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BLFC2015 Aftermath
10 years ago
General
It's been a long time since I've posted a journal here; guess I just don't have a lot to say, at least out here. :)
So, this year, we decided to go to a somewhat closer con than last year, as it was just frankly too costly to get to Anthrocon. Not impossible, certainly, but just more than we really wanted to do again. So a con in a neighboring state would be easier, right...?
Just a tip: 13+ hours of driving is more than anyone should really ever do in one day. My mate maaaay have bitten off a bit more than he could chew, but it ended up alright anyway. :) But we were starting to get pretty punch-drunk and tired by the end of the drive. It was definitely an experience going on that long of a road trip with two of our friends,
Zanazibar and 
Nikitty, though! I know that the trip was... not exactly their most favorite thing in all the world, but hopefully the con was fun enough for them to make up for it.
One of the things that makes BLFC very unusual and unique is that it's hosted in the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, unlike most cons that are in hotels or convention centers. So in addition to the con itself, without even having to drive, there was also access to go-karts, minigolf, a multitude of restaurants, an arcade - and of course the gambling floor. Also a Wal-Mart right across the street to get last-minute supplies.
I think it should show how much fun I had when I say that I didn't actually find the time to go to the casino floor and gamble, despite never having done so before and having planned to give it a little bit of a try. There was enough going on that I had a good time without it. :)
The con itself did something that I'd been really hoping for since my first con; most cons have a theme of some sort, but at least the ones I'd been to did very little about actually 'selling' it. E.G. Califur2013 was 'Furtual Reality', but pretty much the only thing the con actually did was a (admittedly very cool) cyberspace-styled con badge and using painter's tape to make Recognizers around some of the doors. BLFC, on the other hand, had a theme of Dystopia, and more specifically of an evil megacorp takeover.
And they sold it - the moment you walked into the con space, you knew they'd actually put some thought into it. There were propaganda posters everywhere; the water bottle they gave to Patrons and Sponsors was labeled that it was only for corporate-approved "Liquid" (written out in the Coca-Cola font); there was a shrine to a framed picture of Biggest Little Brother, Bromethius Bear, set out in the registration area; even 'corporate announcements' blaring over the dealer's den at regular intervals...
What really, really impressed me was the way they let the theme develop and evolve as the con progressed - the posters became defaced by a growing Resistance, they broke into the official Twitter feed a few times, and in the latter portions of the con, you even saw people tearing down/stealing some of the posters or putting up the red fist symbol of the Resistance here and there.
I've never heard of a con going this all-out on the theme and it was an absolute pleasure. I know that, in no small part, many people don't go to the con for the con itself (they go to meet with friends, to get exclusive/hard-to-get stuff at the Den, etc), but I've always thought that the other cons were missing out on wonderful opportunities - and I hope people were paying attention to BLFC. I'd love to see this kind of interactivity spread to other cons.
Additionally, this con also marked the first time my mate got to fursuit in public with his new fursuit! It is ridiculously adorable. :) Sadly, the fursuiter group picture before the parade was really bad for him, you can barely see him in the ones currently uploaded, but ah well. People got to see him in the parade and wandering around the floor as well. :) I'm sure he'll soon be talking about how much fun he had!
It wasn't all perfect - panels got moved around a lot, which made it hard to find things, a bunch of the room parties (that I didn't go to anyway) got shut down for noise complaints, etc. But those were fairly minor complaints in comparison to how well they nailed the good points. :)
One more compliment to the staff: Apparently the Resistance went a LITTLE crazy - apparently it wasn't planned on for people to steal the posters and so on, but they showed how quick they can think on their feet when they put up a request for people to 'regain their loyalty to BLFCorp' by paying $1 to the charity for each poster grabbed - props to them for figuring out so quickly a way to work around an unforeseen problem!
A word of warning for people using Sprint or cell phone companies that subcontract with Sprint for service; reception in and around the hotel kind of sucks. AT&T seems to do better. But that's hardly the con's fault, of course!
All in all, it's hard to believe this was the con's third year in operation - and I certainly look forward to going again next yet.
