Anime Expo 2009: The good, the bad, and the hunted.
AX 09 was...
Okay, for the most part.
GENERAL
The location (Los Angeles)
Grade: B
The city itself is not a bad place. The distance itself may be a hassle for those who want to cosplay more than once a day or get and drop stuff back and forth because you have to either wait for the bus (can take up to 30-45 minutes) or walk a good 20-30 minutes. This does not count towards those who slept at the Figueora or Holiday Inn as those are the most proximate areas. It may not be as Anaheim or Long Beach proximate, but for those not doing cosplay or carrying a shitload of stuff, suck it up; you need the exercise. Given that you walked more on the Figueora street and anywhere not past Grand (3 streets) or anything past the Westin or Vagabond (5th St - 32nd St), you should be safe, even when walking alone. Yes, I walked alone at some points mainly to check on my car because I didn't know how the parking system works especially when talking to the parking people who don't understand English as fluent as I thought. Little Tokyo is safe as well. You might run into some homeless people, but as long as you don't start a fight with them, you should be fine. Even those dressed up in gang clothing or have that "thug" attire didn't assault us in any way; we got along somehow. :P
The Los Angeles Convention Center
Grade: B-
This is where events like E3 is held. At first, I was skeptical, but looking at the place, it is quite big, especially for the events. AX has so much potential to maximize as many things to the table as possible. Sadly, AX didn't push it that far yet due to massive budget cuts. Closing all events at 12 AM Midnight wasn't so pleasing either. Like all Convention Centers, try not to buy expensive food or drinks there, unless you want to sneak in massive emergency free refills; then maybe you'll get your money's worth on food and drinks.
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
Grade: A-
While our rooms were quite small and the distance was quite far from the convention, the hotels themselves were very nice. If you aren't carrying anything too big, a bus pass back and forth to the event only takes less than 5 minutes. You would have to wait every 30-45 minutes for the bus to arrive. There's a Subway in the hotel that is normal priced. For those who want to do late night activities After 12 AM Midnight, Anime Expo presents them there as an alternate. More points to the hotel letting us spray paint and spray glue outside for our costumes! I thought we were disallowed but they smiled, let alone took pictures and encouraged us to show off our construction in front of the hotel to the guests. I'd recommend it for anyone going to an event at the Staples Center or the LACC.
Expenses
Grade: C
Many areas get very expensive if you don't plan everything right. Parking prices are a pain in the ass, ranging to $40-$50 a night. Luckily for me, I parked at the $4 areas (though security risk), costing me only $12 total overall. If you didn't pre-reg (free MoMuse ticket for the early birds), it'll cost you around $65-$70 for an AX 4-day pass. Food prices are normally priced (around $5-$25 depending on where you go). If you were to go to AX this year, expect to bring at least $250 minimum; around $400-$500 would be highly recommended; more if you are a hardcore spender.
Morning Musume and Concert
Grade: A
The event started...ON TIME!! They are very modest in person. Their performance was great. As expected, Anime Expo treats their top Guests of Honor very well.
The Guests of Honor (Power Rangers, BlazBlue staff, etc)
Grade: A
After speaking to some of them before the show starts, they are very chill people. Sorry, no pictures taken since AX security disallowed taking pictures with Guest of Honor at the time (Thursday Morning) or else they would confiscate the camera. I wish I went to the Power Rangers panel though. Once again as expected, Anime Expo treats their top Guests of Honor very well.
Console Game Room
Grade: F
While it was funded by AkSys but controlled by one of the departments at AX, whoever is directing the Game Room programming sure as hell don't know how Console Gaming should be ran. Most Game Rooms at more local cons have at least 8-14 stations. Given how big AX is, only 8 stations were available and they are the same games that other cons have. That's way too small to accommodate. Then again, it's "back to politics", especially after being told that even the head of Console Gaming has little to no control of what happens there.
Arcade
Grade: B-
Technika = the sexy machine. The place is a decent size arcade for those who just want to chill in and kill some time. Even though it was ran by the same arcade as FanimeCon (On-Campus Entertainment), some equipment was left broken when I arrived there. Nevertheless, it was a good time killer whenever we needed the rest.
Dealer's Room and Artist Alley
Grade: C
Even with a huge room for booths, for some reason, it felt smaller than that of AX 07. Either my vision fails me to see how big it is or there weren't many booths. The good thing is that there were exclusive stuff for those who want to buy rare items, especially for BlazBlue. DJ Max Technika was there. Keep in mind that as mentioned before, a lot of things available there may be very pricey, even at the last day of the con; note that most of the booths there are affected by the recession. Out of curiosity, isn't having both Dealers and AA in the same room considered frowned upon?
