Anime Expo, Part 1
I once again went to Anime Expo!
Before you read any further, a warning:
Like my mother before me and her mother before her, I am Doris. There will be people eating in these photos. Lots of people eating.
You have been warned.
As you may know if you've been reading this livejournal (click the "cosplay" tag), this year's labor of love/exercise in frustration was Professor Layton, he of the good British manners and puzzle-loving nature. Conveniently, while I still have yet to succeed in any attempt to use a commercial pattern, I had previously purchased the Layton revoltech and was able to use him as a model.
Jo-ann's was rather amused by my method of selecting fabrics (I gather most people don't take toys into the store to color match), but if there's a toy available for any of your own future cosplays, I can't recommend the method enough.
The traditional cosplay mess begins its takeover of the living room. It got worse, of course, especially in the last couple days as I frantically tried to make pants, but this gives you an idea of the pile of orange and brown scraps I eventually found myself living in.
I kept being all "Oh no, a bug!" and freaking out only to realize "Oh, it's just a brown scrap, nothing to fear." Then, of course, came the day when I was inured to all the freak outs and was like "Oh, another scrap. Perhaps I should start cleaning those up," but it was totally a bug for real that time! Ahhhhh!
I used what I think is latch-hook plastic to make the hat and also as an insert to make the collar stand up. Flexible but relatively sturdy, and totally cheap; available wherever fine crafts are sold. Keep in mind, however, that the hot glue will totally go through the little holes and right onto your fingers if you don't watch out.
Hat assembly. That pizza box was covered in glue strings by the time I was done.
This has nothing to do with Expo, but was in the batch of photos on my camera from the run up so here you go: Iowa stereotype number what, 45? Yes, cars/I stopped for the geese, but they moved pretty fast and it was six o'clock so traffic was only backed up for about as long as it took me to get out the camera.
I ordered Haru-chan (she's a weather-channel mascot in Japan who represents spring, so clearly you've all heard of her, right?) waaaaay back in December, and she was supposed to come in by the end of June. I really, really wanted to get her before all the "leaves" got knocked off of my chemical cherry trees (note to self: make post about trees on desk), and June 29 I checked our system and was like "I know she's in the building. She is here somewhere. But she hasn't shipped, and I cannot find her in the warehouse. Where is my toy?"
Now, this was not entirely crazy. Tomopop had a review of her in which they'd talked about some pretty big paint issues, and if mine had any problems I was going to return it and see if I could buy a nice one at AX.
That afternoon, after getting Customer Service, Accounting, and the Warehouse team all involved, the Warehouse leader himself brought me my toy (and double-checked I'd already paid for it) and I was able to set her up and make sure she looked perfect (well, paint problems on the sandals, but all of them have that) and generally show her off to anyone who so much as looked in my general direction. More pictures to follow later because she is adorable. And while I did not buy her again at AX, I certainly pointed her out whenever I had the opportunity.
Getting packed. All it needs is an overweight hamster and some save slots.
Actually, I had concerns about getting the hat to AX. It's eight inches tall (as I told the girls at the hotel: "if you need a general idea for comparison..."), and susceptible to deformation if you hit the plastic too hard. I thought about wearing it on the plane, but I dislike the TSA enough already, so it went into my (other) suitcase, which is coincidentally eight inches deep. The hat survived the trip with only a little bending and I was able to get it back into shape just fine, though I did get out the glue gun for some touch-ups.
Look at the shoes. Don't they look nice and smooth? The shoes were the only part of the cosplay that went together with no problems and no hassles. I found some rubber covers at goodwill that exactly matched my tennis shoe size, painted them over with some paint I had lying around that was just the right color, and bam! Perfection.
Finally on my way! No hassles at all at the Des Moines airport, because the Des Moines airport is awesome and only lacks in that Southwest does not fly out of it. We don't even have the TSA cancer machines because I guess terrorists don't like the Midwest.
Funny story: I was moaning for ages about how my Frontier flight got canceled and I got put on a United flight instead. Bleh. Well, hours before I was to take off, I was checking the United site to make sure that they weren't going to charge me extra for my bag because Frontier's checked bags are cheaper than United's. This was when I noted that my flight was delayed.
However. I also found the option to check in online, and I was all "may as well." What's this? Why can I only choose between two rows for my seat? Why are they showing my first two checked bag options as "no charge"? Weird. Maybe United doesn't suck? Maybe it's a glitch?
I had a slight suspicion, but it wasn't until I was boarding and asked, in all seriousness, "Do you think seat 1F might be first class?" that I realized I had been majorly upgraded. Forget the top hat; I should have worn a monocle.
It was terribly obvious that I was not a frequent first-class flyer and everyone else in our two rows was (later six rows, when the plane changed even though the flight number was the same because hell if I know how the airlines work), but I still quite enjoyed my instant water refills and freshly warmed pastry and solicitous flight attendant and baggage priority.
Oh, that picture up there is of the Denver airport floor. Like the Seattle airport, the Denver airport has bronze/brass/whatever stuff embedded in it; in this case, dinosaur bones. I guess this is a thing? Does the Idaho airport have bronze potatoes to walk on?
