Desucon Frostbite 2015

I’ve been home for a few days now but I didn’t feel like writing because I was so worn out and frustrated. I should never have high expectations for anything because I only end up being disappointed. Last year I had such an amazing time at the con, it was so much fun. I got to meet and listen to two people who I idolise and respect so much and also managed to run into a few friends of mine a couple of times, even. I didn’t have time to go shopping nor look at the artist alley, but that was okay because I saw my friends and got to shake hands with Yamaguchi Kappei and Ogata Megumi. Even two weeks after the con I was still over the moon because it was such an awesome experience for me! ♥ And I really liked how the site wasn’t crowded with people, no one was pushing and shoving (unlike in Animecon 2007 – I didn’t even try to go indoors because it was PACKED with people, thankfully it was during summer)… I was able to find a place to sit when I needed one. All in all it was an extremely positive experience and I was really looking forward to this year’s con – especially since I knew that in addition to a couple of friends of mine (like jesmo ♥), people who I’ve recently befriended online and would’ve loved to meet were attending, for example Tiinyan and Meital. Sadly this time around the con turned out to be an awful experience for me. ;__;

But yeah… this year they didn’t have any seiyuus, mangakas, directors etc as a guests of honour who I’d loved to go see. I mean, I’ve watched a couple of Urobuchi Gen’s series, such as Suisei no Gargantia and Psycho-Pass, but I’m not a huge fan of him. And well, at his panel I also heard he’s worked on Fate/Zero, the novel at least… I’ve watched Fate/Stay Night as well as Fate/Zero as animes but apart from faaaabulous Gilgamesh (Seki-sama!!! ♥) I’m not a huge fan (I hate Shirou Emiya and Saber ugh – forever bitter that originally Saber was supposed to be a guy voiced by my love Sakurai Takahiro *shakes fist* I DEMAND a proper anime series of Fate/Prototype since they can affor to make a bazillion version of FSN too). Well, he seemed like a fun guy, and I appreciate his mentality of only making a finished product… he writes a story and then he ends it, without making some dumbass baits for sequels —- which brings me to Aldnoah Zero: I went to listen to him in the hopes of hearing why the series had such a bullshit ending. Turns out it’s not Urobuchi who wrote the ending, but his co-writer and director. So that mystery was solved. But yeah, I do appreciate his “finished product” policy… but then he also said that he doesn’t mind if someone else makes sequels of his stories. That I don’t really understand. I mean, I’m not a professional writer, I only write for fun… but I get so attached to my characters and the stories that I create, that I could never, ever give them to someone else. Especially if they ended up writing them completely “wrong”, so to say. Like, from Urobuchi’s series, Psycho-Pass is a good example of this… the first season had its issues, it’s by no means perfect to me – but it had the most interesting and faaabulous villain, Makishima Shougo. He alone ranks the series quite high on my personal list of “anime series that I’ve enjoyed”. But then, the second season… I did watch it, but… ugh. It wasn’t good. At all. I just can’t wrap my head around how a creator can accept their story/characters being butchered like that. Well, his nickname is “Urobutcher” ’cause he’s merciless to his characters, so perhaps that’s got something to do with it… :’D

But well, I did enjoy listening to his panel anyway. But apart from guests of honour, I don’t really care much for any programs that anime/manga conventions have to offer – if it’s a hobbyist doing a lecture on some series and they analyse stuff and talk about their opinions… mmmmh nope. I like talking about my favourite series with my brother and my friends, but I’m not really interested in what someone who I don’t know has to say about them. Mostly because I myself have very strong opinions and they often differ from the majority’s. At the uni I have a hard time listening to other people’s book reviews, too, because it really frustrates me if I love a book and they just don’t get AT ALL what it’s about. Like one time there was this girl who claimed that all Jane Austen’s books follow the same pattern and they’re some dull romance novels… I really, really had to try very hard to control myself, because that is such a flawed analysis of her books. I was ready to brawl, lol. x’D For the record, if someone isn’t aware yet, Jane Austen is my favourite author. It’s not recommended to insult her work in front of me. … but yeah, the point being – I get really frustrated if I have to listen to an inaccurate analysis about something that I love and I don’t have a chance to argue. I just want to jump up Phoenix Wright style and shout “OBJECTION!” lmao. :’D So I stay away from any fan-made lectures about my favourite series… anime/manga = serious business.

