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MFM 2010 Con Report
15 years ago
General
As all things are subject to inflation, sadly, so are my prices. With the raise in my cost of living, commission prices have gone up, see footer below.
Now that I've had a bit of sleep from my return home, I can type up my little report of how MFM 14 went for me.
Before I do though, a couple of things. I have a habit of being more of a socialite at conventions, and don't do much to make it to panels (usually I just get caught up talking with new people I miss out on the panel times).
So, here's my day by day rundown of what I saw, who was there that I noted or spoke with, and the overall experience for those who don't know much about this convention.
Friday:
Got a late start heading out, but got to the con around 1:30 in the afternoon, which didn't hamper things too much.
I did some meandering around, things feeling almost kind of empty at first, but what it was, was that the hotel grounds are so much larger than the previous hotel, there was more than enough room for everything, and still room to mingle.
The first person I actually ran into was, *gasp*, MaxBlackRabbit, who was, amusingly enough, hiding out in the very back of a somewhat quiet Artist's Alley. Anyone who gets apprehensive about finding face time with this gentleman should breathe easy. He's very approachable, pleasant and polite. He's also rather clever at his attention grabbing. He had 3 ref books in front of him on the table, a PSP playing Queen's Blade, Spiral Chaos, opening, facing out, and beside it a Nintendo DS, with a game I wasn't able to identify. So, even at first glance if you don't know who MBR is in person, the shiny lights of technology jumped at you.
I made my way by his table several times through the weekend, mostly just creating small talk, but not wanting to distract him too heavily from his weekend workload.
I made a nose path through the Dealer's Den next, which was well laid out, easy to navigate, where I ran into Seppel, and learned a good bit about Furoticon, and had a few good laughs. Right around the corner from there was Bussaca, Bonk, J3T, then just past the back "U" of the path between tables, we had Patches Namaki, and quite a few others.
Now, MFM is what I'd call a smaller, calmer convention, not necessarily boring, but definitely a more sublime and relaxing environment for the most part. Everyone is sociable and fairly easy to get along with. I brought my mate with me this year, and this was her first furry con. She was rather apprehensive at first, but she found that this con, especially, is good as a "starter" con for anyone unfamiliar with furry antics in person.
After my perusal of the grounds, I finally ran into the first person I was looking for. Baka Sukonku. Baka is one of those furries that I think everyone knows. I went around con, asking complete strangers "Have you seen Baka yet?" and without fail, -everyone- knew who I was talking about. Finally I found the fruity skunk out at the smoking area, and we shared a hilarious bearhug, and I was introduced to a few others who were new to me, Crim, Tuya, and Synth.
We decided that food sounded good, and set off on a little walk to the strip right down from the hotel. (For those not familiar with the Whispering Woods grounds, there's a small strip mall within easy walking distance, so no crazy wandering for foods.) This food trek turned quite hilarious as we couldn't actually decide what we wanted to eat. There was a buffet, a chinese restaurant, a sushi bar, a smoothie bar, and a McDonald's. We started to go for sushi, but found we'd missed their lunch service by about five minutes. So we settled on chinese. The place is called China Taste, I think, and it was amazing food. No buffet here folks. It was sit down, food made to order, and it was great. Once we headed back, we all split up to wander once again. Through the rest of my evening, I did managed to meet back up with KP Fox Paw, Brim, Khyle and Dook (The amazing twins, one dances, the other draws). Khyle is amazing with poi, and he's a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Now, anyone who does know the twins will be sad to know they cut their hair. They are still hilarious though. I have arts from Dook I shall have to post later... Moving on.
