GGC is in my mind, the reliable con. A convention, unique in its mission, small, yet dedicated to and by its staff and followers. It's been a convention I always feel welcome at, and always have fun. So I look forward to it every year.

 

The previous year was a little tricky for me and my wife to attend, as she ran a booth in the exhibition hall and about 8 months pregnant, and chock full of emotions. I did have a good time despite these hurdles. This year our son was with us, and his first GGC in what I hope to be several to come. This was also my first GGC without press credentials, so mostly I was there to enjoy the con this time, and try to take some cosplay photos. We made a loose system, where I would take care of my son, take him where I go and my wife would mainly run the booth. The booth would be a rest area for us two, if the baby needed a break, or food, or sleeping. If I needed to a photo run, I would leave him at the booth for a spell. But mostly I would take him with me, even taking him to panels and sit in the back. That way if he started fussing I can pick him up and walk him around in the back of the panel room, so I don't disturb people much and still get to see the panel. In addition we brought a little food so we wouldn't have to buy much at the convention. We also parked the car at the Hertz garage where the fee is way cheaper. With this plan and leaving on time to the convention from our house, this was the first time we went to and enjoyed a convention without incident!

 

I was in charge of the son right away the first day of con as Kirsten went ahead to set up her booth. When I arrived, we settled in a little before I took off and explored the entire convention. The setup was pretty much the same as previous years, gaming on the lower floor, registration and industry on the 1st floor, then panel floor and artist alley, and the upper floor is main panel rooms and the exhibitor's hall. The main hall continues to have all sort of fun things to see and buy, either official merchandise or original merchandise of different genres. The floor below had the artist alley, and previous years it had been disappointing as nothing really appealed to me. This year a lot of cool artwork stood out, and was very tempting to buy, and I probably would have bought a lot if not for not having much dough and wall space for it.  Since last year I've seen more new animation shows, not just anime, but American Cartoons. This is one of the reasons I recognized more stuff in the alley, such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe. There were also anime favorites I spotted: little badges of characters from anime such as Ranma 1/2, Slayers and Dragonball.

 

I was able to get to a panel, taking my son with me and see how he does. This was an X Files appreciation panel, a series celebrating its 20th anniversary and so the panelists wanted to take a look back and bring all the fans together. What was interesting was that they talked about how times have changed. When the show was first on, internet was in its infancy, and you had to have actual physical get togethers with fans to talk about the show rather than internet chat rooms. And you had to record shows or watch them live with actual folks, rather than find it online. They showed fan art, and classic magazine covers of Mulder and Scully. They talked about the Mulder x Scully coupling and why it never came to it on the series. And finally they had a preview trailer for the new X Files show with the same cast which will debut next year. Me and my son both had fun at the panel.

 

I closed out Saturday with the costume contest. In the past they usually just had a system where you show up to the contest and you can get in, and I planned on entering my son with his Jamie McCrimmon outfit. But things changed, and they actually had a signup early on at the GGC website, and by the time the con rolled around signup was closed. A little disappointing, but not a big deal. I decided to just go watch the show by myself without my son, so I could concentrate on getting a lot of good photos. The reason why they changed formats with entering was probably because the popularity of the contest has gotten much larger, judging by the amount of entries this year. The stage was set up differently, with more a runway type of stage where contestants walk to the end of the runway with the audience all around it. I was lucky to find a seat directly in front of the end of the runway, usually a prime spot to take photos. The entries were divided into 2 categories: kids and non-kids (adults mostly). I got a big kick at seeing so many kids cosplaying at this convention, whether it's anime, live action, american cartoons, or comic book characters. It's all fun for both them and the audience. There was great duo from the classic 80's movie Labrynth. The highlight was a little girl dressed up as Thor that stole everyone's hearts (including the judges!). As for the non-kid costumes they were also fun, and some did a little spin on the traditional costume, such as two ladies in female versions of Thor and Loki.  It was also cool to see costumes from the new Mad Max movie, Sailor Moon and even Miss Frizzle from Magic School Bus (who also got an award). I actually had to find out who that was, as I've never had the pleasure to watch that series. While the addition of the runway was good, some cosplayers didn't utilize it fully, or didn't know they were supposed to head all the way down to the end. As such some costume pic opportunities were missed. I do have to say that this was best costume contest at GGC so far.

 

Sunday was more of the same with cosplay photos and wandering around the convention halls with my son. There was a short time when I dropped my son off at the booth and hunted down some great costume photos, and I was pretty much successful. I did get to another panel this day, taking my son along this time in my arms rather than putting him in the stroller.

 

The panel was a history of and about Shojo manga and anime series, and it's influence on today's series. The panelist talked about the origins of shojo in very early works that predate the main manga period. The main title that we all know now to be the foundation of shojo was Princess Knight, by Osamu Tezuka the "father of Manga." The innovation was that the lady who is a princess is disguised as a prince, and that it dealt with gender roles. This was the inspiration for other titles such as the very famous Rose of Versailles, which was a French period piece setting with the main character a woman raised as a man to be the heir to her father's throne. Other ideas that became notable was a character being adrogynous and also the subject of yuri, or woman-woman love. From there shojo titles began to flourish and culminated in Sailor Moon, the most famous shojo series in manga and anime. From then on many series were influenced by all that came before. Revolutionary Girl Utena was greatly inspired by Rose of Versailles, and also inspired other series abroad. More recent titles use shojo style and themes in the their series with different story twists. Ouran High School Host Club had a female main character having to work in an all male Host Club disguised as a boy. Even American series have Shojo elements in the them--Steven Universe's creators were inspired by Utena, and Adventure Time has a unique quality that appeals in both shonen and shojo titles (with the characters Marceline and Princess Bubblegum in particular).  It was a well presented panel, using several references and slides of manga and anime titles that were sure to give fans ideas on what to read and watch shojo-wise.

 

After more photos I took a short break to change my son's diaper, which lead to an interesting experience. The nearest restroom was a "gender neutral" bathroom, which means anyone can use the bathroom. I changed my son then used a stall myself. I heard ladies come in, so I wondered if they were going to react to me when I come out even though it's clearly a gender free room. I came out and washed my hands, and the only thing I heard from them were compliments on my Ranma costume and my cute son. It was a weird unique experience: I never shared a restroom with ladies, but I'm glad how open people are today. It was a good very idea to have this gender free room---Geek Girl Con are aware of the issues.

 

After brief goodbyes at the closing celebrations, I took my son back to the booth, packed up with my wife and left GGC. I'm so glad this con experience went so smoothly and the con itself seems to have been run smootly as well. They had some interesting panels this year and a great costume contest, plus nifty stuff to see and buy. The cosplayers are increasing in numbers and a churning some great costumes of popular series, movies and anything else, some of the costumes original spins on characters. My only qualm is the lack of a major guest at GGC. They have some comic artists, and voice actors, but I've been waiting for another big name to grace their presence at this con, such as Denise Crosby and Karen Prell who attended a couple of years ago. I think the con would have a greater number with another guest like that, but at the same time the con has been selling out of its 2 day passes by the time it rolls around (although there were still some single days left, however friends said that they ran out of 1 day badges and were sold 2 day badges at the door!). I still think the big name cons can learn a lot from smaller cons like GGC, maybe not with big media guests but rather having the con itself, the people and things to see, be the experience. In that sense GGC is a unique experience.