BishieCon 2010
Wee, trying to catch up on some of these past con reports...man
have I gotten behind @_@ (and there are still a couple that I
haven't done from like over a year ago or more, too!
With that said, first up is BishieCon! It was a con me and Panda-chan decided to hit rather last minute, lol, down in St Louis, during December of last year. It was like our Christmas present to one another, lol. I got on the forums, got together people to share our room, and we were ready to go. Here is the con report~
PreCon
Since we decided like a month or so before the convention to go, I didn't have time to get anything like panels and that. I ended up putting in for Artist Alley, and was waitlisted, of course. I wasn't expecting to get a table, but about 2 days before we left for the convention, I got an e-mail saying a table opened up last minute, lol! So, I took it <3 I was running around like crazy the day before trying to get everything together. I managed to, in the end, and was able to just pay for the table at the convention.
We left around midnight that Thursday and drove down. I took my car for a change, especially since it was just me and Panda-chan. It was hard, but we managed to get all my AA stuff and our cosplay/luggage, plus a cooler, packed into my little Eclipse. I drove all night, and though Panda-chan was quiet most of the night, she stayed up with me. We had a "stalker" on the way down, was pretty scary...this white utility truck pulled up beside us, flashed its lights, then pulled off to the side of the road. Of course, I didn't stop. But, he caught up with us and continued to do the same thing like 3 times, before we decided to stop for gas, lol. The license plate was "4 bebop", which Panda-chan noticed cause Tank was playing on my iPod at the time... We got there with plenty of time though, despite that, with no other troubles~!
Friday-
Cosplay: Albel, Star Ocean 3 (Till the End of Time)
Karaoke: To the Light (Star Ocean EX), Mezase Pokemon (Pokemon), Falco (Ueki no Housoku) (I think that was it O.o I was in there for a while, lol)
Well, we got to the hotel so early, they were still setting things up. I managed to run into some people I had been chatting with on the forums though, so we just hung out and talked for a bit, while things were finished. Once things started to "come alive," Panda-chan and I grabbed our badges and I went to go take care of things with Artist Alley. I got my table and we got things set up pretty easily, with plenty of time before the room opened (dealer's room and artist alley shared a room, and um, it had like 8 tables in it >.> it was pretty lame). I headed out to karaoke, cause it started an hour before the alley opened. I managed to get several songs in, and I got to meet another person I had talked to on the forums ^^ The karaoke itself was pretty lame, one of those "let's call it anime con karaoke but only have English songs" things. Sorry, but that's not anime con karaoke to me Xd I'd go to a bar if I wanted that! After the hour was up, I headed back to the alley to man my table. The first day was pretty slow, with just a lot of sitting around and harassing the other people around me. Dana of Ideafish kept leaving her table to join me at hers, so I was kept company when Panda-chan was off at events. The hours of the room only had us opened til 7 pm, so after that, I met up with Panda-chan to actually try and go to some events. After some food and our private photoshoots, we headed off to Yaoi Bedtime stories...the event started off with playing a "drinking" game (minus the alcohol). I was working on commissions, so I wasn't too active, but it wasn't that interesting anyways, and I did at least take my turn to say what I'd never done. I didn't have anything to drink with me, and I didn't drink water, so the rest, I wasn't doing so much. Half an hour into the event, they finally started. They basically had printed off some fanfictions to read to us. 90% of them were Hetalia, of course, which sorta had me and Panda-chan already bored before they even started. We stayed around for the first story, but after hearing the horrendous new way to eat pasta (was Germany x Italy), we decided we'd be better off spending the rest of our night in the hotel room. It was several months after that before either of us could eat pasta again (and that's my favorite food!) ^^;
Saturday-
Cosplay: Luka, Uragiri ha Boku no Namae wo Shitteru *debut*
Karaoke Contest: Jap (Sengoku Basara)
