CONfabulation 2017

This weekend, I had a wonderful time at CONfabulation, a multi-fandom convention by the people who brought us Wincon. As always, it’s hard to adjust to real life again after several days of being a fangirl at the height of excitement and being uncensored around/among my people. So I thought I’d write it up while the experience is still somewhat fresh.

I headed out on Thursday morning a little earlier than I’d planned. There was a Penguins game that night and the hotel I was heading to was next door to the hockey arena in Pittsburgh, so I was worried about parking. Google said it would take me 4 hours to get there.I left at 10:30am and made it there at 4:45pm; I’m not so sure, but that seems like a little more than 4 hours. But it wasn’t all the fault of traffic or the weather. I did make one wrong turn and had to pay a toll for a road I didn’t even go onto (Grr!) but I got there without too much difficulty, especially once I left Northern Virginia. I was traveling alone this time, as my con friend was unable to get off work, which meant I could stop for snarfs I saw on the side of the road along the way. I earread Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riorden during the drive.

When I got to Pittsburgh, the traffic wasn’t all that bad, but it was FILLED with Penguins fans. As a Capitals fan, it was a bit stomach-churning to witness. Luckily, the hotel had self-parking spots available. So I checked in and then unloaded, realizing on my last trip that I’d left the giant bag of food I’d bought at home! Arg! I settled into my hotel room within two minutes (I never really unpack much). My room had a giant space in it (where another bed or a table once was, I assume, or else it was for playing Twister).

I headed down for the meet & greet and ended up sharing two fandoms (Carry On and Grantchester) during small fandom speed dating. I also wrote down several fandoms I now definitely need to put on the high priority list. Then I joined a few people who were heading out to a 7-11 in order to stock up on food. We learned a lot about Pittsburgh City Center during our exploration including: streets are layered, hilly, and confusing; alcohol cannot be purchased at 7-11, and all stores close ridiculously early. I stocked up on some protein bars, bananas, and cereal for the week, then we ventured out to find an open liquor store. Three stores later, we found one that was still open (it was 7:15pm). I also found a good handful of historical markers; my new friends helped me spot them.

We got back to the hotel and I knew from the sight of the downstairs and the streets packed with Penguins fans that I didn’t want to go back out (besides, everything seemed closed). So I spent the night in my room watching Doctor Who episodes, writing fanfiction, reading Outlander, and eating room service. Every so often I checked the hockey score and, when the Pens unfortunately won, the streets outside my hotel room exploded with noise. Ugh. Not where I wanted to be, that’s for sure.

I had a rough night sleep-wise, so I was glad to have my Always Keep Fighting hoodie to snuggle up in Friday morning.

Friday Morning Schedule:

10:00am–10:30am Dealer room I hit the dealer room and bought a few presents, items for future swaps, and something for myself. I also picked up the custom order I made from NightengaleNeedles for a pillow. It turned out so nicely! I had to run it back up to my room so that I wouldn’t fall asleep in panels with it. heehee

10:30am–11:00am Opening Ceremonies Yay! We made it here!

11:00am–12:00pm Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 20 years Later Panelists started by playing the theme song, which definitely got us in the Buffy mood. We had a good time talking about our favorite characters, moments, and episodes as well as discussing the uniqueness of the show itself. It was wonderful to find there were quite a few Spander shippers there, including among the panelists. We all pretty much agreed Spike is the fandom bicycle, but we meant it with love of course. I also liked the discussion about how the show highlighted the concept of inventing yourself and that change is possible without losing your friends.

12:00pm–1:00pm Plushie Workshop I We had to start from scratch as bodies weren’t pre-made, and deciding what to make took me a while, but this was a much needed fun crafting break up in the Quiet Craft room that happened to also be on my floor of the hotel.

I headed out with a new friend to find Jimmy Johns for lunch. After walking in the wrong direction and stressing about time, we ended up at a pizza place on the other side of the block from our hotel where several con attendees were also eating. I had a veggie hoagie, which I ate while walking back to the con and finished during the next session.

Friday Afternoon Schedule:

2:00pm–3:00pm Ohana Means Family This was the found family panel, and we started off by trying to define found families (does joining an existing family like Harry joining the Weasleys count? do they have to have a parental figure?). I adored the discussion of non-human species (like werewolves) who have a sense of otherness already who need to seek out others for a shared experience (I love a good wolf pack). We also discussed the many different ways they come about—choice, workplace, survivalism, world-saving, etc. Other discussion topics included how fandom is our found family, subsets within families, the greater diversity in a found family compared to biological family, how people with different skill sets help each other, and if there are any found families lately without tragic backstories. You get a tragic backstory! You get a tragic backstory! Look under your chairs, everyone get s a tragic backstory! I was THRILLED to get to talk Sense8 for a while! Squee!

3:00pm–4:00pm A Galaxy Far, Far Away We started off by sharing our own Star Wars origin stories, and it was neat seeing the diversity in the group (and also finding others who like the Ewoks). We talked about ships and ships as well. I’m clearly going to have to properly make my way through the Darths and Droids Webcomic. And we ended with discussion of The Last Jedi (SPOILERS!!!!!!) including how even though Finn is wearing Poe’s entire outfit it doesn’t necessarily indicate that Poe is naked, though there is a strong case for such.

4:00pm–5:00pm Vid Show The vid show was wonderful; I’d seen only two of the vids before (and as one was Leverage with my OT3 and to an Ingrid Michealson song, I certainly didn’t mind seeing it again). I was utterly destroyed by Darcy’s SG-1 Jack/Daniel vid entitled “Living Alone” and had to break out the tissue pack almost at once. So good!

As I had no one to do dinner with, I worked on my plushie a little and then went back to the only food place I knew was open and ordered a salad (healthy) and onion rings (my weakness). I sewed through dinner and got the body done (even though I had to reinforce the crotch better after stuffing him).

Then I got ready for the masquerade. I wore my Marauder’s Map dress with Marauder’s Map pin on my badge, Marauder’s Map bow in my hair, and the actual Maurader’s Map as a necklace. (I maybe like the marauders a bit, you know) I also had a black mask I bought with the cape I wore to the Walk to End HIV a few years back when the theme was superheros. I discovered upon arrival that I had taken the masquerade title too literally and I was only one of a few who had masks. Still, it went with the outfit and made me feel a little bolder to be hiding behind a mask, so I kept it on. There was a mashed potatoes bar and a dessert bar as well, and the decorations were wonderful. I had a lot of nice conversations with people, including getting to geek out on Classic Who (and ask some questions about it… and get some lovely audiobook recs) and catch up with one of my favorite fellow hurt/comfort writers. I don’t like dances much and attempted to retire to the fandom lounge for button-making with friends like last Wincon, but it was locked up. Drat! So we headed back to the dance. I did dance to the Time Warp, because that one has scripted dance moves. And I danced to the last song with everyone, which was Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” (so perfect, though were were a little iffy on which verse was which LOL).

Oh, the movie never ends It goes on and on, and on, and on … Don’t stop believin’ Hold on to that feelin’

I went back to my room after the masquerade and worked for 2 hours on my plushie while watching Doctor Who. I finished up watching the Fifth Doctor’s episodes! I also discovered I cut the underwear too small for my plushie. Then I went to bed at 2am.

I got up at 9 in order to eat breakfast and get down to the dealer room as soon as possible.

Saturday Morning Schedule:

10:00am–10:30am Dealer’s Room My friend put in a request for merch and I was hoping to squeeze it in before the morning panels. However, the dealers didn’t all get there early, so I ended up missing half of the first panel. I also dropped a few BookCrossing books on tables in the fandom lounge to give away. Worth it, though. The dealer had the thing my friend wanted AND I ended up buying things from pretty much all the other dealers. Good start to a morning indeed!

10:30am–11:00am Disability in Media A LOT less angry and complainy than most of the disability panels I’ve attended at other cons. There was a lot of talk of positive examples and analysis of things. That was refreshing to hear. I’m sorry I missed the part where they discussed Bashir because, I mean, Bashir, right?

11:00am–12:00pm Invisible Unicorns I had the HARDEST time figuring out this time slot. It was up against Book Recs for the People (I adore books) and Totally 80s Toons (possibly my only chance to talk about my first fandom with people: Pound Puppies). I asked the panelist heading from Disability in Media to Totally 80s Toons to please NOT discuss Pound Puppies because missing such a discussion would break my heart. Then I stayed in the roundtable room for Invisible Unicorns, where we talked about bi, ace, pan, etc. representations in fandoms. The session was so well attended we had to keep grabbing more chairs. LOL It was wonderful. I came out with a LOT to think about. We talked about the whole “prove it!” thing and the problematic usage of “born this way.” One thing I had never heard put into words before was how there is a shorthand for sex onscreen but no shorthand for things like asexual romance (YET!). There were also some hilarious moments i.e. “Once you cross the het barrier at knotting…” “That is NOT where the het barrier is.”

