Can we rename Denmark Derpmark? (Anime Fest Orlando~)
So...Thursday was not a good day for me. Even after my car crash, my day got worse (if you saw my tweets, MUCH worse), and I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I had fun hanging out with Sammy before leaving, but she got tired real fast, and I was still stressed out from the awful day I had.
So, Friday, I show up to the con early, because I didn't pre-register. Naturally, after the day I had on Thursday, I was kind of concerned, apprehensive, and tired as fuck. Needless to say, I wasn't in much of a con mood. I was just sort of hauling my sorry self around until I set foot in the Wyndham. So like I said, I didn't pre-reg because I'm a dumbass, and I went to sit on the massive registration line. This line was looooooooong. Anyway, I get to the end of the line of death, and I hear that usual "HEY AMERICA!" that comes right before a crazy fangirl hug or something, but this was like...four people yelling it at once. At the very front of the line, are a few of the kids from the Hetalia dare-dare game at Metrocon, and they're actually excited to see me! (I guess I'm memorable? That makes me feel pretty awesome!)
I had a lot of fun just hanging around with them and waiting for the con to open, and, unlike Metrocon, I actually had the time to sit around and get to know them. Oh, and the dealer's room at this con? About half the size of Metrocon's, maybe even smaller, but twice as awesome. There was tons of Kuroshitsuji and DBZ stuff, less overpriced bootleg crap (there was still overpriced bootleg crap, but isn't there at EVERY con?), and I actually bought a Poken this time around, which I'm glad I did. By Saturday, however, I slowed my shopping because I do still want to save for AWA. I'd rather go to lots of cons and only buy a couple of things at each con rather than blow all of my money at one con that happens to have a RAD dealer's room.
So uh, the rest of the day was filled with way more cosplay shenanigans than expected, including a much-smaller dare-or-dare game, a trip to a mildly-disappointing talent show, and a pool-party meet-up, which was entertaining to say the least. It was there that I was introduced to the crowning awesome of crack ships: Awesomeshipping. (America x Prussia.) I think I may just have to ship Awesomeship, because they can't exist at the same time, or the world would explode from too much awesome.
Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. Saturday was my planned Scooting day. Sadly, the intel game was cancelled, and there was a distinct lack of Team Fortress cosplayers. We still existed, but...BLU team was very small, and consisted entirely of scouts and engies. That's not to say, however, that they weren't awesome! There was a rad BLU Engie who set up his dispenser, which had a PS3 and a TV in it, and played DJ hero like a boss. It's just that we never seemed to conglomerate into a group that was more than four people for more than ten minutes at a time, and we didn't do much besides pose for pictures. So uh...there was an awesome Scout/Soldier duo...and...not really many others worth mentioning. Scout WAS a huge hit, however, with the volunteers. He bantered with the volunteers sitting outside of panel rooms a LOT, and trash-talked anyone who happened to be wearing a red shirt.
As much as I ADORE dicking around as scout and generally being the most obnoxious thing ever, I got bored quickly. I think I might save my TF2 cosplay for furry cons in the future, because he's a bit more well-received with them, and it's always fun for him to dick around with fursuiters. I mean, I didn't HATE being him at this con or anything, he just wasn't as fun as usual. That, and, we were missing most of the usual Florida TF2 crowd, probably because they blew all of their money at Metro or something.
