As someone who deals with severe anxiety, the thought of going to conventions regularly always seemed so far out of reach. But one day, I just got tired of letting my anxiety stop me from doing things I love in life and made a change. While I still get anxiety and am definitely still weary to go places, I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to do a lot more than I originally expected of myself. One of those things is attending my third convention, TooManyGames.
My brother and I decided to attend on Friday. A Friday pass was around $75, but obviously they had other options for multi-day passes and VIP ones as well. We figured it would be a bit less crowded then. And we didn’t really want to drive back and forth for more than one day. It took us about an hour and 40 minutes to get to the convention center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
Going On an Outing
It wasn’t too bad of a drive. Though I had to pee about an hour of the way in. We still had around 40 minutes to go and nowhere to use the bathroom. Probably too much information to admit, but let’s just say I would have been a little happier if I really didn’t have to go. And after getting our badges, the very first thing I did was stop at one of their bathrooms!
I did find it funny though that I was able to get in and out of the women’s bathroom quickly, while my brother had to wait in line. It’s usually the other way around! Guess there are more guys attending TooManyGames then women.
After that, we looked around a bit to see where everything was and how they had the convention set up. This wasn’t the first time my brother had attended TooManyGames, but it was for me. Though, I had been in that same convention center last October for Animate Con.
It was definitely a bigger convention than Animate, and there were surprisingly a lot of people for a Friday. But I’m proud to say that my anxiety didn’t bother me despite the crowds in the dealer’s room.
They also had an arcade area, video game area, and places for tabletop gaming, and miniature painting too. Of course, they also had panels and other events, but my brother and I just wanted to go there for the autographs and dealer’s room since we were only attending one day.
Autographs First
We then decided to get the autographs we wanted. We figured it would be smart to get those out of the way first. Then we would check out what the vendors had. First, my brother wanted to get the O.G Goku, Ian James Corlett.
He was really nice and chatted with us a bit. My brother got him to sign a large poster of Goku and Vegeta, where each voice actor for the two characters signed. Luckily, he chose a pretty blue marker that showed up really well on the poster. Then he talked with my brother about all the other signatures on the poster.
After Ian Games Corlett, we decided to head into Kaiji Tang’s line. When we got in there, a lady told us he’d be leaving for a panel in half an hour, but we hoped that the line would move enough for us to get our autographs. Unfortunately, it didn’t and we had to leave and come back later.
A tip to anyone attending conventions, check out the schedules of the people you want to get autographs from beforehand. If you do, you’ll know if they’ll be away for a panel at certain times of the day.
Still, it really didn’t affect us too much because he was the only other voice actor we wanted to get an autograph from. So, we decided to check out what some of the vendors were selling while we waited.
Dealer’s Room
Honestly, I’ve been to three conventions so far and dealer’s rooms are still super overwhelming. It’s so amazing and terrifying at the same time how much cool merchandise there is.
At first, you don’t even know where to start or what you want to look for. Then there’s so many things you want to buy, you have to keep yourself a little bit sane just so you don’t overspend. That’s especially true at TooManyGames. There were so many retro games with really high price tags. I still can’t believe I saw the old Game Boy Advance Pokémon games there for $500 when those very games are sitting in my room right now.
We also met up with one of my brother’s friends at that time too.
Half Way Through the Day
Once it hit around 4:45pm, we returned to Kaiji Tang’s line and waited there. I finally got the chance to sit down for a bit. It was on the floor, but it was still nice to take a break from all the constant walking and standing we’d been doing.
My brother and I also met a nice, friendly fellow fan in line who we talked with. I even got the courage to hand out my blog’s business card to him. So, shout out to him if he ever ends up reading this post!
We actually randomly ran into him later on in the dealer’s room too. It’s kind of interesting how there can be so many people at a convention, but you still run into the same people throughout the day.
After we got Kaiji Tang’s autograph, we headed back into the dealer’s room and just looked around. He was also really nice and friendly. At that point, I was ready to buy some things.
A Very Important Decision
I knew I wasn’t leaving that convention without a Pokémon plushie. And I’m happy to announce I am now a proud owner of an Eevee plushie. She’s so adorable! I’ll be honest, I had the hardest time picking my plushie. I knew I wanted a Pokémon, but there are so many great Pokémon it’s so hard to choose. I mean, you got to catch them all, right?!
We also stopped at an author’s booth and got to chat with him. I want to write books and publish them, so it was really nice and very informative to be able to chat with him.
His name’s Christopher Michael Blake, both traditional published and self-published, and was genuinely a really nice guy. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk with me and answer my questions about publishing. You should all check out his books. You can find them on Amazon pretty easily.
The rest of the day consisted of walking around the dealer’s room. Fun but exhausting sometimes, especially the later in the day and longer you’ve been walking. By the time it hit 8:30pm, a half an hour before the con was going to close, my back and legs were killing me!
I also had this nasty sinus headache, probably because the weather decided it wanted to rain the next day. Thanks for that, weather! And my stomach was begging for dinner. We had some snacks with us, but considering the last meal I had eaten was at 11:00am, I could understand why I was so hungry.
Onward to Home
The ride home took less time than the drive there, which was probably a good thing. And I’m happy to say I did not have to use the bathroom during it! We stopped by Wawa to pick up some dinner, only one of the few places still open by the time we got home. It was nice to finally get some actual food in me.
I had a lot of fun at TooManyGames. Though the thought of conventions can be a bit overwhelming to me with my anxiety, I’m glad I’ve started to go to them again. It’s a wonderful experience to be around people who love the same things that you do. Even if you’re scared to go, I highly suggest you do. It’s definitely an experience worth having.
And if you’re afraid or hesitant, then start with a small convention and work your way up like I am. You’ll find they aren’t as scary as you thought they were. You’ll be too focused on all the endless merch and cool experiences you’re having to even notice any anxiety!
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