Holiday Anime Faire 2010

I attended Holiday Anime Faire 2010 on Saturday, December 4th with my boyfriend. He and I cosplayed Pacman and Clyde (the orange ghost) from Pacman. It was held in Fremont at the Teen Center in Central Park.

When we arrived, we got our badges ($14 for two, I believe), and entered the area to be greeted by Pedobear. It was my first time getting a hug from Pedobear, so I was oddly excited xD It was a little umm... Disturbing, though, to see a Pedobear at Holiday Anime Faire, since HAF is actually geared more toward kids.

We made the obligatory circle around the dealers' and artists' tables (this year they were all mixed up in the same area), and we found my friend Tricia at her Artists' Alley booth. We also ran into possibly the only photographer at the con, who took our photos (wonder where those went..?). We also ran into these two adorable little girls who told us that we were awesome and they loved our costumes.

We then found my friend Natalie, who was with a couple of her friends, and my friend Solemon. Shortly after, the cosplay contest started, so we had to leave them =/. I was a little worried this year, actually, we had competition, including Pedobear and The Gorillaz. The contest itself was pretty short, each contestant/group stated their name, who they were cosplaying, and what series they were from. We were then sorted into groups, home-made and store-bought, for judging. The judging consisted of who the audience liked most and deliberation by the convention head and either representatives of P.M.B.Q. or Animation On Display, I don't know which.

We had been hoping for a win, which last year included a free pass to Fanime, but, true to the Holiday Anime Faire, umm, "spirit" the contest had no "places" (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), so there were... Six winners, I think? Including my boyfriend and I, Pedobear, The Gorillaz, and a little girl dressed as Sailor Moon. Holiday Anime Faire always makes it a point to give a prize to a kid, which is great, but I feel like they should make a separate "Chibi" category if they want to do that. But that's just me, and the con head doesn't like to listen to anyone's opinion but her own.

The cosplay contest prizes were a bag and a Naruto figurine that were given out to everyone who participated, and two DVDs given only to the winners. We were allowed to choose our own DVDs, so I chose two Pokemon DVDs. I may or may not sell most of my winnings later. It seems like most of the cosplay contest prizes that I get are things that I don't want. My last winnings (from AOD) were put up for sale at Kin-Yoobi Con, and I sold a couple of things. Otherwise, it'll just collect dust in my room, and nobody wants that.

After the costume contest, we putzed around on the playground just outside of the convention area. Unfortunately a group of girls who shall remain nameless and had a megaphone were acting rather obnoxious in the park. I was extremely disappointed in realizing this, because I've been to gatherings with them before, and I've never had a problem with them. I also learned that one of them has a problem with a friend of mine for seemingly no reason. Which sucks on multiple levels.

Eventually we went back inside and met up with my friends Jerry and Ashley. We hung out for a while and I bought a Christmas Chocobo plushie. I used to buy a Yoshi at every convention that I went to, but there's only one color left that I need, and since I can never find it, I've been buying chibi plushies at cons instead. I can't help it, it's an addiction!

Eventually, two more friend, Andrea and Kailee, showed up and we chilled with them for a while too. The con was closing down though. Dealers and artists were packing up, and staff was telling us to GTFO, so we did.

Overall, the con is really boring, unless you have a bunch of friends going. This was the first year that I actually knew a bunch of people there, so I think it was worth going, I don't get to see my cosplay friends a ton. I may or may not attend next year, depending on money and how interested I am.

(photo credit goes to Ratgirl Productions)

YaoiCon 2010 (Saturday)

I attended Yaoi-Con 2010 on Saturday, October 30th with my boyfriend. I cosplayed as 13-year-old Franziska von Karma from Ace Attorney: Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

We arrived to the convention, surprisingly enough, at about the time we planned to. Yet we still missed the first event we wanted to go to. It was just a panel though, so.. I keep telling myself that we didn't miss much. We perused the Dealers' Room and Artists' Alley. In the Artists' Alley, I bought three Eeveelution buttons (Flareon, Leafeon, and Espeon) and an Eeveelution cell phone charm (Umbreon). The cell phone charm is on my DS now, haha, and the buttons are on my convention backpack.

Afterward, we went to check out what we thought was a Maid and Butler Cafe. Unfortunately, it was a panel about how to behave in a Maid and Butler Cafe. Which sort of baffles me still. Everyone at the convention was 18 or older, and if they didn't know how to behave themselves.. Well.. All hope is lost for humanity really. So instead we got food from the stand in the lobby, broccoli beef and steamed rice. It was a little chewy, but otherwise good.

We then returned to the same panel room that the Maid and Butler Cafe thing was in to attend the Ace Attorney panel. In all honesty, I wasn't overly impressed. There were technical difficulties, which I know isn't the panelists fault, but still put a damper on things. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it looked like their PowerPoint presentation wasn't compatible with the laptop it was on (or at least the photos on it weren't). So there were blank white slides with titles, but no pictures. Occasionally, were a picture was supposed to be, there would be a notice about updating Adobe Flash Player, so I guess that's what went wrong there. There was one picture, but I didn't even understand what it was supposed to be.

Also, the panelists insisted on using the Japanese names for all the characters, which made me zone out a little bit. I guess I'm more of a "casual" fan, because I have no idea what the Japanese names in Ace Attorney are. It would have bothered me less if they had at least explained what the English counterparts to the Japanese names were. You know, so-and-so's Japanese name was such-and-such, etc. It also wouldn't have bothered me so much if they had stuck to one language. They switched back and forth a couple of times, from English names to Japanese names and back, which led me to believe that they were actually just talking about characters that I didn't know.

I think the biggest disappointment though was the fact that they didn't have a lot of content, and attendees were expected to already know almost everything about all of the games. I don't think a little general info would have hurt them at all. Sure, some people may have been a little bored, but I feel like it would have been better to spend 5 minutes on overview than let some audience members be completely lost. I was probably the most lost, but my boyfriend said he got confused at some parts too, so there's no way it could have only been us. And a few people left in the middle.

Content-wise, I think they filled about half an hour (the panel slot was the usual hour). It seemed like they relied a lot on audience participation, but the audience was small and didn't say much, save for maybe three people. They said that they've been running the Ace Attorney panel for a few years, and usually they talk about new releases, but mostly they just said "there hasn't been much news", and the only thing that they mentioned about the upcoming game was "I assume you've all heard about [insert Japanese game title here]." Which of course, I hadn't. Or maybe I had and didn't recognize the name. They did give a brief summary of the game, but I didn't understand it because they used Japanese names, and, again, I was uninformed about the content. it almost seemed as though they didn't want to talk about it. In fact, the whole panel felt that way, as if they were tired of talking about Ace Attorney and just wanted to rush through their information as quickly as possible.

