Post by LadyRiona on Nov 11, 2008 1:00:19 GMT -5
Okay, so no one has been to conventions since Katsucon, woo...actually, I went to Tekkoshocon in April but I'm a lazy con goer and Admin and didn't post what I did. I pretty much have forgotten now...heh. ^^;;
In the meantime.....Nekocon XI was amazing! I went with a friend of mine and her brother this year. Sadly, my usual con goer (Iarejedi) couldn't make it this year, but there's always Katsu or Tekko in '09! So, Riona writing her report for Nekocon XI, go!!
Friday morning when we got to the con, I was suprised to see the line for Pre-Reg was considerably shorter than same-day Reg. This usually is not so. But anyway, I send my buddies over to the same day registration line and wait in Pre-Reg (note to any newbs out there: ALWAYS PRE-REG!), which only takes like 20 minutes, tops, then go over to same-day with a schedule to keep my friends company. There was nothing we wanted to do for a while so we weren't concerned about missing panels.
I have to say that the scheduling for this year wasn't so full as last year, but oh well. It was still a good weekend. When we get through the same-day line (we made a few friends there haha) we run around to get our bearings (aka, I forget). I think it was quite close to the panel I went to (Photography 101, the first photography panel at Nekocon ever); then they went to the Vampire Knight panel. Their panel started 30 min after mine, so thusly ended 30 min after mine so I ran around the dealer's room and purchased a dulled blade I could possibly use at my Renaissance faires. After that, I went up to Opening Ceremonies to meet up with friends (my group and my good friend Chris Malone and his girlfriend).
Opening ceremonies was hilarious. The guests came went up on stage to talk a little about themselves, say they had panels, and the like. The voice actors and bands actually walked up the stairs. When it came to the web comic artists, they all either jumped up on stage, crawled up on stage, or just said "Screw it" and stood in front of the stage. Among the guests was:
Voice Actors:
Troy Baker (he couldn't make it to opening ceremonies)
Jerry Jewell
Aaron Dismuke (he couldn't make it either)
Greg Ayres
Chris Ayres
Webcomic Artists:
Chris "Kilika" Malone
Applegeeks
Mookie
Brian Wilson
David Lister
Steve Napierski
Random (but still awesome) Artists[/url]
Robert and Emily DeJesus (pronouced Dee-hay-sous)
Christy Lijewski
Bettina M. Kurkoski
Bands
Echostream
GPKism
After Opening, there was really nothing that we desperately wanted to do until like 7PM (opening ceremonies ended around 3:30) so I think we walked around the Dealer's Room and Artist Alley/The Bazaar. Also, we ran out to Target to get last minute things that we forgot (like snacks for my friends, and I got stuff like plasticware and bowls, chocolate...). Then we went back to the hotel room to unload said recently purchased stuff and hung out for a while. Meanwhile, I was stuffing newly purchased gift bags with chocolate chip cookies my mom baked to give to the guests I like (such as Greg Ayres, Chris Malone, Troy Baker, Jerry Jewell, Aaron Dismuke...yeah). My friend occupied herself by finishing reading DramaCon manga and her brother watched television. He then decided to stay at the hotel when my friend (Katie) and I decided to go back to the con and run around until the panel.
We got back to the con early so we were running around for a bit. At that point in time, we went up to the Main Events hallway and ended up borrowing an AMS (security) guy's schedule to write down the times and places of where we needed to go since we'd lost the schedule earlier in the day. This AMS guy's name is Chad and he was nosy and peeked into the bags of cookies. The conversation ended with me promising him some cookies.
Anyway, previously said 7PM panel was on the anime "Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad" anime, hosted by Jerry Jewell and Greg Ayres. The panel was awesome. I have yet to purchase either the manga or the anime, so all I've seen of it is what I saw at Tekko two years ago I believe? Wow, a long time ago. Anyway, they talked about it a good bit. Before the panel had started, I had given Greg and Jerry (yes, I am on good enough terms to refer to them by their first names and not feel awkward) their bags of cookies. Throughout the panel, you could see Greg "sneaking" (hah!) pieces of cookie from the bag and munching them. After the panel, he was like, "I usually don't eat food from fans, but I doubt your mom would be trying to kill me!" haha It was funny watching him eat.
