Archive for the ‘Otaku’ Category

Return Of The Trophy Challenge!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

In the history of this blog, no two posts have generated as much controversy and commentary as the legendary ‘Trophy Challenge’ entries (*). You can review them here and here.

Two years have passed since that last post with nary an update! Dear readers, it pains me to say that the competition fizzled. My opponents, like craven dogs, simply gave up. They stopped logging on, they let their PS3’s die and didn’t buy a replacement, and worse of all they admitted defeat. The challenge was over…

Or was it…?

catcompute

Good readers, you’ll be overjoyed to learn that the challenge didn’t end, it merely moved! We collectively turned our backs on pS3 trophies as a measure of our merit, and instead wholeheartedly adopted Apple’s Game Center as our new flagship. Happily, I can report all such original contenders have once again rekindled their competitive streak, and unendingly seek to raise their Game Center achievement total above all others. (Of course some of them seemingly sought to hide their participation behind new usernames, but it was a work of trifling deduction to match them to their old PS3 ID’s)

In addition, a fresh face has entered the contest. This person – let’s call them ‘Bearbles’ – has sprinted from the starting line like a raging horse, and has truly and quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the hallowed halls of my Game Center friends list.

At last, the update we’ve all been waiting for: Here, my beloved followers, is the most recent standings, using the same user names as were used in the old challenge:

Screen Shot 2012-10-30 at 10.21.28 AM

The above chart shows total Game Center score. With great humility, I will direct your attention to my name, on the left.

And yet, what if we inspect average score based on the number of games played:

Screen Shot 2012-10-30 at 10.21.38 AM

I tip my hat to you Bearbles. You are a force to be reckoned with in the sport of Game Centering. If you can keep that average up and play the same number of games I have, your total score would verily dwarf mine.

I vow, loving readers, that I will update these standings periodically. And such updates will no doubt be necessary, for an even darker horse is waiting in the winds. A veritable Mycroftian in the world of competitive-achievement-score-accumulation, he is even now preparing to obtain his first iOS device and has no doubt already set his sights on unseating up to Foosrazzle, probably Bearbles and even – dare I say – the current undisputed King of Game Center Achievements – myself πŸ™‚

* – Boldfaced lie

NYCC Day Four

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Day four at NYCC looked a bit like this:

20121015-095148.jpg

And a bit like this:

20121015-095309.jpg
Sunday, the last day of the con, is the shortest. It’s also kids day. This means a greater density of attendees right from the opening time. Yep, it’s madness.

So what did we see and do yesterday? Well we bought stuff (alas no Gundam), went to a panel (Viz), spent some time in ‘artists alley’ (I chatted with two MTG artists and got a basic land signed!) and basically made ourselves even more tired!

The train trip home, much later in the day, was a peaceful and relaxing merciful release from the relentlessness that is 4 days of NYCC. But you can bet we’ll be back next year!

Here’s the Sunday cosplay highlights:

20121015-095653.jpg

20121015-095703.jpg

20121015-095713.jpg

NYCC Day Three

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

The cell signal’s a bit slow here at the hotel, so I didn’t go back to read last years comic con post. But I reckon if I did then Saturday would have included mention of the same thing we encountered today: the crowds!

20121013-211243.jpg

It was like half of the otaku in America was at NYCC today, and we were in the thick of it!

We started early by sitting in the front seats of a Moyoco Anno panel. She’s the creator of several manga series I’ve enjoyed, including Happy Mania and Flowers & Bees. She was reserved, amusing and very polite, as she discussed (via a translator) her career and influences.

20121013-211823.jpg

One particularly funny moment during the panel happened during the audience Q&A. Here’s a photo:

20121013-212105.jpg

He even tried to ask his question with the mask on!

We saw a great many other ‘celebrities’ today, including Tom ‘Draco Malfoy’ Felton, Burt Ward, Adam West, Blair Butler, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Booker T, Brutus Beefcake, the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, Joel Hodgson, Nicholas ‘Zander’ Brandon, Tera Patrick, Lou Ferrigno and this lovely girl:

20121013-212451.jpg

Sadly AW, I couldn’t get her autograph since the tickets had sold out in advance πŸ™

Conventions like this are about seeing creators and celebrities, about playing games or seeing movies in advance, about meeting other fans and seeing cosplayers, but also (and importantly), about buying stuff! And believe me when I say a large portion of the shows many halls are dedicated to vendors selling all manner of things. What sorts of stuff do we buy at NYCC?

