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box_of_doomSo… I went to Anime North for the first time ever. It was the tenth con. All I have to say is ZOMG THAT WAS AWESOME I HAVE TO GO AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!
But that wouldn’t make much of an lj-entry, and people would get mad. Or, at least, would be bombarded with people asking, “What happened? Why was it such pure awesomeness?” So, I won’t.
I’ll warn you, this was written over a couple months, because C-chan started and then forgot to finish… again. When I started this, I was on something akin to a post-camp high. (Which was good because I ended up not going to any camps this year… ^^;) So if I seem a little ^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^ -ish, that’s why. And if I seem less energetic at the end, that’s… also why. >.>
But… without further ado, C-chan’s super fun happy awesome wow write-up of the Anime North 2006 weekend!!!!! (oooh, aaaaaaah).
FRIDAY
I think I shall start with Friday morning. Why? Because I can.
I woke up that morning, having done my laundry the night before, but not having packed anything. And not in a great mood either, due to one or two small things (don’t ask). Sooo… the morning and early afternoon was spent packing and doing one or two random things (like talking with people online… :S), washing my hair and eating breakfast and lunch.
My aunt and cousin came at around 3:30. My aunt talked with my mom and Aaron and I started discussing things anime and Anime North related. And then we left, a good 15 minutes later. Aaron and I talked anime and X-men the whole way up.
We had spaghetti in alfredo sauce (with chunks of pork!), salad and bruchetta, and then it was time to go!
Sooo… we drove there. Only about 20 minutes… it always felt like less. But then, I’m used to 20 minutes being a short car ride. I’m too used to ones that are over an hour.
When there, at about 6:30 or 7:00-ish, we got in line to register (or validate our pre-registration... whatever). The line was out the door and we couldn’t see where it ended. I was about to call Victoria and tell here that we were there (but in a long line), when she saw Aaron and I, walked up and said hi. And gave me a fan. The line was a lot shorter than Aaron had thought, going in a much earlier door, and we were inside and registered without too much of a wait. (Half an hour, maybe?)
The entire time that she was there, Victoria and I were giggling back and forth and sharing inside jokes. (Peepl in lins go wooooo?)
After getting registered, we went in the dealer’s room. Victoria had already been in there, and had bought a FMA pocketwatch. It was cool, but I wouldn’t have bought it myself because the writing was raised rather than engraved and I’m a stickler for details. :P
Aaron bought one or two things, and I didn’t get anything. Then we went to the artist’s alley, and Aaron took off without telling us. I was a little scared/paranoid, but it all worked out. Victoria and I looked around more, saw an awesome chocobo costume and Genma Satome costume in the gallery room. I saw an adorable picture of the two FMA Als (Elric and Heiderich) in Artist’s Alley I should have bought but didn’t and never saw again, but oh well.
We went to the FMA guest slam after that… ran into Aaron again there. :P And we sat and listened and I asked a few questions to the two panelists, Colleen Clickenbeard (Riza Hawkeye and Rose), and Sonny Strait (HUUUUUUUGHES!!!). It was in the Mississauga Room. I was in there a LOT over the weekend.
Sonny Strait (Hughes) is playing Alter!Hughes in the movie. I’m happy. ^^ (I just wish I had asked who was playing Heiderich… >.<)
Aaron went off to the AMV contest after that, and Victoria and I went to the Nominoichi (basically an anime garage sale…). There was some cool stuff… I picked up two things… spent $9 in all.
We went to the Pokemon festival after that. I coloured in a picture of Hello Kitty, and we saw James with boobs. @_@
(In other words… there are episodes of Pokemon that did not get aired due to content. In this one, Misty ends up entering a beauty contest. Team Rocket is also in it, in disguise as always. James has a HUGE BREAST. It was… odd… but cool. ^^;)
Victoria left after that, and I went to Anime Improv session #1. Lots of yaoi. Lots of slightly adult humour (this was their more adult show). Lots of insane random craziness. I think they took one or two of my suggestions! ^_______^ It was pure awesomeness. They were giving away buttons to anyone who lent them something for a sketch or came onstage, and you could also buy one for $1. I didn’t get one that day, (I volunteered for stuff but wasn’t chosen,) but I vowed to have one by the end of the weekend.
I was sitting next to an Ed cosplayer with kitty ears. She’s an artist, and was fun to talk to. ^_^ And it was fun watching all the different games… I wish I could have played along with some of them… that would have been fun. But yesh. The last game was “scenes from a hat”. And the last scene was “Things to do with peanut butter and jelly”. #1 “It’s peanut butter jelly time!!!” (dance and all) #2 (and 3?) what are those people (or those boys) doing there with the peanut butter and jelly? Then… finally… “Here’s the peanut butter… *pretends to slather one side of a guy with peanut butter* “Here’s the jelly… *slathers the other side of the guy with jelly*” “Where’s the bread? *is jumped by everyone else*” Twas love indeed. ^^
I got to meet Pan-chan right after that, up near where the AMV show and Nominoichi were being held. She was dressed as Naruto. She was nice, but unfortunately a little short on vocal chords. I got my picture taken with her (she asked after I got her autograph… ^^). Yay for TOFU-based anime fans on all 3 campuses!!! (TOFU = U of T. *nodnod* And while I’m at it, CUTS = UTSC and a red line = Erindale. nods more). Especially short ones!!!! ^_~
I caught the awards ceremony for the AMV festival (but didn’t see any AMVs T_T) and then met up with Aaron. It was either go to the Witch Hunter Robin panel or go home and attempt to be up in time to be there for 10:00 on Saturday, so we chose the latter and called home, getting picked up not too much later and ending the first day of my Anime North experience.
