Anime Midwest 2013 Hetalia Gathering review

[xihuanchirenrou.livejournal.com]

Putting this under a cut, but here we go- my second entry, ever, on livejournal, but in case some of you haven't seen it on tumblr, this is pretty important.
first things first- this was a disaster. an absolute disaster. Let’s ignore all the face sucking and stuff, and get down to the real thing.
Please forgive me if I have messed anything up- I do not use livejournal often.


This was my cosplay. 30 years war Denmark.

First- I was deliberately excluded from the photoshoot. I am very history based. They called out “axis" and seeing as Denmark was indeed taken over by Germany, while it IS debatable, I took the fact that Denmark sent troops to fight on the Eastern front as that it was an axis. But no, they wouldn’t let me go out, they said, ‘original axis only’ and forced me to stand back. They called out “germanic family" and seeing as according to this and this Denmark is completely germanic, i went out. Nope! Since denmark is a nordic, he cannot be germanic. okay. denmark is not germanic but wy is european. i get it.

second, when the organizer finally called nordics, they ended my photoshoot after a while…. and then told people to go beat me up. en masse. they literally told people, “go kick him" when the photoshoot was done, and I had to defend myself by nearly whacking one in the face with my prop. when no one walked out to kick me, the organizer herself walked out and attempted to- and I had to swing my axe at her to get her to back off.

this was absolutely the worst con experience i’ve ever had. point blank. the hetalians who were not the culprit did nothing to help. they stood there while I was getting bullied, and not a single person moved or said anything, and to make matters worse, the girl who was organizing the shoot's mother was there, and was just all fun and smiles while her daughter told people to try to beat me up. The shoot should have ended after 30 minutes, due to missing people for groups, but they continued the shoot for the remaining 30 minutes we were given. The entire time was an excuse for fanservice. I have nothing against crack ships, but when you call crack ships just for the sake of making out with other cosplayers, that's not right. I felt uncomfortable, and I felt this was wrong to have 13 year olds sucking face with 20 year olds and people taking mass pictures of them.

tl;dr: this photoshoot was a disaster.

Comments

[kiramaru7.livejournal.com]

Your cosplay is awesome! I'm really sorry people treated you badly though. It doesn't sound like it was well organized, but the photoshot I went to at AnimeNext was like that too, but the people running it, were a bit more professional about things and everyone was treated nicely. The only people who kissed and it was a huge "AWE... how cute moment" was a Chibitalia & a HRE & the two girls were about the same age, so that's really sad.

I hope it doesn't stop you from having fun at you next con, cuz a few people were arsefardles about things. I really feel bad cuz I had the opposite experience.

[goldfishlover73.livejournal.com]

I always find making out Cosplayers to be weird. Doesn't matter the age...unless you're dating...just...just no...
I completely understand your frustration with them saying that Denmark was not a part of the axis, but you have to remember:
a lot of people don't know diddly squat about history. I'm sure most of the people there couldn't tell you who half the axis countries are. (because I'm sure that when they said 'axis countries' they meant Germany. Japan. Italy.)
You should have used your axe to hit them with some knowledge!
And you should have totally hit that bitch with your axe.

[turtlelikelemon.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that's just horrible. At least you got out okay and managed to survive to post another entry. I've heard stories about how almost all of the hetalia fandom had gone wild but your account is the first one I've heard say from a first person point of view. I'm really sorry that you had to experience this, I hope you don't give up on hetalia just yet. It really is an awesome anime, it's the fandom that suck. Just remember, that there are actual fans like you and me and probably those two who commented down here too. :) We're still out here! so don't give up.

I went to a anime convention last weekend, Anime Expo here in Los Angeles. I was gonna check out the hetalia shoot (they liked scheduled it for the whole 4 con days) but I chickened out coz I didn't cosplay and was afraid they might throw me out. Orz I guess I wish I could have tried.

