A-Kon XIII Mandrew's Review

The Beginning

School drags on, concluding it’s last day. I take my last test, with my out-of-state (almost literally) mind. Summer vacation starts at 11:30, on May 30, 2002, Thursday, which immediately is conquered by that one con in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Yeah, the one with the… anime? People dress up, buy, sell, talk, socialize, and meet new friends. I believe it’s called… A-Kon? Oh yes, that is it. In a mere three hours, I have picked up my friend, on the road, Mapquest.com guiding me, and heading forward, never looking back, to A-Kon. We only made one mistake! Huzzah! Once we arranged our mishap, we found the airport and the Hyatt. We got our bellhop, let a valet parker take our car, and found our room. We checked out everything, which we would experience the next day, and had to rest for the night.

The First Day

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and couldn’t get to sleep for another hour, but once I rested my eyes, I awoke once again at 9:00 a.m. Dealer’s room opens in two hours. So, I have to kill time, which I do with the anime I already brought (Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakushou, and some others). Finally, my friend and I travel downstairs and go to the dealer’s room. We spent about forty-five minutes in there, not buying anything, mostly due to the fact that the fan boys pushed me out of the way.

Bruce Falconer

After that, at 12:00, was a Bruce Falconer screening. We were the first to arrive, at 11:50, and grab front row seats. After talking for about a minute, a middle-aged, long, dark-haired man entered the room, coffee in hand. We exchange hellos, until I finally realized it is Mr. Falconer. People come in and out, mostly staff, asking if they need more electronic gizmos (cables, VHS, TV, etc.). He tells them he needs just a VHS, to which I finally see a VHS tape in his hand. We start talking; exchanging some personal stories, finding out he’s a really nice man. A photographer then came in, in which he worked for a very popular fan site, and even wrote on his laptop while Mr. Falconer was talking. After him, three employees from Beckett came in! It was an odd meeting, since all these important people came in, while I just work for a website only about Dragon Ball. Anyway, the tape included clips from episode 239 (Evil of Men), which, when finally shown, showed how he must only have some voice clips on it, the sound effects, and no music. Then, after seeing this, we hear how his interpretation of how he should do music, such as, if evil starts to rise, then make the scene build up with music, or sorrow, which showed how Bee was shot. The best information I received was that he was told by FUNimation to keep a continuous track of music going, rather than snippets, like the Japanese. He was also told to try and do a more Western track of music, rather than an Eastern style, since we appeal more to rock, guitar, and rap, rather than silent, soothing, relaxing music. Mr. Falconer gave us some sheets to buy some music from him and a place where we could buy it from him that day. The panel was done and pictures had to be taken. I got a picture with a man I respect more now, upon hearing his words about how he deals his work with FUNimation. He loves his job, his music, and his fans, which he views as all.

What is KyleHebert.com?

My friend and I had to leave, because the What is Kylehebert.com? screening was already starting. We walked in, to a show that must have started about one minute prior to our arrival. We didn’t have time to look around for people we knew, so we sat quickly. To my left, there was a guy video taping the panel. I heard my name come from him, to which I looked up to see Tim! He must have noticed my shirt, as well as others did that day. It was an odd meeting, seeing a friend I knew, but didn’t know. Kyle was just a talking away, with his site partners, Steve and Becca sitting to his side. The whole panel was about the site, but most of the questions were for Kyle, until he finally just said, talk to Steve and ignore me. In the middle of that, Jon Allen came by, to which Kyle gave a plug. Again, in the middle of the discussion, Stephanie Nadolny (voice of young Gohan and young Goku) came in! So, both Gohan’s were in the same room, answering almost the same questions. After some questions, Tim asked for one, to which Kyle gave a plug to his site. Tim, after the panel, told me that he wanted Kyle to say nothing about his site, because the whole discussion was about Kyle’s site. We got through about thirty minutes to forty, until Kyle had to start selling his t-shirts. People lined up, to which Kyle gained huge grins. Kyle also had some help, from “Kyle’s Angels,” one of which was Pan-Chan on the site. Tim, Jon, and another fan went to the front, along with my friend, and socialized. Tim and I shook hands, while I talked with Kyle, and then met a man I’ve been trying to meet for so long, Jon Allen. What a treat it was to see all these people in one room at once. We talked for a bit and then, a guy I never got a chance to ask his name (sorry about that man, I was just caught up in the moment) asked Jon, Tim, and my autograph on the Kylehebert.com shirt. Jon wrote a humorous quote, as well as Tim, who wrote the website on it. Beforehand, the guy asked about my shirt, which said “DBZGT Legacy.com 0wnj00!!!111” and said that I must feel sad about having to plug the site to others. I told him it was just all for the site, so I wrote, “The sad one!” on his shirt and signed my name. I wanted to go, but decided to stay, since I didn’t know how long I could stay with these people. I walked off to the side, trying to get Mrs. Nadolny’s autograph, when a worker from Beckett came up, asking if I was the head webmaster of the site on my shirt. I pointed over to Tim, saying that he’s the head web master, but I just work for him. I walked back over to Tim, where we talked for a small bit, until the Beckett man came back. We talked for a bit and gave some information, but I don’t want to say anything about it yet, since they might reconsider something for us that may work out. It may not be what you think it is, so please don’t ask. I want this to be between Beckett and Tim, plus me. But, after that, Tim and I said our good-byes, as well to Jon and Kyle. It was time to meet Scott McNeil!

