WTH Report
Posted on 2006.02.01 at 00:01
What The Hell Con took place this weekend. I was the sole representative of the Likely Stories collective, and put simply, I had a blast. WTH Con is small, almost intimate, but strangely professional in the important ways. Run by Guilford College's Yachting Club, it's dedicated to a wide variety of fun and nerdy practices, and to making its guests feel like royalty. Seriously-- any invitee that wasn't grateful for the YC's attentions has some serious issues.
Friday night was devoted mainly to set-up and meet-up. I first met Phillip Wright, Philip Lagos-Rivera (spontaneous applause), and Jennie Breeden at last year's WTH Con, and we all came out of it as friends, and came back this year for seconds. In addition to the above wunderkind, Christopher Wright of "Help Desk" (aka Ubersoft) fame was in attendance, as were the wacky creators of Gravyboy and Fanboy Almanac.
The Web Comics panel took up the remainder of Friday night. Two hours, and the group of us didn't shut up once. Larry Holderfeld and Jamie Robertson were in the audience, and as you might imagine they were both active participants in the discussion. I'd made a list of web comic topics in my notebook, but I never felt the need to even consult. The conversation had a life of its own.
Saturday contained several events that I think of as the beating heart of WTH Con. In roughly chronological order, here they are. I arrived, and found my stuff locked in a professor's office for safe keeping. My counterpart, Matt Reed, had not arrived yet (car problems, not his fault) and so I was a man without a table. This turned out to be a sort of blessing, as I might otherwise have missed the premier of Ed Peduzzi'sSlayer, which turned out to be a really interesting film. The term "premier" is unusually literal here-- Ed had spent the last 23 hours editing the film, and had not seen it in the (very nearly) finished version that he aired. Essentially a movie about an ongoing struggle between vampires and vampire hunters, and college student who gets sucked into the conflict. It started off a little slow, but there was a lot of substance to it, and as I got deeper into the movie and the characters, I stopped noticing the little things that marked it as an independent film. When it gets distributed, you should go see Slayer. I should warn you, there is blood in some quantity, but it's not excessive.
Saturday night is where things always get interesting at WTH. First, the great Geek Auction was a wonder to behold. Only male geeks go up on the auction block, and in spite of the implications to the contrary, only a dance is being offered. This year, the money went to Child's Play. I should point out that the Yachting Club is atypical in several ways, the most noteable being that most of its leadership and almost half of its membership is female. Also, a surprising percentage of WTH Con's attendees of both genders are healthy-- and by healthy, I mean HOT. Jennie Breeden snapped up an Asian Indiana Jones with a 15' bullwhip, a genuinely scarred chin, and the body (there was no nudity, but a lot of stripping this year...) of a Chippendale dancer. The most popular auction of the evening was almost horrifying-- Willrad was a very convincing Harry Potter, and his friend Nick Popio was a nearly perfect Draco Malfoy. Both boys are over six feet tall, and came complete with scarves, appropriate Hogwart's uniforms, and shocking good looks. And as the bidding rose, so did the fangirl passions as they caressed and undressed each other. Someone spent $100 on that particular package.
I offered only a poem dedicated to my buyer, and dressed as someone's date-- black jacket, blue shirt, black silk tie. While not as sexy as live slash fiction,![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
cleahpatra and the young woman who purchased my favors last year got into a bidding war, and I went for $30. Even in a place where nerds are considered sexy, it was a nice ego boost.
Afterwards was the dance, which was great. Con dances usually suck, but this was unpretentious fun that everyone felt welcome to join in. Some people there were excellent dancers, others (like myself) perpetually look like they're auditioning for "Fiddler on the Roof." No one cared, everyone had a partner, and no one was allowed to play the wallflower.
After that, the club bought all of its guests a late dinner. The conversation was, of course, excellent. I can't really offer an endorsement for the restaurant, though--xodin lost much of his material goods, and I got the feeling he didn't get much help finding them from the staff. That, and the ear-pounding music coming from the birthday party in the next room detracted from our overall dining experience.
After dinner, most of us made it back to the convention for the annual Crap-A-Thon. The Crap-A-Thon is a wonder, and really puts the "WTF?" in WTH Con. Two hours of the worst video programming you can imagine, most of it from Japan. This year featured the further Japanese adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-- in the slapstick-heavy Japanese version of the 80s show, the Turtles transform into more powerful states and sometimes combine into a giant angel-turtle with a gi-normous sword. The live-action 70s version of Spider Man was even more disturbing-- Spidey's powers come from an alien soldier's "Super Spider Serum X," and he pilots a giant flying robot called The Marveller. I think the obsession with ear-cleaning was the fan-subbers concept. Then there were other... things. Like a Japanese band that reminded me of the Village People, but in diapers with fig leaves sewn to the front. A hyper-cute show about a star princess whose magic comes from a combination of baton-twirling and shameless merchandising.
Which explains why I ended up hanging out and drinking until 6 in the morning.
Surprisingly, I made it to the convention on time the next day. Sunday opened up with the convention's Daikaiju Battle-- which is to say, two really large men fighting in/demolishing a cardboard city. Ben and Greg are both around 6'6", and stout of build, so the effect was both hilarious and imposing... until Space Ghost intervened. Then the imposing melted away, and it was just funny.
The rest of the day was standard con fare, but fun. Sales were good, especially considering the fact that only a few hundred people attended, and I promised to come back next year. WTH Con is the only place where the majority of the attendees are on some level my friends, and that's a unique feeling. It's a really special group of people, accepting and kind, and mercilessly hilarious at the same time. I can't wait for next year.
