When I first began this odyssey of covering conventions at FurIdaho 2012 I wanted to be a general entertainment events journalist who covered everything from the county fair to Comic-Con. A lot has changed since then, and I've grown a bit older and hopefully wiser. Before delving into the heart of this editorial, and I say editorial and not review for reasons I'll get into later, I wanted to share a story about myself and the geek community/fandom that I've come to be a part of. Don't worry, I'll keep it brief!
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| Yep, it's a convention. |
When I moved back to Idaho from Florida in 2008 I was going through a lot -- a divorce, trying to join the military, wondering what I really wanted to do in life, and coping in a place I hadn't lived in since 2002. After moping around for a bit I started college and found out about MONAC, Middle of Nowhere Anime Club. After getting into MONAC I attended Boise State's anime club and discovered Anime Oasis, Fandemonium, Tomodachi Fest, and the rest is history. Fast forward to 2013 and I'm now covering my 2nd consecutive Fandemonium and gaining experience in a field I love. And then it happened.
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| Bro-ing it up. |
I was standing in the middle of the "Scrap Cosplay" competition (think Iron Chef but with cosplay) and I saw groups of people all working together to create. Not just to create a cosplay, but to say something about themselves as well. And as I said, it happened. I looked around at all of my fellow geeks and thought about why we were all there. Of course I had other reasons for being there, but there is a reason that I cover conventions and not politics. And then, I smiled like an idiot in the middle of Fandemonium and may have had to hold back a single dramatic tear of pride. It was a beautiful thing to see; people of different backgrounds coming together with the single purpose of being creative amongst friends, and all of it just for fun. If I could encapsulate a single moment that made me realize I'm going into the right field, I think it might be that little moment right there in the Alternative Events room at Fandemonium.
Anyhow, enough of that business! On with the show!
"THAT'S A PRETTY MATHEMATICAL COSPLAY, GIRL!"
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| Adventure Time! |
As I stated above, my primary focus this year wasn't about "reviewing" Fandemonium so much as it was and is about highlighting certain aspects of the convention. That isn't to say that I will not bring up aspects of the convention that I liked or didn't like, because I will. In the past, I had often viewed cosplays as backdrops to the conventions themselves; pretty, visible, but just par for the course of a convention. It wasn't until recently that I started to think about cosplay and cosplayers more seriously. In fact, I plan to delve into the world of cosplay one day myself, but that won't be for a little while. However, when I finally do, I can assure you that my cosplay will be very "lumpy" if you follow my meaning.
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| Hey, listen! |
Indeed hundreds of cosplayers flocked to the convention center in Nampa. Walking displays and tributes to works of art, these cosplayers often spend hours, days, weeks, or even months on perfecting their cosplays. Fandemonium had a number of events in which attendees could show off their cosplays on stage. One such event was more or less a "parade" of cosplays in which each cosplayer took a few moments to display their work on stage, allow the judges to deliberate, and then depart so that the next cosplayer could enter and do the same.
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| "You made a better horse than you ever made a man..." |
After the costume display, a cosplay skit contest took place after a few delays during rehearsals (more on that below). There were a number of good skits, with my favorite probably being one based upon the video game series Far Cry involving a couple of unfortunate hostages and a murderous bounty hunter (seen above). The work and dedication that is put into some of these performances really shows in the final product. Being able to combine excellent cosplays with a good performance really adds to the overall experience and suspension of disbelief that one has to have when enjoying a performance, be it comedic, dramatic, or otherwise.
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I don't really have anything witty to say about this other than just look at it.
FREAKIN' LOOK AT HOW AWESOME THAT IS! |
CONTESTS AND COMBAT
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| Cosplay Olympics |
Cosplay is more than just something cool to wear and look at -- it's something to play around in! Before your minds delve to deeply into the gutter, bring them back to surface level for just a moment. This year there were a few events that actually involved cosplayers competing with and against each other. One such event, Cosplay Olympics (pictured above), saw cosplaying attendees attempting to toss hoops over an opposing teammate not unlike a game of horseshoes. It really was something to see The Doctor trying to get a ring around a Starfleet ensign, I can assure you.
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| Gotcha! |
The Cosplay Olympics event was put on by the local fan group
Animatics, who have maintained a presence at local conventions in the area for some time. The group meets on most second Sundays of the month, with special exceptions for things like conventions and other events, so check '
em out.
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| A TARDIS and a redshirt. Chaos ensued. |
Another fantastic event involving cosplay was the Battle Cosplay competition. Although it had to start late due to some delays (more on that below) it ended up being one of my favorite events and might even trump Anime Oasis's battle cosplay in terms of entertainment value. In the Battle Cosplay, each team of three
cosplayers is allowed a certain amount of life points and summons. Whoever wins each individual fight isn't necessarily the winner of the contest, as the judges' base their decisions on how entertaining each team actually is. We saw it all: from Power Rangers, to King Candy,
to ninjas, and more. In the end, the Power Rangers won the day and the contest, but it was a good showing by almost every team. I certainly look forward to seeing this event expanded upon in future years.
