Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Alyce on Saturday morning

Saturday at Otakon started off colorfully, as we encountered a couple costumed staffers in the staff suite.

We saw the staffer who likes to dress as Drunken Vache from Trigun. This year she was even wearing a wig, which she doesn't always do.

The other staffer, who helps to run Otakafe, was dressed as the iconic red-suited star of the hot anime series, Hellsing.

To your left you will see a picture of myself Saturday morning, taken in the morning at the BCC. You will note that I am wearing a simple black polo shirt with one of my favorite necklaces, a pewter leaf design bought years ago at Philcon. I am wearing a three-quarter length sweatshirt, khaki shorts and sneakers (for practical purposes). No princess dresses, no pigtails, no Power Puff Girls T-shirt. Keep the image to your left in mind; it becomes important later in this narrative.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, here is drunken Vache.

One of the first things I did after I got to the BCC was stop down at the Otakon merchandising table before they became overwhelmed with customers. I needed to exchange the baby T I'd bought from them. It used to be that those shirts were in junior sizes, which is about a size smaller than regular. So, whereas I'd normally wear a small T-shirt I needed a medium baby T.

This year, however, the shirts skewed even smaller, so that the medium I'd bought was too small. I think they might have gone from using junior sizes to using youth sizes, which are even smaller.

I know it's not just me, though, because while I was there I also picked up a medium pink baby T from a couple years ago, and that fit me perfectly.

The staffer in charge of merchandise told me she'd found a small Otakon polo, so I tried it on over my shirt, but while it was smaller than last year's polos, it was still large under the arm. I handed it back to her.

The Treasurer, who was there with some of his friends, including Pimp Daddy, took note of my handing back the polo because it didn't fit properly. "That's right," he said. "You're doing the fashion thing now."

At first I didn't know what he was talking about, but then I realized he must have been reading my Musings last week when I talked about how my attitude towards clothes has changed over the years.

I walked back upstairs with them. Up there, we spotted one of the Staff Suite staffers, all dressed up, since she was on official business. I think it's safe to nickname her Snugglebunny, because she's a really sweet person who's always giving people hugs and giving them imported candy. She's also the one who brings the pink bunny, Ralph, with her to all Otakon related functions.

Here she is with The Gryphon.

I stayed in Con Ops for awhile as The Gryphon handled some Spec Ops related issues. While there, I started talking to a staffer who for many years had worked in the Guests Department, then took a few years off and was now in the Ops Pool. If you're in the Ops Pool, you stay in Con Ops until you're needed for something.

He was growing bored, and hearing that the organizers of Masquerade had requested some easels for the show, he started putting together a really complicated artist's easel. It was made out of wood, with screws and such to hold it together. Though he's a smart guy, it took him a long time studying the directions to figure it out.

At first I didn't say anything, although it seemed like an awful lot of work. But then one of the guys behind the table told him that there was a whole tub full of easily assembled easels in the supplies. The Registration staff had disassembled them, since they were done dealing with large crowds and didn't need all the signs they'd had in the Pratt Street Lobby.

So just to be a smart aleck, I went over and grabbed a easel. I walked over to the guy assembling the easel, got his attention, pulled the easel out of the box, gave it a couple shakes and the legs fell into place. I set it up on its three legs and then took a bow. The whole process took a couple seconds.

I should have stopped there, but then I made matters worse by telling him it was annoying to watch him put together the easel when there were much easier ones nearby. I often tease people or joke around with them, but I'm usually much nicer about it. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. The Cosplayer, who was sitting nearby, gave me a funny look, as if to say, "What are you doing?"

So I spent the next several minutes trying to make up for it by being super nice, agreeing with him that the easel he was putting together was much more attractive to place on a stage.

He found his own way out of it, saying, "You know, this easel is so complicated to assemble that it will only be a headache later for whoever needs to take it apart." And he took it apart, carefully fitting all the pieces back in the box.

