Putting that aside I am/should be well rested after a fun filled anime weekend! So let us begin the AFO 2009 con report woot!
We had to make a pit stop at Borders before my 5 dollars off rewards expired!
We have to start off every convention with OH CRAP we are late! I don’t know why I wait until the last minute for everything but I do. However our adventure only started off 15 minutes late which I think is a miracle. Just a few short years ago I was the annoying person screaming to GET UP to everyone. Now I am the person everyone is waiting on. AH memories.
Piglu welcomes you to AFO!
So we did the traditional things on the road like laugh at the building that is never getting finished and somehow ending up on a toll road even though we swear we know where we are going. And just as we are pulling up to the hotel…RAIN! So much for your promises God, we nearly drowned trying to check into the hotel! The check in line wasn’t as long this year but I still was going to venture down the hall and pick up our tickets.
Hallways are not made for walking!
Dear lord were the hall already crowded. It’s only 11:30 on Friday and it was already bottle necked in the halls. I am sure the dancing didn’t help but that is besides the point. The point is that I battled the hallway and only came away from my pass. :( Every other year my husband has checked into the hotel and I run off to pick up our tickets. But this year they only let me pick up my ticket because I had no proof of purchase. Which makes sense….but they really shouldn’t have let me take my ticket right? I mean, I didn’t pay for them. XD Whatever is the case it was amusing to me.
If your room is too far Piglu will drive you across the 10 miles to your building.
Our hotel room was 2187575 times better than the hotel room we had last year. We were directly behind the convention center and not 3875 miles away like last year. The AFO channel actually worked in our room as did the shower. Our friend wasn’t so lucky. Even though she was allowed to check in right after we got there she had issue after issue. Things were finally resolved after we were allowed to check into our room. So yes she got to check in 4 hours earlier than we did but after all that hassle I am not sure it was worth it for her. The parking situation left something to be desired though. More proof that we have outgrown this location but meh. Walking is good to burn off all those fast food calories anyway.
The lunch of champions!
Speaking of eating out we didn’t venture very far. We trekked across the street to the big McDonalds and Cici’s. Both were pretty crowded. If you looked in the lobby of the Wyndham there was a buy one meal and two drinks and you get a second meal free. Saving money always helps. XD That and since it was packed the pizza was coming out with lightening speed. McDonald’s is always McDonalds. But their ice cream is AWESOME. Much love. We actually ate in the hotel restaurant this year (sort of) and I am not impressed. None of my group was really feeling the auto gratuity of 18 percent on a meal we were taking TO GO. I understand that some convention goers might not be good tippers but 18 percent is really too much for to go chicken fingers. So the convention deal of $8.99 really ends up being $11.33 and for that price you can get way more food across the street. It takes just as much time to walk across the street and wait in line than to wait in the restaurant anyway. You live and learn anyway.
Woot for stuff!
Must not be greedy!!!!
I know people usually have gripes about the dealer room but I think it was improved from last year. There were no empty booths this year which makes me pleased. It is a bit disheartening seeing a nearly empty row and a sparse dealer’s room. So this year the full dealer’s room made me smile and my wallet cringe.
Have you hugged a squishy today?
Yes there were the typical booths filled with only popular titles and way too much Naruto/Bleach crap…err I mean lovelies. And there were some booths that were massively overpriced (just say no to 5 dollar posters!). But some booths had random treasures and great deals. I think the most popular booth though had nothing to do with anime. It was the Squishable.com booth and both me and my husband got sucked in. Everyone all weekend was either molesting our Squishables or buying their own. XD And they didn’t have insane mark ups on their products! The Squishables were the same price as they are online so that kinda cemented my decision to get one (two…).
All the mangas....need more please!
Not really a big fan of buying DVDs but I noticed the selection was limited as was the manga selection. Borders was absent this year which made me sad. And apparently I am too paranoid about buying Nendoroids as I was having a hard time figuring out if they were fakes or not. One booth had several but their Death Note ones were fakes so it deterred me from buying the others. And one booth had a Shana one but the individual parts were not in separate bags like I thought they were supposed to. Meh. I ended up getting blind box figurines which turned out….FANTASIC XD But overall there seemed to be enough variety in the dealer’s room for all.
