Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend a local convention by the name of Autumn Dream, at the Lancaster Fairgrounds Poppy Pavilion, October 18-19.

Due to work I was unable to stay the whole event. I will brief you on some quick history of this convention. In previous years this convention has gone by the name of Ani-magic and was held for a typical con period(a full weekend). Due to some unknown force and situations this convention had to be revamped and redone to the current conception.

I had attended Ani-Magic last year and had a great load of fun due to the small intimacy of the venue and establishment. The term cosplay camp was sometimes used in association with Ani-magic because the main part of the hotel looked like cabins and the convention itself was sort of campy in that good way.

Unfortunately, the change of venue to my taste was apparent. It did not feel homey to me any more. Maybe also not having access to a changing room for my costume play endeavors also put me off a bit.

The arcade machines had been placed off to one corner but still boomed Guitar Hero(just also putting this out there fellows, I’m a Rock Band sorta gal) songs, for better or worse, through the whole hall. Imagine just for a minute trying to get your commissioned artwork from one of the gifted artists’ alley artist and having to compete with a J-Pop pick of the week song.

Speaking of the Artists’ Alley I found it very bare for the most part. One of the main draws of a convention for me is to get commissions(art you request of an artist on the spot usually) done by talented people. I am wondering why there were so few artists this year compared to last year. Did they raise the booth prices, are people just not wanting to do art, or none of the above?

The cosplay done at this convention was pretty standard for the most part. Cosplay has got to be one of my biggest loves, turn ons, hobbies, obsessions, what ever you like to call it. So to see the standard costumes done (ie:Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, etc…) done made the cosplay girl inside sad. There were a couple of fun characters like the much obligatory giant box of Pocky. There were the Smash Brothers crowd favorites Princess Peach, Bowser, and Link. One of the best costumes though I saw was the person dressed as Nurse Joker from “The Dark Knight.” The cosplayer put so much effort into detail I was amazed.

A lower key con favorite event in the Southern California area is the “Rum” Party. A group of pirate cosplayers who happen to be really good friends come together to distribute peach iced tea which gets the codename rum. As well as the beverage people are encouraged to play pirate themed card and dice games. The participants get coins from winning the games and at the end of the night they get to auction on some good looking or diamond in the rough “wenches” and “cabin boys.” The crew as they are known returned this year and put on a pretty good party experience.

While the loud hall meant for communication problems it did help those of us who wear high heels and other hard to move in costumes get around and also provided for easy access to most sections. It helped those who have short attention spans engaged with having everything under one roof.

Overall this convention experience was a new one for me never having a convention hosted in a single room but next year some how the noise issue could be addressed and improved upon.

Hello readers of the Nerdsociety this is your newest nerd in residence coming at you from my laptop.. In the future I hope to provide you with a weekly segment on the going ons of Japanese Animation and relating going ons or whatever my fellow nerd henchmen want of me.

To get to know me better and maybe to satisfy your guys’ social anxiety about having a girl in the midst I’ve decided to let you guys send me a question and will respond to as many as I can for next week. I look forward to this beautiful new relationship….

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