Otakon 2011

August 3, 2011

Jokingly I call this FightCon 2011 since I had to verbally beat someone down almost every day. One guy told my friend to go fuck herself, another guy was bothering my photographer friend (not Pat), and one dealer was selling Nazi stuff. Not stuff from Hellsing or Hetalia, straight up Adolph Hitler-wore-that-shit Nazi stuff.

I worked in the dealer’s room for majority of the con. I went to no panels, rarely met up with people, and didn’t even get a program guide. From a dealers point of view, this is a great con to come and clear out old anime and manga, and make some money. From what I could tell however, there was not much in the ways of deals going on. The one thing anime convention dealers have never gotten the hang of, was actually giving out good deals. Comic dealers seem to have it down to a science, but anime dealers have no idea what that means.

The panels were pretty boring; I skipped out on the FUNimation one, and only caught a few minutes of a few other ones. Otakon also overlapped big events from what I was hearing. A concert, the masquerade, and the Full Metal Alchemist movie were all shown at the same time on Saturday. Whomever made the schedule dropped the ball on that. One big plus was that they used the Hilton as extra con space, but that still didn’t help with the crowds. Otakon needs to start capping attendance again. There were many points during the weekend where you could not walk anywhere because of the crowds.

The cosplay was both good and bad, but what do you expect. Overall, I had a great con. I can’t wait for next year.

And now, some pictures.

-Lauren

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Otakon!

July 27, 2011

We didn’t get approved for press badges (yet somehow we get them for EVERY OTHER CON on the planet), but that won’t stop some of us from going! I’ll be updating the blog live from the FUNimation panel. I hope they announce that they plan on re-dubbing/subbing all of Sailor Moon since the manga is due out this fall from Kodansha USA.

If you’re going to be at Otakon, have fun, and be safe. It’s been hot as balls in Baltimore lately.

-Lauren

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DC’s New 52 Panel at SDCC

July 23, 2011

Question time and everyone almost tramples each other.

Q: What’s going on with Stephanie Brown?
A: She’ll be a part of the Batman family.

Q: Will there be any character who knows what happened pre-launch?
A: Doesn’t seem like it. Jim Lee essentially says it’s counter-productive to what they are doing.

Q: Did they ever thing of doing a season or volume numbering system?
A: It came up, but it’s not something they could do.

Q:Barbara Gordon and walking.
A: Have faith in Gail Simone.

Q: Will characters stay dead?
A: Didio says it’s about moving forward. It’s about building not taking a part.

Q: Anything they were changing that made them sad?
A: Yes. No examples.

Q: Timeline questions.
A: JLA takes place 5 years in the past, and Action Comics takes place 6 months BEFORE that. The second arc of Action will be taking place at the same time as Superman. Dan mentions there will still be a Multiverse.

Q: How long before they cut off Aquaman’s hand?
A: This Aquaman will beat the crap out of us if we do that again.

Q: IS GL Rebirth canon and did GL still hit Batman?
A: Yes, and you’ll see more of that soon.

Q: Where’s Donna Troy?
A: Didio says he is not allowed to talk about her yet.

Q: Are powers being changed?
A: Certain things have been altered a tad. They want to show new ways for these characters to use their powers, like how Flash’s costumes comes out of his ring now.

Q: Are people like Alan Scott and Jay Garrick going to be active during the new 52?
A: Didio says they’re getting a rest.

Q: Kid asks why is Dick Grayson Batman.
A: Didio says he’s not and “you’re welcome.”

So notice how the questions about female character get pushed aside or cannot be answered at this time. But we can get all the freakin answers about Green Lantern, Batman and Aquaman. I think I’m going to agree with the person that said whenever DC says ‘We have a plan for them’ or ‘Cannot answer at this time’ just means they don’t have any plans for them. They just don’t matter and will be put on the back burner forever. I love Barbara and Kara as much as any DC fan but I REALLY love Stephanie Brown. And the Cassandra Cain fans love Cass so much. Why are these fan favorites always being pushed back?

