Otakon 2004!!!
Whee!!! Made it back from Otakon fine. I'll be writing my con report via LJ-cut, but here are the highlights:
1. Soooo many FMA cosplayers! There must have been 30 Eds at the FUNimation photo shoot, and the Japanese press came and took pictures of us! I heard that one of them was from Newtype Japan, but that rumor has yet to be sustantiated.
2. FUNIMATION DIDN'T SCREW UP FMA WITH THE DUB!!!!!!!! It's really good! They showed us episode 1 before the concert and Al's voice actor was sooooo adorable! Ed sounded a little older than he should, but the translation was wonderful and for the most part it was great! Yay!!!
3. The bass guitarist of L'Arc En Ciel saw my metal arm while they were singing Ready Steady Go and pointed me out of the crowd O_o
4. It was really, really hot.
5. I got lots of cool stuff. XD
6. It took us 9 hours to get back to Rhode Island.
7. I met a lot of really nice people and had a great time. ^^
Thursday
Sara, Eliza, Nadia, Simon and Nick got here at about 11 am on Wednesday and we watched lots of anime, and I put the finishing touches on my Ed costume, then we headed to bed and managed to get out the door and on the road at 9 am.
Nick shall heretofore be named "Speed Racer." We were heading through Conn., and he was going 80 mph. We were following them, and I looked at Eliza and said, "Think we should call him and tell him to slow down? We're gonna get a ticket..." A half an hour later we're both pulled over, and we both got tickets. About 150$ each. Thankfully Nick payed for both of them.
After much driving, we made it to Pennsylvania, where we were picking up Steffan. Penn. is soooo boring to drive through. Corn, church. Church, corn. Corn. More corn. Gah. As Eliza so succintly put it, (Funny quote #1)
"When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes tossed out over the sea, far, far, far away from corn." We ate at Steffan's parents' house then continued on to the hotel, only getting lost three or four times in the process. Oh, and I almost got hit by a couple cars because Speed Racer doesn't understand the concept of YIELDING.
We got to the hotel at around 7 pm, I think, and decided to head over to the convention center to pick up our badges. The hotel shuttle dropped us off at Linthicum Light Rail station, and we waited there for awhile before discovering that the fucking train didn't come there anymore. So, we had to take a bus through the airport and get dropped off at North Linthicum station, where we paid $20 each for train tickets that no one ever checked. Finally we got to con (I dressed as Yuki Eiri, simply because it was such an easy costume XD) and we only had to wait in line for about an hour before we got our badges. I was talking to some guys in line and when I turned around everyone else was gone, they had gotten sent to the other line and I never even noticed, but the guys were cool and I talked to them for awhile. I recognized one as a Legato cosplayer from Otakon last year whose picture I had taken. ^^
I had a serious dilemma when I got to the badge pickup. They had Fullmetal Alchemist AND Gravitation badges. I wound up getting FMA, of course, but it was a tough decision. ^^ On the train ride I met "DWchang," another AMV creator. ^^ He was really nice. We got back to the hotel and crashed, since we were all exhausted, and prepared for day one of the con.
Friday
We got up at about 7 am and got to the train station at 9, then joined the enormous line of fellow pre-regged, badged people. I was wearing the Ed costume and got a few pictures taken of me, as well as getting randomly glomped by a fangirl from behind. It scared me, I hadn't even known she was there... Anyway, we only had to wait for a half an hour or so, then made it inside. I got my arm peacebound then we immediately headed for the stickering line for the L'Arc concert, since they were only giving out 7,000 stickers and if you had one you were guaranteed a seat. Funny quotes, #2:
Con Staff: "Make sure you have your badges out and ready!"
Everyone in line (in unison): "Batches?! We don' need no STINKIN' baaaatches!!"
After succeeding in this endeavor, Eliza and I went to video 1, where we watched "Otaku No Video" and the AMV finalists. I wasn't terribly impressed with the quality of most of the AMVs, and I really wish I had submitted my FMA one now. I think I could have made it into the finals with that. ~_~ Anyway, AMV Hell was good, and Dark Side Productions' "Disney in D(wchang) minor" didn't go over as well as I was expecting, which was sad. I love that video. Anyway, after that we headed off to the Dealer's room. I'll list the stuff I got later, all at once. ^^ Went to the FUNimation booth and got my picture taken with the huge Al they had there, and heard about the photo shoot.
