Category Archives: CONS

AETHERFEST, CONS, FIRST STORM MANGA, JUST SAYING, MIZUUMICON, RANDOMIZER9.COM, SAN JAPAN, STEAMPUNK, WHATS GOING ON

Aetherfest I

Some Aetherfest attendees in their Sunday best

Quite dashing, really!

I almost felt obligated to attend the new Steampunk con “AetherFest” after giving them crap on this very blog a few weeks ago. Honestly, though, I would have attended regardless just to satisfy my curiosity.  When my friend Chris Holm asked me to help him out at his table and with his panel (as the “guest editor” of his new comic “Steam Pets”), it was an easy “yes.”

Unfortunately, “help out” also means “don’t get to see much of anything,” so I know there was lots of cool stuff I didn’t get to experience.  I spent most of the event at Chris’ table over in the game room along with a few other vendors.  Mutual friend Jackie Naehrig joined us on Saturday and we had a fun time hanging around and marveling at the attendees, many wearing appropriate attire and accoutrements.

Chris and Jackie dressed up, so I felt just a little bit embarrassed sitting next to them sporting a T-shirt and blue jean shorts on Saturday.  I improvised a little something on Sunday, though.  I put on some slacks, a button down shirt, dusted off a flat cap and stopped to get a set of suspenders on the way back to the St. Anthony Hotel.  I have to admit, it felt neat, like I should have also been carrying a giant wrench or an oil can or something.  I thought looked like the guy in the boiler room as opposed to all the captains, pilots and proper ladies walking about.  Upon seeing my outfit, though, Chris said I looked like “Professor Layton’s hat boy.” Jerk.

The only panel I attended was one that I was a part of.  I sat with Chris on his “Intro to Drawing and Comic-Making” panel where we talked about making “Steam Pets” and our experiences with First Storm Manga with a small spirited group.  I wandered around for a bit and checked out the other dealer area and the “museum,” where they had quite a few neat items on display and for sale.  It was all very nice and being at the historic St. Anthony Hotel (built in 1909) added greatly to the ambiance.  Judging from the pictures I’ve seen on Facebook, the events they held on the evenings of Friday and Saturday appear to have been very entertaining.  The misgivings I had previously about “steam-snobs” were unfounded, and I must say that looking the part does add to the fun of being there.

While I had fun at Aetherfest and have been hearing good things from people that were there, there are some things that they need to work on.  Let me start by acknowledging that some of these things cannot be helped (particularly where the hotel is concerned) but you have to take the bad with the good, so here we go.

Split Vendor Area Is a Bother – Having two separate areas for vendors is never a good thing (see also: MizuumiCon 2011) and it would benefit all involved if the organizers could try to have all them in one area next time.  I’m not familiar enough with the layout of the St. Anthony to know if that is possible, but if it is, it should be considered.

“Third Floor: Hosiery, Lingerie, and Panels!” – The majority of the panels were held on the third floor, which was kind of lousy, but I have to let it slide because it is a consequence of the way the St. Anthony was built.  The fact that the program sometimes said “Third Floor” and “Third Room,” however, was not.

Needs Improvement, See Me After Class – Now that I have had an opportunity to look it over a bit closer, I’d say whomever edited the program was asleep at the airship wheel.

Promotion – I think the organizers missed out on prime opportunities to promote their event at either Mizuumi-con (which may or may not have been full) or at ChimaeraCon. I did see flyers at ChimaeraCon, but they did not have a lot of information about the event.  I would strongly recommend the Aetherfest folks consider requesting a Con Alley table at San Japan 4TW in August.

Website – For the love of Tesla, lads, get a webhost or something. It’s not that expensive, and you can even get a free one from Google. Not everyone is on Facebook (yet) and while Tumblr does look nice, I shouldn’t have to go to some skeevy download site with pop-up ads just to see your schedule and program.  In addition, if you have your own host, you can put up picture galleries, forums and other things to attract interest.

