What to Buy at a Con

About 4 2-gig memory sticks of pictures, more memories than your brain should really be able to handle, a shiny new sense of insanity, two dozen+ new friends, an elevated sense of bliss and about 4 tons of good old fashioned furry art.

(oh come ON... who edited the word "art" from what it was!? /end silly rant)

You should take with you hundreds of happy memories, a dozen phone numbers of all your new friends, and an unshakable glee that will last for weeks.

If you don't take all that with you, you've done something wrong.

-There is no truth

One of the many functions of an anthropomorphic convention is the advancement and promotion of the anthropomorphic genre in the arts.

"Arts" is a plural; it includes graphic art and illustration, performance art, music, and literature.

So...

- Buy graphic artwork! Wander through the Art Show, and put in a bid or two on something that catches your fancy. If the bids place the object or your desire out of your reach, there is a very good chance that the artist who created it is there, at the convention; check out the Dealer's Den, and look through the reasonably-priced, high-quality color prints of your favorite artist. Prints look pretty snazzy, they are usually quite affordable, and the collection available probably includes works where the original was sold long ago, and therefor unavailable.

Don't see anything that is quite what you wanted? No problem! Many of the artists at the Dealer's Den will take commissions for custom artwork - and the Artist's Alley is chock-full of artists, sitting there for no other reason than to make artwork for you, during the convention! THis can range from custom badges, displaying your character or avatar, to sketches in a sketchbook, to full ink and color works.

- Buy a Fursuit, and Fursuit Accessories! You will see lots and lots of fursuits, whose owners are quite proud; they are usually willing to tell you about the creators of their individual suits, or may be modeling one of their own creations. You can commission a fursuit, or just a portion of one, like a head and paws. OR you can buy a set of ears and a tail, representing your favorite species, quite similar to the partial costume parts that Anime Fans wear at their conventions.

- Buy Furry Music! While "Filking" doesn't have quite the following in Furry Fandom that it has in SciFi and Fantasy Fandom, it does have a long tradition. There are dealers selling CD's of mainstream Filkers, and ones who specialise in just songs telling a musical tale involving animal characters. Buy a collection of Warner Bros. Cartoon musical classics, or - if you can find it, its now rare - the Collection of special music called Furry Fantasy II, a collaboration of compositions and performances by various of the EuroFur group. from Germany.

- Buy Furry Literature! Comic books, mostly B&W, but some color, spanning the history of organised Furry Fandom - indeed, the initial reason that there _is_ an organised Furry Fandom. Some of it is, admittedly, a bit amateurish, and frankly awful - but most of it is professional, and well-drawn and well-written. ALL of it is of cultural significance. Get back-issues of ALBEDO, RHUDIPURRT, and XANADU (aka, the Ever Changing Palace), and see what was so exciting back in the mid '80's, and why people are still passionate about it.

Fan 'Zines - Perhaps someone will have back-isues of YARF!, the best collection of Furry Stories and associated artwork ever compiled, or SOUTH FUR LANDS, the Australian/New Zealand 'zine, featuring stories by Aussie/OZzie fans, or set in those locales, using native faunae as the anthropomorphic content. Also FANG CLAW & STEEL, PAWPRINTS, and a host of others.

Books - yes, legitimate books, ranging from stories written down 200 years ago, to epic poems (REINEKE FUCHS, "Raynard the Fox", as written by Goethe, and reputedly translated by Charles Dickens), to the REDWALL series, to every collection of fables and fairy tales that you have ever been exposed to since childhood, and many that you have not. Things like TAILCHASER'S SONG and SPELLSINGER, to BAMBI and THE FOX AND THE HOUND, to Beatrix Potter (PETER RABBIT), and on to "A WHISPER OF WINGS", by Paul Kidd, and illustrated by Terrie Smith - indeed, if Terrie is there, she will autograph it for you. This is one of the best examples of Furry Fantasy storytelling, good enough to get the author invited by the Librarian of Congress to speak on the subject of Fantasy and Anthropomorphics, in Washington DC.

Tell you what - bring a tote-bag, and some USPS document mailers. If you don't have a tote-bag, perhaps somebody there can sell you one.

Anything, and everything being sold by the Guest of Honor.

rar...
junk, clutter, cd's, pictres, hangovers, memories (even the ones you;d like to forget, and a new brass dragon claw. What was that booth last year? Ironbadger? Bah, I'll take whatever/whoever can fit on my trunk this year since I'm not taking the bus.

"What to Buy at a Con"

Sanity?

things to not take from a con
3) a bun in the oven
2) herpes
1) door numbers
(couldn't keep this post in my head-sorry!)