Otakon report
Aug. 8th, 2006 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofthethreadOkay, time for my long-winded Otakon report with a few pictures… The rest of my photos will be going up at cosplay.com and I’ll post again after they’re all up.
Thursday: My father and I left the house around a quarter to 11 and made it to Baltimore in about 3 hours. Checked into the Marriott Inner Harbor and had lunch before taking a rest in the hotel room. (Decided it was too hot to go out sightseeing with the 100 degree weather!) It was possible to see the convention center from our window so we entertained ourselves part of the time by watching the huge pre-reg line. XD Waited until a bit after 7 for the line to die down before putting on my Tohru costume and actually going over to pick up my badge. Although there were still lots of people, the registration line was the most efficient I’d ever seen at a con and was almost constantly moving. Great because I hate waiting in long lines. ^_^ Didn’t check my watch but I doubt I was in line for more than half an hour.
The view from the hotel room
Saw![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
djranmas for a moment after going back outside and then went out for dinner with my father. We ended up at the Morton’s steakhouse. The food was good but very expensive. ($40 steaks! o_o; I had salmon instead since it was quite a bit cheaper.) The guy who was busing tables noticed my Otakon bag and came over ask about the registration situation since he was planning to go but hadn’t pre-registered.
Went back to the hotel and did my nails in preparation for wearing my Terra costume the next day. I painted them shimmery red and had gotten little flower decals with rhinestone centers to stick on them. It was fun to have fancy nails to match the costume but I don’t think I’ll be using those particular stickers again next time I wear it. I found that the rhinestones can snag on stuff and the flowers started to chip rather easily. ^_^;
Friday: Put on my Terra costume and walked over to the convention center. Found LyddieGal in her Amano Shiva costume outside and posed for a picture with her before continuing to the entrance. Embarrassingly, I didn’t realize that the knots of my scarves were loosening as I walked until two of them fell down. ._.; I’d only pinned the purple one because it was heavy due to the metal discs on the beaded fringes and thought that the others would be okay as they were. But I ended up going back to the hotel to get more safety pins.
Anyway, after that false start, I finally got into the con. Since it was my first time at Otakon, I decided to walk around the convention center and try to familiarize myself with the layout. (Yikes, that place is huge!) Went back over to the fountains in the late morning where I chatted with a few cosplayers, includingneoangelwink and hikaruchan, and met dearsasame. Next, came a photoshoot with ngmaster. Thanks, Dave! ^_^ Afterwards, I got a picture with an opera dress Celes, visited the photo suite to have pics taken/order prints, and talked to sakuralenayuy shortly before going back to the hotel for a lunch break.
Went back to the con and hung out around the fountains, waiting for the Amano photoshoot. Met Eurobeat King and Lionel and talked to some more people, includingblackmarth and dressdragn. Left shortly after the photoshoot to change into nyosen uniform for the mini Twelve Kingdoms shoot that evening. Wandered a bit more, picked up my prints, and found someone who actually recognized the nyosen costume. ^_^
Eventually went back over to the fountains for Twelve Kingdoms pictures with Hikaruchan and Masayume. (Don’t have a picture on my camera with all 3 of us, unfortunately.) Plus, we found someone who wasn’t in Juuni Kokki costume at the time but had Youko’s traveling costume so we made plans to have a group of 4 on Sunday. Took a few more pictures and then decided to call it a day around 9. Went back to the hotel and was so tired from lugging my bag around and painful shoes that my father and I just ordered room service rather than going out to dinner. (I must be old. XD; Not sure how those of you who stay up until 2 or 3AM at cons do it!)
Possibly the only nyosen cosplayers ever. I’ve yet to see any nyosen cosplays other than hikaruchan’s and mine, even among Asian cosplayers where the series seems more popular. *thinks a huge group of nyosen with matching uniforms and the different hairstyles would be cool but knows it would never happen* ^_^;
Saturday: Wore my Ayame costume since the Fruits Basket photoshoot was planned for that morning and got over to the convention center in time for the beginning of Katie Bair’s wig workshop. Learned how to turn loose extensions into dreadlocks but had to leave about halfway through for the photoshoot. Photoshoot had a decent turnout which was good; I was a bit worried about not many people showing up since the thread for it on cosplay.com had been pretty dead. Took some pictures of other people for a while and then started going through the dealer’s room (Wow, that place was huge! O_O) before going back to the hotel for lunch.
