Morphicon Miscellanea - March 2011 Mega-Edition
Foxx (in a box)
-= HOW Many Days?!? =-
With only a month-and-a-half to go, we've got our collective noses to
the grindstone and working our paws to the bone. That said, you still
have until the end of the month of there's something you'd like to
contribute to the con book. If you'd like to contribute in other ways,
however, please continue reading and see how you can help!
Also note, while this newsletter is longer than many others, it
contains information on some of the most commonly asked questions
about the con. Take a few minutes to read them over and you'll exactly
what's going on!
Lastly, there is a room-share discussion beginning on the Morphicon
LiveJournal page (http://www.livejournal.com/users/ohiomorphicon/).
Please take a look if you'll be needing a room for the weekend and
need someone to bunk with.
-= We Have a Winner! =-
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Morphicon 2011 t-shirt
contest. It's always rewarding to see all the creative interpretations
of a convention theme. This year the competition was great, and it was
especially hard to choose a winner. In the end, Gravewalker and Kalida
were neck and neck...
...with Kalida (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kalida) edging ahead
in the polls at the end! Check out her FA page and congratulate her.
She will be receiving a FREE PATRON registration for the convention.
Gravewalker (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/gravewalker), finishing
as runner-up, will be receiving a FREE SPONSOR membership. Please stop
by her page on FA and congratulate her as well.
Again, thank you all for your submissions and votes!
-= Morphicon Insider: Raffle Tickets & Charity Auction =-
In an unprecedented two-for-two, Morphicon con-chair, Jewel, was
cornered once again and asked to answer a few questions, this time
about those tickets you receive in your bag when you arrive at the con
and the charity auction.
- What are they for anyway?
You can use them one of two ways. The first way is by going to the
charity raffle and putting them into the drawing. Items will be given
out at random to people based on tickets drawn from a hat.The second
way is you can attend Trickster's Furry Fair Quiz. The tickets are
used there to see who will be contestants. Though, even if you don't
get picked, the audience can still participate.
- How does one go about getting more tickets?
You can upgrade your registration level (higher levels get more
tickets) and you can buy them at registration for $1 apiece. They'll
also be on sale right before the charity raffle, and the Furry Fair
Quiz.
- Is the charity raffle like any other raffle and does the ticket holder need to be there?
Yes, the charity raffle is just like any other raffle. You do need to
be present to win items. We make an exception for dealers, and artists
stuck in their respective spots during the raffle. All they need to do
is write down their name on the back of each ticket. We'll send
someone around to collect them before the raffle begins.
- What is the charity auction and how is it different from the raffle?
The silent charity auction is setup in the back of registration/con
ops, in the Potter Wright room. You don't need any tickets to bid on
those items. You just write down your bids, and use your badge number.
It's a good idea to check back during the convention, because
oftentimes attendees bring items with them to add to the raffle when
they arrive.
- How does one go about donating items for the auction and/or raffle?
If you're interested in donating something, please feel free to
contact operations[at]morphicon.org.
- Anything else someone should know about the auction and/or raffle?
All the proceeds go directly to our charity, F.U.R.S.
(http://www.ferretsunlimited.org/). In addition to the raffle, the
silent auction, and the Furry Fair Quiz we have another charity event
called the Pet Auction where people bid on dances with fursuiters.
And there you have it, answers to questions which may have been
niggling in the back of your mind. If you have a question you'd like
to have answered in an upcoming edition of Morphicon Miscellanea feel
free to send it to publicity[at]morphicon.org.
-= Morphicon Call for Gophers! =-
I'm not exactly sure what type of calls a gopher makes, but I know
what calls a gopher responds to: Shiny! Shiny!
I'd like to invite you (yes, you!) to notify us now of your desire to
gopher in 2011!
Volunteering itself is awesome! Generally you get to have a sense of
pride and good-feeling over having helped out your local convention,
but even more importantly: For every 5 hours credit you earn, you get
a $10 discount on your next year's convention registration, up to a
full basic registration (15 hours = $30). Anyone with any discount
level is AUTOMATICALLY guaranteed the early registration rate of $30
for basic registration. That means if you earn a total of 15 hours
credit, you get a free ticket for next year! Isn't that awesome? You
can use your discount when pre-registering online, and you can use it
at the door! It's a total win!
But this message isn't just about gophering, it's about notifying us
ahead of time that you want to gopher! Notifying us ahead of time lets
us get a better idea of how many gophers we'll have, but more
importantly: IT EARNS YOU A SHINY!
