Chronicles of Comic-Con ~ Part 2
~Inside the Comic-con
Overwhelming. I can't descrive it any other way. Everything was calling out to me, it was wonderful ^^
At the middle were the most popular booths, Nintendo, Square Enix, Broccoli, Tokyopop and others, at the sides were smaller booths, some of them were promoting small comics or webcomics, some others were just promoting classic comics, on the "other" side of the Comic-con were all the retailers and cheap stuff, you coud get a keychain for 10 dollars on one side and the same keychain for 5 dollars on the cheap side, that's something, nee?
~The People
Well, there was a "lot" of people there, I got a hug from most of the characters I took pictures of. There is one person I'd like to especially comment on.
The first day, while browsing through a doujin box I found a Rozen Maiden fanbook, Rozen Maiden was extremely rare to find at Comic-con so I instantly bought it from this really nice guy running the booth, the next day I was all alone, my friend who had accompanied me through out the first day didn't go any other day so after going around and takig a few pictures and hughs from people I ended up at the same booth, while I was browsing through the doujin box, the guy recognized me from yesterday and asked me about the Rozen Maiden fanbook, we talked a bit and I mentioned I was tired from walking all day, so the offered me to come into the booth and take a seat which I accepted, so we started talking.
His name is David, and his friend helping at the booth was (well, is) Ben. I can't remember what we talked about but we liked each other, I tried to help a bit around so I wouldn't feel bad about taking a seat with them, so the next day I offered to come by and help out a bit more.
The next day I came back and helped, people might thik 'Working at a con? What a boring thing to do!' but I had a lot of fun talking to David and Ben and I also got to meet a whole lot of people that way, people who attended con's from years back, people cosplaying, people into the business of drawing or animating, and David was so nice to me the whole time. He'd often say things like 'Oh, if you do't want to be here you can go out and about, I don't want you to miss out all the fun'. He is such a good man. I'm so glad I met him. I even promised him I would come next year and help him out at the booth, I probably will, even if I do go with friends and stuff I'll try to set aside at least one day to help them. As a goodbye gift he gave me a Sumire plushie (from Sakura Taisen) and let me have a Fullmetal Alchemist Doujinshi for free. I can't express how happy I am to have come across such a wonderul person and have such a wondeful experience, Thank You So Much David.
As for famous people, well, there was Fred Gallagher, the creator of Megatokyo, I bough a bunch of stuff at his booth and got a comic signed by him, with Marine's Ping that I had promis her for her birthday, I'll try to scan it ^^.
The last day a friend, Electra, went to get me at the booth I was working at and got me to go with her to a conference with the creator of Emily The Strange (can't remember the guy's ame though), we also got a poster, a CD and a shirt all signed at either the conference or his booth.
~Bought Goods
Well, this is a particularly long list but I'll try to point out most of the things I got, as well as a small description.
Initial D cap: It says "Fujiwara Tofu Den" at the front, one of the few things I could find of Initial D.
Megatokyo cap: I got it the third day at the con, it's made of hemp, black and says Megatokyo at the front. It's awfully comfy too.
Boo plushie: Got this the first day of the Con. It's exactly the same they sell on the webpage.
Rurouni Kenshin pillow: Got this the last day of the con. It's yellow with a picture of a smilling Kenshin in purple with a sunset behind him.
Vash the Stampede plushie: I actually wanted an Edward Elric plushie but they were sold out, nontheless, it's awfully cute.
Sumire plushie: David gave this to me the last day as a gift for working with him. I found her the third day laying on the floor of the booth all forgotten, so I picked her up and put her on my shoulder and pretended she could talk to me and went around saying things like "Sumire says...", David was a bit creeped out though, hahaha.
Shounen Jump manga preview: Just a freebe I got the first day, not really interestig.
Shoujo Beat manga preview: Same as above.
Boogiepop Phatom novel and graphic novels: Got this the first day at the con. I was afraid they would sold out so I got them immediatelly, still haven't read them though.
Drift X novel: It was lying on top of a trash bin, it looked abandoned so I took it, haven't read it though, but it looks a bit like Initial D, or at least the cover does.
Megatokyo thingie to put the Con's badge and pins on: Must cuter than the one you got when buying the badge to enter the Con. It's says Megatokyo in romaji and katana and has a bell at the end.
Puchiko Hat: A lot of people asked me were I had gotten this (at the Brocolli booth), it looks like the hat Puchiko wears at the show, they also had Dejiko's but I lot more like Puchiko.
