Chapters 7-14
Web links underlined on July 26, 2015 to mitigate red-text confusion.
Major UPDATE made on July 1, 2014.
Wristbands info (9. Other items) UPDATED on July 18, 2014.
UPDATED August 16, 2015: That TV show is divisive, and it took a post by Yaya on FB for me to admit it.
ADVISORIES:Major UPDATE made on July 1, 2014.
Wristbands info (9. Other items) UPDATED on July 18, 2014.
UPDATED August 16, 2015: That TV show is divisive, and it took a post by Yaya on FB for me to admit it.
ALL PREVIOUS DEBRIEFINGS ARE NOW OUT OF DATE.
There is a zero-tolerance policy in effect for this blog.
There are a lot of pictures on this blog, for those worried about bandwidth. I am very sorry for the things I reveal here. Also, this extremely long blog has been split into sections, as marked in the contents list, so please bear with me. There is also a rant near the very end, but I've tried to restrain myself.
Contents:
7. Autographs, 2013-2014: post-fatal decision8. Hamtaro toys show-and-tell
9. Other items
10. The book I almost got
11. Post-fatal decision emotional stability efforts
12. In the midst of delusional fear: fear/survival mission - May 17-19, 2013
13. Overtime has been declared: fear/survival mission: overtime - November 30, 2013
14. Pocky giveaways, first-encounters and otherwise: [5161814] - May 16-18, 2014
7. Autographs, 2013-2014
post-fatal decision"I'm sorry I'm late. I was doing research on something."
-Satsuki Shinonome, Love, Election and Chocolate
"I've won. Exactly as planned."
-Light Yagami, Death Note
There was outside intervention in December 2012, which allowed me to keep living for May 17-19, 2013, when I went on a fear/survival mission.
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| We had no idea a return would be imminent. |
On May 19, 2013, just after my fateful returning encounter with someone I was delusionally deathly afraid of, I met up with Kieran Strange for the first time, as well as her bandmates. They all signed autographs while I showed them my old Companion Cube pins (partially designed by Moony), and a Minecraft Creeper papercraft (designed by lostminer and raveman33).
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| Not pictured: a sticky note with a drawing of the fear/survival mission: overtime logo on it. |
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| "Definitely!" was the catchphrase of a character named Emmy. |
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| I had every reason to "beware the Fright Side" at the time. |
Fast forward six months later. I was on my final [5161814] mission and made it a point to check out Chii Sakurabi, as she had linked to her song "Kaguya" multiple times on Twitter.
May 16, 2014 provided a surprise opportunity to have Chii Sakurabi sign official stuff, so I deliberately bought her album, Moon Princess, that she released that day and had her sign it. The outer packaging was too glossy to keep permanent marker ink on... or so she claimed. Chii Sakurabi resorted to signing the CD itself, and then she said she signs right on the CDs anyway.
However, I had to decline her offer for a photo session. With the way I would do things as a "runaway fugitive", preferring filming videos from behind the camera, it meant that it wasn't gonna work out.
On May 17, 2014, after four years of waiting for special guests in shows that I did know that didn't have to fall under "a childhood to answer for", they finally showed up. Unfortunately, I had beaten my mind up so hard that I was getting depressed. (More on that later.)
Now, as for Yuu Asakawa, as soon as they announced her right after fear/survival mission: overtime ended, I knew I had to return, as she counted as a major voice actress in shows and media I actually knew of. She will be in a show that starts in July 2014, as well.
This is an Azumanga Daioh box set belonging to a family member, and I was able to have Yuu Asakawa sign the box, as this series was also part of my rotating interests for quite a long time now. In this series, her role was as Sakaki, a rather soft-spoken character who likes cats and is always having her hand chomped on by one particularly dark one.
There is a show named Love, Election and Chocolate, or Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, or "KoiChoco" for short. I deliberately got this to have Yuu Asakawa sign it, and also because I kinda liked her in this series. They changed the cover art before they released it, so I resorted to having her sign disc 2. After signing these two items, I had Yuu Asakawa mention, in yet another private recording, her roles as Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh, Satsuki Shinonome from Love, Election and Chocolate, and Luka Megurine the Vocaloid character.
