Biased, Uninformed, Vocaloid Weeaboo… and Panelist!
Alright, so not long ago I went to an anime convention and had a fantastic time. There was just one black spot on my experience, and that was a Vocaloid panel that I attended.
Now, I love Vocaloid, hence why I went to the panel. My expectations weren’t high, but I still expected something more dignified than what I found. My friend also went with me-he had heard a few Vocaloid songs from me, and wanted to learn more.
I settled into my seat, and we began with our panel host, a Len cosplayer. She explains what Vocaloid is, and then asks “Who was the first Vocaloid2?”
Expecting no one else to know, I answer “Sweet Ann!”.
She comes over to give me a small prize, and then loudly says “I hate Sweet Ann!” and that really should have been my first warning, but I thought “Hey, not everyone likes her. That’s okay.”
So she began to introduce every Vocaloid in the order they came out. Here’s a sampling of the things said by our host:
While talking about Leon and Lola: “They aren’t as popular because I guess they aren’t as… awesome?” (Talking about their boxart, not voices)
While talking about Miriam: “Her voice comes from Miriam Stockley, who I guess is a big deal in England, I dunno, I’m not from England.”
When Sweet Ann came onscreen, she made fun of her boxart (this was the only given reason for why she might hate her), and said she didn’t understand why anyone would like her.
On Rin & Len, she said that they were the best Vocaloids of all, and gave more information on them than any other Vocaloid (even Miku).
Later, she got to Kiyoteru and Yuki, and basically said they sucked because their designs “weren’t as awesome” and because FANS-not the creators-like to pair them together.
My friend and I eventually got fed up and left after she complained about Gachapoid, saying she hated him and didn’t want to talk about him, and didn’t know who Gachapin was, only that “He’s the mascot of some show in Japan”.
At this point, I said “I like Gachapoid” and my friend and I left just as she was stating “Iroha is based off Hello kitty”, both of us fed up.
Guys, if you wanna run a panel, that’s fantastic. And you don’t have to like every Vocaloid! I understand that most people don’t like Gachapoid.
But if you’re going to run a panel, remember, you are running a FAN panel. Not a panel where you talk about how much you hate some of the characters.
Don’t be biased, and get your facts straight. Some people in the audience may genuinely want to learn more, and some people may like the characters you hate.
It’s not as horrific as some of the other stories, but it irritated me, and I thought it should be shared.
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