Con Report
Aug. 3rd, 2010 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetI love AnimeIowa with all of my love, no lie. Even when I hate it with all of my hate. In fact, I think I only hated my life as Registration CoHead for a total of eight hours this year, which I totally consider an amazing record. That means I didn't hate my life as Reg CoHead for, what. Sixty-eight hours? Whatever, it was awesome. All that lack of hating my life made plenty of room for absolutely loving my life with everything I had, and it was just really great, y'all.
I have totally found my perfect job in the AI Reg Team setup. I am the Hard Question Answerer! I basically skip the grunt work of pointing out where people sign the book or handing out forms to fill out or sticking stickers to things, and sit there and wait for people to have Horrible Problems With Their Pre-Registration (or similar). I then do everything I can to fix these problems! I also make sure all the other bases are covered, so I can run off to the satelite site at a moment's notice, or to the office, or to the bridge, or wev. 'Cuz there's a decent amount of walking involved as Hard Question Answerer. I got around 14,000 steps on my PokéWalker the first day (which is always the most hectic), close to 10,000 steps the second, and still around 6,600 the third. (Saturday I also connected with, like, thirty other PokéWalkers, it was awesome.)
Ran into an internet friend there completely unexpectedly (on my part), which was amazing and a half. (I tried to screw up one if her group's photo shoots by making terrible faces behind a cameraperson like a huge troll, but failed miserably. I. I could not resist. I'm sorry (again)? ♥♥♥?)
This was my second year invited to speak at the Plushie Panel! Unfortunately, the person nominally in charge of it lost her voice, and is more-or-less in charge of Fanmarket, and there were Issues with the T-shirts, so she couldn't make it. Neither, in fact, could the other person who was supposed to help run it. So I was pretty much going to be all by my lonesome up there ^^a On the advice of a few other people, I recruited right out of the audience for some helpers, so the panel would not be 100% crochet. It worked splendidly. Emergency panelists, I cannot thank you enough ♥ Double volunteers hours will hopefully be sufficient for now, but know that you have my eternal gratitude as well. Thanks to my lovely volunteers, the panel went beautifully ♥
Had Perry, Kero 2.0, and my own Burupya (which I finished sometime on Saturday morning, IIRC) on display at the reg table for most of the con, as well as special guest Buu-chan Head (Buu-chan is the AI mascot, yasee). Ended up invited to help host the amigurumi panel (!), which I hadn't known existed before my roommate pointed it out on Friday. Passed out a whole bunch of links tohooked_on_anime while I was there as well, which was also excellent.
I. I also have maybe been convinced to start my own Etsy store, and/or set up a table at AI's Artist Alley next year, and/or just open up for straight up commissions. (Apparently Mindbridge decided to reverse its horribly annoying No Selling Fanart rule? But somehow I never found out? And/or crocheted plush don't count as fanart somehow? IDK, but I am liking the potential here.) I could be making money here. And getting people plush versions of their favorite adorable characters. Who knew!
Managed to get one of my Dream Photos while I was there - the other one after the Metal Benders: Ed To Scale! We finally had another Prince of All Cosmos cosplayer running around, so I got her to stand next to an Ed cosplayer (coincidentally, one of this year's con execs and my BFF since first grade), and now I have a photo to stamp "To Scale!" all over like the dork I am ♥ Or maybe "Pea-Sized Prince And Equally Tiny Companion"! I could just keep going all day, I'm sure.
Speaking of being able to keep going all day, we had a Buddy Christ cosplayer \o/ After a fit of inspiration, I got his picture while he was sitting under the Already Registered sign (and in front of the "need to register" sign, blocking off "to register"), with a good four jokes lined up already. "What would Jesus do? Jesus would pre-register for next year!" "We know he will return; he already pre-registered!" "Jesus saves - by pre-registering!" "Need Jesus? Pre-register for your next dose!" They are horribly tacky and offensive in the same way Dogma is, which means I love all over them.
I also spent some money in the Dealer's Room. Like, $250 USD, which is pretty much my highest Amount Spent At A Con that I can recall. It helps that I have a job. For commercial purchases, I bought the first four seasons of MariMite on DVD (once again, I am slightly disappointed that there is no dub; why must you make it difficult for me to "watch" anime and crochet at the same time, translation companies! Grr!), and the second season (this confuses me on many levels) of Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl (the cover of which is emblazoned with a large J2, which I now have difficulty associating with anime; I blame![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poor_choices).
