Geek Babble– Local Fun at Furrydelphia 2022

Normally, we don’t cover furry conventions. However, it has been years since I’ve been to one of these types of conventions and it was local. To be honest, furry conventions are not that different from anime conventions. Just swap out cosplayers for fursuiters and you have a pretty similar set up. My day-to-day at Furrydelphia flowed much like it would have at Otakon, except the venue was many times smaller. The only big difference would have been the lack of industry panels. There is furry industry, but it’s not a cohesive machine like corporate run media.

As I mentioned in Quarantine Control #125, Furrydelphia is the first furry convention in Philadelphia since Anthrocon left for Pittsburgh in 2006. 2005 was the last time I personally attended a furry con. I didn’t have extra money to trek seven hours across the state of Pennsylvania in 2006 just to attend AC. After sixteen years my financial situation is much better, but starting in 2006 Otakon effectively replaced Anthrocon as a summer event. Both conventions take place within the same month, and both bring considerable traveling and hotel costs. Otakon is also only a three hour trip. Having been gone from Anthrocon for 16 years I jumped at the chance to attend Furrydelphia. That said, I missed previous years at FD because the convention was scheduled the same exact weekend as Otakon. When both cons were safely weeks apart, the start of the pandemic in 2020 ruined everyone’s plans. I missed 2021, but didn’t want to miss 2022.

Furrydelphia was a different experience in terms of preparation. When going to Otakon or Katsucon, our traveling group would pile into one or two cars. We’d bring our luggage, food, and gaming consoles with us. I’d already have a general idea of what I wanted to do and see thanks to Guidebook apps. Any news or updates would either be handled through Guidebook or on Twitter using specific hashtags. For Furrydelphia I went solo, only attended Friday and Saturday, and commuted home each night. Communication about the event was happening through specific hashtags on Twitter, but the main vehicle for communication was actually Telegram. A chatroom specifically for those attending Furrydelphia was created. The majority of the room was made of attendees, but some con staff were present. It was the fastest way to get real time updates, and it served as a virtual hangout as well. The room had as many as 670 members, but surprisingly it wasn’t too chaotic.

 

On Friday I decided to get started in the afternoon since I had gotten off work early the same morning. I also decided to take my time and have breakfast before I left. Following the Telegram chat, I learned that badge pickup for those who had pre-registered had been cancelled on Thursday night. People had been left waiting in line for hours before learning it wouldn’t be opening. It was a lack of staff and preparation as the venue was new for the con staff. Friday wouldn’t be much better as the printers for the con badges were having issues.

When I arrived at the hotel the public parking lot was full. I ended up finding cheap parking a few blocks away. After greeting my friend Steve (the same Steve I attended Otakon with), I went to pick up my badge. As I got into a line that zigged and zagged to the entrance, I began to feel uncomfortably warm. Whoever decided on a set temperature for the convention had clearly left the thermostat too high. The high temperatures would persist for the entire weekend and the start of a new heat wave in Philadelphia made for terrible timing. After about 45 minutes in line, we hadn’t moved an inch and people began to complain. Those already in fursuit were uncomfortably hot. I would go on to commiserate with a fursuiter in front of me named Moonshine who could best be described as a cross between a canine and a Lombax.

It would take two hours for the line to start moving as I reached the check-in counter. It turns out Furrydelphia’s system was to call over groups of people. After a pre-registration check which included ID and a proof of COVID vaccination, attendees were given a number and ushered into a second waiting area. Here people were able to sit as they waited for their numbers to be called as badges were printed out. The numbers issued were in no discernible order and the experience was comparable to waiting at the DMV. Thankfully, it only took about 20 minutes to have my number called.

 

Free and with my badge in hand, I rushed back to the hotel’s lobby. It was an impromptu meeting area for those visiting the hotel and the convention. The actual convention where badge checks were enforced was located on higher floors. After a brief wait, I reconvened with Steve who was now in fursuit as Coast Husky. During the time I spent with him on Friday and Saturday, I ended up being his handler and photographer. After taking a few pictures in the lobby, we paid the Dealer’s Den and Artist Alley a visit. The entire area was less than a fraction of the shopping area found at a larger convention. I was pleasantly surprised to find pins and a book of interest. We peered in on the small gaming room. For the most part, it consisted of tables for board and card games. I actually missed the video games section way in the back.