Also at the Denver airport was JAMBA JUICE! Oh, you bet I headed straight for the stand and ordered a now-off-the-menu Berry Lime Sublime. Mmm.
The obligatory scenery shot. This one is of the Rockies.
Lunch in first class. I chose the cheese omelet with turkey sausage and diced potatoes option, and it was actually quite decent.
Finally I arrived at the hotel and met up with Yoshiko. I promptly ditched my luggage and we headed off to drop off her car for the weekend at her workplace (we would take the bus back).
I got a brief tour, and then we headed over to Little Tokyo, conveniently only two blocks away.
In Little Tokyo (LT?), we were immediately confronted with a puzzle: where to eat lunch? Since everywhere was either crowded or somewhere we didn't feel like going, we browsed Anime Jungle instead. It's a little scary how many times I could say "oh, I own that" about the gashapons in the cabinet, but maybe those are just the ones that naturally catch my eye.
Eventually we ended up at a shabu shabu place that Yoshiko had been wanting to try, and it was uncrowded, featured air conditioning, and had a pleasant waitstaff who did not make fun of us for not having mastered the art of boiling food.
Amusingly, we were planning to split a large "plate" (that is, a big plate of raw stuff for you to boil and eat), but they had a strict "everyone must order at least one plate" policy, presumably to stop cheap college kids from freeloading on rice and sauce. So we ended up with two communal medium plates and surprised ourselves by eating nearly everything except some cabbage.
After lunch, Yoshiko had to go back to work, so I wandered around Little Tokyo by myself for a while. I hit the auxiliary Anime Jungle store and almost immediately found myself on the phone with co-worker Judy: "There're these really pretty Final Fantasy wall scrolls here..."
Ended up buying both, one with Judy kicking in and one as a surprise because having both together would totally make the office look nice (note to self: take picture of scrolls). I do so love a matched set.
As I was walking out the door, it suddenly occurred to me I had just purchased two four-foot long tubes, and would not only have to haul them around Little Tokyo for the rest of the afternoon (trivial) but get them on a plane back home if I didn't want to pay shipping (not so trivial). Uh, whoops?
One of the maps indicated there was a Japanese garden in one of the hotels, and sure enough, the third floor of the Kyoto Grand had some pretty landscaping where they would sell you drinks if you showed up on Thursday evenings. I took a few pictures, but was a little disappointed. How dare this city-hotel garden not be as nice as the amazing one in Portland?
After this I headed for Kinokuniya, and after commenting on her hat ended up talking to a nice girl about Baccano novels. I attempted to help her figure out in what order they had been published, utilizing my oh-so-impressive kana skills, but would you believe the chronology is kind of confusing for that series?
I got tired of exploring after a while and settled on a nice bench in the shade by the red tower thing. It was quite pleasant, with a breeze blowing by and people to people watch. One of these people was a nice old lady who stopped at my bench, and she and her... daughter? were waiting for her... grandchildren? to show up.
I got to talking to the daughter, who wanted to know if I was in town for a show (yes, but not the kind she was thinking of), and in the end got two free tickets to the graffiti exhibit going on a block away.
Yoshiko wasn't interested in going, saying it would take too long and she wanted to get over to reg, but I promised to only take 20 minutes and she eventually gave in.
Side note: I understand that some people can really get lost in art museums, but if you want to stop and stare at everything for more than about 30 seconds I am not the person to go with you. My quintessential example has always been manga: I don't notice flaws in the pictures because I simply don't look at them. I quickly "read" what's going on (Character A has moved to the left and is fighting Character B, for example), but I don't see that Tokyopop has utterly failed at matching textures or whatever. (Robyn memorably pointed this out at Borders back in college once.) I like art, but I could probably see the entire Louvre in less than an hour if there weren't any lines.
The exhibit was called Art in the Streets, and it was actually pretty neat. Tons of security guards, one of which totally faked me out: "You have to be quiet in here, miss!" "Oh no, I'm sorry!" "Haha, just kidding." And then I remembered that the room just prior to the one with the joking guard had a live drummer. Later, another guard one made sure I stayed off the fake grass of a different exhibit, so I guess they were useful.
This was surprisingly artsy.
Hands down, my favorite exhibit was this "stained glass" wall. Pretty!
Twenty minutes on the dot and the whole exhibit looked at (though we did just barely skim all the history stuff), we caught the bus back to the convention center and I got to show off my lack of worry about transfer stations while Yoshiko fretted. Exciting!
Waited in line for reg, got reg (well, I got Robyn's - shhhh!), then waited in the line for industry reg (that line surprised me, but then again I usually don't get there until ten minutes before they close up). We then arranged to head back to Little Tokyo with a bunch of Yoshiko's friends to eat... I don't remember what it was called, but basically our half of the table ordered a ton of things, like sushi rolls, edamame, tempura, disgusting squid, some kind of pickled vegetables, etc, and then we all ate whatever. There was a lot of "I've already had two pieces of the California supreme roll, did everyone else get some?" and "Oh, you all have to try this!" and "Oh my god, that squid is disgusting!" going on.
