YaoiCon 2003

YaoiCon 2003 Report

YaoiCon, for those who don't know, is an annual convention celebrating everything yaoi, which is the Japanese equivalent of slash, for those just getting into this. Yaoi differs a lot from slash in very specific ways, but for simplicity's sake, I'll refer to them as if they're Western and Eastern versions of the same thing.

I attended YaoiCon last year for the first time. It was the Con's second year and I had no idea what to expect since no one I knew had attended it. I have great memories of the 2002 con. It was my first introduction to yaoi anime (Ai no Kusabi, Boku no Sexual Harassment, etc.) and boy, was that eye-opening! Not to mention inspiring. Attending this year's convention wasn't even a question.

This year I brought my mom. My mom knows everything I do, and she even tells the people she works with about JuxtaposeFantasy. To an extent. She tells most people that I have an adult fiction site, which in Vegas usually means het porn. No one is shocked or surprised.

I wanted my mom to see that the people who are interested in yaoi are normal people just like me (I consider myself normal, lol). Too bad my memory of what con-goers are like turned out to be curiously off, lol.

We checked in Thursday night at the Renaissance Parc 55 after an 8 hour drive from Las Vegas. We'd hit rush hour traffic right when we reached San Francisco, so you can imagine how happy I was as we checked in. My mom's afraid to drive on the freeway, she doesn't like listening to music too loudly, and she doesn't want to get sunburnt -- all of which meant that I had to drive with my sunroof closed and my mp3 player plugged into my ears as I drove by myself.

We checked in and went right to sleep.

Next day, we decided to walk around a little. My mom wasn't up to a walk to Japan Town so we just hit the area around the hotel. Then we went back to the lobby and just people watched. That's worth the experience right there.

"Everyone's wearing dog collars," my mom pointed out.

I didn't remember this many collars from last year's convention, otherwise I would have warned my mom about it. It didn't matter. She was amused, although she thought it meant people thought they were dogs. I quickly enlightened her that it was a sexual thing. She thought it was funny.

We saw a lot of people in costumes. We saw a lot of people attacking other people who were in costumes. There was a lot of seemingly pointless running and screaming. People were whipping each other with leashes. People who shouldn't be wearing spandex, were. The hotel staff looked slightly mortified. It was hilarious.

Registration went a hell of a lot quicker than last year's. Last year took two hours. This year, I was in and out with my dealer's badge in half an hour. My mom and I planned to hit Opening Ceremonies because that's a lot of fun. Lots of squeeing as the official con 'bishies' (cute boys) pose for the audience. Before that, though, we thought we should check out the ballroom where the Dealers Room was being held. We ended up packing up all of our stuff from our room and carting it down to the Dealers Room for pre-set up. Because of that we missed Opening Ceremonies, but at least our booth was up.

I think the booth turned out pretty well. I'd planned out the layout in my head, but it's not until it's actually up and out there that you know for certain. I especially like the 2x3 posters in the background. Those puppies cost a fortune, but they're great for setting the mood of Juxtapose.

That's me, looking remarkably refreshed after setting up the booth, I think. Cool posters, huh?

Another angle of the yaoi goodies we were offering : )

Exhaustion ended up being the theme of the convention for my mom and I. For me especially since I'd been working my butt off in the days before the con and lack of sleep was finally getting to me. After we set up our table we went back to our rooms and passed out.

Next day, I found out that the one thing I wanted to see, the Anime Music Video contest, was scheduled during the day, meaning I couldn't go see it since I needed to be at my booth. I didn't really trust my mom to man the booth for two hours on the first day. Especially since she was just learning what terms like yaoi and shounen-ai meant.

So I missed the videos *sniff* and sat at my table.

I met Margaret, who buys so frequently from the bookstore that I thought she was a subscriber. She wasn't, lol, because she signed up for a subscription there at the con. She was shy and very sweet.

P.L Nunn stopped by to say hi when there was a lull in the room. Pam is so funny because she draws the most graphic things imaginable and yet in person she's a very normal, soft-spoken woman. It cracks me up. We discussed the PayPal debacle and the fact that the con seemed a bit slower than last year's. She hadn't seen her comics yet, so it was nice to show her how well they'd turned out.

P.L. Nunn and I on the last day of the con.

Another subscriber, Nancy, came up to the table. That was wonderful meeting her. Nancy sends me the nicest feedback so it wasn't all that surprising to discover that she is just as nice in person. As with Margaret, I forgot that I had a camera with me otherwise I would have begged a picture with her.

