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The entire AnimeFF situation really bothers me. Yeah, I personally lost money and I only made it as far as the airport...twice. In fact they said they would call me back with my "new" flight information as I waited at the airport. I am still waiting for that phone call. I feel awful that I helped them by asking my friends Dan and Kyle to attend as guests. If not for Adam and the crew from Anime Vegas the voice actors (and Adam!) wouldn't have had a place to sleep! But to cap it all off by using all of those involved under the cloak of helping those suffering from Breast Cancer... Linking to Gaia, as well as other websites, is to show others what the buzz is around the web from people who actually went to the con and saw what happened. If any of you have tried to look at the AnimeFF message boards you will see that they locked those down. But since this isn't the focus of the thread, moving on topic... To answer your question Shy, I did not start the thread since I just hadn't gotten around to starting one yet. Adam wanted to try to working things out with them first and wanted me to wait before posting anything. You can see how things have been going by reading through the threads in the news section. Plus talking about it just ties my guts into knots. I found the OtakuBoards via theOtaku.com. Until then I never knew the OtakuBoards even existed. I started out using myO as a blog site. I liked that it was anime related with a friendly community. I did pick up quite quickly that the two sites are run separately but they are not without shared roots. More like cousin sites than sister sites if you will. I know of people who never come over to the OtakuBoards and vice versa. I think the relationship between the two is to let their members know that the other exists, even if it's just little, subtle links. theOtaku.com has links to the OtakuBoards on myO profiles while the profiles here do the same. There is also mention in the "about us" page on theO while the OB links back at the bottom of the message board page. I see it as being a "Hey, if you're looking for a great anime site/message board check out theO/OB!" Who knows what the future holds for both. If I have my way both sites will continue to grow and prosper. :D

I've had both changes for the good and some, unfortunately for the not so good. But for this post I'm sticking with the good. :D In the past I've pretty much melted into the crowd. I didn't wear anything that would draw attention to myself. Heck, I didn't even wear make-up! Oh that would have been way too flashy for me back in the day. Jeans, t-shirt and my letterman's jacket...I was pretty average. I was just that random person that would pass you in the hall that you wouldn't give a second thought about. Now I've become a bit, well, louder when it comes to my clothes. What I mean by that is my hobby of cosplaying. My daily stuff is still middle-of-the-road but at anime conventions I am in some sort of anime or gaming costume. I wear bold make up in some cases. I find when I am in costume it's much easier to talk to people and make friends since it's pretty obvious if you'll have something to chat about. Hmm, person in a Dynasty Warriors cosplay, perhaps I can chat with them about the game, ya think?! LOL So I guess you can say I've become a bit more adventurous with my outfits. Oh, and no, I would not wear my costumes outside of Halloween or conventions! I'm not that bold....yet. :animeblus

[QUOTE=Retribution][size=1]Really, my argument is no appeal to emotion. I'm asking people to put aside their first reflex judgment of "Crime? That's horrible! They should be locked up!" Instead, I want people to see the [i]underlying social issues[/i] that drive these people to steal. Too quickly do people dismiss criminals as riff-raff and get on with their lives. True, many times criminals are stealing out of want, not need. But there are also those who steal out of need. Pity is my last concern.[/size][/QUOTE] I think I see where you are going now. When first reading that I took it as being more of a "think of why he steals" not an underlying cause on a social level. At first I thought you meant it along the lines of: "Think about the reason why he steals. The reason he steals is because he has starving babies at home. I don't want the babies to go hungry so it's okay!" line of reasoning versus a big picture view of things. Is this closer to the mark? Lunox, I don't feel that mentioning charities and organizations is a "cop-out". I listed them as an alternative option to crime. Yes, they are not without flaws (few and far inbetween in some places) but they do help who they can. Since I don't know about large urban areas I used what I do know, my hometown as the example. You feel it's a cop-out. I feel they are an alternative to crime that is an option and should be mentioned.

