This past weekend, as many of you know, Lan and I traveled up to Sugoicon in Ft. Mitchell, KY. They were celebrating their tenth year, with 2000 being the first. It was a small con at a small venue, but there was a classiness about it. Following are the different posts Lan and I have made on the convention:
 
Sugoicon Day 1
Sugoicon Day 2
Sugoicon Videos (FICE concert, Zetki concert, random videos from day 1 and 2)
 

Before I put the videos on here, I want to say a few things. Sugoicon Day 1 and Day 2 videos are just a mash up. There is some cosplay, some panel stuff, some of Lan or me talking, so on and so forth. I tried ot edit them to look nicer, but it just wasn't coming together, I was getting frustrated, and we decided to just leave them alone. Also, day 2 is missing right now. Youtube said it was too long, so I'm gonna trim a minute of boring stuff off of it. With that said, enjoy.
 
Sugoicon Day 1:
    Sugoicon Day 2:
 
 
FICE concert:
    Zetki concert:
    For more (read: better) videos of Zetki, and some of Sizu Miyano, check out Lordadmira3 on Youtube.
 
Sugoicon Forum member itachi776 posted these megauploads of FICE's concert, if you care to see more of them (which you should!):
 
FICE Video 1 = http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2LTWPK2M
FICE Video 2 = http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZATEDTJY
FICE Video 3 = http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F84L17NZ
FICE Video 4 = http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O3UBDBUC

 
So, this was the second day of Sugoicon, and the last day Lan and I will be attending. Today was a bit of a letdown for the both of us, though there was really nothing particularly bad about it; it was just frustrating. For beginners, the day started at 10:00 AM. I woke up at 10:30, and we got there at 3:00 PM. Lan wanted to throw Luke on again, so we rocked our Layton/Luke for all it was worth. There weren't any pictures taken of the two of us together (aside from the ones we took ourselves), but we didn't care too much about that.
 
Upon arriving, we had planned to go to "Whose Line is it Anime?", but rather we opted to go to the dealer's room. There, I scored swag, courtesy of Lan, who decided to get me an early birthday present. As we were walking around, looking at figures, because I have hobbies, Lan spotted a couple of Star Ocean 4 figures, which I immediately fell for. After I stumbled to say anything, Lan decided to buy me both of them for my b-day (which is still 1 1/2 weeks away), and I love her immensely for it (did I just get a few points?).
 
I almost forgot this, but FICE was in the dealer's room when we got there, selling some of their
  merchandise, which included, but was not limited to, CD's and DVD's. While we wanted a DVD, since FICE can only be truly appreciated when seen live, the person in front of us bought the  last one that was on the table. Instead, we opted to just drop $5.00 on a single. According to their translator/Arch Nemesis Genkan Matt, quarters are extremely hard for japanese people to count. I apologized to the ladies for only having coins (left-overs from laundry),
and told them that I really enjoyed their concert the previous night. After some short translating, Gankan Matt told me that they would really have liked to do more, but they only had one hour. From what I've read about them, they hold concerts that span multiple hours of high-energy otagei. After I bought the album, I asked them to sign, which they gladly did. After that, I asked if Lan might be able to take a photo with them, which they happily agreed to, and the results of which can be seen in this blog.
 
This is where things started to slow down a little bit. We went to the "Whose Line is it Anime?" panel, only to quickly feel disappointed. We decided to give the "Digimon: Digital Monsters" panel a try, but were left wanting when the panel was more entertainment oriented than informational. It was when we left that panel that Lan saw that "Le Chevalier d'Eon" was getting ready to start in the video room, so we went in and watched for an hour. We were both extremely happy with the two episodes we saw: so much so that Lan went back to the dealer's room, and seriously contemplated buying the whole series there. However, she decided she would dwell on it and come back later. Now's where things get bad.
 