Meanwhile, the other half of the table (we had moved some people so as to make an easy split) just ordered individual meals, because when you're young and cheap it's easier that way. It worked out very well, except for the period of time in-between when our million dishes were arriving and the other side's weren't, because they were queued up behind ours. It was like the starving children at the window or something. Ah, well, they got their food later.
Then we headed for the arcade, where I felt compelled to play the Taiko drum game even though the instructions were all in Japanese and I had no idea what "blue" meant. Of course, right after my third game I realized the directions were in English across the top.
Then I tried out this awesome maracas game, in which you not only shake the maracas but wave them over your head, around your hips, and in general samba like you're in Brazil. Way fun, even though I accidentally told it I was only 100 cm tall and thus failed out halfway through.
The next morning, I got up early (compared to the other girls) and headed over to Opening Ceremonies. There was a long line, and things were way delayed because they were in Live Programming 1 instead of the theater and thus had to jury-rig all the equipment, but I flashed the badge and waltzed in. I love that thing.
These people here are, I believe, the film crew for NicoNico, which was heavily promoting itself at the con.
Me to Gin-tachi: "Can you sit in character?"
Kalafina, totally wearing the same outfits we saw them in later on Sunday.
One of the reasons I like to go to Opening Ceremonies is to see all (or most) of the guests without having to go to their panels. Unfortunately, that means all (or most) of the guests, which means shut up, Vic.
Doki and Nabi signs! Never seen anyone do that before. (Link, for those who aren't familiar with the adorable forbidden love between bunny and kitty.)
Akatsuki waiting in line. Notice Itachi in the back, being aloof.
This was the line for AMV-and-other-events tickets. We found out while waiting in it that each person could pick up up to ten, so that worked out great for us but badly for anyone who decided to get tickets later than right away. It also involved quite a lot of calls trying to figure out where various people were, and would they be going to the AMVs? and me resigning myself to getting a bigger-than-usual texting bill for the month.
This is also when we found out that there were more Mikunopolis tickets available, but they were now $40 each. All those of us who didn't already have tickets turned it down, and there was totally outrage on the forums - not only because of the price-jacking, but because these were not advertised unless you specifically asked.
In retrospect, I probably could have scalped it and made a pretty penny even at $40, but I don't even bother to eBay things. Reselling in real life is just not in my nature. (In video games, now, that's another story.)
I ran into this Jiraiya everywhere. Here he is pimping it with Sakura and Hinata. The Hinata is especially cute, no?
And here he is getting reprimanded by Tsunade.
Amusing story: I pulled him out of line for this one right when the convention people were doing their best Mad Hatter imitation (clean cups, clean cups, move doooooown!), as they did every few minutes when another group of 12 would go inside and they'd act shocked that we weren't paying attention and had let a gap form in the line for a second.
Obviously no one would mind him getting right back in line after I took his picture, since that's just what cosplayers do, but I guess he didn't know that (first convention?) and got all worried. Then, when I saw him yet again at our panel, he came over after to be all "Oh no, I'm sorry if I was snappish at you earlier about the line!" (Because what, we industry people get apologies?) I assured him it was no problem, and then continued to run into him for the next three days. Jiraiya's not even one of my favorite characters!
Rather than go straight to the dealer's hall when it opened like I wanted to, I was obliged to attend several panels. ::sigh:: However, the first one was NISA, and they did a damn fine industry panel - once they got started. Everything in the live programming rooms ran late for the entirety of Friday, thanks to Opening Ceremonies holding up not only LP1 but all the present GoH.
This is their... production guy? dressed as the star man from Arakawa Under the Bridge, Mitsu-who-is-their-president as the kappa (also Arakawa), and I forget who MCing. They were hilariously amusing, informative, and showed trailers that actually made me want to see the shows before then talking about the different kinds of translation and when they apply. You all may not appreciate that last, but I sure did. They do great subs.
Panels over for a little while, I raced over to the dealer's hall and encountered the small Disney Princess gathering. They had some really great costumes, and of course I snagged one of Flynn and Rapunzel. They even had Pascal!
Actually, first I raced over to the hotel, to drop off the enormous box I was lugging around from the panel, and discovered sweet, delicious, cold lemonade in the "lobby." See, the Luxe hadn't quite managed to get the remodeling of their front lobby done before AX (which I'm guessing was the target date for completion), and we all had to go in through the back from the garage for the first few days.
Then I raced over to the dealer's hall.
Since Miku is doing some commercials for Toyota, Toyota sponsored some of AX, and had official Miku cars in the South Hall and a booth babe cosplayer hanging around them. It felt a little weird taking a picture of something I was so obviously intended to photograph, but this is as good a place as any to mention that Vocaloid was huuuuuge at the con. The only thing bigger? Pokemon. Pokemon is back beyond Nintendo's wildest dreams, at least if you measure by cosplayers and Artist's Alley prints and devoted dealer booths.
"Tiger, why are we here in Artist's Alley? No, don't just give me that stupid grin. What, is it my birthday again?"
