CutieProtector said:
Assuming the U.S. ever gets to a point where everything is open again, I'm wondering which furry conventions people would recommend for babyfurs/diaperfurs. I'm wondering if I should make the effort to fly to one of the bigger conventions to engage with larger groups, rather than settling for a smaller local convention. I'd also like to know which ones are the most supportive of babyfurs/diaperfurs. By that I mean conventions where people aren't mean to babyfurs, and may even have unofficial events specifically for babyfurs like Texas Furry Fiesta's
Cub Corral.
A quick tangent: The reason I ask is that I think I'm finally getting my own Marci badge! She mentioned she'll be raising prices in February.
Speaking of, have people worn their Marci badges publicly at furry conventions? Do people make any negative remarks upon seeing them?
TFF has the most cub friendly programming of any convention. I've helped with several of the panels in the past. The cub hub is basically a room in the hotel that people can go hang out in. There is usually diapers available to anyone. There's typically a limit to how many you can have. As the con gets closer to ending, they will allow people to have more, if they have a large number remaining.
The Cub corral is a specific panel during the con. It's on the convention schedule of events, so it's actually an official event. The panel is best described as a three or four hour long day care. There's tons of activities happening in the room, and you can go do whatever you want. I help provide some of the toys / actives in the room. There's things like:
- Legos
- Ball pit
- Coloring
- dolls
- building blocks
- Hot Wheels
- blanket fort
And a ton of other stuff that I can't recall at the moment.
Some of the other official events / panels at the con will include:
Panel on Padding - Fruitkitty's talk on how diapers work and how they are tested in a lab setting.
Guide to 24/7 - Aloha's panel on how to wear 24/7
Nerf War - Not a specific cub panel, but it's ran by cubs and cub friendly people. Rollar, Torn, Shoggy, Keeper, and myself bring a Nerf arsenal, so you don't have to have something already to play, you can borrow.
Story Time - Reading stories to cubs before bed.
Under the Jungle Gym - A meet and greet panel.
Q & A panels
There's a couple others that I'm forgetting.
I've never seen anyone give anyone else trouble for wearing cub art or Marci badges at a con. I've seen people look and comment on how cute the art is.
MFF is a huge convention. They had their first cub panel in 2018. I helped with it and the one they did in 2019. It was a meet and greet, as well as a Q & A panel. Since MFF is in Chicago, and that's where Tykables is based out of, they're a vender at the con. 2019 was their first year, and they had a huge area. You could buy clothing or diapers at the con. It was in the adults only area.
LOL, I was mistaken as the owner of Tykables in 2018 after the cub panel ended....by the Chair of MFF.... He was promising me that he'd have a place for me in the dealer's den the next year if I wanted. The Chair at the time was a cub. I still tease him for confusing me with the Tykables owner.
Hopefully in the future MFF will have more panels / events. But it's only been a single event each year so far.
I have not attended BLFC or MegaPlex. But I have had friends that have. They've told me about some of the events that happen at those cons, and they've had a blast.
Many but not all conventions will have a meet and greet. Just depends. Someone has to submit it to the paneling director and they have to accept and schedule it for the con.
I've been to cons before where they didn't want to schedule it, and I submitted it.
I'm the chair of a convention as well, and I have at least two cub related panels on the schedule. Had them both our first year as well. Meet and greet, and a story time panel.