I have to say Anime Town was well put together. A very well rounded convention. They had a good lineup of guests, a robust vendor section and a spacious event location. The Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy UT is one of my preferred event spaces. The Oddities Expo is also held here every year. As well Isekai next year.
I only dressed up one day this weekend (Team Tengen!), the other days I just took photos. Communicating with staff about the Press Pass was really straightforward and easy, I always appreciate that. Staff over all was very friendly and helpful. With the exception of the weapons check guy who didn't realize my friends swords were attached to her costume on her back, he yanked them off and ripped her costume. Unfortunate mistake, but is what it is, we were able to reattach it more or less. Guest wise, I was stoked to meet the voice actor John Gremillion who voiced Vampire Hunter D. It was the first anime I ever watched and I have a large Vampire Hunter D tattoo on my arm that I got to show him. We also met Tara Sands, who voices Bulbasaur on Pokémon. Turns out she also voiced the evil baby on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure! Which she deeply apologized for. I died laughing. Ollie had never seen it and I made him watch that episode when we got home. Friends suffer together after all! It's definitely one of the more weird episodes from that season. Big thanks to Jessica for being my assistant and carrying my lighting! Definitely looking forward to next years event!
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Thank you so much to RisingSun.net for finding these photos for me.
This was the first time I ever cosplayed, not counting Halloween costumes. Anime Expo 2002, back when it was still at the Long Beach Convention Center. I was 15. We scraped together enough money for my friend's sister to make us these "costumes" based on original characters we designed. We thought we were so cool! haha omg. I lost these photos many years ago and have been trying to find them for so many years, I'm thrilled to have them. So silly. Photos curtesy of Arizona Voice Acting Guild Woo! What a whirlwind of a weekend! This was Isekai's first year and the event was really great! (With the exception of the venue.) I was staff for this event, but please keep in mind I do not speak on behalf of the event, this was just my personal experience.
I spent a lot of time with the Arizona Voice Acting Guild, they had a competition over the weekend. I got to dub a scene from Mulan and a scene from Legend of Kora. I really enjoyed the whole experience, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again next year. The guild was so talented and gave great direction. I did cosplay two out of the three days, But there was a blizzard that weekend and I was working registration by a door that was opened over and over again so wearing winter clothes was way more comfortable for me! I got to meet Mark Whitten, who voices Rengoku on Demon Slayer. He was the nicest dude! I also hosted the idol show which was a good time. I was impressed with several groups for having synchronized choreography and knowing a lot of lyrics in Japanese. The evening parties were enjoyable as well. Everyone had a really good time and enjoyed the event. Except for the venue. It really sucked. They were difficult to work with, on several occasions they weren't on time opening the doors and left us in a blizzard which also put our schedule behind. During said blizzard they didn't want to turn the heaters on. They turned the power off on us before the event ended for the night. There were mice and cockroaches. Puddles on the ground where the roof was leaking. One of the bathrooms sinks had brown water coming out of it. There was a gas leak. Vendors experienced theft over night. Ballroom reeked of cigarette smoke. The list goes on and on, as you can see in their google reviews. Don't plan any events at the 801 Event Center in Salt Lake. But- very exciting news, next year the con will be held at the Mountain America Expo Center! Which is a wonderful venue, been to many events there. So I am so excited for next year. The PartyHappy Birthday Karah! This year she had a Shrek themed blow out party. There was a troupe of performers, several bands, a bounce house, a photo booth, a 360 photo booth, a massive buffet, tattoo artists with Shrek flash, and open bar. Her dad's band played and when he entered he was riding a horse and dressed as Lord Farquaad. She herself dressed as the dragon, we had a lot of cool costumes going on. I came as Pussy in Boots. Classy I know. Unfortunately I took more video than photos that night. The Making of Shrek-tacularBirthday girl and I were up till 2 am, several nights, alone in the gym working on props and cut outs for this party. We were painting, cutting, gluing, wiring.. My hands were sore. But we made some cool on a budget stuff.
Flew into Burbank Airport for the first and last time. Haha. It is so small and old but you can still feel the old Hollywood in it. We went clubbing and dancing. Ate street tacos. I got my back worked on for the first time in FOREVER. Can't wait for this thing to be done. I shot DragCon over the weekend for Werrrk.com. Visited my fam. And went home. Short but efficient trip.
Road TripRoad trip from Salt Lake City to Anaheim California. Two day Disneyland trip and one day of WonderCon. Got excited that there was a K Mart in South Utah but it was closed, like all the other. Sad Day. We currently don't have Jack in the Box in Salt Lake, made a stop and are good for another year lol. Drank too much soda and ate too many snacks. Usual road trip stuff. DisneylandFirst day Disney, second day California Adventure. Breakfast Buffett with Mini got us into the park really early, so we hit all the Star Wars stuff ASAP before it was busy, hardly weighted. Ran into my tattoo artist and his wife at Disneyland. Hit the usual favorites. CA Adventure had a food festival going on. Everything we had was delicious, got a bit day drunk. Road all the rides I hadn't been on before, I haven't spent as much time at CA. Fun few days with my gal pal Tannis. WonderConWandered the hall for the day, hung out, drank coffee, shopped. Very chill con day.
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