MagFest is Rucking Fadical!
If you're a fan of video games (and/or board games, live-action games, card games, etc) or video game music, MagFest (Music And Gaming Festival, noob) is for you.
Oh, is Washington DC too far a trip for you?
I drove for 10 hours.
I'd drive for 20! ... well, maybe not.
This year was my second year attending.
The first was in 2014 and I spent a lot of time manning the Default Dan booth. It paid off because I met Ross from Game Grumps / Steam Train and convinced him to play Default Dan on their YouTube channel (links to the YouTube video which has 1.3 million views and is NOT safe for work.) Once that video aired, the Default Dan Kickstarter blew past its goal!
Yes, I take partial credit for that!
 |
| Dan + Ross |
I packed a heavy jug of Vitamin C pills and several travel-sized hand-sanitizers bottles. I've gotten Con-funk before and would rather not again.
We spent the extended weekend gaming and rocking and such. Some of the group went to DC to look at important things that exist in the really real world. I did not.
Let the images commence!
fair warning: I had a magical time from arrival to departure. But I'm no photographer. I just don't care much for it. Usually when I'm in a photo-worthy scenario, I prefer to ingest it and enjoy it, not play with electronics. That said, I think I managed to catch some images and vids worth reliving.
 |
| On the way up north we found piles of dirty snow and derp faces |
 |
| this guy was lying in the sand down from our hotel |
 |
| not sure what the chubby fellow is saying. but if I were the turtle, I'd probably say something that rhymes with "Get your nuts off me." |
 |
| The shops had tons of oddities. Unfortunately I only took two pictures... |
 |
| The little clicky things from Princess Mononoke! |
 |
| Playing JS Joust! wtf is that, you ask? link get! |
 |
| The World is Square They cover tracks from Squaresoft and Square Enix games. When they played the intro of Chrono Cross, I knew I had to buy their CD. |
 |
| Tupperware Remix Party I'd never heard them until MagFest. But they played with NSP so I could not miss it. Their bassist freaking shreds. The frontman went to spin his keytaur and the strap broke, sending his instrument spiraling into the air. It broke. But the show went on. |
 |
| TWRP + NSP (not yet on stage) There were 5,000 people in the room for this show. It. was. nuts. |
 |
| Firstborn and I ran upon some cosplayers in full Kingdom Hearts attire. |
 |
| They graciously agreed to pose. (yes, I know, Sora is not in this scene) |
 |
| too perfect a shot |
 |
| Biggs Darklighter saying farewell before storming the Death Star. |
 |
| Photoshoot with Mileena, Kitana, and Jade from Mortal Kombat |
 |
| Front view of Gaylord, complete with brightly colored roamers |
 |
| Majora's Mask |
 |
| ...and he's coming right at me!! |
 |
| David, Firstborn, Britt, Kelly, Lauren, Drew in the crowd for the Bitt Brigade show |
 |
| Bitt Brigade plays Ninja Gaiden |
 |
| Shopkeeper from Resident Evil 4, also an author of books I've met this guy thrice now. First was at MagFest 2014 Second was at DragonCon 2015 Third was MagFest 2016 How many times will our paths randomly cross? also, Photobomb by Phirstborn |
 |
| My favorite kind of photograph catches unlikely people in an ordinary place or vice versa |
 |
| The console arcade was about half the size of a Walmart. And I only got one picture :( |
 |
| Firstborn met the Living Tombstone, a DJ he's a fan of. I have no idea what dude is looking at |
 |
| View of the Gaylord's lawn and the Potomac river on our last day *sigh...* |