The Vegas Vacation Part I: NeonCon & The Tropicana

So how did I wind up in Vegas?  I’ll make this part straight to the point:

• Wasabi Anime appeared at Gen Con this year.
• Instead of a Wasabi Anime table in the dealers room, we opted to let the Mint Chocolate Chippies promote during the convention.
• Gamers, it seems, love Mary & Pepper Mint (and pin up models in general.)
• The Mint Chocolate Chippies got invited to appear at NeonCon via the convention’s staff that Mary and Pepper met while attending Gen Con.
• NeonCon learned that the Mint Chocolate Chippies are managed by Green Mustard Entertainment… the company that owns Wasabi Anime.
• Looking to expand their programming, NeonCon then invited Wasabi Anime to be guests.  Tentacle Chris and I also got scheduled to appear.

Thus: Vegas.

And this photo:

Each year, Shannon and I plan a trip for our anniversary (mid-November) to go someplace that we’ve never been to together.  So we decided to extend being in Las Vegas for NeonCon in order to go see the Grand Canyon.  So our anniversaries to date have been

2008 – Key West, Florida

2009 – Baltimore, Maryland (by way of Washington, DC)

2010 – Grand Canyon, Arizona (by way of Las Vegas, NV)

NeonCon very much reminded me of Ancient City Con (a convention Wasabi Anime appeared at this year in Jacksonville, Florida.)  It’s a smaller event, but full of a lot of people dedicated to having fun in their geekdom.  One of the best things about NeonCon, quite obviously, was the location: The Tropicana in Las Vegas.  The resort is just finishing up a MAJOR renovation and the entire place had that new-yet-retro feel to it.  Certain parts of it weren’t done yet (such as the swimming pool renovation and The Las Vegas Mob Experience) so I’d be interested to see how it looks the next time I return.

The hotel and the convention both made for great experiences.  You can see all the photos on Wasabi Photoshoots by clicking here, but none of the photos is as epic as this one I took of Tentacle Chris while we walked down to The Strip to grab lunch at Del Taco:

Thank you.  Thank you very much.