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[Fory-san]

I attended AMA for about two hours yesterday afternoon because I had a job orientation at 3PM and I had to drive all the way back down to Williamsburg to attend it. I didn't get to wear my Inuyasha costume because I stopped working on it once I got word about the orientation. ^^;;; But despite the short time I was there, I had fun taking pictures and running into old friends. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to meet Monica Rial (much less sing her my song 9-9;; ) but I did buy a mini-Zaku walking toy and an Astro Boy plushy to add to my ever growing collection of them. Ultry gained new converts for his cult and I told my dad that I plan to wear a sacred robe for his religious outing next time. ^~ I hope you all have a fun and safe trip back from the con and if there are any pics of the masquerade, I would deeply appreciate it if you send me some at a later time! Thanks everyone! ^^

[NixKlouD]

Hey ^^ I just got back from the con. It was SO much fun! Everyone I ran into was so nice and crazy The skits were impressive and the rave was wikid awesome! I went to the art class by Blue and that was fun... geez- games, artists alley- I could go on and on, lol. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did! Thx for making this con a blast!
Take Care,
-Nix```

[bigwil]

Da dance was slammin ,costumes were cool ,That AMA gets a 8(of 10)from me!

[BondageFlute]

Oh, I had a good time also. ^^ I met so many new friends, and got to see the old too...

I sat in the lobby for about.. 8 hours on Saturday. @_@ Sitting around has never been so fun. Great con. ^_^

[Giant Alucard]

Con was Awsome except fot the crazy soccer people that didn;t seem to like us, lol.

[NixKlouD]

Oh I know! The soccer kids got pretty rude : / and was it just me or did some of their coaches get drunk? Not good examples for the kids, ah?
I've got to agree with BondageFlute that sitting around (or walking in circles, which was my main occupation ) has never been quite so fun ^^ I miss it already, lol.
Take Care,
-Nix```

[makotohanabi]

Those soccer gits were psycho, their brats were playing soccer in the halls in the fourth floor, one of them was prothelizing (spelling that right?), and the con staff and hotel did nothing about it. Oddly enough, I believe that if any of the AMA crowd got that drunk and rowdy the hotel would have thrown them out in a heartbeat.

Had fun walking around (until told by con security to go back to the room), but I won't go back next year. Been to many cons and I've never been treated like that.

[dizzylizzy]

:::just got in::: i'm home. weeeeeeee!!! i'll post more later. ^^ time to unpack! lol

EDIT: as for the room thing... they covered that at the con feedback. i wouldn't blame the con for something like that. it's what the hotel wanted, the security had to do it... but then... it was just to stay out of the atrium, not a lock down. ^^ the rest of the area was open. honestly, it was a good thing to keep people out of the atrium because of the soccer people were being "jerks" at that moment in time. so yeah, don't write off a con because of something like that. it's not their fault. ^^

also that con staff cannot do anything about the soccer people. that's the hotel. >> the con can only control it's atendees.

[makotohanabi]

Con staff is responsible for working on behalf of the congoers, all they did was write down complaints in a notebook. The soccer people were drunken disorderly and many of the men were propoisitioning underage female congoers. They should have been arrested, instead the sheriff's deputy near the registration desk gave me a suspicious look when I walked into the lobby.

The issue was not addressed to my satisifaction in the con feedback panel and I flat out told them that I would not return to that con. Noticed that the person in charge of the panel was not taking notes when people complained about the soccer/hotel issue. Perhaps if they handled the issue better and it was in a different hotel I may have considered going back.

[dizzylizzy]

then someone should have said something to the police or the hotel. the con cannot do anything about the soccer people period. they literally can't. they had the police there, that's all they (the con) could do.

she didn't have to take notes. she already knew the whole thing. ^^ she had to deal with the soccer stuff ALL weekend. that's something you, as a con runner, don't forget. plus, having people write things down and turning them in is also a great way to catalogue things. like she said, she'll make sure for the next con that she'll have only the con there and nothing else for next year. this year it was beyond their control.

i guess i'm one for giving cons a second chance. hell i loathed katsu 8 and i still went back for 9 and 10. they were 100 times better than my first katsu visit. ^^ besides, nothing's ever perfect.

anyhow... if you come, you come. if ya don't, ya don't. if ya let something like that ruin a con, oh well. things happen, ya move on. ^^ but, everyone's different. ^^

[Tora]

Heyyyyyyyy just got in. *falls over/sleeps*

I had a great time at the con! The staff was much more lax than other cons I've been to, and hell, I had at least a handful of good conversations with them! In fact, I met and talked to a lot of new people ^_^

Other than a few over-rowdy con goers, and the aforementioned soccer crew, the atmosphere was great.