I mingled among fursuiters and took pictures in the lobby. Later that evening it was time to attend a room party with Steve. It was hosted by Kyash, a friendly guy who I was unfamiliar with. The entire event was organized on Telegram. The party was themed around him preparing ramen for about 20 to 30 people. The ramen included various meat and vegetable toppings. The room itself could only comfortably hold ten people at a time, so after eating and drinking, people cycled in and out. Steve and I did the same after having our share of ramen.

 

A few hours after the party Steve and I attended the dance. I was there to observe, take pictures, and record video. (Raves and dances aren’t really my thing.) The atmosphere was nice. As I prepared to leave for the night, I ran into Giza, another friend. His Asriel Dreemurr (Undertale) fursuit technically doubled as cosplay. I ended up leaving the venue around midnight.

I ended up returning 12 hours later on Saturday afternoon. A fascinating aspect of commuter cons is how mundane everything feels outside of the convention. Walk the dog, pay the bills, take a short drive on the local section of interstate. When I meet up with Steve in the con space, he was out of fursuit. While waiting for his friends, we sat in on a Cards Against Humanity charity panel. Just as we were preparing to leave Jonah Scott, the English dub voice of Legoshi from Beastars joined the panel as a guest. Thankfully, we would see him later that evening.

 

Once Steve’s friends arrived, we made preparations to take pictures at the official fursuit photograph event. Our plans fell apart as soon as fursuiters piled into the room. Those of us handling were pushed off to the sides of the room. It was about a half hour of preparation until the official photographer arrived. Getting that many furries in one picture was impressive and definitely involved the use of a ladder. Once the fursuiters were free to go, I quickly found Steve. (In terms of finding your fursuiter in a crowd, it’s helpful when they are more than six feet tall.) We left the hotel to take pictures at Love Park. Aside from one heckler in a car, the majority of people who stopped us were more than happy to take pictures with Coast. My job was simply to stop him for a picture and to take pictures for others. Thanks to the heat and humidity, we didn’t stay at Love Park for long.

 

Once we got back to the hotel, I parted ways with Steve. I returned to the Dealer’s Den to browse the video games, books, and t-shirts that had caught my eye the previous day. Unsurprisingly, the rooms were fairly crowded. As a general rule, Saturdays are always the busiest days at any convention. I decided to check out the game room was happily surprised to find the video games section. It also contained a small store with assorted Nendoroid figures and plushies from popular video games and anime. In terms of game section there about a half dozen TVs, many of them CRT models. There was also an option to check out video games from the library to use at unoccupied stations. I settled on a station that featured Time Crisis 3. I parked myself there for about a little under an hour while I cooled off after being outside.

 

Later that evening, I met up with Steve again who was now out of fursuit. We attended a panel titled “Beastars and You.” The panel itself was a brief history of furry as a genre in animation. A non-spoiler overview of Beastars, what it meant to the panelists, including one panelist who had only watched the anime opposed to the manga. They had actually gotten into Beast Complex and enjoyed it more than Beastars. They briefly touched on Paru Itakagi and how she became a Mangaka, in addition to her being confirmed as a furry. The hen Legom, is actually her self-insert character.

About midway through the panel, Jonah Scott revealed himself among the crowd, as he cosplayed as an anime version of Legoshi. He then joined the panelists as he gave a rundown of what Beastars personally meant to him, how he got the role, and how much the overall fandom meant to him and his career. Amazingly, the panel had a few “well, actually” moments as members of the crowd insisted on correcting the panelists if they mispronounced any words. This was definitely the anime nerd section of the furry convention. The panel itself was fun and having Jonah Scott as a guest was a surprise.

After a quiet dinner with friends, I ended up leaving the convention before midnight. Even though the convention was three days, I figured two days were enough.

Despite the badge pickup delays and the all too warm hotel, I had a great time. It was a fun, low-key, and intimate affair, especially compared with larger conventions. Furrydelphia had 2300 attendees for the weekend. I’m looking forward to following this relatively young con in the future, especially as it grows in size. Hopefully, the registration and badge pickup issues will be sorted out.

My pictures from Furrydelphia 2022 can be found here.