I was going to do just a post-event picspam as I did with the post-GE PH Tribute to the Ladies entry, but I thought you might like a little more commentary with the 100-plus pics I took of the event.
Again, I'll be posting the pics at a slightly smaller size so as not to kill your browsers too much. Please click on the photos to go to the Photobucket archive, where you can view all of them.
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I woke up very early in the morning of 6 April with a splitting headache, and at some point as the day unfolded, I wondered if perhaps my body hadn't been trying to warn me about something.
I began my commute to the venue in hopes of making it in early, and because previous advisories had said that the pre-registered attendees would be allowed entrance as early as 8am. I was soon enough joined by my faction leader Fiksdotter, Artaxerxes, Darrick and Nate Reclusion, and Mena. Along with them came Whiteships [a/k/a/ Len-len], who was going to cosplay Feng Ling, and several other friends.
From left to right: Mena, Whiteships, Fiksdotter, and Nate Reclusion.
Getting into Dom1nation II proved to be quite an ordeal, all things considered: the pre-registration forms turned out to be so much wasted paper, as no one got into the venue itself, the second floor of the SMX Convention Center beside the SM Mall of Asia, before 10am. The old-fashioned registration stubs STILL had to be typed into the computers at the entrance BY HAND, instead of just being deposited for future cataloging. The lines were long and unruly, and the tension was compounded by the hot summer sun and the sheer LACK of food and drinks stands at the venue. Honestly, the few food and drinks sponsors could only serve so many at a time, and there were long stretches during which they ran out and consequently had to resupply.
Chaos at the entrance to Dom1nation II. This was what my headache warned me about.
Our group had run earlier into RCM Hrin and the other guests from IAHGames, and soon after Nate and I were able to get Whiteships registered and into her costume, Hrin walked over to the Granado Espada booth, along with Anne DeSanggria. Anne was back in her Idge cosplay outfit, but without the sword this time.
Cosplayers and Hrin in the same place: you know what that means! Pics!
From left to right: Idge, Feng Ling, and Hrin.
Feng Ling and Hrin hanging with the GE booth host, dressed up as Lisa Lynway.
Nate Reclusion joins Feng Ling and Idge for a photo-op.
Feng Ling and me, with my very own Granado Espada jacket ^^
Bloggers galore around Feng Ling! In foreground, Mena; standing are Nate, Fiksdotter, Feng Ling, Artaxerxes, Welling, Darrick, and friends.
A few of the bloggers wasted no time in getting pictures taken with Hrin:
Hrin and Darrick.
Me and Hrin.
Artaxerxes and Hrin.
Lots of people started coming in around lunch, and that included the team behind Fantazzztic Film Awards third-place film Perdonato:
From left to right, Weisswritter, Fetuccini, and Mortreux.
Weisswritter poses with Feng Ling.
More Granado Espada cosplayers:
Male wizard in Clara Mago, female elementalist in Robe of Fire. Check out her Bracelet of Three Kings!
Posing in foreground, Idge; standing are an IAHGames guest, Hrin, stormseeks as Grace Bernelli in a Bistre outfit, and pCM Veya as a fighter in the Le Corsaire costume.
Feng Ling and Grace Bernelli: DON'T mess with them!
Quite a few factions turned up for the event; and as DeSanggria remarked at some point, this was the first event at which all five of sGE's servers were represented.
Takhisis faction, Carracci.
Outcasts faction, Carracci.
†Pinoy†AllStars† faction, Pachelbel.
Aggrressor faction, Vivaldi.
Ph Care faction, Vivaldi.
RunAway faction, Caravaggio.
Vradical faction, Cervantes.
CARNAGE faction, Cervantes.
The faction banner/tarp contest came down to a final face-off between Vradical and Outcasts - and in the end, Outcasts' banners won the day.
Most Active Factions awardees
Ph Care, †Pinoy†AllStars†, AdeptasFraternas, Aggrressor, CARNAGE, Elite, Outcasts, Revolution, Templars, Vradical, WarGodz
Most Loyal Factions awardees
†Pinoy†AllStars†, CARNAGE, Outcasts
***
To be continued in the next entry with the FFA winners and the GE PH Community Heroes!
Tomorrow is IP e-Games's second anniversary event, dubbed Dom1nation II. The event will be held at the SMX Convention Center, which is right next to the SM Mall of Asia. Best to check out the map of how to get there, as well as make sure that you've pre-registered for the event. Be sure as well to check the shuttle service schedules, so you can see if you can actually get on one of their chartered buses.
Important Notes:
pCM Veya warns that boxer shorts, sandos, slippers, and the like are NOT ALLOWED to be worn at the event. Dom1nation II is still subject to security rules, and the set we need to follow in this case is the one laid out by SM Mall of Asia.
A four-day sale is currently ongoing at SM Mall of Asia, from 4-7 April. As Dom1nation II lands square on the Sunday of that sale, I suggest you plan your transportation accordingly, whether you're commuting or bringing your own ride. See the bus schedules link above.
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Now: are you ready to go?
Whether you're all packed and set right now, or are thinking, "Meh, it's just a convention, I'll get ready tomorrow," you'd do well to pay attention to some of the stuff in this post.
