Convention Report - Zenkaikon

Jad Saxton's Q&A Panel. Note Kira in her Sailor Moon shirt right up front.

This past weekend our family traveled back to Lancaster, PA to attend Zenkaikon. This was the first Anime specific convention that any of us had been to, so it was an interesting time. We attended more panels than we normally do. This was partially due to more stuff that we were interested in and partially because there wasn't much else to do there.

Let me start out by saying that this is not a huge convention, but it's also not tiny. It took up pretty much every room of the Lancaster County Convention Center and I would say it was moderately attended. There wasn't any point that I felt it was over crowded, which is my normal complaint with conventions.

Kira with Sarah and Jad. She was HUGELY excited both before and after this.

Our primary draw to this convention, other than it being convenient, were two of the guests, both of whom are from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Sarah Wiedenheft (who plays the titular maid, Tohru) and Jad Saxton (who plays Kira's favorite dragon Kanna). We were able to get autographs from both ladies and Kira got pictures with them as well. I also gave them each a business card and an invitation to appear on Anime Freaks, should they have the time.

Kira asking how Jad relaxes

We attended the Meet Jad Saxton panel you see above, where Kira was able to ask her two questions, and the voice actors panel which also had Jessica Calvello, Quinton Flynn, and Phil LaMarr. They had some interesting stories to tell, but if anyone is looking to become a voice actor just read this rather than asking, since that was their standard answer.

On the panel side of things, the first one we attended was on Saturday morning where Brandon DeCoster presented different anime openings and what they look like around the world. This isn't just a language thing, either. Apparently different countries have varying standard lengths of openings, which means things need to be added/subtracted depending on where you are. They also shift focus depending on who they think the anime is targeted to, like adding more costume changes to Gundam Wing in Italy, to help target girls.

Saturday afternoon we went to a panel conducted by a group called Manly Battleships titled "Before An Unexpected Journey: The Anime Legacy of Rankin/Bass". They went over the outsourcing of animation, both stop action and hand drawn, to Japan and how many of the creators went on to work on some important anime. They also agree with me that the Rankin Bass Hobbit is far superior to the bloated Peter Jackson movies.

Sunday we attended another Manly Battleships panel, this one about the career of Don Bluth. It has Mrs. Brisby in the title, so we weren't going to keep Michelle away. There were many interesting points brought up, and they even touched on some movies that I didn't know about. Kira now wants to see Thumbelina, so I need to find that somewhere.

A couple of cool cosplayers. Sailor Moon on the left and the Red Dragon Emperor from High School DxD on the right.

The rest of our time was spent people watching and going through the dealer's room, which only had one booth selling Anime & Manga, and another that was just selling Manga. The rest were artists and merchandise vendors. We bought some stuff (probably too much) and generally had a good time. They've already announced their dates for next year, and we'll think about going back. It all depends on scheduling, both of our activities and their guests. I would certainly recommend this convention, though. At the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, it's just the right size and mixture of things to see and do.

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Baltimore Comic-Con

The world's newest superhero - The Midnight Cat!

This past weekend our family took a trip down to Baltimore Comic-Con, which was a really good time. Believe or not, this convention actually focused on COMICS! There were some great creators there, including Jerry Ordway, Walt & Louise Simonson, Mark Waid, Joe Staton, Paris Cullins, and Karl Story. There was also enough room to actually move around, which I've found to be a rarity at bigger conventions.

What was really nice, though, was there was specific programming for kids. Kira was able to take part in a few of the workshops, including Superhero University (as you can see above). She had a great time and got to discover a lot of new kid-focused books.

I think the highlight of the weekend, though, was meeting people. I knew that Tom Panarese was going to be there, as he has gone for the past several years and he took his son last year. We met up at Thom Zahler's table, and had fun chatting. We met up again later at the kid's area and who should show up but Darrin & Ruth Southerland along with Chris Calloway! The next day we say Darrin & Ruth again, but this time they had Michael Lane with them.

It was a really fun weekend, with great friends and a good amount of comics fun. We might just go back next year.

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AC Boardwalk Con!

If you're reading this on the day it posts, I'll be at AC Boardwalk Con doing some table set-up. If you're in the Atlantic City, NJ area, why not come on down this weekend and say "Hi"? Two True Freaks will be at Table 1910 in the Creator's area of the con.

Don't forget to check out our Facebook Event for any of the latest happenings!

AC Boardwalk Con Campaign

As promised, here's a update on Two True Freaks at ACBC for you. Right now we have the table booked and the hotel rooms reserved, so all systems are go. However, this is a rather costly endeavor for something that is, essentially, a hobby. To help offset some of these costs, we have couple of Booster campaigns set up. Both of which can be found here:

https://www.booster.com/twotruefreaks

As part of the campaign, you can buy a t-shirt with the above image on it, which will never be on another TTF t-shirt, so you can consider this a collector's item. If that's not your style, you could also donate money and enter a chance to win some cool TTF swag. Right now we have a Grand Prize that will go to the person who donates the highest amount, but anyone else will be entered into a raffle to win some other, as yet undetermined, swag.