12:00pm–1:00pm Plushie Workshop II I was considering going to MCU, but I’m behind on S.H.I.E.L.D. and haven’t seen the second Guardians yet, so I decided to craft. I had big plans: Finish the head, make new underwear, make the suit jacket, sew the head on to finish it. I managed the first 2 of 4. I made the suit jacket then discovered it’s just a little too small. Drat! I’ll have to redo part of it. But it was definitely another nice break. Except now I have what looks like a headless Morman and not a Ianto Jones yet. One lovely attendee brought a ton of little figures, and we had fun going through them, sorting them by property, and selecting a few. I got a couple for myself and one for a friend. At the end of the day, after everyone else had a chance to look through them (and they were no longer sorted) I took a few more.

I worked on my plushie through lunch (thanks to snacks from 7-11) then headed to afternoon sessions.

Saturday Afternoon Schedule:

2:00pm–3:00pm OT3: A Love Story We listed our favorite OT3s in fandom (Leverage, Force Awakens, White Collar, Haven, Marvel, Sense8, etc.) I ship some very rare OT3s so I didn’t bring them up (Wolverine/Iron Man/Captain America; Sherlock/Watson/Lestrade) but it was fun hearing about other people’s ships. We discussed why OT3s are the best (solves love triangle problems, avoids ship wars, solves problem of killing off awesome female characters). We also talked about dynamics of OT3s (relationship negotiations–swoon!, soulmate AUs, imperfect moments, overlap with found families, inviting someone to join, etc.). And, of course, this lovely quote “My fandoms have orgies all the time” which pretty much sums up my writing style. LOL

3:00pm–4:00pm Fandom as Genre This one was interesting, and I’m very glad I went. What’s unique to fandom that makes it its own thing and makes it special? Some topics of discussion included: ability to have different versions of the same character, ability to have different settings/situations with the same characters, ability to explore minor characters, having less exposition (already know the shared universe, history, appearances, etc.), POV differences, how much of the community aspect is needed to make it fanfiction, the difference between authorized tie-in novels and fanfiction, why we write fanfiction (for ourselves or for a certain population that knows certain things already about the source material), what we’re allowed to write in a fandom vs. what is taboo, how A/B/O originated in fandom, and the concept of headers/tag wranglers. Some quotes I liked included “Fanfic is the only place characters go into the bedroom and come out as the same people,” “We need to make supernatural disgusting again!” and “We’ve come a long way from ‘we’re not gay, we just love each other.'” There was also a question raised regarding what is at the core of a character that makes him recognizable and feel like the same character when everything around is different?

4:00pm–4:30pm Charity Raffle The charity was Planned Parenthood, and people were generous both in the donating of items and in the buying of raffle tickets. I bought $40 in raffle tickets, so I was expecting to win a few things (especially as a few things I put tickets in for only had one or two tickets in the cup). I didn’t get the Ace scarf I really wanted and put a lot of tickets in for, but I did get a bunch of things, including a Martha plushie (who can hang out with Ianto, once he’s done–the Joneses!), tons of comics (including some Archies, Buffys, Marvel, and more), a Donatello figure (he’s my turtle), a Spider-man hat, and some gorgeous fannish jewelry. I was also super happy to see the items I donated to the raffle go to people who will love them. One super nice new friend gave me something she won in the raffle and had two of. Squee!

After the raffle, I bought a few things from the other vendor I hadn’t purchased from yet (I’d frankly been avoiding her booth because I wanted every single thing she had for sale and didn’t trust myself). I ended up with a few buttons I’d never seen before and a super soft Kaylee Bear. I thought about also buying the Jayne Bear, but I just couldn’t do it without a Simon Bear to ship with him. #noregrets.

A few of us stayed in the fandom lounge to finally take advantage of the button machine. Making buttons was one of my favorite parts of Wincon, and it was fun to have one of my button-making friends back as well as some new button-making friends joining the crew. We had a great time going through stickers and magazines, looking for things we wanted. I made a kickass perfect RuPaul button that is sort of now my favorite. I also made an Alexander Hamilton button and a kitty King George button to go with him. And some others, of course. We were at it for a little over 2 hours. It was such fun seeing the creative things people made!

I had just enough time to pop over to Jimmy Johns (found it this time!) before it closed (it was only 7:20, mind you!) and get back to the con in time for the trivia contest. I’d planned on just watching, but I got roped into playing. Glad I did; I even knew a few of the answers, like what century Outlander was in. However, I feel SHAME forever for saying “Flashverse” instead of “Flashpoint.” I will never shake off that shame. I was proud to be able to answer the question about all the Weasley siblings (including next generation) and probably could have done the hockey siblings one, but two people on my team JUMPED at that, so I let them have at it. I’m also sad I couldn’t remember the names of the Hansons! Terrible fangirling on my part; I’m just not good at remembering things when there are time constraints! In all, we had a great team and we came in second… though later I heard we misgraded another team’s paper and actually came in third. Just like the Puffs play says “Third or nothing!!!”

After trivia was Badfic Idol. My fic “Five Times Something Happened and One Time Something Else Happened” was read at the beginning. It was my first attempt and it didn’t win first place or even second. But it did get some laughs. And my friend appreciated the Picard on a Horse inside joke from Wincon I threw in there. Actually, 80% of the fic was thought up during Wincon a few years back, so it was fun to share it. Instead of the judges giving their thoughts after each fic like last time, they gave them all at once at the end, which was a little more confusing, but we got there in the end. The winning fic had no words and was written only in emojis starting with policeman knife fireman and ending with sailboat. I mean… sailboat, you know? That’s a damn powerful ending. Definitely deserved to win! It was a great event; all the stories were hilarious; I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. And the judges’ comments were amazing!

After Badfic Idol, I stuck around for a game of Cards Against Humanity. I actually won a round, which was great. I played some fantastic cards but just the one win. Everyone was bringing their best to the game, and it was definitely a hoot.

I headed back to my room and packed up so everything would be ready the next morning.

On Sunday, I woke at 8:45 sleepy but fine (one nice thing about never drinking is not worrying about con morning hangovers). I finished packing and, once again, headed to the dealer’s room for a morning purchase. I had forgotten a button I HAD to buy a friend and, luckily, there were still a few left (in various styles). Score! I’m not posting the photos of things I bought for people, BTW, because that would spoil the surprises.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00am–11:00am The State of Fandom I had to ask but, yes, everyone agreed that LJ is DEAD. Someone suggested Pillowfort, which is like Tumblr only fixes all the problems Tumblr has and lets you have actual conversations. Someone else suggested Pinboard for bookmarking. We talked a lot about building our “brands” and the differences between us oldtimers and the new internet generation in terms of privacy concerns. We also talked about things like how releasing whole seasons at once erases that anticipation we once had for week-to-week shows, how there used to be a fannish code and norms that get passed down but are being challenged now culturally, and how freakin awesome Fanlore is.

11:00am–12:00pm Hamilton: Who Tells Your Story? We started off talking about race and how it puts so many marginalized groups back into the narrative of our country. Then we went into discussions about gender (how women are in the war scenes and how it’s kind of Eliza’s story, or would be if she were in it more). I loved the point one person made about how in Revolutionary War times, a person’s writing style was uniquely identifiable just the way the musical styles for each character are uniquely identifiable for us today in the musical. I was shocked that more people hadn’t read the Ron Chernow book, and I was going to recommend it for people who write Hamilton fanfic, but then the discussion moved on (it’s filled with amazing details like the fact that Hamilton & Eliza had a dog named “Old Peggy” and how Washington’s aides usually shared beds at camp). But we did talk about how the American narrative actually wasn’t as rose-colored as we thought and how the musical humanizes history. Some recommendations included the book Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes, the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast, and a Sleepy Hollow crossover where Alexander Hamilton comes forth into modern day and is stuck here. Also, I was given a rec that has Asexual!Dom!Washington and subby!Hamilton that is currently my favorite Hamilton fic EVER!

12:00pm–1:00pm Family Affairs: Incest in Fandom Was great to end the con with a good ol’ incest panel! We talked about our first and favorite pairings. I asked about Bates Motel because I LOVE me some Bates Motel and was told the fanfic is not good, which wasn’t too surprising. We also talked about what makes incest fic good and the different kinds (I’m in love with the term Gencest now!).

1:00pm–1:35pm Closing Ceremonies I had to leave during the closing event, because of my hotel checkout time and because I wanted to get home before it got too dark, but it was nice being there for part of it. And people waved to me as I left, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. The con com did an amazing job putting this together and making it special and unique. I really hope the next Confab Con is somewhere close to me so I can attend it!