SATURDAY
I woke up at 8:00 on Saturday morning. Sleep didn’t come overly easily to me the night before, but it was more on and off than tossing and turning. It was the same both nights actually… I think it was just me not being used to that bed or whatever. But I was refreshed by morning anyway, and that’s what’s important. ^^
So… Aaron and I had breakfast, and then we were off once again.
Let me just say that Saturday was the day of the LINE.
We started off in the Dealer’s room. Aaron and I separated and then met up… he bought a few more things (and blew most of the rest of his budget), and I scouted out a few things I was interested in. After that, we went to line up to get stickers so that we could go to the Masquerade. It looked like it would have taken a lot longer than it ended up being, so that was good. ^_^
I went and got lunch during that line thing… it’s good to travel with a partner or more for exactly that reason! ^^ I volunteered to get food for him, but he wasn’t hungry yet.
So… after we got our stickers, we went to a panel on Anime’s influence on Canadian culture. Which wasn’t bad… but kind of got stuck on a few issues (such as how kids copy what they see on TV) and I would have liked to see more discussion on a few other things (such as how it affects those of us over the age of 12). Buuuuuuuuut meh.
After that, I went to the BEST LINE OF ALL!!!!!!!! AKA, the cosplay conga line (cosplay liked, but not required). Why did I go, because it sounded cool and I was like =3. Aaron was like… “that’s not for me”. So we agreed to meet up at 5-ish and went our own separate ways.
The conga line was FUN!!!!!
I was behind these two boys, both of whom were short… one was dressed as… erm… someone from Naruto and the other in a school uniform. I think both were last-minute costumes, but they were cute nonetheless. (Hey! Most costumes are either cool or cute. Unless they really look like you didn’t try, like making glasses out of lined paper. *nods*) There was a Mario and Luigi not too far ahead, and a group of girls behind me.
It took a little while for the conga line to start… everyone got free leis and necklaces and stuffs… (I got a lei, necklace, and party blower noise maker thingy) and we all talked and joked and had fun. Then we started.
For the first little while, we all expected music. But none came. So we blew our party blowers and started going, more walking than conga-ing, but in a conga line nonetheless. But then, a group of us decided to start singing the conga song. So we did. And danced to it too! That went on for a while… we would sing it and then stop, then sing it then stop. And then… someone (I think me ^^; ) had the idea to start singing random well-known anime themesongs. We sang Pokemon (twice!), Digimon, Cardcaptors, Sailor Moon, the Mario song… I think I may be missing one or two. But it was love. ^_^
It took about half an hour to get from the back of the hotel to inside the convention center. Yes, that included crossing a road. We held up traffic, and STILL ended up having to break up the conga line in order to get everyone across. And us in the first half ended up stopping so that the second half could join up again. When we got in, everyone cheered.
Oh, and if you want to see part of the fun, it’s here. (PS: I’m singing pretty loudly… ^_~)
I had a bit of time before the next thing I planned to attend, so I went to the Dealer’s Room, which was right there anyway, and got this CD pack. ^_________^
After that, I headed out for anime chess, bumping into one of my conga buddies beforehand. It wasn’t scripted, so it wasn’t pure awesomeness, but it was still good. The king on one side was really short (shorter than the Ed cosplayer next to her (dressed as a him) )! The other king was Sloth. AKA Ed and Al’s mom. @_@ And Momiji (the Anime North mascot, not the cute little Fruits Basket boy) was a pawn! Twas cool. And I ended up sitting near Mario and Luigi and their group for that, and we sang the meow mix theme at one point. Apparently I know the song better than anyone else there though… @_@
The only BAD thing about the chess match was that one guy decided to come onto the board, and then was told to get off, then came back staying right BESIDE the board but not going onto it and then went onstage before getting escorted out by security. (Meep!)
And then, I was going to go watch something on Japanese cooking, but the room was nearly overflowing, so I sat in the back of most of the “Writer’s Block” panel instead, then went and found Aaron. (I should have just gone to one of the anime screenings… :( ) Still, I got a few good ideas out of it… like comparing characters to elements on the periodic table! *giggles*
At that point, twas dinnertime. Sooooo… Aaron and I headed out to check out the dinner lines at nearby restaurants. Tim Horton’s looked fairly low, so we headed in there. We ended up just behind a Vash. Which is apparently hilarious, but I’ve never seen Trigun and know very little about it except for the fact that it’s where Vash is from. Sooo… add that to the series I need to see, I guess.
It was a hot day. My meal was chili, tea, and a Danish. …yeah.
After that, we went to a convenience store to see if they stocked pocky. They didn’t. So I headed to the hotel to line up for the Masquerade, while Aaron went off to get himself some basic chocolate pocky. The line started at the end of a hallway, and went about halfway up it. At first, I didn’t believe it was the lineup and went all the way up to the front (stopping to compliment a Klarth Lester) before figuring it out and getting in line. I was just beyond one set of doors, and they pushed everyone beyond them outside, so I was leaning on a glass door when Aaron found me.
And thus started the wait.
And we waited. And waited. And waited.
The line moved up a little, but this was mostly because the people in charge kept on trying to get as close to each other as possible so as many people could be inside as possible. However, by the time I had moved even somewhat inside, the line was already going around the outside area and was probably almost the same size as the line inside… so to get everyone in would be an impossibility. (proof)
I was standing two groups behind a Yachiru (which excited me because of SHRP, I’ve still never seen more than 2 episodes of Bleach), and in front of a Link. Didn’t talk to the Yachiru at all, really… but oh well.
I must say, the people who were assigned to looking after the line were a little too assertive. They were like STAND UP! WE WILL MOVE YOU TO THE BACK IF WE SEE YOU SITTING!!! And yelled at us when we hadn’t smooshed foreword more… I didn’t have anywhere to go foreword!
The funny thing was… after STAND UP! STAND UP!!! Etc…. they came along and went…
“EVERYBODY! SIT DOWN!!!”
