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Gaylaxicon Post-Con Report!!!!
13 years ago
Gaaaaaaaaaay~~~~~~
For those that haven't heard, Gaylaxicon is the national GLBT sci-fi fantasy convention that travels around the country every year. This year, it was in Minneapolis! Yay!
donovan was on the committee as the AV guy, so the two of us have been working a ton on it over the past year and a half (longer for him).
Guests of Honor this year included local author Lyda Morehouse, Gary Russel (of Doctor Who), Sofawolf Press, Barbara Schulz, and the furry fandom's own
kyell Gold. You can guess which ones we were most excited about. Actually the furry presence at the con came about all because of Donovan. He wanted to contribute something to the con, something that hadn't been there before, so he suggested inviting the furry fandom in. He ended up promoting at a number of events like Snowpocalypse. In fact, I'm pretty sure he met a familiar manticore there. I should look into that... =^w^=
Day 0: Thursday
I was kind of a sourpuss for most of Thursday. Mandatory overtime + setup + panic at things not going right does not a happy kitty make. Luckily, we had dinner to look forward to. There is a nice little Chinese Restaurant behind the con hotel, and we got to eat with the guests of honor. We got to listen to Kyell and his mate, Kit Silver, talk about the furry fandom to a group of nerds that were gobbling up information about it. The food was great, the conversation with the committee members was nice, and the evening was much better than my working day, though we had to leave the restaurant early to finish setting up.
Day 1: Friday
I had an eye appointment early in the day, so I wasn't able to help right away. After my appointment (20/20! Thanks, Lasik!), I went to pick up a friend of mine from our hometown. He's new here on FA.
jiugui - great guy; go say hi! We ended up setting up throughout most of the midday, with the con officially opening at noon for registration.
I didn't do many panels the first day, but I spent some time in the game room playing Robo Rally. One of the guys I was playing with ended up asking me to be on the Match Game that evening, and of course I said yes. The rest of the day was spent wandering, helping Donovan set up, and sneaking some sleep when available.
At 11, I grabbed a drink and headed to be on the Match Game panel. It is a dirty game for dirty people, and if you've never seen the game show, go look it up. I had no idea what I was doing, of course, since the show was cancelled long before I was born, but I was still able to get a few laughs from the audience.
"What did the tourist see at Buckingham palace? A pig with hips that just wouldn't quit."
Day 2: Saturday
I started the day on the Furries 101 panel with
Skystrider and Flip/Procyon and 
zmeydros. It was a good introduction, I felt, though nothing you in the fandom haven't heard before. I was mostly there to moderate and reign it in when things got too tangential (love you, Flip <3), so I didn't do too much talking. The others, though, really did a fantastic job.
Donovan's panel was next. He was doing the GoH Spotlight for Kyell and Jeff Eddy, co-owner of Sofawolf Press. I was so proud of the job he did with the interview. The panel was mostly pre-written questions that the GoHs had been given in advance, so it all went pretty smoothly. You can read a little more about it on Kyell's livejournal (link below). Good job, elky!
Jiu and I snuck away to a comic shop after that to cash in on a 20% off coupon. Had to get my opening day Return to Ravnica fat packs, after all. FOR THE CONCLAVE!!!!! :3
Homosexuality and Furries was next, in which we discovered why there are so many GLBT people in the fandom. A lot has to do with porn on the internet and how tags were arranged alphabetically (gay is next to furry), so.... yay? Flip, being himself, knew tons of stuff on the subject, and I would love to listen to a full lecture on it sometime from him.
3:30 was the Chocolate Symposium. That is all I need to say about that.
More gaming with some of my local friends. I met up with Fir at some point, too, and we chatted a bit and decided to get our draft on at some point.
The evening was all about setting up for the Cabaret. It was a mad rush to transform the panel rooms into a stage (the panel rooms are connected by, well, panels), but we did it in about an hour. There had been some concern about the cabaret's lineup, but it ended up being fantastic with a lot of star talent, including:
*Drag King/Sockpuppet song medley
*Sticker Boys
*Stand-up comedians
*Burlesque
*Glowstick/breakdancing/stunt/bwuh?
