Guess who...
I'm back from my vacation! And man, what a week it's been.
So it started last Tuesday, right after I got off from work and my siblings and I flew to LA to stay with my Aunt (dad's sister). Wednesday we hung around her place for a little while she was at work, then we went out to eat. On the way home, we stopped by a Japanese marketplace and bought some snacks for the trip to San Diego, and I tried taiyaki for the first time. Taiyaki is a fish-shaped pastry with filling, usually red bean but I had mine with custard. And man, was it good! Then early Thursday morning (around 5 or 6, I believe) we made the 2-sih-hour trip to San Diego. We made a quick stop at my Tita's house (another aunt, this one my mom's cousin) where we always stay when we're in San Diego to drop off our stuff. And then...Comic Con.
I won't go into all the detail of what I did at Comic Con, but here are a few highlights of the convention:
Thursday
After my siblings and I went to church, we headed to the convention center for the last day of Comic Con. There wasn't much left to do this day, although I did get more pictures with some of the Wong Fu guys. It was mostly last minute shopping, and I ended up getting some more shirts, and the volumes I was missing for Sailor Moon, Fairy Tail, and Skip Beat. When my siblings, my Aunt, and I were all done, we headed back to my Tita's house for dinner before driving back to LA to stay at my aunt's place.
After Comic Con was all over, my siblings and I stayed with my Aunt for a couple of days. On Monday, we hung out at the beach, then grabbed some sushi at the Japanese market. On Tuesday, we hung around her apartment and watched some of the Harry Potter movies, then had dinner at a ramen place at the Japanese market, as well as bought some snack food for the trip home (I think the Japanese market became our favorite place to visit). Then, Wednesday morning, we made the +5-hour trip back home.
All in all, it was a fun week of vacation. But I do have to admit that I am happy to be home.
So it started last Tuesday, right after I got off from work and my siblings and I flew to LA to stay with my Aunt (dad's sister). Wednesday we hung around her place for a little while she was at work, then we went out to eat. On the way home, we stopped by a Japanese marketplace and bought some snacks for the trip to San Diego, and I tried taiyaki for the first time. Taiyaki is a fish-shaped pastry with filling, usually red bean but I had mine with custard. And man, was it good! Then early Thursday morning (around 5 or 6, I believe) we made the 2-sih-hour trip to San Diego. We made a quick stop at my Tita's house (another aunt, this one my mom's cousin) where we always stay when we're in San Diego to drop off our stuff. And then...Comic Con.
I won't go into all the detail of what I did at Comic Con, but here are a few highlights of the convention:
Thursday
- Started the day by getting into a panel where Butch Hartman talked about two of his shows, TUFF Puppy and Fairly Oddparents. Some members of the cast from each show were there at the panel, and it was fun to see.
- After the panel, there was a signing with the people at the panel. So I went down to the floor and headed towards the Nick booth for the signing. Not only did I get the autograph of Butch Hartman, I also got the autographs of Jerry Trainor (Dudely from TUFF Puppy), Tara Strong (Timmy from Fairly Oddparents), Grey DeLisle (voices from both shows), Daran Norris (voices from both shows), Matt Taylor (Snaptrap from TUFF Puppy), Susanne Blakeslee (Wanda from Fairly Oddparents), and Carlos Alazraqui (Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents).
- Later that day, I went to see a panel celebrating 20 years of Power Rangers. I got to see Alex Heartman (Jaden from Power Rangers Samurai), as well as Paul Schrier (Bulk from both Samurai and the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Walter Jones (Zack from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and Dr. Jason Narvy (Skull from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). Dr. Narvy came later and was a surprise guest for the panel, so that was pretty awesome to see.
- After the panel there was also a signing. While waiting for the panelist to come to the booth for that, though, I ended up buying the entire Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series on DVD. Then I got the autographs of all the people from the panel.
- When I was pretty much finished for the day, I headed to the Nintendo Game Lounge to relax. However, I discovered that Charles Martinet (voice of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and Baby Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario franchise) was doing a signing at the Nintendo Lounge. So I got in line and waited a long time for his autograph. But it was so worth it.
