Ohayocon Convention Report
30 January 2011 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dime_novel_heroOhayocon had a steampunk theme this year soI was, of course, going to go. In preparation I did some experimentation with mustache wax and found that I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted. The several formulae I tried each caused my mustache to curl (which I didn't want) or was too heavy and thick (which I didn't want) or smelled and was goopy (which I didn't want). In the end I settled for what I had been doing, merely twisting the hair into shape periodically to keep it under control.
I had intended to pre-register because last year I had stood in line for quite some time and I hoped to avoid that. Unfortunately, I thought of it too late and missed out so I had to stand in line for an hour and a quarter to get to registration. They had moved registration downstairs so that it started down one hall, down another, down a third and then folded back along it self back to registration. All told, I suspect the people at the end of the line were waiting upwards to two hours. Ohayocon has gotten immense.
The first thing I did was hit the dealer's room. I had a few manga on my list I wanted to get and I actually had a list so I would be sure to get the issues I needed (i.e. Sakura Taisen 3 & 7). One of the first dealers in the door had racks of swords and he had a Civil War saber. I had a sword on my Amazon wish list for $30 plus about $10 for shipping and the one the dealer had was $50 but I though that all told and with the opportunity to pick it up and see for sure what I was buying, the deal was about the same. The one on my wish list had a slightly lighter hilt, which I thought would be more appropriate for my Aeroship Cav costume but the dealer said that his sword had brass fittings rather than brass plating. I waffled and didn't buy it but I figured that wouldn't be a big deal. Odds were that it would still be available later in the day and, if it wasn't, there was still Amazon.
I took my copy of “Agatha H. and the Airship City” to be autographed by Phil and Kaja Foglio and afterward took my stuff back to the car so I wouldn't be carrying a bag of stuff around.
The guy at Blonde Swan asked me about my goggles. I directed him to the Girl Genius website because that's where I got them. But even though the Foglios resell them, they are H.L.Bouton 822860 820 Metal Spec safety spectacles with 3.0 Plastic Lens. I imagine the manufacturer could be contacted for wholesale purchasing because I haven't been able to find them anywhere else online. Not even on the Bouton website (which is why when the Foglios got them back in stock I purchased a back-up pair).
The steampunk panel track was fairly typical of what I would expect at a non-steampunk convention. Plenty of introductions, lots of stuff I already knew and a few glaring mistakes (“Steamboy” was not a Miyazaki film!) There is a certain amount of leeway to be given because these sorts of panels aren't for the likes of me. They are for people who don't know what steampunk is or where it comes from. Unfortunately, I find that a number of people doing the panels don't really know the history and details either. It's important to find people who know what they are doing and get them doing panels.
I am, perhaps, one of those people because at a Steampunk 101 panel, I was tapped by the panelists to expound on things. I noticed that when I started talking I would step away from the wall and speak to the audience rather than, as most other people did, talking towards the panel. I'm working on leveraging my presentation skills into more visibility for myself and steampunk by building presentations. Last year at TeslaCon I did a presentation on H. G. Wells and The War of the Worlds which went over moderately well. I am right now working on a presentation on the Mystery Airship of 1896-97. I'm also thinking of working on a general history and technology of airships presentation.
When you go to a con, it's often hard to know what you're going to get out of a panel. But, if you know the people on the panel or doing the presentation, then you can make an informed decision. For example, the “History of the Bustle” presentation at last year's World Steam Expo would not have drawn much of my attention but to know that Kapitain von Grelle of the Imperial Anti-Piracy Squadron was presentation made for a must see. Any G.D. Falksen presentation is also sure to have a lot of good, historically accurate information.
I want to become one of those go-to panelists and presenters.
After one of the panels, an attendee said to me; “When my beard grows up, it wants to be like yours.” The best line of the entire convention.
The steampunk track room was across from security and, while standing around there, a security person came out to ask about whether our guns had been checked. I pointed to the Peacemaker in my shoulder rig and pointed out that it was tied down, which, while entirely true, was not what he asked. I had not checked my guns because Captain LaGrange of the Airship Archon had said that they had given him grief about his metal replica revolver, even with his being on staff. I didn't want to have them make some sort of arbitrary decision so I simply proceeded throughout the con in a responsible manner as if everything was good. Apparently another attendee wasn't so lucky in that they had to put their bubble gun back in the car.
