Guilded Age

Goodness Goddamned gracious, Guildies. I just got back from Intervention and boy, is my everything tired. I’ll do my best to throw what I can at you in terms of reporting! Click below to read the full report.

T and I, plus our Helpy Helperton for the weekend Jamie made it to the con on Friday. Erica had overnighted us the table banner, which arrived just in time for the show to start. With that, signage, and a fancy tablecloth that my uncle couriered over to me out of the goodness of his heart and free time, our table was ready to go just in time for the the dealer’s room to open. Our first sale came within the first hour of open, and we were maintaining a steady stream afterwards to the point where we sold out all the books we could sell without depleting our stock for Webcomics Con. T’s other merch did great as well, and we even sold a couple of our shirts (our toughest item to move).

If I may… yowza.

The con itself was exactly as wonderful and fun as it was last year, if not moreso. Before the dealer’s room opened, I killed some time playing Rock Band with a fella by the name of Colin for a few songs. Later, we found out he was a Guildie himself, and neither of us had any idea! This is one reason to go to cons where I am at, you never know when I will demand to have a sweet Jam Sesh with you. Thanks for the phat beats, Colin!

The “First Time’s Not The Charm” panel I did with Jamie, Garth and Steve was something sort of wonderful. We all got to compare all the dumb ideas we had in our past that never took off until we eventually got the ones that worked. T and I had a similar blast on the World Building 101 panel with Team Tamuran. It was pretty great to have a group of people there who truly wanted to learn more, and co-panelists with lots of wisdom to offer. Intervention’s panels tend to have great people on them with great advice, and I think the attendees are picking up on that… or at least I hope so!

And for Friday Night’s Super Art Fight, they had an open slot for anyone to try. I tried my first hand at an Art Fight, only to be whupped mercilessly by my two competitors. Take it from me: Super Art Fight is not easy. The regulars are just so awesome they make it look that way. But hear me now, Guildies and Art Fighters alike: I shall train in the ways of Art Fighting for an entire year, until my skills are up to snuff for next year, where I will take on anyone who dares.

Do you accept my challenge?

[ ] Yes
[ ] No

There were some rad costumes, best in show going to my friend Alyssa of Team Sluggy with her Tali costume. You can’t see it in the picture, but she actually hooked up mini-cooling fans inside the mostly airtight mask. Now that’s impressive cosplay!

Sturday night was kind of epic, and that’s a word I don’t like to hear or use liberally. It was my birthday, as I may have mentioned before, and I turned 26 while enjoying a party hosted by my true bro and business mentor, Rob Balder and Team ErfWorld… as well as bearing witness to Super Art Fight Unleashed, in which I learned that Jamie Noguchi and Kelsey Wailes are fierce when working together, and pretty much everyone is obsessed with body parts that dangle in general. So no surprises there, I guess. But thanks to Intervention, my closest pals, and a legion of cool party people… I had what was probably the best birthday of my life, and so I thank you all.

All in all, we had a great time. We sold out, partied, and got interviewed like rock stars and didn’t trash the hotel too badly. This is my hometown con, so I’ll be there no matter what… but even if it wasn’t, Intervention has secured their spot on my must-go cons forever. Thanks again to Oni, Hark, and all the rest of the staffers who put in the time and energy to make it all go off. I’m already counting the days until next year!