EfreetEater

Richard:  Sunday - the last day! I always feel sad on the last day of a convention; the magical convention world fades away to the workweek, and the last day is often focused on saying "goodbye" to everything. There's a dreariness to it, perhaps a coziness too, but to me, it's mostly grey liminality. Kaiti:  The final con day was a bit of a blur for me. This isn’t unusual, as conventions’ final days often seem like a burst bubble, the crowd and panels all emptier and less intense. But this year it also meant I spent most of it in chronic pain and struggling to keep up. All I really remember is getting another bubble tea, and finding one of my friends from anime fandom days of decades past who was in town to work some booths and guest support. Richard:  Sunday, December 13th at Tekko was not much different, though the flea market is always a rush for me! I zoomed into the building and went right there. There was some seriously awesome stuff, much better than the other ...

Richard:  Saturday arrived, and this meant going to Tekko basically all day! I was so excited! Kaiti: As we arrived in the convention hall for our first long day of attendance, cosplayers caught our eyes before we even stepped onto the escalator! A tiny plushie inside of a see-through backpack worn by a sērā-fuku-adorned teen stood ahead of us as we made our ascent, and out came Richard’s camera to photograph the evidence. He had some trouble getting some of the lighting to cooperate but snapped away despite the challenge, immortalizing the little anime plush pal. The smell of ramen and pretzels wafted through the convention hallway, despite my inability to locate said pretzels. A little Rita’s stand beckoned, promising the most delicious Italian ice for the most dollars I’ve paid for it. Onward to the vending hall we went, weaving our way about the crowd and costumery, a big display reading “masks are required” below the Tekko 2021 logo at the entrance.  Richard:  We ha...

Richard:  The second day of Tekko 2021 was more eventful than the first. We still had to go after work, but this time we parked right in the parking lot for the David L. Lawrence Convention Center - boy was this awesome! It wasn't even that much money! I was set to do a panel, so I had packed a bunch of stuff: SNES, Japanese PS2, Famicom, Super Game Boy, controllers, cables, and several games. It was not fun to move all of this stuff, but I wanted the panel to be really cool! Kaiti: Arriving at the convention center on this day was a bit of a post-work get-ready frenzy. As soon as I was about to give up trying to park in the incredibly convenient actual convention center garage, a parking fairy appeared and granted us one of the closest spaces to the David L. Lawrence entrance. We scrambled inside with just enough time to set up Richard's panel and even attempted a bit of tech support in trying to connect his gear to the projector. Richard:  When we got to the panel room, it ...

Richard:   A little over two years ago, I submitted a panel application for Tekko 2020. I was excited to go. I wanted to present a panel about retrogames that never got released in North America. It was going to be informative with a small tournament and prizes. “Wow I can even apply for a press pass,” I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to use my blogging skills to write about the convention?” Richard: At the same time, a pandemic was brewing, and it’s still here. I wasn’t paying much attention to it until it was declared as a national emergency on March 13th of the same year. Things changed a lot then. When Tekko got moved around, I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t happen in 2020. I was actually quite surprised that it was going to happen in 2020, especially in the winter. Once I started watching the announcements from Tekko, things didn’t seem too bad, though. Richard: The Tekko heads seemed to have a good plan. There was a mask mandate, and attendees had to have...