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argurotoxosSo here it is. I'm sure I forgot some things and I'm terrible with names, so feel free to correct me if you find any inaccuracies.
I will be replying to LJ comments, checking the PortConMaine forums, and all that other good stuff tomorrow. Sorry for the wait!
Pre-Con
My mum and I drove up to Maine on Wednesday and spent the two days before the con visiting relatives. On Thursday, I had crabcakes for lunch (woo!) and then saw Batman Begins with my mum and aunt. It was an excellent movie and I encourage anyone else who loved watching the Batman cartoon when they were little to check it out.
But enough about pre-con. Onto the convention!
Friday - Day One Of The Con
I arrived at the Sheraton in full Hisoka cosplay around 9:30 AM. After dumping my enourmous duffle bag in the staff room, I wandered around our section of the hotel to get an idea of where everything was and say 'hi' to the other staffers I knew.
Overall, the hotel was much nicer than last year. The layout was a bit weird, especially with Artist Alley and the second RPG room being so far away from the rest of the con, but the hotel staff was very nice. They had decently priced junk food on sale throughout the con, which was awesome. (Hot dogs are love.) But best of all, they had plastic cups and pitchers of ice water inside almost every room!
Staff signed in around 10 AM. We all got these badly cut strips of pink fabric to wear as armbands. The ongoing joke was that they would make wonderful WalMart lingerie. XD However, I got quite attached to wearing mine and was disappointed when we had to return them at the end of the con.
By the time staff finished checking in, we already had lines of people waiting for the con to open. Two of the otaku in the queue, a pair of sisters who were both cosplaying Kenshin, pounced on me the moment they saw me, exclaiming how much they loved Hisoka. One of them even kissed me. o_0 I can't for the life of me remember what I said to them; I've never been fangirled on as Hisoka before and was rather taken aback by the whole thing. In any case, they were very nice and I was prepared when I got glomped by them in my Tsuzuki cosplay on Saturday. ^^
In the remaining two hours before the con, I helped out with any odd tasks I could find, including handing out staff armbands to people who hadn't gotten them yet, drawing a tournament chart for the video game staff, and helping Rei direct new arrivals to the registration lines.
Artist Alley opened with the rest of the con at noon. Since I was an art staffer, I spent a good deal of the con there. Unfortunately, the room was rather small, mostly due to the fact that there was a large table right smack in the middle of the room that was bolted to the floor. >_> It was also one of the coldest room in the hotel. I didn't mind so much since both of my cosplays had two or three layers, but some of the other artists and art staffers were freezing.
Being on the art staff was awesome. There's nothing quite like being surrounded by a bunch of good-natured and extremely talented artists and writers and overhearing all kinds of random conversations. Out of all the locations in the hotel, Artist Alley was the place I felt the most relaxed in.
I got my first break at 2 PM and took the opportunity to check out the vendors room. One of the vendors there was from California and drove all the way across the country just for PortCon. Talk about dedication! I still feel kinda bad that I didn't buy anything from her . . .
My biggest shock in the vendors room was the amount of Hunter x Hunter merchandise available - postcards, pencil boards, pins, posters, notepads, doujinshi . . . It was more than I ever expected! I didn't buy that much since they weren't exactly the cheapest items there, but I did get two beautiful pencil boards and a set of postcards.
The rest of my money was spent on posters (Full Metal Alchemist, Angel Sanctuary, and Hikaru no Go), playing cards (Hikaru no Go, Gundam Seed, and GetBackers), and soundtracks (two Gundam Wing, one Yami no Matsuei, and one Full Metal Alchemist). I also got two other posters for two special people that couldn't make it to PortCon this year.
I hung out in the Artist Alley again until it closed at 7 PM. After that, Shampoo, Kun, Noir, Musashi, Shelly, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner, which was a blast. (Buffalo sticks!) When we got back to the con, all of us headed to the karaoke room, except for Shampoo, who wanted to see Extreme Geek. Friday night marked the first time I sang 'Eden', the Yami no Matsuei opening, during the con. Kun sang it with me as Watari. *grin*
After the con closed down for the night, I went up to spend some time with Kun and Shelly in their hotel room before heading down to my own room.
