more con stuff

[kodalai]

Saturday.

We woke up about 9ish, mainly since the sun came in and made itself obnoxious. I managed to drag myself out of bed (kudos to nodoz) and the next hour or so was spent yawning and stumbling around and getting on costumes and makeup. I fussed and fussed over my Roy costume, and despite everyone telling me I looked nice, I was quite sure that my costume was inferior. ~_~; Not much that could be done, I guess...

Around 10:30 I started feeling a little antsy. I wanted to get down to the dealer's room -- finally -- and do a bit of shopping. Plus, I had heard from a Winry cosplayer the previous night (the one who was very nice, despite thinking that FMA was too "artsy," what the heck? Watch something like Haibane Renmei and tell me what's artsy) that Funimation was having a photo shoot down at their booth in the dealer's room at noon on Saturday. I really wanted to go!

So, we set out -- I left my bookbag in the hotel room this time, but Lockheed refused to carry the camera this time, so she gave it to me to carry, and I -- get this -- left it behind. Which means, we went to the photo shoot all right, but I didn't have my camera.

T__T

Three Als, seven Izumis, an Armstrong, a whole passel of Winrys, Sins, officers, Roys and Eds, and I DIDN'T HAVE MY CAMERA. Weep.

As you can see, FMA was the order of the day. That is because, as previously mentioned, FMA is the coolest anime ever. I'm always hesitant to say things like that, or to tell people "YOU REALLY HAVE TO WATCH IT! IT'S SO GREAT!" because then that leaves the person all suspicious. All like, "It can't be THAT good... there must be SOMETHING wrong with it..." so then they go into the anime looking out for mistakes or flaws or reasons to hate the characters, and I don't want to do that! I just want people to watch it like I did, and enjoy it on its merits, which are considerable.

What I'd rather say about it is that, in my critical opinion, Full Metal Alchemist, aka Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, is a series where they did everything right. Art? Music? Animation? Effects? Scriptwriting? Voice acting? Plot? Humor? Action? Character design? Character development? Beautiful, developed character interaction? Attractive, slashable, kickass. shirtless boys? Pick one, they did it well. FMA is a serious that makes no mistakes (unless you want to count episode 4 and the 3rd ending credits, but I won't hold that against them.)

This all comes down to, Fullmetal Alchemist was THE big thing at Otakon this year. Lockheed remarked that she thinks it's going to be the biggest thing in the United States anime community since Trigun was released. And right now, it's only been seen by those of the crowd who watch fansubs. When the dub comes out on Cartoon Network this fall, it's going to explode. This year, there were something like forty or fifty Edward Elrics at the con. Watch that number double or triple by next year.

But back to the Funimation shoot. I'll include links to pictures, not actually taken at the shoot, but of the characters around the con. It was a madhouse, but in such a fun way. They called over all the FMA cosplayers in the dealer's room, of which I was one -- yay! The Japanese press was there, so they said, but they were rather crowded just by the fans. They called people up, by character -- they started with Roy, so I was first. :3 Wish I'd had time to fully develop my "Miniskirts" pose by then, or I totally would have stood it -- as it was, I was just another Roy snapping his fingers. ^_~ I think I was the only one there with a pocket watch, though. Go me!

After Roy, they went through the other officers -- there were Hawkeyes, Havocs, and, of course, Hughes, complete with baby pictures. X3 Then there were the Als -- three in full armor, which impressed me, as prior to that point I'd seen *none* in the con. There was one who was fantastic -- almost a perfect replica of the seven foot Al statue Funimation had at the booth. Sugoi. A couple of human Als -- one chibi!al, a couple of ones who were just human. As near as I can tell, it's not spoilers, just speculation. I liked this one (she was at the shoot too) because she's wearing the coat with the Elric symbol, but it's blue. ^^ Only one Armstrong, but he was great. Then Izumis -- more than I'd expected. One of the Eds got down on the floor in front of them and they pretended to beat up on him, hee. Then the Winrys -- a whole passel of Winrys. What else? A couple of Scars (Warning on that pic: may contain spoilers!) -- I had totally missed them in the crowd. The clothes don't stand out all that much, so unless you see the arm...

Then the Sins -- lots of Greeds, Lusts, and Envys, one Sloth, and no Gluttonys. No wraths, either, which surprised me. I mean, all they would have to do is have one of the Envys take off a headband. Anyway, the Sins were told to PRETEND to attack the Al statue. Poor Al!