I'm in a similar situation as The Boss. I was very active in Tae Kwon Do for many years. I'm don't really consider that a "fight" in the school yard sense of things since those are planned and regulated. As for what I consider a real fight I've only been in one. It was in grade school and an older boy was teasing my friend for being Japanese. I snapped after hearing all the hateful words spewing from his mouth that I beat him up. He went and told a teacher. The crazy thing is I didn't get in trouble which I was quite surprised about since he was in tears. Perhaps it was because the teacher knew he wasn't really physically hurt and it was really his pride that took the beating. Getting beat up by a 2nd grader probably didn't help his standing with his other bully buddies. Who knows, I just know I lucked out by getting away with it. I never tempted fate again by getting into another fight. Otherwise the only fights I saw were a couple of fights in Junior High. One was two guys who pretty much just bounced around and occassionally took a swing. That got broken up by teachers. The other one was two girls. Eeegah! Those two were after blood. Hair pulling, screaming, scratching, punching, wrestling and kicking. The police showed up at that one since the girls took their fight off campus. As a "grown up" the only fighting I see is when I happen across shows like Cops or something. :p

Logic, what a fun class to take in college huh Retri! Yes I know all about slippery slope, straw man and all that other wonderful stuff. I used it as an example since this entire idea of crime is okay if you are poor is, in itself, a logical fallacy of playing upon the emotions of people for pity (argumentum ad misericordiam). Now it's been quite some time since my college Logic classes so if I am incorrect on that term please feel free to correct me. Asking people to think about why they commit the crime is also playing upon their emotions which is agrumentum ad misericordiam. So your statement is also a logical fallacy Retri. ;) Valid, invalid, not invalid...all that stuff aside. I still stand by my opinion that there are more opinions available for those who are in need of food. Crime is not the answer.

Oh this poor baker! You guys who are saying it's okay to steal from the baker are forgetting that it takes money to make money. The baker has to pay for his store, the electricity, the baking supplies, taxes and his employees. Now you have all these people stealing from them. He's got to cut costs for the loss. Gonna have to raise prices. Bread keeps getting stolen. I guess we've got to fire some employees. Too bad. The families they were working hard to support are now poor too. Not earning any money for all of his hard work since only thieves get the bread the baker is forced out of business. Too bad, now there isn't a store to steal from. Now they've all got to steal food. So off they go to join the ranks of poor and move on to the next hard working business to run them out of business. Crime is wrong. If you are poor there are plenty of charities that are there to help people get back on their feet. My little town of 16,000 people has a food bank open to those who can't afford food. Goodwill helps train people for jobs. There are also hundreds of jobs available for those who want them in the free newspaper. Many of them, because this is a rural area are farming related. If you can do physical labor the work is there. No language barrier or special education needed. I know of two churches that run soup kitchens too. There are many places to get help if you look. There are alternatives to crime.

If you see wallpapers, or any submission for that matter, that are breaking the rules please report them. The mods do a great job but any additional help they can get would be greatly appreciate. Thanks!

Email me the wallpaper that is getting denied and I can tell you why it is not getting approved. [email]Gail@theOtaku.com[/email] Some wallpapers are denied because they are taken from other sites, contain images that are not official images from an anime or game (ie fan art from fan art websites like DA.), blurry images, inappropriate images (nudity, photographs), inappropriate text (foul language, messages of hate against race, religion, sexual preferences...), text that is difficult to read (blurry text, using a colored text over same color background) and collages of copy/paste images. Those are the major reasons why wallpapers are denied. If you send me the piece you are concerned about I can be more specific.

