Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Darkshaunz attends Wai-Con 2006.

So it’s a Saturday Morning, usually I sleep in on Saturdays, but it was a special occassion as Panic (Perth’s Anime Committee) were holding it’s third annual anime convention. So here I was, sleepy as hell for having to wake up at 9.00am and making a hour drive journey to where the Convention was being held. This entry will only be covering Day One of the Two Day convention, I simply couldn’t afford to shell out any more money just to pay off the entry fee. Without furder ado, lets see what the fuss was all about.

This is the Venue of the Convention, Joondalup Arena.

The first thing I noticed about conventions is that, there will always be people who actually woke up earlier than you to line up and be one of the first to get in. The thing starts at 10 am, but when I reached there 5 minutes before opening time, there was already a 30 minute wait line. Waiting is not the problem, rather, waiting behind a group of people talk about their next roll for initiative was the threat to my sanity, especially when the Dungeonmasters (or whatever they call themselves) start cussing each other’s character sheets (hooo boy!). Luckily a chirpy group of enthusiastic girls behind me were the Yin to the D&D lizards’ Yang. Now I only had to pay $25 to get in (which is still quite a sum of money), as I pre-registered myself for a Panic membership, I didn’t know whether to feel geekier or pat myself on the back for my initiative, the rest of those who weren’t as keen as I was were penalized with a $35 entry fee (Burn).

Yeah, thats Luffy.

Now Joondalup Arena, the venue at which this convention was held, is a large recreation centre. It’s a very nice joint run by the local townspeople (who are also very nice people), and it also provided a pleasant atmosphere for anime fans to gather and discuss whether Japan was finally ready to take over the world with Gundams and Saiyans (The Verdict: No, because America still has Spiderman and Superman on their side). Inside is the typical Convention-esque layout, there’s the main seating/ampitheater area with A CRAPLOAD of chairs, where Cosplay Lineups and Martial Arts demonstrations are scheduled. The second largest area is the trader’s hall, where you go and become poor almost instantly. Followed by the Gaming Lounge and Anime screening rooms. Camera’s weren’t allowed in the anime screening room, cos if everyone took a flash pic, then we’d probrably blind the poor guys and gals watching their anime.

Ampitheater ahoy!

Let me start off with the Traders Hall, which is the first place I hit. Now, obviously I enjoy blogging and watching anime, but it shares top spot with buying all sorts of anime-related crap, especially figurines. Retsgip already knows all about my “CRAZY COLLECTOR” gist (which usually results in me going nuts if I see a limited edition release unboxed). But the traders in this convention were especially gentle to my kind, and every artbook, figure and merchandise was clean and unboxed (Haruhi Bless you guys). It was, of course a lot of fun shopping alongside Luffy, Cloud Strife, Rock Lee and some other Final Fantasy characters that I knew Jackall about. At the moment, there are no casualties from all these Anime characters packed in one small spot. I thought the Naruto Cosplayers were going to go Apeshit Shinobi on the One Piece Cosplayers just for the hell of it (Shounen Rivalry and whatnot). Admittedly, there were more Final Fantasy Cosplayers compared to anime ones, and I even saw a Ragnarok Assassin walk past me. I didn’t cosplay, I mean I had trouble putting my clothes on as it is, was so goddamned early.

Shopping is Fun when you are dressed up (so they tell me).

Con-goers indulge themselves in some sweet merchandise.

Ground-level view of the trader’s hall.

Now, my rule is simple with shopping for anime merchandise. If my impulse says “Buy it”, my hands automatically assume the “Wallet Breaching” stance and I plough through the notes like Speed Lightning. For example, see that Haruhi fanbook on that stall? It was the only one in the whole convention (and they only stocked one), I had to buy it. I swore I heard Haruhi on the cover threatening to kill my family if I didn’t purchase it. The deal was sweet, as the guy threw in a free Sapporo Draft Beer from Japan, truly a King amongst men. Then there was this stall which sold anime mugs. I saw a Haruhi one with a thumbs up pose on a white mug. Its one of those things which you would get knowing you probrably wouldn’t ever use it. Guys, its a Haruhi mug, of course my impulse meter was in Code Freaking Red. SOLD, and the lady who gleefully handed me my change had a “Another one bites the dust” look on her. How right, my wallet was copping an absolute flogging.

See that Haruhi fanbook? I bought it 5 secs after snapping a pic.

