Otakon 2008 Report
Whew, finally, after getting home from the convention, training for a new job, and trying to get Charlie moved in, I've finally managed to find a few minutes to work on my con report. Then it's on to the photos, hurray!
And yes, this is stupidly long. It is a con report, after all. XD
Pre-Con: Thursday
Thursday started out insanely early. After working late and not sleeping well the night before, my younger brother shows up at my new place around 8 AM to see things and look at my car. As it is inevitable that I attend Otakon without some sort of car trouble, my car happily obliged by being privy to a fender-bender about a week or so prior. DX But my brother proclaimed it sound, and offered to help me get it fixed, so that shall be our project in further weeks.
But on to Otakon. I got my friends Lei and Felix from the bus stop in downtown Philly and pretty much set right off. The drive down was uneventful, though we found out that there were more tolls than I remembered from last time. We fed Lei her first Arby's roast beef, which I believe she enjoyed. Our temporary residence ended up being Lei's cousin's house, since it was free, with her goth, chain-smoking habits and three cats. Could have been worse. XD
I'd planned on attending a coffeehouse with my sister that night (who was also staying with us), and after a few texts off to luco_millian, I'd determined to kidnap her for it as well. I killed two birds with one stone by grabbing her and another member of our party, Mei, from the convention center at the same time, and after dropping Mei off with the others, Luco and I headed off into the great unknown. Thank goodness we didn't get lost in the wilds of Maryland, haha. The coffeehouse thing was amazing- a whole group of musicians, poets, and other artistic folks got together to share the fruits of their labors, and it made for an altogether fun time. Heather Lloyd of the angelic voice was there, as well as several others from the group ilyaimy. Yum. If you've never heard her sing, I highly recommend it.
Then it was back to return Luco, and to lead my sister to our crash site and rejoin my companions for sleep.
First Day: Friday
As always, getting everybody rolled out of bed and ready isn't always the easiest, haha. But we managed. I decided to do my Thriller Bark cosplay for the day (just as a random zombie, mind you... nobody special), and a few of the others did some dressing up, and after a lot of makeup and spirit gum we were off. None of us were preregistered, so we figured that we'd wait a little for the line to die down and then get our passes.
Boy were we wrong.
Arriving at roughly 10:30, we stood out in the blazing sun for about three hours before finally making it into the blissful air conditioning of the convention center. I could practically feel the sunburn happening on my skin, it was so bad. And the water guys that usually hawk their wares were nowhere to be found until we were almost at the door... I wasn't sure if we'd make it. I'm surprised more people didn't pass out in that, especially considering some of the costumes. I'd never seen a line like this at Otakon, but you can be rest assured that we won't be making the mistake of arriving to register on the day of the convention again.
Then it was off to the wonders of the con. As always, the hall was filled with a colorful mix of cosplayers, more eye candy than could ever be fully enjoyed, as well as the obligatory WTF costumes. XD I got to meet up with some con friends of ours from several conventions before, and one of them even cosplayed as Frankie this year (yay!), which was really awesome. We hit up the One Piece photo shoot that evening and got some lovely photos, which are in the process of being uploaded, and got to see even more people that we've missed. I love you guys, seriously. <3 Then a bunch of us tromped off to the food court for edible things, and wandered around a bit more until finally returning to our respective temporary residences.
Second Day: Saturday
Saturday, ah, Saturday... we had such trouble getting out of bed. XD;; I don't know what happened to us, but we honestly didn't get up, dressed, and to the convention center until almost 1, which was really abnormal for us. BUT WE MADE IT. Traffic on 95 nearly killed us, so we had to call Lei's cousin and get an alternate route on the fly, but nothing would keep us from another day of otaku festivities.
I cosplayed my Drum Island Ace and Lei did Sanji, and it was good. :3 I so enjoy being able to wander around the convention and see One Piece cosplayers, as well as ones from so many other series. I even managed to see a fully-costumed Chopper around, who for some reason had a white cloth wrapped around his face smeared with a huge Joker grin and holding a large machine gun. XD That was quite the highlight of the day, that and watching Pedobear run around molesting folks. I even ran into a group of cosplayers that recognized me from online (!) and totally made my day. <3
Also, the yuri and yaoi panel? The publishers involved revealed that they are going to translate and print Maka-Maka, and I think I squeaked and about jumped out of my seat. I have so much love for that manga, you have no idea. *will probably be among the first in line to get a copy like the obsessive geek she is*
After haunting Luco's table a bit more in Artist's Alley, I managed to bump into dethorats and brian-kun, which was lovely. We got to chat and relax together for a bit before packing Luco up and taking her things back to the hotel room so we could hit up the One Piece panel. Southern Sanji was a treat, and the girl that proudly stood up at the end of the panel to proclaim that she's going to be Luffy's wife and pirate queen made most of us wince, I think. By then Luco was so worn out that Brian took her back to her room, and I hung out with Dethorats and the Sherries for a while to simply talk. That's what I love so much about conventions, really... the panels and the anime are fun, sure, but being able to spend time with people of like interests and just hang out is fun times. Then me and my party crashed for the night.