The cosplays that made my day: Lestat and Louis from The Vampire Chronicles and Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist.
Saturday - Day Two Of The Con
Saturday is always the biggest day of PortCon, if only because it's the day of the Cosplay Contest. However, it was still fairly quite right after the con opened, so CJ and I watched part of the first anime music video screening. I was very impressed by the quality of music videos submitted this year and I liked every one I saw.
My younger brother, Tomo, arrived around 10 AM and we hung out as much as we could before the Artist Alley opened. Saturday was the only day he was there, and thus the only day that all of my friends from New Hampshire were there. I just wish we had hung out in a group more before Tomo left; I can't recall Tomo, Shampoo, Kun, Shelly, Duo, and myself ever being together at one time.
In the afternoon, CJ snatched me away from Artist Alley to help set up for the Cosplay Contest, but I didn't stay to watch the contest, partly because I wanted to be useful in the Alley, partly because Shampoo was taping it and offered to make me a copy. Tomo had to leave at 5 PM, so he didn't watch the Cosplay, either. We spent his last forty minutes of the con together and then I saw him off. It was sad that he couldn't stay longer, but I'm glad I was able to see him.
The Alley was very quite during the Cosplay contest. However, I'm very glad I elected to stay behind since it was during this time that I met my fellow Hunter x Hunter fan! She was on the Security staff and was guarding the hallway leading into Artist Alley. Woo for Hunter x Hunter! It's so nice to be able to talk with someone else about it since it's not a very well-known series. And Kurapica rocks my socks. ZOMG Kurapica!! XD
After the Cosplay ended, we had a huge swarm of people making their way into the Alley, which made it quite crowded. I'm very glad that we're getting a bigger room for the Alley next year.
Shampoo, Musashi, and I went to Maine Mall for dinner after the Alley closed. Musashi won Best Male Cosplay (congratulations!), but I have no clue about the other winners. I look forward to watching the DVD.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the Yaoi Panel. It was better than last year, but still not the best. I say just get a nice copy of Ai no Kusabi and play it. Of course, then it'd be a screening, not a panel.
Saturday night was a special one for PortCon -- it was our first time hosting a dance. We had black lights and glow sticks and a DJ and all that good stuff. It was a lot of fun and we formed an impromptu conga line during one of the songs. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Spawn didn't get her wish that someone would fall during the dance. Poor Spawn.
We left the dance early to see a J-pop screening. The best part was singing 'Ready Steady Go!' while watching the L'Arc music video. (Yes, I know L'Arc is J-rock, not J-pop. They had a few J-rock MVs mixed in with the J-pop.)
Nothing much happened after the con on Saturday. Kun fell asleep early, I have no clue what Shelly was doing, and Duo watched the J-pop screening with us before leaving with some other friends. I did spend more time with my fellow Hunter x Hunter fan (yayness!), but then it was off to bed for me.
The cosplays that made my day: two Count Ds (Pet Shop of Horrors) within a three-hour time period! One had a Leon with them and the other was a very rare breed of yaoi fan (a straight male).
Sunday - The Last Day Of The Con
Ah, Sunday. The slowest day of the con. We were going to have real life 2x1x2 (one Heero cosplayer with two Duos), but both Duos left the day before.
That's not to say that Sunday was boring. Not at all! Sunday was Yami no Matsuei day! We had all of the main characters there: Tsuzuki (Shampoo), Hisoka (Ryuuen and myself), Watari (Kun), Tatsumi (Shelly), Muraki (Duo), and even Hakushaku-sama (Shannon)! We all sang 'Eden' in the karaoke room, except for Tsuzuki and Muraki, who weren't there at the time.
Sadly, Kun, Shelly, and Duo had to leave around 1 PM, so we only had our whole Yami group there for a couple of hours. Before they left, Shampoo, Duo, and I watched some J-rock music videos, including Gackt and Malice Mizer.
