FANIME 2015 (Finally, Finally, Finally!)
Over the weekend, my sister and I finally got to attend FanimeCon! We've been wanting to go for the past two years, but something always came up, so we were super stoked to get the chance this year.
We both took Friday off work -- I initially felt really guilty about it, because it was the birthday of one of my students, but to be honest, it was worth it. Even though Friday was mostly spent walking around and checking out merchandise, we accomplished a lot of stuff in that one day, which led to a much more relaxed experience the rest of the weekend.
This post is basically going to be me rambling about what Fanime was like, so feel free to skip this if you're not into anime or manga. I'ma try to put everything under subheadings, so everything is not just a block of text, but it'll still be pretty rambly. lol.
COSPLAY: I've officially caught the cosplay bug
My sister and I didn't cosplay until Saturday, which is when I found out that conventions are WAY MORE FUN when you're in costume. We had fun picking out our favorite characters on Friday (conventions are a great place to people-watch!), but somehow, everything is a lot more exciting when you're dressed up as well.
I also learned that asking cosplayers for photos is terrific! It's essentially paying them a compliment, and you get a souvenir out of it too. I used to wonder if asking for photos annoyed them, especially since I can be pretty shy, but when my sister and I were asked for a photo almost right after we exited the parking garage on Saturday, it felt really good. So I wanted to pay other cosplayers the same compliment, and now I'm not at all shy about going up to cosplayers and asking for a photo of or with them. They're all really nice about it too, which definitely helps.
(Worked up the courage to ask one of the Mandalorians for a photo with him. He was super nice!)
Anyhow, the two of us went the Pokémon route for our costumes: my sister was a Pikachu, while I cosplayed a Team Aqua grunt. I've loved Team Aqua ever since I casually played my sister's Pokémon Emerald game -- Water is my favorite type for sure, and the Team Aqua grunts are so adorably clueless when you talk to them.
The costume itself was fairly low-key. The Team Aqua bandana I bought on Etsy, while the black-and-white-striped shirt was a random find at JC Penney. My little sister had actually sent me black gloves last Christmas, so that was perfect, and my older sister had a ton of Pokéballs for me to choose from as a prop.
The only part of the costume that I agonized over was the pants. I spent forever trying to find aqua-colored sweatpants that were affordable and had no logo. Ultimately I ended up finding a cheap pair of scrubs at Walmart and sewing on ovals made from white felt. Since I have no sewing skills to speak of, that part looks a little cheap, but I think it worked out okay.
There was a Pokémon cosplay gathering on Saturday, which my sister and I took part in. It was so awesome seeing other Team Aqua cosplayers, even though all of them were wearing the "updated" Team Aqua look from the newer games, which means they had black bandanas and blue-and-white-striped shirts. But I definitely like the older look better.
At the gathering, a nice Fisherman cosplayer even let me take a picture with his adorable Magikarp plushie! I've been wanting a Magikarp plush for years, but I can't decide if I should settle for a normal-sized one, or go for an enormous one, or try for an enormous shiny version. (Or all three?) Anyway, I probably should have taken a picture with the Fisherman cosplayer too, but I was too enamored with his Magikarp. Oops. lol.
Saturday was also the Yu-Gi-Oh! cosplay gathering, which I didn't take part in because of my lack of costume, but I did take loads of pictures. I'd say this is my Number One Fandom, so I was pretty much in fangirl heaven seeing all the costumes.
Predictably, almost all of the cosplayers were female, and a lot of them even did "fem-style" or "gender-bent" versions. The most impressive cosplay was one of Gaia the Fierce Knight, which is one of the Monsters in the card game. Unfortunately, the cosplayer did not have a purple horse or a golden dragon to go with him, but he still looked pretty badass!
Other cool cosplays I saw...
* Captain America Minion (Marvel + Despicable Me)
* Link (Legend of Zelda)
* Zero (Code Geass)
* No-Face (Spirited Away)
* Mandalorians and Stormtrooper (Star Wars)
* Astrid and Stormfly (How to Train Your Dragon)
* Aladdin with what looked like a real baguette from Le Boulanger (Aladdin)
* Ling, Yao, and Chien Po as concubines (Mulan)
(Sorry for the horrible backlighting! I'm not even a good photographer, and I knew this situation would not work well... but I had to get a pic of the concubines and their fruits.)
MERCHANDISE: Good thing I had a strict budget for all this
On Friday afternoon, we hit both the Artist Alley and the Dealer's Hall, which are basically where you can buy all your anime/manga merchandise. Friday night was the Swap Meet, which is like a garage sale meets Taiwanese street stall, except indoors.