Once I got bored, I wandered back to the hotel to change into America. Overall, he was much more interactive at this con anyway, scout's bantering aside. I found a massive group of countries sitting in the lobby pretty quickly, and we mass-migrated to McDonald's. Now, let me say this: I know there's a "time and place for everything," but I ADORE mass-mob cosplay in public. I just think that as long as you're respectful and polite, it can be a lot of fun. The whole walk there, we were waving at cars, and people honked and waved at us, it was kind of hilarious and awesome. It being Orlando and all, the tourists were all really amused by us, and the lady at the counter gave us all discounts! 8D
When we got back to the con, we went into the dealer's room and shopped for yaoi in-character. Naturally, I pointed out how "adorable and good-looking" I was on all of the covers. Oh, and England wasn't old enough to buy porn, so I bought some for her. Yeah, it was AmericaxEngland porn too. Afterwards, we all wandered into the hall, sat in a circle, and had in-character narrations and reactions to said porn. It was entertaining for us, and even more entertaining for the people standing near us, because I ended up fighting over England with our France, then attacked by France, then saved by Russia...and we all just kind of collapsed on the floor together after that.
It was also on Saturday that I realized how dreadfully out-of-shape I am. So, we went to the rave and conga-lined a few times, and had a macarena circle (because we're the cool kids!) but I got hot really quick, and couldn't keep my jacket on for more than five minutes at a time, because I'm a wuss. However, it wasn't actually hot in there, and the Russia next to me seemed fine, even with her scarf on. Soooo, I realized that I have zero stamina or heat tolerance. Ugh.
Sunday I just stuck with America, because he seemed to be my best and most fun costume that weekend. I went to the con with Ash, we hung around and socialized, and even played some hallway-blocking games. I guess they were kind of mean, but they were pretty funny. Myself, and a Miku and Edward (Elric, not Cullen!) pretended to be taking pictures of each other, which ALWAYS made people stop, even if one of us was just holding up our phone, facing the other, who was on the opposite side of the hall. Our "invisible trip wire" didn't work, nor did our "invisible tug-of-war," but "imaginary picture-taking"? Always.
Sunday was also the day of "Bro Russia," or "Brussia," as we nicknamed her. I found Russia relatively early, but she forgot her scarf. That was all fine and good until someone pointed out that "HOLY CRAP RUSSIA HAS A NECK!" So, she popped her collar to hide it, and stole England's aviator sunglasses to hide who it was. Awesome followed.
Sunday was just more shenanigans and those usual random social encounters that only happen at conventions, and a trip to Panda Express, wherein I had a five-hour-mountain-dew cocktail in preparation for the drive back to Sarasota.
I do have ONE big complaint about the con, and I seem to have one about every con. Anthrocon was the creepers, Metrocon was the shitty dealer's room, AFO, it's security. It wasn't that security sucked, it was that it didn't EXIST. Weapons check was optional, you could go anywhere (even sneak into the dealer room if you really wanted to) without a con pass, and well...there was just no security at all. While I don't really care all that much about people outside the con roaming around con space, rowdy congoers, paid attendees or not, need to be thrown out or at the very least YELLED AT. Sometimes people had shenanigans that got violent, and there were even a couple of small fights. Not anything serious, just the usual "obligatory few obnoxious people" who, at most cons, would be thrown out as soon as they started causing trouble. There was this one total bro, who was jumping on people. By jumping on, I mean "glomptackles" or whatever, but he was doing it a LOT. Usually, from behind. Sometimes it would scare them, or even hurt them. You figure someone besides one of my fellow cosplayers would have told him to quit it, but I first saw it on Friday, and he was still doing that on Sunday.
Oh, and all the things that I heard about narrow, hardly navigable hallways? Absolutely true. The thing is, I think that could be resolved quite simply: move the con to a bigger venue. The Wyndham is very nice and all, but even when I parked on-site, I felt like I parked a mile away, and it was just so hard to get around the con space whenever I had props with me, like my flag or my intel case. My flag was actually kind of a hazard. Someone would yell "HEY AMERICA!" and, of course, I'd turn around, and the person behind/next to/in front of me would get a face full of pole. I'm lucky it was a wooden pole.
This month, I'll be cutting back as much as possible and only buying the bare minimum of supplies to make sure I can still get to AWA. After all, the room is already paid for, so even with Ash's...tight financial state, we're determined to go. We talked it over, and when I say "Better than Christmas," I mean...we're going to dread Christmas, so we might as well have fun for this instead. That, and I may be taking my China, who sends the BEST in-character texts and makes me feel loved when I'm quite down.
