But yes Anime Weekend Atlanta 2010 has come and gone. An entire year of saving money and weeks of work thinking Okay just X number of weeks til AWA are behind us now. The weekend went by super fast and overall I had a blast. I would say see you next year but Otakon is the plan for 2011. So slightly sad when you think about it that way.
Mini Corn is ready to experience AWA!
With all that rambling said here is my AWA 2010 convention report. Instead of going by days I think I will just go by events. Or whatever I want to talk about. I am random like that. Prepare for pictures, truthful opinions, and happy times.
We left ALMOST on time WOOHOO! Of course we had to drive back and pick up some (not all as we still forgot the bread..) of the food we forgot at home. But in general we left at a reasonable time. We accidentally left some stuff behind which usually doesn’t happen. No hats for us this time and I don’t need pajamas! But the important stuff made it into the car so that is all that matters. Time went by pretty fast. The husband will lie and say I fell asleep but I didn’t. We made it in pretty good time. Not as GREAT as last year but we weren’t in major danger of getting tickets this year.
I won the last prize WOOHOO!
We made a quick pit stop to a mall so I could raid a Sanrio Store. The one in Orlando is closer to AFO than the one in Atlanta is to AWA but that’s okay. I wanted to get my Hello Kitty on. XO This one even had a prize spin wheel which I sucked at but it was fun. I got myself a travel mug which came in handy this weekend.
We are almost there!!!!!
Arrived at the hotel around 4:30. GO US! I think that is slightly earlier than last year but it turns out it didn’t matter. Floor 6 was the best anyone was getting at that time. I think we were spoiled with our Floor 3 on my husband’s very first AWA (my 3rd but I think they were number 7/8 so the hotel stay wasn’t as important). I guess it could have been worse, I saw some poor people on Friday getting stuck with Floor 11. But while my husband was checking in his new car was nearly hit by some random crazy backing up their car. Thanks. We have been here for 5 minutes and you are going to back into our car so someone who doesn’t have the right away can get in? Also thanks for the dirty glare when I honked the horn so you didn’t hit the super expensive car.
Dude time to spy!
We quickly realize why some of the lower floors might have been taken. We started to take all our lovelies upstairs when we saw a wedding being set up. At first we thought X_X these poor people. They are going to have a wedding while a bunch of anime fans starts invading the lobby waiting to check in and get their badges? So we did the reasonable thing and went downstairs to watch and take pictures of the wedding. Because that would make it better. HOWEVER while watching the wedding we were like…is that a Naruto symbol on their backs? Or those ninja stars on the family members? X_X And it is a Thursday, a random day to get married….So yeah people. We were witnessing a mild Naruto wedding the eve before AWA. AWWWWWW people. That was pretty cool but I think more people would have witnessed the cuteness had the wedding been at 7 and not 5. Unless they were trying to just get a little attention and not a whole lot.
Closure look at the wedding. XD
So after unpacking (IN OUR HUGE ROOM) and watching the wedding it was time to hunt down the Happy Super Fun Sale location. It wasn’t in the same place as last year so we were the ones wandering around like crazy people. I thought the location was weird what with the fence blocking the entrance but the room was bigger. More tables. We got a table and all set up before 6:30. GO US!
I do wish all the tables were filled, would have made the room feel busier. But I managed to get all the stuff I needed to sell on the table before 8pm so I think if I was going to sell something it would have sold. I made a lot of money anyway. XD Half the stuff I brought went out the door which made me happy. Especially the two expensive/heavy art books. I didn’t sell as nearly mangas as I wish I would have or any of my Hello Kitty plushies (haters) but I sold a lot of other stuff. SO WOOHOO PEOPLE! And I only spent $15 dollars myself so…I think I did great. XD Yay for deals. Last year the Sale really died down around 9 pm but it stayed busy the entire night so I was happy.
I was a little X_x when I was at the Super Happy Fun Sale and sent my husband off to get our badges and he only returned with his. Um why couldn’t he pick up both badges, he did last year? And he was listed as my contact information. We have the same last name. His credit card paid for both. So yeah that was a bit weird and RARW. If the line would have been longer I might have been pissed. But it took less than 20 minutes so it was only a mild annoyance.
Time for sleep already?
We went to bed pretty early the entire convention. By early I mean 11:30/12:30. My husband is an old man people. Such sadness. It wasn’t as LOUD as last year, the lobby noise I mean. But it was still heard and annoying and we just wanted to sleep people. There is no reason to be screaming and going on that late at night. Also when walking back to your hotel room try to be a little quieter. There is no reason to scream conversations with your buddies as you walk hand and hand down the hall taco heads.
