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CON REPORT: Anthrocon 2009 “OMG Aliens!”

Thursday—

Back to Pittsburgh, woohoo!
The flights were better than last year’s, mostly due to a lack of barotrauma (yay, generic Sudafed!), though the seat on my connecting flight out of Washington felt like I was sitting on a plank of wood rather than a cushion. I managed to sleep the entire flight, though, so I suppose it wasn’t TOO bad.
While moving through the airports I played an observation game I started last year called, “Spot-the-Furry.” Basically I looked around at the people moving through the airports to see if I could figure out any other convention goers, simply by appearance alone. Remembering previous cons, one can be surprisingly accurate. Just look for geek apparel, unkempt hair, extremely casual clothing, and so on. I didn’t bother counting this time, though I did notice quite a few with about eighty percent accuracy. It’s an interesting way to pass the time. I also used the time to work on a drawing for a friend.
Hours later, I arrived in Pittsburgh and encountered sharing the same shuttle to the hotel as I am (we noticed that the driver was struggling with both our luggage; somehow I had the feeling we wouldn’t be the first).
Upon checking in, I found that the room was already prepared and waiting. Not only that, but it was on the fifth floor; the lowest habitable level of the hotel, which meant we could bypass long lines at the elevator just by taking a couple flights of stairs. Nice!
I dropped off my stuff and headed downstairs to mill about with the rest of the convention attendees. After getting to the lobby, it wasn’t long before I saw a familiar face out of the crowd, . We exchanged greetings (heh, he named his fox plushie after one of my characters) and were then on our separate ways. I hadn’t had lunch yet so I grabbed a pizza at the Pizza & Panini restaurant inside the hotel, and then went back to the room to relax. It isn’t long before I got a call from one of my roomies, Nauta, that he had just arrived, as well. Shortly after he dropped off his own belongings we headed back downstairs to the lobby to see who else we could find. Verm found us here, and the third roommate, , called later from the pizza place and we found him sitting with Gushousekai waiting.
After unloading his gear in the room, he, Nauta, and I headed to the parking lot to help him carry the rest of his luggage over.
Registration wasn’t for another couple of hours so, having nothing else to do, we went back down to the lobby and socialized. Commander Kitsune/Larry Wise arrived shortly thereafter so we spent some time conversing, then after that I suggested we hit the convention center and maybe see how the setup for the Dealers Den was going (they moved to a larger hall in the convention center this year, and the walkway from the hotel to the third floor escalators overlooked the entire room). It was quite a nice view.
At seeing the crowds in front of the room itself, we realized registration had started over half-an-hour earlier than expected. Just as we were about to be overwhelmed by the huge line, we found the pre-reg signs directing to shorter lines and got our badges, finding Nauta there as well (he had parted to find some of his friends earlier). Tef’s badge came back mysteriously blank, but luckily he managed to talk the staff into fixing it within minutes. More casual chatting followed within the crowds, and then some browsing around before returning to the room.
Once there, Tef and I went through the stuff in the con bags (The picture I submitted made it into the conbook! Look on page 30) and conversing about some of our story characters. We still had plenty of time left in the day so we mostly traversed between the room, the lobby, and back to the convention center just to walk around and see who all would be attending. We also caught Shawntae right as we were on our way back, then as we were all returning realized our rooms were right next to each other.
Though we wanted to wait until our final roomie, Jake Bunny, arrived before going out for dinner, we weren’t quite sure when he’d get there so we decided to head to Steel City Diner anyway, as we were hungry. It was COLD outside! At least, too cold for summer. It felt like Autumn weather. Interestingly enough, low temperature would be a trend for me this year; I guess I was right on picking the fennec as a fursona Anyways, great meal as usual at Steel City. Chocolate-chip pancakes!
Not long after returning to the Westin, Jake finally arrived. We helped him bring his stuff back from the parking garage and then accompanied him to registration. While he waited in line Tef and I went up to the Mezzanine of the convention center, where we were greeted by a wondrous view of Pittsburgh in the evening. Some of the blue LEDs on the roof were out, though.
The rest of the evening was spent just chilling.