Then, finally, we got to take pictures of Ed. Sooo many Eds. A lot of them were good, some awesome, some just okay (some much too tall!) but the sheer turnout was quite impressive.

Actually, Lockheed and I left at about this point -- it was 12:30, and that was when the last showing of the AMV contest would be. I really, *really* didn't want to miss it, since that's my big Con Thing. Everybody's got a Con Thing -- the thing you really go to the con for. For some, it's the Masquerade, or the dealer's room, or the art show, or the video screenings, or to show off your costumes, or just to costume spot. For me it's the AMVs. This year's were a disappointment, though, except in the Humor category. But there were a few, especially early on, that made me go -- @_@ the fuck? How the hell did these make the final cut? Like the Naia Under 7 one, which contained about ten clips overlaid with a stupid graphic of a rotating teapot. Or the -- God help us! -- Full Metal Alchemist one, which took the first three episodes and set them to "Behind Blue Eyes," which makes no sense because none of the FMA characters have blue eyes, not that they bothered with anything like thematic consistancy, editing, synching, or hell, even keeping to the beat. I mean, I've seen AMVs that were more painful due to over-flashiness or crappy timing, but in this one, it's like they weren't even trying. There was NOTHING. *gnashes teeth* And I know perfectly well how much DAMN GOOD footage there is in FMA to use, but they just didn't bother!

However, the AMVs got better as we moved into the Action and Humor ones. I'd definitely recommend the Naruto's "One Jump" and the Fumoffu's "Feiur Frei" as being side-splittingly hiliarious, and some of the others -- AMV Hell, Bloodbath, Staring Down the Barrel, Faithless, and Eva Bebop. Hee. Nevertheless, overall I was a little disappointed.

After the AMV showing, we wandered by the area by the Starbucks, where a bunch of the senior (by which I mean time-wise, not age-wise!) Gundam Wing yaoi writers were hanging out. I failed to recognize solitude1056, who was dressed as Heero now, but Sharon (zerotwofan), DC, Christine/Devilkitty, Jana (jana1x2x1) and Aaeth were all there. I'm sure there are other people I'm leaving out, and I'm sorry. I was distracted by all the shiny. Apparently I was somewhat hyper, too, but my energy level was up (all the con excitement, the photo shoot, the AMVs. plus caffiene. hail nodoz!) We set a date for dinner -- 6:00 at the Wharf, and then we headed back to the dealer's room, since to this point I had not yet actually gotten a chance to browse fully.

Now, a list of swag.

-- One gorgeous (gorgeous!) Haibane Renmei wall scroll
-- One print of a "Ringu" outtake
-- One awesome FMA poster
-- One FMA daily planner (Hey, I needed one anyway, and it looked awesome.)
-- Two FMA bookbag tags of Al and Ed (I couldn't find pins, so I got the zipper tags... and first I just got Ed, but I thought he looked lonely, poor boy. ;_;)
-- One Azumanga "あ!" pin.
-- One Kamui Shirou plushie
-- One "R'leyeh University" car window decal
-- One origami jewelry box

I didn't pay too much attention to manga and DVDs. In my experience, the selection is better elsewhere, and even the prices are cheaper. About all I could have gotten but didn't was con/anime clothing, and I already have plenty of t-shirts. ^^; But I collect pins of my favorite anime characters, the decal and the plushie were gifts, and I'm a sucker for pretty art.


Argh! There's more, but it's 3 AM and I'm tired. Stuff to actually do tomorrow. I'll write more, promise.

Comments

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

I know how ya feel about the AMV's. Akon's AMV's weren't that great at all. I can't believe we had to sit through half the garbage just to get to the half decent ones. The good amv's I download, the makers always say about how they won in such and such con yet its never a con that I get to go to in order to see them. I wanna make my own amv's but really don't know how yet or what all I need to make it work out.

Here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/yankeerose69/245885.html) is a link I did a write up about Akon but in there, I have a link to my pics I took. Akon was when Funi 1st revealed the Al statue and was when I found out that Vic was going to do Ed's voice. Did you attend the showing of the 1st dub eps of FMA at the con? Akon had more Naruto cosplayers than anything, though I think with all the hype with the band and what Funi was doing for Otakon, its probably why more FMA peeps did the cosplay. I myself want to do a miniskirt Riza. Not that I NEED anymore costumes, I have the hair and all to make a good Riza, just need a way to make the uniform (or pay someone to make it, I can't sew worth shit).