Animaid Cafe
Grade: N/A
Sorry, was unable to make it. How did it go anyways?
Masquerade
Grade: N/A. If I were to go and rely on what people said to me about it, an F
I Didn't bother going. I heard it’s a waste of time this year. This is the first time I went to AX without going to a Masquerade.
Lower Staff, Volunteers, and Rent-A-Cop
Grade: F-
FUCK YOU certain staff members and volunteers! This is the biggest clusterfuck of AX I have ever seen in any convention. When certain people are given the position of representing a high-caliber convention, they feel like they can abuse that privilege (i.e. "OMG I am staffing AX therefore I an elite and can do what I want and they can't do a damn thing about it"). Maybe I am grading this VERY HARD because of what happened on Friday night and Saturday nearly getting kicked out, but I have every right to grade it that low. The higher-ups and the Los Angeles city shouldn't be blamed for this. Also, I heard too many stories from even staffers that various departments were very short-staffed because a lot of volunteers and lower-level staffers slacked off, forcing other departments to help out in other areas that they weren't tasked to do. I've seen stuff like that happen to many cons, but not as big as this year (or maybe a plentiful of division/department heads have been telling me this). Talk about high levels of unprofessionalism. Don't give me the "I'm doing my job properly and following the directions" nonsense because fulfilling your staff role doesn't involve inflicting power against people for no legitimate reason nor good evidence for false accusations. This alone ruined AX for us. If committing murder was legal, you fuckers would have been dead by now.
Higher ups and certain volunteers
Grade: B+
I would have to give them major props for recognizing the problems that occurred during Anime Expo and are willing to take action for some of the nonsense that was going on. Though the problems didn't get solved during AX in regards to some staffers, they are noting people's names (and boy was that list long) and are taking action towards it either this week or in the near future. I would also respect how they kept it professional; yes I was frustrated, but they wanted to hear the full details of what happened so that it's not just me complaining about something nonexistent. As mentioned before, don't blame AX's higher ups; you can criticize, but they aren't at fault for some of the Lower Staff, Volunteers, and some Rent-a-Cop's power-trip ego.
Masquerade Ball
Grade: C
Since this is my first time here, I won't say much here. Not many people were there when I got there around 2 hours late. The judging panel for the Masq ball happened earlier than the event, which was not written. The event started 45 minutes late. From what I heard about these kind of events, they weren't supposed to play random songs that didn't match the Masq Ball theme, which occurred quite often. I would give credit for meeting up with some cool people there. :)
Dance
Grade: F
Epic Fail. Not only was the room so small to accommodate this many people, but certain nights have lack of staffers that they went so far as to bring other department staffers to cover up the dance. This isn't entirely the staff's fault; flaunting drugs publicly like ecstasy (I'm looking at the boneheads who were stupid to show it) and people going to the bar and lounge at the Westin to heavily drink were enough to shut down the dance early for legal reasons. Then again, this is to be expected, even with the drug and alcohol policies that most people don't read.
Guinness World Record for Video Game cosplay:
Grade: F
I'm glad this failed miserably. So unorganized. Not official. We didn't count as part of the World Record, so more minus points there. Besides, the numbers hit a LOT less than expected, so it's like we made a difference anyways.
Cosplay
Grade: N/A
No legitimate score. There were great cosplays. Then, there were the dreaded restrictions. Anyways, check the rant below.
