Post Otakon (Insert random mood here)
Just figured I'd "conduct my own colonoscopy" since I've been back from the con for a week now. It's a biggun, apparently my colon is loaded.
Let's Start With Thursday!
Why start with Thursday? Because it's the beginning, silly.
Anyway, Thursday night me, Sean, and Stu get to the hotel, check in, then go over to the convention center to get our badges the night before. The idea being that receiving our badges the night before allows us to experience more of the con, by not missing out on those precious first hours.
Here's the first place we fail.
The weather had a meeting. In this meeting, they decided, "Hey, those guys from the Principality of Daveon are coming. Let's greet them." Apparently, weather doesn't like fascists. We got the muggiest, hottest night I've ever had the mispleasure of stepping out in. However, we DID manage to step into the building and be directed into the pre-reg line right as they were opening up a second pre-reg line. So instead of waiting an hour or more, we waited all of five minutes.
Recap: Weather hates fascists, Otacorp loves fascists.
On To Friday!
I tried coffee for the first time since I was a kid, onacuza Stu made some in the hotel room. I still hate the stuff.
Here's another place we fail.
Friday morning was overcast, with small amounts of rain. It was ultimately more comfortable than the night before. However, we took the opportunity to flash our badges at the people standing in the line that wrapped around the building. We get inside, though, and realize that there's nothing going on in the first couple hours.
Always the optimists, though, we went out onto the observation deck of the Convention Center, and took some time to plan out the day. When we realized that we didn't really have much to do until later that day, we taunted people standing in the line some more.
We only saw a couple people we had to get pictures of in the line. One of which was a guy cosplaying Coop, from Megas XLR. We tried to get his attention, but couldn't. The other, however, was your hero and mine, Zeon's Red Comet, Char Aznable. So we shouted to him, and he looked up at us, and we waved, and he struck a fist into the air and shouted, "ZIEG ZEON!" Sean got a picture of him with his fist in the air. I shall treasure that always (as soon as he sends me a copy). We responded by striking our fists into the air and uttering the same. This is when irony struck, though, as a guy dressed in a Federation Officer's uniform from original Gundam was walking by below, so we shouted, "HEY FEDDY!" When he looked up, we again Zieged the Zeon. All he could do was boo, though, as we had the high ground. (Blech, Ep 3 ref).
Pause from recap for delightful anecdotes: Sean is notoriously bad at seeing people in a crowd. He will crane his neck and scan to make it look like he's actually trying, but I think that's just a learned behavior, and not actual perception. When I went to pick him up from the train station, Sean was standing at the gate looking for me. I stood in plain view staring at him from atop the escalator that stood between him and I, hoping he would see me and come up. He didn't. So I moved further out and did a little waving, still hoping for results. Still nothing. At this point, he looked RIGHT AT ME, but continued turning his head in mock search. His girlfriend called me, my Legend of Zelda ringtone played, which I was sure would get his attention, but it didn't. She told me he was at the gate and waiting for me, I responded, "I know that. I'm staring right at him. Thank you, though. I'll go get him now." We hung up, and I went down the escalator that, because of the set-up of the train station, took me away from him. Doubled around, stood under the escalators looking at him, still nothing. Mind you, this is thrice I've stood in front of him while he's looked past me, pretending to be looking for me. So now I decide to have some fun with him, exit to the front of the station, then come back in around to his side. I then stand there, TEN FEET from him, with my arms crossed, and he looks past me twice before he even sees me.
So having had that experience, when Sean went to the bathroom and Stuart suggested we move five feet to the left so as not to be in everyone's way, I clucked my tongue and said, "He'll never find us." We move five feet to the left, wait for him, Sean comes out, then walks right past us doing that "looking" motion. We had to tug on his sleeve just to get him to see us.
Later was some panels. Panels are fun, but they cancelled the Mecha Revolution panel we wanted to see. Stupid Mecha and their not revolving. The panel before that was a little humorous, though, as there was a guy that looked like a fat Keanu Reeves that was trying to ask a question or make a comment in the discussion or something. The lead panelist said, "Wait wait wait. First... you have to say something for me." Keanu agreed. "Say, 'I know kung fu.'" Laughter from the audience, then Keanu said it. The panelist then slammed his hand down and said, "Show me." It was hilarious to be picking on Keanu like that.
We did the dealer room thing and scoured high and low for a Perfect Grade Zaku II model that Stu wanted to buy. No one had it. Lots of places had lots of Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny crap, though, much to my chagrin. If you want something to laugh at cheaply, there were lots of places that had Perfect Grade Balls. Go ahead, laugh. We did. Also filled in a survey for Funimation 'cause they do random drawings for people to win DVDs, and last year Sean won. Twice. He won at the con, then apparently later they sent him a letter saying, "Hey, you won. Want a DVD?" onacuza no one checked his name off the list.
Next was lunch. Burger King. Blech.
Later on we did a Yuusha Robot panel, which was next to empty, but it meant we actually got to interact pretty easily with the panelists. They showed some clips and gave some background info I didn't know about. Also explained quite easily why the good stuff like GaoGaiGar hasn't made it over here.
To top off Friday night, we went to a panel for "niche Japanese titles" like my beloved Super Robot Wars. Originally, our plan was to sit there and chant "Super Robot Wars. Super Robot Wars. Super Robot Wars." over and over, but that didn't pan out due to the damned panel being interesting and stuff. Durn them for holding my attention! Right after the obscure games panel was FUNimation's panel, where they do the announcements, and give out more free stuff. Sean got free stuff for standing in a line to ask a question someone six-to-ten places ahead of him already asked. So basically, for nothing. We lost Stuart at some point during those panels, and he went off to look around, planning to join us for the panel we were ACTUALLY sitting there for. That didn't work out, though.
We were a little confused when they were shooing everyone out after the FUNi panel, but then one of the staff shouted that they needed to get the seating done, as the line for the next panel extended... oh... around the building. What is this magical, mystical, crowd-drawing panel, you might ask?
Late Night Voice Actors.