At about 3:45 I headed off to the costume judging, where I met this REALLY nice Hughes cosplayer. He was kickass, even if he couldn't remember his character's daughter's name. ^^ I had to remind him before he went in to get judged. I don't know if I won anything, but I guess I'll check the website and find out later today.
(Every FMA cosplayer I saw was RAVING about episode 41, so I'm downloading all the ones I've missed now... )
After the judging I did something... can't remember what though ^^ hehe I know I found Eliza and we headed to the Friday Night FanParodies at around 9 pm. Nescaflowne was just as good as I remembered it, but Voltron: Hell Bent for Leather was pretty bad. Oh well...
We got back on the train (because it stopped running at 11:30) and made a nasty discovery upon reaching the station. There was construction, and the hotel shuttle driver was apparantly too lazy to take the detour, so we were stranded at the station. DO NOT STAY AT THE BALTIMORE MARIOTT COURTYARD. It sucks. Anyway, we wound up calling a taxi, and everyone let me yell at the hotel staff, who refunded us our cab fare, and so ended day one of the con.
I had to do some major repairs to the arm. Three or four of the rivets came out, and I wound up taking it off of the plether sleeve and just attatching it to the black under-jacket. Where were you when I needed you, Winry? XD
Saturday (aka Fullmetal Day ^^)
We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at about 7 am again, and Eliza and I went to Burger King for brunch, I guess you could call it. ^^ The FMA photoshoot was at 11:30 in the downstairs lobby, so we headed over there and found about 15 other FMA cosplayers. There was a girl dressed as Ed and Al's mom, who hit all the Eds with a big fan for trying to bring her back to life, and evilmooglequeen was there as Winry again. YAY Winry!!! There was a REALLY good Hughes down there who had a whole billfold of pictures of Elysia, and during an interview for a TV show he ran forward and shoved the pictures in front of the camera. XD
We all paraded down to the dealer's room for the FUNimation shoot, which was ridiculously overcrowded. It was so hard to get pictures! Hopefully FUNimation will have them up on their website soon. I was one of 6 Eds who actually made the automail arm, and I was the only one with real metal. Most of them made it out of foam, or just fabric. XD I r0xx0r. hehehe They gave us pins for cosplaying and gave prizes to the best cosplayers, like beans for the shortest Ed. There were even a few Als and an Armstrong, who was GREAT. XD
After the shoot, Eliza and I decided to go scout out the Arena, where the concert would be. The con staff had said that people wouldn't be allowed to line up before 3:30, and yet at 3:20 when we showed up the line was around the block, across 3 streets, and heading back towards the convention center. We got in line and stood there with some really nice people for about an hour and a half in the sun. It must have been at least 90%... I wound up having to take off the arm and use the red jacket as a sunblocker. Travis was kind enough to find me in line and bring me some water, which helped a lot.
The concert was EXCELLENT! XD They showed us episode one of the FMA dub while we were waiting, which I've already raved about. Eliza and I were to the left of the stage in the second section back, five rows from the floor, which means we had great seats. XD The show was incredible, the lighting was soooo well done (and timed to the music too) and they even had fire and fireworks and stuff. I got up and jumped up and down when they sang Ready Steady Go, and they showed scenes from the show on the big screens while they sang it. Bought the CD on the way out. XD
After that Eliza and I went back to video 1, where we watched episodes 58-60 of InuYasha and waited for the fanparodies to start. We saw "Magical Schoolgirl: Pretty Sue-Me" which was alright, but it would have been better without the 'MIAA public service announcements' to Grave of the Fireflies footage. *wince*
Evangelion Redeath: Redux was funny, as always. Everyone sang along with the "It's Gendo" parts. ^^ I was soooo tired by the time we left, and really hot. I just wanted to go to sleep. The train kept on stopping and losing power, and at one point I clapped my hands and slapped the wall of the train, using Alchemy. Strangely enough, it started right after I did that. XD heh heh heh Got back to the hotel with no problem from the hotel shuttle this time, and crashed.
(Note to cosplayers: NEVER alter galoshes into cosplay shoes. I have next to no skin left on the side of my pinky toes after 2 days of wearing them, and I'm having trouble walking...)
