My Weekend at DPCC! (Patreon)

I just had the wildest weekend — definitely the most nonstop, exhausting, rewarding convention guesting experience I've ever had! I thought I'd put together a blog-style recap of my weekend for those who want to hear about the experience.

Thursday

Before the con even started, I got to do some cool media stuff to promote the convention! I went on three different local news channels on Thursday (along with Captain K Cosplay) to talk about the event. It was nerve wracking to be on live television, but it all worked out fine! You can see me on Channel 2 and then 9 News in these clips!

I also met up with Denver Pop Culture Con's social media marketing team afterwards to film this silly little promo.

Friday

Friday is usually a very lowkey day at a 3-day con. Lots of people are still at work, some people don't even buy Friday tickets, and I'm used to spending most of Friday sitting at my booth, waiting for people to come by. That was not my experience this year! From the first few hours, it became clear to me that this weekend was going to be very different from last year's DPCC. The con was very busy for a Friday, and there were a few times that a small line started to form at my booth (foreshadowing for what was to come!)

I wore Arya and put another one of my Arya costumes on display on a mannequin. I also brought some stone wall backdrops to help my booth stand out (and give selfies a more "Game of Thrones"-y flavor!)

My friend Nicole helped out all weekend, taking payments and managing sales (and babysitting me, let's be honest, making sure I drank water and ate and took breaks) and on Friday she dressed as Janet from The Good Place and handed out tiny cacti!

I also delivered my "Let's Write a Parody" panel on Friday, my second time doing that panel! It's a fun, audience participation panel where we work together to write a parody verse for a song everyone knows that's very easy to parody: "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman" from Frozen. This group went... pretty dark with it! You can hear our finished verse here.

That night, I went out with my D&D group to dinner and had a few mojitos and had no idea what was coming at me the next day!! Sweet, summer child.

Saturday

Saturday got a rough start for me. This might be TMI, but I had just started my period (I swear, the last like 3 cons I've done have coincided with it, I don't know what god I offended) so I was up at 4am with cramps and couldn't fall back asleep... and had to start doing my Jester makeup at 6am in order to get to the con early and make sure I was set up and ready to go when the showroom opened at 10. For some reason, even though I've worn Jester a million times, nothing seemed to be going right that morning. I felt like I'd forgotten how to do the makeup, all the costume pieces felt wrong, I was a wreck. 

The main reason I was nervous was the Critical Role Q&A panel, which I was slated to moderate. When the convention first approached me months ago about moderating it, I was surprised, because I assumed Brian W. Foster would be moderating it, like he does at all the other cons they do. I questioned my contact about it, but they assured me that I was going to be the moderator. I still didn't quite believe it until they had me in the program and up on the website, but at that point I was like "okay, I guess this is happening" and I started talking about it on social media. I was absolutely terrified of being out on stage in front of every Critter in Colorado and the entire cast of my favorite show.

By the time I got to the main stage and was waiting to go on, I could hear some 5,000 people chanting "CRITICAL! ROLE!" and I had a live microphone in my hand five feet from the stage and I was literally shaking in my boots. That's when the cast arrived and started lining up behind me to go on. I turned around to greet them and Laura said "Hi! I didn't know you were going to be here!" and that's when some part of me realized oh, this isn't happening. This was a mistake. Sure enough, Brittany (Critical Role's director of events; I had met her briefly at Emerald City Comic Con) came up to speak to the stage manager, she told him that of course Brian would be moderating.

While of course I was disappointed, my immediate gut reaction was relief. The crowd out there was massive, and I had never done anything like this before! I reassured her that it was totally fine, absolutely, whatever you guys need, and handed off the microphone. The cast had arrived just in time to walk onto the stage, so at this point I mostly just got out of the way.

After the panel had started and everything had calmed down backstage, a con volunteer offered to get me a seat at the front of the panel, or walk me back to my booth, but at this point the weeks of anxiety and the sensation of having the rug pulled out from under me was catching up to me, and I was tired and I'm an easy crier, so I basically just shakily requested a bathroom and spent a few minutes doing that dumb thing where you touch your actual eyeball with paper towels so that the tears can't fuck up your makeup. When I came out, Brittany was waiting for me and she was super apologetic. I could tell that she felt awful about the mix-up (although it was absolutely not her fault!) and she was very sweet to take the time to reassure me.

After the panel, the cast invited me to come back with them to the green room for the fifteen or so minutes they had before their signing session. They were (understandably) wiped out from the panel, but I got to chat with Matt a little about cosplay, and finally meet Travis (the only cast member I hadn't gotten to meet at Emerald City.)

