California Conventions Blog

Newspaper Clippings, Part 1 - Anime Expo

2012-05-11T19:39:00.001-07:00

At Sacramento State, we have a huge media library which includes microfilm from various newspapers, including the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times. I've started to dig into these archives to see how newspapers covered anime and comic conventions, and I started with the biggest article that I've seen in any newspaper - Los Angeles Time's half-page article about Anime Expo 2011, published July 1st 2011.

As you can see, they really elaborate on the events going on at Anime Expo, including a mention of Hatsune Miku, the many movies screening at the convention, and quotes from Mark Perez, the chairman of Anime Expo at the time. Compare that to the Time's "mention" of Anime Expo 2010, which was barely a paragraph and didn't mention any of the Guests of Honor or events. (I have to rescan it, so I hope to have it up soon to illustrate the comparision.)

Since I have a lot of time during finals, I hope to look into the Sacramento Bee archives to see articles or mentions of SacAnime. I also plan on looking at the San Francisco Exaiminer archives (I believe Sac State has them) to see if there are any mentions of FanimeCon too as well.

[Link to full-size image]

CCB Report: Battle at the Capitol - Final Thoughts

2012-05-08T19:16:00.002-07:00

6 months ago, I had only tasted a small portion of the fighting game community (or FGC for short) though anime conventions and watching streams of EVO. I never pictured myself being involved in the FGC, let alone hugging a player after an incredible run-back to win it all...again.

I really want to think that Battle at the Capitol might be the stepping stone to covering more and more fighting game tournaments in the area, especially with finances being short. I also learned that there's still a Brawl community and I might stop by one of their tournaments in the future.

Right after Martin's victory, I had this high that I've never achieved in my years covering anything, especially anime conventions. I had this sense of pride, excitement, and joy flowing through me as I jumped around screaming like a child receiving a Nintendo 64 on Christmas Day. In fact, I had this feeling throughout all of Championship Sunday, starting by representing Team Sacramento and continuing up until the end. It's something that people have experienced for years, and I was just getting used to it.

I have plans to enter the community through Persona 4: Arena, a fighter based on the hit JRPG from Atlus. It's something that I feel I have an equal chance of competing at a high level, and literally from Day 1 of the game's release I'm slated to be in online tournaments and a P4Arena tournament at Capitol Fight District on the same weekend. It'll be fun to pencil down my experiences not only as a photographer and videographer for tournaments, but someone playing in one.

I would like to thank Capitol Fight District and Decepti-Kon for throwing such an awesome event. I would like to thank all the players that I met and took photos & videos over the weekend, which captured the spirit of the tournament. And finally, a special shout-out to NOS for hooking us all up with drinks.

Thanks for reading my report. Stick around, because Fanime coverage is starting soon!

- Battle at the Capitol Report End-

CCB Report: Battle at the Capitol - Championship Sunday

2012-05-08T19:05:00.001-07:00

On this Sunday, I dubbed today "Championship Sunday" as the major tournaments in UMvC3 and Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 would crown their champions, as well as running the awaited UMvC3 5v5 Sacramento vs Davis Team Challenge and the 3v3 Team Tournament. I threw it back for today, wearing my Tiger Woods black hat-red polo-black shorts (since it was almost 90 that day). This was the barn burner, and it was exciting from start to finish.

While I was waiting for the tournaments to start, in between playing Rock Band I saw someone perform the 10th Expert Parry challenge on Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition, which was Daigo's Parry on Chun-Li followed by a comeback victory at EVO 2004.

In retrospect, as the person playing that told me, that parry was "nothing special" and that it was all about timing, like all other parries in that game. The significance of the Daigo Parry was that the Americans had seen nothing like it since the US audience was still playing the Street Fighter Alpha series while the Japanese had already mastered 3rd Strike. That victory cemented Japanese dominance and would continue into Street Fighter IV.

Martin brought his own set up today, which had some sort of "90s Japanese hipster WarioWare mini-game video game" which got a lot of looks from those who played it beforehand at the arcades in the Bay Area. At some point, people got excited about this game more than the tournaments themselves.

The first tournament of the day was the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 5v5 Sacramento vs Davis Team Challenge.

Team Sacramento: Jason Wong, Corimon, The White Shadow, Hi I’m Nastyy, X-Ray
Team Davis: Intuition, Rezzer, Evan, Eddie Dangerous, AoiZero

As someone born and raised in Sacramento, I got hyped for Team Sacramento and continued to scream my head off, something that is not uncommon among everyone here today. As the team challenge wore on, Team Davis was putting up a fight, sometimes taking leads and forcing Hi I'm Nastyy to win the bulk of the matches for Team Sacramento. All matches came down to the final set of players, but Team Sacramento pulled out the victory 5-4, 5-4. As most people were saying afterwards, Team Davis came with a chip on their shoulder and proved that they were no pushovers.

Next was the Top 4 for Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Ver. 2012. Like the previous tournament, I filmed on a fixed camera position to capture both the players playing, the screen that they were playing on, and the big-screen up on the wall next to FinestKO.

Results:
1st HeyZeus (Adon)
2nd BBG|XsK_Samurai (Ryu)
3rd Hoodaman (E. Honda)
4th TL Demonik (Seth)
5th Cynistar (Akuma)
5th Peejay (Dee Jay)
7th Yao
7th LB

After this point, it was all Marvel for the rest of the evening. I had a feeling that the 3v3 Team Tournament would run longer than expected, so I stopped the fixed camera although I did some free camera footage later on, capturing White Shadow's Level 3 Doctor Doom impersonation. I also had access to Martin's laptop with internet, so I was able to update for the blog but also be part of the stream as myself (Heeroyuy135) and Martin (Hi_Im_Nastyy) via Twitch.tv. Eventually we did run into some time issues, as I predicted in my head, but it worked out with enough time to do the Top 8 Singles Tournament.

Results:
1st Team White X-Rayted Quest (The White Shadow, Que$t, X-Ray)
2nd Team Ragnarok – (JewPac, Hi I’m Nastyy, SupernovaJM)
3rd Team I and MINE (Cynistar, Hagure, MINE)
4th Team Black and Yellow (Master Tawnberry, XSK_Samurai, Negus Eyoel)
5th Team Scumbag Human Beings (Gabe Logan, Eraldo Coil, Power of Shamwow)
5th Team Charlie’s Angels (Jeanatte, Corimon, DacidBro)

When people get hyped over Marvel, people get HYPED. The entire crowd, including myself was gasping and cheering at every combo, special, and victory. You could hear it from the FinestKO commentators over the stream and from the players themselves. We were also wired on NOS Energy Drinks, which we still had a ton of cans to drink and give away. At the end of the night, the people there hooked me up with a couple of cases which basically set me for a very long time.

The final match of the night featured Hi I'm Nastyy's team of Captain America, Wesker, & Super-Skrull and MINE's team of Wesker, Taskmaster, & Magneto. MINE needed to win to force a bracket reset, which he did. Like last week at DAiCon, Nastyy fought through and ultimately won on a incredible run-back with Super-Skrull, taking out MINE's Magneto sitting on X-Factor with a reset.

I asked Martin a bit later about that reset, and he told me that he had to do that to win the match and tournament. After knocking out Taskmaster with Inferno, Martin was still sitting on Level 2 and if he hadn't reset after the first combo and pulled off Inferno again, he would of left the door open for a Magneto sitting on X-Factor to possibly get one hit, activate X-Factor, and combo to victory (a character with X-Factor activated moves faster and does more base damage). Once he got the reset and Level 3, the only thing left to do was to bring down the Death Penalty to win it all.

Results:
1st Hi I’m Nastyy (Captain America/Wesker/Super-Skrull)
2nd MINE (Wesker/Taskmaster/Magneto)
3rd X-Ray (Magneto/Doctor Doom/Amaterasu)
4th Que$t (Dante/Trish/Wesker)
5th Gabe Logan (Doctor Doom/Dormammu/Sentinel)
5th BBG|XsK_Samurai (Magneto/Storm/Sentinel)
7th Hagure (Taskmaster/Doctor Doom/Amaterasu/Spencer)
7th Jo-Doh (Captain America/Taskmaster/Wesker)

It was a great way to end Battle at the Capitol and just in time for everyone to get home safely. We got done around 10pm, which gave me enough time to head home, start converting everything, and get a good's night sleep...if the NOS allowed me to.

- Championship Sunday & Battle at the Capitol End-

CCB Report: Battle at the Capitol - Prelim Saturday

2012-05-08T18:03:00.002-07:00

Coming into this past weekend's Battle at the Capitol, I really didn't know what to expect. Prior to this, I've never covered a "major," just a bunch of small tournaments at SacAnime, SacCon, and Capitol Fight District. But by the time the event was over near 10pm Sunday night, I have this certain feeling, something that I haven't felt in such a long time.

The day starts out very early, around 11am. The CFD crew shows up to set up shop for the weekend, as well as some event coordinators for NOS High-Performance Energy Drink. They were sponsoring Battle at the Capitol, and all of us were treated to a near mountain of drinks both during and after the tournament.

I couldn't stay the entire time because I had to attend a function in the evening, so my focus was to get situated in, cover a few events, and prepare for tomorrow.

The early highlight of the tournament was a $100 King of Fighters XIII money match, first to 10 victories between FinestKO's Coopa and Southtown Arcade's HellPockets. To have early stakes at 1pm in the afternoon on Day 1 meant that this tournament was going to be something very good. Coopa defeated HellPockets 10-6, winning the money match and having enough gas money back to Davis as I joked.

While the KoF Singles Tournament was underway I was checking out the casuals as well as a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 machine in the back room, which was occupied the whole weekend.

By 3pm, the time that I had to leave, the Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Singles were about to start, and just as I left, Martin aka Hi I'm Nastyy arrived. I've become a big supporter of him over the past couple of months, and by the end of the weekend...well, I'll leave that for Sunday.

I had some time before I left for the evening function, a family gathering for the Mayweather/Cotto fight, so I watched a bit of the UMvC3 Singles streamed on FinestKO.

That night, the King of Fighters XIII was wrapped up.
Results:
1st Pain (Saiki/Duo Lon/Leona)
2nd BBZ (Benimaru/Shen/Hwa)
3rd BBG|XsK_Samurai (Kula/K’/Kyo)
4th Fixel (Ralf/Mr. Karate/Shen)
5th Hellpockets (Terry/Joe/Kim)
5th Coopa (Clark/Kula/Leona)
7th Scamp (Mai/Vice/Leona)
7th Dark Talon (Iori/Kyo/Shen)

While I didn't do much today, tomorrow would bring the long haul from start to finish. Time for me to get some sleep.

