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 hadn't checked out the vendor hall, so that was where we went. As we entered, I was struck by the familiar array of things to see and hear. It was a little more sparse than in previous years, but I didn't see that as such a problem.
Richard: I had been disappointed with things during the last Tekko. The vendor hall was super cramped, and people were just stopping in the middle of walking areas, causing annoying traffic jams frequently. The variety of items had also been disappointing with a lot of vendors having the same items from the same recent anime TV series. The prices were not anything to write home about for the most part either. It was odd because I had found some neat stuff during the previous Tekko.
Richard: This year was good. It was fun moving through the vendor hall as a couple, and everything was improved! Fewer vendors meant that traffic jams were a thing of the past, but there were still a lot of stores to look through. The prices were still higher than many online sellers, but we also found many unique items. I think partially, I had accidentally missed out on the artist hall in the past, so seeing all of the handmade items with the mass-produced stuff was enlightening and encouraging. There was jewelry and stickers and lolita fashion to buy. Though I can't see myself buying a fancy dress at any point, I was happy to see all of it there. It means a lot more to see things that aren't just cheap plushies and keychains for the millionth time! I ended up getting a plush of the unnerving Kirby character Scarfy, several Wild Arms soundtracks, some Gunpla bases, Klonoa stickers, and a Nintendo Switch game I had never heard of. We also saw a bunch of neat cosplays while looking around. It was a lot of fun, and we spent a lot of time there!
Kaiti: We entered to a dreamy sight: a convention with enough space to not breathe someone else’s breath or run into their backpack full of cute keychains! This was incredibly novel, for a spacious con is typically a sign it’s not the most exciting con, but this one was set up almost better due to the circumstances of the pandemic restrictions. There were many small artists selling wares intermingled with bigger purveyors of nerd gear and even a sprinkling of local businesses selling relevant beverages or food. Our first stop was a cute little felted wool figure maker, where we picked up a little Pearl from Steven Universe for the mantle. Early on, I beelined for one of the bookstores and picked up one of the more recent Junji Ito books, as I did my usual scan for unusual titles. To my amusement, beneath one of the shelves near the cash-out spot was a little play area set up for the book booth’s grandkid. All it was was a simple cardboard box that said “child” with a tablet and some blankets inside.
Richard: Something that was a little off about the vendor hall was the area of anime cars. I believe these are referred to as "itasha" - they are cars painted with anime characters. They were just in the middle of the vendor hall along with an area for meet and greets with industry guests. The cars were kind of neat, but I wasn't sure why they were there. They also felt out of place. I would not mind seeing more itasha at a future Tekko, but I want to see some artist statements and a separate area to enjoy this display.
Kaiti: We weaved our way around and wound up chatting with some of the lolita artists at one booth, where I picked up a fun self-deprecating pin for my jacket. What drew us were the berets with eyeballs adorned all along the rim. Booths like this were more typically common in the artist alley, but with the lack of availability from vendors, these little independent artists were probably able to get a lot more exposure than usual. The artist was friendly and, like her art, a bit dark and yet sincere and pleasant to conversate with. After witnessing some wild-looking T-shirts, I couldn’t resist picking up a field berry tea from a local tea shop, complete with boba. The boba were kind of hard to drink though: I don’t know if the straws were a touch too small or if it was just that they were overcooked. Then we headed to check out a panel or two, the bridge pathway to the panels helmed by a comically out-of-place metal guitarist who was playing some droney doomed sounds from a little amp. Also of bizarre note was a display on the walls of the relax zone at the end of the bridge, which featured a local organic milk farm and its little cows all over the walls. As we arrived beyond the cow portal, the more social meat of the convention sprawled before us: panels to the left and right, and a sword-fighting area straight ahead.
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Richard: Afterwards, we saw a panel from YouTuber Tekking101. This was actually a mixup from looking at the schedule quickly and with limited info. Since the convention had been assembled after over a year of COVID issues, there wasn't a scheduling app, nor could we find paper schedules. This was understandable. It led to us walking into a panel that we thought was about YouTube tech; instead, it was about One Piece, mostly. I don't know anything about One Piece. We stuck around for a little bit, but the Q&A didn't mean much to either of us. I hope that the rest of the panel went well and was enjoyed by the participants. It just didn't make sense for us to be there.
Richard: After the panel, we went back to the gaming hall and played a few more games. Being at Tekko all day was tiring, though, so we did not stick around long. As we were leaving I caught a glimpse of two women cosplaying as Cammy and Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series. They were tired, but they agreed to do a picture before leaving. Thanks so much!
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