I got up bright and early and hit the con suite on my way down to open up my Artist Alley table. The suite was pretty picked over, but I managed to grab like a fourth of a pastry so at least I ate something! (my mom was freaking out when she learned I basically only ate dinner each night at this con, lol...but when I solo them like this, it's hard to leave my table to get food ^^; ). But anyways, I headed down and got my table all ready to go for the day, and started the day off. The day was pretty busy for me (aren't most Saturdays at cons, lol), and full of lots of commissions, especially from my new friend dubbed "Random Congoer Complete Stranger" or RCGCS, lol. But, it was fun. I did a range of things from ink to color, and from yaoi, caricatures, all the way to realism O.o The commissions kept me busy. I got a lot of help from Dana again, since I had decided to wear fake nails for my Luka cosplay, and I couldn't do anything with them on @_@ I ended up breaking a few of them off on purpose, just so I could use my hands better, lol. I put them on before we did our private shoot, but spent most of the day with them off. It was also my first time binding myself, ugh, I can't even imagine how painful that is to bustier girls. You have my sympathy! I broke away from my table to participate in the karaoke contest, but just like the open mic karaoke there, I was pretty much the only non-English or even anime-related song in the entire contest. The judging was pretty poor for the contest, too, although everyone I thought should have placed got an honorable mention, and I even got one of those <3 (though it was for Best Foreign Language performance..um, there was like no others! though one Lady gaga song had some French in it). The winner was at least amusing, though two of the other honorable mentions, at least, sang a LOT better. One of them had me totally blown away with her voice...! After the contest, I spent the rest of the day behind my table, until it closed around 7 pm again. Panda-chan and I headed for our private shoot and then got ourselves some food before we went to some events. We attended Whose Line is it Yaoi, which was HILARIOUS! Kudos to the people running it, it was done really well. I had put in the line "one guy confessing to another guy in a public bathroom" and though I had meant "love confession" they took it as "sin confession", but the outcome was still just as funny. We had decided to cut it short to go watch Koisuru Boukun in the viewing room, cause Panda-chan learned I had never seen it, lol, but when we got there, they had put in Boku no Pico!!! Terrified, we escaped to our hotel room, and though they told us in half an hour it would be KB, we didn't wanna go back. Instead, we streamed it in the hotel room and watched it on my labtop...complete with "BUFFERING" every couple minutes, lol. We watched a little bit of a comedian that Panda-chan liked while we got ready for bed, and then we crashed for the night. On the way back to the hotel room though, I got my first recognization as Luka in the hallway right before our room, haha.
Sunday-
Cosplay: Luka, Uragiri ha Boku no Namae wo Shitteru
I got up extra early to run things like the cooler, my pillow and bag, and my Albel armor down to my car before I headed into the alley for the day. I think it all closed up at like 3, so it was one of those short days. Panda-chan spent a lot of time at my table on Sunday, and I didn't even bother to try the fake nails again. I got a couple last commissions, and I spent the whole day in alley. I escaped for a short bit to check us out of the hotel, once I was sure everyone was out of the room. I got recognized again when I was in the check-out line, lol. And I had one more before I left. Yay for obscure characters XD Unfortunately, there was no easy way to get my Artist Alley bins up, since there was no elevator anywhere near where the alley was. They told me I could roll it through closing ceremonies, but in the end, some nice people helped me carry it up the couple stairs I had to go up. One the alley closed, we packed everything back into my car, and then I went and changed before the ride home. We stopped a couple hours out to grab some Taco Bell, and we managed to make it home around 10 or so at night. Panda-chan went home and I crashed, lol.
So, with all of that...it was a nice change to have a con where I didn't know alot of people beforehand, and I didn't have to worry about anyone save for myself, lol. However, the con itself has a lot to be desired in regards to organization. I'm not sure how they handle their AA sign-ups initially, but they were fine with throwing me in last minute. I had no issues there. They were late getting to the alley/dealer's room to let us check-in, and assign our tables. There weren't that many events and while I didn't attend that many of them, Panda-chan did, and she said most of them were disappointing, and most of the ones I did go to were, as well. Though the con called itself an anime con, it did not have an anime con feel to it at all. It was focusing on yaoi as its theme, but even that wasn't pushed to the extent it should have been. The venue wasn't horrible, but it had some issues, especially for those as vendors. The hallways were terribly narrow, too, for events, and line-ups were maddening.
I had fun at the con, but not for the reasons I'm supposed to, lol. Overall I give this con a 4/10. Not saying I wouldn't go back, but I probably only would if another friend wanted to go, or they "invited" me back. Panda-chan doesn't even want to go back, lol!
