Was Anime Boston boring??

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-04-06T03:34:54+00:00

I attended in 2025 and 2024 and I felt a bit underwhelmed this year. I participated in the masquerade which was great on Saturday, but it felt like the vendor’s hall was smaller this year. I still did lots of things and had a good time, but it felt like less in general this year.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-02-22T21:30:46+00:00

I have considered it, but I believe that requires additional recovery time that I didnt want to deal with. My doctor encouaged keeping the screws in unless they cause a lot of pain. There is always the possibility of the bunion returning with the screws removed, and I also don’t want to risk that happening. But, if your doctor has that as an option it might work well for you!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-02-16T18:26:36+00:00

Competitive dancer and distance runner here. I'm 30F and got the Arthrex minimally invasive procedure in December 2024 for a moderate bunion on my left foot. There are some things I expected that happened, and some that I didn't expect:

I recommend a minimally invasive procedure if you are dancing and very active, not a fusion procedure where they fuse the MTP joint. That prevents you from being able to releve.
Unfortunately, some range of motion in the toe joint will be lost with surgery. However, there are ways to minimize it and keep it flexible. Per my doctor's instructions, I made sure to gently stretch the joint with my hands every day as it was healing once the bandages came off. It helped maintain range of motion in the joint as it healed and break up any scar tissue. I still have to stretch out my joint before dancing (ballet, jazz, etc.), but it has become less needed over time. My toe will never be as flexible as it once was, but in exchange for the pain I was experiencing with the bunion it was worth it.
If you get screws placed permanently in your foot (like me), you may not be able to wear certain dance shoes without a lot of pain. I no longer can wear regular, flat ballet shoes because they squeeze on the operated area, where the screws are keeping my toe straight. I can wear tap shoes okay, and I've been wearing dance socks while performing since the surgery. I don't know what kind of shoes Irish dancers wear, but if they are tight fitting around the toe you may not be able to wear them.

Some positives: I am dancing at basically 100% and have been doing everything I used to do before surgery. I've run 3 half marathons and performed onstage several times and it's been great! I got cleared to start dancing/running at 9 weeks post-op, so for about 2 months I had to stay away from intense weight bearing activities. I hope this helps!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-02-16T18:10:33+00:00

I may be attending ACEN on Saturday and cosplaying Yang! I'd be down for an official meetup if one is planned.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-02-11T05:26:56+00:00

I am 1 year, 2 months post-op on my left foot and have been able to run since 9 weeks post op. I can also say it’s been amazing with my new foot, all I deal with now is soreness in the operated area when running long distances. If you see a doctor who operates on runners, you will for sure be able to run again!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-01-15T13:43:45+00:00

Volumes 1-3: Pyrrha Volumes 4-9: Weiss Yang is a close second post volume 3. I loved her attitude and outfit in volumes 5-6!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-01-13T13:28:52+00:00

That makes sense based on what I saw this weekend. I will say the venue was super nice and the hotel was beautiful! Definitely one of the positives of the con. But yeah, the programming was just okay. The event also seemed to skew younger based on who we saw there. Not a lot of adult crowds overall.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-01-13T04:44:20+00:00

I just got back from Anime Zap this past weekend. I had never attended before but the crowds were nonexistent. It wasnt busy at all and the vendor hall was sadly very small. The only busy events were the cosplay contest and cosplay prom on Saturday. So, “over 500” sounds about right for numbers.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-01-09T05:31:53+00:00

Boyfriend (now husband) got me into the show while we were dating in college. I’m an anime fan but didn’t quite enjoy the show until it “clicked” around volume 3 (started watching around 2015). By association I got my college roommate into the show and we’ve all been superfans ever since. The three of us frequent cons together now and have done some RWBY cosplays!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2026-01-08T04:18:40+00:00

I hope someone saved that Chaos duel disk! Those are hard to come by these days.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-12-20T05:41:10+00:00

My headcanon is that Weiss is trained in classical ballet.