It turns out everyone loves Tiger and Bunny! I cased Artist's Alley first, since Yoshiko wanted to show me some prints she was sure I would want and she was sure would sell out (she was right on both counts), and goodness was it a crush.
I'm not sure, but I think that's One Piece Guy's booth in the background. He's still awesome, and I still bought a bunch of things from him, which he gave me for less than he probably should have. Unfortunately, I can't look at one of them too closely yet since it's got total SPOILERS on it, but I'm sure it'll be great several months from now.
"We are superheroes! But- casual superheroes today."
You know, it just occurred to me that all the Tigers I saw were in casual clothing, and yet none of them were wearing that ridiculous mask Tiger thinks will protect his identity when he's out and about. Huh.
Balloon Guy was back, and his creations were even more impressive than last year. There were a number of people running around with balloon keyblades, balloon pokemon, and even balloon My Little Ponies.
Now that I look at it from this angle, does that Charizard look like a Skeksis to anyone else?
I saw this Noh Face and Sen around a bit. They were really good.
What's that I'm using?
Oh no! A shinigami has dropped their Death-a-Sketch in this world!
I was going to photoshop my most-hated enemy's name on there (since it's really hard to quickly do names on an etch-a-sketch if you're out of practice), but... Use your imagination - or photoshop in your own!
Canada peruses a booth. That One Piece picture at the top I think Robyn or Vicki or both later bought.
This Dodrio duo was just fantastic.
Did I mention Pokemon was big? Pokemon was BIG. I lost track of the number of Ashes I saw, and there were a ton of cosplayers as all sorts of different pokemon.
After finishing Artist's Alley as quickly as I could while still being thorough, I walked the dealer's hall as quickly as I could, looking for last year's keychain booth. I started on the far side, so of course when I finally found it it was on the very first aisle of the near side. I spent pretty much all the cash I had left on keychains and promised to come back the next day. For the record, the booth is Power Anime, and they think I'm awesome. Can't imagine why.
Pretty butterfly Vocaloids. They're from Magnet, of which Youtube tells me there is ten million different versions.
This is back in the hallway after the dealer's hall closed. That hallway was a constant stream of cosplayers and all the odd things people get up to at anime cons (loooongcat parades, high-five lines, impromptu dances, that sort of thing), so it was also a great place to sit and people watch.
I saw a few more cosplays with the headphones, but none quite as nice.
This Light and L distinguished themselves with amusing accessories. Where did they even find inflatable handcuffs in that size?
I actually know the guy playing the violin here: that's Carlo, from ANN, playing... Caramelldansen, maybe? Seems likely, based on the hand gestures.
This was taken in-between going from the Funimation panel (which was, like everything else, running way late), South Hall to give Tiffany and her crew their AMV tickets, and then heading back to the Funimation panel which still didn't start for another fifteen minutes. There I met up with Ashley and Michelle, and we proceeded to gab through Funi announcing whatever fanservice thing they were announcing at the time. Also, they announced Steins;Gate, which made me sad because I wanted us to get it, but that wasn't ever really likely I suppose.
After that I was planning to eat, but Tiffany called me up and told me seats were already filling up fast for AMVs, and they had saved me some but I had better hurry, so we did that. But then Ashley and Michelle and I noted we were all still super-hungry, so I ran over to the hotel to grab snacks and then come back.
At the hotel, I found Robyn! So Robyn now had an AMV ticket as she headed back with me, but still no badge since I'd handed hers over to Yoshiko, who then gave it to Vicki to give to Robyn. (I still had not seen Vicki at this point, because of panels and running around.)
Back at the entrance to AMVs, there were many back and forth phone calls as we attempted to establish what the hell we were doing (sitting in chairs to watch musical cartoons is haaard), but finally Vicki showed up at the door and I swear, it was like one of those silly scenes they always parody in movies except we had no meadow full of flowers.
"Vicki!"
"Lisa!"
::run, big hug::
"Well, where's Robyn's badge?"
Then Vicki promptly decided we were not friends anymore as I decided to sit with my new friends over in the good, center seats and left her and Robyn to their less-good seats on the side for the duration of the show, during which I learned Tiffany is a film major and we had a good time talking editing.
The AMVs were some of the best I've seen, and certainly it was the best contest AX has had in years. For those interested, here's the list of winners. Unlike last year, nothing I voted for won, and Calling took Best of Show, which I didn't watch because I still need to see Summer Wars. But it's hard to argue too much with the winners; as I said, it was a very good contest.
That picture above was actually taken after the contest, and here's the follow up, in which I guess Yoshiko is an honorary member of the coven since Nicole wouldn't come and Sarah is off doing who knows what.
Yoshiko is dressed as Shun from Saint Seiya, if you were wondering why she has green hair, Mom.
Then we were all hungry, shockingly enough, so it was off to IHOP, shockingly enough. Joining us was Genevieve, who I think Vicki knows and I theoretically know somehow...? Eh, whatever, she's nice.
I just realized that I was at this exact table at IHOP for all three (I think it was three - it was certainly at least two) times I ate there this year. Huh.
