I Survived Anime Boston

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Ancient History
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I Survived Anime Boston

Post by Ancient History »

So as I was going up to Massachusetts to visit the family, it turns out Boston was having an anime convention the same weekend. One of my cousins was going, and pre-registered me as well. So that's what I did today.

This was my first convention. Not just anime, I mean anything. I've never quite understood the purpose of conventions as such. It's like medieval market days or apprentice fairs; isn't there a website for all that? I mean, if you're not going to attend the panels or dress up and enter the contests and all that, doesn't it amount to spending a lot of money to go somewhere and spend a lot of money?

Well yes, it's exactly that. And I had fun. I broke a couple of my cardinal rules, like buying over-priced convention food and making a trip into the doujinshi bin. But it was a great spectacle and hubbub, to see all the people with their costumes, many half-assed and many carefully cribbed together, all their gigantic cardboard-and-foam weapons peacebonded, physics-defying hair, and more raw flesh on display than I've seen outside of spring break. I should go to more events that have women in corsets, and I hope I didn't ogle any jailbait. I'm pretty sure that one guy was hitting on a thirteen year old boy in a dress at one point, but I don't judge.

It wasn't bad. I got into Boston late enough to avoid the initial rush, but early enough the crowds weren't claustrophobic, so I could take a leisurely stroll through the dealer's rooms and the artist's alley. I met the guy that writes Spinnerette and bought far too many books - I'm way past my suitcase limit, I'm going to have to post these things back home media mail, but at least now I have complete sets of Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin.

Which brings me to another thing, I guess - I'm not a huge otaku. Don't know all the series, don't follow them religiously. I know more series by reputation than I actually followed. But I'm the casual kind of guy that got into Ghost in the Shell and Akira for the usual reasons, and thrilled to Princess Monoke and Carried Away, and got up early for Anime Saturdays on the Sci-Fi channel; I watched Ronin Warriors and Sailor Moon and Dragonball of various series when I could find them, and have sketchy memories of Robotech and whatnot. So most of my tastes are...old. Damn near classical by contemporary standards. And it was a young crowd for me. But I wasn't the oldest guy there, and I didn't feel out of place. Hell, I wasn't the most unfit guy there; there is nothing for making you feel more confident about your physical status than to see some of the other people at anime conventions. For every guy that's ripped and has the costume to show it, there's a three-hundred pound dude dressed as a Tardis or a scary and seriously grungy looking pikachu onesie-wearing dude with a beard like a bird that lost track of the nest they were building. There were women, too, who didn't care how many situps they missed, they were going to bare belly today and by the dark gods they did.

I didn't sit any of the panels, or dress up. I was in Later Contemporary Cthulhu Nerd, which involved shaving and wearing the best of my two pairs of black jeans. I would wander the dealer's room and artist alley, appreciate the sights, then slip into one of the dark rooms to catch a few minutes of anime. I think in seven hours I caught about forty minutes of Bubblegum Crisis, and various other shows in bits and pieces; they were seldom full and I had trouble sitting for too long - too wired and not too tired.

I also learned it's impossible not to get your picture taken at these events. Not because anybody was trying to capture my image, but because I'd continually accidentally photobomb people. It was never intentional. You'd try to avoid getting caught in the Naruto cast reunion and get distracted by Female Deadpool #4 and end up bumping into one of the Thors posing with Female Loki. My favorite cosplayer was the Viking Stormtrooper - as in, Star Wars Stormtrooper but with a fur cape and horns on his helmet - although many of them were insanely excellent.

Eventually, I caught up with my cousin and her boyfriend, and we went out for lunch. Turns out that the convention center is coterminous with a hotel and a mall, which is weird but also insanely convenient - you can go to the food court and Barnes & Noble and back to the convention without being exposed to the freezing winds of Boston.

That said, I think it would have been better if I'd had some actual friends there to jaw with. Not that I have many friends into anime. Or many friends, period. Also, I'm glad I had somebody to drop me off and pick me up, because driving in Boston is for the fucking birds. It's why I won't even go to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. Well, one of the reasons.