On my way home, I attempted to find some postcards of Pittsburgh to send to people and struck out everywhere I looked. I picked up a grilled cheese with onions and some more onion rings (did I mention I was driving home alone?) as well as a frozen slushie drink at Sheetz. My GPS wanted me to go one way that was blocked off with a detour, so I took the scenic route out of Pittsburgh and quite enjoyed the drive. Then I ended up on 40 heading to a big snarf stop I’d seen when I was driving up but couldn’t stop for because I’d been worried about Penguins game parking. I finished earreading Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer and put on In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord, which I also ended up finishing on the drive. So then I started Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

I found the historical markers (snarfs) I’d been looking for and discovered it was General Braddock’s grave. Just down the street from that was Fort Necessity. I thought about just doing a drive-by with it and coming back some other time. I even went into the park, drove around the lot, and then went back to the highway again. Then I decided to just do it and went to the fort. I was still on a Hamilton high, and what better way to end my con weekend but with a George Washington fuckup? The park ranger was sad to inform me that the reenactments were all done for the day and that there was only one showing of the film left; I didn’t really care about either. I went through the museum and headed out to the fort. Apparently the Braddock Road by my home is, actually, the very same one I’d been driving on for an hour up in Pennsylvania. I snarfed all the signs and took some nice shots of the fort, the tavern, and the monuments. Hopefully no one thought less of me in my wearing my Hamilton/Harry Potter mash-up t-shirt.

I found a few more historical markers on the drive home, stopped for gas in the little town that literally has an interstate running right through its middle just above it, and got home around 8:30. My cats were happy to see me, and Ozma kitten has already claimed my CONfabulation bag as her own.

CONfabulation 2017 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

Awesome Con 2017- Day 3

Sunday, Day 3: I got up a few minutes earlier and had no problem getting to the Convention Center by Metro. The headache I had was another story, but it wasn’t too bad. I got in line for Stan Lee by 9am and immediately made friends with the guy behind me in line who happened to be Ace as well. We had some wonderful discussions It made the hour and change just fly right by. As the lines started winding around toward the main stage, I ran across another friend of mine.

Even though I could have had a pretty good seat, I sat at the back so I could slip out a little early if needed in order to get in line for Garrett Wang’s Q&A. I even considered skipping Stan Lee, but I’m glad I didn’t. Stan Lee can never die, but he’s definitely getting older, and I didn’t want to miss a chance to see him in person. But Garrett Wang portrayed my favorite character on Star Trek: Voyager. Decisions, decisions! My new line friend advised me to skip out as soon as the Q&A started.

10:30 AM-11:15 AM Stan Lee Q&A Stan Lee arrived a little late (which meant more watching the Main Stage screen; OMG I need to see Baby Driver right now!) and went straight into Q&A right away. So I definitely didn’t leave immediately. It was great seeing the Father of Marvel in person on Father’s Day. He was exactly the way he is in all the specials and TV interviews I’ve seen him in. And his love for Marvel’s characters and stories was obvious and overwhelming. He talked about his cameo in Thor being his favorite because he got to do two scenes. He wasn’t sure the fans would love the Hulk or Spider-man as much as he did. He named characters alliteratively because his memory wasn’t so good and wanted to be sure to remember their names. In regards to where the X-Men movies will go he “want[s] it to teach people we’re all the same.” And in regards to his hearing aid problems “I hate not hearing myself when I talk, because I hate missing gems of wisdom.” Speaking of which, he said “We’ve all got to be good guys.”

I left a little before 11:15, hoping I’d only missed out on one or two questions at the most. I planned correctly and used the door right by the escalator leading down closest to the meeting room where the line for Garrett Wang’s Q&A was forming. I needn’t have hurried; the line was not that long and the room was not that full. I finished reading the Torchwood book I’d brought along while sitting in line. And I made the most of it and got an excellent seat.

11:30 AM-12:15 PM Garrett Wang Q&A Garrett was amazing. He was funny and personable and nice and entertaining all in one. He said that he knew if there were other Star Trek: Voyagers there, we’d be at their Q&As instead, but he was so wrong. Harry Kim was my favorite character on Voyager, hands down, and it was a pleasure to see Garrett in person. He told his the story about meeting Shatner for the first (and second) time. He did multiple impersonations of Star Trek characters. He told about his surprisingly popular “Still boldy going” typo shirts. I explained about the cast’s reactions upon arriving home. And he told the story of his running into the terrible “Code of Honor” episode of TNG over and over again. I embarrass myself when I talk to celebs, but for the past few days, I’d been working up the courage to ask Garrett a question during his Q&A. For YEARS I’ve been wondering something only a few people could answer–and he was one of them. In Galaxy Quest, there aliens design their spaceship from watching how the characters use the computer. So I really wanted to ask Garrett if he similarly planned out the whole station and what each button did during his years at the helm. This was it. I was going to be brave. I really wanted to know the answer and I didn’t get to ask Wil Wheton it yesterday. But before the Q&A portion even started, Garrett said, “Have you ever seen that movie, Galaxy Quest?” and proceeded to answer the question I was going to ask without me having to even ask it! AMAZING! And the answer was that if the aliens had made a spaceship based on his hand motions, they would have been screwed. LOL!

12:15 PM-1:00 PM Catherine Tate Q&A I headed straight up the escalator for Catherine Tate’s Q&A and only arrived a minute or so late, so I got right in and don’t think I missed much of anything. I arrived just as she realized she was at Awesome Con not Awesome.com “Oh don’t tell me that con stands for convention!” She looked great in her comfy Washington, DC hoodie, but she was still larger than life on the stage. Her favorite line from Doctor Who? “I’m not mating with you, sunshine!” David had to invent reasons to stop or slow in running so she could catch up. And her favorite part of leaving the show was getting to do an impression of David in the last episode playing Doctor-Donna. She also recited, upon request, the whole Shakespearean sonnet she did in the comic relief sketch with David Tennant as Lauren and it was AMAZING to hear her do it in person, with some humor injected as well. In regards to advice, she gave us one she liked from the great Imelda Staunton “It’s someone else’s time, and your time will come” and one of her own “What other people say about me is none of my business!” When asked about the timing of her live show, she said she’d had a hard time committing to do it because of having to book venues 18 months in advance “Don’t be ridiculous! In 18 months I’ll have an Oscar and have no time for comedy!” When asked when Donna would be up to now in the Whoverse, she said Donna had probably spent all her money and was back temping in Chiswick. And when asked about Donna with any of the other doctors, she chose Nine but said he and Donna would have gotten nothing done because there would have been too much arguing.

Stan Lee Museum I found myself with an hour of free time before the next Q&A I wanted to attend, so I headed down to the exhibit hall to see the Stan Lee Museum, which Stan had mentioned during his Q&A and that I hadn’t had time to see yet. The line for it was only about 20-30 minutes long, and it was SO worth the visit. There was everything from comic panels to movie props to figures to awards to one-of-a-kind creations to personalized drawings to actual, lit up, Iron Man suits. I took a million photos and spent a lot of time basking in the glow of shiny Iron Men.

2:00 PM-2:45PM Eliza Dushku Q&A I was enjoying the museum so much that I was a couple minutes late to Eliza’s panel, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Clare Kramer interviewing her! I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it to her Q&A, so it was lovely to see them both together. They talked about Buffy and Bring it On, as they were in both. And there were lots of questions about other roles of Eliza’s. I loved hearing her talking about the trust she had in Joss’ writing/direction for Dollhouse. She’s a dog person, so she had to work to find her inner cat to voice Selina Kyle. She felt that Buffy ended well. She described David Boreanaz as a “kooky free spirit” when she worked on Angel. Clare’s favorite season of Buffy was Season 5 (and the 100th episode, of course) and Eliza’s was Season 3. They talked about being able to work through their real life emotions through characters. When asked for advice, Eliza didn’t have any at first, then came up with something lovely: “Love myself and love other people. Be kind to yourself and other people. We all have our struggles. I’m just trying to find myself and what will serve me so I can serve others.”

I headed back down to the exhibit hall after that for a last run at the tables. There were a couple on day 1 that I wanted to spend more time at. And, yeah, I bought more art. I also spent $75 at one booth buying myself a couple things but mostly buying Christmas presents for friends, so it’s not that bad! But I did go back to Pride alley and bought myself a lovely naked Nightcrawler piece and another Johnlock piece and a Destiel piece and even a rainbowy Yuri on Ice piece even though I don’t know the fandom yet (I figured I will soon enough and would regret not buying something so lovely).

4:00 PM-4:45 PM These Are a Few of My Favorite Tropes I arrived just in time for my last panel of the day and of the con. It was a great one to end with. With no need to censor themselves, the panelists went through all sorts of different tropes: genre tropes, relationship tropes, circumstance tropes, structural tropes, and fandom-specific tropes. There were plenty of examples and recs to go along with them all. I laughed at the reference to “My Immortal” (“I want to believe it was real!”) and the crack pairing of Yuri/Victor/Obama sounds epic. Was great hearing some of my favorite tropes mentioned and remembering some I’d forgotten about or never really realized were a thing apart from maybe one fic I read that involved it. We all praised tags on AO3 for letting us find tropes more easily. I read a lot of stories of certain types/with certain tropes regardless of fandom or pairing, so I could really relate to “A+B=C and I’ll read it every time!” I also liked “You’re not a true fan of something until you have a cross pairing.” But my favorite was the mention of Shoebox Project followed by “Wolfstar, man. Bless.” Awwwww! It was a wonderful, multi-fandom way to end the convention.

