FC2012 TIMELY REPORT

[Kindrift]

For reference: January 12-16, roughly, at the San Jose Convention Center, making use of the Marriott and Hilton hotels.  Roughly in order of the experience.

The registration was a wreck.  Former and current staff of Anthrocon were actually arguing with FC staff over how bad it was; it's settled into a who knows why, but it's fucked situation.  Thursday pre-registration badge pickup started an hour late, after unspecified database issues, and the system forgot everybody's names.  This was fixed for Friday, when registration/badge pickup stalled for two hours, as every staffer went on break at the same time.

Scheduling was full of mistakes.  The con schedule has a long list of corrections in the front, and still wasn't up to date.  Dances started up to an hour and a half late.  Panels were getting moved and swapped within 5 minutes of their start times.  A writing panel got shoved into a room at the end of a hallway nobody was allowed to enter.  The 'How To Run A Kick Ass Panel' panel either moved, or nobody showed up in the first place, which was hilarious way to run a kick ass panel.  And they'd schedule two track events at the same time.  The official solution was to 'have a friend go to the one you can't attend' via Twitter.

The dances were an example of how not to have dances.  The ten or so guys running them, all from @furtherecord, could get a crowd excited.  They had good hype.  Fine, but none of them could mix.  Depending on the night and the DJ, you either had the 'shoes in a tumble dryer' effect, pre-recorded sets, or uncomfortable amounts of dead air between songs.  The DJ was shouting apologies a few times on the first night until they learned better.  And with two dance floors, they planned things like electro house on one and dirty house on another, dubstep on one and DnB on the other.  Previous conventions split the dance floors into techno/industrial/trance/house and psytrance/downtempo/chillout.  This one had the same genres on both stages, while other popular genres didn't get play until Monday night, after the majority of attendees had left.  You totally fucking suck, @furtherecord.

The party floor was bad.  The rooms were small, we had two parties on Friday, three on Saturday, and on Sunday the entire floor closed after just one hour.  Attendance is up, parties are down, so everybody was running out of booze early.  There was no place to hang out and BS with friends or meet people.  You walk into a party, get your drink, then squeeze back out into the hallway.  Not fun, not social.  The balconies were windy and freezing, which is the first thing not directly the fault of convention planning.

The hotel quality was markedly down.  There wasn't really any place to hang out.  Think about the lobbies at the Doubletree or the Fairmont, big open areas with plenty of seats and tables.  We had none of this, not in the Hilton or the Marriott.  The rooms were split between two hotels, and neither had as many elevators as the Doubletree.  The Hilton had the bulk of the complaints: some attendees paid more for an 'executive suite' with a rollaway bed, but got a normal room with no space for a rollaway.  Hilton staff was kicking people out for bringing booze into their rooms, in case they might have a party.  They had three elevators, and they broke frequently.  Internet and parking are no longer free for either hotel, like they were in years previous.

Here I'll point out that the Marriott room keys were drawn by Wan, featuring oversexed otters, and oh yeah the artist is basically a date rapist.  Stay classy.

But, whatever.  Between booze and friends and loud music that was usually playing correctly, it's hard to hate.  Good points: Pizza My Heart for pizza by the slice, Ben & Jerry's for being convenient, Psycho Donuts for beer/smoothies/donuts, Peggy Sue's for burgers and fries.  Single Barrel for a speakeasy, and Frolic for being a competent dance club.

[rodox_video]

well i guess it was a good thing i was sick then

[Jim Demintia]

I was waiting for this thread to show up so I could wonder aloud about that "Hitlon" image going around, with the predictable German dictator featured.

Gonna guess it was because of the booze-related room issues.

[Fantastigasm]

This review forgets 2 hilarious details.

FC guys gave the Hilton the special otter rape keys to give out to con attendees, but apparently did not bother to find out that the Hilton's key slots were an irregular size. So the keys were useless and the con ended up just giving them out as free swag.

Second, Egypt-Urnash pulled a most post furry of moves and decided that she was TOO GOOD for furry. But like a typical post furry, she can't just drop out of furry, she has to make a big deal so that EVERYBODY knows because she's REAL IMPORTANT, YOU GUYS. So she had a panel called "Gracefully Outgrowing the Furry Fandom." LOL.  I assume it consisted of an hour of her explaining how she's better than all the other spirit animal porn mongers.

[magus]

Unlike other cons where you can usually cite a trend of improvement or decline in departments, or at least say that 'this con is complete shit at <x> because the people who run that are tools', FC is a complete fucking tossup year-to-year. This, for those unaware, is because they have such an ingrained bias against cults of personality that they toss the leaders every year. It's even a joke: The wrap party for the con is called the 'firing party' or something like because, well, it's where you get canned if you have any responsibility. While this can prevent a Merlino or a Conway from emerging, it also tends to mean that FC is very... uneven. Institutional memory of the staff is basically zero, so incremental improvements are a matter of luck, more or less. (Speaking of Conway, wonder how the thaw in the Furry Con Cold War went.)

I know people that were unable to get staff badges for pretty much the duration of the con due to the fuckups. That's pretty amazing.