On May 18, 2014, after "the one mandatory objective" was a success, I had the returning Kieran Strange sign an autograph in the guidebook. Thing is, she was the only member of Hitbox to arrive; Sarah Adams was unable to due to personal issues. I also had Kieran write a private motivational statement on my schedule books right after her panel the day before, and she mentioned the Companion Cube papercraft I gave her (designed by Mike Carson) during some private recordings on both these days.
Kieran had proposed an idea on May 16 that I call out to her from outside the sealed-off area, but I chose not to. I went into the vendor room line and met up face to face, because I'm not that outgoing, and me calling out to someone like that never ever works for me. As for current projects, Kieran just released a new song, and that is all I can say about it.
And finally, because I felt inclusive, I had Yaya Han sign the guidebook as well and tell me to check out her stuff during another private recording. Curiously, she was in the same costume that she wore on an episode of Heroes of Cosplay that aired on June 3, 2014.
I must state that the show is very divisive, and that is all I can say about it. I didn't know any better, and I'm sorry for anything I may have implied.
8. Hamtaro toys show-and-tell
"I read about that one time."
-Maxwell, Hamtaro
Brad Swaile and Yuu Asakawa both had voice roles in different language versions of Hamtaro. Brad Swaile was Maxwell, of course, and Yuu Asakawa voiced Tongari, whom we know over here as Jingle.
I decided to play a bit of show-and-tell during the May 17 autograph session. While I was beating up my own mind, I was carrying around these Hamtaro toys from 2005. I showed Brad Swaile and Yuu Asakawa these toys before I quickly got to the matters at hand; show-and-tell was not what I was at the autograph session for.
These toys are from a trip to Shanghai, China, and were part of a KFC Chinese New Year promotion there. They are battery-operated, and they each have a short quote and play some sort of theme song.
It's a bit more tricky to activate Hamtaro, though. You were supposed to roll him around a bit on the round base to try to get whatever's inside to trigger his sound. Then again, it has been nine years. I couldn't get it to work that well back then, either.
Now this toy of Bijou, or should I say Ribon-chan, is a lot easier. There is a button on the back, and her cheeks and lantern light up. Actually, her lantern flashes rapidly and brightly.
Told you I had a childhood to answer for.
9. Other items
"Come on, you'll never get another chance to do this. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
-Konata Izumi, Lucky Star
Since the [5161814] mission, like the fear/survival mission before it, involved shaking people's hands after they wrote encouraging stuff in my books, I made sure to carry around some hand sanitizer with me. Otafest staff always had a particular brand and type for the autograph sessions. It was a President's Choice brand aloe vera sanitizer, so I chose to get this one myself after seeing it so many times.
Back to stuff I actually got from Otafest.
In May 2012, I got a copy of K-On! season 1, after waiting out for a full-season release at the time.
And in May 2013, I got the K-On! movie, even though it takes place at the end of season 2. This movie was supposed to be released on the Tuesday after Otafest 2013, but then I saw it on the shelf so I got it.
And, like I said, in May 2014, I deliberately bought Love, Election and Chocolate to have Yuu Asakawa sign disc 2, where her character Satsuki Shinonome is featured. Yuu Asakawa had a larger role in this one than in the K-On! movie, and like I said, I liked her role as Satsuki Shinonome in this show.
And, also, like I mentioned before, Chii Sakurabi's album, Moon Princess, was released on May 16, 2014, and I had her sign the CD itself.
Come to think of it, I actually also got these old Mario games for the Super Nintendo at Otafest Lite 2010. I felt at the time I had to buy them back after something happened to our old copies a long time ago.
The show called AnoHana had a movie, which had a local theatre screening in February this year. On May 16, 2014, I had a first-encounter task. There were cosplayers going as Jinta and Menma from AnoHana. After I had them, of course, wave at the camera and sign my book, they gave me an envelope with a piece of candy.
It had been over a month, and I had yet to open it... until now.
I can't exactly tell what this Japanese text says, but I assumed it's either the brand or flavour of this candy. The candy appeared to have some sort of inside coloring to it. It looked rather brown-ish inside this translucent white covering.
The outer candy shell seemed to have a flowery/fruit flavour, with emphasis on the "flowery" part.
