Have visited Benma 1/2's Spring Splash II since April 21, 2000.
SDCC 1998
SDCC 1999
AX 2000
SDCC 2000
AX 2001
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BENMA'S CHRONICLES: CCI:SD 2001 REWIND: TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2001 I suppose that if I'm going to make preview night, I need to get my butt down to San Diego sometime today. I CANNOT BELIEVE that I could have this long a list of stuff to bring just for ONE WEEK. Costumes, video game system/peripherals (ESPECIALLY the DDR pad), Japanese studying materiel--not to mention clothes and toiletries--you name it, I probably brought it. After three 60 cent Famous Stars for dinner, I make my way out at just after 7:30. Apparently, I found a wormhole on the way down, as, stopping for gas along the way, I arrive in Pleasanton at 9:20. P. Kuno answers the door saying, "It couldn't be Benma; it's too early!" I don't think I was driving like a Maniac! (Maybe Trick) We talk, clean up the "Benma Room," and my AX leftovers are returned, including my X/1999 #2 (which I start translating as I am unable to fall asleep.) Eventually, I do, somewhere around 3 A.M. PLAY: WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2001: CCI:SD DAY ZERO "Day Zero?!?" Has Benma gone mad? If ya didn't think so already... This year, Comic Con introduced "Preview Night" for those pre-registered for CCI. It's a 3 hour, day-early entrance into the Dealer's room. More on that in a couple of bytes. We wake up hella hella hella early to go teach. Last year, Ucchan and P. Kuno took Thursday off but worked Friday....THIS year, they decided to do things the right way and take FRIDAY off. Like, duh. FINALLY I have access to a computer. I type all of my AX journals, check all of my e-mail, and by the time class is over I haven't even been able to do any surfing, and I logged in a good four hours!! Off to the con after P. Kuno gets a quick nap at home. En route, we head to Grenada Wigs, the awesome place where I got Ran-chan three years ago. Ucchan pays for a wig for Power, which needs to be sent down from L.A. I see a wig that would be good for Android 18, but at $75, "hell no ain't spending dough." We get to Con betwixt 5 and 5:30, get our badges and freebies, and before too long we're in the hall. You NEVER get over the initial shock. It's so frickin' massive EVERY year!!! AND, to top things off, the expansion to the convention center ADDED another 30%. This is INSANE!!! BY THE TIME 8:30 rolls around, we've covered up to aisle 1700...a little over half of the floor. I get Ranma 1/2 #37 at Kinokuniya, since the stupid final issue picks up where this one leaves off, and I refuse to start one without the other. Also, bilingual Love Hina #2 becomes a part of my collection. I purchase a box for Pokemon cards (to keep my deck separated), but see NO POKEMON CARDS, except for hella expensive Japanese holos ($100 for a Shiny (Red) Gyarados? I DON'T THINK SO. Back home. Sleep. Definitely need it. Forget what else I did. But then again, it wasn't much, so it probably wasn't important. I did highlight many of the interesting panels and anime I wanted to see, including more than sufficient highlighting of the scheduled LOVE HINA screenings. But that's all I can remember. RECORD: THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2001: CCI:SD DAY ONE OK. We've had our fun. Now it's time for the general public to be granted access to the floor. Which means, it's going to get crowded. Back to school. Instead of doing what I did yesterday, I'm learning GradeQuick, a skill which will prove most useful in the future when I start teaching myself. Using this, I do number-crunching for Ucchan, enabling her to relax, as we are all worn out from the early schedule of school combined with the late schedule of Preview Night. We pretty much head straight to Con when school's out, and again, finding parking is a pain in the a$$. Because we ARE NOT going to pay $15 or $20 to park in some lot, the Convention Center is CONSTANTLY full, and construction is going on (for a stupid ballpark which will probably NEVER be built; besides what do the PADRES need with a new park???) First thing, we head to the Masquerade booth, to sign in. Ucchan signs in her (our, if the prop gets finished) skit, and I make sure that Trunks and Ah! My Cosplay's skit is also on the list. Because of