Katsucon 2010

Day 3

Day Three. Otherwise known as the day no one can wake up. I found an L cosplayer curled up on a couch completely passed out on my way to my first panel. Well, at least he was sleeping in character.

Artist's Alley

I admit, I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever. So whenever I step into an Artist's Alley I am immediately overcome with both a sense of awe and a dark, jealous rage. For a mid-size con, Katsucon had a really great Artist's Alley. And while I enjoy looking at all the fanart, what usually really pulls me in is all the crafts. From homemade earrings to cell phone charms, knitted plushies and necklaces, I find myself really admiring these people who are able to create such cute things using so many different media. Which is why I couldn't help but buy one of these adorable little knitted moogles.

Merchant's Room

Ah the merchant's room. It's usually a place where I end up acting like a magpie surrounded by … well, surrounded a bunch of shiny stuff. It's Day Three and I can't think up anything clever. And I still love the merchant's room, but I swear back when I started attending cons 10 years ago there weren't this many non-anime-related booths in attendance. For example, there was an inordinate amount of booths at Katsucon this year selling tails. Shudder.

I thought the Sonic T-shirt in the background here was a nice touch, don't you?

Pros/Cons

Pro – The con had a lounge area where you could check your bags and any heavy coats that you couldn't take into the Merchant's Room. The area also had a few couches in the back of the large room, presumably for people who wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of a convention for a few moments. A very insightful addition to a convention.

Con – The convention completely screwed me over on wireless. As someone who didn't stay in the hotel, I had to pay $50 for wireless for the weekend. This was fine with me until I was told the wireless only works on the hotel side of the building, and not the convention side. Where I spend most of my time. So it was completely useless. This led to me grabbing my laptop and running like a bat out of hell after the Funimation panel, to the side of the building where there was actually wireless, so I could report on it. Note to Katsucon staff: please work it out with the hotel staff to provide wireless on the convention side next year for those of us too broke to have an iPhone.

Extra: Cornering Steve Yun While He's Being Sniped

I started walking to Robotech.com maven Steve Yun's Robotech panel Sunday morning, and when I turned a corner and saw him collapsed on the floor in front of his panel room, being pelted by a random staff member from a room across the hall with chocolate hearts. It was Valentine's Day after all. Being the sympathetic fan I am, I ignored his plight and immediately cornered him and started asking him about the planned Robotech live-action movie. Sorry folks, but there's nothing new on that front. It's still in the scriptwriting stage it was in six months ago when they named Tom Rob Smith as the new screenwriter.

Con Review

I really enjoyed this year's Katsucon. It's been a few years since I attended it, and I remember the last time I did it felt like I was stuck in a tuna can. The good news is that Katsucon will be returning to the Gaylord again next year. Going to a large con like Otakon is exciting because of all the opportunities, but Katsucon provided more than enough interesting panels, guests and events to keep the average anime fan busy. If the staff can smooth out the organizational kinks, of which there were many, I think next year will provide something even more exciting.

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