Fullmetal Alchemist State Alchemist watch: Looks a lot more real than the one they sell at Hot Topic and it also come with a chain with the Flamel symbol Ed wears on the back of his jacket, I think it need a battery change though.
Manekineko cellphone strap: I just liked it, there were cellphone straps for the Chinese Zodiac but they had run out of the dragon so I got this instead, let's hope it does bring good luck.
Zipper Charm Ed and Roy: My worst nightmare came true, my Edo keychain got stained!! And it won't come off so I bought this which has Edo in the same positiong as in the keychain (only smaller which gives it an extra cute boost) and a Roy to go with it.
Death Note: I'm not sure why I bought this, I'll probably feel tempted to rip off the pages when there's something I don't like but I'm glad I bought though. Inside there's the instructions to how to use it like in the manga and it even has some things written on it as if it were the real Death Note that Light used, to bad I can't read japanese though.
Megatokyo Rubber Wristband: Like the ones from "Livestrong" oly it's orange and it says Megatokyo.
Copic Markers: 24 markers of my choice for 15 dollars if I filled the bag, not really bad considering each marker is 5 dollars individually, it also came with the free bag.
Copic Pens: Pens used to draw, what else?
Sketchbook: from the same company as the comic markers.
How to use copic markers guide book: Might as well learn how to.
Rozen Maiden Artbook: Art for the Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden ~Traumend~ series. All the art is beautifull, it even come with some rough sketches and images you don't even get on the internet. Very well worth it.
Manga Studio Debut 3.0: A program for manga artists to create manga's easier, I'll have to install it and start practicing soon. It was the last one or so the clerk told me so I was really lucky art the last day ^^U
Free Fullemetal Alchemist posters: Freebies, two from the series and one from the movie. The movie was being promoted at the con but the voice acting sucks (obviously) so I jus ignored this booth, plus I've already seen the movie.
Chinese Red Shirt: The only small sized one, I was really lucky to get this.
Black Chinese Suit: Just a pair of pants and some kind of male shirt. It looks awesome though, it has a red dragon embroidery design on the back.
Rozen Maiden Fanbook: Beatifully drawn, it contais a few gag stories. Worth the money.
NERV messenger bag: I was actually looking for an Initial D messenger bag but they didn't have it (I'm still looking for it though) so I chose a NERV bag but they didn't have the big one so I had to settle for the middle one. It was actually very hard to choose because I wanted something cool but that I could always like, not like a passing liking and also something that people could recognize and say "Oh, cool". I think I made a right choice, as long as it works for me it's okay.
Initial D yaoi doujinshi: a few booths away from David's there was another booth that was selling american comics but also had three boxes of japanese hentai, as well as a decent selection of yaoi, while browsing through it I could help but find some amazing Initial D stuff, some of which I was pinning for for months and it was right there at my reach and so I bought all of them (except one but that's because it was RyosukexKeiseuke)
Six doujinshis, five RyouskexTakumi and one KeisukexTakumi. Four of these were from Pink Power which is my favorite doujin circle, the art is amazing. The other two are good as well, the stories are short in all of them but it's very well worth it for a fan like me.
Megatokyo volume four: I needed something for Fred to draw in and that was the first thing that was at hand so I bought it before being next to sign.
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time manga: THE LAST ONE IN THE WHOLE BOOTH!!! It's in japanese but that's ok, I've read the translations. The art is awesome, I wish I could find the second volume though.
Initial D scale car: Boxes with Initial D cars in them, they were cheap so I bought one and hoped to find Takumi's 86 since it was random. I got Ryosuke's FC.
Prince of Tennis Tezuka keychain: Comic-con was seriously lacking Prince of Tennis stuff. The only good thing we found was the artbook, which Electra bought, and some manga, otherwise there was very little, I found this by chance, there was also Ryoma but they looked like they came out of a prize machine so the quiality wasn't that great, Tezuka looked more or less okay so i bought it, originally I was going to send it to Marine as a birthday gift (along with the many other thing I got her) and if she didn't like it she could give it to her brother who we affectionaly call 'Buchou', but instead I decided to keep it. (I hope it's okay?)
SOS-Dan Armband: The irst day I came across some guys holding an SOS-Dan flag and some armband but I didn't see them again until the last day when they passes by David's booth, I instatly ran out after them and asked them if I could have one, they gave me one and I asked if they danced or anything, they said that they didn't have time to prepare bat that probably next year they would.
I think that's all of it, not including some stuff I lost (I think I left them at the booth since I left in a hurry, yeah, I'm 'that' stupid =_=) and ot including the shirts I got. Next post (which will be later today) will be PICTURES!! YAY!!