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| "I'm not a glitch!" |
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| Homestucks assemble! |
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| Cat vs Ninja. Battle of the Ages. |
Finally, I want to talk about my overall absolute favorite event of the convention: Scrap Cosplay. I will preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Iron Chef Japan (get out of here with that Americanized crap) and love to see the creativity that each chef puts into their dishes. If you take that idea and put it into the realm of cosplay, you get something magical. The way it worked was each team was assigned a number and a workspace. All competitors had access to the various bits and bobs lying around the room, including fabric, glue guns, sewing needles, wire, etc. Each team had one hour to create a cosplay of their choosing while incorporating the secret ingredient: packing peanuts.
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| Scrap Cosplay preparation. |
When the clock started, teammates had to choose a model for their cosplay as well as a scramble for ideas of what to
make in such a short amount of time. As mentioned before,
cosplays can take an extremely long time to come up with, let alone execute, making this competition even more challenging. There were eight teams in all, and each of them had very unique
cosplays by the end of the competition. This sort of event is something I would like to see more of at more conventions if possible, as it really brought people together and it gave them a chance to show off their individual and group creativity.
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| Scrap cosplay in action. |
When the clock stopped and the glue guns had finally cooled, we were presented with eight fantastic
cosplays. From robots to cats, to Lumpy Space Princess to Poseidon, the creativity was definitely flowing during this event and it showed in spades. If there is one event that returns next year, I certainly hope that it is this one.
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| Scrap cosplay completed. |
Cosplay is something that many people outside of the convention scene might not understand, but it is an art form that is growing more and more every year. Whatever the reason and whatever the character, creature, or anything in between, it is obvious that cosplay is an ever evolving art that takes talent, dedication, and a bit of money to make it all come together. Assuming that this event
returns next year, and I believe I've heard that it will, I highly recommend checking it out or even entering the contest yourself.
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| Now that's what I call lumpy! |
ALWAYS EVENTFUL
If there's one thing that
Fandemonium shines at, it is all of the events that it puts on every year. While it would be physically impossible to attend every single event at the convention, it is highly possible to make it to a number of great events and panels. This year I had the pleasure of attending a handful, but my favorites were definitely the bad
fanfiction reading event/panel and the Hentai 18+ panel. The bad
fanfiction panel featured the panelists reading horrific
fanfics from around the net. Some of my favorites were the Adventures of Lunk in Hyrule, and Love Beyond Flesh and Circuits featuring Optimus Prime and Princess Leia. The horrors that were spoken of in that
fanfiction will forever remain buried in the darkest recesses of my mind...
but other than that it was pretty great.
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| Bad fanfiction readings so bad you'll wish you could apparate to another universe. |
Another panel of note was the 18+ Hentai/Adult Entertainment panel. Essentially everyone discussed their favorite, least favorite,
creepiest, and downright raunchiest porn and hentai they had ever seen. As it is an 18+ event I can't really talk about all that was said in there, safe to say that I don't think I'll be wanting to eat any calamari any time soon.
The greatest of all 18+ events, Cosplay After Dark, was definitely recharged this year. Last year's effort seemed to be more in the PG-13 vein, whereas this year was a straight up (no pun intended) hard R rating. Again, I can't really say what happened in there but I will say this; I will never view Elmo the same way again.
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| Fancy people playing fancy games. |
An event I
can talk about, however, is the Mafia Ball. The Mafia Ball is essentially a party where cards are played and dances are danced, all in the theme of a 1920's mafia casino. A highlight of this for me was being served punch by a Danny Phantom
cosplayer. Drinking punch in a mafia ball with Danny Phantom... You know what I take it back,
that was the moment I knew my career was on the right track.
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| Dancing the night away! |
The Boffer Grand Melee was another event that I attended this year and once again it was a lot of fun to watch. Basically the rules are simple: a bunch of people get foam sticks and hit each other with them 2-3 times causing elimination. Whoever is left standing wins the competition and the honor of being Boffer Champion. Unfortunately, lighting conditions weren't exactly optimal for shooting pictures of the event so the majority of the ones I took didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but I did manage to snap a couple of decent pictures during the competition.
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| Fight on, brave warriors! |
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| Staff on hand to make sure people play by the rules. |
THAT'S LOGISTICS
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| Gotta move that gear up! |
When it comes to getting things done and done right, Fandemonium is generally the convention that I believe handles their business the best. Upon arriving at the convention I was able to get in pretty easily after talking to Jamie Parker, the head muckity muck at Fandemonium. It's nice to have access to staff when you need them, although I always try to give them their space and allow them to do their jobs.
One of the things that amaze me every year that I have attended is how smoothly everything seems to run. Now granted, that is from an outsider's point of view and there very well could be mass chaos and destruction happening behind the scenes. The point is, however, that I never noticed any of it, which is what counts.
