MFF 2005 report, conclusion

[altivo]

So here's the rest of it:


Sunday report:

Got up reasonably early, and repacked the car so as to save time later. No time to go anywhere for breakfast, off to "Basic Fursuit Head Construction" to see if I could learn anything useful for the next attempt. Saw some interesting and elaborate stuff, but really I think I'll stick with the approach I'm using. Elaborate taxidermy type detail is not my goal, and neither are animatronics or extreme cartoon cuteness. I guess I'm on my own artistic track here. But it was still very interesting to see a large collection of heads made in different techniques and actually get to handle some of them. Thanks to the panelists for sharing.

Then to the only Nature track panel I attended this year, "The Human Impact" presented by aeto. I really wanted to get to his "Getting Nature Right", which was about presenting animal behaviors and physiology in writing and art, but there was a conflict with "Performing in Fursuits" and I could only do one. Anyway, this was very interesting too, though the attendance was kinda small. Gave me a chance to settle with him for the badge, as well. One of several times that I saw chakawolf during the con, too.

Then hotel checkout, Moose having passed his keycard to me during the head construction panel, and wait around a bit before our own panel at noon. While standing about in the corridor saw and exchanged hugs with aerofox and loriana, who are certainly two of the nicest and most sharing people around. I hope to get to know them better eventually. Other than here on LJ, we've only brushed up against each other at MFF last year and again this year.

Up to our "Hoof and Horn Herd" panel. Turnout was good, about 20 attendees which was enough to fill the small room. Uncertain what to expect after being switched from Furry Spirit to the Fandom track, I had dumped my plans for a fairly intense therianthropy and animal totem discussion and instead focused on a set of leading questions to stir open discussion. I had tesstheredpony and moose_93395 to help too. This worked, and kept people chatting for the hour and more. The room was vacant the following hour, and I hope some stayed on to chat, but I had to rush to make it to another panel.

It was really hard to decide between "When fursuit is more than costume" and "Beyond the first draft", but since I'm really interested in the Tai-Pan thing I went to hear Gene Breshears and Uncle Kage talk about editing your manuscript. It was good. Especially so when Kage immediately found two errors on the front page of Gene's planned handout. ;P But he handed it out anyway and I appreciated the good advice as well as the direct talk about how editors look at slush piles and so forth.

Because I had given up "When fursuit is more than costume" I didn't want to miss the closely related "Therianthropy: Ancient spirituality" session so I dashed off to that. I'd been to a similar session last year, but still it is valuable to hear others sharing their experiences and feelings about something that goes so deep and can be so intensely emotional, yet is simply ignored and unrecognized by most of our society and culture. Sure enough, there was one attendee who seemed to have come just to accuse the rest of us of being crazy and immature, but I think the panelists, who included loriana, innerwolf, animist, as well as Daliwolf and Rayven-Wolfe (don't know if they are on LJ) managed to keep her under control and let the discussion flow thank goodness.

The previous session could have easily run on for another hour, but the room was reserved for the last panel I attended, "Fursuits for fun and profit" presented by Ocicat. This was mostly about making fursuits or parts (tails, ears, masks) for commercial sale, either in quantity or by commission. While I enjoy designing my own, I wasn't sure I wanted to get into doing them on commission to specs given by others, and I have to say what I heard in this panel convinced me that I was right. I could crank out tails, ears, and masks or heads and just sell them to highest bidder, but I don't want to be tied to trying to fulfill someone else's vision of their character. That's bound to be too constricting and frustrating for me, and I don't need the money that badly though I see it can be lucrative if you get a reputation.

By now it was 4 pm and I needed to get home. After exchanging some hugs and good-byes I took off into the sunset, literally, heading back west to the farm. I saw nearly everyone I'd hoped to find, even though I couldn't attend all the sessions and events I wanted to. The puppet show was something I really enjoyed last year but couldn't make this year. Several spirituality sessions conflicted with other events, the "bad writing" contest would have been fun but I couldn't do that on top of everything else. I didn't think I had seen tosdragon but he assures me he saw me and exchanged hugs while I was in suit. I missed lobowolf completely, much to my chagrin.

I have no other con experience with which to compare MFF, but... I'll be back next year. It's not just fluff, which I appreciate. The panels are extensive and have real content. I don't need to attend a con for just a chain of parties and dances. It's not too big yet, but certainly has reached "critical mass". I'm pretty sure that Anthrocon or FurtherConfusion would be much too large for me to deal with, but MFF is still a nice size. And (important for me) it's close to home, so I don't have to leave the farm and animals for several days. Altogether a very good thing, a great experience, and fine work by the staff and organizers. A big respectful bow and thank you to takaza, duncandahusky, chouette and the rest of the team for making it work so smoothly.

Comments

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

I always wished that furry cons would last longer too. I'll have to try and find my way back to one again someday.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. I had fun last year, but even more this year. The more people you know, the better it gets, obviously. I want to spend more time suiting, and will have to look for opportunities since I am unlikely to travel to faraway cons.

I may have to get some contact lenses again. ;P

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

Fursuiting was actually one of the main reasons I got contacts several years ago. I tried wearing them most of the time for awhile. But my job now often requires that I wear safety glasses anyway, so I found it more comfortable to just wear my glasses most of the time.

Since my mask has me looking out my own eyes, I needed either contacts or glasses suitable to sit on a donkey's nose. ;)

Wearing glasses inside a bigger fursuit "head" isn't much better either. They either get poked or pushed into your face, or they're fogging up rendering them pretty much useless.

Of course since most equines are near sighted anyway, you could just skip them altogether. But if you're vision is as bad as mine, it would mean not recognizing people that were more than an arms length away.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I can wear glasses inside the head, but they will likely fog up. I can actually have a better field of vision if I omit the glasses, and the eyes look more natural too.

But I am sufficiently nearsighted that I can't read signs at a distance or recognize people and that last is a problem. I can navigate just fine though, and not crash into things or people, so it was sufficient for this trip.

I used to wear hard contacts all the time, but when the soft ones became the popular thing I found I could not adapt to them. Something about them caused an unpleasant allergic reaction and though they said I'd get used to it I did not and finally abandoned them for glasses. Nowadays I wear bifocals for reading fine print, but in costume all I'd need is the ability to read signs and recognize faces. Should work in contacts, I'll have to see what it would cost.

I have more additions and adjustments to make to this suit, but I'm already thinking about the next one and I may just decide to do a donkey or a mule. :) Eeyore is one of my favorite characters, and I think of the various stage roles I've played, my very favorite was Benjamin the donkey in Animal Farm.