This weekend (May 4 to 7) and coinciding with the start of my site, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Conque in the beautiful city of Queretaro. As I was part of the organizing team (not a huge part, to be honest, mostly some pr with the Cosplay area), I had the chance to arrive with the Mexico City guests from Thursday the 4th to the preview Star Wars night (CONQUE is the first Mexican convention to hold a preview night). We were so tired, however, that to be honest I barely saw anything. And from Friday to Sunday? It was madness. I was sitting at the cosplay area, so I had the chance to interact with them the most. Twin Cosplay ( I didn’t take many pictures with them and I am beating myself over it); Cesar Greenhouse and Hedelex (Mitica Studio); Rosy Duran, who does an INCREDIBLE Granny Webster cosplay (seriously, I was half tempted to offer her Indiana to play Silvester for a few photos) and an even greater Stan Lee; Eva 017 Cosplay who was the queen of all the area; Edom Elohim, with his great crafts; Alex Stark and Lady Synai; Puchys love, who was an amazing sport after a small typo that identified her as “punchis”; Shirahime cosplay and Ryuta; the always wonderful Lizz Sakura and Yagosha Cosplay; Killian and Daireth –who I had not much chance to talk to- and others that right now escape my swiss cheese memory. They all made the weekend amazing. And also, my dearest Roberto Martinez, who completely made my day on Sunday by helping me at the table and with his great Palpatine.
Sales wise I didn’t have as many sales as the people in Artist Alley, but I have to admit that that was mostly on me. I was so entranced by the great cosplayers around me that I kept forgetting to do my sales speech! Even so, I am very grateful to all the people who went looking for me and helped make Dream Keeper Robin’s launch a success! I almost ran out of bookmarks, which is always a good sign! (Seriously, I have 2 Janna’s left. And am considering keeping one :P)
And of course, there was the amazing experience of meeting new people, and reconnecting with old friends. I had the chance to talk to Jorge Gutierrez, writer and director of the Book of Life; to meet Kirk R. Tatcher, creator of Dinosaurs and a big part of my childhood, and to have an amazing dinner sitting next to Agnes Garbowska from MLP and Grumpy Cat’s fame. I heard Stefan Kapicic sing Cielito Lindo, and saw Sergio Aragones again, as well as one of my personal heroes, Arthur Adams. The guys from Touch markers who were so kind and gave me a great gift, as well as promised to check why my local art store keeps not getting the full color list. And of course, all my great friends in Mexican comics such as Gnomo del Bosque, Palmira Campaña, Juanele, the always sexy Quetzal Cardenas and Fers from Soulkeepers, El Hino, Edgar Clement, Oscar Pinto, Leonardo Olea, the always incredible Humberto Ramos, Mauricio Herrera, Aurea Freniere, Ariel Orea, Lobo Cuevas, Luis Fernando –who shared the bus ride to Queretaro with me and Alfonso Norman, Guto, Alejandra Gamez, and Axur Eneas, Augusto Mora, Tania Camacho and Esteban from Jours de Papier, and so many other people that I love and I hate that right now I am forgetting.
Of course, I can’t stop thanking the REAL organizers of the Conque: Luis Gantus, Rene Franco, Hector Hernandez, Melina Gatto, and again, Humberto Ramos, as well as the great staff like Monica Valencia, Daniel Garcia, Rodrigo LeVinson, Maria Fernanda Gantus, and Salvador Canez Garza –as well as the amazing volunteers whose names I didn’t get for my eternal shame. Oh, and to the great staff at the Serafin Boutique Hotel in downtown Queretaro that made me feel as if I was home every night.
So, here are the pictures of all the event. It left me dead tired.
