[AX 2015] I'm alive as much as I'm not I suppose...
AX was basically a bunch of firsts for me. Traveling alone for the first time. First convention. First time in LA. First time at AX (and possibly last for a long time). First time meeting Shinn-chan (and possibly last although I wish it weren't like that). First time meeting Julian. First time meeting a bunch of other people. First time attending a concert (Anamanaguchi & Porter Robinson). First time hearing a Japanese singer live (Takahashi Yoko). First time eating A5 Wagyu beef... The list could go on and on...
My plane to LA took flight left at 6am on July 2nd, 2015. I couldn't quite sleep the night before so I spent some time putting on make up and had my mom take me at around 3:30 am to the airport. She just dropped me off and everything went fine. Since the plane was full I checked in my carry on (there was nothing important in it anyways). I got on the plane and closed my eyes but couldn't fall asleep (rip me). There was a mother and child beside me.. The boy was afraid of heights and his mother was really sweet to him and bullying him it was all sorts of adorable to be beside. I was a little concerned when they called his (and my) 3DS a DSi but that's not really important. The plane also had washroom issues so I just.. didn't pee.. But I really had to pee. T _ T I didn't really connect to LAX's wifi properly either so my message to Julian that I needed to pee didn't go through. I walked around the airline's circle thing where we landed before noticing the stairs to go down. And then after walking a long underground distance I was trying to make my way to where my carry on was...when I heard my named called from somewhere. I looked around and then suddenly my back gets tapped...!! It was Julian. He told me my luggage was further at the third thing so we walked over there and looked for it. Got it and we headed out to find his car and then he tells me he left his car at the OTHER side of the parking lot. I'm like ok. and we literally walk all the way around (past construction and the workers tell us we could have just walked through) but we learn from our mistakes. (More mistakes later wooo.)
I stayed in the JW Marriott with Julian, drunk Will, Alex-jiisan and the cosplayer Yukina. The washroom door didn't have a lock but they were all really chill and nice. We arrived at the hotel, left his car in valet parking, got room keys and headed up to the room 1334 (I think). The room was so clean and modern and nice. uwu. Alex-jiisan was telling me about how the JW is having financial difficulties and losing money so I was unfortunate to actually realize the condition of the room but overall the room's condition was nice and certainly better than the creepy hotel Riseken, 0ddj0bs and Chris was staying at.
After dropping off our stuff at the hotel we went to get out badges. People we trolling the line ups but we found the right line for badges and got them and grab bags (which I never really looked in until later and even then I don't really know what was in it LOL). We followed the mobs towards the opening of the exhibition hall (I think?) and there was a giant Shenlong and taiko drumming going on. Then we managed to get in and wandered around. I'm pretty sure I bought my Beargguy F and Petit'gguys at this time and someone took my picture and asked for my name when Julian and I were staring at the pretty gunpla.. uwu... There was a massive line for the Good Smile Company and Alex-jiisan lined up for it for us and he got us Nendoroids...after a three hour line..
I attended the Viz Panel and Good Smile Company panel... Both were very fun and entertaining (even though I was falling asleep..). We learnt they didn't clear out the rooms prior to the next panel so we could just go in and sit down whenever we wanted, really.
Yukina was wearing her Chuunibyou this day and we saw her with some friends while walking around before we headed back to the hotel. Then Julian and I just rolled around because we were both really tired (neither of us really slept much).. Then Julian's dirty pores were bothering the hell out of me so I took my face wash and dealt with it. His face was so clean and smooth after it made me happy ohohoho. Then I put on the nicest dress I brought with me, Yukina helped me fix up my makeup, and we went for dinner at Le Comptoir!! It was a $300 dinner, six course meal and the pumpkin soup was absolutely amazing. I ended up having the really heavy side of the options but it was delicious. Perfectly fried calamari, A5 wagyu beef.. Delicious.
Pretty sure after that we just chilled at the hotel and did nothing.
July 3rd, 2015
Julian brought me a muffin and orange juice first thing in the morning from the Elite (when we weren't elite but they probably ran out of normal cards half way through yesterday) breakfast thing at the hotel. He woke up at 7am to get our physical tickets/seats for the Anamanaguchi/Porter Robinson concert.
I think this was the day I cleaned up Julian's eyebrows in the morning with Yukina's tweezers while she was putting on her Akame Ga Kill cosplay. This was pretty much the day I messed up because I was trying too hard to match other schedules rather than stick to our own. We also swapped badges with our roommates but ended up not needing them.