That was hilarious. By then, we were standing three by three, shoulder to shoulder and pretty close to one another… but there still was pretty decent sitting room for some reason. @_@
The reason we had to sit was because there was a child missing… and it confused a lot of people walking by because they thought just the people in line were supposed to sit down, but EVERYONE not wearing a yellow vest was supposed to… ^^;;;
Soooo… we waited more. I started talking to Link and his family. He and his wife were there with their little girl… she was probably around 8-10. And she was dressed in this cute, soft thing… I ended up glomping and hugging her a few times while we were waiting. I also taught her the hand jive. @_@ It turns out they were here from Ottawa. Which was cool. Talking to them made the whole wait in line a whole lot more tolerable.
And then, we got to stand again. All of our feet were rested, and I continued talking to those people, so it was pretty good. The little girl really wanted to sit with me, so we ended up sitting together. And eating pizza pretz. ^^;
So… The Masquerade finally started. Or rather, the preshow did. At about… 8:00. The thing should have started an hour and a half beforehand, give or take. @_@
The preshow was the 404s. So I was happy. They played a few games including “Sound Effects” (It was set in a war trench… they threw a grenade and the sound effect was “Happy new year!!!” @_@), “Subtitles” (uploaded here) “Whose Line” (it was set in a bubble tea shop… the first thing on the menu list was the line I had put in the night before… “Will you bear my child?” *giggles* (you can watch here ^^)) and “Scenes from a hat” (lots of random things. =3 Yes, I think the yaoi room got mentioned… again. @_@). Then the host guy (who is the leader of the 404s) got changed into his costume (the little personal computer from Chobits. @_@) and they played “Let’s make a date”. That was fun! ^^
And then the masquerade started. First the kids (who got their own cute awards), and then the adults. It seems as if someone uploaded all the acts here… and some highlights are this and this, and, you know, a lot of other stuff.
So, we watched the show… I managed to nearly give myself a concussion by facepalming repeatedly when the crowd started cheering for entry #69 when the number was announced. The girl beside me asked her mom why everyone was cheering… her mom said to ask her again in 10 years.
The show ended not too long after that. Many people stayed for the evening events… (stuff went until 3:00 I think… and that’s if it stayed on schedule!), but Aaron and I decided to call it a night and headed back to home base for sleep.
SUNDAY
And then, there was Sunday. The final day of the con. The day that ended earliest, and had the least amount of things that went me go ZOMG I WANT TO GO!!, though it was far from being boring. ^_^
The day started at 10:00, with the Nan Yan Project’s anime improv. Basically, it was improv being done by the panel, and whoever showed up. Since it was so early… not a ton of people were there… but it was fun and they had candy. I ended up being onstage… a lot. I just kept on volunteering since improv is fun and I love doing it. We mostly played “whose line”, with a little bit of “Party Quirks”. If I were running it, I would have changed a few things I think… but all in all it was good.
After, we were heading over to the dealer’s room when we passed by where some people were signing autographs. There were basically no lineups, so I went and got Colleen Clickenbeard and Jeff Nimoy’s autographs. ^^ I would have gotten Sonny Strait’s too, but he wasn’t there right then. :(
So… we went to the dealer’s room. Except… (I think it was then…) there was a lockdown. Again. But this time in the dealer’s room area. >.< So we had to wait outside (not locked down, but unable to enter where we wanted to go) until THAT was cleared up.
So… we finally got in. I was going to get the Azumanga Dioh boxset for $60, but it was sold out. There was a place that was selling it for $67, but I only had $65. (Boo just being short!!!) Aaron volunteered to loan me money, but I decided to wait another year or however long it takes and get a Kumagoro plushie and the Spirited Away soundtrack instead. Oh, and the cutest picture of Ed and Al (from the FMA movie) hugging. It’s the one thing that’s not in the movie, I swear. So I was sooo happy to be able to find a REALLY NICE fanart of it.
Afterwards, we headed to the Mississauga room (in which I spent far too much of the weekend, I swear!) to attend a panel with three of the guests (Colleen Clickenbeard, Jeff Nimoy, and Keith Burgess) going over what it’s like to be both an actor and a person working behind the scenes as director, writer, producer, etc. It was really interesting. And Anime improv was RIGHT after!!!
The very first game was questions only. They got 6 people up… and guess who was one of them!!! A guy dressed as Naruto!! Oh, and also me. :P
The theme was pirates. (Which was ironic, saying as Naruto, a NINJA was up there… >.>) I was the last person on my side to go up. This was intentional on my part because… as we all know… once I get up there, I hardly EVER go down. Not with the questions only game! So… when I went up, the first thing I did was introduce the secret brotherhood of ninja-pirates (or was it pirate-ninjas?). In the form of a question of course. I got laughs and applause for that. ^^ I beat that person, and then Naruto came back up. Earlier in the game he was pretending to be blind by having his headband down over his eyes (“Can’t you tell that I’m deaf in my right ear?” “Can’t you see I’m BLIND?!” LOL), and was still like that. He asked me about the brotherhood, and we went back and forth with questions. We went from where the hq was to… something about if we were fighting. The last two lines went went… something like this.
Me: Wouldn’t you be able to hear the cannons going off if we were at war?
Him: We have CANNONS?!?!?!
The audience then burst out into laughter and applause. I actually had a comeback (“What would you call those?”), but they buzzed the game as over at that point, thus ending on a high note. I still don’t consider that a loss though! :P
Plus, because I was up there, I got a nifty 404s pin. ^^ *insert happy dance (that strangely resembles Luna’s from Lunar :P) here*
Lots more games, laughs, and awesomeness followed. They asked for a theme one time, and I said “Magic Girl”, and they used it. So they had a bunch of guys up there doing a magic girl scene. It was awesome. The guy who did the “Happy New Year” thing in “sound effects” Saturday night tried to get back up to do another game, but people from the audience recognized him and so they picked someone else who hadn’t done stuff with them before. More people to get nifty 404s pins and such. ^^
So, after that awesomeness, it was time to eat. For me, that meant pizza from the little booth that they had set up in part of the hotel. Overpriced, but still relatively cheap. Aaron had two hotdogs instead, I think. ^^ And then… then came the next weird thing of the day.
