But yeah, FurcoNZ, New Zealand's biggest (and, to my knowledge, only) furry convention. I first heard about it in an Izzzyzzz video a few years ago, but the camp gimmick didn't really endear me to it. So imagine my surprise when, one day around late 2023/early 2024, I went on their site and found that, for the first time in FurcoNZ history, they were doing a hotel-based convention, akin to MFF or ConFuzzled (or even our neighbours over at FurDU). The convention was for attendees over the age of 18, taking place at the Holiday Inn by the Auckland airport (not to be confused with the Holiday Inn at London with the unnerving indoor plaza). Needless to say, I booked a room as soon as possible, and it was just a matter of waiting until November, when the convention would begin proper.
As of publishing this, it should be a week after the convention, so I figured I'd write about my time there. Though I should preface this by saying this is mostly a text post with minimal photos, as I'm very self-conscious about photoing/filming myself, and I'm sure some other con-goers probably feel the same way. I also apologize if this post comes off as a bit disjointed, that's just how my thought process, and a mix of trying to write this from memory, as well as some notes I took during the con.
But yeah, all that being said, here's my experience with FurcoNZ Hotel 2024 ^_^
Day 1: Friday
First day at the convention, and it was a bit of a rocky start for me. I arrived around noon so I could book my room (which was pretty easy, since the con was roughly half an hour away from where I live), and then get my con badge sorted while I wait. But then I realized I forgot to bring an ID to verify my con badge, so I had to hurry back home to get my passport, and then hurry back to the con, setting me back almost an entire hour ^^;
 |
| My Badge, for those curious |
Fortunately, it was smooth sailing by then, as I got my badge, along with the conbook, pictured at the top of this post. It certainly did its job in showing all the events and lineups (though I did catch a few typos here and there), and I never went anywhere without it (partially because I kept all of my stickers in it ^^;). The art on the cover is also spot-on, and I never grew tired of looking at it, although I will say the giraffe's humanlike fingers really bothered me for some reason (I guess hoof-fingers weren't the artist's thing). After that, I went to have some lunch at the con's buffet. I had some battered fish with some fries on the side. After that, it was a matter of waiting in line to get my room key, and I had a chat with some other con-goers and staff, because it was quite the line. The room was really nice, although I've definitely had better views ^^;
However, by the time I had my room sorted, it was around 3pm, and the opening ceremony wasn't until 7pm. Naturally, the solution is to just hang out in the bar/by the pool for the next four hours, but there's just one small problem with that plan:
I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY THERE
So I do what anybody in that kind of awkward situation would do, and got a bag of M&M's from the vending machine. After that, a guy named Griz Sylverwing was nice enough to let me sit at his table, and we got quickly acquainted. For the next few hours, a few more people made rounds at the table, a lot of fun banter was had, and I got some stickers from Griz and another guy called Crimson.
Soon enough, it was 6pm, and I went to have some dinner, and got acquainted with a few more people. Most of the meat being served had too much gravy for my liking, so I wound up having some sweet n' sour pork, with a side of rice, bread, and croutons, and some slices of carrot and chocolate cake for dessert. I also got a can of Coke from the vending machine, which exploded when I tried to open it. Also while I was having dinner, I ran into KaiAdin, one of the few people I actually recognized prior to the con, as he was a recurring member of a webcomic forum I used to lurk in a decade ago (the webcomic in question was Crimson Flag btw, definitely recommend reading it ^_^). I brought this up to him, and he was pleasantly surprised.
It didn't take long for 7pm to roll around, and everyone headed over to the ballroom for the opening ceremony, which kicked off proper at 7:30. I can't say I was expecting it to start with a barbershop quartet number (the band was named The Polecats, because of course :P). After that, it was just introductions courtesy of MJ DRGN (the chairman), Danny (the medic), and Tsubaki (who had the hilarious running joke of sticking the microphone in his fursuit's mouth when speaking).
After that was what the conbook called the "bush talk", which basically meant "fuck around for an hour", which is what I did. I shot the breeze with some more people, and played a game of Tsuro with Griz and two others, Nairn and Toylegman (long story short, nobody won :P). From 9pm to midnight was the last event of the day, the dance. Each hour was dedicated to a specific musician with a specific genre, and all of them were great in their own ways.
Friday night's lineup was Lay Down, whose bass house beats were so pumping, I could feel them in my heart. Following them was Zythran, with some EDM perfect for a rave, and after that was Tynt, with some lighter club music to cap off the night. Lots of people were busting their moves (not me tho, I have two left feet ^^;), and I managed to chat with some of the dance-goers, including one of the following night's musicians. With nothing else to do after that point, I just went back to my room and slept for the rest of the night.
