Well Port Con Maine 2003 is done and over with, and of course with every event that I attend or have some part in, there has got to be some feedback coming from me. Some of it's good, very good...but some of it's bad, very bad. What you will read below is a chronological record of my events and feelings during the days leading up to Port Con, days spent at the con and finally, today, the day that I am writing this review. ^_^
I hope that this review is actually accepted by the people at Port Con Maine even though it is not 100% positive. I am hoping that because they are a blossoming con, that they will wish some feedback fertilizer and use my views to help them make Port Con Maine into something much better in the future. In the case that they don't...oh well, my words are going to remain here until I either feel that enough people have read them, or until I desperately need the few k's of webspace that this shall take up. Pictures are going to be comming soon. I'll have around thirty of them, hopefully in the next few weeks. I don't have a digital camera, so I'm going to be doing the old film processing and then scanning method. Oh joy. So without further ado, here is my review... Sometime in December My fiancee and I, well more me, but part of him too, have always wanted to go to an anime and/or gaming convention. I had never been, and it really sounded like a lot of fun. So I perused the web for various conventions that were not too far away. (Aka...driving range, cause plane fair is so damned expensive.) Well I came up with a few and looked them all over. Many were rather big, like Otakon and Katsucon. Something so big for our first con would be too overwhelming and probably would have scared us from attending any others. There were some modest sized cons, like Anime Boston and Shoujocon. But those were going to cost A LOT of money to attend. While the entrance fee wasn't much, the cost of a room, parking and other things like food and whatnot, were going to stretch our poor bugdet. *sweatdrop* So at last we found the answer...Port Con Maine. It was only 20 minutes away, rather modest in size but had events that we actually wanted to attend, and lastly it was at a decent price... 40 bucks got us a two, three-day passes and two t-shirts. Sweet deal, Port Con here we come! Sometime in April Oooooh contests....pretty contests. Me, I'm an artist (Duh!). So I wanted to enter the anime art contest. I checked out the website. Ooooh, they have one. Cool, mail your entries in. I had a little Q & A with the art chair. She seemed with it at the time. Great! I got my entires ready. This would be fun. Sometime in May Art contest entries mailed. Banner exchange done. Everyone has been so nice and friendly, replied to my emails....*sighs* I went to the webpage AFTER the mail in deadline for the art contest had happened, and now suddenly there is a whole BRAND new set of rules and things you can do.... *furrows her brows* So I wrote to the art chair. She didn't answer any of my questions and brushed me off. Right then and there I started to get some bad vibes about Port Con. In case any of you haven't noticed, you are reading this review off an art site. While art is fun to me, I also take it very seriously. Art has been a big part of my life, like about oh 18 years of my life. Anime art has been in my life since...oh the summer of 2000. Getting no answers and being blown off with a less than mediocre response was the same as taking a dump on one of my picture. The few days before the con So I managed to supress my bad vibes and I checked the schedules again. Actually, I had been checking the schedules almost daily during the few months before Port Con. I noticed that many events have been added and am very pleased. All art grievances aside...this should be fun...I thought. First Day of the Con - Friday So we were running errands, which ran late and yadda yadda...so we missed the beginning of the con. *grumbles* But we end up making it down there for 1pm. Not bad, we only missed an hour...shoot us! So we go, get our pins and take a look at the premises. Hey not bad! There's a big room, two viewing rooms, a room upstairs (which we never entered because we didn't know how to play the game up there. LOL) and some other fun stuff. So we head back to the big room and my fiancee peruses the video games. He sees Marvel VS. Capcom and DDR...and well...nothing else.... Slightly frustrated, he figures that they were just set up for the two tournaments that were going to happen that afternoon. So he gets over it and plays