Well, Otakon 2012 has come and gone. I can make the following statement with confidence: best convention ever.
I say that from a sales point of view, but also from a good times perspective. Read on to see if you agree…
Thursday I drove back home to Pittsburgh to pick up my best friend in the whole world, fellow podcaster, Linda Kelso. There wasn’t much room left in my little Yaris, but we made it all fit!
From there we made the trek down to Baltimore, driving in non-stop thunderstorms the entire time. Who needs headlights in a four-hour lightning storm?
The show had an easy schedule on Friday: doors didn’t open until two, which gave us time to check in, set up, and have a cup of coffee. The Dreamer table has never looked better!
Look at all those purdy posters and books.
Tee shirts and stickers and buttons, huzzah!
We had an entire row to just me and my friends. Alan Evans took the endcap with his comic Rival Angels. His wife Tracie was able to make this show, which was a special treat for all of us. Having her at a show with you is like having a cheerleader on the sidelines just incase you start to feel low. Love these guys!
To make this show even more special, my lil sis Tina and her husband Shaun and his brother Tim all came. The Artists Alley at anime shows is not limited to comics. There are lots of handmade items sold at a convention like this, and Tina brought her line of Teena Bee handbags made from imported Japanese fabrics. She’s so crazy talented!
The kawaii Disney Princess print was a huge seller!
This row of faces fills me with warm fuzzy feels: Tracie & Alan Evans, sister Tina, brother-in-law Shaun, Tim, and BFF Linda.
Tina and I ran a Cosplay BINGO contest from our booths. People who brought a completed bingo card back to our table were entered into a raffle to win a Dreamer book or one of her bags.
Sample BINGO! card. Pikachu is a freebie.
Anime shows go late. Otakon’s Artist Alley didn’t close till 11 PM. By the end of the day, we needed a pickmeup. Linda returned with not just dinner, but cupcakes!
These cupcakes had amazing names. For instance, the one in the middle was Strawberry Casanova.
We all rented a townhouse together in walking distance of the convention center. On our way back after the show we couldn’t help but notice an impromptu lightsaber battle. Because why not?
Baltimore, we're so sorry we unleashed the crazy on you for three days.
We had to walk past the Oriole’s stadium to get to where we were staying. Friday night they must’ve won because there was a grand fireworks show!
Linda is a master gardner at PSU. She jumped at the chance to make us breakfasts and lunches. Here she is, apron on, prepping sandwiches for our lunches before we headed out to the convention center on Saturday.
I love this girl.
I brought my Spiderman lunchbox for Linda to fill.
Otakon is notoriously cold. So much so that there is a warning about the subarctic temperatures when you register. Tina is a seamstress, so she took it upon herself to make us fleece hoodies. But you know, who wants a boring old hood when you can wear a friend on your head?
Lunch break for Appa and Pikachu.
I always love meeting Dreamers at these conventions. But I was especially excited because I knew that long time Dreamer-Advocate Sean McGuire was going to be there. He’s a Barnes & Nobel bookseller who makes it his mission to introduce as many customers as he can to my graphic novel. He was every bit as special in real life as I thought he’d be.
The last set of friends in our row were Adam Withers and Comfort Love. Here, Adam is threatening me with both eyes. It is working.
Saturday was a long day. The Alley was open for thirteen hours: from 10 AM to 11 PM. By the time we made it back to our townhouse we had only enough energy for ice cream.
It’s sort of a tradition of mine to take my friends to Jeni’s Ice Creams when they’re in Columbus. Since I was driving not flying to Baltimore, I decided to treat the gang to some pints. Tracie, Al, Linda and I got four spoons, two pints, and made short work of the best ice cream on earth!
Linda had brought some fancy-pants smoked tea that she was too afraid to drink herself. Apparently she thought we were suckers, and apparently she was right. It smelled like a fireplace anytime you took the lid off and once you brewed it, well, it tasted like this:
"My throat tastes like burning."
The rental property’s landlord had a sense of humor. All over the place he left printed instructions for us. This one, above the toilet, was our favorite:
Day three was only a four hour day at the show, but strangely enough, it was my highest grossing sales day! Everyone knew they only had a little time to make their purchases and all hesitation was gone!
These kind folks brought around donuts. Sprinkled donuts.
I don't know you but I love you.
I took a bunch of commissions online before the show. I was only able to finish half of them there. This one of Nightcrawler was my favorite:
Julie Wright, The Dreamer’s colorist, was also at this show! She did killer, but she always does!
Around the fourth of July someone sent me a link to this fabric. Abercrombie & Fitch meets the American Revolution. Just the preview online made me feel dirty. Imagine my surprise when I the girl who had first showed me the fabric online was not only there, but she had found someone in the Alley using it as their table covering!
Pictures or it didn't happen!
"Flies wanted it, they can have it."
Moving along… Tina is a big fan of Adventure Time and got this stuffed Granny Tree Trunks plushy. Tree Trunks became our mascot for the weekend.
The sillies eventually set in at any show, but at an anime show, it’s three days of sleepover giggles on crack. Linda models the Pikachu hoodie, then realizes the camera was on:
I should be careful. I've known this girl since 1st grade. The dirt she has on me...!
Shaun gives Tree Trunks a lift.