I wanted to go to the Family Feud event. A lot of people did. Aaron was coming with me. But… the area around there was blocked off. We were told that if we went another way, we would be allowed in. So we went… and… no dice. They thought, if anything, we would be able to come in the way we tried first, but they couldn’t let us in there. Another mini-lockdown. The people that wanted to go to the panel couldn’t get in, and the people there for the panel before it couldn’t get out (the guests who were there were smart and had an impromptu autograph session, I think… at least that’s what it looked like!). I think it was for medical purposes this time… someone had a heat stroke or something?
Anyway… one good thing came out of it. I met a woman dressed as a black-haired Hermione. She had been to all 10 Anime North’s. Her name was Claire. ^^
So… after ANOTHER wait, we were let in. And the people there were free to go their merry way.
This Family Feud event was being run by the 404s. The first thing they did after setting up was choose two teams. Cosplayers vs non-cosplayers. I tried to get on the non-cosplaying team, but didn’t get chosen. They had some technical difficulties when trying to start the game, and so to buy time, they asked for a volunteer from the audience, which ended up being me. The guy (I forget his name… but he’s from Oshawa) asked me if I wanted to play Questions Only with him, and who was I to refuse such an offer? (I mean… it’s only my favourite game and the one I happen to be best at!) We played it set in a restaurant… or a teahouse or something. I won. And then I played up against the guy who is the fearless leader of the 404s. It got stopped before either of us could defeat the other, but apparently Aaron thought I was going to win. (Whether or not I would have will forever be unknown, but I hope he’s right. :P) By then, everything was fixed, and they played round one. The non-cosplayers won.
I think it was while they were setting up for the second round that they got a few more people up to play an improv game. Change, I think. They asked for a pet, and I suggested a bunny. And they did it with bunnies. *insert proud, happy C-chan*
For the next round, they needed a new team. I volunteered again, and this time I got on! So did the Naruto from the Questions Only Game earlier!! (I commented to him that he wasn’t blind anymore… :P). They asked us for a team name, and since two of us were carrying Kumagoro plushies, I suggested team Kuma. Team Kuma it was!
We lost, partially because of me mispronouncing kawaii. T_T (IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!!!!) But I got a cute little keychain of a girl wearing a kimono. It was awesome.
And in the final round… which was 2 of the non-cosplaying team going for the five questions (lightening round or whatever it’s called… the place where they go for the grand prize on the show…) both of the people were bad at it. >.>
But much fun was had by all. ^^
After that, I went and signed an Anime North banner and got a smiley face sticker for my con badge, which I put across from my masquerade sticker. (C-chan’s con badge = love!)
After that, we hung out on the second floor near the main room where the masquerade and everything else was, waiting for the closing ceremonies to begin. It, like just about every other big event at the con, started late. I ended up meeting/talking to some people, including the guy who owned the Genma Satome costume that I had seen the first day on display. Turns out he is a recent graduate of the music program at UofT. (Go us TOFU kids!!!!) He wore that costume for a few years apparently. He was pretty short. We talked about musicals. Especially Les Mis, and a few ALW ones. Possibly Wicked as well. Then there was a stupid stunt where some guys made a castle out of plastic cups and then knocked it over, and one guy hit his head and went unconscious and had a seizure (you can see the beginning of it on that video… >.>)
So… at long last, there was closing ceremonies. All the guests that were still there went up and said hello, or rather, goodbye. Most said how much they liked the con, (including one of the Japanese guests of honour), with the notable exception of Jeff Nimoy and… I think Quinton Flynn, who said “Yaoi” instead. :P
After that, we watched a nice little AMV made for the closing of the con, which was to the song “So long and thanks for all the fish” from “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. I fell in love with the song immediately.
And then it was over. There was a HUGE cake to celebrate, in which all that were left partook.
More talking to random people followed, and then Aaron and I went back to his place, where I waited for my parents to come and pick me up, taking me back home and away from the awesomeness that was my very first anime convention: Anime North, 2006.
In short, I AM NO LONGER A CON VIRGIN! HUZZAH!!!
3 best things about the weekend:
1)Anime Improv
2) Cosplay conga line
3) Masquerade, and the people I met there.
3 worst thing about the weekend:
1) The lineups
2) The people in the yellow vests when they were yelling at the rest of us, as well as the lack of communication between volunteers and staff
3) Lockdowns
5 things I should do next year if (I can):
1) Cosplay
2) Bring more money
3) Earlybird group registration
4) Volunteer
5) Choose meeting places and times with whomever I’m going with no matter if we plan to stick together or not
3 things I wanted to buy, but didn’t (and will try for next year)
1) Azumanga Dioh box set
2) Movie!Ed plushie (there were practically none there, but hopefully there will next year, since the movie will be out in North America by then)
3) That pic of the two Als (which I probably won’t be able to find… T_T, but if I can, IT IS MINE!!!!)
Final thoughts: I’m glad I finally had a chance to go. So many awesome events, so many cool things that I would love to buy/own, so many memories. I hope everyone else had as much of an awesome time as me! ^^
What Cosplay Type Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
Or in what will hopefully be my case soon… school boy (Go Momiji!!!)
What Anime Emoticon Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
^^
Yay stick figures!!!
Random fact: This write-up is 11 pages long on Microsoft Word, in Times New Roman size 12 font. It is around 5150 words. (AKA, this thing is loooong, in case you haven’t already noticed. For a journal entry at least. For a writeup... I've done longer. :P)
But that wouldn’t make much of an lj-entry, and people would get mad. Or, at least, would be bombarded with people asking, “What happened? Why was it such pure awesomeness?” So, I won’t.
