The SOTF-Con Thread

[Sh4dE]

Giselle was surrounded by a crowd of people, a crowd of SOTF-fans, all having in common to be part of a fandom that celebrates the death of human beings around her age being filmed to fight, fuck or kill each other. The crowd was already getting bigger as it already was afternoon in the Miami Beach Convention Center and the local SOTF-Convention was in full swing.

Giselle looked around. When she was younger she enjoyed going to the conventions as there was a huge range of supplies. Cosplaying, merchandise, interview panels, book stores, makeup booths, signature booths. It always had been a fun day when she walked through the halls as a kid. Now she has a different perspective. It was just a big market to sell overpriced and bad SOTF-branded products to naive kids just like she was years ago.

Giselle did not go to this convention as Giselle, though. Giselle went to the convention as Karen Ruiz, one of two SOTF winners of last fall, who was a more popular option to cosplay as than the other recent female winner Jewel Evans, who was despised by a large amount of the fandom. Giselle could not care less about recent SOTF opinions of who was a good winner and who wasn't and who died too early and what not.

She simply didn't want to risk getting in an argument with some heated fan who really had opinions on Jewel. Sure, there could be some Vincent-stans running around, but S65's relevance slowly fell and S66 was the hot season to talk about now. Another reason for not cosplaying as Jewel was, of course, that she really did not want to wear anything exposing with all the potential creeps wandering through the halls.

The girl in a coat who dyed her hair black stood in front of a booth that sold books. She picked up a comic book from the book stand and skimmed through it. It had a comic-bookified version of Kieran Hanley in it, so she assumed it was a comic that depicted some storylines of Season 44.

[Laurels]

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk continued from Now Check That))

Shoshanna prowled the aisles of the fluorescent light-accented convention hall. This wasn't the first time she had attended an SOTF convention in Miami. She had come to her first one when she was 13 after pooling her allowance to buy a ticket and convincing her folks to let her go with a few friends. Shoshanna had made it an annual event, although her desire to go with others had waned over the last few years. If a friend wanted to go, sure, they could go. But going solo meant that Shoshanna had some agency over where she went, what she did, and how long she stayed.

Plus, it made for good blogging material. Several seasons had occurred since the last local convention, this being the first convention in Miami since the show was revitalized, so she could tell the energy had changed.

Armed with the complimentary tote bag that came with registration and a selfie stick, Shoshanna had taken to the aisles, taking pictures of herself, the stands, and the various people prowling the convention center. She had already gotten herself a cool graphic tee that depicted chibis of all the main winners to date and a few scattered buttons and collectibles.

She was nearing a book booth. This highly appealed to Shoshanna. Having just binge read Jewel's memoir and gotten the review up on her blog, Shoshanna was jonesing for some new literature related to SOTF. She had read all the major releases from winners and survivors, but there was plenty of adjacent literature around to check out.

Shoshanna approached the booth and grabbed the first book she saw. It looked like a graphic novel depicting SOTF events in an anthology format. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see a Karen Ruiz cosplayer next to her. She smiled to herself. It wasn't a bad look.

[Sh4dE]

Yep, that comic has depicted Kieran's massacre in a very graphic way. Teenage boys would get kicks seeing all of this violence. Disgusting.

Giselle put the comic down again, looked at her cellphone clock and decided to start moving again. The Dexter Milton Q&A panel would start soonish and she wanted to-

Before she moved though, her thoughts were interrupted when her eyes caught someone else looking at her. She looked familiar but...she really couldn't put a name on the face. She panicked internally.

Where did she see her before? Probably the hallways of Mangrove. She looked at the small, freckled girl. Must've been a sophomore.

The chances of meeting someone you knew in these big halls were pretty low. This was not planned. Giselle hoped that she would not have been able to recognise her from the brief moment they looked at each other. Thoughts of the freckled girl telling anyone that she had been seen in a Karen Ruiz costume made her blush.

She quickly looked away and grabbed a random different comic book from the shelf and opened it at a random page to hide her face in it.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna opened the graphic novel to the first chapter in it. Her eyebrow raised when she saw the title: The Worst Prom Date Ever. That seemed to be a weird one. It was authored by someone named Leza Lerman, which was a fabulous name for a comic writer and artist, she had to admit. She had to wonder what the story was about, and if it was good enough to consider getting the whole book. Shoshanna hadn't read a lot of graphic novels in the past, so she didn't have much to compare it to. But hey, it was always nice to get into new things, and it was SOTF-adjacent, so maybe it'd be fun.

She began to read the story. It was about a girl named Melanie who was stood up on Prom Night by her date, Ricardo. Ricardo apparently decided to skip Prom and go smoke weed with some of his buddies, leaving Melanie to sit at home waiting for him without a text or a call explaining where he was. And worse, Melanie was poor, so she had to make her own dress and hope Ricardo could at least take her to a nice restaurant and maybe rent a limo. It was her Cinderella story, and her date left her at home to watch cable reruns with her grandpa while he got intimate with a bong insted.

