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Anthrocon 2016: The long post by CCritt93

Two years ago I reluctantly withdrew from the embrace of Pittsburgh at the conclusion of my first Anthrocon. Immediately I knew that I wanted to feel that embrace again. This year the city was waiting with its arms open as wide as ever.

TUESDAY

The Steer and I took a more southern route this year. Part of the reason was wariness of Indiana ruts and potholes. Another part was the two Putt-Putt Fun Centers remaining in northern Kentucky.

For the first time in 39 years I traveled over both of the bridges carrying US 60/62 over the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The former felt even narrower than the latter. As with Megaplex last year, Paducah was my lunch and fuel stop. The Western Kentucky Parkway was far easier on the Steer than Indiana had been on his predecessor. I spent the night near Louisville and played three rounds of Putt-Putt. Not too shabby—42/39/47.

WEDNESDAY

I think it was a weird dream that roused me from slumber at 0300. At any rate, the early start helped me to avoid rush hour in Cincinnati, to reach the Westin at noon on the dot, and to snag a darn good parking space. Skirtandzy Skirtandzy had already checked in, and fluffehdeer arrived later in the afternoon. The Westin’s touchpad elevator call system was a breeze; combined with careful time management I only had to enqueue in the Liberty Center hallway for the lobby lifts once over the weekend. Just as in 2014, I walked down to Golden Palace for supper. Unlike 2014, being early to rise I was early to bed.

THURSDAY

FlashTimberwolf FlashTimberwolf arrived, completing the room’s roster for the weekend. The ToonSeum featured a Captain America retrospective and a selection of 2016 political cartoons, many accompanied by sketches and original inks. At Mike & Tony’s I picked up my very first gyro, and if I have any say in the matter it will not be my last. (By the way, is it JYE-roh or YEE-roh?) It was a late lunch, however, so I had to back out of the evening’s Buca di Beppo meetup. Instead I walked to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for badge pickup . . . and crossed paths with KitanaMarie KitanaMarie, who was all suited up and ready to spank some spooks. Er, bust some ghosts.

To conclude the evening I attended To Absent Friends.

FRIDAY

The first full day of the con began with my final breakfast at Hanlon’s Cafe. After the Opening Ceremonies I hopped back to Furnando’s for a lasagna wrap and then went up to the Quipfur session.

Quipfur was a fun new game, based on Jackbox’s Quiplash. The civilian challengers mostly held their own against the celebrity home team. As the game progressed I wished there were an unobtrusive way for participants other than the two featured players to offer their own responses to the questions just for kicks. The kicker was a question asking what Neil Armstrong really said when his foot first touched the moon. I chose to tweet my reponse after the game.

I sat in on the Open Mic session hoping to see Flash deliver his set, but there were far from enough performance slots to go around. Later I went to TimKangaroo and KTurtle’s My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic panel. KT’s MLP Mega Mad Lib did not disappoint. Then I stayed up for the first half of Whose Lion before retiring for the night.

SATURDAY

This was a lo-o-ong day out of the room.

Conventions on the Cheap was a more in-depth exploration of ways to get FRESH-T for less.

Then came the parade. Fifty-five minutes. Two thousand one hundred fursuits. Several phone and camera batteries in the vicinity ran out. And that was all before . . . The Sheddening.

Furry Feud got a late start, but that allowed ample time for a proposal to one of the players. Congratulations to the happy couple. And I rounded out the night with Pawsterpiece Theater’s treatment of Rumpelstiltskin.

SUNDAY

I wanted to attend the Funday Pawpet Show meetup and see the Fursuit Team Games, but I had Furry Language to put on that morning. I think the game was a significant improvement over its debut at Midwest FurFest 2015. We played two full games in an hour. A round of applause for our eight players, including four fursuiters. Sultz Z. Wolf emceed while I operated the computer for the game. I can proudly say that there were no crashes.

After the games’ conclusion, a game designer in attendance advised me of a serious flaw he observed in the second game. That game came down to a sudden-death tossup, which not only is typically Won By Doing Nothing (in this case, waiting for the opponent to ring in with what is usually a wrong answer) but also deprives the actors of the feedback the guessers provide by thinking out loud. Additionally, the silence is jarring to an audience accustomed to chatter in regulation play. Two hours later, after stowing away the equipment, I got an idea for an overtime round that gives each team their own single answer to play, with the faster solution winning. And the choose-A-or-B mechanic is finding its way into regulation too, so teams don’t get stuck with a tough puzzle just because it’s the next one in the stack.

Later in the afternoon I tried to sneak around in the Zoo, but somebody managed to blow my cover.

Suddenly it was already time for the Closing Ceremonies, one last lasagna wrap, and a brrrrEEEE—er, brief walkabout on the way up to the room to decompress.

MONDAY

Packed up, checked out, and back on the road at 0945. I drove through occasional showers that became a steady rain as I approached my overnight stop in Florence KY. Needless to say, even if it were open on Independence Day (I didn’t bother checking) the Putt-Putt in nearby Erlanger was out of the question.

TUESDAY

Back to Paducah for lunch and fuel. Back over the long, narrow bridges. Back home at 1900 with the Steer fully intact and fully functioning. No hubcaps to lose. No front bumper gashes. No blown starters. No doubt about it—I want to do it again in 2018.

THANK YOU

To all the event presenters and performers, for your talents, your dedication to your subjects, and your hours of preparation.

To the Anthrocon, Westin, and DLCC staffs, for all your hard work in keeping things running smoothly.

And to the downtown merchants and the city of Pittsburgh, who continue to let us wacky animalpeople be part of your summer.

Anthrocon 2016: The long post

CCritt93

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