Rundown of AnimeFest and a few pics

[beck]

You know me, when it comes to talking about what went on the whole weekend, I nearly write a damn book. So sorry in advance if this gets too long. I'm going to make a seperate post about the Scott McNeil stuff we did on Sat night since I'm uploading all the vid files that was taken. Without farther ado....




First off, I felt that this yr seemed kinda empty though they claimed they had about 4,000 ppl. When I try to compare last yr to this yr, I guess it seemed like there were more cause the whole con was held downstairs which made the area pretty packed. This time, the hotel gave the con more space to use upstairs. The autograph area was much better instead of being shoved in a small room and have ppl in the way when they need to walk by. From what I saw (either by attending them or seeing pics elsewhere) the panels were held in the main ball room which was good cause it gave much more room to hold as many ppl that wanted to sit in on it AND by using a bigger area, it kept it from getting overly hot when you have oodles of ppl sitting in one spot like how some panels were handled last yr.

The dealers room was not impressive at all. I noticed there was a good bit of jewelry tables than before. I saw very few doujinshis which I guess doesn't bother me since they never have what I want anyways. Though some of the stuff that was for sale made me wibble just cause the prices were about the same of what I saw on the net. Between the Trigun Peacemaker doll, the Bleach dolls of Renji and Orihime (the ones that are going for like $60), and the overly cute Ichigo in a Kon outfit plushie that was about $35-40. Alot of the things I looked at, I had to ask myself "do I really need this and will I regret buying it in the end." By doing that, helped me save some money cause the only things I bought were Bleach and a tad FMA related. I didn't even buy any art from the artist alley cause the stuff I was thinking about having someone draw for me, I didn't have any references on hand. But thats okay cause I was able to have some money left over that I can use to get my hair done before vacation.

Didn't check out the viewing rooms cause they were either showing stuff that didn't interest me, never heard of before, or I have it downloaded. (two that I can think of that they showed was Bleach and FMP! TSR! I was kinda shocked that they showed it)

Didn't attend hardly any panels. We missed out on Shinichiro Watanabe, some autograph signings since Anna needed signatures for the shirt she was giving someone, Maaya Sakamoto's panel, and a few others. Though looking at the schedule, they have some panels too damn early in the day. I think anything after 12 noon would be suitable.

We only attended some of Sat night's dance and a tiny bit of Sun night. Sat night ROCKED SO HARD CORE since bam2 was DJ'ing that night, his mixing is awesome. Sun night was veryvery lame and didn't care for the music they were using that night (different dj), the dance hardly had any ppl in there and once we walked into the area, you had to hold your nose, it REEKED. Heard the cosplay sucked ass as usual, guess that will never change.

We went to Maaya Sakamoto's concert Sun night. OH GOD! the shit we had to put up with in regards to the ppl sitting in front of us. First though let me say that the concert itself was really good and for those that didn't know, Maaya is the person who sings "Gravity" the ending theme to Wolf's Rain. (I didn't know that till it was mentioned at Sat's panel).

So the bullshit that went on during the show:

Anna, Lucky, Kelly, and myself were talking lowly and there were times we were laughing at stuff we did or just laughing at stuff. We weren't laughing like a bunch of hyenas or laughing out loud yet the asshats in front of us kept turning around telling us to basically shut up. HELLO! ASSWIPES!! its a fucking CONCERT not a god damn FUNERAL. (No one made a peep during the show hence why you'd think you were at a funeral service) AND the fact, they act like Maaya wasn't using a microphone or a SOUND SYSTEM to perform. She was loud enough to hear. What pissed me off is that, if you're going to sit there and constantly complain, FUCKING MOVE!!!!!!, its not like the show was packed and there weren't any seats left, christ. There was a time when the complaining twat's boyfriend turned around and just STARED at us though we ignored him. But if he didn't turn back when he did, it took all I had not to tell him to take a fucking pic. With him doing that made us laugh even harder, though not loud mind you. The twat later got up as if she was going to tell on us to a staff member but by that time, Maaya was singing her last song before the show ended. We can only imagine if she did try and tell on us, the staff person probably laughed at her or if I were the staff member, I would've told her to move, it wasn't a crime for us to talk especially since we kept it at a low level. AND there was no rules stating that no one was allowed to talk during the performance, just no cameras were allowed. So :P *makes Plushie Renji crotch grabbing motion*

But ya know, for us, attending the con just for the anime really wasn't what it was about for us, we had so much fun just being with each other, I almost forgot that we were actually at the con.