I’ll warn you, this was written over a couple months, because C-chan started and then forgot to finish… again. When I started this, I was on something akin to a post-camp high. (Which was good because I ended up not going to any camps this year… ^^;) So if I seem a little ^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^ -ish, that’s why. And if I seem less energetic at the end, that’s… also why. >.>
But… without further ado, C-chan’s super fun happy awesome wow write-up of the Anime North 2006 weekend!!!!! (oooh, aaaaaaah).
FRIDAY
I think I shall start with Friday morning. Why? Because I can.
I woke up that morning, having done my laundry the night before, but not having packed anything. And not in a great mood either, due to one or two small things (don’t ask). Sooo… the morning and early afternoon was spent packing and doing one or two random things (like talking with people online… :S), washing my hair and eating breakfast and lunch.
My aunt and cousin came at around 3:30. My aunt talked with my mom and Aaron and I started discussing things anime and Anime North related. And then we left, a good 15 minutes later. Aaron and I talked anime and X-men the whole way up.
We had spaghetti in alfredo sauce (with chunks of pork!), salad and bruchetta, and then it was time to go!
Sooo… we drove there. Only about 20 minutes… it always felt like less. But then, I’m used to 20 minutes being a short car ride. I’m too used to ones that are over an hour.
When there, at about 6:30 or 7:00-ish, we got in line to register (or validate our pre-registration... whatever). The line was out the door and we couldn’t see where it ended. I was about to call Victoria and tell here that we were there (but in a long line), when she saw Aaron and I, walked up and said hi. And gave me a fan. The line was a lot shorter than Aaron had thought, going in a much earlier door, and we were inside and registered without too much of a wait. (Half an hour, maybe?)
The entire time that she was there, Victoria and I were giggling back and forth and sharing inside jokes. (Peepl in lins go wooooo?)
After getting registered, we went in the dealer’s room. Victoria had already been in there, and had bought a FMA pocketwatch. It was cool, but I wouldn’t have bought it myself because the writing was raised rather than engraved and I’m a stickler for details. :P
Aaron bought one or two things, and I didn’t get anything. Then we went to the artist’s alley, and Aaron took off without telling us. I was a little scared/paranoid, but it all worked out. Victoria and I looked around more, saw an awesome chocobo costume and Genma Satome costume in the gallery room. I saw an adorable picture of the two FMA Als (Elric and Heiderich) in Artist’s Alley I should have bought but didn’t and never saw again, but oh well.
We went to the FMA guest slam after that… ran into Aaron again there. :P And we sat and listened and I asked a few questions to the two panelists, Colleen Clickenbeard (Riza Hawkeye and Rose), and Sonny Strait (HUUUUUUUGHES!!!). It was in the Mississauga Room. I was in there a LOT over the weekend.
Sonny Strait (Hughes) is playing Alter!Hughes in the movie. I’m happy. ^^ (I just wish I had asked who was playing Heiderich… >.<)
Aaron went off to the AMV contest after that, and Victoria and I went to the Nominoichi (basically an anime garage sale…). There was some cool stuff… I picked up two things… spent $9 in all.
We went to the Pokemon festival after that. I coloured in a picture of Hello Kitty, and we saw James with boobs. @_@
(In other words… there are episodes of Pokemon that did not get aired due to content. In this one, Misty ends up entering a beauty contest. Team Rocket is also in it, in disguise as always. James has a HUGE BREAST. It was… odd… but cool. ^^;)
Victoria left after that, and I went to Anime Improv session #1. Lots of yaoi. Lots of slightly adult humour (this was their more adult show). Lots of insane random craziness. I think they took one or two of my suggestions! ^_______^ It was pure awesomeness. They were giving away buttons to anyone who lent them something for a sketch or came onstage, and you could also buy one for $1. I didn’t get one that day, (I volunteered for stuff but wasn’t chosen,) but I vowed to have one by the end of the weekend.
I was sitting next to an Ed cosplayer with kitty ears. She’s an artist, and was fun to talk to. ^_^ And it was fun watching all the different games… I wish I could have played along with some of them… that would have been fun. But yesh. The last game was “scenes from a hat”. And the last scene was “Things to do with peanut butter and jelly”. #1 “It’s peanut butter jelly time!!!” (dance and all) #2 (and 3?) what are those people (or those boys) doing there with the peanut butter and jelly? Then… finally… “Here’s the peanut butter… *pretends to slather one side of a guy with peanut butter* “Here’s the jelly… *slathers the other side of the guy with jelly*” “Where’s the bread? *is jumped by everyone else*” Twas love indeed. ^^
I got to meet Pan-chan right after that, up near where the AMV show and Nominoichi were being held. She was dressed as Naruto. She was nice, but unfortunately a little short on vocal chords. I got my picture taken with her (she asked after I got her autograph… ^^). Yay for TOFU-based anime fans on all 3 campuses!!! (TOFU = U of T. *nodnod* And while I’m at it, CUTS = UTSC and a red line = Erindale. nods more). Especially short ones!!!! ^_~
I caught the awards ceremony for the AMV festival (but didn’t see any AMVs T_T) and then met up with Aaron. It was either go to the Witch Hunter Robin panel or go home and attempt to be up in time to be there for 10:00 on Saturday, so we chose the latter and called home, getting picked up not too much later and ending the first day of my Anime North experience.
SATURDAY
I woke up at 8:00 on Saturday morning. Sleep didn’t come overly easily to me the night before, but it was more on and off than tossing and turning. It was the same both nights actually… I think it was just me not being used to that bed or whatever. But I was refreshed by morning anyway, and that’s what’s important. ^^
So… Aaron and I had breakfast, and then we were off once again.
Let me just say that Saturday was the day of the LINE.