As always, the misogyny that is shown by DC really grates my nerves.  Unless you are one of their big name female characters (and even then, I disapprove of how they handle their characters), you get put on the back burner.  If my sources are correct, Zatanna isn’t going to have her solo series anymore.  Probably because sales weren’t the best (I blame that on the poor writing and character development of her series).  Power Girl was a great series before Winick took over.  While some fans love Winick’s run, I preferred it before hand.  He made it way too serious.  I loved how Power Girl was a light hearted series.  Incidentally though, Winick brought Zatanna in for one issue and the storyline he had set up for her was better then any storyline I read in her own series.

-Julie

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Captain America

July 22, 2011

Was fantastic.

The plot was also another highlight. It was easy as pie to follow. America needs super soldiers to help stop Hitler and Hydra and the rest of those crazy assholes we all know about from World War 2. Thus, Steve Rogers is turned into Captain America. Pretty easy.

I saw the regular 2D version at midnight, and was not let down. The best thing about this movie is how much heart it has. Chris Evans does a great job as scrawny Steve Rogers, and does an equally great job as well, himself without a shirt on. It was humbling to see Captain America make mistakes, and bumbles around at first. The almost God like complex he has in the comics is missing. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes, and he get’s tossed around a lot, even as Captain America. Fans will get a kick out of the throwback Timely costume he wears at one point, and you’ll even get a glimpse at one of the Timely Cap comics. He even punches a fake Hitler a few times. His relationship with Bucky (played by Sebastian Stan) was touching, and well executed by both actors. While you don’t get a back story on Bucky, you can’t help but enjoy the chemistry the two have on-screen, and you will be touched by Caps loyalty and love for Bucky.

I also enjoyed how good the script was. None of the lines were terribly corny, which was a pleasant surprise from movies such as Thor and Green Lantern. Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Phillips delivered some of the best lines in the movie. My favorite was this:

Doctor: What is this?
Phillips: Steak.
Doctor: What’s in it?
Phillips: Cow!

Every character was well thought out and executed beautifully by whomever played them. Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark was funny and charming, much like RDJs Tony Stark. Hayley Atwell was splendid as Peggy Carter, who was one bad ass woman in this movie. Also, I need to give a special shout to the Howling Commandos. They all looked like how they do in the comic book. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed it.

Of course this movie is worth seeing, so go see it.

-Lauren

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Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer.

July 21, 2011

The Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer is out,so here’s the trailer:

I must say it looks pretty good.
I may even like this one better than Sam Raimi’s version.
I’m going to have to wait till the full trailer is release before I make my decision.

 

-Sarah

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Karl Urban as Judge Dredd.

July 18, 2011

As you may know I’m a Judge Dredd fan (Check out Brian Bolland’s cover art)
Anyway,here’s a pic of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd:

I hope this movie is better than the god awful 1995 movie.

-Sarah

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The Avengers trailer

July 17, 2011

Fairly certain this will get pulled quickly, but seriously. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMRctX7fZe4&feature=youtu.be

 

Between the last Nolan Batman film and this, next summer is going to blow the balls off of this one. Hurry the hell up, 2012!

-Lauren

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Wizard World Philly

July 15, 2011

Philly this year was…unique, to say the least. The bigger hall was a nice touch, but the upstairs and downstairs tomfoolery to get to different rooms was troublesome. I also found it difficult in general to figure out where, precisely, I needed to be for panels and crap.

However, once inside the general con floor, things were laid out fairly decently. Wrestlers were together. Famous people together. Comic things together. Retail things together. It was nice not running across people seemingly randomly tossed together. Another nice part of the new layout was the inclusion of groups and clubs. The 501st had their own table as usual, but there was a sizable group of tables together for other cons, school groups, and other organizations. There was somebody with the artists who had speakers, a mic and a loudspeaker that were just annoying as hell, though. I’m trying to talk to the person at the table next to you; why do I need to listen to your unst unst?

My biggest issue was the lack of places to sit down. There really was no where you could seat yourself, which I guess I am becoming spoiled about with Baltimore Comic Con. I ended up sweet talking my way behind someone’s table to sit on the floor to eat my lunch. Was semi aggravating.

The cosplay photoshoot was kind of neat, but it was poorly organized. It was hard to hear or understand direction, and we only had a flat surface on which to pose. People snapping photos were kind of going crazy and stepping closer and closer to us, which then put them in other peoples’ shots and it was just…kind of funny, actually, watching the guy freak out.