Took them a good half-hour to start the thing, because the VAs were taking their sweet time getting ready. Richard Ian Cox entered, and I could hear the Inu Yasha fan girls... well, insert a dirty reference of your own choosing here, as I'm at work. When Scott McNeil came in, though, dressed in a cowboy hat and sleeveless plaid workshirt like some Australian lumberjack, one of the other VAs pointed and said, "Hey look! It's Scott McNeil!" and the room erupted in hoots and whoops. Later, as the fans were still settling, a fan walked in wearing basically the exact same thing as Scott, and he stood up and said, "Hey look! It's Scott McNeil!" which, actually, resulted in the same applause for this guy as Scott himself got. The panel was great. It was basically just a bunch of VAs from so many different companies hanging out drinking some Japanese drink and tossing gutted snowballs like frisbees into the crowd. Sean caught Scott's snowball. Richard got hit with a rubber chicken from the crowd. Greg Ayres did his psycho voices a couple times. Someone stood up during the Q&A to tell Scott that her friend "Jamie" was in love with him, and asked if he could say, in Duo Maxwell's voice, that he loved her too. Here is where Scott solidified his position above everyone else in my book of favorite VAs...
Scott: "Now... this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that 'Jamie' can be both a guy or a girl name, would it? They call it 'yaoi' (pronounced by him as "yowwie") for a reason, y'know."
Pause for laughing and applause.
Then he slowly started to stand up, holding his microphone, and used Duo's voice to say, "Jamie... I would once again become the God of Death just for you. I love you, Jamie!" Then he went over into the crowd and hugged her and kissed her (Jamie, not the friend who actually asked him to do this). While he was doing that, the room went back to Q&A, but ironically after the panel, Sean ran into that girl right after throwing away Scott's snowball onacuza his hand was smelling like coconut. Jamie just about freaked out and took the snowball that Sean dug out of the trash for her, held it to her face, and pledged to keep it forever.
Pause recap session for just a minute here: This girl took a gutted snowball, which isn't the most sanitary thing in the world in the first place, that had just been in a con trashcan, and held it to her face. Eww.
After Scott's compliance, someone else asked Richard to say, in Inu Yasha's voice, hello to her friend. He agreed, asked if they were ready, then took a deep breath...
...and let out with the highest-pitched grandma voice I've ever heard. Seriously. Everyone laughed, and he did that once more before actually doing the Inu Yasha voice to say hello and all that jazz. Lots of fangirls sighing and stuff.
While the Otakon staff was trying to tell the VAs they had to leave for the next panel to come in, Greg Ayres took up the Otakon book to read aloud the description of the panel that they were being pushed out for, to the rabid fans in the room, while another VA did faux sign language for it.
The next panel was a hentai discussion panel. Greg put emphasis on the words, "futanari" and "bukkake" in hilarious Greg Ayres fashion.
After the panel let out, I had to call Stu on his cell phone to find out he was like, 6 feet down from where I was standing, but we couldn't see each other. So we met up and decided that we should go ahead back to the room, as we'd gotten to the con at about 9AM, and it was now closing on midnight.
Saturday Comes After Friday!
We got back to the con at, again, around 9AM. We discovered, again, that there's not much going on at around 9AM. We did some panel stuff, and I wanted to watch the first four episodes of Godmars (a super robot, natch) that were showing in one of the video rooms. During that, Stu went off to the dealer's room, Sean went off to the game room. We agreed to meet back at the video room I was in at the end of the GodMars showing.
Instead of the first 4 episodes, they showed the SECOND 4 episodes. This wasn't much of a problem, though, as it was really easy to get into. I missed some of the really early plot points, but didn't feel awkward watching it from episode 5 on.
Wait, scratch that. I did feel awkward.
If you ever get a chance to watch Godmars, don't. It was a big flaming ball of crud. I actually fell asleep in a stiff metal chair during episode 6. The show was so boring that I hiked up my shirt for a little bit of cushioning, scootched down in an already really small chair, and closed my eyes for about 25 minutes worth of sleep. Woke up, got a drink of water, tried to watch the next two episodes, then tried to sleep through the next two episodes. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get back to sleep, but I did manage to wait until it was over before exiting quickly.
The problem now was that they allotted two hours for four episodes of the show. With no commercials to sit through, and even with the restarts due to Otakon staff errors, and the OP and ED playing, that left about a half-hour before the showing was scheduled to end. The staff didn't seem real eager to put anything else in, either, so I left while people were filing in for good seats of the new Lupin movie showing.
So I went out and called Stu, met up with him, then we talked until the showing was supposed to be over, at which point we looked for Sean. When we didn't see him after 20 minutes, I suggested we look for him. Stuart was pessimistic about that, as he'd apparently walked the video game room asking if anyone had seen "an oaf," (literally, that's what Stu asked) and had no results. I knew though, that there was only one entrance/exit for the video game room, and thus we made our way over there. Stu mentioned that there were two routes AFTER the entrance/exit to reach where we were, but I wasn't concerned. I know my friends.
We get over to the stairs that lead down to the one entrance/exit to rule them all, (LotR ref, blech) and start to head down. Halfway down the steps, I see Sean and point him out to Stu. Stu's ready to just go over to him, but I wanted to play one of my games with him. So we move through the crowd to get behind Sean, then follow him quietly until he reaches the stairs. I should also mention that we had to just about brush against him just to get behind him, too. So he starts to go up the stairs when I tug on his sleeve, he turns around, and I bust out laughing. So we go back up the stairs, which gets Stu complaining, then get out of the way of traffic before deciding that it's probably a good time to do lunch.
Which means it's outside and back down the stairs. Stu complains some more, I just laugh.
Pause to mention the prop used to aid my laugh: Stu bought me a nice little folding fan with the Japanese kanji for "Wind" on it. Awesome sentiment. Thanks Stubert.
We eat, this time I got pizza for me and Sean from the pizza place that was right next to Burger King, while Stu waits in the line for BK.
Sean and I were done before Stuart got to the front of the line.
