Minami Con 14

Less eventful than last year, but no less fun.

Stepping into the Novotel Southampton, I always experience an awkward moment: looking around at the brightly-clothed cosplayers, the socially-inept teenagers and ever-present gophers, I wonder, What the fuck am I doing here?

The apprehension dissolves as soon as I see old friends, of course. But without Sweatdrop, 'the iCrew' and a few random acquaintances, I would no doubt feel out-of-place at such events.

Conventions are a gathering of fans, an event to share and celebrate an enthusiasm for a genre. For many, it also provides a sense of 'belonging'.

Given this freedom, some attendees seem to confuse "be yourself" with "act weird", taking liberties with social behaviour. Being someone who's reserved around strangers, feigned familiarity alienates me. So, while I can't begrudge a middle-aged man their annual opportunity to dress like a schoolgirl in public (without getting arrested), please no touchy.

Anyway, enough introspection, here's my report of another enjoyable Minami...

Friday 29th February 2008. I joined friends from the iCrew for an ASDA run, stocking-up on booze and snacks. I would later tell anyone who would listen an anecdote about how a six-pack of Pink and Whites costs just 27p. On a per-wafer basis, it would probably cost more than 4.5 pence to buy the marshmallow and cardboard separately. What a rivetting story.

The remaining itinerary: hotel bar, opening ceremony, the bar, TGI Friday's restaurant, the bar. Our TGI's waitress remembered a friend's embarrassing alcohol-related antics from last year. We rewarded her with a decent tip.

At 11pm my room-mate went upstairs to rest for a bit, then didn't come back down (is he showing his age?) I stayed up until 2am, chatting with Fehed Said (author of The Clarence Principle) and Nana Li, who won TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars of Manga competition (more importantly, she studies at Imperial ;)

Saturday 1st March. As usual, the evening masquerade was the highlight of the convention. Although, in general, the cosplay characters weren't as imaginiative as previous years, it did feature the single greatest costume: an 8-foot tall Optimus Prime. He starred alongside Leader-1 (from the Go-Bots), in a comedy sketch about Michael Bay making Transformers 2. Side-splitting stuff, but was it appropriate for an anime convention? The Squeenix Eye for the Straight Guy skit was also pretty funny.

I was lucky enough to snag a prime spot towards the back of the hall, so managed to snap a few half-decent photos of the costumes. My pictures are nowhere near as good as last year (note: please login if you're a friend with a Flickr account, as some images are restricted).

Dinner was Indian. Last year's Chinese was definitely better, but the curry only cost £10 and it came with good company. Back at the bar, I failed to convert others to the cult of old-school Top Trumps. Instead we attempted to solve riddles, told jokes on stereotypes and drew politically-incorrect Mexicans. Thanks Dock and Selina (I think!)

Sunday. Mother's Day meant the nearby pubs and restaurants were all booked-up for lunch, so we ended-up at McDonald's. Before I stopped attending cons in the 1990s, my body could cope with hamburger-based meals, but not anymore (stupid slowing metabolism!) I only made a paltry £15 from selling books at the Bring 'n' Buy, not enough to help fund my trip. At the newly exploitative hotel exchange rate, that equated to two and a half pints of beer.

After saying goodbyes, I took the over-priced and over-crowded train back home. Short and subdued, the weekend left me with a bad case of the post-convention blues, made worse by the depressing realisation that I'm getting too old for this shit. With each passing year, I find it increasingly more difficult to relate to the average con-goer. Unless there's a compelling reason to for me attend, I'll soon have to stop going. Another reason to start making comics again?