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box_of_doomSunday
Sunday was the last day of the con. To say that I was dreading it would be wrong. There was stuff I was looking forward to doing on Sunday. But it was still the last day and that meant going home and that always sucks. Because... no one likes to say goodbye.
But Sunday came, and my body decided to wake up only about half an hour before the alarm this time. Either that, or two hours and I managed to fall back asleep, because I was kind of half-asleep when the alarm went off at 7:30.
Got up, had breakfast, then almost immediately went to start getting ready. I had decided to use the same thing I had yesterday, so I had everything more or less laid out the night before. I was done earlier than the leaving time, again, but I wasn't half as stressed as last time. And yes, it took me nearly 45 minutes to get ready again. >.<
It's a good thing I wasn't edgy, because we actually left a little later on Sunday than we did on Saturday. The ride over was kind of sad for me, knowing it would be my last for the convention.
First thing I did upon arrival was to go buy new batteries for my camera. Second thing was to check the list of award winners for the masquerade on the masq office's door. Didn't look like Victoria and I had won anything, but oh well.
Aaron thought that the Nan Yan Super Happy Funtime Show (AKA improv done for the people by the people) was supposed to start at 10:30, and so he headed over there right away. My first sign that he was wrong was finding him resting in a chair on my way to where it was. I let him rest and continued on. The room, which should have had an Air Gear panel in it if not the Nan Yan, was completely empty, so I went and watched the end of Anime Family Feud. The audience knew some of the answers better than the contestants, I think... but the team that won the game also won the bonus round, so all was good. ^_^ They got free random DVDs! I hope they liked their prizes. ^_^
After that was a waiting game. But then Nan Yan arrived right at 11, so all was good.
The group relied on "random lines" for the improv game for the entire hour, with audience members coming up when they wanted, and taking part in different scenes. A lot of the same people from last year were back in the audience again, mainly one group of girls and I. Nan Yan recognized me, and them too, I think. There was also one of the Nekozawas from the previous day there, if I remember correctly.
The first two rounds were done by the Nan Yan people, but the rest were almost exclusively done by the audience. I suggested a Ranma 1/2 scene for one of the first two, and they did it, but I got the names Kagome and Akane mixed up, and couldn't think of the latter. So... I suggested Ranma and Shampoo instead. =P Actually... I messed up names a few times. T_T I got up numerous times to take part myself, and got to be numerous characters. Naruto was the most popular show, but I don't think I had to play anyone from there once. My first role was Kagura from Fruits Basket, which I did with a disgruntled Kyon-kyon. I got to try to woo him (well, her) while in a jungle, and more or less fangirling over him. And the wild boars gave me/Kagura baby-talk with which to woo him. Later, I got to be Tamaki dealing with a pained Optomus Prime (which was.... interesting), and ***ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG*** *cough cough* trying to teach Edward Elric how to teach alchemy to children. For that skit, like with a few of the other ones, they purposely cast it backwards to what it should have been. So, my Ed was a bigger built guy with little hair. =P But I had a TON of fun being him. And for the one where I was Tamaki, we were originally supposed to do DBZ, but neither me or the other guy up there knew the series well at all, so we didn't. =P I also also got to be Kou! Someone suggested Digimon and I'm like "CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?" and they're like "Sure!" and the other girl had pink streaks in her hair so she was Mimi. And that was cute. And we were in love but our digimon didn't like each other. Too bad I didn't have Lauren with me... ^^;
I think I'm forgetting one or two people that I was, but it was good all around.
Some of the other highlights were two guys doing Jesse and James from Team Rocket (they were AWESOME! The guy who was my Ed was Jesse, and the guy who was Optomis Prime had a rose, so he was James), and a girl and a guy doing Megabyte coming out of the closet to Hexadecimal. The girl playing Hex did a GREAT job... she used her top hat to sweep across her face and change expressions, freezing it in them between sweeps like Hex and her masks. So awesome. ^_^ Another group did Yuugi and Yami trying to clean Yuugi's soul room. At one point, Yuugi changed into Yami and started imitating the first Yami's mannerisms so we had two Yamis and THAT was aweosme too. (Also, Yami describing the difference between the rooms... "Yours is a pigsty! And mine is a terribly confusing laberynth, but SPOTLESS!" and all of us in the audience spewing out Abridged Series lines.... "In America!" "I'm not gay... I'm British!")
The very last thing that we did was a mass thing with everyone who wanted to going up and taking part. With that many of us, we decided to do the Sohma clan. We had Tohru (a boy... hee hee!), Yuki, Kyo, Rin, Kagura, Momiji, Hatori, Ayame... and Akito I think. I... was Momiji. Not that this should be any surprise to anyone. (Honey == Momiji. *nodnod*) We got a group shot afterwards of all of us Sohmas. It was very amusingly fun. ^_^
At that point, it was noon. I was debating between going to the Yakitate Japan! Panel or not, but I ended up not. Instead, Aaron and I headed over to Artist's Alley. I went to get the things that I promised Victoria to pick up, but they were apparently completely sold out of twins. T_T So I was sad, and didn't get them.
Aaron and I went inside the Dealer's room at that point... Aaron with a list of stuff that Becky wanted, me with a list of one thing I was looking for for Victoria, one thing I was looking for for myself, and a nice amount of money in my wallet. (I had over half of my budget left going into Sunday).
I looked around for the best deals on Azumanga Dioh DVDs, and Mori plushies. After asking, however, it was confirmed that Mori plushies... DO NOT EXIST. I was very sad. And thus, Honey was doomed to be lonely for the rest of the day. (Where's my Takashi?) (For that matter, was anyone even cosplaying as Takashi on Sunday at AN?)
I also found out that the $40 Azumanga boxsets were sold out. And a lot of the other places were more expensive. REALLY more expensive. I ended up finding a place that was only selling them for $5 more though (well, it said $50 but everything was $5 off, so it was $45 overall). So I got the box set there. I was contemplating getting an Al pillow or half of the CCS series manga (non-sequential... I would have gotten it if it was sequential), but ended up getting neither. I did, however, get the first volume of Fruits Basket, since someone was selling it for $5, and it's usually 2-3 times that.