COSPLAY EXPERIENCE: THE GOOD AND BAD
My cosplay Experience as the Nintendo DS, alongside with teaming up with the Black Wii Remote (Virus), Game Boy (Mandark), and Brain Age (Craig) has been been a double-edge sword:
The spectacular part
The fans, photographers, cosplayers, friends, and even guests who approve of this! Meeting up with lots of other cosplayers who also share the same interests like us was pleasing. Lots of photos taken from us from something we ended up finalizing the touches during Thursday Night. Yes, there were some final tests to see if they would be presentable on Friday Night to ensure that there aren't many screw-ups along the way, let alone repair some damages and instability in between. A lot of people had high hopes for this to succeed while we were painting during the late night hours. The thankful thing was that the hotel people let us spraypaint and sprayglue outside the hotel. I assumed that it would attract the hotel people a lot more, plus they wanted to see how our cosplays were being assembled. In other words, might be good business for them unofficially rather than something that looks like law violation. When Friday Night hit, out of the times I've cosplayed, this has been the most intense in terms of posing to the cameras, even more than AX 07 or Fanime 07 when we first presented our first ever man-made cosplay! Rather than a 20-minute-walk to the LACC from the Westin, it took us 1 hour and 30 minutes because of photos and interaction. Once inside, it took more than 2 hours to get pictures taken, until security guards got all pissy. Saturday was even more intense, especially inside the Dealer's room and even while we were sitting down for rest. A LOT of the fans dig how our cosplays were more interactive: the DS buttons pressable with a sliding stylus, open/close flap, 360* D-Pad, and volume control; the Gameboy with power lights, and the original black Wii Remote with the blue lights. Hell, even some people wore the costume because we mentioned that it "fits most people"...okay, maybe not the Black Wii Remote as the cushion head may be filled with man sweat by then and not sanitary. hehe. To us, this was a successful cosplay trio (or four, including Craig's Brain Age) to the fans. Even the entire cast of Morning Musume approves of the Black Wii Remote. Yes, they said "STOP!" and wanted a pic with him. LUCKY Mattison, but BRING YOUR CAMERA NEXT TIME!!!!! BTW, I just missed it when he got the photoshots from Morning Musume. :(
The downfall
Politics, staff harassment, and cosplay discrimination! Pre-AX, we still haven't forgotten the fact that we were disqualified last minute without warning. However, during Friday night, we are gonna give AX a chance as we try not to let it get to us given the good things mentioned about AX 08. However, it became much harder not to spark veins in our heads after hearing so many people saying that we should have been in the Masquerade with this alone. After entering the hallways Friday night for the first time in cosplays, one security guard told us to move out of the way. Okay, we did that because we were proximate towards the stairs and escalator while many people were taking photos for nearly 15 minutes. We moved away from it and decided to hog the window wall to give people room, not blocking any doors or walkways. Once again, we were told to move out of the way after 30 minutes of photoshooting from people. What the fuck!? So, no matter what we do, we are gonna get spit at!? He later said we were a fire hazard. We asked why. No legit answer, but since I rather not deal with any more cosplay drama against us, we walked out of the main area and to the Arcade and played some games. After resting, we placed the DS on the ground and someone was stupid enough to sit on it. Goddamit, do people have common sense!? Then again, we should have never done that, so we take some blame for not realizing people's stupidity. At least she apologized very dearly and in crying fear even though it really shouldn't be that big. After 11 PM, we left and dropped the costumes back to the hotel. Then Saturday kicks in and the Video Game Guinness Record attempt, something we wanted to be a part of and woke up early for. Sadly, once again, we were disqualified alongside with the Captain N cosplayer on the count because they aren't "Video Game Characters". Oh well; DQ #2 out of 2. While one of the organizers said "I'm sorry, but we would like to take pictures of us later," we decided to stay out of sympathy. However, after the other organizer said "You don't count, so get out", we left because we don't want to deal with any more cosplay politics; even the organizer who apologized to us was like "WTF" to his attitude. Later that day, we decided to go to the center circle entrance where many cosplayers were getting their photos taken. Once again, we were harassed by not only the same people, but some more lower-level staffers. Okay, we moved to a more open spot. Guess what? Same result, except that they would ban us and strip our badge if we don't leave this area that even all cosplayers and photographers were like WTF. If we were interfering with some gatherings or photoshoots, we would understand, but that wasn't the case. I even went up to one of them and said WHY!? They didn't want to argue and had the walkie talkie. So, rather than waste countless hours dealing with political bullshit at its lowest, we decided to go the dealer's hall and just have fun there; a place we first planned to go anyways. Thankfully, it was a lot better and we knew when we were causing some issues in understandable ways (even though hard to control when attendees all want to take pictures so badly). This felt like the only place where we couldn't get harassed. Then after 6 PM when leaving, we decided to return to the hotel, realizing whether or not we should bring the costumes again. Honestly, it wasn't worth it unless we want to get banned from Anime Expo by raising hell on these people. While I was gonna go to the actual feedback session of Anime Expo on Sunday Morning, I instead ran into one of the directors, and before I was gonna mention what happened, she already knew what happened; this applied to other cosplayers who dealt with some power-trip issues in regards to some staff and volunteers and heavy disciplinary action will be taken. I can tell she wasn't so happy, but how she knew about us was surprising because we didn't know she took a picture of us on Friday Night. She apologized for everything and understood that there was no way to make up for Friday and Saturday, and we understood. So, after months of planning to go to AX, the hard work (even to a point of pulling all-nighters)...has all been pure emptiness and hatred all because we got screwed over and over. I know almost every other cosplayer that went to AX this year had a lot of fun; we ended up getting the bad luck.