We started off in the Dealer’s room. Aaron and I separated and then met up… he bought a few more things (and blew most of the rest of his budget), and I scouted out a few things I was interested in. After that, we went to line up to get stickers so that we could go to the Masquerade. It looked like it would have taken a lot longer than it ended up being, so that was good. ^_^
I went and got lunch during that line thing… it’s good to travel with a partner or more for exactly that reason! ^^ I volunteered to get food for him, but he wasn’t hungry yet.
So… after we got our stickers, we went to a panel on Anime’s influence on Canadian culture. Which wasn’t bad… but kind of got stuck on a few issues (such as how kids copy what they see on TV) and I would have liked to see more discussion on a few other things (such as how it affects those of us over the age of 12). Buuuuuuuuut meh.
After that, I went to the BEST LINE OF ALL!!!!!!!! AKA, the cosplay conga line (cosplay liked, but not required). Why did I go, because it sounded cool and I was like =3. Aaron was like… “that’s not for me”. So we agreed to meet up at 5-ish and went our own separate ways.
The conga line was FUN!!!!!
I was behind these two boys, both of whom were short… one was dressed as… erm… someone from Naruto and the other in a school uniform. I think both were last-minute costumes, but they were cute nonetheless. (Hey! Most costumes are either cool or cute. Unless they really look like you didn’t try, like making glasses out of lined paper. *nods*) There was a Mario and Luigi not too far ahead, and a group of girls behind me.
It took a little while for the conga line to start… everyone got free leis and necklaces and stuffs… (I got a lei, necklace, and party blower noise maker thingy) and we all talked and joked and had fun. Then we started.
For the first little while, we all expected music. But none came. So we blew our party blowers and started going, more walking than conga-ing, but in a conga line nonetheless. But then, a group of us decided to start singing the conga song. So we did. And danced to it too! That went on for a while… we would sing it and then stop, then sing it then stop. And then… someone (I think me ^^; ) had the idea to start singing random well-known anime themesongs. We sang Pokemon (twice!), Digimon, Cardcaptors, Sailor Moon, the Mario song… I think I may be missing one or two. But it was love. ^_^
It took about half an hour to get from the back of the hotel to inside the convention center. Yes, that included crossing a road. We held up traffic, and STILL ended up having to break up the conga line in order to get everyone across. And us in the first half ended up stopping so that the second half could join up again. When we got in, everyone cheered.
Oh, and if you want to see part of the fun, it’s here. (PS: I’m singing pretty loudly… ^_~)
I had a bit of time before the next thing I planned to attend, so I went to the Dealer’s Room, which was right there anyway, and got this CD pack. ^_________^
After that, I headed out for anime chess, bumping into one of my conga buddies beforehand. It wasn’t scripted, so it wasn’t pure awesomeness, but it was still good. The king on one side was really short (shorter than the Ed cosplayer next to her (dressed as a him) )! The other king was Sloth. AKA Ed and Al’s mom. @_@ And Momiji (the Anime North mascot, not the cute little Fruits Basket boy) was a pawn! Twas cool. And I ended up sitting near Mario and Luigi and their group for that, and we sang the meow mix theme at one point. Apparently I know the song better than anyone else there though… @_@
The only BAD thing about the chess match was that one guy decided to come onto the board, and then was told to get off, then came back staying right BESIDE the board but not going onto it and then went onstage before getting escorted out by security. (Meep!)
And then, I was going to go watch something on Japanese cooking, but the room was nearly overflowing, so I sat in the back of most of the “Writer’s Block” panel instead, then went and found Aaron. (I should have just gone to one of the anime screenings… :( ) Still, I got a few good ideas out of it… like comparing characters to elements on the periodic table! *giggles*
At that point, twas dinnertime. Sooooo… Aaron and I headed out to check out the dinner lines at nearby restaurants. Tim Horton’s looked fairly low, so we headed in there. We ended up just behind a Vash. Which is apparently hilarious, but I’ve never seen Trigun and know very little about it except for the fact that it’s where Vash is from. Sooo… add that to the series I need to see, I guess.
It was a hot day. My meal was chili, tea, and a Danish. …yeah.
After that, we went to a convenience store to see if they stocked pocky. They didn’t. So I headed to the hotel to line up for the Masquerade, while Aaron went off to get himself some basic chocolate pocky. The line started at the end of a hallway, and went about halfway up it. At first, I didn’t believe it was the lineup and went all the way up to the front (stopping to compliment a Klarth Lester) before figuring it out and getting in line. I was just beyond one set of doors, and they pushed everyone beyond them outside, so I was leaning on a glass door when Aaron found me.
And thus started the wait.
And we waited. And waited. And waited.
The line moved up a little, but this was mostly because the people in charge kept on trying to get as close to each other as possible so as many people could be inside as possible. However, by the time I had moved even somewhat inside, the line was already going around the outside area and was probably almost the same size as the line inside… so to get everyone in would be an impossibility. (proof)
I was standing two groups behind a Yachiru (which excited me because of SHRP, I’ve still never seen more than 2 episodes of Bleach), and in front of a Link. Didn’t talk to the Yachiru at all, really… but oh well.
I must say, the people who were assigned to looking after the line were a little too assertive. They were like STAND UP! WE WILL MOVE YOU TO THE BACK IF WE SEE YOU SITTING!!! And yelled at us when we hadn’t smooshed foreword more… I didn’t have anywhere to go foreword!
The funny thing was… after STAND UP! STAND UP!!! Etc…. they came along and went…
“EVERYBODY! SIT DOWN!!!”
