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!

Anime Crossroads / Con Alt Del

I had a plan last weekend to visit two conventions in two states, neither of which I live in. However, with snow and ice covering the entire midwest, I put common sense and personal safety ahead of my anime ambitions and stayed home.
Just kidding, I totally went.
Vic Mignogna was a Con Alt Del in Chicago. I'm about 80 pounds lighter than the last time I met him in February.

And I've joined the Galactic Union!

His autograph was required on my two banners. His character is top center on the Soul Eater print, Spirit Albarn, "Death Scythe," dad of Laura Bailey's Maka Albarn.

Only two characters left to get!

And he's one of the characters actually on the Fullmetal Alchemist banner - Edward Elric, the titular Fullmetal Alchemist himself (he's the smaller one, the one not made of metal).

Pointing to Vic's autograph is Emma the cat.

I'm also a fan of his work on Star Trek Continues. He's a long-time Trek fan and cast himself as Capt. Kirk.

With fellow voice actor Todd Haberkorn as Mr. Spock.

Also on there now are Johnny Yong Bosch and Stephanie Sheh, who were at Anime Crossroads in Indianapolis.

Johnny plays Lujon, a character who was murdered by Laura Bailey's Lust character. Stephanie plays a minor character's little sister who doesn't even have a name!

Not huge roles in Fullmetal, but the more, the merrier! I actually wanted to see them because of another anime show they were on.

Johnny plays Itsuki Koizumi, who's not actually on this print, and Stephanie is Mikaru Asahina, in the bunny suit.

Stephanie's character is a featured player in my webcomic Living Room Wars.

LRW Asahina is a time traveler like in her show.

So meeting her was cool.

I like this shot - the photographer knows to fill the frame!

Johnny also leads an indie alt edge rock band, Eyeshine. I listened to one of their CDs on the way home. They rock!

I'm with the band, Johnny at left, Maurice in back, Ginny, and Polo in front.

Also, the awesome cosplayers across two states!

Two Edward Elrics at Con Alt Del to meet Vic.

Maid Cafe! She looks like she has two heads but she doesn't.
I got some German chocolate cake and a cream puff at this one.

My new samurai cosplay outfit was going slow (about two inches of stitching in two months) so I decided to speed things up a bit, courtesy of the Anime Crossroads dealers room. Late Sunday is a great time to buy at a weekend convention!

50% off this kimono, imported from Japan, and the wood katana was also quite reasonable! (Lizzie was full price, though)

I was tempted to wear it at Anime Crossroads but figured there was only a couple hours left. I also have to figure out what to wear on my feet. And how to use the sword. I'll have something figured out by Ohayocon in January.

More ray gun!

I'm working on a new ray gun for my Voyage Trekkers Galactic Union Marine outfit. Multistate anime conventioneering has been expensive lately, so I'm going kind of cheap on this one. I got a clearance bazooka thing from Meijer's for about $5. I'll augment it with PVC.

This, to start with.

I'm heading in this sort of direction.

To be repainted in standard Galactic Union white and black, along with LEDs and stuff.

The thing was set up for lights and sound, with soldered wiring, circuit board, bulbs, speaker, and everything. So I can see what that's supposed to look like.

After I ripped it apart, of course. Wiring looks like string and string means cat toy!

My finished version will not look anything like this. Mine will have more tape.

The wiring didn't survive the dismantling process or something, which is OK. I had no intention of using it in my version anyway. The old batteries had been drained probably long ago and new ones won't work.My plan is through-hole LEDs on the sides and top, and brighter ones shining from inside.
I'll looking to have it finished by Youmacon in Detroit at the end of October.
By the way, Voyage Trekkers' second season is now complete, with a completely kickass four-part finale! Here's Part 4, the finale of the finale, AKA Episode 10 of Season 2. Thrilling and hilarious!

Along with my VT Marine costume, I'm looking to reprise my Sack Brigader from The Other Grey Meat at Youmacon. I got a picture of me in it at Anime USA posted on a Facebook page that wasn't mine, a first for me, courtesy of the Bloomsburg University Manga and Anime Club of Pennsylvania.

This would also work for Halloween, with the sack and everything.

Shortly after this picture was taken, I was fumbling around with the sack, camera, two banners, program book, and entry badge for autographs by voice actor Kari Wahlgren, and dropped the badge. This was bad, since it was a sponsor badge, which is what Anime USA calls its VIP, premium level and gets you to the front of lines.
And I didn't notice until I was cleaning up for the Metro ride home a couple hours later. I have 10 pockets in that outfit and a sack, and I checked all of them inside and out before I accepted the reality that I was dumb enough to lose my badge two hours into a three-day convention. My last hope was the lost-and-found at the front desk, which I considered an extreme long shot. Damned if they didn't have it, though. That was very cool, since someone could have easily scored a free sponsor badge.
I love cosplayers!

Matsuricon!

