JUST ME BEING BESTIES WITH DAVID MATRANGA NBD ► galaxycon raleigh 2022
Another reason I went to Galaxycon was to see my favorite anime voice actor, David Matranga. This was my third (and last) time meeting him that weekend (and my 5th overall. I saw him twice last year). I had some pretty awesome experiences and interactions with him that entire weekend, so by then he recognized me. Which was so cool!
And as of uploading this video, he followed me on twitter. HE KNOWS ME AND WE ARE TWITTER MOOTS!!!! I may have cried.
Let me give some much needed background. I first saw David on Friday. I cosplayed as disguised Todoroki from S3. He loved it. He said he'd never seen anyone cosplay that Todoroki before and that I'm "fierce". That was awesome! I got some autographs. Cool. But little did I know what would happen the next 2 days. So the next day (Saturday), I cosplayed as Hange from Attack on Titan. David was on a panel with a few other anime voice actors. And he was answering someone's question (I don't even remember what it was tbh). David was telling an anecdote about how someone recently tweeted him a video of Bertholdt's death in Attack on Titan and how it was "traumatizing" to see that again. It took me a moment to realize that it was me!!! I was the one who tweeted him the video because I've been watching AOT and I recently watched that episode and I tweeted him about it (and he liked it). So I shouted "IT WAS ME!!!!!", interrupting the whole panel and making a fool of myself in a room full of people. David loses his shit and the whole audience is roaring. It was amazing. And I regret not recording it because it was so awesome. And at the end of the panel (and every panel that weekend), the audience would go up to the front of the stage for a group picture with the celebrities. I high tailed it to the stage to be in front. And while I'm standing there, still fangirling over everything, David sees me, smiles, and walks over to me. He crouches down and puts his hand out to me and we fist bump. He doesn't say anything to me, but I had the biggest smile on my face. It was so cool!
So after the panel was over, I rush off to David's table. When he sees me, he's like "You." And I'm like "Dude, why you gotta call me out like that??" and he was like "You called yourself out!", which was fair. But it was so fun. We had a wonderful conversation, just laughing and talking. He signed a Bertholdt print for me. I asked him to write "Shut your mouth, hell spawn! I'll kill you!" on it. David was like "Did I really say that? Is that an actual quote?" and I'm like "Yeah. Season 2. Bertholdt yells it at Armin when they're on Reiner." I'm so glad I got the quote right (because the next time, I would misremember a quote. A quote I asked him to write in this video). So we had a nice talk and took 2 pictures (I only paid for one, but it was David's idea to take 2). And me being in happy fangirl mode, I just wrap my arms around him. He then puts his arms around me and we take an adorable picture. I told him that he made my con and he said "Thank you. You've made mine too!" And then before we parted, I said "I'm so excited to show you my cosplay tomorrow. You're gonna love it!" And he was like "Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow"
And the next day (Sunday), this happened. I was cosplaying as Orphen from Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. It was amazing that he recognized me that entire weekend. That got rid of the awkwardness and made it so much easier to talk to him. I adore David so much. He's so wonderful. He's so incredibly kind and fun to talk to. I have the worst social anxiety. It was such an accomplishment in itself for me to even go to the con. But it was all worth it just to meet him (and the CW trio too of course!!!). He made that weekend so special and completely unforgettable.
I'm just so incredibly happy. He made me feel that I matter, when most days I feel depressed and worthless. I have so much admiration and respect for him, not just as an actor whose work I love and enjoy, but as a person. David Matranga is a sweetheart. He's been so kind to me every time that I've had the chance to see him and online as well (still ecstatic that he knows who I am!!!).
The second video is us playing rock, paper, scissors. David voiced Yuichi Katagiri in Tomodachi Game. Season 1 recently ended and there was a scene in the last episode when Yuichi plays rock, paper, scissors with a dude. I tweeted at David that I was gonna challenge him to a game at Galaxycon. I asked him if it was okay to record it (I didn't even know my dad was recording the first bit). He hesitated a bit, but then he was cool with it. And as you can see, he won. But that's fine. It was fun and an honor to lose to him. Ugh, I could gush about him forever. But I'll just say that I'm so happy and I really hope I get to meet him again soon. He's the coolest. I had a wonderful time. I'm so proud of myself for combatting my social anxiety. I don't think anyone at the whole con had as much fun as I did.
#davidmatranga #galaxycon