Anime USA 2013
I keep taking forever to do these con reports. x_x But this one will be short at least since I only went for one day. AUSA moved their date to Sept...which sucked. Because it made it way too close to Dragon Con which resulted in a lot of people deciding to go only one day or not at all and the PA group couldn't attend at all due to being a big weekend in Gettysburg and most of them work there so I didn't even have my usual roommates. So thus only going one day.
Originally Alyce was planning to go with me as she could go but only for Friday so I took that day off instead of Sat. Sadly she got sick and was unable to attend in the end. I even debated not going at all since I discovered that there were no single day Friday-only badges at the con this year. Instead there was only the one badge for all weekend and they just made it slightly cheaper on Sat and Sun. But I wasn't going to pay for a whole weekend when I could only go for one day. And now that Alyce couldn't go anymore...I'd be by myself without even really being able to go into much of the con. But eventually talked myself into going. 'Cause at least I'd see Eric and Liz, who I don't get to see much anymore. I didn't really want to ride metro in costume alone so I put TARDIS in a bag and hopped on metro. Forgot that I'd have to be going on the escalator of doom by myself...T_T which was ok going up but realized my return trip was going to suck (I have a fear of heights and I have real difficulty with that escalator). Changed in Eric and Liz's room, which we joked that it was almost the exact same room I was in last year though I think it may have been one or two doors difference but still. XD Finally met their friend Lu who I've heard about before but never actually met. Spent a good amount of the con in their room considering there wasn't much else to do. The con itself was rather...dead. Turns out most people I knew were only coming on Sat, which made sense. I just only took off Fri 'cause it was the only day Alyce could come. Oh well. But even so, it really did look like attendance was low this year and I suspect its due to the time they chose.
We had lunch at one of the pubs in the hotel, which was pretty pricey and I was a little reluctant at first due to there being so many cheap places outside of the hotel but they didn't want to go outside. And pricey as it was...it was fucking delicious! I didn't expect much out of the food considering its a small menu and all but I got this salad that was HUUUUGE so def worth the price. But what was really cute was the staff all remembered Eric from last year and got all excited to see him in his fabulous dresses again. ^.^ I really love the staff at this hotel. They all seem to really enjoy the con so far. After we ate, Eric went to go get his stuff together for Hall and Liz, Lu, and uhhh their friend who I totally just blanked on his name XD, decided they wanted to check out the artist alley, which I lamented over as I did kinda wish I could go in. So I borrowed a badge to get in. Something I've never done before. I've only ever let others borrow my badge to go into something real quick when I wasn't using it, etc. But hey I was in and it was the only thing I wanted to do that required one so told myself it was ok. No harm done right? ...well we'll get back to that in a bit. >_>
I was rather surprised to see quite a number of Marvel fanartists there, which was what I was hoping for as that seems to be the main art I go for now. And there was honestly more for my interests than at Dragon Con, ironically enough. I talked to a number of them and geeked out, mainly over Young Avengers. Did find one girl that had a beautiful Wiccan/Hulkling piece that I of course had to buy. And had long chats with her and another girl who didn't have any art for it other than a small lineart of Kate but did show off some cute little earrings of our fav super couple that she had bought at a previous con. Felt a little guilty taking up so much of her time so did at least buy some Thor and Loki art that was really pretty and well 'cause I'm a total sucker for art of them. XD Liz and the others were pretty much done way before I was ready to leave though so I had to hand the badge back to them but figured, hey it's not like I need it anymore. And then continued to geek out with artists. I've really taken a new-found liking to AA these days. In the past I always felt bad going in there as I had no real interest in buying art but recently I've grown a taste for it and I do enjoy helping Sarah and Carrie out with their stuff though lately they tend to be in the Dealer's more than AA now. And my TARDIS got a lot of attention in there. I had several artists call me over to their booth just to get a better look at it. Once again had a lot of people tell me they appreciated the fact that I did something different with the design. So yay, made me happy. XD In fact, I got even a bigger response at this con than I did at Dragon, even despite the lower attendance.