That was hilarious. By then, we were standing three by three, shoulder to shoulder and pretty close to one another… but there still was pretty decent sitting room for some reason. @_@
The reason we had to sit was because there was a child missing… and it confused a lot of people walking by because they thought just the people in line were supposed to sit down, but EVERYONE not wearing a yellow vest was supposed to… ^^;;;
Soooo… we waited more. I started talking to Link and his family. He and his wife were there with their little girl… she was probably around 8-10. And she was dressed in this cute, soft thing… I ended up glomping and hugging her a few times while we were waiting. I also taught her the hand jive. @_@ It turns out they were here from Ottawa. Which was cool. Talking to them made the whole wait in line a whole lot more tolerable.
And then, we got to stand again. All of our feet were rested, and I continued talking to those people, so it was pretty good. The little girl really wanted to sit with me, so we ended up sitting together. And eating pizza pretz. ^^;
So… The Masquerade finally started. Or rather, the preshow did. At about… 8:00. The thing should have started an hour and a half beforehand, give or take. @_@
The preshow was the 404s. So I was happy. They played a few games including “Sound Effects” (It was set in a war trench… they threw a grenade and the sound effect was “Happy new year!!!” @_@), “Subtitles” (uploaded here) “Whose Line” (it was set in a bubble tea shop… the first thing on the menu list was the line I had put in the night before… “Will you bear my child?” *giggles* (you can watch here ^^)) and “Scenes from a hat” (lots of random things. =3 Yes, I think the yaoi room got mentioned… again. @_@). Then the host guy (who is the leader of the 404s) got changed into his costume (the little personal computer from Chobits. @_@) and they played “Let’s make a date”. That was fun! ^^
And then the masquerade started. First the kids (who got their own cute awards), and then the adults. It seems as if someone uploaded all the acts here… and some highlights are this and this, and, you know, a lot of other stuff.
So, we watched the show… I managed to nearly give myself a concussion by facepalming repeatedly when the crowd started cheering for entry #69 when the number was announced. The girl beside me asked her mom why everyone was cheering… her mom said to ask her again in 10 years.
The show ended not too long after that. Many people stayed for the evening events… (stuff went until 3:00 I think… and that’s if it stayed on schedule!), but Aaron and I decided to call it a night and headed back to home base for sleep.
SUNDAY
And then, there was Sunday. The final day of the con. The day that ended earliest, and had the least amount of things that went me go ZOMG I WANT TO GO!!, though it was far from being boring. ^_^
The day started at 10:00, with the Nan Yan Project’s anime improv. Basically, it was improv being done by the panel, and whoever showed up. Since it was so early… not a ton of people were there… but it was fun and they had candy. I ended up being onstage… a lot. I just kept on volunteering since improv is fun and I love doing it. We mostly played “whose line”, with a little bit of “Party Quirks”. If I were running it, I would have changed a few things I think… but all in all it was good.
After, we were heading over to the dealer’s room when we passed by where some people were signing autographs. There were basically no lineups, so I went and got Colleen Clickenbeard and Jeff Nimoy’s autographs. ^^ I would have gotten Sonny Strait’s too, but he wasn’t there right then. :(
So… we went to the dealer’s room. Except… (I think it was then…) there was a lockdown. Again. But this time in the dealer’s room area. >.< So we had to wait outside (not locked down, but unable to enter where we wanted to go) until THAT was cleared up.
So… we finally got in. I was going to get the Azumanga Dioh boxset for $60, but it was sold out. There was a place that was selling it for $67, but I only had $65. (Boo just being short!!!) Aaron volunteered to loan me money, but I decided to wait another year or however long it takes and get a Kumagoro plushie and the Spirited Away soundtrack instead. Oh, and the cutest picture of Ed and Al (from the FMA movie) hugging. It’s the one thing that’s not in the movie, I swear. So I was sooo happy to be able to find a REALLY NICE fanart of it.
Afterwards, we headed to the Mississauga room (in which I spent far too much of the weekend, I swear!) to attend a panel with three of the guests (Colleen Clickenbeard, Jeff Nimoy, and Keith Burgess) going over what it’s like to be both an actor and a person working behind the scenes as director, writer, producer, etc. It was really interesting. And Anime improv was RIGHT after!!!
The very first game was questions only. They got 6 people up… and guess who was one of them!!! A guy dressed as Naruto!! Oh, and also me. :P
The theme was pirates. (Which was ironic, saying as Naruto, a NINJA was up there… >.>) I was the last person on my side to go up. This was intentional on my part because… as we all know… once I get up there, I hardly EVER go down. Not with the questions only game! So… when I went up, the first thing I did was introduce the secret brotherhood of ninja-pirates (or was it pirate-ninjas?). In the form of a question of course. I got laughs and applause for that. ^^ I beat that person, and then Naruto came back up. Earlier in the game he was pretending to be blind by having his headband down over his eyes (“Can’t you tell that I’m deaf in my right ear?” “Can’t you see I’m BLIND?!” LOL), and was still like that. He asked me about the brotherhood, and we went back and forth with questions. We went from where the hq was to… something about if we were fighting. The last two lines went went… something like this.
Me: Wouldn’t you be able to hear the cannons going off if we were at war?
Him: We have CANNONS?!?!?!
The audience then burst out into laughter and applause. I actually had a comeback (“What would you call those?”), but they buzzed the game as over at that point, thus ending on a high note. I still don’t consider that a loss though! :P
Plus, because I was up there, I got a nifty 404s pin. ^^ *insert happy dance (that strangely resembles Luna’s from Lunar :P) here*
Lots more games, laughs, and awesomeness followed. They asked for a theme one time, and I said “Magic Girl”, and they used it. So they had a bunch of guys up there doing a magic girl scene. It was awesome. The guy who did the “Happy New Year” thing in “sound effects” Saturday night tried to get back up to do another game, but people from the audience recognized him and so they picked someone else who hadn’t done stuff with them before. More people to get nifty 404s pins and such. ^^
So, after that awesomeness, it was time to eat. For me, that meant pizza from the little booth that they had set up in part of the hotel. Overpriced, but still relatively cheap. Aaron had two hotdogs instead, I think. ^^ And then… then came the next weird thing of the day.