Friday—

Jake was anxious to find a Starbucks that morning, and Nauta wanted to find a coffee shop ASIDE FROM Starbucks. He had an idea of one he’d gone to earlier so we decided to check it out. I’m not really a coffee drinker and I would have preferred breakfast, but Nauta said the place he was taking us, “Crazy Mocha” had drinks other than coffee, as well as pastries, so I went along.
The four of us decided to sit in for breakfast there; it was a nice little shop with good raspberry tea and some equally-good blueberry muffins. Though it began raining as we were eating, it was gone by the time we exited.
We stopped by the room to grab out con gear and headed for the convention center to get a spot in line for the Dealers Den. It was about an hour-and-a-half until opening, so we hoped there would be a good spot…
Heh, nope…
As I said before, the Den was located in B Hall this year, which not only gave it more function space but also made it closer to the escalators. Our spot in line was waaaaaaay back at C Hall, where the OLD function space used to be. Ah well, perhaps I can try some of the high-priority dealers tomorrow. I wanted to grab a commission from and then (Shawntae Howard) first, but seeing how many people were between use and the entrance, I decided to try Natasha tomorrow and instead make a beeline for Shawntae, as he also had many items I wanted to get before selling out, including a commission slot.
I’ll say right now that the variation of our group (me, Tef, Nauta, and Jake) are interesting, but make for a great combination as far as conversations go. The four of us were able to keep ourselves occupied pretty well when together (a trend that continued throughout the entire con). Nighteyes was also there to chat with while we waited. I noticed that the line had gotten so long that by the time the Den finally opened, it had made a U-shape and stretched all the way back to the escalators. I’d say it’s a pretty popular function at Anthrocon…
As usual, once the Den opened it was a blur of walking around, meeting people, commissioning, buying, and so on. I caught Shawntae, of course, and got an update on goings-on with the Extinctioners universe. On that note, the comic is finally back! Not one but TWO different ones came out this year: a continuation of the series itself, and the beginning of a miniseries that retells the first story with updated details and artwork. Though neither were COMPLETELY ready at this time (the printing process was a bit slower than normal), there were black-&-white preview editions ready to go, so I picked up a copy of each along with Ken Singshow’s Andorozon! preview (he shared the table with Shawntae this year). Next, I stopped by and ; two whom I haven’t seen since 2004. They had their own table this year! Not only that but Cybre had something interesting to tell me. Earlier this year she opened up the floor for “test subjects” for her conbadge material. My fursona was among those she chose, and a beautiful badge came out of it. Upon finding it at the table, she requested that I wait on picking it up so that she would have some examples to show other attendees. I gladly accepted that and proceeded to commission them both. Aerokat is the artist of two webcomics, Nightshift and Starfire Agency. One of them involves, among other things, superheroes, which made her a perfect artist to commission for my R-Force characters. For Cybre, I requested a drawing of my bunnygirl, Melon, at which point she said it would be an interesting challenge since she’d never drawn rabbits before. After that I stopped by the table and met David and Liz Lillie. I got an update on how the next graphic novel was coming along, then found that they still had copies of their custom sketchbooks left to buy, so I went ahead and snagged one (they’re really neat; it’s a sketchbook with DreamKeeper’s-style artwork on the cover; I thought it would look perfect as a themed sketchbook). I also commissioned them for a picture of my character, Lily, along with ’s Bambi (both bats; I thought they’d look neat in his style).
I don’t quite remember the order in which I met others after that, but I do remember dropping by gNAW’s table at the Artist Alley and commissioning a pic of Voltage, my wolf fighter in the R-Force (I’d get a couple of those this year for that theme). Aaron Larson also happened to be there; it was the first time I’d meet him in person (he created the “Anacoonda” species as part of a card game/story universe called CLASH!). I also hit Fur Planet’s table, where I got caught up with my friend Fuzzwolf and grabbed a couple of comics. Stopped by ’s table and picked up the original to my “action” conbadge he made previously (meant to tag it to my backpack this year, heh). Found one of the comic sellers (I think it was Minotaur) and discovered they carried the old Fangs of K’aath comics. Since I loved the novel I decided to get the comics as well; they had issues one through four. Found more comics at M&T, visited Xian Jaguar to say hi (again ) and picked up Letters ‘n Ladies, picked up a couple more at Club Stripes, dropped by ’s table for a bit, said hi to and bought a bookmark (it happened to be one that wasn’t selling as well. I have no idea why; it was a beautiful lady gracing it! Kalika said some people don’t react to calicos as much, so perhaps that had something to do with it), caught at her table, browsed Angry Viking Press (Andorozon! 4 is coming out soon!), caught in the Alley and commissioned him for another R-Force character while catching up a bit, and then found the Shard table.