Shoshanna paused as she read this.

"What the hell? What season was this?" she muttered to herself.

Shoshanna kept her finger on the page she was at and flipped the back cover over.

A pair of twins alone at the end of the game. An incel held hostage by a group of female classmates he used to harass. A game of truth or dare with fatal consequences. These are just some of the original stories featured in "These Are Our Graduation Memories: An Anthology of SOTF Stories." 15 comic artists pen original stories using the hit television program as a base. See tales of tragedy, humor, action, and the heart of one of the most influential programs in American history.

"Oh. So it's like that," Shoshanna said.

Shoshanna looked around the crowd. Karen Ruiz had buried her face literally in a book, and everyone else seemed to mind their own business. She figured she may as well get back to hers.

Shoshanna flipped the book open and kept reading. Her eyes glazed over the next page.

"Oh cool. Melanie's gonna kill Ricardo," she exclaimed.

[Catche Jagger]

The convention had been a poor idea on Gabriela’s part. Sure, she was a fan, active on the forums and other fan communities, but actually coming to a con? That was a whole other beast. Everywhere she looked was crowds: crowds of friends huddled together, strangers pushing past one another while in transit, lines of over enthusiastic hobbyists in line to get the latest merch.

She didn’t like crowds because then someone might just bump into her and the thought of some strange man walking up and slamming his arm, sweaty from too much time spent in cramped halls in an ill-considered costume, made her skin crawl. And what if this guy was a creep? Something worse, even? What if he did it intentionally?

Her arms were tense, held tightly to her sides.

She was getting worked up over a scenario that remained purely imaginary at this moment, a hypothetical that might never come to pass. Regardless, if some asshole stepped to her she’d chew him the fuck out in front of everyone. Let everybody know who to watch the duck out for.

Gabriela smiled to herself.

That was it. Just had to keep things in the right frame of mind. All part of the new her, the her that went out and did things, that attended cons relating to her interests, that could be approachable.

Making her way through the convention hall, Gabriela eventually came to the comics section. Most of the licensed SOTF stuff was a bit crap, since every story was one she already knew, or at least had the same inevitable outcome. However, some of it was likely shit enough to drum up a fun post or two.

Sifting through the selection, Gabriela noticed a comic in the hands of some Ruiz cosplayer who seemed rather engrossed. The cover somewhat obscured, she found herself a bit curious, wondering what could possibly be so interesting that it was drawing this woman’s whole face into the book.

Shit, well, might as well just get over it and ask.

“Hey, so… I was just looking around and… I was curious about what you’ve got there?” Gabriela asked in a soft tone that felt unnatural to a degree that almost made her shiver.

She coughed, suddenly feeling extremely stupid.

“Sorry, just wondering if it’s any good, is all. Don’t wanna tear you away from it.” She added, aiming for apologetic but landing somewhere closer to frustrated.

[Sh4dE]

Oh, someone wanted to chit chat with her. Chit chat about SOTF. Yeah, Giselle's the right person for that.

Giselle pretended she didn't hear that. She would gladly talk about the comic she's holding and what's wrong with it, but that'd blow her cover.

Anyway, it was time for her to go the Q&A panel with the Winner of Season 62. She placed down the comic book back into the shelf, avoided eye contact with these toxic SOTF fan-girls and walked into the direction of where the Q&A should be.

((OOC: Sorry for the short post, it's pretty late here and I didn't want you guys to wait on me))

[Laurels]

Shoshanna continued to read the graphic novel. Apparently, a month after the prom fiasco, Melanie and Ricardo's class was selected for SOTF. Ricardo, dressed like Rambo, was cowering inside a sea of office cubicles. Melanie was prowling the rows, calling out for him, all while holding a shotgun in her hands. Shoshanna could see the artist had managed to draw what looked like urine stains on Ricardo's trousers, which she thought was a nice touch. But yeah, apparently, Melanie had snapped early in the game after killing a student who tried to kill her, and that threw her entire mental state for a loop. So of course, seeing her shitty prom date in a knock-off Rambo costume in the office setting made her want to kill him for slighting him.

"Wow. This is some mad shit," Shoshanna muttered.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Karen cosplayer walking out. She must have gotten her fill of the comics and books table. Shoshanna shrugged, then turned back to her book. She had to see what happened to Melanie and Ricardo.

---

Well, it was enough to convince her to buy the book. Shoshanna knew anthologies ran the risk of mixed bags, but the art was cool and the first story made her want to read more. She'd definitely have to write about it later.

