MetroCon: Saturday/Sunday
So MetroCon is now over. Friday was a bit fail, but Saturday and Sunday were better :3 Saturday, as always was PACKED with stuff... the Chess Match, cosplay contest, AMV contest, late night events, etc. We missed some of those events due to the three Demyx Time panels (yes, Sarah and I are a bit obsessed... we went to all of them :'D) but did manage to catch a sizable chunk of the Chess Match and the tail-end of the cosplay. This is the first time I've been to Metro without seeing the Chess Match in its entirety. The Demyx Time panels were that. GOOD. And it probably doesn't help that I don't watch as much anime as I used to and therefore don't know who 90% of the characters are. The other 10% are usually popular characters that I don't really like D:
We saw a few new things as well this year. The Japanese Fairytale Theatre was the most memorable of those things, was really interesting and well done. I would have enjoyed it more if the ballroom it took place in hadn't been freezing cold ;o; Overall, it was something different I hadn't seen done at a con before and I really enjoyed it. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Picture Show was also back this year and was just as fun to watch as last year's, probably moreso that we skipped the drawn-out "supervillain contest" intro thing that lasted over an hour (which I'm pretty sure they did again since we walked in an hour late and we had only missed the first 15 minutes or so of part 1). I still have the songs stuck in my head today... two days later, lol. It had been awhile since I'd watched it. I forgot how great it is.
We ended the night with the blackout rave and managed to dance for an hour and a half, making it through the encore and everything. A bunch of people had seizures and/or collapsed this year, or as KellyJane (from Demyx Time) so eloquently put it during Sunday's Sora Show Panel, "people were having epileptic fits at the rave!!". I've seen rave drama before, but this was the first time I've ever seen so many people get sick at a con dance. I've been a steady con-goer since 2001, attending an average of two-four cons a year, so... that's saying something. Shit was crazy. A few times I even had to close my eyes because the strobes were so intense. Of course, I've never been to a non-convention rave, so I can't speak for those. It just seemed unusual. But I didn't have any seizures, so. SUCCESS?
Sunday was a nice, easy day, as all Sunday con days should be. We spent almost the entire day at the Sora Show panels, run by the Demyx Time crew, naturally (they have a number of anime and video game related parody webshows, Sora Show and Demyx Time being the best). After the last one, we hung around and got their autographs, pictures, and hugs :D Was great!
I am not a person who is usually prone to celebrity worship, but oh em gee do I love that group of people o__o And they aren't even proper celebrities- just regular anime fans who put on costumes and make ridiculous Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy parody shows. But Christ, I find them so hilarious, interesting, and cool. My heart must've been going a mile a minute when the two main girls, KellyJane and TealPirate, posed with me for the picture. IT IS RIDICULOUS, OMG. But they are so... cool... to me :x somewhat helps that they are a real-life couple, and a darn cute one at that
It is comforting to know that I'm not the only one. They have thousands of other fans from all over the world, and each and every panel was packed with them. And this is MetroCon... a fairly small con in Florida. Regardless that it is our largest con, it is still pretty average by national standards. God only knows what would happen if they went to Otakon or AWA. SWARMS OF FANS, MOST LIKELY.
I can't imagine how they deal with their fame. I've made lots of dumb videos with my friends in the past, some of them also anime parodies (though lol, they are nowhere near as funny and I am nowhere near as hawt or as talented as them). If I uploaded those videos on youtube for fun and became famous over them I would be like, "wait, what? 8D" ... because that's pretty much how they started, making dumb videos with friends for their own amusement. I don't think I'd have as much patience as they do, willing to devote so much time to meet and pose with their fans.
But anyway, it was the highlight of the con for me, as it was pretty much the highlight of last year's Metro too. It was just as much of a surprise that they decided to come back this year as it was that they decided to come at all last year... I mean, they are from the U.K., and they picked, out of all the big, famous American conventions to come to MetroCon, the convention in my city. I never thought I'd ever get to meet them, nonetheless twice. I feel incredibly lucky. Yet even if they had chosen another con, in another state...I think I would be willing to travel there to see them, too. I am that much of a fan :> They're just so entertaining, and very kind people to boot.
But anyway, the rest of Sunday... well, after the two Sora Show panels and hanging around for autographs and pictures, pretty much everything had ended, so we went straight to closing ceremonies. After all the guests came out and said their final words, they showed a few boring AMVs and ended things with a mini-rave :3 That was fun and unexpected. It got a little weird for me when someone ran into the middle of it with a MetroCon flag and began screaming "THIS IS WHY YOU'RE HERE!!!" to which the majority con-goers responded with a slightly savage war-cry of agreement reminiscent of some extremist political rally, but it mostly amused me. In an... uncomfortable way :x After a couple songs and bouncing around, the crowd cleared out and we all went home.