Then I met Shinn-chan and 0ddj0bs at the steamy bun truck. Took a couple bites and it was super yummy but I felt.. super sick. HOW DO PEOPLE EVEN STAY IN CONSTANT AIR CONDITIONING I DO NOT EVEN. It was amazing but I was physically dying. ugu. 10/10 having a period and AC allergy going on. uwu.
Then we went to play Street Fighter V with 0ddj0bs and Chris which was really cool. I mean Julian and 0ddj0bs are scrubs at fighting games but it was still really cool. While in line there were a bunch of Street Fighter cosplayers there and I didn't get any pictures of them or with them but they looked great... AND CAMMY TALKED WITH US THAT WAS THE BEST PART. T _ T I should have gotten a picture with her but I didn't...
I think then we went to the Funimation panel...after getting some boba and then attended the Little Witch Academia 2 screening which was really nice. We were going to line up early for Little Witch Academia 2 but why line up outside when you can just sit inside, right? I think Julian handed me some earbuds a bit after the screening began since it was pretty loud 10/10 prepared doge.
We were going to eat dinner somewhere with the huge tumblr group including secretotaku and studiotrigger and stuff but the Anamanaguchi/Porter Robinson concert was in about half an hour so I got a yummy turkey bacon wrap in the Microsoft Center and got seated. I ended up being far right facing the stage almost next to the speakers. It was a great view... I may have preferred more of a center view but this view was like....more me.
The concert itself was really fun and I had a lot of fun with all the songs. I wasn't expecting Porter Robinson to be a super otaku so I didn't expect to see Taokaka in the visuals or hear ClariS or Yanagi Nagi. The encore was his remix of Irony and that was just a great way to end off the concert.
We got back to the hotel room and then I think we rolled around and decided to get some 800 degrees pizza with Alex-jiisan! So we took uber there and he wasn't charged (which was unexpected). The pizza was a little on the charcoal side for my liking and not really that saucy but it was still yummy and I was hungry too... T _ T
Then we took uber back to the hotel and Will and I lectured Alex-jiisan that he should get a kanojo sooner rather than later until 4 am... orz
July 4th, 2015
Julian and Alex-jiisan woke up and were talking about breakfast while I helped Yukina with her Luka cosplay. They wanted to get free breakfast from the Elite area again but ended up too late for that so they brought back tomato soups and corn chowder with clubhouses and some other sammich from some place. I forget what it was called. I was too lazy to put on tons of make up so I put on eyeliner and was like ok screw it.
We went to the entertainment hall (I think) and saw the 500 nendoroids display along with the Little Witch Academia 2 display. Both were really great. I love nendoroids.. Can't really remember the order but I ended up taking a picture with Rilakkuma (and getting a deco pen) and an amazing Sheryl cosplay.
We also walked through the artists alley or whatever they call it and I got just a few posters and stuff. It wasn't much since Julian said we would go back but we never did. I had him piggy back me every now and then (or attempt to) since walking and cramping was really getting to me. I told one artist I would come back for her Sona poster but I never did uguuu.
We also found this one seller that had older goods and posters and just boxes of random goods. We dug around and found a couple Tokimeki Memorial pins and I found a really nicely coloured Shinn pin. They had a Stellar pin or two as well but they looked just like overused official art stuck onto a pin. So I didn't get them. I also found a Sailor Moon gatcha thing for the 20th Anniversary! I think it was a Chibi Usa key or something that looked really nice quality so I just got that too. Julian got tons of posters and they told us they would have new posters tomorrow~. I remember getting a super cute summery Macross Frontier calendar page with a summery Sheryl, Ranka and chibi Alto on it but I don't remember what else we got.
Not too sure what happened after this... I think we went for Kbbq? And then we dropped by a cafe where I had a really yummy matcha latte and they gave us two free ice cream macarons! And went to a Korean market to purchase alcohol because Will ran out of alcohol and due to events he ended up not purchasing any and more people would want alcohol at this time.
Then everyone was talking about going to the 18+ dance but when we were leaving the hotel I dropped one of my earplugs and then went back with Julian to get one more and then we tried to make our way there and were kind of lost but this fox named Koji helped us. Then we got in and found Yukina in the back and asked her where 0ddj0bs and Chris were and then we walked around but couldn't find them and then we learnt that 0ddj0bs left because he was feeling sick. Then Julian and I hung out a bit together outside before heading back to our room.
When we got back to our room 0ddj0bs was passed out and Chris was trying to help him... Not long after I found myself tucking them both in with a blanket and calling it a night.