So, Friday, I show up to the con early, because I didn't pre-register. Naturally, after the day I had on Thursday, I was kind of concerned, apprehensive, and tired as fuck. Needless to say, I wasn't in much of a con mood. I was just sort of hauling my sorry self around until I set foot in the Wyndham. So like I said, I didn't pre-reg because I'm a dumbass, and I went to sit on the massive registration line. This line was looooooooong. Anyway, I get to the end of the line of death, and I hear that usual "HEY AMERICA!" that comes right before a crazy fangirl hug or something, but this was like...four people yelling it at once. At the very front of the line, are a few of the kids from the Hetalia dare-dare game at Metrocon, and they're actually excited to see me! (I guess I'm memorable? That makes me feel pretty awesome!)
I had a lot of fun just hanging around with them and waiting for the con to open, and, unlike Metrocon, I actually had the time to sit around and get to know them. Oh, and the dealer's room at this con? About half the size of Metrocon's, maybe even smaller, but twice as awesome. There was tons of Kuroshitsuji and DBZ stuff, less overpriced bootleg crap (there was still overpriced bootleg crap, but isn't there at EVERY con?), and I actually bought a Poken this time around, which I'm glad I did. By Saturday, however, I slowed my shopping because I do still want to save for AWA. I'd rather go to lots of cons and only buy a couple of things at each con rather than blow all of my money at one con that happens to have a RAD dealer's room.
So uh, the rest of the day was filled with way more cosplay shenanigans than expected, including a much-smaller dare-or-dare game, a trip to a mildly-disappointing talent show, and a pool-party meet-up, which was entertaining to say the least. It was there that I was introduced to the crowning awesome of crack ships: Awesomeshipping. (America x Prussia.) I think I may just have to ship Awesomeship, because they can't exist at the same time, or the world would explode from too much awesome.
Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. Saturday was my planned Scooting day. Sadly, the intel game was cancelled, and there was a distinct lack of Team Fortress cosplayers. We still existed, but...BLU team was very small, and consisted entirely of scouts and engies. That's not to say, however, that they weren't awesome! There was a rad BLU Engie who set up his dispenser, which had a PS3 and a TV in it, and played DJ hero like a boss. It's just that we never seemed to conglomerate into a group that was more than four people for more than ten minutes at a time, and we didn't do much besides pose for pictures. So uh...there was an awesome Scout/Soldier duo...and...not really many others worth mentioning. Scout WAS a huge hit, however, with the volunteers. He bantered with the volunteers sitting outside of panel rooms a LOT, and trash-talked anyone who happened to be wearing a red shirt.
As much as I ADORE dicking around as scout and generally being the most obnoxious thing ever, I got bored quickly. I think I might save my TF2 cosplay for furry cons in the future, because he's a bit more well-received with them, and it's always fun for him to dick around with fursuiters. I mean, I didn't HATE being him at this con or anything, he just wasn't as fun as usual. That, and, we were missing most of the usual Florida TF2 crowd, probably because they blew all of their money at Metro or something.
Once I got bored, I wandered back to the hotel to change into America. Overall, he was much more interactive at this con anyway, scout's bantering aside. I found a massive group of countries sitting in the lobby pretty quickly, and we mass-migrated to McDonald's. Now, let me say this: I know there's a "time and place for everything," but I ADORE mass-mob cosplay in public. I just think that as long as you're respectful and polite, it can be a lot of fun. The whole walk there, we were waving at cars, and people honked and waved at us, it was kind of hilarious and awesome. It being Orlando and all, the tourists were all really amused by us, and the lady at the counter gave us all discounts! 8D
When we got back to the con, we went into the dealer's room and shopped for yaoi in-character. Naturally, I pointed out how "adorable and good-looking" I was on all of the covers. Oh, and England wasn't old enough to buy porn, so I bought some for her. Yeah, it was AmericaxEngland porn too. Afterwards, we all wandered into the hall, sat in a circle, and had in-character narrations and reactions to said porn. It was entertaining for us, and even more entertaining for the people standing near us, because I ended up fighting over England with our France, then attacked by France, then saved by Russia...and we all just kind of collapsed on the floor together after that.
