Game Journal #125.75 - Sonic Con Dallas

Hey guys! Back again with another journal. At this point I should probably make a "Life" section instead of keeping them all in the "Game Journals" section, but eh... maybe in the future. Lol.

Well as you can guess from that, this doesn't have any new game progress. But it's almost 2026, and that means my gap year is coming to an end. I've actually got something planned for the new year (game related) that you guys may like! But I'm not revealing what it is until then, so stay tight.

Anyway, as you can guess from the title, I went to a convention! A Sonic convention, no less. I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a lifelong Sonic fan (and pretty diehard at that!) I saw a advertisement for it online, but what really sold me on it was the fact that my favorite Sonic voice actor, Ryan Drummond, was going to be there!

Not to mention, it was about a 4 hour drive from where I live, and I'd never been to Texas. So I figured, why not? I haven't gone on vacation by myself in forever. The last time was... actually, maybe it was my first time (at least, where I stayed overnight at a hotel.) Anyway, I got all my preparations done about a month in advance. I booked a flight (my car kinda needs some work lol) got the hotel, got the ticket for the con. But I also made my own homemade cosplay of a character from the games, Bark the Polar Bear.

This guy.

I chose to cosplay as Bark because I already had a yellow shirt that was his shade, and the rest of his outfit is pretty standard stuff (like the scarf and hat.) It wasn't perfect, but I did look like him... kinda! A bunch of people came up to me at the con and asked for photos lol. I also got a lot of reactions like, "OMG Bark the Polar Bear?!" "Hey I like your costume!" "I love obscure characters!" Lol. I think my favorite was someone that went "BARK THE POLAR BEAR IN THE BIG 2025?!" which was pretty funny.

Getting a bit ahead of myself here though, the day of the con was pretty crazy starting out. Firstly, my flight was delayed because of a ground stop at the airport it was going to. According to the pilot, it was probably because of the whole government shutdown, which means nobody at the airports were being paid, and people were dicking around/calling in sick. My flight was for 7:15 am, and the con started at 11am (with me supposed to arrive at 9am.) I lost about an hour due to the delay, and got there about 10 am. The airport was about 45 minutes from the con... wasn't looking good.

By the time I got everything set (getting shuttle to the main airport, getting rental car, checking in at hotel, changing into costume) it was 12:50 pm. Lol. Unfortunately I missed the voice actor Q&A for the con which was at 11, but I did manage to catch the next panel I wanted, Sonic trivia (which was set for 1pm but started late.) So all in all, not too bad!

Next on the agenda was getting what I came there for, Ryan Drummond's autograph. I also planned on getting David Humphrey's (Shadow's original voice actor) too, so I drew an image of Sonic and Shadow for them to sign. It was about an hour wait for each, Humphrey's was a little longer because he went to eat while I was there. Lol. There was also an option to get a photo/video with them, but I was on a budget so I snuck the above pic. I tried to get one of Humphrey too but the people in front of me were too tall. Rip.

Something that was really interesting about this part was that the people in each line corresponded to the character. The fans in the Sonic line were outgoing, they showed me their merch and we talked about games. But everyone in the Shadow line kept to themselves and just used their phones. Lol. I guess it makes sense!

I got my art signed (above.) I had cool interactions with both Ryan and David! They both really liked my art. Ryan looked at it for like a minute straight hahaha, he was also able to tell that I made it because I brought the marker for him to sign. "Only artists bring their own markers," he said to me. What happened with David was a lot more chaotic, I accidentally dropped my art on the floor the instant I said hi to him, I was so embarrassed lol. Then afterwards, he forgot to give me my marker back and I had to take it, it was pretty funny. But it was cool, they also both read their quotes that they wrote aloud to me. I was so happy and excited! 120$ in total, but very worth it.

After that, I walked around the artist alley/gallery for the rest of the time. Unfortunately, the artist gallery had a rule where only ONE of the print could be sold per day, so by the time I got there all the prints I wanted were gone. I was really disappointed because there was this really amazing BlackDevilX Final Fantasy Sonic tribute drawing that I wanted to buy... he'd passed away last year, and I'd loved his games so much. The artist alley had more stuff, but in spite of that, nothing was grabbing my attention. I thought I would leave with just the autographs... but then I found a vendor selling a Final Fantasy Sonic shirt!

I was so ecstatic when I saw it, I went right up to the artist and I said, "IS THAT BLACKDEVILX FINAL FANTASY SONIC?" and he gave me a look and said "Maybeeeee ;)" haha. I bought it right away, and he said "Thanks Bark!" afterwards (in reference to my costume.) Really made my day!

After that I was pretty much done with the con so I left. But my day wasn't over yet! I saw there was a Mitsuwa marketplace about 30 minutes away, so I drove over there and enjoyed Japanese culture/food for about 3 hours. I love Arkansas, but MAN the Asian scene here is pretty much nonexistent. There's so many things I miss that I could easily get in New Jersey... so I made sure to buy a bunch of stuff. Onigiri, melon bread, tricolor dango, takoyaki, and some other things too. There was also this cool revolving sushi place that I ate at! All in all, I'm glad I barely bought anything at the con because my luggage ended up being completely filled by Japanese food.

Overall, I had a lot of fun! I'm really glad I went, and I feel really refreshed. I kinda forgot how it feels to go outside, walk around, and talk to people about things you enjoy... at home I just work, go home, draw. I guess a social life is somewhat important too. That being said, I'm more than ready to stay indoors for the rest of the year lol.

I should be done with that animation I was making soon, so game dev stuff will come back after that. See you then!