At the end of the panel, there was a quiz, which was a good idea in theory, but you had to have extensive knowledge from sources outside of the games to get their questions. The prizes were cool though, little Mia Fey and Maya Fey figurines. Winner got to choose which one they wanted and second place got the other one. My boyfriend participated in the quiz thing. There were four participants, and each got ten questions. Not the way I would have done it, but it worked well.

They said that at the end, they usually have a photoshoot, because there's usually more cosplayers, but there "weren't enough" apparently, because I guess three of us isn't enough. I would have liked to get a few pictures with one of the panelists, as she was dressed as 18-year-old Miles Edgeworth, but it didn't happen.

What irked me the most was one of the panelists singling me out and putting me on the spotlight because "You haven't said anything at all." Excuse me, I didn't know that I was supposed to fill time in your panel. Just because I'm cosplaying a character from the series that your panel is about, it doesn't mean that I know everything about the series, or would even have anything to say if I did. I just looked at her and shrugged. Furthering her point of having not said anything the whole time. xD

After the panel, a new friend dressed as Phoenix Wright and I tried to kidnap the Miles Edgeworth for a photoshoot, but she said that she had only worn the costume for the panel and was changing for.. You know, I don't remember why she wanted to change to badly. Anyway, Phoenix and I went for a photoshoot, which lasted about two hours. We got a lot of good pictures by a fountain/waterfall, but it was so crowded. Everybody wanted pictures by that waterfall. Which made sense because it was so pretty.

We did all of the obligatory photos of "Objection!" and general court room scenes. I'm not entirely sure how it came about, but we ended up taking some photos with a pirate-version of France (Hetalia) and a Vocaloid. Those were pretty good. My favorite though, were definitely the shots with the Pedobear. I wanted more pictures with Pedobear, cosplaying as a 13-year-old and all, I'm sure we could have come up with some hilarious pictures. But, alas, the con was setting up for a wedding and kicked us out of the area that we were in. We relocated and got some more photos. Then relocated again. Haha.

After the photoshoot, my boyfriend and I wanted food, so we walked down the street to where we thought there was a gas station. There wasn't one. We walked back to the hotel, only to discover that the gas station was in the opposite direction. So we walked there and bought a bunch of snacks.

Back at the convention center, we sat down near the room where the masquerade was to be held. We didn't think that we were in line for the masquerade, it just seemed like a good place to sit. We were told that the masquerade line wasn't going to be there, which was fine, because, again, we didn't think we were in line. About two minutes later, we were told to move. I was a little more than miffed, as there was really nowhere else to sit and eat.

After eating, we browsed the Dealer's Hall again, as it was closing soon, and my boyfriend bough my an Ampharos (Pokemon) plushie. Ever since playing Pokemon Gold, where my main electric Pokemon was an Ampharos, I've always had a soft spot for it, and this little chibi-ized plushie of it was just way too cute to pass up.

From there, we tried to find the line for the masquerade. The area directly in front of the ballroom where the masquerade was to be held was completely blocked. We were told it was because of the wedding ceremony mentioned earlier, but that made no sense, it was the middle of the hotel lobby. We were then told that the opposite side of the closed area was open for people to walk through. The people on that side then told us that the first side was open to walk through. Bad communication for everyone! Eventually, we found the line, which was really only a waiting place until the "line" was split into several parts to form other lines in the middle of the "closed" lobby area. We sat there for a while, buying candy from the booth behind us (formerly the registration booth).

Eventually we were lead into the ballroom for the masquerade. the masquerade itself was very entertaining, yet disappointing at the same time. It was very similar to Fanime's masquerade, which is brilliant, but I think I expected more from Yaoi-Con, since it's an older crowd. Meh. Not much to say there.

When the masquerade was over, we were all forced to leave the room. Those of us who wanted to see the Bishounen Auction had to first locate the line for it (it was upstairs O.o) and then find the end of it. It would around the balcony surrounding the balcony and doubled back in itself. Definitely one of the longest lines I've ever been in, rivaling Fanime's masquerade line. Once inside and seated, number paddles were handed out to those who wanted to bid. Surprisingly, it seems that most people were only there to watch.

In any case, it was certainly entertaining (I did not bid). I was really disappointed though, I didn't get to see many pretty boys. Don't get me wrong, the men were attractive, but when I think of "bishounen" I think of "pretty boy", and there were almost no bishies! *fangirl rage* The one bishounen that I did see though, was really, really pretty. I mean, I was jealous of how pretty this boy was. It just wasn't fair, and I loved him for it. T_T (lol)

The performances were definitely entertaining though, and it was fun to watch the so-called bishies play up to the audience's crude demands. I still expected better from 18+ year-olds, but, well... I gave in and started screaming like a 13-year-old at a Backstreet Boys concert. (Old reference makes me feel old.)

My boyfriend and I had to leave about an hour and a half into the Bishounen Auction for the hour-long drive home at 11:00 at night.

All in all, it was a good day, I just wished that staff had handled the line-up situation a little better. The double (or triple, as I was told) booking was more the hotel's doing than the convention, but I feel like the convention should have moved after finding out. Or something. Overall, good con, but I won't be attending next year due to budgetary limits (read: I'M BROKE!).

Fanime 2010 (Days 0 - 4)

Oh. My. Goodness. This year's Fanime was amazing. It was my first time going more than one day to a con, first time pre-registering, and first time staying overnight.

MORE PHOTOS LATER

Day 0 (Thursday) - I cosplayed Pikachu (Pokemon) to go pick up my badge. I was pleasantly surprised at the reactions to my costume, since it's my "fly under the radar" costume for when I want to cosplay, but don't want to attract much attention. Looking back on it, I should've cosplayed something more eye-catching, because then at least I'd have something to do while waiting in line for two-plus hours to pick up my badge. Funny enough, my boyfriend caught more attention than I did. He was wearing a fleece Magikarp hat that I made for him a few weeks back.

