Comic Books

C2E2 2020 day two recap: “Finding my Stride”

The journey at C2E2 continues…

March 1, 2020

Check out Ari’s first-day recap here.

I suppose day two of my C2E2 journey would aptly be categorized as the training arc of this very condensed anime. It was a lot packed into a little time before the big finale. Even when I was on the train to the convention, I had a newfound determination. I knew it might go away as soon as I hit the show floor, but I was determined to do more and do more I did. While I was waiting to be let in, the determination had still not yet gone away, and I took the first steps when acting on it. I asked a cosplayer to be a part of this year’s AIPT C2E2 cosplay gallery. I’m not sure how big it will be, as I’ve only ended up working up the nerve to ask a small handful of people so far, but this was a big step taken while still in the line!

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Once we were let in, I was determined to continue riding that wave when it came to artist alley. After talking to my first creator, I knew one thing: having that first “magical creator moment” was not going to be easy. All of my conversations were longer than yesterday’s, it was just very hard for me to hold a conversation across the table. It’s possible that my confidence would dip every time I met a creator because I was getting over a cold and I didn’t want to risk any chance of giving it to them. That being said, I do have my strengths, and I made sure to use them to my advantage. While I can’t always sustain it for very long, I can hype up me and this site to anyone I see and use that to gain future opportunities. I have four confirmations for future interviews that make me tremendously excited, and I still enjoyed my conversations in the moment, no matter how brief. I also got a ton of comics signed by my favorite creators, and it was while I was in line that I really began to feel part of it all. No longer did I float above my own body. Now I was on the ground with people, talking to them little by little. It was amazing to see all of the different experiences and motivations behind just one signing. While someone like me only brought one or two comics they hoped the creators would sign, others brought entire miniseries, and even more were there to get as many as they could CGC graded, but we all shared the same excitement, and it was really cool to be a part of.

I also conducted my first con interview. That is something I have yet to master. I enjoyed myself, and I think we had a great conversation, but I have not picked up on secret places on the show floor to go for less noise or what to do when my questions aren’t right in front of me. I left them in my backpack because I wanted to have more of an organic conversation, but I wish I had remembered more of how great the books were. These are definitely notes I’ll take with me for next time.

I have to admit, by that time I was pretty tired, and the day wasn’t even half over. Luckily, the rest of the day was panel coverage, which has somehow become kind of relaxing for me. Now, that may seem insane. How could having the responsibility of live-tweeting the most important information as fast and as detailed as possible be relaxing? Well, it turns out that once I get into that mindset, I really get into some kind of zone that’s a lot of fun and easy for me to keep up with. The only downside is that, as a fan, I really don’t have any time to emotionally process what’s happening until it’s over, but that’s okay, the excitement doesn’t wane much. Then, just like that, I was done for the day. It’s hard to believe that my first major con is almost over. I really only have a panel or two tomorrow, a couple more creators to see, and then it’s time to fly back home. Thanks for continuing to go on this journey with me everyone. See y’all for day three.