Anime Mid-Atlantic
Anime Mid-Atlantic was an anime convention that Chris attended on 29 May 2004 and 17 June 2005. It took place at a Holiday Inn (now DoubleTree) in Richmond.
2004
Anime Mid-Atlantic took place on May 28–30, 2004. Chris recounts this event in Sonichu's News Dash! #5:[1]
|
On May 29, 2004, I, Christian Chandler, attended my first Anime Convention. I had a good time watching some Anime, sampling some Ramune (Japan Soda), and other things. My main highlight though was meeting the lovely and sweet-spoken voice actress,Monica Rial (pictured next to me to the left). Monica is well known for being the voice behind many Anime characters. Some of which include: Hyatt (Excel Saga), Saki (Steel Angel Kurumi), Mikako (Martian Sucessor Nadesico [sic]) and Shii (Puni Puni Poemy). She also sings opera very nicely, and she is a very nice, fun and sweet person to hang around with. She sure made my day a sweet one. ;8) |
Chris develops his shoulder fetish.
:D
;D
2005
Chris anticipated this event in Sonichu's News Dash! #9 and #10:[2] It took place on June 17–19, 2005.
| Since he has put himself into Sonichu’s world, he will “Cosplay” as himself (talk about self-respect, huh?). Also, he will be watching some of the good anime, getting some souvenirs, participating in some of the events and just having a good time. Also, he will have some printed copies of the Sonichu Premiere Issue #0 on hand, but if you want a collectable copy, you will have to find him, and ask for one. At the convention, as noted for now, there will be quite a selection of special guests attending, such as ADV voice actors, Greg Ayers [sic] and Doug Smith, and author Robert V. Aldrich. CWC hopes that Monica Rial will be there again this year (see News Dash! #5 for his previous encounter with this lovely Voice Actress)! 8) Also up for fun are the Art Shows, contests, Guest Panels, Workshops, Video Game Room, Vendors to sell Cool Anime items (some imported from Japan), and much, much more. |
This year, Chris stayed for all three days of the convention, and spent two nights at a hotel alone.
Chris with an early Son-Chu
GameCube...check.
24-pack of Pepsi...check.
Pixelblocks...check.
...I said "check".
Erotic soap dish...check
Comic!Chris costume...check!
AWESOME!!!
Witness account
In May 2010, the blog Topless Robot had a contest for "Most Shameful Nerd Moment". One commenter named tasakeru828, who ran a Sonic panel at what was presumably Anime Mid-Atlantic 2005, described the experience:[3]
| I actually met Chris-chan at an anime convention before ED found out about him and started trolling him en masse. A friend and I were hosting a Sonic the Hedgehog panel and trying to prove that not all Sonic fans are as batshit insane as they're made out to be. That noble goal was shot to hell when the one-and-only Christian Weston Chandler arrived in all his clown-shirted, Sonichu-medallion-wearing glory and started handing out free copies of his first issue. He asked us a completely unintelligible question (thinking mistakenly that we actually had some influence on the series as a whole), and afterwards he babbled at us personally while we smiled and nodded trying to look interested. We obviously knew he was mentally ill, but we had no idea that we were meeting a future Internet legend. Now, I still persist in my goal to prove that some Sonic fans are decent, intelligent people. (...) But Lord, Chris-chan comes very close to ruining it all for even me, and that should tell you something. |
Aftermath
Chris did not go to another convention for a long time.
In 2010, Chris planned for a time to visit the Otakon convention in Baltimore (in large part so he could meet Jackie there), but he managed to thwart himself by spending the money he'd set aside for the expedition. In an e-mail to Jackie, he claims that he overdrew his bank account shortly before the trip. This incurred the wrath of his parents, who refused to allow him to leave the house.
Chris also hoped to attend the 2011 MAGFest gaming convention in Washington D.C., but he once again failed to save up for a room. After his parents learned of his backup plan to spend the weekend sleeping in a hotel lobby and/or his car, they put the kibosh on the planned outing in spite of Chris's stubbornness. In another e-mail to Jackie, Chris claimed that they threatened to lock him out of the house if he tried to make the trip regardless.[4] Also, in an e-mail he sent to a gal-pal played by LoveYouLongTime, he claimed Barbara threatened suicide over the matter.[5]
At long last, in August 2015, Chris went to OmegaCon, where he competed in the cosplay contest as Vinyl Scratch, a character from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Sources
External links
- Official Website
- Anime Mid-Atlantic 2004 Convention Information Page
- Anime Mid-Atlantic 2005 Convention Information Page
- Wikipedia page