Tim's Anime Boston 2006 Report

Part 2: Saturday

Ventured in with my brother along for the ride. Upon getting him registered and settled, it was a quick poke around the videogame room and the convention hall before getting in line for the first of the panels I'm actually interested in attending - the Dominic Deegan Q&A. Mookie is quite the personable guy...he seems like he'd be really cool to just hang out with. The audience was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and didn't ask too many dumb questions (or at least questions Mookie couldn't answer - spoiler type stuff). A nice mix of story questions and process questions. Sure, he was up in front of a few dozen people, and has probably met hundreds over the last couple years in all the cons he's done, but I really felt like I got to know him...despite the fact that I'm practically nothing next to him. Not that I'm putting him on a pedastal (though one girl at the panel said he looked like "an Euro-centric Jesus"), but more of a dig at my own status in the webcomic world.

Next, the "How to Create a Successful Webcomic" panel. Which we got into late because there was a line of people who somehow didn't realize the panel had already started. In any case, it reminded me a lot of the webcomic panel I went to at Arisia a couple years ago...the panelists were all "professionals" with their own websites and traffic and whatnot. So, their definition of "successful" was "making money off of it". Which I have a problem with, personally, because that's not my ultimate goal of my webcomic. They did mention starting off with free hosting on sites like Comic Genesis or Drunk Duck, but they made it sound like it was just there for hosting and that the next step is to buy your own domain and hosting. Which for some part is true, but there's so much more to take advantage of with Comic Genesis. But then again, I may be biased. ;)

There was a drawing workshop, but we figured that was going to be too much of a hassle to get into (besides, if I want to practice drawing manga, I'll buy a book...I know they're out there). So we poked around some more. Eventually, we came upon the Steve Blum/Vic Mignogna panel, so as a bit of a consolation to myself for missing the autographs, we stopped in. Now, this was a much different atmosphere than Mookie's panel. It was equal parts hilarious and excruciating to witness. These people are much more hardcore anime nerds, and their questions reflected it. First, let me begin by saying: a lot of the questions posed by the audience started with "I have a question for you." Well, DUH, that's why you're at the panel. Anyway. It seemed the majority of the questions were just a flimsy attempt for Blum and Mignogna to say a line or quote from whatever they happened to be talking about. Which, to their credit, they did...but you couldn't help feeling they were just being made to jump through hoops. There was the occasional intelligent question thrown in, such as "What was your favorite character to play?" and such, but there were a lot more dumb "if Spike could have any girl in the anime universe, who would he have?" or "I know it's gonna start a war, but I have to ask: pirates or ninjas?" or "Final Fantasy or Naruto?" (which doesn't even make sense, because that's comparing two separate things! >:( ) So we kinda snuck out early (but not before the FullMetal Alchemist movie trailer) and got some dinner.

Upon our return we went back to the gaming room and played a couple games of Pirates. And it was encouraging to see some people playing it at the next table, and others stopping by our table and recognizing the game. Remember, I'm coming from an experience of having played the game with a grand total of 4 people over the last 10 weeks, so to meet people who have heard of the game is super for me. On our way out I wanted to stop by Artist's Alley, which we did, and I was able to say hi to Mookie personally. He happened to be drawing a sketch with I think was going for the raffle the convention was holding, but he was friendly and graciously accepted a piece of fanart I drew for him (which I'll show you later when it's up).

I should also mention I spent most of the day in costume...as myself. Specifially, with Sym...you can see an older picture here. I also brought some "business cards" with me...just a quick sketch and the name and URL on a slip of paper. I got a couple questions about the alien on my shoulder, so I handed out a couple...so my plan worked! Unfortunately, after being fidgeted with for most of the day, Sym got tired and...well, kinda broke his spine. And that's something I'm not too sure how to fix right now, short of a quick fix of duct tape or something. So I'll have to see if the costume is something worth fixing for tomorrow...provided I still decide to venture back tomorrow. Stay tuned!
posted by Tim at 12:00 AM