Have visited the Anything Goes School of Masquerade Arts Home Page since July 27, 1998.
San Diego CC 1998
-Walk About
-Brain Monsoon
-Prequel Chaos
-The Search for Chef
-Postquel Chaos
-Other Attendees
-The Chronicles
-Closing Credits
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South Wars- The Search for Chef The Chronicles of AGSMA The Chronicles of AGSMA (Not the Chronicles of Narnia), SDCC 1998 Are compiled by individual members of AGSMA, each with a different point of view and color. Stardate: August 11, 1998 Tuesday Location: San Diego Today marks the Arrival of Principal Kuno Today marks the Arrival of Ranma-chan We pick up Ran-chan at the Greyhound station where he is all psyched for the Con. We go to lunch and then go back for 3 more hours of grueling work. Ran-chan and Riyoga decide to pass the time by singing assorted Disney songs (they get many a stare and laugh when singing "Colors of the Wind" with Pocahontas re-enactment. I stare at them in disbelief and pretend not to know them. Ran-chan is in need of a bra, so we measure him up and I pick out the perfect bra for him at Ross. Work on costumes. Principal Kuno: I arrived at Chateau D'Esperon at around 9:15 AM. I am a little late but its still a good time to get to the Convention Center, this is my first time and I am pretty anxious!!! We get there and they ask for paperwork, paperwork?, What paperwork?. I had no idea I needed any paperwork, I had mailed some and had not a clue to what I was supposed to bring to the volunteer window. All goes well, I don't get separated from my friends ang we go in for the Holly bag stuffing ritual, we chant as we work. After 3 hours the ceremony is over and we leave to pick up Ranma-chan. Since we the work back at the SDCC can only be done in shifts of 3 hrs. we can't go back just yet and will have to wait another couple of hours. We get this great deep, and I do mean "deep" pan pizza (best pizza I ever had). The religious ceremony of the bag continues, we chant as we work, we are the best bag stuffers the SDCC has ever seen!!! We go home and work all night on the costumes. Ranma-chan: I arrived in San Diego, tired after realizing that it was 5 AM and if I was going to actually make it down there that day for volunteer work and such that I couldn't fall asleep, because I wouldn't be able to wake up. Upon arrival, we went for some delicious pizza and some walkabout shopping before going to the Convention Center to do some volunteer work. By far the most efficient group, we stuffed Comic Con bags to the singing of Disney songs. It was pretty fun. When we came to Chateau d'Esperon, I assessed the situation of the costumes, and realized that there was a long way to go. Undeterred, however, I cut out Ned 3PO's headband and facial hair as P-chan was telling me that no one would let him near the scissors. You know, that was probably a good decision!! Stardate: August 12, 1998 Wednesday Today marks the Arrival of Asuza Meet back up with P. Kuno and Ran-chan. Go with them to get Ran-chan's wig. Very impressive Grenada wig store in downtown San Diego, lots of cool looks. We go back to Riyoga's house and work more on costumes. I get very worried that I had told Trunks that we would have the costumes finished before his arrival. Boy, am I in trouble. Asuza: Left L.A. around 7pm and found the wormhole that allowed me to make the three-hour drive in two hours. Arrived at Ukyo's around 9pm, whereupon she runs around the house gathering costume materials while I play on her computer. Went to my parents' house and do some team shirt ironing while explaining to my parents what a "comic convention" was. Ranma-chan: I could not do volunteer work because of a mishap...