Overall assessment: the con had its flaws, and without all the Demyx Time stuff I would have rated it as a slightly above average experience- basically, not as fun as last year, but ok. The Demyx Time stuff, however, made it just as good. All together, we probably spent around ten hours in their panels over the whole weekend... and I didn't once get bored. I loved every second! xD Next year if I can afford it I would like to get a hotel room, though... even if it's pretty unnecessary now that we live ten minutes away from the Tampa Convention Center, it didn't have as much of that "con feeling" having to go home each night. It would have been better if we had gone with friends, too... 'cause cons are just more fun with more people. We have a dismally dwindling group of friends atm, but maybe we'll make more by next year.
Currently, my family is visiting me :) It's the first time they've come here to see me since I moved out here. We didn't do much today; just went to eat in Ybor and walk around Centro (a nice shopping center there), but my grandma got tired almost immediately and wanted to go back to the hotel. We didn't get to look in a single shop, which was a little disappointing. A little sad for me, too... they're both my only family, and they seem to be deteriorating right before my eyes :/ My grandma is just getting old and has really bad arthritis and stuff; my mom just didn't take care of herself as well as she should have when she was younger and has the body of a much older person as a result. We're going to do something inside tomorrow (the aquarium and/or the MOSI) so hopefully, they both get well rested tonight and won't have as much trouble walking around.
They go home Wednesday and Sammy, a friend of Sarah and myself, will be staying with us from Thursday through Sunday. And during that entire time frame I have to write a major paper for my Linguistics course (due Friday) as well as continue our hunt for another roommate, which we are really getting desperate for. We thought we'd found a sure one named Danielle who we'd been speaking to since the beginning of the month; she'd visited us several times, was ready to sign the lease and move in this week... but she backed out Saturday night (great news to come home to at 3am after the Metro rave ~__~) out of absolutely nowhere, giving us only a week to find someone new. It's going to be a stressful, busy next few days. I am looking forward to Sammy coming and doing more stuff with my family, but I'm hoping we can all find the time to deal with all the other stuff in-between.
It's going to be interesting. I really hope we can pull it off.
Here, have a pic of my idols, BEING WIN:
The Demyx Time crew with us, in their Sora Show getups, L to R: Tomoyo-hime as Riku's grandma, Sora1992 as Riku's redneck dad, TealPirate as Riku (our favorite♥!!), Sarah in ecstasy for being next to TealPirate, myself looking very derpy, KellyJane as Sora, One-Sky-One-Destiny as Sora's mum, and FrostPup as Roxas :3
HAPPIEST MOMENT OF LIFE!!!!11
We saw a few new things as well this year. The Japanese Fairytale Theatre was the most memorable of those things, was really interesting and well done. I would have enjoyed it more if the ballroom it took place in hadn't been freezing cold ;o; Overall, it was something different I hadn't seen done at a con before and I really enjoyed it. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Picture Show was also back this year and was just as fun to watch as last year's, probably moreso that we skipped the drawn-out "supervillain contest" intro thing that lasted over an hour (which I'm pretty sure they did again since we walked in an hour late and we had only missed the first 15 minutes or so of part 1). I still have the songs stuck in my head today... two days later, lol. It had been awhile since I'd watched it. I forgot how great it is.
We ended the night with the blackout rave and managed to dance for an hour and a half, making it through the encore and everything. A bunch of people had seizures and/or collapsed this year, or as KellyJane (from Demyx Time) so eloquently put it during Sunday's Sora Show Panel, "people were having epileptic fits at the rave!!". I've seen rave drama before, but this was the first time I've ever seen so many people get sick at a con dance. I've been a steady con-goer since 2001, attending an average of two-four cons a year, so... that's saying something. Shit was crazy. A few times I even had to close my eyes because the strobes were so intense. Of course, I've never been to a non-convention rave, so I can't speak for those. It just seemed unusual. But I didn't have any seizures, so. SUCCESS?
Sunday was a nice, easy day, as all Sunday con days should be. We spent almost the entire day at the Sora Show panels, run by the Demyx Time crew, naturally (they have a number of anime and video game related parody webshows, Sora Show and Demyx Time being the best). After the last one, we hung around and got their autographs, pictures, and hugs :D Was great!