So basically, we stood in one line that was split into two lines, so that we had to wait to get into another line, to wait to get into another line, which we were in for at least another hour, so that we could get into the final line. My boyfriend and I were both slightly offended by the staff member(? volunteer?) at the beginning of the last line. (S)He(? don't really remember) was holding a sign that said "Nerds, geeks, losers, otakus" and had an arrow pointing to the right to where the line started. It would have been funny if it was a well made sign that was actually thought-out, but it was a tiny piece of cardboard with stuff sloppily written on it in Sharpie. I doubt the con heads would have appreciated that. After getting our badges, we wandered the convention center for all of a minute and then left for home.

Day 1 (Friday) - I cosplayed my own version of human-form Amaterasu (Okami) and my boyfriend wore his Magikarp hat again. I was pleasantly surprised (as usual) at the amount of people who enjoyed my costume and took pictures. I was extremely flattered when the masquerade winners from last year's Fanime (Chief Pikachu and Charlie the Charmander) geeked out over my costume and asked for pictures and hugs. I don't know why it was such a big deal, but it was really flattering and I absolutely loved them in last year's masquerade masquerade, and in this year's too! So that was really cool.

The first thing my boyfriend and I did was go to the dance lessons to learn some of the dances for the Black & White Ball. I really wish we hadn't bothered. If we do dance lessons next year, we're only going to like two. Maybe. I don't like the way they're run. They separate girls and guy and teach them steps individually, then bring them together to dance as partners, force them to rotate and switch partners, and then separate them again. It's not that I don't like dancing with strangers, it's not that I don't like having to teach them to dance (even though they should be paying attention), it's just that I didn't like the guys who blatantly didn't pay attention to the instructors or me and smelled funny, were all sweaty, and groped at me like hungry animals. One guy partnered up with me super fast, before I could get to my boyfriend, and the whole time we danced (which was way too long), he kept staring at my lips and my cleavage. Even if he had been attractive and not gross, I would still be greatly offended. On the flip side, of course there were guys who could really dance, knew what they were doing, and were very polite and proper.

After escaping dance lessons, we looked into an archery panel at the "Dojo", but I got bored really fast. All of what I saw was about how to get started in archery as a hobby, what stuff to buy, where to buy it, and at what price. In hindsight, it could have been very useful, but I was cranky from dancing and we had to stand. So we left and browsed the Dealer's Room. There, we met up with Foxberry and her boyfriend. We wandered with them for a while until they decided to go to the Artist's Alley. We also met up with Sheik and chatted with er for a while.

Then we looked through the Dealer's Hall some more and perused for food. I ended up with taquitos with sour cream and salsa. I was pleased with how spicy the salsa was, but I like spicy things, and that's all personal preference anyway.

After eating, we went back for another dance lesson. We just won't talk about that anymore.

THEN it was off to watch "Comedy Club", a half hour show consisting of two anime/gaming-themed comedians that presented short routines. They then plugged "Comedy Club at Fanime", their Saturday show, which was unfortunately during the masquerade. We then met up with a friend of mine, who quickly took off to go with her friend to "buy food and booze." Heh.

We stuck around for the swap meet, but I didn't see anything I liked and I was tired, so we left.

Day 2 (Saturday) - I cosplayed Clyde (the orange ghost from Pacman) and my boyfriend cosplayed Pacman. Truth be told, I knew that these costumes were going to draw attention. I mean, how could they not? But I didn't expect quite the amount we got (I never do), and I didn't expect the type of attention we got. First of all, we got stopped ever ten steps. I wish I was exaggerating, sometimes it was less, and every time we stopped, there were at least three photographers. Also, everyone was amazed by our pants. Oh, that sounded weird. What I mean is, the intricate design I painted on those pants drew a lot of attention. There, that's better.

We went to more dance lessons, but still not talking about that.

Then we went to the Maid Cafe. I was a little disappointed that we had to sit with people that we didn't know and had to share a maid, but it was still a lot of fun. I think the food was better this year than it was last year, I had a turkey sandwich and a chocolate-covered strawberry. It was way obviously overpriced, but it's the experience you're paying for, and it's worth it. We played a fun little game, sort of a board game, I supposed, where a little mechanized bumble bee flew in a circle and tried to knock down little honeycombs. You protected your honeycombs by flicking the bee upward with a honey stirrer when it came close enough. Much fun, actually. I did have one odd experience though.. While I was eating (before playing) a girl and a guy came up to our table. The girl had a video camera and was saying "Just do it! Do it quickly!" and the guy came up to me, held out a fake white flower, and said "This is for you" before they both quickly ran away. It was, uhh.. Flattering? And embarrassing in front of people I didn't know. I'm still not sure that my boyfriend even noticed, as he was playing with the maid and the bumble bee at the time. Umm. Wrong words again.

After that we went to check into the hotel. Well. I went to check in. I reserved a room for one person, so I didn't want to show up with someone else. Very suspicious... But when they asked how many keys I wanted, I asked for two, and they gave me two without question. The room was nice, one bed, one couch-like monstrosity, way up on the seventh floor, nice TV, mini-fridge, coffee-maker, bathroom with fancy lighting. We unpacked some, hung up the more delicate costumes (Chi and Hideki) and other random easily-wrinkled items of clothing.

We scoured the game room for the "DDR Max Perfect Attack" tournament, but we couldn't find it, so we played "Bust a Move" =D I love that game. We found the tournament afterward and the contestants scared me (I watched them warm up) so we went to leave. Then I joined a HUGE group game of Ninja, at least thirty-five people, and I made it to the top five. Very proud of myself.

Then off to the masquerade! YAY! Waiting in line, and walking around the block to get in line, wasn't much fun, but totally worth it. The masquerade this year was amazing, save for, of course, yet again, being stuck next to obnoxious people (one of whom was unfortunately my friend..).

After the masquerade, it was back to the hotel to change and then off to the rave! While waiting in line for the rave, a guy with a boom box came over with a Spider-Man cosplayer and was playing awesome music while Spider-Man encouraged people to dance. Sadly, not many people did. I didn't want them to leave, but they got bored and wandered off. Sad panda. Rave was very fun, danced a lot, saw Sheik again. Watched a Mario cosplayer in red fishnet grind on some chick. Interesing...

Anyway, after that, back to the hotel to shower and SLEEP!

Day 3 (Sunday) - Woke up early so that friends could drop off stuff in our room. Then we got changed into Chi and Hideki (Chobits) and went to MORE dance lessons. I wanted to shoot myself.

