Convention Chaos: Anime Magic 2024

My full rundown and personal recap of Fan Expo Chicago 2024

Welcome to Convention Chaos. The rundown of who I met, what I did, and how much I spent (not really, I don’t want to know that) from the conventions I attended. For full interviews and other content from the shows - check out my HeartAsArt Substack.

Anime Magic 2024 Rundown

Autographs

I had quite a list to knock out at this convention (like most shows I attend). The first stop I made was at the table of Ben Diskin. Ben has quite a filmography behind him with video games and various forms of animated television shows to his name. I grew up playing Tony Hawk’s Underground (and the rest of the series for that matter). He voices the antagonist Eric Sparrow in the game who gamers love to hate throughout the game. I put the game down on the table and he asked how badly he was allowed to disparage the cover. I gave him full creative freedom and I have 0 regrets. See the photo below for reference. The smile on my face was impossible to wipe off as I walked from the table.

Next, I grabbed Michelle Ruff’s autograph best known for her work as Annie Lockhart in the Attack on Titan anime. I love the artwork on the 8x10 she signed for me.

Being a huge Resident Evil fan I stopped at Michelle Ruff’s table who voices Jill Valentine in Resident Evil Revelations. As she was grabbing my print to sign her handler asked if she had a pen. She said no and I asked if they needed one. Her handler said yes and I had quite a few in my backpack. The backpack I had with me is my go-to for conventions and when I work front of house for wrestling shows. I handed over one of the many pens with a stylus that I have and she tossed a quote and an extra signed card in for me. It was a very kind move on her part as I had a ton of these pens (my aunt sold her audiology practice and has boxes of these branded pens in her basement, I take 10 at a time anytime I am over there). She was so appreciative of the gesture on my part and it was a great experience at the table.

I had Zach Aguilar (David) sign an 11x17 Cyberpunk Edgerunners print at Fan Expo Chicago. When I saw that Emi Lo (Lucy) was going to be at the show I had to get a signature on the same print to finish out the collection. I really love the artwork on the print and the signature is a great addition to the piece!

I rounded out autographs at this show at Zeno Robinson’s table. As a fan of Pokemon, I had to grab a print that highlighted all his Pokemon fun.

Shopping

I kept myself pretty well contained during this show….most of my spending was done at the autograph tables (and parking garage). I did help myself to a Wild Bills soda or two throughout the weekend though…..they are way too refreshing.

Cosplay

I spent a lot of time in the media room at this show (see below), but I did manage to squeeze a couple of cosplays into the show.

On Friday I rocked my Aldecaldo Nomad cosplay which was great to have on while Emi signed my Cyberpunk print.

On Saturday I rocked my Red Hood cosplay for a bit on the show floor. I severely underestimated how hot the jacket would be and overheated a bit. I headed back to the garage to change before putting it back on at nightfall for a photoshoot.

Sepra Photography shot both of these cosplays during the weekend. For some reason whenever I shoot with Alex (or any photographer), we always seem to end up in a parking garage…..They make great backgrounds for the characters I cosplay I guess. We explored the area of the Hyatt Regency garage and got some GREAT shots for both costumes that captured the grit of both characters.

Oddly enough both characters are mercenary types and the mood captured by the settings played perfectly for our plans.

I also got this awesome 360 video shot in the lobby while killing time before the Red Hood shoot.

Interviews

All of the interviews from the weekend can be found here.

I spent a lot of time in the press room over the course of the weekend. Shout out to Alexis from Anime Magic and Xhaiden from Tribe 3 Productions for all of their help in the press room. They were both great to work with.

I had the pleasure of interviewing all of the guest cosplayers from the event: Alicia Marie, MangoeCos, Sapphire Ink, Stella Chuu, and Kiara’s Workshop.

I also participated in the media sessions with Ben Diskin and Zeno Robinson.

Rounding out the media room interviews was a sit-down interview with music artist Shihori. There was an unfortunate issue with data transfer that caused a loss of data, but she was kind enough to chat with me on Zoom after the show!

A huge shout out to Alexis for introducing me to Nick, the sound engineer for the show. Nick let me shoot from anywhere I wanted to around the stage and that turned into a great opportunity to get on stage for some shots. It was the perfect b-roll for the interview, and Nick was amazing to work with.

Rounding out my interviews, I stopped in the exhibitor hall and chatted with Plastic Smith Cosplay and Myuu Marie who chatted with me about some awesome 3D printing that they do for cosplay. It was the perfect way to wrap up the interviews for the show.

I hope you enjoyed the version of “Convention Chaos”. Be sure to connect with me at all my links here!