Anime Expo '07 Report
Here's my surprisingly timely AX '07 rundown. With tard photos! Score! :D
6/28: WIN (with line-related fail).
Me, Lauren & Nick get to the airport nice and early, our flight is on time, our luggage doesn't weight too much (is close, of course, but okay), all is swell. At LAX we catch a cab to our hotel (for a van taxi, it was $70 + tip, so very reasonable) and Mr Cabbie drove like a bat out of hell. Look, we're in Long Beach! It's... sure beachy! Lunch at a weird Hooters-slash-Sports-Bar sushi place (yummy) and we head to get in line for registration. Like everyone on earth, we didn't get our badges in the mail, so we waited in line in the generic pre-reg line. The really, really long line. Comically long. In the sun. >___< But it moved fairly quickly and we had our badges by 3:30 or so. Yay!
The Premiere Ticket line opened at 4, so good timing. I had my badge, Christine's badge, and Teca's badge (so we could all sit together at the SKIN concert), so I was feeling very pimpin'. Plus Becky and Tania showed up, yay!! Premiere Ticket line? Not so good. It wasn't long, but it was Very, Very Slow. It was 7:15 by the time we got our tickets, but it would ALL BE WORTH IT OMG.
Dinner at CPK with big group of friends, which was so very lovely. I heart you guys. XD Then sleep before the "WHY IS IT SO EARLY" Geass photoshoot!
6/29: Super Win!
Woke up "WHY IS IT SO EARLY" for the first official photoshoot of the convention, Code Geass. There was actually a very nice sized group, which was awesome for a new show! We were sadly lacking in the Euphie and Kallen department, but there were lots of good cosplayers and everyone liked Cheese-kun. XD Becky was a ridiculously sexy and scary Cornelia, Lauren was super-moe-cute in her Milly school uniform, and Nick was quite dashing in his Lelouch even if he wouldn't do the evil laugh. ;) Then we took serious photos, and tard photos, and life is good.
Here's my C.C. costume, by the kind-of-gross fountains:
And here's my C.C. looking OMG EVIL i love this shot ^______^
She's a witch! BURN HER!
Changed clothes for OMG CONCERT and I start having fangirl freak-out moments. As Lauren and I approach the arena 15 minutes before start-time (Dear AX: Signs that tell me where to go are awesome. Staffers that can tell me where to go are also awesome.) we could still hear the sound-check, so that was a big red flag that gee, we're running late. I had predicted the concert would start about an hour late, but since they hadn't let anyone in by start time? Ohhhhh dear. It actually started 2 1/2 hours late, but EEEEEEEE SO AMAZING. Our seats were 8 rows back, just to Sugizo's side of the stage. I was filled with ecstatic glee to be on his side BECAUSE I LOVE HIM. The concert was incredible. I am not too proud to admit that there was SERIOUS swoonage during the instrumental break, because Yoshiki on piano and Gackt on piano and Sugizo on violin and Miyavi on...something (he played a shamisen, which was both surprising and awesome) was my fervent hope and dream for the concert. It could have been longer, it could have been the entire concert. Whatever. I savored my hearing loss and vocal strain. And yes, Nick deflected a bottle of Gackt-water to Teca, who gave us all a swig and it tasted like AWESOME. The guy in front of us deftly caught one of Yoshiki's sticks, which he let us pass around like a holy relic. And Sugizo water dripped on me when he chucked his bottle into the crowd, causing another swoon because HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HIM? Okay, fangirling over; Minako-chan, please transfer to our private blog at this point for details which no one else cares about. XD
Unfortunately the concert delay caused Teca-tachi to miss their Tea Party meeting, and we all missed the Cosmode panel, which was kinda sad, but who gives a crap because I just saw Gackt and Yoshiki and Sugizo, omg.
Later that night we went and visited Teca, Christine, Emily, and Peter competing in the Midnight Tea Party, which was magically adorable! Awesome job, guys, you rocked the house.
C-Ohhh yeah~!! XD
6/30: ehhhh... meh.