Just not by car all in one day, I hope. <_< >_>
So, this year, we decided to go to a somewhat closer con than last year, as it was just frankly too costly to get to Anthrocon. Not impossible, certainly, but just more than we really wanted to do again. So a con in a neighboring state would be easier, right...?
Just a tip: 13+ hours of driving is more than anyone should really ever do in one day. My mate maaaay have bitten off a bit more than he could chew, but it ended up alright anyway. :) But we were starting to get pretty punch-drunk and tired by the end of the drive. It was definitely an experience going on that long of a road trip with two of our friends,
Zanazibar and 
Nikitty, though! I know that the trip was... not exactly their most favorite thing in all the world, but hopefully the con was fun enough for them to make up for it.One of the things that makes BLFC very unusual and unique is that it's hosted in the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, unlike most cons that are in hotels or convention centers. So in addition to the con itself, without even having to drive, there was also access to go-karts, minigolf, a multitude of restaurants, an arcade - and of course the gambling floor. Also a Wal-Mart right across the street to get last-minute supplies.
I think it should show how much fun I had when I say that I didn't actually find the time to go to the casino floor and gamble, despite never having done so before and having planned to give it a little bit of a try. There was enough going on that I had a good time without it. :)
The con itself did something that I'd been really hoping for since my first con; most cons have a theme of some sort, but at least the ones I'd been to did very little about actually 'selling' it. E.G. Califur2013 was 'Furtual Reality', but pretty much the only thing the con actually did was a (admittedly very cool) cyberspace-styled con badge and using painter's tape to make Recognizers around some of the doors. BLFC, on the other hand, had a theme of Dystopia, and more specifically of an evil megacorp takeover.
And they sold it - the moment you walked into the con space, you knew they'd actually put some thought into it. There were propaganda posters everywhere; the water bottle they gave to Patrons and Sponsors was labeled that it was only for corporate-approved "Liquid" (written out in the Coca-Cola font); there was a shrine to a framed picture of Biggest Little Brother, Bromethius Bear, set out in the registration area; even 'corporate announcements' blaring over the dealer's den at regular intervals...
What really, really impressed me was the way they let the theme develop and evolve as the con progressed - the posters became defaced by a growing Resistance, they broke into the official Twitter feed a few times, and in the latter portions of the con, you even saw people tearing down/stealing some of the posters or putting up the red fist symbol of the Resistance here and there.
I've never heard of a con going this all-out on the theme and it was an absolute pleasure. I know that, in no small part, many people don't go to the con for the con itself (they go to meet with friends, to get exclusive/hard-to-get stuff at the Den, etc), but I've always thought that the other cons were missing out on wonderful opportunities - and I hope people were paying attention to BLFC. I'd love to see this kind of interactivity spread to other cons.
Additionally, this con also marked the first time my mate got to fursuit in public with his new fursuit! It is ridiculously adorable. :) Sadly, the fursuiter group picture before the parade was really bad for him, you can barely see him in the ones currently uploaded, but ah well. People got to see him in the parade and wandering around the floor as well. :) I'm sure he'll soon be talking about how much fun he had!
It wasn't all perfect - panels got moved around a lot, which made it hard to find things, a bunch of the room parties (that I didn't go to anyway) got shut down for noise complaints, etc. But those were fairly minor complaints in comparison to how well they nailed the good points. :)
One more compliment to the staff: Apparently the Resistance went a LITTLE crazy - apparently it wasn't planned on for people to steal the posters and so on, but they showed how quick they can think on their feet when they put up a request for people to 'regain their loyalty to BLFCorp' by paying $1 to the charity for each poster grabbed - props to them for figuring out so quickly a way to work around an unforeseen problem!
A word of warning for people using Sprint or cell phone companies that subcontract with Sprint for service; reception in and around the hotel kind of sucks. AT&T seems to do better. But that's hardly the con's fault, of course!
All in all, it's hard to believe this was the con's third year in operation - and I certainly look forward to going again next yet.
Just not by car all in one day, I hope. <_< >_>
But the other people I know who went all said pretty much the same things you did. I, too, have always wondered why cons didn't stick to themes very well (and yet hoped they would), and the fact that BLFC did such a good job (and all of the other amazing things I've heard about the con) makes me VERY interested in attending next year.
PLANS. I have them.