It was also on Saturday that I realized how dreadfully out-of-shape I am. So, we went to the rave and conga-lined a few times, and had a macarena circle (because we're the cool kids!) but I got hot really quick, and couldn't keep my jacket on for more than five minutes at a time, because I'm a wuss. However, it wasn't actually hot in there, and the Russia next to me seemed fine, even with her scarf on. Soooo, I realized that I have zero stamina or heat tolerance. Ugh.
Sunday I just stuck with America, because he seemed to be my best and most fun costume that weekend. I went to the con with Ash, we hung around and socialized, and even played some hallway-blocking games. I guess they were kind of mean, but they were pretty funny. Myself, and a Miku and Edward (Elric, not Cullen!) pretended to be taking pictures of each other, which ALWAYS made people stop, even if one of us was just holding up our phone, facing the other, who was on the opposite side of the hall. Our "invisible trip wire" didn't work, nor did our "invisible tug-of-war," but "imaginary picture-taking"? Always.
Sunday was also the day of "Bro Russia," or "Brussia," as we nicknamed her. I found Russia relatively early, but she forgot her scarf. That was all fine and good until someone pointed out that "HOLY CRAP RUSSIA HAS A NECK!" So, she popped her collar to hide it, and stole England's aviator sunglasses to hide who it was. Awesome followed.
Sunday was just more shenanigans and those usual random social encounters that only happen at conventions, and a trip to Panda Express, wherein I had a five-hour-mountain-dew cocktail in preparation for the drive back to Sarasota.
I do have ONE big complaint about the con, and I seem to have one about every con. Anthrocon was the creepers, Metrocon was the shitty dealer's room, AFO, it's security. It wasn't that security sucked, it was that it didn't EXIST. Weapons check was optional, you could go anywhere (even sneak into the dealer room if you really wanted to) without a con pass, and well...there was just no security at all. While I don't really care all that much about people outside the con roaming around con space, rowdy congoers, paid attendees or not, need to be thrown out or at the very least YELLED AT. Sometimes people had shenanigans that got violent, and there were even a couple of small fights. Not anything serious, just the usual "obligatory few obnoxious people" who, at most cons, would be thrown out as soon as they started causing trouble. There was this one total bro, who was jumping on people. By jumping on, I mean "glomptackles" or whatever, but he was doing it a LOT. Usually, from behind. Sometimes it would scare them, or even hurt them. You figure someone besides one of my fellow cosplayers would have told him to quit it, but I first saw it on Friday, and he was still doing that on Sunday.
Oh, and all the things that I heard about narrow, hardly navigable hallways? Absolutely true. The thing is, I think that could be resolved quite simply: move the con to a bigger venue. The Wyndham is very nice and all, but even when I parked on-site, I felt like I parked a mile away, and it was just so hard to get around the con space whenever I had props with me, like my flag or my intel case. My flag was actually kind of a hazard. Someone would yell "HEY AMERICA!" and, of course, I'd turn around, and the person behind/next to/in front of me would get a face full of pole. I'm lucky it was a wooden pole.
This month, I'll be cutting back as much as possible and only buying the bare minimum of supplies to make sure I can still get to AWA. After all, the room is already paid for, so even with Ash's...tight financial state, we're determined to go. We talked it over, and when I say "Better than Christmas," I mean...we're going to dread Christmas, so we might as well have fun for this instead. That, and I may be taking my China, who sends the BEST in-character texts and makes me feel loved when I'm quite down.