Shard is a tabletop RPG that just recently debuted; I remember seeing an ad for it on one of the conbooks this year (there were two; one for the art and stories, another for information like Den tables and such) and was intrigued by the setting, as it was a departure from traditional Western-European style, opting to go for something a bit further east, like India and that general area. Having came off of Fangs of K’aath earlier this year, it certainly grabbed my attention. I’ll readily admit I don’t play RPGs, HOWEVER, I do see them as a great way to gain inspiration for stories and characters, so I glanced around the table to see what this was about. The creator, manning the table, was quite friendly and proud of what he made, explaining the setting and how the game worked. It was evident he’d spent plenty of time and energy on it, and the game intrigued me more so I decided to buy the compendium, anxious to see how the character creation system worked (I later browsed through it after the convention and found it to be quite neat and detailed).
By that time I was getting hungry. Luckily, Nauta and a couple of friends were heading to Fernando’s, I mean, FURnando’s (another thing about Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, the locals love us ) so Jake and I went with them for lunch.
The rest of the afternoon was spent between the room and the Dealer’s Den as usual. Shortly before its closing I helped Jake find Sue Deer’s table and I happened to come across ’s table, an artist I’d discovered online a mere month ago. We exchanged greetings (she’s quite friendly ^_^ ), I bought a copy of her Hybrid comic (she also draws for Katmandu), and I also submitted a commission for her of Melon.
After the Den closed, both Jake and Nauta were anxious to go swimming, so we quickly headed to the room and get our swimwear on. Nauta’s friend Fritz came along as well.
However, there was a complication at the pool; only hotel guests could use the facilities. If you didn’t have a room key, you weren’t allowed in. Nauta and I were the only ones who brought our keys, so Jake had to go back up to the room but Fritz was denied access. Nauta didn’t want to swim without him, but Jake still wanted to go to the pool so the two of us went instead after he returned for his key (after a lengthy wait at the elevators, that is. I still don’t understand why there aren’t any stairs to the forth floor; elevators during the convention are ALWAYS full going up AND down, so we had to wait for a moderately-sized gap in the crowds to get off the floor).
Upon finally getting back, I realized the water was COLD.
We traded a couple of laps and chatted while in the water, then after a while decided to head back and grab some dinner. Jake needed to check on his car anyway (it was an old Plymouth Laser lacking a third gear; amazing he even made it to Pittsburgh from Indiana. Interestingly enough, the Dodge Neon he drove to Philadelphia for Anthrocon 2004 ALSO lacked a third gear. A sign, perhaps? Or a very odd coincidence, at the very least).
While on our way back to the lockers, I noticed one of the guys from weight room had also come in; rather buff fellow. He asked, “Hey, are you guys those ‘furries’?”
I smiled, toweling off, “Yep!”
“Did you see that guy in the dragon suit with the huge rack? I think his name was Iceman?”
At that moment Jake nearly burst out laughing; HE (the guy asking) was Iceman. One of his friends came in and we realized he was playing around with us. They were also surprised that Jake was in the military like they were. They traded small talk about their time serving while getting dressed.
Afterwards we went to check on Jake’s car. It was fine, and here was a well-kept black Fiero just a few slots down, as well as a really nice SLR Mercedes near the entrance. We stopped by Pizza Parma on our way back.
Upon arriving at the hotel, we dropped by Indigo’s room (she was sharing it with Shawntae and some other friends) and ate there with Tef joining us.
One of Indi’s friends, a newcomer, told how she was nearly ganged up by a group of Bible-toting zealots (yikes), then another friend joined Jake in nearly scaring Indigo half to death with Star Trek geekery (LOL), and after that Jake told some stories of how he brought his mom to Anthrocon 2001, then made an… interesting impression at Midwest FurFest years later.