My sister and I picked up a few prints at the Artist Alley (I now have this gorgeous Death Note fanart of Light, L, and Ryuk -- and because the artist had no business cards or anything, I had to Google his Artist Alley stall number and pray that he'd mentioned it somewhere online, which he did -- yay for Google). We also picked up...a bit more than a few prints at the Dealer's Hall and Swap Meet. lol. Let's just say we blew through our cash more quickly than we thought we would.
Anyhoo, I learned a few things about myself after wading through all the merchandise in the Artist Alley, Dealer's Hall, and Swap Meet.
1. I'm too much of a sucker to haggle.
Haggling isn't really done in the first two locations, but some sellers at the Swap Meet are okay with bargaining. Lucky for them, I totally suck at it.
First example, I saw this gorgeous Hikaru no Go artbook. Hardcover, in very good condition, and featuring art by one of my favorite mangaka, Takeshi Obata. Anyway, you know how you're supposed to act like you don't really want whatever product you're haggling for? Well, I just can't do it when it comes to something that I really love. The seller and I chatted a bit, and then I just started gushing about how beautiful the artbook was. lulz. She was nice enough to knock off $5 from her asking price, but I'm pretty sure I still overpaid for it. But whatever. IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
(Also, I now own two Japanese artbooks that I cannot read -- this one, and Kazuki Takahashi's DUEL ART, which I bought when I was in Taiwan in 2012. What can I say... you don't buy artbooks to read them, right?)
Second example, one seller had four random Yu-Gi-Oh! One Coin figures. She was asking for $4 each, which is a pretty decent price, to be honest. (Another seller wanted $10 each.) I asked her if she'd give me a discount if I bought all four, and when she wanted me to give her an estimate, I thought, Should I ask for Buy 3, Get 1 free?, but instead blurted out, "How about $15?" Which is, you know, a $1 discount. lol. I think I just felt bad because the price was already pretty reasonable.
2. It's a good thing I never started buying figurines.
Apart from the Yu-Gi-Oh! One Coin figures, I've actively resisted purchasing any other figurines from any series. Yes, there are some beautiful Yu-Gi-Oh! figurines, and I saw a lot of gorgeous Attack on Titan ones standing around (LEVIIIIII). There were also some really nice Sailor Moon ones (including some super adorable Tuxedo Mask mini figures!).
The problem is, figurines are HELLA expensive, and once you start collecting, you never want to stop! So no matter how many beautiful figurines I see, I always tell myself that I will never bring one home. Don't fall into the trap!
3. It's also a good thing I don't watch that much anime or read that much manga.
When walking around the convention, I sometimes felt an urge to go watch more anime or read more manga, just so I could recognize more cosplayers, identify more fanart, and essentially engage more with all the other con-goers. I mean, it's more fun when you know what's going on around you, right?
On the flip side, though, seeing all the merchandise available made me a little relieved that my anime/manga knowledge is so limited. I don't even want to know how many plushies I would own if I were familiar with more series. (Jeez, even Pokémon alone is enough to drive you crazy collecting plushies. I currently own three Squirtle plushies, and two of them are the same exact plushie, except that one has a Japanese tag and the other has an English tag. I'm not kidding.) Let's just say that I would probably be insanely broke.
FANIME: Was it worth it?
Since my sister and I got through everything we wanted to do in three days, and the one panel we wanted to attend on Monday ended up getting canceled, we actually won't be attending the last day of Fanime 2015. But that's not because we were disappointed by Fanime. On the contrary, we thought it was an amazing experience and we're already planning to attend Fanime 2016! :D
Since my sister and I are more of the introverted type, we didn't socialize with too many people at Faninme, apart from telling people we liked their costumes or plushies. On our last day there, we did randomly start chatting with two guys who also liked Yu-Gi-Oh! and used to be really into the TCG (not competitively, but they said they once played until 8 o'clock in the morning LOL). I don't even like conversing with strangers, but it was such an open and positive environment at Fanime that I think I'll try more of it next year.
I've heard that in the past, people have had really bad experiences with Fanime, particularly in 2013 when the registration lines were so long that people were calling it LineCon. (I guess it's a good thing my sister and I didn't get to go that year. lol.) However, this year, everything ran pretty smoothly, and the lines were always moving once the doors officially opened.
We didn't attend any of the really big events, like the Cosplay Masquerade or the Black & White Ball, so I can't speak for how any of those went. But speaking as a casual con goer, I had a great time at Fanime, and I would definitely go again. :)
On a random note to end, I can no longer look at the word "famine" seriously. I keep wondering if someone just misspelled "Fanime."
