(I have a bad habit of writing about things long after they're actually relevant. I need to fix this.)

Let me begin by saying that What The Hell con 2006 was fucking awesome. And I mean more awesome than 't-rexes flying F-14s.' Those kids at Guilford know how to throw a party. WTHC is way more fun that HeroesCon could ever hope to be. (Photo gallery here.)

Hehe, there's this thing that goes on at WTHC every year which may well by the high point of my year. Every time someone says my name--my full name--the entire room bursts into applause and cheers. Hehe, where else would this *ever* happen? It's awesome. It's sort of a symptom of a larger part of WTHC; it's a place where everyone, even the lowest, least socially adept geek can be made to feel attractive and welcome. Those guilford kids know how to party.

I was included as a guest (for some reason), along with a number of other great people who actually *do* webcomic work currently. Among them were Matt Woodvictor_von of Likely Stories, Jennie Breedenjenniebreeden of The Devil's Panties, Phillip Wrightxodin of Furmentation, Chris Wright of Help Desk, much to my pleasant surprise, the boys from Gravy Boy were there, and last but not least, Ed Peduzzi, who wrote, directed, produced, ETC an entire movie, which by all accounts was fucking badass (I unfortunately missed both showings of it). It was a really interesting and talented bunch. It's awesome to hear Jennie Breeden talk. She's got so much experience and has so many funny stories. Larry Holderfieldmckenzee of Sinister Bedfellows and Jamie Robertson of Clan of the Cats were in the audience and had a lot to contribute. The panel, while fun, was probably the most awkward part of the weekend for me. For one thing, it began with five minutes of ridiculing me for some prints I had made, which I was fine with, but when one is already nervous about talking in front of a crowd, that kind of thing doesn't help. Moreover, though, I just didn't have a lot to say. Most of the discussion revolved around current issues surrounding webcomics, which I'm just not well versed on. I don't think there were any questions specifically related to art, in which case, I might have had something worthwhile to contribute.

Moving on, I spent most of the weekend hanging out at my table working on a 12x24" woodcut I was doing for practice (pictures coming as soon as the ink is dry), and taking periodic breaks to play DDR with Mattmsteere and Alilynx_child.

I got my ass handed to me in Versus. Versus is a game where people write down things they think are the best things in geek culture and turn them in. The moderator then draws two cards at random and the two people who submitted those ideas have to come up front and debate the merits of each. I submitted "3 hot babes wrestling in oil" and "your mom" (note, not "your mom jokes," just "your mom"). I personally thought these things needed very little defense, but I was wrong. I ended up having to pit "3 hot babes wrestling in oil" against Will Wood's submission, "T-Rexes flying F-14s." I was completely out-matched. A bit later on I had to defend "your mom" against Nick Popio touting the merits of Firefly. In that audience, well, you can guess how that one played out ;) Well played gentlemen, well played :)

Saturday night was the Geek Auction. The Geek Auction is an event where geek boys get all prettied up and sold off like the soulless meat they are for the WTHC Dance later that night. This year, all proceeds from the Geek Auction went to Penny-Arcade's Child's Play Charity. I myself fetched a healthy $28, but Harry and Draco went for a whopping $100.

And who could forget... the Crapathon. Here, I'm going to have to defer to someone who's already spoken about it far better than I could ever hope to in their own report, I hope he doesn't mind:

After dinner, most of us made it back to the convention for the annual Crap-A-Thon. The Crap-A-Thon is a wonder, and really puts the "WTF?" in WTH Con. Two hours of the worst video programming you can imagine, most of it from Japan. This year featured the further Japanese adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-- in the slapstick-heavy Japanese version of the 80s show, the Turtles transform into more powerful states and sometimes combine into a giant angel-turtle with a gi-normous sword. The live-action 70s version of Spider Man was even more disturbing-- Spidey's powers come from an alien soldier's "Super Spider Serum X," and he pilots a giant flying robot called The Marveller. I think the obsession with ear-cleaning was the fan-subbers concept. Then there were other... things. Like a Japanese band that reminded me of the Village People, but in diapers with fig leaves sewn to the front. A hyper-cute show about a star princess whose magic comes from a combination of baton-twirling and shameless merchandising.

Which explains why I ended up hanging out and drinking until 6 in the morning."

-- Matt Woodvictor_von

"...Which explains why I ended up...drinking until 6 in the morning." Exactly. Precisely.

We drank to forget.


Anyway, this has gotten quite long enough. Thank you, Yachters, for a wonderful weekend. I already can't wait for next year's. Click here for picures.

-P.