PAN'S NOVEMBER TAC 2003 CON REPORT

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9th, 2003

Early Sunday morning, I met up with Amanda, Becky, Becky's friend (whose name I can't remember for the life of me), Sakura, and Chapel to head downtown to the TAC one-day convention. This was the first one-day convention held by Hobbystar so we weren't sure what to expect. If anything, we were expecting a mini version of CN Anime.

Amanda and I made Gundam Wing doujinshi costumes and went as Heero and Duo (You can find out more about or costumes here). Becky and Sakura went as Husky and Cooro from +Anima, and Chapel wore his Cam Neely hockey jersey (yes, I know it's not really a costume). We took the subway and scared random people with our costumes. Chapel pretended he didn't know us. ^^;

Anyway, when we got there, we found the setup. The con area wasn't as large as CN, but as predicted, was basically a smaller version of CN. There was a smaller dealer's room, two panel rooms and a main area to hang out in. The con wasn't set to start for a while so everyone was lined up. I took this opportunity to run around and take some pictures. I ran into Ashley, who was dressed as Ray from Beyblade. Actually, two of her friends were also dressed as Ray. It was Ray central. ^^

The other girl dressed as Ray was named Lin and the other girl hanging out with them who wasn't in costume was named Mackenzie. I think she goes to Amanda's school. It's a small world, ne? ^^ We caused chaos hung out throughout the entire con. ^^

As the con officially started, I took more pictures of the cosplayers. Considering how small the con was, I was surprised at the amount of cosplayers. ^^ My friend Bonnie came dressed as InuYasha and I didn't even recognize her at first. ^^; I then attacked scared a Quatre cosplayer and took some photos of the Monty Python cosplayers because they were really cool. I met a girl hanging out with them and forgot her name twice. I still don't remember it. ><;

The DBZ cosplayers I see at many Toronto based cons were there, but instead of dressing up as Goku and Krillin, they were characters from the Matrix. Saffi was there too. She was dressed as one of her friend's original characters from a webcomic, if I'm not mistaken. The Trigun cosplayers from CN were also there. I recognized the Meryl because she was so good and the Vash because I have him on videotape asking me if I was stalking Trunks. ^^;;; Err... anyway, Vash had lost a button from his coat, and I had extra emergency black buttons about the same size sewed onto the inside of my trench coat. I took out my sewing kit and randomly sewing a button on him while he was waiting in line. ^^;;;

Jen and Lauren showed up dressed as Cammy and Chun-Li from Street Fighter, and along with Bonnie and Ashley, we ended up taking a bunch of random photos in which was attacked Ashley. Also, Sakura and Becky were getting recognized as +Anime characters, which was surprising considering how many people know the manga. They looked awesome, so it was great to see them getting the attention. ^^

I bothered Dan and ran into the girls from YukiAme.com. Maki was, if I'm not mistaken, dressed as one of the girls from Morning Musume. Her costumes are always so awesome. ^^ Also ran into some Escaflowne cosplayers and some other people I knew from previous cons. I spotted Mekou-chan and attacked her with my camera. ^^; She had a Bakura plushie! Bakura~! ^^

By about noon, most people -- especially those that came early -- were done exploring the dealer's room. Instead of being bored, everyone seemed to break off into smaller groups and make their own fun. This is what usually happens at CN, but due to the size of TAC, it turned into social event much sooner that average. If there's one thing I can say about con-goers, it's that they never get bored.

There was a central area with a table and some couch-like chairs that became home base for most people. We all dumped our stuff there and basically hung out. Amanda, Shinji, Saffi, Becky and a bunch of other people were playing this game with cups and Josh was running around in the background. Super Uber Nice Anime Guy was there, so I ended up talking to him. ^^

Brad Swaile (the voice of Quatre from Gundam Wing) was there. He was signing autographs. You should've seen the fans swarm. *heh*

Before Brad's panel, we went the panel room and hung out. I talked with of the people hanging out there. I ran into two of Amiboshi's friends (both their names are Steph) and talked to them for a bit. There was another convention being held the weekend after TAC, except it was in Montreal. I was planning to go and so were they, so we talked for a bit about this, that and the other thing. ^^