The elevators were a bit….special this weekend. I actually expected it to be a lot worse. I didn’t take the stairs at all because that would be a lot of climbing so I tried to plan around events and elevator travel. But it wasn’t ever a ten minute wait for one trip down or up. The elevators randomly breaking down (with people IN IT!!!! Mog you poor people) didn’t help anything. However people….you suck when you are on the second floor and want to get to the first floor and insist on riding the elevator. Same with going UP one floor. It would seriously take you less time to walk over to the escalator and travel up that way. Also to the people who crowded the elevator when a wheelchair person was waiting…you seriously suck. I wish more people were enforcing the stupid times on the elevator because things like that aren’t cool.
One of the very first pictures I took.
The amount of people in costume seemed to up this year. However the amount of BIG costumes were down. Which is a bit weird since the weather was nicer for going outside and suchies. So while the elaborate costumes were down more people were dressed up in general which made the atmosphere more fun.
Sad CLAMP characters looking for the nonexistent phootshoot.
I went to less photoshoots this year which made me sad. :( The CLAMP one didn’t even happen! That was the one I was looking forward to the most. But I guess noon on Friday was a pretty dumb time to schedule a photoshoot with potential elaborate costumes. The amount of CLAMP costumes I saw all weekend were down. :( Give more FAI! And then on Saturday there were three photoshoots I wanted to go to but they were all at the same time!!!! But we got a lot of nice pictures despite the confusion and setbacks. Also people seemed a lot nicer this year when I would stop and ask people for their pictures. I know this MIGHT sound funny but I get so shy when I have to ask people for their pictures. So them being happy helps me out.
Um I didn't take any pictures of the Dealer's Room so have some Fai.
The dealer’s room was pretty awesome. XD The only one that would beat it (that I have been to thus far) has been Megacon but that was more a sci-fi/regular comics dealer’s room so AWA wins. Wins the way to steal all my money. I think a lot more Artist Alley people are slowly invading their way into the Dealer’s Room but that’s fine. There seems to be a lot more clothing/steampunk/random hat booths but I guess that is good. Diversity is good; I want everyone to leave buying something.
Like usual there was some price gouging going on. Like people the price is clearly written on the back of the product and you think you can charge twice as much. And the people who think not charging tax on their mangas is an awesome deal. And as usual the people with BOOTLEGGED figurines were there so they were promptly ignored. But there were some booths that were reasonable priced. I get shipping costs a lot so I appreciate venders who keep things reasonable. And of course I managed to score 55 mangas all at half price so clearly some people knew how to play the game. And walking around the dealer’s room waiting to buy stuff helped out. Some people had the same stuff but at drastically different prices. No complaints on there being boring or too main stream stuff in the Dealer’s Room as I came home with negative $67 mesos.
MORE FAI!!!!
Artist Alley this year was set up like crap. There I said it. I know people were all cheering and stuff on the boards about the new set up but I think it was crap. Last year I walked down an aisle and then back up it. Repeat the next row. This year it was walk around island and then walking back around the people I just saw to the next island. And it really didn’t help that there were empty tables making the whole thing even more RARW. So yeah…that is special.
I think I spent more in the Artist Alley this year than I did last year. The woman I was going to buy more prints from wasn’t there so that was a bit sad. But there were a lot of other great people there. I like the puddle bunny/sugar bunny person and all her great merchandise. I like how she packages stuff. And if you had stickers at your booth I probably bought them. I enjoy stickers. I bought a few prints and a shirt. But I think overall people need to learn to have something to protect the art after the customers buy them. I need to get this stuff home people!
People seemed messier this year. People leaving their entire meal trash on tables and the floor. People leaving their drinks on vendor room tables. Trash everywhere people. :( Stop being pigs. I mean if you can’t be bothered to brush yo teeth and take a shower at least throw your stuff away. Don’t you want to come back next year to this location?
Look at all that space for us to stand around in!
I think the tables being near the Artist Alley instead of the lobby was the best thing ever. Maybe I am over remembering how many tables were in the lobby last year. But this year there was tons more space to take pictures and move around. So while it was still crowded at times it was easier to move around when people were running me down and pushing me out of the way.
We didn’t go to that many events and I am not sure why. But the ones we went to started on time so that was nice. I think AFO spoils us with all the different kinds of panels yet being small enough that you don’t have to get there 30 minutes early to get a seat. However we weren’t bored so I guess there was enough stuff for us to do and keep us happy. I think the only thing I wanted to go to and couldn’t was the Death Note mystery thing but costume contest comes first people. Always.
