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Con Memories
Con Memories
Jul 25In honor of Comic-Con, let’s all share some of our favorite con memories! I know you’ve got ’em!
Here’s one I was thinking about just the other day. It kind of encapsulates the heady, drunken nature of cons and the way in which the line between celebrities of all grades and regular fan-folk tends to get blurred.
A couple years ago, my pal Pelgar and I worked for the licensed website of a certain big-ass genre property. Through our jobs, we met some of the folks who worked on said property, including “Banana,” a trusty behind-the-scenes sort who was also a major fan favorite on the convention circuit. At one particularly gigantic con, we spotted Banana, drink in hand, chilling outside of the VIP party. “Well, hello there, Banana!” we said jovially. Banana gazed upon us with bleary, quizzical eyes. She obviously did not recognize us. She could probably only see a pair of vaguely fankid-shaped blobs. She finally muttered/slurred a half “hello,” then tottered swiftly back into the VIP area. As she skittered away, we imagined a little thought balloon above her head: “Oh, no…I must get away from THE FANS!!!”
Pelgar and I have since repeated and exaggerated and built upon that anecdote many, many times. He still makes me laugh by going, “Who am I?!” and swaying around drunkenly. So actually, I guess this is more of an example of how cons bond people in an inexplicable — yet very lasting — way.
I think this might be my cue to tell the “Am I the asshole here?” Jonathan Frakes story.
Thinking of your story does remind me of an unforgettable San Diego Comic-Con image: Watching Walter Koenig slip behind the curtains of a booth selling adults-only “erotica.”
Once I’ve told the Frakes story, the only other great con story I have is the one where I develop a mildly disturbing obsession with Amber “Tara” Benson. But I don’t know if that one’s ready for prime-time.
I get to say, proudly, that I attended the very first Vul-Con in Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.
This would have been summertime, maybe ’94, and myself and two pals opted to go. We borrowed a camper, hooked it up to the truck, labelled it a shuttlecraft, and went.
It was small, and there were no actors present, but we got to talk to one of the novel writers, and that was awesome, as she was very, very jaded. Also, being nerds, but practical nerds, we opted not for uniforms, but rather, t-shirts modelled after the uniforms. Way, more comfortable.
Plus, all night DC heroes at the campground!
So very nerdy.
Awesome.