Two guys were sitting at the front at the panel table. They had mikes and were talking to the crowd. They were very random. I ended up talking with them and when one of them got up, I took his seat. We basically acted like a distraction since Brad was still signing autographs and therefore late. One of the guys commented something about strength and I mentioned something about being able to lift him up if I wanted to. He bet me that I couldn't lift him, and the next thing I knew, I was lifting him up on my back. Bwah~! Err... those two guys were fun to annoy. Must do it again sometime. ^^;;;

Brad showed up and his panel started. I learned a ton about Brad at his panel. He's a real interesting guy. People asked him all sorts of interesting questions and we got all sorts of interesting answers. We learned some stories about his voice acting experiences, and interesting things about everything from his cats, to his Star Wars collection, to his favorite hockey player.

Actually, the hockey player question was quite amusing. My friend Chapel, who was standing near the back, asked him who his favorite hockey player was. I almost fell off my chair in laughter when he asked. Brad started going on and on about hockey, his favorite teams, who he thought was going to win and all sorts of stuff. He looked at Chapel when he was going to answer who his favorite player was when he noticed Chapel's jersey. If you recall, Chapel was wearing a Cam Neely hockey jersey. Brad asked Chapel to turn around and sure enough, Brad was a Cam Neely fan and Brad and Chapel had this weird bonding moment while I tried not to fall off my chair with laughter. ^^

Half-way through the panel Kenney and Mike showed up. Kenney asked about goalies and both Kenney and Brad yelled "He's my favorite goalie!" at the same time. *heh*

I was surprisingly quiet through the panel, but I had already met Brad and asked him questions at AN earlier that year. It wouldn't be fair for me to ask more when other people had unanswered questions as well, ne? The guy sitting behind me asked if I was going to ask anything, and I responded with "But that would mean he'd stop talking. Please don't let him stop talking!" *heh*

For the record, I asked Brad to marry me and if he would like to be my 22nd husband. He look a tad freaked out and responded that he's only marry me if he could be my 25th husband. I think he thought this was a way to get rid of me not realizing that I was going to MAX (the Montreal con) the following weekend, that he'd be there, and that I could easily get enough husbands by then. He was gave a really weird look when I smiled and said something along the lines of "See you next weekend". ^^;

Part-way through the panel, Kenney (don't ask) dropped a metal baseball bat, and everyone turned to look at him. He started to pick up it, then noticed the eyes on him and bolted. *laughs* It was very amusing.

Someone asked Brad to do a Great Saiyaman (DBZ) pose. Brad stood on the table and posed. ^^ It was so great! He made a great Great Saiyman!

Soon after, his panel ended and we all went back out to the main area to hang out. I glomped my friend Janine and her little friend. Soon after, I ran into Josh, who decided to lift me over his head. Amanda asked if I had married Josh yet. I hadn't so Amanda preformed the "ceremony" (she's getting good at it ^^;) and Josh became my 22nd husband. ^^

I talked with Super Uber Anime Guy and Ashley some more and then "Operation Revenge: Annoy Mike" commenced. Maybe I should explain that one a bit.

Mike is a friend of ours. He came to TAC dressed as Richter from Castlevania. But anyway, recently he had been annoying a bunch of our friends and then there's the Get Backers skit, and... let's just say it's a long story. ^^; In a nutshell I was under "direct orders" to carryout "revenge", and so I did.

Something to note about Mike is that he's sometimes referred to as "Die Duo Mike". Why? Because he hates Duo from Gundam Wing with a passion and carries around Gundam Wing wallscrolls with giant red Xs through them. ><; To make a long story short, Mike hates Duo. A lot. With that in mind, remember that I was dressed as Duo. *evil grin*

So naturally, the best way to annoy Mike was to simply run up to Mike and glomp him. You should've seen him squirm. It was priceless! ^^

I kept running up to Mike screaming "Hug~!" just to watch him run away in terror. ^^ I think this was more confusing to the random people there. There was a fitness convention (or something) taking place nearby so all these innocent bystanders kept watching the anime convention and rising their eyebrows at all the colorful characters running around.