our late arrival, and the masquerade check in, we miss the first screening of Trigun. Kuso. I finish the rest of the floor, including stopping by YOLK and getting an autographed calendar and chatting with C.C. Booth women are SOOOOO hot... I head back to KINOKUNIYA, where I'm recognized... One of them works in the San Francisco store, where they remember me from Ucchan, P. Kuno and my trip there in April. Good memory. ("But you...I never forget a face...") THIS time, I get Love Hina #0 (that'll take me a decade to translate...). And I finally find my Pokemon cards! One booth is selling them hella expensive (straight out of the Scrye price guide, the UPPER prices). The OTHER booth, and my favorite, was selling cards at lower (sometimes half!!!) of the price. Tough decision...NOT. Then, I'm running all over looking for gaming, but only find RPGs and CCGs, which are OK, but not what I'm looking for. Oh yes, I'm looking to continue where AX left off and BUST SOME DDR!!!!! Only there are no machines. Something about setup being problematic. Whatever. But "there's a light in the darkness," and I stumble upon one of my forgotten circled panels, "International Perspectives on Comics: Gender and Politics," which gave an interesting insight into gay Japanese society and comics co-opting the term "yayoi (yaoi?)" and converting the term from its former association with Shojo-manga (girl's comics). And now it's over to anime to meet with my people. Oh! My Goddess is showing, and, not having seen it since 1994, I go for the nostalgia (and Japanese listening practice), and, for the fist time in the FOUR YEARS I've been to Comic Con, actually watch some ANIME!!! IF you haven't fainted yet...O_O It's back home, once again to organize my purchases, put the stuff brought up from P. Kuno's old apartment from the last TJ run into the garage and get some sleep. 2X PLAY: FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2001: CCI:SD DAY TWO While Ucchan did her lesson plan and finished her test before going to sleep, P. Kuno decided to wake up at 3 A.M. and do his then. The only problem is, he prefers to write his tests before he types them. We don't have time for that. We get to school, and handle copying. Ucchan is done with 20 minutes to spare before class. (Remember, they are both getting substitutes.) P. Kuno, however, is finishing his test for First Period 10 minutes into that class. While he is working on the test for Period 2, we research Spam and the Power Card for masquerade. We head for home(!!) at 9 A.M., sleep for a couple of hours, and head downtown to where, again, there IS NO PARKING. I don't even remember where we parked, but we managed to get to the Con around 1 P.M. I hit the art show, and head back to YOLK! to pick up my magazines and to get my picture taken with C.C. At 2:45, I head up to the ANIME ROOM!!! for the SECOND time *faint* to watch TRIGUN for the first time. It definitely lives up to the hype. Cruise the hall some more, this time picking up GHOST IN THE SHELL at KINOKUNIYA, then head up for the world premiere of SAMURAI JACK. It's quite good, but do they need to keep saying that the villain is bad? (His name was Aku, which in Japanese means bad, which is why they kept saying "bad" throughout the whole thing). We leave to go home and get the house ready for guests, without picking up the limited edition Samurai Jack print they handed out after the screening. GRRRRR. At home we finish cleaning up, and set up the DDR ROOM!, although P. Kuno messes with the light to fix scraping on the fan (which still occurs, only now the light cover is hanging from the fan.) We were just going to open the window anyway! I told the guys that he keeps telling his students to stay on task, but he always manages to get off-task himself! We get the call from the trolley station at about 8:00, and cruise over to pick the kids up. DAMN! This mofo is loaded up!!! BBBMoL has now become a Lowrider. We blitz over to Plaza Bonita and Hot Topic so Ucchan can pick up something for Power. Off to Wal-Mart for more Power stuff and paint for SPAM!, down so close to the border I can smell the alcohol from Revolucion's night clubs, so Chris can pick up his mod chip, 4th Mix, and DDR pad (so we can bust Double!!!), then blitz over to Mike's Giant Pizza for food. And the entire box fits in my trunk. People keep joking about being able to store bodies in there...