Strange things happen at an anime show. Being ‘liked,’ for instance! This happened randomly to Shaun during a trip to the dealers room:
You can’t spend three days someplace as creative as Artists Alley and not come home with some new treasures. Big Macintosh may or may not be my favorite pony, because he may or may not be a blond-haired, cider-making farm boy with a green Warren Russet cutie mark on his butt. Sound familiar?!
Of course, the real fun at an anime show is people watching. Cosplay is better than halloween! 32,000 people were at this show and probably at least 16,000 of them were in costume.
Yip, yip, yip, yip.
I met Britain at Otakon 2010 and told her she needed to read my comic. She must have listened to me, because she came back this year to buy the trade. See, not all redcoats are bad!
Korra and Pema were Dreamer fans! We talked about William & Mary college a lot. Apparently Pema studies air bending there.
It was a big year for Avatar, thanks to Korra. Here are cross-series earth benders uniting to torment an innocent cabbage vendor.
Tina & I rode up the escalator behind this life sized Appa, with Momo on his horn.
This wasn't just a Bolin cosplayer. No, this was Bolin-the-exact-moment-Korra-broke-his-heart cosplayer.
That's a lot of Appas on your head.
This ursula was amazing!
On Sunday we drew two winners for our cosplay bingo contest. Here is the winner of The Dreamer Volume 1!
Here was the gang minutes after the alley closed. Whew, we made it!
Tim, Tina,Alan, Tracie, Linda, Shaun, Lora, Comfort, Adam
Years ago at a Baltimore Comic Con, CBR reporter Steve Sunu introduced me to a little dive called Paper Moon Diner a short drive from the Convention Center.
It’s a hipster dive that has every square inch of its walls covered in bizarre toys. The food isn’t bad either. It’s become a tradition of mine to close every Baltimore Convention with a trip to Paper Moon Diner.
This year Comfort & Adam came with us. After our weekend at Otakon, this place felt normal!
Hard to tell but this cow had gemstone encrusted udders like a disco ball.
Comfort rocks out with a mannequin.
Otakon 2012 was a huge success. You better believe we’re making plans already for next year!
I think “Because why not?” sort of became a catch phrase for Otakon.
And, thanks “friend” for posting the pikachu pics. . .
ha! You’re welcome. ;)
Ooooo!!!! My head kinda froze when I saw NightCrawler….then completely Fangirl died at the table cover and the Pony
Oh gosh, don’t fangirl over the fabric. So wrong, so wrong!
Sounds like it was a fun time, glad to hear it. Might have to attend myself next year.
I hope you make it in if you do! They have a strange jury system for tables…
Aaaaaaah this post is awesome! :D I’m glad you were able to get a picture of the super awesome Ursula cosplay! And the table with the Abercrombie & Fitch Revolutionary War table cloth was were the “Doggy Potter” poster was. XD And the Strawberry Casanova cupcake looks like it totally lives up to its name.
In other news, I need a haircut and I smile oddly.
P.S. – I’m glad the smoked tea made this post. And I had a blast meeting you finally! And everyone there was so nice. As Disney’s Rapunzel said, “Best. Day. Ever!”
Ha! Then you’d lose the Freddy ponytail. http://twitpic.com/9dimox Yes… I favorited that tweet.
This is true. But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to take that Freddy picture in modern clothes before I get it cut. Then I’ll just hold tight onto that picture for a while, and wait for the opportune moment to send it your way. ;) (You know exactly when that moment will come too, haha.)
And that’s totally awesome that you favorited that tweet. :D
Aw, the Korra-kissed-my-brother-and-now-I’m-devastated Bolin is just about the most adorable thing ever! I love it!
It was!! Her friend was dressed as Korra and she came over later and they reenacted the whole thing. Pretty cute.
Wow, looks like it was a fun time. I might go myself, but I couldn’t afford the plane/train ticket or the gas to just drive down (just trust me on that)
You made Anime Boston, though! That’s what counts!
The Avatar and Legend of Korra costumes were great :) I also agree that the Ursula costume was amazing, that’s some dedication for sure!
HI!!!!!!!!!!!
I visited OTAKON and saw you!!!
I was traveling with a Blue Spy from TF2!!!!!
I almost got a teeshirt!!!!!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by.
No, not all redcoats are bad, certainly. However, you must have met a different Britain, because this was my first year at Otakon. Perhaps at Ohayocon…? Still, you got me hooked to Dreamer within the Con-weekend! I’d call that pretty good marketing.
(Also, the ‘patriotic’ tablecoth is amazingly fantastic – I can’t believe I missed it! XD)
Hmm. So many Britains the last time I was at Otakon. I think it was the year of Hetalia…
Sorry for the confusion, but so glad you decided to take a chance on Volume 1! <3
omigosh con stories are always so fun!! I hope i can get a table someday!
Conventions are really fun. I’d suggest starting at a much smaller show than Otakon, though, to get your footing. That show is overwhelming even for us vets.
you probably don’t remember me, but you gave me a card and said to look up ” The Dreamer”
I LOVE IT!!! and will defiantly be buying something from you booth next year.
Thank you for listening and checking it out! <3 Glad to have you!
Do you have an idea on how many issues your going to do?
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