Then off to the CLAMP gathering. It started late because the Tsubasa gathering ran over. So while waiting, I ended up talking to another Chi cosplayer, and we got SWARMED by photographers. It was insane. We were about the same height, and while my costume was white with black, hers was red with black, so we looked sort of opposite. I think the whole image of two Chi's together just freaked people out in general. We got pulled aside by a photographer for a small shoot and another Chi joined us, but then the Chobits gathering started, so we told him we'd come back. The other Chi's and I went up with two other Chi's to pose, and then everyone watching started calling out for a Hideki. Something must've finally snapped in my boyfriend's head, because he finally ran out to join us Chi's, to the cheers and screaming of onlooking fangirls. So we posed and cameras flashed, then we dispersed.

Four of us Chi's went back to do the aforementioned small photoshoot. We took some really cute pictures, which can be seen on flickr here. They're not really in order, so you may have to scour for them. When the photoshoot was over, we chatted a little while and then scattered.

My boyfriend and I went to the Dealer's Hall again to buy a wig that we had spotted earlier for me to use for my Franziska von Karma cosplay. It's a tiny bit more blue than i wanted, but it is gorgeous, and easily my favorite wig already. I asked for a wig head, but they told me to come back the next day.

After that, there was another dance lesson, they back to the hotel for food and preparation for the ball. We stopped by Sheik's hotel room so that I could buy a wig from her. It's a really nice wig, and I gave her $20 for it. It's long and silver, she previously used it for her Ayame Sohma (Fruits Basket) cosplay. I haven't decided what I'll use it for yet, honestly, but I will find a use for it, I'm sure.

Our friends were in the room getting ready for the ball when we got there (we had given them a key specifically for that purpose, and they kinda took forever getting ready for it (about two hours). During which, we had some great laughs, mostly induced by: "Look up.. No, with your eyes OPEN!" xD Because how else do you look up..? Also, during this time, and traveling to the B&W Ball, I got extremely frustrated with one of my friends, so we won't talk about that part.

Dancing at the ball was great when we did it right, heh.. I was really disappointed when I saw just how many people weren't dancing "properly" but it didn't really bother me until someone jumped on my foot! Yeah.. After that, I got easily frustrated until we just left altogether.

On the way back to the hotel room, we looked for food, and I spotted mini pork buns, $5 for two. We picked up money in the room, and then I went back and bought twenty dollars worth of "mini" pork buns. They weren't so mini, so I ended up sharing with my boyfriend and our friends before they left. Then I bathed, put on PJs, and slept. I didn't sleep well that night at all. I really didn't want it to end, I didn't want to leave...

Day 4 (Monday) - I threw on pretty much the most "otaku" outfit I've ever worn. I put on my blue wig, cat ears & tail, steampunk-esque aviator goggles, and fingerless gloves. It seriously looked like I just went on a rampage through the dealer's hall and bought every single super stereotypical item i could find. Funny enough, the only thing I had bought was the wig. [The picture to the left is just the wigs and gloves.]

Then we packed, checked out, and put things in the car. I'm still feeling like I forgot something in the room, but I don't think I did, I'm just freaking out for no reason, I hope. The elevators were really full, so we actually had to walk down seven flights of stairs with all of our luggage. Never before was I so jealous of Sheik's room being on the third floor. We made it down, barely, and packed things into the car.

We were supposed to go the the NANA panel, by request of a friend, but we couldn't find it. So we went back to the Dealer's Room to get that wig head. They told me to come back at two-thirty, but when I told them I wasn't going to be there at two-thirty, they sold me one of their display heads. I wish they had discounted it, since it's pretty beat-up, but it does work just as well as any other wig head, so that's cool. Then we left for home.

All in all, it was an amazing convention. It really was. I've pretty much decided that I do want to go back next year. But maybe only stay one night. Or something. Two was too much. Too much stimulation and excitement. And money. Way too much money.

San Fransisco Cherry Blossom Festivale 2010

I went to the San Fransisco Cherry Blossom Festivale on Sunday, April 18th. I cosplayed as an original Gijinka of Pikachu, and my friend went as Ash Ketchum (Pokemon).

For once, we left on time! No way! That never happens. So me, my boyfriend (Ed), and my friend (Andrea) left around 10:30 to go to BART. Unfortunately, BART trains don't run from my city to San Fransisco on Sundays, so we had to take one train and transfer to another. Then we took a bus the rest of the way. Getting there took, as usual, about two hours.

When we got there, the first thing we did was go into the nearby mall to find some food. We found a decently-priced place with no line and got some breakfast / lunch. After that, we found a place to stand to watch the parade. We ended up right behind a trash can that was covered with a trash bag, making it useless, but just about as stinky. Luckily, we were right next to a photographer, so people stayed out of our line of sight for the most part. We were also in the shade.

The parade lasted about two hours, from 1:00 to 3:00. It had a lot of fun, interesting floats and acts, from drums and dancing, to beauty pageant winners and political figures. Honestly, I can't remember everything, heh.

Anyway, after the parade, we went to watch the winners of the cosplay contest get announced. We found decent seats, though the people in front of us were loud and a little obnoxious (and blocked almost every picture opportunity with their big, red, phallic balloon -.-). We were in the shade in our seats right up until the costume contest actually started. Darn you, sun, and your strange habit of moving! Anyway, the costume contest runner-ups, third, second, and first place winners were announced and the audience (those not blocked by balloons) was given a chance to take pictures of them.

Following the announcement of the winners, there was a cosplay talent show, a non-competitive show that mainly included cosplayers singing and dancing. it was hosted by Usagi Tsukino, also known as the San Fransisco Sailor Moon. She was, as always, delightful and entertaining, and her professional group (AnimeMyu Senshi) also performed. The talent show was fun to watch, and definitely worthwhile.

We then went to look for more food. We stumbled upon a noodle house, but it was vastly overpriced Forty-five dollars for noodles? No thank you, I'll go find some twigs or something.. We decided to leave and ended up eating at a small Japanese place that I had actually spotted at last year's Cherry Blossom Festivale. There we met up with another friend for a while who was there promoting Kin-Yoobi Con 2010.

It was about 5:00 when we finished eating, so we quickly looked at the remaining booths that were still open, and I bought three pairs of earrings, with some money my boyfriend gave me ^-^ The funny thing is, I bought earrings last year too, haha. We went over to where some pretty trees were and took a few pictures before leaving for home.

