Categories
Miscellaneous

Chag’s Otakon 2012 Adventure

It’s been over a year since my last convention experience at Anime North. Since then I got a job, moved out, and am feeling pretty different from the me a year ago who was slogging through his summer courses. I’ve worked quite a few weeks of overtime covering for the vacations of various co-workers and thought it was about time that I should get on this not-go-to-work action. But this time, the days off won’t be spent playing video games and jerking off — nay, it’s time to step up the game. I’ve had the idea for a few months: it involves plane tickets, a hotel room, a weirdo I know from the internet, and around thirty thousand other weirdoes that I don’t know — that’s right, it’s time for Otakon with Hamstercorp.

I gotta admit: as the end of July drew closer, I had a feeling that this event was going to be my last con. I didn’t dread the trip, as I looked forward to meeting Hamstercorp again, but I saw the con as potential closure of sorts. As I mentioned in the Anime North post, I was getting the feeling that I was getting too old for conventions, that the appeal of these events are drifting further away from myself. I saw Otakon as a last huzzah — going out with a bang at the second largest anime convention in North America, seeing it out and thus leaving no regrets. However, things didn’t quite turn out that way. What do I mean by that? Keep reading!

Categories
Review

Visual Novel Reviews and Round-up: Dengeki Striker and School Days HQ

Well then, against all odds, it seems VN reviews will continue on! I had almost given up on it after playing several sub-par games in a row; while raging out can be fun from time to time, I wasn’t really crazy about spewing bile for an entire article. Thankfully I was saved by an extremely enjoyable game that I hadn’t expected in the least.

So this time round we’ll be covering Dengeki Striker and School Days HQ. I’ll also do a small section at the end and cover the various other English visual novels that have been released since the last review. First up will be Dengeki!

Categories
Miscellaneous

Otakon, prepare for disaster.

Alright bumbos, as those of you following me on the Twatters know, I’ll be attending Otakon in Baltimore from July 26-29, which is a week from now! I know there’s around 70-80 unfortunate souls subscribed to Hobby Hovel’s RSS feed, and I’m betting at least a few of you are also attending the second largest anime convention in North America. Since conventions are all about diving head-first into a sea of like-minded freaks and weirdos, I propose this question: does anyone want to meet up sometime over the weekend, possibly over lunch/dinner/anything?

Remember Otakon-goers: only you can prevent me from looking like a total loser on my own blog with whom nobody wants to hang out with. My very self-esteem hangs in the balance! Order Reply today!

One of these days I’ll realize that posting my own mug all over my creepy toy website is a bad idea. Then I’d wish I were sensible like Hamstercorp here.

Now, I know your common sense is warning you about meeting strangers from the internet, but as Hamstercorp (who will be my guide in this weekend of swirling madness) would attest, I am not a bear or a shark dressed up in a human suit, so you are relatively safe from the possibility of being mauled and/or cannibalized. So asides from emotional trauma that time cannot erase, what do you have you to lose?

Anyway, the business of meeting up aside, I’m pretty pumped about Otakon. Not only is this my first major anime convention aside from Anime North, it’s also my first time traveling solo! In any case, I’m sure this trip will yield some fun stories one way or the other. Either I’ll have a fun time, or you’ll have a fun time reading about some form of psychological scarring that I’ll detail in the inevitable blog post. Yep, even if you can’t make it COUGHAshlotteMietteExileheroCOUGH, you’ll hear all about it! Unless you don’t hear from me ever again, in which case Hamstercorp has probably sold my vital organs on the black market, and you’ll have learned to know better than to meet up with strangers on the internet…erm, I mean, hope to see you there! ;D

Categories
Figure Review

Review: 1/10 Beach Queens Ika Musume

Well then, it feels like it’s been quite some time since I last did a review (Chag: actually, to everyone else who’s reading the blog, it’s only been 2 weeks =P)  I guess that’s what happens when the few things you actually like are all delayed…But now I can finally break this long dry spell with the finally arrived Ika Musume!

Ika Musume is…errr…Ok noone is quite sure what she is actually. She claims to be a genuine squid (ika) given human form to protect the oceans, and her various abilities seem to support this claim, but even the person in question herself is unsure of how she went from a lowly squid to a full fledged squid girl.

Even with this identity crisis, she is hell-bent on “invading” humanity for its mistreatment of the world’s oceans. For better or worse, this rather serious sounding premise gives way quickly to a heartwarming comedy show that sees any attempt Ika makes at actually invading failing miserably and instead slowly integrating herself in with humanity (although she still does diligently clean up the trash along the beach and will occasionally remember she wants to conquer humanity.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CRz1bpR5MQ

I had originally planned to cancel Ika here because I just haven’t been terribly impressed with Wave’s quality as it where, but as misfortune would have it, Hobby Search pulled a fast one on me changing their cancellation policy and thus I was suddenly stuck with her. Ironically, in that space of time Kotobukiya has also released their own Ika Musume, but for me I still liked this one better for her face and pose which played up her arrogant side more than the cutesy look Kotobukiya chose, so perhaps not being able to cancel this figure was a blessing in disguise? Let’s find out, shall we?