(Have I ranted yet/recently about translation companies' recent attempts to charge around $50 USD for a box set of anime comprising of no more than thirteen episodes? Because it pisses me off. Thirty dollars for thirteen episodes I consider acceptable if it's the entire series/a single story arc, but for half a series or half a season? With minimal (usually no) shiny extras? Yeah, I'm not happy with that. Especially when I can find the entirety of Princess Tutu available as a boxed set for thirty bucks. STOP FAILING ME, TRANSLATION COMPANIES.)
Back on topic, I also picked up some nifty stuff at Artist's Alley :3b I got two buttons: one with the kanji for Harmony with the English word above it, and one of Katara (squee!) that. Took a teensy bit of effort to arrange, since all the ready-made ones were gone, but blanks were still available, and no one at the table at the time knew how to work the button-maker so I had to wait until someone who did know could make it and yeah. Still, Katara button! I also snagged the original lineart for it for $10 USD, and it is gorgeous and will so be going on my wall.
There was a table with some absolutely beautiful original art right across from that one where I stopped and oggled for a while. Unfortunately, I had exhausted my cash at the previous booth, so I had to take a quick rain check while I nipped over to where I left my checkbook (outside the Dealer's Room, failure me). Bought two framed prints of trees, one black-white-and-green, one black-white-and-purple, and one framed print of a winged horse with a planet in the background that was black-and-white-and-purple. Got a free 'fridge magnet thrown in with 'em :3b
I think that's going to be it for my con report. I mean, there was more hotel destruction than in years past (more than expected, even, and gosh is that disappointing), and it was frequently freezing in the Reg area (we're situated right under AC vents, and ended up having to send people to walk around outside to thaw out more than a few times), and we didn't get the at-the-door reg forms until the very last minute, disallowing us from pre-numbering them and slowing at-the-door registration way down, and the hotel's internet connection completely crapped out on us some time on Saturday, but over all it was more fantastic than bad, and I so cannot wait until next year.
I have totally found my perfect job in the AI Reg Team setup. I am the Hard Question Answerer! I basically skip the grunt work of pointing out where people sign the book or handing out forms to fill out or sticking stickers to things, and sit there and wait for people to have Horrible Problems With Their Pre-Registration (or similar). I then do everything I can to fix these problems! I also make sure all the other bases are covered, so I can run off to the satelite site at a moment's notice, or to the office, or to the bridge, or wev. 'Cuz there's a decent amount of walking involved as Hard Question Answerer. I got around 14,000 steps on my PokéWalker the first day (which is always the most hectic), close to 10,000 steps the second, and still around 6,600 the third. (Saturday I also connected with, like, thirty other PokéWalkers, it was awesome.)
Ran into an internet friend there completely unexpectedly (on my part), which was amazing and a half. (I tried to screw up one if her group's photo shoots by making terrible faces behind a cameraperson like a huge troll, but failed miserably. I. I could not resist. I'm sorry (again)? ♥♥♥?)
This was my second year invited to speak at the Plushie Panel! Unfortunately, the person nominally in charge of it lost her voice, and is more-or-less in charge of Fanmarket, and there were Issues with the T-shirts, so she couldn't make it. Neither, in fact, could the other person who was supposed to help run it. So I was pretty much going to be all by my lonesome up there ^^a On the advice of a few other people, I recruited right out of the audience for some helpers, so the panel would not be 100% crochet. It worked splendidly. Emergency panelists, I cannot thank you enough ♥ Double volunteers hours will hopefully be sufficient for now, but know that you have my eternal gratitude as well. Thanks to my lovely volunteers, the panel went beautifully ♥
Had Perry, Kero 2.0, and my own Burupya (which I finished sometime on Saturday morning, IIRC) on display at the reg table for most of the con, as well as special guest Buu-chan Head (Buu-chan is the AI mascot, yasee). Ended up invited to help host the amigurumi panel (!), which I hadn't known existed before my roommate pointed it out on Friday. Passed out a whole bunch of links to
hooked_on_anime while I was there as well, which was also excellent.I. I also have maybe been convinced to start my own Etsy store, and/or set up a table at AI's Artist Alley next year, and/or just open up for straight up commissions. (Apparently Mindbridge decided to reverse its horribly annoying No Selling Fanart rule? But somehow I never found out? And/or crocheted plush don't count as fanart somehow? IDK, but I am liking the potential here.) I could be making money here. And getting people plush versions of their favorite adorable characters. Who knew!