Marvel VS. Capcom. He takes some character which I forgot and lost. Oh well...it's all in fun! Ok, here is some bad... My fiancee is a video gamer, not a table top gamer. So there was literally nothing for him to play other than DDR or Marvel VS. Capcom ALL WEEKEND! There was no line or list setup, so even if he did want to play either of those two *yawn* games, he never would get the shot. He actually waited a half an hour once to join a game, and no one was sharing or taking turns. So in essence...if you like video games (other than DDR and Marvel Vs. Capcom), BOOOOOO to Port Con. You're going to have nothing to do. Take your 20 bucks and spend it at the Dream Machine, or better yet, on a new video game. The good...if you like table top games, then go to Port Con! They had a wide selection of them and there was ALWAYS a game going, provided you knew how to play. My fiancee and I didn't know crap about table top games, cause face it, most table top games are no fun with just two players (our friends don't play either). So table top was a no-go for us. So it's now 2:05...CRAP...we missed the start of the Music Video showing. I had wanted to make a video but didn't because I suck. So we shuffled in and took a seat. We were handed a ballot and watched the music videos. This event was EXTREMELY organized and VERY WELL done. My kudos to Scott for being awsome. All of the video's were great, but my personal favs were the "Obligatory Eva Trailer" which placed sealab 2021 soundbits to Neon Genesis Evenagelion, "Leaves of Happiness" which was just a hoot using various footage to a comical song, and lastly "Hard Knock Anime" which used the Austin Powers "Hard Knock Life" song and was placed with various footage. Those three were great and I look foward to seeing more from them next year! (Note, if any of those three creators have websites and/or emails, let me know. I'd love to download/purchase copies of your work!) So the music video's are done and will kill the next four hours until the duck hunt shootout doing perhaps two of the best pannels at Port Con this year. We went to the Drawing for Manga and Comics pannel hosted by Dave and Sarah (Woooh, you rock!) and then we stretched and stayed for the Web Comics 101 pannel hosted by Ukyo and Dave (Woooh, more you rock!) These two pannels, although very laid back and funny as hell...were INFORMATIVE. (Yes, Dave, Sarah and Ukyo...I actually learned stuff I did not know.) Although at points, Sarah got very colorful, and sometimes Dave wanted to die, and eventually Ukyo talked about squirting mayonaise....*tape gets eaten* it was informative and fun. It was the highlight of my Friday, and it would become a con highlight as well. Lastly, we hit the Duck Hunt tournament. My fiancee choked, *sighs* poor him. Normally he get can to level 40 on one duck and level 12 on two duck with perfect scores. However, I think the competition startled him and he died on the first level. Ah, it was all in fun. So it was no big deal. So we went home, tired from a busy day...but happy so far with the con! Second Day of the Con - Saturday Now Saturday was THE day to be at the con. The attendance was great and there was lots to do! First thing we did, was went to check on my art. Big mistake! My FRAMED artwork was clumsily taped to the wall. Ok, note...framed art weights more than paper. For the rest of the weekend I was scared shitless that it was going to get broken. Secondly, my TITLED artwork was suddenly some untitled piece of crap. When I asked the poor volunteer at the desk what was going on, she had no clue. She said she came to help, was stuck at the table and not really told what to do. So on the busiest day of the con, the supposed Art chair was off doing everything but her job. I think I saw her a total of an hour combined over the three days at the con. It really pissed me off, because people wanted to vote and place bids on Saturday, but no one could because the used and abused volunteer didn't know what was going on, and the art chair was never around! Very....very bad....more strikes againsnt the art chair. So after that, we catched the tail end of the Costuming pannel. This woman, Rae, was very sweet, even though we were very late. She was very helpful and her work was totally amazing. Bring her back! (So I can see the full pannel next year. LOL) Plus, next year I am going to cosplay...and I'd love her to critque my work. After that, we went to the Indie Game Design and publishing pannel. Well, we thought this was going to be about publishing your own computer game, not