After the Puppeteering SIG petered out we went across the hall to the Rodents SIG. This, as usual, involved a bunch of people introducing themselves and their rodents or, in my case, their relationship with rodents. Yes, there were cats popping in too. There were also people in suit, including someone in an Emperor Rat costume that was amazing for being extremely pear-shaped. I'm not sure how he could fit his thighs through a door, let alone manage getting up or down steps.
Where the SIG diverged from any that ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger might have run is that after everyone had the chance to talk a bit, the event moved downstairs, joining the Pipsqueakery area to look at actual rodents, plus rabbits, plus a pigeon and some goats and some baby chicks and all. The thing most astounding to me, here, is that the Pipsqueakery allowed people into the enclosure --- including people in fursuit, despite their limited visibility and diminished flexibility in case they start to fall. The Emperor Rat particularly was trying to coax any of the rats into his paw but they were suspicious of what the heck all this could even be about. One can understand where they're coming from.
We also finally got to the dealers den, which opened late due to the bomb scare and all. It had a new location, held in the detached building in back of the hotel. It's the one where my failed Raccoons and Procyonids SIG had been a couple years ago. The location doesn't seem to have hurt the den's popularity any, though; the place was just shy of being too busy for me to be comfortable. Along the way bunnyhugger reconnected with someone who'd done some of her oldest sketchbook art and I, at least, thought really hard about this t-shirt showing the ``dragons of the American Midwest''. It had this nice collection of what looked like 70s fanzine dragon art of dragon shapes, many of which looked to me like geographic in-jokes. Drawn by some Michigander, I assume, because the Ohio dragon had some particularly insulting name and pathetic appearance. While I support the making of stuff like this, though, I didn't need to buy it.
We missed the memo about Closing Ceremonies being pushed back an hour, so did more sniffing around and trying to catch people and, I'm pretty sure, getting more of the diet Faygo varieties they had in Hospitality. When Closing Ceremonies did start, though, it saw a lot of the familiar notes. Also two startling ones. The first is that the Pipsqueakery would not be Motor City Furry Con's charity next year. They'd put in a new convention bylaw that the same charity couldn't be picked more than three years running. I'm not sure I would rate that as worth a rule --- you could just make the choice --- but do understand the logic in spreading the charity potential around and not making an automatic choice out of the thing. (That said, there's danger in picking an animal-related charity, as see the doubts we had but could never substantiate, or refute, about that guy with the sloth from back in like 2014 or 2015 or so.)
The other was the announcement for next year's theme: the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We were startled that we'd never encountered that theme at a furry con before. Surely someone's done it in at least one of the estimated 760 furry cons of the past ten years but, considering how core it was to the Gen X Nerd sense of humor it ... probably should have been used in the 90s, if cons had themes back then, and this might be the last time it could. (Do young nerds still read/listen/watch it, or do they just know that 42 is a funny number for some reason?)
A very small surprise is that they didn't ask people to help them out by clearing chairs away so the main ballroom could be repurposed to the Dead Dog Dance. Instead we spent the time between the two events somehow meeting more people and popping in to Hospitality. And then, for the dance, bunnyhugger once again suited as Velveteen, this time inviting me into the Headless Lounge to help her get in suit. Previous times she'd done the important dressing --- the part she needed help with --- in our hotel room but as we didn't have that, I had to come into an area I'd previously never visited. It was ... about like you'd expect, people in partial or no fursuit drinking cold water and letting fans blow cold air on them.
Still, all fun stuff ends, too soon, and the dance was among them. We went to Hospitality again, where the beer was running out (the popcorn was not) and foiled our resolution to set out early, so we wouldn't be getting in to our hotel room ridiculously late. If it were any other weekend, we'd have stuck around another hour or so and headed for home. But this was April 7th. The Eclipse was tomorrow.
Let's enjoy a touch more of Indiana Beach; getting to the evening now, which comes fast when you would rather stay out for an extra day or two.
Here's the Hoosier Hurricane (above) and Cornball Express (below) as seen from the platform of Tig'rr Coaster (to the right).
And here's Tig'rr, with the tig'rr holding the ride sign.
Rocky's Toybox is the name given to the kiddieland rides, which include the Rocky's Roundup carousel. So far as I'm aware there isn't a full-body picture of Rocky, at least on park signs.
Oh, and here's the kiddieland Ferris wheel, an Eli Bridge company #6, complete with LED packaging so it looks much brighter than it would have when new. It's underneath the Hoosier Hurricane.
Hand-painted signs, some of them accurate (such as pointing to the Skyroom Restaurant, the Boardwalk Grill, and the offices) and some obsolete (21 was a roll-a-ball game) outside the museum.
More views of the museum, which has a great set of old signs and such set in the window.
Trivia: The airship Macon had a top speed of about 85 miles per hour. The Sparrowhawk aircraft it carried were faster, and risked stalling out when slowing to dock with the mothership, done at not less than 63 mph. Source: When Giants Ruled The Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship, John J Geoghegan. The planes docked to a hook underneath the blimps, to maximize your chances of noping out of that.
Currently Reading: The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations, Jacob Soll. Embarrassed to realize I was conflating Jean-Baptiste Colbert and John Law, who for crying out loud are from different centuries and one different Louis, which makes me realize oh, that's why everyone treated me like that in middle school.