After that, we went next door so Katie could go to a panel titled "Characters and Stroies and Manga Oh My!" that I have no clue what it was about. Meanwhile, I went to a pattern called "Costume Pattern Making" that I left after only 15 minutes because, frankly, I knew how to do everything they had said and I had no desire to listen to silly questions. I know that sounds conceited, but I've been sewing for about five years or so and know how to make my own patterns, so I'm a pretty competent seamstress (who just doesn't have enough patience...). Anyhoo, I ran around the con for about forty-five minutes. I barely remember what I did, but I think I ran into some other friends and hung out with them for a while.
The next panel Katie and I went to was called "Building Anime-Inspired Worlds", which was pretty kewl. It was hosted by a video game designer whose name escaped me at the moment. What he did was had us list three anime series (Love Hina, another Harem anime, and Trinity Blood...the third courtesy of myself hah). We took aspects from all three series (mainly just two because Love Hina and the other harem series were quite similar) and made a basis of a world. There were Vampires (which we later renamed "Shadow Walkers") and humans at first, then we came up with people in the stages between human and vampire. Then there were people who were impervious to being turned. Then we discussed how the vampirism was spread. It was a disease that we decided was spread more so like an STD (again, my idea...twisted, ne?) than through say biting or whatnot. So you have the vampires who just want peace, then you have humans who only care about staying alive. Then you have the Church (seeing themes from Trinity Blood here?) who wants to eradicate the Shadow Walkers for multiple reasons, one main one being from the way the disease was spread....
Anyway as much as I"d love to go on about that panel, I forget a lot of it and I doubt you all really care. So NEXT!
After that, we found the friends I hung out with earlier. It's 9:30 and the dance we all wanna go to doesn't start until 10:30, but the line is horrendous, so we all go back to my hotel room for a while and chill, watch a little television and whatnot until about 11. Then we danced like crazy children (even though I was the only "adult" among our little group) for about forty-five minutes before I got too hot in the room and had to leave. Eventually, they all come out of the dance, either to check on me or because they're done, so we mosey along down the hallway, away from the noise. But let me say, even though we weren't there for long, Greg Ayres DJs a rockin' party.
So we're at the end of the hallway hanging out when two of our group of five breaks off to go make out in the stairwell or something. That leaves Katie, Ashley, and myself to be goofy so we start playing "I Spy" and I'm being loud (nothing new). Then I chance to look up and spot Jerry walking with this extremely tall individual. Who should this tall individual be? None other than Troy Baker, voice of Abel Nightroad! Yay! Troy! So I rush down the stairs and give him a big hug, inform him I've missed him, then hug Jerry so he isn't left out and ask him about the cookies (which he hadn't eaten yet). Then the two tall guys, Katie, and I go outside with Troy and Jerry and amuse ourselves with them.
In that time, this really drunk dude comes over and starts going on about how his friend left him and was walking back to the hotel, and how he had bought enough alcohol for a rockin' party. Oh, and ah...we happened to find out that he was at the same hotel as us. Heh. Any guy that we saw who resembled him, Katie and I were like, "O.O! Oh!" But anyway, finally the dude was like, "So are you girls here with anyone? Are you with those guys?" He pointed at Troy and Jerry. Possibly stupidly because of what happened next, I said, "Yeah, sort of." The guy then proceded to walk over to Troy and Jerry and be like, "Hey tall guy! Tall guy! These girls say they're with you!" which wasn't so much a problem since the guys like me. What was a problem was that the guy was talking for like ten straight minutes about well, nothing. He was just saying words in what happened to be full sentences. At one point in time, Troy dared him to go arm wrestle the girl standing a few feet away. Then he looked at me with a smirk and said, "Guess who gets a swift kick in the *ss tomorrow?" jokingly. I was like, "I'm so sorry guys, I really don't know who he is; he just started talking...and wouldn't stop." The guys were like, "It's fine, no worries." But shortly after that, the guy came back and started talking AGAIN...and wouldn't stop. So Troy then challenged him to get three girls' phone numbers in ten minutes. He didn't come back. But Troy was like, "That is the first human being I've ever met that didn't require oxygen." Hah. Oops.