- Prelim Saturday End-

CCB Report: DAiCon 2012

2012-05-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

For myself, the next two weeks is my Fanime. Due to finances hitting rock bottom in the last month or so, affordability issues have been raised about this convention that I would attend yearly. I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't go, despite having many obligations to go including running gatherings and reporting for the California Conventions Blog. I have since delegated a team to go on my behalf, but I still feel that something would be missing come Memorial Day, which will be addressed another time.

As for now, we have DAiCon, today's report, and the Battle of the Capitol, an event that I'm covering this weekend for the blog. DAiCon was in Davis, California on the campus of UC Davis and offered a wide variety of things to do during the convention, and I enjoyed it very much.

The journey for me began in the morning when my ride arrived in Davis shortly before 9:30am. I quickly checked in for registration, then started to explore the area. I was told of the underground bowling alley, arcade, and billiards hall that would become free-play in a couple of hours, so I went to go check that out first. Since it was very slow in the morning time, I was able to talk to both staff members and members of the press and photographic journalists about a wide range of topics including Fanime, the status of conventions in Sacramento, and other subjects.

Like I mentioned before, there were many things to do, like check out a Maid Cafe, watch competitive or casual gaming, play a free game of bowling, an Artists Alley, Karaoke, a TCG room, and many lectures and performances.

By the time lunch hit, the only place open was a pizza parlor on campus, and had to settle for pizza instead of some subs sandwiches because it was the weekend. Also, the arcade was open to DAiCon attendees for free, so I went back into the busy basement for more shots.

Like most conventions as of late, the biggest action for me was over at the Competitive Console Gaming room, where FinestKO had set up a stream for today's tournaments.

I then found myself at the back end of the Masquerade, right before the performances were going to start, with Yukie Dong starting the evening.

As the evening went on, convention highlights including covering the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Top 4; a Karaoke three song set featuring Celine Dion, Coldplay, and ABBA; and running into old acquaintances.

At the end of the night when it was time to pack up and leave, I knew something special was brewing here, which I will elaborate in a bit.

The last two first-time conventions that I went to - Decepti-Kon and Kintoki-Con - I gave high praises for being a first-time convention and hoping that with some adjustments that they could grow into something that Sacramento needs. Well, Decepti-Kon is completely different than what it was last year, and Kintoki-Con is skipping 2012 as it finds a new hotel venue, so I'm hoping that a third time's the charm in DAiCon. The fact that this convention had lots of things to do - including free play in the basement, which I knew got a lot of people out to this convention in the first place - is always a great start. Like the other two previous start-ups, this convention has a lot of growth and adjustment ahead of itself, but I have faith that DAiCon can become that convention that everyone can convene at and have fun, even if it's for a day.

I would like to thank Miles Thomas, the President of the UC Davis Anime Club and Chairman of DAiCon, for hosting this convention and allowing me to cover it for the California Conventions Blog. I would also like to thank all the volunteers that guided me during the day and understanding me where I was going when came to certain subjects, whether it was convention-related or not. And finally, I would like to thank UC Davis for allowing DAiCon to be held in such beautiful facilities; as a Sacramento State student, I wish that we had a underground bowling alley.

I have a Flickr gallery of all the images that I took that day as well as a YouTube playlist which includes a walk through of the convention, Yukie Dong's concert, and the entire Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Top 4 action - if you're a "Mahvel" fan, you've got to see this Top 4 video, all 30 minutes plus of it.

That concludes my DAiCon report. See you all this weekend at Battle of the Capitol!

CCB Report: (Impromptu) Capital Fight District, April 14th, 2012

2012-04-14T20:40:00.002-07:00

As the "Battle at the Capital" approaches, I wanted to check out Capital Fight District (CFD for short) as a tune up for not only the players, but for myself.

The reason why I call it the Impromptu CFD is that Artisan Building was overbooked and they had to change venues on a dime, moving the entire event over to Great Escape Games off of Howe and Hurley. I got there about around 2:15 only to find out about the move, and I got there just in time to watch some Marvel vs Capcom 3.

At the same time, a tournament for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Melee was going on, and I haven't seen a massive tournament for this game in such a long time. As most people will know, the Brawl and Melee tournament scene can be a bit complicated; after all, the phrase "no items, Fox only, Final Destination" originally came from this fan base and all the changes that the people have done to "balance" the game. But still, it was nice to see this fan base still alive and kicking even for a game this old, and I just as much fun watching Brawl and Melee as much as watching Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Like most fighting game tournaments that I go to, I met a lot of new people and I had a great time. Afterwards, we went over to Taco Bell to talk shop with some of my new friends before leaving for the event, and I had fun with that.

Props go out to Great Escape Games for allowing CFD space to hold their tournaments, and to Tan Army Gaming for hosting an exciting tournament.

Because of the mix-up, CFD will be holding a tournament back at the Artisan, and then DAiCon in Davis (which it looks like I will be attending) is the week after, and then the week after that is the Batttle at the Capitol. For myself and many people, it'll be a busy couple of weeks to end April.

- Mattew

CCB Insider #002: Fandom Wank

2012-04-13T21:27:00.002-07:00

Recently, while surfing the net, Matt and I stumbled across this video.

I want to grab this person and shake them really really hard. I want to scream at them for dissing pretty much every fandom that ever came out of a country that is not Japan. And then defending like two extra TV shows anyway because "at least it's a cartoon". That's just sad. I bet this person doesn't even enjoy fandom anymore. This person is a perfect example of what a hipster really is--someone who cannot enjoy something in any way shape or form just because it's popular.

I can't even pity people like that. I just barely feel sorry for the fact that they can't just take five minutes to stop and smell the roses as it is. To enjoy life for what it is. To have FUN for once in their life. Jeez! And they have to rain on everyone else's parade too. What a jerk!

This person here didn't even do their homework, either. That's just... Wow. They slam BBC's Sherlock and Dr. Who, which are pretty much the TIP of the SciFi iceberg. TV SciFi is really popular right now, yeah, and I often claim that most of the people shipping Sherlock/Watson or wishing for the TARDIS to come for them someday too have probably never once cracked open a book in their silly little lives before, but I don't begrudge these people their happiness.

Also, it seems like the person in the video also conveniently left out basically every other SciFi blockbuster to ever grace the silver screen, the family DVR or even the wardrobes of so-called "cosplay celebs". What about Star Trek? And Star Wars? What about those brave souls who wear several hundred pounds of Storm Trooper and Darth Vader influenced samurai armor at Anime Expo in the middle of summer, huh? You wanna call those guys out for being lazy? Because their blood sweat and tears went into making an outfit that expresses one's interests and manages to unhinge my jaw year after year after year no matter how many times I stop and stare and that interest was Western?

Oh hey. What about Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name? That pretty much encompasses all the sweet spots and covers all the bases of fandoms in general. Beautiful artwork, science fiction/supernatural themes, huge spike in popularity before a very mellow, simmering lull. Gorgeous cosplays. Body paint. Would it be defended just because "it's a cartoon" too? Animation comes from all over the world, my friends, and don't even get me started on where Osamu Tezuka came up with the idea for Atsro Boy.

What about Marvel and DC comics? Multi-million-dollar grossing movies are made based on them yearly, and rightly so! The stories are engaging. The art is fantastic. I am on the edge of my seat while catching up in Civil War the very same way I perpetually bounce excitedly in my seat waiting for MSPA to update. The Avengers movie set to release this May makes my mouth water because I LOVE THE AVENGERS. Do comics count as "just cartoons" in this case?

Hooves up for my fellow Bronies who take offense to "it's just a cartoon"--my cousin Jason who writes Daddy In A Strange Land can attest to the fact that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is LOADS better than the vast majority of the sloppy bowl of brain-melting mush force-fed to American children DAILY by programs like Nick Jr. and whatever it is Disney's got playing while big kids go to school and mom and dad go to work.

And I'm not dissing Nick. No, not at all. Avatar: The Last Airbender's new series Legend of Korra might be the next convention sensation considering ATLA is the perfect blend of East-meets-West in the form of--you guessed it! "Just a cartoon!"

Adventure Time is pretty awesome too. I love the art style. A lot of fans say it's "surreal" and while I don't necessarily agree that the genre applies here, I still think that the whimsical world portrayed on my television screen is awesome and inspiring and I still can't decide who I wanna cosplay as from it. There are so many different characters. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Speaking of cosplay. OP talks about "closet cosplay" as though Homestuck is the only fandom with excited youngsters who wear a shirt and an accessory and claim to be cosplaying. I beg to differ. But assuming we're giving OP the benefit of the doubt...

Hey, Hetalia cosplayers! How many of us started with a pipe cleaner in our hair and a corresponding country's FIFA 2010 t-shirt or something similar? Raise your hand right now if you looked like a total n00b once. I dare you. I'll even raise my hand too. Even now I am STILL trying to get better at everything--cosplay, voice acting, competitive trading card and video gaming, convention news blogging--and I am unashamed of that fact. It's called being an enthusiast.

And if you didn't raise your hand while reading that paragraph, I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. We all start out somewhere. Not all of us get to the level of thoroughbred contest winners overnight. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out the finer points of applying stage makeup and I'm in my mid twenties. Meanwhile, a friend of mine at the tender age of fifteen is gearing up for the World Cosplay Summit preliminaries for another shot at representing the United States next year.

Moral-of-the-day tangent ASIDE, Homestuck's Western. Big deal. This seems to be a huge problem for OP, what with how knotted their knickers seem to have become over the issue. Here, let me help.

If you wanna tell a certain fandom to get out of your con, here are three useful suggestions that may or may not assist you in some way:

Start your own convention and simply ban the fandoms you don't like. (Note to OP: Anime Boston is not YOURS.)
Become extremely rich and just pay people to stop liking certain fandoms (Note to OP: the odds are not stacked in your favor without a written contract--you'll probably want to make sure those pesky fans don't take the money and run.)
Stop going to cons if it bothers you so much (Note to OP: If you can't get rid of the situation, kindly remove yourself from it and stop ruining con for everybody else with your attitude problem.)

Now might be a good time to point out that all three of these suggestions will take quite a large amount of effort from any which side and neither one seems likely to budge.

