Another anime convention called Anime Festival Orlando is happening this weekend about a four hour drive from where I'm at. I'm pretty excited about being in a place with so much convention action and I would really like to go. The problem is IF I went I'd only be able to do Saturday so they'd have to have a bunch of roboplastic content to justify me spending the over $300 for food, the one day pass, hotel and shuttle ride to and from Orlando. Not to mention going would cost me time I could be spending at the library looking for old toy robots ads. So the question I'm needing to decide tonight is should I stay or should I 'FO?
The panel schedule's been posted and I've narrowed down what I'd be interested in seeing Saturday:
10am - Giant Robots, Old and New / Palm Salon F,G - Carlos Romero
DESCRIPTION:"Remember when children had to pilot the super robot from the outside? Remember when that disgruntled German girl had to mind-meld with her robot to get it to operate? Super robots have been around for a long, long time. Join us for a super robot-powered trip down memory lane!"
This one sounds pretty good but I wonder if it'll be more than a clip show that doesn't do much beyond showing the opening credits of a couple famous robot cartoons from the early eighties. This is the weakest draw for me but at least it's robots.
2pm - Collecting Chokogin and other Precious Metals / Oleander A - Carlos Romero
DESCRIPTION:"Chokogin toys have been around since the '70s in Japan as a series of highly detailed die-cast robot toys. Join Carlos as he shows off pieces from his collection and discusses collecting these finely crafted machines."
This one sounds like the best reason for me to go. I would love to see someone who knows what he's talking about explain the Chokogin lineage from the very beginning, including stuff like Shogun Warriors and the Soul of Chokogin line.
4:30pm - Transformers Panel / Biscayne/Siesta - Tom Croom, Chris Duplis
DESCRIPTION:"Join Tom Croom and Chris Duplis discuss the past and future of this classic anime franchise.
I don't see how Transformers is anime but if these guys got a panel about it in an anime convention that's cool with me. I looked online to see what kind of background the panel hosts had in the Transformers scene. I guess their credibility is important to me because to me anything less than Botcon may as well be a couple guys reading Transformers message boards out loud. I found that Tom Croon has been doing this panel at multiple cons before and he even got to sing background vocals for Stan Bush earlier this year. CREDIBILITY ESTABLISHED!
FO/NO FO?
While I would really like to, I can't justify spending that much money for one really strong panel about Chokogins. The other two would be cool, but I wonder how much better they could be than an evening watching YouTube Super Robot clips or listening to my own Botcon panel recordings. So for me it's no go on AFO. Thanks for reading me think this out loud!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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12 comments:
Well, I would go. But then again, I'd use any excuse to escape the "real world" for a few hours.
I don't know, to me it sounds like too much time investment for the payoff, but only you can really say for sure.
Yeah, I'm not going. I think I've been so removed from this culture for so long that I'm acting desperate and trying to do everything 'con' however tangentially related it is to what I'm into. It's not like there won't be other cons happening in my backyard over the next few months. There's Mizucon, Animation Supercon and the Infinite Bits videogaming convention all later this year. Hell, there's even Floatacon, the world's only anime convention aboard a cruise ship! (There's no way I'm paying $800 pre-registration, though.)
Here's hoping that somewhere in those upcoming shows there'll be comparable Chogokin and/or super robot related panels. But for now I will be drowning my sorrows over missing AFO in a sea of microfilm at the library.
I don't blame you for not going. Orlando is even closer to me and I wouldn't go to that one. Now MegaCon, on the other hand http://www.megaconvention.com
That's usually pretty cool...and crowded. Although I've only ever gone to the big Megacon earlier in the year, this one coming up is the "mini" Megacon. Wouldn't know what to expect from that. But I usually go to the regular Megacon every year.
You should go, so I can get the scoop on what went down. ;) Your write-up on the other Con was great. Heck, I can't make that trip right now. But thanks for the link.
I'm curious who the guy heading up that chogokin panel is. I don't know the name, but then again, I mostly know screen names these days. I have some feelers out - curious how big a collector he is.
Floatacon sounds like a new Movie-verse Decepticon. Or a new Combiner team.
Hey, Hasbro! Steal that name!
Yeah, but with a name like Floatacon it would have to be an aircraft carrier or a robot that turns into a Dairy Queen.
BTW, this is what you missed:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/orl-anime-festival-pg,0,2424825.photogallery
What's your email address? I wanted to contact you. Thanks.
Thanks for the gallery link! What sucks to me is how much attention the media gives to cosplay instead of the actual events of the con. So while there are six dozen pictures of jailbait Pokemon hookers, gangsta furries and other costumes not even related to anime, I'll never find any coverage of the Chogokin panel at all. It sucks.
(Although I would have loved to get a shot of myself next to the Fooly Cooly robot guy.)
I don't put my email at the blog or site because I am paranoid about librarians, furry gangstas and pokemon hookers coming after me. But I'll be in touch.
I gave your site a push at Robot Japan Forum. I was hoping to have you show up and tell a little more about what you do (i.e., finding vintage ads) and your blog.
http://robotjapan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=15069&page=1
Thanks. I found a post-AFO con report where the guy says the 10:00 am robot panel Saturday morning was canceled. Right there 30% of my reason for going disappeared.
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