Overall, it was tons of fun. I was surprised at how much attention our costumes got, actually. I don't know why, but I considered Pikachu to be a fly-under-the-radar type of costume, probably because I put almost no effort into it. I felt sort of bad, really, so many other cosplayers deserved all the attention we were getting. But I guess I shouldn't complain, haha. My only disappointment is that I couldn't find any of the friends I had hoped to meet up with. :(

Quotes of the Day:

"We NEED a napkin!" "A napkin!?"

"Uhh.. That's fine. You go. Go with your silly-colored friends."

WonderCon 2010

It seems like every time we go to a convention in San Fransisco, my boyfriend and I leave for and arrive to the convention way later than intended. We left around 12:00 noon and arrived at about 2:00. Registry was surprisingly fast, and cheap, for such a big con. Walking through the line took no time at all, and it was only $15 for one day.

The line for registration put all entering attendees directly into the dealer's room. It was ridiculously crowded though, and the layout wasn't the best in my opinion. It seemed like four booths were the main attractions: A Capcom booth where you could play Street Fighter IV, a Dante's Inferno booth, where you could play at some points throughout the day, a booth promoting Kick-Ass, which sold limited-edition memorabilia, and a booth showcasing a 3D graphic design program, which showed some tutorials and explained different aspects of 3D graphic design and animation. All four of these booths were on two neighboring corners in the dealer's room, and crowds from them nearly completely barricaded two aisles.

Just past the dealer's room, in the same open auditorium, was the artist's alley. Unfortunately for the artist's, there was almost nobody there. Admittedly, it did provide a relief from the dense dealer's room crowds, but I still felt bad for the artists.

By far, my favorite booth, without competition in my heart, was the booth selling tribbles from an episode of Star Trek titled "The Trouble with Tribbles." Essentially, they're just little balls of fur, no feet, legs, or defining features, but ever since I saw them, they've been clicking and chirping their way into my heart, and for $20 I now own a little gray fluffball of my own. The booth was even run by David Gerrold, the creator of tribbles, and author of the episode that made them so lovable. (Tribbles can be bought at www.tribbletoys.com)

Regrettably, we missed the panel I had really wanted to see. It was a series of movie trailers (for Prince of Persia, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Toy Story 3) and Q&A's with several of the actors. So instead, we went straight to the panel my boyfriend was most interested in: "Marvel Comics: X-Men". However, he was not particularly interested in the X-Men talk, he was there because a couple of the creators of the Marvel character Deadpool were there. The panel itself was rather entertaining and informative, but I felt that the speakers were too impersonal. However, it was very well-run and time-efficient.

We had actually arrived to that panel about a half hour early though, and sat in on part of the Spotlight on David Finch, comic book artist for titles including Call of Duty: The Brotherhood, New Avengers, and X-Men Unlimited. His panel was entertaining as well, but the highlight of it for me was when this little boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old, asked David how he got started in the business and how he got famous, and requested that David review his (the boy's) comic book drawings. It was probably the cutest things I've seen in a long time. Besides a tribble, of course.

After the X-Men panel, we decided to get lunch. It seems that I'll never learn to research food places outside of convention areas, but convention food will always be ridiculously expensive. Lunch drained the end of my money and left my boyfriend with only $5. So we ate and then found our way up to where the Lion Gate: Kick-Ass panel was to be held.

We went and found our seats just as the previous panel (Trailer Park) was ending, and the staff played movie trailers on the giant screens at the front of the room until it was time for the panel to start. Lion Gate: Kick-Ass was essentially a trailer showing and Q&A with the actors of the movie (Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Nicholas Cage). Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I were sitting in literally the second to last row of a room that sat an estimated four-thousand people. So people on stage appeared to only be about an inch tall (luckily they appeared on two movie theater-sized screens at the front of the room). The panel was a blast and I got some decent pictures of the giant screens.

After the panel, there was an exclusive autograph signing with the stars that you had to pay to get into. I wanted to check the price, even if we did only have $5 left, but as fate would have it, they were sold out by the time we got there and figured out what was going on. The autograph line for other stars, which you didn't have to pay to get into, consistently looked about two hours long. Even though there were big stars that I would have loved to get autographs from (including Martin Klebba, Tim Russ, Carel Struyken, Marina Sirtis, and Lou Ferrigno), I just didn't feel like waiting in line for two hours. So we left for home.

Overall, I had a great time and fully intend to go back next year, for more than one day if possible. The only downsides were the placement of the most popular booths and the cost of food.

Quote of the Day:

Little 5-year-old Boy: I have some of my drawings with me, and I was wondering if you could critique them.
David Finch: Of course!
Audience: Awww~! ♥ *clapity clap*

Kin-Yoobi Con 2010 Info

So, my intent with this blog was to post more than just convention overviews. I guess I'll start with this. I'm planning / staffing Kin-Yoobi Con 2010, and here's some of the info on it.

2010 is Kin-Yoobi Con's 4th year running, but this is my first year staffing. I attended Kin-Yoobi Con in both 2008 and 2009. Kin-Yoobi Con is run by a group called Game-Zone Recreation, but my involvement in the group is pretty much limited to the convention. I've been wanting to help with the site, but for several reasons, it just hasn't happened yet.

In March of 2010, the Game-Zone Recreation website got a complete overhaul, and had a lot more content added. http://gzronline.com/

Currently, Kin-Yoobi Con is set to be held at Chabot College, Friday and Saturday, August 6th - 7th, 2010. Pre-Registry is $8 for the 6th and $12 for the 7th, and badge prices at the door are $10 for the 6th and $15 for the 7th.

Events include live bands, anime-themed game shows, video game tournaments, a cosplay dating auction, and a cosplay contest.

Animation On Display (AOD) 2010 (Saturday)

Oh, man, I don't even know where to start with this one. We left way later than I wanted to, due to a lot of things really. Then we hit some of the worst traffic I've ever seen, and then we got lost. So we ended up not making it to the convention until about 5:30.

We met up with my cousin and her friends, whom I sold stuff too, and my cousin gave me gifts =] We then ended up in the tabletop gaming room where (hahaha) my friend got hit on by some random guy. It was hard to watch, but still so hilarious. Poor girl D=

Then I went to sign in for the costume contest (as Amaterasu), which I thought was at 6, but was actually at 5! Oops. I still got to participate though, they just had to do my judging later.

We wantered for a while, and I ran into Foxberry in her completely awesome Dr. Franken Stein (Soul Eater) costume, which I won't link directly to because I'm not sure she wants her picture all over the interwebs. I know I wouldn't mind, but I'm weird like that. We talked a bit, in-between being asked for pictures and whatnot.

