California Conventions Blog: Kintoki-Con 2011 Report: Part 2

I was up early on Saturday since the convention opened up early at 8am. By 7am I was off to Jim Denny's for a decent breakfast which consisted of one giant pancake - the Hubcap. Unfortunately, I didn't finish it all and I gave the rest to someone who I had met yesterday and became good acquaintances quickly.

At the hotel, people were waiting in line waiting to get their badges.

At Artist's Alley, people were setting up their booths for the weekend.

I also went to go check out the gaming room. This was when I found out that the Masters of Games Tournament, something that I wanted to cover, got canceled due to the low amount of pre-registered attendees and the lack of televisions from a supplier. I found out later that they were going to try to get this tournament going regardless, but that left me a huge time gap between now and 12pm.

It was already getting hot - Dotachin in a Sacramento summer weather is much different than Doatchin in San Jose spring weather - so I eventually found myself poolside relaxing until things started to open up.

I had a bit of time to explore the convention before 12pm, so I went first to Dealers Hall then I went upstairs to the 15th floor to check out the lounge.

The best thing about this floor is that the four balconies give you a virtual 360 degree view of Sacramento and surrounding areas. It's something that you have to see for yourself.

I went back downstairs to the gaming room to check out again, which by then they were at full strength. I found myself playing a couple sets of songs from Rock Band 3, something that I did constantly throughout the convention.

During this time I went to go talk to my photographer, Rodney, about my photo shoot tomorrow. I shared my vision so that he wouldn't be left in the dark about what I wanted to do. We were both glad to get that out of the way so quickly.

My first panel of the day was the Richard and Mary Q&A, and we had more insights into their careers and their favorite moments.

I actually left a bit early to cover other parts of the convention, but as I found out later when I came back they were still having their panel.

Downstairs in the Main Events room, Capital Roots were having a dance competition. I was just in time to photograph the top 16 battling it out for that $1,000 grand prize.

After they were done with the top 16 I went back to the Dealers Hall to browse again.

I came back just in time for some photo ops before heading off to lunch.

And with that, I was off to lunch at Subway on J Street.

The guy in the Ouran blazer is Luis, and we were having a chat about this convention so far when he brings up Anime Expo last year and that huge event they were having - which was the event that I helped organize for the SoCal Host Club. He told me he was in line for the main event, so I must of been the one who cut him off with my calculations due to time constraints the huge line that we had. He was hoping to see us again this year, but I told him that the club got declined.

Back at the convention, I came in just in time again to see the winners in the adult division.

With the Maid Cafe opening in a couple of minutes, I head over there to get some photos and a video.

I would be back later for some more shots. For the time being, I chilled out in the gaming room and the lounge on the 15th floor.

Eventually I went back to the Maid Cafe to get some more pictures.

I found myself helping a maid out conduct a game of Pokemon Master Trainer, a board game that came out during the height of the Pokemon craze in the late 90s. For some odd reason, the maid left and instead of calling over another maid (which they told I should of done, but didn't mind this result), I continued the game having prior knowledge of this game. It made me feel that I was a part of the SoCal Host Club again before I left, and maybe if I didn't have my duties has press that I would be part of a Maid/Butler Cafe.

I spent a lot of time here, so by the time I left Masquerade was just about to start. So I take my seat and enjoy the shortest Masquerade that I've ever been to. At least it was better than FanimeCon's and had some variety.