Shore Leave 25:
A walk on the Sci-fi side
There’s not much I can really say about this, after all I was only there
for a couple hours on Friday, and that was it. My part in it started
off as a flyer-depositing mission for AnimeUSA. Sounded easy enough, as I
knew where the hotel was already due to it being the location for Otakon
96 and 97, and it was right on my way home. Go in, dump some flyers, and
go on home.
Friday:
As though nothing’s changed…
So I was cruising north, and taking some backroads to get to the hotel.
I wheel Yamiko-chan into the Marriott’s parking lot, and grab a small stack
of flyers. Finding one of the entrances was easy, thanks to first-hand
experience. But once inside, I saw how different things were.
Now, when I think of a dealers room, I think of everything in one (or two)
rooms. Here, even hallway and other open areas were used for dealer
space. There were signs taped to walls pointing to even more dealer
areas. This was screaming out as an invitation to shoplift. Here
is why I mentioned this right away: As soon as I walked in the door,
I was in dealers area. All that was separating them from the outside
was an in-use door. But, there’s a reason why they’re not worried about
it. There’s a much different crowd that frequents these than anime
conventions, I can tell that right away. Whereas the median age of
the average anime convention goer is in late teens/early 20s, here it appears
to be towards the 30s or 40s.
While I’m here…
Decided that I’d want some mobility to spread flyers, so I went for a one-day
pass. It was only $15 for Friday, but $35 for Saturday, $30 for Sunday,
and $60 for a full weekend. Compared to Otakon, which has never been that
much, and they’ve grown large enough to take up the whole BCC. Then
again, the guests here command a much higher price, I suppose. There
was a central table for flyers nearby, which was overflowing. There
were also flyers for Katsucon there.
And so, with badge in hand, I began my mission. Well, first of all,
I wanted to see what kind of goodies were in the dealers room(s), which was
apparently going to close soon. Again, security was lax. The
bulk of goods there were mostly toys, action figures, and custom jewelry,
with some people selling bootleg videos, and others selling paperback books
by the ton. One dealer looked they decided to call it an early day, and covered
up their tables thusly.
The program guide and schedule isn’t anything out of the ordinary, nothing
that I’m not used to. The meat of the schedule is for panels and workshops,
and very little for video. There was an art show, so I felt I had to
check that out as well. A lot of fantasy images, but there was one
section that made it all worthwhile, which was some parody images.
An anime fan in King Arthur’s court
Of course, I saw people dressed as Enterprise crewmen and Klingons.
And they were very well done, I must say. At anime conventions, dressing
up as Star Trek characters is largely frowned upon, due to the whole “there’s
a time and place for everything” rule. Well, this is their time, and
this is their place.
It was clear to me early on that things here were run somewhat similar on
the surface, but a lot of things were different. Rooms that were used by
Otakon for video, panels, and general open areas were being used to sell
stuff. Live programming tracks outnumbered video programming by a wide
margin, indicating an environment geared more towards socializing and active
participation. Another thing I noticed were the charity events, such
as the Red Cross had a setup for a blood drive, and there was a table for
promoting organ donation.
Over so soon? For me at least.
Having done my part and spread flyers all over, I felt it was time to be
on my way. It’s hard to say why I really went. Was it nostalgia?
This was where Otakon was for 96 and 97, during my early years of con-going.
I had wonderful memories of it then, and I found it hard to pass up a chance
to revisit. Convenience? It’s halfway between home and work,
and within visual range of my main route home. Certainly not taking
me out of my way. A sense of duty for AnimeUSA? Perhaps.
Even though a sci-fi convention isn’t something I would consider a prime
focus area, (I’ll be genuinely surprised if we get anyone to come because
of it) there’s still always going to be a link between sci-fi and anime.
I think, it was a combination of all the above, and a little more.
I wanted to see… What it was like at a sci-fi convention.
Due to my extremely limited time there, I don’t
have much to offer in the way of the usual statistical blurb, such as what
food I lived off the whole weekend, and I haven’t gone through the trouble
of finding out what attendance was. I’d say a high point was that there
wasn’t the culture shock that I thought there would be despite the differences,
and a low point was that there was absolutely no one, and I do mean NO ONE,
that I knew there. Otherwise I would have stayed a lot longer than
I did, perhaps even returned another day. And my total cost?
Price of admission for the day, and a couple dvds that were bootleg as hell.
Oh yeah, and a candy bar.
And so, if I go next year, it’ll be for the same reason.
Up next: Otakon X!
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