(grumble). So Principal Kuno and I decide to tour the wig shops for my costume. We went to Horton Plaza where we met Wolverine and Storm, and got free cake and drinks. The day ended up not being a complete waste of time. Upon returning to Chateau d'Esperon, we watched the premiere of "Stressed Eric," followed by "South Park," and once again delayed working on the costumes. However, we did get into the AGSMA mood by watching Ranma 1/2 TV Series volume 9. Stardate: August 13, 1998 Thursday San Diego Comic Convention, Day 1 Have fun trying to figure out the shuttle routes. Riyoga's cousin exclaims, "I want my 15 minutes back!" I go back home and wait for Azusa's arrival. She arrives at around 9 PM after finding the wormhole from L.A. to San Diego. We leave for her house and work on Anything Goes team T-shirts. At around 1 AM we go to Riyoga's to pick him up. We find P. Kuno and Ran-chan working on costumes in front of his house. Arrive at San Diego airport to find that Trunks' flight has been delayed 25 minutes. So instead of just sitting around I spend the time with Azusa and Riyoga wandering the airport and finding strange things in the baggage area. We find a large piece of cardboard and create a last minute welcome sign. We get back into Azusa's frog mobile (a.k.a. her car) where I find to my horror that Trunks is knowledgeable with the intricacies of WCW's Wolf Pack and New World Order. Drop off Riyoga and Trunks at Riyoga's house. Go back to Azusa's house to sleep. Asuza: Drove to the airport with Ukyo and Riyoga at 1 AM to pick up Trunks. Wandered all over the newly rennovated airport and generally made pests of ourselves by snooping around the rotating baggage claim thingies and laughing too loud. Came to the conclusion that the new terminal looked more like a museum than an airport. Dropped off Trunks and Riyoga and crawled into bed around 3 AM. Ranma-chan: Bring on the Con! We got there at 9 AM, and at 10:30 ran frantically around the dealers room to gauge the scope of it before 11 AM when I had to volunteer at Pre-reg. That ended at 2 PM, and I ran over to D.C. to meet other members of the school for lunch at Panda Express or some Chinese restaurant. What happened after?? It's all a blur. Met Ranma-kun and Genma for the first time. We ended up working fairly late on costumes. Early that night, Trunks arrives, and we talk til around 4 or something like that, which really wasn't a good idea considering the amount of energy that is needed for a convention of this magnitude or the fact that the costumes were nowhere near completion. Good thing there's adrenaline! Stardate: August 14, 1998 Friday Today marks the Arrival of Trunks, technically since it was early morning. San Diego Comic Convention, Day 2 Requoted Ucchan: "We'll have all the costumes ready by the time you arrive." "You don't have to worry about a thing!" Famous last words. Unpacked for a little bit, and played guess what outfit I brought over. No one could get it until I told them. Except for Ucchan. She recognized the outfit, but not the name (Jin Saotome). Anyways, I think I crashed at 4 AM that morning from the adrenaline. Woke up 5 hours later, groggy, but psyched. Packed up a Tatewaki Kuno outfit, and watched as Ranma-chan got a make over with expert advise from Ucchan and Principal Kuno. Riyoga geared up too, I decided I'd gear up with Ucchan at the convention center. Signed up for volunteering with Asuza, but gave her my first shift at the blood bank. Settled for 2 PM at Programming with Ranma-chan. Went to go get geared up as Tatewaki Kuno, and returned to the hall. Made first contact with the Cosplayers Mailing List with David and Kim. Subsequently checked in at ADV with Malinda. Next up, volunteering. All the other volunteers got jobs, except for me and Ranma-chan, so we just sat, and sneaked out once in a while. Managed to check out the Sailor Moon creator panel. Tons of Sailor Scouts, Star Lights, you name it dressed for the occassion. Got some photo ops with Sailor Scouts and other members of the press, as well as a picture of Naoko Takeuchi. Was set to watch the Programming table alone for 10 minutes, and then set free. Met up with Widya (as Gendou) from the Mailing List at around 4-5 PM. Spent hours trying to locate Principal Kuno, but in the process, found the mother lode of cardboard from the Pre-Registration Desk. From 9 PM to 1 AM, selfishly worked on the Jin costume, finishing up the jacket and armor. Whenever Ucchan nagged at me, I simply recalled her famous last words. Was the alarm for many people but could not seem to wake Riyoga up. Gave up on him and let him sleep the rest of the night. Ucchan: We get to Riyoga's house to find that the guys are not ready. P. Kuno