This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Yes, AnimeFest technically went until Monday, but I have a job, so I had to return to reality a bit early.
Days 0/1: http://www.crymore.net/2014/08/19/animefest-2014-days-01-thursdayfriday/
Saturday
Normally, Saturday gets it own post, but I think I spent the majority of the day playing Walkcon, and Walkcon’s pretty boring to report on when you’re not rolling with a crew, so I’ll just post about the few panels I attended.
2:00 “Ani-Idol Second Round”
I wasn’t allowed into the first round on Friday, since they didn’t want people filming the abject failures, but they let some through to this round anyway.
A lot of people did acoustic-only, which was stupid, so I’m not gonna post those. Instead, have something you can sing along to.
Neither of these made it into the final round, cuz they weren’t friends of the judges.
Seriously, the judges pretty obviously knew a certain subset of the contestants and made no attempt to hide it. And for some magical reason, those people all made it in, even when they only remembered 30 seconds of a song and had a breakdown on-stage because of it. (I wish I kept my camera rolling for that one.) Sasuga anime fandom.
Midnight “Hetalia: Ask a Nation”
So, let me preface this by saying I don’t know too much about Hetalia. I watched like one 5-minute episode (which sucked), and while I get that all the characters are moe representations of nations, the in-jokes and the fandom go completely over my head. So I thought I’d go in blind, just to see what fujoshi are up to these days.
There were like 20 girls on this panel, all dressed up as dudes. The theme was “audience asks questions, and the panelists respond in character”, but since it was an 18+ panel, they were encouraging risqué questions. Unfortunately, the only people to ask questions were extremely autistic dudes, who had no idea how uncomfortable they were making everyone in the room with their fucked-up questions about bestiality and sex acts.
Not that it would have really mattered if they had asked decent questions, since it was painfully obvious most of the panelists were straight-up virgins and had no idea how to handle what the fuck they were hearing. You could feel the triggers going off.
As an example, one of the questions raised was “What’s your best orgasm face?” And no, that did not end well. One of the panelists made a half-hearted attempt to describe hers, but that question was quickly moved on from. Some of the girls in the audience were super skeeved out after the onslaught of creepage and tried to steer the conversation away from the guys who were trying to get off, but since they were asking stupid questions like “What’s your favorite color?” I think it just pissed the panelists off even more.
A couple questions motivated the Hetalians to actually do something (“You can fuck one person, kill one person, and marry one person in this room. Who would it be?”) where they mimed out actions and had very poorly acted conversations with each other. But you could feel the regret in their dead, dead eyes. And there was no coming back from where the panel had already been.
I suppose I should mention that the entire time, the rave was going on right above the room we were in, and it was causing the doors to the room to fucking Parkinson’s it like they were gonna come off, and the chandelier was swaying like it was one ravestomp from falling on us. So I’m just sitting there, confused out of my fucking mind, watching everyone get more and more miserable, and wondering where the hell my life went wrong, just hoping the ceiling would collapse and put us all out of our misery.
Oh, and the panel went on for two fucking hours. What a night.
Sunday
11:00 AMV Contest
The best part of this contest was that none of the entries came from anyone attending the con. Guess it’s better than not having an AMV contest, though.
Looking around the room, I didn’t see too many people there for the showing. Based on the awful sound set-up when the AMVs actually started, it appears that it’s more because AnimeFest as a con doesn’t really care about AMVs, rather than it just being a low turnout cuz they were showing on a Sunday.
After some rather middling entries, we got to the winner of the AMV Contest, and it… Well, it was actually pretty good. Turns out it’s even better when you can actually hear the lyrics:
Guess it wasn’t a complete waste of two hours.
2:00 Anime Jeopardy – “Expert Edition”
Subjects ranged from “This famous anime starts with ‘Attack on’…” to “In Madoka, this blonde girl has an attack called ‘Tiro Finale’.” Enthralling, as I’m sure you can imagine.
3:00 Ani-Idol – Final Round
Contestants sang in front of a live audience of… me, and like 20 other people. I dunno, it’s pretty much what you’d expect, based on what I posted for the Second Round.
Here’s my favorite one, cuz Corpse Party amirite? I haven’t played more than 10 minutes of it, but I sure as hell am gonna pander to you hardcores like I did:
I suppose this Maria Holic one was technically the most entertaining, but I doubt there’s someone with a more grating personality in this world. Honestly, either her parents beat her too much or not nearly enough.