Also, while wandering around, two of the Nan Yan girls came up to me separately to give me hall cosplay ribbons, saying that my costume was very cute. The first time, I was like "@.@ but I was in the masq. Doesn't that mean I can't get one?" (no, I didn't say "at period at"... >.>) But the girl was like "Take it." So... I got a hall cosplay ribbon ZOMG YAY!!!! And then for the second one I said I already had one and she was like "good." ...I should have taken it and given it to Victoria. T_T
I ran into Aaron a few times while we were shopping, and took a photo or two more of random cosplayers (including a Nekozawa with GREEN HAIR! Which is canon and thus VERY AWESOME (Good, good, very good?)). When I joined up with Aaron last, he was buying a few DVDs. He actually ended up getting the Tales of Symphonia OVA. Which I'm gonna have to borrow from him or buy my own copy of, because I've seen that thing online and it is LOVE. Maybe because I'm a Klarth Lester fangirl thanks to a certain RP that I'm in that used to have Klarth as a boy my Kou's age.... *shifty eyes*
After that, Aaron decided that he wanted to get a hat. He looked at a few, and ended up getting a panda one. It was kinda cute and fit him one.
From there, we headed out of the dealer's room for the last time of the weekend. I almost turned around and got an Al pillow, but didn't. We went to Artist's Alley, and Aaron went to look at bookmarks while I wandered around again. The place with the little Ouran pairs pics had the twins again (finally!) and so I bought a set for Victoria, and then was like "what the heck..." and got a set for myself too. They're SO KYUUUUTE!!!
Right after that... my AN tag broke. The pin ripped right off of it. So I went over to the Con help desk and they put my tag in a new case and stapled it in (not as nicely as it was originally, but it works... ^^;). So that turned out ok. And then... I went to the con memorabilia table to see what there was. I talked to the guy working there, and it turns out that his daughter lives in my subdivision! So... someone working for Anime North knew where Brooklin was, while people representing Northern Anime Festival in OSHAWA did not. I find this really ironic. I really do. I bought an Anime North mug for $15. I am drinking tea out of it right now. It's cute. Apparently, he had been asked to make something like that for the guests, and the people in charge liked them enough that they asked him to design one for selling to the con goers as well. It is kinda cute and... it just works. ^_^
So... with my latest purchase safely tucked away, Aaron and I set off to get lunch at the hotel's little booth. They were out of pizza, so we both got hot dogs. And then we learned that we had, like, ten minutes left before the 404s' last show! So... we ate our hot dogs, and headed off (me ahead of him).
While in line, one of the Tamakis found me. Except, he wasn't Tamaki anymore... he had been YAOIFIED!!! (That is the only word I had for it then, and still the only word I have for it now... and was backed up by the paddle that I do believe he was holding. =P) He said he hadn't been, that he was already a fan of yaoi. I tried to explain that I didn't mean it quite like that and it wasn't a bad thing at all... it was just... *giggles*. He actually looked kind of cute. ^_~
The one thing about going to the 404s show was that it meant I had to miss the Ouran panel... and I was dressed as a certain loli-shota type that day... ^^; But the 404s show was great. Before it started, the Greed and friends from Saturday (the ones who had been like "they should go in!" at the café and had been in front of us) showed up... and I waved them over and they sat right with me. It was great seeing them again, they were a nice group. (I'm saying everyone was nice, I know. But everyone was nice!) We wrote ideas for scenes, and passed them in from our spots in the second row on stage right. (For Saturday and Sunday, they had the improv show set up as a theatre-in-the-round situation in the centre of the room. I was on stage left and in front on Saturday, and now I was on stage right. Trust me... this setup was MUCH nicer than the one on Friday where most people couldn't see much of the playing area. ^^;
Aaron came, and he sat on the other side of me to the group. And the games began. They had two special guests this time: Stephanie Sheh (who is very short and cute and energetic), and Patrick Seitz (who is much taller, and also very energetic!). They did some sketches including them, and some without. One that they did with them was Every Other Line, which they did in a fish and chips shop. One of the boys (JJ) came to my side of the room to pick up mangas, and someone had Fake again. and he was like "Ooh! Fake!" and grabbed it. And I laughed. And Aaron laughed. And Patrick was the one that got it. And his facial reactions were about the same as the guy from the night before who actually came up beside him and was like "I know... I know". It was awesome. And the two were good at taking on characters in the different games they did. ^_^ Patrick always messed up his hair though... ^^; For this game, Stephanie put her hair in a side ponytail. It worked rather well for her part. ^^
The lines from the managa actually worked together surprisingly well this time. The two VAs (the ones with the books) were actually able to do a few lines off each other and have it make SENSE. XD
They played multiple rounds of "Random Lines", only remembering RIGHT BEFORE the first time that they hadn't filtered out the adult ones from the previous night's show (heh... heh... heh...) For the record, it's a lot of fun hearing "dude, get off, you're doing it wrong" being said at just the right time that it IS completely innocent sounding. *whistles* (You can see what I'm talking about here. Randomly... I'm in the second row in the audience... I'm blurry but I can see me! And go "There's a Ninja Behind the Table"! I soooo want to hear that song now. =P
Another game that was played was "Moving People". I volunteered and the Wrath and co were volunteering me too, and I was chosen! ^_^ So I got to move around one of the guys (Aaron... but not my cousin). Me and the other girl had them high fiving and thumbs up-ing and ninja-chopping and nodding their heads (THAT was fun... "yeeees") all while trying to fix a hole in the ground. Bwahahahahaaa....
They weren't handing out pins this year, but oh well. Just being up there with them was awesomeness enough. ^^
But I forgot to hug them after. T_T Hugs pwn.
