Anime Draft 2011 Team Name Revealed

I have finally settled in on a theme and I will tell you what it is. Before I get there, I will first reveal my list of rejected themes that I considered doing.

Rejected Theme #1: Rock Band (Team name depends on who is drafted)
With Yui Hirasawa being my first pick, I considered the rock band theme where I would assemble a band with my picks. This band would include Yui as the lead guitar player, a bass guitar player, a rhythm guitar player, a drummer, a keyboard player, and a vocalist. Now how do I fit the other six into my team? That's where things became too difficult to pull off. I was thinking a songwriter, dancer, agent, and technician for four of them, but that's where things got off track. I couldn't figure out how to fill up the rest of my team, so I pulled the plug on this theme. Not to mention, I would be severely limiting my options. Vocalists and keyboard players are easy to find. But guitar players and drummers are tough to find.

Rejected Theme #2: Tight Ends
My second theme I considered was to call my team the Tight Ends, which in football is a position where the player is responsible for blocking or becoming a receiver depending on the situation and type of offense. Now in this draft, this consists of girls who regularly wear tights as many of my favorite girls fit this theme. Yui wears them as part of her winter school uniform and thus would fit in. But the biggest reason for not going for it is because I want to mix in some powerhouse characters into my team like I did last year. Unfortunately, there are almost no powerhouse characters that fit this theme while with the rock band theme, there were some powerhouse or powerhouse-to-be characters that would fit that theme. Akari Mizunashi of Aria is the only such character I could think of that fits the bill with Yui having the potential to be one. So I squeezed this theme out. Maybe I'll try this theme again next year.

Rejected Theme #3: Stephanie Sheh Fanclub
My third theme I considered doing is the Stephanie Sheh fanclub, which consists of taking characters voiced by the great VA Stephanie Sheh. K-On is coming out with a dub and Stephanie is the voice of Yui. I am a big lover of many of her characters. But there were too many logistical problems with this theme, and I'll just leave it at that. Not to mention, I wanted to include a few other characters that I really liked, but Steph doesn't voice them. So I silenced this theme once and for all.

And so, with these rejected themes out of the mix, I have arrived at the theme for this year's team. The name of the team is:

Gashapon Gang

As anime fans who collect figures know, Gashapon figures are miniature figures that are often bought blindly in boxes. Over my years of going to cons, I have collected many of these toys, and they have a great mixture of favorites and powerhouse characters, which is why I went with the rich girl theme last time.

I also loved the idea of having my team assembled in my bedroom. So it occurred to me that I would gather the figures of these characters, take a team photo, and post them on my blog. Despite having the name referencing the little figures, this theme will not be limited to just these little figures. I have bigger figures that I have displayed in previous blog entries and if I just limited my list of possible picks to the gashapons, I would run out of series to draft from. So everybody I have a figure of in my collection, whether it be a PVC figure, gashapon figure, or statue, is fair game.

Since Gashapon Gang sounds catchier than anything else I could think of that I decided to go with that even though it's not a completely exclusive group. This will allow me to do everything I want to do: take my favorites, mix in a few powerhouse characters, and have a lengthy list of possible targets. Since only I know what's in my collection, nobody can predict who I will take. After every four rounds, I will post a photo of my whole team and post it in my blog. So here is a group shot of my first four picks.



Here are the details about where I bought my figures in this photo.

Yui Hirasawa - Bought at Anime Central 2010. This came in a collection of the main K-On girls.
Alice Carroll - Bought at Otakon 2009. She is supposed to be holding an oar, but I accidentally broke the part that connects the handle to the paddle, so Alice is not holding anything.
Kagami Hiiragi - Bought from Hobby Search in September 2010. This is part of a set of Lucky Star figures with the girls dressed up as Street Fighter characters. Kagami is cosplaying as Ryu and about to fire a Hadouken.
Mikuru Asahina - Bought at Matsuricon 2008. This figure came in a blind box.