by Yehuda Broderick | Jan 5, 2015 | review
I had been waiting a long time for the day of the Fandominum Ball to arrive, and I was very excited when last Sunday finally arrived. I took a bus from my university, garnering a few looks as I carried around my staff, umbrellla, and two bags containing parts of my costume. It was a pretty short walk – the train station was right there; when I arrived, I suited up (heh). There were some people already waiting to enter as well, even though it was only about 4:26.
Since I was reporting on the event, I got in for free and ahead of everyone else. So here are pictures of people setting up:
Yotam, one of the organizers for the ball, asked me if I needed anything, but I was fine. After taking some more pictures of people waiting outside, I helped Chen Moyal set up the Hotaru booth (they were another organizer), since there wasn’t much to do; not many people came between the time I arrived and 5:00, the time the doors were set to open.
The ticketers, hard at work!
And these two handsome doormen!
At 5:00, the doors opened, the booths finished setting up, and the guests started entering! Not much happened at the beginning; there was some slow music, and some guests were on the dance floor, but not much other than that.
Because when Jews dance, they do it in circles
There were people who liked the songs played, those who didn’t, but you’ll find that anywhere. I personally enjoyed the vast majority of the songs, but some people were complaining about the large amount of Japanese songs being played. I walked around some more, taking more pictures as I went. I also visited the Tricksrael hall where consoles were to be set up for gaming, but no luck:
Awww…
Meet Awesome and Awesomer (me and my bro!)
Suitpool approves
Gotta love them BFSs
Ladies?
A funny event happened during one of the songs; the computer locked in the middle, cutting off the song while the DJs tried to find someone who knew the password
My rival photographer
I noticed that from the beginning towards the middle of the event, people tended to either dance in groups or in couples. Later, when people got more into the swing of things, it was almost exclusively groups.
Around this time, the music stopped while the chanukiah was lit, which was a nice touch. And then of course, we started again!
Of course, I wasn’t filming or taking pictures the entire time; from time to time, I would dance. There was a point where three metal songs were played, which I absolutely loved. There were a large number of people enjoying it as well, and I sang the lyrics with someone besides me while I rocked out on my air guitar. Like a boss. My brother filmed most of the next video, so you get to see me in all my glory, rocking my moves (I come in around 0:54):
YEEEEEAH!!!
After the next song, feeling hot but happy, I went out to check out the Tricksrael halls again, only to find that the consoles still hadn’t been set up. During the rest of night, I would go there to drink water from the water fountain; the hall was selling the food, and they were selling drinks – for 5 shekels a cup! I didn’t really want to spend a ton of money because I was thirsty, and it was frustrating that there wasn’t bottled water readily available on the dance floor,
There’s not much more to tell after this, because all we did was dance. A girl was injured during the course of the event; I hope she was alright. The consoles never ended being set up, , and I ended up going through all eight batteries that I brought with me (the large amount of video footage being the reason). I also overheard some people complaining about the service during one of my trips between the halls,
Also, tons of couples formed when Love Story played (you know the one):
Alas, around this point, I had to leave so I could make my bus. I said my farewells, and walked away from the hall with my brother in tow. It had been a satisfying night, with surprisingly few problems, considering the fact that it was the organizer’s first attempt. Although I had been expecting ballroom dancing and such, the fact that it ended up being more like a rave didn’t bother me in the slightest, All in all, it had been a great night.
Especially when I finally got to cut loose with my brother’s sword:
(the full photo album can be found
here. The full video footage can be found
here)
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, or some other interesting event taking place, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
by Yehuda Broderick | Nov 3, 2014 | review
Before I start the review, I wish to apologize to my readers for taking this long to write the review. A combination of schoolwork, school preparations, and procrastination all contributed to this being two weeks late. I’m sorry, and will endeavor to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
UPDATE: The videos were for some reason not working on mobile phones, so I changed the way they are viewed; it should be better now.
So I wake up in the morning, a little tired, and a little sore, since I was sleeping on the floor. And then I see this:
I was a little surprised to see the amount of people sleeping in the room, since last year I awoke to less people. Huh.
Anyways, I got dressed, prayed, got my things together, and then once again, left my stuff by the Hotaru booth and wandered for a bit.
What? Did you expect me to have a witty comment for every picture?