(shh!) We bust DDR until Midnight:30 while everyone else watches movies, when Ucchan and P. Kuno say that everyone's falling asleep and needs to go home. Chris and I are like "We're just getting started!!!" I take the kids home, and get back about 1:30. They're done with Power for the night, and I spraypaint the SPAM box blue, to dry while I--of course--bust DDR. At about 3:30 I turn off the game and get to bed a half hour later. FAST FORWARD: SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2001: CCI:SD DAY THREE Woke up during Cardcaptors. A re-run. Would have rather seen Johto Journeys. Ucchan makes a good breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon and ham. We start heading for Con, and I change into Tuxedo Mask during the trip. There's no parking (BIG surprise), so we park at Horton. ON THE WAY OVER some jerk continues to rag on Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon, and I do my best to ignore him. All I know is the costume looks hella cool, OK? Now step off! First things first: Masquerade meeting at 10:00. Chat with fellow cosplay friends and associates, and am continually called "Tuxedo Melvin" by a couple of girls who also disrespect the hat. LIKE I SAID if I only worked off of the one episode they drew it screwed up in... The plan is that Ucchan and P. Kuno are to go back to the house to finish Power while I cruise the hall as Tuxedo. The whole thing was that Ucchan has this stupid backpack which gets all sorts of attention--"Is that the sheep from Wallace&Grommet?"--and I was sick and tired of it. So, having brought down 3 costumes, I figured Tuxedo would give me the most attention. As well as beat the sheep. And it did. I meet up with P-Chan at Dark Horse, to initiate negotiations. We then proceed upstairs to watch some behind the scenes and the new trailer for FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. It was cool, but I can't help but think that Rankin-Bass was the pinnacle of non-literary versions of LORD of the RINGS. Back down to the floor, so P-Chan can find his cousins and I can get some more photo-ops. On the way, the Hot Troma Girl with the red hair strokes my arm saying, "Oooo I like...", and I was thinking the same thing. Eventually, 1:55 rolls around and I cruise up to the Anime room for LOVE HINA. Only someone didn't get the tape to SDCC and they had to show something else. SUCK. I head over to Fatburger for lunch, which I ate with great care so as not to spill anything on my beloved Tuxedo Mask costume. Back to the Con, where I expect to find Ucchan and P. Kuno, so I can finish painting SPAM and retrieve my camera, so I can take my picture with more of the Beautiful Booth Women (including the Hot Troma Girl). Only they are nowhere to be found. I happen across some of the kids, and Derek takes a picture of me and Tiffany Taylor. I'm getting concerned now. It's 6:40 and I STILL haven't heard anything from Ucchan or P. Kuno. I tell Trunks that if they're not here in ten minutes I am going to check in, even if I'm not the main costume. 6:50 rolls around and I FINALLY hear that familiar static crackle over the "Walkie talkie what can I do/Without my walkie talkie/Get up get up get up get up". Rush down to Convention Parking!!! to get costume stuff and get out of hot, sweaty, Tuxedo Mask. I spot the SPAM box, and say the most infamous line of Convention... "DUUUUUDE!!! IT'S THE SAME AS I LEFT IT!!!!" And...the mad rush is on. The SPAM BODYGUARDS (Chris and Brian) are left to paint the box while I run back down to get my backpack (with camera for pictures of fellow entrants) and also whilst I change into my breakaways (which are, SPAM blue). I grab a brush, and stuff gets painted faster, but still leaves us with problems. Black lines are necessary to look like spam slices, and the yellow needs another coat. So, calling upon experience from last year and "got to get it done" adrenaline, I ask Masquerade Staff and Den Mothers to find me a hairdryer. Group #13 has one, and we're back in business. So SPAM is done, and yet another convention anomaly occurs--I actually get to watch part of the masqerade!!! We're not rehearsing, not running back to the car, not driving back to base...none of the things that normally happen (or do NOT happen) are happening. This DEFINITELY must be BIZZARO