My Experience At Invader Con: Part 2 – Saturday

I leaped out of bed. SATURDAY. But not just ANY Saturday – it was INVADER CON Saturday! I threw on my hot topic IZ (or should I say “Gir”) gear, snatched a bite of peanut butter so I wouldn’t die, grabbed my crate of artist alley table stuff, and dashed for the elevator. It was safe to say that I was the first one down to the lobby because, for one thing, the room was void of green. I was the only living soul in that lobby at 6:30am. Wow. I thought ‘surely nobody could sleep in on Invader Con weekend, right’? Oh well, more for meeeee~

At 8am I finally was able to get into the artist alley room to set up. Soon I was joined by a very sleepy Sarah (could barely respond other than with eye blinks and head nods). She and her dad constructed some Poop cola cans and ninja star cookie boxes to display on my table, while I got my prints on the table and tapped up my signs. Soon Tom stuck his head in the dealer room and was like “I’m going to let in the filthy masses now! Are you ready?” Although I pleaded “NO NO NO!” He simply shot an evil smirk and said “okaaaay!” My face turned bleach-white. So, for the next several hours, I sat at my table, frantically trying to keep up with the wave of people that flooded past my table. Now, don’t get me wrong – this job was EXTREMELY fun! Although I was busy, being at that table granted me the opportunity to meet and greet many of the attendees of Invader Con! With some, I enjoyed snapping pictures of their fabulous costumes (alotta girl-Dibs there… ha ha), I also had a blast quoting random segments from the Invader Zim show with people. “CURSE YOU SNACKS! CURSE YOOOOU!”

Time passed blindingly fast, and soon three-oclock drew near. Our Soapy Waffles panel started at FOUR!!!! Tallest Sarah had to prepare for the costume contest that was going to start within the next hour (she went as Moofy – picture below!) It was up to me, and my friend Elle (Loor11) to prepare. For that next hour, we went over the order of the content to be presented at the panel and such. The clock raced. All too quickly. It was four before I realized it, and so Elle and I grabbed our gear and raced to the workshop room. Thankfully, Rikki Simons went over a little with his segment, “Coloring ZIM With Rikki Simons”, so we made it in time. After he concluded his segment (with Tom kicking him out because the crowd shouted “WE WANT SOAPY WAFFLES”. My heart filled with joy at that XD), me and Elle made our way up to the front. It was TIME!

 

I froze momentarily. Apparently, Sarah’s costume contest went over because they had such a massive turn-out of entries… so I was on my own. Yikes. Thankfully, I had Elle be next to me for support. If she wasn’t there, I probably would’ve wilted in front of the audience. I mean, the place was PACKED, and, more importantly, I had never EVER EVEEEER spoken in front of a crowd before. This was a first. And I stunk. I felt myself panicking a bit, but I still managed to make it through the panel. Everyone seemed to love the Mopiness of Doom premiere (which is now viewable on  youtube). There will be a video of our panel up on youtube soon, hopefully, so you can watch it for yourselves. 🙂

Phew. Pressure GONE! With the panel done and over-with, Sarah and I opted to kick back and relax for the next bit in the lounge. We ate a bit of dinner at the (overpriced) hotel restaurant, snacked on Gir cupcakes I made to celebrate my birthday that day (I turned 18~), and then we awaited the final, epic event of that evening – the Dancin Like a Monkey dance party!!!!! Epic-ness!

We stood before the golden gates, waiting to be granted entrance into the heaven that lied just in hand’s reach! In the convention hallway, the crowd packed in, waiting giddily for the Con staff to begin the party. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, the doors finally opened, and we poured into the room. Lasers! Music! Glowsticks! It was PERFECT! We danced like morons, like pros, like drunks! This was my first dance party ever, so man did I DANCE! According to Sarah, I leapt four feet in the air when we were jumping to the beat. Huh. Never knew I could jump that high. Ha ha.

Well, after the party concluded, we all turned-in for the night, looking forward to another amazing, and sadly the last, day at Invader Con.

 

My Experience At Invader Con: Part 1 – Friday

Heart thumping, thoughts racing, and nervously gripping my invader con tickets, I took my first steps through the hotel entrance Friday evening. My field of vision exploded with green! Gir hats, Zim costumes, and Hot Topic t-shirts filled the lobby as far as the eye could see! Never in my life had I been around any other Invader Zim fans live in person! It overwhelmed me! Getting excited as Gir with a truck full of tacos, I mingled, giggled, and quoted IZ senselessly as I stood in line in the convention hall, waiting for my Invader Con pass.

After what seemed like an eternal wait, the Invader Con staff awarded me my ticket to the glorious weekend to follow. My heart exploded with joy! I ran out of the room like the crazy earth monkey I was (am) and proceeded to the lobby. I proudly held my head up high to show off the little gem hanging loosely around my neck. I felt like a kid experiencing his first Christmas morning.

But that was only the beginning!

 

I plopped down on one of the lobby cushions and proceeded to sketch random Zimness along with the other artistic group that had gathered there. However, after a bit of time passed, I looked up to see somebody running towards me. No it couldn’t be-! Yes, it was Tallest Sarah! That glorious moment had finally arrived where we two tallests, doomed to live on the opposite sides of the continent, finally met in person! I was so happy to finally meet Sarah, that I transformed into some alternate version of ‘Squishy – hugger of worlds’ and nearly squished the life out of her. Don’t worry – she’s alive. For now. Heh heh.

 

After that golden moment where Sarah and I met face to face, we hurried over to the line where we would soon be allowed into the VIP ‘Early-Bird’ Event that was to begin at 8pm that evening. Soon the filthy masses were allowed through the main event room’s entrance like cattle through the gateway to a grand, leafy pasture,  and we quickly took our seats, eagerly awaiting the introduction of the stars of Invader Con. Eventually, after nearly exploding from anticipation in our seats, Richard, Andy, Melissa, Rikki, and Eric all gallantly paraded up the stage! The crowd roared! The introductions were made, Richard entertained us with his Zimmy voice, Eric made wise-cracks, and Andy just… stood there (poor Andy – he didn’t know what to think from all of the “WE LOVE YOU DIB!” shout-outs he received). Once the event that made warm and giggly down to our squeedly-spooches ended, we retreated back to the lobby. I then slipped into an empty garbage next to the elevators up to the hotel rooms, silently waiting like a predator for Richard, Andy, or whoever to walk past. My plot failed, as I was soon told by hotel security (that ripped me from the trash) that they had taken a secret elevator up to their top-secret hotel base. Oh boo. I’d try again later.

After going through a horrible 5 minutes in jail, Sarah and I said our good nights, and I turned in for the night. Bwa ha ha, the REAL fun would begin tomorrow…