July 5th, 2015
First thing in the morning was packing. I lazily and tiredly threw all my stuff into my bag and zipped it up. I didn't do any makeup since I just packed it up.. We then went down to the lobby did the check out thing and what not and made sure everything was taken out and taken care of.
Then Julian drove Alex-jiisan and I down to Little Tokyo and we ate at this Japanese restaurant. I think we then got some Mochilato Ice Cream Mochi and macarons, and said good bye to Alex and took uber in different directions. He went off to the train station while Julian and I went back to the convention.
We made our way back to the old school place and I ended up finding some figures! A chibi Sheryl and Ranka from different sets and a Stellar. Julian also got two Evangelion posters and we got a One Piece poster for 0ddj0bs too. Then we met with 0ddj0bs and gave him the poster and headed over to where the Takahashi Yoko concert would be.
Then I found Shinn-chan inside the room and gave her one of the Tokimeki Memorial pins! It was a pin of "the fun-loving girl who loves speaking with English sentences mixed in her speech". (to quote tvtropes.org)
Takahashi Yoko was amazing live. Her voice literally blew me away. I was sad because they started giving out silver seats for free to people who came by and we paid so much money to get our gold seats... T _ T I don't regret it but it just feels so unfair. I would have liked it if they did more things or started earlier too-- overall it was great just everything around the delivery and planning was a little unfortunate. But the encore was so great~~ I love encores.
We went back to Little Tokyo shortly after in 0ddj0bs's car (his hotel was so scary). I got a nice hot latte and we took tons of random pictures with Riseken and Willielf and I think studiotrigger and someone else but I honesly don't remember their names... T _ T They even got photobombed while taking selcas; it was great.
Then it was finally time to go home. Julian and I started our drive to the airport and we ended up parking at the wrong parking lot so we ended up walking all the way around the airport which was really nice for me. It was like a bad idea and no one would do it but I really just enjoyed that walk around the airport... I printed out a physical of my boarding pass and sat down with Julian. It was really sad but it's to be expected, right? Then we parted upstairs before the security check area. I ended up not checking in my bag (for free) this time around because I didn't want my nendoroids and gunpla to get thrown around and possibly damaged.
And then I come back to some forest in Vancouver being on fire and smog everywhere. \o/
Looking back at it AX was too short and over too quickly. Honesly I really enjoyed the panels and the concerts but I really disliked how rushed it felt and how disorganized it was. The one thing making the convention truly worth it's price is the guests and the panels. But what made it truly enjoyable were the people! While I don't think I'll be doing AX again for the next couple of years it was definitely a great experience and something worth going to at least once.
My plane to LA took flight left at 6am on July 2nd, 2015. I couldn't quite sleep the night before so I spent some time putting on make up and had my mom take me at around 3:30 am to the airport. She just dropped me off and everything went fine. Since the plane was full I checked in my carry on (there was nothing important in it anyways). I got on the plane and closed my eyes but couldn't fall asleep (rip me). There was a mother and child beside me.. The boy was afraid of heights and his mother was really sweet to him and bullying him it was all sorts of adorable to be beside. I was a little concerned when they called his (and my) 3DS a DSi but that's not really important. The plane also had washroom issues so I just.. didn't pee.. But I really had to pee. T _ T I didn't really connect to LAX's wifi properly either so my message to Julian that I needed to pee didn't go through. I walked around the airline's circle thing where we landed before noticing the stairs to go down. And then after walking a long underground distance I was trying to make my way to where my carry on was...when I heard my named called from somewhere. I looked around and then suddenly my back gets tapped...!! It was Julian. He told me my luggage was further at the third thing so we walked over there and looked for it. Got it and we headed out to find his car and then he tells me he left his car at the OTHER side of the parking lot. I'm like ok. and we literally walk all the way around (past construction and the workers tell us we could have just walked through) but we learn from our mistakes. (More mistakes later wooo.)
I stayed in the JW Marriott with Julian, drunk Will, Alex-jiisan and the cosplayer Yukina. The washroom door didn't have a lock but they were all really chill and nice. We arrived at the hotel, left his car in valet parking, got room keys and headed up to the room 1334 (I think). The room was so clean and modern and nice. uwu. Alex-jiisan was telling me about how the JW is having financial difficulties and losing money so I was unfortunate to actually realize the condition of the room but overall the room's condition was nice and certainly better than the creepy hotel Riseken, 0ddj0bs and Chris was staying at.
