Katsucon, Arlington, Virginia, 2005

(Originally written on February 23, 2005)

I've been gradually coming out publicly as a Dollfie owner and customizer at anime conventions. The first anime convention I've ever been to—Otakon 2003—I didn't have anything to do with Super Dollfies or similar ball-jointed dolls because, at the time, I didn't know they existed and I was struggling with my scant knowledge of anime outside of Speed Racer, Astro Boy, and Love Hina. (My anime knowledge is still scant, although I've since become familiar with three more animes—Chrno Crusade, Sister Princess, and Great Teacher Onizuka. And I constantly get referrals to try out other anime series by anime buffs that I know but I've been too lazy to check those out.)

At my second anime convention (Otakon 2004) I learned about Super Dollfie's existence (thanks to a recent story about them in Time magazine) and I had just gotten some blank Dollfie Plus bodies to try out but I didn't bring any dolls to that convention because I didn't have any finished dolls at the time. I bought a pack of barretts from the Ball Jointed Revolution table in the Artists Alley and I later used two of them in making The Pink Fairy. I wanted to go to the Super Dollfie panel but I was only able to attend for one day (because I was scheduled to go out of town to visit relatives the next day and I couldn't back out of it) and that panel was scheduled for the next day when I couldn't attend.

At my third anime convention (Anime USA 2004), I brought my Blue Lady Dollfie Plus to that convention but I kept her in my purse until I came across a Super Dollfie table in the Artists Alley. I whipped my doll out and she got attention from the person who was staffing that table as well as other passer-bys. I won't go much into that encounter, since I've already wrote about it in detail last October as well as posted some photos from that one. I didn't know of any Super Dollfie events that happened at that convention (I know there were no panels or workshops on that topic) so my meet-up was limited to a visit with that one table.

When I found out on the Den of Angels forum that Ball Jointed Revolution was sponsoring a series of meet-ups throughout this year's Katsucon, I decided to go for it and meet some other like-minded people in person. In some ways, I feel isolated because I know of no other person in my area who are into Dollfies (or even know what a Dollfie is) and I have to go online to find other doll customizers. Katsucon provided an opportunity to meet other dolls and their owners and I wanted to go for it.

I wanted to bring my Dollfie Dream, Sakura, and my Dollfie Plus, The Blue Lady, to Katsucon. I thought it would be a cute idea to have Sakura hold The Blue Lady in her arms—you know, a doll holding a doll. The night before the convention, I had a mishap with The Blue Lady when her right arm suddenly snap in two like a pencil. I inspected the doll and found that her arm was broken at the joint, which meant I would have to find some way of repairing her. Since I didn't have time to repair the doll before the convention, I decided to do a temporary repair using this product called Stick to It!, which is a temporary adhesive that I found at Jo-Ann's Fabrics & Crafts. I also used Stick to It! to stick Sakura's wigs to her head throughout the whole weekend.

I also packed my digital camera for the convention, the results of which are posted in this blog. Before I go any further, I want to clarify one thing. All of the photos in this blog, except for four, were taken by me on my own digital camera. Two of the photos—both of which were ones of the doll owners taken at Friday's meet-up—were taken by a roommate of one of the doll owners and posted by Aie on the Den of Angels forum. The remaining two photos were scans of items I did on my own scanner after the convention ended.

I had to commute to the convention via the Metro all three days rather than get a hotel room because that was the only way I could even afford to attend Katsucon. I have a collection of canvas bags and backpacks (many of them my husband had gotten on various business trips) and I thought one of them would be big enough to carry Sakura. Well, I was wrong and I found that she could only fit in this backpack only if I bent her over at the waist. I was paranoid that people would staire at me on the Metro if I simply carried the doll the way that a child would carry a doll in public so I reluctantly decided to bundle Sakura in a backpack. (It was also no problem with fitting the Blue Lady in the backpack since she's small.)

So the night before the convention, I put the platinum blonde Monique Dutch Girl wig on Sakura, used the Stick to It! to hold the wig down (which worked really well), then put her in the backpack.