If they get mangakas or anime directors etc staff OR seiyuus to talk about the series – I’m all ears. For me it’s far more interesting to hear the creators’ thoughts about the series. And to hear about their work methods, work process, etc. That I could sit and listen to all day, it’s extremely interesting. But yeah, Finnish cons are so teeny tiny that they don’t usually have more than 1-2 special guests like this so the cons never have that much to offer to me. I really need to go to Japan and attend all those seiyuu events and such, those would be perfect for me, lol!

… aaand this finally brings me to the point: there really wasn’t anything for me to do at this con. But because last year I spent so much time in autograph queue and both Ogata and Yamaguchi had their own panels, I didn’t have that much time to talk with people. I did manage to run into two of my friends three times, though, and we chatted a bit. But I didn’t really have time to sit down and properly talk with anyone. So I thought that well, this year there’s only one panel that interests me, so the rest of the time I can spend looking for people and talking with them.

From my parents’ place it’s easier to go to the con in the way that I’ll have a driver to take me there. Because the bus schedules suck… that’s why I didn’t attend on Sunday, because I wouldn’t have made it there to listen to the Dollfie Dream lecture, which was the only thing that interested me about Sunday’s program… so, yeah, I chose not to attend at all. It’s not like bus tickets are free and neither is diesel, so I couldn’t really ask my parents to drive me to the con again. Especially not when I had such a sucky time on Saturday.

I arrived in the con about half an hour before Urobuchi’s panel started and looked around but I didn’t spot any familiar faces. I went to listen to the panel and once it ended, I took Kasumi from my bag and started walking around the “Metsähalli” hall area, and then I also spent a lot of time just standing still and looking around – especially at the artist alley stairs because that gave a good overall view of the hall. But I didn’t manage to find anyone. :( Not even a single person who I’d known. I did keep on running into the same strangers over and over again, but that wasn’t very helpful… I can’t believe how my luck is so bad! >___< The Urobuchi panel ended at around 12:20 or so and from then until 2pm I stood there, just trying to catch a glimpse of someone who I'd know. But somehow it felt like there was A LOT more people than last year... like, after all that standing my back was absolutely killing me and I wanted to find a place to sit down - but I couldn't! All the chairs and sofas and stuff were constantly occupied. And for the most part, by the same people. >_> I got really cranky because of my hurting back and by the fact that there were tons of people who kept pushing and shoving me – it took me three tries to get through the artist alley, because there was just too many people and they were so rude. I wouldn’t have been able to protect Kasumi if I’d tried to walk there. Even when others were like “excuse me”, these people were just standing there blocking the way… and they weren’t careful at all of other people’s bags, plushies, dolls and cosplay props… I so didn’t want to risk it.

My loot from the con

At around 2pm I gave up trying to find anyone and went to the sales area… that was even worse. People kept standing in the way so that I couldn’t even properly see the merchandise and when I got a bit closer, someone started pushing and shoving and ugh… I did manage to buy a couple of keychains and a figure, but I didn’t really get a good look at maybe half of the stuff there. :/ Not to mention the air in that area was really bad, so I got a headache and started feeling nauseous… I had to leave and get some fresh air. At that point I thought that maybe I should go eat something to keep my energy up, but mom texted me and she was already ready to go home… I managed to get a bit more time until 3pm because I hoped to at least get a glimpse of someone I knew – but no such luck. I’d thought that maybe I’d have time at the con until around 4-5pm, but I couldn’t really ask for mom to wait me since I hadn’t even found anyone to talk to… and well, my back was killing me and I was about to faint because I hadn’t eaten anything, so I gave up and left at 3pm.

