Anthrocon 2019 is over! It’s done for pretty much everyone except for the poor shambling furs in onesies amid business suits asking the ether where the Zoo moved to.

I don’t get PCD – that’s “Post-Con Depression” for the non-con nerds – anymore, but I think banging out a few paragraphs describing my con experience goes a long way to cope with the sudden change in pace.

If you’re looking for a short blurb, I’ll tell you what I told a few people who asked me how the con was going during the thing – I and my roomies “milked the hell” out of the con. We did a LOT, and I hope I can entertain you with the catalog that follows.

I spent the Fourth of July weekend at the wonderful Drury Inn with my friends  ArgentVZ,  geldazane (Bronzewing), and  Vonadi, beginning on Thursday, July 4th.

Thursday

I picked up Von from the airport while Argent grabbed Bronze on Argent’s way down from New York by car. Von wanted to go to Arby’s after his long flight, but that certainly wasn’t the food highlight of the day!

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not an adventurous eater – the pizza place around the corner is usually enough to sate me for the weekend (can I hear an amen from Dunk?). But for dinner Thursday night Von definitely wanted to hit the town to check out a couple of ethnic restaurants. I agreed to come along, and we settled on Bae Bae’s Kitchen. I wasn’t really sure what we were in for until I discovered the menu was Korean. Despite my limited culinary knowledge, I know tons about bulgogi, usually pitched as Korean BBQ, and was able to recommend that to Von. It’s what we both had (along with my milk tea) and it was delicious. Highly recommend them!

There were plenty of fireworks that night, but I certainly don’t mean us roomies were at each other’s throats! It was July 4th, and we had the opportunity to view the city’s fireworks show from the convention center. I thought it was a tad anemic at first, but then the real show started after about ten minutes and I was impressed! Not sure if it beats the show Baltimore puts on for the new year, but I “oohed” and “aahed”.

To wrap up the day, we wondered over to the zoo, where  Ian_Corvid was hosting a great party game called “Deception”. I think he summed it up as something that rewards a good bullshitter and that’s more or less accurate. If you like Clue-style murder mysteries, if you like collaborative gameplay – you’ll enjoy it. It’s a party game that works best with more people, on the order of 6+ in my opinion.

Friday

We slept in a bit the next morning, and apparently the hotel loves to pack the breakfast spread up a tad early, so we had to find somewhere to eat. We settled on Einstein Bros. It literally had a line out the door and several of their most popular varieties sold out, but that’s a common theme in downtown Pittsburgh during Anthrocon. I had never eaten at one of these before, but I picked the onion bagel with garlic herb shmear and….get yourself one of those next time you’re nearby one of those locations.

We stopped by the Dealers’ Den/Artists’ Alley off and on during the con, but I’ll mention it in full here since the bulk of the “action” happened on Friday. Argent and I stood in line to meet Ben Diskin, the voice of Haida the hyena from Aggretsuko. He’s the most down-to-earth guest of honor I’ve seen yet, really getting into his interactions with fans. Argent and I joked that he probably wasn’t going to be the same by Sunday after several thousand more signatures, but hell, he even did the parade the next day in a Haida fursuit, so what do we know?

I dropped some Tegon pins off at the Fursona Pins booth to sell. They had a perpetual line during the entire con, and I can’t really believe how fast they grew as a business. I was very slightly disappointed to sell only four pins, but I left the rest with who I think is Soap Pony to sell the rest on their Etsy.

In the early afternoon, we had the macro meet in the Westin. I had fun with so many macros, including  SixSydes (gracious guy who I will bet money on having his own suit within the next few ACs),  MFI (Covah),  rogue,  Tyrnn,  Kurrikage,  Dialuca01,  bighornywolf (Tokala), and  Aerys. Aerys was a surprise, because he made AC at the last minute. He showed me a little somethin’ I hope to share with you guys soon. Covah and I had our way with his faux city, and  Appledectomy brought a plastic model of New York, allowing for awesome POV shots. Stay tuned to my Twitter (@TegonDragon)!