Well, for starters, figurines:

20121013-213156.jpg
Clothing (such as bathrobes):

20121013-213310.jpg
Wigs (of any colour):

20121013-213331.jpg
Art (paintings, posters, prints):

20121013-213404.jpg
Curiosities (most of the ‘steampunk’ variety):

20121013-213435.jpg
Toys (including collectible ones):

20121013-213518.jpg
Stuffed animals (such as Monster Hunter themed):

20121013-213618.jpg
And model kits:

20121013-213643.jpg

Today’s vast crowds also included even more cosplayers, and sadly the human density made it tricky to get photos of most of them. But, as with the previous entries, three highlights from those I saw today:

20121013-214016.jpg

20121013-214033.jpg

20121013-214048.jpg

The last one was a tree person from last years Doctor Who Christmas special. The middle one gets points for originality with her ewok costume. And the girl on top? Well I’m not sure who she is dressed as, but she was tall!

Tomorrow is the last day. We’ve spent hundreds so far (including many Christmas gifts for the usual suspects), but there’s still cash burning a hole in my wallet! Will I cave and spend $100 on a Gundam kit?!? That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? πŸ™‚

NYCC Day Two

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Here’s how I feel right now:

20121012-194919.jpg

Assuming, of course, that her face says “My hips need replacement and I need to sleep for a day!” πŸ™‚

We spent over 7 hours at the con today, and the highlight – indeed the highlight of the entire con I expect – can be summarized by this photo:

20121012-195218.jpg

Yep, I was star struck a little. As would be expected meeting a childhood hero. He was personable and charming and gracious and everything you’d expect him to be.

Later on we also went to his hour long panel…

20121012-195345.jpg

…which was held in a massive room where all seats were packed! The moderator made a few funny jokes about the disparate audiences, which included the old-schoolers and the new, much younger fans (who were well aware Doctor 5 is now Doctor 10’s dad-in-law)!

We actually saw two panels in a row in this room. Before Peter Davison we sat through Grant Morrison which was very entertaining, including the bits when he spoke about his experiences summoning demons via black magic (he didn’t seem to be joking).

But thats not the only Who we saw today! Not only was the Doctor Who shop twice as big as ever:

20121012-195933.jpg

But they even had a special guest in the form of Karen Gillan’s cousin, aka. young Amy Pond:

20121012-200101.jpg

20121012-200134.jpg

There was also some actual comic appreciation going on today! A good chunk of the main hall has vendors like this:

20121012-200252.jpg

I bought some comics today, and then later on in the day met (and got an autograph from) Amanda Conner, whose comic art I’m a fan of.

There’s so, so much more. About a dozen hours at the con so far and I still feel there’s lots to see. Tomorrow we’ve got more panels to see and some special autographs to (hopefully!) collect.

Before I end for the day, the cosplay! To say the quality is high is an understatement. Check out the three best I took photos of today:

20121012-200658.jpg

20121012-200726.jpg

20121012-200740.jpg

NYCC Day One

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

We had an early start today, then hopped on a train for a mini-vacation in New York City. As we have the last several years, we’re going to the New York Comic Con!

Today is KLS’s birthday as well, so that makes this little trip even more special πŸ™‚

20121011-213035.jpg

The show runs Thursday through Saturday, and we’ve got 4-day passes. We got to the city a few hours before the doors opened which was fortuitous, since I had to visit the Australian consulate. With that out of the way, after stops at a few shops (I spent $70 on the new Monster Hunter Jsoanese art book at Kinokuniya!), we headed down to the convention center.

20121011-213642.jpg

For some reason I had assumed the lines would be small on this first half-day of the con, but as you can see that was hardly the case.

20121011-213840.jpg

As usual, sensory overload was what followed. Hundreds of exhibitors filling several halls across 3 levels of a gigantic convention center…

20121011-214018.jpg

Movies and books and comics and games and clothes, toys, cars, food and art. Free stuff everywhere, and even more (do much more!) for sale!

20121011-214157.jpg

And then, the cosplay:

20121011-214242.jpg

20121011-214305.jpg

20121011-214322.jpg

The major highlight of today was seeing the next Monster Hunter games so prominently featured at Capcom’s booth. I lined up to play the 3DS version and it was awesome. The WiiU version was also playable and has beautiful graphics. I can’t wait for these to be released.

20121011-214542.jpg

After about 3.5 hours we were ruined. Not only had it been a long day, but we were toting heavy bags full of purchases ($280 in total already!).

20121011-214712.jpg

We’ve only got to see maybe a half of the total show so far, and even then need to revisit the booths we skimmed today. But now it’s time for bed πŸ™‚

20121011-214835.jpg