Its rank em week: Anime Conventions (day 1)

So lately I've been asked alot of question about which cons I will be going to this year. Mostly Megacon, some Metrocon, a bit of Animazement, and a single one about AWA.
And this got me thinking: I've been around the block a bit. And I've got my favorite cons and my not-so-favorite cons. So why not rank em in my book.

Disclaimer: These are merely opinions based on my experiences and my expectations for a con.

Coming in dead last is Metrocon. I have so few good things to say about Metrocon that its saddening. And its unfortunate that a con I was looking forward to so much became so disappointing.

Starting off with the trip: Prior to departing, I was hopping around Metrocon community when I came across a post about a girl who needed a ride to Metrocon, who just so happened to live within 10 miles of me. I offered and she accepted *we'll call her Charleston, for keeping identities hidden*. And so she, along with another friend who we picked up in Jacksonville *who we'll call Jacksonville*, kept me company all the way down. It was an 8 hour trip and at about the 6 hour mark, I pulled to the side and asked Charleston to drive for me. She finished the rest.

The hotel we stayed at was the Embassy Suites and it was just.... just ugh. Seriously just ugh. Waits at elevators averaged about 5 mins. And that was if all 4 elevators were working. Speaking of 4 elevators, this hotel thought it would be a good idea to split the 4 elevators into 2 elevators on one side of the hotel and 2 on the other. And needless to say, because wee-a-boos like being dumb, sometimes you were just standing at the elevator getting well acquainted with everyone else who had to wait because some guy/gal thought it'd be cool to hit every level. They DID have a continental breakfast but they required you to wear an overly annoying wristband which if you broke it, you couldn't get the continental. So I saved my for sunday morning rather than going saturday morning and risk breaking mine when taking it off.

The con was massively un-impressive. Most panels were beaten to death and there did not seem to be any standout panels that attracted my attention. And the ones I went to cause they interested me were either host/hostess MIA or horrendously organized AKA not having microphones. So I could never hear anything at just bout every panel I went to. Now to be honest, I tried to enjoy myself. But I just couldn't seem to shake myself loose of Jacksonville. Even if she had no idea what the panel was about, she would follow me in and then would incessantly ask me questions about what was going on. At one point, I snapped at her. Insanely out of character for me, I know. But sometimes you can only take so much before you just have to tell someone straight up to get the point.

In fact the only two things I found interesting at Metrocon was the fire show

Annnnnnd this guy

Yea. Seriously. A guy telling you that you are going to hell for cosplaying was more interesting than just about every panel at Metrocon.

There were other negatives to the con. The supposed huge lolita meet up never materialized, with what seemed like a fraction of the girls coming. And honestly it just seemed like nobody wanted to be there. And the amount of Weeaboos at this con was just... wow. I can't tell you how many times people 'lost the game'. Or how this 1 fatty thought it would be cool to come up to me, hold his hand out to shake my hand and when I did, he said "HA YOU LOST THE GAME."

I seriously had to take a step back from catching up to this guy and throwing a right-ie right at his face.

But per my new year's resolution, I am obligated to find good in this con. I did get to see Alyssa again. Seriously I just do not get to see this girl enough. And she and her cosplay partner Ashley went on to impress at the cosplay contest. I believe they received Judge's honors, or something like that.

Photography by: Andy Delva

If you do not already follow her, you need to:

http://happycatmint.blogspot.com/ (Alyssa)

And I did end up becoming good friends with Charleston. She would later accompany me to AWA for more happy fun times.

AND I did buy this dress

This was a replica dress of IW Band of Forest Animals by Princess Pearl.

But this was nowhere near enough good to off-set the bad. And the con took an even heavier beating in my book when it was followed up by the disaster that was the WotS campout a week later. But that is a different story for a different time.