We both took Friday off work -- I initially felt really guilty about it, because it was the birthday of one of my students, but to be honest, it was worth it. Even though Friday was mostly spent walking around and checking out merchandise, we accomplished a lot of stuff in that one day, which led to a much more relaxed experience the rest of the weekend.
This post is basically going to be me rambling about what Fanime was like, so feel free to skip this if you're not into anime or manga. I'ma try to put everything under subheadings, so everything is not just a block of text, but it'll still be pretty rambly. lol.
COSPLAY: I've officially caught the cosplay bug
My sister and I didn't cosplay until Saturday, which is when I found out that conventions are WAY MORE FUN when you're in costume. We had fun picking out our favorite characters on Friday (conventions are a great place to people-watch!), but somehow, everything is a lot more exciting when you're dressed up as well.
I also learned that asking cosplayers for photos is terrific! It's essentially paying them a compliment, and you get a souvenir out of it too. I used to wonder if asking for photos annoyed them, especially since I can be pretty shy, but when my sister and I were asked for a photo almost right after we exited the parking garage on Saturday, it felt really good. So I wanted to pay other cosplayers the same compliment, and now I'm not at all shy about going up to cosplayers and asking for a photo of or with them. They're all really nice about it too, which definitely helps.
(Worked up the courage to ask one of the Mandalorians for a photo with him. He was super nice!)
Anyhow, the two of us went the Pokémon route for our costumes: my sister was a Pikachu, while I cosplayed a Team Aqua grunt. I've loved Team Aqua ever since I casually played my sister's Pokémon Emerald game -- Water is my favorite type for sure, and the Team Aqua grunts are so adorably clueless when you talk to them.
The costume itself was fairly low-key. The Team Aqua bandana I bought on Etsy, while the black-and-white-striped shirt was a random find at JC Penney. My little sister had actually sent me black gloves last Christmas, so that was perfect, and my older sister had a ton of Pokéballs for me to choose from as a prop.
The only part of the costume that I agonized over was the pants. I spent forever trying to find aqua-colored sweatpants that were affordable and had no logo. Ultimately I ended up finding a cheap pair of scrubs at Walmart and sewing on ovals made from white felt. Since I have no sewing skills to speak of, that part looks a little cheap, but I think it worked out okay.
There was a Pokémon cosplay gathering on Saturday, which my sister and I took part in. It was so awesome seeing other Team Aqua cosplayers, even though all of them were wearing the "updated" Team Aqua look from the newer games, which means they had black bandanas and blue-and-white-striped shirts. But I definitely like the older look better.
At the gathering, a nice Fisherman cosplayer even let me take a picture with his adorable Magikarp plushie! I've been wanting a Magikarp plush for years, but I can't decide if I should settle for a normal-sized one, or go for an enormous one, or try for an enormous shiny version. (Or all three?) Anyway, I probably should have taken a picture with the Fisherman cosplayer too, but I was too enamored with his Magikarp. Oops. lol.
Saturday was also the Yu-Gi-Oh! cosplay gathering, which I didn't take part in because of my lack of costume, but I did take loads of pictures. I'd say this is my Number One Fandom, so I was pretty much in fangirl heaven seeing all the costumes.
Predictably, almost all of the cosplayers were female, and a lot of them even did "fem-style" or "gender-bent" versions. The most impressive cosplay was one of Gaia the Fierce Knight, which is one of the Monsters in the card game. Unfortunately, the cosplayer did not have a purple horse or a golden dragon to go with him, but he still looked pretty badass!
Other cool cosplays I saw...
* Captain America Minion (Marvel + Despicable Me)
* Link (Legend of Zelda)
* Zero (Code Geass)
* No-Face (Spirited Away)
* Mandalorians and Stormtrooper (Star Wars)
* Astrid and Stormfly (How to Train Your Dragon)
* Aladdin with what looked like a real baguette from Le Boulanger (Aladdin)
* Ling, Yao, and Chien Po as concubines (Mulan)
(Sorry for the horrible backlighting! I'm not even a good photographer, and I knew this situation would not work well... but I had to get a pic of the concubines and their fruits.)
MERCHANDISE: Good thing I had a strict budget for all this
On Friday afternoon, we hit both the Artist Alley and the Dealer's Hall, which are basically where you can buy all your anime/manga merchandise. Friday night was the Swap Meet, which is like a garage sale meets Taiwanese street stall, except indoors.