After that, we all went up to the dance for a while, but Troy and Jerry went somewhere we weren't allowed (not to ditch us, but yeah). So we went back to the hotel and snoozed. End Friday.
Saturday, I got up first and ran to Walmart (since Target was closed) to get a scrunchie since I forgot to get them the previous night. Then I stopped for breakfast and coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Back at the hotel, I woke up the other two folks, got them ready, then we drove over to the con for a panel at 10 for Aaron Dismuke. We were the first in line to get in (yay us for starting lines!). I recorded most of the panel on my camera but I ran out of space on my card near the end and missed some good stuff sadly.
After that, we ran to the Webcomics panel for the last 30 minutes. Okay. Panel room 1 had some weird stuff going on with the mics. Like, I think they were haunted...that or someone was having a good time because I kept hearing voices from the speakers...and I know it wasn't in my head. Anyway, after that we waited in line for Troy's panel I wanted to record but my battery was dead in my camera from recording Aaron's panel...I bought a new card for that though. Heh. ^^;
After that, we were hungry so we ran back to the hotel and got food. There was a panel with Aaron and Jerry for Fruits Basket at 2, but we decided to forsake that so we could eat and chill. After that, we headed back (this time with Chad's cookies, since we forgot earlier...) for a 6:30 panel with Troy, Jerry, and Aaron. It was SUPPOSED to be about Fullmetal Alchemist, but we only talked about it for like 10, 15, MAYBE 20 minutes...out of an hour and a half....hah. I got that one on video also since my camera was charged. However, this one was also panel room 1 so I kept hearing things. One thing I recognized was the "Ch, ch, ch, ku, ku, ku" noise from Nightmare on Elm Street...creeeeepyyyyyyyy..... Then there were actual voices and Troy was like "O.o *looks around* Do you guys hear that too? Okay, so it isn't the voices in my head..." So weird and creepy. But anyway, that was a good panel.
After that, Katie and I ran up to the AMS room to try to find Chad....sadly, we had missed him by about 10 minutes since I was running my mouth next door in Ops. Sigh. So we ran over to the con hotel, hoping to find the guests, which we did.
I gave the cookies to Aaron and Troy...bad me for doing that right before their dinner! But anyway, Aaron was like "...you keep offering me cookies. Did you put anything extra in them? You should eat one to make sure..." so I did and then he grabbed one.
Next was our dinner at the traditional Applebees. It wasn't that great at first because our waitress was receiving a hard time from the table in front of us, but once they left it was fine.
After that, we dropped Katie's brother George off at the hotel...actually, I left them both at the hotel and ran back to the con because there was an 18+ panel I wanted to go to at midnight: Voice Actors Uncensored. Katie isn't 18 yet so she couldn't go. Oh well. So I did some gopher work while I waited to go to the line, helped set up the dance. Then I waited in line for a while. I'm not supposed to talk about the Uncensored panel so I won't...but it was funny. Not nearly as raunchy as it could have been, I was told, but still pretty good. I learned a lot of things about the voice actors that I hadn't known before and never would have guessed....haha.
But after the panel, I made sure to give Jerry a big hug...the guy deserves it! He gives awesome hugs, by the way.
Then it was bedtime around 2 AM. End Saturday at the con.
