Happy Thursday! Before we get into the good stuff, happy Thursday birthday to Ringo! 71 today! Here's to 71 more!
So this Anime Expo was full of ups and downs. Some would say it evened out, but it's the AX so it still was amazing. Let's start.
Early Friday morning I arrived at Carolyn's to help finish the costumes! They'd been up most of the night working on them... and we mostly got them done before we headed off to Rina's. Steven's a better driver than last year! Then we headed down to LA.
We got there quick enough, and got into our room rather more quickly.... but it wasn't the upper floor room that has access to the free food! Seems as though the AX is still as unorganized as ever, and out of the three different prices they quoted to Carolyn, what they ended up charging was something else entirely! But it was a junior suite and we had two bathrooms, and there was still plenty of room for the eleven of us. ^_~
Carolyn got to work hot-gluing the last of it together, while me, Steven, and Rina wandered around downtown looking for more glue sticks and a box. We went to Ralph's, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and a mini Staples, and we did find a box.
When Minecraft happened, I had the crazy idea that I wanted to be a Creeper for the AX. That faded, but after a while we did find some Creeper cosplayers and said, well, it can't be that hard. THEN Pokemon came along, and everything went crazy. So my cosplay was as Red, the original trainer from the first series games. With a Creeper head. Carolyn and Steven went full-box cosplay, dressing up their characters like Team Rocket, which is something you can actually do in Minecraft. Steven got a Creeper head, and Carolyn used Israphel from the Yogscast youtube videos, so she's actually got three cosplays in one. Rina put together a Professor Oak costume together, and her sister grabbed a Charmander. The last box we found was for Rina, so she could fit in to our Creeper family.
What I liked the most about mine was that I had the box head on -- which was great on its own, having a masked costume really frees you up -- but I could leave it at the hotel and still have a complete cosplay. Secondarily, I loved having a backpack full of supplies, and I never had to take it off, just order people to get this out or put that in. :3 Thirdly, I loved having regular clothes, so I could wander around downtown or even back and forth from the hotel without being too hot or uncomfortable.
What I liked the most about our group cosplay was the smiles we brought to the faces of those who recognized it instantly. Pokemon AND Minecraft. One one else but us! Plenty of people in box heads, and plenty of both Pokemon and Ashes running around, but we had this complete anomaly thing going on, drawing in stares from everyone, whether they recognized one, or the other, or both, or none. (Believe it or not, but there was a guy who recognized the Minecraft side, but didn't know what the Pokeball was). We got to hiss at a lot of folks, stare at them as they passed, and everyone wanted a picture WITH us, which hardly ever happens.
Since the boxes proved to be rather impossible to travel in, our game plan was to pack up the legs and stuff into the main box, walk it all down to the expo, assemble, and then traverse down the hallway to the exhibit hall in costume. I generally wore my head there and back because it was easier than carrying it. Then just to get across the convention center, it probably took half an hour each time. Shuffling along and then stopping for pictures every three feet. That's my favorite. ^^
So we cosplayed down to the exhibit hall lobby and back (except for that one time where it was blocked off at the end for the "bomb threat"), because it would have been impossible to get those costumes through the exhibit hall aisles and crowds. So that's another trip to the hotel and back each day. Exhibit hall was super crowded the first day, and carpeted, which was new. I haven't really seen any new anime in a couple of years, so it was hard to be super interested in the wares. But I did finally buy the Cactuar plushie I've had my eye on for a while. In years past, its always either been like 40 bucks or sold out. I got mine for $20.
But the exhibit hall hasn't been my focus since we started cosplaying seriously and going for more than one day at a time. I love cosplayers! But again, since I haven't been keeping up on anything other than Naruto, I didn't see too many people who wowed me. It was more like there was just the same cosplays as ever, and I didn't need their picture because there were fifteen more of them around every corner. So I ended up mainly taking pictures of Pokemon, because, hey, I gotta catch 'em all.