I never like the Artist Alley set up. It must be hell for the actual artist as people line up or crowd around their booths and they don’t actually stop to look at their stuff. Things have gotten better since the main event room has gotten moved but again this might be a sign that we have really outgrown the hotel. The artist seemed to be tossed on the side lines and not paid attention too.
Since I am not an artist maybe I am just speculating and they actually like the set up. To me it was convenient to stop by and look but there is pressure to move along as people crowd around you. But I did pick up some cute things. XD Namely stickers and a plushie. I just wish they were not spaced out so and there was more room to look.
People losing bets is fun. XD
As I said there was way more people this year than last year. Which is a good thing in a way. Last year the convention was way too close to the back to school date which affected attendance. At times it feels more alive when the halls are full and cosplayers are tripping over each other.
This is the end of the line...OUTSIDE NEAR THE STREET!
Very end of the building.
Everyone wants to go to the cosplay contest...or the line that never ends.
But this year we saw a lot of lines. Long lines. We had plans to go to the cosplay contest but decided against it once we saw the line was OUTSIDE THE HOTEL! Any other event it was okay to be in the back but the cosplay contest required being closer to the front to hear the players. And the lines were getting long for main events as the main events kept getting further and further behind on the schedule. So maybe the lines wouldn’t have been so bad if they kept to the schedule better but still…yeah. We need a bigger place for AFO.
MMMM cosplayers.
How delicious!
Want the plushie!
The bounce is cute!
Weapon of choice: Chainsaw.
Represent Pandora Hearts!
Even though there were tons more people this year (or at least it seemed like it) there wasn’t as many cosplayers. There were the “lazy” cosplayers who slap on some random thing in their closet and make a silly hat and TADA cosplay. Which is fine and dandy but I am not taking your picture. I want to see some real effort and craftsmanship. There were quite a few great costumes this year but not as many in years past. Of course…maybe these awesome costumes only exist somewhere else because AFO has such small halls. People might stick to their similar costumes so they don’t get squished.
Always have your convention guide ready.
Besides the small flood on Friday afternoon YAY no rain. And it didn’t seem that hot to me. But that might be because I was right behind the convention center thus my walk was shorter. But I was reasonably comfortable and actually slightly cold at times during the convention. So woot for not melting.
Con funk. Meh. It was there on Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday. There were only a few times when I stopped and actually made a face. No amount of complaining will change the fact that some people can’t tell they smell. All I can do is keep applying my own deodorant and overwhelm the funk with my spring freshness.
What I did mine were people….flowing into my chair. I am not going to sit here and rant about fat people/bigger people/fat acceptance. I really don’t care what size you are as long as it doesn’t affect me. And given the stereotypical nature of the typical anime fan…yeah it should be expected. But when I get to an event early and you and your large friend try to squeeze into two seats when clearly…that is never going to happen it affects me. When you are already over your chair, both chair bars, and into my seat it doesn’t make me happy. It also doesn’t make me happy when I try to scout over towards my husband and his chair you take that as a sign to take up MORE of my chair. I am sorry these chairs are smaller than the typical anime fan is but get to events early and you and your friend can share three seats. It’s not fair to me to lose my chair to you. OR if all of this is inevitable at least apologize or something. Don’t look pissed off at me or leave your purse halfway on my lap! And….it is really rude to do all of this and you are sweaty and make my leg DAMP after said panel. :(
No Piglu violence!
But on that note, people did seem more polite this year (besides the general lack of deodorant and need for personal space). Yes there was dancing in the halls but they were at the end of the halls and generally quiet. There didn’t seem to be as many random glomps or yaoi paddles attack. And while some people will stop in the middle of traffic and generally take up space the volunteers broke those bottle necked crowds up fast. There was less noise in my opinion and I didn’t have to raise my voice to be heard among my friends.
Okay enough with random stuff. Let me take a moment to discuss the panels/events I did attend. My overall must see/want to see list was much longer in theory. But then you realize you need to eat and spend way too much time in the dealer’s room plans go out the window. Oh and the lines were scary. XD So here is what I ended up doing at AFO.