Despite the quibbles I just mentioned, I thought AetherFest was a good con.  As was expected for a first-time event, the crowd was small, but those who made it out had a good time.  Those of us who are “steam-newbies” got to check out some cool stuff and learn a little something about this fascinating world called “Steampunk.”  I am confident that I will be returning next year.  Who knows, I may even sport a waist coat or a bowler hat or maybe just a really big wrench.

Good show, fellows!

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ANIME, CONS, FIRST STORM MANGA, JUST SAYING, MEZASU, MIZUUMICON, RANDOMIZER9.COM

Mizuumi-Con 2011

UPDATE: The president of the Mizuumi-con sponsoring organization “Patrick “Enzan” Lloyd” replied below, and apparently the empty tables were the result of no-shows.

Mizuumi-Con is special for me because it is where this crazy trip called “creativity” began.  I first attended Mizuumi-Con back in 2009, where I attended two panels.  The first was with Kevin M. Connolly, who discussed voice acting.  The second was Chris Holm’s panel which talked about ‘inspiring artists.’  Kevin provided insight on doing voiceovers, and the message of Chris’ panel was…well, “get off your ass and do something.”

A few days later, I was flipping through old notes, trying to figure out what old ideas might be worth dusting off.  A few weeks later, I would meet with Chris and a couple of other guys to form what would eventually become First Storm Manga.

This would actually be my second Mizuumi-Con behind the First Storm Manga table in the dealer/artist area.  Unlike other cons, Mizuumi puts both artists and dealers in the same space.  Last year, it was a madhouse; the space was packed to the gills with artists, dealers, and more importantly, customers.  In an effort to ease the congestion, and I presume, get more dealers and artists involved, it was decided that a second room, dubbed the “Annex,” would contain the spillover.

It was a good idea on paper, but a few things kept it from working as well as it should have:

  1. Distance – The two artist/dealer areas were at opposite ends of the OLLU campus from each other, so if you wanted to check both of them out, it was a decent hike.
  2. Layout – The layout of the tables at the Annex was awful.  They had the tables start at the walls and go in towards the middle of the room.  This is great if you get a good spot in the middle of the room, but sucks if you are by the wall.  Even if you are an attendee, having to constantly double-back is annoying and it didn’t take very many people to make things crowded.
  3. Planning – In the main artist/dealer area we had at least a dozen tables that went unused.
  4. Organization – Some of those people in the Annex could have been moved over to those empty tables but nobody in charge figured it out.

I went by the Annex a few times to say hi to friends and check up on them.  It was crowded, hot and quite a few of my artist friends did not do as well sales-wise as they would have liked to.  In contrast, the artists I knew that were in the original location did fairly well and things never got too hot or too crowded there.

Despite the Annex goof-up, I had fun talking to people about First Storm Manga and our own upcoming September event, the Mezasu mini-con. Mizuumi appeared to draw a good crowd and it looked like folks were having a good time.    Mizuumi is a fun one-day event, and I try to encourage folks new to the anime scene to attend it as a starting point.  I look forward to coming back next year; hopefully they will have worked out the kinks in the artist/dealer area.

A final note: If it sounds like I’m harping about the artist/dealer room thing it’s because I personally know just over half a dozen people that had tables there and I feel bad for the ones that got shafted.  Hopefully things will be better next time.

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AETHERFEST, ANIME, CONS, JUST SAYING, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT

Steam-Punks

UPDATE: Dress-up is not required, so come one and all!

When I first heard about the upcoming San Antonio Steampunk convention Ætherfest a few weeks ago, I was excited.  I noticed that Steampunk had been gaining a larger and larger presence at anime conventions, and it was good to see that they were going to try their own thing.  Having more geek conventions in San Antonio is also a Good Thing and I was looking forward to supporting these guys and learning more about what the whole Steampunk scene was about.  Thus, I went to the Ætherfest webpage to read up on it.  It featured the usual parade of guests, events, and dealers, and everything appeared to be business as usual until I got to the FAQ, which included this little tidbit of info at the bottom of the page:

 

I have to dress up, don't I?