That concludes Days 0 and 1!
Before you read any further, a warning:
Like my mother before me and her mother before her, I am Doris. There will be people eating in these photos. Lots of people eating.
You have been warned.
As you may know if you've been reading this livejournal (click the "cosplay" tag), this year's labor of love/exercise in frustration was Professor Layton, he of the good British manners and puzzle-loving nature. Conveniently, while I still have yet to succeed in any attempt to use a commercial pattern, I had previously purchased the Layton revoltech and was able to use him as a model.
Jo-ann's was rather amused by my method of selecting fabrics (I gather most people don't take toys into the store to color match), but if there's a toy available for any of your own future cosplays, I can't recommend the method enough.
The traditional cosplay mess begins its takeover of the living room. It got worse, of course, especially in the last couple days as I frantically tried to make pants, but this gives you an idea of the pile of orange and brown scraps I eventually found myself living in.
I kept being all "Oh no, a bug!" and freaking out only to realize "Oh, it's just a brown scrap, nothing to fear." Then, of course, came the day when I was inured to all the freak outs and was like "Oh, another scrap. Perhaps I should start cleaning those up," but it was totally a bug for real that time! Ahhhhh!
I used what I think is latch-hook plastic to make the hat and also as an insert to make the collar stand up. Flexible but relatively sturdy, and totally cheap; available wherever fine crafts are sold. Keep in mind, however, that the hot glue will totally go through the little holes and right onto your fingers if you don't watch out.
Hat assembly. That pizza box was covered in glue strings by the time I was done.
This has nothing to do with Expo, but was in the batch of photos on my camera from the run up so here you go: Iowa stereotype number what, 45? Yes, cars/I stopped for the geese, but they moved pretty fast and it was six o'clock so traffic was only backed up for about as long as it took me to get out the camera.
I ordered Haru-chan (she's a weather-channel mascot in Japan who represents spring, so clearly you've all heard of her, right?) waaaaay back in December, and she was supposed to come in by the end of June. I really, really wanted to get her before all the "leaves" got knocked off of my chemical cherry trees (note to self: make post about trees on desk), and June 29 I checked our system and was like "I know she's in the building. She is here somewhere. But she hasn't shipped, and I cannot find her in the warehouse. Where is my toy?"
Now, this was not entirely crazy. Tomopop had a review of her in which they'd talked about some pretty big paint issues, and if mine had any problems I was going to return it and see if I could buy a nice one at AX.
That afternoon, after getting Customer Service, Accounting, and the Warehouse team all involved, the Warehouse leader himself brought me my toy (and double-checked I'd already paid for it) and I was able to set her up and make sure she looked perfect (well, paint problems on the sandals, but all of them have that) and generally show her off to anyone who so much as looked in my general direction. More pictures to follow later because she is adorable. And while I did not buy her again at AX, I certainly pointed her out whenever I had the opportunity.
Getting packed. All it needs is an overweight hamster and some save slots.
Actually, I had concerns about getting the hat to AX. It's eight inches tall (as I told the girls at the hotel: "if you need a general idea for comparison..."), and susceptible to deformation if you hit the plastic too hard. I thought about wearing it on the plane, but I dislike the TSA enough already, so it went into my (other) suitcase, which is coincidentally eight inches deep. The hat survived the trip with only a little bending and I was able to get it back into shape just fine, though I did get out the glue gun for some touch-ups.
Look at the shoes. Don't they look nice and smooth? The shoes were the only part of the cosplay that went together with no problems and no hassles. I found some rubber covers at goodwill that exactly matched my tennis shoe size, painted them over with some paint I had lying around that was just the right color, and bam! Perfection.
Finally on my way! No hassles at all at the Des Moines airport, because the Des Moines airport is awesome and only lacks in that Southwest does not fly out of it. We don't even have the TSA cancer machines because I guess terrorists don't like the Midwest.
Funny story: I was moaning for ages about how my Frontier flight got canceled and I got put on a United flight instead. Bleh. Well, hours before I was to take off, I was checking the United site to make sure that they weren't going to charge me extra for my bag because Frontier's checked bags are cheaper than United's. This was when I noted that my flight was delayed.
However. I also found the option to check in online, and I was all "may as well." What's this? Why can I only choose between two rows for my seat? Why are they showing my first two checked bag options as "no charge"? Weird. Maybe United doesn't suck? Maybe it's a glitch?
I had a slight suspicion, but it wasn't until I was boarding and asked, in all seriousness, "Do you think seat 1F might be first class?" that I realized I had been majorly upgraded. Forget the top hat; I should have worn a monocle.
It was terribly obvious that I was not a frequent first-class flyer and everyone else in our two rows was (later six rows, when the plane changed even though the flight number was the same because hell if I know how the airlines work), but I still quite enjoyed my instant water refills and freshly warmed pastry and solicitous flight attendant and baggage priority.
Oh, that picture up there is of the Denver airport floor. Like the Seattle airport, the Denver airport has bronze/brass/whatever stuff embedded in it; in this case, dinosaur bones. I guess this is a thing? Does the Idaho airport have bronze potatoes to walk on?