The glory of con, in my opinion is the badge hunt. Every time you meet someone new, you end up badge hunting to see if you know who they are in the online world. I had a hilarious moment of this when I went to the bar for happy hour. I was sitting, drinking a Samuel Adams, and there was a gentleman two seats down from me drinking quietly. We were all rather quiet, just sitting and enjoying our drinks, and somehow this gentleman and I wound up in a conversation. I don't recall who sparked it, but we were talking about software and tablets and such. About midway through, I realized I was unsure who I was speaking with, so I asked who he was, and apologized for the "bird head" ducking to see if I could locate his badge. Turns out, this pleasant bar patron was Jay Naylor (Fisk). I summarily rose, shook the man's hand and offered respect to his art. Then we continued our conversation until his mate and roommate arrived to collect and shepherd him off elsewhere. Once again, he was quite pleasant to speak with, easily approachable. Word of note, I do believe this was due to Jay being "off duty" as he was not busy working or trying to focus on something. We did cross paths again later in the weekend, but he had the appearance of a man on a mission, so it was a simple, quick greeting exchanged. He was actually looking for Bonk at the time, who had abandoned his post somewhat. Anywho, Friday evening, we engaged in the pizza feed. It was fun, delicious and I ran into Kos and his mate once again. It's amazing how many people I remember who have forgotten me. I chock this up to the 3 year gap between con trips and my vast change of appearance. Kos was his hilarious, lewd, and inappropriate self. And anyone who hasn't see him and his mate in their "Cats" attire is sorely missing out. To which, I also must add, after they got into suit and makeup, we met back up with them and Kos paid me the most hilarious non-compliment. He looks at me and says "You're loud and obnoxious. Why don't you dress up?" We all shared quite a fun laugh at that. The night wrapped up with a dance in the main ball room, where we got to see Khyle showing off some excellent poi, and also giving some pointers to a few other furs. We wrapped up our evening outside where Drumming Raccoon was playing his selection of tribal drums and another fur, whose name sadly escapes me now, was playing guitar. I do have some footage from this that I will be uploading to Youtube soonish.
Saturday:
Once again, I got a late start, arriving from overflow back to the convention center at around 11:30ish. I popped into the Dealer's Den and pestered Blackfrost on and off, which was fun. Those of you who haven't met her or seen her arts, go look nao!
blackfrost Moving along. I met up with two Arkanfurs, which is a change, last time I made it to MFM (in 2007) I met plenty of Texas and Oklafurs, but none really from my home state. I met Klyde S. Dale, and Klaatu Wolf, both amazing guys, bikers, and generally good company. I spent a bit of time talking with the two of them which lead to discussions about the SCA and cosmetic effects makeup. The rest of the early day was somewhat uneventful aside from one hilarious visual exchange between Dook and I. The story starts thusly. We traded sketchbooks, and he said he needed to hop off for a minute, I said that was fine, I needed to head off too. So, off he goes, and me about 20 feet behind him, to which we meet up again in the men's lavatory. He makes the obligatory "We've got to stop meeting like this." whilst we do our business. Somewhere between finishing up and exiting, we wind up on the meme "My eyes! The goggles! They do nothing!" and as I'm zipping up I turn, and Dook is standing at the door with his vibrolight/laser thing, zapping me. Behind him, the door to the lavatory suddenly opens, to which we are given a rather quizzical look of "What the hell did I just walk in on?" This story was much fun to relay later to unsuspecting furres. Around the wrap up of the evening I was stalked down by Spectrum, whom was referred to me after a discussion about Paint Tool Sai and digital artwork. I proceeded to do a "30 minute hallway panel" with my tablet pc, showing her some of the tips and trick I've learned through the years, and showing how I personally integrate Photoshop and Sai together in my artwork, as well as some shortcuts for flatting that I've found through some 3rd party PS plugins. From there I was invited to a Bro-Pa-Looza at her room later in the eve, and was then told I had to meet Brody, who is apparently staff for RCFM (Rocket City Fur Meet). The BPL was quite fun, and meeting Brody was interesting, as a welcome side-effect of meeting the RCFM staffer, I also was introduced, officially, to XianJaguar, with whom I sat (stood) and spoke with for a short bit. She's another one of those easily approachable, provided you know your manners (I think). We talked a bit of shop, and I felt honored I could share a few of my shortcuts with her that she's willing to go and experiment with. We returned to the BPL, had some more drinks, and headed out for a smoke. The bartender met us later, and as we started to head back, we were informed the party had become pants-optional. My poor mate was somewhat appalled to see neon green skivvys upon our re-entry to the party and huddled quite close until we headed out again.