Then my group went for food and Foxberry and I went to the masquerade pre-gathering organization thing to ger seated and receive info on how things would be run. It was... A little chaotic in there. Loud. very loud. But they got the job done. I had to be pre-judged, and, oh my goodness, stress! I don't know why, but I completely froze up when they asked me questions. "How did you make this piece?" "I.. Umm.. I... Made it..? *dies*"

The masquerade itself went fairly smoothly. There were a few audio malfunctions, and one group ended up knocking the mic stand (with microphone still in it) completely off the stage. Heh. That was also hilarious and painful to watch. I got the worst headache ever during the "halftime show." I think it was a combination of my tight wig cap, my mask pressing against my forehead uncomfortably, my fangs not allowing my to relax my jaw completely, and bad jokes on the Emcee's part. Okay, the jokes weren't bad at all, I would've rather enjoyed them if it weren't for the immense pain.

I ended up winning runner-up for construction, which I"m a little butthurt about, but I'll get over it. I'm sure that the guy who won best for construction deserved it. I believe those judges were very fair. Foxberry got a Judge Favorite award because of her awesome clicking screw-bolt-thing (I don't know what it technically is, but it's awesome! D=). We went to collect our prizes and get more pictures taken of us.

And then Shiek found me! I had been looking for her as Ayame all day, but it turned out that she had changed into something else. I was looking forward to seeing that too =/ That's what I get for being so late, I suppose (though parts of that were beyond my control). By the time she found me, I had taken apart my costume because my fangs, wig cap, and mask were killing me, and I was starting to get hot flashes and the fur didn't help.

After that, I bolted to the swap meet where a friend of mine bought a game she's been wanting for hecka cheap. A couple of things caught my eye, but I resisted the urge to buy useless things. I wanted to keep my money. I brought $30 to the con and ended up leaving with $100 xD That part was totally awesome. Usually cons completely drain my money, so this was a nice change. Though I remember profiting from Kin-Yoobi too when they gave us cash as a costume contest prize.

I might go back to AOD next year, in a simpler, easier-to-wear costume, and at a decent time (not 5:00 o.o). I think AOD's main downside is that there's nothing to do and not enough space to do it in. I liked the venue last year more, the "Main Hall" was a very large open area where people could just chill. But this year, there were actually chairs and tables, so that's always nice too. I guess it's sort of a trade-off.

Quote of the Day:

Random Guy: You're not making any sense!
Random Girl: Your face doesn't make sense!
Me & My Friends: Ohhhhhhh!
My Friend: Are you gonna take that?
Random Guy: Who the hell are these people!?
*my group walks away*

Holiday Anime Faire 2009

I am sooo glad I went to Holiday Anime Faire. Especially as Amaterasu.

I went in a browsed (okay, ransacked) the place for a wall scroll of Chi, which I did not find! *rage* Oh well. I bought the last two books of Chobits later instead.

I loitered around and ran into (or rather was pulled out of the crowd by) a couple of friends. We were disturbed by this girl... How do I describe her..? Insane? Heh. It was clear that she was excited, but from what I could tell, and what people who knew her told me, she's severely socially awkward. She just thought that she was the best thing ever and it was just awkward when she spoke. She walked up to my friend who was dressed as Sleepy Time Naruto, and she herself claimed to be Naruto and had a Naruto graphic tee on. She asked "Which one if the real one?" and my friend (not Naruto) pointed to her shirt and said "That one." The chick thought my friend meant her and started to say "Ha! I win!" When the Naruto I knew cut her off and said "No. You don't understand. That's the real Naruto," and pointed more clearly to her shirt. Heh. Awkward, but my friends are awesome anyway =D So I chatted with them and kinda stuck myself to them until the costume contest, which was the only reason I went in the first place.

Speaking of first place, I got it! Hehehehehe. Never has winning been this rewarding though. We were split up into three categories: hand-made(which I was in), closet cosplay, and store / internet-bought cosplay. Last time I competed at this convention, in April (same convention, different name and month, don't ask) the judging was based solely on audience reaction. If it had been like that this time, I'm not so sure I would have one. This one girl, I forget who she was dressed as, got a lot of cheers and screams, but I was told that a lot of it was her friends in the audience and people just generally fangasming. This time though, the convention head brought in an impartial judge who knew almost nothing about anime, and that's probably the reason I won. I thanked everybody, including the audience and random people who said they liked my costume so many times, it was crazy. I'm so grateful.

My prizes kick ass. seriously, best. prizes. EVAR. A jacket with the Shonen JUMP logo on it, estimated to be worth about $50, a keychain, which I already have, an iron-on patch with no significance to me, and a freakin' ticket to freakin' Fanime. My jaw dropped to the floor when they announced that as one of the prizes. I mean, seriously. They were listing the prizes "DVDs... A jacket... A ticket to AOD... A ticket to Fanime." and people just freaked. I was happy for the potential DVDs, that's what my prize was last year, the jacket didn't interest me, but they got my attention with an AOD ticket, and I nearly passed out when they said a Fanime ticket. And then I won the Fanime Ticket. OMG. I'm just really excited.

I plan on showing my Ammy lots and lots of TLC tomorrow because it won me so much today. I don't know if I'll finish any new parts, but I'll patch up what's falling apart and whatnot, because it managed to take a beating today =/

Kin-Yoobi Con 2009

I woke up around 9:30 to get ready. I had originally wanted to leave at 11, but my ride wanted to go earlier..... And then ended up showing up late. So we arrived at the con at 11 anyway.

We scoped out the area and played a couple video games. I played DDR as Amaterasu to the delight of a few onlookers.

I played Legend of Starfy on my boyfriend's DS until the Anime Jeopardy started. Which I failed at. Miserably. I really hope that's not on YouTube... After that was Wheel of Fandom. I watched two rounds and played another two. I won one. I swear, I would've won the second if I hadn't have landed on that "Loose a Turn" space...