SHORT SUMMARY
The ups:
BONUSES
Michael Jackson tribute at the Staples Center. For those who were at Anime Expo, there was a tribute poster for those who wanted to sign the actual thing. It would be best to go past midnight as the line was very long elsetime. God bless MJ. You have passed away, but your legacy lives on forever.
Note that the other restaurants nearby (except for ESPN Zone) were closed as well.
PICTURES
Better late than never:
TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR COSPLAY AND WHY THE FUCK DID WE ALMOST GET KICKED OUT FOR THIS ON THE HALLWAYS!? Oh, and Peach and Daisy joined us for a bit. :)
This is just too cute!
oOo! I want one!
Omaigod! You killed Kenny! You Bastard!
NOT AGAIN!
Oh fuck this! I am gonna kill Kenny too!
Mizore and Kurumu (Rosario + Vampire)
Spice and Wolf's Horo! <3 <3
Mio! I'm surprised K-On! didn't get licensed at AX!
Dance Maniax. Do not ask why we even think of doing this in our boxplays. haha!!
THE REST OF THE PICTURES CAN BE FOUND HERE!
SHOUT-OUTS
Where do I start? Since my head’s been in a dreaded headspin, major shoutouts go to Mattison, David, Phil, Natasha, Nicole, Lisha, the AA people, Jonelle, Jessica, Charie, Laura, Saiho, Tom, Derrick, Lauren, Imari, Sharon, Yuki, the cosplay people, Chandler, Jocey, Tyler, Mike, Bressol, Yi, Matthew, Roger, Brandon, the gaming people, and many others. If I forgot people’s names, I apologize.
CONCLUSION
The main reason why I went to this year's AX was mainly due to the praise AX 08 was given from a lot of people, hence why I gave it a chance. Yes, I had high hopes for it. For some reason, I have a cycle of going to every AX every 2 years, starting 2005.
When going to AX, with the exception of cosplay, I just wanted a good vacation and NOT DEAL WITH CON POLITICS OR GET DRAGGED BY IT! Apparently, that failed miserably and some of the staff and volunteers were hounding me with complaints, in addition to the amount of messy problems we went through as stated above, who ruined our trip and who we want to kill.
While many are asking me if I am going next year, the most likely answer is NO! However, if I do go, there are quite demands I want followed (all of them):
Love me. Hate me. Call me the savior. Call me the devil. Friend me. Betray me. I am just saying the absolute truth of what actually happened at Anime Expo and why we were displeased.
In the meantime, I'll be taking a break from cosplay indefinitely. Sorry guys.
P.S. Hmmm, Otakon, Comic-Con, PAX, BlizzCon, E3, and Digital Life seem like an event I can venture to instead. Hmmm. :P
Okay, for the most part.
GENERAL
The location (Los Angeles)
Grade: B
The city itself is not a bad place. The distance itself may be a hassle for those who want to cosplay more than once a day or get and drop stuff back and forth because you have to either wait for the bus (can take up to 30-45 minutes) or walk a good 20-30 minutes. This does not count towards those who slept at the Figueora or Holiday Inn as those are the most proximate areas. It may not be as Anaheim or Long Beach proximate, but for those not doing cosplay or carrying a shitload of stuff, suck it up; you need the exercise. Given that you walked more on the Figueora street and anywhere not past Grand (3 streets) or anything past the Westin or Vagabond (5th St - 32nd St), you should be safe, even when walking alone. Yes, I walked alone at some points mainly to check on my car because I didn't know how the parking system works especially when talking to the parking people who don't understand English as fluent as I thought. Little Tokyo is safe as well. You might run into some homeless people, but as long as you don't start a fight with them, you should be fine. Even those dressed up in gang clothing or have that "thug" attire didn't assault us in any way; we got along somehow. :P
The Los Angeles Convention Center
Grade: B-
This is where events like E3 is held. At first, I was skeptical, but looking at the place, it is quite big, especially for the events. AX has so much potential to maximize as many things to the table as possible. Sadly, AX didn't push it that far yet due to massive budget cuts. Closing all events at 12 AM Midnight wasn't so pleasing either. Like all Convention Centers, try not to buy expensive food or drinks there, unless you want to sneak in massive emergency free refills; then maybe you'll get your money's worth on food and drinks.