After some wandering, I headed over to the the games section. where people were playing Magic: The Gathering and other games. I found someone to play with (someone I had met at a convention on Pesach), and finally got to make use of my cards.
The first game was a bust. I had no land cards of the appropriate color, so a majority of my hand was useless, and thus I lost. During the second game, I was doing okay, until I said something, in which he thought I meant I was leaving. He had put away all his cards, and we had to start over. In game 2.5, I was winning. No, I was crushing him when someone asked the entire room if anyone wanted to play a game called Pandemic. So he left.
I win!
I had another game of MTG with a bunch of pros, who proceeded to blow me out of the water. I ended up losing last, but only because the other guy was mad at his friend, and so had decided to take him out first. Lucky me.
After that, I went out for a bit, and met some friends of mine, who were going to put on a lightsaber duel later. For some reason, one of them was not impressed. Then I found Yael Geller of
Hot-Cocoa Cosplay again, and took another picture of and with her! This time, she was dressed as Mystique, with a friend dressed as Nightcrawler.
After that, I went to a lecture about living forever, which was 16 minutes late (of course), and I didn’t realize was on that topic beacuse I didn’t pay too much attention to the title. Once again, my four hours of sleep (plus sleeping on an uncomfortable floor the night before) helped me to doze half my way through the lecture. It also kept switching back and forth between a philosophical debate and scientific possibilities, which helped to lose my interest.
In the end, I ended up leaving a little early, since I needed a break. I got more books, met more people I know, got my picture taken, and had someone else recognize me! All in the space of 40 minutes, at which point my next lecture started. This one was all about ways to improve the way a Dungeon Master gets players hooked in the world they have created. Or something like that. I was in and out of this one too, to my dismay; the bits that I was awake for were quite interesting. The lecturer was cracking jokes the entire time, and making liberal use of gestures. He also had these great poses:
Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him.
Afterwards, I bought some coffee, then bought more books, And then did the smart thing this time and got a chair for the costume competition. A friend of mine kept me company, and helped me realize that the crowd was much bigger than last year’s competition – both the current and previous day. Go figure.
The competition started at 16:32 (4:32 PM for you Americans), and it was great! I almost ran out of batteries; luckily, my friend got them from my bag and handed them to me, so I didn’t miss taking anything. Behold the costume competition of Day Two!
Afterwards, I left to go see if I could finally get a picture with Chen Moyal, getting recognized as Dresden again along the way.
And some Deadpool pictures!
Didn’t we see this one already?
There can only be one!
The day was fading, but things were still happening. Like the time warp:
And after that, we had a nice treat: Japanese floating laterns!
After that, I had to prep my bag to get ready to leave; while I still had some time left, I wanted to be able to leave right away, since I would have just made it to the bust stop. Unfortunately for me, the lightsaber duel got pushed off until 8, so I stayed longer than planned. I got another request for a picture, which I obliged. I took a few more pictures and a video of Philippines weapons fighting in the interim:
The cake…isn’t a lie?
The most awesome picture you will ever see
I barely took anything during this time, since I had no spare batteries left, and I wanted to save everything for the lightsaber duel to come. I just sat and watched things happening, and chatted with a few people. I even got another request for a picture! Things were feeling good.
Sadly, the duel was not to be. Due to a miscommunication between coordinators, a band had been scheduled to play instead. There was a rush to try to set things straight, but in the end…it didn’t happen. Three months of preparation, days taken off, other things…sigh.
To blow off some steam, the guys fought for a bit. Here’s a teaser of what might have been:
And after that, I had to leave to catch my bus. Two days of fun, and yet I was already missing it. I had had an amazing time, and there really wasn’t anything to complain about (except maybe the prices of the events and the duel thing). I can’t wait for next year!
(The full album for day one and two can be found
here)
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, or some other interesting event taking place, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
by Yehuda Broderick | Oct 16, 2014 | review
I will be dressing up as Harry Dresden until the end of time, or until I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Whichever comes last.
Harry Dresden giving Deadpool bunny ears. Your argument is invalid.
Anyways, a month or so before the convention, I had gotten as a point and shoot digital camera as birthday present. I made great use of it during my time at Icon, sparing my phone a great deal. Unfortunately, it eats AAs.
I started the con by getting four hours of sleep (gee, didn’t I say that one should avoid that in the last review?) I got on a bus that took me somewhat close to the con (near the Azrieli mall), suited up as Dresden, then proceeded to sweat my way there, arriving around 9 AM.