Day 2: Saturday
Since I had some time before the next panel, I decided to check out the Dealer's Den. Unfortunately, so did nearly everybody else, as there was quite the line. Since waiting in that line would've taken an hour for me to get through, I decided I had better things to do with my time, and went out by the pool. I got a seat by Crimson, and met Balu, where we had a conversation that somehow went from her papercraft babirusa mask to talking about Kingdom Hearts, and I am grateful for her putting up with that ^^;
If there was a phrase that would describe this morning, it would be "shenanigans ensued". This was obvious from the aforementioned Dealer's Den line, but it was definitely the case here. There was supposed to be an artist panel at 10:30am, but due to the Dealer's Den, the artists couldn't make it, so the panel was delayed and conflated with another panel in the afternoon. The only other thing on was a workshop for making fursuit tails, but since I can't be trusted with a sewing needle if my life depended on it, I went back to the main area. I caught Toylegman at the bar, who was nice enough to give me a link to the con's Telegram channel, and I caught up with Griz outside. He got snuck up on mid-conversation by a fursuiter named Cliff, but then I got snuck up on by Danny the Medic shortly after, making us even.
12pm marked the fursuit makers panel, a nice little thing about the pros and cons of being an independent fursuit creator. After that, I went to get some lunch, but lucky me, the ticket printer had issues, so I waited a good few minutes before it decided to cooperate. Fortunately, that was the last of the shenanigans that day, and I had my lunch with Aldonis sharing my table. This time, I had some fettuccine and rice, and a little chocolate tart. I also had another Coke, and it thankfully didn't explode this time. After lunch, I attended a polyamory panel, which was about, well, guess.
At 3:30 was the actual, not joking this time artists panel (SFW and NSFW - I wasn't joking about this being an 18+ con). While I was there, I happened to run into Reinsfeld, an old classmate from when I attended Media Design School a few years ago, which was a pleasant surprise for the both of us (unfortunately, we didn't get the time to catch up). After that, I immediately headed over to the ballroom for the speed drawing activity, and I am going to present to you all of the hilariously cursed things I drew there, and see if you can figure them out (answers at the end of post):
Following that was the latex panel at 5pm, which was already underway when I arrived (not at all awkward in the slightest ^^;). There was a little strip of it being handed around for the attendees to feel, and I learned that latex bodysuits are the opposite of fursuits (ie. you will get cold very easily). Afterwards, I had some dinner, this time a chicken skewer with some rice, fish nuggets, and a carrot cake (they were out of chocolate cake by the time I went to get one ^^;). At the same table was Tatsurō, who was hosting an event the following day, who gave me a little card (which I won't show here, cause I feel like that would be rude).
At 7pm was the talent show, hosted by Tsubaki, who also kicked off the event with a comedic interpretive dance summary of Zootopia. The participants did either song covers or busted their moves, except for one guy doing some bass slappin', and I won't lie, that show had talent. After an hour of vibing with Mimas came the dance, and the con's most eclectic musical lineup. First off was When Snakes Sing, who had the unique distinction of being a hard rock/metal artist with little electronic sounds, as well as having full on music videos accenuating his score (the Fennah animation being a particular highlight for me). Following him was token non-furry band Grecco Romank, whose industrial techno knocked my socks off in record time. Capping off the night was DJ BBgun, keeping the energy going with fist-pumping nightcore straight out of the MySpace era (oh god, I feel old now ^^;). I also got a signed poster that When Snakes Sing was selling, with a free sticker to go with it.
At 7pm was the talent show, hosted by Tsubaki, who also kicked off the event with a comedic interpretive dance summary of Zootopia. The participants did either song covers or busted their moves, except for one guy doing some bass slappin', and I won't lie, that show had talent. After an hour of vibing with Mimas came the dance, and the con's most eclectic musical lineup. First off was When Snakes Sing, who had the unique distinction of being a hard rock/metal artist with little electronic sounds, as well as having full on music videos accenuating his score (the Fennah animation being a particular highlight for me). Following him was token non-furry band Grecco Romank, whose industrial techno knocked my socks off in record time. Capping off the night was DJ BBgun, keeping the energy going with fist-pumping nightcore straight out of the MySpace era (oh god, I feel old now ^^;). I also got a signed poster that When Snakes Sing was selling, with a free sticker to go with it.
Day 3: Sunday
11am had two events going on, namely the writers panel, and the self-explanatory Random Objects I Found in People. Having seen enough Whang videos to know what entails the latter, I went with the former instead. After that at 12pm was Wicked Ones, an event where ten people were asked ten questions while consuming chicken wings with increasingly hotter sauces (no relation to any talk shows of a similar premise :P). I almost considered participating, but I (pardon the pun) chickened out, but after watching the event, I might try it out next time. They offered some leftover wings afterwards, and I wound up passing on them, but I probably should have had one, because I wound up having a relatively modest lunch consisting of penne and some grapes. Hilariously enough, in a reverse of the previous day's lunch, the ticket printer accidentally gave me a lunch and a dinner ticket.
