Otakon 2015: The Overview
Jul. 28th, 2015 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kristenskSo, Otakon 2015. Aside from Thursday's technical difficulties, it was a good year. A really good year. The weather was absolutely perfect with no rain, and the temperatures were generally in the mid to upper 80's with a breeze most days. The convention was a ton of fun with great guests, and I found a crabcake that might be almost as good as Faidley's. Pappa's Restaurant (the Glen Burnie location particularly) was this year's big food find. Delicious crabcakes that are almost pure lump crab with minimal filler. *drools*
So, like last year, we "officially" started vacation on Thursday by going to see the latest Marvel movie, Antman. I honestly went to see this one purely on the strength of Marvel's previous movies because the trailer didn't wow me. But, the movie did. Mom came along, and even she liked it. Seriously, Marvel, please keep up this winning streak. I'm loving it. After that, it was off to the Power Plant Barnes & Noble to take advantage of their Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal on manga. Then, of course, came Linecon. But, I got a free T-shirt.
Otakon proper started on Friday.
The Con: It was another peaceful year. Seek and I didn't have any trouble getting into the panels that interested us. The crowds even seemed lighter somehow. Or maybe I'm just getting better at navigating them and paying attention to the sudden photoshoots that tend to spring up in the hallways. (Alternatively, Seek is getting better at steering my inattentive self.)
The Guests: Of course, this year's big draw for me was Romi Park, the Japanese voice of Ed from FMA. I can now mark another one off my dream list of people I'd love to see in person. And, she was fantastic. Her stories about recording for Turn A Gundam with the infamously eccentric Gundam creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, bursting into the booth whenever he was displeased were hilarious. And, the hardest moment/role she ever did? Recording Ed's reaction to Nina's death in the first anime. To wrap up the panel, we got a classic Ed short rant. Perfection.
Then, there was Bryce Papenbrook, English voice of Rin from AnE, Kirito from "Sword Art Online" and Eren Jaeger from "Attack on Titan". Bryce was a lot of fun. We attended both his Question and Answer session and a second panel where he coached the audience in what he called "Efforts and Reactions". Basically, that means all of the unscripted gasps, gulps, screams, and other such sounds a voice actor has to make. I confess to keeping quiet, but listening to everyone else (and Bryce's demonstrations) was hilarious. As were his fellow actor, Lex Lang's, scenario suggetions. Which always involved walking around what must be the world's most dangerous corner since we were apparently shot, stabbed, choked, and eaten by an alien after doing so.
The Panels: This year's standout fan panel was Mike Toole's "Anime That Time Forgot". Because where else could we learn that there's an anime that's essentially "The Deer Hunter" but with cute little penguins?
The Anime: We literally did not watch any anime this year. Seek and I were both wiped out most evenings. Although, we did catch several anime music videos that made us want to look up the shows involved. And, I'm currently watching and loving Blood Blockade Battlefront.
The Random Quotes:
"The person beside me is an NPC." -- Overheard during room seating.
"So, don't eat a mountain of sweet potato fries if you want to scream like Eren Jaeger." -- Bryce Papenbrook
"No one anticipates the Colonel." -- Seeker after we spied a surprise Colonel Saunders cosplay complete with KFC bucket.
"The Area of NO!" - Seen on a sign for a staff-only area.
The Stuff: I found a Fullmetal Alchemist T-shirt! At long last! Finally, a shirt that actually features Ed and Al instead of just a flamel or transmutation circle. Then, of course, there's my free appeasement shirt with last year's Otakon artwork. I also picked up the most recent volumes of two of the manga I'm currently following, Noragami and World Trigger, as well as a replacement volume 39 of Inuyasha. (Mine came used with some nasty food stains on the pages.) In the end, this was my haul for the year. Plus, a free Overclocked Remix Apex 2015 CD that I forgot to photograph.
ETA: I forgot the best quote of the con. A tweet posted up in response to the delayed lines: "I saw the line move once. When I was young and full of dreams."