CON. So we go on-stage, and the crowd likes Power. But what is this dancing? Out I run. The crowd goes ballistic! They love the dancing SPAM!!! And to top things off, upon exiting stage right, the crowd starts chanting SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!! I LOVE MASQUERADE!!! We take pictures, do the interview, and go back to the Green Room, which proceeds to chant SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!! upon returning. I run around taking pictures of the other entrants. Like Cospokemon says, gotta snap 'em all! Pictures will be up on the site, but included (FINALLY) a picture of Team Rocket, Chun Li's Angels, the other Zelda group (not as good as the AX group, and no BOMBCHU!, but with an AWESOME looking Shiek and the rarely cosplayed Gannondorf). I also discuss crossdressing tricks of the trade with Wonder Woman. So we're having a good time, especially since there was no pressure, and everyone wants a picture of SPAM!!! So I've become an icon by being a meat-byproduct. Hella sweet! Then they call number #27. Our number! The Greeen Room starts chanting again, SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!!! We head over, and recieve 2nd place from Anime Pavillion, equal to $100 booth credit. The crowd starts chanting again: SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!! I spin around, we take a bow, and get ready to load up the car and then go to the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW!, screening at midnight at the Con. Everyone wants a piece of SPAM after the Masquerade. So ROCKY HORROR starts, and the Newark crew is SO DAMN GOOD!! Not only that, but so is the audience--people sitting around us not only knew what to shout, as far as old lines were concerned, but also NEW lines! We were amazed, but still shouted the usual lines (most of which can't be posted here...). The floor of the room was moving as everyone jumped up for the TIME WARP. And I just had to rip off my breakaway pants and sit in my underwear once the chorus of SWEET TRANSVESTITE started to play. BUT P. Kuno and Ucchan were getting tired, and since he drove, and is the only one who can drive stick, we had to leave halfway through the show. X_X At least we're no longer virgins! We drop off the SPAM BODYGUARD, then head home and SLEEP. SLOW MOTION: SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2001: CCI:SD DAY FOUR So what's the goal for today? GET POKEMON CARDS. But first we gotta get moving. I wake up first (how the heck did THAT happen???) and proceed to bust DDR 3RD MIX and select songs from 4TH MIX. This would prove to be a bad move. Ucchan comes down and says, Benma, you gotta drive! Huh? What? I just busted DDR!!! So it comes down to a migraine and having driven all week versus DDR exhausted legs, manual drum brakes, and having driven one day. But we gotta get there somehow, so I "suck it up, Buttercup" and everyone piles in the BBBMOL Grabbing food at McDonalds (we were in a rush!), _I_ dictate what's played on the radio, and have them listen to 4TH mix (as opposed to continuously repeating "Take a chance take a chance" at the absolute LOUDEST volume...). We have to meet at Horton to have SPAM returned to us (and abuse their parking policy ^_^). But we don't see our contact, so we park first. In he and the dropped off for rendez-vous purposes P. Kuno comes, with the SPAM box, and we hop over to Con. I meet with P-Chan (Don't call me P-Chan; it's Piccolo now!) to complete(?) our transaction, and attain the ability to purchase Pokemon cards. 11 packs of Base 1 and Jungle, and over $150 of cards for less than half of that price. Not bad. No Troma girl. ANOTHER missed opportunity (Grrr...). I head for the Masquerade Playback, watch our skit, leave my stuff with the party (this is beginning to sound like a role-playing game) so I can move faster to move the car. I make a serious effort cruising downtown and the Gaslamp district searching for parking, but ultimately return to Horton. And run back for the last hour of Con. I find selected members of the party (off on their own missions, just like the Final Fantasies) and through them and the walkie talkie "What can I do, without my..." meet up once again. BENMA RECEIVED BACKPACK! Shortly after five "THE CONVENTION CENTER IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING COMIC CON 2001" they