So feeling pretty good with my swag, I happily go to exit the room...only to have the staffer watching the door call me out. I tried to play it off like I didn't hear him but then he goes "Hey you in the blue! Where's your badge?" ...well crap. I didn't expect to be checked while I'm trying to leave a room and even express that to him but he does the usual douchey "you must have your badge out at all times" and I tell him that my friend has it and left before me with it. ...which was pretty much the truth. He kinda gives me an eye roll but lets me go. I'm a bit shocked up 'cause I mean it figures the ONE time I do something like this, I get caught and the guy was a bit scary but whatever, I'm not planning on doing anything else with a badge and I figure its unlikely I'll run into him again. Well I go join up with Eric who is outside smoking and chat with him and some of his friends for a bit. And then I see the same staff dude come outside and I'm like "...seriously? Is he trying to hunt me down? I'm outside the hotel for crying aloud." but then I see him take a cigarette out and realize he's just taking a smoke break so I do my best to ignore him, thoBugh feeling super awkward that he's right there. But he went back in only after a few minutes. So I shrug it off and try to continue to enjoy the con...except I kept seeing the guy around and it kept frustrating/freaking me out a bit. Then later on when I'm taking photos of Eric in the old wing of the hotel, the guy comes up behind me. Like I didn't even notice him at first except for the fact that I could see him in the reflection of the mirrors behind Eric...which was annoying in general as he was totally in the shot. I wait for him to say something. He doesn't so I reluctantly turn around to acknowledge him with a "yes?" and he's there, arms crossed and asked me if I ever got that badge back. I'm like "Ok, dude, here's the truth. I borrowed a badge to get in and had to give it back before I left, ok?" and he's all "Well don't do it again." and I smiled at that and was like "Of course not! I wasn't planning to." because egads, I really only did it for a few minutes and that was all and he finally left me alone. At that point I was just glad he'd gone away as he was seriously creeping me out standing behind me like that. Though as soon as he was gone, I regretted not ranting at him about the fact that I would have gladly bought a badge if they had a Friday-only badge price since I was only there for a few hours and that I've gotten a badge for this con for more years than he's even been staffing for, I'm sure. I just felt so annoyed that he treated me that way and to be honest, it put me in a sour mood the whole con.
I had another staffer ask me for my badge at one point during the con as well, when I was just hanging in the lobby and that was a bit odd to me because that's a public area after all. But at least he was cool about it. When I told him I didn't have one, he directed me to where registration was and I explained why I wasn't getting a badge and he told me that was cool and he's done it himself in the past. But it still irked me a little that the staff seemed so uptight about everyone having a badge out when you weren't in a badge-needed area especially since there were a lot of non-con-goers staying at this hotel. There was once again some type of international business meeting going on in this hotel, just like last year. Guess its popular for that. XD But I find that fun as the people from that are always so nice and ask us for photos in broken english. lol But yeah, its not like we were the only people there.
But anyways, here's a nice photo of Eric from my mini shoot I did with him...
Eric as Willie from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. His costume was epic and so very shiny! Everywhere he went, he left a trail of sparkles. XD
Now while I loved spending actual con time with Eric and Liz, they do take a lot of smoke breaks and I could only handle being out in the smoke zone so many times so was left to just wander on my own for a bit and that got boring...fast. lol Though I did eventually run into Chris who was waiting around until Chrissy got in. He agreed that the con was kinda dead and that he knew barely anyone there at the moment. So hung with him for a bit. Then decided to stay long enough to go to the Doctor Who gathering so headed over to that. Figured why not? It was a small gathering but fun! We had a Four, Nine, Ten, two Elevens, a genderbent Eleven, Rose, River, and Rory, who ended up being our photographer when we realized we had no one to take photos besides ourselves. XD I was the only other person with a camera so I took more than normally do for a gathering but of course ended up not getting any of myself on my camera. XD; But the Rory got some great shots so it was fine in the end. We decided to do the photos in the old wing of the hotel so we could be in front of the big grandfather clock which became a great prop for posing.