That's right, in a con where weapons are everywhere, where I saw someone with a Louisville slugger, rendered “safe” with security's little orange zip tie, where I saw untold numbers of bokken with only zip ties to render them safe, where there were rifles, pistols, ray guns, clubs, tiger claws, katanas, shuriken and swords bigger than the person carrying them it was the threat caused by floating soap bubbles that caught the attention of security and required censure.
Something else that was banned: signs. Some cute little otaku girl holding a sign that says “Free Hugs” or “Will Glomp for Pocky” will be asked to remove the sign. Apparently the con powers that be think this is solicitation for prostitution or some such nonsense.
It's really absurd. This sort of fear doesn't permeate Marcon in the same venue so you can't blame the hotel, the convention security or state law.
Later in the day I decided that I was, in fact, going to buy the cavalry saber.
Last year, an artist did a chibi version of me and I went back to have to draw another one. This was about mid-afternoon and she said it would be done at 7. When I came back at 7 she had only just started it because the con had banned fan art. At a con filled with people dressed as anime characters, the con had decided that artists were no longer able to do any art of those characters, something that typically is the most profitable thing for artists to create. Again, this is the sort of fear that I don't see at other cons. I'm not in the market for things like that but it affect me in that the artist who was doing my picture had many times more commissions to do since she couldn't sell any of her fan art.
If I had recognized what she was doing before she got too far along, I would have stopped her from drawing the cane. I didn't have one this year because it didn't match my aeroship cavalry officer costume but she remembered the cane from last year and though I needed one. Again, if I had seen in time I would have had her draw the cavalry saber I had bought earlier in the day rather than the cane.
At several times during the day I was hungry and thought it would be a good idea to get something to eat but the food court was so jammed with people all day long that I abandoned the idea, subsisting instead on some root beer purchased from a candy shop that did not have the huge lines of people. I didn't eat until I had left the con and was on my way home.
I am reconsidering whether to continue attending Ohayocon. Sure, the bizarre con rules are irritating but what is turning me off the most are the immense crowds of people.
I had intended to pre-register because last year I had stood in line for quite some time and I hoped to avoid that. Unfortunately, I thought of it too late and missed out so I had to stand in line for an hour and a quarter to get to registration. They had moved registration downstairs so that it started down one hall, down another, down a third and then folded back along it self back to registration. All told, I suspect the people at the end of the line were waiting upwards to two hours. Ohayocon has gotten immense.
The first thing I did was hit the dealer's room. I had a few manga on my list I wanted to get and I actually had a list so I would be sure to get the issues I needed (i.e. Sakura Taisen 3 & 7). One of the first dealers in the door had racks of swords and he had a Civil War saber. I had a sword on my Amazon wish list for $30 plus about $10 for shipping and the one the dealer had was $50 but I though that all told and with the opportunity to pick it up and see for sure what I was buying, the deal was about the same. The one on my wish list had a slightly lighter hilt, which I thought would be more appropriate for my Aeroship Cav costume but the dealer said that his sword had brass fittings rather than brass plating. I waffled and didn't buy it but I figured that wouldn't be a big deal. Odds were that it would still be available later in the day and, if it wasn't, there was still Amazon.
I took my copy of “Agatha H. and the Airship City” to be autographed by Phil and Kaja Foglio and afterward took my stuff back to the car so I wouldn't be carrying a bag of stuff around.
The guy at Blonde Swan asked me about my goggles. I directed him to the Girl Genius website because that's where I got them. But even though the Foglios resell them, they are H.L.Bouton 822860 820 Metal Spec safety spectacles with 3.0 Plastic Lens. I imagine the manufacturer could be contacted for wholesale purchasing because I haven't been able to find them anywhere else online. Not even on the Bouton website (which is why when the Foglios got them back in stock I purchased a back-up pair).