So we're sitting there talking and stuff, and some punk on an escalator made some cheap shot at Stu for eating fast food or something. I didn't catch it, and had to ask what had happened afterwards. Made me really angry 'cause Stu's like, 98% muscle at this point, and me an' Sean weren't even eating fast food, technically. Unfortunately, though, I didn't see the punk kid, and my two buddies couldn't give me an accurate description, so there was no smackdown laid.
We went back and I did some shopping in the dealer's room again (the dealer's room was HUGE this year. I'm sure I missed a couple booths despite having been in there all three days). The big thing this year seemed to be grab bags, where people sell you, say, 35$ worth of stuff you wouldn't have chosen normally for 20$. This results in one 1.50$ item that you would've bought, and 33.50$ of random stuff to give to your friends. I bought a couple of these. -.-; I'll discuss that stuff in a later post, when I get home and sort the swag. Did get some neat stuff. I also spent about 30 minutes flipping through various hentai doujinshi at one table that had, well, a whole lot of hentai doujinshi. I actually found some recent stuff done with characters from ComBattler V and Mazinger Z, as well as one with a Super Robot Wars original character, and a Gundam one.
After that we headed back to the hotel for a while. Had Bennigans for dinner, 'cause Stu was paying, and they were giving you a 20% discount if you showed them your room key from the hotel we stayed at. During dinner I called Joe, 'cause he wanted to come hang out with us in the hotel room since he couldn't make it to the con this year. Something about him being a flake or something. That's a rant I'll spare everyone, though, as this post is already long as all hell. So Joe and his girlfriend came by, we all went swimming, except for me, then went back to the room for a while.
Sunday! OR: Hey Crystal, I've Got a Story Now!
Sunday, we didn't get to the con until about 10AM, since we were dealing with checking out, and we took a little longer with getting ready in the morning, due to lack of sleep. This was cool, though, since basically nothing happens on Sunday at the con. In previous years the dealer's room would have good sales on the last day, but I didn't really find any of that this year.
Saturday morning we'd actually skipped some VA autograph sessions in favor of doing the stuff that's actually going on, since the same people were going to be there Sunday morning. We did, actually, get in line Sunday morning for the room with the FUNimation VAs and Scott and Richard, because we were determined to tell Scott about our "Scott McNeil Drinking Game." Stu wandered off to look around instead of wait in line with us. Took about an hour and a half just to get into the small room with the FUNi VAs. During that wait, though, I had a really wicked idea for a joke to play on Richard, since I'd gotten the impression he was a bit of a jerk in the Late Night VA panel. We borrowed a black marker from someone in the line, drew your standard blacked out teeth, pirate eye patch, pitchfork, and devil horns on Richard, then some hearts and flowers around Scott, all in Sean's book.
Now most people who know much about FUNi VAs know about FUNi DBZ VAs. This is not who was here. Chris Sabbat was nowhere in attendance, and lucky for him, because I would've let him have it.
Instead, we got three people that do GOOD jobs for them.
First up, Justin Cook. He does a lot of bit parts for FUNi, but more importantly, he did Yuusuke Urameshi in YuYu Hakusho. When I got up to my turn for a signature, I held my hand out for a handshake, and when he shook my hand we had a small dialogue...
Me: Thank you for not sucking.
Justin: Err, thanks.
Me: Seriously, I was worried when I heard FUNimation got YuYu, but when I heard your voice as Yuusuke, I was relieved. You're really good. Thank you for that.
Justin: (nodding, now that he understands) Thanks Dave, that really means a lot to me.
He then signed my book with, "Dave, thanks for watching and noticing that I don't suck. -Justin Cook." Awesome.
Second up, Mike McFarland. He also does a lot of bit parts, but he also did stuff like Kame Sennin/Master Roshi. I don't really like his Master Roshi, though. I did read that he directed Case Closed/Detective Conan though, which I prefer the dub of over the original. They do a REALLY good job with bringing that over, in my opinion. Some people complain about name changes, but I could care less about that so long as the story isn't changed blatantly. Mr. McFarland, however, is a Grade A, USDA Certified jerk.
Me: Thank you for making dubs that don't suck.
Mike: (looking annoyed) Sure.
Me: Seriously, I love the Case Closed dub. It's one of the best dubs I've ever seen, really.
Mike: Thanks for that, really.
McFarland only signed his name, and then wrote the names of a bunch of series' that I didn't mention, and nothing about Conan. What a friggin' jerk.
Lastly in FUNi land, we had Vic Mignona. I had only read Vic's name in passing before Otakon listed his name as a guest. He does Edward Elric's voice in the FUNi dub of Fullmetal Alchemist. This is a good voice, yes. It's also what a couple hundred people were there to see him for. I, however, had looked at his website, and seen the list of other roles he'd played, and found one that sparked my interest a little bit more...
Me: (leaning over the table and talking softly) Hey Vic, there are a lot of people here to see you because of the Elric role.
Vic: (shaking my hand) Yeah, there are.
Me: But I read on your website (pause for him to look up, 'cause now he knows I'm actually interested in something else, and have bothered to look at his website), that you also played Sandman.
Vic: (looks unsure for a moment, then begins beaming) Oh yeah! Gravion! Awesome! You liked that?!
Me: Heck yeah! That was awesome. You did a great job in the last volume of Zwei, when Sandman was doing the fighting. It was just awesome.
Vic: Thanks Dave, that means a lot to me.
Me: Hey, can you do a custom signature for me?
Vic: Sure, what would you like?
So I had him sign, "Soldier of the Gran Knighthood, work towards that beautiful tomorrow. -Vic Mignona (Sandman)"
At first he was like, "Wow, that's good." Then he needed me to repeat it so he could get it all, but he was eager to write it. When he saw what we did to Richard's picture in Sean's book, and explained the joke, Vic wrote under his own picture, "Scott is much hotter. -Vic"
Vic Mignona is officially awesome.
I'm also officially a member of the Gravion team. Sandman said so.
Vic and Justin are awesome, Mike is not. For now, mind you. I may be proven wrong in the future.