I guess some fans just get a bit ruffled when they discover that Western media is so popular. And it's not "all of a sudden" either. I don't wanna tack that cliche phrase onto the end of this sentence because the art form we know and love called "anime" was born from inspiration provided by a certain Western corporation that provides fanboys and girls of all ages the world over with our beloved cartoons. They're not JUST cartoons. They're something to be treasured and loved and shared by fans. You don't have to like EVERYTHING, but going out of your way to be a jerk about just one little thing that just wasn't your cup of tea is something most fans probably will not stand for. I'm taking my own advice here too--no more bashing that one anime with the inaccurate guns and the pretty clothing and the little demon boys for me!

Maybe OP hasn't quite figured out that same old life lesson we nerds all learn just yet--anime cons are chock full of fans, and the more popular a series gets, the more fans there will be. You don't even have to think that hard about it. It's a fact of life. You either roll with the punches and try everything once or stay there in your cold, dark cave and just hate everything. You don't have to ask me twice which lifestyle I prefer.

In conclusion, I do have one cliche I'm cool with tacking onto the end of this post:

If OP likes Japanese media so much--and don't get me wrong, I love me some animu y mango any day of the week--maybe they should just go to Japan or something.

Byline - Episode 01: SakuraCon 2012

2012-04-11T00:37:00.001-07:00

Episode 01: SakuraCon

Canadian artist Jackie and her fiancee Zanney travel to an anime convention in Seattle, WA to celebrate one year living together and meet up with some friends!

CogsCon 2012

2012-04-08T16:34:00.001-07:00

When I received an invitation to CogsCon from a friend of mine, who happens to be on the staff, I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit a college-held con in its first year. It's always a gamble, when a convention starts off, and ones held at colleges can either rise to great heights, implode, or remain stagnant. Now that I've seen its startup, we'll see what I think.

I didn't arrive too early, but still found parking easily enough. There were no signs marked for the entrance, but only one door that was obviously the way in, although it locked and had to be opened from the inside every time it shut. I got my badge quickly, and followed the markings they left to the con.

As a note on the badges, they had different terms for pre-registered guests (Nobles) and guests who bought their badges at-con (Peasants). The staff working there all wore orange shirts that said "Minion" with a number on the back, while I, as press, had a badge that said "Bard." I quite like that.

The main hall had a fair amount of artists and dealers lining the walls, as well as some students with booths showing off their own work, including some video games they designed. A little ways away, there were screening rooms for student-made animation, and a room where they held a Smash Bros Melee tournament, although their distance from the main hall made them a little difficult to find.

Pages from comics and the outline of a dragon decorated the wall

The main hall

Static Shock

Vocaloids on the way to the beach

At first, there wasn't too much to do, aside from chat with friends and check out the booths. Some friends left early to drive down to Santa Cruz, and while it would have been nice to visit SC again, I had a masquerade to enter and a con to report on.

Around noon there was a "Dragon Egg Hunt." As the name implies, it was an Easter Egg Hunt, although each egg contained either a knight or dragon inside. The one who found the dragon egg would win first prize, while the one who collected the most eggs total would win second. At 43 eggs, I easily claimed second prize, although first went to someone else. My reward was a pack of finger puppets, but as those who are familiar with me know, I mostly just enjoy winning.

After the hunt, some friends and I went to get lunch. The nearest place was a Subway, yet surprisingly, it was closed on a Saturday afternoon. (We all agreed that this was the first time we ever saw a Subway that wasn't open on weekends, but that's neither here nor there.) Instead, we got some sandwiches at Togo's, and returned in time to meet up with other friends.

I'd signed up for the masquerade with some friends, so we were in a rush to get our lines recorded, some practice done, and into our costumes. I was borrowing a friend's costume for Sokka from "Avatar: The Last Airbender," while he cosplayed as Aang, and another friend borrowed my Melon Lord costume. We finished just in time for judging, where we described our costumes and the work that went into them to two judges, who I happen to know are skilled and experienced cosplayers.

When judging was finished, the masquerade began. Most people did walk-ons with the occasional improvised speech, so my group was the only one with a pre-recorded skit. Unfortunately, the people in charge of the audio started playing it before we were ready, leaving us scrambling to either catch up or signal them to start it over when we were ready. In the end, the audience saw essentially the second half of the skit (in which Melon Lord, in a shocking Shyamalanian twist, reveals himself to be M. Night Shyamalan), so the punchline was intact, but none of the setup. Still, the masquerade went well, and there were plenty of great costumes on display.

As there were more prizes for the contest than there were entrants, everyone who entered won, and the order in which they could pick out prizes was decided by random lottery. Of course, it wasn't a simple, "Everyone's a winner" deal; the judges had their own awards for each entrant, along with comments about what they liked about them. My group won "Most Well-Rounded," since we had a little of everything; craftsmanship, performance, and plenty of teamwork. I still count this as a legitimate win, and the four volumes of "A.I. Love You" (an earlier work by Ken Akamatsu, one of my favorite mangaka) would agree.

Captain America and America himself

Go Team Avatar!

Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple in the masquerade

Carmen Sandiego in the masquerade. I guess that answers that question.

The day ended with a lottery, which I had entered. One ticket I purchased, then I received another three as a reward for the masquerade. There were some people who purchased 20+ tickets, and they tended to win several times, but that's how lotteries work, and those who won multiple times started giving up prizes in exchange. The final prize there was Powerpoint CS5… and I won, with the one ticket I purchased, no less!

Talk about ending the day on a high note. I was satisfied with my victories, tired after a long day, and generally feeling good. So although the con was off to a slow start, I undeniably had a good time. I look forward to seeing how CogsCon grows in the future, and plan to keep attending it. I really hope this becomes one of the college-based cons that keeps on growing.

Sacramento Spring Break Cosplay Gathering 2012

2012-04-01T20:09:00.001-07:00

In the five years in covering for the blog, I've covered many events from convention gatherings to video game tournaments to concerts. But never in my memory have I ever covered a regular, spur-of-the-moment gathering created by fans for fans to just hang out for a day and take lots of photos.

I know that my other staff members have been to these types of gatherings, much different from convention gatherings, but I recently attended one to experience it for myself. And from what I felt and saw, it is much, much different. Much more laid back, casual, just occupying space in public. I love seeing the interactions with the cosplayers and the public when the public has the "right of way" (versus at conventions when the attendees/cosplayers have the "right of way"), especially when they wanted photos of us and even a video segment.

At first, it was only myself, the organizer, and a couple of cosplayers. But by the end of the day we were to about twenty people, and we did various things like doing a photo shoot near the river, playing chess and checkers at the mall, and playing music on the top floor of the parking garage. Unlike most convention gatherings, most of this was planned at the last second, and usually they work out for the most part.

It was nice to sit back and be with some old friends and new acquaintances. I hope to see you all in the near future.

CCB Insider #001: Anime Conji 2012

2012-03-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Or alternatively, Should Have Gone To Wonder Con.

Now, let's not beat around the bush here. Anime Conji is a fairly new event, and Southern California already has a ridiculously large amount of conventions in it. However, this is the only con whose primary focus is anime fans to be hosted in San Diego. Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high, considering this city is also home to Comic Con--you know, "the big one."

If we had to use the old 1 to 10 scale from the Tsunami Scoreboard--1 being absolutely terrible and 10 being the biggest event of the year--this con just barely squeaks by with a 5.

I should have known, though, since the con's website itself is particularly unorganized. It's clunky, image-heavy and very slow to update. Most of the important information or things that most general attendees would be looking for, such as a schedule, a map of the hotel and a list of guests (voice actors, industry names, musical acts, etc.) were just queued into the newsfeed sporadically and whenever it seemed to suit the admin's fancy. Most of the lists of things were not completed until the night before con, which was inconvenient to me, since I don't make a habit of lugging my computer around with me at cons and I don't have a smartphone.

The list of cosplay events was pretty much non-existent because, again, the website admins seemed to have dropped the ball altogether. There was an announcement during the week prior to con explaining that the list of cosplay photo shoots would not be included in the schedule because the list had not been organized in time for it to be printed with the rest. There were signs posted near the registration desk during the weekend, but this didn't exactly stop people from approaching the desk frequently to inquire upon the locations of things.

The hotel, while extremely appealing aesthetics-wise, was very difficult to navigate. The Town & Country Resort has several gardens and gazebos, outdoor patios and even two cantina-style restaurants (complete with the traditional convention center's jacked-up price list), a nice semi-indoor-outdoor room where the concerts were supposed to take place, a hall stuffed with teeny tiny conference rooms to house several large panels and several different buildings for lodging in a grid-like pattern that more closely resembles a labyrinth.

Did I mention that the entire layout of this hotel is identical to itself? I got lost about six different times trying to get from registration to my room--all on the very first day.

There were several different signs pointing to the Swap Meet, but for whatever reason there weren't signs for anything else. Con Ops was pretty much a bunch of guys wearing Umbrella Corps uniforms while carrying radios and the usual peace-bonding gear. The rest of the staff, as far as I could tell by looking around, were stretched unbearably thin with special attention paid to the registration desk and badge checking at the doors to the dealer's room.

I don't really think six people was really necessary, though. At one point on Saturday I counted three volunteers checking badges at the entrance to the dealer's room and three more just standing around at the exit. I think they could have been doing something else at the time, since the registration line had become particularly swollen and blob-like in appearance that afternoon, which caused one heck of a traffic jam just to get inside the building.

The weather was definitely not on Conji's side this past weekend, either. It began to rain Friday night and just kept right on pouring until Saturday morning when it let up a little bit. It was sprinkling until about lunchtime and then it became very windy, very cold and very rainy again by around 4 or 5 PM. On Sunday, the sky became a chameleon and just couldn't decide if it wanted to be overcast, rainy, sunny, windy or just dump hailstones the size of airsoft pellets on everything for 15 to 20 minutes.

There were some canopies set up in front of the building registration was in, but attendees preferred to crowd around indoors instead, which basically caused a very predictable chain reaction from staff-who basically started telling people to move here and there and shifted us all around like so many herds of sheep so that they could prevent a fire hazard. Sound familiar?

A similar issue with crowding was the area chosen for panels. There was a smaller building with maybe four or five conference rooms sandwiched inside. The whole thing was a short walk away from registration. One would have to brave the elements to get from point A to point B, so when it came time for the Homestuck panel (which I participated in at the last minute along with some friends) the narrow hallway was congested with cosplayers and fans trying to get in and out of the building. It probably didn't help that the My Little Pony panel had been scheduled for the timeslot immediately before it and in the room adjacent.

