Summer Wonder Festival 2013

[greg]

I got home late from Tokyo last night. I attended the Summer WonFesagain this year. I went with a friend of mine. While it's fun to go with a friend, I find that I can't quite see everything I want to at such an event. Especially since it's only from 11am to 5pm, and we didn't get there until 12. The event takes up three huge convention halls at Chiba's Makuhari Messe. I didn't buy very much at all, other than a few random character goods. I ordered a garage kit of the Lovely Angel starship from Dirty Pair. The guys who made it said that they aren't quite yet finished wit it, so they will mail it to me when completed. There was so much to find while scavenging through sellers' booths, but we ended up having to breeze through a lot of the showroom just to try to see it all before they closed. When everyone was walking back to the JR train station to go home, I saw guys with huge bags full of anime figures, plastic model kits, and such. I spotted an old Macross pencil board in one guy's bag of loot and thought, "Oh, I want one of those!"

I took video of the companies' showroom and pictures of the private exhibit hall. I hope tonight I will have time to compile a video and put together an image gallery for my homepage. I'll update this thread when it's done.

For dinner, my friend and I went to the Outback Steakhouse in Ikebukuro. It tasted identical to an Outback from the States! I was afraid that they would Japanize the menu and screw it up, but it tasted identical to an American Outback Steakhouse. You know, Big Boy restaurants in Japan don't even have hamburgers (only hamburger steaks), and Denny's doesn't have awesome sandwiches or Grand Slam breakfasts in Japan. They always find a way to royally screw it all up and disappoint us Americans. Outback did not disappoint! Even the dipping sauce on the blooming onion was the same.

I didn't have much time to admire the cosplayers, but I did take pics of the lesser popular ones (ones without long lines to take pics): Yatterman #1&2, Devil Hunter Yohko, and Deedlit from Lodoss!

[danth]

You got the Lovely Angel ship, nice! I wonder which version, since there were a few different designs for their ship.

[greg]

I've completed a photo album of the pictures I took, plus commentary. It is located here:
http://stevethefish.net/life/life089.htm

I'll work on compiling the YouTube video tomorrow night. I'm beat!

[_D_]

Those Matsumoto dolls are nice...and expensive!

http://www.zerogoodsuniverse.com/eshopd ... ec01bc053a

[usamimi]

wow, awesome photos!! I especially love the old-school cosplay. The Yatterman and Devil Hunter Yohko ones are especially cool.

It's nice to see some cool old stuff mixed in with the newer pieces!

[davemerrill]

I love the Japanese Denny's. Especially the "American Club Sandwich", which has an egg on it. The Denny's up here in Canada tries to keep the American menu, but I do not recommend eating grits prepared north of the Mason/Dixon line.

We went to a convention in Hamilton and one vendor was selling the display panels from old video games, and I picked up the display panel from the Taito LUPIN III arcade game from the late 1970s. I'm still kinda knocked out about finding it.

[greg]

wow, awesome photos!! I especially love the old-school cosplay. The Yatterman and Devil Hunter Yohko ones are especially cool.

It's nice to see some cool old stuff mixed in with the newer pieces!

Yeah, from what I understand, you'd be hard-pressed to find any retro cosplay at a typical North American anime con.

I'll see about getting that YouTube video completed tonight.

[greg]

Here's the video. It took several hours to upload and process this evening, for some reason.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpYTt_C9778

[SteveH]

Shane Rimmer was at Wonderfest?! Mind=blown. I'm sure he was very, very confused by all the goings on.

Thing is, as important as he was to Thunderbirds, I don't think most Japanese ever heard him as I'm pretty sure they just re-dubbed the show.

Some sweet Future Boy Conan g-kits there. Must be an anniversary coming up or something. There's a title I'd like to see Discotek pick up.

For those interested, that version of the Lovely Angel rendered as a g-kit is the one from the 10 episode OAV version of Dirty Pair.

[greg]

For those interested, that version of the Lovely Angel rendered as a g-kit is the one from the 10 episode OAV version of Dirty Pair.

I ordered that kit, and the guy sent me the one he'd already built and painted and was used as an example for the show. I still want him to send me the actual kit. He only mailed me half the parts. I think it's just not finished yet, but since he insists on writing me in broken English, I haven't gotten him to explain what's going on exactly. I am just impressed that he sent me his example model! I still want to build it myself. I think I can probably do a better paint job.