Monday, September 19, 2016

Bitches Get Stitches: Lily Mashes Buttons at A Video Game Con

Hi there, Lily Stitches here! I'm gonna chat about an awesome convention that's pretty dear to my heart called A Video Game Con.

AVGC is run by one of my oldest friends, Paul Solomine at the Parsippany PAL. I remember when this convention was just a thing he talked about at parties, and I'm so happy and honored I got to be a guest again in its second year!

Let's go back to Baby Lily's videogame days.... my first experience with video games was on an airplane when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I was seated next to another little girl who was flying on her own. She was playing a Sega Game Gear. She was probably older than me, but she was super nice to let me look over her shoulder at whatever game she was playing. I think I may have played some Mario games here or there before that, but this is the moment I turned to my mom and said, "I want a video game." So that Christmas, Santa brought me a Sega Genesis with Jurassic Park and Aladdin. This was before the combo pack with Sonic and generic sports game happened so I guess my parents (or "Santa") grabbed two random cool looking games off the shelf...THAT WERE HARD AS ALL HELL. But there was my love of games, blooming indefinitely from fighting random baddies in Aladdin and eating people as a Velociraptor in Jurassic Park to being 29 years old adventuring Rapture and Columbia in Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock: Infinite.

Last year I asked to be the coordinator for a video game themed burlesque show. And this year I had the pleasure to be back with my buddies to get nerdy and naughty all over again. Joining me was Faylin Lynx, Lea Hart, Luna Chase, Vonka, my host Rev. James "the Voice" Hatton, and stage kittens Ragna Roxy and Lua Suicide. So we blended our love for cosplay and taking our clothes off and put on another killer show on the main stage while an amazing and supportive audience looked on (and some played video games since the main stage is in the Arcade). Faylin Lynx brought her silly and fun Olaf "In Summer" act as well as her steamy Selene from Underworld. Vonka captivated as Supergirl and wrenched hearts as Black Widow. Lea Hart tumbled and showed her bendy skills as Lara Croft. Luna Chase shimmied and shook as Sheik from Legend of Zelda and made us quiver in our boots as Glados. As for me? I evolved from Eevee to Vaporeon in a classic sparkly tease and then threw myself all over the stage as my main girl, Harley Quinn.



The con itself is a smaller local con but it packs a huge punch. The main arcade had a ton of developers with plenty of games to test out, as well as cabinet favorites and battle stations. But my favorite part was that they added a section of pinball machines (Batman & Robin was my favorite ha!). If you walked down the main hallway you could meet all of the cosplay guests and say hello or sign up for Sunday's cosplay contest. The cosplay guests were TonyXTemptress, the Cosbaes, Brooklyn Link, Clown Queen Cosplay, Jules Starn Cosplay, and Big Hero Vince. In the gym of the PAL you could play basically any retro game you'd want to on a TV set up. They had everything from Streetfighter to Barbie's Dream Date (I'm mad I walked by that... I would have played the hell out of it... for science). The last room was the vendor's room where you could buy video games (of course), prints, toys, and even cupcakes topped with little Pokemon figures (they were DELICIOUS)!



Highlights of the weekend included, the Cosplay Contest, a meet & greet with the Angry Videogame Nerd, a Q&A with Pat the NES Punk, various cosplay guests, tournaments, a vast freeplay gaming room, musical guests on the mainstage throughout the weekend, and... oh right, our Nerdlesque Show!

I recommend this convention to everyone I know, whether you like old school retro games, pinball, chiptunes, cosplay, or just like a fun con on a weekend. Like I said before, it's a smaller con but it has so much to do. The staff is all fantastic and helpful. There is always someone somewhere who can answer your questions. I honestly prefer cons like this to massive ones like NYCC (not that NYCC doesn't have it's own charm... that's another beast entirely). I like being able to navigate a convention, and having a staff that actually cares about if you're having a good time or not (not that massive con volunteers don't, I just know they're probably over it by the end of Day 1). It's also nice to get to be able to actually play the games. Some had crowds and lines, but a 5 minute line is totally fine in my opinion, rather to wait in a hallway all day to maybe get into a panel then get shut out at the last second. In a time where conventions seem to be weekly to bi-weekly, AVGC is a super refreshing change. There aren't a lot of retro gaming cons, so to have one so closeby is a total treat.

Lastly I'll leave you with a couple of tales.

On Saturday I cosplayed as my own version of Holtzmann from the new Ghostbusters film. I had my Pringles and my Ecto Cooler (it was flowing at this con like water. It was NUTS). And I had not one but TWO convention attendees stop at my booth, look at our prints for sale, then look up at me to realize my outfit...to tell me I was very brave for wearing it. It was a bold choice. I'd have a lot of haters to deal with! I told the person who told me about the haters that the haters could "Fucking come at me". And he looked at me like I had 4 heads and kept walking. The other actually had an awesome conversation about Ghostbusters with me. Which was awesome.

I also had someone walk by shout WHO YA GONNA CALL!? To which I replied "ME!" ...to which he answered GIMME YOUR NUMBER. I give you an A for Effort my friend!

My final story, is on Sunday I wore a Luna (from Sailor Moon) top. My BFF Luna Chase was sitting at the booth with me. A young man stopped and said "Luna?" and I pointed at her and said, "Yeah she's right there." He looked puzzled, then said "Luna?" again. I looked even more puzzled and responded "Uh. Yeah. She's sitting RIGHT THERE." Then MY Luna said "I think he means your shirt..." Awkward.

With those silly awkward stories, I leave you. So until the NYCC adventures, I'm Lily Stitches and I'll get snarky with you later!

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