At midnight, Kyell and Lyda did their reading of some of their old slash fiction, which was frackin' hilarious. Watching the two of them laugh themselves stupid with embarrassment, then egg the other one one, had everyone in stitches. Plus, Kyell had to explain to Lyda why all the furries giggled at her line, "His hand hovered over his sheathe a moment too long." I also got a signed print of Tech E. Coyote from Loonatics: Unleashed after revealing my favorite slash pairing: Scar from The Lion King and Beast from Beauty and the Beast. *blush* WORTH IT!!!
After that, Jiugui and I stayed up until five doing a Magic: the Gathering Draft with Fir, who taught us all about drafting. If you haven't met Fir, he's the tall furry that you will most likely see helping out with con suite. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met, and completely worth getting to know. Plus, he's plays a mean white/blue. :3
After that, it was time for (not nearly enough) sleep...
Day 3: Sunday
After getting up late, I went to a panel with Kyell, Zmeydros, and Tiliquain: Diversity and Stereotypes in Writing. Again, it was a great discussion, with plenty of interaction from the audience. Very thought-provoking.
Donovan and I spent some time in the Dealer's Room after that. We spent WAY too much money buying furry books, but that's okay. Got to show the family some love. I also got to talk to Snap E. Tiger of By Cats For Cats about a Dimby fursuit. He had great advice about character design, what to look for in a suit, and how to tackle a giant manticore tail. I'm hoping to grab a suit from him eventually, once the student loans and car payments are taken care of.
Werewolves and Sexual Identity came next. This one was good, but I was too tired by that point to remember much.
After the closing ceremonies, we packed a bunch of stuff up and I took Jiugui home.
When I got back to the hotel, I bumped into Donovan on the stairway, and I found out a dear, dear friend of ours (who also happened to be the con chair) had set up some time for us to talk to Kyell and Kit. K&K were nice enough to oblige our fanboying and just talk to us about conventions, the fandom, writing, and what they were up to. Donovan and I have so much respect for Kyell as an author, and getting to spend time with him and his mate was the highlight of our con. Kyell, if you're reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the chat. You have no idea how happy you made us, especially Donovan. I'm glad to see that someone aspopufur fur-famous as him is still such a cool guy.
I slept well that night.
Day 4: Monday
I went back to work, bright and early. XD
I've only really been to Gaylaxicon and MFF, but I can't wait to do it again. Our next con will likely be Gaymercon out on the west coast. Hope to see you there!
EDIT: Holy eff, I may need to break this wall of text up quite a bit. Sorry!
For those that haven't heard, Gaylaxicon is the national GLBT sci-fi fantasy convention that travels around the country every year. This year, it was in Minneapolis! Yay!
donovan was on the committee as the AV guy, so the two of us have been working a ton on it over the past year and a half (longer for him).Guests of Honor this year included local author Lyda Morehouse, Gary Russel (of Doctor Who), Sofawolf Press, Barbara Schulz, and the furry fandom's own
kyell Gold. You can guess which ones we were most excited about. Actually the furry presence at the con came about all because of Donovan. He wanted to contribute something to the con, something that hadn't been there before, so he suggested inviting the furry fandom in. He ended up promoting at a number of events like Snowpocalypse. In fact, I'm pretty sure he met a familiar manticore there. I should look into that... =^w^=Day 0: Thursday
I was kind of a sourpuss for most of Thursday. Mandatory overtime + setup + panic at things not going right does not a happy kitty make. Luckily, we had dinner to look forward to. There is a nice little Chinese Restaurant behind the con hotel, and we got to eat with the guests of honor. We got to listen to Kyell and his mate, Kit Silver, talk about the furry fandom to a group of nerds that were gobbling up information about it. The food was great, the conversation with the committee members was nice, and the evening was much better than my working day, though we had to leave the restaurant early to finish setting up.
Day 1: Friday
I had an eye appointment early in the day, so I wasn't able to help right away. After my appointment (20/20! Thanks, Lasik!), I went to pick up a friend of mine from our hometown. He's new here on FA.
jiugui - great guy; go say hi! We ended up setting up throughout most of the midday, with the con officially opening at noon for registration. I didn't do many panels the first day, but I spent some time in the game room playing Robo Rally. One of the guys I was playing with ended up asking me to be on the Match Game that evening, and of course I said yes. The rest of the day was spent wandering, helping Donovan set up, and sneaking some sleep when available.
At 11, I grabbed a drink and headed to be on the Match Game panel. It is a dirty game for dirty people, and if you've never seen the game show, go look it up. I had no idea what I was doing, of course, since the show was cancelled long before I was born, but I was still able to get a few laughs from the audience.
