k complex [fan expo 2006 report]

There's not even any point in breaking up my con report by day this time, since I didn't do a whole lot here this year. The con was frustrating for the ridiculous number of people who showed up, mostly crammed into the dealers' room, especially on Saturday. I think it might be even worse than A-Kon before they moved to the Adam's Mark. One nice thing was letting people with advance tickets in 2 hours early, which had about a reasonable density of people. Events kind of sucked for me, mostly because this show continues to suffer from trying to be everything to everyone, which is really great if you're into anime, sci-fi, gaming, comics, and horror all at once. The anime guests consisted of American voice actors, which I still don't get. I don't know anyone who even watches anime in English when given a choice. The artist alley is the same sad wedged-in-the-dealers'-room affair that it's been since I've been coming to the show, when it really should have its own space. I've noticed that the overall level of freakery is really low for as many people that show up, which doesn't keep me on my toes as much as I should be--no creepy guys in a girl's costume or fursuiters. And you can really tell it's not an anime con when there is not a single Felicia in sight. I was absent from the masquerade because I have a weekly engagement with my friends on campus, watching anime for 4 hours Saturday night, so I'm sure there were plenty of good costumes I missed out on. But you can't beat Hajime no Ippo and Yakitate!! Japan. I checked out a Jim Lee sketch off thing, which was only interesting because he was my artist hero as a kid, and I've never seen him in person. Sadly, he gives hope to aspiring comic artists when he's asked what kind of car he drives, and it's a 911. I didn't think even he got paid all that well with the industry as it is. But he seemed like a cool guy anyway. My new camera has been pissing me off too, because in auto mode it helpfully makes the shutter speed waaay too low to compensate for the poor con lighting, so the pictures all come out blurry from camera shake. So most of my photos were ruined as I was trying to figure out the right manual settings to reduce blur without coming out with completely black pictures. I've got what I can show below anyway.