End of October Roundup!

Hey everyone, just a bunch of random stuff this time. Some con loot, some gaming news, a quick Halloween, and an announcement of my insanity! I kid, but not by much. Anyways, let's get to it!



Bran-Con Loot!

I ended up not putting this in the main Bran-Con post because it was already getting pretty big and picture-heavy. So, without further adieu, and with all vendors tagged in the captions:

Wastelanders Emporium. The little images on the bottom of the glasses are a neat touch.

Nyco Rudolph (three above) the bears sketch is inside the When Big Bears Invade Book, which I actually won in a draw and Nyco was kind enough to do the sketch for us.

Chozen Studios

We got these from the guy running the D&D table.

 

At Bay Press (both above pics)

AfterShock Comics

Zenescope (and Mothman!)

Jonathan Allarie Art

Chasing Artwork

Also, we got our faces in the local paper with a pic of our Saturday costumes! So that's pretty cool. It's a HUGE picture, too. I thought it'd just be a little one.

Blizzcon Happened

So, even though Activision-Blizzard have been persona non grata in the gaming circles lately due to fallout from the banning and punishment of a Hearthstone player for voicing a pro-Hong Kong stance during a match, that wasn't going to stop the annual Blizzcon from going ahead. And boy, were they trying to get back in the good books (not saying this stuff wasn't already in development, but it's quite convenient). So, there was the requisite WoW expansion announcement (this will be the eighth expansion!), also Overwatch 2, and some other stuff.

But that's not what they opened with. They opened with THIS (warning: M-rated, and also nine minutes long)

So, on one hand, I'm pretty cheesed that they've put this out now, in order to cool some of the backlash. Diablo's a game I play with the kids. We really enjoy it and D3 has been a good way of helping (especially the Elder Spawn, as he's older) them get a handle on the minutia of managing inventory and gear loadouts in an RPG. It's also been a good introduction for them to the world of Sanctuary itself, and the characters that live there. Elder Spawn in the last year has done two Diablo-themed cosplays. It's kind of a big deal to us, and I hate that it's being trotted out this way. So I'm torn.

Because holy hot sauce that trailer was amazing! The three of us watched all nine minutes, rapt. The kids' biggest concern was that the injured guy was Tyrael. They were very happy when they saw he was not. Upon seeing the gameplay footage video and seeing that the Druid was an announced character class, the Elder Spawn 'shat his pants' (thankfully not literally). The game is not coming out anytime soon (even by Blizzard standards), so hopefully by then I'll have figured out this internal conflict.    



Halloween Was Cold AF At Our House

It really was. I last-minuted a Winter Soldier with stuff I already had and a wig I bought for Loki just to have a costume where I was fully covered. Younger Spawn wore Elder Spawn's old Ghostbusters uniform, although I made her a Holtzmann nametag, and found her my goggles to make it the Ghostbuster she wanted to be. She would have frozen as She-Ra.

I Have Lost My Damn Mind

November was already going to be kind of busy for me. I have some extra shifts at work for a bit more 'get-comfortable' training in the meat department as I will be running the show for just over a week when the meat manager has time off mid-month. So what did I decide to do?

I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Like, officially. Here's my profile and everything. With a goal for 50k words for the month.  

So yeah. We'll see if I make it through November in one piece.

Bran-Con 2019 Roundup!

My last time using this graphic! :(

Well, after months of anticipation and an equal amount of costume creation, Bran-Con has finally happened! Let's have a look!


Alright, I do have to admit something. I didn't take as many pictures as usual. I also didn't take many of the venue. Unless we were taking pics of each other or with other people, we never really remembered to take pictures of our surroundings. To be honest, we spent a lot of time talking with people and we took in several panels, so it just didn't happen. So there's that.

The good news is, I kept forgetting to take pictures because we were having such a good time! It was a smaller con, being as it was the first year and also not put on by an established convention running-company . But that made things more relaxed and more intimate. It didn't seem as nearly as hectic as Regina was, and maybe that's just because that was our first con, but Regina was also much larger. I dunno, but I enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere. I felt like we were able to talk to more people and for longer, especially vendors and guests. I suppose also not carrying around my giant axe and trying to keep spatial awareness of that friggin' thing all day probably helped.

We also got to take in more panels. They were held in the auditorium... wait, a quick aside. Bran-Con was held at the Westman Centennial Auditorium, which is located on the corner of the Brandon University campus.

Okay, 'Western Manitoba'. No one actually calls it that.

 Not the same location that the cancelled convention was supposed to be at, but it's a really nice place. Anyway, panels. They had something continuously going throughout the weekend, whether it was a panel, or a sketch battle, or a book reading. There was even an escape artist (side note, there's nothing like watching someone escape a Russian Death Tank to really get that anxiety spiking)! Anyway, this was the schedule:

We ended up taking in quite a few of these. I liked the more continuous flow that happened with panels. Regina was a lot more sporadic (and all the ones I wanted to see I didn't get to because they were on the Sunday). I hate to keep comparing the two but this is kind of all I have to work with. I guess I could just say they were different flavors of the same recipe. It really felt like that, too.

I don't know if you noticed, but there was both a kids' and adults costume contest. Well, Other Half and I entered the adults one: me in my Barbarian and him in Predator's Day Off.

 
I got third! Not bad out of 23 entrants!
 
The kids entered their costume contest too, which was luckily on the Sunday so they were both there. Younger Spawn will be joining us for both days next time. I think Regina might have been a bit overwhelming for her so she was leery of doing both days this time. They were in Freddie Mercury and She-Ra, and Elder Spawn actually took the Grand Prize!

It's the mustache. It just completes it.

 All the kids did get a little prize as well, which was pretty cool. I had the Super Proud Parent moment seeing them up there. And they had an awesome time this weekend, too, which makes it a huge win all around.

Okay, let's get to some pictures!

 Day 1:

The Elder Spawn is nice enough to indulge my silly picture taking

They had a D&D table running quick scenarios. This was me and Other Half's characters (Elder Spawn just wanted to watch). Thanks to some unorthodox thinking, we made it through!

Potion bottles on the belt. Health, Mana, and Rejuvenation

I always take pics with droids

With one half of the comic-book-hip-hop group Reaverz

Cosplay panel. L-R: Aerrow, The Alchemist's Armoury, VinylRaven, Evilyn13, and Meggii Cosplay

Costume Contest finalists

Finalists with the judges

Reaverz on stage

Our bin of costume stuff. There was also two bags and that doesn't include our clothes. Seven costumes in all.

Day2:

Other Half as Endgame Thor.

I think this is the only pic I got without the jacket

book reading with Nyco Rudolph and Beatrice the Bear

Ended up talking to this kid and his dad for a while. The helmet was playing music! Awesome job, bro!

there's always an inflatable T-rex

Playing Catan. Fellow in the back was running the D&D table

Kept getting pics of Elder Spawn that were just so in character

More inflatable dinos!

I won a draw! Yay!

Quick repairs. Front part connecting chestplate and belt also crumbled under pressure. Sigh.

Dean Gunnarson

Our Con loot will be coming as a separate post, just because this one's already pretty big!


So there it is! Bran-Con has come and gone. I was hoping to have this out a little sooner but of course the Internet had to be dodgy when I'm trying to work. Now that things seem to be back to normal, I'm thrilled to finally be able to share this all with you! It was a lot of hard work to get here, but it was worth it! Onward to Bran-Con 2020! We will be the first in line!