Changed into Terra again after lunch and then went back to the con to see if I could find any other FF6 people at the FF photoshoot. (I did but don’t have any of the group photos on my camera. ^_^;) Saw Ambrosia in her Zelda costume and talked to her for a bit before going off to continue looking through the dealer’s room. Ran into a couple of AnimeNext staffers in there and talked to them for a while.
Went back to the hotel around 5:30 and changed into my Tohru sundress. I had been planning to just wear Terra for the rest of the day but the shoes hurt too much. (And I thought I wouldn’t have a problem since the shoes just had tiny little heels. The front pinched a lot though. -_-;) Other little problem was that I was supposed to have dinner with my father before the masquerade but he went out for a walk and hadn’t come back yet despite me telling him what time I would be back. I tried to call him without luck (he had my sister’s phone and wouldn’t have known the password to check messages) and couldn’t really wait anymore so left a note and went down to the dining room alone. He showed up some time later, saying that he forgot to check the time. ^_^;;;
Made it to the masquerade a bit late and missed seeing the first few entries. They started on time and had a good audio and video setup, which was impressive. The stage was huge so it was good that they had a camera and screens. Winners were announced by 10 and I went back to the hotel for the night after that.
Sunday: Wore my Renrin costume with a regular outfit underneath so I could change easily when it was time to go home. While walking over to the convention center, another con goer actually recognized my character even though she only appears in one episode (two if you count the review episode for Taiki’s arc)! ^_^ She told me that she was planning to make the tattered version of Youko’s school uniform. Yay! More Twelve Kingdoms fans!
Since not much was going on that morning, I finally had time to actually go see stuff. Watched AMVs for a bit and went to the Takarazuka panel since I’ve been curious about that theatre group due to seeing some amazing cosplays based on it. Made another trip to the dealer’s room, which I hadn’t finished going through the day before, and then went over to the fountains.
Met with the Twelve Kingdoms group (or the “Brocade Brigade” which was the name one of the others coined for us XD) for pictures and was in the cosplay.com photoshoot. Then, headed back to the hotel to change and have something to eat before the drive home. Left Baltimore around 4 and didn’t get home until about 8 because of traffic.
Didn’t buy much in the dealer’s room, as usual. Just bought some manga that was on sale. Got volumes 4 and 14 of Fruits Basket plus volumes 6, 7, 9, and 10 of Pet Shop of Horrors for a total of $40. Several booths were selling pretty kimonos but I didn’t seriously consider buying one because I knew I’d never have a place to wear it considering all the cosplay stuff I already have. And I find that other than DVDs and manga, about the only anime merchandise I ever buy is plushies or artbooks and most of the series I like don’t have those (if any merchandise at all!).
One interesting thing I did see was a Fruits Basket art portfolio with prints of artbook pics on nice heavy paper. But it was nearly $50 and almost all the pictures were in the artbook I already have so I didn’t buy it. (Hmm… Wonder if there will be another Fruits Basket artbook someday. The one I have only has pictures up to 2002.) Something that I would buy if it existed is a little mouse cell phone dangle like Ayame has on his phone in the manga but no one seems to have made one. Guess I’ll have to try making my own sometime since I think it’d be cute to have when cosplaying Ayame.
In conclusion…
While it was great getting to meet people and see costumes that I’d only seen online before, I don’t think Otakon will become a yearly thing for me. Partly, because the hotels are so expensive. (My father only agreed to go in May so the room that we got was $309 a night since the hotels were practically full by that time.) And I suppose they need such a large place to hold a con with such high attendance but I didn’t really like the sheer size of the Baltimore Convention Center; it felt like a lot of time was just spent hiking across the place. Also, a con right in the middle of summer is less than ideal for me considering the fact that the costumes I want to make almost always involve layers, long sleeves, and tons of fabric. ^_^;;
Also, con dates for next year have been announced and it seems that AnimeNext and Otakon are both moving to July, with AnimeNext only 2 weeks before Otakon. If I had to pick only one, I’d rather go to Next. I’ll sometimes go to guest panels at cons but I’m never really interested enough to wait in line to meet them/get autographs and I actually found myself going to fewer con events at Otakon despite there being more programming. :-/ Almost none of the panels interested me and most of the anime screenings that I would have been interested in checking out conflicted with stuff like photoshoots and the masquerade. So, the big highlight of Otakon for me was really just meeting cosplayers from outside the NY area plus seeing some of the locals again.