Katherine stopped by after a long drive up from L.A.. Katherine's been trying to help me with the business side of Juxtapose because it's all I can do to keep the site running as it is. I'm not good at mult-tasking. Katherine turned out to be as intelligent and level-headed as I'd hoped, so I look forward to working with her more in the future.

Midway through the day, a woman in a blonde wig ran up the table. It was heartfelt. Heartfelt is awesome. So much fun. She, along with Whitney and her friend Bam, really brightened up my afternoon. They rushed up to the table and gawked over the Calyx and Black posters. It was the first time I'd heard anyone refer to the characters just as if they were characters in any other major fandom. That was a really cool feeling.

Oh, and did I mention that heartfelt can shop? My mom and I were laughing at all the goodies she was collecting. Go girl!

Seneschal stopped by and we came to an agreement for her to work on a new Juxtan comic called "The Lesson". She showed me the first page and it's gorgeous. Another artist, Helm, stopped by. Helm is darling. I think she said she came to the con from Portugal. Her booth was full of incredible art and apparently she did very well. I shelled out the money for her to finish "Hunter and Hunted". She's very accommodating. She'll be wonderful to work with.

Later in the day, a girl and her friends walked up to the table. She pointed at "No Escape" and said, "That's mine". I kind of stuttered and then said, "Lori?" Yep, it was Glockgal, whom I hadn't expected at the con. That was a thrill. Glockgal hadn't even received her own copy of her comic, so this was her first view of it. I hope she liked it. She said she did. I managed to catch her for a pic on Sunday, too.

Glockgal and I. Doesn't it look like she's afraid of me? lol. Maybe it's the hair. It ends up all over the place.

Saturday night was the Bishie Auction and loser that I am, I didn't go to it. I heard later that it was great. One guy went for $1000 when a bunch of people contributed funds to allow the con's guest of honor to win him. I'll definitely go next time.

Sunday was the day of my Original Yaoi panel. For some reason, I hadn't even considered the fact that I should have some kind of agenda for this panel. I had suggested the panel to the con planners with the condition that someone else join me on it. I would just be there to provide an example of what could be done with original fiction.

Well, of course, no one else showed up to co-chair the thing with me. I was up there by myself, feeling like a complete moron. I was so nervous because I didn't know what I should be saying. Heartfelt and Sahari of the Yaoi Shrine came to my rescue, keeping the topics coming and the conversation flowing. It was probably a really lame panel, but I had fun. I felt like I should have apologized to everyone who showed up, though. I'm sure they were expecting something better. The only good thing for me is that it helped promote the site a little bit more.

Oh, and I also caught heartfelt for a pic : )

Heartfelt and I immediately following my disastrous panel.

My mom and I stayed another hour in the Dealers Room before packing it up early since I still had to drive us back to Las Vegas that night.

I think we did well. Juxtapose definitely garnered more attention than I expected it to considering it's a fandom that most of the con-goers had never heard of before. A lot of people bought comics based on faith, lol.

The con also inspired my mom. After seeing so many people being dragged around by collars, she picked up "Slave to My Desire" and declared, "I want to know what all the fuss is about". She says next year she wants to sell collars. I don't know about that, but she did agree that we should look into manufacturing plushie dolls of the Juxtapose characters. Personally, I would love plushies of the guys. I can just imagine how cute they'd be!

What could have been better? If I'd been able to attend some panels and some activities (like the music video contest!!!). Also, I should have left my table on Saturday to do some shopping on my own. I wanted some Zettai Reido books, but when I went looking for them on Sunday, none were to be found. I ended up with zilch. Not one thing. I find that weird since last year I spent over $200.

We ended up making enough money to cover our hotel and traveling expenses. Didn't make a dent in the $600 I forked over to Kinko's the day before leaving for the con. Oh, well. Success takes time and I'm prepared for that.

Please consider attending next year's event. Everyone has fun at these things. It's great to meet people you've previously only shared emails with. It's also great meeting authors and artists you've heard of online. Everyone I met was much nicer than I expected.

Like I mentioned earlier, last year's con was my introduction to what's out there beyond fiction on the net. There's a lot. Believe me. Japan is pumping this stuff out but unless you know where to find it (like at a con) you'll miss out.

YaoiCon is great for the simple fact that it's one weekend in which slash/yaoi is completely acceptable and actually celebrated. It's open, it's fun and it's freeing. Give it a shot next year. I'd love to see you!

