Honestly I feel like I'm due for a kill la kill rewatch
Not just because it's great
But I need to fire my inspiration back up again
I love most works by gainax and trigger and I just love stupid over the top shonen shit. Klk and paswg is peak because they do it with women, which is all I ever want
If I'm going to start talking more about my OCs I have to start off by saying I never fully committed to the Sonic > OC conversion yet so bear with me on that. However the lore I have for my characters are self contained and don't really have anything to do with the canon anymore
Also the lore that I have are mainly comprised of things I came up with RPing with my partner in crime (my buddy) so I don't have a cohesive background setting (that's my weakness hehehe) but I've got a lot of character lore built up
I have old posts in my #chararambles tag that I may comb through and bring back and maybe even update if I see the need to
con swag. i have more artist business cards than i know what to do with (im gonna follow them all, of course)
the only thing missing from this picture is blankie install Ram sticker that Zero bought me. I'll find her eventually i took this photo and conked out for six hours
This is a masterpost summary of me rambling about my experience at ACEN this year. this post is ungodly long. you've been warned. there's photos too. yayayayayayayayayayayayy
Alright, this is basically going to be the archival of my experience from start to finish, writing while i remember everything and im on the ascended plane of existence. hi guys
So let me preface this by saying I had 0 plans on attending ACEN this year--on February 25th, 2025 an hour before noon on a regular work day it was announced that Asami Imai would be a guest of honor. Not only could i not focus on work for the rest of the day but now im like. FUCK. I NEED TO BOOK A FUCKING HOTEL.
and all the usual hotel blocks were sold out.
Had I been more aware of the ACEN discord ahead of time, I maybe could have alleviated this issue by using the room share channel? but I was also bringing three people along. not sure how that etiquette goes but anyway
The discord also had news about the guest of honor signups. May 10th, I was on there like swimwear, but unfortunately even having the app open at noon on the dot I still ended up on the Imai waitlist. So now it became clear that I was staking this entire trip on a literal chance.
Also, this would be the day I couldnt find my Another Sky CD in the room that ive re-arranged several times in 10 different ways, as well as a lot of my things being scattered around various parts of the house so I figured. well. I have a week. I'll find it.
I did not find it.
I was going to shrug it off as no big deal but I thought harder about it and I was like. getting the cd single from Imai over a granblue dvd insert felt more significant, as the gbf dvd wasnt entirely Vira focused (it was the albion arc of season 2), and the drama cd for the Vira daki didnt have any special inserts or anything aside from a clear case, so I decided I needed the cd. I priority re-ordered the cd from cdjapan.
Night before con, it arrived. Mentioning this is important because I need to emphasize just how much I was putting on the line for a literal chance.
The month before, I found a hotel a bit away with room prices that didnt make me wanna blow my head off. Unfortunately after spending time there I can confidently say that I disliked the hotel. a lot. the room was nice. opening the window led to a view of rocks on the building roof so that was fun. the closest restaurant that didnt charge $15 for a blt as the menu for their food service stated was mcdonalds. i had mcdonalds all weekend.
im so fucking sick of mcdonalds for the rest of my life.
the bed sucked. covers were too. fitted? and the comforter was too warm but that could just be my personal problem as a hot body. the foam pillows were too buoyant. I have to elevate for a proper sleep and i couldnt elevate in a way that satisfied me. so my sleep all weekend was garbage. friends reported they never heard me snore like that before
I must say that bringing Zero along to drive us back and forth between the hotel and the blueline walking distance was a godsend and i love having a cool boyfriend that can drive because im a passenger princess
but this was his first con so i tried to be a cool con guide in return. acen was also my first con! but its uh. twice as big since i first went and even then it got really overwhelming. but he said that he had a great time so yaayayayaayyay
the day 1 con fit went crazy, i only regret not doing a turnaround for this so you could see the gurren logo on the back
friday, day 1 was mostly just. trying to get there. i dont like eating at the con post-covid since covid is still rampant so i like to eat before i get there. it took a bit to get to the hotel--check in was at 3. we had a chance to come in by noon but left out a little late and ended there at about 4. went to con and immediately scouted for artist alley. no Imai stuff was planned this day so today was the perfect day to shop and goof off. Zero wanted to check out the gbvs tourney and tabletop game rooms
game set ups were ps5 only and Zero didnt know so he had to drop out because he brought his ps4 controller for pc gaming, but it was nice having a moment to sit down and had i not been over there i would have not seen
Her
The most gorgeous devil homu at the con, MY GOD she absolutely SLAYED this cosplay!!!!!