- My family and I tried to get up early for the Legend of Korra panel, but there was already a pretty long line when we got there, and eventually they had to close the room where the panel was being held (Community, Legend of Korra and Fireflypanels were all in that room, so people got in line really early to see one or all of those panels). So ended up not getting in, but that turned out to be a good thing when I found out that some autograph signings I wanted to get into were ticketed, and I managed to get the tickets to attend them because I wasn't at the panel. That made up for not getting into the panel for me.
- Before the signings, I went to buy an awkward animal from the Wong Fu booth (I got an awkward turtle). It was their first time at Comic Con, and I was really excited to see them. We even found some of the guys walking the floor, so we managed to grab a picture with them.
- The first signing I wanted to attend was with the cast of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series coming out on Nick in September. I'll admit I'm still a little worried about it, mostly because two of my favorite voice actors are doing roles that I'm afraid might not be so good since they're the ones doing it. But after watching a few clips of the show, I have to admit I'm kind of looking forward to it.
- While waiting for the signing, I got to take a picture with Kevin Michael Richardson, one of my favorite voice actors ever. He was such a sweet guy, and I totally fangirled at the chance to meet him.
- After waiting for a while, the signing finally got started. It was kind of sad that the cast wasn't allowed to sign anything other than the provided poster (meaning I couldn't get them to sign my autograph book), but it's okay I suppose. I got a poster with the signatures of producer Ciro Nieli (Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!), Jason Biggs (Leonard), Sean Astin (Raphael), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Hoon Lee (Splinter), Mae Whitman (April O'Neil), and Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder). Plus, Rob Paulsen said I had a pretty smile...heehee.
- After the TMNT signing, there was a signing for Legend of Korra. While waiting for that, though, I dropped by the Nick store at that booth and bought some T-shirts; a Korra one, and a TMNT one.
- The Korra signing was a little more lax than the TMNT one (I really think they had to up security for the TMNT signing because of Jason Biggs and Sean Astin), so I was able to get signatures in my autograph book. I got the autographs of creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino, as well as producer Joaquim Dos Santos, voice director Andrea Romano, and actors Janet Varney (Korra), David Faustino (Mako), P.J. Bryne (Bolin), and Seychelle Gabriel (Asami).
- Headed to the Nintendo Game Lounge and got to play some demos for new games coming out, like Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Super Mario Bros 2. Those were fun, and I can't wait to get them.
- Played some games at the Nintendo Lounge and got a free shirt from there before walking the floor for a little bit and did some shopping, then got ready to attend the Phineas and Ferb signing. That was a pretty long wait as well, but I made a new friend while we were waiting. We talked about our fandoms, and we also talked about other things like where we're from (when I mentioned I was Filipino, she told me she was part Filipino too), and passed the time until the signing started.
- After a really long time, the Phineas and Ferb signing finally got started. I got signatures from creators Dan Povenmire (Doofenshmirtz) and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (Major Monogram), as well as Vincent Martella (Phineas), Allison Stoner (Isabella), and Django Marsh (additional voices, as well as the namesake for the character Django Brown).
- Since I was in the autograph area, I managed to get an autograph from Yuri Lowenthal, who was there with his wife, Tara Platt. Yuri has been in a lot of things, including the voice of Ben in Ben 10: Alien Force. But honestly, I can only ever hear Yuri as Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4, no matter what roles he does, haha. Anyway, I got his autograph, as well as a recording of him as Yosuke. It was pretty cool.
After my siblings and I went to church, we headed to the convention center for the last day of Comic Con. There wasn't much left to do this day, although I did get more pictures with some of the Wong Fu guys. It was mostly last minute shopping, and I ended up getting some more shirts, and the volumes I was missing for Sailor Moon, Fairy Tail, and Skip Beat. When my siblings, my Aunt, and I were all done, we headed back to my Tita's house for dinner before driving back to LA to stay at my aunt's place.
After Comic Con was all over, my siblings and I stayed with my Aunt for a couple of days. On Monday, we hung out at the beach, then grabbed some sushi at the Japanese market. On Tuesday, we hung around her apartment and watched some of the Harry Potter movies, then had dinner at a ramen place at the Japanese market, as well as bought some snack food for the trip home (I think the Japanese market became our favorite place to visit). Then, Wednesday morning, we made the +5-hour trip back home.
All in all, it was a fun week of vacation. But I do have to admit that I am happy to be home.