Otakon report! (WARNING: REALLY LONG, I AM NOT KIDDING, I'M BAD AT CONDENSING STUFF)

Thursday
We drove down on Thursday, which took about eight hours, but it wasn't all that bad. Yuki bought me Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, so I pretty much played that most of the time. But everyone was tired once we got there, so we kind of just collapsed and also watched Futurama.

We did pick up our badges at one point, which is when I ran into almost the only MSPA cosplayers I saw the whole time. As we were walking to badge pickup, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone in black... and with candy corn horns... wait a minute, was that Karkat? Get a little closer and... holy crap, Tavros? Being pushed by Sollux? Trolls! Everywhere I look! At which point I yelled out, "IT'S ALL THE TROLLS! ALL OF THEM!" It was not, as it turned out, all of them - they'd lost their Equius, which was a shame - and I'd left my camera in the room, but I was able to rush back afterwards and get a few nice pictures. Seriously those guys were amazing. Hats off to 'em.

Then we watched Futurama, as I've said, and fell asleep.

Friday
I must preface this day by saying that I was in my Tenho cosplay, and absolutely no one recognized me. I ran into a TWEWY group and I don't think they recognized me. I ran into another Tenho and I don't think they recognized me. That's when you know you've screwed up somehow. I didn't think one could screw up something that simple, but you never know, I guess.

We woke up in time to go to one of the first panels, which was about Japanese music. It was okay, although the presenters put me more in mind of a school presentation. I learned about a couple interesting-sounding bands, and Yuki won two CDs for... raising his hand, I guess. I won a temporary tattoo for failing to remember the name of Maximum the Hormone. It hit me a few hours later. x_x

After that we went to a panel on the history of anime, which was looking to be really cool until we were informed we couldn't sit on the floor, so we had to leave. After that we went to karaoke for a bit and then waited to get into the Artists' Alley right when it opened at 1:00, so we could get tags and crests, and also other stuff. This was also when I met Tessa Stone, who was super cool and awesome. Unfortunately, this caused me to miss the TWEWY photoshoot at 1:30, not that I could have probably found it even if I had time. demiincarnate, I apologize if you did stop by to look for me. I really wanted to go, honest. x_x

I think we may have gone back to the room for a bit after that, because the next thing I remember going to was the Anime: Lost in Translation panel at 4. It was a really cool look at some of the grammar stuff that's hard to translate into English. I get to commiserate about the "yume mita"/"saw a dream" thing you see in fansubs sometimes, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. (This is English! You HAD a dream!) So that was basically one of my favorite panels of the con.

After that, since Yuki was at the AMV contest, I went to the Artists' Alley again. Fortunately, he left early and was able to rescue me from blowing all my money. We did some more stuff after that (including karaoke - I sang "Uninstall" and got a pretty good reaction I guess) and then went to the Friday Night Fan Parodies. Some were okay, but a lot were... not so good. The last one was like an hour-long Gundam thing, and we were both pretty tired so we left in the middle. So that was that day.

Saturday
I was Kiri today, who, surprise surprise, didn't get recognized either. I'm considering giving up cosplay; it's a lot of fuss and money that ends up as unimpressive costumes that no one recognizes. Also I am bad at it. (I did, however, get recognized as myself, by a girl I went to camp with a few years ago. But that's neither here nor there.)

We were going to go to the Ten Funniest AMVs panel first today, but I guess we really should have known better than to arrive right when it started. There was a huge line, so we just left. (Can anyone who was there link me some of the AMVs? I'm really curious.)

We got pretty good seats for the Hetalia dub premiere at 1:30 (and caught a cool Q&A session with the Yoshida Brothers beforehand), but just as the premiere was about to start, someone (as you may have heard) PULLED THE FREAKING FIRE ALARM. Everyone ended up having to evacuate the convention center, so you ended up with thirty thousand nerds filling the street directly opposite. It would have been quite a sight if it weren't so frustrating. We were waiting in the heat for about an hour and a half, which must have been a lot worse for those people in elaborate costumes. Also I was starving. And my camera died halfway through and I wasn't able to revitalize it for the rest of the con. x_x We did meet up with Pervy Sage, though, so... silver lining.

After that mess was sorted out (my gosh it took forever), we were finally able to get back to the Hetalia premiere. I'll say this: I liked it. The line that I'm sure you've heard about if you've been paying attention to the fandom was in very poor taste, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Maybe that is stupid. Whatever. Afterward there was a Q&A with the voice actors, who said some funny stuff although I don't remember any of it specifically. I liked France's.

Went back to the Artists' Alley while Yuki was at a mech panel to pick up my commission and get a HiNaBN book (when I was there Friday, Tessa had said there would be new, cheaper books coming in today, but that didn't happen). Had to wait a long time in a long line because Tessa, who is awesome, was drawing sketches for everyone and those took a while. I did my part to move the line along by not requesting one. Woulda been nice, though.

We were going to go to the Saturday Night Fan Parodies (supposedly better than the Friday ones), but due to circumstances and also we were tired, that didn't happen. So we just fell asleep.

