Otakon 2007, Baltimore, Maryland

(Originally written on July 24, 2007)

Day 1

Last weekend I ended up attending the annual Otakon anime convention for the first time since 2005. (I skipped last year because my husband and I took an once-in-a-lifetime car trip where we visited New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Quebec.)

I wasn't sure if I would be up for going this year because I was sick with the flu for most of last week, which came close on the heels of an unexpected family crisis. (In fact, the flu came within hours after the crisis was resolved for the time being.) I decided to go at the last minute when I began to feel better from the flu only the day before the start of the convention.

The last time I attended Otakon, I wrote a story about it and even took photographs for the now-defunct e-zine Dollicieux. (That article is still archived here. I also posted outtake photos from the same article on my own website.) This year I basically attended on my own with no pretenses of being a reporter for a doll e-zine so I had no worries beyond posting photos in the Den of Angels forum as well as my own website.

I arrived in Baltimore early because I didn't get a chance to pre-register for the convention and by the time I thought seriously about going, the pre-registration period had passed. I thought that I would have to wait in line for a couple of hours (which actually happened when I attended Otakon previous years without pre-registering). The big irony was that the line for those who were purchasing badges at the door was relatively short and I got my badge in under 30 minutes while the line for those who pre-registered snaked around the entire Baltimore Convention Center at least once (although I heard rumors that the line went around the building twice). I know it sounded like those who pre-registered got the short-end of the stick in terms of customer satisfaction but it's not my place to talk about this.

The biggest pain about the entire convention had more to do with the Baltimore Convention Center than about the con itself. For unknown reasons, the escalators were working sporadically. When I first arrived there on the first day, there were no working escalators at all so I had to climb up and down stairs a lot (which was hard since many of the exhibits, panels, and workshops were on different floors). As the day went on, a few of the escalators were switched on but not all of them. By nightfall, the majority of escalators were running.

I thought that all of the escalators would be running the next day since they were working when I left. Well, I thought wrong because the fucking escalators had been shut off the next day and they weren't switched on at all until it was nearly nightfall.

I had no idea what the hell was going on but there's something fucked about the convention center escalators. It was bad enough that elevator access was severely limited to convention center staffers and people with disabilities. But to not have escalators when there were tons of people milling about is totally messed up. Especially since I saw plenty of anime fans who aren't in the best physical shape. (Let's just say that there are hardcore fans who get very wrapped up into the anime/otaku culture at the expense of taking time to eat right and exercise.) I know that the people I'm referring to could stand to lose a few pounds but an anime convention is NOT the right time to suddenly start a radical new exercise program. It's only fortunate that someone didn't suffer a heart attack over this.

The best thing about the convention was the weather. The humidity was very low so it made walking from the Baltimore Convention Center to Harborplace (and back) such a pleasant experience. (Usually the humidity is incredibly high this time of the year, which makes walking the streets of Baltimore very challenging.)

Since I arrived early, I had more time to kill than I thought. So I checked out both the Dealer's Room and the Alley (formerly known as Artists Alley). Since Otakon is one of the largest anime conventions on the East Coast, it took me quite a while to get through both areas. I also was glad that I packed a lunch and a few sodas on that first day since the convention center food areas were very crowded with long lines. (It was no big loss since the convention center food tends to be overpriced and low quality.) So I managed to save time by not waiting in long lines and money (which meant I could use it to buy goodies for myself instead of buying overpriced convention center food).

What was really cool about attending Otakon this time around was seeing a number of people selling Asian ball-jointed doll clothing, wigs, and other accessories in both the Dealer's Room and the Alley. I managed to purchase some masculine clothing for my new Fantasy Doll Tobias since it would save me the time of trying to sew some outfits for this guy. I also purchased a couple of short-haired wigs for him as well.

There were two ball-jointed doll manufacturers present at Otakon and they were taking orders for dolls. One was Bishonen House and the other was Divinity Doll. I bought a couple of doll-sized buttons from the former while I purchased a wig and a few shirts from the latter. Bishonen House had this very muscular male doll on display that was just finished recently and he was gorgeous but I was too cash-poor to buy him. (Besides, I'm still busy getting used to Tobias.) Bishonen House had this really cool idea besides selling doll-sized buttons. They had some gorgeous framed photos of their dolls for sale at a low price, which is great for people who love their dolls but can't afford to actually buy one. If I didn't have a problem with lack of wall space in my home, I definitely would've bought at least one framed print.

After walking around and doing some shopping for a while, my feet grew tired. I sat in on this workshop on "Gesture Drawing" because I thought it would be good to brush up on my drawing skills. I've taken college level classes on drawing and painting in the past so I thought I knew what was in store when the instructor of this workshop announced that it would be like a college-level class. Well it was led by this woman who started us off on this bizarre exercise called "Contour Drawing" where we drew a picture of the model but we weren't allowed to look at our paper while we were drawing. She claimed that it was taught in college art classes but the college art teachers I had never did anything like that.