Fortunately, a breath of fresh air breezed into Con Ops just then, one of our favorite translators, Taka, who always carries around a ukulele. He spotted his old compatriot and snapped a picture of him putting the easel away. I said, "Taka!" loud enough for the staffer to hear, and he looked up and spoke to him in Japanese, a smile returning to his face. Taka does that to people.

If Thursday was characterized by bunnies and Friday by monkeys, then Saturday was dragons and monsters. We walked into Spec Ops and saw this funny tableau on the main table. Your eyes do not deceive you: that is a dragon wearing bunny slippers.

Someone had also hung up a flag that should surprise no one, given that The Pirate was head of Spec Ops this year. Arrr!

I ended up helping to put away the fragments of a decimated Baltimore, which had been stomped by Godzilla. Let me explain. The Cousin and Ota Klause were sorting the blocks of wood that had been used to create a model of Baltimore which Ota Klause, in Godzilla gear, had stomped through.

Primarily, I helped sort the fragments of the BCC, which seemed strangely appropriate.

The Gryphon and I made the rounds of the department to check on how staffers were doing, and in our travels we came upon our friend, The Martial Artist. He and his wife, The Book Lover, just had a baby this year, and they were staying with family in town. He'd come over to offer his services to assist with line control.

Fortunately, things quieted enough so that we managed to slip out for a few hours to attend one of the bigger events this year. We had two Japanese musical guests, Nana Kitade and MUCC. Since the concerts were being held at a smaller venue, the Ram's Head bar, there were two concerts: one Friday evening and one late afternoon Saturday.

We had secured passes for the Saturday event. Knowing that they would not welcome cameras, we left my camera and our radios in The Gryphon's bag in Spec Ops. Then we walked to the concert, which was just a few blocks away.

A lot of Yankees fans were in town for a series of three games with the Baltimore Orioles, so as we walked one direction, in the other direction, towards the BCC and the baseball stadium, we saw Yankees fan, Japanese schoolgirl, Yankees fan, giant robot, Yankees fan, giant box of Pocky. They were all walking together as if it was completely normal to walk down the streets of Baltimore wearing either a Yankees shirt or a robot costume.

To be honest, we didn't see as many robots as we usually do, probably because it was so hot and cosplayers opted for costumes less likely to make them pass out.

When we got to the Ram's Head, the lines moved quickly. A lot of people had showed up early and already been let in. There were two lines, so I got in one and The Gryphon in the other. At the front of the line, I gave the Ram's Head worker my pass. He tore it and had me put my hands out, drawing a black "X" in marker across the back of both hands.

I didn't think anything about this, assuming it was sort of like a hand stamp, being given out to everyone. Then I turned to wait for The Gryphon. A Ram's Head worker was looking at his I.D. and then gave him a purple wristband.

At this point, I looked at the "X's" on the back of my hands and said, "Hey!" I showed my hands to The Gryphon and asked, "What's this?"

He went back and asked the Ram's Head worker who'd given me the "X" what it meant.

"It means under 21," he said. This guy was younger than me! This would probably be a good time to refer to the picture at the top of the page while you have a Lewis Black moment: "Bbbbb-what?"

"Don't worry about it," I told The Gryphon, since we weren't planning on drinking anyway. Once safely inside the doors, I gave a celebratory, "Yes!" That definitely made my weekend, I'll tell you. For as long as the "X's" lasted, I used them as the punchline to the story whenever I told it.

We secured a good spot next to the sound booth, right at the steps to the lower level. This allowed me to see over the people in front.

First to take the stage was Nana Kitade. If I had to describe her in one word, I'd say cute. In fact, when she took the stage, the girl behind me exclaimed, "She's so cute!" She wore a princess dress with a long wig that got tangled in her guitar and even in her coat when she removed it.

After she said hello, she announced, "I'm a Japanese princess!" Everyone cheered.

