MCFC 2025 Wrapup

2025-04-05

MCFC 2025 is my first furry convention. Since it’s my first, there is no baseline to compare against. Thanks to my friends at AAA, I had transportation and accommodation for all three days, and enjoyed a weekend which I consider a life milestone.

This blogpost will be an anecdotal reflection of this experience, from a personal perspective. Opinions are my own and do not represent any club or organization.

mosfet_remote

Lack of suit / furry apparel

MCFC is a medium-sized convention: 2419 attendees. Of them, an estimated hundreds have suits. I don’t have a suit as of now. The only furry-adjacent apparels I wore at some point are:

  • Cat ears (handmade)
  • Mosfet signature shirt (magenta with spray painted MOSFET symbol)
  • KiCad merch that happens to feature a MOSFET symbol
  • Tote bag I designed for the AAA
  • Con hoodie

I’ve considered making a tail, but although I have the foam and fur, there have been challenges. For starters, I was hit by a car weeks prior which bruised my right paw. Also, I did not have a glue gun.

mosfet_hit

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a certain kind of inferiority complex over not having anything fluffy to show people. It’s almost like I was dressed too normally. I could be one of the people furthest away from the center of the furry fandom, on the fringes of the outer circle.

I’ve always been the type of creature who, when a group in which they belong “typically does X”, instead goes “what about I don’t do X”? On one paw it widens the window of acceptance, but on the other it makes me subconsciously insecure.

Panels

Due to logistic issues, I missed the following panels/activities I was looking forward to:

  • Metalheads
  • Musician meet & jam
  • Cyfursecurity

I did, however, attend the storm chaser panel. Coincidentally, I received my first SkyWarn alert on my phone on Sunday.

Artists alley & dealers den

The artists alleys were smaller than I thought; I expected something ballroom-sized with hundreds of tables, while in reality they were just two regular conference rooms. They were very crowded. The art on display in the NSFW room was not as explicit as I thought.

The dealers den was a gazebo, more or less my expected size. A corner was curtained up for 18+ dealers. Outside of that corner, items on sale include shirts, fursuit components, books, soap, spray, etc. It was even more crowded than the artists alley. I’m glad I remained masked for the entire duration inside.

Notable material gains

  • Acrylic keyfob of a black cat carrying a pride flag, as a late birthday present from my friend
  • NFC wristband that looks like Louis Vuitton but instead of LV it says OwO
  • Con hoodie
  • Badge art by MLW

Budget and expenditure

  • Registration: $70
  • NFC wristband (NSFW dealer’s den, although item itself is SFW): $15.9
  • Hoodie (con store): $35
  • Commission from MLW (SFW artists alley): $25
  • Food, parking, etc: $77.45

Grand total: $223.35 (honestly not that bad)

I’ve heard stories of furries with poor impulse control spending unfathomable amounts of cash in a single sitting. I was almost the opposite, though this is changing in recent years. I’ve come to realize that not spending anything won’t do any good. Spending money at a furry con in exchange for joy and the knowledge that I’m supporting artists and not some billionaire sounds like a good deal to me.

Although I was raised in a family where all “unnecessary” expenses are subject to review, we’re chill about occasional indulgence but we do watch out for the budget. It’s about maximizing the fun-to-expenses ratio.

I believe this proves (1) I am not a scrooge and (2) I am financially responsible.

Charity

The charity MCFC is supporting this year is Wolf Creek Habitat. In total, the con raised >$32k, which blew the mind of the lady who runs the charity. She was in, or almost in, happy tears. Well, I would do the same if a bunch of folks dressed in funny costumes showed up and paid for my tuition. My contribution to the $32k, however, was minute, because that did not happen and I have to pay for tuition.

Mosbadge

Since December 2024 I’ve been repurposing my EECS 473 project into a Bluetooth-controlled convention badge. It worked mostly, and there were people who did notice the animation. I just walked everywhere with it, without making a huge deal out of it. Occasionally I would try out the camera-to-badge functionality with top text and bottom text added. People loved my astute sense of humor [citation needed], so I would say the badge served half its purpose.

The other half is for the scenario where someone asks me if they can try it out, in which case I can make an ad-hoc badge on my phone with the web interface. I probably should have asked people if they wanted to try.

Almost forgot my badge incident

On Saturday afternoon, me and two friends drove back to Ann Arbor to take a nap. Hours later we drove to Ypsi again, but as I was walking toward the entrance, I notice my badge was no longer around my neck. I thought I forgot it, and contemplated going to con ops to ask for a temporary badge. However, a spark in my brain told me to check the backseat of the car again, and bam! It was on the floor all along! I was only 50% idiot!

College Furs ghost panel incident

The reason we drove to con Saturday evening was to attend the 19:30 “College Furs” panel. It was supposed to be jointly hosted by board members of the furry clubs at UM and a couple more Michigan universities. Due to circumstances, none of them showed up. We predicted this would happen, but in a room full of people, we had to organize something. Folks at the AAA quickly made the announcement, and made the panel free discussion time instead.

mosfet_thisisfine

Comparison with live music

The first time I went to a live music show was 2024-04-05, to see iDKHOW in Detroit. Music was great, but the endless waiting was alienating because I did not belong in the fanbase. The con, however, was way more accepting of outsiders. I also had a whole lot of friends. I even had the privilege to enter one hotel room. I would say that the years of socializing in university have paid off.

What happened with live music was, I went to three, and each one was better than the last. I do expect this to be the same with cons.

Post-con depression (?)

At around 02:00 in the night, lying in bed, I began having existential thoughts. The fact that I was awake could potentially be attributed to the diet coke at dinner while temporarily trapped by the severe thunderstorm watch. Anyway, what was on my mind was, I could only be young once. There has to be one day when gravity takes over, when the burdens and pains of life prevent me from enjoying life to its fullest. The recent state of the world has lowered my expectations, including my life expectancy. I am entertaining the philosophy of hedonism.

Another existential thought came from the guilt of depending on my friends all the time. As much as I find it super chill to watch Bluey at my friend’s, sleep in a giant dog bed, and call each other faggot, I wish I could have something fun to share. But my temporary status in the US makes it hard to do so. I do not look forward to the day we say goodbye.

Conclusion

During my stay in the US, this is the first time I spent money for the primary reason of socializing and being with friends. Were it not for my friends at AAA, I would never have even considered it. The ultimate gang experience.

However, I might have spent too much time in “the clique”, rather than chatting up with new people (I had a substantial conversation with only probably 5 strangers over the duration of the con). On the next con I may begin doing more of that.