Megacon 2026 Day 2
Megacon 2026 Day 2 would be a big day for me. The first day was a small taste of what there was to see, but this would be when I would stay the longest of all four days. Friday tends to be a lot more crowded than Thursday due to the end of workweeks and a looming weekend. And this day of the convention was no different. Let’s take a look at what I saw and did on Megacon 2026 Day 2. It was an exciting time.
While I wore a much more obscure costume compared to the first day, Father Gascoigne from Bloodborne if you want to know, there were many more people to see. Many of them in much better costumes than mine. Obviously there were far too many people for me to get them all. But I tried my best to get some highlights.
Included this time were Go Mifune from Speed Racer, Umbreon from Pokemon, A Deadpool Sunbro and a Sunbro from Marvel and Dark Souls, Frieren from Frieren Journey’s End, Cloud from Final Fantasy 7, Bowser from Super Mario, A Team Plasma Grunt from Pokemon, Sniper King from One Piece, and Mihawk from One Piece. That last picture included me because it turned out that the Mihawk was a huge Bloodborne fan and was happy to see my Father Gascoigne attempt.
Panels
For my first panel of the day, I saw Johnny Yong Bosch. From Lelouch in Code Geas, to Adam Park who has been several different Power Rangers in Power Rangers, he has been an actor and voice actor that I have seen and heard several times at different points in my life. This wasn’t my first time attending one of his panels, nor was it the first time where the majority of the questions and conversations focused on Anime I have not seen like Bleach. But just like when I attended other panels where shows that have been on my list time and time again have been mentioned, that just serves as motivation to watch them.
The next panel was perhaps the one I was most excited for. And even though the guest who asked them questions was a terrible fit for them, I couldn’t help be unable to contain how happy I was to see both Jennifer English as well as her partner and fellow voice actress Aliona Baranova. Both put a lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears into Baldur’s Gate 3.
And if you have read my blog for any amount of time, you already know I have played that game extensively. But Jennifer English not only voices Shadowheart in that game. She also voices Latenna in Elden Ring and Maelle in Expedition 33. Those are two other games that you might have noticed I have played extensively.
Yet I knew a lot less about Aliona Baranova before the panel. Basically I knew she was a voice director in Baldur’s Gate 3 as well as Jennifer’s partner. But I learned a lot more about her during Megacon 2026 Day 2 and I have to say I have a lot of respect for her. She took on a role she wasn’t so sure of. She is a voice actor at heart and really wants to focus on that. I genuinely hope that she gets a chance to use her talent in some upcoming voice roles. I have not played Lies of P, but hear that she did an incredible job voicing Veronique in that game.
All in all, despite the MC being a problem, I was pleased with how these two talented voice actresses handled the questions asked. So much so, that after the panel finished, I ran back down to the sales floor as fast as I could so that I could meet them at their booth.
Meeting Jennifer and Aliona
Which is exactly what I did. Though I needed to wait almost two hours. Time well spent and I told Jennifer that I was a little intimidated just meeting her and Aliona in person. I gained even more respect for Aliona when she tried her best to make sure everyone waiting to see them only had the Friday pass and hence wouldn’t be able to come on a later date a chance to meet them first. Obviously I had all four days, but made sure that I helped honor her request and let a few people go before me so that they had a chance to meet this incredible pair.
I learned from the panel as well as listening to what Jennifer and Aliona have talked about in interviews that they value representation in video games and story writing overall. So even though it was a little embarrassing, and I was scared that it wasn’t my place to ask for their approval on one of my projects, I told them about my Earth Everafter series and how I’m trying my best to have an LGBTQ focus romance arc take center stage. Jennifer and Aliona gave me words of encouragement and told me that it was an important enough story that it needed to be written. And I couldn’t have been happier hearing that from them.
As you can see in the picture, I was admittedly really stunned into excitement. I couldn’t believe that I was meeting these two at Megacon. And I hope to talk to them again in the future. They are remarkably talented women and their advocacy towards more representation in video games is something I wholeheartedly support.
Meeting Zach
After all that excitement above, how was I to follow that up? I knew how and you can see in the picture above where I went next. Zach Aguilar voices several characters from several video games and anime that I watch and play. From Demon Slayer as Tanjiro, Byleth in Fire Emblem 3 Houses, and quite possibly most important to me of all, Aether in Genshin Impact, I have many reasons for respecting his work.
I have attended his panels in the past, but this was the first time I had gotten a proper chance to talk to Zach. And I could tell he was tired. He has mentioned on his live streams that he is an introvert and that conventions can wear him out. And this was Day 2 of Megacon 2026. There were a lot of people, and I overheard the security discussing letting him have a break soon. Knowing that, I was as respectful as I could be when I made it through the line to talk to him.
