Post-con Con Report time!
I'm back from this year's Anime Weekend Atlanta, which was hugely fun. XD Pretty much spent the whole weekend there and had a blast. XD So yeah...
I went to the con with my friend Myria and her sister Tara. I arrived at the con little after noon on Friday, while they would meet up with me later. (Family thing came up on their end.) So I got my pass, which went very quickly and efficiently, as the registration lines had been revamped, and the whole process was very expedient. After that, sort of just wandered around. XD Dropped by Artist's Alley, Dealer's Room, etc. While exploring the Dealer's Room, I came across a line of people sitting there on the floor. It turned out that they were waiting for a Vic Mignogna autograph session. Naturally I decided "sure, why not?" and got in line. After about 45 minute worth of waiting and watching with bemusement as the line steadily got longer, Vic came out, set up, and started saying hello to people, taking pictures and signing autographs. He was very nice, and I gave him my sketchbook for him to sign, since I didn't have any official posters or artwork on hand. Even got a picture with him, too. XD He even answered a question of mine: what was the difference between voicing a character for a game, and voicing a character for an anime series. In his words, a video game character usually takes a few days, depending on the script and the need for any additional sound effects (like battle effects, etc.), and can even sometimes be a full day's work. An anime series, due to the more extensive script, edits and the story arcs, take much longer. Way cool. XD
At around 3:30, I met up with Myria and Tara. Tara went to Momo Con, which is another, newer anime con in the the Atlanta area, while it was Myria's first con. XD I've been going for nine years, including this con, so I'm kind of an old-hand at this. Showed them the Vic autograph, programmed a panel of his on Saturday into my phone, and were we off wandering around the Dealer's Room and Artist's Alley. While in Artist's Alley, I tracked down a particular artist I liked and paid for a commission from her (Yep, you guessed it: EscadxHeroine. XD), and got to talk to some other artists that I admired and had seen online. XD If anything, Artist's Alley is also one of my absolute favorite parts of any anime convention. <3 After that, we got quite a few goodies from the dealer's room. XD
Special pimpage note: The artist I commissioned is Miss Kaysha Siemens (Eldanis), so please do visit her DA and give her some love. Lots of love. She makes her living doing these cons, and she's a very talented artist. She'll even have my commission up in her gallery sometime soon (I don't mind, of course XD). So please, give her lots of love. She's an incredibly nice person and the artwork I received from her was both lovely and adorable. <3
The trip back to the hotel was not as smooth. While the hotel itself was a fairly short, five-to-ten minute drive from the convention, there was a large amount of traffic that night, and my car ended up breaking down, as in smoke coming form the engine and leaking antifreeze on the pavement. We were able to push into a valet parking lot, explain what was happening, and call my Mom. D: Fortunately, the Valet was tremendously helpful (as in "saint in the form of a valet" helpful ;_;), Mom called both the Mechanic and the Towing service, and we were able to reach the hotel room safely, because Myria and Tara had their car. The hotel was nice enough, and we checked in and pretty much settled down for the night. After a while, though, we got bored and went out to eat at a nearby Japanese restaurant. Mmmm... Then sleep.
