Hello everyone and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! I mentioned in my Ipsy Bag post that MythiCon passed and you know what that means! It’s time for another Convention Impossible! So, was it a accomplished or a complete? Find out below!

This year was the second year for MythiCon and I had the pleasure of doing press for this convention this year along with Gondras and Mr. Nerdy Shirts since I decided to have a complete team. Not only that, before I got the press badges for us I also bought my badge when it was the $30 tear on MyConsOnline and decided to pass the three day pass I bought to a friend of ours that rarely goes to conventions and wanted him to share the experience of this one with us!

Location: The location was still the same Double Tree by SeaWorld near Aquatica, which is close by to the Renaissance, which of course AFO was held a year ago before the Wyndham was finished in time for this year’s AFO. They did change the convention layout due to another conference going on so they had to move Main Events and Special Events to the building in the back to be with the game room and have the dealer room, panel rooms, viewing room, and signings in the main registration and lobby area! It was a long walk for everyone between the two buildings but we could understand why with the second building, which was where Special Events took place last year along with panels and registration. And what was also great was that there was a special voucher for anyone who was parking at the hotel and that it costs $7 for each day and that was cheaper than the regular parking cost of $15 and I would say if they do this again, do get this voucher since it does save you parking costs! Plus you don’t want to get in trouble with police since this year with conventions International Drive and the attractions parts of the area were kind of cracking down on who can park where, I heard about it with MegaCon the most for this year, so we were glad to park at the Double Tree and have handicap parking so we don’t have to park as far in the entire property like with the Wyndham years ago! So this was she same great location with a great bonus!

Vendor Room: I decided to talk about the Vendors Room next since I remembered last year’s being tiny and it was where Special Events was last year but this time it was in the main building and had more room and more people to take over. The vendors choice this year felt not enough anime vendors and a lot more Artists Alley like at Omni. I am not bashing on the artists since I do buy from them and did pick up pretty nifty items from a few this year and will mention that in my haul post from this con but it felt more like there were more artists and the first four or so aisles were filled with them and then from the front left side, next to Chuck Huber’s table (will talk about guests next, don’t worry) towards the back where Linkara, Bennet, and Eric Stuart were had the anime store vendors and it felt like there were only four to five of them when there was supposed to be around 51 vendors according to the Mythic section of MyConsOnline. I did like the sitting areas to take a break which wearing flippy floppies Friday and getting them wet along with my Lucy boots on Saturday, I felt relieved to relax there and my buddy Rayne wished MetroCon did have these as well! I agree, it’s not comfy to sit on a floor and having a table to set your bag down was nice. Back to the amount of anime vendors and artists, I feel like they could’ve had more anime store vendors than artists since it was supposed to be an expansion from last year and using more space that was given along with it. I seen a lot of vendors at MetroCon that came across the state and from Orlando, especially with Anime Pagoda last year, they could’ve gotten most of those vendors to show up. What happened guys!? I did notice that one of the sponsors was Disco Tech, which they had a stand at Metro as well, which is how I got Jinro and Attack On Titan from them, why didn’t they have a stand at this convention as well so they can sell DVDs which it seems to be lacking at most of these events by what I noticed when it came to Orlandoo. I thnk it would’ve been great that they would along with other DVD vendors like Anime Pavilion, which is still around, and even that stand from Maryland and the one from Georgia who came to Florida Anime Experience come to this convention. I know there is always next year, I think I would be happy to purchase some new anime series while I’m at events like this like how I did with MegaCon and AFO years ago and now MetroCon since I picked up pretty good DVDs. Mythic, if you’re reading this, please add DVD vendors and also add more anime merch vendors because that was lacking despite able to get pretty good stuff this year, I think I bought more items this year than last year due to how many more vendors appeared. Still, more anime vendors should be around.