I’m not sure what was happening beneath us, but the building shook and rumbled a dozen times. I headed out as soon as the panel was over, glad to be able to get home before 10pm. For the third day in a row, I sat and read on this exact same bench while waiting to change trains. I finished reading the second book I’d brought along, “For Color Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf.” So I ended up writing a little bit on the last leg of my journey home.

Awesome Con 2017- Day 3 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

Awesome Con 2017- Day 2

Saturday, Day 2: I spent the night driving around dead bodies in the streets and saving my town and my daughter from tiny glowing balls that were trying to invade our bodies. So I woke up exhausted and shaken from my nightmare. But David Tennant was speaking at 10:30, so I got my butt out of bed. I hauled myself to the Metro and arrived at 8am. However, I just missed a train by 3 minutes and had to wait 17 minutes for the next one. Even worse, there was an issue with the trains when I tried to transfer and it was 40 minutes until the next Yellow train I needed arrived. So I didn’t get to the convention center until 9:35, which was when the doors were supposed to open for seating. As I arrived in the registration hall, I heard one of the best quotes of the con from one of the volunteers “David Tennant is by the garage door!” It was only to indicate that’s where the end of the line to see him currently was.

I hurried over to the pretty sizable line that was weaving from one side of the room to the other. I heard my name called and turned to see a friend from grad school I hadn’t seen in over 10 years! It’s great running into people at cons, but I was still in my one track mind of “must get to end of line!” During the next hour, nearly the entire room filled up with the line and, as far as I saw, every one of the 5,000 seats ended up being filled. The line volunteers were amazing, though, packing us all in there and keeping order. They would say things like “Welcome to the line! This is all part of the experience!” and “You’re doing great! You’re almost there!” VIPS got in first. Not including them, I think I was about a third of the way from the front. There was a WHOLE LOT of line behind me; I cannot imagine much of that portion got in.

There were some nice cosplayers in line near me, including a Rory & Amy Pond, a Kaylee & Jayne, and one of the kids from Stranger Things. I got into a short discussion with someone in line segment across from mine about Sense8 because I overheard the name of the show being spoken and literally butted right into the conversation he was having with the person next to him in line. Fun fact: I WILL NEVER PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK WITH ANYONE ABOUT SENSE8! The line was long and moved slowly. It dawned on me, after a while, that I might not get in at all. I’d told myself that my biggest rule of the weekend was to have fun and not be disappointed if I couldn’t see everything I wanted. So I was sad at the realization but also working through all the other things going on that morning that I could do instead. In the end, my section of the line was let in and directed all the way over to the far side of the room where there were a few free seats. About 30 seconds after we walked in, David Tennant took the stage. It still took me a couple minutes to get to a seat, but I didn’t miss a thing. YAY!

10:30 AM-11:15 AM David Tennant Explores Time and Space It was fantastic seeing the actor who portrays my favorite doctor in person, talking about his acting career and portraying the doctor. I loved his answer regarding how it’s possible to play a character that has lived so long and knows everything: You can’t really research being a time lord. It’s hard to convey the knowledge of millennia in a look, so you have to play him as a person yearning for discovery with brilliance and intellectual heft. His advice to actors was bold and honest: 1-don’t be late 2-learn your lines, 3-don’t be an arsehole. And, FYI, I’d love to read a Shakespearean take on the Marvel Universe. “I’d love to see Peter Parker get bitten by a spider in iambic pentameter.”

The fortunate part of sitting at the very end of the room meant I was one of the first ones out the door when the event was over. So I went straight downstairs and got into line for Felicia Day’s Q&A and got a great spot in line. The room filled up entirely, every seat taken, so I felt lucky to get one.

12:00 PM-12:45 PM Felicia Day Q&A Felicia was a little late, because of autograph signing, but she was apologetic and immediately commented on the DC humidity (which I hate too) “This is how Aquaman lives. It’s not good!” LOL She had a lot of great lines… “If you mess your kid up a little bit, they’ll be more interesting.” “I got to play [Charlie] for four seasons–that’s a good track record for a female on Supernatural!” “The gender balance is better now and no one is the worse for it.” “We’re all here to enjoy that thing we all enjoy together.” Felicia was a great mix of kind and funny and clever. It was like listening to her book again only there she was in person.

I headed straight for the Legendary Comics event line after this and talked a lot with a guy behind me in line. It’s SO NICE to be able to talk Classic Who with fans now and actually know what I’m talking about. And it’s also just so nice to be able to talk Classic Who with anyone, actually. He showed me some of the great photos he took of the Doctor Who Experience which he’d been to… did he say 4 times? It was either 3 or 4. At any rate, it was a great conversation and a lovely way to pass the time in line. I believe this line is also where I spotted someone cosplaying as an Ewok and that was awesome.

1:15 PM-2:00 PM Legendary Comics: Monsters & Myths Honestly, I didn’t know anything at all about Legendary Comics, but I definitely enjoyed getting to hear the creative team talk about their project, Firebrand. Urban fantasy is my favorite genre, and it was great to hear about the world of magic and sumernatural they created. And part of it takes place in the Seattle Underground, which I’ve been in. What a brilliant place to set it! I also like that it’s a 3-woman creation team responsible for it. They definitely sold me on Firebrand.

Of course, the real reason I was in attendance was because I wanted to see John and Carole Barrowman. I missed Carole’s Q&A earlier, so this was my chance to see her. And I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get into John’s Q&A later, so this was my chance to see him again. I AM SO GLAD I WENT! They talked about their new project, Cursed, and I was hooked from word one. John entered wearing a kilt and sporran (I couldn’t get a good photo from where I was sitting, sorry). Then, with mood music and mood lighting as well, he proceeded to give the introduction to the series. As someone who slept with a poster of Scotland over her bed for all of her years as a teen, the quickest way to my heart is to say “Bonnie Prince Charlie” in a thick Scottish accent. And, yep, there was John doing just that. Cursed involves Bonnie Prince Charlie just after the Battle of Culloden when something supernatural happens to curse his descendants. The story takes place in modern day with one of these descendants, Charlie Stewart, who falls victim to the curse. So it’s got history and Celtic legends and supernatural elements and drama all wrapped into one. It’s like they’re writing it just for me! What a joy it was to hear them talk about it and answer questions in a more informal setting as well. They talked about working together on projects (it involves teasing and lots of wine) and about what makes good sci-fi (the story) and what they have in common (a love for Kit and Game of Thrones). And I hope to never lose the memory of John in a kilt, thrusting his pelvis at the mention of his photo op with David Tennant later. LOL

I attempted to get into Harry Potter and the Genetics of Wizarding, but when I arrived at the room, it was filled to capacity and there was a short overflow line already. It was only about 10 people long, but there was no knowing if anyone inside would leave. So I decided not to wait around just in case. I had things to do! I bought an expensive and not very tasty vegetable wrap from the food cart near the meeting rooms and borrowed some space on a bench next to a nice gentleman by the street level windows. I ate and watched a whole family of cosplayers working on their outfits, including applying more makeup to an adorable Beast Boy.

Then I headed to the exhibit hall with one mission: find the Supernatural Impala and sit inside it. I was shocked to learn the evening of Day 1 that I’d somehow missed seeing the Impala… so I desperately needed to fix this situation. I did indeed find it (and ran into another friend who, like me, was skipping out on library volunteering that day in order to attend the convention). There were actor-worn outfits you could put on to pose for photos in the car, but I didn’t really care about the photo op (and putting on clothes that tons of fangirls put on didn’t really appeal to me either, though I did pet them a little). What was exciting to me was being INSIDE the Impala. They did a great job tricking it out–cassette tapes, visors signed by cast/crew, a duffle in the backseat, a trunk full of hunter necessities. It was amazing to just get those details that you only get from being there–how soft the steering wheel was, how much give/slidy-ness the seats had, how close the seat and steering wheel were to each other, how the door latch worked, etc. I didn’t take nearly enough photos and felt too shy to go back and take more. And my time inside is kind of a blur because I was so thrilled. But it was SO WORTH IT.

While I was searching for the Impala, I noticed a mother and daughter pair carrying a gorgeous Hamilton art print. Naturally, I stopped them to ask where they’d bought it. So after enjoying sitting in the Impala and internally squeeing SO HARD, I went in search of the exhibit space. Just when I thought I wouldn’t find it, I stumbled upon it (almost literally; the art was displayed up on the walls of the space but also on mats on the floor. I checked out all his pieces, and I loved some of the Harry Potter ones. But, ultimately, I bought the Hamilton one. The artist had a lovely conversation with me about how the current state of things (how we’re blaming immigrants) is really just a repeat of what we’ve seen before and how it has not gone well historically when society tries to use minorities as scapegoats. Among the examples we were throwing back and forth, he mentioned the Polish and I said I was Irish and he said “Well then you know!” as if I’d been there at the turn of the century in person to have lived through that discrimination. Or as if what the Irish faced upon coming to America could even begin to compare with what Africans had to go through in this country. Not that ANYONE’S struggle is any less valid than anyone else’s. But the point is, people forget that this is not new to our country. It was definitely an enjoyable and spirited conversation.

