Hello everyone from Santa Clara Convention Center for the first ever Crunchyroll Expo!
I’m only able to come for a day this year, but you can be sure I’ll be back for the full weekend next year!
It was literally a day of waiting in line for me, but it was worth it!
Line #1: Entering the convention center. As experienced conventioneers, my sister (Nellybeans) and I left home early to try and be near the front of the line. We got to the convention center at 9:30AM, 30 minutes before they opened the doors to registration/badge pick-up to the public. We weren’t at the front, but close enough to not complain.
Line #2: Badge pick-up. Nellybeans and I registered online earlier in the week, so we got to skip that line and went straight to picking up our badges.
Line #3: Right after picking up our badges, Nelly and I went to line up for autograph tickets. While waiting for the tickets, Nelly realized that we didn’t get our proof of having a Crunchyroll Premium account, so she went back to registration to pick up our Premium stuff while I held her spot.
The goodies that came with a premium membership:
- Exclusive Crunchyroll Premium large tote bag/backpack
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Exclusive Crunchyroll Premium pin
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Crunchyroll Premium membership badge
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Early entry into the Exhibit Hall
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$5 off a $30+ purchase at the Crunchyroll booth
As for autograph tickets, I was happy to have been able to get tickets for the two people I wanted to meet the most:
Line #4: Entering the Exhibit Hall. We finished up with the autograph tickets line about 30 minutes before the Exhibit Hall opened to the general public. With a premium membership, I was able to enter early, but I chose to wait with Nelly.
We walked around, bought a few things, and got freebies (I got a copy of Sims 4 for the PC and Nelly got Madden for Xbox One from the EA booth).
Line #5: Meeting Adam Savage. One of the brains behind the explosion-filled Mythbusters. It was a long wait, but I was extremely excited when I was able to meet him!
Line #6: Meeting Caitlin Glass. After meeting Adam Savage at the Exhibit Hall (he stayed at his booth), I rushed over to the main Autograph Hall for the voice actress of one of my favorite Love Live characters (Maki Nishikino), Caitlin Glass. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take a picture with her since she was past her scheduled end time.
After obtaining Caitlin’s autograph, I was finally able get off my feet. I was able to sit and rest for about half an hour until Nelly came out. Both of us rested a bit more before going to Artist Alley.
At Artist Alley, I bought a new board game to try out for Tabletop Thursdays. Nelly bought a bunch of stickers for her laptop.
Left the Con soon after that for dinner and sleep. 11 hours of awesomeness and a nearly empty wallet later, here I am relaxing. Have to be up early tomorrow for a mandatory meeting.
Definitely going to try to go to Crunchyroll Expo next year, and I might even staff (staffed year 2 of Fanime, so I might continue that trend).
Time to rest up!
