6/20/05 - Monday 1:00 pm
Mood: Achy
Con report part 2: ^.^
Day 1:
10:30 something: After picking up our badges, we went to the the video game rooms and saw a guy play double on the DDR machines. O.O He was all over the place, hitting every step and not breaking a sweat. *cheers* Then we went to the video showing rooms and watched several episodes of 'Jubei-chan.' (Since I will meet some people that were part of this anime, I might as well know a bit about it. ^.^) We visited the art show and gazed at some wonderful pieces of work. I was actually thinking about bidding on some...but no time. ^^; At about 12pm, we had some lunch outside on the convention center steps (nice breeze and everything.)
We went to the main theatre before 1pm in order to get good seats to watch 'Fullmetal Fantasy.' ^-^ (So good...I wish Vic will sell it...but no, it's for cons only.... >.>;) After the showing, Vic, and Caitlin came out and talked about the movie and future live action/humor productions. (Roy and Ed action figures with Roy being thrown into a blender. ^.^) Afterwards was the FMA panel and of course we stayed for that. Travis was there and when the three of them were together, there was more screaming. Especially after the one-liners from the series were thrown about. Vic: "I'm not a midget!" Travis: "Dogs? I love dogs!" and of course the infamous miniskirt statement. ^.^ After the panel was the signing and we stood waiting for autographs for a looooonnnnnnnng time...but it was worth it. (The standing and waiting was partially the reason why I'm so achy today...not to mention the entire weekend. ^^:)
After the signing, we had a snack and then headed over to the dealer's room. I tried looking for bootleg GW dvds. As we all thought, it didn't exist in that room. I tried looking for Fullmoon Plushies...non-existent in the entire universe. I tried looking for Naruto playing cards...no go. I did found the Al plushie I wanted (didn't buy: $30 O.O) Mokona plush (didn't buy: $20 <.<) and a Kero plushie (didn't buy: $3 <=someone bought it. >.<)
We headed to Unos for dinner and then my friend rested in a lobby while I hit the concert. I watched the opening act, Uzuhi which was basically a four member J-rock band. Alot of screaming. ()^^() It was interesting when the people I sat with commented that "It sounds like they're cursing at us and we're cheering them on." In reply, I said "I wonder what U.S. bands sound like to the Japanese when they go there to perform." We laughed. ^.^ We had to head home before we could see Peelander-Z (the cosplay playing hilarity of a J-pop band.) It was alright...I was pretty tired by that time anyway.
That evening, I found out that I left my badge in my friend's car and (since he was going to a wedding the next day and I'm not) my mother was going to drive over to his house so that I can pick up the badge and rush to the LIRR towards Penn.
Day 2:
I'll describe my morning from 6:30 to 10am (when I arrived at the con location) in as little words as possible: public transportation stinks. :P I missed the first LIRR train (coming from my friend's house) since I was standing on ANOTHER platform when the train pulled in...but the platform was where the train stopped...only they only opened the door to the other side and not my side.... Get it? That was stupid! Can't they open the door to my side as well? Other people could see a retard of a girl standing on the WRONG platform...but I digress. The Port authority bus station is too complicated. Even the subway station is alot easier to understand than this. There are only two information booths in the station (with 3-4 floors) and I only found them because I bumbed into them by accident. No one could tell where the gate was and the signs that pointed to 'tickets' were mostly machines. I finally found where they had windows to go and ask a HUMAN to buy a ticket, but the lines were insanely long and I didn't have time. Finally, I pulled out my cell and contact customer service, waited 8 min. and finally confirmed the bus number, found out the gate number AND found out when the next bus is coming. >.< I'm just ranting...so lets get back to the con.
The first panel that I wanted to attend was at 11am so I headed off to the dearler's room first. After talking with a fellow congoer, she pointed me towards a booth where they sold Naruto playing cards. (I bought three for Jenn-chan since she asked me to. ^.^) I continued roaming around looking for Pearl-chan's plushies, but couldn't find those.
'State of Fandom' panel were mostly discussions about how anime grew and the basics of old school anime, including the pioneer animes like Pokemon and Sailor Moon. After that panel, I headed over to the video rooms and watched some Tenchi Muyo. (I wanted to see the AMVs...but the rooms were full. *aw nuts*) My second panel was at 1pm, so I had some lunch first.
From 1pm, I had three panels that I really wanted to go to "Anime Crash" (which was basically a run down on anime that some company is coming out with,) "CRAZY OTAKU" (an organization of crazed anime fans that gather together for free pocky and pixie sticks and extreme hilarity ^.^) and "Sailor Moon" (discussion about Star series, character developement and misc.)
After the panels, I stopped by the dealer's room again and gaped at all the pricy stuff. (Time to hit ebay!) Next came the Japanese guests panel, Akitaro Daichi and Reiko Yasuhara. Questions were asked about the romance relationships of Fruits Basket as well as the questions concerning the plots of the stories. The signing wasn't as long as the day before (which was good on my feet) and I was able to take individual pictures of both Daichi-san and Yasuhara-san (of them...not with them. Those were the rules. ^^;)
I grabbed some dinner and caught the end of the workshop "Drawing: the Manga Way," I also grabbed some tips of how to draw hands, wings and breasts (of course big breasts, can you see an anime character that is not fully developed at age 9? ^.^)
The last two events of the evening were major: the Cosplay Masquerade and Otaku Idol. Some cosplay highlights would be:
- Kurama kissing Hiei (and I never got a picture of him.... >.<)
- Primera (MKR) kicks a Mokona plushie offstage (poor Mokona! *give hugs*)
- Kikyo with little kids dressed as Shippo and Rin...awwww.... ^.^
- EGLs take on romance and beauty (it was a wonderful perfermance.)
- Tenchi Muyo and co. dances to Spice Girls "If you want to be my lover." ^.^
Everything was wonderful. I enjoyed this convention immensely...who wants to come with me to Otakon? ^-^ (Pictures will be up soon.... ^.^)
|