Sunday was very short and sad. We got there early and I did some gopher work, hung out with a friend I hadn't seen in a while...sent Katie and her brother on errands for me. After that was a panel we wanted to go to at noon. It was for Ouran High School Host Club, the DUBBED version, yay!!! Aaron and Greg hosted it. They answered some questions and we watched the first episode. It was awesome! The first DVD set is out now, and the second one it out in Feburary so go buy it! It's only two purchases for the full thing!!
When that panel was over, we ran around the dealer's room for a little while. We FINALLY found Chad and gave him his cookies at like 1:30. I'd bought pocky and Ramune (accent on the 'e') and was working on the first bottle of Ramune when Troy happened by. Since he had time, I let him hear my text message sound, which was his voicing Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood...it's very funny. If you go look up "Troy Baker Trinity Blood Recording" on Youtube, you should come up with the video. I wanna say it's Episode 21 behind the scenes. But anyway, he and the director (Justin Cook I think) are goofing off and I made it into a ringtone.
After a little while, we went to hang out in the Bazaar where the autographs were. I was suddenly very hyper from Pocky and Ramune so started building a house with pocky boxes and ramune bottles, and the Fruits Basket plushies I purchased (rare Yuki rat plushie ftw, score!!!). I got pictures of that too. Heh! ^^;;;
When the autograph panel was over, I went over to the voice actors. Troy almost immediately gave me a hug when he saw me and I chatted with him for a bit. I spoke with Aaron for a few moments. When Jerry wasn't busy, I grabbed his attention with the phrase, "So, can I ask a favor?" He was like, "Uh-oh..."
You see, Jerry is in a band. He plays bass. He also announced that he sings. Being the curious and laid-back fangirl that I am, I asked if he would sing for me. He was like, "You want me to sing?" I just asked that, didn't I? lol Then he was like, "What do you want me to sing?" Of course knowing that he probably doesn't know every song in the world, I asked him what he felt like singing, so he sang "One for my Baby and One More for the Road". Oh...em...gee. He sounds amazing! I felt myself blushing and was almost ready to swoon into a puzzle. But I'm more resolute than that, and pride myself on being a laid-back fan, not one who squees and flails and glomps them (just hugs...). So I sang a little bit of it with him then told him how awesome he is afterwards. Then I began wondering just WHY he doesn't have a girlfriend (okay, gonna say something from the Uncensored panel: Jerry does not have a girlfriend and hasn't had one for a while apparently). But let's not dwell on that!!!
Next was closing ceremonies, boo!!!! But it was still great. Jerry, Troy, and Aaron were the first ones called up since they had early flights up. Troy cracked a joke about the Uncensored panel (haha!), Jerry was asked to sing (probably because Aaron heard him singing at me in the hallway), and Aaron said he told the girls to ask Jerry to sing. By the way, Jerry didn't sing on stage. When I went to go tell him 'bye, he pointed that out after I thanked him again for singing for me. He was like, "You notice I only sang for you, right?" lol Awkward much?
Anyway. The rest was just the MC calling names of people who weren't present until it got to Greg Ayres. Hah, this is great.
Greg Ayres is VERY much AGAINST fansubbing and illegal downloading. He holds a really greatpanel about it, but it's three hours and my attention span isn't that long. I get the picture that it hurts the industry and discredits us with the Japanese. Plus, it's the same as downloading music: it robs the creators and people involved the funds they deserve for working on the project. So anyway, Greg was like, "I usually don't go into the Dealer's Room at cons; I don't have time. However today, I was able to, and I just so happened to come across this shirt from a particular "dealer"." Yes, he did airquotes. Then he called up two girls who had attended his Fansubbing panel to the stage. As they were coming up, he read what the T-shirt said: "What Anime Have You Downloaded Today?" I don't think they're coming back. Anyway, Greg had the girls hold particular spots on the T-shirt and then yank. The three of them tore the shirt into shreds. "This is what I think of them," Greg said. xD Yay Greg!!
