(I’m 30 years old, I can say what cons I go to without worrying about doxxing myself it’s fine, shut up nervous brain voices)
So.
Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m ‘working’ as my grandmother’s caregiver. She has Alzheimer’s, which means I already give myself heart palpitations doing my 2-hour-a-day job to make any sort of money. So getting BREAKS??? Hard to do. I get a haircut and groceries and somehow everyone and their aunt needs me back at the ranch.
So it was a little bit of a blessing to get some time today to go to Abilene Comic Con which is relatively local to me.
Now. I’ve kind of forgotten how to do much of anything at this point, in regards to having a life off the computer. I used to go to cons with my friend and partner in theatre crimes back up north, but going to cons ALONE feels way different. Maybe it’s a ‘me’ thing? Like, I spend money, look at the people vaguely (recognizing that now that I have a beard and no bazongas I’m registered as more of a threat on peoples’ passive radars), and kinda. Lose track of anything else to do without anyone to share excitement with.
Today, however… I was on a mission.
I’d planned on coming to this con for a couple months now. But like. The excitement came when I saw the guest announcements for this year.
Namely, admittedly, I was going to see Austin Tindle. I saw the Sonic franchise VAs and the Hazbin Hotel VAs in the announcements and also got pretty hype for those, but Austin Tindle was my “NO FUCKING SHOT” moment.
I’m awful with names (and telling stories but we shut up about that) and so sometimes VA names get all squabbled in my head. Most of the VAs (besides Hazbin because I’m a fucking– I FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING TO JOEL SWISS FUCKING CHEESE GODDAMNIT –nerd) I had to look up for other associated roles, but MR TINDLE. I learned about him because of my. Aforementioned-on-this-site obsession with Trigun STAMPEDE. And then I went “Oh what else did he do– Oh shit he’s the crazy kid (/affectionate) from My Hero”
I needed to come to Abilene Comic Con. There was a driving Trigun-shaped force in my soul going “That man gets recognized for all the roles but I need to show up for Knives goddamnit”.
So after piddling around my house with half the intent to schedule my day around my dad, I got a nudge from his fiancee to not do that and just go have a life for a bit? I’m like okay bet.
I get to the convention center and I’m immediately like. Anxious, actually! I start apologizing to the bag check guys for my ita bag being full of stuff already, I wander around the exhibition hall with like, mild interest, but mostly I was looking for the guest signing areas.
(Sorry local artisans and businesses I do wish I could have spent more money but again I have a 2-hour-a-day job for money)
I turn a corner and I see the banners and I’m going “okay keep calm” to myself. Assess the situation. I saw the Hazbin actors (Joel Perez and Krystina Alabado) off on one edge of the corner, and all the others were lined up against the adjacent wall.
And I do this thing, that is totally unbecoming of a 30-year-old man, and I sort of. Go past the Hazbin actors. Then stop. Then turn back. Then inspect the floor because there’s tape on the floor. Then look around. Then pace a little.
It took two people going ahead of me to the money-handler for me to go okay cool I can just go up now. So I took a breath and looked at the sign for prices and I was like Oooookay I need to soothe the wild horses in my soul because I cannot afford more than 2 autographs today if they’re all going to be about $50.
So I’m REALLY SORRY KRYSTINA YOU’RE WONDERFUL I HAD TO MAKE A CHOICE and I really wanted to say something specific to Joel anyways. (I feel guilty because there were like. Not many people at the booth at least at this time of the morning.)
So the guy handling the money asks me what I’m looking for and I nervous-laugh because oh my fucking gods the Hazbin actors are really close to where I’m standing and I can’t even think (for extra context, I’m also a theatre kid at heart and those two have been in BROADWAY SHOWS, MAN). I say something like “Well, to be honest, I’m kind of broke,” and the guy says that saying Hi is free which is kinda sweet honestly, but I (stupidly) make sure autograph personalization was complimentary (it said so right on the sign dork) and go “I think I’ll get Joel’s autograph”.
Then goes the whole “Who should he sign it to”
and I go “uhh do I use my ‘actual’ name or my chosen name uhhhh go with Wolf”
“Is that your chosen name?”
“Yeeh”
So I choose a print of the Vees all together (because I’m lowkey a huge Vox simp as well) and Joel starts chatting with me, and I’m like, SWEATING. He asks me if I watched Hazbin as it was coming out on Prime and I was like “YES I was watching it as soon as I could” without going into the whole “the episode ‘Dad Beat Dad’ actually made me hesitant to watch for a few weeks but then I bucked up and cried like a little idiot to More Than Anything and everything was FINE”
So Somehow I end up saying what I’ve been thinking about stuff to him in regards to the fanbase.
