Anime Expo 2006
ZOMG AX pics!
So yes, hrm *cough* Probably about time I posted pictures from and gave a rundown of Anime Expo. This going to be rather brief as I don't remember a whole lot now that time has passed.
Friday, June 30th
Arrived in Anaheim a day before the con. Sat around in the baggage claim only to find out that Alaska Airlines has lost my luggage. X| So, I have to go to hotel sans luggage. Met up with Katie (YAY!) and we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and I bought a swimsuit. Why did I buy one you ask? Why, to stage a hostile takeover the hotel pool of course. XD Well ok, so we didn't do quite that but we did splash around and had a good time turning somersaults and soaking in the hot tub. By the time we got out they had found my black suitcase but my box containing all of my wigs and a number of other items (important ones at that) was still m.i.a. So, I had no complete costumes for the entire weekend. >_< David got in later that night and much fun was had by all.
Saturday, July 1st
THE DAY OF THE CLAMP PANEL!!! ZOMG! So yeah... woke up and felt very very dizzy. This was a sign of things to come. Buuuutt... I wasn't about to be last in line for the CLAMP panel so I sent David and Katie out ahead of me to get a spot in line. XD Here's a picture of the line at it's peak. In said line we got to meet and hang out with a very cool cosplayer you may have heard of called Cardcaptor Will. *waves to Will*
He looked very cute in his Pink Kitty Sakura costume. XD So, moving on... I was feeling better after standing in line for a bit so I went and changed into my Chii costume (my wig is still lost with the box at this point). And Katie joined me in her oh-so-cute Sumomo costume.
So yes... the CLAMP panel. First they have this, like, 20 minute video intro and then the ladies of CLAMP finally came out. You weren't allowed to take any photography but Fansview has pictures and a write up of the press conference here. I... don't remember much of the panel. I remember when they were asked what was their favorite series to work on; 3 out of the 4 members of CLAMP said "Duklyon"! YAY! XD The other one said Cardcaptor Sakura. The audience also went wild when CLAMP asked if people wanted to see more between Fai and Kurogane from Tsubasa. Oh CLAMP teases us so... Oh oh... and Mokona is apparently the messiest out of the four. So umm Katie, if you have anything to add that'd be great. XD
Did not go to the AMVs because the CLAMP panel intersected them but we were able to eat a leisurely dinner after I got out of my Chii costume and ran around and took photos.
Sunday, July 2nd
Ummmm *scratches head* Can't remember this day very well... I think it was because there wasn't too much going on... well there was... but no main events that we went to. I'm pretty sure that today was the day we went to the Kingdom Hearts photoshoot (see link at the bottom of this post for pictures).
I'm pretty sure today was the day we went to the panel for Yukata Izubuchi. You may know him best as the character designer for the original OAV for Record of Loddoss war. I decided to ask him where he got the inspiration for his Loddoss designs. Oh boy. I think he talked the longest on my question than anyone else's. I made out from his long-winded answer that a lot of it came from the original game itself (yes, it was a game even before the novels) and him picturing what an elf, knight, etc would look like in this universe. He also said Wagnard was his version of "an evil Mr. Spock." XD
That evening we went to on of ADV's panels to see if we could land some free sw4g. Sadly, that was not the case but we did get to see some previews of there upcoming stuff. One of which included a new series by the people who made Excel Saga about an 11 year old teacher. My brain hurt from the pure crack.
Spent much time and the dealer's room and got lots of sw4g. Much shopping fun had by all. XD
Monday, July 3rd
Today's big event was the masquerade. And I was sicker than a dog. I woke up at like 2 am and began puking my guts out until about 7 am. I am skeptical that it was anything I ate due to the frequency that I was throwing up. I think it was the stomach flu. Fortunately I did not seem to disturb Katie and David nor did I give them my dreaded disease.
Sooooo yeah... pretty much spent all day in bed. I finally got out of bed at like... 5? To get in the masquerade line. And then I got to see Mici! Finally! (You were a hard wench to get a hold of that weekend you know that Mici? :p ) She and Angela were dressed up as the White Rabbit and March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. David, unfortunately, had a plane ticket out that evening so we had to say goodbye to him. He shall stay for the whole thing next time. :p
The masquerade was a lot of fun. There were so many good skits and costumes. I have some of my favorites marked on my YouTube account.We were going to stay for the awards ceremony but the judges were taking too long and aside from the awesome martial arts demo we got to see, they had a couple past AX idol winners sing which was boring so we left.