Course as I mentioned earlier that the FEMA peeps and task force units from CA, WA, NV, and elsewhere were held up at the hotel the whole weekend. ALOT of eye candy and as guardianhunter would point out to you, the CA peeps were probably the hottest. They were real friendly and the ones that had the rescue dogs with them, would let you pet the doggies if you asked. It was so funny to see these ppl's reactions to the con or what was going on. You'd see them checking out the art tables and you'd see a few of them in the dealers room. They started to file out between Sun night and Mon though I think the majority of them left Sunday since there weren't that many left come Mon.




I'm glad I did what I did this yr. Saved money on food and we'd head to my house to eat or get a change of clothes and what not. And considering the driving I had to do back and forth, my car did pretty good on the gas mileage.

Fri. Anna and I headed to the hotel around 11:30, did some shopping in the dealers room while waiting for kelroni and eyoko to show up. Plus we went up in the Reunion Tower while waiting, its such a neat view no matter how many times I go up in it. Once Kelly and Lucky showed up, we stood around and talked for a bit and already laughing our asses off till we saw Scott McNeil not far from where we were. After he got done signing a few things, we called him over and had our posse moment *lol* He's seems to be very envious of my hair no matter how many times he sees it. *giggles*

We all went to check out the dealers room, checked out the area of the hotel since the posse never been in it before, then called it a day and wanted some grub. Since Kelly was wanting real mexican food, we decided to just head home and bubba took us to the awesome Mexican restaurant in town (his treat). Anna, Kelly, and I later went to the grocery store while Lucky stayed back to chill out in the hot tub. No matter where we are at, it doesn't take much for us to bust up laughing. Kelly had me in tears while we were in the store. Once we got to the house, I put Anna to work on getting the enchilada's made up so all bubba would have to do come Sat. was to put them in the oven when I called to let him know we were coming home to eat. I went to bed going on 2am, and about a half hr later Anna and Kelly went to bed. Not sure about bubba but Lucky fell asleep in the hot tub. They were still sitting in it till around 4am. More power to them! I can't sit in it for even 30 mins before #1. I fall asleep or #2. get too water logged.

Sat morning once we were all awake, Lucky made us breakfast (I bet bubba was relieved on getting out of that job *lol*) and then got ready to head to the con again. Kelly and Lucky were working on cutting my sleeves off the flannels I had handy for my, as what the posse dubbed me, Scottplay, while Anna worked on drawing Scott's tattoo on my arm. I must say that it looked pretty damn good, as close as she could draw it since we were basing it off the pics I had handy of that side of his arm. Scott was even impressed on the likeness. And the hat I found for the outfit is comfortable as hell, I think I'll be wearing it alot more now especially if I take it to PA with me, I can only imagine the reactions I'll get from my family.

Bubba didn't know that I was actually going to cosplay as Scott till we were in the car ready to leave. He came back from a accident call and parked the truck in front of the car before we left. Once he came over to the car and saw what I was dressed as, he rolled his eyes at me and as per usual, picked on me about it.