Something along the lines of “I really hate how people have been treating you because of your character”
And he kinda just waved his hand and went “That’s just people on the internet stuff, it doesn’t bother me”
And idk I probably didn’t need to say it but ever since the show came out and people were conflating Joel with Valentino’s very fictional actions, I’ve been wanting to give him an extra support boost. He doesn’t need it, I just thought it’d be nice. He even laughed and said “People seem to forget it’s not a documentary.”
“Yeah, it’d be real freaky if there were spider people in the real world” wolf shut the fuck up please
“And I’m not a 10 foot moth in real life!”
He was a very good spirit, I feel a bit deflated any time I think of him and Krystina just sitting there if no one shows up for them because 🎵A show about Hell probably didn’t do that well in Abilene fuckin Texas🎵🎵🎵🎵
Then I wandered down the lane of VAs and nearly, nearly went to the Sonic actors but by golly I had to save my second autograph for Austin Tindle.
And at first go around I walked past him looking for his table, and I remember thinking “wait that’s Austin Tindle, where the fuck–“
Because his table hadn’t been set up yet.
So I circled around.
Watched and hovered with the question “Do you need help setting up” on the tip of my tongue as he stumbled on the chair setting up his banner.
Then some other people came in FAST to come talk to him and I was like, yeah go the hell ahead (I’m silently still wiping my forehead from the sheer panic that set in after stepping away from Joel)
So I’m looking through his folio of prints to sign and I do see one (1) print of Millions Knives and I go yesssss. Though I look at my bank account and look at the prices and think to myself “If he has any Fancier Prints hiding away I absolutely will spend the lil extra for it. As a treat.”
So Austin is very fun to talk to, and I really enjoyed chatting with him because that was like. That was some NERD SHIT on my part.
I asked him if he had any more prints of Knives, anything like metallic or foil or anything maybe, he apologetically goes “I think what I have out is what I have for right now,” so I wave it off and tell him the number in the book that the one (1) Knives print was. And he says he’s glad someone is there for that character because there wasn’t as big of a reception at large for him as he’d hoped and I was like. Aghast. Like internally thinking sir is my Twitter/X feed that skewed that I have a wholly ridiculous over-estimation for how much people liked STAMPEDE. Is it truly that niche in actuality. Because I need to go on an advertising kick if that’s the case.
So we genuinely started chatting! I said how Trigun STAMPEDE sort of turned into Trigun taking over my life, he asked if I saw the original show as a kid, I said No, I have a quote from ’98 on my shirt (Moving my bag strap so he can read that my shirt says:
✨Nifty Answer!✨
sorry I asked
and continue to say “I watched Stampede and got hit with the deep need to get into all of Trigun” and then explained how I’m taking my sweet ass time doing so.
“I started reading the manga, it’s just taking me longer than it should,”
And he kinda goes to say to enjoy it and savor it while I’m at it, and I go “Oh yeah, I’ve just got that ADHD thing where I keep getting distracted.”
And he stops immediately mid-fiddling-with-the-payment-device (because the internet was definitely struggling) and fistbumps me
I’m like :DDDD
So somehow, ironically, the conversation led to me saying that I had picked up MHA Vigilantes recently and he asked me how I’m liking it and I go “I really like it so far! I’m enjoying how it poses more of that moral stuff that the original My Hero world kinda brought up,” and he’s nodding and agreeing, and I go “I just have to watch it like 2 episodes at a time as it comes out and it takes me 3 hours because I’m talking to my friends about it the whole time.”
So he signs the Knives print and goes to hand it to me, I nod towards my debit card on the table and go “Did you… charge me?”
and he goes “OH! You’re a good guy, Wolf, not everyone would have–“
Meanwhile I’m reeling because haha I’m a good guy?? Me??
He charged my card (and I don’t know if this part I should say publicly) and he goes “It’s normally $50, but I’m giving you a discount cuz you’re cool, so it’ll be $45 instead”
And I’m just. I’m a good guy AND I’M COOL???
I was in a daze leaving the con soon after that because I don’t have the money to get any of my long distance friends any gifts but I did something for me. And it went so fucking well.
I need frames for these now. I need frames and I need the ability to physically upload actual memories from my brain to my computer.
Cons are fun, support your local comic and anime conventions.
Leave a Reply