I headed back upstairs to the main hall so that I wouldn’t miss Jason David Frank, the Green/White Power Ranger. Power Rangers was definitely a presence in my formative years, and I loved the green ranger (though, to be fair, I loved them ALL. And while Tommy Oliver was probably at the top of my list if I’d had to rank them, I don’t really remember playing favorites). By the time I got there, they had already started seating, but there was a line formed outside the Main Stage. A volunteer was asking everyone if they were there for JDF or John Barrowman. It was only 3:30 and John Barrowman was going on at 5:30, but there was already a line for his Q&A! I headed in but heard the people behind me answer “JDF or Barrowman?” with “Uhhhhh green power ranger guy?” LOL The place was definitely not full, so I needn’t have worried. I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited.

The Wait While waiting in the Main Stage room, advertisements/messages were displayed on the big screens. It was lovely to have something to watch to pass the time. And I’ve captured them below for the full con experience because I was there for at least an hour, waiting for Jason David Frank and got to know them quite intimately: Is Japan Cool?- Here are some cosplayers from all over the world for no explained reason but in Japan. People seated in front of Kate remark: these are characters from very old fandoms… Baby Driver Trailer- Oh, here’s the trailer for that movie they talked about in the event you didn’t go to. It’s a heist movie with lots of driving. Uh huh. The cast is decent though. And it’s got a good look. And the music is neat. Crystal TARDIS- David Tennant at a booth! Crystal TARDIS! *shows picture of a crystal TARDIS figure with Peter Capaldi’s doctor inside, not David Tennant’s* Your doctor preserved in crystal forever! That doesn’t sound creepy at all! He’ll be PRESERVED. *shows more of Peter Capaldi’s doctor in a TARDIS* And when the lights turn off… *shows Peter Capaldi’s doctor in a TARDIS glowing blue* It glows! *shows the stand that makes it glow with Peter Capaldi’s doctor, taking away all the magic of the glowing illusion previously showed* Get yours today! *quickly finally shows the one with David Tennant* Is Japan Cool?- Here’s a guy who owns a noddle cart sets up for the day and makes bowls of soba and ramen for his customers. Awww. Emoji Movie Trailer- You’re going to laugh not just at the jokes in the trailer but at the fact that we actually came up with a decent plot for an emoji movie. Seriously. Also Patrick Stewart does the voice of Poop. You’re so there, right? Planetarium- Have you been here yet? You’re at a sci-fi con, so you probably love space. Come see the planetarium! Baby Driver Trailer- Hmm, this actually looks good, doesn’t it? And it’s got some interesting reviews. And it’s fun to say Tequila every time Jamie Foxx says it in the trailer. Maybe you’ll remember to put it on your Netflix queue. Is Japan Cool?- Here are some reasons to come to Japan: Sumo wrestlers, harajuku girls, this tower in the distance, um… pubs? You like those, don’t you? Oh busy scramble street crossings. Um… capsule hotels? Crap, we’re running out of reasons. Umm…. vending machines! We’ve got those! Seriously, just come to Japan. Please. It’s cool. We promise. Awesome Con 2018- Next year, we are taking the exact weekend that the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference had this year in 2017. And probably Kate is the only one in attendance to realize this. Is Japan Cool?- We have cosplayers! People in front of Kate: these costumes are really old and outdated Baby Driver Trailer- Oh man. This movie looks awesome. This shit is bananas, dawg! It uses music the way the rest of us use air! Tequila! I mean, look at him driving! This is amazing. Tequila! That’s some Oscar shit right there! What the fffffff?! Main stage schedule for the day- here are some events you might have missed or might be sitting here waiting for at this very second. Just in case you’ve forgotten why you’re still sitting here here Great Courses- Hey, we know you want to learn some things! We have a way for you to learn it with no tests. A geeky guy like me? I’m going to want to dive into as many as possible! Is Japan Cool?- Seriously, we’re not sure yet. We need more validation from you. How about we give the winner of the costume contest a free trip to Japan? Do you love us yet? Costumes are Not Consent!- Speaking of which, if you’re being harassed, see a staff or member of the Brute Squad for help Baby Driver Trailer- HOT DAMN YOU HAVE TO GO SEE THIS MOVIE NOW! WHEN IS IT COMING OUT? YOU ARE PRETTY SURE THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!

?-? PM Jason David Frank Q&A Just as I was beginning to get annoyed, he finally showed up. Apparently, he’d been tied up signing autographs. Which, yeah, I get. He gets paid to do those. But unlike Felicia Day who was a few minutes late and very apologetic and had sent word to us explaining why she’d be a little late, JDF just rushed in and was all over the place and not that apologetic. He kept talking to his assistant/companion/manager (no idea; he never bothered introducing her to us) and trying to get Facebook Live up so he could run contests on it during the panel. And, yeah, I get it. He was flustered and has ADD and his mind was probably in twenty places at once… but I felt a little offended that he wasn’t giving us a little more respect and appreciation for turning up to see him and waiting through a hell of a lot of self-doubting advertisements for Japan. I dunno. Maybe I just expected someone more professional or maybe more calm and centered as someone so studied in the martial arts. He did do a good job talking to some of the fans who were… well, more obsessed than I am, let’s put it that way. And he gave away two headshots. But he didn’t start off with an intro to his recent work/projects, just jumped right in assuming we had some idea who Bloodshot was (maybe that makes me a bad fan for not knowing, so it’s partly my fault). And he did give a lot of good advice about being positive “I can. I will.” and “At the end of the day, it’s about fun and making you happy, not money.” It all sounded great… but it just didn’t ring as true as it could have, I guess, if he’d respected out time and shown up on time. He did make me laugh when he was talking about being asked who would win in a fight, the green ranger or the white ranger. “Me! They’re both me. I’d win!” And of course, there was also the universal truth of “Spandex don’t lie!” In the end, I think he did the best he could to save the event. I’ve just never seen an actor treat his fans quite like this at a Q&A before so I hadn’t expected it. But actors are allowed to be imperfect people too; I don’t want to be too hard on him. But I didn’t really enjoy hearing him speak the way I’d hoped to.

I used the back doors of the room as a shortcut to get into line for John Barrowman, which worked out wonderfully. I remembered standing in line to see John Barrowman at Awesome Con last year and looking up toward the food place to see one of my friends sitting and eating. I looked up this time and there she was again! Ha! Plus, I definitely got in, despite not having stood in line at 3:30.

?-? PM John Barrowman Q&A As always, John was hoot. He was dressed as a TARDIS and in high heels. He even brought his husband out, who was dressed in Captain Jack’s greatcoat and little on underneath (Scott must have an amazing amount of energy and patience to keep up with that man!). John told some extremely entertaining stories. He sang “I am what I am.” He gave great, inspiring advice as well. John is just a born entertainer and loves feeding off his fans’ energy. I went a little super-fangirly when he mentioned that S.E. Hinton messages him on Twitter (SQUEEEE!). I laughed at his story about his 50th birthday party (Stephen Amell in a speedo sounds like a great birthday present for him), about him getting the call about being in Doctor Who, and about him trying to find the gas tank on his DeLorean. I took 4 pages of notes, actually, so I’m having trouble trying to sum it all up. But: his thoughts on the recent Star Wars movies are similar to mine, he would like to kick the crap out of Nazis with Captain America and have Captain Jack trick Hitler into committing suicide, he would like to play Charlie if there were an adaptation of Cursed, he also associates Australians with Tim-Tams, he deliberately backed up onto Daleck wisks because the operators inside can’t look away, and his story about meeting Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) in Who Tower where she greeted him simply with a nod and the word “Captain” is just amazing. But the best part of the whole thing was when the kid was upset upon learning that Malcolm Merlin was not going to come back to Arrow and John got down and hugged him because he was upset about it too. I LOVE that he understands that characters he plays mean so much to the fans. There were also some great LGBTQ-friendly moments. “Your sexuality doesn’t define who you are. Your heart does. The rest is icing on the cake” and “If someone doesn’t like you for who you are, tell them to piss off.” The Q&A really ran me through every possible emotion.

I was feeling good upon leaving. His Q&A was supposed to run from 5:30-6:15, and at 6:15, Wil Wheaton was having his Q&A downstairs. But when I looked at my watch upon getting downstairs, it was already 6:55! Jason David Frank’s lateness must have thrown everything off, and I hadn’t even been looking at the time to realize it. Luckily, I was right outside the room I wanted to be in for a 7 PM event.