Appropriately enough, this made me steamed

After reading that, I don’t feel like attending Ætherfest anymore.  The paragraph above does not make me feel welcome as a guest.  One of the points of a convention is to get folks that aren’t into your particular flavor of geekdom to see what it is all about in the hopes that they embrace it, or at least understand what its really about.  Telling people that they might not be welcome because they aren’t dressed up is sending the wrong kind of message to your potential attendees.  Yes, it does say: “we’ll try our best not to look peeved,” but that isn’t entirely reassuring.  Indeed, the thought of spending a day being looked down upon by a bunch of self-important nerds in costumes and opera glasses is not my idea of a fun time.

If this message was intended to be delivered “in character” then okay, fine, I get the joke.  That said, lots of other people will not, and when you’re starting a new convention, you don’t want to give people a reason not to attend.  Admittedly, I’m probably making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I hope somebody sees the point I’m trying to make.

If Ætherfest is supposed to only be for hardcore Steampunk fans (steam-core? steam-elite?), then okay fine, do what you like.  If, on the other hand, you are looking to get as many people to show up as possible and grow your fanbase, then this is not the way to do it.

Come on guys, we’re better than this!

UPDATE: Apparently some of the Aetherfest folks read the post.  They agreed that their wording does come off as a tad ‘elitist’ but their intention was to poke fun at other cons where dress up is required, which is what I had guessed.  They have posted the following disclaimer on their homepage and look forward to seeing everybody there for a jolly good time!

Well played, fellows!

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CONS, IKKICON, JUST SAYING, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, RANDOM STOPS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, Videogames

19 Things I Learned During Ikkicon V

So far at cons, I’ve been an attendee, worked at tables in Artist Alley, been part of a few panels and even played in a concert.  After volunteering to help run the game room at Ikkicon V this past weekend as part of the Alamo Gaming / Original-Gamer.com group, I’m wondering what there is left to do at a con short of being a big guest or actually running one.

In any event, I learned quite a few things over Ikkicon’s three days, some of which I’m not sure I wanted to, but that’s life.  So without further ado:

