Comic Fiesta

Well I've survived my first anime convention. Honestly, besides the fact that I had to stand a lot, it wasn't so bad. There were a lot of cosplayers; most of the girls dressed up as either elaborately themed or scantily-clad female anime characters, and most of the guys dressed up as either Darth Maul or scantily-clad female anime characters. I had the distinct feeling that I'd arrived at Planet Geek, but had taken a wrong turn somewhere in high orbit and ended up on the wrong continent. Everywhere around me was sold art or figurines (both usually of the scantily clad variety) and people saying 'kawaii!!!'.

My brother and I joked: At an otaku convention, they say Kawaii. At a western convention, they go Omg. Both have approximately the same meaning...

The winner of 'best cosplayer' was Hellboy. The Red Right Hand Rules! Take THAT Yuffie! Take that Sailor Moon! Take that random anime character! (feels he has to defend his western geekness against all of otakudom)

The highlight of the entire day was the human chess game, played by the 32 finalists of the cosplay competition. The rules: Do battle in character. It was brilliant. The combative characters would fight (Hellboy and another anime character armed with a staff were particularly entertaining), the scurrier characters chased their prey about with brooms or other decorative props, the non-combat ones would talk their opponents into submission or flee before the sight of a cardboard blade. The inevitable pawnlock at the end of the game was dissolved into a melee, and you could see the cosplayers grinning with barely suppressed glee as they proceeded to dispatch each other.

There was, as I could see, no rehearsal to the entire thing, but there was unspoken agreement between the combatants. On some unspoken cue, a swung attack would 'hit' home, and the defeated would fall to their knees valiantly as the coup de grace delivered with flair. It was brilliant, and funny, and exuberant.

The match ended with the two 'kings', in actuality both rival queens from the same anime, faced off alone. One, unarmed, begged the other for her life, entirely in character. The other responded with mercy, and as the crown rolled off the defeated monarch's head, I found myself thinking 'wow'. These are people living the characters they know and love, and having so much fun doing so. This is why cons are the roaring success they are; like minded people doing the things they love and doing it with passion.

Now I want my convention: Marines and Dwarves wandering amongst the crowd, greeting guests with 'Elune De la Nore' or 'Adun Torinas,' the posters, the art books, the throng of fans. I want to end up on my planet.



p.s. the people I went with were pretty cool too. :P