Anyway. That was it. I told some other people bye and we left.
And so concludes Nekocon XI. Thanks for reading the post! I'll have pics up soon. In the meantime, I'm bushed.
In the meantime.....Nekocon XI was amazing! I went with a friend of mine and her brother this year. Sadly, my usual con goer (Iarejedi) couldn't make it this year, but there's always Katsu or Tekko in '09! So, Riona writing her report for Nekocon XI, go!!
Friday morning when we got to the con, I was suprised to see the line for Pre-Reg was considerably shorter than same-day Reg. This usually is not so. But anyway, I send my buddies over to the same day registration line and wait in Pre-Reg (note to any newbs out there: ALWAYS PRE-REG!), which only takes like 20 minutes, tops, then go over to same-day with a schedule to keep my friends company. There was nothing we wanted to do for a while so we weren't concerned about missing panels.
I have to say that the scheduling for this year wasn't so full as last year, but oh well. It was still a good weekend. When we get through the same-day line (we made a few friends there haha) we run around to get our bearings (aka, I forget). I think it was quite close to the panel I went to (Photography 101, the first photography panel at Nekocon ever); then they went to the Vampire Knight panel. Their panel started 30 min after mine, so thusly ended 30 min after mine so I ran around the dealer's room and purchased a dulled blade I could possibly use at my Renaissance faires. After that, I went up to Opening Ceremonies to meet up with friends (my group and my good friend Chris Malone and his girlfriend).
Opening ceremonies was hilarious. The guests came went up on stage to talk a little about themselves, say they had panels, and the like. The voice actors and bands actually walked up the stairs. When it came to the web comic artists, they all either jumped up on stage, crawled up on stage, or just said "Screw it" and stood in front of the stage. Among the guests was:
Voice Actors:
Troy Baker (he couldn't make it to opening ceremonies)
Jerry Jewell
Aaron Dismuke (he couldn't make it either)
Greg Ayres
Chris Ayres
Webcomic Artists:
Chris "Kilika" Malone
Applegeeks
Mookie
Brian Wilson
David Lister
Steve Napierski
Random (but still awesome) Artists[/url]
Robert and Emily DeJesus (pronouced Dee-hay-sous)
Christy Lijewski
Bettina M. Kurkoski
Bands
Echostream
GPKism
After Opening, there was really nothing that we desperately wanted to do until like 7PM (opening ceremonies ended around 3:30) so I think we walked around the Dealer's Room and Artist Alley/The Bazaar. Also, we ran out to Target to get last minute things that we forgot (like snacks for my friends, and I got stuff like plasticware and bowls, chocolate...). Then we went back to the hotel room to unload said recently purchased stuff and hung out for a while. Meanwhile, I was stuffing newly purchased gift bags with chocolate chip cookies my mom baked to give to the guests I like (such as Greg Ayres, Chris Malone, Troy Baker, Jerry Jewell, Aaron Dismuke...yeah). My friend occupied herself by finishing reading DramaCon manga and her brother watched television. He then decided to stay at the hotel when my friend (Katie) and I decided to go back to the con and run around until the panel.
We got back to the con early so we were running around for a bit. At that point in time, we went up to the Main Events hallway and ended up borrowing an AMS (security) guy's schedule to write down the times and places of where we needed to go since we'd lost the schedule earlier in the day. This AMS guy's name is Chad and he was nosy and peeked into the bags of cookies. The conversation ended with me promising him some cookies.
Anyway, previously said 7PM panel was on the anime "Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad" anime, hosted by Jerry Jewell and Greg Ayres. The panel was awesome. I have yet to purchase either the manga or the anime, so all I've seen of it is what I saw at Tekko two years ago I believe? Wow, a long time ago. Anyway, they talked about it a good bit. Before the panel had started, I had given Greg and Jerry (yes, I am on good enough terms to refer to them by their first names and not feel awkward) their bags of cookies. Throughout the panel, you could see Greg "sneaking" (hah!) pieces of cookie from the bag and munching them. After the panel, he was like, "I usually don't eat food from fans, but I doubt your mom would be trying to kill me!" haha It was funny watching him eat.
