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Reflections on Anthrocon 2016
9 years ago
Good evening all!
So, now that this amazing weekend of my first dive into furry fun times at AC is over, I'd like to sit down, get real with you all, and pretty much gush over everything that occurred.
Going into AC, I didn't know what to expect really. I've had my share of fandom related conventions in the past, mostly some pony conventions in Florida along with the popular Megacon. It was something I initially tried to hide from my nosy family, but I ended up telling them anyway to avoid bigger drama if caught lying. Of course, I was reminded how controversial the media portrays the furry fandom. It got annoying. I couldn't wait to board that plane alone and meet up with furries for the first time away from the computer screen.
Thankfully, the flight up to Pittsburgh was as smooth as smooth can be. My roomies picked me up at the airport and we had to endure QUITE the rush hour to reach the hotel only 16 miles away. Immediately when I got there and saw other furries, I remember my skin hairs being on end, wondering how they'd greet others. Would it be super awkward? Would they be as chill as the wonderful pair of foxes that picked me up from the airport? The answer for that would have to wait until tomorrow. I did get some interactions via Telegram with the macro fur group and I was pleasantly surprised to see them just as quirky as I was, casually RP'ing their grand entrances into the city of Pittsburgh.
So, first thing my group did was pick up our badges. And already, I felt like a such a noob to the whole convention scene. I waited in the wrong line... TWICE. Much time was wasted, but thankfully, a warm meal of pizza, wings, and giant seafood hoagies helped me settle in for the night. Oh, and did I mention we stayed at the Mariott? That place was AMAZING! Comfy beds, high class room service, and proximity to enough places to avoid paying for an 18 dollar breakfast buffet.
After food, and a good night's sleep, I woke up and quickly got ready to head over to convention. Along the way, it was so surreal to see tons of fursuiters walking around the city, with not many people awkwardly staring. In fact, many were asking for cute photos with them instead! I was also relieved to see the complete lack of religious protesters, and the oodles of security once we got into the con center. With the massacre in recent memory of my hometown, I am glad the convention was able to provide a sense of safety so we can enjoy the weekend in fur filled bliss.
Opening ceremonies was our first destination, and while in line, I got quite the smothering hug from
giantgrowingvixen. She definitely crushed me a bit, but it was well worth the greeting. We both fangirled inside about being there, and were fortunate enough to find good seeds near the middle of the Spirit of Pittsburgh area. Then to open up the convention, two furries started to sing a 20's style big band piece! Being the band nerd I am, I was hyped already to see talented performers kick off the convention. Then I saw the panel of the organizers of the con, including the famous Uncle Kage, who I was told recently is a macro fur, so more hype from my end for sure! It was absolutely crazy to see so much hard work go into making this truly the largest furry convention in the world.
Soon after the opening ceremonies, GGV and I decided to travel around the con, making sure we hit up all the locations to get our bearings. We were big fans of the game rooms for sure. And I was personally impressed with how easy everything was to find in the convention center. The schedule was filled tot he brim with so many events, that there was no way we could experience it all. So, we decided to hit up the Macro/Micro fur meetup panel. While the panel itself was pretty unorganized, my jaw dropped when I met the one and only DNA!
dnapalmhead I was so happy to see him act so casual and humble when meeting another fan. Definitely was my highlight of Friday.
After that, Vix and I decided to hit up a bit of the dealer's den. Nothing was bought, but we enjoyed the sights of it all. Afterwards, we battled it out at the Mario Kart 8 tournament. Vix was unfortunately knocked out round 1, but I made it to 3rd place out of 28 people! Ego was flying high for the rest of the day. Then, we hit up a famous place known as Fernando's. I got my doggie bowl with a lasgana wrap. Shame it will be closing down for 2017, but I am honored to snag a piece of furry con history. After relaxing back in the hotel a bit, I went out with Vix for some Werewolf games. It was her first time, and boy did she LOVE it! Village ended up winning the two games we played, with me scoring the final lynch in the second game on a cute dragon fursuiter. Poor suiter, he was so cute. D:
Saturday morning soon rolled around and I got ready for yet another fun filled day. After a quality breakfast, I met up with my roomies to tackle artist alley once again. It was then where I ordered my first AC badge. I can't wait to show you all once it is done! And it was nice to see people enjoying my Owen Grady cosplay. Shame I couldn't find any raptors to take a picture with. Raptor Jesus showed up after I changed out of cosplay... maaaan. Anyways, the parade was starting soon and I once more met up with my roomies to enjoy the Westin's signature furry milkshake. The sparkler on top was a nice touch! Although, I'm sure I drank an entire meal down with how loaded with sugar that shake was.