6:00 Cosplay Contest
Oh man. What a contest. Let me start with the judges: Like any anime con, the judges are all old or people whose only qualifications seem to be “Well, I did some costume design for a my local theater once.” Hell, one of the judges was “cosplaying” with one of those cheap Attack on Titan outfits you can grab from Ebay.
Since it’s always hard to grab pics of people while they’re posing on a poorly lit stage, I just took some videos. Have a couple:
You get the gist.
Because the 6:00-9:00 time slot was shared with the skit contest, they moved into that before figuring out the “winners” of the cosplay contest.
8:00 Skit Contest
There were only three entries for the skit contest, which is… unusually low for an anime con.
The first one was some random Asian guy in a dress miming along to a song. Thankfully my camera borked at this point, so I couldn’t show you the skit even if I wanted to.
The next two are provided here. Just note that it may be hard to see all the details due to the jackass with a stupid hat. And yes, I am still fucking mad about that.
8:30 Judging Time!
They brought the ani-idol winners on stage to sing or something while the judges deliberated over who “won”, but I wasn’t about to stick around for that bullshit. So I traipsed on back to my room and started on the write-ups. (Cuz you wouldn’t see them for another year if I didn’t start then.)
Final thoughts:
Can’t say I disliked AnimeFest. But I really wouldn’t go out of my way to return, unless one of you really bugs me to. Like I said in the past, cons are a social experience. And while I managed to make the best out of the weekend in spite of going it solo, I’d much rather hang with people whom I can share the misery with.
Overall grade: C-
Other cons I attended this year:
Ohayocon 2014: D-
Sakuracon 2014: B+ (Yes, I have a write-up coming on this, I promise you.)
Anime North 2014: C- (Again, write-up incoming for the two days I haven’t posted about yet.)
Crycon 2014: A+
Hetalia never goes well. They really just need to stop doing 2hr Q&A as well, it is just going to degrade into stupidity no matter the topic.
I hope these shitty cons were worth making us suffer with no new reviews to read. </3 ;_;
But I did it for you ;_;
No nude = shitty cons
I was naked for a portion of it.
Proofs
Yeah, we’re going to need pics. And no 1 pixel images of your face this time, D_S.
Sasuga crycon.
when is the write up for fallout boy-con coming?
Oh, Nikki. You do read my tweets. <3
Okay, just for you:
Tuesday
7:00 Concert Time
I went to a Fall Out Boy concert with friends and we got drunk and sang along to songs. It was p. cool.
You missed out for sure.
Oh, I don’t have to read your tweets because Jenny just sends me texts whenever you do something interesting (so always).
What the fuck the last text I sent you was “me too” in response to “I’m in staples rn!” on August 16th.
Don’t trust this lying bitch.
I tell Nikki about all the interesting Dark_Sage tweets in person.
Pretty sure my presence at Ohayocon made it at least an A+, although I’ll settle for an A. I demand a grade revision.
(Again, write-up incoming for the two days I haven’t posted about yet.)
I wait with bated breath. I’m only saying this so next week I can come back and say “You’re killing me, D_S.”
Finally you’re upset. D_S did it.
You’re killing me, D_S.
You are killing me, D_S.
edit: your comment system is shit
Next week will you be dead?
Why didn’t you just leave the Hetalia panel if it was as terrible as you imply? The bestiality questions didn’t come up til past the halfway point, which means you stuck around for most of panel, even if you didn’t like it. I talked with the panelists afterwards and all of them had fun, so I’m highly doubting your opinion to hold any merit. These types of panels are targeted to people who have watched and to some degree liked the show. There were other panels going on at the same time that you would have been welcome to go to, yet you stuck around. Honestly, it just makes you look bad since you didn’t know much about what was going on.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest you were on the panel, yes? ;)
Serious question: How come loads of complainers are suddenly hitting this site? Has Crymore gone up in Google rankings or something?
Yes, I was on the panel.
I’ve known about this blog post for a few months. At first I didn’t think a bad review would be an issue, but a few panelists were greatly upset and only recently voiced their concerns elsewhere. It seemed best to speak out, rather than just let it pass if I wasn’t the only one upset about the comments, since many of them are personal attacks against my fellow panelists and those in the audience.
Is “elsewhere” tumblr? Visitors of that site aren’t really respected here as far as I know.
To be fair, people who take this site seriously aren’t too respected either. Seems like a good match in my opinion.
You’re welcome to leave, Ephe. I’ll be glad to help you out if you need assistance.
Wow. If that’s how you act nowadays, then count me out.
o/
…
When are people going to stop being offended by D_S’s antagonistic comments?