Events attended at AFO
Friday:
Opening Ceremonies-Since I think the RPG element of the convention is neat I wanted to see the next chapter of the saga. That and it is fun to try to catch the stuff being thrown at you. :) I would never laugh at people getting beaned in the head with dice. But the opening ceremonies generally pumps the convention up and it is fun to see everyone so excited.
Simply fabulous!
We need more boys cosplaying as girls please!
The Crossplaying Road Rally-This event was hilarious! I am not sure where everyone was but it deserved a bigger crowd. Looking at the con guide makes me wonder even more where everyone was but whatever. The point was it was incredibly fun. XD AFO has some great host that make the moments flow so well together even when things are getting iffy. I still think the boy Amu should have won though. He was fierce!
Pokemon: It's serious business.
America’s Funniest Cosplay-I went to this event last year and it didn’t disappoint this year. We were introduced to a new term called bombing. That is when you find a….”lazy” cosplayer and get them all excited by asking them for a picture. But while you distract them your two friends go behind said cosplayer and act insane in the picture. Yes it is mean but I am a mean person. XD I also had the delightful experience of sitting near someone who has never seen anime EVER. At all. Like the girl at the X-men 2 movie who had never seen X-men at all. She would say the funniest things at the most random moments. I think her crowning glory was when she asked if something was a juice box. And it was pokemon. Yeah I laughed at her. But I am mean remember?!
Saturday:
Wacky World of Japanese TV-This was also hilarious. We only stayed for an hour because we were under the impression we were going to eat dinner before the cosplay contest (which didn’t happen) but what we did see was awesome. I think our favorite part of the show was the Hard Gay segments. We have heard/seen cosplayers as Hard Gay before but to see the real thing was special. And awesome. And the Japanese do such embarrassing game shows!
Tavern Games-Since the cosplay contest was out down the street and practically to Universal Studios we went to the tavern to earn some more dice. If you were there I was the girl who really sucked at that ball/rope boomerang thing. I was the one that would miss the target completely and it would bounce off the floor onto the pole. Or make it bounce off the fireplace and wrap around the 100 section. Yeah I have mad skills.
Johnny Starrock’s Guitar Hero Tournament (the tail end anyway)-We went to this particular room to watch EVIL Jeopardy and got there a little bit early. We got to see the good players go head to head. Dude. I have never played this game before but I was really impressed. Or shocked. Those guys were really, really good. XD
Do you see those two cute adorable children? Yes, they are in line to kill puppies. x_X
EVIL Jeopardy-Apparently if I had been to this event in the past I would have been disappointed as the host didn’t change anything. But since I have never been to it before…it was fun for me. Except when the entire room wanted to kill puppies. That was not fun people! But everything else was. We didn’t answer any questions but coins/dice were thrown at us so that pleased us greatly. I am a little sad though that the host is leaving AFO. But at least I got to see one of his events before he left.
WTF what is up with the real lighter?!
Yaoi Pajama Party-This event…was not so good. The person running the panel started off the event by saying OPPIES it is not a party and there was a miscommunication with AFO. Apparently she did a yaoi p.j party at another convention and it had a 6 hour block. Clearly she was not ready to cut that down to a shorter event. She played a game and like two music videos. Then it was 30 minutes of people asking her questions. I must have missed the part where she was someone important in the yaoi world. I don’t recall her telling us who she was. Nor did she repeat the questions asked to her in the audience so all we heard was the answer…which made no sense. Shit hit the fan when someone screamed STOP TALKING AND PLAY SOME YAOI. The host got offended and people started to leave. We decided to leave as well. The yaoi panel was much better last year. :(
Sunday:
Yay for violence!
Whack-A-Nerd- We were summoned to this event while we were doing the quests for the day. My friend wanted us to watch her friends beat up another friend. I mean….donate money to charity for a good cause. We would never take pleasure it watching someone get beaten like a rag doll. XD I asked my husband to go in there too but he is a wuss!
Can you see?!
Babies make the best accessories.
This is project runway. BE FIERCE!
