Otakon 2013 Post-Mortem

Phew. Otakon.

Like my Zenkaikon post, this is also going to be mostly just me writing down thoughts on the experience.

In a nutshell: This was the best con I've been to so far. It's my fourth con, my third "proper" con, my second con cosplaying.

The curious thing is that I'm having slightly more trouble recalling what happened at this con than at, let's say, Zenkai 2013. Maybe because more caffeine, walking and shenanigans were involved in this one.

I slept like shit Thursday night, but since as a third shifter I know that WITH CAFFEINE, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

Caffeine = Spiral Power for a third shifter. I'd say Getter Rays but we know how powerful those are. They'd probably be more like meth.

First day is still something of a blur in my head, although I met a fellow Homestuck from the area near where I live, which was super cool -- before that I accidentally ended up at the Otakon Opening ceremonies. This was the con of accidentally running into things (metaphorically). The opening ceremonies were interesting, although not the most thrilling thing ever.

Also this was the first con where I stayed in a hotel (one that's like, a block and a half away) which had advantages and disadvantages:

Pros - You're near the con, you can hike it back to the room just to chill if you need to, you can take more stuff to the con without having to lug it all the time, and it's not a problem if you stay at the con super-late.

Cons - You're staying in a room with 9 other people and you're not sleeping in your nice warm bed. I also sleep weird in hotels to begin with.

I've already talked with some people, and I'm gonna do the hotel thing again, but the room is going to have a hard limit of 4 people. It'll cost more, but the nice thing about being a miser is that you can occasionally just blow a ton of money on something, giving the impression to your friends that you're a HI ROLLA. GOT MAD CASH. UNLIKE YOU POOR NERDS I EAT WELL AT A CON.

Incidentally, it's something we all know, but con food is such a ripoff... but two Otakons in a row I resorted to buying Gatorade from the BCC... although I'll take getting swindled out of 4 bucks over feeling miserable for several hours because I'm dehydrated. I'm just gonna take some down with me next year.

Went to the "Mechapolcalypse" panel.... it was thoroughly underwhelming. Amusing, but underwhelming. The presenters were clearly underprepared and unfocused. They were funny, but not much else -- saw people rage-quitting the panel, hilariously enough.  BUT there were two cool dudes I talked mecha with which is kind of rare at cons, since mecha anime's not that popular these days, it seems. (Plus, they knew what the hell ZZ Gundam is)

Friday evening/night was dominated by Evangelion 3.0.  It's a MUCH more enjoyable film on a big screen than on a computer screen. Although it's a LOUD film. Like "bass that rattles your lungs" loud. And I'm also the only person who doesn't hate Shinji. The yaoi fangirls squealed about every 15 seconds when Kaworu was onscreen. And when Asuka took her helmet off, everyone cheered. Once the credits started, the crowd broke out into applause.

I meant to go to the Persona/SMT photoshoot at midnight but I was exhausted (slept terribly the night before), so when I went back to the hotel to get a prop I forgot, I ended up taking off my wig, and then sat down, and didn't move for a while -- which was a sign to me that the day was done.  Played Cards Against Humanity with my roomies instead, which was great fun.

Additionally, I seriously wanted to go to that Otakon 21 or whatever thing... because it had alcohol but I ended up skipping that too WHOOPS.

Saturday one of my suspicions was confirmed: Homestuck photomeets are more fun to watch than to participate in. If watching, you're just standing in the same place watching hyperactive teens be silly which is what 50% of anime is, but if you're participating you have to crawl over about 25 kids in grey bodypaint. Which isn't fun. Much like Zenkaikon, I bailed early. I'm glad people have fun at them, but they're just incompatible with me.

Maybe if they were outdoors.

Although I did see the cutest thing (sorry, it's the only word to describe it): A father/child Bro/Dave duo. SO KAWAII I DIED

But mostly importantly: SHIN. VS. NEO. GETTER. ROBO. I watched the whole thing on Saturday, some other people agreed with me: Texas Mack is probably the best thing about that anime.

Before all of that, I accidentally ended up at the Crispin Freeman Q&A - I meant to go to the bad videogame accessories panel but I misread the schedule and ended up there - I stayed there because, shit, it's Crispin Freeman. He seems like a real cool guy. Plus I got to hear him sing "Baby Got Back" in Alucard's voice.

Saturday night I went to the midnight Homestuck Drawparty (or whatever it was called) and met some peeps there. It was fun! Although someone threw up all over themselves ... that was interesting.

Sunday just involved packing up and hitting the dealer's room one last time. I actually bought something, two artbooks: Volume 1 of a Final Fantasy art collection (Yoshitaka Amano!), and Oxide 2 (Hyung Tae Kim)

The biggest thing I took away from this con was that a 'successful' con isn't in how many things you do, but basically how much fun you have -- even just hanging out with friends in Artist's Alley or getting so-so chinese food with them is perfectly OK. You don't have to be at a viewing or a panel or a photoshoot at every waking moment (A "bang for your buck" mentality)... and that'd probably end up killing you.

Also: Never, ever, ever, ever agree to walk 12 blocks (one-way!) to pick up pizza for your room.

--

And before I forget, my cosplays: Persona 3 Protagonist, Summer Outfit on Friday, Aces Suited Dave on Saturday... just dressed normal for the short stint I was there on Sunday. My cosplays didn't get much attention (at least not much as Zenkaikon) but there were a million Homestucks there so really, nothing special.  A few people recognized the Persona 3 one which warmed the cockles of my cold, dead heart.

I think I'm going to be retiring my Dave cosplay for cons -- I've done it for two cons, and as much as I love looking super-snazzy, I'd like to start doing more non-Homestuck things. Not saying I wouldn't do it for some sort of photoshoot dongle thing if there's ever an opportunity.

A particularly hilarious thing about our group was that we're all of different, totally-unrelated fandoms, so at some points there was just this mishmash of cosplays wandering about in a group.

Taken at roughly 10:30 PM. lol exhaustion

Hetalia/Homestuck Alliance!
(Left: My friend Geni, as Prussia. Right: Me, as Dave Strider) 

There were a TON of Attack on Titan cosplayers, and a lot of Sword Art Online ones, too. I'd say that after Homestuck and Ponies, AoT and SAO were the most popular. Less Homestuck this year, and much less on the Pony front. Also met a duo cosplaying Char Anzable and Haman Karn at the Mechapocalypse panel. Gurren Lagann has made something of a resurgence, which in addition to the fact that mecha anime was aired at Ota, shows there is hope for the future.

A friend and I also are cooking up some hilarious/terrible/bizarre plans for next Otakon involving our cosplays... specifically an Evangelion-related one... this is close to what I'll be doing:

IM NOT EVEN JOKING NO REGRETS I WILL BE KAWAII AS FUCK