(no subject)
Friday:
Friday was the first day of the con and the plan was Margarete would pick Ryan and me up from Ryan's house around 8, drive us over to her house, then we'd get the van and head off to Seattle. Problem was her car broke down at the mall and the car rental company gave us the wrong type of car. Oops. Around 12, we hit the road, taking a quick stop to get some food at Burgerville.
On the way there, I began playing Guilty Gear XX on Ryan's PSP, and pretty soon everyone else began playing it. Margarete played survival mode and got to 520. Woo for you. :3
Got to Seattle around 3:30ish and parked at the Hilton. After dealing with the most annoying elevator system, we went up to the lobby and found out they gave away our rooms to people other people from Sakura-con. Unfair if you ask me, and also pretty stupid, but they offered us a 25% discount on the rooms. We ended up getting two rooms with a single bed in each other, down the hall from each other. In one room was Margarete, Hunter, Tom, and Alex, and in the other room was Me, Ryan, and Margarete's mom.
The XBox ended up being installed in our room after the guys in the other room found out they'd have to pay for a VCR and for someone to come up and install it and if they wanted to play video games, they'd have to get their own TV to do it. However, turns out our room had the ports they needed (and we also managed to leech off someone's internet connection. Woo, free internet).
After getting everything set up, Alex, Tom, Hunter, Ryan, and I headed down to the con. Because we had no idea how to get there, we asked directions, first from a Sephiroth cosplayer (who also had no idea), then a group of people on the Sakura-Con staff who happened to know the way. Got there and grabbed/brought our passes. From there on, I began hunting people down and taking pictures of people.
After wandering around for a bit, we decided to stop in the theaters and watch some Hellsing. After that, Hunter, Alex, and Tom went off to do some tabletop gaming while Ryan and I walked around some more. We spent some time watching some AMvs and taking pictures of people before deciding to look for the other three. When we went to the room they were at, they weren't there. After hanging around the convention center for another hour, we went back to the hotel room and found out they were there. And with food. Thanks for looking for us. :P
Because we were hungry, Ryan and I decided to go to McDonalds for dinner. We got lost the first time, but found it after awhile, ate, and came back. In the room, everyone began playing Guilty Gear XX (I worked on chapter 12 on Ryan's laptop. ^^;; ) and some Halo before heading off to sleep.
Saturday:
The night before, we decided to catch the Jessica Boone (Voiced Chiyo in Azumanga Daioh as well as characters in Princess Tutu, Chrno Crusade, D.N.Angel, and other shows) Q&A then get autographs before doing some shopping. So Ryan and I went to the Q&A and I've come to the conclusion Miss Boone not only has one of the best jobs ever, but she's ultra cool because she's a theater geek. And she's really pretty too. At the Q&A, she did the "Cooking is so fun" song from Azumanga as well as several other voice samples from the other shows she did.
After that, we went to get our Sakura-Con programs autographed before heading off to do some shopping. Spent lots of time browsing and resisting the urge to go out and buy everything. In the end, I brought a Getbackers wall calendar, a Getbackers artbook (one place was selling it for 36 dollars, but I found it at another stand for less than 20. Booya), a Naruto artbook, a Tales of Symphonia artbook (the only purchase I regret making. Beautiful, but not enough pictures for the cost. Oh well), a Tonberry plushie, and two cards from an artist (one was a picture of Naruto and Sasuke, the other a picture of Riku and Sora). After lunch, we ran back to the hotel room to drop things off. Hunter got an AWESOME sword set (three Japanese swords for only 50 dollars) and Margarete got some awesome stuff from a grab bag. Took a small break before Ryan and I ran back to the con (to do some more shopping, and to find the sword set too. Couldn't find the swords. Darn. T.T)
Took ANOTHER break and headed back to the hotel room. Ryan played some Guilty Gear with the guys while I took pictures of random stuff (like the Tonberry attacking everything) before we went back to the con to catch the Cosplay event.