I just wonder what Funi might do for us when AnimeFest comes around in Sept since its a local con for them, they could at least give us some fanservice as well. One of these yr's I wanna attend Otakon so bad, though I think next yr is a no go for any cons (for the first time EVER) since we are going on a cruise in June and going to PA to visit my family later in the yr. :(

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

Akon was when Funi 1st revealed the Al statue and was when I found out that Vic was going to do Ed's voice. Did you attend the showing of the 1st dub eps of FMA at the con? Akon had more Naruto cosplayers than anything

Oh, don't misunderstand me, Naruto was still the biggest costume there. ^^ It's just that there was a *lot* of FMA costumes.

I would have liked to go to the dub showings, in fact, I planned on it! But we could never find when (or where) they were. When we went through the schedule, all they had was FMA 1-4, subtitled. And then on Saturday afternoon, they showed one of those, and then stopped, and it's suspected that Funimation shut it down. So where were the alleged dubs? Nobody knew.

Who is going to do Ed's voice? O.o

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think that from what I see, that FMA and Naruto probably have the most cosplayers right now.

That sucks that you weren't able to find out about the dub. I hate that about cons too, they aren't very reliable when it comes to how accurate their schedule's are. WOW! Whoever was showing the subs of FMA has got some balls to do that, especially knowing that Funi was there and no doubt DIDN'T have their permission to do so.

Click on this link and scroll down till you see Vic's name.
http://www.animefest.org/AF2004/Guests.php4

He does alot of ADV work, if you've seen FMP! (dub) he was Kurz but since I'm not a fan of ADV, so I can't tell you who else he might have done with the other anime's that are listed.

[oysterverse.livejournal.com]

I'm still confused about the whole thing, because Funimation's name was right there next to the listing. I have no idea whether Funimation gave them permission and then retracted it, or if it was an unauthorized showing that Funimation knew about and canceled at the last minute, or didn't know about, and only found out at the showing, or if Funimation had anything to do with it at all. (The death threats against Funimation scrawled on the schedule outside the video room would tend to suggest they did, but people might just have been jumping to conclusions. There are a lot of people who watch fansubs who take it far too personally when something they like is licensed--and are hostile to the American companies on principle.) ::clutches head:: They probably didn't have permission, but then again, it would have been a good way to promote this show that lots of people were really enthusiastic over--showing four episodes out of fifty-two (as opposed to four episodes out of, say, twelve) will just whet the appetite, not decrease your potential cable-and-dvd-audience--so I could believe that it was an authorized showing...I've got to stop thinking about this.

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

That is pretty weird about it all.

I know at Akon, the stuff they were showing, a good bit of the titles were already licensed but were showing it anyways.

Ex:

Gundam Seed
Gungrave (only 1 eps though)
Mars Daybreak
Saishuuheiki Kanojo(the dub title is something like My Girlfriend something or other)
and a few others that slipped my mind right now.

I just wonder how they were able to show half of what they did w/out getting chewed out about it cause the titles were printed out on the schedule.

God, I remember when it was announced that Funi picked up FMA, the hate threads and total chaos was mind boggling, it was sickening.

but then again, it would have been a good way to promote this show that lots of people were really enthusiastic over--showing four episodes out of fifty-two (as opposed to four episodes out of, say, twelve) will just whet the appetite, not decrease your potential cable-and-dvd-audience--

I totally agree of what all ya said there. They should be happy that its getting exposed, to at least pull more ppl in to watching it or buying it. I for one, am still skeptical on if I'm buying it or not, it all depends on how its going to end. And yes, I'm picky like that though I do like the series. I'm just anxious to hear how the rest of the dub is going to sound regarding the other characters. So far, I only heard Al's voice and I kinda shudder at knowing that Vic is doing Ed's voice, though I'm sure he might do an okay job with it. I'm wondering who is going to be Hawkeye and Roy.

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

Saishuu Heiki Kanojo(the dub title is something like My Girlfriend something or other)

There are two ways to translate this title:

1. She, the Ultimate Weapon
2. My Girlfriend is a Killer Robot

So far, I only heard Al's voice and I kinda shudder at knowing that Vic is doing Ed's voice

Actually, I'm more worried about Al than Ed. Yes, Ed is the headliner role -- but the VA for Al has a lot more riding on his (or her) shoulders. After all, Al doesn't actually have expressions -- unless they're doing a silly chibi episode. But one of the things that makes al so unique is that his external appearance and his inward personality -- shown mostly through his voice -- are so at odds. Since pretty much all of his personality has to be conveyed through his voice, if you don't do it right, then Al's character will be butchered.