Sunday:
Day Final, we got up early, checked out of the hotel and headed to the convention center. Met up with Baka, Kiba, Dae, Victus, and some others, to which we were introduced to their newest scheme, Drag/Trash King and Queen. Beefy Curtains, Sandy Snatch and Kunt Punt. It was amusing to hear their descriptions of their drag fursonas and I was able to offer some good fun add-ons, and now Dae has decided it is her project to make beer bottlecap spurs for her shoes. I got Dook his sketchbook back, and went and dropped some money on J3T and Bussaca for commission pieces (Bussaca's piece is in my gallery, I will be scanning J3T's soonish). So, most of the day was spent, checking back and forth with various peoples, pestering Patches, Blackfrost, Dook, and MBR. I picked up 3 furoticon decks, herm, boys and otherkin, and mostly had a good time seeing everyone one last time before the drive back home. Of course, the last thing I was told, by I'm not sure how many Souther-furs was that I must make my way to RCFM next year to do a panel. After collecting the final things from people, we grabbed some McD's and were on our way.
Summary, for those who all TL;DR:
MFM is a much quieter con, compared to things like AC and MFF, but it's a very welcoming atomosphere. You never know who will show up (MaxBlackRabbit, Jay Naylor, etc). I met K'sharra, Duo, Strider Orion, and Beowulf Kennedy at a previous MFM, just to note. I also believe, honestly the biggest compliment I get, living in the realm of near anonymity in the fandom, is when someone asks who I am, sees my badge and goes "I know of you". So, keep that in mind, you never know who is watching or who might know who you are, so it pays to be respectful. I don't fanboy/girl over the "heavies" but I think that's more my nature, which does make it easier to strike up a conversation with them. I'm sure they get plenty of "OMGWTFBBQSQUEELITS MAX/FISK!" *insert furfamous of choice*. So, word of advice, keep it calm, talk to them like people, because, they really are people, just like us, and that'll also tell you pretty quick if their fame has gone to their head.
I, likewise, plan to make it to MFM again next year, and will have things to sell at that point (a 150 page graphic novel, amongst other stuff).
This is Verias, signing off.
Before I do though, a couple of things. I have a habit of being more of a socialite at conventions, and don't do much to make it to panels (usually I just get caught up talking with new people I miss out on the panel times).
So, here's my day by day rundown of what I saw, who was there that I noted or spoke with, and the overall experience for those who don't know much about this convention.
Friday:
Got a late start heading out, but got to the con around 1:30 in the afternoon, which didn't hamper things too much.
I did some meandering around, things feeling almost kind of empty at first, but what it was, was that the hotel grounds are so much larger than the previous hotel, there was more than enough room for everything, and still room to mingle.
The first person I actually ran into was, *gasp*, MaxBlackRabbit, who was, amusingly enough, hiding out in the very back of a somewhat quiet Artist's Alley. Anyone who gets apprehensive about finding face time with this gentleman should breathe easy. He's very approachable, pleasant and polite. He's also rather clever at his attention grabbing. He had 3 ref books in front of him on the table, a PSP playing Queen's Blade, Spiral Chaos, opening, facing out, and beside it a Nintendo DS, with a game I wasn't able to identify. So, even at first glance if you don't know who MBR is in person, the shiny lights of technology jumped at you.
I made my way by his table several times through the weekend, mostly just creating small talk, but not wanting to distract him too heavily from his weekend workload.
I made a nose path through the Dealer's Den next, which was well laid out, easy to navigate, where I ran into Seppel, and learned a good bit about Furoticon, and had a few good laughs. Right around the corner from there was Bussaca, Bonk, J3T, then just past the back "U" of the path between tables, we had Patches Namaki, and quite a few others.
Now, MFM is what I'd call a smaller, calmer convention, not necessarily boring, but definitely a more sublime and relaxing environment for the most part. Everyone is sociable and fairly easy to get along with. I brought my mate with me this year, and this was her first furry con. She was rather apprehensive at first, but she found that this con, especially, is good as a "starter" con for anyone unfamiliar with furry antics in person.