The cosplay event was fun. It was mainly skits and a few people who just walked on stage, posed, then walked off.
The first skit was a Homestar Runner parody about anime series. "The first thing about an anime is the main character must die. *guy on stage is "shot" and falls over* Except later he'll come back to life." *cue to Ed from Fullmetal Alchamist reviving the dead guy*
Ed: Are you okay?
Hughes: I don't think so.
Ed: Are you a homunculi now?
Hughes: Yep.
Ed: Which sin are you?
Hughes: Adultery! Hoowah! *hip thrust*
There was another skit involving FMA where Hughes is hitting on Riza and it turns into a Fantas parody, with all the Fanta people being the Homunculi. That one was pure crack.
There was one skit where a girl dressed as Princess Mononoke walked onto the stage and began to lip-sync to a recording of the main theme (afterward, the MC announced that was really the girl singing. It sounded REALLY good). Someone held up their cellphone and began to save it back and forth. PRetty soon more people began holding up their cellphones and by the middle, people were waving swords, keyblades, master shields, plushies, Yaoi paddles, and anything else they had on hand.
One of the skits that won an award was "Utena Tenjo: Private Eye", a film noir parody featuring Utena. That one was really good. Another winning skit was "Dante may cry... and he probably will" which featured Dante (from Devil May Cry) and Cloud (from FFVII) doing the YATTA dance... complete with boxers with giant fig leaves. The prize for best costume went to a Vincent Valentine cosplayer (who did an awesome job with his costume). After the event, we headed back.
In the hotel room, everyone had been drinking and ALex was completely smashed when we got back. He got pretty pissed off and emotional when Ryan wouldn't hug him and when I sat against the window, he began warning me not to fall through and stumbled over to save me "because Ryan wouldn't be able to catch me in time and he'd be really sad if I fell so step away from the window I don't want the gargoyles to get you, fucking Goliath. I really liked Brookyln, he was cool. Hudson too."
At that point, Ryan and I left to get some food and spent some time at Gameworks before heading back to the hotel room to sleep. Someone had puked in the sink, on the toilet, and in the tub. Eww.
Sunday:
Sunday was the "okay, not too much to do but catch the Piano Squall concert and do some last minute shopping." Ryan and I slept in to about 9 before we got both got up and packed. We left for the con again around 10:30 to do some last minute shopping. I brought the Guilty Gear artbook and the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories manga volume 1. Buying the manga was interesting; I walked by the stand and noticed the book sitting on the desk and picked it up, flipped through it, and looked at the stand attendent.
"How much is the book?"
"5.50."
"Okay, I'll buy it."
Turns out that book was the second to last one. Right after I brought mine, someone came by and brought the last copy. So woo, good timing.
ALso picked up a kitty ear hat and wore that around before running off to get some food with Ryan. Headed back to the con to catch the Piano Squall concert.
Piano Squall is a person that cosplays at Squall (from FFVIII) and plays piano music. This guy is GOOD. He played "Time's Scar" from Chrono Cross, the ending to One Piece, the ending to Inuysha, a song from Kenshin, 1000 Words from FFX-2, "Athletic RAg" from Super Mario world 2, a Nintendo Medley, a Final Fantasy battle theme medley, and the Final Fantasy theme. On the big screens, they projected scenes from the game/anime he was playing to. Yeah, just about cried on some of them, they were that good. AFterward, he handed out cards promoting his website and shook hands with people.
Went back to do some last minute shopping (brought an Advent Children poster), then we went back home.
So that was my first con, go me. ^^ Now for the fun part: the pictures.
I uploaded all the pictures I took here. 102 pictures in all, NOT resized (click on the little link below to see them at full size). All the pictures are from series I'm familiar with and show what I consider some of the best costumes. All my comments are on there.
MARGIE AND RYAN: When you get your pictures, can you send them to me? I'll upload them for you guys (and credit you guys of course).
ALSO: If anyone wants scans from the artbooks or manga, let me know. Some gorgeous pictures in there, awesome for icons or layouts.