makes it a point that he MUST iron his Polo brand shirt. P. Kuno and I help Ran-chan get into Ran-chan wig, make-up and outfit. Braiding his wig takes longer than expected. With Ukyo costume in tow, we're off to the con in the Frog Mobile and Kuno's Falcon (like the Millennium in Star Wars). Each car gets a Motorola Talk About Plus walkie talkie (with a two-mile radius, yeah!). We have fun with the walkie-talkies on the way to the convention. At the convention, we separate to wander around (Azusa spends 3 hours volunteering at the Blood Mobile). We lose P. Kuno for the first time. I get into Ukyo outfit and find that a couple others dressed in similar outfits. They may have spatulas but I know that my outfit looks sharper. Many photo opportunities. Have lunch at McDonalds. When we get back I wander around convention with Azusa to look for fantasy/dragon stuff. Leave convention to help out Azusa's mom. Load up on Pizza Hut pizzas and arrive at Riyoga's. Everybody is working on costumes. I work on trying to sew up the backs of the costumes. While Riyoga sleeps I take over the night shift. Change CD's from Saturday morning cartoons to No Doubt and City of Angels to stay awake. Asuza: Woke up early and went to Riyoga's. Sat around while Ran-chan made the magical transformation from he to she -without- water. Piled into two cars and drove to convention. Went to volunteer booth and, to my dismay, got sent outside into the heat to babysit the Bloodmobile sign-up table. Stared into space for two hours, intermittently giving instructions to people on how to sign up to give blood. Was quite amused when a fellow dressed as a vampire went to one of the tables to sign up. A fellow table-sitter said, "No withdrawals, only deposits!" Was happily greeted by the rest of the School, who were on their way to McDonald's and were considerate enough to ask me what I wanted to order. Placed my order with them, then proceeded to stare into space for another hour. Got a free donut and t-shirt for helping out the Bloodbank. Am dismayed again, this time because I got less than two hours total to look around the convention, partly because we arrived late, partly because of my 3 hours of volunteer time, and partly because we had to spend time looking for people (which I hate). At least I acquired two wonderful dragon statuettes before we had to leave. Left the convention to help my mom with something we said we'd do. Picked up dinner-type objects (pizza) to revive the hard-at-work costume-builders. Helped with this and that (all the while hoping that Genma would just go to sleep so we could listen to something other than ancient cartoon theme songs). Toiled until 3:30 AM before driving home to sleep. Thankfully went to sleep at 4 AM. Ranma-chan: We arrived late because of brading my hair and the non-stop AGSMA photo session. AGSMA photographers harped on my every action, and forced me to sing along to Mulan's "You'll Bring Honor To Us All." When we finally arrived, we started walking around in costume, and I could not believe the number of cat calls I received. Certain people stared for two minutes without blinking, AHEM!! Examples of said cat calls include "WOOO!! RAN-CHAN!!" AND "THAT'S A GIRL!" The VIZ staff was duly impressed with our costumes, as were many people in the hall, and even more photo ops were to be had. After lunch, we were scheduled for more volunteer work, which consisted of sitting in the programming room for 2 1/2 hours talking with Trunks (who was masquerading as Kunou Tatewaki.) That's where we found the material for the X-Wing. We then toured the hall looking for Principal Kunou, who found us much later, saying "How hard could it be to find someone in a red wig?" We went home, with everyone working hard on the costumes until 1 or 2 AM, and Ucchan and I working all night, leading into... Stardate: August 15, 1998 Saturday San Diego Comic Convention, Day 3 I FINALLY went to bed, only to awake at 2:30 PM, very irate and complaining that less was done in 5 hours with 5 people than was done all night with 3 people (2 after Trunks retired at 3 AM.) So I changed to "Dude" mode, and had to take a shower to cool off before returning to work. Once we finshed the costumes, we