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
Grade: A-
While our rooms were quite small and the distance was quite far from the convention, the hotels themselves were very nice. If you aren't carrying anything too big, a bus pass back and forth to the event only takes less than 5 minutes. You would have to wait every 30-45 minutes for the bus to arrive. There's a Subway in the hotel that is normal priced. For those who want to do late night activities After 12 AM Midnight, Anime Expo presents them there as an alternate. More points to the hotel letting us spray paint and spray glue outside for our costumes! I thought we were disallowed but they smiled, let alone took pictures and encouraged us to show off our construction in front of the hotel to the guests. I'd recommend it for anyone going to an event at the Staples Center or the LACC.
Expenses
Grade: C
Many areas get very expensive if you don't plan everything right. Parking prices are a pain in the ass, ranging to $40-$50 a night. Luckily for me, I parked at the $4 areas (though security risk), costing me only $12 total overall. If you didn't pre-reg (free MoMuse ticket for the early birds), it'll cost you around $65-$70 for an AX 4-day pass. Food prices are normally priced (around $5-$25 depending on where you go). If you were to go to AX this year, expect to bring at least $250 minimum; around $400-$500 would be highly recommended; more if you are a hardcore spender.
Morning Musume and Concert
Grade: A
The event started...ON TIME!! They are very modest in person. Their performance was great. As expected, Anime Expo treats their top Guests of Honor very well.
The Guests of Honor (Power Rangers, BlazBlue staff, etc)
Grade: A
After speaking to some of them before the show starts, they are very chill people. Sorry, no pictures taken since AX security disallowed taking pictures with Guest of Honor at the time (Thursday Morning) or else they would confiscate the camera. I wish I went to the Power Rangers panel though. Once again as expected, Anime Expo treats their top Guests of Honor very well.
Console Game Room
Grade: F
While it was funded by AkSys but controlled by one of the departments at AX, whoever is directing the Game Room programming sure as hell don't know how Console Gaming should be ran. Most Game Rooms at more local cons have at least 8-14 stations. Given how big AX is, only 8 stations were available and they are the same games that other cons have. That's way too small to accommodate. Then again, it's "back to politics", especially after being told that even the head of Console Gaming has little to no control of what happens there.
Arcade
Grade: B-
Technika = the sexy machine. The place is a decent size arcade for those who just want to chill in and kill some time. Even though it was ran by the same arcade as FanimeCon (On-Campus Entertainment), some equipment was left broken when I arrived there. Nevertheless, it was a good time killer whenever we needed the rest.
Dealer's Room and Artist Alley
Grade: C
Even with a huge room for booths, for some reason, it felt smaller than that of AX 07. Either my vision fails me to see how big it is or there weren't many booths. The good thing is that there were exclusive stuff for those who want to buy rare items, especially for BlazBlue. DJ Max Technika was there. Keep in mind that as mentioned before, a lot of things available there may be very pricey, even at the last day of the con; note that most of the booths there are affected by the recession. Out of curiosity, isn't having both Dealers and AA in the same room considered frowned upon?
Animaid Cafe
Grade: N/A
Sorry, was unable to make it. How did it go anyways?
Masquerade
Grade: N/A. If I were to go and rely on what people said to me about it, an F
I Didn't bother going. I heard it’s a waste of time this year. This is the first time I went to AX without going to a Masquerade.
Lower Staff, Volunteers, and Rent-A-Cop
Grade: F-
FUCK YOU certain staff members and volunteers! This is the biggest clusterfuck of AX I have ever seen in any convention. When certain people are given the position of representing a high-caliber convention, they feel like they can abuse that privilege (i.e. "OMG I am staffing AX therefore I an elite and can do what I want and they can't do a damn thing about it"). Maybe I am grading this VERY HARD because of what happened on Friday night and Saturday nearly getting kicked out, but I have every right to grade it that low. The higher-ups and the Los Angeles city shouldn't be blamed for this. Also, I heard too many stories from even staffers that various departments were very short-staffed because a lot of volunteers and lower-level staffers slacked off, forcing other departments to help out in other areas that they weren't tasked to do. I've seen stuff like that happen to many cons, but not as big as this year (or maybe a plentiful of division/department heads have been telling me this). Talk about high levels of unprofessionalism. Don't give me the "I'm doing my job properly and following the directions" nonsense because fulfilling your staff role doesn't involve inflicting power against people for no legitimate reason nor good evidence for false accusations. This alone ruined AX for us. If committing murder was legal, you fuckers would have been dead by now.