Although that candy had a hard outer layer, its inside was chewy. The inside colored part tasted very strong, though, and it seems to remind me of plums or prunes for some reason. I'll have to get this candy again sometime, assuming I can get something like that here.
Thank you to those Jinta and Menma cosplayers who gave the candy to me. It's really good.
These are all the Maid Cafe tickets I kept from 2013 and 2014.
The 2013 tickets depict the Maid Sephonie design, you know, the pin I couldn't get because the hair came out too green...
...while the 2014 ticket depicts a humanized character who appears to be a Pokémon. At the time of this posting, I cannot identify it.
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REVISED July 18, 2014
I kept all my wristbands from the times I was able to go over these past five years, even through the dark times. Pictures here are the ones I have from 2010-2013.
Here are the ones for Otafest 2011 and Lite 2011; the latter wristband was marked as such, but Otafest Lite 2011 turned out to be the last Lite spinoff ever held before this spinoff convention changed.
This meant I could not return until Otafest's 15th anniversary year, 2013, when the fear/survival mission began, and Otafest Aurora 2013, when the mission went into overtime and finally concluded.
Of course, Otafest got a new logo and a new wristband design in 2013.
Also, Aurora 2013 was when they began to have a separate wristband marked for pre-registration aside from the regular "weekend" one, probably to help identify those who could get the pre-reg pins.
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And yes, I've kept my 2014 wristband on for over a month now, at the time of this recording. I just can't seem to let go. Yes, the final mission, [5161814], ended in a victory, but I feel like there's something missing. Something I should have done!
UPDATE: On July 1, 2014, during a walk between different Canada Day events within the city, the adhesive for the Otafest 2014 wristband finally wore off, without me having to cut the wristband off like I did for every year beforehand. So, counting the pre-registration day of May 15, 2014, I had the wristband on my arm for about 48 days. (Thanks to timeanddate.com for the calculation tools.)
And, of course, there are my papercraft Companion Cube Pins, or if you want to call them that, Resurrection Associate Pins. They are based on a Team Fortress 2 cosmetic item, and only the orange one has a spare heart decal on the back.
The orange pin was originally built in 2011 since Portal 2 was released, along with the Team Fortress 2 item that I could not get until sometime later. The blue pin was built in 2012, the year I went brutally honest.
These pins have been in this damaged state for over a year now, because I felt it wasn't worth rebuilding the centre cube parts (designed by Moony), let alone wearing these pins for another year as a fugitive.
10. The book I almost got
"It's like we're going through the motions of a scripted destiny."
-Simple Plan, "When I'm Gone"
On May 18, 2014, I got Death Note manga volume 13, "How to Read", from the vendor room to prepare for the very very off chance that I would be able to go into that day's autograph session. But there was a scheduling conflict. More on that later.
Of course, I couldn't get in the autograph session, and after keeping the book inside one of my bags for the whole day, it was only then that I decided to check whether the pouch inside the front cover had been tampered with. Turns out, the pouch had been opened by someone else, and the card that said L's real name was missing. So, I promptly went back to the vendor room to get a refund.
11. Post-fatal decision emotional stability efforts
"The name you choose, is like... it's like a promise you make."
-Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who
Ever since I first announced this mission objective as a challenge when I tried to end my own life in December 2012, it's led to successes of varying positive degrees. I had many cosplayers write encouraging or motivational statements in my guidebooks or on the schedule covers to keep me cheerful or as sane as possible.
It ended up supplementing my cosplay segment recordings. I only ever took out my camera on the last day of the Otafest 2013 fear/survival mission, on May 19, 2013. Cosplay recordings were only back in full swing during the Aurora fear/survival mission: overtime, on November 30, 2013. Segment filming even happened at the Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor" and Madoka Magica: Rebellion theatre screenings. And, yes, the cosplay segments are all pretty much the cosplayers "going ahead doing whatever" random poses, or "waving at the camera" as usual.
But nowadays, I'm inclined to think of my private cosplay segment recordings over the years as showing cosplay characters waving goodbye to a fugitive... who's leaving for the final time, and they don't even know.
The encouraging statements that many people wrote (and signed in-character for the most part) are of a personal nature. Also, the cosplay segments are not public anymore, as far as I know. Because of this, I am unable, nor would I be allowed, to show them to you here.