Saturday morning meant shopping! I put on my Tokimemo Sports uniform, discovered that my legs are OMG WHITEY WHITE McWHITE, and we conquered the exhibition hall for the first time. I was SO pissed at Bandai, there was not a hint of Code Geass to be seen. Hel-lo, what about Comiket? Where you couldn't spit without hitting Lulu in the face? Where giant banners shouted that you YES YOU should be watching Code Geass RIGHT NOW. -_- And thus we broke our streak of "Cosplaying from what Bandai is Pimping", and I'm cranky with them. Buu. I did well at Kinokuniya with artbooks (TMGS, Tsubasa, Angels Feather), but there was almost no Japanese manga to be found anywhere. Guess Amazon JP is getting my cashmonies again...
I am almost unspeakable levels of pale. o_o
That afternoon we changed into Chevalier, which can be summed up as "Too Fricking Hot". Man, that sun was brutal.
Fortunately we enjoyed ample amounts of Starbucks.
So we headed to the Masquerade Ball to cheer on our darling Teca & Emily... only to find yet another long line. ;^_^ The dress code was most definitely not being enforced, and as far as Dance attire goes, a child's SpiderMan Halloween costume stretched over a 150 pound man is not my idea of Elegance. But we managed to meet up with a beautiful Queen Mary cosplayer and giggle excitedly for a while... never made it into the dance, but our girls looked AWESOME so yay! Then celebratory dinner at Rock Bottom, which I ironically have never gone to in Colorado. Tasty, though.
Cheers, guys! You earned it!
7/1: Sunburn and such
Time for the new Tsubasa/Holic cosplays! Lauren whipped up a new Yuuko costume and Nick & I did the Punk versions of Syaoran and Sakura from the beginning of the Infinity arc.
Yuuko:
Sakura & Syaoran:
Raarrrrr, we're hardcore! XD This was the first run of my new Sakura wig and green contacts, which really made the costume feel complete. There were jokes made about my outfit being from Hot Topic, which made me cry bitter cosplay tears. B-b-but I made my corset from real leather! [sobs] Anyhoo, because of the rips & holes in the fabric and the VICIOUS SUNSHINE, I have a hilarious tanline... I've never been sunburned in costume before, but I got sunburned this year at AX. It was just too spread out without enough shade. So we went to a hotel bar and drank in the middle of the day. ^___^
We didn't get into the Chiaki concert, which was suck-tastic, because while SKIN had allowed cameras in, Chiaki did not.
And since our hotel room was a half mile away in the afternoon heat, dropping them off wasn't an option. At least the security staff was polite about it. "But SKIN allowed us to have them, as long as we didn't use them...?" "Sorry, SKIN was a cooler band." [shrug] Oh well, we'll catch her when See-saw comes around someday.
Most cosplayers were getting their Masquerade on that night, but we just went to dinner. Then we dug through the swag that our Tea Party homies won. ;)
7/2: ...wait, where did the con go?
More Chevalier, in an attempt to meet up with camekos and cosplayers who missed us the first time around. Alas, it was again TOO DAMNED HOT so we didn't last too long. ;^_^ But Tania and Becky were OMGCUTE in their mage costumes, I wanted to eat them up. And the sweetest little girl in the world fell in love with Lauren's Lia costume, waving cutely and calling her "The Princess". (Later, she would come up to Lauren and say "Um, umm, I forgot to get a hug", and they hugged, and my heart melted.)
Before the exhibition hall closed, we did another passthrough, because it's not a convention if I don't buy some Gundam figures. lol I also stalked the Yaoi-con booth, because I adore Jo Chen and couldn't decide which of her prints I wanted. While I'm staring at them, she comes up behind me and starts chatting and I'm like "OMG OMG Jo Chen is talking to me WHATDOIDOOOOO" and thankfully another booth girl came over and we all talked about Yaoi-Con (and my general unwillingness to go) for a while. It was very, very nice. XD So I bought 3 prints 'cause they're ridiculously pretty and if left to my own devices I'd throw all my money at her. (I also picked up a couple Kyou Kara Maoh doujinshi, because my collection is lacking.)
Dinner with Becky and Tania was lovely, and another Expo came to a close. But not before Transformers!
Our van back to LAX broke down, so they sent a limo to pick us up Tuesday morning which was FULL OF WIN AND HILARITY. What a weird and unexpected cap to the trip.
Ringo is such a rock star. XD
Fortunately I didn't have to suffer through too much post-con depression because Laura & Jesse hosted us all at their house for the 4th. I'm so spoiled. XD
So, that's it for AX07, which was not an awesome con but it was filled with awesome people. See you in LA? ^_^
6/28: WIN (with line-related fail).
