Otakon 2004

July 30 - August 1

All right, here's the deal. I went to Otakon 2004 all three days, but I had no way of recording what happened each day at night, and then when I got home, I got so busy with work and real life stuff that I never got around to writing up a full con report, and as time went by, I obviously forgot what all I did all three days. I know I had a ball spending time with old friends, and meeting new ones, and that I was blown away by the talented cosplayers I saw there, and the dealer's room was everything my little heart could desire. But I'm not going to be able to do an in-depth con report like I have for previous cons (and, indeed, this one is a year late), so I'm going to have to be content with putting up the pictures I took, and writing little captions for them that might bring back some Otakon memories.

Day Two

Princess Mars, Tifa Lockheart

Saturday morning, 11 AM, at the fountains, we had the Sailor Moon photoshoot.
Shoulder pads are good for biting.
Much hilarity ensued.

Talk about your "Sailor Wars"!
"Rawr!"

Now Usagi Kou is the one being EETed!
"Everybody do the Sailor Moon pose!"
"Oh, my God, Tuxedo Kamen is ACTUALLY doing it!"
"Strike a pose!"
Ain't nothing funnier than Sailor Senshi throwing up the gang signs.
So...much...hentai...
Cat eats mouse!
"Badger badger badger!"
All right. Now for the rest of the non-Sailor Moon cosplayers.
I don't know who he is, but that is one sexy costume.
A Cait Sith, actually on top of the Mog plushie! Now that's dedication. From Final Fantasy VII.
Vincent from Final Fantasy VII.
"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Especially at an anime con...
Kagome and Inuyasha from Inuyasha
Up close, you can see her kick-ass contacts.
Princess Peach from the Super Mario games.
Our hotel room! You can see the Ein Louis bought me.
Me and another Terry Bogard! Gotta catch them all...
Jack Sparrow and...uh...the monkey. From Pirates of the Caribbean.
Brian and Karen as Shirahime and Suzuka from Angelic Layer.
Ranma and I as Barrett and Tifa from Final Fantasy VII.
The original leaders of Avalanche
Joe Higashi from Fatal Fury/King of Fighters.
Uh...it's an inside joke...
Louis with one of his best friends, Chris.
Hug a Chi!
Me with an Aeris cosplayer.
I am ALL about the fan service.
Halloween Town Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
A Heartless from Kingdom Hearts.
Neo Queen Serenity...on a cell phone. (That's Usagi Seion, by the way.)
A Cid cosplayer! A really good one, too.
Uh...
You know what? Let's just ignore what's going on on the floor there, and focus on the fact that that's a Chain Chomp, Luigi in Kuribo's shoe, and that god-awful sun floating above a bounce block, all from Super Mario Brothers 3! GREAT costumes, guys!
Yeah, Lou has a thing for Selphie, and he has a thing for goth chicks. I think he found his dream girl right there.
AWESOME Record of Lodoss War cosplayers!
A Belldandy with the most beautiful wings! From Oh My Goddess.
Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Gambit and Rogue from the X-Men!
I just had to jump in there. Gambit and Rogue are my favorite X-Men!
You can't tell in this picture, but this Jack was on stilts, making him impossibly tall.
Chun Li from Street Figther Alpha.
What was that I was saying about fan service? That's me and Carrie as Tifa and Aeris from Final Fantasy VII, and CHris as Seifer from Final Fantasy VIII.
Gogo versus Neo: who will win? From Kill Bill Volume I, and The Matrix, respectively.
Okay, I have to stop here and tell a story...

All right. Saturday night Lou wanted to see the Zatoichi screening, so he, Usagi Seion, and JenyBean and I all went. While we were waiting to begin, we got seated next to these very funny, very nice (well, to us, if not to each other), very DRUNK guys. If they told us their names, we have long since forgotten them. We named the guy in the red shirt "Gabe", from Penny Arcade, because he seemed the, how shall I say, more innocent of the two. The one in back of him we called "Tycho", also from Penny Arcade, because he mainly seemed interested in causing "Gabe" pain.

It was hysterical. "Gabe" would be telling a story, and "Tycho" would randomly beat him. "Gabe" is either of a very strong constitution, or was very drunk (or both. Probably both.) and didn't seem to feel a thing. Oh, he'd throw his hands up to ward off the blows, but he'd continue telling his story all the while.

"Gabe" and "Tycho".
Let me give you an example.

For instance, "Gabe" started telling this story about the time "Tycho" decided to throw a party in his dorm room at college. Now, I don't know how it usually is at colleges, because I didn't dorm, but I gathered that loud, drunken (are we seeing a pattern?) parties are generally frowned upon past 3 AM on a weeknight, so the floor...person (I'm thinking they're called an RN? But that sounds like a nurse) came to the door to tell them to keep it down.

As might be expected, "Tycho" was naked at the time.

As might be expected, telling us that earned "Gabe" another beating.

Also, "Gabe" had a water bottle, that he finished drinking all of the water out of.

"Hey, let me see that water bottle for a second," "Tycho" said.

"NO! No! Don't do it, Gabe!" the three of us cried.

Somehow not hearing us, "Gabe" handed over the water bottle.

"Tycho" proceeded to beat the tar out of "Gabe" with the water bottle.

Yeah. We all saw that coming.

Maybe water bottles just aren't that hard? Because "Gabe" didn't seem affected at all.

All in all, it was an evening for the ages. These two guys were the funniest comedic act any of us had seen in a while. I wish I could remember everything they said. I wish we had video taped it. I wonder if they're as funny when they're not drunk?

We never did get their e-mail addresses, so we have no way of contacting either of them. But if anyone who's reading this recognizes these guys, or if the guys happen to stumble across this page themselves, just know that your antics (which you might not even have remembered the next day) really made Otakon a memorable experience for us.

Oh, yes. They both fell asleep about ten minutes into Zatoichi. :)
This guy's a Sim! Ties with most of the other people I photographed above for "Crissy's Favorite Cosplay At The Con".