They played Arms Expert again, and my question was one of, if not, the first asked: How come people never get attacked during their transformation sequences? That somehow started a trend, and questions relating to magic girls were being asked for the rest of the night. Turns out, the guy WAS a magic girl in his spare time. XD
More games were played, more hilarity ensued. The last game was, of course, Scenes from a Hat. And this time, they had more than enough suggestions. The last one they used was mine: What it's REALLY like behind the scenes with the 404s. The responses went everywhere from kissing to slapping. ^^
And then... that was over. Meaning that there was only half an hour left until closing ceremonies.
On the way out of the room, some more ohimesamas from the previous day told me they had lost their flowers. I would have given them new ones, but I was all out. T_T (Again, next time... MORE FLOWERS WILL BE NEEDED!!!)
Aaron and I headed over to the ballroom, and waited outside for the thing to start. As it was, they allowed people to go in when I was in the bathroom. >.< Buuuut... we made it in time with lots of time and room to spare.
The thing actually started pretty late... compared to when it should have, at least. Before it did, people were sitting around getting bored, so some stalling action was put into place. Someone with a notebook wrote some random things down, and was holding it up in front of the camera so that people could read. It was awesome. And when they ran out of stuff, people demanded more. XD If any video of THAT exists, it would be a great find. ^^
Next for stalling came Stephanie Sheh and Patrick Seitz, the same VAs that had been in the 404s act. They talked to the audience for a bit, Stephanie did Hinata's voice on demand.... and then they got an audience member up to play charades. I forget what the answer was, but it took a little while for someone to figure it out.
By that time, Mark and JJ from the 404s and... Ben Dunn, I think, were there too. Still not the people needed, but enough to play a few games. They did two: One Word Story, and Every Other Line. For One Word Story, Mark and JJ told the story of Ben Dunn and the Magic... (they looked to the audience for suggestions and took mine) School Bus. (Yes, I'm a sucker for the TV shows from my childhood. Shhhhhhh....) In it, Ben ended up giving the kids on his bus alcohol and they gave him weed and then the kids died and he revived them. Yeah. XD For Every Other Line... there was no Fake, but it was still fun to watch.
The Emcee for the closing ceremonies was there by this point, but they still weren't ready to begin, so they played Arms Expert with him. In this game, we found out that Anime North is about the size of a... village? (I would love to find a place with the same population as Anime North... it would be amusing.)
By that time, the REST of the 404s were there. And they were about to play a game together when they found out that stalling time was over... the real closing ceremonies were finally ready to begin. (I was sad... more 404-ness would have been AWESOME.)
The closing ceremonies were rather short. Some of the VAs were there and waved to the crowds, but Ben Dunn was the only one to say anything to the audience about how much he loved it (and how AN was the best con according to his wife now). They played a goodbye AMV at the end... I think it might have been the exact same one from last year. Which kinda saddened me, but ah well. It's a catchy song.
And with that, Anime North 2007 was officially over.
Aaron and I saw that it was still raining, so we called and asked to be picked up by the Doubletree.
On our way to the designated pick-up spot, a guy dressed as Sailor V was like "hi!" and so I talked to him for a bit. I don't know if I'll ever be able to take a guy dressed as a sailor scout completely honestly, (they're so rarely well-done, and it's become more of a joke than anything it seems), but it was nice talking to him nonetheless. We waited and talked a little, and Aunt Arland came and picked us up like we had requested. And so... I left Anime North /07 for the very last time.
After arriving back at their house, I got changed into street clothes and started reorganizing my stuff. I was given Becky's set of Chobits to borrow, and added that to my list of stuff to get packed away. I think I got everything home safely... I haven't noticed one thing that broke or went missing yet!
I had time to eat and watch a bit of Howl's Moving Castle before mom and dad showed up, and then it was time to leave for home.
Random Thoughts and Post-Con Life
As a whole, Anime North 2007 was awesome for me. I had fun meeting new people and doing all sorts of fandom-related things and hopefully people had fun meeting me and doing fandom related things with me too. ^_^
If I had to say one thing that I kind of regret, it's that I didn't go to more panels. I honestly didn't have the time! There were some things that I would have loved to go to, but I was usually either double-booked or ended up at the dealer's room.
But... yeah. A lot of awesome people at an awesome con really sums up my experience. I know that some people had some negative moments with volunteers and staff members, but I didn't at all. It was a con of LOVE AND PEACE (Trigun? What Trigun?) and awesomeness.
The fact that I have three "awesome" stickers only adds to this fact. =P
The pictures that I've seen of the weekend so far are awesome. I've even seen a few videos! Did you know that someone proposed at the con this year?
Congrats to them!
*giggles* That's a pretty cute way to propose, IMHO. Actually... something that would be really awesome is... if both parties were interested in cosplay, actually proposing during the masq, up onstage. I guess it would be pretty humiliating if she said no though. :(
And... yeah. I actually can't think of that much right now that I've missed, so if I DO think of anything, I'll post it here.
I guess one thing is that all through the weekend, I got my Beelzeneff puppet (made by Victoria... it was too small for her and I have small hands) to meet as many other ones as possible. He's probably the most hug-loving Beelzeneff there is. But that was lots of fun.
Since getting home, I've been, admittantly, lazy. I'd guess that most of us have been, though... Anime North (or any anime con) is rather... draining in the long run, because it's go-go-go while you're there. I honestly had NO energy for the first two days. Which made it REALLY fun when mom decided to drag me foodshopping and expected me to know the status on food supplies when I had barely been home in 4 days. >.< Yeaaaahh.....
I haven't started watching any of the stuff I got yet, though I have managed to upload my photos and listen to a good portion of the Wolf's Rain CD (haven't been able to make it all the way through yet for numerous reasons). And... a good amount of time has been spent on this. (It's over the 30-page mark, what do you expect?
