Toronto Anime Con

March 15th to 16th, 2008

Saturday, March 15th 2008

This might have been the year I had missed the March break, Toronto Anime Con.  I had fractured a rib from a fall on ice a couple of months earlier. Also there were several other tests scheduled for the following week. Not to mention that funds were at critical low. The only thing that really change was a friend and Anime London's first president decided to go to the con. After making him some promo biz cards for his website, Kung Fu Action Theatre, he thought it would be a novelty to go.  Frankly, I felt that he had more to gain by going.  With some maps, I showed that it would be cheaper to park and take the subway down to Front Street.  With two more people going, it would make the cost of gas cheaper. So I began the regiment of backing up the photos on the flash cards and recharging the batteries for the cameras. This would be the first time we travelled as a group as oppose to each heading down by ourselves.

The trip down...

We left a little later than I would if I took the bus but then Rob had to pickup myself and two other passengers.  Once we hit the open road, we did do one pit stop along the way. We parked at Yordale Mall which saved us tons of money and the hassle of trying to get a parking space.  I was figuring on that we would have to buy tokens but I forgot that the TTC Day Pass covers for two adults for the day.

     

The first thing I noticed was the horrid wall of (neon) glow was gone. Gone!  The difference to my photos in this area was drastic. The dealer's room was brighter but it still had the same old problem that the lighting, all straight above, left shadows on people's faces.  Still an improvement and I made a point to comment to MTCC that the makeover and lighting changes were appreciated.

Still not all areas were given the makeover.  The back hallway was still poorly lit.  Another problem that cropped up in the hallway toward the hotel was brushed metal on the wall played havoc with the light sensor of my camera.  I could see the red sensor light being reflected off the mirror surface.

VOICE ACTING 101

Chris Sabat's VA101

Once again, Chris Sabat ran the Voice Acting 101 panel.  This time alone. Frankly, it was not up to snuff compared to last year's presentation.  My friends were expecting more on things like annunciation, warm up exercises. Chris also being from Texas had no idea of what studios were working in Toronto area.  Mind you, the questions forwarded by the crowd didn't lend to answers that would be helpful to beginning voice actors.

It did make my friend, Rob more determined to put together his workshop where the audience would be involved.  The crowd would decide who gets which parts. Then he would have the VAs record their lines live then show how to edit the levels and clean up the noise. The final stages would be adding sound effects and music.  Not would this type of workshop be good for aspiring VAs but for those trying prepare their audio tracks for the masquerade.  Since he also teaches, he is planning a full media course on the subject.  Hopefully he can do it at Anime North this year.

Michael Sinterniklaas joins near the end.

 

Once again there was a display of dolls at the con.  The lady who owned them organizes meets in the Toronto area.  I glad this is becoming a growing hobby as anything that promotes being creative.  To find out more, you can check out Den of Angels forums for local meets in your area.

Up in the hair...

   

 This awesome hairdo took three days for this cosplayer to finish.  Thankfully it's a wig, Still it is impressive. On the other hand, one of the dealers was sporting a mohawk.  While he wasn't cosplaying, I have respect for anyone that can do a mohawk since my own hair is unmanageable.

Punk style will never die.

While the rest of the group headed to another attraction, I did spend some time at Tim Hortons with friends. It gave me the chance to cash in one of my free coffees for an extra large smoothie.  I would have loved to spend more time with them but I had to get back to the con and get some more pictures and for Cosplay Idol.

Cosplay Idol

 

One fan's setup of two cameras recording the show.

It is always a challenge to record this event and this year, there were plenty of people doing the same thing. It is one of the hardest events since it is non-stop and you have to cover both the stage and the judges. Finding the sweet spot where you can have good view of both is next to impossible. What made it more difficult was the LCD display had gone and only worked if it was in one spot which made it difficult to monitor.

Above is one person's ideal... two camcorders. The scary part is neither camcorder is mounted.

Cosplay Idol this year ran over an hour and half. Usually, it runs for a half an hour.  Maybe having too many of the guests as judges was a bad choice.  Since my ride had decided to catch some other places in Toronto, I couldn't stay any longer.  As I slipped out and headed back to Yorkdale to catch my ride back, I noticed another contestant was leaving

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On the ride home, some slept while we mused over the day's events.  Sadly, I could not make Sunday.