I will say that there were many things about the [A-Kon 1991] convention that I didn’t like, but those didn’t stop me from having fun. I had a good time, but it seems that the times I enjoyed the most was NOT WITH CONVENTION ACTIVITIES.
An example of this was the ICE FIGHT out in the hotel parking lot Sunday night.
Me and many others went out into the parking lot with SUPER SOAKER 50’s (TM),
water balloon grenades, and bottles of water (and ice to put down peoples’
backs) to have a good time. Pam Buck (of Banzai/Pinesalad Productions) was in
the fight also as well as the people who did star dipwads. It was hillarious,
and how often do you get to shoot Pam Buck with a watergun :-).
I enjoyed privately talking with Lou Scarborough Jr. He has worked on many
animation projects. He has recently done Ninja Turtles and at the con he was
up in his room privately working on some storyboards for Tiny Toons (that
were due yesterday). He was a VERY INTERESTING person to talk with. He did a
sketch of Raphael for me and ket me know the “insides” about what is going on
in the animation community (and about the guy who eats potato salad with his
hands at the studio). What saddened me was that just because he does AMERICAN
animation he wasn’t as publicized as … say … FAN GUESTS “Kei and Yuri”
Forrester.
On Friday before the con I went to the local mall and had Japanese cuisine. I
had alot of fun there.
Manga prices were cheap in the dealers room if you knew where to look. I picked
up a bubblegum crisis novel dirt cheap because it was all Japanese (which I can
read somewhat). One guy was trying to sell Ranma 1/2 manga volume 1 for $25 and
I told him where he could go.
Another good thing to see was Tonari no Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service
DUBBED. They both are done very well. That’s the biggie that I remember from
video programming. I picked up a “prototype” slick Amiga subtitler there which
I am itching to try out one day.
The con T-shirts were very nice. It has a picture of A-ko dragging C-Ko
behind (the same as the Movie Program and Poster … I think).
Walter Amos make an EXCELLENT costume of Gargoyle from Nadia and I am happy
that he won 1st place. He deserved it.
Aside from that, it was kinda there. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ those are the memories
I wish to keep about the convention and throw the others away. When a
convention program book mentions CHRONIC MASTURBATION you know there is
something wrong. An the fact that I was hazed in my Ranma costume AND another
guy as Usagi Yojimbo was hazed pretty bad by the fans didn’t help matters
either! It is amazing how much jealousy there is in anime fandom. I guess you
shouldn’t try to dress up as anime characters unless you have big cleavage. I’m
sorry, but I cannot stress the mangnitude of the number of FANBOYS at the
convention.
Another thing… as you would walk down the hotel room hallways your teeth would chatter from the sound of the humming coming from VCRs. The only reason why many people came to the convention was to dub tapes. I go to conventions to meet people and have fun, not to dub anime (I can do that any other time). But, each to his own…
There were other things like the con committee not having it together, but I
could talk about that for many more K of text. Lemme know if you want any
details.
All in all, as for the convention, on a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 6. It is
sad because they didn’t make their break even point and went in the red this
year. I hope this doesn’t mean the end. I guess it is just that someday I would
like to see a convention that would stress ANIMATION and less DROOLING FANBOY
CHEESECAKE. Can this type of convention be AnimeCon … maybe … Mike?
Brandon Freels (Garland Operator 7-G)
bra…@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu -or- bra…@uokucsvx.bitnet
“I’m witty naturally, I don’t need quotes.”
Originally posted on Rec.Arts.Anime on May 30, 1991