So this week we are taking a break from my usual jovial posts as I got some bad news the other day. I found out that a friend of mine, fellow convention goer and someone who has written articles for this website, Martin aka VampireHorde, passed away back in 2023. I found out very late because we live very far apart and our only lines of communication which each other are just between us on our socials. Thankfully his sister was able to get access to his Instagram and provide a much needed update. So I’ve been processing this for a bit and really thinking is there anything I can really do to honor his memory and after a lot of reflection I realized the best way for me to do that is to do so the only way I know how. I’ll tell you a story.

So how does a couple of convention fanatics, one from Kentucky and one from California end up meeting? Why in Washington DC of course. Martin and I ended up meeting for the first time at Anime USA in 2019. We happened to be in line for I think Bryce Papenbrook which is a pretty long line so as I was getting my Fire Emblem poster ready it caught his attention as a fellow fan of the franchise. In truth that was just a very random encounter and we ended up talking for awhile about Fire Emblem and autograph collecting in general. Sharing various stories and honestly at the time neither of us thought much about that encounter and we didn’t exchange socials or anything. I, and I believe he, assumed that was the start and end of our conversations with each other which was far from the case.

Fast forward a whooping three months and our paths once again crossed at Anime Impulse 2020. It was there we both started to realize we were both obsessed with collecting for our respective collections and we ended up chatting for a long time about our various travels and who we were hoping to meet the most. I know I’ve mentioned the story of how I lost my voice for awhile during that con partly due to overuse and that was actually part of the reason. Another fun fact for those who have been following my journey for some time is that you may have seen the video of me high fiving a bunch of Fire Emblem actors at that very convention what you might not know is Martin actually appears at the very end of the video. It was at that point we exchanged socials and now actually had a means of communication outside of chance encounters.

So how did we hang out for a third time? Another chance encounter just one month later. This time it was at Lvl Up Expo 2020 in Las Vegas. Both of us were there to add autographs to our collection by meeting Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal but they had to cancel so we ended up hanging out a bit but only briefly because I was also there to site see.

Then naturally there was a massive gap in us being able to hangout because of the pandemic. We stayed in touch constantly and it was when things started to open back up we actually started to work together for conventions. Since I have to fly to California every single time I go and that is very expensive I have to be very selective of events that I attend there. Martin was an incredible help in getting some perspective on what happens during events that I really don’t have the budget to go to. One of the ones we were both excited for was AVOX and well that was a bit of a bust but Martin was the one who wrote the review of their sneak peak at LA Comic Con 2021. I’m still a bit jealous he got to go to that one ha ha.

I won’t go into detail about AVOX itself as I already did that before, but AVOX was how I ended up going to Anime Expo in 2022 and due to the money spent for that trip I couldn’t do Anime Impulse OC the same year which had a lot more people I wanted to meet than Anime Expo. Martin being the incredible friend he is took the time to get me a video shoutout from Kirsten Day at the convention and it’s a video I still have saved on my tablet today. I actually ended up watching it soon after I found out about his passing.

The last time I got to actually hang out with Martin in person was at Anime Impulse 2023 as we’re sloshing in puddles because it ended up raining nearly nonstop and the event was largely outside. We did our usual thing that we do at conventions. We talked a lot, we spent a lot and we got a lot of autographs and we enjoyed every bit of it. The last words he said to me (in person) was safe travels back home. After that we continued to plan for conventions and collecting up till right before his passing that April.

So I know this probably isn’t the same randomness that comes from my usual convention stories because when you get a couple of travelers like Martin and I together most of our time is spend sharing stories and aspirations. Martin is a fellow collector of autographs and has a couple of Fire Emblem posters himself which was how we ended up going to a lot of the same places and loving a lot of the same events. I understand how some of you reading this might wonder why bother to share this in the first place when the entire story is just a couple of convention fans chatting. Well it’s because I’m being a bit selfish to be honest. Martin was a friend that I really am glad to have had the opportunity to know and since the internet tends to be forever I want this site to have a constant reminder of how much I appreciate the time I got to have with him as there will always be a place for him amongst all the content that I create.