Monday 28 May 2012

Anime North 2012 Con Report

Alas, the infamous AN has come to a close...and even after a good night's sleep, I'm still exhausted. I need another nap, but I have about a million things to do because my art expo is this sunday, and I have NOTHING. Gah! OTL

But onto the con report! Not many pictures like usual, so this will be descriptive instead.


DAY -1

Yup, we start in the negative because the adventure starts there! Soooo... umm...  basically, my merch suffered a huge hit of BLARGH... a friend of mine passed away the saturday night, one week before the con...so it's been a little rough, and I didn't have the biggest motivation to work my 2000%.  I have lots of unfinished plushies, and my total head count resulted in exactly 28.  Compared to the 50 from last year, that's not a lot! o_0 But this year, I chose quality over quantity, and not to mention, I had lots of stuff to bring for the workshop, meaning not as much space in my luggage.







I also made chibis of Chrona, Fye, Howl, Ulqui, Grimm and Stark.  But I finished those up on Day -1, so no time for pictures! o_0  After packing everything up, I had to venture downtown because I was going to crash at my friend's place who lives right next to where the bus was going to depart. It was convinient, but walking around with that heavy load of luggage (curse stairs!) was cumbersome and tiring.  I slept only for 3 hours before hopping on the bus and starting Day 1.


Day 1

I got in on AN grounds at 2PM.  Lining up to get my con pass was a breeze because I got to go to the panel reg at the doubletree! :D And then I was off to reg for the CC, which was a little confusing since I was early and there was no formal line yet, but I did see Quacked and chatted with her while we waited. :)

We got our badge. Got our table, and I started to set up.  My display this time was uber unplanned.  I basically had thrown a bunch of random pieces of cardboard/foamcore that I might need, and then constructed it on the spot.  By the time Erika (my table buddy) swung by, she was finished setting up before me, since I was taking forever, making a display that'd hold up for the whole weekend, lol.

Alice was a bit late, and so was her table partner Nikkie... There was a hiccup with the floorplan and some other crafters were trying to take Alice's table! Grrr! I don't know why they wanted to, but I couldn't let that happen.  The coordinators were excellent, and smoothed it out for us. So I'm inifitely grateful to them!

Sensory overload!!



Erika's stuff flew off like hotcakes! The pony community is so rabid! I was also surprised by my sales because my stuff was way more expensive this year (due to its quality of detail, and the limited lycra). I actually did not witness the sale of 5 of my plushies, 4 of which I WANTED TO WITNESS.  Especially Soul & Maka; I thought selling them as a pair was going to be impossible...but Erika told me they were adopted by a couple that was dressed as SoMa. CRIES! I wanted to meet them. :(

Btw, I didn't witness these sales because I was at the worshop, giving a talk to about 50 people. When I got there, I was confronted with a lecture-type hall which didn't work with what I had planned. I think it turned out okay in the end, and I hope some people learned stuff. ^_^ When under pressure, I tend to say words that immediately pop in my head, and sometimes those words are in french....so my speech was a little bizarre at times. LOL


Day 2


I die of laughter every time I see this photo. My army has been reduced to half, but Erika's are wiped out completely! I didn't bother taking a photo of day 3 because it's even more bare.  Saturday was a good day for me.  Sales were steady, and I got to chat with more and more people.  That's one thing that I really enjoyed this year: all the chatting! ^_^ I don't know if people were more comfortable to say hi, or that I'm seeing more familiar faces, but it made time pass fast...and when you're sitting at a table for 10 hours, sometimes it's good when the clock ticks faster.


Funny story about this Undertaker. I vaguely saw him on friday night, and I remember thinking that he pulled it off really well, even though I only saw him pass by rather quickly.  Then, this random fangirl comes over maybe 20 minutes later, asking if I saw this excellent Undertaker cosplayer, and I was like...oh, I think he went that way! (exit the con center)...so she runs off... And then returns a little while after, saying that she couldn't find him, and he must have left, and that she should write in kijiji's 'missed connections' section, and etc.  Then on saturday, I see him again because he actually stops of my table this time, and I ask for his photo because someone had wanted it and I briefly explain the story.  That's when the above photo was taken.  Some time later, the fangirl returns. I'm like, oh! I got the photo of the Undertaker, but turns out that she did too! So she's fangirling about the situation and how she fawned over him and etc.  Then finally, after another bout of time, the Undertaker returns! With his side of the story about the fangirl and etc. It's all just too funny to me because I AM LIKE CAUGHT IN THE FRAY OF THIS CONNECTION! LOL! I'm like some weird third party to this meeting, and all because of the Undertaker plush I had at my table!!

Another cool Undertaker cosplay

Erika's lovely cosplay

It was nice seeing past commissioners and buyers.  Last year, I was commissioned to make a huge Shino plush, from a very enthusiastic fangirl.  When I put the plush's pic online, lots of people wanted him, so finally, I decided to make a smaller version, out of popular demand.  And guess who bought it? The Shino fangirl, LOL! I told her, everyone is going to curse her for hogging all the Shinos I make!

The Shino fangirl!