It's very nice to have your friends mom help with the costume creation. I do totally understand your feelings of over cosplayed characters. There is a fun side to that. The multiple Narutos can just say they are doing a cloning jitsu! MTAC from what I have heard from friends is a fun con. I was hoping you were going to Sakura-con since I'll be there in April. Now let's see. One of the first things that came to mind was cosplaying from Ouran. I've done a Kyouya cosplay and it was so much fun. That is definitely an excellent choice. My next Ouran cosplays are going to be Nekozawa with Beelzenef and probably will make a Loberia Zuka Club fangirl costume and a plushie squid to go with it. Another good choice would be any of the characters from Final Fantasy 3. They aren't over cosplayed like other FF characters and their chibi appearance in actual game play means that even chubby girls like me can cosplay them without being too far off from the actual characters look. One that I personally really like is the Devout. The hood with ears is just so cute! It's tough helping someone chose a costume. A good way to help decide what you want to do is think about all your favorite series and games. What characters do you like? Are any of them ones you would feel comfortable cosplaying? Remember cosplay is about having fun. I'm a chubby gal and I've cosplayed a tall thin bishonen guy to a 10 year old girl. If you feel comfortable doing it, I say go for it! As long as you aren't breaking any decency laws that is! LOL When you do decide the first thing you need to do is get as many references as possible of the character from as many angles as possible. This will help make things easier. You can then take those pictures with you when shopping for the correct type and color of fabrics. You may also want to look through pattern books to see if there is an existing pattern that could be altered to create your costume. It just makes things a bit easier for the person making the costume. Making a list of all the other items you'll need: buttons, clasps or prop parts will help when you go shopping as well. Well, hope that helps you some. Sorry I couldn't think of more characters for you but in the end you are the one who is going to investing your time and money into this costume. You should cosplay who you want. Best of luck with your costume and definitely have fun at your first con! BTW, here are some tips on cosplaying and cons in general. - If your costume is big (ie wings, large props, etc..) be aware of the people around you. Convention halls and the dealer's room can be very crowded. Having a costume ruined or poking someone in the eye with your costume can really put a damper on your fun. - Don't be smelly. This goes if you are in costume or your regular street clothes. Some people go to cons and forget that after playing DDR all day that they aren't the freshest flower in the greenhouse. This smell is referred to as "Con Funk" or "HOBO". HOBO stands for Horrible Otaku Body Odor. - Watch your stuff. If you stop to pose for pictures and need to put your bag, camera..whatever down, put it between you and the photographer. Placing your stuff behind you means someone can come up and swipe your bag while you are posing. It's happened to many an unsuspecting cosplayer. - Drink water and eat good meals. You cannot survive off of Ramune and Pocky alone. Being sick with dehydration is not a good way to spend your convention weekend. - Find out via the convention message boards when group photo gathering aka Photoshoots are taking place for your favorite series or the ones you are cosplaying. It gives you a chance to get pictures with others in the same series as well as a chance to make new friends who love the same anime or game that you do. - When taking pictures of cosplayers always ask first. No one like snipers who sneak pictures while they are adjusting their costume or eating. - No glomping! No matter how much you love a character a cosplayer is not that character. A flying hug can catch a cosplayer off guard resulting in ruined costumes, broken props or ever worse, a broken cosplayer! - Cons are generally very safe places but it's always good to be on guard. Many times people get caught up in the atmosphere and forget that there are bad people in the world. If someone does something that makes you uncomfortable seek out security or con staff. They are there to help. - If someone asks to take your picture move to an area that is not in the center of a busy hallway. Moving to the sides or even to another area is going to give you a higher chance of getting a good picture. Plus, it won't annoy all the other con goers who are trying to get down the walkway. - Have fun!

I use to work in a movie theater during high school and would come home smelling like popcorn. Everything would smell like popcorn. My friends would get into my car and tell me it smelled like popcorn. On top of that we got all the free popcorn we wanted to eat. Oi. It really put me off of popcorn for many, many years. As the years passed I am able to eat popcorn again. I do love kettle corn. The combo of sweet and salty is nice. I also like "Killian Korn" which is a local favorite. It's made in a little town about 45 minutes away from where I live. They make popcorn with a bunch of different flavors like one with Macadamia nuts that is just devine! Other than those I would say air popped popcorn with just a sprinkle of salt is about all the popcorn I'll eat.

I have personally have no issues with meeting people I've met over the internet. Being an "adult" puts me in a different situtation than many younger people on the internet. All my online friends I've gone on to meet in person have pretty much all been at anime conventions and I am always with my husband or other friends. Very public places like Anime Expo. With so many crazy people in this world you really do need to be careful of who you decide to meet and where you are going to meet them. Safety first!

