Tekkoshocon 2008
Before I begin, I’d like to make note of a minor let-down this year. Due to some massive bungling on the part of the Monroeville ExpoMart (Tekko’s ‘home’ for the previous three consecutive years), the con’s location had to be changed to the Green Tree Radisson, on the other side of town. Ordinarily this would not alter things too much; this year, however, it brought with it some good things and some bad things. The good things were that the rooms were generally cool, and everything was a bit more compact so there was little walking from one end of a very large facility to the other to get to a new location. The bad thing was, as mentioned, the Radisson was far more compact and tight than the ExpoMart. As a result, photo opportunities were few and far between, lest the hallways become completely impassable. So, I apologize in advance for the relative lack of photos compared to years past– I tried to get as many of the most impressive costumes as I could. On the other hand, I did manage a couple of surprises. We’ll get to those. For right now, on with the show.
Day One: Friday, April 11
As per usual, I was a bit early, and so my first stop was the video games room. I caught up with Juan– it’s weird that since moving to Pittsburgh these cons are the only time I ever get to see him– and took in a little bit of Rock Band. There were still some kinks to work out– for example, the bass guitar’s buttons were sticking a little bit, and in one of those moments of divine irony, the bass drum pedal snapped in half. (I didn’t do it, but I did get pictures.) Also of note in the game room– which was run by Noobie Games this year in tandem with the Tekko staff– were a CD-i running Hotel Mario (think Elevator Action or Bugs Bunny’s Crazy Castle, but less fun), eight linked 360s running Halo 3 pretty much the entire weekend, a DDR setup, and a 56-inch plasma HDTV running retro games (my fondest wish has now been realized). It was decidedly warmer and far more crowded than the remainder of the con, but that’s the way the game room usually is. Without a doubt, working with Noobie was a smart decision.
More shakeups behind the scenes caused the much-beloved Greggo to not be able to make it to this year’s convention. He’d gained a bit of a cult following around these parts for the elaborate and awesome game shows he produced and hosted, but those were not to be. TJ took over the game show duties, and three games were put on. The first was the promising-sounding OMGYOUGOTTASEETHIS!!. The premise was that a cosplayer would go on stage, ramble at Excel-like pace for a minute or two about his or her chosen series, and then two contestants would have to answer questions based on the logorrhea. Yeah, it didn’t work out quite as well as it was planned. Certainly there were some good cosplayers and rants, but overall the game could have been improved by an audition process in advance of the game itself.
After that, I headed off to the delectable Gaijin Bento panel. This was a tri– no, no, must not abuse memery yet. I have to say that if I took nothing else away from the entire weekend, this alone would have been worth it. Granted, it was mostly a “well, this is where you go to find people who will tell you ’screw the rules, I have food!’” sort of deal, but sometimes you need to hear that sort of thing. Anyway, the basic gist of the panel was to teach otaku how to prepare boxed lunches that are styled similarly to those found in anime, but with Western-style food and Western-style patience and cooking aptitude. I’m glad I got the chance to visit; I’d been slacking off on my actual cooking lately and this was enough impetus for me to get the fires lit once more.
One of my favorite parts of any convention are the AMV contests. I get introduced to so much more anime and music through these than anywhere else, and I’m grateful for both opportunities. This year, I have to admit, one of the most outstanding videos was a Fate stay/night vid set to Dragonforce’s “Through The Fire And The Flames”. Not without good reason, mind you– there’s a hell of a lot of burning stuff in that vid. And then there were the comedy videos. A couple stood out– Naruto doing a Pepto Bismol commercial was low-hanging fruit, to be sure, but funny nonetheless– but the crowning moment has to have been “Serenade”. Six minutes of pure complete awesome… none of which I can actually tell you, because that would spoil it. The only problem with that is, though, that it’s going to get old and/or backlashed by the time Otakon rolls around. Wait, did I just spoil that? Damn.
After the AMV contest, I headed over to what was billed as the Pokemon Trade Center. About twenty folks were there, and I didn’t get to do any trading because the tournament started. Yes, tournament! I participated in that and did not lose in the first round. (The second round. I made a dumb mistake.) About halfway through the thing, we had to move to the game room; this was compounded by the fact that apparently we had to have someone with a hand on the Wii (running Battle Revolution) so as to allow everyone to get a good signal. Very odd. Anyway, the main thing is I still suck at teh pokeymans, but it was a good time for all.
Because the tournament ran long– or at least my participation in it did– I missed the Hsu-nami concert. That’s a shame; I did pick up their CD, though, which is quite awesome. I’d also miss the Mari Ijima concert but for another very valid reason… we’re getting to that.
