number a call and after getting transferred to the Body Shop was able to get an estimate on replacing the back windshield of my car. It took an hour after I hung up before I had the estimate, but once I did, I felt immense relief as it was cheaper than I was expecting it would be (still not cheap, ended up spending less than usual in the Dealer's Den because of it). I was able to get an appointment for the repair set up for Tuesday and once that was done, I felt the weight lift and I was finally able to start enjoying the con.
I attended opening ceremonies with Fulminar, then headed up to the Dealer's Den to get in with the other Supersponsors. I stopped by the Guest of Honor's table first. This year it was
Teaselbone. I had half an idea of a sketch I could ask of him, but he wasn't doing con sketches this time, so I opted just to pick up a trio of stickers (Wily E Coyote, Bowser, and Gideon Grey); his first time in Canada so I wanted him to have a good time. I then went to 
Anyare to give her my sketchbook for her to sketch me in the theme of the con (Monsters in Toronto). I then spent a bit of time browsing the den looking for other things I might want, but most especially for things I could buy for my wife and daughter. My browsing was pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of
Cobalt_K and 
WolfFriend, my other long-time roomies for Furnal. I went back to the Westin lobby to give them their room keys and help them find registration. We chatted briefly with promises for more later before I headed back to the Dealer's Den to continue my browsing. I was able to spend some time chatting with hbruton and 
SandySchreiber about how I and they were doing and of course I shared with them my sketch ideas with a promise I'd get them my book tomorrow. I also talked to Shiro about a sketch commission, but there would never be time for it so I opted to snag some of his transformation stickers instead. While visiting with my dear friend SpiderDragon, I was pleased to meet 
Utunu who was sitting with her helping sell her merch as well as his own books. Like many of you, I have admired the amazing artwork he's commissioned of his African Wild Dog characters over the years. We had a nice conversation about writing and universe building and of course I brought up Metamor Keep.I snagged some specialty tea and coffee for my family before heading back to the game room to meet up with WolfFriend and Cobalt. We played a game called Villainous where each person is a Disney Villain trying to win their own story and keep the others from winning theirs. I played Rattigan from The Great Mouse Detective (no, I couldn't do the Vincent Price voice), while WolfFriend was Prince John from Robin Hood, and Cobalt was Jafar from Alladin. It was a really interesting game because each character had different mechanics and win conditions. I had to get the Robot Queen to Buckingham Palace as my initial mission, but one of the other players dropped Basil on my board and was able to destroy the Robot Queen. At that point Rattigan's goal changed to vanquish Basil. Which I managed to do the very next round because I had the cat in my hand and well, Basil made a nice bulge in her belly for my victory. Muahahahaha!
I think we played some other games as well but I cannot recall what specifically we played, but it was a fun afternoon. I went back to the Dealer's Den and bought a Bismuth figurine of a lizard for my daughter to celebrate her getting a Bearded Dragon for her birthday (the Beardie's name is Athena and she's doing quite well). I then went to the Prehistoric Meet and Greet where I ended up chatting with
Seadog_driftwood and another fur whose name I never caught. The panel wasn't well organized and everyone just sat at their tables talking with their existing friends and no attempt was made to get people to interact beyond that. Disappointing, but I enjoyed chatting with Seadog at least.Afterward my Roomies and I went to Firkin's for dinner. WolfFriend shared a huge pretzel with me as an appetizer for which I'm grateful. Afterwards we stopped by a convenience store and each bought a little something to snack; I grabbed a couple of Aero Bars as I can't find them in the States. When we got back to the room it was pretty late so we broke out Betrayal at the House on the Hill for our nightly game. Cobalt ended up being the traitor and had some zombies or something chasing after us. WolfFriend's character was already pretty beat up by the first half of the game and was killed. But I managed to use the Mystic Elevator to snatch all of Cobalt's and WolfFriend's items including the revolver and managed to take out the Madman and the zombies or whatever it was, so the heroes won!
At that point it was very late so we all called it a night.
Saturday
Started the morning with breakfast at the Mizzen with Fuminar and Cobalt. Afterward Cobalt and I ended up in the game room and played a month of Land of Galzyr. Land of Galzyr is a persistent adventure board game where you play as one of four characters in a fictional land who travel between cities and go on adventures that can change the world in little or big ways. I played the kingfisher character and on my first turn I ended up helping this noble family overthrow the government in their city; I wasn't sure which side I would have really sided had I known a bit more of the backstory, but I was jumping into a world I only knew a little bit about and so I decided to stick with the folks who hired me and well, that's what happened. It was a fantastic way to start, and while none of the other missions I did quite lived up to the first one, the other characters helped evacuate a town before a volcano destroyed it, and also helped invaders take control of part of the capital city (again, by accident, they thought they were trying to stop them and misinterpreted the situation). It's really a fantastic game though you can only order it through their website. I'm so glad Cobalt introduced me to it last year.