I REALLY wish I had video’d Jake; his stories are hilarious enough to rival Uncle Kage’s (I honestly thought we’d get noise complaints from all the loud laughing). I’ll try and do that next time if I can convince him to repeat them.
arrived during that time, and soon after we decided to head downstairs to the convention center; Uncle Kage’s show was about to begin. It was preceded by the best Billy Mays impression I’d ever seen. The show it was great as well, though a bit difficult to hear due to the microphone blurring.
Deerock, Jake, and I went back to the Westin for a bit, caught Commander Kitsune while there, and hung around the Zoo for a while. Jake and I began chatting about some pic ideas when the subject of zebras came up. It turned out that we both adored that particular species. After a short while, Jake and Deerock went looking for (Moonie) while I went my own way, though I knew where they were eventually headed (the dance), so it was back to the convention center (all this walking about is considered normal for Anthrocon now, so all you future-attendees, make sure you’re ready!). I caught Nighteyes there and relaxed in the open space nearby, listening to the dance music while waiting for Jake and the others.
Before long, they’d arrived and headed right in, and later Jake came and pulled me in as well, heh.
I refused to dance, mostly out of sheer fear of embarrassing myself (I gots no rhythm! XD), though I did ponder the notion of figuring out how to spin those longer glowsticks. Maybe… just maybe…
In the meantime, I sat in the back with Moonie and watched the lightshow while listening to the music; I do like that style in general. It also gave me a pic idea for Kaili.
After a quick stop in the Zoo, I saw Mark McCloud, where we caught up with a few goings-on before heading back.
Jake and I came back in late and it was immediately off to bed.


Saturday—

That morning we found Commander Kitsune in the lobby in his Navy uniform (Mil. Furs breakfast, I think). Tef wasn’t interested in Steel City for breakfast but Nauta, Jake, and I were, so the three of us headed there and ate before returning for a spot at the Dealer’s Den. We arrived at the convention center at about the same time relative as before (hour-and-a-half) and found that while there was STILL a line, it was nowhere near as long (we were roughly at the restrooms past the B Hall entrance). Tef was already there and once again, the four of use entertained ourselves with conversation as we waited.
I successfully grabbed a commission spot from Dark Natasha as it opened and decided to have her christen my new sketchbook from DreamKeepers. Given the design on the cover resembled something ancient, I designated it my first official themed sketchbook, dedicated to my Ancient Auran Sages. Naturally, Akosha the mare was my selection. Dark Natasha seemed intrigued with the design of David Lillie’s sketchbook, and she liked the idea when she saw the reference pic I prepared for her, given her admiration of horses. Even Heather Bruton stopped for a glance and asked me what kind of horse Akosha was. I replied, “Oh, she’s a Friesian,” which they appeared to like the sound of, given that particular breed is known for its looks (especially the mane).
While going about the Den I picked up my sketchbook from Shawntae (great picture of Voltage and Rain Dancer) and helped Nauta secure a commission slot for a collaboration commission of our characters, Sethrik and Kaili. I also stopped by Aerokat and Cybre’s table; Aerokat was finished with mine (the pair looked great) and Cybre was almost finished with Melon. She mentioned that it was interesting that ever since I commissioned her for a rabbit, she started getting MORE rabbit character commissions. I began wondering if my fursona also had something to do with it, given that they said my conbadge example got so much attention from other visitors to the table that others wanted to try it (everybody loves da big ears ). She then asked if I would like to join them in the zoo later that night, to which I happily agreed to after the fireworks were over. gNAW had also completed my commission of Voltage, and did not disappoint. It was an awesome action pose (kinda reminds me of Spike from Cowboy Bebop, now that I think about it, which isn’t a bad thing at all). David Lillie had also finished with Lily and Bambi; they both looked great as always (I don’t’ think I’ve seen him draw bats until now).
After browsing around a bit more, Jake and I decided to head for the Art Show. It’s great to peruse with a friend because you get to bounce comments off each other around different pieces. Deerock joined us later on.
Seeing some of the pieces there reminded me that there were a couple of tables I meant to check: Michele Light and Little Paw (Terrie Smith).