I'd love to help you! I just need a bit more information. When you say fairly easy are you looking for some closet cosplay (using stuff you can buy and with little to no effort change it into a costume), commissioned cosplay (buying costume from someone) or do you want to make a costume from scratch? If you are making a costume from scratch what are your sewing skills like? Do you hand sew or machine sew? Are you willing to crossplay. Cosplay a character of the opposite gender? I know you say you don't want to cosplay from an over-done series, but what about a manga only character from a popular series or a character that is rarely cosplayed? Oh, and just out of curiousity, which con are you going to attend? It's not Sakura-con by chance is it? Ok, I'll let you get started with those questions. Cosplay is so much fun and it really does make the convention experience more enjoyable. At least in my opinion it does. :D

If the candy grams are done the same way they were done in my high school then the money earned from the sale of candy grams went to support sports. If this is the case then I would support keeping them. They make money, it's a fund raiser. If you get rid of fund raisers like candy grams because people feel left out for not getting one then it would follow with that logic that you would have to stop doing car washes since those without cars would be left out. It would be like me saying I want luxury cars, 10 carat diamonds, huge homes and size 2 jeans banned since they make me feel excluded. Since I can't have them no one will. No matter what people will feel left out. I never benefitted from the candy grams at my school since I never received one and I was not involved in the sports it supported. I do support having them for those who want them since the people who did get them loved them and the sports it earned money for benefitted.

Convention wise I think this year I'll be going to my usual anime cons: Sakura-con in Seattle and Anime Expo in Long Beach. Last year Kumoricon and Anime Vegas fell on the same weekend and if that happens again I'll probably go to Anime Vegas since I've never been to that con before. Kumoricon I've been to twice. Every year I try to make it to Anime Evolution in Vancouver, BC but have yet to make it there since I'm usually broke after AX. Perhaps I'll aim for an east coast con. We'll see how the budget holds out. Non-anime wise there may be some computer geeky stuff my hubby may go to for work and I may tag along. Just recently some of his co-workers went to CES in Vegas. I use to go to veterinary conferences at least twice a year back when I was healthy. Needless to say I don't do that anymore. The idea of standing in the cow barn for hours in the cold just doesn't sound like something I want to do anymore. LOL Not really a convention but I would like to check out a ren faire. I just got to find one in my neck of the woods. Perhaps this is the cosplayer part of me who wants to check out the costumes but I've really wanted to go to one to see what it's all about.

I've never cared much for Valentine's Day. My husband feels the same way I do about the holiday. I always felt bad in school when there were kids who never got any cards or candy. As I got older the cheesy couples with their over the top lovey-dovey behavior just drove me crazy. In the end it seems like the only ones who really come out ahead are the florists, card and candy shops. [cheese] Plus every single day is Valentine's Day for me! *bats eyes at husband* [/cheese] :p Eegads, if I ever get that way someone better smack me on the side of the head.

You can PM or email me your myOtaku.com member name and I can delete the avatar for you.

[quote name='BKstyles][FONT=Tahoma']On another note with the english version of Bleach, I don't mind Renji's VA that much (and happen to think Byakuya's is fairly good) but I don't think i'll be able to get over "Roar, Zabimaru!" as opposed to "Howl, Zabimaru!" :mad: [/FONT][/quote] I thought Renji's voice would be a bit more gruff but I'm fine with it. I am VERY happy and went a bit fangirl when I found out about Byakuya's dub voice since I'm good friends with the voice actor who got the part. Needless to say I am very biased when it comes to that opinion. :animeswea As I mentioned before I am still wondering about who they are going to get for Hanatarou (Please VA gods, don't make him sound lame!). I am going to ask Kyle Hebert if he'll do the voices of Aizen and Ganju for me when I see him this weekend so I can get a sneek peek of how he's going to voice them. Gah, I sound like some stalker fangirl... On the subject of the filler arc: I didn't mind it when it started but it really needs to finish up. I am so ready for the story to get back on track.