The game took all morning and some of the afternoon, at which point Cobalt had a panel to do and I headed over to the Dealer's Den to check on my sketchbook. Anyare had finished my sketch and it looked awesome (will post soon). I then handed my book to Heather and Sandy as well as arranged our Roomies pic with Heather. I shopped a little bit more for my daughter and snagged her some stickers since I didn't really like the look of any of the shirts there. I then headed to the TFTuesday Live Podcast Panel with WolfFriend and Cobalt. I don't usually do podcasts but it was a fun show and I got the chance to suggest Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" so that was good. Afterwards I got into my Rat suit and wandered the con space for a bit, making sure all my artist friends had a chance to see me in suit. A few noted I'd had it for a long time (since 2012). I've kept it in such good shape because I only wear it a few times a year.
My Rodents! panel was next and I managed to do the whole panel while in suit, first time in a few years I've pulled that off! It was a good panel with about thirty furs in attendance, including many first timers. I kept the conversation moving as I usually do by getting everyone to discuss why we love Rodents, and the influences we've had from stories, to movies, to TV, to games. Once folks started talking it went really well and there was never a dull moment. I wish more folks would do their social panels like this.
Afterward I got back out of suit and my roomies and I all went to the Olde Spaghetti Factory for a well-earned dinner. I almost wished I'd factory-sized it because I could have eaten a bit more, but that probably would have been too much. It snowed a little on us on the way back to the hotel, and I was very glad to get back inside. The elevators were slammed though and it took a long time before we got back to the room. So long in fact that we opted for another game of Betrayal rather than Land of Galzyr like we had planned. It was still fun and Cobalt got to be the traitor again. This time he was a mad scientist calling us monkeys and trying to capture us and put us back in our cages. We were able to evade him and his minions long enough to destroy his secret lab and win the game.
Sunday
WolfFriend and I headed to morning Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral to start the day. The Mass was beautiful with a boy's choir doing all the singing. After we got back, I headed to the Dealer's Den to pick up my sketches and bought a few more stickers for my daughter. I then spent more time in the Game Room; played a few rounds of Happy Little Dinosaurs with WolfFriend as I missed getting in on another round of Land of Galzyr. After a little quiet time in the Game Room I went back for one last round through the Dealer's Den making sure to spend some time chatting with my friends there as it could be a year before I see them again.
After the Den closed I headed to Closing Ceremonies with Fulminar and enjoyed all the numbers from attendees, fursuiters, charity, etc... And then they finally announced the theme for next year. We'll be going into space as well as enjoying our last time at the Westin Harbour Castle. I have loved space since I was a kid so this theme will definitely be one I look forward to!
I dropped my furry stuff off in the room and then assembled in the lobby for our annual pilgrimage to Mandarin's for the final meal with friends. Shiro led us on the subways and on the shuttle bus as the station we needed was closed for construction. Mandarin was fantastic as always and we all had a great time stuffing ourselves. It was a little bittersweet knowing this could be our penultimate subway ride. But we've had many great years at the Westin and we still have one more to go.
That night we made enough time to play Land of Galzyr. I played the kingfisher agian and while nothing quite as momentous happened as in Saturday's game, it was nevertheless a satisfying series of adventures that started off with helping secure supplies to rebuild the town destroyed by the volcano. I do hope that I'll be able to play again next year and I think I'd like to play the kingfisher character again too.
Monday
Monday morning started with paying for the hotel and initiating checkout, followed by one last breakfast at the Mizzen with Fulminar and Cobalt. Luggage was packed and goodbyes were said. My car was thankfully unmolested during its stay in the hotel parking garage and after loading up our things, we bid adieu to Cobalt and WolfFriend. I drove Fulminar back to his place; it was definitely louder in the car with the crash wrap over the back window, but usually only when another vehicle was close behind me in any lane. Fulminar played our traditional "Try Everything", hearkening back to FE 2016 when we all went to see Zootopia together. That pleasant tradition cheered me some. After dropping him off I headed to the border crossing, got through easily (contrary to what everybody was predicting, it was one of the easiest crossings I've experienced), and then managed to finish the long drive home in record time.
FE 2025 was a good experience, and while I know I've missed mentioned the times I chatted with a few folks (notably
DaiCymru, 
Leo.The.Ninja.Lion, 
Kokuei, and 
Faclan and a few others) but it's been a crazy time since trying to get things repaired (car repair went smooth at least). There were a few folks I know who were there I didn't get to see, but that's how cons go sometimes.I am looking forward to next year, when hopefully we won't have quite so dramatic a time!
Dominus vobiscum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum