04 авг 2010 17:40:02
This past weekend was Otakon, the huge anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland that has always been my summer vacation destination ever since 2001. With such a huge convention, that means a huge Dealers' Room filled with various merchants selling various items.
For me, it has always been a tradition for me to buy a t-shirt at the Otakon Merchandise table, with me usually getting in line for the Dealers' Room early and making the t-shirt purchase my first priority to ensure that I get one that's my size (I wear XXXL). The only year I didn't get a t-shirt was in 2006, when Otakon didn't have any XXXL shirts available when I arrived at the table. Luckily, it wasn't the case this year, as I picked up the shirt, which this year was light blue instead of the usual white color, as soon as the room opened in Friday.
Later on Friday, I swung by the Art Show/Artist Alley area (at Otakon, both the Art Show and Artist Alley are contained in the same area), and during my browsing of Artist Alley, I saw this adoreable t-shirt involving two penguins in love and a third penguin that's sad because he's the odd one out. When I found out that the dealer had the shirt in a XXXL size, I, being a lover of cute things (and wanting to show this shirt to my mother) decided to buy it, adding an additional shirt to my list of purchases at Otakon this year.
Given how I usually do my DVD shopping either at Best Buy or on rightstuf.com, I didn't buy that many DVD's at the convention (looked at a few, but didn't buy them). However, that didn't mean I didn't have plans to buy any, as there were three planned titles to look for while I was at the Dealers' Room. Sadly, the second season of Haruhi ended up getting delayed a month, resulting in no early selling at Otakon, and despite the possibility of this happening, Funimation didn't have Hetalia for sale early as something to have the English cast autograph. However, after looking around, I was able to find the one title that was pretty sure was going to be available at Otakon: The first half of the Fist of the North Star TV show.
Given how the DS, PSP, and Playstation 3 are region free, it's no surprise that I also went into the Dealers' Room looking for import games for these systems. The main game that was on my shopping list when it came to import games was the third Taiko no Tatsujin game for the DS, which came out in Japan last month. During my intial trip to the Dealers' Room, I was unable to find the game at the vendor that I usually to for import games. Hence, I decided for now to pick up the first Project Diva game for the PSP to ensure that I didn't go home empty-handed when it came to imports. However, when I checked the vendor again on Saturday, they finally got copies of the Taiko no Tatsujin game in. Hence, I decided to pick up not only that, but also the second Project Diva game, which just came out in Japan that week.
Also, I noticed that MangaGamer, a company that is releasing visual novels in the United States, was offering bags to those who made at least a $10 purchase at their booth. Wanting a bag to hold all the purchases that I was going to buy at the convention, I took advantage of the offer by picking up the game Kira Kira. In the process, I also received a demo disc as well as one of those mouse pads with the 3D boobs (my second one, after the one that came with the Xbox 360 version of Record of Agarest War).
After seeing online how Udon was selling the Art of Capcom 2 early and as a hardcover exclusive at Comic-Con, I was hoping that the book would also be available at Otakon as well (as they had a exhibitor's booth in the Dealers' Room). Sure enough, Udon was selling the book at the convention. Although the book was double the price of what I was expecting (I thought it would be $40, not $80), I still picked up the book (which was autographed by a few of the artists involved in the book). Also, I picked up a book about the history of the Street Fighter franchise as well during my Saturday run of the Dealers' Room.
Obviously, I can't talk about Dealers' Room loot on this site without the search for figures. Since I usually pre-order the figures that interest me early on, I had no real "must buy" figurine on my list. While a number of figures tempted me, in the end I wound up with the following two.
The first one, which I picked up on Saturday, was of Psylocke from X-Men. What can I say? I have a thing for women in sexy leotards (of course, I'm also attracted somewhat to female purplenettes like Nodoka from Negima and Tsukasa from Lucky Star).
Meanwhile, I probably would have missed buying my other figure purchase if I wasn't looking around carefully at the Anime Sekai booth (which usually receives some of my Dealers' Room money at any convention I go to) on Sunday. Being a regular follower of the Negima manga, I was able to find a figure of Konoka (in casual clothing) at the booth, with it definitely ending up on my "buy" list. Now if there was only a figure of Nodoka in casual clothing (preferably, the outfit she wore when she discovered that Negi was a mage in the manga).
An item that's usually in the "impulse buy" department when it comes to anime conventions (unless there's one that I really want, in which I pre-order online), I managed to pick up two plushies while I was at the Dealers' Room.
The first plushie that I picked up is of Ai-Kun, the Vajra larvae that Ranka keeps as a pet in Macross Frontier. Once again, I'm a sucker for kawaii things, and even if it is part of the race of aliens that the crew of the Frontier is fighting, Ai-Kun is definitely adoreable when it was still a larvae.
As for the second, considering some of the responses that I received when it came to my K-On! plushies, I decided that I should probably pick up the Ritsu plushie to finish the collection. Of course, wanting to put the plushie on my card instead of using cash (since I already used cash in numerous other vendors), and wanted to buy something else alongside with Ritsu if I was going to purchase it. Hence, I picked up the Ritsu plushie around the same time I bought the Konoka figure on Sunday.
After picking up a body pillow cover featuring Sakura and Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura at last year's Otakon, I became interested in wanting to pick some more body pillow covers (although I wanted to keep them PG-13, given how I'm not the type who is into hentai). Hence, when I was scouting the Dealers' Room on Friday, I picked up a cover featuring Fate from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha in her kimono attire (I kinda preferred her swim attire, which wasn't available, but I'm fine with the kimono). One thing's for sure, the "zipped up" design for this body pillow cover is definitely different from what I had with the Cardcaptor Sakura cover.
With that, my report on my Otakon loot is complete. Expect a report on the cosplay soon (probably this weekend, since I plan to go back to work tomorrow).