First thing I did was head straight for the bag storage, but of course they had yet to open. So I went straight to the Hotaru booth, talked to my friend Chen Moyal of said group, who let me keep my stuff near theirs (he’s an awesome guy. The group has an 18+ anime con planned by the way, so stay tuned). About this time, I started taking pictures. I present you….Icon 2014!
.
After wandering a bit, I went straight to the line for receiving pre-ordered tickets (that’s always the smart thing to do, by the way), and…waited until 10 AM, at which point I got all six of them. Then I waited a half-hour in line to get a ticket for her, as she was volunteering, and for some reason hadn’t received her free ticket. And then I went and got books. And then more books (I got more the next day). The past two Icons, I spent my money mostly on books, bringing in 25-30 each time. This year, I was on a budget, AND I wanted to participate in the events. So I didn’t get nearly as much this time. Ah, responsibilities.
Then I went in search of Yael Geller of Hot-Cocoa Cosplay. She was cosplaying with three different costumes, one for each day. I took a picture of her, then one with her. Day one was a Steampunk Pirate.
I wandered around a bit, taking pictures of people in costume (I myself got my picture taken, with someone and by myself). Behold!
Bronies. Bronies everywhere
I found the booth of
Shir Brayer, an artist who draws just about anything and drew me something back at Yume-Con. So I asked her to draw…ME!
I’m so handsome…
From there, I made my way to my first event: a lecture on utopian and dystopian cities. It was rather interesting learning about the origins and what it meant in different centuries. Also, the 20th century apparently heralded the appearance of dystopian cities and societies in writing, a neat little thing that known before. The lecturer wrapped things up with a small section about apocalyptic writing.
Afterwards, I met up with a tall friend of mine.
Then I took some more pictures.
I hung out by the Hotaru table for a bit after that, talking with Chen and sometimes helping the people interested in buying their merchandise. I left after some time, wandered a bit (I’ve been doing that a lot, haven’t I?), and met some people who recognized me! WHOOO!!!
And now for a humorous story. Some guy came over, and asked if I was Batman. I responded with, ‘You must have mistaken me for someone else. I’m Harry Dresden,’ and we shook hands. Then he said, ‘Yeah, sure, Harry Potter or something,’ then walked away. Incensed at the idea that I was being compared to a lesser wizard, I immediately took out my gun and shot him in the back. Being a cap gun, all it did was produce a loud bang, but I did get a thumbs up from a nearby person.
Not long after that, I headed to my second event: a live roleplaying game. Unfortunately, I have no pictures, as I was specifically asked not to take pictures at this event.
Except for the handsome DM here
It was hilarious, with three roleplayers playing:
-an orc priest who threw fruit
-a hobbit
-a kender clockmaker
As you can imagine, much fun was had by all. The audience was invited to participate at certain moments. Some particularly memorable moments:
-the roleplayers introducing their characters. At the sound of a bell, a roleplayer would go to the back of a line, and the next roleplayer in line would speak, starting from the previous character had left off.
-the orc priest attempting to gain a set of semi-cursed magic boots from a goblin king by offering him various citrus fruits
-the orc priest killing an elephant with a piece of gold.
-the audience deciding that the three roleplayers were looking for a…yellow submarine
-a little girl being called up to be the main body of an enemy creature…a beholder..
-the DM himself breaking the 4th wall to complain along with the roleplayers
One of the roleplayers participating in the live game was one I had played a game with at Gryphon 11 (which sadly, I didn’t write up on), and it was nice to see him roleplay, especially since I knew a little of his style.
Slightly, before the event had started, I saw some people who had recognized me as Dresden at Cami. And afterwards, I met another person who recognized me! The feeling was great! Here I was, getting someone recognizing my costume or just telling me how awesome it was left and right, Someone thought I was the Hebrew Hammer though.
Hmmm…this handsome guy does resemble me somewhat,,,
I walked around some more, taking pictures here and there.
El. Psy. Congroo
Around this point, I got myself a place at a huge arena set up near the etnrance, and set up a tripod with my camera. I wanted to take good pictures of the costume competition (by the way, starting the competition late is now officially a thing), so I got here twenty minutes early. I did not think to bring a chair, and when someone asked if I could crouch down so they could see (as I’m six feet tall) – only then did it dawn on me that I should have been smarter than that. My knees ended up hurting a lot throughout the course of the competition.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the Icon 2014 Day One Costume Competition!