Overwhelming. I can't descrive it any other way. Everything was calling out to me, it was wonderful ^^
At the middle were the most popular booths, Nintendo, Square Enix, Broccoli, Tokyopop and others, at the sides were smaller booths, some of them were promoting small comics or webcomics, some others were just promoting classic comics, on the "other" side of the Comic-con were all the retailers and cheap stuff, you coud get a keychain for 10 dollars on one side and the same keychain for 5 dollars on the cheap side, that's something, nee?
~The People
Well, there was a "lot" of people there, I got a hug from most of the characters I took pictures of. There is one person I'd like to especially comment on.
The first day, while browsing through a doujin box I found a Rozen Maiden fanbook, Rozen Maiden was extremely rare to find at Comic-con so I instantly bought it from this really nice guy running the booth, the next day I was all alone, my friend who had accompanied me through out the first day didn't go any other day so after going around and takig a few pictures and hughs from people I ended up at the same booth, while I was browsing through the doujin box, the guy recognized me from yesterday and asked me about the Rozen Maiden fanbook, we talked a bit and I mentioned I was tired from walking all day, so the offered me to come into the booth and take a seat which I accepted, so we started talking.
His name is David, and his friend helping at the booth was (well, is) Ben. I can't remember what we talked about but we liked each other, I tried to help a bit around so I wouldn't feel bad about taking a seat with them, so the next day I offered to come by and help out a bit more.
The next day I came back and helped, people might thik 'Working at a con? What a boring thing to do!' but I had a lot of fun talking to David and Ben and I also got to meet a whole lot of people that way, people who attended con's from years back, people cosplaying, people into the business of drawing or animating, and David was so nice to me the whole time. He'd often say things like 'Oh, if you do't want to be here you can go out and about, I don't want you to miss out all the fun'. He is such a good man. I'm so glad I met him. I even promised him I would come next year and help him out at the booth, I probably will, even if I do go with friends and stuff I'll try to set aside at least one day to help them. As a goodbye gift he gave me a Sumire plushie (from Sakura Taisen) and let me have a Fullmetal Alchemist Doujinshi for free. I can't express how happy I am to have come across such a wonderul person and have such a wondeful experience, Thank You So Much David.
As for famous people, well, there was Fred Gallagher, the creator of Megatokyo, I bough a bunch of stuff at his booth and got a comic signed by him, with Marine's Ping that I had promis her for her birthday, I'll try to scan it ^^.
The last day a friend, Electra, went to get me at the booth I was working at and got me to go with her to a conference with the creator of Emily The Strange (can't remember the guy's ame though), we also got a poster, a CD and a shirt all signed at either the conference or his booth.
~Bought Goods
Well, this is a particularly long list but I'll try to point out most of the things I got, as well as a small description.
Initial D cap: It says "Fujiwara Tofu Den" at the front, one of the few things I could find of Initial D.
Megatokyo cap: I got it the third day at the con, it's made of hemp, black and says Megatokyo at the front. It's awfully comfy too.
Boo plushie: Got this the first day of the Con. It's exactly the same they sell on the webpage.
Rurouni Kenshin pillow: Got this the last day of the con. It's yellow with a picture of a smilling Kenshin in purple with a sunset behind him.
Vash the Stampede plushie: I actually wanted an Edward Elric plushie but they were sold out, nontheless, it's awfully cute.
Sumire plushie: David gave this to me the last day as a gift for working with him. I found her the third day laying on the floor of the booth all forgotten, so I picked her up and put her on my shoulder and pretended she could talk to me and went around saying things like "Sumire says...", David was a bit creeped out though, hahaha.
Shounen Jump manga preview: Just a freebe I got the first day, not really interestig.
Shoujo Beat manga preview: Same as above.
Boogiepop Phatom novel and graphic novels: Got this the first day at the con. I was afraid they would sold out so I got them immediatelly, still haven't read them though.
Drift X novel: It was lying on top of a trash bin, it looked abandoned so I took it, haven't read it though, but it looks a bit like Initial D, or at least the cover does.
Megatokyo thingie to put the Con's badge and pins on: Must cuter than the one you got when buying the badge to enter the Con. It's says Megatokyo in romaji and katana and has a bell at the end.
Puchiko Hat: A lot of people asked me were I had gotten this (at the Brocolli booth), it looks like the hat Puchiko wears at the show, they also had Dejiko's but I lot more like Puchiko.