Come to think of it, I once took a workshop on "Contour Drawing" at Anime USA a few years back because I didn't know what it was and it was led by a woman who made us do drawings of a model without allowing us to look at our papers while drawing. The woman who led that workshop looked a lot like the woman who led the workshop on "Gesture Drawing" at Otakon. She mentioned that she has been teaching drawing at a variety of anime conventions over the past few years so I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same instructor.

Once we were through with our contour drawing, she moved on to gesture drawing that was equally bizarre. When I took a college class on drawing, I can recall my instructor having us do quick gesture drawings where the model posed for anywhere between 30 seconds and two minutes. (Usually the model started off posing for 30 seconds the first few times, then gradually progressed to posing for one minute, then a minute and a half, then two minutes.) This woman made the model pose for five seconds maximum while telling us not to draw stick figures. The only thing is that when I'm dealt with a model who is ordered to hold a pose for no longer than five seconds, drawing stick figures is the best that I can do because filling in the figure beyond mere sticks is impossible to do in five seconds. At the end of this workshop, I made a mental note of her face and reminded myself that if I ever take another drawing class (whether it's through a college or a local community center or non-profit group) in the future and I somehow end up with her as an instructor, I should drop the class immediately.

Once the workshop ended, I walked over to the area where the first doll meet-up was being held and I found quite a few dolls and their owners. This meet-up was supposed to be about stringing loosely strung dolls, which was why I only brought my Volks Dollfie Dream. (She has the original body that is strung with elastic but she has always been strung a bit on the loose side and I've always been a bit leery about attempting to string her tightly myself because I'm paranoid about ruining a doll that I originally paid $180 for a few years ago.) Except there was so much socializing that we never got around to doll stringing so my Volks Dollfie Dream is still loosely strung. At least I got come cool photos. (Click on any of the photos to see a larger version open in a new window.)

My Dollfie Dream, Sakura, poses in her new bunny slippers that I purchased from one of the Alley tables. Not only does she look adorable in them but, for some reason, she is actually able to stand on her own when she wears them. (Which is something I can't even get her to do either in bare feet or when she's wearing one of her other pairs of shoes.)

A gathering of the dolls and their owners. This meet-up was pleasant and I felt totally relaxed. I met plenty of new people as well as a few people whom I had already met at previous meet-ups over the last few years.

Asian ball-jointed dolls weren't the only kind of dolls present. The two meet-ups held during Otakon included plenty of Pullip dolls such as this one. (She's holding one of the new Pipos Baha ball-jointed dolls that are shaped like cats.)

Some Asian ball-jointed dolls cuddled up next to cloth plush dolls.

I still couldn't get over how well my Dollfie Dream was able to stand on her own in her new slippers. Ironically, the slippers only cost me $10 while this same doll is unable to stand in other shoes that cost me more money (like around $30-40 a pair) than those slippers.

Here's a close-up of the bunny slippers. They are so adorable! My only regret was that I forgot to write down the name of the person in the Alley who sold them!

What was really wild about the first day of Otakon was that I kept on running into someone who was hauling a wagon full of dolls throughout the convention. She did this despite the fact that the escalators weren't working on a regular basis and the elevators were limited to convention center staffers and people in wheelchairs. (There were ominous signs posted outside each elevator that basically discouraged most people from using it.) When I saw her again for the umpteenth time at the meet-up, I asked her how she managed to get about the various convention floors with the wagon. She said that she basically ignored the signs and used the elevators anyway. She said that no one said anything to her about it.

I basically stuck around the meet-up until I grew tired and decided to head home. (For financial reasons, I opted to commute to and from the convention instead of staying at a hotel in Baltimore.)

Day 2

I returned to the convention. I decided to drive the car into the city rather than take the light rail in (which is how I usually travel to downtown Baltimore) mainly because I was traveling with two large dolls (a Volks Dollfie Dream and a Fantasy Doll Tobias) and I wanted the option to take my larger dolls back to the car after I attended the second scheduled doll meet-up. I also brought my Canon Digital Rebel SLR camera and my Samsung Digital-cam with me. I figured that I would use the Canon to take the still photos. I decided to bring the Samsung mainly because my husband had originally purchased the videocamera for me and I've been feeling guilty over the fact that I tend to shoot more still photos than movies. (The big issue with me regarding video is that you usually have to have an event or a story in mind and I just don't have the inspiration to shoot movies very often. In contrast, one doesn't need a story to take a single photo of something--whether it's a flower or someone playing basketball in the local playground.)