Then came time to wait in a second line for Scott and Richard, but I needed to hit the dealer room one last time to grab some stuff for Joe. So I gave my autograph book to Sean and asked for him to have them sign it for me, and tell them I'm sorry I had to get something for a friend.
So me and Stu skidaddled down to the dealer's room for the last pass. picked up some stuff, went into debt, the usual Otakon stuff. Actually, went into debt for more hentai. But this was special hentai. Behehehehe.
When we got back, we were amazed to find that Sean's line had not moved. Scott is apparently such a nice guy that he was taking all the time in the world to talk to people at the table. Richard apparently had to use the restroom at one point, as well, so there's that. When we found Sean though, he said that Richard had to catch a plane so he got up and walked down the line signing everyone's books. He'd seen the joke, and immediately asked, "Vic did that?" Sean explained the thing, and Richard wrote, "But Richard is nicer!" beside Vic's line. He also signed my book despite my not being there, and then after Sean told me all this, and showed me the picture he got of Richard threatening him with a sharpie, after all that, Sean chose to point out that Richard was standing right behind him, in the line, still signing.
Okay, so I didn't notice that, but to be fair, I wasn't actually looking for Richard Ian Cox in the middle of the line. So I thanked him personally for the autograph, apologized again for my absence, and he said it was okay, he understood, and was generally pleasant.
VERDICT: Richard's awesome.
Here's where it gets a little fuzzy. The line moved a little over the next five hours, at some point Sean yelled over that they didn't care if people got in the line despite it having been closed, and I got in line with my autograph book to await Scott McNeil's presence.
Somewhere at the end of those five hours, the con was officially over, and the staff was supposed to be locking the doors, but Scott refused to let anyone go home empty handed. He said that if he had to go out on the street to finish signing, he would. Some guy hanging around him that I would have to assume is his manager, seemed worried about that, and talked to the staff, then to Scott again. So Scott was still determined to get everyone done, but conceded that the line needed to move quickly. No more hugs and dancing around, no more pictures, yada yada. He still refused to let anyone go before they got their signature.
So some girls try to cut in front of us when we're second out from the table, and I tell this dude we had been talking to where exactly to step when the people in front of us go to leave so that the line cutters would be stopped dead. He makes the move, they're stopped dead, I grin at them and the little girls act like we'd smacked them vigorously. On the bottom. Seriously, we were the bad guys for not letting them cut in front of us and the 20 people behind us, despite the fact I'd watched them join the line not 20 minutes before that. They came late and expected to be waited on first.
So I put my book down when the other guy's finished, 'cause I know where to step and when to keep the girls cut off. Scott looks up at my name tag, then me, and...
Scott: Hi there, Dave. How you doin' today?
Me: I'm good, how about you?
Scott: In a little bit of a rush, but good.
At this point, he's thinking of something to write, so I take the chance to say something else...
Me: I joined your fan club the other night.
Scott: My what? I have one of those?
Me: Err, yeah, on your website.
Scott: Oh yeah! Aww, geez, Dave.
Me: I even put in my actual information instead of faking it.
Scott: Aww, geez, Dave.
He's still trying to think of what to write, because the guy is so personable that he doesn't want to just put his name down.
Me: My friends and I actually invented a drinking game based around you.
Scott: (begining to write my name finally) Aww, geez, _now_ you've piqued my interest. I have to hear this.
I was worried about time, but since he told me to, I went into the explanation. Take notes at home if you want to get sloshed.
Take 1 shot whenever Scott McNeil speaks a line.
Take 2 shots whenever Scott McNeil speaks to Scott McNeil.
Take 3 shots whenever Scott McNeil orders, or carries out, the death of Scott McNeil.
If Scott McNeil hits on Scott McNeil, down the bottle. Lord knows he probably had to just to do the take.
Scott was actually laughing at it, as were a couple people in line. It was just awesome. He looked up, shook my hand, and said, "Thanks for coming out, Dave. It was awesome talking to you."
It wasn't until I walked halfway back to Stu that I read what he wrote... "'Aww, geez,' Dave. -Scott McNeil"
I started laughing, then he greeted Sean, who had put down the extra book he'd gotten for his girlfriend first. Scott looked at what was already signed in it, then looked up and said, "Hello, Jeni. You're a fine looking young lady."
I just got Sean's attention when he was done laughing and said that Stu and I would wait outside so the staff wouldn't have to worry about us.
The staff member standing next to me seemed relieved, at least.
Stu and I almost rounded the corner when Sean came running up to us, and we left together for the journey home.
The end...?
NOPE!
Monday night after the con, we all had tickets to go see Puffy AmiYumi in concert at a DC club. All of us, including Joe. So we drove to Joe's house, waited in his driveway for him to get home, then greeted him after 10 minutes of "Joe sucks. I totally hate Joe. I wish we could get in touch with Joe."
Not much to say about the concert, other than that it was good. The opening band wasn't that great, but then, when are they? AmiYumi rocked the hizzy, though. I didn't expect them to actually play the Teen Titans theme, but they did. The whole place sang along, too. They also played the theme song to their CN show, which was fun, too. Then they left, and everyone was shouting for an encore, Sean was doubting they would actually come back out, but I pointed to the fact the stage lights were still on as proof they would be back out. Then they did come back out.
It was pretty cute, they don't speak English, or at least not fluently, so they had cue cards the whole night, and fortunately didn't understand a rather dirty joke someone shouted at them. During the encore, though, they said, "Recently, we met the band, Greenday. They said they loved us. So, we love them too. Now we want to sing their song, 'Basketcase.'" The whole place went crazy, and sang along as they covered Basketcase. Then they sang another song or two, bowed, and exited, stage left even. (Old Hanna Barbera ref, ble-... okay, that one I like). We headed out from there, had some misadventures with the metro on the way back, then the weekend was officially over.
Hoo-rah. There's some other stuff I left out, like the secret meaning of "Fafner," the random shoutings of "Zieg Daveon," and the events that led up to me kissing Joe, but that's all for later if I feel the need to extrapolate.
