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11-03-2009, 01:05 AM
Instead of going down to Castleton for Saturday night, a few of us decided to head up North, to Vermont's only convention,Bakuretsucon in its seventh year in Colchester, VT. This was my fifth year going up, and I was pretty excited. For some reason, traveling up through like, 100 miles of wilderness and cow patties seems like an adventure in my warped brain.
Thursday
Like most places, Thursday is a low-key day. While there is nothing technically going on, registration is set up, and people are filing in so they can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Friday morning.
There were a few events going on, namely a panel held by AnimeAMAZE, Vermont's anime radio station, and an MST3K hosted by the Penny Dreadfuls cosplay group. I wound up not attending either, except only to stick my head into the MST, because there was a pool in the Hampton, and Thursday nights seem to be the only chance I get to go. It was surprisingly well-attended, considering it was only Thursday, and events arguably didn't kick off until 4 o'clock's opening ceremony Friday. By the time Genna (Forum member Peerwon) and Eric (Forum member Quantum9) arrived just before strikedown of Registration, they were badges #103 and #104.
Friday
Friday for us started out in the tabletop area, where there were a wide assortment of games to pick up and play. There'd be people in this area, which was also the hotel lobby, at all hours of the night, so there were always people ready to play a pickup game. The panels were perhaps a tad dissapointedly attended, probably because it was Friday afternoon when the Ramune Soda tasting, hosted by Majik, ran. Like, three people that weren't forcibly dragged in by me came. Since I don't have enough Y-chromosomes, I could not bring myself to the Transformers panel that happened immediately afterwards, but I was assured on high authority that it was the quietest event of the afternoon, attended by only two people aside from the coordinators.
The evening was a bit more well-attended, with events like the Yankee Battle Auction and Iron Cosplay being well-attended. Our group did pretty well at the Iron Cosplay, but we ended up placing second to an Ed with a chibi Al head. Harsh, losing to someone so small...
Anime Unscripted ran directly after the Iron Cosplay, and it was fairly well- attended, which was good, considering it was running against the long-standing Bakuretsucon LARP (which I was so sad I missed), and the beginning of the Steam dance party in the first floor, which I only stayed for a few moments, feeling out of place without my steampunk garb. The event itself seemed interesting, with perhaps 20 or so steam-inspired costumes of varying intricacy and detail, so that was an interesting sight to just watch.
Saturday
The big day. Frankly, I was in such a panic starting from my costume falling apart on the drive up that I can't completely remember parts of it. I remember losing my shit at the judging because my Ultimecia wig completely gave up the ghost, refusing to let me keep it upright. I was practically in tears, and if Genna wasn't with me, I probably would have left. I wound up getting out of the costume immediately afterwards because it was impossible to walk down a hallway with a 7 foot wingspan, and changed to get to the plushie panel, held by Majik.
This is a panel that I have never once missed the entire time I've been going to cons where she has offered this. This might make me her stalker. She's kind enough to just call me her groupie, thankfully. At this panel, there may be people who sew things together, but mostly now, in my case, it's two hours of inapropriate conversations and plush crotches and boobies. Good times!
After that, we managed to schedule a Kingdom Hearts Photoshoot, and with Eric as Lexaeus, recognizably so, we had quite an interesting series of photos, first on the fourth floor balcony, and then outside after the staff shooed our lot out. Looking back at the con schedule, I really wonder how that managed to take up three hours, and I begin to wonder if I had been abducted by aliens at some point during that time. Maybe one of the others can fill me in on whether or not I got probed.
