Zephyr Rhapsody
11-11-2003, 02:48 PM
Thank you everyone for such a successful convention. Our game shows went rather well, I must admit. A cosplay panel earlier on Saturday went over its intended time, so events thereafter were experiencing some tardiness. I also had an easel with an advertisement saying "Anime Name that Tune: Now Starting" placed outside of the events room without knowing about this delay, so this is my apology to everyone feeling they waited too long in line for an event that was supposed to be "Now Starting." Otherwise, I feel the game went off amazingly well with fun for the audience, the contestants, and I assure our staff had fun, too. Rob Lantz, aka Jack Sparrow, proved his old-school knowledge whilst naming everything from Nadia to Future Boy Conan to win the tournament and be entered into the annual championship. I remember someone approaching me afterwards saying that they felt it was unfair that some of his knowledge (being an anime DJ, a master cosplayer, etc) should not have allowed to enter. I will say this once: We will not discriminate. Staff may not be eligible for prizes in some cases, but the tournament is set up to allow ten of the most knowledgable otaku to vie for the annual supremacy by representing a single convention at Katsucon. Not only do I condone his involvement, I encourage it because he, and everyone else, deserves to be rewarded for such knowledge. He even has been one of my role models for years because of his dedication to anime (and knowing the lyrics to a good amount of the songs we were playing), his superb costumes (complete with him always being in character - a feat hardly seen with most cosplayers these days), and his con-friendliness to everyone whether they are a Japanese-speaking anime guru or a newcomer influenced by Cartoon Network. The name of the game is who knows the most. He proved he did. End of story. There were more than enough prizes to go around to at least nine people, anyways. There are not many other game shows at anime conventions where so many people are rewarded. Kudos to everyone, because Nekocon's "Anime Name that Tune" had a lot of great contenders. Now... about nobody getting that "Duck Hunt" song...
The cosplay's intermission also featured our new favorite - "Zephyr Maru/Batz," which began at Otakon. This game was originally intended for a room with many fans and no chairs, so making the change to using O/X signs for a packed crowd of seated cosplay-observers was difficult, but I thought it was quite successful. I didn't see more than a dozen people leave that room during halftime - a sight that I have never, ever seen at any cosplay intermission in the past. I would swear I even saw more people in the audience than during cosplay because the cosplay had to cap the audience volume. I would like to thank everyone in the crowd for their support and their involvement for what I hope was a good time. I was also amazed that, except for the rare one or two, everyone was overwhelmingly honest and honorable about when they were wrong and by playing fair. That was most admirable and we're proud to do everything we can for your enjoyment and fun when you offer us such respect. Thank you everybody.
So, without further Apu, I open the floor to anecdotes, feeling about either game, questions, concerns, etc. Free Hat!
- Corey Gough
Zephyr Game Shows
PS Check out Kevin Lillard's Nekocon game show section at www.fansview.com. Getting home and having someone tell me that there was an entire section of four pages devoted to pictures from our two games was most flattering. The pictures definitely speak a thousand words; whether they are of a hundred audience members with "Maru/Batz" signs, a chopstick-wielding fan celebrating when she heard she could keep the rice, or of a contestant in the finals of "Anime Name that Tune" doing Super Cool right next to Jack Sparrow! Check them out. They're amazing!
The cosplay's intermission also featured our new favorite - "Zephyr Maru/Batz," which began at Otakon. This game was originally intended for a room with many fans and no chairs, so making the change to using O/X signs for a packed crowd of seated cosplay-observers was difficult, but I thought it was quite successful. I didn't see more than a dozen people leave that room during halftime - a sight that I have never, ever seen at any cosplay intermission in the past. I would swear I even saw more people in the audience than during cosplay because the cosplay had to cap the audience volume. I would like to thank everyone in the crowd for their support and their involvement for what I hope was a good time. I was also amazed that, except for the rare one or two, everyone was overwhelmingly honest and honorable about when they were wrong and by playing fair. That was most admirable and we're proud to do everything we can for your enjoyment and fun when you offer us such respect. Thank you everybody.
So, without further Apu, I open the floor to anecdotes, feeling about either game, questions, concerns, etc. Free Hat!
- Corey Gough
Zephyr Game Shows
PS Check out Kevin Lillard's Nekocon game show section at www.fansview.com. Getting home and having someone tell me that there was an entire section of four pages devoted to pictures from our two games was most flattering. The pictures definitely speak a thousand words; whether they are of a hundred audience members with "Maru/Batz" signs, a chopstick-wielding fan celebrating when she heard she could keep the rice, or of a contestant in the finals of "Anime Name that Tune" doing Super Cool right next to Jack Sparrow! Check them out. They're amazing!