Thanks for coming, tip your waitress, eat the veal, someone has to.
Let's Start With Thursday!
Why start with Thursday? Because it's the beginning, silly.
Anyway, Thursday night me, Sean, and Stu get to the hotel, check in, then go over to the convention center to get our badges the night before. The idea being that receiving our badges the night before allows us to experience more of the con, by not missing out on those precious first hours.
Here's the first place we fail.
The weather had a meeting. In this meeting, they decided, "Hey, those guys from the Principality of Daveon are coming. Let's greet them." Apparently, weather doesn't like fascists. We got the muggiest, hottest night I've ever had the mispleasure of stepping out in. However, we DID manage to step into the building and be directed into the pre-reg line right as they were opening up a second pre-reg line. So instead of waiting an hour or more, we waited all of five minutes.
Recap: Weather hates fascists, Otacorp loves fascists.
On To Friday!
I tried coffee for the first time since I was a kid, onacuza Stu made some in the hotel room. I still hate the stuff.
Here's another place we fail.
Friday morning was overcast, with small amounts of rain. It was ultimately more comfortable than the night before. However, we took the opportunity to flash our badges at the people standing in the line that wrapped around the building. We get inside, though, and realize that there's nothing going on in the first couple hours.
Always the optimists, though, we went out onto the observation deck of the Convention Center, and took some time to plan out the day. When we realized that we didn't really have much to do until later that day, we taunted people standing in the line some more.
We only saw a couple people we had to get pictures of in the line. One of which was a guy cosplaying Coop, from Megas XLR. We tried to get his attention, but couldn't. The other, however, was your hero and mine, Zeon's Red Comet, Char Aznable. So we shouted to him, and he looked up at us, and we waved, and he struck a fist into the air and shouted, "ZIEG ZEON!" Sean got a picture of him with his fist in the air. I shall treasure that always (as soon as he sends me a copy). We responded by striking our fists into the air and uttering the same. This is when irony struck, though, as a guy dressed in a Federation Officer's uniform from original Gundam was walking by below, so we shouted, "HEY FEDDY!" When he looked up, we again Zieged the Zeon. All he could do was boo, though, as we had the high ground. (Blech, Ep 3 ref).
Pause from recap for delightful anecdotes: Sean is notoriously bad at seeing people in a crowd. He will crane his neck and scan to make it look like he's actually trying, but I think that's just a learned behavior, and not actual perception. When I went to pick him up from the train station, Sean was standing at the gate looking for me. I stood in plain view staring at him from atop the escalator that stood between him and I, hoping he would see me and come up. He didn't. So I moved further out and did a little waving, still hoping for results. Still nothing. At this point, he looked RIGHT AT ME, but continued turning his head in mock search. His girlfriend called me, my Legend of Zelda ringtone played, which I was sure would get his attention, but it didn't. She told me he was at the gate and waiting for me, I responded, "I know that. I'm staring right at him. Thank you, though. I'll go get him now." We hung up, and I went down the escalator that, because of the set-up of the train station, took me away from him. Doubled around, stood under the escalators looking at him, still nothing. Mind you, this is thrice I've stood in front of him while he's looked past me, pretending to be looking for me. So now I decide to have some fun with him, exit to the front of the station, then come back in around to his side. I then stand there, TEN FEET from him, with my arms crossed, and he looks past me twice before he even sees me.
So having had that experience, when Sean went to the bathroom and Stuart suggested we move five feet to the left so as not to be in everyone's way, I clucked my tongue and said, "He'll never find us." We move five feet to the left, wait for him, Sean comes out, then walks right past us doing that "looking" motion. We had to tug on his sleeve just to get him to see us.
Later was some panels. Panels are fun, but they cancelled the Mecha Revolution panel we wanted to see. Stupid Mecha and their not revolving. The panel before that was a little humorous, though, as there was a guy that looked like a fat Keanu Reeves that was trying to ask a question or make a comment in the discussion or something. The lead panelist said, "Wait wait wait. First... you have to say something for me." Keanu agreed. "Say, 'I know kung fu.'" Laughter from the audience, then Keanu said it. The panelist then slammed his hand down and said, "Show me." It was hilarious to be picking on Keanu like that.
We did the dealer room thing and scoured high and low for a Perfect Grade Zaku II model that Stu wanted to buy. No one had it. Lots of places had lots of Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny crap, though, much to my chagrin. If you want something to laugh at cheaply, there were lots of places that had Perfect Grade Balls. Go ahead, laugh. We did. Also filled in a survey for Funimation 'cause they do random drawings for people to win DVDs, and last year Sean won. Twice. He won at the con, then apparently later they sent him a letter saying, "Hey, you won. Want a DVD?" onacuza no one checked his name off the list.
Next was lunch. Burger King. Blech.
Later on we did a Yuusha Robot panel, which was next to empty, but it meant we actually got to interact pretty easily with the panelists. They showed some clips and gave some background info I didn't know about. Also explained quite easily why the good stuff like GaoGaiGar hasn't made it over here.
To top off Friday night, we went to a panel for "niche Japanese titles" like my beloved Super Robot Wars. Originally, our plan was to sit there and chant "Super Robot Wars. Super Robot Wars. Super Robot Wars." over and over, but that didn't pan out due to the damned panel being interesting and stuff. Durn them for holding my attention! Right after the obscure games panel was FUNimation's panel, where they do the announcements, and give out more free stuff. Sean got free stuff for standing in a line to ask a question someone six-to-ten places ahead of him already asked. So basically, for nothing. We lost Stuart at some point during those panels, and he went off to look around, planning to join us for the panel we were ACTUALLY sitting there for. That didn't work out, though.
We were a little confused when they were shooing everyone out after the FUNi panel, but then one of the staff shouted that they needed to get the seating done, as the line for the next panel extended... oh... around the building. What is this magical, mystical, crowd-drawing panel, you might ask?
Late Night Voice Actors.