The Homestuck panel was forced to close its doors temporarily because the room was filled to over-capacity, but someone from Con Ops returned later to open the doors separating it from the room the Bronies had just been in so that chairs could be added for more seating options. It was extremely difficult to hear the organizers of the panel no matter where you were in the room anyway, mostly due to bad acoustics and people being excited and chattering among themselves, though. I'm surprised Con Ops didn't set up any tech for the panel rooms, but I don't think they'd have been able to fit any equipment in there even if they tried.

The dealer's room itself was very spacious. Booths belonging to vendors, Artist Alley participants and fangroups were blended together so that everything was all in one place, but still easy to find. No one was crammed in a back corner by the bathrooms or anything. In fact, this area was the most enjoyable place to be throughout the entire weekend. Shop keepers and artists and fangroups alike met in a clashing of similar interests and subcultures that culminated in a very marketplace-like atmosphere. I really liked that about Conji. If this were the only feature of the con, it would have scored a perfect 10. I wish I'd had some extra pocket change to spend at FAKKU!'s table. I've had my eye on some of their merch for a while now.

I was a little bit annoyed that the only place to find pitchers of ice water and empty cups around con was a back corner of the dealer's room next to the exit. I suppose I have been spoiled by almost every other con I've attended for having more than one table like this. Hydrating yourself at con is very important and even though the weather was cold and wet, I was overheating from walking around the entire layout of the hotel and getting myself lost regularly. It's just personal preference, but I really think having more of these water-cooler setups would have been a good idea.

Gaming was split into two rooms--consoles in one room, PCs and tabletops in another. According to a friend who staffs in the gaming room at both Conji and ALA, this area was basically deserted for most of the weekend. This was both good and bad. Good, because it was easier on the staff members. Bad, because... there wasn't anything really going on. Gaming was pretty much stuffed in a back corner on the second floor of the main building above the dealer's room, though, so my guess is that this is the reason.

The only thing about Conji that I have a completely positive opinion of was the hotel experience itself. My lodgings were shockingly pleasant and comfortable compared to basically every other con I have ever attended. The hotel staff at Town & Country seemed very used to conventions and were very friendly and polite. Housekeeping was optional, and while we didn't ask for anything to be cleaned, I was very surprised that room service didn't get sick of us constantly asking for more towels. Parking was only somewhat daunting, but easy to figure out once you were used to the layout of the hotel and by the time I'd gotten myself turned around the fourth time in a row on Saturday morning, I was able to find my way back easily on my own by asking for directions--that's a first!

I would not recommend attending Anime Conji to someone who isn't local to San Diego. The two-and-a-half hour trip in the car may seem like it's not that much to sneeze at, but for a weekend like this, I would prefer that extra forty-five minutes on the 405 to Anaheim for something of the caliber Wondercon provided. I have heard a lot of great things about Wondercon, and I am disappointed that I missed out on the one year it would be local to me. Word on the street is that they're bringing another Wondercon to Anaheim next year, so I guess I know what I'll doing next March--not attending Anime Conji.

Koukou Chibicon 2012

2012-03-18T19:38:00.003-07:00

While those who are fortunate enough to be attending WonderCon or Anime Conji were having fun there, I found myself attending a smaller convention. Much smaller. So small, in fact, that the name includes a mention of how small it is: Koukou Chibicon, held at Branham High school.

Now, while Koukou Chibicon is still a convention, it is one to the same extent that a high school drama club's production of "Guys and Dolls" is a musical. You know they're trying their best with what they have, but on their limited budget and experience, you can't expect it to compare to a Broadway production. That said, I will be fair and take all things into consideration, but I do intend to offer constructive criticism.

I arrived about an hour after they opened, when the rain was barely starting to drizzle. After I bought my badge, I found that the con was limited to the school cafeteria, split into a main hall and a game room. They made the best with the room they had, lining up the artist alley along the back wall, chairs set up for main events and panels near the front, and to the side was a Maid Cafe. Well, it wasn't the usual type of Maid Cafe, where you sit down and get great service from a maid while paying too much for too little food; you could buy brownies, cup ramen, and Capri Sun drinks from maid-ish cosplayers, but at least it was affordable.

Inside the game room, there were a few tables set up with Nintendo Wii systems, two of which were playing Smash Bros. I played some Just Dance for a bit, then continued around. At the back was a table made for Yugioh duels, particularly for a tournament. After playing a few games, I opted not to enter the tournament, due to the types of players. Poor sportsmanship and broken netdecks abound; that sort of thing completely sucks the fun out of dueling.

Afterwards, there was an announcement about a cosplay contest, which I decided to enter. I was cosplaying as Yuuji from "Baka Test," although I don't have the wig for it yet, while my girlfriend was Shouko. We figured a little in-character skit sort of thing would be fun, and I thought her craftsmanship is worthy of merit (although I can't say the same for my own). The actual contest, though, consisted of everyone standing on stage and saying who they cosplayed, then the winners were picked by the volume of the audience's cheers. That meant that those with the loudest friends would win, regardless of anything else. Now, I'm not saying those who won were undeserving of any sort of credit, as there were some very good costumes there. But we didn't have the option of doing any sort of skit, and there was no craftsmanship judging at all - it was simply a popularity contest. I know that at least a few of the staff there are accomplished cosplayers, certainly they could have done some judging, instead of just picking whoever had the most friends in the audience.

After hanging out with some friends, I participated in the "Battle Royale" capture the flag. (No relation to the "Battle Royale" book, manga, and movie.) It was a good idea - four teams competing in Capture The Flag, although in the game I played, there was some difficulty with teamwork and too many people defending. Still, any issues with the teams is not the convention's fault, and it's a clever concept that they should be given due credit for.

Following that, I went off to get lunch with some friends. Upon our return, we spent time chatting and hanging out with other friends of ours. There was a silent auction for various videos and manga, so I decided to enter, starting with a low bid and planning on outbidding any competitors at the last minute. In the end, I won a volume of the Ranma 1/2 manga and an old Pokemon VHS for $1 each.

As the convention wrapped up, I was treated to a pleasant surprise: Improv games. Those who know me know that I enjoy improv (In fact, I'm co-hosting a gathering next month called "Doctor Who's Line Is It Anyway," featuring cosplay, Doctor Who, and improv games), so of course I was sure to participate. As with most improv games, the quality of the game depends on the participants, so while the games we did were hit and miss, I still had fun with mine. Sadly, they had to end pretty soon for the closing ceremony.

The main hall

Durarara

Pokemon

Now, while I may have mentioned a few problems, this con did have some positive aspects. It's clear that the organizers were really trying, and their effort is to be applauded. The improv games at the end were a welcome touch, as was the silent auction, and the four-team Capture The Flag was a novel idea. And of course, let's not forget that these are just teenagers trying to put a convention together, which is quite an undertaking regardless of its size.

When I was in high school, I was the president and founder of our Anime Club. I had hoped that one day we would be able to host a small con, but the members were so disorganized, I couldn't even get them to turn in their registration forms for an actual convention, much less try to make one. The fact that they manage to hold this every year is worthy of praise, in spite of its flaws. For that, I applaud them.

It does not, however, excuse some of the problems I had with it. The size is perfectly understandable and not a problem. I can't fault them for the weather, or any issues the guests may have caused, so they get a pass on that. Other things, however, such as the variety of video games they offered and the cosplay contest, those I hope they improve on next time. In the end, I got the show I paid for from a group that, while inexperienced, did the best they could with what they had. I suppose that's all that can really be said.

SacCon March 2012: Con Report

2012-03-07T17:22:00.002-08:00

As the convention season swings into the Spring, small conventions such as SacCon and a number of small Bay Area conventions will pop up, which often serve as a test bed for bigger conventions like FanimeCon in terms of cosplay and some organizations that have plans for the Memorial Day convention in San Jose; for me, I tested out my new fish-eye lens in a convention setting, which will help me determine how to shoot come Fanime. It's also a break for those in high school and in college before Spring Break then the sprint to the finish.

The biggest part of the day was meeting two voice actors behind the cult classic Invader Zim. I met both Richard Horvitz, the voice of Zim, as well as Rikki Simons, the voice of GIR. I was very honored to meet the two, and I spent a couple of minutes talking about their roles and hearing some character impersonations.

I also spent some time with a store called Once Upon a Video Game, which specializes in old-school gaming with their array of consoles from the Dreamcast all the way down to one of the first home Pong consoles. They were running a old-school gauntlet tournament which ended up on a duel with a...home Pong console. They were also selling custom t-shirts, and after I realized that my uniform needed repair, I bought a Resident Evil shirt with the STARS logo on the front and some embroidery on the back. For what I paid for, it's a really nice shirt that I can wear around to conventions and events.

Another highlight was the return of Club Rave and the emergence of Rising Sun Studios, a radio show. Both were out in full force that day, playing music and performing giveaways.

Other highlights include Bronies, a pole dancer, and the Masquerade.

In all, it was a good way for me to relax and get away for a day. I love coming back here, and I want to continue to come back here as long as I can.

-SacCon March 2012 Report End-

Ray Reports: Animation on Display 2012

2012-02-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

Location: Hotel Kabuki (and unofficially, the Japan Center), Japantown, San Francisco, California
Date: 2012.02.18 (Sat) to 19 (Sun)
Cost: ???
Website: http://aodsf.org
Prior attendances: 2011

Relevant links: Tweets from morning of AoD to "going to bed soon" on Sunday | Most photos

After attending Sac-Anime W'12, going to Animation on Display (AoD) is a breath of fresh air.

To get an idea of why I was hyped up for this con, let's start with its location. AoD is located at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco Japantown, a neighborhood of SF with many Japanese shops and restaurants. As a result, food is plentiful (and desirable for those who like Japanese cuisine) and there's many great locations for photoshoots. For those into purikura, there's a store on the side of the Japan Center opposite of the con with many booths.

It is a short, two-day convention, but this also makes it cheaper and more convenient to attend than, say, Sac-Anime--less money being spent on food and lodging, for instance. Initially, it was just me and a good friend rooming at the con for $110 between the two of us, and quite frankly I prefer my rooms smaller and more peaceful.

Cosplay diversity is a few notches higher than that of Sac's--in addition to the "big three" (Vocaloid, Homestuck, Hetalia), I also saw cosplays of Panty & Stocking, Touhou, Madoka Magica, amongst a few other series. I even saw Castlevania cosplay, as well as a cosplay that, due to my choice of cosplay on the day I saw it, was a pleasant surprise :D However, it seemed like the ratio of cosplayers to non-cosplayers was a bit low this time around.