After that, we went next door so Katie could go to a panel titled "Characters and Stroies and Manga Oh My!" that I have no clue what it was about. Meanwhile, I went to a pattern called "Costume Pattern Making" that I left after only 15 minutes because, frankly, I knew how to do everything they had said and I had no desire to listen to silly questions. I know that sounds conceited, but I've been sewing for about five years or so and know how to make my own patterns, so I'm a pretty competent seamstress (who just doesn't have enough patience...). Anyhoo, I ran around the con for about forty-five minutes. I barely remember what I did, but I think I ran into some other friends and hung out with them for a while.
The next panel Katie and I went to was called "Building Anime-Inspired Worlds", which was pretty kewl. It was hosted by a video game designer whose name escaped me at the moment. What he did was had us list three anime series (Love Hina, another Harem anime, and Trinity Blood...the third courtesy of myself hah). We took aspects from all three series (mainly just two because Love Hina and the other harem series were quite similar) and made a basis of a world. There were Vampires (which we later renamed "Shadow Walkers") and humans at first, then we came up with people in the stages between human and vampire. Then there were people who were impervious to being turned. Then we discussed how the vampirism was spread. It was a disease that we decided was spread more so like an STD (again, my idea...twisted, ne?) than through say biting or whatnot. So you have the vampires who just want peace, then you have humans who only care about staying alive. Then you have the Church (seeing themes from Trinity Blood here?) who wants to eradicate the Shadow Walkers for multiple reasons, one main one being from the way the disease was spread....
Anyway as much as I"d love to go on about that panel, I forget a lot of it and I doubt you all really care. So NEXT!
After that, we found the friends I hung out with earlier. It's 9:30 and the dance we all wanna go to doesn't start until 10:30, but the line is horrendous, so we all go back to my hotel room for a while and chill, watch a little television and whatnot until about 11. Then we danced like crazy children (even though I was the only "adult" among our little group) for about forty-five minutes before I got too hot in the room and had to leave. Eventually, they all come out of the dance, either to check on me or because they're done, so we mosey along down the hallway, away from the noise. But let me say, even though we weren't there for long, Greg Ayres DJs a rockin' party.
So we're at the end of the hallway hanging out when two of our group of five breaks off to go make out in the stairwell or something. That leaves Katie, Ashley, and myself to be goofy so we start playing "I Spy" and I'm being loud (nothing new). Then I chance to look up and spot Jerry walking with this extremely tall individual. Who should this tall individual be? None other than Troy Baker, voice of Abel Nightroad! Yay! Troy! So I rush down the stairs and give him a big hug, inform him I've missed him, then hug Jerry so he isn't left out and ask him about the cookies (which he hadn't eaten yet). Then the two tall guys, Katie, and I go outside with Troy and Jerry and amuse ourselves with them.
In that time, this really drunk dude comes over and starts going on about how his friend left him and was walking back to the hotel, and how he had bought enough alcohol for a rockin' party. Oh, and ah...we happened to find out that he was at the same hotel as us. Heh. Any guy that we saw who resembled him, Katie and I were like, "O.O! Oh!" But anyway, finally the dude was like, "So are you girls here with anyone? Are you with those guys?" He pointed at Troy and Jerry. Possibly stupidly because of what happened next, I said, "Yeah, sort of." The guy then proceded to walk over to Troy and Jerry and be like, "Hey tall guy! Tall guy! These girls say they're with you!" which wasn't so much a problem since the guys like me. What was a problem was that the guy was talking for like ten straight minutes about well, nothing. He was just saying words in what happened to be full sentences. At one point in time, Troy dared him to go arm wrestle the girl standing a few feet away. Then he looked at me with a smirk and said, "Guess who gets a swift kick in the *ss tomorrow?" jokingly. I was like, "I'm so sorry guys, I really don't know who he is; he just started talking...and wouldn't stop." The guys were like, "It's fine, no worries." But shortly after that, the guy came back and started talking AGAIN...and wouldn't stop. So Troy then challenged him to get three girls' phone numbers in ten minutes. He didn't come back. But Troy was like, "That is the first human being I've ever met that didn't require oxygen." Hah. Oops.