This cutie was supposed to go on, but for some reason, didn’t
The competition took a break around five, saying that in twenty minutes they would announce the winners. It certainly didn’t happen before my Pathfinder game at 6.
Here’s a random Skywalker picture. You’re welcome.
(Not taken by me)
The session was fun. There weren’t any…particularly memorable moments, but I still had a good time. This game in particular was a continuation of a series, which was originally scheduled for Myth, but ended up taking place now. Because this was game number three, I got to level my character up to level two!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!
After the game, I took a small walk around the place (again), looking on with interest at a pillow fight in the arena. I had a Star Trek lecture to go to right then, so I couldn’t participate.
The lecture was on the Prime Directive, and what could be learned from it. My 4 hours of sleep had finally caught up with me though, resulting in me missing half of what was going on. It seemed to me throughout the course of the lecture (when I was awake) that the audience consisted mainly of Trekkies. They were quoting things left and right from Star Trek episodes, so I imagine that they were.
*yawn* I think I’ll try for five hours next convention…
It was time for bed! Earlier, before the Pathfinder game, I had dumped my stuff in the bag storage.. Now, I waited in a long line to get my stuff, then I signed up for a males-only room. I was the first to do so, and thus had the room all to myself…
You’ll notice in the corner by my stuff, were some poster boards. I used this a a bedding of sorts, to make sleeping on the floor in my sleeping bag a bit easier on me. They helped – I think.
And thus did end my first day at Icon. I had had a blast, and couldn’t wait for what the next day would bring! Stay tuned for my review of day two!
(The full album for day one and two can be found
here)
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, or some interesting event taking place, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
by Yehuda Broderick | Sep 2, 2014 | review
I love anime. It took a while for me to become hooked, but now I’m as solid as can be. So I was very excited when I finally got to go to Cami, which I had been waiting for two months to arrive. And I was not disappointed.
My day started out early in the morning, so I could catch an early train. My brother dared me to go to the train station in full costume. Needless to say, I took him up on it.
Yeah baby! Dig it!
I dressed as Harry Dresden, a sort of wizard PI who lives in Chicago. The character is from a book series called
The Dresden Files, and I highly recommend it. Read it. Love it.
Unfortunately for me, I had painted the staff the night before, and the paint, being oil-based, wasn’t fully dry. I experienced a few accidents until I found a method of grasping the staff without getting paint all over my fingers.
Once I arrived in Haifa, I found a group of people dressed in costume also, whom I assumed (correctly) were also going to Cami. It was a short walk in the sun, yet I quickly realized very that heat and black leather coats don’t go together very well.
Once I got to the convention center, I realized that I had made a good choice to come early. I arrived around 9:05, when the convention was due to open at 10, and there was already a nice line waiting ahead of me.
I struck up a conversation to the person standing in line next to me, and we chatted for quite a long while. In the interim, I also took some pictures of cosplayers.
You DO matter, Stanley.
Sie sind das Essen und wir sind die Deadpool!
We waited over an hour to get to buy a ticket for the convention, where I was a joined by a friend of mine. An hour! So I was practically two hours baking in the hot sun. Ah, the sacrifices we make for cosplay.
During this time, there were people cheering for no apparent reason, my chat buddy and I sang some anime tunes as we got close to the head of the line, and a ‘Whut?’ moment. Someone passed me one of those things that you string together to block people from entering somewhere, and told me to pass it along. So I took it, passed it to the person behind me, and told her the same thing. It kept being passed down the line until I couldn’t see it anymore.
When I finally got my ticket, I held it up high, and shouted “YES!” loudly, which got me a huge cheer. Then it was off to get me bracelet and enter the convention!
There was a lot to see! I deposited my bag at the bag counter and started exploring the booths!
Not shown: FMA 3-in-one edition, volumes 1-3
During this time, there was one person who recognized my cosplay, and someone else who recognized me from another convention (Giborim, I had cosplayed as Dresden then too). It was a rather nice feeling.
There was a singing contest that was taking place in the main auditorium, but I came in near the end, so I only got to hear the last two singers, plus two of the organizers singing some song called the Ping Pong Song or something like that. It was quite fun to listen to. There was a musical afterwards, but I was going to a lecture that was taking place during that time, so I couldn’t stay for it.
