Everypony at ACen was lazy with cosplay this year >_<

Well…  it’s a little late but this is my con report for ACen 2012…  the good the bad… and the really ugly cosplay >_<  if you want to hear more of my ranting just click the more button ^_^

Let’s start on a positive note…

The Good…

There were a few good panels this year and things ran much more smoothly than last year.  Now that they have their new system for badging their panelist there weren’t as many last-minute drop-outs and there was a lot going on at once.  ACen once again used rooms at the surrounding hotels but they at least seemed to use bigger rooms for the most part  At least I didn’t have to stand in an overbearingly hot hallway and almost pass out to get into a little room.  That doesn’t mean that no one did that…  but at least that wasn’t my experience this year.  They also organized things slightly better by putting huge panels like the funimation panel in ballrooms and not just tiny rooms. Of course that didn’t stop them from making last-minute room changes and putting popular panels like Nabeshin after dark into a smaller room…  I have no idea why they did this >_<  But.. overall for ACen things were run smoothly…  well as smooth as ACen can be anyway.

My Favorite part of ACen 2012 this yea was 2 awesome yaoi panels!  The first panel I went to was ran by a bunch of fun gay guys.  It was called Chicken or Beef… meaning Yaoi or Bara…

I'll take Chicken over Beef... but there is nothing wrong with a nice meaty chicken ^_~

It was one of those panels that was just a laugh riot.  Lot’s of dancing and games and even a little fanservice 3  My only complaint is that I don’t think people really knew what the panel was about while looking at the schedule.  I mean if they wrote the word yaoi on it…  it would have gotten a lot more of a crowd and it would have been even more fun!  These guys said they are at Youmacon every year so I can’t wait to see their panel again in November ^_^

The second yaoi panel I went to was a very unique one…   instead of seeing tons of pics on the screen of various hawt and nasty doujinshi this girl decided she wanted to do a no doujinshi panel.  So, she did a completely orignal yaoi manga panel.  She did a picture guessing game that was fun and she was very entertaining.  Only problem was… some people just wanted the crazy pics…  and people kept walking out.  If she could have found a nice middle ground between the 2 types out yaoi it would have been perfect

The BAD….

Of course…  ACen wouldn’t be ACen without disorganization and problems…

Seriously.. it's a lie! Why can't they keep water on hand at this con??

The worst thing they did this year was having the con when they had it!  Normally, they have it in May..  at the very end of finals or right after finals.  This year they had it right at crunch time… this made it very hard for a lot of college students to attend.  This doesn’t really affect me so much since college was a log time ago for me…  but it did effect attendance.  I wouldn’t be surprised if attendance went down this year instead of up…  for the first time ever.

Another big problem which was out of ACen’s control was the evacuation of everyone Saturday night.  I’m not sure if there was a small fire or if someone tripped a fire alarm or what but, on Saturday in the evening the alarm went off and they made everyone evacuate for a few minutes.  After that I decided to go back to the room because if ACen has a hard time of organizing things when everything is fine… they will have a real hard job once all hell has broke loose!  The people I was with went back to the con that night just to mess around…  they said a bunch of things got cancelled and things were a little crazy.  But really… I can’t blame ACen for that one….  once something like that happens it’s got to be really hard to recover from it.

and The Ugly….

Usually ACen has a pretty good group of cosplayers…  this year though it seemed effortless…  everyone seemed to be decked out in lazy costumes like ponies, homestuck trolls, and adventure time outfits.

At one point I saw a huge group of these guys and thought I had run into some kind of cult >_<

Seriously…  the majority of the cosplay I saw this year wasn’t even Japanese in nature at all….  First let’s check out the parade of ponies…  sadly I only took pics of the better ones I saw…  mainly cause I would be too ashamed to ask for a pic of the bad ones…. Also at one point I didn’t even realize there were ponies around!  Since they look like kinda normal girls with wigs and stuff…  I basically ignored they existed till they were pointed out to me.

Those guys are either devoted BFs or Bronies... I can't decide which...

Some ponies we happened to run into in line for a panel....

A couple that Ponies together stays together....

My fav Pony by far... the red-headed background pony ^_^

Another huge trend was Adventure Time…  though I am a fan of the show and thought a few of costumes were neat…  I still would rather see more anime and less US stuff…. especially all the lazy Fin and Jake costumes that I didn’t even bother taking pics of…

This Marceline rocks with her Axe....

This Ice King has glowing ice fingers... I bet the real Ice King would be jealous...

Also… the Not so Ugly…

Not all the cosplay this year was non-anime or ugly…  there were a few good ones!  These are a few of my personal favs  from ACen 2012.

OMG Catbus!!! First time I've seen anyone cosplay as the catbus....

If he could have just had a Mami with him... this would have been pure awesome...

Awesome adult TTGL cosplay... with Kamina looking over...

Gender Flip Panty and Stockings...

Shuichi from Gravitation

Gender correct Bridget....

Overall I had a great time with friends…  I’ve realized after many years of ACen that I just need to relax a little and not let things get to me as bad in order to have fun at this con….  I expect chaos…  and I get it…  Overall it’s just a fun way to meet with some friends and hang out and have fun… which is always my fav part ^_^

Cons these days have been less about having an OA con and more about meeting up with my con friends <3