After we left we went to hang out with Mici, Angela, Reno and Spencer. I took some candid shot which I don't know if people liked but whatever. XD Here's Mici, Katie and Angela, and Reno and Spencer. They gave us some Cup o' Noodles of which Katie and I were thankful for. *bows* We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and then went to bed.
Tuesday, July 4th
Last day of the con. Ran into Sai and he joined me and Katie for the day. Our first stop was the open autograph session for the guests of honor. While in line Katie and I met a very nice cosplayer named Christie who was dressed as Meryl Stryfe from Trigun. Had a nice long chat with her and got her email. Once the line got moving I was able to get the Director of FMA and Vic Mignogna's (the english v.a. of Ed) signatures. Vic was so fun! XD He's really fruity and he signed my book "Ed loves Lauren!". *lol* Tried to go back in and get the FMA director's sig again but they booted me out of line. X|
Next, we went to the last autograph session for Yukata Izubuchi. We were the last people in line. They almost didn't let us in. O_o But I made it in as the last person in line and I had him sign a poster board thingie for Erin. :D
Ran around the dealer's room some more at top speed in order to take advantage of all the last minute deals. Nabbed a hard-to-find Utena artbook in the last five minutes before closing. More sw4g!
After that we joined the rest of the con that was still around at the charity auction. I have some video footage from the auction which I will share in a later post. Here's a picture of one of the signed posters that CLAMP donated.
Wednesday, July 5th
Time to go home. Sad. :( Not much to say really cause I got up at like 8am and went out to airport. I will however leave you with the story behind the final photo taken at the con.
So yeah... remember that autograph session that we went to for Yukata Izubuchi? Well at the back of the room there was this box with a couple of water bottles sitting in it. What was so special about these bottles? Well they were special AX water bottles that were only given to panelists and Guests of Honor. And so at the urging of Katie and well, my own urges, I stole one when no one was looking. XD The bottle has since been drank and thrown away but will live on in photo immortality.
Two days later
Finally got my box back. It had gone to Boston on a United Airlines flight. Thanks Alaska Airlines. *gives finger* X|
I have WAY more photos of the con but I'm too lazy to go throught them all individually so check out the Anime Expo and Anime Expo part 2 albums on facebook.
So in summary... I want to go again next year! Who's with me?! XD
Edit: Hmmm... well I guess that wasn't very brief now was it?
So yes, hrm *cough* Probably about time I posted pictures from and gave a rundown of Anime Expo. This going to be rather brief as I don't remember a whole lot now that time has passed.
Friday, June 30th
Arrived in Anaheim a day before the con. Sat around in the baggage claim only to find out that Alaska Airlines has lost my luggage. X| So, I have to go to hotel sans luggage. Met up with Katie (YAY!) and we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and I bought a swimsuit. Why did I buy one you ask? Why, to stage a hostile takeover the hotel pool of course. XD Well ok, so we didn't do quite that but we did splash around and had a good time turning somersaults and soaking in the hot tub. By the time we got out they had found my black suitcase but my box containing all of my wigs and a number of other items (important ones at that) was still m.i.a. So, I had no complete costumes for the entire weekend. >_< David got in later that night and much fun was had by all.
Saturday, July 1st
THE DAY OF THE CLAMP PANEL!!! ZOMG! So yeah... woke up and felt very very dizzy. This was a sign of things to come. Buuuutt... I wasn't about to be last in line for the CLAMP panel so I sent David and Katie out ahead of me to get a spot in line. XD Here's a picture of the line at it's peak. In said line we got to meet and hang out with a very cool cosplayer you may have heard of called Cardcaptor Will. *waves to Will*
He looked very cute in his Pink Kitty Sakura costume. XD So, moving on... I was feeling better after standing in line for a bit so I went and changed into my Chii costume (my wig is still lost with the box at this point). And Katie joined me in her oh-so-cute Sumomo costume.
So yes... the CLAMP panel. First they have this, like, 20 minute video intro and then the ladies of CLAMP finally came out. You weren't allowed to take any photography but Fansview has pictures and a write up of the press conference here. I... don't remember much of the panel. I remember when they were asked what was their favorite series to work on; 3 out of the 4 members of CLAMP said "Duklyon"! YAY! XD The other one said Cardcaptor Sakura. The audience also went wild when CLAMP asked if people wanted to see more between Fai and Kurogane from Tsubasa. Oh CLAMP teases us so... Oh oh... and Mokona is apparently the messiest out of the four. So umm Katie, if you have anything to add that'd be great. XD
Did not go to the AMVs because the CLAMP panel intersected them but we were able to eat a leisurely dinner after I got out of my Chii costume and ran around and took photos.
