Zharth's Forum

Tekkoshocon

This is a head's up, since the con's only two weeks away. For the first year, it'll be held in a real convention center, in the actual heart of the city. Kind of exciting, because it's starting to feel like a real anime convention. Still, though I am biased, it seems odd that anyone would drive hours and book hotels for this particular con, but then again, I live here, and if I wanted to go to that much effort, I'd go to a bigger con like Otakon. Yet, this con seems to be growing year after year. I only found out about it last year (well, I found out just after it was held two years ago, so I've only attended last year). The first five years of its existence, I was wholely unaware that it had even broken off from the local Comicon it used to be affixed to, back around the end of the previous decade.

Well, now that the history lesson's over, is anybody planning on checking out the con, or am I gonna have to go alone? It's too convenient an opportunity for me to pass up, and I'm sort of hoping I can maybe get some good pictures. But, you know, cons aren't really fun without friends...

Sounds good. It'll have to work around my work schedule though...

I'm not sure what my plans are for Apr 3-5 yet, as I either am going to go to Bucknell for the last KRAID LAN of the school year, or I'm going to visit a WoW buddy at PSU and get schwasted.

Could I direct you to my Otakon thread instead?

I don't know what your work schedule's gonna be like for next weekend, but here's my generic tentative plan: Since Friday is an Open Stage, I'm thinking about going early to check out the place, get the lay of the land, get registered, see where everything is, maybe attend a few panels depending, and get back home before dinner. Then, on Saturday, which is the big day for any con, it'd be nice to spend a lot of time out there. I dunno how early I/we'd go, but it'd be cool to stay late. As for Sunday, Sunday's a pretty big non-day for a con, so I'm not sure if there's even any point in going. Depends on how the other days go, and if there's anything interesting to see on that day. All of this is, of course, modifiable depending on your schedule.

I was starting to think I'd have to wait till I actually got to the con, but a schedule has finally been released. You can also take a look at the map, if you are so inclined. I've been trying to get information and do some planning, but the Tekko site keeps going down...

Not a terrible lot of interesting panels/events/etc. that I can see, but then again, the main fun of a con is the cosplay, and the dealer's room. Still, I hope the schedule doesn't get shuffled *that* much at the last minute...

There's a Claymore panel on Friday in the afternoon that might be interesting. Apparently it'll be hosted/feature as a guest the English voice actress for Clare. Which brings up one of the things that bugs me about cons - the English fandom. On Saturday there's a Kendo Demo in the afternoon which should be most interesting, I hope. Also a "J-Rock Shock" panel in the evening, which may or may not be of any interest. Sunday looks to have very little to offer, confirming my suspicion that there won't be much point in going that day.

As for the video rooms, I wish they would make it a little more obvious what's being played in English and what's being played in Japanese - as that's kind of really important to some people. On the schedule, one of the video rooms is marked "(sub)" and one is marked "(dub)", but I have no idea what that means, as it leaves the question of what the other three video rooms are playing, and it's not something I'm confident enough to rely on.

Anyhow, I saw a bunch of titles that'd be fun to watch a bit of, provided they are shown in my preferred language. I'm surprised Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is airing in the middle of the night (Saturday, 3:30-5:30am), though it's nice that it's scheduled for two whole hours. But it seemed to be a fairly decent hit at the con last year, it seems odd for them to schedule it that late...

Ultimately, it'll be good to watch some AMV's in the AMV Room, which, hopefully, will be big enough this year to accomodate more than twenty people.

I've heard about three photoshoots of interest. There's a Code Geass one, which I'd love to see (C.C.!), except it's scheduled for Friday evening... But there's a Naruto photoshoot Saturday afternoon, and I'm hoping to see a lot of Akatsuki, which would be cool. Also, there's a Fate/Stay Night photoshoot Saturday evening, and I have reason to believe there will be an Ilya cosplayer. In any case, I hope I get to see some good cosplay - and better yet, get a few decent pictures for once.

But perhaps the thing I'm looking forward to the most is the Dealer's Room. Just gotta try to keep myself from spending a lot of money. Always good to find a couple cool souvenirs though. Like my Primula blind box figure I got last year!

Imo, if you're paying for a con (which is already a scant 2-3 days), you go the whole time. There's gotta be something on Sunday. There was stuff at Otakon that I remember, but we bounced because we had a lot of road time ahead of us.

And what the hell? The con goes on until 5:30am each night?!

PS - Save your money don't buy stuff lol

Sunday is a non-day for a con. I think it's kind of silly that there's more activity on Friday morning than there is Sunday evening, considering that some people still have work/school/whatever during the day on Friday, yet Sunday is a vacation day. Sure, I suppose people have to get back home on Sunday to be ready for work/school/whatever on Monday (but then what did they do during the day on Friday?), and the staff or whatever has to close down the con and clean up and all that. But it still seems funny to me.