When it finally came time to say 'goodbye', we had kisses around. Both Kun and I faired better in the tear department than we did back in March.
Artist Alley was pretty quite on Sunday. Not as quite as during the Cosplay, but you could tell it was the last day of the con.
Jekka invited me to be a panelist on the Fanfiction Panel in the afternoon. The air conditioner was broken in the room we were using and it remained a stagnant 86 degrees, but we still had ten or so people show up. I really enjoyed myself, even if I do suck at public speaking and have never seen Sailor Moon or Slayers. サンキュー、ジェッカ！
By the end of the panel, we three panelists had gone through five pitchers of ice water. o_0 Yes. It was hot. And it was very nice to get back to Artist Alley after that.
I spent the rest of the con running around and making sure I found everyone before they left. After that was cleanup and then we headed over to IHop for staff pie at 7 PM.
The room we were in was rather small for all of the staff, but we had a big screen TV and watched part of America's Funniest Home Videos with the captions on. I apologize for not having any pictures, but I decided against getting my camera out in such close quarters. That and I wasn't quite sure when we'd actually get the pie. It was sitting behind us, tempting us with its sugary goodness, for about twenty minutes before Julie gave the go ahead.
Apparently, Jekka and I are twins in pie, too. We both grabbed a slice of banana cream and a slice of lemon meringue. Go figure. XD
My mum and aunt came fifteen minutes later and it was time for another round of 'goodbye's.
The cosplays that made my day: Shannon as Hakushaku-sama (Yami no Matsuei) and Jekka as Harry Potter.
To conclude, it was an incredible year and I can say with absolute certainty that I enjoyed myself this year much more than last year. Part of it was already knowing a number of people, part of it was being able to help out more as an official staffer. If I am able to go to PortCon next year, you can bet I'll sign up for art staff again.
But you know what the best part about PortCon was? Even above the vendors and--dare I say it--even above the pie? Seeing old friends again and meeting new ones. We may get paid in pie, but in the end, it's all about the people.
I will be replying to LJ comments, checking the PortConMaine forums, and all that other good stuff tomorrow. Sorry for the wait!
Pre-Con
My mum and I drove up to Maine on Wednesday and spent the two days before the con visiting relatives. On Thursday, I had crabcakes for lunch (woo!) and then saw Batman Begins with my mum and aunt. It was an excellent movie and I encourage anyone else who loved watching the Batman cartoon when they were little to check it out.
But enough about pre-con. Onto the convention!
Friday - Day One Of The Con
I arrived at the Sheraton in full Hisoka cosplay around 9:30 AM. After dumping my enourmous duffle bag in the staff room, I wandered around our section of the hotel to get an idea of where everything was and say 'hi' to the other staffers I knew.
Overall, the hotel was much nicer than last year. The layout was a bit weird, especially with Artist Alley and the second RPG room being so far away from the rest of the con, but the hotel staff was very nice. They had decently priced junk food on sale throughout the con, which was awesome. (Hot dogs are love.) But best of all, they had plastic cups and pitchers of ice water inside almost every room!
Staff signed in around 10 AM. We all got these badly cut strips of pink fabric to wear as armbands. The ongoing joke was that they would make wonderful WalMart lingerie. XD However, I got quite attached to wearing mine and was disappointed when we had to return them at the end of the con.
By the time staff finished checking in, we already had lines of people waiting for the con to open. Two of the otaku in the queue, a pair of sisters who were both cosplaying Kenshin, pounced on me the moment they saw me, exclaiming how much they loved Hisoka. One of them even kissed me. o_0 I can't for the life of me remember what I said to them; I've never been fangirled on as Hisoka before and was rather taken aback by the whole thing. In any case, they were very nice and I was prepared when I got glomped by them in my Tsuzuki cosplay on Saturday. ^^
In the remaining two hours before the con, I helped out with any odd tasks I could find, including handing out staff armbands to people who hadn't gotten them yet, drawing a tournament chart for the video game staff, and helping Rei direct new arrivals to the registration lines.