Higher ups and certain volunteers
Grade: B+
I would have to give them major props for recognizing the problems that occurred during Anime Expo and are willing to take action for some of the nonsense that was going on. Though the problems didn't get solved during AX in regards to some staffers, they are noting people's names (and boy was that list long) and are taking action towards it either this week or in the near future. I would also respect how they kept it professional; yes I was frustrated, but they wanted to hear the full details of what happened so that it's not just me complaining about something nonexistent. As mentioned before, don't blame AX's higher ups; you can criticize, but they aren't at fault for some of the Lower Staff, Volunteers, and some Rent-a-Cop's power-trip ego.
Masquerade Ball
Grade: C
Since this is my first time here, I won't say much here. Not many people were there when I got there around 2 hours late. The judging panel for the Masq ball happened earlier than the event, which was not written. The event started 45 minutes late. From what I heard about these kind of events, they weren't supposed to play random songs that didn't match the Masq Ball theme, which occurred quite often. I would give credit for meeting up with some cool people there. :)
Dance
Grade: F
Epic Fail. Not only was the room so small to accommodate this many people, but certain nights have lack of staffers that they went so far as to bring other department staffers to cover up the dance. This isn't entirely the staff's fault; flaunting drugs publicly like ecstasy (I'm looking at the boneheads who were stupid to show it) and people going to the bar and lounge at the Westin to heavily drink were enough to shut down the dance early for legal reasons. Then again, this is to be expected, even with the drug and alcohol policies that most people don't read.
Guinness World Record for Video Game cosplay:
Grade: F
I'm glad this failed miserably. So unorganized. Not official. We didn't count as part of the World Record, so more minus points there. Besides, the numbers hit a LOT less than expected, so it's like we made a difference anyways.
Cosplay
Grade: N/A
No legitimate score. There were great cosplays. Then, there were the dreaded restrictions. Anyways, check the rant below.
COSPLAY EXPERIENCE: THE GOOD AND BAD
My cosplay Experience as the Nintendo DS, alongside with teaming up with the Black Wii Remote (Virus), Game Boy (Mandark), and Brain Age (Craig) has been been a double-edge sword:
The spectacular part
The fans, photographers, cosplayers, friends, and even guests who approve of this! Meeting up with lots of other cosplayers who also share the same interests like us was pleasing. Lots of photos taken from us from something we ended up finalizing the touches during Thursday Night. Yes, there were some final tests to see if they would be presentable on Friday Night to ensure that there aren't many screw-ups along the way, let alone repair some damages and instability in between. A lot of people had high hopes for this to succeed while we were painting during the late night hours. The thankful thing was that the hotel people let us spraypaint and sprayglue outside the hotel. I assumed that it would attract the hotel people a lot more, plus they wanted to see how our cosplays were being assembled. In other words, might be good business for them unofficially rather than something that looks like law violation. When Friday Night hit, out of the times I've cosplayed, this has been the most intense in terms of posing to the cameras, even more than AX 07 or Fanime 07 when we first presented our first ever man-made cosplay! Rather than a 20-minute-walk to the LACC from the Westin, it took us 1 hour and 30 minutes because of photos and interaction. Once inside, it took more than 2 hours to get pictures taken, until security guards got all pissy. Saturday was even more intense, especially inside the Dealer's room and even while we were sitting down for rest. A LOT of the fans dig how our cosplays were more interactive: the DS buttons pressable with a sliding stylus, open/close flap, 360* D-Pad, and volume control; the Gameboy with power lights, and the original black Wii Remote with the blue lights. Hell, even some people wore the costume because we mentioned that it "fits most people"...okay, maybe not the Black Wii Remote as the cushion head may be filled with man sweat by then and not sanitary. hehe. To us, this was a successful cosplay trio (or four, including Craig's Brain Age) to the fans. Even the entire cast of Morning Musume approves of the Black Wii Remote. Yes, they said "STOP!" and wanted a pic with him. LUCKY Mattison, but BRING YOUR CAMERA NEXT TIME!!!!! BTW, I just missed it when he got the photoshots from Morning Musume. :(
The downfall
