Well, I just got back from Otakon 09, and it was BAD ASS. There wasn’t much to do in the way of panels and shows, but we more than made up for it with Steampunk awesomeness. I went with Karen, Chessy, and Greg, but we met up with J-Chan and Jeff while we were there. Get ready for the Otakon run down:
Thursday we actually left D-Town later than we had wanted, but for good reasons. We hung around, kitten proofed Karen’s room, got last minute outfit issues resolved, and then we trekked out into the woods for photos. Karen and I were in long coats… it was very hot outside >_<. We didn’t go too far though, and we got some pretty cool fly by the seat of your pants photos. We actually have to get together for planned ones…
By the time we actually got to Baltimore, we showed up at the Sheridan, only to find out it wasn’t the hotel we were registered in (silly Karen). But, our actual hotel, the Hilton, was only a block or so away, and also connected to the Convention Center by a nice air conditioned sky walk. We dropped our crap, parked the car at a cheap parking garage up the road a little ways and then got in line to get our Pre-Reg tags. It only took us about an hour to get through the line, which is pretty damned good, but Chessy’s limit break was approaching critical from all the bad cosplay/impractical whorish clothing.
Friday we all slept in. We were just having too much fun all cuddling in our ONE king size bed (really, there wasn’t much to do on Friday, at least not until the afternoon… and Karen steals covers). We headed over for the For Tax Reasons panel, and it was fucking hilarious. I actually have to go through and watch all their stuff. We spent a good amount of time in the Dealer’s room and Artist Alley scoping out stuff to buy. I got a Lockon Stratos phone charm for my new phone, a Duo Maxwell poster, and a Noah poster from Dina (who I had no idea was supposed to be there, so I geeked out). I took about 8 photos… all con, and they were all on Friday. I also got the girls to watch Baccano! They were showing the whole damned series (including the three extra episodes). But only 1-8 on Friday. We saw the first few and wandered.
By the time Greg got into Baltimore on Friday, and we got his crap into the room and his car parked, the registration lines were closed. We missed Dubbers After Dark *pout*. I really wanted to see Crispin Freeman. We were going to play Rock Band with Matt and his crew from the Otakon Staff, but we ended up just hanging for a bit.
Saturday we got up early and donned our Steampunk gear. We got Greg to the Pre-Reg line, and then made it about 2 feet before we were stopped for photos. It was awesome! We also got interviewed by an online off-shoot of MTV. We walked around for a while, hit Artist Alley and the Dealer’s room with Greg, and watched the AMV contest. We wandered so much, that I missed the Crispin Freeman autograph session and BOTH of the Q&A sessions for him (;_;)! Oh well, our egos got stroked a lot that day. After a quick nap Matt joined up with us again for D Grayman and the Saturday Night Fan Parodies. We crashed after that.
Sunday we got up way earlier than I wanted to, but there was a Steampunk photoshoot, so we got all our gear on again and showed up. And for being one of the first groups there, plus being AWESOME, we got our photos taken by EuroBeat King!! If you don’t know who that is, he’s only the GREATEST cosplay photographer, and he has a profile on Cosplay.com. We got group shots and individual ones ^^. The collective group of Steampunkers was pretty awesome, and we got some great group shots. We all exchanged info to keep up with one another and potentially collaberate. After the photos we ate, changed, finished packing, and headed the hell home. I got home early enough to hang out with Phil for a little bit, which just rounded out my awesome weekend ^^.
Now I have to find a job… which Matt might be able to help me with, so cross your fingers people!
Also, this weekend was such an ego stroker, that I was inspired to make The Ananhet website for our Steampunk group, so I’ll be keeping whoever the hell reads this updated on that. And I’ll also find where all the pictures taken of our Steampunk ended up and post links for everyone.
J13lue 