Well, went to Otakon Saturday. Man, was that place packed. Huge, too! My only previous con experience has been for comics so for me the only real area is the seller's floor which is where I spent most of my time. My first go around I was looking for DVDs and the second for weapons. Unfortunately, prices weren't exactly thrilling. Apparently, anime conventions aren't really set up for selling like comic cons where you get bargains out the yin yang. I looked for DVDs and the prices pretty much mirrored on-line prices or higher. I mean, $5 for a single DVD isn't too bad if you're use to Suncoast or Target, but when you're use to on-line retailers moving them for $1 to $3 a piece, $5 kind of feels expensive. My only purchase in this area was an out-of-print collection of the Big O for $35 which was its retail price (hate paying retail, but since going out of print I've see it for $60+). As for weapons, there was a lot more variety than a comic con. I managed to talk down a pair of Katars (Bundi/Punch Daggers) from $30 to $20. Picked up a Zabuza sword (Naruto) for $55: on-line its $30, but it'd be about $55 with shipping. Slapped myself when I found someone selling it for $30 later. That same person had Buster Swords (Final Fantasy VII), I picked up the medium sized one for $50 (about the going rate on-line, as well). This one guy was selling tonfa for $14 a piece and when I asked how much if I buy two, he simply said two times the price on the sticker. Ha. Ha. Mr. Sarcasm didn't get a sale. Double ha ha to you, amigo. The only real deals to be had were in toys/models (which I'm not interested it) and manga. I bought 4 manga for $30 after talking the guy down from $40 that retails for $60 but are out of print and go on-line for $80, so I was pretty proud of myself. I also picked up this wolf ornament Cloud sports on his jacket from FF VII: Advent Children for $40; pretty steep, but it was really detailed and the guy told me it was hand-made.

Otakon, more than absolutely anything else, is a social event. The overwhelming majority of the space was for people to just hang out, many roped areas just for people to sit on the ground. At least half of everyone in attendance were cosplaying and people would get stopped repeatedly for pictures and often times people that share a theme (Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, etc) would group together for photos. My one friend called out a character's name someone was dressed as and without flinching, the girl dropped her stuff, turned, and struck a pose to be photographed. I had to explain to her my friend was just shouting out names of characters she recognized. People would just do reenactments of scenes from games and anime, strike poses like those they dressed as; it was a bit like a prom but with acting instead of dancing.

The other big draw was panels. My friend tried to get into several and there was just no space (one for Frederik Schodt whose work Dreamland Japan was one of my main sources for my essay A Case for Comics). I ended up getting into only three with him, two of which were packed to bursting (and made for geeks by geeks) and one that was sadly bare (Noboru Ishiguro, director for Gatchaman, Yamato, and Macross, promoting his new project Tytania; I felt so bad he came all the way from Japan and didn't have an audience). I attended an interesting history of shonen as it evolved in Japan from the works of Go Nagai and Fist of the Northstar to today with Death Note, Bleach, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist. After lunch, I attended the aforementioned Tytania panel and ended the day with a discussion of role-playing games outside D&D and BESM. Though they were pretty nice, I would have preferred something more like an advanced screening of the Fall line-up in Japan or something that mirrored comic conventions where you get breaking news and exclusives.

Overall, I'd say the con isn't really meant for people like me. I came to buy stuff and meet celebrities, but as I said the dealers area didn't offer much in bargains and most celebrities I didn't recognize the names of. I recognized Omar Dogan at the UDON booth, but he didn't seem to have much of a line. I know quite a few anime cons have Power Ranger panels, but sadly I don't believe any were at this event. I like to get free swag at cons, but I think UDON and FUNimation were the only companies present and all they had were a few posters. This one girl gave out moe games, as well. A lot of space was used to screen new anime, but with an internet connection I've seen about ¾ of everything a year ago that was being presented there for the first time. I heard there was a gaming area, which is great I guess if you're into gaming. My main gripe was their eating area was 1/3 the size they had at Wizard World in years past for an event four times Wizard World's size. Overall, I thought the convention was alright; the only parts I truly enjoyed were hanging out with my friends and seeing how much they enjoyed being in that environment. We had way too much fun on the van rides up and down. Otherwise, I thought it was kind of boring. I prefer comic book conventions to a very large degree.