Her style of music was J-pop, and a lot of the audience members knew her songs, cheering when she started singing them. They threw their hands in the air, clapped along and enjoyed themselves.

When Nana finished her set, a lot of girls left and the punks drifted closer to the front, waiting for MUCC. If I had to characterize them in one word, I'd say loud. They made full use of their sound equipment, that's for sure.

I'd describe them as a hard-edged punk band. Really good performers: we were particularly impressed with the drummer and the bass. The lead singer had a beautiful voice when he sings, but he often shouts since that's the style of music. He was a terrific performer, and he soon had everyone in the palm of his hand.

We had to get back to the convention, so we left before the end of the concert to get dinner. We went back to the hotel and caught up with a fellow staffer whom we'd promised to join for dinner. She was in Video Ops this year and previously had been in Spec Ops.

The three of us caught a cab to the same sushi night The Gryphon and I had visited the night before. A lot of Otakon members and staffers were there this time, but they put us upstairs in a nice, quiet room. We talked about everything from genealogy to how the convention was going to pop culture. I always have a great time talking with her, and the down time was nice.

Of course, as soon as we got back, it was time to find out what figurative monsters had struck since we'd left. We spent the rest of the evening in a blur, dragon slaying, in a manner of speaking.

We helped, for example, to locate a lost child. At The Gryphon's direction, I called the description over to the staffer who was running logistics at the Masquerade at the First Union Center. His people found her and escorted her back to the BCC, and I helped escort her to Spec Ops to be reunited with her family.

Somehow, I've acquired a reputation for being lucky at finding children. Last year I was the one who spotted a crying child in the hallway and, after speaking to her, discovered she'd lost her family. I had her follow me to Spec Ops, where her family had just sat down to give her description. They were joyfully reunited.

In the midst of the chaos, I found a few moments of enjoyment. I walked down to Video One and watched part of a fan parody, "Nescaflowne," with The Dormouse. The White Rabbit, who's in charge of that track, was there, cheerfully seating people with the aid of a flashlight.

Other bright spots included a Rainbow Brite cosplayer I spotted in the hallway.

At the end of the evening, even though I'd thought about attending the panel on "How to Survive a Zombie Attack", I left with The Dormouse to attend Batman's traditional Saturday evening get-together in his room.

There, amusingly enough, I was relating a story about a guy I'd seen at least three times that day, dressed as a sumo wrestler. He was a big guy, walking around without his shirt on, wearing a little white and blue brief. It was rather shocking the first time I saw it.

When I related this, Batman told me that he'd been there that evening. Apparently, I hadn't noticed because he'd had his shirt on! He was gone by the time I brought it up.

I spent a lot of time talking to a 22-year-old guy who reminded me of my brother at his age. He was a hippie geek and knew a lot about Dr. Demento and pop culture. He had hundreds of MP3s on his iPod, so whenever he told me about something he thought I'd find funny, he gave me the headphones and let me listen.

"Did anyone stop into LARP and say 'fluffernutter' to you?" I asked Batman. He told me that several staffers had stopped in and yes, as planned, it had made him smile. Wish I could have been there when it happened, to see the expression on his face (if this paragraph makes no sense to you, read this).

At the end of the evening, I was talking quietly in the hallway with Kapow (self-nicknamed, because it sounds a lot like his name). We chatted about his upcoming anniversary with his wife and my upcoming third anniversary with The Gryphon.

The Gryphon stepped off the elevator, greeted me with a smile, and we retreated to our room for some much needed sleep.

More from Otakon 2006:

August 8, 2006 - Bunny Ears of Command

August 9, 2006 - Touch My Monkey

August 12, 2006 - Red Bull Express

August 17, 2006 - Otakon Photos

Musings on Otakon 2005:

August 23, 2005 - All Aboard

Musings on Otakon 2004:

August 10 , 2004 - Overture to Otakon

Musings on Otakon 2003:

Day One: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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