The second day meet-up was even more crowded than the first. I discovered that it was a bear juggling two cameras and five Asian ball-jointed dolls. (In addition to the two large dolls I mentioned earlier, I also brought three smaller dolls--a Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Soul Doll Kimmy, and Orient Doll Ji. At least they were pretty portable.) I basically set up my dolls in the area where other people had set up their dolls on display and left them there while I juggled the two cameras. I alternated between shooting video and still photos for a while. I quit shooting video footage once I got 12 minutes' worth mainly because I planned on posting this on YouTube and they have a 10 minute limit and, let's face it, shooting footage of people holding their dolls, changing their dolls' clothes, and swapping clothes and wigs can get pretty redundant after a while.

Once I got home I managed to pare down the footage into a manageable size using iMovie before I uploaded it on YouTube. Here's the video footage:

Here are the still photos I took of the second meet-up. When I first arrived, I decided to place my three smaller dolls (left to right: Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Orient Doll Ji, and Soul Doll Kimmy) next to this Volks Yo-SD that belonged to someone else.

I decided to place my two bigger dolls together (Volks Dollfie Dream and Fantasy Doll Tobias). They made a pretty cute couple together.

After I was busy alternating between shoot still photos and video for a while, I decided to check up on my dolls only to discover that the owner of the Yo-SD had removed her doll, which left my three smaller dolls sitting there by themselves. I became paranoid that someone may accidentally trample on the dolls (which was understandable since there were tons of people milling about during the entire meet-up) so I moved them to be closer to my two larger dolls. Here is a rundown of what dolls I brought to the meet-up. The large male doll in the back of the photo is my Fantasy Doll Tobias. The large female doll sitting in front of him is my Volks Dollfie Dream. Sitting in my Dollfie Dream's lap is my Orient Doll Ji. The female doll sitting to the left of the Dollfie Dream is my Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo. The male doll sitting to the right of the Dollfie Dream is my Soul Doll Kimmy.

This shot should give you a better idea of how well-attended this meet-up was by both dolls and their human owners. Here are some more scenes from the doll meet-up.

During the meet-up people had a variety of stuff for sale or trade, including clothes, wigs, even an extra doll head.

Even though it was officially an Asian ball-jointed doll meet-up, there were plenty of people who brought Pullips as well. As the proud owner of a Pullip Latte and Namu Trunk, I'm kicking myself for not bringing those dolls to the meet-up along with my other dolls. They would've blended in with the Pullips who did show up.

The anime I saw was subtitled and it did a pretty faithful job of adapting the manga, although it rearranged the sequence of events. (For example, Sugintoh made her first appearance very early in the first volume of the manga while she didn't make an appearance in the anime version until the third episode.)

I first heard of Rozen Maiden on the Den of Angels forum a few years ago when some people reported how they had downloaded a few of the original Japanese language episodes via Bitorrent. There were a few versions floating about that were fansubbed but I was glad when Tokyopop came out with an official English language version of the manga just so I can see why so many Den of Angels members fell in love with the series. (For me, it's just that I have this fantasy where I actually get a hold of Shinku and she proceeds to boss my husband around and she slaps him every time he gets too annoying with his numerous smartass remarks that he spouts non-stop. It would be cool and hilarious to see my smartass husband being put in his place by a doll.)

I have a feeling that the anime I saw at Otakon was an official English dubbed version and not a fansubbed version. That's because I've just looked up Rozen Maiden on the Wikipedia and found out that the first DVD volume was released in the U.S. over a month and a half ago and it consisted of the same first four episodes that I saw at Otakon. (There's even an official website for the English language DVD.)

After I finished watching the anime, I was really tired so I basically headed home after a long day. I skipped that introductory panel on Asian ball-jointed dolls that Dizzy from Ball-Jointed Revolution was giving mainly because it was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. and I've been to that same panel given by the same person at other anime conventions so I didn't feel that I would miss anything by not attending. Besides, I would've been too tired to enjoy it anyway.

Day 3

Despite my recent flu, I did okay physically at Otakon until I became so totally exhausted by the end of the second day. The next day I was still completely exhausted from the previous two days so I ended up skipping the last day of the convention. It was too bad because I really wanted to check out the "Bad Anime Bad!" panel that was scheduled for the morning of the last day because I caught a panel of the same name at Anime USA a few years back and I found it totally funny because it was led by a guy who is a conosseiur of bad anime and he found plenty of hysterical doozies. But I was too tired and sore to even make the trek back to Baltimore and I'm sorry that I had missed it.

The Aftermath

Like I wrote earlier, I was too tired and sore to attend the third and final day of the con. But by the following day I woke up with a horrible cold. So now I'm going through yet another major stress in my life for the third week in a row. Two weeks ago was the family crisis. Last week was the flu, which I recuperated just in time to attend Otakon. Now I'm battling a major cold. I wonder if I picked it up from some unwashed Otaku during the convention in the guise of the common moniker "convention crud". (Every time I bring a doll to one of these anime conventions, I generally find some smudge that I have to wipe off with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser afterwards. I've even had my tiny dolls pick up smudges.) Shit, this really blows.

Otakon 2007, Baltimore, Maryland

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

The Aftermath

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