To it’s credit, the convention also had many local and independent anime and manga artists display their works for purchase and promotion. The original stuff they had on offer was cheap, considering the amount of time they put into them, and what greater way to support local works? I didn’t buy any due to my wallet giving me the middle finger. They also had specialty vendors come in with Imported stuff from Japan (non-anime related), This loosely translates to “What the Fuck are they selling?”. There was a stand dedicated to selling what was known as “Ugly Dolls”, and I can assure you folks, those things were repulsive. No wonder they are eager to sell those things, I mean they may as well me Amazonian Voodoo Charms or something. Another specialty store was selling Naruto Yaoi prints. Yeah, we are talking about T-Shirts with Naruto and Sasuke REALLY going at it, on a pink background. I was looking at those for a while, just out of pure hilarity, but the girl who was serving was looking at me worriedly, so I moved on to the next store.

Some independent artist works was cool.

Then I moved on to the two biggest displays on show, Empire Toys and Madman Entertainment. Empire Toys has an obscenely good selection of imported Japanese PVCs and Action figures, and being a regular customer to their City Store, I gleefully parted with 40 dollars to get an Arika PVC Figure. Madman Entertainment had enough anime dvds on show to keep any enthusiast going for a long time. They even had limited-released DvDs on show, which I found impressive. Unfortunately for Madman Entertainment, I do my shopping on Tokyotosho.com. This is about 1.5 hours into the convention and people have started pouring in. When I say people, I mean of course Final Fantasy heroes (more of them), I swear with the amount of people cosplaying as Final Fantasy guys/girls, they should make like a Final Fantasy XIV: Anime Convention RPG or something. Now I decided to get a Wai-Con T-shirt to commemorate the event, its my way of telling myself, “You survived a convention, kudos”. I’d like to add that they sold other stuff like Fridge magnets and Shot Glasses.

So-called “Specialty Vendors”…Ugly crap is Ugly.

A major rule of conventions is that you must buy something, be it a T-Shirt or a Limited Edition Gold-Plated Astro Boy Statue. I mean, you can choose not to, but you’d just look like a freaking tool by other Con-goers. I know this because I am an expert on conventions (you only need to attend one convention to be an absolute expert). Enough capitalist talk already, it was time for me to move on to another time-wasting opportunity. I found myself walking mindlessly towards the Sports Bar, where the gaming lounge was set up. Hahaha, I get it! Its a joke see, setting up a Video Game Lounge in a SPORTS Bar (Good one Panic Organizers!). There were games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers Melee setup for us to play on. I obliged and played 2 rounds of Smash Brothers myself, with other people who somehow completely lost their way into the lounge like me. I managed to beat the crap out of 3 other guys (and a girl) on my second go with Ness, Fun was had and virtual characters were hospitalized. I left when the room next door had the AMV competition, and had their speakers too loud (Im too young to have hearing impairment).

Two Rounds of SSMB melee - Delicious.

I was at the convention a mere 2.5 hours, but I felt that I had seen everything and spent the budget I set aside from the event. The only thing left to do was hound a couple of cosplayers before heading back. Now one thing about cosplayers, and I don’t give a shit what anyone says about them, is that they’ve got guts and they’re creative people. Its my first time seeing these guys and girls in the flesh, and to all the folks who are reading this who cosplay, give yourselves a pat on the freaking back. I’d never cosplay (can’t be stuffed and generally crap when it comes to textile-fu, I’m lucky if I can cut any fabric in a straight line), because I know there are already people who actually put effort into the whole activity. These guys and gals would be glad to pose for you as you take their picture, I decided to take only a couple of pics because it was getting stuffy and crowded in the halls.

This Yachiru cosplayer (she was hella short too) was looking for her 7-foot Kenpachi friend.

The only Naruto cosplayer which impressed me. Who doesn’t like Temari?

I think they are supposed to be FF characters (God knows, there were so many of them).

So ended my short lived 3 or so hours at Wai-Con/Perth Anime Convention. All in all, it was a pretty bountiful and meaningful experience (my wallet still wants to kill me and eat my firstborn, though). How do I say this, my Con-cherry was popped and I am left wondering if I would attend Wai-Con 2007 (Possibly not, as it is a pain to get transportation to the venue itself). Looking back at my spoils for the day, I have a feeling that I did alright for my first ever convention (Haruhi Capitalism always goes a long way for the cause of our God). For a finishing thought, its obvious that this convention is a dwarf to the ones in Japan or America…but it did deliver the key elements of what makes a convention, and it looks like the response to the event has been successful thus far. I felt that the bulk of value from the $25 entry fee was mainly for access to the trader’s hall and the anime screenings, which is okay for me, but may put some off. Here’s to hoping that the convention keeps on growing, who knows I might check back in a couple of years (and you’ll hear all about my adventures again).

Proudly surviving my first convention: Priceless.

Cheers,

Darkshaunz