General Anime Convention Thread

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:41 pm

This thread is for sharing anime con experiences. I may (though I doubt it) go to Otakon 2005 and I'd like to know what to expect. ^^

Pics of you cosplaying as your favorite character would be cool too. Remember though to not use the IMG button or the SMU Staff'll get all pissed. lol

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:07 pm

XD

I've been to Ushicons 1, 2 and 3, and A-kons 13 and 14. I will be going to A-Kon 15 this June with Derek and Dan, and hopefully Guru.

Cosplaying is great, and I recommend it for anybody who is interested. It's always fun just to act like someone else, and it's even more fun to watch others in their magnificent and not-so-magnificent costumes. Beware of the fat 30 year old men who feel the need to dress up as sailor senshi or any other girls in equally short skirts. If you're going to cosplay, please be courteous and consider things like how much space is it going to take, does the costume FLATTER your body (I've seen enough 350 lb sailor senshi to last me a lifetime x_x;; ), does it even look remotely like the character, etc..

If you are not pre-regged, get there EARLY, EARLY EARLY. Get there the day BEFORE the con, if possible. Registration lines are horrendous. If you are pre-regged..GET THERE EARLY ANYWAY. There will STILL be a line to get your badge. DO NOT LOSE YOUR BADGE. Guard it with your LIFE.

The best thing to do is on the first day to get a schedule for every day of the con, and then plan which panels you really really want to see. Any other time open can be used for dealer's room (always a treat, though a crowded one), video game rooms, art exhibits, or simply lounging in a random hotel hallway, admiring the passer-bys.

You will see things happen at cons that will make your jaw drop...One year Derek and I walked in on two cosplaying pretty boys making out, while several girls (obviously yaoi-fans) screaming and cheering them on. I cracked up, and Derek looked considerably frightened. That's MILD compared to someo f the stuff that goes on.

Do not crowd the elevator. Be prepared to squeeze in tightly and hold your breath. They smell. There will be vomit on at least one. You will get hit in the head with someone's wings, or tail, or giant weapon. If there is even remotely any space on an elevator, TAKE IT, or you will be waiting hours to get another.

Staying up as late as you can is always a blast. There are always video rooms open all night, and such events like hentai night or shoujo night (if otakon has those) are always great.

The best thing about cons is that you can be great friends with someone for jsut a weekend, and go home feeling like you've known them all of your life. Nobody really cares about anything else but having fun, and you don't have to worry abuot what others think of you. Just lay back, have fun, and relax ^^

And now, some cosplaying photos for your viewing pleasure:
http://tpm.sweetserenity.com/akon/akontiff1.jpg
(I'm the green-haired one).

http://tpm.sweetserenity.com/akon/akontiff3.jpg
(school uniform XD)

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:13 pm

Kewl Tiff. So you're planning on making the trip out to MD for Otakon 2004? I'd come down but I have no $$$!><

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:15 pm

Miyamoto wrote:Kewl Tiff. So you're planning on making the trip out to MD for Otakon 2004? I'd come down but I have no $$$!><

...Um...no..o_O; where did I say I was going to Otakon? I'm gonig to A-kon. Project A-kon. It's in Dallas, an hour away from me.

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:18 pm

Tiff wrote:
Miyamoto wrote:Kewl Tiff. So you're planning on making the trip out to MD for Otakon 2004? I'd come down but I have no $$$!><
...Um...no..o_O; where did I say I was going to Otakon? I'm gonig to A-kon. Project A-kon. It's in Dallas, an hour away from me.

Okay. My bad. Do the game rooms have DDR etc?

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:21 pm

Miyamoto wrote:
Okay. My bad. Do the game rooms have DDR etc?

Certainly, and they're usually very crowded. Generally, you have to wait in line, and the people playing will make your jaw drop.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:24 pm

My first con experience was Anime Boston 2003, and sadly, it wasn't that great. Off the bat, the first thing that got me was the dismal lack of space here at the Boston Park Plaza hotel; it was so bad, they didn't allow any standing audiences for the masquerade/costume contest because of fire code restrictions. I also missed out on the hella popular ADV panel, as well as many others I would have liked to see. The thing seemed to be somewhat poorly organized, with many interesting events happening at the same time and at terrible hours. Furthermore, both last year and this year, AB occurs over Easter Weekend; I missed a lot of stuff because of the services I attend, and I can't go this year due to previous appointments made for the weekend ><.

Oh, and the fans. MAN. I thought I knew what a fanboy was before going into this thing - boy was I wrong. It's not until you overhear people debating about the true title of "Beyblade" that you realize you've hit otaku country. There was the usual dub bashing, and a frighteningly-large number of cross-dressers (of both genders) going on in their broken, anime-taught Japanese, and people taking their costumes WAY too seriously.

