Ohayocon 2014

First anime convention of 2014, Ohayocon in Columbus, Ohio!
I've been going to probably too many of these things lately, especially in the snow and ice, but I wanted to get to this one mostly for one reason - meet voice actress Brittney Karbowski!

To attend her panels, and also get her autograph.

She plays Black Star, the last remaining unautographed main character on my Soul Eater banner. Black Star is this guy.

He's Black Star! His opponents quake in fear of their impending deaths!

So it was early Sunday afternoon, after more than an hour in Brittney's autograph line, almost up to the front, when con staffers came around with the last thing an autograph seeker wants to hear - "we're sorry but..."
Her scheduled time was up and she had to catch a flight, leaving me, the dozen or so folks in the room with me, and the hundred or so waiting out in the hall sans autograph.
Much grumbling was heard from my fellow signature seekers, filing dejectedly out as Brittney started packing up her stuff. I didn't grumble. I lingered, though.
"Since there's only one of us left...," I pointed out to the staffers.
"Please exit out the back door," they responded.
One option left - a direct, personal appeal to the artist herself.
"Brittney," I called out desperately, as staffers closed in. "Just one more?"
Time does indeed stop in situations like this. She looked up, figured out what I was doing there, and had to decide what to do with me.
"Sorry, I have to go" would have been truthful and fair. So would ignoring me have been.
What she said was, "Yes, of course." And she signed it. And all was right with the world.

With cool Black Star logo! And Xs and Os so I'm pretty sure she wasn't mad!

So now it looks like this.

Blair the witch cat, played by Leah Clark, remains unautographed, but I don't know if she goes to cons out here.

I also managed to tell Brittney I like "Angel Beats," the anime show that got me hooked on anime shows because of its awesomeness, and in which she plays one of the leads, which was cool!
On my way out, one of my fellow autograph seekers seemed surprised to see me.
"Did you get it," he asked, incredulously.
"Yep," I said.
Then he gave me a high-five. I hope no one saw that, cause I didn't want to rub it in. Maybe this wasn't the best example for me to provide to those younger, though perhaps it could be a fortune-favors-the-bold thing. I certainly am not prone to such acts of open defiance!
Perhaps it had to do with what I was wearing.

I'm with voice-actor-extraordinaire Vic Mignogna. Snappy salute, sir! I looked it up, left-handed salutes are permitted in at least the Navy if the right hand is busy, and anyway he's a civilian.

I wore my Soldier A outfit, woodland pattern, on Sunday to meet Brittney and Vic. "Soldier A" is from a song of Vic's of the same name, my first attempt at a cosplay outfit. I wanted him to see what it was he inspired. He seemed to appreciate it, which is very cool!
Saturday, I went with my new, not-quite-finished Samurai outfit.

I'm with Tia Ballard again? Yup!

I bought the wooden sword and kimono at Anime Crossroads in Indiana last month, and a set of samurai-ish sandals online. I still have to get whatever it was samurai had on under their kimonos, so I just wore regular pants and my Blue Milk Special tshirt.
The headband I think I got at Kings Island around 1986. This would be the first time I have ever worn it in public. I'm pretty sure it's the kanji for "matsuri," meaning "festival." I should wear this at Matsuricon!