In addition to cosplays, I also saw a fair number of folks in lolita fashion. A friend of mine recently sorta got me into it, and it is very pretty anyways.

Attendee maturity, on average, was adequate. Drama and mental facepalms were pretty low.
Unlike last year, in which it rained mildly during the con, weather this year was nice and sunny. A bit cold and windy, but bright and blue nonetheless.

With all these qualities in place, did my experience of AoD go as smoothly as expected?

Preparation for the Con

Jaidin and I had, since November, had a room booked for the Kabuki, and a few weeks prior we started scouting around for rides.

Megan also wanted in on a ride for Saturday, with the intention of going back on her own the same day.

Russell was originally going to take us, but he had to give his AoD-attending classmates priority, which forced us to change options, possibly having to take BART. However, our other friend Mystic offered to take us directly from his house so we could bypass public transit altogether, and this was only made possible at the last minute.

However, our friend K also needed a ride from BART, so we planned to accomodate him as well.

Prologue

I woke up around 8 AM, with plans to pick up Megan around 9 AM and Jaidin around 9:30, before meeting up with Mystic at 10:15 AM. Having done much of my packing the night before, I did my morning routine, slipped into my cosplay of Yukiteru Amano from Mirai Nikki, finalized my packing, and...hit a snag, so to speak.

Around 9 AM, I realized I couldn't find my keys. I had to spend about 5-10 minutes searching for them, before deciding to screw it and take my dad's keys to my car (with permission of course).

Running late, I put my junk in the trunk, plugged my phone (which I've lately been doubling as a music player) into my car, and took off, grabbing a snack along the way.

I picked up Megan around 9:20 AM, who was dressed up in a rather...interesting version of Greece. I went on to get Jaidin around 9:45 AM.

Traffic was mostly clear on 280 Northbound, my preferred route for taking Daly City, even if it's a bit longer than 101N->380W->280N. We arrived at Mystic's house, a good half hour after our planned arrival time. :/

So we got into his car, luggage and all. Four people is crazy enough, but with us having to pick up K, it was going to get even more packed.

We went into San Francisco to pick up K from Powell BART, crammed all 5 of us in the car, then got going to AoD, arriving at Japantown garage around 11:40 AM.

Day 1

Jaidin and I went to the front desk, asking if our room was ready yet and if we could check in early. Not surprisingly, no. So we just left our bags at the bellhop to pick them up later.

We then got in line for registration. About a couple minutes after lining up, I caught sight of someone cosplaying Yuno Gasai (also from Mirai Nikki), which totally made my day. After the initial fangirling and fanboying, we arranged to get a few photos in later.

So I got to the front of the line and it turns out according to a staff member that I didn't need to be in this line for press registration; I go to Con Ops for that. I went down to Con Ops and got my badge fairly quickly.

I also took a glance at the gaming room. Mostly fighting games and Rock Band. Anyone who knows my taste in games well knows what this means: PASS.

I decided to get to grips with my surroundings, so I explored the con area for a bit, including the artists' tables and the dealer's halls--nothing of interest at the time. So, I stepped out into the mall and plaza, which were teeming with cosplayers, not surprisingly.

There was a toy store across from May's, so I went in for the hell of it. I spent about 20 seconds staring at the Takoluka "calm face" plushie, the only Takoluka plushie remaining at the store.

I made my way past On The Bridge when Alex called me from the distance. Our friends, including Max, Kaela, Daniela, et al. were at OTB, so we went inside. I was planning on waiting until dinner to go get some mid-tier dining, but Katie wanted to get lunch now, so I decided why not, head over to Mifune, where I got myself a nice plate of katsu curry.

Katie and I left and went out to the plaza, where we regrouped with Alex and company and also ran into Julia, who I rarely see at cons anymore.

It was nearing 3 PM, so Jaidin and I regrouped and checked into our room. At the front desk, we were offered a complimentary upgrade to a suite. After asking questions about it, making sure there wouldn't be any silly charges, I accepted, and we got our room keys.

We checked into our room, on a floor only carded guests can enter by swiping their card through a reader. Presumably unlike other rooms, our room had a living room, followed by the bedroom.

The bathroom had a soaking whirlpool tub / shower and a sauna, the workings of which I unfortunately couldn't figure out for now (in fact I thought it wasn't working!), so I decided to take up the tub instead. Things seemed to be going fine, when suddenly I heard additional voices coming from outside of the bathroom.

I got out of the tub, to find Robbie, Natalie, et al. in my room. At first I thought they were just visiting, but it turns out there was a more pressing reason for their visit: thanks to an error in scheduling, they lost their reservation for the weekend, so now they were asking us to stay in our room, to which we accepted.

Because we had more roommates now, that brought Jaidin's and my shares of the hotel bill down, leaving each of us with about $40-50 of extra cash to spend.

This business done, I went back down to the lobby to enjoy the con some more.

I went down to Belly Good Cafe & Crepes, where I got a crepe with vanilla ice cream and various fruits. Yummy, but so sweet I get prone to a sugar crash.

I eventually found the Yuno cosplayer from earlier, so we went to the photography stage in the Dealer's Hall for some shots. We had some decent shots, although I wish I had called over a friend to help us pose and take photos.

At some point, I came across Elvira, Kimi, and Nikki, and chatted with them for a bit.

Sleepy, I started to head back to the room to take a nap, but K called me asking if anyone could give him a ride back to BART, because Mystic had left. I called Russell, who told me to call him back around 6 so we could better arrange things.

I went back to the room and dozed off for a good hour and a half.

As I woke up, I started attempting to negotiate K's ride back to BART, but some problems happened, so it took longer than expected to arrange for K's ride back.

To let out the stress that had accumulated over today, I went to the gaming room to play some beatmania IIDX. I got in a few songs before the game started to glitch out and mute audio.

Camille, one of my rare cosplaying-and-shmup-playing friends, popped in during my turn of IIDX, and we talked about various shmups as we walked around the area. Eventually, it was time for me to get my laptop out of my room and prepare for my panel: STG 101: Intro to Shoot-Em-Ups.

The panel itself went okay, but I finished with 30 minutes to spare, so I showed various shoot-em-ups, offered the audience a chance to try out a few of them, etc. While I feel my performance this time was fairly sub-par, it did inspire me to play Cloudphobia again. One of the attendees, who knew a lot of shmups and helped me out a bit with my presentation, announced that he would be setting up a 360 with shmups in the gaming room--why didn't I go to that? >_<

After the panel, I met up with Keiji, who I had only known through Twitter and Skype conversations up until this point, so we talked about various things, and then split off.

It was 9 PM when all this ended, so most places in Japantown were closed at this point. I went to the opposite end of Japantown to get a crepe for dinner, at Sophie's Crepes.

Servce was quite slow--it took me about 20-25 minutes before I finally got my crepe. Then again, it was crowded and almost closing hours. I ran into Trina, Yvonne, et al., although I didn't talk much with them.

I checked the rest of Japantown and the con to see what was going on, but the place was mostly emptying out at this point; most of my friends had gone back to their rooms or wherever else they were staying for the night. Disappointing, because I had friends around as late as 11 PM last year; I just wasn't having as much fun as last time. Sure, my friends were here, but they were all busy in their own circles for me to want to stick to them for long. I went back to my room.

Some additional friends had come into our room for a room party, which, despite one person getting a little too drunk to feel good, went mostly smoothly, with some conversations here and there. I played a few shmups, unfolded out the sofa bed, browsed the Internet, took a shower, and went to bed.

Day 2

I woke up around 8:30 AM, about 3 1/2 hours to go before checking out. Thankfully we had incurred nothing beyond the ~$110 charge for a single night.

Turns out we were able to get the sauna going, so I sweated it out in the sauna and took a shower. I ate a bagel for breakfast, slipped into my cosplay of Persona 3's male protagonist, and since everyone else was stepping out of the room for now, I went down to the con to walk around for a bit.

I had a good feeling about today. Presumably because I went for the sauna earlier as mentioned, but that was only part of it; part of me was telling me that today was going to be great and full of energy. :D

As I walked in the general direction of Nijiya so I could get myself some green tea (since there were no drink cups back at the room), I ran into Tari, who was cosplaying Panty from P&SwG. She asked me for a photo, and also asked to have a photo with her.

Hell, throughout the day, I just attracted attention from fellow Persona 3 fans, with some asking to take photos of me. :D Definitely an incentive for me to cosplay him again.

After getting some green tea, I doubled back to the room since it was almost 11 and I still needed to pack.

On the way, I got a chance to finally meet Prima, a friend who I know on various social netwokring whatevers (particularly Facebook and Foursquare), yet had never met in person. She seemed like a cheerful and fun person to talk to, although I had to leave so I wouldn't be late for checkout.

I packed everything up, checked out just fine (despite being late by about 10-15 minutes), and dumped my bags at the bellhop.

I met up with Alex, Max, et al., and we had some photos of us taken for a cosplay contest. Afterwards we decided to get lunch at Sapporo-Ya, a restaurant on the far end of the mall. I myself got tempura ramen and natto (fermented soybeans), Michael got curry rice (which I unfortunately overlooked on the menu), Alex and Max got soba, etc. I personally didn't like the ramen all that much (soggy tempura that I didn't eat fast enough doesn't help), and the natto tasted more bitter than the natto I've tried at this other place. Overall, a poor food experience.

I finished my food and went out to the Dealer's Hall for autographs.

Although the location of the autograph was awkward and prone to jamming up the halls, the line was surprisingly small; presumably everyone who wanted autographs got them yesterday. At any rate, I got Cristina Vee to sign one of my Madoka Magica doujins, and I also complimented her on her cover of "Bad Apple!!". Prima came in not too long after I got Cristina's autograph, so we talked for a bit while she and Cristina had photos together.

I then met up with Sarah, who I hadn't seen since Anime Destiny and mostly only know through Tumblr, and her friend Andrea, who I was supposed to have an interview with for one of her projects last week, but couldn't do due to a communication error. The questions mostly consisted of things like "what do you see cosplay as", "describe cosplay in one word", etc--thought-provoking questions, though I had trouble answering them. I'm the kind of person who sometimes can go on for paragraphs or minutes answering one question, yet at other times can't find the words to asnwer the same sort of questions. Regardless, it was nice to see them, even if only for 20 minutes. ^^

With my main objectives for the con completed, I went back to randomly wandering around the area. I encountered Kevin, who always makes for an entertaining conversation partner. :D
I decided to get a crepe, again.

