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 a vaccine record or negative COVID test, a full PCR test too, not one of those super-quick ones with a questionable record. The convention center had also updated their own air filtration system, and it’s such a big space that I couldn’t imagine this would be too much of a problem, especially with the news about these mandates weeding out people who were not taking the COVID situation seriously from even considering attending anymore. I was pretty excited. I worked on making a Yamcha cosplay the days before and trying to pack all of the needed game consoles for the panel into bags. I really had to get everything figured out, and there wasn’t a lot of time. I also couldn’t really get off work for the Thursday first day of Tekko, which made preparations more of a rush. The Yamcha gi ended up the wrong color due to some issues with the dye. Oh well, we would still get to go!
Kaiti: Attending an anime convention was not in my top ten list of things I wanted to do in 2021. With the COVID-19 pandemic onset approaching two years, a lot of other things were on my wishful thinking list, which doubles as my “don’t-touch-it-with-a-50-foot-pole-list”. After some convincing from my partner, especially explanations of the Tekko COVID protocols, I was ready, though. I'd had enough of sitting around at home watching the pictures go and wanted to go get into them.
Kaiti: We made our way to the convention center after work, parking in the historic Strip District and winding up the sidewalk to the path along the river before crossing into the entryways. Costumed kids abounded on the sidewalk paths, a few recognizable but mostly not. One of note was a Tsunade from Naruto that I had to really rack my brain to recognize - it has probably been ten years since I had touched on the adventures of Naruto. Some furry-eared and possibly ninja-like figures also floated by, a pep in their step the likes of which are only recognizable in a 16-year-old on their way to one of the best chances for safe, natural, and unsupervised social engagement they can get their hands on.
Kaiti: At the entrance stood a security guard who was checking masks and vaccination cards of costumed or flair-adorned anime fans. There weren't many people in the badge pickup line at this point since it was about an hour before closing time, but we were determined to check things out regardless. We got some badges, some ribbons, and went up the escalators to explore the convention area which was, unfortunately, closed half an hour earlier than advertised. Despite this, we caught a glimpse of the layout and there were signs of the familiar weekend length con lifestyle: sitting areas with people quietly entertaining themselves chatting, or texting friends; people spread out on floors near outlets drawing in sketchbooks; little pop-up dining areas situated on the edge of a giant glass wall to a beautiful outstretch of water, the chairs empty but ready for the weekend of subdued chaos to come. It would transform from something a veteran con-goer thought of as an “old hat, been there done that”, into one of my favorite convention experiences to date.
Richard: I’ll just add that the badge pickup was a little chaotic for our press passes. We got passed back and forth between two rooms. WIth how empty the badge pickup was at this point and how tired I was, I imagined being in a gigantic, liminal pinball table. It was more funny than annoying. Also one of the people at one of the badge booths appreciated a sparkly hoodie I was wearing, and I gave them some tips that hopefully helped them find one. It was a weird and amusing first day!
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