UYD's San Diego Con 2006 Report

[Leonardo-san]

Hello all!
I had a great time meeting up with the UY members.
And seeing Stan and his family, too, of course!!!

I am very, very tired, so this is going to be a short post.
Let's just say I have not had much sleep for the past week getting the costumes finished (yes, I know...last minute stuff but there are good reasons why), and then practicing for our Masq skit until 2 am on the patio of the hotel room for the two nights before the Con. I got 1 hour of sleep on Friday night.

As for my appearance on Saturday at the Dojo get together--I am wearing a Rurouni Kenshin cosplay costume I made. Originally I intended to wear that on Friday, but the creator of the series was making a super rare appearance, which meant I had to wear it Saturday. The expression on his face as I walked up will not soon be forgotten by me. It was worth all the agony to get that costume done.
So I wore my UY Dojo shirt on Friday.

And on Saturday night, now that it's over, I can be revealed.
Originally we were considering just going on the Con floor with our costumes, but then the decision was made to enter the Masquerade.
We performed as the TMNT with Splinter, and we won a prize for Best Movie Character.

I have no pictures of us because I knew I wouldn't be able to use the camera and didn't want to risk it being stolen. We were in our costumes for around 5 hours total, and it was an amazing and grueling experience. Everyone loved us, and the crowd reaction was excellent. There is a chance we may show up on G4 in the next night or two, as well.
But when I get pictures from those in our group that helped us backstage, I will point out links to those interested in seeing them.

Anyway...more tales later, I need sleep!!

[Todd Shogun]

Congrats on the win, Leo! That was a great skit -- you deserved it.

[tayocham]

Damn. *I* need to take up cartooning!

[cynlee]

I hope all our members there had a good SDCC!
(hmm, who is the Lady samurai cosplayer ? Cynthia ?)

I only wish! That was Leonardo-san. I am the one next to Stan in the dojo shot holding my shirt-- cause I was wearing one of my six TMNT shirts that I spent my hard-earned money on.

And Leonardo-- I saw the replay at the Con on Sunday-- Fantastic! I wish I could have been there to take pics! I even got to see the part where they announced your win! CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!

[Gaffey]

Is this litho available online? I can't find it.

Are the pins available anywhere?

[go]

Hello Gaffey,
The retail litho of 250 prints seems sold out.
The pins come from Sensei Sakai directly.
Please consider contacting our Sensei he may have both for you.
Please also consider acquiring a red and blue pin.
Is this a Halo reference?
I hope this helps.
Best wishes to all,
go

ps the $15 price on the poster in the picture is much lower than the original retail price.....possibly an artist proof?
pps if Sensei has no poster, please let me know.

[cynlee]

I know that Stan had that print/whatever on sale at his booth for a hundred dollars--

[estee]

This time I was fortunate enough to take some shots of Stan working on a really cool commission piece of a female samurai rabbit!

This is really nice. Be sure to picture the final product.

Now I understand where Usagi gets his studliness...it just Stan putting himself in his characters.

This sucks. I haven't see so many creators from such diverse mediums in one place. The San Diego Con is bigger than the flippen Toronto Film Festival.

[Rennic]

hi all! i loved comic con even though i was there for 2 days but it was still fun GO UYD!

[Leonardo-san]

Thanks for the complements on the skit! Glad those who saw it enjoyed it, we really hoped we would get a lot of laughs and people enjoying it. Judging from the sound of the crowd, it worked.
That was our first San D Con Masquerade, and my first Masq at any Con.
We worked very hard on that, and while I am sorry I didn't get to show up for the UY Dojo Saturday Meet Up in the Leo costume, San D Con is very strict on their rules. We can't wear the costumes out on the floor until after the show.
I feel like I understand the movie actors a lot more now. When you only have a very limited range of vision and you are dancing around on stage with a light blinding you? heheheheh

[Todd Shogun]

Hey Matt, welcome to the UYD. I did end up finding that $2000 copy of Albedo NR 2 that you pointed out...insane,and it's only CGC 9.4... hey who was the dude you were hanging out with at your Dad's booth? Anyway cool having you aboard and it was great seeing you at the Con.

[Stan Sakai]

Damn. *I* need to take up cartooning!

What can I say? They kept comming to my booth. (I hope Todd posts the Wonder Woman pic.) But they weren't all beautiful women in skimpy outfits. Director John Landis came by and we took our annual photo together. My favorite author Max Allan Collins showed up with his son Nate, and gave me a half dozen of his newest books, including the two Road to Perdition sequel novels and his Pink Panther movie novelization. And, of course, it was great to see Todd, Kari, and all the Dojo members again.

It would have been our most successful year, financially, if not for the theft. But we filled out the necessary paperwork, did all we could, and could not let it ruin the rest of our con. Friday was a very busy day for us, too. We sold a few paintings that day. The convention's Elite Staff and security volunteers were terrific, and they checked in on us periodically throughout the con. We've known Dave, the volunteer security guy in our area, for years, and he's wonderful.

Congratulations on the award you and your group receive, Kim. Sharon and Hannah were in the audience. Hannah took a bit of video of your act. I'll burn a cd-rom and mail it to Todd along with a bunch of my con photos.

I took a bunch of commissions, the most unusual was one of Usagi fighting that killer bunny from Mony Python.

Heidi MacDonald did a day to day blog from the con for Publishers Weekly. You can find part of it here. It even has a photo of me from Day 0.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/

[Leonardo-san]

Hey Matt, welcome to the UYD. I did end up finding that $2000 copy of Albedo NR 2 that you pointed out...insane,and it's only CGC 9.4... hey who was the dude you were hanging out with at your Dad's booth? Anyway cool having you aboard and it was great seeing you at the Con.

$2000!!!
*falls over*
Wow!

And I know the Con is insanely huge, but I keep hoping maybe one year we could have some kind of UY Dojo Brunch for all the members--like get together before the Con opens for the day for coffee, tea and such.
I'm sure even then, we'd still never get everyone together all at the same time, but it would be fun to have a chance to really talk with everyone outside the crazy hall.

[Mayhem]

I took a bunch of commissions, the most unusual was one of Usagi fighting that killer bunny from Mony Python.

Of which I grabbed of you working on it Stan

Expect that whenever I get around to uploading the pics from my holiday...!

As for that issue of Albedo, I saw two stalls selling graded comics, it was probably at one of those, but I didn't see it myself. Just glad I got the bundle I did from that auction, the #2 is in very good nick...

[Mayhem]

Lots of pictures now available!

http://flickr.com/photos/48106557@N00/s ... 211573523/

And here's the piece I asked Stan to draw for me... I hope someone spots a pattern based on what I heard others have asked for in the past