Whiskey, Texas: The A-Kon experience

Why is L dressed like an Akatsuki?

L and her friend, S in full Akatsuki garb. The Akatsuki are a group of ninja assassins from the "Naruto" series.

So, this was L's costume for A-Kon 19... L went dressed as Deidara. Just the two of us went on Saturday; we had only a couple hours to spend there before I had to come home and get ready for work. On Sunday, we returned with a second Akatsuki in tow -- L's friend S, dressed as Sasori.

L was Deidara, the blonde at the far left. S was Sasori (upper left).

"My little Akatsuki's" do some shopping in the comic market...

Wigs...

... magazines...

... pocky!

And now for my costume... when L first started talking about going to A-Kon, and the possibility of dressing up for it, I immediately thought of the only anime show I had any kind of identification with. There was just one show that I felt I could relate to, and it had the added benefit of allowing me to "kick it old-school", of being able to show those young punks the kind of anime that MY generation grew up with. True fans no doubt know the show by its Japanese name, "Mach GoGoGo" But to the layman, it's simply "Speed Racer."

Striking a pose as Go Mifune.

I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions I got to my costume, from people both young and old. A couple of young women (late teens / early 20s) came up and asked for a hug. There was the 40-ish mom who told me she remembers rushing home from school every day to watch the show. And a middle-aged t-shirt vendor congratulated me on representing the "early history" of anime. But the best reaction was from a little boy, probably about 4 years old... his eyes lit up when he saw me and he knew just who I was. "Speed Racer!" To him, I was the real deal. I gave him a high-five, posed for a photo with him, and told him to go see my movie. K told me after we returned home, "you must feel like a rock star". Well, pretty much...

I must have posed for at least 50 photos during our two days at A-Kon. A couple shots have ended up on the various Photo Galleries on the A-Kon site. One of them even ended up as the main photo on the A-Kon "Activities" page. I have no idea how long this link will remain active, or how long my photo might remain on it, but it's worth checking out:

http://www.a-kon.com/bm/Activities/index.shtml