[Groop] Brief (?!) con report

[janet at harriett.us]

It's now 27 hours post-con, and I think I'm recovered enough to give the short version.

Con was fun.  Huge, but fun.  I would like to second ME's suggestion of banning light sabers, and add to it any other large costume attachments, either cardboard or more solid.  We saw a couple nearly Three Stooges-like incidents with people turning around and failing to account for the three feet of costume blade slung over their shoulders.  I would also like to see a designated costume photo op area somewhere off the exhibit hall floor.  Lots of traffic jams on the floor originated with people stopping to get photos of themselves with various costumed attendees, and the 10-foot human-free radius required for photos.

Since we couldn't get into one of the panels we wanted on Saturday, and another one turned out not quite as good as we had hoped, we actually cruised the floor a bit on Saturday.  It wasn't as bad as we expected--no worse than the Wednesday preview night crush or the Sunday buying frenzy.  I even managed to get into the Center Section to snag a tote bag from G4 and a poster from MGM.  On that note, the con was much more enjoyable when we stayed out of the middle part, where the TV stations and movie studios were located, and stuck to the ends where it was more like a traditional comic con.  We took a quick swing through the media section first thing in the morning to get whatever swag they were handing out, then stay the heck out of that circus.  I'll let Elie recount the saga of the giant tote bag.

At any rate, the freebies from the movie studios paled in comparison to aisles 1100-1300, where the book publishers were.  I haven't counted yet, but I think we may have gotten close to a dozen free paperbacks from Del Rey, Pocket Books, and Random House.

The Groo-related stuff:
In the Mile High booth, a fellow Groopier (who will remain anonymous since his badge was turned around) introduced us to Gordon Kent, and we had a nice chat, including the story behind why Groo wears orange.  (Later in the same booth, I got to talk marmots with Chuck Rozanski).  Gary was nice enough to hold back a set of PVC figures for us until Sunday, so we now have everything Sergio was selling, except the statue, without having to cart it around all weekend.  Quickdraw was funny as always, and raised $325 for CBLDF when Sergio suggested an on-site auction of the results of one of the games.  I got an answer to my burning question of "Will we get Stan letters in the new Groo, since his name isn't in any of the promo copy?" (yes).  We got our Groo hat, signed and sketched on.  I'll let others speak to the contents of the Groo 25th panel, since we came in late, after another panel that turned out somewhat disappointing.  The Groo pin got the place of honor on my badge lanyard, right above the clip.  By Saturday, I had pins up to my neck and was using my hair as pin overflow.

Thanks to Kaytee for my Groo beaded lanyard ornament, with special penguin bead at the end.  Also thanks to Eric, who made up tunic-orange Groo wristbands.

I'm probably forgetting a few things that will occur to me as I unpack.  Three suitcases seem to be just enough to bring home all the purchases and swag, which I now need to sort through and catalog.

Janet