7:00 PM-7:45 PM Slash of Our Ancestors: History of Fanfic A few minutes into the panel, a friend appeared in the doorway and took the seat beside me. He said to me “I figured if I was going to run into any [members of the Harry Potter group] it would be here.” LOL! I love running into friends at cons. Anyway, this was an interesting panel about the history of fanfiction, with a particular emphasis on slash fanfiction. The talk went from zines to archives to message boards to LJ to AO3. “You know you’ve built a useful internet tool when people start putting fanfic in it.” There was also some good analysis of fanfic itself–how attitudes in society get reflected in fanfic and so some tropes aren’t used any more, about the rules of fanfic (rule 1- punctuate; rule 2-don’t tell the actors), how it’s becoming normalized but there’s still a stigma, how it created a safe space for queers to explore, how we used to kill off wives and now just write threesomes, how quality/standards are different because we can’t mentor new fans any more, and how terms themselves have changed (actorfic=RPS), and how anime’s fic culture evolved differently. I also came out of it with a handful of recs I now need to track down.

We headed to the room the next event I wanted to attend was being held in in time to catch the ending of MAGfest’s event where people got to use green screen and actually be in a video game. That was pretty cool!

8:15 PM-9:00 PM The Shipping Game Live! Run by geek dating site DragonFruit, this was a card game similar to Slash, which I’d just played the first time last week with my Harry Potter group at our annual Game Day event. In this version, cards were drawn from a large deck of characters and one person had to argue the pairing as an OTP while the other had to argue NOTP. Then we audience members decided the winner. I find shipping across fandoms a lot of fun in games like this, but especially when it results in an interesting, viable pairing. I was shocked when the audience did not go for Clark Kent/Iron Man! In fact, the audience voted NOTP on nearly every pairing but the last two. They didn’t go for Princes Zelda/Black Panther despite the fact that they’re both royalty. And I can’t remember what they decided regarding Han Solo/Moaning Myrtle. It was a lot of fun listening to pro & con arguments for these crazy pairings.

We were headed to the same Metro stop, so we called it a night and traveled back home. The wait to switch trains was not as long as the night before (probably because it was a little earlier), and it was nice to have the company. I made a late night Walmart run and then still did another load of laundry when I finally got home around 10:30.

Awesome Con 2017- Day 2 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

Awesome Con 2017- Day 1

Friday, Day 1: I woke up about an hour later than usual and had a leisurely but efficient breakfast before heading off to the Metro. I began reading Pack Animals (Torchwood #7) by Peter Anghelides on the long ride to the Library of Congress. While walking from the metro station to the LOC building, I passed two women around my age taking photos of a group of people walking across the street, escorted by the police. I have been watching news nonstop for the past two weeks, but I didn’t recognize anyone in the group (and I’ve been watching a lot of news). Looked like it might have been a representative and her congressional aides, but I’ve no clue. Anyway, I got to the Thomas Jefferson Library of Congress Building a little before 11.

The Library of Congress put together a really neat pop-up exhibit only available for a few days, called Library of Awesome. It was filled with parts of the LOC collection, grouped by themes. It was a great reminder that the LOC preserves these parts of culture that are important to fans. The people behind me as we went through the different exhibit rooms were in the most AMAZING Wonder Woman and Black Panther outfits ever. There was also a brave young man in an amazing Fantastic Four outfit. There were so many great comics on display, I couldn’t begin to list them all. But I did take photos of some of my favorites. In one room they had clips from TV shows playing and I walked in just as Buffy was sacrificing herself (feels!), following by a clip of Doctor Who with the Tenth Doctor. It was a surreal to be standing in the largest library in the entire world, watching Buffy and Doctor Who and looking at first appearances of comic book characters in print! There was also a neat letter from Gene Roddenbery to Carl Sagan.

Milestone issues including X-Men #1 from 1963, Fantastic Four #1 from 1961, and Watchmen #1 from 1986   First appearances of Batwoman and Dick Grayson aka Robin! Kyle Jinadu & Northstar get married! Buffy on screen, popular recent media series on display Ralph Ellison collection lends its room to this exhibit Library shop even had some geeky things for purchase… including some March graphic novels

After fully enjoying the exhibit, I went out in search of food. Google said there was a Subway in a nearby building. So I headed to the James Madison Library of Congress Building. I found my way up to the cafeteria on the 6th floor. I wasn’t entirely sure I should be there, among the congressional aides and LOC staff. But the security guard seemed to have no problem with it and a very nice woman in the elevator who worked in the building gave me exact directions there. The view was wonderful, and the sushi was delicious. I read while I ate. I got a little lost trying to find my way back to the elevator, but I made it in the end. Then I headed back to the Metro to get to the Convention Center.

It was strange being back in the Convention Center only a few months after #AWP17. It was all arranged differently–our registration hall had been turned into a cool, dark, moody video gaming center! And our bookfair space was where I knew I needed to head for Awesome Con registration. I already had my badge, so I just picked up a program and headed down three floors to the exhibit hall. I had one mission for Friday: find Andrew Aydin and have him sign my copy of March. But when I got to Q1 in the Artist’s Alley, there was a woman selling lovely jewelry in his space instead. Confused, I checked the program and the signs; no changes there. I ran into a friend and chatted for a bit. Then I checked social media; apparently Mr. Aydin was not going to be able to attend due to a personal matter. Well, darn! But these things happen. Hope his family’s okay.

So I found myself with a few hours of free time before the first panel I wanted to attend. I wandered around the exhibit hall, sticking mostly to the Artist’s Alley and spending much of that time in Pride Alley, which was new to the con this year. It was a nice little LGBTQ+-friendly space with all sorts of things I wanted to buy. I ended up buying way too much fanart and a graphic novel that is just my kind of thing that I can’t wait to read. I stumbled upon Karen Hallion’s exhibit space and bought a few postcards; it was wonderful to meet her and be able to tell her how fantastic her art is, because I’ve loved it for years and have some of it on t-shirts. I also bought an Outlander book necklace with a dragonfly and a Celtic charm on it. I have ZERO free wall space at home, yet I bought at least 10 prints for myself (and a few as gifts). I even bought an original art piece (done by an artist in from South Africa) that was creative and adorable and unintentionally sexy; I NEVER see my favorite kink portrayed in art, let alone fanart, so I absolutely had to buy it. #NoRegrets!

I had some tough choices to make as far as panels. I ended up choosing so that I’d get a good variety and pack in as many as possible (lots of panel times overlapped) while still hitting the evening Stucky one I knew I definitely wanted to attend.

3:30 PM-4:15 PM Nerdiquette/Anerdomy: Geekdom in Theory & Practice A nice way to start out the con, talking about geek culture. We began with Felicia Day’s definition of a geek as someone who dares to love something unconventional and moved on to topics like marketing’s role, the nerd culture stigma, the differences between sports fans and the sorts of fans we are, and if it stops being a subculture if it gets too big. The moderator kept diving into much more critical analysis of it all, including ways of testing geekdom’s coherence. I didn’t follow every philosophical reference he was throwing out there, but I enjoyed it anyway. I found the discussion regarding reactionary exclusionism to be especially interesting, as I’d not considered the idea of geeks feeling the need to covet and protect what we are passionate about and keep it as our own because we were excluded/outsiders.

4:30 PM -5:15 PM YA Literature Today I wish I’d done more prep, because I had two of the presenting authors’ books at home and didn’t bring them! Panelists discussed a lot about the things they like about writing YA (really interesting characters with really interesting problems, can work in any genre, we have all been teenagers but we still wonder who we are) and how to increase diversity in books and creators of books. The best part: they shared info about their own works and shared book recommendations. The worst part: so many good recommendations! I feel like I need to quit my job and just read YA full-time now. For recs & notes from this panel, see my book blog.

5:30 PM-6:15 PM Following Your Bliss: How the Stories We Love Can Help Us Succeed This wasn’t exactly what I’d been looking for. Attending this felt a little like listening to a motivational speaker. Using himself as a case study and tapping heavily into Joeseph Conrad’s “Hero’s Journey,” Russell Walks attempted to inspire us to follow our bliss to find success. “Storytelling is more than just guns and bullets. It’s what we have in here,” he told us, patting his chest above his heart. I was hoping for useful, specific tips rather than inspirational sayings. But I do like the concept that we’re all on our own hero’s journeys and our friends are our goofy, supporting characters. And I can’t disagree with things like “Tell yourself this is what you’re meant to do and don’t give up!”

Afterward, I was going to stick around in the room to attend Whose Roll is it Anyway? (a sort of interactive RPG where the audience controlled the twists and turns instead of the DM), but that was cancelled. This made me shuffle my slots around a bit again. I ended up being able to snag a seat in room 144BC and staying put there for the next three panels! That was both convenient and due to the fact that that room’s programming all aligned with my interests.