Costume contest was long, as always is. It was nice to see at least one of the judges who knows what the hell he was talking about when judging the costumes, and he definitely gave a damn about presentation and construction. The MC was…pretty terribly unfunny, misogynistic, and hit on the girls far too much for my tastes. Getting really sick of seeing costume contests MC’d by dudes who just want to drool over the contestants like prepubescent teenagers.

Generally, a good con. I like to call it my “hometown” convention, since it was the first I ever went to. It was really nice to get back into the swing of comic cons, since 2010 was a pretty quiet year for me. :’D

Han

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Hentai And My Father

July 8, 2011

God bless my father, and God bless eBay. Recently I stumbled onto some Sailor Moon laser discs that I did not own. I’m a huge fan of laser discs, and an even bigger fan of Sailor Moon. I forgot I put them on watching, but my dad noticed them and actually won some of them for me. He then went to see what other anime LDs this person had, and started bidding on all of them. I didn’t notice until he said something to me this morning.

Dad: Hey, have you heard of ‘La Blue Girl’?
Me: What.
Dad: The person who had those Sailor Moon discs also had other anime shows, so I bid on them. We got some neat ones. I know you like Tenchi Muyo, and I got you something called Card Captor Sakura. But I’ve never heard of this La Blue Girl.
Me: Well, uhm, La Blue Girl is an anime porn.
Dad: What.
Me: Yea. It’s called ‘hentai’. It’s animated porn.
Dad: People watch animated porn.
Me: Yes. They do.
Dad: … So do you still want the LD? I’m not gonna watch it but you know if you don’t want it.
Me: It’s fine. I’ll give it to someone.
Dad: Do you know anyone else who owns a laser disc player?
Me: … Nope.

I have to give props to my dad. He really does love my sister and I, and since he was raised in the sci-fi culture, he doesn’t bat an eye to the weird shit we like. He is also one of the few non anime fans I’ve ever met who doesn’t equate anime with being nothing but porn. To him all anime begins and ends with Sailor Moon, since my sister and I were (are) hardcore Sailor Moon fans. Of course, the conversation didn’t end there.

Dad: Do these people know these are in Japanese?
Me: I guess not.
Dad: Does anyone else besides you speak Japanese?
Mom: *from the other room* I bet people in Japan know Japanese!

No one else said anything the rest of the morning.

-Lauren

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Transformers 3

July 3, 2011

This movie is, without a doubt, the most fun I’ve had in a theater this year. I saw the movie in 3D, which was a good idea.

The plot is kind of muddled and doesn’t make much sense, but from what I got out of it, way back in the day an Autobot ship escaped Cybertron, but crashed on the moon. Some important Americans you should have learned about in history class flew up into space, explored the crash site, and left. The ship was carrying the former leader of the Autobots, and some kind of robot bridge that would have saved Cybertron and won the war. After Optimus Prime learns that his former leader is up on the moon, he gets angry at the humans for hiding it from him. They rescue the robot, revive him, and some bad shit happens. I can’t really give much else away because that would be giving away some major spoilers, sorry. Just know there’s a lot of plot holes, some questionable things that somehow don’t follow the other two movies, and Leonard Nimoy plays the lost Autobot leader. Also some of the humans in the movie were working with the Decepticons the whole time, and Chicago gets destroyed.

However, I don’t go into these movies expecting a plot or something that would make sense. I go in for giant robots fucking each other up. And you know what? That’s what I got. In 3D. Optimus Prime kicks serious ass in this movie, as does Bumblebee. There’s some new Autobots in the film, and we have no idea who they are or why they suddenly showed up. Some familiar robot faces also die in this movie. I’m a big enough person to admit I shed a tear at one scene. Over a CGI robot. The action scenes were pretty killer, and the human scenes were surprisingly really funny. This movie is by far the best of the three, which isn’t saying much since the entire franchise (including the cartoon show) was based around selling a toy. So, again, if you’re looking for the meaning of life in a film based around selling toys to 8-year-old kids, you need to get the hell over yourself.

Go see it. See it in 3D. Go see it with some friends, don’t expect any kind of plot, and enjoy this mindless summer film.

-Lauren

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