Afterwards, I drew up my courage, and signed up for the walk-on, a simple showing off of your costume onstage. I was really nervous about it, but more on that later.
On a related, but only slightly out of sequence note, here are the pictures I took with others!
OBJECTION!
Then it was time for my lecture, titled ‘Stitches Are Not Everything’, given by Nimrod Gold of
Geminion Cosplay and Yael Geller of
Hot-Cocoa Cosplay. It was about different techniques one could use in the different aspects of cosplaying: stitching, painting, wigs, and more! I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I fell asleep halfway through, though only because I got 3 1/2 hours sleep the night before. Take this as a tip fellow conventioners: make sure you get a good nights sleep before the convention in order to properly enjoy it.
Afterwards, I took an extended break to eat lunch, and just hang around a bit. I spent some time in the game room, as well as wandering around. I wanted to play MTG with someone, but everyone seemed to busy looking at cards. Maybe next time.
Krillin…won?
WHAAAAAAAAAT!?
A place for fixing up your cosplay
Later, around 3:30, I went to the front of the main auditorium for the briefing on the walk-on, which was supposed to happen at 3:45. During this time, three more people recognized my cosplay, one of whom took a picture of me, and I chatted with one for a good 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, the briefing never took place, and the next event there, a band scheduled to play called
Saigen Complex, didn’t end up happening until 4:20.
Still, once they did get to play (though a song or two was skipped due to limited time), we heard some awesome tunes, starting with Guren no Yumiya from Attack on Titan, some more anime tunes, a Japanese song, an original song named Amud Anan (Cloud Pillar), and ended with the Dragon Ball Z theme.
(next time I’ll take whole clips of the songs)
Afterwards, everyone pushed out of the auditorium in order to set up the cosplay competition, except for those in the competition and the walk-on. When they called out the names of those in the walk-on, I was surprised to not hear my name. Apparently, there was a selection process, as many had signed up, but there wasn’t enough time for all. And I didn’t make the cut. Still, at least I got to keep my seat near the front.
When everyone else was let back in, it sounded like a stampede.The seats quickly filled up while we waited. Like Yume-Con, the competition took a long time to start (is that a thing?), so there were attempts at entertaining the audience. One of the judges (dressed as Zero from Code Geass) got up on stage and cracked many jokes, one his better ones being, ‘just like DBZ, it takes an hour for something to happen!’
Here are the photos from the competition (my phone died halfway through, so I don’t have photos of every cosplay)
(extra photos of the cosplayers can be found
here)
I’ll be getting a normal camera soon, so rest assured I won’t be short on pictures again. Here’s some of the other cosplays:
-Pit and Dark Pit from Kid Icarus: Uprising (plus a little sketch)
-Alice and the Queen of Hearts from Alice Madness
-Madoka and Homura from Puella Madoka Magicka (sketch)
-Saiyaman, Goten, and Young Trunks from Dragon Ball Z (like I needed to tell you that)
-Characters from Adventure Time
-Two characters from Pandora Hearts (who lipsynced ‘If You Were Gay’ from Avenue Q)
-The One Piece cast
Then there was the walk-on. There were a bunch of interesting cosplayers, the best of which was the Fairy Tail cast; they did the whole ‘Fairies fighting each other’ shtick. At some point there was a lull, in which I chatted with one of the cosplayers, who turned out to be a programmer in the army (as I had been once upon a time). We had a nice discussion, and then things resumed. When they had finished giving out prizes, that was my cue to leave, as I had wanted to speak with someone I had become friendly with and helped me
with starting my blog, one Chen Moyal of the
Hotaru Group. He was running a booth selling figurines, necklaces, and other things like that directly across from the auditorium. We talked for a bit, about what could be improved, and the like. Speaking of which…
The cosplay competetion was great, and in fact, made the convention retroactively fun for me. Up until that point, I had felt like I had had an okay time, something nice, but not something great. Then I went to the competition, and felt like it had all been worth it. Thinking back on it and my experience at Yume-Con, I’m pretty sure it had to do with the amount of events I went to. I had only gone to one lecture, listened to the band, and watched the competition. By Yume-Con, I started warming up after the performance by Trick Israel and the Kendo demonstration, so I’m know that had something to do with it. But enough rambling.
