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Anthrocon 2017 -- My Summary
8 years ago
General
This is the end of a much longer report that I'm still working on assembling. When I have it completed, I'll post a link as it's likely to be TL:DR for many. (What can I say? You can't tell a story in a tweet.) This is my summary of the con.
The weather was warm and mostly clear, the city as green as it could be; very summer-y indeed.
Pittsburgh is beautiful! The suburbs are as green as Toronto used to be. The downtown core is full of wonderful old buildings, some dating back to around the war of independence. Pittsburghers, (if that's the word for them), are really nice, to tourists anyway. They've been working in the IT industry since the steel mill shut down and judging by their state of road repair, they're doing pretty well. If I had to move to the States, Pittsburgh would be a good choice.
Anthrocon is big. Really big. I mean you might think it's a long way down the street to the chemists, but that's nothing compared to Anthrocon! Listen…
But seriously, it's big. Running into someone you know is either something arranged in advance or a million to one shot. If you're not comfortable talking to strangers, it doesn't leave you much to do. That's why I spent so much time in panels.
The panels were useful, the writing technology panel especially. I'm not sure I learned much that I didn't know before, but I enjoyed them anyway.
The dealers den was big enough that I couldn't see it all in one go between panels. I barely got through the whole thing over the weekend before the con ended. Walking through the dealers den usually feels to me like passing through a zoo where they don't feed the animals. I really just wanted to see what kind of wares were on sale, but of course several dealers tried to get me talking to judge what they could sell me. Sorry, but I left empty handed, even though one table had some cute otter plushies.
The entrance to the DLCC was on the ground floor at the river end of the building. The dealers den and art show were on the second floor with entry on the river end of the building. The parade left from a big room on that floor, too. All the other programming was on the third or fourth floor at the street end of the building. It made for a long march to get anywhere. There was programming at the Westin as well, but I didn't get to any of it. Since only fursuiters and the mobility impaired were allowed to use the bridge between the Westin and the DLCC, getting between them would have been an even longer March. Understandably, there was no programming at the overflow hotels.
Getting around both the DLCC and the Westin involved riding escalators. Kids would sit on the moving handrails and ride that way. Their weight would put the handrails out of sync with the stairs and the escalator would stop automatically. This was a major problem, since the height between floors was considerable. Only fursuiters and the disabled were allowed on the few elevators, so out of service escalators meant climbing a lot of stairs. Luckily, I never encountered a stalled escalator. I assume the repair crews were on the job.
In the end, the main attraction of Anthrocon, or any Furry con, is just being with other Furries. In that, Anthrocon was a huge success. I got to spend four days immersed in Furry culture, (when I wasn't getting food or going to bed.) The second most important thing was the fursuiters. My only regret is that I didn't get to see Telephone. But there were big, living plushies everywhere around and it was so much fun! Third was the art, of course. But I spent so much time at panels and the dealers den that I never got to the art show. If I go again, I'll have to dedicate one day to just the art show and dealers.
Anthrocon has been compared to Furry Mecca; once in every Furry’s life, we are obliged to make the pilgrimage. Well, I finally did mine. I don't know if it entitles me to anything, but I did it and I'm glad.
Would I do it again? I'm not sure. It was an expensive trip! The Om-nom-ni alone cost about $875, (which was less than their estimate.) I could reduce that by coming Thursday and leaving Sunday, but Porter only has one flight a day to and from Pittsburgh and it's early, so I'd have missed most of Sunday. Maybe some of the other overflow hotels are cheaper. And of course I could share a room and divide the expense with roommates. I'm not sure I know anyone who would want to share a room with an old gaffer like me, though.
Porter only cost me about $285 round trip. I might have gotten that down by booking further in advance than I did, but that's still a really good price no matter how you go. Food and incidental expenses cost maybe $160 more. Plus some of my expenses are done now; my passport is good for ten years, my new laptop should be good for at least five.
So the question is, was Anthrocon worth the price? This time last year I would have said no. This year I’ve been in a better financial position, so yes, I can afford to spend that much money on that kind of fun. And it was a lot of fun! But would I do it again? It depends on whether I'm still in a good financial position and I can get better deals. I'd like to give it one more try though, now that I know what I'd be facing.