Also at the Denver airport was JAMBA JUICE! Oh, you bet I headed straight for the stand and ordered a now-off-the-menu Berry Lime Sublime. Mmm.
The obligatory scenery shot. This one is of the Rockies.
Lunch in first class. I chose the cheese omelet with turkey sausage and diced potatoes option, and it was actually quite decent.
Finally I arrived at the hotel and met up with Yoshiko. I promptly ditched my luggage and we headed off to drop off her car for the weekend at her workplace (we would take the bus back).
I got a brief tour, and then we headed over to Little Tokyo, conveniently only two blocks away.
In Little Tokyo (LT?), we were immediately confronted with a puzzle: where to eat lunch? Since everywhere was either crowded or somewhere we didn't feel like going, we browsed Anime Jungle instead. It's a little scary how many times I could say "oh, I own that" about the gashapons in the cabinet, but maybe those are just the ones that naturally catch my eye.
Eventually we ended up at a shabu shabu place that Yoshiko had been wanting to try, and it was uncrowded, featured air conditioning, and had a pleasant waitstaff who did not make fun of us for not having mastered the art of boiling food.
Amusingly, we were planning to split a large "plate" (that is, a big plate of raw stuff for you to boil and eat), but they had a strict "everyone must order at least one plate" policy, presumably to stop cheap college kids from freeloading on rice and sauce. So we ended up with two communal medium plates and surprised ourselves by eating nearly everything except some cabbage.
After lunch, Yoshiko had to go back to work, so I wandered around Little Tokyo by myself for a while. I hit the auxiliary Anime Jungle store and almost immediately found myself on the phone with co-worker Judy: "There're these really pretty Final Fantasy wall scrolls here..."
Ended up buying both, one with Judy kicking in and one as a surprise because having both together would totally make the office look nice (note to self: take picture of scrolls). I do so love a matched set.
As I was walking out the door, it suddenly occurred to me I had just purchased two four-foot long tubes, and would not only have to haul them around Little Tokyo for the rest of the afternoon (trivial) but get them on a plane back home if I didn't want to pay shipping (not so trivial). Uh, whoops?
One of the maps indicated there was a Japanese garden in one of the hotels, and sure enough, the third floor of the Kyoto Grand had some pretty landscaping where they would sell you drinks if you showed up on Thursday evenings. I took a few pictures, but was a little disappointed. How dare this city-hotel garden not be as nice as the amazing one in Portland?
After this I headed for Kinokuniya, and after commenting on her hat ended up talking to a nice girl about Baccano novels. I attempted to help her figure out in what order they had been published, utilizing my oh-so-impressive kana skills, but would you believe the chronology is kind of confusing for that series?
I got tired of exploring after a while and settled on a nice bench in the shade by the red tower thing. It was quite pleasant, with a breeze blowing by and people to people watch. One of these people was a nice old lady who stopped at my bench, and she and her... daughter? were waiting for her... grandchildren? to show up.
I got to talking to the daughter, who wanted to know if I was in town for a show (yes, but not the kind she was thinking of), and in the end got two free tickets to the graffiti exhibit going on a block away.
Yoshiko wasn't interested in going, saying it would take too long and she wanted to get over to reg, but I promised to only take 20 minutes and she eventually gave in.
Side note: I understand that some people can really get lost in art museums, but if you want to stop and stare at everything for more than about 30 seconds I am not the person to go with you. My quintessential example has always been manga: I don't notice flaws in the pictures because I simply don't look at them. I quickly "read" what's going on (Character A has moved to the left and is fighting Character B, for example), but I don't see that Tokyopop has utterly failed at matching textures or whatever. (Robyn memorably pointed this out at Borders back in college once.) I like art, but I could probably see the entire Louvre in less than an hour if there weren't any lines.
The exhibit was called Art in the Streets, and it was actually pretty neat. Tons of security guards, one of which totally faked me out: "You have to be quiet in here, miss!" "Oh no, I'm sorry!" "Haha, just kidding." And then I remembered that the room just prior to the one with the joking guard had a live drummer. Later, another guard one made sure I stayed off the fake grass of a different exhibit, so I guess they were useful.
This was surprisingly artsy.
Hands down, my favorite exhibit was this "stained glass" wall. Pretty!
Twenty minutes on the dot and the whole exhibit looked at (though we did just barely skim all the history stuff), we caught the bus back to the convention center and I got to show off my lack of worry about transfer stations while Yoshiko fretted. Exciting!
Waited in line for reg, got reg (well, I got Robyn's - shhhh!), then waited in the line for industry reg (that line surprised me, but then again I usually don't get there until ten minutes before they close up). We then arranged to head back to Little Tokyo with a bunch of Yoshiko's friends to eat... I don't remember what it was called, but basically our half of the table ordered a ton of things, like sushi rolls, edamame, tempura, disgusting squid, some kind of pickled vegetables, etc, and then we all ate whatever. There was a lot of "I've already had two pieces of the California supreme roll, did everyone else get some?" and "Oh, you all have to try this!" and "Oh my god, that squid is disgusting!" going on.