The first day of Katsucon wasn't so bad. I only had to wait in line for 15 minutes to get my weekend pass. I had to get used to the idea that the entire convention was held in two different hotels within a block of each other (Sheraton and Marriott). In some ways it was a pain because I was constantly flitting between two different hotels the entire weekend, which probably added to the total fatigue I felt when the whole thing was over.

The only non-doll event I attended at the convention was this workshop on Bemani that was so disorganized because the person running it arrived 20 minutes late and he didn't have any dance pads or any other controllers needed to show off the latest music games from Konami. One guy in attendance happened to bring his own deejay controller (which is used in the game Beatmania) and the workshop leader used it to demostrate not only Beatmania but also Dance Dance Revolution (which is usually played with a dance pad). Basically that workshop was a letdown.

I spent the rest of my time checking out the larger vendor tables in the Marketplace, where I bought lots of Pocky Sticks in a variety of flavors and other Japanese treats. I bought the second volume of the Dolls manga series, which was the only manga I purchased. I didn't buy any anime at all during my weekend at the convention. I also checkout the various tables in the two Artists Alley places (which were split up between the two hotels) as well as seeing the people dressed up as their favorite anime characters. (Some of those costumes are so elaborate.)

The first event scheduled for Friday was a meet-up then dinner. So I arrived at the Ball Jointed Revolution table, which were staffed by Dizzy and Aie. They had a whole bunch of dolls, some of them were borrowed from other owners. At that point I pulled Sakura and The Blue Lady out of my backpack and walked over to join the small crowd of doll owners who had gathered at the table. (I was glad that both of my dolls survived the trip intact.) It was so cool seeing so many dolls and their owners. I found the people there so nice and friendly as we all looked at each others' dolls. At that point, I discovered that The Blue Lady had lost her right hand, which freaked me out. I immediately started walking around where I've last been and found her tiny hand in the middle of the floor. I scooped it up and reattached it to my doll, which was a big relief.

The Artist Alley section where the Ball Jointed Revolution table was assigned was in a tiny nook of the Sheraton and it was one of five other tables in that tiny nook. So someone decided to take out meeting to a hotel room in the Marriott where four of the doll owners were staying. At that point, we arranged our dolls on top of a tall dresser. Here are a few photos from that meeting and feel free to click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger version of any photos (the photos will open in a new window):

The dolls are arranged on the dresser.

Sakura (top) holds The Blue Lady in her arms as other dolls gather in front of her.

The gang of dolls.

Another view of the gang of dolls.

Sakura (in blond wig with braids) holds The Blue Lady in her arms while being surrounded by other dolls.

Here's a view of the dolls' feet that I took under the dresser where they stood.

Here's a photo of the dolls and their owners. (I'm located at the top row, far right.)

Doll Owners Gone Wild!

After the initial round of pictures, we took our dolls to a local Chili's that was located about three blocks from the two hotels where the convention took place. We all displayed our dolls in the restaurant (although I put The Blue Lady back in the backpack because I didn't want to risk having that doll lose any more body parts).

There was an empty chair next to me and Sakura decided to take it for herself. That didn't last long because after I took that photo, the waiter said he needed that chair for another table (the restaurant was crowded that night).

So Sakura ended up sitting on the table, along with the other dolls (who aren't pictured here).

It was a pretty fun event. The only downside is that it was very cold that night. I was wearing a winter coat because of the weather forecast and I had a hard time slinging my backpack over my shoulders so I had to carry it like a bag, which was pretty awkward. Some of the people who walked back with me envied my coat because they either wore light jackets or didn't wear any jackets or coats at all. Once we got back to the Marriott, it was around 8:30 p.m. and I decided to put Sakura back into the backpack and head home.

When I got home around 9:30 p.m., the first thing I did was change Sakura's wig to the long, straight black Doll Heart wig. I also decided to pack some drawing supplies and a pad of newsprint in my backpack because I thought about attending a Figure Drawing workshop that was being held at 2 p.m. the next day and the description of the workshop urged people to bring their own supplies. The big hassle was that I couldn't fit Sakura into my backpack with the extra stuff so I decided to risk humilation on the Metro and just carry her the next day.