Before you do anything else, read the Blacksword family's timely, excellent, and blogspotted Player's Guide to Conventions and Events. Tons of excellent advice in this entry; he hasn't been blogspotted for nothing. A few highlights, and some suggestions from me:
Bring a bag and lots of extra money. I'd recommend a backpack - it leaves your hands free, you can keep all your precious things close to your body, and there are lots of backpacks that look cool. Messenger bags don't always work because only one shoulder at a time bears the load of the bag and its contents, and you'll have to shift it from time to time if you want to avoid a backache.
Wear comfortable clothes. This includes having sensible shoes: rubber shoes, running shoes, and sneakers are best recommended. Wear jeans only if you're sure they're broken-in and comfortable. For the ladies, I recommend wearing modest, comfy stuff. There will be a LOT of strangers at a con, not to mention very few seats. Don't make it difficult on yourself by wearing extremely short skirts.
Bring a pen and papers. Blacksword actually recommends you carry at least two pens. I would respectfully take it one step further, and suggest you bring 2 good pens, at least 1 marker (of the Pentel or Sharpie type), and notebooks or loose-leaf paper. You'll need those for registration forms, autographs, doodling and sketching, and even taking notes of what's going on around you.
Required items include: con requirements such as IDs and game cards, cameras and/or camcorders, mobile phone. And it goes without saying: secure your belongings!
Be early. Registration takes time, and you might miss the giveaways that sometimes fall into the hands of lucky early birds.
Be polite. This is actually something you should do all throughout the con: while standing in line to get in, while meeting new people, while speaking with a celebrity, while taking photos.
Participate in all the activities that you can. You never know what you're going to walk away with: a cool prize, a new friend, or lots more fun than you had initially expected!
American sci-fi author John Scalzi also has some guidelines on going to cons. Even if the subject of that post might be leaning slightly towards advice for people who want to meet famous authors (such as China Mieville, Neil Gaiman, and Scalzi himself), the man's been going to cons for a seriously long time now, and some of his suggestions are pretty spot-on.
The "how to meet famous people" part of that post might well be tied into the fact that one of the Granado Espada PH guests of honor will be none other than GE RCM Hrin herself. Dom1nation II marks the second straight time she's graced this event.
Other than RCM Hrin, of course, you might want to "meet and greet" some other guy who you look up to in your respective fandom, gaming community, faction, or whatever. These tips will also come in handy then.
"Even though you've read ... (and our blogs) and feel friendly towards [famous people] ... you're a stranger, even if [they've] interacted with you through blog comments or e-mail or whatever." Hence the need - I cannot over-emphasize this enough - the NEED to be polite.
"...the way to introduce yourself to [a famous person] is the same way you would introduce yourself to anyone you've not actually met before in real life. You come up, make sure [the famous person is] not currently engaged in a task that needs [his / her] full attention, say excuse me or hello to get [his / her] attention, and then introduce yourself."
"Note the difference between public and private spaces, and public and private conversations." If the famous person is talking loudly to a crowd of people, feel free to join that crowd. If, on the other hand, that famous person is talking quietly to a small group of people, it might be best to wait until their conversation is finished before attempting the "meet and greet".
***
ONE MORE THING: the rules for meeting new, famous, or even notorious people get somewhat fuzzy when the people you want to meet are female. If you're going to have to be polite when meeting other gamer guys, be doubly or even triply so when meeting gamer girls. No pawing, no leering, no rude words, no pick-up lines.
You never know if the girl you were trying to smarm up on: 1) has a bodyguard / boyfriend / posse, 2) knows enough martial arts to knock you out, 3) is more than capable of embarrassing you in the VERY public space that is a con, or 4) is really a guy.
Be smart.
In the corner of the forlorn, windswept cemetery in Thueringenwald is a weathered gravestone.
There is no name on the stone, and of the epitaph, only the letters R W can be very faintly seen.
A little cleaning completes the message:
Here lies the last Resume Writer in Granado Espada. Pioneers mourn her, and the Offices of Pioneering Support miss her.
Not all pioneering families who come to the New World have their papers intact, and those in need of proper credentials once journeyed to the City of Auch. She worked quietly inside one of the doors in the Office of Pioneering Support, patiently supplying families fresh off the Jaclina with new papers.
She never complained when some families were too brash, and never did anything showy with the money and gifts grateful families showered upon her.
She spent her days in quiet, honest work, even when many thought her job obsolete.
When she died, the City of Auch - and indeed all of the Offices of Pioneering Support - felt the loss keenly.
I was having an early dinner last night when a text message from Mena nearly made me spit out my mouthful of food:
Veya was in Carracci and told me Hrin would be attending on Sunday [Dom1nation II]. Can you please confirm this?
WTF! Accordingly, since I still had Hrin's SMS number, I promptly fired off a text message to her: I said I'd heard a rumor that she'll be going to Dom1ination, asked her to kindly confirm or deny, and said I hoped she would make it.
Two hours later came this message on my mobile phone:
Haha yeah i will be there.
Holy smokes there you go! CONFIRMED: RCM Hrin will be going to Dom1ination II! Yay~
And a big, fat PS: This is NOT an April Fools' Day joke. I know some people will be wary of any news posted today, but this is honest-to-goodness real news. Take it to the bank, kids!