The last event on Friday’s list was what was known as OTV. Basically, this is your standard MSTK-ing of a really bad anime-related movie. I say “anime-related movie” because for the three years that I have seen it, none of the movies they riff have been animated. This year’s live-action box-office bomb was G-Saviour, aka “Am I Gundam or SeaQuest?”. The movie itself was, I felt, not entirely bad– it was produced natively in English– but that was before I learned that it really is supposed to be part of the Gundam continuity. Therefore, since the word “Gundam” isn’t actually said in the movie, I have to give it pretty much an epic F. The riffing was spot-on and perfect, as it has been every other year. That had to have been an excellent way to cap off the first day.
Day Two: Saturday, April 12th
Saturday morning brought with it a new wind in the air. Carried on this wind was the scent of change, the scent of revolution… or maybe just kitty litter. The world-premiere playing of Live Action Whack-A-Catgirl was probably one of the highlights of the convention in general, and yours truly had the honor of participating as… you guessed it, a Catboy. Catboy is Your Friend. I continued my tradition of dragging people down with me by deducting three points from a player’s score. Anyway, the game played out as a four-player match of the card game, with oversized props standing in as visual representations of the cards in play. The whole thing was riotous and got a great reception from the crowd, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing this at many, many more conventions to come.
After de-costuming (really, just taking off the ears– I’m too subtle to go in for a huge elaborate getup) I took a trip into the Dealer’s Room. It was set up similarly to the way it had been at the first Tekko I’d been to (2006), with a circular pathway surrounding and surrounded by vendors. A lot of the usual stuff was there, but overall it was one of the most diverse setups I’d seen. Some booths focused heavily on miscellaneous merch; others on DVDs and manga specifically; and, of course, one booth hawking only yaoi. The fact that it was next to the import game booth was not lost on me. I came away with a handful of goodies; most of those have been mentioned on the main page already, and one was a gift for a friend. Anyway, the whole thing moved and flowed a bit more smoothly than I would have expected, given that the area was more cramped than last year (another victim of the venue change).
With some time to kill, I decided to be uncharacteristically pro-active and volunteer to help out. The process, at Tekkoshocon, anyway, is known as “Minioning” and works pretty much analogously to any other volunteer program at any other convention. Normal con-goers register and act as proxies for and gofers to staff members. A well-run volunteer force can oftentimes save a convention. I’d actually been helping out here and there prior to getting officially registered– I helped set up chairs for OTV Friday night– but I felt it was probably best to be a little less self-directed. Anyway, I was quickly assigned to help direct traffic in the main lobby in advance of the cosplay skits.
Yeah, that didn’t end well. Most of you folks know I’m not one for being terribly comfortable in large crowds, and the cosplay skit line (which in no way ever resembled a line) was the textbook definition of a large crowd. The vast majority of the con’s presence wanted to see the cosplay skits, and as a result of the limited space and the narrow halls of the hotel, that Just Wasn’t Gonna Happen. No blood was shed (though apparently some egos were bruised), and if I offended anyone, it was purely by accident. I didn’t get help until after the chaos was beyond management by just a pair of barely-deputized staff; I heard tell that the line for the Mari Ijima concert was even worse, which was enough to scare me away. In retrospect I think maybe the whole “volunteering” thing isn’t quite for me.
So next year I’m making sure to sign up as full staff, and ensuring I’m not in the “Public Safety” division. Believe it.
ANYWAY. After that wonderful little diversion, and some random gaming to clear my head, I took off to the AMV Salad panel room. AMV Salad is a project spearheaded by video editor Deuce Loosely, in the wake of the ending of the mainstream AMV Hell projects. Basically, it’s extremely-short-subject humor videos, sometimes veering into slightly blue material. The project started out, actually, as a Tekkoshocon-specific endeavor but technical difficulties prevented its display for over a year. They also threatened to prevent its display this year, but fortunately the whole thing wound up okay and the show could go on. The end result was a 10-15 minute tour de farce that was quite satisfying. I’m looking forward to seeing the next version.
Immediately after AMV Salad was the really blue stuff– a panel called It’s Time For Viral Videos. Granted, there wasn’t any actual sexual content, but it did get a little gross and there was swearing enough to go around. For those of you wondering what makes a video viral, the basic gist is that these are the videos that get in your head and stay there. Examples from years past would be Don Hertzfeldt’s “Rejected”, ephemeral 50’s-style educational films, and the like. This year saw clips such as the timeless Leeroy Jenkins, the commercials for the fictional Powerthirst and the real Brawndo, Stapler Fahrer Klaus… and, of course, the video which shall not be named. You know which one. I was singing its lyrics all the way to my car, and crying tears of shame for knowing them all the way home.