Victoria and I actually started on another cosplaying venture yesterday. It looks like, at some point in the future, we're gonna try to do Wolf's Rain. (We'd probably be Toboe and Kiba. Meaning we'd need a Tsume and a Hige at least... and I need to WATCH the series so I can do Tobe well. =P) This, of course, is along with the Digimon and Fruiba cosplays that we need to do sometime in the future as well. >.>
We did, however, pick up the first set of flowers that we plan to use for NAF. We got 50 between the two of us: some pink roses for Honey and some sunflowers for Satoshi. And are gonna be getting a LOT more between now and then. (Mori needs some, Honey needs more... thankfully Yasuchika's not gonna be giving any out (Satoshi giving out sunflowers is gonna annoy him if anything... XD)) So... yeah. Back from one con, and already planning for the next. (We need to learn how to disco dance! STAT!)
I'll probably return to job-hunting next week, which I don't want to do but kind of... have to. Which still sucks. But moneys for university is important.
Speaking of university, I've found out since getting back from the con that 2/3 of us Ouraners in the masquerade go to UofT! Me and my Mori are from UTSC, and the Tamaki/Kyouya pair are from St. George! Go us?
I've been speaking to a few of the people I met at AN over the past couple days, actually. And have been throwing around the idea of trying to do a giant cosplay group next year. (Like... the Sohma clan/Fruiba cast or as many pokemon as we can bring ourselves to do or something,) I doubt it will happen, but if anyone WOULD be interested in doing a big cosplay group (or a nice-sized skit or something)... tell me and I will keep you informed/we can start planning evil plotting stuffs. (bwahahahahahahaaaaaaa)
I've learned some things about the people that I met there too. It's interesting to see where exactly we all came from and such. We anime-lovers are a rather diverse group, aren't we? But we still have a lot in common and are very awesome for it. ^^
Stats and other random stuffs
Things bought at AN
~batteries (2 AAs for camera)
~food (one Harvey's cheeseburger combo, lunch at the Café Nocturne, a hot dog from the hotel)
~Azumanga Dioh box set
~Fanart White Mage!Bakura bookmark
~3 mini-arts of Ouran boys (Honey and Mori, Tamaki and Kyouya, the twins)
~Volume 1 of Fruits Basket manga
~Anime North mug
~pre-reg for NAF
~Digimon: The Movie on DVD
~Wolf's Rain
Things I was GIVEN at AN
~Hall Cosplay award
~3 "Hello, my name is awesome" stickers
~lots of hugs
~free food (mostly sandwiches and water, with a few cookies thrown in)
~2 pages worth of emails of people who want pictures and movies of the Ouran photoshoot as people upload them
~compliments, love, and assurance that I'm "cute" ^_~
~Free "date with Kyouya" points (no, really)
~an awesome time...?
Amount of sleep gotten
Probably around 5-6 hours per night on average
Favourite moment
As I told my mom: Saturday. In general. Especially the photoshoot and the café and the masq. But all in all, Saturday.
Least favourite moment
Leaving. I like AN and it's so sad to have to leave. Sunday feels so subdued compared to the other two days as it is, but leaving is just... sad still.
Number of flowers given away
About 50 between Victoria and myself.
Number of flowers we're gonna need for our next con
......don't even ask. We bought 50 yesterday... we're probably gonna need another 50 at least. Thankfully, dollar stores DO carry nice ones that are pretty cheap. ^^
My only real complaint about the photoshoot
I look like a tomato in half of the pics I've seen this far... I get all blushy far too easily... T_T
taken from the cosplay.com forums....
Who did you cosplay as (If you did): Friday: Koushirou (Izzy) Izumi -- Digimon
Saturday/Sunday: Mistukuni (Honey) Haninozuka -- Ouran High School Host Club
How many days did you attend for: 3, technically 4 (but I only picked up my stuff and then left on Thursday)
Most memorable moment: I honestly don't know. Maybe performing in the masquerade? Our the Ouran photoshoot. Or Cafe Nocturne. Or just wandering around with my Mori giving flowers to ohimesamas and ojisamas. Or the piggyback rides. Definitely something on Saturday though.
Favorite moment: The Ouran photoshoot. Too much love and crack and overall randomness for words.
Most unexpected event/moment: Hideto kissing me on the cheek, and being manhandled back into my chair by my Mori.
Most awkward moment: Having to fix my riding-up tie.
How late did you go to bed on Saturday: about 1:30am, I think.
How much money did you spend: On top of the $35 group pre-reg, there was the $5 movie and $10 CD from the Nominoichi on Friday along with $7.50-ish on food, $12 for the cafe, 50¢ bookmark and $25 pre-reg for NAF on Saturday, then $45 on Azumanga Dioh box set, $5 on Fruits Basket volume 1 of manga, $15 mug, and $5 fanart stuffs.
Sooo.... about $165 all things considered.
Best cosplay you saw at the convention: I have noooo idea. There were so many very pretty ones!
How many pictures and/or videos you took: About 50 pics, no videos.
Least favorite moment/event: running out of batteries for my camera on Saturday night
How far did you travel in order to attend the con: Apparently, it was about 70km. From the east.
Did you attend the masquerade (Participate or watch). Which skit was your favorite: I participated. And my favourite skit was #13: Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart. The Honey was adorable. (nope, nope, not biased at all. Nope, nope....) :P
Did you have a Fun time, or a fuuuuun time : I had a super hyper awesome time! With cherries on top!
How sad/happy were you when the con... *sniff* e-ended: I didn't want it to end. Though a lot of us would be even more sleep deprived if it didn't. T_T
And finally, what did you do when you finally got home from the convention: Went online to talk to my not-at-the-con friends, and compile the mailing list for the Ouran photoshoot.
Any additional stuff you wanna say: I love all of you! The con was great! Thanks to all the staff, panelists, and volunteers for making it so awesome. Thanks to the girls who were in line with us at the cafe for cheering us on and helping us to get in when we didn't have any other time to do so. Thanks to the cafe people for letting us to so. Thanks to the Ouran cosplayers for making our photoshoot the best photoshoot EVER (even if it did never end =P)! And thanks to everyone who said I was cute in my costumes or hugged me and my bunny/Motimon. You really made my weekend that much more special. ^^
Sunday was the last day of the con. To say that I was dreading it would be wrong. There was stuff I was looking forward to doing on Sunday. But it was still the last day and that meant going home and that always sucks. Because... no one likes to say goodbye.
