So, there's this awesome Japanese fashion trend called Elegant Gothic Lolita, and it's tied in a little with Anime Conventions.

I was wondering, can Anime Punch have a specific EGL event? It'll draw in more of a crowd. It can just be advertised as a tea party, but really we would just go to the first floor of the Union and get bubble tea.

Let me know if I can/should start advertising this on the various EGL communities I am on!

I'm not in a position to make such a decision, but I think that's a great idea...

Hopefully we will be expanding greatly next year, and it is definatly something to keep in mind for the future.
At the same time, considering that we are marketing this to library anime clubs (whose average attendee is like... 13), as a family event, and in a building full of big scary college kids, I think it might not be the best idea this year.
I don't want to scare away any parents who are new to the convention scene (I kinda want to market this as an introductions to conventions as well), nor do I want to run the risk of anything happening to anyone.

At the same time, while (this year at least) we won't schedule any events like this, that by no means implies that people can't dress up on their own accord, or arrange their own meetings.

I think if we do expand to a bigger event, or possibly a full weekend, and if EGL is still trendy next year, we will definatly program an event around them.

Just don't scare any of our cute little fankids away from cons!


That being said... No Furries. Period.

If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with furries?

Frankly, I find that gothic lolita stuff much worse than furries...

Well, that was an attempt at humor, but clearly some things just arn't funny.

I don't want this to turn into a "You're alternative lifestyle/fassion/whatever it is is weirder or wronger than mine" argument. Can't we just agree that we are all freaks in our own special way? Some of us like dressing like victorian age horror movie villians, others find it easier to relate to Lassie than Shinji, I personally like watching movies of women in maid outfits bathing cats while my mom vacumes my room and my little sister pulls my hair with her feet. Everyone has different tastes, none of which will be represented at this event!

Anyhow, I guess so that there isn't any confusion in the future, this year at least there will not be any planned events built around anything that straddles the fine line of alternative vs. fetish. As we grow bigger, we will begin to incorperate more and more aspects of fandom, assuming it is in someway related to anime. Klingons will never be allowed. Also, with the two existing cases, or any possible future cases, you may disagree on me with whether or not something could be considered a fetish. I am not going to get into any arguments, and it will not change anything. I've been to enough cons to know what "Yiffing" is, and I've gone to goth-loli room parties, so I know there is definatly aspects of eroticism with both. I'm not saying everyone into those activities does it for those reasons, or that they are involved in that, but it does happen, and this year we are playing it clean.
I'm sorry if this troubles you, it is not our intention to drive people away or discriminate, but considering how small this event is, and that there will be a lot of first time kiddies with their parents here, we don't want to scare them out either.
Next year when/if we are more established, we will market to more experienced fans.
Stick with us, your time will come!

It was just the way you worded it, it sounded (to me) like an attack on furries. Not to sound arrogant or anything, but you need to keep in mind that humor/anger/sarcasm/what have you, etc. is difficult to portray on the internet, as people have only the text to go by. Perhaps putting a smiley such as this :P or this :lol: would have made the humorous intent a bit more apparent. (really trying to not sound arrogant/snobbish/etc)

And on my part, I probably should have left the second part out or replaced "worse" with "more frightening" or something, but it's my honest opinion. I don't really have anything against gothic lolita, but the people do scare me. A lot. But then, J-rock also scares me, among other frightening things such as tofu, aritchoke hearts, labrador retrievers, school food, mystery meat, the homeless people on High Street, fanboys, yaoicest, incest in general, otaku in the Japanese sense (the ones that don't bathe cause they can't afford hygiene products cause they spent all their money on their fandom/obsession/whatever), you get the idea :P. As you can see, gothic lolita is just one of many things I find frightening/worring/whatever. (and those were just off the top of my head :P)

Everything's cool here B)

...and now I'm off to do homework.

May the force be with you, that is hot.

What the hell is Elegant Gothic Lolita?

You crazy anime geeks and your "terminology."


.... Mmmm... World of Warcraft.

-Marcos

Like I stated earlier, Elegant Gothic Lolita is a growing Japanese street fashion. It's gaining lots of popularity in the States, specially at anime cons. It's a lot like cosplay.

Speaking of how it's a lot like cosplay, I don't see how that will attract more freaks then just regular cosplay, but hey, it's your con.

For this year, I'll just see if anybody in the EGL community wants to come, get dressed up, and grab bubble tea at Pochi.

ACen is having an actual EGL fashion show at the con this year, with prizes. Just something ya'll might want to look into. It's plenty family friendly, since most of the dresses cover the whole body, which is more than I can say for some cosplays.

Let me know if your stance on this changes.