Third Day: Sunday
Got up at a reasonable time on Sunday, since we had to leave relatively early from the convention to get Lei and Felix back to the bus in Philly on time. By this time, we were all sort of winding down on energy, but we tried our best to keep up our enthusiasm to make up for it. I did Ace once more, and my sister cosplayed as Shanks (which she does a great job on, btw), and the rest were a bit too tired to do more than come along, though I believe Lei did put her kitty ears on. When we stopped to pay our toll just outside of Baltimore, apparently whoever was in the car ahead of us paid for us already, so we just sort of sat staring dumbly after him for a moment. It was great, and if we could have managed to find a way to thank him, we would have. We decided in the end that it had been Ben (since Shanks was sitting next to me in the front seat), and that he was once again taking care of his wayward captain.
Ran around a bit more, found Luco yet again and watched her table so that she could enjoy a bit of Artist's Alley, then ran off to attend the last One Piece photo shoot. I got a crapton of pictures this time around thanks to Luco, and hung out some more with supermarino and crew, dragonsong12, lissibith (all of whom we kind of wandered with at different times during the course of the convention), and so many others who I cannot possibly hope to list. I seriously didn't want to leave... but my friends had a bus to catch, and I was their ride. So we had to leave. ;_;
Of course, the Otakon curse kicked in yet again, and we made it to the bus station just in time to watch Lei and Felix's bus pull away. XD;;;;; So my relaxing Sunday night turned into one full of driving as I took them home. But everybody made it home at a reasonable time, and I got a room booked for next year's convention right by the center. >D It's about time.
And that was pretty much it. Otakon was over much too quickly.
A few last requests:
-The One Piece cosplayers who I met on Saturday, talked about R&R with and snapped a picture... anybody got a copy of that to share? That was a good memory. :3
-dethorats, remember how we were chatting about that one ZoSan fic with the fountains and the trials? My mind has drawn an utter blank now that I want to go back and reread it. Do you possibly have a link?
-Sunday's photo shoot: Did anybody get pictures of me with the adorable Luffy? T.T She and I had posed for some brotherly pics, and I don't have a single copy.
-sleeplessmjade, does Brad or his sister have an LJ, or a Facebook, or anything like that? Do want much badly.
And yes, this is stupidly long. It is a con report, after all. XD
Pre-Con: Thursday
Thursday started out insanely early. After working late and not sleeping well the night before, my younger brother shows up at my new place around 8 AM to see things and look at my car. As it is inevitable that I attend Otakon without some sort of car trouble, my car happily obliged by being privy to a fender-bender about a week or so prior. DX But my brother proclaimed it sound, and offered to help me get it fixed, so that shall be our project in further weeks.
But on to Otakon. I got my friends Lei and Felix from the bus stop in downtown Philly and pretty much set right off. The drive down was uneventful, though we found out that there were more tolls than I remembered from last time. We fed Lei her first Arby's roast beef, which I believe she enjoyed. Our temporary residence ended up being Lei's cousin's house, since it was free, with her goth, chain-smoking habits and three cats. Could have been worse. XD
I'd planned on attending a coffeehouse with my sister that night (who was also staying with us), and after a few texts off to luco_millian, I'd determined to kidnap her for it as well. I killed two birds with one stone by grabbing her and another member of our party, Mei, from the convention center at the same time, and after dropping Mei off with the others, Luco and I headed off into the great unknown. Thank goodness we didn't get lost in the wilds of Maryland, haha. The coffeehouse thing was amazing- a whole group of musicians, poets, and other artistic folks got together to share the fruits of their labors, and it made for an altogether fun time. Heather Lloyd of the angelic voice was there, as well as several others from the group ilyaimy. Yum. If you've never heard her sing, I highly recommend it.
Then it was back to return Luco, and to lead my sister to our crash site and rejoin my companions for sleep.
First Day: Friday
As always, getting everybody rolled out of bed and ready isn't always the easiest, haha. But we managed. I decided to do my Thriller Bark cosplay for the day (just as a random zombie, mind you... nobody special), and a few of the others did some dressing up, and after a lot of makeup and spirit gum we were off. None of us were preregistered, so we figured that we'd wait a little for the line to die down and then get our passes.
Boy were we wrong.
Arriving at roughly 10:30, we stood out in the blazing sun for about three hours before finally making it into the blissful air conditioning of the convention center. I could practically feel the sunburn happening on my skin, it was so bad. And the water guys that usually hawk their wares were nowhere to be found until we were almost at the door... I wasn't sure if we'd make it. I'm surprised more people didn't pass out in that, especially considering some of the costumes. I'd never seen a line like this at Otakon, but you can be rest assured that we won't be making the mistake of arriving to register on the day of the convention again.