And I guess that's what this report is all about.
The weather was warm and mostly clear, the city as green as it could be; very summer-y indeed.
Pittsburgh is beautiful! The suburbs are as green as Toronto used to be. The downtown core is full of wonderful old buildings, some dating back to around the war of independence. Pittsburghers, (if that's the word for them), are really nice, to tourists anyway. They've been working in the IT industry since the steel mill shut down and judging by their state of road repair, they're doing pretty well. If I had to move to the States, Pittsburgh would be a good choice.
Anthrocon is big. Really big. I mean you might think it's a long way down the street to the chemists, but that's nothing compared to Anthrocon! Listen…
But seriously, it's big. Running into someone you know is either something arranged in advance or a million to one shot. If you're not comfortable talking to strangers, it doesn't leave you much to do. That's why I spent so much time in panels.
The panels were useful, the writing technology panel especially. I'm not sure I learned much that I didn't know before, but I enjoyed them anyway.
The dealers den was big enough that I couldn't see it all in one go between panels. I barely got through the whole thing over the weekend before the con ended. Walking through the dealers den usually feels to me like passing through a zoo where they don't feed the animals. I really just wanted to see what kind of wares were on sale, but of course several dealers tried to get me talking to judge what they could sell me. Sorry, but I left empty handed, even though one table had some cute otter plushies.
The entrance to the DLCC was on the ground floor at the river end of the building. The dealers den and art show were on the second floor with entry on the river end of the building. The parade left from a big room on that floor, too. All the other programming was on the third or fourth floor at the street end of the building. It made for a long march to get anywhere. There was programming at the Westin as well, but I didn't get to any of it. Since only fursuiters and the mobility impaired were allowed to use the bridge between the Westin and the DLCC, getting between them would have been an even longer March. Understandably, there was no programming at the overflow hotels.
Getting around both the DLCC and the Westin involved riding escalators. Kids would sit on the moving handrails and ride that way. Their weight would put the handrails out of sync with the stairs and the escalator would stop automatically. This was a major problem, since the height between floors was considerable. Only fursuiters and the disabled were allowed on the few elevators, so out of service escalators meant climbing a lot of stairs. Luckily, I never encountered a stalled escalator. I assume the repair crews were on the job.
In the end, the main attraction of Anthrocon, or any Furry con, is just being with other Furries. In that, Anthrocon was a huge success. I got to spend four days immersed in Furry culture, (when I wasn't getting food or going to bed.) The second most important thing was the fursuiters. My only regret is that I didn't get to see Telephone. But there were big, living plushies everywhere around and it was so much fun! Third was the art, of course. But I spent so much time at panels and the dealers den that I never got to the art show. If I go again, I'll have to dedicate one day to just the art show and dealers.
Anthrocon has been compared to Furry Mecca; once in every Furry’s life, we are obliged to make the pilgrimage. Well, I finally did mine. I don't know if it entitles me to anything, but I did it and I'm glad.
Would I do it again? I'm not sure. It was an expensive trip! The Om-nom-ni alone cost about $875, (which was less than their estimate.) I could reduce that by coming Thursday and leaving Sunday, but Porter only has one flight a day to and from Pittsburgh and it's early, so I'd have missed most of Sunday. Maybe some of the other overflow hotels are cheaper. And of course I could share a room and divide the expense with roommates. I'm not sure I know anyone who would want to share a room with an old gaffer like me, though.
Porter only cost me about $285 round trip. I might have gotten that down by booking further in advance than I did, but that's still a really good price no matter how you go. Food and incidental expenses cost maybe $160 more. Plus some of my expenses are done now; my passport is good for ten years, my new laptop should be good for at least five.
So the question is, was Anthrocon worth the price? This time last year I would have said no. This year I’ve been in a better financial position, so yes, I can afford to spend that much money on that kind of fun. And it was a lot of fun! But would I do it again? It depends on whether I'm still in a good financial position and I can get better deals. I'd like to give it one more try though, now that I know what I'd be facing.
And I guess that's what this report is all about.
Glad you got to go.