I woke up early the following morning because a Super Dollfie panel had been scheduled for 10 a.m. (even though the panel organizers didn't like the idea of having it that early but the people running Katsucon scheduled it that way). I decided to wear a denim jacket because it was easier to fit the backpack on my shoulders, even though it was cold that morning. (I wasn't planning on staying at the convention as late as I did the previous night and I was only going to be outside during the brief moments when I had to flit from hotel to hotel.) I got to the Metro station around 9 a.m. and I ended up sitting on the damned train for 20 minutes. (Metro's services totally sucks on the weekends, especially on weekend mornings.) The train began to move and I switched from the Green to the Yellow line at the Convention Center stop. The next train arrived soon afterwards and I was initially overjoyed until I got on and the train just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. I waited another 15 minutes before the damned train moved again.

In the meantime, I was totally paranoid about having people seeing Sakura on the Metro train. I was especially afraid when a young child came on the train with a parent because I feared that the child will point to the doll and start raising a noisy fit. I solved that problem by placing Sakura in a seat next to me and placing the backpack over her so she was totally covered. The only hassle came when I had to hold the doll while I switched trains but I found that people didn't staire at me or my doll. In fact, people didn't notice my doll at all. I should've realized that I was travelling through a big city where eccentric behavior wouldn't get noticed very much and I had nothing to fear by carting Sakura around in public.

By the time I arrived at the Super Dollfie panel, I was 15 minutes late due to Metro. It was an Introduction to Super Dollfie panel and the info that was presented was stuff that I've already learned from the Internet since last summer. Dizzy and Aie from Ball Jointed Revolution gave a well-done presentation. I saw a lot of people arrive with their dolls, some of whom I recognized from last night's meet up and dinner.

Once the formal presentation ended, Dizzy and Aie invited all the doll owners to gather their dolls at the front table for a picture taking session. I gave them Sakura with her doll stand. I was going to have her hold The Blue Lady again, until I opened my backpack and discovered that the poor Dollfie Plus had lost her head. I managed to find her head in the bottom of the backpack and re-attached it, but I decided to keep that doll in the backpack for the rest of the day because I feared that I would permanently lose a major body part that would ruin the doll. So Sakura managed to go up by herself and she held her own against the other lovely dolls that were in attendance.

Sakura (top) and the other dolls at the Super Dollfie panel.

The picture taking session continued for many minutes until a couple of Katsucon volunteers told us to clear out in order to make way for another panel that was happening following our panel. I had an embarrassing mishap when I tried to reach for my Sakura and I accidentally caused another doll (a Mini Super Dollfie) to topple owner. It lead to gasps when that doll fell over on the table on her back. The doll was wearing a pair of elf ears and one of them fell off and I began to feel nervous because I was afraid that I would be reponsible for an expensive doll repair job which, in turn, would get my husband totally annoyed. (It's bad enough that he thinks that spending more than $30 for a doll is pure insanity.) The good news is that the elf ears were removable so I didn't break off a doll's ear. In fact, the other doll was in good shape. The other owner immediately hugged and kissed her doll. I was so embarrassed at what happened and relieved that nothing damaging had occurred that I simply slinked away from the room without talking to anyone and I went to the Art Show next door to recover from that near catastrophe by viewing anime drawings and paintings done by local artists.

After I calmed down at the Art Show, I walked by the Merchants' Room because I thought about doing another day of shopping. But then I saw the huge line of people who were waiting to get into the room (the previous day one could just walk into that room without waiting in any lines) that stretched down several hallways so I gave up on that idea. Instead I took my doll and went over to the Crystal City Underground next door where I ate an early lunch at Subway.

At one point I ran into this guy who had the nerve to ask me "So how much does your weird-looking doll cost?" This guy was even dressed in costume (or at least it looked like a costume since it looked like something that an average teenager or college student wouldn't be caught dead in) and yet he called my doll "weird-looking"!!! When I answered "$200" he made this grimace with his face. He looked like one of those anime geeks who would make a lousy boyfriend/husband/lover because he's too wrapped up in his own little world. (I'm willing to bet that he doesn't get laid very often.)

