Parachuting in from the SJ Alpha 'copter, #TEAMJUMP members Urian Brown and Misaki Kido (@onnabancho_J) descended upon WonderCon 2012 to take cosplay photos, party with SJ Alpha Members and rock the SJ FAN MEET-UP! Here’s what happened!

WonderCon is a yearly comic book convention usually held in San Francisco. It’s kind of like Comic-Con lite. This year it was in a very rainy Anaheim, but that didn't stop happy fans from all the kingdoms of nerdery from massing. While American comics are definitely the main draw, there are plenty o' manga and anime enthusiasts.

There was a lot going on at the SJ Alpha booth. Fans got a variety of swag like Blue Exorcist lanyards and the highly sought after (sometimes maniacally so) Viz Media bags. Also, fans could take a survey on the floor to win an iPad 2, learn about the Show Your SJ Love Contest and sign up to be a SJ Alpha Member! Beyond the regular rewards for doing so (four Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, exclusive content, digital gifts such as digital manga and the annual yearbook), they snagged some phat loot, like messenger bags!

In celebration of having sold 10 million Naruto games worldwide, Namco Bandai was giving out free food to fans every day of the con. They had a Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations themed truck filled with delicious beef bowls. Let’s just say, it was a lot tastier than the con food.

And Masashi Kishimoto himself drew a special poster commerating 10 million Naruto games being sold! It even came with a message directly from him!

"Ten million Naruto games sold! I was extremely surprised to hear this number! This is really a testament to the love that you all have shown for Naruto. It's also a testament to the love with which the game developers have spent all of these years making Naruto games. I am positive that without everyone's love, we could not have accomplished this spectacular goal! I want to show my appreciation for all of the "Naruto love" out there! Thank you!" — Masashi Kishimoto

The SJ FAN MEET-UP was a success as SJ fans and friends hung out and got some chill time with the editors. Everybody who showed up walked out with something, and some people scored big in the trivia contest. The live fan art jam was fun! The art really blew me away. The entries ranged from fun and silly to downright hilarious. We’ll post 'em up on Thursday! In any case, it was a lot of fun and if you’re going to Sakura-Con, please come to our meet-up on Saturday, April 7! 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Room 615–617

Of course, the best part of conventions is hanging out with our loyal fans! We had a great lunch with Hector Hernandez (@ZEROINTELIGENCE) a honorary #TEAMJUMP member and the follower of @shonenjump Twitter. We made him buy us lunch, and then we beat him up for fun. He loved it! While we can’t hang out with everyone, we try to make an effort for fans that back us up on the forums and school foo’s on the twitter feed.

We rocked it to the very last hour of the con as lead hype man Urian Brown emceed the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations panel! CyberConnect2 hokage, Hiroshi Matsuyama, wowed the crowd by showing up in full Naruto Sage Mode costume. Con goers got to enter a tournament and the finalists duked it in front of the crowd. Then the winner was challenged by Matsuyama himself! He was nice enough to let Matsuyama pull off his Ultimate Jutsu, before totally destroying him. According to the winner, Granny Chiyo is the secret to success!

And that is WonderCon in a nutshell! But we’re not done yet! Tomorrow we’ll put up the fan art, and Friday get ready for a whole lot (and we mean a lot) of incredible cosplay!

We've got a ton of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations coverage right here!

Be a part of our next SJ FAN MEET-UP at Sakura-Con! Saturday, April 7! 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Room 615–617

Related Links:
Events
SJ Fan Meet-Ups
WonderCon

by Urian Brown