Meanwhile, the other half of the table (we had moved some people so as to make an easy split) just ordered individual meals, because when you're young and cheap it's easier that way. It worked out very well, except for the period of time in-between when our million dishes were arriving and the other side's weren't, because they were queued up behind ours. It was like the starving children at the window or something. Ah, well, they got their food later.
Then we headed for the arcade, where I felt compelled to play the Taiko drum game even though the instructions were all in Japanese and I had no idea what "blue" meant. Of course, right after my third game I realized the directions were in English across the top.
Then I tried out this awesome maracas game, in which you not only shake the maracas but wave them over your head, around your hips, and in general samba like you're in Brazil. Way fun, even though I accidentally told it I was only 100 cm tall and thus failed out halfway through.
The next morning, I got up early (compared to the other girls) and headed over to Opening Ceremonies. There was a long line, and things were way delayed because they were in Live Programming 1 instead of the theater and thus had to jury-rig all the equipment, but I flashed the badge and waltzed in. I love that thing.
These people here are, I believe, the film crew for NicoNico, which was heavily promoting itself at the con.
Me to Gin-tachi: "Can you sit in character?"
Kalafina, totally wearing the same outfits we saw them in later on Sunday.
One of the reasons I like to go to Opening Ceremonies is to see all (or most) of the guests without having to go to their panels. Unfortunately, that means all (or most) of the guests, which means shut up, Vic.
Doki and Nabi signs! Never seen anyone do that before. (Link, for those who aren't familiar with the adorable forbidden love between bunny and kitty.)
Akatsuki waiting in line. Notice Itachi in the back, being aloof.
This was the line for AMV-and-other-events tickets. We found out while waiting in it that each person could pick up up to ten, so that worked out great for us but badly for anyone who decided to get tickets later than right away. It also involved quite a lot of calls trying to figure out where various people were, and would they be going to the AMVs? and me resigning myself to getting a bigger-than-usual texting bill for the month.
This is also when we found out that there were more Mikunopolis tickets available, but they were now $40 each. All those of us who didn't already have tickets turned it down, and there was totally outrage on the forums - not only because of the price-jacking, but because these were not advertised unless you specifically asked.
In retrospect, I probably could have scalped it and made a pretty penny even at $40, but I don't even bother to eBay things. Reselling in real life is just not in my nature. (In video games, now, that's another story.)
I ran into this Jiraiya everywhere. Here he is pimping it with Sakura and Hinata. The Hinata is especially cute, no?
And here he is getting reprimanded by Tsunade.
Amusing story: I pulled him out of line for this one right when the convention people were doing their best Mad Hatter imitation (clean cups, clean cups, move doooooown!), as they did every few minutes when another group of 12 would go inside and they'd act shocked that we weren't paying attention and had let a gap form in the line for a second.
Obviously no one would mind him getting right back in line after I took his picture, since that's just what cosplayers do, but I guess he didn't know that (first convention?) and got all worried. Then, when I saw him yet again at our panel, he came over after to be all "Oh no, I'm sorry if I was snappish at you earlier about the line!" (Because what, we industry people get apologies?) I assured him it was no problem, and then continued to run into him for the next three days. Jiraiya's not even one of my favorite characters!
Rather than go straight to the dealer's hall when it opened like I wanted to, I was obliged to attend several panels. ::sigh:: However, the first one was NISA, and they did a damn fine industry panel - once they got started. Everything in the live programming rooms ran late for the entirety of Friday, thanks to Opening Ceremonies holding up not only LP1 but all the present GoH.
This is their... production guy? dressed as the star man from Arakawa Under the Bridge, Mitsu-who-is-their-president as the kappa (also Arakawa), and I forget who MCing. They were hilariously amusing, informative, and showed trailers that actually made me want to see the shows before then talking about the different kinds of translation and when they apply. You all may not appreciate that last, but I sure did. They do great subs.
Panels over for a little while, I raced over to the dealer's hall and encountered the small Disney Princess gathering. They had some really great costumes, and of course I snagged one of Flynn and Rapunzel. They even had Pascal!
Actually, first I raced over to the hotel, to drop off the enormous box I was lugging around from the panel, and discovered sweet, delicious, cold lemonade in the "lobby." See, the Luxe hadn't quite managed to get the remodeling of their front lobby done before AX (which I'm guessing was the target date for completion), and we all had to go in through the back from the garage for the first few days.
Then I raced over to the dealer's hall.
Since Miku is doing some commercials for Toyota, Toyota sponsored some of AX, and had official Miku cars in the South Hall and a booth babe cosplayer hanging around them. It felt a little weird taking a picture of something I was so obviously intended to photograph, but this is as good a place as any to mention that Vocaloid was huuuuuge at the con. The only thing bigger? Pokemon. Pokemon is back beyond Nintendo's wildest dreams, at least if you measure by cosplayers and Artist's Alley prints and devoted dealer booths.
"Tiger, why are we here in Artist's Alley? No, don't just give me that stupid grin. What, is it my birthday again?"
