Introducing 2 Soul Eater Panels:
Maka and Soul: 60 Minutes and Maka and Crona: 60 Minutes
for Kumoricon 2014
UPDATE: Both panels have been approved and the time slots for them have been set!
- Maka and Soul: 60 Minutes will be on Day 1, August 29, from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM in room Heritage E.
- Maka and Crona: 60 Minutes will be on Day 2, August 30, from 10:30 PM - 11:30 PM, also in room Heritage E.
This year's obsession for my elder sister and I is Soul Eater, so we thought it fitting to dedicate out first panel to it! My sister (hereafter referred to as "Eika") will be cosplaying Maka Albarn for both panels and I ("Uptown" or "UptownOtaku", whichever you prefer) will be cosplaying as Soul "Eater" Evans for the first and Crona for the second. We believe it's important to feel confident in a panel's orchestrator(s) and their ability to run a panel smoothly, so here's a little about the two of us so you can feel a bit better that this won't be a shoddily thrown-together panel by people who have absolutely no clue what they're doing:
2014 will be Eika's and my third year attending Kumoricon, and since our first time we have stepped our cosplay game way up. I am a college fashion designer/costumer and actress, and we have both taken public speaking classes and know how to address a crowd. We both take our characters very seriously and value accuracy to costume and character as our #1 priority. When we're in character, we want it to be believable, credible, and true.
In terms of the panel itself, it will be rated PG-13 so that we can have plenty of freedom without losing much or any of our potential audience. As the title implies, it will be an hour (60 minutes) long. I requested a room with a table at the head with two microphones, one for each panelist so you can hear us, plenty of seats for you, and a projector, which will come in handy for some events we plan on hosting.
So far, we have compiled the following list of possible activities:
For both panels...
- Q&A - Audience members will be given the opportunity and encouraged to ask questions of the panelists, both in- and out-of-character, by prefacing their questions with either the character's name or the panelists' desired aliases. All questions confined within the panel's PG-13 rating can be asked, but panelists can, of course, reserve the right to bypass (or humorously dance around) a question if it is uncomfortable or inappropriate in some way.
- Truth or Dare - Audience members and panelists can engage in a good ol' fashioned game of truth or dare! All requests restricted to the PG-13 rating are acceptable, but panelists can refuse (or cleverly weasel out of) a request they find uncomfortable or inappropriate.
- Fanfiction Reading - Panelists will present one or two selected fanfiction excerpts, starring Maka and Soul/Maka and Crona (depending on the panel), and read their respective parts aloud and act them out. The fanfiction excerpt will be shown on the projector completely unchanged, so that the audience can read along and see just how well (or atrociously) they were written. All rights due to their respective owners.
- Please Explain - Inspired by Kumoricon 2013's Black Butler Pajama Party (18+), selected fanart pictures would be shown on the projector for the audience to see. Panelists would be asked, in-character, to explain how the situation depicted in the images happened. All pictures would be kept to the PG-13 rating and rights would be due to their respective owners.
For Soul's day...
- Bro-Hug Reenactment Contest - Audience members would be invited to volunteer to reenact the slow-motion hug of friendship between Soul and Black*Star with a partner. Judged by Soul himself, the winning pair would win a prize and/or a friendship-glomp from Soul.
For Crona's day...- Poetry Mad-Lib - Panelists will have one or two original mad-libs, stories with blanks that must be filled in with nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. The audience will be asked to volunteer suggestions for filling in these blanks, which will be written in and then presented to Crona, who will read the finished product aloud. Guaranteed laughs, regardless if it's nonsensical or actually makes any sort of sense. Contents must remain PG-13.
- Create-A-Poem - Audience members will each be given a blank index card and a pen/pencil on which they will be asked to write one line they wish to be included in Crona's famous depressing poem. Once all cards are written on, they will be collected by Maka and presented to Crona, who will read them aloud in sequence, creating a (theoretically) depressing poem. We shall see how many people wish they had never been born by the end of it
PLEASE NOTE:
At the start of this panel, there will be a disclaimer stating that the purpose of this panel is NOT to start any gender wars over Crona. We (the panelists) refer to Crona as "he" for continuity's sake. You are free to address Crona however you prefer, but if anyone starts a debates about it, Maka will get very scary and very mad at you.
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All that aside, this still leaves room for changes and improvements, as many of these ideas are not set in stone. Again, the point of this is to get suggestions from YOU, since you will be the lovely audience and the success of the entire panel depends on you having a good time! So in the comments below, please let me know your answers to any or all of the following questions:
1) Is this is a panel you would attend,
2) Does it sounds solid to you as is, and/or
3) What changes or other events would you like to see happen?
Thank you all for your time and interest, and we will see you at the con!
Good news--it's official!
As of last night, "Maka & Soul: 60 Minutes" and "Maka & Crona: 60 Minutes" have both been approved for Kumoricon 2014! We're super excited to have confirmation and to know this is officially happening for us. So if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or comments on either or both of these events, be sure to let me know so I can take them into consideration! I will be planning these panels like crazy and would love to have some fresh ideas! But either way, we will see you at the con!