I loved it! That's the total summary of my review. If you want to read on go ahead but it will be mostly nothing but praise as well as some things about what I saw happen at the panels. A few pictures will be included along the way but if you just want to skip to seeing all of them then you can find them on my facebook.
Friday photos can be found here:
photos
Sunday photos can be found here:
more photos
Regretfully there are no Saturday photos as I forgot my camera that day. Now on to the review!
Friday
Otafest Merchandise
After getting my badge the first thing I do, as I like to at every con I go to, is buy a t-shirt. The mascot as seen above was on the back and they only seem to come in Large this year. I don't think people minded this at all as from what I've heard they pretty much sold out of all their merchandise over the weekend.
Speaking of merchandise I really thought they had some great stuff going on there. They had lanyards as most cons do, this year switching from the blue to the pink but they also had these lime green drawstring backpacks. You could buy just the backpack or pay a little extra and get one with a bottle of water, bag of chips, granola bar and some Otafest temporary tattoos inside.
Or if you wanted one of everything they were selling you could buy it all as the "convention survival kit" and get it for a more reduced price. I bought the backpack (with food cause I was hungry) and I just love it.
Sans the FM/AM with Todd Haberkorn, Michelle Ruff & SCT
This panel was a reenactment of the old radio theatre shows. People got up on stage and voiced characters in the script while sound effects and music took place in the background.
The panel started off with a few auditions by the audience members, then the show started. The story they did was "Mars is Heaven". Then as the show went a long the director would take people out of the lineup and replace them with others who wanted to voice a character.
It was really entertaining and if done again I would go back. I think it's an interesting panel to have at a convention and should definitely be one people check out.
SCT Friday Show
Synaptic Chaos Theatre did an improv show on Friday night that I was able to catch. There's not much to say except that they were highly entertaining. They also did quite a bit of audience participation with some games. Probably one of my favourite for audience participation is a game they call "Living Scenery".
They brought up about six people to help with this scene. These people became planets, moons, and eventually a roller coaster.
Definitely a lot of fun.
Know Your Creators Panel
How many anime series can you name? Now can you say who directed them or brought them to life? If not maybe you should have checked out this panel.
It's an informative panel to be sure but one that will let you know about the people who created the influential series that you loved. Not only that but you get to know what they were known for and other anime you might not have known about.
After I saw this panel I was very much able to remember some names that I should have known a bit better. As well as other series that I didn't know about that I'll know have to check out.
Saturday
Improv for Cosplayers
I was only able to catch the tail end of this panel. It was put on by one of the improv groups
Synaptic Chaos Theatre.
When I came in everyone was in a circle and they were taking cosplayers through some improv exercises. It looked like the people who had shown up were having a lot of fun.
I feel this panel might have had a better turnout if it wasn't running at the same time as the Cosplay Sign-Up, Masquerade Judging, and
Otafest Idol Prelims.
Vendors Room
I managed to make it into the vendors room for probably about an hour. It looked like there were more vendors than last year, though I can't be certain of that.
I did enjoy the diversity. There was a vendor that I recall selling some of the older pokemon cards, one vendor that had a great assortment of Japanese snacks (including different flavors of KitKat), and a lot more plushies this year.
As always the Vendors room itself doesn't need to have much said about it. It's something almost everyone goes to check out.
99 Yen Challenge
An internet radio gameshow is how this panel is described. Basically the panel members sit at the front (everything being recorded by microphones) and they are asked questions by the host. This show is semi-scripted but there are some moments that are entirely improved.
This was another panel put on by
Synaptic Chaos Theatre. The audience portion of this panel is basically that you get to be the live audience laugh track for when the show hits the internet.
That's right, it goes online later. So if you happened to miss this show (which was possible.. the room was full) then just keep your eyes open for when it show up on the internet
here.
If you really enjoyed the show check out the
site anyway as there are past episodes done at other conventions also available for your listening pleasure.
Anime Match Game
This panel was hosted by Eryn Dearden and the rest of the panel members were made up of the entire team from
Synaptic Chaos Theatre. (Noticing a trend here? You should cause
SCT did and participated in about 11 different things this weekend.)
The set up for this game is simple. Two people from the audience (the contestants) come and sit up by the panelists. The host asks a question to one of the contestants. That contestant and the rest of the panel writes down an answer.
If the contestant's answer matches any of the panelists they get a point. The contestant with the most points at the end of the game wins and gets a prize.
Simple? Sure the concept is, trying to get a match with a comedy group who keeps trying to give the most bizarre answers though.... not so simple.
This panel has been around at
Otafest for a while and seems rather popular to. The room was almost full and there was certainly a lot of entertainment to be had.
SCT Late Night Performance
This show was a riot. Basically
Synaptic Chaos Theatre had a 18A rated show. People were carded before they could enter. No cameras are allowed at this show, except for the one they have set up themselves.
It's not that they just get up on stage and start swearing. There's actually very little of that to be had. However the themes are certainly adult only.... and halfway through the show they all seem to lose their pants.
This is certainly a special show. One that if you don't see with your own eyes you end up missing out on.
Here's what I can tell you about it. I laughed so hard I don't even remember what happened!
Sunday
Todd Haberkorn & Michelle Ruff - Murder Mystery
A Murder Mystery at an anime convention? You bet.
Here's how it works: The panelists all take a character. At the beginning they get introduced to the audience, then everyone wanders around and the audience asks them questions to try and figure out who did it.
At the end of the show the panelists will give out their full stories, people vote on who they think did it, and then the big reveal is given.
The "suspects" can't lie when asked a question, however they don't have to reveal the entire truth if you don't ask them specific questions. However you can't just ask them if they did it... well you can but they can't answer that and that's only because they don't know. They themselves aren't told if they've done it or not and therefore are unable to lie about that question.
The panelists for this show were of course were the guests as well as three members from Synaptic Chaos Theatre. I only caught the very beginning and the end of this panel but it was a packed room and looked like everyone had a lot of fun.
It was also given a medieval setting so the suspects had some medieval looking props to help identify them to what characters they were playing.
Name That Tune - DAME edition
A panel usually run by Eryn Dearden who unfortunately was sick, the panel was taken over by Gareth. A good choice for someone to step in as he is really entertaining.
Basically a song gets played and points are awarded for everything you can name about the song: what anime it's from, band or singer, name of song. At the end prizes are given out. So if you like Japanese music and think you can name them all this is a panel that is for you.
Otherwise it's also entertaining to watch people fight to try and get it right when only about one second of the song has played.
Artist Alley
For this venue the artist alley is just outside where the Vendors room is. I took a quick look around and saw many talented artists who were good with the pen. There were also one that sold what look to be steampunk accessories and another one who sold small bags in addition to their artwork.
Overall I'd say they had a pretty good turnout for this section and they will probably continue to.
SCT Sunday Show
This was the last show for
Synaptic Chaos Theatre this weekend, it was also the last thing I made it to. I think it was a great way to end the convention... at least for me. There was of course a couple other panels going on and closing ceremonies a little later but those usually go the same and I think rarely really need to be reviewed.
Full of energy and still entertainingly hilarious despite a long weekend of panels for this group it was probably the best show they put on all weekend.
If you missed it though keep your eyes open on their
youtube channel. All the video from this and their Friday show should be showing up over the next couple of weeks.
Last Thoughts
As the title of the post says.
Otafest 2010 = Awesome! I'll certainly be doing what I can to try and make it out next year!