6:00 PM-6:45 PM Full Spectrum: Why color in comics matters This panel had a nice balance of identifying current problems and looking at current trends/solutions. I liked the observations that, throughout history, most trendsetters in the comic industry have been indie. I also loved the helpful tip of don’t just yell when there’s something bad, start yelling about the stuff you like! Other discussion topics include: recent reaction to Marvel news (putting out Black Panther trailer then cancelling Black Panther: World Of Wakanda), the difference between making a cast diverse organically and changing characters (reskinning) to make them diverse, how the binging culture changes the way we consume comics (monthly issues vs. TPBs), and how Check Please is an awesome fan-interaction model (it is!). I also loved this comment from one of the panelists (slightly paraphrased because I was writing so quickly) “Lately, people over-complicate things. Just write human beings. Give everyone a chance and diversity automatically comes about.”

7:00 PM-7:45 PM Stop Queerbaiting, It’s Time to Be Brave One of my friends magically appeared beside me just as the panel was about to start, which was a lovely surprise. Another lovely surprise was the panel starting out with a mention of one of my favorite pairings: Wolfcrawler! The panelists were brilliant, passionate, and prepared. But they were also largely preaching to the choir. Sure, an explanation of queerbaiting was a great place to start, and explaining in detail why it’s hurtful, not brave, and insulting was important. But the majority of the presentation consisted of examples and explanations of why it’s horrible. At the very end they did manage to squeeze in a little bit about what we can do (which was mostly, consume the content of the people doing it right). So, by the end of the panel, I mostly felt frustrated and mad at some of those content creators who do this to us.

A few things I wrote down include: are the creators/producers really blind to what they’re doing?, they might think they’re doing something nice for us but they’re not, you shouldn’t have the freedom to jerk us around, we need real bravery from our allies, we deserve better, we’re desperate to see ourselves represented as a living main character, makes being gay into a joke, makes gay into a gimmick, there are no repercussions, you can’t be what you can’t see, Netflix and Chill could be Netflix and Educate. My three favorite quotes from the panel were:

“Prancing is very intimidating to the straights”

Regarding fandoms that have “invisible queers” (creators say that there are totally some queer characters in the world/universe, we just haven’t seen them yet) “SHOW US! Specifically I’m talking to J.J. Abrams about the cute one in the jacket and the cute one that gave him the jacket.”

“Albus Dumbledore is the very definition of a peekaboo queer.”

8:00 PM-8:45 PM Not Without You: Discussions and Reading from the Stucky Anthology This was easily my favorite part of the whole day. First, there was a great conversation about what makes Steve/Bucky so appealing and how each of the panelists fell in love with the pairing. It was interesting to hear that so many of them came to it because of Bucky. Second, panelists that came from all over the world specifically to be on the panel. Third, hearing slash fanfic read out loud by the writers themselves at a general con was amazing. Fourth, amazing Bucky and Cap cosplayers sitting in the front row (sorry, I don’t mean to objectify you, but you were sweet and really helped set the mood for those of us seated behind you). Also, someone mentioned a His Dark Materials AU with Stucky that I now I have to track down. I was able to buy a copy of the absolutely beautiful anthology at the end of the panel. I really wanted to stick around and have all the writers autograph it, but I knew that would take a long time and there was kind of a jumble as we reconvened in the hallway. So I ended up just heading to the next panel.

9:00 PM-9:45 PM Trekoff LIVE! -The NSFW Star Trek Comedy Show!/>I was a few minutes late, but I don’t think I missed much. This is only my second time attending a live taping of a podcast at a con, and this one was much more lively than the first. The game we played as a group was to figure out how to staff a ship of the most fuckable Star Trek villains. The hosts took us through every entry in the Star Trek franchise, pulling up both well-known and obscure villains and having the audience choose between two at a time to determine who was more fuckable. Some were easy choices and others were more difficult. There were also some pretty convincing creative arguments for and against some of the characters. I was surprised to find characters like the Borg Queen and Evil!Hoshi beating a lot of others. I was surprised characters like Q and the three-some of Kor, Koloth, and Kang didn’t go further. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan made it pretty far but didn’t ultimately win! Who won? I can’t even remember. You’ll have to track down the episode!

I headed home after a long, tiring day and made more progress on my book. When I had to switch trains, it took almost half an hour for the right color train to arrive. So I did get a lot read but I didn’t get home until nearly midnight (at which point I still had a load of laundry to do before bed).

Awesome Con 2017- Day 1 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

Awesome Con 2017- Highlights

I am exhausted but full of elation after three days at Awesome Con in Washington, DC. I’m not a big fan of huge cons, and this one is definitely a little too big for my comfort zone. I don’t like the feeling of not being able to do and see all of the things I want to do and see. But one of the things I love about big cons is that your experience with the mix of activities you choose to do at one is unique. For example, I’m not into photo ops (ew, I don’t want to see myself) or meeting celebs (I would embarrass the hell out of myself). But I am into panels and into fitting as much as possible into a day.

I started a comprehensive write-up then realized: no, there is too much. Let me sum up…

Highlights included:

Seeing John Barrowman in a kilt and sporran, talking about the Battle of Culloden and Bonnie Prince Charlie using his full Scottish accent

Getting to sit inside a Supernatural Impala

Getting signed art from Karen Hallion

Attending the Stucky anthology reading

Seeing Scott Gill in Captain Jack’s greatcoat

Wanting to as Garrett Wang a question and having him read my mind and answer it for me before the Q&A portion even began

Seeing so many rare comics, panels, and memorabilia

Seeing David Tennant, Catherine Tate, John Barrowman, Garrett Wang, Clare Kramer, Stan Lee, Felicia Day, Jason David Frank, and Eliza Dushku in person all in one weekend!

By the numbers:

3 days attended

11 panels attended

8 celebrity Q&As attended

21 pieces of art purchased (only 3 are gifts; I have a problem)

2 books finished

4 DADA business cards bravely handed out

3 meals skipped entirely, replaced by protein meal bars

7 friends I ran into/came across/spotted

33,265 steps taken

Infinite squees

I will be posting the rest of my adventures one day at a time.

Awesome Con 2017- Highlights was originally published on The Fangirl Project

The Muggle Ball

The Friends of the Arlington Public Library hosted a Muggle Ball last night, and more than a dozen DADA members were in attendance. There was trivia, a costume contest, hors d’oeuvres and desert, themed drinks, a jazz band, and raffle baskets.

I was blown away by how many people showed up at the event. The staff did an amazing job of decorating, from a photo wall with standees (including Edward Cullen in a Hufflepuff tie) to amazing center pieces.

My night started with an hour-long drive there (yay, rush hour traffic!) after which I managed to find one of the three nearby garages I had researched that morning at 1am. And my first surprise was finding that the garage charged $4 for the night instead of the $10 I thought. And it was only a block and a half away. So I got there exactly at 7pm.

After checking in, I, thankfully, ran into two of my friends, who had already snagged a table up front. One was wearing a dress I thought about buying for the event, so I’m glad I didn’t. She wore it beautifully, with matching bowtie and earrings as well! I dropped my coat, checked out the raffle items, and then worked on the scavenger hunt with two other friends.

Some questions were easy: Q. What are the names of the Marauders? My answer: James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and (the best!) Remus Lupin Some questions were hard: What was Ron’s second wand made of? My answer: Wood and a magical core (which is not, technically incorrect…) And some questions were confusing: What are the maiden names of Harry’s mother and aunt? My answer: Names PLURAL? Evans… Lily Evans and Petunia Evans… what do you mean by maiden names plural, it’s the same, because they’re sisters. By the end, I was going with funny, in hope of making someone laugh and earn bonus points. Question: What charm did Hermione use on her bag to allow it to hold so much? My answer: An expanding charm, so that it’s larger on the inside, just like the TARDIS!

We also had to take a selfie with a member of Dumbledore’s Army or the Order of the Phoenix. This was NOT an easy task for three Hufflepuffs to undertake! We made a pass around the venue and didn’t see any likely candidates to approach. I saw one person who had a potted plant and thought he might be Neville (but he turned out later to be a Hairy Potter), but he was engaged in discussions with his friends. We spotted a great Mad-eye Moody and had our phone out, about to make our request, when he turned and moved in to kiss Trelawney. We aborted immediately! Finally, we spotted a Luna. And she kindly posed for a photo. Though, afterward, we realized perhaps she wasn’t Luna after all, because her robes were Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw. Oh well. They still accepted it. In fact, they barely looked at our answers and awarded us each a free raffle ticket!

I bought 12 other raffle tickets from a staff member who said to me “you don’t look familiar to me.” Which is kind of an odd way to start a conversation, but there it was! She asked if I went to the Arlington library often and I said no, I’m from Fairfax. And she said “You came all the way from FAIRFAX?!” which, yes, is an hour away in rush hour traffic but only about 17 miles away. Not really a long journey, you know? She handed me a $5 off book sale coupon and told me that they had an AMAZING book sale coming up. “At the end of April?” I asked, having just seen it the night before on their website. She told me I had to check it out. I’m certain I will. $5 in free books is never something I’d turn down.