1) What day is your birthday? Today! January 3rd 2) What is your zodiac sign? Capricorn 3) How does your zodiac sign describe your personality? Here's some additional info from cafeastrology.com to go along with all the stats my fellow Cappy's have listed: Modality: Cardinal Element: Earth Ruler: Saturn Season: Winter 10th Sign of Zodiac Metal: Lead Stone: Amber, Onyx Color: Purple, Brown Anatomy: The knee, bones, skeleton Keywords: tenacious, conservative, resourceful, disciplined, wise, ambitious, prudent, constant. 4) Does the description of your zodiac actually describe you? Why? I'd have to say many of the traits listed for Cappy's are pretty true in my case. As my fellow Capricorn Ezekiel (BTW my brother's birthday is the 4th too! Happy Birthday!) mentioned we are a loyal bunch. My hubby and I have been married for 11, going on 12 years. I'm definitely careful and reserved but unfortunately also stubborn. Vicky mentioned having a 'businesslike' quality and I would definitely say I have that down. 5) How does your zodiac sign PWN over the rest? Desbreko is a Capricorn.

Happy New Year everyone! 2006 was a good year and I am looking forward to 2007 being even better. Rang in the new year with friends and family AND a really great birthday cake. My brother-in-law's birthday is January 1st so at midnight we sang happy birthday and ate cake. It was a good time. As for goals for the new year: Find ways to improve my health. Keep on top of my work so I don't fall behind. Do a better job of keeping in touch with all my friends and family. And finally, update myO blog more than once a month! :animesmil

When I have spare time you can find me sitting behind my sewing machine working on a cosplay project. I usually have a couple of projects going at the same time which are in different stages of completion. Currently I am working on finishing Yu Kanda from D.Gray-man and Katamari Damacy cousin Ichigo. I'm really considering doing Komui Lee from D.Gray-man just so I can walk around all day drinking coffee. Anyway, cosplay currently is my number one hobby. I enjoy other craft-type activities but they all take a backseat to my cosplay hobby. :catgirl:

I would definitely spend the day with my husband. I would probably record a video of myself saying goodbyes to my friends and family and such. I wouldn't go out and do anything crazy or try to cram in some wild trips or extreme sports. I'd just hang with my hubby, drink coffee and eat a huge pile of chocolate.

Oh how I love a good unrequited love story. The mix of nervous, awkwardness of the person with the crush towards their love interest. The heartbreak of when that person doesn't feel the same way or, even worse, that person loves someone else. A great series with these elements would be Honey and Clover. What I love even more is when that person, after much heartache and suffering, finally wins over their love and gets to finally hear them say at they feel the same way. It just gives me the butterflies when that happens. Even more so when there is a love triangle going on. For me the perfect example is the Minmei/Rick/Lisa love triangle in Robotech.

I personally love Dynasty Warriors. My friend does the English voice work for Liu Bei. I am actually cosplaying Sun Shang Xiang for Sakura-con next spring. Needless to say my favorite character is Sun Shang Xiang. I know it's not a game for everyone but I do enjoy it. I prefer it to Samurai Warriors. I'm not sure if it's because of the massive amounts of soldiers you can wipe out during a mission, trampling people down with an elephant or what it is, but I find the game enjoyable. :animesmil

I guess if I were to make a wish I would want a PS3, PSP, Wii and a DS. I don't NEED to have them, it would just be nice to. What makes it kind of bad is that I want the PSP just for paying Dynasty Warriors and the DS to play Final Fantasy 3. I find it hard to rationalize purchasing those just for one game a piece. I'm sure if I got them I would buy more games but those are the first ones I want to get for those systems. Now if someone were to buy them for me then I am more than happy to accept them. :animesmil

Oh Sara, how I love thee. I shall go back, waaay back, at least 25 years to answer this question for you. Hopefully this makes up for some of the youngins. ;) Well, there is always the number one item (dare I call it that) on my list from when I was very, very young: a pony. I never did get one. I had a friend whom I rode the school bus with and there was this ranch we would drive by on the way home and we use to make plans on how we were going to sneak out at night and steal the horses. LOL Yeah, 6 year old horse thieves. Anyway, one year she actually did get a horse. I was so incredibly jealous. As for something that would fit under the tree: [IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25929&stc=1[/IMG] Now this is old school gaming. I remember when my dad bought this new fangled thing that played games on the television. We ended up getting it, I believe, in 1980 or somewhere around that time period. The Odyseey originally came out in 1979. I remember playing Space Invaders and Pong. That was so cool. I still remember that it had a particular smell to it. Kinda like warm plastic and stryrofoam when we would play it. I think my brother still has this game system. Hmm, I wonder if it still works. :p