But Sunday came, and my body decided to wake up only about half an hour before the alarm this time. Either that, or two hours and I managed to fall back asleep, because I was kind of half-asleep when the alarm went off at 7:30.
Got up, had breakfast, then almost immediately went to start getting ready. I had decided to use the same thing I had yesterday, so I had everything more or less laid out the night before. I was done earlier than the leaving time, again, but I wasn't half as stressed as last time. And yes, it took me nearly 45 minutes to get ready again. >.<
It's a good thing I wasn't edgy, because we actually left a little later on Sunday than we did on Saturday. The ride over was kind of sad for me, knowing it would be my last for the convention.
First thing I did upon arrival was to go buy new batteries for my camera. Second thing was to check the list of award winners for the masquerade on the masq office's door. Didn't look like Victoria and I had won anything, but oh well.
Aaron thought that the Nan Yan Super Happy Funtime Show (AKA improv done for the people by the people) was supposed to start at 10:30, and so he headed over there right away. My first sign that he was wrong was finding him resting in a chair on my way to where it was. I let him rest and continued on. The room, which should have had an Air Gear panel in it if not the Nan Yan, was completely empty, so I went and watched the end of Anime Family Feud. The audience knew some of the answers better than the contestants, I think... but the team that won the game also won the bonus round, so all was good. ^_^ They got free random DVDs! I hope they liked their prizes. ^_^
After that was a waiting game. But then Nan Yan arrived right at 11, so all was good.
The group relied on "random lines" for the improv game for the entire hour, with audience members coming up when they wanted, and taking part in different scenes. A lot of the same people from last year were back in the audience again, mainly one group of girls and I. Nan Yan recognized me, and them too, I think. There was also one of the Nekozawas from the previous day there, if I remember correctly.
The first two rounds were done by the Nan Yan people, but the rest were almost exclusively done by the audience. I suggested a Ranma 1/2 scene for one of the first two, and they did it, but I got the names Kagome and Akane mixed up, and couldn't think of the latter. So... I suggested Ranma and Shampoo instead. =P Actually... I messed up names a few times. T_T I got up numerous times to take part myself, and got to be numerous characters. Naruto was the most popular show, but I don't think I had to play anyone from there once. My first role was Kagura from Fruits Basket, which I did with a disgruntled Kyon-kyon. I got to try to woo him (well, her) while in a jungle, and more or less fangirling over him. And the wild boars gave me/Kagura baby-talk with which to woo him. Later, I got to be Tamaki dealing with a pained Optomus Prime (which was.... interesting), and ***ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG*** *cough cough* trying to teach Edward Elric how to teach alchemy to children. For that skit, like with a few of the other ones, they purposely cast it backwards to what it should have been. So, my Ed was a bigger built guy with little hair. =P But I had a TON of fun being him. And for the one where I was Tamaki, we were originally supposed to do DBZ, but neither me or the other guy up there knew the series well at all, so we didn't. =P I also also got to be Kou! Someone suggested Digimon and I'm like "CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?CanIbeIzzy?" and they're like "Sure!" and the other girl had pink streaks in her hair so she was Mimi. And that was cute. And we were in love but our digimon didn't like each other. Too bad I didn't have Lauren with me... ^^;
I think I'm forgetting one or two people that I was, but it was good all around.
Some of the other highlights were two guys doing Jesse and James from Team Rocket (they were AWESOME! The guy who was my Ed was Jesse, and the guy who was Optomis Prime had a rose, so he was James), and a girl and a guy doing Megabyte coming out of the closet to Hexadecimal. The girl playing Hex did a GREAT job... she used her top hat to sweep across her face and change expressions, freezing it in them between sweeps like Hex and her masks. So awesome. ^_^ Another group did Yuugi and Yami trying to clean Yuugi's soul room. At one point, Yuugi changed into Yami and started imitating the first Yami's mannerisms so we had two Yamis and THAT was aweosme too. (Also, Yami describing the difference between the rooms... "Yours is a pigsty! And mine is a terribly confusing laberynth, but SPOTLESS!" and all of us in the audience spewing out Abridged Series lines.... "In America!" "I'm not gay... I'm British!")
The very last thing that we did was a mass thing with everyone who wanted to going up and taking part. With that many of us, we decided to do the Sohma clan. We had Tohru (a boy... hee hee!), Yuki, Kyo, Rin, Kagura, Momiji, Hatori, Ayame... and Akito I think. I... was Momiji. Not that this should be any surprise to anyone. (Honey == Momiji. *nodnod*) We got a group shot afterwards of all of us Sohmas. It was very amusingly fun. ^_^
At that point, it was noon. I was debating between going to the Yakitate Japan! Panel or not, but I ended up not. Instead, Aaron and I headed over to Artist's Alley. I went to get the things that I promised Victoria to pick up, but they were apparently completely sold out of twins. T_T So I was sad, and didn't get them.
Aaron and I went inside the Dealer's room at that point... Aaron with a list of stuff that Becky wanted, me with a list of one thing I was looking for for Victoria, one thing I was looking for for myself, and a nice amount of money in my wallet. (I had over half of my budget left going into Sunday).
I looked around for the best deals on Azumanga Dioh DVDs, and Mori plushies. After asking, however, it was confirmed that Mori plushies... DO NOT EXIST. I was very sad. And thus, Honey was doomed to be lonely for the rest of the day. (Where's my Takashi?) (For that matter, was anyone even cosplaying as Takashi on Sunday at AN?)
I also found out that the $40 Azumanga boxsets were sold out. And a lot of the other places were more expensive. REALLY more expensive. I ended up finding a place that was only selling them for $5 more though (well, it said $50 but everything was $5 off, so it was $45 overall). So I got the box set there. I was contemplating getting an Al pillow or half of the CCS series manga (non-sequential... I would have gotten it if it was sequential), but ended up getting neither. I did, however, get the first volume of Fruits Basket, since someone was selling it for $5, and it's usually 2-3 times that.
