NekoCon 16 Highlights and Photos

As per my post from last week, NekoCon took place Friday through Sunday at the Convention Center in Hampton VA. Unfortunately, due to work and other social commitments I was only able to go on Saturday. Spent almost the entire day a Nekocon and it was great. The Cosplayers were amazing, the gaming was good, and all of the events that I took part in were excellent.

For me, the highlight of the day were the Pathfinder Society games, the free Jonathan Coulton concert, and Cat Scratch Fever dance. For those of you who are unaware, Jonathan Coulton is a musician who writes and plays great geeky songs. He's probably most famous for writhing the amazing song "Still Alive" which played the video game Portal as the credits rolled. Jonathan has a large collection of songs, a few of my favorites are "Code Monkey," "My Future Self," and  "Skullcrusher Mountain."This was the first time that I've seen Jonathan in concert and he put on a great show.

In the Table Top gaming section,  Pathfinder Society of Virginia Meetup Group ran many Organized Play Sessions throughout the entire convention. I sat in  one game with my PFS Character Shamus, Scenario #35-02: The Wardstone Patrol. The setup was very straight forward. The Wardstones that protect the country of Mendev from the demon-infested Worldwound are weakening and as such, more demons are getting through the magical barriers. To handle this new development, Mendev is requiring all Pathfinders operating in the country to serve a brief tour of duty to reinforce line that guards the barrier.

As our required duty the group of Pathfinders were tasked with following a jaded veteran commander on his routine patrol of the boarder fortifications. Not wanting to spoil anything, the commander is kind of a jerk who doesn't help out in combat. Luckily, my group didn't need his help. Except for the first combat encounter which took three hours, we steamrolled past the demons with ease. The story for this scenario was very good. Thankfully, our group did well enough that we avoided the "big twist ending" which I assume would have been a challenging fight.

Lastly, below are some phones I took on my smart phone.

A Dalek and Weeping Angle From Doctor Who

The Two Unnamed Protagonist of "The Journey" for PS3

A Group of Full Metal Alchemist Cospalyers

Female Joker and Poison Ivy from the Batman

"V" from the Movie "V for Vendetta"

NekoCon 16 Next Week

After what seemed like an eternity, I'm back home and just in time for NekoCon 16. NekoCon is a yearly Anime Convention that just so happens to be very close to where I live. It's the best geeky Convention in the Hampton Roads Area and arguably the best Anime Convention in Virginia. As per AnineCons.com there are 5: NekoCon, Ring of Fire Con, Shoboucon, Anime USA, and Anime Mid-Atlantic.  

Having lived in VA for some time now I've been to all these Convention at some point and in my humble option, NekoCon is the best. Anime USA is also really good but it's more of a "Washington DC" Convention, rather then a Virginia one.

NekoCon 16 is shaping up to be another amazing event. Great Cosplay opportunities, interesting panels, great guests, awesome anime shows/movies, and most importantly (to me anyway:) a tabletop gaming room with a ton of sessions planned. My favorite being the Organized Play Sessions being run by Pathfinder Society of Virginia Meetup Group.  Below a few events being held at NekoCon 16 that I'm planning on taking part in:





Panels and Workshops:                                                        Events:
Plus 2 Comedy                                                                    Saturday Night Dance: Cat Scratch Fever
Anime for Manly Men                                                        Art Show                                         
Anime – Whose Line Is It Anyways                                  Karaoke
Becoming a Video Game Writer                                        AMV Idol
Beyond D&D
Character Design                                                               Guests:
Borderlands Q&A                                                              Anthony Burch (Borderlands Writer)
Game Guy’s Game Show                                                  Ashly Burch (Voice Actress)     
Mass Effect as Applied to the Real World (18+)              John Swasey (Voice Actor)

Just FYI, here is the Pocket Schedule for NekoCon 16. Since my early arrive back home in VA was bit of a last minute surprise I probably won't be Cosplaying this year or taking part in any of the official NekoCon challenges this year. Which is fine, I'm very lucky to be attending this year...even if I have to pay the full cover change for not pre-registering.

I'm really looking forward to this Convention, happening 3 days next week starting Friday 01NOV13 and ending on Sunday 03NOV13. I will post photos and maybe a summery of the Convention shortly after the event.