Bad idea. Again, sugar crash. The energy I had going into this second day of the con just randomly faded out.

I went down to New People, since I hadn't had a chance to go for the weekend. There wasn't much to do or buy, the art gallery was closed (as usual), and I was too embarassed to go into the lolita store alone.

Now I felt like it was time to buy stuff. I mostly stuck to the artist's alley--the dealer's room tends to be overpriced and not have budget purchases I'm interested in. I mostly ended up at one artist's booth, which was selling artwork for $10 each, or 3 for $20. I ended up getting some of Reimu, Len only (seriously, there needs to be more Len-but-not-Rin fanart, as much as I like Rin too), and a Pikachu ladder.

The con at this point mostly started to die down--I tried looking for some of my friends, but I couldn't find them--presumably they had already left. Time passed, and Jaidin and I regrouped and Russell took us back to Daly City, where I was still parked. Brilliant start to a final day of the con, but a somewhat lackluster end.

Epilogue

I needed to use the bathroom, so Jaidin and I stopped at a McDonald's not too far down 280 Southbound. We talked about upcoming cons, like Kin-Yoobi Con and getting a hotel room for that. It is interesting that KYC is finally going to be getting a hotel for its convention space rather than a college cafeteria, although I hope its scheduling will remain the same as previous years, in which even on the last day events ran until late.

In a scenic mood, I decided to take 280-S going all the way back to San Jose. It's rather dark after hours due to the lack of street lights. It took longer than expected, but we got to San Jose around 8:30 PM.

After parting ways with Jaidin, I went home, and nailed some shut-eye as soon as possible.

Conclusion

A few weeks before Sac-Anime, I talked with a few friends about how Sac was simply a "filler" con for me until AoD, which I was more hype for. Then came the flurry of Fanime-related posts, what with registration and hotel reservations opening up.

I dunno, I'm slightly disappointed with this year. I usually expect to be doing much more than just aimlessly wandering the con looking for interesting cosplays and hoping to make friends, but not enough happened for this con to meet my expectations. Maybe I just set the bar too high because of last year? It also doesn't help that I tend not to associate with a lot of convention attendees, especially with the surge of Homestuck and My Little Pony fans--two fandoms I don't partake in--at cons over the past year.

Normally, in times of "filler" I just hit the gaming room, but this isn't Sac's gaming room. I don't play fighting games.

Regardless, it was still a decent convention--good crowds, awesome location, pretty cosplays, but my experience had the potential to be even more enjoyable. There's always next year, I suppose.

Overall, I give this con a 3/5.

To those I had the fortune of encountering or meeting at the con: See you all at future cons and cosplay gatherings!

~Ray Scarlet

Animation On Display 2012: Robbie's Report

2012-02-21T17:23:00.001-08:00

Well now, Animation on Display 2012 was quite the convention for me. Not necessarily because I had so much to do, but because everything that happened made it so much trouble for so much fun.

Our story begins on Saturday morning, as I arrived at the convention. My throat was a little sore from a cold I had caught the past few days, but after a lot of rest and medicine, I assumed I was in good enough health to go. I was debuting my cosplay for Nikaido from Ben-To, as I was supposed to meet up with a friend also cosplaying from that series, but I later found out he was unable to make it.

As I picked up my badge, I noticed that the pre-registration line was longer than the at-con registration. This is the second time I've seen this sort of thing happen, contrary to previous years where the pre-reg line is short and quick, while the at-con takes longer. I actually think this is a sign of the growing ages of attendees; when we're young, we have to rely on our parents to get us to the con and provide us with the money to register there. Now that we're older and have jobs, we can sign up ahead of time, thus having more people pre-reg. Of course, this is just my theory.

Anyways, the earlier portion of AOD was spent meeting up and chatting with friends. I got a quick photoshoot of my Nikaido costume at the nearby supermarket (it's a fitting location for the series, and thankfully, the manager was nice enough to let us take photos there), then stopped by the autograph line to get autographs from Neil Kaplan and Cristina Vee. There were several other guests at the con I was unable to meet, but given the lines that they tended to have, I had to pass.

Following lunch and more wandering about, it was time to check in to the hotel. That's where my problems started.

Now let me begin with some good news: you remember my conflict with the Woodlake Hotel? Well, the credit card company ruled in my favor, and I got to keep my money. So that's one problem down, now it's time for another.

You see, the Hotel Kabuki didn't have our reservation. It simply didn't have us on record. Well, it thought we booked a room, yes, but for the weekend before the convention, which we didn't. The friend who booked the room made sure they knew it was for the con when reserving it, and when she called again to add my name to the reservation, she reconfirmed the fact. Yet they still had nothing, and that means we didn't have a room, as they were totally, 100% out.

Of course, the manager said things like, "You should have checked this when you booked the room." Well, we did. Multiple times. Someone on your end screwed up, and we were about to pay the price. They didn't even give us any notification that we'd missed our supposed reservation date, they just didn't say anything until it was too late. We didn't want to cause a fuss, but boy was it hard not to when we were about to be stranded in San Francisco without a place to stay.

Thankfully, Ray, a fellow blogger on this site, and his roommate Jaidin were upgraded to a suite, which meant they had plenty of room for us, and were generous enough to let us stay with them. My thanks once again to the two of them for their kindness, it seriously saved us. It wasn't until that night that we got another e-mail from the hotel with a reservation confirmation for this weekend, and we're still not sure if it was the one we were supposed to get or one for a room that opened up. Either way, it was too late for them to change anything.

So once again, a hotel screwed up, and nearly cost us big. This is an occurrence becoming all too common to me these days, and I can safely say that I do not like it.

At any rate, we were settled in, and I changed into my 11th Doctor costume, since no one was recognizing Nikaido. I noticed how after 5 hours of cosplaying as Nikaido, not one person recognized me or asked for pictures. Within five minutes of cosplaying the Doctor, I was getting called over left and right, and this was even without my fez. People love the Doctor, apparently. No complaints here.

As I spent more time wandering the convention and meeting friends, I noticed that it was even more crowded than last year. I think there's still room to grow, but they need to reorganize the rooms and booths to allow for more room for walking. It was definitely hard to navigate the crowd, and it was so noisy that I had to try and talk over the crowd sometimes, which was really, really bad for someone with a sore throat.

I didn't get to go to too many events, but there were two panels I was sure to check out. First off was Foxberry's "Photoshop for Cosplayers" panel, where she went over the uses of photo editing software for cosplay photos and the various tools and techniques. It was well-done, and her experience really shows, although I couldn't stick around for all of it.

I was also sure to visit the "Rattata: Top Percentage" panel, the partner to the incredibly popular "Magikarp: A History" panel. It discussed the memetic status of the Pokemon Rattata, its potential and abilities, and even the trainer who made it famous. They clearly put a lot of work into researching and preparing for the panel, in spite of it taking much less time than they had planned for. I also bet on the wrong Rattata during the video showing off a racing minigame, which just goes to show why I'm not a gambling man. The panel itself was very amusing, and I can see it becoming just as successful as the Magikarp one.

As the day grew later, I hung out with several friends in our hotel room, chatting and having a good time. At that point, my voice was worn out from all the talking, and became very raspy. In order to save my voice, I started writing down everything I wanted to say, and still managed to carry on a decent conversation.

We split for dinner, intending to return in time for a small mixer. Unfortunately, it took so long to be seated and place our orders that by the time our food arrived, it had already started, and by the time we left, it was long over. I did get to place a reservation under the name "Doctor," though, so I'll still consider it a win.

My voice now thoroughly gone, I returned to the room to rest. We had some other friends over for hanging out and chilling, but with my voice as dead as it was, I couldn't really join in many conversations. Opting to pass on the late night shenanigans for the sake of my health, I called it a night not too long after.

Sunday came along, and my voice did not. I changed into Hatori from Fruits Basket in order to meet up with other friends cosplaying from the same series, although as everyone was packing up to check out, there was plenty of time.

When I met up with my friends, we mostly spent time wandering about and enjoying the convention. I must have spent at least ten minutes trying to find Waldo on a picture in the artist alley, but now I'm thinking the artist tried to pull a fast one on me…

At any rate, my friends and I got lunch at Sapporo-Ya, which unfortunately served all sorts of ramen except for the kinds I enjoyed, leaving me with a meal I didn't particularly enjoy. That happens when you're a picky eater, though, so it's to be expected.

Following that, all of the Fruits Basket cosplayers met up for derping about the con. We got some photos taken, had some in-character shenanigans, and generally had a good time. I had to leave early to change for another cosplay I had scheduled, so I split off to change into Elan from Order of the Stick, with a friend joining me as his evil twin, Nale.

One of the first things we did was go to the gaming room for some Rock Band. Why? Because Elan is a bard, so it's totally in-character. When I was there the previous day, we played "Bohemian Rhapsody" on it, causing a staff member to note that both that song and "Never Gonna Give You Up" would be played constantly that convention. So naturally, the first thing we did once that song was over was play some Rick Astley; they were simply asking for it.

It's at this point that I'd like to mention the extreme irony of my costumes that some people noticed. I cosplayed as two Doctors, yet I was sick. I cosplayed as a bard, but I had no voice. The world has a cruel sense of humor sometimes.

When we left the gaming room, we waited a bit for a photoshoot I had signed us up for with BlizzardTerrak, a friend of ours. The garden behind the hotel was a hot spot for photoshoots, given the scenery, and many people got some excellent pictures there, ourselves included. It was pretty windy, but fortunately, we were wearing cloaks, and wind just makes cloaks look really cool. Once that was over, I said my farewells to friends, and hit the road.

The next day I discovered that my sickness and muteness is due to a nasal infection, which has me bedridden on doctor's orders, so I really hope I didn't spread it to anyone. I was very careful about where I coughed and what I touched, but it's still possible someone got sick from me, in which case, I sincerely apologize.

Now then, how was the convention? In spite of everything, it was actually quite good. The hotel caused me no small amount of stress, but once that was taken care of, I saw plenty of friends to chill with, some incredible costumes, a few good panels, and generally had a good time. I didn't see to many guests or events, but I spent time with people I enjoy seeing and enjoyed myself. Of course it would have been better if my voice managed to last throughout the convention, but these things happen, so the only thing one can do is make the best of it and be safe. There were some flaws, and it wasn't exactly the drama-free con I was hoping for, but it worked.