Also, while wandering around, two of the Nan Yan girls came up to me separately to give me hall cosplay ribbons, saying that my costume was very cute. The first time, I was like "@.@ but I was in the masq. Doesn't that mean I can't get one?" (no, I didn't say "at period at"... >.>) But the girl was like "Take it." So... I got a hall cosplay ribbon ZOMG YAY!!!! And then for the second one I said I already had one and she was like "good." ...I should have taken it and given it to Victoria. T_T
I ran into Aaron a few times while we were shopping, and took a photo or two more of random cosplayers (including a Nekozawa with GREEN HAIR! Which is canon and thus VERY AWESOME (Good, good, very good?)). When I joined up with Aaron last, he was buying a few DVDs. He actually ended up getting the Tales of Symphonia OVA. Which I'm gonna have to borrow from him or buy my own copy of, because I've seen that thing online and it is LOVE. Maybe because I'm a Klarth Lester fangirl thanks to a certain RP that I'm in that used to have Klarth as a boy my Kou's age.... *shifty eyes*
After that, Aaron decided that he wanted to get a hat. He looked at a few, and ended up getting a panda one. It was kinda cute and fit him one.
From there, we headed out of the dealer's room for the last time of the weekend. I almost turned around and got an Al pillow, but didn't. We went to Artist's Alley, and Aaron went to look at bookmarks while I wandered around again. The place with the little Ouran pairs pics had the twins again (finally!) and so I bought a set for Victoria, and then was like "what the heck..." and got a set for myself too. They're SO KYUUUUTE!!!
Right after that... my AN tag broke. The pin ripped right off of it. So I went over to the Con help desk and they put my tag in a new case and stapled it in (not as nicely as it was originally, but it works... ^^;). So that turned out ok. And then... I went to the con memorabilia table to see what there was. I talked to the guy working there, and it turns out that his daughter lives in my subdivision! So... someone working for Anime North knew where Brooklin was, while people representing Northern Anime Festival in OSHAWA did not. I find this really ironic. I really do. I bought an Anime North mug for $15. I am drinking tea out of it right now. It's cute. Apparently, he had been asked to make something like that for the guests, and the people in charge liked them enough that they asked him to design one for selling to the con goers as well. It is kinda cute and... it just works. ^_^
So... with my latest purchase safely tucked away, Aaron and I set off to get lunch at the hotel's little booth. They were out of pizza, so we both got hot dogs. And then we learned that we had, like, ten minutes left before the 404s' last show! So... we ate our hot dogs, and headed off (me ahead of him).
While in line, one of the Tamakis found me. Except, he wasn't Tamaki anymore... he had been YAOIFIED!!! (That is the only word I had for it then, and still the only word I have for it now... and was backed up by the paddle that I do believe he was holding. =P) He said he hadn't been, that he was already a fan of yaoi. I tried to explain that I didn't mean it quite like that and it wasn't a bad thing at all... it was just... *giggles*. He actually looked kind of cute. ^_~
The one thing about going to the 404s show was that it meant I had to miss the Ouran panel... and I was dressed as a certain loli-shota type that day... ^^; But the 404s show was great. Before it started, the Greed and friends from Saturday (the ones who had been like "they should go in!" at the café and had been in front of us) showed up... and I waved them over and they sat right with me. It was great seeing them again, they were a nice group. (I'm saying everyone was nice, I know. But everyone was nice!) We wrote ideas for scenes, and passed them in from our spots in the second row on stage right. (For Saturday and Sunday, they had the improv show set up as a theatre-in-the-round situation in the centre of the room. I was on stage left and in front on Saturday, and now I was on stage right. Trust me... this setup was MUCH nicer than the one on Friday where most people couldn't see much of the playing area. ^^;
Aaron came, and he sat on the other side of me to the group. And the games began. They had two special guests this time: Stephanie Sheh (who is very short and cute and energetic), and Patrick Seitz (who is much taller, and also very energetic!). They did some sketches including them, and some without. One that they did with them was Every Other Line, which they did in a fish and chips shop. One of the boys (JJ) came to my side of the room to pick up mangas, and someone had Fake again. and he was like "Ooh! Fake!" and grabbed it. And I laughed. And Aaron laughed. And Patrick was the one that got it. And his facial reactions were about the same as the guy from the night before who actually came up beside him and was like "I know... I know". It was awesome. And the two were good at taking on characters in the different games they did. ^_^ Patrick always messed up his hair though... ^^; For this game, Stephanie put her hair in a side ponytail. It worked rather well for her part. ^^
The lines from the managa actually worked together surprisingly well this time. The two VAs (the ones with the books) were actually able to do a few lines off each other and have it make SENSE. XD
They played multiple rounds of "Random Lines", only remembering RIGHT BEFORE the first time that they hadn't filtered out the adult ones from the previous night's show (heh... heh... heh...) For the record, it's a lot of fun hearing "dude, get off, you're doing it wrong" being said at just the right time that it IS completely innocent sounding. *whistles* (You can see what I'm talking about here. Randomly... I'm in the second row in the audience... I'm blurry but I can see me! And go "There's a Ninja Behind the Table"! I soooo want to hear that song now. =P
Another game that was played was "Moving People". I volunteered and the Wrath and co were volunteering me too, and I was chosen! ^_^ So I got to move around one of the guys (Aaron... but not my cousin). Me and the other girl had them high fiving and thumbs up-ing and ninja-chopping and nodding their heads (THAT was fun... "yeeees") all while trying to fix a hole in the ground. Bwahahahahaaa....
They weren't handing out pins this year, but oh well. Just being up there with them was awesomeness enough. ^^
But I forgot to hug them after. T_T Hugs pwn.