The parade started and my roomies bunched up inside the shaded part of the convention center. I was hoping for some music for the parade, and then a marching band began to blare in my face. Immediately, I was hyped as hell and whipped out my camera. I saw a lot of people high fiving the suiters, but I was too shy to approach them in their moment of awesome. It was crazy seeing how good these suiters looked. I was admittedly a little jealous, but then I remembered how expensive they are. Plus how annoying it would be to tend to it. I much rather use that time to socialize. It lated longer than expected too, but soon enough, I found myself back in Artist Alley/Dealer's Den. There was a smash brothers tournament going on that night, so Vix and I signed up for that. Not much happened in the Den outside of me getting a sketchbook from JAEH and telling him how big a fan I was of his work. The dude astounds me with how humble he is. He definitely charges way too low compared to other artists.
Dinner was approaching and I got invited out to an expensive Thai restaurant. Good food once more, and then it was a mad dash back to the hotel to change into more comfortable clothes. I had to run back to the convention center, got lost talking on the phone with my parents since I kept it touch with them, and ended up 10 minutes late. Thankfully, no names were called. Just a bunch of rules. The tourney went way worse for me as I got knocked out round 1. Vix got knocked out in round 2, although she should have been in top 16 with how close that match was. Either way, it was fun and we prepared for a rave! Smoke greeted us into the space, where so many lights and furs were dancing on the floor. I grinned and got close enough to the center to exchange dance moves with many others. I joined a congo line and cheered on a dance circle for sure. But, after an hour of this, I was already dead tired.
Sunday, I made it a mission to wake up early enough to hit up Dealer's Den when it opened. And my reward was an open commission slot from Kadath!
kadath Been a big fan of his art and I was stoked to have finally scored something from him. I also met up with Gideon and Cooner in the Den, happy to see more enthusiasts of big furs. Most of that day was chilling out in the Zoo, playing a game called Superfight! Much hilarity was had and I met more macro furs there too. Later on, I hung out with Vix in the game room just as it was closing. By then, it was back to the zoo for some deeper convos before closing ceremonies arrived. I was pretty bummed at that point, but still thrilled to have made the trip up and meet a lot of awesome people!
And the bottom line from all this is the following. I am so glad my preconceptions of furries in real life was shattered. Turns out this fandom is full of people just like me, and they just want to have fun in ways many people don't. I already cannot wait until AC 2017. Hopefully I can plan it a bit better so I can do more cool things!
In the meantime though, I will be happily advancing my career as a Research/Development Engineer, gaming hard with furs online, and maybe attend local furry meetups to pass the time before next year hits!
~ Zeus
So, now that this amazing weekend of my first dive into furry fun times at AC is over, I'd like to sit down, get real with you all, and pretty much gush over everything that occurred.
Going into AC, I didn't know what to expect really. I've had my share of fandom related conventions in the past, mostly some pony conventions in Florida along with the popular Megacon. It was something I initially tried to hide from my nosy family, but I ended up telling them anyway to avoid bigger drama if caught lying. Of course, I was reminded how controversial the media portrays the furry fandom. It got annoying. I couldn't wait to board that plane alone and meet up with furries for the first time away from the computer screen.
Thankfully, the flight up to Pittsburgh was as smooth as smooth can be. My roomies picked me up at the airport and we had to endure QUITE the rush hour to reach the hotel only 16 miles away. Immediately when I got there and saw other furries, I remember my skin hairs being on end, wondering how they'd greet others. Would it be super awkward? Would they be as chill as the wonderful pair of foxes that picked me up from the airport? The answer for that would have to wait until tomorrow. I did get some interactions via Telegram with the macro fur group and I was pleasantly surprised to see them just as quirky as I was, casually RP'ing their grand entrances into the city of Pittsburgh.
So, first thing my group did was pick up our badges. And already, I felt like a such a noob to the whole convention scene. I waited in the wrong line... TWICE. Much time was wasted, but thankfully, a warm meal of pizza, wings, and giant seafood hoagies helped me settle in for the night. Oh, and did I mention we stayed at the Mariott? That place was AMAZING! Comfy beds, high class room service, and proximity to enough places to avoid paying for an 18 dollar breakfast buffet.
After food, and a good night's sleep, I woke up and quickly got ready to head over to convention. Along the way, it was so surreal to see tons of fursuiters walking around the city, with not many people awkwardly staring. In fact, many were asking for cute photos with them instead! I was also relieved to see the complete lack of religious protesters, and the oodles of security once we got into the con center. With the massacre in recent memory of my hometown, I am glad the convention was able to provide a sense of safety so we can enjoy the weekend in fur filled bliss.