During this period, I had started charging my phone a little bit, so I managed to get one last picture. Enjoy!
For teh bronies
Then I had to go. Like, right away, since I needed to catch the train back home and catch a bus before the last one left (10:45). But just before I left, there were these two guys who recognized my cosplay, and one even asked to take a picture with me! My first request!
Sadly, no picture here.
But I couldn’t stay to get it from him, so I left. Once I arrived at the station, I ended joining a large group of people who were also leaving the convention. Once the train arrived, we exclusively took the last car, filling it to the brim with cosplayers. And once again, I struck up a conversation with the guys around me. What a great end to a great day!
So all in all, the convention was great! The only thing that really irked me was the hour long wait to get my ticket, which I hope won’t take as long next time. Oh, and the long wait for the briefing on the walk-on.
See you at the next convention!
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
by Yehuda Broderick | Aug 29, 2014 | review
So. Myth. I had been looking forward to it for a long time. It was originally set to take place in July, but due to the war in Israel, had been pushed off to the next month. Not much of an issue.
I went on the second day, since that was the day the games I wanted to play were taking place (also because I needed to save my money. Myth was quite expensive). And what better way to start it off then by getting off the wrong stop? I had to walk for an hour through Tel Aviv in the hot sun, passing through numerous venues until I reached the place.
Finally!
The way you entered and paid for the games were by means of coins specifically made for the convention. I ended up paying 180 NIS for 30 coins (10 coins for 60 NIS). It was a lot for me to spend.
It was cool to see all the stuff set up. There were a ton of stalls selling various things, from Munchkin games to posters to jewelery. There was even a gaming booth!
I bought a DOTA 2 poster, and found this board game called Arkham Horror that I really, really wanted. For a long while. But it cost a lot, and I needed to save money. Maybe another time.
I also found Phantom Breaker again! But I only managed two matches. The guy left, and I had no one else to play with.
Some other time, my love
Anyways, my game. The game system was Pathfinder, and we were playing a Pathfinder Society adventure, which basically lets you play with your character anywhere there are Pathfinder Society games. It was supposed to start at 2, but we had to wait a bit for our other players. I was a fighter, and one of two who brought their own characters in. The others were a cleric, a rogue, a wizard, and a ranger (the other one with a handmade character). The game was about us finding some sort of crystal that let you view memories poured into it or something like that; it was a little hard to hear over the din in the convention hall. It was set to be split over 3 adventure sessions, but we only ended up playing two. Luckily, no one ended up dying throughout our adventure, though it came close a few times. Some memorable events:
-Everyone except for the ranger getting diseased by plague zombies
-I got two crits on my first two attacks, and almost got a third later on
-The final boss of the second session, a ghost king, missed on every single attack
Our gaming group!
During the break in between sessions, I me a friend of mine who got me into going to gaming conventions. It was quite nice to catch up with him for a bit. And during the second session, there were two sword fights in the middle of the convention hall by guys in armor. I didn’t take pictures though, too busy were we in the game. Which happened to be quite an enjoyable experience, thanks to our DM. We ended up finishing around 10 or something like that, at which point I searched for something to buy with my leftover coins. It was quite empty; most people had already left by then.
I searched for a way to spend my leftover coins. I ended up buying a deck holder for my MTG cards and two booster backs, sold by this guy! (Someone who had DMed a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game at Giborim, a great fellow)
I had a great time at Myth. Though overpriced, it was a great experience, and I can’t wait until next time.
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
by Yehuda Broderick | Jul 29, 2014 | review
Yume-Con 2014 is the first ever anime convention that I have been able to attend. And it did not let me down. Many things happened throughout the day, many people were met, and a great time was had by all.
I had left quite early in the morning from my home so that I could be on time. The convention was literally less than a five minute walk from my dorms at Bar Ilan University, so I ended up staying there until around 9, at which point I left for the convention. To my dismay, there was quite a long line already.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I ended up walking around a bit, took some photos of people, and wondered why no one who had pre-ordered their ticket was going in at 9:30. Lots of little groups of people sat around here and there, joking with their friends or doing weird things. And of course, cosplayers.