Guests: This year’s guest line up was amazing! They brought not only guests that haven’t been back but also ones that never been here to Orlando and also brought back three guests from last year and they were Little Kuriboh, his wife, Mary Anne Miller, and Linkara! I was really happy about them, LK and Linkara the most, returning for another year. What also made me happy was that Little Kuriboh loves Orlando! That is a really good sign where the guest really loves coming here for a convention! I think he and Mary Anne stayed here for a few more days since they didn’t leave yet like the other guests did on Sunday. What really got me excited about this year’s convention was getting to meet Eric Stuart! Ever since I was a Pokemon, Slayers, and Yu-Gi-Oh fan I always wanted to meet him, even when I read an interview he did with Shonen Jump back in 2004 by what I remembered that I crossed my fingers that he would show up and my patience was granted that he was here for my newest favorite convention! I didn’t tell him this though but will be revealing it here, Eric if you’re reading, Brock was also my favorite character when I first got into Pokemon and even had the Japanese and American trading card game decks of Brock from the Gym Leader set. It was awesome that I got to meet him and not only that get to sit down for an interview with him, which you will get to see in a video of that and some of his performance from Saturday’s events. What was also great in the guests line up is that they got Dameon Clarke who has been in shows like Castle, NCIS, and if you guys loved the original FullMetal Alchemist series like I did, he was the original voice of Scar. This guy was also fun to interview and if you gone to his Borderlands 2 panel with John Swasey, it was hilarious! I did kind of surprised when we had to redo our interview, the video went missing somehow, he thought I did something to my hair when I wore wigs. I know should’ve taped that but hey, was very fun to give him an unexpected surprise. Besides the other guests returning, John Swasey and Chuck Huber also made another return to Orlando after so long! Chuck hasn’t come back since MegaCon 2010 and John did appear at KnightroKon this past year since a guest had to drop out back in June. It was great seeing them again even if Chuck was here only for Friday and Saturday but he still remembered the both of us. I did bring him Soul Eater Part 4 for him to sign since it has Dr. Stein and I did mention my “I’m Going to Dissect You Now” shirt I got a few years back that Aardvark made. I wish I could’ve worn it but there is always next time! Who knows, Omni might get him? I was happy to meet up with John again as well since I did have a few more things to get signed and it was surprising that he was in Brotherhood because he saw my Edward Elric plushie and he played Hoenheim in that series, so that was signed! Besides the old and the new, another new guest was added and that was Bennet the Sage from That Guy With the Glasses! Funny thing was that I was hoping that a convention here would get him since he reviews anime on his show, Anime Abandoned, and lord and behold! MythiCon made my wish, well my and Gondras’ wish come true! Not only I enjoyed Atop the Fourth Wall this year, but his Anime Abandoned Uncensored panel was not only fun to attend but…it was “WTF MAN!?” It did show something he didn’t cover on the show, I would say if you’re over the age of 18 and this is at your local convention and it was allowed (knowing Metro wouldn’t) I would say go to it if you are familiar with Bennet’s show, if not, watch it on That Guy With the Glasses and same with Linkara’s if you must. I recommend them. I still liked the crowd moments that Bennet had at the panels especially during the Borderlands panel. That may have to be placed into the “Bests and Worsts of 2014!”

Events and Panels: I know I should’ve saved the “Anime Abandoned Uncensored” panel for this section, at least I had something to talk about with Bennet. Anyways, I felt like I didn’t go to too many events and panels since we were hanging out in the vendors room and interviewing the guests, it seems that MythiCon improved in this part since the guest roster this year had more stuff to do. Unlike last year’s event there were less repeats of the “Meet [insert name here]” panels and less of them as well and with that it did bring more variety and kept the schedule flowing better. There were a few changes and mix ups with some of the timing and rooms, for example we thought Bennet’s panel on Saturday was going to be at 11 PM but it started at 10 and we were glad to be on time after dinner for it. It did say on the schedule it was at 11 when the schedule was made a month or two ago, I am guessing there was a mix up or something with how it was made or something got cancelled which it does happen. Another thing was that Eric’s performance was supposed to be in Special Events located next door to the Main Events room, since we were hearing him singing through the walls during the Abridged panel, it looked like it was a typo and it was in main events. I know it sounds confusing but hey it looks like most of the events went well even though Closing Ceremonies was late Sunday. We did enjoy the events that we went to and did have a nice discussion during the “Action Cartoons Now” panel and at the same time it felt a bit meh due to looking how action cartoon series have been changing and not a lot of shows from over seas aren’t getting dubbed as much to be shown here on Cartoon Network and did hear Hasbro did pull out of the Hub channel recently. We did catch this year’s “Atop the Fourth Wall LIVE” panel and instead of seeing the newest episode we saw the first episode of the newest season of Long Box of the Damned” which is the Halloweenish segment that Linkara does as a character known as Miorte (sorry if I butchered it!) You can catch the episode of this live edition when Linkara gets it up on his website. We did get some good tips when it comes to hosting things online during the “Life on the Internet” panel that he, Bennet, and Little Kuriboh did Sunday and got to see a bit of Little Kuriboh’s past when he talked about his introduction in making web comics. And also Eric Stuart’s performance was a great one to see since it promoted his new EP that will be released in December and we will be posting that video soon. I did almost get teary eyed during one of the songs and reach for Gondras’ hand. “”instert “aww” here!” The panels and events this year had a great changed to it and hoping next year will bring new guests to the table and probably LK, Linkara, and Bennet back or more That Guy With the Glasses people to this convention.