  1. If a member of your group has B.O. issues, your time in the hotel room will SUCK.  We had a guy that stunk up the hotel room on the first night and it remained funky for the duration, which made going back a VERY unpleasant affair.  I think my nose said “no mas” sometime Saturday night and went on strike.
  2. Unless you are in charge of something or a guest, don’t expect to get a badge with your name on it, I was given someone ELSE’S badge, so I tore off part of a sticky note and put my name over it. Bleh.
  3. Always pre-register and get your badge on Thursday night if you can, because if things go wrong during registration they go HORRIBLY WRONG. Luckily I didn’t have to wait in it, but the reg line was INSANE.
  4. Plan all you want, but something will always throw you a curve ball. I packed some microwaveable food to chow on so as to avoid overpriced hotel food and unnecessary excursions, and you guessed it, there was no microwave in the room.
  5. If there is a food that you enjoy to the point where you think could live off of it, then pack plenty of it along.  You will discover whether you really CAN live off of it.  Lucky for me, I still find Kashi granola bars and peanut butter crackers to be tasty.
  6. I am a Coke fiend.  I was dying for a soda on Saturday, so I said ‘heck with it’ and dropped $2.50 for a 20 oz bottle of sweet, sweet caffeine at the coffee shop in the lobby.  I wouldn’t have minded the price too much, but it wasn’t even that cold, if I’m gonna pay twice as much for a soda there should be some frost on the bottle…just sayin’
  7. The optimist in me says that we ran out of hand sanitizer Saturday night, the pessimist in me says that people will steal ANYTHING no matter how trivial.
  8. If you plan on running something at a con, expect that it is all you are going to do at the con.  I spent most of the weekend making sure no one hogged the Rock Band 3 station.  I took a few trips away to say hi to friends and grab some food on Saturday morning but as far as panels and events…nada.
  9. If you plan on running something at a con and doing it fairly, expect that jerks are going to think you are a jerk for doing so.  I repeatedly told people that I did not want them camping at the Rock Band 3 just waiting to play again. I got a lot of ugly looks in return, but I also got compliments from people who appreciated that I was doing my best to be fair.
  10. Geeks love “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Still Alive” and will sing along if they are played loud enough.
  11. They also really like “Du Hast.” For the life of me, I don’t get it, and frankly, I think it’s the German thing. Heck, I still like “99 Luftbaloons” from back in the day but unlike “Du Hast” it actually has lyrics.
  12. “Freebird” is just too cotton-pickin’ long.  My Xbox 360 locked up during it, and at another event, a guitar controller’s batteries gave out while it was playing.
  13. Having a 24-hour videogame room is a BAD IDEA. The problem with a 24-hour videogame room is that you need to have people in there all the time to keep stuff from walking out the door and to assist with the occasional system lock-up and dead controller batteries.
  14. If you are in charge of something, GET ALL THE DETAILS IN WRITING and have it signed by whomever is in charge.  We had some behind-the-scenes drama go down that could have been avoided if everyone had been on the same page from the start.  None of this ‘he said, she said’ business, just a signed piece of paper that says what has been decided on so there are no questions.
  15. Sometimes you must go down to go up.  If you find yourself waiting forever and a day to get on an ‘up’ elevator to get back to your room, go into one that is going down…it’ll come back up soon enough.
  16. If you don’t want to be harassed by the valets for your keys, park about 2 carlengths away from the hotel entrance.
  17. Owning your own dolly or hand truck rocks, if you are going to be working cons frequently, GET ONE.  Heck, even if you aren’t, get one anyway.
  18. When its all over and you go home, you will feel like crap, collapse onto your bed Sunday night, sleep like a rock, and will probably will not be back to normal until Tuesday.
  19. Despite all of the above, you will get to hang out with lots of cool people, have lots of fun and it will be totally worth it.

Ikkicon was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun.  If the group I was involved in gets invited back, then I would be happy to come back next year…packing a microwave.

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CONS, CREATIVE, E3, FIRST STORM MANGA, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, RANDOM REVIEW, RANDOMIZER9.COM, THE LOLIHOLIX, Writing

RANDOM REVIEW: 2010

The most telling thing that I can say about 2010 is that I spent the last third of it without a full-time job, after getting canned back in August. I’ll be honest, I have nobody but myself to blame for that; a friend asked me if my bosses had been looking for a reason to get rid of me awhile back.  I sheepishly replied: “Well, if they were, they didn’t have to look very hard!”

Thus, the whole “what am I going to do with myself” debate I’d been having since 2009 (and heck, probably earlier than that) took on a whole new meaning as I applied for tech writer, tech support, and even editing jobs in an attempt to get away from programming.  I am currently scheduled to start a new programming job on the January 24th…well, so much for that.

Of course, sitting behind a desk for 40-something hours a week hating my job was not the only thing I did all year.  I also continued to be involved in First Storm Manga, handing out flyers and manga at a couple of anime cons throughout the year and keeping the website humming.  We are also going to be hosting our first event, the “Mezasu mini-con” on January 22nd.  While I enjoy hanging out with the guys, and it is fun going to events, I’m not sure that I want to be as involved in First Storm next year.  I’m just not sure that I’m getting a lot out of it, but I’ll bottle up that angst and save it for a future blog.

Another new ‘side job’ that I picked up was that of Writer/Editor/Voice Guy for video game website Original-Gamer.com. I started out just providing narration for some of their videos but eventually got more involved in the site, editing articles for readability and even writing reviews.  Because of that involvement, I was able to attend the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in July, and it completely blew me away.  I also had the privilege of attending the “Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy” concert in Houston, and the pleasure of interviewing famed video game music luminaries Nobou Uematsu and Arnie Roth.

