Amecon 2007 or "Elvis was good last night, wasn't he?" "Yes." "CHEESE IT"...
Yes, I did finally make my way to my first Amecon and I'm going to try and tell you about it as chronologically as possible...but there may be a few things missing XD. So if you're reading and you remember it, comment to jog my memory of the good times! This one is quite picture heavy so I have put most of it behind links, just be patient with some of the loading times :)
Well, first off, before we left the rats decided they would have their own convention/party. We had mr_north look in on them all weekend to make sure they were okay but they are all so adorable still XD. Okay that was an excuse for rat-spam so onto the good stuff.
The weekend didn't start in a fantastic way as the minibus we rented was almost an hour late in arriving, making us an hour late for picking everyone up but as soon as we were on everyone seemed to be get into the spirit. The guys on the bus were (in no order at all) myself, spidermouse, keith_copping, felflowne, Bruce ("Shoestring"), Dave, Rich, Matt, Aaron and Helen who was our driver and, until this weekend, not an anime fan at all XD. Unfortunately we missed the opening ceremony and most of the Friday events due to the lateness of the bus which was a little crap, but at least we were there :)
Now, Saturday morning wasn't a lot better, well for myself and spidermouse. I'll cut this short but the general gist is: If you're reading this and are going to Amecon next year, don't go to the Bradgate Hotel! Seriously!. Basically, our shower wouldn't heat up so we couldn't wash in the morning. The problem seems to be that the hotel didn't have enough water pressure to cope with all the rooms needing water at the same time, and so no-one had hot water. Anyway, they offered no solution and no apology at all saying "It's not our fault. If you don't like it, go somewhere else" and when we did take them up on this offer (ably assisted by Helen) the landlord and landlady launched into a tirade of abuse and tried to keep our custom by saying "All the other hotels round here are run by bloody foreigners who will rip you off." Anyway, we left.
We found an excellent hotel where Bruce was staying. I washed while the others went to the con (By now it was 1pm and, again, we had missed loads). When I got there it was awesome! I got greeted by a load of cosplayers, some anime and some not so anime. One of them Helen thought was a kid, but it turned aout to be a chap called Allen who is almost as tall as me XD. Jonathan of "Many Lemons" fame, dressed as the main character from Another World, that brought back some memories.
I forced people to take some picture of me to prove I was at the con, guarding the base as none of me at Minami exist. Got some this time though :). I also met mosey_pussycat who lent me a hat for such a photo!. I plan to get one of my own.
There are so many cosplayer pics, but here are some of my faves: Keith as That Man(he was born to it!), Link, Mononoke, and a special mention to this Mario, who really did look the part and this Alchemist who looked really hungover on the Sunday and we christened him "The Ale Alchemist". I don't actually know who any of them were but they were kicking the ass!
Of course, there were a lot of people in Naruto gear.
As for events, I mainly spent my time watching the Animoo's and meeting new folk. I might have had a bit to drink at some point, but not as much as Keith!. There was also some surprise buttsex, Mat spent his time tossing his pork sword about. Some of us had to spoil it by getting too friendly and making the whole thing awkward. LOLZ.
Helen arrived at our hotel. Now, she was still staying at the Bradgate (remember that place, the one you should never stay at?) and the night before she was accosted by the manager who asked her why she was still upset with him (she had heped us get money out of them) and callered her a hard nosed cow . Now, we're getting away from Basil Fawlty and heading fast towards Norman Bates ville as he leaned on the front door, not allowing her to pass. The only thing that got her away was another customer trying to get in, so the manager was forced to move. This scared Helen, who just thought she would get out early in the morning to avoid this creepy bastard. She did, we all got in the bus and got Keith's stock apart from Mat, Dave and Arron who were still at the Bradgate. When they tried to leave, management wouldn't let them as Helen had not paid up her bill because of the whole running thing. When they said it was nothing to do with them and walked away, the landlady followed them to try and catch up to Helen picking them up in the bus. We saw her first and sped past. The chase was on, we were now on the run from a crazy T-1000 type landlady. We told the guys to lie to the landlady and say they had been ditched and meet us up at the train station. But she still followed!. Now the bill, I believe, was a small amount as Helen had paid most up front when she arrived. Kind of inversely proportional to the amount of chasing she had to do XD. So, Matt, Aaron and Dave made a brave escape by running away from crazy lady and there was much rejoicing.
On the way back, we all had a pub lunch. Bruce defeated a wild sammich, levelling up in the process and we passed some of the more exotic regions of the UK.