I love this shot~! It shows off the lining of my coat well too.
The Doctors "in" the TARDIS lol XD and Nine who was having none of these shenanigans
This girl was all "...I know it might be a bit awkward to ask this but I kinda want a shot of me like between your legs kinda...coming out of the TARDIS?" and I was like "pfft go for it!"
Hanging with River Song. I like her. She doesn't leave the breaks on.
River requested this photo and we were all nervous if we could pull it off without them dropping her. XD But we figured it out....took a bit though. lol
Sadly we never got a group photo since we had no one to take it for us. XD Oh well.
After the gathering, River asked for me to come up to her and Rory's room so they could get this shot of River cleaning the TARDIS like in In the Time of Angels (at least I think that's the episode she does that in? lol I forget). We did an animated version of this too for her blog which was pretty cool. Rory kept making fun of the fact that she wasn't quite sure where to put her hands at first that wouldn't have looked inapropriate. lol
I pretty much planned to leave con after that, first saying goodbye to the few people I knew at the con and changing back into street clothes. I did get a chance to say "hi" quickly to Chrissy who was at the con now. Though at first I tried to stop by their room to see if either was in and found their door was open...with no one inside so I made sure to close it for them. XD When I told them about that, they said they were having issues being able to tell if the door was closed all the way or not due to it being in a handicapped room and such so the door was a bit fidgety. But anywho, Chrissy was about to dash off to see GodSaveTheQueen's panel which made me sad as I would have loved to see that and Chris even offered his badge but I really needed to be heading off due to it getting dark and not really having the biggest desire to ride metro late at night. So went back on the scary escalator by myself....had to shift to the side and look down at the railing the whole time. Because seriously....freaked me out. T_T Hope I don't have to ride that alone in a long time.
Annnd that was one of the shortest con reports I've ever done. XD Yet took me the longest to get out? Pfft. lol The rest of my photos are on my facebook over here: https://www.facebook.com/lyn.hargreaves/media_set?set=a.10151802292517954.1073741858.578667953&type=3
~Lyn
Originally Alyce was planning to go with me as she could go but only for Friday so I took that day off instead of Sat. Sadly she got sick and was unable to attend in the end. I even debated not going at all since I discovered that there were no single day Friday-only badges at the con this year. Instead there was only the one badge for all weekend and they just made it slightly cheaper on Sat and Sun. But I wasn't going to pay for a whole weekend when I could only go for one day. And now that Alyce couldn't go anymore...I'd be by myself without even really being able to go into much of the con. But eventually talked myself into going. 'Cause at least I'd see Eric and Liz, who I don't get to see much anymore. I didn't really want to ride metro in costume alone so I put TARDIS in a bag and hopped on metro. Forgot that I'd have to be going on the escalator of doom by myself...T_T which was ok going up but realized my return trip was going to suck (I have a fear of heights and I have real difficulty with that escalator). Changed in Eric and Liz's room, which we joked that it was almost the exact same room I was in last year though I think it may have been one or two doors difference but still. XD Finally met their friend Lu who I've heard about before but never actually met. Spent a good amount of the con in their room considering there wasn't much else to do. The con itself was rather...dead. Turns out most people I knew were only coming on Sat, which made sense. I just only took off Fri 'cause it was the only day Alyce could come. Oh well. But even so, it really did look like attendance was low this year and I suspect its due to the time they chose.