Speaking of music, I was invited to join a band called The Loliholix. It turns out they needed a drummer, and I just happened to know how to play drums and have way too much time on my hands.  After getting an electric drum kit and an big ol’ honkin’ PA to use as an amp, I was ready to rock.  Practicing and hanging out the band was fun, but playing our first big gig at San Japan was awesome.  Being part of a show, even if it is a small one, is just incredible.  The audience feeds off of your energy and gives more back to you.

All the while, I have continued with my creative endeavors, namely writing.  I completed some very short stories, even entering one into a writing contest, and am working with my friend Chris Holm on some comics.  I also have some longer works that I hope to finish soon.  I am hoping to get my stories, and even some non-fiction, onto the various e-readers and phones and pads that are all the rage these days.  Hopefully, I can make a few bucks on the side that way.

As if being a part time musician and writer wasn’t enough, I also read for a part in a short film that my friend Carey Martell is currently working on called “Deathfist Ninja GKaiser.” Now, I won’t be too disappointed if I end up as Man in Suit #6 but having a speaking part and being the first person in the show to get fried by the Big Bad Guy would be cool, too.

All the while, I managed to post to this blog and keep up a somewhat-regular schedule with my podcast: “300 Seconds.”  I figure that if I can get out one blog post a week and two podcasts a month on top of all the other stuff I’m doing, then I’m doing alright.

Overall, 2010 was a great year for me.  I got to meet a lot of cool people and had a lot of really neat experiences.  Sure, it sucked to lose my job, but with the help and support of family and friends (and some creative budgeting) I’m hanging in there, in fact, I already have a job lined up in a few weeks so things are looking up!. I have faith that things will turn around soon and 2011 will rock even harder.

Farewell and Godspeed, 2010.  You were one to remember.

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BUSINESS, CONS, RANDOM REVIEW, TECH

RANDOM REVIEW: Sprint Overdrive / Clear Spot 4G+

Overdrive next to a deck of playing cards

Well, as 'standard' a deck as I could find anyway...

UPDATE: My Overdrive bit the dust almost a year after this review was written, read the update here.

Smartphones may be smart and all, but in my opinion there is no substitute for having an actual computer when I need to do things on the Web.  In addition to being a huge nerd, I have two websites to take care of (www.firststormmanga.com and this one) and so a smartphone doesn’t always cut it.  I like to have a full-sized keyboard and screen for when things need to Get Done.

Back when I was with T-Mobile, I used the built-in tethering that came included on my T-Mobile Dash, which ran Windows Mobile.  I thought it was odd that it wasn’t disabled, but once I started to use it, I found out why.  Tethering on 2G was dirt slow. It did work, though, and I could check my e-mail and do some very light browsing even while in the technological black hole that is my hometown of Odem, Texas.

I eventually ended up bidding T-Mobile and Windows Mobile a not-so-fond farewell and signed on with Sprint, getting a spiffy new Samsung Moment in the process.  I found an app to tether with, but it was limited and I wanted a less hacker-y solution.  A few months later, I looked into what Sprint had to offer and had two options: I could get a USB stick for my laptop for free or an Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot for fifty dollars, both coming with the usual 2-year contract yadda yadda.  FYI, Clear Wireless also sells this device as the Clear Spot 4G+ but its ‘official’ name is the Sierra Wireless AirCard W801.

I went with the Overdrive because I was starting to go to conventions, and my experience with hotel Wi-Fi up to that point was that it was either: slow because of all the convention attendees, not there at all, or really expensive.  Fifty dollars didn’t seem like too high a price to pay for the convenience of having WiFi and the attached data plan was going to cost the same either way.  I thought it would be handy to have a connection that I could share when on the road.

