Earlier this month we travelled to Rosemont, IL for the illustrious convention, Anime Central. This was our first time at this particular convention and I have to say, we were really treated like kings. They set us up with non-stop flights on Southwest. This alone was awesome! I don’t think I’ve ever been on a non-stop flight; but it was awesome! This was also our first time flying Southwest. Aside from the mess that is getting on the plane, the flight staff really cracked me up.  I’d like to fly them more just for that. We arrived in the area the day before the convention and were taken to see Star Trek that night. Not only was it a great movie; but the theater we saw it in was so posh! Everyone had their own reclining love seat. The convention staff was particularly helpful in every way, especially a gentleman named Kevin. Thanks Kevin! The days were filled with panels and fans. The nights were filled with awesome and food.

A few highlights:

I got to meet the voice of Lord Zedd.

JM showed up to hang out.

My family came and they got to experience their first anime convention.

We made a new drink called “The Steve”.

Lots of great food.

A poor fan dressed in white got an epic nose bleed in front of our table.

We got to see Dave, Scott, and Karian.

Most people don’t have to spend much time with me before they discover that I have unique tastes. For example, I will pretty happily eat raw ramen, and I prefer sitting upside-down in a chair as opposed to the proper way. This weekend my longest running example of unique taste was tested at Animation on Display.

We were fortunate enough to be asked to be guests at AOD this past weekend. Maybe it was because Three Panel Soul really is a convention draw; but I’d rather think it was because we live 20 minutes from where the convention is held in San Francisco and we’re friends with the staff. In any case, we were there with the likes of Ken Pontac, Richard Epcar, and my ultimate crush, Jonny Yong Bosch (JYB for future references….and there will be lots of them).

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came out in 1993. I was 10 or so and had never really seen an Asian in television. Then the Black Power Ranger, Zach, was replaced by Adam, the new cute Asian on the block. I was smitten on sight….or about as smitten an 10 year old can be. After three or four reincarnations of the Power Rangers I stopped watching. It had gotten a bit too ridiculous even for me and they took Adam away. *By this point I still had not received the Zords as a Christmas or birthday present (something to this day that I’m a little miffed about and should rectify with Ebay; but this is actually totally irrelevant to the point I will eventually make.)

I lost sight of JYB at this time and was forced to love Ensign Harry Kim from Star Trek Voyager instead.

In 2002 I met my husband Ian and somehow convinced him to let me come to Otakon 2003 with Mac Hall. I didn’t actually know anything about anime at the time and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think Trigun must have also been very popular at the time because who else was at the convention? JYB, that’s right. Unfortunately, Mac Hall got slammed that year and I was unable to see him. I sat down at my terminal at the airport to go home sad and dejected, Trigun card and silver sharpie in hand, when a friendly gentleman who had also attended Otakon asked, “Isn’t the JYB over there?” pointing to the adjacent terminal. After a bit of hyperventilating and adjustment of my DigiCarat hat, I shuffled over, sharpie and card in hand and blurted out

“MR.BOSCHYOU’REMYFAVORITEPOWERRANGER

CANIHAVEYOURAUTOGRAPH?!”

I think he must have thought that I was special; but I got an autograph and a picture none the less.

Many cons have come and gone since then, many with JYB at them; but this year I finally got my head together to talk to him like a normal person. After all, we were guests, he was a guest. Equal terms right? Nope. I couldn’t muster up a single word to him until a friend on staff at the convention, Albert, conveniently placed him beside me at the guest dinner. (Ian was on the other side of me and is well aware of my crush.) I realized where I had been placed and shot Albert a nasty look as he smiled largely at me. (My crush is pretty well known amongst my friends.) I really spent most of the dinner talking with Ken Pontac, who is a real treat to talk to if you get the chance. Occasionally JYB would share a story or have a bit of input; but for the most part I really only talked to him while explaining the food on the menu. I left that night saddened by the realization that JYB is just a guy.

All my friends on staff couldn’t wait to hear how my dinner went and whether or not I actually talked to JYB. I told them with a sigh that I had and that he was really just a guy. I’m sure this sounds silly; but I’ve been crazy about him since I was 10, so this realization was ruff for me. I felt though that this was maybe better for me to know. JYB is just a guy. I don’t need to hyperventilated around him and can talk to him like a normal person; but I still wanted him to be the Power Ranger I was smitten with. Now my image of what I wanted him to be was lost.

Sunday night I listened to the special podcast by S-Words interviewing JYB. It was an interesting interview and quite amusing; but the end is what really made me smile. At the end of the podcast everyone did a sound off of things related to JYB. I only wanted to hear one thing all weekend at the convention. Those three little words that would rekindle my love of JYB….that’s it…..just three little words….then JYB yelled into the microphone…

IT’S MORPHIN TIME!

I’m smitten all over again. ^_^

Here’s some pictures from the convention.