Holy crap, it's been six months since I was last active on here. Guess I should post something then.

So without further ado,

Confuzzled 2011 Con Report

DAY 0 - The Journey Begins
So a few weeks ago I went down to manchester for confuzzled (my first con, very exciting). I met up with  KingKivuli at the train station on thursday (the day before the con) and we boarded a train bound for fuzzy fun. It was here that I learned my first lesson... trains suck! Seriously, last time I was on a train was so long ago I can't even remember it, but apparently all it takes is for a bird to build a nest and the whole train network breaks down.

Anyway, two taxis later we arrived at the hotel and were immediately greeted by the sight of a fursuiter with a puppet in the lobby. The day before the con and the fursuiters were already out and about, gotta lov' um. So after heading to our respective rooms and dropping our bags, we migrated back to the bar for a much needed alchoholic beverage or five, and mingled with the other furs for the rest of the night.

DAY 1 - Drinking While You Work
Waking up, slightly hungover, I went for breakfast and discovered that registration wasn't until two, leaving plenty of free time. That lasted for about ten minutes until  djomnifusion asked if I was coming along (didn't know where to at the time) and ended up with a volunteer badge helping to construct the main stage and ferrying various materials around the hotel. I'm still not sure how that actually happened. However as a result I got to meet some pretty cool people and also got to register early, leaving all those other losers to queue for hours to reg (or if you are like  Jonnee  Teravoc  miku_plantman and  Urbannight wait for several hours for the line to die down). Seriously, if you go to a con, do some volunteering. I highly recommend it.

After that was all finished it was time for the opening ceremony followed by a fantastic barbeque (I was so hungry by this point) and the the beginning of that evenings rain con. But never mind because it was time for the Wikifur pub quiz, the hardest quiz I've ever been a part of (seriously what was up with all the geography questions). Needless to say we came dead last. The night was then rounded up with more drinking and merriness before bed.

DAY 2 - Buckets o' Sweat
An early start for day two with the first convention panel, which although short, was made more amusing due to a visit from the fursuit performance panel. After that it was time to give the dealers den a visit with my sponsors only early access. This led to me ending up with a new tail, paws, comics, prints from Tani DaReal and awaiting a badge commission from JD Puppy So twenty minutes and a hundred pounds later, it was time for the fursuit fiasco, a sort of mini fursuit olympics. This was a great laugh, with fursuiters all over the place. There is no greater joy than watching fursuiters playing musical chairs, except maybe when they're given space hoppers.

Next up was the banner brawl rematch. For anyone who doesn't know, this was an event at EF where two teams, one male, one female, battle it out with quick fire improv drawing. The male team consisted of this years guest of honour  the_gneech,  JD_Puppy and  Colifox, while the female team had last years guest of honour :icoTaniDaReal:,  EosFoxx and  Korrok. the whole idea was very cool and made for a very interesting event.

That led on nicely to the furrylympics, which was carnage with audience members being abducted and a fursuit version of angry birds. Absolutely brilliant fun.

Later on was the frankly brilliant pawpet show. Holy crap was that funny. The whole thing was both fantastically written and performed. Follow that up with the usual evening ritual and I was about ready to pass out.

DAY 3 - Splash Zone
Started off with an informative drawing panel by Eosfoxx , followed by the dance contest, which was pretty cool. After that it was time for the sponsors buffet, where the staff gave us MOUNTAIN DEW. The real stuff as well, not that cheap imitation we get here. This may not have been the best idea in the world, but it did result in the best idea in all history with impromptu mountain dew can angry birds!

Heading off to get in position for the fursuit walk I encountered the results of the frankensuit event in the lobby, including the hilarious Lenny ( Seriously, check out my video of these suits, that thing was brilliant). The fursuit walk itself was great, although a strategically placed pole made for some rather amusing footage. This was followed by some fun outside Friday's at the end of the walk.

A little while later it was of to the cavalcade of cack, the second puppet show. This was a far more obscene, un-pc skit type show with no actual plot. And while the pawpet show was very funny, it couldn't match this for sheer hilarity. Where else would you find a puppet that pisses on the audience. We all thought the splash zone signs on the first few rows were a joke... we were wrong.

The final event I attended was the art auction, which while not as dramatic as last year, did have some tense moments. Unfortunately, I couldn't bid on any thing myself due to several more trips to the dealer's den.

DAY 4 - The Final Countdown
Other than closing ceremonies not much was going on monday so it was a time for hanging with friends and preparing to leave. It was raather depressing, but all good things must come to an end. At around 4 I took a taxi to the airport and boarded a train back north, and hated every minute of it, wishing I could stay and the con could continue.


So if you've managed to read this far I salute you. Hopefully it took less time for you to read than it took for me to write. If you weren't there, well... you just suck, but you can always go next year and I highly encourage all of you to go. You won't regret it.

I have to give out huge thanks to everyone who put up with me while I was there, in particular  LoneOx and  AwwSnookums you guys were awesome. It didn't matter where I went they always seemed to be there.

Well I said there would be pics and vids so here you are,
You can find the videos on my new youtube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TobiasBarker1
(Still uploading videos so keep an eye out)

And most of my photos are here
http://gallery.confuzzled.org.uk/ma.....2_itemId=33307


Roll on 2012, Hollwood, here I come! See you there!