Pictures have been up for quite some time. You can find them here: BishieCon 2011 on DSOD
have I gotten behind @_@ (and there are still a couple that I
haven't done from like over a year ago or more, too!
With that said, first up is BishieCon! It was a con me and Panda-chan decided to hit rather last minute, lol, down in St Louis, during December of last year. It was like our Christmas present to one another, lol. I got on the forums, got together people to share our room, and we were ready to go. Here is the con report~
PreCon
Since we decided like a month or so before the convention to go, I didn't have time to get anything like panels and that. I ended up putting in for Artist Alley, and was waitlisted, of course. I wasn't expecting to get a table, but about 2 days before we left for the convention, I got an e-mail saying a table opened up last minute, lol! So, I took it <3 I was running around like crazy the day before trying to get everything together. I managed to, in the end, and was able to just pay for the table at the convention.
We left around midnight that Thursday and drove down. I took my car for a change, especially since it was just me and Panda-chan. It was hard, but we managed to get all my AA stuff and our cosplay/luggage, plus a cooler, packed into my little Eclipse. I drove all night, and though Panda-chan was quiet most of the night, she stayed up with me. We had a "stalker" on the way down, was pretty scary...this white utility truck pulled up beside us, flashed its lights, then pulled off to the side of the road. Of course, I didn't stop. But, he caught up with us and continued to do the same thing like 3 times, before we decided to stop for gas, lol. The license plate was "4 bebop", which Panda-chan noticed cause Tank was playing on my iPod at the time... We got there with plenty of time though, despite that, with no other troubles~!
Friday-
Cosplay: Albel, Star Ocean 3 (Till the End of Time)
Karaoke: To the Light (Star Ocean EX), Mezase Pokemon (Pokemon), Falco (Ueki no Housoku) (I think that was it O.o I was in there for a while, lol)
Well, we got to the hotel so early, they were still setting things up. I managed to run into some people I had been chatting with on the forums though, so we just hung out and talked for a bit, while things were finished. Once things started to "come alive," Panda-chan and I grabbed our badges and I went to go take care of things with Artist Alley. I got my table and we got things set up pretty easily, with plenty of time before the room opened (dealer's room and artist alley shared a room, and um, it had like 8 tables in it >.> it was pretty lame). I headed out to karaoke, cause it started an hour before the alley opened. I managed to get several songs in, and I got to meet another person I had talked to on the forums ^^ The karaoke itself was pretty lame, one of those "let's call it anime con karaoke but only have English songs" things. Sorry, but that's not anime con karaoke to me Xd I'd go to a bar if I wanted that! After the hour was up, I headed back to the alley to man my table. The first day was pretty slow, with just a lot of sitting around and harassing the other people around me. Dana of Ideafish kept leaving her table to join me at hers, so I was kept company when Panda-chan was off at events. The hours of the room only had us opened til 7 pm, so after that, I met up with Panda-chan to actually try and go to some events. After some food and our private photoshoots, we headed off to Yaoi Bedtime stories...the event started off with playing a "drinking" game (minus the alcohol). I was working on commissions, so I wasn't too active, but it wasn't that interesting anyways, and I did at least take my turn to say what I'd never done. I didn't have anything to drink with me, and I didn't drink water, so the rest, I wasn't doing so much. Half an hour into the event, they finally started. They basically had printed off some fanfictions to read to us. 90% of them were Hetalia, of course, which sorta had me and Panda-chan already bored before they even started. We stayed around for the first story, but after hearing the horrendous new way to eat pasta (was Germany x Italy), we decided we'd be better off spending the rest of our night in the hotel room. It was several months after that before either of us could eat pasta again (and that's my favorite food!) ^^;
Saturday-
Cosplay: Luka, Uragiri ha Boku no Namae wo Shitteru *debut*
Karaoke Contest: Jap (Sengoku Basara)