Maybe you and others who are offended should lurk a bit more and check out the overall tone of this site. Hint: it’s not a place where we hold each others’ hands and sing you a lullaby to sleep.
And I’ll let you in on a secret: D_S flings “personal attacks” at everyone. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it if I were you.
You sound sincere and I can understand where you’re coming from/why the comments might have upset you, but this is the proverbial lions’ den and you won’t get any contrition here, I’m afraid. Because I’m nice, I’ll refrain from chewing you up and spitting you out ;) but allow me to impart some sage advice on you:
The tone of this site is one that is particularly antagonistic for the sake of it and the entertainment factor derives from the hyperbole of the rants. So take anything you read on here with a pinch of salt (even if it’s a direct insult!) because the blog writers and most of the commenters are prone to trolling. For the lulz, so I’m told.
Also, don’t think of this as a “review”: this is as much a review as your octogenarian granddad sitting in a comfortable armchair after a few too many festive drinks decrying the loss of “the good old days” is a social critique on millennial life.
And don’t forget the old showbiz adage: “You can’t please everyone all of the time.” Don’t let negative press get to you! If *you* think you were good, that’s all that really matters.
No it was not tumblr.
I did do a light dig into the site, and am rather appalled that people get off on this crap. I wasn’t expecting kumbaya to start playing, but good lord it is a nightmare.
D_S’s opinion on the matter seemed pointed, and of those who took offence, I offered to make a statement. My words set something off, as the comments have exploded with even more of the antagonizing tone seen in the “review”
Thank you FalseDawn, for being the most adult of the input, it is appreciated. I will keep that in mind as I deal with the rest of the flame tossed my way.
This just in:
Tumblrs find site, turns out people like DIFFERENT things than they do!
How disgusting. Why can’t everyone like what I like?
Gods, this is like listening to a spoilt, sheltered child! Have you NEVER been outside the parts of the internet where everyone has to be “oh so politically correct” and being offended is treated like some special privilege?
No one (except maybe D_S) was even remotely “antagonistic” in the comments or tossed flame your way. And please spare me your “holier than thou” attitude. Not recognizing a joke for what it is doesn’t give you any moral high ground; it just makes you look like a fool.
I bet it was Pinterest: tumblr for the menopausal.
Hey there, buttercup.
First off, I see where this is going, and I’m sorry but you’re going to have to try *way* harder than that to get me to have sex with you.
To the other reason why you came here, there wasn’t exactly a lot of choice. Around midnight the only alternative was the Pokemon Battle LARP. And considering what I know of Pokemon fans, there’d have been even more unchanged tampons at that event than there were at the Hetalia panel. Hard to imagine, I know.
I’m halfway impressed that this site is now well-read enough to have panelistas gatecrashing it :o
Now? C’mon, you were here for the Ohayocon fun: http://www.crymore.net/2013/01/22/ohayocon-2013-cosplay-pixtures/comment-page-1/#comment-22758
Sure, but you kinda expect that from cosplayers, looking for images of themselves. This is a step above that because it sounds like panel members read this blog post without being linked to it. As in, several of them read it mutually exclusively, not just one of them linking it to the others going “check out this asshole”, if snowy’s testimony is to be believed.
It’s only a matter of time before anime directors start showing up and airing their grievances too ;)
Everyone loves fansubbers. They’re the big names of good american Otaku.
Don’t call me “buttercup”. Snowy works just fine.
In regards to your second comment, there is no trying if it isn’t wanted in the first place.
My friend, for someone who hates the way we do things, you sure like asking for trouble.
If I rejected your sexual advances the first time, playing hard to get ain’t gonna increase your odds, buttercup.
Wow buttercup, you’re killing off my valueless readers one by one. You should come around more often, Crymore could really use a cull.
Wow I’m offended, I totes have marginal value, you should do an article about how Valvrave is also better than Madoka to make it up to me DON’T ASK QUESTIONS
Perhaps I phrased that poorly. I have nothing but love (legit, sexytimes love) for Crymore’s readers. But people who come here all the time and loudly proclaim to hate every second of it? Well, it’s getting a bit tired.
But how are you supposed to know how utterly irrelevant you and this site are to them if they don’t come here on a regular basis to remind you?
That probably just means people are getting more upset about what they read on the Internet and are becoming dumber so they can’t figure out how to close their eyes or turn off their screen
But for srs, you should totally do that article because I read this: http://ask.fm/Frogkun/answer/117708528756%29#_=_ and got sad