It turns out everyone loves Tiger and Bunny! I cased Artist's Alley first, since Yoshiko wanted to show me some prints she was sure I would want and she was sure would sell out (she was right on both counts), and goodness was it a crush.
I'm not sure, but I think that's One Piece Guy's booth in the background. He's still awesome, and I still bought a bunch of things from him, which he gave me for less than he probably should have. Unfortunately, I can't look at one of them too closely yet since it's got total SPOILERS on it, but I'm sure it'll be great several months from now.
"We are superheroes! But- casual superheroes today."
You know, it just occurred to me that all the Tigers I saw were in casual clothing, and yet none of them were wearing that ridiculous mask Tiger thinks will protect his identity when he's out and about. Huh.
Balloon Guy was back, and his creations were even more impressive than last year. There were a number of people running around with balloon keyblades, balloon pokemon, and even balloon My Little Ponies.
Now that I look at it from this angle, does that Charizard look like a Skeksis to anyone else?
I saw this Noh Face and Sen around a bit. They were really good.
What's that I'm using?
Oh no! A shinigami has dropped their Death-a-Sketch in this world!
I was going to photoshop my most-hated enemy's name on there (since it's really hard to quickly do names on an etch-a-sketch if you're out of practice), but... Use your imagination - or photoshop in your own!
Canada peruses a booth. That One Piece picture at the top I think Robyn or Vicki or both later bought.
This Dodrio duo was just fantastic.
Did I mention Pokemon was big? Pokemon was BIG. I lost track of the number of Ashes I saw, and there were a ton of cosplayers as all sorts of different pokemon.
After finishing Artist's Alley as quickly as I could while still being thorough, I walked the dealer's hall as quickly as I could, looking for last year's keychain booth. I started on the far side, so of course when I finally found it it was on the very first aisle of the near side. I spent pretty much all the cash I had left on keychains and promised to come back the next day. For the record, the booth is Power Anime, and they think I'm awesome. Can't imagine why.
Pretty butterfly Vocaloids. They're from Magnet, of which Youtube tells me there is ten million different versions.
This is back in the hallway after the dealer's hall closed. That hallway was a constant stream of cosplayers and all the odd things people get up to at anime cons (loooongcat parades, high-five lines, impromptu dances, that sort of thing), so it was also a great place to sit and people watch.
I saw a few more cosplays with the headphones, but none quite as nice.
This Light and L distinguished themselves with amusing accessories. Where did they even find inflatable handcuffs in that size?
I actually know the guy playing the violin here: that's Carlo, from ANN, playing... Caramelldansen, maybe? Seems likely, based on the hand gestures.
This was taken in-between going from the Funimation panel (which was, like everything else, running way late), South Hall to give Tiffany and her crew their AMV tickets, and then heading back to the Funimation panel which still didn't start for another fifteen minutes. There I met up with Ashley and Michelle, and we proceeded to gab through Funi announcing whatever fanservice thing they were announcing at the time. Also, they announced Steins;Gate, which made me sad because I wanted us to get it, but that wasn't ever really likely I suppose.
After that I was planning to eat, but Tiffany called me up and told me seats were already filling up fast for AMVs, and they had saved me some but I had better hurry, so we did that. But then Ashley and Michelle and I noted we were all still super-hungry, so I ran over to the hotel to grab snacks and then come back.
At the hotel, I found Robyn! So Robyn now had an AMV ticket as she headed back with me, but still no badge since I'd handed hers over to Yoshiko, who then gave it to Vicki to give to Robyn. (I still had not seen Vicki at this point, because of panels and running around.)
Back at the entrance to AMVs, there were many back and forth phone calls as we attempted to establish what the hell we were doing (sitting in chairs to watch musical cartoons is haaard), but finally Vicki showed up at the door and I swear, it was like one of those silly scenes they always parody in movies except we had no meadow full of flowers.
"Vicki!"
"Lisa!"
::run, big hug::
"Well, where's Robyn's badge?"
Then Vicki promptly decided we were not friends anymore as I decided to sit with my new friends over in the good, center seats and left her and Robyn to their less-good seats on the side for the duration of the show, during which I learned Tiffany is a film major and we had a good time talking editing.
The AMVs were some of the best I've seen, and certainly it was the best contest AX has had in years. For those interested, here's the list of winners. Unlike last year, nothing I voted for won, and Calling took Best of Show, which I didn't watch because I still need to see Summer Wars. But it's hard to argue too much with the winners; as I said, it was a very good contest.
That picture above was actually taken after the contest, and here's the follow up, in which I guess Yoshiko is an honorary member of the coven since Nicole wouldn't come and Sarah is off doing who knows what.
Yoshiko is dressed as Shun from Saint Seiya, if you were wondering why she has green hair, Mom.
Then we were all hungry, shockingly enough, so it was off to IHOP, shockingly enough. Joining us was Genevieve, who I think Vicki knows and I theoretically know somehow...? Eh, whatever, she's nice.
I just realized that I was at this exact table at IHOP for all three (I think it was three - it was certainly at least two) times I ate there this year. Huh.
That concludes Days 0 and 1!