Here's the rundown on the Grand Prize:

• A GENUINE TTF PROGRAM NOTEBOOK - FILLED TO THE BRIM
• Show notes, drawings, unreleased (thank god!) song lyrics, notes from the FIRST EPISODE and other embarrassing stuff!
• A Marvel Star Wars comic from the original run featured in SWMM and the new Marvel Star Wars #1 (1st print) featured in Growing Up Star Wars
• The novelizations of all 3 original Star Wars movies plus Splinter Of The Mind's Eye
• Star Trek - City On The Edge Of Forever fotonovel #1
• The rare and scandalous OJ SIMPSON poster advertising the old Libsyn site. 11 X 17 and suitable for framing.
• A Two True Freaks T-SHIRT! (Original design)
• RICHARD DRAGON - KUNG FU FIGHTER #14
• Random Star Wars knick knacks from Garage Sale Gloat

If you are the super generous type and wants to do both things, you can add an additional donation when you buy the t-shirt and this will count towards the swag.

We appreciate any and all support, even if it's just sharing the booster link on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks in advance!

Two True Freaks at AC Boardwalk Con

So, you might have noticed a little bit about this whole AC Boardwalk Con thing in the past week, especially that nifty banner at the top of the site. Well, here's the skinny. Two True Freaks is trying to expand our listener base, and to do that we need to do some promotion. So, we've gone ahead and gotten a table to ACBC, which is the next step up from just wandering around there and hoping to meet people.

So, if you want to meet me or any of the other hosts that are going, head on over to our Facebook event. We'll be posting all of the latest news there.

Convention RPG Experiences

Since I'll be running a couple of session of Pendragon at Ubercon next weekend (my first time running RPG's at a Con), I was wondering what people's experiences might have been like, on either side of the screen. I've been to several conventions, some of the gaming, but I've only ever played in one RPG during those visits. I had a wonderful time, getting a preview of the "Castle of the Mad Archmage", and having my gaming passion stoked enough to join a regular AD&D game hosted by the same DM. (Yes, Joe, this is all your fault. ;) ) That session also included one of the best uses of Ventriloquism that I've seen in a game, done by the Illusionist to mess with the minds of the party other members by making a giant statue of a head speak to them.

Now, obviously, my plan for the Ubercon sessions will be a little different than Pendragon is typically run. Normally the game includes mechanics for improving skills after each adventure (1 year of game time = 1 adventure, for most cases), but as a one-shot, that won't work. I'm also reasonable sure that most players won't be familiar with the game system, so we'll be doing a little learning as we go. I have created cheat-sheets for the general mechanics, though, to make it as smooth as possible. In order to get the best possible variety out of the game, though, I think I'll artificially force in a variety of cultures & religions into the party, definitely making the characters all Religious (qualifying for different bonuses based on the Religion of the character, see below). That should help to drive home the point that, while all the characters are Knights, the variety of knights that are available to play are wide enough, and customizable enough, to provide to balanced game play. You would not believe the reactions I get when I tell people that they can only play Knights in this game. "That's got to be boring" being the chief one.

So, since I'm still pretty much a N00B at all this, what have your experiences been? Good, bad, weird? I'd love to hear them, even the horror stories.


Oh, and about the religious bonuses in Pendragon, I like how they actually make a difference in the game, just like in the literature. Depending on your religion, you will have different Personality Traits that are promoted, so as to act in the manner of the religion's ideals. If all of these are 16 or over (out of 20), you gain a special bonus from your god(s) for being the epitome of those ideals. For example, if you have a 16+ in all of the Wotanic (aka Norse/Germanic Religion) traits, you gain +1d6 damage. Other religions allow for increased healing rate, of additional Hit Points, etc. It adds flavor to the game, especially if you have a Religious Saxon using an ax. :D

Pendragon at Ubercon

Pendragon meets Gaming Dragon

I’ve just confirmed that I will be running two sessions of King Arthur Pendragon (Pendragon 5th Edition) at this year’s Ubercon in Edison, NJ.  I’ve got a morning session on Saturday (9 AM to 1 PM) and another on Sunday (10 AM to 2 PM).  As this is probably my all-time favorite game system, and I have played a whole lot of game systems, this should be a fun day.  If anyone has not played in Pendragon and would like to learn, the two adventures I’m running should prove to be a good introduction to you.  If you’re interested, please head on over to http://www.ubercon.com/ and sign up.  My two sessions are the following:

The Adventure of the Good Knight

The Pennath of Puddle-Jump

Even if you don’t sign up for my games, I encourage everyone in the area to attend.  Ubercon is a great gaming experience and I’ve had a blast every time I’ve been there.