Thursday: My father and I left the house around a quarter to 11 and made it to Baltimore in about 3 hours. Checked into the Marriott Inner Harbor and had lunch before taking a rest in the hotel room. (Decided it was too hot to go out sightseeing with the 100 degree weather!) It was possible to see the convention center from our window so we entertained ourselves part of the time by watching the huge pre-reg line. XD Waited until a bit after 7 for the line to die down before putting on my Tohru costume and actually going over to pick up my badge. Although there were still lots of people, the registration line was the most efficient I’d ever seen at a con and was almost constantly moving. Great because I hate waiting in long lines. ^_^ Didn’t check my watch but I doubt I was in line for more than half an hour.
The view from the hotel room
Saw
djranmas for a moment after going back outside and then went out for dinner with my father. We ended up at the Morton’s steakhouse. The food was good but very expensive. ($40 steaks! o_o; I had salmon instead since it was quite a bit cheaper.) The guy who was busing tables noticed my Otakon bag and came over ask about the registration situation since he was planning to go but hadn’t pre-registered. Went back to the hotel and did my nails in preparation for wearing my Terra costume the next day. I painted them shimmery red and had gotten little flower decals with rhinestone centers to stick on them. It was fun to have fancy nails to match the costume but I don’t think I’ll be using those particular stickers again next time I wear it. I found that the rhinestones can snag on stuff and the flowers started to chip rather easily. ^_^;
Friday: Put on my Terra costume and walked over to the convention center. Found LyddieGal in her Amano Shiva costume outside and posed for a picture with her before continuing to the entrance. Embarrassingly, I didn’t realize that the knots of my scarves were loosening as I walked until two of them fell down. ._.; I’d only pinned the purple one because it was heavy due to the metal discs on the beaded fringes and thought that the others would be okay as they were. But I ended up going back to the hotel to get more safety pins.
Anyway, after that false start, I finally got into the con. Since it was my first time at Otakon, I decided to walk around the convention center and try to familiarize myself with the layout. (Yikes, that place is huge!) Went back over to the fountains in the late morning where I chatted with a few cosplayers, including
neoangelwink and hikaruchan, and met dearsasame. Next, came a photoshoot with ngmaster. Thanks, Dave! ^_^ Afterwards, I got a picture with an opera dress Celes, visited the photo suite to have pics taken/order prints, and talked to sakuralenayuy shortly before going back to the hotel for a lunch break. Went back to the con and hung out around the fountains, waiting for the Amano photoshoot. Met Eurobeat King and Lionel and talked to some more people, including
blackmarth and dressdragn. Left shortly after the photoshoot to change into nyosen uniform for the mini Twelve Kingdoms shoot that evening. Wandered a bit more, picked up my prints, and found someone who actually recognized the nyosen costume. ^_^ Eventually went back over to the fountains for Twelve Kingdoms pictures with Hikaruchan and Masayume. (Don’t have a picture on my camera with all 3 of us, unfortunately.) Plus, we found someone who wasn’t in Juuni Kokki costume at the time but had Youko’s traveling costume so we made plans to have a group of 4 on Sunday. Took a few more pictures and then decided to call it a day around 9. Went back to the hotel and was so tired from lugging my bag around and painful shoes that my father and I just ordered room service rather than going out to dinner. (I must be old. XD; Not sure how those of you who stay up until 2 or 3AM at cons do it!)
Possibly the only nyosen cosplayers ever. I’ve yet to see any nyosen cosplays other than hikaruchan’s and mine, even among Asian cosplayers where the series seems more popular. *thinks a huge group of nyosen with matching uniforms and the different hairstyles would be cool but knows it would never happen* ^_^;
Saturday: Wore my Ayame costume since the Fruits Basket photoshoot was planned for that morning and got over to the convention center in time for the beginning of Katie Bair’s wig workshop. Learned how to turn loose extensions into dreadlocks but had to leave about halfway through for the photoshoot. Photoshoot had a decent turnout which was good; I was a bit worried about not many people showing up since the thread for it on cosplay.com had been pretty dead. Took some pictures of other people for a while and then started going through the dealer’s room (Wow, that place was huge! O_O) before going back to the hotel for lunch.