I am not a person who is usually prone to celebrity worship, but oh em gee do I love that group of people o__o And they aren't even proper celebrities- just regular anime fans who put on costumes and make ridiculous Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy parody shows. But Christ, I find them so hilarious, interesting, and cool. My heart must've been going a mile a minute when the two main girls, KellyJane and TealPirate, posed with me for the picture. IT IS RIDICULOUS, OMG. But they are so... cool... to me :x somewhat helps that they are a real-life couple, and a darn cute one at that
It is comforting to know that I'm not the only one. They have thousands of other fans from all over the world, and each and every panel was packed with them. And this is MetroCon... a fairly small con in Florida. Regardless that it is our largest con, it is still pretty average by national standards. God only knows what would happen if they went to Otakon or AWA. SWARMS OF FANS, MOST LIKELY.
I can't imagine how they deal with their fame. I've made lots of dumb videos with my friends in the past, some of them also anime parodies (though lol, they are nowhere near as funny and I am nowhere near as hawt or as talented as them). If I uploaded those videos on youtube for fun and became famous over them I would be like, "wait, what? 8D" ... because that's pretty much how they started, making dumb videos with friends for their own amusement. I don't think I'd have as much patience as they do, willing to devote so much time to meet and pose with their fans.
But anyway, it was the highlight of the con for me, as it was pretty much the highlight of last year's Metro too. It was just as much of a surprise that they decided to come back this year as it was that they decided to come at all last year... I mean, they are from the U.K., and they picked, out of all the big, famous American conventions to come to MetroCon, the convention in my city. I never thought I'd ever get to meet them, nonetheless twice. I feel incredibly lucky. Yet even if they had chosen another con, in another state...I think I would be willing to travel there to see them, too. I am that much of a fan :> They're just so entertaining, and very kind people to boot.
But anyway, the rest of Sunday... well, after the two Sora Show panels and hanging around for autographs and pictures, pretty much everything had ended, so we went straight to closing ceremonies. After all the guests came out and said their final words, they showed a few boring AMVs and ended things with a mini-rave :3 That was fun and unexpected. It got a little weird for me when someone ran into the middle of it with a MetroCon flag and began screaming "THIS IS WHY YOU'RE HERE!!!" to which the majority con-goers responded with a slightly savage war-cry of agreement reminiscent of some extremist political rally, but it mostly amused me. In an... uncomfortable way :x After a couple songs and bouncing around, the crowd cleared out and we all went home.
Overall assessment: the con had its flaws, and without all the Demyx Time stuff I would have rated it as a slightly above average experience- basically, not as fun as last year, but ok. The Demyx Time stuff, however, made it just as good. All together, we probably spent around ten hours in their panels over the whole weekend... and I didn't once get bored. I loved every second! xD Next year if I can afford it I would like to get a hotel room, though... even if it's pretty unnecessary now that we live ten minutes away from the Tampa Convention Center, it didn't have as much of that "con feeling" having to go home each night. It would have been better if we had gone with friends, too... 'cause cons are just more fun with more people. We have a dismally dwindling group of friends atm, but maybe we'll make more by next year.
Currently, my family is visiting me :) It's the first time they've come here to see me since I moved out here. We didn't do much today; just went to eat in Ybor and walk around Centro (a nice shopping center there), but my grandma got tired almost immediately and wanted to go back to the hotel. We didn't get to look in a single shop, which was a little disappointing. A little sad for me, too... they're both my only family, and they seem to be deteriorating right before my eyes :/ My grandma is just getting old and has really bad arthritis and stuff; my mom just didn't take care of herself as well as she should have when she was younger and has the body of a much older person as a result. We're going to do something inside tomorrow (the aquarium and/or the MOSI) so hopefully, they both get well rested tonight and won't have as much trouble walking around.
They go home Wednesday and Sammy, a friend of Sarah and myself, will be staying with us from Thursday through Sunday. And during that entire time frame I have to write a major paper for my Linguistics course (due Friday) as well as continue our hunt for another roommate, which we are really getting desperate for. We thought we'd found a sure one named Danielle who we'd been speaking to since the beginning of the month; she'd visited us several times, was ready to sign the lease and move in this week... but she backed out Saturday night (great news to come home to at 3am after the Metro rave ~__~) out of absolutely nowhere, giving us only a week to find someone new. It's going to be a stressful, busy next few days. I am looking forward to Sammy coming and doing more stuff with my family, but I'm hoping we can all find the time to deal with all the other stuff in-between.
It's going to be interesting. I really hope we can pull it off.
Here, have a pic of my idols, BEING WIN:
The Demyx Time crew with us, in their Sora Show getups, L to R: Tomoyo-hime as Riku's grandma, Sora1992 as Riku's redneck dad, TealPirate as Riku (our favorite♥!!), Sarah in ecstasy for being next to TealPirate, myself looking very derpy, KellyJane as Sora, One-Sky-One-Destiny as Sora's mum, and FrostPup as Roxas :3
HAPPIEST MOMENT OF LIFE!!!!11