After my perusal of the grounds, I finally ran into the first person I was looking for. Baka Sukonku. Baka is one of those furries that I think everyone knows. I went around con, asking complete strangers "Have you seen Baka yet?" and without fail, -everyone- knew who I was talking about. Finally I found the fruity skunk out at the smoking area, and we shared a hilarious bearhug, and I was introduced to a few others who were new to me, Crim, Tuya, and Synth.
We decided that food sounded good, and set off on a little walk to the strip right down from the hotel. (For those not familiar with the Whispering Woods grounds, there's a small strip mall within easy walking distance, so no crazy wandering for foods.) This food trek turned quite hilarious as we couldn't actually decide what we wanted to eat. There was a buffet, a chinese restaurant, a sushi bar, a smoothie bar, and a McDonald's. We started to go for sushi, but found we'd missed their lunch service by about five minutes. So we settled on chinese. The place is called China Taste, I think, and it was amazing food. No buffet here folks. It was sit down, food made to order, and it was great. Once we headed back, we all split up to wander once again. Through the rest of my evening, I did managed to meet back up with KP Fox Paw, Brim, Khyle and Dook (The amazing twins, one dances, the other draws). Khyle is amazing with poi, and he's a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Now, anyone who does know the twins will be sad to know they cut their hair. They are still hilarious though. I have arts from Dook I shall have to post later... Moving on.
The glory of con, in my opinion is the badge hunt. Every time you meet someone new, you end up badge hunting to see if you know who they are in the online world. I had a hilarious moment of this when I went to the bar for happy hour. I was sitting, drinking a Samuel Adams, and there was a gentleman two seats down from me drinking quietly. We were all rather quiet, just sitting and enjoying our drinks, and somehow this gentleman and I wound up in a conversation. I don't recall who sparked it, but we were talking about software and tablets and such. About midway through, I realized I was unsure who I was speaking with, so I asked who he was, and apologized for the "bird head" ducking to see if I could locate his badge. Turns out, this pleasant bar patron was Jay Naylor (Fisk). I summarily rose, shook the man's hand and offered respect to his art. Then we continued our conversation until his mate and roommate arrived to collect and shepherd him off elsewhere. Once again, he was quite pleasant to speak with, easily approachable. Word of note, I do believe this was due to Jay being "off duty" as he was not busy working or trying to focus on something. We did cross paths again later in the weekend, but he had the appearance of a man on a mission, so it was a simple, quick greeting exchanged. He was actually looking for Bonk at the time, who had abandoned his post somewhat. Anywho, Friday evening, we engaged in the pizza feed. It was fun, delicious and I ran into Kos and his mate once again. It's amazing how many people I remember who have forgotten me. I chock this up to the 3 year gap between con trips and my vast change of appearance. Kos was his hilarious, lewd, and inappropriate self. And anyone who hasn't see him and his mate in their "Cats" attire is sorely missing out. To which, I also must add, after they got into suit and makeup, we met back up with them and Kos paid me the most hilarious non-compliment. He looks at me and says "You're loud and obnoxious. Why don't you dress up?" We all shared quite a fun laugh at that. The night wrapped up with a dance in the main ball room, where we got to see Khyle showing off some excellent poi, and also giving some pointers to a few other furs. We wrapped up our evening outside where Drumming Raccoon was playing his selection of tribal drums and another fur, whose name sadly escapes me now, was playing guitar. I do have some footage from this that I will be uploading to Youtube soonish.
Saturday:
Once again, I got a late start, arriving from overflow back to the convention center at around 11:30ish. I popped into the Dealer's Den and pestered Blackfrost on and off, which was fun. Those of you who haven't met her or seen her arts, go look nao!