Artist Alley opened with the rest of the con at noon. Since I was an art staffer, I spent a good deal of the con there. Unfortunately, the room was rather small, mostly due to the fact that there was a large table right smack in the middle of the room that was bolted to the floor. >_> It was also one of the coldest room in the hotel. I didn't mind so much since both of my cosplays had two or three layers, but some of the other artists and art staffers were freezing.
Being on the art staff was awesome. There's nothing quite like being surrounded by a bunch of good-natured and extremely talented artists and writers and overhearing all kinds of random conversations. Out of all the locations in the hotel, Artist Alley was the place I felt the most relaxed in.
I got my first break at 2 PM and took the opportunity to check out the vendors room. One of the vendors there was from California and drove all the way across the country just for PortCon. Talk about dedication! I still feel kinda bad that I didn't buy anything from her . . .
My biggest shock in the vendors room was the amount of Hunter x Hunter merchandise available - postcards, pencil boards, pins, posters, notepads, doujinshi . . . It was more than I ever expected! I didn't buy that much since they weren't exactly the cheapest items there, but I did get two beautiful pencil boards and a set of postcards.
The rest of my money was spent on posters (Full Metal Alchemist, Angel Sanctuary, and Hikaru no Go), playing cards (Hikaru no Go, Gundam Seed, and GetBackers), and soundtracks (two Gundam Wing, one Yami no Matsuei, and one Full Metal Alchemist). I also got two other posters for two special people that couldn't make it to PortCon this year.
I hung out in the Artist Alley again until it closed at 7 PM. After that, Shampoo, Kun, Noir, Musashi, Shelly, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner, which was a blast. (Buffalo sticks!) When we got back to the con, all of us headed to the karaoke room, except for Shampoo, who wanted to see Extreme Geek. Friday night marked the first time I sang 'Eden', the Yami no Matsuei opening, during the con. Kun sang it with me as Watari. *grin*
After the con closed down for the night, I went up to spend some time with Kun and Shelly in their hotel room before heading down to my own room.
The cosplays that made my day: Lestat and Louis from The Vampire Chronicles and Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist.
Saturday - Day Two Of The Con
Saturday is always the biggest day of PortCon, if only because it's the day of the Cosplay Contest. However, it was still fairly quite right after the con opened, so CJ and I watched part of the first anime music video screening. I was very impressed by the quality of music videos submitted this year and I liked every one I saw.
My younger brother, Tomo, arrived around 10 AM and we hung out as much as we could before the Artist Alley opened. Saturday was the only day he was there, and thus the only day that all of my friends from New Hampshire were there. I just wish we had hung out in a group more before Tomo left; I can't recall Tomo, Shampoo, Kun, Shelly, Duo, and myself ever being together at one time.
In the afternoon, CJ snatched me away from Artist Alley to help set up for the Cosplay Contest, but I didn't stay to watch the contest, partly because I wanted to be useful in the Alley, partly because Shampoo was taping it and offered to make me a copy. Tomo had to leave at 5 PM, so he didn't watch the Cosplay, either. We spent his last forty minutes of the con together and then I saw him off. It was sad that he couldn't stay longer, but I'm glad I was able to see him.
The Alley was very quite during the Cosplay contest. However, I'm very glad I elected to stay behind since it was during this time that I met my fellow Hunter x Hunter fan! She was on the Security staff and was guarding the hallway leading into Artist Alley. Woo for Hunter x Hunter! It's so nice to be able to talk with someone else about it since it's not a very well-known series. And Kurapica rocks my socks. ZOMG Kurapica!! XD
After the Cosplay ended, we had a huge swarm of people making their way into the Alley, which made it quite crowded. I'm very glad that we're getting a bigger room for the Alley next year.