As you might imagine, considering the tears and anguish I described earlier, I was hesitant to get back into Ultimecia and actually parade up onto stage with my collapsed costume. But I had already shown up for judging, so I might as well show up and just go. Because of my wings, I had to kneel the entire time, or stand, which was a bit uncomfortable, but this convention's Masqurade is what many others can't be: quick, efficient, not the kind of thing that literally sucks up your entire day. Like last year, it might have been a little too quick, leaving the staff scrambling to fill up the time. The scramble was even more hectic this year due to a medical emergency that occured during the awards phase. It ended up not being serious, but at the time, it was serious enough that the staff wanted the congoers out of the room as quickly as possible. The person who had the emergency was fine, and returned to the con the next day (and was probably given his award for being part of the best skit). As for myself... it might surprise you that I won anything, considering all the time I spent whining about my costume. It really did surprise me that I got called up not once, but twice for Judge's choice in both the Walk-on and Craftsmanship categories. I wasn't going to argue with them about it. I was going to take my awards and... grapevine, because that was the best I could do with a wingspan that literally took up the entire hallway.
After all the after-masq. futzing around, I finally made it back to go to the Halloween Dance, which wasn't really that great and made me miss you guys big time! The music was good, hosted by three different DJ's. I only stayed for one set, but it was a good one. It just seemed like few people were really into dancing, for some reason. Genna and Jilly headed off for the dating game, which they said was amazing and involved gory murder. After that was another Majik panel, Vampires Don't Sparkle, back from Connecticon. It was an hour of ranting about an awful book while watching the panelist drink herself into forgetting about sparkle baseball Jonas Brother Vegetarian Vampires. The next panel, which sort of ran into hers was the Con Horror Stories panel, attended by a series of con veterans from both an attendee and staffer position, raving about their worst stories, all of which we were sworn to on a pact of vodka and beer that we would never share again outside of the event. It eventually ran over and broke off into different rooms before petering off super early into Sunday morning.
Sunday
Considering our marinated activities of the night before, we were quite slow and tired, winding up giving up on all events save for the second Yankee Battle Auction, and the Bakuretsucon Yard Sale, where for two hours, people plunked down their crap and tried to break even for the end of the con. We ended up doing quite well for ourselves, making about 200 dollars between the four of us. Not a bad haul at all. We left the con just before closing ceremonies, tired, but feeling accomplished and satisfied.
Yeah... I'm certain that it's clear I've never written one of these before. Sorry about the text wall, guys! I'm incredibly lazy about this, but I'll have a link to pictures posted soon... ish.
Thursday
Like most places, Thursday is a low-key day. While there is nothing technically going on, registration is set up, and people are filing in so they can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Friday morning.
There were a few events going on, namely a panel held by AnimeAMAZE, Vermont's anime radio station, and an MST3K hosted by the Penny Dreadfuls cosplay group. I wound up not attending either, except only to stick my head into the MST, because there was a pool in the Hampton, and Thursday nights seem to be the only chance I get to go. It was surprisingly well-attended, considering it was only Thursday, and events arguably didn't kick off until 4 o'clock's opening ceremony Friday. By the time Genna (Forum member Peerwon) and Eric (Forum member Quantum9) arrived just before strikedown of Registration, they were badges #103 and #104.
Friday
Friday for us started out in the tabletop area, where there were a wide assortment of games to pick up and play. There'd be people in this area, which was also the hotel lobby, at all hours of the night, so there were always people ready to play a pickup game. The panels were perhaps a tad dissapointedly attended, probably because it was Friday afternoon when the Ramune Soda tasting, hosted by Majik, ran. Like, three people that weren't forcibly dragged in by me came. Since I don't have enough Y-chromosomes, I could not bring myself to the Transformers panel that happened immediately afterwards, but I was assured on high authority that it was the quietest event of the afternoon, attended by only two people aside from the coordinators.
The evening was a bit more well-attended, with events like the Yankee Battle Auction and Iron Cosplay being well-attended. Our group did pretty well at the Iron Cosplay, but we ended up placing second to an Ed with a chibi Al head. Harsh, losing to someone so small...
Anime Unscripted ran directly after the Iron Cosplay, and it was fairly well- attended, which was good, considering it was running against the long-standing Bakuretsucon LARP (which I was so sad I missed), and the beginning of the Steam dance party in the first floor, which I only stayed for a few moments, feeling out of place without my steampunk garb. The event itself seemed interesting, with perhaps 20 or so steam-inspired costumes of varying intricacy and detail, so that was an interesting sight to just watch.
