This weekend I am in Indianapolis, Indiana in an attempt to take Shannon to one more city we have never been to so she can buy another Hard Rock Cafe teddy bear, thus bringing the collection to 24 bears.

Oh yeah, and there’s some sort of gaming convention going on here, too.

Wasabi Anime is at Gen Con, the LARGEST GAMING CONVENTION EVER, hosting anime events. (click here.)

I’m not going to lie; I was a little nervous about doing this.  Anime at a table top gaming show?  Would we get pelted with dice by pissed off fanboys angered by my team and I infecting their weekend with Japanese cartoon stuff?  I kept a green D20 in my pocket… just in case.

All my fears were laid to rest, though, after yesterday.

Twitter has been a great tool for us this weekend.  As a matter of fact, Joey Snackpants went to a local pub named Scotty’s Brewhouse wearing his Wasabi Anime shirt, and one of the restaurant staff recognized him from being part of Wasabi Anime via Twitter. Ah – this Interwebz.

On a side note: Joey said the Brewhouse did a KICK ASS job catering to the local Gen Con folks.  If you read this and are at Gen Con this weekend – you should most definitely check them out.

Speaking of Twitter, we did DARE! The Transformers Panel Ultimate to a room full of Transformers fans.  I explained, in detail, why Beast Wars sucks and the audience agreed.  (We have since had folks chanting “Beast Wars Sucks!” when they see us in the hallways.)  Then Joey and I saw this post on Twitter…

From @Palaguin

Enjoyed @WasabiAnime ‘s #Transformers seminar at #gencon. If not for my bum foot, would have loved a 3 hour by them.

It’s good to read that the local gamers are digging our material. :)

We hosted Grand Theft Anime later in the evening.  I can’t remember the last time we performed that particular game show at a convention, but MAN that game is fun.  The audience loved it.  The odd part (for us at least) was the fact that the contestants were able to answer more of the anime trivia questions than folks at anime conventions usually do.  It was crazy, strange and awesome at the same time.

The highlight of yesterday, though, was Mystery Anime Theater 3000.  Joey Snackpants and I left our hotel to go to the panel (which would involve us lovingly ripping into the Sailor Moon R movie).  Our expectation was to share some jokes with a couple of dozen Moonies who would stop by for a couple of chuckles.

We were both VERY shocked to see the line out front of the panel room when we got there and the realized that they are there for Wasabi Anime.  Many of the faces seemed familiar from earlier in the day and, it seemed, we had already started building a local fan base at the show.  By the time we started the movie, the room was STANDING ROOM ONLY.  The audience was involved, laughing and all had a great time with us.

As a lot of my staff know, I haven’t been into table top gaming since my late teens – so when the Gen Con opportunity presented itself, I was on the fence about accepting it and coming.  The amazing feedback and warm welcomes we received from the Gen Con attendees, though, have quickly turned this Florida geek into a Gen Con fanboy.

Now on to day two…