I got up bright and early and hit the con suite on my way down to open up my Artist Alley table. The suite was pretty picked over, but I managed to grab like a fourth of a pastry so at least I ate something! (my mom was freaking out when she learned I basically only ate dinner each night at this con, lol...but when I solo them like this, it's hard to leave my table to get food ^^; ). But anyways, I headed down and got my table all ready to go for the day, and started the day off. The day was pretty busy for me (aren't most Saturdays at cons, lol), and full of lots of commissions, especially from my new friend dubbed "Random Congoer Complete Stranger" or RCGCS, lol. But, it was fun. I did a range of things from ink to color, and from yaoi, caricatures, all the way to realism O.o The commissions kept me busy. I got a lot of help from Dana again, since I had decided to wear fake nails for my Luka cosplay, and I couldn't do anything with them on @_@ I ended up breaking a few of them off on purpose, just so I could use my hands better, lol. I put them on before we did our private shoot, but spent most of the day with them off. It was also my first time binding myself, ugh, I can't even imagine how painful that is to bustier girls. You have my sympathy! I broke away from my table to participate in the karaoke contest, but just like the open mic karaoke there, I was pretty much the only non-English or even anime-related song in the entire contest. The judging was pretty poor for the contest, too, although everyone I thought should have placed got an honorable mention, and I even got one of those <3 (though it was for Best Foreign Language performance..um, there was like no others! though one Lady gaga song had some French in it). The winner was at least amusing, though two of the other honorable mentions, at least, sang a LOT better. One of them had me totally blown away with her voice...! After the contest, I spent the rest of the day behind my table, until it closed around 7 pm again. Panda-chan and I headed for our private shoot and then got ourselves some food before we went to some events. We attended Whose Line is it Yaoi, which was HILARIOUS! Kudos to the people running it, it was done really well. I had put in the line "one guy confessing to another guy in a public bathroom" and though I had meant "love confession" they took it as "sin confession", but the outcome was still just as funny. We had decided to cut it short to go watch Koisuru Boukun in the viewing room, cause Panda-chan learned I had never seen it, lol, but when we got there, they had put in Boku no Pico!!! Terrified, we escaped to our hotel room, and though they told us in half an hour it would be KB, we didn't wanna go back. Instead, we streamed it in the hotel room and watched it on my labtop...complete with "BUFFERING" every couple minutes, lol. We watched a little bit of a comedian that Panda-chan liked while we got ready for bed, and then we crashed for the night. On the way back to the hotel room though, I got my first recognization as Luka in the hallway right before our room, haha.
Sunday-
Cosplay: Luka, Uragiri ha Boku no Namae wo Shitteru
I got up extra early to run things like the cooler, my pillow and bag, and my Albel armor down to my car before I headed into the alley for the day. I think it all closed up at like 3, so it was one of those short days. Panda-chan spent a lot of time at my table on Sunday, and I didn't even bother to try the fake nails again. I got a couple last commissions, and I spent the whole day in alley. I escaped for a short bit to check us out of the hotel, once I was sure everyone was out of the room. I got recognized again when I was in the check-out line, lol. And I had one more before I left. Yay for obscure characters XD Unfortunately, there was no easy way to get my Artist Alley bins up, since there was no elevator anywhere near where the alley was. They told me I could roll it through closing ceremonies, but in the end, some nice people helped me carry it up the couple stairs I had to go up. One the alley closed, we packed everything back into my car, and then I went and changed before the ride home. We stopped a couple hours out to grab some Taco Bell, and we managed to make it home around 10 or so at night. Panda-chan went home and I crashed, lol.
So, with all of that...it was a nice change to have a con where I didn't know alot of people beforehand, and I didn't have to worry about anyone save for myself, lol. However, the con itself has a lot to be desired in regards to organization. I'm not sure how they handle their AA sign-ups initially, but they were fine with throwing me in last minute. I had no issues there. They were late getting to the alley/dealer's room to let us check-in, and assign our tables. There weren't that many events and while I didn't attend that many of them, Panda-chan did, and she said most of them were disappointing, and most of the ones I did go to were, as well. Though the con called itself an anime con, it did not have an anime con feel to it at all. It was focusing on yaoi as its theme, but even that wasn't pushed to the extent it should have been. The venue wasn't horrible, but it had some issues, especially for those as vendors. The hallways were terribly narrow, too, for events, and line-ups were maddening.
I had fun at the con, but not for the reasons I'm supposed to, lol. Overall I give this con a 4/10. Not saying I wouldn't go back, but I probably only would if another friend wanted to go, or they "invited" me back. Panda-chan doesn't even want to go back, lol!
Pictures have been up for quite some time. You can find them here: BishieCon 2011 on DSOD