My sister and I picked up a few prints at the Artist Alley (I now have this gorgeous Death Note fanart of Light, L, and Ryuk -- and because the artist had no business cards or anything, I had to Google his Artist Alley stall number and pray that he'd mentioned it somewhere online, which he did -- yay for Google). We also picked up...a bit more than a few prints at the Dealer's Hall and Swap Meet. lol. Let's just say we blew through our cash more quickly than we thought we would.
Anyhoo, I learned a few things about myself after wading through all the merchandise in the Artist Alley, Dealer's Hall, and Swap Meet.
1. I'm too much of a sucker to haggle.
Haggling isn't really done in the first two locations, but some sellers at the Swap Meet are okay with bargaining. Lucky for them, I totally suck at it.
First example, I saw this gorgeous Hikaru no Go artbook. Hardcover, in very good condition, and featuring art by one of my favorite mangaka, Takeshi Obata. Anyway, you know how you're supposed to act like you don't really want whatever product you're haggling for? Well, I just can't do it when it comes to something that I really love. The seller and I chatted a bit, and then I just started gushing about how beautiful the artbook was. lulz. She was nice enough to knock off $5 from her asking price, but I'm pretty sure I still overpaid for it. But whatever. IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
(Also, I now own two Japanese artbooks that I cannot read -- this one, and Kazuki Takahashi's DUEL ART, which I bought when I was in Taiwan in 2012. What can I say... you don't buy artbooks to read them, right?)
Second example, one seller had four random Yu-Gi-Oh! One Coin figures. She was asking for $4 each, which is a pretty decent price, to be honest. (Another seller wanted $10 each.) I asked her if she'd give me a discount if I bought all four, and when she wanted me to give her an estimate, I thought, Should I ask for Buy 3, Get 1 free?, but instead blurted out, "How about $15?" Which is, you know, a $1 discount. lol. I think I just felt bad because the price was already pretty reasonable.
2. It's a good thing I never started buying figurines.
Apart from the Yu-Gi-Oh! One Coin figures, I've actively resisted purchasing any other figurines from any series. Yes, there are some beautiful Yu-Gi-Oh! figurines, and I saw a lot of gorgeous Attack on Titan ones standing around (LEVIIIIII). There were also some really nice Sailor Moon ones (including some super adorable Tuxedo Mask mini figures!).
The problem is, figurines are HELLA expensive, and once you start collecting, you never want to stop! So no matter how many beautiful figurines I see, I always tell myself that I will never bring one home. Don't fall into the trap!
3. It's also a good thing I don't watch that much anime or read that much manga.
When walking around the convention, I sometimes felt an urge to go watch more anime or read more manga, just so I could recognize more cosplayers, identify more fanart, and essentially engage more with all the other con-goers. I mean, it's more fun when you know what's going on around you, right?
On the flip side, though, seeing all the merchandise available made me a little relieved that my anime/manga knowledge is so limited. I don't even want to know how many plushies I would own if I were familiar with more series. (Jeez, even Pokémon alone is enough to drive you crazy collecting plushies. I currently own three Squirtle plushies, and two of them are the same exact plushie, except that one has a Japanese tag and the other has an English tag. I'm not kidding.) Let's just say that I would probably be insanely broke.
FANIME: Was it worth it?
Since my sister and I got through everything we wanted to do in three days, and the one panel we wanted to attend on Monday ended up getting canceled, we actually won't be attending the last day of Fanime 2015. But that's not because we were disappointed by Fanime. On the contrary, we thought it was an amazing experience and we're already planning to attend Fanime 2016! :D
Since my sister and I are more of the introverted type, we didn't socialize with too many people at Faninme, apart from telling people we liked their costumes or plushies. On our last day there, we did randomly start chatting with two guys who also liked Yu-Gi-Oh! and used to be really into the TCG (not competitively, but they said they once played until 8 o'clock in the morning LOL). I don't even like conversing with strangers, but it was such an open and positive environment at Fanime that I think I'll try more of it next year.
I've heard that in the past, people have had really bad experiences with Fanime, particularly in 2013 when the registration lines were so long that people were calling it LineCon. (I guess it's a good thing my sister and I didn't get to go that year. lol.) However, this year, everything ran pretty smoothly, and the lines were always moving once the doors officially opened.
We didn't attend any of the really big events, like the Cosplay Masquerade or the Black & White Ball, so I can't speak for how any of those went. But speaking as a casual con goer, I had a great time at Fanime, and I would definitely go again. :)
On a random note to end, I can no longer look at the word "famine" seriously. I keep wondering if someone just misspelled "Fanime."