Lack of hangout space in the hotels: Welcome to the Convention Center Lyfe, I guess. It's how AC's been running for a while now, though at least they have a Zoo.

Hadn't heard about 'BRB Leaving Furry Forever: The Panel', my god. Why they would let that happen is beyond me.

[GreenReaper]

So she had a panel called "Gracefully Outgrowing the Furry Fandom." LOL.  I assume it consisted of an hour of her explaining how she's better than all the other spirit animal porn mongers.

I went to that one. It was a bit unfocussed, but that's nothing special for a furry con panel. The general topic was how branding yourself solely a "furry artist/writer" can limit your potential, whether looking outside the fandom is actually necessary considering the growth of the fandom, techniques for introducing your work to other audiences and making it appeal to them, and artists and writers who have started to follow this path (or, in some cases, "external" artists who have started to include clearly furry works in their portfolio). Ursula Vernon was held out as a prime example. I found the general concept preferable to (and more realistic than) the common idea that furry fandom has to change in order to meet an artist's profit expectations, which historically hasn't worked.

The lack of a general gathering and talking space was a real issue. The Creators' Space on the third floor was a reasonable model, but far too small for wider use. Dealer space was also very crowded and loud; not particularly conducive to business. Lighting and general presentation at the art show was greatly improved over last year, although I had to leave before the sales figures were in. I also kinda liked the otter rape keys. (I ended up with the masseur one.)

There were art exhibitions at a nearby comic store and an art gallery (apparently with the first display of conbadge art). The former was appropriately presented, but deserted (just before the fursuit parade, but I suspect it was after as well); I didn't get to the latter. The art track posters advertising it seemed only to go up on Saturday, and they were so heavy they kept falling down; I don't know if the events were otherwise promoted.

[Jim Demintia]

The general topic was how branding yourself solely a "furry artist/writer" can limit your potential

This is why artists need to use pseudonyms, and it's why just about everyone who creates porn, furry or not, uses a pseudonym. Because it does limit your potential. There's also something to be said for the fact that there is somewhat of a limited market for animal-themed art outside of furry, and I question whether that market can meet profit expectations either. If you're looking to get rich from your art, go be an "assistant" at one of those Thomas Kinkade factories or some shit. Or maybe you should have gone to college and gotten a business degree if money really means all that much to you.

That said, presentation, people. "Gracefully outgrowing the furry fandom" makes you sound exactly like you think you're better than everyone else. And a lot of furry artists give off that vibe. It's a great way to ensure you never even get off the ground in the first place, because of your clear and unmistakable contempt for your customers.

[ProvincialTwit]

Such a panel should also probably touch on the idea that getting asspats and e-blowjobs for scribbling some dongs within the fandom is pretty easy, and fandom e-popularity does not translate to any sort of success in the Real World.

And if they want to point out Vernon as an example of "growing beyond the fandom" they need to be sure to point out someone like Martin and his infamous "putting furry porn in professional portfolio" failure.  (And possibly even Winger who, IIRC, was highly educated and had a high-power high-paying job but drew ridiculous and absurd porn on the side for laughs instead of trying to make a career out of it.)

The concept of "whether looking outside the fandom is actually necessary considering the growth of the fandom" seems more than a little disingenuous to even consider, in my completely non-humble opinion.  It's almost as though the speaker is asking "Do you -really- need to continue caring about improvement and personal growth when you've got such a ready audience of slobbering sycophants and guaranteed temporary e-fame?" or perhaps an even darker note of "If you're a popular and successful furry artist you shouldn't look beyond the fandom because we need quality dongsketchers to draw our porn!"  Any artist worth the carbon they're made out of strives to improve throughout their life and career (for those fortunate enough to make a career out of it).  Hence why the 'perpetual popufur' artists like Blackrabbit and Light are entirely worthless in an artistic sense; their art hasn't changed or improved in any noticeable way in a decade or more.  And to stretch this metaphor to the breaking point, it's largely the same reason FA hasn't and will never improve, because the people running it never look beyond themselves or the fandom and choose to believe what they do is 'good enough' because it draws the crowds/money/popularity/asspats.

As to Jim's comment above, I'm not entirely certain simply using pseudonyms is enough, either.  A lot of artists in furry either crib a major studio's style, or develop their own one-off style, and never actually learn to draw any other way.  Not only is this extremely limiting when it comes to a lot of the 'art jobs' people seem to want (ie, animation, where you have to be able to reliably replicate someone else's style and draw their characters on-model every time), it can lead to an employer (or potential employer) easily finding the sort of work that could cost them a job.  It'd be like using a pseudonym that was just your real name with a few letters swapped around.

Man that's a lot of words. I'd better stop before someone thinks I give a fuck.

[camellia sinensis]

This is why artists need to use pseudonyms, and it's why just about everyone who creates porn, furry or not, uses a pseudonym. Because it does limit your potential.

fwiw plenty of professional artists hired by animation studios and what have you have done pornographic work without the shield of a pen name. you would be surprised how little companies actually give a shit that their artists have done/do draw porny stuff.