I led Jake over and while he browsed Michele’s prints and asked about t-shirts I checked Terrie Smith’s table. Terrie herself couldn’t make it this year but Glen was manning the table pretty well. I got the chance to ask him about the comic, Havoc Inc., as I’d heard it would be making a comeback soon. Indeed it was, though there were still some printing matters to work out. Issue 10 might be totally online, but the series is not over. In addition, Glen mentioned that Terrie wanted to continue the old “Lark and Key” comic, at least up to a point where they would end up meeting Chester and Deck from Havoc (and idea which I liked the sound of; I’d been wanting to see more of Lark and Key, too).
A quick stop at the room to drop off recent purchases, and it was back to the Den for more perusing. I managed to find DC Rabbit in the Alley and nabbed his last commission slot right when the Fursuit Parade began. Due to my being trapped in the Alley’s register line, I missed part of the first half, but when I found a gap I hurried out the door and joined Jake, Tef, Deerock, and later Gushousekai in the hallway where we got some excellent photos of the rest of the parade. There was a myriad of designs this year, and all were really fun to look at.
We went back to the room for lunch (I dined on leftovers from Steel City and Furnando’s) and rested up a bit before going back down to the Den again to take some last-minute lookarounds before it closed. I managed to get a commission of Akosha from (she does great horses) and then I figured that would pretty much it for me for the day. I also introduced Nauta and Jake to a few artists as the former looked for more commission opportunities and the latter was looking for a particular comic (met Spunky while doing so, showed Jake to Fuzzwolf). I then found Aerokat and Nauta had an idea to commission her. Cybre wasn’t there due to illness, unfortunately.
Nauta and I took a break across the hall from the Den entrance, near the floor-to-ceiling glass windows where we checked the schedule to see what else was going on and then show off our recent commissions. We also noticed that on the river seen across the street there were a bunch of boats beginning to gather; no doubt to watch the fireworks. We could already see the police blocking off the bridges where everything was being set up. Jake and Tef later joined us where I finally convinced the bunny to start writing down the quotes for our “Weird Things Heard at Conventions” project; Nauta supplied some good ones while we were at it.
After dropping off our things in the room, Jake and Deerock wanted to grab some food, but not before looking for Moonie in Indigo’s room (it turned out that Moonie was rooming two doors down from there). She wasn’t there, but we arrived just in time to see Indigo make a HILARIOUS faux pas when decorating a collar for one of her clients (the phrase “bells ‘n whistles” gets a whole new meaning now….
After that Jake, Deerock, and I headed out into town for food. I wasn’t all that hungry, but wanted to hang out so I tagged along and we settled on Golden Palace Chinese Buffet (same place we ate at last year when the skies opened and those tornado warnings blared; the weather was nice this time around).
After that, it was back to the hotel where we checked out the Zoo to see if anyone was there. I imagine poor Cybre’s being ill prevented her and Aerokat from being there, but we did find Nauta with his laptop (Jake needed to find some quick phone numbers to his workplace back at home).
After that Jake and I decided to head up to the Mezzanine and watch the fireworks. As expected, there was a huge crowd gathering, but we managed to snag a spot on the railing where we could see the bridge.
The show itself was spectacular (I’d never seen “smiley face” and “star-shape” explosions before… It was amazing!) Brilliant pyrotechnics all around!
After it was over, we caught the last few minutes of 2’s Rant (it was taking place at the same time the fireworks were), and then went down to the Zoo to hang out and sketch for a while. We finally found an open table and began working on a few sketches; Jake was itching for a pic idea, so I remembered our conversation on zebras and then recalled that the bunny had a fascination with lingerie (as evident in his reactions to some pics in the art show). I suggested he draw my zebra lady, Ninevah, who happened to be a lingerie model. While he happily got to work on her, I began the pic idea I got last night: Kaili in a rave (he’d totally be the kinda guy who would do that). I got some helpful tips from Jake and Deerock in the process, and before long (it felt like), it was already past midnight.


Sunday—

It was a bright, beautiful morning outside, which was a good thing since it helped lighten the realization that this was the final day of the con for us.