loaded up the Masuy- and Frog-mobiles, and headed for the masquerade. With still no rehearsal, the rest of the school took care of final assembly and touching-up of the costumes while P-Chan and I went to Ralphs. We got psyched-up, and finally did rehearsal at 8 PM, ironically as the event was starting! I was pretty nervous because the "Actor" had not been on-stage in several years, but I settled down after circle and my performance was golden. Could it be otherwise? One minor mishap, however, almost occurred while going off-stage, as I almost literally went off-stage, as half of my lead foot was over the edge. If not for my "inherent Ranma ability" and superior balance, I would have plummeted to a most embarrasing predicament, and would have ended up the "Rock" of the '98 Con. But I didn't. We won "Most Humorous." After many photo ops and the searing heat of the lights, we finally packed up the cars and attended the party. There was hardly any food, and as anyone knows food makes a party! I won a free blade comic by tossing the foam weapon and hitting the movie poster on the head. Not to be outdone, Principal Kunou returns to the game and equals the feat. It was by far the best day of the Con. Trunks: From 1 AM to 2 AM, feverishly worked on props. In one hour, fashioned an X Wing out of scraps found at the Programming Desk, and turned amorphous cardboard into the Landspeeder (later canned). Worked on costumes for a little bit, but retired at 3 AM. Woke up to record the voices for Stan Skywalker and Kenny in the luxury of the recording studio a.k.a. the bathroom. How echogenic. Did not spend much time at the convention at all except to get the backstage passes and set rehearsal time to 2:30 PM. Came back to do extensive work on the larger costumes (Leia, Chef Solo, Cartman). Sent Asuza to post pone rehearsal until 5 PM. Still working on costumes. Finally decided that we need to be at the Convention Center. Takes 1 hour just to mobilize and pack all the stuff into two cars and a van. We weren't allowed to unload in front of the convention center and was sent back to the docks. Luckily, the dock people let us unload without charging us an arm and a leg. Set up shop in room 8B with no intention of moving. Brought the spray adhesive against Ucchan's thoughts on spray materials at the convention center. Ucchan still was lectured by Principal Kuno about the sheer wonder of spray adhesive. "I can't work like this!" Ran into technical difficulties with the carbonite block sewing. Lucky for us, the Golden Hind and Ares were there with their totally lifesaving tack gun. Affected repairs to the carbonite block. Dry Rehearsal at 8:00 PM. Spent alot of time taking pictures. Performance. Number 47. A lucky number that I use for lottery tickets. A Prime Number. The emcee herself was shocked when trying to announce us. Lock and Load. Now or Never. Can't hear our lines due to the roar of the audience. Waves of laughter when characters made their appearances. After everyone left stage except for Kenny, the audio cue was missed to drop the block (because the audience). Kenny just looked around while the audience shouted "KILL KENNY, KILL KENNY". How reassuring. Finally Stan's line was heard and the stage ninjas pushed the block down as fast as they could. Caught me off guard and sustained a contusion of the right knee. Tried poking out of the Carbonite, but got fed up with it and with one sweeping motion, cleared a part for Spirit of Kenny. Stage Ninja had no problem nailing me in the back of my head with the Death Star. Didn't even feel the X Wing. Ran to get everything off stage. Photo Ops abound, many a time, the group was too big to fit in one shot. Showdown with Jedi Luke at photo ops. Kenny dies again. Chatted with Malinda and Widya backstage. Had a false alarm for a prize, but the second time, it was true. Most Humorous. Went on stage to retrieve the award with Kenny. All of the Mailing List members who competed, won awards, and took plenty of photos. Met Russ from the Mailing List. One of the mailing list people has a picture of Videl-chan strangling me. I wonder who has it. Asuza: Woke up at 7 AM for another mom-related obligation. Am feeling surprisingly normal