Think back to the time that videos of a 2011 Otafest event showed up on Mikubook, as documented in the inhibitor filler episode "unclear and persistent dangers". No one's ever gonna pick a fugitive's recordings for something like that. Ever.
Now, let's go back to the original fear/survival mission....
12. In the midst of delusional fear
fear/survival mission - May 17-19, 2013"If someone ever tells me it's a mistake to have hope, well then, I'll just tell them they're wrong, and I'll keep telling them 'til they believe."
-Madoka Kaname, Puella Magi Madoka Magica
"Run away, run away, running as fast as I can..."
-Simple Plan, "Don't Wanna Think About You"
It was May 2013. I'd just made my sooner-than-expected return to Otafest, and I had not fully recovered from delusional fear yet. Throughout the fear/survival mission, I began my challenge and started to get a bunch of cosplayers to write down encouraging stuff, starting with a Homura cosplayer on May 17. Like I said, I never took out my camera until May 19.
With the help of a good friend in the Otafest staff, I refocused my efforts to finding the two people I was most deathly afraid of: Person A and Person B.
After a fearful avoidance skirmish with Person B at the vendor room on May 18, 2013, I relocated her that same day. I also eventually tracked down Person A on May 19 because she was running a panel. Both times, I had them write encouraging stuff. Both times, I said I'm sorry for everything that happened these past 2 years. And yet, both times I ran away like hell, screaming my head off. I claimed in the original Otafest debriefing that I was trying to keep up whatever facade I had left of being afraid of them, but now, I don't even know what I was thinking anymore.
There was a bit of much-needed hope, though. Early on May 19, 2013, I was able to find someone going as Madoka, and had her wave at the camera for a private recording and write something encouraging after missing a chance the day before. As previously mentioned, she went as a spoilery version of Madoka.
Later on May 19, after I panic-rush charged into the room, Person A talked about an experience she had... with her friends, of course, during that summer of 2012 when I was busy considering ending my own life. I started lightly panicking when someone who couldn't attend that year-- Person E-- appeared on the projector screen in the costume she was in during the infamous Global TV newscast from May 14, 2012.
That same day, however, I met up with someone who was also in that infamous newscast. I had her write something encouraging, and only realized later that we met while she was going as a different character in 2012. Yes, she was one of Person A's friends. But she's not gonna be classified a letter because she is home free.
Unfortunately, the day ended on a sour note. "Sunny Day Disruption", the LhS, blared outside near the Prairie Chicken statue, causing me to scream in a panic once again as I ran into the nearest door. My mind completely blanked out. As a result, a second encounter with Person B went horribly wrong... I think???
My facial-recognition issues had kicked in, and I did not know that this would be the last time I ever met up with Person B ever again before I left Otafest forever. However, I was able to catch up with Seph in a yukata for a private cosplay recording; Aurora had left, but I learned from that mistake.
13. Overtime has been declared
fear/survival mission: overtime - November 30, 2013"You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?"
-Tenth Doctor, Doctor Who
"Say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet."
-Burl Ives, "A Holly Jolly Christmas"
Soon enough, it was November 2013. I had declared overtime about a month before, but I was feeling generous since the holidays were coming up.
As stated in the Overtime mission briefing, I wanted to give away certain papercrafts, candy, and some holiday cards to certain people. However, I was also focused on the fact that there were theatre showings of Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor" (the one I went to was on November 25), and Madoka Magica: Rebellion (December 9 and 15). The theatre events and Otafest Aurora collectively served as codename "Fall of the Fugitive".
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| Papercrafts of Madoka, the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS, and a Companion Cube, alongside some candy types. ARCHIVE, Overtime mission briefing addendum, November 30, 2013 |
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| Papercrafts of the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS, a Creeper, and a black number-3 cube, alongside the other candy types. ARCHIVE, Overtime mission briefing addendum, November 30, 2013 |
Papercraft boxes stuffed with candy were given out to certain people. It was either a TARDIS papercraft (designed by RocketmanTan) or a black number-3 cube (designed by RadioTimes.com) stuffed with holiday candy. I was later able to see the first Tenth Doctor cosplayer on May 16, 2014.