"What did the tourist see at Buckingham palace? A pig with hips that just wouldn't quit."
Day 2: Saturday
I started the day on the Furries 101 panel with
Skystrider and Flip/Procyon and 
zmeydros. It was a good introduction, I felt, though nothing you in the fandom haven't heard before. I was mostly there to moderate and reign it in when things got too tangential (love you, Flip <3), so I didn't do too much talking. The others, though, really did a fantastic job.Donovan's panel was next. He was doing the GoH Spotlight for Kyell and Jeff Eddy, co-owner of Sofawolf Press. I was so proud of the job he did with the interview. The panel was mostly pre-written questions that the GoHs had been given in advance, so it all went pretty smoothly. You can read a little more about it on Kyell's livejournal (link below). Good job, elky!
Jiu and I snuck away to a comic shop after that to cash in on a 20% off coupon. Had to get my opening day Return to Ravnica fat packs, after all. FOR THE CONCLAVE!!!!! :3
Homosexuality and Furries was next, in which we discovered why there are so many GLBT people in the fandom. A lot has to do with porn on the internet and how tags were arranged alphabetically (gay is next to furry), so.... yay? Flip, being himself, knew tons of stuff on the subject, and I would love to listen to a full lecture on it sometime from him.
3:30 was the Chocolate Symposium. That is all I need to say about that.
More gaming with some of my local friends. I met up with Fir at some point, too, and we chatted a bit and decided to get our draft on at some point.
The evening was all about setting up for the Cabaret. It was a mad rush to transform the panel rooms into a stage (the panel rooms are connected by, well, panels), but we did it in about an hour. There had been some concern about the cabaret's lineup, but it ended up being fantastic with a lot of star talent, including:
*Drag King/Sockpuppet song medley
*Sticker Boys
*Stand-up comedians
*Burlesque
*Glowstick/breakdancing/stunt/bwuh?
At midnight, Kyell and Lyda did their reading of some of their old slash fiction, which was frackin' hilarious. Watching the two of them laugh themselves stupid with embarrassment, then egg the other one one, had everyone in stitches. Plus, Kyell had to explain to Lyda why all the furries giggled at her line, "His hand hovered over his sheathe a moment too long." I also got a signed print of Tech E. Coyote from Loonatics: Unleashed after revealing my favorite slash pairing: Scar from The Lion King and Beast from Beauty and the Beast. *blush* WORTH IT!!!
After that, Jiugui and I stayed up until five doing a Magic: the Gathering Draft with Fir, who taught us all about drafting. If you haven't met Fir, he's the tall furry that you will most likely see helping out with con suite. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met, and completely worth getting to know. Plus, he's plays a mean white/blue. :3
After that, it was time for (not nearly enough) sleep...
Day 3: Sunday
After getting up late, I went to a panel with Kyell, Zmeydros, and Tiliquain: Diversity and Stereotypes in Writing. Again, it was a great discussion, with plenty of interaction from the audience. Very thought-provoking.
Donovan and I spent some time in the Dealer's Room after that. We spent WAY too much money buying furry books, but that's okay. Got to show the family some love. I also got to talk to Snap E. Tiger of By Cats For Cats about a Dimby fursuit. He had great advice about character design, what to look for in a suit, and how to tackle a giant manticore tail. I'm hoping to grab a suit from him eventually, once the student loans and car payments are taken care of.
Werewolves and Sexual Identity came next. This one was good, but I was too tired by that point to remember much.
After the closing ceremonies, we packed a bunch of stuff up and I took Jiugui home.
When I got back to the hotel, I bumped into Donovan on the stairway, and I found out a dear, dear friend of ours (who also happened to be the con chair) had set up some time for us to talk to Kyell and Kit. K&K were nice enough to oblige our fanboying and just talk to us about conventions, the fandom, writing, and what they were up to. Donovan and I have so much respect for Kyell as an author, and getting to spend time with him and his mate was the highlight of our con. Kyell, if you're reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the chat. You have no idea how happy you made us, especially Donovan. I'm glad to see that someone as
I slept well that night.
Day 4: Monday
I went back to work, bright and early. XD
I've only really been to Gaylaxicon and MFF, but I can't wait to do it again. Our next con will likely be Gaymercon out on the west coast. Hope to see you there!
EDIT: Holy eff, I may need to break this wall of text up quite a bit. Sorry!
