Having been years since I last attended, Anthrocon was...interesting!

For one thing, sales were phenomenal, which fully justifies the past 6 months of intense design and manufacturing between WI and TX. It can be difficult to see the end result when you're in the trenches, facing an endless torrent of obstacles and tasks. We got inundated with interest from hour one, and sold a significant portion at the very start. Having tallied all of the individual requests for species tags (our most popular item), we now have a very tangible demographic for series 3. And wolves. Forge designs also sold moderately well, although I likely could have done more to make them more visible. Nonetheless, the concept is viable and I'll be moving forward with more of them. And wolves.

Outside of being chained to the table during Den hours, the rest of the con experience was like that of year's past, particularly in meeting people in person who I've only known of online. I'll admit that FA's volume of content (and the dismal "all-or-nothing" filters) keep me on the fringes of the community, which I've sort of always done. To that, I provide a lot of supplemental design to Syndactyl Arts and have a hand in most things produced. That level of involvement suits me for now, while I also balance a regular job, freelance graphics design, and maintain the various related personas. There's certainly more opportunity in some directions that others, so I might even become more visible here as my "art pendulum" swings from strictly design, back towards 'art'. Prior to sitting in the zoo, I hadn't drawn something freeform in months...

In short, it was good to see many of you, both old and new. My opinion of the over-arcing fandom is still somewhat uncertain, but I've already made a lot of awesome friendships from the very first AC (that I've attended), have received a lot of awesome art, and look forward to more of both.