#and ballpit balls just sounds odd

[kathegoose]

cause of the new trailer

Into the pit spring bonnieeeeeee

surprise dad who comes from the balls

[neomikey]

DashCon

Some years ago, I frequented the convention circuits, mostly in the American midwest.  Anime Central was a common staple, but thanks to a cadre of friends and contacts, I went to a whole host of others, such as JAFAX, Anime Crossroads, Youmacon, Anime North, and a bunch whose names I’ve forgotten over the years.  I’m incredibly grateful that I was given the money to attend all these different conventionss during that time in my life, and nowadays, my time, money, and interests are diverted elsewhere (though mostly to paying bills).  I was even a cosplayer that people remembered from con to con -- Samurai Pizza Cats, the Supreme Catatonic, Soldier A, and Death.

With all the recent talk of the travesty of Fyre Festival, comparison to a similar event has been making the rounds.

DashCon....

I was still something of a Tumblr neophyte at the time, both interested and curious about the culture in general.  I mostly stuck to my humble corner, following a couple artists I knew and being happy about it.  Occasionally I would hear talk of how huge Benedict Cumberbatch or Supernatural or whatever would be elsewhere, but I thought nothing of it.

Then, some way down the pipeline came talk of a new convention there in the Chicagoland area, catering to general nerdery, but also was tailored specifically to Tumblr fans.  Glancing through their panels, there were the usual fandom things (such as Sherlock and online roleplaying), but there were other panels too, including battling depression.  I thought it all sounded great!

What really clinched my decision, though, was this man.

Doug Jones was a convention guest.

Known for portraying Abe Sapien in Hellboy, various creatures in Pan’s Labyrinth, Silver Surfer in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and a bunch of other stuff...and he was gonna have a panel on Saturday!  What particularly interested me was that I remembered reading that he had my medical condition of Marfan syndrome, something that makes people lanky, bendable, and a bunch of other stuff.  He would later tell me he didn’t have it, but I didn’t know that starting out.  For a good deal of my school career, I’d been labeled a freak for how I’d looked, so to get to meet someone like me and go to a convention?  Sweet, I’m in!

I invited my good friend @spazztasticxairhead to come along for the Saturday I was going to be in attendance, and while curious, she had to decline.  However, as I did my Friday evening work shift of delivering medicine throughout Indiana, she sent me something odd.  There’s only so much you can say in text message, but she told me that she had heard news that the convention was asking people for money.  Well...c’mon, of course they would, we live in a capitalist society!  Commercialism!  Et cetera!

I wasn’t going to press her for details, since I was busy driving all over the state (plus texting and driving kills), so I finished my shift, got home, and had a couple hours sleep.  And then...it’s go time.

...oh.

So I’m driving in this rainstorm of nigh biblical proportions, the highway is backed up, and I’m barely moving.  I thought about how I had to work another shift that night and how I’d only have a couple hours at the convention, but there was something inside of me telling me it was going to be important that I go to this thing.  I had to meet Doug Jones.

Eventually the rain eases up and I get out to the hotel.  It’s a bit farther out than I usually go in Chicago, but at least I’m at the right place...or at least I think I am.

The thing with conventions is that generally, you see a lot of attendants (a lot of them in cosplay) milling about, including the parking lot.  There?  It was...like....

I had to drive a bit to find two girls walking by the hotel to ask if that was DashCon.  They confirmed, I suited up in my Death cosplay, and headed on in.

It was...quiet.  Abnormally so.  I later on found out that it was mostly because right then, everyone was in the main event hall waiting for Welcome to Nightvale to perform.  I went to the hall where there was registration, and holy criminy was it gigantic...and empty.  Emptiness was a recurring theme during the convention.  It took me virtually a full minute to cross from one end to the other to the completely open registration table.  I remember thinking that while the badge was pricier than I wanted, dangit, Doug Jones.

I had good timing, because it was directly after Night Vale that Doug Jones was going to have his panel.  I decided to kill time by first checking out this bouncy house they had going, because...come on, free bouncy house.  There was also...the infamous ballpit.  No, nobody urinated or had sex in it.  It seemed to me like a small inflated raft with just some plastic balls thrown in and it was also very, very tiny.  When I first came upon it, there were a cadre of Homestuck cosplayers jam-packed into there with absolutely zero room for me to join them.

I then meandered into the artist alley, where...there was nobody.  I mean, the artists were there, yeah, plus a bunch of vendors, but I think there was next to nobody else.

I imagine that it didn’t paint the best picture for those in attendance for me to be walking silently down the empty aisles.

(pic not from DashCon)

Eventually, it was about time, so I found myself a seat in the back of the Welcome to Night Vale panel, where noticeably nothing was happening.  It was about time for the “panel” to end when someone came up to the front and announced that they would not be performing, due to the financial whatnot.  There was an instant rumbling of despair and disappointment from those in attendance.  It was also announced that Doug Jones was coming up next and people were welcome to stay for that, but about 4/5 of the room was having none of that and just headed out.