That evening, thanks to  Sylox’s planning, we went with a big (no pun intended) group of macrofurs to the Spider-Man: Far From Home movie. I thought the best part of the movie was the mid-credits scene…make sure you stay behind and watch it! Otherwise, I found the movie a bit…odd. Mediocre? Well, I usually turn my brain off during the movie and even I was questioning a few of the plot points, so perhaps.

Regardless and quite frankly, I wanted to be over in Homestead so we could buzz over to Dave and Buster’s. It’s right down the street, and the four of us had dinner there. Afterwards, we played the Halo: Fireteam Raven arcade game from start to finish, an unforgettable experience! After a few games of skee-ball, fake slot machines, and a broken Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots game, Argent and I were able to pool our tickets to buy him the Pusheen – er, I mean, “celebrity cat” – light up silicone toy. I’m talking about this one, a decent prize for one of these money sink arcades!

Saturday

Looking out my hotel window Sunday night, I saw a bright red neon sign, half burnt out. Even with a good chunk of the letters dead, it dominated the skyline, much like the parade dominated Saturday morning and early afternoon. So this section will begin with one word: PARADE. Imagine that word like the neon sign in your head.

Ever since doing a macro photo shoot for me, Covah has been a good friend, and I felt I was blowing him off so far, albeit not really by choice. So to make up for it I was determined for us to be in the group fursuit photo together. Me and his ridiculously cute suit, complete with floppy ear. We cut it a little close, but we managed to find each other and when the photo is released you’ll see us together! While I have the chance I want to thank Von for supplying me with water and helping me put my head back on before the start of the march.

The parade video, as usual, is available on YouTube, thanks to Argent and Von filming it for me. Click here! If ya wanna see my suit, skip to 21:30.

The parade route was a lot shorter, thank God, so before I knew it I was in the meet and greet area to take pictures with the general public. We got a nice group photo with dragons, courtesy of Omi, who showed me his huge gem – not a euphemism! I also chatted with some of the con staff, and when finally too sweaty I ambled back to the Drury.

As a special treat for my special roomies (yeah, they’re special, alright), I took them to Ruth’s Chris across town for dinner, just like I did in 2016. A fancy steakhouse is a nice change of pace from the crap you usually eat during a con - plus I don’t think any of us had seen a table comb before, so that was fun. Von told me his ribeye was the best steak he’s had, which makes you feel all fuzzy inside as the host!

Argent drove us back and forth due to the on-and-off rain. We were kind of like our own little family – Von and Bronze as the kids arguing in the back, Argent as the irritated dad, and me as the mother hen. Argent educated us in the ways of the New York driver (“Uh, Argent, it says no turn on red” *turns* -“Oh fuck, it does!”), and we bugged him to go to a place we saw on the way back called “Sinful Sweets”.

After the car got back to the Drury, I threw on my partial and headed on over with Argent and Von. I had a chocolate shake (quite decent!) and Von spent ten bucks on edible cookie dough that TSA made him throw out before he could even enjoy it.

Later, we set up at the Zoo with Von’s custom Cards Against Humanity deck, already a hit at last year’s con. It wasn’t long until he attracted a crowd laughing their collective asses off. That included  Meowdini,  j-forse,  squirrellyjay,  naoyaraichi (Tobo), and  Appledectomy.

Sunday

The last day we had no choice but to get up early; that’s because the four of us were scheduled to participate in a Fuzzy Logic Escape Room! I had done an escape room exactly once before, at MFF. This time we finished with plenty of time to spare, and – ya know, I’ll be honest – I didn’t do much, but I’m happy with what I contributed. These escape rooms are a must-do if you’re at a con with a group of friends. They’re well-constructed and everyone in our group had a blast.

After that, it was time to head to the airport to see Bronze and Von off. And thus ended our Anthrocon 2019 journey! Check out my Twitter page, @TegonDragon, for plenty more con photos, including those taken at the macro meet. Catch you in 2020~

P.S. Thanks Argent for being my handler! I hope you enjoy your dino school supplies!