Con Report: Super Famicon 2017

Descending the stairs into the bowels of the Elm Street Center in Greensboro on Friday, I was met with con staff and volunteers setting up for Super Famicon. Greeting me and my early arrival with confusion and unfamiliarity, I answered in playful self-importance: “I have arrived!” Luckily, my contact for the event was quick to arrive and vouch for me before I was unceremoniously removed from the premises, but the interaction set the tone for the weekend itself. My own convention experience usually bills industry guests, panels, and special events as a priority, but the majority of attendees at Super Famicon were there for one thing, and one thing only: Super Smash Bros.

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AWA 2017 Recap

There is no better cure for Post-Con Depression than to continue the party at home, so instead of moping around, I’m going straight to updating. Can’t stop, won’t stop!

Anime Weekend Atlanta is what I consider to be my “home” con. I’ve never lived in Atlanta, and there have always been closer events to me, but it was my first convention in 2004 and has been on my calendar every year since. It has been instrumental in not only establishing who I am as a nerd but also how I have evolved and changed over time. This last part especially rings true this past weekend. Since most of my regular “con family” either had to stay home or spent the con doing their own thing (and likewise, evolving and changing in their own right), the weekend was defined by meeting new people, learning more about our community, and spending time with new friends, looking toward the future.

But enough about that gushy feelings of “camaraderie” and shit. Let’s get into panel stuff.

Reverend Tobias at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2017

Just like every year, I’ll be at Anime Weekend Atlanta next weekend, September 28th through Octoboer 1st. AWA is my “home” con, even though I’ve never actually lived in the Atlanta area, so it’ll be good coming back to the place where my con addiction started.

Naturally, I’ll be presenting a couple of my panels there. Feel free to say hello!

Anyone else planning on being at AWA?

Review: Star Wars Aftermath

I set this blog up as a central hub for my otaku musings, but it wouldn’t be on-brand of me to not start off-brand, as it were. Though I would consider myself a Japanophile as my nerd “master status,” I have a number of different franchises and hobbies under my purview.  Not the least of which is Star Wars. Yes, yes, I know—that franchise has developed a bit of a reputation the past few years. Too mainstream, too commercial, and, thanks to Red Letter Media’s critque of the prequels, too maligned. Nevertheless, the franchise has always been one of my guilty pleasures from my youth, whether it’s wearing down the VHS tapes I had, reading the novels, or playing the various video games and roleplaying games put out over the years.

Just like other fans, The Force Awakens got me buzzed about Star Wars again, so with all the new media coming out in the wake of Disney’s new movies, I vowed to try to keep abreast of what was coming out. However, like any geek in our over-saturated pop culture landscape, I have a backlog of media that only seems to grow despite my best intentions, so when Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath came out, it found a spot on my to-do list (nestled somewhere between those Steam games I bought on sale two years ago and that anime sitting on my Crunchryoll queue), and hadn’t made much progress since. It was only because of a completely-unrelated debacle that I just finished it.