Took them a good half-hour to start the thing, because the VAs were taking their sweet time getting ready. Richard Ian Cox entered, and I could hear the Inu Yasha fan girls... well, insert a dirty reference of your own choosing here, as I'm at work. When Scott McNeil came in, though, dressed in a cowboy hat and sleeveless plaid workshirt like some Australian lumberjack, one of the other VAs pointed and said, "Hey look! It's Scott McNeil!" and the room erupted in hoots and whoops. Later, as the fans were still settling, a fan walked in wearing basically the exact same thing as Scott, and he stood up and said, "Hey look! It's Scott McNeil!" which, actually, resulted in the same applause for this guy as Scott himself got. The panel was great. It was basically just a bunch of VAs from so many different companies hanging out drinking some Japanese drink and tossing gutted snowballs like frisbees into the crowd. Sean caught Scott's snowball. Richard got hit with a rubber chicken from the crowd. Greg Ayres did his psycho voices a couple times. Someone stood up during the Q&A to tell Scott that her friend "Jamie" was in love with him, and asked if he could say, in Duo Maxwell's voice, that he loved her too. Here is where Scott solidified his position above everyone else in my book of favorite VAs...
Scott: "Now... this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that 'Jamie' can be both a guy or a girl name, would it? They call it 'yaoi' (pronounced by him as "yowwie") for a reason, y'know."
Pause for laughing and applause.
Then he slowly started to stand up, holding his microphone, and used Duo's voice to say, "Jamie... I would once again become the God of Death just for you. I love you, Jamie!" Then he went over into the crowd and hugged her and kissed her (Jamie, not the friend who actually asked him to do this). While he was doing that, the room went back to Q&A, but ironically after the panel, Sean ran into that girl right after throwing away Scott's snowball onacuza his hand was smelling like coconut. Jamie just about freaked out and took the snowball that Sean dug out of the trash for her, held it to her face, and pledged to keep it forever.
Pause recap session for just a minute here: This girl took a gutted snowball, which isn't the most sanitary thing in the world in the first place, that had just been in a con trashcan, and held it to her face. Eww.
After Scott's compliance, someone else asked Richard to say, in Inu Yasha's voice, hello to her friend. He agreed, asked if they were ready, then took a deep breath...
...and let out with the highest-pitched grandma voice I've ever heard. Seriously. Everyone laughed, and he did that once more before actually doing the Inu Yasha voice to say hello and all that jazz. Lots of fangirls sighing and stuff.
While the Otakon staff was trying to tell the VAs they had to leave for the next panel to come in, Greg Ayres took up the Otakon book to read aloud the description of the panel that they were being pushed out for, to the rabid fans in the room, while another VA did faux sign language for it.
The next panel was a hentai discussion panel. Greg put emphasis on the words, "futanari" and "bukkake" in hilarious Greg Ayres fashion.
After the panel let out, I had to call Stu on his cell phone to find out he was like, 6 feet down from where I was standing, but we couldn't see each other. So we met up and decided that we should go ahead back to the room, as we'd gotten to the con at about 9AM, and it was now closing on midnight.
Saturday Comes After Friday!
We got back to the con at, again, around 9AM. We discovered, again, that there's not much going on at around 9AM. We did some panel stuff, and I wanted to watch the first four episodes of Godmars (a super robot, natch) that were showing in one of the video rooms. During that, Stu went off to the dealer's room, Sean went off to the game room. We agreed to meet back at the video room I was in at the end of the GodMars showing.
Instead of the first 4 episodes, they showed the SECOND 4 episodes. This wasn't much of a problem, though, as it was really easy to get into. I missed some of the really early plot points, but didn't feel awkward watching it from episode 5 on.
Wait, scratch that. I did feel awkward.
If you ever get a chance to watch Godmars, don't. It was a big flaming ball of crud. I actually fell asleep in a stiff metal chair during episode 6. The show was so boring that I hiked up my shirt for a little bit of cushioning, scootched down in an already really small chair, and closed my eyes for about 25 minutes worth of sleep. Woke up, got a drink of water, tried to watch the next two episodes, then tried to sleep through the next two episodes. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get back to sleep, but I did manage to wait until it was over before exiting quickly.
The problem now was that they allotted two hours for four episodes of the show. With no commercials to sit through, and even with the restarts due to Otakon staff errors, and the OP and ED playing, that left about a half-hour before the showing was scheduled to end. The staff didn't seem real eager to put anything else in, either, so I left while people were filing in for good seats of the new Lupin movie showing.
So I went out and called Stu, met up with him, then we talked until the showing was supposed to be over, at which point we looked for Sean. When we didn't see him after 20 minutes, I suggested we look for him. Stuart was pessimistic about that, as he'd apparently walked the video game room asking if anyone had seen "an oaf," (literally, that's what Stu asked) and had no results. I knew though, that there was only one entrance/exit for the video game room, and thus we made our way over there. Stu mentioned that there were two routes AFTER the entrance/exit to reach where we were, but I wasn't concerned. I know my friends.
We get over to the stairs that lead down to the one entrance/exit to rule them all, (LotR ref, blech) and start to head down. Halfway down the steps, I see Sean and point him out to Stu. Stu's ready to just go over to him, but I wanted to play one of my games with him. So we move through the crowd to get behind Sean, then follow him quietly until he reaches the stairs. I should also mention that we had to just about brush against him just to get behind him, too. So he starts to go up the stairs when I tug on his sleeve, he turns around, and I bust out laughing. So we go back up the stairs, which gets Stu complaining, then get out of the way of traffic before deciding that it's probably a good time to do lunch.
Which means it's outside and back down the stairs. Stu complains some more, I just laugh.
Pause to mention the prop used to aid my laugh: Stu bought me a nice little folding fan with the Japanese kanji for "Wind" on it. Awesome sentiment. Thanks Stubert.
We eat, this time I got pizza for me and Sean from the pizza place that was right next to Burger King, while Stu waits in the line for BK.
Sean and I were done before Stuart got to the front of the line.
