So, the final day was kind of a wind-down, but that’s about what I expected.

The highlight of the day was my planned attendance at a voice actor Q&A panel since I had an important question to ask of Troy Baker.  How did it all turn out?  Read on…

Well, first off, I have to say that I just barely made it to the convention center before the panel started.  While I was waiting at the bus stop I got a text saying my second commission was completed, so I raced straight to the table and picked it up before heading to the panel.

This artist is Melody Wang, AKA Chukairi on DeviantArt.  Unlike my first commission, I didn’t make a scan of this at Kinko’s… primarily because goddamn I hate paying a couple of bucks at Kinko’s just to make a scan and e-mail it to me.  I’ll see what I can do about making a proper scan later though because it’s soooo nice.

Anyway… the Men of Voice Acting Q&A panel.  It was the first time I ever actually participated by having a question for someone at the panel.  I’m gonna go ahead and post the video clip with my question.  I recorded a lot more, but there’s got to be a higher quality video of the entire panel floating around by now.

I originally had a question for Troy Baker.  You see, I decided I was going to compliment him on his amazing work on Arkham Origins and segue into making a Logan Thackeray joke.  Well, at the beginning of the panel, we received announcement that Johnny Yong Bosch couldn’t make it, and there was a joke made at his expense that he couldn’t attend “because he isn’t a man.”  I seriously hope someone caught that on video.  No mention was made of Troy Baker though.  The man just never showed up.  And you know what?  YOU CAN’T MAKE A BETTER LOGAN THACKERAY JOKE THAN THAT.

So while I was sitting there with the rest of the people with questions, I had to decide if I was going to bail or if I was going to come up with a different question for J. Michael Tatum or Bryce Papenbrook.  I eventually decided to ask Bryce a question that had been on my mind for a long time: “What was the deal with the name ‘Dick Smallberries, Jr.?”  When I finally asked my question, Bryce seemed to feign ignorance.  I thought maybe he was just leading up to something good, but nope.  Outright wouldn’t answer my question.  Don’t know if he was telling the truth or what, but I sure as hell felt embarrassed at my flop of a question.  As soon as I got back from the con, I googled “Dick Smallberries Jr,” and, sure enough, I wasn’t crazy.  Bryce Papenbrook was the FIRST thing to show up.

The entire panel was hilarious, even with just two voice actors on the stage.  There were waaaaay more chairs than attendants, possibly because there was a huge line waiting for the autograph session to start.  Still, this was much better than at the old venue, where there would be a huge line waiting to get into the panel and it was possible for the room to get completely filled.

After the panel… COSPLAY PICS!

There was a giant Pikachu costume at the vendor hall.  I came upon it during a time where the person was out of costume.  It just made it look creepier, I swear.

You know what?  Extra points to that Mercury for the modified 3DS.  Hell, extra points for that Mars for the heels, too.

Before I left, I had to make a final pass and see if work started on my third commission.  It hadn’t started yet, but I had a digital commission, and the artist needed to get all her sketches done first.  I expect a lot of progress to be made during the week, maybe done by next weekend I hope.

The artist for the third commission goes by baka-kiiro on DeviantArt.

One last comment regarding the commissions I made.  Unlike the Bardass! commission by Melissa Pagluica, I came into this con without a solid plan to make commissions, and I didn’t have printouts with details and reference pics, so I just sort of tried my best to explain what I wanted done while I was there.  I think it worked out okay somehow.

I had multiple ideas for commissions, and what I did was look at what each artist has done and decide which ideas would be a likely match for the artist.  The subject matters were, if you don’t know by now, OCs from stories I’m currently working on.

Commission #1: Lunette Crescendo (Bardass!) drawn by Lynn Ke (ComplexWish)

Commission #2: Misaki Nadeshiko (Millennium Match) drawn by Melody Wang (Chukairi)

Commission #3: Marie Antoinette Akiyama (Millennium Body) drawn by baka-kiiro

Kiiro is the only one not to complete a commission by the end, but I have high hopes for the finished project.  Why?  Because while I was explaining my commission to her, I gave a really generic description of how the character is dressed, with the intention of going into specific detail right after.  Before I even started, she gave THE EXACT LIST OF ITEMS I WAS ABOUT TO DESCRIBE.  It was like… mind waves or something.  So yeah… if she’s one of the individuals I have a morphogenetic field connection with (and I’m still relatively sure I have such a connection with Tite Kubo), then yeah I have high hopes.

Annoyingly, almost nothing on J and K streets were open.  Possibly because they’re NEVER open on Sunday (which I have a MAJOR GRIPE with… there is nothing special about Sundays to deserve special treatment).  So I ended up eating at Bento Box after taking the light rail and before my bus arrived.  I used to avoid ordering sushi anywhere, but now that I have a better idea of what to order, it’s amazing.  I’ve learned to avoid ordering the actual bento combos, not because they’re bad but because they’re just too much for me.  I do strangely enjoy tempura broccoli though.  I mean, there’s no reason to fry broccoli in the first place, but it’s nice knowing the option is there and is pretty awesome.

I guess that’s all I wanted to say except… really wish I met more Vita owners.

The venue at the Sacramento Convention Center was outstanding.  I think it accommodated for more than the actual attendance, which is an awesome, awesome thing.  It made the entire experience comfortable, and there was almost no crowding anywhere.

Somehow, I just can’t connect with most of the other fans though.  Everyone is into a lot of the newest things while I’m still fanboying over relatively ancient stuff.  There was one stand in the vendor hall that I really had an attachment to, though.  The guy there had loads of single-issue comics that I was interested in (but they were just outside my price range).  You have no clue how much I loved it.  I mean, I must have been the only person there to even give a shit about his stock of Mai the Psychic Girl comics or seriously considered the stack of Plastic Little comics.  I asked the guy running the stand if he had any HyperDolls in stock, and he said he thought he did, but he didn’t bring them.  THE SHEER FACT THAT HIS RESPONSE WASN’T “HyperDolls?  What’s that?” WAS AWESOME.  Damn I wish I picked up a business card or something.  Well, there’s something to look forward to with the Winter 2014 con.

With the con over and done with, I’ll try to churn out that next Bardass! chapter as soon as I can.  Since this is the first week of the semester, I’m gonna be busy, busy busy and broke as hell!