Now she was walking into one of the meeting rooms at the convention center. This was a Q&A with Dexter Milton. He wasn't one of Shoshanna's top winners; but who would expect anyone from the dork age of 60-64 to be anyone's favorite? Either way, it was still a winner from the show, and maybe he had something interesting to say.

She looked around the room for open seats. She noticed one and hustled over. She moved her tote bag off her shoulder and swung it in front of her as she sat down.

"Hey," she said to the girl next to her.

Shoshanna smiled a bit. It was the Karen girl from the book table. Ah, so she must have been going to the same panel as her. That was a nice coincidence.

Shoshanna reached into her bag and pulled out a notebook and pen. She wasn't sure about writing about the anthology, but she had to write about Milton's panel. That was the sort of thing that got hits on her blog.

Still, they had a few minutes before the panel started, and more people were trickling in. May as well get a chat in.

"So, is this your first time seeing a winner?" she asked Karen Ruiz.

[Applesintime]

[[Gregory Miller - Sandbox Start]]

Dexter Milton may not exactly be an interesting winner, but really, the whole 62 debacle was more the fault of the producers and the sound guys and Gregory thought that it was always a little unfair that the season's reputation had passed off on him - sure, he was a little disappointed when he had won, as he had been rooting for the fellow Miller and admittedly he was boring, but that was how SOTF went. Sometimes, the fan favourite lost and someone who nobody thought had a chance was the one who went home. It was part of the charm.

Right now, Gregory had one leg over the other, a backpack containing merch that he had saved up his allowance for tucked neatly under his chair. He hadn't actually been intending to buy much, but some of the stuff here was cool, and there had been some dude selling copies of that new Jewel Evans book. It was overpriced, but it had sold out quicker than... well, body pillows at an anime convention. He sniggered a little to himself at the comparison.

One quick text to his dad to update him on where he was and assure him he was fine later, Gregory took a quick glance around the room. Unsurprisingly, there weren't too many people. This wasn't like, some big SOTF convention like the ones in San Diego or Los Angeles, and the low-profile winner meant that only the people who really liked SOTF or the one person in the universe who's favourite season was 62 would be here. There was a nice Ruiz cosplayer, but he was never much of a Ruiz guy.

Mentally kicking up his heels and settling in for a hopefully interesting panel, Gregory cracked his neck.

[Catche Jagger]

Wow, what a weird bitch.

The Ruiz cosplayer had stalked off without so much as a word to her or a glance in her direction, leaving Gabriela to stand around looking like a moron.

Then again, Gabriela considered, maybe the Ruiz wasn’t just being an asshole. It was possible that she was doing some kinning type thing or trying to stay “in character” or whatever autistic habit that the mentally insolvent felt might suddenly become okay in the context of a fan gathering.

Part of her wanted to call out to the retreating figure, to make some sly remark before they faded into the crowd. However, as the thought crossed her mind, a familiar feeling of tension and unease began to claw its way out from her core and her jaw clamped shut.

The Ruiz wasn’t the only one filtering out of the hall, as a panel was going to begin shortly. Gabriela didn’t hold the same ire for Dexter Milton that some did, even if he was a lackluster winner, but she did not find him interesting enough to devote so much time to just listening to him talk and answer questions.

With a sigh, Gabriela shuffled into the position previously occupied by the Ruiz and picked up the discarded comic book, beginning to look it over for herself. At least this might prove to be a better use of her time.



“Wow…”







“This… is garbage.”

((Gabriela continued in Note to Self))

[Sh4dE]

Karen Ruiz sat on a seat of the Q&A and observed the room. She calculated the distance, looked at where all the audience is, where the gaps of the crowd are, where the cameras are and where the security guards stood.

She scouted where the cameras from reporters were or if any of the people in the crowd had a VIP pass that looked like they were journalists and where they were seated.

Then, she was talked to by her seat neighbour and oh, frick, it was the freckled girl from earlier. But instead of talking to herself like a lunatic she was now talking to her. Oh, well. Giselle put on a fake smile and spoke in an enthusiastic voice.

"Yes!! This will be the first winner I'll see in real life. Actually, he's the main reason why I came here today! My first winner, ohmygosh. What about you?"

She considered adding a line of saying what a disappointment it was that her first live winner she'd see was Dexter fucking Milton but who knows nowadays. Maybe the freckled nerd was a Milton fan and would be offended. You could never know.

[Laurels]

Ruiz was excited. That was cute. Shoshanna remembered how excited she was for her first con. It seemed quite quaint, especially now that Shoshanna had learned the reality of conventions and how to manage them so she wouldn't have blisters on her feet and a growing sense of misanthropy from being surrounded by too many people.

"Milton's not my first winner, but probably the first one of the 60s seasons I've gotten to see," Shoshanna replied.

"Lemmee see, who have I seen?"

