Toycon 2008.

I'm usually lukewarm to the idea of going to anime conventions, unless I'm jaded enough to cosplay myself (won't happen anytime soon for now, though), but off I went to the last day of Toycon 2008, along with the rest of the GamerTotoy crew to cover the event.

All the reasons why I'm not so enthusiastic about cons are there, most of them setting off my rare bouts of agoraphobia. Too many people, too little space, a highly-skewed ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide (in favor of CO₂) - he had to pull me to a well-ventilated area because I was getting pale and becoming disoriented - and yes, there's the thing where you see your fandom fantasies getting crushed and maimed and destroyed every now and then.

But it was fun. I'll give it that.

One of our friends treated anime cons as a surefire venue where people could catch the otaku "disease" (that's his opinion, haha), but he ended up enjoying the whole thing; though I think he enjoyed how we covered the event more than the event itself.

As always, the best thing about Toycon this year is the merchandise. Compared to other local conventions that only have Comic Alley and other mainstream anime "specialty" stores selling rip-off merchandise, Toycon usually has a bunch of decent retailers peddling quality stuff. Here are the things that I managed to get from yesterday's raid:

First picture: Mudkip cap, Mt. Fuji plush keychain, Xenosaga Shion gashapon, Mamegoma plush with cup / Second Picture: Gothloli-style Major Arcana Tarot cards with holder

They also had other incredible stuff that I wasn't able to get, like the Cybaster model kit - I was about to get it, but when I finally decided to take the plunge and splurge for it, Cybaster wasn't there anymore. *sigh* They also had the Buddy Christ figure, too.

He's happy! He's scrappy! He's the Son of God!