Day Three: Sunday, April 13th
Sundays are usually the slow days for conventions; people are checking out, folks are exhausted, and there are usually a handful of people seeking to grasp hold of the last moments of escapist bliss to be had. The video rooms are a good bet to hit on Sunday; I tend to see shows then that I remember strongly. (Incidentally, most of the shows I wanted to see on Friday and Saturday got cancelled or shifted away… I think aside from catching Irresponsible Captain Tylor on Friday, I didn’t get to see anything I wanted to prior to Sunday.) This year, however, I saw two which I’d seen before, long ago, and re-watched them solely to re-evaluate them. The first up was RahXephon. The series remained as obscenely opaque to me as it had the first time I was introduced to it four years ago (via Mike K of the Erie crew), and unfortunately being quite a bit more experienced with anime did not do much to help me enjoy it this time. I’m sure it’s a great series but the first two episodes did little for me, and while I’m likely to put it on my Netflix queue, the odds of it getting a full watch-through are pretty damn slim.
Between the showings, there was a third game show to be witnessed, the appropriately-titled Anime Hangover. I’ll admit, maybe it was intentional, but the show felt like it was being mailed-in; TJ wasn’t even remotely enthusiastic, and the whole endeavor just smacked of “We need to get rid of this stuff because I have more Shingu shirts than I know what to do with”. I left after a little while, but there were apparently still prizes to be won.
I wandered over to the showing of Moon Phase, in hopes of seeing more of the show and getting a better sense of it. Last year was the first time I’d caught any of it, and the opening theme, “Nekomimi Mode”, carried me through a period of hyper-depression immediately following the con. Moon Phase certainly has an interesting premise– boy fails to be converted by a cute vampire girl, who follows him back to Japan in abject confusion and to cause ridiculous amounts of chaos. Unfortunately, the series is a little bipolar, kinda like Hazuki (the vampire)– one moment there’s Rice-ian gothic dramatics, and the next Hazuki is pouting and screaming like a little kid. There’s no real predictable rhyme nor reason to the switching, which can be off-putting, but overall I’m curious enough to put the entirety of Disc 1 on the Netflix list.
As I left the convention, however, I noted something interesting about the whole thing. Over the past couple of months, I’d been getting increasingly agitated by something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t until I got to the convention and saw the people milling around, the world-within-the-world we’d created for ourselves, that it hit me. What had been bothering me was an overall air of negativity; of despair and disparagement that was virtually all-pervasive within the circles of fandom. Forum discussions, blog comments, all seemed focused more on tearing down each other’s enjoyment of things for what they were and intent on indoctrinating people into what’s “good” and what’s “bad”. Anime and gaming shared this virulence, this violence. One side or another was posturing over its perceived opposition, and the world at large– the world outside– saw both communities, all our shared communities, as petty, childish, immature, and uncivilized.
None of that was at the con. Hell, not even at the Viral Video showing, where 4chan memes were being bandied about freely, was there an air of genuine malice. This convention, like every one I’ve been to before, wasn’t the battleground where console wars would be decided; it wasn’t where Narutards and Gundumbs drew lines in the sand and dared each other to cross. Instead, it was a true convention, in the most literal sense of the word; it was a congregation, a communion among all fans. For all the vitriol that’s spewed in the supposed console war, for all the rampant unwarranted fanboyism that exists on internet discussions, the game room wasn’t just civilized, it was jubilant. It was glorious. For four days (there was some fun on Thursday evening that I missed), the Green Tree Radisson was, in my eyes, the vision of Otaku Heaven. It was a party that existed outside the world, with just an arm’s-length relation to reality– close enough to ground us, but distant enough that the world outside was forgotten, that troubles were inconceivable.
That doesn’t happen every day. It could– there could be a perpetual convention, as Douglas Adams wrote of; a never-ending party where the world was quite literally three drinks behind. Such a thing could exist, but it wouldn’t be special. We need to be brought back to reality, to the arbitrary battles and meaningless divisions, to make the peace and passion of convention days worth going to. It doesn’t mean we need the fighting and unwarranted, unprecedented hostility– the real world would be just as mundane, and conventions just as magical, I think, if we were all a bit calmer in our discourse. But, every once in a while, it’s good to have a place outside of the everyday world to retreat to, even just for a weekend.
Thank you very much to the Tekkoshocon staff, and I promise, really, that I’ll get the staff application in ASAP. See you all next year, or sooner!