After that was Anime Roleplay, which wasn't what I expected at all. The description made it seem like you chose / cosplayed a character, were given a scenario, and had to act it out with other role/cosplayers. I guess you could say that that's what it was, but the other cosplayers gave one-line answers. I wanted to play with it more, so here's what I did:

The scenario was, the emcee was a bartender who had a secret password, which we were supposed to attain. So...
Me: Is there any drink you would recommend?
Bartender: Just the usual scotch on the rocks..
Me: Is there anything special about this drink?
Bartender: No, nothing really.
Me: So outside of bar tending, what else do you do? Any hobbies..?
Bartender: I'm a ninja-spy-- Oops.
Me: So. If you were to make a secret password, what would it NOT be?
Bartender: Are you playing mind games with me?
Me: Oh, no, just making smalltalk. =]
Bartender: Well, it would definitely NOT be scotch on the rocks...
Me: Would it be.. Vodka?
Bartender: No. But it would definitely be an alcoholic drink.
Me: Would it be.. Sake?
Bartender: Aww, you got it! I'm a ninja, of course I like sake!

The audience seemed to like it, so I was pretty proud of myself. The next scenario was that we were in line at a DMV and the emcee was the guy in the front of the line. We were supposed to get in front of him. I offered him 20 flasks of holy sake and he let me though. ;] I'm not sure how much of that was really in-character, but I tried, for the most part.

Eventually was the costume contest, which I placed 3rd in. I'm a little butthurt, but I'll get over it. (3 months and $200... To get in third place. Heck yeah I'm butthurt...)

The dating auction was lackluster, my boyfriend wouldn't let me auction myself OR buy anyone. I wanted to buy Wolverine and have him give me a running piggy-back ride across the convention. *sigh* Some dreams must go unfulfilled, I suppose.

Afterward, the Anime Ball was supposed to start, so we waited around and I played more DDR. I was given a bear hug by a.. Oh, snap, I forget the name of the character he was cosplaying as. I don't do Naruto >_< So I don't remember character names.

It seems as though the Anime Ball was canceled, so we left.

In the courtyard outside the convention, the cosplayer that bear hugged me stopped us again and got a little too close for my comfort, so I left.

Fanime 2009 (Saturday)

I don't really know what I did all day, but I was there from 9:30am to 12:30am (past midnight). I was L and was chained to Light. Our group also included Matt (Death Note).

Woke up freakishly early to do mine (L) and Mello's and Light's makeup. Left for the con around 9 and got there around 9:30. Literally not five seconds after we got out of the car, we (more specifically Matt) were mobbed by fangirls xD Then we stood in line for two freakin' hours! Well worth it, of course, but jeeze.

As soon as we got in, we went to wait in ANOTHER line for the FaniMaid Cafe, in which we were attacked with questions from an over-zealous otaku. It was alright for the first, say, three minutes, but after that, I could've gone without. We got pulled to the front of the line because we had a small group and got seated. Our waitress played a game of Guess Who: Pokemon Edition with us and then we played on our own for a while =] We took a picture with our waitress and left. Overall, the FaniMaid Cafe was really cute and lots of fun. But I could do without the otakus...

After that, we scoped out the Dealer's Hall, Artist's Alley, and Gaming Room. I played a game of DDR, which is a BAD IDEA in binding! So I played "Dead L" for about a half hour or so after that. To the delight of my friends as they could POKE ME to a second death while I was laying there xP We were approached later in the game room by a Joker (Batman) with an idea for a Death Note product xD I won't give out details, but it was pretty good.

We wandered about for a few hours, lookin' at things to buy and who was there, getting mobbed by fangirls, all the fun things there are to do at a con. No panels though, actually, nothing in particular caught our interest. Around four or four-thirty, we walked a couple blocks down the street to a McDonalds where we ate and did makeup touch-ups. After that, we went back to the con for a bathroom break and then headed out to get in line for the masquerade.

The masquerade was alright, not as good as last year, in my opinion. We started out in BAD seats. As far as location goes, they were alright. Close to center stage, just in the back. But the IDIOT behind us wouldn't stop talking about how cute (or not cute) he thought the girls on stage were. And he was rude about it. I nearly ripped his head off. A few seats in front of us opened up and we jumped into them. They were a little more off to the side, but definitely well worth the move.

After the masquerade, we went to the techno rave, which was AWESOME. A couple fangirls squeeled over Matt and I dancing (and later kissing, haha). But about a half hour into dancing, I altered my shirt to be a bare midriff (show'd mah belleh lol) 'cause it got insanely hot, so I was no longer recognizable to my knowledge. In the hallway right outside of the rave, we ran into a guy with a "free hugs" shirt with a bunch of signatures on it. There was no room for us to sign, so I drew a big, black, Death Note-style L over a few names. We talked for a while and he rubbed my belly and poked my abs xD He took off shortly after I introduced Matt as my boyfriend (which he is) haha.

We took a freakin' limo home! Woo! See, it was the day of our Prom and I had decided the thing I was going to miss most was the limo, so I decided we'd get one anyway lol I was surprised at the lack of surprise from onlookers when it showed up though D= That's no fun. I like creating an awe factor. The ride home was fun, we played with buttons in the back of the limo and drank the sodas and such (and were shocked at the fact that there was vodka back there). Got home around one-thirty and crashed there lol.

Some awesome quotes from the day:
Another L: "Aww.. I wanna be chained to Light =["

Fangirls (at Light carrying a sleepy L down the hall): "AWWWWW!"

Matt (to L at the techno rave): "Uhh.. You're kinda backin' it up on those Akatsuki members behind you..."

Super-Con 2009

Super-Con was, in shot, ah-maze-ing. I woke up at eight to try and be ready by nine. Usually just putting on a costume wouldn't take me so long, but putting on the body paint for the automail took FOREVER (and ended up coming off and sticking to EVERYTHING but my leg)! So I was ready by about nine-thity / ten-ish (which sucked 'cause I wanted to LEAVE at nine), and we arrived around eleven.

We wandered about a bit and my boyfriend fanboyed over all the comic book stuff. Then we went to see Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric, FMA) as soon as his booth opened for autographs. He signed my jacket and I got a hug and a picture <3 It was awesome.

Then we went to the Marina Sirtis (Deana Troy, Star Trek: The Next Generation) panel, which was way more fun than I had originally thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Stark Trek fan myself, but I didn't think it would be much fun anyway. And yet, it was totally awesome!

After that, we sat around in the panel room waiting for the FMA panel to start. Seemed like it took forever (45 minutes xD *persistent and impatient*), but it was WELL worth it. After that, we went back to Vic's booth so I could buy a CD. I wanted it autographed too, but we had to run off to the cosplay contest, which we were in, and by the time it was over, Vic was gone =[ So sad...

