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Just for the record, last minute convention planning is a bad idea.  Oh, it occasionally works out, but it’s bad none-the-less.  I’ve already recounted on our latest podcast episode the majority of my Naka-Kon 2012 experience, and how Twitter and Steve Blum turned it from tragedy to triumph, (and you can hear all about it HERE) but thought you’d enjoy the photos and a brief overall review…

Naka-Kon is Kansas City’s premiere Anime convention, and while sci-fi influences in Anime abound, and while I enjoy Anime, I really wasn’t sure I needed to go to a con dedicated to it.  Until, that is, I discovered guests of honor Steve Blum and Wendee Lee were in attendance.

For those that don’t know, Steve Blum is a voice actor, (some would say premiere voice actor, he would say, “Voice Monkey for Hire”) with over 1000 voice credits to his name in animation, commercials and video games.  A sampling…

Wendee Lee is regarded as the Queen of Anime voice acting, and has more dubbing credits than any other English voice actor, having been in the biz since 1985. She’s done movies, video games and she is also an accomplished writer, director, ADR director, voice director and more. A very brief sampling of her work is here:

So, knowing that these two were there, I HAD to go. Cowboy Bebop is one of my all time favorites shows and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them both in person.  And while over all I’m glad I went and had fun (and finally got my autographs from Steve–you rock dude–I can honestly say Naka-Kon left a little to be desired.  Maybe it was the slap-shod way I approached it, maybe it was the hiccups in their schedule, maybe Anime just isn’t my scene.  But the attendees were enthusiastic and great as fans for the most part.

A NOTE TO FANS…

I freely admit that I get a little red eyed dealing with large groups of unattended adults.  I understand that conventions are exercises in patience.  You stand in lines, you get shuffled around, you spend a lot of money, etc…  I also understand that at our core, HomoGeekus is a species with some unfortunate social inadequacies. (And yes, I’m including myself in that statement.)  The stereotypical image of a geek–you know the one, hanging out in his parents basement, playing video games, reading comics and waxing philosophic on any sci-fi topic imaginable–isn’t that far off from truth.  The Big Bang Theory, while perhaps full of exaggerated caricatures, hits the nose on the head most of the time.  So we take these folks out of their comfort zones and put them in large rooms with people of like mindedness and expect them to play nice together.  And most of the time, either through accident, avoidance, or sheer force of will, they behave.  But every now and then you run into “That guy” at a convention and it just throws everything akimbo…

…like the one in the dealers room who was so very proud of the fact that he owned every 3D Blu-Ray release imaginable, and started verbally berating the vendor for not having any to sell.  Hey, Roger Ebert, leave the guy alone.  There are 20 other vendors with videos here, go find your movie at another table and stop causing a scene.

…or the guy who likes to browse the dealers tables at a pace that makes the geriatric chess match look like a caffeine addict watching a 100 yard dash on fast forward.  um… dude?  There’s like 1000 people waiting here, could you please hurry up a bit?  Thanks.

…or worse, the fan who stands at a table and only looks at the stuff I’m looking at, to the point of TAKING THE PRINTS OUT OF MY HANDS TO EXAMINE FOR HIMSELF!?!  Really?  Who does this?  Granted, the giant robot head made from a cardboard box he was wearing on his head probably impeded his vision a bit, but still…

…on the subject of Cosplay, maybe the costume that doesn’t fit through the door was a bad choice for today.  Not saying you shouldn’t have brought it, not saying you shouldn’t enter the costume contest with it, not saying you shouldn’t stand in a hallway and let fans fawn over you and take pictures.  But please, don’t try to sit in a panel with that thing on, cause I guarantee I’m behind you getting ready to hit your ridiculously large headpiece with a chair.

…while the world of your basement is safe and womb like, the outside world is not. There are rules for emerging from the cocoon, and one of them is hygiene.  Please observe it.

…and while we all know that cons are loud, noisy and visually over stimulating, remember to use your indoor voice.  No, I really don’t care that Jimmy just pulled a gold plated Digimon card from a pack and used it as an object of destruction in a Magic The Gathering qualifier since you’re two ballrooms away.

Okay, I’ll get off my soap box.  As I said, MOST of the fans were well behaved.  Some excellent Whovians among them…