In hindsight, I’d probably have been better off leaving my email address in the post, so that the people who might’ve been interested in meeting me could’ve emailed me and I could’ve given my phone number. But I didn’t really think I’d have such a hard time finding anyone since I was ACTUALLY going to be looking for people, ’cause last year I wasn’t even looking and still managed to run into two of my friends. Three times. So I guess I was a bit over-confident… so yeah, I should’ve left my email. I didn’t really have a chance to make more definite plans since I already left home on Thursday and at my parents’ place I’m mostly dependent on my cellphone if I want to access the internet and I don’t really like typing with the phone… so I just fave stuff on flickr and browse. But yeah, I could’ve then emailed my phone number to people who might’ve wanted to meet me. A phone number is rather sensitive information, so I wouldn’t want to leave mine publicly in my blog and I also feel like it would be impolite to go and ask people for their phone numbers, so it’d been better to leave my email behind so that those who’d been interested could’ve contacted me and I could have given my phone number to them… but yeah, I didn’t really think about it that far and I was feeling too confident, clearly. Oh well, something to remember the next time I guess…

It’s just that, this con is pretty much the only one that I get to go to, because it’s only for those of 18 years of age and older. When it’s free-for-all cons, the tickets sell out within a few minutes and I often don’t even remember to go looking for the tickets until maybe two days later. But because Frostbite has the age limit, it’s much more easier to get tickets. I can even forget to stalk for the tickets for, like, 2-3 weeks and there are still plenty left. At least last year you could’ve still bought a ticket at the convention’s doors, too. But this year they probably sold more tickets… I didn’t find a definite “sold out” announcement, perhaps I missed it… but it certainly felt like there were a whole lot more people… and generally younger people, too, with all the pushing and shoving. -__- I’m already so old and cranky that I can’t really deal with super hyper teenagers, so that’s also one reason why I kind of dread going to free-for-all cons… I suppose this year a bunch of 17 years who didn’t make it to the con last year got in now that they’re legally “grown ups” and were super excited. I guess I’m not THAT old yet, at 26… but, uhh, yeah, if someone is a decade younger than me, there is a clear gap in interests and behaviour. I’ve never been a party person and I don’t like crowds, so noisy and crowded places with people shoving and pushing are extremely unpleasant for me. x__x

Test shot of the FuRyu Mikasa figure in my showcase

So, uhh, yeah… the con was a disappointment for me this time around. I’d like trying out the summer Desucon, maybe, but I don’t know if I can get tickets… Tracon is close to Jyväskylä, but it always overlaps with the start of my studies in September. :/ So the next chance to go to a con is probably Frostbite 2016. Although now I feel a bit iffy about it, too, so I probably won’t go unless they get some mangaka or seiyuu who I absolutely adore. I might just be better off attending specifically planned doll meets with my friends, instead of trying to find anyone at conventions… my brother moves into a bigger apartment in April, so once he’s settled, I can go to Helsinki more. Because when you go from Jyväskylä to Helsinki, the train ride alone takes three hours… and when I don’t have a place to stay, I have to cram so many things into just a few hours in one day – because obviously I’d prefer getting home before midnight again. So making a day trip all the way to the capital from here sucks. But, come April, I can stay at my brother’s place, so I can like… go to Helsinki on a Friday evening, make plans for Saturday AND Sunday, and return home on Sunday night. Maybe instead of conventions I should just stick to contacting people directly and setting up a meeting… that way I can meet them for sure.

Sorry for the long rant, I just had to get that off my chest. x__x And I’m waiting for the postman to take my EMS package to the PO so that I can go pick it up… I JUST missed the delivery by five minutes ’cause I had an early morning today. Hopefully it’d get updated by 2pm at the latest, so that I can go pick it up… and another package that I didn’t even know was in Finland, because the idiots had typo’d the tracking code so the updates never showeded up in the online tracking. I only now got a note in my physical mailbox saying “hay you have a package”. >_> Luckily I at least got a note, otherwise I wouldn’t have even known that it’s in Finland and it would’ve been sent back. I was about to contact Mandarake, too, since it’s been over a week since the package left Japan – EMS from Japan is NEVER that slow. But yeah, luckily now that mystery is solved and I’ll be able to go pick it up.

So, figures galore later today I hope!!! :D One of them is my grail, I’m super excited to finally get her~ ♥

To conclude, have a photo of Valtteri that I quickly snapped before returning home. He didn’t appreciate my souvenir from the con:

Perhaps tonight I’ll finally have the energy to work on those backlogged photos… or, at least I’ll have a figure box opening to post.