This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Ah, Canada. May I never have to visit this godforsaken country again.
Thursday
It was wet and miserable.
In other words, it was exactly what you’d expect from Canada.
Friday
The actual con didn’t start until 4 PM, so here’s what I did until then:
- Met up with some other fansubbers (“oh god, Dark_Sage, you’re hotter IRL than I was expecting”)
- Ate a wonderful meal at Tim Horton’s (it’s like the ghetto version of Dunkin Donuts)
- Got my media/press badge (Because Crymore is a legitimate news organization)
- Wrote posts for this site (you know, shit I can only do in Toronto)
4:00 Opening ceremonies
Doing a write-up on this was a pre-requisite for getting my media badge. So here’s my write-up: It sucked.
4:55 Decision time
It was down to the Jinrui panel or the Code Geass one. And considering I was wearing my Black Knights t-shirt and military cap, the choice was obvious.
5:00 Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita Panel
Sorry, Geass fans. You tend to be old, irrelevant, and stupid. So suicidal bread it is.
…except there was no one at this panel, and I didn’t want it to just be me and the presenter, so…
5:01 Code Geass Panel
The presenters started off with “So we didn’t rehearse this panel”, which clued me into how bad it was going to be. Yeah, turns out that other than one of the presenters, only I had seen Agito in that room. Hardcore Geass fans up in there.
After much to-do about the ending of the series, it devolved into DAE Hate Nina?: The Panel because nobody could think of shit to talk about other than how much they hate crazy-awesome lesbians. (Fuck you, phillistines.)
Close to the end, the presenters were running out of ideas, so it became a “Let’s recommend anime like Code Geass to the audience”. The main presenter was all about something called “Gargantuan”. (I assume that’s the prequel to Gargantia.)
Once people started talking about Guilty Crown, exiting the panel became the only reasonable option.
6:00 Supper/etc.
Grabbed some very bad-tasting takoyaki and gyoza and ended up running into TheThing. We went into the dealer’s room, but it was packed to the brim with otaku trash, so I bailed and left TheThing to brave the crowds.
6:15 Crymore time
The con was so boring I just had to ditch it and do something that didn’t make me want me to drill my eyes out with a crazy straw.
I do feel it’s important to note that working on Crymore at cons is something I consider a last resort. I didn’t pay assloads of money for this con to do something I can do at home. So when I do site-related stuff, it means I’m having a really shitty fucking time.
8:00 Paying assloads of money to watch AMVs with nerds
Figuring I had to do something while I was here, I hit up the AMV room.
3 hours. 3 fucking hours I spent on this shit because there was nothing else to do. Fuck this convention.
11:00 Karaoke
I don’t know if you realize how much I fucking hate karaoke, but that I felt obligated to spend the remainder of my night here should tell those of you who know me just how bad the other options available were.
Here’s a video I took of the experience. Blame the terrible lighting on the (legitimately) mentally challenged staff running the panel.
I ended up leaving right after they had some wannabe rapper come up and sing his own “self-written” song (the lyrics were Chris Brown meets cement mixer). Yeah jackass, that really fit the theme of the event. So fucking anime.
But the crowd lapped it up like the mangy dogs they are, so I guess he picked the right audience to peddle his shit to. Fucking pseudotaku.
2:00 Naito
Because the only time I didn’t feel like killing myself at the con was when I went to sleep. Great job, Anime North. This is legitimately the worst con I have ever been to.
(And I wish I never woke up. Saturday is shaping up to be even worse.)
go to otakon, they said
As expected of Canada.
Was that a dude in the maid outfit?
No.
:(
Now, now, Seiji, no need to be shy.
We all know how much you love singing ^~^
At least you didn’t get mauled by grizzly bears. It’s important to keep a sense of perspective while you’re in Canada.
>“So we didn’t rehearse this panel”
WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS!? It’s like being invited over for dinner somewhere and having the host say “Well for tonight I thought I’d try this new dish as an experiment. I’ve never had it before but it looked so interesting” and oh god here we go, time to slip quietly off and look up local pizza places and bars. One of those phrases that produces a distinct sinking feeling, every fucking time.
Nothing wrong with trying a new dish. Unless you suck at cooking.
Problem in this case, is with didn’t rehearse they meant, we have no fucking clue what to do.
>Nothing wrong with trying a new dish. Unless you suck at cooking.
Yes there is, when you’re trying it out on guests. I like to cook a lot, and experimenting is an important part of that. But I experiment on myself, and if it sucks I deal with it. I’d never ever serve something I’d never made before to anyone else, duh. It usually takes a couple of tries before you get it down.
Same as here, it’s one thing to shoot the shit with your friends in a bar over drinks, it’s another to run any sort of panel, debate or presentation. Even the best of the pros are well served by doing a dry run or three.
Not that there were pros of anything except failure there. Running a CG panel and haven’t even watched Akito? Anime North pls.
“Once people started talking about Guilty Crown, exiting the panel became the only reasonable option.”
You did well…
Seriously though, what do you expect from these cons? Deep discussion about anime? The only cons I’ve ever been to have been in Mexico, but they sound exactly the same to every con I read about here.
Japan doesn’t care for anime viewers outside their island, so they won’t provide overseas cool panels (I read there was a GAINAX panel in jp in which they showed you the animation process and creation of TTGL….sounds pretty awesome to me). Why hope these will be any good?
Otakon had a neat panel by Satellite that did the same. There were other studio panels that I wanted to go to as well, but I was at the con with :friends: and they wanted something else.
Have I mentioned Otakon enough yet?
I’ve only been burned by large cons. What makes Otakon so good?
A) Me only having ever been to one con
B) Magic?
Also can you find Aieon and tell him to QC RDG? Thanks.
I expect to have a good time with my friends. Some cons are better at facilitating this than others.
Otakon is actually worth the money; it’s the only con I’ve ever been to that I liked (for the con itself, AB was fun for other reasons haha)
And the food in Baltimore is amazing-fucking jizz in your pants Crab Cakes man.
Goddamn it, I know that song but I can’t remember the name!
Detroit Metal City ED
Wow really? There’s no way I could’ve remembered that. Watched it a long time ago.
I can confirm that Dark_Sage is indeed way sexier than I could’ve imagined.
pics or it didn’t happen :o
I can assure you there are pics, but nothing safe for the Internet.
o_0
You won’t be coming next year? ;_;
The dealer’s room is not bad… selling swords, manga, 2nd hand items, toys, what else do you expect from stuff aimed for Otakus?
My favorite item that I bought from the Dealer’s Room was one of the Mass Effect styrofoam-paper thing by Squire Sword Studios.
Personally, I enjoyed the “Military realism” panel… it was not bad. Too bad one of the presenters I talked to wasn’t really nice to me. I can understand that since he’s been to this con since ’02 and he has 3 other panels to go to after.
You can always complain to the Con mangers about your adventures here in Canada. :/
They could pay for my flight, hotel, and ticket and I still wouldn’t come. That con is beyond salvation.
I enjoyed the cosplay (I thought theirs was better than most other cons I’ve been to) and the AKB0048 cafe thing they put on… but from what I understand the theme may change yearly so it may not be the same next year… =/
Maybe next year’s theme could be “Fuck Toronto, let’s try a city with sun and less wind”
You just came here on a bad day is all… It’s rather hit-or-miss in Toronto, weather-wise.
I find Fan Expo to be a shit load better than AN
Probably because it’s not an anime con.