They played Arms Expert again, and my question was one of, if not, the first asked: How come people never get attacked during their transformation sequences? That somehow started a trend, and questions relating to magic girls were being asked for the rest of the night. Turns out, the guy WAS a magic girl in his spare time. XD
More games were played, more hilarity ensued. The last game was, of course, Scenes from a Hat. And this time, they had more than enough suggestions. The last one they used was mine: What it's REALLY like behind the scenes with the 404s. The responses went everywhere from kissing to slapping. ^^
And then... that was over. Meaning that there was only half an hour left until closing ceremonies.
On the way out of the room, some more ohimesamas from the previous day told me they had lost their flowers. I would have given them new ones, but I was all out. T_T (Again, next time... MORE FLOWERS WILL BE NEEDED!!!)
Aaron and I headed over to the ballroom, and waited outside for the thing to start. As it was, they allowed people to go in when I was in the bathroom. >.< Buuuut... we made it in time with lots of time and room to spare.
The thing actually started pretty late... compared to when it should have, at least. Before it did, people were sitting around getting bored, so some stalling action was put into place. Someone with a notebook wrote some random things down, and was holding it up in front of the camera so that people could read. It was awesome. And when they ran out of stuff, people demanded more. XD If any video of THAT exists, it would be a great find. ^^
Next for stalling came Stephanie Sheh and Patrick Seitz, the same VAs that had been in the 404s act. They talked to the audience for a bit, Stephanie did Hinata's voice on demand.... and then they got an audience member up to play charades. I forget what the answer was, but it took a little while for someone to figure it out.
By that time, Mark and JJ from the 404s and... Ben Dunn, I think, were there too. Still not the people needed, but enough to play a few games. They did two: One Word Story, and Every Other Line. For One Word Story, Mark and JJ told the story of Ben Dunn and the Magic... (they looked to the audience for suggestions and took mine) School Bus. (Yes, I'm a sucker for the TV shows from my childhood. Shhhhhhh....) In it, Ben ended up giving the kids on his bus alcohol and they gave him weed and then the kids died and he revived them. Yeah. XD For Every Other Line... there was no Fake, but it was still fun to watch.
The Emcee for the closing ceremonies was there by this point, but they still weren't ready to begin, so they played Arms Expert with him. In this game, we found out that Anime North is about the size of a... village? (I would love to find a place with the same population as Anime North... it would be amusing.)
By that time, the REST of the 404s were there. And they were about to play a game together when they found out that stalling time was over... the real closing ceremonies were finally ready to begin. (I was sad... more 404-ness would have been AWESOME.)
The closing ceremonies were rather short. Some of the VAs were there and waved to the crowds, but Ben Dunn was the only one to say anything to the audience about how much he loved it (and how AN was the best con according to his wife now). They played a goodbye AMV at the end... I think it might have been the exact same one from last year. Which kinda saddened me, but ah well. It's a catchy song.
And with that, Anime North 2007 was officially over.
Aaron and I saw that it was still raining, so we called and asked to be picked up by the Doubletree.
On our way to the designated pick-up spot, a guy dressed as Sailor V was like "hi!" and so I talked to him for a bit. I don't know if I'll ever be able to take a guy dressed as a sailor scout completely honestly, (they're so rarely well-done, and it's become more of a joke than anything it seems), but it was nice talking to him nonetheless. We waited and talked a little, and Aunt Arland came and picked us up like we had requested. And so... I left Anime North /07 for the very last time.
After arriving back at their house, I got changed into street clothes and started reorganizing my stuff. I was given Becky's set of Chobits to borrow, and added that to my list of stuff to get packed away. I think I got everything home safely... I haven't noticed one thing that broke or went missing yet!
I had time to eat and watch a bit of Howl's Moving Castle before mom and dad showed up, and then it was time to leave for home.
Random Thoughts and Post-Con Life
As a whole, Anime North 2007 was awesome for me. I had fun meeting new people and doing all sorts of fandom-related things and hopefully people had fun meeting me and doing fandom related things with me too. ^_^
If I had to say one thing that I kind of regret, it's that I didn't go to more panels. I honestly didn't have the time! There were some things that I would have loved to go to, but I was usually either double-booked or ended up at the dealer's room.
But... yeah. A lot of awesome people at an awesome con really sums up my experience. I know that some people had some negative moments with volunteers and staff members, but I didn't at all. It was a con of LOVE AND PEACE (Trigun? What Trigun?) and awesomeness.
The fact that I have three "awesome" stickers only adds to this fact. =P
The pictures that I've seen of the weekend so far are awesome. I've even seen a few videos! Did you know that someone proposed at the con this year?
Congrats to them!
*giggles* That's a pretty cute way to propose, IMHO. Actually... something that would be really awesome is... if both parties were interested in cosplay, actually proposing during the masq, up onstage. I guess it would be pretty humiliating if she said no though. :(
And... yeah. I actually can't think of that much right now that I've missed, so if I DO think of anything, I'll post it here.
I guess one thing is that all through the weekend, I got my Beelzeneff puppet (made by Victoria... it was too small for her and I have small hands) to meet as many other ones as possible. He's probably the most hug-loving Beelzeneff there is. But that was lots of fun.
Since getting home, I've been, admittantly, lazy. I'd guess that most of us have been, though... Anime North (or any anime con) is rather... draining in the long run, because it's go-go-go while you're there. I honestly had NO energy for the first two days. Which made it REALLY fun when mom decided to drag me foodshopping and expected me to know the status on food supplies when I had barely been home in 4 days. >.< Yeaaaahh.....
I haven't started watching any of the stuff I got yet, though I have managed to upload my photos and listen to a good portion of the Wolf's Rain CD (haven't been able to make it all the way through yet for numerous reasons). And... a good amount of time has been spent on this. (It's over the 30-page mark, what do you expect?