So we head to the con and BARELY got there in time before the voice panel started. Damn traffic was tied up for those going to Reunion Arena, the asshats that can't fucking read traffic signs when they are in a TURN LANE ONLY!!!!!!!!! not straight!!!! This panel had Scott in it so that was the first place we made a beeline to before it started (though some of the va's were a bit late). I was kind of embarrassed when we walked in ESPECIALLY since we walked in the front of everyone and having me dressed as Scott. If I had enough balls, I would've went up on stage and sat next to Kyle Herbert (who was the only punctual one there) and said I was filling in for Scott. When the rest of the crew showed up, some walked by where we were sitting and the posse yelled at Scott while pointing to me. He was like O_______O OMG! and had to come over and had a blast seeing me dressed like that. Hey, it was the easiest damn costume I could come up with in no time flat and I wasn't in the mood to dress up heavily in my anime costumes.

Not long after the panel was over they were getting ready for the autograph sessions. We were standing off to the side from that area when the posse wanted to take pics of me and the crotch grabbing/adjusting of the manly crotch *laughs*. Around that time was when the fansview dude came over and took my pic as well. So we see Scott sitting off to the side where they had extra chairs for anyone who wanted to sit and they weren't quite ready yet for the signings. Anna and I walk up behind him and she asked him about he and I posing together for pics. He still had a blast over the whole costume thing which then later turned out to him fawning over the hair again, floofing it around and speaking in that gay hairstylist voice. *snerks*

Later, we went to the house to eat but before that, we stopped at the grocery store to get a bday cake for Scott then went to the liquor store and ended up buying a shitload of booze just cause so many things looked so yummy. *tehehehehehehe* Got home, ate, packed the car with everyone's luggage and headed back to the hotel.

More of Sat night will be in another post, probably tomorrow morning.

Come Sunday, I felt that there still weren't that many ppl around but that could be me cause we didn't stay downstairs all day. telophase did it seem as if there were a good bit of ppl all weekend since you were in that area? Sunday night was even worse. Most of the time you'll see drunks and ppl milling about for the dance but I didn't see much going on compared to the other times. We did sit through the tail end of the art auction, the only highlight was when they were auctioning off a Rinoa pic from FF8 in Squall's jacket and there was a bidding war going on. Ppl offering money to both bidders and it was CRRRRAZY yet so funny. I think it ended at $175-180. All the money went to the Red Cross.

Mon is usually spent trying to get your shit together and get out of the room. Not much happenings on the last day of the con. Said good-bye to Kelly once the shuttle finally came to pick her up. The rest of us went back to the house till it was time to take Lucky to the airport. I didn't want the posse to leave, we have such a blast that the weekend goes by too damn quick. But at least we had tons of fun.

*huggles and smoochies to the Posse*

Now to some pics beneath the cut.



Views from the top of the Reunion Tower looking down at the Arena where some of the hurricane peeps are held at.







Sat night dance with bam2, Greg doing what he does best (aside from voices)





YAY! Nagi!! I think this was the only Tenjho Tenge cosplayer that I seen.




Scottplaying moi and the real Scott *lol* I told him he needs a new hat, his is really shot. Also, there was no way I was going to paste fake fuzz on my face or sideburns. Just sucked that he decided to wear the black shirt on Sat instead of the flannel he wore on Fri. Oh and the nose ring Scott's wearing is fake.




Anna and a guest appearance by Plushie Renji *lol* You'll see more of him later too.




The early stages of the hair braiding session on Sat night. The person to the left was just a random fan who stopped by to talk to him.






More later. I'm going to take pics of the goods I bought but I might not get that done till either on vacation or when I get back.


Hope I didn't put anyone to sleep.


Time for bed now.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there were a lot of people during the day walking around - it dropped at night, I think because there were a lot of day-trippers, and since the function rooms were more spread out, you didn't see that many at any specific time. But it was *much* busier than last year, and I did three times the business.

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

and since the function rooms were more spread out, you didn't see that many at any specific time.

Yeah, thats true. Last yr was hella crazy having everyone bunched up downstairs. I'm glad to see they were able to spread it out more this yr.

I was still surprised by the lack of ppl at night though. Most times its usually fuller cause of the drunks and room parties but from what I was hearing about the hotel staff jumping the gun if there was any fun to be had in a room. I know Dwayne was telling me more about that hence why his party had to move. We probably would've checked the party out but for some reason, I was pretty sleepy that night, plus we had our own stash of booze we had to drink up. Did you attend it for long?

