Otakon Talk (I Told You It Was Coming)
Pics are on facebook. I may put some up later, but not now.
Otakon this year was pretty interesting for me. I was much more relaxed than it has been before. Since I was already staying at a local hotel for work, I didn't have to worry about that issue. Also, I got to go alone, which was nice in that it gave me a greater feeling of relief and independence, though I was a little sad because my mom said she felt a little bad that she wasn't coming this year. Other than that, I had a really good time.
To start off, I only went two of the three days this year. This was the shortest con for me ever. Friday I was at work most of the day, so I didn't get to go in the morning and early afternoon. Also, I didn't go to one panel this year. There were only a few I really wanted to go to, and I either couldn't or decided to do something else at the time. The only events I did were on Saturday when I sttod in line for the autographs of Ryohei Kitamura and Seki Tomokazu. I got lucky with Kitamura because I got there just as they were closing his line. He was nice, spoke good english, and was cool enough to give me an autograph for my roomie, who also likes the movies he's directed (well, perhaps "is horribly amused by" is a better way to put it). And Seki was totally worth the wait. That man has done soooo many voices of characters that I just adore, and he was super nice too. And I spoke to him in Japanese and he understood me. I felt quite proud.
On a side note, on of the things I bought in the dealers room was a Deathnote, and that is what I used for an autograph book at the con. A little twisted? Probably. I haven't heard anything about Kitamura or Seki dying yet though, so I guess it's ok. :) I was really tempted to write some crazy studd by Seki's name though, like "is set on fire by transgender pyromaniac," but I resisted the temptation. I bought most of my stuff in the dealer's room the first day. I got a Rukawa plushie, the Deathnote book and a Deathnote tie (which took me a minute to figure out how to work. ^.^; Now that I get it though, I really like it because I suck at tying ties), and a whole bunch of cheap manga. I was so excited about finding Rebound and getting caught up on it. It alone made Otakon worth it. On Saturday, I bought some more manga because it was even cheaper and I bought a cute Kirby pin in artist's alley because I was horribly amused by the fact that it said "I want you inside me." I was saddened by the utter lack of Johnny's stuff however, and refused to pay the crazy prices for any cds, posters, etc j-music goods. I'm going to Japan in about a month and can get it soooo much cheaper.
I did do some cosplaying this year. I dressed up as Yasu from K8 and had a lot of fun. It was also nice to be in a relatively cool costume and not feel like I was going to have a heat stroke. It also made me very happy when I ran into some Eito Rangers and got a pic with them. There were some really good costumes this year, though I went lighter on the pic taking that I normally do.
I got to see every one of my friends I wanted to see, and then some. It still amazes me that, at an event with that many people, you can still run into people. It was really nice to see some people I haven't seen in quite a long time and catch up. I also made some new friends, which made me really happy. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the JE fan meet-up was pretty sucky, but I did run into and hang out with some of the girls I met there later. The coolest friends I made though were the girls I waited in line to see Seki with. There were a lot of awesome people in that line, but the girls I'm referring to were dressed as flowershop Weiss (minus Ken). When they met Seki, he asked them where he (meaning Ken) was, and he actually asked them for a group picture, which was so cute. :) After the meet, I hung out with them in their hotel room, and we began work on "Con Room: The Musical," which is destined to become one of the biggest Broadway hits of all times with songs like "Where the Hell is My Camera?" and "Can Someone Help Me with My Wig?" It was good times.
Two complaints about Otakon. The first is minor. It's about the people who walk around Baltimore and look at the con-goers say things like "Look at the freaks." I hate the fact that there are people in the world who insult things just because they don't understand it, but I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that it will always happen. However, there was this one huge group of people all wearing white shirts that said something like "Lead America" walking down by the harbor saying things like that, and it really pissed me off. First off, I don't want such bitchy people leading my America. Second, you're going to call us freaks when you're marching though downtown Baltimore in a huge mass in matching shirts looking like a cult? I liked Yohji-kun's theory (who was actually Reno at the time) that they were going to jump into the harbor. :) Also, as Yohji said, at least we were having fun. The second thing that majorly pissed me off was the Otastaff. I know these people work really hard and have a hell of a job to do. However, this year, I think they did an abysmal job when it came to controlling lines. They were trying to change things from last year when they had the horribly long lines for everything Yoshiki did. What they tried to do this year was a mess though. Instead of letting people line up as early as they wanted, they made people wait until they called for a time to line up. This created mad dashes which were horribly unsafe. It was a very stupid plan. Secondly, if you want people to stop bitching, then DO YOUR BLOODY JOB AND WATCH THE LINE! A ridiculous amount of people cut into the Seki line. When someone went to complain to a staffer, the staffer said there was nothing he could do about it because he didn't see it. That's just fucking ridiculous. You should have people watching the lines to make sure shit like that doesn't go down. And it was even worse because any half-witted moron could tell about certain people who had cut in line because they stood out so much, but still nothing was done. It was ridiculous, and the Otastaff really let the ball drop on this one.
