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critrolesketch · 6 years

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Jess’s adventures at Gen Con 2018: Wednesday-Thursday

These next few posts will be my reflections and re-tellings of the events that occurred at Gen Con 2018 this past weekend. If I don’t tag you, but you think you were present and/or your name was mentioned, let me know and I’ll properly tag you. Otherwise, sit back, relax, and catch my stupid adventures under the break.

My journey starts at the San Francisco airport on Wednesday. I was heading to the restroom when I spotted Xander Jeanneret from the Library Bards. I introduced myself to him, showing him my artwork from Shield of Tomorrow. He recognized the work and gave me a hug, which always fills me with joy. There is nothing like the feeling of having fellow creatives get excited about each other’s work. We chatted for a few minutes and took a selfie before I let him get back to work.

I realized I hadn’t gotten a picture with him on my own phone, which is a trend I tend to follow when meeting celebs. He posted it to twitter pretty quickly thought, so disaster averted. Twenty minutes later he approached after retrieving his ticket and seating assignment and spoke briefly before he boarded. I saw Joe M (I can’t spell his name) in line but didn’t approach him. I did text @tales-of-a-tardisgirl a picture of him to be evil (she is a big fan of his).

Xander headed off to his part of the line. When I boarded the plane, he ended up sitting right across from me. After some seat swapping, I was sitting in the window seat next to him. We talked about Geek and Sundry, Shield of Tomorrow, art, Love Simon, music, and a few other topics. I got a selfie with him as well on my own phone, but the formality got a bit lost in translation.

Xander was so kind and seemed excited to talk to a fan. I’d always admired him and was so relieved that he was a very approachable individual. When we landed I said goodbye to Xander and found my friend @lighthousefeminism . I ran over and hugged them before we headed downstairs to get our baggage. Lola can attest that I was already bursting with excitement and couldn’t stay still. Lola had to leave so they could catch their Uber, but I stood around for a while longer waiting for my bag to arrive. I saw Joe waiting right at the beginning of the baggage claim and he pulled 7 very overstuffed bags off the belt. It was amusing, but I can understand since he has his own merch booth at Gen Con. My ride showed up and I spent the evening with family before activities commenced the next day,

For Thursday, I did not have much scheduled. I had my tickets for everything and was trying to coordinate when I’d meet my friends ( @gatherthewords , Steve, and Lola) at the convention. We ended up waiting a little over an hour in the enormous will call line to get their passes and tickets. After, we wandered the convention floor. I bought metal rainbow dice, three art pieces, a really expensive but cool jacket, a bi-colored d20, and a set of rainbow batarangs. Then we went to check out the Invulnerable Vagrant (critical role’s booth). It was pretty amazing. They had fan art on the outside. I found @phoenixmelody (on twitter)(she cosplays Sun Tree) and her mother in line. We snapped a picture with them before resuming our shopping experience.

I ended up heading over to a panel with Steve about Maze Arcana so that I could give Ruty Rutenburg his artwork for the appreciation book @nicken_chicken on twitter had commissioned me to contribute to. It was super cool and was very nice to chat with him and see his reaction to it. I ended up taking a picture with him and all the art. I’m still waiting on it getting posted somewhere.

The panel was interesting to sit through. I got to introduce myself to Satine and a few other Maze Arcana personalities and show them my artwork. I also got to see B. Dave (of Ask Your Black Geek Friend and Shield of Tomorrow) in person for the first time at that panel. I didn’t talk to him during or directly after the panel but Steve told me that he was super impressed with the artwork that I created (which meant a lot since I know he is an artist as well). We were walking back to meet with Chris and Lola when he strode by us on his way to another panel. Steve pointed me out to the host/artist/cool guy in general as the creator of the art for Ruty. B. Dave said he loved the works and shook my hand.

Shortly after we met up with Chris and Lola when I realized I lost my bag. Chris recorded the continued adventures of the search party as we headed back to the panel room to retrieve my artwork (Valkyrie prints). You can find those videos here.

Just after this, we headed back to our hotel room to eat and then got ready to go the masquerade ball. I looked pretty spiffy. I also was one glass of wine tipsy.

@its-okay-to-yowz and @qunaributts showed up towards the end of us getting ready. They quickly dropped their stuff and made themselves spiffy as well.

We headed out to the ball and arrived an hour to find an insanely long line. The people who had alpha subscriptions had to wait in a much longer line than people with just general admittance, which wasn’t really sitting well with Steve and I. When we finally got inside (there were many beautiful masks), the music was loud, we had to shout to hear one another, and the hired singers who had been at last year’s party were not getting anyone as hyped up as they should have been. It was crowded, the lines to the drinks took an hour, and we couldn’t really have a conversation with anyone. I got this pretty oversaturated picture with Ivan Van Norman though. He was creepy.

We screamed along with Bohemian Rhapsody, took a group photo at the booth, saw a few friends, and saw a few G&S personalities (Amy hugged me, I introduced myself to Bonnie had a stunning and shimmering gold dress on, and Xander gave me another hug).

We ended up seeing Kate and Megan from last year and went with them to the place that they had the Alpha party last year. I was two glasses of wine in + 1 margarita when we arrived. What is memory? I don’t know her. Apparently I took a decent picture of the group.

It was fun though. I enjoyed my time, despite missing all the celebs at the end of the official Alpha party. Good conversations, great friends, and a relatively quiet space. I got home late and set my alarm for 8:30 to attend a panel that I thought was scheduled for 10:00 am the next day. Hoooo boy I am not observant when intoxicated.

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3

#Long post #gen con 2018 #gen con #critical role #joe manganiello #library bards #personal post #selfie #masquerade #Geek And Sundry #Project Alpha

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