[greaseyote]

I was waiting for this thread to show up so I could wonder aloud about that "Hitlon" image going around, with the predictable German dictator featured.

Gonna guess it was because of the booze-related room issues.

Are you talking about this guy?

http://sabotlours.livejournal.com/

Nothing says class like carting a case of warm Costco beer through the hotel lobby... Anyway it's bullshit that they were telling people they couldn't bring their own beverages to their room for their own personal consumption, and I kind of get the feeling that the hotel implemented this policy after the con had already made it's arrangements with the hotel and they did some research on what furry cons were all about, and decided they didn't want any part of it.

[Jim Demintia]

Are you talking about this guy?

Well, someone else linked to his LJ pics site from Twitter, but yeah, that's the one. So just one guy, huh? That's...even more pathetic.

[Jim Demintia]

This is why artists need to use pseudonyms, and it's why just about everyone who creates porn, furry or not, uses a pseudonym. Because it does limit your potential.

fwiw plenty of professional artists hired by animation studios and what have you have done pornographic work without the shield of a pen name. you would be surprised how little companies actually give a shit that their artists have done/do draw porny stuff.

Which is great, I guess, if you can get a job in an animation studio. I'm gonna guess for a lot of other work for which you might be professionally hired, say, for advertising or illustration, all will be well as long as they don't know about it.

There's also another aspect of furry->non-furry transition to consider: furries largely tolerate a lot more antisocial shit out of artists than, say, a local business who'd like to hire you for advertising illustration.

[camellia sinensis]

I'm gonna guess for a lot of other work for which you might be professionally hired, say, for advertising or illustration, all will be well as long as they don't know about it.

nope? they still mostly dont care. seriously, drawing porn does not give you a black spot in the professional circuit, companies do not give even half a shit.

[greaseyote]

Are you talking about this guy?

Well, someone else linked to his LJ pics site from Twitter, but yeah, that's the one. So just one guy, huh? That's...even more pathetic.

Well, a lot of other people, on FA, etc., and at the con itself had the same complaints.

[Kindrift]

I didn't touch on the "Outgrowing the Fandom" panel, as I didn't attend it, and I think Peggy gets enough shit for her hair dye job anyway.  (I'm told she does it herself.)  But since it's come up, I should point out that it was hosted by someone who tried to outgrow the fandom, got as far as a basic animation job for one cartoon that was swiftly canceled, and fell back into furry.  Her job aspirations have been firmly limited to multidicked Illustrator scribbles in the adult art show: she can't seem to get hired at any job outside of the community, and her in-furry artistic output is both sporadic and heavily limited to her fetishes.  She can't outgrow the fandom.  The self-proclaimed Vector Queen, indeed.  They should have had Jim Groat host the panel.

Compare to the writing panels, which were hosted by artists who can actually support themselves on their art, and make some bulk of their sales beyond the furry market.  E.E. Knight and Mel White did happily go over the utility of a pseudonym, as publishers will tend to assume you're the romance novelist/sci-fi guy, and assume certain things of you.  The same goes for publishers/consumers assuming you're the adult furry guy by your name.  The issue isn't that companies refuse to work with smut artists... it's that you get pigeonholed.  Which Peggy seems to have mentioned, but White says it far more eloquently, and without pretending she's the end-all to her genre.  The writing panels were really very good.

That said, I want to see a panel for literally outgrowing the furry subculture.  You know that most furries are either dead or have left by age 27, and I'm getting into my middle-20s here.  It's time to think of either a self-inflicted gunshot, overdose, or retirement.

[camellia sinensis]

Anyone who ritualizes outgrowing something will never successfully outgrow it imo

[Jim Demintia]

Anyone who ritualizes outgrowing something will never successfully outgrow it imo

Bingo.

[rodox_video]

When people legit quit furry, they just stop. They trail off, and eventually stop posting. They don't make a big deal of it because it's no longer a big deal to them, and that's why they can quit.

The "classic" relapses with this happen because people will get insanely angry at the subculture only to realize that the majority of their friends are there - and they care about keeping their friends around much more than they care about whatever beef they have with the subculture.

[rodox_video]

FC guys gave the Hilton the special otter rape keys to give out to con attendees, but apparently did not bother to find out that the Hilton's key slots were an irregular size. So the keys were useless and the con ended up just giving them out as free swag.

I really, truly and seriously want to know whose brilliant fucking idea this was. Barring that, I really want to know how much money was wasted doing this - it can't have been cheap.

[Jim Demintia]

You know that most furries are either dead or have left by age 27, and I'm getting into my middle-20s here.  It's time to think of either a self-inflicted gunshot, overdose, or retirement.

I don't know. I'm within a few years of 30 (good god), and while it might look like that from within furry, I tend to think that the third option is that people are just a lot less active than they are when they're younger. And probably don't care about it as much as they once did. But as far as being completely gone from furry, I'm not sure those are the only two options. I could probably "leave the fandom" at this point, but I really don't give enough of a shit to completely cut it off. I am where I am, and I do what I want, when it comes to furry.

People get jobs, have lives, and generally don't have time for making themselves noticed within the subculture.