Then it was time to go back to my booth for the day! Judging by the little lines that I experienced on Friday, I was worried about interrupting the flow of traffic near my booth. I spoke to Guest Services that morning before the con opened and they were quick to tape out lines onto the floor and assign volunteers to manage the lines, which was amazing and ended up being a total lifesaver. From the moment I got back from the CR panel until 6pm when I headed out to judge the Costume Celebration, my booth had nonstop lines. Whenever I had to use the bathroom or eat, the volunteer would have to cap the line and someone would have to escort me to a quiet place. It was wild — I've never, ever experienced anything like that at a convention before!

It was amazing and I had such a great time meeting all the cosplayers and Critters who came to say hello, but I also didn't realize just how drained I was becoming from the nonstop social interaction, the wig and the contact lenses, the lack of food and sleep, and the emotions from the panel mix-up that I hadn't really had time to process. By the time I was escorted to judge the Costume Celebration, I was like a ghost! I barely remember it, if I'm being completely honest. At that point I'd been in costume as Jester for about 12 hours.

What I do remember is that my Judge's Favorite winner did an amazing job on her costume! She had put together a Warrior Totoro design that took her five months to create. You can find her on Instagram at Birdieblue357.

I met up with Josh after the Costume Celebration so he could take me home. I was like a zombie by this point, and the moment we got out of the convention center, I started crying (I'm not even totally sure why — I was just so tired.) I'm sure our Lyft driver was totally weirded out by the random crying blue demon in the back of her car, haha!

Crying is just a way that I process things, and I usually feel much better after I've let it all out, so I basically just wept for like thirty straight minutes while I took off my costume and showered and got my head on straight, haha. I felt embarrassed for ever thinking I was going to moderate the panel, and tired from the long day. (Poor Josh came into the bathroom while I was in the shower and was like "are you.... okay???" and I'm in there loudly crying like "YEAH IT'S FINE I'M JUST GETTING IT OUT") There were blue teardrops on my craft room floor the next morning (#cosplayproblems!)

^ How ridiculous is that!! I cracked up when I saw it.

Once I was in normal clothes again and I'd downed two full glasses of water and some ibuprofen, Josh and I went to go get burritos and I put together a plan for the next day. I knew I couldn't get up at 6am to do Jester makeup again the next day and still have the energy to talk with people at my booth and deliver my last panel. Instead, I talked with my booth helpers and arranged to arrive a little later, and have designated signing times where I'd be available at my booth.

Sunday

I woke up on Sunday with muscle soreness throughout my entire body and a DEEP alto voice!! My eyes were tired from the contact lenses the previous day, and for some reason I had a blister... on my shoulder?? Who knows.

To apologize for the panel mix-up, the cast had offered me a free team-up photo op (which were sold out!) so I got to see them one more time for a brief second. I believe I greeted them with "are you guys sick of me yet?" and before I knew it, I was in the best group hug of my entire life!!

I swear, these people have endless reservoirs of love in them. They're so incredibly warm, I don't know how they do it day after day, for all the hundreds of thousands of people they meet.

After that, I was at my booth for a few more hours, and then it was time for my Sunday panel! This panel was called "Critical Cosplay: How to Bring the Mighty Nein to Life" and it was basically just a walkthrough of the basics for beginner cosplayers to tackle these characters.

The panel room was completely full, which blew me away!! It went really well and I hope it was helpful to the folks who attended.

Soon after the panel, it was time for my photoshoot! I've spent the last six months putting together a Mighty Nein cosplay group from my local cosplay friends, and this photoshoot was the culmination of all of that work. We were working with Anne Barhyte, my favorite local cosplay photographer (responsible for my Hannah Alexander Disney Princess group shoot, my centaurette shoot, and some of my Arya photos!)

Here's a little unedited preview! These photos should be coming at you over the next week or two and I couldn't be more excited. Make sure to check out my Beau, Molly, Yasha, Fjord, Marion, Caleb, Yeza, and Nott!

Also, I met a puppy while we were in the park!

Our photoshoot ran super long, so by the time it was over, the con was done. All said, even with the emotional drama, it was easily the best convention guesting experience I've ever had! I spent all day Monday just recovering, drinking a ton of water, playing Dragon Age (I can't believe Solas dumped me... rude) and avoiding cleaning up any of the convention weekend mess!

To the Patrons who came and saw me this weekend, it was so lovely to get to chat with you guys in person and spend a little time together!! Thank you for taking time out of your convention day to come by my booth! I hope you guys had as fabulous a time this weekend as I did!