The Old School Otaku Lounge

Ok, so...in a crazy turn of events, it looks like I'll be going to Anime Boston (thanks to an incredibly generous early birthday present from a friend ). I'll be mostly helping said friend at her Artist Alley table, but you can bet I want to check out that Jam Project Concert, too!! Anyone else going?

So I'm still trying to get caught up since my trip to Anime Boston, realized I never really posted anything about it here.

I'd never gone before, must say it's a great convention. Staff was friendly, lines were only allowed an hour before an event (ALL CONS SHOULD DO THIS, imo, it made many areas a LOT less congested), and I only heard people scream "MARCO POLO" once the whole time I was there.

Dealer's room was pretty good. Even though there was a ton of the booths that sell nothing even remotely related to anime (nerd shirts, wigs, cutesy hats, rave gear...there was even a booth selling bondage gear?? UM.) there were quite a few that actually sold just manga, anime, and merch. Some even sold OLDER THINGS!! Behold:


Vintage GE 999 plushies! ;A; The dude had a whole set of them, but I could only afford a few...so of course, I got my absolute favorite characters.


Also found a new P-chan plush, as well as an old Ranma Mouse/Muu-chan keychain and Cherry (UY) phone strap (those 2 small ones were in a discount bin, score!)

I also found a tiny 1/400 Gundam toy in one of those discount bins that I got specifically to take pictures like this with: https://twitter.com/bunnycartoon/status ... 9586788352

The swap meet was pretty fun, too: I got a lot of random stuff, including an Evangelion gashapon, a Macross Frontier figure, some old 90s Japanese Kirby (Nintendo) manga, the Sailor Moon S movie on VHS, and 2 MIB Cutey Honey F dolls that someone just GAVE to me because "they didn't know what they were"! There was someone who had a crap-ton of old Japanese Newtype magazine posters, but I didn't have anything that was of interest to him to trade (I honestly just brought a small bag of junk manga/dvds with me, and a few things my ex left at my place after he moved that I hadn't been able to sell).

Of course, probably the best thing I brought home was this gift from a dear friend (I can't believe she just GAVE it to me, she must really love me ;3; lol) : https://twitter.com/bunnycartoon/status ... 4166664192

Sadly, I did not get to go to any of Mike Toole's panels because they conflicted with other things (BOO), BUT I got to go to both Jam Project concerts, which were a-MAZ-ing!

The first concert was all of Jam Project together, singing their Jam Project stuff. But then the next night, they did a concert where they each sang some of their solo stuff outside of Jam Project from anime. Which was honestly the thing I was most excited about (I mean, yeah, I love Jam Project, but c'mon I loved most of the member's solo stuff more before JP was a thing.)

Seeing older anime songs, performed live by the original artists was pretty amazing. The highlights for me were definitely hearing the GaoGaiGar opening, the Utena opening, the closing theme to Sorcerer Hunter, Planet Dance from Macross 7, and Cha-la Head-Cha-la. I'm not a huge fan of One Piece but hearing the opening performed live was pretty great (it's a good song), as well as the Saint Seiya theme. Everyone practically lost their shit at Cha-la Head-Cha-la, though, I mean...I think EVERYONE knew the words to that one! (And the few that didn't still knew the song.) I'm sad they didn't allow video of the concert...though I saw a lot of people sneaking phone recordings, haha. XD I wanted to be respectful of their wishes, though. But AHHHHH so great. SO GREAT. It made my nerdy heard swell to hear some of those songs, not gonna lie.

So yeah, had a fantastic time. Podcast might be delayed a tad because I'm still a little backlogged, but hopefully I can get it all finished before too long.

Those are some awesome scores. Good job shopping, I'm impressed they had a vendor with that merchandise honestly.

Heero wrote:Those are some awesome scores. Good job shopping, I'm impressed they had a vendor with that merchandise honestly.

The guy who sold me the GE 999 plushes had a booth that was nothing BUT old stuff! I should've taken a photo...he had a ton of Space Battleship/Star Blazers stuff, Galaxy Express, Captain Harlock, Kaiju/Godzilla stuff, and some Gundam, too. I wish I could've afforded some more, but I was pretty broke. (He only took cash, too.) I think the booth was called "Bite Me Company"? Googled the name but didn't find a website or anything. The Ranma/UY stuff came from Asylum Anime, which I don't think they have an actual website anymore...I think all they do is cons now. They always seem to have a good mix of old and new whenever I see them.

OH! I almost forgot, I also got an autograph from Yuko Minaguchi (voice of Sailor Saturn, Videl in DBZ, etc). I'll have to take a picture of that later.

It's a relief to hear about older stuff being represented at an anime con! Those items you got are pretty neat, especially the 999 plushies!

I'd love to go to Anime Boston, but it's always scheduled at the most inopportune time of the year for me - either we're super slammed at work, or it's the same weekend as Anime North, or something.

Still bummed I can't make it to the Minneapolis con on May 2nd. Shatner, Stan Lee, Nathan Fillion, etc. argh! Haven't been to a major con in 14 years. Missed my chance to visit Matsumoto at his home a couple years back! What's next to miss because I've been beached??