I’ve never been to a convention of any kind (anime, video games, trade, etc) so I was excited to see how it was.  I’ve known of them for years, but honestly never looked into them.  I never really had any friends that were interested enough to go, and not about to spend money to buy a ticket and drive there too (welcome to Miami).  So, my wife (whose also my best friend) went with me to check it out.  She has no interest at all in the anime/video game world, but she’s open minded!

I’ve been around cosplayers before since I used to hang out with a group of friends who were into it, but I’ve only seen talent and dedication like I saw here in pictures and video.  It was great to be around so many people who have the same interests and you can breathe a sigh of relief.  I could talk about anime or maybe the newest PS3 game and not be looked at like “huh?  What’s that?”.  On the contrary, they will know more than me!

There was a large area with big screen TV’s, PS3’s, a Nintendo 64 (finally!), Wii, and even a room to play Just Dance.  I’m heavy into fighting games, so I was anxious to challenge someone but it was full of people…

There were lots of things for sale from Pocky to Dragonballs!  (Yes, the REAL Dragonballs.  All 7 of them…almost wanted to call Shenron…).  There were comics, t-shirts, figurines, a K-Pop section, and just about anything you can think of.  There wasn’t a heavy gaming presence (which is why it’s called “Animate!”), but I appreciated everything else that was going on.

There were many guests available and speaking in various panels about their careers and accomplishments.  From anime voice actors to comic book writers to TV show actors, and most of the behind-the-scenes people who you never knew that create some of the entertainment we know and love.

One of the highlights of the convention was wrestling!  They have a Florida SuperCon Wrestling show where famous faces like The Joker, Cobra Commander and Goku face off for the title of champion.  It wasn’t cheesy or boring and was done with a great level of organization.  If you’ve never seen any of this, please click here for a clip.

Where does God come into the picture though?  While I was walking the hotel and seeing everyone and everything going on, I really felt the Holy Spirit leading me to start something in this environment.  In actuality, this was the catalyst that started me even writing this blog.  I wanted to see if anyone was doing anything to impact this generation in any positive manner, and there are a few groups making some noise.  Game Church is going to gaming conventions (even e3!) and showing the love of Christ, while blogs like Beneath the Tangles are showing you that God is alive and well in anime.

In a couple weeks (July 5th, 2014) I will be hosting a one hour panel at Florida SuperCon 2014 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

You can add it to your schedule here <–click

If you live in Miami and are attending, please let me know and I would love to meet you there.  There will be a raffle, fun, food and lots more!  It’s my first time doing this, so I’m probably going to over due it…but hey, better to over than under due right?