Fanfest 2012: A Gallery of Geekery

In an effort to stir up the nostalgia and get me in the mood for tonight's London pubmeet, I thought I'd share some of my favourite pics from Fanfest 2012.

Tweetfleetmeet @ The Celtic Cross

Wednesday night, before Fanfest officially started, many folk gathered together to drink as much beer as possible in an unprepared local Irish bar. Whilst a great way to kick things off and make some early acquaintances, it never seems like such a good idea the next morning.

CCP Guard shows off his new sex face.

David K. Magnus' looks unsettled as his heightened super-senses warn him of an impending vampire attack. The hungry nosferatu plots his assault from the other side of the room.

Who says guys can't accessorise? Keith "Mandrill" Neilson dyes his hair to match his 'friend' (sorry Keith, writing this caption was easier than photoshopping it out).

One of Iceland's few indigenous creatures is the Burrowing Snake, which seeks warmth in warm crevices and holes. This gentleman has just encountered one, much to his companions' amusement.

The Venue

The venue itself was a step up from the dreary (albeit fantastically well-decorated) sports centre of the previous year. The Harpa Centre is a magnificent edifice which graces the otherwise industrious Reykjavik dockside. In high winds and inclement whether it is a test of character and strength simply getting to it across the exposed forecourt.

It could be said that the Harpa Centre's architectural influences suggest Caldari lines with Gallente flair...

...but the surrounding grounds are definitely more Minmatar-themed.

The perfect hangover cure: standing in a queue in a bizarrely designed building with projected moving images dancing across the walls.

The stark, volcanic rock corridors were other-worldly.

Blog Banter 34: The Rise of the Spaceship Politician gets it's 0.15 seconds of fame in CCP Xhagen's CSM presentation. Photo also features important space nerds.

The impressive vermilion-hued amphitheatre has never been so embearded.

CCP T0rfiFrans and CCP Soundwave try to get their act together to orbitally bombard some console monkeys.

When Darkness Falls... Nerdified Drunkery

It's a common misconception that drinking alcohol in a cold environment warms you up. In truth alcohol consumption just lowers the imbiber's body temperature so the relative difference is less, creating the illusion of warmth and precipitating hypothermia. Also, it makes you not give a shit. Behold, alcohol-fuelled nerds in their many glorious forms.

At the Charity Dinner, who is enthralling these fine gentlemen whilst driving CCP PrismX to drink himself into a coma? ... (L-R: Stephen Johnston, Grideris, RvB's ShadowMaster, Well-Dressed Guy, CCP PrismX)

... it's John Zastrow holding court on the subject of spaghetti/DUST514/Goons/Law or possibly something else entirely.

The CCP developers played musical chairs all night and Sean 'CCP Sreegs' Conover joined our table where he entertained us with his fantastic impersonation of Goonswarm CEO and CSM6 Chairman The Mittani. Here's a short clip of his performance, rotated 90 degrees for your viewing pleasure:

The Virtual Worlds guys took us out on a storming friday night pub crawl featuring a beautiful trainee lawyer nicknamed EVE Online, "the real Golden Circle" tour, the Sony After-Party and some rotten shark being handed out. Guess what the only part I managed to take a picture of was?

Despite my knowledge of his work in Kick Ass, Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes, actor Mark Strong was unimpressed with being spotted in Reykjavik (it's actually @EVE_Scatha)

With the final big day of Fanfest to come, at 2am on Saturday morning you'd think the devs would have somewhere to be other than the dance floor at the Sony Party. (L-R CCP Alice with some other CCP funksters and the white blur which is CCP Flying Scotsman's shiny head and middle finger).