My Saturday morning started out at 6 am, I had went to bed at 10:30 the night before in hopes of getting some semblance of a full night's sleep but I ended up conking out around 2-2:30. Left the house around 8 and got to the Convention Center around 8:30, found the doors were locked so I couldn't pick up my pass and hit the Wawa on 11^th Street. I looked for a Frapuccino, but all they had was their brand of chilled coffee. Thoroughly defeated, I grabbed a bacon, egg, and cheese on bagel and soft pretzel. Decided nothing could be won by waiting in line with the other early attendees and sat at the center's corner across from Wawa and began eating my sandwich; I say began because two bites in, the bacon was so disgusting I had to take it off and another three bites in proved the sandwich was not improved enough to continue. Drinking my coffee, I figured I still had the pretzel and torn up the bagel for the birds. However, a couple bites of the pretzel proved it equally nasty which ruined my plans for some much needed energy to start the con. Feeding the birds, my friend from school Xander and a friend of hers named Emy walked by and they came over to talk. They're part of the New Jedi Order (http://www.newjediorder.org/) who are Star Wars enthusiasts that perform staged combat with light sabres based in Philadelphia. Xander was dressed as her Sith Lord character Xin Demagol and looked stunning. As exhibitors at the con, they had to get going and I quickly followed as it was ten past nine and I wanted to get my pass.

I was a little concerned at first, last year I was with my friend Ihsaan and so stood in line with him. When I got to the door and asked to get my press pass and the door attendant wasn't sure if I could go in, my concern grew. Fortunately, he got the okay from someone and I headed in. Going to the check-in booth, they actually had my pass ready unlike last year much to my delight (I was especially pleased I didn't have to bother my uber-busy editor to get it for me again). Heading to the line, I found myself fourth in line next to another, quite longer line. Apparently, VIP package owners get in first, then press, people who buy their tickets on-line, and finally those who buy tickets at the show. One of the interesting aspects of standing in line from around 9:30 to 10 was seeing the exhibitors, professionals, and celebrities coming in. Yancy Butler, Ted Raimi, Jim Calafiore, Billy Tucci, Peter Mayhew, Tom Savini, and Marina Sirtis. About three hundred people I'd say got in before me, but it was neat getting in right after them. While in line, I called up my friends Ihsaan and Mallory who I knew were coming to the show as well, but Ihsaan had to work the night before and was still in bed. Getting into the show around 10:05, it was eerie to see it so empty because it's generally packed by the time I usually get in. My policy is always to get free swag first and foremost but the pickings this year were slim to say the least. The absence of both DC and Marvel was deafening, the only free swag I came across was at the empty Wizard booth and all they offered were the free magazines already provided in the bag you get when you enter the building. I heard later they were doing the wheel of fortune again as with previous years (you spin the wheel and either win a prize or perform to earn a prize), but apparently it wasn't set-up when I arrived and in any event the prizes haven't been all that spectacular in recent years (unlike years ago when you got like ten recent comics or VHS tapes/DVDs or trade paperbacks; last year I got a novel and my friend got folders). The next step in my convention modus operandi is to get celebrity signatures.

I first scouted the celebrity area to see who was there and surprisingly more than half weren't even seated yet. A few, however, were there and the first I went to was Taimak, star of one of my favorite films of all time: Berry Gordy's the Last Dragon, a film based in Harlem about a young man named Leeroy Green (nicknamed Bruce Leeroy) trained in kung fu as he searches for a master that can help him reach the highest level of kung fu known as 'the Glow' and the dangers he faces in Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem,who wishes to defeat Leeroy to demonstrate his superiority in martial arts and Eddie Arcadian, an arcade mogul out to get television host Lora Charles whom Leeroy falls in love with. Taimak was a really gracious man and seemed legitimately enthused to meet his fans and talk about his role. Buying a photograph and having him sign it, he told me that he has in fact been approached to be part of the Last Dragon remake in the process of coming off the ground (as I understand it, Will Smith's son has been cast to take on the Leeroy character). After Taimak, I went to see Tom Savini who was there with his wife and child. I told him my name, said his character Sex Machine in From Dusk Till Dawn was my favorite in the film and he thanked me, but he didn't really strike me as caring all that much. I bought a photograph of him as Sex Machine and got a signature, but I was a bit disappointed he wasn't too enthused to be there.