Saturday! Woke up fairly early, went to the con, and sat around watching this massive line of people waiting for the Dealer's Room to open up, so some of the staffers were entertaining the crowd by shouting out trivia questions, using nerf guns to hold a prize raffle (there were darts that were marked for prizes), and even letting talented cosplayers have "first in line" dibs. This one girl ran up to us and almost literally shoved some cotton candy into Myria's hands and said "Here, I can't have this. You want it?" "Uh, sure!" Much nomming. We dropped by the AA to check on Miss Keysha's (she had a sketch for me to approve, which I did, as well as a few questions of which I answered) and wait for the line to disperse, then back to exploring the dealer's room. Got more goodies, including Myria and Tara convincing me to buy a tail and a pair of cat ears. The tail was fine, but I can't wear the ears for more than five seconds without wanting to yank them off. D: After a while, we met up with a couple of mutual friends - Yami and Kitty and their two friends, hung out for a bit, then wandered off to do our various panels that we wanted to see. The Vic Mignogna panel was fun, lots of fangirls asking questions, lots of hugs being exchanged, and Vic showing us all a fan-film he made called "Full Metal Fantasy", which was neat. :D I also saw my friend Hung, Donovan and Briana, which is always good. They're were doing fine, having a good time and it was nice to see them. <3
After a while of wandering around, talking to and watching various people, we got little tired and retreated to the hotel room for a quick nap, then came back feeling refreshed and want to the costume contest. Like last year, the costumes were fantastic. Some costumes of note included: Bayonetta (major fangirl squee from us!), a mom and her very happy, very giggly, bouncy, grinning baby - both dressed as anime characters (they won the new "cutest costume award"), Boba Fett, Box Barret, and others. One costume included Ezio from Assassin's Creed 2 (with a courtesan!) and Ashe from Final Fantasy 12 in her wedding gown - both of which were very well done and very detailed. XD We also got to track down the Bayonetta cosplayer and pretty much gush over her. XD After that, we went back to Miss Kaysha to pick up my commission (she had it finished), which is adorable and pretty and made of so much epic win. <3 <3 <3 <3 Then we went for ice cream, went back to the hotel and hung out. Sleep some more.
Sunday! Last day, so we checked out of our room and went back to the con for one last wander around. Myria and Tara got some more goodies from the Dealer's Room, then dropped in the Artist's Alley once again for more goodies and chatting with artists. I thanked Miss Kaysha again for her hard work and the lovely art, and all was well and good. <3 After a little bit more wandering around, we set off to head home. They took me home first, since my car was still at the mechanic's (turned out to be a busted engine hose, and it's now running fine), and then went home themselves. Spent the rest of day in a state of "happy-tired". XD
So yeah... In short:
Highlights
• Artist's Alley and Art Commission (Again, please visit Miss Kaysha's DA and give her lotsa love! <3)
• Meeting Vic Mignogna. XD Worth it!
• The cosplayers: lots of Assassin's Creed, lots of Naruto and Final Fantasy XIII, and just about everything else in between. A few hugs were exchanged, some squeeing, and all was well. Noted cosplayers include: Bayonetta, Assassin's Creed, Tales of the Abyss, Blood+, Princess Mononoke, Doctor Who and way too many others to count out of sheer awesomeness. XD
• Meeting up with friends <3
• Ice cream!
• One of the hotel ladies greeting us every morning and evening as we left and came back, wishing us to fun at the con and asking how our day was. N'awww...
• Walking by Vic on Sunday. We literally stopped, had a double-take and puzzled over whether or not we should go back and say hi. (Decided not to, lest we come off as a bunch of groupies.) One of our funnier moments, that's for sure. XD
• Random free cotton candy. XD
• Chatting (and hugging) a Dante cosplayer. As I walked off, he and his friend commented that, unlike others, I apparently took the time to stop, make small talk and compliment him on his costume. Awww...
• Digimon cosplayers! Ahh! My childhood!
• And, well, the fact that it was AWA, and I've been attending for nine years now - ever since I was 14, and it's just so much fun being able to attend and spend the whole weekend there. Dragon*Con, while fun, just doesn't have the same "feel" as AWA. I'm not sure why I prefer AWA to DC, but... AWA, I think, stands out as the more fun convention in my eyes.
Downers:
• Car breaking down. D:
• Getting sick on Saturday night due to too much junk food. Ow ow ow ow... D: I'm feeling much better now though.
• I didn't get a lot of sleep this weekend. Maybe a total of five or six hours per night. The sofa bed wasn't very comfortable, and the actual sofa "part" of the sofa bed was only marginally better. Didn't help that there were a bunch of people talking, and talking and talking elsewhere in the hotel, and that they were loud. D: But I didn't let that get in the way of having a good time.
