Megacon 2025 Day 1
The world might be becoming a more scary place by the day, but I refused to let those fears keep me home. Not when Megacon is one of the events that I look forward to every year. And so for this week, I’m substituting my Surviving the Felon Series with four different posts with each documenting a different day of Megacon 2025.
Thursday tends to be the least busy day of the event. Not only because its in the middle of the workweek. Actually, scratch that. The main reason really is because its in the middle of the work week. That wasn’t to say that there were few people visiting the Orange County Convention Center. Thursday is simply the calm before the storm that is the rest of the event.
Let’s dive in and see a glimpse into my Megacon 2025 experience. These pictures were small windows into what I saw. After all, everyone there is busy doing their own thing and I had to pick and choose when I asked cosplayers for pictures with care.
Cosplay
Speaking of Cosplay, that is one of the three things I tend to focus on at the convention. The other two happen to be panels and exploring the sales floor. The above pictures are some of the Cosplay’s that stuck out to me in a good way.
I was happy to see more Bloodborne Cosplay this year. I have the beginnings of a Father Gascoigne Costume and thanks to Eldin Ring, Fromsoft Games are more popular than ever before. But that isn’t to say its all I found.
I got a chance to ask a Green Ranger how they play their sword flute. They didn’t answer of course but the attempt is what counts. Space Jam, Star Wars, and Halo rounded out my picture taking for the day. But there were a lot more people I didn’t document. But that was ok. Thursday is meant to be the day where everyone eases out of work mode and into Convention Mode after all.
Panels
I went to two panels on Thursday and both will stay in my memory for a while. Not only because they voice some of my favorite characters. Multiple in the case of Alejandro Saab. But also because of some really solid advice I got from being brave and asking Ryan Colt Levy a really specific and rather personal question.
Alejandro Saab
But I’ll talk about Alejandro first. I have followed his Twitch Channel for a few years now. Not only is he a Vtuber and Voice Actor, but he’s a genuine chaos gremlin in the best ways possible. He voices a lot of characters such as Cyno from Genshin Impact and several other Hoyoverse characters. Funny enough all of them happen to use Lightning Magic. A trend he admitted he would be fine continuing.
During his panel, I asked about when the Genshin Gang would be back to making group Among Us Streams. That is how I discovered his channel as well as many others. And I even told him during my question that those streams are what prompted me to change the language from Japanese to English in Genshin. Unfortunately, he pointed out to me that due to the voice actor strikes, it would likely be a long time before those group events would be happening again. In hindsight, I felt foolish that I hadn’t thought of the answer before asking.
Ryan Colt Levy
Now, let’s talk about Ryan Colt Levy. Initially I went to his panel because he’s the English Voice Actor for Denji in Chainsaw Man. And I’ll admit, just like I told him when I got a chance to ask him a question at his panel, that I hadn’t known much else about him before I entered the room. But what I had heard from him about how he became a voice actor was what had prompted me to go up to ask a question in the first place.
As with all panels, Levy spoke about how he became a Voice Actor. What I hadn’t known going into this panel was just the sheer amount of adversity that he had needed to overcome to find his current success. To say that Ryan Colt Levy was meant to play Denji in Chainsaw Man is an understatement. He admitted that he had been a struggling musician most of his life and then his life grew even harder from there. He told us all about how the Chainsaw Man Manga was what pulled him out of depression.
So knowing that his life had paralleled Denji’s own in a number of ways, I asked a bit of a personal question. Mentioning that I was a writer to him and how his life was like Denji’s in so many ways, I asked how he had overcome the metaphorical Katana Mans that had appeared in his life. Katana Man in the Chainsaw Man story is one of the first major threats Denji faces. And along with a small army under his command, he almost not only slaughters Chainsaw Man, but most of his friends and allies too.
My question pertained to Levi’s own life and how he had overcome adversity, specifically the kind that seemed perfectly equipped to oppose him no matter what choices he made. He understood the metaphor of course, but he gave an incredible answer that I am still thinking about as I write this piece.
He told me that you have to continue creating. Whether it be writing, art, music, or acting these are all things that bring us joy. And we can’t let fear of failure prevent us from finding happiness in these things. For that reason, he told me as a writer to continue honing my craft. He pointed out that the fear of failure is scary, especially in a world where we need money to live.
But he reminded me when I sorely needed to, that if I am having fun creating, then even if I never become successful then I have lost little. But in the event that my work does take off, then that will make any victories that much sweeter.
Obviously I’m paraphrasing what he said as he answered my question in detail. But I had not expected such an important life lesson at a panel from a voice actor I barely knew anything about. I intend to watch Chainsaw Man in English in the near future as a testament to this incredible encounter. After all, in a way Ryan Colt Levy is Denji and I want to see a performance by a man who knows this character in and out.
Wrap Up
Between Cosplay and some real good life advice, Day 1 of Megacon 2025 was an incredible experience. But there were three more days left after this. And you can be sure I have more to say about the rest. Look forward to the next segment and soon.