Anime Central 2014: Wrap

So the hotel I stayed at had paid-for wireless, but we didn’t feel like it. I suppose if I didn’t lug my laptop around I could’ve left it there to set up internet sharing, but screw that. It also means no mid-con update posts.

So, let’s cut to the chase: ACEN 2014 was WUGCON for me. I don’t even like WUG that much? But it’s like I have set myself up for it just by going to Japan earlier in the year and missing out on their events. That left me wanting, so when the announcement of WUG coming to ACEN happened, I can’t really justify not going.

This also means applying the international producer knowhow and getting all the US-side guys together to hang with the Japan side guys. 7thwraith and Paranda really helped out on that regard, and I provided what little logistics I could. Big time MVP though is our WUG hoodie maker, because he made it easy for us to get them, and they came out really well. It speaks volumes actually, in terms of what we are and what you can talk to us about. The CR guys flagged us because a bunch of us have the hoodies and spoke English, LOL. And the JP WUGners know just by seeing. Danketsu, baby.

So yeah, we had maybe 8-10 people with WUG hoodies. I even basically cosplayed Ota Kuniyoshi because, why not? My glasses are not the right kind and my hair is not exactly the same but I think the resemblance is there?

Anyway, because of these social links and WUG lingering feelings, and because of the capital investment, this con is very WUG-oriented for me. I don’t really regret it, but I do regret having to miss out on most of Angela’s programming as a result. They had 2 panels I could’ve attended, and a press session. I really wish I could’ve been.

I hope I cheered hard enough at the concert to make up for some of that? I think their set was tops, partly because it was a live band, four piece style with Katsu actually having to grind out on guitar at times, LOL. Well, I think Angela had a good time.

ACEN is really a stereotypical mid-west con. The attendees felt like what midwest cons feel like. Young, uninhibited, and probably not the most responsible group of people. They are good, just not always the wisest. They sure do rave hard though, kind of wish I went to Hardcore Synergy on Friday. Too bad it’s just not possible with 1 hour of sleep under your belt.

Thanks to ACEN scheduling (and because of, I guess) I could sleep in on Saturday and it really helped. Angela concert on 1 hour of sleep took a lot out of me, more so than otherwise.

But who am I to talk about wisdom? No one who blogs at 1:45AM while having to wake up the next day for work is qualified.

Loot thus. Not pictured are items I got from our P circle (which turned into WUGner USA for this occasion), such as the aforementioned hoodie and some WUG bromides.

Angela? Yeah, they’ll perform at AX alright. Just sit tight.

We took the JP WUGners to Fogo. It’s great because Fogo is good for big groups, and the guys at Rosemont really helped us out, with both adding 7 people to the reservation last minute-ish and moving their table from 3 slots away to our big one. I should’ve tipped you more. This also means most of the JP WUGners had a lot of meat. Good times.

I will have a billion more pictures from ACEN and WUG on Jtor, once I wake up from this surreal realization I have another con in less than four days. I’m also probably missing interesting details I can share in this post, which I’ll try to fill in later. The JP WUGners are interesting, I can talk about that some more.