for having gotten only three or four hours of sleep in the last two nights. Lots of physical labor helping my mom stack 50 folding chairs (among other things) into a truck. Am detained until noon, whereupon I eagerly left for the convention center to meet the rest of the School at the agreed-upon location. Found Genma there and had the following exchange: Me: Hi! Where's everyone else? Genma: I don't know. Waited around for 20 minutes. No one else showed. Called Riyoga's and discover that everyone else is there frantically trying to finish lots and LOTS of last-minute costume details. Fought off feelings of disbelief and annoyance. Found that I had two good purposes being there after all: 1) To pick up the poor abandoned Genma; 2) To sign up for a later rehearsal time since there was no way in hell we were going to get there earlier. Drove to Riyoga's, picked up Ukyo, drove to Ukyo's to do some extremely frantic sewing. Was amused at Ukyo's inability to think due to severe lack of sleep. Was surprised to find that I was still mostly fine. Drove back to Riyoga's to cram all the skit materials into vehicles and drove at amazing illegal speeds to get to the convention on time. Wondered what the hell the guard was thinking when he told us that we weren't allowed to unload at the back dock, especially after the guard at the front gate told us to go there. Relieved when he grudgingly allowed us five minutes. Many many final (and even -more- frantic) last-minute details to take care of while preparing for the skit. The next several hours went by in a blur, with a successful skit somewhere in there. AGSMA is suffused in excitement upon receiving the "Most Humorous" award. I myself was finally no longer feeling fine. Batteries ran out. Pooped. Need recharging. Don't want to go to Blade party. Want long period of inactivity. Want it now. Ucchan: Azusa leaves at 3AM. P. Kuno goes to bed. I continue working on finishing Cartman with Ran-chan while Trunks works on X-Wing and Landspeeder. I find myself remarkably awake at 5 AM. I have never have done an all-nighter in all my life. Ran-chan spends a lot of time listening to "Iris" on my "City of Angels" CD over and over again. Riyoga's dad makes us coffee at around 5:30 AM, which Ran-chan drinks. 7 AM, Riyoga's mom makes me a cup of hot chocolate. Ran-chan and I hijack Kuno's Falcon to go to Wal-Mart to buy last minute materials of paint, markers and velcro. When we return I finish up team t-shirts (except for Trunk's which I screwed up). I insist that the guys go to the Convention center to check on Masquerade spot and rehearsal time. I sleep for 3 hours. Wake up and work on finishing touches to the costume and the Solo inCarbonite shell. I go back home in the Frog Mobile to finish sewing cloth for the shell. Ask parents to drive van to help carry materials to the convention. Panic when Convention center claims that we can only have 5 minutes to unload on the loading docks inside the convention center. Finish last minute details on costumes. Take pictures of other costumes. Wait to get on stage. I can't hear the tape due to the roar of the crowd. Dance on stage and almost fall off stage when running off. Tear off costume and run back on in back of the Carbonite shell. We hear Stan say "Oh my god, they killed Kenny!" and then we topple it. Wait until Trunks gets out and send Death Star hurtling at him. We win! Tired yet victorious, we spend some time at the Blade party. Stardate: August 16, 1998 Sunday San Diego Comic Convention, Day 4 That night, we went to Miss Saigon, and I curiously, or should I say mysteriously? ended up on-stage and in my seat at the same time!?...There were some kawaii actresses, and even though we had the opportunity to meet them backstage and get autographs, I withheld my special attack and we didn't. We walked around town for an hour looking for a place to eat, and ended up at Hard Rock Cafe. It was a shame that this weekend had to come to a conclusion, but then again, it didn't... Ucchan: Wake up a little late due to lack of sleep from the day before. Get to the Con at around 12pm and feel like a zombie from hunger and fatigue. I eat sugar packets and then we go to Planet Hollywood and become