Me, Lauren & Nick get to the airport nice and early, our flight is on time, our luggage doesn't weight too much (is close, of course, but okay), all is swell. At LAX we catch a cab to our hotel (for a van taxi, it was $70 + tip, so very reasonable) and Mr Cabbie drove like a bat out of hell. Look, we're in Long Beach! It's... sure beachy! Lunch at a weird Hooters-slash-Sports-Bar sushi place (yummy) and we head to get in line for registration. Like everyone on earth, we didn't get our badges in the mail, so we waited in line in the generic pre-reg line. The really, really long line. Comically long. In the sun. >___< But it moved fairly quickly and we had our badges by 3:30 or so. Yay!
The Premiere Ticket line opened at 4, so good timing. I had my badge, Christine's badge, and Teca's badge (so we could all sit together at the SKIN concert), so I was feeling very pimpin'. Plus Becky and Tania showed up, yay!! Premiere Ticket line? Not so good. It wasn't long, but it was Very, Very Slow. It was 7:15 by the time we got our tickets, but it would ALL BE WORTH IT OMG.
Dinner at CPK with big group of friends, which was so very lovely. I heart you guys. XD Then sleep before the "WHY IS IT SO EARLY" Geass photoshoot!
6/29: Super Win!
Woke up "WHY IS IT SO EARLY" for the first official photoshoot of the convention, Code Geass. There was actually a very nice sized group, which was awesome for a new show! We were sadly lacking in the Euphie and Kallen department, but there were lots of good cosplayers and everyone liked Cheese-kun. XD Becky was a ridiculously sexy and scary Cornelia, Lauren was super-moe-cute in her Milly school uniform, and Nick was quite dashing in his Lelouch even if he wouldn't do the evil laugh. ;) Then we took serious photos, and tard photos, and life is good.
Here's my C.C. costume, by the kind-of-gross fountains:
And here's my C.C. looking OMG EVIL i love this shot ^______^
She's a witch! BURN HER!
Changed clothes for OMG CONCERT and I start having fangirl freak-out moments. As Lauren and I approach the arena 15 minutes before start-time (Dear AX: Signs that tell me where to go are awesome. Staffers that can tell me where to go are also awesome.) we could still hear the sound-check, so that was a big red flag that gee, we're running late. I had predicted the concert would start about an hour late, but since they hadn't let anyone in by start time? Ohhhhh dear. It actually started 2 1/2 hours late, but EEEEEEEE SO AMAZING. Our seats were 8 rows back, just to Sugizo's side of the stage. I was filled with ecstatic glee to be on his side BECAUSE I LOVE HIM. The concert was incredible. I am not too proud to admit that there was SERIOUS swoonage during the instrumental break, because Yoshiki on piano and Gackt on piano and Sugizo on violin and Miyavi on...something (he played a shamisen, which was both surprising and awesome) was my fervent hope and dream for the concert. It could have been longer, it could have been the entire concert. Whatever. I savored my hearing loss and vocal strain. And yes, Nick deflected a bottle of Gackt-water to Teca, who gave us all a swig and it tasted like AWESOME. The guy in front of us deftly caught one of Yoshiki's sticks, which he let us pass around like a holy relic. And Sugizo water dripped on me when he chucked his bottle into the crowd, causing another swoon because HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HIM? Okay, fangirling over; Minako-chan, please transfer to our private blog at this point for details which no one else cares about. XD
Unfortunately the concert delay caused Teca-tachi to miss their Tea Party meeting, and we all missed the Cosmode panel, which was kinda sad, but who gives a crap because I just saw Gackt and Yoshiki and Sugizo, omg.
Later that night we went and visited Teca, Christine, Emily, and Peter competing in the Midnight Tea Party, which was magically adorable! Awesome job, guys, you rocked the house.
C-Ohhh yeah~!! XD
6/30: ehhhh... meh.