Managed to get one of my Dream Photos while I was there - the other one after the Metal Benders: Ed To Scale! We finally had another Prince of All Cosmos cosplayer running around, so I got her to stand next to an Ed cosplayer (coincidentally, one of this year's con execs and my BFF since first grade), and now I have a photo to stamp "To Scale!" all over like the dork I am ♥ Or maybe "Pea-Sized Prince And Equally Tiny Companion"! I could just keep going all day, I'm sure.
Speaking of being able to keep going all day, we had a Buddy Christ cosplayer \o/ After a fit of inspiration, I got his picture while he was sitting under the Already Registered sign (and in front of the "need to register" sign, blocking off "to register"), with a good four jokes lined up already. "What would Jesus do? Jesus would pre-register for next year!" "We know he will return; he already pre-registered!" "Jesus saves - by pre-registering!" "Need Jesus? Pre-register for your next dose!" They are horribly tacky and offensive in the same way Dogma is, which means I love all over them.
I also spent some money in the Dealer's Room. Like, $250 USD, which is pretty much my highest Amount Spent At A Con that I can recall. It helps that I have a job. For commercial purchases, I bought the first four seasons of MariMite on DVD (once again, I am slightly disappointed that there is no dub; why must you make it difficult for me to "watch" anime and crochet at the same time, translation companies! Grr!), and the second season (this confuses me on many levels) of Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl (the cover of which is emblazoned with a large J2, which I now have difficulty associating with anime; I blame
poor_choices).(Have I ranted yet/recently about translation companies' recent attempts to charge around $50 USD for a box set of anime comprising of no more than thirteen episodes? Because it pisses me off. Thirty dollars for thirteen episodes I consider acceptable if it's the entire series/a single story arc, but for half a series or half a season? With minimal (usually no) shiny extras? Yeah, I'm not happy with that. Especially when I can find the entirety of Princess Tutu available as a boxed set for thirty bucks. STOP FAILING ME, TRANSLATION COMPANIES.)
Back on topic, I also picked up some nifty stuff at Artist's Alley :3b I got two buttons: one with the kanji for Harmony with the English word above it, and one of Katara (squee!) that. Took a teensy bit of effort to arrange, since all the ready-made ones were gone, but blanks were still available, and no one at the table at the time knew how to work the button-maker so I had to wait until someone who did know could make it and yeah. Still, Katara button! I also snagged the original lineart for it for $10 USD, and it is gorgeous and will so be going on my wall.
There was a table with some absolutely beautiful original art right across from that one where I stopped and oggled for a while. Unfortunately, I had exhausted my cash at the previous booth, so I had to take a quick rain check while I nipped over to where I left my checkbook (outside the Dealer's Room, failure me). Bought two framed prints of trees, one black-white-and-green, one black-white-and-purple, and one framed print of a winged horse with a planet in the background that was black-and-white-and-purple. Got a free 'fridge magnet thrown in with 'em :3b
I think that's going to be it for my con report. I mean, there was more hotel destruction than in years past (more than expected, even, and gosh is that disappointing), and it was frequently freezing in the Reg area (we're situated right under AC vents, and ended up having to send people to walk around outside to thaw out more than a few times), and we didn't get the at-the-door reg forms until the very last minute, disallowing us from pre-numbering them and slowing at-the-door registration way down, and the hotel's internet connection completely crapped out on us some time on Saturday, but over all it was more fantastic than bad, and I so cannot wait until next year.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 05:54 pm (UTC)We totally loved having our photoshoots bombed. Apparently it was a trend as we had another friend do the same. It was great running into you as well! Hopefully, if our schedules permit and we have the money, we'll be back to Anime Iowa next year :)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 08:09 pm (UTC)In regards to the cost of things... Pre-reg is set to open up again in mid-December, for $30 USD a head, the lowest it gets for non-staff after the last day of the con. Also, I have permission from my roomies/family to host people, which means no hotel fees :Db Or, at least, no fees outside of parking, and even that we can potentially get around. I mean, you might have to be subject to the coming-and-going whims of me or my roommate, but that's still most of the cost taken care of, and I'm typically there most of the time anyhow, so...
no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 08:31 pm (UTC)