We had an excellent flow of traffic, and saw lots of cosplay...but we couldn't always stop them. I did manage to stop some that I like though. ^_^

Photo's a bit blur, but I love his cosplay!

This is so full of win, you have no idea.

I fangirled. Chichiri AND Tatsuki! Gah!!

Day 3

Last day! I managed to cram in some decent sleep, despite getting back at the hotel at 3AM.   I started off the day with yet more familiar faces, and chatted with some past commissioners. ^_^

I'm happy Li went to her! ^_^
He bought my Kyouraku on friday!


Okay, so all weekend, I wouldn't shut up about Soul Eater. Ask Alice, Erika, Nikkie, Amanda, Kim and Jill (that's our huge crew, lol!).... I... JUST...CAN'T CONTAIN MY OBSESSION! Anyways, but the anime and manga really differ, so I was mainly looking out for manga-related stuff. When 1PM swung aroung, I was sad that I couldn't leave my table to check out the photoshoot...but after it was over, I saw this Stein pass by, and I chatted with him about the shoot.  Apparently, there weren't any manga-related cosplay, so in a way, I didn't miss out! ^_^


Yay! Korra!
It was nice to finally see Kyle (dude to the left), actually cosplaying a character that I know!  He has visited me before at previous cons (I blogged about him when I went to Otakuthon cuz there was that whole No-face story), and I always ask which character he's dressed as, never knowing the character even after being told. But this time, I know of Mako and the Legend of Korra cuz it's HUGE and I'm not that blind to pop culture.  Fun times on saturday night. I was supposed to check out the J-pop dance with an ol' friend of mine, but she returned to her hotel when I got there... instead I hung out with Kyle and his crew.  Party in a van, then some dancin' after.  Everyone was very festive; I had a blast! ^_^

I call it, the Lover's Corner.

Once again, our table placement was at a very traffic-corner, right in front of the wrestling ring, by the exit where everyone coming out of the dealer's room usually must pass.  Right across from my table, there are strangely a number of couples that hang out there.  Different ones, over the span of the whole weekend. So I called it the Lover's Corner.  No idea if the picture above is actually a couple, but their body language tells me so, and I just had to snap a photo.

Another funny conclusion we had of our table: we were the RESSOURCE TABLE!! We broke it down to many sections:

1. Supplies. (Can I use your tape? Do you have a sharpie? Do you have a pen?)
2. Directions (Where is Hall__? Where is Gallery Momiji? Where are the washrooms? Where is the flea market?... etc.  BTW, we knew all the answers.)
3. Lost & Found (Have you seen a white DS?  I lost my con pass, oh thank goodness, you guys found it!)
4. People finding (Have you seen so-and-so? Which way did they go?)
5. Cosplay Repair Station (Tape for a prop; the girl hugged us for it.  Masking tape to fix this Luffy cosplayer's shoes; the kid was kind of douche-bag about it, not even grateful.)
6. Message Delivery System (e.g. Undertaker anecdote)
7. Table space (Can I temporarily use your table to roll up my print? or... plops down entire bag and shuffles around the find stuff, without even asking for permission..)

It was kind of hilarious... it's like we were con-aid! I really wonder why they asked us over all the other tables. o_0 I guess we looked.... ressourceful?

And after a crisis finding my bus ride home (apparently the location where we were going to be picked up was different from where they dropped us off; I ended up knowing where to go because other people also made the same mistake, and as I was searching the area, I heard FRENCH and hung around them. Good thing my ears were sensitive, otherwise I would have been lost!), I am finally back to my lovely Montreal, where I shall now prepare for my art expo this SUNDAY. Of which, I have no stock. Gotta get back to work.

5 comments:

  1. Haha, you took more pics of cosplayers than I did, I think! I hope your obsession with Soul Eater isn't a short term thing, is it? Because I've never seen you this crazy over a fandom before LOL! Oh I LOVE your list so much <3 Exactly that..EXACTLY :| Good luck with your Expo!!!!

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    1. lol, there were more pics I wanted to take but they kept on walking away! Gahh!
      And no...my SE obssession isn't going away any time soon! Maybe when I finish writing all the SoMa stories..but then when I finish a piece, I think of new plots and blaarrgghhh~~ I'm forever hooked.
      Happy to hear you approve of THE LIST! XD (but gosh, hope that doesn't happen to us again! I didn't mind the directions, but the other ressources were getting to be annoying.) :\

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  2. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. :(
    I think you did an absolutely wonderful job this year!! :D

    And I noticed that too~! People were much more chatty. :) I hope we can be neighbors again one day soon! Goodluck at your art expo! :D

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  3. Aww sorry about your friend :(

    I'm also sorry I didn't hang around more often to talk to you and Alice. I'm chained to the cafe!! @__@ LOL Gotta spread the mo-e...I guess??

    I actually tried to look for your tables in Friday but I couldn't find anything..O_o; I realized that they re-hauled the whole set up of the Dealers/CC/AA and shifted everything since they made the Dealers bigger...

    YOU FORGOT that your space is also used as a propaganda space. HAHA Meido-propaganda. ;)

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  4. Really cool stuff! How long does it take you to make a doll?

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