Wow, Emerald City Comicon, I love you. It’s hard to write about. I’m exhausted, I’m overstimulated and shattered, I’m happy, I’m teary, I don’t know how to write about you.

1. Cosplayers
Wow, they were a wonderful part of the atmosphere and performance art experience of the convention. I loved the diversity, the creativity, the crossplay (eg women dressed as Dr Who or men dressed as Princess Leia) and the inclusiveness of it. Some people spent hundreds of hours or thousands of dollars on their costumes (or both), some had a cool idea a few bucks and wild abandon. The spectrum of creativity felt wonderful.

I loved that the general gaze of the convention was appreciative and supportive. Some conventions feel really objectifying and that gives things an unpleasant edge. Here it seemed like an inclusive celebration, a place that supported kids and adults to be creative.

On Saturday night I was Tempura Tantrum‘s sidekick and ran around finding cosplayers to interview. The dedication and super niceness of all the cosplayers was inspiring. They said the archive would be available on FlipOnTv, but it doesn’t look like it’s there yet. I’ve sent them a tweet to ask what they think the ETA is and will let you know what’s happening as soon as possible.

2. Derby Derby Derby
I was behind the Rat City Roller Girls booth for much of the con and wow, talk about fun and exhausting! I got pretty good at explaining the game using ten Rat City buttons, even if people kept giving the buttons away :P

It was interesting the number of people who went from “Oh yeah derby, I want to check it out sometime,” to “Wow that sounds cool, tickets please!” once we went through the rules of the game. I got so caught up and excited chatting to folks I forgot to eat, drink, didn’t sleep much and didn’t drink coffee the whole weekend… that’s derby for you.

3. Comics
I often find trying to process all the new information at a convention distressing. My brain gets overloaded by all the fine art and stories and I feel bad that I’m not giving them all my attention/money. This convention I mostly bought stuff from webcomic creators who helped keep my head together when I was working at Toora Women’s Refuge and later accidentally starting a revolution (it’s a long story). Folks I fell in love with in and never thought I’d even be on the same continent as them. Something Positive, The Devils Panties and Girls With Slingshots were things I devoured in huge chunks.

I also bought prints and the new anthology from CrabTank… but I lost that bag, so I have some sad feels. I’m so excited about CrabTank and so proud of how they get stronger and stronger.

Best Panel
I didn’t make it to many panels, but I’m glad I made it to “Looking Past the Target Audience”
A great panel on diversity, that was full of positive ideas and feelings. I hope it is the first of many like this, the panelists were Rachel Edidin, David Brothers, Andy Khouri, Regina Buenaobra, Sarah Kuhn, Cheryl Lynn Eaton, and Kate Welch.