Animazement = Animazing
Hey Guys. I just got back from North Carolina! Didja Miss me? I know you did. All my imaginary fans ALWAYS miss me when i don’t blog haha.
Well, like I said in my last blog i went up to NC to visit one of my oldest friends, and to go to an Anime con called Animazement.
To be fair, my focus was to hang out with my friend, not to go in all out con mode, so i didn’t attend any of the panels or events, or do any networking stuff. But my first impression was that this con is great! Very similar to my home anime convention ConnectiCon. (i still call it home even though i’m living in Georgia now.) The big difference though is that Animazement was really well organized. I can’t speak for how they operate internally as an organization, but externally, they had their shit together. It was easy to get tickets. It was easy to find what i was looking for, mainly cause they really optimized the space they had in the convention hall, and they had alot of big guests that impressed me.
So Since i wasn’t in full Con mode, AND this was the first con both my friends had ever been to, i had to be gentle with them. I mostly just showed them the cosplay culture, and everything that comes with that, (some things i don’t even fully understand). I introduced them to artist alley and the traditions with commission sketches and buying prints from your favorite artists. And showed them the sweet swag you can find in the merchants area.
I also showed them the Darker side…..
Me and my friends are pretty nerdy. We love videogames and comics and anime, but i showed them that we are very cool nerds. Exemplified during our time in the Videogame section of the Con. The three of us started geeking out when we saw an old school X-Men arcade game sitting in the corner……and we geeked out even more when we saw that X-men was not playing on that arcade machine….but instead Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So we started playing and some kid, not to much younger than us, asked if he could join in as player 4. We of course said Yes. As we played this kid would not SHUT UP. He ran his mouth at how this brought back memories, and decided to tell us about every ounce of trivia he knew…..Basically exemplifying every comic book nerd stereotype there is…..and suddenly we realized that geeking out about our favorite childhood videogame, isn’t so bad.
oh and i showed them furries…….like I said….darkside…
So anyways. My personal Highlights was some fantastic costumes (i’ll show you pictures in a second). I almost have my Final Fantasy VII action figure collection completed when i found a Reno figure. And i picked up a sweet comic book Writen and illustrated by Ryo Kawakami. (I wanted to link to his website, but the site that was writen on his comic is no longer active. But the comic book is called “Forget Me Not.” Its very well drawn in the Japanese Manga style. It includes 2 short stories that are very interesting. I’d tell you to go buy it, but i have no idea where you can get it. Maybe you can find him at a convention….I also Picked up a sweet print from an artist……who i’m ashamed to say, his name escapes me at this moment…..
Also there was this FANTASTIC japanese rock band called Uchusentai NOIZ. I can’t really describe thier music. Its somewhere between Hardcore deathmetal and…uh…Brittany Spears. By that i mean there are some parts that are so poppy in sound it makes you want to throw up….until the double bass pedal hardcore break down section hits and a spontanious mosh pit breaks out. Plus they had awesome costumes. I give them 5 stars! 4 for thier music, the 5th for the costumes! haha.
So. Great weekend. My friends had a great first con. One friend took a ton of pictures, and the other wouldn’t stop drooling over the hot girls in cosplay haha. (i didn’t have the heart to break it to him….most of those girls were under age)
Now without further adieu, here are some pics!
Birds eye view of the entrance to the con.....Don't let that small crowd fool you, its packed inside....
What do we have here? looks like our first kick ass costume of the day....
I don't know what anime she is from (or videogame) but that costume is bad ASS. She pulls it off very well.
Sweet! It's Super Smash Brothers! Which do you think is my favorite?
Samus....DUH
Why?.....just.....why?
I admire the commitment to the costume. It's a pain in the ass to lug around a giant sword with you all day long. I salute you sir!
Where it takes comitment to lug a large sword around, it takes stupidity to dress all in black cover your face and cary an large gun with you all day. Though I admit the costume is freaking bad ass....I just can't get over the practicality. There was no way this man was comfortable for more than 30 minutes after he put on the costume.
Mega Man = Awesome. I will fight anyone who disagrees....
Uchusentai NOIZ performing. These guys kick ass!
Random dance parties would break out ALL THE TIME. Although this isn't new to me. I still don't know how or why this happens. One broke and all these people started dancing to the music.....BUT THERE WAS NOTHING MAKING THE MUSIC. no boom box. no ipod. NOTHING.......I was terrified of these black mages....
Bleach cosplay = awesome. Not a huge fan of the show. But i have alot of respect for large number of unique characters.
I couldn't get there in time to snag a picture close up....but check out the Tetris Cosplay!
My Reno figure.
My Final Fantasy VII Figure collection grows and grows......I'm not totally sure why i'm showing you this...I'm just outing myself as the giant nerd I am. But remeber my story, I'm still the coolest of the nerds....and thats just really really sad.
Saw this cloud on the drive back home. It looked like an amazing mountain. I took a picture. I wanted to share....
Okay thats it! I can’t wait til next year…. or my next con! More crazy pictures will find its way up then!
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