After that, we all went up to the dance for a while, but Troy and Jerry went somewhere we weren't allowed (not to ditch us, but yeah). So we went back to the hotel and snoozed. End Friday.
Saturday, I got up first and ran to Walmart (since Target was closed) to get a scrunchie since I forgot to get them the previous night. Then I stopped for breakfast and coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Back at the hotel, I woke up the other two folks, got them ready, then we drove over to the con for a panel at 10 for Aaron Dismuke. We were the first in line to get in (yay us for starting lines!). I recorded most of the panel on my camera but I ran out of space on my card near the end and missed some good stuff sadly.
After that, we ran to the Webcomics panel for the last 30 minutes. Okay. Panel room 1 had some weird stuff going on with the mics. Like, I think they were haunted...that or someone was having a good time because I kept hearing voices from the speakers...and I know it wasn't in my head. Anyway, after that we waited in line for Troy's panel I wanted to record but my battery was dead in my camera from recording Aaron's panel...I bought a new card for that though. Heh. ^^;
After that, we were hungry so we ran back to the hotel and got food. There was a panel with Aaron and Jerry for Fruits Basket at 2, but we decided to forsake that so we could eat and chill. After that, we headed back (this time with Chad's cookies, since we forgot earlier...) for a 6:30 panel with Troy, Jerry, and Aaron. It was SUPPOSED to be about Fullmetal Alchemist, but we only talked about it for like 10, 15, MAYBE 20 minutes...out of an hour and a half....hah. I got that one on video also since my camera was charged. However, this one was also panel room 1 so I kept hearing things. One thing I recognized was the "Ch, ch, ch, ku, ku, ku" noise from Nightmare on Elm Street...creeeeepyyyyyyyy..... Then there were actual voices and Troy was like "O.o *looks around* Do you guys hear that too? Okay, so it isn't the voices in my head..." So weird and creepy. But anyway, that was a good panel.
After that, Katie and I ran up to the AMS room to try to find Chad....sadly, we had missed him by about 10 minutes since I was running my mouth next door in Ops. Sigh. So we ran over to the con hotel, hoping to find the guests, which we did.
I gave the cookies to Aaron and Troy...bad me for doing that right before their dinner! But anyway, Aaron was like "...you keep offering me cookies. Did you put anything extra in them? You should eat one to make sure..." so I did and then he grabbed one.Next was our dinner at the traditional Applebees. It wasn't that great at first because our waitress was receiving a hard time from the table in front of us, but once they left it was fine.
After that, we dropped Katie's brother George off at the hotel...actually, I left them both at the hotel and ran back to the con because there was an 18+ panel I wanted to go to at midnight: Voice Actors Uncensored. Katie isn't 18 yet so she couldn't go. Oh well. So I did some gopher work while I waited to go to the line, helped set up the dance. Then I waited in line for a while. I'm not supposed to talk about the Uncensored panel so I won't...but it was funny. Not nearly as raunchy as it could have been, I was told, but still pretty good. I learned a lot of things about the voice actors that I hadn't known before and never would have guessed....haha.
But after the panel, I made sure to give Jerry a big hug...the guy deserves it! He gives awesome hugs, by the way.
Then it was bedtime around 2 AM. End Saturday at the con.
Sunday was very short and sad. We got there early and I did some gopher work, hung out with a friend I hadn't seen in a while...sent Katie and her brother on errands for me. After that was a panel we wanted to go to at noon. It was for Ouran High School Host Club, the DUBBED version, yay!!! Aaron and Greg hosted it. They answered some questions and we watched the first episode. It was awesome! The first DVD set is out now, and the second one it out in Feburary so go buy it! It's only two purchases for the full thing!!