Eventually, I ended up moving through the gaps in the line until me and a friend of mine could go no further. We waited a while, during which time the group ahead of us chanted in alternating English and Hebrew, ‘Open Up! Open Up!’. Sadly, I didn’t manage to capture this, but I DID get a clip of them singing the Pokemon theme song.
GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL!
Finally, at 10:02. the gate was lifted, and entrance to the convention was finally permitted. Having been a gamer long before I got into anime, I headed straight for the console section. There were a few games: J-Stars Victory Vs, Phantom Breaker, Soul Calibur V, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and a Naruto fighting game. The only game available (i.e. no one was playing) was Phantom Breaker, and so I got someone to play a few with me. I fell in love with it immediately; it’s a 2D anime fighter, very fast paced. Over the course of the convention, I would dominate everyone whom I played against (with the exception of my brother, and I lost only once to him). It was an awesome game, and it didn’t get enough love.
Insert gaming meme here
After that I wandered among the convention’s halls. So many stands! Jewelry, t-shirts, manga, figurines, and more! Sadly, I had to watch my money, and only ended getting Pokemon Adventure #1
At approximately 10:59, right before a lecture on cosplay was to begin, sirens went off. Lots of people went downstairs, some stayed where they were; thankfully, nothing happened. Unfortunately, whomever was supposed to give the lecture did not end up appearing, and the lecture never ended up taking place. Around that time, my brother came by, and we hung out a bit before getting something to eat.
Around 1:30 or so, we went to the main auditorium to see Trick Israel, a group that performs martial arts based acrobatic tricks. It was really, really cool, and I’m sorry that I forgot to take pictures or videos, so excited I was. They were supposed to have this whole show planned for us, but two of their members were in the reserves, so they simply performed free style.
Right after that was a demonstration on kendo given by the Mumeishi group. Its founder, Marco Edry, explained to us the different blades, how to use them, where you can hit, and other things. They even had people come down to practice hitting his students! I didn’t get called down though.
The screaming is really funny if you’re not used to it
It was around this point that I truly began to enjoy the convention, and not think of it as just a nice experience. I got myself a nice picture with one of the maids from the maid cafe (it was okay), and had a self-portrait drawn right before the cosplay competition…
Looking good there
…which ended up taking up 50 minutes to start. I had a friend nearby to talk to, so it wasn’t all bad. We were also entertained by an onstage performance of BABYMETAL’s Give Me Chocolate!, and this guy trying to get into a Big Daddy costume.
These are a sampling of the cosplay pictures I took (sorry about the quality, I was sitting way in the back)
With the cosplay competition over, I headed back to the console area again, THIS time to play that Naruto fighting game. Turns out that where I was really awesome at Phantom Breaker, I really, really, sucked at this one and had my ass handed to me. I also got my name written in Japanese by this lovely lady
And this is my name in Japanese
Great! I…can’t read it
6:00 PM was when all the fun stuff started. All happening at the same time was a rave party, speed dating AND karaoke. Unfortunately, you can’t have your cake and eat it to, so I ended staying for a while at the rave party until the next speed dating session started. It was a lot of fun, let me tell you
Around the time I went to the speed dating, my phone lost too much battery to be able to activate the camera, so I have no more pictures from this point forward. The speed dating was quite fun, although there were at least twice as many guys as there was girls. It took a while until it got to my turn, but I had a nice time chatting to the girls. I must say though, it was a little frustrating to find out that everyone thought I was Chareidi, and I had to explain that I was trying to cosplay as Oji Tanaka from The Legend of Black Heaven. Does this guy look Chareidi to you!?
Apparently so
After I finished, I asked
Shir Brayer, who had this little stand right outside of the speed dating area, to draw me up a photo of Okabe Rintarou from Steins;Gate and Shrioe from Log Horizon having an arm wrestling contest. It actually came out pretty well.
Ha! Suck it, Shiroe-chi!
Alas, I missed the end of the rave, which apparently had turned into a giant pillowfight. That was super sad; I hope they do it again at the next convention. That was more or less the end for me, and I left soon after.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a fun convention, and my first anime one in Israel. It had its share of problems, such as the entrance to the convention itself, some of the events not taking place on time, and so on. Luckily, all of these things proved to be minor, and the overall experience was not impaired because of them. I look forward with pleasure to the next convention organized by the organizers, the
Hotaru Team.
If you are aware of any convention taking place here in Israel, please notify me, and I will do my best to report on it!
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