Saturday morning meant shopping! I put on my Tokimemo Sports uniform, discovered that my legs are OMG WHITEY WHITE McWHITE, and we conquered the exhibition hall for the first time. I was SO pissed at Bandai, there was not a hint of Code Geass to be seen. Hel-lo, what about Comiket? Where you couldn't spit without hitting Lulu in the face? Where giant banners shouted that you YES YOU should be watching Code Geass RIGHT NOW. -_- And thus we broke our streak of "Cosplaying from what Bandai is Pimping", and I'm cranky with them. Buu. I did well at Kinokuniya with artbooks (TMGS, Tsubasa, Angels Feather), but there was almost no Japanese manga to be found anywhere. Guess Amazon JP is getting my cashmonies again...
I am almost unspeakable levels of pale. o_o
That afternoon we changed into Chevalier, which can be summed up as "Too Fricking Hot". Man, that sun was brutal.
Fortunately we enjoyed ample amounts of Starbucks.
So we headed to the Masquerade Ball to cheer on our darling Teca & Emily... only to find yet another long line. ;^_^ The dress code was most definitely not being enforced, and as far as Dance attire goes, a child's SpiderMan Halloween costume stretched over a 150 pound man is not my idea of Elegance. But we managed to meet up with a beautiful Queen Mary cosplayer and giggle excitedly for a while... never made it into the dance, but our girls looked AWESOME so yay! Then celebratory dinner at Rock Bottom, which I ironically have never gone to in Colorado. Tasty, though.
Cheers, guys! You earned it!
7/1: Sunburn and such
Time for the new Tsubasa/Holic cosplays! Lauren whipped up a new Yuuko costume and Nick & I did the Punk versions of Syaoran and Sakura from the beginning of the Infinity arc.
Yuuko:
Sakura & Syaoran:
Raarrrrr, we're hardcore! XD This was the first run of my new Sakura wig and green contacts, which really made the costume feel complete. There were jokes made about my outfit being from Hot Topic, which made me cry bitter cosplay tears. B-b-but I made my corset from real leather! [sobs] Anyhoo, because of the rips & holes in the fabric and the VICIOUS SUNSHINE, I have a hilarious tanline... I've never been sunburned in costume before, but I got sunburned this year at AX. It was just too spread out without enough shade. So we went to a hotel bar and drank in the middle of the day. ^___^
We didn't get into the Chiaki concert, which was suck-tastic, because while SKIN had allowed cameras in, Chiaki did not.
And since our hotel room was a half mile away in the afternoon heat, dropping them off wasn't an option. At least the security staff was polite about it. "But SKIN allowed us to have them, as long as we didn't use them...?" "Sorry, SKIN was a cooler band." [shrug] Oh well, we'll catch her when See-saw comes around someday.
Most cosplayers were getting their Masquerade on that night, but we just went to dinner. Then we dug through the swag that our Tea Party homies won. ;)
7/2: ...wait, where did the con go?
More Chevalier, in an attempt to meet up with camekos and cosplayers who missed us the first time around. Alas, it was again TOO DAMNED HOT so we didn't last too long. ;^_^ But Tania and Becky were OMGCUTE in their mage costumes, I wanted to eat them up. And the sweetest little girl in the world fell in love with Lauren's Lia costume, waving cutely and calling her "The Princess". (Later, she would come up to Lauren and say "Um, umm, I forgot to get a hug", and they hugged, and my heart melted.)
Before the exhibition hall closed, we did another passthrough, because it's not a convention if I don't buy some Gundam figures. lol I also stalked the Yaoi-con booth, because I adore Jo Chen and couldn't decide which of her prints I wanted. While I'm staring at them, she comes up behind me and starts chatting and I'm like "OMG OMG Jo Chen is talking to me WHATDOIDOOOOO" and thankfully another booth girl came over and we all talked about Yaoi-Con (and my general unwillingness to go) for a while. It was very, very nice. XD So I bought 3 prints 'cause they're ridiculously pretty and if left to my own devices I'd throw all my money at her. (I also picked up a couple Kyou Kara Maoh doujinshi, because my collection is lacking.)
Dinner with Becky and Tania was lovely, and another Expo came to a close. But not before Transformers!
Our van back to LAX broke down, so they sent a limo to pick us up Tuesday morning which was FULL OF WIN AND HILARITY. What a weird and unexpected cap to the trip.
Ringo is such a rock star. XD
Fortunately I didn't have to suffer through too much post-con depression because Laura & Jesse hosted us all at their house for the 4th. I'm so spoiled. XD
So, that's it for AX07, which was not an awesome con but it was filled with awesome people. See you in LA? ^_^