I learned from the previous panel that another panel on customization was going to be held in the same hotel room where we doll owners gathered the previous night because, for whatever reason, the people running Katsucon weren't able to find room for two workshops on Super Dollfies. (All of the official Katsucon workshops were held in one conference room in the Sheraton, which is different from the other conventions I've attended where more than one conference rooms were used for workshops.)

So basically we had around 16 people squeezed into a hotel room that's meant to accomodate four people to run a workshop. The first thing we did was to place our dolls on the window ledge for another picture taking session.

Dolls on the window ledge overlooking the various Crystal City buildings.

The customization panel went well. I learned that some of the doll owners use Folk Art paints for customizing and it worked out well. (Folk Art paints are sold in most art and craft stores and they cost far less than Liquidtex and Windsor & Newton.) I also learned why one should never customize a doll with a Sharpie. (I heard horror stories about doll owners who did just that and they ended up messing up the doll and Sharpie is literally hard to remove.) I also got my first-hand look at Mr. Super Clear, a product that is used in doll customization but is sold only in Japan and is frequently sold out on Volks' site. I even took a picture of the doll supplies for my own personal reference since I don't know when I'll ever see Mr. Super Clear in person again.

Doll customization supplies.

Once the formal presentation was over, we all chatted and we compared wigs and outfits. I temporarily swapped wigs with another doll owner and I tried a short bobbed black wig on Sakura. I found that she resembles Shinobu Maehara from the Love Hina anime series, which I thought was so cute. (I learned that there is the possibility that there will be a doll cosplaying contest at this year's Otakon. If I find a short bob wig, then Sakura can definitely go as Shinobu, which would be cool.)

There was also a raffle drawing at the customization panel and I won a really cute necklace for my Dollfie Dream. Here's a scan of it:

I had planned on attending the Figure Drawing Workshop at 2 p.m. but I was enjoying myself socializing with the other doll owners so I never made it over there. Besides, I was starting to feel muscle fatigue and attending the other workshop meant that I would've had to take an elevator from the 14th floor (where the workshop was held) down to the lobby and walk from the Marriott to the Sheraton and walk up a flight of stairs to the second floor where the workshop was being held.

Dizzy took out the box of things that she was selling at her Artist's Alley table and I fell in love with a mermaid's tail that was big enough to fit both a Super Dollfie and a Dollfie Dream. The only problem was that the mermaid's tail cost $30 and I was $10 short so I didn't buy it. I figured that I could buy it at her table the next day.

I ended up leaving the hotel room at 3 p.m. because I had to leave the convention. My church had planned a Polish ethnic dinner that evening and I promised that I would attend so I couldn't stay at the convention too late. It was just as well because there wasn't anything else that I was interested in. The trip home wasn't as long as in the morning because the trains arrived and left the station quickly.

When I arrived home, the first thing I did was change Sakura's wig to the brownish red Ajumapama wig for the next day and I took the drawing supplies out of my backpack. I did some brief web surfing and I check out eBay. On impulse I bidded on this pretty lavender wig on an auction that was ending soon for my Sakura because I wanted to add a wig in an unusual color to my collection and I ended up being the highest bidder. Then I headed off to the Polish dinner where I struggled to be sociable despite the intense fatigue I was feeling from Katsucon.

The next morning I was totally exhausted when I woke up. I wasn't sure if I would be up for another day of going to the convention. But then I remembered that I had purchased a three-day pass and it would've been a waste of money if I didn't go for all three days. There was a doll tea party that was originally scheduled for Sunday but it may or may not be happening and I feared that it would be my luck if I didn't go and the tea party did happen. I also wanted to buy that mermaid's tail from Dizzy and, hopefully, meet up with my new aquaintances. So I decided to skip church and head straight to the convention. I decided to leave Sakura out of the backpack for the trip and I simply covered her body with my backpack whenever we were on board the train. I had no problems with commuting with a doll in hand whatsoever. I was also happy that the weather had warmed up a bit so I felt comfortable wearing my denim jacket.

