Blobathehutt wrote:What is MechaCon all about?
Well... Anime. That's the short answer. Really, while MechaCon is an anime convention, we've been adopted over the years by several other fandoms who attend, cosplay, run panels, and influence guest choices. MechaCon is smaller by far than a large event like SDCC, but that lets us provide more targeted content and, most importantly, shorter lines that let you experience everything we have to offer, instead of picking and choosing the 2 events you can squeeze into an entire weekend.
What we offer are fan and industry panels, a dealer room devoted to anime, Japanese and geek culture, 24-hour electronic gaming, tabletop gaming and video rooms, industry guests including artists, writers, actors, directors, etc. from the anime, Japanese culture and anime-releated/animation industries. We also have a large cosplay contest with cash prizes, a Friday night House Party with a varying DJ lineup each year, at least one musical guest with a full concert and sometimes another smaller performance over the course of the weekend, a Japanese-style host club with our own "MechaMaids" and a burlesque show with our own in-house performing troupe.
For more info, you can check out the web site at MechaCon.com, or ask me any specific questions.
As for where OVA comes into the mix, MechaCon has two mascots, Jett and Zee, who are mech pilots. After the first couple of years, people started asking who they were, where they came from and why anyone should be interested. So we gave them a backstory, and a mech called the GEARE. The universe that grew up around those characters is now going to be the basis for an RPG event at MechaCon for the next 4-5 years, and OVA is the system that will bring that universe to life. And I couldn't be more excited about that.