But it was *much* busier than last year, and I did three times the business.

Wow. I hope it was decent on your end of things.

[nightambre.livejournal.com]

So.... envious. *cry* He was at Otakon, but I didn't get a chance to see him.

Maybe it was because I decided to stay planted behind my table instead. *is lame-o fan*

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Well from the sounds of it, Scott wasn't too impressed with Otakon and said that if he was invited back again, it'd be awhile. He said that not long after he set foot in the building, he only got a few feet before he was swamped by fans. Plus I heard the staff was very understaffed so they fucked their guests over by not doing their job or having much coverage of them. Scott said it took all he had to get a breather to eat, pee, and see things. So that is also probably one of the reasons why you didn't get the chance to see him around aside from being at your table.

Afest is a really down to earth small con (and I think it will always be that way). The VA's can almost roam freely without being hornswaggled by the fans. On Fri when we saw him downstairs not far from where we were standing, there were a few ppl around him while he was signing stuff on his own and maybe one staff member on hand just in case but he wasn't rushed.

Plus having the right hook ups when it comes to friends being closer to certain VA's has an advantage. We were just pretty lucky to have been able to do what we did Sat night with Scott. I'll be making my entry in the morning with the uploads of clips of our little early bday gathering if you are able to download them and check it out.

[babaca.livejournal.com]

There really weren't that many panels of interest. And while the VA were in the main area some other panels were in rooms you were hard pressed to find. And at night it was kind of dead. I wished Maaya's concert would have been on Saturday because I would have liked to have gone. I had forgotten about Gravity as well until they mentioned it, I remember Escaflowne and that she acted and sang in RahXephon and she's acting in Gundam Seed Destiny, but that Wolf's Rain factoid had slipped my mind.

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

There really weren't that many panels of interest.

You got that right. I even noticed that when I was looking at the schedule for the whole weekend and was like "man, they really don't have much going on." I think they had much more anime showings than panels. (then again to me when it comes to certain panels, once you sat in one, you sat through them all which is why I don't see how VA's handle it by repeating the same answer over and over every day, every con.)

some other panels were in rooms you were hard pressed to find.

Yeah some area's were like a maze. I know last yr we were trying to find certain panels and they were like hidden in back areas down the hall. Plus with where Registration was at, was almost a feat in itself on trying to find it.

And at night it was kind of dead.

Thats what still boggles me. Most of the time, you see ppl milling about whether they are drunk or just hanging around. This yr just felt different, not sure if maybe the hurricane stuff or just that maybe ppl feel that the day thing is the only thing worth staying around for. Plus the hotel was really cracking down on room parties and if just one bit of loudness they heard, ppl were told to cease any activities.

The concert was pretty good, it was only for a half hr which went by pretty quick. She spoke english pretty well since the majority of the show during the breaks between songs, she would speak to the audience in english (though she felt really nervous about it but the fans didn't care, they encouraged her along).

I don't know much when it comes to the Japanese singers or voices hence why I didn't know what all she did till it was brought up. And she did sing Gravity that night.

[babaca.livejournal.com]

Plus the hotel was really cracking down on room parties and if just one bit of loudness they heard, ppl were told to cease any activities.

I think the hotel was being "security conscience" because of all the fire and rescue guys. They had all the doors that would go outside blocked off. At one point Kwyck wanted to go out to smoke and we found one door that was open and went outside. It was near where the autograph signings were. It was mostly con goers having a cig or just chatting outside when this hotel guy shut the door and lock us out. Someone propped the door back open when an suit came and said for SECURITY PURPOSES the only entrance was the one on the front of the hotel. So we had to walk around to the front of the hotel to get back in. Some of the con goers were grumbling that smokers were being discriminated against.

The concert was pretty good, it was only for a half hr which went by pretty quick.