Fun with Anime & Economics, Revisited

2012-02-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

As I continue to pursue a degree in Economics, I find myself applying more economic thought into how anime conventions are, as seen in the "The Mathematics of Conventions" series.

But, I remember about two years ago when I did such a thing, applying the CPI Index to the cost of a Ouran Private Academy uniform. Here, I will revisit that post and add in some new numbers reflecting new points in my "cosplay career."

The original post went something like this:

I'm going to go off-topic for a bit since I'm bored up in my ECON 100a class going over homework - I'm going to apply what I'm learning with anime. (Now I'm doing the same since the CPI was mentioned in my ECON 140 class)

EXAMPLE:
On April 5th, 2006, Ouran High School Host Club debuted in Japan. In the episode, Haruhi breaks a vase that the club could of gotten up to ¥8,000,000 in an auction. How much is that worth in Sept. 2009 USD?

First off, we must change the currency from yen to dollars. The yen to dollar rate was 0.0085 on April 5th, 2006.

¥8,000,000 = $68,168

But that's in April 2006 USD. We want Sept. 2009 USD, so we must summon the CPI (consumer price index). The CPI in April 2006 was 201.5 while the CPI in Sept. 2009 is 215.969.

$68,168 x (215.969/201.5) = $73,063

Therefore, a ¥8,000,000 broken vase in April 2006 is worth $73,063 in real Sept. 2009 dollars.

Now, let's look at two other points to compare costs: the month that I retired my Mori cosplay, and the current CPI numbers from December 2011.

FanimeCon 2011 was the last time that I cosplayed as Mori. The CPI from May 2011 was 225.964. Recall that the CPI in April 2006 is 201.5.

$68,168 x (225.964/201.5) = $76,444.24

That same ¥8,000,000 broken vase in April 2006 is now worth $76,444.24 in real May 2011 dollars.

The current CPI numbers for December 2011 is 224.939, so naturally this number will be lower than what it was in May 2011.

$68,168 x (224.939/201.5) = $76,097.48

The ¥8,000,000 broken vase in April 2006 is worth $76,097.48 in real December 2011 dollars.

I really enjoy applying economics to both anime and anime conventions, and it helps me to improve my skills while learning about the inner workings of anime conventions, from selling products to room stuffing. And as I find more things to do work on, I will share them with the world just like my reports and stories.

CCB Report: Inaugural Capital Fight District Tournament - Feb. 11th, 2012

2012-02-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

When I heard about Capital Fight District, I was basically jumping for joy. After all, a stand-alone fighting game tournament in Sacramento - or even the Central Valley region - is rare outside of SacAnime and SacCon. There have been some attempts to start a tournament in the region, and Capital Fight District is the latest attempt to start something that we usually see in the Bay Area and in Southern California.

The venue where Capital Fight District is held is very nice and spacious, perfect for when this tournament expands. It's in a shaky part of Sacramento though, up in the Del Paso Heights region, although there has been an attempt to revitalize the area and it much safer than it used to be than let's say thirty years ago. At least the good part that it's next to eateries like Taco Bell, Popeyes Chicken, McDonalds, and Carl's Jr.

There were a good 20+ entries for both Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2012 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as well as entries for Soul Calibur V and King of Fighters XIII (although the KoF 13 tournament never took off at least for this set of tournaments). There were people that I knew from the convention circuit, and I quickly knew people that were known around the tournament circuit such as "White Ppl Mine," "Pieguy," "Bshida 916," (who I quickly renamed "Austin Rivers" after he was wearing a Duke Blue Devils hat and relating to this video) and "X-Ray." I had many chats about gaming in general, ranging from Persona 4: The Ultimate to nostalgically remembering the good old days of video gaming.

I also got to hang out with the FinestKO crew. There were many opportunities for some of us to jump on the stream to guest commentate, and I was able to get on the stream and commentate the Grand Final match of SSFIV: AE 2012. There was also moments when we had a Spanish commentary for SCV, and complete babble during UMvC3 (which is usually expected, because "It's Marvel"). By the end of the night, I knew what "salty" and "wake up" meant as well as reinforcing the usage of "DP."

There were also causal matches going on, a Dreamcast with NFL Blitz 2000 set up, and even an ancient Atari Computer system.

I also got some video footage of some behind the scenes and side perspectives of matches, and those can seen on this YouTube playlist.

Afterwards, I had the honor of having a very late dinner with the FinestKO crew and company over at Wingstop in West Sacramento.

I would like to thank everyone who came out for this first ever Capital Fight District tournament and everyone who welcomed me into the community with open arms. I would also like to thank FinestKO for allowing me to do some guest commentary and for having me over for dinner afterwards.

I may not be able to make it out every time they have a tournament (the next tournament is scheduled for the 25th of this month), but I will make a grand effort to make it out there at least once a month especially around when other major tournaments are planned because everyone who wants to prepare for those Bay Area and SoCal tournaments will come here to Sacramento to step their game up. There might of been a small turnout for the inaugural event, but I feel that this will get bigger and in time will become the place to be.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you at the next Capital Fight District event!

The Mathematics of Conventions, Part 3: Room Stuffing

2012-02-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

With FanimeCon opening their hotel blocks to the masses this week, the question of "to room stuff or not to room stuff" always comes up around this time up until the actual convention. Of course, we all know why most people room stuff: splitting a hotel room eight ways seems a lot cheaper than splitting a hotel room two ways or even four ways. We also know the risks and consequences associated with room stuffing: people can get kicked out of the hotel room, and often room stuffing will be used as an excuse to raise room rates for the next convention.

But my question is this: is it mathematically reasonable and economically viable to add in that next person when you already have a full room?

For this example, we'll look at how much I spent last year. Last year, a single King-bed room at the Marriott ran for $88 a night. With taxes and fees, FanimeCon quoted me at around $400, although in the end it's always higher. So for now, we'll use the base value of $400.

If I stay alone, I pay the entire $400 for the weekend. If someone else stays with me, it's $200 for both of us for the weekend. If there are eight people in the room, it goes all the way down to $50 - a savings of 87.5% compared to when there was just one.

In fact, let's look at the split costs for this hotel room from one person to eight people - double the occupancy that the hotel allows:

# of People in Room	Cost/Person
One	$400
Two	$200
Three	$133.33
Four	$100
Five	$80
Six	$66.67
Seven	$57.14
Eight	$50

As noted before, go to from one person to eight, it will save each person 87.5% over the original price of the room. But, if you already have five people and you want to add a sixth person, then everyone is only saving an additional 16.66%. Let's look at the overall percentage savings when we add one person:

Adding One More Person	% Saved with One More Person
One -> Two	50%
Two -> Three	33.33%
Three -> Four	25%
Four -> Five	20%
Five -> Six	16.66%
Six -> Seven	14.3%
Seven -> Eight	12.5%

So you might think that adding that seventh or eight person might work out for everyone, but mathematically and economically the percentage saved by adding just that one extra person is minuscule compared to having another person staying a room that's just occupied by you.

I could go on about the moral and fire hazards room stuffing can bring up, but that's for another time.

Friends & Associates Network Page

2012-02-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Associates,

With the growing numbers of friends and associates within the network of the California Conventions Blog, I have branched off the Friends & Associates Network to its own page. This also allows for full banners to be placed on this page. If you have a banner that you would like to place, please let me know in an e-mail!

The URL for this page is http://www.caliconblog.net/p/friends-associates-network.html and soon friends-associates.caliconblog.net will redirect you to the same page.

Thank you, and have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Return To Our Roots, Modern Japanese History Edition

2012-01-30T16:42:00.000-08:00

This may not be the "Return To Our Roots, Part 2" that you might be expecting, but I do plan on having a "Return To Our Roots, Part 2" if I ever make my return to Round 1 in the near future.

As I enter my final year here at Sacramento State, I'm taking a history course about Modern Japanese History from the 1800s to the present. The professor asked this question on the first day of class: How did we get from samurai and "Old Japan" to "New/Modern Japan" with cars and anime?

As a blogger of anime conventions, I wonder that too myself, how did we get from "Old Japan" to "New Japan?" How does the events of the 1800s up to right now affect how I see anime and manga? As an economist, I've always wondered if the Lost Decade had any impact on the anime, manga, and video game industries.

This is partially the reason why I'm taking this course: to get a better understanding of Japanese history and in turn getting a better understanding of what I'm reporting and why things are a certain way. There is also a course that I'd like to take if time permits and the class is available: The History of Manga. Yes, there is a "History of Manga" course that's taught here at Sacramento State. It would help me better understand the origins of everything from cosplay to what a tea ceremony means to why Japanese VAs act differently than their American counterparts.

It's a very interesting course indeed and to apply the knowledge to my convention experiences, it makes that appreciation for the Japanese and their culture much more robust.

Notice: Staff Member Leaving

2012-01-27T23:42:00.000-08:00

I was hoping that she would post this herself, but she has left me to do this task.

I would like to inform everyone that as of right now, Avianna Tiscareno is no longer part of the California Conventions Blog. She has moved to San Antonio, Texas due to unspecified reasons and can no longer perform the duties as a staff member.

Avi was part of the first wave of people that I hired back when I first expanded in 2010, and she did a wonderful job covering such events as Anime Five Cities and PMX in addition to anchoring coverage at Anime Expo and Anime Los Angeles. She was also the lolita expert and had much insight into Japanese fashion and music.

You will be missed Avi. Thank for you everything that you brought to this blog, and I wish you the very best in your future.

- Matthew

The Mathematics of Conventions, Part 2: Nendoroids

2012-01-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

As of late, I've been collecting Nendoroids, starting with the Hatsune Miku Support Ver. I got back at Anime Expo 2011. I was able to pick up one at SacAnime Winter 2012, nabbing me another Hatsune Miku Nendoroid, this time Snow Miku Ver. 2010 (there's a 2011 and 2012 versions of Snow Miku as well).

The word around anime conventions is that convention dealers will markup their items versus buying online. But if you look closely and find the right dealers, you can actually save money versus buying online. However, there is always a downside.

Let's look at a Nendoroid that I wanted to buy but didn't because I bought Snow Miku instead: Kyon Disappearance Version.

The Dealer that I was focusing on was selling this for $35 straight up. With Sacramento county tax at 7.75%, the total would of been $37.71 if tax was applied. I compared this against two other sites: Figure Heaven and Plamoya. Figure Heaven had theirs selling for $42.99 + $5.00 shipping for a grand total of $47.99. Plamoya had theirs selling for $59.80 + $11.44 shipping for a grand total of $71.24. Let's calculate the savings:

Without tax: saved 27% off from Figure Heaven, 51% off from Plamoya
With tax: saved 21% off from Figure Heaven, 47% off from Plamoya

Now let's look at the Snow Miku Ver. 2010 that I bought.