After bothering some random people. A bunch of us got into a circle and started playing "stella-ella-ohla". We played a giant game of it just because we could. 'Twas fun. ^^

Afterwards, I ended up talking to someone. I can't remember who, but they asked if I'd seen anything interesting lately. I asked them if they wanted to see something interesting and they nodded. I spotted Josh nearby and called his name. He turned, noticed me, and then next thing I knew, I was being spinned around in the air. Fwee~! ^^

I hung out with Super Uber Amine Guy for a bit. He showed me some really cool stuff. ^^ He ended up giving me a duck to give to Brad at MAX (if you don't get the reference of the duck, think Ranma). ^^ It was such a cool duck. I recognized it as "Jake the Duck" since its a regular cast member of Weiss Thursday. I showed it to Kenney and cheered as I announced it was Jake the Duck. Kenney blinked and I realized that Kira (and possibly Blue Rose) would be the only people that would get my weirder reference. ^^; I told Super Uber Amine Guy that I'd be sure to give it to Brad at Max.

I ran off with Shinji, Kenney and Mike, and Kenney and I staged a mock fight. He pretended to stab me, so I did a slow-motion melodramatic fall. Kenney acted like a leprechaun and ran off. ^^;;; It was amusing.

At some point around here, a guy came up to me and asked me if i was Pan-Chan. I introduced myself as "Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gumbigobilla Blue Stradivari Telentrent Pierre Andre Charton-Haymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III" and he sweatdropped. His name turned out to be Justin and he was huge Sailor Moon fan. He asked me if I had seen the live action Sailor Moon series. I replied that I had and we talked about it for a bit. He's Sailor Moon knowledge was amazing~! ^^

I ran into him a little later on as well. He had bought the staff from the live action TV series and was showing it to me. We talked some more about Sailor Moon. I had to resist screaming "Justin-chan~! Nya~!" and glomping him. That would've probably scared him. Ah well. I'll scare him next con. ^^;

Because it was warm and we were running around and didn't want our costumes ruined, most of us started shedding parts of our costumes. I took off my Duo coat at some point so I was wearing pants and a tank top, and lots of other people did the same. After all, it's hard to play tag when you're tripping over a coat. ^^;

As for "Operation Revenge: Annoy Mike", it wasn't over yet. I managed to recruit two agents -- Ashley and Mackenzie -- who helped me carry out the operation. Mike had changed into normal clothing at some point, and left his costume in the giant pile of everyone's stuff. I snuck over and borrowed it and ran off with Ashley and Mackenzie. They provided much needed cover and support as Mike searched for his costume. I put the blue tunic on and ran around in Mike's costume without him noticing for a while. *laughs* It was so funny.

The Vash cosplayer had left his coat to the side and was swinging Grace around. I asked him if I could wear his coat, and he helped me out so I was wearing his Vash coat over Mike's costume. It was a little big, but that's because I'm so very very short. ^^;

Vash: Please be careful not to let that drag on the ground. It's made from someone who's 6'1", and you're, well, not.
Pan: I can wear it like a Victorian dress. ^^
Vash: Don't you want to take that other guy's costume off first?
Pan: Nope. This way it'll be harder for him to find. ^^

Anyway, miraculously Ashley, Mackenzie and I managed to hide the costume from Mike. *heh* Of course, at some point, Mike noticed and the Vash cosplayer wanted his costume back. *giggles* It was so much random fun~!

At some point, the Wolfwood cosplayer's cross got bent. When he noticed, he freaked out and then fell to the ground by the cross and screamed "Why!?" *laughs* It was very amusing.

Becky, Sakura, and Amanda disappeared at some point and were still missing. Sakura and Becky returned with a truckload of +Anima manga they had left to pick up at KikiWai. Amanda was at the panel on suggestions to improve the conventions. I was planning to go to the panel, but completely forget. ><;

More random fun and annoying Mike later, the short con started to wind down. As part of her costume, Amanda had a watergun. It had no water in it, but she had it all the same. At some point, someone filled it up with water. Water fights at conventions are a bad idea, so I ran off and managed to get the watergun back, but not before Mike dumped a bottle of water on my head. I ran after him and got him back ten fold. Something to know about me is that I have excellent aim. Needless to say, I got Mike (and Kenney) smack dab in the forehead a few times. Bwha~!

Sakura was wearing my giant black wings earlier as part of Becky's Cooro costume, but they were lying around so everyone was trying them on. Kenney did some poses, as did Vash and Neo. ^^

I finally found Amanda and we filled each other in and then attacked Mike and took some photos. Before the con came to a close, the few of us remaining decided to take a group photo.