I left my job after a fourteen-hour workday and proceeded to push through thirty-minutes of traffic to attend my first convention of the winter season.  I spent the day working with four to twelve-year olds, so it wasn’t a major adjustment to go to a convention where the majority of the attendees were playing dress-up. After getting a premium cardiovascular workout looking for parking, I proceeded to check in for three days of fun and excitement. Armed with my camcorder, digital camera and a dream, I helped fuel the engine known as anime3000.com. My agenda included getting video interviews with various professionals in the anime community and buying merchandise for my personal collection. I spent the first couple of hours walking around the exhibition hall looking past the Yaoi to find something to purchase. I fully intended to spend a Franklin at this event, but going into the third hour, I didn’t see any fruitful prospects. 

A panel of actors, producers, singers and talking food products signed autographs and shared their time with various Otaku from all walks of life. I used this open opportunity to lock interviews for the rest of the weekend. I met up with Brittney Karbowski who was gracious enough to grant me my first interview earlier at the year’s first Supercon. I approached her mumbling like a nerd in front of the captain of the cheerleading squad. To my surprise, she remembered our first encounter and even said she appreciated what I did with the interview. She introduced me to Chris Ayers and I tried to get an interview. I sort of felt brushed off by Chris and didn’t take his advice to try him later. My experience with Tiffany Grant, who hosts an impressive resume working on titles such as Evangelion, Excel Saga, FMA and Comic Party, proved to be more accommodating. She was extremely professional and didn’t give me the cold shoulder. 

Back to the snake pit and back to the problem of not finding anything to purchase. It eventually took four hours but I finally found a spot to drop a few bucks. With all the vendors in the “anime” convention, I found a spark of interest in the Vintage Keepers comic book booth. I picked up seven paperbacks of the Marvel Civil War series and a thick Hulk Planet novel. One of these days I will read them. I also purchased a box set of one of my favorite series, His or Her Circumstance. 

The first day was spent setting up interviews for the next day. Needless to say I left that on a sour note. I setup an interview with the coordinator of the convention and was pretty much stood up.  I stood waiting at the convention twiddling my thumbs for my 10:00pm interview and no one showed. If you’re reading this, and you know who you are, give me a call and let’s get that interview. The next day went a lot smoother as I found myself with more bags filled with merchandise. I went to the convention wearing an old DBZ t-shirt fully intending to trade up. I found an interesting black Bleach shirt with a camouflaged hallow mask and put it on in the bathroom. Over the past couple of months I lost over thirty pounds, so I had to retire my baggy comic and anime shirts. It feels good to have some geek shirts back in my wardrobe.  Feeling a renewed sense of purpose in my new duds, I proceeded to my first interview.

Having been a teacher for a few years, I have no problem performing in front a crowd. My anxiety comes before an event or waiting to perform. April Stewart was more than accommodating and made me feel comfortable. She was even cordial after I asked her to say a catchphrase of Kyle’s mom when she was really the voice of Cartman’s. I proceeded to my next interview and found a great cosplayer. He probably gave me the most animated interview in the entire event. Other than that, I spent a lot of my time going around taking pictures. 

One of the most memorable moments of the entire convention came during the Aqua Teen Hunger Force panel. Let me start off by saying, I am not a huge fan of George Lowe. I respect him for his body of work and sharp sense of humor, but he has slighted me on two different occasions. The first came when he told me he couldn’t do an interview because of his manager and release issues, which is fine, but he’s the only one that has done or said that in all of my convention encounters. The second comes in the story of the wannabe Meatwads. 

The cast and producers of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and George Lowe held a contest for the next Meatwad. One thing about me is, whenever there is an opportunity to go in front of a crowd, I’m there. I thought I had a good impression of the small-wadded meatball, granted I rarely watch the show. I went up to the microphone with the script shaking in my hand. The shaking wasn’t because of a fear of public speaking. My shaking comes from my anticipatory anxiety. I actually heard my impression coming out of my mouth, a garbled half impression that sounded nothing like Meatwad. It was too late and I had lost my opportunity for convention superstardom. As I sat back in my chair with my head held low, I knew I did something only a few would dare. What happen next would make this extroverted act turn sour as milk sitting in a time capsule. Each participant after me was invited to the second round, even a person who sounded like a six-year old impersonating Austin Powers. I smiled, picked up my camera and proceeded to film the event in shame. After the crowd left, I got a chance to interview the voice of Frylock and Master Shake and a producer of the program. 

Finally I interviewed Tiffany Grant who has a long and impressive voice-acting resume. She voiced Kaorin from Azumanga Daioh and Asuka from Evangelion to name just two. I met her in an upstairs panel room and worked as a linebacker through the crowd. I found an area out of the way, which was secluded enough to film a quality interview. I proceeded to ask her a number of questions about her experiences in Anime and she proceeded to answer my questions with a smile on her face. I find that the people I interview want to do the interviews as much as I want to film them. After two days of panels, interviews and embarrassment, I was done. I didn’t bother coming the third day and I don’t regret my decision. I want to thank everyone that has supported our site and especially thank the voice-actors, producers and various Otaku that let me film them.

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