we wandered around for a bit and decided to make it over to the hyatt for the tabletop stuff
we found the mahjong room (he's so jong pilled rn dude) and it was cute seeing him quietly pick up a tile for the first time and just taking it in. we had a guy, DJ, who came over and was super chill and patient in showing me the ropes as a brand new player. there were people returning to the game as well. i love con season bc who else can say that they sat down and played mahjong with Power from Chainsaw Man? well I can
jonging it was pretty fun! we went back to the hotel after some rounds so we could rest up to get up for panels and such tomorrow but on our way out? We Found the Fucking Homu Mobile, Dude.
Bad storm had just hit about an hour ago so all the cars looked kind of grody but other than that this shit was CLEAN SHEEEEEEESH !!
Saturday, day 2--
This was the Big day for me. So I supercharged with some gamersupps Lean and headed out in a weird Lappland Vira combo fit to get the point across today. We left out I think around noonish so I could get to the Asami-Eriko joint panel and hang out there. Everyone was kind of, it seemed, standing there so i was standing around in front of the doors unaware that there was a line bc. duh. so i went to the end of the line and we got in for a really fun and entertaining panel of besties, banter, and bread. I have a bluesky thread detailing a summary + reaction as no photo or video were allowed during the panel. (i hope live reacting doesn't breach that rule!)
After that I met up with Zero in the artist alley and we looked around for more stuff but it was super stacked so we didnt spend long there. went back to the hyatt since that's where the signings were taking place. Zero can back me up that as soon as I turned the corner and seen Vira Lillie Granblue Fantasy chilling by the exit I turned to him and just, Give Me My Phone I Need My Phone, Give me My Phone
This was one of the things I was also really excited about, as Luna has been working on excellent cosplays for Vira for yeaaars and that always made me really happy to see a fellow chicago native be insane about Vira so understandably, I nerded out with her in person and it was just, so fun and made me so so happy. Here's a link to her socials and if you wanna gas up the bluesky post I made, then by all means please please please do--Im pretty fucking sure she was the only gbf cosplay there and she made sure she was the best to ever do it too
Someone even walked up like "holy shit, Vira granblue i wasnt expecting to see a granblue cosplayer!" so yeah this was just, REALLY special LOL again, big big shout out to Luna she's really just as lovely in person as she is online!
I needed to burn that fangirl excitement so we found the mahjong room and jonged it for the next hour. One of the guys we played with had an interest in vtubers and we chatted a bit because I mentioned Geega was streaming ACEN, so this is my reminder to check out PhaseConnect because I promised I would and Im gonna live up to that promise. Fun jong games, didnt finish though because they needed a sub for the tournament so they got the guy i chatted with. so we left a little earlier than planned because the tables were full. so we killed time in the lobby area waiting for the Imai autographs to happen.
Luna assured me that the waitlist spots get picked pretty fast, and we met up again after she came from her signing and gleefully fangirled together and she wished me luck on mine. The signups were going efficiently quick so I held onto hope but the staff there were definitely trying to kill it. it was an hour for signups but throughout the whole hour that one person kept trying to deter waitlist people from hanging around and to enjoy the con. at about 6:40-ish, that same person basically told us, if youre waiting here because youre on the waitlist, youre not gonna get in at this point. have fun and enjoy the con. So i pouted and got really mad and i was losing hope because like. how could you not dude, after being told that. while i was typing on my phone to my buddies about it, i got the push notification. i ran up to the con staff and they had me refresh my app and they let me in. i was fucking hyperventilating dude, even the lady who helped me into the room where Imai was told me to just breathe kjfekskjkdjfkfnef
So im in the room. Miss Imai is just such an animated person, the same way she is when she does literally anything, such as when she's participating on the granblue streams and how enthusiastic she is. she really means it that she's an otaku that loves otaku. a guy in front of me brought the drama cd that everyone had to leave the recording session for when she did it at the time bc it was the one for the Vira daki :) and she giggled and remarked that she'd never actually seen the cd since she did the recording for it so i thought that was cute. kudos to that person for complimenting her work and her convo with Kat on it. I was almost considering bringing my own so I was happy that someone did.
