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.

Youmacon voice actors!

Youmacon's voice actor panels and autographs sessions were awesome. I love these guys!
I started this blog with a picture from last year's Youmacon, so this is sort of full circle for me. It was of me and voice actor, director, etc. Caitlin Glass. She let me get a new picture with her, which is very cool.

We're in focus this year!

The voice actors for whom I had stuff to autograph, I've met them before. Not, however, when I had my Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist banners. They're becoming quite crowded now.

Youmacon additions include Caitlin, Sonny Strait, and Todd Haberkorn.

From Youmacon, Sonny, Caitlin, Todd, and Tia Ballard.

Sonny Strait, a comics artist and creator as well as voice actor, doesn't have his characters on either banner, so he drew them in - Ragnarok the demon sword on Soul Eater and Maes Hughes for  Fullmetal Alchemist. The Hughes sketch is quite detailed because the autograph line was slow.

He'd draw some, look up, see the line hadn't moved, sigh, then draw some more.

He had enough time during the entire session to create quite the work of art on the table cloth.

These are all his characters, I think. Hughes' drawing reflects his fate - oops, spoiler!

I asked Todd Haberkorn to sign both banners, program, and a print of him as Mr. Spock, because he's doing Star Trek now too.

And he did. He's very nice.

One of the panels I went to featured the anime series Fairy Tail, with voice actors Tia Ballard, Todd, and Funimation producer Sarah Sullivan.

Todd plays a fire-wielding wizard; Tia, a blue talking cat who can fly.

I went to the Fairy Tail panel at last year's Youmacon too, even though I hadn't seen any episodes yet. I knew the voice actors from other stuff. But Netflix picked it up a couple months ago and that means I can watch it! The panel made more sense this time.
Tia's on my Fullmetal banner because she played Shao May, a sort of miniature panda bear. I asked for a picture with her too.

I will never wash my Voyage Trekkers marine shirt again. Actually, that would probably ruin the fabric glue anyway

Next up is Con Alt Delete in Chicago and Anime Crossroads in Indianapolis, both in December. Vic Mignogna is scheduled for Chicago - he plays the lead in Fullmetal, the one who's not a suit of armor. His character is also on the Soul Eater banner. And he's Captain Kirk in Star Trek Continues, with Todd's Mr. Spock.
My samurai cosplay project is underway, though not quickly enough for December. I stopped by Joann's fabric for supplies. They were having a half-off sale, which meant the stuff was cheaper, but also that the store would be packed. They passed out numbers for the cutting stations - they were on 23 when I drew the number 56. So I had lots of time to shop, and picked up a plastic, wheeled storage cabinet for my Living Room Wars action figures and accessories.

Crafters are crazy good at organizing stuff!

I'm still deciphering the hakama pattern. It's a set of line measurements based on size to be applied to a simple rectangle of cloth - an honest-to-goodness geometry worksheet straight out of high school.

Not quite ready yet...

Ready to cosplay!

All the pieces are together for my inaugural cosplay Soldier A outfit! Not much compared to the folks slinging hot glue and mad sewing skills for hours and days - I've enjoyed following along with fellow cosplayers' progress on Matsuricon's facebook page. Someone posted a Metal Gear Solid 3 cosplay. Snake wears woodland-type BDUs. I have those! And  a big box, too? Does he go around in a box in that one? I still need to finish that game!
So anyway, here's the final outfit:

High-speed low-drag! Well, maybe a little drag.

I have a canteen for hydration and buttpack for my camera. I probably won't wear the darkened goggles and scarf much. I don't want to fall down or run over small children! 
I continued my trend today of promoting favorite webcomics during weekly runs through town by wearing their T-shirts. This week, Blue Milk Special!

It does your body good!

Rod and Leanne Hannah's long-running Star Wars parody webcomic has been an inspiration of mine for years. Intensely funny, with strips like this...



And I enjoy their manga/anime influences, like crying Luke here...



They're big supporters of their local 501st Legion unit, folks who dress up in Imperial outfits and armor and do lots and lots of community work, like encouraging children to read, promoting children's safety, and raising money to fight autism. One heck of a cosplay outfit!
I want to eventually do something like that, and if I do, it will be in part because Rod keeps writing about the importance of directing energy like this to "helping your fellow human beings" and stuff like that.
And I could be a stormtrooper - bonus!

Next week's T-shirt will feature ... well, nothing yet. This exhausts my supply of webcomic T-shirts. I might have something soon, depending on size. I won this art contest by the wonderfully awesome Naomi VonKreeps, my favorite Canadian Star Wars/superhero/etc. cosplayer and model, with this...

See, in Star Wars, things tend to get cut off a lot...

The prize includes a couple really awesome T-shirts. One is a woman's small, which I will never ever fit into, but the other is a man's medium, which maaaaaybe I could fit into at some point. We'll see. This is what my Darths think of it...

Yeah, I too am a webcomic maker, with Living Room Wars! It's a mashup starring my old Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. action figures. Anime influences are starting to work their way into it, too, like in this part...

And he is. Oh yes.

Here's what my little Sith lords think of an actual Naomi print...

They're rude because of the Dark Side.

So a week before Matsuricon - my weight was at 188 this morning, almost 70 pounds down from the holidays. The last time I was at this weight was 1997ish, or maybe even before.
Stay tuned for pictures from the event! (hopefully)