Tricia -- Oct. 22, 2003
JuxtaposeFantasy.com

	YaoiCon 2003 Report YaoiCon, for those who don't know, is an annual convention celebrating everything yaoi, which is the Japanese equivalent of slash, for those just getting into this. Yaoi differs a lot from slash in very specific ways, but for simplicity's sake, I'll refer to them as if they're Western and Eastern versions of the same thing. I attended YaoiCon last year for the first time. It was the Con's second year and I had no idea what to expect since no one I knew had attended it. I have great memories of the 2002 con. It was my first introduction to yaoi anime (Ai no Kusabi, Boku no Sexual Harassment, etc.) and boy, was that eye-opening! Not to mention inspiring. Attending this year's convention wasn't even a question. This year I brought my mom. My mom knows everything I do, and she even tells the people she works with about JuxtaposeFantasy. To an extent. She tells most people that I have an adult fiction site, which in Vegas usually means het porn. No one is shocked or surprised. I wanted my mom to see that the people who are interested in yaoi are normal people just like me (I consider myself normal, lol). Too bad my memory of what con-goers are like turned out to be curiously off, lol. We checked in Thursday night at the Renaissance Parc 55 after an 8 hour drive from Las Vegas. We'd hit rush hour traffic right when we reached San Francisco, so you can imagine how happy I was as we checked in. My mom's afraid to drive on the freeway, she doesn't like listening to music too loudly, and she doesn't want to get sunburnt -- all of which meant that I had to drive with my sunroof closed and my mp3 player plugged into my ears as I drove by myself. We checked in and went right to sleep. Next day, we decided to walk around a little. My mom wasn't up to a walk to Japan Town so we just hit the area around the hotel. Then we went back to the lobby and just people watched. That's worth the experience right there. "Everyone's wearing dog collars," my mom pointed out. I didn't remember this many collars from last year's convention, otherwise I would have warned my mom about it. It didn't matter. She was amused, although she thought it meant people thought they were dogs. I quickly enlightened her that it was a sexual thing. She thought it was funny. We saw a lot of people in costumes. We saw a lot of people attacking other people who were in costumes. There was a lot of seemingly pointless running and screaming. People were whipping each other with leashes. People who shouldn't be wearing spandex, were. The hotel staff looked slightly mortified. It was hilarious. Registration went a hell of a lot quicker than last year's. Last year took two hours. This year, I was in and out with my dealer's badge in half an hour. My mom and I planned to hit Opening Ceremonies because that's a lot of fun. Lots of squeeing as the official con 'bishies' (cute boys) pose for the audience. Before that, though, we thought we should check out the ballroom where the Dealers Room was being held. We ended up packing up all of our stuff from our room and carting it down to the Dealers Room for pre-set up. Because of that we missed Opening Ceremonies, but at least our booth was up. I think the booth turned out pretty well. I'd planned out the layout in my head, but it's not until it's actually up and out there that you know for certain. I especially like the 2x3 posters in the background. Those puppies cost a fortune, but they're great for setting the mood of Juxtapose. That's me, looking remarkably refreshed after setting up the booth, I think. Cool posters, huh? Another angle of the yaoi goodies we were offering : ) Exhaustion ended up being the theme of the convention for my mom and I. For me especially since I'd been working my butt off in the days before the con and lack of sleep was finally getting to me. After we set up our table we went back to our rooms and passed out. Next day, I found out that the one thing I wanted to see, the Anime Music Video contest, was scheduled during the day, meaning I couldn't go see it since I needed to be at my booth. I didn't really trust my mom to man the booth for two hours on the first day. Especially since she was just learning what terms like yaoi and shounen-ai meant. So I missed the videos sniff and sat at my table. I met Margaret, who buys so frequently from the bookstore that I thought she was a subscriber. She wasn't, lol, because she signed up for a subscription there at the con. She was shy and very sweet. P.L Nunn stopped by to say hi when there was a lull in the room. Pam is so funny because she draws the most graphic things imaginable and yet in person she's a very normal, soft-spoken woman. It cracks me up. We discussed the PayPal debacle and the fact that the con seemed a bit slower than last year's. She hadn't seen her comics yet, so it was nice to show her how well they'd turned out. P.L. Nunn and I on the last day of the con. Another subscriber, Nancy, came up to the table. That was wonderful meeting her. Nancy sends me the nicest feedback so it wasn't all that surprising to discover that she is just as nice in person. As with Margaret, I forgot that I had a camera with me otherwise I would have begged a picture with her. Katherine