Opening ceremonies was our first destination, and while in line, I got quite the smothering hug from
giantgrowingvixen. She definitely crushed me a bit, but it was well worth the greeting. We both fangirled inside about being there, and were fortunate enough to find good seeds near the middle of the Spirit of Pittsburgh area. Then to open up the convention, two furries started to sing a 20's style big band piece! Being the band nerd I am, I was hyped already to see talented performers kick off the convention. Then I saw the panel of the organizers of the con, including the famous Uncle Kage, who I was told recently is a macro fur, so more hype from my end for sure! It was absolutely crazy to see so much hard work go into making this truly the largest furry convention in the world.Soon after the opening ceremonies, GGV and I decided to travel around the con, making sure we hit up all the locations to get our bearings. We were big fans of the game rooms for sure. And I was personally impressed with how easy everything was to find in the convention center. The schedule was filled tot he brim with so many events, that there was no way we could experience it all. So, we decided to hit up the Macro/Micro fur meetup panel. While the panel itself was pretty unorganized, my jaw dropped when I met the one and only DNA!
dnapalmhead I was so happy to see him act so casual and humble when meeting another fan. Definitely was my highlight of Friday.After that, Vix and I decided to hit up a bit of the dealer's den. Nothing was bought, but we enjoyed the sights of it all. Afterwards, we battled it out at the Mario Kart 8 tournament. Vix was unfortunately knocked out round 1, but I made it to 3rd place out of 28 people! Ego was flying high for the rest of the day. Then, we hit up a famous place known as Fernando's. I got my doggie bowl with a lasgana wrap. Shame it will be closing down for 2017, but I am honored to snag a piece of furry con history. After relaxing back in the hotel a bit, I went out with Vix for some Werewolf games. It was her first time, and boy did she LOVE it! Village ended up winning the two games we played, with me scoring the final lynch in the second game on a cute dragon fursuiter. Poor suiter, he was so cute. D:
Saturday morning soon rolled around and I got ready for yet another fun filled day. After a quality breakfast, I met up with my roomies to tackle artist alley once again. It was then where I ordered my first AC badge. I can't wait to show you all once it is done! And it was nice to see people enjoying my Owen Grady cosplay. Shame I couldn't find any raptors to take a picture with. Raptor Jesus showed up after I changed out of cosplay... maaaan. Anyways, the parade was starting soon and I once more met up with my roomies to enjoy the Westin's signature furry milkshake. The sparkler on top was a nice touch! Although, I'm sure I drank an entire meal down with how loaded with sugar that shake was.
The parade started and my roomies bunched up inside the shaded part of the convention center. I was hoping for some music for the parade, and then a marching band began to blare in my face. Immediately, I was hyped as hell and whipped out my camera. I saw a lot of people high fiving the suiters, but I was too shy to approach them in their moment of awesome. It was crazy seeing how good these suiters looked. I was admittedly a little jealous, but then I remembered how expensive they are. Plus how annoying it would be to tend to it. I much rather use that time to socialize. It lated longer than expected too, but soon enough, I found myself back in Artist Alley/Dealer's Den. There was a smash brothers tournament going on that night, so Vix and I signed up for that. Not much happened in the Den outside of me getting a sketchbook from JAEH and telling him how big a fan I was of his work. The dude astounds me with how humble he is. He definitely charges way too low compared to other artists.
Dinner was approaching and I got invited out to an expensive Thai restaurant. Good food once more, and then it was a mad dash back to the hotel to change into more comfortable clothes. I had to run back to the convention center, got lost talking on the phone with my parents since I kept it touch with them, and ended up 10 minutes late. Thankfully, no names were called. Just a bunch of rules. The tourney went way worse for me as I got knocked out round 1. Vix got knocked out in round 2, although she should have been in top 16 with how close that match was. Either way, it was fun and we prepared for a rave! Smoke greeted us into the space, where so many lights and furs were dancing on the floor. I grinned and got close enough to the center to exchange dance moves with many others. I joined a congo line and cheered on a dance circle for sure. But, after an hour of this, I was already dead tired.
Sunday, I made it a mission to wake up early enough to hit up Dealer's Den when it opened. And my reward was an open commission slot from Kadath!
kadath Been a big fan of his art and I was stoked to have finally scored something from him. I also met up with Gideon and Cooner in the Den, happy to see more enthusiasts of big furs. Most of that day was chilling out in the Zoo, playing a game called Superfight! Much hilarity was had and I met more macro furs there too. Later on, I hung out with Vix in the game room just as it was closing. By then, it was back to the zoo for some deeper convos before closing ceremonies arrived. I was pretty bummed at that point, but still thrilled to have made the trip up and meet a lot of awesome people!And the bottom line from all this is the following. I am so glad my preconceptions of furries in real life was shattered. Turns out this fandom is full of people just like me, and they just want to have fun in ways many people don't. I already cannot wait until AC 2017. Hopefully I can plan it a bit better so I can do more cool things!
In the meantime though, I will be happily advancing my career as a Research/Development Engineer, gaming hard with furs online, and maybe attend local furry meetups to pass the time before next year hits!
~ Zeus