Sunday, July 2nd
Ummmm *scratches head* Can't remember this day very well... I think it was because there wasn't too much going on... well there was... but no main events that we went to. I'm pretty sure that today was the day we went to the Kingdom Hearts photoshoot (see link at the bottom of this post for pictures).
I'm pretty sure today was the day we went to the panel for Yukata Izubuchi. You may know him best as the character designer for the original OAV for Record of Loddoss war. I decided to ask him where he got the inspiration for his Loddoss designs. Oh boy. I think he talked the longest on my question than anyone else's. I made out from his long-winded answer that a lot of it came from the original game itself (yes, it was a game even before the novels) and him picturing what an elf, knight, etc would look like in this universe. He also said Wagnard was his version of "an evil Mr. Spock." XD
That evening we went to on of ADV's panels to see if we could land some free sw4g. Sadly, that was not the case but we did get to see some previews of there upcoming stuff. One of which included a new series by the people who made Excel Saga about an 11 year old teacher. My brain hurt from the pure crack.
Spent much time and the dealer's room and got lots of sw4g. Much shopping fun had by all. XD
Monday, July 3rd
Today's big event was the masquerade. And I was sicker than a dog. I woke up at like 2 am and began puking my guts out until about 7 am. I am skeptical that it was anything I ate due to the frequency that I was throwing up. I think it was the stomach flu. Fortunately I did not seem to disturb Katie and David nor did I give them my dreaded disease.
Sooooo yeah... pretty much spent all day in bed. I finally got out of bed at like... 5? To get in the masquerade line. And then I got to see Mici! Finally! (You were a hard wench to get a hold of that weekend you know that Mici? :p ) She and Angela were dressed up as the White Rabbit and March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. David, unfortunately, had a plane ticket out that evening so we had to say goodbye to him. He shall stay for the whole thing next time. :p
The masquerade was a lot of fun. There were so many good skits and costumes. I have some of my favorites marked on my YouTube account.We were going to stay for the awards ceremony but the judges were taking too long and aside from the awesome martial arts demo we got to see, they had a couple past AX idol winners sing which was boring so we left.
After we left we went to hang out with Mici, Angela, Reno and Spencer. I took some candid shot which I don't know if people liked but whatever. XD Here's Mici, Katie and Angela, and Reno and Spencer. They gave us some Cup o' Noodles of which Katie and I were thankful for. *bows* We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and then went to bed.
Tuesday, July 4th
Last day of the con. Ran into Sai and he joined me and Katie for the day. Our first stop was the open autograph session for the guests of honor. While in line Katie and I met a very nice cosplayer named Christie who was dressed as Meryl Stryfe from Trigun. Had a nice long chat with her and got her email. Once the line got moving I was able to get the Director of FMA and Vic Mignogna's (the english v.a. of Ed) signatures. Vic was so fun! XD He's really fruity and he signed my book "Ed loves Lauren!". *lol* Tried to go back in and get the FMA director's sig again but they booted me out of line. X|
Next, we went to the last autograph session for Yukata Izubuchi. We were the last people in line. They almost didn't let us in. O_o But I made it in as the last person in line and I had him sign a poster board thingie for Erin. :D
Ran around the dealer's room some more at top speed in order to take advantage of all the last minute deals. Nabbed a hard-to-find Utena artbook in the last five minutes before closing. More sw4g!
After that we joined the rest of the con that was still around at the charity auction. I have some video footage from the auction which I will share in a later post. Here's a picture of one of the signed posters that CLAMP donated.
Wednesday, July 5th
Time to go home. Sad. :( Not much to say really cause I got up at like 8am and went out to airport. I will however leave you with the story behind the final photo taken at the con.
So yeah... remember that autograph session that we went to for Yukata Izubuchi? Well at the back of the room there was this box with a couple of water bottles sitting in it. What was so special about these bottles? Well they were special AX water bottles that were only given to panelists and Guests of Honor. And so at the urging of Katie and well, my own urges, I stole one when no one was looking. XD The bottle has since been drank and thrown away but will live on in photo immortality.
Two days later
Finally got my box back. It had gone to Boston on a United Airlines flight. Thanks Alaska Airlines. *gives finger* X|
I have WAY more photos of the con but I'm too lazy to go throught them all individually so check out the Anime Expo and Anime Expo part 2 albums on facebook.
So in summary... I want to go again next year! Who's with me?! XD
Edit: Hmmm... well I guess that wasn't very brief now was it?