I’ve never done two conventions in one month before! DragonCon I hadn’t been to in two years and AWA I’ve wanted to go to for quite some time, but could never manage it. Thus I’m very happy to have been able to attend these two conventions!
Today was See Nathan Fillion today! Friday was the only day he could make it to the convention, so I had to fork over the dough to see him. I’ve been waiting for Nathan Fillion to come to DragonCon for YEARS, so this was a dream come true! I had some time to kill, so I took a look at the Comic and Pop Artist Alley and the Vendors Hall. I was wearing my Katniss Everdeen cosplay and I got lots of attention for it, which made me happy. ^ ^ So many people three-fingered saluted me. XD
There were so many vendors, but not too many artists, which was a bit disappointing since the artists are one of my favorite parts of conventions. Buuuuuut … I commissioned this amazing art of King Graham and Cedric so I’m happy. XD I’ve never found and King’s Quest art anywhere so I really wanted to have some made for my collection, so I got this done by Jim Mehsling. He did such a great job. ^ ^
Finally, I got to get in line to see Nathan Fillion.
Two and a half hours later …
I got to meet him! He was so nice! He shook my hand and noticing my Katniss cosplay he gave me the three-fingered salute and said, “I volunteer as tribute.” It made my day. ^ ^
I also saw lots of other fun cosplay throughout the con.
Today was photo-op day. I had one for William Shatner and Matt Smith. Squee! Also today, I was taking my dad to his first ever convention and he’s a HUGE Star Trek fan. We bought some tribbles at the vendors hall. They purr and vibrate and I named mine Teff and I love him. *clears throat* Then we got our photo with William Shatner and our tribbles. Squee!
I had a big gap between my two photo shoots so then I got to get Karen Gillan’s autograph. She was so nice and sounds just like Amy Pond in real life. ^ ^
Then it was time for Matt Smith. O. M. G. His line took a long time to move, so I made line buddies with the people behind me. They are big Whovians and very sweet. I also got a picture of this awesome Ragnarok Thor cosplay. If he’d had the war paint then he would have been perfect. Anyway … XD
Finally, the line moved and it was my turn to get the photo with Matt Smith. I walked up to him and asked, “Can I hug the Eleventh Doctor?” And he said, “Yes!” And wrapped his arms around me then I got this photo. I was so freakin’ happy. XD
One of the line buddies I made was so happy that she cried and I asked her, “You need a hug?” And she said, “Yes.” And I gave her a big hug. That family was so sweet! I also wore my Ymir cosplay today. It got no attention, which was kind of a bummer, but I still think I looked awesome.
I picked up Amy and Casey aka the bestest con buddies then we went out for Korean BBQ! It’s becoming one of our traditions whenever they visit. They got bulgogi and I got fresh duck. Yummies! We ate all of it and forgot to eat a picture before, so here’s the after. XD
First day of the con here we come! This convention turned out to be super close to my house, which is really nice!
The first thing we did after registration was hit the artist’s alley and vendors. There were so many goodies to be had! I loved the variety and I purchased lots of goodies! I did lots of shopping. ^ ^
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| I got this awesome Prince Alexander of Daventry commission. ^ ^ |
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| Klein and Asuna Fuchiko! |
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| Reiner from Attack on Titan. ^ ^ |
Next on my docket was attending an Attack on Titan photo shoot since today I was cosplaying as Ymir! It made my day to find a Krista cosplayer and get a great pic with her and so many other AoT cosplayers!
Then I started hitting the autographs and I got to get Christine Cabanos (Silica from Sword Art Online and Shiemi from Blue Exorcist) and Jennifer Hale (Avatar Kyoshi from ATLA)!
We also got to try dango which is a Japanese treat the three of us have seen in many anime and never been able to try! It’s a rice cake balls on a stick with different sauces. We got sweet sesame and red bean. The red bean was my favorite!
I also got to see some awesome cosplay!
Today was the big autograph day so we immediately headed to the autograph line and I got to get Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham’s autographs. ^ ^
The rest of the day I mostly looked around for great cosplay and I found an awesome selection! AWA had really high-quality cosplay as a whole!
Overall, it was a fun weekend and we ended it by playing some King’s Quest. ^ ^
Conclusion – Out of these two cons, I think I enjoyed AWA better because of the environment and also having Casey and Amy with me, but I had such great experiences at both!
Tori’s Tips for Convention Preparation