[wakalakaosaka.livejournal.com]

You should have gone! As someone who has gone to AX Hetalia gatherings for years who either didn't cosplay or cosplayed as an OC, the gatherings are incredibly welcoming. Next year for sure!

[thehappycat.livejournal.com]

I was at that gathering on day 2 and 3 (taking photos in Homestuck cosplay day 2, 2p fem Austria on day 3).The people who host it are very friendly and inclusive, and they make a point of stating at the beginning that no one has to do anything they don't want to do. Yes, there is fan service, but the people who indulge are mostly dating each other, or at least close in age. I usually do not partake due to my advanced age (30+) and I'd feel like a pedo if I did, so any fanservice from me is reserved for adult cosplayers. My 11-year-old attends also, but all she does is hug people. I'm sorry you ended up subjected to violence, and assure you that we LA cosplayers would not do this to you without asking first. And turtelikelemon, it would have nice to see you at the gatherings also.

ETA: we wouldn't have thrown you out anyway.There was a Jack Frost and a John Egbert on Day 1, myself and a couple other Homestucks on Day 2, and even a Merida and a Chell on Day 3. No one got thrown out.

[barrelsncrates.livejournal.com]

Urgh. That's awful. I've always thought about attending a con (never got the chance because it always fell on the wrong date) but now I'm just worried that I might end up having the worst con experience ever. I like some of the Hetalia cosplay panels I've seen online but I hate it when it goes overboard and focuses on fanservice to the point of being just plain insensitive.

... And did a 13 year old.... with a 20 year old?? D:;

... what???

[yavieriel.livejournal.com]

Cons are awesome, and you should go. Bigger ones are honestly usually better, in my experience, because there's a lot more rules and structure in place to prevent situations like this where one person is attacked. For one thing, there are almost always staffers and con security available to help out, and as long as you're polite to them they will do their best to help you.

[yavieriel.livejournal.com]

Photoshoots are as much for the photographers as for the cosplayers; they're looking for specific characters when they call for things like Axis and Germanics and if you aren't willing to acknowledge the fandom's definitions of those groups, people are going to be upset. You were being rude by trying to jump in to shoots which your character was not a part of. Being historical is great (seriously, show me your research, I love it) but you also have to respect that your historical interpretation does not automatically trump the canon when you are interacting with other fans.

That said, there was no excuse for physically attacking you, and I hope you brought it up with con ops so that they could handle it appropriately.

Finally, unless you know the cosplayer's ages for a fact, from their own mouths, you really aren't in any position to judge who should and shouldn't be kissing. Especially in costume, with makeup and wigs (and chest binding/padding/shoulder pads/etc.), ages can be very deceptive. That "thirteen year old" could be a twenty-something college student who just happens to be small and skinny. Not to mention, if you're talking about the /characters'/ ages (i.e. England and colony!America), and not an actual twenty-something person taking advantage of a literal thirteen year old, then you need to get over yourself. If they're having fun and the crowd's enjoying it, there's no reason two cosplayers shouldn't have a little fun making out and giving everyone a bit of fanservice, whether you approve of the pairings involved or not. If no one's trying to kiss you it isn't your business.

[sammiecuppycake.livejournal.com]

This is ridiculous. I didn't know the Hetalia fandom could be almost as bad as some of the MLP fandom. I am not bashing on MLP, I have merely heard some scary brony stories. You're cosplay is quite amazing, and hopefully you can come out to Anime Vegas sometime so that this wont happen. We have some big fandoms but none that are really hostile towards other people. My friends host most of the Hetalia gatherings and such and they would never harm a fly. Plus that is way weird. Not even here I Vegas do we let that crap happen. Most of us don't like PDA and its usually a kiss on the cheek or a peck. We don't like the thought of possibly catching something from someone we don't know. We really don't like the whole pedophile scene. We protect our younger ones! Anyways, I am really sorry that you had to go through that horrid photoshoot. I hope your con going experiences are much better in the future :)