Politics, staff harassment, and cosplay discrimination! Pre-AX, we still haven't forgotten the fact that we were disqualified last minute without warning. However, during Friday night, we are gonna give AX a chance as we try not to let it get to us given the good things mentioned about AX 08. However, it became much harder not to spark veins in our heads after hearing so many people saying that we should have been in the Masquerade with this alone. After entering the hallways Friday night for the first time in cosplays, one security guard told us to move out of the way. Okay, we did that because we were proximate towards the stairs and escalator while many people were taking photos for nearly 15 minutes. We moved away from it and decided to hog the window wall to give people room, not blocking any doors or walkways. Once again, we were told to move out of the way after 30 minutes of photoshooting from people. What the fuck!? So, no matter what we do, we are gonna get spit at!? He later said we were a fire hazard. We asked why. No legit answer, but since I rather not deal with any more cosplay drama against us, we walked out of the main area and to the Arcade and played some games. After resting, we placed the DS on the ground and someone was stupid enough to sit on it. Goddamit, do people have common sense!? Then again, we should have never done that, so we take some blame for not realizing people's stupidity. At least she apologized very dearly and in crying fear even though it really shouldn't be that big. After 11 PM, we left and dropped the costumes back to the hotel. Then Saturday kicks in and the Video Game Guinness Record attempt, something we wanted to be a part of and woke up early for. Sadly, once again, we were disqualified alongside with the Captain N cosplayer on the count because they aren't "Video Game Characters". Oh well; DQ #2 out of 2. While one of the organizers said "I'm sorry, but we would like to take pictures of us later," we decided to stay out of sympathy. However, after the other organizer said "You don't count, so get out", we left because we don't want to deal with any more cosplay politics; even the organizer who apologized to us was like "WTF" to his attitude. Later that day, we decided to go to the center circle entrance where many cosplayers were getting their photos taken. Once again, we were harassed by not only the same people, but some more lower-level staffers. Okay, we moved to a more open spot. Guess what? Same result, except that they would ban us and strip our badge if we don't leave this area that even all cosplayers and photographers were like WTF. If we were interfering with some gatherings or photoshoots, we would understand, but that wasn't the case. I even went up to one of them and said WHY!? They didn't want to argue and had the walkie talkie. So, rather than waste countless hours dealing with political bullshit at its lowest, we decided to go the dealer's hall and just have fun there; a place we first planned to go anyways. Thankfully, it was a lot better and we knew when we were causing some issues in understandable ways (even though hard to control when attendees all want to take pictures so badly). This felt like the only place where we couldn't get harassed. Then after 6 PM when leaving, we decided to return to the hotel, realizing whether or not we should bring the costumes again. Honestly, it wasn't worth it unless we want to get banned from Anime Expo by raising hell on these people. While I was gonna go to the actual feedback session of Anime Expo on Sunday Morning, I instead ran into one of the directors, and before I was gonna mention what happened, she already knew what happened; this applied to other cosplayers who dealt with some power-trip issues in regards to some staff and volunteers and heavy disciplinary action will be taken. I can tell she wasn't so happy, but how she knew about us was surprising because we didn't know she took a picture of us on Friday Night. She apologized for everything and understood that there was no way to make up for Friday and Saturday, and we understood. So, after months of planning to go to AX, the hard work (even to a point of pulling all-nighters)...has all been pure emptiness and hatred all because we got screwed over and over. I know almost every other cosplayer that went to AX this year had a lot of fun; we ended up getting the bad luck.
SHORT SUMMARY
The ups:
- Morning Musume. Need I say more?
- Mattison, David, Natasha, Phil, Craig, and Derrick for support on cosplay! You guys were awesome! And yes, we rocked!
- Getting massive recognition from our cosplays, both in-production at-con and during the con Friday and Saturday.
- BlazBlue staffers. They are really awesome people!
- Great planning on the rooms via Nicole, Jonelle, Jessica, the other cosplay/AA people, etc. I had no problems hanging out with you guys and our scheduling for AX on our parts were much better than the other people I keep hearing complaints about. You guys rocked!
- Lisha for assistance before and after the trip.
- Guests were awesome! Cool beans!
- Attended the Michael Jackson memorial.
- The amount of work the cosplay group (Jonelle and Jessica and company) did. Even we and Charie assisted as well. Wish we could have seen the work present at AX. Maybe next time.
- Craig thinking Sharon = Imari...or Yuki. LMAO!! *tries not to fall laughing*
- ESPN Zone food is actually good!
- Killing Kenny (South Park) cosplayer. Yes, there was a Kenny cosplayer and we had fun killing him. See pictures below.
- DJ MAX Technika at the PM Studios booth.
- Attempting the Orochon Spicy Noodle soup with 3 other people. Sadly, we all failed, but are hardcore enough to try it. Us Brave Souls and masochists we are. IMO the 911 Chicken Challenge is much worse though. I ate at least 1/3rd of the soup compared to just 1 out of 12 chicken pieces.