So yeah... All and all, it was a lot of fun. Hope to do it again next year, and maybe actually be able to cosplay, or have a table at artist's alley again, or any other number of things. <3 SO yeah, I'm glad. Huh, still happy-tired. XD
Annnd now back to your normal blogging schedule. XD
I went to the con with my friend Myria and her sister Tara. I arrived at the con little after noon on Friday, while they would meet up with me later. (Family thing came up on their end.) So I got my pass, which went very quickly and efficiently, as the registration lines had been revamped, and the whole process was very expedient. After that, sort of just wandered around. XD Dropped by Artist's Alley, Dealer's Room, etc. While exploring the Dealer's Room, I came across a line of people sitting there on the floor. It turned out that they were waiting for a Vic Mignogna autograph session. Naturally I decided "sure, why not?" and got in line. After about 45 minute worth of waiting and watching with bemusement as the line steadily got longer, Vic came out, set up, and started saying hello to people, taking pictures and signing autographs. He was very nice, and I gave him my sketchbook for him to sign, since I didn't have any official posters or artwork on hand. Even got a picture with him, too. XD He even answered a question of mine: what was the difference between voicing a character for a game, and voicing a character for an anime series. In his words, a video game character usually takes a few days, depending on the script and the need for any additional sound effects (like battle effects, etc.), and can even sometimes be a full day's work. An anime series, due to the more extensive script, edits and the story arcs, take much longer. Way cool. XD
At around 3:30, I met up with Myria and Tara. Tara went to Momo Con, which is another, newer anime con in the the Atlanta area, while it was Myria's first con. XD I've been going for nine years, including this con, so I'm kind of an old-hand at this. Showed them the Vic autograph, programmed a panel of his on Saturday into my phone, and were we off wandering around the Dealer's Room and Artist's Alley. While in Artist's Alley, I tracked down a particular artist I liked and paid for a commission from her (Yep, you guessed it: EscadxHeroine. XD), and got to talk to some other artists that I admired and had seen online. XD If anything, Artist's Alley is also one of my absolute favorite parts of any anime convention. <3 After that, we got quite a few goodies from the dealer's room. XD
Special pimpage note: The artist I commissioned is Miss Kaysha Siemens (Eldanis), so please do visit her DA and give her some love. Lots of love. She makes her living doing these cons, and she's a very talented artist. She'll even have my commission up in her gallery sometime soon (I don't mind, of course XD). So please, give her lots of love. She's an incredibly nice person and the artwork I received from her was both lovely and adorable. <3
The trip back to the hotel was not as smooth. While the hotel itself was a fairly short, five-to-ten minute drive from the convention, there was a large amount of traffic that night, and my car ended up breaking down, as in smoke coming form the engine and leaking antifreeze on the pavement. We were able to push into a valet parking lot, explain what was happening, and call my Mom. D: Fortunately, the Valet was tremendously helpful (as in "saint in the form of a valet" helpful ;_;), Mom called both the Mechanic and the Towing service, and we were able to reach the hotel room safely, because Myria and Tara had their car. The hotel was nice enough, and we checked in and pretty much settled down for the night. After a while, though, we got bored and went out to eat at a nearby Japanese restaurant. Mmmm... Then sleep.