Having said that, what I WAS able to see was enjoyable. Jen and I attended a decent panel on Sailormoon - despite a VERY dumb comment made by yours truly - and another good one on Bemani and other music-based games. There was a nice plethora of stuff to be got - I ended up snagging a Tux keychain and a cute Sailor Mars plush, as well as a couple of PVC Transformers figures. We only got to see one anime there - Sugar, I believe, which I didn't care for at all (too cute for me ><). There was a game room, too, and sadly that's where we spent most of our time ^^ DDR and Parapara were there, as was Beatmania which Jen tried a bit. We got in a little DDR and PP - I somehow did better in the latter than in the former :P They also had a lot of GameCube, XBox, and PS2 games; I had fun playing Samus in Smash Brothers Melee, and got in some ass kicking with the Nintendo SoulCalibur game. I'll definitely be going again - next year, it will be later in the year, and in a much bigger place - and MAY go dressed up. I want to wear a sign that says "DUBS > SUBS", but Jen seems weary. She already nixed my "Anime SUX" shirt idea :( If I do a serious costume, it'll be Professor Tomoe from Sailor Moon S or Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter, though I'd like to get in better shape for the latter :P

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:26 pm

Tiff wrote:
Miyamoto wrote:
Okay. My bad. Do the game rooms have DDR etc?
Certainly, and they're usually very crowded. Generally, you have to wait in line, and the people playing will make your jaw drop.

Heh. Don't worry.. I'm used to that. There're a ton of Asians and non-Asians alike that play that crazily in my town. There're even some chick that're good.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:50 pm

I haven't had a con experience. The closest I've gotten to going to one was Anime Boston 2003, where the typical "friend decides that they can't afford it at the last second" scene occured and the two of us left couldn't pick up the slack at the time (I'm sure if the friend who backed did so a few weeks before she did, we might've been able to) and couldn't convince anyone else to come at short notice. Luckily it was right before I was going to book the hotel, or else I would've risen hell. Judging by your description of it though Starscream, it's probably better that the trip didn't happen. At least for my possible Otakon trip this year, I can kick my brother's ass and our friends if any of them try to pull that shit with me. XD

In any case, my first con will be A-Kon 15 in TX, meeting Tiff and Derek, possibly Bob if he figures out his plans around then (though the logic seems to be that he'll show up when I talked to him, and he better XD). I'm really looking foward to it, I've been wanting to go to a con for a long time, and everything seems really fun. I'm hoping to spend a bunch of time on the DDR pads showing off my skills, at some of the studio panels (especially ADV

), as well as the dances and the concert. It looks to be a whole lot of fun, and definetly going to happen since I'll be able to buy my plane ticket next week. ^_^

Akarui Kibuno · Post by **Akarui Kibuno** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 8:17 am

French cons, aha!

Hey what, we DO have some. XD .

The main ones are in Paris, which is... 20 minutes away from where I live in train so when I have money for the entrance ticket, I go to all I can find. Which can be up to three a year.

Cartoonist 2001 (November)

First one I ever went to. Was "nice" overall, though it felt like a big supermarket. Edition 2002 was exactly like that and it was so bad there was no Edition 2003, though there were some good things, but they didn't manage to answer the angry fans and the like.

Epita 2002 (End of May)

This one is rather small compared to the previous one mentioned, but it's pretty enjoyable. It's in a computer school (I call it like that) and you have lots of fun, and the "mood" (as I say) is way better than in the previous one. I karaoked for the first time there, and I was all scared, but still, it was nice.

Japan Expo 2002 (first weekend of July)

Well, for this one, I can't say much because... because it was the first con where I was part of staff. For 2003, I was staff too, and I will be again in 2004. And... *dreamy eyes* my boyfriend was there at edition 2002, and that's how it all started. What is nice with this convention that has kinda grown bigger than the Cartoonist one, is that, it's not only a convention, it's a festival. And it does wear its name properly: you will find anime, and stores, but you will also find culture and traditional games. You will find karaoke, cosplay, everything ^^ not many thing to be deceived about.

So you know you have to come to Paris this summer XD

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 2:53 pm

TT-TT I was supposed to go to A-kon this summer, but plans fell through. None of the friends I was going with would get permission from their parents, nor save money. In fact, I have one friend who thinks $200 would cover everything. I laughed. Loudly. In his face. We were all even gonna cosplay together, as an Utena group. I was gonna be Miki.... I had the pattern for the costume and everything. And we were gonna compete in the DDR Tournament there. Me and my friend Anthony (nicknamed Anthy XD) were gonna enter, cause we're both the kind of people who "make your draw drop." For very different reasons, though. He gets super-high scores, and I just look good doing it. I don't score super-high, typically getting A's or B's, but I actually dance with my whole body, not just my feet. But, alas, being poor teenagers is not fun.

Hopefully, though, I'm going to AnimeMazeMent this summer. It's only an hour away from my house (It's in Durham, NC. w00t!) I'm going with a few friends (the ones who had already made plans and had them approved for A-kon). We're cosplaying, but not as a group. My friend Lydia is going for the EGL look, whereas I'll be wearing a ghetto-fied Japanese School Uniform (male style). All I have to do is come up with a few hundred bucks, and I'll be there. I can't wait!

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:51 pm

There's an anime convention this summer I think not too far away from where I live (I live in Chattanooga, TN, and the convention is in Nashville, the captial city of TN, of course). I forgot the name of the convention, but I would like to go, though sadly, I don't think my parents would take me. There's the problem of the cost of the tickets and transportation. Although Nashville isn't too far away, it's still quite a ways and I don't think either of my parents would be up to drive me there, especially since we don't go there normally.