blackfrost Moving along. I met up with two Arkanfurs, which is a change, last time I made it to MFM (in 2007) I met plenty of Texas and Oklafurs, but none really from my home state. I met Klyde S. Dale, and Klaatu Wolf, both amazing guys, bikers, and generally good company. I spent a bit of time talking with the two of them which lead to discussions about the SCA and cosmetic effects makeup. The rest of the early day was somewhat uneventful aside from one hilarious visual exchange between Dook and I. The story starts thusly. We traded sketchbooks, and he said he needed to hop off for a minute, I said that was fine, I needed to head off too. So, off he goes, and me about 20 feet behind him, to which we meet up again in the men's lavatory. He makes the obligatory "We've got to stop meeting like this." whilst we do our business. Somewhere between finishing up and exiting, we wind up on the meme "My eyes! The goggles! They do nothing!" and as I'm zipping up I turn, and Dook is standing at the door with his vibrolight/laser thing, zapping me. Behind him, the door to the lavatory suddenly opens, to which we are given a rather quizzical look of "What the hell did I just walk in on?" This story was much fun to relay later to unsuspecting furres. Around the wrap up of the evening I was stalked down by Spectrum, whom was referred to me after a discussion about Paint Tool Sai and digital artwork. I proceeded to do a "30 minute hallway panel" with my tablet pc, showing her some of the tips and trick I've learned through the years, and showing how I personally integrate Photoshop and Sai together in my artwork, as well as some shortcuts for flatting that I've found through some 3rd party PS plugins. From there I was invited to a Bro-Pa-Looza at her room later in the eve, and was then told I had to meet Brody, who is apparently staff for RCFM (Rocket City Fur Meet). The BPL was quite fun, and meeting Brody was interesting, as a welcome side-effect of meeting the RCFM staffer, I also was introduced, officially, to XianJaguar, with whom I sat (stood) and spoke with for a short bit. She's another one of those easily approachable, provided you know your manners (I think). We talked a bit of shop, and I felt honored I could share a few of my shortcuts with her that she's willing to go and experiment with. We returned to the BPL, had some more drinks, and headed out for a smoke. The bartender met us later, and as we started to head back, we were informed the party had become pants-optional. My poor mate was somewhat appalled to see neon green skivvys upon our re-entry to the party and huddled quite close until we headed out again.Sunday:
Day Final, we got up early, checked out of the hotel and headed to the convention center. Met up with Baka, Kiba, Dae, Victus, and some others, to which we were introduced to their newest scheme, Drag/Trash King and Queen. Beefy Curtains, Sandy Snatch and Kunt Punt. It was amusing to hear their descriptions of their drag fursonas and I was able to offer some good fun add-ons, and now Dae has decided it is her project to make beer bottlecap spurs for her shoes. I got Dook his sketchbook back, and went and dropped some money on J3T and Bussaca for commission pieces (Bussaca's piece is in my gallery, I will be scanning J3T's soonish). So, most of the day was spent, checking back and forth with various peoples, pestering Patches, Blackfrost, Dook, and MBR. I picked up 3 furoticon decks, herm, boys and otherkin, and mostly had a good time seeing everyone one last time before the drive back home. Of course, the last thing I was told, by I'm not sure how many Souther-furs was that I must make my way to RCFM next year to do a panel. After collecting the final things from people, we grabbed some McD's and were on our way.
Summary, for those who all TL;DR:
MFM is a much quieter con, compared to things like AC and MFF, but it's a very welcoming atomosphere. You never know who will show up (MaxBlackRabbit, Jay Naylor, etc). I met K'sharra, Duo, Strider Orion, and Beowulf Kennedy at a previous MFM, just to note. I also believe, honestly the biggest compliment I get, living in the realm of near anonymity in the fandom, is when someone asks who I am, sees my badge and goes "I know of you". So, keep that in mind, you never know who is watching or who might know who you are, so it pays to be respectful. I don't fanboy/girl over the "heavies" but I think that's more my nature, which does make it easier to strike up a conversation with them. I'm sure they get plenty of "OMGWTFBBQSQUEELITS MAX/FISK!" *insert furfamous of choice*. So, word of advice, keep it calm, talk to them like people, because, they really are people, just like us, and that'll also tell you pretty quick if their fame has gone to their head.
I, likewise, plan to make it to MFM again next year, and will have things to sell at that point (a 150 page graphic novel, amongst other stuff).
This is Verias, signing off.
Just an FYI... It's just Klyde. I used to sign my art as Klydesdale, hense the Klyde S. Dale as a tiny joke on my part.
But it was great to have met you and I look forward to chatting more when you have the time.
Glad you made it home safe.
TTFN!
Klyde
Yeah, MFM is deliberately designed as a relexicon, and the "NO DRAMA!" light is lit at all times.