I bought this for $30, on sale from $40 from another dealer without tax. Again, I looked at Plamoya as well as the website Big in Japan. Plamoya had theirs selling for $114.41 + $12.74 shipping for a grand total of $127.15. Big in Japan had theirs selling for $65.07 but shipping is unknown since that item was sold out. Again, let's look at the savings:

With discount: 76% off from Plamoya, 54% off from Big In Japan
Original price: 69% off from Plamoya, 39% off from Big In Japan

The key here is that a) Plamoya, Big in Japan, and Figure Heaven will typically have more in stock while a convention dealer might only have one or two that they brought to sell and b) you run the risk of buying bootlegged items. I'm not saying that I bought a bootleg Nendoroid that day, but I've seen bootleg DVDs and keychains being sold and you always have to be cautious. When in doubt, if you see a dealer selling bootlegged items, tell security, the one in charge of Dealers Hall/Room, or the convention chair.

Another myth that comes out of this experiment is the whole "waiting until the last day for discounts." It might be true that most convention dealers will discount their merchandise, but that's to entice sales on the slowest day of the convention and not selling off inventory. Most inventory that is sold at conventions are often part of the store's overall inventory and have the means to bring back all their unsold merchandise to sell at their stores or online once the convention is over.

SacAnime Winter 2012 Report: Part 5 - Epilogue

2012-01-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

My first ever thoughts of SacAnime at the Sacramento Convention Center was during the drive up to SacAnime when it was at Sunrise Mall. I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be cool if SacAnime was at the SCC before I graduated college?" This was back when I was starting out at Sacramento City College.

Now, half a year after my planned graduation at Sacramento State, that dream my finally come true. For this convention, it's been a long time coming. It's been growing bigger and bigger and deeper and deeper every convention, adding high-quality guests and events. Most of us though noticed that this convention was growing a bit too fast, as indicated by its growing pains the first time SacAnime was at the Radisson/Woodlake and the numbers out of this convention - 5190 for such a small space. To make the move to the SCC was one that the convention needed badly, and it's a move that will see its own growing pains the first time around but will pay off huge dividends.

I've been wanting to go back to staffing since I've grown to see the day that this convention move to the biggest house, and I believe that this might be the chance to make the biggest impact. A year and a half is still a long way from now, so everything might change but I'm certain that I will try to staff come Summer 2013, meaning that I will have to rely on my other staff members to report at my hometown convention.

As for the Winter 2012 convention itself, I had a good time with all my friends and all my new connections that I made over the weekend. It's sad though to have experienced first-hand as well as third-hand accounts of multiple problems (such as Robbie's dispute with the hotel), but nothing is perfect as long as we deal with the issue without having to confront guerrilla tactics. I do wonder how Summer 2012 is going to perform knowing everything that happened over the weekend plus the looming move the year after that. But for now, I'm very excited for the move. As I quote myself, "It's about freakin' time."

I would like to thank Robbie and Ray for helping me out with press this weekend, and to everyone who's supported me over the last half decade. I got everyone's back, don't you forget it!

That concludes our coverage of SacAnime Winter 2012. FanimeCon is our next stop, but we have some new conventions in between, so stay tuned for these new reports!

私のレポートを読むためにありがとう。
Thank you for reading my report.

-SacAnime Winter 2012 Report End-

SacAnime Winter 2012 Report: Part 4 - Sunday (Day Three)

2012-01-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

Like all last days of conventions, my first priority is clearing out my portion of the room and ensuring that the room is clear. Despite only getting four hours of sleep, I was up an hour before the VIP autograph session would take place and in under half an hour, I was able to clear out my portion of the room and pack everything in the car leaving myself to check on the room often between now and check-out. I didn't feel like driving to Starbucks again, so I settled on a bagel with cream cheese alongside some A.M. Gatorade.

Like the last VIP autograph session, my plan was to stick out the entire VIP session then squeeze in at the end before the general autograph session commenced. This allowed me time to check out the Homestuck and Samurai Senshi panels as well as checking out and making sure that the room was clean.

Troy Baker walking to the autograph table with Starbucks in hand.

Homestuck Panel

Samurai Senshi Panel

Eventually I found out where the end of the VIP line was and got at the end, hoping that they would all the VIPs in before an 11am break. Unfortunately, the guests of honor took their 11am break with me still in line, so for once I had to wait in line for an hour, something I haven't done in such a long time. During this time, Troy Baker and Ali Hillis took off to catch their flight, but I was able to squeeze out an autograph for his role in Persona 4.

Add Troy Baker to that autographed box

By the time I got to the autograph table, it was way past 12pm, very much late for the Touhou Gathering. But it was worth it for Vic Mignogna to sign my Junpei Starbucks cup.

With the Touhou Gathering already over once I had arrived, I decided to spend even more time with Cafe Hoshi fresh off that disaster last night. Despite what had happened, the events went on with happy smiles, and I was able to film more Cafe Hoshi in this extended video that I took.

A panorama of Cafe Hoshi at work on Day Three.

One event that I covered on Sunday was one of the Trading Card Game Room's Tournaments, which is always a staple within the SacAnime/SacCon community.

Over at the Console Gaming Room, more people are dancing to the beat and playing classic arcade games.

Back outside, the BAC Gathering is about to start. Since the CCB and BAC are partners, I decided to give Robbie a helping hand. But with the low turnout and short attention spans, the gathering quickly got out of hand and once you lose them, you lose them. In essence, it was a flop.

With the BAC Gathering coming to a short halt, I find myself DJing once again for Mike and Club Rave for about an hour, rounding my guest DJ weekend in hopes of getting his organization off the ground. Thank you once again to Mike and Club Rave for allowing me to guest DJ for SacAnime Winter 2012 and I wish you the best of luck for you and your group for the future!

I keep forgetting that Closing Ceremonies rarely starts on time, so I caught the last segment of the last VA Q&A Panel instead.

Going into Closing Ceremonies, the rumor mill was working at maximum capacity, and during this time everything was answered. I was also able to voice my opinion on the Swap Meet, which felt like a fire hazard even on a Friday night.

The rest of the convention I was trying to get instant reaction, which most knew that the move was for certain, and saying my last good-byes to those who I knew the most. With myself burnt out, I made a quick stop to Arron Brothers to take advantage of some sales, then it was off to Great Wall BBQ off of Howe for a solitude all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ dinner before making the trek back home.

-Sunday (Day Three) & SacAnime Winter 2012 End-

SacAnime Winter 2012 Report: Part 3 - Saturday (Day Two)

2012-01-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

Day Two started for me at 7am, taking about an hour to get everything ready for the day. It was a chilly morning, and I didn't feel like making the trek over to Starbucks in the sub-freezing weather. Luckily, my car was unfrosted and I was able to make the quick drive over there to pick up a Venti Extra Caramel Extra Shot Caramel Macchiato and a Chicken Sausage Breakfast Wrap.

You know you're a cosplayer when you put your character's name on a Starbucks cup and bag.

My first three hours looked pretty busy: FFXIII Q&A Panel, Vocaloid Gathering, and the Persona/SMT Gathering.

My first order of business was recording and photographing the FFXIII Q&A Panel which featured voice actors Troy Baker and Ali Hillis. I had a great time at their panel, and cracked up at the fact that those two wanted to go Rated R at 10 in the morning.

Soon after the panel was over, I blitzed on over to the Vocaloid Gathering and started to take both video and photos.

After a small break, and realizing that my commissioned Evoker from last year broke, it was time to hold the SMT/Persona Gathering. Granted, this gathering was a late add-in and I was scrambling to tell people literally the day of, but at least it was a good segway into the Fanime SMT/Persona Gathering, which I am running. Thank you to everyone who showed up that day, and I hope to see you all in May.

With some time to spare before my scheduled lunch, I head on back to Cafe Hoshi. I got into a game of Apples to Apples, even though I was outnumbered by the attendees who were sitting down.

Back at the hotel room, I sip on my Cup Ramen, Gatorade, and Trail Mix watching the start of Saints/49ers. I was supposed to head on over for the doubleheader that was Homestuck and Final Fantasy Gatherings, but I found myself being a guest DJ for Mike's Club Rave group. I even had a video of myself DJing for almost an hour and a half. But it was all worth it when he hooked me up with free pizza for my efforts, saving me some time and money.

I made a quick stop over at the Workshop Room to see a DeleterUSA Demo. It looked really cool, although my art skills are nothing compared to these people.

Outside, the Gaming Room is ready to hold their inaugural Just Dance 3 Tournament.

I would be back and fourth all night, taking photos of the event and keeping track who was left in.

Meanwhile, I was also checking out the second day of Karaoke as well as the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Tournament that was also going on in the Gaming Room.

Concentration on the sticks in this tournament.

Two attendees reacting to each hit and move just like EVO.

A Hatsune Miku cosplayer sining "World Is Mine" by Supercell.

Eventually, it came down to a Elizabeth, a Ken, and a Teddie - an all-Persona final trio. Surprisingly, Elizabeth won the tournament. My biggest problem was that the tournament ran slower than expected, and as you can see in the videos it got dark pretty quick which prevented me from getting any solid footage of the latter parts of the tournament. The outside part was a good idea, and with the longer daylight hours in the summer nothing really needs to be changed maybe except how the Final Four goes to trim down some time.

After the tournament, I took a long break knowing that it was going to be a long night for me. It was supposed to be Tebow Time (the Broncos got blown out by the Patriots that night), but now it was Matthew Time. The two huge events that I was going to cover tonight was the Day Two/Three Sac Club Rave, which is more massive than its Day One/Two counterpart, and Cafe Hoshi's VIP event.

As I walked into Cafe Hoshi, Jodon had announced that the hotel would not allow Cafe Hoshi to serve dinner to the guests and instead were redirected to the hotel buffet, Basil's. I would elaborate more on the current situation and all the events that transpired for Cafe Hoshi that weekend, but I already have a separate article outlining what happened. If you haven't read the article yet, I highly suggest that you do so.

As for the Sac Club Rave, I was able to hang out with the DJs for that night before hand, it was nice seeing DJs like DJ Amaya, who I remember meeting for the first time in the elevator at Anime Los Angeles a year ago. Everyone came out for that party, and I got almost a good two hours of solid footage.

-Saturday (Day Two) End-