It was the first Friday of 2012, and after watching two straight hours of videos on thatguywiththeglasses.com I made an impulsive decision: I wanted to go to whatever this MAGfest thing is they keep talking about and meet these people. The fact that the convention was already going on did not deter me in the slightest, as the website touted that tickets would be available at the door and would not sell out. Score!

The insanity of hosting a Christmas and a New Year’s party had left my husband and I exhausted, poorer, and on a desperate quest to rid our home of the terrifying new stains it had acquired. It’s a wonder, then, that I even suggested we spend our first free weekend of the new year together  at a convention where we would blow far too much money, be on our feet all day and try to avoid new and diverse stains.

We did it, though, and I’m going to tell you about my experiences and thoughts on the music and gaming con. I’ll break this up into an arbitrary list of things to know about MAGfest and things I really enjoyed or want to point out about my first small(er than SD Comic Con) con.

1. By Fans For Fans

This is MAGfest’s tenth year nerding it up, which surprised me seeing as how I never would have heard about it without seeing it mentioned repeatedly by the TGWTG people. Why is it so under the radar? Well, it’s certainly not because they lack big name guests, because holy cow were there ever some cool people there; but I’ll expand on that later. The reason is probably because this con is completely fan run and funded. No corporate sponsors here, and that also means that every event is open to the public, so you won’t find yourself left out of anything going on just because you don’t have the right name or numbers in your bank account. Speaking of parties and events…

2. Something To Do 24/7

The doors just don’t close. Once the panels are all over for the day, or if you have an hour or two to kill between panels, there are two rooms you’ll want to know about: The video room and the arcade room. The video room runs anything from Hollywood video game films like The Wizard, to the fan-made Mega-Man movie, to Hey Ash Whatcha Playin’ and The Angry Video Game nerd all day long. Good news for when you’re partying it up and want to take a break from the rockstar lifestyle, or when you get tired of sitting in your room and playing your Dreamcast in your underwear. I’m not here to judge. As for the arcade room, it’s exactly what it sounds like: A room full of arcade cabinets. Over 100 of them all set on free to play, waiting to infuriate you.

3. Fantastic Guests During Normal Waking Hours

As I mentioned before, I was completely enamored with the guest list and schedule for MAGfest. Here’s what I got to see, which is a small sampling of what was going on: A two-hour voice actors panel with Wes Johnson, Jon St. John and six other amazing voice actors; An Ellen McLaine (voice of GLaDOS and TF2 announcer) Q&A; Brentalfloss Q&A; Thatguywiththeglasses panel; the Unskippable guys from Escapistmagazine; the mother-lovin’ MINIBOSSES!; and Nobuo Uematsu (he only scored most of the Final Fantasy titles).

I had to miss the Hey Ash Whatcha Playin’ panel, but I did see the dad walking around the floor. I didn’t speak to him, because he looks every bit as terrifying in real life as he does on the show.

4. Minimal Cosplay

Disappointingly, there weren’t very many people dressed up (except that guy dressed as Dr. Forrester. You rock). I can’t point fingers, as I certainly have never made any moves to squeeze myself into a sketchily sewn monstrosity, but I did miss looking at the amazing/horrifying things people come up with.

On the plus side, I was spared gratuitous amounts of pasty man flesh forced into Sailor Moon outfits.

5. Gratuitous Amounts of Pasty Flesh Forced Into Mom Jeans

The way that some men and women can just completely let their moneymaker hang out baffles me. How is there no draft? Your entire butt is pouring out over that elastic band. At least have the courtesy to wear granny panties up to your armpits so that the most offensive thing I have to see is that you like having a My Little Ponies print next that that special area.

7. It Isn’t A Con Until Someone Makes Me Wildly Uncomfortable

You broke an unspoken code by continuously failing to pull up your pants every time we sat down. You then violated my personal space in line by having your butt be FAR too close to my head whenever you stood up. I should have never known where that mole was located, and your lack of underwear will haunt my nightmares, so no I do not want to discuss what comic Linkara’s going to review next. Screw off.

               NO PICTURE PROVIDED. YOU’RE WELCOME.

8. A Much More Intimate Con Experience

I went to San Diego Comic Con a couple of times while I was living there and honestly, if I had paid for travel fees plus exorbitant hotel rates and taxi/rental car on top of the completely silly admission price I would have been even more disappointed and angry than I already was. I enjoyed myself, don’t get me wrong, but SDCC is greatly flawed. here are some of the ways a smaller con like MAGfest fares better than SDCC:

A) If things continue like last year, you may not even be able to get into SDCC unless you were already there the previous year and pre-registered, as tickets sell out almost immediately now. Even pre-registration was poorly handled, and many people got shut out after waiting in line for hours. MAGfest had tickets still available at the door this year. They sold out last year, then wisely moved on to a larger venue. Also they don’t have Twilight and Desperate Housewives at their con, so they’re not selling copious amounts of tickets to people just trying to snag a piece of undeserving celebrity hair.

B) Because we weren’t fighting giant crowds of people, being told we can’t sit or stand longer than a few seconds, and having security heard us around like pimply cattle, everyone at MAG was a lot less stressed and I ended up chatting with quite a few nice people. The longest line I waited in was for That Guy With The Glasses, and that was an hour. Obviously everyone is in a much better mood and you really start to connect with these people who share your interests.

C) There were ongoing epic Nerf battles, LARPING, table-top games, and even a “jamspace” for aspiring musicians to get up and play in front of everyone. MAG had a much more laid-back, involved attitude and I loved it. Unlike a giant con such as SDCC, you get the feeling at MAG that you can be a part of anything there.

If this poorly structured list leaves you with anything, I hope it’s an inspiration to look into your local cons and check out my upcoming article about the voice actors panel I attended (plug!).

And for the sake of everything pure in the world, pull your damn pants up.