Hello, Portland. I am in you.
More precisely I’m in the Portland Doubletree with a belly full of half of a double burger from a place called LARDO’S, after hooking up with SIgil and Bazeel for dinner. I gave Sigil my minion badge, since I have no minion for my table and she wanted to hit the con I’m here for.
The con? Rose City Comic-Con. Attendance last year was 18k; I got email from them yesterday telling me that online sales were twice what they were last year at that point. Two-day passes and Saturday-only are sold out.
I have no idea how much or how little to expect out of this con. Last year I think I mostly broke even and had a good time, plus picking up an interesting new pro-level fan; this year I’m expecting absolutely nothing beyond feeling confident I’ll break even again now that I have two volumes of Rita to sell. If something more happens then YAY.
The show floor is no bigger than it was last year. Kinda small, really, compared to ECCC. Like last year, I’m close enough to the entrance that I don’t need to worry about being lost in the hinterlands. So things are looking positive. I grabbed an early signup sheet for next year, and need to spend a little time away from my table considering the crowdflow – do I want to stick around the Alley next year, or switch to a booth? Or even multiple booths shared with friends like I’m doing at ECCC15? We will see.
I still kinda want to just be at home sleeping and finishing up Kickstarter shipping but hey. This is what I need to do this weekend. If you’re in Portland and doing the con, stop by table I-9 and say hi; if not, then you can probably attend it vicariously through my sarcastic tweets listing the costumes I see, unless business is booming too much for me to be twittering.
And when I get home I need to throw together the grope controllers for Duck Duck Poison, and go to Rainfurrest. That should be low-key after this, to be honest – after doing a couple years of Serious Comic Cons, furry cons feel like training wheels now. I’ll be there to have fun and dance my ass off, you know?
I also got the art for the shirt for the Kickstarter mostly done on the train down here. It still needs some finesse but NOT NOW; I want to sleep, and hit the con bright and early tomorrow, to be ready for the horde I suspect may be coming in.