Finally my turn came up. She immediately reached for Vira and patted her and played with her arms and turned her upside down and exclaimed "Vira pantsu!" in the cutest voice ever. I told her that Vira, Lappland and Tsubaki Yayoi are all my favorites and she remarked, oh so you are basically just a fan of me! and. TRUE!
Imai's birthday is May 16, the first day of the convention this year. We wished her a happy birthday in the panel earlier that day, but I'd prepared a special doodle in a sketchbook to show her and her face lighting up when i opened the book is photographed into my braincell forever. every stroke on that paper was worth it for her smile. Getting to wish my favorite VA a happy birthday means the world to me. I have to keep living so that I can hold onto this memory for the rest of my life.
I stumbled out of the room and immediately ran to squeeze the air out of Zero so that i wouldnt cry on the spot. chatted with a guy for a bit while i collected myself and then we made our way to a bathroom (bc i was close to fucking shitting myself dude.) and then back to the mahjong room which was full. so we decided to just go back to the hotel.
Final day!
Representing Matarakan as Momo #2910 as my sunday casual fit, as my only plan today was to visit the Asami Imai solo panel. We were running around trying to pack n shit this morning, so I got there as the line went in and missed out on Imai greeting people outside but its fine because during the panel she stood up and talked because she wanted to see everyone. the effect was there. she's so animated and passionate that it was just so fun being able to witness her speak about anything. here's my bluesky thread with the details to this panel. I want to highlight my very specific insane reaction to Vira Lillie showing up to the slide, probably being the only one that actually screeched and scared some of the people around me teehee. she talked about her audition for Vira and how her personality expressed that she is a very emotional person, so she had to go all out for this role. she gave us an "oneesamaoneesamaONEESAMAONEESAMA" line read with an expressive face and her hand gestures and i died and ascended onto the next plane. she also talked about Another Sky, and how it was important that just as Vira can be scary, that she could be soft too and she wanted to capture that side of her through this song, and she sang a snippet and I raised my Vira plush high in the air as she held the last note and i could see her wave in my general direction as the audience cheered. ill be delusional ok she saw me im the Vira otaku from yesterday she Knows me. ok.
anyway great and wonderful panel. I am going to find her vtuber channel this week and sub to it and follow more of her non gbf activities because she is genuinely inspirational in how she has the drive and kindness to pursue what she loves and treats fans as her equal. it was a delight to see her just as animated as she is on the screen. i am absolutely lucky to have had the opportunity to go and see her in my hometown whereas most people would have had to travel to see her. this was a once in a lifetime experience that didnt go to waste for even a second.
I can truly say that I'm happy. and i got to spend this amazing weekend with Ruru, Money, my best friends and ride or die homies in the whole world as well as my wonderful, loving boyfriend Zero. I'm happy that we have a first con experience of ACEN in common now. I'm happy that he enjoyed himself, that i got to see his face when he touched that mahjong tile for the first time. Just a whole weekend worth of moments I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Thank you, ACEN.
The panel was the only thing I wanted to do on Sunday plus we had to check out of the hotel at noon, so it was time to say bye bye and go drop everyone off and go home. Zero and I had a little parting dinner date before he dropped me off and went on his way.
If you read literally any of this, thank you. if you read the whole thing, also thank you but you might be a little insane. this is purely for archival purposes and im sitting here on a worknight at 1:50am after getting home and knocking out for 6 hours straight trying to make sure i recall everything to the best of my ability as soon as possible. I am going to archive the bluesky threads in several different ways as social media is never promised to us. and i will probably refine them and maybe even add a link to it on this post for good measure.
i may come back and edit this post in the future to refine it for myself but im pretty satisfied with everything i was able to recall.