about making pdf's and selling them for five bucks. My fiancee likes to program, not to make pdf's...anyhoo, that was a big disappointment. So Love Hina here we come! I had wanted to watch Love Hina, but sacrificed it for the pannel. After about a half an hour of "Dude, people actually paid me for pdf's" we split and ran to the Love Hina room. That was fun, and it got my fiancee hopelessly addicted to Love Hina. After two episodes, we ran to the vendors room and shelled out some bucks for a dvd and some manga. We spent a lot of free time in the vendors room and came home with some great stuff. I think that the selection of vendors was great. I bought something at half of the tables! I wished that it would have been a little less cramped though. Maybe next year, placing them along the back wall of the upper ballroom area would be great. It would free up a room, and everyone would see the merchandise every time they came in and temptation....gah....*runs with fistfuls of money* Anyhoo, with that VERY TINY gripe aside, the Vendors room was GREAT! So we took a lunch/dinner break and came back. We watched some more anime, actually weaseled our way onto a consol for a single match of wrestling for the N64 and pretty much killed some time until the music video showing again. Now I know you're saying "But you already watched it" and I'm gonna say. "But the music videos were so great I wanted to watch them again!" Don't worry, I only voted once. Plus we got to see Scott's great fan parody about going to an anime convention. It was a hoot! We want to buy a copy! Hopefully some will surface and become available for purchase. If not, we shall just be deprived, but the memories will always be there. *sheds a tear* Now it's time for the highlight of the night, the Cosplay! I must say that this event was great. While it started like five minutes late, hey have some slack. Organizing tons of costumed peeps with music and introductions is not easy for a poor chobit, a "disney" character, a guy with no sense of humor and a "michael jackson" to do! (To those people...I am joking. Please don't kill me! @_@) So we watched the cosplay, awed at those with great costumes, laughed at those who performed well, cheered for our cosplay heros, and lastly clapped for everyone, because making a costume is lots of hard work and it takes guts to get up in front of all these other convention goers and strut your stuff. While everyone was great, the highlight of the night and also the winner of the "Gee you got gnads" award was Botan. She got up and sang a song for us. Now just wanting to sing all by yourself is totally commendable, but about a minute into her song, her cd/tape got stuck/eaten and the girl kept going with no accompaniment. Damned! So my hat goes off to you Botan! The cosplay contest was GREAT! My fiancee and I are going to enter next year! Bed time...well not really, but we did leave after the Cosplay. While I had wanted to see Whose Line is it Anime?, I was a bit tired, and so was my better half. We skipped the funny stuff in hopes of saving our sanity. It really didn't work, but eh...this straight jacket is rather warm. LOL. Last day of the Con - Sunday Dammit, we just missed the Oh! My Goddess OVA. Stupid breakfast...curses! Oh well to the vendors room! After YET another trip to the vendors room, we watched a few episodes of Ranma 1/2. Damned, that show has become a new favorite of ours. Now we are torn between purchasing more Love Hina or some new Ranma 1/2. Curses! I would like to applaud and commend whomever was running the anime viewing rooms. All three days, the selection was great and the rooms were very neat and well organized. The shows were always on time and any changes to the schedule were posted well enough in advance. I am definately going back for the anime viewing rooms. Everyone, give the viewing rooms a round of applause. After we decided to take the first step and admit that we had a Ramna 1/2 addiction, we went to the Non-Stop Doodle-Thon.Yah! Kudos to Sarah for bringing pencils, crayons and paper, cause idiots like myself who looked foward to doodling all weekend and then on the day of the doodle-thon, left all their damned art stuff at home. *hangs her head in shame* So I doodled a bunny girl and faerie. My fiancee made an "Evil Dave" and a Spam can making fun of a slim jim, umongst other things. So those are supposed to go on the Port Con site...tehehehehe. I'd love to see THOSE! While this following person was not a staffer (At least I didn't think so) a shout-out goes out to Weird Beard the pirate. This guy was freaking hilarious and made the doodle-thon a pile of laughs. A squid in a frying pan...I wanna see THAT one on the site for sure! Ooooh, oooh...more good stuff. During the doodle-thon, the great munchie guy from the vendors room decided to rock the house and give out free candy, cookies and rices bars! How freakin' sweet is that? I mean really...he could have just thrown them away. Instead he threw them to the wolves in the doodle-thon. I scored a rice bar, two jellys and like three gummy candies! MAKE HIM COME BACK NEXT YEAR!