I was surprised to see...how limited the merchandise on display was. I dunno, I guess I thought that there would be a lot more heavy japanophile stuff there. More Japanese-language books and manga and anime, bootleg translations, maybe some under-the-counter stuff, model kits...I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of model kits. But most of this stuff was just bog-standard English-translated anime and related products. The people with stuff actually from Asia were few and far between and specialized - this guy had some art books and cells from old anime, this guy was selling adult doujinshi (but not yaoi, that was another booth), this guy was selling DVDs...and there was a lot less kink there than I thought there would be; far less porn per capita than you would think. Which I guess makes sense, in hindsight; it's a family affair. No booth babes as such either. Couple esteemed old gentlemen giving autographs, but I never knew their accomplishments. If there were any celebrities there, I completely missed it - but as I said, I avoided all the panels.

And it was...nice to be around people having a good time. I didn't meet a single asshole. Everybody was smiling and poking fingers and occasionally squealing. The merchants were wheeling and dealing; most preferred cash and few mucked about with receipts if they could help it. People apologized if they brushed or ran into you. A couple people were a little more enthusiastically in character, but that was just part of the fun. The hall security was smiling and joking with people. Every now and again you'd hear somebody announce a game or a cheer would go up from a different part of the convention center and...well, it's just been a long time since I was in a setting being around so many people having a good time.

So, I survived. And I had fun. I would maybe go again - not tomorrow. I don't think I could stand to do the full two or three days. But I could see going to a convention in the future.
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Post by Prak »

You'll get more japanophile stuff at bigger cons like Fanime, but yeah, it's pretty much exactly as you describe. You go for the experience, and maybe dressing up and panels if you're up for/into it*, but if not, you're spending money to spend money. But then, clubs are kind of like that too. Most of the worthwhile stuff is in the Small Press/Indie/Artist's Alley/whatever they call it section, which is basically like a physical web ring for your convenience.

It is better going with friends and wandering around, or hitting the gaming hall, or sitting panels with people who are into the same things as you.

*Last con I went to was Fanime, and I brought my Hellboy get up, but I just never felt like putting in the hour makeup would have taken, especially because I would then be spreading red on everything I touched. I did learn about a vinyl pain from someone dressed as Kneesocks that I will keep in mind for future Hellboy makeups that at least combats the creeping red problem, however.
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Post by Josh_Kablack »

That said, I think it would have been better if I'd had some actual friends there to jaw with. Not that I have many friends into anime. Or many friends, period. Also, I'm glad I had somebody to drop me off and pick me up, because driving in Boston is for the fucking birds. It's why I won't even go to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. Well, one of the reasons.
Do the other reasons have to do with
A> Driving distance
B> Atlanta
or
C> Dragon Con itself ?
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Every year, I seem to hear that the people that run Dragon*Con are assholes. This is distressing, because it's not like I hang out with people that go to conventions.
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Re: I Survived Anime Boston

Post by Koumei »

Ancient History wrote:I've never quite understood the purpose of conventions as such.
Back in pre-historic times (by which I mean "before bitTorrent"), that was seriously the best way to find out about new anime (which you would then download via eMule, if you were lucky), unless you were with a university anime club that was on the ball. I actually spent a fair amount of time in the screening rooms, just discovering new shows to tjeck out.

These days, that is in no way necessary, and it's all about cosplay, panels and the traders' hall. In fact, to some extent you could replace the whole thing with one massive trade hall and most people would be happy.
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Post by Shrapnel »

You realize, of course, that this means we came dangerously close to meeting in person. Thank Goddess that didn't happen.
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Post by Ancient History »

You're right; I'd never be able to come back to Boston if I was wanted for murder.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

I'd be a little put out that you guys were apparently in town and didn't come to visit my store, except that I don't have a good idea of what you look like and maybe you did?
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Post by Shrapnel »

You have a store?
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

I don't own it, but I manage the MA link of The Compleat Strategist.
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Post by Shrapnel »

Ooo. I might have to drop in someday.
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Post by nockermensch »

Hell, I wasn't the most unfit guy there; there is nothing for making you feel more confident about your physical status than to see some of the other people at anime conventions.
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