JAMPcon 2017 Recap!

Added links to photos! See the "Cosplays and Photos" section.
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Hi everyone! I tried to write a quick recap of the amazing weekend. Thanks so much for a wonderful time ;v;

God arranged the whole weekend so perfectly, I am honestly blown away. I can’t even describe how amazed I am. We met such wonderful people and everyone was so friendly. We received many compliments on our display, and I’m grateful for the compliments on my artwork and of course the sales as well. ;v; Honestly, this was one of my best conventions sales-wise so far, due in part, no doubt, to my Yu-gi-oh! niche. I am so blessed and grateful beyond words!!

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We arrived at the hotel with about two hours to set up, so at first we were going to get our table done and then change into our cosplay. Here’s what happened instead.

We got our badges and went to the room where the artists were supposed to be. Several artists were already set up, so we picked a table near the door and started to set up. Not long after that, the coordinator came in and explained that he had originally had the artists in the hallway to give us more traffic, but artists were concerned about safety (a logical issue), so even though the room would be used for other things, they had requested to use the room. That meant that we would have to move our table when it was time for the room to be used by a panel later on.

I immediately prayed about what to do, and felt that it would be better in the hallway because we always take our stock with us at the end of the day and the flow of traffic in that particular spot was constant. (Not to mention the fact that the air flow and big windows were nice too.) So we relocated, choosing the table next to Greggo’s Game Shows and nearby Sakura Sisters.

BUT somehow, we had managed to completely mis-measure our table when we had done the mock-up at home, so while we had thought we were preparing for a 6’ table…we actually prepared for 8’! The little 6’ table meant we had to rework the display, which is always stressful >_< We ended up with a tiny 28” hole for one of our faces to be peeking out of at a time! But it ended up working out so well, because some kind people stopped and bought several things as we were setting up. ;v;

We enjoyed being in the hallway because there was a lot of interesting conversations we got to either listen to or take part in, by table neighbors and attendees alike. Since people were always passing by, it was rarely dull, even during panels.

I already had Eric Stuart's autograph from MTAC 2014, so I was on a mission to get Dan Green's. I debated on what to get signed since all the stuff I would want signed was either on my computer (not printed) or left at home. ;A; in the end I had him sign one of my Yugi + Atem bookmarks.

His first reaction when I handed it to him was “Ooh~" XD I think it’s because it's sparkly and shiny. _{(I'm so happy everyone likes my bookmarks! Even Eric stopped by on the last day and commented on them.)}

I only went to a few panels because I didn’t want to be away from my table too long (and as the days progressed, I had more commissions to do). But both voice acting panels I went to were great; one on Friday evening and one on Saturday. I seriously did debate on going to Dan’s voice acting panel just because he warned us at a previous panel that if we were going, we needed to bring something to take notes on because it would be more of an actual lecture. I love classroom things and learning and taking notes!! But I decided not to go because I don’t…want to be a voice actor… ;v; (I’m a bona fide artist, guys…let me draw and I’m happy XD)

Everyone loved our "cute little window"

Being in the hallway, all weekend we saw Dan and Eric pass by us, usually on their phones and staring straight ahead. At one point though, Dan suddenly seemed to notice our table and kind of kept looking at it as he walked away. XD A little later on Saturday, both of them were passing by and my mom called out, “Hi guys!” and they were looking around trying to figure out where in the world the voice was coming from before they saw us and said hi back. Eric was like “I almost didn’t see you. There’s all these prints and then this cute little window."

Later that day, a bit before we were going to start packing up for the day, Eric stopped by, bent down and asked if we were going to come out from behind our little window and go to see him and his band perform. We don't usually go to concerts because my ears are so sensitive, but when you get asked by the band personally, you have to go!!! So we did and I am so glad! It was a wonderful unplugged performance and we both enjoyed it. We bought three of their CDs at the end and got to chat with them briefly since we were the last ones.

The rest of the day was incredibly slow, and I think that was largely because of the non-stop rain. :/ But some more lovely people came by and bought things, even as we were taking the display down! ;v; Thank you so much!

Oh, and we also talked briefly with a journalist from the Times Free Press, who wanted to know what was going on. We told him a bit about what had happened during the weekend and the last of the panels happening at that moment (one being a game show). He then got my name and business card and took a few photos. I think they ended up only publishing photos from another convention centered around tattoos that he had mentioned, though. But that’s fine. Sundays are always wrap-up days for anime cons, and he came almost literally at the end of it, so there wasn’t much left to report on.

On Day 1, we just wore our normal clothes. We were going to cosplay, but decided not to bother in the end. On Day 2, we both wore maid outfits! My grandmother handmade the aprons, and the dresses are JSKs from Bodyline, which we bought here on eBay. On Day 3, we were going to wear our Lolita outfits (both mostly from Anna House Fashion), but because we evidently lost the ties to my mom’s dress (which I was going to wear), I changed into my maid outfit from the day before.

As for cosplay we saw, we took a few photos that you can see here! There were some epic Yu-gi-oh! DM cosplays (including MANY Kaibas XD) and some other really cool and/or funny ones that I got pictures of.

Lovely people

Greg of Greggo’s Game Shows was a wonderful table neighbor. He was very friendly and we learned a lot from him. He is so good at what he does. Definitely check out his Youtube channel to see his game shows! I was seriously impressed.

I also saw again and met many other people such as Megan (don't know her account), purple-lynx (Tumblr), lilinmira_cosplay (Instagram), and more!

If you chatted with me this weekend, please leave a comment below so I can put a face to the username!

And if you want to keep up with my convention happenings, make sure to follow me on Instagram and/or Tumblr! (I post to both, and sometimes Twitter.)

My next convention will be Kentokyocon in August!