ConnectiCon 2009
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My last few days in New England, Kelly, her boyfriend Max, and I drove down to Connecticut for the 2009 ConnectiCon.
The ConnectiCon is a conference in Hartford, Connecticut every year that hosts an assortment of anime, video game, table-top, LARP, webcomic, and otherwise “geeky” related things. It was my very first conference, and I was excited.
Here I am posing in my Neirenn costume, which I made for ConnectiCon.
In preparation, I’d sewn a costume so that I could cosplay as Neirenn from one of my favorite webcomics, Inverloch. Sixty-some-dollars later, and at least fifteen hours of work, I was excited to show off the outfit I’d worked on for the better part of the summer.
The three of us shared a hotel room in the conjoining hotel (the Marriot). We arrived Thursday evening to sign in and get our badges before the conference began the next day. We received our badges and goody bags–complete with a book listing all the available panels, workshops, events and shows through the weekend. A biography of all the special guests was also included.
With a lot of people already arriving, I found myself people watching wherever we went. Even in the hotel pool I could find people already in their costumes and makeup. I couldn’t decide if I should be laughing or enviously cooing over their outfits.
The actual conference began Friday morning. The three of us had already planned our schedules for the weekend onto slips of paper, and so we set off on our own–each with rather different agendas. They were offering panels on just about anything and everything. From Dungeons and Dragons to Steampunk to Anime, costuming, makeup, webcomics, and even dating for the social inept, it would be hard not to find a workshop you’d enjoy.
Arriving at the conference with a background in webcomics and a deep appreciation for anything remotely related to the Internet–I spent most of my time attending panels on Photoshop techniques and good webcomic practices. I found quickly that it’s a good idea to bring a notebook with you to take notes with, even if it’s only to doodle when you find that the speaker is discussing techniques you’ve already heard of.
Aside from these workshops, there were also allotted times for webcomic and web video creators to discuss or show their work. At ConnectiCon this year there was in attendance (of which I knew):
- Sandeep Parikh — Creator of Legend of Neil and the actor who plays “Zaboo” in The Guild.
- Tony Janning — Actor who plays “Link” in the Legend of Neil.
- Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza — Writer and Artist of the Looking for Group and Least I Could Do webcomics.
- Tim Buckley — The creator and artist of Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomic.
- Scott Ramsoomair — The writer and artist of the VG Cats webcomic.
- Randall Munroe — The creator of the webcomic, XKCD.
- Alex Heberling — Creator and artist for Garanos, another webcomic. Also a graduate of OSU’s Art and Technology program. (Woot woot!)
- Naomi Craig & Alyssa Follansbee — Artist duo for the webcomic, Prime of Ambition.
- Jeph Jacques — Artist and creator of yet another webcomic, Questionable Content.
Sandeep Parikh, the creator of Legend of Neil and the actor who plays "Zaboo" in The Guild, poses with me for the camera.
Honestly, I was ecstatic. While most of these people aren’t exactly celebrities, in my little world they might as well be. If I was unable to meet any of these people at their panels, they also had their own tables set up in either the Artist Alley or the Dealer’s Room where they could be visited during most of the day. In this way I was able to have in depth conversations with several of them–discovering secrets and even establishing Facebook friendships (This still makes me chuckle).
[singlepic=913,320,240,,left]The Artist Alley was a separate room for the creators on a smaller budget, and filled with more craftsmen and artists alike–selling their pieces and handing out cards. It was here that I met the Prime of Ambition duo. I’d actually only heard of their webcomic before, but by the end of the conference I was stopping by their booth often to exchange pleasant conversation and see how their sales were doing.
I found quickly that, even though I did not have a booth of my own, I should have brought my own business cards! People want to talk to you at these events–and often I found myself telling people about my own webcomic endeavours and having no means of sharing a suitable URL. I’ll have to keep this in mind for next time!
[singlepic=909,320,240,,right]Down in the Dealer’s Room, a far bigger and more expensive venue for the vendors, I met the Looking for Group team. Their web site administrator, Ryan McCahan, was also there, and we exchanged website tips and stories–something I enjoyed considerably. I was also able to get a poster signed by Sohmer and Lar, the writer and artist. Sohmer and I talked about Broadway music…who would have thought he had all that music in his car? And sang to it?
At the Legend of Neil booth I was able to discuss with Sandeep about his camera and the equipment they use for their filming. I was able to get a poster signed by Sandeep and Tony, and by the end of the conference they knew me by name. I also became fairly good friends with some of the people helping at their booth–we had several running jokes, and all went out for food and drinks at some point.
[singlepic=908,320,240,,right]Aside from all the people I was able to meet (and my fan-girl self is still screaming because of), I was also able to partake in a lot of LARP sword fighting. If you get the chance to play any sort of LARP fighting, I would recommend it. It’s good fun, and involves hitting people with foam weapons. I spent most of my Friday afternoon at the tournament ring, fighting people and making new friends. I was thankful to have fencing experience…it made fighting much easier.
Food being really expensive at the conference, Kelly, Max and I brought our own food in a big cooler. Periodically we headed back to the hotel room and fixed a sandwich or ate some fruit. This is something I will probably plan on doing every conference I attend–far cheaper! A slice of pizza inside the conference was at least $5, and not nearly big enough to call a meal.
[singlepic=904,320,240,,left]At the conference I was introduced to a new fashion and costume trend called “Steampunk.” A group that calls themselves “The Penny Dreadfuls,” hosted a number of panels on the subject–from defining the term, to teaching us how to make costume to finding Steampunk in current media–it was a big hit. Each panel was crowded with countless enthusiastic people. While I came to the conference knowing nothing Steampunk, I left a die-hard fan.
For those of you who have never heard the term, Steampunk is basically taking ANY past era time period and adding a splurge of technology. Imagine Victorian era costumes with gears and gadgets. Being already in love with vintage clothes…let’s just say it’s a perfect off-shoot of my own obsessions. Steampunk costumes will often include high tech looking goggles, a lot of brass objects, and highly complex looking weapons. Most of which can be assembled with junk parts and hardware store miscellaneous items! For those of you who like to take things apart: this is for you!
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Another big benefit of dressing in Steampunk: You are allowed to kick down doors and yell, “FOR SCIENCE!” as you do so.
In any case, I know my next costume.
Finally, there was also a lot of table-top games going on during the conference. Kelly, Max and I were able to play a demo by the very man who created Burning Wheel, Luke Crane. The Burning Wheel is a fantastic table-top RPG that I’ve come to love over my cherished D&D and World of Darkness counterparts. With a social system that makes social skills worthwhile, and a belief system that gives an extra fun spin on questing and role play, I’m eager to buy a book and host my own game at college.
In any case! Overall, my experience at the 2009 ConnectiCon was an excellent one. I can’t wait to go to another…and I have my eye on the OhayoCon in Columbus, Ohio this coming January.
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