Shoshanna began to count on her fingers.

"I saw Kjarten at my first con, that was pretty cool," Shoshanna explained. "I also saw Rena when she was doing an event at a Macy's back when she launched her handbag line. Even got a pretty nice clutch for that. If you count escapees as winners, I did go to one of Zalika's book signings a few years back. Not a lot have come through Miami, but those are the ones I have seen. I think you have to go to like SurviveTheCon or one of the ones they do in New York or LA to see the really big winners like Kenny or Hatchet."

Shoshanna brushed her hair behind her shoulders and removed a hair tie from her wrist. She began to try her damnedest to get her hair into a messy bun.

"But yeah," Shoshanna said, tucking flyaways back, "Milton's not a bad start."

[Applesintime]

Even over the trickle of people chatting idly as they all waited for Dexter to arrive, Gregory could hear the Ruiz cosplayer gushing over how she came especially to the convention just to see Dexter. Perhaps he actually had found the one person who was a Dexter stan. Was that the right word? Probably not, but he couldn't think of a better term for it. And then the girl sitting next to her was counting off about how many winners she'd seen... He almost felt a little out of place. He wasn't big into cosplaying, he wasn't one of those superfans and he certainly hadn't seen any winners before, let alone Zalika. While her anti-SOTF views were stupid, she was still a winner, and she wasn't Susan Crawford.

Ah, at least he could chalk one off the list, even if he was Dexter Milton. He was almost about to pull his phone out when a suited man stepped up to the podium. It wasn't him, probably just some SOTF sponsor or maybe one of the organizers of the convention. Speaking calmly with a wide smile on his face, he informed everyone that Mr. Milton would be arriving in a few minutes, that flash photography was prohibited, and finally, to enjoy the show! Was there even anyone who used flash photography anymore? Maybe one of those newspaper reporter guys who he sometimes saw around Miami with their big fancy cameras, taking pictures of-

Oh, he probably meant the camera flash. On their phone. Right. Gregory felt his cheeks burning a little in self-inflicted embarrassment, despite the fact that nobody was able to hear his thoughts. Hopefully. If they could, hi Mr. mindreader dude! He let out a muffled chuckle into his hand, which he disguised as a cough. He was 16, he probably shouldn't be thinking about people hearing his weird thoughts. Instead, he chose to focus on the podium, waiting patiently for the winner of 62.

[Sh4dE]

While Shoshanna talked, Giselle smiled and nodded.

"Ooh, yeah! I'd love to see Kenny live. I'd be down to fly to New York to be at a big con. Sometime in the future maybe."

Yeah. As if. Kenny was a mass murderer celebrated for killing his friends and classmates. There was nothing likeable about him, no one-liner could cover that up.

Giselle looked back forward as she saw a dude coming out to announce stuff, listening to the speech intendendly, hoping to get all the important details.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna settled into what would have to pass as decently tied hair. It looked like someone was about to come out to get the panel started. Shoshanna smiled a bit.

She opened the notebook on her lap and flipped to the first blank page. She had to get her impressions of this panel down so she could write about it late. Dexter Milton was still a bit of an enigma since he was relatively new as a winner and he still needed to set himself into the SOTF winner canon. Surely, she'd get some interesting insight into the man.

Shoshanna clicked the pen and set it to the paper, writing "Dexter Milton: SOTF-Miami Con 2021" at the top.

"Oh man, here we go," she muttered to herself.

[Applesintime]

They still had a few minutes, so Gregory reached down to unzip his back, groping through it until he found the water bottle he had brought with him. Even with the air conditioning in the convention centre, all the bodies packed together produced a lot of heat. In a way, it was like bees. The Japanese honeybee had this weird thing where it surrounded any hornets that went near its hive and got about five hundred buddies, completely surrounded the hornet and vibrated all their wings really quickly until the hornet was basically cooked alive.

...Actually, maybe that was a bad metaphor. There wasn't anything bad surrounding this place, except maybe the SOTF protestors outside, and even then maybe they were just kinda misguided. It's not like they were gonna get picked or anything. Besides, it was just a TV show. Besides, there were lots of things to protest about that were better than SOTF. Like how the bees were dying because of pesticides and all that bad stuff. While his mind was on the subject of getting picked, he and his grandfather actually had a bet on the next state they would pick for 67; Gregory was betting they were gonna hit Alabama, while Sammy reckoned it was gonna be like, Puerto Rico. It'd shake things up, he said. Even if it wasn't a state, he had still accepted it.

Snapping back to reality, he realised he had been so lost in his thoughts he had forgotten to drink, the water bottle hanging loosely from his grip. Twisting the cap open, Gregory raised the bottle to his mouth and gulped down that cool, refreshing water. Now he could ask questions without sounding like some squeaky kid.