This year our shiny is something special: A limited, one-time only,
theme-specific collectible item! This will ONLY be given to those
gophers who notify us ahead of time that they want to gopher! After
that, this specific shiny will no longer be available TO ANYONE!
That's right - you will receive a limited edition collectible shiny!
And unlike last year's shiny that never materialized, this shiny
exists within our plane of existence, and is 100% physical. You can
even hold it in your hand! How do I know? We've already got it
prepared!
So, if you would love to be our very favorite gopher, please let us
know ASAP! Please send a message to gophers[at]morphicon.org at any
time until May 10th! The earlier you send, the more we love you,
because that gives us more of an idea of how many gophers we'll have.
Also this year, we're trying something new: Signups! When you show up
at the con, we'll have a decent-sized graph of all the different
places we require constant gophers! This could be something typical,
such as door-guarding for the Dealer's Den, or being a Fursuit handler
during fursuit events (such as the parade, or with the Spectacle of
Doom!(tm)) OR it could be something unexpected, such as door guarding
the bar-mitzvah we were unaware was going on up until some furries
decided to go where they shouldn't have!
Signups allow you to decide ahead of time what times you'll have free
to get in some volunteering hours, so you aren't being asked to
door-guard during the event you want to attend, and allow us to have
more time to manage getting gophers around and getting things taken
care of that we can't really pre-plan! It's a win-win!
So remember: Shiny! Volunteer now! Signups! And SHINY!
-- Gedrean, official Gopher Wrangler/Herder/etc ["Gopher-Queen" - Ed.] for Morphicon 2011!
-= And Now a Word from SonicBlu =-
Greetings, everyone. SonicBlu here, and I'll be the Performance Track
head of Morphicon this year. For the "performer" in you, we have many
different shows that may interest you. Feel free to peruse the
descriptions of each
show and keep them in mind when you attend Morphicon this year. We'd
love to see you there!
- Spectacle of Doom
Hear ye, hear ye! The highlight show of the convention needs YOUR
help! If you've ever wanted to experience performances on our stage,
you may want to come to the aid of your convention by accepting a role
in our Spectacle of Doom show. This show is scripted, so you won't
have to worry about trying to think up something on your own. In the
Spectacle of Doom, we'll need stage performers (mostly fursuiters),
puppeteers, and voice actors. We'll have an open casting call before
rehearsals, so come on down and
see if you got what it takes to become a performer in the absolute
must-see show of the entire convention.
- Furry Variety Show/Morphicon Tonight
Have you got a skit you've been working on and would like some stage
time to perform it? You can do so during the Furry Variety
Show/Morphicon Tonight! Just come to Furry Variety Show (FVS)
rehearsals and bring your material with you. If you don't have any
material but you would still like to perform on the stage, just talk
to SonicBlu during FVS rehearsals, and we'll fit you in. With
thousands upon thousands of background songs at our disposal, we can
easily give you your 2 to 5 minutes of fame right on our
stage. Don't be shy, just come to FVS rehearsals and RSVP to be in the
show. The FVS will be combined with our late-nite talk show Morphicon
Tonight, so performance times will fluctuate, depending on how many
acts are queued, reserving at least 30 minutes for
interviews with the guests of honor.
The show always starts off with our traditional "Silly Fursuiter
Tricks", so at one point or another, SonicBlu Darkfold may be
wandering around the con floor looking to pick out a fursuiter at
random to open the show. If you are interested, just do something
silly for SonicBlu, and he may just select you to appear as the show's
opener. If you're not interested, don't worry. Nobody will be forced
into doing anything they don't want to do. Simply tell SonicBlu
whether you are interested or not when he springs the question: "How
would -YOU- like to open Morphicon Tonight with your silly fursuiting
tricks?"
- Atomic Comedy Hour of Doom
Attention all wannabe comics, laugh factory professionals, and those
that have never performed live standup comedy (but always had that
dream.) You may want to RSVP to appear on our stage for the Atomic
Comedy Hour of Doom, which will be going on the stage right after the
Spectacle of Doom. Depending on how many people we have signing up,
the routine time per participant may fluctuate to conciliate with the
one-hour time bracket.
- Oh! Pawpets! Live!
This year on the Oh! Pawpets! Live show, we'll be reenacting the Oh!
Pawpets! Show's first musical: Bwing's Twansfowmation, where Bwing T.
Fewwet will be getting a whole new makeover. It's out with the old
boring blonde fur, and in with the new look, with a
whole soundtrack to boost while we perform the "makeover" live on our
stage.