I told him I knew he was an introvert from watching his streams and thanked him for coming out of his comfort zone to talk to people at Megacon. I also asked if he remembered a stunt where he popped out of a table at a panel several years ago. He didn’t, but that might have just been a sign that he was even more tired than he let on. Still, I got that photo with him, and he really is a class act. I can’t wait to see him do another livestream.
Meeting Cat
Normally, I don’t attend the after events at Megacon. But Megacon 2026 Day 2 was different. When I found out Cat Protano, the voice of Skirk in Genshin Impact was going to be there, I changed my mind. Especially since this was the only event she would be present at, I convinced my friends and brother to stay later. I got in her line early and was one of the first to get a chance to meet her.
I was so happy that I did. She was extremely kind and even with an ever growing line, I was able to talk to her and learn that she had been able to move past fan backlash for her sharing a silly meme involving her and her partner. I visited his panel right after, but I’ll talk about him in a moment. Cat like me is a writer, and so we talked a little about what she was working on. But not too long, because the line was only growing longer.
Anyway, I visited Cat a second time that night when her line was shorter. and got a poster signed by her featuring Skirk. Not only is Genshin Impact one of my favorite games, but Skirk, the character she voices is one of my favorites among the colorful cast. I told her that I had been waiting for her to be playable since long before she appeared in the game. Even better, she was also reading a novel written by Brandon Sanderson. He’s one of my favorite authors, and I hope she will enjoy reading his work too. I’m planning to followup and ask her about her time reading in the future.
Meeting Blythe
Right next to Cat was Blythe Melin, her partner. And I made sure I asked her how to pronounce his name correctly before I met him and potentially embarrassed myself. Instead, as his line was shorter than hers, I got an incredible chance to talk to him for more than five minutes. And that was a blessing because I found out almost immediately that he wasn’t just a voice actor, but also an engineer. But before I talked to him about science, I complimented him on his incredible job voicing Rerir in Genshin Impact. Blythe carried an already incredible quest where he was the standout character in an entire cast of standouts.
If you have been reading my blog for the last few months, you might be aware that I’m preparing to write a science fiction series that delves into many realms of physics and mathematics that I am admittedly ignorant on. But he was not. I talked to him a bit about how I wanted to write some of the same ideas that affect Rerir in Genshin. Notably powerful Psychic attacks that confuse a person leaving them unable to differentiate between reality and illusion.
He asked me how I was going to make use of magic in a setting with space ships, as well as how I would handle warp speed. In just a few minutes, Blythe helped me come up with several ideas that are much more scientifically sound than I had originally planned. And to make everything even better, he and I talked about Brandon Sanderson. He was the one who had introduced Cat to his work. And we took some time to talk about the Stormlight Archive Series.
I plan to reach out to him, not only to thank him for helping me solve several problems with this series, but to ask him how he had enjoyed the rest of the Stormlight Archive series. As you can tell from how much I wrote here and in the prior section, I was overjoyed to have met both Cat and Blythe. They were incredibly kind and patient to keep letting me talk to them.
Catching up with Jaclyn
For the last booth I visited for the night, I talked to someone that I have seen at Megacon Conventions for years and years. You might have seen her in several pictures in this post, as well as several others. I met Jaclyn Thomas as the MC for several Anime panels over many years. But this was my first time talking to her as the featured person. It was exciting when I realized that I had heard her voice as Arrow in Fire Force. In fact, she was so happy that I was excited by that role, that she signed a poster for me. And she didn’t need to do that at all.
We talked about how over the years, my brother and I had asked really good questions at many panels. This is why she remembered us. Though I thought it was because of me not so accidentally showing I was a Slytherin by playfully mocking the Hufflepuff House. She remembered that too. And we joked about how my brother and I tended to be the ones asking the questions about darker games and characters compared to most other panel goers.
I also told her about my writing after her friend who was helping at her table talked about how she was playing Dungeons & Dragons. Jaclyn had helped her get into the game and so I asked her some questions about her experience so far. I hope that both of them enjoy their time playing a game that has heavily defined my writing. And I also hope that Jaclyn has continued success as a voice actress. She voices a character in One Piece which is a huge honor. I have not gotten to that part yet, but longtime readers of my blog know I’m working towards it.
Wrap Up
I did a lot during Megacon 2026 Day 2. The most of possibly any of my visits to this event. Most certainly the most during the four days. But don’t worry about content for the second half. I had a lot to still see and do. This might have been the high point of my experience this year. But it wasn’t the only major day.
Days 3 and 4 had plenty to show and I’ll showcase them in their respective blog posts. Don’t forget to read Day 1.