There’s always something to do at Geek.kon. Although I wasn’t thrilled with the panel selections this year, I was still entertained the entire weekend. The following are the events and panels I attended and what each had to offer.
* denotes special event
Small/Indie Press Publishing –> The panelists consisted of three people, and the audience was about six. Because of the size, the panelists asked the audience to ask questions about what we hoped to learn and they would answer those questions for us. The panel focused on small/indie press publishing for both fiction and games, so it was interesting to learn about the tabletop game industry.
My question: “How would I start a career in editing?”
My answer: edit things you’re not comfortable editing; volunteer to read the slush pile; follow directions like your life depended on it; and accept the fact pay will suck.
*Masked Ball –> Like the other years, the entrance fee is $3. Masks were a bit pricier, but they were also fancier. Entrance is only granted to those in formal attire. Mine looked straight from the renaissance, but since this was a kon, if it’s considered formal somewhere, you’re admitted. This year, the ball was fun. I went alone–my travel buddy not having any formal attire on her–but that didn’t stop the fun. I mean, I danced with a gentleman who cosplayed as Tuxedo Mask. And I’m pretty sure I was the one that started a jig circle for a tune or two. Stag or no, I still had fun.
Whose Line is it Anyway at Geek.kon? (18+) –> Not as good as the television show, but still entertaining. Pretty much exactly what it says, but more crowded than it looks on TV.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Before –> A panel discussing Fullmetal Alchemist in all its glory. A few interesting points mentioned: the symbols used in the show were used by real alchemists back when it was a thing; each Gate of Truth caters to the individual–you’ll notice Ed’s is different than Al’s which is different than Roy’s; each alchemist writes their research notes in code. This last one isn’t very enlightening, except I didn’t know Edward wrote his notes in travellogs and Mustang wrote his in women’s names.
Voice Actor Q&A –> Caitlin Glass was late. But she was at the Farmer’s Market, so I forgive her. I’ve been to several of these before, and most of them feature some iterations of the following questions:
How did you get into voice acting? (answer varies by actor)
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get into voice acting? (take acting classes, get into acting and theater. Very few voice actors start out as voice actors)
Gundam in the 90s –> An amusing history of Gundam as it appeared in the 90s when all the Alternate Universe series were coming out. Makes me want to watch Gundam. One of the panelists was Nick Izumi, who is always entertaining to listen to.
The Hobbit Movie –> The panelist for this one was the linguist working on The Hobbit movie. He was the only panelist and didn’t have much information about the actual movie itself. However, he did have a lot of interesting things to say about the languages of Middle Earth. I don’t have much written down about this panel, but I do have the translation of what Arwin says when she drowns the Ringwraiths in The Fellowship of the Ring:
“Waters of the misty mountain, hear a great word. Let the water of [the river] drown the Ringwraiths.”
*Kon.Quest –> I love this game. When you sign up, you choose a class: 8-bit Hero, Bard, Android, or Cat Girl. Each has its advantages, though none have a blatant disadvantage anywhere. There are six stations, each with six activities to complete. You can only complete each activity once, and depending on how well you did, you get cards as a reward. The point of the game is to collect as many Items as you can. Each item enters you into a drawing to win a prize, which is pretty much free registration into Geek.kon the next year. But this is one of my favorite things to do at Geek.kon. The games are so much fun!
*Masquerade –> Essentially a fashion show of the best cosplays at Geek.kon, then an audience-participation show that involved everything auditioning for a wizard academy. It was fun, but my travel-buddy and I didn’t last very long.
*Otaku Tonight with Professor Pher –> This is a geeky talk show that was highly entertaining. It features a quota for Bleach jokes, the “death” of one of its staff in each episode, and the kon guests of honor as guests. It was highly entertaining, especially the spontaneous dance party. This is something worth watching.
Death Note Mafia –> The game mafia takes place in various rounds that involve the group of players attempting to identify members of the mafia that kill a citizen each “night”. Death Note Mafia takes the same game and applies it to Death Note characters–“investigators” attempting to find the “kiras” and such. This game is fantastic to play with both friends and strangers alike.
Morike Travels 