Zenkaikonventionists

Hello to all of my new friends and readers from Zenkaikon! My husband, Andrea and I were there this past Saturday and we had a lot of fun.

I half want to describe everything we did, but on the other hand, I know that most of the people who came in search of this post are really just here for the pictures. So I'm going to try to do a little of both. My standard photo disclaimer: I took and own the copyright on all of the pictures contained in this post. If you're in any of them and you want to take them for your own private use, feel free. If you want to share them on your Facebook or wherever, that's okay too; all I ask is that you credit me and, if possible, toss up a link back to this blog. That's not asking much, right? Enjoy!

For me, the big draw of Zenkaikon - besides how close it is to where I live - is that Vic Mignogna was going to be there. You might remember I geeked out about meeting him up at Genericon last month, and I was excited at the chance to see him again, especially since I've gotten into some of his anime (specifically, Fullmetal Alchemist) since then and all three of us have joined his official fan club, the Risembool Rangers. In fact, the Rangers had something up our collective sleeves, but I'll get to that in time.

Vic and his pal/FMA costar Todd Haberkorn participated in "Anime Password," which was the first event we went to see once we registered for the con. Along with playing with people from the audience, they had a final round in which they attempted to score 5,000 points; if they did, the host would donate $75 to Japan earthquake relief, and Vic promised to match it. (They did, of course!) They also circulated collection buckets for those of us in the audience.

• Password #1
• Password #2
• Can you guess what the password was?
• Todd calls Vic's mother to report on her son's behavior
• Greeting fans after the game
• Todd with Kevin and Andrea

Our second event was Vic's Q&A, at which he sang for us, answered questions, and showed us the con-viewable-only fan movie Fullmetal Fantasy. He and some of his FMA costars dressed up as the characters they voice and ran around acting crazy, and it was hysterically awesome.

• Vic onstage
• With a very tall guy who was cosplaying as Vic's very short character Ed

The only other panel we attended was the "Abuse the Author" presentation by C. J. Henderson, which was both funny and - to a writer like me - very informative. Mr. Henderson somehow reminded me of my drama teacher from high school.

For the rest, we chiefly wandered around Artists' Alley and the dealer room, both of which were larger than the ones at Genericon. Andrea gifted me with a Roy Mustang plushie. I took many, many pictures of people in costume, not all of whom I can identify, unfortunately. But here goes.

Legend of Zelda characters
• Twilight Princess Ganondorf
• Red Link
• Imp Midna
• Wind Waker-timeline Princess Zelda
• Link
• Sheik

Fullmetal Alchemist characters
• Winry (from a distance and regrettably blurry)
• Envy
• Alphonse and Edward Elric
• Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye, with plush Hayate and Envy
• Another Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye
• Fuhrer King Bradley

Assorted Other Characters
• Members of Organization XIII (Kingdom Hearts)
• Marth and Ike (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
• Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy)
• Yuna and Sora (Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts)
• Somebody from Princess Tutu
• The Mad Hatter
• Ash and Pikachu (Pokemon)
• Speed Racer
• Altair (Assassin's Creed)
• The Akatsuki (Naruto)
• Somebody I thought was Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, but apparently not!
• The First Doctor, and my husband (Doctor Who)
• The Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who)
• Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy)
• Captain Harlock and Pirate Queen Esmereldas (Galaxy Express)
• Two of the vendor room merchants, who like Renaissance faires

Groups
• Masquerade line #1
• Masquerade line #2
• Masquerade line #3
• Line for Vic's autograph

I wasn't in the line for Vic's autograph because we were scheduled to have dinner with him after the con. That's right; the local Risembool Rangers were all meeting at the Cheesecake Factory in the King of Prussia Mall for dinner with Vic and Todd! Unfortunately, they screwed up with our reservation situation, and then Vic and Todd couldn't stay for the meal anyway - but they did come and spend some time with us before they headed off to do what they needed to do! They are lovely, lovely gentlemen, both of them.

• A very effective way to make sure everyone found each other
• Our heroes arrive!
• Todd spots Andrea's "Angry Birds" hat and talks to her about the game
• I reunite with Vic, and it feels like reuniting with an old friend
• He opens the gift I brought him from my store
• They sign autographs and tell us they love us before heading out

If you were there, please give me a shout out in a comment! If you're a Risembool Ranger, definitely leave a comment! And Vic and Todd, if you guys are reading this, thanks for being so awesome!

(Also, thanks to everyone who has helped to clear up some of the mystery characters!)