Plushies are awesome XD
We went to both the plushie making panels. Mainly because the one on Friday we were able to get the last of the Squid plushies XD So we had to go Sunday to make the Bee. However we both sorta suck at making plushies and needed more time after the panel to finish them. But it was fun and the finished plushies are cute. XD I do think that next year that room needs to be bigger! More plushie making fools please.
We attended the Traveling to Japan (on a Budget) panel. We went to a similar panel at AFO but we figured any extra information would be nice. We are still don’t really know if we should get the Rail passes but that probably has more to do with our lack of schedule. Even so if we go somewhere other than Tokyo for a week we don’t know if it is worth it. But we learned a few things and that is the point. To learn. But learning that McDonalds should be avoided makes me sad. Surely I shall starve.
Whatever the event was before the Costume Contest should die. Like seriously I had so much second hand embarrassment through the entire thing. I think it was called
Ask an Anime Character? I don’t know. I also don’t know if the actual voice actors were even there but whatever was going on it was horrible. I think me and my husband were the ONLY people to feel this way as everyone was laughing it up that Roy was perving on everyone but it was so dumb. Too dumb to live.
Why weren't you in the contest?!
The costume contest was great. It started ON TIME! I wish people spent longer on stage but since the lightening was off ANYWAY we wouldn’t have gotten their picture anyway. So it was just fun to watch. Of course the cutest moment was the little baby Kero. That kid was having a blast. LOVED IT! Again where were all my Tsubasa people? That series has the most outfits EVER and no one was representing. :( And I do think that the Black Rock Shooter girl should have gotten something, her prop was pretty good. But overall I liked the costumes and the people who won. I just think it would have been better to turn the lights on after the event so it would be easier to take pictures of the winners/contestants in the room instead of waiting outside like a stalker.
Woohoo Sailor Moon!
I think overall people need to be more aware of their surroundings. People were bumping into my all weekend when I was in front of them. Like hello can you not see me? And why would you stop in front of the Dealer’s Room exit…and sit down? And then have your other friends stand around you? Because yeah people are getting their picture taken a few feet away and now traffic has NO WHERE to go. So please be a little more courtesy of your fellow con-goers.
There were overall weird people this weekend due to the fact our fandom seems to be home/safe place for socially awkward people. I am fine with that. I understand that people are friendlier than I am and try to smile out of random conversations with strangers. With that said there was one dude I wanted to drop kick. I am talking to you James from the Pokémon photoshoot. You were the tallest person there. Perhaps maybe you shouldn’t have stood the entire damn photoshoot. And perhaps you shouldn’t have backed into me every 5 seconds with your damn back pack that went out two feet. And maybe you shouldn’t poked the girl with your grabby stick shenanigans. And MAYBE you shouldn’t have been ramming people with your damn fishing net and totally getting my husband’s way when he try to navigate all around your body. Like you were in FRONT why did you keep moving to the side to get a better shot? Just to let you know James from Pokémon a lot of people couldn’t see because you. And we asked you to move multiple times. So you suck.
Why so blurry camera?
Other issues that might be important to people I am trying to remember. We only left the hotel once on Thursday night to search for bread and promptly got a parking space two feet from our first one so parking wasn’t an issue. We were two people to a room so space wasn’t an issue. Our room made a God awful noise every morning around 9 which freaked the hell out of us. We didn’t eat hotel food and the Subway downstairs was either faster this year or we didn’t go in peak hours. People standing in the middle of the row taking pictures of people happened but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Err we are nearing 3k words here people. So I hope that was a helpful report to everyone. I tried to leave out the personal stuff that wouldn’t be helpful (like apparently I can’t spell chocker…) so people could get a better understanding of what happens at AWA.
See ya at the next convention!
I had a blast, I am beyond broke, and I am slightly sad that I have to wait a long time for my next anime convention. The husband is yelling “Japan will be a huge anime convention” but that doesn’t make me feel better. But I deem AWA 2010 a success! Thanks for reading.
2 comments:
Thank you for taking pictures of our wedding! ^_^
As far as Thursday at 5, we were going for a convenient time/date for our friends who'd be in town for AWA without actually getting in the way of any con events. ^.^;
Jessica- MOG Now I feel like a Stalker McStakerson. But yes, the bellboys were all like oh a wedding is going on in a few minutes if you are interested so we became paparazzi. I think my husband has a video on his phone and more pictures.
But it was so pretty and romantic. And yes 5 pm would be a perfect time before the badges started to get handed out. That and there would be some people watching but not the crazy amount if you waited later so that really was the perfect time.
Congratulations on your wedding! I can't think of a better honeymoon that AWA. XD
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