Friday, October 5, 2018

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2018 Report




This was my first solo con in a while since my usual con buddies couldn't make it, but I was not missing this convention because of the amazing lineup. There were seven actors I wanted to hit, so most of the convention was standing in line but it was totally worth it.


Day 1/2:

I didn't cosplay on this day, so I just got up, put on a nerdy outfit aka a Guilty Crown shirt and headed to the convention, which is normally a twenty-minute drive for me ... but thank you roadwork for bumping that up to forty minutes. 



Because I arrived much later than I wanted to I just paid for parking at the nearest spot and hightailed it out of my car to the convention so I could get my convention badge in a reasonable amount of time, which I did. Whoo hoo!


So I looked on the handy-dandy convention app this year to schedule my grand diabolical plan to get seven signatures in two days and while I was doing that I decided to look at the cuisine available. I found out that there was this food truck called the Bento Bus around, so I hit that up for lunch and I got an Asian steak bowl and ginger lemonade. The steak bowl was pretty good, but I loooooove that ginger lemonade. So yum!



With a belly full of Asian yummies (that sounded a little more awkward than I intended), I zipped to the exhibition hall. Voice Actor #1 John Swasey was just sitting at his booth, so I just walked over there and got his signature for Kumatetsu from The Boy and the Beast. He was very nice, but we didn't talk too long because I was still overcoming my initial con shyness. Happens every convention. XD

Next, I got in line for Kira Buckland voice actor for Izumo from Blue Exorcist. Her line was a lot longer than expected, but I got through it in enough time to get into Steve Blum which of course was already long when I got there because it's Steve friggin' Blum aka guy you've heard in half of the animes you've ever watched.


Steve Blum's line was the longest I was in at the convention (but not the longest I've been at any convention ever) partially because he was late, but it was definitely worth it. I got him to sign my Wolf’s Rain poster for Lord Darcia. He told me it was fun to work on but that he’d actually never seen it and still has the VHS tapes! We also talked about Wolverine and The X-Men. I loved him as Wolverine and he told me that the show got canceled because funding from an overseas company got pulled and he didn’t get paid for the show even though he loved it. They even had more episodes ready to go! This is why I don’t trust network television. XD Overall he was very sweet. It was so great to meet him.

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was right next to him, so I slipped into her line and got her signature for Jagara from Wolf’s Rain who is Lord Darcia’s love interest which is really funny because Mary and Steve are engaged. Squee! Mary and I talked about how awesome Jagara’s costume is especially that wicked helmet.


The last voice actor I saw on this day was Grey Griffin aka Grey Delisle aka FREAKING AZULA FROM ATLA! I’m really surprised her line wasn’t longer considering how many things she’s been in. She was incredibly nice too! She gave me a hug hello and goodbye. I told her about the day I figured out that she plays Azula and Emily Elizabeth from Clifford the Big Red Dog and how jarring that was for me. She even did Azula and Emily Elizabeth’s voices for me! She was definitely my favorite actress I saw at the convention!


I did a little shopping at the end of the day and picked up some keychains of Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy and Tokoyomi from My Hero Academia and I also got a wittle lucky cat!


Day 2/2:

Today I cosplayed so I got up earlier and put on my Bishamon cosplay which is not easy to drive in. XD 


I got to the convention on time and headed on over to Kanae Ito’s line who is the voice for Amu from Shugo Chara, the first anime I’ve ever watched. This is her first time on the east coast too! She was very sweet and didn’t speak too much English so it was good to speak some of the little Japanese I know haha. 


Ito’s line wasn’t too long so I had some time to snag lunch. I went to the bento bus and got another ginger lemonade and some shumai (Japanese pork dumplings). The ginger lemonade was as delicious as yesterday but the shumai wasn’t quite worth the six bucks.

I had some time in between the next autograph session I wanted to hit so I actually did my first Pokémon GO raid for Mewtwo! It was fun and we won but I didn’t catch Mewtwo. Nooooooooo.

After that, I got into Michael Sinterniklaas’s line for a surprise autograph for a friend. Shhh. He was very nice then I got into Lauren Landa’s line and got her signature for Annie Leonhardt from Attack on Titan! She recognized my Bishamon cosplay!

I did a bit more shopping at the end of the day and got a porcelain crane origami chopstick holder then did a bit of cosplay watching though I didn’t see a lot that impressed me (after you go to so many cons you become picky). Then I headed home with my goodies and picked up some Sweet Hut Thai iced tea on the way home cause anime convention.



Conclusion - Overall it was pretty fun. I liked talking to so many voice actors I’ve been wanting to meet for a long time!

Have you been to a convention before? Which one(s)? Have you ever cosplayed? If so who? Have you ever met any celebrities?

You may also like:
MegaCon Orlando 2018 Report

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