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Cause I finally got off my butt to recall where I put this link but have you seen the FMA dub trailer? It has Al's dub voice talking and he sounds pretty decent:

http://www.fullmetalalchemist.com/

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Actually, your expression was quite funny. For the rest of the crew: Mikke sits down, says to the girl on her left, "Oh, you're Casey!" Girl says, "Nope, I'm Aefe" (which I can't recall how to spell; I thought it sounded like Aoife but my hearing's not that good). Mikke is puzzled, looks at me, and gets excited. "Oh, you're Casey!" I say, "Nope." Mikke looks around again, sees The Real Casey, and finally gets it. Of course, then ya couldn't remember who I was, but hey, I think things were probably a bit distracting.

(And the haircut did look good; like you, I know how to cut my own hair and other folks, in a rudimentary fashion, but it's always hard to cut the back of your hair. Ya just can't see it that well.)

Okay, so you were hyper but adorably so and completely understandably - the place was like an extrovert's wet dream (and an introvert's nightmare). So many people, things to do, things to see...oh, and as for the Narutos and Eds? Think about it. How easy is it to pick out the kids-in-orange and the kids-in-red? Most of the others are in duller shades compared to those two...so spotting Naruto and Ed was easy. Second easiest was Sakura (from Naruto) - the pink hair and red dress made it easy. -_o

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

Well, it's nice that I'm remembered, even if it's for acting in a silly fashion. XD

It's funny, I certainly don't think of myself as an extrovert. Certainly not the way my sister and mother are -- they need people around them all the time, and they get energy from it. I like to be around people, but it tires me out, and I need down time. But I'd basically been waiting for and gearing up for the con for weeks, so I was very excited to be there! It didn't really occur to me that other people might not find all the noise and activity to be fun.

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Well, there are quiet extroverts (my sister is one) and loud introverts (which would be me). But the idea of getting energy from being around other people...whew, the very notion wears me out. Hell, I'm just now managing to get back the energy to write, and it's Wednesday. Barring that rather silly one-shot, I just couldn't do much more than write a few thousand words, then stare at the results in mild disgust.

And of course you're remembered, and not necessarily for acting in a silly fashion - I just thought that moment was amusing. You weren't the only one waiting for weeks (if not months); that would be the reason for the general high-pitch of energy the entire duration of the con. However, I would've been more pleased if the panels had more substance and the AMVs didn't suck rocks. I agree wholeheartedly about the FmA/Who video - CP and I sat through that going, "who picked this? what the fsck were they smoking?" I simply wasn't even remotely impressed with the selection in the final category...but on the bright side, I didn't hear Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" even once, so that's a good thing.

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

on the bright side, I didn't hear Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" even once, so that's a good thing.

"Every time you make an AMV with Evanescence lyrics, God kills a kitten."

...Though actually, there was one I saw to Eva's "Going Under" -- not in the contest, but in the showings of old AMVs -- that I liked enough to track down. It was a Yami video, and I'm a sucker for anything that portrays Hisoka kicking ass.

I simply wasn't even remotely impressed with the selection in the final category...

Really? The Humor category? IMO, that was the only one that had half-decent entries.

Hell, I'm just now managing to get back the energy to write, and it's Wednesday. Barring that rather silly one-shot, I just couldn't do much more than write a few thousand words, then stare at the results in mild disgust.

Oh. Poor you. *sits in the corner jealously*

>_> I don't suppose all the FMA hype would have inspired you to do more Contraries? Or are you still working on the ofic?

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

I simply wasn't even remotely impressed with the selection in the final category...

Really? The Humor category? IMO, that was the only one that had half-decent entries.

I meant 'final category' as in compared to the 'ones that didn't make it' - I found on the whole, the 'ones that didn't make it' impressed me far more, and having seen those first, I was highly disappointed with the ones that did. I think the pre-screening judges were on crack.

As for word count, it's all relative. Normally I do six to seven thousand words a day. So yes, a few thousand over three days is a frickin' pathetic amount. I'm adding scenes to Dancing & rewriting the last chapter or two, to shape it up, then I have two more chapters to do on the ofic before I'm willing to distract myself with fanfic. It'll either be Contraries or TWT-rewrite to get back into the groove. Dunno yet.