Shampoo, Musashi, and I went to Maine Mall for dinner after the Alley closed. Musashi won Best Male Cosplay (congratulations!), but I have no clue about the other winners. I look forward to watching the DVD.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the Yaoi Panel. It was better than last year, but still not the best. I say just get a nice copy of Ai no Kusabi and play it. Of course, then it'd be a screening, not a panel.
Saturday night was a special one for PortCon -- it was our first time hosting a dance. We had black lights and glow sticks and a DJ and all that good stuff. It was a lot of fun and we formed an impromptu conga line during one of the songs. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Spawn didn't get her wish that someone would fall during the dance. Poor Spawn.
We left the dance early to see a J-pop screening. The best part was singing 'Ready Steady Go!' while watching the L'Arc music video. (Yes, I know L'Arc is J-rock, not J-pop. They had a few J-rock MVs mixed in with the J-pop.)
Nothing much happened after the con on Saturday. Kun fell asleep early, I have no clue what Shelly was doing, and Duo watched the J-pop screening with us before leaving with some other friends. I did spend more time with my fellow Hunter x Hunter fan (yayness!), but then it was off to bed for me.
The cosplays that made my day: two Count Ds (Pet Shop of Horrors) within a three-hour time period! One had a Leon with them and the other was a very rare breed of yaoi fan (a straight male).
Sunday - The Last Day Of The Con
Ah, Sunday. The slowest day of the con. We were going to have real life 2x1x2 (one Heero cosplayer with two Duos), but both Duos left the day before.
That's not to say that Sunday was boring. Not at all! Sunday was Yami no Matsuei day! We had all of the main characters there: Tsuzuki (Shampoo), Hisoka (Ryuuen and myself), Watari (Kun), Tatsumi (Shelly), Muraki (Duo), and even Hakushaku-sama (Shannon)! We all sang 'Eden' in the karaoke room, except for Tsuzuki and Muraki, who weren't there at the time.
Sadly, Kun, Shelly, and Duo had to leave around 1 PM, so we only had our whole Yami group there for a couple of hours. Before they left, Shampoo, Duo, and I watched some J-rock music videos, including Gackt and Malice Mizer.
When it finally came time to say 'goodbye', we had kisses around. Both Kun and I faired better in the tear department than we did back in March.
Artist Alley was pretty quite on Sunday. Not as quite as during the Cosplay, but you could tell it was the last day of the con.
Jekka invited me to be a panelist on the Fanfiction Panel in the afternoon. The air conditioner was broken in the room we were using and it remained a stagnant 86 degrees, but we still had ten or so people show up. I really enjoyed myself, even if I do suck at public speaking and have never seen Sailor Moon or Slayers. サンキュー、ジェッカ！
By the end of the panel, we three panelists had gone through five pitchers of ice water. o_0 Yes. It was hot. And it was very nice to get back to Artist Alley after that.
I spent the rest of the con running around and making sure I found everyone before they left. After that was cleanup and then we headed over to IHop for staff pie at 7 PM.
The room we were in was rather small for all of the staff, but we had a big screen TV and watched part of America's Funniest Home Videos with the captions on. I apologize for not having any pictures, but I decided against getting my camera out in such close quarters. That and I wasn't quite sure when we'd actually get the pie. It was sitting behind us, tempting us with its sugary goodness, for about twenty minutes before Julie gave the go ahead.
Apparently, Jekka and I are twins in pie, too. We both grabbed a slice of banana cream and a slice of lemon meringue. Go figure. XD
My mum and aunt came fifteen minutes later and it was time for another round of 'goodbye's.
The cosplays that made my day: Shannon as Hakushaku-sama (Yami no Matsuei) and Jekka as Harry Potter.
To conclude, it was an incredible year and I can say with absolute certainty that I enjoyed myself this year much more than last year. Part of it was already knowing a number of people, part of it was being able to help out more as an official staffer. If I am able to go to PortCon next year, you can bet I'll sign up for art staff again.
But you know what the best part about PortCon was? Even above the vendors and--dare I say it--even above the pie? Seeing old friends again and meeting new ones. We may get paid in pie, but in the end, it's all about the people.