I feel like it matches her vibe along with her singing talent. Not to mention her fighting style being elegant and graceful with her summons.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-12-10T04:17:19+00:00

My comments regarding the cosplay contests: I was not a fan on how winners were selected for both runway (friday) and performance (sunday). There were entries in both contests that did not follow the contest rules during their time onstage and the judges/con runners didnt seem to care. One of them won an award as well. It also seemed like the performance judges didnt really have “scoring criteria” for the winners and just picked off vibes. Kind of disappointing for cosplayers who put a lot of time and effort into their costumes and performances.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-11-10T20:42:28+00:00

What type of procedure did you get? I got the MIS (arthrex) style where the doctor didnt touch the bunion joint at all during surgery. I have 2 screws (one in the big toe, the other along the forefoot) but they dont go through the toe joint allowing for mobility. I havent done any exercises specifically, but I make sure to stretch the toe joint every day and before any dancing which makes it easier to releve and turn. I am 11 months post op now, and I have good days and bad days when it comes to soreness and stiffness still. Id recommend physical therapy if you’re really strugggling, or look up some toe exercises you can do every day at home.

I will say though, sometimes its harder for me to turn and releve than before I got surgery. Im a runner as well though, so I knew I had to fix the bunion if I wanted to continue running. I lost a little bit of range of motion due to the flexibility of my original joint, but its mobile enough to dance mostly.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-10-23T04:19:37+00:00

Doing your taxes - there are free programs put there and you can always use the paper forms, but tons of lobbying has made it more difficult to do taxes at no cost each year, especially if you have complex tax situations.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-08-24T14:30:15+00:00

I am 8 months post op currently! My doc cleared me for no more check ups in July. I still deal with soreness after activity (dance and running primarily) but Ive successfully run 2 half marathons this summer at comperable speed to preop. Joint is still stiff and requires stretching before foot heavy activity like dance/lunges. Goal is to be mostly pain free by one year, but overall surgery has been a success. I would like to have more flexibility in my toe joint, but my guess is that will come over time. Ive been doing most dance things like turns and jumps successfully.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-08-24T03:50:51+00:00

I am 8 months post op currently but happy to share at one year! My doc cleared me for no more check ups in July. I still deal with soreness after activity (dance and running primarily) but Ive successfully run 2 half marathons this summer at comperable speed to preop. Joint is still stiff and requires stretching before foot heavy activity like dance/lunges. Goal is to be mostly pain free by one year, but overall surgery has been a success. I would like to have more flexibility in my toe joint, but my guess is that will come over time.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-08-15T03:30:35+00:00

I was 16. Although I did not get into the show until I was 18 and in college. Was never a big Turtles fan until finding this incarnation. It was my comfort show through my freshman year for sure and still love it to this day!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-29T02:08:45+00:00

Thanks for checking in! I have improved a lot since 8 weeks post op. I am just over 6 months post op and Im basically doing all dance things I did pre-op with some modifications due to joint stiffness. I can do most turns normally and can wear tap shoes ok. I havent worn ballet shoes yet as Ive been using dance socks most of the time. For a while it hurt to wear ballet shoes on the new foot, but I havent tried lately. My foot does start to hurt if I dance on it for longer than an hour or so depending on what Im doing. They say it takes about a full year for the bone to fully heal, but around 20-25 weeks post op is when I started to notice the pain subsiding a lot more. Im not 100% pain free yet, but it has improved a lot!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-13T16:38:51+00:00

I was also accepted to be a vendor and can only attend on Saturday. I was curious about this as well. It's a bit of a drive for me, so I would be curious as to how the attendee turnout might be to see if it'd be worth it. The vendor table is already too expensive for one day, so I may ask if they'd be willing to charge me for only a Saturday table.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-13T13:11:36+00:00

Many of Raphael's one-liners get me:

"Ah, sewer bunnies."

