Month: August 2010

Saturday is always my day for new cosplays, which this year meant Mahoro! Mahoro made her debut at ACen back in May, but I hadn’t finished styling the wig completely. For Otakon, I finished the wig with two points of hair that stick out at the side and did some other tweaks.

No trouble getting ready today. I got to the h.Naota fashion show only a little late. Really cool styles, and I especially like the fusion of the disgusting with the super cute in some of the outfits. One thing that would prove to be a continuing theme at this year’s Otakon was just how cool the Japanese guests were!

After the show, I got my first picture request, yay! And shortly after that, some jerk pulled the fire alarm somewhere in the convention center leading to the evacuation of over 28000 people into the hot Baltimore summer. Rather than wait outside, I headed back to my hotel room to freshen up, then I went to a cosplay panel in the Hilton which was unaffected by the BCC evacuation.

Once the center reopened, I did some karaoke and then went to the AMV contest. I think I’ve been having more and more fun singing at cons. When I first started, I was so serious. Mistakes just killed me. But now I have so much fun watching others sing and the friends I’ve made over the years, that mistakes don’t matter. I just laugh and go on, which is good since I totally goofed up a verse of the Clannad opening, Megumeru!

The AMV contest was pretty good. But one thing I never understand is why so many people leave when the Romance AMVs start to play. I know a lot of otaku don’t fair so well in affairs of the heart, nevertheless, they missed some sweet AMVs. Oh well… After that I headed over to see the Masquerade. I missed it last year, but with Yoshiki performing during the break, I had an extra incentive to go. The masquerade was okay for the most part. I was especially pleased at the absence of too many yaoi themed skits. And Yoshiki and Sugizo’s two songs did not disappoint. I would have loved to see X Japan in Chicago, but the tickets were just too expensive, so I’ll check out the tour DVD later.

I finished up Saturday with karaoke where I met a friend from last year, Cassandra and I dropped into the Overclockers panel. I had no idea what the Overclockers were, but I had no hope of getting into the rave before it ended so I just decided to try out whatever was nearby. It was fun. I love how there is always so much going on that you can always find something interesting. You just have to be willing to try new things. Afterwards I ran into Cassandra again which was nice as she was looking very cute. (^_^)

I got up early Sunday to make sure I could get one more song in at the OtaCafe. Today’s cosplay was my Toru goth loli nurse uniform. I was pleased, though not surprised to find Omo and The Big N in the OtaCafe ahead of me and thoroughly enjoyed seeing them sing again. I was also pleased to get so many picture requests! I guess nurse uniforms are just one of those timeless classics, LOL. Later I even got an exclamation of Hello Nurse! from some unknown person behind me.

The highlight of the day was the Home Made Kazoku concert. They were great! And I had fun dancing the whole concert, which made up for missing the rave on Saturday night. I really wish the concerts had a mosh pit so that those of us who want to dance, can do so without blocking the people who just want to sit.

So Otakon 2010 came to an end, but wait! There’s more! After the con I finally met up with my friend Rebekah. She totally did not recognize me in costume outside the BCC. We found ourselves talking to each other on cell phones a few feet away from each other! I was very happy to get a chance to show her one of my costumes. Didn’t faze her a bit, in fact she liked it. To make it all complete, some random guy asked for a picture of us together while we were talking.

After that, I hopped in the car with her husband and daughter for a quick ride back to the hotel and change into normal clothes for dinner. Her daughter Lilah is absolutely adorable. It was with great pleasure that I presented her with her first Pikachu plush doll which she carried proudly as we walked past the BCC on the way to the restaurant for dinner. A little girl carrying a Pikachu through a sea of cosplayers, priceless.

My Otakon adventure came to an end with a relatively uneventful drive home until I made a wrong turn. A wrong turn that ultimately saved me a ton of money in tolls without costing me much more time! Yeah, it was a great trip!