Sunday
Travis called in the morning and informed us that the train didn't run until 11 am on sundays, so he couldn't make it back to the hotel from wherever the hell he and Don stayed that night, and we had to checkout by noon. So, we packed all Travis and Don's stuff into my car and drove to the con center. Parking was relatively cheap, and Sara and I left to go to the ADV autograph session. I got my RahXephon movie DVD signed by Monica Rial (Haruka) and Chris Patton (Ayato). Went to the dealer's room for awhile, and made a sign.
"Cash Reward for information regarding the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE!!! (small print) The Elric brothers are not responsible for any damage which can - and probably will - be incurred to your town or city. Please direct all complaints to Colonel Roy Mustang of the East Division army HQ."
I got a lot of laughs out of it, and ten or fifteen people came up to give me information. I gave them a dollar and told them that if their info led to the discovery of the stone, they could pick up the rest of their reward with Roy. I bet the Roy cosplayers just LOVED me... XD
I ran into the AB conchair in the dealer's room, and he says that PatrickD is taking over as conchair this year. O_o They're basically switching jobs. I asked him if they were going to continue letting us submit 2 vids, and he said he wasn't sure yet but they'd try, (ATTN DOKool) and that if we can get a copy of the Animix DVD to them they'd like to play it.
Before leaving we had to find each other and get Trav and Don their stuff, which didn't take long, then Sara, Eliza, Nadia and I were back on the road.
We just stayed on 95 the whole way, and got stuck in pretty bad traffic at around 7pm-8pm on the Geo. Washington Bridge. Yay... We left at 2pm and we got back aorun 11, so it took us almost 9 hours (all of which I drove) before we got back here and had something to eat before going to sleep. ^^
Con Swag
L'Arc En Ciel "Smile" CD
Record of Lodoss War DVD Collection (the OVA)
X DVD: Volume One
RahXephon: The Movie
Photosuite picture in Ed costume ^^
FMA Animation Artbook (beautiful stuff)
FMA chibi pins of Ed and Al
FMA cosplay Roy gloves
FMA Doujinshi: "No Way to Say"
FMA Doujinshi: "Master of the Game"
FMA Yaoi: "Whispers About Love at in the Worldend" (that's no typo... it actually says that.)
FF7 Yaoi: "FFVII Gamebook 2"
... Wow, I got more than I thought...
1. Soooo many FMA cosplayers! There must have been 30 Eds at the FUNimation photo shoot, and the Japanese press came and took pictures of us! I heard that one of them was from Newtype Japan, but that rumor has yet to be sustantiated.
2. FUNIMATION DIDN'T SCREW UP FMA WITH THE DUB!!!!!!!! It's really good! They showed us episode 1 before the concert and Al's voice actor was sooooo adorable! Ed sounded a little older than he should, but the translation was wonderful and for the most part it was great! Yay!!!
3. The bass guitarist of L'Arc En Ciel saw my metal arm while they were singing Ready Steady Go and pointed me out of the crowd O_o
4. It was really, really hot.
5. I got lots of cool stuff. XD
6. It took us 9 hours to get back to Rhode Island.
7. I met a lot of really nice people and had a great time. ^^
Thursday
Sara, Eliza, Nadia, Simon and Nick got here at about 11 am on Wednesday and we watched lots of anime, and I put the finishing touches on my Ed costume, then we headed to bed and managed to get out the door and on the road at 9 am.
Nick shall heretofore be named "Speed Racer." We were heading through Conn., and he was going 80 mph. We were following them, and I looked at Eliza and said, "Think we should call him and tell him to slow down? We're gonna get a ticket..." A half an hour later we're both pulled over, and we both got tickets. About 150$ each. Thankfully Nick payed for both of them.
After much driving, we made it to Pennsylvania, where we were picking up Steffan. Penn. is soooo boring to drive through. Corn, church. Church, corn. Corn. More corn. Gah. As Eliza so succintly put it, (Funny quote #1)
"When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes tossed out over the sea, far, far, far away from corn." We ate at Steffan's parents' house then continued on to the hotel, only getting lost three or four times in the process. Oh, and I almost got hit by a couple cars because Speed Racer doesn't understand the concept of YIELDING.
