Zenkaikon 2
10/13/07

This is one of those conventions that kinda lurked in the back of my mind, completely inactive.  Being a one-day event by design would have that effect.  Then less than a week to go and all of a sudden BEEP! UPCOMING CONVENTION!  Plotted out all the logistics, they looked good, so Saturday "morning" (that's about noon for me) rolls around and I'm up and getting ready.  Loaded Yamiko-chan with a couple 12-packs of Vault and a full tank of gas and finally hit the road about 1:30.

Getting there was a bit of an adventure, mostly involving taking a detour to avoid a construction-zone traffic jam on Rt. 30, only to dive headlong into a jungle of stoplights and then an earlier accident on the side road required taking another detour THROUGH A GROCERY STORE PARKING LOT.  My navigational light bulb flickered enough for me to get the idea of going behind the store and avoiding pedestrians and shopping carts and such.

Diversions aside, I get to the Valley Forge Scanticon, a megalopolis of a convention center and hotel with at least three restaurants.  Like the human brain, Zenkaikon is using a small fraction of the total capacity.  Room to grow indeed.  After going through the front door, and reaching the outer edge of the convention, registration is right there without having to look for it.  BRILLIANT.  Badge is an image from Beck on a piece of cardstock paper with a rough hole poked in the top and then hung around my neck by a piece of ribbon.  Lovely.  Apparently pre-reg folks got better treatment in the form of a wider selection of badges put in a plastic holder and an actual string.  Then right there is the dealers room, with less than a dozen dealers, only one of which that I knew off the top of my head.  Went through a couple times but didn't buy anything in there.

I took some pictures of various things and people, and wandered around.  I also had some AUSA flyers with me which caught the interest of more than a few people for all the right reasons.  A staffer working the con's merchandise booth said she knew some of her friends that were going.  Even one of the hotel employees entertained the idea of going.  I left a bunch of flyers about and a good portion of them found their way to attendees.

So, there were a few events on the schedule that I wanted to check out.  Their main events room was about slightly smaller than what AUSA uses for panels.  It was almost all floor-seating because there were few chairs and they were along the walls.  I decided to see what Uncle Yo's standup comedy was like.  There were many lolz to be had.  "Freeze-dried Jamaican crossdresser" indeed.  Someone that I guess was his assistant was to take a bunch of pictures but her camera wasn't working so she asked me to take a bunch.  Ok, I can do that, so I did.

Then after that, a half-hour break and then it was time for the Cosplay/Masquerade.  Four skits, a bunch of walk-ons, and completely over and done with in just under an hour, including judging and awards presentation (a fancy award printout and a bag of candy).

So that ended early, and I go to grab a sandwich from the concessions area, literally a wide spot in the hallway with some kitchen appliances and an employee taking money as people paid for their food.

Finishing out the evening and thusly the convention was the "Bad Anime, Bad!" panel.  It started early and ran late, expanding itself from the original 90 minutes on the schedule out to almost 3 hours.  Again, there were more lolz to be had.  "Xerxes Tireiron Dada" indeed.  When that was over, I strolled out into the chilly autumn night and went home.

Something I noticed that struck me as odd was that for an event that was only about a hundred miles from home and in the same state, I didn't know anyone there.  In all fairness, any time I go to a particular series of convention for the first time I'm usually the stranger in a strange land.  This is compounded with the fact that there weren't many people at this one to begin with.  (For comparison, I had never been to AX before either, but with over 40,000 people there was gonna be someone that I knew whether it was on the other side of the country or not.

Final verdict:  It wasn't quite the religious experience like the first AUSA was for me, but it didn't suck.  It was good fun on the cheap and didn't blow the whole weekend.  Registration and gas/tolls to get there accounted for almost all of the expense.  It was a one-day event by design, which meant they had to intentionally work on a small scale.  This meant no Japanese guests, and their guests and musical acts were local.

I look forward to next year's Zenkaikon.