Not a lot of raffle items caught my eye (jewelry, spa treatments, and wine are not my thing). And the glass bowl for the center piece raffle items was empty, so I put a ticket in there; I figured that there are more than a handful of those on tables, so my odds of winning one was pretty good even if other people put tickets in there as well. Then I made the rounds and put tickets in for a few other items.

I ran into some more DADA friends as well, then sampled the food. There were a few nice vegetarian options. However, one of the servers told us something was vegetarian and it absolutely wasn’t (which we discovered after eating some of it, UGH!). Every so often, they would bring out a cart of something and people would swarm! When the cookies came out (that was apparently desert) I moved from line to line, trying to figure out which lines were actually being served. Finally, I got to a cart. “Chocolate chip!” a man said, and thrust a plate with a cookie at me. A woman next to me said “Sure, fine!” and grabbed it. The server tried again, and I took the cookie. I’m not opposed to chocolate chip, though chocolate isn’t my favorite. When I got back to the table, however, I discovered it was oatmeal raisin, my favorite! Another lovely surprise!

The jazz band was great, and a nice reference to the Fantastic Beasts era. And it was nice to be able to just relax and spend time with friends. It was also nice to be welcome at such an event The centerpiece at our table had Draco & Harry pop pens, and a number of us took photos of them, enjoying the Drarry-ness of it all. The table also had golden snitches, keys, and letters for Draco, Bill Weasley, Neville, and others. The DADA organizers and I only had a few handfuls of group cards on hand, so we decided to slip them into the centerpieces, so the winners would find them. And if one of us won a centerpiece, we decided we’d give the card to one of the cosplayers.

I completely fail at getting good photos, but the costumes were amazing. The winners were amazing, including a fur-covered Monster Book of Monsters (at a BOOK charity event! So clever!) and a couple’s costume of the Whomping Willow and the Flying Ford.

Then they gave out raffle prizes. I’ve had a pretty bad track record with raffles during the past decade or two, Wincon not withstanding. I was also checking a friend’s raffle tickets, as she had to leave early. I didn’t know what she put tickets in for, so I had to pay close attention to every item. Which is why it didn’t even register itself when a number in my ticket range was called. I checked and double-checked, not quite believing it. Then I grabbed the ticket and had to show it to them because I still wasn’t sure I had it right. LOL I won the doggie basket. My parents’ pup is going to be pretty happy! There’s also a nice Harry Potter ceramic mug set that I’ll enjoy for myself.

When it came time for the center pieces, someone came around and grabbed them off the tables. We said goodbye to ours and laughed to ourselves about the DADA cards we snuck into each one. Apparently, there were seven centerpieces, one for each book. As ours had a spider in it, we assumed ours was for Book 2 and felt silly for not realizing it was book-themed. They read off raffle winners, one by one. And, suddenly, they were calling out my number again. That very first ticket, the one I’d put in the centerpiece raffle bowl before anybody else at the whole event, had just been called! So I went up and claimed the centerpiece for Book 6. As I walked back to the table, I realized it was the one from our table! Everyone got a good laugh about my winning our centerpiece back. But then I had to give the DADA card to someone. I ended up giving it to the Whomping Willow & Flying Ford (so we get two potential members instead of just one).

I headed back to the parking garage without incident (apart from some rude comments made by drunk men in bars/cars I passed along the way). And when I got home, I took a closer look at the centerpiece items. It was so clever!

Here’s my best guess for the Book 6 items. Let me know if you have other ideas!

Harry & Draco pens- in honor of Harry’s growing obsession with Draco during this book

Jelly beans- Dumbledore-related? At first I thought it was Weasley Wizard Wheezes-related, but this is candy, not jokes

Felix Felicis- The potion brewed during this book

Candied pineapple- Slughorn’s favorite

Spider finger puppet- Aragog’s funeral

Hogwarts snow globe- Harry on his broom, the last time Harry plays Quidditch at Hogwarts

Gold coins- Erm… maybe the DA coins that they used to gather DA members when the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts? Or maybe Ron visiting his brother’s shop and them charging him for items?

Lighting up wand- honoring Dumbledore

The Muggle Ball was originally published on The Fangirl Project

10 Things I Wish I'd Known About DC Shows

I started watching Arrow when it first appeared on television, but my DVR kept filling up and not catching episodes. I ended up rewatching the first season on Netflix but didn’t go back to it when Season 2 came out. Then I learned that the Flash was actually sort of a spin-off from that show’s universe. The idea of missing out on two great, related shows eventually pushed me back to trying again with them. So this Marvel girl took the plunge back in to do things properly. But there’s a whole lot I wish I’d known earlier that would have made this easier for me.

10 Things I Wish I’d Known About DC Shows Before I Started Watching Them

1. Order! I understood that Flash was a spin-off of sorts from Arrow, so I had to do some research to figure out what order to watch the episodes in. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t just an episode or two I needed to be careful of, but more than a handful of crossover episodes as well as episodes that mention what’s going on in the other show by way of a news report on in the background or an offhand comment someone makes. Luckily, there were some nice people online who have made excellent lists to help us keep it straight. Unfortunately, the lists I was going off of were not quite as comprehensive.

2. Supergirl I had NO idea that the shows were in the same universe, so imagine my surprise when I’m watching Supergirl and suddenly the Flash shows up and mentions a tiny little spoiler, offhandedly. Gah! All my attempts at watching things in order and then I miss up? Typical.

3. Jesse L. Martin Why does this guy look so familiar to me? Where do I know him from? It took me until halfway through the first season of the Flash before I finally broke down and IMDBed him. Then I flailed. He played Tom Collins (my second favorite character) in RENT! OF COURSE HE DID! And if someone had told me he was on the show, I would have watched it a hell of a lot sooner (especially if someone had told me there was an episode where he sings–which there is!)

4. Wentworth Miller OMG How did no one tell me Wentworth is a reoccurring baddie on the Flash? I would have been there in a heartbeat if you’d told me that! So great to see him in such a fun, complex role again.

5. AND Dominic Purcell And when Wentworth Miller’s character has to team up with another baddie on the show, who appears? Why, Dominic Purcell, of course. WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME my favorite Prison Break teamup was alive and well in the DC tv universe? This is EPIC to me! I’ve loved Dominic’s acting since John Doe and Wentworth’s since Dinotopia, but seeing them together again like this is so great.

6. Legends of Tomorrow Wait, SERIOUSLY?! I must be way too stuck in the Marvel ‘verse lately, because this show didn’t even get onto my radar. I had no idea it was another spin-off and certainly didn’t know that both Wentworth and Dominic were part of the main cast. The most amazing moment came several episodes in when Dominic’s character is in a Russian Gulag and Wentworth’s character turns to his teammates and actually says “This isn’t my first Prison Break.” I might have actually screamed. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick Legends of Tomorrow up at the right time in the timeline either, so everything’s all wonky in my head until I get to the end of Season 1, I expect.

7. Vixen Another spin-off to keep track of?

8. Constantine Okay, I am thrilled at the attempt to make everything all fit in the same universe. But I haven’t watched any of those episodes on my DVR yet and when Constantine shows up on Arrow multiple times I was angry at myself for not having done so. I wish I’d known to watch those!

9. Tone Differences For two shows in the same universe, Arrow & The Flash have vastly different tones. Arrow is so dark and angsty and The Flash is much lighter (though definitely has a lot of darkness deep down that’s masked by the humor). I wish I had been prepared for that when I needed to bounce back and forth from one to the other. The contrast was sometimes hard to take if I was intensely into the feel of one show and then had to move to the other for an episode or two.

10. To Not Wait I wish someone had just forced me to give the shows more of a chance, then I wouldn’t have had to play catch-up the way I did. After Season 1 of Arrow, I really wasn’t sure if the shows were for me. But I should have known to keep at it for the sake of more John Barrowman, if nothing else. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to enjoy this goodness.

10 Things I Wish I’d Known About DC Shows was originally published on The Fangirl Project

Actor Identification

AHHHHHHHHHHHH! That moment when you’re marathoning Poirot episodes and suddenly realize that Archie Kennedy, Apollo Adama, and Jake Malloy are all the same actor. OMG MY MIND IS BLOWN

It was the glasses, with Jake. I didn’t recognize him with the glasses.

A poor excuse. But OMG! I feel so silly for not realizing this earlier.

Actor Identification was originally published on The Fangirl Project

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #12

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 12: Spots!

101 Dalmatians is my favorite Disney movie. One of the pups gets a place on my tree.

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #12 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #11

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 11: Hedwig

Letter for you? Here’s a lovely owl who reminds me of Hedwig from Harry Potter, of course!

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #11 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #10

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 10: 50 Years of Doctors

The Doctor Who 50th anniversary ornament featuring doctors One through Eleven.

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #10 was originally published on The Fangirl Project

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #9

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 9: Lost Ship

Another one of my swap partners created this ornament for me with my favorite pairing from the TV show Lost. Awww, boys.

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #9 was originally published on The Fangirl Project