When that panel was over, we ran around the dealer's room for a little while. We FINALLY found Chad and gave him his cookies at like 1:30. I'd bought pocky and Ramune (accent on the 'e') and was working on the first bottle of Ramune when Troy happened by. Since he had time, I let him hear my text message sound, which was his voicing Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood...it's very funny. If you go look up "Troy Baker Trinity Blood Recording" on Youtube, you should come up with the video. I wanna say it's Episode 21 behind the scenes. But anyway, he and the director (Justin Cook I think) are goofing off and I made it into a ringtone.
After a little while, we went to hang out in the Bazaar where the autographs were. I was suddenly very hyper from Pocky and Ramune so started building a house with pocky boxes and ramune bottles, and the Fruits Basket plushies I purchased (rare Yuki rat plushie ftw, score!!!). I got pictures of that too. Heh! ^^;;;
When the autograph panel was over, I went over to the voice actors. Troy almost immediately gave me a hug when he saw me and I chatted with him for a bit. I spoke with Aaron for a few moments. When Jerry wasn't busy, I grabbed his attention with the phrase, "So, can I ask a favor?" He was like, "Uh-oh..."
You see, Jerry is in a band. He plays bass. He also announced that he sings. Being the curious and laid-back fangirl that I am, I asked if he would sing for me. He was like, "You want me to sing?" I just asked that, didn't I? lol Then he was like, "What do you want me to sing?" Of course knowing that he probably doesn't know every song in the world, I asked him what he felt like singing, so he sang "One for my Baby and One More for the Road". Oh...em...gee. He sounds amazing! I felt myself blushing and was almost ready to swoon into a puzzle. But I'm more resolute than that, and pride myself on being a laid-back fan, not one who squees and flails and glomps them (just hugs...). So I sang a little bit of it with him then told him how awesome he is afterwards. Then I began wondering just WHY he doesn't have a girlfriend (okay, gonna say something from the Uncensored panel: Jerry does not have a girlfriend and hasn't had one for a while apparently). But let's not dwell on that!!!
Next was closing ceremonies, boo!!!! But it was still great. Jerry, Troy, and Aaron were the first ones called up since they had early flights up. Troy cracked a joke about the Uncensored panel (haha!), Jerry was asked to sing (probably because Aaron heard him singing at me in the hallway), and Aaron said he told the girls to ask Jerry to sing. By the way, Jerry didn't sing on stage. When I went to go tell him 'bye, he pointed that out after I thanked him again for singing for me. He was like, "You notice I only sang for you, right?" lol Awkward much?
Anyway. The rest was just the MC calling names of people who weren't present until it got to Greg Ayres. Hah, this is great.
Greg Ayres is VERY much AGAINST fansubbing and illegal downloading. He holds a really greatpanel about it, but it's three hours and my attention span isn't that long. I get the picture that it hurts the industry and discredits us with the Japanese. Plus, it's the same as downloading music: it robs the creators and people involved the funds they deserve for working on the project. So anyway, Greg was like, "I usually don't go into the Dealer's Room at cons; I don't have time. However today, I was able to, and I just so happened to come across this shirt from a particular "dealer"." Yes, he did airquotes. Then he called up two girls who had attended his Fansubbing panel to the stage. As they were coming up, he read what the T-shirt said: "What Anime Have You Downloaded Today?" I don't think they're coming back. Anyway, Greg had the girls hold particular spots on the T-shirt and then yank. The three of them tore the shirt into shreds. "This is what I think of them," Greg said. xD Yay Greg!!
Anyway. That was it. I told some other people bye and we left.
And so concludes Nekocon XI. Thanks for reading the post! I'll have pics up soon. In the meantime, I'm bushed.