Saturday! Woke up fairly early, went to the con, and sat around watching this massive line of people waiting for the Dealer's Room to open up, so some of the staffers were entertaining the crowd by shouting out trivia questions, using nerf guns to hold a prize raffle (there were darts that were marked for prizes), and even letting talented cosplayers have "first in line" dibs. This one girl ran up to us and almost literally shoved some cotton candy into Myria's hands and said "Here, I can't have this. You want it?" "Uh, sure!" Much nomming. We dropped by the AA to check on Miss Keysha's (she had a sketch for me to approve, which I did, as well as a few questions of which I answered) and wait for the line to disperse, then back to exploring the dealer's room. Got more goodies, including Myria and Tara convincing me to buy a tail and a pair of cat ears. The tail was fine, but I can't wear the ears for more than five seconds without wanting to yank them off. D: After a while, we met up with a couple of mutual friends - Yami and Kitty and their two friends, hung out for a bit, then wandered off to do our various panels that we wanted to see. The Vic Mignogna panel was fun, lots of fangirls asking questions, lots of hugs being exchanged, and Vic showing us all a fan-film he made called "Full Metal Fantasy", which was neat. :D I also saw my friend Hung, Donovan and Briana, which is always good. They're were doing fine, having a good time and it was nice to see them. <3
After a while of wandering around, talking to and watching various people, we got little tired and retreated to the hotel room for a quick nap, then came back feeling refreshed and want to the costume contest. Like last year, the costumes were fantastic. Some costumes of note included: Bayonetta (major fangirl squee from us!), a mom and her very happy, very giggly, bouncy, grinning baby - both dressed as anime characters (they won the new "cutest costume award"), Boba Fett, Box Barret, and others. One costume included Ezio from Assassin's Creed 2 (with a courtesan!) and Ashe from Final Fantasy 12 in her wedding gown - both of which were very well done and very detailed. XD We also got to track down the Bayonetta cosplayer and pretty much gush over her. XD After that, we went back to Miss Kaysha to pick up my commission (she had it finished), which is adorable and pretty and made of so much epic win. <3 <3 <3 <3 Then we went for ice cream, went back to the hotel and hung out. Sleep some more.
Sunday! Last day, so we checked out of our room and went back to the con for one last wander around. Myria and Tara got some more goodies from the Dealer's Room, then dropped in the Artist's Alley once again for more goodies and chatting with artists. I thanked Miss Kaysha again for her hard work and the lovely art, and all was well and good. <3 After a little bit more wandering around, we set off to head home. They took me home first, since my car was still at the mechanic's (turned out to be a busted engine hose, and it's now running fine), and then went home themselves. Spent the rest of day in a state of "happy-tired". XD
So yeah... In short:
Highlights
• Artist's Alley and Art Commission (Again, please visit Miss Kaysha's DA and give her lotsa love! <3)
• Meeting Vic Mignogna. XD Worth it!
• The cosplayers: lots of Assassin's Creed, lots of Naruto and Final Fantasy XIII, and just about everything else in between. A few hugs were exchanged, some squeeing, and all was well. Noted cosplayers include: Bayonetta, Assassin's Creed, Tales of the Abyss, Blood+, Princess Mononoke, Doctor Who and way too many others to count out of sheer awesomeness. XD
• Meeting up with friends <3
• Ice cream!
• One of the hotel ladies greeting us every morning and evening as we left and came back, wishing us to fun at the con and asking how our day was. N'awww...
• Walking by Vic on Sunday. We literally stopped, had a double-take and puzzled over whether or not we should go back and say hi. (Decided not to, lest we come off as a bunch of groupies.) One of our funnier moments, that's for sure. XD
• Random free cotton candy. XD
• Chatting (and hugging) a Dante cosplayer. As I walked off, he and his friend commented that, unlike others, I apparently took the time to stop, make small talk and compliment him on his costume. Awww...
• Digimon cosplayers! Ahh! My childhood!
• And, well, the fact that it was AWA, and I've been attending for nine years now - ever since I was 14, and it's just so much fun being able to attend and spend the whole weekend there. Dragon*Con, while fun, just doesn't have the same "feel" as AWA. I'm not sure why I prefer AWA to DC, but... AWA, I think, stands out as the more fun convention in my eyes.
Downers:
• Car breaking down. D:
• Getting sick on Saturday night due to too much junk food. Ow ow ow ow... D: I'm feeling much better now though.
• I didn't get a lot of sleep this weekend. Maybe a total of five or six hours per night. The sofa bed wasn't very comfortable, and the actual sofa "part" of the sofa bed was only marginally better. Didn't help that there were a bunch of people talking, and talking and talking elsewhere in the hotel, and that they were loud. D: But I didn't let that get in the way of having a good time.
So yeah... All and all, it was a lot of fun. Hope to do it again next year, and maybe actually be able to cosplay, or have a table at artist's alley again, or any other number of things. <3 SO yeah, I'm glad. Huh, still happy-tired. XD
Annnd now back to your normal blogging schedule. XD