Not Knowing What to Do Without a Fan Table

[kevin_standlee]

I'm incorrigible. FurCon doesn't have fan tables, but there are round tables in that hallway for sitting and socializing (and the internet lounge is there, and the wireless service reaches there). So that's where I'm sitting now, near the anime room. I'm not promoting anything (aside from weaing my L.A.con IV committee badge); I just don't really know what to do with myself when I'm not working.

I table-sat for David Clark for a little while earlier today, which proved expensive; I ended up buying a bunch of books and videos from him when he came back.

Sitting here along the poolside corridor means that I get to see a lot of the con go by, and I really do like costumes, notwithstanding that I don't wear them myself very often. This is a con where I wish I had brought a camera.

Here's a minor ettiquite problem. Fursuited and kigurumi (technically, I guess it would be animegao) costumes are effectively anonymous. There's a kigger here in a wonderfully cute outfit. From her build and body language -- the only thing I can see, given that her body is completely covered (albeit in a skin-tight body suit) and she's wearing an anime character headpiece -- I got the idea that it might be someone I know. But the badges here are almost unreadable at any reasonable distance, and the way she's wearing it, it keeps falling with the back facing out, and there's a fair chance it's a pseudonym anyhow. In my case, I got into her field of view and gave her an opportunity to say hello if she wanted to do so. She did not do so, but that doesn't mean anything; even if it is my friend, she could be staying in character, and part of the game often means that the characters don't identify themselves, speak, or anything like that. But I do intend to ask my friend the next time I see her if that was her.

Me, shy? No, I don't think so. I just don't want to cause anyone, including me, any embarrassment. And this is a community where I'm only partially in touch with the rules. I'm a guest in their fandom, and don't want to act stupid.

Comments

[kshandra]

You could always man the Baycon table for an hour or three; I know they were still looking for people.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Are you sure the kigger is really a she? I thought a considerable component of kigurumi was gender-play. Of course, for the time hir is in costume, hir is a she.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

You answered your own question. I always try to refer to people by the pronoun and name they identify themselves with.

(And not _every_ kigger/fursuit wearer is male.)

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

Had to google for kigurumi.

To each their own.

Kigurumi

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I've gone back and edited the entry to include a link to the Wikipedia definition.

This kind of costuming is possibly as close as it is to get to "be" an anime character.

Re: Kigurumi

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

One of the participants in tonight's Chattacon masquerade was a kigurumi of Stewie from Family Guy!

Re: Kigurumi

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Did he threaten to use a death ray on the judges?

Re: Kigurumi

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

The acoustics weren't good; he may have threatened to use one on the audience.

[(Anonymous)]

I was fascinated by the costumes at AnimeBoston; I just wish they'd had the sense to look at local SF fandom & think things through better.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

This is an area where FurCon does well. They have extensive contacts with other conrunners in the area. Members of their group attended the Bay Area ConStruction conrunning convention. Their head of "Events" (I'd call it "Events & Programming" worked on past Bay Area Worldcons. So I can't fault FurCon organizationally at all. There seems to be little wheel reinvention going on here.

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

As I recall you and Steve Francis were far and away the best at sitting fan tables of the over 40 folks that helped with Interaction tables. You have a knack for it. But, without it you have to wander the halls, go to panels and events, watch some of the shenanigans, start conversations, ask questions, and so on. Just dive in!

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

Re etiquette: At Torcon, in the cupboard-under-the-stairs where we did Program Ops, Rebecca Downey had a stiff shoulder and I reflexively started rubbing it. Then I immediately apologized for getting into her space. She said, "I'm a furry; we don't have personal space."