The Overdrive isn’t too big, it is just a little bit wider than a standard deck of playing cards (see pic above).  There isn’t much to it: on its top are a display and the power button.  The front has a micro-USB charge port and a micro-SD card reader.  The back has a switch for enabling or muting the sound, and that’s it.  I was also hoping for a little blinking red light on top, but oh well.

Holding down the power button for a few seconds starts up the Overdrive.  After taking about a minute to boot, it attempts to connect to a network.  If I may digress for a moment: I have griped about boot times in portable devices in the past, but I’m just going to have to let it slide from here on out, because nearly every portable device short of a Nintendo DS is going to take some time to boot.  Its just something I’m going to have to live with from here on out.  Oh well.

Once it has connected to a network, the Overdrive’s display will show its SSID and WiFi password.  Once you connect to it using a computer and type ‘overdrive’ into a browser you will be taken to the device’s setup page.  There you can specify an admin password, select a WiFi security type and change the Overdrive’s SSID and password to something more memorable.  Once you have that done you are ready to go, the Overdrive’s ID and password is displayed on its screen and up to five Wi-Fi devices can be connected to it at a time.

Speedtest.net results

Broadband on the road, baby!

The Overdrive’s 4G connection works great. I have seen it go as high as six megabits/sec with a good signal, the results at right were with a 60% signal according to the Overdrive’s setup page.  While that is peanuts compared to a cable connection, for a portable connection it is great.  The Overdrive has the ability to fallback to a 3G connection if 4G is not available.  It does get a little squirrely on occasion, but not any more so than any other wireless device I’ve owned.

I have had my Overdrive for about six months so far, and I have been very happy with it.  I do have one complaint that I will address in a few paragraphs, though.  As Odem does not have 4G right now (and to be frank, I’m not holding my breath) the Overdrive’s ability to use 3G is a life-saver when visiting my parents.  I have used it at a few Texas conventions and for a few days in Los Angeles, and it has exceeded my expectations.

You can leave the Overdrive’s settings as is or use the admin password to adjust its settings.  Among other things, you can choose to not display the WiFi password on the screen, or even set the WiFi to auto-disable when it is plugged into your computer’s USB port if you don’t feel like sharing.  The Overdrive’s webpage also shows the actual signal strength as a percentage, which comes in handy when I am looking for a ‘sweet spot’ to place it.

As with many wireless devices, the fly in the Overdrive’s ointment is its battery life.  At about three hours, it isn’t terrible, but it is short enough that it will run out of power before most laptops.  It can be charged via a computer using the included USB cable, but I highly recommend packing the charger in your laptop bag.

On a technical level, the Overdrive works great: you push the button, it connects to the cellular network, and then you and up to four friends can have Internet just about anywhere you go.  While the battery life could be better, it isn’t bad enough to be a deal-breaker, but it is something to be aware of.  Another negative is that the service does not come cheap.  Clear and Sprint are currently charging about sixty dollars a month for the service which consists of unlimited 4G and 5GB of 3G data.  If you don’t mind paying for the convenience, though, you might never find yourself “off the grid” again thanks to the Overdrive!

NOTE: The author received no compensation for this review.

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CONS, SAN JAPAN, THE LOLIHOLIX

Yeah, I’m The Drummer!

San Japan :3

Drumming is Serious Business!

I learned how to play drums in grade/high school. I was a band geek through and through, but after school was over, I didn’t pursue it much, though I never lost the desire to maintain a beat, tapping my hands on any available surface whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Eventually, Rock Band came around and I rediscovered my love of playing music, albeit in virtual form. Despite what the naysayers believe, it is possible to learn some drumming basics with the game. If nothing else, learning how to keep a beat is a skill that can be applied to any instrument or form of music.

Earlier in the year, I was asked by my friend and guitarist Eagle-Bear to join The Loliholix, a band in which he played.  They had lost their original drummer and needed a new one.  I warned him that while I did know the basics, I was not accustomed to playing on a full set. He said that we had plenty of time to prepare, and had the utmost confidence in me.  Awww.