So we're sitting there talking and stuff, and some punk on an escalator made some cheap shot at Stu for eating fast food or something. I didn't catch it, and had to ask what had happened afterwards. Made me really angry 'cause Stu's like, 98% muscle at this point, and me an' Sean weren't even eating fast food, technically. Unfortunately, though, I didn't see the punk kid, and my two buddies couldn't give me an accurate description, so there was no smackdown laid.
We went back and I did some shopping in the dealer's room again (the dealer's room was HUGE this year. I'm sure I missed a couple booths despite having been in there all three days). The big thing this year seemed to be grab bags, where people sell you, say, 35$ worth of stuff you wouldn't have chosen normally for 20$. This results in one 1.50$ item that you would've bought, and 33.50$ of random stuff to give to your friends. I bought a couple of these. -.-; I'll discuss that stuff in a later post, when I get home and sort the swag. Did get some neat stuff. I also spent about 30 minutes flipping through various hentai doujinshi at one table that had, well, a whole lot of hentai doujinshi. I actually found some recent stuff done with characters from ComBattler V and Mazinger Z, as well as one with a Super Robot Wars original character, and a Gundam one.
After that we headed back to the hotel for a while. Had Bennigans for dinner, 'cause Stu was paying, and they were giving you a 20% discount if you showed them your room key from the hotel we stayed at. During dinner I called Joe, 'cause he wanted to come hang out with us in the hotel room since he couldn't make it to the con this year. Something about him being a flake or something. That's a rant I'll spare everyone, though, as this post is already long as all hell. So Joe and his girlfriend came by, we all went swimming, except for me, then went back to the room for a while.
Sunday! OR: Hey Crystal, I've Got a Story Now!
Sunday, we didn't get to the con until about 10AM, since we were dealing with checking out, and we took a little longer with getting ready in the morning, due to lack of sleep. This was cool, though, since basically nothing happens on Sunday at the con. In previous years the dealer's room would have good sales on the last day, but I didn't really find any of that this year.
Saturday morning we'd actually skipped some VA autograph sessions in favor of doing the stuff that's actually going on, since the same people were going to be there Sunday morning. We did, actually, get in line Sunday morning for the room with the FUNimation VAs and Scott and Richard, because we were determined to tell Scott about our "Scott McNeil Drinking Game." Stu wandered off to look around instead of wait in line with us. Took about an hour and a half just to get into the small room with the FUNi VAs. During that wait, though, I had a really wicked idea for a joke to play on Richard, since I'd gotten the impression he was a bit of a jerk in the Late Night VA panel. We borrowed a black marker from someone in the line, drew your standard blacked out teeth, pirate eye patch, pitchfork, and devil horns on Richard, then some hearts and flowers around Scott, all in Sean's book.
Now most people who know much about FUNi VAs know about FUNi DBZ VAs. This is not who was here. Chris Sabbat was nowhere in attendance, and lucky for him, because I would've let him have it.
Instead, we got three people that do GOOD jobs for them.
First up, Justin Cook. He does a lot of bit parts for FUNi, but more importantly, he did Yuusuke Urameshi in YuYu Hakusho. When I got up to my turn for a signature, I held my hand out for a handshake, and when he shook my hand we had a small dialogue...
Me: Thank you for not sucking.
Justin: Err, thanks.
Me: Seriously, I was worried when I heard FUNimation got YuYu, but when I heard your voice as Yuusuke, I was relieved. You're really good. Thank you for that.
Justin: (nodding, now that he understands) Thanks Dave, that really means a lot to me.
He then signed my book with, "Dave, thanks for watching and noticing that I don't suck. -Justin Cook." Awesome.
Second up, Mike McFarland. He also does a lot of bit parts, but he also did stuff like Kame Sennin/Master Roshi. I don't really like his Master Roshi, though. I did read that he directed Case Closed/Detective Conan though, which I prefer the dub of over the original. They do a REALLY good job with bringing that over, in my opinion. Some people complain about name changes, but I could care less about that so long as the story isn't changed blatantly. Mr. McFarland, however, is a Grade A, USDA Certified jerk.
Me: Thank you for making dubs that don't suck.
Mike: (looking annoyed) Sure.
Me: Seriously, I love the Case Closed dub. It's one of the best dubs I've ever seen, really.
Mike: Thanks for that, really.
McFarland only signed his name, and then wrote the names of a bunch of series' that I didn't mention, and nothing about Conan. What a friggin' jerk.
Lastly in FUNi land, we had Vic Mignona. I had only read Vic's name in passing before Otakon listed his name as a guest. He does Edward Elric's voice in the FUNi dub of Fullmetal Alchemist. This is a good voice, yes. It's also what a couple hundred people were there to see him for. I, however, had looked at his website, and seen the list of other roles he'd played, and found one that sparked my interest a little bit more...
Me: (leaning over the table and talking softly) Hey Vic, there are a lot of people here to see you because of the Elric role.
Vic: (shaking my hand) Yeah, there are.
Me: But I read on your website (pause for him to look up, 'cause now he knows I'm actually interested in something else, and have bothered to look at his website), that you also played Sandman.
Vic: (looks unsure for a moment, then begins beaming) Oh yeah! Gravion! Awesome! You liked that?!
Me: Heck yeah! That was awesome. You did a great job in the last volume of Zwei, when Sandman was doing the fighting. It was just awesome.
Vic: Thanks Dave, that means a lot to me.
Me: Hey, can you do a custom signature for me?
Vic: Sure, what would you like?
So I had him sign, "Soldier of the Gran Knighthood, work towards that beautiful tomorrow. -Vic Mignona (Sandman)"
At first he was like, "Wow, that's good." Then he needed me to repeat it so he could get it all, but he was eager to write it. When he saw what we did to Richard's picture in Sean's book, and explained the joke, Vic wrote under his own picture, "Scott is much hotter. -Vic"
Vic Mignona is officially awesome.
I'm also officially a member of the Gravion team. Sandman said so.
Vic and Justin are awesome, Mike is not. For now, mind you. I may be proven wrong in the future.
