GUTSHOTWOLFDOG

It’s not late unless I say it is, and personally I think over a month is a completely reasonable turnaround for a blog post, I say through gritted teeth.

So anyway, I definitely just very recently got back from Anthrocon! It was my second year attending, and my first suiting. I hope you’re ready for a whole lot of pictures of this thing:

The Dog IS Real

My new partial fursuit was a (frankly wild) gift from my partner Tael. Melissa Mendelson is the suit artist, and all the wonderful pictures here are courtesy of Tael, who I put on paparazzi duty with my camera.

The suit is gorgeous; I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect likeness of the character. It arrived with some quality control issues, but until it either falls apart or becomes more patch than pelt, at least it looks good.

Pittsburgh Escapades

Downtown Pittsburgh was very fun to explore again. When I wasn’t in suit, I did a lot of street photography, which will have to go up in another post because this is the designated Wolf Post.

While I spent a reasonable amount of our street-wandering time with my partial on, I will shamefully admit I was a coward and wore it less often than I could have. I hadn’t worn it in public yet, and I was a little concerned about people being unfriendly about it. I’m happy to report that when I did work up the courage to wear it, my concerns were unfounded.

Pittsburgh may have been a poor test case for this thanks to their annual citywide furry exposure therapy session, but I only got heckled once or twice. For the most part, if someone who wasn’t clearly a furry or convention attendee on the street acknowledged me at all, it was positive. The Dog was an especially big hit at Pizza Bari, a very excellent Uzbek pizza restaurant we patronized almost every night of the convention.

Anthrocon

As far as the convention itself, it was a blast. I did a lot of the things I had regretted not doing the first time around, and slept through a little less. It was wonderful seeing all the incredible art at the con, in the art show and at the booths and really everywhere considering all the fursuits. Getting to suit myself was also a lot of fun, in spite of the decreased visibility and increased odds of heat stroke (especially considering I was masking under my head the entire time).

The panels we attended were great, and we made a few friends I’m hoping to stay in touch with. And, impressively, there was no Linecon 2! The organizers did a great job resolving the line issues from last year.

Of course, there were still plenty of problems. Other people have spoken extensively about the issues with the new “no visible skin” and “no handlers” rules for the Fursuit Parade, so I won’t get too far into it, other than to say it was a gross decision from an accessibility standpoint and I didn’t personally participate as a result.

The vibes in the Dealers Den Room were also off, to put it charitably. I have to wonder how many people come to the convention just to buy stuff. And don’t get me wrong, supporting artists is great! But the art show and even Artists Alley felt utterly dead in comparison. The sheer number (and popularity) of booths selling exclusively mass-produced plastic junk was bleak; it seemed like a huge number of people had come to the con not with any interest in supporting artists or engaging with the community, but solely to participate in furry-branded consumerism.

I enjoyed my experience despite the grievances, and I’m sure we’ll be back next year. I’m excited to check out some smaller cons in the meantime, and since I’ll be taking any excuse I can get to wear my partial around, there’s also at least one ren fair on the agenda. Come say hello if you see me somewhere!