So, like last year, we "officially" started vacation on Thursday by going to see the latest Marvel movie, Antman. I honestly went to see this one purely on the strength of Marvel's previous movies because the trailer didn't wow me. But, the movie did. Mom came along, and even she liked it. Seriously, Marvel, please keep up this winning streak. I'm loving it. After that, it was off to the Power Plant Barnes & Noble to take advantage of their Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal on manga. Then, of course, came Linecon. But, I got a free T-shirt.
Otakon proper started on Friday.
The Con: It was another peaceful year. Seek and I didn't have any trouble getting into the panels that interested us. The crowds even seemed lighter somehow. Or maybe I'm just getting better at navigating them and paying attention to the sudden photoshoots that tend to spring up in the hallways. (Alternatively, Seek is getting better at steering my inattentive self.)
The Guests: Of course, this year's big draw for me was Romi Park, the Japanese voice of Ed from FMA. I can now mark another one off my dream list of people I'd love to see in person. And, she was fantastic. Her stories about recording for Turn A Gundam with the infamously eccentric Gundam creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, bursting into the booth whenever he was displeased were hilarious. And, the hardest moment/role she ever did? Recording Ed's reaction to Nina's death in the first anime. To wrap up the panel, we got a classic Ed short rant. Perfection.
Then, there was Bryce Papenbrook, English voice of Rin from AnE, Kirito from "Sword Art Online" and Eren Jaeger from "Attack on Titan". Bryce was a lot of fun. We attended both his Question and Answer session and a second panel where he coached the audience in what he called "Efforts and Reactions". Basically, that means all of the unscripted gasps, gulps, screams, and other such sounds a voice actor has to make. I confess to keeping quiet, but listening to everyone else (and Bryce's demonstrations) was hilarious. As were his fellow actor, Lex Lang's, scenario suggetions. Which always involved walking around what must be the world's most dangerous corner since we were apparently shot, stabbed, choked, and eaten by an alien after doing so.
The Panels: This year's standout fan panel was Mike Toole's "Anime That Time Forgot". Because where else could we learn that there's an anime that's essentially "The Deer Hunter" but with cute little penguins?
The Anime: We literally did not watch any anime this year. Seek and I were both wiped out most evenings. Although, we did catch several anime music videos that made us want to look up the shows involved. And, I'm currently watching and loving Blood Blockade Battlefront.
The Random Quotes:
"The person beside me is an NPC." -- Overheard during room seating.
"So, don't eat a mountain of sweet potato fries if you want to scream like Eren Jaeger." -- Bryce Papenbrook
"No one anticipates the Colonel." -- Seeker after we spied a surprise Colonel Saunders cosplay complete with KFC bucket.
"The Area of NO!" - Seen on a sign for a staff-only area.
The Stuff: I found a Fullmetal Alchemist T-shirt! At long last! Finally, a shirt that actually features Ed and Al instead of just a flamel or transmutation circle. Then, of course, there's my free appeasement shirt with last year's Otakon artwork. I also picked up the most recent volumes of two of the manga I'm currently following, Noragami and World Trigger, as well as a replacement volume 39 of Inuyasha. (Mine came used with some nasty food stains on the pages.) In the end, this was my haul for the year. Plus, a free Overclocked Remix Apex 2015 CD that I forgot to photograph.
ETA: I forgot the best quote of the con. A tweet posted up in response to the delayed lines: "I saw the line move once. When I was young and full of dreams."
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Date: 2015-07-29 07:04 am (UTC)And so is "The Area of NO!" I think I'm going to use that as my new term for all the awfulness that fandom at large is into, and I don't want to go near. :Þ
YAY that you finally found an FMA T-shirt! :) And oh gosh yes, that one is awesome and perfect. I don't even wear T-shirts myself, but that one, eeee...
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Date: 2015-07-30 02:24 am (UTC)--And so is "The Area of NO!" I think I'm going to use that as my new term for all the awfulness that fandom at large is into, and I don't want to go near. :Þ
*laughs!*
--And oh gosh yes, that one is awesome and perfect.--
*squeeing* Isn't it? I was so afraid when I picked it up that it would be see-through thin or only available in a child's size (like some adorable "Blue Exorcist" chibi shirts I saw last year).
no subject
Date: 2015-07-30 06:34 am (UTC)*keels over laughing!* That or an alley in "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne". Alleys became especially infamous to that fanbase as places where Bad Things Happen.