Then came time to wait in a second line for Scott and Richard, but I needed to hit the dealer room one last time to grab some stuff for Joe. So I gave my autograph book to Sean and asked for him to have them sign it for me, and tell them I'm sorry I had to get something for a friend.
So me and Stu skidaddled down to the dealer's room for the last pass. picked up some stuff, went into debt, the usual Otakon stuff. Actually, went into debt for more hentai. But this was special hentai. Behehehehe.
When we got back, we were amazed to find that Sean's line had not moved. Scott is apparently such a nice guy that he was taking all the time in the world to talk to people at the table. Richard apparently had to use the restroom at one point, as well, so there's that. When we found Sean though, he said that Richard had to catch a plane so he got up and walked down the line signing everyone's books. He'd seen the joke, and immediately asked, "Vic did that?" Sean explained the thing, and Richard wrote, "But Richard is nicer!" beside Vic's line. He also signed my book despite my not being there, and then after Sean told me all this, and showed me the picture he got of Richard threatening him with a sharpie, after all that, Sean chose to point out that Richard was standing right behind him, in the line, still signing.
Okay, so I didn't notice that, but to be fair, I wasn't actually looking for Richard Ian Cox in the middle of the line. So I thanked him personally for the autograph, apologized again for my absence, and he said it was okay, he understood, and was generally pleasant.
VERDICT: Richard's awesome.
Here's where it gets a little fuzzy. The line moved a little over the next five hours, at some point Sean yelled over that they didn't care if people got in the line despite it having been closed, and I got in line with my autograph book to await Scott McNeil's presence.
Somewhere at the end of those five hours, the con was officially over, and the staff was supposed to be locking the doors, but Scott refused to let anyone go home empty handed. He said that if he had to go out on the street to finish signing, he would. Some guy hanging around him that I would have to assume is his manager, seemed worried about that, and talked to the staff, then to Scott again. So Scott was still determined to get everyone done, but conceded that the line needed to move quickly. No more hugs and dancing around, no more pictures, yada yada. He still refused to let anyone go before they got their signature.
So some girls try to cut in front of us when we're second out from the table, and I tell this dude we had been talking to where exactly to step when the people in front of us go to leave so that the line cutters would be stopped dead. He makes the move, they're stopped dead, I grin at them and the little girls act like we'd smacked them vigorously. On the bottom. Seriously, we were the bad guys for not letting them cut in front of us and the 20 people behind us, despite the fact I'd watched them join the line not 20 minutes before that. They came late and expected to be waited on first.
So I put my book down when the other guy's finished, 'cause I know where to step and when to keep the girls cut off. Scott looks up at my name tag, then me, and...
Scott: Hi there, Dave. How you doin' today?
Me: I'm good, how about you?
Scott: In a little bit of a rush, but good.
At this point, he's thinking of something to write, so I take the chance to say something else...
Me: I joined your fan club the other night.
Scott: My what? I have one of those?
Me: Err, yeah, on your website.
Scott: Oh yeah! Aww, geez, Dave.
Me: I even put in my actual information instead of faking it.
Scott: Aww, geez, Dave.
He's still trying to think of what to write, because the guy is so personable that he doesn't want to just put his name down.
Me: My friends and I actually invented a drinking game based around you.
Scott: (begining to write my name finally) Aww, geez, _now_ you've piqued my interest. I have to hear this.
I was worried about time, but since he told me to, I went into the explanation. Take notes at home if you want to get sloshed.
Take 1 shot whenever Scott McNeil speaks a line.
Take 2 shots whenever Scott McNeil speaks to Scott McNeil.
Take 3 shots whenever Scott McNeil orders, or carries out, the death of Scott McNeil.
If Scott McNeil hits on Scott McNeil, down the bottle. Lord knows he probably had to just to do the take.
Scott was actually laughing at it, as were a couple people in line. It was just awesome. He looked up, shook my hand, and said, "Thanks for coming out, Dave. It was awesome talking to you."
It wasn't until I walked halfway back to Stu that I read what he wrote... "'Aww, geez,' Dave. -Scott McNeil"
I started laughing, then he greeted Sean, who had put down the extra book he'd gotten for his girlfriend first. Scott looked at what was already signed in it, then looked up and said, "Hello, Jeni. You're a fine looking young lady."
I just got Sean's attention when he was done laughing and said that Stu and I would wait outside so the staff wouldn't have to worry about us.
The staff member standing next to me seemed relieved, at least.
Stu and I almost rounded the corner when Sean came running up to us, and we left together for the journey home.
The end...?
NOPE!
Monday night after the con, we all had tickets to go see Puffy AmiYumi in concert at a DC club. All of us, including Joe. So we drove to Joe's house, waited in his driveway for him to get home, then greeted him after 10 minutes of "Joe sucks. I totally hate Joe. I wish we could get in touch with Joe."
Not much to say about the concert, other than that it was good. The opening band wasn't that great, but then, when are they? AmiYumi rocked the hizzy, though. I didn't expect them to actually play the Teen Titans theme, but they did. The whole place sang along, too. They also played the theme song to their CN show, which was fun, too. Then they left, and everyone was shouting for an encore, Sean was doubting they would actually come back out, but I pointed to the fact the stage lights were still on as proof they would be back out. Then they did come back out.
It was pretty cute, they don't speak English, or at least not fluently, so they had cue cards the whole night, and fortunately didn't understand a rather dirty joke someone shouted at them. During the encore, though, they said, "Recently, we met the band, Greenday. They said they loved us. So, we love them too. Now we want to sing their song, 'Basketcase.'" The whole place went crazy, and sang along as they covered Basketcase. Then they sang another song or two, bowed, and exited, stage left even. (Old Hanna Barbera ref, ble-... okay, that one I like). We headed out from there, had some misadventures with the metro on the way back, then the weekend was officially over.
Hoo-rah. There's some other stuff I left out, like the secret meaning of "Fafner," the random shoutings of "Zieg Daveon," and the events that led up to me kissing Joe, but that's all for later if I feel the need to extrapolate.
Thanks for coming, tip your waitress, eat the veal, someone has to.