I decided to check out the Saber Wars booth as it was next to the celebrity area where the New Jedi Order and their counterparts in New York and three other states were represented. Xander introduced me to her friend Roy and after exchanging some pleasantries (and how I got into the con so early) I headed off to check out Artist's Alley. Roughly 75% of the creators had arrived to this point and again I scouted it out before going in. I passed J.G. Jones but he was with a few people already, so I decided to come back and came across Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. Both were complete joys and really nice, willing to talk to the fans. I got a large Power Girl print from Amanda for $20 and a large B&W Painkiller Jane print from Jimmy for I think $10. Heading back to J.G. Jones, he was free and signed a couple of comics he had on hand for me for free. I was touched and gave him $5; he tried giving it back but I insisted and he said that'll pay for some coffee he was desperately in need of. I saw Khoi Pham but he had a few people with him, so I decided to come back later. Mallory called me and told me they were in line (it was about 11 am) and I couldn't believe that I got as much done as I did because in previous years, the swag, celebs, and artist's alley usually took 2½ hours and this year took just one.

I was about to hit the celeb area again when Mal called again; apparently by this time, the line got so low it was about a five minute trek to get into the con. We met up and I headed over to Marina Sirtis. I was disappointed she didn't have any Demona (from Disney's Gargoyles) lithographs to sign and she said Disney hasn't let her use any but it may change in the coming months. Instead, I saw she had some photographs with her and Jonathan Frakes from what I assume was for Star Trek: The Next Generation however Frakes also lent his voice to Gargoyles as most-times antagonist David Xanatos that the actor had signed and, though it set me back $40, it was nice to have a picture signed by both actors (Gargoyles maybe my favorite cartoon of all time, though it only lasted two seasons; I don't count Goliath Chronicles). I should also add, Marina was even more gorgeous than when she was younger. I was blown away by this fact. If there ever was a live action Gargoyles, I dare say she could portray a live Demona. We stood across from Doug Jones booth, but we weren't sure if it was the actor or not because, well, Jones is always in full make-up for just about every character he's played. While the three of this pondered such a dilemma, Xander and Emy came by and Ihsaan, Mal, and I talked with them. Inevitably, I decided to go take a break while my other friends went to check out the rest of the con.

Unfortunately, this year they did away with tables set up in the room for either eating or gaming. Instead, there were bleachers for the VGXPO Video Game Expo by the Saber Wars booth which generally were quite empty. The area was a bit of a sad sight with a dozen plain displays with occasional players. The only interesting thing I could note was at one point later in the day whomever was in the Wizard Bunny suit ran through the area like an idiot and crashed into the display. Who I can only assume as the guy who owned the equipment was about to tear the kid into pieces when the Bunny took the head off and apologized. Luckily, he didn't bust the flat screen else I may have felt bad for the beating he was going to get.

After catching my breath (and letting my back recuperate; threw my back out about two months back and it's still giving me problems), I headed out into the con. In the first aisle, I came across another friend from school Loki (I thought I saw him earlier but dyed his hair and I wasn't sure). We talked a bit before I went forward to find bargains. Generally, I walk the whole floor taking mental notes and then head out for A) DVDs (generally anime), B) TPBs, C) Back Issues, and D) Weapons (generally swords), in that order. However, considering the aforementioned issues I related, I decided to just to go to each DVD booth I found. Unfortunately, of the four I found, three only had poor bootlegs at ridiculous prices. Fortunately, my favorite supplier for foreign and anime DVDs in Another Heaven (http://anotherheaven.biz/) was able to make this year's con and, in some ways, saved the whole event for me (next to the after party, their presence was my favorite highlight). What's funny, I didn't know it was them until after making my purchase because Bryan wasn't there running the show as he usual does (I remember him saying they were expanding, so I hope this is a sign that they're expanding out). In any event, I got the complete series of Defenders of the Earth for $30, [rec] (Spanish film Quarantine was based on) for $12, and the Best of Bravestarr for $25 (at the time, I thought it was Bravestarr Season One, Volume One and kind of felt jipped when I got home but the dude at the stand was nice enough to shave $7 off my purchase, so it made up for it). Walking the whole floor, I decided it was time to take another break at the bleachers.