Changed into Terra again after lunch and then went back to the con to see if I could find any other FF6 people at the FF photoshoot. (I did but don’t have any of the group photos on my camera. ^_^;) Saw Ambrosia in her Zelda costume and talked to her for a bit before going off to continue looking through the dealer’s room. Ran into a couple of AnimeNext staffers in there and talked to them for a while.
Went back to the hotel around 5:30 and changed into my Tohru sundress. I had been planning to just wear Terra for the rest of the day but the shoes hurt too much. (And I thought I wouldn’t have a problem since the shoes just had tiny little heels. The front pinched a lot though. -_-;) Other little problem was that I was supposed to have dinner with my father before the masquerade but he went out for a walk and hadn’t come back yet despite me telling him what time I would be back. I tried to call him without luck (he had my sister’s phone and wouldn’t have known the password to check messages) and couldn’t really wait anymore so left a note and went down to the dining room alone. He showed up some time later, saying that he forgot to check the time. ^_^;;;
Made it to the masquerade a bit late and missed seeing the first few entries. They started on time and had a good audio and video setup, which was impressive. The stage was huge so it was good that they had a camera and screens. Winners were announced by 10 and I went back to the hotel for the night after that.
Sunday: Wore my Renrin costume with a regular outfit underneath so I could change easily when it was time to go home. While walking over to the convention center, another con goer actually recognized my character even though she only appears in one episode (two if you count the review episode for Taiki’s arc)! ^_^ She told me that she was planning to make the tattered version of Youko’s school uniform. Yay! More Twelve Kingdoms fans!
Since not much was going on that morning, I finally had time to actually go see stuff. Watched AMVs for a bit and went to the Takarazuka panel since I’ve been curious about that theatre group due to seeing some amazing cosplays based on it. Made another trip to the dealer’s room, which I hadn’t finished going through the day before, and then went over to the fountains.
Met with the Twelve Kingdoms group (or the “Brocade Brigade” which was the name one of the others coined for us XD) for pictures and was in the cosplay.com photoshoot. Then, headed back to the hotel to change and have something to eat before the drive home. Left Baltimore around 4 and didn’t get home until about 8 because of traffic.
Didn’t buy much in the dealer’s room, as usual. Just bought some manga that was on sale. Got volumes 4 and 14 of Fruits Basket plus volumes 6, 7, 9, and 10 of Pet Shop of Horrors for a total of $40. Several booths were selling pretty kimonos but I didn’t seriously consider buying one because I knew I’d never have a place to wear it considering all the cosplay stuff I already have. And I find that other than DVDs and manga, about the only anime merchandise I ever buy is plushies or artbooks and most of the series I like don’t have those (if any merchandise at all!).
One interesting thing I did see was a Fruits Basket art portfolio with prints of artbook pics on nice heavy paper. But it was nearly $50 and almost all the pictures were in the artbook I already have so I didn’t buy it. (Hmm… Wonder if there will be another Fruits Basket artbook someday. The one I have only has pictures up to 2002.) Something that I would buy if it existed is a little mouse cell phone dangle like Ayame has on his phone in the manga but no one seems to have made one. Guess I’ll have to try making my own sometime since I think it’d be cute to have when cosplaying Ayame.
In conclusion…
While it was great getting to meet people and see costumes that I’d only seen online before, I don’t think Otakon will become a yearly thing for me. Partly, because the hotels are so expensive. (My father only agreed to go in May so the room that we got was $309 a night since the hotels were practically full by that time.) And I suppose they need such a large place to hold a con with such high attendance but I didn’t really like the sheer size of the Baltimore Convention Center; it felt like a lot of time was just spent hiking across the place. Also, a con right in the middle of summer is less than ideal for me considering the fact that the costumes I want to make almost always involve layers, long sleeves, and tons of fabric. ^_^;;
Also, con dates for next year have been announced and it seems that AnimeNext and Otakon are both moving to July, with AnimeNext only 2 weeks before Otakon. If I had to pick only one, I’d rather go to Next. I’ll sometimes go to guest panels at cons but I’m never really interested enough to wait in line to meet them/get autographs and I actually found myself going to fewer con events at Otakon despite there being more programming. :-/ Almost none of the panels interested me and most of the anime screenings that I would have been interested in checking out conflicted with stuff like photoshoots and the masquerade. So, the big highlight of Otakon for me was really just meeting cosplayers from outside the NY area plus seeing some of the locals again.