After hearing that yaoi story in the earlier post in this thread, I don't think I would want my parents to take me to the convention, as they might want to come in with me so I don't get lost and they won't be bored and I don't think they would be too happy with me going to a place where sexy guys are making out with each other, as much fun as I think that would be. ^^;;

I don't know anyone else off-line who likes anime as much as I do to even go with me to the convention and I don't think it would be very much fun going alone. Well, there is my best friend from school, but I haven't seen her in such a long time and every time I try to call her, I always get the answering machine. >< Once I get my own money and car and I can drive myself, I will definetly go to a convention as I've never been and would like to one day!

Anthy · Post by **Anthy** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:08 pm

My first con was Anime Central 2k2, only for a Saturday. The next year, my friend Laura and I showed up for Acen 2k3 and cosplayed Saturday. We didn't get to do much aside from the masquerade (we found a Gatekeepers cosplayer and made out with her onstage in front of about 2,000 people...) because ACen is SO. FSKING. HUGE. GAH. Lines EVERYWHERE. There's absolutely NO WAY you can do much if you don't prereg for the con. The prereg line was 1 and a half hours long; Laura's reg line was 2 hours. Yay. It's MAD. All we really did was take pictures.

My experiences with C-Kon were better. I went to 2002 with my friend Drake and had a decent time. It was a small event and we did more than wander around and take pictures of cosplayers like I did at ACen the next year. I didn't do much at C-kon 2003 for various reasons.

The only gaming con I've gone to was the ENORMOUS GenCon in Indy. The reg line was 4 hours long, no kidding, so my stepsister and I didn't get much done. We only stayed Saturday.

The next con I'm going to is ACen 2004. This time, I hope to bring my friend Josie, and we will cosplay as t.A.T.u. and do actual activities at ACen.

Post by **Tiff** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:42 pm

Anthy wrote:The prereg line was 1 and a half hours long; Laura's reg line was 2 hours. Yay. It's MAD. All we really did was take pictures.

LOL only two hours? One year at a-kon, Minda's sister had to stand in the reg line for about 4 hours.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:05 pm

My first con experience was at Animethon (www.animethon.org) at Grant MacEwan College in mid July last year. I thought it would have been awesome, but it really, really sucked. There was over 3000 people at the convention and it was very poorly organized. The admission price was a food donation, and we just left our donations at a table near the program booth. The way I think it should have worked is that people should stand in line at the program booth to turn in their donation and get a wristband there. If someone doesn't have a wristband, then they should be told to pay their admission and get one or be asked to leave. But what happened was that volunteers were walking around asking if people had wristbands. What pissed me off the most was that people were geting in for free. The preview showings weren't that well organized either. There were so many things I wasn't too impressed with that I'm not going to bother to list right now. I want to attend the next conference for this year's con so I can get my voice heard.

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:36 am

My frist con was MTAC pi 2002. It was alot of fun, but really hot and smelly (for kami's sake, bathe before you go to a con!). I pranced around with a friend of mine and only got to stay there for a few hours. I ended up spending a ton of money on merchandise ^^; (but it was so worth it since alot of the stuff was rare). Got stalked by a guy in a Kuno costume (lost his Akane and so I was the new victim since I always wear pigtailed braids). I got to see some really funny AMV's and met Robert DeJesus (Jesus!) and some other famous people.

This year I'm headed to Otakon with my boyfriend and some of our friends. I haven't decided on a costume yet, but if you are there you'll most likely be looking for a super genki pigtailed girl attached to a guy in a cowboy hat (Justin Greene for all you furry fanartist fans who might have heard of him...).

Em · Post by Em » Sat Apr 03, 2004 8:19 pm

Frist con was Aya didn't really get into the sprit of the con until my 4th con wihc was Minaim this year

It was great lot's of people the dealers room was packed ( but I was first in line yay! 6am I was lineing up 6am it opened up at 10 am but itwas worth it I got my Artimes and dian plushie mwha) karkoe is great walking to maccy d's just to get people going was great and the masquride entiers are always the best.

I hope to go to A-Kon next year as well as Minami and Aya

Parallax · Post by **Parallax** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:04 pm

I'll be going to Animazement anime convention in Raleigh, North Carolina.

( I DO live in NC as a matter of fact). It's my first anime convention and I DON'T want to screw it up. I'll try to go as "Green Lantern" from "Justice League". The date for it is May 28-30. This'll give me some time to make the costume and the ring!

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 4:03 pm

Parallax wrote:I'll be going to Animazement anime convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. ( I DO live in NC as a matter of fact). It's my first anime convention and I DON'T want to screw it up. I'll try to go as "Green Lantern" from "Justice League". The date for it is May 28-30. This'll give me some time to make the costume and the ring!

I'm gonna be there as well. Though, my costume has changed. I am know going as Kyo from Alice 19th.

Parallax · Post by **Parallax** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:05 pm

I just found out that I might not be able to go.

I don't have enough money for the convention.