So all in all a great con, some not so great bits but lessons learned for next time. Thanks to Ruth, Allen and Tasha who were aweome fun on the last day, all the people I met and who I have not mentioned and thanks to all of my travelling companions for making my first big con a great one :).
Bed for me now, I am tired.
Well, first off, before we left the rats decided they would have their own convention/party. We had mr_north look in on them all weekend to make sure they were okay but they are all so adorable still XD. Okay that was an excuse for rat-spam so onto the good stuff.
The weekend didn't start in a fantastic way as the minibus we rented was almost an hour late in arriving, making us an hour late for picking everyone up but as soon as we were on everyone seemed to be get into the spirit. The guys on the bus were (in no order at all) myself, spidermouse, keith_copping, felflowne, Bruce ("Shoestring"), Dave, Rich, Matt, Aaron and Helen who was our driver and, until this weekend, not an anime fan at all XD. Unfortunately we missed the opening ceremony and most of the Friday events due to the lateness of the bus which was a little crap, but at least we were there :)
Now, Saturday morning wasn't a lot better, well for myself and spidermouse. I'll cut this short but the general gist is: If you're reading this and are going to Amecon next year, don't go to the Bradgate Hotel! Seriously!. Basically, our shower wouldn't heat up so we couldn't wash in the morning. The problem seems to be that the hotel didn't have enough water pressure to cope with all the rooms needing water at the same time, and so no-one had hot water. Anyway, they offered no solution and no apology at all saying "It's not our fault. If you don't like it, go somewhere else" and when we did take them up on this offer (ably assisted by Helen) the landlord and landlady launched into a tirade of abuse and tried to keep our custom by saying "All the other hotels round here are run by bloody foreigners who will rip you off." Anyway, we left.
We found an excellent hotel where Bruce was staying. I washed while the others went to the con (By now it was 1pm and, again, we had missed loads). When I got there it was awesome! I got greeted by a load of cosplayers, some anime and some not so anime. One of them Helen thought was a kid, but it turned aout to be a chap called Allen who is almost as tall as me XD. Jonathan of "Many Lemons" fame, dressed as the main character from Another World, that brought back some memories.
I forced people to take some picture of me to prove I was at the con, guarding the base as none of me at Minami exist. Got some this time though :). I also met mosey_pussycat who lent me a hat for such a photo!. I plan to get one of my own.
There are so many cosplayer pics, but here are some of my faves: Keith as That Man(he was born to it!), Link, Mononoke, and a special mention to this Mario, who really did look the part and this Alchemist who looked really hungover on the Sunday and we christened him "The Ale Alchemist". I don't actually know who any of them were but they were kicking the ass!
Of course, there were a lot of people in Naruto gear.
As for events, I mainly spent my time watching the Animoo's and meeting new folk. I might have had a bit to drink at some point, but not as much as Keith!. There was also some surprise buttsex, Mat spent his time tossing his pork sword about. Some of us had to spoil it by getting too friendly and making the whole thing awkward. LOLZ.
Helen arrived at our hotel. Now, she was still staying at the Bradgate (remember that place, the one you should never stay at?) and the night before she was accosted by the manager who asked her why she was still upset with him (she had heped us get money out of them) and callered her a hard nosed cow . Now, we're getting away from Basil Fawlty and heading fast towards Norman Bates ville as he leaned on the front door, not allowing her to pass. The only thing that got her away was another customer trying to get in, so the manager was forced to move. This scared Helen, who just thought she would get out early in the morning to avoid this creepy bastard. She did, we all got in the bus and got Keith's stock apart from Mat, Dave and Arron who were still at the Bradgate. When they tried to leave, management wouldn't let them as Helen had not paid up her bill because of the whole running thing. When they said it was nothing to do with them and walked away, the landlady followed them to try and catch up to Helen picking them up in the bus. We saw her first and sped past. The chase was on, we were now on the run from a crazy T-1000 type landlady. We told the guys to lie to the landlady and say they had been ditched and meet us up at the train station. But she still followed!. Now the bill, I believe, was a small amount as Helen had paid most up front when she arrived. Kind of inversely proportional to the amount of chasing she had to do XD. So, Matt, Aaron and Dave made a brave escape by running away from crazy lady and there was much rejoicing.
On the way back, we all had a pub lunch. Bruce defeated a wild sammich, levelling up in the process and we passed some of the more exotic regions of the UK.
So all in all a great con, some not so great bits but lessons learned for next time. Thanks to Ruth, Allen and Tasha who were aweome fun on the last day, all the people I met and who I have not mentioned and thanks to all of my travelling companions for making my first big con a great one :).
Bed for me now, I am tired.