Lan wanted to change out of Luke and into Sakura. I'll let her rant about that in her own blog at some point, but needless to say, there was an hour lost, extreme grumpiness, and no cosplay worn. What is of note, however, is that people stopped me in the hallway while I was holding Lan's wig, waiting for her to get out of the restroom. No fewer than 5 people saw it fit to ask me, "Can I take a picture?" and when I put the head down, they proceeded to ask, "Uh... with the head, please?" (her wig was on a styrofoam head to hold its shape). After this was the "Ten Cons in a Year" panel, which, long story short, is a group of con-goers who were giving the laydown of their organization. Lan and I both liked a lot of what they had to say (they're very rule-oriented, and don't take any bull), and will probably be joining their group. Afterwards, delicious Quizno's was had.
 
After watching some of the videos that have won in previous years, I decided to enter two of my AMV's into Sugoicon's contest. They were not played. I had sent them a youtube like of my videos (which they okay'd), but they didn't get internet access. I would have sent them DVD's, but I lost the hard copies of the AMV's when my old laptop died. They could not be salvaged. None of the videos were really stellar, though there was an Advent Children video to "Mad World" that I enjoyed, and a Gundam (Zion-centric) video set to "We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore" which made me giggle. During this panel, Lan left to go to the Artist's Alley and Dealer's room to get some things she had her eyes on. She got a nifty Card Captor Sakura cell-phone charm, but the Dealer's room was closed, leaving her without the pins she wanted.
 
The time is now 9:00 PM, and LAN FINALLY GETS INTO ANOTHER COSPLAY! And guess who it is? *drumroll* MIO! Don't let the simple look of the outfit fool you. We spent almost an entire hour clipping the hat into the wig. Thank god Layton wears a normal sized hat. Regardless, after being changed, and walking around for a bit, we went to the "Japanese Folklore" panel. The panel had incredible potential, and the person running it was more than qualified to run it (M.A. in Folklore and Anthropology, and close to Ph.D.). The panel suffered from a few major setbacks, though. 1) The panelist was, admittedly, ADD. Well, she actually said that she had OST syndrome (OH! Shiny things!), but you get the gist. NO ONE EVER asked an on topic question. They all rose their hands to ask about some folklore element they were curious/knowledgeable about. 2) Douche guy know-it-all. We all know this guy. You got a statement? So does he. You got a question? So does he. He fills in anything that the panelist doesn't say, and he says it supposing the same authority as the panelist. Also, I blame the panelist for not ignoring the guy once in a while, since it set the panel back and behind time MAJORLY. Lan and I spent most of the 2 hour panel wishing he would leave. 3) Autistic people. I'm talking about people with a real mental disorder. Now, I'm not saying ANYTHING like, "They don't belong here" or anything in that family, but the people in this panel were disrupting. The first fellow repeatedly talked without being prompted, interrupting the presenter, or even other people asking questions. When ignored long enough, he put on the face that gave Dustin Hoffman prestige, and would remain that way for 5 minutes or so.
 
Strangely enough, it didn't end with the first gentleman. When he left, I'll admit I felt relieved, since the panel would go smoother (douche was still there though). A guy came up to take his seat, and asked a respectable question about Alucard. After a short while, he started to talk over people, and simply interject his thoughts. After being ignored for a long enough while, he got THE SAME LOOK ON HIS FACE. I thought to myself, "Oh man, we lost one problem just to get another", but he soon left (and he sulked out of the room VERY slowly).
 
After the Folklore panel was a "Voice Actor Improv (18+)" panel, which I'm not going to talk much about, as the "panelists" wish. Basically, dirty "Whose Line is it Anyway/Anime?" It was a great hour of hilarity, and I think that's all I'll say about that.
 
Lan and I (read: Lan) decided to take pictures around the hotel. I'll let a lost of those pictures speak for themselves, but there's one picture I want to highlight:
 Right as Lan and I were leaving the hotel, I saw Takatori Nobu (Lead Guitarist of Zetki) as the reception desk, probably handling some business. I had seen him earlier in the night, but he was going into his room, so I decided not to bother him; it was fair game now. I approached him, and told him that I attended his concert the night before. I don't think he understood me much (I told Lan I should have known Japanese), but he replied "Concert... okay." I proceeded to give him the thumbs up, and told him that he was awesome. "Awesome" he understood, and he gave a smile. Then a quick point at the camera, and myself, and we took a picture together, which I was stoked about. We then bowed to one another, he shook our hands, and we wished him a good night. Then Lan and I headed off into the 40 degree weather to go home.