So I was Edward Elric (or, rather a variation) and my boyfriend was Roy Mustang and we entered the contest as a group. I was wearing a collar and he had the leash (I like yaoi =3), and we were going for a "dog of the military" thing. However, we did not know that we were expected to perform. So we improved a super short yaoi skit up on stage and it received what I believ to be a very positive reaction =D Which I was actually very surprised at because we just made it up (lol).

That was pretty much the end of the day, I bought some candies and gum and awesome Pac-Man bandages and then we went home.

Oh, the car broke down on the way home, which kinda sucked, but AAA came to pick us up and all is well =]

Kin-Yoobi Con 2008

Overall, very underwhelming. I suppose I was just spoiled with my first real con being Fanime, but Kin-Yoobi was kinda boring, even for people who said it was their first. It wasn't terrible, it's not like I didn't have any fun, but it seemed like there was nothing to do.
I woke up around 8:30 and panicked to get ready because I knew I wanted to get up at 8. Daniel showed up around 9 and we left shortly after to pick up Genna. We didn't follow the directions to the place right, so we ended up driving around for basically forever before calling someone for directions.

Once we got there, we immediately humiliated ourselves with karaoke (me and Genna at least), which is apparently Japanese for "tone deaf" (or something like that). Then we listened to some bands and read some manga in the manga library. I got my picture taken by random people I don't know how many times (at least that was fun) and attacked by a group of random otakus (not as much fun). The otakus were all "Can we get your picture? Where's Black Hayate? Do you have a gun? Here, use this gun! Strike a pose! Wait! I wanna get in the picture! The camera's not working! Why is there a timer on it?" and I was just like "What the...?" Freaks.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Perla showed up and we ate free pizza too.
Anywho, I was gonna enter the cosplay competition, but didn't. Last-minute stage fright. Oh well, no harm done, it was lame to watch anyway and there was hardly anyone there. Then we played and watched video games on and off for the rest of the night.
Lame. I'm tired and I have a headache and I was BORED! Oh well, at least I talked with friends a bit. =]

Fanime 2008 (Saturday)

One-day badge: $30
Merchandise & Food: $47
Fanime '08 Experience: Priceless

We probably probably spent a total of 3 out of the 11 hours we were there in line, Ed, Perla, Marco, Brenda, and I. But it was totally worth it. Woke up at 7:30, took a shower, got ready at 8:05, Ed showed up at 8:20, messed with his cosplay costume for a while (he was Roy, I was Riza), waited and waited and waited for Perla (and took a nap) until, like 9:30 until we finally left.
We argued over directions almost the entire way there, haha. I dubbed "Roy" useless 'cause it was raining =] (Well, that, plus his obvious lack of gloves..) We showed up at the San Jose McEnry Convention Center at 11:00 and stood in line. Forever. We reached the front of the ine around 12:00. No joke. I got so sick of looking at all the same cosplayers for an hour. So we registered. And then stood in another line. A line whose only purpose was to guide you to another line across the hall. We paid at the end of that line and then get in another line for our badges. At the end of all this, I must admit, I was quite claustrophobic. So for there, we got in yet another line for food, which we got and then, thank God, sat down. o.o My feet already hated me, but that was just the beginning.
While we were eating, Marco realized that he had been given the wrong person's badge. Lucky bum, he coulda gone today too if he wanted, the badge he got was an all-weekend pass.. Anywho, for some reason, Perla thought that the entrance/exit where we got the badges was at the end of the hall (when it was really right behind us), so we started walking that way. I was just kinda following. We got to the end of the hall and then kinda realized we had no idea where we were going. So we went into the dealers room to buy stuff! I got FMA earrings and new neko ears =] Ed bought Mustang's gloves lol
Then we went over to "Stage Zero" for the gothic fashion show, Lolita Kisama. That was definitely the most entertaining fashion show of my life, hands down. I stood on a chair the entire time 'cause we were in the back and I'm short and I couldn't see and I wanted to take pictures. Perla went and got another chair and hecka people asked if they could stand on the same chair as me, haha. So I ending up standing with one foot on each chair and they were almost a foot apart. Slightly uncomfortable, but I'm a good person, I suppose.
After the fashion show and oggling over the models, we went to the gaming room and ultimately ended up loitering for a while (my feet hated me and I'm pretty sure they still do).
After that, went to the Artist Alley. Why did you make me go in there, Perla, why!? I wanted to buy everything =[ I limited myself to a new cell phone chain and hair clips though.. I would've bought more, but I had to get dinner later...
Then we walked across the street to the Civic Center to get in line for the masquerade. The entrance was right across the street, but the line went around the corner, so we followed it to find the end. And it went around another corner! And halfway down the block on that side! We should've known to go around the other way.. By the time we got there, there were only balcony seats on the sides left, and that would've been okay except for all the stairs! o.o So we got up to the top and got seats and stared to watch. A little while into it, Ed and I made a run downstairs to get food for everyone. By the time we got back up, we had just missed the FMA skit =[ -emo fangirl- Anyway, at the food stand, they had run out of hotdogs and we wanted two, so they gave us one and we went back down for the other one later. Crazy lady tried to charge me a second time, but when I told her I had already paid, she gave us two hotdogs instead of the one we didn't get. Go figure. So we took them back up again. By this time, my legs hated me more than my feet. So here's the best lines from my favorite skit:
Roxas -on phone-: Hey, Axel! Wanna have an orrrgy? Aww.. Alright.. I'll see you later... I love you too
(later)
Xingbar (I think XD) -on phone-: Hey Mansex!-- I mean Xemnas!
So, yeah, that was totally awesome. Perla, Marco, and Brenda had to leave early, but Ed and I stayed longer and went to the dance after checking out the game show, during which some random chick glomped me from behind and went "SQUEE! RIZA HAWKEYE!" right in my ear. Awkward. I knew the answers to most of the questions in the game show too -.- Sad.
I must say, though, anime fans make the best dancers =D Not that I danced with anyone but Ed, but what I mean is, you can throw a ton of us in a room, turn off the lights, crank up the music, and there'll only be 9 people grinding, tops. I swear.
We finally left around 10:40 and got back around 11:15. Ed fell asleep on the car ride home XD The whole thing was TOTALLY AWESOME! I'm so going back next year.. I wanna be one of the millions of Pikachu cosplayers next time, but no mini-skirts and tank-tops for me! I'm going the exact opposite direction! Skin-tight yellow jumpsuit! Yay!