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| Fighters assemble! |
One thing that didn't necessarily go very smoothly was the rehearsals for the cosplay skit contest. For whatever reason, the rehearsals went nearly an hour over schedule. I was able to observe the rehearsals and I cannot guess as to why the delay occurred. The problem that this created was twofold: 1) The actual cosplay skit contest was delayed and didn't start until around 7PM as opposed to 6PM. 2) The battle cosplay competition was almost cancelled due to this delay. The competition and skit contest both took place eventually, but the delays caused a few attendees to leave and seek out other events to participate in. The actual events themselves were very enjoyable, particularly the battle cosplay contest wish is probably my favorite or at least second favorite event at Fandemonium.
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| Load it up and move it out. |
On the final day of the convention I observed the tearing down and packing up process that the
Fandemonium staff has to endure every year. Yards of cable, televisions, monitors, surge protectors, microphones, tripods, and more are all packed into the back of a U-Haul truck as soon as the convention is over. Not does the staff have to be quick and thorough for their own sake, but they also have to contend with the midnight deadline that the convention center imposes upon them. If everyone and everything isn't out of the convention center by midnight, convention management is charged for another full day. An expense like that looming over one's head is enough to motivate anyone to be expedient, and expedient they were.
GAMING IT UP
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| Four player deathmatchin'. |
Video game rooms and I have had a troubled relationship in the past (AO 2012 and 2013), but I always hold out hope for conventions to get it right. What I mean by this is, I want to see a video game room that has a menagerie of multiplayer games that con goers can plop down and play to their hearts' content.
Last year hopefully started a trend for Fandemonium's gaming room, and that is having games that people actually want to play and enough controllers and television for them to do it. This year's room featured some new, high quality LED televisions that made the playing experience a joy. There were still quite a few fat tube CRT monitors and TV's around the room, but the LED's were the centerpiece. The room's entrance also had some changes. Previously, to gain entry into the video game room an attendee would simply be able to wander from the artists' alley and commence gaming. This year, the room was walled off and had
two open doors leading inside. This walling off of the room served two purposes in my mind: 1) It kept people from randomly stumbling into an area with food and drink (a big no-no in the game room) and 2) It helped to somewhat keep the noise levels down throughout the main hallway.
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| Shiny new LEDs! |
With all good things, there is always at least a little bit of bad. Unfortunately, not every system that was running tournaments had memory cards and indeed a few controllers were not in the most pristine condition. The controller issues were handled relatively quickly, but when a tournament for Smash Bros. Melee has to proceed with none of the cast unlocked, something isn't quite right. Other than those two issues I thought the game room was a big success and I look forward to it improving even more next year.
THE MADNESS OF FANDEMONIUM
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| Don't call them, they're already here. |
Fandemonium 2013 was Fandemonium's 10th birthday, which is quite the feat for a convention held in what some would consider to be the middle of nowhere in Idaho. The
fanbase continues to grow and the staff and sponsors are able to put on an entertaining convention every year. Of the three years that I have attended the convention I would have to say that this is my favorite of the three. The best part about being a journalist who covers these kinds of events is that you have a journal of pictures and words to go back and relive moments from conventions gone by, which is something I don't think I appreciate enough right now but I am sure that I will in the future. Suffice to say, each convention is like a feature film: there's a lot of noise and a lot of action, and sometimes people show up wearing weird costumes and tell bad jokes and talk about porn and video games. If that isn't enough to get people to come to a convention, I don't know what is.
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| Good ol' tabletopping |
Despite this being more of an editorial and less of a review, I suppose I should at least mention what I thought of the convention overall. The experience, as I stated previously, was the best that I have had at a Fandemonium thus far. I can definitely recommend attending because they are consistently entertaining events and the staff gives everything they have to make it so. For a convention to be able to say it is entering its 10th year in an extremely conservative and in some ways backwards state like Idaho, it has to be doing something right.
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| Take a bow. |
And that was
Fandemonium 2013. It was a lot of fun, but now is the time to look to the future. This blog is and always has been a way for me to gain experience in the world of journalism. Whatever happens after I graduate is uncertain, but I think that I will always maintain this blog in some small way even after graduating and (ideally) entering a career in professional journalism. Having said that, this was probably the last
Fandemonium that I am going to cover
for this blog, or at least in this way. I love writing these articles, but I also believe that pictures (well, the moving kind) speak louder than words and I might turn to the medium of film documentaries. I feel that a documentary about small town conventions would be interesting, particularly from the perspective of a journalist who's seen the conventions grow up around him. It's a though for now, but everything that's anything only started as one, after all.
I am also going to be collaborating with
RedZone Fandom soon with articles and
photoshoots. Check '
em out!
Next Convention: Tomodachi Fest (as a fan; I'm taking a break)
P.S. If you couldn't tell I didn't manage to cover EVO this year. Next year though, next year... Maybe.