Almost a week since returning from Otakon and I still haven’t unpacked my bags completely. I had such a good time, that maybe this is just my way of subconciously prolonging the con. Naaaah, probably just laziness, as my wife might say.

This year’s trip to Otakon was full of interesting foreshadowing. At church in the weeks leading up to my annual solo trip, the sermons were all from Proverbs and full of warnings not to tempted by wayward women! Mmmm, okay, not that this has ever really been a problem. My other worry was about getting a speeding ticket. Well, took care of that before leaving Chicago, by getting one on Wednesday! Needless to say, I was a lot more careful during my 1400 mile round trip to Baltimore.

I got a lot of things done ahead of my departure this year so I got out on the road pretty early, 4am, and made the trip in about 11.5 hours. It was great getting to Baltimore with enough time to hang out. I got through pre-reg pickup in about 10 minutes. This left me enough time to briefly visit with my friend Cathy and her boyfriend before heading off to the MegaTokyo dinner meetup. It was great seeing Omo, The Big N, and everyone again. And this year, I wasn’t too tired to go to Pickles for drinks after dinner.

As usual, it took me about 3 hours to get into costume Friday morning. No matter, I was really excited because I had new, more comfortable, boots this year! Tsubasa Infinity Arc Sakura is one of my favorite cosplays, but I could never stay in it very long because the old boots hurt too much to walk in very long. This time everything felt and looked great, and I got some nice compliments too. Sadly I didn’t get any picture requests, but I didn’t spend a lot of time in the places where that usually happens anyway. And I’m still not quite brave enough to get pictures taken in the photo suite, next year I think I will.

I signed up for karaoke then took off for the Madhouse panel and then the AMV overflow showing. There was some question before the con about whether the overflow would even happen, so I was very happy to see it on the final schedule. I’ve never made the Otakon AMV contest finals, so the overflow is the only chance for my AMV to be seen at the con. I was really happy to see Puri-on on the big screen! After spending so much time making it, I was glad that it looked good on the big screen. And getting a Creator’s pass to see the AMV contest finals is a great perk!

I ended up taking too much time doing other things and missed my turn at karaoke. This turned out to be a good thing though. I signed up again, and while waiting a friend from ACen came in. I’d met Nicole at ACen back in May. She and another friend, Joanna had driven out to Otakon together from Illinois. This was Nicole’s first Otakon and, as it turned out, her first karaoke performance. So when her turn came, she was a little nervous. But my friend Alissa hopped on the stage and helped her out. She sang “I Am A Pioneer” from Tenchi Universe, one of my favorites. Yay! ^^ That’s one of the great things about OtaCafe karaoke, the singers are always so supportive of one another.

After singing, Nicole and I headed for the dealers room. She was looking for a Strike Witches figure and I was hoping to find a couple of friends who are usually working the con there. Unfortunately I didn’t find them, but I did find a cute Pikachu plush that I hoped would be the perfect gift for my friend Rebekah’s daughter. Rebekah lives near Baltimore, and when she found out I came out every year for Otakon, we decided to meet up. I hadn’t seen her in years since she got married and left Chicago. And it would be the first time I’d meet her daughter. Unfortunately, her daughter got sick that day and we wouldn’t get a chance to meet until Sunday after the con.

I spent the rest of Friday getting pictures of cosplayers and going to see the awesome Yoshida Brothers concert. This is why you must go to opening ceremonies if you can. I wouldn’t have even thought to see the Yoshida Brothers if I hadn’t seen their film clip at opening ceremonies. After the concert I went to Voice Actors After Dark. I like how they turned the tables on the fans, where depending on a coin toss, either the fan asked some lewd question or the VAs ask the fan! XD Good show!

The Friday dance was way too crowded, and quite honestly, the music did not appeal to me at all. So I bailed on that after about 15 minutes. Otakon really needs a bigger space for the dance. It just isn’t fun when the only dancing you can do is jumping up and down in place. On that note, I’ll end this tower of text with one of my favorite cosplayer pictures this year. You can see the whole set here.