The steampunk panel track was fairly typical of what I would expect at a non-steampunk convention. Plenty of introductions, lots of stuff I already knew and a few glaring mistakes (“Steamboy” was not a Miyazaki film!) There is a certain amount of leeway to be given because these sorts of panels aren't for the likes of me. They are for people who don't know what steampunk is or where it comes from. Unfortunately, I find that a number of people doing the panels don't really know the history and details either. It's important to find people who know what they are doing and get them doing panels.
I am, perhaps, one of those people because at a Steampunk 101 panel, I was tapped by the panelists to expound on things. I noticed that when I started talking I would step away from the wall and speak to the audience rather than, as most other people did, talking towards the panel. I'm working on leveraging my presentation skills into more visibility for myself and steampunk by building presentations. Last year at TeslaCon I did a presentation on H. G. Wells and The War of the Worlds which went over moderately well. I am right now working on a presentation on the Mystery Airship of 1896-97. I'm also thinking of working on a general history and technology of airships presentation.
When you go to a con, it's often hard to know what you're going to get out of a panel. But, if you know the people on the panel or doing the presentation, then you can make an informed decision. For example, the “History of the Bustle” presentation at last year's World Steam Expo would not have drawn much of my attention but to know that Kapitain von Grelle of the Imperial Anti-Piracy Squadron was presentation made for a must see. Any G.D. Falksen presentation is also sure to have a lot of good, historically accurate information.
I want to become one of those go-to panelists and presenters.
After one of the panels, an attendee said to me; “When my beard grows up, it wants to be like yours.” The best line of the entire convention.
The steampunk track room was across from security and, while standing around there, a security person came out to ask about whether our guns had been checked. I pointed to the Peacemaker in my shoulder rig and pointed out that it was tied down, which, while entirely true, was not what he asked. I had not checked my guns because Captain LaGrange of the Airship Archon had said that they had given him grief about his metal replica revolver, even with his being on staff. I didn't want to have them make some sort of arbitrary decision so I simply proceeded throughout the con in a responsible manner as if everything was good. Apparently another attendee wasn't so lucky in that they had to put their bubble gun back in the car.
That's right, in a con where weapons are everywhere, where I saw someone with a Louisville slugger, rendered “safe” with security's little orange zip tie, where I saw untold numbers of bokken with only zip ties to render them safe, where there were rifles, pistols, ray guns, clubs, tiger claws, katanas, shuriken and swords bigger than the person carrying them it was the threat caused by floating soap bubbles that caught the attention of security and required censure.
Something else that was banned: signs. Some cute little otaku girl holding a sign that says “Free Hugs” or “Will Glomp for Pocky” will be asked to remove the sign. Apparently the con powers that be think this is solicitation for prostitution or some such nonsense.
It's really absurd. This sort of fear doesn't permeate Marcon in the same venue so you can't blame the hotel, the convention security or state law.
Later in the day I decided that I was, in fact, going to buy the cavalry saber.
Last year, an artist did a chibi version of me and I went back to have to draw another one. This was about mid-afternoon and she said it would be done at 7. When I came back at 7 she had only just started it because the con had banned fan art. At a con filled with people dressed as anime characters, the con had decided that artists were no longer able to do any art of those characters, something that typically is the most profitable thing for artists to create. Again, this is the sort of fear that I don't see at other cons. I'm not in the market for things like that but it affect me in that the artist who was doing my picture had many times more commissions to do since she couldn't sell any of her fan art. If I had recognized what she was doing before she got too far along, I would have stopped her from drawing the cane. I didn't have one this year because it didn't match my aeroship cavalry officer costume but she remembered the cane from last year and though I needed one. Again, if I had seen in time I would have had her draw the cavalry saber I had bought earlier in the day rather than the cane.
At several times during the day I was hungry and thought it would be a good idea to get something to eat but the food court was so jammed with people all day long that I abandoned the idea, subsisting instead on some root beer purchased from a candy shop that did not have the huge lines of people. I didn't eat until I had left the con and was on my way home.
I am reconsidering whether to continue attending Ohayocon. Sure, the bizarre con rules are irritating but what is turning me off the most are the immense crowds of people.