We had lunch at one of the pubs in the hotel, which was pretty pricey and I was a little reluctant at first due to there being so many cheap places outside of the hotel but they didn't want to go outside. And pricey as it was...it was fucking delicious! I didn't expect much out of the food considering its a small menu and all but I got this salad that was HUUUUGE so def worth the price. But what was really cute was the staff all remembered Eric from last year and got all excited to see him in his fabulous dresses again. ^.^ I really love the staff at this hotel. They all seem to really enjoy the con so far. After we ate, Eric went to go get his stuff together for Hall and Liz, Lu, and uhhh their friend who I totally just blanked on his name XD, decided they wanted to check out the artist alley, which I lamented over as I did kinda wish I could go in. So I borrowed a badge to get in. Something I've never done before. I've only ever let others borrow my badge to go into something real quick when I wasn't using it, etc. But hey I was in and it was the only thing I wanted to do that required one so told myself it was ok. No harm done right? ...well we'll get back to that in a bit. >_>
I was rather surprised to see quite a number of Marvel fanartists there, which was what I was hoping for as that seems to be the main art I go for now. And there was honestly more for my interests than at Dragon Con, ironically enough. I talked to a number of them and geeked out, mainly over Young Avengers. Did find one girl that had a beautiful Wiccan/Hulkling piece that I of course had to buy. And had long chats with her and another girl who didn't have any art for it other than a small lineart of Kate but did show off some cute little earrings of our fav super couple that she had bought at a previous con. Felt a little guilty taking up so much of her time so did at least buy some Thor and Loki art that was really pretty and well 'cause I'm a total sucker for art of them. XD Liz and the others were pretty much done way before I was ready to leave though so I had to hand the badge back to them but figured, hey it's not like I need it anymore. And then continued to geek out with artists. I've really taken a new-found liking to AA these days. In the past I always felt bad going in there as I had no real interest in buying art but recently I've grown a taste for it and I do enjoy helping Sarah and Carrie out with their stuff though lately they tend to be in the Dealer's more than AA now. And my TARDIS got a lot of attention in there. I had several artists call me over to their booth just to get a better look at it. Once again had a lot of people tell me they appreciated the fact that I did something different with the design. So yay, made me happy. XD In fact, I got even a bigger response at this con than I did at Dragon, even despite the lower attendance.
So feeling pretty good with my swag, I happily go to exit the room...only to have the staffer watching the door call me out. I tried to play it off like I didn't hear him but then he goes "Hey you in the blue! Where's your badge?" ...well crap. I didn't expect to be checked while I'm trying to leave a room and even express that to him but he does the usual douchey "you must have your badge out at all times" and I tell him that my friend has it and left before me with it. ...which was pretty much the truth. He kinda gives me an eye roll but lets me go. I'm a bit shocked up 'cause I mean it figures the ONE time I do something like this, I get caught and the guy was a bit scary but whatever, I'm not planning on doing anything else with a badge and I figure its unlikely I'll run into him again. Well I go join up with Eric who is outside smoking and chat with him and some of his friends for a bit. And then I see the same staff dude come outside and I'm like "...seriously? Is he trying to hunt me down? I'm outside the hotel for crying aloud." but then I see him take a cigarette out and realize he's just taking a smoke break so I do my best to ignore him, thoBugh feeling super awkward that he's right there. But he went back in only after a few minutes. So I shrug it off and try to continue to enjoy the con...except I kept seeing the guy around and it kept frustrating/freaking me out a bit. Then later on when I'm taking photos of Eric in the old wing of the hotel, the guy comes up behind me. Like I didn't even notice him at first except for the fact that I could see him in the reflection of the mirrors behind Eric...which was annoying in general as he was totally in the shot. I wait for him to say something. He doesn't so I reluctantly turn around to acknowledge him with a "yes?" and he's there, arms crossed and asked me if I ever got that badge back. I'm like "Ok, dude, here's the truth. I borrowed a badge to get in and had to give it back before I left, ok?" and he's all "Well don't do it again." and I smiled at that and was like "Of course not! I wasn't planning to." because egads, I really only did it for a few minutes and that was all and he finally left me alone. At that point I was just glad he'd gone away as he was seriously creeping me out standing behind me like that. Though as soon as he was gone, I regretted not ranting at him about the fact that I would have gladly bought a badge if they had a Friday-only badge price since I was only there for a few hours and that I've gotten a badge for this con for more years than he's even been staffing for, I'm sure. I just felt so annoyed that he treated me that way and to be honest, it put me in a sour mood the whole con.