We forgot to watch any new anime, too. Last year we watched ICE, which was horrendous, and Ninja Nonsense, which was amazing. (But I made up for that this week, because I just watched all of Durarara!! in the last two days. WATCH IT IT'S SO AMAZING WHY DIDN'T I WATCH IT A YEAR AGO) We saw some of the AMVs, but some of those were the same as last year, and the rest weren't outstanding. We waited in the standby line for the Masquerade, so at least it was free, but the cosplay and the skits were pretty bad here, too. So those are a couple of the "downs" of this year.
Oh, we also managed to get into the Hatsune Miku concert, who is a computer-based pop star I'd never heard of before. The singing is all this software, and she was a hologram prancing around on stage. The audience was IN LOVE. I.... liked the glow sticks.
The funniest thing that happened was this little boy who asked me if I had a knife. His mom had told him that we were Team Rocket Minecraft, and so I told him that they were, but I was a good guy. This was in the street, so Steven and Carolyn weren't even in their costumes. But I was. He said "do you have a knife?" and I put my face closer to see if I could hear him correctly, and he backed up a step lol. No, did I have a bat? I thought he said "hat," so I said "...yes?!"
"What can I use to fight those bad evil people?!" he asked with much seven year old angst. Apparently he'd been raised in a household were it was common -- nay, expected that upon meeting Team Rocket, for one to knife them.
I told him not to attack bad people, but to report them to his local police officer. "Nurse-- Officer Jenny" I managed at last.
His mom finally coaxed him away, and I said, "Have fun!"
And as he skipped away, towards the convention center, he said in quite a gleeful voice, "What a FRIENDLY Creeper!!"
XD
My other favorite quotes of the AX:
*Steven and I are sitting there with our Creeper heads on*
Steven: You're quite handsome.
*Alex asks if the ground is sloping, which it is*
Rina: I don't know. I don't have a level.
*The morning is bright so Carolyn asks Steven to punch the sun. He tries and fails*
Steven: I can't reach.
*Some cosplayer at the Masquerade is taking off parts of his/her costume*
Me: Oh no, your hat! Oh no, your...thing!
Kid on the street: Do you have a knife?
And our collective motto: ADVENTURE ON, (name here)!!!
Oh, another high point was during the intermission of the Masquerade, things were so disorganized that we all ended up watching Youtube on the MC's iPhone.
Oh, they also tore out our food court, which was the source of equal joy and despair in years previous. It was a creepy three stories into the ground, the bottom level hosting a semi-deserted food court with three or four intermittently shut down eateries. All gone, our beloved AX hangout. Shocking.
So we spent a lot of time walking back and forth, walking to find new foods, sitting in lines, and sitting in event rooms. Seems that between all this, somehow, we hardly spent any time at either the convention or the hotel room. But we were always back so late, and woke up rather early (for us) so I don't know where the time went. It was also a shortish AX altogether, since on the last day we just packed up and went home, instead of scouring the exhibit hall for last minute deals like we regularly do.
So that was my... 11th Anime Expo, twelve years since my first time. Hahaha, that's half my life so far. I was a tiny 12 year old, between 7th and 8th grade, and I cut my hair short to cosplay as Omi from Weiss Kreuz. I know it was that year because our 8th grade graduation/dance photo has me with the longest hair I've had since I cut it short the first time, and every summer after that it's been as short as it is now. That was so long ago--I remember searching fansites on my dad's computer for Weiss songs, and letting them load in the browser-based WMP for like two hours just for one four minute song. Those were the DAYS.
Oh man, I found it on Youtube, and just listening to it reminds me of all the stuff I was into back then, like reading those FFVIII fanfics that don't exist anymore. And if you ever wondered why I go by "Aya" or Ayan on the internet, you have Weiss to thank for that.
It's good, getting back to ones roots. Another year, another experience. How different will next year be!
-Steph
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