The con ends by noon on Sunday. There are no especially interesting panels or events, and nothing in the video rooms that I can't see elsewhere. The thing is, I'd have to get up super early, to be at the con at like 9, instead of by 12, and I'd rather sleep in. You know? If I was staying at a hotel next door or down the street, sure, I'd go just because I was there. But the payoff for going out there on the last day isn't really worth the effort, when I can do everything I want to do on Friday/Saturday.

And if you don't think Sunday really is dry, go ahead and take a look at the schedule. It's just closing ceremony and crap. 'Sides, Tekkoshocon is growing, but it's still a lot smaller than Otakon.

Oh, and technically, the con doesn't go until 5:30 am each night. All the events and stuff end by 2am, I believe, and the convention center itself closes at a certain time of night, but the hotel it's connected (?) to stays open all night, and one of the video rooms is scheduled to go 24 hours a day, so...


Well, yeah, that's the plan, but when you're surrounded by posters of bishoujos and plastic loli figurines and whatnot, it's impossible not to pick up something. Besides, it'd be a waste not to get a souvenir. It's just a matter of utilizing the proper amount of restraint (which I'm usually pretty good with when it comes to spending money, I think).

Oh. I didn't bother looking at the Sunday schedule. Didn't bother looking at the schedule at all. >.> Nevermind then lol.

First Day:

I was in the city by noon, but it took me almost an hour to find a place to park. I suppose it was naive of me to think the Convention Center would have enough parking space to accommodate. I did a sweep and all the parking garages I found within a few blocks were also full. I eventually found a place that was within about 15 minutes walking distance, provided you know which direction to go - something I wasn't entirely sure of, but I did get off in the right direction, and was able to find my way without trouble (getting back to the garage was slightly trickier, though).

The Convention Center is huge, and nice. Plenty of room for the con. Plenty of room for the congoers. Panel rooms, video rooms, everything is huge. Except the Dealer's Room, which is about the same size if not bigger than it's ever been, yet when all the other rooms have so much extra space, it makes the Dealer's Room feel small, because it's supposed to be the biggest room at a con, right?

I caught the Claymore panel after orienting myself and checking out where everything was. There were less than twenty people at the panel, and it was basically a casual chat/question-and-answer session with Stephanie Young, the English voice of Clare. Naturally, the subject of the discussion focused more on voice acting (obviously from an American perspective) than Claymore itself, but I still stayed and listened in. You could tell Stephanie was very excited about getting the role, and loves the series. I learned that they call the boy "Rocky" in the English version. I think "Lucky" would have been a better choice, but hey...not like I'm ever gonna watch that version anyway. Stephanie, as I presume many voice actors do (for anime in America, at least), had a pretty laidback and charismatic personality.

And after the panel ended, one person there commented on my Behelit. When I originally got it, it was like, "cool, but I got it so easily, everyone's gonna be wearing them". But, with Suncoast not around anymore, I guess it's even rarer than ever before.

I saw a few cosplays that caught my eye. There was a good looking Gaara, complete with sand gourd, at the Claymore panel. I wanted to get a shot of her, but she picked up and left in the middle of the panel. I also saw a good-looking group consisting of Tsunade, Sakura, and Naruto. There was also a couple C.C.'s (unless it was the same one on multiple occasions, which is possible), accompanied by a Zero. Saw some Sailor Senshi. Even a Hidan (from Akatsuki). And a Saber. I have to admit I wasn't feelin' the whole camera thing, though. I did take some shots from the roof of the convention center, however, during a lull in the rain (did I mention that it was cold, windy, and rainy?).

I was happy to hear some Japanese anime in some of the video rooms, though other ones were sportin' English. That show Doug likes to see at cons was playing, the one with the hand-girl. I saw a Trigun AMV (not the "45" one) in the AMV room but didn't stick around long enough to see more. When I came back later, they were doing an AMV Creation Panel, which was somewhat interesting. I'm rather disappointed, because one thing I'd really like to see is the "R and NC-17 AMV Contest", but two out of three sources say that it's scheduled tonight at midnight, so I'm gonna have to miss it... Too bad they have to section those AMV's off from the main exhibition. Why can't they hold an adult anime convention?

Dealer's Room had this weird mood lighting. Made it kind of hard to see the merchandise terribly well. I'm not sure if it's entirely the fault of the room itself - that that's the only lighting that room has - or if it was the decision of the staff. Lots of neat weapons for sale, including a lot of steel replicas, like the Sword of Omens, and a miniature version of Zabuza's cleaver (and by miniature, I mean that it's about the size of a regular sword ), those were two that caught my attention.

I saw a number of figures of interest. A couple Asuka's I've had my eye on (this one and this one), as well as a number of others I wouldn't mind having. A few of those "blind box" sets caught my eye, but I hate that I don't know what I'm getting. I don't want to end up with a stupid Shinji, when I could have a hot Asuka, or even a cool Rei!

That's it for now. Might add more if I think of it later.

Here's what it looked like on the roof:



Notice the general raininess. What's not quite as apparent is the massive windiness.