I had another staffer ask me for my badge at one point during the con as well, when I was just hanging in the lobby and that was a bit odd to me because that's a public area after all. But at least he was cool about it. When I told him I didn't have one, he directed me to where registration was and I explained why I wasn't getting a badge and he told me that was cool and he's done it himself in the past. But it still irked me a little that the staff seemed so uptight about everyone having a badge out when you weren't in a badge-needed area especially since there were a lot of non-con-goers staying at this hotel. There was once again some type of international business meeting going on in this hotel, just like last year. Guess its popular for that. XD But I find that fun as the people from that are always so nice and ask us for photos in broken english. lol But yeah, its not like we were the only people there.
But anyways, here's a nice photo of Eric from my mini shoot I did with him...
Eric as Willie from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. His costume was epic and so very shiny! Everywhere he went, he left a trail of sparkles. XD
Now while I loved spending actual con time with Eric and Liz, they do take a lot of smoke breaks and I could only handle being out in the smoke zone so many times so was left to just wander on my own for a bit and that got boring...fast. lol Though I did eventually run into Chris who was waiting around until Chrissy got in. He agreed that the con was kinda dead and that he knew barely anyone there at the moment. So hung with him for a bit. Then decided to stay long enough to go to the Doctor Who gathering so headed over to that. Figured why not? It was a small gathering but fun! We had a Four, Nine, Ten, two Elevens, a genderbent Eleven, Rose, River, and Rory, who ended up being our photographer when we realized we had no one to take photos besides ourselves. XD I was the only other person with a camera so I took more than normally do for a gathering but of course ended up not getting any of myself on my camera. XD; But the Rory got some great shots so it was fine in the end. We decided to do the photos in the old wing of the hotel so we could be in front of the big grandfather clock which became a great prop for posing.
I love this shot~! It shows off the lining of my coat well too.
The Doctors "in" the TARDIS lol XD and Nine who was having none of these shenanigans
This girl was all "...I know it might be a bit awkward to ask this but I kinda want a shot of me like between your legs kinda...coming out of the TARDIS?" and I was like "pfft go for it!"
Hanging with River Song. I like her. She doesn't leave the breaks on.
River requested this photo and we were all nervous if we could pull it off without them dropping her. XD But we figured it out....took a bit though. lol
Sadly we never got a group photo since we had no one to take it for us. XD Oh well.
After the gathering, River asked for me to come up to her and Rory's room so they could get this shot of River cleaning the TARDIS like in In the Time of Angels (at least I think that's the episode she does that in? lol I forget). We did an animated version of this too for her blog which was pretty cool. Rory kept making fun of the fact that she wasn't quite sure where to put her hands at first that wouldn't have looked inapropriate. lol
I pretty much planned to leave con after that, first saying goodbye to the few people I knew at the con and changing back into street clothes. I did get a chance to say "hi" quickly to Chrissy who was at the con now. Though at first I tried to stop by their room to see if either was in and found their door was open...with no one inside so I made sure to close it for them. XD When I told them about that, they said they were having issues being able to tell if the door was closed all the way or not due to it being in a handicapped room and such so the door was a bit fidgety. But anywho, Chrissy was about to dash off to see GodSaveTheQueen's panel which made me sad as I would have loved to see that and Chris even offered his badge but I really needed to be heading off due to it getting dark and not really having the biggest desire to ride metro late at night. So went back on the scary escalator by myself....had to shift to the side and look down at the railing the whole time. Because seriously....freaked me out. T_T Hope I don't have to ride that alone in a long time.
Annnd that was one of the shortest con reports I've ever done. XD Yet took me the longest to get out? Pfft. lol The rest of my photos are on my facebook over here: https://www.facebook.com/lyn.hargreaves/media_set?set=a.10151802292517954.1073741858.578667953&type=3
~Lyn