When I arrived at the Marriott, I found that that the crowds from yesterday had dissipated. In fact, one of the registration tables were completely empty, except for a copy of an manga anthology that was given free to all convention goers. So I took a photo of Sakura sitting on that table.

Ball Jointed Revolution had originally scheduled a doll tea party for 11 a.m. that day. However, during the customization panel yesterday, Dizzy mentioned that the tea party may or may not be happening because of a lack of supplies. She said that it might go off if they got some tea bags. So I headed over to Dizzy's table in the Sheraton around 10:55 a.m. only to find that her table was empty. I assumed that she had simply slept in so I decided to go back to the Merchants' Room in the Marriott and do some shopping. There was a line outside that room but it was much shorter than the previous day and I only had to wait 15 minutes to enter. So I managed to purchase a few things for my husband for his birthday (which is today) that I knew he would love. I purchased a pretty pink crystal butterfly necklace for myself for $23. I also purchased the strangest item. It's a keychain of a popular Japanese cartoon character named Peko. The package says that it's the 50th anniversary of that character's existence. The keyring includes two charms. One of them is a fan with Japanese writing on it. But, what's really strange is that the other charm is of Peko wearing an Uncle Sam outfit. It would be like seeing Mickey Mouse carrying an American flag while wearing a kimono. Here's a scan of this keychain:

Peko

I've since placed that keyring—still in its original package—in Sakura's purse alongside the other keychain items that are already in there.

While I was shopping, I ran into a few other doll owners I met at the previous events. I said "Hi" briefly because I began to feel tired and hungry. So I headed back to the Crystal City Underground, where I ate a quick lunch at Sbarro's. By that time, it was 1 p.m. so I decided to head back to Dizzy's table at the Sheraton to see if she was around so I could purchase that mermaid's tail. I even hit the ATM machine in order to make sure I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted.

When I came back to Dizzy's table, I found that it was empty. At that point, I realized that Dizzy wasn't going to be working her own table that day and I had missed out on buying anything from Ball Jointed Revolution. As a consolation, I took a couple of photos of Sakura lounging on Dizzy's former table.

Sakura sitting next to abandoned Ball Jointed Revolution signs and flyers.

The big irony is that I took a picture of Sakura sitting next to a sign that says "Please No Photography!" in big bold letters that are highlighted.

I ran into another new doll acquaintance I had met at the previous doll events and learned that Dizzy had decided not to work her table that day due to issues she had with the Katsucon staff. I was sorry that I missed her and Aie completely. It also looked like Sakura wasn't going to get a mermaid's tail. Oh well. At that point, my legs were totally dead and I was feeling really exhausted so I decided to cut my visit to the convention short. It was no big deal since nothing of major importance was going on, except for an afternoon matinee concert that was happening by this big name Japanese rock band named Psycho Le Cemu (whom I have never heard of). I thought about checking the group out but then I found that I wouln't be allowed to carry my backpack or my digital camera with me into the concert hall and I had no alternate place to stash them since I was commuting via the Metro and I didn't see any lockers that I could rent. If the group had been U2 or Bruce Springsteen or someone I had heard of and liked, I would've tried harder to see about getting my items stashed or checked so I could go to the concert. But I wasn't about to make the effort for a band whose music I know absolutely nothing about.

The doll events were the best thing about Katsucon. In fact, they were the only things I enjoyed about Katsucon since I didn't feel that the convention was quite as good as Otakon or Anime USA. If it weren't for the doll events, I don't know if I would've even taken the time to go to that convention since the events seemed thin compared to the other two anime conventions I've mentioned. On top of that, it was a total pain in the ass to constantly have to go outside and flit between two hotels to go from one area of the convention to the other. I would've preferred to have everything in one building.

I liked all of the doll owners I've met. They all seemed like really great people.

Katsucon, Arlington, Virginia, 2005

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