While there, my longtime best friend Will and his fiancé Rene stopped by and we talked about the con. After they went to go check the rest of the floor out, I decided it'd be a good time for lunch since it was one o'clock. Calling Ihsaan, we went to the small area outside the room and staked out a spot. While they ran out to get some hoagies at Wawa, I watched the spot and our stuff and gave a call to a friend I came across on Facebook that I oddly enough never ran in to despite being in the same circles as her in Jenn. I left her a voicemail but she wasn't able to text back to me until we were about done lunch at 1:30. Saying she was coming, we waited for about twenty minutes but we had to get going. We went around the floor again where I checked to see if I missed any celebs or artists and to take some pictures as I promised about a dozen people I would with my new camera. I came across Jerry “the King” Lawler and Raven where I got both of their autographs (both great guys, nice and easy to talk to) and got signatures from Tom Derenick (he was giving away his comics at $1 a piece, but I got one and gave him a five; I know a lot of artists rely on these cons and I figured every bit helps) and Shane Davis (got a sweet large art print from him for $15) and snapped pics of Jim Calafiore, Blair Smith (doing an absolutely amazing painting of Deadpool vs Afro Samurai), Greg Horn, Tommy Castillo, Billy Tan, Tom Derenick, J.G. Jones (who was eating lunch but was kind enough to let me snap a photo), Amanda Conner, and Khoi Pham. I saw a note about Greg Pak being moved to a bunch of locations throughout the day, and though I wanted to meet him to thank him for his contributions to the Bill Mantlo (perhaps my favorite writer of all time who after a car accident has been hospitalized since) project, it just seemed too much of a hassle to hunt him down. By this time, it was about 3 pm and I had to get to the Wizard Universe Message Board (WUMB) Meet-and-Greet.

I got to the room and ran into Andy Serwin, Mike Cotton, and the panel moderator and intern that I believe was named Josh who were talking outside. I said my hellos and commented on Jim Gibbons hosting the Battlestar Galactica panel and being unable to make it with Andy telling me he was really excited to get that panel. Unfortunately, I believe I was the only WUMBer to make it so it was pretty much just us cracking jokes. Rachel Molino and her friend Nicole stopped by for a while. We talked about a lot of things: awkward interviews, furries, the pantlessness of Winnie the Pooh, and generally stuff about the WUMB. They decided to wrap it at 3:30 and my friends and I decided to wait for the DC Panel to start at 4 pm.

When they opened the doors to the room, it took a good five minutes before everyone in line made it inside. I seriously considered that they may have booked too small a room but fortunately it seemed to be just big enough where almost every seat was taken. Waiting for the panel to start, I was surprised to learn I sat down next to a long time internet friend of mine in Glenn Walker whom I've talked to for years on Yahoo! message boards. It was great to finally meet him and I told him I loved his French Fry Diary he's posted on his blog to learn later he ran into many fans of this feature. Soon after, Dan DiDio came onstage to a flurry of applause and introduced Adam Schlagman, Shane Davis, Rags Morales, Bob Wayne, J.T. Krul, and Franco. Though they talked about things like Grant Morrison's Multiversity, Rags' project involving Doc Savage, showing off a pre-published copy of Wednesday Comics, Sam Kieth on Lobo, and Milestone and Red Circle joining the DCU, it was obvious it seemed thrown together at the last minute. I mean, they didn't even use the projector to display yet-seen cover art as they've done every year. Though the panel was fun due in no small part to Dan, it was disappointing that it wasn't the usual grandeur it was (echoed by the smaller room, packed just enough as it may have been).

