Hi there! It’s your lucky day since you get to read something from me, Mako-chan!  I don’t do this often, as I normally am very much a behind the scenes person, usually helping Ranma take video and lug equipment around, but I had the pleasure of attending Gobblecon and was asked to write a little something up!

First off, Gobblecon was a very last minute con for us this year, and wanting to end the con season with a bit of relaxation and fun, we trekked out to Stamford, CT.  

While Gobblecon was in its second year, it was pretty hard to tell.  We came to find out that not too long before the con a large portion of the staff left, and due to that, issues were had for the entire weekend.  However, as rough as the con was in places, the remaining staff pulled together to continue with the show, and attempted to turn out a weekend that attendees and guests could enjoy.

Friday was spent making new friends and catching up with old ones.  The guest list was pretty small, and with the panel rooms not having schedules up to say who was where and at what time, it was pure dumb luck on our part that we were able to walk into the last bit of one of Tiffany Grant’s panels.

The highlight of the evening was watching the Sailor Moons photo shoot.  And yes that is correct; the three versions of Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus Moon, and Zoisite Moon) were all in attendance.  Amazing costumes and originality as well!

The rest of Friday was spent imbibing spiked orange juice, hanging out with great people, and catching the tail end of The Promise Sisters hosting Karaoke and putting on a great show for the audience, as well as catching the Swagger 101 panel hosted by A Count Named Slick-Brass and The Crew of the A.S.S. Titilus.  Oh and let’s not forget Cosplay Chess.  I have not seen a fail so large at such a small con.  When your chess players are practically drunk, when there is no rhyme or reason to what is going on with the game, when nothing is taken seriously and it all falls apart before it even starts, it’s a good indication that the panel should have been dropped entirely instead of scraped together.  The idea behind it could have been epic, male versions of Panty and Stocking playing chess and using their pieces to battle, the execution was lacking so much so that everyone was lost by the end and those few that were even watching (did I mention Friday night was a VERY small crowd) started getting up to leave before it was even over.  I hope they can pull it together next year.

Saturday we got a late start.  Figuring, “Screw it!  It’s time to relax” we walked around, trolled the Dealers room, which turned out to be 70% Artist Alley and 30% actual Dealer type merchandise, and generally just searched for anything to do.

Dance Central was set up in a little nook in the small hallway where all the rooms were located.  This would have been a great location, out of the way of traffic, if it hadn’t been decided that the professional photographer would be situated in the hallway on the other side of this nook.  With everyone stopping to watch the dancers, or to watch the cosplayers get their photos taken, it was completely congested in that one area, and made trying to get to the dealers’ room a pain.

I sat to watch some of the anime playing in the “video room” as well.  They had basically taken over a small area in the hotels open area restaurant.  So sound was pretty bad, and since they were just streaming anime or movies from the internet, there were commercials interrupting the shows which made watching annoying.

The masquerade was a joke.  There would have been only one entry if two other groups didn’t get begged to perform as well.  The Craftmanship judging was almost as bad.  Pulling people from the audience of the masquerade just to attempt to have more than one or two people signed up, even going so far as to pull up people with partially made costume or people that only made their accessories.

Two performances were combined with the masquerade as well.  The Promise Sisters performed while the judges were deliberating their choices, and put on a cute and entertaining performance of both original and cover songs to the enjoyment of the audience.  The show opened with a brand new Asian punk rock band based out of NYC, The Asterplace.  This group was amazing, a definite must see, and the highlight of Saturday night.

We spent a good chunk of time in the pachinko game room that night as well.  Very welcome distraction and a nice change of pace to have two different game rooms for various game play.  A nice mix of themes for the games as well from anime themed games to popular TV shows like Iron Chef.

Sunday was spent on last minute things.  Interviews, goodbyes, and some last minute photos.  With the long drive back to home base in NY and the con being over by 1, all that was really left was the game room, so we said a fond farewell to Gobblecon. 

All in all, the weekend was fun though the lighting in the hotel was horrible.  The area in the center of the hotel was open and the main lighting for the area was the wall of windows and the glass ceiling.  It made taking pictures a pain once the sun wasn’t directly overhead, but that was also the nicest place to take pictures.  However, this will not stop us from going back next year.  As odd as some of the panels turned out we had fun, and for a con that’s the main thing needed to return for the next year.  I can’t wait to see what a year of planning accomplishes with this crew and can’t wait to return next year.