My Interests (Diagram)

This is a work in-progress. I'm going to make it look pretty, be interactive (links to videos, imdb, wiki), and have a bigger image uploaded to my site.

Why I'm Quitting Anime Conventions, Pt. 4 - Steampunk Symposium

The last entry in this short tail.

Just recently Travis and I ventured to the inaugural Steampunk Symposium. You can read my review over at Steamy Night about the weekend specifically.

We have been involved in the Steampunk community since summer/fall of 2009 and soon decided that if we were ever to get married that it would be a steampunk themed wedding.

I started going to monthly meetings and the occasional gatherings initially, and while there were formal conventions going on they were much too far away for me to attend. Finally, it was Cincinnati's time.

The weekend was amazing. Travis was able to go with me, we both dressed up, I even wore my wedding dress again for a short time.

I'm not going to review it here, like I said - that's over at the other blog. However, I am going to try to explain why this convention has convinced me why I should never go to another anime convention again unless The Antivengers are to assemble for a common purpose.

A lot of it comes to the community. I've mentioned so many times that I went to anime conventions to hang out with my friends and have a good time, not really to go to panels or meet people. I don't find the anime community to be one that I'm interested in investing my time in. A lot of the members are, well, immature to an extreme. This is obviously because a lot of them are in a younger age group and are only into the newer animes. When I realized some of the people I was talking to didn't know what Toonami was, well, it was a sad time.

I have to be fair. Anime is a very wide subject matter and not everyone is going to be on the same page. So I may not know a lot about Gundam Wing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to judge someone who does or look down on someone who may not know what Ronin Warriors is. Though, Heaven forbid the day when I meet a proclaimed "anime fan" that doesn't know what Sailor Moon is. It's in a Barenaked Ladies song for goodness sake.

With Steampunk there are different "factions" a person could generate interest from - literature, music, crafting, and films. The aesthetic originally came from literature, then was replicated in movies, then the rest came when the community grew. However, everyone is still into the same thing - an anachronistic view on history (usually 19th century Victorian Britain).

The community is classy. The "punk" in "steampunk" is typically attributed to the rebellious nature of the politeness Steampunks exude or the the rebellion against factual history. Though, the original term was to be associated with the Cyberpunk community, though Cyberpunks are futuristic in their aesthetic while Steampunks are, obviously, historical.

At this convention I felt like I was at home. While I'm actually socially awkward and working on being more charismatic, I felt more comfortable just talking to people than I normally would. I want to be friends with these people - I want to learn from them both creatively and professionally. I feel like I could grow as a person if I interact with them.

The convention itself was the most well-put-together convention I've ever been to. From registration to the panels, vendors room, and events - I was blown away with my choices. I could have gone by myself and had a great time (though I'm exceedingly happy Travis attended with me - he learned what ascots are and I'm excited for his future wardrobe). For the first time there were panels I wanted to go to - so much so that I often had to decide between several things to attend ("am I going to go to the "Steampunk Dances" workshop or am I going to watch the Nerf Dueling event?").

So, I've decided that if I'm going to spend my money on something it is going to be involved with the Steampunk community. I have fun, learn from them, and have much more potential for involvement.

Though, I'm pretty determined to cosplay Fluttershy at some point, so hopefully the community forgives me for taking a pop culture character and steampunking her, haha.

I felt I had to write out this story whether or not anyone actually reads it. More of a journal entry, if you will. I want to remember this moment in my life. If someone else cares, great, but know that I'm not writing it for you, or them. Just me.

Why I'm Quitting Anime Conventions, Pt. 3 - Detonation

Since my break-up with my first boyfriend, we have only seen each other maybe three times. Not that we aren't friendly with each other, but we just don't hang out with the same people. In fact, about a month into 2009 I only hung out with maybe four of the 15+ people I felt like I knew.

This severely lessened my enjoyment of anime conventions. I believe I've mentioned before, I go for the community and hanging out in a fun environment. I was estranged from the people I normally went with, so even if we went to the same convention it was difficult to hang out with each other.

The friends I did hang out with also started to staff the conventions we normally go to.

I understand why they do this - they meet cool people, they get a free badge (and possibly a room discount), they get to be involved with the convention, etc... but I had no interest in it. Again, because I wanted to hang out. I didn't go to conventions to basically work and not see any of my friends. So this added to the estranged feeling - if I saw a friend and wanted to say hi, I normally couldn't because they were busy.

Ikasucon 2011. Travis got into chain-mailing things (really awesome jewelry and stuff) and decided to have a table in the artist's alley. I was trying to work up on getting a position on staff as the New Media Department Head, so I tried to visit a few panels, the game shows, and videotape people walking around. However, my heart just wasn't in it. I have to say it was the least-fun convention I had ever been to. All of my friends were on staff and my husband was tied to a table - which he was confronted by another group who was selling chain-mail objects and gave him a bit of a critique on what he was selling (ranging from saying the metals he was using  were no good to saying some of the designs they have are patented and he couldn't use them) and that really discouraged him.

The only good things out of the weekend were the moments where I was able to help with the staff, actually. Since I wasn't interested in going to much without my husband or friends, I was available to assist with the dealer's room where others were sort of "dropping the ball". I was glad to be useful.

The very last convention I went to was with my husband and three of the four guys that live in our house Friday nights (playing Dungeons and Dragons of course). It was Ohayocon 2012 and we only went for a day. I took my camera, but nothing exciting enough happened. I was in my Steampunk outfit most of the time anyways. And that's pretty much it.

Now, the position for Ikasucon that I mentioned earlier. We did work on it, my friend who was running Public Relations and I, but between my lack of emotion towards the convention, not having any direction, being busy with my own life, and all of those other "x" factors life throws at you - things didn't get lifted off the ground much. And I have to say, it seem like it happens a lot with that convention.

I'm not trying to give a review on Ikasucon, because it was honestly my favorite convention next to Ohayocon, but the more I know people who work the convention and the more I hear about the happenings behind it, the more I understand why nothing ever gets done. They've been talking about changing the website from it's fantastic 1999-chic look for probably five years now, but they feel they need a committee of people to decide on the look and function of the site. Then those people, like many of the staff members, often drop off the face of the Earth and are not to be found for months. So nothing gets done, and nobody gets "fired" because they are "important" positions, and the communication is non-existent.

Also, Travis became the head of the Art Department - he was suppose to manage the artists and create the promotional materials, etc... Once I parted ways from being the Media Department Head and decided not to go this year, Travis wasn't about to be involved if I wasn't going to be. I tried to convince him to stay, but he hadn't even heard from our PR friend to know what his next project was so he was going to quite. I was then told by another friend that PR guys assistant was suppose to get in contact with Travis because his co-department-head (there was a chick who ran it before him that did the whole "fall-off-the-face-of-the-Earth" thing, but they didn't want to "fire" her...well...) had been "fired". Travis never heard anything from anyone. Apparently PR friend also said that he's been sending Travis messages through the Ikasucon webmail function, but Travis says he never got the login information for his account.

Anyways, I still hadn't sworn off anime conventions at this point. The guys and I... eh, I'm just going to call us the Antivengers. We were talking about last night how we're 5 guys and 1 girl, thus similar to the Avengers.

So long as I'm Thor, because I bring the thunder.