After that was Tatsurō's quiz at 2pm, where I teamed up with Psyc, Crazypandanz, and Rex. Some questions were easier than others, but we came second. Having an hour to spare, I decided to check out the Dealer's Den, now that there was no longer a line. Unfortunately, it was five minutes from closing, so I basically just did a speed browse, before catching up with my quiz team (and Griz). At 4:30 was a brief panel where we gave MJ some feedback about the con, as well as debating whether or not mayonnaise constitutes an instrument, what one would do for a Klondike bar, and if socks count as underwear (I don't have the answer to this).
At 5pm, I caught up with the team again as the fursuit parade was starting. Although in this case, it was less a parade, and more everyone gathering outside the pool for a group photo. Either way, lots of cool fursuits there. After the parade, I went to have some dinner, this time some fried chicken with a pork belly and rice (sadly no dessert this time, but that's what the vending machine is for). Chats about autism also ensued. At 7pm came the closing ceremony, where little trophies for various in-jokes (and the team that came first on the quiz) were handed out, and confirmation that the hotel con would become a recurring thing. Immediately following that was the charity auction. I didn't win anything, but I came close towards the end (massive props to the guy who bid $1000 for a con pass tho, you absolutely deserve that ^_^).
After a bit of waiting came the final dance and the Critter's Ball. For context, these are basically the same thing, except for the first hour, every other attendee was dressed like the "fuck you" leatherman. The musician for the Critter's Ball was CoryKuma, doing some house, but eventually segueing into some conventional techno so as to seamlessly transition into the dance, and the following artist, Intersekt. But the tag-teaming didn't stop there, as Intersekt's blood-pumping hyperpop gave way to Rezzy's equally intense hardstyle. One thing I especially liked about the latter was everyone in the dance (myself included) breaking out in song once the Fireflies sample came on. That, and a rendition of Semisonic's Closing Time, a perfect way to send off the con imo ^_^
Although the convention was done at this point, there was still Monday morning, where I got my stuff ready, had breakfast, checked out, say my goodbyes to whoever I could, and I even managed to nab some stickers from Bearz and Lucid at the last second before heading home.
But yeah, that was FurcoNZ Hotel 2024. I had an absolute blast, met a lot of great people, and I am really looking forward to the next one.
Thank you so much for reading, here's some bonus stuff as a treat ^_^
Speed drawing answers:
1. Bees jogging up a flagpole
2. An Avali spinning a loom on a rooftop (I got looms mixed up with spinning circles ^^;)
3. A death adder knitting beneath a well
4. A man ZORBing in a mini (for non-NZers, think the Atlasphere from Gladiators)
5. A bull-shih tzu performing first aid in a pond
6. A coronavirus attempting to chop a tree at a wedding (the other option was a bottle of Corona)
7. A venus flytrap welding
8. A capybara adjusting a wedgie
9. Donald Trump's fursona driving down a coalmine (I went with a beaver, because wall)
10. A teapot putting out a fire upstairs (either normal or anthropomorphic, I went with both :P)
Silly rankings for each musician that I thought up on the spot:
Lay Down: Most Plok!
Zythran: Most rave
Tynt: Most busy thinking about boys (*ba-ding*)
When Snakes Sing: Most unique
Grecco Romank: Most Mind-blowing
DJ BBGun: Most #GetHype
CoryKuma: Most stripclub
Intersekt: Most chaotic (affectionate)
Rezzy: Most conclusive
People I interacted with (in no particular order):
- MJ DRGN
- Danny the Medic
- Griz Sylverwing
- Crimson/DaddyCrimson38
- Capt. Phil
- Mimas
- Meddyan
- Psyc
- Physuura
- Nairn
- Ginger Wellyton
- Woofs
- Pinky
- Elecami
- Keeba
- KaiAdin
- Kobold
- Greenver_420
- Toylegman
- Aeon
- When Snakes Sing
- Azurehaze
- Volkinaxe
- Kety Folf
- Toki
- BlippinBleppi
- Cliff/LightningsCliff
- Blazi
- Balu/Scrumpygoat
- Rex
- Aldonis Draconis
- Reinsfield
- Basalt
- Tatsurō
- Dilaedathon
- Crazypandanz
- Izzy
- Simon the Husky
- Tonicc
- Bearzclawcreations
- Lucid Nova
And various staff and security whose names I sadly can't remember ^^;
And various staff and security whose names I sadly can't remember ^^;
My newly sticker-anointed sketchbook:
Extra Bonus:
Fun fact: as of writing this post, MJ was interviewed by MoreFM's Breakfast Club, as one of the hosts happened to be at the hotel during the con. Highly recommend giving it a listen ^_^
_____
Comments
Post a Comment