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! So after my butt fell asleep from sitting on the floor during the doodle-thon, we got up and left. We waited around a little bit and eventually they posted the contest winners. *sighs* I didn't win, not even second or third place. *sighs* I actually thought that I stood a chance because my artwork was original. But instead, the ones that either won contests or got bids at the auctions were blatant rip offs of existing artwork. *sighs more* I think that it should be known, that fan art without variation that is publicly used and the creators either receives money and or/prizes for stealing anothers hardwork is wrong and is a direct violation of copyright law. (Yeah, the L-word) In the future, I would suggest to Julie two things...get a new art chair. Appoint Sarah or Dave, because they have some knowlage about art, and because your current one doesn't know a damned thing...and two, do not allow any fanart in any contests or auctions...ESPECIALLY the auctions. If you want to have a fanart contest, then make it seperate and make sure that the prize is nothing special. Theives are giving original artists like myself a bad name and a bad rap...and if they are not stopped at the con, it could give the con a bad rap. Guests and vendors are not going to want to come if they know that Port Con encourages theft. I know that I was greatly dissapointed in it. I grabbed my art, which was ruined by tape mind you, and grabbed my auction piece and left Port Con with a sour taste in my mouth.
Anime Viewing Rooms and the person who ran them - Excellent work! Please, try and keep the same person for next year. The work was fabulous. Scott and the AMV contest - FABULOUS! On Sunday Scott took like half an hour to explain some stuff to my fiancee and I. Him taking the time to answer our probably "mundane" questions really inspired us to work on some short films for next years' con! Thanks Scott, you rock! Dave and Sarah - They rock! Their pannels were fun and relaxed. Keep them, give them pocky...bribe them with pictures. I don't care! They helped to make the art pannels fun. Julie - You've got a lot of work to do running the con. I salute you! You can make Port Con Maine a great con, I know it. There is so much potential. I saw the reviews from the first con, and I saw that you improved because of them. Keep it up! Video Gaming - BOOOOO! Try and get a better system. There was not enough, no lines and no rules. Because it besmirched my fiancee so, he'll probably be writing to run some sort of video gaming event next year. So in a way...bad video gaming could potentially make something good happen. @_@ Table Top Gaming - YAHHHHH! Even though I know squat about playing, I saw that there were tons of games and tons of people playing. So if you like card, dice, pen and paper, GO TO PORT CON! Cosplay and Rae the Wonderful Costumer - They both rocked. We're doing cosplay next year, and hopefull you will bring Rae back so we can catch her full pannel. ~_~ Art Related Stuff - Get a new art chair, one that knows what art copyright law is, and stop allowing stolen images into the con. ^_^ The Con Peeps (Guests) - Great people! Most everyone we met was very friendly and gave us cramps in our stomachs from laughter. Kudos to the guests! So the overall conseus is.... We'll be back next year for Cosplay, Anime Viewing, the Vendors and hopefully with some great short films for Scott...can we say, "I am Iron-Ham!" If you would like to write back to me with any responses to my review, flames, death threats and other emails saying "Why you no like Port Con Maine?", GO RIGHT AHEAD! I want feedback on my feedback. Maybe I missed something...maybe I'm stupid, or maybe you just want to say "Hello." or "That was you?????" Tehehehehe...it's funny...I supported the con with Banner Exchanges and even got listed in the updates and yet no one knew who "Shiva" was....ROFL. Funny...damned...funny...anyhoo...
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