Jake, Nauta, and I headed out to check on Jake’s car, and then stopped by Crazy Mocha for breakfast. After that, it was back to the convention center for last-chance purchases. The charity for this year happened to have some of their animals on display throughout the convention; the one I happened to catch here was a great horned owl (beautiful creature; my favorite of the owls). From there I picked up some of my commissions; the two Akosha pics from Dark Natasha and ShinigamiGirl (both gorgeous renditions of the ebony mare) and a commission from Max of my R-Force character Athena (awesome job of my military-hardened polar bear lady).
Before I knew it, it was almost noon and I had to check-out. I quickly headed back to the room and packed everything up, but since my plane didn’t leave until later in the afternoon, I’d still have at least four hours of con time left, so Moonie let me keep my luggage in her room for a while. Jake asked me if there was a Quiznos nearby; the handy-dandy restaurant guide helped answer that question, though we realized it was quite a walk away. He asked because he wanted to grab some lunch for some of the artists in the Alley. I wanted some food as well, and I didn’t want him walking around downtown by himself (neither did he) so I went with him. It turned out the place was closed on Sundays, so even though he couldn’t get the food for the artists, there were still some places I could stop at for lunch on the way back.
We found an Arby’s close by and inadvertently ended up in a rough situation while there…
We saw a couple of furs there in the restaurant (we knew one of them, but since he didn’t mention the matter in his own con report I’ll refrain from saying his name here, just in case), and while I was ordering I heard what sounded like some very threatening words coming from some of the patrons behind me. It turned out that while one of the furs was bringing the drinks over to his friends at the table, he accidentally leaned over a bit too far, where his rear was in the face of one of the other patrons (not a fur; just a citizen). The patron instantly flew off the handle and started yelling at him, despite the fur’s apologies, and later left threatening to jump them when they walked out.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but while I waited for my food Jake remembered seeing a police cruiser parked right outside when we walked in, so he headed out and went across the street to where the cops were and explained the situation as best he could to them.
I was leaving right as the cops were walking over; Jake refused to return to the restaurant as he knows the patrons saw him talking to the cops about what happened. We joined up at an intersection and headed back for the hotel, hoping everything would be resolved peacefully (after returning home and checking online, I didn’t see the furs say anything about it so I guess it did). I stayed in Moonie’s room and ate while one of her friends, Larry, played some Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Jake decided to go do the “Bloody Lung Challenge”. As much as I wanted to try it as well, I had already began to sit down and eat and my spare shirts were already packed up (in retrospect, I suppose I should’ve mentioned it earlier that morning when we woke up; that way we could shower afterwards and not be sweaty for the rest of the day. Next year, perhaps….
After lunch I had some spending money left over so I went back to the convention center and bought a couple art CD’s of Malachi and Adam Wan, the art book and world map to Shard, and ’s first collected edition of her Broken Plot Device webcomic. After that… I was done. I had only an hour until my shuttle would arrive, and since Jake texted me reporting that his drawing of Ninevah was complete, I decided to head back to the hotel and prepare to leave.
Walking back I wished I could stay another night, but I also recalled everything I had done over the past few days and nodded to myself, satisfied that this had been a good convention and my time was well-spent. I had done so much that I wanted to do, and had no regrets about anything. I suppose I was ready to leave for home by then.
Jake’s pic of Ninevah looked wonderful, and as I waited for the shuttle I just relaxed in Moonie's room with her, her roommates, Larry, and Jake.
Played "Spot-the-Furry" again through PIT and IAD, found 8 I was pretty sure were furs, and 4 actually connected all the way to JAX with me (I was positive they were furs because two, aside from looking the part, also talked about sketchbooks).
The ride back to the airport was smooth and so were the flights out. They were late flights, but on my connecting flight back to JAX I was greeted with something beautiful outside.
It was a full moon, and the weather down south had been quite stormy all weekend. As the plane flew above the clouds, it seemed like they had created their own moonlit landscape of blue towers and valleys. I tried to get some shots with my camera (it had night settings and adjustments for shutter speed and aperture and all that, though I knew none of it would turn out like it looked out the window). It was great to watch as we flew, and the perfect end to this year’s convention experience.

Already I miss Pittsburgh, and anxiously await the next opportunity to gather with fellow furs and friends.
Thanks again, everybody!

(I apologize if I've missed mentioning anyone else I met there; it's a crowded con And don't worry, I'll get those commissions scanned over the weekend )