With the panel's wrap at five, I headed over to the Saber Wars panel I learned about from my friend Xander. At first, it appeared a riot was about to break out as the room that the panel that Saber Wars took place in ran late and the adjoining room wasn't finished setting up leaving some eighty agitated people anxiously waiting to get started. Fortunately, the room cleared and the other room opened and all was right in the world. The Saber Wars panel was simply great, though at times I think too much energy was spent trying to recruit people for the program (especially since I came for staged combat). Xander, Emy, and Roy were simply amazing. Another really good fight was between New York based performers Dave Harold and Richard A Zak. I think the most impressive lightsabre was from Brad Worrell from New Jedi Order with a six foot Claymore. A few members of the audience were taken into the hall and shown some basic choreography before returning to demonstrate their skills. The panel ran a bit over, so my friends and I had to dash out at six to try and get our final buys before the convention closed at seven.

Going to TPB sellers, I found everything I came across I either already owned or was uninterested in (it seemed as though they had several copies of only a dozen or so books). Considering I have two long boxes of unread comics over putting off my reading for about four months due to school, I decided against looking for back issues. I like to save weapon purchases for the end because exhibitors tend to overcharge their product because most attendees are unaware of the prices of items when bought on-line, so by the end of the day many want to unload their stock and drop prices to either reasonable or bargain levels. Unfortunately, there was only two weapon exhibitors so there wasn't a lot of competition to drive down prices. The first dealer only had a handful of larger weapons (though they were selling Wizard World Philadelphia coins which I snagged one of) and the second dealer almost exclusively sold handmade weapons (handmade is generally $300+), so for the second year in a row I went home without a new sword or other weapon. As the show was ending, I decided to check in on Saber Wars while Ihsaan finished his shopping. The members of the organization however got a real treat when Ray Park (whose line had at least twenty people in it at all times) invited them over for photo ops and tip and tricks (check out some video of the experience: http://www.youtube.com/user/Gravichan and http://www.youtube.com/user/DoctorDorkson).

At the 7 pm mark, we got out of the convention and headed over to the Trocadero Theatre for the after party. The ad for the event was a bit misleading: when they say it features the Rigor Mortis Revue Sampler zombie burlesque, Suicide Girls, and Kaiju Big Battel, they meant you watch Kaiju Big Battel while the other watch it away from you in a reserved area. Considering I sold it to people as a burlesque show with some giant monster combat... my friends asked me up to the end of the show when the burlesque show start. That said, Kaiju Bug Battel is awesome!Truly, the highlight of the entire convention. I've seen the program on television, but in no way does it compare to the real thing. Our waitress was also extremely nice and quite lovely. She talked to me several times throughout the show, we joked about the fact I simply wanted soda and not anything complicated in terms of alcohol or coffee.

At the end of the night, we went to the Dim Sum Garden on 11^th St by chance and I ordered the marinated sliced pork and fried pork dumplings. Though I wasn't a fan of the sliced pork (good, but served chilled which didn't feel right to me), the dumplings were out of this world. Simply put, equal to or better than my own homemade dumplings. Ihsaan ordered noodle and eel soup and it looked so good, I had to try some and it was amazing. I had to order myself a bowl, as did Mallory. We all ended up taking home our leftover soup and remarkably, the bill was only $43 and change for three people who admittedly overindulged. Ihsaan picked up the tab because I got his dinner for his birthday and mine had recently passed. I took a cab home and am presently recuperating from yesterday (with my bad ankle, I can barely walk).

All-in-all, I think the convention was about the same as last year; in some ways, that's almost absolutely true as many of the same comic creator guests returned. To that credit, I was unable to see J.G. Jones last year but this year had no trouble. Some people I wanted to see I never came across: Ale Garza, Phil Jimenez, Joe Kelly, Kevin Maguire, Mike McKone, Greg Pak, Tom Raney, and Walt Simonson. I missed my buddy Keith Dallas as well, but that's more my fault than anything. I even spent roughly the same amount of money. However, it was a bit disappointing considering last year was an improvement over the previous year in what seemed as though the convention had decayed year after year; I hoped last year was a sign of improvement, but with DC and Marvel having little to no presence, to some degree it decayed again. Plus, I don't know if it was just me, but the convention felt smaller, like there was less space for things. Didn't seem as packed as last year, either. I've heard rumors about this being the last show, but I hope not. Then again, not exactly a lot of positive signs, either.