Sweet, I get good seating!  :D

After things thinned out, Mr. Jones took to the stage.  The first thing I noticed about him was how freakin’ articulate he was.  He jovially sat on the table onstage and kicked his legs about, and it was controlled.  I know that’s a weird thing to say, but he was doing it!

From there, the panel was pretty awesome.  He talked about his history with Guillermo del Toro (including a hand-made business card that del Toro held onto for years), adventures in make-up with Hellboy (his favorite quote was, “If there’s trouble, all us freaks have is each other”), perfecting moving like specific creatures in a gym’s studio, working on Pan’s Labyrinth, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember these years later.

The dude is super cool.  After the panel, he had an autograph session in another room.  It turns out where I sat in that room was rather fortuitous, because I was the third in the room who got to meet him.  As soon as he sees me, he breaks into a big grin.  “A fellow guy who’s tall and skinny, eh?”

We make brief smalltalk, I mention that he met my wife @ryukodragon at another convention, I ask him about Marfan syndrome, and he tells me doesn’t have it (but that this actor did!).  He signs the picture I chose from his table (his role as one of the kangaroo people in Tank Girl), and then just like the two people before me, he gives me a big hug.  Something I didn’t expect?

“You’re beautiful.”

When he let go, he told me to keep being skinny and awesome, and that was that, on to the next person.  I’m sure he said that to all the people he met there in the autograph session, but...I was a 32 year-old man then, and to my recollection, no one had said those specific words to me, especially in reference to me being irrevocably skinny (”freakishly so,” some would say).  Simple words, I know, but I still walked away utterly stunned...and honestly elated.

I meandered about the convention a bit more, checking out things here and there.  I don’t like Ed, Edd, & Eddie at all, but I was utterly blown away by the best Ed cosplayer that I’ve seen (even had a spatula).  There was also a phenomenal Maleficent cosplayer who found my in-character Death banter with her to be utterly hilarious.  There were also some dwarves I encountered....

Spoiler: They don’t survive the third movie.

During this time, I notice that the hotel is also setting up an area for a wedding...and it looks like it’s going to be a big one.  Bless whoever was in attendance for that, because I’m sure they left with plenty of stories and pictures.  I hop into a couple panels, a lot of which are surprisingly empty.  I then see that there’s a panel going of which I’m rather curious....

FEMINISM.

So for those not in the know, Tumblr can be known for having a particularly...misandristic attitude.  I needed to see this panel for myself, to see if that was going to be on display at this panel.  And on the way there, I ran into a friend of a friend.

So this guy cosplays as Jesus.

Granted, he wasn’t cosplaying then, and I believe that was the first time I had actually seen him wearing normal clothes, but either way, he wanted to hang out.  I told him I’m on my way to the feminism panel and he was so in.

All right, there were two highlights to my time there at DashCon -- meeting Doug Jones...and this panel.

Because.

DUDE.

REAL HEROES.

I cannot say enough good about this panel, and ladies, whoever you are, you were amazing.  The folks who ran this panel were incredibly even-keel, they were definitely not the “kill all men” types that so many associate with Tumblr (though I suspect a couple in the room were, including a lady in front of me), were well spoken, and were very knowledgeable.  Granted, I got in towards the end of the panel, but what I was incredibly impressed by what I heard in there, including the ramifications of the then-recent Hobby Lobby ruling.  All brands of ladies were represented in there, including a hijab-wearing lady who reinforced that feminism is about having the freedom to do with your life as you like.  At one point, a guy had a question about why birth control is so important, the forum-holders quickly quelled the mild room eruption, and answered his question in full.

I’m a feminist myself, and to see in-person social justice portrayed intelligently and knowledgeably, and in a well organized forum (instead of the sometimes cartoonish, stereotypical “SJW’s”) was amazing to me.

Seriously, whoever you ladies were that held this, I wish I could shake your hand.  Thank you for doing what you do.

Anyways, after that, I meandered about a bit more, and word was getting around that things were pretty shaky at the con.  I had heard about the craziness of the previous night’s fundraiser, plus there were plenty of signs around me that were symptomatic that things weren’t going well.

I have to stop and give kudos to the staff here, because despite everything...they pressed on.  They were running a convention that was falling down around them, they knew it, but they held their ground.  Props to ‘em.

Anyways, I found little else that really interested me (aside from finally sitting in the now-empty ball pit, just to say that I did it), and decided to head out a bit early, so I could have a nap before that evening’s work shift.  The sun had come out by the time I had hit the road, and...that was that.

It was only later that I learned that the convention had garnered the infamy that it did.  I’m happy that I got to go and I’m very thankful for what I experienced.  It was far from a well organized convention, but that mess has been well documented plenty of other places online.

Anyways, so that’s my experience with DashCon.  I just wanted people to know about the good that was there, instead of just its reputation of...well....