Fullmetal Alchemist State Alchemist watch: Looks a lot more real than the one they sell at Hot Topic and it also come with a chain with the Flamel symbol Ed wears on the back of his jacket, I think it need a battery change though.
Manekineko cellphone strap: I just liked it, there were cellphone straps for the Chinese Zodiac but they had run out of the dragon so I got this instead, let's hope it does bring good luck.
Zipper Charm Ed and Roy: My worst nightmare came true, my Edo keychain got stained!! And it won't come off so I bought this which has Edo in the same positiong as in the keychain (only smaller which gives it an extra cute boost) and a Roy to go with it.
Death Note: I'm not sure why I bought this, I'll probably feel tempted to rip off the pages when there's something I don't like but I'm glad I bought though. Inside there's the instructions to how to use it like in the manga and it even has some things written on it as if it were the real Death Note that Light used, to bad I can't read japanese though.
Megatokyo Rubber Wristband: Like the ones from "Livestrong" oly it's orange and it says Megatokyo.
Copic Markers: 24 markers of my choice for 15 dollars if I filled the bag, not really bad considering each marker is 5 dollars individually, it also came with the free bag.
Copic Pens: Pens used to draw, what else?
Sketchbook: from the same company as the comic markers.
How to use copic markers guide book: Might as well learn how to.
Rozen Maiden Artbook: Art for the Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden ~Traumend~ series. All the art is beautifull, it even come with some rough sketches and images you don't even get on the internet. Very well worth it.
Manga Studio Debut 3.0: A program for manga artists to create manga's easier, I'll have to install it and start practicing soon. It was the last one or so the clerk told me so I was really lucky art the last day ^^U
Free Fullemetal Alchemist posters: Freebies, two from the series and one from the movie. The movie was being promoted at the con but the voice acting sucks (obviously) so I jus ignored this booth, plus I've already seen the movie.
Chinese Red Shirt: The only small sized one, I was really lucky to get this.
Black Chinese Suit: Just a pair of pants and some kind of male shirt. It looks awesome though, it has a red dragon embroidery design on the back.
Rozen Maiden Fanbook: Beatifully drawn, it contais a few gag stories. Worth the money.
NERV messenger bag: I was actually looking for an Initial D messenger bag but they didn't have it (I'm still looking for it though) so I chose a NERV bag but they didn't have the big one so I had to settle for the middle one. It was actually very hard to choose because I wanted something cool but that I could always like, not like a passing liking and also something that people could recognize and say "Oh, cool". I think I made a right choice, as long as it works for me it's okay.
Initial D yaoi doujinshi: a few booths away from David's there was another booth that was selling american comics but also had three boxes of japanese hentai, as well as a decent selection of yaoi, while browsing through it I could help but find some amazing Initial D stuff, some of which I was pinning for for months and it was right there at my reach and so I bought all of them (except one but that's because it was RyosukexKeiseuke)
Six doujinshis, five RyouskexTakumi and one KeisukexTakumi. Four of these were from Pink Power which is my favorite doujin circle, the art is amazing. The other two are good as well, the stories are short in all of them but it's very well worth it for a fan like me.
Megatokyo volume four: I needed something for Fred to draw in and that was the first thing that was at hand so I bought it before being next to sign.
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time manga: THE LAST ONE IN THE WHOLE BOOTH!!! It's in japanese but that's ok, I've read the translations. The art is awesome, I wish I could find the second volume though.
Initial D scale car: Boxes with Initial D cars in them, they were cheap so I bought one and hoped to find Takumi's 86 since it was random. I got Ryosuke's FC.
Prince of Tennis Tezuka keychain: Comic-con was seriously lacking Prince of Tennis stuff. The only good thing we found was the artbook, which Electra bought, and some manga, otherwise there was very little, I found this by chance, there was also Ryoma but they looked like they came out of a prize machine so the quiality wasn't that great, Tezuka looked more or less okay so i bought it, originally I was going to send it to Marine as a birthday gift (along with the many other thing I got her) and if she didn't like it she could give it to her brother who we affectionaly call 'Buchou', but instead I decided to keep it. (I hope it's okay?)
SOS-Dan Armband: The irst day I came across some guys holding an SOS-Dan flag and some armband but I didn't see them again until the last day when they passes by David's booth, I instatly ran out after them and asked them if I could have one, they gave me one and I asked if they danced or anything, they said that they didn't have time to prepare bat that probably next year they would.
I think that's all of it, not including some stuff I lost (I think I left them at the booth since I left in a hurry, yeah, I'm 'that' stupid =_=) and ot including the shirts I got. Next post (which will be later today) will be PICTURES!! YAY!!