Sunday
Didn't cosplay Sunday. My first time not cosplaying at a con since my first AB back in '06. Oh well. It had to happen sometime.

Also, it was Odaiba Memorial Day! We commemorated this by singing Digimon songs in karaoke. I sang "Brave Heart", which was appropriately screamy and got a good reaction, and also (not a Digimon song) "Ready Go!" (the Ookami-san theme), which... wasn't and didn't. I really should have known better.

There wasn't too much of anything besides karaoke to do Sunday, other than a quick stop at the Digimon photoshoot, which since my camera was broken we couldn't do much at anyway. So we spent most of the rest of it wandering around the Dealers' Room. I couldn't leave until I spent the majority of my last $25, which I eventually used to buy a shirt. Also took some print club pictures at this point. ^_^

We left after this. It was all very sad, although I don't think I got as depressed about the con being over as I had been for past Anime Bostons. Eight hours later, I was home and exhausted. But I had a great time.

So all in all, Otakon was pretty awesome. ^_^

Loot:
- Crest of Reliability (& tag) (made by novemberfalls)
- HiNaBN paraphernalia for Usa-chan (signed)
- Sakana book 1 (EXCELLENT COMIC)
- Szayel/Ilforte doujinshi
- Saint Young Men doujinshi
- Han Solo "Well excuuuuuuse me princess" T-shirt
- Sound Five and Hinata keychains (made by soltian)
- Johto Gym Leaders print
- Print of this picture
- Postcard print of Ace
- Sketch commission of some gijinka pokémans
- Sticker of Dream
- Print club pictures
- Hetalia poster



A meme! (Yes, a different one.)

STARTING TIME: 3:50 PM

Where did you find/get this meme?
The creator, rekkazaal.

Can you ride a bike?
Probably not. I learned once, but I forgot.

Have you ever ridden an elephant?
No. I've never become one either.

What does/should "BL" stand for?
Boys' Love, right?

Favorite type of character?
Megane~. Also dorks.

What sound(s) do you usually make when you lose your balance/trip/drop something? ("aargh", "waugh", "eek", "aack", "aiieeee", "woah", "ooof", stuff like that.)
I think it's kind of an "aaaah".

Incest is...?
Awesome.

Gay relationships are...?
Awesome.

Lesbian relationships are...?
Awesome.

Hetero relationships are...?
Awesome, although as a slash fan I think I'm legally obligated to say they are dumb. So: dumb.

What was the last fruit you remember eating?
A plum.

Last vegetable?
Lettuce...?

What fantasy RPG class would you prefer to play as?
I'm a pretty good cleric.

Do you sleep on your stomach, back, side, or do you thrash around all over the place?
Back/side.

What plushie/stuffed animal/figurine (only if there are no stuffed animals/plushies in the room you're in) is closest to your left foot?
An old stuffed monkey.

What was the last color you painted/colored you nails? (Fingers or toes.)
I have no idea, it was years and years ago.

What color(s) is/are the pillow nearest you? (Walk into the nearest room with a pillow, if there isn't one in the room you're in.)
Red and white.

If it has a pattern or a picture on it, what is it?
It's made to look like a baseball with the Red Sox logo.

Is the pillow right-side-up, upside-down, rotated, or backwards? Or is it impossible to tell?
It's kind of round, so uh, I don't know.

What is/was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES
also Digimon probably

What's the last thing you searched for on Google?
"Morino Ryoushi".

What was the main pairing of the last fanfic you read that had a pairing in it?
It... was probably that Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles mpreg that someone linked over at fail_fandomanon. OTL

Make up a phrase for at least 3 of the following acronyms (preferably one 3-letter, one 4-letter, and one 5-letter, but you don't have to). Add as many articles, prepositions, "of"s, etc. as needed.

G.H.M. - Good Hats, Men

D.T.G. - Deadly Tyrannosaur Guitars

W.J.N.A. - Will Jack Noir Answer?

O.I.S.H. - Omigosh It's Some Harlequins

M.I.G.P.D. - Man, It's a Good Police Department

K.G.P.S.C. - Kim Gets Postal Service Cred


Word Association! After each word/phrase below, type the first word/phrase/name/whatever that comes into your head upon reading it. Ready?

CARDBOARD
Box.

RHODODENDRON
Jungle.

STETHOSCOPE
Doctor.

FLEA MARKET
Jumping.

MUMMY
Tomb.

PLURAL
Noun.

OINTMENT
"We're free!" "We're ointment!"

COMMUNIST
birdboy2000

LIGHTHOUSE
Maine.

BOOBY TRAP
Indiana Jones.

RADISH
Oddish.

PING PONG
Ding dong.

NECKTIE
ネクタイ。

FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Stewardess.

DYNASTY
Football. Also the word "nasty".

THORN
Hermione Thorn Mason.

CHECKERS
Chess.

MATCHBOX
Twenty.

GIRAFFE
Neck.

FOOD COLORING
Finger paint.

All done!

ENDING TIME: 4:01 PM

TIME TAKEN: Eleven minutes

I think this entry has set the record for most tags in a post on my LJ.