stopped by after a long drive up from L.A.. Katherine's been trying to help me with the business side of Juxtapose because it's all I can do to keep the site running as it is. I'm not good at mult-tasking. Katherine turned out to be as intelligent and level-headed as I'd hoped, so I look forward to working with her more in the future. Midway through the day, a woman in a blonde wig ran up the table. It was heartfelt. Heartfelt is awesome. So much fun. She, along with Whitney and her friend Bam, really brightened up my afternoon. They rushed up to the table and gawked over the Calyx and Black posters. It was the first time I'd heard anyone refer to the characters just as if they were characters in any other major fandom. That was a really cool feeling. Oh, and did I mention that heartfelt can shop? My mom and I were laughing at all the goodies she was collecting. Go girl! Seneschal stopped by and we came to an agreement for her to work on a new Juxtan comic called "The Lesson". She showed me the first page and it's gorgeous. Another artist, Helm, stopped by. Helm is darling. I think she said she came to the con from Portugal. Her booth was full of incredible art and apparently she did very well. I shelled out the money for her to finish "Hunter and Hunted". She's very accommodating. She'll be wonderful to work with. Later in the day, a girl and her friends walked up to the table. She pointed at "No Escape" and said, "That's mine". I kind of stuttered and then said, "Lori?" Yep, it was Glockgal, whom I hadn't expected at the con. That was a thrill. Glockgal hadn't even received her own copy of her comic, so this was her first view of it. I hope she liked it. She said she did. I managed to catch her for a pic on Sunday, too. Glockgal and I. Doesn't it look like she's afraid of me? lol. Maybe it's the hair. It ends up all over the place. Saturday night was the Bishie Auction and loser that I am, I didn't go to it. I heard later that it was great. One guy went for $1000 when a bunch of people contributed funds to allow the con's guest of honor to win him. I'll definitely go next time. Sunday was the day of my Original Yaoi panel. For some reason, I hadn't even considered the fact that I should have some kind of agenda for this panel. I had suggested the panel to the con planners with the condition that someone else join me on it. I would just be there to provide an example of what could be done with original fiction. Well, of course, no one else showed up to co-chair the thing with me. I was up there by myself, feeling like a complete moron. I was so nervous because I didn't know what I should be saying. Heartfelt and Sahari of the Yaoi Shrine came to my rescue, keeping the topics coming and the conversation flowing. It was probably a really lame panel, but I had fun. I felt like I should have apologized to everyone who showed up, though. I'm sure they were expecting something better. The only good thing for me is that it helped promote the site a little bit more. Oh, and I also caught heartfelt for a pic : ) Heartfelt and I immediately following my disastrous panel. My mom and I stayed another hour in the Dealers Room before packing it up early since I still had to drive us back to Las Vegas that night. I think we did well. Juxtapose definitely garnered more attention than I expected it to considering it's a fandom that most of the con-goers had never heard of before. A lot of people bought comics based on faith, lol. The con also inspired my mom. After seeing so many people being dragged around by collars, she picked up "Slave to My Desire" and declared, "I want to know what all the fuss is about". She says next year she wants to sell collars. I don't know about that, but she did agree that we should look into manufacturing plushie dolls of the Juxtapose characters. Personally, I would love plushies of the guys. I can just imagine how cute they'd be! What could have been better? If I'd been able to attend some panels and some activities (like the music video contest!!!). Also, I should have left my table on Saturday to do some shopping on my own. I wanted some Zettai Reido books, but when I went looking for them on Sunday, none were to be found. I ended up with zilch. Not one thing. I find that weird since last year I spent over $200. We ended up making enough money to cover our hotel and traveling expenses. Didn't make a dent in the $600 I forked over to Kinko's the day before leaving for the con. Oh, well. Success takes time and I'm prepared for that. Please consider attending next year's event. Everyone has fun at these things. It's great to meet people you've previously only shared emails with. It's also great meeting authors and artists you've heard of online. Everyone I met was much nicer than I expected. Like I mentioned earlier, last year's con was my introduction to what's out there beyond fiction on the net. There's a lot. Believe me. Japan is pumping this stuff out but unless you know where to find it (like at a con) you'll miss out. YaoiCon is great for the simple fact that it's one weekend in which slash/yaoi is completely acceptable and actually celebrated. It's open, it's fun and it's freeing. Give it a shot next year. I'd love to see you! Tricia -- Oct. 22, 2003 JuxtaposeFantasy.com