pacificpikachu | Fanime 2012

Fanime was totally fantastic! And then as soon as I got back things blew up again, but anyway. I've been without internet pretty much since I got back, hence the lack of anything from me. AT&T's phone tech support has been unhelpful with solving the issue, too.

* The first cosplayer we spotted, quite a ways from the convention center, was Spongebob in a thong with trampstamps.

* The reg line took forever this year. Over two hours, but for some reason it felt like an eternity. (I've been in reg lines easily four times that long and had them feel shorter.) Strangely one of my friends from high school was behind me, and I suspected it was her, but it took us a long time to actually acknowledge each other. I doubt she could have not known, but as for why she would ignore me...? As for me, I just didn't want to make a fool of myself if it wasn't her I guess.

* I liked the new format of having Nescaflowne and Evangelion Redeath Redux shown together. Though it did mean I missed most of Awesomely Bad J-Music Videos, which makes me sad. Why must they be at the same time? Redeath Redux is a tradition for my friends and I, I've gone to it every year since I started going to Fanime.

* Our roommates were great! I liked them a lot. They took our extremely strange room discussions in stride and they had diverse interests. I wish we had had more time just talk.

* Swap Meet was a bust. I was hoping to unload some of my Pokéstuff there, but a) it was nearly impossible to find at its new location, and b) they wouldn't let me sell there despite tons of space and willingness to pay the fee. I guess you have to sign waivers and whatnot, but I don't get why you can't do that at con. I also didn't find anything to buy there, which is unusual for me.

* We went to hentai on Friday night, and that was hilarious as always. I see now why La Blue Girl is considered a "classic" (you know, of hentai), seeing as it was godawful. So much plot, yet so little sense! So much terrible animation! So gross and bizarre!

The other hentai we watched was the only hentai I've seen that I would say had "too much sex," even for hentai. Most people respond that that's not possible, but trust me, it was. Sex scenes one after another after another after another and so on. It was exhausting to even watch it. We kept making bad jokes about this tomato that one of the characters started slicing before more marathon sex started.

* Saturday I went to the Pokémon cosplay gathering, which was fun. Umbreon was well-received as usual. Later in the day I went to the Pokémon dinner, at Pizza My Heart. We had to wait in line, but eventually our 17+ group got a whole room to ourselves. There still weren't enough chairs, but it was nice talking to everyone anyway. I made friends with a James cosplayer and his girlfriend, who I ended up hanging out with for much of the convention.

* I also did some hall sitting in my Umbreon cosplay, letting people take pictures with me and stuff. A little toddler in a Pikachu shirt ended up loving my costume, so the two of us spent about ten minutes dancing, doing high and low fives, getting our pictures taken, and so on. I'm not a fan of small children, but in this short of a dose it was fun and I really made his day. I ended up giving him a Ledyba bound ball, which he loved. Afterwards, a lady gave me a glowstick as an "awesomeness award."

* When I got back to the room on Saturday,

scorpio_alice was drunk and ranting about a friend drama situation--in the MOST DRAMATIC WAY POSSIBLE. The ranting, I mean. It was like Greek drama or opera levels of epic ranting. One of the roomies and I watched, bemused, intermittently laughing and having serious discussion. As she sobered up, this turned into an amazing deep discussion involving our roomies that we could not stop. It went on until 5 AM.

* Watched a bit of Squid Girl, which is cute and harmless and silly.

* Got to hang out with

sammywhatammy and talk about our collecting vices. Always nice to talk to someone who understands collecting, and it was great to see her again!

* Went to the Lagann-hen, which

scorpio_alice hadn't seen yet. This was my third time seeing it, always with an audience, and while nothing can match the amazing that was the 2010 AX screening, it was wonderful. We all yelled the usual phrases along with the characters, the audience went wild over everything, and it was wonderful. The only thing was that the audience had trouble being quiet during the quiet/emotional scenes, but oh well.

* Sunday I went to a few panels, including two Pokémon ones, but ended up rather unimpressed with the Pokémon panel offerings. The content was lacking. This lead to me being pretty certain that I will be doing a Pokémon panel at next year's Fanime. I've already started prepping it, I'll post more about it later. I may also do it at Yaoi-Con as a trial run if I can.

* Death by Fanfiction was pretty beautiful. Reading terrible fanfiction aloud is never a bad thing! The guys in the audience seemed particularly abhorred by the contents--come on, guys, don't tell me you've never read terrible fanfiction before? Guess not. Highlights included a Harry Potter fanfic that I MUST FIND because I can't even describe what happened, and Batman/Robocop porn, with something pilfered from the trash as the phallic object.

* Weird Manga was Sunday night, run by my pals

astrokittie and

toggy. This was gorgeous, as always, and filled with extreme WTFery. What was possibly even better, though, was that we started a group discussion outside the panel...that went on until 5 AM, and ensnared two of the rovers who were supposed to be roving. No matter what we did, we could not stop. The discussion included the topics of people with fetishes of guys peeing on small bushes with erections, draining abscesses, and other equally strange topics that I legitimately cannot remember. We also spent part of the time playing "Keep Off the Floor" with a small balloon. I don't remember where the balloon came from.

* I went and sat outside the convention center before leaving, just blowing bubbles. It's amazing how people (er, people at cons, anyway) react to simple bubbles. This was fun, and I did it until it was time to leave.

* We got lost in Concord on the way back, LOL. Later we went to a sushi restaurant and I had some udon and veggie sushi, which tasted incredible due to it being post-con.

This Fanime was an excellent reminder to me that anime cons really are about the people. I made so many friends, had so many weird and wonderful discussions, and just had a great time. I usually spend quite a bit in the dealer's room, this time I didn't spend much at all...but that didn't detract from my enjoyment in the slightest. It was all about the interaction, the joy of it all, the togetherness that cons foster. It's awesome to make friends just by saying a few words, and be in a place with almost no hostility or judgment, just relaxing and having fun, sharing mutual interests.

I felt so emotionally refreshed at the end of it--for those few days, I could forget the stress and strife of everyday life. Unfortunately, all of my financial problems--probably worse than they've ever been--came crashing down now and I have a lot to do before Anime Expo, but...I just needed this so much, and it was awesome. Fanime is the most special con to me for a reason, and I'm just so glad that I've gotten to go these last nine years. Next year will be my tenth anniversary, and I can't wait to see what it has in store!

I may remember some other things later, and if I do, I'll add them when I remember them!