After dropping off our stuff at the hotel we went to get out badges. People we trolling the line ups but we found the right line for badges and got them and grab bags (which I never really looked in until later and even then I don't really know what was in it LOL). We followed the mobs towards the opening of the exhibition hall (I think?) and there was a giant Shenlong and taiko drumming going on. Then we managed to get in and wandered around. I'm pretty sure I bought my Beargguy F and Petit'gguys at this time and someone took my picture and asked for my name when Julian and I were staring at the pretty gunpla.. uwu... There was a massive line for the Good Smile Company and Alex-jiisan lined up for it for us and he got us Nendoroids...after a three hour line..
I attended the Viz Panel and Good Smile Company panel... Both were very fun and entertaining (even though I was falling asleep..). We learnt they didn't clear out the rooms prior to the next panel so we could just go in and sit down whenever we wanted, really.
Yukina was wearing her Chuunibyou this day and we saw her with some friends while walking around before we headed back to the hotel. Then Julian and I just rolled around because we were both really tired (neither of us really slept much).. Then Julian's dirty pores were bothering the hell out of me so I took my face wash and dealt with it. His face was so clean and smooth after it made me happy ohohoho. Then I put on the nicest dress I brought with me, Yukina helped me fix up my makeup, and we went for dinner at Le Comptoir!! It was a $300 dinner, six course meal and the pumpkin soup was absolutely amazing. I ended up having the really heavy side of the options but it was delicious. Perfectly fried calamari, A5 wagyu beef.. Delicious.
Pretty sure after that we just chilled at the hotel and did nothing.
July 3rd, 2015
Julian brought me a muffin and orange juice first thing in the morning from the Elite (when we weren't elite but they probably ran out of normal cards half way through yesterday) breakfast thing at the hotel. He woke up at 7am to get our physical tickets/seats for the Anamanaguchi/Porter Robinson concert.
I think this was the day I cleaned up Julian's eyebrows in the morning with Yukina's tweezers while she was putting on her Akame Ga Kill cosplay. This was pretty much the day I messed up because I was trying too hard to match other schedules rather than stick to our own. We also swapped badges with our roommates but ended up not needing them.
Then I met Shinn-chan and 0ddj0bs at the steamy bun truck. Took a couple bites and it was super yummy but I felt.. super sick. HOW DO PEOPLE EVEN STAY IN CONSTANT AIR CONDITIONING I DO NOT EVEN. It was amazing but I was physically dying. ugu. 10/10 having a period and AC allergy going on. uwu.
Then we went to play Street Fighter V with 0ddj0bs and Chris which was really cool. I mean Julian and 0ddj0bs are scrubs at fighting games but it was still really cool. While in line there were a bunch of Street Fighter cosplayers there and I didn't get any pictures of them or with them but they looked great... AND CAMMY TALKED WITH US THAT WAS THE BEST PART. T _ T I should have gotten a picture with her but I didn't...
I think then we went to the Funimation panel...after getting some boba and then attended the Little Witch Academia 2 screening which was really nice. We were going to line up early for Little Witch Academia 2 but why line up outside when you can just sit inside, right? I think Julian handed me some earbuds a bit after the screening began since it was pretty loud 10/10 prepared doge.
We were going to eat dinner somewhere with the huge tumblr group including secretotaku and studiotrigger and stuff but the Anamanaguchi/Porter Robinson concert was in about half an hour so I got a yummy turkey bacon wrap in the Microsoft Center and got seated. I ended up being far right facing the stage almost next to the speakers. It was a great view... I may have preferred more of a center view but this view was like....more me.
The concert itself was really fun and I had a lot of fun with all the songs. I wasn't expecting Porter Robinson to be a super otaku so I didn't expect to see Taokaka in the visuals or hear ClariS or Yanagi Nagi. The encore was his remix of Irony and that was just a great way to end off the concert.
We got back to the hotel room and then I think we rolled around and decided to get some 800 degrees pizza with Alex-jiisan! So we took uber there and he wasn't charged (which was unexpected). The pizza was a little on the charcoal side for my liking and not really that saucy but it was still yummy and I was hungry too... T _ T
Then we took uber back to the hotel and Will and I lectured Alex-jiisan that he should get a kanojo sooner rather than later until 4 am... orz
July 4th, 2015
Julian and Alex-jiisan woke up and were talking about breakfast while I helped Yukina with her Luka cosplay. They wanted to get free breakfast from the Elite area again but ended up too late for that so they brought back tomato soups and corn chowder with clubhouses and some other sammich from some place. I forget what it was called. I was too lazy to put on tons of make up so I put on eyeliner and was like ok screw it.