Only a half hour really? That's a little sad. I'm sure she's sung enough things that could fill an hour easily. I'm glad the crowd encouraged her to practice her English.

The video room... I sat through a few episodes of Bleach because I didn't really want to go to the dance, but there was nothing else going on at the hotel at night. It was okay. The room was cold but what are you going to do?

[baikautsugi.livejournal.com]

Man, I love your reports...

I forgot Sakamoto was down there for the weekend. (And I call myself a fan...) Am envious you got to hear her live!

For what it's worth, I brushed by the back of Scott McNeil's shirt (the red lumberjack one) at CN Anime the weekend before, tee hee ;) Although, I was preoccupied with something else and it didn't first register with me who was wearing the shirt.

Speaking of VAs, come wack me over the head (figuratively) online if I don't get back to you about that VA calendar by the end of this month. I haven't forgotten about it but it keeps slipping my mind...

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Man, I love your reports...

Whew! Thats a relief, I was afraid I'd bore ppl to death or felt I was being a rambling fool over the littlest of details. But I look at it this way, when I start losing my memory or need a pick me up, I'll have all of this jotted down *lol*

I dind't know what all Sakamoto did till it was mentioned. Good performer and sweet girl. She was pretty nervous during the show but the fans encouraged her along and her english is actually pretty good cause during the breaks between songs, she would speak to us in it.

Someone said that during her panel on Monday, she was talking about how there was a huge cockroach in her hotel room and they had to call hotel security to kill it. *laughs* Poor girl, though what she saw was no doubt a water bug (which I also call a cockroach but was told that that isn't what they are. Roaches are usually small, at least what I've seen down here which is unusual since most things in TX are huge)

Although, I was preoccupied with something else and it didn't first register with me who was wearing the shirt.

*snerks* Yeah, the flannel and the hat is a dead giveaway that its more than likely Scott.

Funny how you mention the calendar cause I was just thinking about it the other day but I myself kept forgetting to bring it up to you if you found a way to send it. I know they aren't the easiest things to send in the mail cause of finding the right packaging but I will keep that in mind to remind you.

OH! Before I forget, I found a doujinshi hentai place online that has scans of certain series and they had that Gungrave book I was telling you about that I had and it had a cute little scene in the back of it with Maria and Brandon. I'll have to snag it and send it to you since you said you could probably give me a run down what was being said (it was only a page with them).

[zasshi.livejournal.com]

ROFL; when I showed the images of Scott to my boyfriend, he goes "Gross, he looks like porn star or something.". ♥♥♥ He's such a cutie... and his voice is just ... delicious... :0~~~~~

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Oh he's just jealous, seems like most guys are, I think thats why my hubby picks on me all the time about Scott cause he's jealous too *lol* I know the one VA that could melt my panties anytime is Kirby Morrow, the voice and the bod! *swoons* Wish he would come to cons more often, I just like oggling him. heheheheheh

WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[guardianhunter.livejournal.com]

ALOT of eye candy and as guardianhunter would point out to you, the CA peeps were probably the hottest.

OMG YES!!!!! YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!!!!!

I think Clark County (Vegas) and LA County were the Yummiest!!!!!

*drowns in drool*.........

D-Chang: That's utterly disgusting, Onna....

Yeah, well..... still....... they were YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

*throws you my innertube to the rescue*

*giggles*

Damn straight! DIGGITY DIGGITY DIGGITY......OH YEAH!

[scarbie.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you all had a great time! The pictures of you and Scott are just too funny and cute!! I wish you had a pic of his expression when he first saw you in that outfit.

If I had enough balls, I would've went up on stage and sat next to Kyle Herbert (who was the only punctual one there) and said I was filling in for Scott.

*ROFL* That would have been hilarious.

And the people at the Maaya Sakamoto concert sound like they were a pain. You don't have to be quiet as a mouse at a concert. With them turning around constantly, they messed up their own enjoyment.

Hehehehe, you got your Renji plushie! Yay! Now we you just need a Rukia!