- Being DQ'ed from the Masquerade last minute without warning as stated before. Middle finger.
- Being DQ'ed from the Video Game Guinness. Thankfully, it failed. Still, two middle fingers.
- Almost getting kicked out of the con for no legit reason. Fuck some of the powertripping staffers and volunteers. No middle finger(s) this time, but instead murderous thoughts.
- Irresponsible people. And this is why I tell people not to trust certain people I don't trust, but no one listens? Hmmmph.
- People not expecting how AX staffing works. This is NOT FanimeCon nor a local con guys! It’s completely different!
- Not making it to the Power Rangers panel. Goddammit, I wanted to see them too. Derrick, I am jealous of that pic of Patricia Ja Lee. :(
- No autographs. :(
- Pink DS costume severely damaged. Don't expect a return due to massive repairs, if not possibly a reboot.
- Lack of sleep.
- Missing out on people’s birthdays. I feel guilty now.
- Political bullshit. Do I need to even hear anymore of this!?
- Coming back a bit sick.
- SOme very bad stuff I shouldn't even be hearing about other people. This is definitely NOT being blogged!
BONUSES
Michael Jackson tribute at the Staples Center. For those who were at Anime Expo, there was a tribute poster for those who wanted to sign the actual thing. It would be best to go past midnight as the line was very long elsetime. God bless MJ. You have passed away, but your legacy lives on forever.
Note that the other restaurants nearby (except for ESPN Zone) were closed as well.
PICTURES
Better late than never:
TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR COSPLAY AND WHY THE FUCK DID WE ALMOST GET KICKED OUT FOR THIS ON THE HALLWAYS!? Oh, and Peach and Daisy joined us for a bit. :)
This is just too cute!
oOo! I want one!
Omaigod! You killed Kenny! You Bastard!
NOT AGAIN!
Oh fuck this! I am gonna kill Kenny too!
Mizore and Kurumu (Rosario + Vampire)
Spice and Wolf's Horo! <3 <3
Mio! I'm surprised K-On! didn't get licensed at AX!
Click to viewDance Maniax. Do not ask why we even think of doing this in our boxplays. haha!!
THE REST OF THE PICTURES CAN BE FOUND HERE!
SHOUT-OUTS
Where do I start? Since my head’s been in a dreaded headspin, major shoutouts go to Mattison, David, Phil, Natasha, Nicole, Lisha, the AA people, Jonelle, Jessica, Charie, Laura, Saiho, Tom, Derrick, Lauren, Imari, Sharon, Yuki, the cosplay people, Chandler, Jocey, Tyler, Mike, Bressol, Yi, Matthew, Roger, Brandon, the gaming people, and many others. If I forgot people’s names, I apologize.
CONCLUSION
The main reason why I went to this year's AX was mainly due to the praise AX 08 was given from a lot of people, hence why I gave it a chance. Yes, I had high hopes for it. For some reason, I have a cycle of going to every AX every 2 years, starting 2005.
When going to AX, with the exception of cosplay, I just wanted a good vacation and NOT DEAL WITH CON POLITICS OR GET DRAGGED BY IT! Apparently, that failed miserably and some of the staff and volunteers were hounding me with complaints, in addition to the amount of messy problems we went through as stated above, who ruined our trip and who we want to kill.
While many are asking me if I am going next year, the most likely answer is NO! However, if I do go, there are quite demands I want followed (all of them):
- Someone or group pays for more than half, if not all of my trip expenses. That would be around $200 or more if I go next time. I am not wasting my time and money on an event that didn't feel welcoming.
- Cleanup on some of the staffers. While we know that AX tries to get as many volunteers and staff as possible, get more reliable ones. I'm not risking any more bickering with this.
- Someone does most of the dirty work for me in planning. We planned too hard, but if we do next time, someone does the dirty work. Why work so hard for counter-productive negative results?
- Grant us authority. Don’t worry. While we may inflict fear on those who think they know what they are doing but don't, we won’t violate laws or any rules from AX. We will not get DQ’ed from any event we compete on, regardless of situation and if we do get DQ'ed, be allowed to show threats that we will get in because we refuse to take this.
Love me. Hate me. Call me the savior. Call me the devil. Friend me. Betray me. I am just saying the absolute truth of what actually happened at Anime Expo and why we were displeased.
In the meantime, I'll be taking a break from cosplay indefinitely. Sorry guys.
P.S. Hmmm, Otakon, Comic-Con, PAX, BlizzCon, E3, and Digital Life seem like an event I can venture to instead. Hmmm. :P