Victoria and I actually started on another cosplaying venture yesterday. It looks like, at some point in the future, we're gonna try to do Wolf's Rain. (We'd probably be Toboe and Kiba. Meaning we'd need a Tsume and a Hige at least... and I need to WATCH the series so I can do Tobe well. =P) This, of course, is along with the Digimon and Fruiba cosplays that we need to do sometime in the future as well. >.>
We did, however, pick up the first set of flowers that we plan to use for NAF. We got 50 between the two of us: some pink roses for Honey and some sunflowers for Satoshi. And are gonna be getting a LOT more between now and then. (Mori needs some, Honey needs more... thankfully Yasuchika's not gonna be giving any out (Satoshi giving out sunflowers is gonna annoy him if anything... XD)) So... yeah. Back from one con, and already planning for the next. (We need to learn how to disco dance! STAT!)
I'll probably return to job-hunting next week, which I don't want to do but kind of... have to. Which still sucks. But moneys for university is important.
Speaking of university, I've found out since getting back from the con that 2/3 of us Ouraners in the masquerade go to UofT! Me and my Mori are from UTSC, and the Tamaki/Kyouya pair are from St. George! Go us?
I've been speaking to a few of the people I met at AN over the past couple days, actually. And have been throwing around the idea of trying to do a giant cosplay group next year. (Like... the Sohma clan/Fruiba cast or as many pokemon as we can bring ourselves to do or something,) I doubt it will happen, but if anyone WOULD be interested in doing a big cosplay group (or a nice-sized skit or something)... tell me and I will keep you informed/we can start planning evil plotting stuffs. (bwahahahahahahaaaaaaa)
I've learned some things about the people that I met there too. It's interesting to see where exactly we all came from and such. We anime-lovers are a rather diverse group, aren't we? But we still have a lot in common and are very awesome for it. ^^
Stats and other random stuffs
Things bought at AN
~batteries (2 AAs for camera)
~food (one Harvey's cheeseburger combo, lunch at the Café Nocturne, a hot dog from the hotel)
~Azumanga Dioh box set
~Fanart White Mage!Bakura bookmark
~3 mini-arts of Ouran boys (Honey and Mori, Tamaki and Kyouya, the twins)
~Volume 1 of Fruits Basket manga
~Anime North mug
~pre-reg for NAF
~Digimon: The Movie on DVD
~Wolf's Rain
Things I was GIVEN at AN
~Hall Cosplay award
~3 "Hello, my name is awesome" stickers
~lots of hugs
~free food (mostly sandwiches and water, with a few cookies thrown in)
~2 pages worth of emails of people who want pictures and movies of the Ouran photoshoot as people upload them
~compliments, love, and assurance that I'm "cute" ^_~
~Free "date with Kyouya" points (no, really)
~an awesome time...?
Amount of sleep gotten
Probably around 5-6 hours per night on average
Favourite moment
As I told my mom: Saturday. In general. Especially the photoshoot and the café and the masq. But all in all, Saturday.
Least favourite moment
Leaving. I like AN and it's so sad to have to leave. Sunday feels so subdued compared to the other two days as it is, but leaving is just... sad still.
Number of flowers given away
About 50 between Victoria and myself.
Number of flowers we're gonna need for our next con
......don't even ask. We bought 50 yesterday... we're probably gonna need another 50 at least. Thankfully, dollar stores DO carry nice ones that are pretty cheap. ^^
My only real complaint about the photoshoot
I look like a tomato in half of the pics I've seen this far... I get all blushy far too easily... T_T
taken from the cosplay.com forums....
Who did you cosplay as (If you did): Friday: Koushirou (Izzy) Izumi -- Digimon
Saturday/Sunday: Mistukuni (Honey) Haninozuka -- Ouran High School Host Club
How many days did you attend for: 3, technically 4 (but I only picked up my stuff and then left on Thursday)
Most memorable moment: I honestly don't know. Maybe performing in the masquerade? Our the Ouran photoshoot. Or Cafe Nocturne. Or just wandering around with my Mori giving flowers to ohimesamas and ojisamas. Or the piggyback rides. Definitely something on Saturday though.
Favorite moment: The Ouran photoshoot. Too much love and crack and overall randomness for words.
Most unexpected event/moment: Hideto kissing me on the cheek, and being manhandled back into my chair by my Mori.
Most awkward moment: Having to fix my riding-up tie.
How late did you go to bed on Saturday: about 1:30am, I think.
How much money did you spend: On top of the $35 group pre-reg, there was the $5 movie and $10 CD from the Nominoichi on Friday along with $7.50-ish on food, $12 for the cafe, 50¢ bookmark and $25 pre-reg for NAF on Saturday, then $45 on Azumanga Dioh box set, $5 on Fruits Basket volume 1 of manga, $15 mug, and $5 fanart stuffs.
Sooo.... about $165 all things considered.
Best cosplay you saw at the convention: I have noooo idea. There were so many very pretty ones!
How many pictures and/or videos you took: About 50 pics, no videos.
Least favorite moment/event: running out of batteries for my camera on Saturday night
How far did you travel in order to attend the con: Apparently, it was about 70km. From the east.
Did you attend the masquerade (Participate or watch). Which skit was your favorite: I participated. And my favourite skit was #13: Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart. The Honey was adorable. (nope, nope, not biased at all. Nope, nope....) :P
Did you have a Fun time, or a fuuuuun time : I had a super hyper awesome time! With cherries on top!
How sad/happy were you when the con... *sniff* e-ended: I didn't want it to end. Though a lot of us would be even more sleep deprived if it didn't. T_T
And finally, what did you do when you finally got home from the convention: Went online to talk to my not-at-the-con friends, and compile the mailing list for the Ouran photoshoot.
Any additional stuff you wanna say: I love all of you! The con was great! Thanks to all the staff, panelists, and volunteers for making it so awesome. Thanks to the girls who were in line with us at the cafe for cheering us on and helping us to get in when we didn't have any other time to do so. Thanks to the cafe people for letting us to so. Thanks to the Ouran cosplayers for making our photoshoot the best photoshoot EVER (even if it did never end =P)! And thanks to everyone who said I was cute in my costumes or hugged me and my bunny/Motimon. You really made my weekend that much more special. ^^
