Nathan O’Brien and his team put together another great show as fans from Spokane and around the world gathered to celebrate pop culture and comics at Lilac City Comicon 2019. Penguinate.com’s table was a dream, and we were so happy to meet so many new people and see some from the last year we were here.

We had five penguins adopted. Lucky, our smallest penguin went to a home with a little girl and her siblings. Perry, our last book bird, is rumored to be headed to Iceland and then to have a Summer at Sea! GooseBeret found a forever home right here in Spokane, and Donald the Auktioneer, our Pirates of the Caribbean tribute penguin, was plucked from the penguin crowd with few words said.

Perhaps, our best moment of the day was when one of the guests decided to pay-it-forward. He bought a $45 penguin and asked us to give it to the next child who really loved the penguins. A girl showed up at our table twice and was ready to get a penguin, not in costume, when we told her about the pay-it-forward, she was so happy. She picked up Flopsy in the pink bunny outfit and took her home. (Unfortunately, we forgot to attach Flopsy passport, so if she contacts us, we will mail it out.)

I sold five books, and the Russian lobby cards were a big hit this time around. Normally, I would do a “loot” video, but my budget this year was small. I was super excited to get a Chunx from Matt Brazee; these toys are stackable. I picked up Sprocket the Comic-Cat because of Sprocket’s connection to Lilac City Comicon. However, Matt is already on at least his fourth series of Chunx, and they are super cool.

I also picked up the start of a new series, “The Memoirs of Elikai,” by D. Alexander. I haven’t time to read it, yet, but the story is about the struggle between destiny and free will. Give it a shot; it’s always nice to help out a new author and you may find a story that you love.

In case you’re keeping count, we’ve sold eight penguins so far this year. We will be making a donation to the Global Penguin Society of $1 per penguin sold near the end of the month. That means right now, we’ve pledged $8 to save penguins in the Southern Hemisphere and the Galapagos Islands (because that’s the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where penguins are naturally occurring.)