After acquiring an electric drum kit (ah, the joys of apartment life) and several months of practice later, I played in my first two gigs.  The first was at the San Antonio Chinese Society Family Fun Day on July 3, it was fun and a good way for us to get our feet wet before San Japan.  It was lots of fun playing to a small crowd, and while it seemed a little odd to be playing J-rock at a Chinese event, they enjoyed the show.

San Japan was The Big One that we had been getting ready for.  I had two big concerns: the occasionally dropped drumstick and also, just what to wear. It sounds funny, but I knew that Kiwi (bass) and Jamie (singer) were going to be all decked out and I wanted to have something different.  I found an elegant solution to both problems: I bought a pair of batting gloves which give me a better grip on the sticks, and when combined with a Superman shirt worn over my Loliholix t-shirt, looks like a half-assed costume. Maybe I’ll add the fox-ears (which look like bat-ears on my huge melon) next time.

Performing at San Japan was awesome.  The stage, the energy of the crowd, the loudness of our music, everything blew me away.  Granted, it wasn’t perfect (I whiffed a few cymbal crashes but thankfully didn’t drop my sticks) but we got lots of compliments and I even signed a few buttons.  We are hoping that San Japan serves as a springboard to playing at more cons, and I really hope we get to play at RealmsCon in a few months as Corpus Christi is near my hometown.

At the minimum, though, we will be playing at Mizuumi-con 4 and San Japan 4TW next year though and I can’t wait!

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CONS, RANDOM REVIEW, TEXAS COMICCON, Videogames

RANDOM REVIEW: Texas ComicCon 2010

Bustin' makes them feel good!

I went to the Texas Comic-Con to support a new con, support my friends, and to check out what was there to see.  The con’s homepage featured a menagerie of guests ranging from indie comic artists, actors, and even The Honky Tonk Man.

I wondered what else awaited me on Friday after lunch as I turned left onto Marbach Street on my way to the San Antonio Event Center.  First-time events are something of a crapshoot.  At best, everything goes off with a minimum of fuss, at worst, it can be painful to both watch and to be a part of.

Even though I was fairly sure I was not going to make it out Sunday, I purchased a three-day pass.  I was disappointed to find that I did not receive a pass to wear around my neck, but instead I was given a red plastic wristband that I apparently would have to keep on my wrist until Sunday afternoon.  Ew.  To make that first impression even worse, the gentleman that took my money didn’t even help me put it on!

After I fumbled with the wristband for a few minutes, I entered the convention proper.  The San Antonio Event Center provided a fairly large space, but one could tell its glory days were far behind it.  As if to emphasize this point, I would find that some of the tables and chairs provided to the exhibitors were a bit on the rickety side.  As is often the case with cons, Friday was a slow day, and indeed, some of the exhibitors were in the midst of setting up their tables as I walked around.

The Texas Comic-Con can best be described in two words: Nerd Gumbo.  While the phrase “something for everybody” is frequently overused, it fits here.  Just off the top of my head, there were comics, videogames, action figures, Star Wars, Lego, Ghostbusters from two cities (Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth), costumers, tabletop gaming, one retired wrestler and a few actors, including San Antonio’s own Jonathan Joss of “King of the Hill” fame.  I wondered if “Comic-Con” was the right description for an event that had such a variety of things and people to see.  To be fair, though, there were a number of booths featuring comics, collectibles and a artist’s area which included my friend Austin “Redbeard” Rogers of redbeardcomics.com

Austin told me that in order to get a table, an artist had to submit examples of his or her work and if they were “good enough” then they were granted a table.  I don’t know if other cons do this, but it is an interesting idea and it seems like a good way for  con organizers to maintain a level of quality.  The dealers were the usual assortment of comic book stores, collector stores and the occasional person trying to make a few dollars by selling their personal collection.