Needs for Improvement: Like all conventions, not all conventions are always perfect! The needs are:

1. Vendors Room needs more anime dealers
2. The distance between buildings need to be shrunk

Reason for the two reasons! With the vendors room, even though I went into somewhat detail above, it needs more anime dealers and I feel that Artists Alley was dominating it a bit too much. I do like getting handcrafted things but taking over the first half of the dealer room makes it harder for us to notice some of the anime vendors and they should be in the back or have a different room to let more anime dealers take the space up front. Not only that, there are tons of anime dealers all over the state of Florida and a good portion of them are willing to travel to Orlando to sell stuff! I still remembered Anime Pavilion coming here to MegaCon and AFO every year until 2010 I believe and they sold a lot of stuff to everyone that went through their displays of items, hell even in the past I shopped a lot from them and Anime Pagoda, which they’re local btw, in the past! It is also sad that there aren’t enough DVD sellers appearing at some of these events in Orlando as well, they mostly are in Tampa to sell anime or AFO to do that as well. I am hoping next year the vendors room gets more anime vendors since there were like four or five despite the good haul I will be doing next. And then the distance between the front and main building to the one in the back for the game room and other events, I felt like I was back at JACON 2005 when they were first having at the Sheraton International Resort, as in you had to go to the building in the very back of the hotel for everything else including guest signings. I did enjoy the walk all three days but with the rain wasn’t as great since Florida weather sucked for the most part. Not only that, not a lot of people made the trek to the game room since it was so far out. Which that needs an improvement, sorry for not making that important, the game room was slightly smaller than last year. I mean the games they stocked last year was a nice variety with Just Dance and fighting games all around it and you had a mini viewing area to sit and relax to enjoy anime before you get your turn, I would love that again next year since it felt like there was DDR and a few console stuff. Anyways, back to the distance, if there’s nothing else going on, I think the convention should be in the main building and use the second one for game room and other events and panels since that building has a pretty good size to it and many rooms to use and the size was pretty big. Hell, I would even place the dealer’s room in the old Special events room. With this kind of layout the distance would be easier and attendees would know that there is more to the convention a lot easier.

Verdict: CONVENTION ACCOMPLISHED! Why I think it’s accomplished? Well, I think getting press for this thing was a major accomplishment since I have been doing the press thing since last year and was able to have a nice time getting that one on one talk with some of the actors as well. It also made me happy to interview Eric Stuart as a huge accomplishment in my book as well. I still enjoyed “Atop the Fourth Wall” and how the Title Card artist did bring back the Christopher Walken game on top of it during set up, which I forgot to mention, and get to see the Naruto spoof’s new episode that Little Kuriboh had done. Many other accomplishments included getting a starter from Linkara, which he was trading all weekend with people who brought their copies of X and Y. And of course, was happy that Little Kuriboh and Mary Anne and Linkara recognized me with the Pokemon Ranger and Lucy cosplays. All in all, it was a great weekend and glad that we got to meet up with guests we met in the past and got to meet new ones!

What is next with conventions? We are on the fence with Holiday Matsuri because of the guest list right now. J Michael Tatum is coming back and Matthew Mercer is coming as a guest, but we are like we met Tatum and with Mercer is that he is going to be at Omni Expo 2015, which will be at the Rosen Center if anyone hasn’t gone to the Closing Ceremonies. And then George Lowe is making a convention appearance after a few years, it’s like I don’t know. There are rumors about a few guests but not sure if they are true, will be keeping an eye out. We are looking forward to Omni Expo 2015 and the major list of Attack On Titan cast members including the ADR Director making a return! So, keep a look out for my first convention spotlight since I will be working on press passes to get for next year. I am making sure Gondras is with me since he missed this year!

So, what’s next? My MythiCon haul and we will be trying to get the videos up soon! Stay tuned!