Pics will be up soon

[Jono-chan]

For the short time I was there the con was awesome. So much better than last year. Though I did have to leave early Saturday because I got really ill. ~_~ But Friday was great. Even just walking around I had more fun that I did trying to navigate the labyrinth that was AMA3 and the Sheraton Richmond West. And what can I say, getting my hands on a cute plushie always makes for a better con for me. ^__^

[ProfessorZoom]

It was a greta con in my opinion. I somehow managed to miss the soccer kids in all but passing and only had one small altercation with a soccer parent. compared to oh, say Otakon where I was tossed around like a feather in the wind and the con itself didn't really do enough to get proper security (as opposed to a few of the jerks I had to deal with) I thought it was a great con. Saying that, I still like otakon but, AMA was a great con this year.

[Riji]

I thought it was pretty cool. It was fun watching people's reactions to my Mana costume except when a half-eaten strawberry magically landed two inches away from my solid white costume.

I was in an elevator with a bunch of the soccer kids, they were trying to ignore me.

[Xavier]

*Realizes he never registered before after lurking around -- Is the guy in the navy blue schoolgirl outfit with swimming trunks under the skirt*

Mmn.. it was my first time at Anime Mid-Atlantic, and aside from the soccer mom contingency (I will discuss later my experiences and my thoughts about them later), it was a great con. I didn't get much swag this time, since I didn't carry much cash with me, but I was the one that had people playing texas hold'em poker for a $3 buy in. I do my usual of roving the con, popping into panels that sound interesting, including the whose line panel when the cosplay room was completely full (I never wait in the line, I wait till the line dies down then go) .... hehe... Android 18 and the oven x.x; (I actually couldn't think of anything).

With my mind always in a muttle, this con in general did at least give me some sort of direction to go with, but as usual, my mind gets sidetracked to other things. ... Blast-it ... maybe one day I can meet a girl I can go out with

Now ... Xavier's thoughts on the soccer contigency.

I've written an editorial that I needed to pass to my boss (I work for a pastor as some will know) about my experiences with the convention and why I was absent, and he found it interesting that we are VERY well behaved for our type, whereas the soccer contingency was ... not. I wrote part of this on the second floor when I was still at the con. Lemme copy/paste the portion regarding my cultural experience from this con.

----begin----

Originally Posted by Xavier's Article

[...]Cultural Experience
This would have been a great experience with the convention except for one problem with regards of the other guests of the hotel. We had a huge cultural conflict with the other group that was at the hotel, FC Richmond, a part of a youth soccer assocation. I do not know exactly what happened with the anime and the soccer groups, but it created a huge cultural tension between each other.

I believe it was very hypocritical comments such as "asking where all the adults are", "why are these people so wild?", and proselytizing when the supervisors of their children of the soccer contingency cannot even control their own children, talking trash towards convention goers, throwing things down at attendees at the lobby, and even getting a couple of their ‘adult’ group getting arrested for disordery conduct and arguing with a police officer.

My experience with the soccer group has been terrible, being insulted with some parents of the soccer groups with racial remarks such as "you should get sent across the pacific" and "look at these weirdos, we’re better than them." I have heard them use the 'n' word towards some cosplayers.

Even passing by them on my way back to my hotel room, they pointed and snickered at me, I looked back and they were 'greeting' me with their middle fingers up towards me. Many, many other convention reports and stories from various attendees was very negative towards this group. Anyone with a convention badge was a target, and every costumer was heckled.

It was very surprising, and perhaps even rewarding in a way that none of the con attendees have not responded to their ignorance of the anime convention culture with violence, though I myself, was fairly close to breaking that point. I'm sure there are many others that were close to that breaking point. That was something that quite surprised me in a way, and shows further the refusal to even open their minds to learn and understand. [...]

----end----


In regards of the quotes from makotohanabi:

[...] one of them was prothelizing (spelling that right?) [...]

(It's spelled "proselytizing" ) ... fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, said soccer proselytizer came to me. As some may know of me, I work for a church, and I'm pretty much quicksand for those that want to push me around religiously and going against me with issues attacking something I'm participating in is NOT a good idea. I remember something on how I believe in -- "Don't judge by appearances. Judge by what is right." (John 7:24) Teehee... that got that guy to shut up pretty fast. (I flashed that verse on my laptop sunday morning in the lobby with much glee.) Unfortunately, judgement from apperances, and NOT even bothering to learn, is what has happened with the soccer mom contingency. (Sorry for the religious plug I'll try to minimize that in the future.)

[...] Noticed that the person in charge of the panel was not taking notes when people complained about the soccer/hotel issue.[...]

That issue affected *everyone* in the convention PLUS more. There wouldn't be much need to write it down since everyone and their mom's were affected (literally ).

[...] Had fun walking around (until told by con security to go back to the room), but I won't go back next year. Been to many cons and I've never been treated like that.

If your room was on the fourth or fifth floors .... ehh... that's where most of the soccer people were. ... x.x; ick ... yeah, mebbe that shoulda been worked on.


In regards from quotes from ProfessorZoom:

[...] compared to oh, say Otakon where I was tossed around like a feather in the wind and the con itself didn't really do enough to get proper security [...]

Xaviiee didn't experience none of that... but then again, Otakon was my second con.