EDIT: Nick Popio, who played the role of Draco Malfoy in the Geek Auction is also known asghsthckr. Ben Gulley, the third place finisher in the Daikaiju Battle-- Space Ghost cheats, folks-- is franzferdinand2.
Friday night was devoted mainly to set-up and meet-up. I first met Phillip Wright, Philip Lagos-Rivera (spontaneous applause), and Jennie Breeden at last year's WTH Con, and we all came out of it as friends, and came back this year for seconds. In addition to the above wunderkind, Christopher Wright of "Help Desk" (aka Ubersoft) fame was in attendance, as were the wacky creators of Gravyboy and Fanboy Almanac.
The Web Comics panel took up the remainder of Friday night. Two hours, and the group of us didn't shut up once. Larry Holderfeld and Jamie Robertson were in the audience, and as you might imagine they were both active participants in the discussion. I'd made a list of web comic topics in my notebook, but I never felt the need to even consult. The conversation had a life of its own.
Saturday contained several events that I think of as the beating heart of WTH Con. In roughly chronological order, here they are. I arrived, and found my stuff locked in a professor's office for safe keeping. My counterpart, Matt Reed, had not arrived yet (car problems, not his fault) and so I was a man without a table. This turned out to be a sort of blessing, as I might otherwise have missed the premier of Ed Peduzzi'sSlayer, which turned out to be a really interesting film. The term "premier" is unusually literal here-- Ed had spent the last 23 hours editing the film, and had not seen it in the (very nearly) finished version that he aired. Essentially a movie about an ongoing struggle between vampires and vampire hunters, and college student who gets sucked into the conflict. It started off a little slow, but there was a lot of substance to it, and as I got deeper into the movie and the characters, I stopped noticing the little things that marked it as an independent film. When it gets distributed, you should go see Slayer. I should warn you, there is blood in some quantity, but it's not excessive.
Saturday night is where things always get interesting at WTH. First, the great Geek Auction was a wonder to behold. Only male geeks go up on the auction block, and in spite of the implications to the contrary, only a dance is being offered. This year, the money went to Child's Play. I should point out that the Yachting Club is atypical in several ways, the most noteable being that most of its leadership and almost half of its membership is female. Also, a surprising percentage of WTH Con's attendees of both genders are healthy-- and by healthy, I mean HOT. Jennie Breeden snapped up an Asian Indiana Jones with a 15' bullwhip, a genuinely scarred chin, and the body (there was no nudity, but a lot of stripping this year...) of a Chippendale dancer. The most popular auction of the evening was almost horrifying-- Willrad was a very convincing Harry Potter, and his friend Nick Popio was a nearly perfect Draco Malfoy. Both boys are over six feet tall, and came complete with scarves, appropriate Hogwart's uniforms, and shocking good looks. And as the bidding rose, so did the fangirl passions as they caressed and undressed each other. Someone spent $100 on that particular package.
I offered only a poem dedicated to my buyer, and dressed as someone's date-- black jacket, blue shirt, black silk tie. While not as sexy as live slash fiction,
cleahpatra and the young woman who purchased my favors last year got into a bidding war, and I went for $30. Even in a place where nerds are considered sexy, it was a nice ego boost.Afterwards was the dance, which was great. Con dances usually suck, but this was unpretentious fun that everyone felt welcome to join in. Some people there were excellent dancers, others (like myself) perpetually look like they're auditioning for "Fiddler on the Roof." No one cared, everyone had a partner, and no one was allowed to play the wallflower.
After that, the club bought all of its guests a late dinner. The conversation was, of course, excellent. I can't really offer an endorsement for the restaurant, though--
xodin lost much of his material goods, and I got the feeling he didn't get much help finding them from the staff. That, and the ear-pounding music coming from the birthday party in the next room detracted from our overall dining experience.After dinner, most of us made it back to the convention for the annual Crap-A-Thon. The Crap-A-Thon is a wonder, and really puts the "WTF?" in WTH Con. Two hours of the worst video programming you can imagine, most of it from Japan. This year featured the further Japanese adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-- in the slapstick-heavy Japanese version of the 80s show, the Turtles transform into more powerful states and sometimes combine into a giant angel-turtle with a gi-normous sword. The live-action 70s version of Spider Man was even more disturbing-- Spidey's powers come from an alien soldier's "Super Spider Serum X," and he pilots a giant flying robot called The Marveller. I think the obsession with ear-cleaning was the fan-subbers concept. Then there were other... things. Like a Japanese band that reminded me of the Village People, but in diapers with fig leaves sewn to the front. A hyper-cute show about a star princess whose magic comes from a combination of baton-twirling and shameless merchandising.
Which explains why I ended up hanging out and drinking until 6 in the morning.
Surprisingly, I made it to the convention on time the next day. Sunday opened up with the convention's Daikaiju Battle-- which is to say, two really large men fighting in/demolishing a cardboard city. Ben and Greg are both around 6'6", and stout of build, so the effect was both hilarious and imposing... until Space Ghost intervened. Then the imposing melted away, and it was just funny.
The rest of the day was standard con fare, but fun. Sales were good, especially considering the fact that only a few hundred people attended, and I promised to come back next year. WTH Con is the only place where the majority of the attendees are on some level my friends, and that's a unique feeling. It's a really special group of people, accepting and kind, and mercilessly hilarious at the same time. I can't wait for next year.
EDIT: Nick Popio, who played the role of Draco Malfoy in the Geek Auction is also known as
ghsthckr. Ben Gulley, the third place finisher in the Daikaiju Battle-- Space Ghost cheats, folks-- is franzferdinand2.