We got to the hotel at around 7 pm, I think, and decided to head over to the convention center to pick up our badges. The hotel shuttle dropped us off at Linthicum Light Rail station, and we waited there for awhile before discovering that the fucking train didn't come there anymore. So, we had to take a bus through the airport and get dropped off at North Linthicum station, where we paid $20 each for train tickets that no one ever checked. Finally we got to con (I dressed as Yuki Eiri, simply because it was such an easy costume XD) and we only had to wait in line for about an hour before we got our badges. I was talking to some guys in line and when I turned around everyone else was gone, they had gotten sent to the other line and I never even noticed, but the guys were cool and I talked to them for awhile. I recognized one as a Legato cosplayer from Otakon last year whose picture I had taken. ^^
I had a serious dilemma when I got to the badge pickup. They had Fullmetal Alchemist AND Gravitation badges. I wound up getting FMA, of course, but it was a tough decision. ^^ On the train ride I met "DWchang," another AMV creator. ^^ He was really nice. We got back to the hotel and crashed, since we were all exhausted, and prepared for day one of the con.
Friday
We got up at about 7 am and got to the train station at 9, then joined the enormous line of fellow pre-regged, badged people. I was wearing the Ed costume and got a few pictures taken of me, as well as getting randomly glomped by a fangirl from behind. It scared me, I hadn't even known she was there... Anyway, we only had to wait for a half an hour or so, then made it inside. I got my arm peacebound then we immediately headed for the stickering line for the L'Arc concert, since they were only giving out 7,000 stickers and if you had one you were guaranteed a seat. Funny quotes, #2:
Con Staff: "Make sure you have your badges out and ready!"
Everyone in line (in unison): "Batches?! We don' need no STINKIN' baaaatches!!"
After succeeding in this endeavor, Eliza and I went to video 1, where we watched "Otaku No Video" and the AMV finalists. I wasn't terribly impressed with the quality of most of the AMVs, and I really wish I had submitted my FMA one now. I think I could have made it into the finals with that. ~_~ Anyway, AMV Hell was good, and Dark Side Productions' "Disney in D(wchang) minor" didn't go over as well as I was expecting, which was sad. I love that video. Anyway, after that we headed off to the Dealer's room. I'll list the stuff I got later, all at once. ^^ Went to the FUNimation booth and got my picture taken with the huge Al they had there, and heard about the photo shoot.
At about 3:45 I headed off to the costume judging, where I met this REALLY nice Hughes cosplayer. He was kickass, even if he couldn't remember his character's daughter's name. ^^ I had to remind him before he went in to get judged. I don't know if I won anything, but I guess I'll check the website and find out later today.
(Every FMA cosplayer I saw was RAVING about episode 41, so I'm downloading all the ones I've missed now... )
After the judging I did something... can't remember what though ^^ hehe I know I found Eliza and we headed to the Friday Night FanParodies at around 9 pm. Nescaflowne was just as good as I remembered it, but Voltron: Hell Bent for Leather was pretty bad. Oh well...
We got back on the train (because it stopped running at 11:30) and made a nasty discovery upon reaching the station. There was construction, and the hotel shuttle driver was apparantly too lazy to take the detour, so we were stranded at the station. DO NOT STAY AT THE BALTIMORE MARIOTT COURTYARD. It sucks. Anyway, we wound up calling a taxi, and everyone let me yell at the hotel staff, who refunded us our cab fare, and so ended day one of the con.
I had to do some major repairs to the arm. Three or four of the rivets came out, and I wound up taking it off of the plether sleeve and just attatching it to the black under-jacket. Where were you when I needed you, Winry? XD
Saturday (aka Fullmetal Day ^^)
We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at about 7 am again, and Eliza and I went to Burger King for brunch, I guess you could call it. ^^ The FMA photoshoot was at 11:30 in the downstairs lobby, so we headed over there and found about 15 other FMA cosplayers. There was a girl dressed as Ed and Al's mom, who hit all the Eds with a big fan for trying to bring her back to life, and evilmooglequeen was there as Winry again. YAY Winry!!! There was a REALLY good Hughes down there who had a whole billfold of pictures of Elysia, and during an interview for a TV show he ran forward and shoved the pictures in front of the camera. XD
We all paraded down to the dealer's room for the FUNimation shoot, which was ridiculously overcrowded. It was so hard to get pictures! Hopefully FUNimation will have them up on their website soon. I was one of 6 Eds who actually made the automail arm, and I was the only one with real metal. Most of them made it out of foam, or just fabric. XD I r0xx0r. hehehe They gave us pins for cosplaying and gave prizes to the best cosplayers, like beans for the shortest Ed. There were even a few Als and an Armstrong, who was GREAT. XD
After the shoot, Eliza and I decided to go scout out the Arena, where the concert would be. The con staff had said that people wouldn't be allowed to line up before 3:30, and yet at 3:20 when we showed up the line was around the block, across 3 streets, and heading back towards the convention center. We got in line and stood there with some really nice people for about an hour and a half in the sun. It must have been at least 90%... I wound up having to take off the arm and use the red jacket as a sunblocker. Travis was kind enough to find me in line and bring me some water, which helped a lot.
