Hello Sunny Siders! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful week. I had an opportunity to attend my first Anime Con this past weekend and I wanted to talk about my experience.
I went to MegaCon with my fiancé and my brother and the three of us had a wonderful time overall. The convention was VERY crowded, but I learned after the fact that MegaCon is the second largest con in the US, with over 180,000 attendees over the 4 day weekend!
We got there a little bit after opening, and walked from our pre-paid parking spot to the convention. I highly recommend getting the pre-paid parking it made the event so much easier and stress free given that the traffic to get there was INSANE.
Once we got to the convention we got in line to go through the metal detectors, scan our tickets, and activate our badges before entering the convention center. There were opportunities to buy special themed lanyards for your badge, but free ones were also generic ones available which is what we opted for.
The first thing we did was book it to the Artist Alley. Artist Alley is the area of the convention where artists can pay to have a booth to sell their fan art or original concepts. This is different than the rest of the vendors at the convention which tend to be licensed brands.
Naturally, with my new found passion for digital art, I wanted to support my fellow small business friends. There was one stand in particular that I wanted to visit and that was for Sundrop Studios. Her convention and small business vlogs were actually what inspired me to start my Etsy shop, so I wanted to gift her a few of my stickers and express my gratitude.
She was genuinely such a nice person and meeting her and getting to thank her was the highlight of the convention for me. I also bought an adorable shirt from her and an Avatar the Last Airbender print that I can’t wait to frame and put in my apartment.
From there, we weaved our way up and down every row of the Artist Alley. I bought so much merch and I want to highlight each artist here!
The Juice Box Club was the second stand I stumbled upon. She was selling the cutest Studio Ghibli inspired keychains and pins, plus other adorable goodies. Since I have become a Studio Ghibli fiend, I had to get this adorable Calcifer keychain. I also got these silly Kirby stickers for my brother, and this Sriracha chicks enamel pin.
From there, we continued to wonder until we found Oddity Sisters. They were selling cozy Animal Crossing inspired goodies and I had to pick up this working 3-D printed elephant watering can from the game! They also were participating in a stamp rally, where consumers who purchased from all the shops in the rally you get a special prize from each. I didn’t end up completeing the rally, but it was fun to get to see a stamp rally in person!
By far the most creative stand in Artist Alley that I stopped by was Chaotic Blobs which was designed to look like a fish market. I got this hilarious sticker for my brother.
If you’ve been a long time follower of the blog you know I am a huge anime fan. Specifically, Demon Slayer is my favorite anime and the one that started my obsession. I was dressed at the con in my Rengoku shirt, claw clip, shoes, and necklace to support and represent my fandom. That was why when I found Proxi Dreams Art, I had to get these Demon Slayer Hashira donut stickers. I actually got these for my dad, because we share love for the show.
Throughout looking at all the gorgeous vendors in the Artist Alley, I was on the hunt for anything Saiki K for my mom. I stumbled across this adorable sticker and instantly had to get it for here. Cereusly Lunar had the cutest Sanrio inspired art and adorable anime art too!
Another vendor I was hoping to see at the convention was PepperCut, who had the cutest sticker sheets I’ve ever seen. I have been following her for awhile and was so excited to have the opportunity to support her. Genuinely these sticker sheets are too cute to use, and I am planning to frame them and use them as decor instead!
The last vendor I purchased from in the Artist Alley was Nick Lanza who had the most gorgeous poster prints. There were so many I wanted to buy, but I limited myself to the buy two get one free deal. I got a Club Penguin poster for my brother, a Stardew Valley one for myself, and an Assassination Classroom one for my mom because it had her favorite character Karma on it! These posters are such high quality, and I know I will be buying more in the future!
After we finished up in the Artist Alley, we got to exploring the rest of the con. There was an entire area that they designed to look like Batuu from Star Wars which was super cool. So many guests were cosplaying as characters, and the area even had music to add to the immersion.
There was also an area to see real droids from Star Wars which was really interesting!
We continued to roam around exploring some really cool booths, like one that was selling video games from Japan and another selling Anime DVD’s where I purchased the Assassination Classroom Animated Film for my mom as a gift!
After exploring for a bit, we took a pit stop break for lunch. There were tons of food vendors, but we settled on Bao Buns and Boba Tea! My brother and I both had the fried chicken Bao which was juicy and delicious. My fiancé got the fired chicken and the fried shrimp and he really enjoyed them both. For Boba, I got a classic milk tea and for being at a convention I thought I was pretty good. My fiancé got a Taro tea and he enjoyed it as well.
When we finished lunch we went and got a set of Photo Booth photos taken at Intels booth! The pictures were so cute and it was fun to have a little memory to take away.
Then, we got to try Gamer Supps as they had a special station where fans could try their energy beverages with very brand risky names. Honestly, for as much as our favorite creators hype them up I wasn’t the biggest fan but then again I’m not much of an energy drink person so that is likely why.
We continued to stroll until my fiancé’s friend joined us to continue walking around the convention. They both got blind boxes tailored to X-Box, One Piece, and Naruto before we headed to the second floor to take a look at the events going on.
To be honest, we definitely weren’t novice to the con life and didn’t look ahead at the planned events or celebrity greeting which is something I would do very differently when I return next year. There were some actors/actresses at the con that would have been really fun to have met, so I will certainly be looking more intently in the future. The same goes for the events as we did not look at any of them ahead of time. I wish we had because it would have allowed for a nice break between the large crowds of people all trying to shop.
The one event we did go to was a friendship bracelet making station, but we arrived too late to really get any goodies to make our bracelets. Regardless, this was a nice spot to relax away from the large crowds.
When we finished hanging out upstairs, we went back down for another round of looking at the booths. I found the cutest vendor Milk Mocha which are the cutest little bears that reminded me of my bears Toby and Cashmere.
I got a desk mat that looked like a digital camera and every time I go to my desk I smile when I see it.
After saying goodbye to my fiancés friend we headed home from the con. Overall, I had a wonderful time and I cannot wait to go again. It was so fun getting to be in a place with a bunch of people who shared my love for anime and all things kawaii! Next time, I really want to go all out and try my hand at cosplay.
Sunny Side Up With Siri 