Saturday
The big day. Frankly, I was in such a panic starting from my costume falling apart on the drive up that I can't completely remember parts of it. I remember losing my shit at the judging because my Ultimecia wig completely gave up the ghost, refusing to let me keep it upright. I was practically in tears, and if Genna wasn't with me, I probably would have left. I wound up getting out of the costume immediately afterwards because it was impossible to walk down a hallway with a 7 foot wingspan, and changed to get to the plushie panel, held by Majik.
This is a panel that I have never once missed the entire time I've been going to cons where she has offered this. This might make me her stalker. She's kind enough to just call me her groupie, thankfully. At this panel, there may be people who sew things together, but mostly now, in my case, it's two hours of inapropriate conversations and plush crotches and boobies. Good times!
After that, we managed to schedule a Kingdom Hearts Photoshoot, and with Eric as Lexaeus, recognizably so, we had quite an interesting series of photos, first on the fourth floor balcony, and then outside after the staff shooed our lot out. Looking back at the con schedule, I really wonder how that managed to take up three hours, and I begin to wonder if I had been abducted by aliens at some point during that time. Maybe one of the others can fill me in on whether or not I got probed.
As you might imagine, considering the tears and anguish I described earlier, I was hesitant to get back into Ultimecia and actually parade up onto stage with my collapsed costume. But I had already shown up for judging, so I might as well show up and just go. Because of my wings, I had to kneel the entire time, or stand, which was a bit uncomfortable, but this convention's Masqurade is what many others can't be: quick, efficient, not the kind of thing that literally sucks up your entire day. Like last year, it might have been a little too quick, leaving the staff scrambling to fill up the time. The scramble was even more hectic this year due to a medical emergency that occured during the awards phase. It ended up not being serious, but at the time, it was serious enough that the staff wanted the congoers out of the room as quickly as possible. The person who had the emergency was fine, and returned to the con the next day (and was probably given his award for being part of the best skit). As for myself... it might surprise you that I won anything, considering all the time I spent whining about my costume. It really did surprise me that I got called up not once, but twice for Judge's choice in both the Walk-on and Craftsmanship categories. I wasn't going to argue with them about it. I was going to take my awards and... grapevine, because that was the best I could do with a wingspan that literally took up the entire hallway.
After all the after-masq. futzing around, I finally made it back to go to the Halloween Dance, which wasn't really that great and made me miss you guys big time! The music was good, hosted by three different DJ's. I only stayed for one set, but it was a good one. It just seemed like few people were really into dancing, for some reason. Genna and Jilly headed off for the dating game, which they said was amazing and involved gory murder. After that was another Majik panel, Vampires Don't Sparkle, back from Connecticon. It was an hour of ranting about an awful book while watching the panelist drink herself into forgetting about sparkle baseball Jonas Brother Vegetarian Vampires. The next panel, which sort of ran into hers was the Con Horror Stories panel, attended by a series of con veterans from both an attendee and staffer position, raving about their worst stories, all of which we were sworn to on a pact of vodka and beer that we would never share again outside of the event. It eventually ran over and broke off into different rooms before petering off super early into Sunday morning.
Sunday
Considering our marinated activities of the night before, we were quite slow and tired, winding up giving up on all events save for the second Yankee Battle Auction, and the Bakuretsucon Yard Sale, where for two hours, people plunked down their crap and tried to break even for the end of the con. We ended up doing quite well for ourselves, making about 200 dollars between the four of us. Not a bad haul at all. We left the con just before closing ceremonies, tired, but feeling accomplished and satisfied.
Yeah... I'm certain that it's clear I've never written one of these before. Sorry about the text wall, guys! I'm incredibly lazy about this, but I'll have a link to pictures posted soon... ish.
