MAGFest 9: Scatterd Thoughts

Since MAGFest ended just about every personality from Channel Awesome shared their thoughts on the convention, and I figure I’d throw my blue furry hat into the mix. I’m going to try to not to rehash the same stuff already said by everyone else because by this point you already know the elevators sucked ass and that the drunks were annoying. I’m not trying to be egotistical, but this will mostly be about the experience I had as it relates to me since that’s probably the only perspective about MAGFest you haven’t seen. So without further adieu, here are my scattered thoughts about MAGFest.

- Meeting Channel Awesome producers is always a blast, though in particular I do love hanging out with Jason and Nik even if I talk to them on Skype all the time. It was great to meet and talk to some of my favorite producers like JesuOtaku, ToddInTheShadows, and Luke Mochrie. There are more to mention, but suffice it to say I didn’t carry on a conversation with anyone I didn’t like.
- There were a lot of people I wanted to talk to more like Lupa and Nash. In fact there were a lot of people I only saw for a few moments like Scarlett, Nash, JewWario, Birdman, and more. I really wanted to talk to Birdman a lot more, but hopefully we’ll get to do that more in the future.
- If I met you at MAGFest, awesome! If I didn’t catch you or you wanted to talk to me more and couldn’t find me, I apologize. To be honest I didn’t attend MAGFest as a guest or even a customer even. I attended MAGFest mostly to get work done and to relax, and thus I wasn’t on the floor very often. Also if you ever talked to me and I seemed curt or distracted, I apologize. I don’t think I did that to anyone, but it’s possible since I did get stopped for autographs and pictures far more often than I thought I would. If I seemed distracted or anything, I probably was.
- Yes, there was a crossover this year. Part of the reason I may have seemed distracted was because I came to MAGFest to film this crossover. I’m not going to say what the review is about, who is in it, or when it will be released, but I will say you all will enjoy it. Plus I get kneed in the face during it, and I’m sure a lot of you have been looking forward to seeing that.
- Welshy is a fucking machine. That asshole can eat crap and drink beer all day and not gain a pound. I think me and Jason are secretly planning to eat him to see if we’ll gain his power.
- I’m still baffled by the line for our panel. It wrapped around passed two panel rooms and towards the overflow rooms. I apologize if anyone couldn’t make it in.
- The panel was a lot of fun, though I’m still baffled I got booed for saying I was the “blackest member of Channel Awesome” until the Rap Critic joined. I gather the audience in the room isn’t the live.lordkat.com audience, but still, ouch. Still thought that was funny though.
- I’m still stunned I got asked questions at the panel. Mostly meme questions like EVERYTHING BURNS and the Seattle Seahawks, but it was still better than sitting on the panel eating pizza for two hours. Though I still don’t know why the final question about Suede returning was directed at me. That one confused me.
- I do apologize for ending the panel on a bit of a down note. I wasn’t planning on ending the panel there—I just wanted to make sure The Game Heroes, Quotoria (who I think may still have gotten drowned out), and Todd the Critical Marine got their due credit, and I figured while I was there I would thank the other producers and the fans. Sorry, but I’m always a bit of a sucker for thanking the fans.
- Best fan I met: Right before I left for my train home to PA, I was stopped by a fan near the ATM (and its ridiculous $3.50 transaction fee) who said he loved my stand up and would like to see it live next time. Lots of people complimented my stand up though, to the point where I wish I had gone through with my idea of doing a video game themed stand up set while I was there. I could have shown Spoony how it’s done.
- On Day 2, Spoony told us a new joke he had about a soap dispenser. It did not make it into his final routine. Thank. God.
- Weirdest fan I met: I had a girl cosplaying as Linkara ask me to sign her robot thingie (I don’t watch Linkara’s reviews so I can’t remember the robot’s name), and she got angry when I almost signed too close to Linkara’s name. It’s a nice realty check when someone informs you that you aren’t worthy to sign next to the mighty Linkara! Mind you I say this in jest. I just found it funny that she was legitimately concerned my lame signature would detract from Linkara’s.
- I swear to God, no one on this site has any kind of decent handwriting. I saw quite a few signatures from those who came before me, and man some people have no signature. Paw assures me that my signature is at least tolerable, but I think he says that because in comparison to our fellow producers, it’s fucking golden.
- The first night there was a big dinner with the producers, but I guess there were too many of us, so myself, Nik, Phelous, and SadPanda got turned away at the door. So instead we spent dinner watching Winter Wipeout. Disturbingly enough, one of the contestants looked exactly like SadPanda. He won. Huzzah!
- During said viewing of Winter Wipeout, I was stopped by my first fan who asked me to sign his Kickassia DVD (which a lot of people asked for). I signed it, and jokingly made a remark to Nik about how he couldn’t sign it since he wasn’t there. And then the guy moved on. I thought Nik would at least get to pity sign it, but nope. Fuck you Y Ruler of Time, your autograph means nothing!!!
- Nik was a fun guy to talk to yet again. One of my better memories from the trip was staying up the last night we were there with Nik and my friend Frank talking about Jackie Chan Adventures and Xiolin Showdown. Yeah, we’re nerds.
- On Day 2 we went out to eat with a group of people. We stopped by McDonald’s but it was crowded. After that we tried Subway, but the line looked too long. We settled on DQ. Apparently DQ only serves Chili dogs because that’s all they had. I ate two chili dogs and then an Oreo brownie earth quake. Shockingly, I took a colossal shit later that evening.
- Speaking of Colossus: OOOOOWWWWAAAAAAUGHHHHH!!!
- When a few people went out to get drinks, I asked for some Jameson and some Vodka. I got both, and I learned two things. First, I don’t know how to pour shots unless I have a shot glass because I tried to pour a shot of Jameson in a regular cup and nearly choked trying to down it all in one shot. Second, there is vodka worse than bottom shelf vodka: Military Special.
- One of my favorite memories of MAGFest is pouring a drink (which I found out I did illegally—whoops) right before our panel. It was about 50% Military Special vodka, and 50% coke. Spoony watched me poor it with abject horror. Sorry Noah, but I live in a family of Irish alcoholics. When I drink, I drink.
- When we first took the cab in the morning, a group of us went and well… let’s just say we weren’t the healthiest of people. When we went again later that evening, I flagged down the same cab driver and asked if he could take six of us. I am not lying when I tell you he said “Yes, but not so many fat people”. I found that funny.
- I need a new gimmick item of clothing because that blue furry hat is ridiculously hot I was sweating my balls off wearing that hat.
- I can’t talk highly enough about Amtrak. I gather some people hate taking the train due to the time, but I think when you factor in how early you have to catch a plane (usually an hour or two to get through security and whatnot), it’s not that big of a difference. Plus the train is a lot more comfortable, and Amtrak provides each row of seat with a power outlet to charge your devices—for free. In coach. I love Amtrak. Plus you can sit wherever, and train never feels as crowded. Honestly I’d rather sit on a train for ten hours than fly on a plane for three.

I’m sure there’s more I could talk about, but I’ve rambled enough. Suffice it to say MAGFest was a fun experience as well as an exhausting one. I’m still having a little trouble moving my legs after spending the weekend hiking up 17 flights of stairs whenever I wanted to reach my room. All in all though it was a blast, and I hope to maybe hit up some other conventions during the year. Fingers crossed!

Until next time, Namaste!