I don't think we could have gotten any closer to the contestants. XD
Costume Contest-We didn’t wait in line for hours like some people but it turned out to be a great idea for us. We just walked in and got a seat in the back. The contestants would walk right by us to get to their seats. XD So we got cool “runway” pictures without waiting forever in line. Again the hosting was great and the energy was pretty positive. I did see some costumes during the weekend that I thought should have been in the contest but meh. And since I didn’t SEE the detail on the Best of Show outfit that winner kinda surprised me. But after seeing pictures online it makes sense to me. But where were all my Tsubasa people?!
AMV Contest-Meh. I usually go to this event because my husband wants to. I am never really that impressed by most of the entries. I know I couldn’t make a video either but I am not putting my sad attempt on display either. I liked the Lucky Star one though. XD
The culprit who ruined the prophecy!
Closing Ceremonies-This was delayed a bit because the crew was missing three pieces of the prophecy or whatever. The girl sitting IN FRONT OF ME gasped. Apparently she had the pieces and had thrown them away. It was so funny watching her freak out. XD But putting that aside the closing ceremony was nice. Good guys won and since I was a good guy WOOT! The poor Emperor was slain on his birthday aw sadface!!! But I am surprised we are going to have another RPG type convention next year. It was a lot of fun but maybe we can go back to having a theme and then the next year have another RPG event? IF the event is just as good as this one though I won’t mind. YAY FOR DICE. And I only kept three of them XD I am not that bad.
Over already? :( Goodbye AFO.
And I think that is about it. My husband watched some anime on the AFO channel and spent time today watching a new series that caught his eye. There was no drama or mass starving. No one ran into me or was really upper rude. I came away with a very empty wallet and a car full of new stuff. It was a great weekend work free and anime packed. XD And this year…I don’t have to wait an entire year til the next convention. Time to start filling that wallet again as AWA is calling our names. Hope you enjoyed my magical adventure at AFO and if you went hope you had a great time. See ya next year!! (Or at AWA!)
4 comments:
Of course you knew I'd comment on this too :)
I really don't get why people don't shower. I mean, whenever I shower I just feel so awesome when I get out, which I'm sure you'd agree.
And now I'm also really glad we opted not to go to the yaoi panel (my friend is a HUGE fan...me, not as much), since you said it was so bad. We ended up at Anime Improv and it was really funny.
That cosplay contest line was rediculous. We got in line at around quarter to 5 and we ended up like 3 or so rows back from the passport section.
I thought it was a good con, but we're definitely outgrowing the location a bit.
Maybe it's because we are girls. I think most of the con funk comes from boys who don't shower on a daily basis anyway. You would think wearing the same robe and heavy hat all three days would be bad enough idea to begin with but then you decide to not shower on top of that? X_X I want to feel bad for those people but I rather feel bad for me.
The yaoi panel started off okay. But then she just switched into this q/a format and i kept thinking WHO ARE YOU?! If she had introduced herself as cool awesome person from the yaoi industry maybe I would understand. But I had no idea who she was and the questions were getting dumb and long. The panel started at midnight and someone finally told her to stop the questions at like 12:45. So she may have shown some other music videos and that episode of Maiden Rose but the mood was shot by then.
WOW X_X That is a long time in line. I know at bigger conventions lines like that are the norm but I would never expect them at AFO.
It makes me sad to think we have outgrown the hotel but we have. :( I just don't want AFO to end up at the orange country convention center like Megacon.
They took Nissa off of the yaoi panel, or kicked hers off of the lineup, something to that effect. That is probably why it was not as awesome as it usually is. But since yaoi is not my thing, I didn't go. I am sorry it was sucktastic for you though. :(
SoloArcana- (because I totally don't know you) That makes me sad as OA seems to put on really fun panels and knowing Nissa that panel would have been insane. I just wonder what happened to the woman who ran the panel for the last two years (might be more but those are the ones I went to). I have seen other people talk about the lack of yaoi at the yaoi panel so maybe things will change for next year. XD If not the husband might drag me to the hentai panel.
I am just glad all the other events were great. XD Especially hard gay.
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