Anime Revolution 2012

That ceiling!

There was a strange level of expectation for its launch year: first being their ridiculously priced registration, second for their departure from their former self as AE (taking many minions with them), and lastly the slow trickle of guest announcements (although all western guests at the time) throughout the year. Not until the final few months did they finally give us want we really want and brought one amazing Japanese guest to our shores. Whether that one amazing guest justified the rest of the con is another story completely however...

The day before:

Thought I'd be smart and stop by to grab my badge early at the pre-reg, and but nope, not as smart as one would think. Got there after work, joined the silly long line, and waited like a sucker for an hour and a half. Alright!

The first day:
The morning I got a ride from LightningSabre and got there to lineup again for another hour or so for his badge (not that there was anything else happening during that time anyway, which actually became a reoccurring thing). We made our way to the dealers hall first thing, strolled around, said hi to some of LS' friends, and stayed on the lookout for cosplayers that caught our eye.

When lunch rolled around, we met up with one of LS' friends who worked in the actual building itself for food at Mahony & Sons, then headed back. We sat in on the Ghibli panel where the dude just showed clips that were badly clipped. What seemed like not long after we had lunch, we went to grab dinner at the neighbouring food court (more to waste as much time as possible). The only other interesting panel we thought we'd stop by was the Terri, Ron, and Sugar Q&A (mainly for Sugar). We couldn't help but notice the frequent disruption from the adjoining panel "room" (room = an actual room divided by a cloth wall, to make the separate "rooms"), which was rather annoying.

(l-r) Terri Hawkes, Ron Rubin, and Sugar Lyn Beard

With nothing else interesting lined up, we found a place to chill for a few hours without being yelled at by AR staff for being a fire hazard. Our final panel for the day was the swimsuit contest which, is strange for me to say but, was quite entertaining and worth the wait. A bit overboard on the innuendos and puns but the contestants counterattacked them all pretty well.

The next day:
Ended up joining LightningSabre again that day and caught the tail end of his ball joint meet. Found Lester (and Ty eventually) and got our Nakata Jouji autographs. With nothing better to do, we checked out the Aniplex panel but, as a consequence, we were unable to get into Nakata Jouji's panel because of the silly underestimated person capacity. We spent the rest of the day chilling at KL-chan's booth when Tofu joined in on our exciting lack of festivities. Also, interestingly enough, discovered that PiggyHoHo, from way back when of the online CCS community days, is a local and had a booth right beside us in the AA. Small world. ;o

Nakata Jouji

That night we deferred night market fooding to the next day and decided to finish up in the downtown area with Sanpachi Ramen for dinners.

The Sanpachi Ramyuns.

Seeing how the first two days were already a snore, I opted to skip out on Sunday to get errands done. The hanging out and stuffing our faces with street food at the night market later that day was more engrossing than the two days prior combined.

I'll still give them credit for being able to pull together a huge guest line-up for their first attempt, which is rather impressive in comparison to their competitors. However they get negative points for their ugly usage of the venue and the lack of activities available. Their pre-registration line is also inexcusable; on-site registration should NOT be available on a pre-register day and that manpower and booth space should also be solely used for that pre-reg line present. Providing some proper seating area would also be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, good try. Now try harder.