Other than that, my Otakon this year was pretty damn awesome and I really enjoyed myself. And that's my Otareport.
Otakon this year was pretty interesting for me. I was much more relaxed than it has been before. Since I was already staying at a local hotel for work, I didn't have to worry about that issue. Also, I got to go alone, which was nice in that it gave me a greater feeling of relief and independence, though I was a little sad because my mom said she felt a little bad that she wasn't coming this year. Other than that, I had a really good time.
To start off, I only went two of the three days this year. This was the shortest con for me ever. Friday I was at work most of the day, so I didn't get to go in the morning and early afternoon. Also, I didn't go to one panel this year. There were only a few I really wanted to go to, and I either couldn't or decided to do something else at the time. The only events I did were on Saturday when I sttod in line for the autographs of Ryohei Kitamura and Seki Tomokazu. I got lucky with Kitamura because I got there just as they were closing his line. He was nice, spoke good english, and was cool enough to give me an autograph for my roomie, who also likes the movies he's directed (well, perhaps "is horribly amused by" is a better way to put it). And Seki was totally worth the wait. That man has done soooo many voices of characters that I just adore, and he was super nice too. And I spoke to him in Japanese and he understood me. I felt quite proud.
On a side note, on of the things I bought in the dealers room was a Deathnote, and that is what I used for an autograph book at the con. A little twisted? Probably. I haven't heard anything about Kitamura or Seki dying yet though, so I guess it's ok. :) I was really tempted to write some crazy studd by Seki's name though, like "is set on fire by transgender pyromaniac," but I resisted the temptation. I bought most of my stuff in the dealer's room the first day. I got a Rukawa plushie, the Deathnote book and a Deathnote tie (which took me a minute to figure out how to work. ^.^; Now that I get it though, I really like it because I suck at tying ties), and a whole bunch of cheap manga. I was so excited about finding Rebound and getting caught up on it. It alone made Otakon worth it. On Saturday, I bought some more manga because it was even cheaper and I bought a cute Kirby pin in artist's alley because I was horribly amused by the fact that it said "I want you inside me." I was saddened by the utter lack of Johnny's stuff however, and refused to pay the crazy prices for any cds, posters, etc j-music goods. I'm going to Japan in about a month and can get it soooo much cheaper.
I did do some cosplaying this year. I dressed up as Yasu from K8 and had a lot of fun. It was also nice to be in a relatively cool costume and not feel like I was going to have a heat stroke. It also made me very happy when I ran into some Eito Rangers and got a pic with them. There were some really good costumes this year, though I went lighter on the pic taking that I normally do.
I got to see every one of my friends I wanted to see, and then some. It still amazes me that, at an event with that many people, you can still run into people. It was really nice to see some people I haven't seen in quite a long time and catch up. I also made some new friends, which made me really happy. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the JE fan meet-up was pretty sucky, but I did run into and hang out with some of the girls I met there later. The coolest friends I made though were the girls I waited in line to see Seki with. There were a lot of awesome people in that line, but the girls I'm referring to were dressed as flowershop Weiss (minus Ken). When they met Seki, he asked them where he (meaning Ken) was, and he actually asked them for a group picture, which was so cute. :) After the meet, I hung out with them in their hotel room, and we began work on "Con Room: The Musical," which is destined to become one of the biggest Broadway hits of all times with songs like "Where the Hell is My Camera?" and "Can Someone Help Me with My Wig?" It was good times.
Two complaints about Otakon. The first is minor. It's about the people who walk around Baltimore and look at the con-goers say things like "Look at the freaks." I hate the fact that there are people in the world who insult things just because they don't understand it, but I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that it will always happen. However, there was this one huge group of people all wearing white shirts that said something like "Lead America" walking down by the harbor saying things like that, and it really pissed me off. First off, I don't want such bitchy people leading my America. Second, you're going to call us freaks when you're marching though downtown Baltimore in a huge mass in matching shirts looking like a cult? I liked Yohji-kun's theory (who was actually Reno at the time) that they were going to jump into the harbor. :) Also, as Yohji said, at least we were having fun. The second thing that majorly pissed me off was the Otastaff. I know these people work really hard and have a hell of a job to do. However, this year, I think they did an abysmal job when it came to controlling lines. They were trying to change things from last year when they had the horribly long lines for everything Yoshiki did. What they tried to do this year was a mess though. Instead of letting people line up as early as they wanted, they made people wait until they called for a time to line up. This created mad dashes which were horribly unsafe. It was a very stupid plan. Secondly, if you want people to stop bitching, then DO YOUR BLOODY JOB AND WATCH THE LINE! A ridiculous amount of people cut into the Seki line. When someone went to complain to a staffer, the staffer said there was nothing he could do about it because he didn't see it. That's just fucking ridiculous. You should have people watching the lines to make sure shit like that doesn't go down. And it was even worse because any half-witted moron could tell about certain people who had cut in line because they stood out so much, but still nothing was done. It was ridiculous, and the Otastaff really let the ball drop on this one.
Other than that, my Otakon this year was pretty damn awesome and I really enjoyed myself. And that's my Otareport.