totally revived. Go back to convention to find that Sandman bookends are sold out and I become very sad. Then I buy Ryo-ohki and P-Chan stuffed animals to compensate. Rush back home to get ready to see Miss Saigon with Riyoga, Ran-chan and Trunks. Say bye to Azusa who goes back to L.A. After Miss Saigon, we go to Hard Rock to discuss ideas for next convention. Asuza: Finally got more than four hours of sleep. Drove to convention with Ukyo around noon to meet the guys there. Wasted over half an hour looking for P. Kuno (I hate that!!), who we never found. Helped to keep Ukyo from passing out due to her famished condition. Lunched at Planet Hollywood without P. Kuno. More time was spent looking for various people (which I really really hate!!!) Was irked to find that I again had less than two hours to peruse the convention on my own. Went home to spend some "quality time" in front of the TV with my parents. Drove back to L.A. Slept for 10 1/2 hours. Felt much better. Trunks: At the convention hall, roamed around as Jin Saotome. Some people recognized the outfit. Some people didn't, but liked the costume anyway. No body got in my personal space when I was Jin Saotome, unless they wanted to lose an eye from one of my spikes. Said goodbyes to the Mailing List members, until the next convention. Lunch at Planet Hollywood, where work on Membership Profiles went on. Went to go see Miss Saigon, and needed to borrow nice clothes for the occassion. No dainty actresses on stage. Stared strangely at Ucchan and deeply suspected her for lechery. I believe that Riyoga wants to make a career change, to "engineer". Walked for about an hour, switched to casual attire (with my tie as a bandana) after Miss Saigon looking for a place to eat, and ended up at Hard Rock. Stardate: August 17, 1998 Monday Trunks: Studied a little bit in the morning. Left the home for a tour of the city pretty much. Made contact with various comic book stores for their opinion of the Masquerade and the skit and obtained valuable information on judging. Proceeded on to the grudge match of Marvel Fighting games. All was proceeding well until R-chan and P-chan decided to tag team play me at Marvel vs. Capcom with Strider (unbelievable priority and damage) and Ryu. Lost the first match, but in the next and subsequent matches, adapted like the Borg and showed the tag team that Jin Saotome and Zangief were a force to be reckoned with. Especially memorable was the Jin Blodia Punch cancelling Ryu Shinkuu Hadoken. Established that Jin Saotome is a totally wild character. Leave San Diego. Ucchan: Pick up Riyoga, Ran-chan and Trunks. Go to comic book store and find one of the judges from the Masquerade. Go to UTC to watch guys battle it out in the arcade. No sure winner and I get to see Jin finishing move. I have my two rolls of film from the Masquerade developed for "instant gratification." We get back to Riyoga's to find P. Kuno waiting. We eat delicious barbecue and find out the needed modifications on Jin costume. Take Trunks to airport. Riyoga and Trunks butt heads about structure of Anything Goes School and members. Don't ever take America West, monsoon in Phoenix, Arizona? "Sha...Right!" Take Riyoga and Ran-chan back home. Stardate: August 18, 1998 Tuesday Stardate: August 19, 1998 Wednesday Stardate: August 20, 1998 Thursday Unfortunately, this would be the final day of my convention, as Friday I was dropped off at UCSD to go on my camping trip. But that ended up being a good thing, as the Chateau d'Esperon cooking was so good I put on over 5 pounds during the Con! But I am looking forward to next year's Con, and can't wait to get back in-costume for the walk-around and on-stage for the masquerade! 'Til next year! Otonoshimi ne! On to the chilling conclusion! Episode 8! Star Wars and characters are © to Lucasfilm South Park and characters are © to Comedy Central, Matt Stone and Trey Parker South Wars is a production by AGSMA ©. Anything Goes School of Masquerade Arts (AGSMA) ©. The Anything Goes School of Masquerade Arts (AGSMA) and all content, including pictures, on this page (unless otherwise noted) is copyright to AGSMA, and cannot be used without prior permission. This page hosted by this Provider. |