Look out, its a Rant!!

As you may have noticed, I went to Anime North this past weekend. Fist pump! A fellow blogger of mine also went and seemed to come back with a very negative feeling. My peer was very angry that she was made to go to a weapon's check desk for her plastic swords. She also was angry that a twist tie was placed on her sword, as that deemed it safe.

This post is mostly to adress any misunderstandings for those who may have read her post. At ANime North people try really stupid things. Hide drugs inside their costumes, or plastic swords, hide real weapons inside fake ones and even supidest is try to photocopy a ticket/ pass.

What they do at the weapon check area is make sure that your weapon is indeed fake. They put a red or yellow tie on the weapon and write on your ticket that the weapon passed. You are asked to sign a few waiver forms that say if you harm anybody with them you know you will be kicked out of the con, etc, and have your phototaken to identify you as the owner of the checked weapons. The "fat dweeb" that checks the weapons (see, Im a bit insulted at that because I can fit into that catergory) is just doing his job.

A point made in my peer's post was that they were selling real hand-forged sharp metal blades at the Convention. While this is indeed true, the dont let you leave the booth without the sword being in a box, taped firmly shut. If you are caught with the weapon of the box, your convention pass is revoked and you're kicked out of the convention.

While some see the policies at Anime North as 'stupid', as even I sometimes do, at the end of the day I know that all the volenteers, workers and policy makers are just trying to keep everybody safe, happy and able to have a wonderful experience. Weather you are three or eighty three, I'm sure everybody looks out for everybody else. (Cause even when I was at a photoshoot a young child was participating and an older woman in costume walked over and helped the child have her photos, then let the child go back to her mother.)

Sorry about the rant, I just get frustrated when something as small as a twist tie is able to ruin somebody's day. I wore my costume and had to run my wings through the Weapon's Check desk. They made me sign waivers, made me take off my wig and head acessories and then took a photo of me. As frustrating as it was, I didnt obsess over it and was able to have a really great time.

I hope that everybody who went to the convention this weekend was able to have fun, though.

Love and hugs,

The Night Angel.