Fanime 2015 Badge

So this was my badge for Fanimecon 2015 over here in the Bay Area. I whited out my name, but you can just pretend it says "Jessie Lockhart" there.
This badge is significant to me for several reasons.
1. Because it's first time I've attended Fanime in quite awhile. The last time being '08 or '09.
2. This is the first plastic badge I've seen. I'm used to con badges being pieces of paper in a clear plastic sleeve.
3. The fan name I chose. Usually I would pick Guts from Berserk or something like that, but instead I went for something silly:

KENPACHIRAMASAMA

"Who the hell is that?" you might be wondering. It is significant to me as a name used in one of the first videos I ever saw from Two Best Friends Play, although I originally learned about them through the Two Best Sisters Play videos done by 2Snacks on YouTube.
The "Two Best Friends", now the "Best Friends Zaibatsu", are Matt and Pat, a couple of guys from Canada who love playing video games. They also like to record their playthroughs and drive each other crazy in the process. I first learned about them through 2Snacks who did animated videos featuring Princess Luna and Princess Celestia from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with Matt and Pat's dialogue from their LP's used as the voices of the two ponies. I fell in love with these videos and just had to see the originals to learn more about the two characters who's voices I heard all throughout those videos.
This was sometime last year, maybe around this time, when I started watching "Two Best Friends" on Matt and Pat's YouTube channel. The Switcher. Since then I've watch about half of the stuff they've posted, including the 80+ video LP of Dark Souls 2 with Pat and Woolie, one of the other "Best Friends" along with Liam-sama.

Those of you who pay attention to my posts, including journals, know about my recent bouts with depression. It's been an ongoing, which I experienced again very recently over the past weekend. The same weekend that Fanimecon was held this year. Let's just say that while I had a great time at the con, it mostly when I was with my friends. The times I was by myself and not in a viewing room introducing myself to a new anime series, I was feeling lonely and intimidated by all the people at the con. Not for anything they did, but simply because they were many and I was just one. I felt invisible or simply irrelevant. Granted I wasn't in costume, so that should come as no surprise that no one really noticed me. Though, I did get a compliment from a girl working one of the food vendors at the con for my Kaizo Mario shirt I got from the Yetee.
Still it made me wish I had someone to latch onto and not feel so lonely. I especially wanted it to be a girl. Whether it be a girlfriend or a girl who is a friend, for some reason I was wanting a member of the opposite gender to keep me company. And not for anything mature mind you, but just someone to hang out with and talk to. I really have no female friends outside the internet. I think that says something about how much women intimidate me. Must be why I identify as a sub and prefer to have a woman dom, or something like that.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is this: the fan name on my badge was my own personal dedication to the Best Friends Zaibatsu and the video that first introduced me to them. I've been watching them for only a year, but their LPs have always put a smile on my face. Whether, it's me discovering a new game I might want to play in the future or cracking up at their antics on screen and off screen. Matt quoting the Simpsons and trolling Pat. Pat getting pissed off and back seat driving while Woolie plays DS2. Woolie hyping up a game he really likes and doing Cryme Time with Matt. Liam being the cute one of the group and saying something gross/offensive but in a way that you can't help but laugh. I want to say thanks to you guys for being a bright part of my day as one of the first things I look forward to when coming home at the end of the day is seeing what goofy or epic LP you guys post next. I don't know you and you don't know me, but you still make me, as well as your millions of fans, feel like we're part of the Zaibatsu too. We aren't really, but you know what I mean.

I also want to thank all of you, my DA friends who have helped me out in my dark times as well. It's still an uphill battle, but you all help me tackle it one step at a time. Thanks. ^_^

So let me share with you the videos in question. Ones I still watch today and still get a kick out of.
Two Best Sisters Play Persona 4
youtu.be/yEQ_6geAKwE

Two Best Friends Play Persona 4
youtu.be/u5XNDTFdI4M



BTW, if you can't tell what that is under the badge, it's the Berserk Golden Age Arc messenger bag I got at the con along with some other goodies I might share if enough people want me to.
Also to the gentleman who crossplayed as a neko Hatsune Miku, I'd like to send you the pic I took of you if you are interested. I was the short guy in the red shirt in the main hall.