We went to the entertainment hall (I think) and saw the 500 nendoroids display along with the Little Witch Academia 2 display. Both were really great. I love nendoroids.. Can't really remember the order but I ended up taking a picture with Rilakkuma (and getting a deco pen) and an amazing Sheryl cosplay.
We also walked through the artists alley or whatever they call it and I got just a few posters and stuff. It wasn't much since Julian said we would go back but we never did. I had him piggy back me every now and then (or attempt to) since walking and cramping was really getting to me. I told one artist I would come back for her Sona poster but I never did uguuu.
We also found this one seller that had older goods and posters and just boxes of random goods. We dug around and found a couple Tokimeki Memorial pins and I found a really nicely coloured Shinn pin. They had a Stellar pin or two as well but they looked just like overused official art stuck onto a pin. So I didn't get them. I also found a Sailor Moon gatcha thing for the 20th Anniversary! I think it was a Chibi Usa key or something that looked really nice quality so I just got that too. Julian got tons of posters and they told us they would have new posters tomorrow~. I remember getting a super cute summery Macross Frontier calendar page with a summery Sheryl, Ranka and chibi Alto on it but I don't remember what else we got.
Not too sure what happened after this... I think we went for Kbbq? And then we dropped by a cafe where I had a really yummy matcha latte and they gave us two free ice cream macarons! And went to a Korean market to purchase alcohol because Will ran out of alcohol and due to events he ended up not purchasing any and more people would want alcohol at this time.
Then everyone was talking about going to the 18+ dance but when we were leaving the hotel I dropped one of my earplugs and then went back with Julian to get one more and then we tried to make our way there and were kind of lost but this fox named Koji helped us. Then we got in and found Yukina in the back and asked her where 0ddj0bs and Chris were and then we walked around but couldn't find them and then we learnt that 0ddj0bs left because he was feeling sick. Then Julian and I hung out a bit together outside before heading back to our room.
When we got back to our room 0ddj0bs was passed out and Chris was trying to help him... Not long after I found myself tucking them both in with a blanket and calling it a night.
July 5th, 2015
First thing in the morning was packing. I lazily and tiredly threw all my stuff into my bag and zipped it up. I didn't do any makeup since I just packed it up.. We then went down to the lobby did the check out thing and what not and made sure everything was taken out and taken care of.
Then Julian drove Alex-jiisan and I down to Little Tokyo and we ate at this Japanese restaurant. I think we then got some Mochilato Ice Cream Mochi and macarons, and said good bye to Alex and took uber in different directions. He went off to the train station while Julian and I went back to the convention.
We made our way back to the old school place and I ended up finding some figures! A chibi Sheryl and Ranka from different sets and a Stellar. Julian also got two Evangelion posters and we got a One Piece poster for 0ddj0bs too. Then we met with 0ddj0bs and gave him the poster and headed over to where the Takahashi Yoko concert would be.
Then I found Shinn-chan inside the room and gave her one of the Tokimeki Memorial pins! It was a pin of "the fun-loving girl who loves speaking with English sentences mixed in her speech". (to quote tvtropes.org)
Takahashi Yoko was amazing live. Her voice literally blew me away. I was sad because they started giving out silver seats for free to people who came by and we paid so much money to get our gold seats... T _ T I don't regret it but it just feels so unfair. I would have liked it if they did more things or started earlier too-- overall it was great just everything around the delivery and planning was a little unfortunate. But the encore was so great~~ I love encores.
We went back to Little Tokyo shortly after in 0ddj0bs's car (his hotel was so scary). I got a nice hot latte and we took tons of random pictures with Riseken and Willielf and I think studiotrigger and someone else but I honesly don't remember their names... T _ T They even got photobombed while taking selcas; it was great.
Then it was finally time to go home. Julian and I started our drive to the airport and we ended up parking at the wrong parking lot so we ended up walking all the way around the airport which was really nice for me. It was like a bad idea and no one would do it but I really just enjoyed that walk around the airport... I printed out a physical of my boarding pass and sat down with Julian. It was really sad but it's to be expected, right? Then we parted upstairs before the security check area. I ended up not checking in my bag (for free) this time around because I didn't want my nendoroids and gunpla to get thrown around and possibly damaged.
And then I come back to some forest in Vancouver being on fire and smog everywhere. \o/
Looking back at it AX was too short and over too quickly. Honesly I really enjoyed the panels and the concerts but I really disliked how rushed it felt and how disorganized it was. The one thing making the convention truly worth it's price is the guests and the panels. But what made it truly enjoyable were the people! While I don't think I'll be doing AX again for the next couple of years it was definitely a great experience and something worth going to at least once.