Furnal Equinox: A Conventional Experience

I've done one furry post already. I figured another was in order, and right after a convention seems the perfect time.

Furnal Equinox was held in Toronto, Ontario this past weekend. This is one of the many, many, many cons of this sort. Furries are all over the place. You may know one and not even realize it. You may be one and not even realize it. At any rate, I’m going to try to describe the experience of going to a furry convention.

If you've been to a nerd con before, the layout may look familiar. Most of these cons have the same set pieces (a dealer’s room, video game room, traditional game room, panels, etc.) with different window dressing (In this case, fursuits). There were foxes, cats, bovines and dogs. There were scalies, and featheries, and even a moth. Fursuits were everywhere, and the dealer’s room sold everything from fantastic nerd jewelery, to ears and tails, and back through leather armor and boffer weapons.

The panels were on things like “What does it mean to you to be a Cat?” and “How to draw human to animal transformations”, as well as the usual art, podcasting, and writing panels. There was a Rock Band tournament, and a Munchkin tournament, and people just hanging out and chatting with others who are interested in the same things as they are.

I, for my part, took advantage of everything. I went to the panels, I cruised the dealer’s room, I played Rock Band for the first time for more than two minutes, I flirted with cute catgirls and bunnyboys, and I had a good time in general.

Now, someone out there is probably wondering if I have a suit. I haven’t described my Fursona to anyone, and I don’t even have any art of him specifically, so I think I’ll hold off on that topic for another post.

Anyway, the convention ran from Friday through Sunday. My group got there Friday morning. We’d pre-registered, so all we had to do was pick up our badges. Con badges are important. They let the staff know you’ve paid for your admittance, and what level of access you should have. Our room was on the main floor, which is convenient, since the elevators at these things tend to get clogged by quickly overheating fursuiters who are desperate to make it back to their rooms to cool off. We unloaded, and were instantly out the door. First stop, the dealers room. Several of my friends had tables, and were selling their arts and crafts. There was hugging, laughing, and the obligatory bid for my money. I managed to hold onto my money, no matter how I was tempted by the pretty wares. I did end up buying one thing. “Something Stupid”, which was drawn for me by the fantastic KV1NN4. I may add the picture to this post later, once I’ve obtained permission from the artist. After the dealer’s room, we checked out the videogame room, with the aforementioned Rock Band, and rocked out until it was time for tea.

At the tea social, we got to sit and chat with several new people, most of whom I’m sure I’ll see again and remember at another con. Conventions are a great place to network. Next time I’m going to have business cards printed before I go.

Following directly on the heels of the tea social was a poutine party which was being hosted by a group of furries from Montreal.

The poutine served as both lunch and dinner for me, and after dropping back at the room to change, I went back out to explore the convention's nightlife. There was a black light rave which didn’t really hold any interest for me, but I managed to fall in with a group playing card games and passed the night that way. It would have been 1am by the time I was escorting one of the girls back to her room... where I left her in order to return to my own. A boy needs what sleep he can get if he’s going to enjoy the con!

Saturday came too early, and after scrambling to get up and showered, find some cheap breakfast at Perkins (when you order coffee, they leave the pot!), and hit our panel on podcasting. There were only four people there, but it was still a good conversation. Following that was another trip to the dealer’s room while waiting for our writing panel. The writing panel was good, with about twenty people, and I put my name on a list for a writer’s group. There were a bunch of amateur writers who all want help with their stuff, and trading critiques is a great way to do it, so we’ll see if that goes anywhere. More Rock Band and more looking around before the fur parade. This was really an event. Most of the fursuiters (all those who wanted to be in the parade), gathered for a photo, and then they formed up and marched through the convention, showing off their creations. I had a perfect spot at the end of a hall to see them all marching toward me, perfectly lit by the large open windows behind me, and then turn into the dealer’s room. After that it was more of the same, and if you haven’t been to a comic, gaming, or sci-fi con, you probably wouldn’t see the appeal, but I found it well worth the ticket.

By Sunday morning, you get pretty worn out from overstimulation and lack of sleep. At the same time, you don’t want to miss out on any of the awesome, so you try to cram as much of that in before heading home as you can. There was another writing panel and a nap, and once the dealer’s room closed for the day, we decided to head home. There were going to be events running all evening, but I needed to work in the morning, and by that point, wanted to be home.

The day after the con is always hard. Ordinary life creeps up on you and being back at work can just be drudgery. It didn’t help that we lost an hour over the weekend (one less hour to not sleep!), but coming from the fantastic world of fursuits and fun to the everyday is somewhat jarring. It feels like I have to put a little bit more of me back in the box and tuck it in a corner until next time, or at the very least, until the next full moon.

Thanks for reading,


-Step.