I wanted to go to the Family Feud event. A lot of people did. Aaron was coming with me. But… the area around there was blocked off. We were told that if we went another way, we would be allowed in. So we went… and… no dice. They thought, if anything, we would be able to come in the way we tried first, but they couldn’t let us in there. Another mini-lockdown. The people that wanted to go to the panel couldn’t get in, and the people there for the panel before it couldn’t get out (the guests who were there were smart and had an impromptu autograph session, I think… at least that’s what it looked like!). I think it was for medical purposes this time… someone had a heat stroke or something?
Anyway… one good thing came out of it. I met a woman dressed as a black-haired Hermione. She had been to all 10 Anime North’s. Her name was Claire. ^^
So… after ANOTHER wait, we were let in. And the people there were free to go their merry way.
This Family Feud event was being run by the 404s. The first thing they did after setting up was choose two teams. Cosplayers vs non-cosplayers. I tried to get on the non-cosplaying team, but didn’t get chosen. They had some technical difficulties when trying to start the game, and so to buy time, they asked for a volunteer from the audience, which ended up being me. The guy (I forget his name… but he’s from Oshawa) asked me if I wanted to play Questions Only with him, and who was I to refuse such an offer? (I mean… it’s only my favourite game and the one I happen to be best at!) We played it set in a restaurant… or a teahouse or something. I won. And then I played up against the guy who is the fearless leader of the 404s. It got stopped before either of us could defeat the other, but apparently Aaron thought I was going to win. (Whether or not I would have will forever be unknown, but I hope he’s right. :P) By then, everything was fixed, and they played round one. The non-cosplayers won.
I think it was while they were setting up for the second round that they got a few more people up to play an improv game. Change, I think. They asked for a pet, and I suggested a bunny. And they did it with bunnies. *insert proud, happy C-chan*
For the next round, they needed a new team. I volunteered again, and this time I got on! So did the Naruto from the Questions Only Game earlier!! (I commented to him that he wasn’t blind anymore… :P). They asked us for a team name, and since two of us were carrying Kumagoro plushies, I suggested team Kuma. Team Kuma it was!
We lost, partially because of me mispronouncing kawaii. T_T (IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!!!!) But I got a cute little keychain of a girl wearing a kimono. It was awesome.
And in the final round… which was 2 of the non-cosplaying team going for the five questions (lightening round or whatever it’s called… the place where they go for the grand prize on the show…) both of the people were bad at it. >.>
But much fun was had by all. ^^
After that, I went and signed an Anime North banner and got a smiley face sticker for my con badge, which I put across from my masquerade sticker. (C-chan’s con badge = love!)
After that, we hung out on the second floor near the main room where the masquerade and everything else was, waiting for the closing ceremonies to begin. It, like just about every other big event at the con, started late. I ended up meeting/talking to some people, including the guy who owned the Genma Satome costume that I had seen the first day on display. Turns out he is a recent graduate of the music program at UofT. (Go us TOFU kids!!!!) He wore that costume for a few years apparently. He was pretty short. We talked about musicals. Especially Les Mis, and a few ALW ones. Possibly Wicked as well. Then there was a stupid stunt where some guys made a castle out of plastic cups and then knocked it over, and one guy hit his head and went unconscious and had a seizure (you can see the beginning of it on that video… >.>)
So… at long last, there was closing ceremonies. All the guests that were still there went up and said hello, or rather, goodbye. Most said how much they liked the con, (including one of the Japanese guests of honour), with the notable exception of Jeff Nimoy and… I think Quinton Flynn, who said “Yaoi” instead. :P
After that, we watched a nice little AMV made for the closing of the con, which was to the song “So long and thanks for all the fish” from “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. I fell in love with the song immediately.
And then it was over. There was a HUGE cake to celebrate, in which all that were left partook.
More talking to random people followed, and then Aaron and I went back to his place, where I waited for my parents to come and pick me up, taking me back home and away from the awesomeness that was my very first anime convention: Anime North, 2006.
In short, I AM NO LONGER A CON VIRGIN! HUZZAH!!!
3 best things about the weekend:
1)Anime Improv
2) Cosplay conga line
3) Masquerade, and the people I met there.
3 worst thing about the weekend:
1) The lineups
2) The people in the yellow vests when they were yelling at the rest of us, as well as the lack of communication between volunteers and staff
3) Lockdowns
5 things I should do next year if (I can):
1) Cosplay
2) Bring more money
3) Earlybird group registration
4) Volunteer
5) Choose meeting places and times with whomever I’m going with no matter if we plan to stick together or not
3 things I wanted to buy, but didn’t (and will try for next year)
1) Azumanga Dioh box set
2) Movie!Ed plushie (there were practically none there, but hopefully there will next year, since the movie will be out in North America by then)
3) That pic of the two Als (which I probably won’t be able to find… T_T, but if I can, IT IS MINE!!!!)
Final thoughts: I’m glad I finally had a chance to go. So many awesome events, so many cool things that I would love to buy/own, so many memories. I hope everyone else had as much of an awesome time as me! ^^
What Cosplay Type Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
Or in what will hopefully be my case soon… school boy (Go Momiji!!!)
What Anime Emoticon Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
^^
Yay stick figures!!!
Random fact: This write-up is 11 pages long on Microsoft Word, in Times New Roman size 12 font. It is around 5150 words. (AKA, this thing is loooong, in case you haven’t already noticed. For a journal entry at least. For a writeup... I've done longer. :P)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-27 09:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-27 09:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-28 01:15 pm (UTC)What Cosplay Type Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
<.< >.>
... alright, alright! So a I have a thing for non projectile weapons....
@@ verrry long! And yes we must cosplay next year!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-28 02:21 pm (UTC)WE MUST!!!! ^^