Matsuricon was awesome! I figure I am now an official cosplayer.

Me in my Soldier A cosplay outfit, dwarfed by the very cool voice actor Travis Willingham, at Matsuricon 2013.

Some may have been a bit confused by my outfit. One fellow con-goer asked if I was a cosplayer or just wearing my old clothes. Both, I said. Travis up there, towering over me, he said something like, "Ah, 'Soldier A.' We've all done that." He got it, at least.
But my confused fellow cosplayer and everyone else treated this newcomer exceptionally well. I was called out by name ("Soldier A") within the first hour. I got a pose request for a photo, which is indeed a most excellent thing to happen to a cosplayer. I hope he didn't delete it! Another recognized me from this blog (Nicholas?) - thanks very much! And yet another, a Call-of-Duty player I think he said, wanted to see what it was I was toting about - not an airsoft, he knew that much.

It was this, my convention-scarred rubber training rifle.

I let him try it out. A fellow closer to my age knew exactly what it - probably a vet.
My highest compliments to all the Matsuricon organizers and staff. Those folks put in a ton of work and I appreciate all of it. This was my first multi-day convention, attendance-wise, I mean. My previous conventions, I'd consider five hours a long time. Added onto four-hour drives from and to home, it still made for a long day. I spent no fewer than 12 hours at Matsuricon on Saturday, with another five on Sunday. And there were more than a few times I wanted extra hours thrown in there, cause there were two or more events I wanted to go to at the same time. The convention was too awesome - a good problem to have!
A lot of time was in line for autographs. My first response on Matsursicon's Facebook page was to compliment them on their guest lineup. It was truly outstanding, and included these "Soul Eater" voice actors.

Boom.

Also from "Fullmetal Alchemist" (minus the furface).

Which of these two characters would you say is the Fullmetal Alchemist? Nope, it's the other one.

I'd say those are a lot of autographs for one convention! Got my picture with a couple other voice actors, besides Travis up there.

Me and Micah Solusod, who plays Soul Evans in "Soul Eater." He eats souls, but he's a good guy. He eats only bad souls. He also draws the webcomic "Ties that Bind," with Ayu Sakata. A webcomic creator - his stock just went up with me!

I'm with Stephanie Young, who plays the villainous and sexy Arachne in "Soul Eater" and the heroic and sexy Mira Armstrong in "Fullmetal Alchemist." This was on Sunday and my cosplay uniform was all bagged up.

Probably at least one more posting on Matsuricon to come, especially on the other cosplayers and what I learned from those folks (you can make a Transformers Starscream costume by hand? Yes, yes you can).

Getting started

In May 2012, tired of $130 cable bills, I dropped the whole Comcast thing and signed up for Netflix. Scrolling through their streaming video collections, I noticed lists and lists of cool-looking anime programs, so I started watching them. 
By November 2012, I was well hooked, and, noticing voice actors from several of the shows I've been watching were scheduled to attend Youmacon in Detroit, I went to it. My first anime convention.

Here I am with voice actress, director, and producer Caitlin Glass.

Then in February 2013, Almacon.
 

Voice actor, musician, and "Star Trek Continues" creator Vic Mignogna and me.

Shutocon in April 2013.

Me and voice actress, director, producer, and writer Colleen Clinkenbeard.

Colossalcon, June 2013.

I am with Jamie Marchi, voice actress, producer, writer, and director. All these folks do a lot.

I am getting smaller from picture to picture, especially noticeable in the June one. This is not a coincidence. I caught a bug at these conventions. From people like this:

I didn't know who these folks were supposed to be at the time. Now I do, they're from Soul Eater.

I still don't know who this one is.

Awesome.

Awesome awesome awesome.

Yes, I want to be a cosplayer.
Wiki says cosplaying, short for "costume play," started back in the early 80s. I was a teenager back then, but if anyone was cosplaying in Dayton, Ohio, at that time, I didn't know about it. I watched "Star Blazers" and "Robotech," so I might have been interested. Now I'm 44 years old. That doesn't matter, though - acceptance is supposed to be a big thing in cosplaying.
To be a stormtrooper - that would be awesome! Or a senior Amestrian noncom from Full Metal Alchemist. Or an officer in the Rebel Alliance.
None of these characters are particularly fat, though, which is a problem. Fat I am, particularly at Youmacon with Ms. Glass up there.
Been fat for decades. High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, all the general health problems, all that wasn't nearly enough to motivate me to lose weight. Nope, the idea of playing dress up with a bunch of kids, that was the ticket for me!
So anyway, I'm been losing weight since the start of 2013 and on my way to being in shape for an anime convention cosplayer, no longer lurking on the fringes in street clothes.
I'm starting small. I have an idea for my first one all up and running. I raided my basement boxes. Placed a order online. Made on offer for an item on ebay.
I'm registered for Matsuricon in August, so I have a month to get everything together. I need to lose another 10 pounds in that time to pull it off.
Details to follow...