Of particular note was Antarctic Press, a San Antonio-based comic company.  They had many books for sale and some of their artists were present.  I purchased some books and spent a few minutes chatting with Fred Perry and David Hutchinson about geeky things.  I must admit though, I felt a little bad telling Mr. Perry that while I had frequently seen his popular “Gold Digger” comic in stores, I had never purchased it.  What can I say?  I’m just not a very good liar, so I don’t even bother trying.

One of the books I purchased was “Oz: The Manga” by David Hutchinson.  I finished reading it last night, enjoyed it immensely and look forward to purchasing the additional books in the series.  It follows L. Frank Baum’s story more closely than the movie “The Wizard of Oz” and was a great read as well as an interesting visual take on the classic tale.  Next, I will take my first step into the world of Fred Perry’s “Gold Digger” as I start reading “Gold Digger MAX Vol 1.”

The con also held a Street Fighter contest on Sunday which I did not see, but they did have a few videogame consoles set up where folks could take a seat and play a round or two of Street Fighter or even some of the old classics like Mrs. PacMan.

Just like the anime conventions I have been to, there were plenty of folks dressed up in costumes, however, these were more recognizable, there were quite a few Green Lanterns, Imperial Stormtroopers, Jedi, and even GI Joe’s Baroness and Street Fighter’s Cammy.

Aside from the dealers and the artists were what I could call the “enthusiast” tables, these represented a variety of fandoms including a Stormtrooper platoon, a Halo costuming group, two Ghostbusters fan groups, the Texas Lego User’s Group and even a group of Sith that I apparently overlooked.  Everyone seemed to be glad to be there and enthusiastically posed for pictures.

Some panels were held, but the lack of a room to host them in made it difficult to hear and see what was going on, especially when the more popular guests were presenting.  There was also no seating set up, hopefully this is something that will be addressed for next time.

I think that the Texas ComicCon got off to a good start.  There was a wide variety of things to see and buy, lots of great artists and fun guests.  With some minor tweaks and adjustments (*cough* BADGES *cough*), I think this could be the start of something big, and look forward to attending next year.

NOTE: The author received no compensation for this review.

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CONS, E3, TECH, Videogames

PRE-3

I’m at the airport with just an hour until my flight leaves and I am starting to get really excited.  I understand some of the boys had a few hiccups getting to LA but its all good now.  I look at the “golden ticket” inside my laptop bag and smile.  As I go to a news website to see what’s happening in the world, an eyebrow raises as I read about a 5.7 quake near the California-Mexico border.

“This ain’t gonna be Texas.” I think to myself.  This is only the second time I will be in California, the first being a forgettable trip back in college to a conference I really could have gone the rest of my life without attending.  I think the amount of suck involved makes it more of a “symposium.”  Any way you slice it, it was a waste of a weekend and I also didn’t get to see much outside of the hotel.

It wasn’t for lack of trying, though, I remember the Saturday night when we all hopped into a cab to go somewhere.  Upon asking the driver what was in the area, he told us that The House of Blues was nearby. I was excited, I have never been to The House of Blues and it sounded new and exciting.  If nothing else, live music is always a treat.  Sadly, it was not to be, the jackasses I was with wanted to go to a crappy club that was just like every other crappy club I’ve ever been to in my life.  I don’t know, maybe I was supposed to be excited and be all “Oh my gosh, we went to a crappy club but its a crappy club IN LOS ANGELES!”

Whoop-dee-freaking-doo…okay, maybe I’m just a little bitter.

Luckily, I have more in common with the crowd I will be hanging around with this time.  That is to say, we’re all a bunch of socially awkward weirdos.  Actually that probably isn’t completely true, I think we have one or two “cool kids” in the group, you know, balance of the universe and all that.

The thought of occupying the same place with over forty-thousand other socially awkward weirdos is a pleasant one, though, and I can’t wait to get there.

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