The papercraft I gave the Chell cosplayer was a Portal 2 Companion Cube papercraft (designed by Mike Carson) that I built years ago. Like I said before, I rebuilt this cube for Kieran Strange months later.
Just before my darkest hour, I met up with someone I first met back at Otafest Lite on November 12, 2011 after I saw her perform in a cosplay contest... Person D. Since this was the third time we met at Otafest, of course, I had her wave at the camera again, and had her write an encouraging statement. We never met up during May 2013, however, though Person D was a witness at the August 4, 2012 event and my "fatal decision" attempt that day.
During the fateful darkest hour with Person A, I panic-rushed into the room, restrained myself, and tried to listen attentively, even with all the noise from the hallway. After, there was a cosplay segment (of course) and encouraging statement writing session, and I gave Person A a candy-filled cube and a holiday card. And then I told Person A that she'd be better off hanging out with her friends than with a fugitive like me, and that I'm sorry for everything. Luckily for both of us, I did not run away screaming my head off this time.
After I went to the autograph sessions with a childhood to answer for, the Madoka cosplayer was on the move. After going back and forth between floors, I finally caught up. I gave her a moment in the vendor room before I met up with her again. Then I gave her a Madoka papercraft (designed by poppaper.net) and a white candy-stuffed cube, filmed a segment, and let her write something encouraging. I was able to see her again on May 17, 2014.
There was a cosplay character from a show I hadn't watched at the time yet. Unfortunately, I thought she was the spoilery version of Sayaka Miki or something. Turns out, the character was Juvia Loxar from a show called Fairy Tail. She was in her Fantasia Parade outfit based on a very short scene in one episode. I should have known better, so I made plans in the back of my head to meet more Fairy Tail series cosplayers during [5161814], as the show was about to get a continuation the following year.
I never did give out the Minecraft Creeper papercraft (designed by lostminer and raveman33) that November. I arranged for two more cards to be given to Seph and Aurora. I had also given the good friend a candy-stuffed number-3 cube during pre-registration pickup the night before, too.
I basically ended fear/survival mission: overtime by having both Seph and Aurora wave at the camera and write encouraging stuff. Aurora was late and I could not leave without getting her beside Seph! Anyway, since I could not go into the gala, I went to "Mystery Science Fanfiction". I'd seen similar stuff online, and that panel left me quite exhilarated, leading to the end-of-delusion declarations.
I was no longer afraid anymore, so I figured I'd leave the Otafest people alone and not worry about them for the next six months.
But then the January 18, 2014 pin trading party happened and a cosplay segment was filmed there.
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| The Otafest Aurora Twitter page as seen at the approximate time of an unexpected discovery. |
14. Pocky giveaways, first-encounters and otherwise
[5161814] - May 16-18, 2014"Look, we don't have to trust each other and be all BFF's or anything, but do you think you could maybe give me an idea of what's going on?"The first-encounter objective, where I planned to give out Pockies to certain Kyoko Sakura cosplayers, didn't exactly go the way I proposed.
-Kyoko Sakura, Puella Magi Madoka Magica
I had 6 small Pocky boxes. Three of them were chocolate, and three of them were strawberry. Once again, from the TV show to the movie, Kyoko went from having chocolate Pockies to strawberry Pockies.
On May 16, I did not see anyone as Kyoko, but I felt sorry for someone going as a giant chocolate Pocky box and gave her one of my chocolate Pockies.
On May 17, in true first-encounter fashion, I tried to give the first Kyoko cosplayer I ran into that morning both Pocky types, but she decided to take only my second chocolate Pocky box.
That night, I had beaten my own mind up to the point of depression, so I decided to snack on the first strawberry Pocky box.
On May 18, I encountered another Kyoko cosplayer, along with a Madoka cosplayer. It was another first-encounter, so I gave the third and final chocolate Pocky to Kyoko and the second strawberry Pocky to Madoka.
That evening, near the closing ceremony line, a Kyoko cosplayer was holding an apple. I gave her the third and final strawberry Pocky box to hold in front of the camera too, and said afterwards, "That's yours now".
Of course, I was always saying I'm sorry if the Pockies were broken or melted or anything like that.
