Athene Numphe

Last summer there was a Kickstarter for InvaderCon III: Final Doom. I had been following the InvaderCons since they were a concept on Facebook back in 2009 or 2010, but hadn't been able to go to either of the other ones because of reasons. This one was going to be in Austin, so of course we backed it. And it funded. And then we found out that it was going to happen only 10 min from our house, which was even better.

InvaderCon III: Final Doom happened this weekend. It was awesome. Since nothing was really happening until the afternoon on Saturday, we got up and Aerith got some yard work done while I took Little Prince to go grocery shopping. Then we had lunch and went over to the con hotel. It was a pretty small con. I think the vendor room had all of three vendors. We mostly hung out in the back of the main room so LP could run around while we listened to the Q&As or let LP run around the main lobby of the hotel with a three year old girl who was also there for the con. Aerith was surprised that there wasn't a room showing the episodes of Zim to the public. I liked the Q&As because I like listening to the actors talk about their craft. At around 3:45, we rounded up LP and took him home. KR came over and he got to have LP and KR time and Aerith and I got to go back to the con. Yay.

We got there part way through Rikki's panel. I got to ask him about his kitties, since I really like his comic TaviCat, which is all about them. Then there was the Kickstarter Only panel. It was some giving away of things via a raffle and then the rest of the time was Rikki (GIr) and Richard (Zim) on their ukeleles being silly. We called it #irkenrock. After that there was the guests read a script panel. They read "10 Minutes to Doom", which was awesome. What was even cooler was that the actor who played Dib wasn't there, so they had three audience members audition for the role. The guy who won actually got to go up on stage and read along with the rest of the cast. He was beside himself with joy and he actually did a very good Dib. I didn't take any video of this reading, but other people did, so I'm sure it will so up online at some point soon. Then they had some time left to kill, so they read the opening of Amok Time from Star Trek: TOS. They were supposed to do it as their Invader ZIm characters, but decided to all be William Shatner instead. I did get that on video.



Then Aerith and I and a friend of ours that we ran into at the con went to get dinner at Five Guys cause we were hungry and stopped at a local video game store to check things out on the way back to the Con. We got back to the Con just in time to see the winners of the costume contest announced. There were lots of people in cool costumes, so I'm sure it was hard to judge it. Then we hung out for a while. We stopped into the ZIm Against Humanity panel and I played a round, but it was awkward. Then we poked our head into the Dance Like a Money party, but someone was wearing too much perfume for Aerith, so we left. We were getting tired anyway.

Best part about having a con 10 min away is being able to sleep in your own bed at night.

This morning we woke up and hung out at home. We showed Little Prince Dispicalbe Me for the first time. He loves the Minions (he's seen the shorts) and I think he really liked the movie. After lunch we went to the park for a while, where it was REALLY hot and then back to the con. I got to talk to Rikki and his wife Tavi about cats for a bit. Then we said hi to Richard and Melissa. Richard really seemed taken by LP. Since Melissa is also a musical theatre person and has a four year old, I tried to get LP to sing his version of "Let it Go" for her, but he decided to be shy.

Then LP got a Captain America shield painted on his arm by the person doing face-painting, which went well with the Avengers overalls he was wearing. We hung out in the lobby for a bit and then hit up the Panel of Doom (a full cast Q&A) and the Closing Ceremonies, which was basically a big "I love you all" from the attendees to the con staff and back. We left part way through to go get chinese takeout for dinner.

So that was our InvaderCon experience. I was surprised that so many people there seemed to be teenagers, but I guess if the show came out 13 years ago, if you were six when you first saw it, you'd be 19 now. I wish we could have spent a bit more time hanging out and getting to know people, but that's the drawback of having a kid with you, I guess. I did like the intimacy of the smaller con and the fact that everyone there was soooooo into this one thing. Overall, had a great time and super glad we funded the project and went to the con. Especially since they'll probably not do another one.

I've gone to Comic Con two years in a row now, mostly to help out the Austin Browncoats. While I've enjoyed other events labeled as "con"s in the past, I find myself once again feeling awkward at Comic Con, even though I am surrounded by my peers. I finally figured out why.

The other cons I've gone to have been either panel/discussion or role playing based. At those cons, the main focus is to engage in conversation or games. If there are "celebrities" they are often authors who write things, usually things I really enjoy, so it is a pleasure to meet them.

Comic con is mostly vendors, actors from cult shows/movies, and comic artists. There are a few panels, but it's not the focus. While I enjoy looking at the art and the huge amounts of stuff there is for sale, I don't know most of the artists and I'm not a collector and don't have the money to buy all the things. As for the actors, do I really want to stand in line to say "I really like the work you did/I think you're cute/I dressed like your character once." Not really. I think that most of these people are just normal people who were doing a job. While it probably makes them feel warm and fuzzy to hear it, and the $$ the fans are paying for autographs doesn't hurt, they often look kind of bored. And I don't really know what to say to them.

I realized that they are not "my people" in the way that some of the actors/musicians/writers/etc who I know are nerds/geeks are. Those are the ones I'm much more likely to fan-girl over. Because they are part of my culture in a way that goes beyond just doing a job. They are the ones that I could have a conversation with that goes like this: Me, "Geek." Them, "Geek." Me, "Geek geek." Them, "Geek nerd geek." Which is why w00tstock will always be way more awesome for me than Comic Con.

That being said, I did pay $ to have a picture taken of LP in his Jayne hat with Adam Baldwin (see previous post). I figured that that was special.

Not sure how many of you have been following the story of Katie, a first grader who was getting teased by the boys because she brought a Star Wars thermos to school and that is a "boy thing." Katie's story went viral and gained the support of the geek community. Someone started a Facebook Event to support Star Wars, Geekdom, and Katie. Just check out #maytheforcebewithkatie on Twitter to see comments and pictures from people all over the world.

As many of you I have a deep love of Star Wars. It started back when I was around 3 or 4. I remember playing Star Wars with the boys. I was always Princess Leia. In high school I joined a Star Wars role playing chat room. I attended one of the meet-ups for the chatroom when Episode I came out in 1999. I'm still friends with many of the people I met there, thanks to the internet and facebook.

Today in honor of Katie, I am wearing my very old and much loved Princess Leia shirt. It's so worn that you can't even tell that she's standing in front of a Tantive IV anymore. Here is a picture of me in my shirt and holding my USB Lightsaber Lamp from ThinkGeek:


May the Force Be With Katie. May the Force Be With All Of You.

the SSFFS library is EVIL i tell you EEEVVIIILLL!!!!

I went there for my library hours like a good little officer and ended up staying an hour later than i had to because I picked up the "Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga" and end up reading all 190 pages of it.

in other news, found a poem of Sapho at the library that I like:
The moon has set and the Pleiades;
it is midnight, and time goes by,
and I lie alone. -Translation from the Loeb

I am an elf. I wish i had a digital camera so i could put up a picture.

a ten page paper to write now. well, 8.5 pages left. ick.

This came into my inbox from pvgoth: LotR meets the Matrix

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