The concert was EXCELLENT! XD They showed us episode one of the FMA dub while we were waiting, which I've already raved about. Eliza and I were to the left of the stage in the second section back, five rows from the floor, which means we had great seats. XD The show was incredible, the lighting was soooo well done (and timed to the music too) and they even had fire and fireworks and stuff. I got up and jumped up and down when they sang Ready Steady Go, and they showed scenes from the show on the big screens while they sang it. Bought the CD on the way out. XD
After that Eliza and I went back to video 1, where we watched episodes 58-60 of InuYasha and waited for the fanparodies to start. We saw "Magical Schoolgirl: Pretty Sue-Me" which was alright, but it would have been better without the 'MIAA public service announcements' to Grave of the Fireflies footage. *wince*
Evangelion Redeath: Redux was funny, as always. Everyone sang along with the "It's Gendo" parts. ^^ I was soooo tired by the time we left, and really hot. I just wanted to go to sleep. The train kept on stopping and losing power, and at one point I clapped my hands and slapped the wall of the train, using Alchemy. Strangely enough, it started right after I did that. XD heh heh heh Got back to the hotel with no problem from the hotel shuttle this time, and crashed.
(Note to cosplayers: NEVER alter galoshes into cosplay shoes. I have next to no skin left on the side of my pinky toes after 2 days of wearing them, and I'm having trouble walking...)
Sunday
Travis called in the morning and informed us that the train didn't run until 11 am on sundays, so he couldn't make it back to the hotel from wherever the hell he and Don stayed that night, and we had to checkout by noon. So, we packed all Travis and Don's stuff into my car and drove to the con center. Parking was relatively cheap, and Sara and I left to go to the ADV autograph session. I got my RahXephon movie DVD signed by Monica Rial (Haruka) and Chris Patton (Ayato). Went to the dealer's room for awhile, and made a sign.
"Cash Reward for information regarding the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE!!! (small print) The Elric brothers are not responsible for any damage which can - and probably will - be incurred to your town or city. Please direct all complaints to Colonel Roy Mustang of the East Division army HQ."
I got a lot of laughs out of it, and ten or fifteen people came up to give me information. I gave them a dollar and told them that if their info led to the discovery of the stone, they could pick up the rest of their reward with Roy. I bet the Roy cosplayers just LOVED me... XD
I ran into the AB conchair in the dealer's room, and he says that PatrickD is taking over as conchair this year. O_o They're basically switching jobs. I asked him if they were going to continue letting us submit 2 vids, and he said he wasn't sure yet but they'd try, (ATTN DOKool) and that if we can get a copy of the Animix DVD to them they'd like to play it.
Before leaving we had to find each other and get Trav and Don their stuff, which didn't take long, then Sara, Eliza, Nadia and I were back on the road.
We just stayed on 95 the whole way, and got stuck in pretty bad traffic at around 7pm-8pm on the Geo. Washington Bridge. Yay... We left at 2pm and we got back aorun 11, so it took us almost 9 hours (all of which I drove) before we got back here and had something to eat before going to sleep. ^^
Con Swag
L'Arc En Ciel "Smile" CD
Record of Lodoss War DVD Collection (the OVA)
X DVD: Volume One
RahXephon: The Movie
Photosuite picture in Ed costume ^^
FMA Animation Artbook (beautiful stuff)
FMA chibi pins of Ed and Al
FMA cosplay Roy gloves
FMA Doujinshi: "No Way to Say"
FMA Doujinshi: "Master of the Game"
FMA Yaoi: "Whispers About Love at in the Worldend" (that's no typo... it actually says that.)
FF7 Yaoi: "FFVII Gamebook 2"
... Wow, I got more than I thought...