are about to kick us out, and the already low anime videos are now going for dirt cheap prices: 3 for $20! So I of course get all (but #1) of the first RECORD OF LODOSS WAR series. In order to get back one of my (future) children, I purchase next year's CCI tickets for P. Kuno and Ucchan. They are only $35 on-site, as opposed to the $45 and up you pay at various other points during the year. We drop purchases off in Horacio's car, who proceeds to drive me to retrieve my car, whilst the rest of the party heads for ASAGGIOS. OF COURSE, everyone's ordered already, a spinach for the old timers and something else for the young-uns. _I_ end up with an entire deep dish Pepperoni to MYSELF! AS IF I'm gonna complain about that! (Especially when _I_ paid for it!) It was damn good! Not exactly as good as I had built up in my mind, YET IT WAS STILL the BEST DAMN PIZZA I've ever had. On the way home, BBBMOL starts yawing left HARD whenever I brake. All of that driving through potholed downtown San Diego must have messed something up. But we make it home in one piece, and sit down to the first episode of FURI KURI. Which I then proceed to label as "Animated Crack." P. Kuno starts assembling models, Ucchan does something, and I probably read manga, but definitely calculated the Pokemon Card savings. I let them know that I am NOT waking up for school tomorrow, and will see them when they get back tomorrow afternoon. STOP: MONDAY, JULY 23--THURSDAY, JULY 26 I remember something about taking Monday off, and going to skool on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had a DDR session on Wednesday AT the high school, and I did B4U on MANIAC (again). On Thursday, I crack open the brake which started making a strange noise (for all the good THAT did; I would properly fix them a month later). I am told to start lunch (dinner for THEM), and when they get home P. Kuno finishes MOLE. MMM. I LOVE mole! Chris also comes over for one final DDR session, where the legendary TEAM-UP PARANOIA DIRTY MANIAC DOUBLE and PARANIOIA DIRTY MANIAC SINGLE performances are performed. I reassemble the brake and limp the car home, only having to stop at the checkpoint. Unload about half the crap, first and most important being the DDR pad; eat, and sleep. Thus two weeks of Comic Con International came to a close. BUT the suspense must end, as I know everyone is dying to read: BENMA'S CCI:SD 2001 AGENDA CHECK! 1. Get MORE manga to study with: Success! 2. Bust DDR 4TH MIX all night at the Friday Anime session: SUCCESS! --Graduating to MANIAC level completely ROCKS!! If only I could have done the last 2 frickin' bars of Follow the Sun... 3. Dance around as a giant SPAM can (no sanity here!) and LAYETH THE SMACKETH DOWN in el masquerade: SUCCESS! 4. Puchase LOTS of Pokemon Trading Cards for the WotC game: ABSOLUTE SUCCESS!! --NOT ONLY did I score $150 worth of cards for less than half of that figure, I completed my Team Rocket set, got ever so close with the Neo Genesis set, and a few others as icing. 5. Get down at the late night double feature ROCKY HORROR Picture Show: SUCCESS! 6. Watch Anime, something NEVER previously done at a convention: SUCCESS! 7. Get more attention as Tuxedo Kamen than Ucchan's "Is that the sheep from Wallace and Grommet" backpack: SUCCESS! And the sheep goes down! What about Hidden Agenda #4: There was a hidden agenda #4?!? I must be slipping, because there wasn't! Which means... 7 out of 7=100%!!! *FAINT* *Quickly probes mind and re-reads journals in disbelief...* I KNEW IT!!! (And you probably did, too...) 8. TRY NOT TO DO THINGS LAST MINUTE AS A TEAM: ABSOLUTE FAILURE. --Maybe I should take this item off of the agendas? Because I'll NEVER get a perfect score without it. OK, so, as I thought: 7/8 agenda items successful. Not as impressive as AX. But again, no convention will EVER attain the levels that these two have set as precedent. Yet records are made to be broken... Anyway, I will see you when I can; although I do hope to be in Japan next summer with the JET programme. So until next time... owari Benma 1/2's Spring Splash II (BSSII) (c). Anything Goes School of Masquerade Arts (AGSMA) (c). All content, including pictures, on this page (unless otherwise noted) is copyright to BSSII or AGSMA, and cannot be used without prior permission. This page hosted by Geocities. Get your own Free Home Page |