Disappointment

My friend and I rushed to the autograph line, to which Jon was already in, about ten to fifteen people away from autographs. I can’t worry about jealousy now, because I have to get in line. We stand in line for a while, until moving farther and farther up. Tim met up with us again, after leaving Kyle, who was way behind me. We moved up farther and farther, getting candy and water from people who knew we were waiting. We get up closer, until finally, I’m asked to leave, because Scott has to go to a panel. Nah, forget that! I sneak up closer and cross a rope right next to him and before I meet him, I got an autograph from Mrs. Nadolny. I moved over to Scott and was actually talking with him. We exchanged eye-to-eye contact and talked and he still walked away! Agh, of all the rotten luck! However, I did follow him to the room, since I didn’t know where he was doing it anyway.

Voice Actors Panel #1

We walked on, until finally arriving, where people were already seated with other voice actors (Grant, Osborne, and Weaver). He walked in, gave his apology, in a weird voice, and then began the panel. About five minutes into it, Mrs. Nadolny came in, apologizing to everyone, that she got lost. We talked about everyone’s background, but when the question and answer started, many people focused on Scott. His voices were incredible! He did Piccolo, Duo, some G.I. Joe, Beast Wars, He-Man, and other cartoon and anime voices. He even talked about his movie, to which I never really heard what it was called. Anyway, the panel went on for it’s full hour, spanning lots of time. But, in the middle of it, someone asked if Scott could do the Kamehameha. Being the fan boy that I am, I wanted to say that Piccolo NEVER did the Kamehameha. However, Mrs. Nadolny and Mr. Hebert, who just happened to be in the audience, did get up and do the Kamehameha too. It was so rare and bright (the flashes of cameras), nothing wanted to stop me from seeing it. It was rather interesting. So, we talked and questioned some more, until the panel was done. I was hungry, so my friend and I went to go get some food to eat.

Autograph Line (Once Again)

After food, I had to go once again in the autograph line to get Scott McNeil’s autograph. Kyle was selling t-shirts right next to him, but wasn’t making good business. However, that was about an hour and half after I got in line. Yes, I had to wait one hour and thirty minutes to spend about one minute with Scott McNeil. It was brutal and torturous, but I did spend it with Tim, Infinity, and my friend, so time went by pretty fast. But, my back and legs didn’t think so, for the soreness of the rest of the night could be felt. However, I did make and took some pictures, and even bought another t-shirt from Kyle, so I could give to another friend. After that, I wanted to pal around with some friends, so I joined Tim and his bunk friends in his room.

Tim’s Room

Walking to the VERY end of the hallway, my friend and I finally made it to Tim’s room. I knocked on the door, to which a nice fellow opened the door. A loud, “MANDREW!” from Jon assured me that I was in the right room. I came just in time for everyone to play on the Sega Saturn, playing some DBZ game. It was like Ultimate Battle 22, but much, much faster. The fights were actually really funny, but that soon became boring, so everyone slowly left the room, until we felt it was our turn. After a while, it was only Tim, me, and my friend, so we decided to watch some anime. Tim got out “Ah! My Goddess: The Movie,” to which we watched until it was nine and I had to go. It was actually a really good movie, if you like Tenchi on crack. The artwork was incredible, but story, I think, needed some work, from as far as I saw. We stopped by my room, then went out in search for fun.

Gaming

I had gone to the arcade, console room, and PC room, but out of all of them, the PC room was most fun. The PC room had Counter Strike, Quake III, Unreal Tournament, and Serious Sam. I mostly spent time on Counter Strike and played one game of Quake III. I played around with my friends, until I my eyes couldn’t open anymore, and needed to go to bed. We went to our room, watched a bit of Everybody Loves Raymond, and then went to sleep.

Onto Day Two!