Then it was off to the wonders of the con. As always, the hall was filled with a colorful mix of cosplayers, more eye candy than could ever be fully enjoyed, as well as the obligatory WTF costumes. XD I got to meet up with some con friends of ours from several conventions before, and one of them even cosplayed as Frankie this year (yay!), which was really awesome. We hit up the One Piece photo shoot that evening and got some lovely photos, which are in the process of being uploaded, and got to see even more people that we've missed. I love you guys, seriously. <3 Then a bunch of us tromped off to the food court for edible things, and wandered around a bit more until finally returning to our respective temporary residences.
Second Day: Saturday
Saturday, ah, Saturday... we had such trouble getting out of bed. XD;; I don't know what happened to us, but we honestly didn't get up, dressed, and to the convention center until almost 1, which was really abnormal for us. BUT WE MADE IT. Traffic on 95 nearly killed us, so we had to call Lei's cousin and get an alternate route on the fly, but nothing would keep us from another day of otaku festivities.
I cosplayed my Drum Island Ace and Lei did Sanji, and it was good. :3 I so enjoy being able to wander around the convention and see One Piece cosplayers, as well as ones from so many other series. I even managed to see a fully-costumed Chopper around, who for some reason had a white cloth wrapped around his face smeared with a huge Joker grin and holding a large machine gun. XD That was quite the highlight of the day, that and watching Pedobear run around molesting folks. I even ran into a group of cosplayers that recognized me from online (!) and totally made my day. <3
Also, the yuri and yaoi panel? The publishers involved revealed that they are going to translate and print Maka-Maka, and I think I squeaked and about jumped out of my seat. I have so much love for that manga, you have no idea. *will probably be among the first in line to get a copy like the obsessive geek she is*
After haunting Luco's table a bit more in Artist's Alley, I managed to bump into dethorats and brian-kun, which was lovely. We got to chat and relax together for a bit before packing Luco up and taking her things back to the hotel room so we could hit up the One Piece panel. Southern Sanji was a treat, and the girl that proudly stood up at the end of the panel to proclaim that she's going to be Luffy's wife and pirate queen made most of us wince, I think. By then Luco was so worn out that Brian took her back to her room, and I hung out with Dethorats and the Sherries for a while to simply talk. That's what I love so much about conventions, really... the panels and the anime are fun, sure, but being able to spend time with people of like interests and just hang out is fun times. Then me and my party crashed for the night.
Third Day: Sunday
Got up at a reasonable time on Sunday, since we had to leave relatively early from the convention to get Lei and Felix back to the bus in Philly on time. By this time, we were all sort of winding down on energy, but we tried our best to keep up our enthusiasm to make up for it. I did Ace once more, and my sister cosplayed as Shanks (which she does a great job on, btw), and the rest were a bit too tired to do more than come along, though I believe Lei did put her kitty ears on. When we stopped to pay our toll just outside of Baltimore, apparently whoever was in the car ahead of us paid for us already, so we just sort of sat staring dumbly after him for a moment. It was great, and if we could have managed to find a way to thank him, we would have. We decided in the end that it had been Ben (since Shanks was sitting next to me in the front seat), and that he was once again taking care of his wayward captain.
Ran around a bit more, found Luco yet again and watched her table so that she could enjoy a bit of Artist's Alley, then ran off to attend the last One Piece photo shoot. I got a crapton of pictures this time around thanks to Luco, and hung out some more with supermarino and crew, dragonsong12, lissibith (all of whom we kind of wandered with at different times during the course of the convention), and so many others who I cannot possibly hope to list. I seriously didn't want to leave... but my friends had a bus to catch, and I was their ride. So we had to leave. ;_;
Of course, the Otakon curse kicked in yet again, and we made it to the bus station just in time to watch Lei and Felix's bus pull away. XD;;;;; So my relaxing Sunday night turned into one full of driving as I took them home. But everybody made it home at a reasonable time, and I got a room booked for next year's convention right by the center. >D It's about time.
And that was pretty much it. Otakon was over much too quickly.
A few last requests:
-The One Piece cosplayers who I met on Saturday, talked about R&R with and snapped a picture... anybody got a copy of that to share? That was a good memory. :3
-dethorats, remember how we were chatting about that one ZoSan fic with the fountains and the trials? My mind has drawn an utter blank now that I want to go back and reread it. Do you possibly have a link?
-Sunday's photo shoot: Did anybody get pictures of me with the adorable Luffy? T.T She and I had posed for some brotherly pics, and I don't have a single copy.
-sleeplessmjade, does Brad or his sister have an LJ, or a Facebook, or anything like that? Do want much badly.