T-SHIRTS:
For me, it has always been a tradition for me to buy a t-shirt at the Otakon Merchandise table, with me usually getting in line for the Dealers' Room early and making the t-shirt purchase my first priority to ensure that I get one that's my size (I wear XXXL). The only year I didn't get a t-shirt was in 2006, when Otakon didn't have any XXXL shirts available when I arrived at the table. Luckily, it wasn't the case this year, as I picked up the shirt, which this year was light blue instead of the usual white color, as soon as the room opened in Friday.
Later on Friday, I swung by the Art Show/Artist Alley area (at Otakon, both the Art Show and Artist Alley are contained in the same area), and during my browsing of Artist Alley, I saw this adoreable t-shirt involving two penguins in love and a third penguin that's sad because he's the odd one out. When I found out that the dealer had the shirt in a XXXL size, I, being a lover of cute things (and wanting to show this shirt to my mother) decided to buy it, adding an additional shirt to my list of purchases at Otakon this year.
ANIME DVD'S:
Given how I usually do my DVD shopping either at Best Buy or on rightstuf.com, I didn't buy that many DVD's at the convention (looked at a few, but didn't buy them). However, that didn't mean I didn't have plans to buy any, as there were three planned titles to look for while I was at the Dealers' Room. Sadly, the second season of Haruhi ended up getting delayed a month, resulting in no early selling at Otakon, and despite the possibility of this happening, Funimation didn't have Hetalia for sale early as something to have the English cast autograph. However, after looking around, I was able to find the one title that was pretty sure was going to be available at Otakon: The first half of the Fist of the North Star TV show.
VIDEO GAMES:
Given how the DS, PSP, and Playstation 3 are region free, it's no surprise that I also went into the Dealers' Room looking for import games for these systems. The main game that was on my shopping list when it came to import games was the third Taiko no Tatsujin game for the DS, which came out in Japan last month. During my intial trip to the Dealers' Room, I was unable to find the game at the vendor that I usually to for import games. Hence, I decided for now to pick up the first Project Diva game for the PSP to ensure that I didn't go home empty-handed when it came to imports. However, when I checked the vendor again on Saturday, they finally got copies of the Taiko no Tatsujin game in. Hence, I decided to pick up not only that, but also the second Project Diva game, which just came out in Japan that week.
Also, I noticed that MangaGamer, a company that is releasing visual novels in the United States, was offering bags to those who made at least a $10 purchase at their booth. Wanting a bag to hold all the purchases that I was going to buy at the convention, I took advantage of the offer by picking up the game Kira Kira. In the process, I also received a demo disc as well as one of those mouse pads with the 3D boobs (my second one, after the one that came with the Xbox 360 version of Record of Agarest War).
BOOKS:
After seeing online how Udon was selling the Art of Capcom 2 early and as a hardcover exclusive at Comic-Con, I was hoping that the book would also be available at Otakon as well (as they had a exhibitor's booth in the Dealers' Room). Sure enough, Udon was selling the book at the convention. Although the book was double the price of what I was expecting (I thought it would be $40, not $80), I still picked up the book (which was autographed by a few of the artists involved in the book). Also, I picked up a book about the history of the Street Fighter franchise as well during my Saturday run of the Dealers' Room.
FIGURES:
Obviously, I can't talk about Dealers' Room loot on this site without the search for figures. Since I usually pre-order the figures that interest me early on, I had no real "must buy" figurine on my list. While a number of figures tempted me, in the end I wound up with the following two.
The first one, which I picked up on Saturday, was of Psylocke from X-Men. What can I say? I have a thing for women in sexy leotards (of course, I'm also attracted somewhat to female purplenettes like Nodoka from Negima and Tsukasa from Lucky Star).
Meanwhile, I probably would have missed buying my other figure purchase if I wasn't looking around carefully at the Anime Sekai booth (which usually receives some of my Dealers' Room money at any convention I go to) on Sunday. Being a regular follower of the Negima manga, I was able to find a figure of Konoka (in casual clothing) at the booth, with it definitely ending up on my "buy" list. Now if there was only a figure of Nodoka in casual clothing (preferably, the outfit she wore when she discovered that Negi was a mage in the manga).
PLUSHIES:
An item that's usually in the "impulse buy" department when it comes to anime conventions (unless there's one that I really want, in which I pre-order online), I managed to pick up two plushies while I was at the Dealers' Room.
The first plushie that I picked up is of Ai-Kun, the Vajra larvae that Ranka keeps as a pet in Macross Frontier. Once again, I'm a sucker for kawaii things, and even if it is part of the race of aliens that the crew of the Frontier is fighting, Ai-Kun is definitely adoreable when it was still a larvae.
As for the second, considering some of the responses that I received when it came to my K-On! plushies, I decided that I should probably pick up the Ritsu plushie to finish the collection. Of course, wanting to put the plushie on my card instead of using cash (since I already used cash in numerous other vendors), and wanted to buy something else alongside with Ritsu if I was going to purchase it. Hence, I picked up the Ritsu plushie around the same time I bought the Konoka figure on Sunday.
BODY PILLOW COVERS:
After picking up a body pillow cover featuring Sakura and Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura at last year's Otakon, I became interested in wanting to pick some more body pillow covers (although I wanted to keep them PG-13, given how I'm not the type who is into hentai). Hence, when I was scouting the Dealers' Room on Friday, I picked up a cover featuring Fate from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha in her kimono attire (I kinda preferred her swim attire, which wasn't available, but I'm fine with the kimono). One thing's for sure, the "zipped up" design for this body pillow cover is definitely different from what I had with the Cardcaptor Sakura cover.
With that, my report on my Otakon loot is complete. Expect a report on the cosplay soon (probably this weekend, since I plan to go back to work tomorrow).
