MetroCon 2006 Report
by Pen_Dragon
Another year has passed for MetroCon and I have to say this year's con was a little bit better than last year's. They moved into a larger area for the dealer room and seemed to attract a bit more attention from web celebrities (such as Chris Hazelton from www.misfile.com). Oh and Monkey Punch actually showed up this year. We kinda wondered if it was a hoax last year but we were proved wrong. But now on to the nitty gritty. First up, the Dealer room. Now last year, my biggest gripe about the con was the dealer room. The vendors were all over priced and on top of it charged tax. And the selection wasn't that great either. This year was a little bit different. Some new vendors were there (ones that frequent Megacon and AWA) so the selection was pretty decent. This year there was a booth selling import games for nearly all systems. I found a copy of Macross: VFX-1 for 16 bucks. They also had gems such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for $55, Metal Slug for $35, and Shonen Jump All-Stars for $70. They were also selling an old Neo Geo home system for $180. The prices were about normal/expected and few still charged tax, but not all. So the dealer room saw improvment but still has a long way to go before it could be compared to the like of MegaCon or AWA.
Secondly, the events. The events were pretty much the standard fare for Cons. The Monkey Punch panel was interesting, although it really felt more like he was teaching a class instead of giving insight on manga in the modern day. Also, he really likes to say "Anoooooooooooooooooooo.............." and have a moment of silence before continuing. The chess match was alot better acted and fought this year, although to plot line and twists were a bit on the hokey side. The cosplay contest had a good showing as you can see on the pics page, the majority of pictures are from it. My gripe is that the guy who won the fan choice was "Mr Pocky". Pesonally we all felt his costume sucked and he didn't deserve the recognition he got. We saw him a few times on the floor before the contest and all though he was supposed to be a cigarette or something. Honeslty, all he was wearing was a brown cardboard tube with white cloth or something wrapped around his waist. The Fragglerock dude really deserved it more than "Mr. Pocky". ("Mr. Pocky" will always be in quotes because I still believe he didn't look like pocky)
Thirdly, the game room. The game room was pretty much as good as it was last year, although it was lacking Guilty Gear. And I spent all that time practicing too. But we did get to sit in on a Soul Calibur 2 for a bit. Mentoc was able to own most challengers, but I could always give him a good run. Especially after I realized what I was doing. Ya see, they changed to controller layout from 2 to 3, and havng been playing 3 for a long time my first coupla matches were a little rough.
Lastly, the wanderings. The wanderings refers to all the action seen while walking around the con area and other things not relating to the sections above. Not much noteworthy happened, no people getting shrinkwrapped in the halls like last year. And the wandering cosplay wasn't as good as it was last year. What was really fun is that we got to "stalk" some people Saturday night. We left to go eat dinner (Hooters, whoooooooo!) and as we were sitting in the trolly a group of about 6 convention goers got on. 5 of them were is costume and the sixth was just a smokin hottie in street clothes. Unfortunately I had left my camera in the hotel so no pictures were taken. Well, we all got off at the same stop, but went our seperate ways. I assume that they went to eat at another one of the many restaurants in the area. So after a good meal of wings and eyecandy we made our way back to the trolly and already waiting at the stop was the group from earlier. After getting a camera and heading back to the con we bumped into them again (the pic with dude in white standing back to back with the chick with the long ears, kerzan should label the pic refering them to as "our stalkees" or something). Unfortunately the hottie in red was no where to be seen.
Oh, how could I forget the viewing rooms. Easy, I'm trying to block them from my memories. We only went in once, to watch the first eps of .Hack//Roots. We went in early and caught the end of a Disgea ep and then commercials started playing. We didn't find this odd, becasue many cons like to play wacky commercials inbetween animes. Well... the commercials were not that wacky and played for AN ENTIRE HOUR. Also, the was pretty much only 5 different products being shown: Hair Care stuff, the Scoopy (a moped from Honda), some air conditioner/purifier thing from National (Pronounced na-shun-all -U!), and pocky. Oh, and a commercial involving imprisoned women and an instant camera. And a training video on safety/proper riding gear for the Scoopy. Did you know that the Japanese having "Making ofs" for their commercials? We didn't. BUT THEY DO! Yes, the entire experience was an assault upon our sanity. I still have nightmares about a Lady riding a Scoopy, while wearing improper riding gear, eating pocky and screaming "NASHUNALL-U!" after delivering somesort of air conditioner/purifier. Oh, and .Hack//Roots was nowhere to be seen.
We didn't do too well on the screaming witty things in the dark during events this year. Mainly we were overshadowed by all the screaming fangirls. But there were a few yellings on note, mainly HPanda yelling "Do Peanut Butter-Jelly Time!" to the Fragglerock dude while he was waiting for his music to cue up. The fragglerock dude did comply with the request. Also, during the Chess Match on Sunday Mentoc screamed "Gendo! I wanna have your babies!" I hollered "Gendowned!" as he killed everyone and also "Gendo Rocks!" later on.
All in all it was fun and we all look forward to next year. Now, to Anime Weekend Atlanta!
Oh, and heres a quick rundown of my "phat lewt":
Macross VFX-1
The Killer on DVD
Hard Boiled on DVD
Those Who Hunt Elves vols 6 & 7
An Asuka pin
A misfile pin (freebie, whoooo!)