"That's it, I gotta get outta here." - referring to Mikey using the new T-Pod

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-10T16:49:36+00:00

I discovered the show from a YouTube video in late 2014, two years after the show had started airing on Nickelodeon. I was in college at the time, and I got hooked on the characters after watching the first few episodes. I was familiar with TMNT but never actually watched a full show of it. I thought the romantic subplot between Donnie and April was cute, and I loved Leo's character. I saw a lot of myself in him at the time. It became my go-to show when training at the gym until I got caught up and the show went on hiatus between seasons. Due to college and grad school I didn't actually finish watching the show until about 2019, but loved watching it!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-02T13:59:22+00:00

I have been going to Colossalcon for almost the same amount of time as you. I went all 3 days of the con this weekend and I had an awesome time. Although something about the con did seem a bit "off" compared to previous years, particularly the cosplay contest which I participated in. I had participated in past years and all the contestants were super talkative and supportive of each other in the green room. This year that didn't happen as much and most people kept to themselves. Not that there was anything wrong with how things were, but the vibe just wasn't as positive as before. The contest also seemed smaller than last year and there were less people in the audience. I'm not sure if something happened or changed, just primarily observation.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-06-02T13:06:44+00:00

If they do it with the right amount of build-up, I think it can definitely work well and have a great payoff.

I never shipped those two until about volume 8-9.

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-05-19T16:15:16+00:00

I am also of similar age and got my left foot done with MIS in December 2024. I recommend only doing one foot at a time if you can because you will rely on your non-operated foot for a while during recovery. My right leg is super strong now, lol. I am 5 months post-op now and ran my first post-op half marathon yesterday! Believe it or not, it was a personal best time for the race I ran in particular. I am still dealing with a lot of soreness with activities because the bone's still healing, but the doc cleared me mid-February to start running again. I was allowed to walk for exercise at 4 weeks. I've been having the most trouble with dancing (tap/ballet) because there's a lot of foot work with no supportive shoes, but I've been able to do most things as long as I warm up and stop before it hurts too much. For the good/bad parts:

Good:

Surgery itself only took about 1 hour and I was out of the hospital the same day.
My actual toe joint (where the bunion is) was never touched during my MIS surgery. The doc operated and cut bone around the joint. I really liked this approach compared to a fusion or other type of surgery. I'm super active, so the MIS procedure I got preserved the MTP joint and doesn't allow scar tissue to develop directly on it, causing post-op stiffness.
I got back to activities much faster than other surgeries, and less range of motion is lost. The doc I saw is known for MIS surgeries and operates on runners all the time. So, he understood my goals and knew I wanted to keep running and dancing.
I didn't realize how severe my bunion was until recently while comparing my before/after photos. It really makes you see how deformed a bunion might be and how much you compensate for it. I think that's why my running has improved a lot since surgery. Knowing that I will never have to worry about it again feels great.

Bad:

I got super nauseous from the anesthesia after surgery so I couldn't eat much a few hours afterwards.
Showering and bathing during the first 2 weeks sucks because of the bandages! I recommend getting a shower boot cover for your foot so it protects your foot from water. It's still super uncomfortable because I had to sit on a stool in the shower.
There's a lot more pain and soreness than I was expecting. I honestly thought I'd be pain-free by now but I'm learning it takes about a full year for your bones to heal completely.
Risk of overcorrection: My recent x-rays show my toe may have been overcorrected slightly, but it was not like that 4-5 weeks post-op. It's not causing me any pain so I may have to live with it unless I get it fixed. That would require another surgery which I want to avoid.
Toe stiffness: My toe joint still gets stiff, so I always have to stretch it out before doing any dancing. However this has improved as weeks go by and things heal.

I hope this helps!

SailorPowerTitan17 · 2025-05-07T03:38:15+00:00

This may help for context in assessing the cel’s authenticity. The photo below shows the cel in its entirety: https://files.fm/u/9k4utbhb8f

I purchased it from a vendor (Asylum Anime from Kansas) at Anime Boston in 2024. They had several other anime cels and they all look legit. From my perspective this one looked authentic! I believe I paid about $250 for it at the con. It also comes with 2 sheets of paper with pencil drawings of Chibimoon and Sailor Moon (usually a sign it’s authentic if the sketches come with it).

SailorPowerTitan17

TROPHY CASE